"Andy," he extended his hand out to the newcomer.
"Andy, you don't need to introduce yourself," Lazerus accepted his hand shake. "I was informed about you. Although, I might need to learn everybody else's names..."
Andy and Lazerus looked around at the rest of the team. Lightning, Ann, and Sol were all flopped in different places around the helicopter. Sol was the only one conscious. She glanced over at Lazerus, eyes half closed in pain and exhaustion. Their eyes met; Sol's icy blue to Lazerus's dark sapphire. Sol took in his ebony hair and strong build. She could feel the heat rising in her checks. She turned away, deciding to get some much-needed rest. Lazerus watched her for a moment more, then turned back to Andy.
"Well, we're missing a couple people, but I can introduce you to the members present," Andy pointed to each of the member's in turn. "The parachute girl is Ann, our technical leader. The girl with the katanas is Lightning, co leader our team. And the short haired girl is Sol, one of our newbies."
"Fair enough," Lazerus shrugged as he glanced back at Sol. So, that's her name. "Do you have anyone with medical expertise?"
"Lightning has some, but is unconscious at the moment."
"I was asked to assist you on your mission, so I'll take over medical issues," Lazerus reached into a pouch on the wall and pulled out a first aid kit.
He walked over to Lightning, who seemed the most injured, and got to work. Andy watched him carefully. He still wasn't sure how he felt about this new mysterious guy. There was something strange about him. He watched him quickly bandage Lightning's shoulder and check her for other injuries, before moving on to Sol. He carefully wrapped her shoulder, but by this point she was out cold and took no notice of him. He then turned to work on Ann. Andy would never admit it out loud, but... He's pretty good at patching them up.
"Who sent you?" Andy asked as Lazerus finished checking Ann.
"The South American brotherhood," Lazerus answered as he walked over to quickly check on Andy.
"Oh, okay," Andy nodded. Lazerus gave him a quick once over and found nothing but a couple scrapes on him. "Welcome to the Weston Assassins. We should get back to the den and recover before we set out tomorrow. We're finally leaving this city."
"I'll tell Jack," Lazerus nodded. "For now just try to get some rest. We'll be there soon."
Andy nodded and went to sit next to Lightning. Lazerus walked into the cockpit and sat down in the passenger seat. Soon enough, they had made it safely back to the den.
~ ~ ~
The next morning...
Andy packed his things into his duffle bag. He was glad to finally be leaving Canada. He walked to the light switch and flicked the lights on. His team groaned as they slowly began to wake up. Then Andy left the room and headed to the infirmary. He caught Ben just as he was leaving.
"Ben, where heading out to Jamaica," Andy told him. "Could you take care of Sol's mother till we get back?"
"Sure," Ben smiled.
"Thanks, we'll come back for her after all this is over."
Ben nodded and continued on his way. Andy knew it would take a couple minutes for his team to get up, so he walked back downstairs to make himself breakfast. He dropped his bag by the front door and entered the kitchen. He grabbed the cereal from the pantry.
"Andy, can you elaborate on where we are headed?" Lazerus stepped out of one of the shadowy corners of the room, startling Andy.
"I'm ALIVE!" Ann hollered as she entered the room. "Concussion... but ALIVE!"
"UGH!" Sol groaned as she followed Ann in. "Why does my shoulder have to hurt so bad?"
"I don't know," Ann shrugged. "I was unconscionable... e... uh... unconscious. Wow, there's that concussion acting up again."
"I made sure you were all patched up, so there's no need to worry," Lazerus smiled at the girls. "You should be just fine."
Sol and Ann began to sleepily examine themselves and then each other. They were both covered in a number of bandages. Andy turned back to Lazerus and explained what he had managed to find out at the headquarters. The team was next headed to Kingston, Jamaica. The observatory lied in the northern part of the country; an area called Long Bay, Jamaica. Andy had already called ahead and told the small group of Assassins in that area to expect their arrival.
"Ah, I see..." Ann mumbled as she finished her inspection.
"Yeah," Sol agreed with her. "Thanks, Mystery Guy."
"Oh yeah," Ann turned to Lazerus as if she was seeing him for the first time. "Who is this dude?"
"This is Lazerus," Andy introduced him. "He was sent here by a group of brothers in Venezuela to help us."
"Yes, pardon my lack of introduction earlier," He cleared his throat. "I'm Lazerus. I was sent by the South American Brotherhood. I'm the person who saved you yesterday."
"Yeah, this is the guy," Andy grinned. Lazerus gave him a sideways glance.
"Oh...," Ann shrugged. "Well damn."
"Nice to meet you," Sol took a step closer to Lazerus and smiled kindly at him. "I'm Sol Benitez. Thanks for the save."
"Pleasure to meet you, Sol," Lazerus gave her a slight bow and a smile in greeting.
"Ann, technical leader of fucking shit up," Ann tipped an imaginary hat.
"Hence my nickname for her: 'The Tank Buster'," Andy pitched in.
"Pleasure to meet you as well, Ann," Lazerus bowed to her as well.
"So," Ann turned back to Andy, pleased with their newest member. "Let's get to Kingston then."
The group dispersed throughout the house getting everything in order for departure. Ann went to wake the others, Sol went to say goodbye to her mom, Andy went to report to the den leader, and Lazerus stayed in the kitchen making breakfast. Two hours later the team was ready to head out. They called a cab to drive them to the airport.
"Are you sure we can't just let Jack fly us?" Lazerus asked Andy for the second time during the cab ride.
"Yes, we have to blend in so commercial flights only," Andy sighed, highly annoyed.
"But are you sure?"
Andy groaned. Other than Lazerus's annoying insistence that they should let his friend fly them, the cab ride was uneventful. They reached the airport within the hour. There were very few people there that day. Andy went to get their tickets. As he was walking back up to the group, he noticed Sol was carrying a pet transport cage. Where did that come from?
"Sol, what's that?" Andy asked as he rejoined the group.
"Huh," Sol looked down at the cage. "Oh, that's Maria."
"Awww," Ann grinned at the cage excitedly. "You brought her! Yay!"
"Yeah, she goes everywhere with me," Sol shrugged.
The others began to take notice of the cage. Sol was always carrying so many strange things with her that no one even noticed the pet carrier till Andy pointed it out. Sol put the cage down and opened the door. A sleek Tabby cat strutted out of the cage. She had beautiful beige fur covered in light brown stripes. Maria sat in front of her cage, enjoying the attention. Andy bent down to pet her. Maria took one look at him and clawed his approaching hand.
"OW!" Andy leapt away in fright.
"Sorry, Andy," Sol tried not to laugh. "Seems she doesn't like you very much."
"Hey, Maria," Lightning sat down and patted Maria affectionately on the head.
"Strange," Lazerus remarked. "The cat is being petted by Lightning, but attacked Andy when he tried to pet her..."
"Bro," Ann sat next to Lightning and began to scratch Maria behind the ears. "What did you do to her?"
"Why do I have the feeling we don't want to know," Lazerus shook his head.
Lightning started laughing as Ann gave Lazerus a goofy grin. Sol knew Andy had done nothing to upset her. Maria had been with her since the first day she had joined the team, but Andy had never once seen her. Until now, Maria had made it a point to avoid Andy. Lightning and the others, curious as to what was in Sol's mysterious, hissing backpack, had made it a point to visit her and ask about it, but not Andy. Perhaps his lack of curiosity is why she hates him.
"She's usually very friendly," Sol shrugged.
"Maybe," Lightning chuckled. "Maria envies Andy."
"Nah," Lazerus scoffed, then smirked at Andy. "At most, Andy should be envious of Maria."
"Hey!" Andy complained.
"Awww," Sol giggled. "Don't worry. You're both great."
"Why do I have a feeling this is not going to be the last time that cat and I start fighting?" Andy muttered crossly to himself.
"Hey," Ann grabbed her things. "Are we getting on an airplane any time soon? Cause my Spidey senses are tingling, and that's never a good thing."
"Yeah," Sol opened the cage door and Maria hopped back in. "Let's get going."
"Agreed," Lazerus nodded.
The group entered the terminal and, having done this many times before, managed to get their weapons through security without being noticed. They walked onto the plane and found their seats. The Assassins where all sitting in a line. The took over an entire row of the plane, so once they had located their row they chose their seats themselves. Ann instantly took the window seat to the left.
"Ah, coach, the true picture of luxury," Ann leaned back in her seat.
"How's the view?" Sol smiled as she slipped into the seat next to Ann.
"Wonderfully wonderful," She replied.
"It's probably going to be mostly water," Lazerus remarked as he finished putting the bags in the overhead bin and took the aisle seat next to Sol.
"AND CLOUDS!" Ann jumped up, excited.
"Ladies and gentlemen," The flight attendant's voice came in over the loud speaker. "Welcome to Air Canada flight 1313 nonstop flight to Kingston, Jamaica. We will be taking off in just a few minutes."
Nerida sat down next to Lightning at the other window seat. Andy took the aisle seat. They buckled up and waited for the plane to take off. Twenty minutes later, the plane was air born. As soon as the plane reached cruising altitude, the fasten seatbelt sign turned on and the team relaxed. Andy sat back in his chair, deciding to take a little nap. He wasn't asleep for long. Maria silently unlocked her cage and, with practiced grace and agility, snuck across the aisle to where Andy sat. In one leap, she was on his lap. She reared up on her hind legs, extended her claws, and sunk them beep into Andy's chest.
"DEMON! DEMON I SAY!" Andy shouted as he jolted awake and tried to pry Maria off.
"Maria!" Sol glanced up from her book to scold the cat. Maria let Andy go in response and hopped into Lightning's lap.
"Wait," Lazerus leaned forward to get a better view out of the window. "We're already up that high!? Well, that escalated quickly."
"Yep," Sol looked around Ann's head and out the window. "Got to love clouds."
"Everybody loves clouds," Lazerus agreed before glancing over at Andy. "But cats are not for everyone."
Andy glared at him. He was starting to despise their newest acquaintance. Sol and Lazerus smiled at each other; both appreciating the joke. The group lapsed into a comfortable and merry silence as they all went back to their different activities. Some twenty minutes later, Andy, bored of the video game he had been playing, glanced out the window.
"Hey," Andy remarked with a grin. "Look! We're over New York."
"Let's drop a phlegm glob on Trump Tower!" Ann exclaimed.
"Ah, New York," Lazerus glanced out the window like an old man remembering fond memories. "I swear it's practically the capital of capitalism and media."
"That's because that's what is," Ann laughed.
"True," Lazerus agreed with a shrug.
"Ouch!" Andy jumped as Maria once again jumped on him with her claws extended.
"Maybe I should hold on to her," Sol got up, took Maria from Andy, and set her on her lap.
Sol stroked Maria to calm her then carefully placed her back in her cage. She went back to reading. An hour later, she had finished her book and once again had nothing to do. She glanced around to see what the others were doing. Ann was still watching the clouds pass below them. Then she turned to look at Lazerus, and, to her surprise, found him staring at her.
"What?" Sol asked him.
"Sorry, I hadn't realized I was staring," Lazerus laughed awkwardly. "I was just wondering if I might ask you a question?"
"Sure," Sol shrugged. "What do you want to know?"
"I was wondering, how old are you?"
"I'm seventeen."
"Really? I thought you were at most thirteen. You're pretty short for your age."
Lazerus said the last comment lightly, unaware of the bomb that was about to set off. Sol hated being called short. At five feet two inched, Sol knew she was short for her age, but it still bothered her immensely when people mentioned it. And to think I though he was cute, she fumed, what a jerk.
"I'm not short!" she barked at him. "And what are you? A thirty-year-old man or a small giant?"
"I'm nineteen actually," Lazerus shrugged, failing to see the anger boiling behind Sol's eyes. "And I'm only six feet tall."
"Idiot!" Sol suddenly shouted and turned away from him.
Lazerus froze. He could see now that he might has just ruined his chances with her. He quickly scrambled to figure out a way to fix things.
"I think it's cute," He suddenly sputtered. "The whole short thing. It makes you cute."
"I'M NOT CUTE!" Sol turned back to him. The anger in her eyes becoming a wild fire in seconds.
She huffed and turned away from him, determined this time not to speak with him more than necessary. Lazerus sat there in shock, cursing his big mouth. You just had to say that didn't you, He scolded himself, IDIOT! Now she hates you. Great. He sighed heavily and sunk down in his seat. Five hours after their failure of a conversation, the flight attendant once again came on the PA to announce their descent.
"Ladies and gentlemen we are beginning our descent into Kingston," She said. "Please fasten your seatbelts, and welcome to Jamaica."
"I want a grilled cheese," Ann muttered to herself as she caught sight of a couple food carts.
The plane landed with a soft bump. It slowly pulled into a terminal and came to a stop. Everyone sighed in relief, glad the long flight was over.
"Finally," Sol glared at Lazerus. "We're here."
"Our buddies will be waiting for us outside," Andy said as he got up and started to pull his bags from the overhead compartment.
"By the way," Lazerus pitched in. "I'm a researcher by heart, so if you find anything that stands out in enemy territory, let me know. I'm great at figuring out what they are. Okay?"
"Okay Lazerus," Andy shrugged, not bothering to turn to look at him.
Lazerus turned to Sol, hoping his skills would impress her. Sol stared back at him, drilling frozen daggers into his chest with her eyes. He turned away quickly got the bags out of the overhead bin. In much the same way, Maria glared at Andy from inside her cage. Andy saw this and glared back at the cat. The team left the plane and made their way out of the airport. Standing outside waiting for them was a large minivan with two men standing in front of them. The taller of the pair pulled out an Assassin's necklace and showed in to Andy.
"Who are they?" Sol asked, looking at the men sideways.
"Laa shay'a waqi'un moutlaq," Andy said to the man.
"Bale kouloun moumkine," He replied with a smile.
"They are our friends," Andy informed the group. "And our ride."
"Okay," Ann nodded.
"Alright,' Sol shrugged.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the man took a step forward. "I'm Michael, and this is my friend Johnny. We're the leaders of the Assassin's here in Jamaica. We are going to drive you to Long Bay and help you on your mission."
"Nice to meet you," Sol smiled.
"Same to you, miss?"
"Sol."
"Pleasure," Michael smiled at her then opened the minivan's door. "All of you hop aboard."
The Assassins all scrambled into the vehicle and took off. Ready for the next phase is their adventure.