Episode 12: Operative Status: Removed
Chapter 36: Things Fall Apart
"I must admit, Empress, your plan is ingenious!" Rontico commended Harton as they got back to the ship with the smirking Harton leading the way. "Those G.I. agents won't know what hit 'em."
"Exactly." She said before pausing. "But I am slightly curious... whatever happened to the Rangers we were fighting?"
"Who cares!" Rontico huffed. "If anything and your theory about the older generation taking the reigns is right then this should be easy. Those children were persistent."
Harton looked amused. "They were weaklings, Rontico. What threat could they have possibly posed to us?"
Rontico looked serious for a moment. "You seem to be forgetting that even though you have progressed, they have slowed you down quite I few times. It's not the matter of the dog in the fight but the fight in the dog." Harton glared at him and Rontico cackled. "Pride comes before a fall my dear Empress and I only wish for us to get stronger and not take any adversary lightl-"
"Silence!" Harton yelled and Rontico immediately shut up from the sound of her booming voice. "Your ranting is giving me a headache. We need to discuss the finer details of this plot. Where is Dunvall?"
"You called?" The techie pulled himself out from under a console in the room before standing up and dusting off his hands. "My apologies, my queen. The console seemed to be a bit off course is all."
Harton nodded. "Now, if we may discuss the next key point in my plan." She then looked at Dunvall. "Stop disappearing. This is a very crucial moment and if this fails then we'll be back to the drawing board."
"Noted." Dunvall nodded. "But I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want the mother board failing."
It was at that moment Finley remembered how toxic her neighbourhood was at that moment when she saw cornered. The nearest telephone booth was two blocks away from her brother's apartment and because he didn't own a telephone, she had to call when he was late.
Finley had accepted it. She had been living with him for almost two weeks now and knew that the duties of a soldier were not a light one-especially since he was in the airforce and right now, the crisis in D.C. being this severe. She trekked quickly but shrieked as she was pulled into an alleyway by the street and pinned against the wall. "Looky what we have here." A male voice sneered. "An Afghan bitch."
"What are you doing here?" Another said, tugging at her scarf and pulling it off, taking a look at her face in the dim streetlight. "Damn! She fine!" He cat called.
"Sadly, she is Indian trash." Another said. "And you know what we do to trash?" No one could see it, but Finley's eyes clouded over in rage.
"Oh wait..." The third said before chuckling. "Well, shit! It's Finley Coetzee!"
"The psycho girl from fifth grade?" Finley tried to look at the faces for familiarity but could barely recognise them. But then again fifth grade was like a life time ago. "Remember me? Conor... Henry's cousin?" Her eyes widened at the reveal and he chuckled. "I knew you'd remember me little whore!"
"What are you doing out sweetheart?" He grabbed at her face and turned her head to the sides, examining her but she pulled away from him. "Oh... Girl's got guts."
"Didn't she go to military school?" One asked.
"Yeah... Where she killed my cousin." Conor laughed. "I mean, I didn't like that poser either but what you did was beyond fucked up. I mean... Who knew the quiet creep would become such a dirty skank?"
Finley pushed him away turning away to walk back home but he grabbed her and slammed her back into the wall." Where do you think you're going?" He smirked, pinning her to the wall " We may as well have some first. I mean, Henry must've enjoyed something." And with that, she snapped.
Thalia was more finicky than usual today. She was panicking as she sat in the infirmary, waiting for Dr. Kepler to get back to her. Never did she imagine that she would be this worried... and for a Stanton. A Stanton for Christ's sake! She turned her head to see Drewmore rushing over with a small, Bethany following him close behind. "Is he okay?" He asked as Bethany sat next to Thalia.
"Yeah, I just... I found him." Thalia sighed before looking to Drewmore. "Why is it taking so long?"
"Whoa, calm down!" He cautioned. "Joseph is fine. He is probably just being dramatic."
"Drewmore, he wasn't breathing." Thalia claimed. "It wasn't like us just collapsing during battle, Drewmore, he literally wasn't breathing."
"And he'll be fine." Drewmore said and Thalia sighed, running a hand through her hair in frustration. This was worrisome. In no way did she feel like she was exaggerating. Everything felt so surrealsurreal and the thought of losing their commander was something not even she could bear. She felt a rug at her skirt and looked up to see Bethany offering her her teddy bear.
"He always keeps me company when I'm worried." She said. Thalia looked down at the white bear then at the little girl with the twinkle in her eyes that somehow just melted her heart.
"You know, I never owned a teddy when I was child." Thalia admitted.
"Really?" She asked. "Your daddy never got you one? My daddy did..."
After Thalia thought about it, she smiled. "Now that I think about it, I owned one. I think I kept it until I was thirteen. My isa bought it for me."
"Isa?"
"That's father in Norwegian ." She said.
"You're from Norway?" She asked and Thalia nodded. "That's in Europe, right?"
"Yes." She said.
"What's it like?" Bethany asked, doe eyed as she sat next to her.
"I haven't been there in a while but from what I remember, it's cold, and dark hence why I am so white." Bethany giggled. "What else? It snows for half the year."
"Really?" Bethany asked. "Must be nice being able to build snowmen everyday."
Thalia laughed. "It's so cold that sometimes, you can't even think of playing. And the people there... very quiet. People from outside think they are mean but they are just really shy."
"But you're not quiet." She said.
"Because I'm part Dutch-part Finnish ." Thalia said and the little girl began to bombard her with questions about her childhood and her family. Drewmore was not sure whether Thalia was speaking of actual memories from her childhood or she was making it up but he was glad to see a hint of a smile on Thalia's face. It was something rare to see nowadays after her mother left. Drewmore took this moment to slip away and try to find where Joseph was.
Upon locating his room, he slowly opened the door and was greeted by the sound of many machines at work; the beeps from the heart monitors, the air suction from the hydrogen machine and soft hum from the dialysis machine. Drewmore slowly creeped back out and sighed. "Bro... What are you doing to yourself?" He huffed in exasperation.
Ezekiel was surprised to hear the sound of commotion from a nearby alley. This wasn't quite a dangerous neighbourhood so it wasn't often but as a public protector, he had to do his duty. But how does one do their duty when it is one's sister causing the commotion?
"Finley, stop!" He yelled, pulling his sister away who fought against him while staring at the guys lying on the ground, bloodied and battered from the beat down they had gotten.
"These disrespectful form of vermin deserve it!" She lividly said. "Let me at 'em!" She cried angrily.
"Finley, stop and calm down."
"Leave me alone, Zeke." She cried.
"Finley, do you really want to go down this road again?" Ezekiel asked and Finley stopped struggling against him before sighing and pulling away from him, picking up her head scarf, realising it had blood on it before yelling out in frustration and throwing it back on the ground. She held her head and leaned against the lamppost. "Finley, are you okay?" He walked over and placed his hands on her shoulder. "Finley? Finley!"
Morgan stared into space, tuning out the world around him as everyone around the table conversed. He was barely able to focus on the food no matter how good Tessa's mom's cooking was. "Morgan!" He looked up to see everyone looking at him, worried.
"You haven't touched your food." Mrs. Hussein said.
Morgan let out a small smile. "I'm fine, just not really hungry."
"Did you eat at the baseball fields?" She asked.
"Yes, Mr. Thomas did offer me some lunch." He lied to get them off his back.
"Oh, so you go to your old mini league?" Mr. Hussein asked.
"Sometimes, I need to keep busy." He said. "I'm thinking of getting a job, and possibly going back to school."
"Oh," Oscar said. "Is there something you have in mind that you want to do?"
"Go into the police force, I guess?" He said and everyone stopped eating and stared at him and he noticed. "Is there a problem?"
"No." Mrs. Hussein smiled along with everyone. "You can be anything you want to be."
Lie. Morgan detected. "I'd like to be self sufficient soon. I don't want to be a burden."
"You're not being a burden." Mr. Hussein said.
Another lie. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." He nodded before standing up.
"Where are you going?" Oscar asked.
"I'm feeling kind of dizzy." He said and they thought no more of it. He was on medication and it did have the side effect of making him feel that way so they never questioned it. He walked out the back door and sighed before sitting out in the porch and sighing out in relief. Sometimes, it felt suffocating in this neighbourhood. All the bad memories followed him and all he wanted was to get out. He was happy about being back but now that he understood his calling, this felt like an eternal itch in his back.
"Can you balance me real quick?" Morgan opened his eyes to see Tessa coming to sit next to her. "... Why do you want to become a police officer? I thought that that would be the last thing in your mind."
"Balance me real quick?" He echoed.
"I need balancing so talk." Tessa said.
"Well..." He said. "I guess I want to help people. I never understood it before until now."
"Being a Ranger, huh?" She asked. "It's changed you."
"Yeah... I guess." He shrugged.
Tessa frowned. "Sorry if the rents seem dodge. They're just looking out for you."
"I get that." Morgan said. "I just don't want to be idle forever."
"I guess..." Tessa said before looking at Morgan.
"You've been saying I guess." He looked at her. "You don't believe me?"
"I never said that. I'm questioning you, sure but no one can decide what you do now except for you." She said. "For so long, you haven't had any control over yourself but now? I'd rather you do the hell you want because you earned it. You have to find your feet somehow." Morgan smiled. "Now move over, it's cold." She said before snuggling into him. He laughed.
"Is this your way of trying to get close to me?" Morgan asked.
"What made it so obvious?" She asked.
"You suck at flirting." He joked and Tessa hit him in the chest and he laughed.
"But seriously... what if I am flirting?" Tessa asked and Morgan looked down at her before smiling.
"Try harder." He said and Tessa rolled her eyes before hitting him. "Ow! That hurts!"
"Jack ass!" She spat.
"No matter what you call me, I hope you remember you are stuck with me." He said.
Tessa shook her head. "I'm trading you in."
"I'd like to see you do that." He said. The two broke apart when they heard the door slide open on instinct only to see Oscar come out.
"Um, Morgan. There's a call for you." He said. "Something about a person named Finley." At the mention of that name, he immediately got worried.
Amelia Mansigh could notice subtle changes in her son... and she had no idea what to think of it. Her son was a lot more vocal and opinionated than before and while she glad that her son was undergoing those changes. "Mom... Are you sure about the circuitry?" She had to admit that she loved hearing him speak without the stammer but he still did stammer quite often. She did accept it as progress.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"Too many wires at this terminal." He pointed out. "Plus, the EMF is too high for these components."
"But this works perfectly fine." She explained. "Top speed, accurate location detection, top of the range."
"The magnets in the compass is making the circuit go haywire." Wyatt said and his mother was surprised before walking over to him. He showed her the console and she saw nothing wrong with it until he ran the engine at full power and started to programme the radar, only to have the engine start to cough until it stopped. "You should have tested it for the strain test."
"Strain test?" She asked and Wyatt froze before letting off a small smile.
"S... S... Something I l... l... learned at G.I." He stuttered.
"Oh..." His mother squeaked, not knowing what to say next. "Did... you learn a lot of things there?" Wyatt looked at his mother and silently nodded. "I see..." She trailed off and continued to watch her son work, feeling more unsure of herself. "What else did you learn at G.I.?" She asked .
"No... No... Nothing much..." He stammered and got back to work immediately shutting down room to any more questions. She found that when it came to everything that happened there, he would go as silent as a grave even to the smallest of details. Amelia had no idea how to feel about her son keeping secrets from her .. she who was his main confidante. She felt like she was losing her son... In a matter of fact, she had already lost him because there was nothing she could do about it.. One of the changes she noticed about him was that he was more fidgety when idle and that he seems to long for a place that she doesn't even know. Lansing wasn't where he belonged any more.
Morgan rushed for the location he was told over the phone and refused for Tessa to tag along when she had offered. Finley lived on the other side of town in the safer low income area. He had not heard from anyone at G.I. ever since he left two weeks ago and he was wondering how her brother had gotten a hold of him.
He found the apartment and knocked. Immediately, it was opened and behind the door revealed a young man who looked like a male carbon copy of Finley and was even about the same height.
"Good evening, sir." He greeted. "I... Uh... received a call."
"You must be Morgan." He said, holding out his hand to shake it. He had a strong grip... something very typical of a soldier. "My name is..."
"Ezekiel, I know." Morgan admitted. "Finley talks about you a lot."
"Oh... okay..." He sighed. "That's... surprising. Please come in." He allowed Morgan inside and immediately, Morgan took note of Finley sitting on the floor, staring out the window, wrapped in a blanket. "She's been like this for a while now..."
Morgan stared from the side, staring at her before walking towards her and sitting next to her. "You wanna talk about it?" Finley turned her head to look at him before looking back. "I'm here if you need me... and so is your brother." She said nothing but Morgan could see that she took it. He smiled before standing up and walking over to Ezekiel. "She'll be fine... Just give her time."
"She won't do anything stupid, will she?" He asked before sighing and rubbing his forehead. "I'm sorry if I seem clueless to you but I have never..."
"It's okay... I get it." He said. "Maybe she will, maybe she won't. Maybe time will tell but hopefully she won't. Mind if I sit?"
"Not at all." Ezekiel said. "So... What do we do?"
"We wait." Morgan said as he sat down. "It is all we can do. Besides, how did you get the number of where I live?"
"I was looking through Finley's stuff and I found this booklet..." He said and gave it to Morgan who looked through it. In it were contacts... Of everyone and where they're guardians would be. "Did you not... know about this?"
"Classic commander." He laughed as he stared at it. Only the commander would do something that stupid... And awfully helpful all at once.
"Still no sign of waking up?" Chassity asked and Hendrick sighed. "They pulled out the whole enchilada didn't they?"
"From the oxygen tubes to the blood machines." He answered.
"Sickle cell?" She asked and he nodded. "Shit! I don't get it. We didn't even push ourselves that hard!"
"Yeah, well, there must be plenty of factors that they didn't account for that could cause him to shut down: age, stress, trauma... we can't just account for physical activity, especially in times like these."
Chassity let out an exasperated sigh. "So what do we do? We can't continue. Should we contact the G.I. Rangers or find new recruits?"
"Do you even know where the G.I. Rangers are because doubt they know themselves." Hendrick said. "They're on a mission and we cannot interfere. And you know we can't recruit new Rangers."
"Well do we have a choice?" She asked.
"We always have. But we have been constantly rejecting it because we have some mental vision that we can change the past when we can't. We need to let it go and accept that we are not meant to be Rangers anymore... Especially Joseph."
Potter sighed. "So... We should do it without Joseph?"
"I will slap him in ten different languages until he understands just how stupid he is." Hendrick said. "But we are all stupid so..."
"Ten different languages?" She echoed in confusion.
"It is possible." He said before walking out of the room and into the waiting area where Thalia and Bethany had fallen asleep.
A/N: Back from the dead... I suppose. Here's the newest chapter. I think updates will be a bit more regular since I am not as busy these days. Until the next one, happy reading.