Disclaimer: Please refer to disclaimers in earlier chapters.

Title: Redemption's Tears

Author: RedRaven

O'Leary paced back and forth near the unconscious Companion Protector. Things had been going wrong. Some people had managed to escape from the inn. Once they got someplace where they could report this he'd be in a mess. He totally ignored the rest of the hostages he and his men had taken while he brooded; they didn't concern him, the Major however… Liam Kincaid had managed to not only get the best of one of his men and knock him out, but he had killed another.

He had sent Rory McDonnell to see what was taking Brian so long. All he had been sent to do was make sure the floor was clear. They had both heard the scuffle up at the top of the stairs, but hadn't been able to see anything because of the bends in the stairwell. McDonnell had gone up to shoot whoever was being the problem. He had seen the strange flash of light and heard the cry from up there. He had snuck up after him. McDonnell and Quinn had been on the floor. Kincaid had had his back to him picking a weapon up off the floor. O'Leary had taken the opportunity to disable the protector. He had taken the man's global and weapon. Brian Quinn had come to after a few minutes, but Rory McDonnell was dead.

The only reason he hadn't killed Kincaid is because he wanted answers. No weapon should have been able to cause that kind of damage to their armor. It had been specially designed to take hits from energy weapons. Unfortunately the designer had met an untimely death soon after developing it, and it would be difficult to change the design without him. O'Leary wanted to know exactly how Kincaid had destroyed it, so he could avoid any future incidents of that sort. Especially since the only weapons he had found couldn't have been responsible. So what had happened? What had that light he had seen been? Because of one man they had had to change the whole plan. They could have just taken off with the protector and left just a bunch of bodies, that had been the original plan, but O'Leary was willing to be that he would take some persuading to get an answer out of. What better persuasion than to threaten a few hostages.

A soft groan alerted him. He turned to see the Companion Protector sit up awkwardly.

Liam was having some major problems. He wasn't sure what was going on. His head hurt and he was seeing stars. He was lying on the floor in what he recognized as a small side room in the Inn. He tried to use his hands to help him to sit up and discovered they were tied together. Of course the movement inspired a wave of dizziness, and he groaned. A man who looked vaguely familiar walked over and crouched down next to him. Liam couldn't be sure though, he could only see part of the guy's face; the rest was covered by more of that weird armor that the other guys he had seen had been wearing. "So you're Companion Protector Major Liam Kincaid." Liam frowned, even the voice seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it. The pain in his head made thinking difficult, but Liam was sure he had never met this guy before.

"I don't know you." He stated with certainty. The man he was looking at let out a slight laugh.

"No you wouldn't, Major. We've never had the pleasure. I don't have much to do with American government. The O'Learys stay in their own country. But really, I didn't keep you alive to talk about me. I'd like you to answer a few questions."

Liam stiffened slightly. "I'm not answering anything." Why did that name sound so familiar?

"Just a question or two. The more you cooperate, the more likely it'll be that the people in the next room get to go home." Then almost as an afterthought he added. "Alive."

The thought struck Liam suddenly and added to the stress. His Grandmother was here. And she was probably in the next room being held under gunpoint. Along with whoever else happened to be staying here. Stalling seemed like a good plan until he could come up with something better. At least until he managed to get himself untied. "Really? And what kind of questions are we talking about?"

Instead of answering Liam's question directly the terrorist took a different tack. "Rory McDonnell." At Liam's blank look he continued. "You killed him. Upstairs. Despite all the protection he was wearing. No amount of military training would give you the ability to shred his armor." As he spoke the man held up a familiar gun. "Your weapon." He tossed it on the floor a few feet away. "Doesn't have the power you'd need. Besides it was on the other side of the hall. " He watched Liam glance at the abandoned gun. "Shouldn't try that, it's been drained. About as deadly as a squirt gun right now. So how about answering the question?"

Inwardly Liam was panicking. He didn't know how he was going to explain his way out of this one, not that anything he came up with was likely to be believed. Obviously someone had figured out that he hadn't used only his gun. And Liam couldn't casually say 'well the guy shot at me and I used these things I've got in my hands called shaquaarava to reflect his shot back at him plus some extra energy and it killed him' While it would be interesting to see the reaction that story got Liam was pretty sure it wouldn't go over too well. Meanwhile he was going to need a good excuse. Unfortunately, his captor wasn't going to give him time to think of one. He gestured to someone Liam couldn't see in the next room. A second later a familiar grizzled old man was 'escorted' into the room. It was the innkeeper. At a motion from O'Leary they were left alone. Just Liam, O'Leary, and the Innkeeper.

"I trust you've met Mr. Finn." Liam and the innkeeper exchanged a look. Apparently he didn't know exactly what was going on either. Other than the obvious madman and his buddies with lots of guns and armor threatening unarmed people. The knots in the rope around his wrists loosened more and more as he pulled at them. Just a bit more. He kept a wary eye on O'Leary, who amazingly he hadn't seemed to notice Liam's attempts to escape. Instead he was studying the innkeeper. The ropes slid off his wrists. Liam held his hands still, suppressing the urge to massage his them to restore circulation. If they thought he was still tied he had an advantage. All he needed now was the right time to act. Now could be the right time though. O'Leary had pulled his own weapon and aimed it at Barry. "You have ten seconds Kincaid. All I want is a satisfactory answer."

"Umm. His armor was defective?" O'Leary glanced at him the disbelief evident in his voice.

"That's the best you can come up with?"

"I shot him. His armor exploded. He died. If it wasn't supposed to do that then something was wrong with it."

"Of course it wasn't supposed to explode! It wasn't the armor. You did something!" In a rage O'Leary turned back to the innkeeper and raised his gun again, before he could shoot Liam threw himself at him. The gun went off blasting the ceiling. From the next room panicked exclamations and shouts were heard. Liam wrenched the gun from O'Leary's grip just as another one of his men ran into the room.

Moving amazingly fast for his age, Barry Finn tripped the newest terrorist. As he fell Barry grabbed his weapon and trained it on him. "Don't move." The terrorist put up his hands. O'Leary might insist that the armor he had supplied them with could take a hit, but he had seen McDonnell's body; no way was he going to take chances.

Liam aimed his newly acquired weapon at O'Leary. He wondered why that had been so easy. Where were O'Leary's men? He took his eyes off O'Leary for a minute half expecting see guns trained on him from all sides. Instead he saw one man on the floor, being held under gunpoint by the innkeeper. "Not bad, Barry."

The old innkeeper shrugged. "Just because I'm old don't mean I can't stand up for myself."

Liam turned back to O'Leary, who was looking a bit dazed. His helmet had come off in the fight for the gun. Liam's eyes widened in shock as full recognition hit him. He did know who it was after all. "You're supposed to be dead!"

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