Jeremiah: Shadows
By: Shadow Chaser
Disclaimer:
Jeremiah and its characters are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Sam Egan, Luke Perry, MGM/UA, and Showtime. This story is for amusement only and I didn't get any money for it. No copyright infringement is intended.
Timeframe/Author's Notes: Immediately after "Echoes and Shadows." Please read that fanfic first before reading this otherwise you will be terribly lost! Thanks!
Story:
The gentle knock on his door brought his head out from his paperwork he was currently looking at and he looked up, surprised to see Erin standing by his door, a tired smile on her face.
"You're still in here? I thought you would have at least gone to the commissary by now," she walked in and crossed her arms.
He gestured helplessly to the paperwork in front of him, "You would think I leave for a few days and this would be gone. In fact," he stood up and stretched his right arm, his left still unable to move out of its sling, "I thought you'd be doing my job while I'm laid up in the infirmary, not leave it for me to do."
"That's why I always leave you the best," she grinned, "besides, what's a little paperwork between friends?"
"That," he gestured to the still rather large pile on his desk, "is not a little paperwork. That's a massive amount."
She shrugged as they walked out of the office, Markus making sure that he turned off the lights and closed the door to his office behind him, "Just a little..."
"Your judgment of little is warped," he shot back good-naturedly nodding to a few of the personnel who prowled the halls.
"My judgment is fine," Erin chided him, "it's yours that's warped."
"I would think mine is fine," he said mildly.
"Tell that to your arm. I think it's trying to protest," she arched an eyebrow at him and gestured with her chin to his arm wrapped high in a sling.
Markus frowned at it and tried to shrug without making it look painful, "Oh...well...my arm and I aren't talking much..."
"I would imagine since if it did have a mouth on it, it would probably be spouting off more speeches than you normally would," her dry humor made him chuckle slightly before they rounded the hall and entered the large commissary, finding it still full of people, but not as large of a crowd as the dinner rush. He waved to a few more people who grinned and expressed their enthusiasm for him being back on the job and for him to get better soon as he and Erin grabbed their trays and headed to the food line.
"Okay, I need to talk to Catherine after this. It's been what, more than three days since I came back to the job and everyone's still treating me like an invalid," he grumbled a bit as he fumbled with his tray and utensils with one hand before managing to settle it on the slider.
"Markus, you were an invalid," even Erin looked at him with sympathy before helping him grab his favorite soup and he gave her a look, "just accept it that there are people who want to help you."
He thinned his lips. She was right, but yet...he did not want to feel so helpless. He didn't like showing weakness in front of anyone, especially not in front of those who lived in Thunder Mountain. As their leader, he did not want to appear weak, he wanted to give them hope, make sure that they were strong and he knew that they looked up to him...
"I can't wait to get this sling off," he grumbled as they finished loading their food up in the trays and Markus pointedly ignored all help from Erin as he precariously carried his tray with one hand and his sling-arm towards the tables.
"Over here!" Theo's boisterous voice cut through the crowd and Markus looked up to see her waving madly at them, a smirk on her face. Markus could see that she was at least seven months pregnant and her belly was definitely swelling as she kicked open two chairs next to her for them to sit down.
He really didn't want to sit with Theo and instead wanted a nice and quiet dinner for once, having been mobbed by several people within the Mountain to eat with over the past few days, Lee notwithstanding. However, he also knew that if he ignored Theo, she would just make a bigger ruckus and he did not need a headache for the rest of the night. Catherine, the Mountain's resident main doctor had already refused him anymore painkiller pills for his shoulder, saying that anymore and he would be addicted to them.
"Theo," he greeted as he sat down, Erin next to him. She looked happy to be sitting with Theo, something he knew he would never understand. How did the two of them, complete opposites become such good friends was beyond him.
"Markus," she gave him a lascivious smile that he ignored as usual before she turned to Erin, "you finally got him down here to eat, huh? Thought you would have had to punt him out of the window up there in order to get him down here."
Markus frowned before starting on his dinner, shaking his head.
"Took a bit of convincing," Erin replied, "so...did you see Jeremy yet? Did he tell you if it's a boy or girl?"
"No," Theo replied in a simple tone, "don't want to know. I want it to be a surprise. Though I hope its twins..."
Markus nearly choked mid-bite on his soup at Theo's declaration. He remembered the haunting words about whether or not it would be Theo, Cleo, and Leo and shuddered. God help them all if it was twins...
"You okay?" Erin and Theo looked at him before he hastily resumed eating.
"Fine, fine," he gestured for them to continue whatever they were saying with his spoon.
"Anyway, I think I felt a kick today," Theo looked proud.
"Really?" Erin's expression suddenly lit up, "Can I...?"
"Oh, um, sure," Markus had to laugh silently at the expression of wonderment on both women's faces. Two of the toughest women he ever knew were both enraptured by the thought of a baby. It was an amazing thing... Something he had thought he would never see...
One week ago...
He had awakened as something jarred him and made him bounce on a hard surface. An involuntary gasp of pain emerged from his lips as he snapped open his eyes and saw flashes of lights, color, and someone's familiar face, one he couldn't quite place before he felt a cool blast of oxygen over his nose and mouth.
He breathed it in greedily as he looked around. He had the feeling he was being wheeled somewhere...
"Markus? Markus!" the familiar face shouted to him and he blinked and focused on her lips. Why was she calling his name?
"Wha..." he tried to answer, but found his mouth moving sluggishly and tried to lift his right hand up to make his gesture and intention of answering known, but even that was an effort.
He thought he heard the familiar face say something, but he was never good at reading lips as suddenly all of the sounds around him crashed in a messy cacophony of noise around him. He didn't care about the noise, but what really worried him was who was the face and why did it look so familiar. As he kept staring at the face, he saw her lips move, before she turned her head and she talked some more then turned back to face him.
Suddenly her voice became clear, "You're going to be okay Markus, just hang in there, all right? Just hang on..."
"Yeah...get some sleep Markus. You're going home..."
That was definitely Jeremiah's voice he remembered...and everything else... Oh God...he had been a prisoner of Jacob; he remembered getting shot, the pain, the agony of it. Remembered being tortured with water, unwilling to let him sleep they had thrown water on him at random intervals, strung him up so that his muscles were pulled so tightly. He had been feverish...delusional...he remembered Jacob's offer...how he had almost...
Panic filled him...
"Breathe, Markus, breathe," he suddenly heard and Markus forced his lungs to obey her command. Because he knew that if he didn't, something bad would happen. He focused on the light fixture above him and forced himself to take a deep breath and let it out and continued to do so until he could feel himself calming down. He kept his eyes fixed on the lights until he couldn't see it anymore...
"What happened?" Erin demanded, waiting outside of the operating theater as Catherine, their resident head doctor and medical surgeon walked out of the room. Beside her stood Jeremiah, Kurdy, Smith, and Lee, all whom had grim expressions on their faces.
"Panic attack," Catherine took her gloves off and removed her surgeon's mask, "I need to wait until the sedative takes effect for a half-hour before I can operate on him."
"Operate?! But I thought..." Jeremiah trailed off, glancing through the window.
"I know you said the bullet's been taken out, but obviously they left his wound in such a mess that I need to sew up as much damage as I can," she shook her head, "those fucking bastards...they knew what they were doing..."
Erin felt his breath hitch slightly in fear before she forced her expression to be calm. "How is he?" it was an effort to keep her voice calm. She wanted nothing more than to run to Baltimore and shoot Jacob dead for what he did to Markus.
"He's been starved, that's obvious, and his blood sugar is low. I've started him on some fluids and a bunch of antibiotics that we still have around here. His wound is definitely infected and it looked like someone tried to clean it with some silver nitrate, but it was mostly unsuccessful. I don't know how much damage was done to that arm, I'll need to look during the operation, but he's not quite out of the woods yet."
"Jacob knew where to shoot him to maximize the damage yet give him a non-fatal wound," Lee looked angry, his dark eyes glittering with malice. "Smart bastard..."
"Yeah...pompous too," Jeremiah shrugged, "the guy had the crowd eating out of his hand."
"Crowd? What crowd, you didn't mention any crowds?" Erin looked at Kurdy, Smith, and Jeremiah. There hadn't been time for a proper debriefing since the three had returned with Markus in the wee early hours of the morning. Instead, they had all rushed to the medical wards to get their leader stabilized.
Jeremiah sighed and ran a hand through his short hair, "They had Markus out in this plexiglass box for at least twenty-four hours I think before were able to rescue him. Alec, the leader of the Resistance in Baltimore told us it's where Jacob kept political prisoners or any member of the Resistance that spoke out against him. Anyone can jeer, mock, and throw shit at the people in the boxes. Pretty much humiliate them..."
Erin didn't know what else to say except she could feel her anger growing exponentially against Jacob. She glanced over and saw Lee also barely containing his anger and wondered if he had a shorter fuse than she did.
"That would explain the minor frostbite on his extremities. It's not as bad for a twenty-four hour exposure-"
"Someone gave him a blanket during the night between when I saw him and when we rescued him," Smith spoke up, startling all of them. They had forgotten he was still there.
Catherine nodded, "At least someone had the decency to do that. Anyway, I wanted to let all of you know that it'll be at least some time before Markus is awake again and right now I need to prep for the surgery. So, you are welcomed to stay out here and wait, but I can't allow any of you into his room or the operating theater." The doctor gave Erin and pointed look that she decided to ignore. Catherine was the only one to figure out her feelings for Markus before she had confessed them when she had originally thought he was sleeping.
"Get some sleep you three," she tried to smile warmly at Jeremiah, Smith, and Kurdy, but it felt forced, "you deserve it. I'll let you guys know when Markus is out of surgery, all right?"
Jeremiah looked like he was about to protest when she looked at him and shook her head minutely. She had entertained the idea of a relationship with him more than a year ago, but after seeing him fall for Libby and her own convoluted feelings for Markus surfacing after Meaghan's death, the two of them had come to a mutual understanding. They had even occasionally talked about it, but ever since Libby's death, there was a distance between them that neither him nor her wanted to touch.
"Come on, I'm beat," Kurdy had immediately picked up on the mood and slapped Jeremiah's shoulder and pulled him in the direction towards the bunks. "We'll see you later Erin." The three of them walked away and Erin noted that there was not a single goodbye to Lee. It was expected after all, and even she still did not fully trust Lee. However, Markus had extended some measure of trust back to him so she had always followed his lead. However, convincing others of that fact was not going to be easy.
"Lee-"
"Don't say it. I'm staying," the Chinese man looked at her sharply, "it's either that or I go straight to Valhalla and ask Devon to get me into Baltimore so I can kill Jacob."
She snorted silently in a sarcastic laugh. "Fine," shaking her head she sat down as Catherine gave them a rueful smile and headed back into the operating theater.
The operation had been a success and Markus had been moved to a more private recovery room. However, it had been four days since he had returned and there was no sign of him waking up. Catherine had reassured Erin, Lee, and all of the others that Markus would eventually wake up, but it was up to his own body to decide whether or not he would awaken soon.
That had left Erin particularly worried. Not because of the piling work that she had to do for Markus along with her own, but worried that somehow he was afraid of waking up after the trauma he had been through. In fact the amount of work that had piled up in the past week since Markus was kidnapped and returned astounded her. She hadn't realized how much he had taken upon himself to run Thunder Mountain until she had began to sort through his work.
There were meetings to go to every day in almost every waking hour, people to greet and reassure things about the Western Alliance that needed to be done. She knew Markus delegated a lot of the work to others, but the sheer amount of things still left to be done shocked her. He had thrown himself into his work, she realized, after Meaghan's death. She wondered if it was the only thing fueling him now, the success of the Western Alliance...the true goal of uniting the United States of America once more, but in a more fair democracy...
Of course the whole base and even some of the Western Alliance towns had heard of his capture and return and all had wanted to see him, but Catherine had strictly allowed no visitors save for the Council members, herself, Lee, Jeremiah, Kurdy, and Mister Smith. Several of the Council members had already peeked in on Markus, going in with trepidation on their faces and walking out with reassured smiles even though he was completely unconscious. A few of them had even offered to stay and keep him company in case he did wake up in the past four days, but Catherine had said no one would be able to.
However, Erin knew that the doctor made her an exception. She wondered if the younger woman was secretly playing matchmaker at this rate. But she did not mind the exclusion to the rule and instead, found that most of her time spent looking over paperwork for the Mountain and occasionally for the Western Alliance was done by Markus' bedside, the steady beat of the heart monitor a rhythmic constant.
So when the first twitches of movement came from Markus' bedside, she had not noticed it, buried in paperwork and requisition forms, until out of the corner of her eye, she saw his head turn and his soft brown eyes squint at her.
"Markus," she set down the paperwork she had been reading and smiled as he looked at her before the corners of his lips twitched up in a tired smile.
"I thought I got rid of those when I had my vacation," he quipped tiredly before trying to lift his arms and stared at the intravenous needle on his right wrist, his brow wrinkling a bit as he tried to comprehend what was stuck into him.
"You can't get rid of paperwork, even you know that," Erin felt a flutter of happiness settle in her stomach before she got up and set her folders of paperwork on a nearby table, "don't try to move too much. I'll get Catherine."
She saw him nod a bit before letting his arm rest back on the bed and she crossed the room to the door and opened it. Sticking her head out she saw Catherine coming out of another patients' room and grinned at her. "He's awake."
"Oh good," she returned the smile before bustling over to her and she stepped to the side to let the good doctor through.
Erin wisely stepped out of the room and closed it behind her as Catherine started her examination and questions. She wanted to spend more time with Markus alone, but she knew that he needed Catherine's immediate care and knew that he would be a bit uncomfortable with her in the room for an extended period of time, especially since it was right after their dinner...date.
She knew his feelings for her were conflicted and it had crushed her a bit to see him shy away from her attempt to kiss him. He still held such a torch for Meaghan that she felt like she was competing against the ghost of a woman who should have been long dead. Sometimes it wasn't fair...and she wondered if she had set her sights on a person that was so unattainable that God was mocking her. She wouldn't admit it, but Smith's words supposedly from God had scared her. It was partially the reason why she had confessed her feelings to his seemingly sleeping form that day a week ago. She didn't want to lose him; she didn't want to leave the Mountain forever. She wanted to reassure herself that she would always be loyal to him, always love him for all of his faults...
Who was she kidding...?
Her twin sister Lauren was right about one thing when they were growing up. She had always set her sights on any boy that was nearly unattainable. It was something they had teased each other about at the end of elementary school and through their middle school years until the Big Death. Lauren picked the bad boys; she picked the good, unattainable ones.
But in the week since Markus had been kidnapped and returned, she had made up her mind to bury her feelings as best as she could and instead, see him as a friend. She knew that their relationship would never be back to what it had been before her confession and dinner date, but at least she would prove to him that he could still rely on her even though he knew of her feelings. It was childish, it was like puppy love, but she would do anything to make sure Markus was happy. And if that meant that he didn't love her back, then so be it...
The door to his room opened and Catherine stepped out, taking his medical chart and scribbling something in it before looking at her. "He's going to be fine. You can go back in..."
"Thanks," she smiled before slipping back in, closing the door behind her. The first thing she noticed was that his bed was propped up and Markus was staring at her.
Erin blinked a bit in surprise before jamming her hands into her jean pockets and wandered over to the chair she had been occupying. She had never seen such a laser intensive stare from him and it had sent butterflies through her stomach, killing any of her previous thoughts to bury her feelings. "So..."
"Catherine says I have to get a sling," Markus turned his head and looked down at his heavily bandaged left arm. "Can't use the arm for a while..."
"Well, it did get infected," Erin was glad that the stare was gone and sat down in her chair, picking up the paperwork she had left off at. "When Jeremiah, Kurdy, and Smith brought you back you were running a very high fever..."
"Yeah..." he looked away from her for a few seconds, his eyes unfocused and distant. Erin wondered if it was a good thing that she had mentioned his wound had been infected.
"We're glad you're okay," she reached out a hand to touch his left, but stopped her motion abruptly. She had resolved to bury her feelings-
"Is this going to be like one of those awkward middle school moments because to tell you the truth, I skipped middle school," he suddenly spoke up and she looked at him to see a smile on his face, his eyes haunted by dark circles.
"Oh, um..." Erin could feel a blush rise to her face.
"Erin," Markus shook his head slightly before moving his left arm slightly and covered her hand with his own. "Thanks..."
Erin knew instantly that she needn't bury her feelings for him because he just accepted it as it was and didn't mind at all. She saw in his eyes that he mourned Meaghan and still loved her, but he was also moving on, slowly, but surely. Wherever he moved to, they didn't know, but he had appreciated the sentiment all the same.
They held each other's gaze for a few seconds before he moved his arm back and she finally noticed the distant pain he had in his features. "I'm sorry," she quickly apologized as she realized it had hurt for him to move his left arm.
"Don't," he shook his head before gesturing to the door, "I need to get used to it anyways. Catherine says she's weaning me off the painkillers soon. That's when I know it'll hurt like hell..." He shifted in his bed, "But it's better than getting shot in the chest..."
"And before you start bargaining with me, no, no, no," Erin realized what he was getting at and shook her head firmly.
"You didn't even hear what I was going to say!" he protested and she grinned ruefully. He sounded like a petulant child.
"I can handle the paperwork for a few more days," she reminded him, tapping her folders.
"Not that, I want to go out to Four Roads," he said and it wiped the smile off of her face.
"What?" she looked at him in shock. "Markus you can't-"
"As far as I can gather, there is still an army out there waiting for orders to attack. Now Catherine told me it's been a week since I've been captured and four days since I was returned here. From what I can gather, there's no influx of patients in here which means no one has shot each other yet at Four Roads," his voice became a bit harder, "that means either the Army of Daniel has retreated, or they're still sitting there with no orders. I'm hoping for the latter-"
"Markus, there is no way you're going out there. Lee and I-"
"Lee's only conditionally reinstated as Head of Security and you can't stop me-"
"Watch me," Erin growled angrily. She knew that Markus knew she was well trained in the art of fencing. But would she have to use her abilities to stop him, was another story and he knew that as well. "I'll get Catherine to sedate you."
"She's told me I had enough sedatives and painkillers without being addicted," he gave her an infuriatingly rueful smile. "Look, when Jacob had me..." he looked away for a second and Erin was aware at how much pain was in his closed expression before he turned back to her, his mouth a grim line. "He plans to take over and declare Daniel died in some kind of tragic way. For all I know, he's had the four days to do it. But I want to see if the Army that is sitting out there at Four Roads is willing to follow that son of a bitch."
"What if you get shot or worst captured again," she shot back.
"Did John survive with Gina?" he suddenly asked.
"Sims' second? He's still here at the base. You couldn't be possibly-"
"I need him to talk to all of the platoon leaders. And don't worry it's not going to be in a tent. I want it out in the open-"
"There are still snipers," she warned.
"This is our chance to take some of Daniel's power away, away from the men and women he's recruited into his army. I know what I'm doing," Markus looked at her, his brown eyes pleading with her to see his reasoning. Erin could see the reasoning and she did not like it one bit. However, she understood his plan.
Markus walking out to Four Roads would prove to the Army of Daniel that they hadn't won, nor hadn't accomplished anything. If at all, it would turn them against Jacob and Daniel. Based on her knowledge of the debriefing of Jeremiah, Kurdy, and Smith, it would be a very effective way to recruit and disband the Army without any bloodshed. However...
"Look," she shook her head, "I know what you're trying to do. But what if only a few of them decide to turn against Daniel? You still have a bunch of hostile forces holding machine guns."
"We let them leave," he replied.
"Just like that? I don't think they'll-"
"Or we'll just blow them up," he said in a simple voice.
"You can't be serious," Erin stared at Markus, astounded by the simple severity of his words.
"I don't want it to come to that, but," Markus looked down at his bandages, "Jacob showed me that he doesn't care one bit for life at all. He doesn't care who he has to kill or what he has to do to achieve his goal. He'll run us over even if we surrender to him. He sees the Western Alliance as a threat..."
"But that doesn't give us the right to kill-"
"Then what did we build a volunteer army for?" Markus looked at her, "I don't want to use them, but what choice do I have?"
Erin wanted to say that he had plenty, but she knew that she wouldn't want to be trampled upon if she didn't have the chance to fight. She knew he would never let his dream of the Western Alliance die without a decent fight. She realized that his capture and imprisonment under Jacob's care had hardened him...had driven the innocence fully out of him. He wasn't a sheltered man from the Mountain. He had been introduced to the pure hatred of the Outside world and he was ready to face the challenges that were ahead of him.
What had been started by Jeremiah, battered by Valhalla Sector, had been finished by Jacob and the Army of Daniel.
Erin looked at him for a few seconds before nodding, "All right...I'll let the Council, Lee, and Jeremiah know..."
"No," he replied, "just Lee. I need you here to make sure the Mountain is safe. Kurdy and Smith can drive me out there. Just tell Lee to bring John along... I'll leave tomorrow."
"Catherine's not going to like this," she looked at him and he gave a small shrug.
"I never did like the hospital..."
Markus was glad that he had managed to at least sleep a majority of the day and take down some solid food, but as he woke up early next morning and only through the promise he had extracted from Erin to wake him up, he still felt a bit dizzied and weak from lack of exercise and nutrition. He had the feeling if he had not made Erin promise to wake him up, then she would have been more content to let him sleep the whole day away.
He had gingerly cleaned himself off, taking care that his bandaged arm was not soaked in any way before dressing himself in fresh clothes before finally having Erin help him into a sling for his other arm. Lee had arrived during the time that he had been trying to fit the sling over his shoulder and took one look at him before adjust the sling upwards so that his arm was now rested at an angle and it was much higher than either he or Erin thought it was.
Lee had muttered something about having the arm higher so that blood circulation would flow properly, but Markus could tell that his former security head was not too happy to be shuttling him out of the infirmary before he thought he was well. They had walked quietly out afterwards, passing by a few guards who were mildly surprised to see him up and about, but as Markus continued towards the garage, he felt himself feeling stronger and the initial fatigue and weariness that had clung onto him when he had awakened was slowly disappearing.
Kurdy and Smith were already waiting for them in the garage, Kurdy holding onto John whose hands were bound behind him. Markus killed the urge to smirk as he saw John's expression morph into one of surprise at seeing him walk out, unaided, before he quickly killed it into a neutral one. Lee left his side then, taking custody of John and hustling him to the back of the truck where they would be riding for the duration to Four Roads.
Markus himself climbed into the front before both Kurdy and Smith got into their respective seats next to him and he held up a hand in a wave of goodbye to Erin who had come to see them off. Kurdy started up the truck and headed out of the Mountain, the dawn sky still not bright enough, but definitely glittering with stars. It was a few minutes later that Markus allowed himself to fall into a light doze, feeling the painkillers slowly wear off.
The gentle tap to his uninjured shoulder by Smith awoke Markus as he blinked open his eyes and looked to see them approaching the familiar roads that led into Millhaven. As far as he knew, Jeremiah had returned to his home in the town a few days ago, hoping to make sure that no one had shot each other while he had been gone. The man would not be happy to see him in Millhaven, but he did not really care at the moment. This was what he wanted to do.
"Thanks," he murmured to Smith as Kurdy pulled to a halt by Gina, Jeremiah's second in command. He gave her a tired smile at her shocked expression and was glad that she had survived the ambush that had taken him into Jacob's custody.
"Markus!" she squealed happily and he nodded.
"Good to see you unharmed Gina," he replied before Kurdy leaned against his window.
"Hey, can you let Jeremiah know that suicidal boy here wants to talk with John and the lieutenants and get snipers set up in the area. I don't want this thing going south again.
Markus frowned a bit at Kurdy's remark about him and was about to protest that he wasn't suicidal, just forcing the issue to make sure that Four Roads wasn't turning into a bloodbath in the near future, when he saw Gina's expression become closed as she looked in the back of their truck and saw John and Lee.
"Oh..." Gina's voice was distinctly flat before she turned back to them, "well you should know that Sims' encampment is now empty. They've taken everything up there. Dunno where they all went, but Jeremiah thinks that they may have escaped along with Jacob's forces on another Blackhawk that had come after the initial shootout with Ethan and his crew. We've placed our snipers up there, also along the ridge too..."
"Did Jeremiah say if he found anything of use up there?" Markus remembered that he had asked the man to search for any maps that may be useful.
"I don't know sir," Gina shrugged before Kurdy nodded.
"Yeah, a very useful one," the black man grinned, "while you were in Baltimore, apparently Erin said that Lee took a detachment of men out into the surrounding mountains and chased off the troops stationed there."
"Huh," Markus was puzzled as to why neither Erin nor Lee had told him of this but decided to ask them later.
"That would explain why Jeremiah's been directing the troops to various areas in the past few days. We've been just sitting here like bumps on a log for a while," Gina gave them a faint grin, "anyway, I'll let Jeremiah know. He knows you're coming, right?"
"Nope," the smile on Kurdy's face was wolfish and he had a feeling that Kurdy was going to enjoy hearing Jeremiah ream him out for leaving the Mountain while he was still injured. Markus sighed softly, his only salvation was that he could claim injury and get Jeremiah off of his back. Kurdy shifted the truck into gear once more before taking off, leaving a slightly bewildered Gina in the dust.
They arrived at Four Roads a few minutes later and Kurdy parked the truck before getting out. Markus scooted out of his seat and accepted Smith's helpful hand in getting out of the vehicle before looking around. He took a deep breath of the fresh woody air and relished it. It smelled much better than the stale city air he had been breathing in during his captivity.
Sounds of movement from the back made him turn slightly to see both Lee and Kurdy hustling John out of the back of the truck, the curious soldiers around them edging a bit closer to see what was going on.
"You okay?" Smith's quiet voice spoke up next to him and he turned slightly, a bit startled by him since he had been mostly silent throughout their trip.
"Yeah," Markus nodded, rubbing his chin, "just..."
"I wouldn't worry," Smith gave him a slight smile and Markus looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He almost didn't want to say it but...
"Message from God?" it sounded so unfamiliar coming from his own lips.
"Huh?" Smith looked startled, "Oh no, just, I think you have the confidence to do such a thing and it's pretty brave that you're doing this and all..."
And everyone said that he talked too much, Markus shook his head ruefully before squaring his shoulders and headed to where John stood, held firmly in check by Lee who looked like he wanted to do nothing more than to shoot him in the kneecaps a few times. He never really realized it, but he had always assumed Lee's protective streak stemmed from the fact that he wanted to protect Devon's secret in Valhalla Sector and his own anonymity as a spy within Valhalla.
He realized Lee was really serious about protecting the Mountain and he guessed, by extension himself. He tilted his head slightly...he had really hurt Lee when he had demoted him to conditional status in the Mountain. But then again, he could never forget or forgive at the moment, the deception the Chinese man had put him through while working for Devon and Valhalla Sector.
"Have you given thought to what I said a few days ago?" he waved Lee away as he addressed John and saw Lee back up reluctantly, one hand now gripped on his visible berretta he had taken from the armory in the Mountain. Markus did not know what happened to his own gun and combat knife, but he suspected that they were probably still in Baltimore.
"You're still alive, so what choice do I have? You'll either force me to join the Alliance or just kill me for the deception and role I played," John looked sullen, almost defiant.
"You did save Gina," Markus pointed out just as the squeal of tires over mud and the angry roar of an engine broke through the clearing and Markus knew that Jeremiah had arrived. However, he did not look to see if the man had indeed arrived instead kept himself focused on John.
"She was insurance," John muttered, looking away.
"Was she," Markus made to cross his arms skeptically when he felt a twinge of pain from his injured arm and instead, hugged his sling with his right arm, "somehow I don't think so."
John only gave him a stony look but Markus continued, "You saved her because you knew that there was no way Jacob was going to let you live after you had felt yourself swaying to his words. You knew that he had some plan for you and you took advantage of it. You expected to die by Kurdy's hands or even by the others around here. Yet, when you were kept alive all this time, unharmed, you began to suspect that we were different."
"You guys are no different," John spat, but immediately shut up when he realized he had said the exact wrong thing.
"Sounds to me he ain't liking the décor Jacob, Daniel or whoever has down there," Kurdy murmured none too loudly behind them.
"I'm offering you a second chance," Markus took advantage of the opening John had inadvertently created with his words; "I want to see all of the platoon leaders here. I want them to also know of the offer I come with."
"What's that? So you can have your snipers kill us all at once? I know you've got them around here. Well so do we," John still looked defiant, but he could see his false bravado facade crumbling little by little.
"Actually, you don't," Jeremiah sauntered up to them, rubbing his chin, "see, I just spent the last few days clearing out the surrounding hills around here. Some of your men we found, were either already dead by Jacob's troops stationed with your own, some were starving from lack of rations. If you want take a look, couple of them are boarded up in Millhaven."
Markus was quite surprised that Jeremiah had thought of the exact same thing he was going to offer John, but didn't let it show on his face. Instead, he watched out of the corner of his eye the man shrug and back off a bit. However, he caught the covert glare that Jeremiah sent his way and knew that he would have words with him later.
As he looked back at John he saw that the man's defiant look had melted into one of uncertainty before he looked back and forth between him and the others, especially the curious soldiers that had formed a loose perimeter around him, all of the surprised to hear what he was saying. A few of them had nodded to Jeremiah's statement, but more than one looked a bit surly.
"A-All right...I'll see what the others say," John nodded before Markus looked at Lee and he moved forward and unlocked bonds holding his hands back.
"Good," Markus let a ghost of a smile appear on his face, "do you want an escort? I don't exactly know how your men will react to you...."
"I...can manage," John looked a bit ill at that prospect and Markus knew what the man was thinking. He had seemingly betrayed his own troops to join with Jacob's and they had seen him taken away by the Western Alliance troops. With him returning so freely, they might be wary of a trap of sorts or even just kill him on sight. It was the linchpin in his plan so far. He was banking on the fact that the Army of Daniel didn't shoot John on sight and instead would at least listen to what he had to say. Otherwise, they would be back at square one.
Lee finished with the bonds and gave a none-too-gentle shove towards the direction of the Army of Daniel camp and John stumbled once down the hill before regaining his footing and walked towards the camp, head held high.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Lee murmured next to him.
Markus absently nodded, "So do I..."
Their answer came about an hour later and Markus had found himself sitting in the back of the truck for forty-five minutes of that hour, lightly dozing as the cool winter air ruffled a light breeze through his hair. He had missed the smell of the woods... As soon as he heard footsteps approach, he snapped open his eyes and hopped out of the back of the truck and hurried towards the lip of the hill where he saw John in the lead followed by at least a dozen or so men and women.
The Western Alliance troops that had gathered curiously before had fallen back to do their own things, but some of them had their guns trained on the group, wary. Markus didn't blame them, but he also knew that many of them probably wouldn't like what he was about to propose. That was why he held such an open forum, he wanted everyone to know what the Western Alliance was really about and what it meant.
"There are a few who did not want to hear your proposal, but, most of them were willing to hear you out," John spoke up as the small group halted before him. Markus knew that Lee, Jeremiah, Kurdy, Smith and the others were behind him, making for a very odd standoff if one could call it that.
"We were promised food," one of the dozen or so platoon leaders spoke up near John and Markus restrained himself from twitching in irritation. He reminded himself that it was part of the risk he took when he let John bring forth the idea of a proposal.
"We promise to shoot you if any of you draw a gun," Lee spoke up behind him and Markus glanced back and shot him a warning look. He did not need anyone provoking another.
"The food is conditional if you agree Miss-," he started, looking at the speaker
"Alexandra," the platoon leader said.
"Alexandra," Markus nodded before looking at the others, "what I'm offering is a chance to help others. You and your troops can help the towns around here fend from raiders and anyone else who wants to disrupt the peace. The towns can offer you food and shelter in exchange for your protection. You can all have a home."
"We've got homes already," one of the platoon leaders shouted from the back.
"Back East in the cities? All of you have homes with running water, electricity, and fresh trade and produce every day?" Markus was banking on the fact that while they were a conquering army, they were also just cannon fodder that the Army of Daniel was willing to use. Based on the information he had gotten from his own scouts and the reports the other leaders of the Western Alliance had provided for him the troops had been marching almost non stop since they had left the cities. While some of the troops had raided the homes of the towns along the way, his reports had said that they had been living in tents and had only joined the Army through either force labor or were conscripted to serve. Only the platoon leaders and a few others were part of the system that was Daniel.
"Yeah, we do," the same voice shouted back.
"Including for your own men and women?" he made it a point to look at some of the other platoon leaders who looked doubtful.
There was a slight shifting amongst the group before the young man standing next to Alexandra looked up at him. "No...not really..." Markus knew it right then and there that he wasn't speaking to all of the platoon leaders; instead, he was speaking to a mix of the real leaders and some of the troops that probably had been sent forth by the leaders who suspected treachery.
He looked at John who shrugged.
"What's your name? Where did you originally come from?" he asked the young man.
"Joe, sir," the kid looked nervous, "Wichita."
"You and your friends joined up with Daniel?"
"No, we were conscripted when Sims-"
"That's a lie!" someone tried to shove the small group from behind when Alexandra turned her head and hissed towards the voice.
"Fuck you! I was also conscripted! My brother, my sister, all of us!" she turned and glared at John, "You knew Rosalie and the others were going to send us out! You think they're just sitting behind ready to shoot us?"
"Why shouldn't we? You're traitors! All of you!" a scramble in the back before just as suddenly the small group parted enough for Markus to see a guy flat on the ground, being restrained by several others. More than one of them holding his right arm splayed out, a gun in his hand.
However, just as Lee was about to move forward, John brushed past him and ripped the gun away from the man's hand before boldly hauling him up by the back of his coat. He was immediately held by several others who looked angry, Alexandra included.
"Oh...now you've done it John. You really think Jacob would really forgive you for your-"
John's backhanded slap shut the man up before he looked straight into his eyes. "This man," he pointed straight at Markus, "is offering us a way out without any bloodshed. He's offering us a chance to leave peacefully. Do you really want to turn this valley into a bloodbath when there are so few of us left after the Big D?!"
"How do we know? He can shoot us any time he wants," the man shot back, spitting on the ground. "How do we know he's not lying like the Founders did about Daniel?"
"Simple," Markus stepped forward, ignoring Lee's tug on his jacket, "you don't." He pinned the captive man with a simple look, "All I'm offering is the chance for you to do something to help those around you who can use your help. Protect the towns here and around the Western Alliance from any raiders-"
"Or from other Army of Daniel forces," the man shot back.
"Or them," he nodded, "protect them from anyone that might harm the livelihood of the town you're in. You can join up with us, or we'll just let you go."
"Just like that?" the man looked at him curiously.
"Just like that," he said.
"You're fucking stupid, you know that?" the man laughed and shook his head, "we can just leave and go to your precious Mountain and blow it sky-fucking-high if you let us leave. We can just kill you as soon as you and your little band of misfits leave." He continued to laugh, but after a few minutes, he realized that no one else in the group was laughing with him. In fact, Markus noticed that most of the group, John included, were giving him stony looks. His laughter slowly died away. "What..."
"See, you're not going to do such a thing. And if anyone who's like you wants to do such a thing, I'll blow them up myself," Alexandra drew out a hand grenade and shoved it into the man's face, "you just lost whatever pull you had for Jacob when you started to spout your mouth off. And unlike that lying bastard Daniel who doesn't exist, Markus here, and the Western Alliance, has a rep of making good on their word."
"We fucking raided the towns that joined up!" the man's face twisted into a sneer, "that's no way of keeping a fucking promise!"
"Yeah, but if we're there to help them..." young Joe still looked scared, but his voice was stronger than before.
"You're all fucking idiots," the man struggled against his captors before John turned to him and shifted a bit.
"Give us some time. I want to ask every single person there. If you're serious about letting us go-"
"We never wanted to fight," Markus quickly replied.
"I'll take the men who don't want to stay back to one of the cities, Cincinnati probably," John shrugged and Markus narrowed his eyes.
"They'll kill you for what you're going to do," he cautioned.
John gave him a crooked smile, "I know. Luckily, I also know a few of the Resistance members in that city."
Markus knew exactly what John was saying. He did not know if the Resistance in Cincinnati would shoot him or welcome him into their arms. He was considered one of the biggest public enemies as far as the Resistance was concerned, but...there was always the hope. He wondered if he could get word to Devon to notify Alec in Baltimore to relay the message to Cincinnati. However, he also knew that he shouldn't extend that big of a trust to John, after all, the man teetered on the edge, waffling between Daniel and Jacob, and helping the Western Alliance.
"All right," he agreed, "two hours. We'll meet back here in two hours."
John and some of the others nodded before they turned around and shuffled back down into the valley, a small group still restraining the more volatile member of their group, Alexandra with a vicious smile on her face as she kept shoving her grenade into the man's face. Markus watched them leave with a slight feeling of trepidation in him. Did he do the right thing?
"Sir," a voice spoke up next to him and he turned slightly to see Joe still standing there, looking at him, no, at his sling doubtfully.
"Shouldn't you be...?" he gestured with his right hand to the group moving farther away.
He shrugged sheepishly before holding up a small bag, "Field medic. My platoon leader said I was the most expendable since we already have two medics in the unit, so..."
"Ah," he still felt angry that some of the platoon leaders had hid behind the men and women they had sent out, nothing but mere grunts that they thought would be useful to sacrifice.
"Sir, that hurts, doesn't it?" Joe kept staring at his sling and Markus shrugged.
"Not really," he lied as he had started to feel the real pulses of pain from his arm as the painkillers wore off during his conversation with the others.
"Um...I can-"
"I think I'll be the judge of that," Lee immediately stepped forward and half-stepped in front of him. He held out a hand and Joe reluctantly dropped the medical bag he carried into Lee's hand.
"Joe, why don't you go with Gina. She can get you acquainted with some of our field medics in the tents," he glanced at Gina who looked at him startled before moving forward and taking the young man under her arm and started to steer him towards the tents further away. Joe looked back once as he walked along with Gina and a happy expression appeared on his face as he realized what Markus had done for him before he started to chatter happily to Gina.
"If he gets assigned to be Gina's assistant, I'll hold you personally responsible for the migraine I will develop," Jeremiah sauntered over to them and Markus killed the urge to grin.
"You've never had any problems before," he said innocently.
"That was until I met Kurdy and then you guys," Jeremiah shook his head back fixing him with a stare, "and don't think you've weaseled your way out of this one. I save your life and now I'm seeing you out here, still half-dead. What the fuck were you thinking Markus?"
"He doesn't-"
"Shut the fuck up Lee. I don't need to hear anything from you."
Markus held up a hand to stop Lee from retorting to Jeremiah's taunts, not wanting to hear the two of them go after each other like so many times before and pinned Jeremiah with a look. "I'm nipping this battle in the bud before Jacob sends orders to wipe everyone out here in Four Roads and Millhaven."
"That's it?" Jeremiah looked at him, skeptical, "you're just coming out here on whim to make sure we're not killing each other?" He gave a sarcastic bark of laughter, "I could have done that if you wanted me to."
Markus frowned slightly. He did not want to let anyone else know what he had learned while he had been captive in Baltimore, the temptation and realization of power. How much he had gleaned from his conversation with both Jacob and his twin brother Vincent. How much of a war this was going to be. He wanted to reassure everyone that this was the only major almost-battle and there would be no more. He wanted to break Jacob's Army and the Army of Daniel the only way he knew how without firing any weapons, by words. If he could break the current Army of Daniel apart, it meant the postponement of the inevitable war for a few more months if not years, he hoped.
He wanted to protect Thunder Mountain, the Western Alliance, all of those who didn't want to be caught up in this war for a little while longer. But most of all...
Markus killed his straying thoughts as Lee spoke up next to him, an unreadable expression on his face.
"You'll never understand, Jeremiah," Lee's voice was disdainful, but not as much as when he was usually talking with the man, "people think of Markus as a symbol, the head of the Western Alliance."
"I'm not," Markus knew that was one of the things he would have to rapidly remedy in the next meeting with the other leaders of the Alliance. It was supposed to be a democracy, not a dictatorship.
"And having him out here, well, pretty much kills the Army of Daniel's morale, doesn't it?" Lee finished, a bit smug.
"I still don't like it," Jeremiah gave him a stony look, "and if you ever think of crossing Millhaven and Four Roads after I save your sorry ass without letting me know, then I'll personally bar you from coming here again."
Markus had to smile at that. "Oh really..."
Jeremiah looked defiantly at him, but even he could see the hints of a smile on the man's face, "Really." He looked at his arm, "Still, the kid was right. You could use some more food and painkillers before John and his merry band of rebels come back."
"I have two mother hens," Markus shook his head as he allowed himself to be herded to the medical tents, "No wait...four mother hens..."
Smith made a chicken clucking noise behind him as he and Kurdy fell in step behind him, all headed back towards the tents for a quick reprieve.
"...the meeting coming up in a week or so. Hey, you listening over there Markus or you out in your own world again?" Theo's obnoxious voice cut through his thoughts as he looked up from his plate to see her staring at him.
"Oh um...yeah, sure," Markus honestly had no idea what the woman was talking about, but he knew from experience that it wasn't good to space out when someone of the opposite sex was talking. Meaghan, Erin, and many of the other female personnel on the base had proven that time and time again.
"He's not listening," Theo smirked at him before she and Erin shared a laugh and Markus frowned.
"I was listening," he automatically countered.
"Oh yeah?" the wicked glint in Theo's eye was unnerving, "what was I just talking about?"
"The meeting with the rest of the Western Alliance leaders and the recruitment of Valerie, leader of the Southern Cities into the Alliance," Markus said in a simple tone before cleaning his plate up and leaned back in his chair. He saw Theo's expression turn sour and knew he had hit her conversation right on the mark. It was easy to figure her out since she was either talking about her pregnancy or the upcoming meeting like the others around the base were doing. Since he usually tuned out anything related to women and hormones during pregnancy, he picked up on the only other thing that Theo would be fascinated by.
"Easy guess," she pouted angrily into her dessert as Erin chuckled.
"Well," Markus sat forward once more and started to rise, grabbing his tray with his free arm, "if you'll excuse me ladies. The paperwork calls..."
"Markus-"
He shrugged, "I would at least like to make somewhat of a dent before the weekend and definitely before the meeting."
He saw his second-in-command shake her head as Theo looked highly disinterested in his mention of paperwork before he headed away from the table. He dumped his tray on the take-away cart and headed back upstairs to his office. Rounding the stairs, he headed down the hallway and nodded greetings to some of the night crew who had just started their shifts.
He was nearly to his door and looked to open it when instead, it opened before him and Smith stood in the doorway, surprised.
"Oh," Smith stepped back slightly.
"Smith?" Markus had not had too many interactions with the quiet, oddball man, but he wondered why he was in his office. It wasn't like him to be anywhere near there.
"Oh, hey, hold on a second," Smith suddenly turned around and headed to his desk. Markus followed him in and watched as he picked up two photographs that were lying on top of the paper pile he had left there and turn around and hand it to him.
"Here, they just finished drying half-an-hour ago," Smith looked at him, expectantly and Markus glanced down at the first photograph. It was a black and white image, a bit blurry on the edges, but the main focus was of him in the Box and talking to a little blonde-haired girl, it had to be Olivia...
His breath hitched slightly as he remembered the bitter cold, the curiosity, and the fearlessness in Olivia's eyes and posture. How kind she was to talk to him, to keep him company in that small amount of time of pain and bleakness he would've wanted to forget.
"Why..." Markus cleared his throat as his voice cracked with emotion.
"My pictures sometimes show me things, things that people don't see, things that people don't want see," Smith said quietly, his words a soothing murmur, "do you know what I saw in this one?"
"No..."
"Your true self," Smith looked at him with a simple gaze, "I don't have a message from God to you, Markus, but I think God wanted me to show you this because your message doesn't need words. It's your actions..."
Markus inhaled sharply, recognizing the words as his own thoughts. The same thoughts that had driven him to reject Jacob's tempting offer to lead Daniel's forces in wake of Daniel's untimely demise. History was not written in words, but rather defined by actions. He stared at the photograph some more before flipping to the other one and promptly froze on the spot.
"Where..." he whispered, "did you get this?"
She was like an angel, staring out at him with her soft black and white colored eyes and face. Her hair was a jet black, framed around her face and the smile was one that he had recognized ever since he had found her in the isolation/quarantine rooms in the farthest sections of Thunder Mountain. It was his Meaghan, the angel of his life and the angel of death to others... It was definitely a younger picture of her, but a picture of her nonetheless.
"Kurdy and I did some scouting a couple of days ago after the negotiations, around Phoenix area to make sure some of the troops sent there were settling in nicely," Smith hedged a bit, "some local trader from around the New Orleans area had a few negatives he was looking to sell off, but was unsuccessful. After all, who's got negatives these days? Picked it up, published some of the photos. Kurdy said that you would recognize her..."
Markus was at a loss for words as he kept staring at the picture. He finally tore his gaze away from Meaghan's beautiful black and white face to look at Smith and nodded at him. "Thank you…"
"Yeah, sure, no problem," the quiet man replied sincerely before shifting his pack and walked out of his office, leaving Markus alone with his thoughts.
He traced the outline of Meaghan's face with a finger before looking up as a thought occurred to him. He had an old frame that had been divided into two parts, and could never find another photograph he liked of his parents to fill the second part. Meaghan's photo was the perfect size and it would fit into the second slot. He rounded his office table and put the photo of himself talking with little Olivia into his desk drawer, a reminder to himself whenever he needed reassurance he supposed, before heading out of his office and towards his own room where the frame was.
For the first time since Meaghan had died, he felt he could truly start to let her go. He did not need to hold onto the image of her face because he now had one of her forever smiling at him in his hands.
~END~
Author's Notes:
So I originally wanted to add this to the end of Echoes and Shadows, but somehow it didn't quite fit since it was so heavily centric on the relationships that Markus has with the others instead of an episodic feel to it. I hope you enjoyed reading it and the next "episode" to follow this and Echoes and Shadows is Firestorm.
Author's Q&A
What spurred you to start a Jeremiah fanfic? There is so little out there and it is not a very popular fandom.
I started watching Jeremiah after I got the Season 5 DVD of Stargate SG-1. It came with the pilot episode of the series so I watched that bonus disc and was immediately hooked by the storyline and writing style. Of course, I didn't know that it had been written by one of my favorites, J. Michael Stracyznski himself, since I loved Babylon 5. It was also that I recognized so many actors in Jeremiah who starred in other TV shows, SG-1, Battlestar Galactica, etc.
Why did you write such a heavily Markus-centric story?
Because Markus is my favorite character. No, really, he is, but I realized by the end of Interregnum – Part 2, Markus would have to deal with the fallout of the Army of Daniel and all the politics that go with it. Jeremiah however, was more of a foot-soldier type of character; he only had to deal with the people who followed Daniel, like Sims, instead of the broader scope of things. This story and Shadows deals with the politics. Firestorm will deal with the inner characters.
You really gave Markus a nasty shoulder injury. What gives?
My own shoulder and a finger were very injured a few years ago, not shot thankfully, but I based some of the injuries I had and just expanded it. This was also after I had asked the doctor what I needed to do to have both injuries heal faster and figured that knowledge would be beneficial to a fanfic somewhere down the road.
Did Alec survive? Who is Valerie? Who's that girl at the end of Echoes and Shadows? Why did you make Jacob a twin to Vincent? Is Lauren really in Baltimore?
Alec's fate is mentioned in the next story. Valerie will be introduced in the next story. That girl is…a secret. Jacob is a twin to Vincent because I liked Vincent's actor (Lorne from SGA!) and wanted to make him a twin. Yes, Lauren was in Baltimore, Markus was not hallucinating.
Any other questions can be directed to me by either email or PM. Thanks for reading!