"I think so." Cor nodded, still searching for a place to land. "Just have to find somewhere to put it down without crashing into a building… And I think I just found it." he smirked slightly, despite his nervousness. He carefully angled the glider to begin lowering over a dead-end road. If he aimed this right then they would end up just on the other side of the city boundary but fortunately not in the "wastelands".
Nora hung on, still clutching her lightcycle baton. "If you land in the Outlands, I'm leaving you by yourself."
"That's fine with me. I'm not scared of being a couple steps outside the border." Cor quipped as he continued going through with his landing. As the ground got closer, he got a little more nervous. He'd never actually flown one of these things before and only had received verbal directions on how to use it. "Alright… Get ready. I think we're about to touch down." he warned her.
Nora braced for impact. It wasn't being off-Grid that made her antsy, it was the fact that her lightcycle didn't have off-Grid programming.
The landing was, somewhat expectedly, a little bumpy but fortunately, neither of them got thrown from the glider as it came to a stop. Cor let out a breath of relief and chuckled as he returned their ride to its baton. "Not too bad." he chuckled a little shakily. "You hurt or anything?"
"I'm fine," Nora said stiffly. In truth, her wrists and arms were sore from both holding him and from both the bumpy landing, but she wasn't going to tell him that. Without a word, she started walking back towards the city, still clutching her lightcycle baton in one hand. She knew she should probably have thanked him, but it seemed too soppy, and she kept her lips closed.
“You’re welcome by the way.” Cor called after her dusting himself off. He knew as well as she did what those guards would have done had they caught her, and he had provided her with a way out. As he straightened up, he let out a sharp cry followed by a soft curse. It seemed like he rolled his ankle at some point during the flight or the landing.
Nora turned around at the cry. He was hurt. She sighed. She just wanted to go home and keep Bit away from mischief, not sit here and babysit this guy. Might as well get him help so she could get him off her case.
As a Siren, Nora had recieved somewhat rudimentary training on how to heal wounds - nothing major, just things like cuts and sprains - so that programs could be as fit for the Games as possible. It was more entertaining to see healthy programs fight than weak ones, according to Clu.
"What did you do?" she said, somewhat exasperated, hoping that whatever it was, it would be a quick fix. She had left Bit alone for too long, and she needed to go to bed. End of Line was opening tomorrow night, and she needed to be at her best.
Cor looked up at her in surprise at the question. He knew she didn't like him and she definitely didn't care about him. Maybe it was a hero thing or she was just returning the favor from when he asked if she was alright. “I… Uhh, I twisted my ankle or something when we landed.” he told her a little gruffly, trying to hide his embarrassment. “I… I'll be fine.”
Nora frowned. She was torn. She needed to get home and get to bed, and that would be done best by just leaving him out here, but this guy had helped her get out of a tough situation. The least she could do was return the favour. She had dealt with a sprained wrist once or twice, never an ankle, but she figured it couldn't be that different.
"Let's get back to the Grid and I can take a look at it," she said stiffly, wondering if she should offer to help him walk.
Cor blinked but nodded slowly as he hobbled over to her, putting as little weight on his foot as possible. “Not that I don't appreciate the offer but why the sudden generosity?” he asked carefully since he didn't want to upset her.
"If you'd rather be left out here on your own, then so be it," Nora said, folding her arms. To be honest, she didn't know why she was doing this. One good turn deserved another, she supposed. Plus, they were both on the same side. Weren't they?
Cor rolled his eyes as he caught up to her. “That’s not what I meant.” he grumbled softly. He just wanted to understand Aurora a little more. Making friends was too risky and he wasn't entirely sure if he liked her attitude… Even though he knew his wasn't the best either but that was on purpose.
Nora shrugged. "Vigilantes are supposed to help programs." And it was true: had she seen a program, any program, out here, hurt and alone, she would have helped. Plus, one good turn deserved another, and she didn't want to be in Black Light's debt for very long.
She turned around and started walking slowly back towards the Grid, calling over her shoulder, "I think there's a medic just inside the city limits. After that, you're on your own, and I mean it this time."
Cor nodded at that, obviously agreeing with that even though he used different methods than she did. Her apparently somewhat bleak outlook on hacking being one example of that fact. It didn't bother him, of course, as many programs shared that perspective. But it gave him more opportunities. “Of course you do, sweet cubes.” he chuckled softly. “Most women find me irresistible and just can't stay away.”
"In case you haven't noticed," Nora said coolly, though her expression was creased into an angry scowl underneath her helmet, "I'm helping you so I can stay away from you. I'm not babysitting an injured program."
Good cubes, he was like the program version of Bit. Anything even moderately attractive, and Bit was off whizzing around its head: Yes, yes, yes.
She hoped Bit hadn't blown up her penthouse yet. She checked the sky: no smoke. Yet.
“So you say.” he smirked before letting out a soft hiss as he stepped wrong on his injured foot. Cor had to pause for a moment to let the sudden flare of pain die down before he resumed limping after the other program.
Nora glanced behind her and opened her mouth, ready to come at him with a snarky comment, then shut it again. She didn't have the time to argue, and he would probably just waste energy talking to her. Huffing slightly, arms still folded, she eyed the lights of the Grid up ahead, searching for the green signs that meant a medical clinic. She could look at his ankle herself, but she doubted she could stand his company - any company - for much longer.
Cor was breathing a little heavier from walking with a bad ankle but seemed to be managing. He was glad for the small break as they looked around. “So, how much do you trust this medic?” he asked, hoping that this would be an easy enough situation.
"I've never been there," Nora admitted, "but I know where it is." And sure enough, she could see the little green lights on the street up ahead. She knew she'd originally said that she could treat it, but he seemed to not have noticed, and she was planning on keeping it that way.
“Whoa, hold up. I am not turning my disc over so some medic can turn me over to the Black Guard because of a bad ankle.” he argued as most medics did require a program's identity. His real identity as Cor was, of course, encrypted while he was disguised as Black Light and vice-versa but if someone else saw it… “I thought you might have connections here after you said that you would look at it.” he explained, pointing out that he did remember what she said earlier.
He had noticed. Nora, you're a genius.
"I have… some medical training," she said carefully. "I could take a look at your disc, but if I can't do anything, you'll need to hand yourself over to the professionals."
Cor shook his head slightly, not liking the fact that he would have to turn over his disc anyway… Especially to someone who didn't trust him and, honestly, he wasn't sure how much he trusted her. But he figured this was better than endangering some innocent medic. “Alright. If that's the best way to do this then…” he sighed as he very reluctantly held his disc out to Aurora.
Nora took it and immediately began heading for the damaged code, not even attempting to find anything about identity. While she was curious, knowing who Black Light really was wouldn't do her any favours, and it certainly wouldn't help him much either. She let him view her work: you trust me, I trust you.
She was right: healing the ankle wasn't that different from healing a wrist. After a few minutes' work, she was done, and silently handed the disc back to Black Light.
Cor watched her work tensely, though he did let out a brief breath of relief when she didn't bother any other data except for what was slightly damaged by his ankle. He was interested in how efficiently she managed to fix his coding, but he decided to respect her privacy and not to say anything about it. Though he would still wonder.
He happily accepted the disc back and put it in its holster. His eyes flickered briefly as his coding synced up with what was on it and sighed in relief when he felt the pain go away. “Thank you. Aurora.” he said sincerely.