Book I - ch 23. Yellow-Bellied Dragons

* * *

Robyn looked out her window, watching the specs of distant lights as the plane settled into cruising altitude. The seatbelt felt like it was restraining her. Or maybe she was projecting her feelings of being trapped.

She pulled up the mission maps on her tablet. She wasn’t very familiar with this area, but it should be fine. They’d already gone over their plan, and she had a good idea of where she’d go once when they arrived.

Her thoughts flitted back to Sarah every few seconds. This was bad. She couldn’t afford to be this distracted.

Python got up and came towards the back, taking the seat across the aisle from Scorpion. “The last time I was this far from the Lair was when we were chasing down that small kidnapping ring, remember?”

Robyn remembered reading about that mission, though she hadn’t bothered with many of the details. Two years was long enough that it wouldn’t matter.

Scorpion nodded. “That was a while back. Whatever happened to that guy from Center who joined us? I don’t think I saw him again after that.”

“He died last year. His codename got reassigned last month.”

“I always hate when that happens. When I got mine, the last person called Scorpion hadn’t even been dead a year.”

“Why such a short timeframe?” Python asked.

Robyn was about to joke that it had something to do with Scorpion’s personality when she was interrupted by a warning signal.

“Griffon, we have a message from home,” Mermaid said.

“Priority?” Griffon asked.

“Null. It’s Pegasus, for Dragon.”

Robyn stiffened when everybody turned to her. She didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until Mermaid read the message.

“Change of heart or yellow belly?” Mermaid relayed with a confused expression.

Ah, so Pegasus went to talk to Sarah already. That was fast. Was he really that bored?

“Whatever you forgot, we’re not going back for it,” Griffon joked.

“I didn’t forget anything.” Willfully ignoring something she was supposed to do was very different from forgetting it.

“Do you want to reply?” Mermaid asked.

“The reply is yellow. And tell him to stick to the plan.” She might as well pass along the difficult conversation to him.

Mermaid sent over the reply. A second later, she chucked.

“What?” Robyn asked.

“He said payback awaits.”

“Enough playing around with the com,” Griffon said.

Python turned around, poorly hiding a smile, and Scorpion pretended to be entertained by the flight plan.

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Mermaid’s laughter rang on in the silence.

“What was that about?” Griffon asked, taking the seat next to her. “Sarah?”

Robyn nodded.

“I’m guessing you left it to Pegasus to explain to your sister about the plan to send her home? And you didn’t tell him.”

Sometimes, he was as annoying as Pegasus in how perceptive he was.

“Are you sure that’s not you stalling?” he asked. “It’s alright to not want to let go.”

“You’ve been spending way too much time with Athena, haven’t you?” She leaned her seat back, staring at the ceiling.

Griffon sat on the armrest right across the aisle, no sign of leaving her alone.

Robyn refused to look at him. Instead, she switched her focus to where Python started checking her weapons in the middle of the aisle.

“We were in a hurry, and I thought if I started trying to explain, it would be all truncated pieces and then it would be worse. And I don’t really wanna be in on it. On the planning and everything. I’d rather leave it to Pegasus. Besides, I’ll have time to talk to her when we get back. We don’t even have a timeline for when she’s going back.”

There was no hurry. No hurry in talking to Sarah, or anything else for that matter. Not until new orders came.

Griffon nodded. “As soon as this more immediate threat is dealt with, we’ll have more people to allocate.”

If they waited until some sort of resolution before deciding what to do about Sarah, would they ever decide? “We never get to the bottom of anything, do we? It’s just layers on layers.”

His tired sigh was more of an admission than any words would be. “Unicorn said she’ll try her best to get something more on Gellman’s cell before we get back.”

“I don’t think there are any rocks left to turn over. There’s nothing else there.”

Python looked up at that, then went back to checking her gun.

Griffon leaned in towards her, lowering his voice. “That doesn’t mean we give up.”

“I know, I’m not giving up. I’m just tired.” She smiled. That was a truth she hadn’t admitted to anyone. She’d been tired for such a long time. “But I won’t give up that easy, don’t worry.”

“It wouldn’t be you if you did.” Griffon smiled. “It’ll work out, you’ll see.”

Robyn nodded automatically. Was she allowed to wish for a happy ending?

“Mermaid?” Griffon called towards the front of the plane. “What’s our ETA?”

“Still twenty minutes to go.”

“Hey, could you guys keep it down?” Python asked. She nodded towards the corner where Hydra was sleeping.

“How can he sleep?” Scorpion asked.

“No one ever knows.” Python pointed her sheathed knife at him. “But he could probably sleep through the end of the world.”

“Well, that would be boring,” Mermaid said. “He’d miss all the fireworks.”

* * *

“Robyn! Why didn’t you tell me you were doing something else?” Sarah asked.

Robyn rolled her eyes. “I really don’t get why you’re so upset.”

“You didn’t show! I waited two hours for you.”

Robyn waved her off as she walked around her into their bedroom. “Stop being such a brat. We can go tomorrow.”

“No, we can’t. Today was the last day the movie was playing. I told you this.”

“If you wanted to go that much, why didn’t you go without me?”

“Because I promised you I’d wait. I promised, Robyn! Do you even know the meaning of the word?”

“What the hell is your problem? It was just some stupid movie. Allison called me over to her place and I figured you’d go with Jeremy.”

“But I’d made plans with you.”

“We can go see another movie tomorrow if it’s such a big deal.”

Sarah clenched her fists so she wouldn’t grab Robyn by the shoulders and shake her until her brain cells rearranged in an acceptable pattern. “You’re missing the point.”

“I don’t think I am. You wanted to go to the movies, so you should have gone. Jeremy would have gone with you, wouldn’t he?”

“You said you were going with me and you always complain when it’s just the two of us and Jeremy because you say it makes you feel like a third wheel.” Sarah threw her hands up in exasperation. “I’m not getting through to you, am I?”

“I’m not apologizing because of some stupid movie you wanted to see.”

“For the last time, it’s not about the movie! It’s about you deciding things and not telling me.”

“You know what? I can’t deal with you when you’re being irrational. I’m going back out.”

“Fine, run away! That’s what you do, isn’t it?” Sarah shouted after her. “You always run away!”

Sarah heard the front door slam shut and she locked the bedroom door. It was a good thing Mom and Dad weren’t home yet.

She wiped a hand across her cheek, frowning down at the tears she hadn’t noticed she’d been crying.

Deep inside, she knew it wasn’t about the movie. It was barely about the broken promise. The tears she didn’t want came from her dreams.

The dreams where she was left behind. And where blood colored the walls.