Wow... are we already up to Chapter Sixteen? Geez, that's gone quickly! Thanks for sticking with me, guys. Thanks also for the reviews, you have all been very loyal and I appreciate it a lot. Thanks again.

This has turned out to be a 'deep and meaningful' chapter. It wasn't meant to be, but it just kinda happened. There's not much for the action fans, but W/L-loving readers should get something out of it. I don't usually go for angst, but it seemed right in relation to the story thus far.

I do not own Captain Planet, but I'll accept it willingly if HB/DIC/CN decide to give it to me.

Alternate Destination

Chapter Sixteen

Wheeler sat on the window sill of the small hotel room, a far-away look on his face as he observed his friends interacting with obvious joy and contentment. Gi seemed to be in her element, fussing over everybody and generally sticking to Linka like glue (an action typical of their Planeteer days, actually). The American had learnt that the Gi had since married and had a child, a fact that both pleased him and troubled him at the same time. He was genuinely happy for his friend, but her newfound family situation painfully reminded him that this was one area of his own life that remained stagnant. He had simply thrown himself into work after the group break-up, and had chosen not to pursue... other interests. But Gi seemed happy, and she had changed little from her Planeteer days.

The same certainly could not be said for Ma-Ti. The Indian was barely recognizable now, light years away from the frail, softly-spoken boy with an affinity for animals. In all truth, Wheeler thought he was more comparable these days to a grid-iron player or pro-wrestler (and had told him as much). Ma-Ti had dissolved into laughter when the comment was made and had given his mate such a slap on the back that Wheeler had nearly lost his balance and toppled over for the second time in as many hours. Ma-Ti seemed to have a great deal of nervous energy, which seemed to be rapidly uncoiling ... he was unable to sit down for longer than a few minutes, and seemed ecstatic now that everyone was together again. The broad grin had not disappeared from his face all afternoon, and Wheeler was finding it increasingly difficult to dodge some of the Indian's more probing questions relating to his own life thus far.

Physically, Kwame had changed the least out of any of the Planeteers. He remained tall and graceful, his dark hair a little longer than Wheeler remembered. It was Kwame's personality which had undertaken a radical overhaul. He seemed silent, watchful and above all, wary; traits which had certainly not appeared during their time as Planeteers. The African man seemed buffeted by life in general, although he had loosened up considerably after the second hour (to the point of hugging Wheeler briefly on his way past to the bar fridge).

Kwame seemed to have made an attempt towards an apology with Linka as well, since they had both disappeared into the hotel lobby shortly after he and Linka had arrived. The pair had returned some 20 minutes later, and it was pretty obvious that Linka had been crying. Kwame's spiritual outburst from the previous night was now water under the bridge, although Linka would remain guarded towards her old friend throughout the evening. The American wasn't in the least surprised by her defensiveness: it would take some time to re-build her trust in Kwame again. After a great deal of prodding from Wheeler, Kwame had finally taken it upon himself to introduce Sophie, his lady-friend who now sat opposite him at the small table.

"We met last year at an environmental conference," she explained with a small smile in Kwame's direction. "It wasn't exactly love at first sight though."

Kwame nodded, "Sophie's company was sponsoring the 'Environmental Initiative in Public Schools' program, and I was a guest speaker."

"I work for an investment company in Capetown," she said, "and he thought that I was being rude when I ignored him when he introduced himself."

"Well, you walked off in the middle of my sentence!" Kwame said, laughing. "How was I to know?"

Seeing the baffled expression on Linka and Wheeler's faces, she explained, "I'm profoundly deaf in my right ear. I didn't hear him!"

"So anyway, Sophie walked away and I followed her, tapped her on the shoulder at the bar and made an absolute fool out of myself for the next five minutes, lecturing her on manners... very embarrassing." Kwame was shaking his head in disbelief, the color rising in his cheeks as he recalled the event. "She soon cut me down to size, though."

"Do you not have hearing aids?" Linka asked, "You speak very well, regardless."

Sophie nodded. "Yes, but that night I had turned them off, since crowds amplify the sound to an uncomfortable level. I lost my hearing later in life, so my speaking wasn't affected. I prefer to lipread, anyway."

"Wow," Linka marveled softly, suddenly understanding Kwame's attraction to the resourceful, statuesque woman who had succeeded in life despite her setbacks.

"Well Linka, you can be rest assured that last night wasn't the first over-reaction that Kwame has experienced, and it probably wont be the last," Sophie muttered, smiling back at the Russian while thumping Kwame over the back of the head. Wheeler chuckled, then sensed that Ma-Ti was casting a beady glance in his direction. Here we go again, the American thought, bracing himself for the next barrage of questions

"Wait a minute," the Indian exclaimed, "that is the third time that you has changed the subject, Wheeler! You owe us some answers!"

"There's nothing to tell, Monkey-Man," Wheeler replied, before deciding that the window-sill was getting decidedly uncomfortable. He made the swift transition to one of the single beds and propped himself against the back board, his stiff legs stretched out leisurely in front of him. "My life's been pretty boring, up until now."

"Yeah, right," said Gi under her breath. "Okay then, answer this. Are you married? Got a girlfriend? Living with someone? Divorced? Children? Gay? C'mon, throw us a bone here, Wheeler."

"No!"

Gi studied him closely, confused at his answer. "Is that no, I won't throw you a bone, or no, none of the above?"

Wheeler sighed, instinctively aware that Ma-Ti was probably just waiting for an excuse to test his ring out on him. Defeated, he replied, "No, as in none of the above."

"Oh," Gi said quietly, surprised by the answer and now feeling a little guilty for prodding. The conversation pretty much went downhill from there, although Linka continued to observe Wheeler from the next bed, a thoughtful expression on her attractive face. It was finally Ma-Ti who broke the silence, forming the question which had been playing on everyone's mind since their arrival. The Indian cleared his throat and spoke with a deep voice which Wheeler would have trouble identifying in present circumstances, had Ma-Ti not been sitting opposite him.

"Sooooo... what do we do now?"

"Good question," Gi replied, pondering the possibilities. ""Should we call Cap?" Linka seemed to visibly flinch from this idea, her attention now focused on her hands as Ma-Ti and Kwame discussed the possibility of a team beam.

After some thought, Kwame shook his head. "We do not exactly have an eco-emergency on our hands,."

"I'd call Linka an emergency!" Gi regarded her best friend with a smile. "Gaia's gone, Zarm's plotting something from... wherever he... it... oh, you know what I mean!"

"Plunder and the others are likely to be pretty upset with me, too," Linka said, her soft voice having a lulling effect on Wheeler's composure. "Ma-Ti, are you able to locate them... find out where they are?"

The Indian shrugged, unsure. "I can try, Linka," he replied, glancing down at the ring which had been used twice so far, since his power had returned. "Can't guarantee I'll get anything, but..."

Heart...

The others looked on as Ma-Ti frowned, concentration etched on every line of his face. "This is a lot harder than I remember," he murmured.

"You found me easily enough!" Wheeler said, with a snort of indignation.

"Yes," Ma-Ti replied with deliberate slowness, "but you were open to chat with me. I do not want, for example, Hoggish Greedly knowing that I am picking his brain for information."

Wheeler seriously doubted that Hoggish Greedly had the intelligence capable of recognizing and blocking out a reader, but he wisely decided against sharing this with everyone. "Fair enough," the American agreed and waited patiently for Ma-Ti to make a connection.

"They are far away... it is really cold! Freezing!" ("Norway!" Gi interrupted, delighted that their ruse had worked) As he briefly connected with the random thoughts of his enemies, Ma-Ti soon realized that two eco-villains were not accounted for. He broke of the beam and looked around, puzzled. "Plunder and Dr Blight are not with them. I could not reach them," he muttered, now feeling troubled.

"Maybe they ran off and eloped somewhere," suggested Wheeler helpfully, fragments of his old personality beginning to shine through and causing Linka to dissolve into a fit of giggles.

"Nyet, Yankee! That is horrid," she laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. "Ew!"

Ma-Ti smiled, but remained guarded all the same. "I do not think so. The only thing that I can think of, is that they are in flight... in the air, I mean."

Wheeler slapped his forehead as he recalled the van outside of his mother's house. He glanced over at Linka, who seemed to be sharing the same train of thought. "Damn," he muttered, "What's the bet that those guys worked for Plunder?"

Linka nodded, giving an abridged version of the 'apple in the exhaust pipe' for the benefit of the others. "Wheeler blew up their van," she exclaimed, although Ma-Ti and Gi seemed to be struggling to contain their amusement at hearing about this event, which bore a striking resemblance to the 'old' Wheeler they once knew.

"Hey, I thought of setting fire to the apple first, but Linka woulda' bored me to death with a marathon morals lecture," he retorted, pointedly ignoring Linka's shocked expression.

"Boshe moy! You were going to set fire to it first? Wheeler, you are completely ... psych... psychosis..." she said grimly, her frustration ebbing to dangerous levels as she exhausted her knowledge of the English vocabulary. Her cheeks were now flushed and rosy as she struggled to recall the word which refused to budge from somewhere within her subconscious. "You know what I mean."

Gi shook her head and drew her knees up to her chest, observing the American with bright eyes. "I have to say, Yankee, It's great to finally have you back... along with your appetite for destruction and chaos."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, flinging a well-aimed pillow towards Gi's head. It easily found its mark, before rebounding onto the floor and settling near Ma-Ti's feet. "Speaking of appetite, shall we get back to the subject at hand? I'm kinda hungry."

"God, some things never change," Gi muttered to Linka with a roll of her eyes. Food (or rather, the ingestion of food) had always been a favorite pastime of Wheeler's.

Linka's apparent displeasure over the exhaust incident seemed to have been forgotten, however, as she continued to regard him with a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty. Catching her in the act, he raised his own eyes and returned her stare while the others discussed their next move, oblivious to what was happening. She sat cross legged on her bed: pale, frightened, but listening with a restless intensity as Gi repeated her earlier suggestion of calling Captain Planet.

What's the matter? Wheeler mouthed, slightly alarmed to see Linka on the verge of tears again. She shook her head and looked away, her thick brown locks falling fetchingly over the side of her face and obscuring his view. She seemed to exhale shakily, before returning her gaze to her own small hands, lying clasped tightly within her lap.

Wheeler continued his troubled observation, barely hearing Kwame who finally gave in to Gi's earlier suggestion. The African sat back and rubbed his chin. "I suppose we should call Cap, then," he said slowly as Linka stood and exited the room quietly, unseen by all but one member of the group. "He will know what to do about Zarm and..."

"Look," Wheeler interrupted, jumping of the bed and leaning against the wall. "Let's just hold off on Cap for a moment, OK? The guy's been asleep for four years, guys. We need to have something tangible for 'Master Mullet' to act upon before we wake him up... besides," he remarked, his eyes straying towards the door in which Linka had just departed, "we seem to be one ring short, if you haven't already noticed."

"What?" remarked Ma-Ti, before noticing Linka's empty spot on the bed. "Oh."

Gi's eyes seemed to widen as she, too, noticed that her friend had made an abrupt exit. She watched Wheeler step outside and close the door behind him, his soft footsteps fading away down the hallway until they were out of range. Gi winced, suddenly recalling the implications for Linka if Captain Planet was indeed summoned. Frightening thoughts began to form in her head as she cast her mind back to Gaia's last words.

Oh, no...

As selfish as she knew it was it was, the first thought to assault Gi's consciousness was; I'm not ready to give her back, yet...

"Wheeler's right, guys," she said, holding her head in her hands. A headache was beginning to form, and she rubbed her temples in an effort to increase the circulation. "Let's hold off on that idea until we have more information."

The B&B had a small, lovingly-tended garden located along the side of the establishment. Nothing spectacular, simply a wrought-iron picnic table in the corner set for four people, two of which were currently being used by an attractive young couple. The pair were locked at the lips so Linka passed them as quietly as possible, not wanting to disrupt the romantic moment. Her thoughtful action later seemed redundant, after an ambulance passed with it's sirens wailing like an insane banshee. The disruption failed to disturb the distracted pair, regardless of the noise level emitted from the vehicle.

Good for them, she thought, with just a hint of resentment adding to her already turbulent emotions. She shivered slightly, the afternoon sun seeming to have lost all of it's potency. It beamed down weakly, unfelt by anyone out walking in the 'supposed' summer sunshine .

As the wailing died away, Linka found a shady area and sat down, her back leaning against the garden retaining wall. She jumped slightly as a tabby cat pounced from behind a flower bed to her right and stalked towards the building. Linka watched it with detached interest as it broke into a run and disappeared through a cat-flap, looking back and fixing Linka with narrowed eyes.

She sat in silence, fairly sure that the love-birds were yet to register her presence. Linka looked away from the spectacle, but found her eyes drawn back every now and again, the sight both intriguing and depressing her at the same time. The couple finally broke away and sat contentedly, basking in what was left of the sunlight and talking animatedly. When their radiant, happy faces become too much to bare, Linka turned her attention towards the ground around her and began randomly plucking blades of grass from the earth. She pinched each blade at the base of the stem and gently pulled, dislodging the roots with diligent care. A strong breeze whipped around her for a moment, causing Linka's hair to tangle around her face. She looked up and surveyed the yard, watching as a breakfast cereal box flew past the enamored couple and lodged itself within the wooden fence. Frowning, Linka grabbed another blade f grass and resumed her patient tugging.

Now thoroughly engrossed in her task, Linka didn't notice Wheeler's presence until he had dropped his jacket over her shoulders and sat down beside her, frowning at the tangle of green clippings lying strewn around her borrowed white flip-flops.

"...and they call me destructive," he muttered, his heart leaping a little as she graced him with a genuine smile. He picked up one particularly mangled specimen and held it out, scrutinizing the damage. "Poor little guy never had a chance, Lin!"

Linka chuckled, already feeling considerably buoyed by his company. She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin for a moment. They sat in silence for a while, before she felt the gentle pressure of Wheeler's hand on the back of her neck. She sighed, her thoughts floating far away until his voice brought her back to reality with a crash.

"What's going on, Lin?"

She sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt, contemplating the best way to break the news.

He came back for me.

The knowledge was sobering, at best.

Da, I was dead, but now I am alive again. But don't worry, Wheeler! I will soon be under six feet of earth again, just as soon as Cap has fixed things up, she thought bitterly, wondering why life deals such harsh blows to some, while leaving others remarkably blessed. Oh, and by the way, Yankee- I think I am in love with you.

She blinked twice, surprised at how easily the last reflection had entered her mind... and how comfortable she was with that knowledge.

"Hey, you still with me?" he asked, giving her neck a small squeeze and watching her worriedly.

"Da," she replied hoarsely. "Just give me a minute..."

He nodded, his gaze settling on the tabby cat who had made another appearance, this time curling itself around the other couple's feet. He felt her move slightly, turning to face him as she opened her mouth, then closed it again, unsure of how to proceed.

Choosing her words carefully, Linka forged ahead, regardless of her mounting fear. "I, um... I have been led to believe that... my... being here... is not, um..." She trailed off, unable to find a suitable word which described her predicament. Linka silently cursed herself, looking away from Wheeler's face in frustration.

"Permanent?" Wheeler ventured quietly, his intuition serving him well.

She nodded, unable to meet his gaze. "I do not want to go back to..." she whimpered, misery now intermingling with fear as she realized that she couldn't even complete the sentence properly. "I do not even know what I am going back to," she murmured, pushing her hair behind her ears and watching the lovestruck couple once again.

"Shit," he muttered, but not totally surprised by the revelation. "So... once this is all over and settled? I mean, you'll be... ah... returning?" he asked, for lack of a better word. She nodded again, wiping her face and glancing upwards for a moment, a look of grim determination now settling across her face.

"Boshe moy, she exhaled shakily. "Why can't things just go back to the way things were? I just want to wake up and... for things to be back to normal."

"This is normal for me... for the rest of us, Lin. One day you were there, the next..."

She gave him a watery smile and nodded. "Da, I know that." She redirected her gaze towards Wheeler, who wrapped an amicable arm around her shoulders.

"Look," he said, "let's just cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? No use freaking out about it now."

She nodded. "All right. Yankee?"

"Yeah?"

She needed to know the truth, but had lacked the confidence to do so until now. Nervous anticipation bubbled away as she asked the burning question that had plagued her since their early days as Planeteers. In a voice that was little more than a whisper, she finally brought up a long-standing issue and forced it out into the open, an issue which she had stubbornly refused to acknowledge for so many years.

"Were you in love with me?"

He regarded her with surprise, his eyebrows raised as he laughed nervously, waiting for the only appropriate response he knew to arrive.

"Geez, Lin... yes!" he replied indignantly, staring at her with obvious amusement.

"Oh... I...I didn't know that you... you felt..." she stammered, turning bright red as she struggled to meet his bemused stare.

"How the hell could you not know that? I was about as subtle as a sledge-hammer in those days!"

They observed each other for a moment, Wheeler obviously completely taken aback by her question and Linka struggling not to dig a rather large hole and bury herself away from his soulful eyes. "I just thought that... that you... you had a crush on me, or... I don't know!" she spluttered, "I refused to believe that it was serious, I guess."

"Well, that was pretty bloody stupid of you!" he said, although his tone was calm and without a trace of anger. She winced from the comment nonetheless, as if physically hurt by it. In the scheme of things, Linka chose to accept his derision gracefully, all too aware that she probably deserved it.

"You have changed, you know" she remarked softly, a little shocked herself at the progression of her random observations. He blinked and looked away but Linka continued, despite his discomfort. "I couldn't see it, until now. There was so much joy in your life, Wheeler. A joke for every occasion. We always laughed when you were around. Despite the situation, we always laughed..." She broke off, suddenly mourning the way things used to be. "That joy seems to have... gone."

These weren't the only differences she had noticed. He was more guarded with his emotions, now. Wary.

Is this my fault?

The thought disturbed her greatly. Her mind reeled back to Gi's question about his relationship status. Linka had been relieved beyond words when she had heard his reply, but now it simply troubled her.

Has he simply given up?

"Of course I've changed," he finally replied to her earlier observation, after pondering her words for a while. "I mean, I'm 29, now. Ya' gotta grow up sooner or later."

"You are 29?" she replied with a frown, having never considered the increased age gap before. "Boshe moy, that is so old!"

"Thanks, babe," he replied with a sarcastic edge to his voice. "You've made my day."

Linka giggled and apologized profusely, before leaning in and pecking him self-consciously on the cheek. Her lips lingered enticingly close to his skin for a few seconds, but she seemed to lose her confidence and moved away again, blushing prettily.

He seemed to appreciate the gesture immensely. After a moments hesitation, she felt Wheeler slip his arm from her shoulders to around her small waist. Linka gasped as his grip tightened around her and she was drawn sideways into his lap, her legs draped fetchingly over his right knee. She watched him silently as he propped her up, using his raised left leg as a support. Linka's heart was thudding loudly as his loving attention returned to her face. Up close, she could count the number of freckles splayed across the bridge of his nose and he seemed to be scrutinizing her own features in much the same way.

He smiled down at her with the utmost affection, the corners of his eyes creasing as he wrapped one arm around her neck, cradling her head while the remaining hand reached out and touched her cheek, marveling at the soft, warm skin beneath his fingers. Wheeler gently tweaked the tip of her nose, then hugged her with all the strength left in his being. She returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face between his chin and shoulder blade, a safe haven from the disintegrating outside world.

She closed her eyes, strangely calm and at peace with her situation. All of the noises around them seemed to filter into nothingness, replaced by the now-steady beat of her heart. She shuffled slightly in his arms and felt the rough skin of his cheek graze against her forehead. He kissed her there, below her left temple and she sighed, aware that she now craved something more from him and more importantly, she wasn't at all scared by the power of this personal revelation.

"I stand by what I said earlier," he murmured close to her ear, the heat of his breath letting loose a flurry of butterflies within her stomach. "For such a smart girl, you were pretty bloody stupid, babe."

Linka squealed, pinching him hard in retaliation for the remark. "Damn Yankee! You are still a..."

Not wishing to hear the end of that particular sentence, Wheeler wisely chose to silence her by gently pressing his lips against her own. She hitched in her breath, taken by surprise but the contact was tantalizingly brief. The kiss was over before it had really begun as he drew away, not wanting to frighten her. Instead, he sighed and cuddled her again, his chin resting serenely against the side of her face. A flash of orange distracted him, followed by a high-pitched scream. They both jumped in fright and stared in the direction of the commotion as the tabby cat from earlier was launched bodily through the air.

"What the hell?" Wheeler muttered, swiveling Linka's body around slightly and watching as the cat landed on it's feet with a thud and took off blindly in the direction of the street. The young couple, whom Linka had glimpsed earlier were now hurrying towards the building, the woman sobbing hysterically and rubbing her head.

"Did that cat just..." Linka wondered aloud, also aware of the fact that they were now alone in the garden.

"Yeah," Wheeler replied, as the Russian guided his face towards hers again and fixed him with a mock glare.

"...and what if the cat had jumped on my head?" she asked, moving in and nuzzling his nose affectionately when she had his full attention again.

"I'd probably set fire to it," he replied, a cheeky grin barely able to hide the desire that was brewing to dangerous levels. He absently ran his index finger down her shoulder and arm, then back up again, the fabric bunching uncomfortably . She shivered as his hand moved to touch her cheek again, fascinated by the unyielding texture beneath his fingers.

"Damn Yankee... hurry up before I lose my nerve."

He laughed and tilted her chin up, kissing her with delighted and renewed passion. She melted into him, surrendering to the sensation of his lips on hers and his hands roving through her hair and all over her alert body. She returned his kisses with matching intensity, whimpering when his hands reached the hem of her shirt and caressed the bare skin of her back underneath the fabric. Her own hands seemed to have a mind of their own as she moved them over his torso, but paused when she realized that his own exploration had stopped. Alarmed, she pulled back and looked at him questioningly, trying to catch her breath in the process.

"Wheeler? What is..." The words died on her lips as she followed his gaze and gasped, shock overriding the previous emotions. "Why is it so dark?" she whispered, gripping his forearm in confusion.

Wheeler didn't answer. She felt the muscles in his arm tense as he disentangled himself and gently moved her aside. He stood wordlessly, helping Linka to her feet and leading her towards the house. Linka noticed the young couple's faces pressed against the window as they entered, a frightened expression apparent on the woman's face. Glancing at the analogue clock in the lobby, Linka read the time on the dial and choked back a cry of disbelief.

Two o'clock in the afternoon? How is that possible?

They climbed the stairs together, Linka looking over her shoulder as if half expecting to find someone following them. As they made it to the second floor landing, the decorative hall lights flickered on and off for a moment, before 'giving up the ghost' and dying completely.

"Fire"

Wheeler's ring lit up in an instant and they used it to climb the remaining staircase to the third floor. The lights flickered again, casting an eerie glow as they entered the hallway. A loud explosion followed as the B&B lighting system was extinguished for good, sparks descending from a small chandelier above their heads.

"Go, go, go!" Wheeler hissed as he pushed her forward. She darted past the red flames, feeling one settle on the back of her hand. She frantically brushed it off, although the burning sensation would remain for some time.

"Wheeler, what is going on?"

"Maybe the fuse box," he said uncertainly, but even he seemed to doubt his own explanation.

"That doesn't explain what's happening outside?" she implored, stopping at the door to the hotel room. He shrugged, apparently lost for words.

"You got a key?" he asked, craning his head around as a noise emanated from the next room. Their neighbors door slammed shut as a young family passed them, the parents herding their children towards the exit with grim faces.

Linka opened the door and immediately saw that the room was empty. She stepped inside and looked around, her gaze falling upon a note tacked to the bar fridge.

We've gone to get some lunch, meet you here for dinner.

Don't get up to too much mischief!

Love Gi

Linka handed the note to Wheeler, then paced over to the window and peered into the street below. She squinted, barely able to focus on the people standing in the street, talking amongst each other and peering up at the sky.

"No power," Wheeler mused, seeing that the VCR and alarm clock were as dark as the sky outside.

"It is the same out here!" she exclaimed, noting that not a single street light or shop window was ablaze.

She turned and regarded Wheeler with frightened eyes, aware of the only entity who was capable of this. She briefly wondered if this was only the beginning. Comforting hands gripped her shoulders and turned her around, hugging her, albeit too briefly.

"We need to find the others, babe."

Next chapter in a few days. Don't forget to review, guys!