"Now..." Jason said as he opened the door to Madeline's room. "This, uh, looks bad. But..." He stopped and sighed, rubbing his neck. "Ah hell, I won't lie to you, this state of the house isn't good..."
They had been sitting in silence for sometime. But Madeline had finally rose and shakily said she wanted to see what had happened. Jason had obliged, exiting the guest room first and nervously warning the woman about the state of her house. Madeline brushed past him, looking about.
"Goodness..." She whispered. She slowly looked over the hallway, her breath catching in her throat. Jason silently watched her, swallowing. Madeline stared at the carnage and glanced up.
"My roof..." She muttered. Jason also looked up. He cringed.
"Uh...yeah, that was my fault. I had to make an entrance into the house and fast...sorry."
Madeline exhaled. She peeled herself from the wall and walked forward, stepping over fallen chunks of the roof. She froze when she looked at the bodies of the fallen mercenaries lying in the hallway. She whispered, "These men. Are they...?" Madeline hesitated but Jason knew what she meant.
Jason approached one and leaned down next to the man. He ripped the mercenary's bacalava off, exposing the man's bloodied face. The man was breathing, his breaths coming out in raspy spurts. Jason turned back to Madeline and said, "No, they're alive. At least...these ones are. I wasn't exactly holding back..."
Madeline nodded as she stared at the downed mercenaries. She shivered, rubbing her arms. "Course. 'Cause these men were here to kill you, right?"
"Yeah," Jason replied, rising to his feet. "They were. I don't they cared about you getting caught in the crossfire either. Hence ramming an APC through your front door."
Madeline blinked. She tried to speak but no words came out. She closed her eyes, counted to ten, and then opened them.
"...What? Was that the noise I heard? Felt like an earthquake slammed into the house. I knew they had a vehicle but still..."
Jason bit his lip. I could have approached that more tactfully. "Uh...yeah. I think they were getting desperate to kill me at the end. Nothing much I could do, I'm sorry..."
Madeline stared at the floor for a moment, her eyes looking over the bulletholes. She breathed out again and rubbed her hair, before casting a glance at the stairs.
"Well," She finally said "Rammed through my house.' She shook her head. "God. All the work I spent into this place, probably been undone in a single moment. How do you like that? I prepared for much but not this. Who could though? Might as well have set up a pebble to stop a wave."
"I'm sorry..." Jason said again but Madeline cut him off.
"Stop apologizing," She grunted. She turned away from him and began to slowly move toward the stairs. "Well...let's see what happened down there and how much my house has been ripped apart."
Jason rubbed his head again, feeling guility about all this. But he told himself that it was way better than the alternative, all of them dead. Jason began to move after her when James emerged from the room.
"Oh my look at this look at the damage quite a battle must have ensued small scale naturally perhaps paling to some of our larger clashes but that's probably good right right!" James hurried over to a fallen merc and began to search the man. "Ooh look at this you did a number on them Jason I wouldn't want to be them right now I hope you got some payback wish I could've too well more time for that later anyway I'm going to search these guys see what they have I imagine much of their equipment should prove most instrumental!"
"Yeah," Jason nodded. "You do that..." He turned back to Madeline. The elderly woman was now standing on the landing, looking at the two mercenaries she had taken down with a baseball bat. She stared down at their unconscious bodies and prodded one, turning the merc over. She then looked at Jason, her eyes as big as dinner plates.
"I did that," She raised a shaking finger, pointing down at the unconscious men. "Oh my god..." She clutched her chest again and slumped against the wall. "Oh my god. I did that."
Jason slowly approached her and sat down next to her. Madeline didn't look at him, still staring at the mercs. "Jesus Christ," She rubbed her chest then looked at Jason. "I could have been killed. Oh my god...I just charged out there and swung...and I could've died."
Jason didn't answer. He mulled over his thoughts for a second, trying to phrase it so he wouldn't alarm Madeline. The poor woman looked shock enough at it was. But he finally he said, "Well...you didn't. You came out on top. We all did."
Madeline looked back at the mercs. She pulled her hand from her chest, letting it flop against the floor.
"Yeah..." She said, her lips trembling. "Yeah, guess that's true. But god...what was I thinking? I've never been in a fight. Closest I ever have been is wrestling with pigs or corralling some particularly nasty chickens. But I've never done something like that..." Madeline sighed as she stared at the bodies, licking her lips. "What in the hell was I thinking?"
"Well..." Jason said slowly. "You did say you couldn't let me die. So you came out swinging and saved me. I probably would have been shot if you hadn't done that. It was scary, sure, but it worked out. In my book, that's kinda awesome."
Madeline snorted. She shook her head. "Awesome. You kids and you're slang. But I guess you're right. I did save your life. I wasn't even thinking when that happened. Just snatched up the bat, came out swinging, only came back to my senses when those men hit the floor."
"Guess you were just running adrenaline and instinct there," Jason nodded. "That's worked for me more often than not, so I know the feeling pretty well."
"Right..." Madeline chuckled, leaning against the wall. She sighed, closing her eyes. "This whole thing must be small potatoes for you, huh. I mean you folks have fought battles that were like something out of a movie. Just beating up a bunch of armed guys in a rickety old house must be, like, a day in the life for you. Just something that happens, doesn't really hit you like I guess it's hitting me. That right, Spider boy?"
Jason smirked. He looked down the bullet ridden hallway. James was leaning over a downed merc, a pile of the man's weapons, belt, and other items neatly arranged next to the unconscious man. James looked up, adjusting his glasses, and gave Jason a thumbs up. He appeared to want to say something but visibly restrained himself. Jason returned the thumbs up. James grinned broadly and returned to ransacking the mercs.
Jason then answered Madeline. "Well...yeah. When I started out, I was freaked out as all of this shit. But now, yeah, its become kinda routine. Not to say it isn't scary or anything like that. But...its kinda part of my life now. I guess its how a soldier feels. You're used to getting shot at and fighting constantly, so much it becomes sort of normal. Not totally, but close." He shrugged. "Weird, right?"
Madeline cracked open one eye. She nodded slowly. "Yeah. That does make sense..."
They sat together for a minute. Then Madeline pushed herself up. "Alright, enough wasting time," She said as she moved to the stairs. Jason rose too, following. "Let's see what those son of bitches did to my house."
They walked down the stairwell. Madeline froze at the bottom. Jason stopped behind her, lowering his head, his cheeks flushing. Oh man... He thought as he looked over the damage. It was as if he was seeing it fresh. Man the fucking house is really wrecked...I'm sorry. I'm really sorry...
Madeline looked over the wreckage. The gigantic hole smashed through what had once been the front entrance. The bullet ridden and cracked walls. The floor torn to shreds, now a hole with some mercenaries lying in it. The blood splattered remains of the mercenary who had been caught in the APC's fire. The smashed back door. And the little wisps of tear gas from the kitchen, now dissolving into the air.
Madeline's knees shook. Then she fell. Jason quickly caught her and pulled her back to her feet. She was trembling, her lips quivering, her brown eyes beginning to fill with tears. She shakily looked Jason in the eyes and whispered. "Its...its..."
"I'm..." Jason paused, unsure what to say. Madeline turned and pulled herself away from him. She staggered forward, catching herself on the edge of the stairs, starting to cry now.
"Its all...my..." She started blubbering incohrently. She then looked up at the ceiling and screamed. A howling, violent noise that made Jason's hair stand on end. "Lord, why!" She shouted before throwing herself against the railing, sobbing.
Jason watched her. He then looked at the wreckage. Man, he had never seen this before. Sure, during their battles with metahumans, he knew there were civilians all about. That was who the Agency was protecting of course. But he had never thought about...this. The damage to people's homes, their lives.
God, Jason thought. A few images flashed in his mind of terrified civilians and propery destruction from a few of their battles. How people's lives have we destroyed? We show up, we save the day, but we still cause damage. I always thought saving people was the most important part and I guess it is. But if we smashed up someone's house, they could be homeless. Dozens of people are probably living on the streets now, struggling to just survive from stuff like Washington. We show up, we win, we go home but we leave lives wrecked in the dust. Lives like Madeline. God...how many lives have we destroyed just cause we were more focused on the bad guys than the people?
Jason sat down, all this whirling inside his mind, a tightness forming in his throat. He watched as Madeline cried before the wrecked first floor of her home.
Finally, after several long minutes, Madeline stopped crying. She rose from the railing, sniffling. She turned to Jason, her eyes bloodshot. She tried to wipe one eye and sniffled, "Tissue..."
Jason nodded. He jumped over the hole in the floor, landing inside the kitchen. By now the tear gas was all gone, just leaving a bad smell in its place. Jason stepped over the single mercernary lying on the floor, a pool of blood under him. He snatched up a box of tissues from the counter and jumped back across the hole to the stairs.
He handed Madeline a tissue. She ignored it and grabbed the entire box from his hands instead. She ripped out at least six tissues, blew her nose on the whole bunch, then wiped her eyes. Madeline breathed out as she lowered the tissues and let the box drop into the hole.
Jason leaned down in front of her, also tossing his single tissue away. "You okay?" he said quietly.
Madeline snorted and laughed humorlessly. "Okay?" She rapped her chest. "My heart is still going a mile a minute. My ears hurt, I can still hear the sounds of bullets and explosions. And my house is ruined." She shook her head. "I'm not going to be okay...no. Its all...its all too much."
"At least you're alive..."
"Yes...thank the Lord. But it's a small comfort, isn't it?"
Jason shrugged. "I..." He decided not to push her. Madeline was suffering enough right now. "I guess so..." Madeline nodded and looked back at the smashed floor, her head in her hands.
Moments later, James moved down the stairs, a pile of stuff in his hands. He grinned to Jason, his smile nearly hidden behind the items, and said: "Jason I've collected a number of items from the fallen Skeleton Crew mercenaries exactly ten objects total that's all I could carry you see I thought out calling for help but I calculated that would be very rude and nearly ninety percent of the scenarios where I interrupted you both ended poorly so as you can see you're not blind after all I collected them myself and here am I shall we examine these we'll need a good sized table kitchen should work that's quite a hole oh my still it looks okay to cross only about seven feet wide after all and looks to be approximately only five feet deep."
Jason rose. He nodded. James moved down the stairs, carefully so as not to drop the items. Madeline looked at him but didn't say anything. Jason said to her, "Well, if you need us, we'll be in the kitchen." Madeline nodded quietly.
Jason helped James across the hole, his friend nearly falling several times due to the items but they managed to get across. James then stumbled into the kitchen and put the items down on the counter. Quickly, his nimble fingers arranged them into a neat line and he stepped back, gesturing for Jason to take a look.
Jason looked over the items. They were a radio, a pistol with the catridge removed, a knife, a pouch carrying rations, a trauma kit, a pouch carrying spare magazines, a flashlight, a belt with several flashbangs on it, and a taser.
"Huh," Jason said, frowning. "Lot of stuff, these guys are well equipped."
"Indeed which shows they are professionally trained and not to be underestimated this is military gear fitting items for a mercenary to be carrying in the field," James blurted out. "These Skeleton Crew soldiers aren't messing around but then again these items could prove useful to us."
"Yeah," Jason reached for the flashbang belt. "I'll restock on some flashbangs first." But before he could grab it James raised a hand.
"Ah I'm afraid that won't be possible let me show you," James pulled out a flashbang from the belt. He held it up to Jason. "As you can see this flashbang is standard size perfectly normal five point twenty five inches in length but!" He raised a finger. "You'll recall the type of gadgets I designed for your own utility belt to carry were quite smaller about the size of little balls packed a lot of punch but were designed to be light to carry these flashbangs won't fit on your belt see?"
James held up the flashbang to Jason's belt. Jason frowned as he looked at it. Damn, James was right. He sighed and muttered a curse.
"Well great," He grumbled. "Then we can't take them?"
"I didn't say that now did I?" James paused, putting a finger to his vision. "Ah no nope nope I didn't no we'll take them we'll just need to put them on me instead!" He grinned and clipped the belt around his waist. He spread his arms. "Ta da see perfect fit well no perfect bit heavy to be honest but I've been instructed mostly self taught how to use these well so I'll be the pack mule for them!"
Jason chuckled as he looked at the belt on James. "It looks...interesting. But sure, that'll work." He returned his gaze to the items. "Rest look interesting but not too useful, right?"
"Never underestimate the power of simple items often the most simple of objects of gadgets can be the most useful to have a flashlight for instance..." James snatched up the flashlight and twirled it. "I'll take this if nothing else it'll be a light in case we run into a situation like last night you have your night vision lenses Jason but I do like to see too!" He clipped the flashlight to the belt, patting it with a smile.
Jason chuckled. "Well alright, you know best I guess, Mr. Professor." His smile then faded. "We...probably shouldn't stay here too long. One of the mercenaries fled when I was taking down the APC. He might alert his boss to our location and we need to get down to The Panther, now that we know where it is."
James nodded as he picked up the taser from the table. "Makes sense yes we should make haste then why didn't you stop the final merc as he fled though I mean I know the APC was a threat but you're fast aren't you you could've chased him down like a cheetah overtaking a gazelle?"
"I..." Jason coughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess I could've. But I was more concerned if seeing if you and Madeline were okay, you know?"
James nodded, adjusting his glasses. He picked up the taser, tapping it. "Yes alright very well makes sense thank you for thinking of me you're concern is appreciated its true I was sort of defenseless there sorry for not lending more of a hand but anyway yes you're right we should depart as soon as possible..." He grinned. "Especially since we have a vehicle now the mercenary APC!"
Jason blinked. Then he laughed too. "Hey! You're right! We can drive that thing down to the jet's location and find them." He then turned and looked out of the kitchen, a thought occuring to him. "Madeline...she should leave too, right? If she stays here, well, her house is wrecked and the Skeleton Crew could come here again."
James nodded vigorously as he examined the taser. "Yes yes yes indeed we should depart within the hour Madeline can drive to a police station get these mercenaries taken into custody that should take care of them if you didn't put them into comas that is this taser should serve my needs well anyway go tell her our plan and-"
The radio on the table suddenly buzzed. James jumped, his glasses nearly flying off. Jason blinked in surprise, instinctively tensing up. The radio crackled for a moment before a voice came through.
"Priority alert to Bravo Squad," The voice crackled over the radio. "We are moving the prisoner along Quanapoag Road to temporary holding base. Join up with the convoy ASAP. Over and out." The radio then went dead.
Jason blinked. He looked at James. They both stared at each for a moment before Jason realized what this could be.
"The prisoner..." Jason said slowly. "That could be...no...that has to be Hiroshi or Audrey, right?'
James nodded quickly. "It couldn't be anyone else I know where that road is-" He tapped his head. "Photographic memory sorry you already knew that I think we're mutually agreed what to do right we need to rescue whoever they're transporting."
"Oh definitely," Jason snarled. He then narrowed his eyes. "But...hang on. They said something about a base. They have bases here? In Massachusetts?" He blinked. "No way. No way, right?"
"Could be referring to the airship no that's not possible they would have put Hiroshi or Audrey on the ship since I assumed they pulled out after they raided us hm you're right this feels too convenient what should we do?"
Jason sighed. He thought about it. It could be a trap. Maybe the Skeleton Crew was trying to bait them out of hiding with the promise of finding one of their friends.
"How close is that road to us?"
"Ah very very very close only a few miles drive if we hurried we could catch them but if it's a trap we shouldn't go naturally obvious of course they might not even have a prisoner could just be they've set up along that road it is sort of out of the way and they're waiting in ambush probably counting on us being desperate, confused, etctera."
"But we could get there quickly?" Jason asked, still thinking.
"Oh yes very quick especially if we use the captured APC but we should think about this shouldn't we I can do a number of calculations in record time I just did one actually," James said, talking so fast he began to let spittle fly. "Theresapproximatelyatwentyfivepercentthattheyactuallyhaveaprisoner-"
Jason raised his hands and James stopped himself. "Yeah, I don't need a lecture on the odds. We need to get moving. If that convoy is on the move now, trap or no trap, I can't take the risk of leaving Audrey or Hiroshi as their prisoner when they're so close. Let's get moving."
"Right immediately okay then got it got got it," James said. He attached the radio to his belt and scurried out of the kitchen. "I'll get the APC ready need to do some quick checkups slash modifications on it anyway talk to Madeline!" He disappeared from sight.
Jason took a breath. He then exited the kitchen, watching as James scurried over the hole and darted down the wrecked front entrance. Jason smiled slightly then turned back to Madeline. She was still sitting on the edge of the stairs, staring gloomily at the hole.
Jason jumped over the hole once more, landing next to her. He knelt down and laid a hand on the woman's shoulder. She looked up at him and patted his hand.
"My Third Eye was right about you," She said. "You saved my life and I'm very thankful for that. But I can't..." She shook her head. "I don't know what to do now. I can't rebuild all this. How am I going to live?"
Jason breathed out. He said, honestly, "I don't know."
Madeline smiled a sad smile. "Guess you wouldn't." She gestured at the hole. "Now all I got in this. A wreck that I don't think I'm gonna be able to fix."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, not your fault. You saved me and I'm grateful. It was those men..." She spat on one of the mercs. "Those bastards who did this. I'm...heh, I'm glad I gave a few of them some whacks. But I don't know what to do now...hard to even process all of this. When I try, my headache gets worse."
"Yeah," Jason nodded. "I know the feeling. Imagine this..." He gestured at the destruction. "...but on a wider scale. That's what happened to our base."
Madeline shook her head. "I remember what you said. Now I'm sorry to say I can picture it. You went through hell, boy. I hope you give these bastards hell right back."
Jason smirked. "I will." He jerked a thumb at the door. "You should get out of here. Its not safe."
Madeline was silent for a minute. Then she nodded and helped herself up. Jason followed her outside, into the cool night air. The APC loomed before them, a shadow in the dark.
Madeline sighed and looked back at her house. She rubbed her hair. "Those men inside...should I call the cops on them?"
Jason nodded. "Yeah. Handy way to get rid of them." He smiled at her. "I'm sorry about all this. I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Course you didn't," Madeline said, exhaling and looking up at the night sky. "I'm going to drive into town, tell the cops all that happened. I hope they believe me."
Jason shrugged. "I'm sure they will. Now..."
"Mmm," Madeline interrupted. "Maybe. But some evidence would be handy and I'd say you owe me, just a little." She rummaged in her pocket and took out a phone. "Now hold still." She raised.
Jason raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"
"Taking a picture of you, Spider boy. It'll be handy for showing the police I'm not a raving lunatic."
"Oh," Jason grinned. "Well alright." He pulled on his mask and struck a pose, trying to look serious. Madeline chuckled slightly, sounding not forced this time.
She snapped the picture. Jason relaxed. Madeline sighed and nodded to him.
"Good luck out there. I hope you find your friends and I hope you get revenge for what those men did." She turned and headed toward her truck at the other end of the driveway. Jason watcher her go before also turning away. He jumped onto the APC and scuttled into the open hatch.
He found the lights on inside the cramped compartment. The unconscious APC driver was still lying where Jason had decked him. Meanwhile, James was on his back under the control console, rummaging through a mess of wires.
Jason leaned down and pulled up the APC driver. He then tossed the mercernary out of the vehicle. Dusting his hands, he walked over to James and leaned over him.
"What are you doing?"
"Hello Jason say goodbye to Madeline she going to be okay I'm sure she will seemed a tough woman very strong pity about her house but I'm sure she'll pull through I would calculate the chances of that but I'd need to know her a bit better otherwise there's too much of a margin of error anyway as for what I'm doing..." James continued to tinker with the underside of the console as he talked, pulling out more wires. "I'm looking for a tracer there should be one somewhere here you know something the mercenaries could use to track us I need to remove it so they can't."
"Oh," Jason blinked. "I think I see..."
James continued to rummage for a moment before he cried out in trimuph. He pulled himself out from the console and held up something to Jason. It was a tiny chip, almost as big as one of Jason's fingernails.
"There we standard tracking chip hidden well but luckily I knew what to look for could you crush it that'd be great thanks!" James tossed the chip to Jason. Jason caught it, nodded, then crushed it.
"Can you drive this thing?"
James grinned and sat down on the control console. "Of course I can buckle up though oh wait APCs don't have those oh well hang onto something might get a bit bumpy just a little not to worry though I know what I'm doing!"
Jason sighed. "Great...fills me with real confidence." He held onto the wall, leaning over James.
James toggled the gearshift with his left foot, pushed the release button atop a pair of levers used for steering, and pressed the gas pedal. The APC lurched forward, nearly throwing Jason onto the console. James gave a wild whoop.
"Amazing handles quite well alright awesome never driven one before let's do this let's go saved our friends!"
Jason sighed. But he smiled at the same time. James slammed his foot on the gas, the APC roaring out of the driveway and back onto the road, leaving a trail of dust in its wake.