Chapter Five
Steve knew that 'Steve and Jaime' could accomplish far more than the two of them, working separately, ever could. Unfortunately, half of that team now appeared down for the count. Jaime was unable to use her arm, almost too shaky to stand, and Steve wasn't about to leave her.
The faux Jaime put her hand on Faux Steve's shoulder. "Sid'll be here to get them and minute now."
Faux Steve nodded, looking contempuously at their counterparts down on the pavement. "I'll take the front of the alley and you take the back. They're not going anywhere."
Once they were relatively alone, Steve pulled his wife closer, to try and stop her trembling. "It'll be ok. We're gonna get out of this." As he held her and tenderly tried to comfort her, he was alarmed to discover that she wasn't just shaking with fear. Her body periodically jerked and shuddered, telling Steve her arm was not burned out and dead. It was shorting out from the inside, zapping her body with periodic jolts of electric current.
"We can't fight them," Jaime said weakly. "It'd take both of us just to bring one of them down, and there are two..."
"We don't have to take them down," Steve told her. "We just have to hold them off for a little while. My Datacom radio has a tracker, so they know where we are. The minute I saw you come out with who-or-whatever that is over there, I hit a button that let them know we need immediate help. They'll be here before you know it."
Jaime looked at him with eyes that were both sad and hopeful, and was about to say something when her body was wracked by a violent tremor that left her only semi-conscious. Steve began to prepare to fight both of their doubles alone, if necessary, but there was one thing he really needed to know.
"Jaime? Can you hear me, Sweetheart?" Her only answer was a soft moan of pain. Steve wanted - needed - to know if their doubles were robots or actual humans with bionic parts, but he'd have to wing it. C'mon, Oscar - HURRY! Steve thought silently. He didn't know how many more of those violent jolts Jaime's body could withstand.
Steve quickly glanced down at each end of the alley. They didn't appear to be watching, so he took his Datacom from his front pocket and pushed 'talk'. "Oscar? It's me."
"Steve, did you find Jaime?"
"I'm with her now, but she's hurt. You need to get here."
"We've got your location pinpointed. Be there in less than five minutes."
"Listen, we're in the alley behind their building, being guarded by our exact doubles, and -"
"I'll take that." Faux Steve stood in front of him. He wrenched the Datacom away, threw it to the ground and crushed it with his foot. Faux Jaime joined them, too.
"Sid is ready for you now," she told Steve. "On your feet - both of you - now!"
"Can't you see she's hurt?"
"For our purposes that doesn't matter."
"Look," Steve said, "you've got me. Why don't you leave her alone?"
"That's not our choice," Faux Steve answered. "Don't worry; she won't be in pain much longer. You will be harvested for information and then for parts. After that, it's Sid's turn. Now, get up!" Steve didn't move. He fixed his eyes on his double and glared angrily at him.
"She can either get up or be dragged," Faux Jaime added. The doubles leaned down and began to pull Jaime from her husband's arms.
"Freeze!" Oscar's voice echoed down the alley. "Don't move!" He was accompanied by a half dozen NSB and OSI men at each end of the alley.
The doubles turned, momentarily distracted, and Jaime - still only partially awake - mustered enough strength for one good kick with both feet. Faux Steve crumpled to the pavement and Faux Jaime hit the opposite wall and was thoroughly dazed. Jaime herself, now totally spent, went limp in Steve's arms.
Oscar had witnessed just enough to know who the doubles were and he pointed them out as his agents moved in. "If they resist, shoot them," he ordered. He turned to his Steve and Jaime. "The Medivac's on its way." Another small army of agents emerged from the building with four scientists and the man who'd 'recruited' Jaime in their custody.
"That's everyone," one of the agents told Oscar. "We'll need a second transport van."
"Just cram them all in that one," Oscar ordered. "I want them out of here immediately."
"Yes, sir."
"What about you, Pal?" Oscar asked Steve. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, but..." Steve looked down at Jaime who, in spite of all the commotion around her, was eerily silent.
"There's Rudy now," Oscar said, looking toward the parking lot across the street from the front entrance to the alley. Rudy was already running toward them.
The doctor saw Jaime lying prone in Steve's arms and called back to his medics: "Bring the gurney!"
"What happened?" Rudy asked Steve, already crouching next to them and starting to check his patient.
"I don't know; she was already hurt when I got here. Then she started jerking, like her arm was shocking her."
"My team will have the OR ready when we get back." He looked at Steve with worried eyes. "We need to get her there now."
------
