TW: Violent Death, Major Character Death, Blood
Jake reached the dining room. He saw Ted sitting at the end of the table, farthest from the entrance.
Although Ted knew that Jake was approaching him, he pretended not to notice until the boy was sitting directly across from him.
Fortunately, the others were all elsewhere at the time, so they had the room to themselves to discuss the matter in private.
The inspector's dog snored peacefully, using one of his large feet as a pillow.
"All right, old fart. What did you want to tell me?" Jake crossed his arms and frowned at the guard. He studied his reactions carefully, trying to read his face.
"Jake..." Ted struggled to meet his eyes. He kept his gaze fixed on the table in front of him, like a child caught doing something he should not have done. "...I'm sorry."
"Is that all? You pulled a gun on me and told me to perish and the only thing you can tell me now is that you're sorry?" Unlike Ted, Jake kept his eyes on the man, leaning his body slightly forward. "You almost killed Frank with your own hands!"
"I don't know why I did it either. I can assure you that I have not yet forgiven myself for what happened."
"How can you expect me to forgive you when you cannot even forgive yourself?"
"I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I really don't. I completely understand if your opinion of me has changed after what happened."
"Tell me something." Jake's tone was harsh, without any sympathy. "Do you truly regret what you did?"
"..." The guard did not answer, continuing to stare at the table in front of him.
"Well?"
"Jake, I want to be honest with you. I absolutely regret threatening you. But I don't regret making that criminal pay."
"How can you say that?"
"How can you ask such a thing, Jake!" Suddenly Ted raised his head and the volume of his voice increased.
"I remind you that I saved you by the skin of my teeth! If I had not arrived in time, you all would have burned to death in that damn subway!"
"I know! But you were never the violent type!" Jake raised his voice just as much, almost to the point of screaming.
"What do you know about me, Jake! You barely know me! To you, I'm just the pesky guard who keeps you from vandalizing the subway!"
"You're the one who told me it was your duty to keep us all safe!"
"And that's what I did, by saving you from a deranged lunatic's killing spree! I have no idea why a man who tried to kill you three times had your forgiveness right off the bat, while I..."
"You just said you don't want my forgiveness! How about being honest with yourself for a moment? I remind you that you tried to kill me too!"
"I never wanted to shoot, I just wanted to scare you!"
"Ah, was that it? I'm not so sure."
"How could you think of such a thing? What that man did to you to turn you against me like this?"
"Stop blaming him for everything! He didn't do anything to me!"
"He must have manipulated you somehow, otherwise it can't be explained."
"Stop harping on this! Don't you understand? I can't trust you anymore because..." slowly Jake's tone softened to a sad murmur. "Because I used to trust you."
Ted stopped talking, leaving room for Jake to express himself better.
"Even though you've always been annoying, I think I've always seen in you...I don't know, someone 'right.' I don't know if you know what I mean. Always in uniform, obeying the rules, trying to keep us safe. I liked the way you were before." Jake let out a long sigh and looked away from the inspector. "I don't recognize you anymore. You are a criminal now, just like Frank."
"Did you see me as a role model?" Ted was blatantly incredulous, but at the same time sadly flattered that he had played such an important role for a floundering kid and let him down so quickly.
"Sort of. Let's just say I never expected anything special from Frank, quite the opposite. I expected him to kill us or leave us in that prison. The fact that he is so kind to us now and helped us escape surprised me in a positive way. I thought he was just some kind of serial killer."
"I see..."
"You, on the other hand, surprised me negatively. I never expected to see you like this."
"I'm sorry for disappointing your expectations." Ted said in a calm tone. "But you must understand that people are not all one way. There are aspects of me that you don't know, and rightly so."
"For example?"
"Like the fact that I spent years in therapy learning how to deal with my anger issues. I made life difficult for both my wife and Spike, and completely ruined the relationship I had with him." Ted leaned back in his chair and nervously stroked his dog, who snorted contentedly in his sleep.
"I never would have guessed. You always seemed relatively calm, even when you were mad at us."
"That's because I have learned to control myself. But I can't always do that. Especially when I'm confronted with the criminal who almost killed my boys, who even tried to blame me and got us into this delicate and dangerous situation."
Jake smiled slightly when he heard Ted call him and his friends "my boys". He began to relax a bit, finally able to see the guard's point of view. "Well. You have a point. We are in a bit of a mess. You sound like Fresh to me, though, the way you talk."
"The kid's smart, you should listen to him a little more." Ted sighed. "Jake, listen to me. I'm sorry I threatened you, but I assure you I would never hurt you. I only ask one thing. Don't get attached to Frank. He is kind to you now for reasons only he knows, but who knows what is going on in his mind. One day he may decide to hurt you, and I won't let that happen."
"It's not like you're my father, you know? I think you're too prejudiced against Frank. After all, he saved our lives by getting us out of that prison, and he was a figurehead for us in this strange world."
"And you're not Spike. That doesn't mean I have to stand by and watch you idolize a clearly disturbed individual. You need to be more careful, Jake." He put his hand on his own chest. "I promise I'll do everything I can to get you home to your mom, just like I have for years."
Jake laughed and shook his head. "That would be so funny. You knocking on my mom's door, holding me by my sweatshirt and saying, 'I found him graffiti writing in another dimension.'" Suddenly he got serious. "Gosh. Mom must be worried sick."
"Sure. But you'll come back." He held out his hand. "What do you think?"
Jake smiled sadly and shook his hand. "All right. So ... yeah. I'll forgive you this time. But please don't do it again, okay? You really scared me."
Ted smiled and nodded, "I promise."
~
The day of the mission arrived quickly. Thanks to the group's cooperation, the hologram models were ready earlier than expected, and the group jokingly named them "Super Runner Jake, Yutani, Fresh, and Tricky". All of the models were vaguely reminiscent of their originals, while still hiding their identities somewhat. The only model that looked completely different was King, who appeared tall, lean, and athletic. Even his name was different; when the rest of the group asked him why he chose "Fernando" as his alias, King simply replied that it was the name he had always wanted since childhood.
Before Frank permanently hacked all of the city's televisions, radios, billboards, screens, and phones, they had one last thing to do. At Tasha's suggestion, Miss Maia approved the idea of installing a large hologram projector on top of the city's tallest skyscraper to project the message to an even larger audience than just the commuters in the train stations, as Jake had originally proposed.
The main problem was that the skyscraper in question was one of Prince K's many residences, and even though he was not living there at the time, he was under constant surveillance. Getting to the top required agility, experience, and cold blood.
"What do you mean I can't come with you?"
"You heard me, Rain. We can't afford to risk losing the one person who can save the lives of the other team members." Miss Maia loaded the necessary equipment onto the ship under the anxious gaze of the rest of the team, who would remain at the base awaiting word from her.
"Why do you assume I could die? I'm not as weak as you think!" Rain did not give up. They followed Miss Maia's every move, trying to change her mind.
"Rain. You are an important member for us, but you are certainly not a fighter. Would you really be able to shoot someone? Have you ever done so?" She handed a heavy bag to the ninja who helped her load it into the back of the ship.
"I ... I don't know ... No, I never have."
"Exactly. We can't afford any hesitation or mistakes. This mission is much more dangerous than the others."
"But what will you do if someone is seriously injured?" Rain did not seem to be at peace.
"We will bring them to the base and you will treat them here. End of story." Miss Maia said in a commanding tone and gave Rain a stern look.
At this point, Rain stepped back with a defeated air.
Meanwhile, Jake and the boys were busy saying goodbye to Ted. Tricky held the dog by the collar, but despite her best efforts to restrain him, the animal was always in danger of escaping her grasp, yelping and pulling to get back to his owner.
King tried to pet him, feeling sad for the poor dog who had to see his new-found master leave again.
"Damn, did you hear what the boss said? This mission is super dangerous! Are you sure you want to go? I think you can refuse, you know."
"Don't worry, Jake. Frank and I won't go into the skyscraper. We'll be safe."
"I am worried! What if this is the last time we see each other?"
"Oh-oh. That sounds pretty familiar," Yutani commented with an icy tone and a sour expression on her face.
Jake looked at her questioningly, but Yutani just crossed her arms and looked away.
"I think you two should talk." Ted suggested, sensing that something was wrong between them. He smiled and patted Jake on the shoulder. "Take it easy. I'll see you later."
"That's right! He'll be safe with us, boys!" Ninja joined the conversation, put his arm around the inspector's neck and made the peace sign. "When I will come back, I'll prepare a special feast for all of you, you'll see!"
The shuttle departed shortly thereafter with only Miss Maia, Tasha, Ninja, Ted and Frank on board. The rest of the group remained on the roof, waving their arms in greeting and wishing their companions good luck.
~
She could only hear the sound of her own footsteps and her own heavy breathing ringing in her ears as she ran through the corridors of that hellish maze. Miss Maia was usually a master at keeping calm in the most difficult situations, but this time fate had really tested her.
The bloodstains on the carpet.
Ninja not answering the call.
The crimson red marks left on the walls by bloody hands.
The horrible discovery. Ninja was dead.
More precisely, he had been killed.
His now lifeless body was riddled with stab wounds: on his chest, his legs, his arms. His face was now scarred beyond recognition.
Miss Maia ran, even though she knew she could no longer escape the memory burned into her mind. She had to finish the mission. Even though she felt she had failed, she could not lose sight of the main goal. She could not let Ninja's death be in vain. She was almost there. She was almost at the top.
But suddenly, out of the darkness, someone pushed her violently against a large glass window on the wall next to her, shattering it. She clung desperately to whatever was around her to keep from falling into the void. With one hand, she gripped the still intact window ledge, even as shards of glass pierced her palm. The adrenaline coursing through her body was too strong for her to feel any real pain.
Instead, she clung to her attacker's shirt with her other hand, dragging them along with her.
The attacker clung to the wall, stopping both themselves and Miss Maia.
From this semi-suspended position above the void, Miss Maia could feel the pungent night air burning her eyes and the din of city traffic below, almost inviting her to let go of her fate. In front of her was the face of her assaulter.
"... No... No! It can't be!"
~
"Yutani, can you tell me what is wrong?"
"Nothing." The girl continued walking down the corridor without looking Jake in the face, clearly heading for the lab. But Jake did not give up.
"Nothing? You've been acting weird for days! You barely talk to me, you're always cold and sarcastic..."
"That's not true."
"Look, if even the old fart noticed it, maybe it's not just me making it up, don't you think?"
"Leave me alone, Jake. Really."
"No, now you listen to me." Jake grabbed her forearm, forcing her to stop and look at him.
"You're hurting me, Jake! Let go of me!"
"Stop playing the victim, I'm not holding you tightly! I demand an explanation from you!"
"You're not demanding anything from me! If anything, I'm the one who should demand an explanation from you!"
"For what?!"
"Ah, I don't know, from the fact that you kissed me, that you stroked my cheek, and you were almost going to say ... Look, let's really leave it at that. It seems absurd that I have to stand here and explain obvious things to you."
"They're not obvious, Yutani! What, did you by any chance regret kissing me after the madness of the moment? Is that it? Did you perhaps prefer to give the first kiss to the seductive young scientist and not to the stupid punk who defaces subways?"
"Bruno has nothing to do with it. He is just a friend of mine!"
"Then why are you avoiding me?"
"Why are you playing with my feelings, Jake?" Yutani could no longer maintain a facade of mock detachment and let her emotions run free, tears streaming down her cheeks. She stared at the boy with shining eyes as her chin trembled slightly.
"Yutani..." Jake's eyes widened and he finally let go of Yutani's arm. "Why are you crying? I'm not playing with your feelings."
"Yes, you are! You act with me as if nothing has ever happened between us, as if you regret kissing me! Like you're ashamed to tell others that you kissed the weird girl, the nerd who is only good at reading boring books!" She angrily wiped the mucus running down her nose with her hand. "Look, if you just want to use me, at least tell me clearly, at least I won't get my hopes up!"
Jake said nothing. He suddenly hugged Yutani, holding her close to his chest. Yutani stopped breathing for a second and blushed like a bell pepper. At first she did not return the hug because her brain had gone completely haywire from smelling Jake's scent, which strangely reminded her of the rubber on skateboard wheels.
"I'm sorry I made you suffer. I really am. I'm an idiot. I didn't know what to do, to be honest. I was afraid you'd regret kissing me, maybe I kissed wrong or had bad breath - you know - things like that." Jake was also completely red in the face, grateful that Yutani could not see his expression at that moment. "I was waiting for signals from you, but when I saw you getting colder and more distant...I got scared." He admitted. "I didn't know what to do. I was afraid to come near you again."
"Really?" Yutani murmured, lifting her nose and finally returning the hug."Sure. I'm not an asshole who uses girls like that, Yutani. I'm really sorry you have that opinion of me."
"No! No! I don't think you're an asshole!" Yutani suddenly raised her face and stared at him with a shocked expression. "I... I don't know, I was afraid too! I was afraid of exposing myself too much, of getting rejected!"
"From now on, promise to tell me if anything I do hurts you, okay?" Jake gently stroked her hair hidden under that funny hood. "I don't want any more misunderstandings between us."
"All right. I promise. Sorry for yelling at you before." Yutani could no longer look Jake in the eye, absurdly trying to hide the tears still streaming down her cheeks.
"Shh. Don't talk." Jake gently lifted her chin with his index finger before closing his eyes and bringing his lips to Yutani's. Yutani closed her eyes and immediately let go of the kiss, keeping one hand lightly on Jake's.
After a few moments, Jake broke the kiss. "Yutani, I need to say it. Now. Yutani, I love you." Jake said in a whisper and with a look in his eyes that Yutani had never seen before.
Yutani felt her heart pounding in her chest as the answer came out of her lips without any hesitation. "I love you too, Jake." She closed her eyes, then slowly opened them again. "I've always loved you," she said before bringing her lips close to Jake's again and finally letting go, abandoning her mind and relying completely on her heart for that magical moment.