Time for next chap... hope you like... also thanks to TheJokersBrother, for pointing this out... it's 'Skull Collector' not Bone Collector... I went back and changed it so thanks... anyway back to the story.
Fall of a Hero, Rise of a Legend
Chapter 35
-One Week Later-
-Begin Flashback-
The war was back on... and in full swing... the day after Justice Forever met The Skull Collector, the Order of Carnage launched a series of coordinated strikes across the city. They were striking at the cities infrastructure and support. They destroyed three fire stations, four clinics, and a waste maintenance plant. They were trying their best to break the collective spirit of New York, and they were succeeding. Since those attacks, the streets had gone from sparsely traveled, to barren. The only people who traveled by foot anymore, were those who were armed.
Public favor for Justice Forever, which soared after the dual at the mall, quickly experience a vertical nose-dive, after the attack the following day. People were pissed, at the Order of Carnage, at the Government, at the NYPD and the military, but they were especially pissed at Justice Forever, whom the Order would constantly blame for all of their wrong doings.
Every time they did something horrible, they would immediately release a statement claiming responsibility, and stating that they don't even really care about New York, or it's people, all they really want is Justice Forever. Basically they kept telling the people of the city, that they were just dopes caught in the crossfire of someone else's war, and that pissed them off.
The streets were fucking hazardous now, everyone had a fucking gun, and was liable to shoot you on sight, if you rounded the corner in a sneaky fashion. To every paranoid, gun wielding, dumb-ass out there, if you so much as avoided eye contact, you were a threat.
The hospitals were going crazy! People were getting shot left and right... apparently the attacks on the cities infrastructure, was the final breaking point. If it wasn't apparent that the city was under martial law before, it was now. Cops were all outfitted in SWAT uniforms... soldiers were everywhere... and yet the Order still held the advantage... they must have been studying the cites layout or something because they moved like fucking ghosts... police and soldiers were getting attacked left and right... four major firefights had broken out in the previous week... all ending in 'draws' if you can call it that... the Order always collected their dead before they retreated so, no one ever knew how many casualties they suffered after a fight.
A lot had changed over the past week, Dave's role as the impromptu leader of Justice Forever, had ended... their was now no doubt in anyone's mind who ran the group. After the attacks, which followed Mindy's birthday... Dave decided it was time they figured out the structure of their own group... they weren't an army, so everyone needed a purpose...
It was funny, Dave brought it up in a full group meeting, and was like, "Alright guys... we need to get our shit straight so that there is no confusion... we need a leader..."
As soon as he got to that point Marty raised his hand and was like, "I vote Dave! All for?"...and everyone pretty much just raised their hands immediately. Dave just stared at them for a second before hanging his head and letting out a sigh.
"The motion passes! Dave, you are still leader of Justice Forever!" Marty declared with a grin.
Dave just sighed again, before deciding to just accept it and move on.
Marcus, Duncan, Crystal, Andrew, and Andrei, became the groups official 'Lieutenants', because of their experience and or leadership abilities. While Mindy and Samuel, became Dave's co-captains... or right/left hand man/woman, as Mindy preferred to be called. Mindy was chosen because Dave trusted her completely, while Samuel was chosen for his extensive knowledge and history with The Order of Carnage.
Everyone else fell into different support roles... Elena decided to begin training to join the team, and would act as the unit field medic, alongside Samuel. The group also decided to invest time into looking for actual doctors, to join the group or at least work out of the headquarters... so that they wouldn't need a hospital anymore. Everyone had their role, though it's not like it really mattered... at this point, it was all just a formality... everyone already knew how things worked... this was just a step to make it clear.
-End Flashback-
Mindy let out a loud sigh, as she finished recalling the earlier events of the week. Everyone was so confused... all this talk of dragons, and then suddenly the war returning with vengeance, it really stirred up everyone's emotions.
Mindy smiled as she though back to the previous day... about the news they had been given...
Dave, Mindy, Katie, Peter, Dominic, and Ace all went out on patrol, Barbara stayed home because she was feeling nauseous. They ended up brawling with some street thugs... but nothing else interesting occurred, it was about an hour into their patrol when Peter got a call from Barbara, asking for him to come back to the headquarters, so naturally they all made a bee-line for home as quickly as they could.
Once they returned, Peter went off to talk privately with Barbara... it was about an hour later, when they returned and asked to address the group. Once everyone was gathered... Barbara informed the group that she was pregnant. A lot of faces lit up... everyone was so excited and happy for the two of them... it was about an hour later, that Dave pulled the two of them aside along with Marcus and Duncan... he told them how happy he was for them... and that if they ever needed anything he would be willing to help, then he told them that, it was for the best that they leave as soon as possible.
The two weren't surprised... they understood what a pregnancy would mean to their roles as heroes. Dave offered to make a call to Harper to see about getting them out of the city as soon as physically possible, stating that every single moment in the city had become a life or death struggle, and that remaining for even a little while could be unhealthy. They both sadly agreed, they didn't want to leave, but they were going to be parents, and they had a child to think about, so in the end there really wasn't a choice to be made, they excepted Dave's offer. He made a few calls and they were scheduled to leave in the morning.
The group was up late partying and having fun, offering as much gratitude as they could possibly muster, to thank the young couple for all of their help. Peter and Barbara both held sad looks, and it was obvious the whole night, that they were torn between happy as hell that they were having a baby, but sad that they had to leave. There was also a little guilt present, for having to leave the team alone to fight. Everyone noticed it and did their best to show them that it was alright, hell even Samuel was nice about and generally seemed to mean it when he wished them luck and hoped that they'd meet again one day.
Then like that, the next morning they were off. A helicopter arrived to pick them up, everyone said their goodbye's and they were gone... Shortly after that, Dave made Mindy and Samuel flip a coin to see which would join him on patrol and which would stay behind to work at the headquarters. They turned it into a friendly competition, and everyone in the group voted on who would win, and if they were wrong, then they would have to join that group. Samuel won... the bastard.
Dave ended up leaving with Samuel, Andrew, Todd, Donald, Dominic, Ace, Miranda, Aiko, Hanzo, and Fred... everyone else got to stay at the headquarters with a list of chores to do.
"So what, I'm the fucking maid now? I swear you give a guy oral, and all of a sudden he thinks he's the fucking king!" Mindy bitched, to whomever would listen.
"Hey... you had your fucking chance to lead the group... everyone knows that if you wanted to, you could have taken over anytime you wanted. Now it's too late... we're official and Dave's the boss." Marty chided in return.
"You fucking voted for him." Mindy rebutted.
"So... he's a great leader... and someone's got to do this shit! I'm sure Samuel would be bitching just as hard if he got stuck doing this." Marty countered.
"Fuck it! You're right." Mindy relented and decided to get back to work.
Earlier that day before half of the group left for patrol, the whole group sat down, and made a list of everything that they could do to enhance the security or upgrade the headquarters. Now Mindy was stuck making sure that the long ass list so eagerly created, got worked on.
Another two hours went buy before Katie wandered up to Mindy, "Hey... you've been working non stop... you want to take a break?"
"Yeah... I guess." Mindy replied as she finished sliding a Kevlar plate into one of the couch cushions. She had spent the last few hour bulletproofing all of the furniture in the living room.
"Good... cuz theirs a little five year old that's been looking for a play pal." Katie giggled.
"Oh... dammit!" Mindy cringed, she loved Sarah to death, but sometimes that little girl was insatiable.
Mindy spent the next hour playing tag with Sarah, and Jaina, who had decided to join them. Mindy had a huge soft spot when it came to the little girl... she would often braid Sarah's hair into ponytail's, or play games with her, Sarah adored Mindy... and would spend all of her time with her if she could. Fred always found it cute. Fred and Sarah had been part of the group for a few weeks now... and they quickly learned that Fred was a very trusting guy. Three days prior to today, he pulled the Dave and Mindy aside to talk privately, they talked about Sarah, and about how thankful he was for the two of them spending so much time with her. At first it appeared like he was just expressing gratitude, but over the course of the next few minutes, the two became aware that Fred was actually questioning them, or testing them... to see how they felt when it came to Sarah. Neither Dave, or Mindy, spoke up about this they simply continued to accept his praise and share with him their true feelings. At one point Mindy stated that if she ever had a daughter, she would want the little girl to be just like Sarah, Dave quickly agreed with her. As they both brought up that point, Fred adopted a faraway look... it was then that he made the choice to trust the two of them. He looked dead into their eyes and proceeded to tell them, that if anything ever happened to him... he wanted them to take care of Sarah.
Mindy and Dave, were both shocked by his proclamation. He proceeded to explain his reasoning, he saw how the two of them were with her, and he knew about how much they cared about her well being. The two had experienced loss... they knew what true pain was... and he knew that if it ever came down to it, they would do everything in their power, to prevent Sarah from experiencing the same pain. He knew that the two of them truly loved his little girl, that reminded them so much of their lost innocence.
With a heavy heart, Mindy and Dave both agreed, to take care of Sarah if anything ever happened her father...
Mindy was never one to offer prayer... she never prayed... not even once in her life... but something about the burden that they had now been shackled with... the responsibility they had been given, pushed Mindy to offer a prayer for the first time in her life. That night as she lay awake in Dave's arms, she offered a silent prayer, that nothing would ever happen to Fred... so that Sarah would never have to experience that pain. She prayed that Sarah would not join the cycle of vigilantes that have lost their parents.
As Mindy released that memory from her mind and glanced down at Sarah, whom was panting heavily in her arms from all the tag they were playing, the devil himself answered Mindy's prayer.
"Mindy! You've got come see this!" Lucy shouted as she burst into the room.
"What?" Mindy asked as her and Sarah shot to their feet.
"On the TV." Lucy replied, motioning for them to follow.
They ran into the living room where the rest of Mindy's half of Justice Forever were all standing watching the news.
"Look at this fucking shit!" Marty growled.
On the TV, a battle was playing out from a bird's eye view. The view was centered on a street downtown, in the center of the street was a Striker APC, and two Hummer's. A group of soldiers were around the vehicles firing up at one of the surrounding buildings where, someone was obviously shooting back... but what made the scene more intense was the occasional rocket that would fly into the side of the APC, and explode.
Mindy's eyes quickly scanned the scene, and came to focus on a handful of costumed individuals that were helping the soldiers, it was Dave's team.
"Dammit!" Mindy hissed as she turned to head for the armory.
"Mindy! Wait!" Marcus shouted after her.
"I'm going to go help them! I can get there fast on my bike!" Mindy shouted in reply.
"Mindy! Listen! That wasn't live... it was taken from earlier today." Marcus explained.
Mindy stared back at him, eyes wide with horror.
"How early?" She asked.
"About an hour ago." Marcus replied, sadly.
"Call Dave." Mindy ordered as she whipped out her phone.
"I already tried... I can't get through to any of them." Marty replied as he joined them.
"I'm going to go look for them!" Mindy declared when Dave's phone went straight into voice-mail.
"Mindy... you need to calm down." Marcus stated as he took a step towards her.
"I can't calm down! That bastard might have Dave! He might have..." Mindy's voice caught in her chest, the mere thought of Dave being dead made her nauseous.
"Just stay calm. We need to think a plan." Marcus, tried to comfort her as the others joined them.
Mindy had a hard time controlling her breathing... Dave was tough he could survive anything, so then why wasn't he answering... why weren't the others? Fresh tears began to spring from her eyes, as her mind once again drifted infinitely closer to the thought of Dave being dead.
"I don't know what to do." Mindy cried, locking eyes with Marcus.
"We need to stay calm... we need to try and get into contact with the others... the news didn't report and deaths... so they might be alright... we just need to be patient.
"Alright... alright... I can't do this right now... one of you... figure it out..." Mindy replied, as she ran her hands over her head, and tried to freaking out.
"Andrei... you have more experience than anyone here... what do you think we should do?" Marcus asked.
"First and foremost, let us gear up, and set up a perimeter... if they've captured or killed any of our comrades, they might know where this place is... we need to ensure our own safety first... then we can worry about the others." Andrei stated in an authoritative voice.
"Alright... you heard the man... let's gear up!" Duncan ordered.
"Come now, little one... we must see to the defense." Andrei stated, as he placed a comforting hand on Mindy's shoulder. Mindy let out a loud sigh before wiping the tears from her eyes and nodding in agreement.
The heroes were quickly dressed and outside... they took up positions, in the buildings surrounding the headquarters, and Jon and Lucy were took up position in the helicopter, and circled the surrounding blocks.
"He'll be okay Mindy... Dave's the toughest guy we know." Eileigh tried to comfort her, as they knelt huddled in the shadows of a building that overlooked the headquarters's garage.
"I know... I think I just had a micro meltdown." Mindy replied, with a nod.
"It'll all be fine, they've dealt with this kind of stuff before." Eileigh added.
"Yeah... they have." Mindy stated, her eyes intently scanning the area.
About an hour went buy, and sun was beginning to set when suddenly Duncan sounded off over the radios. "I've got a black van... coming towards the headquarters... anyone else got eyes on?"
"We see it." Lucy replied from the helicopter.
"It looks like... yeah, it's turning onto our street." Duncan stated, just as a dirty black van rolled onto the street.
"They know which building to go too." Eileigh remarked as the van turned towards the garage.
"It's them!" Mindy shouted happily, exactly two seconds before Todd jumped out of the passenger seat and punched in the code to open the garage.
The van quickly pulled into the garage, as Mindy and Eileigh broke from cover and began sprinting towards the open garage.
They quickly got to the garage as the back of the van opened and Samuel, and an unknown masked man hopped out of the back, dragging with them a short fat, fucker. The Unknown guy looked almost exactly like Cain... his armor was basically a color swap... of blue instead of red. Donald, Ace, Miranda, Aiko, Hanzo, and Andrew followed out of the back of the van... they all looked like shit.
Dave got out of the driver seat, as he stepped out Mindy made a bee-line towards him, but stopped when she noticed him covered in blood.
"Marty... get this fat fuck a chair!" Dave hissed darkly.
Marty who was standing nearby immediately complied, and brought a chair over to where Samuel and the unknown man held the fat guy.
"Who is that guy?" Mindy asked Donald, who was holding his shoulder.
"That's The Tumor... one of Chris' cunts." Donald replied with a mixture of pain and anger.
"Hey guys you're back!" Elena stated as her and Sarah walked into the garage.
Dave, tore his mask off, angrily as he approached, Samuel and the unknown, whom were tying the short, fat guy to the chair. "Elena! Get her out of here!" Dave shouted.
Elena quickly turned on her heels and scooped Sarah into her arms and left. Natasha and Andrei shared a look at the sound of Dave's voice... it was the sound of pure murder.
Dave walked right up to The Tumor, and decked him right across the face.
"Fuck you! I ain't telling you shit!" The Tumor shouted as Dave punched him again.
"You're going to talk... or I'm going to cut your balls off and feed them to you!" Dave hissed as he punched the guy again.
"So this is the leader of Justice Forever... I must say... I'm impressed." The Unknown man stated to Samuel.
"Reminds you a lot of the General doesn't he?" Samuel asked with a wicked grin, he had also removed his mask.
"You're right... I hated the General." The man replied with a huff.
"You are not alone in that thought Alex... I hated my father too." Samuel agreed.
"Where... the Hell is Cain!" Dave shouted as he punched The Tumor again.
"Fuck you... hero boy... You're going to have to hit harder then that to get me to talk." The Tumor boasted.
"You're going to tell me where he is, or so help me god... They'll need a ladle to collect what is left of you!" Dave hissed, his eyes an inferno.
"What the fuck happened?" Mindy asked Miranda. Miranda simply looked over at her with tears in her eyes.
"I've had enough of his stalling, Hanzo break one of his fucking fingers!" Aiko growled angrily. Dave quickly stood back as Hanzo approached, grabbed one of The Tumor's fingers and twisted in sharply to the right.
The Tumor let out a wail of pain, as Hanzo stepped back, his ever present smile, replaced by a neutral uncaring glare.
Dave quickly returned to his position standing over the Tumor, and cocked his arm back, "Tell me where he is!"
"You're going to have to do better then that!" The Tumor winced.
"What does Cain fucking brainwash these dumb fucks?" Todd asked, as he ran his hands over his head.
"Samuel... where can I stab this fucker, so that he doesn't bleed to death?" Dave growled.
The Tumor kind of flinched at that threat.
"I don't have any patience for you right now... you have five seconds... speak or die!" Dave shouted as he pulled his handgun out and leveled it at the man's head.
"Jesus Dave!" Marty, stated.
"What the fuck happened?" Mindy nearly shouted, to any of the bewildered heroes.
"You won't kill me... you're a hero." The Tumor stated, with a wicked grin.
"Five." Dave began.
"Four." "Dave man... come on." Marty stated.
"Three." "Look...everyone needs to calm down..." Marcus tried to gain control of the situation.
"Two." Mindy was just staring at Dave as he counted down... she felt it, in her gut... he was going to do it.
"One." "Dav..." Mindy began to stop him, when suddenly he pulled the trigger, there was a loud click.
"Damn... it's empty." Dave stated as he lowered the gun.
"I knew you didn't have the stones." The Tumor stated, mockingly.
"Still don't wanna talk?" Dave asked.
"No." The Tumor replied like it was dumb question.
"Okay... Andrew... blow his brains out." Dave ordered as he turned his back on the man.
"With pleasure." Andrew stated as he pulled one of his double barrels out and placed it to The Tumors head.
"Wait... okay... I'll talk. You wanna know where Cain is fine... I'll tell ya... he's." The Tumor broke down.
"Stop!" Dave cut him off. "I really don't care anymore, at this point... Justice has passed, Vengeance has taken over." he stated as he looked at Andrew and nodded.
"Bye..." Andrew stated merrily as he pulled the trigger. Most of the younger members averted their eyes, as two barrels of buck-shot blasted through the little bastards skull.
"Jesus Christ Dave... well do you think you got him?" Marty asked, with a sigh.
Dave ignored him, and walked right over to the unknown man.
"Dave Lezewski." Dave stated extending a hand.
"Alex Matrix." The Man replied in a deep voice.
"You after the Order of Carnage?" Dave asked, Alex simply nodded. "Then welcome to Justice Forever."
Dave turned and started walking towards the exit of the garage.
"You need to go talk to him." Ace stated to Mindy.
"What happened... I have never seen him act like that." Mindy said in a worried tone.
"I have... when Cain put you into the hospital." Crystal stated with a huff.
"Mindy... I know you're worried and concerned about what you just saw... but I need you to do me a huge favor." Andrew said as he pulled off his hood and helmet, and stood in front of her.
"What?" Mindy asked.
"I need you to go be with him... he's going to need you right now... more then I think he ever has." Andrew told her... he had a few tears in his eyes, and for once he didn't seem so fucking crazy.
"Yeah sure... I'll go see him." Mindy replied as she pulled off her mask and ran after Dave.
"What happened?" Marcus asked.
"Dominic... and Fred..."Miranda replied as fresh tears began flowing from her eyes.
"No..." Marcus stated, he felt like he had just been shot, he quickly glanced after Mindy, just barely catching sight of her rounding the corner. "She's going to need him, as much as he needs her."
"Yeah... she will." Andrew agreed, as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
"We should hunker down... I don't think anyone is going anywhere for a while." Ace commented, as he leaned his head against Aiko, she gently began caressing his red hair, a sad, pained look present on her face.
"Damn... Dominic... Fred..." Marty stated as he bit his lip.
"Dom... went quick... he was protecting a young soldier, one through the head. Fred on the other hand..." Donald began to explain.
"I don't wanna know." Marty interjected.
"Dave... held his hand while he died." Donald stated, with a pained look.
"Fuck... … … Dammit Dave." Marty whined.
All the while Mindy searched for Dave... he wasn't in their room, and he wasn't in the armory, she heard a happy cry come from the living room she recognized it as Sarah's. Mindy decided to go see if he was there.
She walked into the living room and found Elena sitting on the couch, and Dave kneeling in front of Sarah.
"Dave... why do you look so sad?" Sarah asked as she wiped a tear from his cheek.
Mindy was about to take a step forward when it finally struck her... Dave was the one kneeling in from of Sarah. Where was Fred?
"Fuck!" Mindy whispered as the realization hit her.
"Sarah... sweetheart..." Dave tried to begin but fresh tears suddenly sprung forth.
"What's the matter?" Sarah asked, again.
"Sarah... your Daddy's... he's..." Dave tried again, but failed.
"Sarah... Your Daddy... you know he loved you very much, and he wanted to make the city safe." Mindy stated, with tear filled eyes as she appeared next to Dave.
Dave simply covered his mouth and tried his best to hold back tears.
"Is Daddy gone?" Sarah asked, her eyes suddenly becoming very sad.
"Your... Daddy's gone to heaven, to be with your Mommy." Mindy informed her as she reached out and took Sarah's hands.
Admitting this to the young girl was hard, but what was harder was that fact that she seemed to understand, immediately what had happened.
Sarah's eyes fell to the floor, it was a moment before tears began to well up in her eyes, but she didn't cry... it wasn't until Mindy pulled the girl into an embrace... did she finally cry.
Sarah wept into Mindy's shoulder, all the while Mindy had tears streaming down her face... the one thing in all the world that she hoped would not happen, had happened... as she held the girl she couldn't escape the feeling that Fred had known... he must have been able to sense him impending mortality... that's why he asked them to watch over his daughter... he somehow knew.
Dave remained knelt next to the two, unable to move... he just couldn't escape the feeling of self-loathing, that he was enduring right now...
Dave felt more tears quickly approaching, but they were stopped by a comforting hand. Dave looked up from the floor, to see that Mindy had placed a hand on his shoulder, she looked so sad. After a moment he couldn't take it anymore and he scooted forward and wrapped his arms around them.
As he held them, the horrors of that battle returned to his mind.
-Begin Flashback-
The Striker exploded as another missile slammed into it, legionnaires were pouring out of the base of the building, closing in on the remaining soldier, intent on ending this with their swords.
"Dominic! Dammit!" Todd cried as he knelt over their friends body. Dave looked down at his dead friend only long enough to register the smoking hole in the side of his head, before refocusing on the battle.
It was pretty much lost, they had no choice but to retreat.
"Let's get the fuck out of here!" Dave shouted to the others, as they made a run towards a back-alley on the opposite street.
Suddenly a missile struck the Humvee that they were previously hiding behind, a piece of the exhaust pipe went flying through the air, it spun about a full foot above the ground, and it was headed right for Dave.
Dave didn't have time to react as the large chunk of metal hit him in the back of his legs with enough force to pull them out from under him.
Dave landed with a pained thud, and struggled to his feet, but his legs wouldn't cooperate.
Suddenly there was a figure looming over him, he felt a hand on his chest as the man pulled him to his feet.
"You're not dying today kid!" Fred shouted.
"I owe you..." Dave began but was interrupted when Fred suddenly grabbed his shirt and tossed him to the side.
Dave landed hard, but his armor absorbed most of the impact so he didn't feel a thing. Dave shot up just as Fred dove through the air, a moment after his feet left the ground, an RPG slammed into the area where the two were just standing.
"Fred!" Dave shouted as he shot to his feet, Samuel and Todd were right by his side as he stumbled through the dust cloud to try and find the former SEAL.
Dave heard pained moans and quickly located the source.
"Oh my god!" Dave started to hyperventilate as he saw Fred's condition, there was shrapnel embedded in the soft points in his armor, but more then that, he was missing his left leg... almost all of it!
"Fred!" Dave shouted as he rushed to his side.
"Damn this hurts!" Fred moaned in reply.
"Todd help me get him to his feet!" Dave ordered.
"Dave..." Samuel shouted, Dave looked up at him and Samuel simply shook his head, to tell him that their was nothing they could do... Fred was bleeding profusely from his stump.
"We've got to try!" Dave insisted.
"No... they're coming... you have to go, I'll just slow you down!" Fred argued.
"You're not thinking right... think about Sarah... A legless daddy is better then no daddy at all, I need to get you back to her!" Dave tried to fight him.
"I won't get the rest of you killed... and I won't lead them to my daughter..." Fred said as he painfully pulled his helmet off.
"I can save you... just stay with me!" "Come on Todd!" Dave tried to fight.
"Dave we need to go... or we are all going to die." Samuel stated.
"Then help me!" Dave shouted.
Dave heard, a click, he looked over and saw that Samuel had pulled one of his pistols and had it aimed at Fred's head.
"No!" Dave shouted as he tried to make a move to get between them.
"Dave... you can't take me with you... and if you leave me... then they might save me... I won't lead them to my daughter." Fred cried, as tears fell from his eyes.
"I couldn't save Dominic... I'm not gonna let you die too!" Dave shouted to him.
"You didn't... thanks for letting me be a hero... thanks for giving me this chance." Fred wept in a grateful tone.
"Take care of my daughter..." Fred said with a gulp, as he pulled a grenade from his vest.
Before Dave could say anything, Andrew appeared at his side and grabbed him, he was quickly assisted by Todd, and the two of them hauled him away.
The memory, ended with the surprised yells of a few legionnaires and then an explosion.
-End Flashback-
"Daddy!" Sarah cried.
"It's okay, Sarah. It's okay to cry. Go ahead... let it all out, don't hold anything back." Dave whispered as the five year old wept.
-Later-
Mindy and Dave ended up holding the girl for about an hour, before she finally passed out from exhaustion. Little Sarah sat sleeping in her and her fathers bed, while Dave and Mindy stood watch over her, at the door.
"No one knows better then you two, about what she's going through." Came Marcus's voice, from behind them.
"He asked us to watch over her if anything were to happen to him. At the time I thought he was just trying to give himself some peace of mind, knowing that somebody would step up to the plate and raise his daughter for him. I never thought this day would come." Dave replied.
"Yet you agreed. You promised you would watch over her... so... what are you going to do?" Marcus asked.
"We're going to do what we promised." Mindy replied sadly.
"...and fight this war?" Marcus asked.
"Yes." Mindy replied with cold confidence.
"We'll talk about it... later." Dave stated in a firm tone of voice. "For now... I think it's time we followed the girls lead, and get some rest."
"Good thinking." Marcus commented as Dave walked past him towards their room, which was across the hall.
"What's going through that head of yours Mindy?" Marcus asked, after Dave departed.
"It's going to be up to him now... to keep her innocent." Mindy replied.
"What do you mean?" Marcus asked, as he eyed her curiously
"Dave will be the one to raise her to be normal... I can't do that... all I can do is offer support and love. Marcus... if she asks me to teach her how to fight... if she asks me to teach her how to kill... I don't think I would be able to refuse." Mindy expressed her worry to him.
"Well... I guess the old saying 'it takes a village to raise a child' is going to have to pertain to this situation, then." Marcus stated.
"Marcus... If I ever get pregnant... I don't care what I say or how I argue, if we're still fighting this war, I want you to send me away from it. I don't care how much I beg." Mindy told him with a faraway look in her eyes.
"Gladly." Marcus replied as he focused on the little girl laying in front of him... just another child to join a long line of tragedies.
KK this will be my last chapter before the holiday... I will explain some more about what Dave's team did during the two hours in between when the news was recorded and when they arrived so look forward to it, until then LATER! Oh and please review, review, review... I love hearing what you guys have to say.