<Episode 43>

Anderson stared a hole into Mitchell as he stood in front of the desk. Part of him had to give the human credit, he wasn’t withering from the gaze. He personally knew of a couple of greens who would have begun sweating right about now. It was one of the reasons why he was usually proud to be associated with this particular human. Then last night happened. Evenly he spoke, “I am extremely disappointed with you Mitchell.”

“I know sir,” Mitchell replied while staying attention and staring straight ahead.

“We had Haily,” he was having a hard time keeping his temper under control. “She was captured and in our custody. Half of the job was already done. She was Davidson’s support system, without her he would have been easier to deal with if not captured out right.” Slowly he stood and stared him in the eyes. “Then you decided to play a game.” Slapping his hand on the desk he demanded, “Why would you think that would be even remotely acceptable?”

“I was testing out something I discovered during a previous encounter with Jack,” was his only explanation.

“And what was that?”

“That Rachel was a hole in personal armor. I was trying to exploit it.” Many men would have started making excuses why the plan didn’t work. Mitchell left it there apparently realizing there was nobody to blame but himself.

“So you had her play the damsel in distress against her will.” Anderson dropped back into his chair. “And the reason why you didn’t think you could test this,” he searched for the right word, “experiment here was?”

“I didn’t think he’d come. We have captured rebels before and brought them here and not once have they made an attempt to rescue any of them.”

“That maybe Mitchell but in this case your estimate was wrong.” Anderson studied his face for any hint of a reaction but that poker face of his was as strong as ever. “You see Mitchell while you just saw a man relaying on his luck as you put it, I watched him while he was still here and read the reports of how he was acting after he left. I do believe I can safely say that with or without the rebels consent Davidson would have found a way to make an attempt.” Again the human said nothing. “Instead of following procedure you went out on your own and ended up with the garbage. Dismissed!” Mitchell saluted, turned around sharply and exited the office. Anderson sat back and tried to get himself under control, slamming his fist on the desk when he could not do so right away.

***

It had been a week since anything had happened. Melissa knew it was the build up until something big happened, but she didn’t have the heart to dampen the relaxed vibe she had been getting around the habitat. Actually it was nice to get that vibe again. Some of the adults were playing ball with the children. A lot of people were sitting around and shooting the breeze. Even Jason seemed less grumpy than usual. Then there was Jack and Rachel. He was sitting on a crate and she was standing against it looking in a particular direction. Staying behind them she leaned against it and asked, “So what are we looking at?”

“The new hot item underground,” Rachel answered. Looking between them she saw Sparky and Angie across the room doing the couple thing, holding hands and looking happy to be together.

“Ah, young love in bloom,” she glanced at both of them to gauge their reaction to her choice of words.

Dense as ever Jack said, “I don’t know if I should be happy Sparky found somebody or sad Angie apparently settled at a young age.”

“Now don’t talk like that,” Rachel told, oblivious to what she said as well. “We should be happy they found some happiness in all of this mess. Some people don’t know what they have until they lose it.”

“No kidding,” he agreed. “I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people have it right under their nose and not realize it.” Silently Melissa watched them as an awkward silence grew between them. Rachel turned her head and started to say something but quickly found something else completely interesting. Jack pulled back the sleeve of his jacket than glanced at her before looking in another reaction. Melissa dropped her head in frustration. What she really wanted to do was reach out and crack their heads together, but she was afraid that would hurt Rachel more than anything. Looking back up she silently urged one of them to make the first move already.

Resisting a very strong urge to shout out, “one of you say I love you already,” she said out loud, “It’s probably a good thing nobody else thinks like you do Jack. Otherwise they wouldn’t stand a chance.”

She got something weird from him right before he said, “Then you might want to have a little discussion with Arron, he’s taking bets on how long they’re going to last.”

“You’re kidding?” One look from Rachel gave her the answer, “You’re not kidding.”

“This idiot put in five bucks,” Rachel informed her.

Jack tried to defend himself, “I gave them four years, that’s a lot longer than anybody else gave them. Arron was saying six months tops. I probably won’t even remember if I won or lost money on that bet.”

“That’s not the point,” Rachel told him. “You’re betting on your best friend’s love life. That’s like them betting on us for some reason.” Melissa didn’t have the heart to tell them there was a wager going on for when they would actually “do it”. Then again she hadn’t lost the bet yet so there was no point really. Come to think of it Arron started that bet too. Melissa was going to have a talk with him one of these days.

“My best friend is standing right here,” Jack said pointing right at Rachel. That took Melissa a bit by surprise. “I though we had this discussion already.”

“I though you were trying o make me feel better,” Rachel told him.

“Have I ever done or said anything to make you feel better?” Jack looked confused for a moment, “Wait, that didn’t sound right.”

Behind them Melissa started smirking, best friend wasn’t an “I love you” but it was a step in the right direction. At least for these two.

***

“Is that all you got Jack?”, Lance told him. Once again they were in the gym and everybody gave them some space. Lance held up the padded gloves in front of him and insisted, “Come on show me a combo.” Jack threw three punches and finished with a knee. Lance absorbed each one with the gloves. “I saw that knee coming a mile away. Mix it up Jack.” He threw another punch combo and a knee but finished up with a spinning backhand. “That’s better, you almost caught me sleeping with that one.” After a few more combos he said, “Alright let’s take a break.”

“I can still go,” Jack protested.

“And there’s no point in fighting Mitchell if you’re just going to drop from exhaustion.”

“And I told you I didn’t want anybody to hold back on me.”

“There’s holding back on you and then there’s trying to smarting you up,” Lance told him. “Tiring yourself out is not the way to get you any better. Hell I’m surprised you picked up anything during this crash course we got going.” Taking the gloves off he went, “Come on sit, the water is on me.”

Reluctantly Jack did so, although he gratefully took the offered water. “It’s just frustrating you know. When we’re both in our armor I’m barely able to keep my head from getting knocked off. But the one time I had the advantage he was holding his own without any problem.”

“Yeah, and he and every single one of Anderson’s shock troopers is a trained fighter. Mitchell has years of experience and training over you Jack,” Lance told him, how he could make a lecture not sound like one amazed Jack to no end. “You can’t expect to close that gap in this short of time.” That was not what he wanted to hear right about now. “Look Jack I’ve seen you fight a few times, and from what I can tell you have some pretty good instincts. But you have to fight a little smarter too.”

“You say that every freaking day,” he groaned. He knew it was true but he was getting sick of hearing it.

“And you know you can do it too. Arron and Sparky both told me how you outsmarted him last time.”

Jack turned away, “I just got lucky.” He nearly fell off the bench when Lance punched him in the arm. “OW, what the hell?”

“New rule, “Lance pointed a finger in his face, “any time you put anything you’ve done down as luck you’re getting punched.” Snorting a bit he added, “Rachel told me I’d have to whack you in the head to get you to listen but I didn’t think she was serious.”

Rubbing his shoulder he asked, “And what would you call what happened?”

“Thinking on your feet,” Lance answered plainly. “That’s the one real advantage you have.” Jack wasn’t convinced and apparently it showed. “Look Rachel told me about this luck thing Mitchell apparently stuck on. And maybe in a couple of the fights you’ve been in you did get lucky. But I sincerely doubt luck played a factor in all of them.” Lance looked around then leaned in, “like I said I’ve seen you fight. I even talked to Sparky, Rachel, Arron anybody who had ever seen you throw down with a Drakan. And I’ve got the same thing from all of them. When you think you have a purpose you’re a totally different person. Even if you don’t realize you had one at the moment.”

Jack eyes narrowed a bit as he looked at him, “Who told you about the champion crap?”

Hesitating a bit he eventually answered, “Melissa. She didn’t know what to make of it either. But I think I have an idea though.”

“Do you want to clue me in then? I kinda like to know what in the hell I’m supposed to be doing.”

“I don’t think it’s my place to say.”

“Damn it,” Jack blurted as he got up. “I’ve been wrapping my head around thing crap for weeks trying to figure what it’s supposed to mean. Do I hang back and wait for them to do something? Or do I go after them before they get a chance to do anything?”

Lance waited until Jack sat back down before saying anything, “This is one of those things you’re going to have to figure out for yourself. But from the way people are talking you’re close to figuring it out.” Putting a hand on his shoulder he said, “When you do figure it out my gut’s telling me Anderson better watch out because his days are going to be numbered.”

“Thanks Lance,” Jack eventually said.

“You kidding, I should still be thanking you. I though Dusty was going to kill me the other day for accidently ripping those stitches over your eye.”

“I was more worried about Rachel ripping you a new one,” Jack laughed. “Me and Dusty just got in each others way.”

“Come on break time’s over,” Lance said. “Let’s spar for awhile.” They got on the mat and started circling each other, throwing a kick or a punch to test the others defenses. Almost casually Lance said, “Speaking of Rachel, when are the two of you going to stop beating around the bush and make it official?”

Stopping what he was doing Jack exclaimed, “You to?” Next thing he knew Lance grabbed him by the arm and he went flying over his shoulder and crashing into the mat. And judging from the smirk on Lance’s face that was a lesson on being prepared for anything. Jack pointed a finger up at him, “That was low.”

***

“How are the canned goods?” Michelle asked Rachel. It was time to do inventory of the supplies. Usually she wanted to do this by herself so she would get some time alone to think. But every so often it was good to have someone to talk to. It defiantly made the job go by quicker.

“Looks like we’re a little low on green beans and corn,” she replied. “Sparky said he has them growing the green beans so we should be good there.” Rachel paused for a moment, “That still doesn’t sound right for some reason.”

Melissa grinned, “No it doesn’t.” She wrote something down on the clipboard, “So how are you doing?”

“Outside of trying not to go out of my mind I’m doing ok.”

“Anything bothering you?”

“Just going a little stir crazy, that’s all,” she explained. “And it’s not like I can step outside to get a walk for a change of scenery.”

“I hear you,” Melissa told her. “It’s kind of hard to keep yourself entertained when the TV only gets two channels and you’ve done everything there is to do about twenty times. I’ve done the puzzles we have so many times I can do them without looking at the picture on the box.”

“I never watched that much television,” Rachel said. “And I can deal with the long stretches of boredom. It’s the sudden spikes of excitement that we don’t know that are going to hit or how bad that gets to me.”

“Welcome to rebel life Rachel,” Melissa said. “I’m afraid to ask but how’s the bread?”

“Ew,” Rachel looked as she crinkled her nose. “One loaf and it’s green.”

“Yuck,” Melissa stuck out her tongue. “We’ll give it to Dusty, he’s been saying he’s looking for some penicillin. This way he can make his own.” Both of them chuckled a bit. But she did get something from Rachel when she said rebel life. “So what is bothering you?”

“I hate it when you do that,” she told her.

“Sorry but it doesn’t come with an off switch,” Melissa said. “I can ignore it for the most part but every so often something slips through. So spill it.” She wondered how much she was going to have to prod her before she actually talked.

Thankfully not much. “I just feel a little guilty at times. I mean I was helping World Inc. track you guys down and take you out. I never knew I was on the wrong side of this thing.”

“I’m sure my cousin thinks he’s solely in the right in this situation,” Melissa said. “But as somebody once said this is a war, there no such thing as a good guy or a bad guy. Just two sides that think they’re right and the other side is wrong.”

Rachel just looked at her, “Didn’t Jack say that?”

Melissa just shrugged, “I never said it was a smart person who said it.” Rachel kept looking at her and she couldn’t help put laugh. Eventually she joined in. “Don’t sweat it Rachel, you were just doing your job, just like we were. I know Chris kept himself up at nights wondering if he made the right decision or not. I’m still amazed he never got an ulcer. And if he did he did a great job of hiding it. I wish I could ask him what his secret was because I feel like one is coming on every so often.”

“I think my aunt had a remedy for that, “Rachel said trying to remember. “I’ll see if we have the stuff to make it for you.”

Smiling to herself Melissa said, “Does it involve stopping a gator with a look?”

There was a brief flash of annoyance from Rachel’s direction, “That really happened.”

“If you say so,” she replied causally. Like she thought there was another flash of annoyance.

***

Emily walked the halls trying to find Lance. He had received a call from his people not that long ago. They discovered something but didn’t want to check it out in fear of being caught. Of course Melissa said that they would check it out and Lance said he’d go along since it was suppose to be his cell’s job. Jack, Rachel, Sparky and Arron all agreed to go along. That was why she had to talk to him about it. Finally she found him, “Lance.”

“Oh hi Emily,” he said, “sorry but I can’t really talk now, the others are waiting for me.”

“That’s why I have to talk to you.”

“What’s wrong Emily? Is Mitchell going to show up or something?”

“It’s possible but I can’t say for sure,” she answered. “But Anderson has been targeting your cell lately.”

“Don’t remind me,” Lance grimaced. “I want to yell at my guys for dropping this in Melissa’s lap but I can’t really blame them either. Besides if Mitchell does show up Jack can hold him off.”

“I’m not so sure child,” Emily said.

“You don’t think Jack can do it?” Lance looked like he could believe what he was hearing. “You’re the one who got this whole champion thing going. Besides Jack’s gone one on one with him a few times now.”

“And what happened in those encounters child?”, Emily asked, urgency at the edge of her voice. “The first time if the others did not get to him in time we would have lost him. The second time Rachel interfered. Last time he had Arron and Sparky with him. There has not been a time where he has faced him totally alone. I know there will be a time when Jack will be able to face him one on one with no interference. Now is not that time.” She clutched his arm surprising him, “Please child, we need Jack if we are to finish this. I ask of you, please don’t let him face him alone.”

Lance looked unsure of what to do, “I’ll do what I can,” and he left. Emily hoped it would be enough to bring them all home safe.

***

How did he just know this thing was going to be in the middle of nowhere? They had passed nothing but trees for the last twenty minutes or so. At least it was night so they’d be able to see any headlights coming their way. Rachel grip around him got a little tighter and Jack smiled under the helmet. If it wasn’t for the fact this was an actual job this would have been fun. “Hey,” he called back to her, “want to try and beat them to our destination?”

“Save it for the track ‘Masked Rider’,” Rachel told him. Despite hating that tag Sparky stuck on him he grinned even more. “Besides they got he map, we could get lost out here.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing.”

“Just keep you eyes on the road,”

“Yeah,” he deadpanned, “I don’t want to miss a different shape of rock.” After a few more moments Sparky’s hand came out of the driver side window single them to stop. They jumped out of the van while Jack and Rachel took of their helmets. “What’s up, are we there?”

“I thought I saw something,” Arron said while looking into the woods around them.

“Am I the only one who gets a bad feeling every time somebody says that?”, he asked.

“No your not,” Rachel said as she got off the bike. “So how big was this something?”

“I really don’t want to know,” Jack muttered.

Arron answered anyway, “I really didn’t get a good look I just saw a flash of something.”

“I think that would be me,” Mitchell said as he came out of the tree line in front of them and stepped into the beams of the van headlights. Jack got in front of the group before anybody could stop him. “You see there’s a bunch of guys up there waiting to ambush you, but you probably already knew that before I even showed up. Now the rest of you can keep on going and fall into it, I really don’t care one way or another. But I want you,” he pointed right at Jack, a particular hatred in his eyes, “right here.”

Reaching behind him he pushed Rachel toward the others, “Get her out of here.” Stepping foreword he stared at the other man, “Alright Mitchell let’s finish this here and now.” Doing the movements to activate his system he got out, “Hen…!”, then something crashed into the back of the head and everything went black.

***

“What the hell?!”, the one with the blue dreads cried out. Rachel and the boy immediately checked on Jack and tried to wake him up. Mitchell was scratching the back of head too, he did not see that one coming. The blond haired one just stood there with the fist he used to knock out Jack still clenched. He didn’t look happy with himself, almost ashamed with himself. The blue haired one pushed him, “What the hell Lance?!”

“Get Jack out of here,” was all he said. The others weren’t letting up. “It’s something Emily told me before we left. She hasn’t been wrong yet. I’ll hold him off.” The others looked unsure. “I got no plans on dying, I’ll meet up with you later. Now hurry up and get him out of here.” He stepped foreword and got between them. After a few more seconds the blue haired one and the youth picked up Jack and put him in the van. Rachel got in with him as the youth got on the KR-1000 and they got out of there.

“Lance,” Mitchell said slowly, “you’re the guy in charge of the cell that’s super friendly with theirs aren’t you.” Bowing with a sarcastic smile he said, “I am honored. We’ve been after you guys for a while now”

“Don’t be,” was all he said.

Pointing to the retreating vehicles he said, “You do realize you’re just delaying the inevitable right? I’m going to get him all by his lonesome sooner or later.”

“Emily said he needed more time before then, so I’m giving it to him.” Before his eye Lance turned into a red wolverine.

“Whatever,” he told him. He did the movements for his activation sequence, “Transform!” The black body suit and red armor formed around him. They wasted no time at starting things either. Mitchell was mildly impressed with that. He knew the reds were trained fighters, but after fighting Jack it was great to go up against somebody who could give him a workout. Still he was surprised when the Drakan caught him and sent him flying. “Oh this is going to be fun,” he laughed.

“You have a weird definition of fun,” the rebel told him. Mitchell jumped to his feet and went after him again. This time Lance took the fight to him. He was forced to back up from the Drakan’s attacks. Lance started turning around and unleashing a kick with each spin. Mitchell went low and tried to sweep his legs out from under him but he jumped over it. As he landed the Drakan slashed his claws at his head. He could see the sparks fly through the blue lenses of his helmet. He forced him away and got under one of the Drakan kicks and popped back up with an uppercut. Lance head snapped back and he looked dazed. Mitchell charged and he was caught again. His head smashed into a tree and he saw stars as the blackness almost took him. “I’m out of here,” Lance said as he went to leave.

“Not yet,” Mitchell said as he lunged for the Drakan. Grabbing him by the leg he tripped him up. “It’s over once I say it’s over!”, getting up he tried to cave in the Drakan’s head with a vicious kick. Lance tried to kick at him again. Mitchell caught it. With a quick snap he broke the Drakans’ leg and he screamed in pain. But he kept trying to fight from his back despite the new handicap. Begrudgingly Mitchell gave him some respect for that. Lance was still able block some of the strikes being thrown at him but more than few were getting through and making contact. One punch landed right on the rebel shoulder, he felt it dislocate from the socket. Behind the helmet he grinned like a maniac at the pain he was causing, picturing that was Jack clutching at his shoulder in his mind. Kicking him in the side Lance rolled over and tried to crawl away. The meter started to flash. Four limbs one choice, decisions, decisions. “Now it’s over,” he followed the Drakan, “time to put you down.” Grabbing the right pod he twisted it down, “You’re luck just ran out, just like Jack’s will.” He stomped him in the back and walked away.

***

“Two coming in!” Melissa heard the guard shout as she waited. She was wondering what was going on since Lances’ cell said he hadn’t shown up yet. That was the plan, they would check out what was going on and after it was over they’d drop Lance off on their way back. So what changed? Before she saw any of them she was getting an almost overwhelming mixture of emotions, it was staggering. But the one who was angry quickly became apparent when Jack got of his motorcycle and threw his helmet across the room. “What the hell is going on?”, she demanded.

“Lance knocked me out!”, Jack snapped at her. Then he immediately regretted his tone of voice as soon as he said it.

Her mind was refusing to recognize the words he said,” What… wait? Lance did what? Where is he?” She tried to look into the van as the others came out. She wasn’t seeing him.

“We ran into Mitchell,” Rachel explained trying to stay under control. “He informed us we were heading into a trap.”

“He really didn’t care about us,” Arron continued when she couldn’t.

“All he wanted was Jack,” Sparky said.

“Jack was going to fight him and let us get away,” Rachel spoke back up. “Before he could Lance punched him in the back of the head.”

“Where is Lance?”, she demanded again.

“He took Jack’s place,” Rachel told her. “He told us to take Jack and get out of there.” Starting to tear up she continued, “When Jack came to and figured out what was going on he demanded we turn around and head back.” Jack sat down as she continued, “When we got there Sparky…,” she couldn’t continue.

“Sparky said he smelled Drakan blood,” Jack voice cracked as he put a hand over his mouth.

Michelle knees gave out before she knew what was happening, “No.” Rachel was immediately at her side with her arms around her. Jack couldn’t stop the tears from falling as he sat there in silence. Sparky and Arron looked too stunned to do or say anything. Everyone around them was quiet. She kept thinking about Lance, she knew him since she was a girl He was one of the few people who genuinely believed she could do this. Now he was… gone? “NO!”