Hi everyone!
So, this is the last chapter of Arc 4, though not quite the last bit of the series. There will be a oneshot I'll put up somewhere between Dec 24th and Dec 25th to wrap things up. And, because I can't seem to help it, on Dec 31st I'll put up something extra (on AO3 only since meta-writing isn't welcome on FF): a behind-the-scenes series of points, outtakes, some of my thinking, and a few shout-outs. Basically, your DVD extras.
But this is the big conclusion of the 4 major Arcs. I've gotta tell you, I'm half terrified. This has been such a journey for me, from the opening of Arc 1 way back in January to now. But really, it goes all the way back to February 2014 when I began the writing and planning of this beast.
Funnily enough? The last scene of this chapter was one of the earliest I ever wrote, probably before I'd even gotten halfway through Arc 1. Because that's how I roll.
I hope you all have enjoyed this. I hope it adds something to The Sentinel fandom and I hope it has given something to you. I'll see you for the oneshot and the extras, but I hope I see you around other fandoms and other series again, too.
Until then, take care and, as always...
Enjoy!
In the direct aftermath of what was later dubbed The Epic Zindig (whose name was born when Lai called the whole adventure a 'shindig' and Kaimi misheard it due to being mostly asleep at the time), two distinct groups of people were formed: those who could remain awake and those who could not.
For the first thirty or so hours, the six Sentinels and Guides who had somehow done the impossible to literally eradicate all the radiation – including completely neutralizing the exposed material and nobody wanted to think too hard about how exactly – were joined in the former group by Melly, Angie, and few of the SELF Sentinels who had pushed too far with their spirit animals. Jim was able to remain awake exactly long enough to oversee dragging a couple of mattresses into the living room of the apartment at the lodge he shared with Blair, installing Jonny and Hadji on one, Kaimi and Ngama on the other, and then collapsing into his bed with Blair tangled at his side. The other five of them had only managed consciousness enough to assure the nearest friends that they were unhurt and to stagger where they were led.
Jim didn't bother to explain why he wanted Blair in the bed with him, why he wanted the other two pairs within yards, line-of-sight, and behind a door he could personally secure, but he did and nobody dared argue with him.
This left most of the immediate work of cleanup in Cascade to the non-Sentinel members of SELF as the rest of the tribe was trying to deal with the situation in Astoria. Benton was near frantic to get back to Cascade to check on his sons, but the hundreds of conscious, confused, and frightened Sentinels needed him more. Thankfully, Howard Fritz commandeered the local police and Coast Guard resources nearest the site in Astoria and soon the place was filling up with blankets, water, and the means to transport everyone to the lodge in Cascade as soon as possible.
At the same time, Race, Simon, and Joel personally handled the transfer of Doctor Zin, Anaya, and Melana to federal custody. The three men went with Fritz's agents to the federal secure location selected to hold them. He would deny it later, but Race and Joel swore that Simon actually warned the entire guard staff of the facility that if they allowed the Zins to escape he would personally ruin their lives in such frightening terms that several agents left the encounter shaking.
Some of his anger was likely because it was discovered in the aftermath at the dock that Lee Brackett had apparently slipped away during the fight and was in the wind once more. And if Simon's mood was anything to go by, the only thing worse than Brackett escaping was the fact that he'd have to tell Jim about it eventually.
With Benton in Astoria and Simon, Race, and Joel otherwise occupied, Daryl and Jessie assumed the mantle of leadership at the lodge itself. It was they who settled the six exhausted Sentinels and Guides in Jim's room and ensured there was ready food and water available before they permitted themselves to be locked out. They also initiated the return of the non-combatant members of the tribe, and when Meilin drove up in a bus with those she had spirited away, they explained as much of the story as they could while returning the displaced tribe to their home.
And they hacked the security to let Bandit into Jim's room for the pup to curl up on Jonny's stomach and bury his nose under Hadji's arm. If Jim or anyone else noticed, they didn't even wake fully for the intrusion.
Henri Brown was obliged to go to the hospital to deal with the length of shrapnel in his foot, but he sent Brian by fast helicopter to Astoria to look after Angie and Melly and to back up Benton, Eric, Lai, and Leilani. After Howard Fritz returned from the federal detention facility and before he allowed himself to enter the hospital for treatment, he made all the appropriate arrangements with various local, state, and federal authorities for a full debriefing (wherein the meaning of "full" would change depending upon his audience, of course) and ensured that the state of emergency was canceled for the city. He also put his considerable forces under the direct command of the individuals he most trusted – Benton, Race, Simon, Joel, Jessie, and Daryl – and ensured that the SELF team would have whatever support they needed. And even when he returned from the hospital, Fritz himself took a turn on the perimeter at the lodge as much as to ensure its security as to ease the mind of the depleted Sentinels and Guides within.
His own report to his superiors was vastly assisted by the pair of brothers previously working for Zin who, when they had been overrun by Sentinels, proved willing to surrender peacefully and immediately turn as much state's evidence as they could – as long as it assured them a cell far, far away from Zin and his daughters.
It took Benton a full two days of non-stop effort to purge the base in Astoria of anything he did not want to hand to the DHS and to get the Sentinels who had been there ready to head north. While he did so, the rest of the SELF members and affiliates on site moved through the Sentinels who had been brainwashed, offering what comfort and explanation they could. Without restraint, the Sentinels of Cascade offered their abducted and tortured brothers and sisters sanctuary at the lodge and membership in their group – if not permanently, at least until the last vestiges of the psychological damage had been eradicated. By the time the tribe, now more than doubled in size, arrived in Cascade on the morning of the third day, the worst of the mess made by the robots had been cleared from the lodge and things were slowly returning to normal to welcome the many newcomers.
And Jim, Blair, Jonny, Hadji, Kaimi, and Ngama were finally awake and coherent just in time to greet them.
When the bus pulled up to a stop and Benton saw his sons standing on the front step, he forgot for a few minutes that he was the first stability and assurance the new Sentinels from Astoria had in the world in which they had woken. All he saw was his boys and all he knew was a desperate need to see for himself that they were all right.
Benton was out of the bus before the door was fully open, and he caught his boys in a tight embrace, feeling warm tears on his cheeks.
"Jonny. Hadji. My sons. I was so worried. Are you all right?" he gasped at them around a thick lump in his throat.
Jonny returned the hug, letting out a breath of his own. "Yeah, we're okay. It was kind of a near miss, but we're okay. Are you alright, dad?"
"Yes, Jonny. I'm fine," Benton assured him. But the stiffness and silence of his other son worried him and Benton drew back a bit to gaze at Hadji. "Hadji? Are you…?" He didn't know how to end the question.
"Doctor Quest," Hadji said quietly, not looking at his father, "there is something we must discuss. But this is not the time." Finally he raised his eyes to meet Benton's with an empty look. "But I am…so very gratified that you are all right."
Benton only had a few seconds to be stricken before suddenly Jim and Blair were there, Jim thumping him on the shoulder and Blair inquiring about everything from his health to the new Sentinels to the files Benton had liberated. He scarcely recognized he was being neatly distracted until he realized his arms were empty and Ngama and Kaimi were drawing Jonny and Hadji away to greet the rest of the many Sentinels converging upon them and begin the extremely onerous process of sorting out an all new tribe hierarchy.
But Jonny glanced back at his father and gave him a small smile, a smile Benton knew the meaning of well. It's not okay right now, but it will be and I'm not worried.
And then the chaos of the moment broke upon him and Benton didn't have time to think about himself while the original tribe was reclaiming their home and the new Sentinels were finding a place for themselves in it.
-==OOO==-
The days and weeks to come were a kaleidoscope of chaotic moments and sweet ones between unending efforts to right all that had gone wrong.
-==OOO==-
It was Hasna who sought out Howard a day later.
"Why are you still here?" she asked him, not catching him off-guard because he had been standing watch on the front gate and so he wasn't off-guard, but surprising him nonetheless.
Still, he smiled at her. "Your tribe just turned aside one of the most dangerous terrorist attack attempts ever made in the history of this nation. My superiors are running around trying to secure against any future similar risk and pat themselves on the back for a job well done. But they know that they didn't do anything to stop this. You did. SELF served this country, and the least we can do is serve your tribe in return."
"That's why the DHS is still helping with cleanup and border-guards," Hasna shook her head. "What I want to know is why are you out here?"
"Ah." Howard looked out at the trees, at the path that led to the road and the outside world. "I gave orders that all my personnel should stay at the fringes of the complex for now. I thought that might be easier for everybody. There's a lot of scared people in there."
"Not scared of you," Hasna told him.
"Of me? Maybe not. But of what I represent? I think a lot of our new friends have had enough of men in suits who come from looming, shadowy organizations."
Hasna sighed. "I'm sorry that's what you think. Because it's not what we think." She held out a heavy envelope.
Fritz accepted it with a quizzical look. Opening it, he found a piece of paper folded around a thick packet. The outer layer appeared to be a tally of some kind. It was overwhelmingly weighed on one side of the issue. Then he read the cover of the other.
It is the decision of the Cascade Tribe, hereafter named the Tribe of Seven Stars, to offer membership to the individuals listed below. This decision is made not by the Tribe's Council, but by a popular vote. From this day forward, all who are brothers and sisters to us, Sentinels, Guides, and neither, regardless of their official status with SELF or any other government or organization, shall be considered now and forever as full members of this Tribe and family.
"Turn the page," Hasna said softly.
Howard traced his fingers over the first names: Benton Quest, Race Bannon, Simon Banks, Joel Taggart, Jessie Bannon, Daryl Banks, Henri Brown, Brian Rafe, Lai Gardner, Eric Faulk, Leilani Waihee, Howard Fritz.
"The rest of the packet lists all the new Sentinels who asked for sanctuary and everybody else who is a part of everything here. It's strange, but out of three hundred people, once they were freed of Zin's control, not one of the Sentinels from Astoria rejected our offer. Seems like everybody believes in the Tribe. Including you, Agent Fritz."
He looked up, blinking unexpectedly. "I don't…"
"And the Tribe believes in you," Hasna finished. "It was ratified this morning. The Council appreciates your dedication to our security, but really? Right now we'd like you to join us. We trust you have left us in good hands out here."
Howard hesitated. "I appreciate the gesture, I really do. However – "
"However nothing," Hasna interrupted. Then, more gently, "Race told me you have never married, Agent Fritz. Is that correct?" At his nod, she continued, "But if you had, you would have found yourself tied to a new family of in-laws. They would not see it as a gesture. They would see it as fact. And your job or your position would mean nothing. While you are an agent of this government, you may be prohibited from joining SELF, but that does not prevent you from marrying into a family."
"Or being elected into a family," Howard said, trying for wry humor. He mostly succeeded.
"Refuse us if you wish. But you won't."
"I won't?"
"No," Hasna stepped forward and pointed at his chest. "You and I are alike in the heart. We love these people because they are what we did not have. My family disowned me for my insanity, and to them I am dead. But this Tribe sees me for what I truly am and that is all I need. And the Tribe sees you, Agent Fritz. They have called you home. Will you not come?"
Howard stood, his face relaxing into a rare smile. "When you put it that way, I think I will."
-==OOO==-
When Fritz later submitted his report to his superiors, a lengthy, detailed missive on all the events of the emergency and the Sentinels' responses and the continuing situation, he did admit that he "had been offered a greater measure of trust and connection on a personal level" but he felt certain he could adequately remain as the advocate and handler for the SELF organization without bias. He requested permission to remain at his post and continue to serve the government as well as the Sentinel assets.
The response he received from the Secretary of Homeland Security was less carefully stated:
"Move in there if you have to. Go native. We'll pay your moving expenses and buy the place a fern. But for God's sake, figure out how to get these people to be willing to help us out here someday!"
Howard took them seriously. He moved in within the month.
-==OOO==-
That evening, Benton caught up with Race sitting alone out under a tree in an isolated part of the back gardens. A place where, Benton noticed, Race had a view of the entire back of the lodge, his own lab at the other end of the compound, and the basketball court where most of the Chancery group was energetically working off some tension by playing a night pickup game.
"I meant to ask you," Benton eased onto the bench beside his best friend. "About Zin."
"Yeah?" Race asked neutrally.
"I know you, Race. I know you wanted to kill him. It might even have been safer for all of us." Benton lowered his voice. "So why didn't you?"
"Maybe I never got the chance," Race said with an easy shrug.
Benton shook his head. "You had the chance. I know you did."
Race let out a long breath. "It was because of Rachel."
That brought Benton up short. "What do you mean?"
"Maybe you wouldn't have blamed me for taking Zin out," Race answered. "Maybe nobody would have. Jim would have thanked me, probably. And if Zin or his girls ever get loose, Jim's going to take them down before they even see him coming."
Benton nodded with a small smile. "You're definitely right about that."
"But…when it came to it…you would have understood if I'd killed him." Race finally turned to him. "But you wouldn't have liked it. And Rachel…she wouldn't have wanted it, either."
"No, she wouldn't," he agreed.
"I never met her. I never got the chance to know the woman who changed you so much and who gave us Jonny," Race said softly. "I never got to tell her how grateful I am for that, for what she made out of both of you for me. But I could give her Zin's life, and maybe somewhere she knows how much that means."
"I think," Benton put a hand on Race's shoulder and squeezed, "Rachel would understand that gift profoundly, and she would regard it above any other you could give. Except maybe one."
"What's that?"
"Our lives," Benton said. "Mine and Jonny's and Hadji's. You've saved us, too." He looked out at the kids laughing, finally seeming more like themselves for the first time in a long time. "We saved each other in the end. Yes, she would understand, Race."
"Good. I'm glad you do too, Doc."
"That was never a concern," Benton told him. "If there's one thing I know for sure, no matter what happens, is you are a good man, Race Bannon. The best I've ever known."
Race swallowed around a suddenly tight throat. He didn't have anything to say, so he let his silence as they watched their children, their family, play together, speak all the words he would never be able to offer his best friend in return.
-==OOO==-
A few days later, Brian and Henri were sitting on the couch, Henri keeping his bandaged foot elevated, and bickering comfortably about which cop show to watch and happily ridicule when their girls came in, oddly quiet.
"What's up?" Brian asked gently.
"We have something to tell you," Angie didn't look at her brother.
"We're listening," Henri offered, watching Melly fidget with her prosthetic foot as she always did when she was nervous.
Angie glanced to Melly, who looked up with the same defiant courage she'd shown the first day she'd met them. "Angie and I are read to bond."
"You…are?" Brian asked.
"Yes," Melly nodded.
"And do you know what that entails?" Henri asked.
"Kaimi explained it to us," Angie offered. "Ours is…like hers and Ngama's. And not just 'cause we're not dying. 'Cause we love each other like that and always will."
Henri and Brian glanced at one another. This aspect of their sisters' relationship was not news to them, though they had wondered if the girls really understood all that it meant. Apparently they thought they did.
"I thought you wanted to wait until Melly was ready?" Brian asked carefully.
"Well, yeah," Melly said. "But I am ready. I'm a real Guide now. I'm not like the other Guides exactly, and that's okay. I get it now. And Angie's my Sentinel and I love her and we're going to be together forever and it's time for us to bond."
"So…why are you telling us?" Henri wanted to know. "You don't need our permission, if you're worried about that."
The girls both wrinkled their noses at him. "Duh," Angie said, grinning at him. "If we wanted to ask if it was okay, we'd have done it a long time ago."
"But we do want to ask you something," Melly continued. "Someday Kaimi and Ngama will get married. And Leilani says she's already Ngama's mom and stuff. And we know you're both of our brothers already. But…when we want to get married…"
"'Cause we will," Angie added with a firm nod.
"…Will you both walk us down the aisle together?" Melly finished in almost a whisper.
Henri didn't move until Angie stepped forward and touched his brown cheeks, her fingers coming away wet with a tear. Brian turned to him. "What do you think, partner? Or should I say 'brother' instead?"
"Definitely brother," Angie told him.
Henri looked at his little family with a blossoming swell of pride. "I can't think of anything I'd rather do for the rest of my life," he told the girls.
"Good," Angie nodded. Then she grabbed Melly's hand. "Let's go."
"You didn't mean right now, did you?" Brian called after them. "How soon are you going to bond?"
"On Melly's birthday," Angie said. "So we have seven weeks to practice everything else before then." And they vanished into their bedroom and shut the door firmly.
Brian Rafe felt his face go red. "Oh god."
Henri hiccupped a mix of a laugh and a gulp and something to do with the tears that were still sneaking out. "What do you say we turn on the white noise generator and go downstairs for a while?"
Together, they beat a strategic, slightly awkward retreat.
-==OOO==-
When that bit of news became common knowledge around the lodge, most people nodded happily or expressed surprised pleasure. The only outlier was Eric.
"You mean Sentinels aren't…weird about…you know?" he asked.
Kaimi and Ngama were the ones sharing the news, and Kaimi tipped her head at him curiously, twirling the long front strand she had recently re-dyed a bright green. "What do you mean?"
"Uh, well, you know. Sentinels are kinda old-school about tradition and rank and everything, and I know it's all cool about me and being gay, but I didn't know if…"
Ngama shook his head and put a hand on Eric's arm. "You, my friend, are truly an idiot."
"Am I?" Eric asked. "I guess maybe I am, but…"
"Well," came Jonny's voice as he joined them, Bandit trotting at his heels. "Put it this way. If anybody has a problem, and they probably don't, but if they do, they'll have to take it up with me. Personally." Jonny grinned ferally.
"Are you offering to use your newly-won position as the Tribe's second-in-command for personal gain?" Ngama asked, his face an arch mockery of shock.
"Nope," Jonny shook his head. "For the right thing."
Eric visibly relaxed. "Oh wow. Thanks, Jonny. So…"
"Oh, for the love of!" came a new voice. Blair sauntered over, phone in hand. "Chris got back into town from his expedition yesterday, didn't he?"
Eric nodded, face reddening.
"Good. Call him. Invite him over," Blair tossed him the phone. "I'll get Joel to start the paperwork. We could use more anthropologists around here, anyway."
And then he was away, off to wrangle another problem in the Tribe, as it seemed he was always doing lately.
"That easy, huh?" Eric asked, looking abashedly at his friends.
"Yup," Kaimi told him with a smile.
"If it isn't a world-ending crisis, we're all pretty easy going," Jonny said with a shrug. "And if somebody's not, well, that's why Jim and I are around."
"I knew having you for a roommate was a good idea," Eric said, pulling Jonny into a headlock and scruffing his hair while Bandit barked happily.
-==OOO==-
Joel caught Simon in his office. "So, had any thoughts about what we talked about?" he strode in.
Simon looked up from the piles around him with a scowl. "Taggart, you're going to have to be a lot more specific than that. In the last three hours I think we've talked about whether or not we need to build new bungalows, where we can find some more sensory teachers so you and Blair and Hadji don't have class sizes in the hundreds, how to set up a regular patrol that gets everybody involved but doesn't ruffle any feathers from the previous perimeter teams, and how many vehicles we need to buy so everybody can get around."
"You're forgetting about the six different pairs of Sentinels who turned out to have a spirit animal in common and are upstairs right now...working out their Sentinel sickness," Joel added with a wry look. "At least this time the worst that'll happen is a half-dozen new members of the Tribe showing up in about nine months."
Simon glared. "What, exactly, do you want?"
Joel smiled faintly. "That's a lot of work for a man who isn't ready to be more than a part-time volunteer."
Simon's glare fizzled. "The Chief gave me until next week, but I don't know how I'm going to get enough done here to be ready to leave it with you and Sandburg and Benton. There's just so much."
"I know," Joel leaned on the back of the chair across from Simon's desk. "And I'm not going to pressure you to leave the PD just yet. I know that would kill you."
"It might," Simon admitted. "It's my career."
"Sure it is," Joel nodded. "But this here? This is your life, Simon."
He straightened up and turned to go. At the door-frame, he glanced back. "Take it from me. The good you can do on the job? It's real, Banks. You're the best captain in Cascade and everybody knows it. But when you're ready to realize that the good you can do here for people who won't play politics with you and will be there to look out for you for the rest of your life to say nothing of Daryl's…well, we'll be ready for you, too."
He breezed out and Simon sighed.
I wonder if I'll even make it a year. At this rate, I won't make it a month.
And somehow, he couldn't make himself feel entirely sorry about that.
-==OOO==-
The tableau of normalcy and relief cracked a few times too.
-==OOO==-
Dominik arrived at the lodge ten days after The Epic Zindig. Yosyp, the Sentinel with the same spirit animal as Jonny, had elected to remain at his post in Fokino after receiving a promotion, which allowed Dominik to leave the service officially. He had wanted to come in the immediate aftermath where Ivanna and the others had died, but Jim had advised him to hold his position and guard over the Sentinels who had already returned to Russia either to their duties or to retire in comfort with their senses under control. Now, however, Dominik had decided the time had come for him to more directly assist in the efforts of SELF and to join the Tribe that was the future of the Sentinel people.
He managed to arrive in time for Dmitri's funeral.
As with the previous recent occasion, Dmitri was laid out in honor on a clear day in the garden. The Tribe flowed around him, the Sentinels assuring themselves that he was gone and bidding him farewell. In their wake, the four Guides of the Tribe and their Sentinels ringed the body, the Guides silently enacting their own ritual. Those who had never known him attended as well, standing respectfully to the side and honoring a man who had been one of theirs.
At last, Jim stepped to his place at the head of the body, Blair at his side. Glittering in the sunlight on both of their chests were the medals Dmitri and Ivanna had bestowed upon them only scant weeks before. In fact, all eight recipients wore their medals proudly for this.
"Dmitri hated speeches," Jim said quietly. "And he would hate that we are quiet today for him. He would want us to go inside and drink and remember him doing the right thing. And we're going to do that," Jim managed a terrible smile. "But first, I have asked Hadji to speak."
Hadji lifted his head and moved away from Jonny. He skimmed his brown hand over Dmitri's body, coming to rest over his still chest.
"Dmitri gave his life to spare mine," he said heavily. "He carried me back to myself, to my Sentinel, when I had gone too far, when I myself would have died lost. And in a place I cannot describe, he gave me his final words. He told me not to weep or fear for him. That he was at peace."
But Hadji's head had tipped down and his voice went husky. More than one Sentinel's nose picked up the scent of tears. Jonny lifted his hand as if to touch his Guide, but froze and held still.
"Dmitri has told me that he is with us for all of our days," Hadji continued thickly. "That all those who have gone before are with us. I myself have sensed them watching over us. I believe we all have. That...those who leave this world wait in another separated only by our mortal perspective."
Hadji's hand lifted from Dmitri's lifeless chest and he raised it in a salute.
"Dmitri's last words were a wish of strength and victory to us all," he said softly. "It is because of his sacrifice that I stand here now, and because of that, that we all stand here. His sacrifice saved countless lives. I hope...I hope I can bear the honor of that in his name."
Hadji's hand dropped and he allowed Jonny to wrap him in a hug.
Later, when most of the Tribe was sprawled about the lodge and the gardens, drinking and working through their grief, Daryl found Luka before the fireplace.
"Was it your idea?" he asked softly.
Luka looked at him in surprise, then shook his head. "No. This was Benton's idea," Luka gestured.
The mantle of the lodge's central fireplace had long held a plaque with a saying on it that Daryl had always liked. Now, above it, a series of palm-sized seven-pointed stars had been affixed to the brick. Each bore a name – the names of all the Sentinels as well as Ivanna who had been part of the Tribe and were now gone. Jim himself had hung Dmitri's at the conclusion of the funeral.
"The CIA does something like this, I heard," Daryl said. "A lot of theirs aren't named since they can't even reveal the agents' names in death sometimes because of national security secrets. But...it's nice to have this." Daryl swallowed. "Nice to have them...watching over us."
"As they always will be, young one," Luka told him gently. "Even you, because you are Tribe. Dmitri is as much mine as he is yours. And he will be watching you just as closely."
Daryl managed a small smile. "Is that a way of telling me to be good?"
"Perhaps," Luka smiled in return. "I think you will find that the spirits of those who have been Sentinels and Guides are quite active in the lives of the living. So do not blame me if you find yourself as much held to Dmitri's standards as if he were still here to enforce them. Because he is."
Daryl nodded. "I know. I can tell, I guess."
"Good," Luka nodded once. "So can I, my friend." He turned and fixed his eyes on the star that bore Ivanna's name, forever beside Dmitri's now, as they had been for all the time he had known them both. "So can I."
-==OOO==-
It took another two weeks before Jonny asked his father up to the rooms he shared with his Guide. Benton didn't need to ask what it was about. The last month had not passed easily for the father whose sons were clearly not themselves.
They entered the rooms to find Hadji sitting on the floor in the sunlight, his legs crossed.
"IRIS?" Jonny called. "Full sonic isolation, okay?"
"The room is secure, Jonny Quest," the computer replied.
Hadji's eyes opened and he met his father's gaze steadily. "There is much we must discuss, Doctor Quest."
Benton moved to sit on a low ottoman near Hadji. Jonny took up a position on the floor, tight to his brother's side. "Hadji...son...I wish you would tell me what happened."
Jonny could feel the increase in his Guide's heart-rate, the tension that washed through him. But Hadji's outward control was impeccable, and he maintained a serene expression. "I apologize for my distant behavior. I mean you no disrespect. But my thoughts of late have been...difficult."
"Hadji," Benton leaned forward. "You don't have to tell me anything. You don't owe me any explanation. I wish you would give me one, but you are entitled to your privacy."
"Privacy's not helping, dad," Jonny put in. "He needs to talk to you and you need to talk to him. And then maybe we'll all feel better."
Benton glanced to his son. "All?"
Jonny and Hadji exchanged a lightning-quick glance and Hadji nodded.
"Do you recall the period where Blair and I had a certain amount of spiritual overlap after the events in the Arctic?" he asked.
Benton nodded.
"What we, the six of us, were obliged to do to counteract the radioactive energies released at the power plant was much, much more desperate, and much, much more extensive."
"It was...unbelievable," Jonny put in. "We...all of us...we kind of merged for a while there. Like...like how Hadji and I bonded. We were living each other's memories, feelings, thoughts. No, not even that. More...all that stuff kind of blended together into one long life story that just happened to have sections in Cameroon or Maui or Cascade or India."
Benton nodded slowly. "I surmised as much."
"You did?" Jonny's eyebrows went up in surprise.
Benton smiled a little. "Son, I've known you the longest, of course, but I know all of you fairly well, I believe. In the last few weeks, I have watched the six of you communicate so subtly it was akin to telepathy almost. You and Hadji have always been that way – you've always moved as if you were two parts of the same whole. And I remember how Blair and Hadji were able to anticipate and flow around one another that time. Yes, I could guess what had happened."
"Yeah, but this time it was Hadji who made it possible for us to come back," Jonny said.
Benton turned to his adopted son.
"When our task was completed," Hadji explained, "we were so entwined, we could not have functioned as independent people. Had we woken in that state, we would have existed as a single mind split between different bodies, each an extension of the whole. But I had experienced something unique, and this gave me the perspective and power to find and follow the paths that would allow each mind to return to its individual body."
"It was him almost dying in Astoria," Jonny said. "He was trying to save me, to wake me up from Zin's brainwashing, and it was too much. It drove him almost away, but Dmitri saved him. And that meant he was the only one of us who knew what that was like and how to use it."
"I'm grateful for your knowledge that allowed you to help," Benton said carefully, "but I am sorry that you were in that position in the first place." He looked into Hadji's eyes. "I am sorry for what I put you through, my son. I am sorry we ever made that plan and went to Zin. I could have lost both of you. I have Dmitri and your own amazing powers to thank that I did not."
"Actually, it kinda worked out, though," Jonny said. "If he hadn't almost gotten lost, he wouldn't have been able to separate us. Even though..."
"Even though what, son?"
"There are consequences to every decision and to every action," Hadji said. "My experience did grant me the insight to make a difference later, but it also resulted in a certain change to my astral presence."
"It's kinda hard to explain," Jonny said, "but he's see-through now. And it's easier for him to get lost, like he's not tied to his life as strongly anymore."
Benton breathed in sharply but Jonny waved a hand.
"It's okay, pop. As long as I'm always there with him when he does too much, he'll be okay. And I'll always be there." Jonny turned and his blue eyes blazingly met Hadji's brown. "I'll always be there with you, Hadj."
"I know that, my friend."
"That's good," Benton nodded after a moment. "But...is that the reason you've been so distant with me? That you were recovering? Because I thought..."
Hadji shook his head. "No, Doctor Quest. That is not the reason."
"You gotta tell him, Hadj."
Benton looked between his sons. Jonny was as close to Hadji's side as he could get without being in Hadji's lap, and his face was drawn in concern.
"I know," Hadji said, almost a whisper. "But still..."
"Tell him," Jonny urged with utter gentleness. "No matter what happens, nothing's gonna change this." And he pulled Hadji's hand into his own and linked their fingers.
Hadji closed his eyes and began to speak, his face tight and pale.
"When we were in Zin's stronghold, Anaya took me from you for a time, as you know."
Benton felt his stomach turn sharply and his tongue went dry. "I...was very afraid of what she might have done to you," he managed.
"She showed me a video of you from not long after you adopted me. She said you had been manipulating me always, that my only function was as a contingency plan to protect Jonny as little more than a bodyguard, and that you cared nothing for me as a person. That, in fact, you planned to stunt any interest or talent of mine that was contrary to your goal of assuring my total loyalty and devotion to Jonny."
"Oh my god," Benton covered his mouth. He clearly remembered which video Hadji meant. It had been buried in the Quest family archives, in his secret files.
"Don't, dad," Jonny held up a hand. "Let him finish."
"Later, when Zin woke Jonny after the programming was complete, I was not able to override it right away. I was, however, able to insert myself into his mind enough to control his actions to a certain point. It ensured that Zin never gained anything from Jonny that was dangerous, but I was required to play along with his desires for a time."
Hadji finally opened his eyes and met Benton's horrified gaze. "It was I who whipped you, Doctor Quest. It was my will. I was conscious and I was aware of the choice. It was not Jonny in a trance. It was I."
Benton had to swallow several times before he could speak. "Hadji...I understand. We all knew that something terrible might happen, that we might all have to make awful decisions in order to get out of there safely. I cannot blame you for what you did to save us all and to preserve the illusion that Jonny was under Zin's control."
Benton sighed and looked at his hands. "With that video of me in mind, I imagine you had reason to be angry with me, though I know you would never express it that way."
Hadji jerked as if he had been struck. To Benton's surprise, he turned away and buried his face against Jonny's shoulder.
"No dad!" Jonny cried, wrapping his arms around his Guide. "That's not what's going on here!"
Benton waited for a moment, then asked cautiously, "What's going on here, Jonny?"
Jonny never let go of Hadji, but he looked at his father with fire in his blue eyes. "Hadji hated what he was doing. He hated it. I...I can feel it."
Benton nodded.
"He didn't have a choice, though. Not just because of the plan, but because he had to make sure Zin wanted to keep you alive. So it had to look real. It had to look like I was brainwashed and he had no reason to wonder why I lied. Or even notice it."
"Lied?"
"He told Zin he smelled blood after he hit you the last time. But he didn't. Hadji didn't hit you hard enough to break the skin. You never had a cut."
"You're right. I never really thought about it, but yes. Most of my injuries were from hanging from those chains so long." Benton's eyes landed on Hadji, who was straightening up, though he did not extrapolate himself from Jonny's embrace.
"At the time," Hadji said, his voice low, "I was able to exert a small amount of power and temporarily influence Anaya and Melana so neither would notice my falsehood. But the fact that I did not draw blood does not lessen my crime against you, Doctor Quest."
"If you're worried that I'm angry with you, let me assure you that I am not..." Benton began.
"No, sir," Hadji interrupted. "You have reason to be, but I know your good nature well enough. I wished you to know the truth, that I was conscious of my acts, but I am not afraid of your reaction to that."
"Remember," Jonny said. "We got out of there right after Dmitri brought Hadji back, but his brain was still a little scrambled. What I didn't realize was that Hadji was still stretching himself thin between zoning all those Sentinels on our way out and then trying to communicate with Blair and Kaimi about everything that was going on. But not long after, all six of us mixed up all our feelings and memories."
"Yes?"
Hadji sat up straight and met his adopted father's eyes unflinchingly. "Doctor Quest, I need you to explain to me the meaning of the video I watched. I need to understand what you intended for my life when you adopted me."
"Me, too, dad," Jonny said, his own face sharp with tension. "Hadji's my brother and my best friend and my Guide. I need to know, too."
Benton could feel the weight of that moment, of Jonny's waiting judgment. He knew he needed to proceed carefully, that his next words could very well redefine his relationship with the young Sentinel and his Guide. As well as Jim and Blair and Ngama and Kaimi, he thought suddenly. Because unless I have misread things, they are all still connected, and what one feels, they will all feel. And yet he had to be honest – his Sentinel son would easily read his tension and would be looking carefully for examples of anything amiss.
Benton met Hadji's eyes. "You know that I often have multiple reasons for my decisions."
"Of course."
"Then it should not surprise you that I had an additional motivation in adopting you other than your own welfare as a child."
Jonny's whole body snapped tight, but to his son's credit, Jonny did not immediately react otherwise. Benton knew there were others even within the lodge who would already be on their feet throwing him out of the room and possibly their lives.
He took a breath in that instant of leeway he had been granted. "While it is true I did want the best for a bright and courageous young man who had done my family a great service, I was in truth also thinking about Jonny's well-being. But it was not for the reason Hadji saw in that video, not exactly."
"Then what reason was it, exactly?" Hadji asked, his tone carefully neutral.
"Jonny, after we lost your mother, you and I were kind of on our own. And Race was a good friend and mentor and bodyguard and tutor to you, but you still needed something else. You still needed a friend your own age. A confidant. A companion. A brother."
Benton held out his hands.
"Hadji, I adopted you for your own good. But I also hoped that you would give Jonny the one thing I could not give my own son, and that is an equal."
"But that video?" Jonny asked.
"Hadji, why do you keep your name secret?" Benton pressed.
"To protect my identity." Hadji's eyes widened. "Because were the true relationship between myself and you, and myself and Jonny, revealed to our enemies, it would put me in greater danger of being used against you."
"Exactly," Benton nodded. "I recorded that video when it became clear that you would not only become Jonny's friend and my young protege, but my son in truth. I recorded it the same day we decided together to keep your true adopted status a secret."
"You put it in there expecting it to be found," Jonny said with astonishment. "You didn't mean it. You just made it to throw people off Hadji's track, just in case."
"I never anticipated needing to use it, or that you would ever see it yourself, Hadji," Benton admitted. His gaze locked on Hadji's. "And I am so sorry, my son. I am so sorry for that doubt that must have haunted you."
"I did not doubt your regard for me now, Doctor Quest," Hadji said softly. "Merely whether it might have grown years later than I thought it had. It was a...distressing doubt to carry."
"No," and now Benton pushed from the ottoman and, when Jonny's body turned towards him and both started to relax, drew them into his arms again. "No, my son. It did not take me years to love you and consider you my own. It took moments."
Suddenly Benton was struck and he pulled back enough to look into Hadji's face. "Wait. You wondered if I had loved you as a child, and yet when you were faced with me in Jonny's body you still risked your life and your totally depleted energies in order to trick the twins into failing to realize you had not hit me hard enough to draw blood?" Benton also remembered in that moment that as Jonny's body had listed off the strikes, he had named "Hadji Singh" and not "Hadji Singh Quest" – more proof of Hadji's command over the situation.
"Well," Hadji admitted, "whatever your heart's truth for me either as a child or as an adult, you are still the only father I have ever know, the only one I have ever wished for, and the only man I have ever aspired to be."
Benton could only shake his head as his heart leaped into his throat.
Jonny reached out and touched Hadji gently on the back of his neck. "And you're the best brother a guy could ever ask for, Hadj. The best Guide and friend and everything."
"Hadji, can you forgive me for that video?" Benton asked.
"Yes, father," Hadji said, "if you can forgive me for striking you."
"Technically," Jonny put in, "we both did. His brain and my body. So I'm sorry, too."
Benton laughed. "We're all alive. You're safe. And you both protected me while I was in Zin's clutches. I don't think anything else matters. But, should you need to hear it, yes, I forgive you. Both of you." He held them again. "My sons."
-==OOO==-
Later, after Benton, Hadji, and Jonny had talked some more about what had happened to them, they emerged to find the other two pairs of Sentinels and Guides hanging around the hallway by their rooms just a little too casually.
It was Kaimi who strode forward and impishly poked Hadji on the tip of his nose.
"Told you so."
Hadji smiled a little sheepishly. "Yes, you did. Though, I know well that I am not the only one who was concerned."
Jim and Ngama all shifted minutely, and Benton could understand; the betrayal of a father was something they shared in common. Perhaps something they had anticipated, even. No wonder Hadji had been so uncertain with so many foreign betrayals leaking into his heart.
But Kaimi shook her head. "Did you tell him you love him?" she asked bluntly.
Benton suppressed a laugh. He wasn't sure he'd seen Hadji look that poleaxed in years.
"I'm going to take that as a 'no' then," she said.
"Leave him alone," Jonny jumped in to defend his Guide. "You know that Hadji doesn't talk about stuff. Not like that. Unless it's, you know. An actual life-and-death thing."
"I know," she nodded. "But isn't that a little silly when we all know what we all feel now?"
"If you want my opinion," Jim spoke up unexpectedly, "it doesn't matter what he did or didn't say. Benton, you know what he means, right?"
Benton smiled. "Of course."
Jim shrugged. "Then there you go. The smartest person I know once said that it doesn't matter if you don't say something as long as the other person knows how to hear it. And it seems to me that Benton doesn't need Sentinel hearing or Guide powers to hear Hadji's heart just fine."
"I don't think any of us do," Blair said softly, smiling at his fellow Guide.
Jonny slung an arm around Hadji's shoulders. "We hear you just fine, Hadj."
"Good," Hadji said, turning his eyes on the others but finally resting them on his Sentinel and brother and soulmate. "For I have always heard you, too, and ever shall for all of our days."
-==OOO==-
Two months later, the Tribe decided to have a celebration for a variety of reasons. The paperwork had finally come in officially designating the new Sentinels as protected refugees with the potential for US citizenship later if they wanted it. Additionally, all six Sentinel pairs who had been rather unexpectedly drawn together due to Sentinel sickness were proved to have had fruitful results, so now six pregnant Sentinels were the focus of much joy and interest. Jessie and Daryl had decided to announce their engagement but, to appease their fathers and rather extensive Tribe family, were planning to wait until Daryl graduated from the Academy before embarking on that next step. And Melly and Angie had successfully initiated their own bonding.
It was a week of frantic preparations and chaotic planning, which had resulted in Simon very loudly threatening to abandon them and focus on the Cascade PD full-time (while privately wondering if he should just turn in his badge and be done with it). Jim had delegated like a master, with the Council now running the show and the phrase of the week became "Go ask Blair or Benton or Hadji or Kaimi" when anyone brought him question. But the four of them with help from every quarter put on a full event with decorations, mountains of food, music, games, prizes, and somehow they managed to work in a tradition from the home culture of every single person in attendance.
Blair was quietly contemplating the centerpiece at the table that had been dedicated to the barbequed meats – a display of a bow and spear of Chopec origin. Jim had kept them from the time Incacha had been in town, and this seemed like the right moment to share them with the Tribe.
I hope he approves, he thought wryly.
Because the other thing that had changed, besides his new and still-not-quite-faded connection to three Sentinels and two other Guides, plus the size and meaning of the Tribe, was his newfound awareness of all those who had gone before guarding them. And it wasn't just him – Hadji and Kaimi and Melly could feel it, too – Incacha and the wise man Ndovu and Dmitri and Ivanna and Kaimi's great-grandmother and so many others who watched over them.
If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be here, he thought. Incacha helped Jim become what he is, and he saved me. And without that, I'm not sure we'd have a Tribe at all.
And it was becoming a Tribe in the truest sense. Though the Sentinels who had been deprogrammed from Zin's brainwashing were still all a little nervous, still finding a home in the surroundings they had opted to adopt for themselves, they were now Tribe, now family, just like Benton and Race and Simon and Joel and Howard and Jessie and Daryl and everyone else. In fact, the Sentinels that had been under Zin's control were almost more dedicated to the idea of the Tribe – they had been stolen from their homes and families, those who hadn't been rejected for their sensory problems, and while many asked to bring their loved ones to Cascade to make new homes for themselves, they all knew well what it was to be beholden. And instead of not wanting to be a part of something, they wanted it more than ever. The right something.
"Because," Jim appeared at Blair's side, picking up on his thoughts. "Sentinels protect their territory. And now we really have something worth protecting."
"And Guides protect their Sentinels," Blair answered with a smile. He looked out over the grounds, where almost six-hundred people – Sentinels, a few Guides, and plenty who were neither – were happily mingling. And if a Sentinel was close to a zone, the nearest people would help them through it. If one began to have a reaction, the others were ready to help. They had begun to form a true society based on mutual respect and learning and need.
"And soon there will be a lot more of us," Jim nodded. "Benton's got that list, and as soon as things finish stabilizing out here, there'll be a whole bunch of us going out to find them, all of them, and offer them a home if they want one."
"And the knowledge and training either way," Blair added. "Because Guides protect Sentinels no matter if they want to be Tribe or not. We'll help them. All of them. And someday, maybe, everybody will know how amazing you all are."
"Maybe," Jim shrugged. "But, you know, Sandburg," he looked at his Guide fondly, "this is all your fault."
"What is?" Blair's brow furrowed in confusion.
"All of this," Jim swept his arm out to encompass the scene before them.
"How do you figure?"
"When your dissertation got leaked, you made the choice to destroy your reputation and your future to protect me," Jim answered. "Because of that, you lost your place at Rainier and everything you'd wanted for yourself."
"Yeah, thanks ever so for reminding me of the worst mistake I ever made," Blair said mockingly.
"Don't call it a mistake," Jim shook his head. "You didn't do it. Your mom was the real troublemaker there. But you did make a decision that day. An important, impossible, painful decision you based on integrity and courage and selflessness."
"What's your point?"
"So that's why you went to Borneo, to figure out what to do next," Jim said patiently. "Also, because of how you dealt with the press, you got into the sights of our old friend Sunshine. He abducted you in Borneo, and you escaped. Which is how you found the Quests."
"Well, sure…"
"Because of that, Jonny wound up a Sentinel, so Benton founded SELF, which led to bringing in a whole load of Sentinels and getting involved internationally."
"Okay, but Jonny would have become a Sentinel someday anyway," Blair protested. "It was just a question of when."
"Maybe, but you're missing the point," Jim shook his head. "Jonny never became a Sentinel as a kid because he was never alone long enough to trigger the senses without that chemical push, and that was not going to change any time soon. So maybe it would be another few years before it would happen. And when it eventually did, it wouldn't be in the basement of Wellmen Global, would it?"
"Probably not," Blair said slowly.
"So Benton would have helped Jonny, maybe even contacted you after doing his computer search magic, but none of us –not the Quests and not you and I – would know anything about all the Sentinels in other places in the world, or about the governments working with them. We'd have helped Jonny, but SELF might not ever have gotten founded."
Blair gulped.
"And without SELF," Jim continued, beginning to smile, "you and Hadji wouldn't have found out that Zin was spying on us and copying our work. Because you can't tell me Zin wouldn't eventually have stumbled onto it after Benton and Jonny came to you. He would be out there right now, building an army of Sentinels and nobody would know to stop him until it was too late."
"I don't know about…"
"Plus," Jim continued on happily, "if we hadn't encountered other Sentinels, or if I hadn't had to teach Jonny, it might have taken us a lot longer to get to where we are now. So you wouldn't have started down the path of the Seventh yet, and we'd both probably be dead because of that firebug. Not to mention everything we've learned since about it."
"Well, maybe…"
"And Ngama would never have heard of SELF and come here to meet you, so he'd be back in Cameroon probably stuck with that crazy shaman, and he wouldn't have met Kaimi, and she'd never know she was a Guide. And all the others would still be locked up or outcasts or whatever because they wouldn't know they were Sentinels, or they'd still be in the black market being traded around like stud bulls instead of being here learning to be free."
"That's…"
"And we wouldn't have had a Tribe of our own to fight back against Kincaid and Brackett, who probably never would have teamed up except Zin recruited them to take us out, but because they came at us the way they did, we could beat them. And there wouldn't have been three pairs of Sentinels and Guides to stand up and save Cascade when Zin or Kincaid or whoever else decided to make a go at the power plant."
"Yeah, but the plant never would have been in danger in the first place if not for everything else."
"This is Cascade," Jim said. "Somebody was going to go for that thing someday. That's just the law of averages."
"That's not how the law of averages works –"
"Face it," Jim cut him off, crossing his arms and grinning. "It's a simple progression. You sacrificed everything to protect me, wound up with the Quests in Borneo, and got SELF created at just the right moment to get involved in an international situation in time to literally save Cascade and maybe the whole world. We needed SELF to exist in the right place at the right time to make a difference and be able to stop Zin. And it never would have except Benton was faced with Jonny becoming a Sentinel when we had to break you all out of Sunshine's place where we learned about what was going on in the world. And you were in there because you discredited yourself and went to Borneo."
"So doesn't that make Benton the linchpin?" Blair managed desperately. "Or Jonny? Since they're the reason SELF got founded, and you're right that without that, everything else falls apart."
"But they wouldn't have founded it at all if you and your Sandburg Zone hadn't changed the timing."
"What about my mom? She's the one who actually leaked the diss!"
"Which you wrote," Jim returned smugly. "And you're the one who started the whole mess by finding me in the first place and studying me. But we both know you had other ways out of what your mom did besides the one you took. That's the decision that everything hangs on."
"I…there has to be something wrong with this logic," Blair felt his face getting hot.
"Not really," Jim shrugged, his smile widening every moment. "Everything goes back to you and the bravest thing I'd ever seen you do– standing up and declaring yourself a fraud. You gave it all up for me. And because of that, you, Blair Sandburg, single-handedly saved the world and every single Sentinel in it."
Blair had one instant of pure silence to consider before there was a roar.
He spun and looked out, realizing only now that from the moment Jim had started speaking, everyone else had fallen silent and turned to listen. Everyone had heard Jim's pronouncement, and apparently they agreed. They met Blair's astonished, unbelieving expression with an approval so loud it seemed the ground itself was shaking. They surged around him, cheering, applauding, calling out thank-yous and affirmations and praise. And on another level, Blair could hear the spirit animals expressing their own agreement.
He could barely breathe for the surprise of it all, the overwhelming love and pride and loyalty that slammed into him from every side. It was almost too much.
And then Jim grabbed his hand and squeezed and he was safe and whole.
And then Hadji was beside him, taking his other hand and flowing that boundless serenity into him, along with a deep, abiding joy.
And then Jonny was there, and Jessie, and Race, and Benton, all holding onto one another.
Daryl and Simon stood with an arm around one another while Joel and Henri and Brian did a three-way high-five. Melly was bouncing up and down holding Angie's hand. Ngama and Kaimi were wrapped in an embrace by Leilani. Emeline and Hasna did a happy little dance with JJ and Yasmin. The whole Tribe were there, hundreds of members strong and united. And somewhere, never mind where exactly because where never mattered, Incacha and Ivanna and Dmitri and Ndovu and so many others were part of it all, like voices on the wind.
Blair felt tears tracking down his face and he squeezed the hands that held him.
"Maybe," he said softly into the clamor to those who most needed to hear, "maybe I was the first step. But it took all of us," he looked to his Sentinel and the Quests, "to get all the way to this point. It took all of us and so many more," he looked out at the crowd. So many faces, so many people that belonged to them now, and where they belonged, too. A Tribe, a family, that stood bound by powers that had no words.
As Jim had said, from the ashes of Blair's old life and dreams and hopes, a spark had been born from Blair's integrity and courage. Which was nurtured in Benton's ambition. Brightened by Race loyalty and Jessie's commitment. Strengthened in Jonny's spirit. Magnified by Hadji's wisdom. And spread by the power of Jim's heart until every corner of the world would feel its light and warmth as a shining beacon, a haven, an invitation into the miraculous.
Trust ye the holy Seven.
And so they did.