The back door glowed a bright, pale blue and then swung silently open. A few seconds later, three young Librarians and their Guardian tripped through the double-doors, all, except Cassandra, babbling excitedly and laughing. Jenkins and Flynn Carsen looked up from the Minoan labrys they had been examining to greet the returnees.
"Good trip?" asked Flynn, smiling as he hurried over to give his wife and Guardian, Eve Baird, a peck on the lips.
"Aw, it was way more than just good, mate!" Ezekiel Jones was nearly bouncing off of the walls with euphoria. "It was fan-freakin'-TASTIC!"
"The security layout was very impressive," Eve admitted as she slipped her arm around Flynn's waist. "Jones was like a kid in a candy store!"
"So you were successful in retrieving the artifact, then?" asked Jenkins. The tall Caretaker moved to his own wife's side, taking Cassandra's small hand and kissing it lightly. She smiled weakly, but said nothing, then suddenly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, even though she knew Jenkins still wasn't comfortable with open displays of affection in front of the others yet. After a few seconds she let go of him and silently handed over the Seal of Hatshepsut. Frowning slightly, Jenkins almost said something to her about her unusually subdued demeanor, but was distracted by the excited Ezekiel.
"That corporation had everything!" the thief crowed. "Homeland Security's hair would turn white if they knew a private company had those levels of security! And I beat every single one of them, in record time, for a new personal best! It was awesome! I was awesome!" He looked around and the amused faces. "I just get more and more awesome with each mission, don't I? If I stay with the Library long enough, I think I might actually reach critical mass for awesomeness! And I really hope you're all around to see it, too, 'cuz you really deserve to see something like that!""
Jacob Stone clapped the younger man on the back. "Everybody's got a dream, buddy," he said, the sarcasm in his voice completely lost on the thief.
"I know, right?" Jones said, then turned toward Cassandra. "Of course, gotta give props to my wingwoman! If she hadn't distracted that Severson bloke by making out with him...!" The Seal slipped out of the Caretaker's hand and clunked dully against the wooden tabletop. Jenkins's head whipped around to first stare at Jones in incredulity, then back to his wife.
"What?" he said, not sure he'd heard Ezekiel correctly. Baird visually tensed and glared at the oblivious Aussie.
"Jones!" Stone growled in warning, but there was no stopping Ezekiel now.
"Not that it was all that hard for her, really; that guy was a total horn-dog for her the minute he laid eyes on her. Couldn't keep his hands off her, really. I hate to admit it, but it made my job at least a little easier once they were off in the other room snogging each other. I could've totally done it without her help, of course, but…" Jenkins looked back at Jones, his face like stone.
"What do you mean, 'snogging'?" he interrupted, his voice low and demanding. The blood drained from Cassandra's face as her wide blue eyes pleaded with the thief to stop talking.
"Jones!" Jacob warned again, more urgently this time, to no avail.
"Snogging!" the Aussie said, exasperated. "You know—kissing, groping, making goo-goo eyes at each...?"
"JONES!" snapped Stone a third time. Jones turned to look at him, clueless.
"What?"
Jenkins numbly turned back to the horrified Cassandra, his dark eyes pinning her to the floor.
"Is this true?" he asked quietly. "Did you kiss another man? Let him...put his hands on you?"
"I had to," she replied in a small voice and took his hand in both of hers, her face imploring him to understand. "It was the only way to get Ezekiel into the room where the vault containing the artifact was located!"
The immortal pulled his hand from hers. He stared directly into her eyes for several interminable seconds; she saw some anger in them, but mostly hurt and dismay, and it broke her heart. Jenkins finally tore his eyes away, snatched the Seal up from the table.
"If you'll all excuse me, please—I have a great deal of work to do this afternoon." He turned and quickly strode for the hallway.
"Jenkins, wait!" called Eve after him, but he ignored her and disappeared through the doorway. She turned and glared at Jones. Jacob punched him in the arm—hard.
"OW! Hey!" the younger man squawked, rubbing his upper arm.
"Idiot!" Jake snapped. "You were supposed to keep that part quiet!" The thief shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
"Okay, so I forgot; what's the big deal?" he said irritably. "Sor-ry!" He glanced over at Cassandra and saw that she was about to cry, and suddenly the young Librarian felt a stab of remorse.
"I'm sorry, Cassandra, really," he repeated, sincerely this time.
Eve went to stand next to the redhead and laid her hand on the younger woman's arm. "You want me to go talk to him?" she asked. Cassandra shook her head.
"No. Thanks, Eve. I'll do it," she said and tried to smile. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "This is something he needs to hear from me."
She found Jenkins in the lab, rummaging through a cabinet in search of a cataloging label for their latest acquisition. Cassandra took a steadying breath and walked over to him.
"Jenkins, please let me explain..." she began determinedly.
"There's no need," he cut her off curtly, continuing his search through the cabinet. "I understand perfectly that occasionally Librarians must do some rather unsavory things in order to accomplish a mission successfully." Cassandra rolled her eyes; she loved Jenkins dearly, but sometimes he could be very exasperating.
"Sweetheart, please don't be like this," she sighed shakily, fighting back tears, her shoulders slumping. He continued searching the cabinet.
"Like what?" he asked in a distracted tone. Losing her patience, the Librarian screamed and slammed one of the cabinet doors shut, causing Jenkins the flinch and snatch his hands out of the cabinet. He turned to face her, then, and gaped into her upset face.
"All…passive-aggressive and...anger-repressed and...just...just...a general poop-head!" she shouted, waving her hands wildly in frustration. He gave her a quizzical look at the word "poop-head".
"Look, I know you're upset with me, Jenkins, I know you're angry, but you're bottling everything up inside again instead of talking about it and you know how frustrating that is to me! I had to let that creep think he had a chance with me, because Ezekiel was right—it was the only way to distract him long enough to let Ezekiel have the time he needed to get into the vault and get the Seal!" She crossed her hands over her chest and began to rub her upper arms in agitation as she spoke, her tone becoming louder and shrill.
"And I didn't enjoy it, if that's what you're afraid of, and we didn't have sex or anything like that, even though he made it clear that's what he wanted—he just...kept kissing me and...kept grabbing me and...and...I told him 'no' but he just wouldn't stop and...and...and..."
Cassandra became more and more upset as she continued to speak, her voice becoming more emotional, until by the end she was crying and unable to look Jenkins in the eyes. His dark eyes widened and he forgot the cabinet, quickly stepped over to his crying wife, throwing his arms around her and holding her close.
"Cassandra! What's wrong, my love?" he said, the words rushing from him as quickly as he could form them. "I know you did nothing wrong, I'm not angry with you! I'm just...hurt, my love, that's all, I promise! I'm not angry with you all, but something happened over there, didn't it? Won't you please tell me what it is?"
He leaned back from Cassandra and gently held her face in his hands. She continued to sob uncontrollably, her body now visibly shaking. A red flag went up in the Caretaker's mind—something was very wrong here, she was far too upset. Troubled, he looked intently into her face and opened his mouth to say something comforting; that's when he noticed her right eye.
"Come here," he ordered, at the same time leading Cassandra over to a lamp. He adjusted the light so he could see her face better, and his suspicion was confirmed: Cassandra's eye was starting to swell, it would bruise into a black eye by nightfall if left untended. Jenkins put his hands on both of his wife's shoulders and bent over so he could look at her eye to eye.
"Did Severson do this to you, Cassandra?" he demanded. The immortal's eyes were now hard and cold as ice as they bored into hers. "Tell me the truth—did he strike you?"
The Librarian had stopped crying by now, and she stared into her angry husband's face for a few seconds. He knew; it would do no good for her to lie or to whitewash things now. Cassandra nodded her head slowly.
"He...he wanted me to... Kissing wasn't enough for him, he wanted to...you know...have sex. But I said 'no'!" she said fearfully, her voice almost inaudible. "I panicked and told him I couldn't, I was married. He got mad, he thought I was just being a tease, so he hit me..."
Jenkins straightened to his full height, rage radiating out from him. Without another word he turned and left the lab. Cassandra ran after him, calling out for him to stop, but he ignored her. As soon as she realized the angry immortal was heading back to the workroom, she began to call out for the Guardian.
"Eve! Eve! Stop him, Eve! Stop Jenkins!"
Flynn, Eve and the boys all looked up from their desks around the workroom at the sound of Cassandra's voice. At the same moment Jenkins lumbered into the room like a wrathful god, making a beeline for the Back Door. Cassandra burst into the room a few steps behind him.
"Stop him, Eve!" she shouted, near panic. Baird immediately put herself in the large man's path and raised a warning hand.
"Jenkins, I don't know what..." she said. Before she could finish, however, Jenkins silently put his hands around her waist, picked her up and moved her casually to one side as easily as if she had been a floor lamp that was in his way. Her ire up now, Eve prepared to try again, this time prepared to use force if the stubborn old man refused to follow her orders. Flynn, on the other hand, knew Jenkins better than that.
"Jenkins, as the Librarian, I order you to stop!" he barked. Centuries of obedient service to the Library were too deeply ingrained in the ancient Caretaker for him to refuse a direct order from the Librarian. He halted, turned to face the others, his hands clenched so tightly into huge fists at his sides that the knuckles were white.
"What's this all about, Jenkins? What's going on? Why're you so angry?" Carsen asked. Eve and Cassandra flanked him now, Jake and Ezekiel behind them, cautiously ready in case they needed to rush the knight. Jenkins turned his flinty eyes onto Flynn.
"Severson tried to rape my wife," he said bluntly. "And when she resisted him, he struck her."
"Cassandra, is that true!?" gasped Baird, shocked, turning to stare at the redhead. Cassandra nodded mutely
"Oh, my God! Why didn't you say something?" the Guardian demanded, going over to the Librarian and putting her arms around the smaller woman. "Why didn't you yell for us or something?"
"I didn't want to jeopardize the mission," Cassandra said, her voice shaking. "It took us so long to track down the Seal, so long to get into the corporation's headquarters, to Severson's office and access to the vault—I was afraid that if I said anything, it would blow our cover, and he would just take the Seal and hide it somewhere else and then we'd never find it again! I didn't want to be the one who ruined our one sure chance at recovering it!"
While she was talking, Jenkins turned and activated the Back Door, then headed for the opening doors. Baird rushed past him and planted herself firmly between the Caretaker and the magic door. Jenkins pulled his large frame up straight, towering over the Guardian and glaring angrily down into her cool blue eyes as he tried to intimidate her. Baird had to admit to herself that, when he wanted to, Jenkins could be downright terrifying.
"And what do you think you're going to do?" she demanded, forcing confidence into her voice. Jenkins continued to stare at the tall blonde woman before him.
"I'm going to the corporate headquarters of Severson Enterprises," he explained patiently, as though speaking to a small child. "I'm going to find Severson, and then I'm going to kill him."
Aw, shit! thought Baird. She racked her brain quickly for a strategy to use against an enraged, immortal knight of the Round Table hell-bent for leather on getting vengeance.
"Jenkins, I can't let you do that, you know that," she said, voice calm but firm. "You need to let it go." Flynn came to stand next to his wife in case she needed help.
"Let it go!?" Jenkins snapped in disbelief. "That...that...animal tried to force himself on my wife, Colonel Baird, and you want me to just 'let it go'?!" He took a step forward, his face dark as a thundercloud. Flynn and Eve both took a step backward.
"Jenkins, I know you're upset, but this is not the way to handle it!" Flynn said. "We'll go to the police, we'll file charges. Let the law take care of him!" The immortal's lips twisted in disgust.
"The law!" he spat. "You know as well as I do, Mr. Carsen, that the law will do nothing! You know Severson's kind, just as well as I do—he and his vast fortune will buy him the kind of justice he wants, not the kind he deserves! Cassandra was not his first victim, and as long as he's allowed to roam freely she will not be his last! He needs to be stopped—permanently!"
Eve cast around frantically in her mind for an idea. She certainly sympathized with the Caretaker, but she would get physical with Jenkins if she had to to keep him from doing something stupid, but she didn't want to go that route if she could avoid it. Besides, if he really wanted to, an angry Jenkins could probably snap a Guardian in half like a twig. Suddenly her eyes caught Cassandra standing right behind Jenkins, her eyes full of tears, her right cheek and eye now puffing up noticeably; Eve was struck with an inspiration.
"You don't have time for this right now, Jenkins," the Guardian declared. She pointed behind him with her chin.
"Cassandra needs you right now! She's hurt and she's upset and...and...she's...scared! She needs you, Jenkins, to take care of her, she needs her husband to comfort her, to make her feel safe right now." Eve's voice became soft and maternal. She caught Cassandra's eye and gave her a look. Play along!
The Librarian gave her a tiny nod in understanding. She scrunched up her face, took a deep, silent breath, and let out an ear-splitting wail.
"Please, Jenkins, don't go!" she cried. "Please don't leave me here alone, Jenkins, please! I don't want to be alone, I need you here, with me!"
Startled, the immortal spun around, and at the sight of his crying, trembling, injured wife, all thought of revenge evaporated. He quickly took Cassandra into his arms and cuddled her close, heedless of the others as he stroked her hair and tried to comfort the overwrought Librarian.
"Shhhhh, Cassandra, it's all right," he soothed. "I'm not going anywhere, my love, I'm staying right here with you, for as long as you need me." Cassandra opened her eyes and peeped past Jenkins's shoulder at Eve questioningly. The Guardian gave her a quick thumb's up. The Librarian pulled away from her concerned husband, snuffling and blinking her tear-filled eyes.
"My head's beginning to hurt," she whimpered as she touched her bruised eye, making her voice weak and thin as she looked up into Jenkins's dark, worried eyes. "Can we go get some aspirin or something? And then I need a shower—I feel gross and I just want to scrub raw every place that Severson creep touched me!" Jenkins gently put her arm around her shoulders and began to walk her from the workroom.
"Of course, my dear," he said solicitously. "But we can do much better than aspirin! I have something in the infirmary that will fix you right up..."
Eve, Jacob and Ezekiel all sighed in relief as Flynn hurried over to shut the Back Door. As soon as it was powered down he went to give his wife a tight hug.
"Nice job, Guardian! You stopped a rampaging Caretaker without even having to lift a finger!"
"Thank God!" she said fervently, kissing Flynn's cheek. "That's one guy I'd really rather not tangle with. Let's go see how Red is and make sure Jenkins stays focused on taking good care of her, okay? And then maybe me and you can go get some dinner, two or six glasses of wine?" Flynn grinned from ear to ear at the suggestion.
"Sounds like a plan, Guardian!"
James Severson, president and CEO of Severson Enterprises, unlocked the door to his finely appointed corporate headquarters office and pushed the door open. He carelessly tossed his expensive silk suit jacket onto a chair as he flipped on the lights. He yelped loudly in surprise when he saw the large, well-dressed, white-haired man sitting comfortably on his sofa, a glass of Severson's best whiskey in his hand and apparently waiting for him.
"Who the hell are you?" he demanded. "How the hell did you get in here? Actually, you know what? Never mind, doesn't matter; I'm calling Security!" He waved his hand in dismissal at eh stranger and headed toward his large glass and chrome desk. With a speed that surprised Severson, the old man was on his feet and at the executive's side in the blink of an eye. The stranger laid his free hand over the intercom.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he rumbled, his voice like low thunder. "At least not until I've had my say." Severson shrugged.
"Fine. So have your say and then get out," he said, going over to a bar to make himself a drink. He wasn't worried about the intruder; he was big, yes, but he was still clearly an old man, and Severson was confident he could take him if he needed to. He just wished he knew what the guy's deal was. Must be somebody he got the better of in a business deal and was now sore about it, but for the life of him Severson couldn't place the man's face.
"Several weeks ago you had a young woman in this office," the old man said conversationally, casually sipping his whiskey. "Late 30's, long red hair, beautiful—her name was Cassandra." He paused, emptying his glass and setting it down as he waited for Severson to confirm the statement. The younger man took a sip of his drink as he sincerely tried to remember the woman—there were so many, after all. Suddenly, Severson placed her. The "librarian". The little bitch that promised so much but delivered absolutely nothing in the end...
"Yeah, yeah I remember her," he said, a lopsided sneer coming to his lips. "She was a hot little piece of ass, if you know what I mean!" He took a gulp of liquor. "What, are you that little slut's pimp or something? I'm not pay—Hey!"
The glass flew from his hand as the old man knocked it away. The next thing Severson knew, he was gasping for air, clawing desperately at the large hand now clamped like a steel vise around his throat and actually lifting him into the air.
"I'll thank you not to refer to my wife in those terms," the old man said with deadly calm. His dark eyes, however, flashed with hate. "I should snap your neck right now." Wife? thought Severson wildly. How'd this old fossil bag a hottie like that? She must be one of those chicks with daddy issues...
"Hey...Sorry!" Severson wheezed. "Look…I didn't know! Sorry! We can talk about this! Please! I can't breathe!" The old man lowered his head and glowered at him, ignoring Severson's pleas.
"Unfortunately, my wife has extracted a promise from me to spare your misbegotten life," the stranger continued. "She's filed a complaint with the police department against you, and she's content to let the wheels of Justice grind their way to a resolution. I, on the other hand, am not." He slipped his free hand into his coat pocket for a moment, and when he removed it, Severson saw that there was now a set of shining brass knuckles glinting on the old man's fist.
"You see, Mr. Severson, I come from a very old school of justice that demands an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a blow for a blow." The old man stared hard into Severson's wide, frightened green eyes.
"I'm very familiar with your sort, Severson; women are your playthings, here only for your use and amusement, nothing more. They're barely human to you, in fact. Fortunately, most men do not share your worldview." The old man's voice was like a razor now, the cold, calculating, pitiless expression on his face as he leaned forward was the most frightening thing James Severson had ever seen.
"I love my wife, Mr. Severson, more than anything in this world. I would gladly die for her if called upon to do so. The sound of her crying after what you did to her; the feel of her trembling in fear in my arms; the sight of her face, wet with tears and beginning to swell and bruise where you dared to hit her—it was all like a dagger to my heart!"
"Fine!" rasped Severson with a flash of defiant bravado. "You wanna hit me back, old man, go ahead! Take your best shot!" He knew he shouldn't egg on a man wearing brass knuckles, not even a very old one, but Severson was a man who simply had to have the last word in everything, who had to get the last dig in, and just couldn't resist one more jab.
"Your so-called wife—what's her name?" he gasped. "Cassandra? Yeah, you should know that your wife's nothing but a whore, otherwise she would never have come here with me alone!" He laughed crazily at the look of pure fury that filled the old man's eyes at the word 'whore'. That was the old man's weak spot, his wife, and Severson chose to wield her like a club. If he could make the old coot mad enough, he would become careless…
"Yeah, she was all like 'Give it to me, Jimmy! Give it to me hard!" he mimicked Cassandra's high-pitched voice. "My old man can't even get his up half the time! Do me Jimmy! Do me! Gimme something good to think about the next time that limp old bastard climbs on top of me!"
But Severson had no idea who he was dealing with. Without any warning, the old man struck like a cobra. He didn't touch Severson's face, though. Instead, the old man rammed his fist with all his strength into the offending man's crotch. Severson gave a half-strangled shriek as a shockwave of pain and nausea shot-gunned through his body. His attacker immediately released his hold on Severson's throat, allowing him to drop onto the floor in a twisting heap. Severson instantly curled into a ball, his hands flying to clutch his groin, but as soon as his hands touched his injured genitals, a fresh scream of pain was ripped from his bruised throat. He was vaguely aware of something warm and sticky on his hands, and raising one he was shocked to see faint smears of red. Blood. What the fuck did he do to me!? he thought, panic-stricken.
"Now, this is what is going to happen," said the old man casually as he easily dropped to one knee next to the writhing Severson. "When you are arrested for assaulting my wife, you will make a full confession, you will admit your culpability, and you will take whatever judgement the courts see fit to give you. You will not appeal your sentence. When we meet in court, you will refer to my wife as 'Mrs. Jenkins', and you will do so respectfully. You will not look at her, you will not speak to her unless she speaks to you first. You ask for her forgiveness in open court. Once in prison, you will never, ever—and I cannot emphasize this enough—speak of my wife to anyone. If you do, I will learn of it; I have a rather extensive network of informants throughout the world, including the prison system. I will be checking in with those informants regularly, and if I learn that you have been talking about my wife in any disparaging way..." The old man, Jenkins, waved a hand in the air feebly.
"Well, let's just say that many of those informants also owe me favors, and many of them are very anxious to wipe their slates clean with me. I'll just leave it at that, then, shall I?"
Jenkins stood up and pulled out a cell phone, a gigantic, vintage thing from the 1980s that was roughly the size of a brick. He hit a button, placed it to his ear and began to speak. Severson realized through his haze of pain that Jenkins had called 911 and was telling them to send the police and an ambulance. When he was finished, he jammed the clumsy device back into his pocket. He then walked over to the closet door and opened it, revealing a bright blue-white rectangle of blinding light. Jenkins turned and cast one final look at the man on the floor. The tall man smiled brightly and gave Severson a cheerful little wave in farewell, then disappeared into the light.
Jenkins emerged from the Back Door and into the Annex, then yelped in surprise as he discovered an angry Cassandra standing in front of the door, her arms tightly crossed, waiting for him.
"Where have you been!?" she demanded shortly as she glared up at him. Jenkins began fussing with his cufflinks.
"I had an appointment, to discuss some business with someone," he said evasively, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Don't give me that crap, Jenkins!" she snapped. "You went to see Severson! After I asked you to leave him alone, you went over there and you beat him up, didn't you?" The tall Caretaker put on a dismayed, offended face.
"Of course not!" he protested, his tone one of someone having been deeply wounded by such an accusation. Cassandra immediately stepped forward and stuck her hands into the pockets of his suit coat. One hand pulled out the chunky cell phone, the other pulled out the brass knuckles. She stood back and held up the items, her expression demanding an explanation.
"I only hit him once!" protested Jenkins, his bravado crumbling. "And not even in the face! And I told him that he had to confess to the police what he did to you and take his punishment! That's all!" Cassandra's eyes widened and her expression turned to one of disbelief.
"Jenkins! That's intimidation and obstruction of justice, at the very least! You can go to prison for that!" The immortal merely shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
"Wouldn't be the first time," he muttered.
"What did you say?" Cassandra barked. Jenkins held his hands up in a placating gesture.
"How is it obstructing justice to make sure that a guilty man owns up to his crimes?" he argued. "I merely wanted to make sure that Severson understood that he was not going to get away with what he did to you! I wanted to make sure he gets what's coming to him, nothing more." He shook one long index finger at Cassandra.
"I've seen it happen time and again—a guilty man gets away with his crime because he manages to scrounge up some unscrupulous lawyer who gets him off scot-free on a technicality or whatever, and I wasn't going to let that happen here! He hurt you, Cassandra, and I simply will not stand idly by while the guilty party finagles his way out of it! By all rights I should've killed him for what he did, but I didn't—I obeyed your wishes and let the loathsome creature live."
Cassandra's expression softened as she watched her husband's face take on a look of outrage and determination that she knew in her heart was born out of love for her. She dropped the phone and brass knuckles onto a table and turned back to face him, a wry half-smile on her face.
"What am I gonna do with you?" she sighed. Jenkins immediately stood straight, clasped his hands together and looked down at her with a wide-eyed, boyish look.
"Come with me to the kitchen and share a pot of tea, while basking in the knowledge that you have a husband who loves you so much that he is willing to commit felonies in the defense of your honor?" he said hopefully. Cassandra burst into laughter.
"Come on, you," she said with exaggerated resignation, and held out her hand. With a snort of triumph and breaking into a grin, Jenkins happily took her hand in his.
"Can we have some of those lovely soft lemon cookies with our tea?" he asked as they headed toward the Annex kitchen.
"I don't think you really deserve a reward," she said sarcastically. Jenkins sniffed and raised his head proudly.
"And yet again, I've put my own life on the line in defense of right and justice, only to be rebuffed and ridiculed," he sighed melodramatically. "Such is a true knight's lot in this sad, broken world!"
"You're awful!" Cassandra laughed, rolling her eyes and lightly slapping his arm. Jenkins beamed down fondly at her.
"Yes, I am," he said, bending over to kiss the top of her head. "I'm awfully in love with you."