<Episode 45>

He felt himself floating. He had no idea which way was up or down. All he knew he was in some blue stuff that was slowing his movements slightly. His hand hit something metallic. His eyes opened wide as memories flooded his head. He had to get out of there and he had to get out of there now. Thrashing around a bit he felt wire attached him that he quickly pulled off. Reaching out toward the light in front of him he found a barrier blocking his way. He started pounding away with all he had, he had to get out of there. Shadows suddenly hovered in front of him. He stopped pounding and tried to get away from them. Another barrier behind him blocked any chance of escape. The barrier in front of him lifted away and several hands started reaching for him. He resisted as hard as he could but the got a grip on him and hauled him toward the light.

He hit cold air almost immediately. He heard a jumble of voices and tried to yell at them but something nasty spilled out of his mouth instead. He still struggled as they got him out of the goop he was floating in. There was only one group who could have brought him back and he would be damned if he was going to let them have him without a fight. He almost broke away but somebody grabbed him from behind. A voice with a familiar drawl spoke into his ear, “Easy son easy.”

“Dusty?”, Jack coughed. He wasn’t sure what was going on but he gripped the old man’s arm with all he had. He tried to focus his eyes but everything was still one big blur, “I can’t see!”

“It’s ok son,” he tried to calm him down. “You opened your eyes in that goop and it affected them.” He felt somebody else grab him and heard Dusty say, “Help me get him on the table.” Jack let them guide him to the table and help him get on it. As he sat there somebody wrapped a blanket around him that he closed around his frame. “Your sight should clear up soon. You gave us one hell of a scare son. And waking up ahead of schedule isn’t doing this old man’s ticker any favors either.”

“You never were any good at keeping a schedule,” another familiar voice said.

“Rachel,” he reached out for her. She gripped his hand tightly. “You playing nurse again?”, he joked.

“No that was me and Sparky,” a third voice he recognized as Freidman said.

“I was an assistant, not a nurse,” Sparky protested. “Arron was a nurse when it was his shift.”

Like Dusty said his vision was slowly getting better. Now he could make out man shape blurs in the big blur he was seeing. “How did you bring me back? The chip in my head was fried.”

“It was on the fritz son not fried,” Dusty told him. “It was flickering on and off but it let enough juice through that it kept you alive until they got you here.”

“But the chip…”

“We took it out son.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t bypass it unless you were at World Inc.?”, he started to get an uneasy feeling about this.

“We had to improvise,” Freidman said. “Unfortunately with Mitchell at hand as the only thing compatible we had to cannibalize his…”

Jack blinked a few times and stared at the blob he thought said that, “You ate him?”

After an uncomfortable moment of silence Dusty said, “I’m going to put that down to the fact he’s still a little groggy.”

Rachel squeezed his hand, “He means they used him for spare parts.”

Tightening the blanket around him he said, “One of those ideas is a little more disgusting than the other, I’m just not sure which.”

“Any way we had to implant Mitchell’s chip into your head,” Dusty went on to explain. “I think I modified it enough but you’ll probably want to still wear the foil in that hood just in case.”

“I hope you don’t mind Jack,” Freidman spoke up again, “But when we replaced the chip we noticed the old one shorting out damaged some of your other systems. We were able to use some of Mitchell’s system to replace them, but I’m not sure how it’s going to affect you.”

“How long was I out this time?”

“All in good time son,” Dusty told him.

“How long?”, he demanded.

“Another six months,” Rachel said.

“I spent over a year floating in goop,” he said to nobody in particular.

“Maybe we should give Jack some time to take all of this in,” Dusty said.

“Well be in the next room Jack,” Rachel patted his hand and let go of it.

“Rachel could you stay for a moment?”

“Sure Jack, what is it?”, she asked.

“I know this is going to sound a little weird,” he started, “but I could really use a warm body next to me right now.”

“No problem,” she said. Jumping on the bed she sat next to him. He waved his hand in front of his face as his vision started to clear. He was right he was in Dusty operating room. Out of no where Rachel wrapped her arms around him, “Thank God you’re all right!”

Reaching up he patted her arm, “I’m kinda happy about it too.” Finally his vision cleared that he could almost see normally. Rachel still didn’t let him go. Tell her before you lose your nerve. “Rachel I h…” he looked at her and stopped. Her hair which did go past her shoulder was now hanging above her neck and styled differently. “When did you cut your hair?”

She blushed a bit, “Melissa dragged Angie up here last week and talked me into it. She told me the change would do me good. I hate it personally and can’t wait for it to grow back out.”

“It… it looks good,” he said more or less automatically.

“Now you’re just being nice,” she said with a smile. “I’ll go find your clothes, I know Dusty washed them while you were out. You’re probably freezing.” She hopped off the table and went into the next room to talk to Dusty. The things you get lost on when you’re out half a year.

***

Although she was glad he was finally coming home Melissa was still a little apprehensive. She wasn’t sure how Jack was going to react when he saw her, or more importantly Emily. They may have gotten over things in the past six months but Jack, more or less, was still there in his head. Either way you look at it things could get a little uncomfortable. It was probably why Emily decided to stay in her room right about now. Well they couldn’t put it off forever, and this way she could judge how he was going to react.

Looking down the way to the garage she saw Rachel and Jack enter. Everybody else noticed them a moment later. She felt the mixed emotions coming from the group around the same time. Most either didn’t or were pretending they didn’t care. The rest were happy to see him and weren’t ashamed to show it. While a few came up to him Jack looked like he was looking for somebody in particular. Melissa finally decided to walk over to him when he found who he was searching for. He broke through the crowd and walked over to little Jennifer. “Hey kid you’re getting big.” He kneeled down and handed her bear Polly back to her. “I’m happy Polly gave me some company while I was out, but I think she’s really happy to come back to you.” Jennifer grabbed bear and gave it and him a big hug. “See you around kid,” he said as she went off.

“Well somebody’s in good spirits,” Melissa said. She saw Jack tense up a bit, yeah he was still there alright.

“I’m still walking so why wouldn’t I be?”, he said. Well, at least he was trying to act like he wasn’t still sore about what happened. Rachel was watching him intently as well. “So what have I missed since I’ve been out?”

“Jack there’s plenty of time for that,” Melissa told him.

“I know Anderson had to be pissed I was able to take out Mitchell,” he said. “So what happened?”

Eventually Melissa admitted, “There was an initial outburst. A couple of the cells had to relocate. The rest of us more or less went into hiding. None of us had seen anything like it. The closest anybody could match it with was Anderson’s original push against us. Things have calmed down a bit but we’re still a little on edge. But that’s the least of our worries.”

“What could be worse?” Jack started to look worried, “Did something happened to my mom?”

“No she’s fine,” Rachel assured him. “I would have told you that first thing. You,” she looked over toward Melissa then answered any way, “got outed.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he told her.

“The other cells know about you now,” Melissa said. “Dusty was working on somebody when they brought you in. You were still in your armor and they couldn’t make up anything to cover it.”

Jack looked guilty after he heard that, “How much trouble did I cause you?”

“Outside of Jaime nobody would have anything to do with us. Officially that is. Behind the scenes a couple of them asked me what in the hell I was thinking. Things aren’t so bad now, thanks to Jaime and a couple of the others we’re on talking terms at least. But they still don’t understand why I decided to house the Drakan Killer after what happened.”

“She even told them Emily’s vision was the main reason why and they still refused to understand,” Rachel added. “I even tried talking to them to explain what was going on, but I don’t think my word goes a long way.”

“You talked to the other cells?”, Jack said in disbelief. “Are you out of your mind?”

“I made sure they talked to her here,” Melissa assured him.”It was the only time we got her away from Dusty’s while you were healing up. Outside of that she never left your side.”

“That’s a real bad habit you’re falling into,” Jack told her. “People are going to think you don’t have a life or something.”

“I had nothing better to do,” she told him. “I hate to run but I told Amber I’d help out with the French lesson again as soon as I got back.” With that she left the both of them alone. This could get awkward.

Jack watched Rachel leave before he said, “She says her new do was your idea.”

Melissa smiled a bit, she knew he could be dense but he would have to be blind not to notice it. “It looked like she was ready for a change. So what do you think?” He didn’t answer right away, then again he didn’t have to. “You don’t like it?”

He quickly said, “I didn’t say that.”

“No but you were feeling it.” Crossing her arms Melissa narrowed her eyes a bit, “Please tell me you’re not one of those guys who think women should only have long hair.”

“What… no,” he was telling the truth, he was lucky. “I’ve seen some women who looked absolutely smoking with short hair. Rachel…,” he trailed off. “It’s not a big deal, I’ll get used to it.” Without another word he walked away.

“Not one of my best plans to get one of them to admit it,” Melissa said to herself. Hell if Jack was a different type of guy that could have backfired. Then she would’ve been forced to hurt him.

***

The class went smoother than she thought it would. She was a little worried since it was a larger class than she was expecting. But it went like they always did. After talking with Arron for a bit she started looking for Jack. He wasn’t in his usual haunts so that just left one more place. Opening the door to their room she found him sitting on his cot studying his arm. “They did a pretty good job,” she said. “I doubt you can tell where they cut into you.”

“Here, here and here,” he quickly pointed out two spots on his forearm and one on the back of his hand. “I’ve been living with these for a long time now. I should know when there some new ones or not.”

Not sure what else to say she attempted to joke, “I didn’t want you to worry about your warranty.”

It was a lame one but he smiled anyway, “I think Anderson voided that out a long time ago. Who’s been taking care of my plant since you’ve been with me?”

“Emily volunteered,” she said. Rachel watched him. While Angie was cutting her hair Melissa and her talked about what to do about Jack and Emily. They weren’t on the best of terms before he had his final fight with Mitchell. They both agreed to stay out of it for the moment and let them work it out.

“I’m going to have to remember to thank her,” he said, “eventually.”

“I’m sure you have time for that,” she said. Sitting next to him she added, “So how are you holding up?”

“I’ve spent over a year in goop,” he said. “That’s time I’m not getting back.”

“You haven’t missed much,” Rachel told him. “But I’m betting a couple of those cells were wishing that had you watching their back after Anderson came after them.”

“I missed more than that. Things changed in that time. They always do, and I’m stuck playing catch up for a week, if I’m lucky.”

“I’ll help you out,” Rachel told him, “you’ll be caught up in three days tops.” He laughed a bit. “Come on,” she said getting up and pulling on his arm, “I need to get you to the garage. Dusty setting something up down there that he needs you for.”

“What could he want me for?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, “Arron didn’t say.”

Grabbing his jacket they walked to the garage. True to her word Rachel told him what she knew about what was going on for the past six months. Of course most of her information was second hand but it was all she had. Getting to the garage she found Dusty as he waved them over. As they got closer they noticed the contraption he had set up on the far wall. A pad was hanging between two poles. Wires from the pad connected it to a series on computers nearby. A line on the ground and a basket of baseball was there as well. “You have got to be kidding me,” Jack muttered. Rachel was getting a sense of déjà vu herself.

“Hey there son, little lady,” he greeted them. “I thought you might want to throw a few to pass the time.”

“Last time I threw a few I got news I didn’t like,” Jack said. “So how did you come up with this?”

“I remember you and Rachel telling me about it,” the old Drakan answered. “I had a good idea of what they used. Harry confirmed most of it.” Jack continued to look at it with a dubious look. “Come on son, just one to see if it’ll work. You’ll make this old man happy.”

“The things I do,” he mumbled as he took a ball. Like he did back at World Inc. he juggled the ball a few times before throwing it with all he had.

He turned away not wanting to see the results. Rachel saw them and immediately said, “Jack.” Turning around he saw the numbers flashing on the screen, ninety-five. Dumbfounded he grabbed another and threw it, ninety-four.

Dusty watched with a smirk on his face, “Never send a technician to do a mechanics job. A little surprise on my part,” he told them. “I figured since we were in there anyway replacing and upgrading stuff I figured I’d tweak that ratio thing they were talking about.” Turning to Arron he said, “Talking about him like he was a car, if I was that boy I’d been insulted.”

Jack said nothing as he stared at his hand. Rachel smiled at him, “Looks like you’re going to have to get used to not compensating for everything again.”

“That’s one thing I’m not going to have a problem getting used to,” he said smiling back. “Dusty…”

“No words needed son,” Dusty told him. “Just think of it as a welcome back present. And trust me Jack it is good to have you back.” Rachel definitely seconded that sentiment.

***

Closing the door behind her Melissa watched Emily tend to her plants. Too be honest she wasn’t that surprised when people still told her they haven’t seen her all day. “So who’s avoiding who in this situation exactly?”

“I think you already know the answer to that child,” was her reply. “He still needs time to adjust before we have our confrontation.”

“And you used to say Chris had a way to make things sound overly dramatic,” she smiled. “I was talking to Jack and Melissa a while ago. He wants to try and talk to the other cell leaders now. I think he wants to convince them we’re all on the same side.”

“Perhaps he wants to show them the man behind the legend.” Finally facing her she asked, “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

“Part of me does,” she admitted. “The other part thinks it’s going to be a disaster in the making. I have to know, is this part of that whole champion thing?”

“I think he’s still trying to figure out what it means to him.” Turning back to her plants Emily added, “It is a difficult role to define for oneself. But I’m sure he can do it.”

She could only nod. “So how long are you planning on staying in here?” she asked.

Emily was quiet for a moment, “When it is time for both of us to speak we will.”

“Well that’s the closest thing I’m going to get to an answer,” she said to herself. Melissa’s hand was on the door knob when Emily said something else.

“When you arrange the meeting child perhaps it would be best to keep the fact Jack was the one who wanted a chance to speak to them from them.”

Just what she needed, more lies. But she couldn’t disagree with Emily’s logic. More of them might show up if they didn’t know Jack was the one who wanted the meeting. “I’ll do it if Jack thinks it’s a good idea.”

***

Jack wasn’t thrilled about the idea but he had to admit it made sense. Rachel suggested they let Jaime in on it to see what he thought. He agreed it was a good idea too. He and Melissa contacted the other cell leader to arrange it. To help sooth things over he suggested someplace neutral. Arron suggested that campsite he and the other kids were using that one time. With that set they all agreed to meet in a couple of days. Jack rode his bike while Melissa, Rachel and then others rode in the van. Like he and Rachel learned that one time, and that seemed like it’s been forever, they made the rest of the way on foot. About halfway Melissa stopped them, “Me and Jack should take it from here.”

“I think Rachel should come too,” he said. “They know her at least.”

“True, but I don’t think having two people who represented World Inc in the past would be a good idea.”

Looking at Rachel Jack said, “Man, getting typecast does suck.”

“You’ll get used to it,” she said plainly. “I know I did.”

“I am never gonna live that down.”

“Watch the perimeter,” Melissa told the others. “They shouldn’t be planning anything but you never know.” The group told them good luck as they headed off toward the lighted campsite and the other cell leaders. They did talk about him holding back a bit and letting Melissa ease him into the conversation first. But with the winds at their backs they probably already knew he was there. “I see them,” Melissa said. Both of them took a deep breath and stepped into the clearing. Nine other cell leaders were staring at them and Jaime was the only friendly face. This might be a long night.

“What in the hell is he doing here?” a red headed woman demanded. At Jaime he said, “You knew about this didn’t you?”

“I guess you all know this is Jack Davidson,” Melissa started to say.

“You mean the Drakan Killer,” another one cut in.

“I answer better to Jack,” he said. They kept staring at him, “I get it, you thought I’d be taller.”

“Why are you here?”, another one asked, this one a bald headed heavy set man.

“I had the idiot notion I could convince you were on the same side,” he told them. There was no point in beating around the bush now.

“Why should we believe you?”, the woman demanded. “You hunted us down and killed us.”

“Do you really think I’m proud of that fact?”, Jack asked her. “Because I’m not. I’m know I’m not going to be forgiven for what I did back then. And I’m not asking for it either.” That caught a couple of them off guard, including Melissa but she nodded in understanding. But a few of them still looked furious.

“Why did you do it then?”, the woman demanded.

“I was going on what I was told and what I personally experienced.” Melissa took over them telling them about how he came to be like this. Even mentioning the fact they were partially responsible for the birth of the Drakan Killer. That went over about as well as they expected as chaos more or less broke loose. They yelled over the top of each other and barely heard Melissa pleas to calm down so they could discuss it. After several minutes of this Jack let out a sigh and looked around. He was really hoping they weren’t going to need Rachel and the others help in getting out of here. One more time he studied the group, and one more time he noticed something was off. One petit woman with brown hair kept fidgeting and looking into the forest. At first he thought she brought some of her crew too. But as much as she was looking around she must have brought the entire cell with her. Looking over to Melissa she was shooting the woman some looks too, and looking worried.

“Are you all right Paula?”, she asked.

“What…?”, she acted startled. “I’m… I’m fine. I’m just nervous he’s here.” Jack offered to leave, it seemed like the simplest solution. “NO!”, she quickly said. “I mean… I…”

“You were acting nervous before they got here,” the red headed woman said with a little suspicion.

She tried to talk but eventually dropped to her knees. “Oh God what did I do?” Jaime and a couple of others looked around as Melissa immediately went to her. “They captured my cell. You have to get out of here.”

Sparky ran into the clearing followed by the others yelling, “We got company!” Arron shot through on his bike as spot lights flooded the area. World Inc. Shock Troopers walked out of hiding. All the Drakan dropped their human form, well except for the petit woman, and got into a defensive position. Jack did the movements that activated the system.

“Henshin!”, the armor formed around him in moments. He looked back when he realized the cell leaders were staring at him. Those who were seeing him for the first time live had had a mixture of fear, awe and hatred in their eyes. “One problem at a time,” he told himself, then he ran toward the closest set of troopers. Tackling a group of them to the ground he quickly popped back up and planted a forearm into one dumb enough to come at him. “You must be a new guy,” he commented. Hearing a crack he turned and saw a shock stick coming at him a little too late as it jammed into his side. Gritting his teeth in pain he grabbed the guy by the uniform and threw him. He went further then Jack was expecting. Looks like that upgrade Dusty was talking about increased his strength a bit when he powered up the system, sweet. The group he tackled started to run away so he turned toward the rest of the group who decided to rush the rebels, “Next.”

Jack plowed through the troopers getting them off the rebels and buying them some breathing room. He still had no clue about this champion thing, but this had to be part of it. Every so often he caught a glimpse of the woman still kneeling on the ground. She still refused to drop her human form. Her only movement was when she looked up to see a trooper come toward her. Organic looking armor started to form as he changed into a red armadillo. He grabbed her by the neck and held her in the air. Before anybody could stop him he snapped her neck in one quick motion and let her drop to the ground. Feeling a fury he only felt a couple of times before Jack ran through the troopers and bowled the Drakan over. Pounding on the armadillo a trooper got on his back and tried to pry him off. Jack stood and threw him off. The armadillo was able to kick a leg up and hit him in the back to make him fall foreword. The Drakan jumped on his back and started pounding at his head. Muscling out of it Jack quickly turned around and kicked him in the head.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sparky and Arron of other try and head for something while the troopers held them back. Looking in that direction he saw a few of them had Melissa cornered. The armadillo could wait. Getting an idea he ran for the bike and tried not to think what this was going to do to the suspension. Bringing it to life he raced it toward Melissa and through any trooper dumb enough to get in his way. He leaned over and scooped Melissa up and sat her in front of him. He continued speeding off as the green tiger looked back at him, “Are we running away?”

“Not exactly,” he said as he turned the bike around. The meter started to flash as he pointed the front tire at the armadillo. “You think you can handle the bike?”

She quickly understood his plan, “You’re crazy.”

“It helps,” he said as he sped foreword. She took the handle bars as he adjusted himself so his left foot was on the seat. He twisted the right pod up. The charge ran up his side and down the outside of his armor focusing in his right fist. When they got close enough to the armadillo he tapped her on the shoulder. She quickly turned the bike to the left and he jumped off. Looking like he was hanging in mid air for a second he launched his fist foreword as he landed. The red Drakan flew back hard, knocking over a couple of shock troops before exploding. Jack looked at his fist. That was the same effect as when he fired his leg those two times but nothing felt fried this time around. Melissa yelled at him and threw him his staff. Grabbing it he snapped it to it’s full length and started toward the remaining troopers. Somebody ordered a retreat and those who could got the hell out of there. Waiting a moment he deactivated the systems and turned around. None of the rebel leaders said anything, they just stared at him. Letting out another sigh Jack said, “You’re welcome,” and walked away.

***

“Are you sure?”, Anderson asked. Taylor confirmed the report. They had seen Davidson during that ambush. The men who came back had no doubt about it. Anderson stared out the window and smiled to himself. Apparently the rumors of his demise were a tad premature.

***

Jack sat on the ground and looked at the night sky through the grating overhead. Dusty explained to him that when they upgraded his systems they enhanced the shielding around the conduits as well since more power was going to be running through it. “I thought I’d find you here,” Rachel said as she walked over and sat next to him. “Melissa’s still on speaking terms with the other cell leaders from the sound of thing. They’re agreeing taking out the armadillo was the right thing to do. And none of them are thinking ill of the woman who told World Inc. about the meeting. Melissa said she did it out of fear for her cell and not spite like Trent did. They’re still not sure what to make of you though.” He grunted in response. “So what’s going through your head?”, she said with a yawn. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”

Looking at his right hand Jack flexed his fingers a few times. “When Emily told me my upcoming battles would forge me into something stronger I assumed she meant mentally.”

“It can’t be that much of a bad thing,” she said. “I mean you don’t have that little problem any more so that has to be a good thing.” Yawning again she looked a little embarrassed, “I must be more tired than I thought. It must the adrenaline coming down or something.”

“I guess so,” he agreed, “I know I could crash for a week right about now.” She rested her head on his shoulder and watched the stars with him. After a few minutes she was asleep. Jack watched her, remembering the times similar things happened when they were on the run. Taking shelter in anything they could find, from an abandon building to a sewer drain. Even when she was sleeping on the ground he was amazed at how peaceful she looked. Looking so… Looking at her for a long time he softly said, “I love you Rachel.”

A moment later she woke up looking embarrassed again, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to doze off like that. You didn’t say anything did you?”

They made each other a promise, no more secrets. “Nope, didn’t say a word.”