The vials shone beneath artificial light. A. B. Metal and glass contained the world-changer. Possibilities. Money. The word never appealed much to her. Natural curiosity wouldn't be sated by money alone. In her compact room of a neatly made bed, bed-stand, computer and mirror. Julia stared hard into the mirror and tried to imagine Jaye - Jane - her mother, present in the high cheekbones, the narrow mouth and flat, cold eyes. There wasn't much there.
But, there was - she struck the mirror, shattering it.
Hatake.
The bastard. He hadn't lied. She could see traces of himself in her and clawed at her face, leaving stinging trails of red marks from her sharp fingernails. They would heal after a few minutes. Superficial wounds always did. She turned from the mirror frame, shards cracked beneath her snow boots. Wrapped in heavy furs and thick gloves, she resembled an Eskimo woman from an old cartoon she'd watched as a little girl.
The metal cylinder sat upon the bed-stand, waiting.
Hatake would wait forever for her to accept him.
Peter wouldn't.
Julia hid the canister within a backpack of necessities, sobering with the reflection that they did have forever - she and her father. What did she believe in? Eternity, she decided, or the next day and the day after that. Metal flashed and she grinned to herself.
Here was to an eternity of Hell.
It was easy to get inside.
Too easy.
Julia loved a challenge; she suppressed her disappointment beneath a slight smile. The situation was serious yet a few moments could be spared.
Hatake had destroyed papers that would never see the light of day, secrets burnt, known only to his mind. He sensed her before she spoke. "Julia." Surprise tempered by hope. He stepped away from the counter with its glass beakers and forgotten paperclips chased into corners.
"Julia." Again. Like a prayer.
She'd been seeking answers every other time they'd been alone in the room that had housed many secrets. What happens when silver bleeds green? Alan was foolish to think she'd let the Narvik go. The Narvik gave her power. Power over - him.
Not father, never that hateful word.
Once upon a time, the same man had said, "call me Hiroshi."
"Hiroshi." The name felt foreign, strange. For a few minutes, they drifted across the room to each other. Unafraid, she met his eyes, false eyes with brown irises. Hers were similar, darker in shell. Just another lie. They stopped a few feet from one another. Never touching, never embracing. Never the kinds of things normal families did. On some TV show back in the states, Julia remembered a paternity test reuniting daughters with missing fathers. Those people were happy, weren't they?
Irony. Ah, the bitter irony.
When she extended her hand, brushing the backs of her fingers across his rough, stubbled cheek; Hatake leaned into her touch. The man was starved for attention, any kind of contact between him and his 'daughter.' She clasped one side of his face with her palm, drawing him closer. In height, there was little difference. They were closer, close enough for her to see the beginnings of liquid pooling in the corners of the other's eyes and inhale the musky scent that brought hazy images into her head - memories, maybe. Memories of being held, cherished. As the unifier between two people who were her parents.
Hatake lightly encircled her waist, the gesture of another kind, less familial.
"I've missed out on so much."
Inside, she relented slightly; was there true sadness present? The man was the perfect actor in his deceptions. She couldn't believe him. "I know...,"
"And I am not sorry." She whispered against his lips.
Silver flashed that had no sight, only a sliver of pain and blood.
He pushed her away for the last time, realizing with the self-preservation instinct of a roach, the danger held by letting his guard down. But, it was too late. "Tell me how it feels to die again." Julia hissed, watching the man fall to his knees. She stepped back when he reached out for her, pitiless in her last look. Savoring the suffering yet to come. Then, she smiled, "goodbye, father." She walked away, accessing the secret staircase, disappearing inside where Peter waited. Peter, her only love.
The one aspect she never counted on was survival.
"She - "
The door slid open revealing Alan Farragut, steadying herself on his arm, a wan but standing, Sarah Jordan. Both took in the scene, frozen from its implications. Alan's mind immediately leapt to Jules! He hurried to Hatake's side, voice rising in accusation. "What've you done now - "
Hatake silenced him with a deepening groan, grasping the other man's arm. Sarah dropped to her knees, reaching for the doctor's other arm. " - she has...the virus."
"Who -" That seemed redundant now. The virus. It all came down to the virus where men played God and horror was a stone's throw from insanity. But, even as he questioned, the sinking feeling in his gut intensified. Jules. God, no.
"Why?" Ever calm, Sarah asked the pertinent question, her analytical mind already running through the probabilities of the scientist she supported with her meager frame's chances of survival. Grateful for the support of the young woman at his side, Hatake pushed up to his feet, his body movements sluggish. Vitriolic fluid sped through his bloodstream.
"For revenge."
Alan looked on the verge of flaring up a dozen reasons why Julia was vindicated in her pursuit of her father's destruction. Sarah could think of a few less as to why Dr. Walker hadn't come to them first with her plan. She betrayed us.
Sarah met Alan's frustrated eyes.
He knew the truth as well, but didn't want to face it.
"Revenge for who?" Together, they made it to the door and beyond the sterile corridor rendered eerily silent. Somewhere near the exit, Aerov and his men awaited with guns. Sarah briefly wondered if Dr. Walker knew of another exit, one less populated by Vectors stalking the halls.
Alan shot two before they reached the elevator.
More were coming.
Hatake took his time answering, slow, deliberate, with everything he did. He had an ally in Sarah and that bolstered his flagging confidence in being able to handle the situation. "Jane," he whispered the former lover and colleague's name. "And Peter." Peter. Ah, Peter. The Vector had taken his photo album, one of the few things that still mattered to him.
"What about Peter!?" Alan flared up again, dangerous with the gun in his shaking hand, with the angry glint in his eye. Only Sarah stepped between the two, her gaze begging him to understand. "Now, isn't the time." For good measure, she laid her gloved hand upon his chest, a reminder of the intimacy they'd shared. Sarah's voice though slightly weak, carried a note of steel to it.
Alan looked away, his jaw tight. They'd all been through so much. It wasn't fair. Nothing was fair. "Alright," he said for Sarah's benefit. The young woman stepped back beside Hatake, approval in her look.
"She believes it was my fault he became infected with the Narvik strain."
"Was it?"
This time, Hatake didn't speak and instead lapsed into silence. Alan took one threatening step toward him, but the elevator stopped and flight began. Aerov had lost his men; their bodies savaged by the Vectors , soon they would become what they feared. Splotches of green bile spattered the long corridor, spent shell casings littered the expanse.
"Don't shoot!" Sarah and Alan shouted, their voices joined together, bouncing arcs. Aerov relaxed position near the door to the white room. The passage wasn't far but it felt like miles to the wearied scientists. Sarah was close to sobbing for joy with the full blast of arctic air slapping color back into her pale cheeks.
Freedom, so close.
Altogether now, the doors sealed behind them, pressurized locks slamming the arctic base into black oblivion. As far as Alan was concerned, the Vectors could have it until the blast wiped away all traces of the virus and bad memories. "Dr. Walker?" Aerov looked them over, questioning. Hatake gripped Sarah's shoulder, shaking his head.
Her father couldn't bring himself to condemn his daughter in the eyes of the last onlooker.
Neither could her former lover.
After all the years spent apart, Alan Farragut was amazed at the sway two weeks in Julia's presence had done to him. He couldn't hate her anymore than Hatake could. Nor was he willing to believe she had outright betrayed them. Painfully, arresting his thoughts from the absence of the dark-haired woman, he looked to Aerov, already suspecting the answer.
"Evac?"
"Empty." Aerov tossed a look to the snowplow left where Farragut and Walker had left it the night they'd returned from the abandoned station that hadn't been so abandoned. "Better get comfortable, 'cause we'll all be here to watch this hellhole blow sky high."
Before Alan could answer, could think of an alternate to the rash plan he had waxed on briefly to Julia - oh, it felt so long ago - when in reality only four days ago, the miraculous roar of familiar machines echoed across the frozen white tundra.
"Looks like you could use a lift." Balleseros called tauntingly, grinning his devil-may-care smile. Several feet away, clad in heavy furs, a dark-eyed woman perched atop a matching snowmobile. "Anana!" Aerov exclaimed, sounding truly angry. "I thought I told you to stay away!"
"I couldn't!" She snapped, hopping from the Cat. "Not when my stupid little brother was playing hero!"
The two siblings glowered at each other; Sarah didn't want to be the one to remark on how eerily similar their temperaments could be. Hatake stirred, sarcasm evident in his roughening voice. "How touching -" he got no more out before Anana flew at him, punching him in the face.
"Dr. Hatake!" Sarah cried then spun toward her superior. "Alan!" The CDC doctor was in the process of tackling Balleseros to the ground, kicking and punching. Imprecations about Doreen's death rang in the blowing wind that chilled the survivors to the bone. Surprisingly, it was Aerov whom separated his sister from her target, freeing his adopted father from her headlock. He worried, but wouldn't let it show for his anger was still potent inside. Hatake hadn't fought back. The former Head Scientist of Arctic Biosystems sagged in Sarah's arms, face wan beneath blood streaming from his nose.
Before Aerov could break up the other combatants, it was over. Balleseros kicked off the CDC doctor, sending him crashing to the hard ice, clutching his stomach, winded.
"Look, we've got to get out of here. The timer's rigged!" Aerov shouted; the wind was rising. Soon visibility would vanish on the arctic plateau. They had to be in shelter before they lost complete sight of what was ahead. His voice seemed to spur the others into action. Sarah left Hatake, jogging over to Alan. Anana threw the older scientist a look of pure hate, but she busied herself in retrieving the fuel cans they'd brought, from the backs of the snowmobiles.
"C'mon, let's fill up the tank." Sarah jerked her head to the distant hulking form of the snowplow. Dazed, Alan nodded, his next words bitten off with a sharp cough. "J-Julia -"
But, Aerov spoke over him, sharp, commanding. "She's gone, forget it."
"But, she's-"
"Alan, listen to reason!" Sarah snapped with uncharacteristic harshness. He looked at her for a full moment, his eyes bloodshot, lines of age more pronounced than before. Hatake was the only one whom understood, he knew more than all of them, the deep emotional ties he and Farragut shared over the woman whom had potentially altered the course of history as they would know it.
"Alan, please." Hatake's voice was little more than a wavering note.
Finally, the other nodded.
It was time to take the long road home.
Disclaimer: Helix is owned by SyFy, I just play in their sandbox
AN: Inspired by last night's episode :) just one of many scenarios my mother and I discussed after watching the show. Thanks for reading.
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