Chapter 42: Even the Mighty are Human (Sort of)

Beck and Charlie, the only two who weren't Pride members, were sent to Beck's house since he had the best healing pods aside from the Slayers. The Pride found themselves back in Isaac's study, standing to attention. Considering their immediate medical needs, they weren't particularly happy about that.

"It's been a long day, Cordelia," Carter snapped at the femme fatale. "Can't we hold off on this until tomorrow?"

"No, I'm afraid it can't," Cordelia said, annoyed. Her white hair was in its loose braid, and instead of her corset dress she was wearing her black suit and skirt combination and a white lab coat. Isaac was dressed in his normal business suit because he was posh like that.

"We found a DNAlien war ship just a few galaxies away," Isaac continued. "Your mission is to destroy it before it moves again."

"An actual war ship?" Sam asked incredulously. "Just one?"

"This has 'trap' written all over it," Evan pointed out.

"We sent Ezekiel as a scout, and he confirms that it's a war ship," Cordelia explained.

The Pride groaned. "You sent out Zeke?" Carter whined. "But he's such an asshole!"

"He may be an unsavory character, but he does his job well," Cordelia snapped at them. "You have one hour in the healing tanks before we teleport you to the ship. Don't waste time." With that dismissal, the Pride left, grumbling as they closed the doors.

"What's with the attitude?" Isaac asked blithely. "You're in an unusually bad mood."

"It's the reaction Ben's team had to Beck and Charlie," Cordelia explained. "I figured it would be bad, but I can't gauge how bad it is." Her eyes brimmed with the thousand calculations whirling through her mind.

"It seems all three were shocked by the events," Isaac surmised. "Kevin got over it, but Gwen and Ben are wild cards here."

"I understand that, but why is Ben so indecisive?" Cordelia mused. "He saw the three of them kill a bunch of people back when they were all ten. Why is it so different now?"

"Because all this time the Pride has shown remorse over what they were doing," Isaac said. "Even if they wouldn't stop, they still felt some sorrow over the people they killed. Beck and Charlie didn't."

"Beck and Charlie are acting like proper Slayers," Cordelia said haughtily. "We may need to retrain the Pride."

"And risk destroying the fragile alliance we created with the Plumbers?" Isaac raised an eyebrow.

She sighed defeated. "I guess there's not much we can do."

He gently grabbed her hand and rubbed little circles on the back of it. He gazed at her affectionately and said, "We'll work it out. We always do."

Her hardened features softened, melting into a soft smile. Her eyes glittered as they drooped half closed. For a second she looked like a different person, not as a strict matriarch but as a real person.

For a moment, they both allowed themselves to be human.

Don't blame them too much. I think there's more to this than meets the eye. All of you need to give each other a chance to explain. How are we supposed to defeat the DNAliens together if we can't communicate?

Such wise words from such a young boy. Cooper was only fifteen, yet he understood the world better than most kids his age. Funny, seeing as how he was always locked up in his lab.

Those very words echoed through the car as Kevin sped towards the Valentine manor. The base of operations eventually loomed over them. They all stared at it as Kevin parked in the driveway.

"So are we actually goin' in or what?" Kevin asked as the three of them stepped onto the driveway.

"We are," Ben said anxiously. "I'm just not happy to talk Cordelia, is all." He gave a weak chuckle.

Gwen strode up to the house like a woman on a mission. "We should talk to Cordelia. I'm giving her a piece of my mind whether she wants to hear it or not!"

"Gwen," Kevin warned. She whirled around. "Your powers are going out of whack."

Gwen looked down to see the bright pink energy encircling her hands. She concentrated and it disappeared. With a sheepish look at their disapproving faces she pushed open the door and walked inside. The boys hurried after her.

As the giant door closed loudly, they adjusted their eyes to the dim lighting. The giant painting of Cordelia and Isaac was still hanging there. In this light, Cordelia's smile looked evil and shark-like.

And then they heard the sounds of footsteps hurrying down the stairs. It was teenage boy in jeans and a simple white t-shirt. He had a thin, pointed face with highlighted blonde hair and sky blue eyes. His face showed off his anger, making it look even more severe.

Zeke Carmichael stopped short of the team, lost in thought until that very moment. He eyed Ben coolly, his cousin giving him the same exact look.

"Ben."

"Zeke."

"Who's the jerk?" Kevin muttered. In the large room it echoed, so Zeke could hear it. The blonde scowled.

"This is Zeke, my cousin," Ben said. Gwen and Kevin gave looks of surprise and looked back and forth between the two.

Gwen took the initiative; she walked up to Zeke and held out a hand. "Hi, I'm Gwen, your other cousin."

Zeke eyed her before tentatively taking her hand. When he figured out there was no catch, he shook it properly.

"I'm Zeke Carmichael, your cousin by marriage," he said pleasantly. "I'm surprised someone so polite came from Ben's side of the family."

"You do realize that Gwen and I are blood related, right?" Ben pointed out.

"Don't remind me," Zeke said with a shudder. He turned back to Gwen. "May I ask what you're doing here?"

"We're here to see Cordelia," she said. "Do you know where she is?"

His eyes bugged out and he took a step back. "What do you need with her?"

"Gwen wants to talk to her," Kevin piped up.

"You want to talk to Cordelia?" Zeke cried out. "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't talk to my cousin like that!" Ben got in the middle of the two of them and glared at Zeke. "What's wrong with you?"

"Hello? She willingly wants to talk to Cordelia. That rings a few warning bells."

"Actually, it's less talk, more yelling at her," Gwen admitted.

"In that case, give me your home address so I can send flowers to your family after Cordelia utterly destroys you."

"Are you threatenin' her?" Now it was Kevin's turn to get all up in Zeke's face.

"No, I'm warning her," he elaborated. "Cordelia doesn't take that kind of talk. Haven't you heard the stories?"

"Can't say I have," Ben said. Zeke gave a long suffering sigh.

"Well, you can't talk to her. She's at work right now. But Isaac's still here. I trust you know where his study is." He fixed Ben with a look full of contempt. Ben returned it.

"We do know," he said, knocking into his shoulder as he walked past. "Don't wait up."

As they hurried out of the grand hall and into the living room, Gwen asked, "Zeke really seems to hate you. What happened between you two?"

"Apparently everyone thought he'd be the vessel for Ventus," Ben explained tersely. "Long story short he hasn't forgiven me for stealing all his glory."

"So he just hates you?" Kevin said. "That's good to know."

"How?"

"Well, you're always saying we need to build a bigger team…" His shit-eating grin was stretching across his face.

"Oh, hell no," Ben growled as they stopped in front of Isaac's study. Gwen raised a hand to knock on the door, only to have them swing open suddenly. They slid towards the opposite walls with a soft thud.

Isaac was sitting behind his chair, writing in a dusty leather bound journal. He put down the fountain pen and smiled warmly at the three of them.

"Welcome back you three! I thought you might be showing up soon." He snapped his fingers and three ornate chairs appeared out of thin air. "Sit down we have a lot to discuss."

The three of them did just that. The doors closed behind them and out of habit they turned to look at them. It was strange, not seeing their friends guarding it.

"Missing them already?" Isaac clucked his tongue. "What with the way you recently treated them I figured you didn't care."

"Technically we didn't do anything to them," Kevin pointed out. "We had to leave them pretty quickly after they pushed us out of the way."

"Oh, I wasn't talking about you trying to save Cooper," Isaac said dismissively. "I'm referring to you three leaving them at the DNAlien base without even trying to reach them."

"We had no choice!" Ben protested. "We were being swarmed by DNAliens, we had to escape!"

"And during that car ride, did you ever try contacting them to see how they were?"

Everyone looked at each other guiltily, since they hadn't thought of doing that. So consumed in anger, it slipped their minds.

Isaac took pity on them. "Before I go into on how disappointed I am in you, let's get this over with: Gwen, you wanted to yell at me about something?"

Gwen started and looked sheepishly at Isaac. "Not you, Cordelia. And how'd you know?"

"Cordelia's not in right now, you'll have to stick with me instead. And never doubt Slayer intelligence," he added. "It's just not worth it."

"In that case, what were you thinking?!" Gwen yelled at him. "How can you teach children to murder people in cold blood? It's inhuman!"

"Beck and Charlie exhibit the old Slayer mindset," Isaac calmly explained. "brutal, coldly cruel, and used to taking orders. Compared to them, the Pride is the odd one out."

"So, in other words, your brainwashing didn't work on them," Ben said triumphantly.

"Oh, they did," Isaac said. "They're still going out on the jobs we assign them, aren't they?"

"In that case, they retained their humanity," Kevin said, relieved.

"Humanity? What, exactly, is humanity?" Isaac mused. "Is it the need to cherish loved ones, give warmth and peace of mind, to love? Or is it the need to destroy, to conquer, and to survive against all odds?"

"Enough with the philosophy!" Gwen shouted. "What gives you the right to turn thirteen year old kids into monsters?"

"What gives a father in the army the right to raise his kids with military values?" Isaac countered. "He's the father, so naturally he would instill such morals. Beck and Charlie are Slayer children; it is within the parents' rights to raise them however they want."

"To make kids monsters?"

"It is technically their right to raise their children how they see fit. Though, if it gives you any peace of mind, Charlie has a good chance of retaining some humanity," Isaac said. "He's like Sam that way."

"Where is Sam?" Kevin asked, arching an eyebrow. "How come she isn't here? Isn't this Slayer headquarters?"

"This is Pride HQ. The Slayer base is somewhere completely different," Isaac revealed. "And Sam is here, getting medical attention from Cordelia. You would know that already if that was the first thing you asked."

Kevin bristled under Isaac's disapproving gaze. It wasn't like he didn't wonder-it had constantly been on his mind-but other things got in the way. And he knew Sam would pull through. She was built tough. She wouldn't go down so easily. But not asking first thing made him seem like a huge jerk, and that was something Kevin didn't want as a label.

"Medical attention? Does that include Evan and Carter?" Ben asked Isaac tentatively.

"What do you think?"

"How bad is it?" Gwen asked concerned. Whatever anger she felt for Isaac and Cordelia faded for the moment.

"Why are you asking? I thought you didn't care."

"We never said we didn't care!" Gwen shouted, her anger flaring back.

"So you only ask when it's convenient for you. That's just like a Slayer." Isaac almost smiled. Almost. "Slayers are selfish creatures, just like humans. Don't act so self-righteous."

The sheer contempt Isaac was throwing her way made the words Gwen was about to say die on her lips. Bile rose in her throat and she averted her eyes. Shame was welling up inside her; how many times had she berated herself for taking her anger out on Evan for things he couldn't control? She was doing the exact same thing here. Except…

"But don't you know better?" Gwen countered. "You're a parent. You should know not to raise your kids into killing machines."

Isaac shrugged. "It's the way the Slayers survived all these years. It's tradition."

"It's a disturbing tradition," Kevin muttered under his breath.

Ben raised his hand like he was in class. "I have a question."

"Yes, Ben?" Isaac answered like a teacher.

"What you said earlier, about surviving. How does that apply here?"

"A very good question, Benjamin," Isaac said approvingly. "I'm sure you've heard about Charles Darwin and the survival of the fittest. It's the core of Slayer teachings."

"How?" Ben asked incredulously.

"What are the absolute dregs of society? The murderers, the rapists, the vile politicians. They are the bottom feeders of the food chain. They thrive when they shouldn't. So we take care of them."

"You mean kill them off," Kevin deadpanned.

"Precisely. People like that should not survive. Their society doesn't want them to survive. So we kill them off to make sure the good people in the world live and breed to make more good people. It's simply nature."

"You can't just put murder in the same league as Darwinism," Gwen protested.

"And yet I just did. Take it or leave it, Gwendolyn. But know this: your friends have been raised with this mindset. They feel bad when certain people are killed off, but on the whole they feel nothing. They are simply doing their duty and advancing society." Isaac leaned back in his chair, arching his fingertips together. He looked at each stupefied, confused face and allowed his words to sink in for a moment.

"I…can't disagree," Kevin said.

"It makes a twisted kind of sense," Ben admitted.

Gwen fumed, trying to find a loophole in the argument. Eventually she gritted her teeth and spat out, "I don't like it."

"I never said you had to. You just have to accept that this is the way things are," Isaac said solemnly.

The doors suddenly burst open, banging against the wall with a crash. Startled, everyone turned to front of the room. Standing in the doorway was a furious Zeke.

"ARE YOU INSANE?!" he screamed, striding up to Isaac's desk. The man in question looked at him innocently.

"What are you talking about, Ezekiel?"

"You're sending them on a mission now?!" Zeke cried. "They need to be in the hospital! Sending them out now is suicide!"

"They're the Pride and their mission is simple. They need to do this now or it will be too late," Isaac said calmly.

"What's going on?" Ben asked Zeke concerned.

Forgetting about their feud, he answered: "It's the Pride. After they came back they had horrible wounds and had to be put into the healing pods. They only had an hour but it's too soon for them to be out. And you sent them out knowing that!" He turned to Isaac, pure hatred in his voice.

"An hour is more than enough for them," Isaac said coolly.

"Evan had a hole in his stomach! He needs bed rest!"

Kevin grabbed Zeke's shoulder and whirled him around. "Evan had a hole in his stomach?" he parroted back.

"Yes!" Zeke emphasized before turning back to Isaac. "What were you thinking?"

"We were thinking, 'Lone DNAlien warship, let's blow it up!'" Isaac said comically. His expression was sober though.

"You found a DNAlien warship?" Gwen parroted.

"And you sent them out even though they were injured?" Ben asked outraged.

"They're the Pride, they've been through worse," Isaac said dismissively.

Kevin threw himself over the desk and grabbed Isaac by the collar. Anger seethed out of him as he breathed deeply through gritted teeth.

"Send them back!"

Despite his strangled position, Isaac eyed him calmly. He then brought a hand up and snapped his fingers. Instantly the sound of Kevin's heavy breathing ceased even though everyone could still see him seethe. Confused, Kevin slowly pried his fingers off of Isaac and snapped his fingers. They could all see him snap three fingers together, yet there was no sound.

Kevin mouthed something, most likely, 'What did you do to me?' Isaac straightened his collar and fell back in his chair. He leaned an elbow on the armrest and brought a fist to his cheek. He looked almost bored.

"I've cut off the sound around you," he explained. "You can still hear us, but you can't talk back. Or make any sound whatsoever. It's a lot like being trapped in a black and white film actually."

"That's insane," Zeke eked out, frightened.

"Yes, well, I have a mastery over sound in general," Isaac said blithely. "Phineas might teach you one day, Ben, if you ever get around to it."

"Forget that, fix him!" Ben cried. He watched in horror as Kevin punched the desk. The wood splintered slightly, yet there was no sound of fist hitting its target. Kevin stared in shock as he slowly backed away from the desk.

"Yes, it would do to change him back." Isaac snapped his fingers and everyone could hear the dull thud of Kevin's boots hitting the wooden floor.

"What…the hell…" he said slowly as his gruff voice returned to normal. Ben and Gwen swarmed him with hugs. He absentmindedly returned them, giving Isaac a wary eye.

"You can't send them back, can you?" Zeke said as the celebration calmed down. Ben's team turned to Isaac, crushed hope written all over their faces.

Isaac told them sadly, "They're probably already gone."

Cordelia hovered over the control panel, watching the readings. She quickly typed out commands for each occupied pod, making sure each person got the right amount of treatment.

She checked her watch. Newton was nearly finished. She walked over to the far side of the titanium room to the only lit pod. She wiped a hand over the top part, revealing her grandson's face. He was submerged in viscous, clear fluid, eyes closed. A breathing mask connected to a tube filtered air into mouth and nose, making sure his brain received oxygen.

Cordelia shook her head. Newt was a fool. A hopeful, kindhearted one, but still a fool. He had wanted power-a normal endeavor, given the family history-for the right reasons. He had wanted to make up for his earlier failure with the Morningstar incident, and for that Isaac had given training even Satan wouldn't condone.

But what was done was done. There was no changing the past, not if the Professor had anything to say about it. And the damage done to Newt would stay, if not physically, then mentally.

The pod began to beep. The mask unglued itself from Newt's face and slid back into the walls of the tank. The water receded slightly so that his face hovered over the surface. With great effort Newt opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Cordelia before she turned away to get his clothes.

The pod slid open and Newt sat up. Cordelia didn't have to look at him to know he was naked. She threw a clean towel at him before putting his repaired, folded clothes on the table beside the pod.

"How long was I out?" Newt asked groggily, wiping his hair with the towel.

"A few hours. The damage was severe," Cordelia answered in a business like tone. "None of it was lasting, but it'll be a few days before you can do anything strenuous."

Newt gave her a look. "Is that from the readings are you making stuff up?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Why would I lie?"

"Can't I pretend for one minute that you actually care about me?"

Cordelia gritted her teeth. She did care, honestly. Isaac would say she cared too much. What she did may be cruel, but she did it with her children's safety in mind. Teaching them early on that it was a dog-eat-dog world that would stab you and then shit all over you was a blessing in disguise.

But Newt would never understand, not truly. He didn't get the training the Pride did. Even if they didn't like it, they accepted it. But there was simply no talking to him.

"Are you going to say goodbye?" Cordelia asked, averting the subject.

Newt paused before answering. "No. They'll ask why I look sick and then I'd have to tell them. And that'd be a huge mess. It's better if I escape into the night."

Cordelia nodded. "I'll tell them you had to go back early. Get out of here in five minutes." She turned her back on him, going back to the panel. Newt quickly changed, folding the damp towel back into a square. Before he left, Cordelia said, "Remember what I said."

"I'll take it easy for a while," Newt reassured her.

"Please," Cordelia pleaded, allowing a smidge of emotion to show through. Newt stood there, surprised, before smiling slightly.

"I'll see you when I see you," he said as he shut the door.

Cordelia was about to curse herself. She couldn't afford to show unnecessary emotion. She was supposed to be heartless, only caring about getting the job done. If she showed any love to anyone, it was to Isaac and the Pride, only them and no one else.

But then she remembered Newt's broken body. She could still see the blood caked on his face, the dismantled limbs. His eyes had been filled with unshed tears, too proud to shed them. If he had, no one would have blamed them.

Newt deserved some love from her. Even if it was small, it was something.

Three other pods slid open, and three people sat up. Cordelia quickly gathered clothes and towels and handed them to their respective owners. Groaning the three teenagers quickly wiped themselves down and began to change. There was no shyness allowed at this moment. They had a job to do and they wanted it done yesterday. Besides, they had known each other so long that this kind of embarrassment was no longer a problem.

"You know your mission," Cordelia said curtly. "Get to it. It's been a long day for us all."

"It just couldn't have waited for tomorrow, could it?" Carter griped. "We couldn't have the night off."

"Of course not," Evan muttered.

"I want a few days off after this," Sam growled at Cordelia. She smirked.

"Consider it done."

Everyone stopped changing and looked at her. "R-really?" Sam stammered.

"It's true; you do deserve a break, especially after today," Cordelia admitted. "Unfortunately we don't know how long that ship is staying there, so the quicker we blow it up the better."

She dared to look them in the eye. They were smiling at each other, happy to hear the news. Work hard, play hard was their motto. It always had been that way, and Cordelia never had a problem with it.

With renewed strength they finished putting on their black outfits and fitted their masks over their faces. All of their hair was black. They're charm bracelets dangled from their left wrists. They were ready for action.

Cordelia led them to the teleporter pad. It was functional if obsolete considering the new standards. But teleporting was time and money, two things they couldn't afford to waste. Cordelia quickly set up the coordinates and the blue swirling vortex appeared.

"Any last words?" Evan joked.

"Don't die," Cordelia said. They all looked at her-she could swear they were smiling under their masks- and waved before jumping into the vortex. Once they were gone Cordelia shut it off.

Cordelia was supposed to be heartless. She was supposed to be cold and unfeeling. But everything she did have a purpose; to give the next generation a better future than the previous one. But the previous generation couldn't interfere with the new. That would simply be meddling. They had to do things on their own or they'd never learn.

But every now and then, they needed a helping hand. And Cordelia never minded lending one.

About the whole survival thing: I hope I answered all your questions concerning it. I even gave you some food for thought. You don't have to agree with it (I don't either, not really) but it was something interesting to write about.

The last few paragraphs are a homage to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Olivier and her brother actually talk about the last generation needing to pave a path for the next generation to follow in the final arc of the story. I kind of took that idea and morphed it into my own. Hope you like it.