The Sentinels

Chapter 5- Fearless

E Z R A

Ezra was never one to be exactly cool under lots of pressure. Or any pressure for that matter.

He lambasted himself under his breath harshly, mounting the ladder in front of him.

Ezra was inside his private laboratory given to him by Maddox to 'distance' the crew from some of his more 'active' inventions. The lab was filled with Tesla coils and large plasma-ball-like orbs of energy, and arcs of electricity raced up a few Jacob's Ladders.

Ezra's ladder was propped next to his latest creation, a large reactor. He hoped it would be able to self-generate enough perpetual motion to keep the Zephyr 13 continually operating on its own power.

Reaching the spot he needed to start working on, Ezra strapped on a pair of goggles. He searched his tool belt for his blowtorch, and after spotting it on the table across the room, he huffed,"Really? Bogus."

He looked to the door, which was closed, and shrugged. He held a finger out, and a flame ignited on its tip, becoming a powerful stream of white flames. He then began to work on the reactor with his finger-blowtorch.

A knock tapped on the glass of the door, and the door simultaneously opened. Callum leaned his head in,"Ezra?"

Ezra jumped with enough force to lose his balance, and his finger-torch began to spew fire sporadically, as if the valve of a Bunsen burner was being played with by a toddler. He teetered, and lost his footing.

He fell, but was caught in Callum's arms. He looked up to Callum with a surprised expression,"They don't call you the White Knight for nothing."

Callum gave a smile,"Yeah, I guess so."

Ezra looked around awkwardly after a moment,"Uh, can you put me down now?"

Callum shook off his smile, realizing he was still carrying Ezra effortlessly in his arms. "Oh," he said as he helped the agent back to his feet,"Sorry."

Ezra's voice cracked in a desperate attempt to seem composed,"Whatcha doing here, Cal? I'm kinda busy."

"I didn't mean to barge in back there," Callum elucidated,"I came to check up on you actually. What happened this afternoon?"

Ezra instinctively put his blowtorching hand behind his back, taking a few steps from Callum. He shrugged,"I have no idea what you are talking about, my friend." He tried backing up again, but bumped into a chair piled with blueprints, causing papers to scatter across the floor.

Ezra internally screamed. He physically made a series of disgruntled grunts.

Callum instinctively dropped to his knees, helping pick up the papers. He frowned,"I can tell something's bugging you."

Callum scanned a blueprint he had picked up of a prototype airship that looked like a crazy amalgam of a pirate ship, Viking vessel, and a Greek trireme with a draconic figurehead labeled THE WYVERN.

Ezra took the stack of papers from Callum's hands,"These are just old projects. Nothing very schmancy to see."

Callum grinned,"You're quite the inventor." He looked at the reactor in front of them,"And that is?"