Breaching the compound was child's play. The Cabal's perimeter was so difficult to breach that only minor security precautions were utilized inside it. Locked doors and security cameras, no living guards he could see. Methos body ached and throbbed, his Quickening felt strange, almost drunk. Edgy and unhappy with his trip so far he took his time getting to the compound.
He spotted a door and waited for another half hour before moving in. He felt slightly better but not up to fighting anyone. He was hoping stealth and cunning would be good enough. Methos ghosted through the night, the knee high seagrass clawing at his clothing as he approached the door. The grass could slice exposed flesh if given a chance, it scraped loudly across his heavy dark clothing.
The lock was expensive but easily picked. He slipped inside and blinked as he was assaulted by flourescent lights. The low hum of the ballast in the lights pierced his skull like rusty nails. His Quickening still felt wrong and the lights weren't helping. He licked his lips and squinted against the light.
He was standing in the entrance of a long hall, it was straight as an arrow and ended in a dead end. Three doors were located sporadically down the length of it. Moving smoothly Methos approached the first. It was steel, solid, and windowless. He picked it quickly and entered ready to bluster and bullshit or fight. It looked like a server room. Racks of RAID hard drives and the low hum of fans greeted him. A gleeful smile of destruction creased his tight features. He fished in his pocket and pulled out a small explosives kit.
It wouldn't take much to turn the state of the art room into a mass of cinders and toxic smoke. He carefully placed several small explosives and set the timer to trigger a slow burn in twenty minutes. He cracked the door and peered out. The hall was still empty. He slipped out and hurried to the next door.
Methos again picked the lock and slipped inside. This time darkness greeted him, darkness and a familiar almost fruity smell. Hop's gun oil. He carefully felt around the doorframe for a light switch. Wincing in the light he let out an appreciative whistle. Racks of pristine weaponry greeted him. He actually wet his lips and drifted forward. He didn't have much time but these weapons were state of the art and incredibly expensive. He carefully selected two very nice handguns and an assault shotgun. He grabbed a shoulder holster and a thigh holster for the handguns and extra clips and shells. He had brought little more than knives with him. He had worried about being discovered dead, most of his personal armament would pass a casual inspection but being found dead with obvious weaponry was another story.
Feeling relief at being properly armed and with one last door to face he quickly entered. This time he waited for his eyes to adjust. Finally the light leaking from the door behind him allowed him to see the outline of his surroundings. He was at the top of a flight of stairs. A thrill of fear shot along his spine.
If he had designed a super-secret bunker, he would insure there was only one point of entrance. He would set up booby traps and passwords to make any attempt to enter both difficult and deadly. He thought about the server room and the explosives he had rigged. He had five minutes before systems started crashing. Methos could wait five minutes and use the burning server room as a distraction, or he could wait five minutes and hope that the crippled servers brought down the perimeter. His third option would be to follow the staircase to it's terminus.
He backed up and re-entered the hallway. He drew his hand guns and flipped off the safeties. He would wait for John, but he would keep an eye on the stairway and the exterior door. If anyone else came through he wasn't going to wait for them to sound an alarm or realize who he was. He thought back to the photo John and Magnus had made him study.
A blond girl, ice blue eyes, extremely straight bright blond hair. Muscular, fierce, and beautiful. Her height was hard to judge but he would guess near Magnus' or maybe taller. He wouldn't shoot her unless he had to, but he was returning to the freighter with John and Helen's daughter. Whether the brat liked it or not.
Four and a half minutes later four armed personnel burst into the hallway from outside. They wore combat helmets with visors and body armor. He couldnt' tell if they were male or female. He didn't dare shoot to kill in case the Cabal had flipped Ashley and sent her after him. He aimed for knees and elbows, painful, probably crippling but not fatal. The first two dropped with gargled shrieks, the second two fired before falling. The first enemy shot went wide the second was high and caught Methos' collarbone. He let out a strangled cry of frustration and pain.
He wouldn't be able to set the shattered bone properly himself, it would heal badly and be a mobility issue as well as bloody painful until he could set it. Grinding his teeth he fought the adrenaline and pain fueled urge to kill the last guard. Instead he pulled each of the four's helmets off and checked their faces against his mental copy of the photo. No go.
Wincing he tore at his shirt to check the bullet wound. It was still oozing but the bone was beginning to set and the flesh soon knit itself whole with the help of his Quickening. The light of it had changed somehow, it was more white than blue and stung like peroxide as it did its work. He shook off the fear that crawled over him at the sight and feel of his apparently damaged Quickening and shushed the wounded Cabal soldiers.
"Quiet or I'll make you quiet." He growled, the whimpering and cursing muffled. He moved back to the door to the staircase and listened. He could hear footsteps, heavy, probably wearing boots. He stepped back from the door and waited.
The steps paused at the door. A heartbeat later the door flew open and he drew a bead. Ashley was standing there. Her face was bloodied, her bright blue eyes looked crazed and even bluer amidst the blood. She was holding a knife, a bloody knife.
"My name is Methos, your parents sent me for you." He said not lowering his gun. She stared at him. Her tongue snaked out and licked her dry lips, sweat stood out on her skin along with the blood.
"Druitt is waiting for us, is the perimeter down?"
She nodded once.
"Are you alone?" He asked. Again she nodded. He lowered his weapon and nodded toward the still open door to the outside. He allowed her to take point and followed her at a cautious distance. He was doing his job, getting her out, but he didn't trust her as far as he could throw a buffalo.
Dawn was breaking as they left the compound. Methos moved closer to Ashley. The girl moved like a soldier, she was fast and surprisingly quiet in the long grass.
As they approached the perimeter Methos shot a sour look at Ashley.
"You're sure the perimeter is down?"
"Yes, I'm positive."
"I only ask because the last time it killed me." Methos growled. His comment seemed to break her fugue.
"Died?" She asked skeptically.
"Yep, hurt like hell too, so the perimeter is down?" He asked again, his voice was hard and tight. He had to know if it was down, he couldn't risk getting killed like that again, he couldn't risk her life. She studied him for a moment and then looked away, toward the fence.
"Yeah it's down they were going to move me, they turned it off and … it's down." She was looking down, at the red blood on her hands. Her eyes brimmed with tears for a moment, then her jaw flexed and she squared her shoulders and stared at him. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. The pressure dragged her thoughts back to the present. She shrugged his hand away with an annoyed expression.
"I'll go first-"
"No, I will, if they've turned it back on you won't survive."
"Look dude, you're a mess-"She started to argue staring at his mangled shoulder.
"I got in here didn't I?
She scowled and folded her arms in annoyance. Methos stomped toward the perimeter fence, irritated with himself for insisting that he go first, irritated with John and Helen, irritated with the scared kid behind him, so irritated he almost didn't feel afraid.
He took a deep breath and reached for the fence.
A/N Sorry for the late post folks but here 'tis. I do intend to finish :) Thank you as always for reading and feel free to applaud or bitch with equal apolomb :D P.S. herein marks the end of sanity and proofreading. You've been warned... (I have 2 jobs, a full class load, and a plate of yummy RL to boot so...yeah... sorry)