Magnus got Tesla to his unsteady feet and assisted him out of the SHU to her lab – the infirmary was still unusable and occupied by the agonizing sasquatch.
"I ought to throw you on your ass or let him have you." She said icily as she looked him over.
He looked wan and was unable to fully straighten.
"You're bloody lucky to be alive." She growled.
He cleared his throat wincing as she pressed a hand to his lower belly.
"To be fair I didn't realize his full nature." He said stiffly.
"Why would you attack him in the first place? He is my guest and my friend – "
"No, Methos has no friends Helen. Do you know what he is?"
"I am familiar with both his species and his past."
Nikola guffawed then bit his lip as the outburst sent fresh pain radiating through him.
"Then you know he's quite a monster, I wonder Helen, is that what draws you to them?" He asked wrlyly.
She slapped him, hard, and fast across his pale cheek. A livid imprint of her hand showed up almost immediately. He blinked at her.
"Pull your head out of your ass Nikola, he is going to kill you. John may be able to convince him to hold off until we've recovered Ashley, if he's lucky." She paused and took a deep breath, "but that is more than you deserve, I suggest you make yourself extremely useful and extremely scarce when Methos is near."
He glared at her.
"You've only yourself to blame." John rumbled.
The two were sprawled before the altar a tangle of pale limbs and scattered clothing.
"Next time don't nearly get me killed." Methos growled and sat up reaching for his discarded pants and shirt.
"Yes well, lesson learned." John sighed.
Methos chuckled and kissed the bigger man on the cheek then slithered away from him, standing and stretching with familiar feline grace and dressing quickly.
"Cold?" John asked with a smirk.
Methos snorted at him.
"It's only a matter of time before Magnus or Henry come looking for us. Do you want that audience?"
John poked his lips out in a mock pout.
"Well you should have said so…I know this place –"
John laughed and painfully tried to rise.
Dressed now Methos helped him up and retrieved his clothing, the immortal didn't regret battering the bigger man but he had to admit a fully functional Druitt would, at the very least, have been more fun.
"Get cleaned up, I'll go see Magnus, make nice." Methos sighed.
Druitt flicked a lock of errant hair out of the immortal's face.
"Be good we have more important things than Tesla's ego at hand."
"I'll behave but as soon as your daughter's fate is determined his head is mine."
"As you wish." Druitt sighed in the same tone a weary parent might use when acquiescing to an impatient child's pestering.
Methos smiled a Cheshire cat smile of satisfaction and moved to leave the chapel.
"Methos?" John called.
Methos turned and faced John, walking backwards toward the exit.
"Change your shirt." John suggested.
"You are to stay in your quarters Tesla, I make no promise regarding your safety should you choose to leave without an escort." Helen snapped as she opened the door to one of the Sanctuary's more opulent suites.
Tesla sighed dramatically but didn't argue, that alone told Magnus just how frightened the little scientist had become.
"You've bitten off too much this time." She sighed.
He grinned at her and brought his vampire nature to the fore.
"We'll see." He said through the jutting needle knives of his vampire teeth.
Magnus closed the door and locked it behind her.
Methos found her seconds later. He looked…refreshed. He'd showered and changed which she assumed must be part of it but there was more.
"I beat John's face in." Methos said by way of greeting. Magnus blanched and went still.
"It's fine, he doesn't mind." Methos said looking past her and down the hall.
"Is he down there?" He asked sharply.
"Tesla is not to be harmed in my custody." She said sharply.
Methos looked at her sidelong, changeling eyes dark and unreadable in the dim light of the hallway.
"Promise me."
"No." He said venomously.
"Methos-"
"Magnus on this you don't win. You and your lover kidnapped me, forced me into this, you've violated your own oath – by omission if nothing else – I understand why, I do, but this? No, I do not brook this. I do not…owe this. He dies by my hand when I decide."
She was quiet. Pale.
"Are you going to kill him now?" She asked evenly. She would try to stop him, whether he tried now or in the future.
"No." Methos said without hesitation.
Magnus sagged slightly in relief.
"I choose when, I choose how." He said and turned to retreat back the way he'd come.
Magnus watched him go silently.
Henry, oblivious to the drama of the past two or three hours nearly leapt out of his skin when Methos crashed into his work area. The werewolf glared at Methos and picked up the pliers he'd dropped.
"Give me something to do." Methos sighed.
"Uh wh-yeah okay fine. Uh." Henry muttered casting semi-frantic glances around the room. His gaze settled on a shattered server rack.
"Uh see if you can get that cleaned up and put together."
Methos followed Henry's line of sight and pursed his lips speculatively, then nodded and walked over to it, Henry bent to his work the immortal already forgotten.
John limped up to the main building body throbbing from injury and fading pleasure. His eyes were hooded with thought. He could have teleported but felt the need to keep his battered frame moving. He kept his life via his manipulation of blood samples from Magnus, but, for all of that, he was a very old and very mortal man in truth. If he hadn't teleported when he had John was fairly certain the immortal would have killed him, so raw and pure was the slim man's rage at Tesla's actions and John's inadvertent involvement.
He licked his lips and glanced up at the setting sun, a dull cold ache radiated from his bruised testicles sighing he let out a grating groan and got moving again.
Will turned off the bike, back aching from crouching over the fuel tank for the last four hours. He stretched and carefully dismounted the expensive machine, he slipped the helmet off and tucked it under his left arm, surprised at the cold bite of wind on his sweaty face.
He reached into his jacket and slipped out a simple cell phone. The screen blinked indicating a new text message.
"Enter." It read. Will sighed heavily and looked up at the view before him. An empty yawing cave mouth, old cedars and thick undergrowth crowded it's open mouth like drool from an idiot's slack jaws. He felt a balls deep apprehension about that cave, not to mention the lack of lights and tools on the bike.
"No way back now." He whispered hoarsely and started forward.
A few feet into the cave Will heard a phone ringing, the sort of cheap MIDI ring saddled on cheap pre-paid cellphones. It was a familiar song though he couldn't name it. He cast about following the obnoxious singing tone until he spotted it.
"Under Me." The phone blinked. Will held the phone in his free hand and scuffed a boot across the thin soil where it had lain. The gesture revealed a dark gray square, he knelt and tugged a glove from his right hand and touched the square, it was metal, frowning he set about uncovering it and pulling it free of the soil.
It was a steel box. Will carefully opened it and revealed a map and a folded note. He sighed and glanced around hoping for a clue. All he could really tell was that the cave hadn't been disturbed in days. Stale faded footprints lead to the site of the box and then back out of the cave.
Will unfolded the map first and too his time reading it. The map was new, fresh out of the package with clean sharp edges and corners. It depicted the surrounding area including the area further up the small mountain chain. A two mile section had been circled.
The forgotten phone buzzed against his palm startling him. He dropped it and it hit the thin light soil hard enough to partially bury itself.
He retrieved the phone.
Follow.
It suggested. He scowled at it, but tucked it and the map and note into his coat. The note looked like GPS coordinates though he wasn't sure where. He stepped out of the cave back into the light and glared around at the immediate area.
"You promised to give her to me! This isn't part of the deal!" He folded his arms and sat on a mouldering log near the cave entrance.
Methos fell asleep in the midst of rewiring a surge protector. Henry left him sleeping unwilling to bother him, instead he slipped out and called Magnus. Helen arrived and carefully woke him.
"You're going to end up electrocuting yourself if you keep doing this." She chided.
"Been there done that." He murmured rising sleepily.
"There's an empty room down the hall, second door on the right." She said softly. He nodded blearily and picked his way through the room to the hallway. Henry lurked near the door. Methos paused and looked at him then kept moving. Henry sighed in relief and moved to get back to work.
"No, get some sleep, we'll all rest, John can stand watch –"
"Seriously? You want me to catch some shut eye while Jack the Ripper holds down the fort?"
"Yes I do." She said simply. Henry scowled but didn't argue.
In the end the house slept while John kept an eye on the security feeds and made some calls.
"Yes…Cabal, new operatives, very dangerous." John sighed into the cell phone at his ear.
"The reward is considerable but time is critical. Very well." He hung up and studied the phone for a moment.
"No luck." It wasn't a question, Methos' words cut through the still air like a finely honed knife edge.
John looked up at him warily. Methos smiled openly and sat next to John in an empty chair.
"Are you certain this is the best path for you?" He asked lightly.
John hesitated before answering animal bright eyes studying Methos.
"It is the only path I choose to walk."
"No answer." Methos sighed.
"You're going to kill him."
"Of course."
"When?"
"When I like."
"She'll try to stop you."
Methos nodded thoughtfully.
"You should rest." Methos said after the passage of an amiable section of time and quietude.
"No, not yet." John said mildly.
"Your injuries?"
"Healing."
Methos closed his eyes, dozed lightly listening to John's breathing, the creak of his leather coat as he retrieved his phone, the low rumble of his voice sometimes edged with threats or anger, other times cool calculating.
Dreams crept toward him, he could feel the dark import of them pressing against him and then his eyes snapped open banishing them and bringing the Sanctuary sharply into focus once again. John was staring at Methos sightlessly, brooding and thinking.
Methos frowned at the other man's swollen and purpled face. Judging by the bruises they would fade to an ugly green-yellow before vanishing altogether. He wondered if he would have killed John had the other man not teleported before losing consciousness. He shook the thought away, he had, in fact, killed the things…the people he loved before would likely do so again in future but not this time.
"It doesn't make sense." John said suddenly. Methos raised an eyebrow uncertain if John were addressing him specifically or simply musing aloud, perhaps both.
"The Cabal are a secret organization but like any large group of people they need basic supplies, food, water, sewage treatment so on. Yet they're ... hidden."
Methos remained alert but quiet content to allow John to reach his point on his own.
"I've investigated every crumb, every hint of a clue run down every lead, bashed skulls, broken spines and cut throats for answers." He growled.
"How are they that well hidden? There is no …core that I can discover."
Methos had a thought but kept quiet lest he derail Druitt.
"The boogeyman…" John murmured then cast his dark eyes on Methos. One plus one equals two Methos thought not wavering under John's dark knowing gaze.
"I don't think they're nearly the force they've pretended to." John said with a small satisfied smile. Methos agreed though kept quiet and still.
"It's a front, a spook story and behind it…" He trailed off looking thoughtful and fierce. For a moment Methos loved him, a dark savage love more ownership than partnership. Then the moment passed the immortal blinked and John looked at him with a small satisfied smile.
"Shall we hunt?"
