Guess what, it's my last fic in this series and I choose to make a cameo appearance! I own myself, and that's it, Vinnie Mac Daddy owns the rest. This is it…no more after this!
Dear Mr. Hunter Hearnst Helmsley,
We are writing to seek your help with a young woman who we have only now managed to identify. Her name is Lita Dumas, a former captain of your ship, and we are guessing your former significant other.
Dumas has been in a catatonic state for around six months now, and there appears to be little to no hope to bring her out by ourselves. We are hoping that you will be able to at least give us some clues to her fragile psyche. She appears to have some serious psychological issues and we'd like to ask you some questions about her past.
Please hurry; we are not quite sure how long she can hang on.
Yours,
Dr. Val Venis
Hunter rushed into the hospital, a desperate look on his face. "What's going on?" He demanded of the receptionist. "Where's Dr. Venis?"
The woman at the desk noted the look on his face and seemed to go even slower. "Hold on sir. Are you Hunter Hearnst Helmsley?"
"No, I'm Vincent fucking McMahon, of course I'm Hunter!"
"I'll need to see some Identification. The girl's being kept in a heavily secured area."
Hunter pulled out his military ID and watched as the woman checked the picture.
"So, you finally showed up?"
At the sound of that voice, Hunter spun on his heels to face an obviously peeved blonde girl. "Lilly, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Well, I had to show up three weeks ago to identify a body, which ended up being Lita's. Then of course, I wondered why her crew hadn't found her before. I got the story from Merc, who got it from Edge, and Scattia who got it from Hurricane. They gave me the entire story, how you dumped her and then how she resigned and left."
The receptionist looked at the two bickering officers. "Would you two mind taking this into that conference room?" she pointed to a closed door.
Lilly nodded and motioned for Hunter to follow her. When they were in the room with the door closed behind them, Lilly turned to him again. "Do you have any idea what you…"
"…did to her? Yeah, I do. The rest of the crew has been bitching at me about it since it happened, I've been put through hell because of this and there was nothing I could do to make it better. She disappeared without a trace! And why the hell did you have to come in here and identify her?"
"Because this is my sector. Do you have any idea how it feels to have to come in and identify the catatonic body of one of your close, if not best, friends?"
"No, I don't," Hunter replied. "I know what it's like to cut up the bodies so bad that they'll never be identified. I know what it's like to remove any and all identification, including piercings, tattoos and heads. I know what it's like to incinerate a body and then sprinkle the ashes around while singing Halle-FUCKING-luja!"
"Oh, cut that shit out!" Lilly yelled back at him. "You act like you've seen bad. Well, it was your decision to be bad, it wasn't hers. And now, when she needs you, you're on this pity me trip! Do you have the emotional capacity of a pot of lip gloss?"
"I don't need to take this from you, Lilly! I really don't! I don't need some kid telling me how to live my life!"
"Well, fuck you up your monstrous nose!" Lilly stomped out the door.
"Where are you going?" Hunter demanded from her.
"Back to my own post. You started this mess, you make it all better!"
Ten minutes later a man holding a clipboard found Hunter still in the conference room. "Mr. Helmsley? Follow me."
Lita was stretched out on a bed with a myriad of machines attached to her. Hunter had to close his eyes and take a deep breath when he saw her like that. She never looked the helpless, never.
"We've managed to monitor some of her brain patterns, but it hasn't helped much. She won't respond to any outside stimuli."
"What do you need me to do? Tell you about her past?"
"No, actually Lilly filled us in on a good deal of it. We actually need you because the treatment we want to attempt on her is kind of…experimental."
"Experimental?"
"We want you to go inside her psyche and bring her out of this."
"You want me to…what?"
Val led Hunter to an adjoining room with another bed in it. There was some sort of headgear lying on a table next to it.
"This is a highly experimental treatment. What we hope to someday do is be able to enter the minds of comatose patients and draw them out of it. This would enable the psyche of the doctor or family member to interact with the mind of the victim…"
"You mean, I'd be in her head?"
"Yes."
Hunter paused. "What would I be able to do?"
"Not much, she'd still have control over everything but you. It's possible she won't even let you in. But you'd be able to possibly talk to her, help her see why she has to wake up…"
"Apologize maybe? I'm assuming Lilly explained the trouble Lita and I had in our relationship."
"She did, in none too glowing terms, might I add. Which reminds me! I wanted to mention something else, about her split personalities…"
"I don't' want to hear about it," Hunter told him. "I never want to hear about that again."
"Are you willing to do this?" Val asked Hunter.
"I don't' know. I'm not sure it would even help her."
Val nodded, "I'll give you twelve hours to decide. At midnight, you have to have a decision."
"Midnight? Why so soon?"
"Because the longer we leave her like this, the riskier it becomes for us to do this. She's been out for so long at this point it's going to be risky just doing it now. We need you to do this now, or you'll never be able to."
Sitting in Lita's hospital room later, clasping her hand, Hunter watched the rise and fall of her chest. He felt tears in his eyes as he recalled their last fight.
"I HATE her with a passion. And now that she's in there with you…"
"She's always been in here with me! She's a part of me, now we're just the same part."
"That's just it. I can't love someone who she's that much of a part of… I can't be around her without…without…"
"Wanting to be the Cerebral Assassin again…That's your reasoning? You're going to dump me because there's an off chance you might have to face your own dark side again? That you might be tempted to go bad again?"
"Lita, I can't…"
"Forget it, Hunter. You want it over? It's over. It ends here, and it ends now. I don't care. I really just don't care.
"I can't believe I actually fucked you."
"I'll make it up to you," he whispered. "But I don't want to hurt you."
At that, Hunter swore he saw her draw her breath in faster than she had before.
"Red…can you hear me? I just…I don't want to hurt you anymore than I already have."
Again, her breath was a bit quicker than normal.
"But you can hear me, can't you? I'm getting through to you just like this. I could...if I were in there…"
He looked her over. "I'm coming in. I'm bringing you back. And I love you."
Hunter glanced nervously down at the straps holding him in place. "Are you sure I need these?"
Val nodded. "Just in case something happens."
"Like?"
"We just have to take these precautions."
"Alright…" Hunter sounded none too sure of the situation.
Val secured the headgear. "Now, just relax, we're going to take you into her head in thirty seconds."
Hunter took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
"You'd better be," Val checked the machine again. "Twenty seconds."
Hunter was starting to feel tired.
"Ten…nine…eight…"
Hunter could feel his eyes close.
"Seven…six…five…four…"
He never even heard the last three numbers being counted down.
He opened his eyes.
And finally got a glimpse of what Lita's head looked like from the inside.
Twisted, gothic landscape surrounded him, barren trees stood like skeletons against the gray sky, barely visible through the mist. Hunter suddenly wondered if this was how the place always looked, or if it was simply the effect of Lita's comatose state.
Hunter suddenly heard a screaming sound coming from a place near him. It was her scream, he could tell. Running towards where he'd heard the sound, he prayed she was all right.
When he located her he had to stop and hide behind one of the nearly dead trees. Dressed in a thin looking white shift, Lita was bound by her wrists to one of the trees and two familiar figures were holding her ankles. "Matt and Jeff?" Hunter wondered. "Why would they be doing this?" Then he noticed the other person standing there.
Whoever it was obviously didn't want to be recognized. It was a female dressed in a full suit of armor with a helmet completely covering her head. She was, currently, in the process of whipping Lita across the back with what looked like a cat o nine tails.
Lita screamed in pain once more as the whip fell across her back. Hunter couldn't figure out why she wasn't fighting back, why she hadn't been able to take her captors in a fight…
"Unless…" he reasoned, remembering the brief mention of her split personalities. "She split again…"Hunter growled. He'd known Angelica was too strong to be held by sheer willpower. Now she was going to punish Lita in her own head. Well, that settled it; he'd have to stop her.
Roaring from deep within his throat, Hunter attacked the three people harming his Lita.
Matt and Jeff took one look at him, released Lita's legs, and ran for their lives. Armor chick just turned her head so that the front of the helmet was facing him. Nodding, the woman turned and left.
"Don't run from me, Angelica! Don't you dare run from me!"
She just kept walking.
Tempted as he was to go after her, Hunter decided it was best to first rescue Lita. He reached above her head and untied the ropes holding her there. Then, he caught her as she dropped, half unconscious.
"Lita?" he asked. "Lita, please, are you?"
She smiled up at him, weakly. "I knew you'd come for me."
He smiled back at her, tears in his eyes. "Lita, what's going on? Why didn't you fight back?"
She shook her head. "I wanted to, but I didn't want to hurt Matt and Jeff in the process. So, I just let them…"
"You just let them? Lita, are you sure you haven't split again? Are you sure that Angelica isn't doing this to you? That you haven't split again?"
"I'm sure Hunter."
"But…you couldn't take those guys…"
"No, I just wouldn't let her hurt them," Lita suddenly sounded stronger. She shrugged her shoulders and stood up.
Hunter looked at her. "Doesn't your back hurt?"
That's when he noticed her outfit had completely changed. She was in a pair of brown leather pants and a white tunic top, belted at the waist with a thick brown belt. "My back's fine Hunter."
"How…how…" he stammered.
"My mind. I still have enough control to do little things, change my clothing, change your clothing…"
Hunter looked at himself and noticed he was in a pair of black leather pants and that was it. "Uh…Lita…?"
"Yes?"
"Can I at least get some kind of shirt?" As soon as he said it, he had a white top on, similar to Lita's, only his was sleeveless.
"That better?" she asked.
"Much." Then, after a pause, "Lita, you have to come back. You have to wake up."
"And you don't think I've been trying?" She asked him. "That's how I ended up tied to the tree getting whipped."
"Wait, you mean you just can't…wake up?"
"No, if it were that easy I'd be awake already. I have to…well, you saw Her?"
"Yeah?"
"I have to pull her helmet off. Find out who she is."
"What? That's what you have to do?"
"Yes. That's the solution to this whole problem. I just have to find her, beat her, and rip her helmet off."
She started heading in the same direction that Armor had headed. "Where are you going?" Hunter yelled.
To find her, beat her and rip her helmet off."
Hunter ran after her. "You're going to need my help. That's why I'm here."
"Really, is that what you think?"
"What?"
"Do you really think that you're here to help me?" Lita laughed. "You're not here for that. You're here because you feel guilty about letting me leave."
"What?"
"You feel bad. You dumped me, I left, and then I ended up comatose. You blame yourself for this whole thing and you think waking me up will make up for it."
Hunter followed in silence for about a minute. Then, he simply asked. "Will it?"
"You'll have to do a lot more than just make up for it."
"Well, what do I have to do?"
"Prove you love me."
"And I do that how?"
Lita finally turned around to look at him. "You figure it out."
"Lita, look, I want to help you with this. Then, after you're back, I'll prove that I love you. I'll do anything. But you have to come out of this, not just for me, for the rest of the crew."
She looked away from him for a second. "Alright, if you're going to bug me about it you can help."
Hunter smiled back at her. "Good, now that we've got that settled, let's get moving after that bitch."
He actually got a smile out of her. "Always so quick to get down to business."
"Well, you know, can't waste time. Besides, I have a feeling Dr. Venis has my pants around my ankles and is taking pictures of my dick in order to compare my size with his own."
"Does he come off like this?"
"Lita, the guy's name is Venis. It doesn't matter how he comes off, he had a Porn Star name."
"Um…that's not exactly what I meant by come off."
"Why were Matt and Jeff holding you?"
It was what seemed like several hours later and Hunter and Lita were still behind Armor. Hunter had finally gotten up the nerve to ask why the two brothers were holding her down in her fantasy world.
She sighed. "Sometimes I think that those two were holding me down."
"Meaning?"
"I wondered if I would have been stationed somewhere else if it hadn't been for my friendship with those two."
"So, that's why they were letting you get whipped?"
"I guess, I don't know. I honestly don't know what I think anymore. Whoever's doing this to me won't let me know, she won't tell me what's going on with half of the cameo appearances in this weird ass place. In fact…for a second when you first showed up, I thought you were just another thing she sent to tease me."
"How did you know I wasn't?"
"Because you immediately blamed Angelica for all this. In all my fantasies I always pictured you apologizing for everything and accepting who I was. If she wanted to lead me on and let me believe I was being rescued she would have had you do the same thing."
"Oh…"
There was another period of silence before Hunter started talking again. "So…I'm kind of talking to her right now, aren't I?"
"Yes, you are, kind of."
"Well…then…maybe I was wrong about something."
"About what?"
"Not being able to love anyone she was a part of."
"You're just saying that now."
"No, Lita, I never got to tell you what happened when you left my room."
"You got back with Chyna?"
"No. She told me it was over."
"Oh, and I was going to be your rebound from that?"
"No, don't think that! She told me something I hadn't heard about before. About how you were fighting Angelica off when you were running from the bounty hunters."
Lita hung her head.
"She said you must have loved me in order for you to fight her like that."
"It wasn't all for you…"
"I know, it was to keep them safe as well. But she said Benoit told her that you needed more reason than that. She explained that if it were a matter of just not wanting to hurt the other members of the crew you wouldn't have ever reverted to her, even with the chip in. But, with the two of us together…with how close we were…you were fighting her off for that.
"You loved me. And I pushed you out of the way."
"You had your reasons…" Lita tried to say.
"No, I had excuses. Lilly chewed me out before I did this, told me it was a pity trip. And she was right. I was looking for an out with you. I wanted to forget what I'd done to people. But you know what? I can't. I did horrible things. And I sorry, that doesn't make it better, but I am. And I figured if you could forgive Angelica, who wasn't even really you just some artificially created part of you, then the least I could do was face what I'd done to people by my own choice."
Hunter stopped. He hadn't meant to go for that long. "Sorry."
"No, don't be. You needed to say it, and now it's been said."
"So…is it all forgiven?"
"No."
"What? I go through that whole speech and you're still not going to forgive me?"
"I told you, I want proof that you love me. Until I get that, no speech will make everything better."
Suddenly, she stopped. "Look," she pointed through the mists.
There was Armor, with one huge sword.
"Lita…what…"
Armor's voice came out, a booming voice that neither of them could recognize. "You dare challenge me again?"
"Yes!" Lita yelled. "I want out of this!"
"Fine. You challenge me, I accept." Armor threw the massive sword at the red head.
Before Hunter could move to protect her, Lita had been impaled on the sword.
"LITA!"
"Lita…" Hunter whispered again, crouching over to check on her. "Are you…are you?"
"Perception is reality, Hunter. I die here, I die in real life."
"No…no…you can't die on me!"
He grasped her hand and was suddenly drawn into the depths of her memory.
Lita sat in deep meditation. She'd been doing this for weeks, in hopes that she'd be able to find a solution to her problem. Angelica was under control, the merger was working out perfectly, but something was still wrong. She'd been in deep depression since she'd left the ship, and the last thing she wanted to believe was that it was because…
But it was because of him.
Then it hit her.
A revelation.
"Hunter…" she gasped, her voice weaker than it was earlier. "I don't know what to say…but I forgive you."
"No, no you don't."
Lita grabbed his hand, weakly. "Hunter, please…"
"No, Lita you listen to me. You're only forgiving me because you're dying. I don't want that. I still haven't proven my love to you. I'd rather you die without forgiving me than forgive me because you're dying."
"Hunter…" Lita choked on her own blood as it welled up in her mouth.
And with that she died in his arms.
Hunter didn't say a word, just stood and stared at Armor with revenge in his eyes. "You evil bitch. You evil, evil bitch."
Armor just laughed at him.
"That's it," Hunter growled at her, "that's just it."
He ran at her, tackling Armor to the ground and going for her helmet. She flipped him onto his back and drove her knee into his gut.
Hunter groaned in pain, holding his gut as Armor stood up. She turned away from him, walking towards Lita's body and her own sword.
"NO!" Hunter stood back up and jumped her from behind, taking her down and turning her over.
He grabbed the base of her helmet and ripped it off.
He gasped.
"What the hell?"
Lita shook her hair out. "Wondered how long it was going to take you to get that thing off."
Hunter stood, his legs shaking. "But…you died…" he looked over to where her body was…
…Correction. Where her body had been.
"What the hell?"
"She was a copy of me, a shadow," Lita stood up. "I heard what she said, saw what she saw, her answers were my own."
"But…you…why? Why would you do this to yourself?"
"I didn't do it to myself. I did it for you."
Hunter took a deep breath. "You did this for me?"
Lita nodded.
"Why?"
"Because, like I told you, I wanted you to prove you loved me."
"And I did that?"
"Yes. You did."
Hunter looked her over. "How?"
"Every single thing you did in here for me. Saving me, what you said to me, then what you did when I was dying. You love me. I finally realize that."
Hunter watched at Lita's outfit changed once more, into a white sarong and a halter-top. Then Hunter's own bloodstained shirt cleared up. "When you saw my memory earlier you saw me get the idea for this. The whole point of this wasn't that I had to pull the helmet off; it was that you had to. And, you wouldn't have been able to if you had…"
"Thought you were Angelica?" he asked.
"Yes."
A feeling of relief overtook Hunter, a feeling he hadn't felt in over a year, since she'd left him. As the feeling over took him he couldn't stand it anymore.
He kissed her, deep. Holding her up against him felt perfect, simply perfect.
Hunter finally stopped. Then, looking at her, he smiled "You ready to wake up yet so we can take this further?"
"You going to get out of here and be ready to take this further?"
"He's coming out of it! He's coming out!" Dr. Venis exclaimed. "What happened?"
Hunter groggily rolled his head. "Is she awake yet?"
"No…no she's not."
Hunter tried to sit up, but the restraints held him down. "Get me out of these. I've gotta watch her wake up."
The nurses un-strapped him and watched as he ran to the other room.
"Lita, Lita, come on, wake up!" he leaned over her. "Oh, fuck…what do I have to do? Oh, okay, I get it."
He kissed her lightly on her lips.
Lita's eyes fluttered open.
"Sleeping Beauty?" Hunter asked her.
"Nah," she smiled back at him, "fairy tales always lie. There's no such thing as a Prince Charming."
"I'm not charming?" Hunter asked.
"You're not a prince."
On the way back to the Border Patrol Ship, Hunter kept looking over at Lita. "You okay?"
"Fine, just fine."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, just have a lot on my mind."
"Like?"
"Getting re-instated."
Hunter did a double take. "What?"
"Well, I've got something to keep me out there now."
Epilogue:
And so it ends.
I've watched the border patrol from the beginning, since this whole ordeal began when I was just a new recruit in the academy. But here's where the story comes to a close.
Angelica is dealt with, both by Lita and by the man who loves her. They're back together, and both of them are able to deal with the situation. Love conquers all. I can finally believe in that.
As for me? Well, I'm off for more patrol. More missions, more…everything.
Just like me, even the most catastrophic events don't stop their universe from ending, and they didn't stop time. Just like everyone else, their lives go on.
But our lives don't have such great musical accompaniment.
Lilly V