The ship pitched and rocked sickeningly. The sea swelled and roiled with a vigor bordering on the malicious. Methos leaned against the hip high rail circling the deck. The sea rotted paint of the rail rough under his palms, cool with spray and the unrelenting sea wind. His grip was so tight his knuckles were white, even the quick of his nails were bloodless.
"Relax, you aren't doing yourself any favors." Will said gently. Methos glared at the mortal.
"Until you've crossed the Atlantic in a rowboat with a handful of fanatics and no facilities keep your opinion to yourself." Methos hissed. Will frowned but didn't reply. Instead he stayed close to the miserable immortal.
As Methos' stomach calmed in spite of the unchanging weather he straightened and relaxed his grip on the rail. They were a few hours from Easter Island. He knew the plan. Knew that they would lie in wait offshore until nightfall and then move close enough to launch a dinghy with himself and John aboard. They were erring toward caution, it was conceivable that the Cabal had studied John's ability closely enough to set up a defense against it similar to what Helen had devised. Or at least, manage to alert the facility that a teleporter was nearby.
They dropped anchor and waited. Methos shivered as his sweat dried in the chill wind. His nausea faded as the cargo ship's engines shut down. Will remained at his side, quiet and apparently content to remain quiet.
"All right, out with it." Methos sighed glancing at Will.
"I don't think you should go to the island."
"Your friend's life depends upon me going to the Island." Methos muttered.
"What good will it do if you go there and get killed or captured? She'll still be a prisoner only you'll be dead or locked up with her."
"What do you suggest instead?" Methos asked with a smirk. Will frowned.
"I'm coming with you."
"You're very smart Will, but John and I have abilities you don't, either of us has a better chance at surviving there than you do."
"No you don't. Not right now, you're distracted, besides I might be able to see something, a way around the perimeter or through it that won't require getting you killed to circumvent." Will insisted.
"No Will."
"You don't have a choice." Will said softly, jaw set.
"I always have a choice, I won't let you on that Island Will. If you want me to help you retrieve Ashley you'll stay here." Methos growled. Will stared back at him unafraid and determined.
"I'm not asking to infiltrate the perimeter."
Methos leaned away from the rail. Boots scraping across the rough deck he slowly strolled toward the hatch leading down into the ship's hold. Fuck it, he thought, fuck it and them, let the kid come along and get shot, what did it matter in the end?
"Come on you'll need a weapon." He said over his shoulder. Will nodded shortly and followed.
Death, even for an immortal, was not something anyone wanted to experience unnecessarily. If Will could find a way around the perimeter without requiring Methos' death so much the better. John was in the hold already. He watched as Methos strapped on his hardware and took the time to arm Will.
"You're bringing the boy?" John asked softly.
"Have you ever died John?" Methos asked sharply. John stared hard at Methos, Methos handed Will an automatic handgun.
"I don't recommend it." He said softly as he looked over Will. "If Will can find a way in fine, if not he can hang back and back us up if we hit trouble."
"Ben-"
"Stop calling me that John. It isn't my name." Methos said finally facing John. John studied him for a moment.
"You are content with this Dr. Zimmerman?" He asked Will.
"I insisted."
Methos made his way back up to the deck ignoring John's palpable stare. An uncomfortable silence descended on the hold.
"Why?" John asked carefully.
"Because he doesn't trust you anymore. He might think he does, he might even believe it, but he doesn't. If he has to trust you to get out of their alive one or both of you could die."
"Does he trust you?"
"No, but he believes me." Will said heading for the ladder to the deck.
"Will." John said softly. Will paused and looked back at John. He did not trust or like John Druitt, but he had a duty to Magnus and the Sanctuary.
"Can he trust me again, will he?"
"I don't know. I don't think he realized how badly he was hurt by your relationship until now. He's old Druitt, he literally locks away parts of himself in order to keep going forward and survive."
"You're saying that everything that happened, all that pain, he's just now feeling it?"
"Maybe, I think he brushed it aside but now it's come back."
John was silent, thinking it over.
"You need to convince him to bottle it away again."
"I can't do that. That tactic isn't working anymore, if it were he would have been able to interact with you normally. I'll do what I can but you can't put too much pressure on him, let him get you in and then get him out."
"Magnus was right to recruit you." John said finally and pushed past Will to the ladder.
Night fell and the dinghy set out. The three men were silent. Will shivered slightly in the cold damp air. He watched Methos' passive face as the immortal studied the looming shoreline. A slight tick in the immortal's jawline, tension around his eyes, and the occasional wetting of his lips all indicated to Will that Methos was far from calm. Druitt also displayed signs of tension. Will shifted and settled into his spot on the rudimentary bench of the dinghy.
"We're nearly there, five minutes." John murmured, the other men nodded.
"When we arrive stick together, stay silent, we chose the least secure access point but there may be sentries." John growled and cut the engine. He handed Methos an oar and the duo started to row to shore.
The beach was smooth and ended abruptly in a grass field. The trio beached their dinghy and did their best to hide it. Moving inland they were nearly silent, moving quickly Will and Methos followed John until he gestured to hold.
"The perimeter is five hundred feet ahead, Will see if you can spot a weakness." John requested. He exchanged a glance with Methos. The immortal's gaze was critical and calculating. He shadowed Will as the boy crept closer to the perimeter.
Will crouched and studied the landscape below. The perimeter looked like a simple steel cable fence. A figure on a dual sport motorbike patrolled it casually spurting from one section to another. It paused at every section and scanned the area outside the fence.
"Looks like he's got night vision." Will sighed.
"I thought you were a genius, figure it out." Methos snapped. Will frowned and kept studying the layout.
"There's a few seconds when he's distracted by the bike, right before he heads to another section." Will said. Methos nodded and started to rise, John put a hand on the immortal's arm. Methos flinched minutely and John withdrew his hand.
"The sentry is not the problem." John said softly. Methos frowned.
"I don't want to know John, crossing the fence will kill me, I know that. Just...let me do this." He whispered staring at the fence. John stared at the artery in Methos' neck, watched it jump and twitch with the immortal's pulse. He was afraid. It had never really occurred to John that Methos could be afraid of death. The man was ancient, had slaughtered hundreds, probably thousands but he was afraid to die? Even knowing he would come back? Shame swept through John for a heartbeat. He had wronged Methos, put him on an impossible pedestal.
"I will come for you." John said gripping the immortal's bicep and staring hard at him. Methos nodded slightly and shrugged John's hand away. He looked at Will and waited until the younger man nodded once.
He shot toward the fence like a rabbit fleeing a pack of hungry hounds. He hit the cable and vaulted over it. As his body reached the apex of the arc over the fence he went rigid and dropped bonelessly to the ground on the other side. Dead.
"What-"
"Quiet." John snarled cutting off Will's question.
An agonizing half hour passed. John was rigid with tension Will's soft assurances were the only thing preventing him from trying to teleport to Methos' body and retrieve him. Finally slowly they saw movement.
"Did you see?" John asked not finishing the question.
"It might just be a cloud passing the moon." Will cautioned not daring to hope.
As they watched Methos writhed in what looked like pain then went still again. Finally he rose to his knees and waved languidly toward John and Will. He staggered away from the perimeter toward the compound.
"He's hurt." Will muttered.
"The ship will radio us when the energy signature around the perimeter changes, I'll teleport in for Be-Methos. You should head to the beach, wait with the dinghy." John suggested. Will studied John for a moment.
"You have to wait until the perimeter goes down John, if you go in before that you'll die and he'll be trapped-"
"Save your sentimentality boy, I will not die for him, neither will I allow him to die." John growled.