Cyrus snorted. “Plan to hack our systems again?”
“Maybe? Maybe not,” Ender chimed sweetly.
Ender stood back with Soren,watching Bureau agents load boxes of supplies onto the newly arrived ship, trying to not to feel bitter about the fact that everyone who was leaving would be going into a perfectly warm, temperature-controlled environment, while they’d be stuck with broke and coldness.
His eyes followed Cyrus and Killian as the two men directed things. Severo was standing next to the men, apparently doing nothing.
“We’ll have to change the frequency we use after this,” Soren stated.
That they would. It was good to be able to finally fucking call out, but even though he watched Killian delete the call data and source code, he couldn’t trust it. Mainly, as he knew the Siren could easily get it back. “Something to worry about after this.”
As things settled, with the people and supplies finally all loaded, eventually there was only them and Cyrus, Killian, and Severo left in the loading bay.
He smiled as they approached, and held out his hand. Cyrus shook it without hesitation, the man’s grip firm but not overbearing. Ender shook Killian’s hand next.
“Until next time. Though, I think it would be best if there wasn’t,” he chuckled. “I feel I may really end up in cuffs if there is.”
“Don’t knock it until you try it, you might like it,” Killian sassed with a wink.
He scoffed.
Cyrus smiled. “Take care, Ender. You too, Harpy.”
Ender nodded, and Soren just grunted in response.
He sputtered when, without warning, Severo pulled him into a hug. “See you around, Ender.”
Rolling his eyes, he hugged back. “Yeah, yeah, see you, kid.”
Ender stood there as the three men walked away and boarded the ship, smiling when Killian looked back one last time and nodded.
As the ship’s door closed, blocking them from view, followed by warning alarms of a ship undocking going off, he turned and walked away.
Time to sit on my ass and wait some more, he thought with a sigh.
As his stomach heaved, Ender rushed into the bathroom, dropping to his knees just in time to throw up into the toilet, instead of all over the floor. Which was nice, because his ass hadn’t exactly enjoyed cleaning up the puke the day before. Especially when he had thrown up further mid-way through cleaning after becoming nauseated by the smell.
Taking a shaky breath, he pushed up with a groan, and flushed the toilet. Leaning on the sink, Ender stared at his pale reflection in the large mirror, the eyes staring back were slightly wide. “Ha…couldn’t be… Ridiculous…”
He heard the door of his room crack open, seconds before Quill called out, “Fish is ready!”
He had barely registered the words when the smell hit his nose. His stomach gave a violent twist, and Ender dropped down in front of the toilet as he once again spewed his guts.
“ENDER?!” the kid cried in concern, his large feet loudly announcing his approach.
Hugging the bowl still, Ender hesitantly glanced up at Quill’s face, though the over seven foot tall man really made him have to arch his neck to even do that. “Uh…I’m fine. Just something I ate…?”
“Are you sick?” The Fate stared down at him with his brow raised, not looking like he believed him in the least.
He couldn’t help but note that the kid must have decided to dye his long hair since breakfast, as it was now back to bright lime-green over the purple it had been. He had to say, the green was a nice contrast against his medium-brown skin.
Ender ignored the question and pushed to his feet with a groan, quickly rinsing his mouth out. Doing his best to block out the fishy smell surrounding Quill, that was also now filling his room, he turned and said, “I’m going out.”
Because only then would he find the answer to the question he refused to ask or even think about. And if he got what he needed outside of the compound, then there would be no way anyone else could find out aside from him.
“What?! Now?!” Quill’s eyes widened. “Uh, let me drive you?”
“No, I’m going alone,” Ender stated firmly, while pushing past the giant of a kid, as he pulled his hat from around his neck, it having fallen off while he spewed. He was about to strip and change into clothes that his permanent shadow shell could fill out to complete his disguise, but stopped to eye Quill, who was now standing there in his bedroom, shifting from one foot to the other.
