Young Offender, Part 18:
"I don't understand her," Jet said, before nursing his lukewarm beer. "You know, I was having a great day until she started up."
Albert took a sip of his own beer and smirked. "Haven't you ever had a girlfriend?"
Electricity ran through the pit of Jet's stomach. He took a sip of his beer, praying the heat in his face wasn't visible; he silently cursed the Black Ghost for making his skin too realistic. He had found girls fine every now and again, but when he met Jean-Paul something had changed deep inside that he wanted to bury.
He sighed and adopted an annoyed air. "Dames get in your way when you're trying to have a good time. I mean, I never went steady with one, but I've gone all the way a few times," he admitted.
"Well, dealing with a woman on a personal level is different than just having a tryst. Francoise is having a hard time. She's trying to reconcile a lot of things she's not talking about."
"Why doesn't she just deal with it?"
"Women don't communicate the same way we do. It's just different."
"Oh. I think it's her job that's bugging her," Jet agreed.
"Yes, I also think it's her brother. I noticed another letter was returned today. It may be things we don't even know."
"Like Ivan's crush on her?" Jet asked.
Albert gave him a sour expression and nodded. "I think Ivan is coping rather well."
"Frannie is a real doll, and she could have a long line of cats asking her out." Jet gave a shrug. "But still... that temper of hers is a real drag."
Albert's lips twisted wryly. "The same could be said of your temper."
Jet's mind went blank, and he couldn't dredge up a come-back. Albert laughed hysterically and then said, "Let's have a few more and let her cool down. Here, eat some pretzels, or you'll be drunk by the time you finish that beer."
"Aww, stop talking like you're my old man. It'll take more than a few beers to get me blitzed."
Albert laughed. "Want to bet on it?"
"I'll drink you under the table," Jet bragged as Albert motioned for a waitress.
"Are you sure you want to test me on drinking beer?"
"Australia," Yana said, stepping off her personal airplane. They had landed in Melbourne at midnight.
"You sure?" Ember asked, joining her.
"His mother kept talking about animals not indigenous to Russia and extreme cold at this time."
"Cold? But... Oh. Makes sense. It's July. Moscow would be warm at this time," Ember said. "Now we're here, how do we find them? Could be New Zealand."
"It is true, but we'll start here. His mother had the impression of the strong odor of fish. We'll take our time and investigate each town along the coast. We'll be very quiet and subtle, so we can have the advantage. After we're sure, we'll search New Zealand. I do know we're close. I feel it."
"Yes, ma'am. We'll have them soon," he agreed as the twins and the oaf joined them.
Albert and Jet sneaking in the front door woke Francoise up. Not because of her acute hearing, but because they were stumbling around. She put on a robe and cracked her bedroom door. She was about to go castigate them, however she was tired of being angry with them. Instead, she found herself grinning as Albert, who was slightly less drunk, judging by his ability to walk, had an arm around Jet's shoulders and was trying to guide him to their room across the hallway from hers.
The taller, younger man wasn't cooperating. He was giggling and stumbling away. Albert hushed Jet and pulled him along to the bedroom. Jet went stumbling forward and fell against their door.
"Ow... that'll hurt tomorrow," Jet mumbled in English, rubbing his long nose. Albert shook his head.
"I told you to pace yourself. You have no clue about moderation in anything, do you?" Albert said in German.
"Nope!"
"Come on, fly boy." Albert opened their door and gently shoved Jet towards his bed. Jet fell on his stomach and passed out almost instantly. Albert sighed and sat on the edge of Jet's bed. He pulled his gloves off slowly and patted Jet's back.
"You're really something else," Albert said, standing up and stretching. He climbed into his own bed and settled on his stomach, gun arm draped over the side. Francoise could tell the older man fell into a deep sleep quickly. She shut her door and sat on the edge of her bed, pondering Jet, Albert, and Ivan. She was bound to them, like family.
She admitted she would have never picked them, but she was tied to them for the rest of her life. They were the only ones who knew what it was to have forced cybernization. Because of this, she found herself attached to them, but at the same time, it was a very lonely feeling.
Jet groaned and sat up. He looked over to see Albert sitting on his own bed, slumped forward. Jet slid his legs over the edge of his bed and faced the German cyborg.
"Were there any survivors?" he asked.
Albert smirked at him. "Come on. I need some coffee. You probably do, too."
"Ow, my nose hurts. I should have thought twice about trying to keep up with you, you old lush."
"You held your own. Besides, I have more cyborg parts then you. It helped me out."
Jet then glared at Albert's arrogant smirk. "You fucking cheater! Ohh..." Jet clenched his head and squeezed his eyes shut. "Just nobody breath loud. I'll be pissed," he whispered.
Jet followed Albert into the kitchen. They both stopped at the doorway and stared at the table; Jet was amazed to see a full, hot breakfast laid out with warm coffee and cool orange juice.
"Well, what do you know? I thought she was mad at us," Jet said. Albert gave him a light smack on the shoulder and a smile.
"Just because she's upset with us, doesn't mean she doesn't care about our well being."
"Yeah, guess I should try to be a little nicer to her when she gets home tonight."
"Maybe we should actually clean the house?" Albert suggested as they sat at the table and served themselves breakfast.
"Aww, man, I was afraid you'd say that."
Jet helped Francoise into the small prop plane and got in himself. He quickly got them into the air and flew east.
"Thanks for bringing me out," Francoise said. She pushed her over-sized sunglasses higher on her nose. "And thanks for cleaning the house yesterday. I really appreciate what you and Albert did."
"Well, thanks for breakfast yesterday. Even though, I've been a chump lately. Too bad Albert had work and Ivan had school."
"I know I haven't been as pleasant as I should. I have so much on my mind."
"Jean-Paul?" Jet asked, fumblingly with a switch.
"Yes. I haven't heard from him. What if...?"
"That brother of yours is one far out cat. He can take care of himself. I'm sure he's just laying low."
"I hope so," she said, still looking worried.
"Hey, you know, we should all take a vacation," Jet suggested.
"That's a wonderful idea. Maybe we could go skiing."
"Now that would be something cool to do. I never, ever thought I would get a chance to do something like that."
"Then it's settled," she asserted. "Besides, I think Ivan can use a break. He's been studying so hard."
"He's becoming a regular Poindexter," Jet agreed.
Albert loaded an icy crate on the back of a delivery truck. He turned towards the warehouse for another crate. He stepped inside the wide, warehouse door and stopped in his tracks.
The rifleman was standing in a alcove with a handgun pointed at the foreman. Albert's foreman had his hands on his head, he was kneeling on the floor and trembling. Albert didn't miss the bloody lip and bruises.
"Let's try this again, 004," the mossy haired woman startled Albert, as she slid past his right. He flinched away and glared at her.
"What do you want?"
"Surrender now, or we'll turn this place into an abattoir," she said, slamming her cane, hard, on the floor.
Albert's mind quickly cast about. He had to quickly get them out of the warehouse and away from possibly finding Ivan, Jet, and Francoise.
"I'll go and not give you any trouble, but you leave everyone here alone."
"Fine," the woman said. "Ember, take 004 to our car. We'll pick up the twins and the oaf. Hopefully, they've subdued 001 by now. And you, fool," she addressed Albert's foreman, "forget this or we'll kill you."
The man nodded. Ember raised his handgun and pistol-whipped the man. He fell unconscious on the ground.
Albert's eyes narrowed. He knew Ivan was more stable, but there were still issues that Kozumi and Kaminari were working on. They visited Ivan every few weeks. He prayed Ivan could get the drop on the men.
He followed them to a dark sedan. He got into the back with the woman. The rifleman took up driving duties while she pointed the top of her walking cane to Albert's temple.
"Now, tell me where 002 and 003 are. Don't lie either, we know where the four of you have been living."
"I will never betray them. Take me back if you want, but you will never drag it out of me," Albert said.
"Listen, family man." Albert looked up to see Ember's reflection in the rear-view mirror. The man coolly lit a cigarette and then turned back to his driving. "Countess Yana can make your life a living nightmare. Best cooperate, because if she has to chase down those other two, she'll make them pay, along with you. Simple as that."
"Family man?" Albert asked.
Ember chuckled, the sound was almost friendly. "I know my own kind. You lost your wife, so you're trying to make another home. We've seen your house. Nice and cozy. You could have had the same set up on Ghost Island. You're out of choices now."
"So, let's start again," Yana said in a sardonic tone. "Where are 002 and 003?"
"Forget it." Albert felt a painful jolt to his head. It stopped, but left him throbbing and slumping foreword. She jerked his head back by his hair.
"Tell us where they are."
Ivan felt something tingle behind his right eye. Just a faint sensation. He looked up and felt a compulsion to hit the boy sitting in front of him. Something inside of him longed to inflict pain on someone, anyone.
His eyes narrowed as he let his mind follow the strong sensation. He stifled a gasped when he probed the minds of the twins that had attacked them in Italy. He shivered as he read their minds; their intentions were to fire their guns off in the hallway and then tear up the school looking for him.
No! He wouldn't let that happen. He had to be careful; he couldn't show his abilities to the regular students. Suddenly, Ivan jerked backwards, then was knocked out of his chair. Chaos erupted around him as students stared at him. Some giggling, some had pity, and some had fear of him.
He struggled to stand. The twins' emotions were too thick for him to focus much, but he could tell they were approaching his classroom.
"Where are you going?" his teacher called out. He ignored her and jogged out of the classroom. He started weaving his way through the empty hallways.
"Come out, come out, where ever you are, 001!" one of the twins called from a hallway to Ivan's left.
Ivan's anger rose as he stumbled towards them. "I'm here. Leave them alone. Don't you dare shoot any of them."
The twins, lofting their guns, stood in the middle of the hallway. "We'll leave them alone..."
"...if you come with us."
"I'm not going back to them!" Ivan snarled and clenched his fists.
"What about the others?" one of the twins asked.
"What do you mean?" Ivan gritted his teeth and struggled to read their minds, to no avail. Not only was he feeling fear, but their emotions were running on a high, so loud his brain throbbed. His terror, the memories of his father hovering over him with a bloody scalpel, was too heavy for Ivan to mentally push through. He cursed; in hindsight, he should have had the piece of his brain removed so he could function like a flawless machine.
"The countess and Ember already have 004..."
"...then we'll all head over and pick up 002 and 003."
"Don't you dare hurt them!" Ivan shouted in Russian, too confused to use any other language, barely able to remain standing. Waves of nausea hit him. Their desire to see Ivan suffer rose above the waves of panic at the thought of seeing his parents again. The twins' emotions brought him to his knees as their thoughts slowly blurred into one driving emotion within Ivan: self-loathing.
"Come with us now," one of them ordered as the other yanked him to his feet by his elbow.
"What's wrong with him?" the one that held Ivan's arm asked.
"Don't know. By all rights, he should be flinging us around."
"We'll hand him over to Yana and then she can trade him back to Gamo."
Despair hit Ivan as they dragged him through the bare hallways; emotions were just blocking his every possible defense. When they had him out in the car, one of them pushed a cloth over his nose. He breathed in the heavy, cloying odor and fell into darkness.
Francoise paused as they walked towards the small rental house. She grabbed Jet's wrist. He looked at her, baffled.
"Some people are in our house. I hear them breathing. Five heartbeats, besides Albert and Ivan's heart regulators."
"They found us," Jet harshly whispered through clenched teeth, dragging Francoise behind a tree. He peeked around the tree, but couldn't see anything. The curtains were drawn. He looked back at Francoise; her eyes were closed and she was concentrating.
"It's the five that attacked us in Stresa; I can tell. Our uniforms and ray guns are inside the house. No doubt, they're waiting to ambush us."
Jet turned to Francoise and gripped her upper arms. "Go sit in the truck and get it ready."
"But I can't drive."
"Just have it warmed up."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to wing it," Jet said, handing her the keys before he jogged towards their home.
To be continued.