Locked in a Cage (with GaiusGermanicusBloodsoak)

"No, I've had enough! I'm filled" Yanaike answered. She took the cabbage from the middle of the table, kept it under her arm and followed Reginald outside.

---

Hannah nodded friendly as the man paid neatly for the four sweet rolls he had ordered. She took the coins and put them in a shelve under the bar desk. The two left. Hannah had studied them carefully. It was the weirdest pair of people she'd ever seen. The girl seemed to have some random dressing style: mixing a neat white dress with a weird kind of jacket and witch hat. Hannah couldn't withstand her outfit, when she would have the chance she really had to talk some fashion-sense into her. But even more odd was her long weird tail. Hannah disgusted by the thought how many fleas could be hiding in that hairy thing. And then there was this man. He looked old, but Hannah figured he probably wasn't that old. His face however was full of those lines. But well, there were a lot of cremes that could hid such imperfections. Even though, of course, he would never look as beautiful as Hannah did.
Normally Hannah wouldn't have paid a lot of attention to these inferior humans. However the conversation she overheard was pretty interesting. The man proposed to start a life as a pirate and he was asking the little girl to join him.
Hannah walked to the table where they seated. Luckily the girl brought the cabbage with her, as Hannah didn't have to clean that. She didn't intend on to cleaning anything however.
"Jobbert?" she shouted to the back of the cafe. "Can you take over for a couple of hours?"
"B-B-Bu...t the b-bo-boss wants you to..."
But it was to late already. Hannah had left the cafe and ran towards the weird couple.
"Ey!" she shouted. "I think the police would be pretty interested in your intentions!"
 
Oh shit, what did that woman just shout? Reginald stopped and spun around. They did not need this kind of horse shit interrupting them. He decided that he would try and play it off, although Yana was awfully hard to misidentify. "I beg pardon, but I have no idea what you are talking about. We have no harm intended, so if you would excuse us, we have matters to attend to, isn't that right, Sarah." Reggie subtly nudged Yana to indicate that she should play along. He turned his head back to the woman. "In case you haven't assumed as much, this young lady is my daughter, and it is soon to be her birthday, and we have much to do in preparation." Lie enough, and someone was eventually bound to believe you. If this didn't work, Reggie did have a pistol tucked into his jacket.
 
Sarah? Right! Yanaike immediately figured out Reggie's plan. But why did he choose Sarah as her first name? It sounded like an old woman's name. She didn't say anything and she was just about to follow Reggie, continuing to wherever he was planning to go. But suddenly she felt the lady coming closer.

---

Hannah quickly charged for the man as he turned his back on her. Just behind him, she stood still, maybe a little to close, in his personal space.
"Don't worry" she whispered in his ear. "I won't tell anyone you want to become a pirate. That is if you count me in!" Hannah had became bored of her simple life, maintaining the cafe, playing the bartender and flirting with some simple boys. This pirate stuff seemed like the perfect plan to break that simple life. She couldn't let such a great opportunity fly away.
 
As she whispered, he stopped in his tracks, hand reaching for the pistol. Turning around to face her, his eyes narrowed. " I believe you, but does my gun believe you?" He slowly pulled the pistol out of the coat pocket and put it to the woman's gut. "You can come along with us, be part of the crew, but until I find out that I can trust you, expect to be on the shit end of the stick." He put the gun away and his expression lightened up. "We're on our way to the ship depot to see about either having a ship built just buying one." He turned around once more and began to walk. He tossed his head back towards the woman. "Name's Reggie, by the way. Care to introduce yourself lass?"
 
Hannah introduced herself. "I'm Hannah" she said. "I don't know if you've noticed but I worked in that cafe you were visiting." She yawned. "But that was sooooo boring! I want my life to be a little more adventurous and thus I like to be a pirate. Happy?" Hannah didn't like how he kept a gun at his coat. Of course she couldn't be trusted. Wasn't that clear? That was what a pirate's life was all about. You were never sure whether you could trust your own mateys or not. She was just there to get a fair amount of the loot, not to build up a happy relationship with the two weirdo's.
"You look strong by the way" Hannah mumbled flatteringly. "I admire strong men. May I ask what you've been doing before?" She laughed friendly. It could never hurt to flirt a little.

---

Yanaike didn't really like the new girl. She tried to take all the attention from Reggie. Somewhere she felt the urge to take a U-turn and just walk away, however she didn't want this Hannah-girl to spoil all the pirate-fun for her. Secretely Yanaike wished that Reginald would still try to shake Hannah off before they would board the pirate ship.
 
Once more Reggie narrowed his eyes, "Don't try and flatter me woman, we've got shit to do." Something that even Reggie knew was that trust was important, although not always prevalent. While he didn't entirely trust Yanaike, he trusted Hannah even less. Nevertheless, he continued to walk on with the others in tow, eventually making his way to the ship depot, where they were greeted, by a gruff, but jovial old man who looked like he himself had a few to many sweet rolls. "What can I help you fellers with?" he asked as he stuck out his hand, which Reginald shook. "We need a ship, a nice big one. A ship that can handle a lot, both in combat, and in cargo." The fat man let out a jolly laugh then motioned for the trio to follow him. "I've got just the ship for you, hot off of the forge. The Iron Belle, they call her."
 
Yanaike was completely amazed when they entered the ship depot. It was like a huge hangar full with blimps. She suddenly felt the urge to run around through the hangar, discovering all those enormous airships. When nor Hannah, nor Reginald, nor the owner of the hangar weren't looking, Yanaike put her goggles before her eyes, turned on all fours and started running through the space.
While running, Yanaike concluded that it was great to spend a little time alone again. It gave her time to think. How did she have to react to that Hannah-girl? Or even more important: what was Reggie's reaction. Did he really intend on bringing her on the ship? And what would her role be in the pirate gang?
Enough! No more thinking about Hannah, nor Reggie. Now it was time to discover some airships. She found an old-looking blimp, and giggled a bit as she found a small gap in its romp. Maybe it still had to be repaired? At least it was large enough for Yanaike to crawl through. She dropped her cabbage and crawled through the gap in the romp of the ship. It was time to discover the interior of this thing!
 
Reggie was like a kid in a candy store around all the airships that were in the building, and his eyes were alight with laughter as they were led to the back where the Iron Belle was being held. "The Iron Belle is our latest creations, and it has everything you could ever want: Guns, storage capacity, looks, luxury, armor, you name it, its got it." The fat man said. When they actually reached the ship, Reggie was more than impressed. This ship was utterly amazing, not to mention huge! "I can see you like it, let's take a look inside." the fat man said as he looked towards Reggie, who was more than happy to do so. "I intend to do an exhaustive examination of this ship." he said plainly as they boarded it. When the man said it was luxurious, he wasn't kidding, and Reggie was amazed at what he saw. It was more like a floating mansion than it was an airship. The interior walls had gilded molding, and the interior control panels were outlined and framed in gleaming, shining copper and brass. Every piece of technology inside was as up to date and high-tech as Reggie could have hoped for. Upon testing, all the operating equipment performed smoothly and flawlessly. The main cockpit where part of the crew would work was like the inside of a lavish mansion. Looking around and inspecting closer, Reggie could see that even the needles and dials were gilded.
Moving to the weapons, there were rotary machine guns chambered for high caliber rifle cartridges were scattered out the whole ship, and the nose, sides, and tail of the ship had large bore cannons. Hell, there was even a couple of flamethrowers on the sides! "It looks beautiful, but how well will it hold up under fire?" Reggie asked as he mindlessly spun around the captains chair. "Ah, I was waiting for you to ask that question! The ship is equipped with multiple back up and redundant systems, along with a prototype fabric for the balloon that helps increase it survivability."
 
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Hannah nodded approvingly as she saw the interior of the ship. It was huge and it looked kind of luxurious. Hannah was sure she could stay here during her pirate adventures.
"Sssooo..." she asked, while flirting a bit with the fat man. "Can you show me the largest bedroom in this ship?" Hannah needed a large room to keep all her clothes and to prepare herself every morning. She was going to be the sexiest pirate of this planet!
 
The fat man nodded, "Sure, Sure, I can do that, although when you see, it's not my fault if the captain wants to take it over." he said with a laugh as he led Hannah and Reginald towards the living quarters. Reggie was liking this ship more and more, and he couldn't really find any outrageous problems with it. "Hannah, this is a ship, not a hotel, if I do buy it, don't get to cozy." Reggie reminded her as they entered the room. It was just a luxurious as one could have hoped, and the bed was huge. "Don't worry if you can't decide who gets the room, the ship has a few more like these, along with numerous smaller ones." Reginald simply nodded to that then looked around. "Hey, where the bloody hell did Yanaike go?" he wondered, not seeing her anyway. "I can only imagine she ran off to explore." he added.
 
Yanaike? Oh right... that must be the name of that other girl hanging around with Reginald in the beginning. Hannah didn't care to much for her. What could the value of a little girl like her possibly be? Hannah now ran to the enormous bed, jumped on it and laid down, using the bed's full width.
"Oooh, I love this" she exclaimed. She ignored the whole part of Reginald reminding her that it was a ship and not a hotel. Since she would stay on this ship for quite a while the bedroom had to satisfy.
 
Reginald let out a quiet "Hm" as he watched Hannah, and then turned back to the fat man. "This ship seems perfect, I can't find anything wrong with it, and its armor and armaments seem more than adequate. How much for it?" He knew that he wouldn't like it, but this ship was to damn perfect to pass up. The price: "two million dollars." the fat man said. Reggie's eyes widened and he paced around the room thinking about it. "Fuck it, you got a deal." he said as he stuck out his hand. The fat man laughed happily and clapped his hands. "Perfect, we'll sign some paperwork and we'll bring the ship out to you." That being said, he led the two out of the airship and he ordered a few of his men to bring the ship out to the front. "Now, all we have to do is find Yana, then all will be well." Reggie said as he headed into the office.
 
"Is it okay if I bring some stuff?" Hannah asked, sort of refering to her clothes, make-up and personal items. She wondered whether ayanaike and Reginals even had itemsof their own. Yanaike had a backpack didn't she? Hannah couldn't really remember. Reginald didn't seem to have any luggage though, or had he hidden it somewhere, grabbing it seconds before take-off. Without waiting an answer from Reginald, Hannah left the hangar.

---

Slowly her eyes opened. Yanaike looked around. She was in some kind of dark room, unfamilliar to her. Oh, that's right, now she remembered. She had been discovering this huge air ships. However she didn't remember falling asleep. She couldn't have slept long though, it had merely been a short nap. She rubbed her eyes as she crawled out of her hiding spot. She focussed on her ears, but couldn't find any signal of Reginald nor Hannah. Which made her wonder. Did they leave without her?
 
Paying the man and signing the paperwork, the two shook hands and left the office. "One of the best purchases you'll ever make, I guarantee you." the fat man assured as Reggie headed towards the front of the hangar where the ship would be waiting. Hannah had gone off somewhere, presumably to get her stuff, and he didn't know where Yana was. He figured that he would wait awhile for the two of them, then he would just have to go from there.

By now, the ship had been brought to the front of the hangar and was aimlessly floating a few feet off the ground, the balloon only partially inflated. Reggie boarded and took another look around, liking even more what he saw. For a little while, he wondered if he would pick up any more crew members, after that thought left his mind, he got off the ship and stood in front of it waiting.
 
Hannah was back in the hangar suprisingly quickly. In one hand she held a huge bag, stuffed full with her favourite clothes. In her other hand she held, what she called, her beautycase, which was full with all sorts of make-up and crèmes. She wore a blue jeans, which was quite uncommon for girls and a bright pink shirt to draw the attention from boys. Her long brown hair waved at the breeze flowing through the hangar.
She'd found Reggie pretty quickly. He was in the front of the hangar with his newly purchased airship, which was ready for take-off. By the looks of it Yanaike hadn't returned yet.
"Haai" she said to Reggie as she placed her luggage inside and waited next to him. "Did that girl with the tail not return yet?" she asked rather suprised. "I wonder if she will return? Maybe she has made up her mind and has decided not to become a pirate after all?"
 
Reggie only watched with an arched eyebrow as Hannah brought her luggage into the ship. "She'll be here soon, and I'm pretty sure that she would give me a head's up if she didn't want to do this anymore." Where the hell was she? "Maybe I should call for her, maybe that'll help." Before waiting for any input form Hannah, he drew in a breath and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Yanaike!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping she would here that. "We're not leaving without her." She wouldn't bail just like that, would she? Reggie didn't think so, but it was certainly a possibility.
 
Yanaike wandered through the hangar as she was searching for Reginald. She didn't know if he'd bought a ship already, nor did she know which one it would be, where it would be and in worst case scenario he and Hannah might have left already. Suddenly her ears twitched as she heard someone shouting her name. It sounded like Reginald's voice, and from his voice Yanaike could tell he was ready to leave. Yanaike immediately turned to all fours and started running in the direction of the voice. She reached an enormous airship placed in the front of the hangar. Reginald and Hannah were waiting outside of it. She ran passed them and entered the airship already. Being on the airship was the only way to make sure she would take off with them.

---

Hannah sighed as Yanaike returned and enetered the airship. She guessed her little idea to leave Yanaike behind in the hangar was just too easy. Well then, there would certainly be enough ways to make this a great adventure, either with or without Yanaike. Hannah boarded the airship. For now she would play the nice and innocent Hannah, which in fact was nothing compared to her real self. "It's good that you returned" Hannah said. "We'd waited for you, hoping that you would still want to join us." She smiled friendly. "Now, we've never formally met, have we?" She stuck out her hand. "I'm Hannah, and you must be Yanaike, aren't ya?"

---

Yanaike rejected the hand shake and only nodded slightly on Hannah's remark of her name being Yanaike. How could it be that the one moment this Hannah-girl was sort of ignoring her, only paying attention to Reggie and the other moment she acted like the two of them were best friends. Yanaike didn't trust her. She stared to Reginald with a face like 'why did you have to bring her?'
 
Reginald hopped aboard the airship after Hannah and saw Yanaike's look. "Yana, you may not like her, for whatever reason, but two people does not a crew make. An airship like this cannot be easily managed with only two people, hell, even with three." That being said, Reggie closed up the entrance hatch and sat down in the captains seat, pulling the switch to inflate the balloon. Soon enough, the balloon was filled and the ship began to rise up into the air, quickly gaining altitude. "Here we are everyone! The Nec Aspera Terrent is now making it's maiden voyage. Reggie figured that a simple name change couldn't hurt. "Next stop, the next cargo ship we see!"
 
What!? Why did Reginald just said that out loud? Didn't he notice Hannah was standing next to them? You don't just tell people what other people think of you... that's trusted information shared by anyone but the person where it's all about. Reveling that information would be against any social code. The moment that followed was rather awkward. Reggie just walked away to lift the airship into the air. Hannah and Yanaike stayed behind. Hannah stared at Yanaike. First with a confused look. As if she didn't understand what she'd done wrong to be so hated by Yanaike. But then that expression took place for a grin, a purely evil grin! Just for a tiny bit of a second and then she walked away in the direction where Reginald went. 'Fine!' Yanaike thought. She didn't really feel like helping Reggie this way. Let him have his crew of two people! However Yanaike wasn't gonna help with them. Yanaike curled up in one of the corners of the room and started weeping. She wished she'd stayed in her cage, that would have made things so much easier.

---

Hannah was amused by the words Reginald spoke. The words seemed to hurt Yanaike a lot, but the more they hurt her, the more they pleased Hannah. Hopefully Yanaike sihed she'd never stepped foot on this airship. The more she wanted to leave herself, the easier it would be to get rid of her. There was only place for one girl on this pirate ship! Hannah played a bit with Yanaike, acting like she didn't know what she'd done wrong. Then she smiled and followed Reginald into the control room. "Can I be of any assistance?" she asked flirtingly.
 
For a moment, he thought about what he said, but he figured not to worry to much about it, as it was rather obvious to everyone that Yanaike didn't quite like Hannah, but now was not the time to be worried about petty personal concerns, there was work to do. Glancing over to Hannah as he heard her speak, He nodded, "Yeah, you can man the gauges and tell me the readout. Once we reach a few thousand feet we'll need to set the altitude." It could very easily be said that Reggie was excited for what the future could hold, what loot could be taken, what ships could be destroyed, and the money that could be made on the black market. It was all so very exciting!

Higher and higher they rose in the air, and now Reggie pushed forward on the throttle lever, pushing the Nec Aspera Terrent to a steady speed. It was no where near the max speed, and he was overjoyed at the fact that there was plenty of speed and power to spare.
 
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