Tale Of Two Strangers Chapter 4: Friend or Foe Lily sat there terrified unable to move from her spot. The heavy armor figured just stood with beams of sunlight shimmering of its armor. “Go away, leave us alone!” yelled Lily finally managing to find her voice. The figure still just stood there, watching. “Oh, so you can speak it seems.” said a burly voice coming from the heavy suit of armor. At the moment the man in the suit raised his hand to his temple and said “ Paige, Nathan, this is Baldwin I think I have found what we have been searching for, lock on my signal and get over here now.” Lily and the man waited in silence while the roar of two ships in the distance got closer and closer. Suddenly two ships flew by and joined the first ship. Just like the first man these two appeared just as sudden, both slightly causes their surroundings to shake as they landed with a thud. The two stood to either side of the heavy suited man, both were not as geared as him but just as menacing in their own right. On the right of the man in heavy armor stood a slender woman, although she was considerable smaller than him she looked just as tough. What appeared to be a long range rifle of sort could be seen slung around her shoulder with a pistol that had glow of sort to it, like yellow electricity was arching through it. To the left stood a man just as tall as the other man but nowhere near the build. This mans outfit consisted of more cloth than armor. At first glance he looked to be the weakest out of the three but at a closer inspection he seemed to have a light blue-ish aura enveloping him. Lily wasn’t quite sure but she thought she could hear a slight humming sound coming from this one. “Really Baldwin, you called us here to look at a scared child, I thought you had found what had down that.” said Paige in a condescending tone. “Watch your tone with me Paige, It’s not the girl I called you over here for, it’s him.” growled Baldwin as he pointed at the unconscious Stark laying on the ground next to Lily. “Do you honestly think that one man could have cause the kind of carnage we say back there?” questioned Paige. “I am not completely sure but by just looking from here he seems to be in pretty bad shape, like he was in a fierce battle.” said Baldwin has he started walking towards Lily. “No, go away, don’t come any closer” stammered Lily has she laid on top of Stark covering him up. “We are not here to hurt you or your friend, we are just investigating what happened in the city over there.” said Baldwin as he pointed off in the distance towards the city. “We were flying by when we say the pillars of smoke. We went to investigate and saw what had to have been at least thirty to forty Fallen dead all over the city. By the way the Fallen bodies had fallen we determined that whatever had killed them had gone out the city toward the forest here.” said Baldwin. “That’s right; Stark had been fighting to save me. He risked his life so that I could make a run for it out of the city and into the forest to hide. He had only finally found me a few hours ago. He was hurt really bad, I did what I could to help ease his pain.” said Lily starting to cry again. “Damn, stop your whining, It is really starting to get on my nerves!” exclaimed Paige in a very cold tone. “Paige how about you go and scout the area around us. Make sure there aren’t any Fallen skulking around.” said Nathan finally speaking for the first time. “Whatever, I hope I get to shoot something I haven’t been in a good fight in the last few weeks.” said Paige as she stormed off making her way deeper into the forest before vanishing out of site. “Don’t mind her, she may act mean and tough but she is a big softy once you get past her abrasive exterior.” said Nathan with a small smile. “Where are my manners, my name is Nathan, and this big guy standing next to me is Baldwin, please to meet you little one.” said Nathan with a smile still on his face. “Hell…hello my name is Lily” said little in little more than a whisper. “Lily….what a beautiful name” said Nathan. “Nathan not to spoil your moment of introductions but would you mind getting to what I called you hear for, I doubt that man will last much longer without some kind of help.” huffed Baldwin in an irritated tone. “Right, right, Lily would you mind if I took a look at your friends wounds? Don’t worry I not going to hurt him, all though I don’t look the part I have a good understanding in healing wounds.” said Nathan as he slowly started to walk to where Stark and Lily were. “Really you can help Stark!” said Lily wide eyed. “I will do what I can for him, yes.” said Nathan as he knelt down next to Stark. What Lily saw next made her mouth drop. Nathan had his hands hovering just over Starks body. Stark now had the same glowing aura around his body as Nathan had. Nathan seemed to be in a sort of meditative state, his breathing had slowed and he was no longer talking. Suddenly the aura around Stark vanished as Nathan fell backwards desperately gasping for air. “Nathan what’s wrong, what happened!” bellowed Baldwin. After Nathan had caught his breath and calmed himself down he turned to Baldwin, “We need to get him advance medical care now! Comm Paige and tell her to get back her immediately we don’t have anytime to waste. I will take him back to the Last City in my ship and you two can follow behind me. Lily you will ride with me as well, grab your stuff and be ready to go.” It wasn’t long before both Lily and Stark were both aboard Nathans ship heading towards the Last City. Lily had heard many stories about the Last City through her and Starks travels. She had always wanted to visit it but Stark was always reluctant to even talk about it. Every time it was brought up he would imminently change the subject to something else. They were now heading for the Last City, but not in the way she imagined they would have. Not in a strange ship, with Stark barely hanging onto life. She knew that she should be worried for him but she was also happy to finally get the chance to see the Last City. “Ghost I need you, come here quick.” shouted Nathan. Just then a small orb of blue light could be seen floating in the air zooming towards Nathan, stopping just in front of him. “Yes Nathan? How can I be of service to you?” said the glowing ball of light. “I need you to do a full body scan of this man and report to me what you find” said Nathan. “Right away sir.” said the orb before flying over to Stark and started its task. “What is that thing?” said Lily in a questioning tone. “Oh ghost? He is fully integrated AI, very useful. Right now he is doing a scan of Starks body so I can fully see what damage has been done to him, from there I can decide the best course of action for him.” said Nathan. “Sir, I have finished my scan would you like to hear my report?” asked Ghost. “Yes go ahead, let me hear it please.” said Nathan. “Ok first off he has several broken ribs along with numerous fractures throughout his body. My scan also shows that he has a semi-collapsed lung along with fluid in the other. I also noticed small amounts internal bleeding from several of his vital organs. His breathing is about ten a minute and shallow, with a blood pressure of 150/65. Also as you can visibly see he always has sustained several cuts ranging from minor to severe.” said Ghost, finally finishing his report. “It’s is a miracle that your friend is still alive Lily” said Nathan as he quickly started hooking Stark of to several complicated looking machines. “Stark is very strong, he has always been that way.” said Lily has she watched Stark lay on the bed. “There is no denying that fact, any normal person would be dead by now I am sure of it.” said Nathan over his shoulder as he ran to a nearby cabinet bring back various items. Now that I know what I'm dealing with I can better help your friend here.” “How are you going to help him, you couldn’t do anything last time you tried to help him.” stated Lily. “That is true but only because I was caught off guard. I had dived to far into his psyche and in doing so had been overwhelmed by his pain. It won't happen this time I will be ready for it when I reach it.” said Nathan. “How can you heal him like that?” said Lily amazed. “Well it is kind of hard to explain. The easiest way to describe it is that I can feel a person needs, what is causing them distress. From there I take that pain they feel and draw it into my own body taking it away from them. From there I use my own power to repair the damage that has been done. All though it is not perfect I can heal most minor to major wounds with enough time. Unfortunately Stark has some wounds that I cannot heal, but I can do enough to keep him alive until we reach the Last City.” stated Nathan as he finally sat down next to Lily. “Now listen to me I am going to be busy healing Stark and will be oblivious to the outside world while I am concentrating. I will need you shake me out of trance when the time comes. When we are close the Last City a light will start to blink and make noises on that dash board over there in the cockpit. When it does I need you to break me of my state so that they don’t shoot us out of the sky before we get to close, can you do that for me?” said Nathan to Lily. “Yeah I can do that, please do what you can to save Stark life. I don’t want to lose him, he is all I have left in this world.” a tear drop could be seen rolling down her cheek as she watch Stark slowly breathing. “Don’t worry nobody will be dying on my ship today if I have anything to say about it.” said Nathan as he turned to Stark to begin the hard work ahead of him.