Warning: if you have not read Summer Shadows you will be spoiled.
5
Stellan's pov
"Victor, you are an idiot" I enlightened the man on the other side of the screen.
He just stared at me. So I went on: "of course the Robinsons would go after Summer Whelan, they think that the youngest brother – Hal- isn't a savant. I can't imagine why, I mean the kid has one of the most intriguing powers I have encountered…" There was a smack against my head.
"Stel, you are going off track" Raven said from behind me.
"Anyway, if I had to guess then I'd say they think that miss Whelan implanted the idea in the kids head to hinder him" I pointed out the first part of why being a FBI agent was not the best occupation for him.
"Stellan, I didn't call you just so you could point out my shortcomings in front of my soulfinder, I need your thoughts on the subject." He sighed.
The girl getting kidnapped was taking a tool on his I'm-the-protector-of incents ego, that seemed to be some sort of genetic mutation that all the male Benedict's shared.
I turned my eyes towards the olive-skinned young women who I identified as one Atoosa Nawabi, "is your uncle still missing?" I asked her.
"Yes, we haven't been able to locate him, but we haven't really been concentrating on that" she didn't seem to understand the meaning behind my question.
"Wait a minute," I said clicking open a new program on one of the other monitors.
Ray looked at what I was doing, and grinned "it won't take you a minute to do that, I've seen you hack into that database before" she was right about that, finding the info I needed was a piece of cake, but there were also the precautionary measures that I took by erasing any evidence of my snooping. And the systems were quite slow.
After I got what I needed (took me 56 seconds, on the whole protests) I turned back to Victor "You should follow the crown, Ivan Chong has it on his little bout. He most likely sent some people to get you, but my guess is that they got you mixed up and took miss Whelan and the Robinsons by mistake. He's probably trying to get you to work for him, seeing as your soulfinder's uncle has a considerable debt to the man. He would have used that against you." I concluded.
"Can you tell if he has something bigger planed, or was getting my cooperation his only initiative?" Victor had turned serious.
"Vic my dear," Raven started laughing "the world doesn't revolve around you, you know"
I could see Will laughing at my sister's remark as well. And I could tell from Victor facial features, that he was about to say something but I interrupted before he could.
"You're as bashful as ever" I grinned at his almost open mouth and then continued "it's not just about you though" I went back to the other monitor to get the dada I had been collecting just in case "by the people he has been gathering around him, I'd say his going to attempt a prison break, you might want to get your team some backup"
"You really think that they are stupid enough to do that?" Will cut in from behind Victor.
"He thinks that they will owe him right?" Raven asked nuzzled in one of my bean bags.
"Most probably. Chong will have the more dangerous or useful savants swear loyalty to him, in return for their freedom" I finished Ray's thought.
"So basically your garden variety wannabe villain prison break" my sister summed up my explanation.
"There is little chance of you getting there fast enough to keep an incident from occurring" I considered their options "your best bet is to round up as many people as you can to run riot control" I shrugged.
"Can we count on you?" miss Nawabi asked turning to us.
I exchanged a glance with Raven.
Do you think we could make it in time? She asked.
If we borrowed a helicopter we could. I answered. But to you think you can control your gift well enough to fight without killing anyone and keeping that ability a secret from the inmates?
I made her analyze her abilities critically. Even though I knew she had almost perfect control over her gift, she has trouble believing it herself, and I didn't think that a stressful situation would be good for her at the present moment. She seemed to come to the same conclusion herself.
"I'm afraid not," I began, and I saw their faces drop, but I continued with the explanation "I'm useless in a fight" Trace and Victor frowned at me, I just shrugged and went on "yes I'm a master in three different forms of martial arts, and I can shoot a gun" I felt an elbow in my ribs "so can Ray here" I included her abilities in my explanation "even so in a mass fight such as the one you are facing I would be useless, because my gift would go haywire." I could see that Atoosa had a hard time understanding my reasoning even though I could see understanding in the Benedicts eyes, so I gave her the pieces she was missing from the full picture: "and you see I don't think that it's a good idea to unleash Raven upon them, if someone even slightly vengeful were to discover that she can erase gifts, she would have a permanent target on her back" I let that snick in for them.
"I know that we are being extremely selfish here but we are just getting back to our normal lives, I would not like to risk that when I know you are more than capable of handling this situation. And we sort of have a situation here in Kyoto as well." I added when they didn't say anything.
Victor's eyes narrowed "the serial killer? You still haven't figured out who he is?" I could hear astonishment in his voice.
I rolled my eyes "Detective, not a miracle-worker, remember?"
He smiled at the remark, "you worked miracles for me though" he kissed his soulfinder's hand.
"bleh" Raven made a noise next to me "Vic come on, you were supposed to be the though and mean FBI brother who no one dared to cross, not some love-dove" there was mock accusation in her voice as she turned to the young women "what have you done to him? He has known you for what? A week? How come he has changed so much already?" she fake cried now.
That tugged a smile on all of their faces until Saul put two and two together, "Stellan, be honest with me here" he turned to me.
Judging by his face he had figured out some parts of mine and Victor's deal. So I willed my face into a collected, emotionless expression "but of course, sir" I said.
"You are the one who lead my son here aren't you" he said half accusing, half thankful, not even bothering to correct me about the "sir" like he always did.
"Sort of, you see I did give him the location and the name, but I did my utmost to talk him out of it. I give you my word on that" I paused taking in his expression, then continued "besides if I hadn't helped him, he would have left anyway, but it would have dragged out much longer, and would have put more people in danger." I shrugged "I thought that it would go over easier if I gave him a head start, and I would have told you his approximate location if you had asked" I concluded taking one of Ravens biscuits.
"Anyway, do you want me to do reconnaissance via the security cameras?" I asked getting the programs ready.
"Shouldn't we warn the staff and I think that they are going to turn off the security cameras the second they have the base" Victor said.
"No, I don't think that warning the guard is a good idea, because if we do they will be ready and waiting, and then the infiltration will turn into a fight that will have more casualties" I answered his first question and got an understanding look.
"And, why do you think I took part in the reinforcement of the prison? Really now, I set up an independent camera network that connects directly to me and is not connected to the prisons main power plant and so it doesn't matter if the cut the power eider" finishing I saw that Trace had one of those I-can't-believe-that-guy looks on his face.
"Alright, but how are we going to stay in touch? Even if you are an incredible telepath, I don't think that even if we had you talk to us throw Marcus – the strongest telepath that we could get in our group - that you could keep that up for long and that would put the boy in considerable danger not to mention if there is someone there who can block out telepathy" Victor obviously over thought the situation, so I stopped him before he could hurt his head.
"There really is no need for that. It would be a considerable plan if the telepathic link was between me and Raven, but if the Robinsons are there then they should have my special little earpiece that works as a long range communication device, just tell them to connect it to mine and that should be fine, because it has a mice built into it so I can hear everything you hear and you can hear what I tell you. And for a mission like that this sort of communication is fine, you're all capable people" I gave him an easy solution.
Will looked at me amused "Stellan, old pale, where did you get something like that?" he asked me.
"I developed it with help from Hiroshi in case I ever need to contact someone who is out of reception and not close enough to use telepathy with" I shrugged.
His smile grew "mind supplying me with some of them, it would come in handy when I'm working with people who aren't savants?" he asked.
"I can think about it, seeing as I'm not mass-producing them, because of obvious reasons" they looked confused by my statement but I went on without delay "but I can make a few for you if you think that they will help with your work, I can have them by the time you and the Gifted come by next week…"
"If he doesn't forget of course" I was interrupted by Raven who was rolling her eyes at my face "you are so consumed with your latest case that you forget to eat, I haven't seen you this interested since the time we discussed my abilities" she cleared my confusion.
Victor raised his eyebrow "obvious reasons?" he questioned.
"I'm one of those people who have more enemies than friends, and a device like that could very easily be used against me and I would prefer to keep my rivals at as big a disadvantage as possible" I put and arm around my sister sensing her unease.
"Sometimes I wonder if you really are a detective and not a mafia boss, with all your scams and power struggles" Will smirked.
That put a smile on all their faces so I didn't correct him.
Raven's pov
"Holy crap, Xav" I gasped as I saw my ex-soulfinder laying on a bed bleeding to death.
"That idiot, is more like it" Stel murmured from my side, but his attention was divided between looking over the building and reading the lips of Chong and his cronies "a healer should stay to the back not charge to the front lines, its basic strategy in battle tactics" he huffed.
"Not to mention that the only other healers on the island are Colonel Charlie Rotji who is on the other side of the complex and Zed, but he hasn't learned how to harness that power yet" Stellan gave an overview of their situation.
"So what can they do? Can't they just go and get the Colonel?" I asked back, getting kind of frustrated, because if I was there I would have no problem getting the guy from his sell.
Stellan turned to me "That's what they will do trust me" he was suddenly not talking to me anymore "Yes, let them go, they are the best chance Xavier has at the moment, and before you ask, I have done the calculations for twenty-four different scenarios, and those two getting the healer has the highest likelihood of your brother surviving" Stel was consoling Victor even before he could ask for my brothers opinion, like he had for the last two hours.
And so Victor sent Summer and Hal off to go get the healer, as I continued to watch Xav. After a moment I felt a hand on my back. "it's fine, he will make it" Stellan didn't look at me "he has to" my brother said more quietly. And that scared me, because there was no reasoning, no theory, nothing that he could have based that statement on. Xav's survival was not a certainty but my brothers will and my wish.
Never in my life had I ever felt so helpless.
I almost thought that time had stopped, but the blood soaking through the bandages that Uriel was pressing to Xav's neck was a constant reminder, that this was real, and that I couldn't do anything.
Then they came running in: the Colonel, and his rescuers. I felt myself bereave, Stellan's hand a comforting weight on my back, as he worked on keeping Victor's head in the game. He might put on a tough face but that guy had a heart as big as the moon.
I watched as the bleeding slowed and stopped. Alright, go Colonel. Then there was another problem, can't you give my heart a rest. "Dang it, the next time there is an incident somebody will have to tie him to the back, because I can't take this" I sighed eyes on the monitors.
"The positives overrun the negatives," Stel was once again taking to Victor "besides miss Whelan will hold herself responsible if you don't let her do it, and she's strong and desperate enough to do it regardless of your consent" he finished his thought before Victors eyes could show any change.
When I saw Xav open his eyes my heart slowed, he might not be my soulfinder, but I consider all of the Benedict's my brothers, and the possibility of losing them was something that I did not want to consider.
"The next time I see that idiot, I'm clobbering him" I said half frustrated half relived.
Stellan nodded "I'll hold him down for you"