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10-01-2012, 01:05 AM | #21 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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<Episode 21>
Dusty looked himself over in the mirror in the bathroom. Outside on the huge bruise that was forming on his side he seemed fine after his battle with the kangaroo. "Hmm," he mused as he examined his side, "nothing seems like its broken." He glanced over to her and grinned, "Guess being older than dirt and tougher than leather can be a good thing." She just smiled back. "Ah, don't you worry about me little lady, I've survived worse than this little mark." "If you say so." Rachel looked down the hall at Jack. He was leaning against the wall not really paying that much attention to them. She knew that look all to well, his guard was up. And she should know, she had seen it enough times in the past couple of weeks. "So Dusty..." "Y'all still want to know how I knew that boy was a spy right?", he finished for her as he buttoned his shirt up while he walked by. "It crossed my mind a few times," Jack finally said. "If your looking for a deep conspiracy, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to disappoint ya." Dusty sat in his chair slowly. "Caught that boy snooping around here a few times. Every time I run him off he’d yell I'd be lucky if he didn't tell Anderson what's going on here." "Weren't you worried he say anything?", Rachel asked him. "What was he gonna tell him? That a doctor is running an auto part yard? I didn't last this long without knowing how to hide things." "Still doesn't mean it can't be found," Jack told him. "That depends on how good the finder is and how much better the hider is." He grunted as he readjusted himself in his chair. "And that made no sense what so ever." "We get what you mean," she told him. "Right Jack?" "If you say so." Rachel shook her head. Dusty went to pour himself a cup of coffee, he was trying to look like he wasn't holding his side while he did it. Before either of them knew it Jack was already there pouring some into Dusty’s cup. "Much obliged" "No problem," Jack sat on the couch. "So why did you risk your neck and fight him?" "Be kinda hard to explain why I'm hiding the Drakan Killer to every Drakan in town." Dusty took a sip before continuing, "Besides, I've kinda taken a shine to the two of ya already. Hate to see you up and leave so soon." "I'd bet," Jack said flatly. "Is that so hard to believe?" "Seeing how most Drakan I've come across wants to kick my ass, yeah it is." "Jack,” Rachel warned him. "Rachel," he returned mocking her tone. "Hey you two," Dusty interrupted. "If that's how he feels it's not gonna bother me any. Can't blame a guy for reacting to what life's been throwing at him." He looked over at her and winked, "Doesn't mean he couldn't be a little nicer about it though." Jack rolled his eyes. Rachel smirked as an idea came to her. "Maybe we should make him cook dinner." Dusty agreed, "It's the least he could do after being so rude to this injured old man." Jack looked at both of them, realizing he wasn't going to get out of this one. He got up saying, "I knew it was going to be a mistake fixing breakfast this morning." "Little lady, I like the way you think." "You got to know how to handle him." Rachel looked into the kitchen. Jack pulled a bottle of some nasty looking yellow liquid out of the fridge. He looked at her and suddenly had an evil looking grin on his face. "Those bedroom doors have locks on them right?" *** It took Dusty a few days to arrange to get the chip out of his head. He led him and Rachel to the back of the lot. Out of jammer range too, just his luck. They stopped in front of two semi trailers that were next to each other. They were so close together Jack couldn't even see a gap. Glancing over to Rachel he said, "At least one of them will be blocking the signal." "You're assuming we're going in." "Why wouldn't we?", Dusty asked her a he opened a door to the one on the left. "I mean I have to operate somewhere. I'm not gonna do it in my living room like some quack." When the walked in Jack and Rachel discovered it was it was another one of Dusty’s special builds. The two trailers were joined together to form one giant room. Well two if you count the glass barrier and two doors on either side of it as a wall. The other side of the glass looked almost like an operating room. Jack ignored that chill going down up and down his spine. "I'm guessing you didn't do this on your own." "What are you talking about son? I'm just that good," Dusty face was serious before breaking out into a grin. "I had a few friends with, as you say, rebel connections help out." "Your friends are good," Rachel said. "You be surprised what you can get done when you promise free medical care. Now just to be on the safe side," he walked over to a jammer that was near the sink and flipped it on. "I'm gonna scrub up, so you can change in that booth over there," he pointed to the door that was on the left. "Rachel, care to give me a hand?" "I am so dead," Jack muttered as he opened the door. "Boy you will be if you keep talking like that." "You do realize I have no medical training what so ever," Rachel informed him. "You ain't operating little lady, just hand me the things I ask for. Don't worry I'll give you a quick lesson on what's what before we start. I'm assuming you're a quick study because you have to keep up with all the crap he pulls," he said with another grin. Jack had a comeback but kept it to himself. No point in ticking off the guy who was going to be poking around in his head. Well no more than necessary any way. He took off his jacket, gloves and shirt and put on a hospital gown that was in there. Opening the door that lead to the operating room and was hit with a scent that smelled like a hospital. That Drakan was definitely good at what he did, side job or not. Rachel and Dusty were already in there dressed in scrubs, she was nodding every so often as he pointed out the various tools he was going to use. Which wasn't many, much to his surprise. Just a couple of cutting tools and some kind of camera attached to a TV. "So now what?" "Plant it there son," Dusty pointed to what looked like a massage chair. As he sat in it Dusty said, "I may have a fancy set up but I'm still just a back alley surgeon, so to speak. Right now the strongest thing I can give you is a local." "Is that wise?", Rachel asked him. Jack was questioning it himself at the moment. "Shouldn't he be out if you're going to be doing surgery?" "If I was going to do surgery, yeah. But today I'm just taking a look around to see where things are at in the great wide open here," Dusty tapped him on the head. "Hey!", he protested. "Please son, it's not like I'm hurting anything in there." Duty walked over to some plans that were on the table and looked them over. "Fortunately who ever designed this thing put an access tube leading to that little bugger in your head. Makes my job a whole lot easier, let me tell ya." He picked up a needle with a clear liquid inside and said, "Say howdy to the local." Jack looked over at Rachel before he put his face in head rest. Her eye had a distant look to them, "Rachel what's up?" "What?", she was startled. "Sorry, I was just remembering when you went back to the medical wing after your run in with Allen." She bit her lower lip, "You were in so much pain back then, I..." Jack took her hand, she squeezed back. He gave her a small smile, "At least I'm in better shape this time around." Rachel smiled back as she put the mask on and gloved up. Jack leaned into the chair as Dusty pulled the gown away from his back. He whistled suddenly, Jack looked back at him, "You wanna take a picture and take it back to your bedroom?" "Sorry Jack," he said, “but damn son they messed you up." Jack held up his right arm, "You should get a good look at this one." He tried to relax as Dusty was getting ready to stick him with the needle. "Now don't you worry son, this can be completely painless...," he stuck him with the needle. "OW!!" "...When I want it to be." "I know that was for something." "Let's just say Max was an old friend of mine." All of them were quiet as he stuck him a few more times, a lot less painfully this time around. "I know it wasn't your fault son. Hell I tested the compound in that dart myself." "I was kicking myself for a few days after that one too." Dusty grunted as he turned on the monitor. Jack felt his back go numb and he tried to get comfortable. Dusty asked for a scalpel and he felt the blade slice into him. Now that felt weird. He felt Rachel's hand squeezing his shoulder soon after. "Relax," she told him. That was going to be easier said than done. Dusty asked for that scope on the tray and put in the opening he made. Jack left arm shot out suddenly and Rachel shrieked. He started laughing. Rachel realized it was a joke a moment later. "Vous âne!" "Yeah," Dusty said plainly, "that one never gets old." "Just trying to lighten the mood." "Try pulling something this old dog hasn't seen before, ya hear." Dusty went quiet as he restarted the information. "Ok I'm turning the scope on. Now this might feel a bit weird for awhile. Might I also suggest that you keep from moving as much as possible." Weird, slightly painful was more like it, but he kept as still as he could. His foot was tapping like crazy, but his back was perfectly still. He should have asked for a couple of beers first. "Well," Dusty said after staring at the screen for what seemed like forever, "one thing for sure, this is definitely Drakan tech." "Wait," Rachel spoke up, "Drakan Technology?" "No offense little lady, but do you think humans could come up with something like this?" "Get with it Rachel, even I figured that one out." Dusty breathed in sharply and he got this weird feeling on the back of his neck. "She's staring daggers at me isn't she?" "Son, I'd say the only thing keeping her from whacking you one is this thing attached to you. I'd offer to keep it in but she might tear it out. And I got to return it by Friday." After another long ten minutes he said, "Ok, I'm getting close to the little bugger. So I appreciate it if you can stay quiet so I can concentrate." He closed his eyes and thought about just about anything else at the moment. Out of the blue Dusty said, "What do you know, there is a brain in there." Jack heard Rachel laughed for a bit. "All right I found it." He was quiet for a couple of moments, "I'm taking out the scope." It seemed to take longer going out that it did going in. "Rachel, put some pressure on that would you. I made the incision small enough so he shouldn't need any stitches." "Sure." Rachel pressed some gauze onto his back. "Are you feeling all right?" He nodded. She started patting the back of his head, "Can you feel that?" Without thinking first he answered, "Yeah." Then she smacked him in the back of the head, "Ow!" "That was for that stupid so called joke and the 'get with it' comment." He looked at her, "Damn, you hit harder than my mom." Dusty chuckled as he watched them, "Well, your head gonna be ringing for a couple of hours and your back might be sore for a couple of days." Staring at the plans he called Rachel over and he put his hand up to keep the gauze in place. "How well do you know his systems?" "Just the basic of what they told me, why?" "Look at this." They spent a few moments as Dusty went over something in the plans with her. That fact he was keeping quiet while he was talking started to worry him. Rachel eyes went wide, "I didn't know about that." Now it was official, something was up. "Exactly how was a screwed over?" "Well son, "Dusty began as he rubbed his chin, "I can take that chip out no problem. But they fixed it so the source powering the systems keeping you alive runs threw the chip. Anything happens to that chip and those lines get disconnected, those system loses power and well...". "And bye bye Jack", he finished for him. "Great, just freaking great." "There's got to be a way around it," Rachel said. "I'm sure there is," Dusty answered, " but the thing is I can't do it here. I'd need some specialized medical equipment." "Like they have at World Inc.", she added. Dusty just nodded as he rolled up the plans. "Don't think they be up to doing me any favors anytime soon," he commented. Rachel just looked at him sadly. "I'll fetch the truck to take you back up to the house. I want you off you feet for the next couple of days to be on the safe side." Dusty left them alone. Rachel looked at the floor. "I didn't know..." "I know you didn't," he said softly. "You wouldn't let me go through this if you did. At least I hope you wouldn't." He tried to get her to return the smile at least, no go. "I have to give those bastards credit for one thing though, they thought of just about everything." *** Mentally he counting down from ten and twisted the handle on the detonator. There was a slightly muffled explosion and Jason looked over the barrier at the smoking concrete hut in the middle of the field. He walked over and opened the door and looked inside with a flashlight at the results. His newest mixture worked perfectly. There was not much he could do now a days. He appeared at those war meetings as a favor for the old man. But ever since they "elected" another green, a woman no less, he couldn't stomach being there any longer. Christopher was bad enough, but now every one was looking toward his sister for inspiration, someone else to bow down too. It made him sick to his stomach. As he turned back to his barrier he saw the old man pull a notebook out of his backpack. "Was there a rule change about underling's privacy?", Jason said angrily as he walked up and snatched the notebook out of his hands. The old man didn't even show a hint of anything, and that infuriated him even more. "I see you still working on plans to blow up the main World Inc. building," he said causally. "It would end this a whole lot quicker." "It could also give the others an excuse to join in Anderson's crusade. You have to think of all the possibilities Jason, not just the one you like." "Are you done with the lecture yet?", Jason demanded as he packed his equipment into the backpack and zipped it up. "I'm not lecturing, just giving out some advice. Advice you used to ask for if I remember correctly." "Now we're going down memory lane." "I'd figure we hold hands and sing next." The old man looked at him, obviously expecting him to laugh. He wasn't cooperating. "Right." "Why are you out this way Nathan?" "Do I need a reason?" "You're never out here unless there's something." "Unfortunately this time your right. Our cell is being absorbed into another one." "They can't do that!", he exploded. "Jason our cell is just the two of us. Even when Kendall was alive I was pulling every string and calling in every favor I had to keep us independent." "Then we get more to join us." "Nobody wants to join us. You're not exactly a people person. Both Kendall and myself were asked several times how we could stand being around you. Like it or not we're going to be part of another cell." "Do you have any idea who's?" From the look on the old man's face he knew he wasn't going to like it. "Melissa's." "No!!" "She personally requested it, I couldn't say no. Besides, I don't think any of the other leaders would have taken us together, if at all." "I will not bow down to that woman!" "No one expects you to." "She's a green, of course she does." "Have you ever seen or heard of her talking down to or demanding anything from a blue or red? I sure as hell haven't. She's been nothing but cordial to me every time I've dealt with her. We're damn lucky because I don't think any of the other cell leaders would be as generous." He had heard enough. Jason slung the backpack over his shoulder, "You keep believing that Nathan," and he walked away. "That attitude is going to get you killed one of these days, you know that." "As long as I take the other guy with me who cares?" *** Emily watered the plant on her table. Even in this dark environment a few buds were starting to sprout. She always took that as a sign that no matter how dark things were, life could flourish. And there were going to be some dark times coming up if things stayed they way they were. In fact she should be expecting a potentially dark moment of her own any time now. That's if she hasn't lost the ability to read her expected visitor correctly. After last time it was entirely possible she did. She was thankful when someone started banging on the door, "Come in." Melissa stormed in and slammed the door shut. She waved some papers in front of her, "What in the hell is this?!" "A detailed account of my vision." "I saw that. I told you..." "I know what you said child, and I told you that you had to weigh everything carefully. You can't do that without all the information involved." The child looked conflicted, "Emily I can't do this. There are factors involved even I don't want to think about. Not without a crate of aspirin right next to me." "Sit," she motioned to a chair. Melissa stood there. "Sit," she said a little more forcibly and the child did so. "I know you think you have the world on your shoulders. And right now child, if we have to be honest, you do." Melissa looked surprised she said that but said nothing. "Most people would break under that sort or pressure. But you have withstood it better than most of the others in the council probably expected. Child I have know you since you were a babe in your mother's arms, I know how strong you really are. I wouldn't add to your burden if I didn't think you could handle it." Melissa looked at the paper in her hands. "You have several options in front of you Melissa, it's up to you to choose the right one." "What if I don't know which one is the right choice?" "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told your brother." Melissa looked at her. Emily leaned in and placed a finger on the young woman's chest, "Look in here. People can lie and information can be false. But that voice inside you will never let you down, no matter how many direction you find yourself being pulled in. It will guide you down the right path." "All have I to do is listen," she said. Melissa took one last look at the paper in her hands. She then folded them up and put them in her pocket. "I'd better go, I need to think about some things." "I know you do child." Emily returned her attention to her plant. "I'm sure you'll find the right path to take us down." *** Those couple of days of rest Dusty prescribed for Jack went by quickly. Dusty had him pegged as a complainer but he was proven wrong. Jack even refused any offer to sleep in a bed for those couple of days instead of the couch. Although he complained about being kept to light housework around the place after those days were over, again Dusty’s idea. He didn't want to be babied and felt he could pull his own weight. They didn't budge on the issue. Right now he was in the kitchen drying the dishes, or at least he was supposed to be doing that. When Rachel walked in he was leaning against the sink with his head down. As she got closer she could see his eyes were squeezed shut. "Is everything all right?" He opened his eyes and looked up, but not at her. Jack was looking out the window, almost like he was searching for something. Then he relaxed and said, "I'm fine." "Are you sure? I can get Dusty..." "I'm fine," he repeated. Then he changed the subject, "The clean glasses are over there if you want to get something to drink." He reached into the sink to grab something else but there was nothing there so he pounded the counter top lightly. "That's not why I came in. Dusty said he's expecting some rebel company tomorrow." "We better make ourselves scarce for a couple of hours then." He threw the towel into the sink, "I don't think Dusty wants another fight around here anytime soon." "You know," Dusty said from the doorway, "and I don't want to be telling you two your business, but sooner or later you're going to have to work with the rebels. Tomorrow might be a good place to start." "I was changed and sent out to kill them. I don't think playing nice is in the cards." "Not anytime soon any way," Rachel agreed with him. "Then it might be time to start mending some bridges." Dusty pulled a piece of paper out. "They always tell me where they're going when they get a piece of info from inside World Inc. they have to check out. Just in case it's a trap and they can't move the wounded all that far, mind you." Jack took the paper and looked it over. "It's dried up river bed a mile or so out of town." "I know where it is." Jack put it down on the table as she said, “What do you want to do?" "I think... I'm gonna take a ride." He walked past her and Dusty and grabbed his gloves and jacket. Picking up his helmet he looked at the other one sitting there and then to her. "I think I'll do this one solo, if it ok with you." She nodded. "Here son," he said as he tossed Jack a phone of some kind. "Give us a call if you find anything. It's special build so you don't have to be worried about being traced." "Sure thing." "You better come back," she told him. He put a hand on his chest," Please, it's me." "That's why I said it." He gave her that stupid little sly grin of his as he pulled the hood over his head and walked out. "I hope he's doing the right thing." "So do I little lady, so do I," Dusty said taking the paper. "Just out of curiosity, how long has he been having those nightmares of his?" "It's been awhile, since before we left World Inc. I've tried to get him to talk about them." "But nothing right? We might want to keep an eye on him." Rachel watched as Jack drove toward the gate. "Trust me, I have been." *** Jack sat on his bike in the darkness on the high side of the River bed. Even he could see this would be a perfect place for a trap, hopefully the rebels would figure that out too. Deep down he knew Dusty was right, he would have to deal with the rebels one of these days. Personally he was hoping for later, much, much later. Somewhere around the time they stopped being super pissed about him killing their leader. That might take fifty or sixty years, if he was lucky. Maybe he should have asked Barry what kind of warranty he was under. Probably got voided the moment after he "resigned" from World Inc. He adjusted himself in his seat as he saw some movement in the riverbed. A group of about seven could be seen in the moonlight. They were being careful, flashing the lights in their hands behind them and up the sides of the riverbed, they were expecting a trap too. Jack rolled the bike back a bit to make sure he wasn't spotted. The last thing he wanted was to be outnumbered by another bunch of Drakan. Then he saw some movement across the way, then another one and another. A sound behind him caught his attention. Jack swung his helmet toward the sound, it crashed into the head of someone behind him, someone dressed in a black uniform. He knew that uniform, it was one of Anderson's troopers. Scanning the area he saw a couple of more on this side of the bed and figured there was more across the way. "Look out!", he yelled at the rebels. The looked up about the same time the troopers made their move. The Drakan changed into their true forms as a couple of guns on this side went off. An explosion rocked the ground behind them, even he knew there were probably more bombs further back, the rebels were trapped. He had to give them a hand. He raised his left arm across his chest and the belt appeared. He swung that arm to the side and raised his right. "Henshin!" and he slammed his hand on top of the belt. The armor formed around him as he brought the bike to life. He drove up and down the side of the riverbed finding all the troopers he could and either take them out or make them jump out of the way. Bring the bike around he saw the troopers on the other side started running down into the river bed with those shock sticks in their hands. Jack brought the bike down into the riverbed and drove right threw them. All but one jumped out of the way, he skidded to a stop and kicked him square in the chest. That went flying back as he got off the bike. One of the troopers pointed behind him and he looked back. Jack, the rebels and the troopers just stared as the one he knocked down got up like there was nothing behind that kick. "How many Drakan does he have working for him?" The trooper yelled and changed into a blue crab. The rebels took the opportunity to go after the other troopers. Jack stared at the claws on that Drakan, especially the bigger one. He turned to grab the staff off the bike, the crab moved quicker than he thought it would and wrapped a claw around his wrist. The pressure made him drop the staff. Then the crab threw him away from the bike. Snapping it's claws it came toward him. Jack sidestepped a lunge and kneed it in the gut. The crab acted like it wasn't affected, this one might take awhile. He got distracted as a trooper landed hard by him and the crab backhanded him. It got the big claw around his neck and started squeezing. Then it ran and smashed him into the bed wall and started pounding with the other one. Jack was gasping for air as a green furry hand grabbed on of its’ eyes and pulled. It screamed and let him go. Jack slide down the wall gulping in the air as a green wolf fought the other Drakan. A trooper reached him as he got to his feet. A quick jab took care of him. He ran in and shoulder blocked the crab back a few feet. Standing next to the wolf he asked, "You that same punk kid from the woods?" The wolf nodded, "Consider us even," he said as he went after another trooper. Jack saw some cracks in the crabs shell on its’ chest. They almost looked like claw marks. "Fair enough", Jack said as he targeted those marks. The crab kicked him under the chin flipping him over. Fido left a little too soon. He rolled out of the way and landed a hard punch to the cracks. The crab yelled and started swinging wildly. Jack ducked out of the way and went for a side kick when he saw a chance. The Drakan caught his foot and laughed sharply, the bastard was faking the whole thing. It pulled him in and started pounding away. Jack quickly got his arms up trying to block most of the assault. When he saw an opening he grabbed the bigger claw with both hands and started pulling. After a few moments there was a cracking sound and the claw started bending backwards. It screamed, actually in pain this time, and started backing away, he went in and stated pounding away. At its’ head, it's gut, the crack in it's shell whatever he saw a place he could get a hit in. He grabbed the Drakan and threw it to the side as the meter started flashing. He grabbed the right pod and twisted it down, and the mini turbines inside the belt started spinning. Running at the Crab he jumped up and aimed his right leg at it. His foot hit the cracks on it's chest and it flew back and exploded. Jack stood there as he landed then looked around. There were troopers on the ground, some where still fighting the rebels, others were running away. The wolf and three others were just standing at there. They stared at each other for a long time. One of the rebels started to come at him but the wolf held up an arm to stop him. Jack looked at the ground and saw a walkie talkie sitting there, must have come off one of the troopers. He bent down and picked it up. Looking it over he looked at the wolf and tossed it to him, "You might find that useful." The wolf nodded once more. He went over to his bike and picked up the staff and put it back in its place. When it looked like nothing else was going to attack him he gunned the engine and rode off, letting the rebels handle what was left. *** Anderson stood behind his desk looking out the window as Taylor gave a verbal report of the operation. Perez was less than happy to discover that there was a Drakan in his command without him knowing it. He'll handle that in the morning. Right now he had a more pressing concerns. They spent weeks setting up that operation, everything was planned to the last detail. Davidson involvement was not one of them. Looking away from the window he said, "Mr. Taylor." He closed the file in his hands, "Yes sir?" "Get in contact with Logan. I want to see him tomorrow." "Logan sir?", Taylor said looking a little uneasy. "Yes Mr. Taylor." He looked back out the window. "As long as Mr. Davidson stayed out of our affairs I would have waited for Mitchell, or at least for this other Fusion operative Allen had stashed away. But he just made himself a nuisance. It is time to take care of him." *end theme - Papa Roach - Sometimes* |
10-09-2012, 01:38 AM | #22 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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<Episode 22>
Rachel could only remember one other time she felt like this, when Jack went into that cave to face the rebel leader. Just like before the fact she didn't know what was happening to him was getting to her. But he wasn't just facing the rebels, Anderson's men were there too. Kind of like last time too. Not for the first time tonight she was thinking that she have talked him out of going, find another way to mend bridges as Dusty put it. Dusty, on the other hand, was sitting in his chair watching TV. The only sign she could see that he was worried was his tapping foot, something she never seen him do before. Rachel got off the couch and looked out the window before walking the floor, "Where is he?" "Jack's alright," Dusty said. "No point in thinking otherwise. Bad vibes and all that crap." "I should have gone with him." "No offense little lady, and do what exactly?", he asked her. Rachel opened her mouth but nothing came out. She sat back on the couch, not sure about what to do. "Didn't mean to burst your bubble but I'm pretty sure you would have done more harm than good." "I'm not used to being left behind," she ended up saying. God, that even sounded lame to her. "If you say so," he replied. The way he said it told her that he didn't exactly believe her. Fortunately he decided not to push it and left it alone. After a few moments she got up and started walking the floor again. "Remind me to pick up some wood to fix that hole you're gonna make in my floor." She ignored that comment. "Are you even sure that phone is even going to work? I mean how would we even know that Jack was the one calling?" "I told you it was one of my special builds. And see that phone right over here?", he pointed to phone by his coffee maker. "It has two lines that I built into it. A regular phone line and a dedicated line connected to the one I gave Jack. If that second light starts blinking it'll be him." Right then it started flashing, she wasn't sure but Dusty looked like he relaxed a little too. He gave her a grin, "Speak of the devil. Here I'll put it on speaker phone for ya." There was a click before Dusty said, "Hello?" "Yeah," Jack voice came over the phone, "I'm gonna miss curfew by a bit." She was glad to hear one of his stupid jokes. "Well son, I won't ground you this time since you called," Dusty said with a chuckle. "Did everything go alright Jack?", she asked. "My God, both of you are still up? You got nothing better to do?" "You just caught her getting a late night snack," Dusty covered for her with a wink. "Oh," why did he sound strange? Then he went back to normal, "The whole thing was a trap by Anderson. His guys jumped out of the woods, set off a few bombs, one of them was a Drakan stuff like that." "Are you alright?", she asked him. "You're not hurt or anything?" "Nothing a couple of aspirin and a night rest won't cure." He paused, "That punk kid from the woods was there." "Wait a second, he's still around?" To Dusty she whispered, "I'll explain later." He nodded in response. "Yeah, and if it wasn't for him I might have went a couple of rounds with the rebels too." "Not exactly what I had in mind when I told you about this," Dusty said looking a little dismayed. "What can I say, that's been my life now a days," he said plainly. "I'll be back soon enough. I'm going to wait a bit and go back for my helmet before heading back." "You’re gonna risk your neck going back for a helmet?" Dusty asked in disbelief. "That's a bit nuts son." "That was my Dad's helmet," he explained. "My Mom would kick my ass if she found out I left that behind." Rachel looked over to Dusty, "I met her, she would." "Whoa," he said suddenly, "this phone just beeped. This thing got call waiting?" "Sounds like the battery is getting low," he answered. "Hmm, could have sworn that it had a full charge when I gave it to you." "Anyway, don't wait up," he told them. "I'll put the aspirin on the kitchen table for you," Rachel told him. "See you in the morning." Dusty ended the call and Rachel fell back into the couch letting out a huge breath. Dusty chuckled as he got up. "Told you he’d be alright. You can stay up if you want. But if you will excuse me this old man is going to bed." "Night Dusty," she called out. Jack was alright, now why couldn't she stop smiling. *** Lance agreed to join her as she questioned Arron and the others about what happened. Arron looked nervous standing there before them. He reminded Melissa of when he was trying to ask Chris if he could stay on. Chris wasn't sure if having the son of one of the area's most powerful alphas was a good idea or not. Emily convinced him some how that it was. Emily convinced just about everybody that it was a good idea. She was good at convincing people if something was a good idea or not. Thoughts for latter, right now she had other things to deal with. "OK Arron, why don't you tell us what happened last night." "Keep in mind”, Lance added," that we already talked to the others." The youth nodded. "Well we we're following the tip we were given. Everything was quiet then somebody shouted 'look out'. The next thing I knew Anderson's men were coming out of the woods, shots were being fired and there was an explosion behind us." "Is that how it began?", Lance asked as he started circling the youth. "I'm pretty sure, everything happened so fast it was hard to keep track." Lance glanced over to her looking annoyed. Not that they thought he was lying to them. Out of the seven she had sent who were there they had four different stories on how it started. The only thing consistent with each story was the shout out. Now for the big question, "Do you have any idea who gave the warning?" "No clue," she closed her eyes before he answered. Sometimes she could get a feeling off a person and she was now. Fear, anxiety, nervousness. Everything she learned to associate with one thing. "You're lying." "No, I'm not." "Kid," Lance said, "if she says you're lying, you are lying." "If you don't know who than you have a good idea who it was. Tell us who you think it was Arron. We're trying to figure out what exactly happened." He didn't look at them as he whispered, "I think it was the Drakan Killer." Lance looked up at the ceiling and groaned, "Why him of all people?" "He did help us out during the mess afterwards," he mumbled. Melissa and Lance looked at each other. That was the only other constant part of each story, the Killer fighting Anderson's men and one of his Drakan soldiers. "So do you have idea why he decided to help you?" "I don't know" She knew he was being truthful. "So why did you help the Killer with the crab?", Lance asked him. "He was helping us out so I figured I'd return the favor." "That's all well and good." Lance stopped walking and got in his face, "So why did you let him go?!" Arron looked away, "I owed him." "You owed him," Lance cried in disbelief. "Lance," Melissa said to make him back away. "Arron, I understand thinking you owe him something." Oh Lord did she understand that. "And most of us wouldn't fault you for trying to repay your debt, but the other thought you were trying to give orders." "I wasn't...." "Did you tell the others about that debt of yours," Lance demanded. Arron didn't answer. "Arron, why do we stay in our human forms when were in the habitat?" "Because we don't know who is in what class when we’re human." "Right that way we can remind ourselves we're all equal. Even then we have to be careful about the choices we make, particularly us greens. You might have thought you were repaying your debt but the others thought you were falling into old habits. No matter what you stepped out of bounds when you decided to let him go. What do you think an appropriate punishment would be Lance?" "Two weeks hard labor in the garden center sounds about right," he said after thinking about it for awhile. "That sounds good to me too. Arron report to the garden center in the morning. I'm sure Frank has some dirty jobs he needs done." "Yes ma'am," he said and left them alone. "Like the situation wasn't bad enough," Lance groaned while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Now the Drakan Killer not even sure what side he's on." "Nothing is never simple Lance," She told him. "Friedman said Davidson left World Inc. on rather bad terms." "He also said he attacked Anderson,” Lance reminded here, “but that was according to the company rumor mill. The only people who know what really happen are Anderson and the Killer. And that's if he really broke off from World Inc. This could be an elaborate trap for all we know. Hell nobody could know what's really going on." Maybe not nobody, she fingered the folded up paper in her pocket that Emily gave her. "We got to take things one at a time I guess and hope everything comes out for the best. So when are you coming back?" "In a few days for the next meeting. There were a couple of things that just started brewing in my cell when I left. I have to see if anything needs my attention so I'd better go." "Lance, do me a favor would you," she pulled the paper out and handed it to him. "Read this and let me know what you think about it. I don't want an immediate reaction, think it over for those couple of days. I really need somebody else’s opinion on it." "No problem," he looked a little confused. "I'll let you know in a few days." She nodded and watched him leave. She already had an idea on what she was going to do already. Melissa just wanted to know she wasn't crazy just for considering it. *** "Why wasn't I informed there was a Drakan on my assault team?", Perez demanded. Anderson looked up at him over some reports Taylor had given him. The man did look rather upset. "Which team?', he asked, allowing himself a small sly grin. "What?!", Perez slammed his hands down onto his desk. His grin quickly disappeared. "Exactly how many of those bastards Drakan are working for me?" "For you, none," he answered coldly. Perez backed off. He got his emotion under control after a moment. "However, there are several working for me. I kept quiet about it because of reaction such as yours." "Me and the men don't like it one bit." "I don't pay you and the men to like it, I pay you to follow orders. The rebels are a pain in the Drakan communities’ side as well as ours. With a common enemy an alliance, no matter how," he searched for the right word, "uneasy, is only natural. Mitchell understood that and the sooner you understand that the smoother things will run." Perez crossed his arms and looked over him, "That worked great with Allen didn't it?" Anderson mood and features darkened slightly, "I suggest, Mr. Perez, that in the future you check all of your facts before making similar comments. There were factors involved in the Allen situation that only Mitchell and myself were aware of." He rose from his chair and stared the other man down. Perez backed away even more. "You may not like it but that union is necessary, particularly now. Mr. Davidson is an x-factor in any plans we may have in dealing with the rebels. No one knows when he'll show up next and what he'll do. If you can not see the value of such an alliance than I will find somebody who can." Anderson straightened out his tie before he sat back down, "Of course the big question is how Davidson just happened to be there last night. I am not a big believer in coincidences, so I would suggest you find out how. Dismissed." Perez said nothing as he left the room. Mitchell could not come out of the mark two program soon enough. Bastard Drakan indeed. On his desk the light on his intercom lit up, now what? He pressed the button, "Yes?" "Mr. Taylor and a ... guest are here to see you Mr. Anderson." Finally some good news. "Send them in." Taylor came in first and held the door open. An older man, with gray hairs playing at his temples, wearing a brown trench coat and sunglasses entered. Anderson rose but didn't smile, the other man wouldn't see it any way. The older man held a white cane out in front of him, but he didn't swing it from side to side. Instead every so often he taped it hard once on the ground in front of him. He stopped a few feet from the desk. "Mr. Logan, you are doing well I see." "I can't complain," he reached out with his right hand and found the chair and sat down. "It's been awhile since I've heard from you." "It's been awhile since I've had a target worth your considerable talents." "That never stopped you before Anderson. So who’s the unlucky bastard that crossed you this time?" "I assume you heard of the Drakan Killer." Logan actually laughed out loud, "Now I know why you man seemed so shocked to see me." "I didn't realize he be so unprofessional to say anything," He said mainly to Taylor with a raised eyebrow. Taylor started looking nervous. "He didn't have to," Logan gave him a small smile. "Perhaps he needs a little demo. What do you say Taylor? Do you think you could put a hand on me before I can stop you?" "I don't think that would be proper," Taylor said. "You might as well comply Mr. Taylor," Anderson told him. "Mr. Logan will not leave until you do." Taylor nodded and silently walked behind Logan. The older man lowered and twisted his head slightly. Taylor reached out with his left hand, he was right handed so it was a good ploy. Logan cane suddenly came up and smacked his hand away as he rose up and shoved the chair into Taylor. A straight palm shot to the chest knocked Taylor to the floor and Logan placed the tip of his cane into the other man's throat. The choking sound he was making said the cane was being pressed in rather hard. Anderson rose up just enough to look at him. "Are you satisfied now Mr. Taylor?" "Yes sir," he gurgled. Logan let him go and stood there as Taylor got to his feet. "So, Mr. Logan, about the assignment..." "Why do you want the Drakan Killer dead?", Logan asked. "Outside of the obvious reasons." "Let's just say he's a mistake I want rectified." "Hmm, I may have to raise my asking price for this one." "Now wait just a minute," Taylor said before Anderson quieted him. "The price is yours to name, within reason of course. We have audio feeds you can listen to of the killer in combat. I'll have somebody help you go over them if you want for your research." "That will do for a start," Logan told him Anderson raised an eyebrow, "For a start?" "For a target as large as the Drakan Killer I'd rather witness him in action live." "That might prove to be a little difficult Mr. Logan." "If you want him gone bad enough I'm sure you'll find away." Logan headed for the door. He stopped just long enough for Taylor to open the door for him. "He's asking for too much," Taylor said after they were alone. "There is no way we can arrange that." "Mr. Taylor," Anderson sat back in his chair, "if we want this done we have to find away." *** After talking with Dusty Jack found out there was a vehicle paint shop on site. Apparently the old Drakan was trying to expand his customer base a couple of years ago, it didn't go well. But he kept it up and all the equipment still worked, so Jack decided to paint his bike. Surprisingly Rachel agreed. Anderson's men did know what the bike looks like she said. Maybe a new paint job would buy him a little time. He took a couple of days and right now he was carefully spraying a coat of red paint. Putting the spray gun down Jack waited a couple of moments the carefully peeled away some of the protective paper he taped on to the bike earlier. Now instead of a black and gray motorcycle it was blue with black and red highlights. Of course now he was suddenly reminded of his armor color scheme but it was too late to do anything about it. Jack pulled off his face mask and took a moment to admire his work, "Not bad." "Nice work son," Dusty said coming into the building. "I'd barely recognize that ride of yours." "Yeah, I'm gonna let this dry then put a protective coat over it." "Looks like you did this before," he said examining the paint lines. "I used to work at a paint shop before it closed down." "Huh," Dusty muttered. Then he glanced over to him, "What do you think Rachel is going to say about this?" "I dunno," Jack said. "I don't think she would care." He went outside to get some fresh air, Dusty followed. "You sure about that? She seemed kinda interested that you were interested to me." Jack looked at him funny, "You implying something there Dusty?" "Not at all son, just stating some observations I've made. Old doctor's habit I'm afraid." "Well your observations are a little off," even he thought he sounded a bit defensive. "Me and Rachel are just friends. If something was going to happen don't you think it would have happened by now?" "Who said I said something was gonna happen between the two of ya?", he said evenly and with a grin. "Besides who are you trying to convince there?" Jack found he couldn't answer the question. About then a shout could be heard. "Rachel," he said getting worried. He ran off toward the source of the scream, almost knocking Dusty over. They found Rachel on the ground holding her right leg. She removed her hand and looked at it, a hint of blood could be seen on her fingers. He was kneeling down beside her in the next moment, "What happened?" "I got stupid," she told him. Rachel pointed to a stack of cars, "That car there on top over there looked like the one my Dad used to have. So I climbed up there to check it out. I lost my footing on and fell. My leg scrapped against that one." Jack looked at the car, a rusty jagged edge of the door had a bit of her blue jeans hooked on to it. Dusty examined her leg, "It looks worse than what it is, you scraped it pretty good. But I will say you are one lucky little lady, a little closer to that door and I'd be taking you to my operation room for some stitches. Then Jack would have to be my nurse, and I know you wouldn't want that," he grinned. "Nobody wants that Dusty," he told him. Rachel couldn't help but laugh. "Either way it's pretty minor," Dusty looked like he had an idea and looked at him, "Think you can handle this one Jack?" "Not a problem." He helped Rachel to his feet, "Come on." *** Despite her protest he put her left arm over his shoulder and helped her walk to the operating room. She was expecting him to say something like, "And you say I'm reckless," but he said nothing. They entered the trailer and he left her to get on the exam bed as he washed his hands and looked for a first aid kit. Rachel looked around a bit as well and found a spare towel. Making sure Jack wasn't looking she pulled her jeans down and got on the table. She used the towel to cover her under ware as he turned around with the kit and a tray. He put it down and held the tray by her leg. "You sure you know what you're doing?" "Mom had us take a first aid class together," he said. "I'm going to have to clean this out and I'm telling you now, this is gonna sting. A lot." She grimaced as he gently cleaned her scrap with some soap and water. "Aren't you supposed to say it's going to sting a little?" "I thought you were big enough to handle it," there was light tone to his voice as he waved his hand over it, creating some wind that took away the sting. Then he put some kind of ointment on it. "What ever, I'm just glad it wasn't closer to my butt." "That's funny, I was just wishing it was closer to your butt." She shot a dirty look at him, "You perv." Jack got a tad defensive, "Hey, you've seen me naked. I'm just trying to even the score." "What are you talking about?", right after she said that she remembered. "Well for one thing when I first woke up at World Inc I had nothing but a towel covering the good," he motioned around his waste. "So that told me I wasn't wearing anything in that goop they had me in. And two you were there everyday checking in on me during my second trip in. I'm not just taking Anderson's word for it, I asked around." She felt her face grow hot and looked away, "You were my key to steady employment." Jack snorted, "That made my lie about not wanting to be guilted into staying sound genius." She looked at him, "Your what?" "My li...," his face went red, "my line... my.. my line," he shut up pretty quick. There was an uncomfortable silence as he finished dressing her wound. This was ridiculous, they were two fully grown adults. They should be able to talk this out with out any problems. Fortunately for her he changed the subject. "I'd been meaning to ask, how did you get involved in this Drakan mess?" "You're asking me now after how long have we been together?" "Never had a chance to ask. I mean there was usually a mission we were sent on, we been on the run stuff like that." "Well it was kind of like you in a way," she said remember the day. "A few years ago I was on a college campus doing some late night studying." "What were you studying?" "Business management with a minor in psychology." Jack nodded as he started taping some gauze to her leg. "Well I was going back to my dorm when a Drakan landed right in front of me followed by a couple of the guys from the assault team. Of course I didn't know that at the time, so I freaked. They darted the Drakan and dragged him away and said I saw nothing and tell nobody. Like anybody was going believe me if I did. A couple of days after I graduated Anderson showed up at my house. He explained what I saw and offered me a job on the spot. I ended up working under Heather in the Drakan tracking center. She told me once that I'd be doing her job before either of us knew it," she smiled at the memory. "Actually she's the reason why I was made your mission operator." "Really?", he said looking interested. "Really. Mr. Anderson came into the Command Center one day and asked her if she could come up with any candidates for the job. She said she knew the perfect person and brought me into the conversation. The rest, as they say, is history." "I'm going to have to thank her when this mess is over with," Jack said as he finished taping her leg up. "If she's still talking to us that is. I hope she's ok." "I'm sure she is." "Well, we're done here," he said. "Do you want me to head back to the house and grab you a clean pair of pants?" "No need," Jack turned around as she removed the towel and pulled her jeans up. She had to smile, that was kind of sweet some how. "I can do it when we get back." She tested her leg, "Want to walk me back?" Jack got under arm and let her lean against him. *** Things were kind of quiet for a couple of weeks. Jack and Rachel started helping Dusty fix up the outside of his house as payment for helping them out. One of the first things they did was replace the shingles on his roof. Rachel surprised him by being a pretty decent handy woman, according to her something her dad insisted on. One day Dusty said a load of siding was ready for him and he was going to need help getting it on "Bessie". Luckily there was only one guy there so they could load the truck while Dusty talked to him keeping his attention. The last thing any of them wanted was to be recognized. On the way back Rachel rode with Dusty as he took the lead on his bike. A shadow on the road next to him caught his attention before a red shape flew down and buzzed him. Jack nearly lost control of the bike as he skidded to a stop. The truck stopped right next to him as Dusty and Rachel jumped out. "Did you see that?", he shouted as he ripped his helmet off and looked into the sky. "I didn't see where it went," Rachel told him while scanning the sky too. "There!," Dusty pointed. A red owl landed a few yards in front of them by a bridge. It folded its’ wings into it's back started slowly walking toward them. "Dusty," he risked a glance back at the old Drakan. He was already getting Rachel behind him. Jack returned his attention to the owl and raised his left hand across his chest and the belt formed around his waist. He swung his arm to the side and brought his right arm up to his face. "Henshin!," he shouted and slammed his right and on top of the belt. After his body was scanned he was wearing a black body suit with blue body armor. Jack got his hands ready to fight. At least with Dusty watching Rachel he wouldn't have to worry about her getting hurt. He started at the owl through the red lenses of his helmet as it stopped and stood where it was. Almost as once they charged each other. The owl threw a punch that stopped him in his tracks. It spun and aimed a kick at his head. Jack ducked and landed a right to its’ gut. He threw a left at its head that knocked it back. The Drakan spun and charged suddenly knocking him to the ground. The owl tried to get on top of him but he was able to push him off. Jack got to his feet and waited as the owl charged him again. He grabbed the red Drakan and threw him over his head. The owl flew through the air and crashed on the street. Too bad he threw close to where Rachel and Dusty was. He went to attack it from behind but the owl turned it's head completely around and stared at him. "Gah!!," he cried out in surprised. The owl backhanded him hard and he fell to the ground. It grabbed him by the back of his chest armor and hauled him up. The owl unfolded the wings from its’ back and carried him into the air. Then it went into a nose dive and slammed him into the ground. The armor took the brunt of it, but damn that still hurt. It tried to do it again but he had enough of his senses to start throwing elbows back at the owl and it dropped him. Jack landed roughly on the ground and the owl dove at him. He jumped backwards whipping his right leg up. The tip of his boot caught the owl under its’ beak and knocked for loop. It lay on the ground stunned as he took a moment to clear the cobwebs from his own head before continuing the attack. Jack started pounding and kicking away at the owl who could barely block his shots. It spread its’ wings quickly knocking him back and it tried to fly away. The meter started flashing as it kept getting higher and higher, Jack wasn't sure he could jump that high and not miss. He looked around and ran toward the bike. Jack got it on it wheels and popped out the lasers. Raising it up on its rear wheel he tried to aim them at the retreating Drakan and fired away. Two burst hit the owl and knocked it to the ground. A device of some kind dropped off it as it hit. Jack twisted the right pod up and ran at it. The charge went up his side and down his arm as the red Drakan got to its’ feet and looked at him. When he got close enough he threw an uppercut that hit it in the chest. The owl flew up from the charge and exploded. Jack deactivated the armor and put his hands in his knees breathing hard. Rachel and Dusty ran up as he made sure the hood was still place. "Why didn't you let him go?", Dusty asked him. "It saw what you looked like," he said between breaths. "Even if Rachel and me left your place you still be in trouble with the other Drakan." "Didn't know you cared," Dusty said. Jack looked at him and grinned, "I don't, well not by much any way." "I feel the same way son," and he slapped him on the back. Dusty walked over to the device the owl dropped and picked it up, looking it over. "We better get out of here," Rachel said to him. "Best idea I heard all day." *** An hour after Davidson killed his man, Anderson’s limo pulled up along side Logan. His driver got out and helped him into the vehicle, sitting next to him. As they drove off he asked, "What did you think?" "I heard the battle just fine from the bridge," Logan told him. "Got a good picture of what to expect. Sacrificing your own man seems a tad brutal but it got the job done and the info I needed. Too be honest I was expecting somebody a little more dominate based on the stories going around." "I think that's why he's so successful, people keep underestimating him. Almost like an assassin I know. So are you still up for the job?" "Of course, how many times am I going to get a chance to kill a modern legend?" Anderson smiled, "Excellent Mr. Logan." end theme-Papa Roach-sometimes |
11-04-2012, 06:11 PM | #23 |
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<Episode 23>
-opening theme-Waterproof Blonde-Just close your eyes- Jack found himself alone in the house with Rachel. A couple of hours ago Dusty told them he was going to someplace to experiment with that device the owl dropped when he fought it the other day. Neither of them couldn't figure out why he couldn't do it here. Then again Dusty did things his own way so they didn't give it a second thought. At the moment the old Drakan was the last thing on his mind. He was standing in her bedroom doorway while Rachel was sitting on her bed. "You sure we should be doing this?", he asked her. "It's not like we're going to be doing anything wrong," she told him. She patted part of the bed next to her, "Sit down and relax a bit. I'm not going to hurt you, much," she smiled. Jack sat on the bed saying, "I gotta warn you, I can get a little dirty." Rachel just kept smiling at him, "I'm sure I can handle what ever you think you can dish out." She leaned over, turned on the TV and old Nintendo system she found and handed him a controller. "I used to love playing this game when I was younger." "Never took you for the wrestling game type," he told her as the game started. "I'd figured you played Tetris if anything at all." "This was the only type of game I could beat my cousins with on a regular basis," she informed him while getting the options set. "I don't really care to watch the actual thing but I haven't found anybody who could give me a hard time at this." "That's because you never went up against me." "Let me guess, unofficial block champion." "Actually that was Richie," they choose their characters. "He was the only guy who could beat me at video games." "Well you're up against person number two now so get used to it," she hit start. Neither of them played this particular game in years so it took couple of moments for them to get back into the swing of things. After several minutes Jack put his left hand in front of her face while he kept pressing buttons with his right. "Vous âne." "I told you I get dirty." Next thing he knew his character was on his back on the mat. "What the hell, you cheated." "You're the one who put your in my face. And I didn't cheat." "You did too." He put both hands on the controller and eventually got her character in a submission move, "Give up." "In your dreams," she told him. They kept going until the time limit ran out. Rachel put the controller down and looked at him with a big ol' grin on her face, "I told you that would be fun. I almost had you there." "You keep telling yourself that." "Five more minutes and I would have beat you." "No you wouldn't." "Yes I would've." They stared at each other for a moment before both of them said, "Rematch." Before they could get another game going the phone by her rang. Before he could say anything she answered it, "Hi Dusty." How the hell..., "Are you psychic now?" She held up a hand and listen to the phone, "You want us where? I think I know where that is. No, you don't have to come and get us. See you in a bit, bye." "Does he need me for a mule again? And for that matter how in the hell did you know that was him to begin with." "No," she told him, "he wants to show us something. And Dusty told me that he's the only who now how to call into that special build of his, so it couldn't be anybody but him." "Am I the only one who thinks he has way too much free time?" "Yes you are," she said as she patted his knee and got up. "We better get going. Whatever he wanted to show us sounded important." "Does this have anything to do with that thing the owl dropped?", she nodded as he followed her out the door. "Did he tell you what that thing was? Dusty kept changing the subject when I asked him about it." "You too?", she turned to him looking confused. "That's weird." Jack put on his jacket and handed her a helmet, "Here comes that bad feeling again." *** They found Dusty where he said he was going to be, an old side street under a bridge. Dusty was sitting on Bessie's back bumper throwing a rock up in the air and catching it. Rachel removed her helmet, got off the KR-1000 and walked over to him, Jack soon stood beside her. "Hey little lady, Jack," he said to them. "Did you have any trouble finding the place?" "No," she told him, "Jack knew where the place was." "Is that so," Dusty gave him a quizzical look. "Had a few friends race their cars here back in high school." She wouldn't have been surprised he was in few of them himself. The look on Dusty face told her he had the same thought. "So what's with the meet up in the middle of nowhere?" "Y'all probably figured out it had something to do with this do dad," he reached into the truck bed for the device. "We had a hunch," she told him. "So what is it?" Dusty turned it on and showed them the screen. There was a small green dot beeping a little off the center of the screen. He pointed to the dot, "That's Jack." "What?," he took the device from him. She could see from her angle that the dot actually got closer to the center. "Friedman heard rumors about this thing back at World Inc.," he told them. "I wanted to make sure that this thing couldn't send a signal back to Anderson. Last thing any of us need is for him to find out where you are." "We appreciate the concern Dusty,” she said. “But you could have told us about this before now." "I wanted to make sure first before I said anything." "So the foils not any good now?", Jack said pointing to his head. "The foil kept Anderson men from finding us for this long," she told him. "This has to be using a stronger receiver." "Friedman heard that too," Dusty confirmed. "Do you know what kind of range it ha?" "I was about to find out. Jack, do me a favor and walk away until we tell you to stop." Jack said nothing as he handed her the device and walked away. Rachel and Dusty watched as the dot get further away from the center of the screen. "Jack stop right there," she called out when it disappeared completely from the screen. "How far do you think that is?" "I don't like to eyeball," he said. Dusty reached into his pocket and pulled out a tape measure." Hold that if you don't mind." She took hold of the tab and walked toward Jack. When he reached him he took a look and called out, "Little over twenty feet." "Plenty of space to get ready for something," Jack said. "And Mitchell trained his men to be able to do just that," she added. "Why couldn't we do this at your place?", Jack asked. "I got to sit down." "Cause the jammers I designed mess that thing up pretty good," Dusty said winding up the tape measure. "But son, I'm afraid it gets a little worse." "What now?", he asked wearily. "One of the reason I took so long in calling you was I took a bit of a Sunday drive around town. I spotted a few things that looked like that contraption attached to various things. I'd bet dollars to donuts those are sending a signal back to World Inc." Jack turned away saying, "Son of a bitch." "Well, at least you don't have to worry about them at Dusty place," she said. It was the only thing she could say at the moment. Dusty added, "Yeah son, you two got a safe haven as long as you need it." "Thanks Dusty," he said softly before walking off. He punched one of the pillars in frustration before leaning on it. This was the last thing he needed to find out about. Now he had to worry about going into the city and giving his position away to World Inc. "I think we better leave him alone for a bit," Dusty whispered to her. "Give him some time to get his head around it. Come on, I'll give you a lift back." "No, I better stay with him," Rachel said while keeping her eyes on Jack. "I don't want him to start thinking he's alone in all of this." Dusty nodded and squeezed her shoulder before he left. She walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulders. He looked like he appreciated it. "We'll figure something out, just wait and see." After a moment he said, "We lasted this long, right?" She smiled, "Yeah, we just have to be a little more careful that's all." *** Anderson walked into his office surprised to find a person already inside. Logan stood by the window, back to the door. Anderson closed the door and waited. He doubted that the other man wanted to kill him. If he did he wouldn't be breathing at this particular moment. But he kept his guard up never the less. The seer said no human could stop him, a Drakan with a vendetta was an entirely different matter. "Mr. Logan, this is quite the surprise." "You’re guarded," he said turning around slightly. "I don't blame you. How fast do you think your troops would get here if I did anything to you? Would you even be breathing?" He tried to keep calm, but this line of questions was making him uneasy. "I'm sure that would depend on the mood you were in at the time." Logan laughed, "You're right." He had a little better time keeping his annoyance under control, "I'm only assuming the job is done at this point. That is the only reason I can think to why you are here." "No, I'm still tracking the Killer down. But I did have a few questions in need of answers." "I'll do my best to answer them," Anderson said. “To a certain extent of course." "Fair enough," Logan agreed. "When I observed the battle you set up there was a girl with him. Was it that Haily I was told about?" "More than likely. All they have is each other at the moment. I doubt anybody would be helping them." "I wouldn't be so sure about that," Logan chuckled. "Somebody else was with them?" Who would willing help two fugitives wanted by the United States government? Logan nodded, "A Drakan." To say he was shocked would have been an understatement, "On of us is helping Davidson? Are you sure?" Logan finally turned to his direction and faced him, "I wouldn't confuse a human for one of us. My question is why?" "I would like to know the answer to that myself Mr. Logan." He thought it over, "Could it have been one of the rebels?" "I doubt it, I've been keeping an ear on various things. I don't think an alliance between the rebels and the Drakan Killer could have been kept quiet for this long." Anderson knew he was right. His sources would have indicated such a union before now. But still this displeased him to a certain extent, "Then we have a man who thinks outside the norm. Do you know who this person is?" "I have an idea who." "I'll send out a team to take care of this traitor then." He reached for the phone but Logan put his cane on top of it. Anderson raised an eyebrow in question despite the other man's blindness. "I wouldn't trouble them over this," he said. "He needs to be taught a lesson." "I'll take care of this... heh... ‘traitor’ as you put it. Free of charge too." "Really? That doesn't sound like something you would ever offer. Not in the years I've known you at any point." "Perhaps," Logan chuckled, "but I could use the exercise." "If you wish. So why didn't you tell me this sooner?" "Didn't think it was that important," Logan answered as he left the office. "I'll contact you in two days to let you know if I found him or not." That was the problem with assassins, particularly that one. Even if he sent a team to correct the attitude he’d be down a team. Then he would have an assassin looking for answers. Perhaps he should start looking for some human mercenaries to deal with. *** There were time she often wondered how Chris stayed awake during these cell meetings. Each one took a turn giving an update of their cell's situation. Usually it was the same thing every time. New members to the cause, had to find a new source for supplies. The latest skirmish with Anderson's army. There were a few times she found herself nodding off, like now. However they caught her this time. "Are we boring you Melissa?", Lance asked with a humorous glint in his eye. She was still embarrassed, "No... I was... going over something in my head." "Deep in thought huh?", said a balding man named Jerry who started grinning. "Christopher was often deep in thought during these meetings." "He was so deep one time," Lance added, "it sounded a whole lot like he was snoring." He, Jerry and a few of the other started laughing. She should be glad they were comfortable enough around her now to joke around a bit. But she was still embarrassed and some of the others were annoyed at the situation. Lance looked at a couple of them and sighed, "Some people have no sense of humor." "I don't see how this is the time for humor," Drake said. It was hard to miss him in any situation. He was the only person Melissa knew who had slicked back hair. And from the occasional feeling she got he was very opposed to her being here. While nobody said anything she knew he was one of the one of the few who wanted to vote against her taking Chris's spot. "Your brother would know that." Melissa eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance, "That's an interesting point of view Drake. Because this seem like the perfect situation where he would try to lighten the mood." "He did too," Jerry put in. "Hell I remember that one time he called Drake Dracula for an entire meeting." The other started laughing again while Drake was getting madder and madder. "Alright people," Melissa said to calm them down. It took a few moments but things finally settled down. Lance gave her a small smile. They were finally starting to listen to her without him having to repeat it. That was one hurdle she didn't have to worry about for awhile now. Time to get back to business, "My cell discovered a potential lead on a World Inc. supply convoy." "What are they carrying?" Drake asked. "Medical supplies," she told them, "very specific medical supplies." "Anything we can use?", Rhonda asked, she was a woman who had her red hair in ponytail. "There are a few things they're carrying that we need. So I'm making the convoy a top priority." "So we stop the convoy in route," Drake said. "My cell can do that in our sleep." "I'm sure you can, but Anderson bumped up security on just about everything lately. I think it be better if we followed the convoy to its destination." "If he has extra guards on the convoy he'll definitely going to have extra at where ever it's going," Drake countered. "I'm aware of that," Melissa told him. "But like I said there's suppose to be very specific equipment." Lance asked, "What's so special about this equipment?" "Friedman was able to get a quick look at a partial inventory." She took a breath, hesitant to tell them this. "He recognized several pieces if equipment that was used to turn Davidson into what he is now." Their reaction was exactly what she thought it was going to be. "He's making another Drakan Killer," Jerry started to sweat. "We don't know for sure," she admitted. "That's why I want to find out one way or another." "We have to take out the convoy," Drake interrupted, "We make sure they don't get those parts." "He'll just ship more," Jerry countered, "and we may not find out about it next time. Besides we don't know if he’s building another one of these things." "It's possible they're doing a partial delivery," Rhonda added. "That equipment could have already be delivered by the time we intercept the trucks." "Either way we should we should stop the convoy. Take what we need and get rid of the rest of it." "And what if he's has another one on the way?" Melissa asked him. "We need to find out sure one if he is or not. The last thing we need is another Drakan Killer out there. Especially one we know is working for Anderson." Drake stood up and leaned foreword, "Your brother would know that we should take out the trucks." Melissa slowly rose up and started him right in the eyes. She didn't even try to hide the anger as she spoke to him, "Don't presume to tell me what my brother would or would not have done. Even if he would have sent a team to stop the convoy I wouldn't, because I think finding out if Anderson is changing somebody else into a killing machine is more important." She looked around to the others, "I don't know what most of you expected when you voted for me to take over his position as leader. If you thought I was just going to sit her, nod when I was suppose to, repeat what ever you decided and look pretty then I suggest you start rethinking things. You made me the leader and that's exactly what I plan on doing, lead to the best of my abilities. Now, if any of you have a problem with that then you know were the door is." She sat back down and waited. This was coming for a long time. She prayed this wouldn't cause the cells to split permanently. Drake snorted and headed for the door. She didn't need her gift to feel his confusion as he noticed nobody else was joining him. He looked at the others and got a disgusted look on his face. He slammed the door behind him and every one was quiet. She wanted to relax but couldn't. It could have been worse, but the absence of Drake's cell was going to hurt. Lance looked over to her and said, "I knew you had it in you kid." That made her feel a little better. But know she was glad she was keeping the plan about Davidson from them now. God only know how they would react to that. *** Jack sat on the wooden steps of the house just staring out into space. When he was younger he heard the phrase "a prison with no walls". Back then he had no idea what that meant, now he had a pretty good idea. Why was it when things were looking up something came along to bring everything back down again? God, Richie was the lucky one. Dusty came out of the house and took a seat on an old folding chair across from him. He motioned the jacket he was still wearing, "Didn't think it was that cold out here." "I didn't notice,” sad part is it was true. "I can see why," Dusty said staring out at the horizon. "You got a lot on your mind. That's the thing about the mind though, you put too much on it and it'll start reacting in different ways. Like those nightmares of yours for example." "I've been having nightmares for as long as I can remember," he replied getting frustrated. He was tired of talking about something so stupid. "Yeah, but usually people go back sleep when they have one, not stay up for the rest of the night like somebody I know. That's gotta be coming from someplace." "Dusty," he said sounding tired, not really in the mood to fight, "do us both a favor and stay out of my head." "Alright son, what ever you say. But I'm here if you ever need an ear." Jack gave him a small smile, "Bad enough I got Rachel telling me that every chance she gets." Dusty chuckled and they were quiet for a few minutes. To break the silence he asked, "What exactly is Rachel fixing in there any way?" Dusty slapped his knee, "Wouldn't you know it, she told me and I've done forgot." He leaned foreword and shouted, "Hey Rachel, what did you say you were making again?" She came to the door smiling, "My aunt Jambalaya. Trust me you're going to love it." Jack got a big grin on his face, "Ah, that slop you forced down my throat back at World Inc." Rachel stopped smiling, "It's not slop. God I swear you're impossible," and she walked back into the house. He had to laugh out loud. Dusty started shaking his head, "Sometimes you two remind me of an old married couple, you know that?" Jack just shrugged. “Of course most of the time you two remind me of a couple who don't realize they're heading that way." "You're implying something again Dusty." "This old man ain't implying anything," he said trying to sound innocent. "I'm just sating one of those wrong observations you said I was making." He opened his mouth to say something but the Drakan cut him off, "I know, I know you're just," he made quote mark with his fingers, "friends." Jack waved him off and started to get up when Rachel reappeared. She looked right at him with no expression on her face and had something behind her back. "Dusty she's gonna beat me with something." "Well if she does you had it coming," Dusty told him. "I probably should for that slop remark." Rachel knelt down and revealed the cupcake she had behind her back. There was a single candle on top of it. "I shouldn't give you this either." She smiled at him, "Happy birthday Jack." She handed him the cupcake and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Jack found himself blushing and speechless, "You shouldn't..." "Yes I should have," she said matter of factly. "You obviously weren’t going to tell anybody. Fortunately I remembered the date from your file." "Now you’re gonna have to find out when hers is," Dusty said, "seeing how you're 'friends' and all." "He already missed it," she told him. "What? Why didn't you say anything?", Jack asked her. "You were getting your upgrade after the Allen thing. It's no big deal." She started to go back into the house. "Wait," he blew out the candle and got to his feet. He broke the cupcake in half and handed her one of the pieces. "A very belated happy birthday Rachel." He leaned in and returned the peck on the cheek. Both of them kind of smiled as she went back into the house. "Yup," Dusty said after a moment, "those observations of mine are waaay off." "Would you shut it," he snapped. "I was hoping the three of you would be here," A new voice said. Jack and Dusty both turned to the man with the sunglasses, trench coat and a cane who was a few yards away from the house. Where the hell did he come from? He wasn't there a second ago. "You know this guy?", he asked Dusty. "Never saw him before today," He replied "I was afraid you were gonna say that," Jack pulled the foil lined hood over his head just in case. "You know," the man said, "I'm not surprised to find you here with all this scrape Davidson. Maybe Anderson can use the stuff here to salvage whatever they used to make you the Drakan Killer." That was all he needed to hear. Jack raised his left arm across his chest, the belt appeared around his waist and he swung his arm to the side and brought his right arm to his face. "Henshin!", he shouted as he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. Jack ran in after the armor formed around him. The man didn't change form for some reason. He threw a straight punch that the other man caught with no problem, then he planted a foot right into his gut that floored him. "What the hell?" The old man folded up his cane and put it into his coat before changing form to a red bat. Jack got to his feet and started throwing punches. The bat's ears wiggled slightly as it dodged every blow before landing an open palm shot to his chest armor that knocked him back, "Damn it." "Is it a little early to say you're disappointing me at the moment?", the bat asked. Jack tried to kick its’ leg out from under him, but the bat flew up with the leather like wings under it's arms. He raced for his bike and snapped the staff to its full length. The bat landed and Jack slowly approached it. What got him was that it looked like the bat was actually nodding in approval. Jack circled the Drakan before attacking from behind. The bat blocked the shot but Jack kicked him in the side with his right foot. It stumbled and he swung the other end of the staff at its’ head. The Drakan ducked and swept out it's leg. Jack jumped over it and kicked his leg at him that it caught and the bat swung him into a stack of cars. He dropped the staff from the impact while the bat backed up from the noise as the cars fell around him. Jack slowly got to his feet shaking the cobwebs out of his head and charged the red Drakan. He connected with a right hook that staggered the back. He kept throwing punches until the bat caught one and flipped him to the ground. Keeping its’ grip on his arm the bat put a foot on his head then started pulling. Jack was screaming in pain as a blue bobcat tackled the bat to the ground. "Jack, get out of here!", Dusty cried out as he tried to hold the other Drakan to the ground. The bat quickly knocked the old blue Drakan off. Before either of them knew it Dusty was pinned against an old Ford Mercury. "I was going to save you for last," the bat said. "But if you're in such a hurry to die...", it raised it's hand for a killing blow. Jack quickly got up and threw the bat off of Dusty. He speared the Drakan with a tackle and drove him into a dumpster. The bat wasn't stunned long enough as it punched his way out. *** Rachel ran up to Dusty as he returned to his human form. "Doesn't anybody listen to me when I tell them to get out of here?" She ignored him and kept her attention to the fight Jack was in. The bat threw Jack into the side of a trailer when she noticed it. The bat's ears moved as it backed away from noise. Jack recovered and waited a bit to attack again. He was being blocked t every turn, but she had the answer. Rachel picked up a pipe and Dusty asked, "What are you planning on doing?" "I'm going to make a little music," she answered. Dusty grinned as he picked up a pipe as well, "I see what your getting at little lady." Both of them ran off in different directions. *** Jack landed near the staff, picked it up and swung with all he had. The Drakan caught it mid swing and threw him again. He skidded across the ground and slowly got to a knee. "Oy," he muttered between breaths. Then the banging started to the left of them. The bat looked in that direction as another banging sound started on the right. He grinned behind the helmet, sometimes it was good to have someone to watch your back. Jack started running and pounded his armored forearm against the cars he passed. The bat tried to figure out where the new noises was coming from but all three were moving. It waked into something, it felt like a metal barrel. The Drakan starting pounding it to counter act the banging. In moments it hearing was centered and he could focus on each sound. There was a click above him and the sound of something spinning. It turned itself toward the sound as Jack jumped off a trailer and reared his right fist back. The bat caught him around the wrist with both hands. Jack landed on his left foot as he kicked out with his right. The bat flew backwards and exploded a moment later. Jack deactivated the armor and fell to his knees clutching his arm. He wasn't expecting the bat to hang on as he kicked it. Damn thing felt like it was going to pull his arm off and take it with him. Rachel and Dusty came into view "Jack is anything broken?", she asked looking at his arm. "No," he grunted as Dusty checked his arm out. "But remind me never to do that again." "No worry there son." To Rachel he said, "Come on, let get him to the operating room. Nothing's wrong but I still want to check him out." *** Melissa was in Emily's room with Lance. Nobody but the three of them knew what was in that letter Emily gave her. All of them knew they were past the point of no return with her decision. "Lance," she started, "you don't have to be here when he comes, if he comes that is. There's going to be a lot of trouble when the others find out. It's best to keep yourself out of the storm as much as possible." "Then you shouldn't have shown me the letter," he said. "Besides, somebody has to make sure you don't get yourself killed." Melissa nodded, God she was glad to have him as a friend. "Friedman told me he knows where's he's at. I'm going to send Nathan along to make the offer. After that it's going to be up to Davidson if he takes it or not." She looked at Emily who nodded once, but she had that look on her face saying she knew he was going to take it. She started to hate that look. "As you know I'm keeping the other cells in the dark about this. I'm trusting you guys to keep this quiet for as long as we can." "Of course kid." Emily said, "No one will her this from me child." "Good," she hung her shoulders. "God help us all if I made the wrong choice." -end theme-Papa Roach-Sometimes- |
11-13-2012, 10:24 PM | #24 |
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<Episode 24>
*opening theme-Ana-We Are* He stared out the window of his office tuning out just about everything else. Three days, it had been three days since Logan said he would contact him if he found Davidson or not. And if Logan said if it was going to be two day it was always two days, no matter what. That could only mean one thing and that couldn't be possible. That human could not be that good, could he? Anderson chided himself, only a fool who believed in the Drakan killer legend would allow such thoughts to rule them. He knew better, he looked into Davidson eyes. The human knew how to fight, in that there was no doubt, but he didn't have the warrior fire within him. If anything did happen to Logan then Davidson couldn't have done it alone. Perhaps he and the rebels did come to an agreement of sorts. But which one, that was the question. Who would be able to keep something like that quiet for this long? And how did they convince the others to keep this secret as well. Christopher possibly, but he was dead. Anderson smirked to himself, whomever that person was belonged on his payroll. The door open, drawing part of his attention. He waited a few moments before saying, "What is it Mr. Taylor?" "I had Logan's usual haunts checked out." Anderson turned around in mild surprise, "I didn't ask for that to be done." "Rhodes contacted us sir," Taylor informed him. "There was a situation that he required Logan's talents for. We were the last ones to contact him. Since we were both looking for him I thought it was prudent to ask for his assistance." Anderson grunted, he would never have asked assistance for anything, it was a sign of weakness. The senior Allen taught him that. But the damage was already done, "What did the good General have to say?" "Logan hasn't been seen at any of his usual haunts. None of his contacts have heard from him in the past few days. Apparently he had a couple of assignments waiting for him after he was done with us." He let out a small sigh, "And I suppose none of his contacts knew who the mysterious Drakan helping Davidson was," he already knew the answer, but he felt the need to ask anyway. "No sir," he said confirming his suspicion. "Apparently he only shared that bit of information with you. Logan told no one his target was the Drakan Killer. Then again who would believe him?" "Quite," Anderson returned his gaze to the city below. Although he kept his outside demeanor calm inside he felt an animal rage building. One of his own was helping Davidson, right under his nose. And that fool Logan had an idea who. In his younger days he would tried to force the identity out of him. Of course he would most likely be dead right now if he tried. Perhaps Logan was able to dispose of this traitor. "Is there anything else Mr. Taylor?" "Senator Henning is trying to make some noise again. He demanding answers to why we haven't located Davidson and Haily yet." That human was impossible to deal with. "Contact Jefferson and have him send something to the good Senator. If he didn't believe my warning from last time he should after that." "Yes sir," he started to leave, "I almost forgot. Dr. Parker contacted us, Apparently Dr. Armstrong is denying him some equipment he needs for the other Mark one." Anderson sighed again, this feud was getting tiresome, "I'll talk to Armstrong about it. If there is nothing else." Taylor nodded and left. His thoughts returned to Davidson. After a while he started to smile to himself. If by some small chance Davidson was able to defeat Logan then the Fusion system worked better than he ever dreamed. A small sense of pride started to grow inside of him. If he ever had the chance to meet Davidson face to face again he would have to tell that to him. *** Jack sat on a barrel as Dusty stood by him looking at his house. The outside was pretty close to matching the inside. The old Drakan estimated they be done in another week tops, barring another Drakan showing up as he put it. Jack flexed his shoulder thinking about the last one, it was still a little sore after that. He wasn't complaining, if Rachel and Dusty wasn't around he doubted he’d be breathing right now. Come to think of it a couple of his last few fight he needed somebody help. Jack started wonder if he and Rachel would have to go on the run again if things became too dangerous for Dusty. He could take care of himself, but Jack didn't want that on his conscious "Not bad son," the old Drakan said after a bit. "Never thought this dump would ever take shape." "Just glad to help out," he replied. "It's the least we could do after all of the things you done for us." Dusty grinned at him, "The least you could do is nothing at all. No, all I did was give y'all a place to stay, nothing important." "Considering where we were when you found us...", he started. "No need to finish son," Dusty said as he sat next to him. "I've been thinking, I got a decent size basement. With a little work we might make part of it into a small bedroom. That couch can't be getting any more comfortable." Jack started to smile, "And you're bringing this up when we're about done with the outside." Dusty snorted, "I know, I know, probably should have brought it up sooner. Actually Rachel’s been down there a few times getting some ideas for it. So you might wanna hurry up and get a say in the thing." "I just need a bed Dusty," he told him. "Good," Rachel said as she came out to join them. "Because that was all I was planning on. Well maybe a dresser to put your stuff in, but only if you were good" she teased as he handed him one of the pop cans she was carrying. Jack didn't notice she was looking at him with a strange glint in her eyes until he opened his. Pop sprayed him for a quick moment. He wiped it off his face with his hand as she started laughing, "I'm sorry I couldn't resist." "Little lady that was a waste of good soda," Dusty complained. "Come on Jack it as just a joke," she said as he remained quiet. "That was pretty good," he finally said, "I didn't think you had it in you." He got up and grabbed the can out of her hand before she could react. "But of course you realize," he said with a slight southern drawl, "this means war." Jack started shaking the can as Rachel started backing up, he slowly followed. She looked over to Dusty for some kind of help. "That accent was pretty good," he said after a bit. "That Cajun one couldn't have been as bad as you said it was." "Dusty!", she cried out. Jack looked at him then back at Rachel with a raised eyebrow. He started shaking the can harder. "Was I suppose to keep quiet about that?", the Drakan said innocently. "Oh I am definitely gonna enjoy this now," Jack aid with a evil grin. "Jack," she said sternly, "you don't want to do this. "Oh yes I do," he shot back. "I'm your mission operator and I'm telling you to put the down that can." "You stop being that the moment we left World Inc." "Jack I'm warning you," she ran out of room as she backed into the side of the house. She screamed as he opened the can in such a way that both of them got sprayed. "Way to go genius, you got yourself too." "It was worth it," he told her "You got something right there," he wiped a drop off the tip of her nose with his finger. "Oh thanks a lot," she replied sarcastically. They locked eyes for a few moments before he turned away, blushing a bit. He didn't notice she blushed a little too. Dusty looked at them with a knowing look on his face, he was getting really annoyed by that look. He was going to tell him to don't even think it when a new voice called out. "I'm surprised you guys are still together." Jack turned sharply to the voice ready for anything. They all were when they saw who it was. "Dr. Friedman," Rachel called out and went up to him. "Doc," Jack took his hand. "Come to drag me back for a check up?" "That would be a losing battle," he laughed. "No I just came by to see if you two were all right." "I keep telling you they are Harry," Dusty said. "Grab a chair and stay a spell." Friedman took a lawn chair to sit in. Rachel sat next to Jack on the barrel. "So has this old coot drove you two crazy yet?" "Jack can be a pain in the ass at times," Dusty joked, "but he's bearable to be around. Personally I don't see how the little lady here stands being around him all the time. Oh wait, he said ‘old coot' didn't he?", they laughed. "How have you been friends with him this long," Jack asked Friedman with a wink. "Beats me, I should probably be approaching sainthood by now." They laughed again, "But I got to be honest with you guys." Jack and Dusty both went, "Uh-oh." "What is it?"," Rachel asked, she sounded worried too. "I have another reason as to why I'm here," he looked back behind him and waved somebody foreword. An older man came foreword cautiously. Jack got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as the newcomer came closer. "Nathan?", Dusty asked as he got up. He stood between him and Jack, "What are you doing here?" "Good to see you again Dusty," he said before looking at them. "This would be Miss Haily and the rather infamous Mr. Davidson I presume." "You would presume right," Rachel answered. "Dusty, who is this guy?" "This, little lady, would be a rebel." Jack immediately shot up and stood in front of Rachel. "Hold on, we came to talk," Friedman said quickly. "He has a proposition for you." "Then maybe we should take this inside then," Dusty said. Jack moved to let Friedman and this Nathan character into the house. Before following he scanned the area looking for any sign of a trap. Rachel and Dusty did the same. Nice to know he wasn't the only one feeling paranoid at the moment. *** Dusty, Jack and herself were all understandably nervous as they looked at the other two in total silence. Jack never took his eyes off of Nathan as he stood next to her. Dusty asked if anybody wanted a drink but nobody said anything. They kept staring at each other for several moments before Friedman said, "Well this is getting us no where." "A little warning would have been nice," Jack told him. "I got to go with Jack on this one," Dusty added. "I don't mind you dropping in out of the blue, but if you're gonna bring company I would have set something up." "Or give us time to get ready," she mumbled. Jack grunted in agreement. "I wanted to make sure you’d still be here when we came," he explained. "Let's face it, Jack and the rebels don't have the best of relationships." "That goes without saying," Nathan said finally. "I guess I might as well get to the point to why I'm here." He took a deep breath. To Rachel it looked like he couldn't believe what was about to come out of his mouth, "I've been asked to offer you an invitation." "To what?", Rachel asked as Jack eyes narrowed a bit "To join us," he said. She and Dusty were shocked but Jack looked unfazed to her. "You don't seem all that surprised Davidson." "Not the first time I heard it. Your leader made me the same offer when I faced him." She was shocked again, "You never told me that." "I try not to think about that day too much." "Hmm," Nathan said, "knowing Christopher I wouldn't be surprised. I hope this day will end better than that one did." They all heard the edge in his voice. "But you might want to think about taking the offer. A Drakan or two already found you, judging by the smell around here. It's only a matter of time before Anderson's men find you here too." "I don't scare easily," Jack told him. "I didn't think you did Davidson, I'm just stating fact." "Why are you offering this all of the sudden?", Rachel asked. "It's a bit out of the blue." "I'd imagine it would have something to do with the other night. He did help our people out then," "I'd helped you guy out one time," Jack said plainly. "Well twice if you count the dart you gave me," Friedman put in. "And you let the kids go too." "Still," Rachel said, "it seems a bit strange." Dusty added, "It smells like a trap to this old man." "If I was in your position I'd be thinking the same thing," Nathan admitted. "But I was told by my current leader to assure you that you'd be safe." "Maybe we better step out for a bit," Friedman said getting up. "Give them time to think this over." Nathan agreed and they walked outside. The three of them looked at each other. "Any idea who this new leader is?", Jack asked Dusty. "I told you son, my contacts with the rebels is kinda limited. I don't keep up on the coming and goings. Starting to wish I did though," he sighed. "What do you two think?" "I think," Jack said as he started at the ceiling, “we're back in the run again if I say no." "Not necessarily," Dusty tried to argue. "The rebel would know were we are," Rachel countered. "There's bound to be a few rebels with a grudge who would come looking for him." "And you want to walk into that?" "Staying here might put you in danger Dusty." "Anything happens to me and they lost their free medical care," Dusty told her flatly. "Hell if they do anything to you the same thing gonna happen." "I think they can here you Dusty," Rachel told him pointing at the door. "I don't care!", he said loudly. "You may have stayed here a little while but I think of you two like my own family. Hell it's not your fault you're in this mess, it's this damn war! The two of you shouldn't have to keep paying the price for their stupidity." "Dusty calm down" She tried to get him to sit back down. "Even you said we have to deal with them sooner or later." "I know I did darlin'. But I meant of equal ground, not like this." "I don't want to leave either Dusty," Jack said softly. Dusty tried to hide hat his eyes were starting to water. "But I don't think we have much of a choice." “Then I'm going with you to check things out," Dusty said after a moment. They started to protest but he cut them off, "No arguing, my mind's already made up. Besides somebody gotta make sure they treat the two of you right." "Thanks Dusty," she said. "I'll let Friedman know our decision.” Rachel turned toward the door and saw Friedman standing there. He nodded and went back outside. Jack grabbed his backpack and started throwing his clothes in it. She figured she better do the same. Rachel took a quick look around the house, it seemed like it was just last night that Dusty found them. Now they had to leave when things were just starting to feel like home. She didn't want to even think about how this was affecting Jack. *** This entire situation sucked. Again, why was it that when everything looked liked they were going right something happened to knock it down again? Of course now he was dragging more people along for the ride. Jack didn't think the situation could get any worse then Nathan said they had to be blindfolded. Now he had no idea where the hell they were going. Fortunately Dusty insisted that he drive them there in Bessie. That made him feel a little better. Dusty said that any of this felt like a trap he turn the rust bucket around and get them out of there. He should have insisted they bring his bike along too, just for the get away if they had too. After what seemed like forever he felt Bessie come to a stop and her engine turn off. Jack was going for his blindfold when Friedman said they had to keep them on a little longer. Rachel let out a small curse as the door opened and they were helped out. Dusty guided them a little way before he heard a door open and they were led inside. The door was closed before Friedman told them, "All right you can take them off now." Jack quickly ripped his off, all he could see was a poorly lit tunnel. "Quaint," Rachel said looking around. "This is one of the tunnels leading to this cell's base," Dusty informed them. "Cell?", Jack asked with a raised eyebrow. "As in more than one?", Rachel looked surprised. "World Inc's Intel never said anything about there being more than one group of rebels. But I guess that makes sense, if Anderson located one then the other could keep going." "I'm pretty sure Anderson thought it was need to know," Friedman offered. "This way," Nathan took the lead. All three of them kept an eye on their surroundings. Friedman tried to make some small talk, find out how they been but he and Rachel pretty much ignored him. About half a mile later Nathan took a side tunnel, then another one after that and a few more yards stopped in front of a wall and knocked hard three times. There was a loud click and part of the wall swung in. As they walked in the guy on the other side stared at Jack, he gave him a quick glance before following the other down the winding set of stairs. A couple of flights and short walk later Nathan proclaimed, "The main square so to speak." Jack and Rachel were staring at the sight in front of them. Under a bunch of lights was an underground community. A couple of house like structures were set up. Everyone, they looked human but he had a feeling they were all Drakans, were dressed normally enough but a few looked a little ragged around the edges. Children were playing and running around. Several of the adults stopped what they were doing and looked at them. Soon all of them stopped and looked in their direction. "This is only a small part of the habitat," Nathan explained. "Most of the tunnels lead to other parts, living area, eating area and so forth. I think I see her, come this way." He followed but he was paying attention to everybody else. Some of the Drakan looked at him in contempt, most of them had fear in their eyes. Several parents held their children close to them as he passed. Then his gaze fell on a man with short blond hair with a look of disgust on his face. "I think I know him." he murmured. "What did you say Jack?", Rachel asked him. Jack looked away and said, "Nothing.” He started shaking his head, "I can't believe Anderson consider these people a threat." "Us, maybe," a female voice said. "The idea we represent, most definitely." Jack saw a dark haired woman with blue eyes walk toward them. She was followed by guy with long blond hair and an old woman. He recognized her almost immediately. "I don't believe it." "Hello again Mr. Davidson, it good to see you under slightly better circumstances." "You two know each other?", Rachel asked in disbelief. "You could say that," Jack said. "He saved my life once," she answered. "Although I'm surprised you took me up on my offer so soon." "You're the leader?", it was Jack turn to be surprised. "Thanks to you," she said bitterly, "yes. When I talk to somebody I prefer to see their entire face." "Not sure that's good idea," he told her. "We had the signal jammers in place for a while now so you don't have to worry about being located." Jack turned to Rachel getting really annoyed, "Did everybody know about this bug in my head before I did?" "In a way child," the old woman spoke up. She turned around and pulled up her hair to reveal a scar on the back of her neck, "It was one of Anderson earlier attempts to control the situation. Several of us have similar trackers implanted in our bodies. "Anderson had his people connect them to their nervous system," Friedman explained, "in such away that if they were removed the damage would be permanent." "Like I needed more proof he was a bastard," Jack mumbled. "So... uh...," Rachel looked at the leader trying to get a name. "Melissa," she offered. "Melissa, why did you send for us? It seemed a little sudden. We could only think of a couple of reason why, but it didn't seem like much to offer an alliance." "True," she agreed, "but as they say the enemy of my enemy is my friend. If were both have a common enemy then we should consider joining forces." "If he's really gone from Anderson that is," the guy with her said. Melissa turned her head and in a warning tone said, "Lance." "Trust me, I have no loyalty toward Anderson," Jack told them. "He sent me after his own kind for crying out loud. He sent me after kids for God's sake. Why would I be loyal to him after all that crap?" "The incident with the children happened a while ago," The old woman said. "Why did you stay so long then?" "I was trying to figure out what was going on." He looked at the floor before he looked back at them, "That and we had a deal. One of you was responsible for putting me in this position. I help him and he would help me find that damn mon...," he trailed off as a light went off in his head, "monkey," he said softly and turned back to the crowd as he scanned their human faces. In his mind he was back in the mountains on that day. His legs and left arm were crushed by boulders. The blue monkey landed by him and turned into a man with short blond hair. Just like the one over there with disgust etched in his face. Rachel and Dusty tried to get his attention but he didn't hear them. Slowly the anger he was feeling started to show on his face. "You," he hissed between his teeth. Screaming he charged the man. The other Drakan quickly got out of his way as the man stood there. Jack tackled him to the ground and started wailing away with his fists. The others didn't shy away from the fight. Dusty and somebody else had to drag him off the blond haired man. "Let me go!", he screamed as he struggled to free himself. "Calm down son," Dusty told him, "you ain't helping yourself any." "I told you he couldn't be trusted around us," Lance said but Melissa ignored him. "What was that about?", she demanded. "That's the monkey! Let me go damn it!!!" Rachel looked at the man, who was being held back as well, then back to him, "Jack are you sure?" "Would I be trying to kill him if I wasn't?", he shot back not taking his eyes off his target. Rachel went to Melissa, "Listen to me, World Inc. heard some info on a rebel operative. A team was sent out but it was a trap. Jack and a friend of his was caught in that trap as well. The rebel was a blue Drakan monkey." "Really?", Melissa asked as he stop struggling. "What was the date of this." That day was burned into his memory and told her the date without hesitation. "Please tell me you didn't have a operation that day." "I'm afraid so," Nathan answered as she closed her eyes. "That’s pretty close to how Jason described it." Melissa sighed before speaking, "Then it appears we are partially responsible for the Drakan Killer existence." The crowd started talking among themselves at the news. "We do seem to have a slight problem right here," she said looking at the two of them. "Perhaps," the old woman started, "a call of honor combat is in order." Melissa acted like she was surprised she even said that. "Honor... combat?", Rachel wondered out loud. Dusty explained, "It's an old tradition. When somebody is wronged, I mean really, really wronged, the person can challenge the other to, well, combat." "Does that mean I get to kill him?", Jack turned away just long enough to see the old woman nod once. "What she said, I call that." "I accept," Jason said before anybody else could say anything. Melissa shook her head and walked off with the old woman following. The crowd slowly disappeared, buzzing about what just happened. Jason grinned and followed them soon after. Dusty let him go saying, "Think before you call for something like that." He didn't care, he was finally going to get his hands on that damn monkey. *** "Honor combat?", Melissa said as she paced Emily's room. "I'm trying to do this as peacefully as I can. I probably could have worked things out between the two of them. But you had to give them an option to tear each other apart." Emily just sat there tending to her plant. She hated it when she did that. "I beg to differ child," she finally said. "I doubt even your brother could even handle that." That took her by surprise, to everybody else her brother could do just about anything. "Even I felt the hatred emanating between the two of them." Melissa looked away, she didn't want to admit it but the power behind that emotion almost knocked her for a loop. "There has to be another way." “Perhaps there is child, but until you find it the strife between them would eventually spread to the others. Trust me child, there is no other way. This must be dealt with now if we are to continue foreword." "And if they kill each other in the process?" Emily said nothing. "I just hope this doesn't blow up in our faces." *** "Maybe you can back out," Rachel said. Jack just ignored her, he just paced like a caged animal. Dusty gave them a quick lesson about the thing before he left them alone. She could use him right about know to try to talk some sense into this knucklehead. "Jack we're trying to make peace with these guys remember?" "Not while he's here," he said. "We can talk about getting along after I kill him." "Killing him isn't going to help us any." "I really don't care," and he went back to ignoring her. God he could be impossible when he wanted to. About then two men came walking in, one carrying a bowl of something. "What do you want?" "Tradition says that those in honor combat must be marked for combat," he gestured to the bowl the other was carrying. "Please remove your Jacket, shirt and gloves." "What ever you’re gonna put on me isn't going to be seen for long." They said nothing, just staring at him. "Whatever," Jack bared his upper body. The two looked at the scars covering him then at each other. Then they began marking his chest with the grease like substance. She was expecting him to make a comment, a joke or something but he kept quiet. They lead them to an open area with a pit dug into the floor. It was already pretty crowded but she could see the human form of the monkey already in the pit. Without any prompting Jack jumped in and stood behind the line marked on the floor. Rachel looked around as the other Drakan were talking to each other as they pointed at Jack. A cold spot started to form in her stomach, dear God what was he thinking. She could see Melissa raise a hand to grab everyone attention. "A call of honor combat has been made." A hand on her shoulder made her jump until she saw it was Dusty. He smiled and squeezed her shoulder as Melissa continued talking. "It has been years since one has been called for, but today we must heed it's call. Are the two ready?" The monkey changed into his true form and nodded, is marking could still be seen on his fur. Jack raised his left arm across his chest and the Fusion belt appeared. The Drakan started buzzing again as he moved his arm to the side and brought his right arm to his face. "No matter the outcome no one will do anything to the combatants after it is over, is that clear?" Nobody said anything. The spot in her stomach started to grow with each passing moment. They stood there in the pit just staring at each other, but she could see Jack finger on his right hand twitching slightly. Melissa raised a hand above her head, she didn't look pleased as she brought it down, "Begin!" Rachel closed her eyes as she heard Jack shout out, "Henshin!" -To be continued- *ending theme-Papa Roach-Sometimes* |
12-16-2012, 01:54 AM | #25 |
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<Episode 25>
*Opening theme-Ana-We Are* Rachel and Dusty thought he was out his mind, but he didn't care. A Drakan woman he saved turned out to be the rebel leader, but he didn't care. He was surrounded by a bunch of people who more than likely wanted him dead, but he didn't care. He had stuff that smelled like crap painted on him, but he didn't care. All he cared about at the moment was that he was finally going to get his hands on the monkey. No nightmares, no Rachel getting herself in danger, nothing to get in his way this time. Damn it, he could taste it. The rebel leader was making a speech but he zoned her out. All but the part where she asked if they were ready. The monkey changed into his true form and a fresh wave of rage flowed through him. Jack immediately raised his left arm across his chest to make the belt appear around his waist. Just as fast he swung his left arm to the side and brought his right arm up to his face and waited. They stood there burning holes into each others with their eyes as they waited for Melissa to let them loose. It seemed like forever but she finally gave the word and brought her hand down. Wasting no time he slammed his right hand on top of the belt and shouted, "Henshin!" Jack yelled in rage as he charged and the armor formed around him. The monkey did the same and they quickly got within arms reach of each other. He threw a wild right the monkey easily ducked under and backhanded him. Jack nearly fell from the blow but he kept his balance long enough to sink a knee into its’ gut as it tried to grab him. The monkey fell to its’ back and kicked him away giving itself enough space to get its’ breath back. It then leaped up catching Jack by surprise and brought him crashing down on the ground. The Drakan started pounding away at his head. Jack took the blows before he could plant his left fist into it’s rib cage. It stopped long enough for him to push the Drakan off. The monkey backed up to regroup then charged again. Jack jumped and flipped over the attack, as he landed he spun around and smashed his armored forearm into it’s face. Behind the helmet he grinned as he thought he saw a tooth fly out. He grabbed him by the back of the neck and forced its’ head down as he brought his knee up hard. The monkey rocked back holding its' face. His advantage was short lived as the monkey suddenly swept his legs out from under him. *** How was that damn metal bug stronger than last time? That question entered his mind more than once so far. That wasn't possible and once again he pushed that thought to the side. Thoughts like that would get him killed. A point proven when it got up and spun around, its right foot coming out of nowhere and connected with the left side of his face. The killer jumped at him, but he had enough of his senses intact to duck. He jumped on its’ back and tried to break the Killer's neck. The metal bug was able to flip him over to the ground. It raised its’ right fist and aimed it at his head. Jason was barely able to roll out of the way. Quickly seeing an opening he rushed in and got the bug off its’ feet. Putting as much into it as he could put into it Jason ran and rammed the Killer into the side of the pit. He allowed himself a small feeling of satisfaction as he heard its’ breath leave it's body. Jason did everything in his power to keep his advantage and pounded the Killer into the wall. It some how was able to block one of his punches and grabbed his left arm. He panicked momentarily as he saw a shot aimed for his elbow and quickly freed his arm. It hit him too late that what the Killer wanted him to do as that same fist smashed him in the face. How did that damn metal bug get stronger than last time? *** Despite her better judgment Rachel opened her eyes and watched what was going on. This entire mess was almost as savage as the last time Jack and the monkey got there hands on each other. Last time she convinced herself that she stayed because she was Jack's mission operator. Now her concern for his well being made her stay this time. Deep down she realized that was the real reason she stayed that time too. Jack ducked down and grabbed the monkeys legs to bring it down and started pounding away at its’ head. Besides here Dusty was screaming, "Come on Jack! Get that son of a bitch!". She took her eyes away just long enough to see the other Drakan's reaction to his out cry. If any of them were surprised that he was cheering for Jack they didn't show it. Still, housing them was bad enough. There was no point in adding fuel to the fire. "Dusty calm down. You were against this too." "I know darlin', but if he's responsible for Jack being turned into what he is than he got what he has coming." No matter how hard she tried she couldn't come up with an argument against it. Almost silently she uttered, "Come on Jack." *** Melissa spent what little time she had before this to steady herself. The wave of hatred from their previous encounter was evident and she needed to brace herself for it this time. Still she was getting sick to her stomach from it. Davidson and Jason were down there trying to tear each other apart and neither of them seeming to care. What was making her sicker was the fact some in the crowd was actually enjoying the debacle. She tried to calm herself and felt a hand on her shoulder. Emily's touch was able to calm her slightly, something she was grateful for at the moment. Lance eyes never left the pit. "I never expected anything like this." Davidson went flying over Jason's head and landed with a thud. "I knew Davidson would be angry, but I didn't think this level was possible." She did, she found out when Davidson saved her. In her head the Vulture had him pinned against the wall and said, "Come on Killer, you know we're exactly alike, why should we fight?" Right before he said, "I'm nothing like you!", there was a brief spike of anger. Not as bad as when he spotted Jason in the crowd, but it was close. The vulture hit a nerve then, she realized that now. Her mind went back to the fight when Davidson caught Jason when he charge at him, spun around and planted him into the ground. A quick wave of satisfaction flowed though him. Some how Melissa doubted that she would get the feeling of regret that she got when Davidson killed the Vulture. "I get the feeling there's more to Mr. Davidson than we know Lance." *** The meter started flashing a couple of minutes ago. If he was smart he would have ended this then. But when the monkey went boom he wanted the explosion to be big. Now if only that damn Drakan would get back on its’ feet. Damn it, he wanted it standing for this. Jack backed away to let the monkey get to his feet, which it was doing slowly. "Come on you ugly son of a bitch!", he yelled at the monkey. "You are not crapping out on me now!" Anger flashed in its’ eyes as the monkey swung wildly at him. Jack ducked it and grabbed the right pod as it stumbled foreword. He twisted it down and the two mini turbines in the belt started spinning and redirected the energy that had built up. Jack waited as the charged went down his leg and the monkey turned around. He launched a kick, no jumping, no flipping, nothing fancy. Just a simple straight side kick aimed right at it’s head. *** Jason turned around and saw the metal bug's right foot coming at him. He tried to back up to avoid it but was stopped by the wall of the pit. Little arcs of electricity could be seen on the bottom of its’ foot. It was an eternity before he realized the foot wasn't coming any closer. The metal bug stood there with it's foot in the air. Jason looked at it in total confusion as it’s hand slowly became a fist. Suddenly the bug yelled, brought its’ foot down with a stomp and walked off. In moments the part of the floor it stomped on exploded out. Jason slumped to the floor staring at the bug, who had its’ hands on its’ head. Then it looked at the ceiling and screamed. He barely registered the commotion of the Drakans around him. Jason was starting to get back to his feet when the bug turned back around, forced him against the wall and stared him in the eyes. After a moment it said, "We take down Anderson then we finish this. Agreed?" In a total state of shock Jason managed to barely nod his head in agreement. The Killer let him go and walked away. Jason slumped back down to the ground. *** Rachel could not believe what she just saw. After all of that he was letting the monkey go. Jack powered the system down as he came toward them. Dusty offered a hand to help him out of the pit but he ignored it. "Son, I don't get what just happened," Dusty said. "Not now," was all he said. He wouldn't even look at them, he just stood there shaking. The other Drakan backed away but he looked like he wasn't exactly caring at the moment. Rachel looked back at the monkey and the rest of the Drakan. He was still sitting on the ground. Some of the others around him were pointing and talking among themselves. Their leader, Melissa, was no where to be seen. "I'm not sure," she said, "but I think you just humiliated him." Dusty said he wasn't exactly sure if she was right or not. Jack grabbed his clothes and started walking away, but she did hear him say, "Good." *** Emily stood there as Melissa and Lance stared as Mr. Davidson walked out of the pit. Much like his encounter with Christopher the fates kept the outcome of this from her. But even she was surprised at this turn of events. "He just walking away?", Lance said to no one in particular. "I saw Davidson twist that thing on his belt, just like you described. He had him dead to rights. Why is he letting him go?" Melissa stared at Mr. Davidson intently. She kept her face neutral, but she knew the child well enough to see how conflicted she was. "Like I said, there's more to him than we know." "But why? The way those two were going at it I was positive we were going to have to bury somebody." "Perhaps," Emily spoke, "he realized things might go smoother for him if he let Jason live." Lance looked at her with a hint of amusement, "No offense Emily, but I highly doubt that. I don't live in this habitat but I know of Jason’s reputation." He gestured at the remaining crowd as they walked away, "I'd bet you anything there be a few here that would be glad if Jason bought it just now." "Perhaps young one," she replied. Fate might have hidden the outcome from her but she knew one thing for certain. Letting Jason live would make things harder for Davidson. The Drakan living here were nervous enough with him among them. Jason could very well use that to his advantage if he played it right. She would have to make sure she counteracted any ill will Jason could cultivate in the habitat. To them she said, "Mind reading is not one of my gifts and Mr. Davidson's thoughts are his and his alone." "No one asking you to read his mind Emily," Melissa said, but she expected the child wished she could at the moment. "Hopefully those who would have wanted Jason dead are a very small minority and Davidson gained a point or two with the others." "Wouldn't be much if he did kid," Lance told her. "I know, but a girl in charge can hope right? Anything that would make the job a little easier." She attempted a smile but both of them knew she didn't feel it. "If you two will excuse me, I need to go over the sleeping quarters arrangement again. After what we just witness I think it might be a good idea if Davidson and Jason were as far a part as possible." "Good idea, you don't want the two of them to go at it after passing each other in a hallway." Lance followed Melissa away from the hallway leading to the pit. Emily waited a few moments before leaving her own way. She heard Lance speak out loud, "But what kind of person lets the man he hates more than anything live?" Emily smiled to herself and softly said, "A champion." *** It took Rachel a couple of minutes to find Jack again. He was in some kind of storage hallway. From the look of things he was trying to get whatever they painted on him off and kicking any crate that was nearby. Jack finally saw her standing there after a few minutes. "I had him," he said, "I freaking had him! And I let him go!" Jack kicked another crate in anger, "Gah!" Rachel sat on a crate that looked like it hasn’t been abused yet, "Which begs the question, why?" "I don't know," he said turning away from her. "Something in my head said it be better if I let him live." He pounded the wall before leaning against it, "Why did I have to listen right then?" "I wish I could tell you." "So do I because he's the reason why Richie is dead and I was turned into a freak." "Jack you are not a freak," she told him. "In fact you’re the most normal person I know." Jack snorted and turned to look at her. "Now there's a laugh and a half. Normal people aren't covered in scars. Normal people don't turn into blue metal dragonflies with red eyes. Normal people don't kick or punch something and have it blow up. Me and normal parted ways a long time ago." She just sat there and looked at him, "Do you feel any better now that you got that little rant out of your system?" "No," he answered as he grabbed his shirt and put it on. "Thanks for listening anyway." "What are friends for," she smiled at him. Rachel handed him his jacket as he smiled back. "But I have to admit, you do have a way to keep people guessing." "Blame my upbringing." "I'm telling you he's a real life Kamen Rider," a young sounding voice said. They looked down the hallway and saw a group of teenagers walk by. "Is that part of that Power Ranger crap you keep watching?", one of the other asked. The source of the first voice turned around and said, "For the last time it's not Power Ran... ," he trailed off when he noticed them standing there. The other turned around and stared at them with eyes wide open. Several awkward moments later the boys started running away in different direction. The one who called Jack a Kamen Rider stayed put the longest. Rachel found the whole thing kind of amusing. Jack, on the other hand, stood there with a strange look on his face, "My God, they're every where." "Jack we're surrounded by Drakan, they're going to be all over the place." "That's not what I was talking about." "Then what?" "It's nothing, don't worry about it." Jack ran his fingers through his hair before putting on his jacket. "Come on, let's see if anybody brought our bags down yet." "Dusty said he was going to get them, after he took care of something first," she told him. Rachel looked around and tried not to sigh out loud, "At least we got another roof over our head, for a little while at least." *** "Both of them are staying?", Melissa asked. She wasn't sure how more surprises she could be today. The plan was for Davidson to stay here and work with them. That woman that came with them, Rachel that what Dusty said her name was, wasn't suppose to be part of it. Hell, Melisa didn't even know she was part of the equation. "They're kinda a package deal little lady," Dusty told her. She would like to know exactly when he became Davidson’s personal spokes man. "You get one you get the other. They’ve been through a lot together. Personally speaking, I wouldn't dream about splitting them up." "That going to but us in a bit of a bind Dusty." "Maybe," he said, "but I keep hearing how you keep getting new members to the cause. They don't seem to be hurting you too much." His tone change to something more light hearted, "Besides Rachel can be a bit of a buffer at times. Jack can take a bit of getting used too. I got a long with him just fine of course, but for somebody not as easy going as me he might be a bit much at first." Melissa crossed her arms over her chest and smiled, "Why do I get the feeling I was just insulted." "This old country doctor just makin' an observation, that's all," he snickered. Then he got all serious again, "But I'm trusting you to keep the two of them safe. I would really hate it if anything ever happened to them, particularly if somebody under your watch ended up doing it." Her eyes narrowed a bit, "Are you threatening me Dusty?". She sensed no malice coming from him, but still. She couldn't remember a time were Dusty made anything even close to a threat, why now? And more importantly what would he threaten to do? "Now, I know what you’re thinking little lady and I would never do that. I'm a doctor and wouldn't turn away anybody in need of treatment. Hell, if Anderson was at my door near death I'd do everything I could to nurse him back to health. Might not make any new friends around here if I did, but that wouldn't stop me." Al right, know she had to now, "Why are you fighting for them Dusty?" "I consider them family to me," he said seriously. She nodded, now she understood why he was doing this, "Then you have my word that I'll make sure none of my people will harm them. However, I can't make the same promise for my cousin." "I wasn't expecting you too darlin'." For some reason he looked undecided on something. After a little prodding he ended up saying, "I probably shouldn't be saying this, but... Jack is going through some things." "What kind of things?", now she knew she couldn't take any more surprises today. "It's not my place to say, but you'll more than likely find out soon enough. He wouldn't tell me about it, and I'm not sure how much he told Rachel but I don't think it’s much. So I was kinda hoping Emily might be able get a word or two out of him." "You know Emily doesn't work that way Dusty. Davidson is going to have to open himself up to her before she does anything." She suddenly remembered a part of the vision Emily had, particularly the part where she described Davidson. "But I'm sure Emily will be around if he needs somebody to listen." He seemed satisfied with that and left. Melissa sat back down in her chair, if only that vision Emily had let her in on what exactly was suppose to be haunting Davidson. *** Jack and Rachel stood around the main area of the underground city, well calling it a city seemed a tad overkill, waiting for the person that was suppose to them to their rooms. He kept an eye on the Drakan around them. A few of them were doing their best to look like they weren't staring at them. He understood the logic behind having him here. If they were going to work together it’d be best if they were in the same place, and time could be wasted if he had to travel from Dusty place to here. Not to mention it increase the chances of World Inc. finding him if he did that. Now if he could get rid of the feeling that he just put his head on the chopping block. "Judging by the bags I'm guessing you're the ones in need of a guide." They looked around until they saw a guy with blue dreadlocks coming toward them. Wow, how in the hell did they miss him. He looked right at Jack for a bit, "You know, I always pictured you’d be taller." He was so sick of hearing that. "Any way, think of me as the official welcoming committee. Just call me Sparky." "Sparky?", Jack wondered out loud as he took the offered hand. He felt a painful jolt through the glove, "OW!" He took his hand away trying to shake away the pain. Sparky was grinning ear to ear, "Want to guess what I am?" "I got a pretty good idea," he said dryly. Sparky held out a hand to Rachel who politely declined. "Hey, I never do the same trick twice in a row, and never to any one as lovely as you." Rachel blushed slightly while Jack narrowed his eyes at the Drakan. Sparky saw that and backed off. "Well, I guess you too are kind of tired, so if you will be so kind as to follow me." He led them down one of the hallways leading away from the main area. After a few yards Sparky started sniffing the air. From an upcoming corner a guy walked into view and came toward them. Jack tensed up just in case. "Hey new guy," Sparky greeted him, "how you doing? Remind me to give you the tour later." Jack and the "new guy" stared at each other as they passed. Sparky smelt him coming. "Somebody you know?", Rachel asked. "Never seen him before today," Sparky replied. Jack stopped and looked back at the guy then back to Sparky a couple of times, "And he smelt like Drakan blood?" Sparky nodded and kept walking. Jack quickened his pace so he could catch up. "Wait a minute. You don't have a sudden urge to kick the crap out of him?" "No, why should I?", Sparky asked. "What the hell? Every time I come across a Drakan they usually want to tear me a new one." "No offense man, but have you ever smelled yourself." Jack straighten up a little, "Sorry, I haven't had a chance to grab a shower yet." Their guide laughed, "That's not what I meant. Humans have a very unique smell to them. And you mix that scent with Drakan blood and it's kind of an insult to some of us." "Do you have a problem with that mix of smells?", Rachel asked him, starting to get between them. "Nah, I realize this is a war, death is gonna happen no matter what. Besides, I wasn't the one killed so I'm cool with the two of you. Even if I was killed it be a little late to have a problem with ya. Life's too short you know." "Interesting way of looking at things," she said as her and Jack looked at each other confused. Sparky just talked away, telling them when breakfast, lunch and dinner usually were around here. Then they stopped in front of a door that he opened. "And here is your humble abode." They stepped in and found a small brick walled room with hardly anything inside it. Just a single box spring and mattress and a dresser." "Ok, where's my room?", Jack asked. "This is your room," Sparky told him. "Uh-oh," Rachel muttered, he was getting that same feeling. "Then where's her room?" "You're looking at it. We weren't expecting two of you and space is down here is at a premium." Both of them stared at the bed in the corner. Jack raised a hand saying, "Can I get a cot or something?" "I think I can arrange that. It should be here in a few minutes. Now you two behave yourself while you in here," he teased. "We're just friends," they said at he same time. They looked at each other in surprise that the other one said it. Sparky grinned and left them alone. Oh this was going to be awkward. *** Normally she wouldn't have done this with newcomers, but considering Davidson history it felt like a good idea to check on them. Granted she was still having some misgiving about letting the Drakan Killer in here. But as much as she hated to admit Emily visions were never wrong. Still, she’d be lucky if the whole thing didn't blow up in her face. She turned the corner leading to their room and quickly went back behind it. Davidson was leaning on the wall next to the door. What was he doing out in the hallway? Was he standing guard or something? Then she heard it, "Come on he has to be asleep by now. We'll make him pay for all those Drakan he killed." "What if he isn't in there?", a second voice asked. "Then that girl probably is in there. She smells like death too, that makes her just as responsible in my book." The two of them came into this hallway and saw Davidson there. He faced them saying, "You really might want to think twice about this." For a brief second she saw the man who saved her from the vulture in the alley. The two of them looked like they were ready to jump him. She stepped out from hiding demanding, "What's going on here?" The two Drakan froze in place. Davidson turned his head just enough to look at her then back at them. "Nothing going on," he lied to her. "These two were here to tell me when I can expect that cot I asked for." She raised an eyebrow, "From my understanding it was already delivered." "Really," he acted surprised as he opened the door. "What do you know there it is, already made up too. You guys are good." he gave them a thumbs up. "Well I guess this goodnight then," he entered and closed the door behind him. The other two were about to speak but she quickly cut them off. "Not one word. I heard what you two were planning. I told all of you that there wasn't going to be any payback against him. If you don't like it that transfer to Lance's cell is still open. Right now I suggest the two of you get as far away from here as possible." They said nothing as they walked off. Melissa held her head and groaned, this wouldn't have happened if her brother was still alive. *** Dusty told him last night that he’d be back this morning with his bike. When he asked if there was any place he could store it he was directed to a large garage looking area with various vans and cars parked inside it. There they told him if could clear out a space he could claim it for the bike. He found a spot and started clearing crates. Rachel found him after a bit and starting helping him. In no time they had a spot cleared out and were waiting. As they waited he sat next to her and said, "Rachel, I've been thinking. Maybe you should go back with Dusty when he leaves." She looked at him suspiciously, "You trying to get rid of me again?" "No, it just might be safer for you if you were with Dusty than with me." "Jack, since I've been with you I've sprung my wrist, found out my boss was secretly a Drakan, became homeless and wanted by the US government. If that's the worse things that going to happen to me I'm doing pretty good. Besides I heard about what almost happened last night. Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. I think I proved that to you a couple of times already." She put a hand on his shoulder, "We started this together and we're going to finish this together." He nodded, at least he wasn't alone in all of this crap. Dusty pulled up a few minutes later. He and Jack were able to get his bike off of Bessie in no time. "Well," he said, "I hate to drop this ride of your off and run, but I got a guy looking at an old Ford engine in an hour or so." "Thanks Dusty," she said while she hugged him around the neck. "I know we were a bother to you." "Now listen here little lady, you two were no such thing. Hell, this old man was grateful for the company. And you haven't seen the last of me by a long shot. I'm going to be dropping by from time to time to make sure they're treating y'all right." He got that humorous glint in his eyes again and spoke a little louder, "And they better too or I'll start charging 'em through the nose." "Then I guess we'll be seeing you later," Jack said as he shook his hand. "You know it son." Dusty pulled him in close, "Now you take care of yourself, and the little lady too. Ya hear me?" "I hear you Dusty." He said his goodbyes, got back into Bessie and drove off with a wave. Jack looked over to Rachel after a bit, "I wonder when life is going to throw us that next curve ball?" *Ending theme-Papa Roach-Sometimes* |
12-30-2012, 01:05 AM | #26 |
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Join Date: May 2012
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<Episode 26>
* Opening Theme - Ana- We Are * Some how he got the feeling being in the run again would have been easier on the nerves. Rachel and himself were hanging around the main area waiting. Jack was trying hard to not let the stares get to him. But it wasn't easy. For some strange reason he was reminded of high school of all places. Mainly in the way some of the guys back then looked they wanted to kick his ass. For some reason it was oddly comforting, something he was familiar with he guessed. He'd have to remember to ask Rachel about that later. "So how long are we suppose to be waiting here again?", he asked her while he leaned against a pillar. "I have no idea," she told him. "All the guy said was that we be put to work and somebody would tell us where." "I wonder who's gonna draw the short straw," Jack half joked. Rachel gave a small laugh anyway. Jack started feeling a small tug on his jacket. "Excuse me," said a little girl, who looked half afraid to keep talking. Rachel knelt down and tried to appear nonthreatening, "Can we help you?" "My brother threw Polly up there." Both of them looked around until the saw a small white bear in a gutter hanging between two rafters. "Is that Polly?" The little girl nodded. "Now that wasn't very nice of him was it?", She shook her head this time. "Don't worry we'll get Polly down for you. Jack ghe’s asleepet the bear for her." "Why do I have to get the bear?" "Because she asking you to," Rachel told him. The little girls eyes were pleading with him. How in the hell did his mom ever say no when he gave her that look. "Never let it be said I left a bear hanging," he sighed. And of course there were no ladders near by so he had to do this the heard way. He tested the pillar, it seemed pretty sturdy and started climbing. Jack reached the gutter with no problem, but he got the feeling he was being watched and looked down. All the Drakan in the area was staring at him. "Does anybody else want to get the bear?", he asked the crowd. Nobody said anything so he reached over, grabbed the bear and dropped down. He dusted it off a bit and handed it back to the girl, "Here you go." "Thank you," she said as she grabbed the bear. The girl surprised him with a quick hug before running off. Jack started rubbing the back of his head and said, "Tell your brother I said he was a jerk." After a few moments he mumbled, "God, please don't let him be an eight foot tall Drakan." "Knowing your luck he probably will be," Rachel teased him. "You're not helping," he told her flatly. "Well, at least that's one little girl you won't have to worry about for awhile," she said. "I don't think here parent will be too happy about it though," Melissa said as she came up to them. Jack and Rachel looked at each other and shrugged, if they were going to be that upset that he helped her out that was their problem. "The legend of the Drakan Killer had a surprising little side effect," Melissa explained. "You basically became our new boogieman Mr. Davidson. I've heard many of the parents around here say 'Be good or the Drakan Killer will get you'. Although I don't think any of the children here thought they actually see you in person." "Did it ever work?", Jack asked, he was curious now. "It worked like a charm when you arrived yesterday Mr. Davidson. Before we get started is there anything I can do that will make your stay a little easier?" "Yeah there is you high and mightiness," Jack said, "stop calling me Mr. Davidson. The last Drakan who called me that is on my ass kicking to do list." Rachel put her face in her hand and slowly started shaking her head. Melissa crossed her arm in front of her not looking impressed, "Fine, I won't call you Mr. Davidson if you don't call me your high and mightiness, or anything else for that matter. I have a name and I prefer to be called by it." "Same here," he told her. "All right then. So...," she looked really uncomfortable, "Jack, is there anything else?" "He's fine," Rachel said quickly. "We were just wondering what we could do to help out." "I can speak for myself," Jack complained. "I know," she replied, "that's why I spoke up." Jack stuck his tongue out at her that she ignored. Melissa looked slightly amused at the exchange, "Well if you two will follow me I'll show you were you'll be working today." That caught them by surprise. "We weren't expecting you to show up," Rachel said. "I was heading that way any way and thought it would save some time," she explained. "Makes sense," Rachel said and turned to Jack. "Let's go 'Boogie'," she snickered. "Be careful or I'm gonna get you next," he shot back. *** Melissa led them through a series of underground tunnels. Rachel thought it might be a good idea to see if they could get a map of the complex. Anybody could get lost down here if they weren't careful. Of course the fact they used to work for Anderson and World Inc. might be a problem. She and Melissa were going to have to talk about that sooner or later. "Here we are," Melissa said over what sounded like a ... waterfall? Rachel and Jack entered another huge area. The overhead lighting showed a dirt floor under their feet. That waterfall she heard turned out to be water coming from a storm drain that was over a small pond of sorts. Melissa softly said, "Emily said it was going to rain today." Jack whistled as she said, "I wasn't expecting anything like this." "Getting this set up was the hardest part," she told them. "It took us a while to find any usable ground under all the concrete. We got lucky that storm drain was here and not somewhere else. I have no idea how we would have transferred the water to here if it wasn't." "You know," Jack said, “I gotta ask. How go you find a place like this to begin with?" "By going through a lot of forgotten paperwork," she answered. "Rumor has it that all of this was supposed to be a bomb shelter of sorts during the fifties. Seeing how it wasn't on any public record we could find I'm assuming the public wasn't supposed to know about it." "So politicians’ worrying about their own skin first isn’t a new thing then," Jack joked. Melissa smiled slightly, "And you find this surprising. We expanded and rebuilt as we needed too." She looked around until she spotted somebody, "There's Frank, he's in charge of the garden center." An old bald man hobbled over to them with a cane and looked her and Jack over. "This them?', he asked not looking at Melissa. "Yes Frank," she said like she gone through this before. Frank looked Jack over one more time. "He looks like a wimp to me. I'm telling you now, you work for me you're gonna work hard. And I don't want to hear any complaining, do you hear me? Before they could answer somebody yelled out, "Comin' through!" A group of children ran through the garden center being chased by one who dropped his human disguise. They all laughed as they passed between them. "Blasted kids!", Frank shouted as he shook his fist at them. "No manners. They wouldn't have gotten away with that when I was growing up." He walked off still mumbling but Jack kept his eyes on the children. "Was that bug two colors?", he asked after a moment. "Yes he was." Melissa explained further, "Some of the younger ones decided to dye parts of their skin a different color to show their devotion for the cause. We keep telling them that will make it easier for them to spot. But you know kids at that age, they never listen. Hopefully they'll grow out of it sooner or later." "Some never do," Rachel said looking right at Jack. "Oh you're just a riot today ain't you?" She just grinned at him as he took off the jacket. "So where do we start?" Melissa pulled her hair back in a ponytail and headed for a rack lined with gardening tool. "Usually you just pick a spot and start from there." She handed Jack a shovel while she handed Rachel a hoe and took one for herself. "We're replanting so you don't have to worry about digging anything up by accident." "You're going to be working down here too?", Rachel asked. "Going a little far to keep an eye on us aren't you?", Jack asked with a raised eyebrow. Melissa actually laughed this time, "We all do a turn in the garden center. Every so often I have to give somebody a long term assignment for a disciplinary problem, but that's pretty rare." She led them to a patch of dirt that looked like it hadn't been tended to yet. "We got a saying, you want to eat, you have to help grow it. Don't get me wrong we have other sources of food as well. If you noticed there no kind of livestock down here. But we grow our own produce, and what we don't use we send to the other cells." Jack stuck his Shovel into the ground and leaned against it, "And that line gets everybody down here?" "Well, almost everybody," she admitted. "We got a few that miss there turn down here, no matter hard some of the others try to guilt them into it." "This is just a wild guess on my part, but hat guy with the blue hair, uh... Sparky. He's never been down here has he?" "How did you know that?", she asked. "Just a vibe I learned to read while growing up." "Uncle related I'd imagine," Rachel said. Jack simply nodded. "Well, I'm sure that's an... interesting story but..., " Melissa started. "But we got work to do," Rachel finished for her as they started at the ground. *** "There has been no sign of Davidson, Haily or Logan sir," Taylor informed him. "Davidson hasn't been in the city and so far our street teams haven't been able to get a signal from the tracker in his head. Where ever they're hiding it's keeping them pretty well protected." That was an understatement Anderson mused. His city was huge, plenty of places a person could hide. But they would find them eventually, Davidson had to slip up sometime. "Did Dr. Parker get that new shipment yet?", he asked changing the subject slightly. They were all taken by surprise when a group of rebels intercepted the last one. "We confirmed a successful delivery," his VP said. "Although the good doctor is still claiming Armstrong did something to it." "The wisest decision I ever made was to keep those two separated," he said while turning his chair around to look out the window. "Did Armstrong check out?" "We tracked Dr. Armstrong movement to a few days before the delivery was intercepted. If he was the one who warned the rebels we couldn't prove it." For the most part he was glad, Armstrong was a valuable resource, it would be horrendous if he turned traitor. But that still left a problem. "Then there is still a leak somewhere. Tell Perez to have somebody on this full time. I want this leak, or leaks, fixed as soon as possible." "Yes sir," Taylor responded. "Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Apparently some of the men are still trying to figure out who among them is a Drakan." Anderson sighed, that much was to be expected. Humans could be so suspicious at times. He imagined it gave them a sense of control or something like that. He hated the fact he had to deal with them on a daily basis. "I'll talk to Perez about it. We need our men working together and not against each other if we want to control the rebels. That will be all Mr. Taylor." "Uh sir," he said before leaving. "I was wondering, do you think it's possible that Davidson and Logan both died?" An interesting question, one that never entered his head. Anderson looked down at the street below, like he was trying to divine an answer from the commotion that was daily life. "It's possible," he said slowly, "but something tells me Davidson is still alive. Until I see a body I will not believe otherwise." *** Oh was he was going to going to be sore in the morning. They both worked in that garden center for hours. Well Mom always said good honest worked never hurt anybody. Then again she never worked underground. Both of them were thankful the time went fast and it was time to grab lunch. Melissa showed them where the eatery was, basically it was an underground cafeteria. Jack and Rachel grabbed a bowl of the stew they were serving and a warm pop. They found a table near the back nobody was using and sat across from each other. Jack had to smile as he realized what they done, "This almost seems like old times." Rachel started grinning too, "Just don't start complaining about people taking our table this time around all right." Jack glanced around the room, "From some of the looks they're giving us I don't think that's gonna be a problem. I'd bet you dollar to donuts that this table has unofficially been labeled as ours." Jack took a taste of the stew, "Not bad." "I guess working for it makes it taste better," she said. Rachel sighed suddenly, "I can't believe we were talking about something that happened a few months ago as old times." "It's only been that long?". She nodded, "Damn, I could have sworn it was longer than that." They ate in relative silence for a bit. Jack looked up at her and she started wondering if he would have made it this far without her by his side. Part of him was saying he was crazy for trying to ditch her back then. He apparently stared a little too long because she noticed. "What is it?" "Just thinking," he said, "nothing to worry about." "The fact that you’re thinking at all gives me cause to worry." "Look at my side, do you see it splitting?", he told her. She started laughing and so did he. Yeah he left himself open for that one. They stopped when a young man sat at the table next to them. Normally he wouldn't have worried about it but the kid kept staring at him. Rachel was mumbling that he should ignore him but it was getting in his last nerve. "Can I help you with something?" "I'm sorry, I just needed to talk to you." he looked around nervously before saying, "I guess I look a little different in regular light than in front of a campfire." Jack took a long hard look at the kid, he did see him before, "Fido?" "Jack," Rachel said in that warning tone of hers. "It's all right, I've probably been called worse," the kid said. "My name is Arron by the way. I know you're Jack," he looked over to her," I apologize, but I don't think I ever heard your name." "It's Rachel," she said as he nodded. The kid was acting older than he looked, must have been a green thing. "You said you wanted to talk about something." "Well it's more of a question actually." "Something like why you're still alive?", Jack asked for him. Arron nodded as he played with his stew. "I couldn't kill bunch of kids, simple as that." "I'm not a kid, I just turned eighteen," he said a little too defensively. Now his age was starting to show. "But you weren't eighteen back then were you?", Rachel said. Arron turned away embarrassed. "Kid, you were just defending the others," Jack told him. "I was the bad guy in that situation." "Like you were defending Rachel when it looked like I was threatening her." Jack briefly made eye contact with her as he said that. They quickly looked somewhere else, their turn to be embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything." "Don't worry about it Fido," Jack said quickly. "So are the other children here too?", Rachel asked changing the subject. "No, they're safely at home now. My father doesn't exactly trust Anderson, I guess some of that rubbed off on me. So I thought the rebels might have been a better option." "So why are you still here then?", Jack asked. "A smart person would have high tailed it out of here by now." "I know, but I discovered I believed in their cause. I was never really comfortable with anybody doing something for me because they thought they had too. When we were brought here to wait for travel arrangements to be made I felt like I belonged. It took awhile but I was finally able to convince Christopher to let me stay, he was in charge of things before Melissa." Jack started to play with his stew again, "We've meet." "Everybody knows," he informed him. Arron quickly apologized, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said it like that. I have to be on guard duty soon, if you will excuse me." As he left Jack looked at Rachel then at the other Drakan. This might have gotten a little harder. *** She knew the biggest challenge for this alliance would come the first time she needed Davidson for a mission. There were so many things that could go wrong it gave her a headache just thinking about it. This was the path she had chosen and it was too late to get off it now. That challenge came three days later in the form of a letter from Lance. As she waited for the others to enter the make shift operation room they had she read the note again. Anderson had several deliveries made to a warehouse on the outskirt of the city. Surveillance equipment mainly, but there might be something else there they could use. Rachel surprisingly entered first, alone, "Where's Jack?" "Trying to drag Sparky away from his motorcycle," she informed her while sitting down. "I guess me or Dusty should have warned you that Jack's a little over protective of that machine." "He wouldn't be the only one," she told her. "I've seen how some of the men around here treat the cars and vans we have like babies." There was some nervous laughter and an uncomfortable silence as they waited for the others. Melissa she might as well get this over with. "So you were Jack's mission operator?" Rachel answered yes. "What exactly did you do in that position?" "Technically I was supposed to send Jack out on his mission and monitor things from World Inc." She seemed hesitant to say, "I'd imagine you can tell I didn't exactly do that." "From the moment I got close enough to you,” she replied. “Well, actually when you were far enough away from him that I could. The smell of Drakan blood on you isn't as strong as it is for him. So what did you end up doing?" "I accompanied him into the field. Anderson wanted a written report after every mission. That was my first major assignment and I wanted to make sure those reports were as accurate as possible." "So you were there when Jack killed Christopher." "No," she said. "You just said..." "I know, but that time was different. Jack had a bad feeling about that one and talked me into staying outside while he went in. He never told me what happened, and I asked a lot those first couple of days because he went after Anderson right after it went down." Melissa wanted to call her on a lie, but she was telling the truth. She pushed her ability as hard as she could to find the faintest hint of a lie in there. God, she wanted somebody to confirm Emily vision, somebody that wasn't Davidson. "Is that all you needed from me?" "No, actually I had something else in mind. I need you to be his mission operator again, well it's not exactly the same job. I'm going to have to send Jack out on some missions, teamed up with my men more times than not. What I need is somebody with a level had out there with him. According to Dusty and Friedman you're the perfect person for the job. She seemed to be taken aback, "Sure, but why me?" "Because I'm pretty sure Jack wouldn't listen to one of my men. Or one of my men might try to antagonize him into doing something stupid. You're technically the only neutral party here. And after what happened with Christopher I don't think anybody would trust my safety out in the field." Rachel thought it over and accepted the position. "... I'm telling you, I got some great ways to make some money with that ride of yours," Sparky was saying as he followed Davidson into the room. "Do you ever shut up?", he snapped. "Not when there's money involved," Arron said behind them. The two others she sent for came soon after. Davidson leaned against the wall next to Rachel as they got started. Melissa went over the letter and the basic of the job. Get in with a van, locate the surveillance equipment and anything else they could use then get out. A simple snatch and run job. "Are there any questions?" "How are we going to fit all of us and whatever we need without taking the time to be choosy?", one of the other asked. "Simple," Jack spoke up, "me and Rachel follow you guys on my bike to free up some space." That caused a bit of a commotion. "It's a trick!" "You don't trust anybody around that bike do ya?", Sparky said with a grin after things died down a bit. "No, I thought the lasers might come in handy," he said. "Laser?", Melissa asked for them all. He was telling the truth. "The KR-1000 as built in World Inc. R&D department," Rachel explained. "It looks like a regular motorcycle but the engine most definitely isn't. Not only was it designed to be the fastest thing on the road it as also built with a pair of laser for offensive purposes." She got a way too familiar feeling from Sparky. "The fastest thing on the road you say?" "You had to get him started didn't you," Jack said to Rachel "You might," Melissa told him, "want to be careful in how you address your operator." "My...," Jack was dumbfounded. "You mean she's gonna be..." "Your boss," Rachel said while not looking at him, but she was smiling, "again." "Well son of a bitch," Jack said as he left the room. The others followed him out. "Rachel," she called out, "don't to enjoy this too much, huh." "I'm very serious when it comes to my job," she told her. "But you have to admit the look on Jack face was priceless," she added before following. "Well, Dusty did warn me about those two," Melissa said to herself. *** To smooth things over with the others Sparky said he ride his bike along side them. The other two agreed but said it as on his head if they bolted. On the way there he looked over at them and yelled out that they had to race one of these days. Rachel said she was sorry she brought it up the tenth time he did it. "What were we saying the other day about old times?", he asked her after Sparky finally shut up. "So you're alright with this then?" "It just caught me by surprise. There's nobody else I would want for the job." "You just took all the fun out of this, do you know that?" "That was the idea." She slapped him lightly on the side if the helmet. In moments they reached a single story building with the familiar World Inc. logo on it. Arron and one of the other guys jumped out of the van, got the gate open and waved them through. They traveled to the back where the loading docks were. He jumped off the bike and quickly picked the lock on the door then he and Sparky went in and worked on the sliding door of the docks. The van, Arron and Rachel entered with flashlights in hand. "Where are the guards?", Rachel asked looking around. Jack took a flashlight and looked around the ceiling and doorways. He didn't see any signs of a security system or force either. "I got a bad feeling about this," Arron said. "Then let's hurry up and get the stuff," Jack told him. He waved Arron over and quietly said, "Keep an eye on her, just in case." He nodded and pointed Rachel toward some crates. "Jack give me a hand here," Sparky called out. He was working on a big crate labeled surveillance. He reached under and helped him pick it up. As they headed for the van Sparky lost his grip and his end fell to the ground. It busted open on impact but the equipment they were expecting wasn't inside. Sparky picked up a cinder block that was inside. He and Jack just looked at each other, "Oh crap." "Check the others," the guy driving the van ordered. Jack found a couple of crowbars and tossed one to Arron. They opened five more crates, all of them had the blocks inside of them." "Merde," Rachel muttered as the light came on and a World Inc. assault team surrounded them. "Put your hands up now!", one of them commanded. Almost at once Arron changed into a green wolf and got Rachel into hiding. They started firing as Jack and the other dove for cover, but the driver took one to the head. Sparky turned into a blue eel with a slick looking skin as the other one turned into a red lynx and jumped the assault team. Jack took the chance and got his left arm up while he knelt behind a crate. The belt appeared and he swung it to the side and raised his right arm to his face. "Henshin!", he shouted as he slammed his right hand on top of the belt. His body was scanned by the belt and in moments was covered by the black bodysuit and blue armor. He leaped over the crate he was hiding behind and tackled a group of them. Lucky for him the bullets ricocheted off the armor. Jack got up and came face to face with one of the troopers as he grabbed Jack by the shoulders and threw him. He crashed into the wall hard. Drakan, definitely a Drakan, "Were Rachel and Friedman the only humans there," he muttered as the trooper turned into a red praying mantis. The Mantis went after the Lynx next as a couple of troopers got in his way. Sparky knocked them down and said, "We got to help Danny." He glanced over to where Rachel and Arron where, the trooper dropped their guns and brought out the shock sticks. Jack was started to get worried until Rachel grabbed a fire extinguisher and blinded them, giving the wolf a chance to knock them out. He didn't have to worry about them. Jack rushed ahead of Sparky and punched the mantis on the side of the head. Sparky dragged the lynx out of there saying, "Let Jack handle this guy." "Thanks a lot Sparky," he muttered as he spun around and kicked the mantis in the gut. A shock to his his back made him fall to his knees. The lynx tackled the trooper behind him as the mantis wrapped a spiked forearm around his neck and started squeezing. Jack quickly kicked it in the gut again to make it let go and started throwing punches. It jumped up suddenly and kicked him right into Sparky. He got up and tried to run at it but the mantis grabbed the lynx and threw it at him. Sparky jumped over them and placed both hands on its’ chest. The Drakan recoiled from the shock but not for long enough as it threw him into the truck parking area. Jack tackled it from behind, grabbed its’ head and started pounding it into the concrete. It reached over and grabbed a cinder block and swung it into the side of his head. The damn thing didn't look that flexible as it quickly ducked out of the way. Another trooper ran in and started jabbing him with the shock stick to make him back up. Every time Jack tried to make move the bastard would shock him again. Finally he grabbed the stick and crushed it. He glared at him from behind the helmet as he grabbed him by the vest and threw him into a stack of crates. Looking around he saw the meter start flashing as the mantis grabbed a pipe and started to stalk Sparky in the lower section of the loading bay. Jack ran in and twisted the pod down. It raised the pipe above it's head, going to impale Sparky, as he shouted out, "HEY!". The mantis saw him swung as Jack slid under the attack and panted his foot into it’s chest. The Drakan flew back into the wall and exploded. Jack swung his legs around until he was kneeling in the upper platform and looked around. Anybody in a World Inc. uniform was down for the count so he deactivated the system. Arron and the lynx changed back into their human forms. "Is everybody all right?" Rachel asked. Jack looked over to her and saw the vulture behind her, nobody else was seeing it. He closed his eyes and started willing it away. "Jack?", Rachel sounded concerned as she came over to him. "Nothing broken," he said trying to hide his relief that the vulture actually went away. "We better get out of here and tell them what happened," she said. Sparky changed back into his human form and grabbed him by the hand. "Dude, from now on I am officially your best friend. Come to me for anything. I mean it, anything you want, no question asked. You and me are going to be inseparable" Jack slapped his forehead and looked at her, "Just what I needed, a blue haired freak following me everywhere I go." * Ending Theme - Papa Roach- Sometimes * |
01-22-2013, 01:56 AM | #27 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
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<Episode 27>
*Opening theme - Ana - We Are* Melissa braced herself as she stood in front of the others, to pay their last respect for the man they lost a few hours ago. They all knew death was going to be part of the deal. But it was still hard to live with. She remembered her brother having a hard time doing this, he was never comfortable at heralding someone over to they next life. Usually because the body wasn't there, like now. Several times he didn't want to do it, but he put those feeling aside because, as he put it, some traditions shouldn't be left behind. And Melissa knew she could do no less. As she looked over the crowd she saw Haily and Davidson standing near the back of the room. They were told they could miss this seeing how they weren't Drakans. She was glad they came anyway, to at least show they were part of this as well. "It's never easy losing one of our own," she began. "Particularly someone who was with us for a long time. He shared our joy and he shared our sorrow. All of us will feel his lose. His family and friends most of all." She was ready for the renewed wave of sadness as she was feeling it herself. "I know some of you think he was taken from us before he should have. I know this because that was my initial reaction as well. But as Emily would no doubt say, fate decides when it's our time to leave this plane of existence." There were several nods in agreement. "Unfortunately, this life we lead proves that point, because many of our own have been lost." She resisted the urge to look in Davidson’s direction, but she had a feeling several of them were. "We can take some small comfort that he died wanting to better our lives and those of our children and future generations. So as we herald him into the next life let us not live in sorrow that he is gone. Instead let us live like he did, in happiness and with the hope this will soon be over." Melissa reverted to her tiger form and the others did the same. She sensed some fear from Haily and Davidson direction but it was small and understandable. They all looked at the ceiling above them and howled. The feeling of sadness was pierced by something that took her completely by surprise. Panic... anxiety… guilt? It was almost overwhelming. She looked at the source, or she would have if he wasn't already gone. Melissa sensed the confusion from Haily as she realized Davidson wasn't there as well. "Let's...," she tried to continue, "let us hope our herald has warned his ancestors that he is coming and that he is worthy." The crowd slowly dispersed, nobody was indicating that they noticed anything was wrong as they resumed human form. She was suddenly reminded of Emily letter, she described a similar situation from her vision. She started thinking that maybe it was a mistake for him to show up for this. *** Emily walked the hallways of the habitat slowly. She left before the service was over knowing what was going to happen. But she saw that the child felt it, she was caught off guard but she covered it quickly. But right now Melissa wasn't her primary concern, he was. Like she thought he ran to a corridor that was seldom used. The young man was leaning over, his hands on the wall and breathing heavily. She could still see the look of panic and confusion etched on his face. Normally she would have waited for him to come to her, but Emily saw his pain once before and didn't want him to go through this alone again. "Are you alright child?", she asked. Davidson quickly composed himself and tried to act normally," Yeah, I'm fine. I was," he seemed lost for a second," never any good at funerals." Emily knew it was a lie but she said nothing about it. But she did say, "Few of us are." "If you say so. Emily was it?" "Indeed it is Jack. May I call you Jack?" He gave her a half smile, "You can call me just about anything you want." "I think I'll stick with Jack child," she smiled back. "I meant to introduce myself earlier but the others have kept me rather busy the past few days." "They put you to work too?" Emily chuckled, “Not exactly child. No, I'm more of a spiritual adviser for them around here. You could say I'm a seer. I see the future, sometimes the past and occasionally I help those who need to speak to those who have past on when the time is right." Jack expression went blank for a brief moment. "No offense," he ended up saying, "but I never been a big believer in all of that." "Like I said before, very few of us are. Care to walk with an old woman?" "Sure, when is she showing up?" Emily smirked and waged her finger at him, "I see I'm going to have to keep an eye on you." Jack offered her an arm that she took and they headed down the corridor. Unlike most people he let her set the pace and the path. After a couple of moments of silence he said, "So you have one of those...," he trailed off but he did tap the back of his head. "Yes child, Anderson had his doctors implant it a few years ago." "I guess you didn't see that one coming." Emily smacked his leg with her cane. "Ow, ok I had that one coming." "Yes you did," she agreed. "And who said I didn't see it coming, as you put it." He looked confused, "If you saw it coming..." "Why didn't I try to avoid it," she finished for him. "I have been living for a long time child and if I have learned anything it's that fate will not be denied. If something is destined to happen to you it will happen. No matter how hard you try to fight it." She caught him looking at his left hand and his face suddenly became very sad. "The others were outrage of course. How dare he do such a thing to a seer? But very few of them did anything about it." "Is Anderson that powerful?" "He has the right friends and can cover his track very well. I assume he was rather upset when Dusty and the other down here developed those jamming machines." Jack snorted, "I bet he was. I'm pretty sure I would have been caught by now if Rachel didn't figure out metal blocked this things signal." "Your lady friend seems like a very nice person," she told him. "She is, Rachel is one of the smartest people I know," he voice and expression lightened a bit. Emily smiled to herself. "And you care about her." He looked confused again, "Of course I care about her, she's my friend." Then his expression changed again and pointed a finger at her, "Whoa, wait a minute I'm stopping this right now. Dusty tried to hook us up almost as soon as we started living with him. I am not going through that again." Emily started laughing, "Dusty always was a romantic at heart. But don't you worry child, I would never try to force you two together. If you are destined to be with each other than fate will bring you together when it's ready." "Good thing I don't believe in fate," he said plainly and looking straight ahead. "Yes it is," she answered with a small hint of a knowing smile. Jack caught it and gave her a strange look. "There you are," Rachel said as she came around the corner. "What happened?" Emily answered before he could, "it's my fault I'm afraid. I needed to go back to my room for something and I asked him for some assistance. Actually my room is a couple of corners down," she pointed her cane down the hallway behind Rachel. "Really?", Jack asked before covering himself. "Time flies when you're having a good talk." "Some of the other say I have a tendency to make things sound longer and harder than they actually are." Jack looked at Rachel, "Just so you know, at no point did those words come out of my mouth." "I'm sure you would be limping now if they did," Melissa said coming up behind them. "Is this the after services meeting hall or something?", Jack asked. "Not quite," Melissa said. "Actually I wanted to talk to Emily about something." "Well then," Jack began, "I'll just let you two have that talk." He went to let go but she wouldn't let him. "I'll have an opening to talk to you in ten minutes," she told Melissa. "Now if you'll excuse me, how often am I going to be escorted back to my room by a handsome young man?" "Where did he go?", Rachel asked with a smile. Jack just looked at her, "I'm rubbing off on you, you know that?" Emily patted his arm as they continue walking, "Don't mind her child, she’s just jealous." *** Jack took off his jacket as he entered their room and fell on the cot as soon as he got in range. It was bad enough the mission was a bust but Melissa wanted to that heralding thing as soon as she found out they lost a man. Of course he had to freak out again for no apparent reason after hearing that howl. What in the hell was happening to him? Maybe things will be clearer in the morning, if he got any sleep that is. Stupid nightmares. Rachel came in shortly after and saw him there. He said nothing, just staring at the ceiling. She sat on her bed asking, "So what really happened?" "I was walking Emily back to her room. We already went over this." "I might buy that, except I saw her leave after you were already gone. Jack you have to talk to me. I want to try to help if anything bothering you." "There's nothing to talk about," he said flatly. "I guess that's why you keep waking up in the middle of the night screaming," she shot back. He said nothing. Rachel sighed as he started unbuttoning her blouse. Then she looked at him, "Do you mind?", she said with a bit of annoyance. He grunted as he rolled over to face the wall to give her some privacy. Finally he said, "I'd tell you if I had a problem with anything." "I want to believe that Jack, I really do," she told him. "Unfortunately you keep waking up the neighbors and they're looking at me for answers. From what I understand a couple of them actually complained to Melissa." "Then I'll find a muzzle tomorrow, that should make them happy." "Jack that isn't funny." She placed a hand on his shoulder and rolled him back over to his back. She was already wearing that over sized blue T-shirt she found. "I'm starting to get worried about you." He rose up and took her hand, "There's noting to worry about. I'm just going through a bit of a rough spot right now. I'll be over it before you and the nosy neighbors know it." "This rough spot of yours has been going on for a coupe of month now." "And I can handle it," he assured her. "The moment I can't you'll be the first person I talk too. I promise," he crossed his heart to prove the point. Rachel looked like she was going to keep arguing the point. "Look, we both had a long night, and I don't know about you but I'm really tired. I just want to get some sleep." She looked unconvinced but pulled away saying, "We're not done talking about this." "If you say so." He turned back over as she turned off the light. "Night Rachel." "Goodnight Jack," she said back. He laid there for a long time. He doubted she understand if he did tell her. *** The trap they set last night could have gone better. Yes his forces were able to eliminate one rebel, his body was in cold storage right now. Still the others that were with him escape and he had losses of his own. But there was a bit of information that intrigued him. Anderson put the tips of his fingers together as he looked at Perez. "Are your men positive he was there?" "Unless there is a third mark one out there we don't know about who hooked up with Hailys’ twin," he answered. Anderson cocked an eyebrow, "There's no need to get sarcastic Mr. Perez." Taylor spoke up beside him, "This does make the second reported time Davidson intentionally helped the rebels." "Except this time our spotter seen him come in with the rebels," Perez added. "From the look of things he and the rebels might have joined forces. Of course that just my opinion sir," he said. "And it appears your opinion might be correct Mr. Perez," Anderson agreed. "Step up your training program for the men. We're going to have to assume they're going to encounter Davidson on every mission from now on." "Yes sir, I'll have them start immediately," he gave a quick salute and left his office. Anderson leaned back in his chair and uncharacteristically sighed out loud. "That makes our situation that much harder. If Davidson and the rebels can learn to work as a cohesive unit we might," he held up a finger, "might mind you, have some trouble." "I'd imagine that would depend on how much trust they were able to build between them," his VP said. "True Mr. Taylor, very true." He thought this over, how could he use this to his benefit? "Of course I have been telling the other Alphas that the Drakan Killer was a concoction of the rebels’ propaganda. They would be unintentionally supporting my claim by working with him." "A small bright spot at least," Taylor agreed. "I'll start a contingency plan to spin this bit of information." "Speaking of contingency plan, what is the update for Mitchell and the other mark one?" "From the looks of thing it appears Allen's pet project is going to beat Mitchell out of the gate, to use the expression. Of course Dr. Armstrong is doing everything in his power to prove that estimate wrong." "Of course he is," he allowed himself a small smile. "One thing bother me about this, why didn't we hear about this union before now. Christopher may have been able to convince the others to remain quiet but he is dead. Who else has the influence to keep this quiet?" "Christopher had a sister didn't he?", Taylor asked. "Could she have convinced them?" "Yes he did, Melissa, but she would have to be desperate to house Christopher's killer." He got up from his chair, he needed to think this over. "If anything important comes up I'll be in my personal gym. I need to relieve some frustration." "I'll order the replacement equipment now," Taylor said. Anderson smiled again, "Good man." *** Like she expected Jack was acting like nothing happened to him. A couple of Drakan looked at him with annoyance, but he ignored them. He had another nightmare but this time he tried to cut off his initial scream. Rachel was already awake, she was expecting it. She remained motionless and watched him. Jack had sat there breathing hard then quickly turned his head around the room, almost like he was searching for something. She caught him doing that few times back at Dusty's. Mumbling something he laid back down. Rachel wasn't sure if he ever went back to sleep. Right now he was trying to respect whatever period of mourning they had around here. Joking around only when he saw the other Drakan were. But for the most part it looked like he was trying to avoid knocking out Sparky. When that Drakan said they were going to be inseparable he meant it. A few moments after spotting them he trailed Jack just about everywhere he went in the habitat, talking his ear off. At one point she came down a hallway and saw Jack push him out of a room he was entering, "Dude a little privacy please." "One man operation, you got it," Sparky said. "I'll be right here waiting for you." Rachel recognized that look on Jack's face. Good thing for Sparky she just happened to be walking by. "Jack you did say you wanted to go to the garden center later right?", she asked. It looked like Jack's initial hunch was right as his blue eyes went wide. Jack saw it too. "Yeah," he played along, "how about I meet you down there? You're coming too, right Sparky?" "I... I..," he stammered, "I think I hear my mom calling me." Another Drakan that was in the hallway asked, "I thought you said you mother was in Florida?" "She yells really loud," and he was gone in a flash. He looked at her looking very relived, "Thank you." She smiled as she went on her way, "Any time." Although she wouldn't say the Drakan were accepting Jack, she would say they were slowly getting use to him being there. Actually Rachel was surprised at grateful looks the parents around here were giving him. Especially when their child started to act up and get out of control and they spotted him. Most time he would do nothing and stand there, other times he wag a finger and give them a stern look before turning away smiling. He actually told her once, "You know, it's kinda fun being the boogieman." Not that they haven't made a couple of friends down here already. Arron pretty much accepted them from the start and she was getting to know Melissa faster than she thought it would take. Then word started going around that Emily apparently had no problem with him and that warmed up some of the others. Arron and a group of the others invited them to talk in the main room after all the work was done for the day. Everything was going fine until she noticed the other Drakan becoming very quiet. She looked around and saw the monkey, Jason, came up to them. "Steady Jack," she whispered as she put a hand on his shoulder. Jason sat on the same bench he was, making sure there was plenty of room between them. Neither of them looked at each other but she could feel the tension. Better cut off a potential brawl now, "Let's get out of here." "Who was Richie?", he asked suddenly. Rachel didn't think it was possible but Jack tensed up even more. "The first time we fought you mentioned a Richie, who was he?" Without any emotion in his voice he answered, "My best friend since I was three." There was a moment of silence the Jack asked, "Who was the guy you mentioned?" "His name was Kendell, he was the spider you faced. He was my partner for a long time." Rachel and the others looked at them, were they actually going to be civil with each other? Letting him live was one thing, but if they could actually get along it could help his acceptance with the others. That hope was dashed when Jack finally looked at Jason, disdain in his eyes. The only expression on his face was that sly half smile of his as he said, "So that's were spider monkeys come from." "What?! Not that kind of partner...," he growled and stormed off. Jack smile grew bigger. "Did you have to do that?", Rachel asked him wearily. "Yes I did," he answered before heading off in the opposite direction. Rachel sat on the bench feeling very tired. Arron put a hand on her shoulder, "I don't think those two will ever get along." "I guess I should at least be grateful they didn't start exchanging blows on the spot." *** Melissa looked around her makeshift conference room. A few maps of the city and surrounding area, a few chairs, mainly some empty crates. It wasn't much but it suited her needs. She tried to convince Chris they needed something like this for awhile to help plan their operations. He always resisted saying it would make them too military like. Melissa just wished he didn't have to die in order for her to get this done. Almost as soon as she thought that Davidson and Haily walked in. Davidson slowed down as he came in with a strange look on his face as he looked around. Haily had a similar expression and said, "Déj* vu." Davidson nodded. "Ah Jack," Melissa said, "I wanted to talk to you about something." She might as well get this over with. Davidson got defensive rather quick, "If this is about the monkey just because I have to live with him doesn't mean I have to get along with him." Melissa just stared at him, "What are you talking about?" "Nothing," he answered while trying to act innocent. No need in asking any more, no doubt she would hear about it later. "No I wanted to talk to you about what happened to Christopher." His expression went blank but she could feel the turmoil inside him. "I killed him as simple as that," was all he said. "I realize that," she told him," But I also know there has to be more to it than that or you wouldn't have left World Inc." "Look I realize he was your leader..." "He was my brother," she cut him off, anger edging her voice, "and I have the right to know what happened!" Davidson and Haily looked at each other in surprise. Oh great, "And you didn't know that until now did you?" "I’d be lying if I said we did," Haily answered. "I'm surprised the others haven't thrown that in your face by now. But it still doesn't change the fact that I deserve to know what happened." Davidson looked hesitant to answer until he eventually sat down in one of the chairs and told her. "Like I said I killed him," he rand his hands through his hair before continuing. "I was fighting him and his guards. After a bit ten more, I guess that's how many there were, came in to help him. They forced him to go. I jumped over them using the staff and ran after him. I hit him with the kick and he went..., "he corrected himself, "he exploded. Actually his guard tried to take the hit but he pushed him out of the way. I ran through the rest of them to grab the staff. But they didn't come after me, they surrounded what was left of him and ho...," he choked up for a moment, "howled. I had to get out of there... then...," he trailed off. "The what?", she asked. Haily started rubbing his shoulder. He closed his eyes and said, "Then there was a massacre. Anderson's men covered the upper area and started firing away at the remaining Drakan, they killed them all right then and there." Haily looked sick as she heard this for the first time. Melissa didn't need her gift to see how reliving this memory was affecting Davidson. He continued, "I went up there and grabbed the first one I could and demanded an answer. He said Anderson orders were to take out the ones I didn't get. After that I went after him." Oh God he was telling the truth, it was just like in Emily's vision. She sent those men to their death, just because she wanted to help her brother. "I'm sorry," he said softly but suddenly Melissa needed to breath, he was being sincere. "Don't, don’t be. Chris knew there was a strong possibility that he was going to die when he faced you. Th..., "she stuttered, "thank you for being honest with me." After a painful moment of silence Arron ran into the room, a panic look on his face. "What is it?" "La...," he was breathing hard, "Lance. We just got a distress call from Lance." Davidson got to his feet looking all business. "His convoy was ambushed by Anderson's troops." "Where is he?", Davidson asked. "He said he was past mile marker twenty eight before we lost contact." "I know where it is," he told them before rushing past Arron. He fixed that foil lined hood over his head. She realized he was heading for the garage. "I’ll go ahead and try to help who I can. Get a party together and meet me there." "Melissa?", Arron asked her. She watched him, saw how determined he was. There wasn't much else she could do, "You heard the man, get a party together. And contact Dusty and tell him to expect some serious wounded, just in case." *** Jack pushed the bike as hard as he could handle it. Finding out that leader he took out was Melissa's brother drove home just how much he wronged this group of people. And it was going to be a long road up hill to try to make it up to them, if he ever did. And he had to start some where. He reached mile marker twenty six and had a good long straight stretch of road in front of him. Jack raised his left arm in front of his chest to make the belt appear. Quickly he swung his arm to the side and raised his right arm, shouting, "Henshin!", he slammed his right hand on top of the belt and grabbed the handlebars of the bike. He accelerated the bike as the black body suit and blue armor formed around him. Please don't let him be too late. He passed marker twenty seven and was coming up on twenty eight in no time. Before he knew it he came up to another apparent massacre. In the brief time he had he saw Drakan and men in World Inc. uniforms lying on the ground. The he saw a red wolverine fighting a red cat of some sort. Jack quickly realized that this plan of his had a slight problem. The cat knocked the wolverine down and Jack made his choice. He came in fast riding on his back tire and slammed the front tire into the cat. It flew back from the impact as he brought the tire down and skidded the bike to a stop. Jack got off and took the staff from its holder. He pointed it at the wolverine, who was taken aback. "Please tell me you're Lance." The wolverine changed back into a blond long haired human. The same one he saw with Melissa, "This answer your question?" "Right," he said as he turned toward the cat and snapped the staff to it's full length. The cat got back to its’ feet as Jack charged it. The Drakan ducked the first swing easily but didn't see the back swing aimed at it's knees that tripped it in time. Jack brought the end of the staff around as he stood over it and brought the end close to its’ face. "Be a good kitty or I'll spay and/or neuter you." The cat kicked him in the back and he stumbled foreword. The red Drakan kicked itself to its’ feet and Jack swung the staff again. It ducked and extended the claws on its’ right hand as it swiped at his chest. He went flying from the blow. Before he could regain his footing the cat pounced on him and started throwing clawing swipes at his head, knocking him senseless. On instinct he twisted the staff in the center to collapse it. The he jammed it hard into its ribs. The cat howled in pain and knocked the staff out of his hands. He had just enough of an opening to hit the bottom of its jaw with the heel of his hand. Dazed, Jack had no problem pushing it off and rolling to a kneeling position. He noticed Lance just sitting there watching them. Not like he was expecting any help or anything, but at least look like you were making an effort or something dude. The cat snarled as it came at him. He dodged and grabbed the cat around the waist from behind. Grunting, Jack picked up the Drakan and threw it over his head, falling back in the process. The cat landed on the back of its neck and was slowly getting up. When it did Jack was right there to knock it back down. He pounded away until the meter started flashing. Jack spun around and planted kick to its’ gut to force it back. He twisted the pod up and the charge went up his side and down his right arm. Jack raced in and landed a straight punch to its chest. The cat flew back and exploded. Jack stood there trying to get his breath back, another one added to the nightmare. Deactivating the armor he removed his motorcycle helmet and walked over to Lance. They stared at each other for a few moments, Jack started smirking as he said "Not bad for a guy who you said couldn't be trusted around you guy huh?" Lance didn't reply right away, "You didn't know which one was me did you?" Jack shrugged his shoulders, "I was always good a fifty-fifty. According to Dusty it's the height of rudeness, but if I ever do this again somebody better tell me who turns into what before I make a huge mistake." He held out a hand for Lance. He looked at it for a moment then took it and Jack helped him up. "You all right?" "Yeah,” he nodded.”Luckily Anderson troops were only armed with stun grenades and had no idea how bad we outnumbered them. You're not bad with that staff, a little crude maybe, but not bad." "Eh, Anderson had one of his top goons give me a few lesson. I never really paid that much attention to be honest with you." A couple of pairs of headlights could be seen coming the direction he came from. Before long a couple of old vans came to a stop and Rachel and the other piled out. "You guys missed the party." The Drakan ignored him as the checked on the others. The relief was visible as they realized the other were alive. Rachel stood next to him, mainly to make sure he stayed out of the way. She smiled at bit at him, "You did good, you know that?" "Was there ever any doubt?" "With you? Always," she playfully elbowed him the ribs. He sold it before smiling back. Lance was talking to one of the medics a little bit away from them. "Looks like her cousin tried to go for one of the big fish." He snorted, "I don't think he considers me that big of a target." He tried to make sure they didn't over hear the conversation, they did any way. Jack and Rachel both started at him. "Cousin?", Rachel asked. "What cousin?" *Ending theme - Papa Roach - Sometimes* |
03-13-2013, 01:09 AM | #28 |
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 486
|
<Episode 28>
*Opening theme - Ana - We Are* Rachel and Jack arrived back at the Habitat with the others. Almost immediately they went looking for Melissa. Both of them had a determined look on their faces. They finally found her in the main area. "Ok, remember what we discussed," she told him. "We're not gong to over react. I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why we weren't told." "Calm, right," he said not taking his eyes off of Melissa. Rachel was starting to get worried, his guard was up again. Personally she couldn't blame him, neither of them expected to find this out. "Jack," she grabbed his arm, "do it my way. There's no need to make a scene." "I'm not going to make a scene. I just want some answers." She took the lead and both of them walked toward Melissa. She saw them and hurried over to them. "Jack, Rachel," she greeted them with a huge smile. "I just got the word. Thank you Jack," she surprised him and a few of the other by hugging him, "Lance has been my friend for a long time. I don't think I could do this without him." "Jack was glad to help," Rachel said for him. "But we kind of overheard a piece of information, and we were hopping you clarify it for us." "Anderson's you freakin' cousin!", Jack outburst caught everybody off guard. Melissa didn't even try to hide it, "I see you found out." Rachel grabbed his arm and turned him toward her, "I thought we agreed that we weren't going to make a scene." "Screw that," he told her. "I want to know why I wasn't told I was in the middle of a family feud." "If only it was actually that simple," Melissa sighed and walked away. They followed her as she continued. "Maybe this whole mess would make some kind of sense. Then again what war does? To be honest I'm surprised you two didn't find out before now. I know how the people down her loves to gossip. Maybe they were like me and were afraid of how you would react." "Why, because you and Anderson both have people fighting your personal war?", Jack demanded. "Again, it's not that simple." She stopped and looked like she was trying to figure the best way to begin. Melissa faced them, "You have to understand, this," she gestured toward the others, “isn't a new thing. To my knowledge there has been Drakan calling for equality between the classes for decades. If not longer. And there are those ready to beat those Drakans back down whenever they raise their heads up." "Anderson is obviously in the latter category," Rachel said. "And you're in the former." "Not as much as my Brother was." She looked past them, "You could see could see the way he felt at a young age." *** A young boy of eight years of age was running through the halls of a mansion like house. Several people told the dark haired, blue eyed boy to watch out but he was having too much fun to listen or even care. Besides it was his house, he could run in it if he wanted too. Then he took a corner too sharply and ran into a stand holding a very old vase. He was able to catch the stand no problem. The vase, however, wobbled and fell to the ground, shattering on impact. "Crud," he said as he looked around. He saw a broom closest and took out a broom and dustpan then started cleaning the mess. A butler in his fifties who was searching out the source of the noise found him sweeping it up. "Master Richards," he said, "let me clean that up." "No," he said, "it's my mess Phillip. I'll clean it up." "Listen to you servant Christopher," said another boy who was ten year old, also with dark hair. He leaned against a wall, "It is the only time somebody of his status should be listened to at any point." "He's still a person Matthew," Christopher argued. "Even he deserves some respect." "He's a blue," Matthew said. "He doesn't deserve anything but what we give him." "Take that back," Christopher said walking toward him. Phillip quickly put a hand on his shoulder. "Master Anderson is quite right young sir," he said. "I'm just a lonely blue, not much good for anything. I'm fortunate your family saw fit to give me place of employment." "You see cousin," Matthew sneered, "even he knows how the world works. Like my Father said, why make changes to a system that still works. Even you own Father feels the same way." Not able to contain his anger anymore he failed away with his fist and he let out a low growl. Luckily his fist connected and his cousin went down. "Master Richards!", the butler cried out as he pulled him back. "You blue lover!", Matthew cried out as he held his cheek. He got to his feet and ran off saying, "I'm going to tell your Father blue lover!" Christopher knew he was trying to insult him. He really didn't care, he wanted to pop Matthew one for like forever. "Oh Master Matthew," Phillip said sounding very concerned. "What is your Father going to say when he finds out about this?" "I don't care," he said stubbornly. Actually he did, but dang it he was in the right here. It was just that everybody else was too pigheaded to realize it. He took the broom from the butler and started sweeping up the mess again. "Master Richards that's my job." "And I made the mess," he said a little too defiantly. "I'm sorry Phillip, but he makes me so mad sometimes." "I can see that young sir," Phillip said with an amused twinkle in his eye. "But if you don't mind this old blue saying so, you can't let other get under your skin like that. "Don't call yourself a blue," Christopher told him. "But that’s what I am young sir, and you are a green. Mark my words Master Richards, Drakans will be following you. And not because they think they have too. No sir, they'll follow you because they'll want to, much like your father." "I don't want to be like him," he mumbled. "Maybe not, but you have the same charisma he has. Emily herself saw it in you. Master Anderson may have the power and money behind him, but you have that extra little something he hasn't. If you don't mind me saying so. Now give those here," he took the broom from him, "this is my place in the world and I am happy with it." "Can I hold the dustpan for you?" Phillip sighed, "If you wish. But we better hurry, I know your little sister has been dying to tell you about her latest visit to Emily's." *** Melissa came back to her senses and saw Haily and Davidson staring at her. "No my brother and Anderson been on opposite side of this particular fence for as long as I can remember. Our parents tried to keep me out of their, and I'm quoting here, petty squabble. But I found myself seeing things as my brother did." "So mom and pop didn't exactly go along with Christopher view on things?", Davidson commented. "That's one way of putting it," Melissa told him. "Mom and Dad were old school all the way when it came to this." "That had to make things interesting growing up," Haily said with a wry grin. "Rachel you had no idea," she grinned back. "Chris wasn't the first green to think that as a child. Most parents beat it out of them. Other, like ours, waited until they grew out of it and came to their senses. Sadly most of them did grow out of it, I guess it’s a part of that whole teenage rebellion thing. My parents fully expected Chris to grow of it too." She smiled again, "To bad for them he never did. He was one of those rare greens that actually believed that the classes should be equal." "Bet mom and pop wondered where they went wrong." "Jack," Haily warned him. "Believe it or not I heard them ask that same question more than once. Especially Dad, he didn't even bother to hide his disappointment at times. I remember being in my room and hearing the two of them argue through the walls." "So why did you join up with your Brother if you knew what kind of commotion it was going to cause?", Haily asked. She had to think about that one for a moment. "I guess because there were two opposing viewpoints." She tried not to laugh at the confused look on their faces. "As Emily has been found of telling me lately you need to consider all the facts before making a decision." She started walking again, "I think that's why he started searching out other Drakan that thought like him. Despite how hard my family tried to persuade him other wise." *** Christopher sat in the park going over things in his mind. A couple of days out of high school and his Father was already pressing him to go to the school he wanted in order to take over the business. Too bad Christopher had other ideas about what to do with the company. He doubted his Father would be pushing him this hard if he knew what he had planned. His mood started to darken as a familiar scent reached his nose. "What do you want Matt," he asked. Matthew sat on the bench next to him, "Must you be so familiar Christopher?" "I can't be familiar with my own cousin?", he shot back. "There is such a thing as being too familiar cousin. You should remember that." They sat in relative silence for a long time. "I saw you coming out of that meeting last night," he said suddenly. He grinned at his cousins' discomfort. "Really Christopher, most men have out grown the idiotic notion of equality between the classes by now." "The only people who think it's idiotic are those too close minded to open their eyes." "A clever comeback cousin," he joked. "Did you come up with that all by yourself? Or did these... rebels put those words in your head last night." "Why do they automatically have to be called rebels if they don't agree with your view of things?" "The very definition of a rebel is one who goes against society norm Christopher. Even you can't be blinded to that fact." He sat back and stretched out. "Which is what these fools exactly are, rebels to our society. No rebellion has ever won against society cousin." Christopher looked at him, "Tell that to those who fought in the American Revolution." Matthew laughed out loud, "Are you actually trying to compare this hiccup you're apart of to a piece of human history? You do them a disservice comparing them to that filth Christopher." "Drakan fought in that war too Matt," Christopher corrected him. "I realize that," he informed him. "I also realize they did so to maintain their cover." He slowly shook his head, "It still pains me that we have to hide what we really are by appearing as an obviously inferior life form." "Sounds like you want to start a rebellion of your own," he said slyly. "And you would say that wouldn’t you cousin, and no doubt would enjoy the bit of irony involved," he answered as he stood up. Looking around, his lip curled in disgust at all the human in this particular park. “As much as something like that appeals to me in the end I am a realist. The humans outnumber us, even a school child knows that. Any superior physical or mental advantage we might have would be negated by their sheer number. Then were would we be in the end, an exhibit in a zoo or worse." He walked away and left Christopher to himself. To himself he started saying, "But it might be time to start thinking about doing the same to these rebels." *** They stopped talking as a group of kids passed. They gave him a scared look, but a few waved at him. Jack waved back with a bit of a smile. Melissa caught it and had to smile at them, "You're going to ruin your image Jack." "The boogieman only goes after the bad kids," he informed her "You're loving that role a little too much," Rachel told him. "They turned me into that, well their parents did," he shrugged. "But there is one naughty 'kid' I would love to get my hands on." "You might," Emily said coming up behind them. "When the time is right. But there is no guarantee that you'll ever battle Anderson face to face. Assuming of course child that Anderson was the kid you were talking about." "What's the matter, can't see that coming?" Emily cane shot out and whacked him in the shin, "Ow!". Rachel put a hand to her mouth but she was still chuckling. "Should have warned you," Melissa said. "If you're going to make comments like that you might want to invest in a good pair of shin guards." "Anything else you forgotten to tell me that I should know about?", Jack asked while rubbing his leg. "Melissa," Emily said, "I was asked to find you. They you need in the war room. It sounded rather important." Melissa threw up her hands and muttered, "What did they lose now?", and walked off in a hurry. "She is so gonna go nuts," Jack said, mostly to himself. "If anybody knows anything about going nuts...", Rachel muttered. Before he could ask her what that meant Emily spoke up. "The child is stronger than she think at times. Christopher would have been proud." She looked at them, "Word has it you discovered her ties to Anderson. I must say child you look rather upset," she said mainly to him. "Yeah, well I've been kept in the dark about a lot of things since I've woke up in the middle of this crap," Jack told her. "And personally I'm getting sick of it." "And seeing how I was the one keeping him in the dark about a few of those things I kind of understand how he feels," Rachel added "Well let me ask you something," Emily said. "Would the two of you have done anything different if you knew Melissa and Anderson were related?" Jack and Rachel looked at each other, not sure what to say. "I thought so," Emily said after a few moments. "Ok, maybe we wouldn't have," he admitted, "but it still doesn't explain why we weren't told." "Perhaps she was afraid you would do something differently, maybe not agreed to this at all," she offered. "Or worse, judge her for what her family has done. I say chances are good that those thoughts crossed your minds at least once on the way back." "Well...," Rachel started scratching the back of her head. He said nothing, it actually crossed his mind more than once. "Trust me child," Emily leaned heavily on her cane. "I knew all three of them growing up. Anderson is nothing like his cousins, much to my relief. No, he revels in his in his status. A condition that was made worse when he started working for Allen at World Inc." "But Allen was Anderson's vice president," Rachel said. "I might have been just in tracking but I don't think even a hostile take over would let Allen be VP of the entire company he used to run." "Excuse me child, I meant the elder Allen, his father Harold. Anderson connected with him almost immediately, seeing how they had somewhat similar views about the growing rebel problem." *** Anderson was next to Allen as they walked behind the senior Allen through the halls of his company. Harold Allen was a man with gray hair, but he kept himself in relatively good shape. He was also an alpha with some power among the other pacts. Not much but enough that the others respected him. "Bradley," he said to his son, "do you have those financial projections for the next quarter?" "Right here sir," he said pulling a folder out of his briefcase. "If things stay the course I'm sure you'll be very happy with the projections." "Good, good," he quickly read it over. Bradley gave him a very smug look. Anderson may have risen quickly in the World Inc. ranks and gained the senior Allen's favor, but the younger Allen was still the heir to this corporation. "Very nice Bradley, up to your usual standards." The smug look disappeared quickly as his father turned around and handed back the folder. "Mr. Anderson," Harold addressed him, "what kind of results did you get when I asked you to go over those same projections." Bradley looked betrayed, his Father didn't seem to care. "I have them right here sir," he handed him another folder, this one was a little thicker than Allen's. "I hope you don't mind but I added a few suggestions that might keep those projections on course." Harold Allen looked then over than looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Trying to control the future Mr. Anderson?" "No sir, I just recognized some potential trouble areas that somebody should keep an eye on. Perhaps cut them off entirely if necessary." He tossed glance toward his son. "You might want to pay attention to this one Bradley, he has a good head on his shoulders. You might learn a thing or two from him." "I...," he stammered, "I have something that needs my attention." Allen looked down and walked away in a huff. Harold looked disappointed, "I wish he had a backbone. I gave him the perfect opportunity to defend himself too. I would have been satisfied with a 'your wrong'. Anything that suggested he had some initiative." Sighing loudly he added, "Don't be surprised if something happens to sabotage your projections." "I'm fully prepared just in case sir." "That's why I like you Mr. Anderson, you remind me so much of myself. Walk with me." They went down the hallway passing a few people. "I hear your cousin is hanging around some unsavory elements as of late." "Christopher has always been a bit of a black sheep in the family. His parents and myself have tried to make him see reason, but some people are just too hard headed to see things correctly." "Hmm," he took that in. "I also believe his sister has been seen with them lately as well. What was her name again?" "Melissa," he answered while trying to hide how shocked he was. "She... always was heavily influenced by him. I'm surprised my Aunt and Uncle let things get that far." "Don't blame your family Mr. Anderson," he told him. "More and more of our kind have been falling for this foolish notion. The only way we can survive as a species is for tradition to be followed." "I agree with you sir," he told him. "But I also see that some of these people won't listen to reason." Harold sighed again, "Not this again. Mr. Anderson we can not force these people back into the right way of thinking." "And you said yourself that there are more joining this particular cause. It must be stop before it becomes too big, at all cost if necessary. We are already secretly monitoring them, why not take that next step." "Perhaps, but you will be hard pressed to find another alpha that would go to such length. The outrage from the other pacts would ruin whoever was involved. No, as long as I am in charge of this company that will not happen." "If I was running this company I would take that chance." "Then, Mr. Anderson, it is a good thing you are not in charge." Anderson stopped walking, "Maybe it's time to change that." Harold stopped, turned around and looked at the young man, "Are you challenging me Mr. Anderson?" He stood a little straighter, "Yes sir I am." The older Allen studied him for a bit. "You do realize my son, who is a few years older than you, has challenged me several times so far. Each time I turned him down." "Yes sir I do. You said yourself a little bit ago that he had no backbone. And I think you would agree that if you did he would not give you an honorable fight." Anderson waited patiently, hoping he read this man right. Suddenly he chuckled and muttered, "So much like myself." A little louder he said, "I accept your challenge Mr. Anderson. The arena, say two month from today. Just to give us the proper time to prepare of course." "Agreed," he said and walked off. He tried to keep his emotions under control. He got what he wanted, a chance to be an alpha. The words of that seer came back to him, his decisions would change their world. She also said no human could stop him but his fellow Drakan could. And that included Harold Allen, so he would have to train very carefully for this. *** "Whoa, wait a minute," Jack said loudly. Emily expected this type of reaction from him. "You're telling us that Anderson took over World Inc. because he beat up daddy Allen in a fight." He looked over to Rachel, "Am I the only one finding this a little hard to believe?" Rachel crossed her arms, "This from a man who agreed to a round of Honor Combat." "It is our way child," Emily explained. "Anything important between two Drakan, especially the two vying for the alpha position, is usually settled in this manner. Fortunately some of us have better ways to settle these things. Christopher, for example, was only considered our leader because of his conviction and belief in the cause. But some hold on to the old ways with such an iron grasp, it saddening at times." Rachel studied her for a moment before asking, "You were there weren't you?" "Yes child I was," she said softly. "Tradition demanded that a seer be present over such an event. To give her blessing and for honorable combat. And for a clean death." *** Anderson blocked out everything except Harold Allen. Even the seers' disapproving glare did not distract him. Along with the seer Bradley Allen and Maxwell Banner were there. As were two acquaintances of his, Walter Taylor and a man from the fledgling R&D department Barry Armstrong. Witnesses to what was about to happen. Allen reverted to his green shark form, with a sizable chunk missing from the fin on the top of his head, while he changed into the green cheetah. They circled each other, growling and swiping at each other. The shark fist struck him before he could react. Anderson was forcibly turned around and went to a knee, in moments he was tasting a coppery substance in his mouth. First blood to the senior Allen. The shark smiled, almost like he smelled the blood. The cheetah jumped to his feet but held back from rushing in. Harold would expect him to rush in. The shark nodded in approval at his restraint and they circled each other again. Anderson knew Allen had enough experience to counter his youth. He would have to bid his time. The shark kicked out a foot that the cheetah blocked. He swung a fist in retaliation that the shark took. He was taking a measure of his strength, a smart tactic. The cheetah started testing is defenses, trying to find a hint of an opening or a weakness to exploit. The shark was good at covering himself, but he saw a hint of something there. Biding his time he launched a few direct attacks with punches and kicks in various combinations and blocked when he had too. Harold Allen wasn't the alpha for nothing as he was quickly finding out. Suddenly he saw his opening and feinted to his right before launching a kick at his left side. The cheetah was shocked when the shark caught his leg and threw him to the ground. The shark jumped on top of him with his mouth wide open. The cheetah quickly got his hands up to keep from chomping down on his neck. The shark started punching him in the side to get him to loose his grip. The cheetah was able to get his legs under the shark and pushed him off. He jumped out of the way as the shark lunged at him again. They went at each other trying to wear the other one down. The cheetah snapped off a kick that caught the shark unaware and made him stumble backwards. Seeing his chance the cheetah roared and jumped on top of him, knocking the shark to the ground. Not letting him take a breath he swiped his claws into his face repeatedly, tearing into his flesh. "I yield!," the shark said suddenly. The cheetah paused in his attack not sure what to make of this. "I yield Mr. Anderson," he repeated. The cheetah got off of him and backed away. The shark got to his knees, "The company is now yours, run it as you see fit. Hopefully you'll find time to ask me for advice from time to time." Anderson looked him in the eyes while he said, "If we are to survive tradition must be followed." The shark eyes went wide right before his claws sliced through neck deeply, severing an artery. Anderson walked away and returned to his human form as Harold Allen lay there dying. He grabbed a towel and calmly wiped the blood from his hand. "You killed him!", Bradley Allen shouted at him. "Of course I did,” he stated flatly, "it was a fight to the death after all, just like tradition demanded." He noticed the seer was already leaving, he would worry about her later. "It was a proper fight so control of World Inc. will be turned over to me. I will of course allow a proper period of morning so we can finalize this in a week." He looked at the witnesses that remained. Taylor and Armstrong would follow him no question about it. Allen, he would keep around. The man was no serious threat, but he respected his father. It was the least he could do. Maxwell was a different story, he was very close to the late Allen. But he was a good worker and kept to himself. As long as he followed the line he set he would keep him around. If he didn't then he would fine away to take care of him. Anderson allowed himself a small moment to reflect on things. He was in control of World Inc., now he had a way to take care of these rebels incase they got too ambitious. And he already had plans in his head in order to do so. First he was going to need an army, then take things from there. *** Jack walked around trying to take in all he heard. It was late at night so he had plenty of time to reflect without being disturbed. He turned a corner and was surprised to find Melissa sitting by herself, a few empty beer cans lying on the ground by her feet. "Are you drunk?" "Not yet," she answered, "I usually don't get tipsy until after about three beers.” She did a quick recount of the empty hands. "Alright, maybe I'm a little tipsy. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not a heavy drinker. Hell this is the first time I've touched the stuff since Chris died. I've seen him a little wobbly at times when things got a little too rough. Rumor had it he had a bottle of Jack Daniels hidden around here somewhere. I think Sparky found it awhile back though. Now I'm understanding why I found him like that sometimes. Here," she tossed him a can, "sit down and share a couple of drinks with me." "How do I know you're not trying to get me drunk and so you can have your way with me?" Melissa tilted her head back and barked out a laugh, "Don't flatter yourself Davidson." He turned a chair around and straddled it. "It's the blood thing right," he acted hurt. "No, I don't do the inter species thing." She took another drink, "If the smell of blood bothered me I don't think we would have gotten as far as we did in the beginning. God, if Chris knew about some of the things I did to get us some information he would have beat my ass." She shivered in disgust for a bit before she started staring at him. "You know, before I meet you I didn't think it was possible to be grateful for somebody and hate them with everything you had at the same time. I mean I'm grateful you saved my life and all." "But you hate me for killing your brother," he finished for her and opened his can. He took a drink before continuing, "Look, I know I'm never going to be forgiven for that. No matter how hard I try, and I don't blame you one bit. And I think I know why you kept being related to Anderson from us. I pretty sure I over reacted when I heard it. I'm just tired of feeling used." "I don't want you to feel used Jack," she told him. "You and Rachel are free to leave any time you want. In fact you have my word that nobody from this cell will hunt you down. And anytime you need help will do what we can." He nodded, "I said I'd help you guys and take Anderson down. I'm not backing out of that now." She gave him a small grateful smile, "I'm glad to hear that. But I have to warn you, if we're going to take the fight to Anderson I might have to send you on jobs similar to the ones he sent you on. I don't want to, but if I want to better to the life of the ones down here I'm going to have too." "I don't like it either," he told her, "but this is a war after all. Everybody have to do things they don't want to do." "Then here to a quick end to this mess," she held up her beer can and Jack hit his against in a toast. Then they both took a drink at the same time. There was a better understanding between them now, he hoped. He wished Rachel was here to see it, she would be pleased when she found out. Now all they have to worry about was what Anderson was going to throw at them next. *Ending Theme - Papa Roach - Sometimes* |
04-12-2013, 01:46 AM | #29 |
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<Episode 29>
*Opening theme – Ana – We Are* Their was some laughter in the air as Jack, Arron, Sparky and a couple of the others walked down the hallways of the underground habitat. Arron kept looking back at Sparky nervously but the others kept him too busy to notice. Jack raised his hand slightly to tell the young Drakan to calm down. This was going to work, they just had to keep Sparky preoccupied for a few more moments. Of course Sparky choose then to look at around. “I don’t think I ever been down this way before.” “Well it’s a big place,” Jack said casually, “It’d be hard to know everything about it.” “Yeah,” Arron agreed quickly, “I’m still finding out new things about this place.” “But I went over this place with a fine tooth comb,” Sparky told them. Jack chuckled and joked, “What, are you head of security around here or something?” “Then we’re doomed,” one of the others said. Even Sparky got a good laugh out of that one. “Nah, I was just picking out the prime make out spots down here.” He shot this wry look over to Jack, “Let me know if you ever want to see that list. I’m sure the two of you are doing ok in your room and all, but sometimes you gotta sneak away in the middle of the day.” “Get your mind out of the gutter Sparky,” Jack told him flatly. “Me and Rachel are just friends.” “Hopefully friends with privileges,” he grinned wickedly. Jack just ignored him. “Come on man, you got needs, she got needs. Something gonna blow if something doesn’t get done. Hell, I may decide I got needs.” “Careful Sparky,” Arron warned him when he saw the look that momentarily crossed Jack’s face. Sparky quickly backtracked, “Just joking man. I would never do that to a good friend of mine, especially one who could blow me up. I’m just saying you guys are the only humans down here. Something is gonna happen. Unless she’s into older guys and waiting for Freidman to show up. The other shook their heads. He, on the other hand, was no longer regretting tricking Sparky like this. Jack put an arm around his shoulder and said, “It’s cool, I always appreciate a good joke. Especially when I’m looking at one.” “Oh ha-ha.” Things were fine until something that sounded like sounded like a waterfall could be heard. Sparky started to back up when realized where they were. “I just remembered something I gotta do.” Jack moved his arm so it was around his neck and squeezed to keep him in place, “Can’t be that important if you forgot about it.” “I… I got to see what my mom wanted.” “All the way down I Florida?” Realizing he was caught Sparky started to get desperate, “Dude don’t make me shock you.” “Did you or did you not say,” Jack countered, “anything I wanted no questions asked?” Sparky quickly said, “That doesn’t sound like anything I’d say.” “I got witnesses that say you did,” Jack grinned at Arron and the others. Sparky remembered that these were the same guys on that job where Jack saved him. Sparky shoulders slumped as he was dragged foreword, “I hate you.” “Oh you love me.” They entered the garden center and saw that it was already busy. A couple of people there saw Sparky as he entered. Then they got attention of the person next to them and pointed. The blue haired Drakan started to slink back but Jack kept him in place. He looked around and called out, “Hey Frank, look who I brought with me.” “How did you get that goldbrick down here?”, the old Drakan asked as he inspected Sparky. Without warning he grabbed his arm and checked out his hand. He let go in disgust as Sparky pulled away. “Just like I thought, not even a hint of an honest days work.” He tried to defend himself, “I like to think my talents lay elsewhere.” “Your ‘talents’ don’t mean anything down here,” Frank told him plainly. “You’re going to work hard, just like everybody else. And every time I hear you whine I’m going to cut off one of those things call hair.” “You can’t do that!”, Sparky objected. “Was that a whine?”, Frank asked as he started playing with his pocket knife. “I’m working, I’m working,” Sparky grabbed a shovel and ran off. “And I better not catch you slacking off or screwing up what we got done down here either.” Jack looked over to Arron, “Gonna be an interesting day.” *** “Mr. Anderson,” his secretary said through the intercom, “you have a call on line four.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “It’s Dr. Parker sir.” Anderson sighed, “Thank you Terry.” Now what was the problem? He was starting to think Allen had more of his Fathers’ patience then he let on. Taking a cleansing breath he hit the flashing button on the phone. “Dr. Parker,” he said formally, “what can I do for you today?” An angry voice came over the speaker, “You can fix whatever the hell is wrong in Armstrong bloody head for one.” He knew this was the reason for the call but still he hoped otherwise. “What did Armstrong apparently do now?” “He’s keeping parts from me again that’s what,” Parker nearly shouted. “I’m at a very critical junction. With the help of this staff you assigned to me I’m close to activating the system in this one. And I can’t do that if things are missing from inventory every time there’s a delivery.” “How do you know Dr. Armstrong was behind these missing items?” “Your delivery boy said Armstrong took a couple of things, saying they were needed.” “I’ll look into it Dr. Parker,” Anderson said trying to sound calm “You better do more than look into it. If you want this git done you had better do something about it.” “I said I look into it Dr. Parker,” he said, “good day.” Anderson ended the call before Parker could say anything else. The rebels could not have this much infighting in their ranks. He picked up the phone and dialed Taylor’s office. “Yes Mr. Anderson,” he answered. “I just got off the phone with Dr. Parker. He says Armstrong is taking things he needs from the supply trucks again. I want you to verify this before I talk to Armstrong.” “I’ll get right on it. Is there anything else you need me to do?” “Actually there is something I’ve been meaning to inquire about. Does Rhodes know anything about the second mark one?” Taylor thought it over for a moment, “To my knowledge he doesn’t know about it, and neither does Senator Henning. Are you thinking about bringing them in on it sir?” “No,” he said while leaning back in his chair, “I feel it would be for the best if we kept them in the dark for now. Particularly the good Senator. I had enough of his saber rattling when Davidson went rouge.” He smiled despite nobody could see it, “And I don’t think anybody wants to hear the noise he would undoubtedly make when he finds out about this.” There was a slight chuckle on the other end, “I heard about his little outburst with Davidson. It probably would be for the best to keep him dark for as long as possible.” In moments he was back to business, “I’ll head to shipping and let you know what I find out as soon as possible.” “Excellent, I expect word one way or the other within the hour.” Anderson had a feeling Parker accusations was right. Armstrong was less than pleased about the existence of the second mark one, and the notion that Parker was kept as head of that particular project. And he knew Armstrong well enough to not put it past him. However the big question was what was he going to do after this one was activated. He had to do something with Parker after all. And Armstrong was not going to want him coming in on his territory, so to speak. And he did not want to worry about it when they got there. *** Jack finally gave in and let Sparky tell him about one of those money making ideas he had about his bike. He kinda had to, he didn’t think Frank would actually cut off one of Sparky’s dreads. Jack almost wished he hadn’t when he heard what the Drakan had in mind. Underground street racing of all things. Jack almost immediately shot it down saying all the things that was wrong with the idea, mainly the fact he was still wanted by the police. Sparky, surprisingly enough, had a counter to that argument. One of the rebels down here, a nineteen year old with dyed red and purple hair named Angie, was a apparently a very good make up artist. Sparky had her make this heavily scarred prosthetic that would fit over his right eye, seeing how his helmet covered most of his face. Jack was amazed at how real it looked and felt. She even came up with a blond wig that had foil lined on the inside to block the bug’s signal. Sparky even found a pair of contacts that would turn his eyes blue. Still Jack was saying no to the idea. Then Sparky told him, “The money you win could help us out a lot man.” Angie and a couple of others he asked confirmed what Sparky said. Finally he agreed adding, “That’s hitting below the belt.” Rachel was going to kill him when she found out. Later that night Sparky lead him and two other others out of the city. Eventually they ended up at an old run down racing strip. Sparky spoke to a dirty, muscular guy at the gate who let them in. Jack kept his helmet on after they parked. The make up Angie came up with may have been good, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Sparky got a big grin on his face as he looked around, “Now this is the life.” Jack tried to not let the nervousness he was feeling take over as he looked around on his own, “You sure you know these guys Sparky?” “Never said I did,” he told him. “Nobody knows anybody name. You either address them by their handle or a nickname. It’s to make sure you can’t point out anybody else if you’re dumb enough to get caught.” “That’s not helping Sparky.” He looked around again, “Especially with the way some of these guys are eyeballing me.” “Don’t worry about that, they’re always a little wary of a new face. Never know when he going to turn out to be a cop.” He scanned the crowd until he found the guy he was looking for. “Stay here, I got to get you set up for a race.” “Oh joy,” he deadpanned. Jack hung back with the others and studied the other rider motorcycles. He could only imagine what some of these guys did to their rides. He was actually sitting there hoping World Inc. tech could keep up. “Yo!”, Sparky said as he ran back. “You’re set up but you have to run the first race, which is like now.” “Thanks for the warning Sparky.” “Don’t blame me, it was the only slot they had open.” After Sparky pointed the way Jack pulled up to what he assumed was the starting line, a faded painted strip in the road. Another guy pulled up beside him. A girl in a micro mini skirt and a very tight black shirt stood in front of them. A guy with a megaphone stood on the hood of a car and shouted, “Alright guys and girls here’s our first race of the night. In lane number one, we have Turbo Lightning!” The guy revved the engines a few times to the crowd approval. “And in lane number two, we have a newbie on the field, the Masked Rider!” Jack looked back and shot Sparky a look. He just shrugged and tried to look innocent. Jack turned his attention back to the race. Lowering the visor he muttered, “You’re a dead man Sparky.” *** Rachel walked around the garage waiting for Jack and the others to get return. If the police or World Inc. didn’t catch him she was going to wring his neck. As much as she didn’t approve of the idea she didn’t make that much of a fuss about it. Rachel was positive Jack would come to his senses and get out of it. Then she heard the idiot left with Sparky. What the hell was he thinking? “I guess they’re not back yet?”, Melissa asked as she walked in with lance right behind her. “No,” Rachel resisted the urge to pace the floor. “I can’t believe he fell for that whole ‘bring in money for the group crap,” she said to nobody in particular. “I’m afraid that’s not crap,” Melissa told her. Rachel watched the doors, “Don’t try to back that up.” “I’m not,” she said calmly. “Rebellions don’t come cheap Rachel. With all the people down here the money has to come from somewhere. If I had a choice I look at a more legal route. But as it is I can’t be that choosy.” “So where do you get the income from?” Melissa sat on a near by crate, “Before all this was dumped into my lap I learned not to ask too many questions. I found my conscious let me sleep a little better at night.” They were quiet for a moment before she said, “You’re worried about him more than anything else.” Rachel stiffened a bit and turned away, “I would appreciate it if you didn’t try to read me.” “I wasn’t,” she turned around to see Melissa smiling, “in fact I didn’t have too.” Rachel felt her face grow warm, “He’s a friend, why wouldn’t I be concerned?” Before Melissa could answer the guard by the door called out, “One coming in!” Some of the Drakan, including Melissa and Lance, got ready for a fight just in case. The door opened and an old, beat up rusted truck pulled into the garage. Rachel’s mood changed as soon as she saw it. “Dusty,” she called out as the old Drakan got out of the truck. She ran over and hugged him around the neck. “Hey there darlin’”, he said as he returned the hug. “Just thought I drop by and see how you two were doing. Wasn’t expecting a welcoming committee.” “Four coming in!”, the guard shouted. Jack, Sparky and the other rode in. Jack took off the helmet revealing the grin he had, “What are you doing here Dusty?” The old Drakan took one look at the scar make up, wig and racing gear he was wearing and said, “What fool thing are you doing now?” “Fool is the right word,” Sparky frowned. “This idiot lost three races on purpose.” “I won four and you still came out ahead,” Jack shot back. “You should have won all of them. I’ve seen you work on that thing, you should have smoked everybody there.” “It’s the art of the con,” Jack argued. “You can’t let the other guy know you have an edge. You got to build up to the big score. Even my Uncle knew that.” “Ain’t your Uncle in jail son?”, Dusty asked him. “For something else entirely different,” Jack quickly corrected him. “Like I said,” Melissa said to Rachel, “I learned not to ask too many questions.” “So I’m guessing you missed it then?”, Dusty asked. “Missed what?”, Jack asked back. “You guys were profiled on America’s Most Wanted tonight,” Dusty answered with a grin. “I was on AMW?” Jack backhanded Sparky on the shoulder, “You made me miss it you idiot.” “I didn’t know you were going to be on,” Sparky told him. Rachel snorted, “Like we needed a reminder that every law enforcement agency in the country is looking for us.” “Only the worst of the worst get on that show,” Dusty explained. “It’s kind of a sick badge of honor in a way. That’s why I taped it,” he grinned. “Please tell me you brought the tape,” Jack said. Dusty reached into Bessie and took out the tape. Jack jumped of the motorcycle and took it from him. “There better be a working VCR around here.” “There’s one in the television room down the hall,” Melissa told him. “But before you go Lance has something for you too.” “Did he tape it too?”, Rachel joked. “No,” he said. “Here,” he pulled out a small metal cylinder. Except for the black ring near the end it looked like his battle staff. “A small thank you for saving my butt the other day.” “Better than having somebody following you all day,” Jack said. Sparky acted hurt and walked away. “So what does it do?” “Squeeze it in the middle,” Lance instructed him. Jack did so, by the black ring a small electrode popped out. “My cell lifted the idea from the shock sticks Anderson’s troops carry. We had the plans for the staff for awhile now. It seemed like a natural fit.” Jack gave it a quick snap, like his with his staff the end extended a couple of feet. He turned the ring slightly and a small humming sound could be heard, “What’s this for?” “An idea we came up with,” Lance explained. “That dial controls the intensity of the charge. You can either stun a person for a few minutes or do something similar to that punch or kick of yours.” “They go boom?” Lance answered with a nod. “Oy,” Rachel heard him mutter as he twisted the dial back. A quick twist in the middle retracted to it’s original size, just like his other one. Jack took his old one out of the holder between the handle bars and studied them. He looked at her and handed her his original staff, “Here.” “Why are you giving it to me?” “In case we’re surrounded by Anderson shock troops again.” Rachel took it then smirked, “Or I could use it to keep you in line.” Much to her surprise Jack smirked too. “Go on, I know you want to see yourself on TV.” What she wasn’t expecting was Jack grabbing her by the hand and dragging her to watch it too. *** Melissa waited until everybody entered the war room. She heard Jack and Arron talk about something. Judging from Rachel’s expression it was probably about his appearance on that program. “If I can have your attention please,” she addressed the room but she was looking at them. After a moment they quieted down. “Alright then, we were able to get word about a supply truck making a late night delivery. Chances are good they might be carrying things we might need.” “Did we get this from Friedman?”, Arron asked. “Not this time. Word came from one of the truck drivers, who just happens to be one of us.” “So the doc not your only mole?”, Jack commented. “Not any more,” she told him. “We’ve been looking to get somebody else into World Inc. for a while now. Anderson has his people do some extensive background checks, so we got lucky with this one.” “Does Friedman know who he is?”, Sparky asked her. “He doesn’t want to know who it is. Friedman doesn’t want that info to slip incase something happens to him. And before anybody asks this person doesn’t know Friedman’s working for us.” “So the same thing doesn’t happen,” Rachel said. “Any chance this guy might try to get in a little action while he he’s in there?” “He better not,” Melissa said. “I told him that his mission was to just listen. If anything goes wrong he was to cut and run and not take a hostage. Nobody wants Friedman to get caught up in the crossfire. Now,” she pulled down a map of a mountain range a couple of miles outside of the city with an x marked on it, “we’ll be ambushing the truck here in this wooded area. For those of you who don’t know World Inc. has a testing lab in the area. A small one but it deals with some advanced equipment. This spot should be far enough away that if they called for back up we should be on gone by then. But just in case I’m putting Dusty on stand by.” While she was talking she got a sense of something, but she wasn’t sure what it was. When she turned around Jack was looking at the ground and rubbing his hands together. Rachel studied him for a couple of moments then looked then glanced at the map. It looked like she put two and two together. “Jack,” she whispered, “is that where it happened?” He nodded, “Do you think you can do this one?” “I can do this,” he answered. “If there are no other questions, start getting ready and reach that point before they do.” Rachel and Jack left the room quickly. When she was alone she looked at the map and tried to figure out what happened. She looked at the map of the mountain for a long time. Then it clicked, she asked Rachel about how Jack got rebuilt into what he was now. “Oh Jack,” she said out loud, “I am so sorry.” *** Luckily the ambush spot wasn’t the exact location of where it happened, but it was close enough that it made him a little uncomfortable. He kept flashing back to the explosion and the landslide that swallowed Richie. As morbid as it was at least it was taking his mind off the ghost he had been seeing, even if it was only for a moment. Rachel rubbed his shoulder lightly, trying to comfort him in a small way. “Remember,” he told her, “stay back here in case the bullets start flying.” “I know,” she said. “I’ll even move your motorcycle behind a tree, because I don’t want anything to happen to your baby,” she teased. Jack gave that half grin of his. “Hey Jack,” Arron came up, “Sparky spotted the truck. Quit making out with her and come on.” Rachel stuck her tongue at him. “Can it Fido,” Jack said sounding irritated. He might as well get ready too. He raised his arm across his to make the belt appear. Swinging his arm to the side and raising his right he said, “Henshin,” and slammed his hand on top of the belt. The armor formed in moments and he joined the other by the roadside. He saw the headlight as soon as he got there. After double checking that it was the target they went according to the plan. Waiting for the signal Jack ran in the middle of the road in front of the truck and jumped on top of the hood. While the driver was still surprised he punched through the window, grabbed the steering and quickly turned it. Jack braced himself as they crashed into a tree. Arron, Sparky and the other ran in quickly. “You alright buddy?” “I’ve been in worse,” he said as he jumped off the truck and looked at the mountain. Arron went to open the back of the truck and it exploded. “Arron!”, Sparky shouted out. Jack went to check on him but something caught his shoulder. He turned to see the driver turn into a red dolphin, two black beady eyes glaring at him. “It’s a trap,” somebody shouted as World Inc. Shock troops piled out of the back. The dolphin punched him quickly before he could attack first. It spit out a wad of blood, it was hurt too. Good, Jack thought as he kicked it in the gut. He got to his feet and gave a quick glance back to Arron and the others. The young Drakan was coming to his senses as Sparky and the rest held off the shock troops, good thing it wasn’t that many. The dolphin grabbed him from behind and hurled him in to the truck. Ok, so it wasn’t hurt that bad so he wouldn’t have to worry about the kid gloves. Jack went in quick with a right cross. He grabbed it by the fin on the back of it’s head and started to throw a knee. The Drakan caught the knee and tripped him down to his back. He started to get his arms up to block but the dolphin backed away. Then it ripped a huge limb from a tree, “Ah hell.” *** Rachel got as close as she dared to see what was happening. The moment she heard the explosion she knew something went wrong. She saw the commotion and quickly located Jack. He was busy with a red dolphin with a club of some sort. Rachel watched as he dodged the blows that he could, but he was nailed with the limb a couple of times. And the others couldn’t help him at the moment. Thinking quickly she ran back to the KR-1000 and grabbed the battle staff. She raced back and was relived when she saw Jack put some distance between the two of them. “Jack!”, she yelled and threw the staff at him, “Catch!” He jumped and caught it in the air and quickly snapped it to its full length. “Thanks, now get the hell out of here!” She could see the others had the troops taken car of, but she did as she was told. Then she backed into something and froze. Whatever this was it was breathing, and everybody on her side was in view. She started sweating as she slowly reached into her jacket for the staff Jack gave her. She snapped it and swung at the same time. A guy in a World Inc. troop uniform caught it. She didn’t have time to react or call for help as he clamped a hand around her throat and turned into something red. *** The new staff was stronger than the limb the dolphin was using. He was hurting from the blows he got so far but he could still fight. Jack sidestepped a downward swing aimed at his head, then jabbed the end of the staff in it’s gut. Then he turned around quickly and smashed the other end into it’s face. Jack gripped the middle and squeezed and the electrode popped out. Twisting the dial all the way a loud buzz filled the air. Not wasting any time he jammed it into the Drakan’s chest. It took a couple steps back before exploding. The meter wasn’t even flashing, something seemed wrong about that. “Jack!”, Arron cried out. He turned and felt his heart stop. A red jellyfish was standing near the side of the road. It had Rachel in the air by her neck. She was hanging there limp. For a brief moment he couldn’t move, he couldn’t even breath, everything refused to move. Then it half dropped, half tossed her to the ground. Something in his head snapped, “RACHEL!”, he yelled as he ran as fast as the system would let him. Jack slammed into jellyfish, his main concern was to get this bastard as far away from her as possible. He didn’t even realized he dropped the staff as it pounded away at it’s membrane like skin. The Drakan threw him off and kicked him in the head as he tried to get to his feet. Jack tried to fight him off from his back as it got on top of him. Jack reached threw the punches and grabbed it by the neck. His face was twisted in rage behind the helmet. He screamed as he threw it off of him. The jellyfish never got another opening a Jack unleashed his fury on it. The meter flashed and he didn’t even hesitate, he didn’t even think as he twisted the pod down. The charge ran down his leg, “DIE!”, he yelled as he back up just enough to slam a kick into it’s chest. It crashed into a tree right before it exploded. He ran back to where she was and saw Rachel as still on the ground with Arron at her neck. “What are you doing to her!?” Sparky needed help in keeping him back. “He’s sucking the toxin out her. He injected her with something.” Arron raised his head, spit out what was in his mouth and went back. Jack fell to his knees and put his hands on his head. How could this have happen? “Dusty on his way,” Sparky said as he knelt beside him. “She’s going to be alright, do you hear me? She’s going to be fine.” Arron pulled away and he saw the puncture wound on her neck. “I got what I could, I think I got it all,” he put a hand on the wound to stop the bleeding. “Somebody grab me the first aid kit! It’s in the van.” Jack never felt so helpless before in his life, “Rachel.” “Don’t worry man,” Arron told him, “she’s going to make it. Dusty parked about ten minutes away and he’s going to fly to get here.” “You see buddy,” Sparky added patting him on the shoulder, “I told you she’s going to be fine.” Jack barely herd any of that, again he whispered, “Rachel.” *Ending theme – Papa Roach – Sometimes* |
05-22-2013, 03:15 AM | #30 |
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<Episode 30>
*opening theme - Ana – We Are* She went in and out of consciousness, catching bit and pieces of people talking. But not enough to figure out what they were saying. She was so out of it she barely knew where she was. Then there was something, a person, by her at all times. The same one, that she was positive of. For some reason she didn’t feel as scared knowing that he was there. When she finally came too she felt somebody holding her hand say, “Come on Rachel, I can’t do this without you.” “J… Jack?”, she said hoarsely. God her throat hurt. “Rachel,” he said quickly while he used his hand to get her hair out of her eyes. Her vision cleared enough that she could see him. Were those tears in his eyes? “Thank God you’re alright.” “What’s going on? What happened?”, she started to sit up but he gently held her down. Good thing because her head was killing her. “Careful, you’re still going to be a little woozy.” “But what happened? I remember being in the forest.” Jack wouldn’t look at her, “I didn’t see him until it was too late.” She remembered what happened and reached out to him. “Jack that wasn’t…,” she started when he got up and headed for the door and opened it. “Dusty!”, he yelled, “Friedman! She’s awake.” In moments Dusty and Friedman rushed into the room. Jack stood as Dusty took the seat he just occupied. “Hey there darlin’,” he grinned, eyes filled with emotion, “you gave everybody quite a scare.” “A girl got to get some attention some how,” she joked weakly. “Ease up on the talking darlin’, your neck still gonna be a little tender for a bit. Excuse me a second,” he tilted her head up and removed a bandage she didn’t even know was there. “I’d say that’s healing rather nicely. Wouldn’t you say so Dr. Friedman?” “Oh I agree, some of your best stitch work if I do say so myself,” he added with a bit of humor. Dusty replaced the bandage and explained what was going on, “You were injected with a toxin from that jellyfish. They got most of it out of ya but there was still some in you. I called Friedman to bring a anti-toxin. You’ve been out about a day or so.” “Feels like it was longer,” she told him. “Well that bastard had a pretty good grip in your neck from the look of things. That and the puncture wound gonna leave a pretty nasty bruise on your neck. Good news is it’ll probably cover up that hickey Arron gave you sucking the poison out,” he grinned. “Funny,” she deadpanned. “I thought so,” Friedman added, “didn’t you Jack?” That’s when they realized he wasn’t in the room any more. “At least he would if he was here.” “Leave the boy alone,” Dusty said while checking her pulse. “I think this the first time he’s even left the room since we brought you back here. Give him a chance to get his head straight. From what I hear he went mid evil on the guy.” “I guess your right,” Friedman conceded. “He did what?”, she asked. “He took the bastard down darlin’.” He flashed a light in her eye, “And between you and me, I don’t think he’s gonna feel all that bad about it either.” She sat up after Dusty gave her the ok. A familiar smell came into the room before someone walked in carrying a tray with a bowl on it. “Is that jambalaya?” “I’m afraid it’s only a box mix,” the woman said as she sat the tray in front of her. Rachel looked over to Dusty wonder if it was ok for her to eat. He read her mind. “Do you think I’m going to risk Jack kicking my tail all over this place if I say no?” Rachel inhaled the aroma before picking up a spoon, “Guess I woke up on the right day.” “We weren’t planning this today,” the woman informed her. “Jack more or less begged that we have this ready for you when you woke up. He even gave me the money to buy what I needed.” “He’s feeling guilty,” she said. That idiot thought this was his fault, she just knew it. “Little Lady,” Dusty said, “I don’t think guilt played that large part in this particular request. Now eat what you think you can. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to check on you.” “Ok Dusty,” she said and they left the room. She took a bite of the jambalaya, it wasn’t the best she ever had, but it was still pretty good. Rachel just couldn’t believe Jack went to all that trouble to get this “slop” for her. She felt herself smiling because of it. *** Melissa was on her way to Jack and Rachel’s room when she heard she was up. A slight noise that sounded like sobbing caught her attention. Following it she found Jack sitting against a wall with his hand covering his eyes. He saw her and turned his face away. She found herself torn again. Part of her wanted to go over there and comfort him, but another part was reminding her that he was still her brother’s killer. Melissa sat on the floor cross legged across from him and waited for him to start talking. It took him a few minutes but he finally did, “I never came that close to losing her before. I mean there were a couple of close calls but I always…”, he start to choke up. “How did I not see him behind her?” “You can’t see everything Jack,” she tried to comfort him. “The other said it was pretty crazy, they didn’t see him either.” She knew she was failing miserably. “Rachel’s going to make a full recovery.” “I know I…,” for the first time he looked lost. He closed his eyes, “Rachel helped me get through so much.” He looked her right in the eyes, “She was the reason why I just didn’t give up and turn myself in while we were on the run. I knew there’d be no guarantee they wouldn’t do anything to her.” She got up just long enough just to sit beside him. He seemed grateful for the gesture. “There were times I just watched her sleep, just looking so peaceful despite the crap we were in. There was this one time when she fell asleep on my shoulder and I just stared at her for a long time. I remember thinking that she looked so…” he trailed off and closed his eyes again. “Jack,” she looked at him even though he wouldn’t look at her, she took his hand, “you can say it. You thought she was beautiful.” “I knew she was beautiful,” he said softly, “on the inside and out. I found myself thinking about her. I was actually worried she wouldn’t talk to me again after I did that race Sparky dragged me to.” A little quieter he said, “I panic when I thought I wasn’t going to see her again.” “Are you trying to tell me something Jack?”. Melissa had an idea, but she wanted him to look her in the eyes and say it. “I… I think I’m in…” He shook his head, “No, I’m in… I lo…,” then he stopped talking and got to his feet. Melissa didn’t think it was possible to clamp down on an emotion as fast as he just did. “I gotta tell Arron I’m sorry for freaking out on him.” “Does she know how you feel?”, she asked as she stood up. Jack stopped and clenched his fist. She put a hand on his shoulder, “Have you told her how you felt?” He lowered his head slightly, “I can’t.” “Why can’t you.” He turned around and shoved a heavily scarred right forearm in her face. With fresh tears in his eyes he snapped, “You tell me why I can’t!” Melissa put a hand on the forearm, “Do you really think she cares about this? I’ve seen the two of you together, she knows you more than just this.” He lowered his arm, “You don’t understand.” “Help me understand then.” Jack looked at his hands, “Part of me is rebuilt and part of me has been augmented. I don’t even know if I’m half human anymore. The other night when I took her by the hand to watch that tape, I realized I might be squeezing her hand too hard and not know it. Ever since the upgrade I had to think about stuff like that now.” “I think she would have said something if you were hurting her.” “I know, and the idea that she might scares the hell out of me.” He gazed at the ground before looking at her, “Does this stay between you and me?” “The only person better at keeping secrets than me is Emily,” she assured him. Jack slowly nodded and went to find Arron. She continued on to check on Rachel. She found her staring at the ceiling. Knocking lightly she asked, “What some company?” “Sure,” she sat up bit. “So what’s up?” “Not much just thought I check in and see how you were doing.” Melissa took the empty chair by her and looked down at the plate on the floor. “Should you be having that?” “Jack’s idea,” she informed her. “Have you seen him?” “A few minutes ago actually…” “He’s blaming himself isn’t he? That idiot this wasn’t his fault.” “Rachel calm down.” “Sorry, but he’s got so much on his mind. I don’t want him to add this too it.” “You’re the one laid up in bed and you’re worried about him,” she chuckled. “You are a better friend than I would be.” “He’s one of my closest friends right now,” she blushed slightly. Melissa raised an eyebrow, “But you want to be closer don’t you?”. Her face got redder, “So why don’t you?” “He probably thinks I’d be too high maintenance for it to work,” she said a bit too fast. Did she realize how lame that sounded? “Rachel you’re living in what basically a sewer. High maintenance you are not.” She smiled slightly, “Maybe, but if something was going to happen it would have happen before now.” Rachel lay back down, “If you don’t mind I’m feeling a little tired.” “Sure Rachel, you get some rest.” Rachel turned over and faced the wall as she closed the door behind her. Smiling to herself Melissa wondered how long it was going to be before one of them actually admitted how they felt to the other. *** “Tell me Dr. Armstrong,” Anderson said as he wiped a finger on a lab table, “What was so important that you had to take equipment off a supply shipment?” Much to his surprise Armstrong didn’t try to hide his actions, not totally anyway. “They were delicate instruments and I wasn’t sure if they would survive the trip,” he said. “Allen had no apparent problem when he was alive.” He enjoyed watching him squirm. “We advanced a bit since Allen started this particular project,’ he said quickly. Anderson always admired the quick thinking of this one. “I was not aware of that,” he said faking surprise. “It must be rather new equipment then.” “Yes it is, very expensive too. The bean counters complained to no end.” “Funny,” Anderson slowly turned toward him, “I usually hear those complaints before the day is over. I haven’t heard a peep from them concerning this equipment.” Armstrong looked like he was suppressing any visible reaction, but Anderson could smell the fear coming off of him. “I realize you and Dr. Parker have some personal issues. But I will not tolerate any issue that starts involving my company.” “That second mark one should be here,” Armstrong said. “Not in some storage warehouse in the middle of a pier being watched over by some drunk.” “For what it’s worth Dr. Armstrong I agree with you. Unfortunately Allen set this one in motion. The second mark one wasn’t in shape to be transported. And before you interrupt, may I remind you that you were reluctant to move Davidson from one floor to another while you were working on him.” “I realize that but…” “But nothing,” Anderson said with authority. “Dr. Parker will get the equipment he needs to finish the second mark one. And if I hear anything about part of the shipment being missing again,” he paused and looked around the room, “I’ll need to rethink who needs to be in charge of R&D.” *** The next day Dusty said it was alright for Rachel to walk around a bit. Jack barely left her side. From the cafeteria to the main area he was there making sure she was alright. Part of him actually felt a little better when she gave him that annoyed look of hers. “I’m not an invalid you know. I can do this on my own.” “I know, but Dusty said you were still going to be a little weak for a couple of days. I don’t want you falling on your butt in front of everybody.” She gave him that annoyed look again. “Well if you insist on being here I might as well use you,” she hooked her arm around his. “For support that is.” Rachel looked around at the crowd and saw some of the looks they were giving him. “What did you do now?” Should he be honest or should he lie? “Word got around quick that I went postal on that jellyfish. Some of them started looking at me as the Drakan Killer again.” “Well there went some of the work we did right out the window.” “It’s a trade off I’d do again and again if I had too,” he told her. She looked him with a bit of suspicion, “No joke.” “It’s hard to tell with you at times.” “I’m always dead serious when it comes to my friends.” Rachel said nothing but she did squeeze his arm a little. He heard a grunt behind him. Jack knew he shouldn’t look but he did anyway. He felt his lip start to curl in disgust when he saw the human form of the monkey standing behind him. “How decent of you bug,” he sneered. “Jack,” Rachel spoke before he could open his mouth, “I’m feeling a little tired.” He never took his eyes off the monkey, “Ok Rachel.” He knew she was probably lying but the faster he got away from him the better. “You do everything she says huh? How many of us did she you after?,” he taunted. “Did she make you report back after each kill, huh? How long before she starts telling you to kill the rest of us?” Rachel started to turn and argue back but Jack stopped her. “You’re suppose to be the smart one remember?”, he said without humor. “Or maybe,” he said slowly, “you’re clinging to her because you know you couldn’t save her.” Jack stopped in his tracks, Rachel pulled him foreword. “Just like you couldn’t save your other friend. Maybe you could replace her like you replaced him.” Jack turned around sharply and headed for the monkey, “You want to go you over grown chimp? Then let’s go!” “What happened to take Anderson down first then?”, he sneered. Jack’s hand was already balled up and reared back ready to fly when Sparky and Arron got between them. “Calm down you too,” Arron told them. “You can’t order me around you stupid green,” the monkey exploded. “He’s just giving you some advice,” Sparky told him. “Now you might want to follow it or I’ll give you some advice of my own.” He snapped his fingers, causing a little spark, “You dig?” “Traitor,” he spat and stormed off. After he calmed down for a bit Jack went, “Sparky, that took some guts.” “I only jumped in because Arron did,” he said. “I know, just trying to make you feel better about yourself.” “Jack behave yourself,” Rachel slapped him lightly on the arm. “Hey, it’s cool,” Sparky grinned. “What’s a little ribbing between buds.” Sparky held out a fist and Jack hit it with his. “Good seeing you on your feet Rachel.” “I hear I have Arron to thank for that.” “Are you kidding?”, the kid rubbed the back of his head. “If Jack didn’t get that jellyfish away from you I couldn’t have done anything. “Let’s just call it a team effort and leave it at that,” Sparky said. “Come on kid I got to show how to pull off a basic scam. Trust me it’ll fit right in with the business world.” “Still feeling tired?”, Jack asked Rachel. “A bit,” she admitted. He held out his arm and she took it. “I know you wanted to tear into him. It’s a good thing you didn’t.” “I know,” he said, “but I think I’ll avoid the wait and start kicking myself now for not doing it.” *** Melissa called an emergency meeting in the war room. Lance had even made the trip to be there. She was not sure how they were going to take this bit of news. “Freidman,” she started, “and our driver both sent something in. The driver said several delivers have been to a warehouse at the pier,” she pointed it out on the map. “He even heard one of the scientist talk about it. Normally I wouldn’t worry about it. But we got a copy of the inventory list to Freidman. He recognized several of the items.” She paused to glance over to Jack, “He said the equipment that was being sent could be used to stabilize somebody hooked up to the Fusion system.” Jack stared at Rachel. “I didn’t know anything about this,” she told him. Melissa could tell she was telling the truth. “Freidman told us this before,” Lance said. “We never had a definitive location before either,” she told him. “If anything we can find out one way or another if Anderson creating another one.” “So we go in and blow the place to hell,” Jason said. Nathan disagreed, “No, we should make sure first. We already fell into one trap.” “A small scout party then,” Lance agreed, “to make sure.” “And stop him from doing this to somebody else,” Jack added darkly while staring at the back of his hand. “Which is why I think we should just send you Jack,” she told him. He started emitting a wave of uneasiness. “The way I see it you’d be the best one here to do this. You can sneak in and if you have to engage whoever inside.” “And I can determine if they are bonding Fusion system to somebody,” Rachel said. “Not his time Rachel,” Jack spoke suddenly while not looking at her. She looked stunned. “Dusty said you’re still going to be feeling it for a few days.” “Jack I can handle this no problem,” she told him. “You need somebody out there with you who going to knows for sure.” “I’m going to have to go with Jack on this one Rachel,” Melissa said. Rachel hid it well but she could sense the hurt. “Until Dusty gives me the ok you stay here.” “Then how is he going to know if it’s the Fusion system?”, she argued. “Well we do have these,” Nathan pulled out a small earpiece with a microphone. “He can stay in contact and tell us what he’s seeing.” Jack took the device and gave Rachel a half grin. “And this was the original idea when you were first assigned to me.” Rachel smiled a little bit. “Ok, here’s the ground rules. If I have to throw down with something no backseat fighting, you got me?” Rachel crossed her arms and tried to look annoyed but that smile wouldn’t disappear. “I’ll agree to that if you watch yourself out there.” “Hey, I got me, I got the bike, and I got the boomstick what could go wrong?” They were all confused until Rachel clued them in, “You’re calling the staff Lance gave you the ‘Boomstick’?” “What am I suppose to call it, the charge staff?” Jack headed out the door with the device in his hands. He could be heard saying, “Will this go through foil?” “Rachel can I speak to you for a minute?”, Melissa said as the other exited the room. When they were alone she asked, “Are you all right with my decision?” “No, I’m not,” she admitted, “but I understand why you made it. I’m not a hundred percent and Jack doesn’t need the distraction. But Jack freaked a little at the idea of another person bonded to the Fusion system. I’m not sure how he’s going to react.” “Then you can talk him down through the earpiece,” she told her. Melissa walked up so she was closer and said a little quieter, “I know you have feelings for him…” “I’ll do my job like a professional Melissa.” “Good,” she nodded. “Not that I had any doubt I just wanted to hear it. I know we’re not the closest of friends, but I hate to think I just damaged what friendship we did have.” “No harm done,” Rachel assured her, “you’re just doing your job.” “God, I glad to find somebody around here who actually understands that.” *** Jack drove off alone through the pier. He rode alone before, but this time it felt weird not to have her there with him. He made a mental note to make it up to her some how. Part of him realized that he just passed the area where he saw Max’s ghost. No, where his imagination played a trick on him he told himself. Quickly getting that thought out of his head he slowed down so he could read the numbers on the warehouse. The one he was looking for was on the far end of the pier. He parked the bike behind some crates, removed his helmet and reached into his hood to turn the earpiece on, “Can you hear me?” Rachel’s voice came though with no problem, “Clear as a bell. What’s the situation so far?” “Not a guard that I can see. I’m heading for the front door.” Jack peeked around the corner and quickly crossed the distance. “The door got a lock.” Jack reached into a pocket and pulled something out. “Alright, if I’m right it should be a palm reader or something. You’re going to have to find another way in.” “I unlocked it.” “What,” she was flustered, “how did…” “It was a padlock,” he told her, “my uncle taught how to pick those when I was in first grade.” “Then it might be the wrong building,” he heard Lance say. “I think it’s the right place,” Jack said looking around before opening the door. ”Uncle Petey’s first rule of locks: the more elaborate the lock the better the prize inside. Sometimes you want something simple to guard your most valuable possession.” “That and it would look out of place down there,” Melissa said. “That too,” Jack quickly closed the door. The inside smelt hospital clean, so it was definitely the right place. Reaching into another pocket he pulled out a small flashlight. The first thing he found was an empty glass tube that looked like it could hold somebody his size. A chill ran down his spine as a vision of him floating in blue liquid hit him. He shook his head to get rid of that one. “Jack,” Rachel heard him grunt, “you alright.” “Yeah, I just had a flashback to something.” He swung the light around the room and some paper attached to a board. Looking them over he said, “I found a blueprint from the look of it.” “Can you tell what it is?”, Rachel asked. “I’m not sure but it looks like some kind of arm.” Feeling something in his gut he searched the rest of the plan. He found something in the corner that said, “Fusion System, mark one, arm, left.” And he stared at his own left arm. He gulped and asked quietly, “Rachel where was I rebuilt?” “I know what you’re thinking Jack, but you’re wrong. You were rebuilt in the labs at World Inc. not there. I’ve seen the documentation, you never left the building until after your system was activated.” “Then what the hell is this crap?” She sighed over the line, “It sounds like they are making another one.” “Does it look like they’re getting started or finishing up?”, he heard Melissa ask. He pulled away from the plans and looked around. Some of the stuff looked used but others looked brand new. “I’m not sure.” Then the lights came on surprising him, “Ah hell.” He turned around and saw an older man in a lab coat holding a metal flask. “Who in the bloody hell are you?”, he demanded. Then he saw the empty tube and ran over. “That green son of a bitch took ‘im!”. He looked over to Jack and accused, “You helped him didn’t you?” He held his arms up and backed away, “I don’t know what you’re talking about man.” Then the lab coat started sniffing the air, “Drakan blood. You’re him ain’t you? Armstrong’s inferior version of the mark one. Time to show that pompous ass how inferior his model really is.” Tentacles grew out of his face as he changed into a red octopus. Faster than Jack could react the Drakan grabbed him and threw him into the wall and he landed behind some lab equipment. “Come on you git, turn on that system and I can show him what a piece of crap he created.” Jack held the back of his head as he stood up, “I’ll try not to take that personally.” He brought his left arm up and brought out the belt. He swung it to the left and brought up his right arm, “Henshin!”, and slammed his hand down on the belt. The armor formed around him and Jack picked up a readout machine in front of him and tossed it at the Drakan. The octopus dodged giving him the chance to jump over and get ready to fight. They circled around the tube, then Jack charged in the other direction. He caught a backhand from the Drakan and nailed it in the ribs with his fist. The he jammed his knee into its gut, following up with a punch to the back of it’s enormous head. It ducked a spin kick and stood there. Two of its tentacle reached out and grabbed him by the wrist. “What the…?”, was all he got out before it threw him into the tube. The glass shattered on impact as he went through it. The octopus grabbed him again and hauled him up, punching away with his fist. Jack kicked his foot up and caught him in the gut again, but it didn’t let go. So he grabbed back and started swinging it around into what ever was closest, lab equipment, the wall it didn’t matter. It finally let go, but it head butted him. The helmet protected him from most of the blow and he backhanded the Drakan. Its tentacles flailed distracting him from the foot coming at him. Jack spun from the impact, when he turned back around a tentacle grabbed him around the neck and started squeezing. “Not bad for somebody who used to be human, but I was trained to be a warrior before they realized how smart I actually was.” The Drakan threw him through the remains of the tube. He slid across the floor and hit the wall. It picked up an IV pole and turned it upside down. The octopus raised it over its head. Jack say the intent in its eyes, it was planning on planting that thing in his head. He slid between its legs and the pole got implanted in the wall. “Oh bloody hell,” the Drakan muttered. Jack punched it the gut to get it to back up. Then he brought up his feet and planted them in its chest. He heard the air leave its body. He got to his knees and waited for it to straighten up. When it did he ran in, put his left foot on its knee, swung his right leg up so his shin smashed into its head. The Darkan recovered fast and slammed both its fists into his head. He kicked back, jumped up and hit it with his fist on the way down. The meter started flashing as the Drakan started to run. He twisted the pod down and chased after it. The octopus grabbed a gurney and hurled it at him. Jack Jumped up and leaped off the gurney. He extended his right leg and his foot hit its head. The octopus flew into a chalkboard before exploding. He deactivated the system and put his hand on his knees breathing hard. Then Rachel shouted in his ear, “…are you?! Jack come in!” He grabbed his ear, “I’m here, stop yelling already.” “What happened, we lost the signal for a few minutes.” “I had a Drakan walk in on me and had to power up the system.” “We heard that part. Did you deactivate the system?” “Yeah, just now,” he told her. “The suit blocking the signal for some reason. Looks like I’ll be wearing that thing in the future.” “Sure, why not.” He looked around the room at the mess. “Well if they were making another one I might have set them back a bit. But from the way that guy was talking it might be too late.” *** Anderson walked into R&D, and like he suspected the second mark one was there in the back of the room. Armstrong just stood there waiting for any reaction, no matter what it was. Anderson stared at the tube. “We have a rather unusual report that just came in,” he said after a moment. “The rebels discovered the location of Dr. Parker’s lab last night. It was found destroyed and the good doctor dead. Seeing how we discovered the existence of this lab a couple of months ago, how do you suppose they found out about it?” “I’m sure I don’t know sir,” he said not betraying anything. “I would imagine the most likely possibility,” he looked right at him and watched him squirm, “was that word was leaked to them some how.” Armstrong stammered trying to find the right excuse. He calmly walked foreword and took a file that was next to the tube. “As much as I despise the results, it did take care of a particular problem. Dr. Parker was getting a little too big for his status. The rebels, and whoever supplied them the information, actually did us a favor in that aspect.” Armstrong visibly relaxed. “So how soon before this mark one is ready?” “A few days, a week tops Mr. Anderson,” Armstrong informed him. “Excellent Dr. Armstrong. I’ll let you and your,” he empathized that last word, “staff get to work.” Armstrong grinned and started ordering people around. Anderson studied the file in his hand then looked at the man in the tube. “Well Mr. Kingstone, R. I hope you are a more loyal operative than your predecessor was.” *Ending theme – Papa Roach – Sometimes* |
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