Chapter 22

Sequoia and Cedar ran alongside each other at a speed that would rival a pack of wolves on the hunt, but they still didn't bother to go full speed. They didn't dare, not in the middle of the woods, lest they end up running smack into a solid tree.

They'd left the abandoned house a few hours ago to get a few basic supplies from the nearest convenience store they could find, trusting the fact that Mac and Ruby wouldn't be able to go anywhere during the absence. Neither of the men were certain what was keeping Graham, but it must have been something, considering he still hadn't shown up yet.

Red also figured it might be a deliberate delaying tactic, too. Graham wanted to give Ruby a chance to squirm, to grow fearful and anxious, to anticipate what it would mean to have Graham personally show up and take her by force back to their base. This was a situation where there was no rush, because there was little chance of Ruby escaping, especially with the specially crafted chains that currently held her.

When the two of them returned to the house, Cedar got busy putting the supplies away while Red went over to the bedroom door to rap his knuckles against the preserved, well-aged oak. "Rubes," he called through the door, "you alright in there?"

There was no answer.

Frowning, Red touched the doorknob to open the door, only to encounter more resistance than expected. Something on the other side was clearly pressing against it. Did that mean Ruby and her friend had somehow gotten themselves free?

For Red, it would be quite easy to simply kick the door open forcefully, but he had to be careful if he truly didn't want to injure anyone inside. He didn't care about the man, MacGyver, but… Graham would want the girl intact and undamaged, at least for now. "I don't know what you think you're doing in there," he bellowed through the door, "but I'm coming in!"

He waited a couple moments to give them the opportunity to move back away from the door, then he gave the door a good swift kick. The door crashed open, part of it falling off its hinges, just to reveal the mattress flopping over into the room.

Red surveyed the room briefly. It was clear that the two captives had put the mattress up against the door in an effort to hold it shut. He grabbed the edge of it and shoved it aside to take a closer look at the bedframe and the floor.

What he saw made him freeze. The bedframe had been completely dismantled and portions of it were missing. That's when his eyes snapped to a hole in the floor, one that was made as if by a very strong foot stomping through the thick floorboards and some of the foundation underneath. The 'missing' parts of the bedframe had actually been repurposed, straightened out and fastened together to make a long, makeshift pole that could no doubt make it easier for two people to slide down into the cellar below. The top of the rod was secured in place due to being tethered by some pieces of warped metal to the radiator.

That's when he noticed a couple of other things. The chain that had held Ruby now lay on the floor, perfectly undamaged, but the lock had clearly been Jimmied… and the pair of handcuffs that had held MacGyver to the radiator had been broken, as if by some very strong and durable fingers…

"Cedar!" Red bellowed. "Get in here!"

There was a brief tumble and then Cedar came into the room so fast he nearly ran into his partner. "What is it, Red?"

Red pointed. "It would seem that these two somehow escaped their shackles while we were out!" He pointed down the hole. "It looks like she and MacGyver went down there, come on."

Neither one of them bothered to use the makeshift pole. Red simply took a moment to gauge the distance and, deeming it safe enough, he simply dropped down onto the space below, his legs bending to absorb the impact as he landed neatly on his feet. Then he stepped out of the way to begin surveying the space, and so Cedar could drop down as well.

Red had already figured if he didn't get out of the way quickly, Cedar would probably come in and land on his head. His dim-witted partner had done stupider things.

A brief survey of the entire cellar space, with the aid of his enhanced vision (which made it easier for him to see in the dark) revealed that there was no-one present except himself and Cedar.

"Cedar," Red remarked, "I do believe we've been duped."

"What does that mean?" Cedar asked, still looking around. "Where are they?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Red snapped. "Come on."

They had barely taken two steps in the direction of the stairs when Red suddenly stopped, tilting his head to one side as if to listen.

"What is it?" Cedar asked dully.

"Shh!" Red growled. "Listen!"

That's when both of them heard it. Their enhanced hearing not only picked up on quick-paced footfalls, but what sounded like a male voice giving directions to someone else following each burst of movement.

And with each direction, there was a distinctive sound of wood crunching or being smashed. And it was happening very quickly, in a different location each time…

"Move! Up the stairs!" Red shouted suddenly, when he realized what must be happening.

Even with their ability to move quickly, they only made it to the top of the stairs to bound into the main area of the house just in time for the inevitable to happen. Red had already seen it coming, but Cedar could only look around in complete perplexity as the wood all around them began to groan, and then the walls and ceiling suddenly gave way.

If it wasn't for the debris and furniture from above raining down suddenly, they might have made it before the entire house came crashing down on top of them.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

MacGyver barely spared enough time to murmur a comment of praise to Ruby for a job well-done as they both hurried into his Jeep. Once they were safely inside the vehicle, he practically burned rubber to get them both out of there. After all, there was no telling if the strength, speed or durability of the cyborgs might still enable those men to somehow come after them.

Mac did glance briefly in his rearview mirror as the entire house caved in on itself behind them, while Ruby turned and looked out the window for as long as she could… even after it was out of MacGyver's sight.

The escape plan had been simple, and it had thankfully worked out. The two of them had moved quickly, with Mac directing every step of the way.

Once they got out of their respective metallic restraint devices with the aid of two household tacks and a little duct tape, MacGyver had stepped out of the bedroom to survey the full interior of the house, after instructing Ruby what he wanted her to do. She had lingered in the bedroom long enough to stamp a hole in the floor, put together the makeshift pole (exactly as Mac instructed her to do it) and then she placed the mattress up against the door from the inside. She had then finished securing the pole in place, and dropped down through the hole into the cellar.

Then she'd hurried up the stairs to rejoin Mac on the first floor, where he instructed her to use her strength to hit certain critical areas of the load bearing, to begin damaging the framework that held the house together. After she successfully damaged a few key spots, Mac instructed her to stop and wait very quietly with him, until Cedar and Red re-entered when Ruby sensed them coming.

Once they'd been certain that the two cyborg men were fooled by their misdirection tactic and went down into the cellar, Mac had lead Ruby to the final couple of areas to deliver the last blows, then the two of them got the hell out of there right before the entire house started to come down.

Now they were, at long last, home free and headed back in the general direction of the Phoenix Foundation headquarters.

Both of them were mostly quiet during the drive across the winding dirt roads, giving MacGyver a chance to process everything that happened. Now that the adrenaline rush in him was easing off and he was no longer in a position where he had to focus on dealing with danger and getting both of them to safety, he could… mull some things over a bit more.

He had no idea what to think of all this. A few questions had been answered, and his mind was starting to fill in some blanks. It was pretty clear what happened in some ways; Ruby had been given a spark of hope by some stranger who could not only promise her the ability to walk again, but follow through. He could easily imagine that this was the kind of thing that amputees would readily agree to out of desperation, especially ones like Ruby who couldn't bear the thought of not being able to walk again.

However, it did appear that there was something far more sinister going on. These people were changing broken and desperate individuals into something… different and stronger, and it was clear that they didn't want to let them go easily once they had them.

Mac found himself glancing in the direction of Ruby more than once, while she quietly stared out the window. For the most part, he didn't see her any differently than he did the first time he met her, nor was she that different from the girl he had visited in the hospital after the accident, or the girl he'd tried his best to protect and help over the last few weeks. Now, the only thing that was different was the fact that… he knew a little more of what happened to her, and what she was capable of due to the new… enhancements and additions to her body.

That, and… there were people after her, the people who did this to her… who were capable of great strength, and possibly other things he could only guess at.

Mac had to admit that it rattled him deeply to his core, and it did take a little time for some of the shock and outright disgust over the matter to ease off in him. Ruby did seem okay for the most part, but… what happened to her still appalled him. Especially since it had been happening to other individuals, too, and he could only guess how many others had been subjected to this… or how many others were currently being held against their will.

These people, whoever they were, needed to be stopped. Mac felt like he was making some kind of silent, solemn promise on behalf of himself and Ruby as he gripped the steering wheel tightly, his mouth pressed into a thin grim line. He would get to the bottom of this, eventually.

But there wasn't anything he could do about it for now, except get Ruby to safety.

When they just happened to near the area of the park, Ruby made a sudden but perhaps not altogether unsurprising request.

"Can we stop here, just for a moment?" she asked. "I'd… like to get my afghan."

Mac considered that for a moment. Part of him knew it would be wiser to keep going, just in case, but she had that almost puppy dog look in her eye. "Okay," he said with a mixture of understanding warmth and wary reluctance.

He carefully pulled up near the edge of the park, then held up a hand when it looked like Ruby was just going to dash out and get it on her own. "No, hold up," he told her with a stern edge. "We'll go get it together." He wasn't going to let her out of his sight again, at least not until they were either back at the safehouse or at one of the Phoenix buildings.

Ruby shot him an impatient look, but her stance softened when she seemed to remind herself that he did literally just help get them out of danger, and he was concerned, he wasn't trying to be restrictive or controlling. Both of them knew she was perfectly capable of retrieving a blanket, but Mac did not consider her out of the danger zone yet.

And he had given his word to make certain she got to safety. He was doing just that.

She did take the lead, but for MacGyver's benefit, she maintained a pace that he could easily keep up with. He stayed right on her proverbial tail as she wasted no time going back to the clump of bushes and the tree, finding her afghan exactly where it had been left when Red and Cedar had subdued her.

After she reached it and scooped it up, Mac gave her the moment of space she seemed to want while she happily reunited with it. As the seconds ticked by, however, he somehow got the sense that she was growing more reluctant to go back with him.

Mac stared at her, a little uncertain how to take that, especially at this point. He tried to catch her eye again, but she refused to look at him. It did sting a bit that they had been through so much together already, he'd done his best to be there for her and he just helped her escape from her captors, yet there still seemed to be some kind of barrier she was keeping between them.

"Ruby–" He began to reach for her arm just for her to pull away, clutching her afghan even more tightly to her chest. That's when he realized she was crying. "Ruby," he persisted gently, taking a step toward her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "What is it? What's the matter?"

She still didn't look at him, but she didn't flinch away from his touch either. "I didn't want you to know!" she finally blurted, as if that explained everything.

"You didn't want me to know what?" Mac asked. When she didn't respond, he took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. "You didn't want me to know that you're a cyborg and that you could do the things I saw you do," he guessed aloud. "Is that it?" He had already picked up back at the old house that this was a sore subject for her, possibly a very embarrassing one she was self-conscious about.

Besides… when he really stopped and thought about it now, especially after they'd gotten out of the crisis situation, even he was still a bit… taken aback by the things he'd seen her do. She had the capacity to bend metal with the bare fingers of her robotic arm, and smash through thick wooden beams with the very same fist…

It made him shudder to think what other cyborgs might be capable of, particularly if there were others out there who weren't as friendly and benign as Ruby…

Ruby nodded, her face contorting a little as she tried to fight off the tears. Right now, it seemed that she did not want to appear pitiful, even if she did look like she was breaking down like a child who feared the ultimate rejection.

"Is this why you wouldn't tell me anything much when I first found you?" Mac pressed gently.

"Yes." Her voice cracked with raw emotion. "I was scared, and I didn't want you to know. I didn't know how you were going to react! I thought you might kick me out, that you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore."

Her entire form was shaking like a leaf now, making it clear she still feared what he might be thinking about the entire matter. Tears streamed freely down her cheeks, and Mac responded by taking her into his arms and holding her close, giving her slender form a light squeeze as a show of security.

"This doesn't change our friendship, Ruby," he assured her. He felt bad that she didn't feel she could come to him about any of this sooner. It would have saved a lot of trouble, perhaps he could have done more to help before this, although he wasn't sure how he could have approached anything differently than he already had. "I said I'm here for you as long as you need me, and I mean it."

He pulled back just enough to look at her face again. He sensed that she needed something a bit more, some kind of solid reassurance that would seal the bond of friendship, at least on her side of things. She also needed some kind of verbal recognition that she wasn't a freak, and that he wouldn't ever consider her such or reject her in any way.

That's when he decided to tell her the exact same thing he had told her during one of the first times he'd visited her at the hospital, just after the accident about a year ago.

"Everything you are," he told her clearly and sincerely, "is still right in here." He ran the tips of his fingers across her forehead and stopped just over her temple, giving her skin a gentle caress. "What makes you special and unique is right in here."

He looked into her eyes for emphasis. "This is you, Ruby Allen. You are still the same human being you've always been, and that didn't change when your legs had to be amputated, and it still hasn't changed just because your body has been… modified with a lot of enhancements. You are still you, and I consider you a friend and I care about you."

It took a moment for the words to sink in, then he knew he had successfully gotten through to her when she finally returned his hug. They stood there for a long moment, beneath the shadows of the tree as the cool breeze of the evening washed past them. The sun was beginning to set.

"Come on," Mac finally said. "Let's get you back to the safehouse." He felt they could figure out how to proceed from there, once he'd gotten her safely home.

Ruby nodded, pulling away and turning in the direction of the Jeep. "Yeah, let's go home."

Mac smiled. He placed a hand on her back and walked with her back toward the vehicle.