George laughed nervously. "What — what are you guys talking about?"
"George," Paul said gently, but before he could go on, John cut in.
"Oh, I think all of us know what we're talking about," John said. "So, come on. Explain yourself."
"I'm sure that you both know what you're talking about," George said, forcing a smile. "I, however, am feeling a little lost. So, if someone would kindly explain to me what's going on then I'd be happy to —"
"Hey!" Barney ran up to stand with the three of them. "What do you two think you're doing, just running off like that?"
"Are we prisoners here now?" Paul asked, frowning.
"No, of course not," Barney said. "But you're still recovering and —"
"Can we talk about all that later?" John said. "There are more pressing matters at hand, and I'd really like to get them sorted out. Right now."
Barney frowned. "And what pressing matters would those be, John?"
"George has been lying!" John said, pointing an accusing finger at George.
George's mouth fell open and he spluttered, trying to come up with a response, while Barney squeezed his eyes shut and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"What — I am not — what on Earth are you talking about?!" George cried.
"George," Barney sighed.
"John and I have been talking and —" Paul began, but he, too, was interrupted.
Roger and Deaky, who was favoring his right leg and limping just a little bit, came strolling down the hallway. When they spotted three-quarters of the Beatles standing at the intersection of two corridors, both of their faces broke into wide grins and they each called out to the three of them.
"Hey!" Deaky said as they came to stand with them.
"Oh, my God!" Roger said. "Everyone's here, huh? Marbella mentioned that George is here, but no one mentioned the two of you!"
"It's been a lot to handle, but I'm glad to see you're all relatively safe."
"You'll never believe it, but they've got Brian and Freddie locked up here and we think we might have to tell them about the whole time travel thing."
"That's still up in the air! We're trying our best to not do that, Roger."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Deaks here doesn't want to tell them. But I think it's what's best for their safety!"
"I hardly think so."
"At least they'd know what they're up against now that the F.H.O.'s hunting the lot of us, and all."
"Hm. Anyway, how're all of you?"
"It's good to see you both, yeah," John said. "But if you don't mind, we're kind of in the middle of —"
"It's so good to see you both up and about!" George said overdramatically, looking pointedly away from John. "Especially you, Deaky. How're you doing? Still not quite healed, I see, even with the twenty-third century medical technology that the medics here are working with. Are you doing okay?"
"Oh, yeah," Deaky said, brushing off George's apparent concern. "They said it would take a little longer because the bone in my ankle was totally shattered, so I thought it was going to take, like, a year! No one mentioned how much faster it was going to be. I'm almost totally healed and I'm, like, what? Two weeks post-op? Not even?"
"It's incredible, for sure," George agreed.
"Anyway, as I was saying —" John said, but he was cut off once again by someone storming toward them.
"George Harrison, what the fuck do you have to say for yourself? Would you like to explain yourself? Would you care to tell me what in hell is going on?"
Paul recognized that voice, and he whirled around to make sure that he wasn't just imagining things. "RINGO?!" he exclaimed incredulously. And sure enough, the fourth and final Beatle arrived at the intersection of corridors and joined in the circle that was formed and ever-growing.
"Wha— Paul?" Ringo said, astonished. "J-John?"
"Hello, Ringo," John sighed.
Ringo leaned into Paul. "Is that... is that Roger Taylor? And John Deacon?" he whispered so that only Paul could hear him.
"Yes," Paul said, nodding.
"Okay," Ringo said, accepting this quite easily considering it was not the most bizarre thing about the situation at hand. "Second question... where are we?"
"Well, I —" Paul cleared his throat. "It's rather a lot to explain, actually, um..." He turned to the rest of the circle. "When — when did Ringo get here?"
"About two weeks ago," Barney said.
"Two — two weeks?!" Ringo said, and to everyone's surprise, he laughed heartily. "No, no. You must be mistaken. I've only been asleep for a few hours."
"Asleep?" Paul said. "You were asleep when they took you here? What, did they just kidnap you out of your bed in the night?"
"It almost sounds like you know them, Paul," Ringo said. "Anyway, no. Some lady showed up with a gun and started talking about destiny and victory and — and all this stuff and — well, did I mention she had a gun? So she knocked me down, and she was going to shoot me! But then George burst in and he tried to shoot her, but the gun didn't go off, so then this other guy who I do not came in and he, like, shot her with lightening bolts! And she died! And then that guy touched my head, right here, and I fell asleep."
Paul closed his eyes, taking a moment to absorb all of this information. Then he turned, seething and his eyes alight with rage, to stare George down. "George Harrison, what in holy hell have you done?"
"Paul," George said in a very small voice. "I — I can —"
"Okay!" Barney chimed in, stepping into the center of the circle. "I think there's been some miscommunication between some of us, yes?"
"Clearly," Paul ground out through his teeth.
"So how about we all go to a conference room, and talk some things out?" Barney suggested.
"Okay, yeah, fine," Paul bit out, eyes still boring into George.
"Do..." Roger began, glancing sideways at Deaky. "Do we need to go? Because I am not... entirely sure... that we are a part of," he gestured vaguely to everyone that was standing around the intersection, "whatever this is."
"No," Barney said. "The two of you may return to your rooms."
Roger and Deaky both muttered their thanks, then turned and scampered away as fast as they could.
"Ringo," Barney said.
Ringo turned to look at him. "Who are you?" he asked, exasperated by all the things happening to him at the moment that he did not understand.
Barney sighed. "Right, sorry. Hi. My name is Barney Lynch and I work for the organization that operates out of this building."
"What is —"
"You will learn all about what organization operates here," Barney said. "As well as others that operate alongside as well as opposed to us. You will be informed of a lot. But not in the conference room with myself and the rest of your bandmates. I will call for you to have a meeting with Darren and Marbella immediately, if you are ready to hear the explanation for all of... this."
"I want to stay with Paul and John," Ringo said, frowning.
"And me," George said, offended.
"No," Ringo snapped at him.
"I understand that," Barney said. "I promise you can return to them as soon as you hear Darren and Marbella out, and as soon as they have ironed out their own issues."
"Barney," Paul sighed, finally taking his gaze off of George. His eyes softened as they fell upon his friend. "Please, don't send Marbella in with him. You know how she gets, and Darren will be gentle and patient."
"She knows what she's doing, though," Barney said. "She understands the things that she's talking about. You can't deny that she's beyond intelligent, if if her demeanor is a tad... stony."
"Darren is all of those things except he is kind and understanding," Paul said.
"I don't want to see this Marbella lady," Ringo decided aloud.
"Okay, okay, fine!" Barney said. "I will call for a meeting only Darren and you can go —"
"I still don't want to go, though," Ringo said. "I — I am so confused. I don't know what's happening and — and I've got to be honest, guys, I'm feeling t-terrified." He sniffled. "I mean — a guy shot lightening out of his hands!"
"I know, but —"
"He shot lightening out of his hands!" Ringo cried. "And — and he put me to sleep just by touching me! And I've been here for two weeks, you said? And you're all talking like there's something you all know that I don't know, and —" he sobbed, "— and I'm the only one who's freaking out! Everyone should be freaking the fuck out but I'm the only one so I feel like a fool but I — I'm so afraid!"
"Hey," Paul said and he touched Ringo's shoulder gently.
Ringo turned to face him, cheeks stained with tears, and when Paul opened his arms to offer a hug, Ringo threw himself toward Paul. He cried silently into Paul's shirt, wrapping his arms around his friend and vowing to never let go.
Paul spoke very softly into his ear. "I know this is scary, and you're not a fool for feeling the way that you do, okay? Not in the slightest. I've been scared, too, okay? I've been scared for years, and I am scared now. I've just learned how to hide it. I know that all I'm saying isn't helping, and that it doesn't make anything make any sense, but I want you to know that these feelings are okay. Do you understand that, Ringo?"
Ringo nodded into Paul's chest.
"Okay," Paul said. "Now, I want you to go meet with Darren and have everything explained to you, please. I know you want to stay with me and John, but right now I need for you to understand what's going on, and I'm sure that you'll feel better once you know everything. I wish I could be the one to explain it to you, but I have to go make sure that I understand everything that's going on. Right now, we all need to do just that. But I trust these people very much, and I promise they'll take care you."
Ringo peeled himself off of Paul, face bright red. "I'm even more confused now than I was before," he said flatly.
Paul couldn't contain a soft chuckle. "I'm — I'm sorry. I know."
"But if you say you trust this Darren guy," Ringo said. "I'll go hear what he has to say."
"Thank you."
"And if I still don't understand after, you'll explain it to me, won't you?"
"Yes, absolutely," Paul said, nodding. "Even if you do understand but you just want to hear it from me, because you know me, I will do it. Me and John will explain it to you if you need us to."
George said, in a small voice, "And me."
"You can shut up," John hissed angrily at him.
"Okay," Ringo said. "Thank you."
"I will take you to Darren, okay?" Barney said to Ringo gently. "Paul, do you remember where the conference room is?" he asked and Paul nodded. "Okay, you and John and George go there, yeah? I'll be there soon."
***
The whole time spent waiting for Barney in the conference room passed in heavy silence during which John stared George down, Paul refused to look anywhere near George, and George pretended like he didn't notice either of them and ignorantly stared out the window at a flock of birds which were circling the wide field that ran alongside the building.
Barney entered the room and sat down, without a word, at the head of the table. "Now," he said. "Paul and John, if one of you could please state your grievances then we can —"
"You bastard!" Paul slammed his hands down on the table, staring across it at George. "He knows what he's done, so why should we have to list any such grievances!"
"Paul, please, just let me explain —"
"See?!" Paul exclaimed. "He knows — he knows!"
"Okay," Barney said, maintaining a calm air. "John, do you think you might be able to calmly list the issue that the two of you are taking with George so that we may discuss them like civilized adults? Please? Calmly?"
John took in a very deep breath, released it, and nodded. "Yeah, I can try," he said. "I have taken grievance with George because he told me that he had not seen Paul since Paul had been isolated, and Paul told me that he had seen George. He also told me that Stuart was in isolation because he was having a hard time adjusting to the whole time travel and magic stuff, but Paul has informed me that Stuart has known about time travel and magic for years. Now, Paul has taken grievance with the fact that George went on a dangerous mission, and also that George has informed me that I died in the other timeline that Paul lived in before this one."
Barney closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, exhaled, and opened his eyes. He nodded. "Okay," he said. "Let's take this one topic at a time, okay?"
All three of them nodded in silence.
"Right," Barney said. "George... did you tell John that he died in the alternate timeline that Paul lived in?"
"Yes, but I didn't mean to!" George cried. "We were quarreling and I got upset and it just slipped out and I'm sorry about it, okay?" He turned to Paul, hands stretched out to him desperately. "Paul, please, you have to believe me."
"I believe you," Paul said quietly, and he wouldn't meet George's eye. "But I didn't think you were trying to sabotage me. I knew it must've been a slip-up, but it's one hell of a mistake, huh? After I spent twenty years — twenty goddamn years — making sure that he didn't find out. That he didn't have to live with that burden."
"I'm so sorry," George breathed. "I'm so sorry to both of you."
John frowned. "I think we can move on from that one," he said.
Barney nodded. "Okay. Now, George, did you tell John that you had not seen Paul when you had?"
"No," George said quickly.
"Yes, you did!" John said.
"John, when we saw each other and you asked me, I hadn't seen Paul," George said. "I mean it. I didn't see him until the next day, and we haven't seen each other between then and now."
"Oh," John said. "Yeah, I guess I didn't really think about that. I'm sorry, George."
George shook his head. "That's okay."
"Why did you go on a mission?" Paul jumped in, and he was looking straight at George. Eyes boring into his skin, into his soul.
"Wait a second, Paul," Barney said. "Slow down —"
"No, it's okay, Barney," George said. "I knew that this one was coming. Go ahead, Paul."
Paul shook his head. "I mean — Jesus Christ, George," he said. "Do you have a death wish? You're not a field agent, you're not trained for this sort of stuff. Ringo said himself you tried to shoot the woman who was gonna kill him, and you couldn't fire again. You've never used a gun before, I know you haven't. I've told you how afraid you knowing about this whole world makes me."
"I know," George sighed. "I know you worry. But, Paul, you've got to understand that you were borderline comatose, and John had just found out, so I was the only option."
"There were trained field agents," Paul hissed. "Those were the options."
"But I wanted to make Ringo's transition into knowing about all of this a smooth as can be," George said.
"Mm, well, you did a grand old job according to Ringo's account of it," Paul spat out and rolled his eyes dramatically.
"I know that it didn't go over as planned," George said. "But that was my intention, Paul. Please try to understand."
Paul frowned, but he didn't argue further.
"And finally —" Barney said.
John had been reasonably calm throughout this meeting — in comparison to Paul and in comparison to his usual temperament — but he became angry quite suddenly, lashing out and dropping clenched fists on top of the table. "Where the fuck is Stuart? I swear to Christ, if you've hurt him —"
"John, I haven't hurt him!" George shrieked. "Come on, you know me! Just give me a second to explain —"
"Actually, I think I can explain this one," Barney sighed, and the three Beatles look to him in surprise. "So, when we arrived here after Paul had been shot, Marbella immediately ordered that Sutcliffe be isolated from the rest of you. We have been watching him closely over the past year or so, and we were never able to quite put our finger on why he was so suspicious, but we were sure he was up to something. So this was the perfect opportunity to ask him some questions."
"Why is he suspicious?" John frowned.
"Because he told me that he had been saved by the Shadows but Marbella never had anything to do with him at all," Paul spoke, and it surprised even himself that he knew the answer. "Right? We talked about it a while back."
"Yes, Paul," Barney said. "When he wouldn't talk to any of us, we brought in Yoko. We thought he could relate to her more. We thought she could get something out of him. Nothing. So we thought, bring in George. He knows George. And that was the real ticket, because we found out everything we needed. We asked George to keep it a secret from the two of you — we asked him to lie. So that isn't George's fault — that's on us because we put George in an uncomfortable position, asked him to do something that was really hard for him to do, and we gave him your mental states to look after."
"Okay," John said. "I don't understand why you all wanted him to lie to us about what was going on, though."
Paul frowned. "What do you mean you gave him our mental states to look after?"
"Well, you needed to be in a better place than we knew you were going to be in when you woke up to here this," Barney said. "I think you're ready now, but brace yourself. It's a big one."
Paul held his breath, squeezed every muscle in his bed, and nodded.
"The F.H.O. saved Stuart's life to get his help," Barney said. "They told him to lie and tell you that he was saved by the Shadows, but he's been working for the F.H.O. all this time."
Paul released his breath so that he could gasp. "What?"
"And that's not even the kicker," Barney laughed. "For the past twenty years they've been enlisting Stuart's help in..." he drew in a deep breath and prepared for what he had to say next, "his help in killing John Lennon."
John coughed. "Stuart was going to do what? Stuart wouldn't kill me!"
"What do you mean they wanted help killing John?" Paul said. "Their goal has always been to save John. That's why I was brought here."
"Well, that's the question that all of this poses, isn't it," Barney said. "Who are they lying to? Are they tricking Stuart into thinking they want him dead when really they want him alive? Or are they convincing you into thinking you're going to save him when they know that they have people ready to take him out when the time's ready?"
"But I did save him."
"And immediately after that, the F.H.O. started hunting us."
"The F.H.O. is hunting us?!"
"Yes. They've already attacked Billy Joel and David Bowie."
"What?! But they're okay, right?"
"Joel is likely to make it through. Bowie is dead."
"Bowie.... Bowie's dead?"
"Yes. I'm sorry. John Deacon was also attacked, but you saw him. He's healing. And they were after Ringo next — they almost got him. Specifically, they're after you. They kept leaving notes whenever they attacked someone. Things like, 'We're Coming For You, Paul' and 'You're Next, Paul'."
"So, they... they never really wanted me to save John?"
"We just don't know, Paul. We need to look further into it."
Paul shook his head. "But — but no! They brought me here to save him. Why would they do that if they wanted him dead? What if I —"
He was cut off by the door swing open out of the blue, and Marbella was standing in the doorway. "You need to come see this. Now."
***
The thing that they had to come see now turned out to be four people who had broken into the facility. Marbella, with the help of some of the Unknowables field agents, arrested them on sight. This posed quite a few questions, though. How did they find this place? Were they looking for it? And if so, why? Any why were they not resisting arrest?
They were brought to one interrogation room, and John was made to go back to his room.
"What?" John scoffed. "Don't tell me you're going to keep me out of the loop again. I want to know just what's going on here as much as the next guy!"
"John, you're new to this," Paul sighed.
"So?" John said.
"So," Paul said, "I say you shouldn't be in that kind of situation yet. Please, go to your bedroom. It's been a long day. You should go rest."
"You are still healing," John said. "So you're a hypocrite. Because you should also be resting."
"You are absolutely right," Paul agreed. "However, I have work to do. Like I said, I need to see this thing to its end. Get some sleep. I'll come join you when I'm done here."
John face lit up. "You can sleep in my room now?"
"Yes," Paul said. He kissed John. "Now go. I'll be in when I can." And so, John conceded.
In the interrogation room, the four strangers sat across the table from the four Unknowables. Across from Marbella, there was a young-looking person with spiky, bright pink hair to match the bright pink bubble gum they were blowing bubbles with, dressed in short green overalls over a yellow tye-dyed t-shirt. Across from Paul, there was a man with long limbs and a swoop of night-black hair. Across from George was a young woman with a round face and dark eyes who seemed to have her eyebrows perpetually raised. Finally, across from Barney, was a girl with shoulder length hair and a grimace that seemed to be the exact opposite of what the girl next to her was doing with her face.
"Right," Marbella said. "Who are you people?"
"That's Belle," the dark haired man said, pointing to the girl with the everlasting grimace. "That's Anya." Girl with the eyebrows. "This is Ryder." Pink hair.
"Do none of them speak?" Marbella asked.
The man laughed. "No, they do, but they don't trust you. They don't think we should have come here."
"So, why did you come here?" Marbella asked.
"Because I convinced them of why we needed to," he said.
"And you are you?" Barney asked.
"I'm Nick," he said.
"Okay, Nick," Barney said. "So we did you need to come here so badly?"
Nick leaned forward, elbows on the table. "I have it on good authority that my grandfather is giving you guys some trouble."
"Who told you that?" Marbella asked.
"My grandfather," Nick said.
"Who is your grandfather?" Paul asked.
"President Wilson of the F.H.O.," he said, and all of their eyes grew wide. "Yeah. He knows about you guys. I know you think he doesn't, but he does. So here's the thing. I'm going to give you a piece of very valuable information. The F.H.O. has hacked into all of your systems and has been watching your every move for years. They know you've had Carlos Vega locked up all this time, they know you've been stealing their documents. They've been feeding you documents that they are willing to let you see, and keeping the ones they don't want you to see."
"And why should we believe you?" George asked.
"Because there's a flash drive in my pocket with all of the documents that they don't want you to see," Nick said. "And that flash drive has the software to not only shut their tracking on your servers down, but also to display fake servers so that they don't even know they're not watching live footage any more."
"Is that even possible?" George whispered.
"Ryder here developed it," Nick said. "They're a computer genius."
"Okay," Marbella said. "But what are you looking to get in exchange for that flash drive?"
"A spot on your team when you go to kill my grandfather," Nick said.
"Why do you want to kill your own grandfather?" Paul asked.
"He ruined my dad's life growing up because he was power hungry and wanted to rise to the top of the stupid F.H.O.," Nick said.
"Well, he sure got what he wanted," Barney sighed. "Unfortunately."
"No, he hasn't," Nick said, looking confused.
"He's the president," Barney said.
"Yeah, of that branch," Nick said.
Marbella, Barney, Paul, and George all exchanged puzzled looks.
"Wasn't Darren in his inner circle?" Nick asked. "I was under the impression that your leader here was part of my grandfather's inner circle."
"Wilson has rings of circles," Marbella said. "Five to six of them at any time. Darren got close, but not to that innermost group of them."
"Oh, dear," Nick said. "Then you don't know that there are other branches."
"What are you on about?" Paul sighed.
"They keep it hidden from most people," Nick said. "Employee or not. The F.H.O. that you work for is the Music branch. But there are hundreds of F.H.O. branches. When you climb your way to the top of one branch, the upper guys tell you about the branches. You learn how big the F.H.O. really is. There are tons of them, like I said, from Music to Politics to Science. Medicine, Religion. Um, Theatre, Movies, Television, Books. There are some that are weirdly specific like, Furniture or Fashion Design. There's one for Cleaning Supplies. Oh, there's one for curtains! Honestly, I can't imagine how boring it must be to work at some of those branches. Oh, there's one for Escalators!"
"So," Barney said numbly, "the F.H.O. is about a thousand times bigger than we thought it was?"
"That would be correct," Nick said, nodding.
"Well," Marbella said, trying to keep her voice steady. "One step at a time. We are still dedicated to taking down the F.H.O., even if it is only this branch of them, and after we have done that we can regroup and come up with our next plan," she said firmly, but everyone else sitting on her side of the table continued to stare blankly into space. "I mean it. Do not dwell on this. Our battle is drawing near."
"And I think you should move it closer," Nick said. "Because they have seen on your servers when you planned to attack." He paused a moment. "Could you please let us go now? These handcuffs really chafe."
Marbella crossed her arms. "Why should we trust you to fight alongside us?"she questioned.
For the first time, one of the people sitting with Nick spoke. Anya said, "Because looking at everything you've just found out, you know that the odds are probably in your favor. And you have to admit, you need all the help you can get."
"They've got a point," Barney said.
"Indeed," Marbella said. "We planned to attack in a week, and the more we move it up, the more of an advantage we're going to have over them."
"Let's do it tomorrow," George said.
"Tomorrow?!" Barney exclaimed.
"No," Paul said. "That's ridiculous, George. I say... I say two days, maybe three. No more than that."
"They will be prepared ahead of time so I'm inclined to agree with Paul on that one," Barney said. "No more than three days."
"Agreed," Marbella said. "I think, giving ourselves enough time to rally and prepare, and trying to shock them as soon as possible, we should go in two days."
"Let's do it," Barney said.
"Two days," Paul said, and he nodded.
"Okay," Marbella said. "I'll have to pass it with the council, but —"
"But two-thirds of the council is sitting at this table," Barney said. "So that should be easy."
Marbella sighed and sank back in her chair. "If you think this is war now, folks, then buckle in for the ride. Two days from now... the war really begins."
***
Author's Note: I posted an announcement today saying it would be a week wait for the next chapter, but then I smoked a lot of weed and got on a creativity kick. So here you go.