(Continued from [FP] Out with the old, in with the new (solo)

The boat ride wasn't to bad, once he'd managed to sneak on. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a few boxes that were being loaded on by hired hands and took them aboard the ship. As far as he could tell the entire crew was Italian while most of the passengers looked to be from different regions of Africa. It was just the right boat for Streak to have gotten on. It wasn't hard for him to stow away on here because he remained with all the boxes. Once the boat had left its port it headed at a south easterly direction. That was the exact direction that Shawn had wanted to go. As Streak was sneaking around the storage area he heard some whimpering. Shawn walked over to it and saw a dog lying in a dog carrier. Streak unlatched it and the dog immediately climbed out and walked over to Shawn and proceeded to lick his face.

It was about the size of a Great Dane. "Ok dog. Ok. you can stop licking my face now." He said to the dog gently trying to push it away. He wasn't succeeding very well because the do was apparently very grateful to be out of the cage. After a while, and a very slobbery face later, the dog settled down and Shawn was able to pet it without being licked. The silver man settled down with the dog and proceeded to fall asleep on its chest. The Great Dane seemed just grateful to have some company on this trip. It was apparent that the ship was pulling into its next port because there was lots of shouting from the crew on the ship and lots from helpers on the shore. The bustling sound above the dog and him was enough to wake them both up. Streak tried to put the dog back in its cage, which wasn't happening very easily. After about a minute of pushing the dog, he gave up. It was blatantly obvious that the dog wasn't going to go in to go back in the cage. People were leaving and Shawn thought it best that he leave with them.

The dog continued to follow him out of the storage area and onto the main part of the ship. Since he couldn't get the Great Dane to leave him alone he might as well take him with him for a sort while. Of course he couldn't take him all through Africa and to other parts of the world that he was going to. He thought he was in the clear with the escape and the dog when suddenly a voice rang out through the crowd. "Hey that's my dog! Come back thief!" Streak looked back to see a man at the top of at the top of the ships balcony pointing at him. His voice had caught the attention of many of the passengers off loading and many of the staff helping them off with their belongings. Voices started shouting and people started running after him. "Shit." Streak started running away from all the people. Unfortunately there was someone who was already at the bottom of the ramp that was going to try and stop him from leaving. As Shawn was running by he jumped and punched the man square in the face. He'd gotten this far and he wasn't going to let this stop him from continuing his trip.

The silver eyed man got through everyone with out another incident. He ran though the crowded city streets, with the dog close on his heels. Streak came around a corner and stopped, finally convinced that the people weren't following him anymore. He looked at the dog who looked back at him expectantly. "Look. This relationship can't work out. I mean, your a dog, I'm a mutant and I'm not going to be hurt again." He smiled at the dog, which in turn gave him the cutest puppy dog face it could muster. Shawn couldn't help but laugh. "Now go find your owner. Go back to him." Shawn said forcefully and pointed in the direction of the ship. Thankfully the dog took the hint and started to walk away. It walked away with its tail between its legs and its head hung low. He hated to see the dog like that but he didn't have any choice. There was no way he could take this dog with him once he left the city he was in, whatever city that was. One thing he did know was that he was going to be heading south again like he did when he started his trip. Now that all his memories were back he thought about when he'd started the trip to now. It seemed like such a long time ago and he'd only gone this far.

Putting aside those thoughts and returning to the present he thought it best to get out of this city so that the dog and its owner wouldn't be able to find him. Walking around with all this clothing on was too much of a hassle. Shawn then discarded his coat and continued walking in a general southward direction. Unfortunately, what he didn't know was that walking south took him directly into the Sahara desert. As he walked it continued to grow hotter and the population was growing less and less. Very soon there was only the sparse house here or there and even then he didn't see any activity inside those houses. The day passed on very wearily. Soon Shawn's feet started dragging through the sand. The heat was getting to him and he didn't know how much longer he could continue. The thought of turning around appealed to him but then again if he did turn around he might get lost and not be able to find his way back to the city. He could get lost in the desert forever if he did that. Then like a cool breeze hitting his face in the hot desert he remembered his powers. He stopped walking and closed his eyes. Shawn stood there in the desert sand for a little bit before he felt the change beginning to take place. The silver started slow at first and then faster, like a boulder gaining speed as it rolled down hill. The metallic liquid ran down his legs and covered his lower extremities. It then moved out to his arms and chest, to the very tips of his fingers and up his neck to cover his head. Once he was completely immersed in silver he suddenly felt like his body temperature had dropped about 20 degrees to a reasonably comfortable temperature.

He had much more energy and felt like he could continue walking for at least two more days like this. The blades were the next thing to appear on his body. Since his cloths were already ripped he didn't have to worry about ruining his clothes again. His arms bladed out along with his back and he felt more powerful. Along with the feeling of power the memories of what he'd done with them recently and how he needed to be much more careful now so that he doesn't get that infuriated again. Shawn was getting better at having his blades. That night of practicing had taught him a lot and he wouldn't easily forget it. Continuing his trek through the desert he noticed that there really wasn't much life out there except for the occasional scorpion or some other kind of bug.He needed a faster route through the desert. Otherwise he would be here for ages trying to get through it, and that wasn't even mentioning the storms that pass through the desert often enough to make him worry that he'd be caught in at least one while he was walking the desert. He then remembered how he'd traveled through most of the previous areas. One word. Flight. The man of silver concentrated as hard as he could, closing his eyes, and after a while even sitting down in the sand. It wasn't going well, he didn't seem to be getting anywhere with the whole flying thing. Streak started to get frustrated and so he stopped. He needed to get calm again before he could continue with trying to fly. He had resolved to sit there until he had figured out how to fly. It was probably going to take a while. This was a much harder task than figuring out how to get the blades into his skin. The argent man looked like a statue built in the sand as he sat like someone in a yoga class. Sitting cross legged, hands on his knees, back straight and head held high he focused on the memories of flight. He wasn't sure how to achieve flight but he did know that he was going to get it even if he had to sit there for a week.

It was night time before Streak opened his eyes again. The sun had sank below the horizon and the moon was fairly high in the sky now. He wondered how he could be able to get across this desert if he couldn't fly. Walking certainly wasn't appealing to him right now. It didn't seem like he would be able to make it through unless he got some help. Streak decided that he'd better start walking. Since it was night it wasn't so hot and he didn't need to worry to much about dehydration. His goal was to get through the desert and into the jungle areas of countries like Congo. There are some things in Africa that are still a mystery to people. Like Where the quicksand is, or where the nomadic tribes lived in the desert. Things don't go so well when you run into nomadic tribes who spend their lives living in the harsh environment of the desert. As it turns out they don't like people dropping in on their camps and disturbing them.

As was Streak's luck. He came over the top of one particularly large sand dune when he heard the sounds of animals and even people on the other side. He didn't mean to disturb them so he stopped at the height and watched them. It seemed that most of the people were asleep in their tents; however, there were a few of them that were standing watch on their flocks and families. One of the people on watch happened to look up just as Streak was making his way along the top of the dune. His intention was to go around them, but it didn't work out that well. The person that looked up had sounded the alarm and Streak had heard it also. It was a loud horn, that woke everyone in the camp up. All the men, or at least he thought they were men judging the way he was dressed, came out of their tents with scimitars and even a few had guns in hand. They all started running up the hill towards Streak. Things were not looking good for the silver man. He counted at least twenty maybe more and they were all heading towards Streak. Boy I feel lucky. He thought to himself as he watched them come closer.

Finally he decided it was time for him to run away. There was just no way that he would be able to fight all of them. He started running away from them, and they followed. They were intent on catching him for whatever purpose they deemed fit. Whatever it was it probably wasn't a good thing and he had no intention of going with them. It wasn't long before he lost he footing on the loose sand. The fall down to the bottom didn't take as long as the climb up the hill. The tribe seemed glad that he fell and began heading at him instead of up the hill. Shawn got up slowly at first and then quicker a he realized that they were gaining on him. They were surprisingly fast for running on sand. Then again they did live on it so they knew which parts were the harder parts and which were the softer part of the sand. They continued to gain on him as he ran away. It was hard for him to know where he was going because he had to continually look over his shoulder to check where they were. Pretty soon they were only feet behind him. Something he hadn't realized until now was that the tribe had horses at their disposal. He started ducking as swipes with swords were being taken at his head. He needed to fly and fast. Shawn was being chased up another dune. He'd managed to evade and lose quite a few of the closer horsemen. They weren't giving up the pursuit that easily and he wasn't going to give up his running away anytime soon. Some of the horses had gotten a little to close and Streak had sliced their legs with his blades. They certainly backed away quickly.

On the other side of this dune that he was being chased up was a sheer drop. It was almost like jumping off a cliff. Since he didn't know that it was a drop he continued running until his feet weren't hitting any sand. At first he thought that he was finally flying; however he was just running in the air. He was still falling towards the ground at a high rate and he didn't want to hit the ground. Shawn began concentrating and felt himself slow in his fall a little. It wasn't much but he still noticed the change. The silver man continued to concentrate on flying. This time it worked and instead of falling he started to rise.

Feeling himself rise into the air he opened his eyes. He watched in amazement as the ground receded quickly from his feet. Shawn looked around and saw the nomads from that were chasing him stare as he rose away from them. It was a spectacle to behold. It wasn't often that one saw someone flying away from them when logically they should have plummeted to their death from a fall like that. Nevertheless, Streak was flying away from them as quickly as he could manage. Once in the air he fought to take control of his body. This to was a sight to see. He felt like a child learning to walk. Although instead of falling on the ground he tumbled in the air. Eventually he started to slowly get the hand of it. Luckily for Streak there was no one to see his little aeronautical awkwardness.

After flying for some time he decided that he should descend. Heading slowly at first he struggled to maintain control. After a while, and traveling quite a bit more distance, he landed on the soft dunes of the Sahara. Perhaps landed isn't quite the right word. Maybe more like, crash landed, is better. Shawn brushed himself off and stood up. "Just like riding a bike. After having amnesia." the bladed figure said to himself sarcastically. "Well no better time than the present to relearn how to fly." Streak said as he once again concentrated on flying. This time it came much easier, just like controlling the blades. Everything seemed easier the second time he did it. Once in the air, which took only minutes this time and one less chase, he was again flying high. Streak was ecstatic with how fast he was progressing with gaining his powers back. Since he was enjoying himself so much with the flying he didn't notice that he was picking up speed. As he picked up speed his blades began to slowly retract. As Streak moved faster and faster through the air and closer to his top speed the blades were soon completely retracted into his body.

He didn't notice that this had happened until he physically looked around and noticed that there were no blades on his arms. At first he was concerned, so he slowed down. As he slowed down the blades extended from his body and he was not worried anymore. The realization of what was happening as he sped up was quick. It didn't take him long for him to fully understand that as he sped up the blades retracted for aerodynamic effect. The night flew by, literally. Streak flew practically all night until he became tired. After deciding to stop for a rest he realized that he was almost completely through the desert. It wouldn't take him long to reach the jungles the next day. He landed a little more gracefully this time than he did before. He finally settled down and found a dune that was fairly high. He created a shovel and dug out a hole in the sand that he could curl up in away from the sun and sleep for some time. It seemed like a move that someone would do if they were freezing not in the desert. You know the saying, when all you have is lemons squeeze them for something to drink in the desert. Or something to that effect. Anyway, he buried himself deep in the sand to where he would be away from the sunlight and any other things that the desert might have that would disturb his sleep. By the time he was finished with the hole the moon was already getting lower, which meant that the sun was starting to rise soon.

It was well into the afternoon by the time Streak awoke. The main thing that woke him up was the heat from the sun beating down and shining through the hole that he'd made for air circulation. The light didn't effect him because the sand bed that he'd created was set back away from the hole. It took him a while to become accustomed to the sunlight and for his brain to wake up. No matter how bothersome he thought sand was, it was surprisingly comfortable to sleep on. After finally crawling out of his hole he looked around to make sure that no one was around to see him. The last thing he needed was for someone to see him and capture him for whatever they would want to use him for. Blinking in the bright sunlight, he didn't see anyone around. The desert looked very barren and very deserted. He didn't see any prints in the sand either, which told him that no one had been out in the area that he was for at least a long time.

Streak got up, feeling a lot like a prairie dog, and started to walk away from the hole. He really didn't have andy actual direction that he was planning on heading and since he was walking it would have been easy for him to get lost in the desert. Of course there was an easier way for him to continue his journey south. Flying. After the previous night he was fairly confident that he could fly without much concentration. Thinking about it while he walked he began to leave less and less of a trail in the sand until there was no trail at all. Finally he was flying through the air and he flew faster and faster. Once he picked up speed, a loud bang could be heard through the distance. His blades once again retracted into his skin as the sand raced pasted below him. There wasn't much to see in the desert so he was glad to start to see some shrubs and and other signs of life on the continent. As he continued to fly he passed herds of animals. As he moved farther inland the sparse savannah started to grow more clustered and filled with taller trees. Pretty soon there were mountains and even a jungle appearing over the horizon.

The sun was traveling fast, but so was Streak. The jungles of Africa was one thing he really wanted to visit. It wasn't everyday that someone could see the animals in their natural habitat, unhindered by human involvement. Once it was clear that he was well over the jungle he started to slow down so that he could land safely in the heart of the jungle. Before he'd found out that he was a mutant he'd done some research for school and found out that many of the African animals were being poached and hunt to well below safe levels or sold to other countries. It's not that he was against it; however he did think that the governments should do more to protect the animals and he wanted to see them in person before it was to late. It was close to evening when the silver mutant landed and he immediately started to look for some food. After all there was no food in the desert. There didn't seem to be a lot of animals around the area. He started to think that he was looking at the wrong time of day for food. However, it was close to night and he was sure that the animals would come out at about dusk to eat. The jungle was thick and made it hard to sneak around, let alone see much of anything ahead of him. While he was looking around he heard the subtle noises of creatures walking around the jungle floor. The trees started to sound as if they were being infested by different animals. It sounded as if everything was coming alive. The silver man stopped walking around and started looking instead. Once he started to listen to the goings on around him, and noticed that everything from the tallest trees to the smallest animals were basically ignoring his presence. Only the bigger ones that would pass as food avoided his detection. This made finding food particularly difficult and started to find it hard to find food.

The hours passed by as Streak crawled through the underbrush of thick jungle floor. He continued looking for food and started to doubt that he would find any. Perhaps he would have better luck finding food in the savanna where there were zebra and buffalo and other edible animals that would be easier to catch. Walking along still there he started to hear water running. As he got closer the sound became louder until it was almost a deafening roar. He was near a waterfall. This would be the best place for him to find food. After all, all animals needed water. He would just hide out around the bottom of the waterfall and wait for some animals to come out. He wasn't to familiar with any of the animals that might be living here. No matter how much research Shawn did he couldn't find much about the types of animals that lived there except for gorillas. People lived near the bottoms of the reservations, he knew that as well. They must have gotten their food somehow but he wasn't quite sure. After sitting very still for what seemed like hours, his stomach started to rumble. He couldn't stop that from making noise and although there was fruit all around him he didn't know enough about the poisonous and nonpoisonous plants to eat them.

Streak figured that if he saw some animals eating the fruit then it would be alright for him to eat them as well. Finally he heard some animals walking around. They didn't sound like they were right behind him, but they were sure that they have been fairly close enough for him to get to them if he really tried. Another problem would be to find a way to make the fire. He didn't have any matches or a lighter or something that he could readily use to make the fire. Of course now that he thought about it more he could always use what was lying on the ground. Dead leaves always made good fire starter. He continued to sit quietly, hidden in the brush, while some animals started to become unaware of his presence. All he had to do now was wait. The time it took for him to get ready for an ambush would be enough time for the animals to start drinking the water and let down their guard. Just enough time for him to get into position and make one his meal for a while. Some antelope had arrived. On their soft and small hooves he could just make out their legs as they passed him. They were only inches away from him and it would have been only to easy to reach out and grab the closest one.

As the herd started drinking he noticed that they didn't all drink at once. Although there was plenty of room for all of them to drink at the same time it was apparent that they were only drinking in pairs. He assumed that this was because they were keeping an eye out for any of predator that might come along and try to take them by surprise. This made things infinitely harder for him to sneak up on them and attack. He had to stop and rethink his plan. This had become a problem. He wondered how he would be able to get the food that his body so desperately craved and needed for sustenance. This was a question of whether he started starving or if he would be content with his meal for the rest of the time it lasted him. Finally it happened. Streak saw his opportunity. One of the antelopes walked close to the bush he was hiding in he prepared for the kill. He shifted his position so that he could pounce when he was ready. When the animal was close enough he jumped out of the bush as fast as he could and dug his blades into the animals neck. Continuing his attack he didn't bother to notice that the other animals had run off; even though he figured that they would once he attacked. This antelope was to slow to get away from him. Once the animal was dead, he started field dressing it just like a deer so that he could start eating as soon as possible. Needless to say with a fire going, and lots of rusting around, he didn't have to worry about any animals coming back to interrupt him. By the time he was finally eating the meat, which was surprisingly delicious, albeit a little stringy, it was night time and he was able to watch the moon rise above the water fall. The stars were already poking their heads out of the sky and he looked at them in amazement as the last time he was able to see stars this clearly was when he was in South America. Thankfully there was little pollution here. Streak seemed to have found the place where there wasn't much human intervention. Things couldn't get much better. After Shawn was done eating he wrapped the meat up in a silver sack and curled up next to the fire to sleep.

Streak didn't stay in that spot for long. After he woke up from the previous nights delicious meal he looked around. The fire had died down to embers and smoke and he woke up suddenly as the smoke blew in his eyes, causing them to water. The sun was just coming over the ridge and was spilling light right on him. Everything was peaceful around him. He didn't have to disturb any of the jungle to find food because he still had plenty of food from the previous night. After eating more of the meat from his satchel Shawn moved on. He left the valley before it was noon. Things went according to plan for a while. Which merely meant that there was no trouble that he'd run into. After flying west for a few hours he settled down for a little bit of lunch. That's when the trouble started.

As he was eating there was a great deal of rustling, shouting, and howling. Eventually his curiosity got the better of him and he started looking for the source of the shouting and howling. The noises didn't sound like they were human. They sounded more like they were animals. Really big animals. Eventually he got close enough to see them. Silver back gorillas. They were very rare to see because many were hunted away for their fur or taken to zoos in other parts of the world. Shawn immediately wondered what was causing them to run around and make all those noises. He didn't have to wait long for him to find out. Once a bullet zipped passed him he decided he'd heard and seen enough. Streak snuck around, down the mountain and back up it on the other side. It didn't take nearly as long as it would for someone that was walking because he could use his powers. Shawn quickly moved through the brush, in and out of it below the trees and above them. He wanted to stop whatever was going on before they killed or trapped all of the animals. Once he was there he didn't hesitate to find the humans responsible for the disturbance.

The silver man moved in on the poachers. They were so preoccupied on catching, shooting, and binding the gorillas that they didn't even notice the silver figure moving closer to them. It was easy for him to attack them because once they took notice of him they would start attacking him as well as the gorillas. As long as he could get them from attacking the gorillas then he could easily take care of them. The first one went down without a problem. His partner didn't even notice that he was on the ground. Humorously Shawn took up the partner's spot. Streak walked beside the man for a good thirty feet before he did a double take at the person standing next to him. Once he realize that this wasn't the same person that had entered the jungle with him he turned and pointed his gun directly at Streak's head. In a matter of seconds the man was lying in a pool of his own blood with his gun next to him. The young silver man was soon moving on to the next group of hunters. The more of them he saw the more enraged he became that they were taking down defenseless animals for no better reason then to sell them for money to the highest bidders of different countries. The more of the hunters he took out, all in similar ways to the first two, the less noise the gorillas were making noise. Finally he had either scared off the remainder or they were currently unconscious and rolling down mountain towards their villages that was encroaching on all the wild animals habitats. Pretty soon the local people would be so scared from the stories that would be told by the surviving poachers that hopefully they wouldn't think about going up there for a while. Once all that was done Streak decided that it would be better for him to take his leave of the area and that's just what he did. Flying back to where his lunch was he packed up his things and left no remaining hint of his presence. Streak didn't stop flying until he'd crossed the small channel between Africa and Madagascar. The silvery bladed mutant then made his night camp in the heart of madagascar.

The next day seemed to come very soon. Shawn was up right away and found himself getting ready to move on very quickly. He wasn't sure why he was moving so fast or wanting to get out of there so fast. There was just something about the place that set him on edge. Maybe it was just his paranoia kicking in but Shawn knew that he wanted to leave the area as soon as he could. These feelings weren't shook off when he started flying to find water. From his high altitude in the air, close enough to space that he was probably in it already, he couldn't see any rivers flowing through the tiny island. There must be some rivers around there otherwise people and animals wouldn't be so abundant. Streak thought before he started to head back down to the earth. Nothing seemed to change his feeling of paranoia. The closer to the ground he got didn't change the feeling. There had to be something that he was missing here that was causing this.

His answer seemed to be waiting for him when he was at about a mile above the earth. As the ground loomed closer and closer he was intercepted by a pair of jets. What did they want? Did he do something wrong? Shawn started to think back to the past few days. There were only a few days when he could have done something that would warrant a couple jets flying directly after him. He started maneuvering out over the ocean and flying much closer to the surface of the water. Shawn was flying at almost his top speed and the jets were having not trouble keeping up. There was no way for him to communicate with the jets so he could only guess what they wanted from him. Eventually he slowed down and they slid up next to him. Streak tried holding a conversation with them but he wasn't able to understand them. Eventually he slowed down enough and they all landed on a carrier that was anchored in the Indian Ocean.

As soon as the silver bladed figure had landed on the carrier he was captured immediately by a group of MP's. "Is there a problem guys?" Streak asked looking at them all. He truthfully wasn't sure why they were taking him. All the humans were very careful to avoid the blades that were sticking out of his body. "The Admiral wants to speak to you." One of the higher enlisted said to him. "Alright fine let's make this quick. I've got better things to do than to cater to the governments whim." Shawn said to them all as they escorted him to a conference room. Shawn didn't complain much and didn't try to fight them. He at least wanted to know what they wanted and because there were so many of them already escorting him he couldn't very easily get out of there before they brought him down. Once in the room, he was roughly pushed into a seat. Attention was soon called and the Admiral appeared through one of the doors. He immediately noticed one thing. He suddenly wasn't covered in silver anymore. Admiral Whitesock, as he introduced himself as, was an adapt. Streak was Shawn again and there was no way for him to use his powers to get out of this. The admiral was holding a couple of files. A file on Shawn to be exact. It was something he didn't know the government had on him. Or at least he didn't think it was such an extensive file. "What's this all about?" Streak asked. Whitesock was happy to answer. "We've been watching you for the past ten years. You've done quite a bit since you escaped from the camps. I've taken a personal interest in you. Ever since I was an recruit in the academy I've made sure to follow your interests. I spent my summers having people track you." He went on to explain how he'd spent most of his adult life wasting peoples time watching him. "So you've been stalking me. What do you want?" Streak said starting to get a little annoyed because this guy was wasting his time. "Fine I'll cut to the chase. The government needs you for a mission. Since we can't go into Asia to conduct the mission without declaring war we've decided to send you in." The admiral handed him one of the files that he was holding.

Streak started flipping through the file and read certain bits and pieces that would tell him what they wanted him to do. Finally he said, "So why don't you send in like the Navy Seals or some Black Ops group. Isn't their whole purpose those teams?" Shawn was still confused as to why they wanted him. All the admiral did was acknowledge that Shawn was right. "We can't send them in to get him because he's highly guarded and there's a high probability that one of our men, no matter how well prepared they are, will get caught." Things were starting to add up. They were going to use him as a super soldier because of his abilities and the skills that he posses from learning to survive and adapt what life had thrown at him. Shawn thought for a moment. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to get off this ship unless he agreed to help the Navy out. Streak started flipping through the file again, this time reading more into it. "Fine I'll do it." He said again and set the file down on his lap. This was going to be fun.

(Continued in [FP] The mission for freedom (Solo)