Cristalina: Just so you know, Jonathan's treatment only lowers his speed by approximately 15%, it makes him slower than Joanna but only just. Also I knew what Joanna was doing would appeal to you. I too noticed this with Jessica but it doesn't matter as she will not be playing any further role in the story (I've given up on reviving most people from the dead haha), I just needed to give her a name, it seemed improper to call her Junior's Mum all the time. I was going to call Damien Robert but then I noticed oops… somebody already has a Robert.
On with the story…
The glass broke and Joanna screamed out of shock and grabbed her Falcon off the table and instinctively rolled off the lounge chair although it hurt a bit when she landed on the carpet. Suddenly Jo heard keys in the door as she kept cover behind the lounge. They wondered around the room as Jo shuffled her body around careful not to be heard but trying not to be seen either. The door opened.
"ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!" Velvet screamed out and gun shots were heard, they were from a Falcon 2. Shortly after two men groaned and Jo came out from her hiding place and shot the other two.
"Well hi Velvet. How was work?" Joanna asked with a smile on her face as if nothing had happened
"You are nearly killed by 4 men and all you can say is how was work?" Velvet asked breathing composing herself
"Well yeah. Come on they had no chance and you know it" Joanna said
"I guess not. Although aren't you worried, somebody knows where you live which surely wasn't these 4 guys just wanted to steal something" Velvet was worried as she checked the guys she had shot
"Velvet you worry enough for the both of us, but maybe you are right this time" Joanna sighed
"Come on let's go to my place, as we should have done in the first place" Velvet said
"What now?" Joanna asked "I'll miss my show"
Velvet rolled her eyes
"Alright, alright" Joanna said as she put the security system on which regenerated the glass and then got a robot to clean up the glass on the ground before leaving with Velvet.
In the car Velvet discussed her mission with Jo, telling her that Trent was still alive and how she and Jonathan met a young boy who was part of a gang and how she then followed him later at night after he met up with his group. Then she told her about how she got into battle with this girl after she tried to kill the boy before her partner ended up killing her, but she cornered herself when the boy killed him for her. Joanna would normally want to know the ins and outs of the story as Velvet's description left a lot of unanswered questions but she was too tired to care. Joanna did get a slight bit of action that made her feel alive for about 10 seconds but it wasn't good to have too much of it.
"Was Jonathan annoying as usual?" Joanna asked
"Joanna, I've told you before…" Velvet started
"I know, I know, I'm only teasing" Joanna laughed
Velvet gave a smile; it was good to see her sister laugh.
They soon arrived at Velvet's place. Joanna was a bit sleepy now and went to the room Velvet always put aside for Jo in Velvet's 3 bedroom house and Velvet was beyond tired and went into her room and both quickly fell asleep.
*****
The next morning.
No such luck for Sean, he woke up at about 7am, he had to get ready in an half an hour and he had to see Andy, yet he was feeling even worse and had a stuffed up nose on top of it, it was some kind of cold type thing. Although hopefully Carrington wouldn't keep him too long or worse assign him to a mission.
"Hey Junior let's go" Sean called out to him
"Alright" Junior replied as he turned off the TV
Sean went over to Andy's room and knocked on the door. He answered almost immediately.
"Oh hey Sean" Andy said
"Hey, I've got to go to the Institute, so can you watch Junior for me?" Sean asked
"Sure, although I think you look worse then you did last night" Andy replied
"Heh, he shouldn't keep me too long" Sean hoped that this was true.
"Alright, take care" Andy said
"See you later" Sean waved to Junior
"Bye!" Junior waved back
Sean got in the car and drove to the Institute; fortunately he could still concentrate reasonably well and wasn't feeling too bad in the head. He got up to Carrington's office, Joanna, Velvet and Jonathan were there sitting around Carrington's desk, uh oh, but what's Jo doing here Sean thought.
"Ah Sean good morning" Carrington said
"Good morning" Sean responded with a slight sniffle
"Right I won't keep you long; this is just a heads up. Joanna is here because she was attacked last night. This is top secret and must be only kept between us" Carrington said
Carrington leaned closer on the table closer to everybody.
"I believe there is a mole in the Institute. Recently agents who have been injured have been attacked at their homes; we have lost 2 agents already. Calls went out from the phone just outside that told somebody on the other end of Joanna's address" Carrington said
Sean understood why Carrington couldn't say it over the communicator.
"Yes, that's all I had to say, you can go and rest up Jo. Velvet take her home would you?" Carrington asked
"Certainly, come on Jo" Velvet extended her hand and Jo took it. They put on a performance that implied Jo was still in a great deal of pain.
Jonathan and Sean left. Sean was about to leave until Jonathan called him over.
"Hey Sean, you feeling okay?" Jonathan asked
"No, but I'll be alright soon" Sean replied
"Go see Sarah, she'll be able to help a bit" Jonathan suggested
"You think she'll know about a planet change sickness" Sean asked
"Maybe, go see her and find out" Jonathan smiled as he went into to the firing range
Sean went and saw Sarah in the infirmary.
"Oh you don't look well" Sarah said
"Yeah, planet change sickness or something. Again" Sean sighed
"I'm not surprised; the conditions on both planets are different despite their similarities. This won't make it go away completely but it will allow you to keep a clear head and so you won't feel tired all the time. It's like a cold but only a bit worse, you feel any or all of these unusually cold, stuffy nose, headaches, sore throat and quite tired?" Sarah asked
"No headache or sore throat yet, but everything else is there, it's annoying" Sean replied
"It will take 2 or 3 days to get over give or take, some rest may help but that's up to you" Sarah said as she gave Sean the tablet
"Only one?" Sean asked
"Only need one, you can take it now" Sarah replied
"Okay" Sean took it "How come you know about something that only I have been hit with?" Sean asked
"Elvis was hit slightly by it too but not much and it gives a totally different effect. It's not an identical treatment but after a bit of research I came up with this" Sarah said
"Thanks, I'll see you" Sean left and went back to car relieved that Carrington didn't give him an assignment and then Sarah also taking him off the duty list too so Carrington wouldn't be bothering him for a few days. He knew Carrington wouldn't be happy, as he knew he had probably forgotten about the sickness in the first place. Carrington didn't seem to talk anybody as much as he usually did anymore.
30 minutes later.
Sean was back at the hotel; he knocked on Andy's door and took Junior back. The tablet did help a little bit but he was still far too cold and felt slightly weak. After Junior went inside his room to play some kind of game, Sean went to his room to have a bit of a rest.
*****
9 boring hours later
Jonathan could only assist Foster in testing newer weapons out. Most of his attempts of weapons were spectacular failures; he needed to be at the Institute in case of any new developments while the shoe got passed around the Institute scanning it to all lengths in an attempt to work out who made it and where it came from. Jonathan was truly bored almost praying for Carrington to call him up as the last gun Foster got him to try out sprayed black ink on the target, the problem was it wouldn't reach past 2 meters.
"Hmm, that's not supposed to happen" Foster sighed
"Foster, I kinda have other testing to do, mind if I leave?" Jonathan asked
"Sure go ahead, I'll work on these another time" Foster said
Jonathan relieved that he could get out there left and headed for the device lab. Maybe the testing there would be slightly less tedious; he did miss testing with Natasha in which he felt progress was actually being made.
"Ah Jonathan" Wendy greeted him
"Hi Wendy" Jonathan replied
"Daniel's looking for you, he's in his office" Wendy said
"Excellent, well see you later" Jonathan left
Jonathan walked back to Carrington's office.
"Jonathan just so you know, I've got a mission for you" Carrington said
"What's happened?" Jonathan asked
"Not on that subject, it's right here" Carrington replied
"Oh" Jonathan wondered what dull job Carrington had got for him now
"Well, I want you to spy on a few people. Not so much spy, but observe" Carrington said
Jonathan wondered what the difference was between spying on somebody and observing them
"I want you to observe Tina in Hacker Central, Kathy in…" Carrington stopped "Hey someone's on the payphone right now" Carrington said tapping into the phone call.
"Listen, Lomberson's been put on the off duty list for sickness. I want you to nail him, he's got Trent's boy so take him as well, you want to capture both of them NOT kill, and the boy is not to be harmed got it?" The voice said it was a woman.
"Jonathan, that's definitely our mole get her she's at the payphone right now" Carrington ordered
Jonathan didn't waste any time. He rushed out the room and nearly knocked Suzan over in the process.
"Hey you could say EXCUSE ME!" Suzan shouted, but Jonathan ignored her as he jumped between the top level and the bottom level to cut time instead of waiting for the stupid lift, then going out the main door and catching the lift from there to the very bottom. He exited the institute and got a look at the payphone.
A/N: Imagine that the door the Skedar breaks down (in mission 7.1) is the front door and the door after that is a lift. That's how I always imagined it.
"She's telling them of Sean's whereabouts now, capture her if possible but kill her if you must, just don't let her go" Carrington ordered
Jonathan tried to sneak up to the girl but she hung up the phone and turned around and saw Jonathan. At seeing him she drew her weapon and fired with a MagSec4 while making a retreat. Jonathan rolled out of the path as she continued to run before dropping the MagSec4. Jonathan then took a shot at her leg which connected, causing her to stop for a moment but a car pulled up in front of her and opened the door, Jonathan only had one chance left before she'd get in the car making her escape. He fired and nailed her in the head causing her to drop. Then the window opened and somebody fired at Jonathan with a K7 Avenger but he used the phone box as cover, despite the glass shattering continually, however it stopped and the car drove off as Jonathan fired multiple shots at the car but it did no good. He saw the girl's dead body.
"What happened Jonathan?" Carrington asked
"The girl is dead, somebody was about to pick her up, I had no choice" Jonathan said
"That was Wendy's new apprentice, only came in about 5 weeks ago, 3 weeks ago this started happening, but you haven't got any time to lose, you've got to get to Sean before this squad does" Carrington ordered
Jonathan headed inside to the car park while Carrington gave the details of where Sean lived as he tried to find his keys to the car, then realised his keys were upstairs.
"Shit" Jonathan swore to himself as he used the lift to get back up and then ran into Carrington's office.
"What are you doing here!?" Carrington asked
"Getting my keys" Jonathan said as he grabbed them quickly off the table
Jonathan hurried back to the car park unlocking the car and getting in and driving off. He'd be lucky to beat this group to Sean he didn't even know where they were.
*****
Sean was in bed sneezing every 30 seconds. Junior was worried again, but Sean reassured him that it would pass in a few days, he left and went to his own room again. However the power suddenly went out. Junior came running in.
"Sean's what's going on?" Junior asked panicking
"Just a power failure, nothing unusual it will be okay in a few seconds… ACHOOO!" Sean sneezed once more
However suddenly there was loud crashing against the door. Sean got out of bed with a shock.
"What's THAT!" Junior mumbled in shock and he held onto Sean scared.
Sean didn't know but it was getting louder as the door finally gave way, but then the lights came back on.
"Damn it" Somebody said
Sean kept in his room and tried to hear anything more from them. Junior was holding him scared. He was about to sneeze again but he tried to hold it in. However it didn't matter they opened the door to Sean's room.
"Get him!" One of them ordered
"Stay back" Sean said to Junior as he took a fighting stance as he sneezed again, there was at least 4 of them, there was no way he could fight them all off in this state. Junior stood well back.
One of them charged with a punch but Sean dodged it and punched back sending him into the wall, another attacked with a stomach punch which Sean grabbed and kneed him but he was feeling slightly weak and couldn't react to the third person who hit Sean hard with a punch to the cheek, before giving him another hit to the eye and then continually hit Sean until he was knocked out.
"Let's get the kid first, come back for him later" They said
"NOOO!" Junior screamed
However it didn't do much good. Junior struggled but it was hopeless against 2 grown men. The other two watched them leave and were about to pick up Sean when had tried to get the Falcon 2 from the holding spot underneath his bed and he reached it and stood up. The two men could do nothing as a move would get them killed, but it made little difference as Sean pulled the trigger twice killing both of them. He ran in pursuit of the two men, but began to feel weak from the blows again and before he even made it to the door he collapsed.
Jonathan was coming up to the hotel on foot, it was impossible finding a spot nearby and saw the two men put a struggling Junior in a car, he fired shots at them as the crowd around gasped in shock as Junior was screaming and struggling the entire way. Jonathan had hit one of the men but the other pushed him into the car and jumped in himself and the car drove off without even closing the door as it was being closed while in mid flight. He put the Magnum away and run up the stairs to where Sean's room was. However from outside the room he saw somebody by Sean's body.
"Come for more have we?" Jonathan asked walking in through stepping over the knocked down door.
"No! Where's the child" The man asked
"Your friends just took him, don't play dumb with me, hands up" Jonathan demanded just hoping Sean wasn't dead. If only he was faster, that speed difference was really noticeable when in a real rush.
The man did so standing away putting his hands up
"Good, good" Jonathan said
"Owwwww….. man" Sean grumbled from the floor
"Sean, you okay?" Jonathan asked while keeping an eye on the man.
"Jonathan, do I look okay to you!" Sean asked
"Sean, thank goodness I thought they had killed you" The man said
"No, I'm alive … ACHOO!" Sean sneezed again as he lay on the floor. There was a bit of blood around him.
"You know him Sean?" Jonathan asked
"Yeah… that's Andy from the other side of dataDyne" Sean said not even looking up from the floor.
"Oh sorry about that, I'm Jonathan Dark, from the Carrington Institute" Jonathan said
"Ah, did you see Junior?" Andy asked
"Yeah, they put him in a car and got away" Jonathan replied
"Damn it. Jonathan could you get an ambulance or something" Andy asked
"I've got a better idea, I'll bring my car to the window and we can take him direct to the Institute, I'll be quick" Jonathan headed off
"Isn't parking next to a window illegal?" Andy asked
"Of course it is, your point?" Jonathan asked when he left.
When Jonathan was gone Sean tried to gather strength and stand.
"Sean, don't… just stay there until Jonathan comes back" Andy said
But Sean ignored him standing up. Andy could only cover his mouth in shock as he looked at Sean's face. A mark on the forehead was bleeding and running down his face, he had a deep mark across from his eye down the side of his face. Sean saw Andy's reaction and dragged himself over to a mirror to look.
"They did a damned good job" Sean looked into the mirror
"You should cover that up, so it doesn't get any worse" Andy said as he went to the bathroom and found some bandages. He bandaged his head around the mark, and put some over his right eye.
"It will do for now, at least until you get to the Institute" Andy looked behind him as Jonathan pulled up.
"Come on let's go" Jonathan called out as he opened the door as Andy opened the window. Jonathan helped Sean into the backseat of the car and Andy got in with him.
Jonathan drove as fast as he could without shaking the back seat around too much, and got to the Institute in 20 minutes. On arrival the two took Sean straight to the infirmary.
"Oh my goodness, what happened?" Sarah asked looking at Sean
"Need you ask?" Jonathan replied
Sarah got to work removing the temporary bandages and put him on a bed.
"I'll need you both to leave, you can come in later" Sarah told them politely.
Carrington heard the fast moving footsteps and rushed down to meet Jonathan and Andy waiting outside the infirmary.
"how is he?" Carrington asked
"Injured but not drastically" Jonathan said
"And Junior?" Carrington asked
"They got him… I couldn't do anything" Jonathan continued
"Damn it, who knows what Trent will do with him" Carrington said
"What do you mean, why did Trent want Junior in the first place?" Andy asked
"He definitely didn't want to be with his boy to spend quality time" Carrington said
"What then… what could it possibly be?" Andy asked
"Well I don't know" Carrington said coldly. Jonathan knew Carrington better then that, even if he didn't know he'd give an opinion of what it might be, maybe he just didn't have an opinion.
The three went into the cafeteria and just sat quietly, they knew Sean would survive but how bad would his injuries be.
"So, you are Andy of dataDyne correct?" Carrington asked
"Yes" Andy replied shortly as he was in thought.
About 15 minutes later, Sarah entered.
"Just some minor injuries, he shouldn't take too long to be heal though" Sarah said
"Thank goodness for that" Carrington said as he went over to the infirmary, Jonathan and Andy followed.
"I'd just like a quick word alone first" Carrington told them
"Well okay" Jonathan said as Carrington went in, what could he say to him, Carrington was his boss.
Carrington walked in.
"Well, it's good to see you are alright, I thought I had both Agent Dark and you out of action for this week and that wouldn't be good would it" Carrington said
"No" Sean replied.
"Now, don't you get any ideas about going after Junior yourself" Carrington told him sternly
"What? What are you going to do then" Sean asked
"Nothing" Carrington replied "Just wait, until the time comes and then I'll send Jo and Velvet in"
"Nothing? And then send Jo and Velvet in 6 days? They are more than efficient enough and I trust them but this is something I should do, and it may be too late by then" Sean said as he sneezed away from Carrington
"Out of the question, it's not like he's your son or anything" Carrington said in a real cold tone.
"Maybe not, but he's got nothing else, Andy is constantly targeted by the other side. Who knows what alien technology Trent has… he could" Sean started
"That is enough! You may be able to get away with disrespecting a Maian's judgement, but it will not happen with me!" Carrington started to raise his voice
Sean was surprised, he had never seen Carrington react that way before, he was merely giving his opinion.
"You DIDN'T answer me don't you care? What if I were captured when I was his age, you surely wouldn't leave me to die would you?" Sean asked. Something wasn't right, Carrington seemed very different. He was treating him like a kid that was disrespectful, Sean resented that because he wasn't a kid and certainly was never disrespectful to anybody who was to be given respect.
"What's happened to you!? I think those Maians have given you a sniff of too much power!" Carrington was shouting now.
"I THINK the question is WHAT has happened to you! First thing you said to me, you didn't want Joanna and me both out of action! You care more about the work rather than the people that work for you, you don't care what happens to Junior, you don't even ask if there were any civilian deaths anymore which you used to do all the time. I've had enough of this!" Sean finished shouting at Carrington and got up, screw respect, it has got to work both ways.
"Where the hell do you think you're going!" Carrington demanded
"Why do you care? Oh yes, you only want me for my ability now. This isn't the guy who took me and raised me after a certain Skedar came around, you have turned into somebody else a monster, I've had enough of your crap, I could have resigned before and I am now!" Sean matched Carrington's tone before almost shoving him out of the way. Carrington stood there, shocked at Sean's reaction as he shoved the door open to leave, ignoring the pain of his injuries, the way Carrington treated him like a child who couldn't think for themselves hurt him worse.
"Hey what's going on?" Jonathan asked
"Go ask him in there, or maybe not, he may start working on poisoning your mind too" Sean replied not even looking at Jonathan as he went to leave.
"What was that about?" Andy asked
"I have no idea, I have never heard Daniel or Sean talk like that" Jonathan replied as Sarah, Jonathan and Andy had heard the entire conversation through the communicator Sarah left on her desk. Daniel quickly followed as Sarah hid the communicator.
"Well, I guess we are one man down now. I wish him luck, he is going to need it" Carrington said as he went back for his office.
Jonathan knew there was more to this story then what was revealed. Sarah followed Carrington to his office to tell him about something she needed, she knew it wasn't a good time but she had a second purpose. She walked in to Carrington's office.
"What do you want?!" Carrington demanded
"Oh, I wanted you to sign this form" Sarah said showing him a form
"Leave it there, I'm busy" Carrington said
Sarah left the paper there and placed a communicator under Carrington's desk as she did so.
"Can you leave now?" Carrington demanded
"Yes sir" Sarah walked out,
Sarah smiled to herself as she met Jonathan outside.
It didn't take long.
Carrington sighed deeply…
"Maybe Sean is right. I'm stilling trying to protect the kid, wait he's even not a kid anymore he's 26 years old. Even Sarah I just shouted at her for no reason, which just proves his point even more. Then there was that girl who was killed because she was a mole and I don't even know her name. Sean's right… why don't I care. This is all because these damned negotiations, if the President would just listen to me, instead of ignoring me and leaving me out all the time" Carrington was pacing around the room as footsteps accompanied him talking to himself
"Wow I thought we would have to wait until a phone call or something" Jonathan said
"Nah, you'd be surprised at some of the things I hear from him" Sarah gave a smile
"I don't get it, this is not like either of them to lose it with anybody, let alone each other" Jonathan said
"Well it's definitely not like Daniel and I don't know Sean well enough but I take your word for it" Sarah said
"There has to be more to this" Jonathan said
"Ah he's just left his office" Sarah sighed
"Nothing we can do now, I better go, goodnight" Jonathan waved
"Good night" Sarah replied
*****
Sean realised now that he had left the car at the hotel still. He had to rely on the public transport or something. He thought about what he had said to Carrington,
"Hey Sean, I knew you'd need a ride" It was Andy…
"Thanks Andy, but how'd you get your car here?" Sean asked
"Remote car, one of the dataDyne's newest inventions, didn't I tell you about it. I can carry it in the palm of my hand or my pocket until it's needed" Andy said "You just don't want it to be stolen" Andy gave a laugh
"Heh, very funny" Sean replied deep in thought
"Hey don't worry, I know you'll find Junior quickly" Andy said
"No it's not only that, I just don't understand Daniel anymore. He used to be such a caring guy, I just don't get it. I mean if he had said he didn't want me to do the mission due to him thinking I may hesitate at the wrong time and stuff I'd understand, but it was a different reason all together" Sean replied then sneezed again
"Trent still dealing with aliens huh, and I trust you weren't referring to the civilization of the Mayans when you mentioned it" Andy said
"…how much do you know?" Sean asked
"Only that dataDyne has alien technology in some of its inventions, I don't know how or why though" Andy said
"Okay fine, I refer to the Maians, spelt with an i instead of y but pronounced the same way. As you may have guessed they are alien life form, I spent 8 years away from Earth with them very recently. Datadyne dealt with a group known as the Skedar, the Maians and the Skedar were in constant war with each other. Sorry, but I'm kinda not feeling like explaining this all right now" Sean said
"That's alright, I don't need to know, it's not really my business" Andy replied
"If you work for dataDyne it should be your business… it may soon become that way" Sean looked away and outside the window
A/N: Yes it gets very interesting now. Was Carrington out of character? Perhaps. Oh and Chistalina I used Sarah to sneak into Carrington's office because I knew that Carrington would never suspect her.
On with the story…
The glass broke and Joanna screamed out of shock and grabbed her Falcon off the table and instinctively rolled off the lounge chair although it hurt a bit when she landed on the carpet. Suddenly Jo heard keys in the door as she kept cover behind the lounge. They wondered around the room as Jo shuffled her body around careful not to be heard but trying not to be seen either. The door opened.
"ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!" Velvet screamed out and gun shots were heard, they were from a Falcon 2. Shortly after two men groaned and Jo came out from her hiding place and shot the other two.
"Well hi Velvet. How was work?" Joanna asked with a smile on her face as if nothing had happened
"You are nearly killed by 4 men and all you can say is how was work?" Velvet asked breathing composing herself
"Well yeah. Come on they had no chance and you know it" Joanna said
"I guess not. Although aren't you worried, somebody knows where you live which surely wasn't these 4 guys just wanted to steal something" Velvet was worried as she checked the guys she had shot
"Velvet you worry enough for the both of us, but maybe you are right this time" Joanna sighed
"Come on let's go to my place, as we should have done in the first place" Velvet said
"What now?" Joanna asked "I'll miss my show"
Velvet rolled her eyes
"Alright, alright" Joanna said as she put the security system on which regenerated the glass and then got a robot to clean up the glass on the ground before leaving with Velvet.
In the car Velvet discussed her mission with Jo, telling her that Trent was still alive and how she and Jonathan met a young boy who was part of a gang and how she then followed him later at night after he met up with his group. Then she told her about how she got into battle with this girl after she tried to kill the boy before her partner ended up killing her, but she cornered herself when the boy killed him for her. Joanna would normally want to know the ins and outs of the story as Velvet's description left a lot of unanswered questions but she was too tired to care. Joanna did get a slight bit of action that made her feel alive for about 10 seconds but it wasn't good to have too much of it.
"Was Jonathan annoying as usual?" Joanna asked
"Joanna, I've told you before…" Velvet started
"I know, I know, I'm only teasing" Joanna laughed
Velvet gave a smile; it was good to see her sister laugh.
They soon arrived at Velvet's place. Joanna was a bit sleepy now and went to the room Velvet always put aside for Jo in Velvet's 3 bedroom house and Velvet was beyond tired and went into her room and both quickly fell asleep.
*****
The next morning.
No such luck for Sean, he woke up at about 7am, he had to get ready in an half an hour and he had to see Andy, yet he was feeling even worse and had a stuffed up nose on top of it, it was some kind of cold type thing. Although hopefully Carrington wouldn't keep him too long or worse assign him to a mission.
"Hey Junior let's go" Sean called out to him
"Alright" Junior replied as he turned off the TV
Sean went over to Andy's room and knocked on the door. He answered almost immediately.
"Oh hey Sean" Andy said
"Hey, I've got to go to the Institute, so can you watch Junior for me?" Sean asked
"Sure, although I think you look worse then you did last night" Andy replied
"Heh, he shouldn't keep me too long" Sean hoped that this was true.
"Alright, take care" Andy said
"See you later" Sean waved to Junior
"Bye!" Junior waved back
Sean got in the car and drove to the Institute; fortunately he could still concentrate reasonably well and wasn't feeling too bad in the head. He got up to Carrington's office, Joanna, Velvet and Jonathan were there sitting around Carrington's desk, uh oh, but what's Jo doing here Sean thought.
"Ah Sean good morning" Carrington said
"Good morning" Sean responded with a slight sniffle
"Right I won't keep you long; this is just a heads up. Joanna is here because she was attacked last night. This is top secret and must be only kept between us" Carrington said
Carrington leaned closer on the table closer to everybody.
"I believe there is a mole in the Institute. Recently agents who have been injured have been attacked at their homes; we have lost 2 agents already. Calls went out from the phone just outside that told somebody on the other end of Joanna's address" Carrington said
Sean understood why Carrington couldn't say it over the communicator.
"Yes, that's all I had to say, you can go and rest up Jo. Velvet take her home would you?" Carrington asked
"Certainly, come on Jo" Velvet extended her hand and Jo took it. They put on a performance that implied Jo was still in a great deal of pain.
Jonathan and Sean left. Sean was about to leave until Jonathan called him over.
"Hey Sean, you feeling okay?" Jonathan asked
"No, but I'll be alright soon" Sean replied
"Go see Sarah, she'll be able to help a bit" Jonathan suggested
"You think she'll know about a planet change sickness" Sean asked
"Maybe, go see her and find out" Jonathan smiled as he went into to the firing range
Sean went and saw Sarah in the infirmary.
"Oh you don't look well" Sarah said
"Yeah, planet change sickness or something. Again" Sean sighed
"I'm not surprised; the conditions on both planets are different despite their similarities. This won't make it go away completely but it will allow you to keep a clear head and so you won't feel tired all the time. It's like a cold but only a bit worse, you feel any or all of these unusually cold, stuffy nose, headaches, sore throat and quite tired?" Sarah asked
"No headache or sore throat yet, but everything else is there, it's annoying" Sean replied
"It will take 2 or 3 days to get over give or take, some rest may help but that's up to you" Sarah said as she gave Sean the tablet
"Only one?" Sean asked
"Only need one, you can take it now" Sarah replied
"Okay" Sean took it "How come you know about something that only I have been hit with?" Sean asked
"Elvis was hit slightly by it too but not much and it gives a totally different effect. It's not an identical treatment but after a bit of research I came up with this" Sarah said
"Thanks, I'll see you" Sean left and went back to car relieved that Carrington didn't give him an assignment and then Sarah also taking him off the duty list too so Carrington wouldn't be bothering him for a few days. He knew Carrington wouldn't be happy, as he knew he had probably forgotten about the sickness in the first place. Carrington didn't seem to talk anybody as much as he usually did anymore.
30 minutes later.
Sean was back at the hotel; he knocked on Andy's door and took Junior back. The tablet did help a little bit but he was still far too cold and felt slightly weak. After Junior went inside his room to play some kind of game, Sean went to his room to have a bit of a rest.
*****
9 boring hours later
Jonathan could only assist Foster in testing newer weapons out. Most of his attempts of weapons were spectacular failures; he needed to be at the Institute in case of any new developments while the shoe got passed around the Institute scanning it to all lengths in an attempt to work out who made it and where it came from. Jonathan was truly bored almost praying for Carrington to call him up as the last gun Foster got him to try out sprayed black ink on the target, the problem was it wouldn't reach past 2 meters.
"Hmm, that's not supposed to happen" Foster sighed
"Foster, I kinda have other testing to do, mind if I leave?" Jonathan asked
"Sure go ahead, I'll work on these another time" Foster said
Jonathan relieved that he could get out there left and headed for the device lab. Maybe the testing there would be slightly less tedious; he did miss testing with Natasha in which he felt progress was actually being made.
"Ah Jonathan" Wendy greeted him
"Hi Wendy" Jonathan replied
"Daniel's looking for you, he's in his office" Wendy said
"Excellent, well see you later" Jonathan left
Jonathan walked back to Carrington's office.
"Jonathan just so you know, I've got a mission for you" Carrington said
"What's happened?" Jonathan asked
"Not on that subject, it's right here" Carrington replied
"Oh" Jonathan wondered what dull job Carrington had got for him now
"Well, I want you to spy on a few people. Not so much spy, but observe" Carrington said
Jonathan wondered what the difference was between spying on somebody and observing them
"I want you to observe Tina in Hacker Central, Kathy in…" Carrington stopped "Hey someone's on the payphone right now" Carrington said tapping into the phone call.
"Listen, Lomberson's been put on the off duty list for sickness. I want you to nail him, he's got Trent's boy so take him as well, you want to capture both of them NOT kill, and the boy is not to be harmed got it?" The voice said it was a woman.
"Jonathan, that's definitely our mole get her she's at the payphone right now" Carrington ordered
Jonathan didn't waste any time. He rushed out the room and nearly knocked Suzan over in the process.
"Hey you could say EXCUSE ME!" Suzan shouted, but Jonathan ignored her as he jumped between the top level and the bottom level to cut time instead of waiting for the stupid lift, then going out the main door and catching the lift from there to the very bottom. He exited the institute and got a look at the payphone.
A/N: Imagine that the door the Skedar breaks down (in mission 7.1) is the front door and the door after that is a lift. That's how I always imagined it.
"She's telling them of Sean's whereabouts now, capture her if possible but kill her if you must, just don't let her go" Carrington ordered
Jonathan tried to sneak up to the girl but she hung up the phone and turned around and saw Jonathan. At seeing him she drew her weapon and fired with a MagSec4 while making a retreat. Jonathan rolled out of the path as she continued to run before dropping the MagSec4. Jonathan then took a shot at her leg which connected, causing her to stop for a moment but a car pulled up in front of her and opened the door, Jonathan only had one chance left before she'd get in the car making her escape. He fired and nailed her in the head causing her to drop. Then the window opened and somebody fired at Jonathan with a K7 Avenger but he used the phone box as cover, despite the glass shattering continually, however it stopped and the car drove off as Jonathan fired multiple shots at the car but it did no good. He saw the girl's dead body.
"What happened Jonathan?" Carrington asked
"The girl is dead, somebody was about to pick her up, I had no choice" Jonathan said
"That was Wendy's new apprentice, only came in about 5 weeks ago, 3 weeks ago this started happening, but you haven't got any time to lose, you've got to get to Sean before this squad does" Carrington ordered
Jonathan headed inside to the car park while Carrington gave the details of where Sean lived as he tried to find his keys to the car, then realised his keys were upstairs.
"Shit" Jonathan swore to himself as he used the lift to get back up and then ran into Carrington's office.
"What are you doing here!?" Carrington asked
"Getting my keys" Jonathan said as he grabbed them quickly off the table
Jonathan hurried back to the car park unlocking the car and getting in and driving off. He'd be lucky to beat this group to Sean he didn't even know where they were.
*****
Sean was in bed sneezing every 30 seconds. Junior was worried again, but Sean reassured him that it would pass in a few days, he left and went to his own room again. However the power suddenly went out. Junior came running in.
"Sean's what's going on?" Junior asked panicking
"Just a power failure, nothing unusual it will be okay in a few seconds… ACHOOO!" Sean sneezed once more
However suddenly there was loud crashing against the door. Sean got out of bed with a shock.
"What's THAT!" Junior mumbled in shock and he held onto Sean scared.
Sean didn't know but it was getting louder as the door finally gave way, but then the lights came back on.
"Damn it" Somebody said
Sean kept in his room and tried to hear anything more from them. Junior was holding him scared. He was about to sneeze again but he tried to hold it in. However it didn't matter they opened the door to Sean's room.
"Get him!" One of them ordered
"Stay back" Sean said to Junior as he took a fighting stance as he sneezed again, there was at least 4 of them, there was no way he could fight them all off in this state. Junior stood well back.
One of them charged with a punch but Sean dodged it and punched back sending him into the wall, another attacked with a stomach punch which Sean grabbed and kneed him but he was feeling slightly weak and couldn't react to the third person who hit Sean hard with a punch to the cheek, before giving him another hit to the eye and then continually hit Sean until he was knocked out.
"Let's get the kid first, come back for him later" They said
"NOOO!" Junior screamed
However it didn't do much good. Junior struggled but it was hopeless against 2 grown men. The other two watched them leave and were about to pick up Sean when had tried to get the Falcon 2 from the holding spot underneath his bed and he reached it and stood up. The two men could do nothing as a move would get them killed, but it made little difference as Sean pulled the trigger twice killing both of them. He ran in pursuit of the two men, but began to feel weak from the blows again and before he even made it to the door he collapsed.
Jonathan was coming up to the hotel on foot, it was impossible finding a spot nearby and saw the two men put a struggling Junior in a car, he fired shots at them as the crowd around gasped in shock as Junior was screaming and struggling the entire way. Jonathan had hit one of the men but the other pushed him into the car and jumped in himself and the car drove off without even closing the door as it was being closed while in mid flight. He put the Magnum away and run up the stairs to where Sean's room was. However from outside the room he saw somebody by Sean's body.
"Come for more have we?" Jonathan asked walking in through stepping over the knocked down door.
"No! Where's the child" The man asked
"Your friends just took him, don't play dumb with me, hands up" Jonathan demanded just hoping Sean wasn't dead. If only he was faster, that speed difference was really noticeable when in a real rush.
The man did so standing away putting his hands up
"Good, good" Jonathan said
"Owwwww….. man" Sean grumbled from the floor
"Sean, you okay?" Jonathan asked while keeping an eye on the man.
"Jonathan, do I look okay to you!" Sean asked
"Sean, thank goodness I thought they had killed you" The man said
"No, I'm alive … ACHOO!" Sean sneezed again as he lay on the floor. There was a bit of blood around him.
"You know him Sean?" Jonathan asked
"Yeah… that's Andy from the other side of dataDyne" Sean said not even looking up from the floor.
"Oh sorry about that, I'm Jonathan Dark, from the Carrington Institute" Jonathan said
"Ah, did you see Junior?" Andy asked
"Yeah, they put him in a car and got away" Jonathan replied
"Damn it. Jonathan could you get an ambulance or something" Andy asked
"I've got a better idea, I'll bring my car to the window and we can take him direct to the Institute, I'll be quick" Jonathan headed off
"Isn't parking next to a window illegal?" Andy asked
"Of course it is, your point?" Jonathan asked when he left.
When Jonathan was gone Sean tried to gather strength and stand.
"Sean, don't… just stay there until Jonathan comes back" Andy said
But Sean ignored him standing up. Andy could only cover his mouth in shock as he looked at Sean's face. A mark on the forehead was bleeding and running down his face, he had a deep mark across from his eye down the side of his face. Sean saw Andy's reaction and dragged himself over to a mirror to look.
"They did a damned good job" Sean looked into the mirror
"You should cover that up, so it doesn't get any worse" Andy said as he went to the bathroom and found some bandages. He bandaged his head around the mark, and put some over his right eye.
"It will do for now, at least until you get to the Institute" Andy looked behind him as Jonathan pulled up.
"Come on let's go" Jonathan called out as he opened the door as Andy opened the window. Jonathan helped Sean into the backseat of the car and Andy got in with him.
Jonathan drove as fast as he could without shaking the back seat around too much, and got to the Institute in 20 minutes. On arrival the two took Sean straight to the infirmary.
"Oh my goodness, what happened?" Sarah asked looking at Sean
"Need you ask?" Jonathan replied
Sarah got to work removing the temporary bandages and put him on a bed.
"I'll need you both to leave, you can come in later" Sarah told them politely.
Carrington heard the fast moving footsteps and rushed down to meet Jonathan and Andy waiting outside the infirmary.
"how is he?" Carrington asked
"Injured but not drastically" Jonathan said
"And Junior?" Carrington asked
"They got him… I couldn't do anything" Jonathan continued
"Damn it, who knows what Trent will do with him" Carrington said
"What do you mean, why did Trent want Junior in the first place?" Andy asked
"He definitely didn't want to be with his boy to spend quality time" Carrington said
"What then… what could it possibly be?" Andy asked
"Well I don't know" Carrington said coldly. Jonathan knew Carrington better then that, even if he didn't know he'd give an opinion of what it might be, maybe he just didn't have an opinion.
The three went into the cafeteria and just sat quietly, they knew Sean would survive but how bad would his injuries be.
"So, you are Andy of dataDyne correct?" Carrington asked
"Yes" Andy replied shortly as he was in thought.
About 15 minutes later, Sarah entered.
"Just some minor injuries, he shouldn't take too long to be heal though" Sarah said
"Thank goodness for that" Carrington said as he went over to the infirmary, Jonathan and Andy followed.
"I'd just like a quick word alone first" Carrington told them
"Well okay" Jonathan said as Carrington went in, what could he say to him, Carrington was his boss.
Carrington walked in.
"Well, it's good to see you are alright, I thought I had both Agent Dark and you out of action for this week and that wouldn't be good would it" Carrington said
"No" Sean replied.
"Now, don't you get any ideas about going after Junior yourself" Carrington told him sternly
"What? What are you going to do then" Sean asked
"Nothing" Carrington replied "Just wait, until the time comes and then I'll send Jo and Velvet in"
"Nothing? And then send Jo and Velvet in 6 days? They are more than efficient enough and I trust them but this is something I should do, and it may be too late by then" Sean said as he sneezed away from Carrington
"Out of the question, it's not like he's your son or anything" Carrington said in a real cold tone.
"Maybe not, but he's got nothing else, Andy is constantly targeted by the other side. Who knows what alien technology Trent has… he could" Sean started
"That is enough! You may be able to get away with disrespecting a Maian's judgement, but it will not happen with me!" Carrington started to raise his voice
Sean was surprised, he had never seen Carrington react that way before, he was merely giving his opinion.
"You DIDN'T answer me don't you care? What if I were captured when I was his age, you surely wouldn't leave me to die would you?" Sean asked. Something wasn't right, Carrington seemed very different. He was treating him like a kid that was disrespectful, Sean resented that because he wasn't a kid and certainly was never disrespectful to anybody who was to be given respect.
"What's happened to you!? I think those Maians have given you a sniff of too much power!" Carrington was shouting now.
"I THINK the question is WHAT has happened to you! First thing you said to me, you didn't want Joanna and me both out of action! You care more about the work rather than the people that work for you, you don't care what happens to Junior, you don't even ask if there were any civilian deaths anymore which you used to do all the time. I've had enough of this!" Sean finished shouting at Carrington and got up, screw respect, it has got to work both ways.
"Where the hell do you think you're going!" Carrington demanded
"Why do you care? Oh yes, you only want me for my ability now. This isn't the guy who took me and raised me after a certain Skedar came around, you have turned into somebody else a monster, I've had enough of your crap, I could have resigned before and I am now!" Sean matched Carrington's tone before almost shoving him out of the way. Carrington stood there, shocked at Sean's reaction as he shoved the door open to leave, ignoring the pain of his injuries, the way Carrington treated him like a child who couldn't think for themselves hurt him worse.
"Hey what's going on?" Jonathan asked
"Go ask him in there, or maybe not, he may start working on poisoning your mind too" Sean replied not even looking at Jonathan as he went to leave.
"What was that about?" Andy asked
"I have no idea, I have never heard Daniel or Sean talk like that" Jonathan replied as Sarah, Jonathan and Andy had heard the entire conversation through the communicator Sarah left on her desk. Daniel quickly followed as Sarah hid the communicator.
"Well, I guess we are one man down now. I wish him luck, he is going to need it" Carrington said as he went back for his office.
Jonathan knew there was more to this story then what was revealed. Sarah followed Carrington to his office to tell him about something she needed, she knew it wasn't a good time but she had a second purpose. She walked in to Carrington's office.
"What do you want?!" Carrington demanded
"Oh, I wanted you to sign this form" Sarah said showing him a form
"Leave it there, I'm busy" Carrington said
Sarah left the paper there and placed a communicator under Carrington's desk as she did so.
"Can you leave now?" Carrington demanded
"Yes sir" Sarah walked out,
Sarah smiled to herself as she met Jonathan outside.
It didn't take long.
Carrington sighed deeply…
"Maybe Sean is right. I'm stilling trying to protect the kid, wait he's even not a kid anymore he's 26 years old. Even Sarah I just shouted at her for no reason, which just proves his point even more. Then there was that girl who was killed because she was a mole and I don't even know her name. Sean's right… why don't I care. This is all because these damned negotiations, if the President would just listen to me, instead of ignoring me and leaving me out all the time" Carrington was pacing around the room as footsteps accompanied him talking to himself
"Wow I thought we would have to wait until a phone call or something" Jonathan said
"Nah, you'd be surprised at some of the things I hear from him" Sarah gave a smile
"I don't get it, this is not like either of them to lose it with anybody, let alone each other" Jonathan said
"Well it's definitely not like Daniel and I don't know Sean well enough but I take your word for it" Sarah said
"There has to be more to this" Jonathan said
"Ah he's just left his office" Sarah sighed
"Nothing we can do now, I better go, goodnight" Jonathan waved
"Good night" Sarah replied
*****
Sean realised now that he had left the car at the hotel still. He had to rely on the public transport or something. He thought about what he had said to Carrington,
"Hey Sean, I knew you'd need a ride" It was Andy…
"Thanks Andy, but how'd you get your car here?" Sean asked
"Remote car, one of the dataDyne's newest inventions, didn't I tell you about it. I can carry it in the palm of my hand or my pocket until it's needed" Andy said "You just don't want it to be stolen" Andy gave a laugh
"Heh, very funny" Sean replied deep in thought
"Hey don't worry, I know you'll find Junior quickly" Andy said
"No it's not only that, I just don't understand Daniel anymore. He used to be such a caring guy, I just don't get it. I mean if he had said he didn't want me to do the mission due to him thinking I may hesitate at the wrong time and stuff I'd understand, but it was a different reason all together" Sean replied then sneezed again
"Trent still dealing with aliens huh, and I trust you weren't referring to the civilization of the Mayans when you mentioned it" Andy said
"…how much do you know?" Sean asked
"Only that dataDyne has alien technology in some of its inventions, I don't know how or why though" Andy said
"Okay fine, I refer to the Maians, spelt with an i instead of y but pronounced the same way. As you may have guessed they are alien life form, I spent 8 years away from Earth with them very recently. Datadyne dealt with a group known as the Skedar, the Maians and the Skedar were in constant war with each other. Sorry, but I'm kinda not feeling like explaining this all right now" Sean said
"That's alright, I don't need to know, it's not really my business" Andy replied
"If you work for dataDyne it should be your business… it may soon become that way" Sean looked away and outside the window
A/N: Yes it gets very interesting now. Was Carrington out of character? Perhaps. Oh and Chistalina I used Sarah to sneak into Carrington's office because I knew that Carrington would never suspect her.