Okay, so this is the first time I'm doing a TV show story. This is based off of the ABC show Traveler (aired Summer 07).
The plot that I'm using is the one that would have happened had the show not been canceled, as per the direction of Traveler creator-producer David DiGilio at his blog (take out the spaces and insert the '.':
http://community [dot tvguide [dot com/blog-entry/ Celebrity-Blogs/ Davids-Traveler-Blog/ Closure/800023249
I am making some minor adjustments and fleshing it out, and though it's not necessary to read the blog, I highly suggest it as it answers a lot of questions. Although it does also ruin the plot of this story, but whatever.
So this is chapter one, kind of a prologue. The other chapters are going to be longer than this.
Read, enjoy, and review!
"Go, come on, go!"
Will grabbed Tyler by the sleeve and pushed him. Tyler stared at the burning car a second longer before racing away, Will and Jay close enough he could almost feel their muscles clenching along with his.
They ran.
Tyler felt ill; his sweat was cool against his neck and back. Will passed him and turned his head to make sure Tyler and Jay were keeping up. While his head was turned, he slammed into a person who had come out of nowhere.
She went flying backwards and grunted as Will stumbled over her, avoiding falling on top of her while maintaining his breakneck speed and runner's grace. Tyler and Jay skirted her as she twisted up; Tyler glanced down at her and only saw a sheet of pale, glowing hair against dark clothing.
He ran with Will and Jay.
"Wait!"
Tyler ignored her call; he expected Jay to be the one to pause but it was Will who skidded to a stop when next she spoke.
"Stephen! Stop!"
Jay slowed, panting. "Will, come on!" He gestured back to where they'd come from, eyes wide. Tyler stopped ahead of Jay, cold from his sweat as the sirens started to wail.
"Stephen, there's a blue Hummer around the corner— my mum's— Martha's there," the girl was saying. Tyler started walking back toward Will, passing a startled Jay. "She'll get you out of here, just go, go!" Will resisted her pushing.
"What the fuck, Jo, you think I trust you?"
"Fuck you, Will," 'Jo' spat the name, "since when have I not been on your side?"
Will hesitated and the girl pushed him again. Her light hair shone in the dark and she pulled some from between her pale lips.
"Just go, you idiot, go," she cried, "Martha will get you out."
"Will, what's—"
"Come on," Will said. The girl scurried out of their way and Tyler frowned as Will started walking back to the other way.
"Will!" Jay was almost in hysterics now.
"Come on," Will repeated, urgent, walking away from them. "It's a safe way out, I promise."
Tyler followed quickly, glancing at the girl again, and finally Jay ran to catch up; by the time he did Will and Tyler had turned the corner and were climbing into a navy blue Hummer. Tyler paused, one foot in.
"You sure about this, Will?"
"Positive."
Will climbed into the passenger seat, Tyler behind him, and Jay slid in next to Tyler.
The three of them caught their breath as the car stood still, and then the driver's door opened and a forty-something blonde came in, sporting a tweed suit.
She smiled at Will, seemingly relieved, and closed the door and started the car before saying anything.
"Been having fun?"
Tyler looked at Jay with raised eyebrows. Jay shrugged. Clearly, the two knew each other, but Tyler had no idea who the woman was.
Other than that she knew what they'd been doing.
Which meant that she was either in the FBI or that she was in the Fourth Branch.
Or both.
"Not really," Will said.
The woman laughed. "Really? I'd be having a great time." She glanced at Tyler and Jay in the rearview mirror. "Introduce me to your friends."
"You know who we are," Jay snapped.
"I do, but I thought I might as well try to be nice since you're going to be seeing an awful lot of me."
"What?" For once, Will was confused. "I thought you were getting us out of the city."
"You should already know not to believe a word that comes out of her mouth," the woman said. "But yes, I am. And I'm getting you to a hideout where you can recuperate." She looked pointedly at Will's stomach. "I'm going back to Bagdad."
"Baghdad?" Tyler said, surprised.
"Not in Iraq. It's a small town in Arizona." She glanced at Will. "Your friend grew up there." Will shifted uncomfortably. "I'm Martha Brown."
"And who was that girl— she said she was your daughter?"
"It was that way for a while." They waited but she didn't elaborate.
"Who is she?"
Martha Brown raised an eyebrow. "She's Joey Silver. You've probably heard of her father— Tyler, you especially."
"You mean her dad's Frank Silver?"
"Right."
"So he's in the Fourth Branch too," Tyler said.
"Not as high up as your father. Silver's got the connections, more than you have, Tyler, but he's not so ambitious, and he's definately not as smart as your father or Freed."
"Freed's dead," Jay said.
"I know, we've been watching him."
No one said anything for a minute. Tyler rubbed the back of his neck.
Will was the first to break the silence. "How did you know which direction we were going to run?"
"Oh, just a guess Joey made. That's what she'd've done, at any rate. It's a corner, it's a less public street, yada yada." She shrugged. "That's not what I do. I do more with pretending to be other people."
"Will does it both," Tyler pointed out.
"Bad example. Will's the best recruit Freed's ever had. You guys are lucky, you know," she said to Tyler and Jay. "Most of the kids from Hometown would've just blown you up."
"How comforting."
"So how are we getting out of here?" Will said.
"You're going to sport a wig and goatee. You're going blond. Jay, could you go into the trunk and grab the duffle bag?"
Jay spun and managed to heft the bag over the back seat and up to Will, who opened it and took out a dirty-blond wig with long thin bangs.
"And there's a little goatee, too—"
"Got it." Will donned the wig and pressed the goatee to his chin. "Is it passable?"
"Just make sure all your hair is hidden."
"And what about us?"
"You two do the good old ducking routine. I'll handle any policemen."
Tyler and Jay exchanged looks but didn't protest.
It wasn't like they had a better idea.
---
Martha Brown got them out of Manhattan with Will's disguise.
They passed out over one of the bridges without difficulty; clearly, Brown knew the policeman letting people through, for she only smiled at him, made some small talk, and passed him an envelope before driving through.
Tyler and Jay crouched until they'd crossed the entire bridge and were on the highway out of the city.
While Tyler and Jay resettled themselves in their seats, Will asked Brown about the envelope.
"Oh, I know him. That was a card for his anniversary."
"Really."
"Yes, Will. He's a regular cop; I've known him since before I went to Bagdad. He caught me speeding when I was going to the hospital to see my father. He's been watching that bridge since the bombing."
"Oh." Will glanced at Jay and Tyler in the rearview mirror. "How do I look?"
"Like a woman."
"Thanks, Tyler."
"It's not that bad." Jay sounded less sure of himself than usual and Will laughed. He took off the wig and ripped the goatee off like a badly placed bandage. "So who are you, exactly?"
Brown frowned. "I'm from Hometown. The Fourth Branch got me out of jail and I pretended to be Joey Silver's mother for a year. They put me in hometown to find corruption in companies; Frank taught me about business and I get embezzlers." She shrugged. "It's nothing spectacular."
"And you're still doing this?"
"Oh, no, not anymore. I'm going back to Bagdad to hide until all this is over."
"They're going to look in Bagdad first."
"Oh, well, I'm not hiding in Bagdad proper. And I've been missing to them since before the bombing."
"Before the bombing?"
"Joey called me, she said she saw you three going in. Hometown had her watch the place, they said they'd heard there'd be an attack on it." Will snorted. "She tied it together when she saw you with them two."
"Just like that?"
"Joey's not smart, per say, but she knows what's happening. No way Hometown would send their best soldier into a building that's liable to blow up if they didn't have something to do with it."
Tyler crossed his arms. "I dunno about that."
"These are abnormal circumstances for them," Brown said, "they don't usually act so brash. I don't know who came up with this whole plot. Something at least was bound to go wrong. Even if you didn't do anything wrong, Will."
Will snorted. "I don't know about that."
"You wouldn't, would you. Got no idea what failure means."
"I've got a bit of an idea," he snapped.
Tyler was groggy. "Where are we going?"
"My father's house. In Newark. Feel free to take a nap or something, you must be exhausted."
Tyler rubbed the heel of his palm against his forehead.
"Thanks," he said.
"Just doing my job."
"Really?" Will's voice was distant, sarcastic.
"Protecting my country for the terrorists."
Tyler fell asleep against the tinted window to Will's snorting laughs and Jay's light breathing.