Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or the Avengers or anything in that universe, I do, however, own Jamie and her fellow soldiers.
Chapter 4
Escape
"This isn't going to work," Shearer mumbled for what seemed like the thousandth time. "This plan is stupid."
"Do you have any better ideas?" Aaron retorted rudely.
Jamie sat quietly against the far wall of her shared cell, her eyes closed as she ran through the plan over and over again in her head. It had been nearly six months since she came up with the plan with Amir. The young soldier needed to completely control her abilities if their plan was to succeed, so time was required for her to do so.
Both groups of soldiers were aware of the plan, having been informed a couple months after Jamie and Amir started to figure out all the finer details of their escape plan. Everybody was hesitant at first, unsure if they could work with the man that Jamie came to trust. But as the female persisted with the plan, they came to accept it, and even became determined and hopeful that, perhaps, they would have their freedom once more.
"It is just too far fetched to be believable," Shearer persisted.
"You have no idea how much work was put into this plan!" Patrick spat.
"And neither do you!" Shearer stated. "The only two that are fully aware are Dr. Quack and Private Nightlight. How do we know they're not going to turn on us and make us the distraction while they hightail it out of the compound?"
"Because Jamie wouldn't do that to us!" Aaron protested.
"Oh, and you know her so well?" Shearer retorted. "Desperation changes people."
"Jamie's been the only one to constantly reassure us that we would get out of this hellhole," James stated. "She's giving us hope, something we haven't had in a long time. That's far more than what you've done while you've been here."
"Right, Jamie's our solace," Aaron added.
Jamie sat there, watching the group as the conversation progressed. She was shocked to hear the three men back her up; even going as far as to say that she was their solace. She was just trying to make sure they believed there was something else out there for them than just dying at the hands of those crazy scientists. In part, it was to try and make herself feel better.
"We can't afford to make a scene," Rhys sighed, rubbing the bridge of his eyes.
"Cam's right," Graham said. "If we have a chance to get away, then we can't afford to right whatever shot we have."
"I full heartedly agree," Dove said. "If Jamie believes it'll work, then so do I."
"Thank you, William," Jamie spoke up, smiling gently towards the quietest Englishman.
"You've put a great deal of time and effort into this plan, Jamie," Will went on. "If it's going to work, we all need to participate in whatever way we can. To the fullest extend."
"Will's right, Jack," Rhys said. "Now, either you're with us, or against us. You have to make that decision right here, right now, otherwise everything will fall apart. You want to get out of here, don't you?"
"Of course I do," Shearer scoffed.
"Then you need to shut your mouth and listen to what Private Roe says," Rhys added.
"Whatever," Shearer muttered, turning his back away from the barred door.
"Jackass," Graham and Aaron both muttered at the same time.
"We should go over the plan one final time," Rhys finally said, bringing the group back to business. "Private Roe, if you would be so kind…?"
"Of course, Cameron," Jamie said, pushing off the wall she was sitting against. She moved forward, towards the cell door. "It's rather simple, really. The only thing we keep out is the fact that the experiment was successful. Amir will come to administer another neutralizer, a decoy one, as well as slip in a key into the cell. Once he leaves, the guards switch shifts. That gives us a fifteen minute opening to get out of the cells. When we're out of here, we split into two groups, the first group goes to the computer lab, extracting the experimental data on the flashdrive Amir has, and deletes it from the server. Amir also said, as a failsafe, Dr. Hull installed a "self-destruct" code in case the facility was compromised. We'll activate that, giving up fifteen minutes to escape.
"The other group heads over the armory, getting as many weapons as possible, for themselves and the other group for when we meet back up. But before we meet back up, the armed group heads to the room where Amir's wife and daughter and being held.
"Once we meet back up outside of the training room, we make our way through there and to the hallway on the other side of the room, which leads the garage, where we get one of their jeeps and make our way north to our base," Jamie finished.
"And what about what we tell our commanding officers when we debrief?" Dove asked. "We can't very well tell them the experiment worked. Who knows what they would do with that information?"
"They'd probably try and recreate it," Aaron said.
"And we can't put anybody else through that," Jamie said. "Too many people have died."
"So what are we going to tell them?" Shearer asked.
"We tell them most of the truth," Jamie said. "We tell them we were experimented on. That Amir was there against his will as well, and we all worked together to escape. We tell them the whole plan, except for the fact that we extracted the experiment data. And we leave out the fact that I'm a," she looked pointedly at Shearer as she said, "nightlight."
"Sounds reasonable to me," Graham said.
"So when exactly are we going through with thi-" Shearer began, but stopped when the door down the hallway opened, and a single pair of footsteps made their way towards their cells.
The group grew quiet, moving away from the doors, just as they always did. It was strange that only a single pair of footsteps made their way down the hallway. Typically there were at least two guards. One set meant only one thing; it was time.
They were making their escape; today.
Jamie gulped at the sight of Amir on the other side of the bars. This is it, she thought, nodding her head ever so slightly at the man. She was extremely nervous. This was it, it was do or die and none of them wanted to die. They were determined to get home, back to reality and society. But if they failed, there was no future. No chance of ever getting back, because they'd all be dead. And it would be her fault.
Amir raised the neutralizing gun and pointed it directly at Jamie, while the other hand slipped the key out of his pocket. He dropped it on the floor, kicking it with his toe as he simultaneously fired the girl at the female. Jamie fell to the ground, the empty neutralizing shell piercing her shoulder, though it wasn't as unbearable as if the neutralizing agent had actually been in the casing.
"Fuck," Jamie groaned, holding her shoulder with one hand as she fell to the ground, her free hand snatching up the item discretely.
Amir left, and Jamie automatically knew that he was making his way to the the computers room for their meet up, and that the guards were changing shifts. She forced herself to her feet, handing the key to Patrick as Aaron helped her steady herself. She glanced up at him, nodding in silent thanks.
"You sure you're okay to do this?" he asked her.
"As ready as I'll ever be," she admitted. "Are you ready to get home and see Andy?"
Jamie and Aaron had been friends since they had been originally stationed together on Jamie's first tour. He was the only person that had been stuck with her since that first deployment. They had been through two full tours, and part of the third before they had been captured, and he accepted her into his family, even taking her home on leave to meet his mother and younger brother, Andrew, who would have been eighteen by now, if she recalled correctly.
And even before they had been captured, Aaron was determined to bring her back home again, to take her to a Chicago Blackhawks vs. New York Ranger's hockey game, seeing as hockey was both of their favorite sports. Jamie would root for hometown Rangers, while Aaron and little Andy would cheer on the Blackhawks.
"More than ready," he sighed. "We'll finally go see that hockey game."
Patrick opened the cell door and instantly went to the Brits to let them out. James was out second, making his way down the hallway to make sure the coast was clear for them to make their escape.
"Yeah," Jamie said. "Promise?"
"You have my word, Jameson Roe," he insisted, helping her out of the cell.
"God, I hate it when people call me that," she muttered.
She was only ever called Jameson when she was in trouble with her father, or her brother was calling her that intentionally to make her mad. She didn't have to worry about any of her superiors calling her that, because they always called her Private or just Roe. She always introduced herself as Jamie, and not Roe, but Aaron had found out on one of her paperwork sheets when she had to sign her name, that her full name as Jameson, not Jamie.
"I know, that's why I called you it," he said.
"I don't think this is the time for flirting," Shearer said, making his way out of the cell.
Jamie and Aaron both scoffed, looking at one another oddly. "Yeah, that's so not what that was," Aaron said.
"No, if you saw him flirt, you'd definitely know," Jamie muttered. "He's horrible at it."
"Really don't think this is the time to discuss this," Pat instructed.
"He's right," Rhys said. "We have to move now if we want this to work."
"Right," Jamie said. "Do you remember the instructions to the armory, and the captive room from there?"
"Yes," Dove answered.
They made it to the end of the hallway, and the two groups, the Brits and the Americans, both looked at one another. One group had to go left, while the other right, and neither knew for certain what awaited them once they rounded those corners.
"Don't worry, Solace," Graham teased with a wink in the girl's direction. "We've got you covered. Rendezvous in ten minutes, fifteen at the latest."
Jamie rolled her eyes at the name, but nodded her head and turned, bringing her men with her as Rhys's men went the opposite way. She kept them in the back of her mind, she needed to make sure she kept them in her mind as they moved, but not at the front where she'd be worrying about them the whole time. She had her own mission to worry about; her own men to make sure didn't die.
They went down several corridors, moving quickly but as silently as possibly. That was the only good part of not having any shoes. It made them much quieter when they walked. The downside was that it left their feet vulnerable to step on whatever happened to be there on the hallway floor, be it glass, nails or anything.
There were several instances where the Americans had almost gotten caught, but by some miracle they made it to the room to meet up with Amir. Jamie couldn't hear any other voices in the room, so she slowly opened it, peeking inside to check. The coast was clean. She motioned to James, Patrick and Aaron to follow her inside.
"Have you been seen?" Amir asked nervously as he walked up to the girl.
"No," she replied. "Not that I know of. Do you have the flash drive?"
"Yes," he answered, holding the little black object out for her to see. "You must take it. I fear I will misplace it in our haste."
Jamie nodded, taking the device and slipping it into her bra, just for safe measures. Her blue eyes glanced around the room at the computers. They weren't as high tech as she had thought they would have been. There were early 2000 models. No flat screens. They were bulky and took up too much room.
"Did you delete the information?" she asked, making her way up to one of them, not really planning to do anything once she got there.
"Of course," he said. "Just as we planned."
"Then you know what we have to do now, don't you?" she asked, looking back up into the brown eyes of the man.
"We've gotta hurry this along, Jay," Aaron reminded her. "We've only got a couple minutes to meet back up with the Brits."
"He's right," Pat said.
"Then you gotta work fast then, don't you, Amir?" Jamie asked.
Amir sighed, nodding his head in a hurry. He walked up to the computer Jamie was standing in front of, forcing her to set back and away from the device to give him more room to work. After several moments of typing out long codes that Jamie had no idea meant into the computer, red flashing lights built into the top of the walls started to flash, and loud alarms rang out.
"All right," Amir said, giving one last look to the monitor before turning to Jamie and the other soldiers. "The self destruct sequence is in effect. We have fifteen minutes to evacuate."
"Then let's move," Pat said.
The group emptied out into the hallway, following Patrick down the hall as he lead the way towards the training room. They could hear the frantic yells from the guards and scientists wringing through the halls through the alarm, but no guards were seen as they ran to make their escape.
The soldiers rounded the corner first, Amir in the center, seeing as he didn't know how to protect himself. However the moment he laid his eyes on his wife and daughter standing with the British Royal Marines, he broke formation and engulfed them in an embrace, the most physical and emotional Jamie had ever seen him.
Jamie didn't take the time to stop and really look at the reunited family. She was happy for them, but there was far too much to do still. They job wasn't done. They were still in danger, and if they hesitated for a moment for happy reunions, they wouldn't make it out with their freedom; or out at all.
"How did it go?" Jamie asked.
"Swimmingly," Graham muttered. "Scared the hell out of us, that's for sure, with those alarms and whatnot."
Jamie smirked, taking one of the guns from Dove is a polite nod. "No trouble then, I take it?"
"We had a bloody difficult time getting the guns without being noticed by the guards, but we managed to get out of there right before the alarms alerted them," Rhys said. "And I take it you didn't have any trouble?"
"Not in the least, which kind of concerns me," Jamie admitted. "Where are all the guards?"
"Perhaps they are all escaping before the compound blows," Amir said. "I would very much like to leave before that happens please."
"As would I," Shearer grumbled. "Can we go now?"
"Of course," Jamie said, rolling her eyes. "I'll go in first, make sure the coast is clear before I give you the signal."
"Sounds fine by me," Shearer said.
Jamie raised the rifle, slowly cautiously opening the door and entering it, checking to her left and right to make sure nobody was around the corner. She moved forward, taking over at the first barrier before turning around to the rest of the men, silently signalling them inside. She watched, one by one, as they entered and took refuge behind the same barrier with her.
Her stomach didn't churn until Jamie heard a shot ring out, and James screaming out in agony, falling to the ground. Jamie's breathing quickened, adrenaline and energy pulsing through her body ten times more than it had been moments before.
"Stay here," Jamie ordered, bolting out from the safety of the barrier to grab onto James's shoulders, the rifle hanging on her back from the strap. She managed to drag him halfway to the barrier before another shot rang out. Jamie dropped to her knees, a cry escaping her lips as pain burned through her side
She forced herself back up though, regaining her grip on James's shoulder and dragged him the rest of the way to the barrier. Once back there, Jamie fell to the ground on her backside, James in front of her screaming out in pain, holding his left leg as blood seeped through his fingers and through the material of his pants.
"Holy shit," Aaron muttered, obviously anxious about what was going on. "Jamie, are you okay? Fuck, you've been shot!"
"I'm fine," Jamie groaned, her attention more one James and the guards up in the rafters than on herself. There were three guards, as well as Dr. Hull. "Can you stop his bleeding?" Jamie asked Amir, who was already working on the soldier's leg.
"I can try and stop the bleeding, put a tourniquet on, but he needs medical attention, a hospital," Amir insisted.
"We gotta get out of here first," Jamie said, "and we can't if those guards are there."
"Yeah, what are you going to do about it?" Shearer said, glancing over the top of the barrier before ducking back down due to a several shot firing out towards him. "You were shot!"
Jamie looked at Shearer dead on. "I'm gonna take them out," she stated.
"Jay, don't be stupid," Aaron said. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"Well, maybe I'll still be able to get you guys out then," she said before jumping up onto the top of the barrier.
The second she was up there, she raised her hand, focusing the energy to her palm and forced it out, sending it directly towards one of the guards. The attack surprised him, and the forced knocked him backwards, off of his post and down to the ground with very distinct smack and crack, indicating that he broke his back and neck.
Jamie didn't stop there though. The other guards were still up there, and if she didn't move quickly, they would react and she'd go down without much of a fight. She jumped, the energy pushing through her body, allowing her to push herself through the air, flying in the direction of the second guard. She landed, slightly out of breath from her wound and the amount of energy it always took to fly.
She lunged forward, rolling on the rafter to avoid the shot being fired at her. Her role brought her closer to the guard, close enough where, as she righted herself part way, was about to knock his feet out from under him with a swipe of her legs, energy flare backing her up just in case she missed. He fell onto his back, the gun slipping out of his hands, falling to the ground below. Jamie got up, pointing her weapon directly at him, firing several shots into his chest, killing him.
Seeing an opening, Rhys, Graham, Dove, Shearer and Patrick directed Amir's wife and daughter to move towards the opening of the garage, while Aaron and Amir pulled James behind.
While Jamie was in combat with the second guard, the third took Dr. Hull down from the rafters and moved across the room towards the garage. He stopped, turned when Jamie was finally done with the second man and pulled something out from his belt. He unpinned it, dropping it to the ground and quickly moved out of the room with the Doctor.
The grenade went off, sending Jamie fell from the rafter due to the blast. Separating her, the two innocent women, the Brits and Patrick from James, Amir and Aaron. Aaron seemed to be knocked unconscious from the blask.
Jamie groaned, rolling to her side as she tried to regain her composure. Rhys and Dove helped her up to her feet. She staggered for a moment, unable to keep still and straight on her feet. She looked around her, noticing that her group was split up. She moved to go back to her group, but fiery debris was in the way, and the two men were holding her back.
"Let go," she muttered weakly.
"No, we have to move now, Private," Rhys said.
"That's an order, Jamie," Patrick said. "We only have a couple minutes."
"We can't leave them," she said weakly, slowing regaining herself as the left the training room.
There were only a couple vehicles left in the garage, many of which were being taken by hustling guards, desperate to get away before the compound was destroyed. They managed to make it to one before anybody else could though. Rhys ushered Rima and Dunya into the back first, while Dove got into the driver's seat, Patrick into the passenger side.
"Private, we need to go now!" Patrick called to the girl, holding the door open for her to get in.
"Come on Jamie! We need to get out of here now!" Graham added.
She had the flash drive, she had the car, and five men out of eight was good. Jamie knew that she needed to make her escape with them right then and there if she even had a chance at getting away. Going back to get her other three men would surely get her killed, or foil her chances of ever getting back out of the facility.
James had been in extremely bad shape when she left, and Aaron was out cold. Amir was frantic, desperately trying to stop the bleeding on James's leg, while waving the girl away to make her escape, to assure that his wife and daughter got out alive. The chances that they were still hidden from the rest of the guards was very unlikely. They were most likely all dead already, and going back would have been completely pointless.
But then again, she was a Marine, and she never left anybody behind.
"Go!" she yelled to them. "I have to go back and get them."
"What?" Shearer gaped. "Are you insane?"
"I can't just leave them!"
"Private, you know what this means then, don't you?"
That I'll probably die or get captured again? Yeah, she thought. She nodded her head. "Go," she repeated.
Rhys nodded to her, saluting before softly saying, so she had to read his lips to understand what he was trying to say to her. "Thank you."
Jamie nodded back before turning and bolting out of the garage, dodging a couple guards as they ran to the garage to get out before the compound blew to smithereens. It didn't take her nearly as long to get back there as it took for them to get through the training room to begin with. There weren't anymore guards waiting to attack them, having all left to save their own lives.
James and Amir were right where she had last seen them, taking cover behind one of the barriers. However, not all was as it had been when she left. Amir was no longer conscious, a large gash bleeding out from the top of his head. James's leg was wrapped up, but it was still bleeding and he was still unconscious in a pool of his own blood.
And Aaron was nowhere to be seen.
Jamie looked around them, only finding a trail of blood for seven feet before it seemingly stopped out of nowhere. She did a lap around the room, her heart pounding in her chest, echoing louder in her ears than the alarms overhead.
"Aaron!" Jamie called out, desperate to find her best friend. "Aaron? Aaron!" Come on, answer me! Don't do this to me! "Aaron!"
The watch on Amir's wrist beeped, the alarm signaling that she had less than five minutes to get out of there before the compound blew up. She had less than five minutes to find Aaron and drag the two unconscious men out of there.
Jamie didn't have enough time for both.
It was save two lives, plus her own, or risk those lives to try and find someone that may or may not be dead or still on the premises.
She was forced to make the decision she really didn't want to make. Jamie was choice James and Amir. She bent down, painfully throwing James over her shoulder. She grabbed onto Amir's arm and quickly and painstakingly dragged him towards the exit.
Her stomach sank when she entered into the garage, finding no remaining forms of transportation to make a quick getaway. She pierced her lips, running as fast as she could with carrying close to three hundred extra pounds. She excited through the loading bay, her feet sinking into the sand on the ground as she trudged off of the compounds perimeter.
Jamie screamed out when the explosion occurred, the black sending her and the men through the air and to the ground. The young woman panted, slowly forcing herself up, looking back at the now burning facility. She couldn't believe that she had just made it out alive.
Alive but without her best friend.
Jamie bit her lip, silent tears dripping down her filthy dirt and blood covered face. She picked both of the men up again, just as she had done the first time and moved forward.
Two days.
First extreme heat, though Jamie had to admit she was thankful it was February when the head was averaged in the high seventies and not August, when the temperature averaged at a high one hundred twenty-five degrees. Then again, she was carry - more so dragging - two men through the desert as she desperately tried to make her way towards the base she barely remembered being stationed at.
Her muscles ached as sweat dripped off of her burning red skin from the sun beating down from above. Her skin and clothes were caked with dirt, sand and blood; not all of which belonged to her.
And with each step Jamie took, she counted, losing track every hundred or so steps, requiring her to start over again. She didn't know why she counted. Perhaps it was just a way to keep herself as sane as she could. After all, the only thing around her was sand for as her unnatural blue eyes could see.
And after she'd lose track of her cound, Jamie would get frustrated with herself. She figured they should have come across some sort of civilization by then. She knew she was wasting precious time. James was bleeding out, as was she. But James was going to lose his leg, perhaps even his life if she didn't get him back to that base for an exac as soon as she possibly could.
But she was going as fast as she could when carrying two fully grown men. James was over her shoulders, his legs in the air to try and prevent the floor from going down to his feet, bleeding out completely, while she dragged Amir through the sand. She couldn't feel the wound on her side anymore, and that wasn't a good thing either. She knew she was bleeding out too, the wound reopening over and over again as she struggled to push forward.
She was hot. She was thirsty. She was in pain and she was tired.
Seventy-four. Seventy-five. Seventy-si-
Jamie tripped, her ankle rolling on a large rock under her foot. James landed on top of her shoulders as she face planted into the hot sand; Amir hitting the wound on Jamie's side, causing her to cry out in pain. She managed to crawl out from under the two men, clawing at the sand. She rolled into her back, clutching her bleeding wound as tears streamed down her face. She only stopped moving when a shadow cast over her burning body.
"I know you did not just give up on me."
Jamie coughed, rolling to her side as her watery red stained blue eyes looked up to the man casting the shadow over her. She froze when her eyes looked into the brilliantly green eyes of the very clear image of her older brother, Everett. His brown hair combed back neatly, reminding her of something seen in old documentaries from the forties or fifties. He liked to look classic. He crossed his arms over his muscular chest, looking down at her as his head shook back and forth.
She hadn't seen her brother since she was thirteen. She had lost him in Kandahar not long after the events of 9/11. She had gone to his funeral. He couldn't possibly be there with her. She knew that. But he looked so real. Jamie could practically reach out and touch him, but that would have required movement that caused her too much pain.
"I-I can't," she muttered exhaustedly.
"Oh sorry, I'm deaf to quitters. I can't hear you."
"I can't do it," she cried, biting her lip to try and stop her sobbing.
"Last time I checked there were no quitters in my family, Jameson."
"It hurts," she went on. "I'm so tired."
"Yeah so does failure. Failure sucks. So suck it up."
Jamie shook her head. "You don't know what it's like," she said. "No food. No water. No sunlight. To be poked and prodded and tortured. I can't- I can't do it anymore."
"No, I just died in a fiery explosion. I can totally see how being alive is totally worse. My bad."
"What reason do I have to go on, huh?" she screamed at the hallucination. "You're dead. Mom and Dad are dead. I've got nobody."
"How about not joining us? 'Cause that would piss me the hell off. And you'll find someone who needs you. Unless you're going to be a quitting, whiney baby, Jameson."
Jamie rolled to her knees, one hand on her wound while the other supported her as she crawled to James, grabbing him by the sleeve of his shoulder. "I hate it when you call me Jameson," she growled.
"Then move. Remember, James has a wife. He has two kids. If you don't do it for yourself, do it for him. For them."
"For them," she huffed through strain as James was back up on her shoulders.
"That's right, for them Cute kids that want their daddy home."
"Kyle," Jamie said. "Casey."
Kyle and Casey were James's kids. She never met them, but James always showed pictures of them to whoever he managed to get his hands on. He was so proud of those kids. Kyle played football, and Casey was extremely smart. He couldn't see fault in them, they were both two good kids that Jamie knew were missing their father more than anything.
"Yeah, and get Amir back to his wife, Rima and daughter, Dunya," Ev said. "He took care of you when you needed it, now take care of him."
"Family is important," Jamie agreed. "You don't leave family."
"Right, and you are all family now. So save your family."
"I miss you so much," she cried, grabbing Amir's arm to begin dragging him along once more.
"I know, Jay, I know. I miss you too. But you gotta hang in there for me, okay?"
Jamie forcefully breathed through her nose, painfully taking a determined step forward. She was going to get James and Amir back to their family; if it was the last thing she did. Because if she couldn't be with her, and Aaron couldn't be with his, she was going to damn well make sure they got back to theirs.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Well, there we go. They have escaped and now Jamie, as well as the Brits and most of Jamie's fellow soldiers. I'm not all that good at combat scenes, but I hope it turned out okay. Let me know what you think. Please review. Reviews make chapters come out faster!
Thanks to the following for their reviews on the previous chapter:
seasidewriter1: Of course you have to love men in uniforms, especially British ones with amazing accents! At least now you know how they escape. What comes next for Jamie is only known by me and one other person at the moment. We both just calaberated on Jamie meeting Bruce, so that's actually all written already. I have so many chapters in=between everything written already it's unbelievable. I mean, I seriously had maybe five chapters already done before I have all of the whole beginning finished. Oh well.
TrueManevolanGirl4899: I'm very glad you liked it. I hope you liked this one just as much, if not more. I really appreciated the review!
BrySt1: You love it? Oh yay! I'm so happy you're enjoying this as much as I am writing it. I hope all the antisipation was worth the wait. Hoped you liked it and thank you for the review!
mun3litKnight: Well, now you know the escape was successful, for most of them, at least. I hope you enjoyed it, I found it rather diffucult to write. I'm not the best at combat scenes,but I hope it turned out well anyway.
