<Episode 8>

Jack leaned against a pillar, very weary all of the sudden. He wasn’t that tired, physically any way. He wasn’t even sure if the guilt he’d been expecting had finally decided to show up. Hell, maybe the hawk knocked something loose. Rachel came up to him looking very concerned. “Jack, are you all right?”

“Just a little winded,” he told her. You can’t lie about what you don’t know about, right? “That thing was tougher than it looked.”

“I think it might be a good idea if Dr. Friedman looked you over.”

“Yes mother.” She gave him a tired look. He had to smirk at the sight. His Mom used to give him the same look. “Well that’s the second assignment I’ve blown,” he said out of nowhere.

“I told Heather he might be leading us into a trap.”

“Yeah, well if Allen says anything I’m punching something in. Preferably on him.”

“I’ll hold him for you.” They both turned to the sound of the new voice. Mitchell walked up holstering his gun.

“What are you doing here?”, Jack asked.

“I’m training some new recruits. I was watching them survey the area when I saw that thing. It started attacking and I hurried over to try to try to help you out.” He looked at the still smoking remains. “Figures I’d be a little late.”

Jack held his finger and thumb about an inch apart, “Just a little.”

“Well it’s the thought that counts right?”

“You sure you saw how the fight started?”, Rachel asked him.

Mitchell nodded, “If Allen starts anything I’ll back the two of you up all the way. He get’s on my nerves too.” He looked at Jack then got a funny look on his face too. “You ok buddy?”

“I’m fine.” They just looked at him. “Really.”

***

Rachel walked off while Mitchell called his men to their location. She caught Jack looking at the remains momentarily before looking else where. Pulling out her phone she called Heather and gave her the details. “One more thing, have them get Fusion diagnostic system ready. I want a full scan done when we get in.”

“I’ll make sure it’s ready by the time you get back. There’s nothing wrong with Jack is there?”

“I don’t think so, I just want to double check to make sure. I’ll see you when I get in.” She hung up and was surprised to see Mitchell standing so close. “What is it?”

“Nothing, I just overheard what you said.”

“You don’t think it’s necessary?”

“Hey like you said, better safe than sorry.” One of his men showed up and he waved a signal at him. More than likely secure the area. “Do you mind hearing an outside opinion?”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Try to get him a couple of days off. There’s more going on in that head of his than Jack’s letting on. The last thing we need right now is for him to burn out while we’re still trying to stop these things.”

“I’m overjoyed about your concern.” She started to walk off but he stopped her.

“Rachel look, I’m worried about him too, but I have to look at the bigger picture here. You should try looking at it yourself once in awhile.” With that he walked off. Rachel resisted the urge to go after him and argue the point. She had to treat Jack as a human, not like some cog in a machine. She knew him too well by now to do otherwise. Although looking at Jack current state, a few days off might not be such a bad idea.

***

Anderson spent most of the day in his personal gym. He had reverted to his Drakan form, a green cheetah, the moment the doors had closed. His anger had nearly overwhelmed him when he read Haily’s report. Allen, who had entered later, chose to remain standing by the door. He had seen him vent before, making the mistake of getting too close only once. Allen still had the scars on his chest as a constant reminder.

He could only think of how close they were to Christopher. That thought fueled his frustrations as he tore apart a human shaped practice dummy. His claw ripped through the material as he pictured various faces on the dummy: Davidson, Haily, Mitchell, Christopher. Allowing an animal rage to over take him, Anderson grabbed the dummy by the head and shoulder. Growling he sank his teeth into the dummy’s neck and tore the material out. He spat it out of his mouth and looked at what was left of the dummy. Slowly he regained control of his emotions and calmed down.

Turning away from the dummy he changed into his human disguise. Allen walked foreword offering a towel. Anderson wiped his face and looked at the man. “They say venting is good for the soul. I never really believed it until now. We had a link to Christopher and we lost it.” He threw the towel down, feeling the frustration rise again. “Did Mitchell confirm their story?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Lovely,” he muttered. “What do you know about this rebel?”

“Not much, information about Christopher’s inner circle is pretty scarce. From what I was able to find out he was an excellent tracker. Chances were he knew he was being followed the moment Davidson and Haily set after him.”

“Christopher knows how to pick his lieutenants, I can not fault him on that. Hopefully this loss will hurt him in some way. Is there any thing else about the situation I should be aware of?”

“Yes. Haily, on Mitchell’s recommendation I might add, is asking for some days off for Davidson. Naturally we can’t…”

“Give him a week, “Anderson interrupted. “I am not in the mood to see him at the moment.”

“Understood,” Allen turned to leave.

“One more thing, the frog.” He hesitated a little before answering.

Then he quickly said, “I’m still working on it. Some of the Drakan I’ve contacted have been a tad secretive when asked if they had one of their pact visiting the city.”

“Well keep on it. One of them is bound to let something slip sooner or later.” Anderson looked at dummy and the pieces of equipment destroyed during his emotional state. “And make sure everything in here is replaced.”

***

He watched Michael drag off the last body off. This was a level of frustration he never knew was possible. Snapping these human like the twigs they were was not satisfying, there was no challenge. “Don’t worry, it’ll come to us eventually,” Michael said coming back into the room. “Even Anderson can’t ignore these losses.”

“Do you actually think Anderson cares about these humans?” Michael just shrugged. There had to be a way to make this more interesting. “Would you care to make a wager on how many more he will send before he sets the metal bug loose?”

***

Rachel paced the lobby waiting for Jack to show up. He did not sound all that happy when she called and told him Anderson wanted him to come in for a job. She told Anderson that she doubted he would come in. But she thought it would be better to head him off first in case he did. Try to lessen some of that anger that would be obviously building up on the way here. Oh hell, there he was. Jack stormed through the front doors and she got in his path. “Hi.”, he went right past her, “Ah, Jack.” That went about as well as expected.

He walked right past the elevator and headed for the stairs. She hoped he was going to take out most of his frustrations on the stairs. Rachel just gotten things calmed down with Anderson about that rebel Lieutenant. She did not need this wreaking that right now. Jack stood a flight above looking confused. He looked at her and she offered, “Command Center.” He nodded and went on. Rachel hurried after him, maybe she could act as a buffer when they got there. If she was lucky she might calm him down before he got there. Unfortunately Jack noticed Anderson in the hallway leading to the center.

“You gave me a week,” he shouted as he walked toward Anderson. She hurried up and got in front of him.

“I realize that Mr. Davidson,” he replied calmly, “and I fully intended to give you the full seven days to work through your problems.” Jack shot her a look before Anderson continued. “But events have occurred that made me call you in early.”

“This better be good.” They followed him and Jack turned to her and whispered, “My problems?”

“I had to tell him something to get you the time off.” Jack grunted and left it alone. She made a mental note to work on that trust thing they were supposed to have.

Anderson let them enter the Command Center first before starting the briefing. “The situation, like I told you, is rather dire. While you were gone I sent a team to investigate a report of activities at an old Drakan stronghold. That team and the three we sent after them soon disappeared.”

“Whoa,” Jack features soften slightly.

“Mitchell was ready to go in with a full assault team when we found a survivor. He was in shock and a lot of what he said was gibberish, but we were able to get a description of his assailant. A Drakan monkey,” Anderson studied Jack as he said, “reportedly a blue one.”

Rachel looked at Jack as soon as he said that. There was a glint of cold anger that passed through his eyes. “Are we sure it’s a blue Drakan monkey?”, she asked.

“As sure as we can be,” he replied.

“Were is he?”, Jack demanded.

“Jack we don’t know if he still there,” she told him.

“You think I care.”

“I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

“Don’t worry I’ll get my hopes up after he’s a burning pile of trash. Now where is he?”

“Surprisingly enough, the same safe house where we located the elephant,” Anderson informed them. Jack’s eyes narrowed for some reason.

“Figures,” Jack turned and started to leave. He stopped just long enough to turn to her and say, “You coming?”

“I’ll get you a report as soon as I can.”

***

Jack hurried across town, or at least he tried to. Was traffic slower today for some reason, or was fate trying to keep him from the monkey? Finally he reached the safe house. He decided to wait for Rachel to pull up before heading for the house. For some reason she got in his way. “Now what?”

“You can’t go in there angry.”

“I like to think of it as being properly motivated. Now if you will excuse me.”

“Jack will you stop and think about this for a moment.”

“What is your problem? I’m finally excited about a mission for once. You should be pointing me in the right direction and saying ‘Go’.”

“Four teams went in here and only one man survived. This could be a trap.” He looked at her. “Listen to me, the rebels were quiet for a week. One of the rebel leader’s top men was spotted in plain sight without any guards. Now there’s activity at a place we already know about. If they know about you this could be exactly what they want.”

“If the monkey is in there then I’m not going to disappoint them.” He moved passed her and went up the steps to the door. When he got there he found it was unlocked. Jack glanced over at Rachel who was standing next to him. Maybe he should take that trap thing a little more seriously. He opened the door and was immediately assaulted by a stench. “Son of a …” he said while covering up his nose and mouth. “Think I’m going to be sick.”

“That’s it I’m calling for back up,” Rachel told him.

“Wait,” Jack thought he saw something in a corner. It looked like it was sitting up and dressed like one of the scout teams. He cautiously went for him, making sure there wasn’t going to be any other surprises. Jack kneeled down next to the shape. It was one of the previous team members. “Hey, can you hear me?”, he patted the man’s face. It was cold, “Damn.”

“Jack, is he all right?”

“Call for a wagon.”

“About time you got here,” said a voice from above.

Jack and Rachel looked up. On the second floor kneeling on the railing was a blue monkey. Jack felt the anger start to rise and he wasn’t stopping it. It was the same Drakan, there was no doubt in his mind. He raised his left arm across his chest and the grey metal belt appeared around his waist. Jack moved the arm out of the way and raised his right arm. “Hen… ,” was all he got out before something that looked like a claw came at him. Everything went dark soon after.

***

The Drakan that knocked out Jack, a blue scorpion, turned to her. Before she knew it he returned to his human disguise, pulled her in and put a pair of handcuff around her wrist. The monkey jumped down and cuffed Jack’s hands around his back. Then they were taken upstairs, thrown in a room and the door locked. She sat there waiting for either them to come back or for Jack to wake up. He started to stir after what she guessed was an half hour, “Oy.”

“Are you all right?”

“Was there a elephant standing on my head?”, he asked while slowly sitting up.

“Not exactly,” she told him.

“Ok,” he looked around the room. “Now why are we still alive?”

“I heard them say I might know something since I’m your handler.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Their words not mine. You, I have no clue. Maybe they think you know something too.”

“Me? I’m just the loaded gun. Well loaded foot anyway,” he said while getting the cuffs under his leg. It wasn’t long before the handcuffs were right in front of him. Jack studied the cuffs for a bit. “Trust me, they’re going to parade me around a bit before killing me. Hmm… thirty year old model.” He started looking around the room. Jack saw something the caught his interest, “That’s doable.”

He grabbed two wires and bent the end on one of them. She saw him stick them into the cuff’s keyhole in disbelief. “You have got to be kidding me? There is no way you can open these thing like that.” Jack ignored her and kept working. In a matter of moments he had a hand free and was working on the other one. “How’d you do that?”

“My Uncle was a lock smith, well he was during his day job. Let’s say he taught me a few things before Mom could stop him.” Both of his hands were free, “Let me see yours.”

“When were you planning on seeing this Uncle of your again?”

“Sometimes in the next six to eight years, it’s gonna depend on how well he behaves.” Her cuffs were off soon after.

Rachel went to the door and listened. “Did your Uncle teach you how to unlock a door?”

“Henshin!”

She turned in surprise. It wasn’t long before she was staring into the red eyes of the insect style helmet. Jack walked up to the door and kicked it down. “That works to.”

***

Jack led Rachel through the hallway. It didn’t take him long to realize they were on the second floor. Good thing he decided to stay in armor. They reached the stairway, still no Drakan in sight. Not that deep down he was really disappointed or anything. Part of him wanted a crack at the one who sucker punched him after he got the monkey. “I don’t suppose you have your phone?”, he asked.

“They took it from me. The monkey threw it against a wall to make sure I couldn’t use it.”

“Great.” Jack headed down the stairs first to make sure the floor was clear. “Head back to World Inc. and get Mitchell and his team. I’ll stay here to cover you. No arguing.”

“I don’t like this,” she told him.

“I’m just doing what you guys pay me for. Tell Mitchell I’ll try to save him some of the second one.”

“You,” a feral voice said. The monkey was standing in another door.

Jack pointed to the upper level, “Let’s take it up.” The monkey nodded once and jumped to the upper level. Jack raced up the stairs. The monkey took a swing that he ducked. The stood there looking at each other.

Then the monkey said, “Now you will pay for what you did to my partner.”

At the same time he said, “You’re dead after what you did to Richie.” They both took a beat to figure out what the other’s comment meant. Then they both attack screaming. The fight was primal, nothing fancy, no jumping, no flipping. Just straight punching and kicking. Each one was trying to tear the other apart and neither was backing down. The monkey grabbed him around the throat. Jack pounded its arms until they gave just a little, grabbing the monkey’s wrist he removed its hands. Quickly as he could Jack grabbed its left arm. Then he slammed his other hand into the point of its elbow. He smiled behind the helmet as he heard the snap. The monkey grimaced in pain as it clutched it’s now useless arm. Jack flexed the fingers on his left hand and said, “One limb down, two to go.”

***

Rachel should have left when the fight started. But she was Jack mission operator, it was her job to see the fight through. She was amazed and a little sickened at the way Jack was fighting. He never looked that savage before. It almost seemed like he was enjoying it.

The door opened and the light blinded her. She blinked a few times and saw a man standing there. Her blood went cold, it was the human disguise for the scorpion. He closed the door quickly and a blue scorpion tail emerged from under his coat. It soon turned all the way all the way and came at her. Rachel ducked the initial strike, found a broken piece of scrape wood and turned to face it. It charged at her. Rachel raised the piece of wood over her head stabbed at it. The jagged pointed end pierced the scorpion in one of its eyes. It back up and screamed in pain as it pulled the piece out. It snapped its mandibles angrily and came at her again.

***

He never faced anything that fought like the metal bug before. There was a fury in it he wasn’t expecting. It kept attacking his broken arm when it got close enough. For the first time in a long time he felt fear. Jason set himself, if he was going to die he was going to take that thing with him. He jumped up and kicked it under the chin. While it staggered from the blow he ran toward a hole in the wall. Reaching in with his good arm he pulled out a detonator. The bug hit him against the wall, making him drop it. Then the bug stepped on it and threw him to the railing.

“Nothing goes boom today!” It ran over to him quickly and started punching him down. It backed away and he spit some coppery tasting spit out of his mouth. He wasn’t sure but it felt like a tooth came out with it. “Oh man,” it sounded disappointed, “looks like play time’s over. Guess I was wrong, one thing is going boom today.” The bug reached for its belt when they heard the scream. The both looked, Michael had just grabbed the female and threw her against the far wall. He was bleeding from one eye and looked like he was going in for the kill. The bug looked at him then to the scene below and back at him. “Damn,” it said before jumping over the railing.

***

Jack landed and ran at the scorpion, catching it’s tail as it was throwing it at Rachel. He pulled the tail and jerked the scorpion away from her. He had to end this thing fast and get back to the monkey. It snapped its claws at him, keeping him away. He also had to remember to avoid that tail. Seeing an opening Jack dodged a claw and hit a solid punch to the gut. He grabbed the scorpion’s arm and tried to break it but the tail swept his legs out from under him. He rolled away from as the stinger struck. Jack stomped the tail after it was stuck in the floor, the scorpion screamed in pain.

A sharp pain started growing in his gut. He looked at the meter, it was almost on continuous flash. That couldn’t be good. Jack threw the scorpion away and pressed the button under the belt, activating the mini turbines in it. He clutched at his leg as the charge went down his leg. Jack looked down and could see the electricity go down his leg. He’d worry about it later. Jack jumped up and kicked his right foot into the scorpion’s chest. Arcs of electricity could be seen as the foot made contact. The scorpion flew back hard against the wall and exploded.

Jack grabbed his leg and went down momentarily. He probably couldn’t use the kick against the monkey any time soon. That was alright he would just break its neck instead. Ignoring the pain, he ran back up the stairs as fast as his leg would let him. The monkey wasn’t any where in sight. He did a room by room search before heading back to the stairs. Looking down he could see the door was still closed. How did the monkey get away? Jack slammed his fist onto the railing, cracking it, “Damn it!”