Missing or lost

[Lovely]

Feb 19, 2010


The girl walking toward the small plane was gorgeous, she looked like she should be on the pages of a magazine not walking across the dusty strip to attempt to hire the captain. She'd been asking around and had recieved many negative answers until finally she hit upon the right person who pointed her in Captain N's direction, he was the only one crazy enough to go out to the area she wanted to be taken to. She wanted to search and that area had it's own bit of urban legend about crafts, both air and sea, going missing - disappearing without a trace. But this was about family and she had to try, she'd already lost one person she loved and she wasn't ready to accept the same for his sisters - her sisters, even if they were in-laws. With that fueling her determination she approached the plane and it's captain, it appeared he was heading out soon - cargo being loaded. "Captain N?" She greeted the man as she came closer, spying him turning as if he'd been leaning in and perhaps on the radio before she walked up.

Nance was told to expect the girl he'd looked at many times but never exactly had the pleasure of meeting. The radio was clipped back and he climbed back down to finish his inspections, wiping at an area that seemed recently repainted. He at first pretended not to notice she was headed toward his part of the tarmack and his plane, but really, his craft was the only one out this way and she was clearly angling, and swaying in a way he couldn't ignore long. "Sure you're on the right kind of runway, darlin'? Can I help you?" And tell me how many ways before Kaz gets back, he thought, flipping a toothpick he held in his lip.

Wendy found herself chuckling softly, a bit of a smile even lingered on her face as she gazed at the man who greeted her in such a flattering way. "Thank you.. and I'm hoping you can help me. I was told you might be able to accomidate my needs. I need to try to find someone who went missing in an area the other pilots don't like to go." She held a file folder in one hand, with a map sticking out and inside there was plenty of information on what she was looking for and where.

He came up closer to her, looking more at the girl than the file he only needed to glance at. She wouldn't need all that, but it was a good idea to make sure all of it came with her and nothing was left behind. "If you let me ask you something," he nodded. "Missing or left on purpose? If that's the answer you're getting from the boys around.. not willing to help a little filly pretty as you at the bat of those big eyes... should tell you you better take it pretty seriously you might not make it back yourself if you go looking, and make damned sure they're really lost first?"

She looked away from him, a pained expression coming to her face and her gaze was distant as if lost in a memory for a moment. "Missing. They went on a cruise to celebrate Hailey's twenty first birthday. The ship went out but never came back." She swallowed and shook her head a little, her teeth grabbing at her lower lip. "I can't not look.. they're my husband's sisters.. I have to at least try."

She looked like she was trying to be tough and not cry at the thought of lost loved ones. Bless her for trying and it tugged at Nance's heart a little, but only because he was a step ahead already. He grinned and his demeanor softened a little. "Hey, I didn't mean to make you misty over it or anything. Just we get some crazies out here who get mystical and religious, thinking they can go out that way and experience something off the charts. We gotta weed them out for their own safety and ours. Tell you what. Show me a little more... your file, darlin', your file... anything you got to go on. The day, last known heading, weather conditions, last messages they got out.. If I can help you, I will." He shrugged and held a hand out for the file. "Slow day, gassed up, and no particular place to go but up. And I'll tell you a secret. There ain't nothing mystical out there. It's just a load of crap because these lazy asses out there, don't see anything rewarding except money. Family... now that's a reward in itself. Let's see if we can find them for you."

She waved her hand at the shimmer of tears in her eyes and shook her head a little more. "It's not.. not you're fault and maybe I am a little crazy for wanting to go out looking but.. like you said family. Kaz would never forgive me if I just gave up without even trying." She was still pained by memories and worry and loss but Nance's kind demeanor cheered her a little and gave her a new surge of hope that she would be able to find the girls and bring them home. "Most of that is all in here." She flipped the folder open, stepping closer to show him the information, there were pictures of the girls on top. "This is Hailey and this is Misty.. " She pointed to each girl in the photo which also showed her and Kaz. "This one is about three years old.. it was the easiest to find and they mostly look the same. I wasn't sure if a picture was really needed but brought one in case. I tried to be prepared for anything. This here is the information on the ship itself." She pointed to the paper below the photo and reached to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.

[Lovely]

He took the file and turned it how he could see it better, letting some of the pages go off kilter and slide. "Whoops, hold on, now. Let me just set these down back here. You want to come over on this side?" He nodded to the cargo stack that was being loaded and he walked over to the stack to set the papers on.

"Oh!" She moved to try to help him 'catch' the papers and then nodded to his suggestion. "Sure, that would be fine, probably easier to look at it all too." She was grateful he was even considering helping her and being very nice about it all. Wendy followed him over to the stack and came to stand beside him to look over the information. "Oh sheesh.. I'm Wendy Laurentiu, I went right into asking for your help I didn't even.. how rude of me. I apologise."

He pulled out a pen to make his notes, it seemed, on the papers that had slid and shifted. Wendy followed him so easily and trustingly he wasn't sure he'd need to do it, but he couldn't take the chance for Kazuki's sake. He held the file with one hand, appearing interested in the material, but turned suddenly with the pen that was clearly inkless and shimmered with a pale colored fluid above the needle he unsheathed in an uncomfortably practiced fashion. He hoped the tranquilizer would be effective enough for their accelerated human cargo. He jabbed at her with the syringe, blocked from the view of the small terminal and other fliers by the crates and the small plane itself. "I know, Wendy. No need to apologize to me," he said, also hoping not to damage her, or himself in the process.

The moment of confusion was short lived between the time he turned with the syringe and when it stabbed into her, she saw it but before she could react or even get a response out, she felt it. Whatever was in it was fast acting and she hardly had time to panic before her vision blurred. "What the hel.." She sank and everything went black.

Another man was flagged out the plane to help him as Wendy went slack. Thing was, they were already filed with a plan to go exactly where she'd wanted to scout. They only need clearance to take off when they were ready, but they needed to load just a few choice items first. The other man was quick to offer his help and hoist the girl into the back with the crates, another longer crate sitting open and padded to set her in for comfort against the bumps they'd encounter. Once she was laid down, the men piled the crates around her to block her in from any easy escape once they again landed far from this place. "Ready for take off, cap'n. Expect a whole heap of yellin' when she wakes up."

"Then she's your problem, not mine. I'm losing a mint trading out enough payload to take her. You owe me big, Kaz. She know about you yet?" He looked at the other man pointedly, flipping the toothpick to the other side of his lip.

The man he'd called Kaz shrugged and looked in on her one more time before closing up the hold. If she did get up soon, she'd have a narrow space to see up toward two passenger seats the two seats in the very front of the cockpit. The window was uncovered and the plane itself was meant for short low-altitude runs like this one. The turbulence over the sea water would cancel out the limo-like ride however.

Her gifts caused her to have a faster metabolism than normal people so the tranqualizer she was given knocked her out fast but also wore off more quickly. Wendy didn't know how much time had passed when she began to hear the noises of the plane engine or feel the movement of the craft in the air. It took another minute or two for her to pull herself awake enough to begin shifting and trying to think. Her hand gingerly touched her face and neck, she wasn't tied up but she was in the plane with the cargo from the looks of it and the sounds she could hear. She'd been kidnapped? "What the hell?" She whispered, realizing she was resting in a crate which seemed to be padded for her comfort.. odd.

The two men chittered back and forth with shallow discussions and a few bursts of laughter as the plane droned on and shielded much of what was said. The captain had mentioned something only moments before about it being time for her to wake up, as if he'd seen her touch her face in his mind's eye. The other man was looking back at the window, seeing the cut-out in the metal sheet, but not back into the hold itself in those shadows. "I think you're right," he said, as if responding to the stir of the air in the enclosed space.

The voices from the front were muffled and distorted by the other sounds around her but she swore she heard a familiar tone. Of course it had to be her imagination, being scared, drugged and needing something to cling to, Kaz's voice had always been soothing to her. His strength and the way he was so protective of her had been a comfort before he'd disappeared, she always felt safe with him around. She slowly pushed herself up on her elbows and then from there to sitting up, trying to blink away the tears that tried to work free, reminded of Kaz, having lost the girls, being abducted - it was more than enough to make most people cry. Wendy wouldn't give in to it yet, though the shimmer blurred her vision enough to make one of the men in the front of the plane resemble Kaz from this angle. Such reminders and upset caused the air around her to pick up the slight charge that started to build within her.