The Perfect Weapon Chapter 2008: Part 1 Section 1 of 2
Chapter 2008: Part 1 Section 1 of 2
Flap
Flap
Flap
Weiss ducked as a small covey of bats swooped down and passed by. “I hate bats.”
“So do I,” Nia admitted. “Flying rats. Carrying disease and--”
“Plus, they’re damn ugly,” Vaughn agreed.
“Is the rat man going to fly in?” A little girl asked from the back. “Is that what they said, Arezou?”
“Shhh. No. They are afraid of the bats,” Arezou said quietly.
“I thought they would not be afraid of anything,” the teen boy said sullenly.
“Everyone is afraid of something,” Yasmina said quietly as she watched the woman of many names crouch down, looking back, as if turned into...what was that story?... a pillar of salt.
Irina stood up slowly, feeling an ache in her back. It was her back, she told herself, not her front, not her heart. Nonetheless, she stood facing the wall of stone above the door, her back to everyone. She was blocking the entrance to the alcove with her body, giving them privacy, she told herself. She blinked over and over, trying to clear her vision. She had to cleanse the tears from her eyes, wipe her memory clean like a smudge on a window of an image in black and white and grey that seemed burned into her brain.
But with a bone-deep certainty, she knew that for the rest of her life she would see in her mind's eye the black and white picture of a broken man lying in rags, half-dead by the betrayals of friends, then brought back to life by the love of a friend. Betrayal and loss redeemed by love. A love she had almost thrown away.
For what?
For what?
For what?
Judy had warned her, but she had ignored the warning. Next time she would listen more carefully. Now, now...She wanted to scream, but... She wiped her face again. She had an evacuation to plan and... Later, she’d confront it later. Dave would make her.
"Mom?" Sydney asked hesitantly to Irina's back. "Is Dave okay? Is he going to live? Why is Dad... Was he crying?”
“I’m sorry, Dave. I can’t believe I didn’t know, sense...” Jack choked off, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "I'm sorry it took so long. I...Nothing I can do can ever--"
“It’s okay. You were...” Dave took a shuddering breath and with Jack’s help leaned back to look into his friend’s face. Giving an exhausted smile in a face streaked with tears, he finished, “You were - in a clinical sense - a functioning nutso.”
This time, Jack choked on his laughter. “A functioning nutso? That’s a clinical term?”
"Maybe psych terms have changed in the last..." Dave closed his eyes, as a wave of exhaustion swept over him. Stay with it, he told himself. You're safe now. Safe... he sighed as he felt a damp rag in Jack's hand wipe his face, cooling his overheated skin.
Zamir pressed the illumination button on his watch. “The copters, they should be hear in less than thirty minutes,” he said quietly in Irina’s direction. “The doctor - will he-“
“It could be a she, Father,” Nia corrected him.
“A doctor can be a she?” Arezou piped up.
“A woman has many options in other...situations,” Nia said carefully, seeing the mix of distress and determination on Yasmina’s face.
“Daoud told the truth? That wasn’t just a story?” Arezou asked excitedly. Her eyes skewed to her mother. Yasmina bit her lip, then straightened her shoulders and nodded slowly.
“Dave,” Jack tightened his grip on Dave’s back as he felt an involuntary tremor shake through him. “You have a whole village of people waiting to say goodbye to you. Can you do it?”
"Jack, I don't feel good." Dave whispered, his head falling back against Jack's shoulder.
"I know.” His hand on Dave’s neck, Jack automatically registered Dave’s pulse. Too fast. “I gave you a hit of morphine. Do you need more?"
"No. I need to be coherent. I need--" Dave drew in another shaky breath.
"To disengage the protocol in the kids?" Jack shifted and lay Dave back on the pallet.
"Yeah. How did you know--" Dave winced as even that gentle movement caused him a shaft of pain. He was done pretending he didn’t hurt. Jack knew better anyway and could care less. He knew all about pain, after all.
Jack raised his voice and turned his head toward the opening. He recognized his wife’s robes. What was Irina doing still standing there? "Sark figured it out--"
"He's here? Justin is here?" Dave asked, his voice also growing louder as a wave of pain threatened to overwhelm the logic in his brain.
"Sydney too--" Jack began, then stopped as he saw confusion cloud Dave's eyes. Damn it, he was losing his place.
"Why the hell did you bring kids into this mess, Jackie?" Dave growled.
"Mom?" Sydney asked again. “Are you okay?” How bad was Dave that her mother was still standing there, staring at that stone wall as if it held life’s answers? What were the questions she was asking?
Irina made a dismissive motion with her hand as she looked down and Sark frowned. Feeling as if his hand were moving in slow motion, he touched Irina's shoulder. She turned her face away.
Leaning close in the darkness, Sark blinked as he saw... Could it be? Streaks of tears on her face? He looked askance at Sydney and moved his jaw in a jerky motion toward Irina. A jerky motion that matched the clunking machinery of his brain reassessing truths he had held to be inviolable.
"Do you want..." Sark frowned. What did Irina need? Why was he even wondering that? He put one hand on his ear, feeling Dave's low voice pounding against the walls of the cave as if it were contained thunder. What was Dave saying, anyway? Had he heard his name? He...
Sark shook his head, then wished he hadn't because the movement only made his head swim alarmingly. "I can't give you anything, but..." He felt a small lump in his clothes. "My car. Do you want to hold onto my car?" Seeing the shock on Irina and Sydney's faces, Sark leaned suddenly against the wall. What had he done? Why? Why did it feel...right? Why... "Which is to say, that should you require assistance of any persuasion, you certainly understand that I would provide full and complete cooperation--"
Irina smiled through the lump in her throat. "That's...my boy," she whispered to herself. "Keep your car, Julian. Thank you for the offer. I'm fine. Just...cold. I need to get outside and..." Irina straightened her shoulders. "We need to plan an evacuation of this camp. Dixon, Weiss, Vaughn -- let's go outside and make calls.”
"And me? What about me?" Sydney asked.
"Stay here. Your father will need your help," Irina said softly. "You too, Sark."
“Why?” Sark asked, twisting the shirt in his hands.
“Dave will need your help.” Irina nodded as she looked into Sark’s eyes. So similar, but...
“Is that Irina’s voice?” Dave asked abruptly, his body tensing.
“Yes. Do you want to see her-“
“See that... bitch?!” Dave nearly yelled. Then he cursed himself for expending that much energy, energy he did not have. He needed to find another way, another option.
The children began to talk all at once, their soft, sometimes shrill voices echoing off of the tunnel walls. Sark winced. Munchkins all over again.
“Bitch!” The children exclaimed, giggled and pointed at Irina.
“Bitch? Bitch!” Irina choked and forced down the fury. She was going to kill Dave. “He had an entire contingent of children calling me bitch?”
Sydney and Nia covered their mouths to keep from laughing. Sark whispered to Dixon, “This is priceless. I wouldn’t have missed this moment for the world.”
“Is that word bad?” Yasmina asked innocently. “You look upset.”
“I am...” Irina took a deep breath. “I will say only that I will find some way to pay him back-“
Yasmina smiled and held up her hand. “That I know. Daoud has used this word. Pay..back. Payback.”
“Use it in a sentence,” a preteen reminded Yasmina. “Daoud says...”
“I know what Daoud says,” Yasmina snapped. She did not need a watch, as Daoud called it, to know time was passing. “Payback is a btich.”
“I will kill him...” Irina gritted out as Sydney allowed a tired giggle to erupt.
“I think not,” Yasmina said firmly. “You will forgive him and he, you.” Eventually, Yasmina thought silently. After he kills you.
Irina flung her hands up in disgust and tried to make her way out of the tunnel, her way hampered by the children milling around in haphazard fashion. Hadn’t Dave taught them how to stand in line?
“Okay, so I guess you don’t want to see Irina,” Jack said lightly as he watched sweat pour down Dave’s face from the exertion of raising his voice. “But do you want to see Sark?”
“Is Julian here?” Dave asked suddenly.
“Yes,” Jack said slowly. He had already told Dave that. “He’s-“
“He’s going to freak out. He’ll run. It’s too much. Fail safe-“ Dave said urgently, his breath coming in quick pants.
Jack ran a soothing hand down Dave’s arm. “Dave. The protocol?”
“No. This is quicker. And Irina can use it too. I...hoped she’d find it anyway.”
“She didn’t.”
Dave nodded and crooked his finger. Jack leaned over him and snorted at Dave’s words. Shaking his head, he got to his feet. Putting a hand on Dave’s chin and meeting his eyes, he said firmly, “I need to tell her that, then I’ll be back. I promise.”
Before Jack could leave, Dave said softly, “You didn’t figure it out earlier because she didn’t come back until now.”
“No, she didn’t.” Jack opened his mouth to continue and then shut it when he saw that Dave’s head had rolled back. “Dave...” Jack gently patted Dave’s cheek. Dave’s eyes fluttered open again. “Stay with me, Dave. Just a little longer.”
“Jack...” Dave whispered. “I don’t understand.”
“What?”
“If my appendix is the problem, why does my leg hurt?”
Jack’s head snapped up. Dave was twenty-something years in the past, on the trip when his appendix had nearly ruptured deep in the middle of nowhere. “I...”
“Why...Did you fall into a dust pile or...” Dave blinked.
“What do you mean?”
“Your hair. Why is it so light? And short? Laura doesn’t like it that short. She’ll yell at you when we get home.”
“I know...” Jack said gently. Dave had gone somewhere safe for the moment. He had gone back to another journey of pain that had ended well. Good choice, Dave, Jack thought silently.
Dave sighed and closed his eyes. “I want a wife to yell at me when I come home from a trip too.”
“I know.”
“Don’t matchmake, though...” Dave warned, knowing it was no use. He knew that in the end, Jack would find him the perfect woman. He just didn’t need to admit to knowing that. Did he? But... he felt a frisson of anxiety about time send a shiver through him. Or was he just cold?
“Too late. I already have a woman picked out.”
“Who? Is she a blonde?”
“Of course. Her name is Judy.”
“Nice name. Is she nice?” Dave closed his eyes, concentrating on focusing his attention away from the pain in the wrong place.
“Yes, but not too nice. Sometimes, frankly, she’s a bitch.” Jack patted Dave’s hand soothingly. Judy would kill him for that comment, but in the end, she’d thank him. He hoped. Judy angry at him was not really an outcome he wanted to contemplate.
“Oh. Like Laura?” Dave grinned tiredly.
“Laura’s really only a bitch when she has PMS.”
Dave laughed, then looked startled at the resulting slash of pain. “I...” He closed his eyes and forced himself to concentrate. Concentrate on a memory to avoid the pain that was sending him to a dark place. He had had enough of darkness, he knew, deliberately focusing on Jack’s face. He must be worried, there were lines in his forehead, between his eyebrows that hadn’t been there moments before. “I won’t die from my appendix, Jack.”
“I know-“
“Do you remember when Laura threw the box of tampons at you in the kitchen?” Dave asked suddenly.
Jack smiled, as he reached for the morphine again. “Yeah. Screaming at me that, ‘NO! I don’t have PMS-“
Dave lightened his voice to a close mimicry of what Jack remembered as Laura’s voice as he called out, “‘I’ve never had PMS. You’re just being an-“
“Idiot,” they both finished.
“Only it wasn’t tampons, was it-“ Dave remembered.
“Dave, let it go.” Please, let it go, Jack begged silently. Sydney didn’t need--
“It was pads. That’s right and Sydney came in and picked them up and she thought they were the perfect beds for her Barbies.”
“Not the damn Barbies again,” Vaughn groaned.
“Oh. My. God.” Sydney moaned and covered her face with her hands. “I forgot all about that-“ The pads she had put all over the room with Barbies in nightgowns lying in state upon them, her mother’s strained expression as she’d tried to convince Sydney to relinquish the ‘perfect Barbie beds’ and her father and Dave’s gales of laughter from the front porch. Followed by a slam or...a squeak of the door or was that the glider or...
“But any memory recovered is a good thing, isn’t it?” Sark laughed at her.
“Dave.” Jack spoke firmly and placed both hands on the sides of Dave’s face. “Look at me. I need to you come back from this memory and be in the present. You need to disengage the protocol and say goodbye--”
“No.” Dave closed his eyes. Jack could take care of this mess all by himself. He was tired and something painful was out there lying in wait for him. “Nope. Not going to do it.”
“You know...” Jack smiled since Dave could not see him. “That’s what Irina did while she was gone. She pulled memories out of her memory book and used them to avoid the reality of what-“
Dave’s eyes popped back open. The pain wasn’t bad enough to be compared to Irina Derevko. “That...bitch.” He smiled slowly.
Jack stared at him as unbelievably he saw the mischief in Dave’s eyes. He smiled as well. “I’ve missed your sense of humor.”
“Don’t give it away.”
“I won’t.” Jack looked toward the entrance from which a soft rap had sounded. Zamir was smiling and tapping his watch. Jack nodded.
Zamir turned to his brother and jerked his head toward Irina, who was still trapped by the children as she tried to get out of the tunnel. “They’re at it again. The two of them.” His brother grinned and rolled his eyes.
Jack turned back to Dave. “I won’t give it away on you. But I think she may have gotten it anyway.”
“Oh, she got it.” Dave smiled again, then closed his eyes. He had to focus, conserve his energy. He knew Jack was giving him a break before he saw the children. Take advantage of it, he told himself. You can sleep afterwards.
“Does this mean you’re not angry with her?” Jack asked incredulously. “Because I don’t believe that for a second and neither will she. So don’t even think about playing that game-“
“I’m going to strangle her.” Dave frowned. He looked at his hands. Oh. It was...now. He was missing that finger.
“Fair enough,” Jack agreed as he kept a careful watch on Dave’s exhausted face, then allowed his eyes to skew upwards past his head to the chains bolted into stone. “She’s learning how to apologize without qualifying it.”
“Has the world come to an end while I was in here?” Dave’s eyes narrowed. “Or.. What did you do? Did you actually allow yourself to get mad at her? Did you? What did you do?”
“Human Battleship.” Jack frowned. “A game I hope I never have to play with her again.” Then he put his hands on Dave’s and winced inwardly as he felt the spot where a ring finger had once been. “Are you ready now? To see the kids?”
“Sydney first. My little princess.” Dave closed his eyes. “I’ll just rest for a minute,” he whispered. “Then I’ll be ready. Promise.”
Jack frowned. Did Dave not realize how much time had passed even now that he was conscious of the present again? Oh shit. Little princess?
Sark slapped his shirt into his hand and smiled the kind of smug smile he knew made Sydney want to slap him. “I simply can’t wait to inform all of the guards in the cell block of your childhood-“
“Do it and die!” Sydney growled, shoving her hand under Sark’s chin.
“How much is my silence worth to you?” Sark demanded. “Because my silence has a value to you only, while telling the story would provide me with much amusement in my lonely existence in Cell Block A-“
“What do you want?” Sydney asked suspiciously. Sark nodded and bent down to whisper in Sydney’s ear. Her eyes widened briefly and she pulled back to look into his eyes. She nodded slowly. “I agree.”
“What was that about?” Vaughn asked, turning Sydney to face him. “What does he want?”
“What’s going on?” Jack asked as he poked his head out of the entrance.
“Sydney’s angry about the pad story and-“ Sark began.
Sydney interrupted quickly. As if she needed to ever have a conversation with her father about... woman stuff. “Mom is upset because when Dave yelled the word, ‘bitch’ it set the kids off - he had them all referring to her --“
“Like the Munchkins greeting Dorothy, but not quite,” Sark realized suddenly. “That’s what he did. That’s exactly what he would....” Sark trailed off, wondering why he knew that. “Do. That’s what he would do.” He rubbed his temple and then his forehead, feeling... He didn’t know what he felt. But he didn’t want to feel it anymore. Surreptitiously, he looked down the tunnel toward what would be the exit at the end of the maze.
“Is that Sark’s voice?” Dave asked suddenly.
"Yes.” Jack turned back to face him. “Dave, is he your--"
"Is he here? Now? Right there?" Dave asked, feeling his heart beat faster. It had been so long. But wait, he had seen him not long ago. With Arvin? Looking like an adult, but... “Is he an adult now?” Dave asked cautiously, afraid of the answer as he looked at Jack’s silver hair. Prematurely grey or...?
"Yes. Do you want to see him?"
"Yes. But wait -- have you turned him yet?"
"I’ve only known about the protocol for a day-“
“And your point is what? You could do it-“
“He’s a pain in the ass, requiring...” Jack uttered a silent moan. “Special handling. Why didn't you just install a switch that you could--"
“Give me a break. Have you spent time with him?” Dave rolled his eyes. "A switch would be too easy and too dangerous. Especially with Julian. He has a tendency to be needy and therefore malleable."
Sark's mouth twisted as he heard the words. "Needy? Malleable?" he spat out. Weiss hid his grin behind his hand, while Vaughn smiled openly.
Irina sighed. “Those who eavesdrop never hear good of themselves,” she muttered as she made her way out of the tunnel. “Bitch indeed. If that’s your idea of a joke, David Caro, allow me to inform you that...”
Sydney turned to Sark with a small smile, that reminded him uncomfortably of one of Jack's evil smiles. "Malleable? I must say, Julian, that most women generally aren't interested in malleability in a man. If you know what I mean."
"I do not!" Arezou called out, her usual curiosity rising to the fore. "What does that mean? This word...." She struggled with it. "Malle..ah....”
Nia repeated it slowly. “Malleability.”
Arezou watched her lips and then repeated it perfectly. “ Malleability? What is it and why is it bad in a man? Or is it just that it is bad for Justin Case?"
“I’d say it is a normal state of affairs for Justin,” Sydney said sweetly.
“Explain, please,” Arezou demanded. “About malleability and a man.”
Sydney bit her lip. It was Sark's turn to smile as he pointed at Dixon. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you warn me expressly not to say or do anything to sully that girl's innocence and yet the Princess over here--"
"Cut the crap with the Princess business--" Sydney announced, putting one hand on her hip.
"I am NOT a girl!" Arezou exclaimed, her voice bouncing around the small confines of the tunnel, as she took a step toward Sark.
Sark took a step backward.
“A wise man, he would shut up now,” Zamir told Sark.
“An even wiser man would apologize,” Dixon whispered.
“But I...” Sark protested. “They started it, so why should I-“
“Just do it!” Weiss and Vaughn said in unison as the two women crossed their arms over their chests and waited, glaring.
Jack stepped out of the alcove. “Once again. Do you two need to go to your rooms?” he asked, glaring at Sydney and Sark. When they began to protest, he held up his hand. “Enough. I don’t want to hear another word-“
“But...”Arezou interrupted, then looked down modestly as Jack turned to face her. “Sark owes us an apology.”
“Well, then get on with it!” Jack growled.
“I...apologize,” Sark muttered. At a baleful look from Jack, he tried again, louder this time. “I apologize.”
“Good. Now get in here-“ Jack motioned with his hand toward the small entrance.
Sark took a step then stopped. A second later he started as he felt a small hand pushing the small of his back. He looked down. Arezou. She always seemed to be...there.
Nia’s eyes widened and she looked at her father who was also stunned. She swung her eyes to Yasmina, who had closed hers, no doubt shielding herself from the shocked glances of the others of the village. Women were not allowed to touch non-family members. Arezou must know that. Looking into the young woman’s calm face, Nia hissed out a breath. She had made a choice about her future.
Arezou pushed at Sark. Daoud had given her this job. Just in case, Justin Case did not go easily, she was to give him a push. Daoud had not told her to make a physical push, but that action accomplished two purposes. What was that? A...doubleplay. Yes. “Go. You should be happy. He has been waiting for you for a long time. Last time did not count.”
Sark looked over at Sydney who was gathering up the medical kit. She looked up. “Go. Or are you afraid?” Standing up, she crowded close to him. Sark pressed his lips together and took the step necessary to enter the alcove. He stopped almost immediately. Dave... What was Dave to him and he to Dave?
"Ju--" Dave began as he saw the blonde head come through the doorway. He felt his heart pound. It had been so long. So long. "Come closer so that I can see you."
"Are you going to sing the song?" Sark asked cautiously as he took one step, then two, then three. Holding up his own lamp, he fumbled for a second as he looked into eyes that were familiar. So familiar. “Are you going to sing the song?” Sark repeated, unable to look away from the eyes that seemed to pull him forward. Is that what he had felt the last time he had been in this cave with this man? The tug of familiarity? Why did he feel the need to come closer? Why did fear of...he didn't even know what he was.. He didn't know!
"Do I need to?" Dave asked, his eyes devouring the young man before him, standing there so tentatively. The boy still had that baby face Dave remembered from the first time he had seen the child. But now, he was grown? How could that be? How much time had passed? And yet, had time passed? Because so much seemed the same. Dave could see the same anxiety in the blue eyes, the fear, the need to flee -- a learned response to danger. Yes, he would run. People have patterns.
"I...don't know." Sark stood over Dave and then sank to his knees. “I don’t even know my name.”
TBC Chapter 2008: Part 1 section 2 of 2