A/N: No, I hadn't forgotten about this story. Fact is, I got halfway done with this chapter and got a case of writer's block. I just couldn't get the helicopter sequence to sound right in my head, let alone put it down correctly in words. Unfortunately, I have to admit that the Final Fantasy story is getting a lot more attention than this one is, so it will be the one that gets most of my focus. That said, I won't give up on writing this one, I just may not update it as frequently as I would like.
So, what's in this one? The second half of John's trip down memory lane! I had actually originally wanted to put Logan's and Charles' reactions in this chapter, but it was getting too long, and I was also worried about having enough material for the next one anyway, so I decided to put the aftermath all in one.
Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men, Marvel, Disney, or anyone else that may have copyrights in this story.
Chapter 6- Break Away
Another flash of light and now John's vision was cloudy. Wherever John was, he could hear a woman's voice, but it didn't appear that she was talking to him. John looked over, and it became obvious that the woman was actually talking to someone on a phone. From the looks of things, they were in some sort of motel room, there were two beds with a nightstand between them. The beds didn't seem to be too lavish, and it was probable that it was a fairly cheap motel. Most of the conversation was being handled by whoever was on the other end of the line, but from what John could hear, he wasn't very happy.
"Yes, the bomb is in place." The woman's voice was muffled, but she had an Eastern European accent to her. "Tomorrow morning at 11. You're sure he'll be there with only his security? You know I don't like killing innocents, sir. Good, I'll return after the job is completed. Yes, sir. Good bye." She hung up the phone, and turned to lie down on the bed. It was early in the evening, but she was obviously quite tired.
"You lied to her, sir." John's voice was more clear than the woman's had been. "The building is still open. Many people will die."
"Yes, I did, John. Don't concern yourself with that. It is a means to an end." The voice belonged to General Raines, and much like John's, it came through quite clear. "And you can't warn her of the consequences of her actions."
"But, sir!" Suddenly there was a slight pain in the back of John's neck, and his vision blurred more than it already was, before completely disappearing, to reveal a room filled with computers and monitors.
"That's enough for today, John. Go get some rest." Raines motioned for him to leave, and John stood up and saluted before walking out the door and into the middle of a hallway.
"You seem upset." The man had been standing near the door waiting for John to come out. John knew he was there, though, so he wasn't surprised about it. The man seemed to be a few years younger than John was, and his bald head had a small scar on the top of it. He was dressed similarly to John, in a green full body suit. It was the standard issue uniform for them while they were in the base and off duty. The man spoke with a noticeable German accent, though it was obvious that he was trying to hide it.
"He's lying to Natalia so that she'll complete the mission, but I'm worried about the effect it'll have on her."
"How bad?"
"Approximately six hundred will die." The man cringed at this statement, but continued to walk with John as they moved down the hallway.
"She will overcome it. She's a lot tougher than she looks, you know."
"I know that, Friedrick, but it's still hard to say that Raines is going about this the right way. I mean, I'm smart enough to know he's looking for shock value, but to me it just seems to be overkill."
"You know they'll be watching me when I go in there. I can't warn her any more than you could."
"I know that, but it doesn't make it any easier to take it." By now they had reached the end of the hallway. John pressed the button to summon the elevator so they could return to their quarters.
"I just wish that there was more that we could do for our kind." Friedrick was a mutant like John. Also like John, his power was telepathy, and he was brought into the Organization unwillingly. Unlike John, however, Friedrick's powers were natural, he'd had them before he was brought on board. Although Friedrick was a good telepath, John was much better, and without the machine that John had been using a few minutes earlier, Friedrick wouldn't be of any value to the Organization at all.
"We're doing what we can, for everyone. At least that's what I've been brought up to believe." The bell rang and the elevator doors opened, and the two mutants entered. "That said, it's getting harder to tell who's really benefiting from our work."
"Indeed it is. The Organization's power continues to grow, but to what end?" Friedrick looked over at John, and noticed that he was grimacing slightly. The younger mutant immediately knew the cause. "They still haven't said anything about that?"
"No, they haven't, and the pain's getting worse." John groaned slightly as he held his stomach. "I think they know what's causing this, but I don't know if they can do anything about it. At least I'm hoping that's why they won't say anything." John closed his eyes for a few seconds, and willed the pain away. When the bell rang again, to signal that they'd arrived at their destination, he opened them back up and walked through the door.
"I'm sorry, mein friend. I wish I could do more for you." Friedrick followed John out the door.
Another flash, and now John was in some sort of computer room, searching through various files. As he searched, he would pick out certain files and copy them onto a device he'd plugged into the computer. It was fairly obvious that he was stealing the files, and that he definitely shouldn't be where he was. Especially since when he looked to his left, there was a guard lying on the floor, his eyes wide open in shock, and a sword still sticking out of his chest.
After a few minutes of searching, John paused at one specific file. The name on the file was in German, it simply said "roten Stein."(1) John knew this was the name of a group that had recently been founded in Russia, and the fact that it appeared here was of great interest to him. He pulled a device out from under his shirt sleeve and inserted it into the computer, then downloaded that file onto the new device, before removing it and replacing it where it originally resided. He then went back to his job.
Another flash and he was somewhere else, a cafe of some sort. He was sitting at a table with a laptop, waiting for a program to run on the computer as he drank a cup of coffee. Across from him sat another man, who was talking in German to someone on a phone. After a few minutes, the other man hung up and spoke to John. "If you are right and the Russians are trying to pull something, we're all going to be in deep shit if it goes south, you know." Like Friedrick, this man had a noticeable accent, though his wasn't quite as thick and it was obvious he'd been working on concealing it.
"Karl, if I'm right and the Russians are up to something, I don't think it's going to matter what the outcome is. It's probably going to end badly for us no matter what." As he finished speaking, the computer beeped, causing John to look at it. On the screen was a message, "Translation Complete." John hit a few buttons on the keyboard, and several files sprang up. After a minute of reading, John's face went extremely white.
"Vat is it?"
"We were wrong about our situation." John shook his head and shut the laptop as he got up and started for the exit. "And we've all paid for it." He turned and quickly walked out of the cafe, with Karl following right behind.
"What do you mean we were wrong?"
John spun around to face his friend. His face had gone from shock and fear to anger and hatred at a speed that even Karl was surprised at. "Not here, not now. Later tonight, when Fred and Natalia are able to talk about it with us." John made his way over to a waiting vehicle and got in as it sped away.
Later that night, the four sat in a small room with two beds. The room was shared by Karl and Friedrick, and at this point all four of the mutants in the room had collars on. Security had been increased around the base lately, and even John had had some of his freedoms taken away. As it stood now, the four were huddled around John's laptop, and he was showing them the files he'd translated earlier. Natalia was the first to speak up. "So, we are hunting our own kind?"
Karl had to respond to this question. "It would appear so, though I didn't think that any of my targets were mutants."
"They probably weren't. The Organization has been expanding its targets to include anyone who could potentially be a threat, in addition to their stance as an anti-mutant military force." John's anger was evident in his voice. He was still having trouble believing that General Raines had been lying to him for fifteen years about his purpose. But there it was in black and white. The papers themselves had been classified at the highest level, not by any single government, but by the United Nations itself. It was fairly obvious that nobody had bothered to read the reports, but they were there all the same.
The Crimson Knights, the military unit that was led by General Raines, the same unit that was secretly the head of the Organization, was created to promote peace. But under his leadership, the Organization's motives had been altered to have one focus, the annihilation of all mutants. And in order to carry out this directive, Raines had authorized the use of mutants under the public guise of promoting peace. The thought made all four of them sick.
"I can't continue to do this. I WON'T continue." John was barely containing himself at this point.
"Vat are you going to do? If you rebel you'll only get yourself killed. Especially with zese damn collars on." Natalia's own anger was causing her to revert to her Russian accent. She had been speaking English for as long as she could speak Russian, but it took her years to overcome her accent. Even now, when she got particularly agitated, it would show up.
"They have to take the collars off when we leave the base. Though they have been putting tracking devices on our clothes and chaperoning us all the time. If I can surprise them when they remove the collar, maybe I can find a way for all of us to get out of here."
"Vhy you, John? Vhy can't we help?" Friedrick hadn't spoken much, he really had little need to, but he knew that this wasn't going to go well for them if John took all the responsibility.
"Because I'm the one most adapted to handle it. Because I'm the one they trust the most. And because I'm the one who'll probably be sent off base first." John's logic was very hard to argue with, and all three of them knew it. Reluctantly, they all agreed to follow his lead.
A few days later, John was told he was going to Iraq. It seemed to him that the mission came up suddenly, but he wasn't going to raise suspicion by asking questions, he was too smart and too experienced for that. He was surprised that night, though, when four men grabbed him as he slept and dragged him into the General's quarters.
"I must admit John, I'm disappointed in you. I would have thought you'd be ready for a surprise from me." He gestured to the men holding him. "I would have expected you to fight back."
"If I would have considered it a test, I would have. Fortunately for them, I was still half asleep when they grabbed me." The General frowned at John's weak excuse, and even John himself had to admit that it wasn't going to hold up under much scrutiny.
"Well, lucky for you the real test is downstairs. Take him down and get him ready." It appeared that Raines wasn't too worried about what John was doing. John, however, became quite worried at what the General had planned for him.
The four men drug John down to the training room, where they proceeded to take off his collar. John seized the moment, and before anyone could react, he'd taken out all four of his captors. He quickly tied them up and ran from the room. He muttered a curse at the timing of all of this, because Karl and Natalia had left that morning for a job in Italy, leaving Friedrick as the only partner he had on the base, and he was on duty in the control room tonight. John sighed and used his mental ability to contact Friedrick. Plans have changed. I'm making my break now.
Shit man, I can't just walk away from here and live, you know that! Friedrick was afraid even more than John had expected him to be, and John quickly realized why. As he ran down the hallway toward the elevator, he scanned the base and realized that there was no way for him to get to his friend and make it out of the building alive.
I know, I'm sorry. I promise you, when I get the chance I will return and get you and the others free, or I'll die trying. I wish I could say more, but... John had to cut his thoughts short as the elevator opened and several armed soldiers started firing at him. John ducked down a side hallway, but not before throwing a psychic blast at the shooting guards. He hoped that it would knock them out, but knew that even if it didn't do that, it would at least slow them down.
At this point, someone in the control room must have realized what was happening, maybe the General himself, as at this point, alarms and sirens started blaring all throughout the building. John quickly and carefully made his way to a little used stairway near the back of the building. He knew that he couldn't exit the building from this location, but it could get him away from the guards, at least for a moment.
He was lucky, as it appeared that the guards were slow to realize that he knew of this access point, and he was able to get down to the second floor of the building with relative ease. Once there, he was able to use his mental abilities to keep an eye on all the soldiers searching for him in what was essentially a maze of offices and hallways. He was forced to take out a few of the guards, but his skills allowed him to do so quickly and quietly. After a ten minute game of cat and mouse, he had wound his way over to the main stairwell. All he had to do now was go down the stairs and he'd be in the front lobby.
Of course, that's easier said than done, when the lobby is populated with twenty soldiers armed with various automatic rifles and orders to kill on sight. Sighing, John realized that getting out of here unscathed was going to be next to impossible. To make matters worse, the soldiers on the second floor had realized that he was no longer there, and were making their own way downstairs.
John considered his options for a minute, then realized that he had no choice but to move forward. Using his telekinetic ability, he managed to trigger the fire alarm in the lobby. As part of the automatic response, the sprinkler system began to shower the entire lobby in water. John managed to concentrate hard enough and long enough to use the water drops as projectile weapons of his own, sending them flying at the soldiers at a high rate of speed. John knew that this tactic wouldn't be deadly, but it would keep the soldiers from being able to shoot him as he ran past them and toward freedom.
As he passed through the double doors, he was blinded by another flash of light, and he found himself falling, landing face down in a puddle of water. As he picked himself up, he noticed a sharp pain in his gut, the same pain that he'd experienced in the earlier memory, but this time it was much worse. And unlike before, this pain wasn't going away. John stumbled forward, through the rain that was falling at a steady pace. He was in some sort of an alley, and ahead of him was a clearing.
In that clearing, two men stood speaking to each other. With a shake of hands one of the men left, entering a warehouse across from where John was. John realized that the man still standing outside was the one he was looking for, and stepped out of the alley and into the man's view as he called out to him. "Doctor Karn."
John's voice was barely above a whisper, but the doctor apparently heard him as he jumped in surprise before turning around to see John stumble and fall once more. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
John was breathing heavily, panting. The pain in his gut was spreading to his chest. "My name... isn't important... I was sent... by Strider." John paused, as even speaking these few words was nearly suffocating him. "I'm dieing... I need... your help." And with that, John passed out.
When he came to, John realized that he was lying on some sort of a bed. He had a breathing tube in his mouth, he quickly realized, and because of that, he couldn't speak. He was both relieved and concerned when Dr. Karn, was almost immediately standing over him, shining a light in his eyes and otherwise examining him.
"Good, you're awake. I was hoping we wouldn't lose you yet." The doctor smiled at John, and even though he was weak, John was able to concentrate enough to realize that the Doctor's smile was genuine. "I saw your blood work, and I think I know what the problem is. You were the victim of some sort of gene therapy, and since you were sent by Strider, I can only assume that means that you are a mutant."
I am. Karn didn't seem too surprised to be able to hear John's thoughts. Since he was a geneticist, though, he was probably capable of identifying mutations based on location, and if so, he could probably guess John's ability.
"Good, it appears I was right in my assessment of your condition." The doctor smiled again and walked back over to a computer, typing some things in before coming back. "Your case is unique, I'm afraid. You see, your psychic mutation isn't natural, it was given to you by whoever did this gene splicing on you. And from the looks of things you were still quite young when they did it, too."
I was eight years old at the time. John didn't know why he felt compelled to give the doctor that information, but he couldn't stop himself. It didn't matter, he figured, and the information could help save his life.
"Ah, yes, that would explain a lot then." He looked at the computer screen once more, then walked back over to John. "The problem is you were a mutant already. The genetic alterations that these people did to you caused you to gain psychic abilities, but it also repressed your natural mutation. Now that mutation is trying to assert itself, and in doing so it is tearing your body apart."
A natural mutation? Why wasn't I aware? John's mind was going a thousand different directions at the moment, but his focus was on what Dr. Karn was telling him.
"Your natural mutation is elsewhere on this strand, it was physically unaffected by the initial splicing, and because you were so young at the time, it hadn't become active yet, so there's a good chance that whoever did this to you probably wasn't aware of it themselves."
How could they not be? John was already under the impression that he was being lied to, and now he was hearing proof of it.
"I don't know, it's possible they did know. It depends on if they knew what they were looking for." Karn was silent for a few minutes before he continued. "I can help you, but there are risks, and you have choices to make."
The risks are immaterial. I should be dead already. Tell me the choices.
"All right. You have essentially three choices with which I can assist you. The first is to remove your natural mutation and keep the spliced one. The second is to remove the splicing and keep the natural mutation. The third is for me to do a second splice that will hopefully stabilize your genetic code and halt the degeneration." He paused for a few seconds before adding. "There is a fourth option, however. You can do nothing and die a slow and painful death."
John was silent. He knew what he wanted to do, but he also knew that it was by far the riskiest of the options. It only took him a few seconds, however, to realize it was what was necessary for his survival. I'll take the second splicing. I know it'll be painful and there's a good chance I can die, but it will be the one that will benefit me the most if it is successful. Besides, if I do survive it, it'll look good on your resume as well, won't it? John couldn't help but get a small amount of humor into his comments. The doctor realized this and laughed a little bit as well.
Suddenly John realized several things at once. First, he had no idea where he was. Second, he wasn't feeling any pain, in fact, it was like much of his body was numb. The third thing he realized was that there were many people in the area, outside the room he was currently in. Although he couldn't focus his mind much beyond the door, he knew that everyone outside was quite agitated about something.
It seemed as if the doctor was reading his mind, or perhaps John was projecting his thoughts into him without realizing it, but either way, the doctor placed a hand on John's chest. "Relax. You are on a ship, the Euphrates. It is designated as a passenger ship, but in reality it is a private military vessel. We are currently about two hundred miles off the coast of Portugal in the Atlantic Ocean. Whoever it is that hurt you before, they can't get to you now. A friend of Strider's deserves nothing short of the best possible care." The doctor looked at the IV that John suddenly realized was in his arm. "You are on a morphine drip. That is why you are having trouble concentrating. To be perfectly honest, with the amount of morphine I've given you, I'm surprised your conscious, but I suppose you have a high tolerance for things, don't you."
John nodded weakly and closed his eyes. He realized that even if he wanted to, he wasn't going to be able to go anywhere anytime soon. He decided to relax as best he could and let the doctor do what needed to be done to save him. Soon, he found himself blacking out.
The next few memories came through as if they had been cut and edited together in a hurry. It was fairly obvious that John was trying to make the presentation go faster, and in doing so had put together several conversations with Dr. Karn into one series of comments. Either that, or in his recovery, his memories had been distorted and this was all he could clearly recall.
"Surgery was successful... New abilities... Healing increased... Regeneration... Create and manipulate fire... Amazing... Can go soon..." After this, there was just darkness.
John woke up suddenly, scared and confused. He noticed that the breathing apparatus had been removed as had the IV, and he quickly had to wonder why he was jolted awake. Suddenly, the entire room shook, and many loud pops could be heard coming from outside the door. John realized quickly that the pops were gunfire, and that could only mean one thing. They were under attack.
Quickly, he gathered some clothes that had been left near the bed he was laying on and got himself dressed. He opened the door just a crack so that he could look out. Spotting a soldier he recognized, John gabbed him and pulled him into the lab. The soldier, unaware that John was awake, let out a startled scream before realizing what was happening.
"Hey. What the hell's going on?"
"We're under attack, genius. Would have thought you could tell that, what with your powers."
"Yeah, well, I just woke up, so I'm still a little out of it. Who's attacking?"
"Beats me, got two helos circling us, and a third landed on the pad and the soldiers from it are running roughshod over us. We never saw them coming until they were already here!"
John closed his eyes for a minute, trying to find the enemy. He didn't have to search far, because even though most of them were still on the external decks, a few had made their way down into this area of the ship. He could tell right away that they weren't shielding themselves from his mental probing, either they weren't aware he was here or they didn't think he would be able to sense them. "Damn, its the Organization." John looked to his friend. "Get everyone ready for a fight. These guys aren't going to give up, and they aren't going to go away, especially if it's me they want." He pointed to the pistol on the soldier's waist. "Mind if I borrow that?"
"Sure thing. I have more than enough firepower with this, anyway." The soldier held up his AK-47. John used his telekinetic abilities to take the gun from the soldier, then they both left the room quickly and quietly.
After about ten seconds of running, they came to an intersection, where they could go left, right, or up. The soldier pointed to the right. "I have to go meet the rest of my unit. You're going to probably want to go after the enemy, so you'll be heading that way, right?" He pointed up as he asked. John only nodded, then saluted the soldier, who saluted back, then disappeared down the hall. John climbed the ladder, already aware that nobody was on the deck above him, and stealthily made his way toward the door to the outside portion of the ship.
As he got about halfway down the hall, the door opened up and three Organization soldiers ran through it, only to be promptly gunned down by the mutant. He paused over the bodies, picking up some more weaponry, including a semi-automatic and an assault rifle. He knew once he was outside he probably wouldn't need these as much, but within the confines of these corridors, it was much safer to use standard weapons than mutant powers.
John made his way through the opened door, and found another intersection. Using his psychic abilities, he was able to map himself a way to the outer decks of the ship, but he had to pause to update the locations of the enemies and allies every so often. He helped some of his friends, if they were near where he was, but he knew that he couldn't afford to go too far out of his way to do so, as the helicopters could, and if need be would, blow the entire ship up.
Using his mental map, John quickly made is way to the ship's outer decks. He paused for a minute, since by now he could hear the helicopters and the gunfire from outside. He also needed to reassess the situation, since he knew there were both enemy and friendly soldiers out on the deck, and he needed to be able to tell them apart.
After a few seconds, he was able to focus enough to pick out three enemy soldiers that were near the doorway in front of him. Opening it, he quickly fired off six shots at the two enemies directly in front of the door, before turning around and shooting down the one he'd sensed on the deck above. He then ran over to the small group of allies hiding behind cover. "You guys all right?"
One of the soldiers motioned to him to get down as one of the helicopters flew overhead. "That damn helo is cutting our forces apart on the upper decks. In addition, we have two in our group that is wounded."
John realized quickly that they were sitting ducks here, but he also knew that at least one of the wounded wouldn't survive long enough to get medical care anyway. "All right, everyone who can needs to get below decks, I'll see what I can do about that chopper." He paused and looked around, realizing suddenly that he could currently only sense one. "Where's the other one?"
"It got hit and flew off, we don't know if it was destroyed or just damaged." The soldier was pointing out toward what John could only assume was the shoreline, still over 150 miles away.
"All right, get moving. I'll cover you." He paused and looked at one of the soldiers, who had a wound in his chest, and was currently unconscious. "He's not going to make it anyway. Leave him."
The soldiers nodded, and moved to get into the doorway that John had just come out of. As they did so, the damaged helicopter reappeared from the far side of the ship. SHIT! John realized that the group were going to be cut down by the machine guns of this helicopter, and shouted for them to get down. Unfortunately, he was too late, as the chopper opened fire, strafing the entire deck and cutting down all six of the soldiers who were trying to make it to cover.
After the helicopter's strafing run, John ran to the doorway he'd come out of. He knew that he'd been spotted, and that they knew he was still alive, so it'd only be a matter of time before it came back. Indeed, just as John reached the doorway, bullets started flying once again, but thankfully, he was able to get inside and avoid being shot.
From behind the cover of the bulkhead, John tried to figure out the current situation. Concentrating, he tried to focus on the helicopter attacking him specifically and realized that it was hovering around the doorway, waiting for him to reappear. John, however, was smarter than that, and instead used his psychic ability and a lot of effort to rip the bulkhead door off its hinges and throw it at the waiting machine. The chopper was forced to dodge out of the way of the flying piece of metal, which gave John the opportunity to fire off a fireball, connecting directly with the cockpit and causing the entire airship to explode. One down, one to go. John then left his cover, trying to find the other helo.
It didn't take him long, as the helicopter was firing its machine guns a couple of decks above his current position. The problem he had was getting there without getting shot himself. Steeling his will, and summoning whatever energy he could muster, he sprinted up the steps to the next deck up, shooting an enemy soldier who had apparently witnessed the destruction of the first helicopter. As he ran down this new deck, the helicopter appeared from above him. Caught without cover, John quickly fired off a fireball, hoping to at least distract the operator and buy him some time. The helicopter did move, but began firing as it did so, and John was struck in the right shoulder by one of the bullets. He fell to the ground with a groan, but willed himself to get back up and get inside a nearby door where there was some protection.
The helicopter could be heard falling back, away from the ship, and John took that to mean that he may have damaged it. Leaving his cover, he tried to find any soldiers that were in the area. Unfortunately for him, an enemy soldier saw him first, and tackled him to the ground. The two began to fight, but in John's wounded state, his mind wasn't clear enough at the moment to put up an effective defense. In the end, he grabbed the soldier, and used his own momentum to throw the man over the railing of the deck. The soldier held on to John, however, and sent him over as well, to the steel roof of the forecastle two decks below.
John didn't know how long he laid there, he had blacked out on impact. But when he came to, he was barely aware of the whirring of a helicopter as it came closer to his position. Clearing his head quickly, John realized that the damaged helo was coming back once again, and this time he fired off a shot before the chopper could take aim. He smiled in satisfaction as his fireball hit the blade control, causing the entire thing to burst into flame. His smile quickly faded, however, when he realized that the helicopter's momentum was bringing it toward the ship. John turned and ran for the far side of the ship, jumping off as the helicopter struck the side and exploded. When he hit the water, blackness once again overcame him.
After a few seconds of blackness, two voices could be heard. The voices were mumbled, almost muted, but John could hear that they were speaking English, though with very thick accents identifying them as Eastern European. As he laid there with his eyes closed, he became aware of the pain in his shoulder, and suddenly remembered being shot. The men's voices became more clear, and John could now hear what they were saying. And he wasn't sure he liked what he was hearing.
"We need to throw him back over." One of the men commented.
"Why? He is harmless and wounded, and we may get a reward for turning him in." The other voice seemed to be coming from an older man, and as John's mind became more clear, he could read the two of them. They weren't soldiers, only fishermen, and they were actually both scared of what would happen if he woke up before they got to shore. The first one, John noted was the subordinate of the other, and indeed the second man was older. In his current state of exhaustion in injury, he couldn't dig much deeper into their thoughts than that without them noticing, so he decided to just play dead for now and listen to them.
"What if he was from that boat?" The younger man was wanting to play it safe, but the older of the two was more concerned with fame and fortune.
"So what if he was? Maybe he was the one who caused the explosion! If so, we will be rich and famous!"
"He's too big of a risk. We need to get rid of him!" The younger man had been moving toward John as he spoke, and as soon as he finished, John could feel a pair of hands grabbing his shirt and trying to lift him up. Acting on instinct, John grabbed the man's wrists and kneed him in the ribs knocking him to the side, as John sprung up off the bed, grabbing the arm of the second man as he pulled a gun out, taking the gun from him and pointing it at the owner.
"Nimm mich in den Hafen." John assumed they were German, but as soon as he'd spoken, they looked at him as if they didn't understand. The younger man tried to get up, as John had actually directed the statement to the older of the two, but a quick kick to the man's ribs knocked him back down. John now moved to pin the younger of the two, while keeping the gun trained on the older, then repeated his order in English, though with a heavy accent. "Take me to port!"
The older man hesitated, obviously he didn't like being held hostage on his own boat, and John was forced to clarify. "I can and will pilot this boat myself, but I'd rather not kill you two."
The older man nodded at this and turned to walk out the door. John grabbed the other man, and pushed him out in front, holding the gun to the younger man's back. Outside the cabin was the ship's control room, and although it was fairly up to date as far as technology, it was still a two-man operation and thus most of the work had to be done manually. John found a place to sit down, where he could watch both men, as they traveled in silence for a while.
After a while, the younger man spoke. "We found you in the water, what happened?" John looked at the man, debating on how to answer that question. He knew, from what he'd overheard, that they were aware of the explosion on the Euphrates though obviously they didn't know anything other than that.
"I was on a boat, and I got into a fight with someone. Son of a bitch pulled a gun on me and I went overboard trying not to get shot, obviously I wasn't successful in the attempt."
"That boat that exploded?"
"It's possible. When was that?"
"Almost 24 hours ago now. We saw the flash, but we didn't know until we got closer that it was a boat. There wasn't much left of it, no survivors we could find, other than you, and it sank rather quickly." The older man, apparently the captain of this ship, provided this information. "I suppose maybe you were lucky you got off the ship before it blew."
"Ja, sure, very lucky." John was completely emotionless in his words, though is mind was anything but calm. He had no idea what had happened after hitting that second helicopter, and if he'd been in the water for nearly 24 hours, he was VERY lucky that a shark or something else hadn't gotten to him yet, especially with the blood that was still coming out of his shoulder a little bit. He glanced down and noticed that he had been bandaged up. "Who did this?"
The younger man commented again. "I did. I'm no doctor, but I did what I could." John looked at the bandage and shrugged.
"You didn't do too bad. It'll do for now at least." He turned tot he captain now. "How long until we're docked?"
"It'll be a couple of hours at the earliest. We are a good 240 kilometers out, and this boat doesn't go too fast." John just nodded and looked out the window. He was well aware by now that the two men were scared of him, and that neither of them were lying, so he relaxed slightly.
"You are a soldier?" The younger man spoke up again.
"I was, yes." John didn't turn his gaze from the window. He really didn't want to answer questions right now, but he knew that they were both curious. "I had a falling out with my CO and resigned."
"And the boat?"
John knew there weren't any survivors. Most of the soldiers, especially the command crew, had been on the upper decks when the attack occurred. Because of that, the helicopters would have torn them apart. Those who were below decks were probably killed in the explosion, or drowned when the ship sank. "They are gone to a better place." John's voice now hinted at the sorrow he felt for his lost comrades. The two men exchanged glances and said a silent prayer for the lost souls.
It took a little over two hours to get to dock, but because of John's memory, the time flew by in a matter of seconds. As the boat docked, John led the two out onto the bow of the ship. Standing out next to the railing he sighed, then turned to the two fishermen. "You kept your end of the bargain, now I'll keep mine." With that he unloaded the gun, then tossed it back to the captain, dropping the clip on the floor next to him. "Thank you."
"Wait. What about the ship?"
"You said nobody survived. I am not about to change that." Before the two could respond, John jumped over the railing and into the water below, and blackness consumed the watchers once again.
A/N: Well, HOPEFULLY the next chapter won't take three months to get out! As I said in the beginning, the next chapter will deal with reaction from John's memories, and some more with Kitty and Kurt.
Translations:
1. Red Stone
The second one, I didn't bother to translate, since the English translation is in that same paragraph! (Take me to port.)
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