So sorry to take so long between chapters! I got a bit stuck and sidetracked, but fear not, brave readers! More chapters are flowing freely and forthcoming!
Again, the team was prepared to catch her coming in. Yusef seemed a bit startled, having just seen her vanish seconds before. Fitz felt the air around her catch up as she braced herself.
"How'd it go?" Hanover asked. The traveler was probably still in a delicate state. The team sat her up as the medic slipped a pressure cuff over her arm.
"Fine, I suppose." She blinked a couple of times, shaking off the flash. "He saw me," she added darkly. Burke caught the dark look in her eye for just a moment.
"Good," he said warily, unsure if that was the correct response.
"Now what?" She wanted this to be done so she could fix what needed to be fixed and move on. Grant was carefully unlacing her so Yusef could check her out.
"Now, you get some tests done, so we can all follow you in for the big one."
"It seems as though the innoculations are holding up for shorts trips," Yusef offered. "Have you been having any problems with anything?"
Fitz shook her head no.
"Really? No aches or pains? Dizziness?"
"Like when I land, yeah," she said. "Is that bad?"
"That may just be the traveling." He tried to put her at ease. "I mean while you're here. Or there..not jumping."
"Oh. Then no. No, I've been feeling fine."
"And the vomiting from earlier?' he asked peering over his glasses. She felt her face getting hot.
"I was..distraught." Fitz stiffened up. "It didn't happen again." She didn't want to talk about it anymore. Yusef sensed this.
"Alright. Just checking." He removed his stethoscope from the crook f her elbow. "Heart rate's elevated, but-" he shrugged it off as par for the course. Everyone seemed convinced that she was being given a clean bill of health. "I will, however," he added, knowing she was going to hate this, "need to draw blood, just to make sure everything going as planned in there."
"Oh no, please, no," she whimpered. "I hate needles."
"I know you do. But it'll just take a minute."
She looked to Burke for support. "Right after I jumped? That can't be safe."
"Sorry, Fitz. Doctor's orders." Burke gave Yusef a nod, assenting to it. Yusef returned the gesture. Fitz wanted to be mad, but she knew she was being a baby. She sucked in a breath, and stiffly extended her arm to the doctor.
The whole thing was over in three minutes. "See? You lived," Yusef taunted. It did help that Grant was holdinig her hand the whole time under the guise of using her as a ballast as he ducked under the Animus to check the integrity. "You travel through time and you're afraid of needles. Honestly, girl."
"Yeah, yeah."
Hanover brought her a biscuit from the tin. "Here you are. Have a snack." Fitz leaned back on the Animus, chomping on a cookie. A hand gave her a surreptious pat on her leg, which she playfully swatted away.
Burke was engrossed in database, sifting through any changes. Nothing jumped out at him yet, which he hoped meant nothing had changed again. Sending her in for this final time was going to be a huge undertaking. All of them were going to have to follow her in and set it up.
The next couple of days passed without incident. Hanover picked up something about The Secret (she kept having to remind herself that currently, they were on that team) moving into an Assassin territory in Japan. Grant checked security around their building, tightening angles here and bolstering defenses there. He wasn't terribly certain from what they were guarding against now. Yusef ran Fitz' bloodwork several times to confirm her health and the viabililty of the vaccines. The same cocktail was administered to the team members in intervals to prevent from the entire team being out of commission at once. Burke was back on his feet in hours.
By the end of the week, the team was in good spirits and began preparations for what they collectively called "The Big One". Grant and Fitz worked on the clothes and costumes necessary. They had been spending more time together this week. Grant was never so bold as to say anything outright and Fitz refused to be more than infatuated.
"Okay, so this," said Grant, buckling her holster, "has to be concealed on you at all times."
"Why can't someone just, I don't know, jump in and leave it the day before I come back?"
"Beacause, A: We won't know what day you'd be coming back and B: Because what happens when someone else finds it? And C: You may not be in the place we drop it."
Fitz thought for a second. "Oh. That makes sense."
"Yes I know it does. That's why I said it."
She snorted a little. Someone was getting snippy. "Now," he continued, "you've got the return coordinates memorized by now, yes?" She nodded and preceded to rattle it off. "Good. We don't want anyone else imputting those, so make sure you hang on to those up here." He pointed to his temple.
"Aye, aye, Cap'n," she returned.
Fitz came through at the next interval. The small orchard was more spaced out than she had imagined. Rows wouldn't provide much cover. Grant was still heaving.
"How the hell do you do this?" he moaned, rolling onto his back for air, tears streaming.
"You get used to it," she said blandly, looking down on him. "Now get up. We've got work to do." He screwed his face up and extended an arm up. She pulled him to his feet. Hanover was awestruck by the scenery.
"It smells like heaven," she said dreamily. "This is insane." Yusef whistled for her to help him hoist the amp into the branches. They had only a few hours of darkness to work undetected. They worked well into the early hours just before dawn. The charges were set, amps checked, fly rig steadied and weighted, batteries charged.
"Let's get the tarp over that and lay low until tonight," Burke ordered. Anything that could be carried was while everything else was left under the tarp. Judging by the time of year, no one would be out here to harvest and in the weak morning light, the group couldn't see any signs of disruption in the rows. They steered clear of the farm house proper and made their way towards the poorer parts of the city, near the ruins.
"Remember: Don't touch, don't talk, nothing." Burke said lowly. Keep to ourselves and everything should be fine. Fitz, if you can, try to sleep. You're going to need it."
"Right."
"I brought some fruit if anyone gets hungry," Yusef said pointing to his pack. "But not a lot, so, go easy."
The found a place in the shade of the Circo and camped down. It seemed quite a few other groups had the same idea. When in Rome...
The day passed agonizingly slow. Fitz was trying to sleep all day, but the noise of the people kept her awake. Her nerves were fraying. She was going to mess this up. In her head, she must have replayed every conversation she had ever had. From Christmas when she was five, to her prom, her induction into the Guild. This was what she was born to do. Dreams were escaping her. Her rest was fitful and short-lived, catching maybe only a half hour here and there. Yusef passed her an apple every few hours, but she felt too nervous to eat. He realized this after the second one he had given was just poked full of nail marks.
"Do you mind? Someone could've eaten that," he snapped.
"Sorry," she muttered. "Nervous."
He was going to continue, but she was. He just nodded and sighed and turned back to whatever he was working on. Poor girl. "Do you want to practice your Italian? Could help take your mind off things?"
"Thanks, but no, I want to try to keep my mind clear."
"And how's that going?" He said, eyes on the apple. She turned over, toward the wall.
The sun had gone down by the time she woke up again. The team was beginning to get as antsy as she was. Grant was pacing around, kicking rocks, here and there. Hanover, fiddling with something small, like a piece of straw. Burke, sat against the wall, where she had seen Yusef last. His eyes were closed, but he didn't seem to be sleeping. Yusef was out of eyesight somewhere, maybe praying.
Time passed oddly around her and the group. She remembered getting up, trudging back to the grove, setting everything up, checking it all once again. Hanover doused her over and over in the burn oil, to keep her from actually burning. It stung her skin in the air. Mics and pulleys were set and ready. Fingers flitted over holsters, setting return protocols in advance.
"Are we ready?" Burke asked. No one spoke or made any move. They all stared out over the grove, over the fields. Grant switched on the amps and hit 'play' on his mp3 player. The most woofer breaking bass note, known by car stereo enthusiasts as 'the burp' rumbled out into the night for what seemed an hour. The track ended and there was the most still silence, followed quickly by verbal panic down in the streets. Burke flipped a switch. "Let there be light." And there was.