Chapter Text
Brilliant Dynamites Neon has seen his fair share of parades, parties and big bangs. Hell, he lived for the thrill of danger and the chaos and destruction that comes with it. But the blazing inferno consuming the once impenetrable military base up ahead only spoke of the kinda doom no one’s walking out of. The plume of tar black smoke was so thick, it’ll be clogging lungs from miles away.
“Now that’s one helluva bang!” he whistled.
“Take us down, Neon!” Nicholas said. Stealth was pointless now, all they had to focus on was the rescue.
“Call me boss!” Neon snapped.
Back at the base, Vash woke up to what could only be described as hell. To call the place a warzone would imply there’s two sides fighting. There was no fighting, only the violence of a one-sided massacre at the hands of a foe with raw power beyond their imagination.
Bile mingled with the smog caking his throat. There wasn’t a single area untouched by flames or debris and this can only end in a mountain of ashes and an even bigger number of bodies to bury.
A flash of blue light shone in his peripheral. Whipping his head around, his stomach curdled as the robot continued to fire its beam, laying waste to anything and everything around it.
“Stop it…stop it, you’re destroying everything!” its head turned towards a new target. “Please, STOP!”
Vash threw himself against its winglet, forcing the head to shift off angle.
Miles away, townsfolk screamed in horror as their clock tower was demolished in a fiery explosion. Those who ran out of their homes to check received another shock as a small group of humans atop flaptors soared over their heads, worryingly close to the ground.
“Boss, December is moving! December is moving!” Bellamy warned.
“Change course unless ya wanna kiss an angel! We’re in the line of fire!” Neon barked.
“Look! There’s Vash!” Nicholas cried, pointing ahead.
“Where?!” Neon squinted, unable to see crap due to all the fires and smoke.
Nicholas lifted up his goggles to get a better look. “Steady as she goes, boss. He’s on top of that tower!”
Sure enough, they could just barely make out a white-blur on one of the battlements clinging onto some kinda moving statue! Even higher above them was December with its artillery aiming straight towards them.
“One for all and all for boss! Cover me!” Neon ordered.
“Good luck!” Rex shouted
Nicholas forced himself not to look down, knowing he could live without seeing the closest reality could get to hellfire and brimstone. Instead, he kept his eyes on the only thing that mattered.
“NEEDLE NOGGIIIIIIN!” he shouted. “Grab my hand!” holding onto the handlebar with one hand, he leaned his body as far out as possible.
“Wolfwood!” Vash gasped, tears of relief beading his lashes.
“We need to get in closer, Neon!” Nicholas grunted.
Neon shifted the vehicle to do just that, only for one of its wingtips to strike the battlement, causing them to tilt precariously to the side.
“I’m coming!” Vash made to jump across the gap only for the robot to grab him.
“They’re here to help me! Put me down!” he protested, trying to wriggle out of the grip.
Help? The robot knew that word intimately, it was her very purpose after all. It seems the boy, Wolfwood, was an ally here to do the same. But she cannot let him jump and fall and hurt himself. So, she will put him down.
She has not cared for him as she should have. She does not want to become an obstruction to his wellbeing.
Please.
Take care.
Live.
Be safe-
[WARNING: IMPACT IMMINENT]
G̷̜̽ö̶͎́ȏ̸͔ḏ̶̓b̶̭̌y̶̙̆ê̸̯,̶͒ͅ ̶̣̓ᏉᏗᏝᏋᏁᏖᎥᏁᏋፚ ᏕᏗᏉᏋᏒᏋᎷ.
Vash and Nicholas screamed as December opened fire on the tower. In that instant, eyes were blinded, bones were rattled and eardrums all but burst from the shockwaves. Stones, bricks and shrapnel scattered everywhere, intent on finishing what the artillery could not.
“VAAAAASH-OI!” Nicholas squawked as Neon went limp like a puppet with his strings….cut….
A practically intact brick had fallen smack on top of his face, knocking him out cold.
Without a conscious pilot, there were no hands on the controls. And without hands on the controls, there was nothing to keep the vehicle airborne.
And because neither of them had a magic crystal, they plummeted down as gracefully as gravity would allow, which is to say none whatsoever.
The only thing that stopped them from immediately becoming part of geography were the harnesses. Gritting his teeth against the force of resistance, Nicholas stretched his body around Neon’s bulk and finally wrapped a hand around the controls.
“C’mon…..” the ocean was getting closer by the second and he had no plans on taking a morning swim. “C’MOOON!”
Using all the muscles he’s gained from years spent labouring away in the mines, he finally pulled them up, allowing them to soar across the ocean, leaving a trail of sprayed seafoam in their wake.
“UP! UP! UP!” they had another hurdle to fly over, or rather, a rocky cliffside that was getting closer and closer-!
“PUT A LITTLE MORE ELBOW GREASE INTO IT!” Neon roared, waking up in the nick of time to retake control and stop them from crashing to their deaths.
“You got one shot, bucko. I’ll take us in and you grab him.” He grunted, wiping away the blood from his nose.
“Right!” Nicholas shifted his position.
“OVER HERE!” Vash waved his hands.
“Ready, boss!” “NOW!”
Hooking his ankles around the handlebars, Nicholas hung upside down and stretched his arms out.
Vash jumped-
And landed right in his arms.
“What is the army doing?!” Conrad raged as Vash once again slipped from their grasp.
Looking up, he cursed as the Bad Lads Gang, the same blasted pirates from before, flew around the battleship like the pests they are, covering the entire thing in a persistently dense fog of colourful smoke. With their vision obscured, December's firearms were useless. Once they realized their captain had escaped with Vash, they too retreated.
“CONRAD!” Steve stormed towards him, practically frothing at the mouth. “What the hell happened to that damn rust bucket?!”
“It’s destroyed, and the boy’s gone.” He replied neutrally.
“What?!” Steve spotted the coloured smoke still lingering in the air and unleashed a string of expletives that’d make sailors blush. This was a disaster and he can only imagine the shitshow that’s to come once his superiors hear about this.
“Doctor, you might want to see this.” Chuck whispered to Conrad while Steve barked orders to distinguish the fires and organize a pursuit team.
Conrad followed Chuck to where a trio of agents stood guard around a small pile rubble. It was amongst the debris that he found the true diamond.
He paused, fingertips still smarting from when he first erred. He tentatively tapped an uninjured digit against the crystal once, twice. Without a volatile reaction, he finally picked up the necklace.
“The Gate is still open.” He sighed in relief.
A beam shone from the stone, leaving a warm blue dot between his eyes.
“And pointing to Julai.” They may’ve lost the robot and an entire military base but it seems they’ve gotten something infinitely better in return.
“Tell the general that we will be departing on time.”
The flight back was a sombre one, filled with only the drone of the flaptors’ wings and Vash’s heartbroken cries.
Nicholas’s shirt was soaked through with tears and snot. He said nothing; what could he possibly say after knowing Vash had to witness all of that firsthand, from start to finish? So, he simply let Vash cry it out on his shoulder and rubbed circles on his back.
Now, as Neon’s first mate, Bellamy’s made of tougher stuff than the average joe…..but even a stone-cold hardass would feel a little bad for a kicked puppy.
He awkwardly cleared his throat. “You okay there, kid?”
“If I screwed up back at the town, I’d like to apologize for it, Vash.” Rex added in a rare moment of softness.
“We all screwed up! Waste of time, these two brats.....” Neon grumbled. “Your stop’s up ahead. I’ll drop you off and that’ll be that.”
“Wait.” Vash’s nasally voice spoke up. “Neon, will you let us sail with you and the lads?”
“Call me boss, darn it!” blasted kids these days, no respect whatsoever. “And forget it. What’s in it for me now that you’ve lost that glimmering stone a’ yours?”
“We can work.” Nicholas offered, long used to getting his hands dirty.
“And I have to find out the real truth about Julai for myself, boss.” Vash implored.
Neon kept quiet to let them stew for a bit. And from a man as grandiose as Neon, his silence was deafening. Yet, neither boy backed down, ready to play the waiting game.
“So, it ain’t treasure you’re risking your necks for, but the ‘truth’?” Neon chuckled. “Ah fuck it. S’pose there’s worse reasons to become a pirate.”
He glared at them. “Toe the line and don’t even think about slacking off or it’s overboard you go!”
“Yes, boss!” both boys chorused.
“Hell yeah! No more swabbing the deck! WHOOOOO!” Bellamy whooped.
“I won’t have to wash the dishes!” Neal realized giddily.
“I’ve peeled my last potato! YEE-HAW!” Rex whooped.
A vein throbbed in Neon’s temple as his crew began to act like children who found out Christmas was coming early. They spun donuts and loop-de-loops in the air and hung their bodies at angles that’d leave an observer nauseous for a second or two.
“Can you make pudding?! I love pudding!” Bellamy asked.
“I get to lick the spatula!” Neal called dibs.
“And I like chocolate cake with the pink swirly frosting!” Rex added.
“YOU’LL EAT WHATEVER I MAKE AND SHOVE IT!” Nicholas snarled. He ain’t their personal slave!
Vash laughed and the sound was highly welcomed after all the crying he’s done.
“Who doesn’t love dessert?” he giggled. “I wouldn’t say no to some donuts.”
“Get in line, blondie.” That’ll be the first dessert he fries tonight.
Looking down, both their expressions softened as they flew over Hopeland Orphanage. They can almost hear the bell tower ringing and the thomas chirping awake. It was a home they were leaving, but also a home to return for. Clutching Melanie’s rosary, Nicholas kissed the crucifix, praying they can do just that.
They couldn’t feel homesick for long. Eventually, their small group managed to rendezvous with Neon’s skystreamer, The Flourish. Although it was on the smaller side, as it was probably an older model and covered in his signature bold, flashy colours, the fact that no other government-sanctioned craft has yet to shoot it out of the sky spoke of good engineering and even better piloting.
Nicholas and Vash yelped as they slid across a metal bar before coming to an abrupt halt. Both boys disembarked before the others cramped inside the bilge that was both a loading dock and repair workshop if the walls of tools were anything to go by.
Vash almost tripped when he accidentally stepped out of the old wooden floorboards and onto....cloth?
“Is this cloth?” Vash admired the thick canvas stretched taut around a sturdy armature of wood and metal.
“And don’t you rip it!” Neon warned, no doubt having experienced and fixed that damage one too many times.
“C’mon, we’ll go topside.” Bellamy grunted, nudging them up a ladder.
Naturally, Vash made to follow the first mate and Nicholas only for Neon to click his tongue.
“Up-pup-pup! Not so fast, bucko. You’re comin’ with me.” He turned and when Vash didn’t follow, he scowled. “What’re you waiting for, a kiss on the cheek?”
“Ah! Yes, boss! Sorry, boss.” Vash apologized.
Nicholas glared at the captain, only for Bellamy to yank him away.
“Work work work, busy busy busy, left right left right, this ain’t a vacation.” He grunted, not unkindly. Nicholas admitted he had a point and his brisk walk was the same controlled urgency as Melanie and the older kids’ on particularly hectic days.
“This is where you’ll be working.” Bellamy opened the door to the galley.
Nicholas’s jaw dropped. This wasn’t a kitchen, hell a slaughterhouse was less of a mess than whatever this pigsty was! Stacks of unwashed pots, pans, cups and other dishes towered precariously in what he assumed was the sink. The two garbage bins were overflowing with trash, half-opened containers, half-eaten and half-rotten food scraps littered every surface and he swore he saw something move. When he picked up the stained dishrag, it crunched. It smelled like something died in here, Nicholas would eat his own socks if something hadn't died in here.
Ooooh this mess of a kitchen would’ve immediately given Aunty Melanie an aneurysm, god bless her soul.
“I want this galley ship-shape, sparkling clean and ready for action in one hour, that’s an order.” Bellamy ordered.
“Wha- you ain’t the boss!” Nicholas hissed, chafing against the authority by default.
“Darn right, I’m his first mate, which means I’m your superior too. So I say jump, you say how high.” Bellamy retorted. “You’ll serve five meals a day and I’m warning ya, you don’t wanna see the lads hangry.”
“Screw you.” Nicholas deadpanned.
“Get in line, newbie!” Bellamy snickered, ruffling his hair. Oh, it’s been so long since he got to boss someone around! “And don’t forget the pudding!”
As the door closed behind Nicholas, he allowed himself a moment or two to contemplate if giving Bellamy food poisoning was worth it.
Then he rolled up his sleeves and got to work.
Meanwhile, Vash was pouring over a map with Neon. The chart was so big, it draped over the desk like a tablecloth, filled with highlights and notes on the margins of past adventures. Neon had taken out a few pencils, a dirty but usable eraser, a long ruler, a compass and a device that held a startling resemblance to what Rem had used to teach him and Nai arithmetic.
“Wasn’t the beam pointing directly due east?” Neon asked after drawing the line according to Vash’s instructions.
“I’m sure I could see the sunrise from the tower. It’s the end of grass cutting season so the sun would rise not from due east but a little further south. The light was pointing to the left of the hill from which the sun rose, see?” Vash explained.
“Good answer.” Neon said with a note of approval. Vash, ever a people pleaser, couldn’t help but preen a little. “Found anything yet?” he asked the others.
“Not a peep, boss.” Kent, who only had one eye but two pairs of ears’ worth of hearing, replied from his station.
“Them varmints must be jamming the air waves so we can’t find them.” Neon deduced.
“How will we catch them if they’re faster than we are?” Neal asked.
Neon calculated with his compass. “Well, we’re cruising on the windward side of em’ so if we manage to ride the trade winds……”
He got to work on the abacus, a handy little device he stole from an Eastern merchant captain. Vash watched as Neon’s meaty fingers deftly swiped the comedically tiny in comparison beads up and down. Many stories, both true and fictional, speak of pirates as master thieves, greedy barbarians and immoral travelers. Only now does he realize that pirates were also pilots, which means mathematical skills and navigational understanding have to be part of their repertoire.
“With wind velocity at ten.....we’ll catch em’!” Neon grinned.
“LISTEN UP, VARMINTS!” the captain's announcement boomed across the speakers. “December’s already on it’s way to Julai. We’re setting sail and going after them! If we catch the wind, we’ll be on their asses by tomorrow.
“The first lad to spot December will receive ten gold coins. And if the stories are even half true, there’s enough treasure that might actually make an honest pirate out of us all!” he laughed.
“Now let’s kick off this operation with a bang!”
Vash knew Neon was the leader of the Bad Lads Gang, but seeing his leadership in action was something else entirely. The man had enough charisma and boatloads of competence to balance out his larger-than-life attitude and it showed in how all hands went on deck in the blink of an eye.
Once the skystreamer was set on the right course, Neon gestured for Vash to follow him to his cabin for an even more important task.
“If you’re coming along for the ride, it’s time you start dressing like it.” He grunted, digging through his wardrobe for a hand-me-down that won’t completely drown the lanky ankle biter.
Nope, too big, too big, still too big, no way is he letting the squirt get his grubby hands on this, too big, why the hell does he even have this?! He ought to burn it! Nope, nope, nuh-uh, nope………hm, nothing he’d ever wear himself but maybe this kid could pull it off.
“Alright- oi! Where’d you go?!” Neon’s eyes darted around the room. If that brat thinks he can slip away-
“‘m here.” A pitiful voice said, buried under a mountain of shirts, coats, jackets and hats.
Rolling his eyes, Neon fished Vash out and tossed him behind a changing screen.
Vash quickly changed into the clothes, glad to be rid of the cumbersome soot-stained smock that still reeked of acrid smoke. He pulled on a black turtleneck, delighted that he and Wolfwood would match now! The red pants were a lighter, pinker shade than he’d prefer and two sizes too big but it’s nothing a belt can’t fix. Once everything was adjusted to his satisfaction, he stepped out.
“Here.” Neon flicked a golden hoop too small to wear on any finger towards him.
Vash blinked, surprised Neon had noticed his piercing. It was something he got when he decided he wanted to be able to wear Rem’s earrings and Nai decided to fetch the needles. Boy, was Rem unamused when he came to her crying with a bloody lobe.
“Thank you, Neon.” Vash said, looping it through his ear.
“It’s boss. Don’t think this makes us best buds.” Neon sneered but didn’t threaten to throw him overboard for the slip of the tongue.
“Of course, boss.” Vash smiled.
“You good with machines?” Neon asked.
“I know how to fix things……?” mostly things he broke but everyone starts somewhere.
“Good enough.” Neon opened the door that led Vash to the belly of the Flourish.
Vash stared wide-eyed at the intricate machinery that worked hard to keep the streamer afloat. Practically most of the engine room seemed to be in some form of motion or another, perpetually shifting, spinning, pumping and readjusting. The air reeked of sweat, oils and other lubricants necessary for maintenance.
Vash’s borrowed boot nudged a glass bottle. Surprised, his brows merged with his hairline when he spotted a clothesline riddled with worn boxers, a stained overall, a shirt and socks that’ve seen better days. Underneath the clothesline was a man snoring away in a hammock with a flask in hand. Judging by the empty bottles strewn under him, the flask wasn’t the only substance he’s drank.
Neon didn’t hesitate to march over and unhook one end of the hammock, sending the man crashing onto the floor.
“Rise and shine, Derringer ‘Berto.” Neon grinned.
“Fuck you, sunshine.” Roberto groaned, the insufferable captain’s mere presence worsened his hangover.
“N’aw, don’t be like that. I’ve got you a gift.” Neon revealed Vash with a flourish. “Meet yer new assistant.”
Roberto narrowed his eyes until he only saw one of his so-called ‘new assistant’.
Vash smiled. “Pleasure to meet you, sir!” if puppies could talk, this is exactly how they'd look and sound.
Roberto groaned, taking a chug from his flask to better hide his evaluation. Kid was wearing Neon’s old clothes, so definitely some kinda stray. Doesn’t seem like the type that bites either, so that blonde head of his must have something worth keeping. More importantly, he was young, which meant he was spry, sober and small enough to reach places he can’t.
Wiping his mouth and beard dry, he crooked his finger and got down to business. Vash immediately followed him.
Well, at least the pup was obedient.
“If I wasn’t drunk to high heaven, I’d swear you were goin’ soft.” Roberto grunted, moving his pawn.
“If I had a c-cent for everytime your ass was drunk, I’d be golden!” Neon scoffed, countering his move.
“Just sayin’, it’s not like you to challenge a ship like December.” Roberto shrugged, trying a different angle. “The odds are against us.” The intensity of his gaze contradicted his slouched posture.
“When has that ever stop the head honcho of the dreadnaught thieves from getting all that shines?” Neon dragged his knight across the board.
“I must admit, the two new recruits are pretty....precocious.” Roberto hummed.
“Oh, so we're using big words now. Whaddaya mean by that you old geezer?” he shifted his knight again.
Roberto rolled his eyes. “We’re practically the same age.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” Neon pointed out.
“’s nothing. S’long as you don’t look too close at em, you can’t see the past.” Roberto was definitely drunker than usual if he was being this sentimental.
“I’m surprised you can see shit right now.” Neon deadpanned.
“I may be a little tipsy.” He moved his king. “Checkmate.”
“Son of a-” Not again!
One of these days, Neon swore, one of these days, he’ll kick this man off his ship.
But until then, he’s going to reset the board and think of another way to beat him.