Raven's Will

18. I hope you survive

Whatever this place was, he had no idea. And he didn't really know these people at all. For all he knew, they were going to kidnap him and sell him off to Troit. Or the Kairg. Maybe they'd hold an auction and see how much they could get from the highest bidder.

"So this the flyer?" The girl's bored tone rescued Jett from the weird path his mind was starting to travel. He noticed that she'd stepped closer without him even realizing she'd moved. "Don't look like much."

Mystery Man just smiled. "Looks can be deceiving, Moxie. You of all people should know that."

"Pah." She made an annoyed sound, then sighed as if all the world's problems were laid hopelessly at her feet. "Whatever. Let's get this started before I die of boredom."

With a sharp movement, she tugged the hood down from her face and faced Jett squarely. While she looked him up and down with a critical eye, Jett tried not to stare at the two small studs that sat just beneath her bottom lip. With pale skin and bleached short hair, she sported an exotic look that Jett had never seen before.

"Well," she finally said after a short moment, "you look stupid."

Jett leaned back slightly, startled. "Um, what?"

"But at least you don't look like a flyer. As if a dumb-faced country boy like you could be one of them. So that's good." She reached up and tugged the earbud free from her ear. It was stuffed into the neck of her hoodie, but the cord still trailed down into the little gadget she carried.

"Will this work, then?" Mystery Man asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Moxie muttered, then waved a hand in a shoo-shoo manner. "You can go. I got this."

Mystery Man's lips quirked. "You sure? I don't mind-"

"Get out of here, old man. I don't need you." She scowled, then reached out and grabbed the front of Jett's overalls. She tugged sharply, nearly pulling Jett off his feet with a surprising strength. "Come, country boy. We got work to do."

Jett barely had the chance to give Mystery Man a deer-in-headlights glance before he was pulled deeper into the depths of the hallway.

~*RW*~

"Can you hear me?" Her voice sounded tinny through the uncomfortable earpiece she'd given him, and even though the sound was distorted slightly, he had no problem making out the mocking lilt it held.

After a half hour of rapid explanations and directions, during which he tried and failed to understand much of her plans, Moxie had clearly pegged him as an idiot. Now whenever she talked to him, it was like an annoyed parent haggling a very young child. There wasn't much he could do about it, however, as without her, he didn't have a chance at succeeding in this little rescue mission.

"Hey!" Her voice blasted his ear at a much higher volume. "Hey stupid! Quit jacking off in the corner and talk to me."

Jett flushed at her choice of words and hastily brought his wrist towards his face. "I can hear you fine!" For a second, he worried that the mic strapped to his arm didn't work, but then she responded with an irritated sigh.

"Oh, wonderful. Now, you're gonna do exactly as I say, right?"

His shoulders sagged. "Yeah." He rubbed at his eyes, trying to ease the throbbing ache behind them. The headache had only grown worse, and if he shifted his gaze too quickly or moved his head sharply, it brought about a wave of nauseating dizziness. It made him wonder if maybe he was getting sick or something, because even the worse case of nerves had never made him feel this crappy in the past.