<Episode 44>

Word about Lance got to his cell faster than she expected. Melissa half expected them to blame her for what happened. But there were as stunned as she was. They got there quickly in order to perform the ceremony. Unfortunately as the, technically, highest ranked person there she was the one who had to lead it. She really didn’t want to be doing this but she knew it was her duty. Her and Lance’s cell crowded into the main living area of the habitat as she broke away and stood in front of them. Melissa was grateful when she turned around and saw Rachel standing right up front. Jack was standing behind her with his arms wrapped round her, both looking to the other for support.

“We lost a good man today,” she began. It was against protocol but right now she didn’t give a damn. “The life we chose to lead, we knew it was going to be rough. We knew there would be losses. But some losses are harder than others,” her voice cracked a little. Pausing for a moment she forced her way through it. “Lance was one of the best of us. He tried his best to make everybody he worked with better. Some of us kicking and screaming.” She knew she was supposed to be smiling there but it wasn’t coming because she wasn’t feeling it. “He did what he did because he believed in the cause and more importantly he believed in each and every person he worked with. And because he believed in us I know he would want us to go on.” She closed her eyes to get herself under control. Damn it she as not going to lose it before this was over. She owed him that much. “So let us herald him to the after life and make sure his ancestors know he is more than worthy to join them.” She changed into her green tiger form and the other did the same. Almost as one the Drakans in the room raised their head and howled at the ceiling.

Melissa only got half the howl out before her knees failed her again. The tears started to fall freely and she didn’t even try to stop them this time as she sat there crying in front of everybody. She knew they expected her to be the strong one but damn it she lost somebody important too. Rachel was by her side in no time holding her, “It’s ok,” she whispered, “we’re here for you.”

It took a few minutes but Melissa was finally able to change back into her human form and get back to her feet. A few from her cell came foreword and echoed what Rachel had said. Before long somebody from Lance’s cell came forward and said, “Melissa.”

She looked up and remembered seeing the red haired man in front of her from the few times she visited his cell, “Jaime.”

“I wanted you to know we’ve talked on the way here.” She braced herself for the worse, seeing a replay of what happened with Trent after Drake died. “And no matter what you decide we’ll back you one hundred percent. You’re right, Lance would want us to go on.”

“Thank you,” she wanted to feel relieved but her voice sounded a little hollow. This was still the same cell that didn’t want to do that last job because they were scared.

“I’m more than aware that we messed up big time. And because of it Lance is dead. I’ll know we’ll never make that up but that’s not going to stop us from trying. I’ll even pick up where he left off in training Jack if I have to.”

“You would actually work with the Drakan Killer?”, Jason asked.

“Lance was against him helping us at first,” Jaime said. “But he ended up believing we need him if we’re going to have a chance against Anderson. That’s good enough for me.

Rachel said nothing as she looked around. Looking a bit confused she ended up saying, “Where did Jack go?”

“I saw him leave,” Arron said. “About the same time I noticed Emily was gone.”

“Uh-oh,” Sparky muttered. With everyone looking at him he admitted, “I kinda let it slip that Lance stopping Jack was Emily’s idea.”

Knowing what kind of emotion was flowing threw him at the moment Melissa told them, “Find him.”

***

Emily wanted to get away from the gathering as fast as possible. This was not what she had in mind when she warned Lance. The guilt was almost overpowering. So deep in thought she almost ran into the person in front of her. Before she was even aware of who it was she instinctively knew it was Jack. There was an anger that was foreign to his eyes while he stared at her. “What did you say to him?”, he demanded.

“This outcome was not my intention child,” she tried to tell him.

“What did you say to him?”, he repeated a little more forcibly

Sighing a bit she answered, “That you were not ready to face Mitchell alone.”

“You said I was supposed to be their champion,” he snapped. “How can I do that if you don’t think I can protect them?”

“It wasn’t a lack of faith in you…,” she started to tell him but he cut her off.

“Then what was it?! What was so dangerous about that situation that I couldn’t handle it? What was it about because Lance is dead because of it?!”

“I didn’t send Lance to die,” she told him, almost shouting. “I was expecting him to face Mitchell with you not to take him on by himself. You are too important to us to lose. Lance knew that. You will be ready to face Mitchell in time. Please believe me, I had your best interest in mind.” She reached out to him but he backed away.

He hurt her more than he would ever realize by saying, “I guess you can’t see everything then huh?” Walking past her he added, “You still put the idea in his head and I don’t think my best interest is you had in mind.”

Melissa and Arron came around the corner. “Jack wait a moment,” she grabbed his arm. He pulled away and kept on walking. Then Melissa went to her, “Emily are all right? Jack didn’t saying anything did he?”

“It was nothing I didn’t deserve,” she told her and walked away in the other direction. She knew he was right, she did have more than his best interest at heart.

***

It had been a week since Mitchell had put down that rebel and no sight of Jack any where. He was more than ready to take another crack at him but apparently Jack decided to go into hiding. So this group of rebels that he, Perez and an assault team had surrounded and ready to take down would have to do. Sucks to be them. “Transform!”, he shouted as Perez gave to go sign. Breaking away from the group he zeroed in on a blue dragonfly. Oh the irony. Although part of him did feel sorry for the poor bastard, but not by much. Landing a solid punch to his face the Drakan crumpled to the ground. “Get up!”, he shouted at the Drakan in frustration. A red hand grabbed his shoulder. Mitchell didn’t care what it was as he turned around and clocked it.

Around him the men were containing what rebels they could. Double and triple teaming where they had to. So that left several Drakan more or less free. That just meant there was more for him to pound. He picked the closest one and went to work. Red, blue he didn’t care what color it was just as long as it was a Drakan in his way. He caught glimpse of a green bee trying to get away and knocking down a few of the men in the process. He just went to the top of the list. An overweight blue grizzly bear tried to get in his way. After a brief tussle Mitchell was able to snap his neck and continued after his target. The moment he got to him the dragonfly got back in his face. Now it decided to put up a fight? In fact it fought a little like Jack. Maybe with a little more control and a little more technique but there was a strong resemblance. Picturing Jack in his mind he broke the Drakan defenses and quickly pounded him into the ground. The bee threw him off and dragged the dragonfly with him. Mitchell got to a knee and watched them for a moment then at the meter. “Run, run as fast as you can,” he mumbled, smiling behind the helmet. Chasing after them he twisted the right pod up and the left pod down. Catching up he punched the dragonfly in the side of the head and the bee kicked the bee in the ribs.

As they both recoiled from the impact of the charge and exploded Mitchell stood there. Did Jack ever enjoy the feeling of power the system gave him? Did he ever get lost in the fear in their eyes when they saw him? Probably not, he was too busy feeling sorry for himself or some crap. Turning back to the conflict behind him he saw a couple of the Drakan were still fighting. “The fun’s not over yet.”

***

Anderson read over the mission report of the strike last night. For the most part things went according to plan. The rebels were captured and were currently being interrogated. Those that were captured alive that is. There were three unexpected causalities from the raid, and one man was responsible. That man was currently standing in front of his desk. “Mitchell,” he said leaning back in his chair, “I realize that in combat plans can change on a moments notice depending on the situation. But I did give specific instructions that the leader of this particular group of rebels was to be brought in alive.”

“I realize that sir,” he said, “but I wasn’t sure which one was the leader.”

“The reports said there was a green Drakan in their midst.”

“That wouldn’t necessarily make him the leader,” Mitchell countered. “If they are trying to live up to that all classes are equal crap then chance are the green Drakan was following orders from somebody else.”

He hated to admit it but Mitchell had a point. It was hard to imagine a green taking orders from a lower class, but the rebels were obviously doing just that. It made him sick. But there was still a question left, “Then how do you explain that the ones we captured are claiming the Drakan Killer murdered their leader?”

“Well there was the bear and the dragonfly,” Mitchell looked almost casually as he thought it over. “The bee looked like he was trying to get the dragonfly out of there so it could have been him.”

“And yet he’s dead,” he reminded him. Mitchell just shrugged his shoulders. Anderson raised an eyebrow slightly. “Despite the fact we lost the leader we did get a majority of the group. So I would say mission accomplished. Let Perez and the other know I said good job.”

“Right away,” Mitchell gave him a quick salute. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear it,” and with that he left.

“Quite,” Anderson responded as the door closed. There was no doubt about it in his eyes, there was something different about Mitchell. Ever since Davidson got the best of him that one time there was something in his eyes. He had known this particular human for years and he had never seen that particular look in his eyes before. No, he did see that look before, when Davidson paralyzed him. The fact he actually lost to Davidson. That ate at him for those first few days while he was waiting to be bonded to the mark two. Now that he had the superior system Davidson still found a way to outsmart him, it was eating at him even more. Anderson could see it. He would have to tell Perez, secretly of course, to keep a close eye on him. The last thing they needed was for Mitchell to become a loose cannon. He could become a bigger threat than Davidson ever was.

***

Rachel spent the next week trying to play peacemaker. After the ceremony for Lance Jack and Melissa started shouting at each other. All over how Jack was talking to Emily. Things got so heated he went so far as to dare her to throw him out after she brought up the leash he was apparently on. As much as she wanted to take a side she saw both of their arguments. It was Lance’s choice to do what he did, but would he had made it if Emily didn’t say anything. Although this champion thing Jack kept bringing up was new to her.

So they spent most of the next week avoiding each other as much as possible. Melissa more or less threw herself into her duties. Jack pretty much increased his training time, sometimes with Sparky, Arron or that Jamie guy. But mostly he trained alone. Well not alone, she stood by and watched him. Just wanting to be there incase he wanted to talk.

And eventually he did, going so far as to explain this whole champion thing. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Lance said he had an idea but he wouldn’t say anything. He told me it was something I figure out on my own.”

“How come you never told me about it before now?”, she asked.

Dropping his head a bit he answered, “Because I’m still not sure if I even believe it. How can I be anybody champion if I don’t think I have it in me?”

“It might be one of those ‘the person who doesn’t want it is the person who deserves it’ type of things,” she offered. It didn’t look like he was buying it. She thought it was kind of lame too but it was all she had at the moment. “I wish I had something better for you but I don’t. I just wish you told me about this sooner. We could have figured it out by now.”

“I don’t know, maybe,” he said. After a moment he went, “Rachel, am I really that different when I think I have a purpose?”

“Who told you that?”

“Lance did during our last training session.”

“Oh,” that caught her off guard. “I wouldn’t say different. More focused than you usually are maybe. Not that you lose focus.” She smiled a bit, “Well there was that first time you activated the system and you stopped what you were doing when you saw what you look liked.”

“I wasn’t expecting to look like a bug,” he said quickly. Apparently finished training for the day Jack took a quick shower while she waited. As hard as she tried she couldn’t make heads or tails of this champion thing they put on him either. It wasn’t exactly a role she could see him in. Then again there were moments… No, she was thinking about it too much. Jack came out of the shower room with his jacket slung over his shoulder saying, “Want to get some dinner?”

“I’d love to,” she replied. On the way to the cafeteria Melissa came around the corner. “Play nice,” she warned him. He grunted in response. Melissa looked unsure too but came toward them. Something about the way she was looking told Rachel this wasn’t going to be good news.

“We just got word Mitchell and an assault team attacked one of the smaller cells last night.” Jack turned away swearing. “A couple were able to get away and Lan…,” she corrected herself, “Jamie’s cell took them in. But from the sound of things Mitchell is living up to the Drakan Killer legend.”

“We have got to stop him,” Jack said, “and now.”

“But how?”, Rachel asked. “We never know where he is until he shows up or finds a way to pull your strings.”

“Then we pull his strings for a change,” Jack told her. “We fight him on our terms.”

“And how do we do that?”, Melissa asked. “They can cover things pretty good if you haven’t noticed.”

Jack thought it over for a bit, “The old habitat.”

“They’ll have the place guarded,” Melissa argued. “The moment we get there they’ll be on us.”

“Yeah but they had it for what a couple of months?”, he countered. “You guys were living there for years. You know the ins and outs of that place better than they ever will.”

“They’ll have some sort of alarm in place at the entrances,” Rachel said. A group of kids ran by. Jack gave her a particular look and she remembered the whole incident with Jennifer. “But maybe they don’t know all the ways in and out of it.”

“But how do you get Mitchell there?”, Melissa asked. “As much as I want to take Mitchell down I am not going to risk Freidman’s safety.”

“Neither do I,” Jack admitted. “We got to iron out this part of the plan and fast before Mitchell decides to go hunting again.”

An idea came to Rachel. It was so absurd she almost didn’t say anything. But it was a long shot and it was the only idea she had. “I wonder if they still have that phone he took from me?”

***

Anderson met Mitchell on the way to R&D. He looked as surprised as he was when Armstrong called him in. When they got here Armstrong and his workers where hovering around an ordinary looking cell phone. “Why are they using it now?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” Armstrong replied. “I as so positive they were going to drop it from their system I forgot we had it until it started ringing. We’re ready to trace it but I doubt he’s dumb enough to do it anywhere near their current hideout.”

“Did he say when he’ll call back?”

“Should be any time now.” After a few seconds it started beeping. Armstrong answered it and quickly attached it to a speaker.

“Hello?”, Davidson voice came through. He saw Mitchell tense up slightly. “Hello? Seriously you guys are eating up my minutes here.”

“Mr. Davidson,” Anderson said. “It’s a pleasure to hear from you again.”

“Oh it’s you,” he sounded a little disappointed. “Is Mitchell any where close?”

“Right here buddy,” Mitchell answered.

“What, am I on speaker? Hey, did Tim ever get a life? I was wondering about that the other day.”

“Some how I doubt you took the trouble in calling in just to play catch up. And didn’t you take quite a risk in calling this phone? How would you have known if we didn’t dismantle it?”

“It was either this or tie a note to a rock and chuck it through a window. To be honest the rock sounded like more fun but they insisted I try the phone first.” Any doubts he had this was actually Davidson were quickly put to rest.

“What do you want Jack?”, Mitchell demanded.

“I want to finish it,” he told them. “Just you and me, no backup and no BS.”

“Just say when and where Jack.”

“The place you ran the group of rebels I’m with out of,” he answered. “As for when, how fast can you get there?”

“Faster than you think ‘buddy’,” Mitchell sneered.

“I’ll be waiting.” The call ended before anybody could say anything else. Anderson looked over to Mitchell, he looked like he already won.

“He’s trying to get me on what he thinks is going to be home field advantage for him. I’m going to show him how wrong he actually is,” Mitchell looked way too pleased with the situation.

“So are you going alone?”, Anderson inquired.

“Of course not,” he said with a smirk. “Do you think I believe that no back up no BS crap? His friends are going to be there because they know he can’t beat me one on one. That’s why that one sacrificed himself the last time. I’ll bring a couple of teams with to take care of them. Then Jack is all mine.”

“I want Davidson alive,” Anderson told him. Mitchell protested and after a few moments of that he simply said, “Just think of what it will be like for Davidson behind bars. Knowing he can’t get out. Knowing if his friends try to rescue him they will be right there next to him.” That appeared to appeal to him. More than likely the idea of being able to taunt Davidson for his failure being the biggest draw. Despite his concern for his mental state, Anderson still knew how to appeal to his human ego.

***

“He’s here,” Arron announced as he came through the tunnel. It was connected to an old factory, and it was so small a child had to hunch over to navigate it but they got back into the old habitat. It was really strange to see something most of them still considered home so quiet and empty. Too bad it wouldn’t be quiet for long. They had a small group, just large enough to cause a distraction if needed. Of course the one person who wanted to be wasn’t. Luckily Melissa agreed with Jack about the danger and forced Rachel to stay behind. He was going to have to find a way to make up to her later. If there was a later.

Do not be thinking like that. “I called him twenty minutes ago,” Jack exclaimed. “Either he booked it here or this place was closer to Anderson than I thought.”

“A little bit from column A and a little bit from column B,” Sparky joked.

“He’d bring company with him?”, Jack asked.

“Was there any doubt?”, Arron asked in return. “We’re set to go in here and Jamie has his group outside ready to sandwich them as soon as they get inside.”

“Right,” Jack nodded. “Remember, make sure Mitchell gets to me and nobody else. I’m going to have a hard enough time as it is without any extra surprises.”

“You still haven’t told us how you’re going to get Mitchell to come to you,” Arron said.

All he said was, “I got an idea how.”

“You’re going to do something stupid, aren’t you?”, Sparky quipped.

“Yup,” he told them as he walked away. As soon as he turned the corner and was out of sight he reached up and pulled back the foil lined hood covering his head.

***

“What do you mean he’s inside?!”, Mitchell demanded. Anderson had guards and cameras on this place the moment they capture it. None of the surveillance teams had seen anything and none of the sensors had been tripped.

“The signal from his tracking chip just popped up a few moments ago,” Perez told him. “It took a few moments for the guys to recognize it as Davidson’s signal. He’s in there and he’s going deeper inside.”

“They must have had a few entrances we didn’t know about,” he muttered. “I’m taking a team inside,” he told Perez as he went into the van and took one of the handheld scanners. It picked up his and Jacks’ signal as soon as he turned it on. “Keep an eye on things out here just in case there are any other surprises.”

“I’ll get a hold of HQ and let them know what’s going on.” Mitchell said nothing as he rushed in. Studying the scanner he could tell Jack was still on the move. They didn’t get far before they heard fighting going on outside. He paused to look back, but only for a moment. His only concern was Jack. Every so often he would motion for some of his men to split off and take a hallway. Again it wasn’t long before he heard some conflict behind him but he stayed his course. It wasn’t long before he was actually alone but he had Jack’s location, he finally stopped moving and he quickened his pace. Not even looking for traps he followed a particular hallway. He started hearing water and his nose was assaulted by the smell of rotting vegetables. He kept on going and found Jack standing in the middle of what looked like a farm, or an attempt at one.

“It took you long enough,” he said.

“It’s a pretty out of the way place,” Mitchell said as he dropped the scanner. “So why did you pick this hole any way?”

“I don’t really know,” he said looking around. “I could say it was because it is a pretty isolated place with only one way in or out. But this is also where I started to find myself again.” He looked over to a particular hole in the ground, “It’s where I started helping something live instead of die.”

“Touching,” Mitchell snorted, “doesn’t mean anything to be but touching.” Neither said anything for a moment then both of them moved at once. Jack got his left arm across his chest. Mitchell got his left arm up and bent, “Transform!”

***

“Henshin!”, Jack slammed his right hand on top of the belt. The armor formed around both of them as they ran. Both threw a punch that connected with the other jaw. Mitchell took a step back from the impact but Jack took several steps back. Some of the training started to pay as he was able to keep up with Mitchell’s attacks. Mitchell may have been faster but he was better at avoiding some of it. Unfortunately a few of his strikes got through, a knee to the gut in particular dropped Jack to a knee, but he popped back up with and uppercut that caught Mitchell flush. He jumped up a bit and surprised him with an elbow strike on the way down. He swung his leg for a kick, Mitchell ducked it then caught Jack in the side with a kick of his own. He grunted in pain but tried to make sure he didn’t leave himself open for anything else. That was something Lance drilled into his head over and over.

Mitchell did just that going at him full force. Jack was forced to back up from the assault as he kept up his guard. Seeing an opening he threw a punch that Mitchell caught, again. Thinking quickly he pushed foreword a bit to make Mitchell push back. Falling back suddenly he got his foot up as the other man came foreword and flipped Mitchell over. Both of them got to their feet and Jack struck first with a right cross. He went for another one that Mitchell caught and threw him. Jack twisted in the air and landed on his feet. Grabbing Mitchell by the back of the head he started throwing knees. Mitchell quickly broke the hold and in matter of moments had him on the ground. He stood there looking at him instead of following up, “What the hell got into you?”

“When you think you have a purpose you’re a totally different person,” those words of Lance ran through his head as he got to a knee.

“I don’t know,” Jack grunted, “but I think I like it.” He jumped foreword without warning, caught Mitchell around the waist and charged foreword yelling. Slamming him against the wall Jack backed away just enough to start pounding away at him with everything he had. Mitchell got his hands up and pushed him away. Jack fell and rolled backwards to his feet and ran in again. Using the wall to jump up he slammed his knee into Mitchell’s face. His head was forced into the wall behind him cracking it. Falling back Jack grabbed onto his head to make sure Mitchell face slammed into his knee again on the way down. While Mitchell was still stunned Jack pushed him to his back and got on top of him and pounded away at his head.

The meter started flashing but he held off on grabbing the pod. He had an idea that hit him a few days ago, try and overload that redirecting system he had. It was a slim chance but it was still all he had. He got rocked by a straight punch to the face that got through his attack. Jack was stunned just long enough for Mitchell to push him off and throw him into retaining pond by the field. Jack heard a click as he got up and saw Mitchell’s reflection come up behind him. Rolling out of the way Mitchell’s fist hit the water. There was an explosion almost immediately as Mitchell pulled away with a smoking hand and shouted in pain, “Goddamn it!”

Jack went on the attack almost immediately, it was now or never if he was going to take him down. Mitchell fought back despite the handicap as the fight disintegrated into a slugfest. They pounded away at each other for several minutes. Both men had tunnel vision as they saw nothing but each other. Mitchell spun around and kicked him in the head. Then he did it again and again and again making Jack drop his guard and fall backwards. He used the wall he fell against to get up in pain, but not from the assault. The inside of his gut was hurting as the meter was almost one continuous flash. Now or never. Mitchell came at him at a run. Jack got out of the way, gritted his teeth and twisted the pod down. Electrical arcs traveled down the outside of the armor as he clutched at his leg. He was cooking the inside of his leg again but it was his only his only chance. Jack turned slightly as Mitchell whipped around and pinned him to the wall with a kick at the waist. His foot was on the faceplate of the belt as the full charge hit it. Mitchell was covered in electricity as the turbines started spinning. He grabbed Jack by the back of the head and threw him against the wall as little arcs of electricity danced around his helmet. He slumped to the ground feeling like something in his head was on fire.

Mitchell stumbled foreword holding his gut as his armor went back to normal. Jack lay against the wall totally helpless as Mitchell faced him. “You thought that would work huh?!”, he taunted. “You luck just ran out. I don’t care what Anderson wants you’re dead!” He twisted the right pod down. There was a brief whirling sound right before the belt started to spark. Mitchell looked down and saw some of the cracked faceplate fall off. The visible turbine looked damaged and barely moving, like it was stuck in place. He backed away as his belt started to spark more violently. He looked at Jack and shouted, “You lucky son of a bitch!”, right before the belt exploded and various parts of his armor erupted in sparks as he fell to the ground.

Jack watched him, barely able to move. Mitchell wasn’t getting back up, he was just smoking there on the ground. It took him a bit to realize he actually won. He tried to get back up but he couldn’t move. OK, he was just tired and needed a moment. But nothing was moving when he was trying to deactivate the armor. His fingers were barely twitching on his hand. If his head would stop killing him maybe he could figure this out. Wait a second… that burning sensation in his head. He started to have a hard time breathing. Oh God… the chip in his head…

Rachel…