Despite the sun being up, and visibility all but definite, it seemed that the various factions within the city limits where more than happy with killing each other than to notice two Americans and one little boy slipping through the battlefield.
Traversing down alley's and going through a few buildings to avoid being seen by patrols. Jodie was in front, Salim behind her with JD bringing up the rear watching their backs. The sporadic sounds of gunfire and the occasional explosion followed swiftly by the screams of the dying keeping their senses on high alert as they did their best to keep out of sight.
Stepping out into the burning sunlight, the trio ducked down behind the crumbling wall of another building just as a group of men were cut down my machine gun fire at the four-way intersection ahead.
After checking to be sure there was no one else in the immediate area, they moved up. Pressing close to the wall allowing Jodie to peer down the next street, finding two technicals at the far end that were being manned.
"Dammit." she muttered, looking across from them and seeing a ladder that would take them to the rooftops above. "Two turrets at the end. That ladder should keep us out of the line of fire, but we have to risk crossing the road." she explained to JD.
The psionic moved up next to her and checked their opposition, then looked to where the ladder was located. Seeing no other options open to them.
"You and Salim go first, I'll cover you." he said, getting a hesitant nod from Jodie as she looked at the boy traveling with them.
"Stay close, ok?" Salim nodded, both of them getting ready before sprinting out into the open.
Aiden flared, forming a barrier around the duo to protect them from stray rounds while JD fired on the turrets, drawing the gunfire his way until Jodie and Salim were safely on the other side.
When he was sure they were out of harms way. The psionic reloaded his P90 before reaching out with TK toward a rundown metal shack. One of the walls coming loose and coming over to hover infront of him like a shield before he too ran out into the street.
The metal ping of rounds peppering the makeshift barrier vibrated through the air, but the metal held firm as he made it across and dropped it to the ground.
Salim chatted, excitedly waving his hand to the now heavily dented metal wall and JD. "Magic." the psionic replied to the possible questions the boy had while flexing the fingers of his hand.
"Ma...gik?" Salim asked confused.
"Yeah, magic." Jodie agreed, turning her attention to the broken ladder before bending down and cupping her hands. "Come on, Salim. Up you go." the boy stepped in her hands, using her shoulders for support as she lifted him up so that he could grab a rung and start climbing.
JD came up next, shouldering his rifle and cupping his own hands to allow Jodie to go up after Salim. When they were about halfway up the ladder, he took a couple steps back before running forward. Kicking off the wall of the building, grabbing onto the ladder and making his own way up to the roof.
A couple black hawks flew overhead as the trio treaded along the connected rooftops.
Farther up the street on their right, an RPG was fired and destroyed the two trucks that had given them trouble a minute before. The fighting around the city steadily getting worse the farther in they went.
Getting back down to street-level, they immediately cut through a building and then a small playground, coming out the otherside and peeking out into the next road.
A couple meters away was a truck, two soldiers milling around near the tailgate talking to one another. The tower they needed to get to was directly ahead.
JD stepped out, grabbing both men with TK and slamming their heads together before tossing them to opposite sides of the street. Aiden quickly swooped in and possessed the driver before he could get out. Now in control, he started the vehicle and waited as the three humans piled into the bed, laying down flat to avoid being seen as the entity drove them toward the tower.
They went passed several patrols and vehicles that went the opposite direction. Surrounded by enemies on all sides and doing the best they could to keep from being spotted. Jodie covered Salim, while JD laid on the opposite side, his weapon within reach incase he needed to use it.
Everything had been going good thus far, until they came up to a roadblock.
Aiden pulled to a stop, one of the guards coming up to the window and asking him something he couldn't understand. When he didn't answer, the soldier started to sound more hostile, his rifle being raised and leveled at the possessed body's head in obvious threat.
Seeing no other choice, the entity did the only thing he could...he slammed the accelerator and broke through the roadblock and barreling down the road.
"Shit Aiden!" Jodie shouted, "What the fuck are you doing?! The whole town will be on us now!"
Within moments, five other trucks sped up to them. JD was up quickly and fired his rifle at the windshield of the closest vehicle. HItting the driver and sending it crashing into a lamp post off to the side.
Another one came up on their right, one of the men on board pulled out a machete and jumped into the bed of theirs. Jodie quickly blocked a swing aimed at JD's side, grabbing the soldier's arm and twisting it back before kicking him in the stomach and hitting his head off the cab of the truck.
Throwing the soldier to the back of the bed, Jodie brought her leg up and kicked him off, his body rolling under one of the other trucks chasing after them.
Another soldier from the same vehicle as the last one went to jump aboard as well, but a salvo of rounds cut into him before he even had a chance. His body toppling over the side as JD cocked his other hand back and threw a psi-blast into the side of the technical, crushing the side of it inward like a tin can and sending it into the front of a building.
Two down, three to go. The leading technical had a mounted .50cal that was being aimed at them and was the biggest threat. The psionic held his hand out, extending his powers to the vehicle and grabbing onto the first thing he could think of.
With a hard yank, the truck's front axel was ripped out from under it. The speed it was going, in addition to its front end suddenly dropping, sent the vehicle pitching forward before flipping over and landing with a hard crash on its roof, sliding down the street a few meters before coming to rest and forcing the remaining two to go around it.
Jodie turned her attention from what was behind them when Aiden told her someone was ahead. "Oh fuck!" she cursed when she saw a soldier kneeling in the middle of the road with an RPG on his shoulder.
The rocket was fired and flew straight toward their truck as it swirved to avoid the blast when it hit the ground. The vehicle spun to the right, then the left before it flipped, rolling over several times before crashing against a building with a firey explosion.
The militia that had been following them pulled up to the crash site, piling out with rifles ready as they surrounded the overturned truck. Searching for survivors...
...but they found nothing save for the dead driver.
X
JD looked to the trail of smoke where the truck had crashed as they stopped to catch their breath after running so far. "I don't think they saw us." he said leaning against a nearby wall.
Jodie put her hands on her knees, taking in deep gulps of oxygen with Salim beside her, "I don't think so either." she turned her attention to the boy next to her, "You okay, Salim?"
The boy nodded and said something in confirmation.
When the were able to catch their breath, the couple glanced at one another, a silent agreement passing through them as Jodie knelt down to Salim's level. "This is where we have to go our separate ways," Salim looked at her confused, "We-Must-Go..." she explained slowly, "Do you understand, Salim?"
Salim shook his head, saying something that could have been a form of reasoning. "You can't come with us, buddy." JD said, kneeling down next to Jodie. "You're a brave kid, but it's too dangerous for you to stick with us. And hopefully, all this crap will be over, and no one else will be hurt again."
Looking between them, the boy said something softly before stepping forward and hugging Jodie. Backing away after a moment then hugging JD as well. "Take care of yourself, and be safe." Jodie whispered. Salim smiled at them before running off in another direction.
"He'll be alright." said the psionic, putting a hand on his lover's shoulder when he saw the worry in her eyes. "He's a strong kid."
Nodding to him, Jodie and JD both took a moment to check their gear to be sure everything was in place when they managed to escape before the crash.
JD's P90 was lost in the crash, leaving him with only his M9. But with the tower so close, it would be all he needed to help finish the mission.
Once everything was checked and cleared, the duo started moving. Once again keeping to back alley's and staying out of the streets as much as possible. Only having to take out a couple of soldiers along the way before they found themselves outside where the tower was set up.
A small fortress in the middle of the city, well guarded and fortified. If Gemaal wasn't in there it would be a shock.
The couple moved into a small house outside of the fortress, hunkering down as Jodie prepared to send out Aiden to scout ahead of them. JD drew his sidearm and stood watch as the entity stretched out and fazed into the building.
Dozens of soldiers were on duty, and in the main building on the ground floor was Gemaal, seated at the head of a table with several other men with him as he spoke.
"There's too many of them." Jodie said, seeing what Aiden was seeing as he looked around. "There's no way we could get to him without being killed."
"Suggestions?" JD asked, watching a truck drive by with sharp eyes.
"Aiden's going to have to do it, it's too risky otherwise." she replied. Sending the mental command to the entity before he possessed one of the guards on duty. Having him walk into the room, Jodie hesitated, which had Aiden hesitate as she fought against her own morals on following the orders given to them...
In the end, she made the final decision and gave the entity the go ahead. Gunfire erupted throughout the building along with surprised shouts that carried all the way to where the couple was stationed.
Jodie closed her eyes and breathed slowly when it went quiet, "It's...It's done. Come on, Aiden's got the door, we need to confirm the kill."
JD nodded as they checked for any nearby soldiers before running across the street. The small door that had just been blown off its hinges courtesy of Aiden, making their way into the building where the warlord had been meeting with the others in his inner circle.
The place was a slaughter house. Bodies of the dozens or so soldiers lay scattered everywhere, blood splattered on every surface with the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air.
"...fuck." the psionic muttered, his boots stepping on spent shell casings as he crossed the room.
Jodie turned pale, shivering before leaning to the side and throwing up on the floor. JD went over and rubbed her back, doing his best to comfort her.
"I'm...I'm good." she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'm good." she repeated before making her way to where the body of Gemaal Sheik Charrief. Jodie took out the small digital camera from her vest pocket and snapped a picture of his face, taking a couple others to be sure they had everything they needed.
"Got it." she said standing back up. JD looked at the images and nodded, movement by the door having him bring his pistol to bare...only to freeze when he saw a familiar boy standing in the threshold.
"Salim?" he asked surprised.
The boy didn't respond to him, instead stepping into the building and looking at the carnage around him. His eyes trailed to a body on the floor and he gasped, "Papi!" he exclaimed, running over and dropping to his knees beside one of the soldiers. "Papi! Papi!" he cried, tears running down his face when the man didn't respond.
"...Papi?" JD thought, then it hit him like a hard punch to the gut, "No! Please don't tell me..."
"Oh god..." he turned to Jodie who had her mouth covered. "Th-That's the one Aiden possessed...he was Salim's father."
Salim looked up at them, tears streaking down his dark-colored face that changed from broken to enraged. He picked up his father's sidearm and aimed it at the couple, shouting at them with obvious anger and hurt at what had happened.
Aiden reacted fast, forming a barrier around Jodie and JD as the boy fired. The bullets hitting the invisible bubble and keeping them safe until the gun ran out of ammo.
Throwing the weapon at them, Salim went back to crying over his father's body, hugging him as if it would bring him back.
JD tore his eyes from the heartbreaking scene, fighting back tears of his own as he looked to Jodie who was crying silently. The full weight of what had been done...what they had done...hitting her hard.
Putting a hand on her arm, snapping her gaze toward him, he motioned to the door. Silently messaging that they needed to leave. Together they made toward the exit...but Jodie stopped, turning back to the crying boy and reaching out to touch his shoulder.
Salim shrugged her off and yelled at her, making her stumble back as he continued to grieve. With heavy hearts, they left the building and prepared to leave the fortress...but they stopped when they heard the sounds of yelling and gunfire echoing throughout the area.
"Oh shit..." Jodie said, fear lacing her voice as they realized that the incident had drawn the attention of every soldier within hearing distance.
"Come on, we need to get the fuck out of here!" JD said, his own tone anxious while pulling her out into the street...only to be a met with a wall of armed men who were converging on the building from the North.
When they saw the couple, all hell broke loose.
"JODIE RUN!" the psionic bellowed, they turned and sprinted the opposite way. Skidding to a stop when even more people were heading their way. "Fuck! We gotta-" he was cut off when bullets started peppering around them.
Jodie suddenly yelped and collapsed to the ground, blood dripping down the back of her leg from the bullet wound that was punched through her.
"Jodie!" JD stopped cold and quickly helped her up, half-carrying and half-dragging her out of the line of fire and into the nearest alley. A truck pulled up, blocking their way as the men inside started piling out, the psionic brought up his pistol with his free arm and fired. Killing two of them and wounding a third as he changed direction and kicked open a nearby door, pulling Jodie inside and slamming it shut behind him.
Setting his lover down, the psionic used his TK to grab every piece of furniture in the small room and barricaded the door just as the rioting crowd outside started hammering on their shelter.
"Eagle 5! Requesting immediate extraction! Do you read?!" Jodie shouted into her radio, her other hand pressing against her wounded leg as she fought against the pain. "Confirm extraction!"
Bullets shattered a nearby window, the slugs hitting the walls in the building. JD fired through the opening, hitting a couple more soldiers until his weapon ran empty, dropping down to reload.
Holes punched through the walls, light spilling in through them as the building became surrounded on all sides. The situation was deteriorating fast, Jodie kept trying the radio but couldn't seem to get through to anyone.
Aiden had just finished healing her leg when she gave up and threw the radio away. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck it! FUCK!" she screamed, starting to breakdown from what was happening around them. "They aren't answering! We're not getting out of here! We're dead! We're-"
Her rant was stopped when JD grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up, pressing her against the wall behind her and making her look him dead in the eye.
"Get ahold of yourself, Jodie!" he all but screamed in her face. "We are NOT gonna die! We ARE getting out of here! No matter what!"
She looked at him, terror clouding her mind as she shook in his grasp. "H-How?! HOW! JD, you know what they'll do when they catch us! How are we going to get out of this?!"
Instead of replying, he pulled her into a bruising kiss. Despite bullets flying around them, despite torture and death literally knocking at the door, he forced what emotions he could spare through the contact alone.
Pulling back, the psionic looked into her eyes again, which now appeared clearer than they had before. "Do you trust me?"
Jodie nodded. The effects of the kiss they had along with the conviction in his gaze washing away a bit of the fear that had corrupted her mind.
JD turned to the open room, eyes flickering around for anything that could help them when he saw the trapdoor in the ceiling. The end piece of a ladder could be seen peeking over the edge which gave him the opening they would need.
Using TK to bring the ladder down, he motioned to Jodie who had gotten up. She went up the steps first just as the door they had come through started to crack from all of the people outside slamming into it. The psionic made it up right after his lover just as the entrance broke open and soldiers poured inside.
Kicking the ladder down, JD looked around them before gunfire rained down onto the roof. Bringing up his M9, he fired at the surrounding rooftops. Taking out several gunmen...but more kept coming.
Jodie had dragged herself to the far corner of the roof behind a small wall of sandbags, her leg may have been healed but the pain still present while the psionic backed up, shielding her from the coming tide of enemies.
Snapping his hand back, Jodie's 1911 flew into his other hand as he started duel-firing at the soldiers that were now coming up the sides of the building. He kept shooting until both weapons were empty, dropping them to the ground then started throwing psi-blasts.
Men were sent flying from the roof in all directions, but more kept coming to take their place. A stray round flew by and hit JD's shoulder, pain erupting through his body as another grazed his side, but he managed to keep up the attacks, doing all in his power to keep the militia at bay.
Even when the constant use of his powers was starting to take its toll on him, his nose starting to bleed and his head feeling light, yet he refused to stop. He had to keep fighting, he had to! They could do whatever they wanted to him, but it would be a cold day in hell they would lay a single finger on Jodie.
"Not a chance in Hell!" the psionic raged in his mind. His eyes and body glowing with blue-ethreal fire as the power within him began to build. The attacking soldiers stopped advancing, the sight before them making them pause as the American stood like a vengeful spirit from the afterlife.
"You're not getting anywhere near her!" JD roared as the power building in him exploded outward in a large shockwave.
Every soldier on the rooftop, along with those surrounding it, were thrown off from the force of the psionic attack. Even those down in the street were knocked down from the power behind it. Buildings close to the epicenter shook and cracked, debris blowing off and scattering to the wind.
The only one unaffected by the blast was Jodie, who stared at JD with wide eyes. The feeling of his power flowing over her like warm water, shielding her, protecting her, a sharp contrast to the strong impact the militia around was dealt.
When it finally died down, the psionic collapsed to his knees, his eyes rolling back in his head as he fell back unconscious.
"JD!" Jodie shouted, crawling over to him. When he didn't respond to her she immediately checked his pulse, thankful to find a pulse beating gently beneath her fingers.
Her head snapped toward the sky when she heard the telltale signs of choppers approaching. Finding two black hawks coming their way that stopped in the air above them. Ropes coming down with American soldiers right afterward that set up a perimeter on the roof.
Ryan came sliding down soon after, moving over to the couple with a relieved expression. "We're getting you guys outta here." he said, signalling to one of the soldiers who picked up JD in a fireman's carry while the agent scooped up Jodie into his arms. Loading both younger agents onto one of the choppers before they rose up into the air and took off back the way they came.
Onboard, Jodie was quick to move to JD's side as he laid motionless. Holding him close with his head in her lap as they left the city limits and made their way back to the FOB.
She brushed away the blood dripping down to his lip while she stared at his face, the black/white skull facepaint smudged and running from all the sweating he had done.
They made it, they survived, and soon they would be going home...and she couldn't help but smile knowing this despite everything they had gone through.
The psionic groaned softly, making her blink just as his eyes fluttered open. Squinting against the harsh light of the sun that was now almost at its apex in the sky. "Are we...out of the city...?" he asked, his voice sounding dry as he focused on Jodie's face.
"Yeah." Jodie replied, stroking his face gently. "We're going home."
"Good." JD said back as his eyes closed, the dull sound of Ryan calling ahead for medics to be on standby when they arrived as he fell unconscious again.
X
The mission had been a success.
It took a few days for our wounds to be treated, but with the help of my powers and Aiden's influence Jodie and I were at 100% again in no time. And once we got the all clear, we were on the first plane back to the states
After everything we had went through, both of us wanted nothing more than to head back to our apartment and sleep for a week in each others arms. Then take a long vacation away from everything for another week.
However, like the old saying goes, when it rains it hails. Or, in our case, it becomes a freak rockslide...
X
The view from the luxery chopper was a nice one, the Virginian landscape passing below while the moon shined brightly down from above.
Onboard, Jodie and JD sat side by side as they were flown from Fort Benning back to DC. The last couple of days had been filled with resting after the mission, filling out reports and going through several debriefings.
The mission in Somalia had been an overall success, even though they were picked up with about half of the city's militia coming down ontop of them. But the couple was just happy to be alive and back in the states, and more than ready for some well deserved time off.
"Ten years in the CIA, and I've never seen anything like it," Ryan seat from the seat across from them. "The boss sends his own private helicopter to get two agents back. All the top brass are crazy about you two, and Aiden, of course."
Neither one of them said anything, Simply holding the other's hand. Now that there wasn't anything to occupy their thoughts, they started thinking back to everything that they had been through back in the city. The things they had seen, and did, affecting them deeply.
Ryan seemed to take notice of this and spoke up. "JD? Jodie? You guys okay?" when he didn't get an answer he leaned forward and sighed, "Look, I know this mission was tough, but it's over now. We're all going home. Just another 'mission accomplished', right?"
JD sent a look at him while Jodie spoke, "I'll never forget what we saw back there, Ryan. Neither of us will. Ever."
The older agent leaned back in his seat and said nothing more. Everything was silent for a long period before JD couldn't take it anymore. Pressing one of the buttons on the arm of his chair and turning on the small tv attached to the ceiling in the copter and bringing up a news channel;
'...And the international community had just announced its official recognition of the election of the new president Gemaal Sheik Charrief...and now, sources report that he and all his government were assassinated in what appears to be an unclaimed attack.'
JD thought he felt his heart come to a dead stop...ice filling his veins as he sat up ramrod straight as a picture of the man that he and Jodie had dealt with appeared on the screen.
'Hopes were high, that the newly recognized President Gemaal Charrief would be able to put an end to the hostilities that have ravaged his country for many years. A number of world leaders have already expressed outrage at what appears to be nothing less than a cold-blooded execution...'
The air in the chopper became suffocating, the psionic couldn't breathe as the memories of his and Jodie's briefing before the mission came back to him.
"Gemaal Sheik Charrief."
"One of the most dangerous warlords in the country."
"Find Gemaal, and eliminate him."
Looking up at Ryan, he saw the man looking off to the side, avoiding the looks the couple were sending him when the truth was finally revealed.
"YOU LIED TO US!" Jodie screamed, looking as betrayed and sick to her stomach as JD felt.
"What do you mean?" Ryan asked calmly, as if the news report hadn't been heard.
"You...fucking bastard!" JD roared with fire in his eyes, "Gemaal wasn't a warlord! He was the goddamn elected president of the nation!"
"And your point?" the older agent asked pointedly, "We're not politicians. We had our orders."
"You KNEW we wouldn't have murdered him if we knew the truth!" Jodie accused, "So you LIED TO US to get the job done!"
Ryan rolled his eyes, "Welcome to the CIA. It's not fucking choir practice in case you two haven't noticed! Now we had a job to do and we did it. End of story." he said with finality on the subject.
"This might be a fucking job to you! But neither of us go around killing people because some four-fucking-star General tells us to!" Jodie shouted back.
The chopper suddenly started to shutter, weaving back and forth in the air from an unseen force.
"Jodie. Listen, just calm down, alright?" Ryan said, trying to calm her down before something happened. "We'll all get back and talk about it-"
"About what?" JD seethed, standing and getting in the older man's face. "About how you manipulated us?! Used us to do the dirty work you obviously didn't have the balls to do?! Because that's all we are to you and the fucking US government, isn't it?! Assets, expendable assets with superpowers you can exploit whenever you goddamn want! And to fucking hell with how it affects us!"
"What difference does is make?!" Ryan demanded, the chopper shaking more violently now, "He was a dead man walking with or without your help!"
"We have fucking BLOOD on our hands!" screamed Jodie. "Some kid lost his FATHER because of Aiden and me! JD had to kill DOZENS to protect me! Because we TRUSTED you...Because we trusted that we were doing the RIGHT THING!"
The transport started to spin now, the pilot unable to control it while the three arguing in the cabin stumbled to stay upright. "I can't believe we had any faith in you!" JD said over the alarms blaring around them, "I KNEW we couldn't trust you! I KNEW this mission didn't feel right! And I FUCKING KNEW that you would use us like this eventually!"
His face then became a mask of grave calm. "...Never again."
Without warning, JD threw a psi-blast into Ryan. The agent flew into the wall across from them. He turned to Jodie who nodded seriously as she grabbed the handle in the door behind them and shoved it open. The wind whipped into the cabin for a second before the duo grabbed each other's hand and jumped.
Ryan groaned from the attack he'd been hit with, but sat up in time to see the couple jump outside. "NO!" he shouted, scrambling to the open door and looking for any sign of them. But only saw the dark trees below. "FUCK!"
X
In his office at the DPA, Nathan Dawkins had just finished his latest report when the phone on his desk started ringing.
Looking at the clock on the wall, he wondered who would be calling him at such a late hour when he picked it up and answered. "Nathan Dawkins."
At first he didn't hear anything, save for soft sobbing on the other end...then he heard a voice he really hadn't been expecting.
'They used us...They used us to kill those people..."
Nathan was on his feet in half a second, "Jodie! What happened?"
'W-We didn't know...We didn't know...We...We were just doing what we were told...' Jodie's voice stuttered over the line, broken by the occasional gasp and sob.
"Where are you? Is JD with you? Is Clayton?" the professor asked, terrified about what was going on with the two kids who were like children to him.
There was a pause before JD's calmer voice came on, 'That asshole isn't with us, Nathan...We feld from the CIA. They used us to kill innocent people and expected us to be okay with it...I guess that's all everyone sees us as, tools to use and discard when it's convenient."
Nathan swallowed hard. The tone in the psionic's voice was cold and sharp. Whatever had happened must have really set him off. And with Jodie sounding as upset as she was, it only added fuel to the fire.
"JD, you two can't run from them." he tried to explain calmly. "They'll hunt you down and they will find you. You both have got to come in. We'll talk, the three of us together. I'm sure that we can-"
'No.' JD said darkly. 'We're done, being their puppets, Nathan. And you tell them, if they come anywhere fucking near us...I will KILL them."
There was a crash and a burst of static before the line went dead. Nathan stood in the middle of his office, phone all but dangling from his weak grasp when he realized the seriousness of what had just happened.
"...oh god..."