“Hey, we’re here.” He felt someone nudge him and looked up bleary eyed. Ren didn’t realize he was even falling asleep, the days events suddenly hitting as he had a chance to sit down. Now Isshin was nudging him awake as he could see a massive ark floating a few hundred feet ahead, almost blocking the horizon behind it from sight.
He rolled off the bench, wiping dsleep from his eyes and realizing he had fallen asleep while watching the stars with Kit, standing up and still catching the scent of their lavender on his clothes.
“Alright, I’m going to pull up over and do a flyby. We won’t be able to stop so you two better be ready to jump as soon as we go by.” Kit was explaining, making calculations in their head as the Pigeon approached the Avarice ark. Ren could see the company logo, a massive A with a line under it, making an upward arrow. “Let’s hit it boys.”
Isshin stepped to the bridge door, waiting until they got closer before yanking it open. He motioned to Ren to follow, Mugen no Tengoku was now at his side in the scabbard, bloodstained hilt poking from Isshin’s left side. Ren took a spot beside him, wind rushing by and almost stealing Isshin’s words before they could reach him.”
“Stay close to me. I’ve got wings but you use glide and grapple if you have to. Where’s your weapon?” Isshin was shouting as Ren looked around, realizing that he had never grabbed anything to bring to defend himself. Ash, now standing at the bridge station behind them and monitoring the surrounding skies shook his head.
“You’re running out your freebies.” Ash said, pulling a small scabbard with a plain hilt from inside his coat. “Tuck that in your belt. Be careful of the plasma switch. You swear this time those boots fit you? I don’t want you giving me bullshit next time about ‘Oh, they fit fine’ then you lose them and they suddenly fit terrible.”
Ren nodded, taking a moment to study the leather wrapped handle before attaching the scabbard to his belt, looking to Isshin who nodded back. “Yes, I’m sorry I didn’t want to be awkward and tell you the boots you were giving me didn’t fit right. The hell did you expect me to do, you already look pissed off ninety percent of the time I didn’t want to see what actually pissed off looks like. Now, I’m ready, Isshin? Ready?”
Isshin took his first step out of the door, mag boots staying locked to the Pigeon despite the wind doing its best to take him out. Ren only hoped the new pair of mag boots he had gotten from Isshin did the same, taking a cautious step and feeling his foot keep firm on the outer deck. They pulled up beside the ark’s tail, Kit ascending until they were over it with room for them to jump.
“Now!” Isshin shouted and jumped, wings extending from the small pack on his back as he did. Ren jumped as well, pulling his glider as he raised an arm to the ark, flicking his wrist upward. He barely felt the puff of air on his wrist as it zipped out, the tensile metal of the line zipping out as the hook hit it’s mark, sticking in the deck of the ark.
“Okay,” He said to himself, now anchored and flying along the ark. He could see Isshin glide down smoothly and land on the deck next to where his grapple was. Ren was careful to make sure he did it right, pulling his arm back at the elbow and making the line reel back in while staying anchored in the ship. His glider gave him enough drag versus the line's speed that he was able to land on his feet on the deck, only stumbling a couple of feet before planting mag boots firmly. He flicked his wrist back up and the line recoiled back into his brace.
“Not bad, kid. I’ve seen people eat deck that way but you made it pretty smooth.” He looked around him again, pushing goggles up on his head and ducking into a nearby door, now entering the grand ark. Ren followed, taking a minute to adjust to the dark hallway before moving closer. “Eyes up,, be ready for anything.”
Ren didn’t know what he could do to be ready. The cramped ark hallways weren’t going to be very conducive to fighting, especially not if Isshin planned to pull his sword. Ren would be surprised if there was any room to draw it, much less fight. He kept a hand to the dagger hilt in his belt, though he had never used one before.
They didn’t encounter anyone for a few minutes, finally finding a set of stairs and making the descent down. Noises grew louder as they went deeper down, from the grind and smash of machinery to humans shouting at each other, a cacophony of voices against the cold steel.
“Any clue where we might be?” Isshin whispered, looking back at Ren. They were just passing another small hall when a door opened at the end, a man in black guard uniform stepping out as a flush was heard. He stopped after seeing them, taking a moment to register if they were like him or one of the workers out of area. Either way he started shouting at them.
“Hey, who is it?” Isshin and Ren began running, going down the long hallway to another set of stairs. Ren quickly went down, trying not to trip as Isshin stopped to stand behind the doorway out of sight as the guard ran down the hall after them. “You’re out of area!”
As the guard ran through the door Isshin put an elbow right into his face. Ren heard a tooth plink down the stairs and roll past him, still covered in blood as Isshin followed up with a kick to the man's gut and quick hit to the back of his neck, knocking the guard out. Ren kept going as Isshin simply hopped the railing, jumping down to run behind him.
They arrived at the bottom of this staircase, following signs on the wall that said manufacturing. Ren stopped for a second upon entering the massive foundry, seeing molten metal and various steam and smoke rising up around them. People with death in their eyes stood at lines, adding parts onto whatever came in front of them. This was nothing like the foundry they had shown Ren on a field trip as a kid. That one was bright lights and the smell of food, everyone smiling as they packaged bread and other goods. This was… industrial, nightmarish. He saw machines pressing down from pistons on the ceiling, stamping down whatever was unfortunate enough to be caught. Between the heat, clanging metal, and occasional scream as some poor soul lost a finger or burned themselves on the hot metal made.Ren feel like Isshin was right to describe it as a floating hell.
“Ren!” Isshin grabbed him, pulling him toward a small walkway to the side and losing themselves in a milling back and forth of workers, all in matching blue uniform. Not a single one of them noticed, only shuffling by in a zombie state as they focused on whatever task was at hand. Everyone looked miserable, most in pain and quite a few looked as if they may die any moment. He felt Isshin almost throw him to the side as a small vehicle passed him, boxes and items loaded tall on top. Isshin looked at him. “Keep an eye out. Everything in here is a death trap.”
“Great,” Ren muttered, trying to keep up with him in the throng of people. If the guards noticed them, they gave no sign and kept on chatting with each other and overseeing the workers, occasionally yelling at one. “So how are we going to find Sunny? They said he was picking and packing so I assume that’s in the outbound area. Opposite from manufacturing so we’ll have to find the main corridor.”
Isshin pulled a picture from a pocket in his coat, Sunny scowling in it alongside a smiling Isshin. He held the photo up to the nearest person they passed, pressing it into their face and grabbing them.
“You seen this guy? He’s always pissed off, looks just like me… why the fuck did I bring a picture.” Isshin said, stuffing it back into his pocket. “Yeah, looking for an asshole that looks just like me. Seen him?”
The man Isshin was speaking to simply shook his head, open mouth and eyes but no thoughts behind them other than work. Isshin snapped in front of the man, but no luck. He just moved past and kept on with his work.
“Christ.” Isshin whispered, moving to another person a few feet down. “Hey, you seen a guy that looks like me but like, permanently bitchy?”
This worker just shook his head as well until they could hear yelling from a guard nearby.
“Ishida!” It was shouting, making Isshin look up surprised to hear his family name. “Ishida! You’re supposed to be in packing!”
The guard was making his way through the milling people to Isshin now, pulling a baton from his side. Isshin just smiled, looking at Ren and giving a little shrug. He pulled Ren along, avoiding the guard and bringing him on a chase.
“Saw a sign that said Main Line back there. If I get us there can you find packing?” Isshin shouted back to Ren. He was keeping his head low to avoid the guard, but Ren was able to stand and see over other’s heads, desperately searching the walls for more direction signs like the earlier ones. This was a manufacturing ark, he remembered having to study all the safeguards involved for corporate protection law in a class he took last semester, and they were supposed to be pretty uniform throughout arks.
“This way,” Ren said, now grabbing Isshin and leading him toward a nearby door, a small line of workers coming in through it to start shifts. He could still hear the guard shouting behind him, his voice steadily getting more lost in the work noise.
“Ishida! That’s gonna be a writeup and half rations!” He yelled before they slipped through the door, against the small current of workers still flooding in. They finally broke through, entering a much wider hallway. Ren looked back and could just see the guard holding a hand to his mouth, signaling someone.
“He’s calling backup.” Ren said, moving behind Isshin as he looked back too. “Yellow will always lead back to the main line. It’s a safety guideline they all have. Red leads to emergency exits, yellow to main line, and blue to the bridge.”
“Alright, we just keep running until we find packing, right?” He puffed, still running but easing up on the speed a little. Ren ran and looked at every sign they passed, seeing everything from electronic and embroidery to pets, which almost had a wall of sound at the door, every animal imaginable raising hell inside. They kept running as two guards came from a side door ahead, looking at them and drawing batons.
“Stop! You’re out of area, Ishida!” One yelled, making a small crackle of electricity pop at the end of his baton. Ren was about to reach for his dagger when Isshin smiled, putting a hand out to him before reaching to his waist.
“About time you got some work.” He said, drawing the sword from it’s scabbard. The shining blade reflected harsh fluorescent light as the guards stopped for a moment, but kept going forward regardless of the blue streak flashing ahead. Isshin just smiled, “Want to see why it got its name?”
Ren barely saw him move, hefting the sword and ducking under the first guard’s swing. The guard collapsed to the floor, blood soaking from a wound on his chest. The other guard stared and fumbled words as Ren did the same, only seeing the blue flash quickly before the blood spray hit the wall.
“I didn’t kill him.” Isshin said, wiping the blade against his sleeve, blood from it’s edge soaking his shirt. He sheathed it, continuing to run forward with Ren at his side, still in surprise of what happened.
“Holy shit! How did you do that? You barely moved?” Ren was almost shouting, his brain still working to understand how he had cut the guard. Isshin just looked at him, aloof.
“Dad made Sunny and I duel every day. Said even if we were cooks we should still learn to fight. Wasn’t really trusting of the world I guess.” He said, scanning the walls ahead before seeing another group of guards run from the hallway ahead. “Oh, come on!”
He drew the sword once more, this time holding it backhand and leaping at the small group in a spinning motion. Ren saw the flash of deep blue again before the blood spray followed, leaving a trail where it landed on the roof and walls. Four guards collapsed while two remained standing, gaping at their comrades. Workers that had been entering the hallway were now stopping to see what the commotion was.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Hey, start fighting.” Isshin said as he picked up one of the fallen officer’s batons and tossed it to a nearby worker. The woman who got it stared for a moment before pressing a small button at the side, making electricity pop at the ends like before. She gave a small smile and nod to Isshin, who nodded in return and began running. The woman gleefully walked over and shocked one of the still standing guards who yelped in surprise.
“Dammit, drop it!” The guard said, hefting his baton and striking the woman. She fell to the ground briefly as other workers that had stopped gawked at her. She stood up still, wiping a tear of pain from her eye before letting out a guttural scream and rushing forward, knocking the guard over and striking down at him over and over. Other workers began to cheer and a couple ran forward to grab batons from the other guards that were no longer using them.
“There, that should keep them busy.” Isshin said, looking back at where the guards were being swarmed by workers now, batons flying through the air as prisoners kept cheering before moving into the other rooms with their respective batons. Isshin smiled while looking behind, shouting back to the workers “Power in solidarity! Seize the means of production!”
Ren sighed as Isshin kept on, letting out a cheer as the word ‘Packing’ finally appeared over an upcoming doorway. They ducked in quickly, making their way through a small hallway into a high ceilinged warehouse, full of shelves as far as they could see. They found their way to a center aisle and began running along, checking down each one for anyone that could be Sunny.
“See him yet?” Ren shouted, not really expecting an answer.
“Nope,” Isshin said back. He grabbed a nearby worker, again asking them, “Have you seen a guy named Sunny? Looks like me, except really mad.”
The worker looked at him in fear at first, thinking he would just be the latest to abuse him for not moving fast enough. Isshin raised his hands in peace as he turned around, showing he meant no harm. The man just continued looking him for a moment before talking.
“Oh, hey Ishida.” He said before taking another moment, confusion clouding his face. “Didn’t I just see you on the other aisle?”
“Thanks for your time.” Isshin said, pushing past the man and rushing down another aisle of shelves and boxes, workers moving like ants and gathering items in baskets, scanning as they went. “He’s gotta be up here.”
Ren kept moving, now looking down every aisle he passed before finally catching glimpse of someone that fit the profile. He tapped Isshin on the shoulder before veering off down the aisle toward the person. “Sunny!?”
“I swear to god if you’re about to ask me about the quota again.” He turned around, cracking knuckles while still holding a small scanner in his hands, ready to knock whatever micromanager was coming for it. His expression changed to surprise upon seeing Ren and Isshin running toward him. “Fuck.”
Isshin said nothing, but instead kept running and swung a punch at his brother, who managed to avoid the fist but still get hooked by Isshin’s arm and was pulled to the ground, where Isshin stood up on a knee and one foot, fist raised to hit Sunny again full on.
“Hey brother,” He said, smiling and hopping up, giving Sunny a swift hook to the face before offering him a hand. “Looks like they finally civilized you.”
Sunny looked at the scanner in his hand, throwing it to the ground after a second and looking at them as he got up, dusting hands off on his pants and brushing a wrist across the blood leaking from his now split lip. “So, restaurant go to shit like I said it would?”
“No, jackass. I had to close for a day because you got yourself put in this place.” Isshin said, checking the shelves around them for anything that could be useful. “Someone had to come get you and Robin wasn’t up to it.”
“How’s the crew?” Sunny asked, serious now. “And who’s this?”
He motioned to Ren who meekly waved. “Name’s Ren. Uh, new to the crew I guess.”
Sunny sized him up, glaring at him for a moment.
“Alright, looks like you could use some work but whatever.” He said, now looking to Isshin again as they could hear furious footsteps approaching their aisle. He looked over to Isshin, now pulling his pack off and rummaging through. “Got anything for me?”
“Hard to fit much in a pack for flying but yeah.” Isshin said, now tossing items to Sunny who was getting himself prepared. “Grapple and plasma dagger right here.”
“Where’s my sword?” He asked, questioning his brother closely.
“Seriously, I bring you all this and you still complain? Your fault for leaving the sword back home while you went off pirating.” Isshin got indignant, immediately the two devolved into quarreling brothers as a guard finally turned the aisle, running toward them and shouting.
“Is that my grapple the kid is wearing?” Sunny asked, turning toward Ren, who just looked sheepishly.
“Hey, stop! You’re wanted for the assault of multiple guards!” He was running down the hallway as Sunny fit the brace on his arm, flexing and moving it as he did. He casually lifted it to the guard, doing the same wrist flick Ren was familiar with while barely looking. The grapple shot out and caught the guard in the leg, stumbling him and loosing a scream of agony.
“Whatever. Feels good having one of these back.” He said, punching in and adjusting settings on the brace screen to his liking. He picked up the plasma dagger next, flicking the small switch on the side and causing the daggers edge to glow white hot almost immediately. “It’ll do.”
“It’ll have to.” Isshin said, putting a hand on his own sword hilt as more guards could be heard yelling behind them. “Ready?”
“Why are you asking me?” Sunny said, as the brothers took a side by side stance, Isshin holding loosely to the sword and Sunny standing to his right, dagger wielded backhand in his left while the grapple was pointed forward on his right. Guards finally reached the aisle, rushing forward with batons raised as the brothers rushed through them, guards falling at their feet as they passed. Ren looked on, mouth open in surprise at the falling bodies. “You coming?”
Ren snapped out of it as Isshin looked back at him, motioning an arm to hurry up as he sheathed the blade again, he and Sunny now running fast down the small spaces between aisles. They could see the yellow line for main corridor when red lights began flashing with a siren wailing.
“Please remain in place. Please remain in place.” An. automated voice played over the speakers. Ren laughed as all the workers around began looking around, wondering what was going on. Guards were bunching up at the door to the main line, blocking their way as the voice continued.. “There is an active intruder. Please remain in place.”
“Fuck that.” Sunny said, aiming his grapple at the ceiling, it shot out quickly, anchoring him to one of the steel beams of the ceiling. He flicked his wrist again, still running before being lifted, swinging along the tense cable before letting the hook come back at the apex of his swing, drop kicking into the guards blocking the door. Ren saw them tumble like dominoes over each other backwards, clearing the way.
“Kit you there?” Isshin said, running with his own brace held to him. Kit’s voice came in back to them, crackling through the small comms device.
“Yeah, we’re about a few hundred meters under the ship, trying to stay out of sight. You find him?” Kit asked, almost breathless despite just piloting the ship.
“Unfortunately.” Isshin said back as Sunny began yelling.
“Kit! How you been? Took you long enough to get here.” Sunny was yelling while kicking a guard back who was just exiting the door next to them. Sunny slammed the door back as the man fell, catching his leg with a crack. Ren recoiled at the sound, quickly followed up by screams from the guard.
“You dumb bastard. Lucky you didn’t die!” Kit shouted back, making Isshin pull the brace away from his ear as they exploded in curses and tirades. Sunny laughed and kept running. “I’m going to pull starboard. Can you make it?”
“I’ve got a score to settle first.” Sunny said, continuing to run forward. Isshin groaned.
“Seriously? We’re on an Avarice ark and you want to go making stops for revenge?” He was over it, barely seeing his brother for ten minutes was enough for a lifetime it seemed like. They kept going, Sunny pointing to a small sign on the wall that said Bridge in massive letters.
“Good, maybe he’ll see an uprising through since you won’t.” Kit crackled in again.
“Exactly.” Sunny said, running toward the stairs now visible a few dozen meters in front of them. “We’re taking it back.”
Isshin cursed in Japanese, still following his brother. “You’re going to make dad haunt me.”
“If the old bastard can get out of hell, he’s welcome to come for me.” Sunny said back, smiling at his brother. Guards ran down the stairs, trying to block their way from continuing to the bridge. Sunny charged straight in, plas-dagger glowing white hot as he did. Ren saw him take punches to the face but keep moving while Isshin meanwhile remained untouched, dancing through the tumbling guards as steel flashed. Ren was suddenly grabbed from behind.
“Get off me!” He shouted, throwing an elbow behind him into the guards padded armor. He desperately struggled to free a hand, feeling the guards arm move up around his neck. He saw Isshin glance back at him in worry before more guards swarmed him. Sunny meanwhile had grappled the low ceiling and was using it to swing in a wide circle, kicking and slicing guards as he went.
His head became light, limbs getting heavy as his oxygen was cut off. He fumbled, grasping at the dagger in his belt. He could feel the hilt but not quite get his hand around to grab it. Vision blurred as darkness creeped from the edges of his vision. He still couldn’t reach the dagger, feeling his brace scrape past it instead and into the padding of the guard. He made a final desperate move, flicking his wrist upward and loosing the grapple.
He felt a gush of blood hit the back of his head. He looked back as the guard let go of him, now seeing the full effect of what he had done. Blood was falling from the guard’s mouth and neck, gushing in turn from anywhere it could. The grapple hood had entered through his neck and barely made it through the back of his skull before deciding it was a good place to anchor, letting the tensile hooks out and crushing down on the man’s head. Ren didn’t know what to do upon seeing all the same blood from the man soak him. He tried pulling the grapple back but it caused the gasping man to instead fall silent forever as it caved his skull. Ren looked at him, seizing on the ground with blood pouring from his wounds, dead eyes fixed on Ren. He didn’t have time to think but instead turned and ran, still breathless, to where the brothers were taking out the last couple of guards. Ren’s ears were ringing, a long, drawn out sound like a high wail. Everything became dreamlike as he rushed forward, more nightmarish as lights became bright and sounds got louder.
Isshin put a hand to his shoulder, steadying him as he went by. Ren looked back wild eyed, a blank stare of terror, rage, and adrenaline all in one. Isshin steadied him and pointed to the stairs.
“You’re good, kid. You’re good. We’re almost there.” Isshin said, again lifting the brace. “Hey Kit we’re going to be a minute. Sunny has it in his head to take the ark from Avarice.”
“Good, see it through.” Kit came back through the comm, sounding exasperated. “Just hurry! We’re going to be swarming in Avarice troops any second.”
“Oh, it’ll be quick.” Sunny said, bursting throught he corridor doors and into the bridge room, where a few suited officers were sitting in padded chairs, simply chit-chatting unknowingly as things went to hell beneath them. “Hey, motherfuckers!”
They all turned in surprise as Sunny came bursting in, though it didn’t last long before they scrambled away and tried to get into hiding. Sunny focused on one man near the windshield, smiling as he loosed the grapple at the man’s leg. “Now, you and I had a pretty bad meeting the other day.”
The man screamed as Sunny’s grapple hook pierced his leg like Ren had seen Robin do to the Bannerman that had tagged him. He was groveling in pain, begging in front of Sunny for forgiveness. “I was just doing my job, man. Come on, you know how it is.”
Sunny reeled the man closer to him, making him scream in pain and streak the floor with blood. Sunny kneeled down to meet him as the grapple retracted.
“Now, remember what you told me when I got here? About starting on the right foot?” Sunny said, flipping and twirling the plas-dagger nonchalantly as he looked the man in the eyes, full of terrified tears that were overflowing down his face. Sunny stabbed the plas-dagger down into the man’s right foot. “Good, now we’ve started on the right foot, see!”
Sunny laughed as Isshin groaned, looking to the other officers in the room as he did. “I’d suggest getting out of here.”
They ran scared as Sunny grabbed a comm speaker nearby, pulling it to him and pressing the button.
“Attention, Avarice slaves and employees. Mostly the slaves, though.” Sunny said, still looking at the man before him. “I’ve just had a fantastic talk with the foreman, and guess what! He’s agreed to give everyone the rest of the day off! Hell, he said y’all could just quit working if you want. The ship is yours now, after all!”
They couldn’t hear anything other than the beep of machines and whir of one of the multiple engines. The officer let out a whimper as Sunny held the reciever over to him. “Care to confirm, boss?”
“I can’t do that! Avarice will have my head!” The officer shouted, trying to worm away but still echoing over the speakers. “They’ll fire me. Please, I’ve worked for this for years. I’ve done so much.”
He was begging through tears and snot, desperately trying to avoid the end as it rapidly approached. Sunny twisted the plas-dagger, still in the foreman’s foot. He screamed in agony as a response.
“Fine! Fine!” He was sobbing through gasps now. “Take it. Take the damn thing!”
“Straight from the boss’s mouth, folks. No more work, no more quotas.” Sunny said, smirking at the snivelling man. Apparently the workers finally caught on to the message, as Ren could hear cheers from up and down the hall as people suddenly milled out. They were cut off by the sound of one of the other officers smacked a button on a console, screaming into it.
“Help! Avarice manufacturing ark 004. There’s an uprising!” The woman was screaming to anyone that could hear. “Emergency!”
“You done yet?” Isshin said, messing with consoles in front of them and dialing in various numbers. “Okay, I’ve set some shields and auto defense up. Set it to recognize Avarice ships as hostile.”
“You can’t do this. Please.” The officer was still in tears as he begged them.
“Well, it’s done. Hear that, Kit? Now stop harassing me.” Isshin said, stepping back from the console as a few workers wandered up the stairs and into the bridge, exploring their newfound freedom.
Sunny picked the plas-dagger from the man’s foot, making him scream once more in agony. Sunny stood, looking to Isshin and Ren by the console before pointing to a door nearby, leading out to ark’s outer deck where they could escape to the Pigeon.
Isshin motioned to one of the workers that had just entered, handing him an officer’s dagger one of them had left on the console.
“All yours. Keep it that way.” Isshin said as the man just nodded, still in wonder. “Let’s go. Kit!”
“They’re going to down this whole ship if the workers take it over!” The officer was screaming now. “They’d rather let this go down in flames than have workers disrupt the machine. They have plenty of newer arks in waiting that don’t need as many people anyway, so they’re looking for any excuse to torpedo this one! I don’t want to die, please!”
“All that and you still only care about your own skin.” Sunny sighed, approaching the door and opening it now.
Kit crackled back over the comms, voice shrill and even more exasperated than before. “Are you done yet? I’ve got cruisers coming up to see if there’s a problem.”
“Yeah, we’re good. Just redistributing wealth.” Isshin said, joining his brother at the bow door, ripped wide open by the atmosphere’s gusts. Wind whipped in, almost making Ren fall flat on his ass. “We’re on the bridge so there was a little change. Think you can grab us from here?”
“I hate that.” Kit responded, a groan coming through the speaker. Sunn was walking toward a small mast in the mid-deck, an Avarice banner flying high from it. “You say that like I have a choice but there’s no choice. It’s either I come get you or you do something even more suicidal to get here. I’ll be there in a sec.”
“Gonna just get rid of this since it’s out of date.” Sunny said, slicing through the small flagpole with his dagger, white hot plasma easily separating the cold steel. Ren looked as the Pigeon appeared nearby, flying closer to them as it ascended to level. “God, that’s a sight I never thought I would be so glad to see.”
“You’re lucky to see it again.” Isshin said, yelling over at him. He had his boots locked to the deck, unmoving but keeping an eye behind them at the door. The Pigeon pulled near them, not landing but Kit managing to keep pace with the ship enough that it seemed to stay still. “Hop on.”
Another guard tried to rush from the door behind them, a worker grabbing their feet could hit deck. The guard was quickly swept away by the wind, screams being lost on gusts before ending, cut off completely with a loud clang of metal as his body spun on the way down. Isshin pressed a button on his brace, wings spreading from his pack and a small booster shooting him into the air, right to the deck of the Pigeon. Ren had a sudden realization seeing him take off.
“You don’t have a glider!” He shouted to Sunny, who just smiled in response, raising his grapple to the ship.
“Don’t need one!” He said, zipping up to the Pigeon and landing on the deck smoothly. Ren tried to follow suit, grappling the Pigeon but crashing to the deck instead of landing smoothly after zipping through the air.
He desperately clawed for any kind of grip as the heavy winds tried to rip him from the deck. On his belly, palms flat as he tried to no avail to right himself, making a move to plant his feet anywhere the mags in his soles could stick. He finally hit the button, magnetizing his boots as he kicked the bridge siding while being dragged past. He took a moment to sigh in relief as he finally had a stable anchor to the ship.
Sunny ducked through the door and offered Ren a hand, reaching him with ease and pulling him into the bridge. As Sunny set Ren upright in the bridge, he patted him on the shoulder. “Not sure who the fuck you are, but… You did pretty good.”