"MOVE IT, MOVE IT, MOVE IT! HAUL ASS!"
Everyone in the room focused on what they were meant to do: packing and waiting for Magnus.
Stanley just sat in his chair at his table, spinning the gun with one finger inside the trigger guard. A bit bored, but frankly, didn't want to meddle with anyone else at the moment until needed.
Others, like Johnny and Jordan, quickly took their stuff and holstered it on their shoulders and jogged to the other double doors, across from the ones Magnus and Tallurre were at. Johnny had two double-sized backpacks overlapping on his back. He wasn't mentioned earlier, as he was on his phone, doomscrolling. Lori normally lets him do that and doesn't interrupt.
Magnus: "SHENG-RI! STANLEY! GET UP NOW."
Magnus crossed his arms and screamed it out, and Sheng-Ri slumped up and frowned while squinting with annoyance.
Stanley rocketed out of the chair and followed behind Chidieberre, who was at the door waiting for the short traffic of people, including her, to end.
"Come on, Big Boss. Can't I get a bit more rest?"
"Well, why'd you wake up at fucking four AM, Parano?"
Magnus quietly walked up to Sheng-Ri, who took her time, exaggeratedly packing the final bits of her duffel.
He stood, leaning against the table on the edge near her, standing close by as she kept packing slowly, but surely.
She kept scratching and itching different parts of her hair, messing it up even more than it had been, even though it was semi-tidy.
Sheng-Ri: "Shaddup, Big Boss…"
She didn't even look to her right to see Magnus frowning silly, like a father disappointing her daughter.
Magnus: "Everyone else is outside already, dipshit."
"Hey, don't call me such mean things. I might cry." She said sarcastically to Magnus, who was still waiting.
"Are you?" Magnus, on purpose, acknowledged her sarcasm, as people normally don't go through with keeping the sarcasm.
"Yeah."
"…"
"…"
The three seconds of silence were extremely awkward, as both were waiting for the other to acknowledge the stupid comment first.
"Just shut the fuck up and move your ass already, Parano." Magnus lost the standoff, and Sheng-Ri turned to look at him for a second while she grabbed a small white cylinder out of her bag.
"Like I ain't already, Mag." She replied fast, and Magnus soon replied to her with subliminal sarcasm.
"Mag? What happened to Big Boss? Did I get promoted to actually being called my name a bit this time?"
"Yeah, Hurrah, clap your hands and cheer for that." She mockingly gave Magnus a pat on the back and gave a smug grin right in his face before turning around to start walking to the door, when Magnus snatched the cylinder from her hands after a short hand wrestle.
"My gum." He dashed away from her side and went towards the hangar entrance, with Sheng-Ri nearly matching his fast pace.
"Come on, man. There are limits to these types of things." She said right behind him, while they were both really close to the doors.
Magnus suddenly side-stepped to the right, and Sheng-Ri didn't follow; she slid a tiny bit, which caused Magnus, who watched her awkwardly recover, to laugh right at her, pointing his left hand right at her head.
She looked back, flustered. She showed the most amount of emotion in that moment today.
Magnus: "Idiot."
"Fuck you."
"Just remember I can suspend you before this mission."
"Fuck you. Squared."
Magnus turned back to look at her, standing with her left foot sideways, arms crossed. He scoffed in a silly way before opening the glass doors, already seeing the others try to get into the shuttle. Except for some others.
Stanley: "Gosh, Daryl. Huh." Stanley stood straight, standing back from a distance from the stairs, hands on his hips and legs spread out. He seemed rather happy and joyous about it, even though his face told a different story.
Oswald: "Nice, right?" Oswald stood next to Stanley, but not too close, or else Stanley would've moved away.
"Yeah, It's cool the team built it."
"You made it seem like the mechanic built it all, even though I just told you that the original members built this as one of their first projects."
"Wicked."
"Yeah, buddy."
"How do you even know that?"
"Know what?" Oswald turned to Stanley, and our main character stared back with a bit of fierce coldness. Stanley's eyes got sharper.
"That the OG's built that."
"Tallurre told me. That's what I need to say."
The two of them were admiring the build, seemingly having a conversation before Magnus entered.
Magnus: "Never thought I'd see those two talk already. My guess let me down there…"
Sheng-Ri: "It ain't even your guess."
"Uh, yeah, Sheng-Ri. I get a riddle of some sort, I interpret it, and I figure it out. MY guess." He bumped her shoulder before taking a step ahead of her from the door.
She turned to him for a second.
"Yeah, but that Anomaly of yours is doing big numbers to help you there retard."
"Guiding Whisper is a pretty good anomaly. You can't really slander it unless you just want to hate, huh?"
"I guess I'm a hater now."
"Womp Womp. I don't accept your hate."
"Alright."
"Yep."
"…"
"…"
They both soon walked to the shuttle, without muttering much.
"Oi!" Magnus called out to Oswald and Stanley, instantly grabbing their attention.
"Let's get in here, shall we?"
"Yep."
"Coming."
Both replied at the same time and started walking back to the staircase that was built into the shuttle.
Stanley: "Hey Daryl!"
Daryl: "Ya?"
"Time to leave."
"Yeah, coming, Stan…"
He was underneath the shuttle, looking at the bottom of it, checking wheels, bolts, nuts, and more that should all be shut.
He seemed deflated after getting up from the hard concrete runway that the ship was on.
He walked with Oswald and Stanley, while looking down at the floor, hands in pockets and a semi-frown on his face.
By the time they reached the stairs, Magnus was waiting at the top, and Sheng-Ri was already inside.
"Boys, we have a lot to talk about now!" called out Magnus.
"Yes, sir."
"Hooray."
"Hmm."
All three, in their own way, talked moodily and gloomily about that info. Stanley naturally did that, Oswald seemed annoyed, and Daryl wanted to check longer.
{Very military. Wowsers. That interests me SO MUCH.}
The shuttle that he, Daryl, and Oswald were climbing up one after the other was a dense car, painted in the same green used in the military, camouflage forest style. It was shaped like a large truck, with eight individual thick black tyres, and wings that seemed to extend in and out. Right now, it wasn't extended because the group wasn't fully inside yet.
There were many safety features any normal person could see from just one second of looking at it, like reinforced oval windows, antennas, no entry to the cockpit via doors on the outside, many layers of metal that were cold to the touch and more. On the back, there were also ladders to climb onto the roof of the thick shuttle on the left and right of the ladder.
If there was a scent for this shuttle, it would be metal polish and icky medicine. Something unique coating that gave it that smell.
The stairs that Stanley was currently climbing were just a lightweight version of normal stairs that were built in the back of the shuttle, which folds in and out easily. At the top of the stairs was where Magnus was, which was similar to the entrance of an aeroplane, having the cockpit on the left side, with a door blocking it, which was the only thing similar to an aeroplane's interior.
Oswald: "Where the hell was my seat? TONO?" Oswald patted Magnus on the shoulder, and in return, he gave back a nod acknowledging him. He walked past Magnus to the right of the entrance, beyond what Stanley could see. He could hear a faint reply to his shout, probably from Tono in the back.
When Daryl made it up the stairs, he greeted Magnus while walking to the right again.
"Magnus, Leeash is in what sector again? I—"
"346."
"Ah yeah. I just wanted to get some research done beforehand for this." Daryl said from around five meters away from him, nearly calling out.
"CUSTOMS AND SHIT, MAN!" Daryl turned around, looking back at Magnus, who was smiling at Stanley, getting his attention before Stanley went up the stairs.
"Fair!" Magnus shouted back as Daryl made his way to the seating area, via a right turn and another, then walking straight ahead.
Stanley: "Magnus." He made it up to the top, being the last one, and Magnus was still waiting for him.
Magnus: "Stanley."
They nodded at each other, and Stanley walked off, following the others, unsure if just a small greeting to his weird boss was enough, or if he was waiting for him to be shown around.
A noise of something hissing air made Stanley turn his head slowly back to where Magnus was, expecting something unexpected, just for him to be pulling the stairs in and locking them to the floor.
Stanley: "Oh."
Magnus turned to look at him. "What? You thought a pipe burst or something?"
He grinned, his smile lines showing to Stanley, and his eyes were squinting. A jolly middle-aged man in a formal uniform, on his knees, getting his pants dirty.
"No, it's nothing, Magnus." He started walking again, seeing the rest of his recently discovered crew out in comfortable individual seats.
"Oh, Stanley, by the way…"
"Yeah?" He turned around once again.
"If you want someone to be comfortable around you, try opening up and making yourself a bit more vulnerable."
"Yeah, ok."
"I'm being serious here."
"Yep."
"Welp, we'll finish this talk later. Have a good ride."
Stanley looked perplexed when he said that.
"Huh?"
Magnus was getting up from his knees after securing and folding the stairs nicely, and closing the big hatch that kept everything secure.
"You mean what, huh?" He didn't need to look at him, but his face still reacted like he was directly in a conversation, looking at him.
"What you said earlier?"
"Yeah?"
"That."
"Stanley, just say it," Magnus spoke back, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Dude, I forgot."
"Forgot what?"
"You know, the stupid line about having a good ride," Stanley said that out loud and scratched his neck, realised what he said, and stood there, looking at Magnus with his mouth in a circle shape. In realisation.
"Mm-hmm," Magnus replied sarcastically.
"…" Stanley didn't want to say anything for a bit.
"Well, why say that?" Then he answered soon after.
"I'm the driver? You don't normally see the driver go out from the steering wheel."
"Y-yeah. My bad."
"Don't worry about it. If you're curious about what the hell Leeash is, just ask Tallurre. That genius of a man." Magnus then ushered him to the right side, using his hand.
"Yeah. I'm just worried that's all."
"Well, come up to the cockpit when you're ready. No need to worry about it if you don't, though."
"Yep." Said Stanley before doing a short wave, then walking off the same path Oswald and Daryl had just taken a minute ago. A quick right turn, then another before walking straight ahead. A short bend.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Oblivion: "Slowpoke."
Daryl: "Cool, RIGHT?"
Lori: "Dude, come faster."
Three people, who were the only ones not sitting in their big seats, were the three who just spoke.
Oblivion was standing, with his arms crossed.
Daryl stood in the middle corridor, with his arms out and legs spread out.
Lori was just packing and repacking and happened to see Stanley come through the long, tight corridor.
{Ok, is this meant to be like budget first class? It's a bit shitty, but comfortable somehow.}
Stanley: "Yeah, I'm late. Relax." He said to Oblivion, who moved past him to go into the corridor to Magnus. Stanley looked back at him, confused again.
Stanley: "Where's he going?" He pointed back with his thumb at Oblivion, who was already gone.
"I don't fucking know. I don't care either since that's his business," said Daryl.
"Well, Where's my seat?" Stanley started walking to Daryl, who excitedly moved back one seat to the one behind him and patted the seat.
{Guessing that's my seat. Someone's excited for me. How can he even be that excited for me? It kinda pisses me off.}
"THAT ONE!" Daryl said happily and loudly.
Jordan: "Shut the fuck up, Daryl." On the left side, opposite the side Stanley and Daryl were at, Jordan popped his head over his sliding door and plopped it back down to whatever he was doing before he announced himself.
Daryl: "Yeah, don't mind that bitchy man." He pointed his thumb directly at his area.
Stanley: "I won't."
"Yeah, so LOOK AT IT!" Daryl extended his arms toward his seating area, which seemed to be like a first-class passenger area, minus some of the comfort stuff that commercial shuttles normally have.
{OKAY! Let's see what we got here. Seat heaters. What does this thing do? Extends the seat, check. Oh, it kinda extends to a bed. oooo. Coooooooool. THERE'S A PILLOW AS WELL? OH MY GOSH! }
Daryl: "Yeah, do all that exploring; I'm gonna rest, I'll be honest. Maybe you should as well." He walked off a few steps, back to his area, and closed the sliding door that everyone else had attached. Stanley took note of it and tried to find his own sliding door.
{So, kinda a blank colour scheme. Just beige. ivory. Yellow, orange. Yeesh. Like my grandma's house. Jeez, this chair ain't as good as it looks. Fucking budget lounge chair. The hell is this arm rest? It comes with what, a compartment? Let's see, oh. Soft drinks. Luxury. wowsers. Ooh, what did I bump? Oh, a lamp. Why the fuck is a lamp here? In the back of the armrest on my left? What's even on this TV screen? There's gotta be a remote, right? Is it in here? What about in these shelves down here? Nothing. There's no remote. I gotta use these stupid buttons on the bottom of this small-arse screen. Breh.}
Magnus: "Broken Halo, flight is commencing in 3 minutes. Buckle your seatbelt and prepare for an amazing journey!"
On the loudspeaker above, the intercom spoke out; it was Magnus, the driver, talking once again in his announcer voice.
Everyone from the right side to the left side of the seats heard it. A groan was heard up ahead. Daryl said a sarcastic "Yippee" on the left side, with rustling noises of a bag moving. Some hands and long sleeves of a jacket were spotted above a random seat on the left side, opposite Stanley around the front, near one of the two corridors leading to the cockpit.
Stanley: "Daryl."
Daryl heard Stanley call out his name blankly and turned around and popped his head over, with an eye mask over his face, lifting up his curly hair when he raised a corner of it to peek at Stanley with his left eye.
Daryl: "Yeah, man?" He said with an annoyed tone.
"There's gotta be bathrooms, right?"
"Yeah, in the back. Just walk there after Magnus says on the intercom, in his usual Hollywood narrating voice, that we can go there. Now, let me sleep."
"Yeah, thanks, I guess."
"Night."
"Night too."
{Night? Is it only three hours on the plane? Did he say that accidentally?}
He backed down to his chair.
Stanley kept looking around at the different movies and other downloaded movies on the small screen.
Soon, he found a camera button located in one section on the screen. This piqued his interest, because why would a camera be in a TV screen on a shuttle's seat?
tap.
He clicked on it, and two options, in the form of squares with curved edges, appeared in a monotone colour palette: an app on the left labelled "CAMERA ROLL" and one on the right labelled "CAMERA".
{So. Someone else could've taken videos on this. the fuck is the place? It's not a commercial airline, oh my goodness.}
Stanley soon tapped on the button that said "CAMERA ROLL".
The app soon transitioned to a bunch of videos, starting with the newest videos, and if he scrolled further back, the oldest were back there.
There weren't many videos to click on in this camera's files, only around ten, and around forty photos. Most of it, at a glance, is Daryl, who spammed the camera's photo button and made a bunch of faces while spamming it.
The videos, the most recent one, were a face Stanley couldn't recognise at a glance without actually clicking on it. His neck moved closer, eyeing the guy in the thumbnail of the video for just one second with curiosity, and then instantly clicked on it with one finger, then inched a tad bit closer.
The video went full screen.
The thumbnail was still there, but the loading symbol was still there.
A man in a casual white tank top, semi-jacked, with a short fringe, brown hair and an expression of charisma. His hands weren't visible, but it was still easily noticeable that he had his hands in his pockets, with his arms stuck to his torso, looking like he was freezing on the shuttle.
The video still wouldn't load, even after Stanley kept waiting.
And waiting…
Waiting longer…
Minutes passed.
But the thumbnail remained.
Stanley's patience was wearing thin.
Magnus: "PREPARE FOR DEPARTURE!"
The driver's voice bounced out from the intercom, and Stanley reacted fast to it and looked around.
On the side directly opposite Stanley, to his right, the doors were closed. But overhead, it was easily noticeable that Oblivion was sitting down, probably asleep.
{Wait, we're going now? No warning, or something else- is everyone else just FINE with that? How the fuck did he even get back without me noticing? There's only one corridor between these two aisles of seats; no fucking way he did that casually, without making a s—oh right, he is a Nullari-bred guy. Sounds and shit. I don't fucking know.}
The shuttle shook. Stanley felt the vibrations easily, and now saw through his reinforced window that the hangar was moving backwards, which meant the shuttle was moving, slowly but surely.
The thumbnail changed by only a few pixels, ticking off Stanley.
Magnus: "Make sure all your seatbelts are on now, ladies and gentlemen!" Blasted Magnus, as the hangar slowly started moving further and faster, with the light of the orange, bright light becoming closer than before, and the faint vibrations increasing over time.
"Oh?"
"Finally."
The video finished loading and was ready to be played, with the pause symbol on it, and the man was still there.
Stanley instantaneously clicked on it, and it started playing while the Shuttle fully moved.
{Dude, what could this possibly be? Well, forgetting that video, why am I not nervous with this group? They ain't my family just yet.}
"Hey, I'm back again, y'all."
The man waved, and there was shuffling and chatter in the background. From the seat, Daryl's back could be made out walking past in different clothes, and a lot quieter. Then three more people walked past as he talked.
"So like, 2193, January. It's a new year; be amazed, viewer who is watching these highlights of my videos."
He spoke with a small smile, looking around, not looking directly at the camera, and checking out the movement of suitcases behind him.
A faint suitcase was being put up by apparently Tallurre, with a different hairstyle, dyed brown hair, slicked back like a mob boss and dyed black eyebrows right behind the mystery man.
"Oh shit, right, this is EPISODE 6 of this video series, by yours truly, Ren Walker."
He tapped his chest with his right hand, giving a faint grin. Soon after, he slumped back and straightened his neck, fixing his posture.
{Oh shit. Holy shit, ain't that the missing guy? Doesn't anyone know about this? It could be a treasure trove of memories.}
Ren: "Well, Adelaine, I'm gonna marry her, I swear. Gawdamn, I love that woman. Ha. Love. Hm mm." He smirked and talked like he truly meant what he was saying.
Daryl: "Hey, Casanova?" Daryl popped his head from the seat in front of Ren, where he was currently snoozing off, and shoved his upside-down head into the camera, with Ren bantering back and pushing his head off.
Ren: "Wow dickhead. Move that forehead of yours."
"Shut the fuck up." A voice called from the seat behind him; Tallurre spoke in a raw, rough voice compared to his normal voice now.
"Tallurre, go to Magnus already; we don't want you here, in our magnificent room," Daryl yelled back, now taking up around fifty per cent less than before on the screen, with his forehead and Ren still pushing and shoving him.
"Daryl, Magnus called YOU, not me, you imbecile." Tallurre, in his old voice, screamed back, talking more like a tougher version of himself.
"Shut up, Daryl; let Ren be." A voice resembling Oblivion's came from the left of Ren's seat, which was in the opposite row.
"New boy, don't talk to my boyfriend like that!" Shouted back Ren, like a loud extrovert, turning his head only with the visible parts from the camera, with Daryl's old faint moustache now taking up that quarter of the top part of the screen.
"Yeah, you Nullari shit for brains!" Daryl visibly moved his mouth in the camera, easily noticeable, and made faces at himself while Ren was having a screaming battle.
"AAAAAAH!"
"OOOOOOUUUUUHH!"
"AAAAAAH!"
"OOOOOOUUUUUHH!"
They both kept screaming back.
As the video continued, the shuttle began to lift. Stanley could easily notice it and paused the video, with only twenty seconds left.
Stanley: "Wow, shit, how high up are we?" He exclaimed to himself.
The Broken Halo shuttle began lifting higher, leaving the hangar behind in the dust now, as gravity increased. When Stanley finished talking, his body felt the gravity change as the whole shuttle tilted upwards, starting its journey to leave the atmosphere.
{Shouldn't I be nervous for this type of thing? Really, I know that this is a situation that most average people with common sense would, like, feel some sort of panic. I don't. I'm comfortable. I know these people aren't too friendly with me yet, but I don't need to prove that. I like it like that. I just started feeling this way; I don't even know why I'm overcome with tranquillity right now. Nothing is even giving it to me, except my own brain teaching me. Wow.}