Backup Plan Hero
Summary: It is not a good bye if you don't say it. OneShot- Kiera, Carlos. Carlos has the feeling that she is walking away from him once again, and this time she is not coming back. Based on s03ep12.
Warning: OneShot. Fractured. Spoilers. Also, a major warning for angst. And character death.
Set: Post-ep to season 3 episode 12 – The Dying Minutes. Taking the fifth exit into a sharp turn towards AU-land. Well, at least I hope it remains AU.
Disclaimer: Standards apply.
A/N: Summer break. Does anyone know when the fourth season will be aired? That aside, the dialogue in part iii. has been recreated from my memory and probably does not coincide with the actual dialogue. I do hope, though, that intention and message remained the same.
i.
He is her backup plan, as usual.
Kiera disappears with one last glance at him and Carlos sighs and knows she is off on one of her part-time adventures, The Dangerous Duties of the Great Protector, that do not require the assistance of the boring, normal sidekick that he is. And that he is left with picking up the rest of the pieces in order to save the day: namely, Carlos has been tasked with the shit that comes with being The Cavalry.
A few years ago, what he is about to do would have made him laugh out loud: no way something that ridiculous could actually be true. But here he is, on the passenger's seat of his bosses' car, and he is talkingtalkingtalking while carefully digging his left arm into Dillon's briefcase. Years ago, he would have sneered at the mere notion that a group of faceless men (men and women, he corrects himself) were on his heels, following the signal that came from a device that could carry human beings through time. Yeah, right. But he has seen what Kiera can do. He has seen what has happened to her, he has seen her dead and alive, at the same time. And if there is something he knows it is that she needs his help, and that her story is true.
"Yeah, right," he says, praying that Dillon has not seen his arm from the corner of his eyes, thinking that Kiera owes him one hell of a lot and an explanation.
And that he would do everything over and over again if she asked him to.
ii.
"So you that's the thing?"
Brad was watching her from where he sat on the ground, his back leaning against the old, battered sofa that was one of the better-looking pieces of furniture in the cabin. Kiera, on her stomach on the bed, had the parts of the machine spread out on the blanket before her and was looking at them as if staring would make it come to life.
"Yeah. You need a huge power source, too, but that's mainly it."
They had been over why she came back, and how, and the same for him. They were two strangers thrown together from completely different backgrounds, with completely different circumstances. But they had the same goal. Maybe that was what united them, made her feel that she could trust him, despite the fact that he had killed her already once. Kiera trusted her instincts: her instincts told her that Brad was being honest. That she could trust him. You're family. You're safe.
"Energy, huh?" Brad let his head fall back. Darkness was slipping across the room like a spider web, falling into the corners first and expanding but carefully avoiding the small lamp next to the sofa. "When we tested the machine that brought me here, four fifths of the city's power grid went down. Of course, people are pretty much used to blackouts. They probably never expected it to be for something like this." He smoothed his hands over the worn material of the couch. "I wonder what happened when they sent me back. How did you get a hold of it this time?"
"Alex must have asked Dillon to bring it to him." Kiera did not want to think of it. The day she left: the blinding light, the disorientation. Waking in the darkness, in an unfamiliar place, cut off of the Protector's information network, her CMR detecting no familiar signatures anywhere. A voice in her head. This is an experimental encrypted channel. How can you be talking to me? She shook off the memories. "Carlos got it back."
"Carlos." Brad's voice sounded musing. "I never got to meet him. He's been your partner for the past two years?"
"Yes." Kiera tried to remember the feeling of Sam's hands in hers, so small and familiar. The memory of thesoft touch was slipping away more and more, day by day.
"And he knows about you?"
"Yes."
"Must be one tough guy." Brad shook his head. "Imagine living in this world, and then try believing someone who tells you he's from your future…"
"Oh, Carlos had his difficulties, believe me."
"But he still worked with you." The soldier from a future as broken as hers and yet not the same sounded genuinely respectful. "I would like to get to know him better. Someday. Maybe."
"Yeah," Kiera said. "Yeah. Maybe."
She had seen the future, but it seemed a concept more and more impossible with every day.
iii.
"Are you prepared for this?"
Kiera had intercepted him the moment she saw him entering the precinct. She looked harried – she'd just left the interrogation room where Carlos had placed Sonya Valentine a few hours ago, and he suspected Dillon was still inside. There was a look of fierce worry on her face – for his sake, for him, Carlos – and the fact that tough, strong Kiera Cameron would worry for him made him a tiny bit happy.
It probably should worry him, too, but Carlos is far past worrying at this point.
"This will come back to you, you know that."
"I know." Carlos had been in contact with different officials and superiors for the past four hours. He had been questioned back and forth – what had he seen, how had he reacted, what had he done – and why, of course – and felt like the one thing he needed right now was a good, hot shower and a few hours to puzzle out the whole thing. Why had the de-facto leader of Liber8 given herself up just like that? After successfully breaking into her arch-enemy's headquarters to deposit who-knew-what? It was a conundrum. She had to have plans. What had she done in the Pyron building? Carlos' cop-sense wasn't just tingling by now. It was on a full-scale, nationwide alarm.
He handed Kiera the time device, instead. "Here. Dillon had it in his briefcase."
She accepted it with something like gratitude in her eyes. Two years and he probably still couldn't read a fraction of the nuances on her face, but he knew her pretty well by now.
"I have to get going." He knew her. That was why he sensed the poorly concealed regret in her tone. Both of them knew what was going to happen.
"You got him?" Him: the boy. Him: the soldier from the future.
"Yeah."
"Good."
"See you, Carlos." Her finger tips brushed his hand as she walked past him, her jacket already in her hand. One last glance, and she was gone. And suddenly Carlos had the feeling that she was walking away from him once again. And that, this time, she wasn't coming back.
iv.
"I'm going in." –"I have your back."
She wakes up from a dream that slips away the second she surfaces from it. Still, the feelings cling to her like quicksand, draw her in and pull her under and threaten to suffocate her. So real, so clear – and the sense of loss is so profound she cannot breathe.
Careful, not wanting to wake her sleeping companion on the sofa, she untangles herself from the twisted sheets and slips across the cold, rough wooden floor to the small kitchenette. The water that runs from the tap is cold and tastes faintly like forest, like stones and leaves and life. Different from the water in the city. Different from the poor liquid that came from the Liquidis in 2067. The moon is bright and full outside, shining through the small, un-curtained window: she can see almost everything clearly. A sheen of frost covers the grass. She wants to be outside, not stuck in this cabin, however nice it is. She wants to be alone, not with Brad in the same room, however comfortable his presence is. Kiera lifts her hands, drops them again and wraps her arms around herself: she wants many things right now, and most of those things she'll never have.
A star falls from the sky, at the corner of her eyes, so clear she sees it but cannot believe it really is one.
Carlos told her, once. During a night surveillance when the sky was full of stars and they were sitting in silence, Carlos told her-
Kiera isn't sure she will ever be going back. She isn't sure she will ever see him again, speak to him again. She isn't sure he'll survive this encounter, this thing that is about to come. It is like watching a train wreck: she knows something is coming but she cannot stop it, she knows something terrible will happen but she cannot look away. The Freelancers, Alec, HALO, Travis. The world always dies with a boom, never with just a sigh.
And she hasn't even said good bye.
v.
"Do you have a backup plan?"
"No! I thought you had one!"
Carlos stared. The world was falling apart, and Kiera and her John Doe were squabbling.
"You always have one! Why not today-"
"I told you, we had to act quickly, there was no time-"
And time is exactly what they don't have here, either.
"But you said-"
"Stop arguing and do something about those guys, you're supposed to be trained for this, aren't you a Protector-"
But they were complimenting each other, working well hand-in-hand. There was no denying it. Still. There was no way out, even Carlos could see that. He also saw the only way they might be able to…
"Stop arguing like a married couple, dammit!"
For a second, both threw him glances that were pure poison. Carlos would have laughed, had he had the breath for it. That thing was heavy, dammit.
"You get going and finish what you were supposed to do! Leave this to me! I have a plan!"
"You do?" John Doe – and Carlos really had to stop calling him that – threw him a look and saw what he was holding. His face changed from suspicion to realization to doubt to understanding. He eyed their surroundings and seemed to fight with himself, and then resignation made his shoulders drop. "That could actually work."
"What could actually work-" Kiera turned around, breathing hard, and glanced at them confusedly. "I don't-"
Then she, too, saw what he was holding. Saw the wound in his side, the way his arm trembled under the weight. Realization painted panic into her face, terror so profound Carlos thought his heart would stop.
"No. Absolutely no."
"It's the only way," he ground out, trying to hold on to the thing and, at the same time, trying to ignore the pain from the bullet wound in his side. "You know that, Kiera."
"NO. I am not leaving you here. End of discussion."
Voices at the end of the tunnels, flashlights in the dark, and all three of them froze. They barely breathed. Seconds passed, minutes, hours – and the lights wandered past the tunnel they were hiding in. But all of them knew that they would be found, and found soon. There were only so many places they could have disappeared to, after all. Carlos and John – Brad – traded a look.
Carlos licked his lips and let himself drop against the wall, feeling his legs give. "Take her."
"No!" Kiera shook off Brad's hand on her arm and supported him, knelt down next to him as he slumped to the wet ground with a wince. The impact reverberated through his entire body. "Carlos, I'm not – don't look at me like that! I won't leave you here!"
"There's something you have to do," he said and coughed. Ah, how he detested the taste of blood.
"No." Kiera shook her head, denial clear on her face, her hands frantically trying to stop the flow of blood that trickled from his open wound. Even in the dim light he could see the sheen of tears in her eyes. "No."
"I told you I'd always have your back," he told her gently. "Let me do this. You have to save your Alec."
Her hair tickled his face as she hugged him, wrapped her arms around his chest and pressed herself against him. On any other day he'd reveled in the feeling of her so close to him. Now he barely managed to lift his left arm – the other was still holding the thing – and hugged her back weakly.
"How comes you always are the one that gets shot?" She choked, her lips close to his ear.
"That's…" He took a deep breath, felt the rattling in his lungs. Not much longer. "That's because you have a suit that makes you invincible, you know. You're the heroine in this."
Kiera laughed, choked, and drew back, quickly wiping her hand over her eyes. His blood wasn't visible on the dark material of her suit and he was glad for it.
"I'm not a heroine," she said. "If anyone's a hero, it's you."
"Bullshit." He grinned. "And now go, okay, before I drop this thing."
Brad put his hand on Kiera's shoulder. "We need to go."
Kiera's eyes never left Carlos'. "I'm coming back for you."
"I know you will." He smiled at the conviction in her voice. Kiera Cameron never broke her promises, did she? "Go. I have your back."
Over her shoulder, he met Brad's eyes. Carlos narrowed his eyes fractionally, and Brad's lips tightened. He nodded imperceptibly.
"See you, bro."
Following Brad, Kiera's eyes never left his until she disappeared behind the next intersection. Wait for me, she mouthed, her eyes daring him to do anything else than wait. Carlos smiled at her, as reassuringly as he managed in his state, and, when she finally disappeared in the darkness, let his head drop, exhausted. That was it, huh. Even Finnegroes reached the end of their strength one day. He could just hope Kiera and Brad would make it, and find what they had hoped they would find. Maybe, maybe, there still was a way to fix this. Carlos sincerely hoped it. But his part was done. There only was one last thing for him to do...
In the distance the flash lights appeared again, coupled with the sound of footsteps on slick, muddy ground.
Carlos' side was pounding. His vision began to swim and his breath was coming in short, hard pants. It felt like there was pressure on his chest that hindered his lungs from expanding completely, a pressure that did not allow him to breathe-
The footsteps entered the corridor, echoing eerily. Two – no, three people. Flashlights danced, settled onto his feet, wandered up into his face and blinded him. Carlos grinned.
"Hello there."
This wasn't so bad, actually. He was going down in a blaze of glory, saving the people that were able to actually save mankind. Saving the person he had sworn to protect. Maybe, in the grand scheme of things, Carlos hadn't been much compared to Kiera. He didn't have her experience, her tech or even a fraction of her knowledge. He didn't have Brad's strength and training. Carlos just had his own experience, his own trained strength and his own convictions. And all these things had made him falter and had made him weak, but it also had made him human. He had done what he believed in, he had fought for what he thought right, and he had protected what he – had protected Kiera – and Kiera would protect the world. They hadn't had a backup plan when they had come here, always had known it was this or nothing. Now he was their backup plan. He could give them the precious time needed to get the thing done…
A smile ran over his face. For once, he really was the hero.
"I have a gift for you."
It was the last thing he said. The last thing he heard as he dropped the thing were three exclamations of surprise turning to terror. The last thing he felt was an explosion of coldness, right next to him, icy like the coldest lake in winter, colder than anything nature could produce. The last thing he smelled was the scent that had lingered in Kiera's hair, her shampoo and ashes and blood and something uniquely her. The last thing he saw was Kiera's face, swimming in the darkness in front of his eyes.
I'm coming back for you.
It wasn't a good bye if you didn't say it, was it?
And then: nothing.