This wasn't the plan.
Sedating them was barbaric, it was…well, it was exactly what Vanessa'd done to him many, many times before. But it still wasn't right.
They were quite a burden to his single tomas, himself and the two unconscious lady plants, but they managed to make it back quickly enough. The garden was untouched, the parameter marks had not been tripped, and there was no sign of an intruder…yet.
As usual, he found Vanessa's resolve remarkable, admirable; even cute. The way her face contorted into anger, the way she dared to say things, do things that…He had killed men for far, far less. My, how he'd changed.
Why, if Vash were still there, he wondered if they'd still be in conflict. If Knives tried – really tried – to avoid violently altering the course of human life again, would he and his twin get along? Probably not, he thought, how could I stand such a crybaby?
And he wouldn't forgive me.
"Bah!" Knives grumbled, shaking the thought from his head. That was a thing he'd likely never know.
Back to the task at hand.
Knives carried the girls, one by one, to the back of the toma cart that he'd whistled in. The creatures had been resting at their barn door obediently. Most of the survival items were still intact. The blood smear on the inside of the windshield had dried to a rusty brown.
He'd tied Callisto's wrists to a rivet in the fore of the cart bed with tape. That one was truly unpredictable – he'd never been able to suss out what she was going to pull. Better to keep her where he could find her. Luckily, she'd fallen fast and hard from the injection. It would've been so much more difficult to keep his cool with her screeching and carrying on.
He had far more to worry about from Vanessa. Unlike Callisto, Vanessa could protect herself. She could use her weapon. Certainly, it'd been ages since he'd seen it, and it being the first time she'd used it (and even then, only with his assistance), but he had to assume it would be much the same. Thus, it was necessary to secure her with Callisto behind her, the only 100 safe area, allowing her to face outward to defend herself should the need arise…should he fail.
Vanessa's system handled the tranquilizer better than Callisto. After all, it hadn't been but a year or so since she'd lost and regained her legs. There were surely many doses of such drugs in her near past. The chemicals rendered her harmless, but she had kept slightly conscious the entire time. She kept trying to speak, but nothing made sense. If she wanted to curse and yell at him, he'd rather not hear it anyway.
As he finished securing Vanessa's wrists to the cart's rear floor, she kept herself shakily upright, propped up onto her legs but hunched over to keep balance. She was still trying to form words, but he wasn't listening. He was cleaning up her forehead, her scraped hands; he was explaining.
"But now Escape Plan A's basically shot, thank you, and this is Plan B. This is your cart, loaded up, ready to take out. Now, I'll be driving it out, taking you to Glaston. You'll have everything you need there, for…whatever you end up doing. I wouldn't recommend coming back here, but if you want to take back the garden, I suppose I won't be there to stop you. Once we get to the complex, I'm taking my share of the supplies and two of these toma. You won't see me again. If things go their worst here, I won't be driving you out; you'll need to angel arm out of the tape, do what you have to do to get in the cab and get out of here."
"Ree darb rains," she was mumbling.
"Can you do that?" he asked, stern.
"Nuh, bet…they reedarbrains, not-"
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE ESCAPE PLAN?" he annunciated slowly, loud.
"Yessir," she slurred, staring at him with glazed-over vision, wincing. "Getit. She…she…was trube…hut…" She breathed in slowly, and exhaled slower.
"You're not making sense," he muttered, wrapping a few blankets about her. Apparently she was to sleep tied so.
"I. Mint. MEANT. She. Plants. Red. Are. Brains."
He frowned. All these years, he'd assumed that the plants communicated mind to mind. Naturally, Callisto would have been in communication with them. She most likely couldn't still do so, without her angel core. But reading the minds of others? Sure, it was within the scope, but – Callisto knew about every thought Knives had had within her complex? That would explain…
"Thoughts. Rent. Aren't. Ack. Shuns. Err…Pry. Vet."
"So this ISN'T about things she told you? When did you STOP believing what she said? There…there are a lot of things I've thought about that…Well, I wasn't going to DO them."
She nodded, blinking hard. "youdidntletmefinish," she mumbled.
"I misinterpreted your response. But I would've sedated you anyway. I was afraid you might be determined to settle things your way. And really, it wouldn't have worked."
"Then I'd killum," she responded, smirking sadly.
"Don't be ridiculous." Knives grew wearly of this self-sacrifice nonsense.
"Then you ARE gonna kill 'em."
"Not if I can help it. If I play this right, you won't ever have a REASON to kill them. Neither will I." He stretched. "Now, when he - whoever - comes, I'll be standing out there," he indicated, pointing to the shaded spot between two of the smaller barns. From where the cart was positioned, Vanessa had a perfect view of this area, from a safe distance off. It would be a fine place for a showdown, where he could bottleneck the opponents and be relatively safe from projectiles. "The second you think you ought to, leave. Don't be a hero. Now, I have some things to do."
With that, his footsteps left behind her, toward the garden. She craned around to see him, but her eye wasn't focusing. Callisto looked peaceful, bundled up to her nose. It was getting dark. It was all spinning.
Heaving forward, Vanessa vomited into the sands behind the cart. Uck. Some tranquilizers are easier on the stomach than others.
In the distance behind, she heard some muffled noises, the last thing she remembered before she fell asleep.