Jeremiah: Echoes and 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: Immediately after "Interregnum – Part 2"
Story:
Part 1 – Kidnapped
The quiet stillness of the misty cool fall air was broken by the occasional chirping of a robin, hunting for worms. Rows of green military tents lined the valley and open fields as most of the soldiers housed in there were still asleep. Beyond them were the black-grey tents of the Army of Daniel, having set up camp in the valley of Four Roads where an epic battle was supposed to take place at least twenty-four hours ago.
Twenty-four hours ago the cusp of battle had been halted with the knowledge that spread like wildfire through the Army of Daniel. Daniel may not have existed...and it had completely demoralized and confused the troops to the point of wondering what they were truly fighting for. For one person, he could understand how the people thought, to have a belief in that was suddenly ripped away. It either left people in complete denial or it left them completely disillusioned with the world. On the rare occasion, it left people with a renewed sense of purpose, but what that purpose was, was determined by each man, woman, and child.
Jeremiah knew that all too well, having believed in the good his father was doing, in the faith of finding Valhalla Sector, only to find his dreams and illusions shattered when he had been captured. The promise to protect his younger brother Michael, he had failed to keep and his attempt at redemption only to see almost everything he cared about ripped violently away from him. But he knew that he had never wavered in his beliefs. He had raged, he had grieved, he had done everything to try to make his own life and those around him in hell, but yet, he had felt his sense of purpose and his morals never waver.
Only time would tell whether the men and women of the Army of Daniel would go one way or the other.
He sipped on a piping hot mug of coffee, wishing that the caffeinated beverage would at least wake him up, but lately, there seemed to be no effect. Not since... He ruthlessly quashed any thought of Libby's death from his mind. It still hurt too much to think of her, even though he got his revenge by killing Sims. Even being next to Mister Smith still opened the gaping wound in his heart, but it wasn't as bad as thinking of her. Everything he did reminded him of her, from the coffee in his hands to just staring out into the black-grey tents of the Army of Daniel.
In the twenty-four hours since the Army of Daniel had called for a cease fire, there had been little headway and progress in negotiations. It was partially because Sims' lieutenant, John wanted to wait to talk to Markus who would be arriving in a few hours. Jeremiah knew that after having his faith in Daniel shattered and told it was a lie by the Founder who accompanied the army here; John wanted to see a tangible leader.
But he wasn't stupid to know that there may be some dissent within the ranks and thus made sure his men were placed in strategic areas around the Army. Markus himself was arriving with a diverted convoy, three groups of the same marked vehicles, a tactic they had used when they were smuggling Dr. Frederick Monash out of the borderlands between the Western Alliance and Daniel's territory.
Jeremiah knew that even if he had tried to dissuade Markus from coming out to negotiate, he knew that this cease fire was so important that the main players had to meet face to face. Kurdy had been talking about an 'interregnum' and even Mister Smith had murmured that God was holding his breath, the scales of peace that could go one way or the other.
Kurdy also knew the significance and importance of the meeting and had sent scouts into the mountains during the night to make sure no enterprising sniper from the Army of Daniel would be able to take potshots at Markus or anyone else coming from Thunder Mountain. The scouts were supposed to report in to him, Kurdy, and Gina every hour with status updates and if no scout reported in at the appointed time, then they were to scrap the whole operation and pull the army back to Millhaven.
When they had talked the plan over with Markus and Erin, they hadn't expected Lee Chen to chime in on the plan and were quite surprised to hear the man reinstated as the Head of Security for Thunder Mountain. They had also heard of the group of soldiers that had infiltrated the Mountain to sabotage and kill everyone within when the appointed time came, but luckily had been thwarted by Lee himself.
"You look like you swallowed a lemon, what, coffee too strong for you?" the sharply sarcastic, yet bubbly voice of Gina, his liaison and aide for the Western Alliance military, startled him out of his thoughts.
"'Nah," Jeremiah took another sip of the coffee, "just thinking..." He gestured with his mug to the black-grey tents in the valley, "I don't trust these guys..."
"I don't either and it is as far as I can throw them, which is not too far," she amended with a crooked grin, "but hey, if they want to talk, let them. They do anything funny, we'll be all over them."
"Scouts?"
"Everything's normal, sir," Gina shrugged, "it really looks like some of them are in disbelief, but they're willing to listen."
"It's the how long part that worries me," Jeremiah grimaced inwardly. A shattered faith was usually not a good sign. People listened, but after a while, they closed their ears to everything that was said. He had no illusions that some people in the Army of Daniel were fanatical about what the man was saying, not Sims-like fanatical, but more like puritanical fanatical.
They stood in silence for a few minutes, the sounds of the rest of camp waking up slowly filling the air. He glanced behind him, "Where's Kurdy and Smith?"
"Kurdy said he was going with a small team to make sure the convoys aren't ambushed. Smith says he was going somewhere...I dunno where..."
Jeremiah knew that it was best to leave Smith alone whenever he was going somewhere; the man knew how to call for help if he needed it. Plus he was in no mood to be near Smith for the moment...he still hadn't forgiven him for killing Libby. "All right, let me know the second Markus arrives," he turned and started to head off to the truck to the short drive to Millhaven.
"Where are you going?" Gina called after him.
"To clean up my house!"
Markus Alexander disliked sitting in the back of a truck, especially if all of the drapes were hanging down and there was little to no light. He didn't hate it, knowing that sometimes the back was the safest place in an ambush situation, but he at least wanted to see the sunlight. He had gotten into the truck just a couple of hours ago, right when the early rays of dawn were peeking from the edges of the mountains, and thus didn't have a chance to greet the chilly rays of the fall sunlight.
It also didn't help that in the dark, he felt more vulnerable, but he would never voice that worry to anyone. He let out a soft sigh and raked his hand through his hair. Yesterday they had almost been ambushed had it not been for Lee's quick thinking and actions. Yesterday he learned that Erin, the person he most trusted on the base after Meaghan, had been holding a torch for him for fifteen long years. Yesterday, he learned that the peace he had sought was tangible and waiting for him. Yesterday...he knew that everything had changed in some shape or form, all because of one truth: Daniel did not exist.
Erin had wanted to come with him, but Markus told her that she was needed at the Mountain just in case things went south. It was partially because he still did not fully trust Lee, and partially because he needed some time to be away from her after her confession. He had to admit, their dinner...date as it was, was quite nice and romantic, even the dance was pleasant, but he needed some time away to sort out his feelings for her. He didn't know if he loved her, but he knew that he trusted her and depended on her as his second-in-command. When Lee had interrupted their almost-kiss at the end of the dance, a part of him had felt relieved.
He didn't know why, but had caught the hurt look on Erin's face as they pulled apart. He just didn't know how to handle the situation...and definitely knew that he still felt something for Meaghan, even though she had been gone for over six months now. When he had confessed to Smith, Jeremiah, and Kurdy about letting go of Meaghan, he had thought that was the end of that. Truth be told...Erin's confession had reignited the feelings he had longed to bury.
Markus picked at the corner of the flap to the front of the truck and peered out. He recognized the surrounding woods as to be near Millhaven-Four Roads area and knew that they were going to arrive soon. He let the flap drop and reached down to his right leg where a berretta sat snug in its holster. Tapping it lightly to make sure it was still attached and the safety was on, he allowed himself a brief grim smile. He normally didn't like to wield any weapons, but even he wasn't as naïve or stupid as some had thought him to be when it came to the Outside world.
It was still an army they were dealing with, no matter what it looked like from the other side. For all he knew, this could be a trap to lure him and the others of the command staff from Thunder Mountain so they could destroy the base or even capture them. That was also one of the reasons why he left both Erin and Lee back at the base. He knew he was the main target that the Army of Daniel wanted to go after, him and Jeremiah, but even if they were captured, imprisoned or even killed, the Western Alliance would still continue.
It was as simple as Theo had said months ago. They were following an ideal, not the man behind the ideal. However, that wasn't the case for the Army of Daniel or its followers. This was the result when a lie spread like wildfire about one central person within the nation. It was as simple as Carl had said when he escaped from the City, the place formerly known as Boston.
Suddenly he felt the truck slow to a stop and the slamming of doors before the back of the truck's canvas was unzipped, letting in the rays of cloudy sunlight. Markus squinted for a second, letting his eyes adjust before he nodded a greeting to his driver and saw the other two trucks within the small convoy pulling up behind them. Good, none of them were harmed, which meant at least they didn't get ambushed by any of Daniel's men.
Markus got out of the truck and was immediately greeted by Gina, one of Kurdy's first recruits posted to Millhaven and thus was in charge of stationing the rest of the recruits that came from Thunder Mountain.
"Good to see you Markus, Kurdy is patrolling the area, making sure the other convoys come in without being attacked and Jeremiah is holed up in his house, cleaning," her bubbly, yet slightly sarcastic remarks almost made a hint of a smile appear on his face as he nodded.
"Status on John and the other leaders of the Army of Daniel?"
"Haven't called over yet, but they could be still waking up," she followed behind him as he made his way to Jeremiah's house and climbed up the stairs.
"All right, let me know as soon as you get word that they're ready to begin negotiations. If you can, get Kurdy on the radio and tell him that after he sees the convoys into town take his team and head to where Sims was last seen. And where is Mister Smith?"
"I don't know, sir, but he did say he was going somewhere, probably not to kill anyone this time," Gina shrugged.
Markus didn't reply as he had heard the details from Kurdy when they had chatted over the radio last night. Apparently guilt had overcome Smith and he had figured to rectify the situation by attempting to head out on his own and assassinate Sims. No one knew where the man had gone until he had shown up a bit beaten, but otherwise, looking hale and healthy. If Smith said he needed to go somewhere, he had long learned to let the man do whatever he wanted. Smith was an oddball, but somehow a somewhat trustworthy oddball.
"Sir, should I send a patrol out to look for him?" Gina spoke up and he shook his head.
"No...we'll let him be for now," he pursed his lips for a second before nodding mostly to himself as he heard Gina jogging down the stairs to relay his orders. Glancing at the door, he rapped it loudly.
"Hold on, hold on," came the muffled reply from Jeremiah somewhere in the house before a few seconds later the clicks of locks unlocking was heard and the door was thrown open with a slightly irritated Jeremiah staring at him.
Markus tried and failed to keep the crooked smile off of his face as he saw that the man was covered in at least patches of dust balls and was wearing a bandana over his mouth.
"Yeah, keep laughing," Jeremiah muttered as he pulled the bandana off and stuffed it in his pocket. "You're here early."
"Jumping the gun, in case...you know," Markus shrugged, "uh...can I come in?"
"Oh yeah, sure, sorry," Jeremiah moved to the side to let him in before closing the door behind him.
Markus picked his way through the upturned furniture and debris on the floor to the dining room where thankfully, nothing looked like it had been thrown around and sat down in one of the chairs. He accepted the mug of tea from Jeremiah and took a sip of it, feeling the light caffeine wake him up a bit from his long ride.
"You know I still think you should have stayed in the Mountain, I mean after we secured the area and got the Army to back off a bit more," the lanky man looked a bit annoyed.
"If we don't move quickly then we may lose our chance to negotiate with one of the Founders. Plus at this point, the Army of Daniel is confused and less liable to rally around and shoot us all," he replied.
"Or more liable to shoot you since you just basically told them that their leader is nothing but a lying son of a bitch and doesn't exist."
"No, that was you," Markus stared at him with a pointed look.
"Hmm...yeah, I guess you're right," Jeremiah had a somewhat self-satisfied look on his face, "but you started it."
"Did John and the Founder agree to our conditions?" Markus drew the conversation back to a more serious tone and took another sip of the hot tea.
"Yeah, took a little convincing, but I told them that we've set up snipers all around the valley area and said that we have RPGs ready to fire on them if they make the slightest twitch we don't like," Jeremiah looked unfazed, "I had Gina take a small team up while we were talking about this and snipe an area near them to prove my point."
Markus resisted the urge to shake his head in exasperation as he felt his blood pressure rise just a hair. There were times he knew Jeremiah was brilliant and yet, times like these, he was so...foolhardy. "Its stunts like this that can start a war," he muttered mostly to himself.
"You don't like it, then you should have stayed in the Mountain and waited until things cooled down," the other man shot back.
Markus forced himself to keep his cool, knowing that whenever he talked to Jeremiah, it was always a battle of words and he needed his wits about him for the upcoming negotiations. "I need you to do something while I'm talking to John and the Founder."
"Wait, I should be there with you when you talk to them. I mean if they did set it up as an ambush-"
"Gina and her team will be sufficient enough," he interrupted him, "I need you to sneak into the main tent where Sims, John, and the Founder had been staying in."
"There'll be guards," Jeremiah muttered, "and I still think the Founder is staying in there."
"Which is why I need you in there," Markus could not stress the importance of the covert mission he wanted Jeremiah to undertake. He knew that by getting rid of Sims, it was one less obstacle that they had to worry about, but like the mythology of the hydra, there was the potential of having more than one Sims-like character ready and willing to take over Army of Daniel at a moment's notice. He wanted to be sure that they had an advantage in case things went south with his negotiations.
"What do you want me to look for?" Jeremiah finally realized his tone and looked at him, eyes dark.
"Maps, a journal, anything that could give us an advantage in case there are more of Daniel's Armies around the area that we don't know about. The convoy may not have been ambushed, but I have a feeling that Sims may have sent out a wing of his army to storm Thunder Mountain," Markus would not reveal that the information had come from Lee who had questioned one of the infiltrators. It was also one of the primary reasons why he had left in such shadows and had told Erin and Lee to lock up behind him.
"Why the secrecy? I thought we were here to negotiate-"
"We are," Markus cut him off, "but you know as well as I do that a hydra's body with its head cut off isn't going to grow a new one so fast."
"Oh no, not this hydra bullshit…you sound just like Kurdy," Jeremiah groaned before draining his mug of coffee.
Markus had to smile crookedly at the statement before taking another sip from his mug. "Can you do it?"
"Yeah…I'll think of something," Jeremiah stopped tilting his seat back and it lurched forward with a quiet thump, "I still think you should bring more people instead of just having Gina and her team cover you. I mean, what if you get shot?"
He grimaced at the phantom echo of pain from the chest wound he had received in Danbury almost a year ago and shook his head. "I'm only a man, Jeremiah. It's like Theo said, the Western Alliance follows an ideal, not the man behind the ideal. If I…die…" he trailed off for a second, knowing how close he had come to death so many times since he had met Jeremiah and Kurdy but resolved to push forward. He knew that the risks he was taking would eventually get him killed. "If I die," he gave the lanky man a hard stare, "then you and the others can continue without me. The Western Alliance can forge peace in this world even if I'm not there. You, Erin, Kurdy, hell even Lee, you guys know what's at stake and if one man falls to save the lives of others, then that's fine."
"You're a fucking fatalist, you know that?" Jeremiah half sneered at him and Markus shrugged.
"No, just a realist," he glibly replied before downing the rest of his mug and handed it back to his friend, "thanks for the tea."
"Yeah, no shit," Jeremiah still sounded sullen, but instead got up and put it in the kitchen sink. Markus too got up and stretched, feeling a bit more awake than he had before and headed towards the door, joined by his friend and when he opened it, Gina was waiting for him outside along with three other volunteer soldiers who grinned their good mornings at him.
"Ready?" Gina still sounded perky but Markus caught an undertone of excitement and worry in her voice and he nodded before glancing at Jeremiah.
"Be seeing you," he mock saluted him with two fingers before heading down the steps, Gina and the three others flanking him as people in the road made room for him to pass. He let out a quick breath and steeled himself for what was to come…he knew he would need his wits about him when he faced John, the Founder, and the rest of the Army of Daniel.
Jeremiah immediately threw down the bandana cloth he had stuffed in his pocket and grabbed his jacket, gun, and combat knife before placing the two weapons in their respective holsters, well, his combat knife in the side of his boot. Seeing the urgency in Markus' face when he gave him his mission he knew that he may have all the time in the world to find the necessary information in the tent or he may only have just a few minutes if things went south.
He hurried out of the half-cleaned house and to his truck. Grabbing the radio in the truck he tuned it to Kurdy's frequency, "Kurdy, you there?"
There was a slight pause before Kurdy's voice came back with a slight fizzle and pop, "Yeah, what's up?"
"You got men stationed near Sims' tent?" he asked. He had half of a plan forming, but if Kurdy did have men from the convoys up near the area then it would be advantageous for him.
"Yeah, Charlie-Two-Two-Niner. Ethan is leading them. Rest of the convoys are returning either back to the Mountain or to Millhaven right now. Do you need one of them?"
"No, just keep an eye out. Markus wants me to pick up a few things," he knew better than to say more on such an open channel and switched frequencies to what his good friend had given him. Meanwhile, his other hand, still injured from gripping Sims' combat knife blade first, started up the truck and he sped off in a flurry of wet mud, headed up towards where Sims' tent was. "Ethan, you there?"
"Jeremiah? That you boss?" he suppressed a smile at Ethan's youthful voice over the channel. The young man, at least five years younger than he was, was one of the best recruits besides Gina to come out of Kurdy's training regimen. He had a natural disposition for leadership of a small cohesive team that even Markus was considering using them as minor Special Forces to kill Sims or any of the other Army of Daniel leaders if Jeremiah hadn't done the job.
He understood the need and had met Ethan a couple of times even before he had signed up to join the Western Alliance Army, since the young man was a resident of Millhaven. He was glad that Kurdy had the foresight to send Ethan's convoy up to the area.
"Yeah, what's your position?"
"Just a few kilometers from Sims' tent. We've noticed a few guards in the area, but so far we've been on semi-friendly terms with each other. I think they know we're there to make sure they don't do any funny business and they're there to make sure we don't do any funny business," Ethan replied quietly, his voice popping and fizzing in the distortion of the radio.
"All right, just stay in the area," the idea he had forming in his head was instantly killed with Ethan's words and he knew he would have to think of another one quickly. He wouldn't risk Ethan or anyone else into deliberately provoking a fight near Sims' tent which would in turn potentially endanger Markus' efforts, but he needed to get in.
"Sure thing boss," Ethan replied before he put the receiver back on its holster.
As he drove through the back roads towards Sims' tent, he gritted his teeth in frustration and nearly pounded his wounded hand into the steering wheel before stopping himself from doing such a stupid thing. "Shit," he muttered darkly. "Where's a fucking plan when you need one, huh?"
As someone was listening to him, he saw a figure in the distance, trudging along the road with what looked like the black uniforms of Army of Daniel on his back and screeched the truck to a halt next to the figure. "Smith?!"
The oddball man who claimed to hear voices from God gave him a flinty-eyed stare and hefted his load, "What…you're gonna make fun of me too Jeremiah?"
"Uh…no," Jeremiah could see a fresh mottling of bruises on Smith's face before his eyes tracked to the uniforms and a new plan began to form in his head, "hey, are they Army of Daniel uniforms?"
"Yeah…what about them?" Smith asked, "I got them off of two yahoos who tried to fucking ambush me while I was fishing. They thought it was funny…God told me to take those uniforms. I'm beginning to think he has a sense of humor after all."
"Can I borrow one?" he bit his lip, driving all thoughts about Smith killing Libby from his mind as his plan began to take shape.
"Um…sure," Smith checked the uniforms before tossing one into his passenger seat, "that one's a little more your size. Kinda big though, you'll need to roll up the sleeves-"
However, Jeremiah wasn't listening to him anymore and screeched off, "Thanks!" He didn't hear the muttering of Smith behind him as he drove towards his destination.
"-and the waist is just a little loose I think. The guy was fat…" Smith shook his at the dwindling truck on the road before looking up into the sky. "So that's why you wanted me to strip them. And here I thought it was your perverse humor…" He tilted his head slightly, hearing another whisper from God before his eyes widened, "Really? But…why didn't you…oh…well shit. Can you at least point me in the direction?" He turned towards the northwest and resisted the urge to give God the one fingered salute before heading back into the wooded brushes. This was not good…
Jeremiah stopped his truck just a few kilometers north of where the tent was, noting with some irony that it was the same place he had throw Sims off of the cliff with a knife in his chest and hastily changed into the uniform provided by Smith. To his dismay, the waist was very loose so he quickly rolled it downwards as much as possible without squeezing his family jewels, but tight enough so that it didn't embarrassingly fall off while he was walking.
Luckily the top half of the uniform was large enough to hide his ill-fitting pants, and he quickly hid his sleeves to a much more proper length before putting on the trademark black cap and combat goggles, hoping that it would disguise his features enough for him not to be recognized by any of the guards that had captured him two days ago.
Rummaging in the back of his truck, he was glad that he had kept some of the armaments in there and procured a machine gun that looked convincingly like the ones Army of Daniel used. Making sure that he was all set, he headed into the brush and hoped to God that he was able to blend in as an anonymous patrol who had wandered just a little too far to take a piss before returning to his post.
He didn't have to wander too far when he came upon the first patrol, all whom pointed their guns at him and he raised his hands. "Whoa…whoa," he gave them a tentative smile, "it's just me guys…"
"Rich? I thought you were taking the road route with Brad?" one of the patrol men asked, confused, but none of them lowered their guns.
"Yeah…well," Jeremiah was glad that he had the foresight to wear the patrolman's gloves as with his hands held up, they would have seen the bloody rag he had been using as a makeshift bandage. "When ya gotta take a piss…"
"All the way out by the cliffs," the patrolman didn't look convinced and Jeremiah thought quickly as he slowly lowered his hands.
"I've got my orders too…John wanted me to make sure Sims was really dead and not hanging off of some damn branch," he did not have to fake the venom in his own voice.
"That's General Sims, Rich…even if he may be a son of bitch traitor that he is," the patrolman replied before shaking his head, "come on, you're looking stupid like that anyways."
"Thanks," Jeremiah groused before the rest of the men lowered their guns and started to walk back to the small camp.
It wasn't too far of a walk and Jeremiah suppressed a grin of triumph as he saw that Sims' tent was definitely still erected before the patrolman that had talked to him suddenly turned around, making him nearly walk straight into him.
"I just realized, you left Brad patrolling alone…" the patrolman looked at him with suspicion and Jeremiah felt sweat bead under his helmet. "You want to let him know?"
"Already did," he replied quickly.
"But I thought it was something John-"
"You're right," he gave what he hoped was the most confident and smug grin he could think up of, "left him hanging like the motherfucker he is."
The patrolman looked at him for a long second before bursting out with laughter, startling him as he stepped back from the man's raucous laughs. "Aw man….I thought you were fucking with us and you pull yet another fast one. Good one, man, good one."
Jeremiah wanted to wipe the trickle of nervous sweat that was falling down the side of his face and laughed tentatively. "Yeah…" He wanted to roll his eyes at this man's stupidity, but knew that it was such an advantage.
The patrolman unhooked his radio and spoke into it, "Delta-Bravo-Two-Three, you read me? Brad, its Tim."
There was a moment of silence to which Jeremiah wondered if his cover was going to be blown. He knew Mister Smith had the other uniform, but did he also have the patrolmen's radios?
"Hey Timmy, sup man?" to his surprise, it was Mister Smith's jovial voice coming back, and was that a slight surfer twang he heard in Smith's voice?
"What the fuck, I told you not to call me Timmy," Tim the patrolman growled, but a grin was on his lips.
"Whatever man," Smith replied, "I'll call you horseshit if I want."
"We found your wandering partner over here," Tim continued, "you okay alone down there? Don't want no dumbass rebels to kick your ass since your partner decided to abandon you for John's mission."
"Nah, I'm fine. Though you think you can maybe swing by? Found this little patrol group of rebs and they're making me a bit antsy. Haven't done much, just sit there, but you know…"
Jeremiah immediately knew that Smith was near Ethan's group and silently hoped that no shots were fired if the two groups did meet. He hated using Ethan and his men like that, but he also knew that Markus' mission was more important.
"Fine. We'll drag your wandering partner back too," Tim said, glancing at him with a crooked smile on his face and Jeremiah was about to make up another protesting excuse when Smith's voice came back.
"Nah…that's fine. Heard John wanted something from Sims' tent. I think it's for the negotiations. You know little extra advantage to us and screw over those rebs?"
Someday, Jeremiah swore, he was going to find out how Mister Smith knew certain details that no one else supposedly knew. Did Markus tell Smith about his plan? But that was impossible, Markus had stressed the seriousness of keeping his mission a secret and plus Mister Smith was nowhere to be seen since last night. There was no way the two of them could have met, even if Smith did run into Markus' convoy on the way from Thunder Mountain to Millhaven.
"Ha, all right. I'll some extra men for your posterity Brad," Tim teased over the radio before signing off and gestured to one of his men who was snickering at the exchange to grab more men before turning to him. "You find whatever John needs. We may be having a cease fire right now, but I don't like those rebs. I want to know that we're getting the better end of the deal."
"Got that," Jeremiah nodded before heading towards the direction of the tent, noting that if things went south, at least there wouldn't be too many guards to deal with. However, it would also put Smith in a very delicate situation… He hoped that Smith knew what he was doing and knew that Ethan's group would be there to protect him.
Markus had been mildly surprised by the spaciousness of the tent they had been invited into to start negotiations. It had been erected in the middle of the two factions, and while it was seemingly a neutral point, he also knew that it was a potential death trap if things went south and a shootout occurred. The tent provided him and John protection from snipers outside, but it was also enclosed enough so that it made everyone on the outside nervous.
But he did appreciate the gesture for some privacy while they hashed out a peace treaty.
However, everyone who entered the tent had to leave their weapons outside and Markus had given up his berretta. However, he was glad that no one noticed the small switchblade he kept his boot, the same butterfly switchblade that Simon always used, given to him by Jeremiah when he and Kurdy had first arrived at Thunder Mountain nearly a year and half ago.
It was something that Lee had suggested before he had left the Mountain, to carry a concealed weapon on himself just in case something happened. He had taken to heart what the young Asian man had said and did so. They had been standing around for at least ten minutes when the tent flaps opened again and in stepped two men and a couple of unarmed guards.
Markus immediately recognized who was the Founder and could not help himself but stare at how old the man was. He was even older than Meaghan, older than Jeremiah's father Devon, hell if he had to figure out the man's age range, the Founder could have been his grandfather's age.
Even Gina and the men she had brought with her couldn't keep from gasping their surprise and the Founder gave them a sardonic smile, as if he was used to such reactions.
However, the young man next to him, dressed in the dark uniform of the Army of Daniel, but wearing a red-black armband that was the patch of Sims' elite guards stepped forward, giving an unreadable look to the Founder before approaching Markus. "John," he introduced himself, "I used to be General Sims' Elite Guard Captain."
"Markus Alexander," Markus was well aware that of the lack of a last name for John and knew that this man was well versed in the Outside world. "I can't prove that I am who I say I am, but I hope that you would believe me."
"It's better than seeing no one at all and following a false ideal," John directed a very heated glare back at the Founder that Markus was quite surprised that the man hadn't even been shot or killed yet.
"Even if it was a social-psychological experiment," the Founder looked mildly at him, "you had to admit Daniel did give you a sense of purpose, food, clothing, and shelter, all of the things you and the rest of the Army would have to scrape by with."
"Which is why," Markus cut in smoothly, "we of the Western Alliance would like to help your men and the rest of Army of Daniel make sure that the food, clothing, and shelter are permanent and have another ideal to follow."
"Which is?" John looked cautious.
"To help your neighbors. To help each other rebuild the world," Markus replied quietly, knowing that a shattered faith was very easy to pick back up again. However, a shattered faith was also very volatile to handle.
"It is no different than what Daniel was offering," the Founder looked mild and he had a distinct feeling that this was a three-way battle to convince John and to convince the Founder that the Western Alliance meant no harm. "Forgive me for lack of introductions. I am Padraig Stein," the old Founder offered his hand and Markus shook it, noting to some surprise that the man's grip was very firm. His father and his teachers had told him about body language and the most important thing was handshakes. A weak handshake showed uncertainty and wariness whereas a firm one was trustworthy and confident, but perhaps may have shown arrogance.
Did Padraig suspect to convince him or even John that Daniel was not going to back off?
"Please, let us sit, an old man's bones isn't what its used to," Padraig gave them a congenial smile and Markus sat down, nodding to Gina and the other men that they could back off to the corners of the tent if they wanted to. He recognized the psychological battle Padraig was warring with him and briefly wondered how much did Daniel know about him. So far, the balance of power in the negotiations was leaning towards Padraig and Markus knew he had to get it back to him.
"The Western Alliance does not want to usurp the power that Daniel has," he immediately started, cutting off whatever Padraig the Founder was about to say, "but we do want to extend the hand of friendship to join us and help rebuild the world."
"As far as I know, we were doing fine," John looked skeptical.
"Yes," Markus wanted to add a 'but', however he knew that any negativity would be counter productive, "which is why we want to ask your group to help the communities that are still struggling to bring them back on their feet. They could use the extra supplies that your group has acquired. All will be paid back in full after a time with extra harvest or even commerce or trade that goes through all of the Western Alliance groups, but we would like to ask you to lend them a hand."
John looked at him for a long second before sighing, "Daniel says that whoever can't help themselves deserve to die. The strong live, the weak die."
Markus pursed his lips for a second before catching John's eye. "Daniel says that? Or did Sims say that?"
"Of course General Sims said that," Padraig cut in sharply, "Daniel believes that everyone would get an opportunity to prove themselves. We already give aid and supplies like you are suggesting. It would be no different if Daniel joined the Western Alliance."
"I thought Daniel was fake," here Markus directed his venom and toothy smile towards the Founder. He saw the dark look Padraig shot at him for falling into his neatly laid trap.
"He may be, but his ideals are true," the Founder spluttered at him.
"Then if his ideals are true, why is he attacking the Western Alliance and not helping us? Why bring out such a big army whose purpose is only to annihilate and kill?" Markus focused his attention on Padraig, knowing that John was listening to their conversation very closely, as did everyone else in the tent. "We have men and women here who were trained to defend their own groups, who are a volunteer force that only want to defend their homes, neighbors, friends, and family."
"Why did you not join Daniel when it was offered to you? We already had an established system of order and peace, of protection and safety. We have commerce, trade, even our own monetary system. We've already done so much in the fifteen years since the Big Death than the Western Alliance has done," there was a glint in Padraig's eye that Markus did not like and knew that he had scored a few more points, especially with Gina and the others.
He suddenly wished he had brought Theo with him. She knew what to say to someone like John who was from the Outside. In here, he and Padraig had been in the comfort and confines of their respective cities and closed-door communities. Neither of them knew how to appeal to an Outsider like John, but so far, John was leaning more towards Daniel then towards a potential alliance with the Western Alliance.
"Your man, Vincent, did you ask him the reason why we rejected his offer when he came to Thunder Mountain?" he knew he had to tread carefully or risk sounding weak.
"Yes," was the one word answer.
"Did you tell anyone else?"
"That is...," Padraig looked a bit annoyed.
"Why not?" Markus jumped on his hesitation and plowed on, "Theo, one of our more charismatic leaders in the Alliance told the assembly that she was pregnant that day. That she wanted her child to grow up in a better world than she got stuck with. She wanted the ideal of sharing rather than of things taken by force. She wanted peace instead of enslavement."
"We do not have slaves," Padraig said heatedly, "we have workers who are willing-"
"Not from the reports we've gotten," he cut him off, hearing his own voice rise as he remembered the reports Jeremiah, Kurdy, and Mister Smith had given him when they had infiltrated one of Daniel's cities, built over the remnants of Baltimore.
"And here I thought you were honorable. Spying doesn't become you, Markus Alexander," never in his life had he heard someone say his name like a swear word and it made him angry, but he viciously clamped down on the surging anger, knowing that it wouldn't help him.
Instead, he managed to keep his voice level and civil, "At least I don't build a world on lies."
"And I don't either," a new voice, calm and collected, interrupted them and everyone in the tent turned to opening flap to see a well dressed man, looking eerily like Vincent.
"Jacob, what are you-"
"My brother, Vincent, told me what happened," the well-groomed man, Jacob stepped in, the flap closing behind him, "I'm disappointed that we did not get the invitation. And you, John, I thought Sims would have taught you better."
"I..." John stared at him, eyes wide and full of fear before looking down his hands, "I thought that it would be for the best. If the men don't have a true purpose to fight for, then what's the point in fighting for lies?"
"To make those lies a truth, John, John, John," Jacob shook his head sadly at the man before turning to Padraig and Markus saw the snake-like smile he gave the older man. Something was wrong here...
"And you...you really thought you could get away with it, didn't you Mr. Stein," Jacob looked at him with something akin to pity before suddenly drawing out a silenced gun and fired it at Padraig.
There was barely any sound save for a soft pfft, but the bullet tore through the man's right chest and he fell backwards in his chair. Markus and John leapt up in their seats, backing away from both Jacob and Padraig. He instinctively held his hands away from his side, the universal gesture that he didn't want any trouble as Jacob brought his gun to bear at them.
"Don't move, any of you," Jacob swept the gun towards the other guards, and Markus noticed out of the corner of his eyes Gina and her three men shrinking back, nodding their assent as they also held their hands up, "my men are outside and while we don't want any messy accidents to happen that may alert your friends, we are willing to shoot any of you if you prove to be uncooperative."
"What do you want," Markus did not like the look the handsome man wore as he stared at the guards and sought to divert his attention back onto him. He had a feeling that Jacob was much like his brother Vincent, a charismatic speaker, but with a psychotic edge if his word so far proved anything.
"Ah, the main star of our event, Markus Alexander," Jacob smiled congenially at him before his gun to his left hand and extended a hand out to him to shake. Markus wanted to glare at the man and not shake his hand, but he wasn't that stupid.
He tentatively shook his hand, surprised at how firm, almost painful Jacob's grip was before he released it and switched the gun back to his right hand, "There, now, that wasn't so bad was it, Markus?"
This man was definitely very confident in whatever plan he had for them. "No, it wasn't," he replied, "now if you don't mind, can we sit back down? We were in the middle of a discussion."
"Hmm?" Jacob looked mildly disinterested for a second before nodding and gesturing for them to sit back down, "Oh, yeah, sure. Be my guests." He took Padraig's seat, sitting down with his gun on the table, still in his hands, but not quite pointed at them.
Markus shook his head minutely before catching Gina's eye and wordlessly gestured for her to attend to Padraig. However, just as she started to move towards the dying man, Jacob shook his head and pointed his gun at her, halting her in her tracks. "No. Move back little girl, unless you want a bullet in your head."
"He's dying!" Markus could not believe how cruel someone could be and immediately shut up, clenching his fists as the gun suddenly pointed at him. He bit his lip and breathed heavily through his nose before glaring at Jacob. "At least…let him be comfortable in his last moments…"
Jacob smiled, all teeth, "No. You would like that because you're used to the creature comforts of Thunder Mountain, aren't you?" He turned to John and shook his head conversationally, "You see, John, its people like him that Daniel was trying to warn us about. Even though yes, Daniel is fake, his ideals are still true-"
Markus felt his temper rise as he couldn't believe that such a callous man would leave someone dying on the ground just inches away without any care in the world. Hell even Valhalla Sector would have been decently human to at least make sure a dying man was comfortable in his last moments.
"-and it is people like Markus here, who will lead the world into darkness once more. You see…softness," Jacob suddenly glanced down at Padraig before suddenly firing another clip into man's head, finally ending his torment, "or even harsh deception cannot rule the world."
Markus could only shake his head at the blatant cruelty Jacob showed. "You think that it's only softness and harsh deception?" he started softly, "it's people like you. People who do not even care for others or even the consequences of your actions cannot rule the world. Its people like you who created the Big Death-"
The butt end of the pistol whipped across his face and he felt his neck snap from the force of the blow, stinging pain across the right side of his face flaring up, but continued his temper mounting. "-who don't realize the consequence of what they're doing! You think just because you can create fear, you can rule it?! That is pure bullshit!"
Suddenly Jacob leapt up from the table and pointed the barrel of the silenced weapon into his head, his face inches from his. Markus refused to allow the sudden burst of fear that had filled him flood into his face and stared angrily into the man's face. "Feeling fearful right now?" Jacob hissed, some of his spittle flying into his own face, "cause you should be."
The barrel abruptly left his face and Jacob fired three shots, dropping the three men who had accompanied him and Gina onto the ground in wordless heaps, bullets embedded in the middle of their foreheads. Gina muffled her cry as the barrel tracked her and Markus saw fear and tears light up her features as she muffled her gasp before falling to her knees, her eyes begging him not to shoot her. "Please…" she whispered brokenly before Jacob suddenly stepped back from him, an oddly satisfied look on his face.
"You feeling the fear now?" Jacob's eyes flashed maniacally before suddenly firing the gun in his direction.
Fierce pain bloomed in his upper arm and Markus felt the bullet impact before he grabbed his arm to staunch the immediate blood flow. He winced and couldn't keep the hiss of pain emerging from his mouth as he gritted his teeth and grimaced. He couldn't even lift his left arm, partially because he felt so numb from the arm down and plus when he had tried to flex his hand, little sharp knives of agony spread from his arm too his chest.
"Sir!" Gina cried before falling silent once more and he looked sideways at her to see Jacob point the gun back at her direction, his eyes flashing a warning for her not to move.
"I'm…all right," he tried to reassure her even though he knew that he wasn't. The bullet had not exited out, which meant that it was still lodged inside. He could feel his own hot blood streaming in little pulses of his heartbeat from the wound and knew that it was bad, but not bad enough that he was going to bleed his whole body's worth of blood out here.
"You see, John," Jacob's voice sounded distant as he could seemingly hear the rush of blood pumping in his veins and grabbed onto his wound to try to staunch the blood flow as he forced himself to sit up straight in his seat, and glare defiantly at the sadistic man. "Fear will rule this world. Fear of what is known, and even the unknown. Do you remember what Daniel said about Valhalla Sector and its use of fear? How they wanted to turn us into guinea pigs for their experiments with the Big Death?"
"Y-Yeah," John looked scared.
Markus briefly wondered how did they know about Valhalla Sector and the Big Death experiments when he realized that Libby might have spilled everything about Valhalla, or even the people in Millhaven who were pro-Daniel, but serving Valhalla. Hell, Daniel was an experiment by Valhalla Sector social-psychologists. It stood that they probably knew everything there was to know about Valhalla Sector. It also made him realize how long he had been holed up in the Mountain, afraid of risking the paradise within the Mountain when he should have been gathering information. Jeremiah was right…
"The reason the Big Death wasn't prevented was the compassionate," here Jacob gave him a nasty smile, "were too scared to kill those who were carrying the Big Death. They were too scared to kill off a few hundred thousand that had contracted the Big Death just to save the billions on Earth. It would have been genocide, they said. Well, look at us now…"
"Kill a few to save millions?" John asked and Markus shook his head.
"No," he forced himself to sit up straighter and look at John, "no one should have that power. Yes, it would have been genocide, yes it may have been the right thing to do, but that's the past. Right now, there are so few of us left…those of us that survived." He took a breath, wincing at the sharp stabbing needles of pain, "We can't let a group of few rule over us in fear anymore. We need to work together. Right now, fear isn't needed. We need to help each other. We let those few take over and there goes our liberties and what we've all stood for."
He looked at John, ignoring Jacob, "Ask yourself this, why did you survive? Was it to be ruled over by those who you would fear or did you survive to make sure you stood up help others?"
"Pretty speech, Markus," Jacob clapped mockingly before looking at John, "I offer you this John. A chance to redeem yourself if you want to be part of this new world order."
John looked at Jacob, fear still evident in his eyes, but for the first time and to Markus' dismay, he saw a hunger for power in the young man's eyes. He realized that Jacob's silkily pretty words were getting to the young man and knew that he had underestimated how powerful Sims' Elite Guard commander was in the army. He had been treating John like a fellow soldier, a common person when he should have been treating him like a leader. John did not want to see like equals. He was too indoctrinated in Daniel's philosophy and wanted power.
But the fear was still evident, and it meant that perhaps he still had a chance…he hoped.
"Take this young lady," Jacob gestured to Gina with his gun, "back up to the lovely folks that Markus leads-"
"I don't lead anyone; they banded together to protect-" the sucker punch to his stomach made him bend forward and all breath left him as he gasped.
"-and tell them that Markus would like to negotiate more in a more private setting. We will bring choppers in," Jacob continued, "This is your chance to redeem yourself, John."
"A-All right," John nodded reluctantly and stood up tentatively before walking over to Gina and pulled her up roughly.
"Don't," Markus found the air to gasp out loud, "don't do it…don't…" He trailed off as he tried to catch his breath once more.
"Oh, John," Jacob's tone was pleasant, but the expression he wore on his face was nothing but, "if the girl speaks, you can kill her, but I would do it with some discretion." He tossed him a knife before John visibly gulped and nodded then prodded Gina out.
Markus shared a look with Jeremiah's attaché and wanted to tell her that it was all right, but he closed his mouth as he saw the defeated and fearful look she wore. He didn't blame her, as she disappeared from the tent, she was from the Outside and he knew that most in the Outside still didn't trust him or any of the Mountain people. The Outsiders thought that they were still too soft, even though they had given aid. She and the others would rather save their own skins than help someone out if force was shown…it was the way of the Outside world.
Turning back to Jacob, he saw that the man had also arrived at the same conclusion he did regarding Gina and a predatory smile was on his face. Markus shook his head, feeling suddenly older than his twenty-nine years and spoke up quietly, "What do you want?"
"You, Markus, are a smart man," Jacob said in a conversational tone, "and I can use that."
"I'm not going to work for you, you son of a bitch, if that's what you mean," he spat, feeling lightheaded, but noted that the pain his arm had dulled and while he still felt blood on his hand compressing his wound, it wasn't as bad as minutes ago.
"No, no, I didn't think so," Jacob shrugged, "but I still believe you could be useful to us. You see, you are a nexus, a conduit and beacon for those around you. You and your friend Jeremiah." The handsome man smiled, "Oh yes, we know all about Jeremiah too. See, Gabriel Sims talked just a little too much about him and was obsessed with him. I think he was focusing on the wrong nexus."
"And you think it's me," Markus said sarcastically, "I'm flattered. Why don't you kill me now, since I'm the nexus you think I am."
"No, see, it doesn't work that way," Jacob spoke to him as if speaking to a child and tapped the barrel of his gun on the table as he sat back down, "if I killed you, then someone else would be able to come up and take over what you've created. That's not what I want. What I want is for you to understand, to realize the truth."
"That you guys are sadistic bastards who would use fear to rule others? No fucking thanks."
"That the populace, the remnant of the United States of America has always been ruled by fear and obedience. And that there is nothing you can do about it except go with the flow. That order is the natural flow of the world. Your chaotic attempts to create this new government will fail and I guarantee, you will live long enough to see that."
Jacob looked at him with a simple gaze, "And when you do die, you will die with the words on your lips saying that I was right."
Kurdy rolled his head in a slow circle, stretching out his neck muscles as he stood by a small group of volunteer soldiers who were half-crouched by the sandbag barriers, some of them still pointed their guns down at the men and women of Army of Daniel, but most of them had propped them up and were just loitering, a complete and utterly bored look on their faces.
He had only gotten back a few minutes ago to find that Markus had already gone down to start negotiations and Jeremiah was no where to be seen. Some of the townsfolk had said that they saw Jeremiah drive away, but did not know why he had left. Kurdy wondered if his friend had deigned to join Ethan's group holed up near Sims' tent after he had gotten that radio transmission.
He mentally shrugged and forced himself to focus. He was now the nominal person in charge of the city since Gina was apparently escorting Markus down to the negotiations and had checked in with Erin at Thunder Mountain. So he had a suspicious feeling when he saw Gina and a person dressed in the uniforms of the Army of Daniel walking up towards them.
He hurled past the sandbag barrier and hurried down towards them and skidded to a stop when he saw Gina's frightful face. Something was definitely wrong and looked at the tent beyond, sitting innocently in the middle of the potential battlefield. "What's going on?"
"The…Founder, no, sorry, your leader asked if he could conduct negotiations in a more private setting," on close up, Kurdy recognized the man as John, the one Jeremiah had said had released him after he was told the truth by the Founder. However, he could see the hesitancy in John's eyes and looked at him shrewdly.
"Really?" he did not believe a single word and turned to Gina, "this true? Markus wants to move from this place?"
"I…uh…" Gina looked back at John, her lip trembling and Kurdy knew something was definitely wrong. He had personally trained Gina, she was one of the best and she would never, ever, defer to anyone else. She was sarcastic, bubbly, and a natural leader. She had wanted to lead the charge in defending themselves against the Army of Daniel back when they thought they were going to be attacked.
"What the fuck is going on?" Kurdy demanded, looking back and forth between the two of them just as the distant thwoop-thwoop of rotors made him glance up in the sky before two helicopters, an Apache and Blackhawk buzz overhead.
He ducked a bit before following their route and saw the Blackhawk land right by the tent, its massive rotors blowing any near by tents away with its force and realized that there wasn't any proposal to negotiate. They were kidnapping Markus!
"H-Hey!" he called out before suddenly John grabbed him by the front of his shirt and he reacted instinctively to the attack. He wrestled the man's wrists from the front of his shirt and was about to punch him in the face when he noticed the terrified and apologetic expression on the man's face.
"I'm…sorry! So sorry!" John cried as tears fell down his face, "He told me to…but I couldn't…I…." John's grip on his shirtfront slackened as he fell to the ground weeping, but Kurdy stepped roughly over him, running down towards the tent, seeing the distant figures of at least two people manhandling what looked like Markus to the Blackhawk.
He only got a few steps when the Apache's guns burst to life, pelting the area with bullets and Kurdy cried out, backing up and throwing himself to the side to avoid the spray of bullets. He hear the distant cries of the others above him as they ducked underneath the sandbag barriers before the Apache turned its guns on the tents and sprayed that area to prevent anyone else from following onto the Blackhawk.
He could only watch in horror as he saw the Blackhawk finally lift itself from the ground and quickly fly to the east, the Apache firing its guns at them before taking off after the Blackhawk to escort it to wherever.
"They took Markus! Get them!" Gina's shrill war cry echoed out and Kurdy stood up hastily, realizing who Gina' meant before he held up his hands and waved at the volunteer army.
"No, wait! Stop! I said stop!" he yelled, halting the soldiers from making their run towards Army of Daniel. "They didn't do it! They had no fucking clue!" He realized that the reason why the Apache had shot bullets at the Army tents was to prevent them from thinking that they were taking their Founder or whoever hostage. At least that was what he hoped was happening. Either way, he did not want a blood bath…
"Kurdy, sir! We're getting reports that someone's attacking Ethan's unit!" a voice made him look up to see one of the soldiers holding a radio.
"Anyone else?!" he quickly asked.
"No, just Ethan's…" the soldier replied, "that proves-"
"Nothing, not a thing. Could be a rogue faction," Kurdy thought quickly before pointing his finger at two of the platoon leaders, "You and you, get your men up to Sims' tent area. That's where Ethan is. Tell Ethan to find Jeremiah and tell him that Markus was kidnapped."
"Sir!" they both replied before hurrying to follow his orders and Kurdy turned his attention to Gina.
"Gina, you okay?"
"Y-Yeah…" she replied fearfully, her teeth chattering a bit but she nodded.
"Good, because I need you to keep an eye out on things here. I don't want a bloodbath. Anyone who fires a shot from our end into the Army of Daniel, will answer to me personally," Kurdy made sure his last words were heard loud and clear by all of the soldiers who were by the sandbags and he saw most of them reluctantly nod. "Let them fire the first shot. We're not going to start a war, but if they want one, we'll finish it for them."
The murmurs of yeah and agreement ran throughout the small group before he glared down at John who was still quivering and crying. "You," he grabbed the man by his uniform vest front and hauled him up until they were eye to eye, "are going to the Mountain with me. You're going to tell me and Erin everything you know and what just happened. You're going to tell us where they took Markus."
"But…my…men," John choked out and Kurdy tightened his grip, cutting him off.
"I hope they're smart enough to realize what just happened. And if they are that stupid, well, we'll kick their asses," he growled before hauling him off to the truck.
He'll be damned if Daniel thought he had won by kidnapping Markus.
Author's Notes:
I've noticed similarities between Babylon 5 and Jeremiah and since both shows were written by J. Michael Straczynski I figured I give it a shot and blend the two themes together. That is why John sounds like Justin from Z'ha'dum and why Markus sounds a bit like Sheridan. Except eagle-eyed readers and those familiar with both series can see me twisting the Shadow/Vorlon dynamic in there (chaos/order). I don't know when the next update is since this is a work in progress, but I hope this will follow my Robin Hood (BBC) format of a virtual Season 3. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Author's Disclaimer:
I happen to be a Markus Alexander fan so forgive me if many of my Jeremiah stories end up with a slant towards him. Don't worry; I won't leave any of the other characters out, especially our title character, Jeremiah.