“Nope!” He chuckled as he slipped from the man’s hold, heading to the shower, not waiting for the Cryptid to follow.
Cyrus’ jaw clenched, his teeth grinding slightly as he continued to listen to Agent Gelite Sotinos, the newly arrived ship’s Captain, go on and fucking on.
“You can’t be serious?! We?—”
“Are you in charge here, or am I?” he asked darkly, his voice lowering threateningly.
The Centaur paled. “I… You literally have Cryptid Means First and Second in Command trapped, not to mention the infamous pirate, Calico Delgrim, and you are just going to?—”
“Yes,” Cyrus ground out. “It is not for you to question, so don’t. Do not put their names in your report—you didn’t see them. And above all, I want you to keep your fucking mouth shut. Is that clear, Agent Gelite?”
Cyrus had always believed that it would be a disservice to the world if they locked Ender up, and his mind would likely never change on that. And while this was his first blatant act of letting the man go, he wasn’t going to back down. Calico was more of an add-on than anything. He figured Ender would complain or become hostile if they tried to take the fucker, so it was the Succubus’ lucky ass day.
When Gelite didn’t respond, Killian, who’d been standing by his side through the ranting, stepped closer, and in a voice laced with violence and venom, he sang, “I can keep his mouth shut.”
The Cryptid took a stumbling step back, turning white as a ghost, proving once again who was the scarier of the two of them. “N-no! N-not necessary. I understand, I saw nothing, I know nothing!”
“Good decision!” Cyrus smirked, flashing his fangs. “Now, tell me, did you send a report after picking up Agent Joden in the escape pod?”
Gelite shook his head quickly. “I was waiting to make sure we had all the details before sending it.”
The threads were on their side in that case then. “Permanently delete whatever report you have already prepared. In fact, send nothing at all. I’ll take full responsibility for sending the reports from here on out, until we reach Earth. Now, while I go inform Ender and his crew of the good news, Killian here is going to keep you company.” He looked toward his boyfriend. “Aren’t you, Killian?”
“Sure am!” the Siren chimed.
“Have fun!” Smirking at how the Centaur looked like he was about to pass out when the man moved to stand by his side, Cyrus walked away, but he only made it to the exit of the loading bay before the exact people he was looking for, Ender, Soren, and Calico, walked in.
Ender was in his own clothes now; jeans and cowboy boots visible under a thick, puffy black coat.
“I heard a ship arrived,” the Gorgon mused as they reached him.
“A Bureau ship. One of the ones that left Earth around the same time mine did. When communications were lost, the nearest ship set off here. They happened to come across the man we sent in the escape pod.”
“I see,” Ender drawled carefully, while Soren’s eyes narrowed on him. Calico looked bored, but he saw the way the man’s jaw tensed.
“Right, so you have two options. Option one, we can give you all a lift back to Earth, leaving your ship behind, and?—”
“And we get new fancy metal cuffs?” Ender smirked.
“No. No strings attached. You, all of you, pirates included, will be let go, as if we never saw you. Though, I will warn you, it will be cramped if you choose option one. The ship isn’t on the large size, but we’d manage.”
The two men with Ender stayed quiet, their expressions telling him they were suspicious of the offer, while the Gorgon seemed curious, with his head tilting slightly, and one brow raising. “And the second option?”
“You use the comms on the newly arrived ship to call for your own backup and ride, followed by us packing up and leaving without you.”
“The second,” Ender stated without hesitation.
He nodded. “If you’re sure.”
The man smirked. “I sure as shit am. Besides, some of your people ain’t looking too friendly. Though—” The Gorgon chuckled. “—one man does look like he is about to pass out, likely due to whatever your pretty little Siren is telling him.”
Cyrus shrugged. “We have another Ship Captain with us.”
“Always good to have more than one.” Ender’s smirk widened. “Lead the way to the functioning comms. And then I’d imagine you’ll be needing some of our supplies, with all the mouths you’ll have to feed.”
“We likely will. That brings up another topic. The children we discussed at our last meeting.”
“Leave the ten we talked about here with us, we’ll take care of them. Will even send you all updates on their progress, along with the promised notification of when they’ve been placed safely. How those reports will get to you, well…that’ll be my little secret for now.”
