Chapter Four
Part III: Blood-Soaked Embrace
A few days had passed since their date, and first kiss. The sexual tension had been very high between the two, and both were sure that everyone could tell. Jo certainly wasn`t given to displays of affection, public or not, but the looks were enough. Meg retained her outwardly friendly attitude, but the underlying coyness, and sometimes downright seduction could not be ignored. Jo couldn`t keep her eyes off Meg, and could barely keep her hands to herself. Never had she felt so alive and animated outside of battle, and for the first time, her mind was occupied even now, when she wasn`t fighting. Normally, nothing ever interested her enough to keep her from falling into restless fits of slumber outside of battle, but now...now she could barely sleep. Her mind was running circles, and it was all because of Meg.
Jo got up from the seat she was in, and moved toward Meg, who was sitting across from her.
"Meg, can I as-" She was cut off as an explosion rocked the trailer, pitching her off balance. She instinctually reached out and grabbed Meg's arm, pulling her into her embrace. Jo squeezed her eyes closed as she hit the tiled floor, Meg's high-pitched scream loud in her ears.
'The hell is going on?' Jo thought, rolling over and covering Meg's body with her own. Pieces of the ceiling rained down on them, a tile cracking Jo in the back of the head. She winced, and held her position over Meg, who was cowering underneath her. Suddenly, a loud pounding at the door caught Jo's attention, and her head whipped around to see a figure dressed in black armor entering the trailer, gun held at the ready.
Before Jo could even think, her gun was out of it's holster; three shots fired. Two impacted the figure in the chest, the last one grazed the helmeted head, dinging off and burying itself in the wall. The figure lurched, but was still alive; the bullet proof vest had done its job. The gun came around, pointing at the two girls on the floor. Enraged, Jo squeezed off three more shots. One landed in the soldiers unprotected throat; between the protective helmet and the neck of the body armor. With a strangled gurgle, the soldier hit the floor, twitching spasmodically. A second soldier was right behind the first, already targeting the girls on the floor.
Jo gritted her teeth, anger coursing through her. She could feel Meg trembling beneath her; they were in a bad spot. Too vulnerable.
The soldier fired his weapon, and at this range, Jo knew a hit was guaranteed. She fired off her gun as fast as she could, but couldn't hold back a scream of pain as a shell from the enemies gun entered her right leg, breaking her tibia.
Luckily, Jo's bullets found their mark as well, and the result was much more lethal. The soldier flopped to the ground, and Jo rolled off Meg.
"Get up, go!" She growled, roughly shoving Meg forward. Meg scrambled to her feet, and stayed as low as she could, heading for the hallway.
"Get to your room!" Jo hollered after her, unable to mask the pain in her voice. She could hear Meg's terrified gasps of breath, and once she was out of sight around the corner, Jo rolled onto her back, drawing her other gun.
Scooting backward, Jo leaned her back against the wall, pointing both guns at the doorway. She tried to ignore the intense pain in her leg, as well as the slippery blood covering the floor. The white of bone was peeking through her torn, bloody clothing, but she paid it no heed.
'Just stay safe Meg, please. It's all I want.'
A second later, another soldier charged the hole in the wall; Jo squeezed her triggers until she was deaf; she didn't hear the guns click empty, but she felt them stop recoiling. The body flopped to the ground, and Jo sighed in relief. It came out sounding more like a drowning man gasping for breath. The blood was pounding in her head, and her vision was blurring.
Quickly, she reloaded her guns. Once more she brought her guns to bear on what was left of the doorway, but she was unnerved by the shaking in her hands. She clutched the gun handles tighter; they shook even more. Jo swallowed dryly, licking her lips. Her breathing was ragged, and the pain was spreading through her leg.
'Come on. Come through that door, I fucking dare you.'
There was nothing for the briefest of moments, then a small canister flew in through the doorway, landing on the floor and rolling slowly toward her. Jo's eyes widened, and in contrast, her pupils narrowed. There was no time to think, before it went off with a deafening bang, bright light illuminating the room and blinding her. Jo brought her arms up in front of her, covering her face, but she was already sightless. Her hearing, which had only just begun to return after the deafening barrage from her guns, was gone once more, leaving her isolated from the outside world.
She could smell the acrid smoke from her guns; the scent of the powder used in the flash-bang. She could feel the vibrations across the floor as countless men entered the trailer. She waved her guns about, squeezing the triggers as fast as she could. Suddenly, pain erupted in her hands, and the guns fell from her numbed grasp. Another unseen, unheard strike, and pain erupted across her face, knocking her over. She hit the trailer floor gasping for breath, inhaling dust, dirt and drywall particles. She began coughing uncontrollably, no longer even registering the pain from her shin. She was struggling to breathe, and every sense was overloaded; she couldn't even think anymore.
She laid there for what seemed like minutes; slowly her senses came back to her. Her sight recovered first, and when she opened her eyes, she saw only the debris-covered floor of the trailer. She struggled to push herself up, her mind a mass of confused thoughts. Suddenly, strong, merciless hands grabbed her shoulders, hauling her roughly up into a seating position. She could hear faint screaming, and it scared her when she realized it was her own voice. Her hearing was returning, and the pain from her roughly handled right leg was making her scream louder than she ever had before.
She bit her tongue, drawing blood when a gloved hand grabbed her jaw roughly, forcing her head up. Her blurred vision cleared, and she found herself looking up at a trembling Meg, a knife held to her throat.
Jo felt, for the first time, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry." She whispered softly through bloody lips, her gaze never straying from Meg's. Meg's eyes widened, unable to believe that Jo had been beaten.
"No...Jo, I..." The knife pressed closer to her skin, and Meg stopped, whimpering. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly. Jo felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, and she blinked to clear her vision. Despair hit her like a bullet straight to the heart as she realized there was absolutely nothing she could do. She could not fight her way out of this.
A soldier slowly moved over to Meg, and raised his gun, pointing it at her. Meg couldn't stifle a whimper of terror, and she began shaking uncontrollably. Jo bared her teeth, but it was a useless gesture.
The gunshot was unbearably loud, but Meg's tortured scream seemed louder to Jo, as blood erupted in a hot spray from her tender flesh. Jo lunged forward, rage making her as blind as the tears in her eyes. She heard herself screaming Meg's name; her voice broken and full of anger, hate, and fear. The soldier who shot Meg merely turned, and slammed the butt of his rifle into Jo's face as hard as he could. The sound of Jo's breaking nose and fractured cheek never reached her own ears as she blacked out instantly. Her body hit the floor, and the soldiers left as quickly as they arrived, taking their dead with them.
Jo came into consiousness as quickly as she had left it, sitting upright in her bed, gasping for breath. Immediately, Meg's name was on her lips. She ignored her dry throat, her fingers clawing at the blanket that covered her. Disregarding the pain in her right shin, she jumped out of bed. She needed Meg.
Sei was changing the dressing on Meg's wound when she heard Jo calling out Meg's name in a frantic voice. A second later, she heard a thump, and she sighed, getting up. Jo was awake, and now she had to deal with her. Sei left the room, and walked down the hall to Jo's room. She opened the door, and found Jo on the floor, looking up at her pitifully, with a frantic expression that Sei had never seen before on her face. It unsettled the leader greatly, but she did not show it.
"Jo, what's wrong?"
Jo's blood red eyes were wide and frightened. "Meg! Where is she! Is she okay?" Jo began dragging herself forward, pushing herself with her good leg. "Tell me where she is!"
Sei walked over and knelt down, putting a hand on Jo's head. "She's fine, calm down."
Jo shook her head, beginning to hyper-ventilate. "No. No, let me see her!"
Sei took a deep breath, and slapped Jo sharply across the face. Hand stinging, Sei glared at Jo as the warrior looked back at her, shocked.
"Get a hold of yourself." Sei commanded sharply. "I've never seen such poor performance out of you. And now you're falling apart. It's pathetic. Get yourself together."
Jo was sharply reminded that Sei was a team leader first and foremost, and a friend second. Her burning cheek was testament to that.
Jo lowered her gaze to the floor, and clenched her jaw tightly. She could feel her teeth grinding together. After a moment of silence, Jo rolled herself onto her side, and brought her good leg up to her chest. She used her hands to push herself back over, and slowly, shakily raised herself up onto her good leg. She stood for a second, but couldn't hold her balance. Sei saw this, and quickly stepped forward, grabbing Jo's arm. She pulled it across her shoulders, and helped steady Jo.
"Meg is fine, but still unconscious." Sei said, slowly helping Jo limp forward. "I will take you to see her, but you need to rest after that. And I need to finish changing her bandages."
Jo nodded, silent for a moment.
"What happened?" Jo asked quietly.
Sei didn't answer right away; she helped Jo navigate the corner around the door.
"When the explosion went off, my thoughts went straight to Amy. She is the one I protect during battle, as you protect Meg."
Jo winced as she tried to put pressure on her broken leg; it would not hold.
"Anyway, last I had heard, she was still in the hangar, working on Django with Leo. I grabbed a small pistol from my bedside drawer, and rushed out. I found no enemies, and was able to make it to the hangar without confrontation. Once there, I confirmed Amy's safety, as well as Leo's."
Sei stopped, and reached out, pushing Meg's door fully open. Jo hobbled through with the help of Sei, and collapsed near Meg's bed.
Sei backed away a few feet, and stood silently by.
Jo pulled herself to the edge of the bed, and reached out, stroking Meg's cheek. Her eyes took in every beautiful curve of her face, and her sharp ears picked out Meg's soft, shallow breathing. Jo hadn't really believed Sei when she said that Meg was okay. Seeing her now, knowing that she was still alive...Jo felt her breath hitch in her throat, and she lowered her head to Meg's stomach, her hand finding Meg's and holding it tight.
The tears were silent at first. Lonely streaks of wetness coursing down her cheek, over the bridge of her nose. Jo couldn't hold back the flood of emotions for long though; a sobbing gasp wracked her body as she vocalized her grief.
Sei was embarrassed to witness such a thing. She silently excused herself, exiting the room and closing the door slightly. She could still hear Jo's crying down the hall, and in a strange way, it was the saddest, most disturbing sound she had ever heard. Angels should never cry in mourning.
Sei walked slowly to the kitchen, and surveyed the damage. It was in the middle of being repaired; Leo was taking time from Django to try his hand at fixing up the trailer. It was coming along pretty good. The hole where the door used to be had been sealed up, and Leo was now framing a replacement door. The sounds of his hammer blows drowned out the anguished cries of Jo, and for that, Sei was glad. She poured herself another cup of coffee, and held it tight, staring into the swirling blackness. It held no answers to her unspoken questions, and after a moment she raised it to her lips in resignation, taking a sip.
She would give it ten minutes or so, then go check on Meg. She still needed to finish changing the bandages on her shoulder. That was where Meg had been shot. Her left shoulder. The barrel of the rifle had been close enough that on top of the bullet going right through her arm, the skin around the wound was also flecked with gun powder burns. It was a painful, gory mess, and Sei was glad that Meg was unconscious for it.
Jo tried to contain the tears, but it was useless. The flood wouldn't stop. She had given in, letting all of her emotions flood out of her in a raging torrent. Her tears had soaked through Meg's shirt, but the unconscious girl wouldn't have felt a thing.
Slowly, the scent of blood reached through the haze of overwhelming thoughts and feelings, and Jo opened her eyes, sniffling. She sat up slowly, and looked at the wound Meg had received. The dressing was partially undone, the bandages blood-soaked and dirty. Meg's shirt had been cut with scissors from the neck, down to under the shoulder, revealing the entire wound.
'Sei must have been in the middle of changing these.' Jo thought, reaching out slowly. Her fingers caressed the soft skin of Meg's throat, but stopped when they neared her wound. Jo had seen much worse; had had much worse; somehow, seeing the broken, torn flesh of her precious Meg made it unbearable. Jo had much experience treating wounds, both others' and her own, but as she reached for Meg's bandages, her hands shook like they had never shaken before. Jo swallowed nervously, and blinked a few times, shaking her head. She had dealt with a thousand gunshot wounds before. This was nothing to get worked up about.
Jo gently peeled off the bandages, hesitating when she came to a part of the bandage that was stuck to Meg's skin with dried blood. She looked around, then looked down. She spotted an open medikit near her feet; the one Sei had been using. She reached down, and grabbed a small bottle of distilled water. It had a squeeze nozzle on it, and she gently squeezed the bottle until water spilled out the tip. She directed the flow to the bandage clinging to Meg's skin, and once it was soaked, set the bottle down. She picked up a sterilized razor blade, and carefully began cutting through the bloody bandage. Bits of dried blood and strands of bandage still stuck to Meg's skin, but it was nothing a gentle wash-cloth wouldn't take care of.
Now fully concentrating on the task at hand, the emotional hand tremors slowly disappeared as Jo focused on her job. Minutes later, and the old bandage was removed. Jo examined the wound, and noted that although the skin around the wound was puckered with burn marks, the wound itself was clean. The burn marks would resolve themselves with time, and appropriate treatment, and the wound need only some minor stitching, and antiseptic applied to it. Jo picked up a needle and thread, and within seconds, expertly threaded the needle's pinhole. She picked up a small lighter from the case, and flicked it twice before it caught. She held the needle in the flame for ten seconds, ignoring the heat building near her fingertips. Once she had counted to ten, she dropped the lighter, and picked up an antiseptic wipe. She tore the packaging with her teeth, and pulled out the cloth. She swiped it along the needles length, and considered it clean. She bent over Meg's still body, and gently slid the needle into her flesh. A few minutes, and six overlapping strands of thread later, the entry wound was closed. Jo cut the thread, and knotted the end as close to the skin as she could, cutting off the excess. She put a small piece of tape over it to keep it from coming undone, then rummaged through the first aid kit once more. She came up with a tube of burn ointment, and unscrewed the cap. She squeezed out a small amount onto Meg's shoulder, and gently massaged the cream around on her skin.
When Jo was satisfied with the application of the burn cream, she slowly tore off a strip of new, clean bandage. She laid it over the would carefully, then pressed it into place. The burn cream helped keep it in place, but she put two pieces of clear tape over each end, to make sure the bandage didn't wander, and pull on the thread.
"Seems like you have everything under control." Sei's cool voice noted. Jo showed no sign of hearing her, as she slowly picked up everything she had used. She put the cap back on the burn cream, and put it away.
"Are you going to help me with the exit wound?" Jo asked quietly. Sei moved toward her on near-silent feet. "Of course. I want you to hold her torso up, while I stitch." Sei said.
Jo nodded, and slowly pushed herself up on her good leg, refusing Sei's offered helping hand. Sei took no offense to Jo's cold behaviour; she deserved it.
Jo sat down on the edge of the bed, and used her good leg to push herself further back. When she was ready, she reached forward, and slipped one arm around Meg's neck, and the other around her waist. She pulled Meg's body up, and hugged her close. Sei also positioned herself on the bed, facing Meg's back.
"Okay, good. Hold her still there, I have good access to the wound."
Jo was silent, but hugged Meg tightly to her body. She lowered her head, and buried her nose in Meg's neck, inhaling her beautiful scent.
Less than ten minutes later, and Sei was finished.
"You can let her down now." Sei said, removing herself from the bed. Jo was silent; she slowly leaned forward, not letting go of Meg, until they were both laying down on the bed.
"You're staying here?" Sei asked, watching Jo struggle to get her broken leg up onto the bed.
Jo nodded. "You said I needed to rest."
Sei smiled, and reached forward. She gently took Jo's leg, and lifted it up, placing it down on the bed. In lieu of a cast, Sei had taken a two foot long piece of wood from the wreckage in the kitchen, and had ran it along Jo's shin after she had set the bone. She had then wound bandage tightly around the leg and the wooden splint, careful to make sure no splinters dug into her skin.
"Thank you." Jo said. Sei shook her head. "Rest up. Today has been hard on all of us."
Sei didn't get an answer; she never expected one. Jo was already asleep, holding on to Meg as if she were the most important piece of her world.
Sipping her coffee, Sei was glad that the wounds to the girls weren't any worse than they were. Meg had escaped with a gunshot wound, and a scratched throat. Jo had fared slightly worse. Her tibia had been broken by the bullet, and her nose had to be straightened. Sei had had to resist the urge to throw up when her fingers had touched the soft, spongy, bruised tissue of her cheek. It was repulsive to feel the cheek bone sinking into her face, grinding against another bone in her face. Sei didn't know much about surgery, and had called in a professional to make sure her cheek and nose were set correctly to prevent any problems coming up in the future. He also stayed to oversee the setting of Jo's tibia, and only left when Sei assured him that she knew how to take care of Meg's bullet wound.
It was very unfortunate, Sei reflected, that they had been overwhelmed so easily. The element of surprise was a powerful tool, one that the enemy had used to their advantage.
Sei took a sip of her coffee, lost in thought. Causing confusion and instability with the RPG prior to the attack was a brilliant stroke as well, catching all of them off guard. They had hit as hard and fast as they could, and with the element of surprise, it was a nearly fool-proof tactic.
If only Jo didn't need to protect Meg...Jo would have easily taken care of those soldiers. Although Sei knew absolutely no blame laid with Meg. Because if it did, then that meant that blame also laid with Amy. For if Sei had no need to protect Amy, then she could have helped Jo out, and prevented a lot of injuries from happening. It was all a rather bad stroke of luck, and not one Sei was willing to repeat.
"I wonder why they didn't kill anyone?" She asked herself, deeply perturbed by the fact that they didn't. It was fortunate that they did not, but also deeply confusing. Surely they were enemies, and Jo had treated them as such, killing a few of them before being overwhelmed. Why did they not return the favor? And why could she not shake the disturbing feeling that they were somehow connected to Bailan...?
Sei set her cup down, and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples. Things were getting out of hand. Nothing was black and white anymore. Good guys weren't good guys, and the bad guys weren't all that bad. Nothing added up, no matter how she manipulated the numbers.
The things she knew for sure were all things that she did not like. The enemy knew of their location, and had successfully staged a surprise raid on them. During the confusion, they had entered the trailer, and overwhelmed Sei's best fighter, Jo. They had also completely ignored the rest of the trailer, which meant they had ignored Sei, Leo, and Amy. They had deliberately targeted Meg as a hostage, and used her to bring Jo to her knees. Although at that point, Jo hadn't possessed enough strength to get off her knees in the first place. The enemy had then incapacitated both of them, and disappeared, taking their dead with them, so as to not betray a single detail about their operation.
Sei couldn't put it together no matter how hard she tried. She just couldn't make sense of it, and it infuriated her.
After a moment, she sighed in defeat. There wasn`t any point to getting worked up about it.
Sei decided to go see what Amy was up to. Amy might be able to find something; if anyone could without raising suspicion, it would be her.
Sei walked calmly down the hall toward Amy`s room, wondering what the little hacker would be up to.
Sei knocked lightly on the door, and Amy`s voice called out for her to come in. She entered, and shut the door behind her.
"Hey, Amy. How are you?"
Amy shook her head. "Can I see Meg and Jo yet?" She asked.
Sei shook her head. "Not yet. When they wake up. They are fine though, you have nothing to worry about. Listen, I want to talk to you about the attackers. It was obviously a statement or a warning, leaving them both alive like that. The only thing is, we can't make waves...some digging around has to be done, but quietly. Can you do that?"
Amy nodded. "I actually have already done some looking, but I feared this would be a tight-lipped operation so I've only scratched the surface. I haven't dug very deep; figured waiting for your command would be best."
"Did you find anything significant?"
Amy bit her lip. "Well, not really. I just started with the fact that at minimum, four armed men attacked us, in heavy armor, with weapons. That would be too noticeable on the streets, and sure enough, hacking the governments traffic surveillance system near our location shows nothing in the hour leading up to the attack. Which indicates a method of transportation. So I did a search on all the cameras within a five kilometer radius of our position."
"Did you find anything?"
Amy nodded. "Black cube transport van shows up, driving around our area, disappears into a back-street where the cameras don't point. Whoever thought this operation was pretty thorough."
"License plate trace?" Sei asked.
Amy shook her head. "Like I said, very very well planned. It was rare to catch a glimpse of the rear of the vehicle where the plate was affixed; it's like they knew the route they wanted to take that would leave minimum views of their back."
"So no plate then?"
Amy shook her head. "Ahh, you underestimate me!" She 'tsk-tsk'ed, shaking her head. "The van passed by several stores; a quick hack of their cameras allowed me very short, grainy glimpes of the plate. I had to view four different store cameras to get enough shots of the plate to piece together an image."
"Did you already run the plate?"
Amy nodded. "I didn't know if they would expect us to find and run it or not, so at first I was hesitant, then when I thought of Jo and Meg, I got too angry to care. I ran it, but it came up blank."
Sei was silent for a minute. "Blank?" She asked. "That doesn't make sense. Everything is automated. Computerized. There's no way it could be blank. Does the database show signs of tampering?"
Amy shook her head. "Not a single one. Given that everything is so highly regulated, I had to wonder just how they managed to come across town with a blank, unregistered plate on their vehicle. So I followed all the cameras back to their origin point."
"And?"
"Well they actually originate out of town, so that is no help in discovering who they are or where their base is. However, five minutes into town, sure enough RAPT pulls them over. I got it on one of the cameras."
"How did the police not take them in?"
Amy shrugged. "Apparently these soldiers carry some weight. Four minutes of discussion, and RAPT let them go. Nothing in RAPT's database recording the incident either. No warning, no ticket, no apprehension."
"Conclusions?" Sei asked. She had already drawn her own; she wanted to see Amy's thought process at work.
"Either a very powerful crime organization that RAPT was ordered not to engage, simply a dirty cop, or a government job."
Sei nodded. She had drawn the similar obvious conclusions.
"One would be inclined to think that if it were a hit by RAPT or the government, that they would not even pull over that van, knowing it was one of them, or at least a government agent. However, they could be simulating realism...although that doesn't explain no entry into the police database...they really don't want to leave a trail, eh? Electronic or otherwise."
Amy shrugged. "It's all I have for now. I'll keep looking."
Sei nodded. "Good work, Amy." She got up, and patted the young girl on the head, before departing.
A/N: Part III done. Almost there! Reviews and comments are appreciated, constructive criticism welcome as well. Let me know what you think!