No one wanted to talk so I was left to pace restlessly until a few minutes later when the door to the AV room banged open making everyone jump. Sean barged in. Even in the darkened room I could see the beginnings of what would be a magnificent black eye by morning.
"Where's that little girl who jumped me? I don't usually hit women but..."
I walked over to him. He smelled of alcohol and tomato sauce, "She's outside trying to determine if the FBI has surrounded the house yet."
"I don't...what?"
I gave him a quick overview of what was happening. He stared around the room, "Well what are we all doing just sitting here? We need to be arming ourselves. Surely this Colin guy has a stash of guns around here." He looked around like they might actually be in the AV room.
David stood up, "Actually no, he doesn't. He doesn't like them. But even if he did, that is not how we are going to handle this. The last thing we need is a standoff."
Sean looked furious, "Oh, come on! What do you think they're here for? To bring us a freaking casserole? Do you think they'll put down their guns just because we don't have any? We have to defend ourselves!"
David continued, "The first thing we have to do is determine if their is even anyone out there. Which we are. If, IF their is, then we will make a plan to defend ourselves IF we need to. We are not going to start any fights if we don't have to."
Sean looked like he wanted to yell some more but threw his hands up instead, "Fine, suit yourselves. I'll be at the bar."
"I don't think so." I followed him out of the room and grabbed his arm to stop him. "You need to lay off the booze for a while. We might need you."
He pulled his arm away, "Go back to your coward friends."
"Look, I get it! I agree with you." I did not like saying that. "We need to be prepared to defend ourselves and if it comes to that we will need you. There aren't many here that would be very useful if it does come to that. David's not saying don't fight, he just wants to make sure there is something to fight first!"
"Great! Then come get me when you all decide to pull your heads out of your asses." He turned and walked away.
I stayed in the library to pace some more. The other room was a bit too crowded for me now. Ben came back and took up his spot in the corner without a word. A few minutes later a noise drew me to the front hall. I ran into the entryway with Ben and Sean close behind. We found Mel and a very white faced Anna standing just inside the door.
"What happened?"
Anna only shook her head.
"We found them." Mel said.
The other's must have saw their entrance from the AV room, we were met by a crowed in the library. Anna looked too scared to speak but Mel had little problem giving details. Not much seemed to phase her.
"There are two unmarked cars sitting at the turn off by the road. One's got two guys in it and the other's empty. We found maybe four guys wandering in the woods around the perimeter but Anna couldn't be sure she didn't see the same guy twice."
David looked shaken by the news, "I'm locking down the house. At least we'll know if they try to get in." He left for the AV room. Sean was waiting for him when he came back.
"You think sitting in a locked house waiting for them to find a way in is a plan?"
Ben raised a hand, "Listen..."
"No," Sean raised his voice, "You listen! I'm not going to sit in here and wait for them to call for reinforcements. If we take care of them now they'll think twice about coming back!"
"No! We are not going to start a war..." David spat.
"They don't give a damn about your morals! They will kill us if they get the chance!"
"David! He's right." Everyone turned to stare at me.
David looked shocked. "You want to go out there and murder those men?"
"No! Of course not! But we have to do something. Do you think they are just going to let Colin and the others past them without any trouble? What do you think they're here for? You said it yourself, they're probably waiting for them. We have to do something to help them." I was pleading with him.
"She's right." I was surprised to hear Anna speak up, "We have to do something before they get back. They'll never make it past those men."
David looked from one person to another but found no help. He looked defeated. "Alright, alright! Does anyone have any ideas?" He looked at Sean, "Preferably ones that don't involve killing people."
Everyone was silent. I racked my brain but this wasn't really a situation I was prepared for. Regardless, I knew there had to be a way out of this.
"We could take a couple cars and lore them out?" Cooper suggested. "Maybe take a swipe at one of their cars. They will be more interested in chasing us than waiting for Colin."
David shook his head. "I doubt we would get past them and I doubt Colin would appreciate us wrecking his cars."
"Doubt he'd appreciate us letting him get picked up by the feds either." Mel said.
"Does anyone know how to hotwire a car?" Everyone turned to stare at me again. "Well?"
"I do." Ben answered. He looked at me defensively but I didn't care how he knew just that he did.
"Good. Ok, so we sneak out to the empty car you saw, hotwire it and take off. The other guys should follow when they see what's going on. We can lose them later and find another car to bring us back. That should get rid of them long enough for Colin and the other's to get back."
"That's if the car is still empty," Sean held up a finger for each point, "if they don't just shoot you on the way out, and if they follow you." he held up another, "and if you can lose them," another finger came up, "and if they don't just call a squad of feds down on us as soon as you're gone."
"Well do you have any better ideas?! I'd love to hear them! We're running out of time." Nate and the other's would be back soon and they had no idea what was waiting for them.
David broke in, "That's a lot of if's Jemma and what about the guys still wandering around out there? They aren't just going to walk home when you take off with their ride."
"I'm assuming they will be called back with the other guys to follow us but just in case we can send Sean and Mel to make sure they go. If not they can make sure they don't hurt anyone until we can all get back." I turned to Sean, "Subdue them I mean! Just until we all get back safely."
Kennedy spoke up, "It's a pretty risky plan Jemma. And what do we do with them then? It's not like we can just say, 'sorry be on your way now' when it's all over." He looked doubtful.
"It is risky. Hopefully there won't be any reason to even get near the guys in the woods. But they'll have a lot less trouble getting past a few guys on foot than a blockade in the driveway. We have to do something and fast. We can't just let them take Colin by surprise."
David started pacing around the the room. "Ok, but Stephen can go with Ben to the car."
"But..."
David held up a finger to stop me. "He can hide himself and Ben until they get to the car if they move slowly. It only makes sense. But I'll go with Mel. I don't want anybody getting hurt."
"Sean...he can help." I looked at Sean pleadingly.
"Yeah. I can take care of them before they even know what hit 'em." He held out his hand as a book flew from the shelf and into it. "I promise I won't hurt a hair on their little heads." I groaned.
"Wow..." Kennedy was staring wide eyed at Sean.
"Well." David cleared his throat before continuing, "Ok, fine. But no one gets hurt. We're already going to be breaking a dozen laws. We don't need to give them any more reason to come hunting us." He still looked worried as he turned to me. "You and me can cause a distraction closer to the house, help draw their attention away from the car."
"What about me?" Anna asked.
"You go with Mel and Sean. Help them find what they need. And Kennedy will stay here." Kennedy looked like he wanted to protest but David road over him. "Someone needs to stay here and watch what happens." He motioned toward the screens. "If something happens you call Colin and tell him not to come back and then you get the hell out of here." His tone did not welcome argument. "We're losing time. If we are going to do this, let's get it done."
Mel led Anna and Sean to the the dining room door. Mel and Sean were talking quietly about how to approach the men in the woods around the house.
"You should go the back way as well." Ben motioned toward the door the other's had just walked through. "They are mostly likely watching the front." After they left I joined David in the hall.
"And what about us?" I asked. I was beginning to think this was a very stupid plan even if it was mine.
"Well, we want to be seen right?" He headed for the entryway without looking back.
It was cold outside. Why hadn't I thought of a jacket. Why was I thinking about something as stupid as a jacket! I looked around the dark drive nervously. What was I doing? This was like something out of a movie, real people didn't hotwire federal cars, or course most people didn't have the feds in their backyards trying to kidnap them either. I was half surprised not to see a line of armed men waiting for us. Everything was so dark and very quiet. David hadn't turned the outside lights back on. The only sound was our footsteps on the gravel and the soft gurgle of water in the distance.
"Did you have an idea here or are we just winging it?" I whispered. I had to stop myself from laughing. I couldn't help it.
David did laugh but quietly at least. Evidently I wasn't the only one feeling the pressure of all this, "Well I figured..." He trailed of staring into the distance. "Oh no!" He moaned.
I followed his line of sight and my heart sank. Through the trees I could just see the road leading to the drive entrance. There were headlights moving toward us.
"It might not be them." I said weakly.
David shook his head, "It might not. It could be more feds. Either way we're in trouble." He moved suddenly, "We have to distract them!" He ran ahead and out of sight.
"Wait!" I could hear gravel crunching as he ran down the drive. I bound after him.
Without warning lightning burst from the clear night sky, first above the woods on the edge of the property then at the end of the drive. I thought I heard a woman scream from somewhere in the dark but the noise of the crashing trees and raining gravel was drowning out everything. I had no idea what to do so I just kept running. David stopped, panting, two hundred feet from the end of the drive. I slid in the gravel as he came into view. Light bloomed in the sky again illuminating the two dark sedans parked on the berm near the road. There were two figures standing near the car closest to the road. One was facing us and the other the approaching car which was almost on top of them and coming fast, faster than it should have been. It was hard to see details but they both looked to be armed.
"It's Colin. That's Colin's car!" David sounded terrified.
The car didn't slow when it took the corner and I heard the tires squeal on the asphalt. It slid into the gravel drive. One of the armed men yelled. They were too far away to make out what exactly he was yelling but I saw one of them raise his gun toward the oncoming car.
"No!"
Suddenly the man rose off the ground and flew, literally flew, through the air. He landed in a heap in the grass by the drive and didn't get up. The other one froze, Colin's car had passed him up in the commotion. I could just see the still standing fed turn from his fallen partner and raise his gun toward the retreating car. A flash of light blasted the ground in front of him. He screamed as he stumbled back. I heard footsteps behind us and panicked, turned to find Sean and Anna standing there panting. Sean was grinning.
"I didn't know it worked that far away." He tipped his head toward the man in the grass.
"Where are the guys from the woods? And where's Mel? And Ben and Stephen?" David asked over his shoulder. He still had his eyes on the approaching car, which had slowed now.
"We found two guys in the woods and helped them to their car. They're fine by the way," he said sarcastically. "Worst they'll have is a sore head. More than I can say for that guy you just blasted!" David turned to glare at him. Sean must have realized he could do the same thing to him because he went on in a rush, "Anna must have been mistaken on the head count because we didn't find anybody else. We made pretty quick work of them. They were pretty distracted by the light show. Mel went back to the house after."
Colin's car finally pulled to a stop in front of us, it's headlights directed toward the trees. Nate and a man with long blonde hair jumped out as it stopped. I could see Colin in the driver's seat. The blonde man got to us first, "What the hell is happening? We heard there might be trouble..."
"Cooper?" I asked in astonishment. It sounded like him and looked like him now that he was closer but the hair and skin color were wrong.
He looked confused at first too and then smiled sheepishly, "Oh, yeah." he pointed to his hair. "Sorry, figured a new look was in order for the trip." He squinted his eyes rather comically and his hair changed slowly back to the neat black style.
This night was getting to be a bit too much. "That is..." I stopped as something in the trees caught my attention.
Everything after that happened so fast. Cooper turned to question David. I stared into the poorly lit trees waiting for my eyes to adjust. Maybe I was seeing things. But there, at the edge of the woods just illuminated by the light from the car, was a man. He was dressed like the men by the cars and held a gun in his hand at his side. He was watching us. I opened my mouth to yell but he raised his gun and pointed it at Nate who was still in the open space between us and the car.
"Nate!" I ran and lunged at him as hard as I could hoping to knock him down and out of the man's line of fire. But I wasn't heavy enough. Nate grunted as I plowed into him but he only stumbled to the side. It was enough though. I heard the shot a split second before I felt the bullet tear through my shoulder. I screamed as I fell. My arm was fire and I felt warm blood running down my back. The force of the shot knocked me to the ground. I couldn't breath. I couldn't move. I struggled in panic.
"Stay still!" It was Nate. He was on top of me, trying to shield me from the shooter. He was the reason I couldn't move. I heard someone yell for everyone to get in the house and heard people running in the gravel around us. I thought it was Colin yelling but I couldn't be sure in the commotion and half smothered. I peeked from under Nate's arm and saw Sean running toward the woods. What is he doing! Did he think he could stop a bullet! Then I heard a sound like a helicopter coming toward us. Shit! they're coming for us! I struggled to push Nate off of me. The pain in my shoulder had already faded to a dull ache, but he wouldn't budge. The sound grew louder and louder. Why wouldn't he move! We had to get away!
"Get her in the house!" It was Colin. He was standing somewhere close now. Nate's weight lifted off me. I could breathe again but before I could even try to get up he was lifting me into his arms.
"I'm fine. Stop!" I struggled in his arms. The noise was right on top of us now. I tried to fight him but he turned and ran toward the house. Over his shoulder I saw the source of the noise and forgot about trying to fight. A huge wave of water, ten foot tall and twice as wide was rushing toward the trees blocking us from sight. I saw Colin still standing by the car staring at the wall of water as it crashed into the trees, uprooting some of the smaller ones. My god, I thought, he's doing that! That was the last thing I saw before the door shut behind us.
Nate bust through the front door and ran into the library as I bounced in his arms. "I'm ok Nate. Nate! Stop!" But he wasn't listening. He unceremoniously threw me down on the long table in the middle of the room knocking one of the lamps to the floor with a crash.
"I need towels and that first aid kit! We need to stop the bleeding!" I couldn't see who he was talking to. He turned to me and reached for my shoulder. "You're going to be ok."
I grab his hands before he could touch me. "Nate, I'm ok. Really!"
He just shook his head and tried to push my hands away. "Let me look. We have to get the bleeding stopped." He was being infuriatingly calm and ignoring me completely.
"No, Nate. Nate!" I yelled and grabbed him by the shoulders. I pushed him away as I sat up on the side of the table. He looked stunned. "I'm ok! I'm not hurt. Look." I pulled the blood soaked tee shirt down so he could see my shoulder. "See!"
He just started and reached up and gently ran his fingers along my shoulder. "But I saw...all this blood." He looked up at me.
"I'm sorry Nate." I whispered. "I should have told you." I looked at him pleadingly. "It's my ability."
"I... wait, you knew?" He was staring at my shoulder again.
Before I could answer Anna came running in with a handful of towels. I had forgotten there were others in the library. Everyone was staring at us. Anna stopped and looked from me to Nate in confusion. We all turned when we heard the front door open. Colin came running in looking frantic. Sean came more slowly behind him. He was soaked.
Colin ran to where I was sitting, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Colin, really! Look." I touched my bare shoulder through my ruined shirt.
As Colin walked up to inspect my non existent wound Nate turned and walked toward the others.
"Nate..." He didn't turn back.
"You nearly killed me!" Sean was still standing in the hall between the two rooms. A puddle was forming under him.
Colin turned back to him, "You should have gotten back in the house like I told you."
"There was a guy shooting at us! How was I supposed to know you could do..." He raised his hands and gesture wildly "...that!"
"You weren't! You were supposed to listen! Jemma had already been shot. We needed to make sure she was ok! Didn't that concern you at all?"
He laughed sourly, "No. I knew she was fine!"
They were interrupted by Kennedy huffing as he emerged from the AV room. "They're gone." He walked over to me. "Are you ok? I saw everything," he gestured to the open AV room door.
I gave him a small smile, "I'm ok Kennedy."
Colin turned to him, "What do you mean they're gone Kennedy?"
"The guys out there. They're gone. The one from the woods, the shooter, he took off as soon as you let that water drop. He was able to wake up the guy David got. They dragged the other one into one of the cars and they both took off."
"Thank God," David breathed from the other side of the room.
"Good, " said Coin looking relieved. But Sean didn't agree.
"Good? We are so screwed! What the hell are we going to do now?"
"Shut up already." Ben was standing in his corner with Mel, she looked as calm as ever.
"Oh, you think they're just going to run away with their tails between their legs? They'll be back. More of them and more willing to shoot first after that little show!" He turned back to Colin, "You better figure out a way to defend this place or we're all dead!"
Ben looked murderous, "You don't know what you're talking about..."
Colin shook his head, "No Ben, he's right. They'll be back and they'll bring more next time. And I imagine they'll be pretty pissed." Everyone looked shocked.
"Wait! They'll be pissed? I'm the one they shot!" I pulled my ruined shirt back over my shoulder. "If anything they should be scared to come back for fear of us retaliating!" But Colin just shook his head.
"I don't think they will see it that way. We used force against them and I don't think they are going to take that lightly."
"So what are we going to do." There was a note of panic in Anna's voice and tears streaming down her face. Nate moved closer to her and put an arm around her shoulder.
"I..." Colin sighed. "We'll think of something." He looked spent though.
Sean threw up his hands in disgust, "Great! That's just great! You drag us all here and for what? What did you think was going to happen. They'd just let us all live here happily ever after?"
I slid off the table and stuck a finger in his chest. "Give it a rest Sean. If you don't have anything helpful to say then shut up and let the rest us have some peace and quiet to figure out what to do." I agreed with him but he was grating on me. "If it wasn't for them you'd be locked up or worse already. We're all here now. No amount of whining is going to change that."
Red spots bloomed on his cheeks, either from embarrassment or anger, but he just shook his head, "You're right angel. I'll be in the bar. Let me know when the S.W.A.T team gets here won't you."
Colin moved to stop him but Cooper placed a hand on his arm, "Let him go. He's no use to us."
"But he is." I sounded more calm than I felt. "Whether we like it or not, we may have to fight and Sean is one of the few of us that can be helpful if it comes to that. I don't want it to come to that any more than any of you do, but what our are options at this point?"
"We could leave," Copper said, "Get out now before they come back."
"And go where?" Ben asked, "They'll just track us down again and we'll be in the same situation."
"No. We could go to Stacy's." Cooper said hopefully.
"Who?"
It was Colin who answered, "That's where we were today. Nate felt it last night. He thought it was someone else in the city changing but the source was a lot farther out than that, and a lot stronger once we got close to it. It's another group of changers. Stacy Cross is the one that's been gathering them. We weren't there long before we picked up some radio chatter that got us worried about you guys." He looked thoughtful, "Stacy seemed like good people. We could go there, she would help us out I'm sure." He shook his head. "But her house is already bursting at the seams with the handful she has. I actually told them they should come here. She wouldn't commit to anything but they could be gone already. That's not really a chance I'm willing to take, her showing up here after we've gone and getting hurt because of all this. We are better protected here too."
"I don't like the ideas of being herded like that anyway," Mel snapped.
Cooper started to pace between the chairs, "Ok, so we stay. But we can't fight. It's stupid. Jemma's right. We're not equipped for it. We might be able to hold out but not forever. There are way more of them than us."
"So what do we do?" Nate laughed bitterly, "Talk our way out of it?" He still had his arm around Anna who had thankfully stopped crying.
"Yes! It think that is exactly what we should try." Kennedy sounded as cheery as ever.
Cooper looked incredulous, "You've got to be kidding."
"No, really. They have no idea how many of us are here or what we can do. We'll wait for them to show and I'll go talk to them. Maybe we can make a deal. Get them off our backs?"
Colin shook his head emphatically, "No way that's going to work Kennedy."
"Come on Colin! What do we have to lose if we try?"
"It's not a terrible idea."
Colin turned warily to me now. But Cooper spoke up before he could. "But you're the one that said we had to fight!"
"I said it may come to that. But what if it doesn't? We use their fear of us against them. I could do it...the talking I mean." Was I seriously suggesting this? "What are they going to do, shoot me? You saw, I can't get hurt."
Colin stepped toward me, "You don't know that for sure. You haven't had enough time to figure out how that works and besides, what happens if they decide to take you in? They don't have to hurt you to do that but it would be just as bad?"
"I'll take someone with me. Someone who can get us away if it comes to that. I can shield one person if need be. And you guys can watch from here. If things go bad then we can fight. But at least this gives us a chance to get out of this without anyone else getting hurt."
"I agree." David said. "We should try to talk to them first. We have to try to do this peacefully if we can. We may be cornered but we don't have to act stupid" I knew the idea of having to use his ability to hurt anyone again troubled him.
Cooper looked even more serious than usual, "This is crazy Jemma and I doubt it will work....but I think you're right. We have to try at least. Good or bad this will come to a head for us soon. This is the best shot we've got of getting out of this without a full on war. A war we'll probably lose."
"But they don't know that and we can use that against them." Kennedy said.
Colin sighed, "I don't like it, but I don't see that we have a lot of better options. Stephen, you haven't said anything. What do you think?"
Stephen was standing close behind Kennedy's chair looking more frightened than ever. "I could hide someone nearby while she talks. That would help if things go bad. Two people watching out. She won't have to worry so much."
Kennedy patted his hand, "That is a great idea!" He turned to Colin. "I don't like the idea of sending Jemma to the wolves so to speak. But if she thinks she can handle it then I say we let her try. I'm not against fighting if we have to though." The fierceness in the usually jolly man's voice caught me by surprise.
Colin turned to me. "I guess they only thing we have to do now is wait."