The sheer size of the place was what struck Jin most of all. It was impressive enough looking at it from the outside... but the interior? That was another story altogether. They had everything there... every floor, every level... if only all hospitals had been like Auburn Memorial. She probably never would have joined F.E.A.R., gained access to the most cutting edge technology. All she'd have to do is become a civilian doctor... while not as exciting as being part of F.E.A.R. it certainly would have cut down on her personal risk, at least. The red haired young nurse at the front desk, Ashley, gave her a rundown on the hospital, pointing out sections on her working computer terminal. Sending updated maps to Jin's datapad. She browsed over every floor, getting a lay of the area while Taylor and Speirs were off carrying out the lengthy list of orders Holiday had left them with. Locking the place down and preparing it for a possible siege. Her job was to help with medical related tasks, obviously, she trusted them to do well securing the place. And more of it could be done when the team made it back.
The main surgery and recovery floor was on ten... at least the one Doctor York and the other surgeons was running, tending to Cole and Jenkins. It wasn't practical to keep the limited staff operating on every floor, spread them thin. From what updates she had heard, both surgeries were going well. If Ross was right, this York was one of the best there was at what he did. They were in good hands. She could go check up on them later. Doctor Ross had transferred the details on every medical case among the injured survivors as well, to her datapad. He also a comlink, given to him by one of the Delta Force operators, to make relaying information easier, several members of the staff had them. There were cafeterias on most of floors... it had probably been necessary, given the sheer number of employees the hospital had boasted... at least before the Vault's explosion. As such, only the one on the tenth floor was currently operating... the most active of the many floors.
She got a look at the history of the hospital as well... there had been an original smaller hospital combined with a mental sanitarium at this place in the '30s. Suffice it to say, after the great earthquake in the '70s had rocked Fairport, after ATC had formed, they'd been forced to start over from the ground up. ATC had pitched in, financially and creatively, and over the next decade through further additions, Auburn Memorial soon rivalled the best hospitals around the country. Nothing but the best, with ATC. Just like their experiments... nothing but the most depraved as well. There was no cost too high for progress with the corporation. The medical center attached to Auburn Memorial had been the latest completed expansion, only a few years ago... but it was otherwise unimportant to the present. And still had to be sealed off by the Delta Force operators. They only had so many survivors as it were, manning both vast buildings was out of the question. She was given a rundown on the remaining staff, names of doctors and nurses... as well as a rundown report on injured civilians and operators, conditions. It was a mess all around.
Still, despite the workload, it could have been more difficult. The hospital should have been crowded with survivors by now... instead its corridors seemed as abandoned as the streets outside... or even the underground. It was unnatural to see the place like this... hospitals were the first place to go to in an emergency... and what greater emergency had there ever been in Fairport? Nothing about it was right... and she suspected she knew the cause all too well. At this point, she half thought she was psionic herself. How else had she seen Alma? Unless... that had been what she wanted. Something she could do. However the rules of the supernatural worked, anyways. If there were any rules. All she could do was try to focus on helping those she could, or she would lose her nerve... be of no use to anyone, much less herself. Never mind her fear for the Point Man, out there... not just the matter of taking the fight to Armacham... but Alma herself following him around. Even if she had seemingly protected him in the underground, the opposite of what she had done to countless others... her madness was unpredictable. She was dangerous... too damn dangerous to be trusted. And there was still the emaciated thing crawling on to Bremmer's Black Hawk that had tried to kill her, out there somewhere.
Shaking her head, Jin tried to force it all at bay, the horrific images of the recent past, for the moment, and resume her work. As she looked over her datapad, where she stood at the nurse's station, absently chewing the snack food Holiday had thrown her, finishing it up and tossing the bag into the nearby garbage before her comlink activated. A familiar voice filling the channel, interrupting her train of thought.
"Jin, are you picking this up?"
"Go ahead, Betters. I'm still here. Just trying to play catch up around this place. It's a task and a half."
"You'll have to put it on hold for now, I have a new one for you."
"Wonderful. I'm listening."
"Nothing to sound tired about, some mostly good news for a change. The Second F.E.A.R. Team is en route from Downtown. They're making their way to the roof of Auburn Memorial aboard a Black Hawk, Dust 6. They picked up a stranded United States Army Special Forces team, Task Force 92, and have taken Genevieve Aristide into custody."
Jin paused at that, instant surprise forming at the sudden barrage of important and unexpected details. Eyes widening a bit, taking in all the information he had given her. It was almost too hard to believe, how quickly things could change on a dime. She had known he... they were alive, but here and now? And with some reinforcements and dragging along the one who had started the whole damn thing? Maybe their luck was holding out, a little while yet.
"Raynes is coming here? Genevieve Aristide? You must be kidding. She's still in the city, and they actually got her?"
"Yes... and it's about fucking time if you ask me. Now we can get some answers out of her... have some more leverage against ATC when it goes to trial. They took some gunfire on the way out with her though, ambush from some mercenaries on her payroll... a Delta Force operator was critically hit. I'm not sure his exact condition yet, but it's serious, I'd gather. Prep a medical team and be ready for them up there."
"I'm on it right now, commish, and on my way topside. Jin out."
Jin hung up the communication channel on that assured note, pondering it all for a moment... but not for long... she didn't have any time to waste. A life was counting on them. Activating her comlink again, she switched to the CENTCOM frequency Doctor Ross was using. Raising him on the line and speaking up again firmly and clearly.
"Doctor Ross? This is F.E.A.R. Technical Officer Jin Sun-Kwon. I've just been informed we have an incoming Black Hawk full of men, coming up to the roof. I need you up there with some nurses and a gurney. There's a seriously injured Delta Force operator inbound. I'm on my way to the life flight elevator now."
"Of course, Jin. We'll meet you up there in a few. I'll notify Doctor York to be ready for another patient. There are already a few Delta Force operators securing the rooftop, Speirs insisted. A Master Sergeant named McNeil is in charge up there. They'll show you the way."
"Copy that, doctor. See you in a bit."
Jin turned off the comlink channel in an instant, looking back down to the screen of her datapad. It would be good to have something else to focus on for a bit instead of getting back up to date. Helping out around this place... their new temporary base of operations. Shelter. Home. She looked back up to the nurses station where Ashley worked at her terminal, nodded, and excused herself. Stepping away from the counter, she moved away from the nurses station and waiting room, heading back down the corridor towards the life flight elevator. Reaching it, her gloved red finger tapped the call button, activating it and she leaned back a bit, waiting for it to come. Glancing backwards over to the floor, where Holiday's emptied green can of Diet Squish lie... a bit of a smile cracking her lips. Worth the pain in her face. The Point Man and Holiday, as fine of soldiers as they were, could be like kids, it seemed. Boys would be boys, she supposed. Even a man as unusual as him. The doorway to the life flight elevator parted, and she stepped inside, turning around and moving to the control panel, looking it and the small screen above it over.
Hello! Welcome To Auburn Memorial Hospital!
Fifteen floors, alright, each of the buttons, among others, stood out before her in the spacious interior. There were a few others separate of the fifteen buttons... for opening the doors, distress call option if it got stuck. And a subterranean morgue, she remembered Betters telling her, where the old sanitarium had resided back in the day. She doubted anyone was operating down there anymore, even with the bodies starting to pile up. Breathing quietly, Jin tapped the button for the rooftop. The doors beeped and closed automatically, cutting off her view of the first floor's main corridor. The life flight elevator began its steady ascent to the top, rumbling around and through her. The light on the interior flickered periodically, but its power remained intact. She wasn't sure how long the emergency power would last... but given Armacham's resources, probably more than long enough for them to gather as many survivors as possible, and plan out whatever must come next. The place was well built... even under the... paranormal, circumstances, their chances had improved significantly.
She closed her eyes for a moment, suppressing a yawn and stretching her limbs. The aches and soreness through her body, her face, remained as it had since she woke at the crash site. She could handle it, but there was no denying she wasn't at her best. She was exhausted, and would only continue to be, at this rate, while handling medical cases. Still, everyone had a job to do, here. Everything was counting on them, salvaging from the supernatural disaster what still could be. Even so, not for the first time she wondered what the hell she was doing here. She wasn't a combat operative... and could only do so much to pitch in as a combat medic. She knew her importance, her expertise... but that had all been before the explosion. Behind the front lines. In another world. The one she had thought she knew. This one was... something else altogether. She was no fool... she'd known what she was signing on for joining F.E.A.R., the risks she would be taking, the past missions... but something on this scale had been unpredictable, unprecedented. Her life was never going to be right after Fairport... the entire world would be changed... and in the here and now, she was living out history. An event that would change everything, forever.
It was a strange feeling to be making history, even if she would be a footnote in it.
Gradually, she opened her eyes again... and eventually reached the top of Auburn Memorial, the elevator coming to a halt. Stepping away from the control panel, moving into the middle, the doors parted in front of her, the steady patter of the rain slamming on concrete coming back. The distant rumbling of thunder. She stepped through the doors, out into an enclosed section with another pair of doors at the end, a couple storage racks on either side of the elevator. Moving towards the pair of blue double doors, she pushed through, moving out on to the roof as the life flight elevator closed behind her. Moving out further on to the roof, the pouring rain resoaked her in an instant, washing over her face and dripping. She paused at a certain point and looked it all over, from where she was, on a lower section of the rooftop. It was as big and impressive as she'd expect from the interior and outside of the hospital. There were three primary sections, off to the left, right and far ahead. Three pavilions that went inside were attached to at least three separate landing pads, each section illuminated by emergency lights. Several stairwells were around the area on different sides... ventilation sections as well that ran down into the hospital. Cement columns and support beams. Railings, all along the perimeter of the three landing pads, from what she could see.
Sure enough, she wasn't the only one standing out on the roof, she glimpsed the familiar figures of several scattered armored, helmeted Delta Force operators, heavily armed, pacing along, manning their posts around the area. A couple of them were talking somewhere not far ahead of her, and they stopped, looking back her way curiously. One of them laughing and speaking up to the other operator.
"Who invited the Ghostbusters up here? Think someone's lost. I don't see any creepy ghost girls around."
"That's enough of that. They're here to help. Beggars can't be choosers. Get your ass back on patrol."
The second man to speak, firmly to his evident subordinate, stepped away from the other operator while the other shrugged and resumed pacing the perimeter. He moved over closer to her, holding an impressive dark metal, sizable triple barreled rocket weapon in both hands, with a shotgun and assault rifle slung across his back. He carried it with ease, drawing near and coming to a stop in a puddle in front of her, eyes studying her curiously behind his clear goggles. She could feel his gaze passing over the bruises for a moment, before he addressed her with a nod.
"Sorry about him. Runs his mouth. Name's McNeil. You must be with First Encounter Assault Recon. Den Mother told us you guys had finally showed up. About damn time. Something I can help you with?"
"I'm Specialist Jin Sun-Kwon, I'm the technical officer and combat medic of the First F.E.A.R. Team. There's an inbound Delta Force Black Hawk with two accompanying teams including the Second F.E.A.R. Team. They have an injured operator, Doctor Ross and some others are on their way up as well and should be here anytime now. I need to get up on to the central landing pad."
"Understood. Right this way then, Specialist Sun-Kwon."
He gestured a gloved hand for her to follow, before turning on his boot and striding down towards the central landing pad, pavilion and stairwell. Jin followed after him, shadow casting along the way through the lights, moving across the long section of the roof away from the life flight elevator. Above the stairs, running along the cement wall were the railings overlooking the central landing pad... not too high up, but the view up there just out of her reach. Reaching the stairs she moved up with him, passing over the staircase and reaching the doors of the central pavilion. The operator, Master Sergeant McNeil, pushed through the doors and they stepped in out of the rain, for the moment, walking over the white tile floors. At the end of a small corridor was another pair of doors awaited them. She followed after the operator down the pavilion, and he opened the doors, stepping through an holding one open for her. Stepping past the operator, she found herself in a final corridor, a bit longer than the one preceding it.
On her immediate right were the sealed metal doors of another elevator... she wasn't sure which floors it was connected to, but it wasn't a central elevator like the life flight elevator. She hadn't checked the layout on her datapad, but if she had to guess there was an elevator in each pavilion, to facilitate the transfers as quickly as possible. Turning to her left, the operator passed her, moving down the last corridor towards the final pair of double doors on the end. She could see the rain running along the two small windows, one on each door. The landing zone itself was fuzzy to her, between the flickering lights in the corridor and the rain. She passed down after the operator, pushing through both doors with him, and moved back out into the storm, boots passing over the soaked concrete and out towards the illuminated landing pad. When they were out on the edge of the landing pad, the operator looked back over to her, speaking up again, the rain streaming over his helmet and dripping off his balaclava.
"Here you are. You'll have to take a tour of the place when you get the time. Easy to get lost in here. Almost did when I arrived with my squad. Haven't seen a hospital this big in my entire life. Maybe if I'm free, I can help you out there. For now, I have to get back on patrol. Just shout to one of us if you need anything, alright?"
"Thank you, Master Sergeant McNeil. I will. I appreciate it."
"Just doing my job, Ma'am. Even in the middle of this nightmare. We all pitch in, we just might have a fighting chance of getting out of here."
"There's nothing I hope for more, about now."
"Until then, we better get out there. Good luck, catch you later."
The Delta Force operator nodded his helmeted head to her calmly, turned away and went back inside the pavilion. As he moved away, leaving Jin alone, she stepped over the landing pad, looking over the white medical cross and H painted on it. The doors closed audibly behind her as he went through them. Then she looked ahead, to the railings on the far end. Slowly, she paced over the pavement, moving over towards the railing... looking out over it, at the sights that greeted her. Looking down into the streets, fifteen stories below. The wind and rain pressed against her... and she couldn't deny how impressive the view was of the city. Or at least how impressive it would be, if it wasn't so horrific. From where she stood, looking out, she could see ground zero in Auburn, the crater itself, the midst of the ruins the Vault's explosion had left behind. Fires burned everywhere, smoke poured into the already stormy skies. She saw the subway of the Orange Line station down in the streets they had come from not long ago. She saw many sections of the city... distant skyscrapers. Downtown. Tracers, lasers and missiles flew though the night, muffled distant explosions rang out... as Betters words were confirmed.
A huge battle was taking place out there, between the Replica and Armacham forces. Much too far for her to get a proper glimpse, short of a pair of binoculars... but she got the gist of it. The sounds of gunfire emanated over the rain... but when a flash of blue lightning appeared in the skies before her, the battle was dwarfed by the boom of thunder that chased it, echoing over the war torn city. Then she looked back over her shoulder, to see most of the Delta Force operators around the roof were staring up at the skies as well, startled by it mid conversations. They looked back down and resumed talking or resumed their patrols. Ignoring the miserable weather. In spite of everything, they seemed pretty relaxed with it all. Regardless of the unnatural war zone they were now wrapped up in, a fierce one taking place only Downtown, not too far away. She hoped for their sake that wouldn't change... that they wouldn't have to face what she knew was out there. Things worse than the Replica or ATC. She wanted to think the hospital was and would remain safe... but bitter experience told her otherwise. Nowhere in Fairport was safe.
Not any longer.
McNeil wasn't even the only one on the roof with a rocket launcher... she remembered the designation now for the weapon, a MOD-3 MP Multi-Rocket Launcher. She had no doubt they could reduce any Replica or ATC attack helicopters to scrap metal if they got any ideas, were stupid enough to attack the rooftops. And yet, even such high powered explosive weapons would be worthless against the supernatural. Against the things she had seen with her own two eyes. Jin looked out over the railing and closed her eyes for a moment. She could still see her. The girl in the red dress. Alma... standing there. Holding his hand amid the smoking, liquified corpses. The way she had looked at her... black eyes. Devil's eyes. Her thin, adult-like smile. Knowing. Regardless of the child form she had taken. The screams of agony from the Replica. Regardless of them being clone soldiers, puppets obeying their commander... the pain emanating from behind those mechanized audio devices had been real. Had been human.
The way she had flung them around as if they were ragdolls... those unfortunate enough not to be outright liquified right away. There had been rage... the same anger she had felt at the crime scenes she and Passalaqua had investigated at the South River Wastewater Treatment Plant and Armacham Headquarters. An aura... an atmosphere, beyond even the obvious violence of the kills. The way she had pulled them apart... broke them, piece by piece. She had enjoyed it... taken her time, like a kid pulling off the wings of a fly. The hate... the rage... Jin had felt it emanating off her like radio waves on the air. And yet it had dimmed... when the Point Man had reached her. When they had looked at each other. Her voice... it had echoed not only through the tunnels, but inside. Inside Jin's head. Inside... somewhere.
"You're safe now."
She had said that... there was no mistaking her words... but they hadn't been for all of them. It couldn't have been. It had been for him. For the Point Man. Directed at him. They had merely reaped the benefits of proximity, being aligned with him. Maybe they had been safe from them... from the Replica... at least those Replica... but how much longer would they be safe from her? Had he gone to her willingly, walking among the rain of flechettes of his own volition? Or had she been mentally manipulating him? Was it related to his sudden spells? Maybe hallucinations? The HV Penetrator spikes had altered their course away from him, as if he had been shielded by an invisible force field around him... protecting him. And she knew now that he had. It must have been how he had miraculously survived the Vault's explosion at ground zero... short of divine intervention. She didn't know all the exact details of everything... this manner of... temporal, psionic and metaphysical rules was outside of her scientific areas of expertise, but Jin knew the truth. Had probably known it before... but watching the Point Man with her... it was undeniable now. Did Holiday know? Passalaqua? The rest of the operators? Did Betters?
That... she didn't know... but she would not ask any of them. Wouldn't ask anyone. It wouldn't be right. She barely knew him... and what she now knew of him horrified her... but nothing had changed in her feelings towards him. How he made her feel when he was near. It wasn't him she was afraid of... it was her. More than ever. Knowing how deep their connection was. Their relation. She hadn't wanted him to think that she was scared of him... or that something between them was broken... even if it had changed a bit. She had... panicked, after the tunnel. Swept herself up in helping Jenkins and Cole, prioritized them... focused on what she was best at. So he could focus on what he was best at. She would have to explain that to him when she got the chance to, when he returned... to be on the safe side. Regardless of how confused of it all she was... especially on a particular matter.
Alma hadn't killed her at the crash site when she could have. Could have killed her down in the tunnels... hell, probably as far back as the Treatment Plant, and Armacham Headquarters. Yet she hadn't. Why? It didn't make sense. This... all this, Fairport, was the target of her rage. God knew how many people. People she had known, people she hadn't. Various factions involved. War. And still... she had murdered Bremmer agonizingly, probably did the same to Jankowski and Chen, and spared Jin. What had that been? Why had she looked at her each time, and smiled? A warning? About what? And why? Was there even a reason, or was she simply psychotic, after everything that had been done to her... after her death? This was all... too much for Jin. Madness. Like she was in a fevered nightmare. She had known paranormal phenomena existed... this wasn't her first mission dealing with it, but it may as well have been by comparison. And he was down there in that hell. Him, Holiday and Passalaqua. She silently hoped for him, for all of them, to make it back where they belonged. Not out there, in the unknown, but back here with the rest of the team. The Dark Signal squad... they knew something the rest of them didn't. What could it possibly be? What had Genevieve Aristide been using them for, and why was she so intent on seizing or eliminating them? If they knew something, would it make things better for them, or worse?
They may have been at an extraction point, the hospital... may have reached the outside world, but it was rapidly becoming clear their duties in Fairport would not be discharged for quite some time to come. She wondered if Betters would dispatch the Third F.E.A.R. Team he had on standby... or if he would make do with the remaining assets in the field. dropping more people into all... this, knowing what Fairport was, couldn't be an easy decision to make. She didn't envy his or Den Mother's duties as a coordinator and leader... any more than she envied the Point Man his out on the frontlines. Even with his talents... and now someone... something, watching and protecting him periodically. Watching them all, perhaps. Jin hadn't seen Alma until the crash site, and down there in the tunnels... she could have appeared to her at any other time, but hadn't. What were her designs with them, and for what was left of Fairport? And what of Fettel, said to be alive again somehow, retaking control over his Replica? Where was he, and what was his intent with two battalions of clone super soldiers?
It was as if a thousand different threads had all gotten themselves tangled together. Motives... elements. It was way above her pay grade. Forensics didn't count for much here, anymore. Now all she could do is handle tech... and injuries. There would be more of those all too soon. Peering out into the distance... she saw it at last, flitting through the storm, over the buildings. The Black Hawk inbound, lights shining off it. Too far off to hear the beat of its rotors or engine, but drawing closer. The lightning flashed again in the sky, and the boom of the thunderclap came with it. She was drawn from her contemplation by a sudden sounds of the doors opening behind her on the other side of the landing pad. She looked back from the railing to find Doctor Ross and a couple nurses had pushed through the doors of the pavilion, wheeling out the gurney to the edge of the landing pad. Good timing. Meeting the doctor's eyes, she nodded in silent acknowledgement, before looking back ahead to the stormy skies over Fairport. As the Black Hawk, Dust 6, drew closer, Jin at last turned away from the railing and made her way back across the landing pad, stepping up a little bit ahead of Ross and the nurses.
Jin looked up, watching the Black Hawk cut across the sky, getting bigger... the engine and rotor sounds audible by now, redirecting the attention of the various Delta Force operators on patrol on the roof. She heard them talking among themselves over the engine and the storm... and before long the wind courtesy of the chopper washed over them at the landing pad. The side door with the minigun on it was closed, while the other was open... she could glimpse armored and uniformed figures within, sitting or standing crowded together. Some of their faces looked out down over the roof from above as the Black Hawk hovered high over the landing pad, turning slightly and getting into position so the side door faces them. At last, it began its descent, slowly and carefully, touching down on the center of the landing pad. The moment it did, the pilot and co-pilot, visible beyond the rain soaked windows, turned off the engine and Jin ran ahead of the others, keeping her head low amid the spinning of the rotors above.
She heard Doctor Ross moving after her with the gurney... and reaching the open side door, Jin looked among the closely crowded figures. All of them that she could see from where she was were dressed in different uniforms, body armor and helmets than the Delta Force operators were. In an Army Combat Uniform, as opposed to a more solid dark uniforms of the operators. Befitting of their branch of special forces, she supposed. They were all crowding around... she saw women among them as well... they stood over a man's form, lying on the floor of the cockpit. She couldn't discern all the details from how bunched together everyone was, but there was no denying the man's identity. A figure knelt over him as well, from what she could see. Jin spoke up loudly over the noise of the rotors and the engine as it was being powered down.
"Excuse me, one side everyone, please! We need to get him down to surg-..."
"Forget it. He's long gone, Jin."
The voice she knew spoke calmly, coolly from somewhere aboard the Black Hawk. Most of the others on the helicopter separated a bit... enough so that the owner of the familiar voice emerged then from among them... a man in his forties, his familiar white and dark grey D-12 Medium Armor, pock marked with bullets and coated with burns at various points. His headset and headlamp. Assorted weapons slung over his shoulders and across his back. The armor stained with blood... along with most of the F.E.A.R. veteran's lined, worn, stubble coated face. He kept his head low, so as not to bump it against the roof, was almost unrecognizable... save his hair, and his hardened dark eyes framed by the blood. They recognized her, acknowledged her, but were also clearly another world away. Down in one blood stained glove he clutched something tightly she couldn't make out.
"David...-""
"Put him on the gurney. Find him a room.", Captain Raynes instructed the men around him, ignoring her, looking their way, and back down to the body. "We're not leaving him in here, like this."
A helmeted, masked operator sitting behind the far door's minigun was looking down at the body as well, entirely still, eyes visible behind his goggles. Jin followed his gaze to it... and by now, enough people had climbed off the helicopter away from it. The blood soaked Delta Force operator lay still on his back with his eyes closed, in the middle of a pool of blood. It trickled all around the interior of the cabin's floor. His balaclava and goggles set beside him, along with his weapon. His chest armor was torn up, shredded through... burned by scorch marks, revealing his burnt and shredded blood soaked, cauterized flesh beneath. She didn't know what had caused such fatal wounds, but she could speculate. He was a young man... pale... silent. Gone. Somewhere far away. Raynes was right, it was too late. A young woman in the same uniform and body armor, helmet as the rest was kneeling over him... at last rising up off her feet. A combat medic, from her bag and equipment she was tucking back away. Looking down at the young man's corpse with evident regret.
She watched as a couple of the armored, uniformed members of the task force moved forward and picked his body up carefully, lifting him out the open side door. Jin stepped aside, giving them more room, resting her gloved hand against the side of the Black Hawk. By now the engine was silent, along with the rotor, now slowly, lazily revolving around above them. The nurses brought over the gurney, and his form was settled down atop it. One of the men took the time to cross his arms over his chest, as he was strapped in and pushed away from the helipad by the nurses, back into the hospital, the soldiers staying behind, along with Doctor Ross next to Jin. Raynes' voice spoke up again from inside the Black Hawk, redirecting Jin's attention back to the doorway of the Black Hawk's compartment.
"Sergeant? Bring her out."
Another figure... figures, appeared in the doorway, stepping down over the side of the Black Hawk and moving close before Jin. Jin froze where she was... on the spot, and within. Shock overtaking her, as she saw the second F.E.A.R. Team's Sergeant. What was he... no. It couldn't be. It wasn't him. Their rugged facial structures were undeniably similar... jawlines, noses, chins... certain features... they both had black hair... but this Sergeant looked like he might be at least a decade or more older... weathered and lined as Raynes... had a circle beard instead of clean shaven, a different haircut from him, an undercut instead of a buzz cut, and steely grey eyes... not cold blue. And that wasn't even accounting for the fact he wasn't wearing a helmet, balaclava or goggles... merely an earpiece for a comlink and a headlamp. It wasn't him. Couldn't possibly be him. All the same... the resemblance between them was alarming... just as Fettel's face had been the first time she saw the psionic commander on a monitor. She had watched the Point Man depart with Holiday to go find the Dark Signal squad... and like Raynes the Sergeant wore the D-12 Medium Variant... not the Heavy as the Point Man did.
The Sergeant wore a big backpack and was heavily armed, wearing a pair of strange weapons she'd never seen before strapped over his shoulder and back, along with a pistol in a holster down on his thigh. Down in his left hand he easily hefted a sizable minigun like the one mounted on the side of the Black Hawk, as if it weighed nothing, none of the gear seemingly effecting him. He stared back at her, water streaming over his rough features and dripping off his neatly trimmed circle beard... with something like confusion in his eyes... or maybe it was recognition... he was fairly new to F.E.A.R. yet Jin hadn't gotten around to meeting him herself. He wasn't alone, either, he had marched forward carrying a handcuffed older woman with brown hair and a dark grey pantsuit along with him over his shoulder. Her head sagged a bit... and her deeply lined, rain soaked face was exposed. She was unconscious, with several small cuts and bruises on her face... and one rather large telltale deep purple bruise already forming over one of her eyes. She had blood stains all over her throat... but they didn't look like they belonged to her. Jin hadn't seen a picture of her before, but didn't need one to guess who she was. Raynes stepped off the Black Hawk after them, next to Jin, looking between the Sergeant, Aristide and Doctor Ross, nodding to himself slightly.
"Pull a couple Delta Force operators off their posts and find a room for Aristide. Restrain her further, keep her under watch. You, bub... Doctor Ross. Is there a floor we can hold this prisoner on?"
"The sixth floor should do it, plenty of empty rooms, with only one door. Observation windows."
"Good. Find a room and get it done, Sergeant. I'll call you up when I head inside myself. Join you down there. We'll question the bitch together."
"Understood, sir. Take your time. She's not going anywhere."
And he could speak, this Sergeant, with an unfamiliar deep, calm voice. The man definitely wasn't him. She felt foolish for thinking so... but it had been the first thought that popped into her mind. There wasn't just a similar facial appearance, height and build... but a presence. Even so, he did not look at Jin the way the Point Man did. He glanced back over her shoulder for a moment, then studied her strangely before he departed... like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it. After a moment of silence, he turned away from her and Raynes and hauled Aristide off the landing pad, moving towards the double doors of the pavilion. Nearby, one of the task force members addressed her evidently superior officer, the leader of the team.
"Sir, permission to escort the Sergeant down there? Any intel we can get from Aristide could be helpful."
"Granted, Lin. Manon will be down later as well. We'll be in touch. Keep you updated."
Another Asian woman, named Lin, saluted, glanced at Jin, then strode quickly off the landing pad and through the puddles to follow after the Sergeant, joining him at the doors inside. Jin watched them speak to each other for a moment, then depart... noting the way he glanced back at her from the doorway as he pressed Aristide through. The doors closed behind the three figures, and then they were gone. More than ever she felt like a fool... it was just another coincidental physical resemblance, like Fettel, nothing more. Evidently no longer required, Doctor Ross looked back at Jin and nodded, turning and following after the Sergeant, Lin and Aristide, heading towards the pavilion.
Raynes voice beside her returned her, and she looked back to the Black Hawk to find him leaning into the cockpit. Addressing the door gunner remaining in his seat, and the pilot and co pilot in theirs. Looking between them.
"Thomas, Hughes, Allard. You guys get inside when you can. Been flying long enough, risking your asses. Get some shut eye sometime soon. Find something to eat. Get the feeling we're all going to need it."
"Yes, Captain. It was good working with you.", The primary pilot spoke up with a nod, looking back towards the open side door in the cabin. "Regardless of what happened."
"Likewise, Hughes. We're not out of the woods yet, gentlemen."
"I figured as much."
Raynes looked over to the door gunner named Thomas, and they traded a nod, Thomas leaning back a bit in his seat, arm propped up on the minigun. He looked away from Raynes and Jin in the open doorway, and back down to the blood soaked floor of the cabin. Where the operator's helmet, goggles and G2A2 lie. He shook his head slowly, and did not say a word. Raynes turned back from the open door and looked past Jin, to the task force he had recovered, eight men and women in all before Lin's departure, the seven who remained out on the landing pad. Addressing one of their ranks, the superior officer Lin had spoken to before.
"First Lieutenant Roth. I'm sure you and your men can find some way to pitch in around here. Reinforce the defenses. We need every man we can get. Get in contact with Den Mother or Betters, when necessary, if your own coordinator doesn't already have what you need. They'll point you where you need to go, give you a layout of the place on your datapads. You can consult the staff as well. Make sure you don't get lost."
"Of course, Captain.", the leader of the task force nodded his helmeted head. Looking back to the rest of the squad around the landing pad, speaking up louder. "You heard the man, Task Force 92. Fall in and move out to the elevators."
There was movement all around the platform as the heavily armed special forces task force obeyed, those who weren't already holding their weapons taking them up. They began to file towards the edge of the helipad, passing the Lieutenant along the way. The Lieutenant turned to leave the rooftop as well, but paused, mid step, looking back between Jin and Raynes before the Black Hawk.
"And Captain?"
Raynes looked back the Lieutenant's way slowly. Bloody face inexpressive. Still.
"Thank you, again. You saved us all down there. If not for that Black Hawk, the Replica would have overrun us. Maybe you F.E.A.R. Ghostbusters are alright after all. Who you gonna call... right?"
"We do what we can, Lieutenant. What we have to. Just like any other team. Paranormal shit or otherwise. Just make sure it was worth it."
The Lieutenant smiled slightly at that and studied the Captain for a moment, before snapping to attention and giving him a salute. A salute Raynes promptly returned, nodding when their hands lowered again. The Lieutenant, Roth, turned to the rest of his team and ushered them off the landing pad, back down towards the central pavilion. Raynes caught some looks from a few of the special forces operatives on their way out... particularly the woman combat medic. Looking with evident intrigue at him... and over to Jin as well, before turning ahead at last. Raynes didn't seem to notice them, the attention. He peered out blankly over the landing zone, down over the rooftop, looking to each of the other landing pads where he stood beside the Black Hawk. Turning on his boot, he strode away from the Black Hawk and its surviving crew, past Jin... not following the others into the pavilion, but across to the opposite side of the landing pad... over towards the railing along the far end where she had stood earlier. Passing among the lights, shadow casting over the concrete.
Reaching it, he came to a pause, one gloved hand grasping the railing... looking out over the gnarled cityscape of Fairport. Watching the smoke rising from a number of buildings... the devastation of Auburn... ground zero, and the distant fires closer to downtown that even the storm wasn't abating. The fierce battle taking place out there. As she had done. Deep in contemplation. Jin remained where she was, a moment longer... knowing him well enough that he needed to talk. Not that he would ever admit it. She crossed the pavement after him, beyond the Black Hawk, stepping up to his side, joining him at the railing. Looking out over what was left of Auburn. There was a long silence between them... she gave him some time. They had shared comfortable silences before, neither needing to say much after a mission. Nevertheless... now wasn't one of those times. They were still in the midst of their mission... something that went far beyond all the other missions. At last, after another flash of lightning and rumble of thunder, she looked over to him and spoke up, calmly and steady.
"David... how are you feeling?"
Raynes didn't answer her for a moment... instead he looked away from Fairport, up into the skies, letting the rain wash over him. The blood smearing his features slowly trickling off and running down the front of his D-12 Medium Armor. Vanishing away gradually as the resilient white surface of the armor returned in full. A bolt of blue lightning flashed again overhead, illuminating the both of them for an instant. Finally he looked back down at her, with a bit of a grim smile aimed her way.
"How long have we known each other, Jin?"
"Three years, give or take a matter of months. Since I joined. You were already there."
"In all that time, I never told you why or how I joined F.E.A.R. have I?"
"Not that I recall. I would have remembered, I'm sure."
He laughed bitterly at her remark... jaw tightening, and looking deep in contemplation, as before. Vanishing somewhere beyond, even as he spoke to her. Spoke of something he likely never had... or rarely had. She listened to him raptly throughout.
"You would. I was with Delta Force, attached to the Counter Terrorism Unit. Back in '05... I was a rookie at the time. No older than that young man we brought here... had some experience by then, though. My hands were already dirty. We got a report on a nest of terrorists operating in southern Afghanistan. ISIS. Al Queda. Taliban. That kind of shit. Never ending fucking mess in the Middle East. Nothing of genuine value to be gained there... to this day America is just being dragged into one worthless war after another by the Satanic parasites infesting the government. Taking money and being blackmailed to put our interests last. I thought I was fighting for my country, but was just another brainwashed tool fighting for the powers that be. Part of why I'm glad I got out of there early... even the way I did. It was solid intel... but it left out one key detail in the report, about the guy running them. I still wonder if they knew or not. If we were sent in as a test. We stormed one of their compounds he was in, killed most of them... but their leader had survived the initial engagement. A few of my squad mates went ahead to capture him. He was unarmed, cornered, couldn't have been difficult. I let them go ahead."
"When I had regrouped with them... went after them... I found them, and him. They were... floating in mid air in front of him, and there was blood everywhere... it was raining from the ceiling. Blood, brains and skull... dripping down off their armor and boots. He had blown their heads off without any weaponry. He looked like he was in some kind of trance, staring at them blankly... he didn't even notice me, at first. When he returned from his focused trance, sweating, their bodies hit the ground in front of me. And he... saw me. I heard a... ringing... in my head. Maybe he had over exerted himself mentally, killing the others, the only reason I survived. No clue how the psionic shit works, even now. Either way, he gave me enough time to make my decision. My orders were to take him alive. I emptied my M4A1 into him instead, before he could do to me what he did to them. And... because the son of a bitch deserved it. I don't regret it for a second."
Jin watched him closely, the rain and blood running, dripping over his face. His features were unreadable... but still far away. She blinked, slowly, while he didn't. In a trance of his own. He went on as though he hadn't paused, voice still cold and even.
"I'd heard rumors about F.E.A.R. since it was founded back in '02, the Ghostbusters that worked for it. Everyone had... but it was laughed off, few really believed the military had a faction devoted to the paranormal. We laughed, told jokes about them all the time. How worthless such an organization would be, eating up tax payer dollars hunting non existent ghosts. How on the nose the acronym was. Every branch made... makes fun of them. Of us. I didn't know the truth until that day. I was reprimanded for disobeying orders... that leader had known of other such compounds we were trying to root out. Likely they wanted him alive for his powers as well. Even after I filed the report, the report quietly disappeared, and the reprimand was kept under the table... but someone with pull wanted to get rid of me. They couldn't just discharge me outright, I knew too much... not only about what I saw there, but other operations. Out there and at Guantanamo. Let's just say I knew where the bodies were buried. They probably would have had to kill me if Director McCullough didn't get wind of my report and sent Betters to approach me with an offer to join up."
"I liked his pitch and put in for transfer to F.E.A.R. instead of retiring. Betters liked my lengthy resume, what I could do, didn't hesitate to recruit me. He didn't ask questions. Just like he didn't hesitate or ask questions over accepting two super soldiers, despite the condition of not being told where they came from. Who and what they were. He's a pragmatic man... best boss I've ever had. I like that. And I owe him big time. Never would have met all the folk I have otherwise. Wouldn't have become part of something like this... even this city, is where I belong. I saw and dealt with much weirder shit than what I did in that desert compound, during my time with F.E.A.R. Metro City was my first assignment... that outbreak of violent fucking lunatics, the cult operating there worshiping the... entity... causing it all. I've been with F.E.A.R. for twenty years of batshit assignments... since the early days... and this, Fairport, wipes them all away... but I'll never forget what I saw there. The way he looked at me as I gunned him down. Like he could see inside me. He probably could. Maybe he's still following me in death, watching me... and I can't even see him. Wouldn't surprise me, considering what I know about the world now. It's what we still don't know that scares me. What's out there."
Silence returned between them, punctuated by the falling rain, as Jin contemplated what he had told her. She had always wondered, but had known better than to ask. Now she only had further questions, arisen from what he had said. And still she could not ask them... it didn't feel like the right time, with all they had been through. She didn't know what to say to any of it... instead she merely nodded slightly, watching him. It was just as well, he spoke up again, moving them on from his past.
"To answer your question, as for how I'm feeling... like I could use a goddamn drink. Something hard. I'd ask if this hospital had a bar, but I won't waste my time." Raynes spoke at last, his grizzled voice even, deadpan. He looked over her bruised features for a moment, raising a brow partially before continuing. "How about you? You look more than a little worse for wear, Jin. No offense. You ok?"
Jin laughed a little tiredly at last... ignoring the aches in her joints... the throbbing in her face. As best she could, anyways. Still, it felt good to have a reason to laugh again. Felt almost... normal. Almost. Like they were back at the safety of the F.E.A.R. Compound and far away from all this. One could always hope for that again. She spoke up with some grim amusement herself.
"Could go for a visit to the closest Boomer's Coffee shop, about now. Other than that, I'd say I look pretty good for a woman who survived two helicopter crashes within hours of each other. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Two? Damn. Trying to set a record? I would say that. You guys have been through it. Hoped you all got off better than we did."
"There's plenty of misery to go around in this city, apparently."
Raynes smiled bitterly again at that... and she returned the expression. He looked down for a moment, falling into consideration again. Then, gradually raising his head and meeting her eyes again.
"It's good to see you, Jin. Really. I didn't think you and your team had made it... until the comlinks were reestablished and I got word from Betters. I'm glad to be wrong."
"So am I. He told me it was your idea, redirecting the relay. Very clever."
"Didn't think it would work. Had to think outside the box. We didn't have Chen...-"
Raynes paused at that... breaking off from his sentence. Jaw tightening, damp face taking on a distant, grim look. Haunted. He looked back out away from her, over Fairport and the battle taking place Downtown. The words frozen, like he couldn't get them out. He didn't have to... Jin knew he had been going to say. She took up the matter for him, tone quiet and sympathetic, setting a hand on his shoulder and gripping it.
"I know about Steve."
The Captain's eyes snapped up at that, looking back at her. The tightening in his jaw gradually relaxing. He laughed a slight, bitter laugh, shaking his head.
"Betters told you already? Should have figured."
"He did... but only after I...-"
Jin considered her words as all of it returned, gripping his shoulder tighter. The dark, clammy underground metro area. The abandoned city area. The torn Replica corpses and Delta Force operators lying around in that tomb. All the blood... and one puddle in particular. What lie in it. Raynes studied her closely, his curiosity visibly flickering.
"What is it?"
She closed her eyes for a moment, steeling and resolving herself. When she opened them, she retracted her hand from his shoulder, reached down into the right pouch on her D-12 Light Armor Technical Variant bodysuit, popping it open. Reaching inside it, she retrieved it, holding it out for him in her open palm, in offering. He glanced between it and her, raising a brow... then reached his free hand over and plucked it from her grasp. Raising it up and examining it. The rain washed over the wedding ring, making the gold and diamond glisten. Raynes looked back at her, with a familiar, slight smirk she knew well.
"What's this? You finally proposing to me, Dr. Sun-Kwon? Strange time and place, but can't say I'm not flattered."
"Not today, David. Look on the inside of it. The inscription."
Captain Raynes studied her for a moment with a risen brow, and obeyed, activating his headlamp and holding up the ring at a good angle. Looking inside. His eyes froze over in an instant, and he looked back away from it, over to her again with something like shock.
"What... how the fuck did you... where did you get this?"
"When we were heading to Auburn Memorial, we took a shortcut through the Old Underground Metro Area. There were bodies, of the Replica and some Delta Force operators... I don't know how they were killed, but it wasn't natural. Along the way to the subway, we found... what was left of him. His severed arm. Nothing else. I'm... sorry, David. I know how close you were."
Stepping a bit closer, she set her gloved hand on his shoulder again encouragingly. She could imagine all too well what he was feeling... what he was thinking, even with how well he kept things so tightly reserved. She offered what comfort she could. Raynes stared at her, eyes hardened for a long moment, unblinking. His jaw tightened and he acknowledged her words, eyes growing a bit distant as he considered them.
"The underground? The Sergeant told me... that's where he died. He was with Steve, when it happened. Told me one of those... monsters got him. Didn't give all the details. For the best, it seems."
His gloved hand tightened around the ring, and it vanished within the palm. He took a deep, low breath. Wary. Already looking about ten years older than he was, yet resolved, nonetheless.
"I'll get it to his wife. His family. When... if I make it out of here."
"You will. And you won't be alone. We'll tell them together, you, me, your Sergeant and Betters. It's the least we can do."
Raynes looked to the hand on his shoulder, and back at her. Raising both hands, he opened the palms of each, revealing what lie in them. The wedding ring in the clean glove of one... a set of bloodied dog tags in the stained glove of the other hand. She knew who they had belonged to. He met her eyes again, voice as tired as his eyes.
"I couldn't be there for him, when he needed me. I couldn't save him. Like I couldn't save that rookie back there on the Black Hawk."
"Neither case was your fault, David. Nor was Jankowski ours. You know that. It's this city. This place. The ATC. Genevieve Aristide. And her. Alma. They are to blame, not us."
Speaking the name aloud to him felt like dropping a great weight. A burden, off both of them. One of them was going to have to say it inevitably. From the way he looked at her... he knew about her too. God knew what experiences his team had gone through, involving Alma. She could be anywhere... show herself to anyone. They were all at her mercy... anytime she wanted to kill them. Had Raynes seen her with his own eyes, yet? She wasn't sure... and wasn't about to ask him. At last, Raynes looked down at the objects in each hand. The rain washing away the blood on his glove and tags, cleaning them up. When the last of the blood droplets vanished, he transferred the ring to the same hand as the tags, popped open one of his pouches and tucked them away inside, closing it back up. Then he met her eyes again, expression understanding, grateful.
"Maybe. Doesn't make much difference to them. They're gone now. So many are, out there in the streets. Dead, vanished... it makes no difference which."
"Yes. They're gone. And now we have to save whoever is left. No matter what. Not even Alma changes that. That's what we do, right?"
"Right..."
Jin smiled at him lightly... and instead of retracting her hand from her shoulder, she leaned in and hugged him. Both arms tightly wrapping around him. After a moment or two, she felt one of his own raise and hold her back. They stood there like that for some time, sharing another comfortable silence... and she closed her eyes. It wasn't the exact same, as it was with the Point Man, but it was reassuring... and she hoped it was to the Captain. They were alive... that was all that mattered now. She wasn't sure how long they stood there like that, out in the rain together. But it wasn't long enough. A familiar voice returned, then, activating on each of their headsets simultaneously.
"Betters to F.E.A.R. Team. Jin. Raynes. Hate to interrupt, but it's good to see you made it back in one piece."
Raynes and Jin looked back at one another, sharing a silent, grimly amused understanding. Duty called, yet again. Never a moment for themselves. He nodded to her slightly, appreciative. She retracted her arms from Raynes and he did the same... looked away from Jin, out into Fairport. Then up to the skies again. He activated the comlink, their secure F.E.A.R. channel and spoke into it.
"More or less, Betters. Wish I could say the same for the operator. For Steve."
"Yes. I'm sorry about that. The mission was a success, at least."
"Yeah. All that matters, right? Gonna be more dropping like flies, before all is said and done. The Sergeant is securing Aristide in a room right now. More than she deserves."
"Her time will come, Raynes. Reestablishing communications lines. Saving the task force. Capturing Aristide. At least take those for a win. They didn't die for nothing."
"We'll see. It's not over yet."
There was a momentary pause on the line, and Jin folded her arms over her chest, looking out past Raynes. The Captain was right. It could only get worse before it had any chance of getting better. The way things had gone lately. Their brief streak of good fortune would have consequences... she just wasn't sure what form those repercussions would be taking. When Betters' voice returned, although it spoke on both their channels, he redirected his words to her.
"I hate to keep doing this to you, Jin, but we've got another urgent medical case for you coming in soon."
"Go ahead, Betters. I'm here. All ears. Shoot."
"Holiday and the Point Man have recovered the survivors of the Dark Signal squad. They're heading down to the apartment's parking garage now... they're under heavy fire from ATC Riot Security forces. I suspect they'll be arriving in the team's APC instead of the ambulance. I need you to be down in the parking garage waiting for them. Their communications liaison, First Lieutenant Keira Stokes of the Signal Corps, has been injured, shot in the stomach. She's still conscious, communicating with the Point Man, but she lost a lot of blood. Her condition could change at any moment. Have York standing by to operate at once. She is a key witness who has been at ground level and has had direct contact with Genevieve Aristide since before the Auburn explosion. We need her testimony."
Jin considered every piece of the update. Aristide had been eager to eliminate or capture both the F.E.A.R. Team and Dark Signal... why exactly she wasn't sure, but they had her now... hopefully they could find that out. And if this Lieutenant got to them in time, survived as the operator hadn't... some of those answers could be provided. There would be no wiggling out of what Aristide had done. She was sceptical the former president would ever face real justice, in the red tape of the courts, backroom deal corrupt politics... but if Stokes made it, maybe there was a better chance. They already had a great deal of physical evidence on ATC... but living breathing witnesses? All the better.
"Understood. I'll make the arrangements, Betters. We'll be ready for her."
"Good. They'll be here faster than you think. And Raynes? You did a damn fine job out there. Above and beyond. You and the Sergeant should be proud of yourselves, I know I am of you. Steve would be as well. Betters out."
Jin looked over to Raynes and smiled a bit, nodding her agreement at Betters assessment. For his part, Raynes smirked faintly... but appreciatively, not replying to Betters, though not arguing against him either. Betters withdrew from the comlink, and the noise of the rain returned around her. Activating her comlink again, she opened up the CENTCOM frequency and contacted Doctor Ross again.
"Doctor Ross? Hate to do this to you again. I just received word that the remainder of my team is inbound, and they have a seriously wounded communications officer with them."
"More good news. Is the injured party alive this time?"
"Yes, from what I've been told. Shot in the abdomen, but still stable. Dr. York will have to operate straight away, she is a key witness in our investigation of Armacham. They'll be bringing her down to the parking garage this time. I'll meet you and your medical team down there soon."
"Understood, I'll pass it along. See you in a bit."
She switched off her communication device, adjusted her headset and breathed a low, quiet breath. Watched the smoke of the distant buildings rising into the night, the tracers flying downtown... and another flash of lightning, giving the two of them a moment. Falling back for a bit into a comfortable silence. The thunder roared through the skies... the storm seemingly getting worse as time went on. This time he was the one to break through their quiet, looking her way again thoughtfully.
"Dark Signal? What's the story there? Didn't hear anything about it from Betters."
"I don't know yet, but a long one, I'm betting. Delta Force matter. Jankowski's brother Redd is with them. We'll know the truth sooner than we'd like."
"Story of our lives."
"I imagine you have more than a few horror stories of your own to tell, since you dropped in. I know I have some."
"Yeah. They put Amarillo and Metro City to shame. I'll take ordinary ghosts, psionics, armies of insane homeless and paranormal cults worshiping supernatural beings over whatever that... thing... in the shape of a little girl is."
Again Alma flashed in her thoughts. That eerie, still, pale little face... black eyes and thin smile. Permanent blood stains on her bare feet and dress. A woman's furious mind in the form of a calm child. The way they had all been torn apart by her mere presence... the snapping of the Replica exoskeleton's limbs... his screams. Horror was putting it mildly. Even if they weren't real living beings... had been trying to kill them at the behest of their commander... it was hard to believe anyone deserved what had happened to them. Barring Aristide and a few others involved in it all, of course. She was half tempted to look behind them, half afraid to, lest she be standing there watching the two of them.
"Oh, you could say that again. Hell and back."
"Don't I know it. Don't consider us back just yet. I don't think we ever left hell."
Watching the city from so high up... she couldn't disagree. Raynes was quiet for a moment, but when he spoke again, there was a trace of amusement in it that hadn't been there before. A voice she had heard often around F.E.A.R. HQ, knowing and teasing.
"So. Trouble in paradise?"
"Pardon?"
"Betters sent that badass mute of yours ahead without you. To pick up this likely young, almost as good looking as you, Lieutenant? Pity. Spen told me how much you were ogling him since he showed up. You have my sympathy."
Jin's eyes shot his way, to find him looking thoroughly pleased with himself. She couldn't repress a slight laugh. He always had a different way of teasing her than Spen had. Jankowski had been right up front... Raynes finding more roundabout ways. She had missed it, more than she thought she would. Trying to rile her up.
"Not you too. Always stirring up something, aren't you, Captain?", Jin muttered wryly, wearily shaking her head and raising a brow. "Something that doesn't even exist. Even if you have to put it there. And now of all times and places."
"Sorry. Can't resist. You know me too well."
"I do. He'll be fine. He's handled more difficult tasks since all this started than picking up a damsel in distress. Hopefully she's more cooperative in that role than Alice Wade was."
"Fair enough. Not one to be talking anyways, I suppose... coming back after picking up an old witch."
"I'm not worried about some Signal Corps officer. And this most certainly isn't the time for petty jealousies, even if I were."
"If you say so, Jin. Only one Technical Officer around here, as far as I'm concerned. Have my vote."
"Flatterer."
Nonetheless, she was a little pleased by that sentiment. Raynes' smirk lingered, and he looked away from her, not back out over the city, but across the landing pad and towards the hospital. Appraising the rooftop, looking down towards the Delta Force operators patrolling it. Then towards the bottom section with the life flight elevator... and at last he looked back her way again.
"They got any grub in this place?"
"Working cafeteria on the tenth floor, just waiting for you and your Sergeant. Try to save some of it for Holiday and the Point Man. They've earned it as much as you boys have. Haven't had their dinner yet either."
"No promises. First come, first serve."
Well... they had been outside long enough. They both had duties to return to, and could only put them off for so long. As much as she'd like to simply stand out here until the situation in Fairport was resolved. As much as she wished to be evacuated... to see her family again... they all had a part to play before that could happen. And the girl, Stokes, needed help. Jin looked back at Raynes and offered him a slight smile.
"Let's get you in out of this storm, Captain Raynes. The life flight elevator is just down there. Last thing you need is to catch a cold. Give you an excuse for me to look you over."
"As if you needed one. By all means. Lead the way, Dr. Sun-Kwon. You can drop me off on the tenth. You're right. I've earned a goddamn meal, even if it's low grade hospital food."
Raynes extended a covered arm over to her in offering. Expression mildly teasing... his smile was faint, but it did wonders, shifting him from the grim, troubled man that had peered out over the city. The last of the blood had washed away from his stubble lined face as well, by now. Jin smiled and took his offered arm, moving back across the puddle covered landing pad, past the Black Hawk and its watching crew and towards the pavilion. Moving inside out of the rain for a bit, passing along the corridors and out around to the other side. Passing one of the secondary elevators and through the next sets of double doors.
They continued beyond the doors and into the rain again, heading down the wet stairs gradually. Reaching the lower section of the roof, they made their way over the concrete rooftop and towards the life flight elevator. The storm above showed no signs of abating... and every sign of worsening. Even then... things had improved for them since they got back to the hospital. Reinforcements... Raynes... capturing Aristide... and now the Point Man was on his way back. He would be ok... she knew that... he was only facing ATC Security Forces... look what he had done to the Replica single handed. All the same... she silently prayed for him, Holiday and Passalaqua. They had to come back to her. The Point Man had to come back to her alive, again, as he had before numerous other times and close calls since the start of the Fairport operation when she had feared for him.
As they passed over the lower roof, past a few of the Delta Force operators on guard duty, Master Sergeant McNeil looked over their way and traded a nod with Jin. Raynes activated his comlink again, speaking in it calmly, but firmly. Jin looked ahead to the double doors they approached, the small interior within containing the life flight elevator's closed doors.
"Sergeant, this is Raynes. I'm entering the hospital now. Once Aristide is secure, and you're done jawing with the lovely Lieutenant Lin... come meet me at the tenth floor cafeteria. We can grab something to eat, drink and go over our plans. Duty roster. Understood?"
"Copy that, Captain. I'll see you up there."
Pressing the button to open the automated steel doors, they entered the sizable life flight elevator at last, each of them soaked, dripping water all over the floor, and Jin retracted her arm from his. He moved to the middle of the spacious interior, glancing around it, while she went to the control panel and tapped the button to the tenth floor. Glancing back back at Raynes and nodding with a smile. The doors closed at last behind them, the pleasant hum of the elevator returned, replacing the rain and distant gunfire... and they finally left the raging storm behind them.
Well... one of them, anyways.