...The Ones You Love.

Chapter Six: Fathers & Sons.

'Mad Dog' Morgendorffer smiled feebly. "Hello, Jake. Made it at last, I see."

Jake lowered the sword in shock. "But...I thought you were dead."

"I never said he was dead, Jake," said Alexander. "All I said was that he didn't die when you thought he did."

"And I didn't. Stop gawking, Jake! You look like a goddamn fish."

Instinctively, Jake began to apologize, then realized what he was doing. "Shut up. This place. I knew this room. I knew how to get here. How?"

"All part of my plan."

Alexander looked confused. "What? Why are we talking to him? Let me kill him."

"Tried that already, sonny, and you screwed it up royally."

Alexander flushed with shame. "I'm sorry..."

"And stop whining. Look, it's time to come clean. Jake, you're here because I wanted you here. I want you to join us."

"What?" Alexander and Jake said it at once.

"You're my son, Jake. My heir. I want you with me on this."

Alexander stepped forward, angry. "What about me?"

"You're just some shitty street punk I picked up to do my dirty work. I needed you while I got Jake ready."

"No..." Alexander shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense."
"Your conditioning, Jake. Ever wonder why it didn't take?"

Jake shrugged.

"I knew it wouldn't work. Planned it that way. That thing at Lawndale wasn't just a weapons test. It was a test of you, as well. And you passed."

Jake shook his head. "No...he tried to kill me," he said, indicating Alexander. "He was serious."
Mad Dog sighed. "Of course he was serious, moron. He thought he was my heir. He was just somebody to test you on. Who better to test you than yourself, basically? But you are here. You defeated him. Now, you're worthy to join me. Passed the final test, Jakey. I'm proud of you."

Jake closed his eyes in shock. He'd waited all his life to hear those words from his father. But not in these circumstances. Not like this.

Jake's Lexus sped along the desert, Wendy behind the wheel. Helen's SUV, with Horizon, followed.

Daria, in the passenger seat, turned to Wendy. "You're telling me Dad has help from the government?"
"I don't believe it myself, but that's what the guy said."

"Weirder and weirder." Daria looked out the window. "God, I hope he's okay."

"When you say, hurt, how badly hurt?"

Daria shot her a look. "Bleeding to death."

Wendy gripped the wheel a little harder. "Shit." She tried to sound a little more upbeat. "Look, I've known your dad for a while. He can take care of himself in situations like this. It's just things like remembering to pay the bills he has trouble with."

Despite herself, Daria smirked a little. Jane leaned forward from the back, and squeezed Daria's shoulder. "He'll be okay, Daria."

Trent leaned forward too. "Yeah. Your dad's pretty cool. He can take care of himself."

Daria turned her head. "I hope so."

"Eep!" It was Brittany. Everyone turned to her in shock - this was the first thing she had said since City Hall. She was pointing out the window, an expression of fear on her face.

"What is it?" Daria followed her finger, and saw what she was looking at.

In the distance, coming in their direction, came a fleet of black cargo helicopters. They seemed to be a futuristic design, and they looked deadly.

"Think they're on our side?" asked Jane, her voice trembling slightly.

"I don't know," said Daria.

"What the hell are those?" Mack gazed at the sky.

In the front, Horizon looked with amazement at the sleek black craft roaring past them.

"They're government issue. Thought they were only rumors, though."

Jodie looked at Upchuck in amazement. "How do you know?"

He shrugged. "Everyone's got to have a hobby."

"They're going to save Daddy, right?" asked Quinn anxiously.

"I hope so," whispered Horizon.

"Quinn?" said Sandi. "I didn't know your Dad was, like, a kung fu guy or something."
"Neither did I," muttered Quinn.

"I hope he's okay," said Stacy. Tiffany just kept filing her nails.

"That's a really nice suit, by the way," said Quinn to Horizon.

"Um, thank you." She swallowed hard. "Jake, I mean, your dad, will be fine. I hope. Please God," she said quietly.

The craft landed quietly beside the hut. The doors slid open, and dozens of black-clad troops swarmed out, and took up positions surrounding the hut. A number of them began planting charges around it, while the others readied themselves to begin the assault.

In the main hall, Newton was pacing around the room. Armstrong was following him. "Is he there?"

Armstrong nodded. "He's in there right now."
"Damn it. How did he know to go there? How the hell are we going to get him out?"

"It's up to Morgendorffer now, sir. The older one, I mean."

"I know what you mean! No more intruders?"

"No. All the screens are clear."

Newton nodded in acknowledgment, and resumed pacing.

Jake shook his head. "I don't understand."

"Use your goddamned brain for once in you sad little life, son. You're part of the reason I did all this. It was you and your hippie friends that began the decline of this country. After that, nothing was ever the same. People didn't respect authority like they should. Good people were punished, and thrown from office, while decadent freaks rose to power. You were the catalyst, and you were to be the savior. My son would join us, and help cleanse this country again. That's how you knew to find me. I implanted my own location in your head. Once you defeated this retard, you'd be compelled to come here, to find me. And here you are."

Jake reeled from the news, but was distracted by Alexander grabbing the sword from his hand. He pointed it straight at Mad Dog. "You! I worshipped you, and you used me!"

"Get over it, you little punk," snarled Mad Dog.

"My whole life...has it been for nothing?!"

Mad Dog smiled cruelly. "Sucks, doesn't it?"

Alexander screamed and lunged at Mad Dog with the sword. Mad Dog flicked a switch beside him, and a beam of light flashed out from behind his head. It drilled straight through Alexander, and he fell to the floor. Jake knelt quickly beside him, but it was too late. He was already dead. Jake looked at his father. "There was no need for that."

Mad Dog snorted. "He served his purpose. Why didn't you kill him?"

Jake stood back up. "I'm not a killer, Dad, despite your attempts to make me one."
"Bullshit. You killed that guy at the school."

"And it's haunted me ever since. I'm not like you, Dad. All the modifications and enhancements in the world won't make me the same as you." He paused and looked at his father. "How did you survive the cancer, anyway?"

"Treatment kept me alive for a few years, but it was getting to the point where I was going to die unless something drastic was done. Then, this weapon was devised. It's keeping me alive."
"How?"

"Draws energy from my alternate selves. Kills them to keep me going. Soon, I think I'll be the only A.H. Morgendorffer alive in the multiverse."

"You never cared about what happened to others, did you?"

"It's all bullshit, Jake. I brought you up better than that."

"You? You brought me up?" Jake's voice rose to a yell. He could feel his wounds ache as he shouted, but he didn't care. "You were never there to bring us up. And when you were, you'd just beat me, and tell me what a stupid little wuss I was."

"I was on official business."

"I know. You know something?" Jake's voice fell. "I was proud of you. My father, the hero, out saving the world. Every time you would come home, I'd look forward to it. I'd think maybe this time he'll be happy to see me. Maybe this time, we can spend some time together, like fathers and sons do. And every time, you would disappoint me. You didn't want to spend time with me. You could barely stand the sight of me. After a while, I didn't look forward to you coming home any more. I'd dread it."

"Whining, as usual, I see."

Jake gritted his teeth. "You don't care, do you?"
"I'm trying to fix this world, and all you can whine about is your damn childhood!"

"You know what's sad? You wanted me on this, but you couldn't even ask me. You had to do all this, just to get me here. You can't even talk to your own son. You had to send me off to Military School because you couldn't even deal with having me there when you were home."

"Shut your mouth, boy," Mad Dog snarled.

"I'm not going to join you, Dad. I'm not a killer. You almost made me one, but I make my own choices in life. I chose not to kill him, and now I choose not to join you." Jake paused. "I've lived under your shadow my whole life. I've let you affect my jobs, my marriage and my parenthood. But now, I'm going to live my life how I think it should be lived, not how you, or anyone else thinks it should be. If you were any sort of father, you'd respect my choices. But you never did. You don't respect anyone else's choices." He gestured around him. "That's what this is about. All of this. You and your superiors wanting to make everyone else's choice for them. You're pathetic, and I'll never join you. I'm finally free from you, Dad. I've said all the things I wanted to say when I was a kid. And you won't dictate my life any more."

He turned and began to walk towards the door. Mad Dog yelled from behind him. "You haven't changed a bit. You're still a failure! What makes you think you can get out of here alive?"
As if on cue, the room shook as if an explosion had occurred nearby.

Actually, it probably has.

The main hall rocked with the force of an explosion. Newton grabbed onto the wall to steady himself. "What the hell was that?"

One of his men rushed up to him. "Sir - an explosion has breached the main elevator shaft."

"What? How?"

Armstrong ran over to him. "Cloaking suits. Must have been. Didn't show up on any of our scans. That narrows it down to US troops. No-one else has the technology, as far as we know."

"Shit!" Newton turned to the guards. "We're under attack. Find the intruders, and eliminate them."

"Sir!" The leader saluted, and began ordering his men. Newton raised his comm unit, and tried to reach any of the other units. A lone voice crackled through the static.

"Sir! It's Delphi!" Newton went pale. "They're coming down the shaft - hard to tell how many..." The line went dead. Before anyone could react, the doors to the main hall blew open, and a group of black-clad soldiers rushed through, spaying the room with gunfire. The guards tried to put up a defense, but they were caught by surprise, and the Delphi squad cut most of them down and kept advancing.

"What's that?"

Jake turned his head to face Mad Dog. "Before I came here, I ran into some friends of yours. DELPHI, I think they're called. They offered me a deal if I told them where you were. So, I did." He smiled. "Not such a failure, after all, huh, Dad? They've been waiting for an opportunity like this for years, and your little scheme gave them the information they needed to shut you down. I imagine they're storming this place right now."

"I bet it was that brown-nosing piece of shit, Davers."

Jake nodded. "You couldn't think you could get away with this for ever, did you?"

Mad Dog tried to sit up. "Last chance, Jake. You can still join me, and we can escape together."

Jake shook his head. Mad Dog snarled. "Fine. Go back to your shitty little life, with your bitchy wife, that vain little bitch, and your dyke daughter. You're still a screw up, Jake. Always have been, always will. You'll regret this some day, when you're thinking of how your life could have been. You'll wish you joined me. I'm your father, goddamn it!"

Jake looked at him. "I don't have a father. I never did." He turned towards the door. "Goodbye." And, without looking back, he left his father there. The doors slammed shut behind him. He walked down the corridor, idly noting the blood on the gleaming floor. Oh yes - that was his blood. He began to feel a little faint. Everything started to go black. It didn't matter though. He was free. All he had to do was get out of here, and back to his family. The room was spinning. Back to Helen. That was all he had to do. After all, now he was free...

To Be Concluded...