Special Note from the author SciKaiju:Before the final episode get’s going I wanted to give out some “thanks you”, I’m new at this so please bear with me and hopefully it won’t be too corny. First of all I want to thank Keith for wanting to put this on the front page. And I want to thank to Ragna “D” BloodEdge and Dami-chan for the banners, and a special shout out to “D” for doing those banners every episode. I also want to thank Gryphman for creating the image of Fusion that appears in those banners. All you guys rock. And while Toei owns the Kamen Rider franchise I want to give a special thanks to Shoutaro Ishinomori for creating a concept that has lasted this long and that let my imagination run a little wild. And hopefully he doesn’t mind what I did with it. And I want to thank those of you who took time to read this thing, or just skimmed it (looks at Keith). Hopefully it was worth the ride and you enjoyed it.

Note from Keith Justice: Thank YOU scikaiju… damn glad to have this up on the front page and I hope everyone else enjoyed as well. See you on the otherside at Super Sentai Special Police DekaOps!

<Episode 52>

His face felt like it was on fire as Anderson slashed his cheek with his claws. Jack had to check to make sure he didn’t tear his face off when he saw the staff lying there. It looked so far away it wasn’t even funny. Still it was the only idea he had at the moment so he crawled for it. Jack was expecting Anderson to pounce on him at any moment but he slowly made his way toward the staff. Jack didn’t feel anything as he grabbed it and struggled to his feet. Snapping it to its full length he twisted the ring all the way, if this didn’t work he was dead. “Do you think there’s enough of a charge in to defeat me?” Anderson taunted.

“Who says I’m going after you?” Turning around he ran for the device. Swinging for the fences he broke the glass around it with the other end. Not even stopping to see where Anderson was he jammed the other end into it and popped the electrode. The device sparked a couple of seconds later. The sparks ran up the wires connecting it and then parts of the ceiling started to short out. As the sparks rained down on top of them he finally looked at Anderson. He was standing there shielding himself from the shower.

Ignoring the pain in face, arm, leg and everywhere else he was feeling it Jack raised his left arm across his chest. The belt materialized around his waist a moment later. Swinging his arm to the side he raised his right arm to his face. “Henshin!”, he shouted as he slammed his hand down on top of the belt. Anderson looked at him as the belt scanned his body and covered him in the black body suit and blue insect style armor of the system.

Then Anderson started clapping, momentarily reverting to his human form. Jack took a step back as he walked foreword. “An excellent job Mr. Davidson,” he said, “a truly excellent job. I must say you have performed better than I ever dreamed possible. I must say I’m feeling a little bit of pride when I look at you.”

“I’m touched,” he said sarcastically. “But tell me one thing, why were you so interested in my condition a while back.”

“Curiosity mainly,” Anderson answered him, “and I’ll admit a little bit of concern as well. The person I saw didn’t seem the like the type to succumb to a mental breakdown, or whatever it was that was afflicting you. But honestly I knew you wouldn’t be down forever, I knew you would be able to pull yourself back together eventually.” They looked at each other for a few more seconds, “I suppose there is only one way for this to end?”

“Yup,” Jack said. In the next instant Anderson changed back into his cheetah form and Jack rushed him. He got in a punch before the Drakan could react. The cheetah stumbled back from the impact. He had a feeling Anderson was one of those warrior kings so he wasn’t going to give him any breathing room as he pressed the attack. He tried to pound Anderson down but the Drakan refused to go down. Suddenly he pressed an attack of his own swiping in claws at his chest armor. Jack was pushed back and saw Anderson come at him.

Falling back Jack got his foot on his gut and was able to flip him. The cheetah hit the tube behind him hard. Jack got up and aimed a kick at his head. Anderson moved at the last second and his foot went through the glass of the tube. The blue goop inside poured through the opening as he tried to get free. He wasn’t fast enough as Anderson grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Then he picked him up and threw him through another tube. Jack freed himself from the person inside and threw a right cross as Anderson jumped at him. He connected flushed in the head and could tell he stunned him. Jack grabbed him and threw him into a tube in return. Going in his head snapped back as a foot kicked him under the chin. Trying to quickly clear the stars he didn’t see Anderson until it was too late. He grabbed Jack by the head and slammed him to the floor.

Putting a foot on his throat he pressed down with all he had. Jack struggled to breath before grabbing the foot and forced it off his neck. Sucking in the air as fast as he could he backed away from Anderson. “This is most exhilarating Mr. Davidson,” he told him, “I haven’t had this type of a workout in quite some time.”

Jack looked around him at the other doors. Arron was just starting to come too and they didn’t need the EMP device to get damaged. “Why don’t we take this where we’ll have a little more room?” He ran for the nearest door with Anderson right behind him.

***

“Do we have a progress report?”, Melissa asked. Rachel, Emily and the others huddled around the comm. center. Their cell and the others had never had ran an operation this big before and she was amazed there was an audio connection to their forces. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing at the moment.

“It just came in a couple of seconds ago,” the man at it said. “Anderson’s troops have the opening pretty well protected. They’re pretty much at a stalemate at the moment. Susan had an idea though, she sent a small group to the vent Jaime and the others used. She’s thinking they can surprise them from behind.”

“At the very least,” Rachel said, “they’ll divide their attention.” Melissa squeezed her shoulder, she was doing everything to not think about were Jack was in the middle of that mess. “That should increase their odds.”

“I can’t help but think Chris would have something inspirational to say here,” Melissa said. “He’d be there saying it personally but he’d still be saying it.”

“They knew what the stakes were child,” Emily told her.

“What if Jack takes out Anderson?”, Rachel asked suddenly. “What’s going to happen then? I mean he took over the company after killing Allen’s father. He’s going to have something in place. What if the next guy is worse than him? If that’s even possible.”

She could feel Emily look at her. She knew what Chris planned to do and she really didn’t want to think about it, but she knew she had to go through with it if they had any chance of surviving. Still she told Rachel, “Let’s just say we’re going to have to act fast.”

***

Somehow Davidson led them to a manufacturing lab. Yes they had more room to maneuver, but there were still some rather heavy equipment to use. A fact Davidson proved when he picked up something and threw it at him. Anderson easily ducked it and continued after him. Before he could grab something else Anderson jumped on top of him, swiping at his head on the way down. Small sparks flew as his claws scratched the metal of his helmet. Hauling him up he kicked him in the gut and kneed him in the head to get him back standing. A jumping spin kick knocked him into a table. Anderson grabbed and threw him into a series of lockers. He fell to the ground but still he tried to get back up. “I do realize you are angry that I killed the monkey before you had the chance Mr. Davidson, but really. Why continue to get up?”

“Because… because,” he said between breath as he got to his knees, “I’m their champion.” Getting a foot under him he started to stand, “And thanks to you I finally figured it out.” Hunched over he looked at him, “I’m not angry you killed the monkey. I’m pissed you thought you had the right to do this to them!” Standing at his full height he finished, “I’m stopping you no matter what.”

“Brave words Mr. Davidson,” Anderson told him, but he could tell he was still in pain. Despite that Davidson waved him on and he obliged.

***

The last time Jack felt this exhausted was when he was fighting Melissa’s brother and his men. Like back then he knew he had to keep going, this time more than ever. Because the rebels were never going to be safe as long as this Drakan was still around. But it was strange, while he was fighting Anderson he had never felt so right about anything in his life. As he ran in with a uppercut that jacked Anderson’s jaw he knew they were right, this was his destiny and he stopped fighting it.

He was able to grab the cheetah from behind and threw him over his head. The Drakan flipped in the air and landed on his feet, a backhand as he turned around floored him. Getting to a knee Jack clasped his hands together and swung for the fences again. He saw a tooth fly out of the cheetah’s mouth. Jack ran in as he stumbled back and jumped off Anderson’s leg as he kicked him in the side of the head. Running in again he grabbed him around the waist and picked him up, slamming him into the wall. Holding him there Jack slammed his fist into the Drakan’s gut repeatedly. Suddenly he grabbed his wrist and twisted. Jack went down to a knee as it felt like he was going to tear his arm right out of its socket. Anderson let go and grabbed him around the shoulders and slammed him against the wall again and again and again.

On the last one the cheetah let go and walked away for some reason. Jack tried to stand up again as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Anderson rammed some sort of drill press into the side of his head. As Jack went back down he hit with it again and again and again. He felt some sort of breeze while his heard ringing in his ears when he finally stopped. Jack felt Anderson pick him up and drag him away from the wall before getting him a seated position and standing over him. Then he felt those claws on his cheek again as he realized the helmet was cracked open. On instinct he tried to stop him as Anderson tried to rip it off of him. There were several small cracking sounds that turned into one long on before the Cheetah roared and strained as his helmet broke in half.

Taking a step back to regain his footing as Jack fell backwards Anderson studied his face as the back half fell off his head. Then he looked at the front half of his helmet before dropping it to the ground. “Now it ends Mr. Davidson.”

***

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<Episode 51>

Outside of the occasional murmur their van was relatively quiet. Sparky and the others kept glancing back back at him with some concern. Although the chimp glances were filled with contempt. Right now he wasn’t paying them any attention. His thoughts were back at the Habitat, with Rachel. With what he did to keep her out of this one. Leaning back against the van he voiced the only thought going through his head, “She’s going to kill me.”

“More than likely she’ll thank God your alive,” Sparky spoke up, “then she’ll kill you.” He was joking but nobody was laughing, although a couple of them did groan. Jack didn’t respond at all. “I know, I know shut up Sparky.”

“You did what you had to do,” Arron said. “Rachel wasn’t listening to reason.”

“It doesn’t make me feel any better,” Jack said softly.

“Don’t worry man,” Sparky told him. “She’ll get over it sooner or later. She’ll never let you forget it but she’ll get over it.”

“How much longer to the rendezvous point,” Jason barked.

“About twenty minutes,” their driver announced.

“How much resistance do you think we’re going to get?”, Sparky asked out loud.

“I guess you’ll find out when we get there,” Arron told him.

“I wasn’t really looking for an answer.”

Again Jack tuned them out and his mind went back to her.

***

“Uh,” Rachel grunted as she came to her senses. It took her a couple of moments to realize where she was. She was a little confused to find Jack’s jacket on top of her. Trying to sit up she felt a small patch of pain on her stomach. Putting a hand on it she remembered everything. “If he’s survives I’m going to kill him.”

“I don’t think he’ll try and stop you.” She looked around to find Melissa sitting beside her. “He took the foil with him in case you’re wondering.” It took her a moment to process what she meant. Then she looked inside the hood, it was empty. “I told Jaime to find him a cap or something to hold it place when he sees him.”

“So Jaime knows.”

“I didn’t give him the whole story, or go into any details.” Rachel held the jacket tightly in her hands. “So have you have come back to your senses now or am I going to have to get Emily to beat some into you?”

“There’s no point now is there?”, she said bitterly.

“Well it’s hard to blame Jack for what he did when you weren’t giving him much of a choice. Seriously Rachel what was going through your head?”

“I had to be there for him,” was all she said.

“You do realize how dangerous this is going to be right?”, she asked. “Jack doesn’t need to be worrying about you getting hurt in the chaos.”

“I know all right, I know,” she snapped. “I just can’t shake this feeling he’s not going to make it. And I didn’t want him to be alone if he…,” she couldn’t finish it. Melissa put a comforting arm around her and held her as the tears started to fall.

***

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<Episode 50>

Walking into the garage Rachel could feel a slight change in the air. Most of the people there kept looking over to one particular area. She was heading over there anyway so she really didn’t need to look. Walking up behind Jack she wrapped her arms around his waist and looked with him. He was there for who knows how long staring at the empty space his motorcycle used to occupy. After a while he said, “It was for the good of the cause. We had to do what we had to do to stop the truck.”

Squeezing him a little tighter she said, “You don’t believe a word of what you just said.”

“Nope,” he replied. “I know it was just a machine. Hell I’m mostly machine.”

“Let’s not go into this again.” She told him. “How many times do I have to tell you you’re the most human guy I know?” Looking at the empty space and sighing a bit she added, “But I’ll admit it’s weird not seeing it here. It seems like you had that thing forever. Even if you were driving like a mad man the first time you rode it.”

She looked up at him, like she hoped Jack started smiling a bit, “That never stopped you from riding with me again.”

“It was either ride with you or walk.”

“One coming in,” the guard at the door announced. In moments the door opened up to let in a rusted out old truck, affectionately known as Bessie. When it came to a stop Sparky stood up in the truck bed while Dusty and Arron came out of the cab.

“Hey there son, little lady,” Dusty greeted them as they walked up.

“Hi Dusty,” Rachel waved in return. “What’s going on?”

“Well I heard about what happened,” Dusty explained. “I came in earlier and picked up these two to show me where it happened. I had the damn fool notion we could salvage some of it.”

Sparky bent down and pulled up a burnt rubber and steel wheel that Arron took and put on the ground. Sparky looked at him saying, “We’re pretty sure that’s the back tire.” Looking back into the bed he added, “I think we found what was left of the exhaust pipe but… ah… it’s a little too mangled to be sure.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Dusty said.

“I tried to tell you it was a lost cause,” Arron told him.

“I didn’t think it was going to be that bad,” the old Drakan said.

“Explosive on the gas tank,” the youth said. “How bad did you think it was going to be?”

While they argued Jack walked up to the tire and stated rolling it back and forth slightly. He looked extremely sad for a moment. “Maybe we can turn it into a souvenir or something,” Sparky offered. “Maybe a table.”

“Junk it,” Jack told him. “It wasn’t even my bike, just something I stole from World Inc. when I went on the run.” He walked away from the group.

Rachel looked over to Dusty saying, “Hang on to that for the time being.” He nodded and motioned for Arron to put it back on the truck while she followed Jack out the door. Catching up and walking next to him she had to ask, “Did you believe anything that you just said?”

“Not a word,” he answered.

“Well start, I hate seeing you like this.”

“I’ll try,” he told her. She doubted it but didn’t say anything.

Instead Rachel said, “Maybe we can head over to Dusty’s one of these days. I’m sure he has a motorcycle or two in his auto yard you can rebuild. It’ll give you guys something to do.”

“You’re trying to talk me into getting another bike? I figured you’d try and convince me to stick with the van or something.”

“Well,” she said taking his hand, “I never told you this but I’ve always loved hanging on to you while I rode behind you.”

***

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<Episode 49>

Jack sat up with a start. With more practice than he wanted to admit he was able to keep himself from screaming out loud. Going into one of the breathing exercises Emily taught him he sat there until his heartbeat was back under control. After a few moments of silence he lay back down and stared at the ceiling totally disgusted with himself. One night, just one lousy night. Why was one night of totally uninterrupted sleep too much to ask for? Especially tonight of all nights. He glanced over at Rachel sleeping next to him, her bare shoulder and back not covered by the sheet. Yeah tonight would have been the perfect night not to have one of those damn nightmares.

“You had another one,” she spoke up.

“Sorry,” he said softly, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I was already up. For somebody who can keep me guessing,” she turned around, getting under his arm and rested her head on his shoulder, “your nightmares run surprisingly like clockwork. So what happened in this one?”

“Not a whole lot changed from last time,” he told her. Rubbing her arm lightly he added, “Richie looked a little apologetic this time around though.”

“That something at least,” she said. “It might be a step in the right direction.”

“Maybe. I just want this nightmare to stop already.”

“I know you do, and so do I. but Dusty and Emily both said it’ll go away when it goes away.”

“I know it’s just frustrating,” he admitted. “I’m almost thirty and a nightmare is kicking my ass and keeping me up at night.”

“Jack we’ll beat this,” Rachel assured him. “If I can promise you anything I will promise you that.”

“Sounds like a lost cause to me,” he joked. Giving her a quick squeeze he told her, “Go back to sleep, there’s no point in both of us staying up all night.”

“You know,” she said as she lightly traced one of the longer scars on his chest with a fingernail, “I might have a way to help you to go back to sleep.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes really,” she said smiling at him. Jack started to say something but she quieted him with a kiss. He didn’t resist as she moved on top of him.

***

She knew the alarm clock was a few minutes away from going off. Normally waking up before the alarm would have annoyed her to no end. But right now she couldn’t really complain. In fact she could get used to waking up like this. She tried to remain quiet as Jack lightly kissed her on the neck and shoulder. Trying hard not to smile, and failing, she asked, “What do you think you’re doing?” She wanted to sound annoyed but it wasn’t happening.

“Nothing,” was all he said. “But since you’re up you wanna go for round three?”

“Any other day and I might think about it,” she said getting out of his grip and turned off the alarm. Holding the sheet against her chest she sat up, “But Melissa needed to see me early this morning.”

Jack lay back down saying, “The moment she smells me on you she’s going to know what we did.” With a half grin he added, “Twice.”

“Which is why I want to get to the shower before there’s a line. Do you have any idea where my nightgown went?”

“No idea,” he told her. “I wasn’t exactly paying attention all that much when things went flying.” Sitting up he looked around, “It’s on the other side of the dresser.”

“Thanks.” She reached out and grabbed it. Out of habit she stood up as she put it on. Realizing what she did she looked back and saw Jack grinning, “Enjoying the view?”

“I got no reason to complain.”

“Smart man,” she told him as she pulled it on. Going over to the dresser she picked out a fresh batch of clothes. Jack started to get out of bed as well but she stopped him. “Lie back down and get some rest, you got nothing important to do this morning. Try and get some more sleep if you can.”

“I’ll meet you later in the cafeteria if I can’t.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Leaning down she gave him another kiss, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said in return as he lay back down. Luckily their room was close to the shower and there wasn’t a line. Rachel wasn’t sure how keen the average Drakan sense of smell was but they were still trying to keep their relationship quiet. And she did not want to give anybody any extra hints than necessary.

***

“Oh my God,” Melissa said the moment she looked at Rachel. Her friend looked really annoyed real quick but she didn’t care. “You two…”

“Have I told you how much I hate it when you read me like that,” Rachel quickly said.

“I didn’t read you,” she informed her. “In fact I didn’t need to.”

“I ticked off a couple of people already taking an extra long shower.”

“That’s not how I knew either, although,” she sniffed the air a couple of times, “that would explain the aroma I’m starting to pick up.”

“Oh grow up,” Rachel said sharply. Melissa started laughing, partially because she realized she just won the bet. God she was glad everybody agreed to move their target dates after Jack was of commission for a few months. Oh great how was she supposed to prove it. “Alright if it wasn’t either of those then what was it?”, Rachel demanded.

“You got a little extra bounce in your step,” Melissa explained. “So either you found one of the hidden liquor stashes around here or…”

“Alright, alright,” Rachel cut her off. “So much for trying to keep things quiet.”

“Hey I’m the only one around here who knows you guys are a couple now. So I know the meaning behind the act. Everybody else…,” she trailed off.

“Just shoot me now,” she said hanging her head. Trying to get things back on track she said, “So has Jaime’s guys broken the encryption on that disc yet?”

“Not fully,” she said. “According to him there’s a couple of different files on that thing. They were able to crack a couple of them so far, but it’s nothing but minor things. Schedules, work rotations stuff like that. The other information on the disc has a tougher encryption program that’s proving harder to crack.”

Rachel nodded, “Jack’s Uncle Petey’s first rule of locks: the more elaborate the lock the better the prize inside.”

“That’s what we’re hoping,” she said. “But right now I’m not keeping my hopes up. It could be somebody’s diary for all we know.”

“Then I guess we’re no closer to finding that secret base then,” Rachel said.

“Actually I think we’re closer than we think,” Melissa said. “Using some of the information we gathered so far we were able to pick up a convoy here and there heading into the mountains where we think it is. Unfortunately we lose sight of them by the time we hit the mountains.”

“Well I doubt whatever he’s using is going to be in plain sight.”

“I know. Every cell we have has been climbing over each other trying to find it. However he’s hiding it he’s getting his money’s worth. God this is driving me nuts. Something in my guts is telling me this is going to be big, whatever it is, and we can’t even find it.”

“I’m just hoping we’ll catch a break before it’s too late,” Rachel admitted.

“So do I, so do I.”

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<Episode 48>

With Freidman outed as a mole they had to rely on other means to discover what Anderson was doing. One of the first orders of business was discovering where World Inc. was getting their information from. Back when they had a man on the inside it didn’t matter all that much. Now that they were practically blind no one wanted Anderson to have an advantage. The various cells got together and put out some false information. Working in tandem they were able to find, what they hoped at least, a majority of Anderson’s informants. From there they squeezed them for any information they had, which wasn’t much. Which took them to part two of the operation, surveillance. There they discovered one thing right away. People who worked in the building now had run an ID card to get past the main lobby. And more than likely other parts of the building as well.

Which brought Jack to his current situation. A week of wire tapping and watching lead them to one Marcus Van Haden. He looked liked a college professor who would call you a stupid, blundering idiot even if you did everything right to boot. He also carried important information from his company to World Inc. on a regular basis, usually stopping off at home first. Supposedly tonight was one of those nights. He was currently on his way to World Inc., Jack was heading in the opposite direction with him in his sights.

He had the hood pulled over his head as far as it could go. With the rain currently falling nobody was paying him any attention, fortunate for him. At least the foil lining his hood had an extra benefit, his head was staying dryer than what it would have been. Which was also good for the piece in his ear. He didn’t particularly want his ear burning in case it shorted out. “What’s you status Tin Man?”, Jaime said over the piece.

“Thinking of the ways I can kick the butt of the person who gave me that stupid code name,” he answered, low enough so nobody passing by could hear him. “And I’m going to do it too, the moment I can prove this person did it.”

“How are you going to prove it was me?”, Rachel asked him over the line.

“There’s a start,” he quipped.

“Geez Rachel,” Sparky cut in, “Don’t make it obvious or anything.”

“I was trying to throw him off the trail of the person who did it,” she quickly explained.

“Cut the chatter,” Jaime ordered. “Tin Man do you see the target?”

Looking up the street he saw Van Haden bundled up in a trench coat, an umbrella in one hand and his briefcase the other. “I see him.”

“Now that we have that covered,” Sparky said, “do we have any idea how exactly we’re going to get that briefcase away from him?”

“I’m working on it,” was all he said.

“Jack we don’t need any work in progress plans right now,” Rachel told him. “We need an actual plan.”

“We got a problem,” Arron said from his position on the rooftops, “I’m seeing bracelets.” As in handcuffs attaching his wrists to the briefcase. There was something good in there alright.

“I see it,” Jack said as he continued toward him.

“We have abort,” Rachel said.

Jaime spoke next. “I agree. Tin Man turn down an alley. We’ll pick you up on the other side of the block.” Sparky, who watching him from the rear, reported he was still heading for Van Haden.

“Jack, don’t even think about it,” Rachel said. “I don’t care what you’re Uncle showed you, nobody is that good. Do you hear me?”

He kept on walking toward Van Haden. When they were a few yards from each other Jack lowered his head and kept on going, praying this guy wasn’t a Drakan or carrying a scanner. Ignoring Rachel and Jaime yelling in his ear he waited for it. Jack bumped into him and kept on walking, not even attempting to go for the briefcase. “Watch it you stupid punk,” Van Haden snapped. He checked himself for his wallet, only continuing on when he was satisfied it was still there. “Damn punks have no manners what so ever,” he continued grumbling.

Making his way toward the plain blue van, the side door snapped open as Rachel nearly jumped out at him, “Are you out of your mind?!”, she demanded. “What if he recognized you or decided to go after you?”

“Or he had a hand scanner with him?”, Jaime put in.

“Then he would have known it was me before I even got that close,” he said.

“So what was the point of all that any way?”, Rachel asked him.

“I was a little curious about how tight that new rule is,” he pulled Van Haden ID out of his pocket. They stared at him. “Uncle Petey showed me a lot before Mom found out.”

***

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<Episode 47>

The day felt like it was taking forever to finish. Jack and Rachel tried not to let anything on while they were out working with the others. Finding a moment here and there to be alone was the only thing that made it bearable. Finally the day was over and they had the evening to themselves, just as long as Sparky, Arron or somebody didn’t walk in on them. Good thing Jack knew a pretty good spot when he wanted to be alone. Of course she knew where it was, but Rachel was the only one he didn’t mind knowing about it. They sat there looking up through the grating at the darkening sky. It was something hey done before but tonight was different. Rachel snuggled up against him instead of closing the jacket she had around her, “Most people wouldn’t think this is the perfect spot for a first date, but I love it,” she said.

“Are you kidding?”, he asked. “We’re underground looking at the through a street grate. All we need is some Barry White playing and a box of wine and this is my ideal date.”

Rachel smiled, “You are a very weird person.”

“You’re just now figuring this out,” he smiled back. Giving her a quick kiss he held her tighter,” I wish I could’ve done better for you though.”

“I got you right here and right now. That’s all I need,” she assured him. Biting her lip a bit she went, “Jack, how many times have you tried going past the just friends thing?”

“Let’s not go there.”

“Come on Jack tell me.”

“I might be a bit dense at times but even I know better than to talk about past relationships with the current girlfriend.”

“I just want to avoid some of the blunders you made before. I won’t think any different of you, I promise,” she actually crossed her heart.

Eventually Jack relented, “It happened twice. There was this one time in high school I started dating this girl I liked hanging around with named Amber. Things were cool until she became a tad possessive.”

“Define possessive.”

“Well if she ever found me talking to a another girl, even if it was somebody we both knew, she would get angry and start claiming I was going to cheat on her or she was trying to steal me away from her. I tried breaking up with her but it took three times before she got the hint.”

“I think I would have called her psycho.”

“I was trying to be nice,” he said. “Then I tried it again with a girl named Mattie. We got along great, we even liked a lot of the same thing that’s why we started dating.”

“What happened there?”

“It turned out we were too much alike and started to get on each other nerves. Things went to hell in a hand basket before either of us knew it. We didn’t talk to each other for a long time after that. We did start talking again and salvaged the friendship but it wasn’t the same.” Looking out the grating again he said, “She always said she’d sing at either my wedding or my funeral. I wonder if she did.”

“Now there’s a lovely thought,” she said.

“Why do you think I never asked Mom about it? Alright, your turn. Did you ever go beyond just friends?”

“Once,” she admitted. “A guy I knew named Greg. Fortunately we both realized we weren’t right for each other and broke it off.”

“And that’s why you’re the smart one,” he said. “I still wish I could take you someplace better than this.”

“We have to make do with what we have,” she told him. Getting up she faced him and pulled out an old walkman radio with some ear bud speakers out of her pocket. “Take this for example, I found it in a closest and it still works.” Grinning a bit she told him, “Maybe if you’re lucky we can work on the Barry White part of your ideal date.”

“Works for me,” he said standing up. Putting one of the buds in his ear she did the same while looking for a station. After a bit she found a slow song they could dance to. Putting his hands on her sides he raised an eyebrow when she took his hands and slid them down to her waist.

“You’re the boyfriend now, you can keep them around the Equator,” was all she said.

“I’m liking the perks so far,” he said, she smiled in response. After a couple of songs Jack went, “I have to know, when did you know how you felt about me?”

“Honestly I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Although when I was watching you float in that tank after Allen broke your arm I was starting to realize my feelings for you were starting to be a little more than professional. I convinced myself it was nothing more than friendship. Then Dusty made that sharing he bed comment. Somebody else was voicing how I feeling and I was never so freaked out in my life.”

“You too huh?”, he said.

“Your turn.”

“I’ll be honest, I thought you were hot when I first saw you. Then I got to know you a little better. I was finding I cared about you and wanted to find out more about you.”

“Is that why you hung around World Inc. all the time?”, she joked.

“Well it definitely wasn’t the party atmosphere,” he chuckled. “But what really pounded it home,” he reached up and traced the faint scar on her neck, “was when you got hurt. I was suddenly picturing my life without you in it and I couldn’t stand it the thought of it.”

“Well you’re stuck with me for the long haul,” she told him. “Or until you do something incredibly stupid. Whichever comes first.”

“Well I’m due for something incredibly stupid,” he joked. Rachel slapped him lightly on the back of the head. Resting her head on his shoulder Jack held her tight while they danced. Then there was a slight buzzing that he couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Rachel reached into a pocket and pulled out a cell phone Melissa gave her. “Don’t answer it,” he pleaded with her, “don’t answer it, don’t answer it.” She flipped it open, “Oh my God she’s answering it.”

“It might be important,” she told him. “Hello? Yeah I know where Jack is.” She held up a finger to keep him quiet. “A meeting in ten minutes? We can be there, bye.”

“Oh that sounded real important,” he commented as she shut off the phone.

“You never know,” she told him. “Besides if it turns out to be a really boring meeting and if, IF you behave yourself I might find a way to make it up to you.” She smiled and walked past him. Jack glanced at her butt then at his hand. Almost as if she was reading his mind she spun around and pointed a finger at him, “Don’t you even think about it.”

“What?”

***

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<Episode 46>

Lunch time was it’s usual controlled chaos. Despite her limited insight into human, and Drakan, nature Emily was still surprised at how often somebody wanted to fight over the last bit of whatever they wanted. It must have happened more times than she was aware of seeing how Melissa would catch the eyes of whoever was involved and get them to stop in their tracks. On more than one occasion she heard the child utter, “How did we get so many Alpha males?” Living underground was rough enough as it was, but being in a war at a same time, well she was just grateful emotions didn’t explode more often. When they got their food, Melissa always insisted on waiting in line with the others, so much like her brother, the child stop as she saw something, “When did that happen?”

“When did what happen?”, Emily asked. Holding both of their trays Melissa gestured as best she could to the other side of the room. Emily looked in that direction and saw Rachel and Jack sitting next to each other. Jack leaned in and said something to Rachel that made her laugh. Emily wasn’t seeing anything out of the ordinary. “They always sit together child. They have done so ever since they started living with us.”

“I know that,” Melissa informed her. “But they always sat across from one another in here. This is the first time I have ever seen them sit next to each other.” Watching them a bit longer she started smiling, “You’d almost think they were a couple or something.”

“Well don’t push them child,” Emily told her. “It will happen if it’s going to happen.”

“I know but the will they or won’t they crap is getting on my nerves.” Melissa headed over there, “Come on let’s see if we can join them.” Emily hesitated for a second trying to think of an excuse. “You can’t keep avoiding him forever. Look Jack’s even been asking about you. I’m getting genuine concern from him when he does. I think he wants to bury the hatchet.”

“It’s not wise to open old wounds child.”

“Emily,” she said firmly, “what would you be telling me to do in this situation?”

“I do believe that is what they call dirty pool,” she said but she headed over there with her. Rachel smiled as she saw them, as did Jack. Although to be totally honest she was watching for any sign of the anger he showed before his final confrontation with Mitchell.

“I was wondering where they were hiding you,” Jack said. “I’ve been meaning to talk with you.”

“No better time than the present,” Rachel said. Melissa quickly agreed. Emily eyed the both of them, almost thinking this was a set up. If it was both of them was going to feel her cane.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what happened,” Jack began. “I’m still angry about what happened, but I think I was more freaked out that somebody died for me more than anything. I’m not used to having that hanging over my head.”

“Maybe if I had worded things different Lance would still be with us,” Emily admitted

“I think Lance would have done it any way,” Melissa said remembering him.

“I can’t take back what I said,” Jack continued. “We might not have been the closest of friends but I hate to think that ended it.”

“I hate to think our friendship ended as well,” Emily admitted.

“See,” Melissa said, “I told you this wasn’t going to be as bad as you thought.”

“Fortunately Jack’s grown up a bit,” Rachel joked. Jack looked in another direction entirely. “Are you actually getting embarrassed? Mark the date down because I never thought I see the day.”

“Leave him alone child,” Emily told her. “It’s hard enough for one to admit their maturing without somebody rubbing it in.”

***

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<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.

***

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<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.

***

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<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.”

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