"The current should take us to the edge of Ferrum by the end of the day, it isn't the shortest route but it's the least likely for us to run into trouble" River informs them.

My kind kind of river journey" Mouse replies as he places a blanket over Callum.

Lightning clashes overhead followed by thunder as the rain begins to pelt down even harder, Sam watches the rain hitting the water out of the open window, almost relaxing him a little, the window is low enough for him to stick his arm out and rest his hand in the water if he wanted to.

Mouse has started the onboard fire to get Callum warm again, a black stove with a funnel sticking out of the roof of their small boat.

River sits on the other side of the window, there is a small table separating Sam and herself in front of it.

"Where are we heading?" Sam asks.

"We are heading for the Ferrum rain forests" River replies.

"That's a dangerous place" Sam points out.

"You don't need to be worried with us around" Mouse tells him with a smile.

"Hey, you said that River is number five on the list, who is number six?" Sam asks.

"Speak of the devil" River remarks and indicates to someone walking across a tree branch overhanging the middle of the river.

Sam can make out that the person is a woman as they pass underneath the overhanging branch, a thud can be heard on the roof of the boat and he listens as the footsteps make their way over, stopping directly above the window.

"Come and introduce yourself" River hollers up to the person.

A pair of boots appear dangling in front of the window as this woman lowers herself down, resting on the window ledge.

"Sam, this is Falcon" River introduces her.

"Nice to meet ya" Falcon states as she throws herself into the boat.

"You couldve just used the fucking door you know" Mouse snaps at her as she leans up against the other side of the boat.

"Come here, I need to warm my hands" she teases him whilst following him down the boat with her hands near his hair.

"I hate you" he snaps as she follows him out onto the deck.

"Fearless Falcon, Ruthless River, Mighty Mouse" Sam mutters to himself.

"I'm impressed by a foot soldier like you know our actual titles" River remarks to him.

"The soldiers like to boast whenever they have come into contact with you" he replies before looking out of the window,

A quiet knock is heard from the doorway as Mouse can be seen putting his finger to his lips indicating for them to remain quiet, he beckons River over to him and she moves over quietly.

"Prisoner ship" he states.

"Falcon, what can you see?" River asks, instinctively knowing that she will be above the roof.

"Ten guards out on deck, sitting down, at least three more inside" she replies quietly.

"What's going on?" Sam asks quietly.

"Ferrum prisoner ship" Mouse replies.

"We can either hide in the river bank and wait for them to go past, or we can go and deal with them" River suggests.

"By deal with them ...." Sam asks cautiously.

"She means kill them and sink the boat" Mouse explains a bit more abruptly than what Sam is expecting.

"Do they have to die?" Sam asks, clearly upset about this prospect.

Mouse goes to reply but has to make a double take at Sam noticing a small red flashing light from the metal ID tags around his neck.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me" he snarls whilst grabbing the tags from around his neck.

"A tracker" River sighs.

"What ... We were told that was a heart rate monitor" Sam replies now worried for his own safety amongst these assassins.

"Sam relax, we know you are genuine" River reassures him and places a hand on his shoulder, she can feel the tension on him.

He lets out a nervous sigh of relief before sitting down by the window again.

Mouse walks over to Sam with a knife before pulling Sam's arm outstretched.

"It's ok, we're just going to make a decoy" Mouse reassures him, Sam nods and he then proceeds to cut away at the sleeve.

Walking back outside he attaches the sleeve along with the ID tags to an overhanging branch, whilst he is doing this Sam notices that River and Falcon appear to have disappeared.

"Will they kill them?" Sam asks as Mouse walks back inside to sit with him.

"We avoid killing where possible" Mouse reassures him.

Over at the prison boat, the soldiers haven't yet noticed the small escape boat further up the river and are happily minding their own business, one of them at the far end of the boat on his own notices a crocodile swimming in the water next to the boat.

This is followed by a small commotion in the water arousing the suspicions of the other soldiers.

"Have you gone for a swim down there?" One of them hollers.

They listen but there is no response, making them all feel a little on edge given the atmosphere is already eerie due to the weather.

"You two, go check he hasn't fallen in" a soldier who is clearly in charge instructs a pair of soldiers.

They make their way down to the other end of the boat and disappear out of view.

"This is weird, don't ya think?" One asks the other, but as he turns around he sees that they aren't there anymore.

He looks all around himself, fearful, clearly confused as to what is going on.

Hearing creaking on the boat behind him, he turns slowly to see someone standing there, wearing a hollowed out crocodile with the top jaw hiding there face, tripping backwards out of fear he doesn't get a chance to call for help as a cloth is put around his face from another unknown assailant.

All the while the other soldiers have been waiting intently for the other two to come back and inform them that it was just a silly accident that has happened, as if the person had fallen overboard, but there is nothing, only the sound of thunder and rain with the occasional flash of lightning.

The commanding officer becomes edgy at this point and scours around the river banks either side of the boat.

"I don't like this" he mutters.

"On your feet, you five go and search the back of the ship" he instructs half the group that is left and everyone gets to their feet clearly on edge and clutching their firearms.

The five that are left, three from inside and two from the group out on deck make their way to the other end of the boat, the others wait patiently.

"They're just gone, how could they vanish like that?" One asks.

"New World Monkeys?" Another suggests.

"We aren't in the Ferrum rainforests here" the other replies.

"They're gone, there's no one here" another shouts down the boat.

"Look lively, we have company" the commander informs his soldiers.

Without warning and startling all of them, an explosion can be heard a short distance away from them, behind it the small escape boat making its way down the river towards them.

The commanding officer looks behind him and has to give a double take, two more soldiers have disappeared.

Over at the escape boat, Mouse is collecting the two soldiers that disappeared earlier from the side of the river bank, forcing them to sit inside with the other one they have captured that had originally disappeared.

The soldiers all look quite frightened,clearly very confused about what has happened, the fact Haven soldiers are this far out is in itself a terrifying concept to them.

"Now, one more distraction" Mouse mutters before walking out on deck and dragging himself up onto the roof.

He takes off his cap almost becoming a beckon with his bright orange hair.

"SIR!" One of the soldiers at the other end of the boat shouts.

As the commanding officer turns around he stands still hearing the clicking of a trigger as a firearm is pointed at his head.

"Sir" the two that are now left with him begin to say but are immediately silenced by a blade being held up against each of their necks.

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"Drop it chief" River instructs him, still wearing the hollowed out crocodile.

"S ... Sir?" One of the soldiers asks unsure what to do at this point.

"Drop your weapons" he instructs them as he gives in to the situation.

The other soldiers have made their way down the boat after no response from the others and begin aiming their firearms at the two strangers.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS OR WE WILL SHOOT!" They shout at them.

"That would be very unwise" Mouse states appearing on the roof of the boat directly behind them aiming a firearm at them.

"Drop your weapons, surrender, or they will kill you" the commanding officer instructs the remaining soldiers.

Reluctantly they give up their weapons and Mouse ties them up, forcing each one of them to sit down at the side of the boat.

Falcon attaches the escape boat to the side of the prisoner ship before joining the other three on deck, Mouse sitting on the roof dangling his legs over the doorway, River leaning against the otherside of the boat to what the soldiers are on and Falcon taking position sitting on some boxes at the far side of the ship.

"So, what cargo are you hauling onboard this here vessel?" Mouse asks.

None of them reply, the soldiers seem to be quite down for some reason, almost as if they are afraid of saying anything.

Cautiously River steps inside and begins to slowly walk down the stairs into the dull under belly of the boat, each step echoing as she descends down the stairs.

The silence down there is making her uncomfortable, putting on a pair of night vision goggles she can make out more clearly what is down here.

Individuals, chained up, none of them older than nineteen, all of them boys, they appear to draw towards the walls, attempting to get as far away from her as possible not knowing that she isn't their capturs.

Seeing a light switch, she flicks it on and takes off her nightvision goggles, all the boys seem to blinker now the light is on, and slowly realise that she isn't who they thought she was, but even so, they seem to have had their spirits broken, one boy in particular looks terrible as she spots him at the far side.

Looking more closely she sees a young boy, can't be any more than fourteen years old, badly beaten, bloody, and barely clinging to life lying on the floor not moving a muscle.

"FALCON! I NEED YOUR HELP DOWN HERE!" She hollers up and Falcon comes down to join her.

Whilst they are freeing the prisoners Sam hops aboard the prison boat much to the curiosity of the soldiers.

The commanding officer appears to be trying to get his attention, indicating for him to grab a firearm resting against the edge of the boat and use it on Mouse.

"I wouldn't bother with that if I were you" Mouse warns the officer.

"Mouse, what are you going to do with them?" Sam asks.

"TRAITOR" the officer snarls at Sam but immediately shuts up as a blade lands directly next to his face embedding into the wood of the boat.

"You do that again, and next time it'll be your throat" Mouse warns him calmly.

"I'd rather be a traitor, than a murder like you" Sam snarls much to the surprise of Mouse who was under the impression that he is a gently spirit.

Falcon appears leading all of the boys up out of the boat, after a few moments they have all made their way out and are sitting on the opposite side of the boat to what the soldiers are. Finally, Falcon and River bring out the badly injured boy.

"Which one of you is responsible for this?" River asks sternly.

All the soldiers look slowly at the commanding officer.

"He needed reminding who is in charge here" he snarls bitterly at her.

"Do you really think, that you, are still in charge?" She asks sarcastically whilst throwing and catching a blade she has in her hands.

"River, play nicely" Mouse tells her.

"I was thinking more, that we leave him for the New World Monkeys" River remarks back looking over at him still tossing and catching the blade.

The officer suddenly has a look of fear in his eyes.

"You, what would you consider reasonable force?" She asks the soldier at the very end of the group, looking away from everyone with a look of shame upon his face.

"Me?" He asks nervously.

"Yes, you" she replies leaning against the edge of the boat next to him holding the blade up against his neck.

He takes a gulp before answering.

"Not that" he replies, he can't even bring himself to look at the boy, and River notices this fact.

"Take a good long look" she snaps forcing his head to turn and look at the boy.

"I ... I'm so sorry" he mutters quietly.

She drags him to his feet before pushing him backwards over the edge of the boat and holding him there by the scruff of the neck, despite his struggling it's no use, he can't escape the situation and begins to pant heavily.

"Mouse" Sam says in desperation.

"Keep out of it" he replies with a glare.

"Interesting, you don't even care when one of your team is about to be killed" River remarks, directing the point at the commanding officer.

"He's just as bad as you filthy scum, kill him" he snaps at her.

"No ..." the injured boy can be heard whimpering.

Falcon and River look down at him but Mouse doesn't lift his glare on the soldiers.

"He ... Helped ... Me" the boy mutters.

"Lift up his shirt" the soldier next to her says.

She does so to reveal bruises, she gently lowers him back down and helps him to sit, he whimpers and begins to get emotional.

"Now then" Mouse states and jumps down before walking over to the commanding officer.

"They'll come for you, and gut you like the rats you are" the officer snarls at him.

Mouse merely smiles before punching him in the face and ripping his ID tags from him, he proceeds to rip all of the ID tags off of the other soldiers, a look of shock can be seen on the officers face.

"However will they find us now?" Mouse asks sarcastically and drops the tags into the water.

"No, no, no, no, NOOOO! You're not supposed to be here" the officer continues to snarl appearing to snap as it is frighteningly apparent he has completely lost control of the situation.

"You know, your suggestion is slowly starting to warm on me, New World Monkeys it is then" Mouse states sinisterly and glares down at the officer before dragging him and throwing him into the hull of the boat.

"You don't need to be afraid now, we aren't going to hurt you" Falcon informs the soldiers and begins to untie each one of them.

"Sorry for the little show we put on there, we were just manipulating the situation to get one of you to snap, torture would've only given us unreliable information" River explains.

The soldiers don't seem relieved by this explanation, if anything they are even more fearful realizing that this was all just an elaborate act to manipulate information out of everyone.

"That was fucked up" Sam states to Mouse.

"We used a different approach because we knew you wouldn't like it if we started torturing them" he replies half heartedly.

One of the soldiers suddenly bursts into tears and begins to cry loudly into his hands, the soldier next to him tries to comfort him.

"Even their own soldiers are being broken" Falcon remarks to Mouse.

"Alright use lot, heres the deal, you can either hop on the small boat and head back to Terra Auri, or, you can join us and escape" Mouse tells them, giving them only two options to choose from.

"NO! I'M NOT GOING BACK! PLEASE ANYTHING BUT THAT!" The soldier who has burst into tears yells.

"Raise your hand if you want to escape" River tells them, one by one all of the soldiers raise a hand.

"Right then, take the young boy gently into the small boat with the other injured person, come on, hop to it" Mouses instructs the soldiers and claps his hands with a smile and enthusiasm for encouragement.

None of them hesitate and immediately do as they are told, River leads them into the other boat.

"You four, put up a canvas canopy, everyone needs to take shelter from the rain" Falcon instructs them.

They quickly get to work, putting up the canopy and starting a fire in a grill dish in the middle of the boat.

"Hey! Cheer up, you're free now, and soon we will have bright blue skies" Mouse encourages the boys that have been rescued whilst jumping up and down, this brings out a reluctant smile from many of them and a giggle from others.

One of the older boys stands up, taller than Mouse and takes a few steps towards him.

"What ... What can I do to help?" He asks.

"Go and get the big pots from inside the small boat" Mouse replies and the lad does so with a few of the other older ones following suit to help.

River meanwhile has patched up the injured boy who is now being warmed by the stove next to Callum.

"It's good we have trained soldiers, we're gonna need them in the rainforest" Falcon mutters quietly to Mouse.

"I'm relying on you Mighty Mouse if we come across the New World Monkeys" she states and stares out into the treeline.

High up in the sky and now moving at full speed, Heaven's Gate is making its way as quickly as possible back in the direction of Haven.

Oliver is currently having a video conference call with Nathan and Anna.

"Ferrum's prince and princess are here with us, safe and sound" Oliver informs them.

"Any word from River and the other two?" Nathan asks.

"From what I've gathered, they are heading back through the Ferrum rainforests" Oliver replies.

"Of course they are, only those three are stupid enough to attempt that trip" Anna states before letting out a huff and rolling her eyes

"It should only take us about two days to get back to Haven" Oliver informs them.

"We need River and the others to start with the war planning" Nathan ponders out loud.

"It will probably take them another three weeks to get back in signal range" Oliver points out.

"And around two months to get back to Haven" Anna remarks.

"They have to be careful, flying would make it quicker, but they are more likely to be a target if they use that approach" Oliver continues to point out.

"Heaven's Gate returning should help to bring Haven's citizens on our side to go to war" Anna states.

"Meetings start as soon as we get back, a voting date has been set for next week" Nathan informs Oliver.

"You need fifty one percent of the votes to go to war" Oliver reminds them.

"All those little military projects you two have both been working on have already cost a small fortune" he continues.

"You're referring to The Wrath, aren't you" Nathan mutters.

"It should never have been built" Oliver states his point of view on the matter.

"I agree, but having given the situation, it will be our most valuable asset in this war" Anna says.

"For now bring Heaven's Gate home, along with its former crew" she instructs Oliver.

"Yes your majesty" he replies politely and his screen goes blank.

"Anna, Nathan, the Trident is here" Blackcroft informs them as she walks into the control room.

"This should bring some confidence to the refugees" Anna states softly as she and Nathan follow Blackcroft out on deck.

Sailing past them as they lean against the edge of the ship can be seen a ginormous warship, with sailors out on deck giving a salute to the king and queen, The Trident is the biggest and newest warship Haven has, construction of the vesel only finished being completed a few weeks ago.

It is joined by the other newly completed warships that have been instructed to meet them halfway for safe passage home, the most striking thing about them is that they are all painted white.

Refugees, sailors and soldiers alike, lean out of windows or against the edge of the ships in the rescue fleet, as these mighty warships leave no doubt as to who is in control of this area.

"Haven sure is equipped" Thomas states observing the huge warship sailing past.

"I hear the Trident could take out the Leviathan if it got close enough to it" Kyle mutters.

"There's that bloody aircraft from Ferrum again" Thomas points out, noticing Caelum Timore flying around the outskirts of the fleet.

"They are lending a hand to protect the refugees, like you" Kyle tells him playfully and bops him on the nose.

All of sudden the water next to them erupts into a violent commotion, a submerged sea vessel unlike anything Thomas has ever seen surfaces.

"What the fuck is that?" He asks Kyle.

"That's the Poseidon" he replies with a smile.

"The mythological names you lot give things, are a bit ... Well, odd" Thomas remarks and Kyle laughs at the comment.

"Haven itself was considered a myth before it was officially discovered" he replies with a smirk.

Thomas's attention however has been taken by something subtle, but beautiful.

"It's ... So ... Blue" he mutters out loud apparently mesmerized by the clear sky they are now sailing in.

Sebastian has also noticed how blue the sky is, causing him to drop the mug he is holding and stagger out onto the deck.

"There's no smog, it's just" he starts to ponder before looking over at the ship in front of him to see an equally shocked Thomas looking back and waving at him.

"BLUE SKIES!" He yells over and waves back at Thomas.