Rhone had heard the helicopter approaching from the moment she pulled herself onto the roof. Gell had turned to stare back when he was only a few yards away from the edge of the building. She stared long and hard at Gell thinking about – old times. …The way he touched Lex. She wasn't going to let him get away.
"Trying to make your escape from the front of the building? You really don't listen, do you?" she finally said.
He gestured around him, "More cover." At the right noise level, he looked over his shoulder and saw a helicopter lowering behind him.
She knew Griffin would tell the snipers not to fire. There would be too many people below if the helicopter went down and hit them… Not to mention the mess. Working at home definitely had its disadvantages. …How did he get a helicopter without their knowledge? If Griffin had gotten such information, he would have told her…
"I guess I'll have to wait until I see you in hell," Gell sneered and turned to run for the helicopter that was hovering just beyond the ledge of the building.
"You're not getting away," she said stoically, despite her distance from him and the noise of the helicopter making it impossible for him to hear her. It had already been decided, there really wasn't anything she could do about it.
She aimed the point of her katana down and started to sprint after him. He jumped and landed on the helicopter just before it began to veer away from the building.
She reached the edge of the building and showed no signs of slowing. As she pushed off the edge of the building, she brought her sword up.
Everyone on the ground had their heads turned up, watching the helicopter above them. It was like watching a legion of simple country folk gazing at fireworks. They saw a figure jump a small gap between the building and the helicopter. From the build and the attire, they knew it was Gell. The craft immediately began to move horizontally away from the building.
Not that much information was coming over the head sets; everyone must have been just watching and waiting. Before he saw it, Lex knew it was her.
When the helicopter was about fifteen feet from the building, another figure came over the ledge of the building. Despite the sporadic lighting, there was a glint of silver. Then the figure hit the side of the helicopter and – stuck there.
Lex heard Griffin speak into his head set, "Tell Bones to be ready."
She plunged her katana into the side of the helicopter, just behind the open sliding door. Rhone knew its – unusual properties would allow it. It had gone through some pretty unbelievable things.
Gell spun to look at her when the sword pierced the helicopter. He reached for the frame of the helicopter door with one hand and went to grab her with the other. She grasped his collar when he came close enough. She clutched her sword with one hand and Gell with the other, no emotion on her features. She brought her feet up to the side of the helicopter and pushed.
Gell's face contorted to one of fear. By now they were four stories up, was she insane? …Yes. He forgot about beating her and grabbed the door frame that he hung out of with his other hand – remembering that living was more important.
In the end, the power of her entire body won. They were in a free fall from the helicopter. She still held the sword and his collar. The world went silent, not even the helicopter or the rushing wind registered in her mind. Silence. She found it odd that even a free fall didn't bother her. She managed to rotate their bodies so he was beneath her; he was too panicked to think or react. His only concern was the roof of the parked police cruiser that was rushing toward them. It was probable that it would be his last concern.
There was a heart-wrenching crunch as the falling figures hit the roof of the police cruiser. The siren made a long and low sound that could be likened to a dying animal. The few uniformed officers that were near held up their arms to shield their faces from shards of window glass. They were already backing off.
Lex started to run to the cruiser. He didn't think about it, but he never ran to get anywhere. Sure he worked out, but… Griffin passed him – damn guy probably runs around the entire city as a warm up. All the other black clad soldiers were running to the cruiser as well, while all the officers were backing up. …It seemed like he would never reach his destination, time holding him down. Maybe it was how fast those other guys were running that made him feel that way. …He couldn't see anything – couldn't see her.
Griffin reached the police cruiser first. He grabbed the edge of the crushed roof with his right hand – he vaguely felt pain – and brought his left foot onto the ledge as well. His right foot followed of its own accord.
Lex was a few yards away when he saw Griffin just stop as he balanced himself on the edge of the car. The other guys in black stood and waited in silence. Lex slowed as he came up behind Awol, staring at Griffin's back.
Then she stood. Everyone watched her as her rigid frame rose over Griffin's crouched figure as though she didn't just fall from a helicopter, but had been insulted by some rude comment over tea and crumpets. She bent for a moment and when she came back up, she had her katana in her hand.
She vaguely realized that she had lost her sunglasses in the fall. She had thin cuts all over her arms – mostly champagne glass related, but other than that she felt alright. It was nothing a good meditation wouldn't fix. She looked up at the helicopter – it was high. Well, it should have been high for a normal person. But she landed on Gell – who was now mostly a kind of paste on her shoes and covering her front. So, depending on the physics of everything, it was plausible that she would be without any major injuries. She looked to Griffin, "Are you going to do something about that, or do I have to go back up there?" She pointed up to the helicopter that just now started moving again – the pilot had obviously taken time out to watch her little show.
Griffin made a motion with his left hand and one of the elite soldiers took off toward the members of the Metropolis Police Department. Griffin allowed his feet to return to the ground. He stood up straight and held his hands up to her, to help her down.
She looked down at him and his hand. He had some cuts on it, probably from hoisting himself onto the side of the car. She snatched his wrist and held it, "You're hurt. You should get Bones to look at it."
"After he's done giving you a full screen," Griffin said.
She let go of him and independently jumped down from the car, "Unnecessary."
He had to admit to himself that she did look fine – a little messy… It was amazing. He decided that he didn't care. He knew how she was, "No way, and I already told Bones to stand by."
"I swear, Griff, it's like being married without the sex," she shook her head and brushed past him, walking back toward the museum again. Griffin started to follow her.
More than a little pleased with that revelation, Lex hardly noticed the sound of the helicopter receding. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. The fighting, the sword, deflecting bullets, the helicopter, falling onto the police cruiser, just getting up and walking away… He blinked hard and shook his head quickly. Did she do this kind of thing all the time? No one else looks completely shocked. He looked at the small dissipating crowd of soldiers around him. …They were impressed, but it was business as usual. The uniformed officers, however, looked like they were about three seconds from loosing bladder control.
"Hey, Armani," a voice said from beside him. He looked and, as expected, it was Awol. The man peeled some bills off a large roll of green and shoved it towards Lex. "Griffin must have told you the rule of thumb," he said, not bothering to hide his relative distaste for the billionaire.
"What's that?" Lex took his winnings and looked at them. He didn't normally gamble – not like this anyway. It's not like he needed the money. But this time he bet high and won – a lot. Was he wrong doing what he did – betting on her like that? Griffin made it sound like some kind of duty for people that believed she was – that believed in her. Lex decided to just never mention it. It wouldn't be lying…
"Never bet against Rhone Chade," Awol said simply. He turned on his heels having no desire to speak any further.
"What did my father do to you?" Lex asked. Maybe he could make it right somehow – this guy was a friend of Rhone's after all. However, it normally didn't work out that way no matter how hard he tried.
Awol stopped and turned to him. "Listen, I could give you some speech about – people like you. How with all that I have seen and done, all I have found is that despite the high thread count sheets and the priceless art – or whatever the fuck you people spend it on, you're still worthless," he stopped for a moment, "But if you hurt her again…"
Lex's face turned passive at "people like you." He had heard the rant before, Jonathon Kent being the last that it had come from. However, he had even managed to do it a little more nicely – most likely for Clark's sake. He blinked at Awol's last statement. Had he really hurt Rhone? He thought she would be angry, but hurt? I'm such an ass; he ran his hand over his head and looked to the ground for a moment.
Awol caught Lex's flinch, "A lot of people think that because I'm the funny guy and I like to dick around that I don't hear things – that I don't see things – that I'm stupid." He remembered listening to Griffin talk to her in a hushed voice in the observation room – it took priority of the day's discussion over chimps in human clothing. He remembered the way his commanding officer had acted upon her return to the base from her little invoice auditing escapade. Isolated. Griffin looking at her like he was concerned about her even though – for once – she hadn't done anything that would put her in physical danger.
"You seem pretty protective over someone that can obviously take care of herself," Lex said coolly.
"I owe her my life a dozen times over," he thought for a moment, "She saved me, had faith in me when everyone else…"
Lex got the feeling that it was more than something on the battlefield. He liked to know things, and he knew that these guys had a lot to tell. Unfortunately, most of them seemed less than willing to share.