<Episode 34>

Once again he was in the mountains facing the one person he hated more than anybody else in the world. As always they fought and he killed him with his bare hands. Walking away the monkey came back to life and kicked the crap out of him. As before the monkey waved around his waist and the belt appeared around it’s waist as the armor faded disappeared. On more time it waved an ever growing number of dead Drakan from the surrounding fog as the system activated on each of them. Again he started to run but was held in place by Richie and Max. All he could do was watch in fear as the Drakan turned the right pod while other hit the button that used to be there under the belt. They jumped as one and he woke up screaming, “NOOOO!!”

Jack quickly looked around the barren room trying to figure out where he was. Then he focused on Rachel hovering nearby and remembered. A few seconds later she wrapped her arms around him and tried to calm him down. She never did anything as soon as he woke up, always waiting a moment or two. Jack knew why, he overheard them talking about it, as Sparky put it he was in attack mode as soon as he came out of the nightmare. And Jack wasn’t sure if he would hurt anybody or not at the moment.

“It’s ok Jack,” Rachel said as he breathing went back to normal. Slowly she pulled away and sat next to him. After all this time in this room she was finally able to get him a mattress to sleep on a month or so back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her staring at him. “Talk to me Jack,” she said after a few moments of silence.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said as his heart finally stopped beating in his ears.

“And don’t tell me that,” she told him plainly. ”This is the only area where you’re not making any kind progress. Was there anything different about the nightmare this time around? Anything, something small, something you usually wouldn’t have noticed.”

“The only thing different is the number stopped getting bigger,” he told her, talking about the amount of dead Drakan coming at him. A tear fell down his check, he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take, “Why won’t this go away?”

“I wish I could tell you,” she said honestly, “but you’re the only one who can do that. Or at least that what Dusty says.” Rachel brushed some of the hair out of his eyes, “One of these days we’re going to have to get you a haircut, maybe a shave. You’re looking like Grizzly Adams.”

Jack smiled weakly, “So you don’t go for the rugged looking type?”

Rachel smiled back, “You couldn’t even begin to guess my type.”

“Don’t tell me you and Sparky are spending a little quality time in one of his hiding spots.”

Rachel looked annoyed for a brief second before smiling again, “And to think I was missing those lame jokes of yours.”

“I can go lamer, I’m just out of practice.”

“And that’s a really scary thought,” she told him. Patting him on the knee she said, “Try to go back to sleep, we got a long day ahead of us.”

“And more people watching to see if I’m going to crack again,” he said out loud without thinking.

“Now don’t talk like that,” she scolded him. “Nobody wants to see you have a relapse.”

“Tell that to the chimp,” he said darkly.

“Yeah well,” she hesitated, “Jason a jackass to begin with.”

“According to Sparky a higher pitched one after you were done,” he teased her.

Rachel looked embarrassed, “Like you said Sparky says a lot of things.”

“And Arron and Angie and I think I overheard Melissa say something…”

“Alright wise guy, save some of that for later.” She kissed on top of the head, “Now try to get some sleep.” Jack nodded and laid back down. He closed his eyes and tried to relax before finally drifting back off again. But it didn’t seem like no time before he was back in the mountains fighting Jason again before everything went to hell.

***

When he wasn’t waking up screaming in the middle of the night everybody was amazed at the progress Jack had made. A few commented that he was almost like his old self. Of course people like her and Dusty knew him a little better. Every so often Rachel would catch him with his eyes closed for an extended period of times. He was still seeing his ghost, but at least they didn’t seem to appear as often as they did. Either that or he’s gotten better at hiding the spells. If it was the latter they were going to have a talk.

Later though, right now they had to get to the garden center. Rachel didn’t believe how long it took her to convince Dusty that this would be a good idea. She saw his point when Jack was seeing ghost every other minute, he might have tried to run or something. But now seemed like good a time as any to see how he would react in a larger group setting. She watched him hesitate for a second before they entered the underground garden the rebels had set up. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw as he looked around the area with a worried look that he tried to cover up. Apparently she was the only one who saw it as Sparky and a red and purple haired girl she learned was named Angie ran up to them smiling like nothing was wrong.

“Buddy I’m glad to see you down here,” Sparky told him.

Rachel and Jack looked at each other totally confused. Then Jack asked, “What in the blue hell are you doing down here?”.

“Without a gun pointed to your head?”, she added.

“What are you two talking about,” he said laughing. “I love coming down here.”

“Since when?”, they asked in unison. Sparky gestured toward Angie without her seeing. Jack sighed and walked toward the tool rack as Sparky followed him.

Angie smiled at him and turned toward Rachel, “I know he’s full of it but I love watching him act. Oh Jack,” she called out, “anytime you want to lop that hair off let me know. I do more than just makeup and wigs.”

“I told you needed one,” Rachel said. Jack waved her off.

“You really ought to think about it,” Sparky told him. “How do you think I stay looking so pretty?”

“I’m a stylist not a miracle worker,” Angie said then walked off.

Sparky quickly went after her, “Now was that necessary?”

Jack leaned on the rake he picked out and watched them, “Either he’s trying to hook up with her or I’m crazier than I thought.”

“Nobody that’s crazy,” Rachel told him. He nodded after thinking about it a bit and she picked out a hoe and they started working. It wasn’t long before she became aware of somebody hiding in the corner. From the look of things Jack hadn’t noticed yet so she made her way over. Sounding a little irritable she said, “I had him convince nobody was going to be watching him.”

“Just here as a doctor and a friend little lady,” Dusty told her. “Still say this is a bit much too soon.”

“And you know how much he hates being babied,” she countered. “Especially now since he’s acting more or less like normal.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I point out the word ‘act’ there.”

“Look I know he’s faked a couple of reactions since this happened to look normal. I’ve known him long enough to realize that. But this is him, I know it.”

“I know you want to think that darlin’…”

She cut him off, “What, you think I so desperate that I’m seeing things?” That came out a little angrier than she intended.

Dusty didn’t look fazed but sounded apologetic, “I didn’t mean it like that little lady, but I caught myself doing it a few times too.” Putting a hand on her shoulder he added, “We all want him back Rachel, so bad we can taste it. But sometimes we have to step back and take a more critical eye about things.”

Before she could answer they heard Jack say, “Would you quit it.”

“Come on man,” Sparky said while playfully jabbing the handle end of a shovel at Jack. “Let’s see if you still have the moves.”

“I don’t do that anymore Sparky,” Jack told him while trying to grab the handle or trying to knock it away.

“That part still gotta be in you somewhere.” He kept jabbing away, “You just have to find it again.”

“Quit it Sparky,” Jack started to look annoyed and a little angry.

“Sparky that’s enough,” Angie told him.

“Just having some fun,” was all he said as he continued doing it.

Before Rachel and Dusty could run over and stop him Jack finally had enough. “Would,” he used his rake to knock it away, “you,” he blocked a return swing, “quit,” Jack tripped him and stood over him, “it!”He raised the rake over his head and she ran faster. Everybody stopped what they were doing and watched. She saw his eyes change before the rest of him did. He started looking lost and confused a second before his hands opened up and the rake dropped to the ground. Looking at his hands he backed away sputtering, “I’m… I’m sorry I… I don’t…”

“Dude seriously, my bad,” Sparky said as he stood up. “I should have stopped when you said so.”

“You better believed you should have stopped,” Rachel snapped at him. Jack just slowly backed away from them staring at his hands.

“Rachel I’m…”, Sparky started.

“Not know Sparky,” she said sharply, by now Jack was already leaning against a wall with that confused look on his face. If she wasn’t so mad at Sparky she might be sharing that look. She had no idea where that came from either.

***

Jack had a vague idea what was going on around him. Most of the others went back to what they were doing ignoring what happened. A few were pretending to do that while glancing his way. Rachel and Angie were both giving Sparky a piece of their mind. Frank stormed over demanding to know what the hell was going on while Dusty tried to calm him down. At the moment he was bothered by something else. It wasn’t even the fact he started to fight back against Sparky, violently at that. No, something in his head screamed stop and his hands opened on their own.

Now he couldn’t even get his hands to close again, like something was stopping them. If it was a glitch in the system he could understand, but only his left arm was reconstructed. His right still had some of his original “parts”, so why was it doing it too? Why has it been doing it for that matter? Jack tried to force his right hand to make a fist but it was resisting him. He was trying so hard to make it close beads of sweat starting to appear on his forehead, “Come on, close damn it.”

“Careful son,” Dusty said catching by surprise, “you’re gonna break something.”

Glancing at Dusty briefly he said, “I guess I wasn’t ready for this.”

“Actually I’m thinking Rachel might be right and you’re almost back to being yourself.”

“I almost attacked Sparky,” he said sounding a little bewildered.

“But you stopped yourself, showed a little self restraint. Hell, I would have just kicked his ass.”

Jack looked at his hands again, “But how much of it was actually me?’

“I’m not gonna lie to ya, I’ve seen your hand… well I don’t want to call it a problem, But it might be a symptom that you just don’t realize you have yet.”

“And what part of that is supposed to make sense?”

“It’s medical side talk son, it’s not suppose to make sense,” Dusty said with a chuckle. “But the answer to that,” he pointed at Jack’s hand, “is in that open space you call a head. The moment you figure that out is the moment you clear that last hurdle, then you’re in the home stretch.”

“What if I can’t figure it out?”

“I’m sure you will. And I’m pretty sure it has to deal with that guilt you been feeling, or lack of according to you.” He was quiet for a few moments. “You’re the only one who can make that last jump son. A lot of people want you back the way you were before. Hell I’m one of them. But it’s up to you if you want to go that way.”

“Never knew I had a choice in the matter,” he said idly as he looked at the Drakan around them.

“You always have a choice son,” Dusty patted him on the shoulder, “No matter what some people might tell ya.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time somebody told me that.”

“Then it’s gotta be true then doesn’t son,” Dusty smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a couple of runny noses and a cracked oil pan that’s come to my attention.”

Dusty patted him on the shoulder again and walked off to whatever was closest. After a few moments Frank came storming past him saying something like, “I have half a mind to take them up on that offer.” Jack started at him for a few moments wondering what that meant, then he looked down. There were a few weeds at his feet, but between them there was a plant of something, it looked like some kind of flower. Without really thinking he knelt down and started pulling the weeds away from the plant.

“Well that didn’t quite go according to plan did it?”, Rachel said as she walked up to him. Jack just grunted as he continued pulling the weeds. He could feel her staring at him. “So you ready to go?”

“Not yet,” he said not looking at her.

“Well there’s not much left to do around here. The next shift already here.”

“Good for them.”

Rachel got down to a knee and watched him, “What are you doing?”

“Rachel,” he wasn’t sure how to explain it, he really didn’t know himself, “I’ve killed a lot of these people. I just,” he finally looked at her, “I just want to help something live for a change.”

She looked at the plant and smiled softly, “Alright, do you want some help? I sent you after a few of them after all.”

“I don’t suppose you know anything about growing plants? Because I have no clue.”

***

“What can I do for you today General?”, Anderson asked as Rhodes walked in unannounced. Usually he would ask to see him first so something must be bothering the man to more or less barge in like this.

“The good Senator,” he replied, “is starting to make some noise again.”

“Persistent for a human, isn’t he?”, Anderson sighed.” Very tricky as well, he waits just long enough that the turmoil he cause if almost back down to normal before rattling the metaphorical saber again. If he was a Drakan I’d almost respect him.”

“Well he starting to talk to people around me now,” Rhodes informed him. “People with as much pull as I do. At least one with a somewhat negative view of this company.” Looking a little nervous he leaned on the desk, “He’s bringing up rumors that a mark two system is being bonded to somebody right now.”

“Humans do love to gossip, don’t they General,” Anderson mused. “I suppose that’s how they get some of their information, a human who can not keep quiet.”

Rhodes straighten up, “You’re being awfully nonchalant about this. This could be trouble.”

He opened a drawer on his right side and started rummaging through the files inside. “I did not get this far by worrying about thing before they happen.” Finding the right file he pulled it out and handed it to the General. “Give this to him, just a reminder of a previous conversation he has obviously forgotten.”

The general flipped through the file then looked at him, “Is this true?”

“Enough of it is to be plausible,” he told him. “The best lies always have a hint of the truth to them. Something I remembered after Davidson’s defection. Perhaps he would still be working for us if I remembered that back then, or perhaps not.”

Tapping the folder against his hand Rhodes commented, “It might be easier to replace the Senator on that committee rather than drag stuff like this up and spin it.”

“Perhaps,” he conceded. “It’s something I already looked into. Unfortunately anybody else on that committee does not have the same political stroke Henning does, so we must put up with him for the time being. We just have to remind him of his place in the order of things. Speaking of which, inform the Senator that there is more where that came from.” He let a small smile slip through, “For a man so upstanding in his community he does have a rather shaky past.”

“If you don’t mind me saying so,” Rhodes said,” you do seem unusually happy today.”

Anderson leaned back in his chair, “There is a reason for that General, for the first time in months we may finally have word on Davidson’s condition. To find out one way or another does take a load off of one’s mind.”

***

The old man put that green bitch up to this, Jason just knew it. Why else would he be put in a “grab and dash” operation with a group that had the green whelp and his blue haired lackey? This had to be some sort of punishment for speaking his mind. Yet months ago that worthless human assaulted him and they did nothing. The injustice of it all. They even had the nerve to search him for explosives before they left. It was almost as bad as being under Anderson’s rule.

“The shipping yard looks clean,” the group leader said while looking through his binoculars. “Looks like their info was right on the money.”

“So why ain’t they doing this one?”, Sparky asked.

“For once me and the blue haired freak agree on something,” Jason said smugly.

“Blame the guy who took over for Drake,” the green whelp said. “He wanted a show of, and I’m quoting here, ‘good faith’ from Melissa.”

“Is that why that particular cell been keeping their distance from us after Drake died?”

“And the others too according to Lance,” the whelp told them. “The way he tells it the other cell leaders are starting to miss Drake, at least he understood they wouldn’t be able to survive on their own.”

“Somebody who thinks they can do it all by themselves,” he could feel Sparky stare at the back of his head. “Sound like anybody you know?”

“Keep the metal bug out of this,” Jason shot back. He smirked when a couple had to remind the whelp they were on the same side. The group leader waved them on and the silently crossed the street to an area of the surrounding fence that was darkened due to the lack of lights. The whelp wisely picked up a few pieces of stray gravel and tossed them at the fence to see if it was electrified. It wasn’t so Jason and Sparky started in with the bolt cutters. Jason was actually amazed that they were ahead of schedule for once.

“According to their information the target on the first floor.”

“Guess it’s too much to hope that it’s near a window,” Sparky said before everybody hushed him. They found a door Sparky quickly unlocked. Two of the group stayed outside to guard their exit while the rest of them went inside the building. All of them felt uneasy about this assignment, the show of good faith was a file on a computer in a particular office. The best they could they could get out of this cell was that the file contained the troop placement for Anderson personal army. Even Melissa said this was foolish to attempt, but it could be useful information if they could get their hands on it. Arron found the office and the door was unlocked, that raised a few alarms in his head and the others were apparently smart enough to be alerted by it as well. The whelp quickly put a disk in the drive and looked for the file. Like that new cell leader said it was encrypted but he also supplied the password. Surprisingly it worked and the file started downloading.

“Remind me later to wonder how they got the passcode,” the whelp said after the download was complete and took the disk.

“If these guys are that good I can see why Melissa wants to keep them happy,” Sparky commented.

“If they’re that good maybe they already know Jack’s with us,” the whelp said. “It would explain why they been keeping their distance lately.”

“I’ve been saying that bug been more trouble than what he’s worth,” Jason said, partially to get under their skin. He and a few of the other realized something was wrong the moment they saw the door they entered from was ajar. Jason knew he closed it after the entered. Suddenly it swung open and a black clad World Inc. shock trooper barged in. Jason, who quickly dropped his human disguise, grabbed the human by the head and slammed him to the ground. The other changed forms while the whelp sniffed the air.

“He’s the only one by the door,” he said after a moment, “but there definitely more out there.” Carefully they peaked round the door and saw shock troopers manning the fence. The two that were guarding he door was lying on the ground by them. The lack of smell of Drakan blood told them they were still alive. “Oh God we were set up.”

“This is why we should be armed,” Jason spat.

“Right know I settle for an armored dragonfly,” the group leader said. “Scatter as best you can. Try to meet up at the old arcade. We’ll regroup from there. And hang on to that disk, something good better come form it after all of this.”

A couple of them went out the door. A few ran down the hall and crashed through the window at the end. Jason and the rest broke through the closest office and exited through the window within. Their reflexes were the only thing keeping them ahead of the gunshots. Although one or two went down because they were too slow. Jason saw a dart stick out of one that was hit. Apparently Anderson wanted them all taken alive, at least it gave them a chance.

He saw an idiot charge right at the shock troopers, apparently trying to give them an opening. That idiot only gave them an easier target. Right now it was every man for himself as far as he was concerned. Jason quickly saw where the gunmen weren’t located and headed in that direction. So far none of them had noticed or he was out of their firing range. Then a shock stick came out of no where and struck him in the stomach. He bent over from the pain but refused to go down. He wouldn’t give the human the satisfaction. Another one came out of hiding and jammed another shock stick into his side. He was vaguely aware that they were taunting him as they continued to jab at him. Jason tried to fight back, even came close to grabbing one of their disgusting faces, but the other one stopped him short.

“Gangway!”, a eel said as he ran a shoulder into one of the troopers. Turning his attention to the other one he shocked him when the human tried to attack. Finally Sparky stopped playing around and took the shock stick from the human and used it against him, shocking him unconscious. “Guess that what happens when they have this set to Drakan all the time,” he joked. Behind him the other human tried to sneak up on him. Then the wolf whelp flew in with a kick that knocked the trooper into the wall. Sparky watched him slide to the ground with an ear to ear grin and said “Boom.” The wolf gave him a look, “You got that from Jack and you know it.”

“That was a flying side kick,” the wolf said as he hauled Jason to his feet. “Standard martial arts.”

They started running as Sparky said, “Then how come I never seen you do it before now?”.

“Why did you help me?”, Jason asked in total confusion.

“And deny Jack the chance to kick your blue hairy ass?”, Sparky answered. “He’d never forgive us.” Jason silently fumed as they ran into the night.

***

Rachel was already up watching Jack lay there sleeping. As sad as it sounded she had his nightmares more or less timed out. Occasionally he’d miss one or have an extra one but for the most part they were like clockwork. Almost on cue he started twitching. Slowly she sat up and got ready. It wasn’t long before he stopped twitching and his eyes snapped open and he shot up, “NOOOO!!”

It was getting harder and harder not to go to him immediately, but he still needed those first couple of moments to realize where he was. Then she went to him and tried to calm him down, “It’s ok, I’m here. It was only a nightmare, remember.”

Jack clutched her arm that was different. There must have been something new to the nightmare. “A couple of them went after somebody else,” he started without any prodding from her. “I don’t know who… I couldn’t stop them.”

“It was only a nightmare,” she told him. “They can’t get anybody.” He just sat there shaking in her arms. But the nightmare, after all these months, finally changed. So what did that mean?