#she swings RAPIDLY from fear to amusement to incredulity to anger then back to fear again

[hopecountyshenanigans]

made a moodboard for Rook in chapter 3

[justlightlysedated]

for @fraudulentzodiacs just because 💜💜💜

* * *

The target was moving too fast for the scanners to track, and Michael had to admit that he was a little impressed. Especially considering that the target was on foot and human.

Even Isobel flying at her fastest yet wasn’t enough to keep up.

Isobel curses low and harsh, her breathing heavy as she pushes past the limits of her stamina to keep up. 

“Remind me again how much credits are on the line,” Isobel asks, panting hard.

“3.5 million,” Michael says sounding a little breathless at the thought of having a third of that for himself.

“Dead or alive,” Max says, pushing the ship to go harder so that they could cut off their target. “So you don’t have to be gentle.”

“Not planning on it,” Isobel says, and then gives out a yell before Michael can see her speeding up on the scanner.

“I hope you’re getting ready,” Max tells Michael. “We’re almost in position.”

Michael rolls his eyes, “I was born ready.”

He can feel Max resisting the urge to take his gaze away from the front shield to glare at him.

“Dropping from this height at this speed-”

“Relax, my king,” Michael says mockingly. “Impenetrable skin, remember?”

“Not sure that will help when you get flattened like a pancake,” Max says, sarcastically.

“Trust me,” Michael responds. “I’ll be fine.”

“Now,” both Max and Isobel say.

Michael tugs the goggles holding his hair back from his face down to protect his eyes and pushes the blue button right next to the bay doors making the floor open up beneath his feet.

Michael lets out a whoop as he falls through the air, the wind rushing past him as he drops steals the sound away.

“Okay,” he hears Max’s voice through the implant in his left ear, connected to the ship’s broadcasting system. “You’re right on course. Isobel-”

“The fucker has those fucking cosmic boots,” Isobel says sounding pissed off. “I’m gonna kick Valenti’s fucking ass. Just picking up the son of an earth ambassador, he says. Easiest 3.5mill in the galaxy, he promises. Easy my ass, this fucker knows exactly what he’s doing.”

“And so do we,” Max assures her. “Michael, twenty seconds to impact.”

Michael changes his position in midair, and presses down on his amulet hanging from his neck. It glows bright blue as the force field surrounds him, and then he crashes to the floor, throwing dirt and rocks in his wake.

The force field powers down and Michael falls to his back laughing helplessly with the adrenaline pouring through his veins.

“Michael,” Max snaps.

Michael pushes himself to his feet and braces his foot on the floor, pulling the laser rifle strapped to his back and looking through the scope.

He spots the target immediately, jumping between the rock formations like he has no fear of falling. Everytime he pushes off, the boots give him a sonic boost sending him farther than humanly possible.

It’s easy to see how he’s been keeping ahead of Isobel, and it’s also easy to see that unlike them, he knows the terrain.

It’s also easy to see the moment he slows down. 

Michael gets a bad feeling immediately, but before he can warn Isobel, she swoops down from the sky like an avenging angel, all golden and bright. 

The target, pushes off from the next formation, but instead of forward he jumps up, and collides with Isobel in midair, dragging them both down to the ground.

“Isobel!” Michael yells, and straps the rifle back on his back before he pulls the cylinder disk from it’s holster on his hip and throws it in front of him.

It folds out into a hoverboard and he jumps on it and speeds forward to where they dropped.

He gets there just in time to see the target, knock Isobel out, and lean forward to grab the amulet from around her neck. “Thanks, princess,” he says.

And Michael takes one second to curse Valenti’s name because the target knows who they really are, before he drops back down to the ground and pulls his rifle from his back as the target stuffs the amulet into the front pocket of his pants.

Michael points the rifle at him, “Hands in the air and maybe I’ll think about not blowing your brains out for hitting my sister.”

The target doesn’t move like he’s surprised, and Michael takes another second to curse Valenti’s name before the target moves fast, using the boots for an extra boost as he roundhouse kicks the rifle out of Michael’s hands and into the air, before he catches it and points it at Michael.

Half of the target’s face is covered by a black cloth, and his eyes widen a little as the take Michael in, but it’s only marginally, before the rifle is giving a whining sound as it powers up.

“You were hardly going to be able to blow my brains out with a cold rifle,” he says and takes a step closer. “And you are hardly the brother of the Lost Princess of Antar, General.”

Michael spits at the ground and bares his teeth at him, raising one hand to his amulet when he feels the tip of a dagger right against the small of his back.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” an unfamiliar female voice says, pressing the knife harder.

Michael is seriously going to kill Valenti if they manage to get out of this alive.

The knife presses harder, and Michael lets his hands drop to his sides.

“Two against one isn’t exactly a fair fight,” he tells the target, who rolls his eyes at Michael.

“Yeah, and what’s three against one?”

“A hell of a party,” Michael says, grinning at him, and hoping that Max is almost at their position.

“If that was a code word or something,” the target says moving closer. “I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

“Max,” Michael says suddenly realizing that Max hasn’t spoken since he called Michael’s name.

“Nope, sorry, he’s a little tied up at the moment,” another unfamiliar and amused female voice says into his earpiece.

“Don’t worry,” the target says snapping Michael’s attention back to him. “He’ll be with you soon enough.”

Before Michael can ask what he means, the target swings the rifle knocking Michael out.

* * *

Michael comes to with a gasp, sitting up too fast, making his shoulders twinge in protest as the move tugs against the restraints around his wrists.

Michael looks around his surroundings to see that they’re in the same spot the target had dropped Isobel. A sort of ravine that had enough shade to hide from the scorching hot suns to protect them all.

Michael spots Max passed out with his head on Isobel’s lap, and Isobel also has her hands tied behind her back and her eyes are narrowed in anger.

Michael looks over to see what she’s looking at and spots the target, sitting down on the floor, hands moving fast as he types into his wristband which is connected to the holographic monitor in front of him that is crunching through data extremely fast, and from the way his eyes are moving, Michael can tell that he’s got at least one neural implant.

Michael feels something hit his thigh and he turns to Isobel to see her gaze on him. She tilts her head towards the target pointedly, and points her chin down.

Michael looks back over to the target, and down to the boots, and finally sees what Isobel was talking about.

“You know,” he says, and the target startles, blinking rapidly before his dark gaze narrows on Michael. “I designed the prototype for those boots.”

The target seems to smile smugly at Michael with only his eyes and his eyebrows, and there is something so familiar about it, but Michael can’t quite put his finger on it.

“These are your prototype actually,” he says and something jolts in Michael’s stomach at that. “I stole them and destroyed the plans before anyone else could get a hold of them. There have been copies flying around the quadrants but none like these.”

“Impossible,” Michael says immediately, blinking rapidly. “No one would be able to get into my lab-”

“Unless they have the code,” the target finishes, and then pulls the dark cloth from around his mouth, and Michael feels like every single atom in his body freezes.

“Alex,” he breathes, and feels Isobel kick something else at him, but he can’t look away.

It’s been ten years since they left Antar in the middle of the night. He didn’t even have time to say goodbye to his mom let alone Alex.

“General,” Alex replies, voice frosty.

Before Michael can say anything else, two figures float down on Michael’s hoverboard, dropping down on either side of Alex.

Michael recognizes them both from the pictures Alex kept in his room. Maria and Liz, his best friends.

Michael hears Max groan and looks over to see him waking up.

“Now that you’re all awake,” Liz says stepping closer to them. “We can begin the interrogation.”

Maria is standing right behind Liz cleaning her finger nails with the tip of her knife, and Alex is plugged back into whatever it is he was doing before.

“Where is Antar?” she says, and Michael’s gaze snaps to her incredulously.

“What are you talking about?” he asks.

“Antar is where it’s always been,” Max says, diplomatically. “Quadrant 43, Galactic Coordinates AAP98592094 and MNR31101.”

“It’s not like we shrunk the planet and put it into our suitcase when we ran away,” Isobel says, sardonically.

Liz and Maria share a look before they both look back at Alex, who lowers his hand and makes the monitor disappear before he looks at Michael.

Michael looks back at him, raising an eyebrow.

“I told you they wouldn’t know,” Alex says after a long moment turning to Maria and Liz.

Maria rolls her eyes, sliding the dagger back into her pocket.

Liz gives Alex a look. “Yeah, and what? We were just supposed to let them take you back to your father?”

Alex licks his bottom lip. “That wouldn’t have happened.”

“I would never let that happen,” Michael snaps at the same time.

Maria’s gaze flickers to him, and then to Alex and then back again, before she expels an exasperated breath and walks away from them muttering under her breath in a language that Michael has never heard.

“What?” Liz asks, calling after her, but doesn’t move away from Alex’s side.

“You know I was stationed on Antar, before the Disappearance,” Alex starts, and is cut off by Max and Isobel.

“The Disappearance?” they ask at the same time.

Alex looks over to them, and then to Michael and then back to Liz, who inclines her head slightly.

“Exactly five years two months and three weeks ago, the New King of Antar used ancient technology to move the planet somewhere else and no one has been able to locate it.”

There is silence for exactly five seconds before Isobel starts cursing and Max starts asking questions, and Michael starts talking about how that would cause an intergalactic catastrophe.

“It did,” Alex says. “It created a singularity that very nearly decimated every planet within range. Many people were killed. Some were lucky enough to survive.”

Michael swallows hard and eyes Alex up and down as though he’ll be able to see through his clothes and make sure that he’s whole and that the neural implant is the only thing different about him.

Alex doesn’t reply to his unspoken question, avoiding his gaze.

Liz lets out a breath. “How are we going to find Rosa now?”

“Rosa?” Isobel asks and something about her voice makes Michael stare at her.

“My sister,” Liz says turning back to them. “The New King kidnapped her and is holding her as his captive. You were our last hope in finding her.”

Isobel looks away from her to Michael, and Michael can see that she knows something, but before he can ask her, Max is speaking.

“We can take you to Antar,” he says, and Liz turns her gaze to him, eyes narrowing.

“How?”

“I’m the true King,” he says simply.

Alex and Liz share a look.

“It’s an evolutionary tic,” Michael answers when Liz and Alex turn unimpressed looks on them. “A King’s heart is with his people. Home is where the heart is, and home calls to us all.”

He looks at Alex as he says it, and Alex looks away immediately, but not fast enough that Michael doesn’t catch the flush that spreads across his cheeks.

“And if we let you go,” Maria says from behind them, startling Michael and making Isobel curse. “How can we be sure that you won’t just kill us all and drag Alex’s dead body to his father and collect your bounty?”

Isobel says, “You can’t. You’ll just have to take that chance.”

At the same time that Max says. “We won’t. I promise.” Not looking away from Liz.

And Michael swallows hard, and looks at Alex who widens his eyes and shakes his head slightly, but Michael is already talking. “Antarians don’t kill their mates.”