A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Had a tad bit of a block. Anyway, without further ado, here is your chapter.
The Scottish morning air was rich with oxygen. Helen, John, and Henry had been searching the hills for nearly two hours. "Why can't you have The Flash teleport us to the giants?" Henry whined as he threw down his pack.
"Because if we startle the giants, we may put our lives in danger," replied Helen calmly.
"Yeah, but we've been searching for them for a while now."
"I could knock you out, and take you back to the hotel room," John offered.
"And leave you alone with Magnus, I don't think so." Henry shook his head as if what Druitt had suggested was ludicrous, which to him, it was. He looked down at the map in his hands and turned it upside-down, before Helen pointed it out to him. "Oh, yeah…right."
John arched a brow at Helen, sighing heavily as he went ahead a few meters. He stopped at the edge of a crevice. "I don't think that we're going to get much farther on foot."
"Where has your sense of adventure gone to, John?" Helen questioned quirkily as she went to stand beside him. She, too, looked down and saw their dilemma. She looked back at Henry. "I see your point."
"We could still leave him behind."
"No way in Hell Flashy."
"We can't be far," Helen stated as an uncomfortable moment passed between Henry and John. She crouched down and pointed out the human remains to the two men. "The camp must be nearby."
"Plan of attack, Doc?" Henry's face went noticeably paler.
"I was hoping to not resort to violence," Helen snapped back, but not unkindly. She got back to her feet.
"Helen, these are giants we are talking about," retorted John in that strained tone he often got when he felt a fight on the horizon. "They can't be reasoned with like some of the other abnormals you take in."
"For once, I have to agree with him, Doc."
"We should hurry." Helen began the long, treacherous walk down.
John teleported to her side, and grabbed her by the arms before teleporting back to where Henry was standing. He kept a firm grip on Helen's shoulders. "You really should not be making such a dangerous hike down."
"I've done this well over a hundred times, John," Helen snapped impatiently. She tried shaking him off, but to no avail.
"Helen, you have me around now for such things. Do not risk Ashley not growing up with a mother, just as she grew up with a father before." The sadness and regret in his voice, which only Helen heard, made her look up at him, and see that and much more in his eyes. "I am not like you in that I cannot raise her alone."
"Alright. Teleport us down." She adverted her eyes as she felt the familiar jerk that came with teleporting. She was hardly surprised to find Henry standing with them when they rematerialized at the bottom of the crevice.
"Which way now?" John asked.
"We follow the trail of bones," answered Helen. She led them further down the trail with John close behind and Henry loping a few strides behind. She stopped when the ground beneath them rumbled. She exchanged a knowing glance with John.
"Just like old times." A slim smile lit up his face. He looked back when Henry lost his balance and fell to the ground. "Though we never took a liability with us before, so why now, Helen?"
"Henry is a lycanthrope, John."
"HAP, Doc, HAP," Henry corrected as he got back to his feet.
Helen frowned at Henry's name for his own species. "Right." She took a side trail that appeared to be less used. The hike was silent, if it were not for Henry mumbling incoherent words under his breath.
Her fist was suddenly held up, signaling the group to stop. John scooted closer to Helen, and looked down.
A group of five giants all sat in a circle. Their light gray, leathery skin made it harder to see them. They each had a spine with little to no flesh left, which they gnawed on.
Henry's mouth gaped open as he gazed down at the large abnormals. He looked over at Helen, who had an expression of pure awe, while John looked disgusted at the giants chosen meal.
"How are we going to do this, Doc?" Henry asked in a hushed whisper.
"Delicately," replied Helen. She looked over to John, noting his apprehensive stance. She frowned as she looked back to the giants, deep in thought as to how they would handle the situation.
Giants were not known for their intellect amongst the abnormal world. They were considered brutes, and it was not uncommon for a giant to kill off others of its clan just for the sake of a meal. Common food sources included human flesh, as these giants were proving by gnawing on the remains of what must have been a recent kill. It was strange to see the giants not fighting over the horde of food, which could be explained by the massive bone fragments that were found on the hike.
"These ones might be more intelligent than most," commented Helen to her two companions.
"And?" Henry retorted.
"And—I am going to attempt to communicate with them."
"Helen—" John's voice was strained with worry. "These are giants. I will not sit tight, and watch as they toy with you before making you their next meal."
"Yeah—I'm with him," agreed Henry quickly.
"Which is precisely why I brought the two of you."
"We've found the campout. Lets let the London Sanctuary know, so that they can be the ones to take out the trash."
"It may be too late, if we turn back now. I will not risk the idea of more innocent lives taken." With that, Helen began her descent to the giants' lair.
Both John and Henry watched, apprehensive, from above. John already had his hands resting on the hilts of his two swords. His eyes never left Helen.
"Greetings." Her heart skipped a beat as the giants turned and looked down at her. She felt a lump grow in the back of her throat.
Before she had time to react, the largest one, which also happened to be the closest to her, grabbed her with one hand in a crushing grip, and brought her up to eyelevel. He glared at her with his beady black eyes, sniffed her, and shook her.
She forced herself to keep eye contact with the giant, even though the grip he had on her hurt—a lot. She could feel some ribs crack under the pressure, and she knew full well that walking would be an impossible task for weeks after this. "My—my name is Helen Magnus," she squeaked. "I run a place where you can be safe. You—you want safety, right? You can have it—if you want." Her vision began to blur the longer she tried talking.
John had seen enough. He forced his eyes shut, before teleporting down into the middle of the giants, drawing his swords, and cutting the stomach of the giant who had Helen. He looked up to see the giant howling in pain. He teleported again just in time to avoid the abnormals swipe. He rematerialized next to Helen, who had landed on her feet, but fell under the snapping pressure of both legs breaking. He teleported them both back to where Henry had been waiting, teleported again, but this time back in the main square of London.
"Doc!" Henry cried when he saw Helen on the ground, barely conscious.
"Helen—!" John finally took the time to scoop her into his arms. He also noticed that sometime during one of his jumps, he must have lost both swords. He pushed that worry to the back of his mind as he looked down into Helen's face. "How bad?"
"Arg! I—ribs—legs—probably broken," Helen panted. "Need to—giants—Sanctuary—can't leave 'em."
"Mr. Foss, call London General to let them know of our imminent arrival—then call the Sanctuary to let them know of the situation," John ordered quickly before teleporting away with Helen.
They reappeared in the back of the hospital, and John carried Helen as fast as he could to the entrance.
"John—really, I can take care of this myself," she groaned as he walked into the sliding glass doors.
"Helen—you are injured quite horrifically. You need to see a proper doctor."
"I'm much more proper than any of these buffoons."
"Of course you are, but I do believe that they are qualified to do this one little thing." He stopped at the front counter. "She is a clumsy one, and took a fall down her mother's staircase," he told a blonde receptionist.
"Name?"
John stared her down with a very dark, intimidating expression. "She's got several broken bones, and all you are worried about is a name?"
"John—that's quite enough," Helen snapped impatiently. "Arg—Magnus. Helen Magnus."
"Alright. What's the ailment today, ma'am?"
"She's got broken bones! Now are you going to do something about it, or do I have to bring this entire facility to its knees?" John roared loud enough to gain a number of stares from other waiting patients.
"Alright. Calm down, sir."
"Calm down?"
"John—please," Helen pleaded weakly. She reached up to caress his cheek for a brief moment before replacing her hand to her injured ribs.
"Room 312 is open. Just down the hall—third on the right." The receptionist watched warily as John took Helen to the designated room.
A/N: Sorry there was no Ashley, but there was a moment between Helen and John.