Clancy groaned, sitting up. He dimly heard a voice fading in around him. "Ariadne? Can you hear me?"
  "Yes." Clancy replied. "I can hear you."
   The man who'd saved their sorry asses rolled his eyes, turning away. "You nerds..."
    Logan looked at him, smirking. "Hey, I think it counts for something to at least get the reference."
   Clancy groaned, shaking his head  to try to rid himself of his splitting headache.
   Logan noticed and looked back to the scientist. "You okay Clanker?" He asked. "What's your name and rank?"
   "Barlow, Clancy..." Clancy hesitated, then smirked. "General."
   Logan rolled his eyes and stood up. "He's fine."
   "I thought you said he was a Cadet-"
   "He's fine."
   Clancy squinted at their rescuer, then blinked in surprise. "Logan, is that...?"
   Logan grinned. "I was waiting for you to notice."
   The man gave a friendly smile and stepped forward. "Former Captain Sparklez, Jordan. Nice to meet you kid."
   "...We cannot let Vern know we met him."
   "Why, does he not like-"
   "No he flippin' loves you." Clancy said. "But if he finds out we fell off a train and met you without him, he'll bloody kill us."
   Jordan laughed nervously. "Good luck with him, I suppose..."
   "Yeah. Pray for me, he's an Italian." Clancy said, climbing out of the borrowed bed. He suddenly seemed to notice his completely dysfunctional metal arm. He jumped, then lifted it up with his normal arm. "Oh right..."
   "Can you not use it?" Logan asked him.
   "No, I need to recalibrate it..." Clancy hesitated, then looked at the captain. "Any chance you got work bench lying around?"
   "Yeah you can borrow it, by all means." Jordan replied, jerking a thumb behind him. "Just in the next room."
   "Thanks." Clancy walked over to it, taking his wrench and screwdriver out if the compartment on his forearm.
   Logan followed him into the room, leaning against the wall reside the workbench as Clancy tossed his tools onto the surface.
   "What's the damage?" He asked.
   "Eight hours... At least." Clancy replied. "What time is it?"
   "You've been asleep all day... It's like seven at night."
   "Then we won't be able to leave till at least three in the morning."
   "Screw that, we'll move at ten. We may as well take a pit stop since we're here..."
   Clancy sighed. "Well, I'm not arguing..."
   "Sounds dull." Jordan said. Logan looked at him there, leaning in the doorway. "Got anything to do?"
   Logan shrugged. "We're on a mission, boredom has to be expe-"
   "Mission?" Jordan asked. "What are you, secret agents?"
   "Not exactly." Logan replied. "We're part of the Sky Army. Well I am, Clancy's Star Division."
   "Oh wow, those are some words I haven't heard in a while." Jordan scratched his head. "How is old man Void nowadays then?"
  Logan cocked his head to one side. Clancy looked up from his arm with a confused look on his face.
  Jordan noticed the two. "You know, Lawrence Void? Your Commander?" He took a drink of his coffee.
  "Sir, our Commander is Adam Dahlburg."
   Jordan choked on his drink. "Sky?! In control of an army?!"
   "...Yes."
   "Yeah, I thought the same thing when I met him." Clancy grabbed a nearby chair and sat down in it to continue working on his arm.
  Logan raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
  "Well he doesn't act quite like your typical military commander, now does he?" Clancy asked.
  "What makes you say that exactly?" Jordan asked as he tried to catch his breath.
  "Well just last week he played Lady Gaga on the intercom and rollerbladed up and down the corridors." Clancy said.
    "Oh for god's sakes." Jordan groaned. "The army's doomed."
    "I wouldn't be so sure." Logan said. "I mean yeah, he's not a as disciplined as past Commanders, but he's created a unified military that can work together and have a little fun at the same time."
    Jordan shrugged. "Whatever you say, kid. I'm gonna go paint something, I'll be in the studio if you need me." He walked off into another room. Logan leaned against the wall beside Clancy, staring out the window on the opposite side of the room. It was still pouring outside, water falling through the leaves. Logan listened to the sound of rain and sounding thunder and smiled.
    "What d'you think Thalia and Vern are doing?" He asked.
    "Arguing." Clancy replied without hesitation.
    Logan looked at him. "What makes you say that?"
    "Their personalities clash." Clancy said, not looking up from his arm. "Thalia is a realistic optimist, and Vern is just plain realistic." He said. "He's brutally honest and she'll probably get frustrated with him at some point. I've gotten used to it, just like he got used to me."
    "Do you think that'll slow them down?" Logan asked.
    "I'm counting on it." Clancy replied. "If we're ever gonna catch up to them, we'll need all the time we can get."
    Logan nodded. "Well, I'll leave you alone." He started to walk away when Clancy stopped him.
    "Hey Logan?" He asked. "Can I call you Ginger?"
    Logan wrinkled his nose. "No."
    "Please?"
    "Absolutely not."
    "Alright, fine... Can I call you Rusty?"
    "A lot of people call me that."
    "So?"
    Logan rolled his eyes. "If you want."
    Clancy smirked down at his arm, waiting till Logan walked away.
    "So, Ginger is off-limits, but other nicknames aren't?" He asked, adopting a sarcastic tone. "I wonder why..."

Logan was passing the studio to find a nice place to lay down for a nap when he noticed Jordan sitting in a chair in front of an easel, seeming to get frustrated by his painting.
    Logan crept into the room, stopping beside him. "What is it?" He asked.
    "An old friend of mine." Jordan replied.
    "Friend?" Logan asked. "It's a hostile mob."
    "Not mine." Jordan smiled a little. "I called him Jerry, but... Unfortunately I'm not a very practiced painter."
    "Want me to help?"
    Jordan raised an eyebrow at him. "Sure, why not?"
    Jordan handed him the paintbrush and he dabbed it into the green paint, moving it to the canvas. "See, you can't just stick a lighter color all around and hope for the best. You have to think about where the light source in the picture is, and then place the lighter green accordingly. So in this case... You'd paint it in here." Logan painted a light green shape on the bottom left of the slime in the painting, then got the darker green and filled in the green smears that had been placed at random on the slime's body.
    "And up here, your clouds look all cartoonish."
    "Yeah, that's really the best I can do." Jordan said in a good humored way.
    "Well what you do there..." Logan moved the brush, now covered in white paint, lightly and quickly around the right and left sides of the cloud. "You wanna give it an airy look... So that the edges are see through. Make it look like the wind is blowing. Because there's a lot more wind up there than down here, pushing them along."
    "That's neat."
    Logan smiled a little without looking away from the painting. "Yeah, I got a friend who has a thing for the sky." He handed Jordan the brush again with a smile. "I think you can handle the rest alright."
    "Where'd you learn to paint like that?" Jordan asked.
    "Well my mom's French, and she just taught me as I grew up. Drawing's just a hobby of mine."
    "You're French?" Jordan asked doubtfully. "You don't look French."
    "Non, en fait, j'ai été adopté." Logan said.
    Jordan nodded. "Ah, je vois." He smiled a little, curiosity in his eyes. "You really don't act like a military man, do you?"
    "I get that a lot, yeah."
    Jordan eyed him curiously. "That bothers you."
    Logan smiled without looked at him, sitting down on a bench. "You're pretty good at reading emotions for a lonely hermit."
    "Just because I'm lonely don't mean I don't have friends." Jordan said as he sat beside the redhead. "My friend Taylor visits me every Sunday, without fail. Sometimes he brings this dude Mark with him, he's lots of fun. That guy always notices things. You'd think he was a therapist or something, but he's just very compassionate. I sorta watched him and noticed how he interpreted feelings with facial expressions. So what's up?"
    Logan sighed. "It's really nothing. I just wish I were more useful." He said. "All my friends are skilled with weapons; Venom doesn't even have to look when she's shooting a bow. Thalia's really handy with a sword, although I can tell you from personal experience that she punches harder. Kevin's great with the stylet and a flippin' axe. Jack doesn't even need a weapon to be useful. But... I'm just sort of there."
    "Well, what are you good at?" Jordan asked. "Strengths?"
    "I know a variety of Shakespeare insults..." Logan said. "And I can quote tons of entire monologues that really just annoy people, but military wise, I'm just useless."
    "Show me a Shakespeare thing." Jordan said. "Go on, I like some Shakes' now and then."
    Logan shrugged. "You asked for it." He sighed. "'Tis torture, and not mercy; heaven is here, where Juliet lives... And every cat and dog and little mouse - every unworthy thing - live here in heaven and may look on her; but Romeo may not. More validity, more honorable state, more courtship lives in carrion-flies than Romeo. They my seize on the white wonder of dear Juliet's hand and steal immortal blessing from her lips, who even in pure and vestal modesty still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin. But Romeo may not; he is banished. Flies may do this, but I from this must fly. They are free men, but I am banished... Say'st thou yet that exile is not death?"
    "Romeo and Juliet, a classic." Jordan said. "You know more though, don't you?"
    Logan nodded. "I've seen every play except for the Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth."
    "Why those two?"
    "I just haven't gotten the chance to see them yet." Logan shrugged. "But hopefully someday I will."
    Jordan nodded, then leaned forward. "So what weapon do you use?"
    "When I was on a mission about four months ago, I used the sai." Logan said. "But I lost one of them in the ocean so I just switched to a staff when I got back."
    "A staff? Can I see?"
    "Yeah sure." Logan grabbed it from where it had been leaning against the wall. He handed it to Jordan, who took it and eyed it curiously. "What are the carvings in it?"
    "Nothing special." Logan pulled out his pocket knife. "Just me getting bored."
    "I know that feel." Jordan held it out, almost like he was giving it back, then spun it around. He took a step back, eyes locked on the long wooden pole, then spun it behind his back. He grabbed it so his hand was in the middle of it, half of it behind his back as he held it in a sort of defense stance.
    "Congratulations." Logan said dully. "You're better than me too."
    Jordan laughed.
    "I wouldn't be so proud of that, it's not really a big accomplishment."
    "Here, lemme teach you a trick." Jordan held the staff out to Logan, who took it. "Always have a beginning and ending stance. When there's a break in a hand to hand fight, keeping a solid stance will help you keep yourself ready and oftentimes intimidate your partner. Guess who taught me that?"
    "Sky?"
    Jordan snorted. "No way." He said. "There's this town called Jintou in northern Rentou. I learned there. If you want, I could teach you tai chi."
    "Isn't tai chi just yoga?"
    Jordan whacked Logan upside the head. "No!" He said. "It's a calming exercise. Helps you keep a cool head. Might help you before going onstage or something. Got a few minutes?"
    Logan shrugged. "Yeah, I got nothing to do. Why not?"
    Jordan nodded. "Right so here, just mirror me." He said, and Logan leaned his staff against the wall again.
    Jordan folded his hands in front of him, closing his eyes as he slowly lifted one leg up. "The key is not thinking." He said. "Just breath in for four seconds, hold for two, and breath out for four. Just think about breathing and nothing else."
    Logan nodded and copied him except for closing his eyes, wobbling a bit due to his lack of balance.
    Jordan slowly moved his foot do it was flat on the ground, where his heel had been up before. He took the leg that had been hovering over the ground and swept it around him in a wide circle until it was balanced on its toes behind him, moving his hands so one was close to his chest and the other was out, both palms facing away from him.
    Logan mirrored his movements somewhat less gracefully, nearly falling during the end position.
    Jordan, however, didn't notice him. After about ten seconds, he moved from the position. He kept his legs the same, but moved his hands slowly above his head, both palms facing the ceiling. And Logan did the same.
    The two did this for twenty minutes; Jordan graceful and practiced and Logan the clumsy little shit he is.
    "And there." Jordan balanced himself evenly on both feet again. "And to finish, you just fold your hands like this and bow."
    Jordan bowed, showing Logan how. Logan nodded and copied him, recognizing the Chinese style. Logan sighed as he straightened up and grabbed his staff off the wall. "Hey, is it cool if I get to sleep?"
    "Yeah, there's a spare room just down the hall across from the bathroom."
    Logan nodded. "Thanks." He said, and started to head out.
    "Hey kid, one last thing." Jordan said.
    Logan turned back around. "Yeah?"
    "That assassin guy that attacked you; the one in green. He dropped a note." Jordan eyed him knowingly. "What did it say?"
     Logan sighed a little. "I found out who he wants." He said. "And I can't let that happen."
     Jordan nodded. "I was procrastinating whether or not I should give you these, but here." He picked a little bag off the nearby table and held it out. "These will get you to Fort Savannah in maybe an hour."
    Logan took the bag and opened it curiously. "What are these?" There were maybe two dozen little, dark green orbs lying inside. He remembered seeing a similar sphere around Jack's neck, only it looked more like a lime green Sauron.
    "Ender pearls. Teleport thingies." He said. "But just a warning, whoever throws 'em will most likely get a headache from it, they just do that."
    Logan smiled. "Thanks Captain."
    Jordan laughed. "No problem kid." He replied. "Hey and if you ever wanted to learn Kung Fu, I'd go with monkey style if I were you."
    "....Isn't that one of your songs."
    "No, you're thinking of Minecraft Style." Jordan laughed. "Monkey style is a stance in Kung Fu that deals with using a lot of big movements and kicks. I think it'd be good for your body type, if you ever chose to learn Kung Fu."
    Logan nodded. "I'll remember that, thank you."
    "No problem." Jordan said. "And I probably won't be up when you leave, so good luck."
     Logan sighed. "We'll need it..." He murmured, and left the studio.