Disclaimer: I don't own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
A mighty clap of thunder startled them from their sleep. It echoed from the walls of the dorm, vibrated all along the floors and seemed to make every piece of metal in the temple hum with electricity.
Junior sat up and immediately started listening for the sound of rain. They were surrounded by rainforest, neither thunderstorms nor rain were uncommon, but that clap had been damn loud… and where was the rain?
No rain.
But shouting. Distant shouting – the sentinels? What the hell was going on?
Then he recognized the Indonesian word for "fire".
"The jungle is burning", Guerrero mumbled, quickly getting up like the rest of the Temple members, not bothering to put a shirt on. It was a sweltering hot night, horribly humid. And now a thunderstorm without rain… the wind could easily spread a fire for miles.
Ryuu quickly organized his people into groups and sent them out into the night, hoping they'd be able to keep it under control with mounds and extinguishing agents.
It was a coincidence that Junior, Guerrero and Ryuu were the last to leave just when another mighty clap of thunder seemed to shake the very foundations of the Temple. "That was much closer!", Junior yelled. "And it sounded like another direct hit!"
"South!", Guerrero shouted, pointing away from the already burning area east of the Temple… in the direction of the small settlement of the natives. Oh no.
"They've got a sick ward down there, they need help transporting the patients!" Ryuu's face was stricken with terror. He raced down the narrow path to the village as fast as the darkness allowed. Horribly orange flames were licking at the ink black night sky, lashing out higher than the trees.
"The sick ward is full! And the fire is spreading rapidly… we'll never get all patients out in time!", Junior yelled at the Master's retreating back.
Ryuu didn't reply, he either hadn't heard him because of the hellish noise the frightened jungle animals were making or, more likely, he didn't care.
Guerrero, on the other hand, wasn't moving. "The village is a death trap, Junior."
"We can't leave him alone there!"
"You wanna die a hero?"
Junior bit his lip. No, he had no intention of sacrificing himself. But on the other hand it felt completely wrong leaving the settlement to its fate either. There had to be something they could do. There just had to… wait…
"Follow me!", he yelled and started running.
At first it looked to Guerrero as if Junior was going to follow Ryuu after all. He ran after him and was just trying to estimate how good his chances of tackling him to the ground were when Junior did a 90° turn and headed towards the waterfall.
"What the…?"
"You've got to help me move the boulders on top! If we block the water's natural path it'll come down the south side and swamp the area!" Junior was already climbing up the steep footpath that led to the waterfall which had not too long ago almost cost them their lives. A high risk maneuver with so little light, but Guerrero followed him nevertheless.
"He is no monster", Junior thought. "He wants the people to live, too. Just not at the price of his own life. Going to the village would have meant asking to get killed… But climbing the rocks is merely a risk, not a ticket to the Reaper." It made a lot of sense to him. Using his shoulder for extra pressure, he tried to push a huge boulder towards the water.
"Dude, to move that rock you've got to use math." Guerrero picked up a piece of driftwood from the shore, shoved it underneath the stone and used it as a lever. Almost gently the giant thing started rolling, rolling… and landed exactly where they needed it.
They worked in silence, except for the few words they needed to coordinate their moves. It was almost unbelievable, but after only a couple of minutes the water indeed began first to impound, than to seek itself another path downhill.
In the beginning it was just a trickle, but then… once a certain level was reached, the trickle turned into a mighty stream, roaring downwards. As the loud hiss of the extinguishing flames reached their ears, Guerrero slowly nodded.
"Cool, dude. Damn cool."
… … …
Down in the settlement they were welcomed by relieved, happy faces all around. Ryuu was covered is soot and sweat, but his eyes were shining. "The village is safe!"
"You dammed up our peraian terjun?", Elias, a young man from the settlement who was very proud of his command of the English language asked them. "What a crazy idea!"
Both Guerrero and Junior froze. Suddenly all relief and happiness they had felt evaporated with one icy-cold breath of air. As soon as they weren't needed anymore for clearing work, they excused themselves. Without actually talking about it, they chose the longer route back to the Temple.
… … …
Peraian terjun... the waterfall's official name was peraian terjun... Now they knew where they were, knew in which direction they would have to go to get back into civilization...
The missing piece was found, their plan was complete now.
For a long while Junior and Guerrero walked side by side in silence. Dawn was breaking and the rainforest slowly became vibrant with birds, insects, reptiles, like it did every day. Life went on as if not mere hours ago all of this had been in grave danger.
Finally the Temple came into view.
"Have you ever... you know... stepped back from a job?", Junior mumbled, not daring to look at Guerrero.
"So you think the kids the doc saved today somehow make up for those he killed twenty years ago?"
Junior averted his face in something he hadn't felt for a long time – shame. Trust Guerrero to lay his finger on exactly the spot that was most vulnerable.
"Sit down, dude." Guerrero checked a fallen tree near the path for hidden snakes, then took a seat on the mossy bark. Their clothes were spoilt anyway. Reluctantly Junior sat down next to him, head still lowered.
"I'm not going to go into this whole guilt thing cause I simply don't know", Guerrero began, voice strangely different from his usual raspy growl. "Can you make up for bad shit you pulled in the past? Don't know, man.." He shrugged his shoulders.
"But what I know is this: We step back from this, Joubert sure is going to send somebody else. And he'll kill us, to send a message to the others."
Guerrero wondered if Junior would believe him that the same Joubert who was currently treating him like a son would not hesitate to kill him when his reputation was at risk. Junior didn't object.
Guerrero was impressed. The Golden Boy was a lot more realistic about the situation than he had thought.
"It's a him or us type of situation, dude. We kill Ryuu or Joubert kills me and you. Won't let that happen."
They both knew that running from the Old Man equaled suicide. With his kind of influence and far reaching contacts they'd have to go into hiding forever, always with the danger that one day Joubert would nevertheless stand in the living-room with a drawn gun.
Junior nodded, then took a deep breath and got up. "Let's get cleaned up first. We owe him that much."
… … …
It was past noon when they eventually went up to the small meditation room where Ryuu liked to spend time after lunch.
He was sitting cross-legged on a mat on the floor when they came in.
"You've taken your time", he said, slowly nodding. "Thank you."