I know, I know…been a while hasn't it? Some stuff was going on and this fic just wasn't happening. I would explain it all in excruciating detail, but I seriously doubt any of you are interested in my personal life. To those of you who sent me polite questions asking when this fic would be finished, and who supported my efforts I offer my sincerest apologies. I really doubt that this was worth the long wait, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Ja!
Insert standard disclaimer here
Jonathan hadn't been working long at the hospital when a couple approached him with an…unusual offer. Double his current monthly salary if he would do them a favor. At first Jonathan was suspicious, but all the couple wanted was for him to keep them informed of what was going on at the hospital. It seemed pretty simple, just keep tabs on the visitors, with a specific eye out for anyone they were personally looking for. It had been almost a year since he had made that deal, and he hadn't once heard from his contacts. It was the greatest decision he had ever made. An intercom page interrupted Jonathan's musings.
"Jonathan Martin you have a call on line one, Jonathan Martin call on line one." Making his way to the nearest phone, Jonathan hit the glowing button and answered.
"Hello?"
"Jonathan? It's Stephen, remember me?" Jonathan's heart skipped a beat. It was the man he had made the deal with, but why was he suddenly calling after all this time?
"Yes sir, I remember. But what's with the sudden contact, what's going on?"
"There may be a patient coming in. A young kid, blond hair and blue eyes, should be suffering from multiple fractures and contusions. Name is Jim Hawking." Jonathan's eyes widened in recognition of the description Stephen provided.
"Ah, yes sir. He just arrived. What's going on?"
"Damn. Jonathan, you remember the vile we gave you, with the liquid we told you to keep on you at all times?"
"Ah, yes sir." Jonathan reached into his pocket to briefly confirm that the vial was there. "What do you want with it?"
"Listen to me closely. I need you to get into the kid's room and slip some of that into his IV."
"What!? You can't be serious, there's no way I could do that. I would get fired for sure."
"Jonathan, shut up and listen to me. You do this for me and you can name your reward, I don't care what it is. If it's humanly possible to grant it then I personally guarantee that you will receive it. All you have to do is this one little task."
"But what do this liquid do?"
There was a long pause before Stephen finally responded. "Jonathan, there are some dangerous men after that young boy. I've been attempting to protect him, but I lost track of him tonight. I was worried something like this might happen so that's why I came to you almost a year ago. The liquid will simulate…death. His vital signs will stop functioning; his breathing will become so unnoticeable as to be nonexistent. For all appearances the boy will be dead. I'm hoping that this will buy me the time I need to smuggle the boy out and get him off the planet before those pursuing him realize what has happened." The was another long pause before Stephen gravely asked, "Can you do that for me Jonathan? Can you help me save this young man?"
Jonathan just stood there, breathing heavily while he fingered the vile in his pocket. This was all too much. There was no way something like could be happening to him. But, it was happening to him, whether he liked it or not. Finally he sucked in a deep breath and gave Stephen his response.
Reception Room"I don't believe it…it…it can't be true." Gene Starwind fell heavily to the floor as his legs collapsed from in under him. "Jim can't be dead."
From beside him Aisha muttered a tortured, "Jimmy" before collapsing into tears. Her sobs deafened Gene, and all he could hear was her voice repeatedly accusing him it was his fault. Melfina was hardly in better shape, and ultimately she found comfort from the only place she could…Gene.
Gene looked up as Mel desperately grabbed hold him of him, locking him in a fierce embrace. He could feel the dampness of her tears as the soaked the shoulder of his shirt. Just then, he caught movement as Suzuka made her way out of the waiting room. Still in shock, he blurted out, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"
Suzuka glanced back over her shoulder and Gene swore he saw the fires of the afore mentioned Hell itself in here eyes. In a voice tinged with rage she hissed, "I'm going to find Michelle first. Then I'm going to extract the names of the people she sent him to in the most painful way possible. Then I'm going to kill the people who killed Jim."
Suddenly Aisha was standing. "Not alone you're not. I'm going to take a piece…make that several pieces out of them myself. No one messes with a Ctarl Ctarl's friends and lives to tell about it." Gene made a move to protest, but suddenly found himself speechless at the sheer rage the two women were generating. Before he could demand that he would accompany them, Aisha spoke again. "Gene, Mel…please stay and take care of things on this end. Make sure…" Her voice broke and the tears began to fall again. After a moment she looked back up and finished, "Make sure you get him out of this place so we can bury him right." With that the two women were gone, vanishing so quickly that Gene barely even saw them move.
Social Services Office
Michelle sighed wearily as she looked at the mountains of paperwork on her desk. Today looked like another long day, and she hadn't slept well last night because her mind had been bothering her about the situation with that Hawking boy. Logically, she knew that she had done the right thing. However, deep down her gut instinct told her that something about the situation hadn't been right. She stood there a moment in quiet contemplation, but couldn't put her finger on anything. Finally, she gave up and moved to her desk to begin the day's work.
She froze as she felt the edge of a sword blade cut into her throat. Suddenly she found herself face to face with the most feared assassin in the galaxy, Twilight Suzuka. And she looked pissed. Of course, she was nothing compared to a pissed off Ctarl Ctarl, which is exactly what Michelle saw when she looked to her left. Sucking in a desperate breath, she tried to speak, to demand to know what the hell they thought they were doing. The words died in her throat as the pressure of the blade increased enough to draw a slight trickle of blood.
"Jim Hawking is dead. He was beaten to death by the family that you left him with." Michelle's eyes widened in shock. "You will tell us who they are and where we can find them or Aisha and I will carve your body into toothpicks…while you are still alive."
Michelle attempted to speak again, but the pressure on her throat was too strong. Noticing this, Suzuka pulled the blade back a hair. Sucking in a deep breath, Michelle responded, "What the hell are you talking about?" Her air left her in a whoosh as Aisha buried her fist, sans claws, into the woman's stomach. Michelle attempted to double over, but the sword blade stopped from moving an inch. The pain was incredible for a simple punch to the gut. As she strove to suck air into her lungs, Suzuka calmly looked into her eyes.
"Try again. Who are the people you left Jim with and where are they located?"
Michelle's thoughts were in a whirl. The boy was dead? He had to be, these two were far too serious for this to be some kind of hoax. But that meant that her parents…no that wasn't possible was it? But they had been acting strangely of late. And the whole situation with Jim had been so out of character for them. Could it be possible…Michelle winced as the pressure of the blade increased another notch. Then, she did the only thing she could do. Steeling herself, she gently reached up and pushed the blade aside. Then she took a deep breath…and told them everything they wanted to know.
Hospital"Excellent Jonathan, you've done well." Stephen positively beamed with pride at Jonathan. "I can't thank you enough for your help in this matter."
Jonathan nervously ran a hand through his hair before responding, "It's the least I could do sir. But, now that you have him…do you think we could discuss my reward?"
Stephen looked up at him and smiled widely. "Why of course my boy," he said while reaching into his jacket, "I have it for you right here."
Jonathan gave the man a confused look. "But I haven't asked…urk." Jonathan's breath left him in a rush as Stephen thrust the dagger he drew from his cloak into Jonathan's throat.
"Sorry my boy, but it won't do for you to know of the events that transpired tonight. Just think of it as the ultimate reward for your deeds…eternal rest." Stephen reached into his jacket and brought out a cell phone which he flipped on. "Anna, it's me. I took care of things on this end, and I'm bringing the boy back. Make preparations for our departure. I'll come back, we'll grab our stuff, and then take the boy and get off planet before anyone knows what happened." With a flick of his wrist he flipped the cell phone off. "Well then my boy, I believe we had some unfinished business." Stephen reached down onto the bed and hefted Jim up, throwing him over one shoulder like a sack of grain, before grinning, "But we'll take care of that soon enough."
Reception Room
"I don't give a damn what you say, I'm going in to see Jim," Gene Starwind screamed into the doctor's face from two inches.
"I can't allow that, we still have to…" The doctor trailed off as Gene leveled the business end of a very dangerous looking gun into his face.
"Move…now."
The doctor moved.
Social ServicesSilence greeted Michelle after her confession. Slowly she raised her eyes to look up at the two women who had burst into her office. Suzuka's expression was cold and emotionless, but Aisha…Aisha looked even angrier than before.
"You mean…none of it…was legal. You just…took him away. You just took away…MY JIMMY!" With a snarl of rage the Ctarl Ctarl launched herself at the woman and slammed her across the room. Michelle hit the wall and stars exploded in her eyes. Her last image was of the claws that swept towards her throat, guaranteeing her death.
Just before the blow was delivered, Suzuka was there. "Stop this Aisha." She never raised her voice once, but the cold there cut through the rage of the beast. As she paused to evaluate Suzuka, the assassin continued. "This isn't what Jim would want."
"Jimmy's dead, and it's all because of this…bitch." Suzuka began to respond, but was cut off from a sudden communication from Gilliam.
"There's a transmission from Gene, patching it through now." Suddenly the Outlaw's voice broke in over the communicator.
"Aisha, Suzuka! Can you hear me? I don't think Jim's dead!"
"WHAT!?" The startled shriek from the Ctarl Ctarl almost shattered glass.
"Gene, repeat what you said and explain," Suzuka calmly answered.
"I don't think Jim's dead. We busted in to see him and saw some guy standing over a dead dude with Jim on his shoulder. He slammed down a flash grenade while we were standing their stunned, and then managed to escape. I'm trying to figure out where he went."
"Gene, please describe this man." After listening intently to Gene's description, Suzuka smiled evilly. "Yes Jim, I know who that man is. He's the one whose care Jim was given into. He's supposed to be Michelle's father, but I suspect appearances are deceiving in this case. Most importantly I know where he's going." Suzuka quickly told Jim of the location of Michelle's parent's home before she and Aisha were out the door in a flash, intent on beating Gene there and saving Jim.
"Hold on Jimmy," Aisha growled. "We won't let you down."
Suzuka merely nodded in agreement.
The Home From Hell (Stephen's House)
"Damn it Anna, hurry up! We have to get out of here and fast!"
"I'm coming Stephen. Go start the car, I'll be down in a second."
"Damn woman," Stephen muttered under his breath as he stomped to the front door. He jerked the door open and stepped out into the chest of a red haired man. Slowly he looked up to find himself looking into the face of Gene Starwind, and more importantly a very big caster gun. Though that paled somewhat when compared to the eyes of Twilight Suzuka and her sharp looking sword. However, Stephen nearly wet his pants when he caught sight of an extremely pissed of Ctarl Ctarl. Suddenly he heard footsteps from behind him and heard Anna's voice.
"Stephen, what are you doing just standing there? I told you to go get…the…car." Anna looked to her husband, then back to the three extremely dangerous, and not to mention angry looking figures on their doorstep. With a feral grin, the red headed one lifted his caster and casually said, "I believe you have someone who belongs to us."
Anna said the only thing she could think of at the time.
"Oh shit."
