Author's Notes: Once more, the Southeast is getting hit with blizzards and ice storms, and once more, the university is closed (both today the 12th and tomorrow the 13th). Thus, I'm catching up with my writing as much as possible (that is when I'm not distracted by the coverage of the weather, because this is just plain awful … and I grew up in Indiana and Pennsylvania). In this chapter, we hear from some of the villains (and honestly, after spending six pages in their heads, I feel kinda dirty. Ick); Esther and Sophia settle the question of their control; while someone watches as Jack and Steve spring their trap. Further notes on that at the end of the chapter, as something occurred to me while I was writing this. I estimate there will be three more chapters, which will include the final confrontation, the mop-up, and the epilogue. The next story in the series will be Dite's Favor, and I implore everyone to read the warnings that will be posted for that story. I don't normally post warnings, but when I do, it's for a very good reason.

Chapter Nine

The Ultimate Validation

Colorado, about a mile and a half from Jack and Steve's position

Same Day

This … this was almost too easy! But he wouldn't argue with that. Nothing ever came easy for Theodore Paige. Nothing was ever given to him, except his parents' love and that didn't count. High school was a nightmare for him, after the relative ease of elementary school and middle school, and things went downhill from there. He always got by in the lower grades, but high school was a whole new ballgame. He was utterly miserable and to make matters worse, he didn't fit in anywhere. His childhood friends began to drift away and make new friends, leaving them with no time for him.

The teachers didn't help much in that respect, either. He sucked at playing sports, so that was out (he still had rather humiliating memories of trying out for football, basketball, baseball and track and to this day avoided even watching sports on tv, much less attending a game). Drama club was no fun, choir wasn't even in the cards, and shop class could have had potential if not for a particularly hot girl who was constantly distracting him, the bitch. He still wished he could have made her pay … that could have been a good class for him, if it weren't for her.

And then, when he was seventeen, his father died. At that point, his life completely fell apart. The loss of his father left him numb, and his already-mediocre grades plummeted. He still graduated, but it was by the skin of his teeth. He drifted through his life during the next few years. His mother didn't really argue … at least, not until she remarried. It was bad enough that he wasn't enough for his mother, that she felt she needed another man. No, his new step-father was totally unreasonable, telling him that he would either have to go to college or get a job … or worse, go into the military. He'd chosen the military, because how hard could it be? He was smarter than most of his fellow recruits, it would be a breeze, right? After all, only losers and morons joined the military.

He hadn't lasted a week. And one of the dumbest recruits, who never stood up for himself and just took all of the crap they dished out … the last he heard, he was a friggin' colonel. If that wasn't proof of how pathetic the military was … jeebus. The next attempt was a community college, in an effort to bring up his grades enough to qualify for a four year college. That was his thought, at least. That hadn't worked out too well, either. And the less said about his attempts to hold a job, the better.

When he met Tris, his life finally started to improve. Tris … oh, her imagination was something to behold, and she had just as much anger as he did. Maybe even more. It was she who read that book about a man who hunted other men and she who began translating it into real life. Paige grew up just outside the park, and the house they now used as a home base had belonged to his father's parents. And finally, it was Tris who suggested that they use his step-father as their first … guinea pig. Oh, how he had enjoyed that. His mother was heart-broken, but she shouldn't have married the asshole.

One by one, as their little circle grew, they tricked, drugged, or physically overpowered the so-called best of the best. And one by one, they humiliated these assholes who thought they were better than everyone else. Because as much as he'd enjoyed watching his bastard step-father die, he'd enjoyed humiliating him even more. Tris agreed. And he didn't even mind all the times one of the prisoners came close to escaping. After all, that was kinda the point of cheating. And he cherished the looks of pure fury he received every time they dumped a near-escapee back in with the rest of their brothers. Cherished it because it was pure impotent fury. There wasn't a damn thing any of them could do about it. He saw to that. Their access to food and water and rest was severely, severely limited. They were weak now, and he was the strong one. The only thing that could have possibly made this better was if that damn colonel who made it through basic training or their prick instructor was among the prisoners.

These last two, though … he was going to enjoy breaking them. And it was so close, he could just about taste it. When he realized that his boys captured friggin' Captain America … damn. This was it, this was the ultimate validation, the proof that he needed that he was a hundred times better than any lunk-headed member of the military. He still didn't know who the other guy was, but he wasn't anything special. According to his boys in the trees, the other guy died during the night when he pushed Captain friggin' America out of the way of their home-made spears. Too bad. He would have liked to see what kind of punishment the so-called super-soldier could have taken from those spears.

And so, they were now traveling to intercept the 'heroic' (ha!) Captain America. The hype said he was soft inside, which meant that his buddy's death would have broken him. Paige wanted to be there when he broke. He wanted to be there when the so-called spangled man with the plan realized that he really was no better than anyone else … wanted to be there when he shattered into a thousand little pieces. He had a little smile on his face as he trekked to intercept the soon to be broken captain. And because he was so intent on his fantasy, he never noticed the two ATV's or the women inside them. He certainly didn't notice the dark-haired woman speaking into her comm unit.

But while all of those signs were ignored or dismissed, there was one he absolutely couldn't have missed. He definitely heard Logan sputtering from his particular treetop, "Dammit, Dore … there's two of them after all! That dark-haired guy with Captain America? He didn't die in the night! He and Captain America just left that shelter of theirs, and he doesn't even look injured!" He never knew what it meant to have your blood run cold … not until that moment. He rasped out to keep him posted and plunged ahead, even less focused on his surroundings and even more focused on ending both Captain America and Captain Fantastic. Because only Lazarus and Jesus came back from the dead, and this ass wasn't either of them. Something else happened. The wounds weren't as bad. They couldn't have been.

Because Theodore Paige had come too far to lose now.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

In ordinary circumstances, she didn't mind being left behind. Normally. She liked to think of herself as the heart of the team, the coordinator, the person who made everything possible from her cubby in their base. She was the one who made sure everything ran smoothly, the one who could keep everyone on focus. That was normally how she saw things. But this situation was anything but normal. Starting forty minutes ago, when she heard something around back and went out to investigate. Tris thought she took the necessary precautions, taking a gun and a knife with her, along with a canister of mace. But then, she made a mistake. She could admit that, she wasn't like Dore and the others. The disturbance she heard was a pair of lost hikers, two sisters, the young blonde one giggling like a teenager. Her auburn-haired older sister rolled her eyes and Tris wondered a bit snidely if the blonde was drunk or if she was ditzy. That was probably her second mistake.

And truly, she still wasn't sure what happened, but one moment, she was turning her back on the two ditzes (because she wasn't particularly impressed with the redhead either) after giving them VERY detailed directions back to the road … the next, her face was being shoved into the house and her arm was twisted behind her back. The blonde, now sounding decidedly less ditzy, snarled, "We can do this the hard way or the easy way. Personally, I'm hoping you chose the hard way … you hurt my man, and I'm just dying for some payback."

"What … eurgh … what do you want?" Tris grunted, especially after the blonde twisted her arm a little more. The redhead murmured something, and the pressure eased, but only a bit. Tris repeated, "You want money?" The pressure once more increased, forcing another grunt out of Tris, and she remembered what she'd said earlier … how Tris hurt her man. She rasped out, "You want revenge? I'd like to see you try, Hiker Barbie." She yelped as the red-haired sister grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked.

"Oh, what we want, we already have … your keys. But, if you give us any trouble, I'll let my granddaughter take a pound of flesh from you," came the response. Her first thought was, 'my keys?' She had those in the front right pocket of her jeans … how did the red-haired bitch managed to get her hands in her pockets without Tris noticing? And the second was, 'my granddaughter? What the hell?' The redhead continued, sounding more than a little smug, "I'm a diplomat's daughter, Esther … that doesn't mean that I spent all of my time with diplomats."

Esther. She'd said earlier that the blonde's name was Julie. Then again, she also said that the blonde was her sister, and now she was saying that she was her granddaughter, and she would say it (or, at least, think it), what the hell? The blonde who was evidently Esther, rather than Julie, asked, "So, do we wait for the others or can we free them right now?" Tris froze, now realizing just how badly she was conned. They weren't hikers at all. They were here for the soldier boys and Tris tried to throw herself backward. The blonde shoved her forward until Tris could feel the rough wood against her cheek, hissing, "Don't try me! You shoved your knee into my man's crotch, I'm real tempted to return the favor!"

Tris stilled and the redhead answered, "Wait until we hear from Rex and Jason. Once Carlyon realized how things were playing out, he rearranged some things." Tris felt herself go cold all over. She wondered a bit numbly if she was the first to realize just how completely they were all just played. Probably. They should have seen that these two most recent prisoners were too easy to capture. It was too easy, and they let themselves be captured. The redhead added, sounding even more smug (if that was possible), "And now, she starts to understand. But I wonder if you understand something else. Those men you have down there? They were trained to withstand extreme conditions. Lack of food, lack of sleep. They were conditioned to do without. So tell me, little girl … do you really think you could keep men like that down?"

Tris swallowed hard, because she'd wondered about that, so many times. She'd tried to talk the others, especially Dore, into getting chains or manacles for the prisoners. Especially after seeing a feral smile on one of the faces of the men. They were biding time. Waiting for their captors to get complacent. And then they would strike. Now? Now, they would have help. And her communications were in the house. Out of her reach. She had no way of letting the boys know what was going on. The redhead added after a moment, "Let's go. Rex and Jason have the house surrounded. Lead on, my dear. Esther, don't hurt her. Not yet, at least."

There was a small moue of distress from the blonde, but Tris was yanked away from the house and shoved toward the open back door. Her arm remained twisted firmly behind her back as she was marched toward the cellar, where they'd been holding the prisoners. The redhead moved forward and Tris surged forth, trying to fight back in some way, but her arm was twisted harder. The blonde whispered, "I watched you hurt one person I love, I'll be damned if I'll watch you attack my grandmother in front of me." What the hell, grandmother?

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I won't tell Jack that you said you love him. And … there! Hello, is anyone awake?" the redhead called as she shone a light down the steps. There was movement and a hoarse voice answered. Tris turned her head, ever so slightly, and the redhead grinned. She called down, "Good morning, boys. It's time to go home. Careful, guard your eyes … I'm getting ready to turn on the lights." Tris went very still as the lights went on in the room and everyone, all of their prisoners, stared at the three of them.

"Thank you, ma'am," said one of the first to be captured, "but if you don't mind, we'd like to see this through." His eyes came to rest on Tris, and she pulled back against the blonde. She swallowed hard, because that impotent fury that they were all so used to seeing wasn't so impotent any more. The soldier growled, "You oughta be grateful that my parents taught me to never strike a woman."

"Oh," Esther said airily, "I think my sister and I can take care of that for you. But that can wait. Sophia, how are we gonna get these guys to the trap site?" Sophia. So that was the redhead's real name. She said it was 'Jeannie,' but she'd been lying about everything. And were they sisters or grandmother and granddaughter, or something else? Not that it really mattered, but it was really starting to give Tris a headache.

"That was part of what I was waiting for, sweetheart. Rex and Jason were not just making sure the coast was clear … they were trying to figure out the best way to get the MMU up here. You didn't think we were going to take the boys back to the MMU in our ATV's, did you? Never mind. Yes, the MMU are coming to us, and then, we'll join Jack and Steve. Oh, yes … those are the names of the most recent men you captured. Captain Steve Rogers and Captain Jack Harkness." The second name didn't mean anything to Tris, but the first …

And it meant something to the men below her as well. The original speaker inhaled sharply and asked, "Captain Steve Rogers? You mean these boneheads … sorry, ladies … captured Captain America?" He turned his attention to Tris, a feral grin appearing on his bearded face as he cackled, "You captured Captain America? Oh, you are so dead … you don't even know how dead you are!" He laughed long and hard, tears tracking down his face and Tris swallowed hard. Yes, she knew it wasn't a good thing that they captured Captain America … even if the boys didn't. But this … this was different.

"No, they don't, and there's no need to apologize to me … I've heard far worse, usually from my grandsons," the redhead observed. The soldier blinked, but made no comment. The redhead continued with a small smile, "Regardless of what you may have heard, there is such a thing as suspended animation, or something similar. I spent more than forty years in a coma. I think once this is all over, Steve Rogers and I will need to have a long talk." The soldier grinned at that, taking at least ten years off his age.

And for the first time since she was dragged into the house by the two women, Tris spoke, telling the redhead, "I don't know who you are, or what you're doing, but that's impossible! There is no such thing as suspended animation, there's no way you can possibly be this bimbo's grandmother, and I'm beginning to wish I'd done worse to your boytoy than just knee him in the groin!" She wasn't able to say anything more, because the aforementioned bimbo's arm wrapped around her neck, effectively choking her.

"Not … another … word. Not about Jack, not about my grandmother, not about anything, because believe me, I would love nothing more than to put to use some of the things I learned from my youngest aunt. Watching her beat the ever-living daylights out of the bitch who abducted her daughter was quite educational," the blonde hissed. Tris gasped for breath, giving up the struggle when she couldn't get into a position to elbow her captor.

"Yeah, Owen is still talking about that. Speaking of which, we need to get these boys to Owen. And as far as impossible? Dearie, you have no idea what's possible and what's impossible. But I'll give you a little hint. The man you kneed? He helped to end Miracle Day, as did my beautiful granddaughter. Where Jack Harkness is concerned, there is no such thing as impossible. Besides. We're Torchwood. Impossible doesn't apply to us," the redhead answered. And there was really nothing Tris could say to that.

TWTWTWTWTWTW

He watched from a tree, watched as the two captains quietly set up their trap for the foolish children who thought they had all the answers, who thought they could rule this little corner of the world. The captains had arrived here about fifteen minutes earlier and immediately began stacking the deck in their favor. Not that he regarded it as cheating … not in this case. Besides, his sister-in-law would tell him that he had no business, accusing anyone of cheating. He smiled to himself, watching the two men work. Interesting. With all the following he did of the dark-haired man during the Miracle, he never really saw him in action. Funny, the things he thought he knew. In truth, just like those whom he served, he knew nothing.

Well, he knew better now. He wasn't interested in protecting Harkness … the man came back to life, after all. However, he was interested in protecting his sister-in-law and nephews. Tave was right, when she accused him of being no better than the bastards who murdered his brother. She was right, and he could never truly make amends, especially since he knew what his masters were doing and he approved of it. Evidently, he forgot his history lessons … things rarely ended well for those who would rule the world.

They also weren't especially forgiving toward those who failed them. He heard what happened to the CIA mole, and he wasn't entirely surprised. They abandoned him because of his actions in the office building, and no one was dying. That left him in a very … interesting situation. Or, it would have, if Harkness hadn't returned to retrieve him. He hadn't said anything … just carted him off and dumped him in a shelter. Didn't tell the shelter people anything, either. No one could die at that time (and now, he wasn't even sure if Harkness would have died), but Harkness didn't have to do that.

While he was recovering from his gunshot wound, he often found himself visited by his brother's ghosts. Wonderful … he hallucinated the brother whom he failed. And that was the most painful truth of all. His twin was a hero, one of the greatest heroes he'd ever known. He died protecting others, while he lived to hurt others. David would be so damn ashamed of him. That hurt. More than the gunshot wound, more than the moans of pain he sometimes heard as he recovered in the shelter. He failed his brother, and he couldn't ever atone for that.

So, what he would do instead was protect his brother's wife and sons. And this … this was part of it. A very large part of it. He knew that Octavia was uncomfortable with his emails and texts, with his very existence, but if the idiots tried anything, he wanted to make sure that she and the rest of her family would know what was coming. And in truth, he was more than a little uncomfortable with the current situation, but that had more to do with the bark under his ass and the leaves teasing his hair.

Daniel Martinelli wondered a bit idly what would have happened if the Chitauri ever met up with the Families. There was no doubt in his mind that the Chitauri would have used the Families to conquer the Earth, and then when their usefulness was at an end, they would have disposed of them. That was what happened to traitors. One of his favorite scenes in the movie King Arthur came near the end, when the Saxons' traitor and spy was picked out of the tree by the archer knight Tristan. No one could convince Daniel that Tristan didn't know the bastard was there. He knew. Oh, he knew. And it was a fitting end for a traitor.

So was eternal life. Another movie he loved was 300, especially Leonidas' words to the hump-back who betrayed the Greeks to the Persians toward the end of the movie. (He honestly didn't know what was better … the king's words, or the expression on the traitor's face). Maybe that was why Harkness took him to the shelter. Because he would have to live with what he'd done. Sneaky. Very sneaky. It would be easy to dismiss Jack Harkness. It would be easy to think of him just as a pretty boy, as someone you shouldn't take seriously, because he obviously didn't take himself seriously. It would be easy, but it would also be a mistake. A mistake he made once, and wouldn't again.

A rumbling drew his attention and Daniel looked over his shoulder as the mobile units drew ever closer. A glance toward his left informed him that Theodore Paige and the rest of his rotten little unit were closing in on Rogers and Harkness. He wasn't the only one who noticed. Rogers caught sight of them and leaned closer to Harkness, who melted into the treeline with the other captain after their trap was set. Harkness looked in the appropriate direction and Daniel lifted his binoculars just in time to see the immortal smile coldly. He looked, Daniel decided, like a great cat, all but licking his lips in anticipation of an unsuspecting meal (although, knowing Harkness, he probably had a different meal in mind. Bastard).

Through his binoculars, Daniel could see the two men exchanging a smile, and then, as one, the pair stepped out of their hiding place. The former assassin swallowed hard, his heart racing with anticipation. Theodore Paige and his men didn't know it, but they were surrounded. The MMU carrying the rest of the Tregarth family, as well as the rescued military personnel, were taking up position around the clearing. They were faced on the other end by Harkness and Rogers. And above them …

Above them, the quinjet used by the Avengers hovered above them. Daniel was in New York City when the Chitauri attacked, and he recognized it. While that foolish police officer was arguing with Captain Rogers about getting the civilians off the streets and into the relative safety of the subway and the basements of nearby buildings (an argument which, to be fair, only lasted a few minutes), Daniel was actually taking the man's advice and herding people down into the subway. It was what David would have done in his place. He knew the sound of the quinjet. He knew what was coming.

And then Harkness called out, pitching his voice so that God in his heaven could hear him, "Good afternoon … welcome to our party! We're so glad that you could join us!" Daniel rolled his eyes, but found himself smiling anyhow … especially when he turned his binoculars toward the Paige group and saw their expressions. This … this would be a lot of fun.

TBC

Additional notes: Okay, so, the fate of Daniel Martinelli (or, as we knew him in Miracle Day, the Families' assassin). The last time we saw him, Rex's bullet had torn through his throat and he just collapsed. However, only one person actually died during those two months (or two and a half months, however you want to count the time). And the next scene was between the four the following morning. So, what actually happened to him? Was he left in that building? Possible, but that would be sloppy. He could identify Jack and the others. Did someone inform the proper authorities that he was there? Maybe. Or, maybe Jack went back later and retrieved his body. I think it was Olivia who observed that the Families tended to be rather unforgiving toward people who failed them. I don't imagine the Families were particularly interested in what became of their employee after that.