Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 14 - Kade Comes Home

---

At the hospital ward, everyone was passing the time in their own way. Nytetrayn laid in his bed, and read a magazine about Digging. Fenix sat on his bed, cleaning his Plasma Caster. Janine was dozing, as she was a bit out of it, due to her pain medication. Radi was gnawing on a blanket. And Xenos Geist was thinking... an act which seemed to cause him great pain.

Looking up, Fenix asked, "You okay, Xenos?" This got Nyte's attention as well.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking," the Air Pirate replied.

"About what?"

"Lots of stuff, like what I'm gonna be doing."

"It seems to be causing you a great deal of pain," Nyte noted.

"It's good for the heart," Radi said, as she swallowed a piece of blanket.

"Did you wash that blanket before you ate it?" Fenix asked the young girl, only to get a blank look in response.

"Well," Fenix said with a shrug, "at least she's getting plenty of fiber."

Groggily, Janine said, "I can't believe you made a pun that bad."

"You haven't been around him as long as I have," said Nyte.

"It's a talent," Fenix replied.

"Or lack thereof," Xenos said, which earned him a spent ammo casing bounced off of his head.

Radi resumed chewing, while aimlessly playing with two pieces of scrap. She then leaned over the edge of the bed and broke off one of its legs, and remained completely oblivious to how the bed now teetered. She bent the leg into a curl, and added it to the other pieces. She hummed while she worked, occasionally swallowing some blanket until it was all gone.

Fenix looked on in disbelief, and Xenos did with a little more distress. Nyte just sighed and went back to his reading.

"She's strong for her age," Janine said.

"Well," Fenix said, "don't just sit there looking distressed, Xenos, she's your kid."

"Radi, do you realize that blankets aren't food?" Xenos asked with a sigh, before adding, "And... she's 'my' kid?"

"Sort of," said Fenix. "She seems to like you, anyway."

Radi made random "blllllm" noises as a response.

It was then that Doctor Kohn walked into the room, looking at Janine's chart all the while. Nyte fought back an urge to yell the doctor's name aloud.

"Hey, kids," he said. "How's it going?"

Looking up, Nyte just said, "It goes."

"Going alright," said Xenos. "Please tell the kid what happens when you ingest blankets."

"I don't think it's possible for a child of her age to survive eating an entire blanket," the doctor said with a dumbfounded expression. Despite his prognosis, Radi seemed to be quite fine.

"That is not an ordinary child," Janine said.

"That's an understatement," Nytetrayn added.

Doctor Kohn just shrugged and flipped a page up. "Jan, I think your arm is going to be fine. The chemical imbalances we talked about are evening out, but I'd still like you to stick around a little while for observation. The skin is healing remarkably quickly."

"Ummm... wow... Who would have expected that?" Janine replied, with a little bit of nervous laughter.

"Yes sir, it's almost ready," said Radi, who was now sucking on a random lollipop.

The doctor continued. "Anyhow, Kade, I called your mother..."

Fenix's fingers slipped, sending a piece of his gun into the ceiling, where it remained embedded.

"She's been worried sick about you. You really should be ashamed of yourself. I told her you're going over to visit her right now."

Nyte chuckled at that.

"If you hadn't delivered me, I'd kill you for that," Fenix told the doctor.

"Yeah, yeah, you used to tell me that once a week. Just go see your poor old mom," Kohn said as he left the room, tut-tutting to himself.

"Go see the woman you freak," Xenos said. "I'm going to be trying to figure out how this child ticks."

"Ticky-ticky, boom!" said Radi.

"This will be interesting," Xenos said. "So Radi, do you make the bombs yourself?"

"Hup!" she replied.

"Amazing... a chemistry super genius..."

"Yeah, Fenix," Nyte said with a big smile. "Time to go see mother-dearest!" He was clearly enjoying this too much.

Fenix let his face droop into his hands and groaned.

"Why don't we all go?" Janine suggested. "God knows I'd love to see the freaky gene pool that this guy was spawned from. Not to mention, meet a woman who'd name her son 'Kade'."

"Sure, why not?" Nyte said. "What else are we doing?"

"Oh god," Fenix said, before he grabbed his stuff and retreated to the restroom.

As the others got ready, Janine realized something. "Oh, but we don't have any vehicles... other than Xenos' ship, anyway."

"I keep lots of vehicles on my ship," the Pirate was keen to point out.

"The better to eat you with, m'dear," Radi said.

"Can we borrow one, then? I don't think I should be flying right now."

Fenix soon reemerged, completely encased in the cold, metal shell of his Digger gear.

"Oh, hey now!" Janine said in a chastising tone. "That's no way to dress when you visit your mother!"

"Speak for yourself."

"What's wrong with this?" Janine said, looking down at her bikini top and long skirt of cloth strips.

"My village is pretty conservative, they'll run you out of town if they catch you in that."

"...fine," she said, as she put on a long, flowing robe. "There, can we go now?"

"C'mon," said Xenos, "let's go get a car out of the bay."

The group headed out, while Radi sat with a blank look. She soon slithered after them, carrying her odd contraption.

***

In the garage bay of Xenos' ship, it became apparent that the Air Pirate was something of a car collector on the side.

"Hmmm, cool," said Fenix.

"Pick a car. Any car," Xenos said.

Fenix went for the black muscle car with the fiery bird motif painted across the hood. Meanwhile, Radi hopped into a garishly-painted neon green and orange truck with a dolphin painted on the side.

"I doubt we should let her drive anything," Fenix told Xenos.

"No, we shouldn't. Radi, get over here!"

"Zoom," the girl said sadly.

Janine told her, "No zoom for you, young lady." She then picked her up by the scruff of the neck with her good arm, and plunked her down in the car. Radi slouched until she was almost laying on her back.

"That works," said Fenix. "I'm the only one who knows the way, after all."

"Dear God, no..." Nyte said as Fenix took up his position behind the wheel.

"Shut up, Nyte. Everyone in?"

Xenos hopped in the back seat, and said, "I'll be back here with the kid, someone needs to watch her."

Janine set Radi in her lap and patted her on the head. Meanwhile, the garishly-painted truck she just left fell over on its side.

"...huh," said Xenos.

Fenix started the car, and nosed it out of the hangar slowly. "Alright, so far, so good. Now, then..." he said, as he started to chuckle maliciously.

"By the way," said Xenos, "you'll have to pay for a new car if you break this one."

Fenix only laughed louder. Nytetrayn knew that laugh... and now Nytetrayn was scared.

"LET'S SEE WHAT SHE'S GOT!"

With that, Fenix peeled out onto the road, and drove off at many kilometers per hour, cackling all the way. While Janine stared ahead in stark terror, Nytetrayn just covered his eyes and prayed to whoever might be listening, waiting for the laughter to end. Radi just bobbed her head, seemingly happy with the zooming.

" Ah," said the Pirate, "so you know how to drive this, I see!"

"No!" replied the masked Digger. "Been waiting to try one of these out for years!"

***

Eventually, Fenix brought the group to their destination: a small, quaint village in the middle of nowhere. Miraculously, no passengers were harmed in the process. There, he drove up to a small, blue house with white shutters, and parked the car.

Janine leaped out and backed away from Fenix, frightened by what she'd just experienced. Nyte also cautiously exited the vehicle, and Fenix just chuckled softly as he got out, while Radi flew out of the back of the car and slammed against the door.

A trim, pretty woman in her early forties with short, dark brown hair and glasses wearing a green sundress slammed open her front door, frightened by the noise. Radi was squashed against the wall. "What the hell is going on out here!?"

"Radi ran into your door," said Xenos. "Let me get her." The Pirate walked up and pulled the young girl out from behind the door.

"Owwww," she said.

"Goodness! Is she alright? I didn't realize she was still there!"

"She'll be fine, I think she's indestructible."

"Oh, good," said the woman. After a pause, she then asked, "Who are you people, and what are you doing here?"

"Well, actually, he's the one here to see you," Xenos said, before he jabbed his thumb in Fenix's direction. "We came along for the ride."

"And what a ride," Nyte added.

"Don't look at me," said Fenix, "this was Kohn's idea..."

The woman blinked as she took in the sight of the tall man covered from head to toe in Digging armor and a cape. "Do I know you, sir...?"

"Um, no, I'm sorry. This was a dare, see; my friends are trying to scare random housewives, good day, ma'am!"

With that, Fenix turned to run, but Nyte grabbed him first. "Oh no y'don't!"

"Ack! release me, you juvenile delinquent! Is this the gratitude I receive for raising you? Teaching you to drink and pick up girls!?"

"C'mon, Fenix," Nyte said. "Get on with it."

Xenos added, "Take off the helmet, Fenix."

As the woman stared, Radi crawled up on Fenix's shoulders and bit the helmet off. "It's a happy Sundaayyy," she sang as Fenix winced at the helmet's removal.

"Fenix...?" the woman said questioningly, before realization struck. "KADE?!"

Radi spat the helmet out and made a face, while Nytetrayn pushed Fenix over to the lady. Meanwhile, Xenos was trying to figure out how Radi got over there, as he thought he'd had a good hold on her.

The woman rocketed off the porch and tackled her son forcefully about the waist, hugging him tightly. Radi fell off and picked up the helmet, and carefully looked it over.

"Hey ma-AAAUFF!" Fenix said, as he had the wind blasted out of him.

As this was happening, Nytetrayn dug through his backpack to produce a camera, and used it to take advantage of the Kodak moment. "What a scoop!" he said, as he took several pictures.

"Oh my god! It IS you! It is! I've been worried sick! Kade, how dare you! I haven't heard from you in so many years!"

Fenix is at a loss for words, and just sort of pats his mother on the head. "It's... okay, ma. I'm back now."

Xenos chuckled, while he pondered a way to control Radi. Nyte decided to pass on his opportunity for a verbal jab, and upon seeing Xenos' predicament, took Fenix's helmet from Radi and put it down over her. He admired his handiwork, which looked like a Boba Fett helmet with feet.

Fenix's mother looked up at her son and stared at him, suddenly horrified. "Kade... what... what happened to your eyes?"

Fenix rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "Um... well, I've kinda become a Digger, Mom, and, you know, these things happen..."

"You... your eyes got torn out...?" she said, seemingly on the verge of tears.

"More like flash-burnt, but it's okay, Mom. I got 'em fixed, and now they're better than they ever were..."

Nyte whispered to Xenos behind his hand, "Good thing she hasn't noticed the arm yet."

"OH MY GOD, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR ARM!?"

"...spoke too soon," Nyte added.

"Um, yeah, that did get ripped off, didn't it?"

Fenix's mother stared at him.

Nyte whispered to Xenos again, "...let's just hope that the topic of his genitals doesn't come up."

"Do I want to know?" the pirate replied. Nyte just chuckled.

"But... but you were such a good fighter when you left... You killed that Pirate with your bare hands, how could a Reaverbot...?" She looked closely at Fenix. "It wasn't a Reaverbot, was it?"

Fenix looked around nervously. "Why, whatever do you mean?"

During all of this, Janine just sort of watched from beside Nyte and Xenos, her hands over her mouth with huge Bambi eyes sticking out.

Fenix's mother smiled tightly. "You found him, didn't you?"

"...yeah."

She nodded. "I figured he'd do something like that to you... I'm just glad you're still alive..."

With that, she hugged him again, more gently this time, and he hugged back. She then smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! Wha...?" Fenix exclaimed, while Nyte chuckled again at the sight.

"You never call, you never write, what do you expect?! You even met that bum, and you never told me about it? I'm very disappointed in you!"

As she turned to the others, she added, "And who ARE these people?"

"Well, g'wan, Fenix," said Nyte. "Introduce us!"

"Um, guys, this is my mom, Maria... Maria Wilson. Mom, these are, um, my friends. The guy in black is Nytetrayn, he's my apprentice. The girl is Janine, his girlfriend, and the guy with glasses is Xenos. His daughter, Radi, is under my helmet for some odd reason."

"...apprentice?!" said Nyte. "Girlfriend?!"

Fenix smirked.

"Oh, how nice," Maria said.

"She's not my daughter," Xenos said, "I just happen to be the only man in this mess who knows how to deal with a child."

Nytetrayn had about a million ways to come back on that, but felt they weren't really appropriate, given company.

"Well," said Maria, "you'd all better come in and have some tea, then, and you can tell me all about yourselves."

Xenos guided Radi inside, quietly promising to help her out of the helmet once they were in. She seemed to be quite happy in it, though she bumped into things.

Maria set them down in the living room, while she made tea.

Fenix stretched out. "So! Now you guys know where I came from. Was it worth the trip?"

"It was when she smacked you," Nyte said. Fenix gave him the finger, and Janine chuckled.

"Careful," Nyte said in jest. "You only have five left."

"Hardy har har."

As Xenos sat down and helped Radi find the couch, Maria returned with the tea. "So, Xenos, you look a little young to be a father," she began. "Where's Radi's mother?"

"Blee!" the young girl replied.

"Well," Xenos said, while Fenix chuckled from behind his teacup, "she's not really my kid."

Smirking, Maria asked, "So, whose is she?"

"No clue. She doesn't have a family that I know of."

"Milk chocolate with double chocolate filling!" Radi chimed in.

"...and she's clinically insane," Fenix added.

"I see," Maria said. "So, how did you all meet Kade? He was never very socially inclined when he was a boy."

"All rights reserved?" said Radi.

"Yes, dear," Maria said as she pat the girl on the head.

"Well," said Xenos. "Basically, we met when my ship landed just outside their apartment. And... how Radi and I met is a long story that I don't want to go into."

"I... see," said Maria.

"It's full of Vitamin E," added Radi.

Maria turned to Janine, who told her, "We met when Fenix and Nyte saved me from a chamber in a dungeon where I had been trapped for hundreds of years with a berserk kangaroo."

Fenix smacked himself in the face. "...oh," his mother said. "That's... um, nice."

Hurriedly turning to Nytetrayn, she asked, "And where did YOU meet Kade?"

"Well..." Nyte said, as he began to tell the tale, only to see Fenix behind her, eyes the widest they'd ever been as he made a "no" wave with both of his hands. When Maria glanced behind her, Fenix stood there, acting casual. She turned her attention back to the younger Digger.

Nyte pondered for a moment, and arrived at, "...we met in a bar."

Fenix pantomimed a huge sigh of relief, mock-wiping sweat from his brow.

Nyte continued, "I have no idea what he was doing up on that stage, but..."

Maria paused in mid-sip, eyes widening slightly.

"...perhaps I've said too much. Anyhow, we hooked up and formed a partnership digging in ruins."

"No, no," Fenix said, as he was already in this deep. "Tell her about the part where you tried to pay me with counterfeit money."

"Okay," Nyte said.

"Paid him... for... what now?" Maria asked.

"I wanted him to go away at first, but he wasn't fooled by my faux bribe. So I let him tag along."

"I... see," she said.

"Your son is a fascinating individual. I never knew you could do that with a pretzel until I met him."

"Well, I certainly hope Fenix's... um, Creed, never hurt any of you..."

Fenix raised an eyebrow. "Actually, they never met him."

"Heard of him though," said Xenos. "Heard a lot about him."

"Really," Maria said. "How much of the story did Kade tell you?"

"Enough to know he's a very very bad man," Janine said with a nod.

"Well, that's true," Maria said with a smirk, as she sipped her tea.

"I'm sort of curious to meet him, myself," Nyte said, causing Maria to choke on her tea.

"It's the ultimate chocolate indulgence," said Radi.

"I already knew that about him," said Xenos. "But I didn't know about his, err... relationship to.. Fenix."

"Really now...?" Maria said.

Fenix turned to the Air Pirate. "That never occurred to me... have you met him? Being in the same line of work, and all?"

"Well, I kinda did, once, but it wasn't one on one. He killed a friend of mine, and I had to get out of there before I could take a shot at him and get killed myself."

"I see," Fenix said.

"He has that effect on people," Maria added with a nod.

"Wow, small world," said Nyte.

"Not small world," said Xenos. "Big man."

"Yeah," said Fenix. "I'm surprised Nyte and I never ran into him. We didn't travel much, but still, we were living on a pretty big island."

"I was kind of in awe at first," Xenos said, "but... then the fight started. I pretty much had to rebuild everything from scratch afterwards."

"Wow," said Nytetrayn.

"Awe? Really? I didn't think he was all that impressive, myself," Fenix said. "Well, until he ripped my arm off."

Maria winced at that.

"What a jerk," said Nyte. "Sounds like he really needs his ass kicked."

"Yes, yes he does," said Fenix. "And I seem incapable of it. More's the pity."

"Well... I dunno," Xenos said. "Maybe he was holding back against you, I don't know."

"What makes you say that?" Fenix asked. "Dude, he tore off my arm with his BARE HANDS."

"Well, you ARE alive," Nytetrayn pointed out.

"True," Fenix said.

"Only reason I survived that fight is because I ran the hell away," said Xenos.

"Maybe because you're his son?" Maria suggested.

"I doubt that," Fenix said. Maria shrugged.

"ANYWAY," said Xenos, as he turned to Radi. "You've been talking about chocolate. I take it you want candy?"

"It cleans those hard to get corners," she replied.

"Maybe you should get that girl counseling," Maria said. "She doesn't seem quite... ah, normal."

"She's being crazier than usual. 'Kade'... do you have something in your helmet I should know about?"

"It interacts with my cybernetics, but I think that's all."

Nytetrayn rapped on the helmet a little.

"Spread the word!"

"Maybe she's cybernetic?" Janine suggested.

"She seems like a real girl to me," said Xenos.

"She seems unreal to me," Nyte said.

"She's acting like her programming's confused," Janine added.

"Well, Janine has something similar going on, and she passes for human pretty well," Xenos said.

"Sticks can also be sanded to a fine point for detail?"

"How do you check something like that?"

"Well... I think I can," Janine said. "See, since The Reanimator restored my memory files, I know all sorts of nifty stuff, and I think I remember having the ability to communicate telepathically with other machines."

Maria seemed to be taking all this in stride. Nevertheless, Xenos informed her, "Oh, yeah, Janine's an android."

"I sort of guessed that," Maria said, taking another sip of tea. Janine smiled innocently.

"Okay, then," said the Air Pirate. "Let's try it."

Janine set Radi in her lap, and pulled the helmet off before running her fingers through the girl's hair. Nyte winced, wondering what else might be in there.

Radi sat patiently, more or less, while Janine found a plastic fried egg in her hair.

"If I do make contact with her, and I go crazy," Janine said, "euthanize me, okay?"

"You got it," said Fenix.

"We can't run anti-virus programs?" asked Xenos.

"It's not quite that simple," Janine said, as she continued to gently massage Radi's scalp. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard, and reached out with her mind to try to detect anything artificial about Radi. Radi scratched her head, and a toy horse fell out.

"Hmm, interesting. She's either totally human, or the dumbest Reaverbot I've ever met," Janine said, as she handed Radi back to Xenos.

As Radi pulled out the little contraption again and added the horse to it, Xenos checked her hair for himself. Among other things, he found a pencil and some pieces of a Reaverbot.

"Hmmm, maybe you should give her a bath," Maria suggested.

"Maybe I sho–" Xenox began, when Radi spat. Shaking his head, the Pirate decided, "I think I'll just lock her in the bathroom."

"Good idea," Nyte concurred.

"Well, I can do it if you're worried about being arrested." Maria said. "It'll be just like when Kade was little."

"Not QUITE the same," said Fenix.

"Naw, I'm not worried about being arrested," said Xenos. "It's everything else about the thought."

"Well, if she's human she won't rust," said Maria.

Radi stopped what she was doing, and looked about.

"I think the chances of her dissolving at the touch of water would be greater," said Nytetrayn.

"Yeah, she's made up mostly of sugar, from the way she acts," added Fenix.

"She's old enough to bathe herself," Xenos said.

"Physically," Fenix countered, "but mentally, she's deranged."

Xenos looked on, speechless. Janine, on the other hand, had no such problem as she shouted at Fenix, "Hey! That's not very nice!" before giving Radi a hug.

Radi didn't seem to notice the hug, but reached over for a tea cup and added it to the progressively strange-looking thing she was holding.

"Now you see why I've been assigned the job of being the 'father,'" Xenos told Maria, as he pulled a comb out of his armor and set to combing the junk out of Radi's hair.

"Well, you can't blame Kade for growing up without a male role model," she said. "Though, he seems to have taken Nyte in as a surrogate son..."

Fenix spit out his tea. "ExCUSE me?!" He and Nyte gave each other sidelong glances at that, while Xenos simply chuckled.

"If he was my son, I'd have disowned him by now. He's a disgrace to the family."

"Oooh," Maria said, "that's not a very nice way to treat the victims of your sociopathic obsessions."

Nyte refused to comment.

"See, this is why I left. She keeps pulling out the psychoanalyst stuff."

Meanwhile, Xenos pulled out candy, a paint brush, a catnip mouse, an orange peel, a stuffed cat, a coffee mug, and a postcard. Radi peered at the growing pile of stuff and selected random objects to add to the thing.

"My, my, Kiddo, how do you FIT all this in there!?" Xenos asked.

"Some sort of interdimensional rift, I imagine," said Janine.

"L-space," Radi said.

"L-space," Xenos repeated back, as he continued combing.

"I just figured she had thick hair," said Nytetrayn.

"I wonder if that's like B-space," Fenix pondered.

"B-space?" Janine asked.

"The space between your cleavage. Technically, your breasts are so large you wouldn't think there could be room there, but there is, because I've seen Nyte's head fit in-between 'em. It's a scientific marvel."

Janine, Nytetrayn, and Maria all stared at Fenix, none of them quite sure how to take that.

"...that's a joke, by the way," Fenix said.

Meanwhile, Xenos' continued combing produced candy, a ring, some Zenny, pen tops, a pencil, paint chips, and a random bit of paper with Squeegee written on it. Xenos pocketed the Zenny and checked to examine the ring as he continued to comb.

"Ooooh," Janine said upon looking at the latest haul.

Further combing produced a bowl, a party noise maker, some small refractors (which Xenos pocketed, as well), beans, cereal, a CD, a hacky sack, a magnetic screwdriver, and tape. And so it went for a while, with Xenos keeping the valuables, then finally letting the hair be when he finished.

Then Radi pawed through the pile, and shoved everything back in.

After picking up his jaw, Xenos asked, "Why do you keep stuff in your hair?"

"Convenient."

"Well, I don't think she has any pockets," Janine said.

"You'll never win this battle, methinks," added Fenix.

"...do you need pockets, Radi?" Xenos asked, a tick starting to form in his right eye.

"Why? L-space is much roomier," Radi said. She then poked herself in the head several times, in different places, then frowned. "Missing something," she said.

"She knows you robbed her, Xenos," said Fenix.

"...it's a habit," the Pirate confessed, before pulling out the Zenny and refractors, which he proceeded to put into Radi's pockets. She then pulled them out, and stuffed them back into her hair.

"...Radi," Xenox started. "How... why..."

Radi just grinned toothily, and went back to fiddling.

"She's a woman," said Fenix, "they always have to make things difficult."

Naturally, this earned him a glare from Janine, while his mother said, "Gee, Kade, and you're still single, why?"

"I think I like your mom, 'Kade', she's cool," said Xenos.

"Yeah," agreed Nytetrayn with a big smile.

"...ha, ha, ha," Fenix said, before letting out a big yawn.

"Tired, 'Kade'?" asked Xenos.

"A little," Fenix replied. "Why do you all take such delight in using my real name?"

"Because you hate it," Nytetrayn said, still grinning.

"Because," said Xenos, "you changed your name, so it obviously bugs you."

"Actually, the townspeople gave me the name 'Fenix'."

"Really?" asked Xenos.

"In a mocking sort of way, yeah," Fenix said. "I was a little antisocial..."

"Gee, who'd of thunk it?" Nytetrayn said sarcastically.

"Was?" asked Xenos.

"Yes, the other boys called him that in school," Maria said, "because he kept getting back up. It didn't bother him, though. He took it as a point of pride."

"He would," said Nytetrayn.

"Then again, as far as mockery goes, they probably could have picked something worse..." Maria added.

Fenix smiled.

Janine winced suddenly. "Uh.... guys? I hate to break up this warm, fuzzy moment, but I think the morphine is wearing off..."

"Uh-oh," said Nyte. "Sounds like we should get back to the hospital."

"Morphine?" Maria asked. "Good god, what happened to you, dear?"

"Oh, nothing much, just getting the skin ripped off my arm by a vengeful elder god."

"I might have some," Radi said, as she rolled her eyes and began rooting around in her hair.

"I didn't see any drugs in your hair," Xenos said.

"Besides, anything you've got in your hair is bound to have something wrong with it," Janine said. Nyte and Fenix concurred, and Radi's eyes started to tear up.

"Uh-oh, here come the waterworks," said Nytetrayn.

Radi then shrugged it off, and went back to working on what one could only assume was eventually going to be a bomb.

"Why don't you guys go on ahead?" Fenix asked. "I'll stay with mom for a little while, and I can make my way back on my own."

"You sure?" asked Nyte.

Maria smiled. "Yes, I can drive him back. You go on, get that poor thing her medicine, we'll see you later."

"Ah, ok then," Nyte said, standing up alongside the others as Maria made playful shooing motions with her hands. "Pleasure meeting you," Nyte said with a smile, while Janine thanked her and shook her hand and Xenos tapped Radi, who attached herself to the Air Pirate with her teeth.

"Goodbye kids, have a safe trip!" Maria said.

"Thanks, you too," said Nyte.

"They're bound to," said Fenix, "I'm not driving."

"...he makes an excellent point," Nyte added, before turning to the others. "So... who's driving?"

"Do you know how?" asked Janine.

"Sure."

"Then you drive, I don't trust the way Xenos approved of Fenix's driving."

Xenos cackled. "I can drive slow, if you insist."

"Just so long as we live through the trip."

"Doom!" Radi chimed in.

"Quiet, you," Janine said, as she patted Radi on the head, only to find her hand now had a sticky toy hand stuck to it.

Xenos hopped into the driver's seat, to Nytetrayn's brief disappointment, before he called, "SHOTGUN!" and hopped into the passenger's seat. "Home, James!"

Janine plopped down in the back, while Radi sat on the windshield, shouting, "Flyyy!"

"Radi, get in the back," said Xenos. Nytetrayn just grabbed her and tossed her back with Janine. "Jeez Nyte, give the kid a chance will ya'? Now, buckle up, kiddies."

Nyte just shrugged as he fastened his seatbelt.

"Blow HIM up demn good," Radi said, clearly planning a new bomb, just for Nyte. Janine put her on her lap and hummed a weird, exotic-sounding song to her. As she rocked Radi back and forth while humming the same hypnotic melody, the girl soon fell asleep. Janine then put her aside before buckling her and herself in.

With that, Xenos pulled out, and drove them back to the hospital as Fenix and his mother waved to them from the window, with the sound of "Born to Be Wild" being carried on the wind.

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