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Colts phone rings. No caller ID, so it’s either Court or Ryland. Not good. They usually call on burners.
He flips a coin. Heads.
“Colt, Colt, Colt, Colt, Col-” Ryland is hyperventilating and stumbling over the word.
“Woah, take a breath, man, I’m here,”
“Colt I need you to listen to me very carefully,”
“Something better be really wrong. You know we shouldn’t call like this,” it’s safer that the Cotland-Six brothers stay on their corners of the Earth.
“I think something really really bad is going to happen to me,”
“Like framed murder-suicide bad or the CIA wants me dead bad?”
“Like they want to shoot me into space bad,” Ryland hisses.
“What the fuck? You’re gonna have to explain a little bit,”
“I have three hours before this crazy bitch, Eva Stratt- remember that name- wants me to decide if I want to go on a suicide mission to investigate why the fucking sun is dying!”
“Shit, man, I knew you were sciency but space? That’s insane,”
“I’m not an astronaut!” He slams his fist on the desk as he says it.
“And you think if you say no they’re gonna force you?”
“They’re gonna drug me or something I have a really bad feeling Colt, I need you to find Sierra,”
“You want me to find the most untraceable man on planet Earth?”
“I need you to- I have three hours to ‘decide’, and 17 days until the launch,”
“Fuck, okay, Ry, leave it to me, is there anything he’s gotta know to find you? Where are you? Are there keycards? I don’t know- spy shit?”
“International waters, man I don’t know, I’m on a boat, there’s people from every government, every country. Security everywhere, keycards for the fucking bathroom-“
“So Court’s domain,”
“Exactly or at least I’d fucking hope so,”
“Don’t worry Ry, we’ll figure this out- we got you,”
“You better- shit I gotta go- love you-“
“Love you too-“ The line goes dead, Colt puts his head in his hands, “Fuck,”
Jody hangs up her phone too, Colt noticed her leave about midway through his conversation.
“I managed to get the chopper, let’s go,”
Jody must have seen his ‘how the fuck?’ face because she promptly responds, “Said I needed it for a stunt, come on,”
She chucks a duffel bag at him, their emergency one, specifically for shit like this. It’s mostly packed, but he adds some extra stuff anyway. You never know- you might need a stuffed bunny. Maybe. Better to be over prepared than underprepared. He packs his brother’s things.
It’s about time they had a family reunion.
——————
General rule of finding Sierra Six: follow the explosions.
Arson at a house in Prague? Shooting in the town square nearby? A crashed plane on route to Croatia? A half blown up castle?
Sure enough, Court running through raining bullets with some kid. They’re about to jump into the water when they hear-
“Need a ride?”
A hand outstretched he takes without hesitation. Jody’s arms holding the girl. Explosions below.
A chopper. A first aid kit. A smile.
“Long time no see,” Court hugs Colt, as much as he can without obstructing him. He is flying the helicopter after all.
“I missed you, brother,” Colt points at Jody, “this is Jody, let her patch you up,”
Court gasps, eyes lighting up as he shakes her hand, “Jody, I’ve heard so much about you, so glad to finally meet you,”
“And I you, but you’re bleeding out, so we’re going to have to catch up later,” she tears through the first aid kit.
Court straps the girl in, Claire, her name is, and Jody hands her a blanket, the toy bunny and some food. She falls asleep pretty quickly. Colt knew it would come in handy.
“Court, is there any way you can rig this to get us to the states?”
“The states?” He slurs through the haze of pain meds Jody has forced into him, “not in this thing, it’s too far,”
“We needed to be in the states about yesterday,”
“I’m used to no info but a more specific location would be nice. I knew you weren’t just here to see my beautiful face,”
“See it in the mirror everyday. Look, Rylands in trouble,”
“Murder-suicide trouble or CIA wants him dead trouble?”
“Is currently drugged up and about to be shot into space trouble,”
“Is this Project Hail Mary by chance?”
Colt turns to look at him, “yeah, how did you-“
“I know everything, land at these coordinates,” he punches some numbers into the choppers GPS, “we’ll get a proper plane, make some calls, launch is in 15 days, right?”
“16,” Colt corrects.
“Even better,”
——————
They land at an air strip on a European island, Colt isn’t even sure what country it belongs to, but seems exactly like the spy shit Court deals with. There’s a very convenient bunker with supplies; drinks too. God knows he could use one.
Colt stands outside the safe house, taking in the fresh night air. Jody and Claire are asleep. He isn’t sure where Court is- what else is new? There’s no light pollution, so Colt can see all the stars his brother is about to be shot into. He tries not to throw up at the sight.
Court enters his line of sight, phone pressed against his ear. He’s nursing his gunshot wounds while talking very seriously on the phone. He’s got daggers in his eyes that Colt has always found to mean he plans on getting the job done. He has every faith in him.
The phone disconnects and he chucks it in the bramble, limping towards Colt, “we leave first thing tomorrow, come on, let’s get some sleep,”
——————
There are two jets on the air strip in the morning. One for Court and Claire. One for Colt and Jody.
Colt follows Court west towards the states. It’s a long haul flight, at least him and Jody can swap out.
Endless ocean means plenty of time to catch up. Or more so, Colt being caught up on Courts crazy life and Court already knowing everything about everything.
He didn’t think they’d actually force Ryland.
“Hey Court, how are we actually going to get him out?”
“The same way I do everything, some hand grenades, a shootout and a fire. Seems to always do the trick,”
“Of course,” Colt remarks incredulously.
“I’m not even joking, the fuckers deserve it,”
“Too right,”
——————
A couple of explosions later, they are face to face with Eva Stratt, who looks like she’s seen a ghost. Twice fold.
Her eyes flash to her left, as if to check that Grace is still where she left him. She wouldn’t know. He’s subsurface. Colt legs it, immediately, checking every room in every corridor on every floor in the direction of Eva Stratts split second look.
Court can deal with Eva. He just has to find Ryland.
His back stings with the pain of running, even through the adrenaline coursing through him. He’s looking for medical but nothing is labeled in this place and the endless hallways seem to stretch and faze into infinity.
He sees someone at another dead end. They have to double take at him.
“Dr. Grace? I thought you were downstairs-” their eyes flash down to the room adjacent to them and then back up. Colt is there in an instant, unwilling to deal with the confused scientist.
He enters a room of pods, all about human size. They have little windows at the heads and Colt isn’t sure if hes going to be able to face him. One has a sticky note with Rylands name on it.
“Shit, are there no buttons on this thing?” He scours the whole thing, then the room. There has to be some way he can get him out.
——————
“Well well well, if it isn’t the infamous Eva Stratt,”
“I assume you’re responsible for this mess? Fucking up the project that’s going to save not only you but everyone on this planet,”
“Not Ryland though, right? And, yes, I take full responsibility for this mess,” Court does a little curtsy, then holds out his hand, “Sierra Six, pleasure to finally meet you,”
“Oh, I know you,” you don’t become the most important person in the world without knowing who the Sierras are. She doesn’t take his hand.
“You also know my brother,”
And the pieces fall into place in her mind. Grace having ‘no living relatives’ but two carbon copy’s of him. The burner phones he keeps getting possession of, despite her efforts to keep this ship untraceable. The Polaroid of ‘him’. How Graces file is almost entirely blank before he started teaching.
“Ah”
“Anyways, I can’t let you have him, sorry. But don’t worry, I haven’t fucked up any of your research. You can still save the world or whatever, just not with my brother,” he throws her a USB stick and a vial of black liquid, so close to the launch, there was no need for much astrophage on the ship, so that was all there was. He leaves the room, hand to his earpiece, asking for Colt.
——————
By the time Court arrives, Colt is carrying a very unconscious Ryland in his arms. He’s ice cold and they’re trying not to think about how that could mean he’s dead and not just in cryosleep. Court grabs some medical supplies, Colt has no clue what they are but trusts his brother wholly.
Jody and Claire are waiting by the planes. They ditched one of them in favour of a three seater for Ryland. Colt takes Claire in the two seater. She’s already set the GPS to a safe house in South America. She says it’s by the beach. Her favourite safe house she’s ever had to be held up in. Jody flies the three seater, following Colts lead. Court tends to Ryland.
Working his magic. Hopefully.
——————
26 years later, Ryland gets to tell a classroom full of excited students that his friends, a team of astronauts and cosmonauts saved the world.
They met an alien and saved his world too.
Ryland gets to tell his kids that he helped work on the Hail Mary. That he then used his knowledge of astrophage to create clean energy, to grow food, to warm the world enough to survive the next few years.
He gets to come home. His friends get to come home, thanks to the fuel Rocky gave them. ‘Home’ gets to exist, gets to live.
Colt and Court get to see their little brother alive and well.