No greater love

"No… No… Please, no!"

Mina sobbed in Ai's arms and the Nightstalker just held her. Sam held Maya as the other twin bawled out her own grief and rage. Alley sat between the two of them, her face desolate as she stared from one to the other, her incredible power of mind stymied trying to soothe something that couldn't be. A betrayal as deep as any in human history. To find out that their dad might still be alive was not a bad thing, but the rest? To find out that their dad had not just left their mom, but left them to Advent! Maybe on purpose! To find out that he had sort of killed a kind and gentle soul that both of them loved was worse. But to find out he was EXALT? The group that had hurt Maya and controlled her to hurt two members of her family?

No one had even suggested trying to keep the truth from the girls. Ai had wanted to stay away from them out of fear of whatever EXALT had done inside her mind, but Alley was having none of it. Alley had swept in, sat the girls down with Ai and Sam and then told them flat out what she knew. They were not kids, no matter what they looked like. They had been raised in an artificial environment, but they were remarkably well adjusted now for having been isolated for so long. They had been educated by their nurturer and trained in many disciplines dealing with their intended role as pilots. She had also taught them discipline, a must for anyone who operated complex machinery. A good thing in this situation. The mind boggled at how a couple of regular girls who looked as young as Maya and Mina did would have taken such news and not in a good way. They had taken it fairly well, all things considered, but then Maya had started crying and Mina had been bare moments later. Ai hadn't wanted to touch Maya for fear of hurting her again, so Sam had pulled his sister into a hug and held her while she sobbed. Ai had gone to Mina and the girl was little better than her sister. Ai did not speak, she just held Mina and let the girl cry.

The room wasn't big. Basically, just a few chairs set in a circle. The walls were crumbling like much of the building, but the door was closed and the lights were bright. Not enough to banish the sadness, but enough to keep fear away. Or so everyone hoped. Maya and Mina had suffered enough.

"I…" Mina dashed her face with her sleeve, but it did not stem hear tears. "I… The memories are faint, but they are there and I have been working with everyone to pull them up and look at them. We all thought he died. Jenni, our first Mom, was so sad."

"I don't know what happened, Mina." Alley was almost in tears herself from the raw emotion that washed the room. Hence why Arisha had been barred from this. She was far to sensitive to some things and no one wanted the kind singer exposed to such if it wasn't needed. "I do know-" She broke off as she was interrupted.

"Don't die, Ai!" Maya screamed from Sam's arms, trying to reach for her and Ai went still as Mina stared up at her through streaming eyes. Ai focused her mind carefully, working hard to keep her thoughts still and away from the all too perceptive girl in her arms. She failed. Mina stared at her, eyes going wider.

"You knew me." Mina said softly and everything stopped. Alley hissed but it was Sam who spoke up.

"Mina! No!" Sam pleaded. "Don't push that! Pull your mind out before you see too much!" Mina turned to her brother and impossibly, her eyes got wider.

"You… She and you…" Mina said weakly even as Alley slid towards her, face set. "Matron, wait." Mina said so very slowly. "This is important." That was not a sad and sick little girl speaking. No, this was trained psionic warrior! She turned her head slowly to scrutinize Ai who fought harder to keep her mind away from Mina's. Again, she failed and Mina's face fell. "Oh my god!" The girl gave a sob and then, she hugged Ai tight enough to hurt. "NO!" She wasn't screaming now. She was about to bawl. "No. No, not you! They… they made you do it?"

At that, Alley stopped short and Sam seemed to stop breathing. Maya jerked upright in the Sam's arms and her eyes lit on Ai who bowed her head. The former Nightstalker slumped almost far enough to fall out of her chair, but still held Mina. Of all the things the girl could have sensed in Ai's mind, why did it have to be that? Aroa knew, so Alley knew. Sam knew. Ai had prayed hard that no one else did, but if the girls did, their siblings would too. They shared a lot, mind to mind.

"It was my job." Ai said in a tiny voice. "I did my job."

"That is not right." Mina said in a slow, scared voice, but not for herself now. For Ai! "You… You did your job and … No! That is not right!"

"We all wondered why you hate being called a hero so much." Maya said from where she sat immobile in Sam's embrace. "Oh my god!"

"Maya, Mina, this is not about me." Ai tried to get things back on track. "You both have every right to be emotional right now. Help yourselves. You cannot help me."

"Begging your pardon, Nightstalker Ai, but bullshit." Mina said in a tone that was far too grown up for her ten year old looking body. She jerked as Alley cleared her throat.

"Mina, watch the language." Alley warned and Mina nodded.

"Yes, Matron." The girl said more or less automatically. Again, disciplined. "Matron, do you know what she did?" Mina asked and Alley nodded. "I was so shocked I couldn't keep it from the rest. They are all shocked but no one will betray her secrets. It is bad, but she is not a bad person! We… We like her. We want her to stay."

"I want to stay, Mina." Ai sighed and then rubbed the girl's hair gently. "But what I want doesn't really matter here. Sam needed me. You need me. I am here now. That is good enough for now."

"I cannot believe they made you do that!" Mina said weakly as Ai continued trying to soothe her.

"Who else could they have sent, Mina?" Sam asked sadly. "The area was locked down totally and a frontal assault would have killed the hostages along with the rebels. Nightstalkers were very sneaky and darn good at their job." Ai smiled a little at Sam's praise, but it was melancholy. "She blames herself for all the hostages who died before she and hers went in."

"That is why you are dying." Mina said weakly. "You insisted."

"We all did." Ai said in a very small voice. "What happened can never happen again! It must never happen again!" That was cold, hard and merciless. Far from cowed, Mina smiled up at AI, her tears slowing and stopping. "Mina, please! My past is not what is important here."

"You are not a murderer, not like them. You are a soldier." Mina said firmly as she eased her grip on Ai, but was no less clingy. "Good tactics are not sporting. Only the dead fight fair. You did what you had to and you saved a lot of lives. You saved…" She stilled as her mind touched Ai's again. "You knew me. You saved me."

"Mina, please!" Ai begged as the girl stared at her, eyes so sad but also so comforting.

"What was she like?" Mina asked. "The older me?"

"I… Oh dang it!" Ai gave up and hugged Mina gently. "She was loud, rude, sometimes crude but a damn good pilot. You and Sam were the only ones I knew well. I don't know what happened to your other siblings in my time, but I can guess." Please dear god, don't make me explain it all! She begged in her mind!

"Please do not lie to us." Maya said very softly and everyone stared at her. "I feel your mind and your sorrow. You think you failed me."

"I WASN'T IN POSITION!" Ai screamed that and then clamped her mouth shut as Alley looked worried.

"Ai, calm." Alley crooned and then sighed. "Do I need to put you in time out?"

"It might help." Ai said weakly. Such was a good meditation, but Ai could not enter it on her own or she would have by now. "I am as much a mess as they are right now. I never trained for this."

"Ai." Alley said very quietly, but firmly. "Time out."

Ai nodded to the Matron, slid out Mina's embrace careful to leave her seated and sank to the floor in one sinuous move. Mina stared at her, awed as Ai began her meditation.

"I need to learn that version." Mina said as Ai focused. "We all do. It is much faster and cleaner than ours."

"Mina, Maya, please, do not push her." Alley all but begged. "She is very strong, but strong things get brittle over time and she is."

"I want to help, Matron." Mina said sadly. "She is so nice. Why did they make her do that? It all but destroyed her!"

"Only the Nightstalkers could get in there, Mina." Sam chimed up. "The rebels were not stupid, just rebels."

"And she was not in time to save… me…" Maya said very softly as something warm settled beside Ai, but she did not look up and whoever it was did not touch her.

"That is a possible future, Maya. Push that thought away. It is bit complicated, but we exist in our own time and that is future possibility. It is not set in stone. We see things that might be, but we go our own way. We do not know, cannot know, what the future holds now. There are far too many variable for even an AI to compute." Alley warned. "Do not push her on this. Yes, she did it and it hurt her very badly to kill clones just like her. Yes, she and all the rest of the loyal ones demanded a way to keep such horror from happening again." She heaved a huge sigh. "I bet the future me balked and they got stubborn, did it themselves. Even under Aroa's interrogation, she wouldn't say and I don't blame her. They really didn't want that to happen again! I can see it being their choice. Even for a super soldier is hard to get ambitious when you know your time is short."

"And it is easy to be brave when you know you are dead anyway." Sam's voice came from beside Ai, but still, she did not look up. She focused on her meditation.

"They gave up their lives, their futures to save humanity. I feel so small, selfish and silly compared to that."Maya said slowly and then her voice firmed. "I will save her."

"Maya." Alley was having none of that. Good for her! "Not everyone can be and as she is? She will refuse."

"There has to be a way, Matron!" Maya snapped.

"Do I need to put you in time out?" Alley asked, her tone calm, but worry sang underneath.

"I… No. I am calmer. Just… Our version is not as good as Ai's." Maya heaved a sigh and clearly relaxed a bit. "This is not right, Matron. She deserves better."

"On that, we all agree, Maya. This is not right." Alley was just sad now. "If we can find a way that she will accept, we will take it. I promise you that. For now? We need to focus on you and Mina. Jane is on her way with a full team and yes, she is still madder than hell." A gulp came from three other throats. They knew about Jane Kelly's temper..

Ai finished her meditation and raised her head to see Sam kneeling beside her. He smiled at her and she smiled back, but again, sad. She looked up at Alley and gave the Viper a nod.

"I am better, Alley." She said quietly. "Still a mess, but better. I do not understand. Why use me? I am not psionic, so I would be easier to take control from but I am under 24 hour surveillance. He was powerful, Alley. He tore right past my defenses." She could not keep a hint of fear from her tone and Sam reached out to hug her. She leaned into his embrace gratefully. "He could have taken me. Why didn't he?"

"I don't know." Alley admitted. "From what you have said, lots of people are very confused. I asked a specialist to stop by and now that you are calmer, I can bring her in." Ai perked up at that and then stilled as the door to the room opened and a woman walked in. Not anyone Ai knew or- Wait a minute! Ai's mind moved at light speed as she took in the woman's old world attire that had been ancient even before the Elders came along with the long, green rifle slung across her back. No, Ai did not know her. She did know of this woman! Every female in Alley's Cobra knew about this woman! Her wars both with enemies and with the rampant sexism of her time. Her successes. Her failures. Her survival against all odds. Everything stopped as Ai shot to her feet and assumed a stance of attention. The woman gawked for a moment and then eyed Alley who shrugged. "Ai?" Alley asked, amusement warring with worry.

"Permission to speak, Ma'am?" That wasn't to Alley!

"Granted." The newcomer said quietly.

"It is an honor to meet you, Agent Weaver." Ai said with a nod. At that, everyone stared at Alley who shrugged.

"You say that now." Angela Weaver, one of the first agents for a highly top secret Bureau before it was called X-Com, had a small smile on her face as Ai maintained military discipline. She wasn't military. She was better than any soldier had any right to be and had earned every ounce of respect Ai was giving her. "At ease." She commanded and Ai relaxed a little. Not much. "Nightstalker Ai." At that, Ai stared at the very old woman who did not look it at all and Weaver shrugged. "I have been briefed. The Lady is very upset."

At that every person in the room winced, even Ai. The Ethereal called Lady now had every right to be upset. William Carter had killed her! Form what Ai knew, he hadn't been very stable before that episode, and having an Ethereal ride one was likely not a pleasant experience. Ai looked at Weaver who waved her to a chair as she unslung her rifle, laid it in a close corner and sat herself.

"She has cause and we all know it." Alley said from where she still coiled up between Maya and Mina who stared from Ai to Weaver, awed by this blast from the past. Sam just rolled with, shifting his seat on the floor to beside Ai's chair. "This is odd though. What I found out corroborates what the Lady told me and what Jane found in X-Com records. William Carter died in that X-Com asylum. His death was verified and his body incinerated."

"Strange things happened all the time in those days." Weaver was staring off into space now. Remembering? "We had just dealt with the Outsider invasion. Weir had let that Asaru thing go and no one knew where it had gone, so everyone was on edge. That said? What Carter did was unforgivable. Shemash was not a combatant at that point. She was hurting and confined in an Elerium reactor. As far as anyone can determine, she was no danger to anyone at that moment. He drew his pistol and killed her in cold blood. What he nearly did after that was worse." Everyone jerked and she continued. "He set a bomb to destroy the base. He took us all hostage to get Asaru to leave his body." Weaver relaxed and shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Asaru had taken me or Faulk instead of Weir, but that is what happened."

"He stopped Carter." Ai said slowly and Weaver nodded.

"I hadn't thought much of Weir before that." Weaver admitted. "I mean, the man was smart, sure. I never thought he could fight, but he did. I will say he never treated me any different from any other agent. Good or bad."

"Equality is good." Ai surprised herself and everyone else by saying that. She smiled at Weaver. "We had our own share of 'You have boobs, so you are useless' even in my time. Even a few among my siblings." Weaver gawked at her and Ai nodded. "But by my time, we got to hit them if they said things like that."

"Oh, I hit more than a few." Weaver smiled in fond memory.

"Good for you." Ai took a deep breath and then spoke slowly. "Anyway, Carter." Everyone sobered and Ai continued. "I saw him first when I got a briefing about what not to do on this kind of trip. I figured I would get one, because I had no idea what I was doing or why. I didn't remember it until I saw him though. There must have been a block on my memories, but no one saw it because I was a bit of a mess."

"You died." Weaver said flatly. "Cut yourself some slack." Ai nodded and then continued.

"It goes against the grain, but yes, I will, Agent." Ai took another deep breath and continued. "He was all business. He gave the current codes, got mine and then gave me a no nonsense briefing on what to do and what not to." She winced a bit. "I um…. seem to have violated most of what he told me not to do." Even here, even now, violating regulations sat wrong with the Nightstalker.

"Ya think?" Alley snarked from where she sat, each of the Viper's hands now going to a different girl who held them.

"Anyway, he left without a word and I didn't see him again until I saw him in my mind." Ai said with a wince. "Could he be watching through me?"

"No." Weaver said flatly and Ai jerked up. "Alley's report sent shock waves through a lot of places. You reported that the energy you felt was blue." That was sort of a question so AI nodded. Weaver turned to Alley. "Alley?"

"No sign of Asaru and believe me, we have looked hard." Alley said quietly. No one spoke and Alley continued. "One thing. Ai, you said Carter was mad?" Ai shook her head. "What then?"

"The word 'mad' does not do it justice. He was furious." Ai said softly and looked at Maya who stared at her. "I said to him that I would not let him hurt you again, Maya, and he responded with…" She paused and thought for a moment before nodding. "...and I quote - 'I don't want to hurt her. I never did. That idiot Donald died far too quickly.'" Ai said into sudden, utter silence. "Does that sound like the man you knew?" She asked Weaver.

"Yes, it does." Weaver said very slowly. "And if he does care for you two girls like his first kid…"

"Wait, he had a kid?" Maya interrupted and then her face flamed as everyone looked at her. "I apologize, Agent Weaver." She said quickly but Weaver just shook her head. "I didn't-"

"Easy, girl. Maya, you and your siblings are as much mess as Ai is." Weaver waved the apology away. "As I am still. I am working through my own messes." She turned to Ai who stared at her. "Do you want to get better? If so, we can walk the road there together."

"I don't know." Ai admitted. "I always knew I was going to die, but now, for the first time, I don't want to." She smiled at Sam and then the girls who smiled back. She smiled and nodded to Weaver who returned both.

"That is a start." Weaver's smile fell. "But yes, Maya. Carter had a family. A wife and son. They died along with his father in an accidental house fire while he was off on deployment before the Bureau found him. He self destructed, after. Hard to blame him. For that anyway."

"So, he made a new family?" Ai asked. "While working for EXALT?"

"I don't know." Weaver allowed but then her smile turned feral and it was easy to see this woman was hunter of sentient prey. "Shall we find out?" Ai returned the smile in kind.

"Let's."