Any Kind of Support (ID)

[DanteMGalileo]

"Well, his full name's William Lowe, but nobody calls him that," Percy replied. "As to what to look for... he's about this tall-" He motioned to a spot about nine inches above his head. "Has messy blonde hair, blue eyes with a brown ring, wears glasses, and he should be wearing mostly blues and browns. He's also pretty awkward-looking."

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Blond, blue eyes, glasses, blue clothes..." Rio mumbled as he nodded along. "Perfect. Let's see what I can manage."

The mage stared intently into the little crystal ball in his left hand, a shimmering, pale yellow light illuminating both it and the triangle of pineapple in his right. He felt the magic weave its way into his brain, picking at the minuscule traces of skin lingering on the discarded fruit and transmitting it into his subconscious. His thoughts focused on the description of Will, a sense of familiarity slowly coming to him the DNA sample made his mental image of his target more and more real.

In Rio's third eye, the light reflecting off the crystal ball started to form a picture...

---------------------------

The message had been received from their new ally. The target had been acquired.

At the entrance to portal park, Mr. Stone stood tall outside his parked Mercedes, staring into the horizon with his hands in his pockets and a flat expression behind his dark sunglasses. The angel knew where the rendezvous point was. All Mr. Stone had to do now was wait for him to arrive with the boy who had their microchip and it would be smooth sailing from there.

And so he waited there. Silently. Patiently. Unmoving.

[DanteMGalileo]

Flap, flap. A few green feathers landed before their owner did, Liderc looking somewhat out of breath.

"Gah... hah..." The green angel had an unconscious William under one arm, relieved to be on the ground and not moving for once. "Here he is. Have you ever seen a mug this ugly? I mean, compared to me, most other men fall short, but still..." He looked at the Mercedes. "I'm going to assume this is how we're going to escape. Well, what are we waiting for?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Uuuuugh..." Lydia's vision was fuzzy for a moment and her joints were stiff for a while longer, but eventually she managed to sit up straight again and rub her pounding temples. Today was just a day of non-stop headaches, wasn't it? So much so that she was having a hard time remembering what exactly had happened, but she was almost completely certain it was bad news. First things first... what hit her?

Oh, right. Max accidentally tased Will.

Lydia anxiously inspected the pod's instruments, relieved to find that they were all still operational and only a couple of them required adjustments. The only thing that wasn't giving her a reading was her visual feed from William's optic nerve, the monitor showing only a black screen.

"Will??" Through her headset, she could faintly hear what William's eardrum was continuing to pick up. At least she hoped that was what she was hearing. Sounded like little more than the wind with an occasional break like something was beating against it. "Will, we had a massive power surge and I think I blacked out for a minute. Are you alright?"

She anxiously placed a hand to her headset. "Please tell me you can hear me..."

[ParamountKeymaster]

Once Liderc landed, Mr. Stone took a brief moment to inspect William. He found the young man alive and unharmed, just unconscious. The absolute perfect condition he could've been delivered in. The chances of the microchip still being intact and inside him were exceptionally high.

Seeing this, Mr. Stone nodded curtly to Liderc, then promptly pushed a button on his key fob to pop the trunk. Judging by the empty interior, it seemed pretty obvious what he wanted done here, and while Liderc took care of that, Mr. Stone walked over to the passenger side door and, like a chauffeur, held it open for the angel.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Don't humans need air?" Liderc pondered aloud, before shaking his head. "Why do I care? What does the life of a miserable half-breed matter to me again?" Noting the empty trunk, and as per orders not to harm him too much, the green angel dropped William into the trunk of the Mercedes. "Sleep well. Don't wake up until you're told otherwise."

After dropping the human into the drunk, Liderc accepted the open door with a quick "Thank you" to Mr. Stone, entering the car. Upon taking a seat, he frowned slightly. "I'm going to assume these were not made with angels in mind. Oh well." His wings turned into a cobalt light, before shrinking to a more comfortable size for the back of the seat.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Oh God..." Lydia wanted to be thankful that the ears could still pick up noise during unconsciousness, but the voice and the sounds she was picking up through William's were not exactly comforting. "So yeah, definitely still being held hostage. That sounded suspiciously like a car trunk."

She anxiously started wracking her brain and her arsenal for anything she could use to rouse Will. Anything to get him to wake up and get them out of this mess. "Will, come on, get up! Come on, I know those ears are still working! Wake up!"

[ParamountKeymaster]

As soon as Liderc was fully inside the car, Mr. Stone closed the door and circled around to the driver's side, where he climbed inside, buckled up and started the engine. Soon after the Mercedes roared to life, he pushed a button on the steering wheel...

The car jolted heavily. Through the windows, the vehicle's occupants could clearly see that two panels on the sides just behind the doors were starting to unfurl, remaining firmly hinged to the roof. As they were raised, they revealed a jet on each side of the car, and the angled panels themselves were tipped with jets of their own. At the same time, the low rumble from the engine turned into a deep hum as parts of the undercarriage opened up, making way for a complex propulsion system.

Once this brief transformation was completed, Mr. Stone pulled out of their parking space and started driving it through the parking lot as if it was still a normal car. He kept to a straight path like he was piloting it down a runway, quickly picking up speed, almost looking like he was about to plow right into Portal Park. It wasn't long, however, before the vehicle started to rise up off the ground, soaring above the greenery, the horizon disappearing beneath the dashboard.

---------------------------

"Oh no..." Rio's face quickly went pale as he watched the events in his vision unfold. "I... I think I found him, and I sincerely hope some part of this rings a bell for you. Will is unconscious. A man with green skin and bird wings just brought him to another man in a suit. Th-They stuffed him in a car trunk and- Oh geez, okay, the car can fly..."

[DanteMGalileo]

"Hmm... flying, transforming land-to-sky vehicles..." Liderc muttered to himself. "Not like our single-pilot ships don't have this function too, but I suppose this is impressive for a human society at this rough era of technology." He kicked back slightly, making a strange purring sound. "I may have to steal this seat specification. Far comfier than my usual cockpit..."

Turning to the back, he grinned. "How's it going back there, half-breed? Got enough air? And how's your little friend holding up?"

---

A man with green skin and bird wings had Will in some sort of oh crap...

"Oh, shit." Percy instantly removed his coat and shirt, allowing grotesque wings to form from his torso. "What the hell is a car and what way did it go?! That's green asshole birdy! He's got it out for Will after something!! C'mon, tell me where to go, I got a friend to save!!"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Aw crap, he knows about me...?" Lydia mumbled anxiously. No sense in questioning who he was or where they were taking Will, though. It was probably better to wake him up and get out of the situation before they could really get into the thick of it.

As such, Lydia piloted Proteus II out of its resting place near William's liver and towards the recognizable thumping noise that echoed through his thoracic cavity. She continued to speak into her microphone all the while, encouraging him to wake up and warning him about the danger they were in, but this clearly wasn't doing anything to rouse him, so it was onto Plan B.

Soon enough, she landed the pod atop William's heart. His heartrate was somewhat slow, but Proteus II still violently shook with every beat. Wanting to get this over with, Lydia quickly flipped a switch and deployed a single, dome-shaped nanomachine from the bottom of the pod, attaching it to the heart and piloting away from the pulsating organ shortly thereafter.

"Sorry about this, Will, but I really need your help here..." Lydia sighed as she adjusted the settings on a nearby screen. "Clear!"

With the push of a button, the nanomachine delivered a surprisingly powerful electric current to the heart. Not a fatal one; it barely even came close to the voltage a taser gun packed. Just enough to have the complete opposite effect, in fact.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Mr. Stone didn't respond to Liderc's commentary. He simply stared ahead and continued to pilot the flying car through its continual ascent as if he wasn't even being spoken to.

---------------------------

"Whoa, whoa, Percy, hold on!" Rio was quick to stand up and grab Percy by the arm. He just as quickly remembered his manners, let go of the now winged teen and instead held his hand up anxiously. "Believe me when I say that at this rate, you're gonna have a hard time catching up with a flying car! If you're still willing to trust me, though, I know a way you can!"

[DanteMGalileo]

Darkness...

And then jolt to the heart. William sprung awake with a rather loud yelp, eyes wide, before promptly banging his head on the roof of he trunk. "GAH!! Ow!! Cripes, there are better ways of waking a guy u..." And then, the cramped, dark environment he had awoken in. The cramped, dark, probably limited in oxygen supply environment he had awoken in. "Uhh... Lydia?" he asked, voice squeaking slightly. "Where are we? And why does it feet like we're moving?"

"Mr. Stone, did you hear that? It sounded like our captive awoke. I'll go check on him, maybe make him count some fleecy baaing beasts..."

"Oh, crap. I think I know that voice."

---

"I don't know what a car is, but I suppose you may have a point..." Percy grumbled slightly, dissolving his wings and replacing his clothing. "Okay, Rio. So, what is your solution to catching up to that? Because, no offence, you don't seem like the type that can fly, much less fly fast..."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Oh, thank God..." Lydia breathed as she continued to pilot back to a safe landing site. William's voice, startled as it was, was music to her ears right about now. "Well, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say whoever took us hostage stuffed us in the trunk of a car and is driving us to whoever's in charge of this operation. I'd prefer not to find out how literal that word is in this situation, so we probably oughta find a way outta here!"

She heard the voice too. William's recognition and the dread it brought to his tone only made her that much more nervous. "Check on you? Okay, that probably means he's gonna open the backseat pass-through. Let's see if we can't get out of here the old-fashioned way first. Start feeling around. See if you can find a way to open the hatch."

[ParamountKeymaster]

Easily picking up on the thump and the yelp from the trunk, Mr. Stone nodded at Liderc's proposal and brought the car to a level cruising altitude.

---------------------------

"Actually, I know a spell for that too, but that's not what I had in mind!" Rio responded, once again taking Percy by the arm once he was certain he wasn't crossing too far over any boundaries. "Hang tight. This could get a little weird."

With a wave of his arm, Rio enveloped Percy and himself in purple light, an arcane circle shining beneath their feet. In little more than a blink, the greenery of Portal Park that surrounded them disappeared. The duo now found themselves standing in what looked like a lavish mansion living room, complete with (among many other things) two sets of staircases leading to second- and third-floor balconies, a series of comfy-looking couches, an enormous television, a jukebox, and a desk with two computers. Seated in front of the latter were two anthros, still wrapped up in their anger-inducing video game.

"Mickey!" Rio immediately shouted. "Can you stop fighting over who gets to be McCree long enough for a car chase?! This is an emergency!"

[DanteMGalileo]

"Okay, okay, what would that even look like? Scheisse, I can't see zilch in here either! Scheiße, I can safely say I don't like these car contraptions!!"

Mumbling curses to himself, William began to blindly feel around for something, anything to get them out of this situation. "Scheisse, schiesse, scheisse, what am I even supposed to be looking for?! A lever? I wonder... What's this?"

"You have until the count of five until I open this. One... two... four..."

"No time to question what it does!" Will yanked on what he assumed was a lever with all his strength. Instantly, the trunk door opened, and the blonde was greatly relieved. "Oh, phew, it's open, we can escape!" Without pausing to check exactly where it led, Will began to climb out of the trunk, before suddenly feeling nothing below. "Was zur Hölle, man?! Uh, Lydia?" He clutched the mouth of the trunk, trying not to think of how high up they were. "Do these car things normally fly?" Oh crap, he felt his fingers slipping. "Oh, FUCK-!!"

Before he could start free-falling, however, a black-clad hand grabbed his. "Oh, uh, phew, thanks m- ON SECOND THOUGHT, I TAKE THAT BACK!!"

"Hello there, little human. I thought you'd be a bit more grateful about me saving your life."

---

"Gah..." Percy took his head in his hand, shaking slightly. "I hate teleporters. Okay, that wasn't as bad as Lark, but still..."

The brunette looked around, seeing quite an extravagant interior, and two fur-covered people arguing before two shiny square things. It seemed Rio knew these two, one of whom was named Mickey. "Oh, uh, hi..." He awkwardly waved. "Nice place you got here. ... How's this supposed to work again?"