For the second time in a few hours, Jason was loaded onto a helicopter. He climbed aboard a massive chopper, slipping into its cargo bay and sat down silently. His friends boarded after him, Laureen planting herself next to him and fiddling with a headset, while Max and Hiroshi sat across from them. Hiroshi was back in full costume and wrapped his scarf around himself, his helmet firmly planted in his lap.
Next James and Audrey were wheeled onto the helicopter. Both were in stretchers, securely strapped down. Audrey was still hooked up to medical equipment, her chest heaving with strained breathes. She was wheeled in close to Jason. He swallowed as he looked at her, wondering if she was going to wake up soon. He knew he shouldn't be thinking that, shouldn't be rushing it. But he wanted her up. Because soon they were going to face the skeleton crew and he needed her here. Needed her to wake up and be with him. Face them together, damnit...only together, with the full team as one, did they stand something of a chance.
"Audrey..." He muttered, as the whine of the helicopter echoed from outside. The engines began to heat up and soldiers called from outside, before the cargo doors hissed closed. He grimaced before settling back into his seat. Quietly, he said to himself: "...please wake up soon. We're going to face them now real soon. The Skeleton Crew...I have a feeling this is it. No...it has to be it. We can't let them destroy another city. We can't let them win. We're to stop them. But we need you. I need you. Please wake up soon...please."
She didn't respond, of course. Jason raised a hand, his arm trembling before pulling it back. He sighed and leaned back in his seat. Laureen gave him a sympathetic look as she did likewise but said nothing herself.
As the helicopter lifted off, Jason wondered if this was a good idea. Challenging the Skeleton Crew again in a major city? The sheer destructive potential of it was mind boggling. He didn't know if it was even an idea they should be considering but the fact that the government was supporting them either meant everyone had gone completely fucking insane or...maybe they thought it was a good idea too. No, probably not. What they probably thought that this was their only option for taking down the terrorist group and they simply weren't willing to wait. Jason just hoped, no he prayed, they could get the city evacuated.
He'd seen the destructive power of metahumans in cities up close many times. Some parts of that destruction had been his team's own doing. Jason knew metahumans were dangerous because he was dangerous and he was fairly low grade on at the end of the superpower totem pole. But Jacqueline had sounded pissed off on the television broadcast. She said she was going all out and although Jason didn't know what that meant, he also knew she hadn't used all her guys for sure in the assault on Quincy.
San Fransicso was going to be bad. Really bad. But Jason swore to himself as he listened to the engines whine, as he stared at Audrey, that he was going to top Jacqueline, Akihiro, the whole damn lot of them right here and now. People were dead because of them. Jacqueline had gone on this whole warpath because of the Metahuman Agency. She'd slaughtered innocent people just to get to them.
He squeezed a fist. "Madeline..." He muttered, wondering where the middle-aged woman was who'd sheltered him and James ever so briefly. "I hope you're okay...I hope all those people who I saved are okay. And I'm sorry. To all those dead bodies I ran past. I didn't get to you in time and that's on me. Maybe I should've been faster. Maybe I should've fought harder. But I swear, to all of you, that I'm going to do what's right again. One way or another, it ends in San Francisco. And I sure as hell am not going to let Jacqueline win. She deserves to pay for her crimes and you can bet that I'm going to make her pay for everyone she's killed, all the lives she's carelessly snuffed out..." He bit his lip, the Director coming into mind. He swallowed and said, sternly, "Especially you, ma'am. Especially you...I'm gonna make you proud tonight. And I'm gonna to give your bitch of a sister hell for you."
He leaned back, wondering what sort of strategy they'd need to come up with. How could they possibly avoid more destruction? Avoid more casualties? Avoid more...
Jason paused. He sat up, putting a hand to his chin. A thought buzzed in his brain. He narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on it before his eyes widened.
He nudged Laureen's shoulder. She glanced at it and leaned close, yelling over the helicopter's engine: "What?"
"There's an island in San Francisco, right?" Jason yelled to her.
"The fuck did you say?!"
Jason leaned closer and cried, "There's a famous ISLAND in San Francisco, RIGHT?! LIKE A PRISON!"
"Oh yeah!" Laureen yelled back at him, cupping her hands to her mouth. "ALCATRAZ! WHY?!"
Jason grinned and tapped his head. "For once, I've got an idea! Once we land, I'll share it! But I think it's a GOOD ONE, Laureen! And if I'm right, we can save A LOT of lives tonight besides ourselves!"
Sometime later, the helicopter dived low and an announcement came over the speakers. "Look alive, people. San Francisco inbound." Jason crawled upward, peeking out the window.
He whistled. He'd heard of San Francisco, of course. But only read about in a few (stolen) magazines. The pictures didn't do it justice.
The helicopter was currently hovering over a massive bay, that seemed to positively glow with an enriched blue aura. It looked so inviting Jason wanted to dive right into it and go for a swim. Large ships crisscrossed across the waters, leaving great swirls in their wake.
Beyond that stood the famous Golden Gate Bridge, looming tall over the bay below. The city at its end seemed almost small in comparison to its behemoth-like form. Jason could see, in straight contrast to New York, there were no looming skyscrapers, no buildings jam packed together like an island of sardines. Instead, small houses crisscrossed the hill-like streets, broken up by layers of trees and parks. It reminded Jason of one giant suburb, huge yet with a naturalistic calm to its borders. A fine layer of mist swirled above the city, seeming to glitter under the evening sun's orange rays.
Jason was taken a back for a moment of the sheer beauty, the sheer splendor of what he saw. For a moment, all he could say was "...Wow." But as he looked, he saw something that broke up the view and brought him back down to Earth.
The Golden Gate Bridge was jam packed with cars, all frozen in the worst gridlock he'd ever seen. National Guard helicopters, along with news copters, buzzed about the bridge's edges, while several police vans and military trucks were parked on the bridge, doing their best to try and direct the wall to wall line of cars out of the city. More helicopters buzzed over San Francisco itself and Jason could see dozens of people moving through the streets, being escorted by soldiers and cops alike.
Jason pulled back from the window and sank back into his seat. Laureen turned to him and shouted, "Like the view? I ain't never seen San Francisco myself. Well, except for Watch Dogs 2. It looked pretty rad in that game, gotta say."
"...It's being evacuated," Jason mumbled, slumping back into his seat. He breathed out, sighing. "And not real fast. I dunno if we can get everyone out in time..."
Laureen leaned closer to him. "Dude, I didn't hear a word you said 'cause of this stupid fucking engine. Its giving me a headache, by the by. But I think you're upset about the evacuation, eh?"
Jason nodded, folding his arms. He sighed. "I'm just having doubts. Wondering if this was a bad idea."
"We don't got no choice," Laureen said, poking his arm. "Skeleton Crew didn't give us one, remember? Besides, you said you had an idea. Some shit about Alcatraz."
Jaso smirked, the temporary feeling of doubt crushed by rising elation. "Yeah, I do," He replied, giving her a thumbs. "Hey, you mind asking the pilot to land there?"
"Yeah sure..." Laureen muttered, tapping her headset. "I bet you're only asking me though 'cause of my fucking pretty ass face." She spoke into the headset, as Jason laughed and leaned back against the wall, feeling slightly better.
The pilot apparently took up her order, as the helicopter dived, soaring low over the bay, kicking up water from the wind of its propeller. Jason watched as the landscape trekked by around them, watching as rescue helicopters rose from the city streets. And then, over the churning walls under the sunset, Jason saw Alcatraz approaching.
The island was tiny, even lesser than Staten Island. A single building loomed on its highest point, a prison. The helicopter flew over the beach and Jason caught a glimpse of a stream of people being ushered onto a boat on the docks. Must be some tourists,He thought wryly. I hope they make it out of here in time. Don't argue or try to take pictures, just leave...
The helicopter hovered to the top of the island, stopping above the prison courtyard. It then lowered itself down and landed upon the large lawn within the walls. The engine cooled down before hissing to a stop. The cargo doors opened up and sunlight streamed in from outside, making Jason cover his eyes.
Jason rose, stretching his limbs, Laureen, Max, and Hiroshi rising around him. He took another glance at Audrey and whispered to her, "Hey. Wish me luck." He considered kissing her again, for luck, but decided against it at the last moment. Instead, he moved outside, striding down the helicopter's ramp, the winds of the propeller whipping at him as he emerged into the evening sunlight.
Stepping onto the grass, Laureen whistled as she looked around at her surroundings. Jason followed her gaze. The prison walls rose around him. They looked old, dilapidated, overgrown with plants. Jason turned in a circle, seeing the main prison rise several feet behind him.
I don't know much about battlefield tactics, He thought. But I think this will do nicely.
He turned to the others as they emerged from the chopper. Hiroshi whistled as he took in his surroundings, helmet tucked under one arm. "Wow! I've never been in a prison before, even a, uh, non-functional. This is really Alcatraz, huh?"
"Yes," Max smiled as he stepped up beside the kid. "My dad took me here when I was young. He was just a lieutenant then but he had enough leeway to get us a special tour. It was nice. We got to see all these hidden rooms and even got to speak with a few of the staff, behind the scenes. Afterward, on the ride home, we got ice cream." Max sighed wistfully, closing his eye. "...It was nice."
Hiroshi nodded, smiling shyly as he fiddled with his helmet. "That does sound nice," He said, nervously shuffling his feet. "So...why are we here anyway? Isn't, uh, the fight in the city?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
"Well, that's what we thought," Jason said with a nod. "But what happens whenever we battle in a city?"
"Oh well..." Hiroshi absently scratched under his scarf. "A lot of collateral damage, explosions...and uh..." He paled and swallowed. "And...uh...you know..."
"Dead people," Laureen finished for him. She looked at Jason, crossing her arms. "Well, I think I sorta get what you're trying to say, bro. Still, spell it out for us, so we're all on the same page and shit."
Jason nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "Right, sure, boss..." He turned to the others, as they formed a semi-circle around him. Behind them, the pilots got out of their helicopter and began speak to their radios. Jason took a moment to collect his thoughts before he spoke.
"So," He said. "I'll be quick about this. If we fight the Skeleton Crew in San Francisco itself, people are gonna die. Not just soldiers but innocent civilians. Its gonna be impossible to get them all out, even if the Skeleton Crew doesn't follow through on their threat to attack today and my money is on them following through. So..." He pointed at the grass. "So, I wanna avoid that. So..."
"So you decided to come here," Max finished for him, eye narrowing. 'To an abandoned island and fight them here instead, in a place free of civilians?" He paused, cocking his head and chuckled. "Why Jason, that's rather genius, actually."
Jason nodded and laughed. "Yeah, thought it all up myself. Weird, huh? But yeah, that's my thinking. We don't want more people getting hurt or killed. The Skeleton Crew want us dead and although Jacqueline is coming here for whatever reason to 'burn' San Francisco like she promised, that isn't her main priority. Her main priority is us." He tapped his chest. So, I'm betting she'll come and attack us on Alcatraz if we make it known we're here."
"How do we do that?" Laureen said. She looked up. "Put up a big fucking neon sign with us giving her the middle finger? These walls do look like shit, that might help liven up the place."
Jason shrugged. '' dunno. Broadcast? Get some of those new choppers flying around to film us? You're the boss, you come up with that part of the plan." Laureen sighed and rolled her eyes. "But that's my thinking. We lead 'em here, we kick their asses, and it all ends without another city being destroyed and all the people in it being killed..." Jason's voice cracked at the last word and he bit his lip. He then said, more confidently, 'What do you guys say?"
Laureen breathed out, scratching at her hair thoughtfully. "Well, I like it," She said. "Any situation that avoids lots of destruction and casualties is good, eh? And I think you've got the right idea that Jacqueline, that motherfucking crazy ass bitch, is obsessed with us enough to be lured in if we call her out and point a target at ourselves. Max, Hiroshi?"
Hiroshi raised his eyebrows. "Um..." He nervously clasped his helmet against himself. "I don't...uh...have much experience in these sorts of things...but, uh, it seems like a decent plan." He looked at Max, licking his lips nervously. "Right? Doesn't it?"
Max paused, stroking at his chin. He furrowed his brow and said, "...I think it's our best shot. Good quick thinking, Jason." He nodded. "We should get sorted then. If we're going to lure Jacqueline and her cohorts here, we need to get prepped ahead of time."
"Right!" Laureen whistled to one of the pilots. The man lowered his radio and approached.
"Yes?"
"Hey," She said with a grin. "Get some important people down here. Generals, lieutenants, whoever's in charge of this operation and get 'em now. We got a good ass plan here but we need their help and we ain't got time to delay. Can you do that, dude?"
The pilot nodded. "I can." Jason grinned. This seemed to be coming together.
"Sweetness," Laureen clapped her hands together brightly. "Alright! Let's get the professor and Audrey fucking unloaded. Then we can start strategizing and all that good shit. Move it, people!"
For the next hour or so, they prepared themselves. James and Audrey were still unconscious but were wheeled outside, placed in the epicenter of the courtyard.
The sun continued to deep over the horizon, bathing Alcatraz in hues of orange. Jason clambered to the top of one of the walls, surveying the terrain. The prison had steep cliffs on either side of it, with a lighthouse towering in the grassy fields. It seemed wide open but at the same time, confined and hard to escape from. It would make a good battlefield, at least to his eyes.
Laureen, Max, and Hiroshi also scoped out the area, Hiroshi zooming overhead while the other two explored the prison's interior. Soon after their mutual scoping out, a few choppers arrived, carrying several military generals.
The group explained their plans to them. There were interruptions, arguments, but Jason kept the guys on track, reminding them each time they had little time and they had to fucking focus. In the end, the generals (somewhat grudgingly) agreed the strategy seemed the best under the circumstances and said they would deploy multiple battalions to aid their effort. They also said they'd recall a news team here to broadcast the message.
So, sometime later, Jason stood by an open doorway leading onto the main lawn, leaning against the wall. The sunset was almost to the bottom of the bay in the distance, shadows of helicopters crisscrossing its orange rays.
He sighed. It's so calm here... He thought, gripping the side of a cracked chunk of wall. So peaceful. You wouldn't think that an invasion was about to take place. But I suppose how that's it always is. Everything just sort of stops, slows down, before it all hits the fan, least in my experience.
He glanced back across inside the prison courtyard, seeing Audrey still lying there. He looked at her for a long moment, licking his lips then sighed. He smiled and turned away, shaking his head. Stop looking at her, moron. She's not going to wake up anytime soon. Focus on getting prepared, idiot. A whole city is counting on you. A whole city! Hasn't that sunk in yet?
Jason slapped himself upside the head before sighing and trudging forward. He walked along the edge of the prison walls, stepping over rocks along the overgrown paths. A few seagulls sat at the edge of the cliff, ignoring him as he went by them. He briefly stopped and said, "Hey, uh, guys, some advice: just the fuck outta here. Shit's gonna go down soon."
The seagulls went on ignoring him, which he supposed was to be expected. Jason went on, moving around the bend. There, he saw Max sitting on the edge of the cliff, feet dangling over the choppy waves below. Max glanced up and Jason noted his single eye was red.
"H-hey," Max said, wiping his eye. "...How's it going?"
Jason cocked his head at his friend. "Its...good, I guess. Are you alright?"
"Mmm," Max looked back out at the sea. "Yeah, I'm good. Just...well, a little while ago, one of the military brass gave me his phone. Said it was for me. I answered and guess who it was?"
"Who?" Jason sat down next to Max, letting his legs dangling over the waters below. The salty breeze stung his lips and eyes but it tasted pleasant, nonetheless.
Max smiled slightly, gripping the grass tighter. "It was my dad..." He muttered. "First time I'd spoken to him...since, you know. Akihiro."
Jason nodded. He'd only seeing Max's father briefly during their battle with Akihiro in Chicago but the poor man had been stabbed in the leg by the twisted artist. His being kidnapped had driven Max nearly off the deep end, making him lash out and act like Jason had never seen before. Luckily, they'd managed to save his father's life but at the cost of Max's eye. Jason didn't know what had happened to the colonel since then but he'd assumed he'd been okay.
"How is he?" Jason gently probed.
"Good," Max said, nodding. He breathed in through his nose, craning his head at Jason. "Yeah...he's good. He's in rehab, right now, working on his leg but he saw the situation on TV. He told me he wanted to be there, side by side with me, but they wouldn't let him out of the hospital..." Max's voice choked slightly. "And...he said he was proud of me. That...I was a real life hero. That I was the son...he'd..." Max's lips quivered and he looked away before he finished, sounding on the verge of crying. "...that he didn't deserve."
Jason was silent. Max's body trembled before he looked back at Jason, tears spilling from his eye. He laughed and shook his head, running a hand through his unkempt mane of hair. "Can you believe that? He's proud of me. I spent years waiting to hear those words and now...it seems unreal. Just to hear them. It's like a dream, almost. Now I'm sitting here, balling my eye out, right before a battle to death..." He laughed again, hoarsely.
Jason smirked before he patted Max on the shoulder. "Hey man, he should be proud of you. Look at what you've accomplished. I mean, you were our leader for quite a while. You led us to victory against Zeus and Akihiro. Without you, we wouldn't have been whipped into shape as quickly as we were."
Max nodded, smiling again. "Yeah....you know, I didn't like you guys when I started off."
Jason laughed at that. "Hey, really? Was it cause I tried to fight you first time we met."
Max ruefully grinned wider at them, a glint in his eye. He pointed at Jason. "You were running around the facility like a madman. What else was I supposed to do?"
"Oh not blaming you," Jason replied, raising his hands in mock surrender. "I was the one who decided to make a break for it. To be fair though, waiting up in a hospital bed after being dropped out of the sky was kind of a freaky awakening. I totally didn't know where the fuck I was, you know? So I kinda panicked."
Max nodded, looking back at the ocean below. He sighed, leaning back on his hunches. "But yeah...when I started, I hated all of you. I was upset with everyone's quirks, I was dealing with my own shit but I didn't want to actually deal with it at the same time, I was putting tons of pressure on myself to succeed...honestly, I'm surprised I kept it together most of the time. Sometimes I just wanted to scream at the whole world but I kept my straight face on and tried my hardest to be professional."
"And you were," Jason said quietly. "Just 'cause you're not leader anymore doesn't mean you shouldn't be proud of what you did. Your dad is proud of you. Hell, I'm proud of you and I butted heads with you more often than I'd like to admit. You've done well, Max, trust me."
Max snorted. He twiddled his hands together, idly running a finger over his eyepatch. "I...guess I have. Still...doesn't feel real, hearing those words from my father. I always wanted to be like him. I was always pushing myself to live up to him, make him proud. Now I have. And its like...I don't really care anymore? I don't know what to think..."
Jason was quiet for a moment, also watching the waves crashing against the rocky shore. In the distance, he could see helicopters landing on the docks, offloading military personnel, armed with machine guns and other weaponry, onto Alcatraz. He sighed and shrugged, looking at his feet.
"I think you've faced obstacles..." Jason said, trying to think of some wise words. "And I think you've overcame them. I don't know what to really say, Max, but I think...if you're happy where you're at now, then that's enough. What matters to you is you, these days. Make sense?"
Max looked up, biting his lip. He nodded, his features relaxing somewhat. "...I don't know if I'm happy, Jason. But I feel content, certainly more so than I did in previous weeks. Hell, I feel more at ease than even before I lost my eye. So...yeah. I think you're right..."
A noise sounded from above them. Jason looked up, as did Max. They saw a news helicopter flying above, kicking up a wind as it circled above the prison courtyard. Jason flipped himself to his feet and stretched, cracking his back.
"Alright, its time," He held out a hand to Max. "You good, man?"
Max grabbed his hand, firmly grasping it, before letting Jason pull him up. "Yeah," Max said with a smile, his long hair blowing in the wind. "I'm good. Let's do this."
Jason nodded and gave him a thumbs up. And with that, the two began to walk back toward the main prison, as the news chopper landed within its walls.