PART FIVE

THEN

When Charlie came to, the first thing he noticed was a smell that was a mixture of garbage and saltwater. When he opened his eyes and lifted his head, he found that his vision was a little blurry and his head was swimming.

He was strapped to what felt like a metal table. He could feel straps on his arms, hands, legs, ankles, chest and neck. The room he was in was a little dark, but he could make out some medical equipment and two men in fatigues standing by the only door he could see. The agents were both holding electrical guns like the one he had been shot with.

When Charlie heard the door open a few minutes later, he picked his head up as much as he could to see who was coming into the room. It was Finn and a man in a white lab coat.

"Good, he's awake." The man in the lab coat said as he moved to do something with the medical equipment.

"Welcome to my world, Mr. Proudstar." Finn said as he moved to stand next to Charlie's head. "You could have been cooperative, that would have made things easier for both of us. And judging from what I've read about some of your past exploits; we even share some of the same goals. But you had to make things difficult."

Charlie had to clear his throat before he could reply. "What do you want with me?" He said in a shaky voice.

"Well, the agency wants to either employ you, or incarcerate you. That remains to be seen." Finn leaned down onto the table so that his face was close to Charlie's. "Me personally? I hope they use you as a guinea pig and then lock you away. You messed up when you tried to kill my wife, and I'll make sure you pay."

Charlie laughed at Finn. "You can't keep me tied to a table forever Finn. And you can bet your ass that when I get loose, I'm coming for you."

Finn just smiled at that, and turned to the man in the lab coat. "Dr. Phillips, you may begin whenever you're ready." Finn stopped at the door when he went to leave. "Make sure I get the call personally if he causes any trouble." He said to one of the agents by the door, who only gave a curt nod in reply.

The doctor started attaching electrodes to Charlie's torso and extremities. He then moved over to a computer sitting on a large metal desk next to the table Charlie was strapped on to. Charlie could hear him tapping keys.

Charlie tested his nylon bonds as discreetly as he could. He was pretty sure that he could break them if he was at full strength, but he still felt a little groggy. He looked back over to the agents. They were both staring straight ahead.

A few minutes later he heard the doctor get up from his desk. The doctor went over to a medicine cabinet and removed a syringe filled with the blue liquid and turned to walk towards Charlie.

If I let them drug me again, I might not get another chance to get the hell out of here. He thought, the adrenaline that was starting to course through his system was burning away the last of the drug-induced grogginess.

He jerked his arms and torso up with all of his might. The nylon didn't break, but the rivets holding it onto the metal table did. He reached out and grabbed the doctor with one hand and the syringe with the other. He pulled the much smaller man's back to his chest and put the needle to the doctor's neck.

"Make one call or move one muscle and I pump him full of this crap. And I'm assuming a dosage meant for me wouldn't be good for someone his size." Charlie said to the two agents by the door.

The agents had pointed their guns at him at the first sign of movement, but stood still for now. Charlie knew they probably wouldn't hesitate to shoot the doctor with the stun guns to get to him, which is why he had taken the syringe from him.

"Phillips, right?" Charlie asked the doctor, who barley nodded his head. "All right Dr. Phillips, undo the straps on my legs and ankles."

The doctor complied with the order, and Charlie stood up. Keeping the doctor in between himself and the agents he slowly moved towards the door. When he was close enough, he threw the doctor into one of the agents, and quickly plunged the syringe into the neck of the other. He only put about half of the blue stuff into the agent. He then turned to the other agent, who hadn't recovered from the doctor slamming into him. Charlie injected the agent with the remainder of the blue substance.

Charlie wished one of the agents was closer to his size so he could steal his clothes. All he currently had on were his underwear. He did take one of the guns before he headed out the door.

The door lead into a hallway. The floors, walls, doors, and ceiling were all made of metal. When the floor started swaying slightly under Charlie's feet, it finally dawned on him that he was on some sort of big ship.

Hopefully the ship's docked somewhere and not in the middle of the Atlantic. Charlie thought as he made his way through the bowels of the dark ship.

When he rounded the next corner he came up behind a man in fatigues and a t-shirt. Charlie quickly lashed out with the butt of the gun, catching the agent behind the left ear. The agent dropped to the ground unconscious before he knew anything had hit him.

Charlie drug the man into the nearest door, which happened to lead to small, one stall bathroom. Charlie sat the man up on the toilet, and closed the stall door. He then made his way back out into the hall and moved as silently as he could.

He finally came to a set of small stairs with a door at the top. Charlie could see sunlight filtering through a small, dirty, circular window at the top of the door. Charlie silently made his way up the metal steps and peered out of the window.

He was disheartened when he noticed that they were quite some distance from land. He didn't see anyone on the deck though, so he made his way through the door, which creaked slightly when he pushed it open, and onto the deck. Once on the deck he realized that he wasn't as far from land as he had originally feared.

"Freeze!" Charlie heard from behind him. When he turned around, he saw several agents on another deck higher than the one he was standing on. They all had weapons pointed at him, some had the stun guns and some had stake guns. Charlie looked from the agents to the side of the deck.

He was still trying to judge if he could make it into the water before he was filled with stakes when Finn came out of the door Charlie had came out of.

"Going somewhere Mr. Proudstar?" Finn asked.

Charlie shrugged. "Thought I'd go for a swim."

Finn shook his head as he walked closer to Charlie. "Even if you did get away, we're a Federal agency. You'd be hounded from one corner of the earth to the other. You can't win here. Ever hear the old saying, if you can't beat 'em join em?"

Charlie started to turn to run towards the side of the ship and he heard a shot from behind him a split second before something hit the deck right beside him. He looked up at the higher deck and recognized the red haired guy with the flattop that had been in the alley.

"You're lucky." Finn informed Charlie. "Graham normally doesn't fire warning shots. Try that again and he's going to put a stake in your ear." Finn had moved closer to Charlie, while his attention was diverted to Graham.

"You scared to face me by yourself?" Charlie stated, trying to goad Finn into making a bad decision.

"There's a big difference between bravery and stupidity." Finn replied, not taking the bait.

Charlie reached out as quickly as he could and grabbed Finn by his sweater. He turned him so that he was in between himself and the guns of the agents on the other deck. While he had one arm around Finn's neck, he put the barrel of the stun gun into the small of Finn's back.

"Call them off." Charlie ordered Finn.

"Not a chance." Finn replied. "A shot at point blank range from an E-25 will hurt like hell, but it isn't lethal."

"The gun is the least of your worries." Charlie informed his captive. "If you don't call them off, I'm going to pull you apart."

"I don't think so." Came the voice of Finn's female counterpart. When Charlie looked from the upper deck, he saw her coming out of the door.

Finn used the distraction to send an elbow straight back into Charlie's groin with all of his might. Charlie immediately let go of him. Charlie was groaning in pain, trying to regain his composure.

When he looked up, Finn was holding his tomahawk, and the girl was holding two shafts that were glowing blue on the ends. Finn threw the tomahawk to Charlie.

"You want a fair fight?" Finn asked Charlie. "Tell you what, the two of us against you. You win, you go for today. We win, you start cooperating with us." The girl tossed one of the shafts to Finn as they started circling Charlie.

Charlie blocked the first blow that the girl threw with the head of his tomahawk and while her weapon was over her head, he snapped a kick into her midsection, sending her across the deck. Finn had the reaction Charlie had expected, and came in with a wild swing at his head.

Charlie leapt backwards just far enough for the shaft to miss him. Charlie then swung his tomahawk and planted the flat side of it on the left side of Finn's face. Finn then hit the ground in a heap, swelling already starting to temporarily disfigure his features.

When Charlie looked back up, the girl was on her feet again and coming towards him. When she was within range, she did a quick sidekick to Charlie's ribs. He felt the impact, but it didn't really hurt. She used that distraction to swing up at Charlie's head with the shaft.

Charlie grabbed the shaft just below where it was glowing blue. The girl reached up and grabbed the shaft with her other hand attempting to break his grip on it. While both of her hands were occupied, Charlie reached out with his free hand and grabbed the girl by the neck. He threw her into the doorway she had come out of and listened for movement within, he didn't hear any.

With both of his adversaries down, Charlie started making his way towards the side of the ship. He didn't make it more than a couple of steps when he heard the shot and felt a sharp pain in his right leg. He looked down to see one of the small wooden stakes protruding from his leg. Charlie roared in agony as he turned to look at the other agents standing on the higher deck.

"Didn't you hear Finn?" Charlie bellowed at them.

The redhead nodded. "I heard him, and that was his command decision. I'm in command now and I say that you aren't going anywhere."

Charlie began to run as fast as he could, trying to calm himself as he ran. It wasn't easy, because the little stakes were zipping past him. He finally calmed himself as much as he was going to be able to given his current situation and jumped. As he jumped, he released the animal from within that was his totem.

All of the agents on the higher deck were seasoned agents, it was hard to surprise them. But when the big Indian changed into a big cat in midair, they were all a little taken back. The big cat ran so fast it was a brown blur on the deck before it jumped into the water.