Break Me One More Time [McLennon]

in which paul reunites with some friends

"Right, then. Let's go."

Paul, John, Roger, Deaky, Ringo, Freddie, and Brian sneaked their way down the nearest flight of stairs. Past bloodstains on the wall and the bodies that laid beneath them, slumped against the wall. Paul swore they all looked like Barney and he kept closing his eyes.

"Are you okay?" John asked softly as they moved.

"Should I be?"

John laughed. "Fair point. But you keep stumbling into me. I just mean, are you okay? Do you need a break? Maybe sit down for a minute."

Paul sighed. "Don't have time for a break. C'mon." They pushed on.

They followed the little dot onscreen all the way to an actual person standing in front of them. When they all reached him, Darren looked around in shock at lot of them. "How — where did you all come from — how are you all — what?!" He tugged at his hair. "You're all supposed to be back at the —"

"Well, hold on," Paul cut him off. "I'm supposed to be here."

"Okay, but the rest of you —" Darren shook his head incredulously, eyes wide and mouth agape. "How — how — are you here?"

John, Ringo, Deaky, Roger, Freddie, and Brian all mumbled unintelligibly, shifting back and forth uneasily, until John finally huffed, "Look, your war isn't exactly going very well. It looks like you need all the help you can get."

Darren frowned. "That's... fair enough. But there's not much else we can do unless we get Wilson."

"Then let's get Wilson," John said vehemently. "Just remind me: who's Wilson?"

"President Wilson," Paul said softly and gestured for John to back down. "Okay, so how do we get to him? You're our best shot at getting near him, Darren."

"Me?" Darren said laughingly. "No, that's not really my area of expertise. Marbella is leading the squadron to assassinate Wilson."

"There's an assassination squadron?" Ringo cried.

"Excellent!" John said. "Where are they?"

"Why didn't we know about this?" Paul said, frowning.

"Yeah, and why weren't we on it?" Roger said angrily.

Darren looked between all of them just standing before him. None of them was sure he was going to answer them but before they got the chance to find out, they heard movement in the hallway. Darren ushered Paul, John, Ringo, Deaky, Roger, Freddie, and Brian into the next room. He closed the door as quietly as he could and when he found that it didn't have a lock, he held the knob in a death grip.

"Search this room here!" Came a muffled cry. Footsteps and voices grew closer; they trampled around the room, looking in cabinets and under the table. They jiggled the knob that Darren held tightly and seemed not to think very much of it when they found it to be, apparently, locked.

"All clear!" One of them cried, and the footsteps faded away once more.

"All right, here's the plan," Darren said. "You four are gonna stay right here." He pointed to John, Ringo, Brian, and Freddie.

"What?"

"Not fair!"

"We've got a right to fight, too!"

"Yeah, Paul says so."

"Paul's not in charge," Darren said simply. "You've never been in the field and you're gonna stay put and make sure no one opens that door, you hear me? It's a blood bath out there."

"But you're losing," John said. "You need —"

"I already said, if we can't get to Wilson then we've lost," Darren snapped at him. "So there's no point in putting you out there, is there? So, you four, stay here. The three of you, follow me." He marched out of the room.

"Just — just wait here a minute," Paul said to John, then to the rest, "All of you. Just... I'll be back." Paul, Deaky, and Roger followed after Darren together, but out in the hallway Paul caught up to Darren. "What's to stop them just following after us? They're sure to be killed then!"

"They wouldn't know where to look," Darren said. "But anyway, I locked the door."

"It hasn't got a lock!" Paul cried.

Darren sighed. He wiggled his fingers at Paul. Magic.

"Oh," Paul said glumly, feeling guilty that he told them all to wait, subsequently getting them locked in there. Right after he had declared that they all had the right to fight for their lives, too.

"Okay, well, where are we going?" Roger asked.

"Where do you think?" Darren said.

Deaky frowned. "I'm afraid to say."

"We're gonna go kill Wilson, aren't we?" Paul said.

"Well, sort of," Darren said. "We need to find Marbella first. I'm just not sure how. Wait, how did you guys find me?"

Paul pulled Barney's phone out of his pocket. "This."

"Brilliant!" Darren said, pulling out his own phone. "I'm such an idiot. I should have thought of this. This way, let's go. Where'd you get that?"

Paul frowned. "It's Barney's."

Darren stopped in his tracks. "Why do you have it?"

Roger, Deaky, and Darren all stared at Paul while he shifted back and forth uncomfortably until, at last, he mumbled, "He's dead."

None of them asked how, or if he was sure, and they didn't dwell on this. They didn't have time. So they kept moving. It was all they could do. They went downward. They found a staircase and worked their way down a staircase at the back of the building; they moved as quickly as they could, but had to stay in formation so that they were never unguarded. Weary of someone popping through a doorway to attack them. They kept turning sharp corners until they finally came to a conference room. Darren knocked on the door in an erratic pattern, and Paul tried to recall what very little he knew about morse code, but the door was already swinging open and they were being frantically ushered into the room.

"George!" Paul cried in relief when his eyes landed on his friend standing in the corner of the room. He looked a little more banged up than Paul did — he was bleeding in a few places — but overall, he looked to be in pretty good shape. Paul bounded across the room and threw his arms around George.

"Oh, thank God," George murmured into Paul's shoulder. "There are so many people dead. I didn't know. I didn't..." he trailed off and hugged Paul tighter.

"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?"

Paul turned to Yoko with a gasp, dropping down to kneel beside her where she was sitting on the floor with her arm curled against her chest. "Fuck, what happened?"

"There's a war on. Don't know if you've noticed." Yoko laughed, and Paul and George both laughed with her.

Darren and Marbella were talking in low voices, angled toward the corners so that the rest of them couldn't even read their lips. Something was about to happen. Paul and George and Yoko were all sure of that. Something big.

"Three of us," Yoko sighed. "Back together again, huh?"

George smiled sadly. "We didn't start all this. We didn't start any of this, but..."

"But we're sure going to finish it," Paul said.

"All right, everyone," Marbella said to the room sharply. "Listen up."

Paul, George, and Yoko all shared a look. Here goes everything.