Disclaimer: I don't own Better Days

Original days

Chapter Eleven: His Story

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"You have one hour, Black." After saying this White cut the connection, leaving the people of the company to their own devices. White sat there in silence, meditating on what he had planned, until a muffled gasp sounded from behind him. Turning around, he found one of his less competent guards fondling Lucy's chest. "What are you doing?" White asked, drawing the guard's attention to him. Backing away from the bound woman the guard said "I'm sorry sir, did you want her?" White said nothing, but started advancing on the two. "Do I want her, the sister of the person responsible for nearly killing me? That is a very interesting question." When he was standing right beside the guard White grabbed his head with both hands and slammed it with bonebreaking force against a nearby console. A cracking sound was heard, and suddenly the guard was screaming and clutching his shattered nose.

"No I do not want her! Now get out of here before I decide to discover how many broken bones a body can endure before expiring!" The guard scrambled for the exit, leaving only Lucy and Mr. White in the control room. White turned to her and, motioning to the door, said "Nonconsensual acts of a sexual leaning are disgusting, do you agree?" The fear visible in Lucy's eyes didn't diminish, but she did start to breath more regularly. Nodding his head in satisfaction, White moved towards her and flicked his right wrist; suddenly a knife appeared in his hand. Lucy started struggling when she saw it, until a sharp blow to the head knocked her senseless.

When she regained her senses White had already started cutting her…restraints? And removed her gag? Unable to stop herself she asked "What are you doing?" and then flinched when he snapped his head around to look at her while still cutting. After staring at her for a moment he answered. "I am taking you with me to the employee kitchen and do not wish to drag a chair around. Is that a sufficient answer to your query?" Taking her silence as a yes, he finished the last cord, pocketed the knife, and dragged her out of the chair by her hair. Gasping in pain, she nevertheless kept herself from struggling.

The employee kitchen was situated two doors from the lift on the right. Inside was a stainless steel table with enough room for six people at a time; there were also several coffee machines along the wall to the right of the door, cupboards above them, and a refrigerator in the far right corner. It was used mainly by lab workers either arriving early or working late, so the coffee machines were almost always on and busy.

Upon entering White promptly threw Lucy into a chair and went to the nearest machine. Righting herself on the chair, Lucy stared at her captor in bewilderment. The cold-blooded, murderous, vicious Mr. White…was fixing a cup of joe? Her eyes flicked to the thrown open door, and then back to White, who seemed busy looking for a clean cup. As quietly as possible Lucy slid out of her seat, and began edging her way to the exit. Four feet, three feet, two feet; if she could just get out of the room, she thought, she could hide somewhere until Fisk arrived and started shooting people.

Finally she reached the door, and was about to escape when suddenly "I knew your father." This stopped her dead in her tracks, as she slowly turned to look at White; he was simply standing there by the table with two mugs of coffee in hand, mask set aside for now. She had never realized before now how mesmerizingly blue his eyes were. His voice snapped her back to reality. "If you would like, we could sit here and have a civil discussion about him until your brother arrives." When she stayed where she was he added "Or I could use my knife to pin you to the table until your brother arrives. Either way is fine for me." That got her back in her seat.

For a while neither spoke, with only two things breaking the silence; the occasional sip of coffee from White, and a mysterious dripping noise. Neither of these noises helped to distract Lucy from her mounting curiosity about what White had said, nor did the danger she knew she was in. Eventually Lucy couldn't take it anymore. "So how did you know my father?" White stopped in the middle of a sip and put his drink down. "He and I were very close. I was an orphan, surviving on the streets and back alleys of Cairo, when one day he showed up on a mission. To make a long story short his mission resulted in the destruction of my place of dwelling, so he took responsibility of me and brought me back with him. To here, America, the land of opportunity. A place where I could do more than survive, I could live. He helped me become an American, taught me, watched over me, cared for me like a father cares for a son."

He paused for a moment, and Lucy used this time to ask another question.

"Did my mother know about you?"

"Yes. The cover story was that my father died in Vietnam and my mother died of a broken heart. Sheila was always very kind to me, and even made my first birthday cake for my first birthday here." Suddenly his face darkened. "Soon after that birthday, my 10th birthday and approximately one year after meeting him, your father was killed.

The sudden harshness in his voice made her flinch, and unable to stop herself she looked to the door once more. Only the thought that White could probably kill her before she even managed to fully leave her chair made her stay. "I need to wait for the right moment." Going back over what she had learned, a question came into Lucy's mind, which she voiced. "How did my father die?" The mug in White's hand shattered, sending sharp shards all over the table. White didn't even flinch when he held up his hand to examine the three pieces of porcelain protruding from it. As he pulled them out one at a time he spoke.

"Your father's death can be attributed to the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, when the Russians successfully compromised the security of the C.I.A., they compromised our security as well. On his last mission, your father was betrayed and murdered by a man named Zayne Farran. I never discovered all of the details surrounding the incident, so this is all I can tell you about that. I can tell you, however, that if I ever discover the location of the traitor, I will kill him; may even invite you or your brother, if either of you are still alive after tonight. And I will make his death painful, very painful."

Lucy didn't know what to make of what her captor was saying. "Just how important was my father to you? He rescued you from Egypt and gave you a life here, I know but, you act like he was really your dad or something!" For the longest time after that White just stared at her with an unreadable face; and all of the fear and unease she was feeling, which she had been able to somewhat ignore while she was talking, came back to the forefront of her mind. So lost was she that she almost missed White reach into an inside pocket and pull something out. It was a folded piece of paper, yellow with age.

"What is that?" She asked, eyeing it with an unexplainable amount of trepidation.

"This," he replied, handing it to her, "is something that will elicit a very strong emotional response from you."

Frowning at the cryptic warning he gave, Lucy unfolded the paper, noticing as she did so that it seemed to have been unfolded and refolded many times in the past. Then her eyes actually read what was on the paper, and suddenly she couldn't focus on anything else. She looked up in shock at White and whispered, in a voice so weak that he could barely hear it, "Adoption paperwork?" He nodded yes, and said "Your father gave me that the day before he left on his final mission. If he had lived, if his partner hadn't been a traitor, than I wouldn't be your captor right now," he paused to regain control of his emotions, before they could do more than mess up his speech, and then continued. "I would not be your captor right now, I would be... your older brother."

She looked back at the paper she was holding, tears threatening to fall; and for the last time, White allowed himself to be Will again. Walking over, he gently rubbed Lucy's back until she quieted down, at which point he said "Keep the form, I made copies." She looked up at him, and watched Will faded back to White, counting herself lucky that she was able to see even a moment of the person that her father had known.

Seeing that she had calmed down, White nodded in satisfaction, inwardly grinning; female hysterics were always so bothersome. Now to-one of his men burst through the door.

"Sir!" He stopped at the odd site, but a glare from White started him back up. "Sir, Fisk Black has arrived; with him are Jason Black, Angela Faunt, and the traitor Derek Church."White quickly stood, grabbed his mask, put it on, and began marching to the door. "Where are they now?"

"They are currently fighting our forces upstairs. Church was severely injured by a grenade causing Faunt to stay out of the fighting to help him." "That leaves the two Blacks. Excellent; go back to your post." "Yes sir!" The guard went back to wherever his post was, and White was just about to leave as well when suddenly "Wait." Lucy had stood and grabbed White's left arm. "You don't have to do this, any of this." She couldn't tell what he was thinking with the mask on, but the fact that he hadn't ripped his arm free from her grip at least meant that he was listening. "What is blowing up D.C. going to prove? Senator Netton and the others wanted to shut all of this down, destroy your dream, I get that! But destroying everything my dad died for won't- Gaauh!" In a moment White had broken free of her grip, and was now using one arm to dangle her two feet off the ground. Then, while he continued on his way and Lucy struggled to get a breath through his iron grip, he spoke.

"It appears I was mistaken, you are a herd-animal just like your brother. James Black did not die for these simpering fools just so that they could wallow in their own filth! He died for his precious people, so that we could live, and grow, and prosper! They, the terrified masses, would deny us this, our right!" He smashed open the door to his office and threw her into his chair, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from her. But he either didn't notice, or didn't care. "They are cowards, afraid to advance because they cannot control the future! Your father died in vain!" He stopped his rant and looked at her, and in his eyes she saw death.

"They must be exterminated, all of them, and once they are gone then I will lead the masses, until they are no longer masses, but true people; beyond weakness, beyond imperfection, even beyond Good and Evil!" The next moment he had pulled an extendable baton from his sleeve, blood dripping from its end, and extended it. As she looked White right in the face, only one thought crossed her mind.

"Dad, what did you unleash?"

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Several minutes ago

"Church, tell them everything you told me." After White's message the four split up, Fisk and Church in a spare company vehicle, Jason and Angela in Jason's Mustang Cobra. They had just arrived at White's warehouse, and were currently gathered around Jason's car planning their strategy. Church nodded at Fisk, and then began.

"From my years as head of security for White's lab, I learned a couple things about how the reactor works. The main thing that sets White's reactor apart from current ones is how the power output is managed. He uses powerful electromagnetic fields to keep the energy in check; he once told me that this will allow more energy to be created safely without fear of a meltdown. If he's going to cause a meltdown, the most likely way would be for him to lower the frequency of the shields, causing them to be slowly overwhelmed."

Jason asked "Why wouldn't he just turn them off completely and be done with it?"

"They were designed so that they can't be turned off while the reactor is running. Besides, White isn't the suicidal type; he'll be planning to get away in time." Fisk spoke up then. "How many ways are there for him to get away?"

"There are only two ways to get into and out of the underground lab; one is through the cargo lift in the warehouse, as you all know. The other way is through a secret passageway connecting from White's office to his apartment complex. That way is out of the question, as it can only be accessed with a DNA sample; White's, to be specific. The warehouse entrance is our only option, and it will be heavily guarded."

"How heavy are we talking about?" Angela asked. There were only four of them, after all. Church hesitated to answer, but then with a quick glance at the building said "White has control over most of the police force in D.C., that's why the response to his attack on Netton earlier took so long. Obviously he can't have all of them here, because that would be too noticeable, but we can expect a dozen to two dozen hostiles; maybe even a SWAT team or two." Several curses could be heard at this, and Angela said "That's a lot of bullets coming at us."

"He has my sister; it doesn't matter how many there are, we'll kill them all." The other three nodded in agreement.

"Well thankfully Fisk," Jason started, stepping to the trunk of his car and unlocking it, "you have me as a cousin." With that he threw open the trunk door, allowing the others to see the rows of guns stored inside, as well as hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Stunned, Fisk picked up what he recognized as a SPAS-12 combat shotgun, looked at Jason, and asked "Do you have a plan to get in?"

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Inside the warehouse, 15 guards in full combat gear waited for the heroes to start their assault. Directly beside the door stood two guards, with the door between them; the one to the left of the door turned to the other and said "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

"That's one of Life's great mysteries, isn't it? Why are we here? Are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there a God, watching everything. You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know man, but it keeps me up at night."

A moment of silence, and then "What!? I mean why are we standing here, by this door?"

"Oh. Well, we're standing here to keep watch over this door and to let in the reinforcements when they get here." A moment later and there is a knock on the door. The one who asked why they were there turns to the door and yells "Who is it?"

A gruff voice responds, "We are reinforcements, open up."

Outside the building, Angela whispers, "There is no way this is going to work, no one is this stupid."

"Shh, you'll jinx us." Jason whispers back to her, and then turned back to the door. Knowing there really was no better plan, Fisk and Church kept silent.

Back inside,

The philosophical guard reached to unlock the door when the first guard stopped him.

"Wait a moment, something doesn't seem right." To the door he asked, "What's the password?"

Jason turned to Church. "What's the password?" Church's face lost most of its color. "That's new; shit."

Angela hit Jason's shoulder. "I told you it wouldn't work." Rubbing his shoulder, Jason got an idea. To the guards he spoke "The password is…password." The sound of three palms hitting forehead could be heard behind them. Fisk was just about to shoot the lock when suddenly, "Password accepted, get in here" and the lock clicked.

The four shared a look; each understood that once they went through that door, there would be no going back, no stopping, until White was dead. Readying his M4 carbine, Fisk said "Here we come" and, bursting through the door, opened fire. A guard standing in a direct line from the door went down without even getting a chance to raise his weapon, another following soon after. Jason was the second one in, quickly blowing the head off a third hostile before aiming at the two door guards, but before he could fire they both dropped their guns and made a run for it. Jason thought he heard one of them yell about not signing up for shit like this; that got him grinning.

Quickly recovering from the initial attack, the remaining guards returned fire, soon forcing Fisk and the others to retreat to some desks for cover. For several tense seconds neither side could overcome the other. Blind firing over the desk he had knocked over, Jason turned to the others.

"We're wasting too much time! Lay down some covering fire, Church and I'll flank 'em!" Fisk and Angela immediately began firing over the makeshift cover, while the other two broke off and began circling around to the right of the dug-in hostiles, Jason taking point. Scurrying from one piece of cover to the next, they were almost to where they needed to be when suddenly from behind him Jason heard "Grenade!!" Reacting with the speed of a soldier who had experienced it many times before, Jason dove behind a nearby van; seconds later the grenade blew, and a cry of shock and pain could be heard throughout the warehouse. Looking around his barrier, Jason saw a sight that made his blood curdle.

Church had not reacted with the speed of a soldier, and was currently laying there on the floor with blood pouring out of multiple holes blown through his body by the grenade; it didn't look like he was breathing. A deep growl began coming from deep down Jason's throat, and red began creeping around the edges of his vision. Reaching up, Jason quickly but carefully removed contacts from his eyes; what were thought to be a forest green color were revealed as blood-red. Grasping his shotgun in his left hand and Church's in his right, one thought went through his head.

"I'm going to send them to HELL!"

At that moment several things happened at nearly the same time. Angela took down a guard with a headshot; Fisk threw a grenade, dropping three and wounding the rest with the resulting rain of shrapnel; and Jason launched himself from cover, taking down two with twin blasts shotgun fire. After this he mercilessly speared two more with the still hot ends of the guns, let go, unsheathed his wrist blades, and slashed out the throats of the last two; all of his actions took a total of six seconds.

Seeing that the last of them were gone, Fisk and Angela quickly hurried over to Church's prone body; Fisk taking a moment longer to cast a questioning look Jason's way. Jason shook his head, silently saying that they'd talk later. Fisk nodded in agreement, and then turned to catch up with Angela. Sheathing his blades, Jason started to slowly trudge over as well, until he heard her yell "He's still alive!" At hearing that he picked up the pace, arriving just as Fisk did. "Is he going to be okay?" She kept her focus on stopping the bleeding while she answered his question.

"He's still alive for now, but I need to stay to work on him. You and Fisk will have to face White alone." Fisk nodded and began heading for the lift. Jason bent down and whispered "If no one comes up that lift in five minutes, I want you to leave, got that?" Not waiting for a response he stood up and joined his cousin in the lift. Tossing Fisk a handgun, Jason smirked as they began going down. "Hey, I just had a great idea."

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A/N: Okay people, another chapter done. There is going to be one more chapter, and maybe an epilogue, depending on how long the final chapter starts to run. And in case you were wondering about Jason's eyes, well, they are connected to his abilities at mimicry. And the dripping sound that Lucy heard? It was from blood running down White's hidden baton and hitting the floor.