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“Want a gumdrop?” Mark asks Tecchou, looking for a way to escape the ramblings of Lucy as she stared down Yokohama. He rolled his own drop in his mouth as he offered the strawberry one to Tecchou in his open hand.
“Oh…” Tecchou tears his gaze from where he was staring down out of the glass belly of Moby Dick, “Thanks.” He popped it into his mouth, crunching on it as sour juice came out of it, before all that was left was gum.
Mark replied with a short, “No problem!” before he plopped right down onto the glass that was the only barrier between them and the ground below. But Mark merely smirked knowingly at Tecchou’s shocked eyes; his green eyes twinkling, revelling in the danger and risk.
Tecchou’s neck snapped to peer a look at the lever, which was positioned at Lucy’s foot. One kick (whether it be an accident or on purpose) would send Mark probably falling to the bottom of the city, and to his death. (That is, if one assumed he wasn’t carrying a parachute on him or something.)
“Aha! Don’t look so nervous for me, Tecchou!” shouted Mark, his clever eyes never leaving as he flopped down onto his back, stretching around in a form akin to a little child making a snow angel. Though in Mark’s case, it was probably more of a devil or some mischievous being. “The Great, and that’s great with a capital T! Mark Twain would never let a little fall end his adventures!”
“You would continue them in…” Tecchou paused, searching for the right words, “...the next life?” Yeah. Safe answer.
“Maybe.” Mark vaguely replied, “I would like to be a ghost.”
Looking curiously down at the figure that was currently trying to do a handstand on the glass, Tecchou asked, “Why?”
“What do you mean why, it’ll be fun! I can sneak up on people and scare the wits out of them and I can tell them stories when they’re locked up in a room with me and they’ll need my help!”
Lucy cleared her throat, “You seem like you’ve thought it over very hard, Twain.”
“Oh, I have!”
“Now can you please think over our next steps?”
“Already did it.” Mark said, not batting an eyelash, as he turned to lay on his belly and stare at the buildings passing by them. “Now we’re just waiting for…”
“Initiating Plan E. Initiating Plan E.” A voice called over the intercom.
Clapping her hands in sarcastic excitement, Lucy said, “Oh, it’s starting! How fun!”
Getting up and wiping at his knees, Mark just had a smile on his face as he ran to the front of the ship, no doubt going to monitor the sky with his ability, humming all the while.
Lucy hopped down from the crate she was sitting on; no doubt descending down to the many floors inside Moby to the helicopter where she would be going along with Francis and Joyce.
Tecchou got up and ran to the front as well, stopping to see Louisa’s smiling face despite the pressure, and he felt a shiver go down his spine, because this is the person who made Plan E as well as a multitude of other plans. And here she was, standing with a calm smile, unaware or outright ignoring her genius, as people moved around under her instructions.
She caught Tecchou’s eyes, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and at the same time saying, “It’s all going to plan.”
“That’s great.” He managed to choke out, a bit uneasy as he got situated onto a chair that sat in front of a large window. His job was to make sure nobody else was in the sky or on the floor as the trio left Moby via the helicopter.
Twain’s was to take down anybody in the way.
“Lovecraft and Steinbeck are to be exiting in a couple minutes.” said Twain out loud, whether to remind himself or Tecchou, is a mystery. “Down a different path of course.” A laugh, what was so funny? Tecchou thought curiously as he saw Steinbeck’s truck drive off into a tight alley.
Not taking a glance away from where he was looking, Twain asked, “You’ll be going down to do ground patrol right, Tecchou?”
“Yes, that’s right.” replied the man, his sharp eyes staring through the glass to see if there were any suspicious persons roaming the streets of Yokohama.
“Good luck.” called out Twain; his back still facing Tecchou’s and he heard the curt, ‘Good luck. You’ll survive.’ from Huck and a throaty cackle of a ‘Goood luccckkk’ from Tom.
The chair creaked as Twain turned around before he stopped with a leg thrown over the other, staring at Tecchou who was throwing on his jacket. “Word of advice.” Tecchou peered over curiously to Mark who was staring at him with his sharp green eyes. “Don’t take candy from strangers.” He gave a final wink and turned back to his post.
Tecchou got ready to jump out of Moby Dick, and if not for his keen ears he would’ve missed it with the wind hurtling around him, but he did hear the final phrase from Twain who for once was all serious, “Especially those who give it with a smile.”