Then He Left - Part 8
Part 8: Warmth
The glass in the window whined quietly as the cutter made its incision. Gently, two sets of hands removed the glass, leaving a hole large enough to reach through and release the catch. The window swung inside, brushing against the closed curtains, two figures wearing grey and black clothes crept inside, positioning themselves on either side of the window as they closed it over quietly.
The slight breeze through the hole in the window shifted the curtain slightly, allowing them to see the legs of someone on the bed under the covers. Using one hand, the smaller figure signalled to its colleague to move into the room. The other figure crouched, a pistol drawn with a laser sight on top, the other figure a sub-machine gun with sight held with both hands swept the room as they moved into it. The room was in darkness, the figures wearing light enhancing goggles to see clearly in the gloom. Sweeping the room, looking at the bed, one cursed, his hand signal indicating the intended target was missing. The two looked at the bed, an unfamiliar man lying in the bed.
"Looking for me" a woman's voice called out.
The two figures swung round, as the lights flared on and an alarm went off. The figures dropped their weapons, attempting to remove their goggles, the light burning through their closed eyelids, the siren of the alarm wailing in the room and all through the house. Metal shutters were heard closing behind them over the window.
"Guess so"
Jesse was brought to his senses abruptly, his training from Mutant X coming to the fore, as he quickly assessed the scene. He saw two figures in what looked like military gear carrying firearms, knifes and explosives, the figures were frantically trying to remove their eye-coverings. Somewhere in Jesse's mind, the goggles were recognised as light-amplifiers. He saw the woman from earlier standing near the door, her hand leaving an alarm switch, moving towards a small box on top of her dresser.
He saw the figures had removed their goggles now, and were bringing their weapons up to bear on the woman, still trying to reach the box. He leapt from the bed, massing as he landed in front of the woman as she reached the box. The alarms still sounded, footsteps could be heard running through the house. The two figures opened fire, the bullets impacting on Jesse's massed form. The number of impacts began to force him back, the figures advancing. Again Jesse's mind recognised the advance tactics, first one then the other, not letting up the stream of fire on him. The woman behind him finally got the box open, a small pistol inside. She drew the pistol, checking the clip was correct. He heard the pistol safety go off even with all the noise around him. Then he saw the muzzle flash as the woman fired over this shoulder at the standing target with the sub-machine gun. The bullet struck the figure dead centre of the chest, the figure stumbled backwards, their weapon falling silent.
Seeing the figures were wearing bullet-proof clothing now, Jesse took advantage of the letup in fire to move forward. With only one pistol firing at him, the massed form of the man moved forward. Again, somewhere in his mind he wondered at how he was holding this form for so long, but right now it didn't matter. All that matter was protecting the woman, the attacker she had shot had pulled themselves back up, he could see stiffness in their movements, possibly cracked ribs there, he thought. He surged forward getting to within a foot of the figures before he was struck with the sub-machine fire again, he grunted at the close range onslaught. Then it let up again as the figure spun, the next shot from the woman had passed straight through his shoulder, blood spurting out over the room as the figure did a bizarre pirouette on its way to the floor, one arm useless now. Jesse reached the other shooter, his massed fist flew towards the head of the figure. The figure nimbly dodged the fist, bringing its knee up into the attackers gut. On any ordinary assailant this would have worked, but on the massed form of Jesse, the figure screamed as its knee shattered on the impact. Jesse took advantage of the opening to knock the figure out with a simple punch, before moving on to repeat the action on the other attacker.
The threat gone, Jesse reverted to his normal form, collapsing to his knees. The exertion of the past few days had left he completely exhausted working on pure adrenaline and will power alone. The woman rushed to his side, the gun hidden somewhere on her, but he couldn't see it. She gathered him into her arms, thanking him for his actions. The door to the room burst open.
In poured three very welled armed individuals, two men and a woman. The woman carrying a pair of silvery looking pistols, with them drawn looking for threats, directed the men towards the downed figures. The two men moved towards the figures, both carrying shotguns, keeping them trained on the inert figures. Kicking the guns away from the figures' hands the two men bound the attackers, removing all weapons and equipments from them.
"Are you alright, ma'am?" the woman with the guns asked.
The woman with Jesse answered, "Yes, I'm fine now, what took you so long?"
"The alarm system was tampered with, we could not pinpoint the origin of the alarm."
"If it hadn't been for this young man, I would be dead" indicating the shivering Jesse in her arms.
"Yes, ma'am, of course, it is no excuse for our ineptitude." The woman looked distraught at her failure.
"Deal with them, I don't want the police involved"
"The usual channels, mistress?"
"Yes"
The woman indicated to the two men, who hoisted a figure each over their shoulders and filed out the room.
"Miss, there is someone wanting to see you" the woman said, as a voice came over the radio attached to her shoulder.
"Has everything been secured?"
The woman barked out a few commands over her radio, and listened to the responses. After a minute, she said, "Everything secure and intruders dealt with"
The woman on the floor carefully rose, bringing Jesse with her, "Tell Frederick to bring her through"
The woman nodded and left, taking the pile of weapons on the floor with her.
The original woman stayed, helping the unresponsive Jesse to the bed, she gently pushed him down on the bed. 'He doesn't like violence, he uses it but it eats at him' she thought as she considered the reactions the young man had to the scenarios he had been faced with. She had seen how he berated himself over killing the gang members, how he had fallen after saving her just moments ago.
She watched him stare at her, his eyes so confused, the colours in them misted over with a myriad of emotions. He opened his mouth to speak, she leaned forward to hear him but he closed it with no sound coming forth. She gently held his hand, the process of building up his trust would be slow, but worth it in the end, already he risked his life for her and soon he would always do so.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door and then a voice, "Mistress, you have a visitor."
"Send her in, Frederick, thank you"
The door opened, and a small figure ran into the room, jumping into the waiting arms of the woman.
"Mummy, Mummy, did the bad men hurt you?" the little girl asked, with all the seriousness and worry a child could muster.
Jesse watched as the woman gently held the small child, who could be no more than four years old, in her arms. She reassured the child she was fine, the men didn't hurt her. The child squirmed round in her arms to face Jesse, he saw that she was very young, with pale skin, big blue eyes and brown hair. She looked like a little storybook fairy, he thought, smiling as best he could at her, not wanting to scare the child.
"Who's that?" she asked, pointing at him, her eyes big and open, with the curiosity on a child has.
"That's Jesse, he saved me from the bad men."
The little girl launched herself at Jesse, her small frame landing on him, her arms wrapped around his neck, thanking him for saving her mother. He smiled in wonder at the actions of the little girl, the simple actions she showed bringing warmth he hadn't felt in days to his heart. He looked up at the woman watching her daughter, seeing the love in her eyes that she had for her daughter, as she saw him staring he smiled at her, and was happy to see her smile back at him.
She let go as suddenly as she had jumped onto him and climbed back into her mother's arms.
"Is he my daddy?" she asked, looking at Jesse as if trying to see herself in him.
Part 8: Warmth
The glass in the window whined quietly as the cutter made its incision. Gently, two sets of hands removed the glass, leaving a hole large enough to reach through and release the catch. The window swung inside, brushing against the closed curtains, two figures wearing grey and black clothes crept inside, positioning themselves on either side of the window as they closed it over quietly.
The slight breeze through the hole in the window shifted the curtain slightly, allowing them to see the legs of someone on the bed under the covers. Using one hand, the smaller figure signalled to its colleague to move into the room. The other figure crouched, a pistol drawn with a laser sight on top, the other figure a sub-machine gun with sight held with both hands swept the room as they moved into it. The room was in darkness, the figures wearing light enhancing goggles to see clearly in the gloom. Sweeping the room, looking at the bed, one cursed, his hand signal indicating the intended target was missing. The two looked at the bed, an unfamiliar man lying in the bed.
"Looking for me" a woman's voice called out.
The two figures swung round, as the lights flared on and an alarm went off. The figures dropped their weapons, attempting to remove their goggles, the light burning through their closed eyelids, the siren of the alarm wailing in the room and all through the house. Metal shutters were heard closing behind them over the window.
"Guess so"
Jesse was brought to his senses abruptly, his training from Mutant X coming to the fore, as he quickly assessed the scene. He saw two figures in what looked like military gear carrying firearms, knifes and explosives, the figures were frantically trying to remove their eye-coverings. Somewhere in Jesse's mind, the goggles were recognised as light-amplifiers. He saw the woman from earlier standing near the door, her hand leaving an alarm switch, moving towards a small box on top of her dresser.
He saw the figures had removed their goggles now, and were bringing their weapons up to bear on the woman, still trying to reach the box. He leapt from the bed, massing as he landed in front of the woman as she reached the box. The alarms still sounded, footsteps could be heard running through the house. The two figures opened fire, the bullets impacting on Jesse's massed form. The number of impacts began to force him back, the figures advancing. Again Jesse's mind recognised the advance tactics, first one then the other, not letting up the stream of fire on him. The woman behind him finally got the box open, a small pistol inside. She drew the pistol, checking the clip was correct. He heard the pistol safety go off even with all the noise around him. Then he saw the muzzle flash as the woman fired over this shoulder at the standing target with the sub-machine gun. The bullet struck the figure dead centre of the chest, the figure stumbled backwards, their weapon falling silent.
Seeing the figures were wearing bullet-proof clothing now, Jesse took advantage of the letup in fire to move forward. With only one pistol firing at him, the massed form of the man moved forward. Again, somewhere in his mind he wondered at how he was holding this form for so long, but right now it didn't matter. All that matter was protecting the woman, the attacker she had shot had pulled themselves back up, he could see stiffness in their movements, possibly cracked ribs there, he thought. He surged forward getting to within a foot of the figures before he was struck with the sub-machine fire again, he grunted at the close range onslaught. Then it let up again as the figure spun, the next shot from the woman had passed straight through his shoulder, blood spurting out over the room as the figure did a bizarre pirouette on its way to the floor, one arm useless now. Jesse reached the other shooter, his massed fist flew towards the head of the figure. The figure nimbly dodged the fist, bringing its knee up into the attackers gut. On any ordinary assailant this would have worked, but on the massed form of Jesse, the figure screamed as its knee shattered on the impact. Jesse took advantage of the opening to knock the figure out with a simple punch, before moving on to repeat the action on the other attacker.
The threat gone, Jesse reverted to his normal form, collapsing to his knees. The exertion of the past few days had left he completely exhausted working on pure adrenaline and will power alone. The woman rushed to his side, the gun hidden somewhere on her, but he couldn't see it. She gathered him into her arms, thanking him for his actions. The door to the room burst open.
In poured three very welled armed individuals, two men and a woman. The woman carrying a pair of silvery looking pistols, with them drawn looking for threats, directed the men towards the downed figures. The two men moved towards the figures, both carrying shotguns, keeping them trained on the inert figures. Kicking the guns away from the figures' hands the two men bound the attackers, removing all weapons and equipments from them.
"Are you alright, ma'am?" the woman with the guns asked.
The woman with Jesse answered, "Yes, I'm fine now, what took you so long?"
"The alarm system was tampered with, we could not pinpoint the origin of the alarm."
"If it hadn't been for this young man, I would be dead" indicating the shivering Jesse in her arms.
"Yes, ma'am, of course, it is no excuse for our ineptitude." The woman looked distraught at her failure.
"Deal with them, I don't want the police involved"
"The usual channels, mistress?"
"Yes"
The woman indicated to the two men, who hoisted a figure each over their shoulders and filed out the room.
"Miss, there is someone wanting to see you" the woman said, as a voice came over the radio attached to her shoulder.
"Has everything been secured?"
The woman barked out a few commands over her radio, and listened to the responses. After a minute, she said, "Everything secure and intruders dealt with"
The woman on the floor carefully rose, bringing Jesse with her, "Tell Frederick to bring her through"
The woman nodded and left, taking the pile of weapons on the floor with her.
The original woman stayed, helping the unresponsive Jesse to the bed, she gently pushed him down on the bed. 'He doesn't like violence, he uses it but it eats at him' she thought as she considered the reactions the young man had to the scenarios he had been faced with. She had seen how he berated himself over killing the gang members, how he had fallen after saving her just moments ago.
She watched him stare at her, his eyes so confused, the colours in them misted over with a myriad of emotions. He opened his mouth to speak, she leaned forward to hear him but he closed it with no sound coming forth. She gently held his hand, the process of building up his trust would be slow, but worth it in the end, already he risked his life for her and soon he would always do so.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door and then a voice, "Mistress, you have a visitor."
"Send her in, Frederick, thank you"
The door opened, and a small figure ran into the room, jumping into the waiting arms of the woman.
"Mummy, Mummy, did the bad men hurt you?" the little girl asked, with all the seriousness and worry a child could muster.
Jesse watched as the woman gently held the small child, who could be no more than four years old, in her arms. She reassured the child she was fine, the men didn't hurt her. The child squirmed round in her arms to face Jesse, he saw that she was very young, with pale skin, big blue eyes and brown hair. She looked like a little storybook fairy, he thought, smiling as best he could at her, not wanting to scare the child.
"Who's that?" she asked, pointing at him, her eyes big and open, with the curiosity on a child has.
"That's Jesse, he saved me from the bad men."
The little girl launched herself at Jesse, her small frame landing on him, her arms wrapped around his neck, thanking him for saving her mother. He smiled in wonder at the actions of the little girl, the simple actions she showed bringing warmth he hadn't felt in days to his heart. He looked up at the woman watching her daughter, seeing the love in her eyes that she had for her daughter, as she saw him staring he smiled at her, and was happy to see her smile back at him.
She let go as suddenly as she had jumped onto him and climbed back into her mother's arms.
"Is he my daddy?" she asked, looking at Jesse as if trying to see herself in him.