Wings of Honor: Deciding Destiny

Chapter 5: The Firefight

"McManis, no. Stay in bed. Doctor's orders." I pleaded.
"I'm sorry Captain, but I'm going to have to defy your order." He cried out in pain as he tried putting weight on his legs. Travers caught him, pushing him back down in his bed.
"Your legs are still all shot to hell. The doc said that even though you look good on the outside, your insides are still messed up. Sure you can walk, but if you tear a tendon, you won't be able to do shit lying on the ground in agony."
I recoiled in surprise. "When did you learn all that Travers?"
He just looked up at me. "What? You learn stuff when you spend some time with the doc."
"Travers," McManis sat up, "I carry a big-ass machine gun. I'm stationary half the time. And you're a marksman. You're even more stationary than I am."
Travers pushed McManis down with the palm of his hand. "I know that's a lie and you know it too. I know you're gonna rock that gun like it's an SMG and charge in all over the place. I know, because that's what I would do. You aren't fooling anybody. You need to recover." Travers sighed, looking up at me. You aren't going to do anything about this?
I sighed. "Travers' right you know," I added. "I want you back in fighting shape before we go back out."
McManis groaned. "I fucking hate being the one injured." He chuckled. "Guess this is how Marvin felt." He grumbled.
I sighed. "I just wish we could have you with us when we go strike that camp."
Now Travers was concerned. "Why?"
I shrugged. "The plan's good, but we'll definitely have a much better chance if we bring him and he's actually fit to fight."
"Well, you were looking ahead. Is there any way you can bring me back into fighting shape?"
I thought for a moment. There were some futures where he rode on me, but he would sacrifice my camouflage and often get me injured as a result. A couple times, he rode with Vaquero. But those usually led to a death in melee, usually by friendly fire. Heh, there was even one where Travers rolled him in on a wheelbarrow, but that would sacrifice both their mobility, resulting in casualties.
I sighed, there wasn't anything we could use.
But there was this strange RainWing I sometimes saw, during the fight. He felt familiar, but I couldn't recognize his face. Maybe it was one of the RainWings that we had encountered during our time in the Rainforest? But there would be no reason for them to be in the Dessert. The only Rainwing who would even be remotely close is Chameleon, and he's at the Kingdom of Night.
My eyes widened as an idea struck. "Wait a minute. Chamelion!"
"What?"
Everyone looked at me.
"What about him?" McManis asked.
"Didn't we heave him after he escaped from Peril and Ruby?" Travers mentioned.
"Last I heard, he was scrounging around in the Mud Kingdom," McManis added.
"No." I rummaged through the duffles and my pockets. "It's what he had."
"Chameleon?" Travers recoiled. "He had Darkstalker's scroll, but we took it, Peril burned it. The pieces are lost, and we cremated the one we brought a long time ago."
"Yeah. What are you looking for Grace?" McManis sat up.
"This."
I held up the little tally counter device, as Marvin described it.
McManis frowned. "What is that?"
I walked over to him.
"What are you going to do?" Travers commented. "Count how many times we've gotten our ass handed to us?" He laughed.
"So you remember how Marvin showed up as a Mudwing that one time?"
McManus lost it. "Oh the hell you didn't." He pointed at the Transformation Device. "Don't tell me that's not the thing he used to turn himself into a dragon."
I looked at him. "Fine. It's not then."
"Man!" McManus threw his hands up. "Fuck you Grace!"
Travers gently held the device in his hands, passing it to McManis. "This might be able to get you up to fight!"
He held the gold device, looking it over. He rotated the knob, revealing the pictures of the tribes.
"And this... will just... turn me into a dragon?" He looked up at me.
I nodded. "Mmm hmm! Just push the knob."
He stared at the device in disbelief. But just as he was about to activate it-
"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!" Travers yelled!
We all recoiled from him.
"What?" McManis responded.
"What about your clothes?"
They both looked at me.
I shrugged. "Marvin kept his clothes. I wouldn't see why you wouldn't."
McManis just blinked at me, then looked back down at the device. "Alright. Here's hoping."