Reminder: the setting is early April, 2013

The first thing Clancy heard when he woke was a soft humming, sometimes accompanied by bothered grumbling. He let out a soft, instinctual groan and all the noises stopped. There was quiet for several seconds before there was a voice.
    "...You alive?"
    Clancy squinted open his eyes. "...No..."
    There was a snort. "Shame."
    Clancy sat up on his elbows, grunting in pain as he felt a pang in his chest. Then he felt a hand on his chest push him back down.
    "One fractured rib, sprained ankle, mild concussion, no son, you stay down."
    "Staying down isn't my style..." Clancy tried again.
    "I like your style then." He was gently pushed back down again. "But really, rest."
    Clancy sighed, letting his eyes close as he laid back. "Where am I...?"
    "If I were to judge by your accent, I'd say a long way from home."
    Clancy just hummed. "Just don't kill me please..."
    "I won't. Rest."
    Clancy let himself drift back into subconsciousness, then unconsciousness. When he woke again, it was dark. He lifted his head, looking around in confusion. He'd never been in this room before. The floor was wood, the walls a faded old blue paint. He was lying on a worn old couch that was obviously used very often. A wooden coffee table with a ring stain on it sat a few feet away as he sat up putting his feet on his floor. His chest still ached, but not as badly.
    He stood slowly, but as he put weight on his left foot, he winced and put it on the other instead. He remembered that man saying he had a sprained ankle... Who was that man anyway? Clancy looked around and saw a picture in a frame on a little end table. He picked it up, looking at the picture. It was in black and white, clearly very old. It showed two people: a man and a woman, both facing away from the camera as they walked side by side along a city sidewalk. The man had jet black hair, slicked back. He was looking at the woman, letting the camera see his face. He had a cigarette in his mouth and he was smiling at her as he had his arm around her shoulders. The woman was looking ahead, her hands in her pockets. Her hair was down and long and dark, her skin a darker shade as well.
    Clancy smiled a little at the picture and set it back down. Sitting right beside the frame was a ring; it was thin, a silver band, with a very small gem in the center. Clancy thought it looked much like an engagement ring.
    He stayed where he was as he looked around again. There was no television here, but there was a cat curled up on a recliner chair beside a bookshelf. He looked old, a fat brown tabby with a greying muzzle who seemed very happy where he was.
    Clancy walked over to the cat and scratched his ears as he passed by, moving into the adjacent room. Through the right doorway from the living room was a kitchen and dining table, the light off. On the opposite end of the room was another doorway which led to a hallway with several closed doors in it. Next to that doorway was the front door and a window showing the outside world.
    Clancy stood in the center of the living room now, and he instinctually slid his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. Then he remembered he didn't have his lab coat anymore and he sighed sitting on the couch. He didn't know where he was, but he didn't want to wake anyone up to ask, so he laid back down on the couch. It took awhile for the scientist to fall asleep this time, but eventually he drifted off into an uneasy rest.
    Then he felt someone shaking him.
    "Hey, kid, wake up now..."
    Clancy shifted slightly, opening his eyes. The first thing he saw was a female figure, with short hair in what looked like dreadlocks. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
    "How do you feel?"
    "Better... Just a bit of a headache."
    "Alright, can you stand?"
    "Yeah, yeah..." Clancy slowly got up. His ankle already hurt less than it had last night. He looked at the woman and blinked, stopping. She was wearing turquoise nurse scrubs and black flats. Her eyes were jet black, the colors blue. Her hair wasn't dreadlocks but dark blue, almost black tentacles, cut short. Clancy's eyes widened and he yelped, holding up a hand. The Teuthidan nurse jumped, stepping back, as the flashlight built into Clancy's metal hand flicking on, off, on, off, on... And off, very slowly. The room was quiet as she stared at him.
    "...Is that you greatest weapon?" The squid asked.
    "...Yep..."
    The two stared at his hand blankly.
    "...How are you still alive?"
    "Honestly, I'm at a loss."
    "Well you don't need a weapon anyways, Cadet."
    Clancy looked up, and stopped in surprise as he lowered his arm slightly. A man walked from the bedroom, leaning over a cane. He had a slight limp that most people wouldn't have noticed, but Clancy was very observant. His hair was black but almost all grey with age, although his facial features seemed to have aged well. He didn't look like he could be much older than fifty. The cane was the only thing that gave it away.
   But the eyes were the things Clancy recognized. He had seen them once before in a textbook he'd read over a year ago in Yoglabs. His two eyes, although old, were a bright almost neon green. So green, in fact, Clancy might've thought they weren't real. But what was the name that went with that picture...?
   Clancy opened his mouth and shut it again. A thought occurred to him. "...I'm not actually a Cadet."
    "Sure you are." The man walked across the room to the fern sitting beside the picture Clancy had observed the previous night. "Blue hair, Star Trek metal arm, pale skin, you're definitely a Sky Army Star Cadet."
    "I'm um... I'm an honorary Cadet while I'm hunting a fugitive." Clancy said.
    "Mhm, and what are you going to do after this fugitive is found?" The old man asked as he watered the fern.
    "...I guess go home..."
    "Where is home then, Cadet?"
    "Eriport, in Eyre."
    "Right, I could tell from the accent... You're definitely a Westlander."
    "Yes sir... If I may, where am I exactly?"
    "Stillwater Heights." The old man turned to him, and Clancy got the feeling those eyes could kill with a look if done correctly. "About four hundred miles from the Sky Army base."
    "...Oh..."
    The old man chuckled. "You're lucky you fell only my roof, sonny." He went into another room.
    "I am?" Clancy followed him into the kitchen. "Why's that?"
    "I have very close ties with the Sky Army." The old man looked mischievous as he sat down at the table and opened his laptop. "I can get you home."
    Clancy blinked and watched him slowly open up a bunch of tabs on the laptop that were completely unrelated. The squid from before came in and started cooking breakfast.
    "Damn this thing..." The old man grumbled.
    "Want me to help you?" Clancy offered. He leaned over the laptop. "What are you trying to do?"
    "I'm trying to video call the base."
    "Which room?"
    "What do you mean which room?"
    "Well there's a whole bunch, I mean, I guess just the meeting room, okay, I'll contact it." Clancy typed on the keyboard and had to do a bit of searching through his laptop before he brought up the connecting call and stepped back, smiling. "There you go sir."
    The old man smiled. "Thank you, Cadet."
    Clancy just nodded and leaned against the kitchen counter, uncertain of what else to do. After a few minutes, the ringing oft he call stopped and there was a cheerful voice answering.

Sky didn't pity Vern. It was his own fault for defying his direct order that Clancy had disappeared, he should have listened. Now he had to deal with the consequences. Hopefully he'd learned from his mistake.
    It was basically assumed that Clancy had crashed the plane he'd stolen and sadly died. It hadn't yet been determined whether the mission to capture Star would be aborted or not because Sky hadn't contacted Professor Xephos of Yoglabs. He and Xephos had a somewhat... Annoying relationship. The Sky Army and Yoglabs had gotten in each other's ways several times and Sky wasn't in the mood to talk to their leader considering Jason was pretty upset his best student was dead.
   Ty was in his office now.
   "Sky, c'mon, you know it's time."
   "It'll be time when I find the right person."
   "What if you die before you find the right apprentice?"
   "Then you're in charge."
   "Adam, really, I know you're still mad about-"
   "Don't." Sky growled. "I don't wanna talk about her."
   "Too bad!" Ty snapped, putting his hands on Sky's desk. "It's time to move on! You need an heir! You know, Clancy would've been a good choice."
   "Barlow is the opposite of a good choice. Look, he was a good kid, but he is not a leader. Besides, even if he were, it's too late now, isn't it?"
   There was a knock on the door and the two men looked up. Mitch Hughes, one of the two leaders of the Dual Legion division of the Sky Army, peered into the room. "Guys? There's an incoming message in the meeting room."
    Sky shot a glare at Ty before moving around his desk and leaving his office, Mitch and Ty both following.
    "Did you piss him off again?" Mitch hissed to Ty.
    Ty just rolled his eyes. "I had no choice, he needs to make a decision."
    "Just give him time-"
    "We've wasted enough time!"
    "Ty, relax. It's not as if we're even at war anymore."
    "Mitch, that is exactly what's going on."
    "But the squids haven't attacked since the Battle of Roma! It's literally been four years and not one attack, what if Owlet up to?"
    "That's why we should keep on our toes." Ty said. He raised his voice to Sky. "That's what Void would tell you to do!"
    Sky just sighed and pushed open the door to the meeting room. As he walked in, the screen behind the table lit up. Sky stopped as he saw who called and smiled. "CV!"
    The man on the screen smiled. "Been awhile Rookie! I don't blame you, heard about her."
    Sky sighed. "Never mind that. What's up?"
    "Just had a question for you." The old man looked to the side, and off the screen, Clancy watched him in sudden curiosity. He watched as he looked back at the laptop screen. "Are you perchance missing a Cadet?"
    Jason perked up and the old man nodded to Clancy. He poked his head into view of the screen. "Hi!" He said cheerfully. "I have no idea where I am!"
    Jason beamed as Sky stared at him in astonishment. "How did you survive a plane crash?!"
    "He didn't." The old man said. "He fell out of the plane he stole, onto my roof. The plane crashed somewhere else."
    Sky huffed. "Well... Look, I'll send a plane to bring you home tomorrow kid, for now, just hang out. Can you keep him busy, Void?"
    Clancy tensed as he heard the name, but no one paid him any mind.
    "Of course." The old man, Void, said. "See you later, Rookie."
    "Bye CV!"
    Void turned off the monitor and closed the lid of his laptop before he put his cane on the floor and stood with a soft grunt. "Hungry, Cadet?"
    Clancy just stared at him, somewhat in shock.
    Void stood by the counter and looked back at him, one thick eyebrow raised. "Better close your trap, Cadet, before you start catching flies."
    Clancy realized his mouth was slightly agape and he quickly snapped it shut. Void smirked a little and turned the right way around again. Clancy moved quickly beside him, still astonished. "You're Void?! Commander Lawrence Void?!"
    "Ex-Commander, sonny." Void said, opening an egg shell over his pan. "I'm just an old man now."
    "Just an old man who led the army for fifty years, an old man who saved countless lives, a-"
    "Cadet." Void held up a hand to stop him. "That ain't me anymore."
    Clancy fell quiet, stepping back. "...I'm sorry..."
    "Don't worry about it." Void said, still smiling. He looked at the scientist. "So, if you're not a Cadet, what are you?"
    "I'm a scientist. I just don't work for a lab right now... I got fired from Yoglabs."
    "Good for you."
    Clancy looked at Void in surprise.
    "Yoglabs is corrupter." Void continued. "It's good you got out of there before you were corrupted too."
    Clancy opened his mouth to argue, but then hesitated. "...Yeah... You're right..."
    Void nodded. "I always am, sonny. So, you're a scientist. Did you make that arm of yours?"
    Clancy nodded, sitting down at the dining table. "It got shot and I made it after I went to Yoglabs." He told the usual lie of how he lost his arm, but it wasn't hard. Nobody really cared anyway. The only one who knew the truth was...
    Clancy felt a sudden pang in his heart as he thought of Vern. He realized he missed him, although he didn't know why. Recently, ever since they moved in together, they had gotten close. One night, Vern had had a nightmare and Clancy held him. It was the only time he'd ever seen him cry, and he got the feeling it would be the last. But he learned something that night. Vern may hide it, but he was really very emotional. Maybe he was cold because nobody bothered to be there for him...
    Clancy was shaken from his thoughts as Void spoke again.
    "So you're staying at the base till you catch this criminal, yeah?"
    "Y-Yeah." Clancy said, nodding as he returned to the conversation.
    "I guess the kid, uh... Jason Provst. He offered you a temporary table in the Lab to spend your downtime?"
    Clancy nodded.
    "He must really like you, you're very smart. I can tell by your metal arm there."
    Clancy smiled sheepishly. "Thanks..."
    "Are you his apprentice?,
    Clancy snorted. "No, no way..."
    "What, does he already have one?"
    "No, but I'm not even in the Sky Army."
    Void just nodded. "I see..." He turned and set a plate of eggs in front of him. "Eat up, Cadet." He huffed as he sat down across from him. "You and I have got a long day ahead of us."