June 25, 2017
- Jazz -
It's times like this that Jazz is immensely grateful that Cricket taught all of her family sign language. Eugene is too distracted, understandably so, and Jazz's chest aches with the fact that his brother-in-law isn't looking closely at him so he could reassure him. The sign for 'patience' looks so much like scratching his beard that he doubts anyone would understand except his sister, who focuses on him with the hyperfocus of absolute desperation he can read in her body language. When he follows it with a curl of his arm to his shoulder, Honey's eyes narrow in comprehension.
His sister isn't the only field commander in Virginia, after all, and Dianne not being at Ezekiel's side during a visit like this would be a red flag to anyone who knows the couple. For Honey, who has worked in conjunction with the militant blonde who heads the Kingdom's security for the better part of five years, it's practically shouting the message that help is on its way.
Breaking Abraham's arm makes Jazz feel sick to his stomach, but there's no way he would risk letting Abe take that shot, and the injury needed to be graphic and painful to drive his point home. Past the heat of the moment, the redhead would never forgive himself if he shot Honey, and it would have only gotten Eugene killed anyway. Jazz is grateful no one else makes a move, not even Michonne to save her husband from his chokehold.
Once the action starts, everything moves almost too fast and too slow at the same time, reminding Jazz of the surreal effect he endured when the Governor attacked Homestead all those years ago. As Honey pivots with her knife, tearing it into Negan's soft belly where his leather jacket does little to protect him, Eugene is on the move, too. He has the Glock from Honey's ankle holster, rolling to his knees and firing with precision into the Saviors around him.
Jazz feels himself be half deafened by a tiger's roar, followed by a woman's terrified scream. Negan's lieutenant doesn't suffer long, before Shiva is on her way, scattering the less courageous of the Saviors like they're children's toys. The soldiers can't decide if they should fight or retreat as they're overrun from the front by Ezekiel's guard, Jazz among them, and from behind by nearly fifty of the Kingdom's militia led by Dianne.
If Negan had brought a full complement of soldiers for both him and Regina, they may have had more of a chance. But with only sixty Saviors, their leader and his lieutenant down, and a fucking tiger rampaging through them, they can't hope to win.
When there are no more Saviors left standing, Jazz holsters his gun and lets his mind resettle. The healer is needed now, not the fighter. He looks for his husband first, finding Paul among Dianne's militia easily by the glinting shine of sunlight on his golden brown hair. With Paul obviously safe, standing guard while the dead Saviors are prevented from rising, Jazz scans for his sister, who is exactly where he would expect her to be.
"Are you hurt?" he asks, reaching out to touch Honey's shoulder but stopping when Eugene jerks his head to stop him.
"She's okay, Jasper," Eugene says softly, one hand tucked into the long hair at the nape of Honey's neck and the other at the small of her back. The gesture is so utterly protective that Jazz is glad there are no more enemies for the man to target. People so often forget that everything Honey knows, she's taught Eugene. "Just getting herself sorted."
Jazz has seen his sister crash like this once before. Honey's never been a silent crier, open and expressive with her emotions as she normally is, but when half her team was wounded during the Governor's attack and their aunt in critical condition from a wound taken defending Jazz, she'd hit this state back then, too. He can hear the gasping, nearly hyperventilating bursts of air that tell him she's trying desperately to cry - and can't. Just like then, someone who can grasp the overwhelming emotions is soothing her, while Jazz is needed in a much different capacity.
Dismissed and knowing his sister is in the best hands she can be in, Jazz looks for Ezekiel next. The King is bringing Shiva back to the gates, soothing the big cat as the favored pet she is.
"Is anyone wounded?" Jazz calls out and signals for one of the medics who stayed inside the walls to bring him his kit when he gets multiple affirmative responses. Together, he and the medic field dress wounds, triaging their own militia and stealing one of the Savior vehicles as a transport. No one is critical among their own people.
The Saviors are a slightly different story. Dianne's people are only putting down potential walkers, so anyone not wounded enough to die and smart enough not to fight is treated and loaded into a different truck. Jazz has just sent that truck with its complement of four wounded prisoners through the gates when he hears Paul call his name.
His husband looks apprehensive, motioning him to the central point where the battle started. "I asked Eugene to take Honey inside the walls," Paul tells him quietly, but he doesn't have to tell Jazz what the problem is.
At Jazz's feet, the sound the leather clad leader of the Saviors makes is one of pain, not a walker's moan. There's a part of him that wants to drop back to the fighter's mentality. It would be easy to draw his knife, end this monster's life, and no one would know but him and Paul. It's what the man deserves. His husband doesn't try to influence him, just watches him with that unshakable patience that he loves so much about the man.
In the end, Jazz is still the same man who once stood between his own uncle and the Governor's wounded soldiers. Battle is one thing. Executions are another. He sees the realization dawn in Paul's eyes, and alongside it, relief and approval. Kneeling and opening his kit, Jazz begins to work.
- Eugene -
Eugene knows when Honey's come back to herself, because he feels her hiccupping, near hyperventilation slow with a sudden deep intake of breath. She shudders, her entire lean form undergoing the motion, before straightening and looking him in the eye.
"You trusted me." There's such a depth of emotion in those words that it makes his breath catch.
"Inevitably, habitually, and perpetually," he tells her. Although he suspected one or both of them might die in that confrontation, the knife nudged against his throat had told him her plan hadn't changed one bit. He hasn't been part of the Dixon family this long for him not to understand what the blunt side of a karambit's curved steel would feel like against his skin. The weapon is designed to be used as a ripping, destructive claw to be punched into an opponent rather than stabbed like a traditional knife.
She cups his face despite her bloodstained right hand, pressing a chaste kiss against his lips, before leaning her forehead against his and sighing. "We need to find out what is happening at the Sanctuary."
Some would see her ignoring the carnage around them, of their own people wounded, as selfish, he thinks, but he understands why she can only focus on those most at risk. Everyone on this field today was a trained fighter, even him. Back at the Sanctuary, there are too many vulnerable innocents at risk.
"We need to get on the road," he agrees, because while it is possible that nothing at all is happening at the compound they left this morning, they can't trust Negan, which he proved in very brutal fashion just now.
It's very possible that the soldiers left behind turned on the workers once they were gone. Gavin and Laura seem to have switched sides, but what guarantee do they have? It could have been a trick to gain Honey's trust.
Honey loses no time seeking out Ezekiel, since her brother is hale and hearty, obviously treating patients. Eugene follows after briefly checking to see where Abraham ended up. The big man is nowhere to be seen, but Michonne's among the clean up crew, so he assumes Abraham has been sent to the infirmary to get his broken arm treated.
The King sweeps Honey into his arms, hugging her tightly. "Your young spy got out one message early enough for us to get Dianne and her militia out through the tunnels and worked around behind our unwelcome guests, but she's just sent another that the comms watch relayed to the gate guard here. There was an attempt made against the workers today, about fifteen minutes ago."
"Goddamn it." Honey whirls to face Eugene. "We have to go help them."
"Your family is en route with troops from Alexandria. They were intended to help here, since we weren't sure how many soldiers Negan would have with him, but things set into motion too soon," Ezekiel adds. "But we need to assemble soldiers from the Kingdom to assist. I've got a good dozen of your Hilltop soldiers here, too."
"If Gavin and Laura stayed true to Laura's hints, the workers should be safe," Eugene reassures Honey, even as he starts mentally cataloguing which fighters in sight are best to conscript. "Your soldiers we left behind and theirs outnumber Simon's and the leftovers from the other two."
Honey absorbs that and nods, checking her magazine and grimacing that it's empty. She switches it out for the backup on her belt. "How fast can we get supplies, Ezekiel? We can take the trucks already here for transport."
"They are already on their way. I've requested body armor for both you and Eugene as well."
That had been the most terrifying part of snatching that Glock from Honey's ankle holster for Eugene, knowing he would be facing shooters without any extra protection at all. It's not the first time he's faced people with guns, but it was more frightening than when he actually got shot facing down the Governor to keep his attention off Beth. He feels a surge of relief for Ezekiel's planning, glad that none of the communities have gotten sloppy about security. Today could have gone much differently for everyone involved.
Once they load up, Honey's driving is that of a desperate woman. Although she has few of the close connections to those in the Sanctuary that she has to various people in the Allied Communities, he knows she still feels ultimately responsible for the workers she's adopted as her own. As they round the curve and see the ten Humvees waiting at the intersection where the north turn takes them to the Sanctuary, she doesn't stop despite knowing they probably contain half her family or more.
Eugene knows the impending family reunion can wait until Honey knows for sure she hasn't managed to lead all her lambs to slaughter.
- Honey -
Arriving at the Sanctuary with no more warning that the abrupt message sent through the hidden morse code radio, Honey expects to find a battleground. She's not surprised to see that one of the buildings appears to have exploded, toppling the existing chain link fence under a scattered mound of rubble.
"That's where Simon's men were housed," Eugene notes, reaching for his gun as the other vehicles halt when Honey does, outside of effective rifle range. "Do we advance or delay to find out more information?"
"I think we have to advance," she declares, but slips from the driver's seat with binoculars in hand.
From one of the Humvees, Honey sees Scout slip from the passenger seat, which tells her the driver is probably Shane. She strides to stand beside Honey, but instead of an embrace, Scout falls into a similar stance, assessing the compound with her own binoculars. The distance isn't surprising, not with a potential battle about to take place.
"Do you see any of your people?" Scout asks, scanning away from the compound. "We've got incoming from the north and east."
Honey swivels to check. "Shit. Those are the problem directions for walkers. Wanderers out of DC." Sighing, she turns back to the Sanctuary. "I'm getting glimpses, but everyone's staying out of sight so far."
"Strategic, no matter what side is in control, or if they're at an impasse. If that herd arrives, they're screwed either way with the fence down." Scout drops her binoculars, turning to look at Honey for the first time. There's a kindness even behind the emotionless Marine persona that soothes the moment of ugly panic that surges with those Honey's promised to protect being in danger.
"Could you take a few teams past the compound to clear the herd? It's still small enough to take on, but it won't be if we let them keep collecting up." Going in guns blazing here won't mean jack shit if those walkers converge on their backs and asking her older sister to guard her back will be as natural as breathing until the day Honey dies.
"Do you trust your soldiers and workers enough to risk having fewer trained military personnel?"
Honey doesn't answer immediately, thinking over her conversation with Laura, plus interactions with her own handpicked people. She nods, knowing she has to take this leap of faith, or everything was for naught. "They've seen the light at the end of the tunnel, Scout. They'll take a stand now."
Scout accepts her assessment, nodding. "I'll take four Humvees. That's forty of us, plenty for clean up. That'll leave you sixty of mine and the fifty you brought from the Kingdom."
Even if Honey somehow loses Laura and Gavin's soldiers, or more disappointingly, her own, she knows the workers will shift if they see over a hundred trained militia willing to defend them. That's been the end game all along, to gain the workers, because there are twice the number of them as there were of the soldiers. The numbers of actual fighters are even closer to even, because sixty-two soldiers are already dead or disabled from the two hundred and fifty that the Saviors had this morning. She nods, the movement distracted and jerky as she looks again at the destroyed building.
Wishing her sister good luck, Scout finally breaks stance and drags Honey into a bear hug. "Go kick ass, che'lu," the Marine staff sergeant mutters before stalking off, barking orders to her own people.
With a grim smile, Honey walks to the nearest Humvee and begins to give orders over the radio mike handed to her by the driver, an Alexandrian she knows by sight but not by name. The militia transported in the former Savior vehicles use the slowly advancing Humvees for cover, walking alongside them until everyone is outside the gate. The closer she can get, the more she can see bodies, although most aren't walkers, at least. The majority are soldiers, easily distinguished by better quality clothing and footwear.
None of them appear to be armed.
Relieved not to see workers, but distressed that the fallen might be her soldiers, Honey risks stepping from the shielding bulk of the lead Humvee. Instead of gunfire, she hears a familiar voice from the guard post by the gate. "Honey!"
"Joey? What the hell happened here?"
The gate creaks, protesting being opened, and she can see damage to the metal. The big mechanic shuffles out into the open, shifting a purloined rifle slung over his shoulder uneasily. "The soldiers Negan and Regina left behind turned on the workers about an hour after you left."
Signaling for Joey to leave the compound, she drags him back to the waiting soldiers. Still uncertain of what happened, she isn't making the man a target beyond what he's already assumed by taking up a weapon.
Joey spots Eugene and looks as grateful as she thinks a person can to see someone alive. "They said they were gonna kill you, man," Joey mutters to Eugene. "We wouldn't see you again. Thank God they were wrong."
"As you can see, they did not succeed in that malignant endeavor. What has occurred here is the important issue we should be bringing under discussion." Despite his words, Eugene is blushing slightly, trying not to smile. She can't blame him. It's always nice to know you'd be missed.
The hefty man clears his throat. "Well, seems the workers have been thinking about the fact that they outnumber the soldiers, and that they're the ones that make life really possible. So instead of taking the beatings and letting themselves be herded into lockup, they fought back." Joey smiles slyly. "Funny thing is, seems Laura and Gavin decided to finally side with the people that keep them clean and fed, along with your soldiers."
"Jesus," Honey breathes out. "How many dead or injured?"
"Thirteen of ours dead, at least forty of theirs. Got probably another two dozen injured, and Primo says a couple need more care than he can give 'em. When the fight broke out, and they knew they were going to lose, Simon's bunch did something that blew up their building to take out the fence. Said we'd die by walker without them to protect us."
"Where are they now?" she growls. Even Negan wouldn't have approved of destroying the compound that way, but then again, the former leader relied on charisma far more than Simon and his bullying monsters ever did.
"Holed up in the next building over. Laura's got all the soldiers keeping the place surrounded. She told us to hold ground and have faith." When Joey raises a hand to signal, that's when movement is finally seen in the compound. Workers, armed with both improvised and pilfered weaponry, ease out of hiding places. "We were waiting for you."
Seeing these men and women stand so proudly and defiantly makes Honey almost forget the gut churning nightmare of standing with her karambit pressed to Eugene's throat, Negan's lanky form pressed to her back in a grotesque parody of seduction. There is still the nauseating, ghostly feel in the back of her mind of how aroused the monster was by forcing her to decide if Eugene died at her hand or Regina's. She feels a flash of rage that the female lieutenant died too easily in Shiva's jaws, because instinct tells her this morning was a power play organized by the perverted bitch to fill the power vacuum left by Simon.
With a firm stubbornness common to her family line, she locks away the anger, despair, and revulsion to deal with later. Right now, Eugene is safely at her side, the worst of the monsters are dead, and it's time to focus on the whole reason she ever allowed Negan in her bed.
These people were once so cowed they allowed their warped protectors keep them on the brink of starvation and submerged their individual identities with that of a madman. Now? Honey sees the same fire and determination in these people that she knows resides in herself. It's a drive to not just survive, but excel, and now that they know they don't need the protection of cowards like Negan, she knows they're going to be okay.
They were waiting for her.
It's time she leads them.
A/N: I have to admit that all battle details are left deliberately vague, because this scene was never about the fighting itself, but the impact it would have on everyone afterward. Although I had all the ideas clearly in my mind, writing it was like fighting a damned rabid bobcat...
Jazz's two signs: "patience" and "captain". He is asking Honey to buy time, and combined with Dianne being missing... it's the signal that told Honey that help was coming.
There was a version in the early planning of this story where Negan died on the field. In the end, I felt this story is as much about Jazz's coming of age as Honey's. The decisions Jazz needs to make to live with himself are very different than the ones Honey can accept, and the contrast will have repercussions. Negan is still slated to die... just not directly at Honey's hand.
In a lot of ways, this is a play off the decisions Maggie and Jesus make with the captured Saviors in S8E6 (and even earlier, Morgan's desire to kill them all):
Maggie: We have to end this and Negan.
Jesus: We will. But when we do, we have to make sure what's left is worth what we lost.