Travelers

Chapter 32 - The Secret Man

Jacob wasn't sure if he wanted to follow Adrian and Nova, like Rose and Mal had done, or to stay with Cat as she recovered. He had found himself in this argument with himself a few too many times throughout their travels by now, and he was sure he would run into again in the future. As he was debating his options with himself, Cat opened her eyes. She groaned at the pain in her leg, and tried to sit up. Jacob quickly advised her to lean back down. He explained about how bad her injury was, and why it had grown over time.

"Hey Jacob," Cat said quietly, "Thanks for helping and everything, but..." She trailed off with her current statement, getting lost in thought. Jacob didn't respond for a moment, still stunned by the fact that she had used his name. She didn't say it often, and he found himself savoring the moment, oddly enough. He was about to ask what the but on the end of her thought meant when the doorbell to their apartment building rang. Jacob stood to answer the door, expecting one of the others to be behind it. He opened the door, however, to find a young man in casual clothes over a Renegades uniform at the door. He pushed inside ignoring the fact that Jacob was wearing his Archer costume still.

"Man, I'm glad I finally found you without a mask on, Jacob." The man said. He cracked his neck and sat casually in one of the chairs as though they knew who the heck he was. Jacob had been surprised when Cat used his name, but hearing it from a stranger was an even greater surprise. "Oh, hey Cat," The man continued to interact with them casually, until he looked at his sleeves and hands, then seemed to suddenly realize something.

"Oh, sorry! Forgot to lower the disguise. My bad." He suddenly he seemed to shift and twist into another person. He now was even younger, about their age. They both recognized him right away from his short and messy brown hair, his glasses, and his choice of style, which was always a nice shirt or a plaid with the sleeves rolled up over his tee. Richard sat before them.

"Wait. how can we be sure this is actually you? You just proved you could change how you look," Jacob pointed out, finally gathering his wits. He searched his mind for the answer to a question that it was unlikely for anyone to know except Richard. Finally he found one. "What is my strongest character in our Star Wars game?"

"Well technically there are two answers to that," Richard started, "Your character with the highest power rating is actually Barriss Offee, but you and I both know that right now your actual strongest character is Grandmaster Yoda, not to be confused with Hermit Yoda." The details that Richard gave in his answer were precisely what Jacob had been looking for. He had consistently mentioned how Barriss was his highest power character, but his Yoda in the game was actually more effective. He had mentioned it only a few days before he traveled actually. "Trust me," he continued, "If I was somebody else, how would I know that you can sing soprano?"

Jacob felt a little embarrassed as Cat gave him a questioning look. He had been known to use his sing in his falsetto along with the sopranos whenever the choir director split them apart in sectionals. He wasn't all that embarrassed that he could do it. He was actually fairly proud of it. What was embarrassing was the fact that Cat was looking at him like he was crazy.

"Yup, that's me. Mr. Every Voice Part at your service," Jacob said. He looked awkwardly between the two of them, then finally addressed the elephant in the room. "How'd you get here?"

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Cat listened as Richard explained his story. He started a few days before they even traveled. He had been sitting at school and the bell rang. He walked through the doors and into the crowded hall. His class was quite separate from most of the rooms in the building, so he soon split away from the flow of students. He found the back staircase and climbed up. He opened the door and stepped through, finding himself facing an amazing view of the stars hovering around him. His feet clunked on the metal floor as he walked through the field of stars. The door shut behind him, and moments later it opened again, causing the stars to all vanish without a trace.. He heard the man's words, but didn't really register what he was saying. He turned to face a man in a grey uniform that seemed familiar to him. The man pointed a strange looking gun at his chest, asking him how he got aboard. Richard looked confused before asking the question that seemed obvious.