Remember The Storm–– Day 5 (February 6, 2317)

[Hwin]

Conner:

Conner didn't take his eyes off of the pistol pointed in his direction. A boy, maybe 16, held the gun. His hand never wavered and his green eyes told Conner that he was not afraid to shoot. Okay. This could be a problem.

"Who are you! What are you doing!" A voice, full of authority and leadership, broke the silence. But Conner didn’t look away from that pistol. "Gillian, do you know him?" The dark haired boy asked. His eyes still locked with Conner’s cold ones.

Conner’s body felt tense and his hand tightened around his pistol. A bead of sweat rolled down his neck. What to do, what to do.

"No,” Conner answered for Gillian (whoever he might be), “my name is Pierce and I am searching for a missing…friend.”

[Brock]

Kyle spoke for Jack, "Who are you searching for?"

Jack saw the movement of 'Pierce's' hand to his pistol and he snapped, "Hand off the gun! If fact, throw the gun down."

Kyle encouraged 'Pierce' by saying, "You either throw the gun down, or Jack will shoot it off your belt."

[Hwin]

Conner:

With a shrug, Conner tossed his gun down. There was no way he could take on a group this size. That would be foolish and Conner would probably end up a dead duck.

“Look, I’m not here for a fight. Tell me who you are and I’ll tell you who I’m searching for.” Conner asked, finally drawing his cold eyes away from Jack and up towards Hook’s ship. That gutty feeling returned and Conner tried to push it away, returning his attention to the problem at hand.

[Anwen]

Gillean finally spoke up. "Is your friend a flying, golden I.S? I believe I saw one fly up to the ship after Lizzy." He explained to his friends apologetically. "Oh!" he exclaimed, "Did I mention this is a bug as well as a tracker?" He turned up the volume on his remote and they heard a girl's voice through a bit of static...

"Hello! What are you hmmm?" Aria purred to herself. "Lizzy, do you have any idea what this is?"

[Hwin]

Conner:

Conner glanced over at the dark haired guy holding the tracking device. "There's no way that isn't Aria." Conner thought aloud, listening to the fuzzy voice on the device. Eyeing Jack's gun, Conner made his way closer to the group. "Aria, the girl you saw flying after your friend, saved me from falling to my death today." he said, pointing towards the vessel hovering above. "Captain Hook never passes up an opportunity to catch an I.S. He won't stop until he gets his way." Conner stated, running his hand through his dusty blonde hair. "Trust me, I know."

[Brock]

"Kyle, should we trust him?" Jack said feeling less tense.

"Gillian, what do you think we should do?" Kyle asked Gillian because he couldn't make up his mind. If we do trust him, Kyle thought, How do we know that he won't turn on us...

[Anwen]

Gillean's sapphire eyes narrowed as he finally analyzed the way this Pierce stood, defiant yet sad, in his blue-grey eyes you saw a longing for something lost. He looked familiar somehow... like someone he had seen in the reports or newspapers from other countries. His undercover work often consisted of information sorting... what was it?

He realized he wasn't paying attention anymore. "I think we can trust him, for now anyway. After all, we have the same goal right? And," he said, grinning, "he seems to know this pirate. I just wish I knew who he reminds me of." he continued, talking to himself now. "wanted in one of the newspapers for something..."

[Hwin]

Conner:

“Aye, Captain Hook. He’s no fun and games let me tell you…” Conner mindlessly stopped short; his head leaned to the side, suddenly deep in thought. Seriousness flashed across his stormy gray eyes. After a moment, Conner walked up to Gillian and extended his hand in greeting. “But thank you, really. And,” he whispered, out of the other’s earshot, “If you happen to remember the name of who I remind you of, would you let me know?”

[Anwen]

Gillean's gaze hardened as he looked Pierce straight in the eye. "You let me know how much we can trust you," he replied quietly, eyes narrowing slightly, "And I'll let you know when I figure it out." Straightening up in the saddle, he looked back at the group. "Hey! Bethany! Are you able to provide another horse?"

[Brock]

"We have one around that cliff, where our stable is." Bethany replied. "You need me to go get her?"

"It looks like we're taking Pierce along with us." Jack said to her, "You should go get Storm, she's already saddled and ready to go."

"Sounds good. I'll be back in a minute."

During this conversation, Kyle stared steadily at Pierce, wondering if that was his name and if he is who he said he is. Taking a chance he asked him, "So 'Pierce', what is your Real name?"

[Hwin]

Conner:

"What is my real name?" Conner repeated Kyle's question, as he slowly turned around to face him. He caught the flash of question in Kyle's dark eyes. "To you, it's Pierce." Conner said coldly, remember that these people were still strangers to him and he didn't have their trust yet and they didn't have his.

[Anwen]

Flashing a quick look at Kyle, this isn't helping, he returned to his usual, cheerful demeanor. "Hey, Pierce. D'you want to ride? We can go catch up with Bethany so we can get going." While he spoke, he looked up at the sky. "Hook evidently waits for no one." After that he slid off his horse. "I need to stretch my legs. Don't worry, I won't slow you guys down." He told the others.

[Hwin]

Conner:

"Um, sure. Thank you." Conner said, taking the reigns from Gillian. Mounting the large mare, he looked quizzically back at Kyle. How was he seeing through his fake set up so easily? Today's been out of the ordinary, that's for sure. I'd better watch myself...

[Anwen]

"Hey guys! Time's a-wastin'! Race you to the stables!" Gillean yelled as he began running, long legs pounding the ground, warming and lengthening as the aches, pains, and knots from riding a horse for the first time in a while were smoothed out. While he ran, the professional part of his brain took over, analyzing Pierce's speech and actions and running a face match in his head.

He found a match.

[Hwin]

Conner:

Gillean dashed ahead of the group and was already covering quite a bit of ground. Conner hadn’t believed he actually was going to run but there he went! “Man, he’s crazy. Conner laughed to himself. Cracking a half smile, he raced his horse forward to catch up with the group. Slowly, Conner’s body and mind began to relax. The exhilarating feeling of the wind in his face and the reigns in his hands reminded him of being on a ship, just where he felt at home.

[Anwen]

Slowing down a bit, Gillean ran along-side Kyle. "I know 'Pierce's' real name. I'll keep it confidential for now, but I'm pretty sure we can trust him."

After maneuvering around again, Gillean got to exactly where he needed to be when they reached their destination. Bethany was just getting the last horse out of the stables when he reached 'Pierce.' Within a moment, he was standing on the rail of the corral, ear level with--

"Conner, brother of Gage."

[Hwin]

Conner:

“Conner, brother of Gage.”

Conner stopped dead in his tracks. The colored drained from his face and his throat went dry. His startled, icy grey eyes turned towards the carrier of the voice. Gillian. How did he know about his lies and…Gage?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Conner tried to say but Gillian knew he was lying, Conner could see it in his eyes. “How do you know about Gage?” His voice came out in a low whisper.

[Anwen]

Gillean loved surprising people. Conner's face went pale, and his startled eyes were boring into him as if they could find the answers in his face. Smiling, Gillean continued in a low voice. "Oh, about the same way I know about you. There's waaaaaaay more info on Gage/Cameron though." His grin grew a little wider as he whispered, "There tends to be about escaped slaves."

[Hwin]

Conner:

Conner’s chest tightened at Gillian’s last words. Anger boiled up inside him; anger which had been building up for the past eight years of his hard life. But it wasn't towards Gillian, he only held information; it was towards the pirates, his father, and every struggle he had put himself through.

It took a minute but Conner pushed his hatred way down within him and focused once again on Gillian. “Gage,” he said calmly, “is no slave, at least not by his own doings. Tell me, how do you know about all of this and about…us?” Although Conner was trying his best to play it off cool and collected his mind raced with a million confused thoughts and his stormy-gray eyes pleaded for answers.

[Anwen]

Gillean suddenly became his usual happy self. "How? Oh, that doesn't matter, I'm just very observant I suppose. Also, here is not a good place to talk about this, nor is this a good time. You see, everyone is staring at us." Grinning, Gillean added, "I will tell you one thing though. Your brother, he's changed his hair color and name. He goes by Cameron."

[Brock]

Getting up from her somewhat comfortable position and finishing up the last few bites of her apple, Lizzy walked over to where Aria was stooped over examining the object. "I don't know," She said puzzled, "It all looks like a jumble of wires to me. It definitely was a last minute throw together. I think I've seen some things like it in my shop, but those were all finished and I didn't pay very much attention to them." She bent down and tried to pull the device off the wall but it was held firmly in place by an extremely strong magnet. "What do you think it could be? Which one of those guys down there, do you think, made it?"

[Anwen]

"I'm not sure. Actually, I don't think I know any of the boys down there. Unless, of course Conner is with them." Aria stood slowly, grimacing in pain. "Do you see bandages anywhere? This injury is as bad as getting your wings clipped. Less humiliating, more painful."

[Brock]

"Yeah, I think I did." Lizzy stood to her full hight, stretched, and walked over to a set of shelves at the corner of the room nearest the door. "Here's something that I think may work." She handed Aria a clean cloth with some triple antibiotic ointment. She helped her clean the wound and then gently wrapped and tied the cloth around the cut, trying best she could to not cause Aria another surge of pain. "How's that?"

[Anwen]

"Much better." Aria purred appreciatively. "I'll think about it later though. I need a catnap. Literally." She smiled a feral grin. "I'll heal. Then we'll get out of here."

___________________

After they had all remounted and started on their way, Gillean pulled his remote kind of thing out of his pocket and listened to the girls' conversation. "Lord! How are we going to do this!" he muttered to himself as the sun began to set.

[Brock]

Jack was thinking the same thing, 'How? What are we to do now?' Frustration was overcoming him and he couldn't think straight. They had to rest sometime from their persecute and resting would allow the pirates to get further and further away. "I can't think of what we should do, We don't know where they are going and we aren't fast enough to catch up to them. We need a faster mode of transportation or a shortcut. You got any surprise ideas for us, Gillean?"