btp248

Special (14/20) Part 2

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:10:47 GMT

Special (14/20)

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:07:44 GMT

Title: Special (14/20)
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various Pairings.

Cross posted to Camp Toccoa and ihave_no_idea

Links to previous chapters inside.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

When Babe woke up in the morning, he felt sluggish and warm- that was how he knew it was early. He could smell food coming from the kitchen but wasn’t sure if he was ready to brave the waters. He also wasn’t particularly sure which brother he would find. Bill, the one he had always known, or Dick, the one whose relation to him had just been discovered.

On top of that discovery was the similarly new knowledge that had been bestowed upon him by Joe Toye. The truth that his entire family was part of some secret organization that hunted and captured people with weird superpowers. That he was one of those people.

Babe didn’t feel like hiding in his room however, so he swung his legs out from underneath his bed covers and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

He pushed back his bedroom door and peeked out into the hallway, but he couldn’t sense any movement in the apartment. He looked down the hallway to see that Bill’s bedroom door was open. That was who it was then….Dick always slept on the couch.

Babe, now certain that he was alone, walked less cautiously into the kitchen and noticed a note taped to the microwave. The precise handwriting was undoubtedly Dick’s, proving Babe’s earlier assumption to be wrong.

Babe,
Sorry no one’s going to be around today. I dropped by last night and checked in on you. I stayed as long as I could but I have to swing by work and then fly out to Los Angeles. Bill’s still in New York. He’ll call you as soon as he knows when he’s coming home. Be careful and remember the rules!
Dick

P.S.- I made you waffles-proceed with caution.

Babe was torn between wanting to laugh at Dick’s ineptitude in the kitchen and wanting to cry at how wonderful it was to realize that he’d had him near this whole time. That he knew Dick and appreciated him and wouldn’t have to work to get to know him or love him because that was all already covered. No matter what Dick may do for this Company- Babe had the most amazing brother.

Two amazing brothers were what he now had. Because Bill was undoubtedly his brother. His protector, his role model…his family. Bill was always there for him.

Had always been there for him….

Four Years Earlier…

Babe is hanging out in his parent’s kitchen one Friday when he hears the front door open. Both of his parents are at work so he knows it can only be one other person.

“BILL!” He runs to his older brother and almost knocks him over with the force of his hug. He grins up at Bill’s amused face. “Sup?”

Bill gives him a smile before asking, “What the Hell is on your face?”

Babe pulls away from him. “Glasses,” he answers.

They begin to walk over to the kitchen. “Kid since when do you need glasses? You have perfect vision.” Bill points out.

“Still do!” Babe proudly exclaims as he adjusts the spectacles balanced on his nose.

Bill rolls his eyes and removes the glasses from Babe’s face. “Then take these off or you’ll give yourself a headache.”

When they get to the kitchen Bill is faced with the many pairs of glasses on their kitchen table. “What are you doing with all of these?” He asks.

“They’re Mom’s. She’s trying on a bunch to find out which ones she wants.” Babe informs him.

“Mom needs glasses? That’s rich.” Bill laughs.

“Yeah you’d have known that if you came around more often!” Babe gripes at him.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. You know I’m busy.” Bill tries to make his excuses but he knows there aren’t any sufficient enough to make up for missing time with his little brother.

“It’s okay.” Babe grumbles, although it obviously isn’t.

“So why are you fooling with these anyway?” Bill picks up a pair and studies them.

“Well you know…” Babe starts off, “Everyone says I take after Mom.”

“That’s true.”

“So…her parents needed glasses.”

Bill smirks. “What’s your point?’

“Well if they needed gasses and Mom needs glasses…don’t you think I might need glasses someday too?” Babe asks as he situates a particularly atrocious pair on his face that were intended to make his brother laugh.

But Bill isn’t laughing. Instead he looks rather serious. “Um…listen Babe…”

Babe lets the goofy smile drop off of his face. “What?”

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Our parents weren’t sure you were ready to know. But I think it’s time you hear the truth.”

“What is it?” he asks Bill nervously.

“Babe…we’re not your biological family. You’re adopted.”

Babe just looks at him in shock, Bill’s never been the type of brother to joke about something like that, the age difference between them hampering down certain types of humor.

Babe instantly knows it must be the truth, “What? But…then who's my real family?”

Bill’s arm shoots out to grab his shoulder and stop his freak out. “We’re your real family. I am your real family. Okay? Just not your biological one.”

Babe continues to stare at him with wide and confused eyes. “Why did you never tell me?” he asks.

“Because I never wanted you to doubt how much we love you.” Bill answers.

Babe sits there silently for a moment before Bill stands up and wraps an arm around his shoulders.

“Look Babe,” his brother starts, “this doesn’t change anything. I’m still your brother. You’re still mine. I am always going to be there for you. Even when you’re sixty and I’m…well I’ll be really old.”

That causes a snort of laughter to escape from Babe.

Bill smiles at him. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

With a nod Babe reaches out and hugs his brother’s stomach. “Yeah…I understand. I love you Bill.”

It’s a phrase that isn’t used nearly enough in their house, but is freely exchanged between the closest of brothers.

Bill hugs him back. “I love you too kid.”

Company HQ, Manhattan, NY

When Joseph Liebgott woke up that morning, he was laying on top of David Webster and being subjected to the incredulous stare of an 8 year old psychic.

“Eli!” He gasped and attempted to sit up quickly, which only resulted in his falling off the bed and to the floor.

He collected himself quickly and turned to address the child. “I can explain…that.” He gestured to the sleeping Webster. “We were just uh…”

“Is he your boyfriend?” Eli asked.

Joe just stared, not really sure how to answer such a blunt question. Suddenly from behind him he heard David say, “That is an excellent question.”

Liebgott turned to glare at him. “What the Hell are you still doing here?” He asked.

Webster rolled his eyes. “I fell asleep. I didn’t hear you complaining while you were drooling on my shirt.”

“I was not-” Joe began to protest that he certainly hadn’t drooled on anyone when Eli interrupted.

“You should probably leave now if you aren’t supposed to be here.” The child addressed David.
He then turned to Joe. “A man named Guarnere is going to come looking for us soon. That’s what I came to tell you. We have to go and talk to someone.”

Joe stared at him. “Talk? To whom?”

Bill sat uncomfortably in a chair as he waited to be addressed by the man sitting behind the desk that was across from him. He was supposed to be on a plane to Philadelphia in two hours and he didn’t want to miss it.

Finally he broke his silence. “Was there a reason you wanted to see me…sir?” he asked the man who was undoubtedly his superior in the Company. Even if they didn’t run in the same circles.

Norman Dike looked up from a report that had been submitted to him from Dr. Jones concerning Joseph Liebgott. “Sometimes I forget how ‘to the point’ all of you Agents are. Yes Guarnere…I wanted to discuss your partner.”

Bill frowned. “You want to talk about Dick?”

“That’s right.” Dike nodded. “I’m sure that you don’t know but there’s been a bit of…speculation as to where his loyalty lies in regards to this Company.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Bill responded.

Dike remained silent for a moment. Things like this were the reasons that Bill hated coming to New York. Most of these people weren’t even Agents. They were scientists and pencil pushers. Norman Dike was in charge of things out here and Bill never could quite get a grasp on the other man.

Finally Dike spoke again. “I figured you would say that. Your boss, Sobel, seems to be of the same belief. He appears to have quite the personal attachment to Winters.”

Bill tried not to let his face portray how he felt about that fact. Instead he said, “Dick is great at his job. Furthermore his ability is indispensible to the Company.”

Norman leaned back in his chair. “That’s true enough. At least until we succeed in finding an empath.”

“I don’t understand.” Bill said. While it was no secret that the Company was single mindedly pursuing someone with an emphatic ability, Bill failed to see how they could be so sure in their ability to control and use someone like that. There was something else going on…he just wasn’t sure what.

“Don’t worry about it.” Dike waved his confusion off before picking up the report he’d been reading and gesturing to Bill with it. “What do you make of Liebgott?”

Bill shrugged. “He’s a tough kid. Bit of an attitude problem though. But he’s a mimic which is a pretty impressive ability. It could go far if he becomes an Agent.”

“We have reason to suspect it might be more than that.” Dike stated. “But we won’t be sure without further testing. He might be a suitable candidate for your new partner.”

Bill tensed and gave Dike a hard stare. “I’m fine with the one I have now.”

Dike nodded, “I’m sure you are but you may have to consider the possibility that your partner doesn’t have the Company’s best interests in mind. You’re one of the Company’s best Agents-”

“So is Dick.” Bill interrupted, not liking where this conversation was headed. “He’s been a part of it longer than I have. What is it that makes you question his loyalties exactly?”

“Surveillance indicates that he’s been looking into files that the Company has on his family. We’re worried that such digging could lead to…dissatisfactory findings.” Dike told him.

So basically they were afraid that Dick would find out that they had murdered his parents and get pissed off. Bill supposed that was a viable concern.

“Just why are you telling me this?” Bill asked, beginning to get rather irritated.

Dike smiled and leaned forward in his seat. “You have a way of dealing with wayward partners.”

The statement came like punch in the gut and it takes everything in Bill’s self control not to lunge across the desk and pound Dike’s smarmy face in.

Bill had only had one other partner before Dick. He had been…important to Bill. But back then Bill hadn’t yet realized just how more important the people he cared about were than his job.
No…back in his early days as an Agent…he did whatever the Company told him to do.

Seven Years Ago, Philadelphia, PA

“Tense much?” Bill’s partner asks him as they drive in a Company car to an unknown location. Or at least it’s unknown to Joseph Toye. Bill knows exactly where he’s going.

“I’m fine.” Bill tells Joe even though he feels as if his heart were in his throat. He’s 22 and he’s only had this job with the Company for a little over a year. He met Joe Toye on almost his first day.

His parents had told him all there was to know about being an Agent. That everyone had a partner. One normal. One special. And Joe was indeed special, what with being able to turn invisible.

“C’mon, I know you better than that.” Joe says in that smooth and yet gravelly voice that has been Bill’s constant companion. He doesn’t turn to look at Joe, because if he sees his face he knows he’s bound to lose the little composure he has left.

“I’m beginning to think maybe we don’t know each other that well after all.” Bill replies.

They are pulling up to an abandoned bridge and Joe has to know that something is up. Why hasn’t he said anything?

“Maybe you just don’t know yourself yet.” Joe tells him.

Bill frowns. “What the Hell does that mean?” He asks his partner. Likely soon to be his ex-partner.

“It means I know what we’re doing out here Bill.” Joe says. “I was in the room when Sobel told you to kill me.”

Bill turns to look at him in shock. It’s no secret to him that Joe likes to sneak around while he’s invisible. But he hadn’t expected to hear that. “Then why did you come out here with me?” Bill asks him.

Joe shrugs and begins to get out of the car. Bill follows suit. “I guess I was hoping that you’d give me the benefit of the doubt. That our friendship was strong enough to withstand this.” Joe says as he puts his hands on the hood of the car and stares over at Bill.

It’s a cold October day and Bill can see Joe’s breath. There’s a lot he wants to say. About how they had more than friendship and Joe knew it, about how it was ruined now because Joe was a liar…and a traitor.

“You lied to me.” Bill accuses. “You lied to the whole damn Company! You’re hiding people with abilities!”

“Of course I lied!” Joe shouts back at him. “Jesus Bill. Don’t you get it?”

Bill just stares and so Joe continues. “Day in and day out…hunting down people who are just like I am? Did you never once think that it might get to me?”

“You knew what you were signing up for when you took the job.” Bill argues.

Joe shakes his head. “No…no I thought I did. But I was wrong. This Company Bill...these people...are evil. I was hoping you’d be different.”

Bill takes his gun from its holster underneath his coat and points it at Joe over the car. “Tell me who you’re protecting.”

Joe puts his hands up, in what seems to be more of a mocking gesture than a surrendering one and backs away from the car and off to the side. Bill follows him, the gun still trained on his partner.

“Does it really matter? You’re going to kill me anyway.” Joe states.

“It damn well matters.” Bill snaps at him. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“What if it was Babe?” Joe asks.

Bill pauses. “What?” He asks, not sure if he heard right.

“I said…what if I was protecting Babe?” Joe restates.

Bill says nothing for awhile and Joe continues to speak. “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. That’s why your parents took him in the first place, hoping that he would manifest an ability. They think it’s going to happen, that’s why they’re so distant from him.”

“No.” Bill shakes his head.

Joe scoffs. “Oh grow up Bill. What do you think they’re going to do if he does develop an ability? Just ignore it? I don’t think so. And how about you? Are you going to turn him in like a good little solider?”

“Shut up.” Bill hisses. “Babe has nothing to do with this. This is about you. Now WHO are you hiding?”

Joe clenches his jaw and lowers his hands. For a moment, Bill hopes he’s about to tell him. That way they can work something out. Get Joe back on track, go back to the way things were.

Instead Joes says. “Go to Hell.”

He turns invisible the moment Bill pulls the trigger.

The memory was painful to Bill. It was one of the biggest mistakes he felt he’d ever made. He killed someone he…someone that he may have loved just because he was guilty of doing exactly what Bill was doing now. Hiding someone from the Company.

This Company had turned Bill into a monster, that much hadn’t changed. But he was trying to be better. Trying to do right by his family. His true family. He’d be damned if he let anything happen to Dick the way it had happened to Joe.

He glared up at Dike. “Was there anything else you needed?” he asked him.

Dike nodded. “Before you head out, could you go and get Liebgott and Eli Luz and bring them to my office? I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting either of them just yet.”

“Sure.” Bill stood up quickly.

He was just leaving when Dike called out. “Think about what I’ve said Bill. About your partner.”

Bill walked out without saying a word.

He went down a hallway filled with office rooms and glass doors before he came to a swift stop in front of an elevator. He pressed the down button and waited a moment. The doors slid open to reveal Dr. Jones waiting inside.

The man gave Bill a nervous look and scooted over to allow him in. “What’s this I hear about you needing to test Liebgott further?” Bill asked him.

Dr. Jones straightened up. “Uh...it’s nothing really. It’s just that when I was studying the ways in which his ability seems to adapt to new information it led us to believe...well I really shouldn’t discuss it actually.”

Bill frowned, now worried. It was strange but ever since Dick had told him Liebgott’s purpose for being there, he had begun to see the kid as sort of a kindred spirit. He was wary of all the attention that the Company was paying to him.

He said nothing further to the doctor, who was hasty to exit the elevator when his stop came. Two floors down and Bill was reaching the recruit’s quarters. When the doors opened he was surprised to see Liebgott and Eli already standing there.

Bill raised an eyebrow at them. Joe jerked his thumb over towards Eli. “Kid had a vision.” He said as way of explanation.

“Well come on then.” Bill motioned them into the elevator.

Dick Winters, Los Angeles, CA

Dick yawned as Harry Welsh drove them through the city of L.A. that morning. The night before had drained him emotionally and the constant flights from state to state were starting to drain him physically. It was the nature of his job, for sure, but it had been a hectic few days.

“Aww Dick are you sleepy?” Harry asked with a smile that was ever present on his face.

Dick glared at him playfully. “I notice that you aren’t.”

“That’s because I slept on the plane. Like you should have.” Harry teased him.

It was then that Dick began to take notice of their surroundings. “Harry…” He said, “This doesn’t look like the way to the holding facility.”

“That’s because we’re going to take a quick detour first.” Harry informed him. “Colonel Sink wants to see you.”

Dick’s head snapped over to stare at his friend so quickly that it hurt his neck. “Sink? Robert Sink?”

“The one and only.” Harry grinned.

“I wasn’t aware that you knew him.” Dick said, trying to contain his surprise.

“I work for him actually.” The lawyer explained.

Dick shook his head in disbelief. “How come I never heard about it?”

“Because you weren’t meant to know.” Harry told him. “No one else in the Company does.”

“So why tell me?” Dick asked.

They were soon parked in front of a fancy hotel and Harry smiled over at him once more. “Why don’t you just ask the good Colonel himself?”

Harry took him up to the top floor and led him to one of the suites there. Dick had known Robert Sink for quite some time now. A retired Colonel of the Army he was allegedly one of the original founders of the Company who now made his fortune by building hotels, such as the one they were in, all across the country. He had been a mentor to Dick since he first started working at the Company.

Bill thought that the attention that Sink paid Dick was creepy but Dick knew that Sink was a good man. He had never steered Dick wrong. Upon their first meeting the man had actually tried to convince Dick that the Company wasn’t where he needed to be. Sometimes Dick wished he had listened.

Harry stayed out in the hallway as Dick entered the room to see Sink sitting at a couch in the suite’s massive living room, a folder open on his lap. The man looked up as Dick approached.

“Dick.” Sink greeted. “It’s always good to see you son. Why don’t you have a seat?”

The Colonel gestured to an arm chair situated across from the couch and Dick sat down. “I’ll be honest sir.” Dick started off, “I’m a bit confused.”

Sink sighed. “I know you are. The truth is Dick, that I’ve been keeping a lot of things to myself. Things that concern you. But something caught my eye that makes me realize that it’s about time I come clean.”

And if Dick wasn’t confused before, he certainly was now. What secret could Sink possibly know that concerned him?

“What something might that be, sir?” He asked his long time mentor.

Sink leaned forward and sat the folder he’d been reviewing on the coffee table between them. He pointed at it and said, “Those are the surveillance logs from the Philadelphia branch. It says you’ve been pulling files. On your parents.”

Dick looked it over quickly, with a frown. He hadn’t expected that he’d been watched so closely. “Yes.” He admitted. “I was rather surprised to find that the Company had files on them.”

“You must gather that I know something about that.” Sink said.

It wasn’t something that he’d wanted to believe, but Dick knew it was a possibility. Sink was definitely a monetary backer of the Company and if he was one of its initial creators then Dick found it unlikely that he wouldn’t have some knowledge about its workings.

“The thought had crossed my mind.” Dick confessed.

Sink nodded and leaned back into the couch. “There was a time,” He said slowly as he reached for a nearby glass of what Dick assumed was whiskey, “that the Company was all that it claimed to be. We helped people. People like you. People like your parents. People like myself.”

Dick stared in shock. “I wasn’t aware you had an ability.”

The Colonel smiled, “I’m a healer. Just like your father was. He was a good man. I see a lot of him in you.”

It was strange, but suddenly Dick felt very lost. As though he were in the middle of a giant web that was unraveling all around him. “You knew my father?” he asked.

“I was good friends with both of your parents.” Sink answered before letting a fond smile light his face. “I introduced them to each other actually, at the urging of one of my peers. When they were both just young things.”

Dick just shook his head, not sure what to say.

“You see Dick. This Company used to be good. You parents used to be a part of it.”

“No.” Dick protested. “No they couldn’t have been. I would have found out.”

“Oh trust me son. A lot of people went through a lot of trouble to make sure you never found out. Because you see…your parents discovered something very important. Something that made them realize that the Company’s do-gooding front was just that. A façade.”

Dick doesn’t think he can speak. But he manages to whisper, “What?”

“The Company was first founded to track down other people with abilities. So that we could all be connected. Unfortunately some of my colleagues began to believe that people with abilities were superior to those without. It began to shape their actions within the Company.”

“I see no evidence of that.” Dick replied. “Nothing the Company does seems to benefit people with abilities.”

“That’s because it doesn’t care about people Dick. It cares about power. Some of the men I work with began to become obsessed with trying to make certain abilities appear.”

“How do you mean?” Dick asked.

“They found this scientist, a Dr. Jones-”

“Henry’s father?” Dick interrupted to ask. “I thought he was an independent researcher.”

“He was after he left the Company.” Sink said. “You see they had him assist in researching the likelihood of special individuals having children with abilities. The odds were quite favorable. With some more research the Company believed that they would be able to start a sort of breeding program. Unbeknownst to the participants of course. More of a matchmaking service really. When I introduced your parents, I was unknowingly a part of it.”

Dick gaped at him as he grasped what was being implied. “You’re saying that I was planned? By the Company?”

Sink nodded, “I’m afraid so. Your parents loved each other very much Dick, don’t doubt that. When they discovered what was going on, they became fearful that the Company would try to take you away from them. They had every right to be frightened. They came to me for help. I hid them the best I could.”

“What happened then? How did the Company find us? I know that they killed my parents.”

The Colonel frowned, “That’s the part I’m unsure about. You see...I’ve suspected for some time now that Taylor and McAuliffe have been keeping information from me. They don’t trust me and rightly so. They found out that your parents had another child and they came looking for you both.”

“Who are Taylor and McAuliffe?” Dick asked. The names were unfamiliar.

“They’re the only two founders of the Company still alive son, aside from myself.” Sink answered. “While I have other business ventures and am mainly a monetary resource at this point, they still determine the Company agenda.”

“I don’t understand why you’re telling me all of this.” Dick said.

“It’s because I know for certain that I can trust you now that you’ve discovered the part the Company has played in destroying your life. You see Dick, I’ve been working against this Company for some time now. I tried at one point to have an inside agent in the Company but unfortunately he was discovered.”

The answer dawned on Dick and he said, “Joe Toye. Bill’s old partner.”

“That’s right. Dick I have a series of safe houses across the country where I send people with abilities who need to be kept safe from the Company. Because I no longer know what it is the heads of this organization want with them. But I need your help.” Sink told him.

“You have it, sir.” Dick said. Bill may have called him a fool but Dick trusted Sink and if he said he wanted to help then Dick believed him.

“This man you’re about to go and collect from prison? He’s dangerous and easily manipulated. He can’t, under any circumstances, fall into Company hands. Take him here, ask for the woman whose name is on the card inside.” Sink said as he handed Dick an envelope of information.

“What am I supposed to tell the Company?” Dick asked.

“You’re the one with the ability to manipulate and erase memories Dick.” Sink said, “I was hoping you’d improvise.”

Burton Christenson, George Luz and Eugene Roe, Philadelphia, PA

Christenson was still on the phone with someone from the FBI while Gene and George waited on him at the baggage claim near the exit at the airport.

“What exactly is our plan?” Gene asked Luz as they watched the young Agent write something down on a notepad he’d hastily pulled from his carry on.

Luz scratched at the bandage on his forehead. “It’s pretty simple actually. We show up and beat the shit out of him until he tells us where Eli is.”

Gene stared at him for a moment. “Yeah…we’ll come up with a new plan in the cab.”

Once Webster had gotten the name of Gene’s abductor to him, Christenson had decided to use his connections with the FBI to locate where this Bill Guarnere lived. They planned on paying him a visit sometime today.

Christenson shoved his cell phone into his pocket and made his way over to his traveling companions. “Alright I have the address.”

“Great.” Luz said as he hopped up from his seat. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“Cool your jets okay?” Christenson held up a hand to calm the other man down. “We’re all a little emotional over Eli’s abduction right now and I don’t want anyone to make any rash decisions. I shouldn’t even be letting the two of you assist in this investigation but I know you’d go looking with or without me.”

“Damn right I would. This is my kid Burton.” Luz growled.

Christenson nodded. “I understand that, I really do. But first I’m going to go rent us a car, then we’re going to get a hotel room, alright?”

Gene cocked his head to the side. “A hotel room? What for?”

“Some of us,” The Agent motioned to himself and his rumpled suit, “need a shower and a change of clothes.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.” Christenson nodded, “So just wait here while I go and get us a rental car.”

Luz sighed as Burton turned and walked away. Gene looked at him in concern before saying, “He’s right you know.”

George turned to look at him. “About what?”

“We all need to stay calm.” The doctor told him.

Luz nodded curtly. Sure, calm…he could do that. Then he began to think about Eli. Where he could be and how frightened he probably was. To Hell with calm, he would do whatever it took to make this bastard tell him where his son was. No matter what.

Ron Speirs, Carwood Lipton and Buck Compton, Los Angeles, CA

It was with a great reluctance that Lipton parted with Sherry Tanner. Ron was never the sentimental one, that was always Christenson’s job, but he’d admit that he found the attachment to be…sweet.

The blonde cop watched the girl go off with child services, a frown on his face. “I don’t like leaving her so unprotected.”

Ron regarded him with a cool gaze, “Well we can’t drag an 8 year old girl around with us on a manhunt for a serial killer.”

Buck wanted to know why they were dragging around an LAPD cop, but knew that it would only make Ron more pissed off at him. If that was even possible.

Instead he said, “We still haven’t gotten word on that DNA evidence that was collected on our suspect.”

Ron frowned. “Why the Hell not? What’s taking so damn long?”

Buck shrugged, “Maybe we should pay the lab tech a visit?”

Lipton caught Ron’s elbow and motioned him to the hallway, Ron put a hand up to indicate to Buck that they’d just be a minute. Buck simply rolled his eyes. Ron had known this cop for what? A day? Yet already they were keeping him out of the loop.

“What?” Ron asked the cop once they were alone.

“I know how things go in the lab over here.” Lipton said. “They won’t do anything ahead of schedule and they don’t particularly like feds.”

“Well what about you?”

Lipton gave him a confused look. “What about me? I’m a cop not a detective, I don’t investigate so I have no need to have contact with the lab techs on a regular basis.”

Ron put his hands on his hips, internally wincing as he pulled at a stitch. “They what do you suggest we do? Who knows how far this guy is by now or when he’s planning to attack someone again.”

Lipton looked around them cautiously, as if to make sure no one was listening. “I was thinking that maybe you could just do your thing on them.”

The FBI agent raised his eyebrow. “My thing?”

Carwood nodded, “Yeah maybe you could talk to them and…” the cop trailed off with a wiggle of his fingers.

“I don’t follow you.”

“Look,” Lipton said. “You said that you made your boyfriend stop attacking you. You make me answer questions honestly when I would never have done so. You made that serial killer drop his gun, you and I both know that something’s going on with you. The way that it’s going on with me. “

Ron stared at him intensely. “You seem pretty sure about that.”

“I know what’s going on in your head.” The cop said.

“So what?” Ron asked. “You want me to go in there and just tell them to make it their top priority?”

Lipton smiled shyly. “I mean...sure. Why not? It’ll be like a practice run.”

“A practice run?”

The cop clapped him on the shoulder. “Trust me, it’ll work out great.”

“Right.” Ron said doubtfully before sticking his head back into the room to address Buck. “Lipton and I are going to run by the crime lab really quickly to have that word with the tech. We’ll meet you back at the hotel in a little while.”

Buck was about to protest but Ron was already out the door again and headed down the hallway, Officer Lipton in tow. What the Hell was he even there for? Neither one of them should’ve been out of the damn hospital and they were taking over his investigation!

“Look” the lab tech, a pudgy and disgruntled man, snapped at them, “I have tons of samples to take care of. I’ll get to yours when I get to it.”

A small crease of worry marred Lipton’s forehead and he cast his puppy dog eyes over at Ron expectantly. Ron could feel his whole body stiffen as he fought between competing desires.

One being how much he didn’t want to do this and the other being his desire to please the cop.
“Damn it,” he mumbled under his breath. Stupid well-meaning and earnest cops. Curse his thing for blondes.

All he had done to make the others listen was just talk to them. This would either work or it wouldn’t. He sighed before speaking up.

“You shut up and listen to me.” He snapped back to the lab technician. The man looked over at him reluctantly and remained silent.

“I want you to put that down,” Ron pointed at the sample in the man’s hand, “go and get our sample and test it. That’s your first priority. When it’s done- you call us.”

The man’s eyes glazed over and he set the sample down. Ron and Lipton looked at each other in confusion as the tech turned around wordlessly and walked to the back of the lab. They followed him cautiously to see him retreating to the fridge where samples were stored.

“That’s our sample he’s getting.” Lipton gaped even though this was pretty much what he had expected to happen.

“Great.” Ron said, now feeling thoroughly disturbed that he had been influencing people in this way. For how long had this been going on exactly? Was this why he had such a high confession rate? Because he was some freak like their serial killer or some special person like the mind reading cop by his side?

“Yeah but I can’t tell if that’s just because you’re really intimidating. You have to make him do something else.” Lipton decided.

Speirs raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you serious?”

Lipton shrugged and Ron could swear that he saw the barest hint of a smile on the cop's face. “What do suggest?” he asked the man.

“Make him do pushups or something. That’s a pretty unreasonable request under normal circumstances.”

“Fine,” Speirs groaned before turning and eyeing the tech, who was still silently completing his earlier command. “I don’t think they could hurt him any.”

He called out to the man. “Temporarily stop what you are doing and do 5 pushups.”

The man paused, turned away from testing the samples, and dropped to the floor to begin his struggle through 5 pushups

Lipton just turned to stare at Ron with large eyes. “What?” Speirs asked him, although he was a bit freaked out himself.

“You Jedi-mind tricked him!”

“Oh please…”

The man was already back up and working on their sample again. Lipton continued, “You did so. You just pulled that whole ‘These aren’t the droids you’re looking for’ thing.”

“Whatever.”

“Just never tell anyone to Drop Dead.”

“I’ll try to refrain myself.”

Lewis Nixon, Los Angeles Maximum Security Holding Center, CA

This was right…this was where he was supposed to be. He had to be locked up…or else…

“Good God. Get over it already. I’m getting so sick of your ‘woe is me’ shit. Everything I’ve done has been for you!”

Lewis clamped his hands over his ears in order to drown out the sounds of Jonathan’s voice. No mirrors...there were no mirrors- why could he still hear him?

“SHUT UP!” He screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Quiet down in there!” A guard yelled at him from outside. Sure…yell at the man in the padded room because that makes a lot of logical sense.

Not that anything did anymore. God…he could have killed Ron. He killed all of those people…

“Nooo…I killed all of those people.”

“You? Me? What difference does it make anyway? I was the one…who wanted to kill Buck.”

“But you didn’t…because you were too weak to do anything you want. You always are.”

“No…I’m just not a monster.” Lewis told Jonathan as he lay on the padded floor, wondering if this was how his new life as a crazy person was to be.

Suddenly the door opened and a guard approached…no three guards approached. One of them had a syringe in his hand.

“What are you doing?” he asked them, but received no answer.

When one of them grabbed his arm he flung his right foot out to connect with the man’s knee…which made a sickening crack as it broke and bent straight out to the other side of his leg.

The man’s screams brought more guards to his cell. One swung a baton to his face but he grabbed it and snapped it in half as though it were merely Styrofoam.

Amidst the chaos Lewis swung a punch that did not send a guard flying backwards with a crunch of bone but merely made a normal impact as it would have days before. He no longer felt the presence of another person invading his psyche. Though the guards could now restrain him…it was blissfully quiet.

What had changed?

As the guards injected him with what must have been a mild sedative he could see the blurry outline of a tall, slim man at the door to his cell. He heard the guards caution the approaching figure.

“I’ll be fine. He isn’t going to hurt me or anyone else for that matter,” said a confident and kind voice.

He’d never heard it before. He’d been visited by the detectives and the guards and the shrinks and he could remember them all. But this voice was new. He expected to hear Jonathan make a nasty comment.

Yet there was nothing. In his drug addled state he looked upwards. All around him everything was blinding. The bright overhead light was glaring off of the white in the padded room and illuminating the face of the man leaning over him.

The light bounced of his bright red hair and shined on his sweet smile and kind eyes as he looked at Lewis with something that wasn’t pity…but more of understanding. He was beautiful. He had made the voices stop…

“Are you an angel?”

The man gave a small sort of chuckle. “I’m a friend.”

A friend? Nixon wasn’t even sure what those were anymore. The person he had thought was his best friend had betrayed him. Had anyone ever really been his friend?

“I don’t have any friends.” He groaned.

As the sedative began to pull him into an unconscious state he could hear a soft sigh accompanied with, “Well you have one now.”

A friend? That would be nice.

Joseph Liebgott, Company HQ, Manhattan, NY

“What kind of tests?” Joe frowned as he sat through his first meeting with Norman Dike. The man gave him the creeps…like a lot.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” the man responded, “just a few more physical reaction tests like you did yesterday. How about you go see Dr. Jones after you and Eli get breakfast? He seems attached to you and we can’t have him wandering around on his own."

“Fine whatever.” Liebgott grumbled as he stood. “Can I go now?”

Dike gestured to the door. “By all means.”

Liebgott turned on his heel and walked out of his office immediately. Eli was waiting patiently in the hallway, seated in a chair and Joe caught the miserable look on the child’s face. The kid must have been missing his father a lot. Not that Joe knew anything about that…his father had been a scumbag.

Finally Eli spotted him and chirped, “What did he say? Are you in trouble?”

Joe made a face at the child. “Trouble? What? This isn’t the principal’s office kid. Don’t worry about it.”

“I kinda get in trouble at school a lot.” Eli informed him as he followed Joe down the hallway.

“I can’t imagine.”

“Where are we going?” Eli asked him.

“To get something to eat.”

“Oh...okay. I-”

But whatever Eli was about to say was cut off when Joe was accosted halfway down the hallway by Skip. “Liebgott I need to talk to you.” The young lab assistant said in a rush.

“Geez can’t these tests wait?” Joe griped. “I swear I can’t walk five feet without someone trying to stick me with a needle.”

“It’s not about the damn tests!” Skip snapped. Joe fell silent, the other man was obviously stressed and Joe could only assume that it had something to do with his boyfriend being locked up downstairs.

“Come on.” Skip motioned towards the elevators. “We need to talk and that’s the best place to do it.”

Joe looked between Eli and Skip. He couldn’t leave the kid alone. “Damn it. Fine.” He grabbed Eli’s wrist and drug him along as they both followed Skip onto the elevator.

Once they had caught an empty elevator, Skip hit the emergency stop button so that no one else could board. Joe had figured that was just something people dramatically did in the movies. Wouldn’t someone wonder why it had been stopped? Well he supposed if it was urgent enough then…

“I overheard Henry talking on the phone. They’re going to kill Don. Sometime today.”

Huh…Joe supposed that was pretty urgent. He looked down at Eli, whose eyes had gotten wide at the word ‘kill’. “Don’t worry,” he assured the boy, “nobody’s killing anybody.”

It seemed that Skip had just now noticed that they had a third wheel. “What the Hell is he doing here?” The man demanded to know.

Joe shrugged helplessly. “Well what the Hell was I going to do? I’m supposed to be watching him!”

“What if he tells someone what we’re talking about?”

“He’s an 8 year old who was brought here against his will and you’re worried that he’s going to tattle on us to his captors?” Joe asked incredulously.

“I won’t!” The child in question piped up. “Me and Joe are on the same side!”

Same side…things were always so simple to children. Still Joe nodded at the boy’s words. “You see? Secret’s safe. Now you want to tell me what is going on?”

Skip nodded. “Look I know that some of the higher ups are the ones that have been trying to get Henry to find this comprehensive ability, only they won’t say why exactly. But I overheard him on the phone with Dike, something about a decision being made about Don…and to stock up on his blood. They only ever do that if they’re about to terminate someone.”

“Terminate? How many people have they done this to?” Joe asked in a whisper, not wanting for Eli to become any more afraid than he probably already was.

“Who knows how many on the outside,” Skip answered, “but that they’re holding- only two others. People they feel have too dangerous an ability to be kept alive. One guy could cause people to commit suicide just by touching them once. The other could create black holes. Right before they were terminated, Dike ordered Henry to stockpile as much of their blood as he could for research. We have to do something.”

“Oh shit,” Joe put a hand to his forehead. “Um…okay. Look you try and find out when this whole thing is going down. You find out and let me know.”

“How am I supposed to find out?” Skip asked.

“This is the man you love! Fucking work something out!” Joe snapped, frustrated that he was going to have to bring the man he…that he was going to have to bring Webster into this with so little planning. “I’ve got a phone call to make. I’ll find you.”

That having been said, Joe hit the release button on the elevator and walked off with Eli as soon as the doors opened. Eli looked at him, “If you have to call your friend, you’re not heading toward our room.”

“That’s because we aren’t going there just yet.” Joe answered back.

“Where are we going?”

“To get you something to eat. Then I’ll call my friend.”

“Your friend or your boyfriend?” The child asked.

“Oh…my God. Do you ever stop asking questions? Just get some damn pancakes already!”

Philadelphia, Pa

“Alright well let’s go inside then.”

“What? No!”

Luz frowned at Burton before throwing his hands up in frustration. “Well if we aren’t going to go into the building then why bring us here?”

“Umm…gee I don’t know? Maybe it’s because I’m a federal agent and I know that going into any place blind is foolish and I wanted to at least have a visual on the building before we went in guns blazing.” Christenson said with a roll of his eyes.

“Guns?” Gene asked uneasily.

“Metaphorical guns.” Burton replied.

“Unfortunately.”

“Luz!”

They all looked at the building where Bill Guarnere, the man who had abducted Gene and likely Eli, lived. And Eugene couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen this apartment structure before.

Joe Toye frowned when he felt something vibrating in his pocket. What the Hell? It took him an embarrassing amount of time to realize it was his phone. He had set it, quite some time ago, to vibrate if he ever got a text message. Most of the calling was done by him if he could help it, and many of the other people that had his number called from land lines, so he hardly ever received text messages. That was his story and he was sticking to it.

It wasn’t that he was getting old beyond his years, or that living under the radar had made him a weird and technologically impaired hermit…nope.

Although he supposed now that a teenager had this number he could expect more texts. That was, apparently, their preferred form of communication. Or at least one of them. But there was no way on Earth he was getting a Facebook- whatever the Hell that was. It sounded weird.

He read the text.

Need to talk. Can I meet you somewhere?

Wow…that wasn’t fishy. It took him a shamefully long time to text back.

Call in person. Need to vocally verify identity of caller.

Some might call him a paranoid fuck, but he knew it was the right move. Bill Guarnere was the kid’s fucking brother after all. The same man he had seen in action all those years ago. He knew how dangerous and resourceful Bill could be. Not to mention this was the same man who had shot him and left him for dead. Bill probably assumed he was dead. Joe wanted to keep it that way.

A moment of thought later and his cell phone was ringing. He answered it quickly but silently, waiting for the person on the other end of the line to greet him first.

“Hello? Toye?” came the youthful voice of Babe Guarnere...or Winters...or Heffron or whatever the Hell he was going by these days.

“Jesus kid. Don’t say my name over the phone.” Joe greeted him.

“I thought you said it was secure or whatever.” Babe responded.

“There are some people who can listen in on anything. Think about that, in light of what you learned yesterday.” Joe said.

From the momentary silence on the other end of the line, Toye figured Babe probably was.

Eventually the teen said, “I want to meet up with you. If you don’t think it’s too dangerous.”

Toye thought it was too dangerous for him to have even come back to the city of Philadelphia much less spend a prolonged amount of time there. But Babe needed to be helped to understand his ability.

He looked around the vacant cathedral he was in. It was still in the process of being remodeled and as such was usually avoided by the typical passerby. It was as good a place as any to lay low. He raddled off the location. “Remember to only write it down once and when you get here rip up whatever you wrote it on into little shreds.”

“You are so freaking paranoid.”

“Kid…you have no idea.”

Babe quickly pulled on his shoes and tossed a jacket over his t-shirt as he prepared to head out. He knew exactly where the cathedral in question was. It was, fortunately for him, within walking distance of their apartment.

He figured it would probably be okay to go out for now. If Bill were headed back he would surely call first before even getting on a plane. There wasn’t much of a chance of him showing up and freaking out.

Besides, he had questions for Toye that couldn’t wait.

They were just about to pull away from the building when a familiar face caught Gene’s eye. “Stop the car.” He commanded to Burton, who was driving.

“What? Why?” The agent asked in confusion.

“Just do it!” Gene snapped. Christenson hit the brakes and as soon as the car was stopped, Gene was opening the door to climb out.

“Wait!” Luz called, “You don’t know where we’ll be.”

“Do you know your own phone number?” Gene asked.

“Yeah, of course.” George answered. Eugene nodded and then quickly switched their phones.

“Then call yours to get me.” He said before taking off after the same red head he had met little over a day ago.

“What the Hell is he doing?” Luz asked as they watched the doctor take off down the surprisingly busy streets of the surrounding neighborhood.

Christenson shrugged. “I don’t know but there’s a motel shower out there with my name on it.”

Just as Babe was entering the cathedral, his phone indicated that he had a text message. Toye had told him to meet him on the roof, so that was where he was headed. He had been in the cathedral back when he was younger, way before it had ever needed remodeling and he remembered the way.

He checked his message.

Scratch the meet. You have a tail.

It was definitely Toye’s number. He paused and wrote back.

What? His text asked.

The response he received was:

You’re being followed. Not by a professional but you still need to lose them before we meet up. Do that and then contact me.

Babe just stared at the screen before looking behind him at the staircase as he pushed the door to the church roof open. There was no one behind him, at least not that he saw.

When he turned to look at the roof, hoping (in vain he knew) that Toye might be there, what he saw took his breath away.

It was…the exact same building that he had been on in his dreams. The dream that had been more than a dream.

He felt himself moving closer to the edge of the roof. He looked over the side and down at the street below.

Everything was exactly as it had been in his dream. The people walking below seemed so small, and he was so high up. Without thinking he began to put his left foot up on the roof’s ledge and before he knew it he was standing an inch away from what might be seen as certain death, teetering on the edge of the roof.

What the Hell was he doing? Just because he had seen himself doing this in his dream, just because he thought he could fly in it didn’t mean he could actually do it in real life. And yet…he wasn’t afraid.

He wasn’t sure why but years of comic books caused him to spread his arms out like a bird preparing for flight. He would be safe…he knew he would be. Because he had been safe in his dream.

Part 14 contd.

Halo- Winnix songfic

Fri, 15 May 2009 19:48:52 GMT

Title: Halo
Word Count: 1,860
Summary: Nixon thinks about Dick and why he's fallen in love.

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. I don’t own anything….so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Remember those walls I built?

It wasn’t much of a stretch really. He wasn’t exactly the most emotionally available person to begin with. Soon he’d be attending OCS and he knew what he would be getting into.

There was a war going on. Maybe they weren’t fighting yet…but they would be. While it was good to have connections or acquaintances- having friends was an entirely different matter. The thought of having anything more than that hadn’t even crossed his mind.

So he did what he felt was necessary. He began to build up the walls around his heart. He crafted the façade of casual indifference that had seen him through college and life with a family he couldn’t stand, and a wife he didn’t love. He prepared himself to be emotionally distant from the men he would meet. The soldiers he would serve with.

He wasn’t prepared…not ever…to meet someone like Dick Winters.

Well baby they’re tumbling down. And they didn’t even put up a fight. They didn’t even make a sound.

It had happened the moment they met. Well…at least the moment that Nixon saw him. They had met in the usual way.

Bullshitting with other men before any real work was being done. For Nixon it was all about making the rounds. It was all about sizing the men up.

Most of them were more than a little willing to prattle on about themselves. In every person he met he sensed a sort of nervous energy. That little buzz of uncertainty that even he himself felt. Despite all the confidence he outwardly projected…he was still unsure about the decisions he had made to get to this point.

He’d been laughing with one of the men who’d introduced himself after hearing Lewis’s last name…some other guy from New Jersey….Nixon couldn’t even recall his face.

Because out of the corner of his eye he had seen a soft light gleaming…almost like a halo. Attracted by the promise of its shine- he’d turned.

The man was leaning against the wall- arms crossed and wearing a small smile as he surveyed the room. The halo Nixon had swore he’d seen still hanging around his head of red hair.

His stance wasn’t defensive or cocky- the thought of the man being either of the two felt…wrong somehow. The twitch of his lips was no smirk- but a genuine smile of curiosity and kindness.

Nixon’s feet took him over to the man almost of their own accord. That damn halo sucking him in…

“You’re giving new meaning to the term ‘wallflower’,” he’d joked casually.

The man’s eyes flitted over to him from where they had been staring at the interactions of an officer. His eyes were a soft shade of green…or blue…or grey-Hell Nixon wasn’t sure.

But they were kind and coupled with the lift of the man’s eyebrow- they spoke volumes. Nixon carefully backpedaled.

“Not that you’re like a flower or…anything…I’m Lewis Nixon.” He put on a smile and extended his hand.

The man straightened up his already perfected posture and grasped his hand- adding a little extra warmth to his small smile, “Dick Winters.”

The irony of the cool season that this warm man was named after wasn’t lost on him.

Even his hand was warm, or maybe Nixon’s was just cold. Either option made sense…like that little fact told him something about the man…about himself.

When they had met….there had been no nervous buzz. Not in himself…not in Dick.

Not anymore.

I found a way to let you in…but I never really had a doubt. Standing in the light of your halo…I got my angel now.

It was almost too hard to believe. Everything he had set out to do…all his plans to stay distant, to stay separate…all shot to Hell.

In OCS no one could really understand what drew the two of them together. To say that they were different would be a waste of breath…it was obvious to anyone with at least two of their senses how different he and Dick were.

Personally…he had no idea what exactly it was that Dick saw of value in him. There was a time in his life where Lewis had thought he was pretty special. It was what he’d been raised to believe. That he was good looking and intelligent. That he was something all right.

But things like that didn’t matter with Dick Winters. A man who measured intelligence differently than Lewis ever had. Someone who cared more about the soul of a man rather than his pedigree. A man who was everything that Nixon wasn’t and had never before realized that he wanted to be.

Nixon may never know what it was that Dick gained from their friendship but he was sure that it was obvious to all what he gained.

It’s like I’ve been awakened….every rule I had you breaking. It’s the risk that I’m taking. I ain’t never gonna shut you out..

It was bad enough that he had let his defenses down enough to let Dick take a serious hold of him. Of his heart. But then Easy Company had happened.

Dick loved his men. He showed them compassion, fairness and respect. And from what Nixon had seen- his platoon returned the sentiments.

Somehow…Nixon had found himself following Dick’s lead. He found himself caring about the enlisted men on a personal level.

In all the time he spent with the man…he found that it was just Dick’s way. He probably had no idea just how much of an impact he made on the people around him.

He was a man of virtue surrounded by men of vice- none with more than Lewis himself.

If even a small portion of Dick’s virtue could rub off on him…then he knew he could be more. He could be more than just the compilation of his bad habits. He could be good too.

Even if it meant breaking every rule he’d set for himself…he knew he’d never stop following Dick. Even if it broke his heart in the end…the way that even the thought of something happening to Dick did…he could never turn this man out of his heart.

Everywhere I’m looking now…I’m surrounded by your embrace. Baby I can see your halo…you know you’re my saving grace.

He’d offered him a drink once. The moment that he had done it he’d felt stupid.

Not because he thought Dick would be offended. No…he was too understanding for that.
It was because he had wanted Dick to bring him up to his level…not for him to be drug down by Nixon. He knew that it wasn’t as if one little drink would shatter the world around him. Because it wouldn’t…

Dick wasn’t a child…one drink wasn’t going to kill him. But Nixon never wanted to be the person to try and corrupt the other man’s morals. No matter how much he joked about it.

It hadn’t mattered anyway. Dick had declined the drink with a small smile and those eyes that spoke volumes.

Dick didn’t judge him. He just smiled and continued to write. They bantered back and forth- the jolt of the train they were riding easy to ignore when they were with one another.

He took a drink of the liquor he had offered Dick. The other man’s eyes watching him with an affectionate smile in their depths- the warmth of which surrounded and embraced Nixon.

Soothing any fears he had about where this train was taking them…what it would mean for their futures.

It was hard to be afraid when he was with Dick…hard to be scared of self deprecating or ashamed. Because he just felt happy.

The alcohol’s fuzzy burn in the pit of his stomach was no match for the way Dick made him feel.

He made him feel saved.

You’re everything I need and more. It’s written all over your face. Baby I can feel your halo…pray it won’t fade away.

D-day had, of course, been insanity.

The sounds, the sights, the utter and total chaos of war. It was almost too much. But he knew all the plans…and he attempted all throughout that day to remember the big picture.

It was hard. Because all he wanted to know was where Dick was. If he was alright. If he was alive.

The last thought would stop him in his tracks. Because he knew…if Dick was dead…he knew he would feel it.

That was when he realized…on that Day of Days…that was when he realized that he loved Dick. Really, truly loved him. Not like a friend, not like a brother.

He loved him more than his wife, than his parents, Hell he loved Dick more than his kid…which was scary.

And he knew it too. Because with every shot he heard fired he thought of Dick. Of everything that he was to Nixon..of everything that he meant to him.

And every time he thought about being scared..if even for a moment…he would imagine Dick’s face.

Dick got him through that day…he was his strength and his bravery…he was his angel on his shoulder whether Dick ever knew it or not.

He knew Dick was alive…because his heart hadn’t turned to stone, and the Earth hadn’t stopped moving, and the sun was still hanging in the sky.

He knew Dick was alive because he could still feel him…even though they were apart.

Hit me like a ray of sun…burning through my darkest night. You’re the only one that I want…think I’m addicted to your light.

It had felt like forever….even though the day was hardly over. All the time spent worrying about the man he had only realized he loved…

Of course Easy Company had been spread all over and Meehan was missing Nixon had discovered.

And Winters?

Well he was just fine. He’d lead Easy on a successful assault on a series of German guns.

The knowledge had relieved him so greatly he had almost dropped to the ground. Now that he knew where Dick was…that he was alive. Things didn’t have to seem so horrible…the day didn’t have to seem so dark.

Of course knowing he was safe and seeing him with his own two eyes were entirely different.

When the tank rolled through the streets and Nixon spotted him-he forced the operator to stop.

Maybe to Germans or civilians all American soldiers looked the same. But give him a crowd of one million soldiers and he would spot Dick the first time every time. It was easy.

He was the one with the halo.

“Going my way?”

“Sure.”

I swore I’d never fall again…but this don’t even feel like falling. Gravity can’t forget…to pull me to the ground again.

Dick was nothing he ever expected to find in a time of war. He was unconditional love, honest virtue, and a never ending ray of sunshine on the face of a man who had been kept too long in darkness.

Dick was Nixon’s angel. As long as they were together…he could survive anything this war brought on.

I can feel your halo…halo…

Some Call This Fun (8/?)

Fri, 08 May 2009 01:11:15 GMT

Title: Some Call This Fun (8/?)
Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they’ll soon discover that there are more challenges to be had than just the competition. Hook-ups, fights, partying, back stabbing, secrets and lies take center stage as the crew watches their reality show spiral into insanity.

This chapter: Dick is everyone’s favorite, many a ‘thumbs up’ are handed out and some of the contestants are hiding something, while some others need to be rescued. Not to mention that both of the team’s Captains are up to no good.

Meet the Crew
Meet the Contestants
Oh Captain My Captain?
Capture The Flag
We All Fall Down
Tequila Is Not Your Friend
Who Can You Trust?

“So why are you here?”

Speirs just stared blankly at Harry for a moment.

“I had nothing better to do.” He finally muttered.

Harry nodded, “Right but…I was hoping you might have some story. Like what you might do with the money?”

Speirs continued to stare.

Harry sighed. He was gathering what he felt were the more interesting contestants and trying to compile their backgrounds.

It wasn’t going well.

“So what are your plans if you win the money?”

Babe blinked rapidly, “Oh you know….I need to go somewhere. I uh….it’s kinda like…well you see I…uh…”

Harry gave Nixon a desperate look.

The host just shrugged.

“So why do you need to win this money?” Nixon asked the frowning man in front of him.

Liebgott shrugged, “I owe some people.”

Harry straightened from his slumped position-Joe’s answer having caught his attention.

Finally they were getting somewhere!

“Really?” he asked, “Why?”

Joe glared, “None of your fucking business.”

Well then….

The host and the producer sat silently in the empty room…trying to figure out how to proceed with their interviews.

“You know what the problem is.” Nixon stated.

Harry looked over at him in distress, “Do I?”

Nixon nodded, “Yep. They don’t trust us.”

“Well duh.”

Lewis stood quickly, “But we know someone very trustworthy don’t we? Someone who ANYONE would feel safe confiding in.”

Harry, knowing exactly where he was going with his line of thought, stood up with a huge grin. “That’s right! We do!”

Dick frowned, “I don’t think so.”

“Oh come on!” Nixon whined, trying his best not to stamp his feet like a petulant
child. “They like you better than me.”

“I wonder why?” Renee mused from where she was sitting next to Dick and eating dinner.

Nixon glared, “Shut it. At least I don’t go around tonguing the contestants!”

Renee smiled and scooted closer to Dick, “Yes but we all know why, no?”

As she said this she laid her head sweetly on the red-head’s shoulder. Dick just smiled, oblivious.

“I will kill you,” Nixon hissed at her.

“Lewis!” Dick reprimanded him.

“Dick! PLEASE!!! They won’t talk to us! I’m not asking you to be sneaky. Just conduct the interviews!”

Finally Dick sighed, “Fine.”

Nixon rushed forward, as if to give him a quick hug, but thought better of it, “Um…awesome! Thank you! Bye.”

“So Eugene- are you originally from New Orleans?”

The young man shook his head, “Oh no but I have family down there.”

Dick nodded and tried to ignore the camera that was probably making Gene uncomfortable, “So how did you wind up there?”

“Um I’m attending medical school there.”

“Oh so is that what you’re hoping to use the money for? Med school?” he asked, knowing already that this was not the case.

Gene paused, “Um maybe some of it. You said the prize money got larger?”

“Yep. Because of you Eugene.”

Gene shook his head in obvious confusion, “I don’t understand.”

“We know about your work with the clinic.”

Gene looked down with his lips pressed, “I told her that in confidence.”

Dick gave him a sympathetic smile, “This isn’t the best place to keep secrets I’m afraid. Renee means well. She thought your story might help bring in more money….maybe give you a forum to shed light on your situation?”

“I don’t want to use that as something to garner sympathy.”

“It’s not like that,” Dick told him, knowing that it was a lie. “So why don’t you tell me about it?”

Gene sighed, “It’s just… I help run this free clinic. We treat a lot of families affected by Katrina- people with little money, people with no insurance. People with nowhere to go anymore…we give them volunteer work. Something to do…but we just get more people every day and…”

Dick felt for the young man, “And the money just isn’t coming in?”

Gene nodded, “But if we can’t afford to keep running….”

“I understand.”

“So you told Harry that you owe people money?”

Liebgott gave him a bored look, “Yep.”

Dick tried to think of the best way to open up the conversation from that point. Asking him what the money was for right out would only get him the same reaction that Harry had received.

“Half a million dollars is a lot of money…” He trailed off hoping that Joe might pick up on something.

“Well I owe a lot of money,” Joe said and sunk down in his seat.

Dick nodded, that was something he could work with. “How much is a lot exactly?”

“$100,000.”

Dick coughed, “Wow...that’s…a lot. Who did you borrow from? Family?”

Joe laughed, “Nah…just some fucking assholes I met at work.”

Giving Joe a small smile Dick said, “Let’s try to keep the profanity to a minimum in these interviews okay?”

Joe shrugged, “Just some jerks I met at work.”

“Now what is it you do?”

“I work at a bar.”

“So you’re a bartender?”

“No.”

Dick frowned, “Okay. Is that your whole reason for coming on the show? To get the money to pay back…some…jerks?”

“Nah…I needed to get the Hell outta town you know?”

Now Dick was getting concerned, “Why?”

Joe made an annoyed face, “I don’t know? Why would I wanna get away from assholes that I owe a hundred thousand dollars? I pissed off the wrong people. Look can I go now?”

Dick nodded, “Um…sure. But we’ll probably bring you back in later okay?”

“Whatever.”

“Wait-so you ran away from home?” Dick asked the young man.

Babe nodded, “When I was younger. I kinda bounced around different relative’s places. Then I stayed with my Aunt for awhile when I finished high school.”

“So where are you living now?”

Babe looked around, “Uh here?”

“I meant back in the states. And why did you run away exactly?” Dick clarified his questions.

Babe shook his head, “Um…I couldn’t. Hey-can I go?”

Dick could tell that Babe was developing the crazy looks of one being backed into a corner, so he took mercy on him, “Yeah Babe you can go.”

“Thanks,” the young man sighed in relief and took off quickly.
____________

Harry listened to Dick relay what he had learned from some of the contestants.

“Gene’s obviously really troubled by everything he’s dealing with, and Babe is definitely hiding something. I’m positive he’s younger than he’s letting on. But he wouldn’t tell me why he ran away from home…I hope he wasn’t abused. Plus he was very vague about what he might need the money for.” Dick explained.

Harry nodded, “We’re looking over the tapes now. Hopefully something will come up. So far he’s been telling everyone he’s 19. What about Liebgott?”

“He’s the one that concerns me the most.” Dick frowned, “I think he could be in some serious trouble. What could he be so afraid of that he had to leave town? And what the heck did he need a hundred grand for?”

Harry shrugged and began to text furiously on his cell, “Well we’re going to try and find out. Tell the contestants we have a phone set up in a room so that they can call people now. You did good Dick. Maybe you should be a counselor or some shit.”

With that uncomforting information, Harry clapped Dick on the shoulder and walked away.

Now that Jo was set up in his room, he was pretty comfortable. His leg was propped up; his pain meds had kicked in. And he, Buck and Luz were playing cards. Of course…it was really obvious that Luz was rigging the deck so Jo would win.

“Would you look at that?” Jo raised an eyebrow as he looked at his cards, “I won again. Guess I’m on a hot streak huh Buck?”

Buck grinned and rolled his eyes at the man’s sarcasm, “That’s what it is.”

Luz blushed and stood up with an empty bottle of beer, “I need a refill. You guys want anything?”

Jo shuffled the deck, “Beer?”

“You got it. Buck?”

Buck shook his head, “I’m good.”

“Cool. I’ll be right back.”

They watched him go as Jo dealt the cards between them.

Jo looked down for a minute before saying, “I know you got a thing for him and you need to know that I’m not gonna get in the way of that. Okay?”

Buck looked over at him in surprise, “I never thought you were.”

Jo laughed, “Don’t bullshit me man. But I want us to be cool. And I want you to know that I mean what I say. Alright?”

Buck smiled, “Yeah. Yeah okay.”

There was a sudden knock on the doorframe. The two looked up to see Speirs standing there.

They exchanged confused glances.

Speirs studied them for a moment, “Buck can I have a word?”

“Um sure.” Buck stood and went out into the hallway.

Jo sighed and snuck a look at Buck’s cards. Huh...now that Luz was gone he was losing. He smirked and leaned his head back against the wall.

“Booored…” he dragged the word out, hoping that one of them would return soon.

“Talking to yourself already? You ain’t been laid up that long.”

He knew that sarcastic Philly accent.

Jo grinned and raised his arm up in greeting, “Yo Guarnrere. Get your ass in here. Keep me company.”

“Bossy much?”

Bill walked in all the way and plopped down across from Jo on his bed. He surveyed the cards, “You need anything?”

“Got a smoke?”

Bill smirked and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, “You bet.”

“What’s up?” Buck asked as Speirs led him outside into the night and away from the drinking and laughing group next to the pool.

“I know you’re the one voting for Toye. And I know why you’re doing it too.” Speirs informed him coolly as he pulled out a cigarette.

Buck was surprised, but kept it from showing, “So? You won’t tell him. It’ll just drive a wedge in our team.”

Speirs smirked, “You’re right. I also think that- despite his injury- he’s going to win tomorrow.”

Buck nodded, “Good. I hope so.”

“Now that’s a bit surprising.”

“I’m starting to think that maybe I was making a big deal out of nothing. With him and Luz. He’s being really cool about it.”

Ron shook his head, “He can play it as cool as he wants. Just because he tells you something- it doesn’t stop Luz from liking him.”

Buck frowned, knowing he was right, “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I have an idea. I want you to think on this. Get a feel for how loyal you want to be
to Toye, and then come back and talk to me after tomorrow’s challenge.”

The blonde raised an eyebrow, “What if Toye doesn’t win?”

Speirs looked over at Grant for a moment, “He’ll win.”

Babe grabbed a soda from the kitchen’s overstocked fridge, forgoing the alcohol after the previous night’s incident. Heading towards the living room he saw Gene wave him over.

Babe smiled at the dark haired man and indicated that he’d be just a second. Spinning on his heel he took a detour outside and headed towards the pool.

Coming up behind Shifty and Webster who were discussing something he probably had no interest in; he clapped Webster on the shoulder.

Webster jumped slightly and then glared at him, “Yes Babe?”

“Can I borrow you two for just a second?”

Shifty shrugged, “Sure.”

He led them away from the pool and back towards the house, but not before snagging Grant by the back of his shirt, “You too.”

Nixon made his way over to Renee’s office, needing to brief her on her part in setting up tomorrow’s challenge.

Knocking lightly on her door he pushed it open, “Hey Renee I just wanted to tell you that after the one-on- OH MY GOD!”

Upon his loud and disgusted exclamation, Christenson quickly pulled his hand out from underneath Renee’s shirt and stood quickly.

“Well I feel much better now doctor-thank you.” He rushed out past Nixon and didn’t look back.

Renee glared at Nixon, “What is your problem?”

He gaped at her, “What is YOUR problem!?”

The woman rolled her eyes, “You just want everyone to be as miserable as you are.”

“Hey! I’m not miserable! Look I just wanted to let you know that part of tomorrow’s challenge requires you to separate Christenson from his team. Think you can do that without ramming your tongue down his throat?”

She gave him an unimpressed look, “I don’t know. Think you can make it a whole day without making an ass out of yourself in front of Dick?”

He gasped, “You whore!”

“Loser.”

“Bitch.”

“You’re just jealous.”

Nixon threw his hands in the air, “ARGH!”

Renee stood and ushered him out of her office, “Off to your empty bed.”

“Now that’s just cold.”

Grant, Shifty and David just stared as Babe slammed the bathroom door shut and turned on all the sinks and the shower.

“What are you doing exactly?” Grant asked looking as confused as David felt.

“I don’t want them to hear us outside.” Babe pointed at the closed door.

“Why’d you bring us here?” David decided to ask him flat out.

Babe clapped his hands together, “Right. Well this might seem kind of dumb to you guys but just indulge my paranoia.”

“Oookay.” Shifty drawled-looking amused as always, God bless him.

“Yeah,” Babe continued, “I just want to make sure that ALL of you are going to stick with me when I say I’m 19. I know I’m not, you know I’m not-but just roll with it. 19! Not 18! We cool?”

They all nodded dumbly.

Finally David said, “You just want to sleep with Gene.”

Babe flipped him off over his shoulder as he went to turn off the shower.

As he was leaving the bathroom David collided directly with someone in the hallway, and judging by the bony feel of the shoulder that stabbed him he figured it was Joe.

He braced himself for a tongue lashing that never came. He cautiously looked over to see Joe smiling at him.

Joe…smiling.

He looked so nice and...happy?

“Are you okay?” David asked the other man-in spite of himself.

Joe nodded, “Yeah…yeah I feel great.”

“Really?”

With another smile Joe looked behind him towards the stairs, “Yeah. As a matter of fact- I’m going to go for a swim. Wanna join me?”

David eyed him warily, as if he suspected it was all a ruse, “Sure.”

Joe rolled his shoulders and then grabbed the front of David’s shirt, “We need to get you a beer- man Web I would LOVE to see you drunk.”

David laughed and let himself be drug down the hall, not caring why Joe was so happy and choosing to simply enjoy it.

The Next Morning in the Arena

Babe looked over at Joe nervously. The other man was hunched over with his head on his knees, shaking slightly.

“Are you okay?”David finally asked out of concern, seated on Joe’s other side.

When Joe didn’t tell him to fuck off, he figured something was wrong.

“How can you be hung over? You didn’t drink anything.” Babe added.

Suddenly Dick was next to them in the bleachers. He crouched down next to Babe and gave Joe a concerned look.

“He doesn’t look so good.” The judge noted, “Why don’t you take him to see Renee?”

“I’ll take him,” David began to volunteer but Babe had already stood and put his hand on Joe’s shoulder.

“He’s got it,” Dick assured him and went back down to talk to their host-who was watching as Christenson snuck off with Renee.

Skip plopped down next to Don and copied his slouched position with a grin, “Easy money.”

“What’s that?”

“Oh Luz- betting on who’s going to win.”

“Who’d you bet for?” The red head asked smiling as Muck jokingly copied his movements as well.

“Grant- with Toye’s leg fucked up it should be pretty simple.”

“Bet that made Luz real happy.”

“What do you mean?”

“Skip- you observe nothing- Luz has it bad for Toye. B-A-D.”

“No way! I saw him macking on Buck last night!”

Don shook his head, “Truly clueless.”

Suddenly Sobel poked them both on the shoulder with an annoyed expression, “If you ladies are done gossiping…Don-someone’s trying to get your attention.”

Malarkey frowned and looked up to see Talbert waving his arms at him. He looked confused as the intern rushed over to him with a clipboard in his hands.

“Hey can I borrow you for a sec?” Floyd asked bouncing on his toes and looking a little nervous.

“That depends,” Don gave him a suspicious look, “are you going to molest me?”

Talbert was silent for a moment, “No?”

“Works for me,” Don slapped his hands on his knees and stood. He looked at Skip, “Be right back.”

Luz was only half listening as Nixon called Grant and Jo down and continued with his “blah-blah this team lost” crap.

Jo had really nice arms….

And a nice ass…

And a cute smile….

“Are you okay?”

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Perconte who was staring at him strangely.

“I’m fine. Why?”

“Cause you look kind of spaced out and you were starting to drool a little.”

He quickly put a hand to his mouth, “Seriously?”

“Yeah and there’s only room for one space cadet on this team and Blithe’s already got dibs,” Penkala joked.

“Hey,” Blithe protested softly, then stopped and looked around, “Wait….where’s Christenson?”

They all shrugged and turned their attention back to the arena.

Jo figured that by looking over the set up in the arena he could accurately guess what the challenge would be.

This time there was a circle created with rocks amidst the arena and a small pole in the center of the encircled dirt that had a rope running through it. Harnesses were attached to both ends.

He had a feeling he could figure this out.

“This challenge is not so creatively called Tug of War. In it each contestant will wear a harness that is attached to one end of this rope which is run through this central pole. The object of the game is to reach the outside of the circle.” Nixon explained.

“Obviously the hard part will come in the fact that you will each be pulling against one another. “ Dick added.

“Get suited up,” The host told them, “and remember the loser of this challenge is eliminated from the competition and must leave the island.”

“Yeah yeah,” Jo muttered and stepped into his harness.

“No need to be snippy,” the host shot back.

Grant tripped as he stepped into his harness. Jo frowned and walked over to help him out.

“You okay man?” He asked his competitor-giving him a strange look.

The other man nodded absently, “Yeah…yeah I just feel kind of funny.”

Jo nodded back, “Okay. Good luck.”

“Yeah. You too.”

“Alright,” Nixon cut in, “get ready.”

The two moved to opposite sides and Toye chose to crouch down. Hopefully he would be able to employ the same tactic that he’d used against Cobb during Push Me. Which was to hold fast, and let Grant wear himself out.

“Here we go!” Dick shouted- apparently they were taking a wise break from letting Nixon start them off, “At the signal.”

The air horn sounded and Grant bolted forward immediately only to fall face first in the dirt as he realized his opponent wasn’t budging.

Toye gritted his teeth and dug his fingers into the ground as he felt himself slide slightly backwards. Just had to hold fast…

Buck watched Luz watch their two team members. He slid over to him and nudged him lightly in the ribs with his elbow.

“You seem pretty calm,” he noted, “Especially considering how pissed off you were about it last night.”

Luz leaned back with a smirk, “That’s because Jo’s going to win.”

Buck frowned, “Everyone keeps saying that. How can you be so sure?”

The smaller man scooted even closer to Buck until they were pressed together and then he leaned in close, “Keep a secret for me?”

Buck nodded, “Of course.”

Luz leaned up to whisper in his ear, “I might have slipped Grant something.”

Buck’s mouth dropped open, “What?”

“Just some meds to make him drowsy-nothing serious. Just to make sure Jo won.”

Buck stared at Luz as the other man watched Grant struggling to reach the outside of the circle with a smug look on his face.

He caught him staring, “What?”

Buck grinned, “Nothing. I’m just impressed with your deviousness. It’s kinda sexy.”

Luz brushed his shoulder off, “You know it baby.”

Buck just laughed, not as pleased as he appeared that Luz had gone through such lengths to insure Toye’s victory.

He looked over to see Speirs raise an eyebrow at him and Buck could see the ‘I told you so’ that was hidden in his expression.

He sighed and turned back to the competition where sure enough- Grant seemed uncoordinated and weak- falling to his knees repeatedly and only slightly dragging Toye backwards.

Jo looked behind him as Grant fell for a fifth time, breathing heavily and struggling to move forward.

That’s when Toye got up from his crouched position and bolted for the border of the circle.

He made it about halfway before Grant, who was now being drug towards the pole, managed to get to his feet and struggled to pull Toye back.

Jo didn’t stop however and Grant was once again tripping to the ground. He scrambled to get his fingers dug into the dirt and stop Toye from reaching his destination.

At the sound of the bullhorn, however, he ceased his struggle. Toye was now lying on his back outside of the circle and breathing heavily.

Luz looked over at Buck with a cheeky grin, “What’d I tell ya?”

Then he hopped up and rushed down the bleachers.

Skip stared at the arena in despair, “How did he WIN? Don-do you realize how much money I
just lost?”

When he didn’t get an answer he looked over to where Don should have rejoined him at some point, only to realize he wasn’t there.

“Don?”

What the Hell?

As everyone gathered around the two of them, both to congratulate him and to say goodbye to Grant, Toye winced and doubled over-a hand going to his injured knee.

“Shit,” he grimaced and glared at it. How the fuck did he just win exactly?

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder and four pairs of concerned eyes looking down at him.

He stared up at them, knowing he was caught, “Um…it’s okay?”

Luz made ‘pssh’ noises and waved his assurance off. Lipton shook his head and Bill actually got down on the ground to inspect his knee.

Finally Dick said, “Even so-Lipton why don’t you take Jo to Renee and get it looked at? Then the two of you can meet up with us in a little while.”

Bill and Luz exchanged confused looks, both knowing it’d make more sense for either one of them to take him to Renee. They stayed quiet as Lipton helped Toye leave the arena.

Meanwhile Grant was saying his final words into the camera.

“Yeah it sucks but I guess I kind of deserved it. I mean I let my partying get the best of me and it really screwed me over in the last challenge.”

“Is there anything you want to say to anybody?” Harry asked him from behind the camera man.

Grant nodded, “Yeah. Frank you’re the man- and Jo you never got pissed at me even when I deserved it. You’re a machine dude and you deserve to win. Good luck.”

Harry nodded, figuring that was it. But then Grant lifted a finger quickly, as if remembering
something.

“Oh and just so you know- Babe’s only 17.”

Harry pumped his fists into the air, “I KNEW it!”

“All right everyone- into the cars! It’s time for your next challenge!” Nixon called to them all- shooing them away from Grant and on towards the awaiting vehicles.

“Shouldn’t we wait for the others?” David asked noticing that a few people were missing.

“Oh they’ll be there.” Nixon promised, “Now load up- all of you!”

In the Infirmary

“Soooo,” Harry drawled, “how do you guys feel about being damsels in distress?”

Babe made a funny face, most of them sighed, and Joe glared.

“Not favorable,” Liebgott answered him.

“That’s too bad.”

The Challenge

Nixon stood with Dick in front of three paths that led off to three different parts of the island.

He caught Dick eyeing the pathways. “What?” he asked his friend.

The red head pursed his lips, “I forget which leads where.”

Nixon smiled deviously, “You’ll soon find out. Speak of the devil…”

They looked over to see the contestants approaching.

“All right,” Nixon spoke first, “you may have noticed that some of your fellow contestants are missing.”

He waited for the grumbles or dumb comments but received none. Nixon frowned as he thought that he might actually miss Grant’s consistent interruptions.

“They are however…part of this challenge,” The host continued, “Because behind us there are three different paths. Each trail will lead you to one of your missing team members-all of whom have been placed in potentially dangerous situations and require you to set them free by completing a challenge.”

“Now there is no rule as to who you go to rescue or in what order. But you only have 40 minutes to rescue as many of your teammates as possible. By the end of the challenge- whoever successfully rescues the most team members wins. Or, in the case that you are tied, whichever team completed the overall challenge the quickest wins.” Dick explained to them.

Nixon nodded, “The path to your left will lead you to Christenson and Babe. The path down the middle will lead you to Lipton and Malarkey. And the path to your right will lead you to Liebgott and Toye. Your time starts now.”

The Blue Team

Sobel knew from the moment that the challenge was explained that this would happen. He sighed and watched his team continue to squabble.

“You guys can go wherever the Hell you want. I’m going after Don.” Skip stated.

“Yeah well I say we go for Joe.” David added.

Sobel wanted to tell them that since none of them were the strongest player it didn’t really matter WHO they went for.

“Look we don’t know what the challenges are,” Shifty tried to reason, “What if they require a lot of people?”

“Like what?” Bill asked.

Skip shook his head, “We’re wasting time. I say we split up. That way we can hopefully get them all released quicker.”

“I don’t know,” Evans tentatively gave his input, “what if Shifty is right?”

Skip rolled his eyes, “Forget this. I’m going for Don. Anyone coming?”

Shifty nodded and the two of them went down the appropriate path.

David sighed and took off towards Joe’s trail, figuring that he might be the only one going down that way. He looked back in surprise as he heard footsteps following him.

Sobel shrugged at him, Evans on his heels, “I figured the other two would go for Babe. I thought you might want some help.”

David was shocked, but grateful, “Thanks.”

Sobel tried to give him a sincere smile. He knew two things- one being that out of their three options Liebgott WAS the strongest competitor. And two? That he was also Sobel’s least favorite person in the entire competition (not that he actually had a favorite- although he supposed that Evans was growing on him…like a fungus) and he couldn’t wait to send the little shit packing.

But the fact was that he needed allies at this point. Maybe even if they were only temporary. If they lost this challenge he might be able to get Webster to vote with him by reminding him that he was the only one who went to bat for Liebgott.

Hopefully it would work.

The Red Team

“Alright,” Speirs spoke up before any of them had the chance, “I’m not going to let this deteriorate into a squabble about who wants to do what. I know Luz wants to go after Toye, I know I want to go after Lipton…but that doesn’t matter. We’re going to take a vote on it. Understood?”

They all nodded, none of them really wanting to argue with their Captain.

“Good.” Ron nodded, “Now- how many for Toye?”

Luz and Buck both raised their hands.

“For Christenson?”

Penkala, Blithe and Perconte all raised their hands.

Speirs nodded, “And me for Lipton. It’s settled then- Christenson first, then Toye, then Lipton.”

Luz sighed, aggravated, “Fine.”

“Let’s go then.”

The Damsels (at least that’s what Harry’s calling them)

Babe looked down at the ocean he was suspended far above. He sighed and sat on the bottom of his cage thingy. He looked over at Christenson, who seemed to be inspecting the bottom of the metal cage- which they both knew was able to open up.

“How far down to you think the fall is?” Babe hollered over to him as they were separated by quite some distance.

He saw Burton shrug.

“I dunno!” Christenson hollered back, “But Harry said that Floyd survived it just fine!”

Babe thought back on the horny intern. “By whose estimation is that guy ‘just fine’?” he muttered to himself.

Sighing he adjusted the life vest he was wearing, knowing that for now it was just a waiting game.

Toye tapped his fingers on his leg as he looked around at the clear, plastic box he was encased inside. He felt kind of chilly- but he figured that was probably because the box was underwater.

He took a moment to be glad he wasn’t claustrophobic and briefly wandered if Liebgott was.

Since they were in two different tanks, he supposed he wouldn’t know anytime soon.

He looked up through the top of the water and saw the sun shining. Now all he had to do was wait.

They had said he had enough oxygen for four hours at least and that the challenge only last 40 minutes. So, considering how his knee still hurt, not to mention the fact that he’d just worn himself out against Grant, he figured this wasn’t a bad way to spend a challenge.

Nope…not bad at all.

“So let me get this straight.” Don said to Lipton, very aware of how his voice was shaking. “If they don’t complete the challenge correctly- I’m going to wind up sliding all the way down this slope, really fast I might add, on my ass?”

Lipton realized that it sounded pretty awful when you put it like that, but there were two cleared off paths for them to slide down before they would fall into the river at the bottom of the hill. The worst that could happen was that they scratched up their legs a bit.

“You’re wearing a helmet and a safety vest.” He offered to the blue contestant.

Don laughed nervously and continued looking over the edge of the small black platform he was standing on.

Lipton didn’t bother to worry, he had faith in Ron.

And you know…the rest of his team too.

Bill and Gene let out a sigh as they FINALLY reached the end of their path, only to see that the entirety of the red team was already there and working on freeing Christenson from where he was- whoa…

They looked out to see that there was a long cable cord set up to reach from their cliff overlooking the ocean- to another far away from them.

On the sturdy cable was a metal cage with a rickety looking bottom suspended above a very long drop into the sea and a miserable looking Babe sitting inside. He brightened up when he saw them and gave them a little wave.

Bill gave the kid a thumbs up as they rushed forward to the edge of the cliff where, in between the distance separating the two cages, there was a sign explaining what they had to do to free their teammate.

Bill peered at the sign:

As you can see- your teammate is currently suspended in a cage over the ocean. In order to get him to safety- your team must go to a large pole, to which the cable holding the cage up is attached. At the top of the pole you will find a wheel with handles on either side.

Your team must turn the wheel- which will slowly move the cage, and your teammate, towards the cliff and to safety. Once your teammate is safe you can hit the red button on the side of the pole and they will be released from their cage.

However you only have 6 minutes from the moment you start to complete this challenge. If you don’t- when your time is up- the bottom of your team member’s cage will fall open and they’ll fall into the water.

It’s a 100 foot fall.

Bill and Gene exchanged concerned glances and then shot uneasy smiles over to Babe.

Gene turned around quickly, slightly out of breath from running down their trail, “Where is
it?”

Bill spotted the pole and pointed to it, “There.”

They rushed over and both frowned when they realized that it was too tall and the wheel too high for either of them to reach.

“Shit,” Bill cursed and looked over to see that the red team was giving one another boosts in order to reach the wheel.

“We need more people,” Gene noted with a frustrated sigh.

Bill nodded, “Yeah.”

He looked over at the two trails off to the side that would lead them from this challenge to another. They each had a sign stating which trail would take them to whom.

“Look,” Bill said, “I’ll go to Liebgott and you go to Don. That way whoever finishes first can bring them back here.”

Gene nodded, “Got it.”

As Bill took off towards Liebgott’s path Gene turned back towards Babe and shouted, “We’ll be right back!”

Babe just nodded and Gene took off toward Malarkey’s trail.

The Red Team

Buck was giving Luz a boost, Penkala was giving Blithe a boost, Speirs was standing between Buck and Alex to make sure no one fell and Perconte was yelling at them the status of Christenson’s cage.

“He’s about half way here!” Frank hollered back to them.

Luz cursed as he and Blithe continued to turn the wheel with both hands. He was trying not to push too hard so he wouldn’t fall off balance and out of Buck’s grip.

This was harder than it looked.

“How much time do we have?” Blithe asked Speirs through his teeth as he continued to turn the wheel with the handle on his side.

“About 2 minutes.” Speirs told him as he looked at the stopwatch that had been provided at the site of the challenge.

“If I fall I’m going to kill someone!” Christenson threatened from his cage.

“Granted you don’t die from said fall.” Frank pointed out unhelpfully.

“Shut it Frank.” Luz called over his shoulder.

Finally, after what seemed like forever- the wheel stopped. They looked behind them to see that the cage was now above dry land at the edge of the cliff.

Christenson grabbed the metal bars and gave them a nod. Blithe hit the red button, the bottom of the cage dropped out and he hopped down onto the ground.

He grinned and dusted off his life vest, “Nice one guys. Who’s next?”
____

Your team member is currently at the bottom of the tank with your team color adorning it. He is encased in a large plastic box with enough air for four hours. However you only have 7 minutes to complete the challenge.

In order to free your teammate you will have to dive into the tank. At the bottom of the tank there are several different keys. You must find the right key to fit into the key hole at the top of the tank.

The key hole will be next to the controls that operate the box in which your teammate is encased. Getting the proper key will result in having your teammate lifted out of the water.

However for every wrong key you use, a hole will open on the side of your teammate’s box, allowing water inside.

The water CAN fill the box up before the 7 minutes is through.

“Alright,” David spoke stripping off his tee shirt and his shoes, “I guess if we all go in at the same time, the better the odds are we’ll get the right key.”

Evans nodding and took off his shirt/shoes as well. “It looks like there’s plenty of room in the tank for three.”

Sobel shrugged and mirrored their actions. He walked over to the side of the tank where a ladder led them to the top.

“After you.” He looked at David and motioned to the ladder.

David nodded, scaled the ladder and dove headfirst into the water. As he swum down to the bottom he saw Liebgott sitting in a clear box at the bottom-looking bored as usual.

Looking over the tank floor he began to spot the keys. He heard a noise above him and looked up to see that Sobel had entered the water.

He grabbed two keys at once and swam back to the surface. Turning the first key, he waited. But nothing happened.

Suddenly Sobel surfaced next to him.

“That one didn’t work.” The captain informed him, “The water’s starting to go into the box.”

David frowned and tossed that key out of the tank. He began turning the second one. Again nothing happened.

“Crap,” He muttered and went back under the water.

Swimming back down to the bottom he looked into the box to see that the water was at Joe’s ankles and that Joe was giving him an ugly look.

“Nice job!” Liebgott shouted through the glass, giving him a sarcastic smile and a thumbs up.

If David could have sighed, he would have, instead he just collected three more keys. As he went up he noticed that Evans was now in the water and Sobel was swimming back down.

So those keys hadn’t worked.

Once he got back up he tried the three keys. None worked.

David took a deep gulp of air and went back under, passing Evans on the way down. He noticed that the water was now up to Joe’s chest. Shit.

But suddenly as he was collecting another key- he heard a loud noise and the box began to move up through the water.

Evans had found the right key.

Relieved- David began his swim up to the surface.

When he reached the top he took a moment to catch his breath before he looked out over the side of the tank to see Joe already sitting on the ground-completely soaked in water.

“Sorry.” He apologized to the other man.

Joe looked up at him with a curious expression, “No it’s fine. It’s…great. Thanks.”

Then with a smirk he stood up and offered David his hand. David took it with a smile and slowly climbed out of the tank.

Joe pulled off his shirt and rung the water out as the others put their shoes back on. “So what now?” he asked them.

Just then they heard footsteps and looked over to see Bill jogging towards them. When he reached them he looked at the set up of the challenge in confusion and back at Joe.

“You alright?” He asked with a grimace- the sun in his eyes.

Liebgott gave him a nod, “Yeah.”

“You wanna help me with Babe?”

“You bet.”

“Great. Let’s go.”

Skip sighed as he continued to walk.

“Shit. Are all the trails this long?” he wondered out loud to Shifty.

“Nope,” answered a slightly panting voice coming from behind them.

They turned to see Gene running to catch up to them.

“How’d you get here so quickly?” Shifty asked.

Gene shrugged, “There was a connecting path from Babe. I guess it was just shorter.”

“You guys get him?” Skip asked him.

Roe shook his head, “No we needed more people. Figured we’d split up- help out and then go back with you guys.”

Shifty was sweet enough not to say ‘I told you so’.

Finally they began to reach the end of their trail and broke out into a run.

The Red Team

They came up on the second challenge just in time to cross paths with half of the blue team running in the opposite direction.

Penkala noticed that Skip wasn’t with them and wondered if he’d reached Don yet. He also noted that most of them were soaking wet. Awesome.

As they approached he noticed the two tanks of water and they all gathered around to read their instructions.

“You wanna sit this one out?” Speirs asked Perconte, remembering that he couldn’t really swim.

Frank shrugged, “Don’t have much of a choice do I?”

Christenson clapped him on the shoulder as he took his life vest off, “Don’t sweat it man. If we all got in that tank- we’d be bumping heads anyway.”

That said he chucked the vest, his shoes and his shirt and quickly ascended the ladder- Luz hot on his heels.

Speirs nodded, “He’s got a point. Penkala you sit this one out too.”

Alex frowned and was about to ask why but Blithe, Buck and their Captain were already gone.

Underneath the surface of the water Christenson was scooping up keys like crazy.

Luz swam over to the box where Toye was seated- his head back against the wall and his eyes closed. He tapped on the glass and Jo looked up at him.

Luz gave him a thumbs up and Jo just smiled. Just then the water began to pour in. One of the keys had apparently not worked.

Swimming around at the bottom Luz noticed that there were only two keys left- his other teammates had gotten almost all of them. So he grabbed them both and swam to the top.

“That’s all of them.” He said when he reached the surface.

Christenson nodded and hopped out of the tank, no more keys left to try.

A noise came as Blithe turned his key and Luz swam closer to the side of the tank and watched as the box began to lift out of the water.

Buck slung an arm over his shoulder, “See what a little team work does?”

“Alright be careful.” David warned as Joe stepped into his cupped hands.

Liebgott looked down at him as Webster boosted him up to the wheel at the top of the
pole. “What the Hell are you talking about? It’s like a ten foot drop- big whoop.”

David frowned, “Yeah but- weren’t you sick this morning? I thought you might not being feeling well.”

“Nah- I’m fine.”

“Well then what was wrong with you?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Joe dismissed the question.

“But-”

“Hey! Could you two maybe talk less and turn more?” Sobel asked from where he was holding Evans up.

They fell silent and Joe and Evans continued to turn the wheel furiously- their arms quickly growing tired.

“He’s almost all the way!” Bill shouted over to them, “You only got a minute left!”

Suddenly the wheel stopped abruptly.

“He’s good!’ Bill shouted.

Joe hit the red button and they all cringed as Babe fell to the ground hard, not having been prepared.

David let his hands fall and put them on Joe’s waist as the other man dropped down. He left them there for a moment as they watched Bill help Babe up.

Then Joe gave David an amused look.

“What?” Webster asked.

“Hands,” was the only reply he received.

Webster looked down with a blush to see that his hands were still resting comfortably on Joe’s hips.

“Sorry.” He muttered and pulled them away.

“Sure.” Joe said with a smirk.

“I am!” He protested- now thoroughly embarrassed.

Sobel rolled his eyes, “Who cares? We need to get moving.”

They all nodded and took off towards Don’s path.

Your team member is currently standing on a small platform extended roughly ten feet away from the edge of a very high and very steep hill.

In order to bring him to safety you will have to build a bridge to extend to him so that he can cross from his platform and back to solid ground.

In front of each stranded contestant there is a box with connectable platforms. They are easy to put together but it is up to you to decide how long it should be. There is no way to measure and you can only extend ONE bridge. If the bridge is not the right length when you extend it- you will have no chance to add onto it.

You only have 5 minutes to complete this challenge. If your teammate is not safely across by then- the platform will fall away and your team member will slide down the 40 foot slope on his back before landing in the river at the bottom.

They had already been building their bridge for awhile now. Skip wasn’t sure if it was long enough yet. Shifty figured it was but really- what harm could it do to keep adding to it?

“Wait- no…this interlocks onto this pole.” Gene corrected Muck.

Skip nodded and then looked over to Don who was trying very hard not to look down. “How much time do we have left?” he asked Shifty, who was holding the stopwatch that had been provided.

“One minute.” He informed them.

“Shit.” Skip began to add one more platform as quickly as he could. Don had already shown that he was afraid of heights during their second team challenge. He had to be terrified.

Shifty rushed them, “Y’all don’t have time for that- you have to put it out there now.”

Skip stood while he and Gene grabbed their bridge and rushed to the edge of the hill and towards Don.

Just as they were reaching the edge there was loud thud, a sharp gasp and Don wasn’t there anymore.

Skip dropped the bridge and rushed to look over the edge, knots of worry tying themselves in his stomach.

He didn’t see Don. Shit- he must be sliding really fast.

“Crap,” he muttered. Hmmm how to get through this without having Don be too pissed that he couldn’t save him?

“That’s not good.” Shifty noted with a frown.

Skip stood overlooking the edge with his hands on his hips. Gene approached cautiously.

“Hey,” He said standing next to Muck, “He’s totally fine. He’s probably going for a swim
right now.”

Skip nodded and then turned to Gene with a smile, “You know what? I think I’ll join him.”

“Wait- what?” Gene asked but received no answer as Skip rushed forward, jumped over the ledge and slid onto the path that Don had just taken.

Shifty came over to stand next to Gene. “What just happened?” he asked.

Gene shrugged, “Oh…you know. He just did something very…Skip-like.”

“Right.”

Don had just surfaced from the river where he had landed, still shook up from the adrenaline.

Sliding down the slope of that hill had been like going down one of those crazy water slides at an amusement park.

Only it was kinda muddy. Sure it had scared the shit out of him at first. But it wasn’t so bad. Skip probably would have enjoyed something like that more than he ever could.

Geez he hoped Skip wasn’t beating himself up over this.

All of a sudden he heard a shout.

“WOO-HOO!”

Then Skip came sliding off the edge of the hill that broke off about three feet above the water.

Limbs flailing through the air his friend came crashing next to him with a splash.

Don laughed out loud as water hit him.

Skip resurfaced with a grin.

“Did you have fun?” Don asked with a smile as Skip pushed the wet hair out of his eyes.

Skip continued to beam at him, “This island’s freaking awesome. I’m SO doing that again.”

The remainder of the blue team and the red team arrived at the place of the final challenge almost simultaneously.

They stopped abruptly, all of them trying to avoid smacking into each other.

Bill stopped in front of Jo. “Got a little wet I see.”

Toye eyed him with a smirk, “Stayed a little dry I noticed.”

“Yeah well I got to the swim party a little late.”

Jo looked over to the site of the challenge, “Looks like you got to this one a little too late too.”

“Huh?” Bill looked over his shoulder in confusion to see that Lipton was all alone, his platform the only one above the hill.

Jo gave him a shrug, “Don’t worry about it.”

Then he rushed over to join his team.

Babe walked over to Gene. “Hey.”

Gene looked up at him and smiled. “Hey…you look like you…”

“Didn’t fall into the ocean from 100 feet?”

“That’s exactly what I was going to say.”

Babe laughed, “You’re going to be a doctor right? Can you really make that fall?”

Gene nodded, “Sure. But it’s all about how you hit the water. You could easily break something, split your skin or bruise. At least from what I know. That’s why I was….uh….worried…about you.”

Babe smiled, “I’m okay.”

“Yeah…you are.”

Babe looked down at where Gene had been staring over the edge of the hill. “So what happened?”

Gene sighed, “Don slid down this hill and landed in the river when we didn’t complete the challenge in time.”

“And Skip?”

“He thought it sounded fun.”

Liebgott came up behind them, “Shit. That does sound like fun.”

Babe grinned at him, “I’m doing it.”

“Me too.”

“Wait-” Gene again wasn’t allowed to finish as the two of them took off.

Webster rushed over to him and stared down the hill in astonishment. “Did they just-”

“Yep.” Gene answered.

The two exchanged looks.

“Want to?” Webster asked.

Gene shrugged, “Why not?”

“Wait so as long as we do this right- then we win?” Alex asked once more for clarification.

“Very good Penk.” Luz teased as they read over the instructions.

Buck frowned as he and Speirs looked the sign over. “It doesn’t tell us much does it?”

Speirs shook his head before turning back to his team. “Okay Blithe I want you to keep time.
When we have exactly one minute and thirty seconds left- you tell us. No matter what- when Blithe says that time we stop putting the bridge together and we set it out there. He has to have enough time to get over here. Otherwise- let’s try to make it as long as possible.”

They all nodded and got to work.

At the bottom of the hill Shifty, Roe, Webster, Joe, Babe, Don and Skip were all swimming around in the river.

“So- think we lost?” Babe asked.

Skip shrugged and splashed some water at him, “Well if they can’t complete the challenge correctly we would have lost this challenge FIRST and therefore- have won.”

Joe made a face. “That makes almost no sense.”

Gene looked at the second path coming from the hill, “We’ll have to wait and see.”

“Hey guys?” Babe got their attention again.

They all looked over.

“What?” Webster asked.

“You don’t think there are like- snakes or anything that bites in this water do you?”

Shifty shook his head, “Oh I don’t think so. Webster?”

“Of course not,” David shook his head as well.

Babe sighed and looked away.

David caught Shifty’s eyes and made a face. “Snakes.” He mouthed to him and made a wavy hand gesture.

Shifty frowned and looked down at the water with a grimace.

“Minute and thirty seconds!” Blithe yelled out to his team who were quickly assembling what now looked to be a very long bridge.

“That’s it.” Speirs cut them off with a wave and stood. They all lifted the bridge together and brought it closer to the edge.

Sitting one end on the ground they pushed the other into the air and aimed it towards Lipton’s platform.

“Just try to grab it.” Jo shouted to the stranded man, who nodded.

It was certainly long enough. They all held onto their end and lowered the bridge onto the platform like a draw bridge.

Lipton checked to make sure it was secure.

“Come on, come on!” Speirs waved him over.

Lipton crossed the bridge wearily at first, but once he realized it wasn’t going to crap out on him, he rushed over.

He sighed when his feet hit the ground.

Blithe hit the stop watch and looked at them all with big eyes, “Forty seconds left to spare.”

They all cheered.

Lipton smiled at their excitement, “Never had a doubt.”

“Dude- were you freaked out?” Christenson asked, “Because I SO was. I was like HANGING a hundred feet over the ocean.”

Perconte rolled his eyes, “It’s not a competition.”

“Actually it is.” Luz joked.

Lipton shook his head, “Nah…it wasn’t really scary. Actually- it looks like the blue team enjoyed it.”

They all looked over to see there were only three blue members still standing there.

“Where’s your team?” Speirs asked Sobel with a small smile.

Sobel rolled his eyes, “Swimming around in a river like a bunch of children.”

He looked next to him where Evans was looking between him and the hill excitedly and bouncing
up and down.

Sobel sighed, “Oh just go.”

“Thanks.” The blond man grinned and rushed to slide down the hill.

Bill caught Jo’s eyes and jerked his head after Evans. Jo got the message.

“Oh Hell yeah.” He grinned and jogged over, jokingly shoving Bill to the side and sliding down the hill first.

Luz frowned as he watched them.

Nixon looked over the gathered contestants.

“Sobel...you’re missing…well- everyone.”

The blue Captain rolled his eyes, “Yep.”

“Right…well since your team failed to rescue Don you are the losers of this challenge. Have your team assembled on the beach in four hours to cast your votes.”

Sobel sighed. Great…now his head would be on the chopping block. He knew there was no way Liebgott and Bill WOULDN”T vote for him over the others.

He would just have to manipulate the votes somehow…

He grinned as an idea popped into his head.

He knew just the thing. This shouldn’t be too difficult at all.

If there was one thing that this challenge had proven- it was that some people on his team would do anything to protect the people they were coming to care about.

No…this shouldn’t be too hard at all.

A/N: So that was long in length...and long overdue. And had a lot of highly improbable and unrealistic crap in it. I mean I have NO idea if you can fall 100 feet and have any of those things happen to you.

Although...coming from a military family I probably could have asked either of my aviator parents (one of whom has actually had to jump into the ocean from a helicopter)...but I'm lazy and figured "It's a fic so whatever!".

Hope y'all liked this chapter. For reasons unknown it took forever to finish.

Special (10/?)

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:08:56 GMT

Title: Special (10/?)
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various Pairings.

Links to previous chapters inside.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

Philadelphia, PA

Once they had situated their target in the back of the company SUV, they began their journey back to headquarters in relative silence.

Roe shouldn’t be waking up anytime soon. And if he by some chance did…he had enough chemicals in his bloodstream to keep him from going anywhere.

“Are you going to call in?” Dick asked Bill-who was currently in the passenger seat.

Bill began to reach for his cell phone but paused. “Not yet. As a matter of fact- pull over. We need to talk.”

Dick took a wrong turn at the next light and parallel parked on a dark street that was teeming with nightlife.

Bill caught him looking at their captive in concern. He just shook his head, “Dick you said it yourself- he’ll be out. Power or no power.”

Dick, frown still firmly in place, just shrugged, “Right. What’s on your mind?”

“This mission of yours to New York, my mission to San Francisco. Why’s Sobel splitting us up?”

Dick thought back on his meeting with their boss, “He told me it wasn’t permanent.”

“You believe that?”

“Of course not. What are you thinking?”

Bill surveyed the crowds outside. Always watching to make sure no one got too close to the vehicle, always wary of danger.

He glanced at Dick, “I think they must be on to something. Either they know that Babe’s developing an ability and they’re trying to keep us preoccupied. Or…they’re beginning to question our loyalties.”

Dick’s frowned deepened, “What makes you think that?”

“Sobel let me know a few weeks ago that they were reopening my parent’s murder investigation.”

Bill smirked at the comic way in which Dick’s eyes rapidly widened.

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?” Dick asked.

Bill shrugged a shoulder, “If I told you then there was a chance they might want to question you. It would only have caused more problems. Anyway I’m telling you now.”

With a sigh, Dick ran a hand across his face, “So what do we do?”

Bill grabbed his phone and flipped it open, a clear indication to Dick that he should start driving again.

Punching in a set of numbers Bill said, “What we always do. Lay low and protect Babe.”

Hours…it had been HOURS since Joe had been left alone in Company HQ with the bright ray of sunshine that was Johnny Martin. Who as it turned out…did not really like being called Johnny. He also didn’t like Joe, or the many questions Joe had been asking.

Joe had taken to walking around the building- his ability forcing every hallway and door label into his memory. He figured he had the layout memorized at this point. Or at least the two floors he’d been on.

“So how many floors are there again? I forget.” Joe stopped in front of an elevator as he asked.

Martin looked ready to simply shoot him and be done with his horrible babysitting task. “No you didn’t. You don’t forget things. I know that much about what you can do. I just haven’t told you.”

“Yeah why is that?” Joe wondered and reached out to press the down button on the elevator.

Martin promptly slapped his hand away, “When you can be trusted with that information. You’ll have access to it.”

Joe smirked and leaned back against the wall, “Don’t you think that you guys might be a little bit paranoid?”

Martin glared, “The work we do is incredibly sensitive. Hopefully you’ll figure that out.”

As Martin continued to complain about arrogant teenagers and why he shouldn’t have to deal with them, the elevator next to Joe made a dinging sound and opened up to reveal Winters and Guarnere.

Joe immediately wondered where they had entered the building and when. He had been by the main entrance (or what he thought was the main entrance) for the past hour.

Martin’s relief upon seeing them was evident. He gave them an imploring look, “Everything go okay?”

Guarnere nodded, “Piece of cake.”

Dick put a hand on Joe’s shoulder and Joe tried his best not to twitch- still vastly wary and uncomfortable in the taller man’s presence.

Dick leaned in close to say, “We’re leaving to New York in the next hour. I’ve got a quick debriefing with Sobel and then we’re going to the airport. Did you bring anything with you?”

Joe just shook his head- everything he had was on him. “Nah Guarnere said they sent all my stuff to New York. Where exactly?”

“You’ll see.” Was all Winters told him before walking away.

“So where’s our boy land?” Martin asked Guarnere, who was watching Winters go into Sobel’s office.

Despite not knowing what they were talking about, Joe listened in anyway.

Guarnere shrugged, “He didn’t have much fight in him. But all things considered- he’s on Level 4.”

Martin clapped him on the shoulder, “Fight or no fight- good job. I’m sure the eggheads in Manhattan will be more than happy to take him off our hands.”

“That’s not going to happen. At least I don’t think so.”

Martin looked confused but before he could ask a question Joe cut in with one of his own.

“What’s Level 4?” he asked.

Guarnere fixed him with a look, “Need to know kid.”

Joe sighed, “Fine. Whatever. Since I have no idea what the fuck you all are going on about-I’m going to take a piss.”

Martin made a face, “Thanks for sharing.”

“Anytime.” Joe shot back as he headed down a different hallway towards a bathroom they had passed many times earlier.

He was halfway down the hall when he heard a door open somewhere out of his line of sight.

The next thing he knew there was a hand on his arm and he was being pulled into a dark room, another hand soon placed over his mouth.

Right as he was about to strike out at his captor, the hands left and he was whirled around to the sight of a familiar face.

“Webster?” He gaped.

The time traveler looked pretty upset but Joe figured that he couldn’t be more upset than him. He had just been drug into a supply closet after all. And why were these things always so conveniently located?

“We have to talk.” Webster informed him with a serious expression.

“Yeah no shit,” Joe responded angrily, “You’ve got to stop all this sneaking up on me shit. What? Does your phone not work?”

“I needed to see you in person.” Was the response he received.

Joe felt his impatience with the other man growing. Why was it so easy for Webster to throw him off like this? He was supposed to be good at reading people!

“Webster I don’t GET you man! I-”

However Webster cut him off, a disbelieving look on his face. “You don’t get ME? You know I have been incredibly straight forward with you and-”

“Oh bullshit,” Joe interrupted his interruption, “You didn’t tell me jack for weeks! You spied on me, and you stalked me! But maybe in your warped head that’s considered honesty!”

“Hey! My head is not warped,” Webster defended and it was clear to Joe that his anger was distracting him.

“Damn it Webster! What the Hell are you doing here? Do you have any idea how stupid this is?”

David glared, “Oh so now I’m stupid am I?”

“Yes you are!” Joe snapped at him, “You teleported into a building filled with dangerous operatives who are trained to hunt and capture people with abilities! Not to mention that you’re jeopardizing my position here!”

Suddenly David grabbed his shoulders and gave him a desperate look so unlike the angry one that he’d previously worn, “Just tell me.”

Joe frowned, “Tell you what?”

“The truth.”

Not liking where this was going, Joe began to back up and shrugged David’s hands off his shoulders. “The truth about what?”

David began to look angry once again, “You KNOW what.”

“Refresh my memory.”

“You. Tell me the truth about you! Because I don’t know anything about you! Joseph Liebgott isn’t even your real name!” David raised his voice.

Joe stilled, a familiar dread creeping up on him, “First off? Keep your fucking voice down. Secondly? I knew you were snooping around in my shit!”

David did as told and lowered his voice, but the anger was still evident, “I really don’t think that’s the issue here!”

“Well what do you want from me David? Huh? You’re the one that was just so fucking sure about me. Weren’t you? Well I hate to tell you that your little fantasy is shit. But there it is. I don’t even have time to explain to you what it is that I’m trying to leave behind. You know why? Because you wouldn’t understand! When have you EVER had to…”

David frowned, “What?”

Liebgott gave him a dark look, “You really don’t know me.”

“But I want to. Please just…just tell me.”

With a frown Joe looked at the closet door, “I...I have to go. I’m going to New York.
Somewhere in Manhattan.”

Webster backed up and raised his fists to his forehead in obvious frustration. “Whatever it is…it’s okay. Just tell me. I love-”

Knowing that the next words out of Webster’s mouth would make Joe practically obligated to punch the other man, he cut him off.

“NO! You don’t...and it’s not okay. This isn’t the place to… Look I’ll tell you I swear…just...” Joe trailed off looking for a way out of their conversation.

David nodded, “Just what?”

Suddenly Joe remembered what he had heard by the elevators.

He looked up at Webster, “Do something for me.”

David stilled, “What is it?”

“There are more levels of this building. They go underground. Now they’re holding someone hostage on a floor called Level 4…”

Carwood Lipton, Los Angeles, CA

He had done everything he felt was necessary. He’d talked to all the right people, made all the right phone calls. He’d even stopped by the hospital to check on Agent Speirs.

That had been two hours ago, and he was still there.

The other man remained unconscious, but he looked light years better than when Lipton had last seen him with the EMT’s. Probably because there was less blood now.

It was strange…even though he didn’t really know the other man, he felt compelled to stay with him. At least until his partner arrived and he could better explain what had happened.

Maybe it was the fact that this man was the only one who knew his secret. The only one. In a lot of ways, that meant Speirs might be the only one that could help him.

Carwood wasn’t sure how…but when being told about this FBI case, he’d sensed that Speirs might have some answers. Maybe he could help Lipton to understand what was happening to him.

Lipton glanced at his watch and sighed. It was pretty late. He knew he should go...but the thought of heading back to an empty home wasn’t very appealing. The divorce had…taken a lot out of him.

Just as his thoughts were about to take a depressing turn, the unconscious man in the bed next to him began to wake.

Speirs didn’t move right away, but he let out a pained groan.

Carwood leaned forward in his chair and watched as the other man began to slowly open his eyes.

Speirs looked over the room before his gaze finally landed on Lipton.

The agent squinted in confusion, “What are you doing here?”

The words came out choked and hoarse and Lipton remembered that he might have a damaged wind pipe. And a concussion. And blood loss.

“Here let me get you some water.” Lipton got up and went to the other side of the room where there was a small fridge with bottled water.

He pulled one out and uncapped it. Setting it next to the injured man’s bed he turned to find a straw.

When he turned back around, the agent was already sitting up, head tilted back and drinking on his own.

“Oh,” was all Carwood said before he retook his seat.

When Speirs was done drinking he sat the bottle back down with a wince, “Trust me Officer. I’ve experienced injures far worse than this.”

Lipton had only figured as much. His voice already sounded clear and steady and this man seemed more like the one that had interrogated him earlier.

“Right. Sorry. So what do you remember?” Lipton asked him.

“Pretty much everything. Except you obviously.” Speirs answered as he gave the IV in his arm an evil look.

“Well then maybe you want to explain why your partner tried to kill you?” Lipton frowned as the other man fiddled with his medicinal drip.

Speirs’ fingers left the tube and he gave Lipton an exasperated look, “Oh that’s your fault by the way.”

Lipton gaped, “Uh what?”

“Yeah. He’s the person I was cheating on. I gather by his very negative reaction that he heard your little demonstration in the interrogation room. So thanks for that.”

“Huh,” was all Lipton said.

Speirs stared at him, “What do you mean huh?”

Lipton shrugged, “So you got your ass kicked. Maybe you deserved it.”

The agent looked at him in surprise, “Excuse me?”

Lipton clamped a hand over his mouth- shocked that he had actually answered so truthfully.

“Oh my God. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. It’s just….that’s why I got divorced. That doesn’t excuse me…I’m sorry.”

Fortunately Speirs didn’t look upset, merely contemplative.

That’s when Lipton heard-

that’s odd….Lewis didn’t lie to me either…and he did exactly what I told him…why?

Lipton tilted his head, “What do you mean?”

Speirs eyes widened, “Are you…?”

“What?”

“Reading my mind?”

Lipton nodded, “I didn’t mean to. Sorry.”

Speirs shook his head, “You apologize too much.”

“Right…so what exactly were you thinking about?”

Speirs shrugged, “Just something I’ve been noticing. When my partner-”

“You mean your boyfriend?”

Speirs gave him an ugly look, “I think he’s an ex at this point.”

“Sorry.”

“Stop that. Anyway…when my ex boyfriend attacked me I told him to let me go. He did. I told him to drop his gun. He did. I told him I wanted to talk to...um well.”

Lipton interrupted, “I already know about the split personality. You have interesting taste in men I guess.”

Speirs glared, “I didn’t know he was a schizo. I think it’s a recent development. Just when did you get there?”

Carwood shrugged, “I’m not sure. I heard glass breaking and by the time I was in the room you were unconscious. He basically turned himself in. So you talked him down?”

The agent shrugged, “I’m not sure. Maybe that’s all it was. But…it felt different. Like something else was happening.”

it feels like something’s happening to me

Even though Lipton knew how that felt- he let that thought go.

Eugene Roe, Philadelphia, PA- Level 4

When Gene finally regained consciousness, he was no longer in his motel room. Not that he was terribly surprised. But he wasn’t sure if whoever had attacked him had meant to kill him.

But he hadn’t died…that he knew. He’d died a few times at this point. Not permanently obviously…but it hadn’t felt the same.

He sat up slowly, battling against a wave of nausea. He must have been drugged…but why? He couldn’t really think of anyone who would go through so much trouble to knock him out.

He took a look around, finally realizing just how bad a situation he might be in.

The room he was in wasn’t really a room so much as it was a cell. It wasn’t all that small- and there was a sink and toilet in the corner.

The walls were gray and concrete and there were no windows. Not that that was unexpected.

Looking down he realized he was seated on a small cot. Swinging his feet down to the floor he eyed the metal door. He frowned as he noticed there was no handle to even allow him the failed attempt of opening it.

He was a prisoner- but why?

In the corner of the room, attached to the ceiling he noticed a small security camera. The blinking red light let him know with certainty that he was being watched.

He finally allowed himself to be afraid.

Joseph Liebgott and Dick Winters, Somewhere between PA and NY

Joe looked out the window of the airplane he and Winters were on. He’d never been on an airplane at night. It was so quiet, the plane so empty. And he was more on edge than he had been since this whole thing had started.

He was left to wonder…about a lot of things. Up until a couple of hours ago he’d been more than a little concerned about going to New York. About what he’d be expected to do there,
who he’d be meeting, where he’d be staying. Although he knew that gaining the trust of these people was the only way to prevent the events that had been foretold by Webster’s future self.

If he wanted to find out who all these objecting forces vying for control (whatever that meant) were…then he would need to be in the know. And that would take some time.

There was nothing he could do about his current circumstances in the Company. Worrying about it was pointless.

He had also been concerned about being alone with Winters. The unshakeable feeling of vulnerability still nagging at him while being seated next to the man. Not that he would ever voice it or let it show. Somehow he thought Winters knew anyway. But that was also out of his control.

However the main issue preying on his mind now was Webster. It was funny how things came full circle that way. At first he used to worry about Webster…now he was worried for him.

When Webster had shown up at the Co. building Joe had only pretended to be surprised. The fact was that as far as Webster was concerned, Joe had come to expect the unexpected.

He wasn’t shocked that Webster had found his duffel. A friend he’d had when he was younger had helped him put the first version of it together, had called it his ‘make a life’ bag.

The truth was, that even thought he’d been expecting it, he’d been dreading it as well. He had finally accepted that maybe Webster had the potential to be something more than delusional. Had finally allowed himself to start liking him and as they had so many times before, his secrets bit him in the ass.

Of course with Webster being the snoop he was, it happened sooner than later. But that wasn’t what he was dreading so badly.

The fact that his lies had caught up to him were no surprise either. That’s just what lies did. But normally whenever someone found out how full of crap he was, he’d reach into his bag, pull out a new id and just move on. It was easier that way.

But he couldn’t do that now. Things were different, he was different. There were more important things happening now. It was too late to run. Not just because of the Company either. But because of David.

David…who he found he actually wanted to explain himself to. He’d been happy to keep a friendly relationship with others, but at arm’s length. Now David had gotten close. Webster trusted him…

And Joe had betrayed that trust. He knew that if he asked David to do something he would do it. So rather than talk about himself he’d sent Webster off to execute some half assed rescue mission for someone he didn’t even know.

It was crazy. He still wasn’t sure what kind of bullshit his future self had fed him…but he wondered how long it would take for Webster to figure out that Joe wasn’t worth all the trouble and baggage that came along with him.

But what was done was done. All he could do now was hope that David would be okay. If he was…Joe promised to himself and to God that he would tell Webster everything he wanted to know.

Dr. Henry Jones, Co. Headquarters, Manhattan, NY

Maybe if he factored in the parents, and their DOB’s then that would…

Wait…that didn’t make any sense.

This wasn’t getting him anywhere. He glared at the numbers rolling down his computer screen, knowing that in his current state of sleep deprivation, he would find nothing useful in any of the many formulas he had composed in his year with the Company.

Letting out a sigh, he pulled his glasses off and ran a tired hand over his burning eyes. He took a glance at his watch. It was well within the AM and he wouldn’t be of any significant use if he didn’t get some sleep.

Maybe he could sleep in the recruit rooms? That way he could….

Henry shook his head. No…he needed to go home, get some real sleep, eat something…make sure his father’s iguana wasn’t dead.

His father… about a year ago his father had died. It was funny how he seemed to be constantly inheriting and dealing with all the things his father had left behind in this life.

Like his research. Research that, after his death, had landed Henry in the Company hands.
Something he was sure his father would not have wanted, but had happened none the less.

He hadn’t ever been really close to his father, despite being an only child. His parents had gotten divorced when he was young and he had since been trying to build a relationship with his father by following in his professional footsteps.

His father had been a renowned geneticist and professor at Yale University's School of Medicine. Henry had started in the field of genetics in the hopes that he would be able to create common ground between the two of them.

However as he found his place in the scientific community the relationship he’d hoped to build with his estranged father had only been torn apart by their disagreements and theories in their work.

His father had begun to devote more and more time to the idea of genetic evolution in modern man and had come up with ideas that were not very well received by colleagues. The idea that man could become something entirely different than what one saw every day.

He’d begun giving lectures on the possibilities of genetic evolution that could result in humans gaining abilities only ever read about in comics.

Needless to say he had been shunned by the scientific world and the more radical his teachings became the less credibility he had and he lost him University job.

After his father lost his spot at the school, he became reclusive and even more devoted to his research. It made it impossible for Henry to ever reach out to him.

Of course that was when he had gotten the phone call informing him that his father was dead. That he had been killed and his apartment ransacked.

When he had gone to retrieve his father’s things, someone had been waiting for him. The man’s name was Bill Guarnere and he let him know that his father had made quite a breakthrough in his research.

Guarnere said he worked for a Company that was more than a little interested in his father’s theories. They had hoped to get his father to work with them, Guarnere had explained, but since it was no longer an option they made Henry an offer that he couldn’t turn down.

Work for them and finish his father’s research and they would catch his father’s murderer. At that point Henry was so sore with his father’s death he would have agreed to anything.

They hadn’t caught his father’s killer yet, but that promise almost paled in comparison to all the things he had gained by working with these people. Mainly knowledge.

The knowledge that his father had been right. That there were people amongst them that had evolved and were capable of extraordinary things.

The company promised him that one day they would go public with all they knew and his father’s reputation would then be restored to its former glory. Something that Henry wanted desperately.

His father had been working out how to identify if a person was evolved based on their blood work. The company wanted a formula that could help find such people.

According to them, their purpose was to help people with abilities to understand what they could do, and keep them from being a harm to society. It seemed noble enough.

Within his first four months with the Company, Henry had perfected his father’s formula. But it was consistently being updated to find certain abilities, which was turning into a real challenge.

Right now, the Company had him working on a formula to help find a very specific set of abilities. What they called “comprehensive abilities” or abilities that allowed a person to do many things.

Because it was so broad a request, it was becoming somewhat difficult. The Company had told him that it was quite urgent. When wasn’t it?

Still…he knew he was lucky. He was finishing the research that his father had done, but he was taking it to another level, the only one who got to work with such evolutionary and groundbreaking genetics. It was a gratifying job he supposed.

But right now the only thing it was doing for Henry was exhausting him. He would just have to leave his unanswered equations for tomorrow.

Powering down his computer, Henry went through all the security measures to lock up his laboratory. His research would be safe, he knew, because this building? Was never empty.

David Webster, Philadelphia, PA

This was ridiculously, incredibly, tremendously foolish…and risky. So why was he doing it? Oh right…because Joe has asked him to. Damn it.

He was a very intelligent person! Honestly! So why did Joe make him act so stupid? Coming to this building filled with people who’d just as soon shoot him as capture him.

With an inaudible sigh, he looked down the darkened hallways. He’d managed to stay off the security cameras as best he could, by teleporting down each floor, focusing on closets and bathrooms. There had to be at least eight floors to this thing.

But he had finally reached the one he was looking for. The seventh.

Peeking out of a supply closet that was filled with what looked to be bedding, clothing and medical equipment, David surveyed the hall he had landed in.

About halfway down the hallway he saw two armed guards standing in front of large double doors of metal. And when he said armed he meant armed. They looked like the belonged on a SWAT team.

No doubt about it- if they were holding prisoners on this floor- they were behind those doors.

But dealing with armed guards? His ability wasn’t particularly equipped for it…unless…

Aside from teleporting, David had learned through his future self that his ability was being ability to manipulate space and time.

Which technically meant that he could travel through it. Although the only encounter with time he'd ever had was being able to stop it. And that had actually been accidental. Plus he wasn't sure how well that's work now.

Well there was only one way to find out.

He focused his attention on the guards, watching their movements and then applying the same concentration he did to teleportation, he breathed deeply and never took his eyes off the men.

At first, their movements seemed to slow…but then it had become quite clear that they were frozen in place.

Not quite believing it, he poked his head out slightly more and looked over at the security camera that was no longer looking up and down the hallway, the red light no longer blinking.

He stepped out further and began to look around. Up and down the hall there were people in suits, frozen in place and in conversation.

Frantically David shut the closet door and rushed over to the guards. After searching for a moment he found an attached card on one of the men.

That was when he realized that swiping it wouldn’t do any good. At least he didn’t think so. Time was stopped.

Great. He was going to have to go in there blind. Hopefully time would either stay stopped, or there wouldn’t be any more guards waiting for him on the other side.

He took a breath and prepared to teleport past the doors.

Like he said-stupid.

Gene couldn’t help going over everything in his head. Who would take him? Who would hold him prisoner?

Then it all seemed to come together. Maybe it was all in his head but….what if these were the people who had captured Renee?

What if the things she had described in her letter- the unexplainable things that had been happening to her…what if they were like the things that had happened to him?

What if she had been like him?

But that couldn’t be…or she would still be alive. Still…he couldn’t shake the feeling.

He was disrupted from his thoughts as sirens began to wail and a red light began to flash under his door. What the Hell?

Then, out of nowhere, a man appeared in front of him.

Gene cursed and scrambled up the bed and against the wall, “W-who are you?”

The young man, around his age, looked about as freaked as Gene felt, “You’re Eugene Roe?”

Gene nodded, perplexed beyond reason, “Yeah but-”

The man shook his head and stepped forward, “There’s no time to explain- there are armed guards ready to bust down that door any second. You have to come with me.”

Gene stared at him, “But how-?”

“Do you want out of here or not!?” The man shouted over the sirens.

Nodding Gene stood up, not sure what was going on. Then the man grabbed his arm and suddenly something extraordinary happened.

The world around him seemed to press in on all sides, and Gene felt himself get light headed.

The next thing he knew, he was no longer inside a cell, but a nicely furnished apartment.

Gaping, he turned to look at his rescuer. “Okay. What. The. Fuck.”

The young man just fell back onto a couch in relief.

Ronald Speirs, Los Angeles, CA

Someone was poking him in the shoulder. Repeatedly…and hard.

Ron squeezed his eyes shut, “Lipton I swear to God you do NOT want to know what I’m thinking right now.”

“Who the Hell is Lipton? Oh wait...that cop.”

Speirs opened his eyes quickly and looked up to see Burton standing over him with a goofy smile on his face.

Sitting up slowly, Ron noticed that it was morning and the only person in his room were himself and his partner. He hadn’t remembered falling asleep.

He glanced up at the younger agent, not at all surprised to see him. “You look awfully concerned.”

Burton grinned, “I’m a total wreck, as you can tell.”

Ron snorted, “That why you were adding to my injury by stabbing me with your bony finger?”

Christenson stuck his tongue out at Ron, who shook his head at him, “Obviously hanging out with an 8 year old has done wonders for your maturity.”

The comment made Christenson freeze, “Yeah…we really need to talk about that. I think that 8
year old might just have the answer to both of our cases.”

“What?”

Ron wanted to question him further but the door to his hospital room opened and Buck came strolling in. He was looking as laid back as usual. However it was easy for Ron to see the concern in his eyes.

Christenson slid back into his previous state, “You want to talk about concerned? This one here- crying like a bitch the whole flight.”

Buck rolled his eyes and came over to lean against Ron’s bed, “Good to see you’re awake. You look pretty roughed up. Where the Hell is Lewis?”

“Yeah,” Burton chimed in, “where is Nixon? And for that record where was he when you got your ass kicked? And furthermore- how did you get your ass kicked?”

Speirs sighed, “This is going to be a little difficult to explain.”

Babe Heffron, Philadelphia, PA

When he finally rolled out of bed that morning, it wasn’t even morning really. It was practically noon.

He’d been more than a little exhausted from his somewhat disastrous outing the night before, and when he had finally gotten back home he’d dropped into bed. Where he then constantly replayed the evening in his mind.

He felt bad about leaving Chris unconscious on the street, but not so bad about kicking his ass.

The whole scene had been…just bad.

Pushing the previous night out of his mind for a moment he dragged his feet getting into the kitchen. When he entered he was surprised to see his brother at the counter, drinking coffee and reading a newspaper.

“Bill! You’re…here. I thought you’d be at work by now.”

Bill grinned at his newspaper, “Good to see you too. We got to work a little late last night so I don’t have to go in today. Speaking of which I was beginning to think you were going to spend all day in bed.”

Babe laughed, “I thought about it. So where’s Dick?”

Bill smirked, “You do realize Dick doesn’t live here right?”

His brother stood up and went to the microwave, pulled out a plate and handed it to him. Babe accepted the eggs and bacon with a smile.

“Oh thank God- real food. Dick’s a man of many talents but cooking is not one of them.”

“You have to order pizza again?”

“You know it. You know…maybe he should...”

Bill looked up with his coffee cup stalled at his lips, “Maybe he should what?”

That was when Babe realized that what he was about to say would result in having to have a conversation that he was %100 sure would make his brother very uncomfortable.

He had wanted to say that maybe Dick should live with them. He was practically over
all the time anyway, he was like family, and Babe was of the belief that he and Bill were meant for each other. But maybe that was wishful thinking.

Just as he was about to change the subject to that of his strange dreams, Bill changed it for him, but for an entirely different reason.

“Jesus Babe! What the Hell happened to your head?”

Babe paused and knew he probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Shit….he had totally forgotten about his injury from the night before.

His hand flew up to the bruise on the side of his face- “Oh it was…I got into a fight…kinda.”

Bill gaped and sat his coffee down rather forcefully, “What? Where? And with WHOM?”

“A guy from school.”

“Babe you haven’t been at school.”

Babe sighed, “Um okay…don’t get mad.”

Bill glared, “No promises.”

“Um so…the other night. When you and Dick were at work or whatever…I kinda went out with this guy from school.”

“You WHAT? And you got into a fight?”

“Not exactly, but Chris was really drunk and then I didn’t want to get in the car and then he started talking shit and then I just kicked him in the face and then I like left him there-”

At this point Bill looked ready to murder someone, and Babe nervously noted that he was the only one around presently.

Bill stood up and braced his hands against the kitchen counter. “Babe how many times do I have to tell you that you’re to tell me or Dick where you are AT ALL TIMES! Goddamnit! What if something had happened to you?”

“But I’m fine!” Babe protested, “I actually kinda kicked his ass.”

Bill glared at him again, “Do you think this is a joke? Do you think your safety is a joke?”

Babe couldn’t believe he was going to get this lecture again. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take it. “No I don’t think it’s a joke! But I do think that you shouldn’t be surprised. I mean- you never let me do ANYTHING! Of COURSE I’m going to go out once in awhile!”

“If you’re going somewhere you need to TELL SOMEONE! Jesus Babe,” Bill continued to gripe but Babe cut him off.

“What? So that you can throw a fit and drag me back home? NO! This is ridiculous- I’m sixteen and I don’t have a fucking life!”

Bill held up a warning finger, “Watch your mouth-”

“It’s not FAIR! You can’t expect me to stay home all the time when-”

Bill interrupted, “You think we have these rules to ruin your life? Is that what you think? We’re trying to protect you!”

“FROM WHAT!?” Babe exploded at his brother-who actually took a step back at his anger.

Just as Bill was about to say something in response, Babe pushed away from the kitchen counter violently and began to stalk off.

“Where are you going? Get back in here-this conversation isn’t over!” Bill hollered after him.

“YES IT IS!” Babe shouted back.

Bill heard Babe’s bedroom door slam shut forcefully. Then there was a click that let Bill know he’d officially forced his brother to lock himself into his room.

Bill clenched his fists, “FINE! Be like that you little BRAT!”

Fucking teenagers….

And if he ever saw that Chris kid he was going to break his nose!

George Luz, Brooklyn, NY

When he had woken up in the hospital that morning, it had been without the dread that had accompanied the morning before. In fact, he was happy. Happy to be getting out of said hospital.

They wanted to keep him a bit longer, but not only did George think it was unnecessary, but he just couldn’t afford it.

Of course going home presented its own set of problems. The last conversation that he’d had with Christenson led him to realize that they were nowhere near close to catching the man who had attacked him.

But he and Eli didn’t have anywhere else to go. The FBI had assured him that he and his son would remain in protective custody for the next week at least.

He figured that if it kept his son safe-it was fine by him. Speaking of his son- Eli had been out trailing their police escorts for more than the usual ten minutes. Only slightly worried, George decided to go looking for him.

He had already changed back into his normal clothes and had gathered all of their things together. He wasn’t technically supposed to leave the hospital just yet, but he could check himself out.

Rising off of his bed slowly, Luz was careful not to make any sudden movements. He was already on medication for his multiple injuries and the doctors had expressed much concern over him over-extending himself. But with an 8 year old kid- it was going to be a bit of a problem to obey all of his doctor’s orders.

Walking out into the hallway, Luz looked around for Eli. His son was usually either right outside of his room at the nurses’ station (they all thought he was precious) or he was sitting in the waiting area talking to the police. George never let him go further than the bathroom or the vending machine.

So when he didn’t see his son in the immediate vicinity, a small bubble of panic began to rise in his chest. He squashed it down and gingerly made his way to the nurses’ station.

“Hey,” he caught the attention of one of the nurses whom he often saw Eli chatting with, “have you seen Eli?”

The young woman glanced up from here work, a look of confusion on her face. “Who?”

Now it was George’s turn to be confused, “What do you mean who? Eli- my son. You talk to him all the time since I’ve been here.”

The woman shook her head, “I don’t remember any children being here. Not lately anyway. Are you feeling okay?”

He just stared at her in shock. “Am I okay? No! I wanna know where my son-”

But before he could get any more upset he saw the two officers who’d been watching after his room and his son. Both were standing in the hallway looking dazed.

He walked over more quickly than he probably should have, “What the Hell are you two doing? Where’s Eli?”

They both looked at each other for a moment and then stared back at him.

“Who’s Eli?” one finally asked.

George raised his voice, “What the Hell is wrong with you people? ELI! My son? You were supposed to be watching him!”

The other officer frowned at him, “I don’t remember you having a son. Maybe you’re taking too much medication.”

Horrified, and feeling like he was trapped in the Twilight zone, Luz backed away from them and began to walk hurriedly down the hall.

“ELI!” He shouted, spinning around in a circle, “ELI!”

This couldn’t be happening. Where was he? What was wrong with everyone?

He continued to search the entire hospital, shouting like a madman.

Finally, at the bottom level, someone came up to him. A doctor.

The man put a hand on his arm, “Sir…calm down- what’s wrong?”

Luz spun around and looked at the man in desperation, “It’s my son. He’s gone. These cops were supposed to be watching him but he’s gone and they-”

“Okay calm down. Calm down. Look- do you have a picture of your son? We can take it over to the information desk. They see people come and go all the time. Maybe he just got lost.”

Luz nodded, praying that he had simply gotten sidetracked in the large building. He dug his wallet out of his jeans and pulled out a picture of him and Eli.

When they showed the picture to a woman at the information desk, a horrified look came over her face.

“What?” Luz asked, not sure he wanted to hear it. “Did you see him?”

The woman nodded, “A man carried him out the door a few minutes back. He was just sleeping. He didn’t look like he was in any danger.”

The panic in his chest that had merely been blossoming before exploded and Luz put his hands in his hair, “Oh my God. What do I-”

He suddenly couldn’t breathe. He barely registered the voice of the doctor telling the woman to call security. Barely registered the hands on his shoulders and a voice telling him to take deep breaths.

Someone had taken Eli.

Someone had taken his son.

And no one even remembered.

Burton Christenson, Los Angeles, CA

Burton was having a hard time filling in all the blanks to Ron’s story. And there were definitely blanks. He knew his partner well enough to tell when he was concealing important information.

But Buck was really having a hard time accepting what he heard, “But…that’s not possible. He’s my partner. If he had multiple personality disorder don’t you think I would have noticed?”

Ron gave Buck a look Christenson couldn’t interpret, “Well I didn’t notice. But I WAS there when he went crazy on me. And trust me…he’s not himself.”

“How exactly did you convince him not to shoot you?” Burton asked.

Ron frowned, “I didn’t. I passed out and that’s apparently when Officer Lipton came in and apprehended him. Or well…according to Lipton he turned himself in.”

Burton could tell he was lying, but he said nothing.

Buck shook his head, “And he just confessed to all those killings?”

Ron shrugged, obviously not wanting to talk about it right now.

Backing away from the bed, Buck continued to shake his head. “No this is too much. I’m going to go down there and talk to him.”

Ron’s frown deepened, “That is a bad idea Buck. He’s incredibly dangerous and incredibly unstable. And he probably wouldn’t mind taking a whack at you right now either. If you catch my drift.”

Burton watched as understanding seemed to light up in Compton’s eyes. Christenson was about to ask what the Hell they were getting at but then it dawned on him.

He may have been a little younger and more inexperienced than other agents, but most (save Ron) didn’t give him enough credit. The whole situation began to make sense and he looked between Buck and his partner in exasperation.

And Ron was always calling him a slut. Whatever.

But Buck was not deterred by Ron’s warning, “You know I’m real glad that you can write him off so quickly Ron…but he’s my partner. And I have to do something.”

Burton watching the blonde storm out of the hospital room before raising an eyebrow to Ron, “You didn’t try very hard to stop him.”

Speirs lifted a shoulder, “It’s kind of like Lipton said, maybe we deserve to get our two-timing asses kicked.”

Christenson grinned for two reasons. One- because Ron had already realized that Burton had made sense of his love triangle and secondly-

“Lipton…yes. He seems to be a common occurrence for you huh?”

Ron glared, “Says the guy who spent the entire day ‘interviewing’ a man in the hospital and trying to get in good with his kid.”

“Shut up.” Burton shot back, “Now are you going to tell me whatever it was you didn’t want to say in front of Compton?”

Speirs nodded, “But first I want to know about this kid. What did you find out?”

Burton took a deep breath, “You’re never going to believe it.”

“Try me.”

Dick Winters, Manhattan, NY

When his phone rang, Dick managed to answer it quickly, not wanting it to make too much
noise. He held it between his neck and his shoulder as he drove a Company car towards its Manhattan branch, where he had left Liebgott hours ago.

“Hello?”

“Hey Dick.”

Dick frowned upon hearing Bill’s voice. Not because he was unhappy to hear it, but because he was worried. “Bill-hey. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah…I guess. Wishing you were here.”

Dick grinned widely at that, but knew better than to take it for the sentimental statement it appeared to be.

“Why’s that?” he asked.

“Well…Babe went out and got himself into a little trouble last night. We had a big fight and now…he’s locked himself into his room.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yeah…you’re just…a lot better at all this stuff than I am. I mean…he opens up to you more I guess.”

Dick stayed silent for a moment. Now that he had come to believe that Babe was his biological brother, thinking about him- even barely- was overwhelming. He was trying to at least wait until he saw him before he had a complete emotional breakdown.

“Dick? You okay?”

Bill’s concerned voice brought him out of his own head and he realized he had reached his destination. Parking the car and turning it off, Dick leaned back in his seat and grabbed his phone with his hand.

“Yeah. I wish I was there too. Look I have to go.”

Not waiting for Bill’s response, he hung up the phone and proceeded to climb out of the car.

Going around to the other side of the vehicle, he opened the passenger door.

Leaning down he scooped an unconscious Eli Luz up into his arms.

David Webster and Eugene Roe, Philadelphia, PA

“Are you sure this is really the best place for you to be right now? I thought you wanted to go to New York?” Webster glanced around the mostly untouched motel room they were in.

Gene nodded and got on his hands and knees to retrieve something from under the bed, “I do. But I need to get my stuff first. Besides…I’m not convinced this is the first place they’d look for me.”

Webster shrugged. He was pretty impressed with how well Roe was handling this whole thing.

Once David had rescued him, he had explained what he knew of the Company to the man. Gene admitted that he was different as well and it had been surprisingly easy for them to trust one another after that.

David watched Gene gather up a bag. As the man stood David’s curiosity got the better of him, “What do you need from there so badly anyway? You still had all your money and stuff on you when I rescued you.”

Gene looked at the luggage in his hands, “The man I’m going to see in New York. I’m convinced that his wife was held hostage and possibly killed by these same people you just helped me escape. She wrote him letters. Hopefully they’ll have answers in them. Besides…I have a feeling I’ll need them to convince him that I even knew her.”

Webster just nodded, “So where in New York do you want to go?”

Gene looked up at him from the box of letters in his bag, “Somewhere with a computer. That’ll be the easiest way to find him.”

David rubbed his hands together, “You got it.”

Then Roe looked up at him with a ridiculously solemn look on his face, “Thank you. For saving me. For doing this. I don’t even know what to say or how to-”

Webster quickly waved off his gratitude, “You shouldn’t have to thank me. We’re both…different. And we have to look out for each other from these people. Besides…I have someone in New York too.”

Joseph Liebgott, Manhattan, NY

“OW!” Joe yelped as another needle was plunged into his arm. He glared at the bespectacled young man who was drawing his blood.

“You don’t have to STAB me!” He snapped.

The man, or ‘Dr. Jones-but please-call me Henry’, gave him a sheepish look.

“Sorry.” He apologized, “I guess I’m just excited about studying it.”

Joe gaped at him, “My blood?”

The young doctor nodded enthusiastically, “Yes. You see with your blood I can learn about the scope and nature of your ability based on the genetic patterns.”

Liebgott raised an eyebrow, “How’s that?”

Henry gave him a bright, if somewhat exhausted looking, smile, “You see I can compare your blood to a set of formulas that I’ve conceived by-”

“Maybe you can save that for later Henry?” a voice came from behind Joe and Henry froze.

Joe didn’t have to look to know it was Winters. He could just sense the same feeling he had before. Not to mention the man had a very distinguishable voice.

The doctor nodded at the red head, and Joe finally turned to look at him. Winters motioned him over with his hand.

Sighing, Joe snatched the band aid out of Henry’s hands and put it on his arm himself.

Hopping down from the table he’d been seated on he walked over to the man.

Winters started walking down the hall and made it clear that Joe needed to follow him. Liebgott stifled a yawn and did just that.

When they had arrived to this building it had been rather early in the morning. Winters had showed him to a room that was reminiscent of a college dorm fitted with two beds and had said that it was standard living for ‘special’ recruits in training.

When Joe had asked him about it, Winters had explained that recruits with abilities were trained here because it was more outfitted to help them learn about their powers.

Joe had walked in, saw his things, then saw a bed and had promptly passed out on it. The worry, stress and lack of sleep from the days before finally catching up to him. However when he had woke he still carried the fear for Webster’s safety with him.

Finally Joe realized that Winters had led him back to his temporary room, only this time there was a little boy inside, sitting on the opposite bed.

Joe turned and raised an eyebrow at Winters.

Winters gave him a sad, half smile. “Joe- this is Eli Luz. He’s special. Like you.”

‘And like you.’ Joe thought to himself.

“I have to make a couple of phone calls before I can get him properly situated here. Keep an eye on him. Consider it a test of your responsibility.”

With another sad smile, Winters turned and left the two of them alone in the room. Liebgott stared at his retreating back, horrified.

He had no idea what to do with kids. He turned back to the boy, who was looking rather scared and maybe a little angry.

Joe sighed and sat down across from him, “They snatch you?”

The boy nodded, “I was with my Dad. I should have seen it coming. It’ll be okay though. That guy…he took me…but he’s good. So are you. You want the same things.”

Joe stared at the kid in amazement, “Um..if you say so.”

Eli looked sad but nodded, “You won’t be safe here for too long.”

Now Joe was getting creeped out, “What the Hell are you talking about?”

Eli bit his lip at the harsh language and Joe just sighed.

But the kid got over it quickly, “I can see things you know. That are going to happen. I know things.”

“Like what?”

The kid leaned forward and blinked a set of big, blue eyes at Joe, “I know you’re looking for someone important. They’re looking for him too.”

Joe shifted uncomfortably. He was getting sick of all this prophetic talk. Couldn’t anyone just be straightforward anymore?

“Who’s they?” he asked the boy.

“The ones who took us.”

The Company?

“I already know that.” He informed the child, not bothering to wonder how Eli knew he'd been abducted.

Eli nodded, “Yeah…but they’re going to think it’s you.”

Joe froze at his words, “What?”

“The one you’re looking for? They’re going to think it’s you.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you won’t be safe here for too long.”

Outside in the hallway, Dick Winters was receiving a phone call from his very unhappy boss in Philadelphia.

“That teleporting prick got the drop on us. And now Roe’s gone. I want you to keep a very close eye on Liebgott. Do you understand? Just in case Webster tries to make contact with him.”

“Yes sir.” Dick replied, “But I have to say this. I was with Joe all morning. He couldn’t have been involved.”

He heard Sobel sigh angrily. “Do it anyway.”

“Of course sir.”

In a hospital in California, Burton Christenson was receiving a frantic call from a hospital in New York.

“Please…I need your help. Eli’s been kidnapped. I don’t know who else to turn to.”

Burton exchanged looks with Speirs, with whom he’d now formed a very specific theory about their case. They had leads- they could close it.

Still he said into his phone, “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Speirs looked concerned, “What was that about?”

Christenson shook his head, “I have to go.”

In an LA maximum security holding center, Buck Compton was making a call through a plate of glass.

“Lew…what the Hell happened?”

Nixon had wanted to talk to someone, needed to. But when he heard Buck’s voice all he felt was empty rage.

“You happened.” He hissed into the phone. He squeezed the phone tightly and Buck and the surrounding guards watched in astonishment as it was snapped in half.

Lewis stood up to be escorted away, afraid that the line between him and Jonathan was beginning to blur.

In Philadelphia, Babe Heffron was ignoring a call from the jerk that bruised his face.

Pacing in his room, Babe decided to think about something, or someone, more pleasant. Like the doctor he had met the night before. Gene…

He smiled as he recalled the soft spoken man.

As he passed his mirror, something caught Babe’s eye. Leaning forward to look at himself Babe gaped.

The dark bruise on his head was gone.

A/N: This chapter’s long as Hell but I waited so long to update anyway…and I still didn’t get half the stuff I intended for this chapter. I’m hoping to have this thing wrapped up in 20 chaps total. We'll see :)

Some Call This Fun (7/?)

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:02:34 GMT

Title: Some Call This Fun (7/?)
Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they’ll soon discover that there are more challenges to be had than just the competition. Hook-ups, fights, partying, back stabbing, secrets and lies take center stage as the crew watches their reality show spiral into insanity.

This chapter: Bill finds himself playing the part of everyone's mother, Nixon stresses over Dick, Babe can't keep his pants on and Christenson really is good at everything. Plus both teams discover that when you have to trust one another- people get hurt...seriously.

Meet the Crew
Meet the Contestants
Oh Captain My Captain?
Capture The Flag
We All Fall Down
Tequila Is Not Your Friend

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas
or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Also I know that ‘Jo’ is commonly the feminine form of that name but I needed a way to separate them better in my head- as I don’t think it’s fair to call some of them by their first name and some by their last. Toye’s just going to have to deal.

When Babe blinked his eyes open at 10am that morning- the first thing he saw was someone kneeling next to his bed with their back turned to him and hunched over his nightstand.

Taking in the bottle of water, dark head of hair and the scribbling- he had a pretty good idea who it was. He sat up slightly and groaned at the pounding in his head.

“Leaving me another post it?” He asked.

Gene paused and stopped writing. Turning around he gave Babe a sheepish look, “Hey…how’re you feeling?”

Babe wasn’t sure how to describe how he was feeling. He grabbed his head and winced, “Like I drank too much tequila.”

Gene just nodded, “Yeah.”

Babe stared at him for a second before asking, “Did we have sex?”

Gene’s mouth fell open and a dark blush came to his cheeks. So few people blushed anymore…

“N-no! No we didn’t. Um…do you not remember anything?”

“I remember almost having sex with someone.”

“That was Liebgott.”

Babe sighed and flopped back onto his pillow. Rolling onto his stomach he looked at Gene lazily, “So how obnoxious was I?”

Gene laughed softly- which Babe’s headache was grateful for- and sat on the edge of Babe’s bed, “You weren’t obnoxious. You were just drunk. It happens to everybody.”

“Oh yea? How about you? Ever been black out drunk?”

“Just once…in high school.”

Babe laughed a little, “Good ole high school parties.”

Gene shook his head, “That was forever ago.”

He figured Gene for about 20 but decided to ask anyway, “How old are you?”

“Twenty-three. You?”

Babe used to get this weird feeling at the back of his neck when he would lie. But he’d stopped feeling that when he was 12. Now lying came second nature to him, “Nineteen.”

Lie. He was still 17….actually hadn’t been 17 that long. So when he had told Shifty, Grant, and Webster that he would be 18 soon he had been lying. But he really didn’t want to get kicked off the show and damn did he need the money.

But it was just a white lie. It didn’t hurt anybody and it wasn’t really important. Besides…if it made his life easier it was a good thing.

He sighed, “I need to get up. And shower- Jesus I reek of booze.”

He started to get out of the bed but Gene stopped him by placing a hand on his chest. Babe sighed at the coolness of his fingers through his shirt. He might actually still be kinda drunk.

Gene held out a couple of pills and the water, “Take these first.”

Babe nodded, took the pills and tossed them back with a drink. When he was done he gave Gene a small smile, “Thanks…again.”

“Not a problem.”

“You seem to like taking care of people.”

Gene was tempted to say ‘I seem to like taking care of you’ but didn’t want to freak Babe out. Instead he just said, “It’s kind of my job back home.”

“Oh yea? Well you should tell me about that…later. First I need to get less disgusting….then I need to make me and Joe something. How much time do we have before the thing?”

Gene thought for a moment, “Talbert said they moved the one-on-one to noon now. So maybe an hour and a half?”

“That’s plenty of time. Thanks Gene.” Babe smiled and then leaned forward quickly to give his caretaker a quick peck on the cheek.

He scrambled out of bed to take a shower, not waiting to see Gene’s reaction.

Gene just stared at the spot where Babe had been before smiling and putting a hand to his cheek.

Liebgott stared at the black case for a moment, fingers fiddling with the clasp and trying to will himself to just put it away. But he knew he wouldn’t.

He was alone in his room, sitting cross-legged on the bed. He couldn’t remember if he’d slept but he thought he might have passed out for a couple of hours.

He’d finally made the decision to open the case when there was a knock at his door. Clenching his jaw he stuffed it back under his pillow.

A sudden crawling sensation on his skin caused him to rub his arms viciously-trying to make it stop, “Yeah come in.”

The door opened and Liebgott froze when Bill walked inside.

“The fuck do you want?” He asked, shooting him an ugly look. Their fight hadn’t gotten very far the night before but Joe was still pretty pissed off.

Pissed off at himself for getting that drunk. Pissed off at Webster for getting in his business. Pissed off at Bill for acting like he was the bad guy when he had been way more drunk then Babe.

Basically he just found that he was pissed off. It was a common theme these days.

The other man held his hands up, “To talk and to uh…apologize…”

Bill trailed off as he took a good look at Joe.

The guy was a mess. He was pale, had deep circles under his eyes and was rubbing his arms rapidly as if he were cold.

Joe glared, “What?”

Shaking his head Bill decided to get to his point, “Look- I’m sorry I gave you shit about Babe. But I think you both would have regretted it. And as for the fight…man we were drunk. I’m sorry.”

Joe stilled, “Fuck….yeah I was pretty fucking wasted.”

Bill nodded and rubbed his jaw- where there was a light bruise forming, “Yeah yer stronger than you look too.”

“What a fucking compliment.”

Damn he couldn’t do anything right with this guy.

The truth was that Bill DID feel bad. Not that he’d broken things up- but that he had assumed Liebgott was at fault. Especially when Skip had later told him that it had been Babe’s idea to take off to Joe’s room.

Secondly, he couldn’t believe he’d actually shoved the guy. He got a little bull-headed when he drank but he felt kind of ashamed getting into a fight with someone he could floss with.

“Look Joe. Like I said-I’m sorry. The thing with Babe was no one’s fault-least of all yours. So why don’t you grab a shower and come downstairs. Babe’s up and he’s fixing you something…well something weird.”

Liebgott gave him another dark look, “Stop fucking bossing me around. What you gonna by my mommy now?”

Bill clenched his fists, “You know what? Yeah…I am. I mean- look at you! You’re obviously incapable of taking care of yourself. So get up, take a shower, get dressed and get your ass downstairs.”

“Fuck you.”

Okay this was just ridiculous.

“You’re going to thank me for this one day.” Bill promised as he started to approach the other man.

Joe frowned, not really having the energy for another fight in him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Bill said nothing but leaned down, hooked his arms around Joe’s waist and heaved the thin man off the bed and into the air.

“FUCKING PUT ME DOWN!” Joe hollered as he kicked his legs out wildly. However Bill had come up behind him and he was only hitting air.

Turning his head to avoid an elbow to the face, Bill tightened his grip around Joe’s stomach and dragged him into the hallway and over to the bathroom.

Once inside he hauled the kicking man into the shower and quickly turned the hot water knob.

Liebgott froze as the water hit him and rapidly soaked through his clothes. Bill stepped back and put his hands on his hips. “There. Feel better now?”

Liebgott just gaped at him, water dripping from his mouth, “I…can’t believe you just did that.”

Bill shrugged, “It needed to be done. You looked like shit. You need a shower. When you’re done- come and eat something.”

“You don’t apologize well.”

“I’ll make you some eggs.”

“I fucking hate you.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Luz finally found Toye downstairs that morning. He was watching with Penkala as Babe poured numerous questionable items into a blender.

Grabbing a stool he hopped up to sit and nudged Toye with his elbow. “So I was looking for you last night.”

Jo raised an eyebrow-clearly amused, “Oh really? Did you try…I dunno…our room?”

Luz cursed, “Shit. That’s where you were? Seriously?”

Toye laughed, “Yeah there I was and there I stayed. I was resting...big day and all.”

That made Luz stop smiling, “Yeah…you nervous?”

Jo shook his head, “Nah. Besides…I heard Cobb didn’t get any sleep with Liebgott and Babe screwing in his room.”

Webster, who was reading at the other end of the counter, abruptly set his book down and eyed Babe, “You and Joe had sex?”

“NO!” Babe growled, “Not thanks to Bill anyway.”

Bill glared from where he was scrambling eggs on the stove, “Yes...how awful of me to prevent you both from doing something stupid. Ingrate.”

“Besides,” Skip chimed in taking a seat next to Alex, “You were both too drunk to get it up anyway.”

Babe picked up a spoon and flung it at Muck’s head.

Malarkey came in behind him, dodging the spoon, and hopped up to sit on the counter. He nodded in understanding, “Ah…I see. Whiskey dick.”

Babe glared in his direction and turned the blender on to cover up their laughter.

Webster looked around, “Where is Joe anyway?”

Liebgott walked in at that moment, wet hair clinging to his forehead, and sent a dark look at Bill who just gave him a tight smile. “I’m right here.”

Babe saw him and cut off the blender, “Hey man. So…we were pretty wasted. But I figure there are worse people to almost have drunken sex with. So uh…are we cool?”

Joe smirked and gave a little nod, “Yeah kid…we’re cool.”

“So I made us this really great hangover cure that I learned in Cabo.”

“Don’t drink it!” Don warned.

Penkala nodded, “I swear he put a dirty sock in there.”

“I did not! Shut up!” Babe shouted as he poured the gray slushie into a cup. He handed it to Liebgott.

Joe accepted it warily, “Thanks.”

Babe frowned, “Although it wouldn’t hurt to pinch your nose while you drink it.”

Joe sighed, “Do I even want to know what’s in this?”

Everyone in the kitchen shook their head. Joe shrugged and drank it anyway.

Webster got up and poured some orange juice into a glass. When Joe was done drinking Babe’s concoction and looked ready to vomit David handed him the juice.

Joe snatched it and gulped it down, “Thanks you guys.”

David nodded like it was nothing and went back to his book.

Babe smiled, “Least I could do after springing the tequila shots of doom on you.”

“Man-tequila and I don’t mix.” Joe confessed.

“Same here.”

“Y’all are just lightweights!” Grant hollered from the living room.

They ignored him and Liebgott touched his forehead. “I think that shit’s actually helping Babe.”

Bill slid a plate of scrambled eggs in front of both of them.

Babe thanked him and picked up a fork.

Joe looked at his plate distastefully, “I’m really not hungry.”

“Eat!” Webster and Bill snapped simultaneously.

“Or do you want a repeat of the shower incident?” Bill asked.

Joe glared and remembered that this is why he didn’t have friends. They were always giving a shit about your welfare.

“Fine. But I’m not going like it and I’m just going to throw them up later.” He promised.

“And then they just started making out”, Floyd continued to ramble on about the previous night like some freaking middle-schooler and Nixon was this close to pulling his hair out.

“OKAY! You need to shut up now.” He snapped at the overly happy intern. He rolled his eyes at Floyd’s pout, “I mean seriously- you really are sex deprived. Jesus.”

He was about to further dampen the young man’s spirits by reporting the newly discovered sexual orientation of Christenson but stalled when he saw Dick walking towards them.

His best friend was looking over some notes absentmindedly and the mere sight of him made Lewis feel panicky. What with the whole one-sided sexual tension that had crept back up on Nixon the other night after years of having been ignored (quite well he thought).

Dick looked up from his notes with a smile and just as he was about to reach them Lewis –having never been a smooth operator under duress- turned to Floyd flinging his arms out.

“You know what I wanna know? I wanna know why we have a FULLY set up arena and crew with NO FUCKING CONTESTANTS!?”

Floyd jumped what could have been an estimated two feet off the ground before zipping away to the house, leaving the host alone with the source of his unease.

Dick frowned at him, “Geez Nix. Calm down. Everything’s fine. Look about the other night- you seemed really wound up and I just wanted to check and see-”

“What? What happened last night? I don’t remember. Maybe you’re acting weird. Ever think about that? What’s with all the accusations? Get off my back! I have to pee!”

Done with his neurotic outburst, Nixon whirled around and marched off.

Dick watched him go, confusion clearly expressed on his face. He shook his head and walked over to Harry, “Am I in the Twilight Zone? Nixon’s acting really strange lately.”

His producer laughed, “You’re not in the Twilight Zone- you’re just in the same zone as the rest of us for once.”

Once the contestants were assembled in the arena Nixon finally felt himself breathe easy. If he was working then he wouldn’t be freaking out over his pathetic personal problems.

Now he just had to- wait a second…

“Where’s Christenson?” he asked loudly.

“Who cares? Do we really need him for this?” Luz griped from the stands.

Nixon supposed they didn’t and was about to call down the two participants for the challenge when the missing red member came jogging up to the stands.

“Sorry, sorry. I was just caught up with a thing…”Christenson babbled as he went to take a seat next to Buck on the red side of the bleachers.

“Riiight.” Nixon drawled, “Which is why your shirt is on backwards I’m sure.”

Burton looked down at his shirt, “What? No...it’s Thursday right? Isn’t that backwards…clothes…day?”

He coughed at all the strange looks he received.

“Smooth dude.” Buck informed him.

Since Nixon was under contract not to savagely beat any of the contestants he ignored the interruption and moved on, “Okay…whatever. The Red team lost yesterday’s challenge. Therefore the two contestants competing in today’s one-on-one will be Toye and Cobb. Guys come down to the arena and I’ll explain today’s rules.”

Luz reached out and squeezed Jo’s shoulder in what he hoped was a very encouraging and not at all clingy manner, “Good luck.”

Toye smirked, “Thanks man.”

He walked down and noted that Cobb really did look kind of shitty-like maybe he hadn’t slept well. He felt rather bad for the guy- sure he was kind of a prick, but they didn’t all have to treat him like shit.

He sighed knowing it was too late to start being nice to the guy and focused on paying attention to Nixon.

Nixon was gesturing behind him to the arena, where there was a stand set up with a long metal pole horizontally attached to the top, “Today’s one-on-one is called ‘Push Me’. And it’s much more physically demanding than ‘The Duel’ which sent Hoobler home.”

“You see-this metal pole is movable,” he walked up next to said object and pushed at it- sending the pole swinging forward. “Each of you will be placed at opposite ends of the pole. As you can see there’s a bell about three feet ahead of the pole and an equal distance away from each of you.”

“The object of this game,” Dick cut in, “is to push at your end of the pole with all your strength- which is made difficult because you’re pushing against one another. Eventually one of you will overpower the other, and your side of the pole will move forward- taking you to the bell. The first person to ring the bell is the winner. The other will be sent away from the island.”

Nixon added, “Oh…and try not to drag this out will ya?”

Jo rolled his eyes at the host as he and Cobb took their places at opposite ends of the pole.

Cobb placed his hands on his side, with his palms flat and leaning slightly to his right.

Jo studied him before wrapping his arms around his end of the pole in a kind of hug and setting up his stance so that he wouldn’t be knocked off balance.

Cobb looked over at Nixon, “What’s the signal-”

A gunshot went off.

This time no one jumped, only glaring at their host, and Roy immediately threw his weight onto the pole. However it didn’t move or budge the slightest bit.

He looked over to see that Toye was steeled in place, his arms tightened around the pole and not even pushing back.

Jo, for his part, figured he’d let Cobb wear himself out before he bothered to start pushing. For now he would just absorb all of Cobb’s efforts.

And Cobb was certainly wearing himself out as he continued to push at his end of the pole with his hands. He was basically walking in place and it looked to Dick that he was attempting to move a brick wall.

Toye wasn’t completely unaffected however as the judge noted that his mouth was set in a determined line and he was struggling to maintain his stance.

Then Cobb, in what was probably desperation, moved his feet side by side as he threw all his weight onto the pole with his right shoulder.

Jo saw it as an opportunity to knock his opponent off balance and put his weight onto his end, running forward slightly.

The move worked and because Cobb hadn’t maintained his defensive stance, he was knocked backwards and fell to the ground.

Pushing the pole forward Jo reached out and rung the bell. He sighed at the sound it made and slumped to the ground, worn out.

The red team erupted in cheers.

“All right, all right!” Nixon hollered over their shouting.

Jo picked himself up off the dirt and went over to Cobb- offering him a hand to help him up.

Cobb glared and Jo thought he might blow him off, but he accepted the help and Jo smiled as the other man stood, “Good job man.”

“Whatever,” his opponent mumbled.

Jo just sighed and clapped Cobb on the back as they walked over to Nixon. The host was still telling their team to shut up.

“Yes yes, you’re very pleased-we get it.” Nixon hollered. The red team quieted down but both they and multiple members of the blue team were smiling.

“Well Cobb- hate to break it to you but your time here is up.” Nixon informed the bitter looking blonde.

Roy didn’t really have anyone to say goodbye to, so he took off towards the house the moment the attention turned to Jo.

‘Good riddance,’ Luz thought as he watched him sulk off. He then hopped the barrier between the bleachers and the arena.

Buck frowned as Luz practically jumped on Toye’s back- spewing congratulations.

“You all still have a CHALLENGE you know!” Nixon yelled amidst their mini-party.

They all ignored him for now.

Sobel knew he wasn’t in a good spot with his team. At this point they all knew he had made himself sick to get out of the first one-on-one.

If he wanted to keep himself out of the arena he’d have to A) make sure he could convince others to vote with him, B) make sure his team won or C) if he thought he was going in vote for the weakest player to compete against. Since his vote counted twice- there was a greater chance that he could pick his competitor.

Yeah…that could work.

“Okay contestants. For today’s challenge we’ve decided to attempt the first in a series of team-building activities. And what better way to do that then with a simple trust exercise?”

The contestants were all led to the bottom of a cliff off the side of the beach where they normally had their voting sessions.

The rock was already equipped with a harness that was connected by string to an anchor at the top and there was rock climbing gear laid out on the ground.

“Oh great,” Sobel muttered looking over the equipment.

“That’s right!” Nixon chirped to them, “This exercise will split you into pairs. It will also require one team member to scale this teeny little cliff.”

Dick gave them a small smile, “Now we’ll be top-roping. Which means that there’s an anchor set up at the end of the climb, with a rope running through it that will be attached to the climber’s harness. The other end of the rope will be with a team member who will be on the ground acting as a belayer to prevent any falls for the climber by holding on to the rope. Obviously this requires a lot of trust.”

“Yeah trust, team building…all that junk’s great.” Nixon waved the concept off, “But at its heart this is a race. You all have to complete the rock climb because we’ll be timing you. So do so quickly- because whichever team has the fastest combined time is the winner of this challenge. Any questions?”

Grant began to open his mouth but Nixon quickly cut him off, “No? Awesome. Captains go first so we have Lipton and Speirs for the Red team and let’s say…Bill and Sobel for the Blue team. You decide who is climbing.”

Sobel frowned, he knew that Guarnere certainly didn’t think much of him and the feeling was mutual.

But really-how hard could this be?

The two met up next to the climbing gear. Sobel picked it up and handed it to Bill, “I am NOT climbing that thing.”

It was a struggle for Bill not to roll his eyes. He was tempted to ask if Sobel was afraid of heights or something. But honestly? He didn’t give a shit.

“Fine whatever.” He snapped at the Captain and took the equipment.

Lipton eyed the harness before looking at Speirs who was in turn eyeing the cliff with a look that suggested he was unimpressed. But Carwood figured he looked at everything that way.

“So,” he gently poked the preoccupied man in the shoulder, “Need help getting this stuff on?”

Ron’s head whipped around quickly and he frowned, “Who said I was climbing?”

Lipton laughed and gestured between them, “Come on. Seriously?”

The Captain regarded him for a moment before his shoulders sagged and Lipton knew he’d won him over.

“Fine.” The dark haired man conceded before stepping into the harness.

Carwood rushed to help him as he fussed with the straps. He batted the other mans hands away, “Here I got it.”

Ron watched him fix the equipment, “If you’re so good with this then why am I climbing exactly?”

Lipton laughed, “Maybe because you’re lighter? Not that you’re not strong enough to lift me I’m sure.”

The other man sighed, “Please…don’t belittle me.”

Carwood smiled once more, “Maybe because I know you’ll kick ass?”

Ron shrugged before walking to the foot of the cliff, “We’ll see.”

1st Pair

“Alright.” Nixon looked over the now suited up contestants- both at the bottom of the small cliff. “All the way to the top. Your time ends when you’ve get your feet on the ground. Okay…Go!”

This time there was no gunshot- as Harry had conveniently requested that it be kept in one place that he knew Nixon was too chicken to put his hand-the back of Dick’s jeans.

Ron and Bill immediately started up the cliff, moving at about the same pace.

He was halfway up the cliff when Speirs found he was running out of places to grab with his hands. Personally he felt this was a mistake- he had no experience climbing mountains. They didn’t exactly having them in excess in the city.

But Lipton seemed to think he’d do well-and he was determined not to let him down.

On that note he leaned forward to grasp a rock with his left hand. However it wasn’t as secure as he’d hoped, so when he pushed off of his right foot he slipped and started to fall backwards.

He didn’t really gasp-gasping wasn’t his thing. But he sucked in a mouthful of air quickly in a startled fashion. However he soon realized he had nothing to fear as he didn’t go crashing to the ground below.

He looked down to see that Lipton had the rope securely in both hands.

Relieved, he quickly regained his footing as Bill scaled swiftly passed him.

Sobel grinned as he saw Bill pull ahead of Speirs about halfway up the cliff.

This wasn’t hard at all. He pretty much just stood here. He doubted that Guarnere would actually fall.

He wouldn’t even have to…

Herbert let his thoughts come to a halt as he heard a buzzing around his head. He glanced around rapidly.

What was that?

Suddenly a bee buzzed in front of his face and he jerked back quickly, “Shit!”

As the bee continued to fly around his head he tried to duck and dodge it the best he could.

Finally he threw his hands up to try and shoo it away but while doing so actually jerked Bill back from his climb.

Bill felt himself being tugged backwards and looked down to see Sobel fussing with a fly or some shit.

“Hey!” he hollered down to the man, “Cut it out! I’m going to-“

He was going to say ‘Fall’ but actually having it happen proved his point much better.

He began to fall back as the rope was pulled by Sobel on the ground.

It wouldn’t have been much of a problem if Sobel hadn’t then thrown the rope to the ground and screamed, “I’m HIGHLY allergic to bees!”

As their fearless leader was being terrorized by the big bad insect-Bill was struggling to save his own hide from the mess he hadn’t gotten himself into.

Scrambling wildly at the rock he managed to stop his descent and get his feet secured. He looked up to see Speirs was now at the top of the cliff. Great.

He cursed and began to climb sans a belayer. If they lost this- Sobel was going down.

Dick and Lewis watched as the Blue Captain ran about, wildly flinging his arms around his head to ward off a bee.

“Should we…help him?” Dick wondered, seeing as the man was obviously in distress.

Nixon waved the suggestion off, “Nah…besides what are the chances it’ll actually-”

“AH! It STUNG ME!”

“Oh…” Lewis stared, “Someone should probably take him to Renee.”

2nd Pair

Buck hung back a little as Luz suited up to climb. Finally he took a couple of steps forward.

“Have you been avoiding me?” he asked the other man curiously.

Luz looked up with a frown, “Huh? No! Why would I be avoiding you?”

Buck shrugged, “You seemed kinda weird the other night.”

With a roll of his eyes, Luz smirked at him, “We made out. No big deal right? I was a little stressed but it had nothing to do with you. We’re cool.”

Not really sure he wanted to know that Luz had been so preoccupied while they had been together Buck just nodded, “Well that’s good to know. What with your life being in my hands and all.”

Luz shoved him slightly, “Whatever. If I fall you die.”

Buck laughed, “You’ll just have to trust me.”

“Yeah…trust that you’ll be staring at my ass.”

“No argument here.”

Babe hopped around a couple of seconds to get a feel for the equipment before turning to Skip.

“Why am I doing this?” he asked.

Muck grinned, “Because I didn’t want to?”

“Right…is all this shit on right?”

Skip looked it over, “Yeah I think so. Lemme tighten that strap though.”

Babe beamed, “Thanks.”

When they were ready he and Luz made their way to the bottom of their paths.

“Alright!” Nixon hollered, “Ready, set-”

An air horn (a nice change) signaled their start and Babe hopped up to grab hold of the rock and begin his climb.

Noticing that Luz was having some troubling reaching the best holds due to his slight height disadvantage Babe pushed himself harder and began to ascend quickly.

He was pulling his right leg up when he got stuck. Glaring down he saw that his gym shorts had gotten caught on a rock. Frowning he jerked his knee up swiftly.

This resulted in a loud tearing sound and as his leg came unstuck Babe went up and his shorts went down.

When he realized he was now climbing in his boxers he cursed.

“What the Hell!? Why does this keep happening?” he shouted but kept climbing and trying to ignore the reaction of the other contestants.

“This is becoming a regular thing I see.” Malarkey noted from where the Blue team was cracking up.

Nixon was howling with laughter and Talbert was tilting his head to the side, obviously staring at the young man’s ass.

“I could get used to this.” The intern said.

Nixon smiled, “Now that’s just good TV.”

3rd Pair

“Hey do you mind climbing?” Grant asked Jo, who’d been expecting to be the belayer.

Jo shrugged, “Sure. What- you scared of heights or something?”

Grant shook his head, “Nah I’m just hung over. I figure it’d be best if I stay in one spot.”

“Chuck, man, you gotta lay off the booze.” Jo told him shaking his head, secretly disappointed that his teammate wasn’t taking their challenges more seriously.

Grant just laughed, “Right, right. Time to suit up.”

“Since there’s no way I’m entrusting you with my life. You’ll be the one climbing.” Don informed his partner.

Evans just nodded and looked solemnly at the cliff.

Don sighed. “Now you’ve shown a fear of heights but I guess I was hoping you might have some super amazing rock climbing techniques to go with your impressive resume of other useless crap no one believes.”

Evans shook his head, “Nope, sorry.”

“Oh well. Maybe the next challenge will involve ice skating.”

As the two climbed, Evans was making slow progress. But Don figured they were doing okay since Babe had finished ahead of Luz previously.

Although Toye was going embarrassingly faster than Evans.

Things seemed to be fine until about the half way mark. It was almost the exact same spot that Speirs had stumbled.

Toye slipped in the same manner and started to fall. Don’s first thought was that maybe the red team should avoid that spot. However that thought was cast aside when he noticed that unlike with Speirs- nobody caught Toye.

Jo tried to stop his falling, not bothering to wonder what the Hell Grant was doing. However his hands were only catching air and he hit the ground with a loud thud.

Cursing, Jo rolled onto his back and clutched his left knee which he had landed on directly. He closed his eyes for a moment and through the haze of his pain he heard voices. Opening his eyes he saw his team gathering around him.

“Shit Jo I’m so sorry! I swear you fell so fast, it slipped right through my hands.” Grant apologized with wide eyes.

“Fuck! Chuck how fucking hard is it to hold a goddamn rope?” Luz glared, kind of surprised that he had the urge to punch his friend in the face.

Lipton kneeled down next to Toye and gently touched his shoulder, “Jo are you okay?”

Toye groaned, “My fucking knee man.”

Just then the red team members that had gathered around Jo were being pushed out of the way by an uncharacteristically bossy blue member.

“Lemme through. Y’all give him some space.” Roe commanded as he pushed at them lightly and slid down onto his knees next to Jo.

The red team looked at each other before moving back as ordered, except for Lipton who was patting Jo’s shoulder reassuringly. As well as Luz- who had to be dragged back by Buck.

Nixon watched them all converging and stopped his stopwatch, “Damn it. Evans! Just come back down- you’re climb won’t count. Looks like Jo’s not getting back up.”

Evans, who was only about five feet off the ground anyway, just nodded and slowly began to shimmy his way down.

Dick shook his head.“This is not a very trustworthy group if this exercise has any merit.” He joked before going to check on Toye.

Gene gently grazed his fingers over Jo’s scraped and badly bruised knee.

“Well you didn’t break or shatter anything.” He informed his patient, “Let’s see if you can stand up.”

Motioning for Lipton to help, Roe put one of Jo’s arms over his shoulder and the two lifted him off the ground.

“Try and put some weight on it,” Roe instructed. Jo did so and looked alright for a moment before wincing.

“Hmm,” Gene eyed the knee, “I think it’s just bruised but you may have sprained it. Does it just hurt where you landed on it or does the back of your knee hurt too?”

“I dunno. It just hurts right now.” Toye answered.

Gene nodded, “Well we better get you to Renee and make sure it ain’t a sprain.”

They started to help him off but Luz stopped them, saying to Gene, “You haven’t finished the challenge yet.”

“Right,” the blue member replied before ducking out from under Jo’s arm and motioning for Luz to help him.

However Toye put his arm down and leaned on Lipton before pulling his other arm away from him as well, “Thanks guys but I think I can manage on my own.”

Luz gaped as Jo started to limp forward, “Um what?”

Bill, who had come to see what the fuss was about, noticed that Jo had just put too much pressure on his bad leg and was about to take a dive. Rushing forward he caught him mid stumble.

“Don’t need any help my ass.” Bill griped and hauled Jo up, wrapping an arm around his waist to support him.

“I’m fine.” Jo shot back and Bill wondered why he was being subjected to all the stubborn Josephs in one day.

“Right. All the same, I’ll help you over there.”

Luz watched them walk off and would have gone over to help if Nixon hadn’t started in with his usual bitching.

“If he isn’t dying then WHY IS NO ONE CLIMBING? LET’S GO!”

4th pair

“Now you sure you ain’t afraid of heights?” Alex asked Blithe once again.

Blithe smiled and nodded, “I’m okay.”

“Then why do you keep looking up there?” he asked the blonde who was gazing up at the cliff and Penkala suspected that maybe his eyes were just drawn upward naturally.

Blithe blinked his large blue eyes at Alex, “Because it’s pretty and I enjoy looking at it?”

“That why you’re always looking at the sky?”

Albert gave him a small smile, “It rains a lot back home. I guess I just like taking it all in. You know-the sunshine and the weather.”

Penkala laughed, “Why don’t you just say that then? Everyone’s been thinking you’re weird or something.”

“Oh..”

Alex smiled and patted his back, “Forget it. You ready?”

“Yeah.”

“So you’ve got this?” David asked looking up the rocky drop.

Shifty nodded and tightened his harness, “You bet. I’m a bit of a nature buff. It’ll be a breeze. Just don’t let me fall.”

David nodded quickly, remembering that two belayers had already failed at their jobs, “I won’t I swear.”

During the climb Blithe did surprisingly well, managing to avoid the little area of doom that had slipped up Toye and Speirs.

Nixon looked at his stop watch and then at Dick, “You’ve got Blithe right?”

Dick looked up from his stop watch as well, “No I’ve got Shifty- you’ve got Blithe.”

“Crap,” Nixon muttered shifting his attention from the brunette climber to the blonde.

Despite Blithe’s success it was obvious that Shifty had rock climbing experience and once again the blue team’s climber finished first.

Nixon glanced at Dick suspiciously, “Why do you always get the fast people?”

Dick frowned, “You do realize that I’m timing the blues and you’re timing the reds?”

“Oh…”

5th pair

Gene and Joe inspected each other a moment before Gene spoke, “I think maybe you should climb.”

Joe frowned, “I can support your weight you know.”

Gene nodded, “Yeah no…it’s just I think you’re probably lighter so it just makes sense.”

He tried to phrase it nicely as to not offend Liebgott, who he knew was sensitive about his weight. But at the same time he wasn’t sure how good Joe would be in this challenge.

True to what they had all assumed was a joke earlier- Joe actually had gotten sick and thrown up after breakfast. So Gene wasn’t quite sure he wanted to chance that Joe might not have the strength to catch him.

However Joe just shrugged and started to put on his equipment.

“Now I know logic dictates that you, being the shorty that you are, should climb. But Luz seemed to have a tough run of it and I’ve been rock climbing before. Trust me.” Christenson babbled with a smile.

Perconte shrugged, “Fine. What? Are you good at everything?”

Burton frowned, “I don’t know how to dance.”

Christenson was good, he was quite good actually. But to everyone’s surprise- Liebgott was better.

The moment he’d heard the air horn Joe had taken off like a shot, scrambling up the cliff like a madman- Christenson keeping up with him the best he could.

Babe noticed that Webster was not only watching Joe climb but was also discreetly checking out his ass. He laughed, figuring this was the challenge for it.

Inching over to his roommate he elbowed him in the ribs, “Nice ass huh?”

Webster gaped, “I wasn’t…I don’t think so. Joe?”

Babe smirked, knowing he was full of shit, “So you don’t care if I sleep with him?”

“What!?”

“I mean- we were way too drunk last night. But who knows? He’s pretty hot- it could still happen. I mean- you’re not interested right?” Babe asked trying to get a rise out of him.

Webster glared at him, “Cut it out. You’ve made your point.”

Babe just laughed.

Gene frowned, having overheard most of their conversation. Looking up at Liebgott he briefly imagined letting him fall to severe injury just to make his own ego feel better.

But he wasn’t planning to be a doctor so that he could hurt people, besides….it’d probably just make Babe fuss all over him, as if that was anything he needed to see.

The opportunity was gone in seconds, however, as Joe pulled himself up over the top of the cliff a short ways ahead of Christenson who finished a mere 3 seconds later.

Nixon looked at their respective times, impressed.

“Way to go! That was the fastest race of them all.” He called up to them.

The two clapped hands at the top and Joe grinned as Christenson did a little victory dance.

Talbert sighed as Christenson swayed his hips, “And you’re sure he’s straight?”

“Yes.” Dick and Nixon replied simultaneously, the latter screwing up his face at the image of Renee (who reminded him of his sister) getting it on with Christenson.

At the bottom of the cliff, Frank frowned. “He can so dance! He sucks!”

“Don’t be jealous Frank,” Luz teased.

“Alright,” Nixon looked over the times, “we’ve got your compiled times here. Obviously excluding Toye and Evan’s. And as you may have guessed-the winner of this challenge is the Blue team!”

The blue team cheered and exchanged high fives. The red team sighed, having been handed their second straight defeat.

“Which means,” Dick spoke, “that the Red team needs to think about who they want to vote in to tomorrows one-on-one and meet back at the bonfire in four hours. And make sure Jo’s there too.”

They all nodded and began to walk back to the house.

Luz glared at Chuck, already knowing who he was voting for, before heading over to the infirmary to check on Jo.

Bill crossed his arms and waited as the doctor inspected Toye’s knee. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself, not really knowing Jo that well. But the cameras hadn’t followed them- and that was nice.

Plus he got to see Sobel’s puffed up face, which was just hilarious.

“Well,” Renee spoke as she stood from stooping down to see, “I believe you may have a very minor sprain. I’d recommend that you stay off of it as much as possible the remainder of the day. Rest, put some ice on it, keep it elevated and you should be able to walk on it as soon as tomorrow-although there may still be some pain. I’ll get you some painkillers now.”

“Thanks,” Jo replied in his husky voice and gave her a tight smile.

As she walked away, Bill moved over to stand in her spot looking at Jo in concern.

“You alright then?” he asked.

Jo nodded and grabbed his knee with both hands, pulling his leg over the side of the bench it had been splayed out upon. “Yeah. I was fine before.”

Bill frowned, “Right. Well your knee looks pretty fucked up.”

Jo shrugged and gave it a look, “If it ain’t broken- it’s okay in my book.”

“Well it would have been a lot worse if you’d walked over here by yourself. What were you thinking?” Bill scolded him.

“I was thinking I needed to get out of there before Luz decided he was going to smother me.” Jo told him honestly. Not that he minded Luz’s company at all, far from it in fact.

“Smother? I uh…thought you had a thing for him. Least that’s what Babe thinks anyway.” Bill said as he decided to sit next to Joe on the bench.

“Well…I guess I do. But uh…I think Buck does too and he’s my friend so... I figure it’s best to just stay out of it you know?” Jo paused then as Renee came back with a small bottle with about six pills rattling around inside of it.

“Instructions on the back,” she told him before turning to Bill, “Makes sure he takes them.”

Jo rolled his eyes and Bill just nodded dumbly.

He then looked over at Toye who was reading the label. He had to give it to the guy-he was pretty tough. He hadn’t complained of any pain on their way over and Bill wondered if he even understood the point of medication.

Plus his handling of the Luz situation was one that actually made sense. No drama.

“Anything good?” Bill inquired peering at the bottle’s label.

Jo smirked and shook the bottle, “Dunno. I’ll let you know when I pop ‘em.”

Just then they heard footsteps and looked up to see Luz walking over towards them.

Bill looked at Jo. “Should I leave?”

Jo shook his head, “Nah man…I know you don’t have a reason to-but do me a solid and stay alright?”

Bill nodded, “Yeah sure.”

Later that night…

Jo frowned as they waited for Dick and Nixon to tally up their votes. Not only did it suck that they lost but now they’d have to lose another player.

Not to mention that Luz was hovering right next to him, eyes constantly dropping to his knee and talking at the speed of light.

“It really doesn’t hurt? I dunno, I mean it has to hurt a little. Do you feel okay? Maybe you should put it up on the log. I can sit on the sand it’s not a big deal. You took a pill right? Earlier? Maybe we should get you some more ice.”

Jo screwed his eyes shut. Honestly he appreciated the concern…but it was a little overwhelming. Plus now Buck kept glaring at him and Jo desperately wanted to tell him he wasn’t interested in Luz.

But that would be a lie. Luz was an easy person to be interested in. But Jo wasn’t going to ruin his friendship with Buck or be involved in any kind of drama over something that would only last until the end of taping anyway.

Of course Luz wasn’t making himself very easy to ignore. Finally Jo snapped, “Jeez Luz- I’m fine. Calm down.”

Luz frowned, “Yeah? Well you would be perfect if SOMEBODY hadn’t let you fall.”

Grant glared, “I’m SORRY already.”

“Alright shut up!” Nixon growled as Dick set all their votes aside, “The two members of the Red team with the most votes who will be competing in the one-on-one tomorrow are…Toye and Grant.”

Jo’s face fell…damn he’d just been in one that morning. Who the Hell was voting for him?

The others were shocked as well.

“What the Hell?” Luz jumped up, “That’s…not fair.”

Nixon shrugged, “Thems the rules.”

Buck looked over at Luz’s distress, “But he’s injured.”

Lipton nodded, “Sobel didn’t have to compete when he was sick.”

Nixon sighed, “Sobel couldn’t even make it to the voting session. Besides Renee said he should be good as new tomorrow.”

“But” Luz started before Nixon cut him off.

“Why are you all so desperate to get him out of this? If it isn’t him it’s just another one of you. Besides…the votes are final. See you at noon tomorrow.”The host then nodded to them and walked away from the voting table.

Luz watched him go before sitting next to Jo. “This is bullshit.”

Buck watched Luz stew in his anger as Jo just shrugged at his fate. He supposed that voting for Jo made him a bad guy. But then again…this was a competition. In more ways than one.

Special (9/?)

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:36:27 GMT

Title: Special (9/?)
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various Pairings.

Wow I feel like I haven't updated this in forever. But I finally feel like I've got the ball rolling in regard to where I want this story to go. So that's good :)

Links to previous chapters inside.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Company Headquarters, Philadelphia, PA

Bill stared at Dick not sure what to say or what to do with the hard look in his partners eyes. Dick looked cold, and it didn’t sit well with him at all.

“Dick- you can’t be sure. We don’t know everything. Before we jump to conclusions we need to get all the facts.”

Dick pushed his chair away from Bill roughly, “Because I’m sure they’re just going to leave evidence of my parent’s death around for me to dig up. They’re smarter than that and you know it. The pieces are all there Bill. I just never had any reason to think about it until now. But with Babe’s dream…”

Bill took a deep breath, trying to settle his thoughts. If what Dick believed was true...it raised multiple questions.

Just how long had the company suspected Babe was special? Why not take both Dick and Babe at once? Would Babe be susceptible to Dick’s ability? And most importantly….how long could the Company expect Dick to be ignorant of the fact that his own flesh and blood was living under his partner’s roof?

“What exactly do you plan to do about it Dick?” Bill asked knowing that the red headed man hadn’t thought it through.

Dick stood up quickly, and walked over to look at the hallway through the window in Bill’s office. He crossed his arms and just stared at the employees walking back and forth. He didn’t know what he was going to do…but the more he thought about it…the more sick the whole thing made him feel.

He sighed, closing his eyes and turning his head to the side, “How many more people Bill? How many more people are going to die and have their lives ruined by this company?”

Bill frowned and silently crossed the room to stand next to Dick, who still had his eyes closed. He lifted a hand to reach out and touch him but paused. Instead he let his hand ghost down the side of Dick’s arm before pulling it back altogether.

He couldn’t cross that line. Not now, not again…

Dick opened his eyes as if he knew that Bill was next to him and turned to look him in the eyes, “Our families were destroyed by these people. We were destroyed by these people.”

At that Bill actually did reach out and touch him, seizing his shoulders with both hands and giving him a small shake, “We are each other’s family now Dick. You, me, Babe…they’re not going to ruin that. I won’t let them. Do you understand me?”

Dick nodded, looking lost…and in that moment Bill couldn’t breathe.

Because suddenly-he could see it. Forget all the obvious similarities….

It was in the way that Dick pursed his lips to the left.

Just like Babe.

The realization hit him hard and he froze.

The door to his office was pushed open and Liebgott stuck his head in, “Hey- Sobel needs Winters. Like right now apparently.”

Bill glared and let his hands drop from Dick’s shoulders. Dick gave him one more nod and Bill watched the turmoil melt off his face.

Dick turned to Liebgott with a smile, “Thanks Joe. You wait here okay?”

The kid shrugged but let Dick usher him into the office as he left. Bill gave him a dark look, “What does Sobel need to see him for?”

Joe just shrugged, not looking intimidated in the slightest, “How the Hell should I know? I’m the new guy remember?”

Bill frowned as he thought, not for the first time, that Joseph Liebgott was still a wild card.

Dick knocked on the door lightly before pushing it open. Sobel was at his desk, staring at his computer screen intently but looked up when Dick walked inside.

“So Dick. Are you ready for your assignment?”

No. “Yes sir.”

Sobel nodded, “Good. However I have one more assignment for you and Guarnere before you take our recruit to New York for your solo mission.”

Dick smiled slightly and nodded. The reaction didn’t go unnoticed by his boss.

“You seem happy to hear that.” Sobel remarked.

“Well sir…it’s just that we’ve been given a lot of separate assignments lately. I was wondering if you weren’t going to split us up.”

Sobel shook his head, “I thought maybe you were feeling apprehensive about New York. I know how you feel about children Dick.”

They could fill oceans with all the things that Sobel didn’t know about him…but Dick figured it was best not to say anything.

So Sobel continued, “You have no reason to worry. You and Bill are the best team we have. But you’re both more than capable of handling missions on your own now. Sometimes the occasion simply calls for it.”

Dick nodded, “So what’s the assignment? Rather short notice wouldn’t you say?”

Sobel smiled, “Short notice? Yes. But it’s also very important. This was emailed to me from the Manhattan branch. Come take a look.”

Dick walked cautiously over to Sobel’s computer. He could never fully trust the man. He was always too interested. Too interested in Dick (both personally and professionally) and too interested in Babe. Dick had a feeling that he knew of their relation.

Looking at the computer he frowned when he saw a video playing.

A young man was lying in a pool of blood on the side of the road. Only Dick’s years with the Company helped to keep his reaction in check.

But even he was shocked when he saw what he thought was a dead man begin to move.

Then the man on screen sat up fully and Dick gaped as he began to slowly piece himself back together as he stood. Cuts and gashes closing and broken bones snapping back into place.

A blood streaked face looked straight into the camera.

“Well that didn’t go as planned.”

Dick couldn’t believe it. Spontaneous regeneration? They all knew it was possible but the Company had long stopped expecting to discover the ability…assuming it had gone dormant…

He stepped back and looked at his boos, “This won’t just be a bag and tag will it?”

Sobel shook his head, “No. We’ve got a cell with his name on it.”

Carwood Lipton, Los Angeles, CA

Hopefully the ambulance and his back up would arrive soon. Because being the caretaker of two unconscious FBI agents left him in a torn state.

Although his first instinct had been to ensure that Agent Speirs was okay, he knew that the man at his feet, Speirs’ partner, was still a threat.

Speirs didn’t strike him as someone to go down without a fight and yet there he was, lying on the hotel bed, bruised and battered.

The man who had hurt Speirs- he’d told Lipton that he wasn’t in control of himself and Lipton believed him.

Because he had heard what the man was thinking….and it sounded like two different people arguing. Maybe Carwood didn’t understand how he had heard what he heard, but at this point- he trusted it.

But if the man woke up under the influence of what the officer assumed was an alternate personality, Lipton wasn’t sure if he would be able to put him down without shooting him.

After talking with his superiors about his brush with the Feds that day, he had been let off of his shift early in the hopes of catching up with Speirs and talking to him about the case.

He certainly hadn’t expected to hear the sounds of breaking glass outside the man’s hotel room and interrupting what could have potentially been a murder.

The point was that he was still packing heat, and he was still carrying cuffs. Which he used to restrain Agent Speirs attacker.

When he felt he’d properly secured the threat he finally allowed himself to look over at the man he had only met earlier that day.

He grimaced when he saw the dark hand prints on Agent Speirs neck. But even more concerning was the blood that was coming from multiple cuts that seemed to be all over his body.

Blood on his face, seeping through his shirt…

“Shit,” Lipton cursed, not knowing what to do. He rushed to the bathroom on the other side of the room and grabbed a few towels to stop the blood that was flowing from the more obvious cuts.

Sitting on the bed he used one hand to press a towel to the gash on the back of the FBI Agent’s neck, the other hand was still holding his gun firmly- refusing to let down his guard.

He was wondering where the ambulance was when a cell phone started ringing.

His first assumption was that it was his, but the noise was coming from the unconscious man beneath his fingers.

Startled-he reluctantly sat the gun down and saw the cell phone sticking out of the Agent’s front pocket.

He grabbed it quickly and checked the screen. Whoever Christenson was…they probably needed to know what had happened.

He pressed talk and put the phone to his ear, “This is Officer Carwood Lipton, I’m with the LAPD. May I ask who this is?”

“LAPD? What are you doing in possession of a federal agent’s phone?”

“Agent Speirs has been seriously injured. I’m with him right now awaiting an ambulance. I’m going to ask again…with whom am I speaking?”

The line was silent for a moment.

“Shit. Is-is he okay? He’s alive right?!”

Just then there was a flurry of activity as two police officers busted the door in and a team of paramedics came in behind them.

He backed off from the bed and let them take over, “The paramedics just arrived. Tell me your relation to him and I’ll call back with an update on his condition.”

“We work together. I’m his partner- Burton Christenson. Look- what hospital is he going to?”

“There’s no way to know for sure. I have to go. When I can tell you- you’ll know.”

He knew it wasn’t enough. But he had work to do.

Hanging up the cell he pocketed it instead of handing it over to the paramedics and went over to help his fellow officers handle the cuffed assailant.

Eugene Roe, Philadelphia, PA

By the time he had exited the airplane he was exhausted, his ass hurt and he wasn’t sure exactly what city he was in.

He looked down at his printed out E-ticket. Oh right…Philadelphia.

Well he had plenty of time to kill before his next flight- which would take him directly to New York. He wasn’t planning to leave until tomorrow morning. He needed the break from all the travel.

He still wasn’t sure where in New York to find Renee’s family. If they were even still there. He would have to…to what? Go to the police he supposed. Maybe he could find a private investigator or some other such thing.

All of his hours stuck on an airplane had given him plenty of time to think about what he wanted to say when he found these people.

He knew he wanted to tell them about how wonderful she was. He of course wanted to give this George guy her letters. He deserved to know how much she loved and missed him.

But he knew they would have questions. Questions that he wouldn’t be able to answer. Gene still didn’t know why she died or who she was running from. Or why those people were chasing her exactly.

Not to mention the little fact that he himself should have died right next to her. How he so often wished he had.

Although he highly doubted that would come up.

Who knew when he would actually see them? He only hoped he got the opportunity to give them all a little closure.

Right now- he wanted a hotel, a bed…and possibly a sandwich.

To get those things- he’d need a taxi.

Eli Luz, Brooklyn, NY

He watched Agent Christenson stare at the hospital floor intently, his phone clutched tightly between his hands.

He’d looked worried ever since he’d finished his call. Eli knew it was because of his friend.

The things that Eli saw….they scared him. Like seeing Burton’s friend getting beaten up.

But his visions weren’t always like that. Sometimes….sometimes he just knew things. Even though he’d never seen either of the men in his vision…he had known that the one in danger was Burton’s friend.

He could see things, sense things…and sometimes just know things. It was scary…but he had learned to embrace his ability. He was pretty sure it scared his Dad more than him these days.

His Dad….the thing with his Dad made him so mad. It wasn’t fair! He knew and saw so much with his powers. Why couldn’t he have known that someone was going to hurt his Dad?

Finally he looked over at the FBI Agent with a determined stare. They were both outside of his Dad’s hospital room while a doctor talked to him inside.

“You should go.”

The agent looked up at him quickly, “What?”

“You should go and check on your friend. I’m sure you want to. Dad’s okay…we’ll be okay.”

The man shook his head and Eli knew that he was about to do the same thing all adults did. Tell Eli he didn’t understand. “Eli…it’s not that simple. You have to understand- your father’s life is still in danger until we catch the man who did this to him. With what you told me…about the both of you? You’re in danger as well.”

Eli frowned, not surprised by what he was hearing, “You like my Dad- I get it. But this is your friend and you’re worried. You should go and check on him. Besides…we’ll see each other again.”

Burton looked like he wanted to address a lot of the things that Eli had eluded to; instead he just gave him a small smile and asked, “Is that something you see?”

Eli shook his head, “Yes…no. It’s more like a feeling.”

Christenson nodded, “Okay then.”

Philadelphia, PA

Joe was getting kind of sick of Bill sizing him up. He knew that the guy not only didn’t trust him- but he didn’t understand him. Guarnere obviously liked to be in control of a situation- so not knowing what Joe’s intentions were, that had to be frustrating.

Because Guarnere could read whatever file he wanted, bring up any painful memory or secret of Joe’s he desired and he still wouldn’t be any closer to understanding what motivated Joe to be in that room.

Joe couldn’t let what happened to him at this Company’s hands happen to anyone else. Sure the whole situation had been sprung upon him rather quickly- but that didn’t dampen his desire to help those out there that were like him. To protect them from these people and their oh so obvious bullshit.

Even if that meant putting himself in danger. He had a lot to atone for and this was as good of a way to do that as anything else he could think of.

What did Guarnere know about sacrifice and atonement?

All of those things aside-Joe felt better now that it was just the two of them. For reasons he still couldn’t explain, anytime that he was within Dick Winters immediate vicinity he felt powerless and off balance.

So when the red headed man walked back into the office with a strange look on his face, Joe sat up a little straighter. Winters hardly took notice and instead plopped a file down onto the room’s single desk absent mindedly.

Then he looked over at his partner, “We’ve got an assignment.”

Guarnere frowned and glanced at Joe, “What about New York?”

“This takes priority.”

At that Guarnere became curious, “Really?”

Guarnere was about to reach for the file when a voice came from the hallway, “Winters! Guarnere! The system got a lock on your target.”

The two didn’t hesitate and quickly shot out the door without giving Joe a second glance.

Surprised to find himself in the office alone, Joe looked over at the file on the desk. What was so important about it- he didn’t know.

But they shouldn’t have left him alone with it.

Slipping his hand into his pocket he pulled out his cell phone and flipped it open. Looking out at the hallway he didn’t see anyone coming back, so he switched to his camera setting and rushed over to the desk as quietly as he could manage.

Flipping the file open he studied the image of a young man with jet black hair. It was the picture of a driver’s license.

Eugene Roe-New Orleans, Louisiana-22 years old.

Joe started taking pictures quickly and took notice of the scribbled notes below the picture.

Rapid cellular regeneration? What the Hell?

Hearing the approach of voices and footsteps, Joe hastily closed the file and pocketed his phone. Sitting back down he tried his best to look bored and certainly not like he had been snooping.

When the two Company men came back, they were not alone. With them was a man around Guarnere’s height with a very unpleasant frown marring his face.

Winters gave Joe a warm smile, “Joe this is Johnny Martin.”

Joe sighed, “Lemme guess…he’s my babysitter until you get back?”

Winters nodded slightly as Bill walked over to his desk and scooped up the file, “That’s one way of looking at it.”

“What’s the other way of looking at it?” Joe asked.

Bill shook his head, “There is no other way. Martin-keep a close eye on him.”

“You got it.” The man promised, giving Joe a hard look. The two men nodded to each other and Winters and Bill left.

The door to the office was then shut and Martin leaned against it, not taking his eyes off of Joe.

“Something you wanna say?” Joe asked, wondering what the fuck the guy’s deal was.

Martin pushed away from the door, “Yeah. I don’t trust people like you.”

“You trust Winters?”

Martin actually laughed, “Dick Winters? Was made for this job. What you can do and what he can do? Not comparable.”

“Yeah? What the fuck do you know about what I can do?”

“I know enough. And you need to know this- if you screw us? It’ll be the biggest mistake you ever make.”

Joe glared, “As you can see- I’m shaking.”

But suddenly the cell phone felt a lot heavier in his pocket.

God…he was so fucking bored!

How could they expect him to just sit around in the apartment all day doing nothing?

Babe very much hated being cooped up. He was a social person, he liked being around people! Not to mention he was 16 years old! He should be out doing shit, not be confined to his room like some sort of delinquent.

He was a good kid damn it! He shouldn’t be freaking locked up, besides…he deserved some downtime every now and then.

His mind made up, he went in search of his phone. Hopefully Chris would still be up to hanging out.

They had pulled up to a motel not far from where Bill himself actually lived. Roe wasn’t traveling under the radar, making it easy to locate his accommodations after their tracking system in New York had gotten a general lock on him.

The two of them had parked their company vehicle, a black SUV with appropriately tinted windows, to face the young man’s room.

Not it was just a waiting game.

They knew he was most likely inside at this point, but the best option was to wait until the young man left his room, which he’d have to do eventually because Bill knew firsthand that shit hole motels like this one didn’t do room service.

Once he was gone it was only a matter of slipping into his room. Then when he was back they’d subdue him and wait until nightfall to take him out to the car.

“So?” Bill broke into their easy silence, “How well do you think a taser will work on him? What with his…”

Bill just wiggled his fingers to indicate he was talking about the kid’s powers.

Dick looked over at him, “Pretty well considering I’m here.”

Oh…right. He’d almost forgotten about that.

He wasn’t entirely in his head at the moment. Everything that they felt they had discovered about Babe and the demise of Dick’s parents had left him drifting in and out of memories he’d just as soon forget.

“Dick…I gotta ask you something.”

Dick shot him a sideways glance, “Anything Bill.”

“All the years you been doing this…it doesn’t bother you? I know you hate the Company…but I’m talking day to day. Does it get to you?”

His partner frowned, “Which part exactly?”

“Going after your own people?”

Dick turned his head to fully look at Bill, “Of course it does. But we’ve discussed this. We do this job because we have to protect Babe- now more than ever. And we can’t do that on the outside. What even brought this up?”

“I was thinking about Joe.”

That statement was met with silence.

Finally Dick said, “ I take it you don’t mean Liebgott?”

Bill shook his head.

Dick just sighed, “Living in the past isn’t healthy Bill. You did the right thing…”

But there was no conviction in his voice as he tried to convince Bill of it. Because they both knew it wasn’t true. Dick had never known Joe, only what Bill told him. He was the only other partner the Company had ever given him.

“There he goes.” Dick leaned forward in his seat and Bill was snapped out of his thoughts as they watched Eugene Roe exit his motel room.

Right…they had a job to do. Besides Dick had a point, dwelling on his past mistakes wasn’t healthy. But giving the situation- they seemed to keep creeping up on him.

Memories that reminded him everyday…that he had become a hypocrite.

Either way….he hadn’t allowed himself to think about Joe Toye in a long time.

“So you finally made a break for it huh?” Chris joked to Babe as he slid into the passenger seat of Chris’s truck.

“Yeah, I couldn’t take it anymore. I just needed to get out y’know?”

Chris nodded as he merged with the traffic outside of Babe’s apartment complex. He ran a hand through his short blond hair, before he began to fiddle with the radio.

Babe smirked as he observed him. Chris was pretty cool he decided. Maybe not the best lab partner- but Babe supposed it would be a bit much to ask for him to smart and hot.

“So where we headed?” Babe asked as they took another turn.

Chris laughed, “Remember how you thought you could beat me at pool?”

Babe chucked, “I think my exact words were ‘I will OWN you at pool’. What’s your point?”

The other teen shook his head, “Well it’s a little early for a movie. My brother owns a bar- figure I’d buy you a drink and then you could put your money where your mouth is.”

Babe had no doubt that Chris’s brother was morally flexible enough to allow underage drinking so he just laughed and said, “You’re on.”

Lewis Nixon, Los Angeles, CA

He had finally woken up a couple of hours ago with a split lip and a throbbing headache and Lewis had to admit- that cop had a mean left jab.

He’d been sitting in an interrogation room by himself for who knew how long. His hands were cuffed to the table so he knew he wasn’t going anywhere.

That was a good start.

But he could still feel it. The anger and the presence of Jonathan were just on the outer reaches of his mind. How long could he really keep him at bay?

There was a loud bang as the door behind him slammed open and two detectives walked in. Lewis didn’t recognize either of them and figured that was probably for the best.

“How’s Ron?” was the first question out of his mouth and he couldn’t even really let himself think about what he might have done to him.

However despite the tone of his plea, the two detectives ignored him. One of them- a woman- was carrying a file. Opening it up, she pulled out a series of pictures and carefully laid them out on the table before him.

“Agent Nixon- these are the murders that you told Officer Lipton you committed.”

Lewis grimaced and sucked in a breath as he looked over the photographs.

The first three were crime scene photos of the murders form downtown. The poker game that had been so violently interrupted.

The unhinged door, the mangles bodies and the bullet holes. They were all burned into his memory.

His stomach did an uneasy flip when his eyes took in the next set of photos. The De Lucca brothers.

Jesus Christ.

They were images he had only seen in his nightmares. Long before his worst fears had been realized, before Jonathan had revealed that they weren’t nightmares at all.

The bodies in the photograph were beyond recognition. The blood alone made the job of identifying the victims increasingly difficult. But the way they were...

Oh God…they were torn apart…

Lewis bent his head and slowed his breathing, not entirely sure that he wasn’t about to vomit.

Finally he opened his mouth to speak, “I…it was…”

The male detective frowned at him, “It was what?”

His partner cut in, “Are you going to retract your statement?”

The agent in Nixon wanted to scoff and say that he’d hardly call it a statement. But frankly he was too horrified to even speak.

“Now at first glance,” the man began to speak shooting a glare at his partner for offering Nixon an out. “At first glance you don’t have much of a connection with any of these victims.
But Agent Speirs on the other hand…”

Lewis raised his head, “Is he okay?”

The woman sat down in front of him, “Let him talk, answer our questions and then we’ll answer yours.”

Her partner continued, “Speirs has a history with a few of these men. Seems he had a close encounter with the De Lucca family awhile back. You wanna tell me about it?”

Lewis frowned, “It’s all in the reports.”

“That’s true,” the man nodded, “But you know what isn’t in those reports? The nature of your relationship with Agent Speirs. We know he’s close with your father. But why don’t you tell us?”

Nixon sighed, “We are- we were-in a relationship.”

The female detective just nodded, “And when did that end?”

“I would say about three hours ago-when I almost killed him in our hotel room.”

His two interrogators exchanged a look.

‘Why did you attack him?” she asked.

God…how did he explain this? How the Hell was he supposed to explain all this!?

“I didn’t want to!” he snapped, “I did everything I could to keep him safe- I would never intentionally hurt him. I didn’t want to kill those people. But it’s not…it’s not just me in here!”

They both stared at him.

One of them spoke so softly Nixon couldn’t recognize them, “What are you trying to say?”

Lewis gazed at his reflection in the metal table, only to see that it was glaring angrily back at him, “I’m not alone in my head…there’s someone else. He…”

He didn’t want to look up and see their skeptical faces so instead he focused on the cuffs on his hands, noting how strange and alien they felt around his wrists.

“How’s Ron?” he asked once more.

Finally they answered, “He’ll live.”

Buck Compton, NYC, New York

His borrowed desk was a mess of files, notes, pictures and theories. He was scanning the list of Ron’s abduction victims for the next potential target and wondering why he hadn’t received any kind of update from California.

That was when his cell phone began to ring.

“Speak of the devil.” He muttered to himself, fully expecting it to be Nixon or Ron.

Eyes still roaming the list, he put the phone to his ear, “Compton.”

“Buck? It’s Christenson.”

Buck rolled his eyes, not entirely surprised to hear the young agent’s voice. “Hey, how’s Luz?”

“Wow… I’m not sure how to begin to answer that one. Look- he’s fine, he’s also not why I’m calling. It’s Ron…”

Buck paused and felt the dread start to build in his stomach, “What?”

“There’s been some kind of incident- I don’t know all the details but he’s in the hospital. He’s in bad shape I think.”

“Well what the HELL HAPPENED!?” Buck didn’t mean to sound so pissed but he couldn’t help it. Shit. It was always something with Ron. That man couldn’t keep himself out of trouble.

“I DON’T KNOW!” the kid shouted right back and Buck was reminded of why Ron liked him in the first place. He had spunk. “Were you not listening to me? I don’t know the details! But look- I’m grabbing the next flight to LA. You want to come and I’ll get you a seat.”

Buck put a hand to his forehead- feeling a headache coming on, “I’m sorry- I just…yeah get me a seat.”

“Fine. Get your shit together and meet me at the airport in 3 hours.”

“Fine.”

Once he was off the phone, Buck started gathering up all of their case files and putting together his suitcase in his mind.

His hand was on the speed dial for Nixon, but in all likelihood his partner already knew about the situation and was with his boyfriend. Not to mention it would take up time. So Buck didn’t bother and shot out of the office to go to his apartment.

And he’d just gotten back to New York the other day…

Philadelphia, PA

Well Babe learned something new every day.

For instance today he learned that winning a game of pool is pretty fucking easy if the person you’re playing against is drunk off their ass.

Babe had taken advantage of their unique situation and had one drink. ONE!

How many had Chris had? Enough for Babe to tell that the guy had a serious drinking problem.
It was getting dark and the bar was starting to fill up. The night was seriously not going the way that Babe had hoped it would and he wanted to get the Hell out of there.

“Hey,” he poked Chris in the stomach and the other teen turned to him with- surprise, surprise- a drink in his hand.

“What’s up?” Chris slurred although he was still grinning.

Babe sighed, “This place is getting old. Let’s scram, kay?”

The handsome blonde nodded and slung an arm around Babe’s shoulders, “Right! Besides- I said I’d take you to the movies. Didn’t I?”

Babe chuckled nervously as he steered them out of the bar and onto the sidewalks, “Riiight. How bout I take a rain check? I think we should call it a night.”

“Call it a night? No no no no. I promised you a date.”

Babe rolled his eyes, “And oh how you delivered.”

Chris dropped his arm from Babe’s shoulders and stumbled a few feet ahead before turning to look at him, “What’s your problem?”

Babe gaped, “What’s my problem? Are you serious? You’re wasted!”

Chris glared, “Yeah. So? Maybe I was just trying to get you to loosen up.”

“You were trying to get me to loosen up?” Babe asked in disbelief. “Really? Because you’re loosened up enough for the both of us I think.”

“Oh my God!” Chris ran a hand through his hair and laughed, “Stop being such a stiff. Now come on- let’s try and have fun.”

Babe was interrupted from saying that no one called anyone a stiff these days when Chris grabbed his arm and began to pull him towards the truck.

He jerked his arm away, “Oh Hell no. You’re way too drunk to drive. Give me the keys.”

Chris frowned, “I’m fine! Let’s go.”

He seized Babe’s arm again. Only this time his grip was tighter and Babe actually winced at the pressure.

“Fuck man- you’re hurting me. Let me go. I’m not getting in that fucking truck.”

“Jesus Babe.” He reached out with his other hand and grabbed Babe’s other arm just as roughly before violently dragging him along.

Babe tried to pull away, “Let go of me asshole!”

They struggled for a few moments and Chris shoved him, “Just get in the fucking truck!”

Babe stumbled backwards and hit the truck with a thud. He winced when the side of his head smacked into the window- making him momentarily dizzy.

That was it- he didn’t care how drunk Chris was. He was going to kick his ass!

Chris started towards him again and Babe was 100% ready to sock him in the jaw when a voice came from down the street.

“Hey!”

Babe was distracted by the call and looked over to see an attractive young man jogging towards them with a frown on his face.

While he looked at the newcomer, Chris pulled him away from the truck and unlocked the door.

“Easy there man.” The stranger’s accented and smooth voice was directed at Chris as held up his hands, “Just relax. The kid obviously doesn’t want to get in the car.”

Chris glared, “Fuck off- this is none of your business.”

The stranger put his hands down and the frown on his pale face deepened as Babe evaded Chris’s attempt to force him into the passenger seat, “Well I’m making it my business. Leave him alone.”

Chris looked like he was about to say something but Babe cut him off by violently shoving him in the chest, “Yeah Chris. Even a complete stranger can see what an asshole you are!”

“Oh goddamn it Babe. Stop your good kid bullshit and get in the truck!”

“What the Hell does that mean?”

Chris slammed the open passenger door shut and rounded on him, the stranger moved forward slightly out of the corner of Babe’s vision. “It means you’ve been pulling this whole fucking ‘Woe is me’ shit forever. Acting like you’re some fucking saint ever since someone capped your folks. Just get the Hell over it already!”

At the mention of his parent’s death Babe saw red and lunged at the other teen- fully prepared to rip his head off. However a pair of arms caught him around the waist to hold him back.

“Don’t you ever talk about my parents you piece of shit! I’ll fucking kill you! You dick! You asshole! You’re nothing but a fucking alcoholic retard!”

Babe was still swinging his fist and violently kicking his legs as Chris shielded his face with his arms and the stranger tried to haul Babe away.

“Fucking let me go! Fuck you Chris!” Babe shouted as he felt himself be lifted off the ground. Furious, Babe kicked out once more and his foot connected with Chris’s face to make a satisfying crunch.

Chris stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. The stranger paused and let Babe go.

Babe whirled around to give the guy a piece of his mind but the man instantly shrank back and held up his hands in surrender.

“Look- I’m sorry. I just- didn’t want you to kill him. Although it sounded to me like you would have been well within your right to do so.” The same unique voice washed over Babe and he felt himself calm somewhat.

Not wanting to appear appeased he glared at the man, “Damn right I was!”

The man nodded his head of spiky black hair, “Um…I think you knocked ‘im out though.”

Babe looked over to see that Chris was unconscious on the sidewalk. “Oh…good.”

“Are you okay?”

Babe felt his cheeks heat up, remembering that the guy has apparently come to his rescue, “Yeah I’m fine. You didn’t need to do that. He was just mega drunk- I coulda taken him.”

The man looked amused, “Uh-huh. Do you….need to call someone?”

Babe briefly considered taking Chris home in his truck, but he really didn’t want to spend another second around the guy-unconscious or not.

“I uh…” He remembered that Bill and Dick had called to say they were working late. They would flip out if they knew he wasn’t at home, “Oh shit…I can’t call them.”

The stranger nodded, “Okay um…look. How about I get us a taxi? I’ll take you wherever you need to go okay? It’s on me.”

Babe frowned. Bill had taught him not to trust anyone- but the guy had kinda just helped him out. “Man…I don’t know you.

The stranger smiled and held out his hand, “Right. Sorry. I’m Eugene Roe. Just call me Gene.”
Babe shook his hand reluctantly, “Gene huh? I’m Babe.”

Gene made a face, “Oh? That’s actually your name? I just thought he was calling you that.”

Babe made a gagging noise, “No…that’s actually my name. Kinda…let’s just say it is.”

“Okay. So what do you say Babe? I completely understand your hesitancy. But I swear- the cab driver will be there and I’ll have you dropped off and then you won’t have to worry about me.”

Babe thought about it for a minute, “Yeah…yeah okay. Thanks.”

Gene kept glancing over at the kid next to him, wondering if he were really okay. He wasn’t all that surprised at himself for getting involved in the scuffle he had witnessed.

It was in his nature to help people. He just wasn’t hardwired to ignore people’s plights.

However he was a little shocked by himself when he offered to share a cab with the guy. But Babe seemed….kind of special and he couldn’t leave him wandering the streets all alone.

Babe had given the cab driver directions the moment he got in and then immediately fallen silent. So Gene took it upon himself to ask, “You’re sure you’re okay?”

The young man sighed and pulled his Eagle’s cap off of his head and Gene smiled at the red hair he’d been hiding.

Of course…Floyd was always saying that Gene couldn’t resist a red head. ‘Well that explains it,’ he thought humorously to himself.

Babe nodded, “Yeah I’m okay. Smacked my head a little...so I’m dizzy. But okay.”

Gene frowned and reached out to touch him- Babe looked at him warily.

“I’m a doctor.” Gene explained.

Babe nodded and let Gene press his fingers to his slightly bruised forehead, “You look kind of young for a doctor.”

“I was part of an accelerated program. I skipped over the BA…I’m just a lowly intern right now. But still.”

Babe smiled- a wide, toothy smile that made Gene a little light headed, “That’s incredible. You must be hella smart.”

Gene ducked his head in embarrassment, “I just knew what I wanted to do for a long time I guess. So I got a head start. What about you?”

Babe’s smile froze, “What about me what?”

Gene laughed and took his hand from Babe’s head, “Are you in school?”

“Oh…uh…yeah.”

He looked young, but he and his- whatever that jerk was-had come out of a bar so Gene figured he was a college kid.

Realizing that Babe wasn’t going to say much more he nodded at his injury, “I’d put some ice on that and take a few pain killers when you get home.”

Speaking of home, the taxi was slowing down in front of an apartment building.

“This is me.” Babe noted and opened the door- getting out of the cab. And honestly? Gene was sad to see him go.

But the Babe leaned back down to look at him and gave him another smile, “Hey doc?”
Gene couldn’t help but smile back, “Yes Babe?”

“Thanks. You know you’re totally my hero.”

Gene watched him go until he was safely inside. Then he leaned forward and gave the driver the location of his motel.

When Gene walked into his motel, he couldn’t take his mind off of Babe. He suddenly wished that he had just had the guts to ask him for his number.

But what good would that have done? He still had a flight tomorrow.

He sighed and flipped the light on in his room. He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t notice the presence of someone behind him.

Suddenly he felt a sharp sting in his shoulder and he gasped, falling to the floor in pain. Rolling onto his back he made out through his pain-induced haze-two figures looming over him.

Then a hand covered his mouth and everything slowly faded to black.

Some Call This Fun (6/?)

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:51:17 GMT

Title: Some Call This Fun (6/?)

Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they’ll soon discover that there are more challenges to be had than just the competition. Hook-ups, fights, partying, back stabbing, secrets and lies take center stage as the crew watches their reality show spiral into insanity.

Meet the Crew

Meet the Contestants

Oh Captain My
Captain?

Capture The Flag

We All Fall Down

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

“Well I think he’ll be just fine. But it was good of you to have him checked out. I hear you were quite the hero today.”

Frank didn’t even know why he was still there. After the challenge had finished Christenson had insisted that he go see this doctor just to make sure he was alright.

But the doctor was a beautiful, young, French woman named Renee and Christenson, with his apparently selective ADD, had been distracted by her shiny-ness.

Christenson was leaning against the desk Renee was seated at and gave her an ‘Aw-Shucks’ smile. “It was nothing really. I used to be a lifeguard is all. What about you? Doctors are the real heroes.”

Renee blushed and ducked her head before giving Burton what all men knew as ‘The Eyelash Flutter’.

Frank had obviously outlived his usefulness. He had been Christenson’s metaphorical cute puppy- used to draw the woman in and then doomed to be neglected.

Bros before Hoes his ass! But far be it from him to cock block. He was so outta there.

Floyd knew he had been sent over to the contestant’s house to tell…somebody….something. And Harry had made it out to be a very urgent something.

But it was important to remember that Floyd was a sex deprived intern surrounded by attractive, and (more importantly) drunk, young men. And any mission he was given took a backseat to the eternal goal of all men his age: getting laid.

Really…Nix and Harry had no one to blame but themselves. They knew better.

He took a quick survey of all his potential targets. Where to start?

Ronald Speirs was….well he was smoking. Figuratively and…well literally…he was outside smoking.

The main problem with him was that Harry, of all people, had claimed he was a major badass….and Harry wasn’t easy to impress.

Frankly…Floyd didn’t want to know the terrifying things Speirs must have done to gain Harry’s admiration.

Skip and Malarkey were both out of the question. They were too involved with each other. And speaking of involved-Toye and Buck were too busy with George Luz to realize that they were BOTH too busy with George Luz.

On that note Luz kinda had his hands full…which was too bad because he gave Floyd slutty vibes. Oh well.

Then there were Roe and Webster. Both, while painfully attractive, were also painfully wise to his game. As was Albert Blithe. They all fell under the ever growing category of Not Interested.

He was about 80% sure that Lipton, Cobb, Perconte, Shifty, Sobel, Bill, and Penkala were all straight.

Evans was, believe it or not, a little too odd for his tastes. He wanted Amy Winehouse crazy not Britney Spears crazy.

There was a difference.

Now on to those who had promise.

Grant was definitely on the list- he was quickly establishing a reputation as Sir Drinks A Lot. So he was cute, funny and might get drunk enough to actually sleep with Floyd.

Then there was Christenson. He wasn’t really crazy but he seemed slightly impressionable…maybe…or maybe that was just wishful thinking because Floyd found him so freaking attractive. So perfectly put together…so pleasant to look at and…so probably straight.

Then there was this kid…this Babe. He hadn’t really seen him much yet. But he HAD been drugged out on LSD or some shit. So there was some sort of underlying recklessness there.

Then of course there was Liebgott, who was Floyd’s favorite for a couple of reasons.

First of all- HOT. In that ‘I’m thinking dirty thoughts while I lick my really, red lips and walk with my hips guiding me’ kind of hot.

Secondly- he seemed like he would probably kick your ass afterward. And Floyd decided he was totally down with that. Seriously.

Now all he had to figure out was how to get from point A to point B…

Babe was pretty sure that he was starting to get too comfortable. He was making friends, he was laughing, and he had bonded with Bill over their Philly roots. Which was both pleasant and unpleasant…because thinking of home never ceased to make him feel guilty.

Basically...being comfortable was bad. Because when he got comfortable in an environment-he felt confident enough to be himself. And being him was just too much trouble.

The way he figured, most people felt free to let out their inner crazy when they found themselves on TV. But Babe just felt the overwhelming desire to censor himself.

Which was why he didn’t want to be the obviously underage drinker on camera (even if they were in another country). It was also why he’d acted so aghast when Hoobler had told him he’d been high (although that was mostly genuine shock) and it was why he just didn’t need to get comfortable.

Being himself is what got him drugged by that green haired dude, beaten up multiple times, stalked, chained up in a basement in Santé Fe and also on this damn no-name, reality TV show!

But once the confidence started to bubble up inside him there was no going back and when Bill smacked him in the shoulder playfully and asked him if he was drinking tonight Babe’s response had been “Hell yea.”

So he had a few secrets? Who didn’t? Letting loose wasn’t going to make him spill his guts.

It wasn’t like he was a murderer or a drug addict. He was just a bit of a wild child.

He needed to stop being a pussy and have fun. And that was all there was to it!

Gene was tired, homesick and pretty sure that he had only said about 20 words in the past few days. His team was celebrating their victory pretty hard and even Babe, who Gene had sensed a kind of shyness in previously, was opening up and tossing back drinks.

On the other hand, the red team seemed to be in a strange state. Luz had stormed in earlier shouting angrily and stomping off- Buck had followed him and everyone else seemed rather subdued.

He felt someone’s presence to his left and looked over to see a member of the red team sit down next to him on the couch. The other man sighed and ran a hand through his dark blonde hair. Gene couldn’t remember his name.

He was curious about the red team’s sour mood but kept quiet. It wasn’t his business anyway.

Just when he had decided to stay silent, the other man looked over at him curiously and asked, “What are you doing over here? Shouldn’t you be celebrating with your team?”

He nodded over towards the kitchen where Babe was flinging his arms out and making Bill, Muck and Don laugh.

Gene just shrugged, “Not really my thing.”

The man frowned, “Yeah…not really mine either. I’m Lipton.”

Lipton held his hand out and Gene shook it and introduced himself, “Gene. So…why are you guys so down? One loss. Not a big deal...it’s only the third day.”

Lipton sighed, “Honestly I think it’s Luz. He’s usually in such a good mood and his bad mood is kind of bringing everyone down.”

“What’s the matter with him?”

“He’s tight with Toye and he’s upset that he’s going into the one-on-one tomorrow. I’m sure Toye will win though.”

“That’s what we thought about Hoobler.” Gene muttered and let his gaze slide back to the kitchen. Babe was laughing loudly as Bill handed him another drink. He wondered what it was that made the young man laugh.

Lipton smiled at him, “You seem pretty interested in what’s going on over there.”

Gene shook his head, “Not what…”

Lipton followed his gaze and just said, “Oh…okay.”

Gene stare at the other man for a moment, “Does that bother you?”

Lipton’s mouth fell open, “No! No of course not. Um…I guess I’ve never really thought about it before.”

That caught Gene’s attention, “You don’t know anybody who plays for that team?”

Lipton chuckled, “I guess I do now.”

“I play for both actually,” Gene told him, surprised to find himself even bringing it up…but the guy didn’t really seem to care. “You better get used to it.”

“Why’s that?”

“Let’s just say you’re probably going to see more of it then you ever have before.”

Lipton looked around at the other contestants in surprise, “Seriously? Do you think they did that on purpose?”

“What? Pick a bunch of gay guys?”

Lipton shrugged, “I guess.”

Gene shook his head, “Probably not. But I bet Nixon had something to do with it.”

“What?” Lipton asked, “You think he’s gay?”

“He’s something,” Gene laughed, “I’m sure he had a hand in the selection process.”

Lipton smiled, looking less uncomfortable than he had originally, “Well I guess you’re right. Things are probably going to get interesting.”

“Luz…just calm down. He’ll do fine- you know that.”

Luz crossed his arms across his chest and flicked some cigarette ash to the ground. He had gone to the side of the house, which was generally the most silent, to have a smoke and think about what was bothering him.

However Buck and a couple of cameras had immediately followed- putting an end to any solitude he’d hoped to have.

He sighed and looked over at the tall, blonde. “You know…I just…I guess I came on this show because I thought it would be fun and challenging and all that shit…and it is. So far. But like…now I’m getting to know people and if Joe gets eliminated that’ll just….really suck.”

Buck leaned next to him against the house, “I know it. But it’s not going to happen. Cobb sucks…I mean he has to if even you got the drop on him.”

Luz glared at him before a snort of laughter escaped, “You’re probably right….asshole.”

“Hey now…is that anyway to talk to someone trying to lift your spirits?”

“Because you’re doing such a great job. Besides I don’t need my spirits lifted.” Luz pointed out as he took a drag from his cigarette. “I just need to take my mind off it.”

It being Toye…and how much he didn’t deserve to go. Hell Luz deserved it more than Joe did. In the challenge Toye had fallen off of his column trying to help Luz…Luz had fallen off because he was being a spastic freak.

“I know just the thing,” Buck pushed off the wall and slid a little closer to Luz who, knowing where this was headed, took a final puff on his cigarette before tossing it to the ground.

“Is that so?”

Buck just nodded and leaned forward into Luz’s space with a grace that George found impressive considering their height difference.

Never having been a fan of the exaggerated lead up, Luz stepped forward and eliminated the very little distance between them.

He reached up and hooked his right arm around Buck’s neck before tilting his head back and allowing their lips to touch softly.

Buck’s hands quickly found their way to Luz’s hips and George allowed the taller man to slowly push him back into the wall.

One of Buck’s hands came up to cup the back of George’s head and pull him even closer, causing Luz to sigh into the other man’s mouth.

Now Luz adhered to a very standard make out rule- which consisted of not opening his eyes until the kiss ended or it was obvious that more than making out was about to take place.

For whatever reason he decided to break that rule- and almost had a heart attack when he saw how close a camera was to his face.

He pulled his lips away from Buck’s, “Jesus!”

Buck looked confused, “What is it?”

“Fucking cameras.” Luz growled.

Buck sighed, “Right…shit. Well just ignore them.”

But Luz wasn’t in the moment anymore. He was thinking about It….and thinking about It made thinking the moment was a mistake.

He gently pushed Buck away and ran a hand through his hair rapidly, “You know I should go check on Joe…we both should. Cause this could be his last night here.”

He walked off quickly, deciding not to worry about the whole make-out thing right now. Trying to take his mind off of Toye wasn’t fair. Besides- if Joe did get eliminated tomorrow- then he would seriously regret not having hung out with him tonight.

Buck, he was sure, not only understood that but probably felt the same way.

David wasn’t sure why he kept doing this- especially when he thought the guy was an asshole. An asshole who had made it very clear he didn’t think much of David.

But that night he found himself searching out Joseph Liebgott once more.

When he was a child- his mother said his natural curiosity would take him far in life. He supposed she was right. It earned him good grades in high school which took him to a good college which gave him what he thought was a pretty good life.

Back in California he was working with Marine biologists to write a text book on the subject matter. All the experience would hopefully help him write his own book one day. But it didn’t pay well…hence the reality show.

On the other hand…when he was a teenager his father told him that his natural curiosity was going to get his ass kicked one day.

He supposed he was right too.

When he did find Liebgott the man was outside- sitting on a stone fence that cut the pool off from the hill behind the house. His back was to the house and he was alternating between drinking from a bottle of tequila and smoking a cigarette.

David looked at the slump of his shoulders and wondered which outcome his curiosity would get him this time. Would it take him far or get his ass kicked?

Rubbing his hands together he decided not to worry about it for now. At least there weren’t a lot of people out there. He was never too big on crowds or parties.

“Hey,” he called out as he approached the other man. Liebgott turned his head and sighed upon recognizing him.

David ignored this and climbed up the fence to sit next to him, “Look I realize that we got off on the wrong foot…repeatedly. But I just-okay I’m sorry…but was that bottle full when you got it?”

Joe reluctantly acknowledged his question by peering at his tequila, “Yes…yes it was.”

David made a face at the now two-thirds empty bottle. “Do you like live off of cigarettes and alcohol or something?”

Liebgott looked at him and actually smiled, “What were you saying about getting off on the wrong foot?”

Realizing he was doing it again, David rushed to correct himself, “I just mean…should you really being treating your body that way? What with you being…sick or whatever.”

Joe shrugged, gazing at the Brazilian forest of which they had an excellent view, “Probably not.”

David tried to sneak a look at the bruise he was sure he’d seen on Joe’s arm earlier that day, but it was too dark and the light didn’t reach this far away from the house.

But he figured bullshit would be pretty easily deflected by Liebgott who probably thought every word out of his mouth was bullshit anyway. So he decided to be frank.

“I want to know what’s on your arm.”

Joe smirked, “Really? How bad?”

David was confused, “What?”

The other man pulled a leg up and shifted to face him. “Look- I don’t know you, we’re not friends. I don’t owe you anything. But...I’ll tell you for…I dunno…10 bucks.”

David gaped, “Are you serious?”

That infuriating smirk was back, “Yep.”

Frowning, David reached for his wallet which was in the back of the jeans he’d put on after leaving his wet clothes in his room.

“Fine.” He complained but slapped a $10 in Joe’s hand anyway. “So what is it?”

Joe pocketed the money and exhaled more smoke, “They’re track marks. From the medicine I take.”

“You inject yourself?”

The other man nodded and took another drink of tequila, “You got it. Not all that interesting.”

“What are you sick with?” He couldn’t help from asking.

Joe frowned and climbed down from the fence, stumbling slightly from being inebriated. “One question at a time Web.”

“It’s David. You realize you’ve got everyone calling me that now?”

Joe squinted at him like he wasn’t making sense and waved the Tequila at him, “People are going to call you whatever they want to call you! Why do you fucking care?”

David ignored his sudden irritability, “So you’re not going to tell me what’s wrong with you?”

Joe started stumbling backwards and the distant light from the house hit him. David saw that his hair was messy, and his cheeks and lips were flushed red the way that some got when they’d been drinking.

He was pale, too thin and angry. Just looking at him made David’s heart hurt for reasons he couldn’t understand.

Joe let out a choked laugh, “Web man….we don’t have time to go over what’s wrong with me.”

David knew they were talking about two different things now and couldn’t take his eyes off the intoxicated man.

Looking down for a moment Liebgott raised his hand up and pointed at David, “You...you uh seem like a real...”

Joe stopped mid slur, dropping his hand and lifting his head, “I was going to say nice guy…but you actually seem like a preppy prick.”

David laughed a little in spite of himself, “That’s very…honest of you.”

“Yeah,” Joe shrugged and stomped his cigarette into the ground, “What I’m trying to say here
Web…is that you don’t need to know about my problems. They blow, alright? But they’re uh…they’re my problems and I wanna keep ‘em that way.”

David opened his mouth to respond, but Joe was already stumbling away.

“Oh sweet Jesus!” Nixon cried from where he was watching the feed from their set up security cameras.

Dick, who was still upset with Nixon for sending Floyd to cause trouble, had lightened up when he remembered that Floyd would forget any instruction when surrounded by temptation.

He was sitting in the surveillance room with Lewis, reading a book when the host had started making noises reminiscent of a dying hippo.

When Nixon’s disgust was finally verbalized in English, Dick gave up trying to read and looked over at him, “What is it?”

Nixon just shook his head, eyes glued to one of the many monitors, “Renee is straight up, full on, macking on Christenson!”

Dick sat up straighter, “Seriously?”

“I can’t make this shit up! Look at her!”

Dick jumped up and walked over to Nixon, “No! Don’t look at her! Give her a little privacy Nix!”

Lewis rolled his eyes, “No such thing, Dick. Not here. You know that- she knows that.”

Dick frowned and physically wedged himself between Nixon and the monitor, blocking it with his body.

Because Nix had been so close to the table Dick had to step over his legs and was half sitting on the metal table, and half straddling the now completely frozen host.

But the red-headed man didn’t seem to notice that Nixon wasn’t properly functioning because he continued to talk, “She’s your friend Lewis! How can you just stand there and invade her privacy like that? It’s one thing to do it to the contestants but not Renee. She didn’t sign any contract!”

Lewis just nodded; hyper aware of his friends knees brushing his thighs. They were so close that he could feel the heat coming from Dick’s very nice...very close body.

“Furthermore I don’t understand why you’d watch since it so obviously grosses you out.”

Something needed to happen because Lewis was about 2 seconds away from running his hands up Dick’s incredibly long legs and that would be very, very bad. Considering that Dick was his closest, most important friend and he’d managed not to do anything stupid like that so far. It’d be a shame to ruin it all now…

The door to the surveillance room busted open and Harry walked in and paused- taking in their position, “Did I…interrupt something?”

Nixon sprung into action and stood up from his chair so quickly he almost butted heads with Dick, “No! Nothing- we’re cool. I’m cool. Did you know Renee’s making out with a contestant?”

They both stared at him.

“I’m going to go.” That said Nixon practically fell over himself leaving the room.

Harry looked at an equally confused Dick and raised his eyebrow, “What was that all about?”

Dick shook his head, “Beats me. Maybe he has a thing for Renee?”

“Hahahaha! As if! Are you SERIOUS?” Harry laughed.

Dick frowned, “Well why not? They bicker all the time and he seemed pretty upset to see her making out with someone.”

“That’s because he knows we can’t use footage of any crew members- so no one will know that Christenson hooked up with anyone.”

“Well he might still be jealous.” Dick suggested only to have Harry shake his head.

“Look Dick- he does NOT have a thing for Renee.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Harry laughed again, “If you don’t already know then far be it from me to tell you.”

The producer then turned to go and look for Nixon leaving Dick alone and very confused.

Know what?

Floyd was blending in behind the camera man pretty well watching the contestants come and go. He heard laughter coming towards him.

“Nah guys- not a big deal. I’ll show you. I just need someone to practice on who can’t….oh I got it!”

Not two seconds later Talbert was faced with an insanely adorable and incredibly drunk young red head with a wide smile.

This must have been Babe.

The young man grinned, “Can I borrow you for a sec?”

Floyd grinned right back, “Absolutely.”

Babe grabbed his wrist and tugged him into the kitchen- Floyd wasn’t sure what was going on but he hadn’t had great luck lately so he wasn’t entirely optimistic.

Babe was laughing and left him next to the counter to go and get something. Floyd noticed that Skip, Don, Grant, Perconte and Penkala all looked rather amused.

Man they had gathered a crowd, although it WAS a large kitchen. What was Babe planning to do?

Suddenly Babe was back with Tequila, a salt shaker and a lemon wedge.

He put the lemon wedge in Floyd’s mouth, “Hold that. Now…do you mind if I lick you?”

Floyd stared at him blankly. Um…NO!?

But since he couldn’t talk he just shook his head.

Babe grinned, “Awesome.”

Then he leaned forward and put his mouth on Floyd’s neck-sucking for a moment and the intern tried not to moan when he felt his tongue swirl over his skin.

Pulling away Babe poured salt onto the spot of Floyd’s neck he had moistened, and proceeded to lick the salt off his neck (and boy was Floyd’s luck changing) then took a swig of tequila.

Then he laughed, leaned forward and sucked the lemon out of Floyd’s mouth.

When he was done he turned back to the gathering and bowed, “That is how you do a body shot with tequila. Frankly you guys are losers for never having done them before.”

Floyd’s brain was still shutting down from the hotness.

Suddenly one of the camera man spoke up, “Babe- why don’t you do that to one of the contestants?”

Floyd knew he was only suggesting it because they couldn’t use any footage with Floyd in it. But Babe was too drunk to understand that.

So he just nodded, “Sure.”

At that moment Liebgott came strolling through the kitchen- his own bottle of tequila in hand and Babe waved him over. “Joe! Can I borrow your neck?”

Liebgott, also very drunk-but in more control of his facilities than Babe, looked at the laid out items before grinning, “Body shots huh? Sure why not?”

Joe figured he was messed up and Babe was hot. So he certainly didn’t see the problem.

He leaned against the kitchen counter, stuck a lemon in his mouth and tilted his head back as Babe sucked on his neck.

When Babe had finished the shot, Joe put his hands on the other man’s narrow hips and swung him around, successfully reversing their positions. “My turn.”

Babe just laughed when Joe licked his neck. However he was drunk enough to have forgotten to put the lemon in his mouth so when Joe had finished his shot and went up to Babe’s lips, the only thing he was sucking out of the young man’s mouth was his tongue. Which was fine with him.

“Am I dreaming?” Floyd asked no one in particular as the two began to make out and the contestants that had gathered stared in shock. Malarkey, Skip and Penkala making catcalls and whistling.

Someone pinched him in the arm, “OW!”

Luz shrugged at his pain, “You’re awake and holy shit did I miss something or what?”

“Whoa…Joe he’s a bit young for that.” Shifty had come back into the kitchen and was shocked at what he saw.

Liebgott pulled his lips away from Babe and raised his eyebrow at the red head, “How old are you?”

Babe grinned, “Nineteen.”

Joe shrugged at Shifty “That works for me.”

Shifty gaped and then turned to gently smack Grant in the shoulder, knowing he was the only other person that knew Babe was only seventeen.

Grant shrugged and Shifty went off to find Bill before things got out of hand.

Babe let his fingers curl around the top of Joe’s jeans, “Your room only has 3 people right?”

Joe laughed, “Yeah. Good idea…”

He pushed back from the counter and followed Babe out of the kitchen. This was probably a bad idea but all he was thinking right now was that Babe tasted like tequila and something sweet- which was strange considering the salt.

Either way. He wanted to taste it again without an audience. The kid was obviously just looking for some fun- who was Joe to turn him away?

Cobb was busy sulking in his room and trying to ignore the racket that was coming from downstairs. They could get drunk and be stupid all they wanted but he had to focus on the upcoming task.

He wasn’t sure how good the odds of beating Toye were be but if the challenge was anything like the one Evans and Hoobler had been in he might stand a chance.

He was trying to think of possible scenarios in his head when the door to the room he shared with two members from the blue team was flung open and Liebgott stumbled in with a couple of camera men following.

The main reason for the stumbling was probably because his lips were attached to someone and his eyes were closed.

Joe and the red-head- Cobb couldn’t remember his name- fell against the wall and Joe pulled their lips apart to pull his shirt over his head.

“Oh what the FUCK?” Cobb shouted when his roommate started to push up the other participant’s shirt.

Joe glared, “Why are you still in here? Get the fuck out!”

Roy didn’t need to be told twice and he shot up from his bed, fled the room and slammed the door behind him.

They were going to what? Have sex in his room? That was unacceptable!

He heard footsteps and looked up to see his other roommate approaching.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.” He warned.

Eugene Roe raised his eyebrows, “Why’s that?”

“We’ve been sexiled.”

“Beg your pardon?”

“Liebgott’s in there with someone.”

Gene laughed, “What? Who?”

“How the fuck would I know? Someone on your team! Some red-head.”

He wasn’t sure why but the amused smile that had been on his roommates face fell so quickly it was almost comical.

Not knowing what to do now- Cobb just stomped off.

Shifty finally found Bill drinking a beer in the living room and talking with Speirs and Lipton. “Hey Bill- I need your help with Babe.”

Bill rolled his eyes, “I told the kid no one would do body shots.”

“Actually someone did body shots and then some.”

That caught the man’s curiosity, “What are you talking about?”

“Last I saw he and Liebgott had their tongues down each other’s throats.”

Lipton started to laugh. Speirs looked at him, “What?”

“Nothing just…Gene was right is all.”

Bill stood up, “No way am I gonna let him make an even bigger fool of himself. Fine- let’s go see if we can sober him up.”

Grant came up to them, “Yeah they’re not in the kitchen anymore.”

Speirs frowned, “Where are they?”

“I think they went up to Liebgott’s room.”

If it had been anyone else Bill wouldn’t have given a shit. But Babe was a good kid and he’d be damned if he let him have drunken sex on national television!

Speirs leaned back, “I’d hurry if I were you.”

Bill cursed and he and Shifty headed towards the stairs.

When they reached the room they were pretty sure was Joe’s they saw Gene staring at the door blankly.

Bill nudged him, “How long have they been in there?”

Gene shook his head, “I just got here so not long.”

Bill figured that if they were actually in the act of having sex, the camera crew would be outside the door.

Well…the worst that could happen is that’s he’d be scarred for life. But he didn’t want Babe to do something he’d regret in the morning.

He banged on the door, “Babe! It’s Bill- I’m coming in and you better be decent!”

And just like that- all Gene’s hopes that it had been Don were squashed like a bug.

Shifty saw his face and elbowed him in a friendly manner, “Don’t sweat it. He just drank too much. He probably can’t tell a square from a triangle.”

Just then Bill came out of the room- Gene hadn’t even realized he’d gone in- dragging Babe by the arm behind him.

“Whoa- Bill you seem mad! Are you mad at me? I told you I get sooooo drunk.” Babe was rambling on and on. He was shirtless and at some point had taken off his shoes, and the button on his jeans was undone. His pants were sliding down slightly and his hip had rapidly fading red marks from someone’s fingers.

Bill sighed, “I’m not mad at you.”

Then Bill gently shoved Babe forward and he tripped into Gene, “Why don’t you guys take him to his room?”

Gene sucked in a quick breath when Babe dropped his head on his shoulder, “Haha I’m so wasted. Tequila is the devil.”

Shifty noticed that Gene seemed kind of at a loss when he had his arms full of a drunk and shirtless Babe, so he stepped forward and took one of the kid’s arms.

“Come on, Babe.” Shifty said in what he hoped was a soothing voice, “Let’s get you some water.”

Gene just watched in frustration as Shifty led Babe down the hallway. What was wrong with him? The only time he ever got close to Babe was when he was intoxicated it seemed.

What really shocked him was that even after Babe’s less than model behavior- Gene still wanted to get to know him…it didn’t make any sense! He never acted like this!

What was it about Babe?

Bill glared down at Joe, “What is wrong with you?”

Liebgott glared right back and got to his feet so he could utilize his height, “Nothing! What crawled up your ass?”

“He’s obviously too wasted to know what he’s doing? You were taking advantage of him!”

“Please- what are you his fucking mother?” Joe got into the other man’s space. God he couldn’t fucking stand it when people bossed him around.

“Get out of my face.” Bill snapped and shoved Liebgott hard on the shoulder.

That was the last straw for Joe and his arm went back and up.

His fist hit Bill’s jaw with a loud smack.

Bill shoved him back and took a swing that caught Joe in the stomach.

“Shit!” One of the camera men cursed and ran out to go and find Bull and Martin.

“You’re shitting me?” Harry exclaimed into his phone, “That’s great. Yeah….whatever no one cares. Did you tell Toye about Buck? NO!? Well…you know what forget it…this is even better.”

“What is it?” Nixon asked seeing the glee in his producer’s eyes.

“Hmmm let’s just say this. Body shots, sex and Liebgott finally punched somebody.”

Nixon smiled, “I love my job.”

A/N: Look-no challenge! I decided to focus on the contestant interactions for this one-but I doubt I'll do it a lot in this fic's future. But by golly- as my author that's my right :) Hope it worked okay...

Some Call This Fun (5/?)

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:37:36 GMT

Title: Some Call This Fun (5/?)

Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they aren’t the only ones being challenged. A stressed producer, an exasperated doctor, the off-balanced host, a horny intern and an extremely concerned judge all struggle to maintain their faith as their reality show spirals into insanity.

Meet the Crew
Meet the Contestants
Oh Captain My Captain?
Capture The Flag

David checked his watch and then flopped back into the sand, the bonfire still going strong on the beach and most of the other contestants having headed back to the house. He heard shuffling behind him and looked back to see Liebgott sitting on a log, pulling out a cigarette.

David stared for a minute, “You shouldn’t smoke.”

“I shouldn’t do a lot of things.”

“Why are you still out here?”

“I wanted to smoke without getting bitched at. Apparently that was too much to hope for.”

“I’m not bitching!”

“Whatever.”

Liebgott lit the cigarette and let it hang from his lips, smoke billowing out of the corner of his mouth as he scratched at his arm viciously.

David sat up-watching him, “Um…ouch?”

Liebgott looked down at his now bleeding arm, “Fuuuck.”

Then he got up and walked away. David, who had originally wanted to be alone, decided to follow him-not because he cared about what was going on with Pissed Off Guy…but because he was curious…

“I still can’t believe you did that to me!”

Skip rolled his eyes, “Penk you have to accept the fact that we aren’t on the same team. We knew that was a possibility when we signed up. Besides- I was avenging a fallen comrade.”

This only made Alex glare, “I still say it was a cheap move…sneaking up on me.”

“Whatever you big baby! Where is Don anyway?”

“What-can’t go 5 minutes without your new best friend?”

“My what? No! I just went to get him a drink and now he’s not here and I-why are you looking at me like that?”

Alex just gaped, “Oh my God…I totally get it now!”

“Get what?”

“Why you keep blowing me off for him! You want to hit that!”

Skip spewed his mouthful of beer all over the grass next to the pool, “What!?”

“Yeah! I thought you were replacing me but now I see that you just want to get into his pants!”

“That’s not true! Shut up! I was totally replacing you!”

“Admit it! You wanna tap that ass!”

“Stop talking ghetto you freak!”

“What are you two yakking about?”

Skip froze when Don slid up next to him and took the drink he’d sent Skip after, “Nothing…”

“Well actually-” Penkala began, smiling over at the red-head until Skip kicked him in the leg. Alex clutched his thigh as he fell, “Ah! Charlie Horse!”

“You guys are weirdos.”

“You’re not very good are you?” Buck observed as Luz’s attempt to sink the 6 ball went south. Luz glared at him as he straightened up and walked around the pool table, plucking a cigarette from Toye’s lips and taking a drag. Toye swatted at him lazily.

Luz handed the cigarette back and poked Buck in the shoulder with his pool stick, “I’ll have you know I’m a perfectly acceptable pool player…usually. I’m just a little rusty.”

“Sure you are. Come here.” Buck grabbed Luz’s shoulders and steered him back to his original position. Standing behind Luz he grabbed the other man’s hands to line up a shot, “Here’s what you’re doing wrong, it’s all about the angle you hit the ball at…”

Luz rolled his eyes and smirked over at Toye, who was thinking that Buck was incredibly obvious…and also that Luz looked pretty good bent over a pool table…

Lipton wasn’t sure what to do with his hands. He wasn’t drinking anything, smoking anything, and he wasn’t playing anything. He looked at them for a moment before shoving them in his pockets.

Glancing around he spotted Speirs nodding absentmindedly at something Blithe was asking him.

The team Captain was watching Luz, Toye and Buck with a calculating stare. Lipton shrugged and walked over to the two of them.

He leaned against the wall next to Ron and nodded in the direction of his gaze, “What do you see?”

Speirs took a swig from his beer bottle, “Trouble waiting to happen.”

Lipton raised an eyebrow, “How so?”

All he saw were three guys playing pool.

Speirs shrugged, “You’ll see eventually.”

Lipton nodded, not sure that he would, “So you did really great today. Taking command I guess. Maybe you should join the Army.”

Finally Speirs looked over and gave him a twitch of the lips that Lipton would assume was a
smile, “Oh I definitely couldn’t do that.”

“What? Why not? It seems like it’d be a good fit.”

“Trust me Lipton…it would never work.”

Then he turned his head to finish answering Blithe’s question and Lipton was left to wonder what the big deal was.

What did Speirs see that he couldn’t?

Babe thought it was pretty cool that Christenson had snuck him a beer, although he doubted the red plastic cup was really fooling anyone. But if the kids on Laguna Beach could get away with it then so could he damn it!

Not that…he watched that show or anything.

He looked down at the alcohol and felt his stomach twinge a little. Hmmm maybe drinking wouldn’t really be the best thing to do right now. Sighing he sat the cup down and slinked away from the group he’d gotten tacked on to.

All of whom were arguing very loudly about how you couldn’t get THAT sick from eating two eggs and how Sobel was a big fat faker.

Which Babe guessed he probably was. Not that it mattered right now.

He was sure in a few minutes that Christenson would realize he was gone…but he was surprised to find that he was actually really tired.

He was going to go to sleep…

Gene watched Babe make a face at his cup before setting it down and walking off. He still hadn’t gotten around to talking to the guy yet but now seemed to be as good a time as ever.

He began to walk after him when an arm stretched out across the kitchen doorway, cutting him off. His eyes followed the arm up to its owner, a sandy haired young man who Gene remembered was the show’s intern.

“Can I…help you with something?”

The intern, Talbert, just grinned, “Wow you have a very sexy voice. I bet you get that all the time don’t you?”

He did actually. “Not really…look I actually-”

“So do you drink?”

“Um…rarely.”

“Fight? Steal? Do drugs? Have promiscuous sex?”

“What? No!”

Talbert sighed and let his arm drop, “Damn…and you were so hot too.”

Gene watched the intern walk off looking disappointed. It was only then that he realized Babe was long gone- up the stairs and probably to his room. Following him now would just seem weird.

Maybe he would catch him later.

Liebgott glared, “Stop fucking following me!”

David frowned, “I just wanted to see if your arm was okay.”

“It’s fine…go away.”

When they got to Joe’s bedroom David hung back in the doorway but was surprised that the
other man hadn’t slammed the door in his face.

Slowly entering the room he saw Liebgott rummaging through his things, “What are you looking for? A band aid? Just go to the infirmary…”

Joe didn’t bother answering, but finally stopped searching and pulled out a small, black case. Standing up he walked over to the bathroom down the hall.

“What is that?” David eyed the case curiously.

“Medicine. Now fuck off.”

David looked at Liebgott closely. The guy was kind of pale, clenching his jaw, had dark circles under his eyes and didn’t seem to eat…

“Are you sick?”

Liebgott had walked into the bathroom and David didn’t even realize he was almost inside as
well.

Joe frowned at him, “Yeah…I’m sick.”

Then he slammed the door in his face.

David didn’t feel as pissed as he thought he would be, even if he had been expecting Liebgott to shut the door on him. He couldn’t stop the wheels from turning in his head.

Whatexactly was wrong with the other man?

“What are you freaking out for? You’re going to win. I’m pretty sure Evans is legally retarded.” Bill tried to assure Hoobler, who had two feet in the pool- apparently all upset about having to compete in the head to head challenge tomorrow.

Grant slid over next to them, “You know what you need? Beer!”

He shoved a beer in Hoobler’s hand and started chugging one of his own. Perconte walked up to
gape at him, “How do you DRINK so much? I thought you were still wasted from yesterday!”

“I wish! I need another…something.”

Hoobler looked down at his beer and shrugged, “I guess you’re right Bill. Besides- this is the perfect chance to cream that sucker for always going on about my fucking ears.”

Perconte nodded, “Or anything really. Man that bitch can talk. Did he tell you about how he skipped his graduation to go sailing?”

“Or about how he’s an ice-skating champion?”

“AH! Mental image of him in tights!”

They all grimaced.

“Yeah,” Bill nodded, “I’ll be more than happy to see you send him packing.”

Grant took a swig of beer, “Ditto.”

…..

“Who the fuck says ‘ditto’ anymore?”

9 o’clock The Next Morning

“If you keep scratching it it’ll only hurt more.”

Nixon glared at his friend, whose skin was still perfect and not burnt like his.

He reluctantly took his hand from the back of his neck, “Yeah well today I came prepared.”

Dick looked at the sunscreen slathered onto Lewis’s face and smiled, “So I see.”

Nix nodded, “Alright let’s get this going.”

He turned back to the two assembled teams who were seated in wooden bleachers in a boxed off area away from the make shift arena where they would be having their head to head challenges.

“Contestants welcome to the first One-on-One challenge. Here in this arena is where the two contestants who got the most votes from the losing team will compete directly against one another. The winner will rejoin his team for the next challenge. And the loser will have to leave the island…for good.”

“Hey do you have a name for this show yet?” Grant hollered from the stands.

Nixon sighed….fucking Grant. “We were thinking about ‘Red vs. Blue’!”

“That’s a web series!”

“Or ‘The Island’.”

“That’s a movie!”

“We were also thinking about calling it ‘Shut the Fuck Up Grant So I Can Do My Goddamn Job!’”

“That’s a little long….”

Nixon glared, “As you all know…because you were all there yesterday-the Blue team lost the game of Capture the Flag. As MOST of you know, since one of you wasn’t there, the two Blue members competing today are Hoobler and Evans.”

The whole Blue team glared at Sobel.

Nixon swept his arms out, “Hoobler, Evans please step down into the arena.”

The two men hopped down from the stands, looking nervous.

“Today we are going to have…a duel.”

Liebgott frowned, “Duh.”

Nixon grinned and walked over to where Dick was holding an open box.

Reaching into the box he pulled out two black guns, “No I mean we’re going to have a DUEL.”

Cobb gaped, “You’re joking right?”

“Seriously?”

“Are you insane!?”

“Oh this is going to be AWESOME!”

Lewis rolled his eyes, “Relax- they aren’t loaded with real bullets. They’re loaded with specially designed rubber bullets. Which while not fatal- hurt like a bitch. Don’t worry we tested them on Floyd.”

They all looked over to see Talbert rubbing at his shoulder with wide eyes.

Evans gulped nervously. He didn’t like pain…and looking at the contraption in the arena…it was probably a bad thing that he didn’t like heights.

Nixon turned back to the arena, where there was a metal platform up in the air, with two gigantic mats on the ground below each end, obviously there to break someone’s fall.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. The two of you are going to climb up onto that platform and stand back to back. When I give the signal you will both take ten steps to the edge of the platform, turn around and fire your weapon. Trust me….the force of the rubber bullet will be enough to knock you down off the platform. The first one to fall loses. The winner rejoins his team. Any questions?”

Hoobler raised his hand, “What if someone gets hit in the eye?”

“We thought of that. Which is why you’ll be wearing these!” Nixon pulled two thick goggles
from behind his back, “Now get up there!”

Walking over to opposite sides of the platform, the two men began to ascend the attached stairs.

Babe watched them walk to the middle of the platform, worried that Hoobler might get a rubber bullet to the jugular. He looked down at his hands and frowned when he saw that the leg of the person next to him was shaking.

He looked up at Liebgott- who apparently was kind of an asshole…but his leg was shaking and he’d never been mean to Babe. He touched the other man on the shoulder and Joe jerked away immediately.

“Are you okay?” Babe asked.

At first he thought the man would snap at him but when he saw who it was, he deflated a
little.

“Yeah kid. I’m fine, just bored.”

Webster looked over with narrowed eyes and Babe wondered if he knew what was going on. Maybe he’d ask later.

The two men on the platform were now standing back to back.

Skip leaned over to whisper in Don’s ear, “I bet you $10 bucks Evans shoots himself in the foot.”

Malarkey just shook his head, “Nooo…he’s an excellent marksmen remember? He took firing lessons from his Uncle on the SWAT team!”

Skip laughed, “Oh right. I almost forgot.”

They were interrupted from their laughter by the loud bang of a gunshot.

All of the contestants jumped. Well…except Speirs…but come on.

Nixon grinned, “Did I forget to mention that the signal would be a real gunshot?”

Evans took a deep breath and started to walk, counting his steps.

One, two, three…

Hoobler made sure not to look down.

Four, five, six…

Just aim and fire that’s all. The fall wouldn’t hurt, right?

Seven, eight, nine.

Here goes nothing.

Ten.

The two men spun around at the same time. Hoobler fired two shots right off the bat, but neither of them hit their mark.

Evans waited a moment, took a deep breath and focused in.

Hoobler shot once more, hitting Evans in the leg.

Evans fell forward instead of backwards and fired a shot as he went down.

The rubber bullet hit Hoobler square in the chest and everyone gaped as the man went sailing backwards.

Hoobler hit his mat with a loud thud, cursing and clutching his chest the whole time.

Everyone gaped, including Nixon.

“Alright. We have a winner. Evans…get your butt down here!”

The blonde began to scale down the platform.

Multiple members of the Red team were grumbling and handing Luz $5 dollar bills.

Once the two men were back at the front of the arena, Nixon made them shake hands. Both of them grimaced and rubbed their leg and chest.

“Evans, congratulations. Really man…no one saw that coming.”

Evans gave him a pained grin, “Uh…thanks?”

The host turned back to Don, “Hoobler…my man. Sorry to say but you now have to leave the island. But you almost had him! Please say your goodbyes and go collect your things. A car will be waiting to take you away. Sorry dude.”

Hoobler just frowned and nodded. He walked over to the bleachers, where he was flooded with talk.

“No way!”

“That’s Bull man.”

“Yeah-you hit him first.”

“This totally sucks.”

He shook hands with Babe who gave him a small smile, “Thanks for being cool to me Hoob. Sorry you…got shot.”

Hoobler nodded, “Yeah…it really hurts.”

Shifty gave him a worried look, “Maybe they’ll let you go to the infirmary first.”

“THAT’S ENOUGH! WE HAVE A CHALLENGE TO DO!” Their host shouted at them.

“Nix!”

“What? Time is money Dick.”

They all gave Hoobler their last words before being herded away from the arena. Hoobler watched them go with a sigh.

He looked over at Talbert, “Can I see that Doctor before I go?”

The intern nodded swiftly, “Oh yeah. You definitely should…the pain only gets worse.”

“Great.”

At the Beach

Everyone gathered on the beach where there were two motor boats waiting. Nixon situated himself in between the two boats and Dick squinted behind him, looking out into the ocean.

Not far off the shore there were what appeared to be two large blocks that were sticking up
about 15 feet out of the water.

“Okay contestants. Listen up. The challenge for the day is pretty simple. You see those two blocks out in the water? They aren’t just blocks, they’re blocks composed of singular columns that are designed to hold up to four people comfortably. There is a singular column for each person on your team.”

Dick nodded, “The columns are close enough together that you can step onto the column next to you. Once each of you is standing upon your column, that’s when the challenge will start. Because each column will fall at random, forcing whoever is on the falling column to get safely onto another players column before they wind up in the water.”

Nixon took over, “Now the overall object of this challenge is to end the game with the highest number of people possible on the block. So don’t just let your teammates fall, you need to help them get to another column as quickly as you can. And don’t get too comfortable. Because any column could be the next to go. Any questions?”

“How will we know when the challenge is over?” Buck asked.

Nixon just laughed, “Oh you’ll know. Take a minute and then get your team into a motorboat.
The boat will take you to your block where you’ll each ascend a ladder up to your column.”

Bill shrugged and pulled his shirt over his head. No wonder Dick had told them all to wear swim trunks.

The kid, Babe, looked over at him, “Should I wear my sneakers?”

Bill paused, noticing the kid’s accent for the first time, “Are you from Philly?”

Babe paled, “Um when you say from…do you mean was I born there? Or do I live there?”

Bill raised an eyebrow, “ I mean did you grow up there?”

“Oh…then yeah. I’m from Philly. I knew you were I just yeah…so should I wear sneakers?”

Bill nodded at the question, deciding the kid couldn’t be bad if he was from Philly. But wondered why he’d been so reluctant to confirm it.

Dick and Lewis watched as they all piled into their separate boats and took off towards the blocks, where other boats were waiting with what looked like divers…who were apparently the ones who’d be toppling the columns.

Harry popped up next to them, texting on his Blackberry, “Hey. How goes it?”

Dick shrugged, “It hasn’t started yet. What are you texting?”

“Got some new show names…”

Nixon spun around and grabbed Harry’s shoulders, “What are they? Tell me! I need to know!”

Harry paused and glanced up at him, “Uhh Surviving the Island, O Console…that’s Portuguese for The Island…or so I’m told.”

“That’s it?”

“You know Dick’s right…you never really have to say the name of the show until you do your individual shots. So stop freaking out.”

Nixon grumbled under his breath.

Harry slipped his phone into his shorts pocket, “Oh and guess what else?”

Dick looked away from where the contestants were scaling the blocks, “What else?”

“The prize money went up to $500,000.”

Nixon gaped at him, “Are you serious? That’s great! Why’d they change their minds?”

The more money the show had, the more people would be interested…and the more drive the contestants would have to win. This was excellent news.

Harry grinned cheekily, “It seems that Renee found out something interesting about our little friend Eugene Roe. He’s a Katrina victim that..get this…works at a struggling free clinic in New Orleans. Which is why he’s trying to win the money.”

Lewis shook his head, “No way. That’s too perfect! Tell me we got that on tape!”

Harry sighed, “Unfortunately no. But we already put cameras up in her infirmary to rectify
that mistake. Now Sink wants us to do a sit down interview with him and everyone else about why they want to win. It’d probably be easier if we knew why beforehand though. That way that can’t lie to us.”

Nixon laughed, “Oh this is good.”

Dick just frowned at them both. He knew that this is what Nixon did…but he didn’t feel right exploiting people.

And he was concerned that it came so easily to his friend.

Harry nudged Nixon, “Looks like they’re all set up. Grab a megaphone and you two get out there on a boat.”

They nodded and took off.

The Red Block

Grant felt kind of wobbly standing above the water on a plastic column. “Does anyone else feel weird?”

Luz kicked at his column, “They seem sturdy enough.”

“It’s just the anticipation that’s bothering you.” Lipton reassured him.

Grant nodded, “Okay…”

Cobb gave him a bored stare, “You can swim. Right?”

“Yes I can fucking swim! I’m just…a little hung over and would rather not HAVE to swim.”

“Geez. Chill I was just asking.”

Speirs looked thoughtful, “Does anyone not know how to swim?”

Perconte coughed.

Luz looked over quickly, “Frank are you shitting me? You don’t know how to swim!”

“Shut up! I had a very traumatic experience.”

“Jesus.”

“Don’t worry.” Christenson chimed in, “I used to be a lifeguard.”

Blithe frowned, “Isn’t that what those divers are for?”

Speirs shook his head, “I think they would have mentioned it.”

Penkala just squinted against the sun, “When is this thing going to start?”

The Blue Block

“You better not let me fall!” Don quickly said in one breath.

Skip pursed his lips, “Of course I won’t. Why are you so freaked? We’re not that high up.”

Don shook his head, “I dunno. I just don’t like this stuff. I was always that kid that refused to go off the high diving board.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Okay.”

“Would you two please stop talking?” Sobel groaned.

Bill glared, “Shut up. You’re just pissed that you couldn’t get out of this too. Y’know if
you weren’t such a chicken shit Hoob never would have gone into the One-on-One.”

“I don’t know what you think I did but I assure you-”

“SAVE IT!” They all snapped at their Captain.

Evans reached over and patted Sobel on the back.

Gene looked at the blonde, “Is your leg okay?”

“Um..it stings a little-”

“I’m sure it won’t hurt much longer,” Sobel cut in….forced concern coloring his voice. The last thing he needed was for his one ally to start making friends.

“ALL RIGHT CONTESTANTS!” Nixon shouted up at them through his megaphone, floating on a boat a ways away. “BE READY BY THE SIGNAL!”

The sound of a bull horn rung through the air and all the contestants covered their ears.

Dick winced at the loud sound, “Well at least it wasn’t a gun this time.”

The Red Block

They all paused, sure that they felt their columns shaking.

Suddenly Luz’s column started to sway.

Toye and Buck were on either side of him and both reached out to grab him at the same time.

However Luz jumped forward onto Grant’s column as his went crashing away.

The two men found themselves grasping at nothing and both went falling forward and into the water.

Luz looked behind him at the sounds of splashes, “What the Hell?”

Buck came up from under the water, “Um…sorry about that guys.”

Speirs frowned, “Let’s try not to jump the gun next time okay?”

Toye coughed up water and nodded as a boat came around to get them.

Luz finally understood what had happened and smiled down, “Thanks anyway guys.”

The Blue Block

They watched as the Red team lost two members.

Bill sighed, “Let’s try not to do something retarded like that okay?”

Webster looked around at their block, “Shouldn’t one of ours have moved already?”

“Don’t jinx it!” Don hissed at him.

They waited.

“Crap!”

They watched Skip look around wildly as his column began to drop.

“Skip!” Don reached his hand out, Skip grabbed it and hopped onto the column with him.

The whole team sighed and Muck grinned, “No problem.”

The Red Block

Lipton sighed, “That went well.”

Speirs was about to say something but then paused and looked down. Calmly he stepped onto Lipton’s column.

They watched as two seconds later Ron’s column fell into the water.

“Huh,” was all Blithe said.

Christenson smirked, “That actually did go well.”

“Yeah I didn’t even see that-” Penkala was cut off as his column dropped. Reaching out he
grabbed the corner of Blithe’s and the blonde quickly squatted to pull him up.

Penkala gazed down at the water with wide eyes as he sat on Blithe’s column, “That was way freaky.”

“Well they did say it would be random,” Perconte pointed out.

“Yeah. But I thought it would also be even!”

The Blue Block

Liebgott gazed over at the Red team, “Wow they are getting screwed.”

“No shit.” Bill agreed.

Sobel swatted at a bug buzzing around his head, “That’s good news.”

Evans column lurched forward suddenly and Sobel lazily grabbed the back of the blonde’s shirt and pulled him onto his column.

The others actually looked impressed.

Evans grinned brightly, “Thank you!”

Sobel sighed, “Don’t mention it.”

A little shake had him looking down at their column quickly, and not a moment later they were both plunging into the water.

“Damn it!”

“Lame.”

Shifty peered down at the two of them, “You guys alright?”

Evans nodded, looked around and started dog paddling toward a boat.

Sobel groaned, “We’re fine…just defeated.”

Babe looked at the two empty spots in the corner of their block, “This is like that game where you hop tees. If you don’t move around the right way…you could get stuck out all alone away from the other tees.”

Gene looked over, “That’s a good point. What if the last column left is the one with only one
person on it?”

Bill nodded, “I see what you’re saying. Don’t just jump anywhere…great now we have to be fucking strategic about it.”

The Red Block

“Any minute now.” Grant muttered looking at his and Luz’s column suspiciously.

“Stop being a paranoid freak.” Cobb snapped.

Blithe and Penkala felt their block move and went in opposite directions. Blithe going one
way onto Buck’s empty column and Penkala hopping over to where Speirs and Lipton were.
Speirs looked down at their column, they were okay for now. There were only three of them on there.

However Blithe was on Buck’s corner column, with no other column to the right or left of him, only Grant and Luz diagonal to him.

Christenson’s column started to fall as well and he darted to the side and onto Toye’s abandoned post. Burton frowned, noting that the only place to go now was Grant’s column as well. “I can see now how this can be difficult.”

The Blue Block

“Okay so if your column falls…” David frowned trying to work out the best course of action for Gene in his head.

Liebgott rolled his eyes, “This is pointless. It’s completely random, so reasoning it is
pointless.”

Bill sighed, “You’re probably right.”

Bill tripped forward as his column started to move and went stumbling over onto Babe’s
column, almost knocking the slighter body over with his own. But Babe grabbed Bill’s forearm and threw a foot behind him- steadying them both.

Bill grinned and looked down at Babe’s feet, “Ain’t you glad you wore sneakers?”

Babe laughed, “Yeah…but it’ll be gross when they get wet.”

“So don’t get them wet.” Bill suggested.

“Right.”

Shifty’s column went next and he stepped forward at a diagonal towards Don and Skip. They
both reached out and grabbed his arms, pulling him up and over to their column.

But Skip slipped as he pulled back- sending him into the water. Don knelt down and looked over as Skip went under, “Shit! You okay?”

Skip resurfaced and blinked water out of his eyes, “Yeah…haha I heard you even under the
water. Worried much?”

Don grinned, “You wish.”

“Maybe.”

The Red Block

Speirs looked over the strange Y shape their block was now in. If either of the two middle columns went out…they would be screwed.

Fortunately (though not for him) Perconte, who was in a corner, started to fall. He flung an arm out and Lipton tried to grab him but missed. He fell into the water.

Lipton couldn’t help but send a murderous glare at Cobb, who had been right next to Frank, “You didn’t even try and help him.”

Cobb shrugged, “Too late now.”

Everyone glared at him.

After a moment Luz spoke up frantically, “Hey he hasn’t come back up yet.”

They all looked over. Sure enough Frank hadn’t come up from the water and their wasn’t a boat coming over.

“HEY!” Luz hollered over to the divers, “HEY GET OVER HERE!”

Nixon frowned as he saw Luz waving his arms around and shouting, “What’s wrong?”

Dick waved the diver’s forward, “Someone needs help…go over there.”

A couple of boats took off.

“Shit,” Christenson cursed, “Fuck this.”

He dived straight off of his column and into the water. Everyone held their breath.

Once underwater, Christenson spotted Frank barely under the surface kicking furiously.

Swimming over to him, he hooked his arms under the man’s shoulders and pulled them both to the surface.

Frank coughed viciously, “Thanks.”

Christenson sighed in relief, “You need to learn to swim.”

“Okay.”

The boats finally reached them.

The Blue Block

“What’s going on over there?” Webster wondered while looking at the commotion by the Red block.

Babe laughed, “Whoa! Burton just dived off his column.”

Gene smiled at Babe’s enthusiasm, but the smile went off his face as his column swiftly fell away. He jumped forward onto Babe’s column.

Babe instinctively grabbed for him and Gene wrapped his arms around Babe’s waist. They found themselves a nose apart once more.

Gene smiled and slowly let go of the younger man, he could get used to that sort of thing happening.

Babe blushed and took his hands from Gene’s arms, “Sorry.”

“Whoa!” Webster stumbled as his block went to the side, crashing into Liebgott’s. Webster stumbled into the other man who was knocked back by the very slight bump.

Joe almost fell all the way off but David reached out quickly and grabbed his wrist, jerking him back up. Liebgott slammed against Webster’s chest hard.

“Pull my arm out of my socket why don’t you.” Joe complained.

Webster was about to snap that he hadn’t had to help him when he noticed something purple in the crook of Joe’s arm.

Liebgott noticed that Webster hadn’t released his wrist, “What the Hell are you doing?”

“What’s on your…”

Liebgott jerked his arm back ferociously but Webster kept his grip.

Joe shoved him hard which sent them both falling backwards into the water.

Bill slapped an exasperated hand to his forehead, “What did I say about doing something retarded?”

The Red Block

“He could have drowned asshole!” Luz snapped at Cobb who just rolled his eyes.

“He’s fine! It’s not like I freaking shoved him into the water. Get over it already.”

Luz felt his temper boiling over, “What? You didn’t shove him like this?”

Cobb raised an eyebrow and let out an unmanly shriek as Luz lunged off of his column and
tackled Cobb sending them both into the water.

Grant laughed, “HA!”

Suddenly Blithe yelped as his corner column dropped and he went backwards.

This time Grant groaned, “Crap.”

Suddenly Lipton’s column began to shake as well. Penkala hopped onto Grant’s column, and Speirs shoved Lipton onto Cobb’s abandoned spot but as the column went back realized he couldn’t make it himself and dove into the water.

Lipton steadied himself and spun around to grab Speirs only to see him swimming off, “Huh…”
He looked over at the only other column and the only two people left.

The Blue Block

“What the Hell were they doing?” Don wondered after Liebgott and Webster went for a swim.

Bill sighed, “Who knows. Joe has issues and Web seems awfully curious about them.”

They all watched in boredom as Liebgott’s empty column sunk.

Babe laughed, “They realize no one is on there right?”

Gene smiled and pointed past Babe’s shoulder to the Red block, “Look. Three people.”

Babe grinned, “We’ve got five and three are already on one column.”

Shifty and Don’s column began to shake as well. Don made it over to them put Shifty stumbled into the water with a splash.

A VERY loud bullhorn went off.

“BLUE TEAM WINS!” Nixon hollered over his megaphone.

Dick sighed, “I need an Advil.”

Back on the Beach

Luz sighed, “Sorry guys. I kinda fucked that up for us.”

Toye shrugged, “If you hadn’t tackled him I would have…if I hadn’t you know….gotten
eliminated right off the bat.”

Luz smirked, “That was cool of you though.”

Buck rolled his eyes- he had done the exact same thing!

Speirs shrugged, “We all did our best.”

Lipton thought that was bull….Christenson had done his best…Cobb could have done better.

Dick walked over, “You guys probably already heard how it works.”

Speirs nodded, “Back here in two hours?”

Dick nodded and walked off.

Webster tried to talk to Joe, “Look I was just curious….”

“You ever do that shit again I’ll knock your pretty little head off your shoulders. Got it?”

David gaped and watched Liebgott walk off in a huff.

Wait…pretty?

2 Hours Later

Nixon watched anxiously as Dick slowly poured over the votes, “Hurry up already!”

Dick frowned, “Calm yourself.”

Lewis huffed.

Dick straightened up, “Okay. The two people that will be competing in tomorrows One-on-One will be Cobb-“

Nixon snorted, “Oooh shocker.”

“And Toye.”

“Wait what?” Nixon looked over the votes, “Seriously…didn’t see that happening.”

Luz jumped up, “Are you serious?”

Toye sighed, “Great. Well I guess I….kinda deserved it.”

“No…you didn’t,” Luz grumbled before walking off angrily.

Buck offered Toye a hand up from the log he was seated on, “Don’t sweat it man. It’s not
over.”

“Right. Thanks man.”

Buck slapped him on the shoulder, “Anytime.”

Nixon watched them all walk off and then hissed at Moore, one of their cameramen, to come over.

“What?” Moore asked.

Nixon tilted his head, “Who voted for Toye?”

Moore smirked, “Penkala, Blithe and Buck.”

“Buck? His little BFF? Oh we are SO going to leak that shit!”

Dick sighed, “Nixon…”

But Lewis had already whipped out his cell phone, “Harry! Do I have some DRAMA. Get Talbert over to the house and have him tell Toye something. Discreetly Harry….discreetly.”

Dick frowned and walked off…he needed different company for the night. He wasn’t liking where his current company was going…

Special (8/?)

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:45:30 GMT

Title: Special (8/?)
Word Count: 6,468
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various Pairings.

Links to previous chapters inside.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Bill Guarnere and Joseph Liebgott, Philadelphia, PA

They had pulled up outside of a warehouse that to anyone else would look like a factory for producing and shipping paper products. Obviously Joe knew better.

Parking the car Guarnere got out and nodded at Liebgott to do the same. Joe exited the vehicle and looked at the factory incredulously, “A paper factory? That’s your big front?”

“Just follow me and keep your mouth shut.”

They walked through the main doors and passed the commotion of workers, machines and lifts carrying crates of paper. At the back of the factory there was a thick, white door marked Authorized Personnel Only.

Guarnere pulled a key card out of his wallet and slid it through a card machine on the wall. The mechanic door made a clunking noise, and he pulled the heavy door open and gestured for Joe to go inside.

Joe really wanted to make a snarky comment about their fancy door but he just didn’t have it in him. He was nervous now, more than he had been before.

What if this was all a ruse? What if Guarnere was going to take him down to some weird dungeon to experiment on him or something?

He sighed as the Company man led him down a hallway filled with mundane looking offices. He would just have to trust Webster. It wasn’t like he had never gone into stupid or dangerous situations before…this was just more stupid than normal.

They were headed toward an elevator at the end of the hall when all of a sudden something caught Guarnere’s attention in one of the offices. He veered off to the side and pushed the door open somewhat frantically.

Joe peeked around him and saw a long limbed man with dark red hair sitting behind a desk, looking over open folders with a serene expression. But Joe saw the slight downturn of his lips and sensed the man was worried about something.

Guarnere stared at the man with a strange look on his face..confusion…worry…Joe wasn’t sure. He was a little bit harder to read.

Guarnere walked into the office slowly, “Dick? What’s going on? Why are you here?”

The red head looked up in surprise, “Bill! Hey. Oh don’t worry- everything is fine. But...look I really need to talk to you about...”

The other man trailed off when he noticed that Guarnere wasn’t alone. Joe froze when the light green eyes caught his gaze, suddenly feeling very vulnerable in front of this man. Like he was missing something important…like he was in some sort of danger.

Which was a strange feeling to have considering that the man was giving him a warm little smile and generally seemed to be sincere when he said, “Hi, you must be Joe. I’m Dick Winters-I work with Bill. Um…trust me he’s not so bad.”

Joe shook off the strange feeling and smiled back- his first real smile of the day. “I’ll have to take your word on it.”

Guarnere hadn’t taken his eyes off the other man…Dick…since he had opened the door, “So…nothing’s wrong?”

Dick smiled tightly and shook his head, “Things are fine…but I tried to call you and I couldn’t get a hold of your number.”

The way he was talking was strange but Guarnere seemed to understand whatever he was trying to say and Joe immediately knew that they were trying to communicate something important over his head.

Guarnere looked at the open folder on the desk, “Is that…?”

Dick nodded, “Yeah.”

“Right…don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Guarnere gave Winters another look before roughly grabbing Joe’s shoulder and shoving him out the door, “Move.”

Wasn’t that bad…yeah right.

George Luz and Burton Christenson, Brooklyn, NY

“You realize how this sounds right? You sound like a crazy person.”

George groaned, “Look I know…I told you that you wouldn’t believe me…but doesn’t it make sense? I mean…all the unanswered questions you said you were having? What normal person takes two bullets and walks away?”

Burton put a hand to his head. Luz was finally alert and feeling up to talking about the incident. But Burton wasn’t sure what to make of what he was hearing.

According to Luz, the man had somehow held him up against the wall without touching him and then…ice had come out of his hands?

“And the reason that you were abducted is because you can do…stuff like that?” he asked. He liked the other man enough to humor him for a moment.

“Not exactly. Look I KNOW it sounds crazy, but Eli and I…we’re different. I’d prove it to you if I could but...I just can’t right now. My head is…”

Christenson stood up, “Your head isn’t right. Look you’re on a lot of medication and I’m sure when you’re feeling better you’ll understand that you must have seen things wrong.”

Luz gave him a dark look, “I’m not being influenced by drugs! I…you know what? I knew this was a mistake. I thought I could trust you with this but I guess I can’t.”

Burton sighed, “Look, I’m going to go get something from the vending machine and check on your son, okay? We’ll continue this conversation when I get back.”

Luz didn’t even look at him as he left the room.

He walked out into the hallway and to the nurses’ station, where Eli was being watched by one of the two police officers that Compton had stationed outside of George’s room. They weren’t taking any chances with the man’s safety…he was currently their only surviving victim.

“Hey Eli, I’m heading to the machine- you want to come with me? Get a candy bar or something?”

Eli nodded and hopped off the chair he’d been seated in. Christenson waved the officer off to let him know they were okay and started walking down the hall with the little boy.

“So Eli…”

“I already know what you want to ask me. “

Burton stopped in front of a soda machine and looked down at the child to see him staring up with determined blue eyes, “You do, do you?”

The boy nodded swiftly, “You want to ask me if I’m different somehow. Then you’re going to press E7 and it’s going to get stuck.”

“What?” He looked over to the machine where he had just randomly pressed one of the last buttons to get a bottle of water. He looked at where his finger remained…E7.

The machine churned for a moment and then a light lit up to let him know there was an error. He looked over at Eli, “Okay that was weird.”

Eli shook his head, “Not really. I knew that would happen an hour ago.”

“Eli that’s just a coincidence…wait are you saying…”

“I can see what’s going to happen before it happens.”

He looked down at the child for a moment, “You can like..see the future?”

“Yep.”

“Eli that’s not possible..”

“I can! And my Dad can control machines..if he wanted to- he could fix that soda machine. But he won’t because I don’t think he likes you all that much right now.”

Well that was certainly true. Burton sighed and gave the machine a thump, frowning at the blinking light. He sighed and pulled out another dollar, “I’m going to get you a soda to bump this one out.”

“I know something else that’s going to happen.”

Burton shook his head as he pressed D3 to get Eli a Dr. Pepper. “Like what?”

“Your friend Ron is going to get hurt.”

Burton froze, “What did you say?”

“I said he’s going to get hurt.”

“Eli that’s not funny.”

The child glared, “It’s NEVER funny when someone gets really hurt. And I’m telling you the truth. Something bad is going to happen to him today. You have to warn him. He’s going to call you any second!”

Suddenly his cell phone started to ring and Burton answered it quickly, “Ron?”

There was a pause, “Uh..yeah. Hey….I think I may have a lead over here. Sherry Tanner’s parents were killed by our serial…but she’s alive. And there’s this cop who…well let’s say he’s a little different. What about you? Making any headway with George Luz?”

Burton was frozen, staring at Eli with wide eyes.

“Christenson? You still there?”

“Yeah…I think I’m making headway. Listen-are you okay?”

“What? Yeah I’m fine. Maybe I should be asking you that question. You sound a little strange.”

“Well something a little strange just happened to me. Look Ron…I’m going to call you back in a minute. Don’t go anywhere dangerous. Don’t DO anything dangerous…stay away from sharp things…”

“What the Hell are you talking about?”

“Look I have a…reason to believe you’re in danger. So be careful. I’ll call you back.”

He hung up the phone, still starting at Eli.

The little boy smiled and got their drinks from the machine, “Believe me now?”

Burton nodded and Eli handed him the water, “You said you’d get me candy.”

“Right.”

Ronald Speirs, Los Angeles CA

Ron just stared at his phone for a moment wondering what Christenson was up to before figuring he didn’t want to know and slid it back into his pocket.

He was currently standing in the viewing room watching Lipton pace with two LA Detectives who were none too happy about him interrogating a local cop.

He turned to regard the Senior detective coolly, “Did my partner by any chance happen to swing by?”

Detective Moore just glared, “Yeah he was here while you were interrogating Officer Lipton. But he left, seemed kind of pissed. I know how he feels.”

Speirs looked at him-unimpressed, “Well you need to get over your feelings. Besides, he’s not our guy. I’m going to have another word with him and then he’s free to go.”

The detective nodded and Ron left to go back into the interrogation room.

Lipton didn’t bother turning around when he walked in. So Ron just shut the door behind him and leaned back against it.

“You’re free to go.”

That got the officer’s attention and he looked over his shoulder, lips in a tight frown as if he didn’t trust what Ron was saying.

And Ron, for his part, was kind of afraid that the other man was inside of his head. Still couldn’t believe it. The mere thought that anyone could…hear people’s thoughts. It was ludicrous…science fiction…it was impossible.

Only it clearly wasn’t. Because there wasn’t a soul who knew about his affair except Buck and himself. So how could Lipton know?

Lipton backed away from the wall he’d been staring down and started to slowly approach the door, which Ron was still leaning against.

When Ron didn’t move Lipton raised an eyebrow, “I thought you said I could go.”

Ron crossed his arms across his chest and looked the cop up and down “One more thing.”

The blonde sighed, “Of course.”

“How’d you like to assist the FBI in an ongoing investigation?”

The cop looked at him in shock, “What? Are you serious?”

Ron was exceptionally skilled at interrogation. He could get anyone to talk, but he often wondered if they were telling him the truth. Lipton…maybe he could get inside their heads…maybe he could hear the truth.

“Don’t I look serious?”He asked and leaned forward into the other man’s personal space- and tried not to be distracted by the fact that Lipton smelled good. He didn’t need that right now…or ever.

Lipton looked him in the eyes, “Yeah. I’d…like that very much sir.”

Ron nodded and pushed himself off of the door.

Walking over to the table he pulled out his card and wrote his hotel number on the back, “Good. My cell phone number is on there as well as my hotel number. I’m going to be
honest with you…I need all the help I can get with this case. Drop by this hotel in an hour and my partner and I will brief you on the case. I’ll get you clearance in the morning.”

Lipton gaped and accepted the card that was handed to him, “But..why? I thought I was a suspect.”

“Well now you aren’t. In fact..I think you might be the best break I’ve had in this case.”

“I’m sure you’ll explain how…”

“In an hour.”

Lipton nodded, “Fine.”

Ron watched the other man leave, knowing he was making the right decision. Lipton could change everything about this case. In Ron’s mind he already had.

Now all Ron had to do was go back to the hotel and convince Lewis the same thing.

He wasn’t sure if his boyfriend had heard Lipton’s comment about him and Buck…but he’d have to be prepared for the possibility that he had.

He let himself go over the situation in his head as he walked out of the interrogation room, about to go outside and catch a cab back to the hotel.

Lewis had been…off lately. And they had been distant from one another for awhile.

They’d been together for a few years. He’d worked with Lewis’s father since he’d gotten into Organized Crime…the man respected him, liked him. Sometimes Ron felt bad…because Lewis’s relationship with his father wasn’t as good as the one Ron had with him.

Lewis’s influence hadn’t been the only thing to sway Director Nixon to reassign him he was sure. The man was worried that Speirs would get killed on the job.

He was his mentor and it was only a matter of time before Ron got invited to the family dinner. He’d heard the Director talk about his son before, but he hadn’t known what to expect. He knew he was an Agent- more of a research and theory guy than someone who liked to get his hands dirty.

But when they had met Ron had found Lewis to be a sharp, cynical guy who complimented Ron’s intense drive with a relaxed and almost apathetic approach of his own. Things had taken off from there, which he supposed was the plan all along. Stan Nixon was crafty that way.

He cared about Lewis…a lot. But he couldn’t bring himself to say he was in love…because he didn’t think he was.

He’d heard a lot of things about love…from people who were in love. Or claimed to be. And no…he didn’t think about Lewis all the time. He was never struck by the emotion he had for him. He didn’t worry incessantly about him. He could…live without Lewis. That didn’t mean he necessarily wanted to..but he could.

By all accounts…Ron had never been in love with anyone. He hadn’t met that one person yet.

He suspected that some of his feelings on the concept of love were stemmed from his being the product of a divorce. His parents hated each other…had only been married because they had found out his mother was pregnant. Then when they got divorced they had found other people that they hated that they could get married to and divorce them as well. All in all he had grown up through six divorces.

This thing with Buck…it was complicated. Yes he had felt like Lewis was never around, so of course he got lonely. And Buck was a great guy. They were friends. Lewis knew the two of them were occasional drinking buddies but that had obviously turned into something different.

Buck was fun, carefree and seemed stable in all the places where Lewis wasn’t. He knew that Buck had feelings…real feelings for him…but Lipton had been right…Ron didn’t really care.

How fucked up was that?

Joseph Liebgott, Philadelphia, PA

Guarnere had been rather anxious to get rid of him after the man’s brief conversation with Dick Winters. He had led him to the elevator, which took them 5 floors down.

When the elevator doors opened Joe was greeted with concrete walls and gray metal doors. He looked over at Guarnere, “So we’re under ground?”

“Ain’t you smart.”

“Bite me.”

Guarnere walked up to the only room on the far right of the long hallway and knocked on the door.

There was a light call from the room, “Come in.”

Guarnere pushed open the door and motioned for Liebgott to go inside. Joe rolled his eyes but did as he was instructed.

There was a pale, dark haired man, maybe about 35, lounging in a chair and reading a file. Man these guys liked their files…

He looked up when they entered and gave a smirk, “Bill…how was your flight?”

Guarnere shrugged, “It was fine. Look, sir, if you don’t need me…”

He trailed off and hooked a thumb back towards the hallway.

The man, obviously the boss if Guarnere was calling him ‘sir’, just nodded, “Go ahead. But when you’re done talking to Dick- would you tell him I’d like a word with him? It’s about his next assignment.”

Guarnere paused and Liebgott got the feeling that there was something wrong with that statement to him. But the man nodded and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

The seated man looked at Liebgott with interest in his eyes, “Mr. Liebgott why don’t you take a seat? I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”

Bet your ass he had questions. He sat down cautiously in one of the chairs across the man’s desk- as if he were afraid that restraints were going to pop out of it and tie him down like in some Batman cartoon.

The man leaned forward and rested his hands in front of him, “My name’s Herbert Sobel. I’m in charge of the field operations for the Company. As I said I’m sure you have a lot of questions. So now’s the time to ask them.”

Joe nodded, “Okay. So why did you abduct me?”

Sobel paused, “Our main mission here at the Company is to protect and study those with… ‘special’ abilities. As you surely understand by now Mr. Liebgott…you’re not the only one out there. There are many people who have these abilities. Many of these people are dangerous. We have a history of cleaning up some of the…aftermath of those who don’t understand or wish to control their abilities. The things we do here are for the greater good. We can’t protect people if we don’t understand what they are capable of.”

“So you abduct people to study them?”

“Yes…while I’m sure I understand your distain…none of these people are harmed. You yourself were uninjured as well. By doing this we are able to discover the basic function of a person’s ability…and that information is something very useful to have should they cross our path once more.”

Joe frowned and nodded, “You keeping tabs on them?”

Sobel sighed and grabbed his file and handed it to Joe, “Only if we think it’s necessary.”

Joe took the offered folder and scanned over the contents. It was all about him. His age, his real parents, his real name. What they suspected he could do. Pictures of him in his cab, outside his apartment…

“What the Hell is this?”

“You expected nothing less. We keep tabs on two different types of people Liebgott. Those we deem to be potentially dangerous…and those we deem to be potentially useful. “

“And which one am I?”

“For now? Useful. I brought you on board because I know that you’re on the run. You don’t understand your ability…you don’t know what to do with it. This is the right place for you.”

He wasn’t so sure. He looked down at the file once more, “So what? I just hunt down people like myself? So that you can study them?”

The man smiled and leaned back in his chair, “We do so much more than that. We help these people. Help them understand what they can do and help them use their abilities for a greater purpose. We can help you. Now I need to know if you’re willing to truly embrace this opportunity. You have a lot of potential.”

Joe knew he didn’t have much of a choice. He highly doubted that he could just walk away from this now. Plus he still had to figure out what these people were really up to. If they were these grand protectors like Sobel claimed, Joe didn’t think that Webster would have come from the future to warn him that they were dangerous. And he still had to find this important person that they were supposedly after…

But something else that Sobel said was true. There was no place for him…not since he had left home for good…since he’d had to run. He hadn’t been able to settle down. School had been the closest he had come to having normalcy in his life. There was no reason not to join this Company…

“Fine.” He finally said, “What is it you want from me?”

Sobel smiled, obviously pleased with his answer. “First…we help you understand your abilities. Then when I feel you’re ready…you get a partner.”

Joe paused, “A partner?”

How was he supposed to do any digging with someone hanging around?

Sobel nodded, “That’s right. All field agents are put into pairs. One of you…and one of us.”
Something clicked in Joe’s head, “Winters..is he Guarnere’s partner?”

Sobel frowned and Liebgott was surprised by the look of irritation on the man’s features, “For now.”

“He’s like me isn’t he? What can he do?”

“If he wants you to know..he’ll tell you. You’ll have plenty of time to get to know Dick on your way to New York. Besides, you don’t need to worry about a partner for right now.”

“New York?”

“Yes…that’s where we have our research facilities. It’s exceptionally equipped to help you learn more about what you can do. You’ll be leaving with Dick on a flight to Manhattan..soon. The items you requested from your apartment will be sent there.”

Joe wasn’t sure what to say. Despite all the misgivings he had about who these people were and what they did…he was anxious to learn more about his ability. His limitations…what he should be trying to learn and do.

“Is there anything else I should know?” he asked Sobel.

The man nodded and stood up from his desk, “No one outside of this Company knows what we really do here. Secrecy is essential to ensure that we can do our jobs effectively. Do you understand?”

Joe just nodded. Sobel continued, “As far as anyone outside this company is concerned, you’re a paper salesman.”

Joe again thought that was a pretty lame cover..but he guessed that was the whole point. No one would expect any sort of secret organization to use a paper company as their front.

But these people weren’t kidding around. They knew what they were doing…and if he was going to play both sides…he was going to have to be very, very careful.

Lewis Nixon, Los Angeles, CA

Lewis stormed into his hotel room and slammed the door behind him. His mind was in a state of confusion. Overwhelmed by the thoughts and possibilities behind what he had heard in that interrogation room.

He let his back hit the nearest wall and slid down to the floor. What did that mean? He was cheating? It was impossible! There was no way for someone to read people’s thoughts!

“It’s every bit as possible as you and I are Lewis.”

Lewis was shaking, he knew. He couldn’t take this much longer, “What do you want! Damn it!
Just leave me alone!”

“I want what’s best for the both of us.”

Lewis lifted his head up to look into the mirrored closest across from him, his reflection was also slumped on the floor…but he wasn’t shaking.

“It’s not true.”

Jonathan glowered at him, “The Hell it isn’t. We’re special Lewis…the things we’re capable of. Trust me…that cop…he heard what he said he heard. Ron cheated on you. With your partner.”

Lewis shook his head, “No..he wouldn’t. He knows how much I…”

“How much what? How much you love him? Have you ever heard him tell you the same thing? Tell me you can see it! Tell me you can see the signs that I’d been willing to overlook for you.”

He thought about it…Ron had never really told him that he loved him. The way he had been acting the other day. The mark on his neck that Lewis knew had to be a hickey…a fact he’d been unwilling to accept.

“Why? I know I’ve been a mess lately but..I love him. I did everything for him...”

“That’s right! You worked your ass off to get him transferred.”

“I wanted to keep him safe…I pulled every favor I had.”

“After everything you’ve given him! After everything we did to protect him! After everything we did to avenge him! This is how he treats you?”

“I loved him…”

“He doesn’t love you. He used you…he fooled you. He won’t fool you again.”

Lewis just nodded…and then things began to fade.

He let Jonathan take over.

Dick Winters and Bill Guarnere, Philadelphia, PA

Bill rushed back into his office, where Dick was still sitting at his desk, looking over folders. He didn’t look troubled…but Bill knew him far better than that. He closed the door to his office and locked it.

“What’s going on?”

Dick looked up and waved him over, “Babe’s fine…he’s safe. I tried to call your secure line…but I couldn’t get a hold of you.”

Bill pulled a chair across from his partner, something was definitely wrong with Dick. He had wanted to ask his partner about this new assignment but now… “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Dick didn’t move, “Do you remember what I told you about my family? About joining the Company?”

Bill nodded. Dick had confided in him, after they had been working together for a year…about what had happened to his family.

Bill knew…that Dick was special. Not because he had an ability…but because of who he was. He knew on some level that Dick must have had incredible parents and he had often wondered why the other man never talked about them.

It was because they had been killed. They’d had abilities like Dick. And when he had been 17…they had been murdered. By the time he was 18…the Company had tracked him down and made him an offer. Dick hadn’t had anywhere else to go…

Bill knew that the circumstances of their parent’s demise were somewhat similar…except there was one key difference. Both he and Dick knew exactly who had killed Bill’s parents.

He looked down at the file Dick was reviewing…a file on Claire Winters. “You never told me what she could do.”

Dick stayed silent as he took in the picture of a lovely red head that was attached to the file, “She could fly.”

Bill stared at the downturned and solemn green eyes, not knowing what to do with the obvious pain Dick was experiencing. Whenever Babe and Dick hurt…he hurt too.

Finally Bill said, “I didn’t realize the Company had a file on her.”

“I didn’t realize that either.”

“You don’t think they killed her?”

The worst part was that Bill knew the Company was capable of it. They had no interest in someone who could fly…but Dick’s ability…it was a priceless commodity. If they wanted him all to themselves…they had to eliminate the attachments holding him back.

Dick closed the file and looked Bill in the eye, “There’s something I never told you.”

Bill shifted in his seat. He and Dick…they didn’t keep many secrets anymore. Dick knew so much…he knew all of Bill’s demons…if Dick hadn’t told him something…

“What is it?”

“I used to have a little brother.”

“Used to?”

“He was kidnapped when I was 12. He was only 18 months old. After all this time…I figured he was dead.”

Bill froze at Dick’s words. A memory quickly surfacing to his mind.

He had been 14 when his parents had come home from work a little later than normal.

He knew what they did. They had been training him to work for the Company since he was 11 years old…it was all they ever talked about. How important their work was...

His father had walked in the door in a fuss and his mother had come home carrying a small baby in her arms.

The Company, they’d told him, had given them a little boy. They thought he might be special…they couldn’t get too attached.

Bill looked back over at Dick, startled. He was 2 years older than his partner, which meant that the year they had gotten Babe was the year that Dick had lost his little brother.

“What are you saying?”

Dick sighed, “Babe told me that he had dreams that he thought were coming true.”

“What? When?”

“This morning…and he told me he had a dream that he was flying.”

“Okay.”

“So your parents made him meet Renee before she escaped…she could dream the future. And if
Babe can do what your parents were so sure he could…”

“Then his dream about flying is going to come true.”

Dick nodded, “They never could have introduced Babe to my mother. And she’s the only person on record with the ability to fly. None of the other people that your parents introduced to Babe had that ability.”

“You think that-”

“Bill….Babe’s my little brother. They took him from us. And then they killed my parents.”

Ronald Speirs, Los Angeles, CA

He wasn’t nervous…exactly. He didn’t really get nervous. But as he approached the door to his hotel room he felt concern about how to best have this conversation with Lewis.

The more he thought about it the more obvious it became the Lewis had to have heard Lipton’s comment.

Shutting the door he stepped into his room only to see that it was empty. Confused he walked forward a couple of steps and was about to turn around when a strong arm grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backwards.

Swept off balance, the arm pulled him around and slammed the side of his head into a wall with enough force to send the room into a terrifying spin as he fell to the ground.

His brain felt rattled and the whole left side of his body was stiff. Seeing feet in front of him he swept his leg out but only managed to trip his assailant up slightly.

He reached for his gun but received a kick in the gut for his effort. He coughed, suddenly unable to breathe. The same strong grip pulled him up by the back of his suit and slammed him
roughly into the wall.

The force of the impact coupled with the kick he had just received set his lungs on fire as he gasped, struggling to pull in a breath of air.

“What? Were you going to shoot me Ron? Add injury to insult this time?”

Ron stared in shock at Lewis, who was smirking at him with his head tilted to the side. Ron started to speak- ask him what the Hell he was doing but the moment he opened his mouth, Lewis wrapped a hand around his throat, cutting off any reply.

“Why don’t you let me do the talking? Okay?”

Lewis let go his shoulder and tightened his grip on Ron’s throat. Ron coughed once and then closed his mouth and focused on trying to breathe through his nose.

“You know I told him that you weren’t worth his effort. But he never listens to me. So sometimes I just have to take matters into my own hands…”

Who the Hell was he talking about? Buck? This wasn’t Lewis…he had to…be on drugs or something.

“You cheated on him. I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like you ever loved him. But we bent over backwards to make you happy. To keep you safe. I did a lot of horrible things for you. Because that was what Lewis wanted. But I don’t care about what he wants anymore. I’m going to worry about what he needs.”

Ron felt his body actually being lifted off the ground by the hand around his throat. He wanted to be shocked about what he was putting together. That this wasn’t Lewis that he was talking to…but someone else. It explained everything about his behavior…

But right now he couldn’t think about what was wrong with Lewis. He couldn’t wonder where this incredible strength the man possessed had come from. Right now…the only thing he needed to think about was how to survive this encounter.

“He needs you out of his life. You’re like this all encompassing parasite. You suck people in and you take everything they have…and in the end you only wind up killing them. But that’s not going to happen this time. Lewis has someone to look after him now. He has me.”

Ron took a deep breath through his nose and pulled his knee up swiftly, connecting with the man’s jaw. He was released and fell to the ground.

He rolled away from his attacker and struggled to his feet despite his blurred vision, dizziness and overall pain. He reached for his gun..

Lewis..or whoever the Hell this was, slugged him in his jaw and Ron was actually knocked off of his feet by the force of the punch and crashed into the table in the corner of the room.

Lewis walked over to him and hauled him off the floor before tossing him into the dresser with enough strength to send the glass of the mirror attached into hundreds of pieces.

He hissed as he felt shards of glass cut into his arm, shoulder and neck.

Lewis then shoved him to the floor and pulled out a non issue hand gun. He pointed it directly at Ron’s head.

“Wait,” Ron croaked. He didn’t have the strength to fight back. He had to make him listen. He had to make him do what he said. “You’re not going to shoot me.”

The man paused, fury screwing up his features, “Shut up.”

Ron wasn’t sure why the man wasn’t pulling the trigger, but he kept talking, “You’re going to put the gun down.”

Lewis began to breathe heavily and shake his head, “No…”

But even as he said it the other man let his arms drop and tossed the gun to the floor. “What are you doing to me?”

Ron coughed and tried to roll off of his bleeding shoulder, “I don’t know who you are…but you’re going to let me talk to Lewis.”

He looked up and saw something change in the man’s demeanor. The fury melted off of his face and his eyes went wide, “Ron?”

Ron sighed and let his head fall back against the floor, his vision still fading. He had made him listen…how had he made him listen?

He closed his eyes, trying to fight the exhaustion. He struggled to get up on his feet.

Lewis rushed forward and helped him to the bed, and Ron tried not the flinch even though he knew it was Lewis. “Ron..Jesus Christ…”

Ron let the pain overwhelm him and it was only a moment before he was unconscious.

Lewis stared at the bruised, battered and bleeding man on the bed before him. He looked around at the destruction in the room.

This wasn’t what he wanted. He turned to the mirror, “You were going to kill him!”

Jonathan’s face was filled with fury, “Yes I was. For you! But I couldn’t…”

Lewis was shaking once more as he turned away from his reflection and checked over Ron’s injuries. “What?”

“There’s something he did. Something he said. I couldn’t control my actions.”
Lewis ignored him as he rolled Ron on his back and tried not to freak out about how much his neck was bleeding.

“But he can’t talk anymore.

“What? No!”

Before he could control himself he was picking up the gun, “No! You’re not going to make me do this. This is against everything I wanted. I wanted to keep him safe!”

“After he betrays you, you still want to protect him! You’re pathetic. If you’re too weak to end this, I’ll be more than happy to do it for you.”

The gun lifted up to point at Ron’s unconscious figure, “NO!”

Suddenly the door flew open and the blonde officer that he had seen Ron interrogate came rushing in, gun drawn, “LAPD put the gun down now!”

“I can’t…”

“What are you going to do Officer Lipton? Are you going to shoot an FBI Agent?”

The man glared and glanced frantically at Ron, “Are you?”

Lewis shook his head, fighting with Jonathan over control of his body. He lowered the gun slightly, “You have to knock me out.”

“What that Hell is wrong with you?”

“I can’t control him, there’s someone else in my head….”

The officer’s head tilted to the side and his eyes got wide, “You’re right…there’s two of you in there.”

“I can’t control him for much longer. You have to knock me out. Do it. Take the gun and then you have to arrest me.”

“Arrest you for what? This?”

Lewis shook his head, “No…I killed the De Lucca brothers. And I was the one who shot up the
bar downtown. I’ll confess to everything you just have to arrest me.”

Lipton paused, eyes still on the slightly raised gun in Lewis’s hand.

Lewis began to shout, “You have to knock me out! Do you want to save him or not!”

That was all it took. Lipton dropped his gun and drew his fist.

Lewis’s head snapped back when Lipton’s fist struck him…and everything went black.

Special (8/?)

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:34:36 GMT

Title: Special (8/?)
Word Count: 6,468
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various Pairings.

Links to previous chapters inside.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Bill Guarnere and Joseph Liebgott, Philadelphia, PA

They had pulled up outside of a warehouse that to anyone else would look like a factory for producing and shipping paper products. Obviously Joe knew better.

Parking the car Guarnere got out and nodded at Liebgott to do the same. Joe exited the vehicle and looked at the factory incredulously, “A paper factory? That’s your big front?”

“Just follow me and keep your mouth shut.”

They walked through the main doors and passed the commotion of workers, machines and lifts carrying crates of paper. At the back of the factory there was a thick, white door marked Authorized Personnel Only.

Guarnere pulled a key card out of his wallet and slid it through a card machine on the wall. The mechanic door made a clunking noise, and he pulled the heavy door open and gestured for Joe to go inside.

Joe really wanted to make a snarky comment about their fancy door but he just didn’t have it in him. He was nervous now, more than he had been before.

What if this was all a ruse? What if Guarnere was going to take him down to some weird dungeon to experiment on him or something?

He sighed as the Company man led him down a hallway filled with mundane looking offices. He would just have to trust Webster. It wasn’t like he had never gone into stupid or dangerous situations before…this was just more stupid than normal.

They were headed toward an elevator at the end of the hall when all of a sudden something caught Guarnere’s attention in one of the offices. He veered off to the side and pushed the door open somewhat frantically.

Joe peeked around him and saw a long limbed man with dark red hair sitting behind a desk, looking over open folders with a serene expression. But Joe saw the slight downturn of his lips and sensed the man was worried about something.

Guarnere stared at the man with a strange look on his face..confusion…worry…Joe wasn’t sure. He was a little bit harder to read.

Guarnere walked into the office slowly, “Dick? What’s going on? Why are you here?”

The red head looked up in surprise, “Bill! Hey. Oh don’t worry- everything is fine. But...look I really need to talk to you about...”

The other man trailed off when he noticed that Guarnere wasn’t alone. Joe froze when the light green eyes caught his gaze, suddenly feeling very vulnerable in front of this man. Like he was missing something important…like he was in some sort of danger.

Which was a strange feeling to have considering that the man was giving him a warm little smile and generally seemed to be sincere when he said, “Hi, you must be Joe. I’m Dick Winters-I work with Bill. Um…trust me he’s not so bad.”

Joe shook off the strange feeling and smiled back- his first real smile of the day. “I’ll have to take your word on it.”

Guarnere hadn’t taken his eyes off the other man…Dick…since he had opened the door, “So…nothing’s wrong?”

Dick smiled tightly and shook his head, “Things are fine…but I tried to call you and I couldn’t get a hold of your number.”

The way he was talking was strange but Guarnere seemed to understand whatever he was trying to say and Joe immediately knew that they were trying to communicate something important over his head.

Guarnere looked at the open folder on the desk, “Is that…?”

Dick nodded, “Yeah.”

“Right…don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Guarnere gave Winters another look before roughly grabbing Joe’s shoulder and shoving him out the door, “Move.”

Wasn’t that bad…yeah right.

George Luz and Burton Christenson, Brooklyn, NY

“You realize how this sounds right? You sound like a crazy person.”

George groaned, “Look I know…I told you that you wouldn’t believe me…but doesn’t it make sense? I mean…all the unanswered questions you said you were having? What normal person takes two bullets and walks away?”

Burton put a hand to his head. Luz was finally alert and feeling up to talking about the incident. But Burton wasn’t sure what to make of what he was hearing.

According to Luz, the man had somehow held him up against the wall without touching him and then…ice had come out of his hands?

“And the reason that you were abducted is because you can do…stuff like that?” he asked. He liked the other man enough to humor him for a moment.

“Not exactly. Look I KNOW it sounds crazy, but Eli and I…we’re different. I’d prove it to you if I could but...I just can’t right now. My head is…”

Christenson stood up, “Your head isn’t right. Look you’re on a lot of medication and I’m sure when you’re feeling better you’ll understand that you must have seen things wrong.”

Luz gave him a dark look, “I’m not being influenced by drugs! I…you know what? I knew this was a mistake. I thought I could trust you with this but I guess I can’t.”

Burton sighed, “Look, I’m going to go get something from the vending machine and check on your son, okay? We’ll continue this conversation when I get back.”

Luz didn’t even look at him as he left the room.

He walked out into the hallway and to the nurses’ station, where Eli was being watched by one of the two police officers that Compton had stationed outside of George’s room. They weren’t taking any chances with the man’s safety…he was currently their only surviving victim.

“Hey Eli, I’m heading to the machine- you want to come with me? Get a candy bar or something?”

Eli nodded and hopped off the chair he’s been seated in. Christenson waved the officer off to let him know they were okay and started walking down the hall with the little boy.

“So Eli…”

“I already know what you want to ask me. “

Burton stopped in front of a soda machine and looked down at the child to see him staring up with determined blue eyes, “You do, do you?”

The boy nodded swiftly, “You want to ask me if I’m different somehow. Then you’re going to press E7 and it’s going to get stuck.”

“What?” He looked over to the machine where he had just randomly pressed one of the last buttons to get a bottle of water. He looked at where his finger remained…E7.

The machine churned for a moment and then a light lit up to let him know there was an error. He looked over at Eli, “Okay that was weird.”

Eli shook his head, “Not really. I knew that would happen an hour ago.”

“Eli that’s just a coincidence…wait are you saying…”

“I can see what’s going to happen before it happens.”

He looked down at the child for a moment, “You can like..see the future?”

“Yep.”

“Eli that’s not possible..”

“I can! And my Dad can control machines..if he wanted to- he could fix that soda machine. But he won’t because I don’t think he likes you all that much right now.”

Well that was certainly true. Burton sighed and gave the machine a thump, frowning at the blinking light. He sighed and pulled out another dollar, “I’m going to get you a soda to bump this one out.”

“I know something else that’s going to happen.”

Burton shook his head as he pressed D3 to get Eli a Dr. Pepper. “Like what?”

“Your friend Ron is going to get hurt.”

Burton froze, “What did you say?”

“I said he’s going to get hurt.”

“Eli that’s not funny.”

The child glared, “It’s NEVER funny when someone gets really hurt. And I’m telling you the truth. Something bad is going to happen to him today. You have to warn him. He’s going to call you any second!”

Suddenly his cell phone started to ring and Burton answered it quickly, “Ron?”

There was a pause, “Uh..yeah. Hey….I think I may have a lead over here. Sherry Tanner’s parents were killed by our serial…but she’s alive. And there’s this cop who…well let’s say he’s a little different. What about you? Making any headway with George Luz?”

Burton was frozen, staring at Eli with wide eyes.

“Christenson? You still there?”

“Yeah…I think I’m making headway. Listen-are you okay?”

“What? Yeah I’m fine. Maybe I should be asking you that question. You sound a little strange.”

“Well something a little strange just happened to me. Look Ron…I’m going to call you back in a minute. Don’t go anywhere dangerous. Don’t DO anything dangerous…stay away from sharp things…”

“What the Hell are you talking about?”

“Look I have a…reason to believe you’re in danger. So be careful. I’ll call you back.”

He hung up the phone, still starting at Eli.

The little boy smiled and got their drinks from the machine, “Believe me now?”

Burton nodded and Eli handed him the water, “You said you’d get me candy.”

“Right.”

Ronald Speirs, Los Angeles CA

Ron just stared at his phone for a moment wondering what Christenson was up to before figuring he didn’t want to know and slid it back into his pocket.

He was currently standing in the viewing room watching Lipton pace with two LA Detectives who were none too happy about him interrogating a local cop.

He turned to regard the Senior detective coolly, “Did my partner by any chance happen to swing by?”

Detective Moore just glared, “Yeah he was here while you were interrogating Officer Lipton. But he left, seemed kind of pissed. I know how he feels.”

Speirs looked at him-unimpressed, “Well you need to get over your feelings. Besides, he’s not our guy. I’m going to have another word with him and then he’s free to go.”

The detective nodded and Ron left to go back into the interrogation room.

Lipton didn’t bother turning around when he walked in. So Ron just shut the door behind him and leaned back against it.

“You’re free to go.”

That got the officer’s attention and he looked over his shoulder, lips in a tight frown as if he didn’t trust what Ron was saying.

And Ron, for his part, was kind of afraid that the other man was inside of his head. Still couldn’t believe it. The mere thought that anyone could…hear people’s thoughts. It was ludicrous…science fiction…it was impossible.

Only it clearly wasn’t. Because there wasn’t a soul who knew about his affair except Buck and himself. So how could Lipton know?

Lipton backed away from the wall he’d been staring down and started to slowly approach the door, which Ron was still leaning against.

When Ron didn’t move Lipton raised an eyebrow, “I thought you said I could go.”

Ron crossed his arms across his chest and looked the cop up and down “One more thing.”

The blonde sighed, “Of course.”

“How’d you like to assist the FBI in an ongoing investigation?”

The cop looked at him in shock, “What? Are you serious?”

Ron was exceptionally skilled at interrogation. He could get anyone to talk, but he often wondered if they were telling him the truth. Lipton…maybe he could get inside their heads…maybe he could hear the truth.

“Don’t I look serious?”He asked and leaned forward into the other man’s personal space- and tried not to be distracted by the fact that Lipton smelled good. He didn’t need that right now…or ever.

Lipton looked him in the eyes, “Yeah. I’d…like that very much sir.”

Ron nodded and pushed himself off of the door.

Walking over to the table he pulled out his card and wrote his hotel number on the back, “Good. My cell phone number is on there as well as my hotel number. I’m going to be
honest with you…I need all the help I can get with this case. Drop by this hotel in an hour and my partner and I will brief you on the case. I’ll get you clearance in the morning.”

Lipton gaped and accepted the card that was handed to him, “But..why? I thought I was a suspect.”

“Well now you aren’t. In fact..I think you might be the best break I’ve had in this case.”

“I’m sure you’ll explain how…”

“In an hour.”

Lipton nodded, “Fine.”

Ron watched the other man leave, knowing he was making the right decision. Lipton could change everything about this case. In Ron’s mind he already had.

Now all Ron had to do was go back to the hotel and convince Lewis the same thing.

He wasn’t sure if his boyfriend had heard Lipton’s comment about him and Buck…but he’d have to be prepared for the possibility that he had.

He let himself go over the situation in his head as he walked out of the interrogation room, about to go outside and catch a cab back to the hotel.

Lewis had been…off lately. And they had been distant from one another for awhile.

They’d been together for a few years. He’d worked with Lewis’s father since he’d gotten into Organized Crime…the man respected him, liked him. Sometimes Ron felt bad…because Lewis’s relationship with his father wasn’t as good as the one Ron had with him.

Lewis’s influence hadn’t been the only thing to sway Director Nixon to reassign him he was sure. The man was worried that Speirs would get killed on the job.

He was his mentor and it was only a matter of time before Ron got invited to the family dinner. He’d heard the Director talk about his son before, but he hadn’t known what to expect. He knew he was an Agent- more of a research and theory guy than someone who liked to get his hands dirty.

But when they had met Ron had found Lewis to be a sharp, cynical guy who complimented Ron’s intense drive with a relaxed and almost apathetic approach of his own. Things had taken off from there, which he supposed was the plan all along. Stan Nixon was crafty that way.

He cared about Lewis…a lot. But he couldn’t bring himself to say he was in love…because he didn’t think he was.

He’d heard a lot of things about love…from people who were in love. Or claimed to be. And no…he didn’t think about Lewis all the time. He was never struck by the emotion he had for him. He didn’t worry incessantly about him. He could…live without Lewis. That didn’t mean he necessarily wanted to..but he could.

By all accounts…Ron had never been in love with anyone. He hadn’t met that one person yet.

He suspected that some of his feelings on the concept of love were stemmed from his being the product of a divorce. His parents hated each other…had only been married because they had found out his mother was pregnant. Then when they got divorced they had found other people that they hated that they could get married to and divorce them as well. All in all he had grown up through six divorces.

This thing with Buck…it was complicated. Yes he had felt like Lewis was never around, so of course he got lonely. And Buck was a great guy. They were friends. Lewis knew the two of them were occasional drinking buddies but that had obviously turned into something different.

Buck was fun, carefree and seemed stable in all the places where Lewis wasn’t. He knew that Buck had feelings…real feelings for him…but Lipton had been right…Ron didn’t really care.

How fucked up was that?

Joseph Liebgott, Philadelphia, PA

Guarnere had been rather anxious to get rid of him after the man’s brief conversation with Dick Winters. He had led him to the elevator, which took them 5 floors down.

When the elevator doors opened Joe was greeted with concrete walls and gray metal doors. He looked over at Guarnere, “So we’re under ground?”

“Ain’t you smart.”

“Bite me.”

Guarnere walked up to the only room on the far right of the long hallway and knocked on the door.

There was a light call from the room, “Come in.”

Guarnere pushed open the door and motioned for Liebgott to go inside. Joe rolled his eyes but did as he was instructed.

There was a pale, dark haired man, maybe about 35, lounging in a chair and reading a file. Man these guys liked their files…

He looked up when they entered and gave a smirk, “Bill…how was your flight?”

Guarnere shrugged, “It was fine. Look, sir, if you don’t need me…”

He trailed off and hooked a thumb back towards the hallway.

The man, obviously the boss if Guarnere was calling him ‘sir’, just nodded, “Go ahead. But when you’re done talking to Dick- would you tell him I’d like a word with him? It’s about his next assignment.”

Guarnere paused and Liebgott got the feeling that there was something wrong with that statement to him. But the man nodded and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

The seated man looked at Liebgott with interest in his eyes, “Mr. Liebgott why don’t you take a seat? I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”

Bet your ass he had questions. He sat down cautiously in one of the chairs across the man’s desk- as if he were afraid that restraints were going to pop out of it and tie him down like in some Batman cartoon.

The man leaned forward and rested his hands in front of him, “My name’s Herbert Sobel. I’m in charge of the field operations for the Company. As I said I’m sure you have a lot of questions. So now’s the time to ask them.”

Joe nodded, “Okay. So why did you abduct me?”

Sobel paused, “Our main mission here at the Company is to protect and study those with… ‘special’ abilities. As you surely understand by now Mr. Liebgott…you’re not the only one out there. There are many people who have these abilities. Many of these people are dangerous. We have a history of cleaning up some of the…aftermath of those who don’t understand or wish to control their abilities. The things we do here are for the greater good. We can’t protect people if we don’t understand what they are capable of.”

“So you abduct people to study them?”

“Yes…while I’m sure I understand your distain…none of these people are harmed. You yourself were uninjured as well. By doing this we are able to discover the basic function of a person’s ability…and that information is something very useful to have should they cross our path once more.”

Joe frowned and nodded, “You keeping tabs on them?”

Sobel sighed and grabbed his file and handed it to Joe, “Only if we think it’s necessary.”

Joe took the offered folder and scanned over the contents. It was all about him. His age, his real parents, his real name. What they suspected he could do. Pictures of him in his cab, outside his apartment…

“What the Hell is this?”

“You expected nothing less. We keep tabs on two different types of people Liebgott. Those we deem to be potentially dangerous…and those we deem to be potentially useful. “

“And which one am I?”

“For now? Useful. I brought you on board because I know that you’re on the run. You don’t understand your ability…you don’t know what to do with it. This is the right place for you.”

He wasn’t so sure. He looked down at the file once more, “So what? I just hunt down people like myself? So that you can study them?”

The man smiled and leaned back in his chair, “We do so much more than that. We help these people. Help them understand what they can do and help them use their abilities for a greater purpose. We can help you. Now I need to know if you’re willing to truly embrace this opportunity. You have a lot of potential.”

Joe knew he didn’t have much of a choice. He highly doubted that he could just walk away from this now. Plus he still had to figure out what these people were really up to. If they were these grand protectors like Sobel claimed, Joe didn’t think that Webster would have come from the future to warn him that they were dangerous. And he still had to find this important person that they were supposedly after…

But something else that Sobel said was true. There was no place for him…not since he had left home for good…since he’d had to run. He hadn’t been able to settle down. School had been the closest he had come to having normalcy in his life. There was no reason not to join this Company…

“Fine.” He finally said, “What is it you want from me?”

Sobel smiled, obviously pleased with his answer. “First…we help you understand your abilities. Then when I feel you’re ready…you get a partner.”

Joe paused, “A partner?”

How was he supposed to do any digging with someone hanging around?

Sobel nodded, “That’s right. All field agents are put into pairs. One of you…and one of us.”
Something clicked in Joe’s head, “Winters..is he Guarnere’s partner?”

Sobel frowned and Liebgott was surprised by the look of irritation on the man’s features, “For now.”

“He’s like me isn’t he? What can he do?”

“If he wants you to know..he’ll tell you. You’ll have plenty of time to get to know Dick on your way to New York. Besides, you don’t need to worry about a partner for right now.”

“New York?”

“Yes…that’s where we have our research facilities. It’s exceptionally equipped to help you learn more about what you can do. You’ll be leaving with Dick on a flight to Manhattan..soon. The items you requested from your apartment will be sent there.”

Joe wasn’t sure what to say. Despite all the misgivings he had about who these people were and what they did…he was anxious to learn more about his ability. His limitations…what he should be trying to learn and do.

“Is there anything else I should know?” he asked Sobel.

The man nodded and stood up from his desk, “No one outside of this Company knows what we really do here. Secrecy is essential to ensure that we can do our jobs effectively. Do you understand?”

Joe just nodded. Sobel continued, “As far as anyone outside this company is concerned, you’re a paper salesman.”

Joe again thought that was a pretty lame cover..but he guessed that was the whole point. No one would expect any sort of secret organization to use a paper company as their front.

But these people weren’t kidding around. They knew what they were doing…and if he was going to play both sides…he was going to have to be very, very careful.

Lewis Nixon, Los Angeles, CA

Lewis stormed into his hotel room and slammed the door behind him. His mind was in a state of confusion. Overwhelmed by the thoughts and possibilities behind what he had heard in that interrogation room.

He let his back hit the nearest wall and slid down to the floor. What did that mean? He was cheating? It was impossible! There was no way for someone to read people’s thoughts!

“It’s every bit as possible as you and I are Lewis.”

Lewis was shaking, he knew. He couldn’t take this much longer, “What do you want! Damn it!
Just leave me alone!”

“I want what’s best for the both of us.”

Lewis lifted his head up to look into the mirrored closest across from him, his reflection was also slumped on the floor…but he wasn’t shaking.

“It’s not true.”

Jonathan glowered at him, “The Hell it isn’t. We’re special Lewis…the things we’re capable of. Trust me…that cop…he heard what he said he heard. Ron cheated on you. With your partner.”

Lewis shook his head, “No..he wouldn’t. He knows how much I…”

“How much what? How much you love him? Have you ever heard him tell you the same thing? Tell me you can see it! Tell me you can see the signs that I’d been willing to overlook for you.”

He thought about it…Ron had never really told him that he loved him. The way he had been acting the other day. The mark on his neck that Lewis knew had to be a hickey…a fact he’d been unwilling to accept.

“Why? I know I’ve been a mess lately but..I love him. I did everything for him...”

“That’s right! You worked your ass off to get him transferred.”

“I wanted to keep him safe…I pulled every favor I had.”

“After everything you’ve given him! After everything we did to protect him! After everything we did to avenge him! This is how he treats you?”

“I loved him…”

“He doesn’t love you. He used you…he fooled you. He won’t fool you again.”

Lewis just nodded…and then things began to fade.

He let Jonathan take over.

Dick Winters and Bill Guarnere, Philadelphia, PA

Bill rushed back into his office, where Dick was still sitting at his desk, looking over folders. He didn’t look troubled…but Bill knew him far better than that. He closed the door to his office and locked it.

“What’s going on?”

Dick looked up and waved him over, “Babe’s fine…he’s safe. I tried to call your secure line…but I couldn’t get a hold of you.”

Bill pulled a chair across from his partner, something was definitely wrong with Dick. He had wanted to ask his partner about this new assignment but now… “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Dick didn’t move, “Do you remember what I told you about my family? About joining the Company?”

Bill nodded. Dick had confided in him, after they had been working together for a year…about what had happened to his family.

Bill knew…that Dick was special. Not because he had an ability…but because of who he was. He knew on some level that Dick must have had incredible parents and he had often wondered why the other man never talked about them.

It was because they had been killed. They’d had abilities like Dick. And when he had been 17…they had been murdered. By the time he was 18…the Company had tracked him down and made him an offer. Dick hadn’t had anywhere else to go…

Bill knew that the circumstances of their parent’s demise were somewhat similar…except there was one key difference. Both he and Dick knew exactly who had killed Bill’s parents.

He looked down at the file Dick was reviewing…a file on Claire Winters. “You never told me what she could do.”

Dick stayed silent as he took in the picture of a lovely red head that was attached to the file, “She could fly.”

Bill stared at the downturned and solemn green eyes, not knowing what to do with the obvious pain Dick was experiencing. Whenever Babe and Dick hurt…he hurt too.

Finally Bill said, “I didn’t realize the Company had a file on her.”

“I didn’t realize that either.”

“You don’t think they killed her?”

The worst part was that Bill knew the Company was capable of it. They had no interest in someone who could fly…but Dick’s ability…it was a priceless commodity. If they wanted him all to themselves…they had to eliminate the attachments holding him back.

Dick closed the file and looked Bill in the eye, “There’s something I never told you.”

Bill shifted in his seat. He and Dick…they didn’t keep many secrets anymore. Dick knew so much…he knew all of Bill’s demons…if Dick hadn’t told him something…

“What is it?”

“I used to have a little brother.”

“Used to?”

“He was kidnapped when I was 12. He was only 18 months old. After all this time…I figured he was dead.”

Bill froze at Dick’s words. A memory quickly surfacing to his mind.

He had been 14 when his parents had come home from work a little later than normal.

He knew what they did. They had been training him to work for the Company since he was 11 years old…it was all they ever talked about. How important their work was...

His father had walked in the door in a fuss and his mother had come home carrying a small baby in her arms.

The Company, they’d told him, had given them a little boy. They thought he might be special…they couldn’t get too attached.

Bill looked back over at Dick, startled. He was 2 years older than his partner, which meant that the year they had gotten Babe was the year that Dick had lost his little brother.

“What are you saying?”

Dick sighed, “Babe told me that he had dreams that he thought were coming true.”

“What? When?”

“This morning…and he told me he had a dream that he was flying.”

“Okay.”

“So your parents made him meet Renee before she escaped…she could dream the future. And if
Babe can do what your parents were so sure he could…”

“Then his dream about flying is going to come true.”

Dick nodded, “They never could have introduced Babe to my mother. And she’s the only person on record with the ability to fly. None of the other people that your parents introduced to Babe had that ability.”

“You think that-”

“Bill….Babe’s my little brother. They took him from us. And then they killed my parents.”

Ronald Speirs, Los Angeles, CA

He wasn’t nervous…exactly. He didn’t really get nervous. But as he approached the door to his hotel room he felt concern about how to best have this conversation with Lewis.

The more he thought about it the more obvious it became the Lewis had to have heard Lipton’s comment.

Shutting the door he stepped into his room only to see that it was empty. Confused he walked forward a couple of steps and was about to turn around when a strong arm grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backwards.

Swept off balance, the arm pulled him around and slammed the side of his head into a wall with enough force to send the room into a terrifying spin as he fell to the ground.

His brain felt rattled and the whole left side of his body was stiff. Seeing feet in front of him he swept his leg out but only managed to trip his assailant up slightly.

He reached for his gun but received a kick in the gut for his effort. He coughed, suddenly unable to breathe. The same strong grip pulled him up by the back of his suit and slammed him
roughly into the wall.

The force of the impact coupled with the kick he had just received set his lungs on fire as he gasped, struggling to pull in a breath of air.

“What? Were you going to shoot me Ron? Add injury to insult this time?”

Ron stared in shock at Lewis, who was smirking at him with his head tilted to the side. Ron started to speak- ask him what the Hell he was doing but the moment he opened his mouth, Lewis wrapped a hand around his throat, cutting off any reply.

“Why don’t you let me do the talking? Okay?”

Lewis let go his shoulder and tightened his grip on Ron’s throat. Ron coughed once and then closed his mouth and focused on trying to breathe through his nose.

“You know I told him that you weren’t worth his effort. But he never listens to me. So sometimes I just have to take matters into my own hands…”

Who the Hell was he talking about? Buck? This wasn’t Lewis…he had to…be on drugs or something.

“You cheated on him. I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like you ever loved him. But we bent over backwards to make you happy. To keep you safe. I did a lot of horrible things for you. Because that was what Lewis wanted. But I don’t care about what he wants anymore. I’m going to worry about what he needs.”

Ron felt his body actually being lifted off the ground by the hand around his throat. He wanted to be shocked about what he was putting together. That this wasn’t Lewis that he was talking to…but someone else. It explained everything about his behavior…

But right now he couldn’t think about what was wrong with Lewis. He couldn’t wonder where this incredible strength the man possessed had come from. Right now…the only thing he needed to think about was how to survive this encounter.

“He needs you out of his life. You’re like this all encompassing parasite. You suck people in and you take everything they have…and in the end you only wind up killing them. But that’s not going to happen this time. Lewis has someone to look after him now. He has me.”

Ron took a deep breath through his nose and pulled his knee up swiftly, connecting with the man’s jaw. He was released and fell to the ground.

He rolled away from his attacker and struggled to his feet despite his blurred vision, dizziness and overall pain. He reached for his gun..

Lewis..or whoever the Hell this was, slugged him in his jaw and Ron was actually knocked off of his feet by the force of the punch and crashed into the table in the corner of the room.

Lewis walked over to him and hauled him off the floor before tossing him into the dresser with enough strength to send the glass of the mirror attached into hundreds of pieces.

He hissed as he felt shards of glass cut into his arm, shoulder and neck.

Lewis then shoved him to the floor and pulled out a non issue hand gun. He pointed it directly at Ron’s head.

“Wait,” Ron croaked. He didn’t have the strength to fight back. He had to make him listen. He had to make him do what he said. “You’re not going to shoot me.”

The man paused, fury screwing up his features, “Shut up.”

Ron wasn’t sure why the man wasn’t pulling the trigger, but he kept talking, “You’re going to put the gun down.”

Lewis began to breathe heavily and shake his head, “No…”

But even as he said it the other man let his arms drop and tossed the gun to the floor. “What are you doing to me?”

Ron coughed and tried to roll off of his bleeding shoulder, “I don’t know who you are…but you’re going to let me talk to Lewis.”

He looked up and saw something change in the man’s demeanor. The fury melted off of his face and his eyes went wide, “Ron?”

Ron sighed and let his head fall back against the floor, his vision still fading. He had made him listen…how had he made him listen?

He closed his eyes, trying to fight the exhaustion. He struggled to get up on his feet.

Lewis rushed forward and helped him to the bed, and Ron tried not the flinch even though he knew it was Lewis. “Ron..Jesus Christ…”

Ron let the pain overwhelm him and it was only a moment before he was unconscious.

Lewis stared at the bruised, battered and bleeding man on the bed before him. He looked around at the destruction in the room.

This wasn’t what he wanted. He turned to the mirror, “You were going to kill him!”

Jonathan’s face was filled with fury, “Yes I was. For you! But I couldn’t…”

Lewis was shaking once more as he turned away from his reflection and checked over Ron’s injuries. “What?”

“There’s something he did. Something he said. I couldn’t control my actions.”
Lewis ignored him as he rolled Ron on his back and tried not to freak out about how much his neck was bleeding.

“But he can’t talk anymore.

“What? No!”

Before he could control himself he was picking up the gun, “No! You’re not going to make me do this. This is against everything I wanted. I wanted to keep him safe!”

“After he betrays you, you still want to protect him! You’re pathetic. If you’re too weak to end this, I’ll be more than happy to do it for you.”

The gun lifted up to point at Ron’s unconscious figure, “NO!”

Suddenly the door flew open and the blonde officer that he had seen Ron interrogate came rushing in, gun drawn, “LAPD put the gun down now!”

“I can’t…”

“What are you going to do Officer Lipton? Are you going to shoot an FBI Agent?”

The man glared and glanced frantically at Ron, “Are you?”

Lewis shook his head, fighting with Jonathan over control of his body. He lowered the gun slightly, “You have to knock me out.”

“What that Hell is wrong with you?”

“I can’t control him, there’s someone else in my head….”

The officer’s head tilted to the side and his eyes got wide, “You’re right…there’s two of you in there.”

“I can’t control him for much longer. You have to knock me out. Do it. Take the gun and then you have to arrest me.”

“Arrest you for what? This?”

Lewis shook his head, “No…I killed the De Lucca brothers. And I was the one who shot up the
bar downtown. I’ll confess to everything you just have to arrest me.”

Lipton paused, eyes still on the slightly raised gun in Lewis’s hand.

Lewis began to shout, “You have to knock me out! Do you want to save him or not!”

That was all it took. Lipton dropped his gun and drew his fist.

Lewis’s head snapped back when Lipton’s fist struck him…and everything went black.

Some Call This Fun (4/?)

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:53:22 GMT

Title: Some Call This Fun (4/?)
Word Count: 5,495
Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they aren’t the only ones being challenged. A stressed producer, an exasperated doctor, the off-balanced host, a horny intern and an extremely concerned judge all struggle to maintain their faith as their reality show spirals into insanity.

Meet the Crew
Meet the Contestants
Oh Captain My Captain?

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Dick yawned as he rolled out of bed at 11:00am. Normally he would never sleep so late but the first challenge had kept them all up into the morning hours. He looked around his trailer and rolled his eyes to see that Nixon was asleep on his couch.

Unsure of how the man had even gotten in, but not entirely surprised to see him, he started to work making a pot of coffee in the hopes that the aroma would rouse Nixon from his sleep. Fat chance.

Giving Lewis one more curious look- he went off to hop into the shower, wondering if any of the contestants were awake yet.

As far as Babe could tell…he was in a bed. However he was rather reluctant to open his eyes.

His memories of the day before were sketchy at best and one could only wake up naked in some stranger’s front yard so many times before a fear of waking up was instilled.

Man why did these things always happen to him? He was a good kid! He was!

He put a cautious hand over his face and peeked through his fingers, squinting as the sunlight assaulted his eyes.

He did a quick check-fully clothed, no other occupants in the bed…this might be okay.

Blinking his eyes a couple of times he scanned the room he was in. There were three other beds, two were made up and one had sheets that were haphazardly strewn about. But they were all empty.

He slid up into a sitting position and noticed a bottle of water, two Advil and a yellow post it. He grabbed the post it.

Hope you’re feeling okay. Take these just in case.
Gene

Who the Hell was Gene?

“Man- he’s gonna be so hung over.”

“No shit.”

“Well he has to wake up sometime.”

Perconte, Toye and Buck all just looked down at Luz, who was snoozing-sprawled out on top of a kitchen counter.

Webster rolled his eyes and tried to maneuver his breakfast around the sleeping man, “Would you guys just move him already? This is ridiculous.”

Buck nodded, “That it is.”

Frank shrugged, “We’ve been trying to wake him up for 30 minutes. He’s not having it.”

Skip Muck popped up behind them, “I’ve got an idea.”

Penkala sipped on his coffee slowly as he watched Buck sling Luz over his shoulder and walk off with a few others upstairs. He grinned as Skip zipped over- most likely to talk him into witnessing whatever they were going to do to the poor guy.

Skip bounced over with a huge smile, “Hey Don! C’mere you gotta see this. It’s going to be hilarious.”

Then Muck reached forward, grabbed Don’s wrist and jerked the red head, who Penkala hadn’t even seen behind him, along after Buck and the others.

Alex sat there- wondering if he was suddenly invisible to his best friend.

“SON OF A BITCH!”

George Luz jumped up as cold water sprayed him in the face. The moment he got to his feet, he slipped on the tub’s wet surface and fell down again.

Coughing and sputtering he looked up to see five of his fellow housemates laughing their asses off as he was soaked from head to toe underneath the shower spray.

Reaching out he grabbed Toye and Buck’s sleeves and pulled them into the tub and then unhooked the shower head to spray the other spectators as well.

“Ha! Not so funny now is it? Assholes!”

Toye laughed from where he was now lying on his back in the tub, one foot sticking out, “No it really is.”

Luz turned the temperature up to scalding hot and rounded on him.

“OW! SHIT!”

Buck and the others made a hasty retreat, laughing the whole way.

“Nixon. Wake up.”

“Go away!”

Renee glared before glancing back at Dick who was reading over the rules of the challenge and sipping on a cup of coffee.

Frowning she brought her heeled foot up and dug it into his shoulder.

“OW!”

“Wake up then! It’s already late and we have to get started. The next person out here is going to be Martin and you KNOW how he likes to wake you up.”

Nixon sighed, “Painfully.”

“Yep…now up-up.”

Grumbling, Nixon struggled off the couch and looked over at Dick before nodding back towards his shower. Dick shrugged and Nixon took off toward the bathroom.

Renee watched him go, “Doesn’t he have his own trailer?”

“Yeah…he’s afraid he’s going to get eaten by a jaguar.”

“A jaguar?”

“It is Brazil.”

“Right…well I guess I’ll have Talbert go get him his clothes.”

Webster watched as Liebgott stood in front of the fridge. Reaching inside, he grabbed the orange juice. Then put it back. Then grabbed it…then put it back. This went on for a few minutes.

David finally stood up, snatched the orange juice out of Joe’s hands, poured some into a cup and slammed it down on the kitchen counter. Then he grabbed a banana and threw it at
Liebgott.

Joe hastily caught the fruit and glared at the other man, “Do you have a fucking death wish?”

“Look just…eat that and we’ll pretend like I never said…what I said last night.”

It had only taken an hour on thinking back on his statement before David realized that what he said must have had some truth to it. Maybe he didn’t know what it was but…Joe obviously had some sort of issue with either eating or people talking about his weight.

Whichever it was, David felt bad about it. He was really a nice person…Liebgott just rubbed him the wrong way.

Joe glared at him, but then nodded and sat down in front of the orange juice.

David figured that was kind of like them apologizing.

Babe was watching as everyone started gathering into the living room sort of naturally…Some people were eating, others were talking loudly, and a few dark haired men were yawning still.

He himself was kind of slumped down on the couch, watching the chaos continue to unfold. He didn’t really remember any of these people…

Suddenly a man flopped down next to him. He had brown hair and strangely protruding ears.

The man grinned at him, “How you feeling kid?”

Babe blinked at him, “Are you Gene?”

“Uh…no. I’m Don Hoobler. But we have two Don’s on our team so just call me Hoobler.”

“Teams?”

The man gaped, “Wow you were more out of it than I thought.”

“Yeah about that…what was wrong with me?”

Hoobler laughed, “Oh man. You were all strung out on LSD!”

“I was WHAT!?”

The man winced and Babe looked around embarrassed, but few looked very interested in what he was shouting about.

“But I don’t do drugs! I swear I don’t! Um…what’s going to happen to me? “

Hoobler didn’t seem to be sure what he was referring to but when he saw Babe glancing nervously at the cameras he nodded in understanding, “Oh don’t worry about that. You were entertaining enough that I’m pretty sure they’re not going to do anything. Plus from what I can tell you didn’t do it on purpose right?”

“Right!”

Hoobler swatted him on the shoulder, “You’ll be fine kid. Now let me fill you in on the stuff you were too high to understand, okay?”

“Sure,” Babe muttered, glancing around at all the assembled contestants, curious about which one of them had left him the post it.

Nixon walked out of Dick’s bathroom, freshly showered and dressed. He was buttoning the top button of his shirt when he saw Dick giving him that not-quite a smirk…smirk.

“What?” he asked, shooting a hand to his hair and looking behind himself.

Dick smiled at the floor and shook his head, “Just thinking that you better not have used my toothbrush too.”

Nix rolled his eyes, “Well if I had to steal anyone’s toothbrush it would definitely be
yours…”

“Nix I was joking!”

“Ha…me too. No Floyd brought me one…”

Nixon and Dick’s cells beeped at the same time. Lewis shrugged but Dick checked his message.

“The contestants are all assembled in the clearing. You know what you’re talking about?”

Nixon rolled his eyes and snagged the papers Dick had been reading over earlier, “I will by the time we get there.”

The assembled group of contestants and crew all stood in the center of a clearing, which was in the middle of a grassy area of forest, trees encircling all of them.

“So who wants to guess what you’ll be doing today?”

21 pairs of eyes stared at Nixon in various states of boredom, confusion and concern. 1 pair was still flickering in and out of Snoozeville.

“No one? Okay.” Nixon smiled, much more awake due to coffee and the excitement of the new challenge, “Today you will be playing a game of Capture the Flag. Has anyone ever played that before?”

“No. We all have lives.” Sobel snapped.

Christenson slowly let his hand down from where he had shot it into the air, “Um…nevermind.”

“Well then- let’s explain the rules. Capture the Flag is an outdoor game played between two teams. Which works out well considering. Anyway each team has a flag that they keep on their side of a border. They way to win the game is to capture the other team’s flag and bring it over the border. The border in this case will be right where I’m standing,”

Everyone looked down to see a series of lined up logs set up to make the border quite obvious.

Dick took over explaining, “Each team will have defenders and attackers. Attackers will go into the other team’s territory in an attempt to get the enemy flag, and bring it back to their side of the border. Defenders will guard their side of the border and attempt to eliminate those attackers that try to steal their flag.”

“Now the way to eliminate a player will be quite simple,” Nixon explained holding up a small, round object with a miniature red flag hanging down from it. “Each player will be wearing one of these. All you have to do to eliminate someone from the challenge is to pull their flag and this black device will light up, indicating that the person is now out of the game. Once you’re out- come back to the border and chill until the game is over. You’ll be allowed to set ups your flags on your own. They need to be hung at head height and visible from 20 feet. We’ll be monitoring the border. Any questions?”

22 head shakes. Nixon smiled, “Excellent. Captains come and get your flags.”

Dick came up behind him, a red and blue flag in each hand. Speirs and Sobel walked up to grab them.

“Alright, Red territory to my front, blue territory to my back. Get going.”

The two teams took off to their sides of the border, cameramen in tow.

Red Team

They had only been walking in the forest for about 3 minutes when Speirs halted quickly and turned to look at his teammates abruptly. “Anyone wearing a red shirt take it off now.”

Grant looked around- noting that only he, Blithe, Perconte and Luz had forgone the provided red tees. “Uh why?”

Christenson stripped his shirt off and tossed it next to a tree, “Because red sticks out like a sore thumb and we don’t want to give away our position.”

“Exactly,” Speirs nodded before walking a few paces over to a low hanging tree. “Cobb, Compton- how tall are you?”

Cobb was reluctantly taking his shirt off, “5’10?”

Buck walked over to their team leader and held his hand out for the flag, “Here-I’m 6’1.”

Speirs handed it over for Buck to tack to the tree at his head height-which was higher than the rest of them. However Buck tacked it far above his head height, not really paying attention.

Ron surveyed the team.

“Okay-Blithe, Grant, Perconte, Luz, Compton and I will be the attack team. Anyone have a problem with that?”

Penkala shrugged, “Nah..but uh what are we supposed to do?”

Speirs looked around the area, “Set up a perimeter around the flag.”

Christenson nodded, “Yeah but not too close. We don’t want them to know where it is.”

Lipton nudged Burton, “You’ve played this before right?”

“Yeah- a few times.”

Speirs looked over quickly, “Anything we should know before we run straight into enemy territory?”

Christenson looked surprised that he was actually asking, “Uh…split up of course. Also try to blend in with their team, they may not recognize all their players right off.”

Speirs nodded, “Perfect. You take over things here. If you’re on the attack team- let’s get moving.”

Lipton watched him take off, impressed by the way he was handling the team.

Blue Team

“I’m telling you that’s fucking dumb!”

“Yeah I have to agree. They’ll see us before they see the flag!”

“Look-as team Captain I think that guarding the flag would be-”

Bill glared, “Who cares what you think? We aren’t obligated to listen to you. Guarding the flag is pathetic. And Hoobler’s right-they’ll see us and know exactly where the flag is.”

“Did you just call me pathetic?!”

Liebgott glared, “He was being pretty lenient if you ask me!”

“No one asked you-you stupid-”

“You don’t want to fucking go there-”

“Let’s all calm down,” Shifty held an arm in front of Liebgott-just in case. “Why don’t we figure out who’s going where?”

Sobel pursed his lips and nodded, “I’m definitely going to be on the attack team.”

Bill glared, “I’ll stay here. How about you Shifty?”

Shifty thought about it. “I’ve got pretty good ears, I think I should stay. That way I can alert y’all if anyone tries to sneak up on us.”

Evans smiled, “Speaking of ears…”

Hoobler frowned, “I’ll go anywhere he’s not.”

“He’s staying here to guard the flag? Right Evans?” Sobel asked the blond who nodded quickly.

“Then I’m on the attack team. You in kid?” Hoobler asked looking over at Babe.

“Uh sure?”

“I’ll go with you guys,” Gene tossed out.

“I’ll be on the attack team.” Muck volunteered, before nudging Don in the ribs.

“Oh…me too!” The red head laughed-taking the hint.

Bill nodded, “That’s plenty. Which means Liebgott, Webster, Evans, Shifty and me stay here. Everyone clear? Good. ”

In Blue Territory

Frank looked around to see if anyone could see him crossing over the log barrier. He had watched Luz simply stroll casually into the forest- obviously wanting to go with the “blend in” tactic. He was wearing a white tee so he might be able to pull it off.

He was only five feet into the forest when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly squatted down and looked over to see Muck and Don walking about 10 feet to his right
in the direction of the border.

He held his breath until he felt they were safely out of his way. He stood up in a crouch and started walking slowly and almost had a heart attack when someone grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Speirs what the fuck?” he whispered but the other man put a finger to his lips and pointed in the direction that Frank had been about to go.

Liebgott was leaning against a tree not far off, looking around him. The two of them stooped low once more. Speirs leaned in close and whispered, “Walk back and then go off to the right. I’ll go to the left.”

He nodded and watched Ron go. He hadn’t even heard the stealthy fucker sneak up on him, they might actually win this thing.

In Red Territory

Gene wasn’t sure that Sobel could get any louder if he tried. They had all crossed into the Red territory consecutively but had split up fairly quickly. However even from the distance they put between them he could hear Sobel’s too-quick movements and heavy breathing. It’d only be a matter of time before someone else heard him.

Up ahead of him he could see a solitary red head and knew that it was Babe. He had wanted to talk to the guy and see how he was feeling, but there hadn’t really been a good time. He was wondering if he should catch up with him when he heard a loud crash.

“Shit!” Don cursed from where he had tripped over a branch and fallen flat on his face, causing a huge ruckus.

He jumped back up in time to see someone heading his way. He started to move off quickly but was grabbed by the back of his shirt by Penkala and fell to the ground again.

He heard a light beep as his flag was pulled and his device lit up. Penkala grinned triumphantly, “Nice try Malarkey.”

Don smiled up at him and shrugged. Penkala just frowned, “Why are you smiling?”

“Oh no reason Penk.”

There was another beep and Penkala looked down at his flashing device, “What the Hell?”

Alex turned around to see Skip waving his flag in his face, “HA! You SO were not expecting that shit!”

“Can you do that?”

Malarkey shrugged, “I guess he can!”

“Damn it!”

In Blue Territory

Bill was trying to herd Evans away from the flag. The blond was currently standing directly in front of the tree the flag was hung on. Just enough to attract attention to himself but not close enough to draw attention AWAY from the giant blue flag!

He glared at the other man, “You seriously cannot be standing here right now.”

“But Sobel told me to stand here.”

“No. He didn’t. He told you to guard the flag. You can do that from a lot of places.”

“How can I guard the flag if I can’t see it?”

“What? You aren’t even looking at it now!”

“…Yes I am.”

“Ugh. Look will you just move already? You’re making this too fucking difficult!”

“NO!”

Bill restrained himself from smacking the guy, not sure what to do instead. This was a problem…but the guy had kind of leeched onto Sobel when the other man had been the only one willing to talk to him. Now it was pretty obvious that he was the only one Evans would listen to…

Well if he couldn’t get him to move on his own, he knew another way to get him out of the way.

Bill reached down to the device clipped onto Evans shorts and pulled his flag out. “There. You’re eliminated. Beat it.”

Evans just gaped, “Wha? Oh man…”

Bill watched him slump over to the border in relief…that was one less thing to worry about.

Shifty paused in his silent pacing when he heard movement to his right. He spun around and saw a head of platinum blond hair.

He crept over until he was directly behind Buck. He was about to snatch the man’s flag when he heard someone holler, “Behind you Buck!”

Buck didn’t even look back but took off like a shot and Shifty took off after him. However the blond was moving too fast for Shifty to keep up with.

He had fallen a considerable distance behind when all of a sudden he saw Buck go flying forward off his feet.

Sucking in deep breaths of air- he caught up to the fallen Red and pulled the flag on his device. “Man you are really fast.”

Buck grimaced and sat up, “Thanks…I play college football. What’d I hit?”

“My foot.”

They both looked over to Liebgott who was standing there casually with one foot sticking out, obviously intending to trip Buck up, “No shirt huh? Anyone else on your team being skins?”

Buck knew better than to say anything and walked off toward the border.

David heard someone shout and took off towards the sound. He saw Shifty running after someone but instead of helping he followed the noise and saw Perconte.

Frank saw him and tried to run past him but David reached out and grabbed the flag off his waist. Perconte groaned, “Shiiiiit.”

David shook his head, “Maybe you shouldn’t have been shouting.”

Suddenly someone flew past him, grabbing his flag as well.

“Who the Hell was that?” David looked around frantically at his device lit up.

Frank made a face, “I honestly don’t even know.”

“Crap.”

In Red Territory

Christenson saw Sobel practically stomping right up the middle of their established perimeter and took off to eliminate the Blue Captain.

Huh…eliminate sounded kinda evil…

When he got a little closer he noticed that the loud player had also caught the attention of Cobb and Lipton- leaving a serious gap in their perimeter, “Guys get back to your spots!”
Sobel saw them and started to move but Lipton easily tackled him and Cobb snatched his flag.

They looked over at Burton.

“What are you hollering about?” Cobb asked- squinting his eyes against the sun.

“Guys there is officially only 1 person guarding our flag right now!”

“Oh…shit.”

Gene spotted the Red flag tacked onto a tree about 7 feet ahead. Glancing around he felt it was safe to run up there.

However the moment he got there he noted a slight problem. It was too high up for him to reach. Head height his ass! He was 5’10 and he couldn’t reach that!

Not sure what to do he didn’t hear anyone come up behind him.

“Need some help?”

Spinning around he sighed upon seeing that it was Babe. “Babe…you scared the Jesus out of me. Why don’t you give me a boost?”

Babe nodded, “Sure thing…um…”

“I’m Gene. Sorry…I shouldn’t of expected you to remember me.”

“No! I’m sorry Gene…um let me help you.” Babe trailed off, embarrassed that he hadn’t remembered a man who immediately struck him as unforgettable. “Wow that’s way up there.”

“Yeah not really head height huh?”

“Well I’m just sure that was a mistake,” Babe joked squatting down and making a basket with his hands.

Gene laughed and put a hand on Babe’s shoulder to steady himself before putting his right heel in Babe’s cupped palms.

Babe pushed up with his hands a little too quickly and Gene barely had time to pull down the Red flag before he lost his balance and fell back onto the red headed teen.

Twisting around Gene found them face to face on the ground and his breath caught at how close he was to Babe.

Babe just grinned awkwardly, “Uh sorry about that.”

Gene shook his head and sat the flag on Babe’s chest so he could push himself up off the ground, “No problem.”

Suddenly there was a beep and Gene saw his device start flashing. Toye had snuck up on him.

“Babe…start running.”

“Right.” Babe grabbed the flag and took off, Toye hot on his heels.

Gene cursed at letting himself get distracted and took off toward the border as well.

In Blue Territory

Speirs was watching Liebgott closely. The Blue player may not look like it- but he was becoming a serious threat. And Ron knew better than anyone else not to underestimate someone based on their appearance.

Liebgott had already eliminated Luz and Grant singlehandedly. It would only be a matter of time before he got to the others- all of whom Speirs was unclear about as far as their status went.

So….go for the flag or take out Liebgott?

He grinned, not able to resist a challenge. He headed over to Liebgott’s position, hoping to get the drop on the other man.

The moment he was within 3 feet of the other contestant Liebgott turned around to head back to the flag and found himself face to face with the Red team’s Captain.

They collided together solidly and tumbled to the ground. After untangling his arms from the other man Liebgott reached for the red flag at Ron’s waist and at the same moment felt pressure on his hip.

He glared up the shirtless Red, who had a thoughtful look on his face.

Finally Ron said, “Well…we could always call it a truce.”

Joe frowned, “Fuck that.”

They ripped off one another’s flags simultaneously.

In Red Territory

Hoobler wasn’t sure what was so special about this particular tree but the moment he got close to it he was violently tackled by two people…so that sucked.

Christenson pulled his flag off his waist and looked him over, “Where’s our flag?”

Hoobler shook his head, “I don’t know?”

Lipton, Cobb, and Christenson all exchanged looks before they took off sprinting toward the border.

Hoobler just lay there…not sure if he could even move, “Owww….this game sucks.”

Babe was no longer looking over his shoulder but he definitely knew that Toye was gaining on him. He knew it for certain when the other man hooked an arm around his waist and sent them both face first into the dirt.

Fortunately for Babe he landed on his side- the side that his device was strapped to. When Toye realized he couldn’t see it he tried to stand up but Babe reached up and activated his device.

Joe jumped to his feet and smacked his head, “So maybe tackling you was not the best idea.”

Babe shrugged and stood up as well, he was contemplating saying something to Toye when he saw three Reds running up behind Joe.

“Shit, gotta go.”

At the Border

Frank, Luz, Buck and Grant all groaned when they saw Speirs and Liebgott trudging towards them to wait the rest of the game out with the eliminated players.

“We’re so boned,” Luz complained.

“Yep.”

Nixon was standing off to the side with Dick and Harry. He adjusted his sunglasses and stared dejectedly at the border barrier, “Come on! Something has to happen soon!”

He then glared over at Dick, “And why are you not getting seriously sunburned? I put on like an entire bottle of SPF15 and you didn’t do jack! I know you don’t tan.”

Dick shrugged “I don’t know..I guess I just don’t burn easily.”

“Ice doesn’t melt in his mouth either.” Harry, who also had a faint strip of pink across his nose, complained.

“Whatever I- oh look!”

Babe had come tearing out of the forest, Christenson hot on his heels, and red flag in his hand. Nixon bounced on his feet excitedly, “That’s more like it.”

It looked like Babe was going to make it- he was only a few feet from the border, but Christenson in a last ditch attempt to stop him- flung himself forward, grabbing the side of Babe’s cargo shorts and yanking at the flag.

The flag come out, the device beeped- but everyone was much more interested in the fact that Babe’s shorts had come down as well.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Dude just got pantsed! On national television!” Nixon was actually hunched over he was laughing so hard, “Nice boxers kid!”

Babe glared as the others chimed in with wolf whistles and laughter.

“You’re young you can pull off South Park underwear!”

Babe just held out his hand and flicked off everyone that could see him. He reached down and yanked his shorts back up.

All of a sudden a bull horn went off.

“WINNER!” Nixon shouted.

Babe turned around to see what the Hell he was talking about and gaped with everyone else as Blithe strolled across the border-Blue flag in hand.

“What the FUCK?”

“NO WAY!”

Blithe just looked at everyone-confused, “What?”

“Red team wins!”

“So now what?” Hoobler asked rubbing his shoulder- still aching from the throw down by the Red team, “We just vote for who we want off the team?”

Bill shrugged- “I guess so.”

Dick walked over to the assembled Blue team, “Think about it and talk amongst yourselves and then come out to the beach at 6:00pm to take the vote.”

Everyone sighed and walked off.

Christenson took a break from celebrating with his team when he saw Babe walking back toward the house from the Jeep he had ridden in from the clearing. “Hey kid-wait up.”

Babe paused and looked over to glare at Christenson- still a little sore that the guy had pantsed him. But he knew it was an accident.

He frowned when Christenson reached him, “My name’s Babe- not kid.”

“Your real name is Babe?”

“Well- it’s Edward but…just call me Babe. What are you talking about my name for? Isn’t your name Burton?”

Christenson held up his hands, “Whoa- I don’t want to argue with you. I just wanted to apologize for the…y’know…the part where I pulled your pants off?

Babe shrugged, “Don’t sweat it…it was an accident.”

“Or was it?”

“Haha gross you pervert!”

Burton laughed, “I didn’t take you as a boxers kinda guy.”

“What?”

Gene hung back, seeing that Babe was busy talking to someone. Why was he so desperate to befriend the kid anyway? Hadn’t he wanted to keep his connections to a minimum?

Sobel sighed as he slumped back onto the couch- tuning out the constant chatter of Evans. He knew he was in a bad spot. No one really wanted him as Captain and it would be all too easy for them to vote for him.

It was ridiculous! Evans had told him that Bill had eliminated him. It was all Guarnere’s fault that their flag had been captured!

He had to do something to make sure he wouldn’t be forced to compete in the head to head challenge.

He paused when he looked past the hall and into the kitchen where Toye was cracking eggs for an omelet-suddenly getting a bad idea.

“So then I said ‘What if you strap the skate board to your feet?’ and he said-”

“Evans- vote for Bill tonight okay?”

“Um okay?” the blond watched him hop up and head over to the kitchen.
Sobel walked past the open carton of eggs grabbed two of them and a cup before walking to the bathroom.

Closing the door he cracked the eggs in the sink and poured the contents into the cup.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted the cup to his lips and drank the raw eggs. Swallowing hard he tried not to throw up- he hoped this would work.

“Where the fuck is Sobel? It’s almost 6:00!” Liebgott glared at Evans who was shrugging at him.

Dick walked over, he guessed this fell under his job description, “What’s the problem?”

David sighed, “We’re not sure where Sobel is- should we head over to the beach without him?”

Dick nodded, “Uh yeah get going…I’ll get him.”

Shifty walked over, “He’s in the hall bathroom- he sounds awfully sick.”

“I’ll go check on him.”

Dick went over to the bathroom in the hallway and tapped on the door, “Herbert? Can I come in?”

There was a cough then “Sure.”

Peeking around the door Dick saw Sobel on the floor hunched over the toilet. He had obviously been puking. “Oh my goodness!. Are you okay?”

“I have food poisoning.”

“What? Oh this is not good. You need to get to the infirmary. Don’t worry about this elimination- just sit it out. What gave you food poisoning?”

“I did.”

Dick just gaped as Sobel started retching again, “Oh Nixon’s going to love this,”

“Oh nice!” Nixon exclaimed to what Dick whispered in his ear, “Okay interesting news everybody. Sobel’s got serious food poisoning and is in the infirmary. So he’s probably going to be sick for a while. Basically I wouldn’t waste your vote on him….doesn’t look like he’s going to be up to competing.”

There was a chorus of curses.

“I know!” Nixon nodded, “Anyway just go over to this podium and write your vote down.”

He gestured over the large bonfire on the beach and to a wooden podium set up with paper ballots and a drop box. Way too Survivor style for Dick’s taste.

They all grumbled and formed a line.

“Can’t we just vote orally?” Malarkey asked.

Nixon shook his head, “Oh no. This ain’t my first rodeo…that’s how people get strangled.”

Dick looked over at him “I thought that’s what you wanted?”

“Yeah…but they might take out their misfortune on me….so ballots for now.”

“Right.”

Once everyone had circled around and dropped their ballots, Dick went and looked them over. Nixon peeked over his shoulder.

“Haha that should be interesting…”

“Who is it?” Babe asked.

Dick flipped though the ballots once more, “The two people who will be competing in tomorrow’s head to head challenge are…”

Nixon hip checked him out of the way, “Evans and Hoobler!”

Hoobler grinned, “Sweet! Wait…who voted for me!”

“You, my friend, will never know,” Nixon grinned, “Well at least not until the show airs with the accompanied footage of you all explaining who you voted for….Just meet back here at 9:00am tomorrow morning for the FIRST elimination challenge!”

Nixon: That’s right! Tune in next time to find out who will be kicked off of- wait we still don’t have a fucking name for this show! HARRY- I want some writer’s heads to roll damn it!

Some Call This Fun (2/?)

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:56:54 GMT

Title: Some Call This Fun (2/?)
Word Count: 2,474
Summary: On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they aren’t the only ones being challenged. A stressed producer, an exasperated doctor, the off-balanced host, a horny intern and an extremely concerned judge all struggle to maintain their faith as their reality show spirals into insanity.

Part 1- Meet the Crew

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

It was a few minutes to 12:00pm and the crew was waiting around for their first batch of contestants to arrive. Dick wasn’t really sure what his role was when it came to the whole “mentoring” thing. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things. He didn’t have much experience with reality TV.

“How exactly do I mentor them?” He asked Nixon.

“I dunno. Just make sure they don’t break stuff.”

So he was a baby sitter?

He turned to Harry, “Is that what I am? Damage control?”

Harry shook his head, “Just make yourself available to them. Talk with them, find out about their concerns, fears and feelings. Stuff they’d be hesitant to share with the other contestants.”

“Why?”

“I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear this. But nothing interesting is going to happen if we don’t know what pushes their buttons. If there isn’t any drama- we need that information to
make things happen.”

Oh that was so not what Dick had signed up for.

Finally, a black SUV rolled up to the mansion, holding the first 4 contestants, and he put any misgivings he had about his job description on the back burner for the time being.

The door of the first SUV opened and Donald Malarkey hopped out with a disbelieving smile on his face. “Seriously? You swam across the Niagara?”

Following closely behind was Warren ‘Skip’ Muck, to whom Don was speaking, “Oh hell yeah! On a bet.”

“Yeah he’ll do anything for money,” joked Alex Penkala, who already knew both Muck and his story, “Which is why this show will be perfect for him.”

“I won’t do anything for money!” Skip protested.

“Oh no?” Penkala smirked before jerking his thumb to the lanky blonde exiting the vehicle behind him, “I’ll pay you 10 bucks to punch Cobb.”

Skip perked up, “Face or gut?”

“Hey asshole!” yelped potential punching bag, Roy Cobb.

“Oh! Sorry….”

They all hauled their luggage over their shoulders and started to walk towards the house, where Nixon was waiting.

Nixon smiled at them, “Hey guys! You’re the first 4 here so why don’t you take a seat inside while we wait for the others to arrive? Or better yet-go claim a room! You got first dibs.”

“Cool!” Don grinned before looking at Alex and Skip, “Roomies?”

“Hell yeah.” Skip laughed, slinging an arm around the red-head’s shoulders.

Cobb just rolled his eyes and followed.

Dick watched them walk off before looking over at Nixon, “Won’t they get split up when you announce teams?”

“One can only hope.”

“Nix-”

“What? It’d make for good TV!”

Dick started to protest when Nixon’s face lit up.

“Ooh more people!”

The first to walk up to them from the next batch was a young man with tousled brown hair and
whose movements Dick could only describe as robotic. He had a duffle bag in his hand and when he reached them he gazed at them coolly.

“Where do I put this?” He asked lifting his bag.

Nixon jerked his thumb behind him to the house, “Um…wherever? Pick a room.”

The contestant nodded and walked off.

Nixon leaned over to whisper to Dick, “That’s Ronald Speirs. Harry found him working security at some club in Boston. Just had to have him on the show.”

“He doesn’t seem very social does he?”

Just then two more men walked up. One of them, a tall blonde with striking features, grinned at Dick’s question, “You have no idea! He didn’t say a word on the ride here.”

Joseph Toye looked over at Buck Compton before nodding in agreement, “Yeah. He didn’t even blink the entire time. I swear to Christ I thought he was dead.”

“Nah I think he was hung over.”

Dick looked at the two men, “Isn’t there supposed to be another person with you?”

Toye and Buck looked behind them and Toye looked confused, “The kid was right behind us a second ago…”

Looking around they spotted a younger blonde man standing a ways away and staring up at the sun.

“Hey Blithe!” Buck called out to him only to be either unheard or ignored, as it appeared

Blithe was too fascinated by the sky.

Nixon raised an eyebrow, “Is he retarded?”

Dick gaped, “Nix!”

Nixon’s eyes widened and Dick thought he felt bad-for a moment.

But he just looked at the nearest camera man and said, “Make sure that gets edited out.”

The next group, Nixon was delighted to see, already appeared to have an argument going on.

“You’re not supposed to use your cell phone! I could get you kicked off the show for this.” Herbert Sobel warned his fellow contestant- Joseph Liebgott- who looked anything but
intimidated.

“We’re not even ON the show yet you dickwad! What does it matter if I used my cell phone?”Joe shot back.

Sobel just huffed angrily, “Irregardless of location, cell phones are strictly contraband. I suggest you get rid of it immediately or risk an early departure.”

A twisted smirk came to Joe’s face, “How about I shove it up your-”

“I think we’re allowed to use them up until the first challenge.” Burton Christenson interrupted from behind the feuding men.

Sobel looked at him sharply, “Oh you think so do you? Well I think you don’t know what the
hell you’re talking about.”

“Don’t talk to him like that asshole!” Joe growled.

Carwood Lipton decided to intervene and casually worked his body in a position to block Joe’s path to Sobel in the fear that the smaller man might actually try to disembowel the other contestant with his phone.

“Let’s all just calm down and save some for the competition, okay?” he asked holding his hands up in a placating manner.

Nixon just grinned like a maniac as his eyes darted between Liebgott and Sobel, “Oh I like them already.”

“Kid are you sure you’re okay?” David Webster looked at the red-head teen sitting next to him in the car.

“Yeah-sure- why do you ask?”

“Because you’re shaking and talking really fast.”

Edward ‘Babe’ Heffron just smiled, “Oh that? That’s because some guy gave me this thing and said it was just like a Red Bull-but better. Only it totally wasn’t! It tasted like crap and now I’m super hyper! I probably shouldn’t have been at that bar anyway since I’m only 17 but
don’t tell anyone okay!”

Webster just smiled, “Okay.”

Charles Grant looked equally amused as he studied the jittery, young man, “17? I guess that seems right. You’re a little young to be out here aren’t you?”

Babe shrugged…or maybe he twitched…Grant wasn’t sure.

“I think you have to be at least18.” Darrell Powers said from the seat in front of them. He looked at the other contestants who nodded at him.

“I SWEAR I’ll be 18 in a month. Darrell please don’t say anything!”

Darrell looked at the other two in the car once more before smiling at Babe, “We can keep a secret. And y’all can call me Shifty. It’s my nickname back home.”

Babe’s face lit up with a huge smile, “Thanks! You can call me Babe! Everyone does. Well…everyone I know. Except nuns! They always have to call be me by my real name. My real name sucks! Why do they call you Shifty? Is there like a story behind that? Do either of you guys have nicknames? Whoa! Did the car just stop moving? That felt weird. Did that feel weird to anyone else?

The three of them just laughed and got out of the car, knowing they’d all keep their mouths shut about Babe’s little secret.

Dick noticed that Nixon seemed slightly disappointed at the friendly group that they had just sent into the house. He smiled at the host, “You can’t expect them to all fight can you?”

“Expect? No. Dream? Yes. With any luck Liebgott will punch Sobel before the day’s through.”

Dick shook his head, “Bull and Johnny wouldn’t let that happen.” He was referring to Bull
Randleman and Johnny Martin- their heads of security.

Nixon scoffed, “We only pay them to break up fights already in progress. Plus I don’t think even THEY will want to get in that guy’s way when he blows up. He’s a firecracker for sure.”

The movement of their camera man alerted them to the incoming contestants.

“Do you like- hear better than other people?”

Donald Hoobler glared at the blonde man questioning him, “What? No! Would you shut up about my ears already? I get it-they're big!”

William Evans just nodded, his mouth hanging open as he studied Hoobler’s ears, “I bet they were huge when you were a baby!”

Bill Guarnere, who was walking along side them, just stared at Evans in disbelief, “Do you even hear yourself talk?”

“Um…wha?”

“I guess you don’t.”

Hoobler smiled at Bill, “Maybe that’s why he’s so fascinated by my ears?”

“Yeah! Wait...” Evans trailed off, not really sure what was going on.

Nixon listened to Evans talk and looked at Dick, “Now that one might actually be retarded.”

Dick put a hand to his forehead, “We’re going to get so many angry e-mails.”

“How many are we waiting on?” Harry asked as he walked by with his phone to his ear.

“Um 3? There’s 19…so yeah we’re just waiting on 3.” Dick replied.

Nixon poked Dick in the ribs before pointing at the driveway, “Not anymore.”

“I don’t care how much they pay us. I’m not eating any kind of animal testicle!”

“HA! I bet that’s the first thing they make us do. That way they can get all these people to puke, knowing they won’t even make it to the next round.”

“That’d be fucked up!”

“Man if you’re going to be on reality TV-you need to have a good gag reflex my friend. Like me! It just takes practice.” George Luz nodded to himself.

Frank Perconte stared at him, “I don’t even wanna know do I?”

“Definitely not.”

The man trailing behind them just smiled-silently amused. Eugene Roe wasn’t much of a talker, and whenever he found himself around someone with as much personality as Luz seemed to have- he let them have the stage.

He’d decided before he’d arrived that while he wasn’t opposed to having fun, making friends would only complicate things. For now…it would be best for him to lay low.

Harry had gotten the contestants to wait in the living room of the house after they had picked rooms. Once the final 3 had stashed their belongings- all 21 of them were assembled.

Dick was incredibly impressed by how silent they were all being-wait…21?

“Crap.” Nixon muttered, “Where the hell is Blithe?”

Buck shrugged, “Staring at the sun again?”

“Maybe he’s an alien longing for his home world.” Luz suggested playfully.

Buck smiled in confusion, “What?”

“Yeah dude like in K-Pax! That dude was always looking at the sun!”

Perconte shook his head, “Man that movie sucked.”

“It’s wasn’t so bad.” Buck said- smile still aimed at Luz, “What was your name?”

Nixon looked around helplessly, “TALBERT!”

Floyd-who had already started hitting on Liebgott, whom he had mildly cornered- jerked at the sound of his name.

Nixon sighed, “Go find Blithe!”

“Fine.” Talbert pouted and slumped away.

He’d thank Nixon later-seeing as Liebgott looked liked he’d been about to strangle him.

The host turned back to the rest of the contestants, “Hello everyone! My name’s Lewis Nixon and I’m going to be your host!”

He grabbed Dick’s elbow and pulled him forward, “This is Dick Winters and he’s going to help judge our challenges! If you guys have any questions go to him. NOT me.”

Dick wiggled out of his grasp and tried to smile warmly at the 21-make that 22 (Talbert had ushered Blithe back into the mix) - young men.

Nixon kept talking, “Welcome to Brazil and to the house where you will all be staying for the rest of the competition! Did everyone get settled into a room?”

At the multiple nods he received Nixon just smiled, “Well then I guess now would be a good time to tell you not to get too cozy with your roommates as we’ll now be splitting the 22 of you up into 2 separate teams.”

“What?” Malarkey spoke up, “that sucks!”

“Yeah it does.” Nixon replied, “Anyway let me explain how this is going to work. You’ll be split up into 2 teams. A red team and a blue team. Not original I know-but I’m just the host. Once you’re split up both teams will have to compete against one another in challenges. The team that loses the challenge will then have to take a vote to determine who they want off their team. The 2 people with the most votes will then compete in a one-on-one challenge where the loser will be kicked off the island. FOREVER!”

Nixon threw his hands up for dramatic affect but the contestants weren’t having it, “Ahem…right well let’s split you guys up!”

Dick stepped forward, a list with the team assignments in his hands, “Okay for the red team we have- Lipton, Toye, Luz, Blithe, Christenson, Cobb, Penkala, Perconte, Compton, Speirs and Grant.”

Nixon took over from there, “And for the blue team-”

Liebgott interrupted him, “Everyone that isn’t on the red team?”

“Yeah you don’t really have to say it,” Bill added.

Nixon glared at them, “Yes I do! It helps identify and categorize you to the viewers!”

“Identify and categorize?” Evans parroted back.

Skip gave the host an incredulous look, “What are we-fossils?”

“ANYWAY” Nixon continued, “The blue team consists of Webster, Guarnere, Powers, Heffron, Muck, Hoobler, Roe, Evans, Liebgott, Sobel, and Malarkey.”

Joe looked at Sobel and groaned, “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

Nixon beamed at him, “I’m not. Not yet anyway. I’d love to let you socialize-but first we have to figure out who’s going to be the Captains of your teams.”

“We have to have Captains? Lame.” Skip muttered.

“Yeah,” Webster agreed, “Is that really necessary?”

Nix shrugged, “Them’s the rules. Now everyone go upstairs and change into your nifty colored coded gear!”

“Why?” Lipton asked.

Their host just smirked, “We feel the fairest way to assign a team Captain is to make you compete for it! Be dressed and ready by 3:00pm!”

Nixon walked off, Dick flashed them all a sympathetic look and followed him.

Babe puffed his cheeks out as he watched them go, “Blue is not a good color for me.”

Next time: It’s all about the contestants as they get to know each other and compete for the Captain’s position-the importance of which is revealed. Then they all proceed to get sloshed.

The Reality Show AU!

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:08:43 GMT

Title:Some Call This Fun (1/?)
Word Count:1,466
Summary:On a remote Brazilian island, 22 contestants are separated into 2 teams to compete against one another through a series of challenges. But they aren’t the only ones being challenged. A stressed producer, an exasperated doctor, the off-balanced host, a horny intern and an extremely concerned judge all struggle to maintain their faith as their reality show spirals into insanity.

Okay so here’s the skinny with this AU.

I’m totally addicted to heckling some of the more ridiculous reality shows. But due to the surprising awesomeness of the cartoon Total Drama Island-I realized what a great platform
for comedy the concept is. And I started thinking- what if the BOB guys were all on some ridiculous reality show?

Who would fight? Who would scheme? How would they react to their retarded challenges and how would they get kicked off?

So, despite some reservations, I was like “I’M DOING IT!” and here it is.

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or challenges borrowed from a reality show belong to the creators of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Off the shore of Brazil, on the beautiful island of **** ****, sits an equally beautiful mansion. And in that mansion are two men…well two men and a series of camera men, producers, security personnel, an intern and only one doctor which is…concerning…anyway these people are all gathered here for a specific reason…mainly to bitch about their newest gig. The pinnacle of modern television. The dirty secret of the American populace. The reality show.

“Wait-all the contestants are dudes? How did THAT happen?”

Lewis Nixon is what one could call a “personality” in that his is a very unique one. He’d started off as a writer for sitcoms and was recruited into reality TV by his producer father. He’d been hosting them ever since.

Richard ‘Dick’ Winters, who is signed on as judge/contestant mentor to the show, likes to think of himself as Nixon’s unspoken (and unpaid) manager. As well as his grossly underappreciated best friend.

He shrugs at Nixon’s question, “From what I can tell all the woman we interviewed refused to sign some clause…”

Nixon nods in sudden understanding at this, “Oh you mean the Decapitation Clause.”

Dick makes a face, “The what now?”

“The Decapitation Clause! You know…the one where if you get decapitated we can’t be held responsible and their family can’t sue us?”

Floyd Talbert, the show’s last remaining intern aka bitch, piped in, “Man you mean we couldn’t find one crazy chick? Not one? I joined this crew to pick up a crazy reality show chick! They always put out!”

“What can I tell you kid?” Nixon smiled, “Them’s the breaks…maybe you'll find a suitably desperate dude?"

Floyd considered this, “Maybe…”

“See? All is well…now go get me some coffee.”

“Man! This is like the 7th time I’ve had to get coffee in the last 30 minutes!”

“Well if you had been smart…you would have quit like all the other interns. Now make with the coffee getting!”

“Damn it!” Floyd walked off grumbling all the way.

Dick watched him go, “Shouldn’t you be a little nicer to him? I mean he IS the last intern left. All the others one ran off when you started to use them as guinea pigs for challenge scenarios.”

“Where’s he gonna go? He’s an intern! He doesn’t have any money. What is he going to swim back to America? He’s our unofficial slave until this is wrapped. Enjoy it.”

The red-headed man rolled his eyes for what would be the first of many times that day. “I can see why none of the women would sign a Decapitation clause. What’s disturbing is that you found 22 guys willing to.”

“Pssh-guys are so easy, plus…they have no shame. This is going to be great!”

“I find your enthusiasm concerning.”

“Ah-you’re no fun.”

Pursing his lips, Dick eyed the typed up piece of paper that a camera man had passed him. “These are the challenges? In this order? I’m going to be honest with you….these are ridiculous.”

Nixon peered over the shoulder of his taller companion, “No not in that order. Oh that last one’s going to be awesome!”

“How much money are they winning?”

“A hundred grand.”

“I wouldn’t even do one of these for a hundred grand.”

Nixon raised a dark eyebrow, “Like that’s so shocking.”

Suddenly a raised voice floated their way,

“That’s the fucking dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! How FUCKING hard is it to name a TV show something that DOESN’T SUCK? You’re reality television writers- WHAT OTHER WRITING DO YOU DO!?”

Dick and Nixon stared at one of their producers with wide eyes.

Harry Welsh was the co-producer of the show and generally a pretty easy going guy, but considering that the shooting was starting tomorrow and the writers still had no name for the show…he was a little tense.

At the point where Harry had pulled back his arm to smash his phone into the ground-Dick jumped in.

“Harry!” He called out to his friend whose raised arm jerked to a halt at the sound of his name- thus saving Harry’s precious Blackberry.

“Oh hey….guys.” He grinned at them sheepishly.

Nixon spread his arms out in confusion, “Um what the fuck man? Who pissed in your coffee?”

Just then Floyd turned up with Nixon’s coffee.

“I only do that to you.” The intern promised before walking off.

Nixon eyed the cup suspiciously before shrugging, taking a drink and walking over to his producer. “So seriously Harry? What was that?”

The obviously exasperated man’s face twisted into contempt, “Those dipshits still haven’t come up with a name for the show and we fucking shoot tomorrow!”

Nixon’s jaw dropped.

Dick turned to him, “What are you so worried about? All we have to do is a voice over or possibly shoot some extra scenes.”

“It’s not that.” The host choked out.

Harry seemed to calm at Nixon’s newfound horror, which wasn’t as surprising as it should be, “What then?”

“I think that little bitch really pissed in my coffee.”

“How did we score this place anyway?” Dick asked Harry as they did a final walk through of the house to check all the hidden cameras in the rooms. “I thought the island was strictly used for research.”

“Some rich douche built a big ass mansion here under false pretense- when Sink found out he blackmailed him into selling it cheap. So now we can be here under false pretense. Not that anyone will care once the show’s over.”

Nixon smiled at the thought of their head producer playing dirty, “Tricky old bastard.”

“But do we really want to be this isolated? That could be dangerous.” Dick pointed out. The other two just turned to stare at him pointedly. “Oh right- that’s what you’re hoping for.”

“Where’s the fun without the danger?” Nixon asked.

“You all are horrible. Well except you Dick of course.”

The three men turned to see their only doctor, a young French woman named Renee, regarding them distastefully.

Dick smiled triumphantly at the other two, “See? I’m her favorite.”

Renee laughed, “I just wanted to let you know that my my infirmary is fully functional although I hope I do not need to use it.”

“Well you’re going to have to use it to patch up Talbert when I finally catch the prick.” Nixon growled.

The doctor rolled her eyes in amusement.

“If you must know- he’s hanging out by the pool.” Having said that she walked off.

Nixon grinned at his friends, “See- she’s a little sadistic.”

“So what time are the contestants showing up tomorrow?” Dick asked Harry as Nixon slinked off to confront their intern.

“They’re all on the island now, but we’re bringing them in by car, 4 at a time, around noon tomorrow.”

“Have they already met?”

“No way- they’re separated.”

“Why?”

“Because you don’t want to miss the initial meeting! It’s incredibly important to catch their REAL reactions to one another. Listen-you let me worry about all that junk and you just prepare for your job.”

“Which is what exactly?”

“Keep Nix sane and make sure nobody dies.”

“Oh….that sounds simple enough.”

They turned as laughter and screaming began to erupt from outside. Walking out to the pool they saw a crowd gathering around Nixon, who was sitting on top of Floyd, a pair of scissors dangerously close to Talbert’s precious hair.

“NIXON I WAS JUST KIDDING! I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!”

“Make me believe it!

“I’LL DO ANYTHING! JUST PUT DOWN THE SCISSORS!”

“You know what to say.”

“….I BOTH ADMIRE AND RESPECT YOU AND YOUR TALENT IS ONLY SURPASSED BY YOUR STRIKING GOOD LOOKS!”

“Good intern.”

Dick was struck by the overwhelming feeling that his job would be anything but simple.

Well as Nixon would say- them’s the breaks. Whatever that meant.

Hopefully the contestants would be saner than the crew…..

A/N: They won’t be. But Dick can dream right? So I decided not to do it in a script style despite the fact that there will be a lot of characters. Mostly because I feel it takes away from the person speaking and the context of what they’re saying. Plus I don’t want it to be so cracked out that it doesn’t have some element of a point to it.

Next time: We meet the contestants, the contestants meet each other, and we find out the rules of the game. But not the name….because as Harry pointed out about the writers…they suck.

Special (4/?)

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:27:17 GMT

Title: Special (4/?)
Word Count: 3,264
Pairing: This chapter has established Nixon/Speirs.
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special.

Some questions are finally answered and I get to stop trying to be so mysterious!

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Here’s a link to the previous parts-

Part 1-http://community.livejournal.com/camp_toccoa/351591.html
Part 2-http://community.livejournal.com/camp_toccoa/352546.html
Part 3-http://community.livejournal.com/camp_toccoa/355060.html

Lewis Nixon, NYC, New York

The autopsy hadn’t shown them anything unexpected. James Miller had not died of any unforeseen wounds. He had died, the coroner concluded, due to death by neurological symptoms that occurred during the removal of his brain.

While Lewis knew he had to give the coroner the benefit of the doubt he wasn’t really sure how that could be concluded without the brain as evidence. But that wasn’t his job to determine.

As he and Buck took this unstartling information back to the office Nixon wondered if Ron and his partner had found anything.

“So,” Buck spoke, “I heard something pretty interesting earlier from one of the cops at the crime scene.”

Lewis rolled his eyes, “Is this something that I’m going to care about?”

Buck smirked over at him, “Oh yeah.”

“Well?”

“He just got word of a triple homicide here and whispers of a double homicide in California and you’ll never guess who bought the farm.”

Now Nixon was curious, “Who?”

“Tony de Luca and his brothers. Two were in Los Angeles on business.”

Nixon’s eyes went wide. The men that Buck referred to were the men that had blown Ron’s cover and taken him hostage during his undercover assignment.

They had all been employees of the man under investigation but had disappeared from public life after Ron had made his escape. Fleeing no doubt in fear that he would come back with Agents bent on at least sticking them with kidnapping and battery charges since they hadn’t had enough time to gather sufficient evidence to link them with the crimes the FBI suspected they had committed.

Buck kept talking, “Word around the precinct is that they’ve been dead for weeks now. Found their bodies buried behind St. Katherine’s. Torn to pieces from the looks of it. No suspects yet since they’ve been slow to solve it. You know how it is; no one wants to find who killed them, because no one cares. But now it’s hopped state lines so we’ll see who gets wind of it on our end.”

Nixon spoke slowly, “Same MO in Cali?”

Buck nodded, “Oh yeah. Must have taken five guys to do that kind of damage. Bet it was ugly.”

Nixon closed his eyes softly, and all the details of his nightmares came rushing back.

Chaos and carnage, men screaming, begging and pleading to be spared.

Blood all over his hands.

Blood all over his face as he looked into the mirror to see himself smiling.

The man in the mirror…it looked like him but…

“Nix you okay?” Buck’s concern brought him back to a present less filled with violence.

“Yeah...uh...just don’t tell Ron yet okay?”

“Sure man. But good riddance right?”

“Yeah…”

Joseph Liebgott, San Francisco, California

When he finally opened the door, and it took a few minutes for him to stop cursing, he wasn’t sure how to feel about the man on the other side.

The man was slightly shorter and definitely older than Joe was….maybe 28? With short dark hair, a strong jaw and a very, very angry look on his face.
Maybe apprehension was the best way to describe how he was feeling.

Joe took a deep breath, “He isn’t here.”

The man’s hand stopped from where it was moving to the inside of his jacket. Joe didn’t want to know, but he suspected the man had been reaching for a gun. “Excuse me?”

“The guy you’re looking for? He’s isn’t here.”

“And how do you know I’m looking for someone?”

Joe shrugged and wondered if this had really been the best approach, “He told me someone was going to come looking for him. But he’s seriously not here. You can look inside if you want.”

WHY had he just said that? Because….David had said the guy wanted to give him a job right? Not kill him.

For his part the man looked hesitant to take him up on the offer, but eventually nodded. Joe stepped back to let him in, but kept the door open.
As the man looked around he asked Joe, “Why are you telling me this?”

“I have no reason not to. David Webster’s been stalking me for weeks now. We’re not friends or anything.”

Maybe that was kind of true, but at the same time Joe believed the future David. He trusted Webster somewhat and Hell-maybe he thought he was a good kisser. By lying he could keep them both out of trouble.

“I see. So he didn’t say anything to you other than I was looking for him?”

The man had officially stopped his search and turned to face Joe.

“He said you worked for some kind of company.”

“Then what?”

“Then I threw a knife at his head. And then he disappeared, time traveled-whatever. “

That made the man smirk, “Well he wasn’t lying Mr. Liebgott.”

Joe paused, “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you know my name. You do, after all, know where I live.”

“My name is Bill Guarnere. I work for a Company who is very interested in what you can do.”

“What the Hell do you know about what I can do?”

The man gave another smile that put Joe on edge, “More than you can imagine.”

Dick Winters and Babe Heffron, Philadelphia, PA

“Do I have to eat this?” Babe poked at the orange goo on his plate, “Bill would have a heart attack if he saw this. Spaghetti isn’t supposed to be orange.”

Dick just paused with his fork of…whatever- half way to his mouth. “It’s not that bad.”

“You could have at least tried to make it.”

“I did try….I just didn’t succeed.”

Babe made a face and swallowed a bite of the spaghetti, the look on his face only worsened. Pushing his chair back from the table he walked with his plate into the kitchen.

Dick leaned back in his chair to watch him, “And just where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m ordering a pizza!”

Dick sighed and was about to argue when his cell phone rang, standing up he checked the number and groaned.

“Is that Bill?” Babe shouted from the kitchen.

“No it’s our boss.” Dick answered before accepting the call.

“Winters.”

“Dick. Hi. Are you busy?”

Dick rolled his eyes at the eagerness in his boss’s tone. He really hoped this wasn’t a personal call.

“Somewhat. I’m…uh watching over Bill’s little brother.”

“I see. Bill’s little brother. And how is Edward doing? Any signs of development?”

“He’s fine and no sir…no signs. Was there a purpose to this call…sir?”

“Right…yes. I have an assignment for you. We’ve found a replacement for our lost investment. I need someone to retrieve him, and I know how good you are with children.”

Dick’s eyes got big and he dropped his voice so Babe couldn’t hear, “You want me to kidnap a child?”

“Everything you do serves the greater good Dick. Remember that.”

“…Of course. Do you think this could wait until Bill gets back? I don’t want to leave Ba- Edward out here all alone.”

“Sure thing Dick. Tell Babe that his brother will be back soon.”

The line went dead and Dick snapped his phone shut. He wasn’t pleased with his new assignment…not at all.

Walking into the kitchen he saw Babe hanging up the main phone.

“So,” Dick started, “what are you getting on the pizza?”

Babe smiled widely at him, “Jalapenos.”

Dick knew where he was going, “And lots of olives?”

“You so get me.”

Dick laughed. Sobel was right about one thing. Everything he did for the Company served a greater purpose. Because everything he did was to help give Babe a good life. A normal life.

Lewis Nixon, NYC, New York

“Please tell me you found them.”

Ron’s partner- Christenson- hung up his phone the moment they walked in and sent a grin towards Buck before answering his question, “Hell yes we did. I just got our New York guy’s most recent address and I’m about to head out there now.”

Ron looked up from the file, “Buck could you go with him? I need to call the LAPD about this girl in California.”

Buck shrugged, “Why not? Let’s go Burt.”

Christenson wrinkled his nose, “Never call me that again.”

As they left the room-Buck casually strolling and Christenson practically running him over in his haste, Lewis hung back and watched his boyfriend look at two files-his expression troubled.

“What’s wrong?”

Ron glanced up, looking surprised to find he wasn’t alone. Lewis tried not to be hurt. But it was pretty apparent that Ron had been ignoring him all day.
Ron dropped one of the files back onto the desk, “There are two California abductions that, according to the interviews, happened on the same day. A Joseph Liebgott in San Francisco and a Sherry Tanner in Los Angeles. I’m afraid that…”

“You’ll focus your efforts on one and the other will die?”

Ron sighed, “Yeah...kind of. We can do little more than warn them right now. Maybe give them a patrol car if they want one.”

Lewis closed the door to Ron’s office and went to sit facing him, on his desk, “Then what’s bothering you exactly?””

“Sherry Tanner is an 8 year old girl.”

“Oh. Y’know Ron…we’re going to put a stop to this.”

When Ron sad nothing Lewis thought maybe he could get to the heart of the matter. “I’m sorry you got involved in this. I didn’t want to bring you in on this but Buck insisted.”

Ron looked up, straight into Lewis’s eyes, angry. “No God forbid I get anything useful done. You’d probably be happy if I sat around pushing paper for the rest of my fucking career.”

Nixon stood up, “Hey I did what I did to keep you safe! That job was going to kill you and we both know it. You wouldn’t be satisfied until you were dead!”

“You are so full of shit.”

Lewis quieted at the venom in Ron’s voice. He’d been trying to keep him safe…but all he really succeeded in was making Ron hate him.

“Ron I just-I love you.”

As soon as he said the words, Ron’s shoulders slumped and the anger and tension he’d been holding in seemed to fade away.

When Lewis looked back at him, Ron seemed…hurt?

Standing from his chair, Ron pressed his lips to the side of Lewis’s fore head, “I know you do. And sometimes I wish…never mind. I’m sorry.”

As Ron walked out, Lewis stood to follow him, knowing he still had more he needed to say. Yet as he was moving towards the door, Nixon caught his reflection in Christenson’s powered down computer and his breath caught in his throat.

His reflection wasn’t staring back at him as it should have been.

Instead, its head was turned to the right watching Ron’s retreating form with a disturbing look on its face.

Lewis stared at his reflection, horrified.

“Who are you?”

Eugene Roe, New Orleans, LA

Because Renee had no known living relatives when she died, Gene had taken on the responsibility of making all her arrangements and dealing with all of her possessions. She had donated a lot of her stuff in her will to charity, but had chosen to leave certain personal items to him.

It was just another sign to Gene that she had been anticipating her death. At least on some level. They had only known each other for a few years, but she had already arranged her will to include him.

Among the things she left to him were her personal diaries and photo albums. With her death still fresh in his mind, he had been unwilling to go through any of them. Until now.

Maybe it was what Talbert had said, about finding her family. To give them closure, to tell Renee’s story. He hoped something in her belongings could help lead him to them.

Maybe it was because he was tied to her death on so many levels. The ability to heal himself…every time he did it…he remembered that night. Maybe he was looking for a little closure himself.

Opening up his closet door, he reached up to the top shelf where he kept the box of her things. It had sat there since the moment he’d brought it home, untouched.

Setting it on the floor of his bedroom, he pulled out a Swiss army knife to get through the tape keeping it closed. Pulling back the flaps, he sat down and began to look through it.

Reaching inside he pulled out a blue bandana that she used to wear every day at work, and tried to fight against the tears filling his eyes.
Wrapping it around his wrist, he soldiered on, pulling out a dusty photo album and what looked like a stack of envelopes.

He opened up the light blue photo album, not sure what to expect. But what was inside was a possibility he hadn’t even considered.

Inside were pictures of a younger Renee, she couldn’t have been more than 16 when they were taken. With her in most of the shots was an equally young man with brown hair and a goofy smile. But in every single picture was…a baby boy.

The last picture in the photo album was a picture of Renee lying in a hospital bed, balloons and flowers all over, a small child in her arms, and the same man at her side, his arms around her shoulders. They looked so happy.

Renee had been a mother. She had a little boy, and maybe even a husband. Keeping his shock in check, he turned to the envelopes.

Upon closer inspection, the envelopes actually contained letters, although there were no addresses, just a name- George Luz.

Not able to contain his desire to know, he grabbed the first letter from the stack and opened it up.

It read:

George,
I have so many things I have to tell you. So many, many things to explain. You have to know that I loved you and Eli very much, I still do. I never wanted to leave you.
Something was happening to me, I was seeing things that I couldn’t understand and I didn’t know who to talk to. Now I know that I should have trusted you with my secrets. You would have understood-you always did.
A man offered me the chance to understand what was happening to me and like a fool I trusted him. He took me to a Company and, at first, they helped. But then they held me captive, I tried to get away but I couldn’t. Not too long ago a man set me free.
I know this must sound crazy but it’s the truth. All I want is to see you and Eli again, but I know that can never happen. They’re looking for me. The only way to keep you both safe is to stay as far away as I can.
I love you both so much.

Always faithful,
Renee

Gene continued to stare at the letter, long after he had finished reading it. There were so many things she alluded to, but didn’t answer.

While he was certain that the other letters held those answers, he knew they weren’t for his eyes. He had to find this George guy, and give him the letters.

Renee had told him that after her parents had moved to America from France she’d been living in New York.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

George and Eli Luz, Brooklyn, NY

“Dad! Stop cheating!”

Luz looked over at his son with an offended expression on his face and a Nintendo controller in his hand. “Hey I don’t have to cheat-I’m the KING of Super Smash Bros.”

“As if,” his 8 year old shot back in distress as he watched his character get violently kicked off of the floating island.

“Did I raise you to be a sore loser?”

“Well YOU’RE a sore winner!”

George paused the game and jumped up off the floor, “That’s it! It’s time to super smash for realz! You’re going down little man!”

Eli laughed before standing and trying to run away, but his father caught him
by the waist and tackled him to the couch-tickling him mercilessly.

“HAHA Dad! Stop!” Eli giggled as he squirmed on the couch.

“Not until you say I’m the King!”

“Haha-FINE! You’re the King!”

“Of what?”

“You’re-haha- the ultimate King of Super Smash!”

They both laughed as Luz let go of Eli who ran back to the game console.
George smiled, “We finish this game and then you need to finish up the rest of your homework. Cool?”

“Ugh…FINE.”

“Good.” But the moment Luz sat down the doorbell rang. He turned to Eli, “Wait here.”

When he opened the door he soon became uneasy at the sight of the two men in suits.

“George Luz?” the younger looking of them asked. When Luz nodded he continued speaking.

“I’m Agent Christenson, and this is Agent Compton. We’re with the FBI. We have reason to believe your life is in danger.”

Joseph Liebgott, San Francisco, California

“So you are the people that abducted me?” Joe asked glaring at the man in his living room.

The man had told him all about the Company, its great facilities for testing in New York and its offices for field agents in Philadelphia.

How it helped to lock up bad people with dangerous abilities but worked well with those who knew how to and were willing to control theirs.

Joe was still stuck on the whole ‘abduction’ thing. When Guarnere nodded at his question, Joe continued to rant.

“So you kidnapped me, stuck a tracking device in me, spied on me, and now you want me to go to some place in New York where you’re going to train me to do all that to other people?”

Guarnere pursed his lips for a moment then nodded again, “That’s the deal.”

“Oh good. Cause I just wanted to clarify.”

“What you should be taking away from this, Mr. Liebgott, is that you’ll get the opportunity to discover the limitations of your unique ability. And also be able to put them to good use, protecting people.”

Joe wanted to argue that he didn’t see any good in what these people were doing, but he had to remember what the future Webster had told him- he was the one who had to infiltrate this company.

“Can I have some time to think about it?”

Guarnere nodded and stood up, “I leave for Philadelphia tomorrow night. I’ll need your answer before then.”

The man handed him a business card and walked out of Joe’s apartment. When he was gone, Joe put down the card and dug into his pocket for a different phone number.

Dialing the number quickly he waited, and after two rings someone picked up.

“Hello?”

“Webster you time traveling son of a whore!”

“Joe? Wow you actually called.”

“Do I sound fucking happy to you?”

“Um…no? But it’s a start.”

“Whatever. Get your ass over to my apartment tomorrow afternoon! We need to
talk.”

“Sure thing. Are you okay?”

“No.” Joe sniped and hung up the phone, no longer disturbed by the fact that David hadn’t asked for directions to his place.

Next time: Meet Carwood Lipton, a divorced LA cop who hears the right things at the wrong times. Joe and David come up with a plan to take down the Company while another murder occurs. George and Eli have a dangerous encounter and Babe begins to have strange dreams. Plus Nixon confronts the man in the mirror, and the reality of his nightmares.

Special (3/?)

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:40:44 GMT

Title: Special (3/?)
Word Count: 3,241
Pairing: This chapter has some Webgott...kinda.
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special.

Beware of confusing time travel talk. Oh and there is a crime scene in here but..not very graphic.

Links to previous parts inside.

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Here’s a link to the previous parts-

Part 1-http://community.livejournal.com/camp_toccoa/351591.html
Part 2-http://community.livejournal.com/camp_toccoa/352546.html

Ronald Speirs, NYC, New York

Ron had to admit, the scene in James Miller’s bedroom was not at all pretty and he felt that maybe now he understood what Buck and Lewis had been so worked up about.

He heard Christenson enter the room behind him, “Oh sick.”

Ron just nodded in agreement.

James Miller was slumped against the wall of his bedroom, legs spread out before him, head tilted to the side, and eyes wide open.

That obviously wasn’t the disturbing part.

The top of James’ head lay on the ground beside his hand and blood had been splattered onto almost every portion of the wall.

It was horrifying.

Buck strutted in behind them, having been talking with the policemen outside. “Let’s work quickly; they’re going to need to take the body soon.
Figure out how he died exactly.”

Christenson raised an eyebrow, “I thought that would be fairly obvious.”

Ron looked around, “No sign of the brain?”

Miller’s brain was gone. From both his body and the crime scene. Whether or not it was just a signature of the killer he didn’t know. He suggested it to the others.

“I don’t think so. I mean that’s a bizarre trophy, right? Who collects brains?” Christenson pondered as he surveyed the scene.

“Psychopaths do.” Lewis had finally joined them it seemed. “Some killers have taken the hearts of their victims, so a brain doesn’t seem to be too much of a stretch.”

Speirs shook his head, “I think Burton’s right. Besides, pending further examination of the body, taking the brain seems to have been the sole purpose of the attack. That’s the link in your other killings I’m assuming?”

He looked at Lewis while he spoke but the question was directed towards Buck, who nodded.

“You assume correctly.”

Christenson seemed to pick up on his train of thought. “You think it’s something in their brains? That got them killed and abducted?”

Ron nodded, “Possibly.”

“Only problem with that,” Lewis broke in, “is that we don’t know what that something is.”

“And we won’t find out without one of the brains. That’s if we’re even on the right track.” Christenson added.

Speirs knelt down to inspect Miller’s corpse, “Well we have a whole list of people. Surely one of them has had a CAT scan?”

Buck seemed to be thinking on it, “Or maybe they’d be willing to submit to one.”

Christenson paused and with the worried look on his face, Speirs already knew what he would say, “Shouldn’t we start looking for the next potential victim?”

“There’s no apparent pattern,” Ron answered, “Do you suggest we just warn everyone?”

Christenson shook his head, “No. I suggest we find a pattern.”

Ron stood and faced him, “We may have to consider the possibility that our killer or killers aren’t going by our list. That they have no idea about the abductions.”

His partner stared at him in disbelief, “You mean consider that it might just be a coincidence?”

He shrugged, “No not in every sense. But what happens if he kills someone who’s not on our list?”

Burton looked at the file that Speirs was still clutching, “The three victims in New York to die were also the first three to be abducted here. Same as the one in California was the first to be abducted there. There were a smattering of other abductions in other states between them, but those people were skipped over. So far at least.”

Ron could see where he was going, “So what your saying is we need to find the people who were abducted directly after our murder victims.”

Christenson nodded, “Both here and in California.”

Speirs glanced down at the file. The names were sorted alphabetically, with their locations next to them. He certainly didn’t remember who had been abducted when.

“Then we need to go back to the office.”

George Luz, Brooklyn, NY

When he pulled his car around to pick up his son, Luz noticed that Eli wasn’t waiting for him alone. Putting his car into park he got out and walked over to where his son was waiting with his teacher.

“Mrs. Keller,” he greeted the elder woman after raising an eyebrow at his son. “Is something the matter?”

The grey haired woman put a hand on Eli’s shoulder, “Eli, do you mind if I have a quick word alone with your father?”

Eli looked up at him desperately and Luz smiled as his son whispered, “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

He clapped Eli on the shoulder, “Yeah we’ll see. Go wait in the car kiddo. I’ll just be a sec.”

The two adults watched as the 8 year old trudged to the car reluctantly. When he was inside, Luz turned towards Eli’s teacher.

“So you want to tell me what the problem is?” Although to be honest, he already knew.

The woman sighed, “It’s these stories he keeps telling. You know, about the future?”

George tried to shrug it off, “He’s just playing fortune teller. It’s harmless.”

“That’s what I thought too at first. But it’s starting to upset the other children. Not to mention their parents.”

Luz crossed his arms, “How so?”

“Apparently Eli told one of the girls in class that her parents wouldn’t be together much longer. When she told her parents last night, they admitted that they were getting divorced. She seems to think your son can predict the future. “

“Well we both know that’s…impossible.”

“Regardless, many of the students are convinced that the things he talks about will come true. It’s getting a little out of control.”

“What exactly do you want me to do about it? He’s just messing around. You know him, he’s a good kid.”

The teacher nodded, “I know, but I’m getting phone calls from parents….”

Luz let out a frustrated sigh. He knew none of the other parents liked him all that much. But Eli wasn’t hurting anyone.

Mrs. Keller gave him a sympathetic smile, “I know being a single parent is hard. Especially in your case. But I’m sure that if you just talk to him, and let him know he’s frightening his classmates, he’ll stop on his own.”

Part of Luz wanted to argue that his ‘case’ wasn’t all that unusual. So he’ become a father when he was 16. Eli was 8, he’d kind of gotten used to being a father by now.

“I’ll take care of it.”

The woman whispered her thanks and waved at Eli in the car.

Luz got in the car and buckled his seatbelt. He looked at his son and sighed.

“Eli…” He began to speak but was cut off.

“Dad it’s not my fault!”

“Eli-”

“I shouldn’t have to pretend-”

“Eli!” Luz cut his son off harshly, “We have been over this a million times. No…more than a million times. If you have a vision at school, keep it to yourself. You can tell me all about it when we get home. But no one else.”

He looked over at his son’s disappointed face. God he looked so much like his mother. The same honey colored hair and watery, blue eyes. He hated having to scold him…

“Dad it’s not right. We shouldn’t have to hide what makes us special.”

“We’re not special Eli, we’re just different.”

“You can control machines…and I can see the future. Dad…that’s special.” Eli huffed and crossed his arms.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe we shouldn’t have to hide. But we’re going to.”

Eli glared at him, “You don’t.”

Luz looked at him sharply, “That is different. That is very, very different. I use my abilities for my job. And I do not go around flaunting what I can do.”

“I wasn’t flaunting!”

“Well whatever you call it. You’re drawing attention to yourself and you need
to cut it out.”

“Mom wouldn’t want us to hide.”

“You’ve never even met your mother. You have no idea what she’d want.”

The moment the words left his mouth Luz couldn’t believe he’d even said them. Sure it was bad that she hadn’t been a part of Eli’s life. But that was no reason to rub it in. He knew that he was just bitter. She had disappeared only a year after Eli was born. And to this day Luz didn’t know if she’d run, or if something had happened to her.

Eli sniffled and looked out the window.

“Eli…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. She’d want what I want…to keep you safe. You remember went I went missing?”

Eli finally looked back over at him, “Of course I do.”

“It was scary right?”

“Yeah…”

“And you know that I think my…powers are what got me into that mess. Someone took me Eli. Because of what I can do. Whoever they were…I don’t want them to take you too. You want us to stay together don’t you? To stay safe?”

His son nodded, tears in his eyes. “Yes.”

“Then please tone it down. For me?”

“Okay…”

As Eli leaned over to hug him, Luz put a kiss on the top of his head.

“Thank you.”

Eugene Roe, New Orleans, LA

Gene sighed and closed the camera. He’d been watching the video of his latest suicide attempt. But it ended the same way all the others ended. Nothing changed.

He was still alive, and she was still dead.

“Why do you make me tape that anyways?” Gene’s friend and roommate Floyd Talbert came in from their kitchen and handed him a beer.

“It seems more real when I see it I suppose.”

Floyd sighed and sat down on the couch next to him. “Man I have to be honest-I’m getting tired of having to watch you kill yourself. You’ve done everything short of putting a bullet in your head-don’t even think about it by the way. When are you going to except that dying isn’t an option?”

When Gene stayed quiet Floyd continued, “I mean I’m a little insulted. You do realize that I want you to live don’t you?”

Gene just shook his head, “But I should be dead. I should have died. Not her.”

He knew he was a broken record, but it was hard to accept.

Renee had been the closest thing he’d had to family…ever since hurricane Katrina had killed his parents. He hadn’t been in New Orleans at the time…but he’d rushed back home to help as soon as he could.

She was a nurse and he had just finished his first year of medical school.

They had both lost their families and thought that helping hurricane victims could ease their pain.

She was like a sister to him. They had gone through so much together.

Floyd interrupted his solemn thoughts, “You’re death wouldn’t have spared her life. You’d just both be gone. That isn’t any better. You just have like…survivor’s guilt. You’re not the only one that misses her man. But there are people here who still need you.”

Even though he knew he shouldn’t, Gene started to think about that night.

They had been in a car crash…and everything had happened so fast.

He had been driving her home from the hospital she worked at…and a car had pulled up next to them, and tried to run them off the road. Eugene still had no clue who they had been.

He’d worked to get away but the other car rammed into their side and they had skidded off the street and flipped the car over several times.

Gene remembered waking up in the car to find a large shard of glass sticking out of his chest. He should have been dead. For reasons he still couldn’t comprehend, he’d pulled the glass out. Needless to say he had been shocked to watch his fatal wound heal itself.

Renee hadn’t been so lucky.

“You know...” Gene looked over at Talbert, “When I pulled her out of the car. She told me something.”

Floyd looked at him, “You never mentioned that.”

Eugene just nodded, “She told me that her family…was still alive somewhere. But that she couldn’t be with them, because she couldn’t lead them back to the people she wanted to protect.”

“Them? Them who?”

“I don’t know…but it was obvious that she was more worried about her family than she was about herself. Even as she was dying…”

“I still don’t understand why you feelyou should die. Maybe you should try finding her family. Tell them what happened. Give them some closure.
Besides, don’t you Catholics think suicide is a sin?”

Gene sighed, “Something like that. Although I don’t think we’re the only ones.”

Floyd still seemed concerned, “So what gives?”

“It just…it’s not natural. I should be dead! I shouldn’t be alive…”

“But you are alive,” Talbert interrupted, “you should look at this like a second chance. God obviously wants you to live. You’re just going to have to accept that.”

He knew, deep down, that Talbert was right. Even if he hated to admit it. He only wished he had known who it was that Renee had been running from…

Joseph Liebgott, San Francisco, CA

By the time he had gotten home, Joe was tired as Hell. He supposed it was his own fault for taking on a shift that started so early.

The fact was that all he wanted was to grab a beer and relax. He could stress out over the incident with Webster later.

Walking over to the kitchen he snagged a beer bottle from the fridge and decided to be lazy and open it up with a bottle opener.

As he opened one of his kitchen drawers he glanced out the window over his
sink.

What he saw in the slight reflection made him freeze.

In the window’s reflection he could make out a figure standing behind him in his kitchen. Whether the man knew he had been spotted, Joe didn’t know.

He glanced down at the open drawer and thought about the special he had seen on TV about circus performers. Particularly the knife throwers.

Snatching a knife from the drawer, Joe whirled around and sent the knife sailing through the air in an expert fashion.

But instead of hitting a man’s shoulder, like he had expected, the knife merely embedded itself into the wall.

“What the Hell…” he knew he had seen someone!

Suddenly a voice came from the far right side of his kitchen, startling him even further.

“Relax Joe. You could have really hurt someone.”

Not even bothering to look at the intruder he picked up his beer bottle and threw it at the direction of the voice.

He then watched as the man merely ducked and the glass shattered on the wall behind him, liquid splattering with it.

He finally got a good look at the intruder.

“Webster?”

It was indeed David Webster…or at least Joe thought it was. The man in his kitchen looked different somehow, from the man he had parted from only hours before.

He seemed…older. His hair was shorter, his face more serious. There was something in his eyes that just…made Joe’s heart sink.

But none of this caused Joe to drop his guard. If anything he was even more on edge.

“You’re not him…are you?”

The man smiled and slowly took a step towards Joe, who immediately stepped
back.

“I am David Webster…just not the one you know.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m from the future.”

Wait…what?

When Joe kept silent Webster continued to talk, “I’m telling you the truth. I
come from a future that needs to be changed. I thought…”

“You thought what?”

The man sighed, “I thought that I could change things. I came back once before…to set a very important person free from captivity. But by releasing her…I only made things worse.”

“Things? What things?” Joe had too many questions. One of which being why he was even buying into this. Time travel? Really? But then he had to believe it…

Maybe because he knew this wasn’t the Webster he knew…or maybe because he needed to believe it. Because it might give him answers…

“You’re not the only one Joe. There are others with abilities. Not the same as yours but they are out there. And there are people out there who want what you have. To take your powers, and use them to control others.”

“And that happens?” Joe asked. Why else would he be here if it didn’t?

“Yes…and no.”

“You said you only made things worse. How?”

“Butterfly effect. So many things changed. One of those things…was us.”

Joe took another step back and saw that the look in David’s eyes was a mixture of love…and regret.

“Us?”

Webster nodded, “We were supposed to meet a year ago. We didn’t.”

Suddenly so many things made sense to Joe, “You! You were the one who told David…or…yourself, to start following me!”

“My time may have been bleak for many reasons, but at least I had you. By trying to change things, I ruined the only thing that really mattered to me.”

“Why are you here? I mean...why are you telling me all of this?” Joe needed to know.

“Any minute now, a man is going to be at your door-looking for me. But when he realizes I’m not here, he’s going to offer you a very unique opportunity.”

“What kind of opportunity?”

“He’s going to give you the chance to learn more about what you can do. And
eventually he’s going to offer you a job working for a company.”

“What kind of company is that?”

“You’ll find out on your own. You have to accept. By accepting the offer you can succeed where I failed. You can find him before anyone else does.”

“Him? Who are you talking about?”

David shook his head, “I’m not sure who he is exactly. I only know that he’s the key, the most powerful of us all. Without him, no one can ever take control. Infiltrate the Company, find out who he is and keep him safe.”

“What? How?”

But David seemed to have realized or remembered something important. “I have to leave.”

Joe shook his head, “You can’t just go! I don’t know what you want me to do!”

The man…this Webster that wasn’t anything like the one he barely knew,
crossed the kitchen and pulled him into a kiss.

But this was certainly no small peck on the lips.

Webster pulled away and looked into Joe’s eyes, “Don’t let that be the only kiss I ever get from you.”

And then, just like the other David had done earlier, he vanished.

“Why the fuck does he keep doing that!?”

The doorbell rang.

Next time: Joe has an important decision to make while Gene tries to track down Renee’s family. Our FBI Agents rush to find and warn the next potential victims in their murder case and Dick is given an important assignment by the Company. Plus more special people will be revealed…

Special (2/?)

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:35:31 GMT

Title: Special (2/?)
Word Count: 3,431
Pairing: For this chapter there's mentioned Nixon/Speirs, mostly one-sided Webgott, and implied Babe/OC.
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special.

Beware, this chapter might be kind of confusing as I am attempting to be somewhat mysterious :)

There is a link to the previous part inside.

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Here’s a link to the previous part:
Part 1-http://community.livejournal.com/camp_toccoa/351591.html

Joseph Liebgott, San Francisco, CA

Joe sighed and looked at his watch. He’d been waiting on this guy for almost 15 minutes. Who calls for a taxi and is actually late getting to it?

He supposed it could have been worse. He could have been at school, but that just wasn’t an option right now. Maybe later, after he figured out what was happening to him. Maybe then he could go back.

Glancing out of his window he saw a figure rushing towards the car. About his age, brown hair, bit taller. But that was all he could tell. He always liked to check out his passengers before they got in.

Being a cabbie was a dangerous job no matter what city you lived in.

As the guy got in, Joe refrained himself from mentioning how long he’d been waiting. God knew he’d made passengers wait on him before. Besides 15 minutes wasn’t that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

Whatever the Hell that grand scheme was supposed to be. Joe was still trying to find out.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

Joe ignored the familiar sound of the voice, “Where to?”

“A few places actually, Joe.”

Glancing at the man in his rearview mirror, Joe groaned, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

David Webster threw his hands up as if to plead his innocence, “Hear me out-”

Joe turned to glare at the young man in the back seat, “This is the 5th time I’ve picked you up this week. Are you requesting me?”

David put his hands down and stared at him with big eyes, “Well…yeah.”

“WHY?”

“You know why.”

Joe rolled his eyes and started the car, “Don’t even start with that bullshit again. I’m sorry I asked.”

The day that Joe had decided to drop out of college, he had met David Webster. Apparently they had American History together. Joe didn’t remember if that was true or not, the class had been so big.

Since he was no longer in school, Joe was driving his taxi full time. That day, when he didn’t show up to History, Webster had looked him up and had been basically stalking him ever since.

Apparently they were ‘meant to be together’, were soul mates or some shit. He had never even met the guy before.

Personally Joe didn’t get it. Webster was smart, good looking, wealthy. Basically normal, why would someone so seemingly perfect go all stalker on some guy like Joe? It just didn’t make sense.

He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t just kicked the guy’s ass yet.

“So where do you wanna go ya Psycho?”

Webster pouted at him, “Really? That’s what you’re going to call me now? To think I actually miss being called Harvard.”

Joe smirked at the nickname he’d given him previously. Webster told him that he’d transferred out of the prestigious school and Joe liked to insinuate that it was because he hadn’t been able to cut it.

“Well how about it? The car’s running.” He reminded him, trying his best not to invite too much conversation.

Webster rattled off an address and Joe turned to gape at him, “That’s on the other side of the fucking city!”

David just leaned forward with a smirk on his face, “They have good ice cream.”

“Not that good.”

“Maybe I just like your company. Doesn’t really matter does it?”

”Why you little-” but Joe was too frustrated to finish his sentence and merely made a show of choking the air where he wished Webster’s neck was.

“You’re so violent.”

“No talking.”

Bill Guarnere, San Francisco, CA

Leaning against the side of his rental car, Bill watched as David Webster got into Joseph Liebgott’s cab. Folding up the newspaper that he had only been pretending to read, he pulled out his cell phone and called his boss.

“Guarnere, glad to see you made it okay. Have you found your target?”

Bill nodded, eyes not leaving the still stationary taxi, “I found one of them. He’s with one of our possible recruits.”

“Which possible recruit might that be?”

“The taxi driver we tagged in San Francisco a few months ago.”

“That’s…interesting. Do you know which one it is yet?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say the younger one.”

“Keep an eye on this one regardless. Wherever his past self goes, your target is bound to show up. Trail him and see why he’s hanging around Liebgott. See if you can use it against him.”

Bill nodded and slipped into his car as he saw the taxi start. He was about to hang up when his boss spoke once more.

“Oh and Bill…”

Bill paused, “Yeah?”

“Do whatever you want to the time traveler, but leave Liebgott unharmed. He really does have potential.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Excellent. I’m counting on you. Get it done.”

George Luz, Brooklyn, NY

Wiping his grease stained hands onto his jeans, George Luz turned to prop up the hood of a car that the owner was claiming to be damaged beyond repair.

“Everyone said the same thing, that it can’t be fixed. But my friend, he says you can fix anything. Even this.”

Luz nodded to the man, “Well your buddy’s right. If it’s a machine, then I can fix it.”

“Really?” The man asked, doubt expressed on his face. “Um how much is it gonna run me?”

He sighed…he didn’t want to rip the guy off…though it would be so very easy. Looking back over the damage underneath the hood, Luz just shrugged, “$300 bucks.”

“That’s it?”

Luz smiled and nodded, “That’s it. And you can pick it up first thing tomorrow morning. I open up at nine.”

“Thanks man!” The guy smiled before handing Luz the keys to his car and heading over to where his ride was waiting for him outside the garage portion of Luz’s shop.

When the customer was out of sight, the young mechanic looked over at the button that controlled his garage door. Concentrating, he fixed it with a stare.

Seconds later the garage door began to lower seemingly on its own accord. George just smiled and turned back to the car.

Placing a hand to the damaged engine, Luz concentrated on making it work. He watched as all the damaged parts began to repair themselves.

Once he was satisfied that it was fixed, he shut the hood and concentrated on making the car start.

When the vehicle sputtered to life, Luz smiled. With a wave of his hand he cut the engine off and headed towards the front of his shop.

Technically what he’d told the man was true. But it wasn’t so much about fixing machines..as it was about controlling them.

If he wanted a machine to fix itself, it would. If he wanted information from it, it would give it to him. He could control virtually any aspect of any machine.

Sometimes he wondered, with this incredibly odd gift of his, why he was still a mechanic…but then he knew the answer to that question.

No matter how remarkable the things he could do, George knew that he would never go beyond using these powers in a minimal manner. He had responsibilities to think about.

Sighing he locked up the shop, and flipped the sign over to indicate that it was closed. Glancing at his watch he saw that it was almost 4 o’clock.

Time to pick his son up from school.

Dick Winters, Philadelphia, PA

As he leaned against a tree in the currently empty high school court yard, Dick Winters wondered whether the female security guard watching him thought he was cute, or thought he was some sort of pervert.

Fortunately he didn’t have to worry about it much longer as a mass of students began to pour out of the school’s numerous doors. Shielding his eyes from the sun, Dick began to look for Babe.

When he spotted the beat up Eagles cap he smiled and waved Babe over. Babe spotted him and said goodbye to the boy he had been talking animatedly with.

“Hey Dick,” Babe smiled at him and Dick couldn’t help but be curious. He motioned to the friend Babe had left behind.

“Who was that?”

Babe looked down at his feet and shrugged, “His name’s Chris. He’s my lab partner in anatomy. We were talking about maybe catching a movie or something this weekend.”

Dick wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that, “What-like a date?”

“No! Just…maybe like a date, I dunno. I haven’t decided yet.”

“Can I decide for you?”

Babe glared at him as they got into the car, “Uh no. If you and Bill had your way I’d never get laid.”

Dick froze, “Get laid!? I thought you were seeing a movie! Babe you aren’t having sex yet are you?”

“I’m 16! Also…I’m not having this conversation with you.”

“Oh my goodness you are having sex.”

“You better not tell Bill!”

Dick said nothing to that. On the one hand, Babe was as much a little brother to him as he was to Bill. And he didn’t want Babe to be upset with him.

Yet on the other hand…if he told Bill, they could team up to make sure that Babe never dated any guy ever. Until he was at least 30. He liked the sound of that.

“I can’t make that promise.”

Babe groaned, “Why must you both be so crazy?”

Dick just laughed and reached over to pull down the bill of Babe’s hat. Truth was that they wouldn’t be any less over protective if Babe liked girls.

Protecting Babe was their main priority now.

Of course it wasn’t their job. No if they had done their job…they wouldn’t even have Babe around anymore.

“What ya thinking about?” Babe’s question jerked Dick out of his thoughts.

“Oh, I was just wondering how your brother was doing. He’s bound to have been there for awhile now.”

Babe nodded, “I’m surprised you didn’t go too. I thought you guys had to do these business trips together.”

Dick shrugged, “They thought he could handle it alone. Bill’s the best at what he does. Plus he wanted me to stay in the city and keep an eye on you.”

Babe laughed, “How do you become good at selling paper anyways? And what about you? You’ve been working with the company just as long right?”

Dick had been working with the Company longer than Bill had actually. But he didn’t tell Babe that. He just nodded and kept driving.

The company that they both worked for couldn’t be further from a paper company if it tried. Selling paper was just a front. A façade so that people didn’t find out what they were really up to.

He had been working for them since he was a teenager. Ever since he discovered that he had a gift. The kind of gift that the people running the Company wanted working for them.

He had thought he could do good with the Company. Thought he could help change the world. But that was a long time ago.

So many things had changed since then.

He had worked solo for a few years but eventually, everyone got a partner. He and Bill had been partnered up and made a good team, and good friends.

One thing was for certain, they made better friends to each other than they did employees to the Company.

If they hadn’t been then they never would have gone against their orders.

They never would have gone to the extremes they had to go to in order to keep Babe safe.

Safe, and hidden from the people they worked for.

Because Babe was like Dick and so many others that worked for the company.

He was special.

Ronald Speirs, NYC, New York

“Do you ever plan on telling us what the Hell is going on?”

Ron couldn’t keep the frustration out of his voice no matter how hard he tried. When agents Compton and Nixon had arrived to his office they had both been a big hurry.

Apparently another body had turned up, this one in New York. They had been
rushed to a car and were currently heading to the crime scene.

While it seemed that getting formally briefed would have to wait, that didn’t mean they couldn’t get any information.

However his question was met with silence as the two agents in the front of the car were too focused on the news that had received only an hour earlier.
Christenson, for his part, looked bored.

But Speirs hadn’t spent the past couple of hours pouring over his case to get shoved into a car and rushed to a crime scene. He wanted to know the details of the case, and he wanted to know now.

“Enough of this horse shit. The guy’s fucking dead already, what’s the big ass hurry?”

Lewis sighed, “Ron, once again, I’m astonished by your sensitivity.”

Ron ignored him, as far as he was concerned, Nixon wasn’t his boyfriend right now. He was just an agent.

“I’m assuming that this recent victim was one of the abductees in our case. What’s his name?”

Compton sighed, “James Miller. His parents found him in his bedroom…”

Shit…Ron remembered him for their interviews. He was just a kid. “And you’re sure it’s the same people who killed your other victims?”

“Well they're all on your list of abductees. What about you? What’s the connection?” Buck glanced at him in the rearview mirror and Speirs struggled not to meet his eyes.

“There is no fucking connection between them all. But I know what you’re really asking. And no..I don’t think whoever abducted them is killing them.”

“Any particular reason why?” Lewis asked.

Speirs nodded, “Well the obvious question to ask would be ‘why now’? Why go through all the trouble of abducting people if you were going to have them killed months after the fact?”

“But this is the fourth name on our list to be killed. It’s not a coincidence. Whatever got them abducted, has to be what got them killed.” Christenson piped in finally.

Ron saw the black and whites up ahead and knew they were coming in on their crime scene. As Compton pulled the car off to the side of the road, Speirs grabbed the file with the list of names that Christenson had been smart enough to bring.

Walking towards the apartment complex, Lewis fell into step with him. “You said have them killed. You think it’s organized.”

Speirs shrugged as they all boarded an elevator, “Maybe. It’s definitely more than one person. You said the first 2 murders happened in New York. So unless of course the killer just happened to be in California at the time of the third murder..”

Lewis regarded him thoughtfully, “Stranger things have happened.”

Ron shrugged, “You’re the expert on serial killers, not me.”

“No you’re the organized crime expert. It’s your job to look for these kinds of connections; I just don’t want you seeing something that isn’t there.”

“Correction: that was my job. I got reassigned. Remember?” Ron shot back, cold as ice.

Buck intervened quickly, “Well the ways in which two of them were killed suggest that more than one person had to commit the act.”

Christenson looked over at him, “How’s that?”

The elevator doors opened and Ron saw the apartment guarded by police officers. Looking over at Christenson he jerked his head in that direction.

“Let’s go see for ourselves.”

Joseph Liebgott and David Webster, San Francisco, CA

“Here you go.”

Joe looked down at the ice cream cone David was offering him as if it had spikes coming out of it. He shook his head.

“I don’t think so.”

David leaned next to him against the cab, I’m not going to like drug you….or anything.”

Joe gave him an odd look, “Webster, that hadn’t even crossed my mind. But now that you mention it I will definitely pass on that ice cream. Thanks.”

“You really don’t trust me.”

“Should I?”

At that Webster looked down at the ground and he looked so pitiful standing there that Joe took mercy on him.

Snatching the ice cream cone from him he glared at the other man, “This had better not be poisoned.”

David just grinned at him as Joe took a bite of the ice cream, and he had to admit- Webster was more than a little charming. It was a shame he was nuts.

Finishing the bite he looked down at the dessert in surprise. He had just assumed it was vanilla.

“How did you know I liked cheesecake ice cream?”

David shrugged, “I’d rather not say. Let’s pretend it’s something I picked up from stalking you.”

“Okay…”

“Joe can I ask you a question? That question not being the one I wanted to ask.”

Joe just sighed, not sure where this was going to go. “Whatever Webster.”

“Why did you drop out of school? The truth.”

Joe laughed at that. Like Webster would ever believe the truth. Hell, Joe didn’t believe it sometimes.

David frowned at him, “What’s so funny?”

Joe shook his head, “Nothing…it’s just…you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“You’d be surprised at what I’d believe.”

Tilting his head to the side, Joe considered it. What was the harm? Maybe it would turn him off of Joe if he knew.

Ah to Hell with it.

“I left school because it was driving me insane.”

“How so?”

“Every book I opened, every lesson I learned. They became engrained into my memory. I started to know things I didn’t even remember studying. Then I realized I must have just read it someplace. At first I thought it would be a good thing. Being able to remember anything, being able to know it expertly. But it didn’t stop there…”

For his part David looked fascinated, which was kind of the opposite of what Joe had been hoping for. “What do you mean?”

Reluctantly Joe continued, “Everything I read, I know and remember. But everything I see…I can do. I don’t know how to explain it. You must think I’m full of it.”

Webster shook his head quickly, “No I don’t. I think you’re special.…just like me.”

At that, Joe looked up, “What do you mean ‘just like you’?”

The moment the question was out of his mouth, his cell phone started to ring. Joe grabbed it and turned the alarm off.

“Shit, my shift’s ending soon, lemme take you back.”

David shook his head, “You don’t have to, I can get back another way.”

As tempted as Joe was, he’d feel like an asshole for leaving him there.

Webster put a hand up to stifle his protest, “Just do something else for me.”

Joe rolled his eyes as David pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to him.

“What’s this?”

“My address and phone number. Call me, come see me. Whatever.”

“Look Web about what I said-”

But Webster cut him off by leaning over and giving him a small peck on the lips. Joe closed his eyes on reflex.

But when he opened them…David was gone.

Looking around in shock, Joe didn’t see David anywhere. It was like he had vanished.

Special indeed.

Bill Guarnere, San Francisco, CA

He watched as the cabbie looked around frantically for his companion, but Bill knew he wouldn’t find him.

He spoke into his phone, “Our time traveler just teleported.”

”Let’s hope that’s all he did. Don’t worry about him right now. That’s not the one you want. Stay on Joseph Liebgott. Judging by what you’ve told me I have a feeling your target will try to make contact with him.

“I won’t let him out of my sight.”

Next time: Joe meets someone he thought he already knew and our FBI agents start to make some sense of their mysterious case. Find out the tragic way in which Gene discovered his abilities. And find out who else is special…

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:51:37 GMT

Title: Special (1/?)
Word Count: 2,236
Pairing: There's going to be quite a few. In this chapter there is mentioned Nixon/Speirs, but that is subject to change :) Plus...Speirs always seems to get around in my stories. Others will certainly develop.
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special.

This AU is definitely based on the NBC show Heroes. Some of the concepts and powers are the same, but the overall story will be different obviously :)

You don’t have to have seen Heroes to follow this story. At least I don’t think so. But you should watch it anyway! Cause it’s awesome.

I've just been playing with the idea of our boys having superpowers and I decided to go for it! Only one power is outright revealed in this part. Hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

In recent days, a seemingly random group of individuals has emerged with what can only be described as "special" abilities.

Although unaware of it now, these individuals will not only save the world, but one another as well. This transformation from ordinary to extraordinary will not occur overnight. Every story has a beginning.

Ronald Speirs, NYC, New York- FBI Field Office

Ronald Speirs knew, on some level, that this was a waste of his time. However it was also his job.

The abductions were increasing, all the details the same. One minute someone was going about their day, the next thing they know, they’re dumped on their doorstep, having lost 3 days, and with no recollection of what had happened. The only similarities, other than their stories, were the two identical marks on their necks.

There really were no similarities between the victims beyond that point. They varied drastically in location, age, race, religion, gender and pretty much every other category he could come up with.

The kicker was….that he really didn’t give a shit. So they were abducted. So fucking what? They were alive, they were healthy. However they were all incredibly paranoid…and hiding something.

He was usually able to get anyone to talk. But not these people.

He was just pissed off, he knew. He was good at what he did, but he knew that he was getting screwed. He got pulled off of organized crime while he was at the top of his game, and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.

Fucking FBI…he knew he should’ve gone CIA.

So here he was, basically floating around with no department, getting handed impossible cases. Maybe he should make up his own department? He could call it the Department of Unsolvable Mysteries (that no one gives a shit about). It had a nice ring to it.

Well…to be honest he did have a suspicion as to why he had gotten reassigned, but he was reluctant to confirm it. The mere idea pissed him off. The possibility that Lewis had gotten him reassigned just so that he could keep an eye on him…

However the theory had a lot of weight to it. Lewis was the Department director’s son and therefore carried the influence, no matter how valuable they found Speirs.

If that was indeed what had happened, then he wasn’t sure where he might wind up. Lewis probably hadn’t thought that far.

Honestly, you get held hostage by one mobster while you’re undercover and your boyfriend suddenly thinks your job is too dangerous. Like he wasn’t out hunting serial killers…

The fact was, Speirs thought this case was pointless. Yet because the abductions started and occurred more regularly in New York, they felt they’d dump it on them. What a waste.

The door opened up and the other half of that ‘them’ strolled in.

“Christenson-that was an incredibly long pee break. I thought you finally figured out where the bathroom was last week.” He smirked over at his younger partner, the only constant in all of the change that had been taking place at work.

If anything he felt guilty. Burton was a good agent, and one of the few people that Speirs could work with…he had a reputation of playing poorly with others. But when they had announced that Ron was getting reassigned, Burton had insisted that they were a package deal and that wherever Speirs went he would go also.

Ron was also honestly relieved, he didn’t think he could stand a new partner.

Christenson just glared and leaned against the doorway, “Haha. There’s nothing funny about me almost pissing myself on our first day.”

“Sure there is.”

Burton rolled his eyes, “Anyway…I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“…About the bathroom?”

“No! About our case genius.” He nodded to the file on Ron’s desk. “The good news is that we’re going to be getting out of the office, Compton requested us to assist with an ongoing investigation. A possible serial killing apparently.”

“What the hell does that have to do with our case?”

“That’s where the bad news comes in. The victims are some of our abductees….”

“Shit. Why weren’t we informed?”

“We kind of just were.”

Ron shook his head, just when he though this case was a waste of time. There was still a problem…

“If we’re working with Compton, we’re also working with Nixon…our relationship is a poorly kept secret and the director will never let us work together on a high profile case.”

“What director? We’re not really under departmental supervision. Besides, Compton’s kind of taking point on this one, and he really wants you on it.”

“I bet he does…”

“What?”

“Nothing. When do we get briefed?”

Christenson shrugged, “Not for a couple hours, they’re flying in from Cali.”

Ron nodded, “Well let’s go over what we know.”

Burton pulled a chair over to Ron’s desk and grabbed a file.

Speirs had a really bad feeling about this.

Bill Guarnere & Edward ‘Babe’ Heffron, Philadelphia, PA

“I can’t believe they’re sending you away again.” Babe didn’t mean to be so whiny about it, but he kind of liked having Bill at home. “How long will you be gone?”

Bill sighed and looked over at his adopted brother, “However long it takes.”

Babe just stared at the floor. He hated it when Bill went away…he hated being alone, ever since…

Bill seemed to see where his mind was headed and came to kneel in front of him, “Babe I know you miss Ma and Dad. I know that…but they’re gone okay? They…look I’m not leaving you alone. Dick’s going to stay over here until I get back. It’ll be a couple of days- tops. You never used to have a problem with me going away before.”

“Yeah well Mom and Dad weren’t dead then!” Babe yelled as he jumped to his feet.

“Jesus Babe, calm down.”

“You’re…you’re right. I’m sorry, it’s just…you’re all I have left Bill. I know it’s just a business trip but…I’m always afraid you won’t come back. I dunno…it’s stupid.”

Bill pulled his younger brother in for a hug, “It’s not stupid. I get it…you’re still adjusting. But I’ll be back, and Dick will take care of you while I’m gone. Just don’t get into trouble. And you know…do your homework and shit.”

Babe snorted at that and Bill gave him a playful shove, “I’m serious. Junior year’s the most important, I don’t care what you hear.”

“Where are you going this time?”

“San Francisco.”

“What the hell kind of paper company do you work for?”

Bill just laughed, “Get your stuff and I’ll drop you off at school. Dick will pick you up.”

“You could always buy me a car you know.” Babe suggested with a smirk as he grabbed his backpack.

“Hey I didn’t get a car until I was a senior…so I think you can wait.”

“You suck!”

“Yeah, yeah- get moving.”

As Bill watched his little brother run out the door of their apartment, he reminded himself that everything he did…everything he had done…he’d done to keep Babe safe.

That was all that mattered.

Eugene Roe, New Orleans, LA

“Get closer!”

Floyd Talbert shot him a panicked look, “You’re not really going to do it are you?”

Eugene shot him a dark look that clearly asked ‘What do you think?’

Presently the two friends were speeding down a near empty stretch of Louisiana highway in Talbert’s convertible. Eugene looked over at the RV that they were quickly pulling up next to.

“Is the camera on?”

“Yeah..but Gene…this is nuts!”

“It’s not so bad.”

“Gene please don’t-”

But Eugene cut him off by hooking a leg over the passenger door, “Keep the camera on me.”

That said he put his other foot on the top of the door and launched himself towards a small ladder built in on the back of the RV.

His hands gripped at the metal tightly and he sucked in a breath. Quickly he risked a look down at the concrete flying underneath him.

He glanced to make sure Talbert was filming him and began to shakily ascend the tiny ladder, as he reached the top he grasped a handle as leverage and pulled himself slowly onto the top of the vehicle.

Getting his feet securely underneath him, Gene cautiously stood up.

“Wow..”

It was amazing…it felt like he was flying.

This was it.

This time he would really die.

He spread his arms out like some sort of bird, “WOO-HOO!”

He chuckled to himself and let his arms fall back down. He gave one last look down at his friend in the car.

Then he jumped upwards into the air.

The RV kept speeding on, rushing out from underneath his feet and Gene felt as if he were being sucked backwards into the air by some invisible force.

He could feel himself flying towards the ground-he didn’t know how fast…

When he hit the ground he could feel the breaking of bones in his back and the cracking of his skull.

Then nothing.

Blood spread over the highway and the body lying on the ground looked like a bloody rag doll.

“Oh my God! Gene!”

Floyd had hit the brakes long ago. Jumping out of the car he ran to where his friend lay on the ground. Surely dead.

But he kept the camera on.

Floyd held his breath and waited.

Sure enough, one by one, the cuts and gashes on Eugene’s face began to knit themselves back together.

Gene’s eyes flew open and he coughed, slowly he began to sit up and Floyd had to put a hand over his mouth as he watched Gene reset his broken bones.

Gene began to stand and Floyd pointed at his stomach, where a rib had been forced out.

Sighing, Eugene pulled up his torn shirt and grasped the rib with already bloody hands to push it back into his body. Slowly the rib reset and the hole in his stomach began to close its self up.

Eugene looked into the camera, face and body covered with blood, and clothes torn to shreds. But there wasn’t a scratch on him.

“That didn’t go as planned.”

Lewis Nixon, somewhere between California and New
York.

“Nixon, honestly….biting your nails? Needs to stop.”

Lewis looked down at his fingernails. He hadn’t even realized he was doing it. To be truthful, he was more than a little on edge.

“Why are we doing this?”

Buck Compton twisted away from staring out the window of the airplane taking them back to New York. Arching his eyebrow he shot his partner what he hoped was a confused look.

“Why are we doing what?”

“Why are we getting Ron involved in this?”

Buck sighed, were they really going to go over this again?

“Because he’s the one with the abduction case. He knows who the targets are. Granted they’re out of order, but he’s done the research. We need him on this. Plus he’s a great agent. And if this is a group like we suspect, it falls under organized crime, which is his specialty. He’s a valuable asset. He’s coming on. End of story.”

Nixon growled at his partner and sometimes friend, now not being one of those times. “Do you have any idea what I had to do to keep him out of trouble? And now I’m the one putting him back into the shit. This really doesn’t reflect well on me.”

Buck rolled his eyes, “I’m probably doing you a favor. He’s been pretty pissed about being cooped up in some new office working on these unsolvable cases. It’s not like he’s happy with you. He’ll be glad to be doing something.”

Nixon looked over at him, “He told you that?”

Buck nodded.

“When did you two get so chummy?”

Buck just shrugged, “We’ve always been friends Nix, I didn’t think it was that big of a secret.”

Lewis wasn’t sure what to say to that…it had been a secret to him. Shaking his head he slid down into his seat.

“Maybe you should get some shuteye,” Compton suggested, “you look like Hell. I know we’ve been busy but have you gotten any sleep lately?”

Nixon just stared at the back of the chair in front of him. “No…I can’t seem to stay asleep.”

“Why not?”

“Bad dreams.”

Buck let it go and Lewis was grateful that he did. How was he supposed to explain that he wasn’t just having bad dreams, he was having violent dreams.
Dreams where he hurt people, did things he wasn’t possibly capable of doing.

How could he explain that he wasn’t sure they were dreams?

Next time: Learn more about our cast of characters and meet a few more. Like Joseph Liebgott, a college drop out with a persistent suitor and confusing ability. George Luz, a New York mechanic whose life is in danger and Dick Winters-Bill Guarnere’s longtime friend and co-worker who knows something Babe doesn’t.

Just To Be With You (9/9) Part D

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:31:33 GMT

Part 4/4 of the final chapter! The end! :)

Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. I don’t own anything….so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!

Dick was starting to get worried after awhile. The wedding was supposed to start in five minutes and he and Nixon were the only ones in the service area.

Suddenly Renee came rushing into the room in all her bridal glory, her two bridesmaids a couple of steps behind. She gave Nixon a confused look, “Lewis?”

Nixon gave her a bright, though somewhat fake smile, “Hey Renee. You look awfully pretty.”

Well..that part was true. He did like Renee…he just liked Babe more now.

She just shook her head and looked around, “Where’s Eugene?”

“Renee!”

They all turned to see Gene rushing in from the outside hallway. Nixon whistled, “Speak of the devil.”

Gene looked at him, “Nixon?”

Lewis just shrugged as Renee and Gene turned to address one another.

“We cannot get married!”

“I can’t do this!”

That shut them both up.

“Um what?” Nixon asked confused.

Renee put her hand on Gene’s shoulder, “I am not ready for this. I do love you Eugene, but I have my whole future ahead of me, I have a career to think about. I thought this was what I wanted but I was being foolish. I’m so sorry.”

Gene shook his head, “No Renee- I’m sorry. I forced all of this on you because I was running away from the one person who rejected me. It’s not that I don’t love you...”

She smiled at him with tears in her eyes, “Oh Eugene it’s alright.”

They embraced and Dick was pretty sure he had NOT seen that one coming.

At that moment the doors busted open.

“STOP! EVERYBODY STOP!”

Nixon rolled his eyes, “It’s about fucking time you showed up.”

Babe just pointed a finger at him, “Shut up! You never called me.”

“I was busy.”

Gene just looked shocked, “Babe? What are you doing here?”

Babe panted heavily, “Gene I am so sorry I almost threw up on you. I was soooo wasted. I mean really no one should ever let me drink ever again.”

“Huh?”

“I flew all the way over the ocean in a stolen jet with, I have to say, some of the craziest people I have ever met or known. I have been party to the kidnapping and drugging of a congressmen, the assault of a police officer, and the stealing of a car.

I got wasted and started singing on a table and you KNOW how awful a singer I am, I’m on the run from both the Belgium and Amsterdam police, I survived a train wreck, stole a car from a drunk guy, and I just stole a police cruiser. And I am pretty sure that I’m about to get arrested.

And I did it all just to be with you. I love you Gene. Please don’t get married.”

Gene’s mouth dropped open before he recovered, “I’m not.”

Babe leaned his head forward, “I’m sorry-what?”

“I’m not getting married. The only reason I even wanted to get married was because I couldn’t be with you. But now I know I’ll never love anyone else as much as I love you Babe.”

“…Really?”

“Really. Even if you didn’t love me back, you’re the only one I want to be with.”

Babe couldn’t believe he was finally here. After everything…Gene was right there.

And he loved Babe.

He was about to move forward to kiss him when the doors flew open again.

“Nobody move!”

Babe turned around to see two unfamiliar policemen rushing into the church.

“Oh…shit.”

Everything started to happen too quickly.

The officers rushed in and tried to assess who it was they were supposed to be arresting. One of them roughly grabbed Babe by the arm and started to cuff him.

Gene started to shout, “Take it easy man, he didn’t hurt anyone!”

The officer yelled at him in Dutch and as Gene reached for Babe, who still wasn’t quite cuffed, the officer shoved Babe roughly to the ground.

“Don’t fucking push him!” Gene yelled getting right into the man’s face. The officer shoved him back and Babe jumped up at that moment and socked the officer in the jaw.

Then all Hell broke loose.

The officer punched Babe in the gut, which caused Gene to rush in to pull the officer back. Another cop rushed forward to jerk Gene away.

Renee started to cry and tried to come over to talk to the police but got caught in Babe’s brawl, which resulted in her getting shoved to the ground.

“Watch it, you could’ve hurt her!” Nixon helped her up and pulled her away before shoving the officer himself.

Babe took the opportunity to tackle the cop that Gene was scuffling with to the ground as the doors busted opened again.

Bill looked over to see the two men that had pulled them over. They started to head towards Babe with murder in their eyes.

Hmm join the fight or let Babe get his ass kicked by three cops at once?

Who was he kidding?

Before they could reach Babe he kicked the leg of one of the officers and he fell to the ground, not a moment later the second cop tackled him.

Nixon had apparently done something that caused the officer he shoved to grab him by the front of his shirt and shove him face down as he tried to cuff him.

But then something incredibly awesome happened.

Richard Winters grabbed the officer by his shirt and flung him face first into a nearby pew with a loud thud.

One of the officers trying to subdue Bill ran over to help the now possibly unconscious cop and Babe had to wonder…

“Where the fuck is Speirs when we need him?”

A throat cleared, “Um right here.”

Suddenly all the fighting stopped and they all looked over to see a shirtless Speirs, and a red faced Lipton who was tugging at his clothes in a manner that suggested he had just put them on, and behind them was a very pissed off priest.

He started shouting to the officers in Dutch and everyone screamed, “SPEAK ENGLISH!”

Even Renee said it, more than likely because she knew he could.

“FINE! Arrest these two!”

“What are we arresting THEM for?”

“They were doing unspeakable acts in my confessional!”

That got quite a few responses.

“Oh my God!”

“You guys had sex in a confessional?”

“We didn’t!”

“We did.”

“This is a church for Christ’s sakes!”

“Wow Lip, I didn’t know you had it in you.”

All of a sudden one of the officers seemed to recognize Speirs. “You look really familiar.”

Ron just shrugged. But the officer worked it out in this head, “You assaulted a policemen in Amsterdam. Oaky I AM going to have to arrest you.”

“No!” cried Lipton.

“The Hell you are!” Bill shouted and jumped to his feet.

Then everyone started fighting again.

The doors opened once more and they didn’t even make it two feet in before Luz was violently elbowed in the face and fell down, and Buck was toppled over by Bill and an officer rolling around on the ground.

One of the English speaking police officers jumped up amid all the chaos, pulled out his gun and fired it into the church ceiling.

Everyone froze.

“ENOUGH!” He shouted, gun still in the air, “If you’re not a women or a priest, then you are UNDER ARREST!”

“Aw man! What the Hell did I do?” Luz shouted, a hand over his bloody nose.

“I’M SURE YOU DID SOMETHING! NOW EVERYONE GET OUTSIDE BEFORE I SHOOT SOMEBODY!”

As the nine of them were trudged out and separately shoved in the back of two police cars and a taxi, Babe couldn’t help but think this was at least better than going to jail alone.

He, Eugene, and Luz were put in the taxi. He looked over at Gene, “Thank you for coming to jail with us.”

Gene smiled, leaned forward and kissed Babe softly, “Anything to be with you Babe.”

Luz rolled his eyes and wished he could be in one of the cop cars with Buck.

Buck looked over at Dick’s now purple eye and winced. “You okay Dick? They really did a number on you.”

“Don’t talk to him! Don’t even look at him!”

“Nixon, calm the fuck down.”

Nixon shook his head from the side of Buck that he was sitting on, “No way. As a matter of fact, we’re switching seats. NOW.”

This proved to be rather difficult as Nixon struggled to climb over Buck to separate him from Dick. It probably would have been easier if he hadn’t been handcuffed behind the back.

Dick just sighed as the two men bitched and fought with each other. He bet Lipton didn’t have to put up with anything like this in his cruiser.

“What do you mean you two hooked up !?”

Ron sunk a little lower into his seat, trapped between the two friends, “Congratulations Bill, you made it a whole 20 minutes without mentioning it. That ripping your tongue out threat still applies.”

“Okay that just slipped out. Look Lip it was nothing. ”

Speirs straightened a little, “Well it wasn’t nothing.”

Bill nodded, “Yeah, but it won’t happen again.”

Lipton just nodded and scooted closer to Ron, “Okay…good.”

“I mean unless you guys don’t work out or something.”

“Bill!”

“Sorry, sorry!”

“It’s really done with though. He gave a stupid little speech and everything.”

Lipton’s irritation melted into curiosity, “Bill? A speech? Seriously? What did you say?”

Bill mumbled something under his breath and Lipton just gaped.

“That’s from CASABLANCA!”

“Okay so let me get this straight. Buck used to date Dick, but didn’t know he was now dating Nixon, who hates Buck, even though Buck now wants to date Luz, who he met at a bar in Amsterdam, hustling darts? And now he’s moving to our school?” Gene asked and Babe just nodded as they were all ushered into a cell.

“And Ron and Lipton are back together now, but not before Ron and Bill hooked up at the hospital and on the side of the road only after realizing they had a thing for each other after getting trapped in a closet on the train that crashed but Bill isn’t really gay though-he just still has feelings for Ron who really is in love with Lipton?”

“Yeah…”

“And you and Nixon are friends now and you’re the one who drew on everyone’s face?”

“Um…yeah that all sounds right.”

“That’s fucking confusing.”

“Okay you guys are just making us all very uncomfortable by summing all this up! We’re all in here y’know!” Nixon shouted from the other side of the cell.

Luz just started laughing his ass off.

Speirs glared, “What the Hell is so funny?”

“I can’t believe that you guys had sex in a confessional!”

Lipton hid his face in Ron’s neck, “We’re never going to escape that.”

Nixon shook his head and pointed at Babe, “I can’t believe you guys stole a cop car!”

Dick smiled, “I can’t believe that we got into a brawl with the police in a church!”

Bill laughed, “I can’t believe you of all people knocked out a cop!”

Babe just laughed and sat down next to Gene, hooking their legs together, “I can’t believe that after all the close calls we had that we all got arrested.”

“Despite everything we still wound up in jail.”

“Just like God intended.”

“I wonder how’ll long we’ll be in here?”

……………

They only spent one night in jail. As it turned out, Ron’s father had already cleared up the issue with the jet after he figured out that while it was stolen, it wasn’t exactly stolen. The congressman might want to press charges, unfortunately when the airport security found them doped up on the plane that thought they were druggies and wouldn’t listen to a word they said.

Renee talked the cops into simply fining Bill and Babe for stealing the cruiser, although Babe wasn’t sure how the Hell she pulled that off.

After a few phone calls Buck and Nixon’s parents wired enough money to pay all of their bail and they got released to the dismay of four very battered and bruised officers who looked like they wanted to take another whack at them all.

Now they were all at the Amsterdam airport getting ready to board their not so stolen jet.

Speirs turned to look at him, “So has everyone decided who’s all going back with us?”

Lipton looked unsure and held up a piece of paper, “I’m going with you but I still have this plane ticket for the end of the summer.”

Nixon snatched it out of his hand, “I’ll take that.”

Dick gave him a puzzled look and Nixon just tugged him close to him and smiled, “We could use a real vacation together. Right?”

Dick nodded, “Absolutely.”

Luz made a gagging noise before turning to Buck, “So what are you going to do?”

Buck shrugged, “I was thinking I’d go back with you guys…get a tour of the place. I’m a little Europed out at this point.”

Luz smirked, “Excellent. I’m not much of a tour guide but I know this great place you kind stay.”

“Is that right?”

“Oh yeah…if you catch my drift.”

Buck smiled and followed Luz into the jet after waving goodbye to Nixon and Dick.

Bill looked over at Speirs, “You really think you’re going to fly this jet don’t you?”

“Of course I am.”

“You’re drugged off your ass you concussed psychopath.”

“I have an excellent co-pilot,” He hopped up into the jet, Bill following close behind.

“We cannot survive a plane crash too! We’ve built up too much bad karma.”

“Calm down Gonorrhea!”

Gene laughed and turned to Lipton, “I’d keep an eye on that if I were you.”

Lipton just smiled, “I don’t think I have anything to worry about.”

Dick smiled at them both, “I guess you guys should go. I’ll see you in a couple of months. And Gene?”

“Yeah?”

“I knew you’d come around.”

Gene just rolled his eyes with a laugh, “Of course you did.”

The three of them said goodbye before Lipton and Gene headed for the jet. Gene turned around to look at Babe. “Aren’t you coming?”

Babe smiled, “Duh. Just give me a sec.”

Gene nodded and climbed in.

Babe turned to Nixon, “Don’t do anything I might accidently do.”

“That’s actually excellent advice.”

Babe smiled and hugged Nixon tightly. Nixon sighed, “I’m really proud of you Babe.”

“Thanks. I guess you were right.”

“How is that?”

“Everything worked out just fine.”

About four hours into the flight Gene called up from the back, “Hey there’s a mini bar back here! Anyone want anything?”

“NO!”

“HELL no!”

“No fucking thank you.”

“Keep that shit away from your boyfriend! I don’t have anymore clean shirts!”

Gene slowly closed the cabinet before going back over to Babe, “I don’t even want to know do I?”

“Probably not.”

“Hey Babe?”

“Yeah Gene?”

“Thanks for coming after me. Especially now that I know what you had to go through. ”

Babe smiled and pressed their foreheads together, “Wanna know something crazy?”

“What’s that?”

“I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.”

A/N: YAY! I finally finished it. Oh….and they all lived happily ever after!

Just To Be With You (9/9) Part C

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:58:07 GMT

Part 3/4 of the Final Chapter. How weird is this set up?

Lipton wasn’t sure why he was so nervous, this wasn’t HIS wedding..for obvious reasons.

Maybe he was disappointed in Gene. Maybe he was worried about Ron. Maybe he just really wanted to see Babe come rushing through those doors.

Whatever the reason, he excused himself from the bench he was sharing with Dick. Walking down the corridor he spotted a confessional.

It looked empty. He wouldn’t exactly be hiding in there…just taking a minute to collect his thoughts.

When the taxi finally pulled up to the church, Speirs wasn’t feeling as much pain but the dizziness had heightened and Nixon had started to get philosophical on him. It was definitely time to get out of the cab.

“But if you really love someone, I mean like soul mate love someone-”

Speirs cut him off, “No one cares Nixon, now get out.”

As he shoved Nixon out, and paid the driver, he couldn’t help notice how miserable the church looked.

If that wasn’t a sign he didn’t know what it was.

Dragging himself up the steps he let Nixon open the doors, there were only about ten steps in when-

“Oh thank God.”

Nixon suddenly had Dick Winters pulling him tightly against his body. “Are you okay Nix?”

Nixon seemed to lose some of his alcohol induced cool for a moment, “NO I am not okay! I have some very serious questions for you! Like catastrophic questions and if-”

Speirs cut him off again, “Pipe down. Look Dick he’s basically done the equivalent of smoking a very large joint so, be patient. Where’s Lipton?”

Dick seemed to just now be taking in his presence, “Ron are you okay? You look kind of pale, and did you know someone wrote ‘Balls’ on your forehead?”

Ron had not known that. He quickly touched his forehead, “That little shit, I’m going to kill him!”

Dick and Nixon got quiet and looked around. Ron remembered that he was in a church.

“Shit. Sorry! Sorry! Man…digging a hole here. So Lip?”

“Umm last I saw him he went down the hallway over to the left, that was…ten minutes ago? Where are the others?”

“On their way.”

Ron knew he should call but…first things first. He headed in the direction Dick had pointed.

“Could you drive a little faster please?”

“I’m already flooring it Babe, I’m surprised we haven’t been pulled over yet.”

All of a sudden lights were flashing and the sound of sirens were unsettlingly close behind.

Damn it.

“Now who’s the jinx?”

“Can it.”

Bill pulled over and rolled down the window as an officer approached the car. The policeman leaned over and began to speak in maybe- Dutch? Babe didn’t know, they still couldn’t understand anything anyone said in this country.

When the officers saw their, more than likely, confused faces he motioned to what Babe could only guess was a second officer and then retreated back to his car.

The second officer approached this time and spoke in English, which was so nice to hear that Babe almost didn’t care that they were probably in trouble.

“You both need to step out of the car, now.”

Ummm…okay.

Babe unbuckled his seatbelt and scrambled out.

Bill decided to ask the questions, “So what’d we do? Other than probably speed.”

The officer skirted them cautiously and then glanced at the car’s plates. “This car has been reported stolen. You’ll both have to come with us.”

“WHAT?”

“Stolen is kind of harsh-”

“You don’t understand!” Babe was getting incredibly frustrated now, “I have to get to this church like really soon! I’ve been through way too much not to go!”

The officer wasn’t in the mood, apparently, to deal with Babe’s personal problems. “The only thing you HAVE to do, is come with us. “

With one more wave the other cop started to approach and they certainly looked like they meant business.

Shit, shit, shit…what was he going to do? Getting arrested was just NOT an option. Certainly not at this point.

Maybe he could…….

But he really shouldn’t.

He had to.

He tossed a look Bill’s way and jerked his head towards the now abandoned police cruiser and hoped that all of their time spent in silent communication as kids had paid off.

Bill’s eyes widened and he looked at Rusty’s car.

Babe looked at the keys in Bill’s hand. Duh.

They both started running towards the cruiser at the same time, just barely dodging the officers’ attempts to tackle them.

Bill hopped into the driver’s seat and started the car faster than anything Babe had ever seen, and they were peeling away before the officers could even get close.

Even Babe watched enough COPS to know that you never abandoned the cruiser. Or ANY vehicle, especially with the key still in the ignition.

His heart was beating so quickly he wasn’t sure he could breathe. He looked over at Bill.

“We just jacked a police car!”

“Nice of you to catch up.”

“Remember all the times in the last few days when we thought we were going to get arrested?”

“How could I forget?”

“Well we are going to get arrested for realz this time. “

“Most likely.”

“Lame.”

“Dick we have to talk!”

“Lew you need to sit down, you’re drunk….wow I can’t believe I’m saying that. “

“HA! You don’t like that I drink! I KNEW IT! By the way, anymore secret boyfriends you want to come clean about?”

“Not too drunk to function it would seem. Are you sure you want to have this conversation now?”

“What better time?”

“Never?”

Lewis threw his sunglasses on the church floor angrily and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. The euphoric effects of the Absinthe were wearing off and he was starting to get aggressive, which wasn’t what he wanted.

He looked up at the face of his concerned boyfriend and couldn’t remember why he was angry. He shouldn’t be yelling at Dick…

Wait! That was his whole problem, he was too infatuated with Dick to ever ask him tough questions. He was so afraid that if they fought, they might break up.

But now he was starting to realize that if he didn’t honestly express himself then he might self destruct.

“No I need to know why you never mentioned him. And why don’t you want me to meet your parents? And why don’t you introduce me to all of your friends? And WHY do you talk to your ex – who didn’t even know you were dating someone by the way- behind my back? Do even think about how that makes me feel?”

Dick looked like he had been slapped, “Lewis I-”

But Nixon held up a hand to stop him, “You’ve met my stupid parents and you know I would NEVER talk to an ex you didn’t know about. I don’t have friends because I don’t need them. I have you. You’re my world Dick. Do you understand that? No of course you don’t…why else would you do things that you have to know would upset me. “

It was so quiet and Dick looked so hurt that even though he needed to say it all, Lewis washed he could take every harsh word back.

Finally Dick spoke, “I was just protecting myself.”

That…Lewis did not understand, “What?”

“It’s not like we have anything in common. We’re so opposite it almost doesn’t seem possible, and you HATE my friends. You have to think I’m a stiff or something. I just…never knew how serious you were about me. So I didn’t want to integrate every aspect of our lives together, I didn’t want to introduce you to my parents because I was never sure that we would last. Everything seems fine but then a moment comes along where I’m just so sure that you’re ready to move on. I mean I’m never going to enjoy the things that you enjoy, but I don’t want to enable your bad habits, but I don’t want to change you either. I know that one day I’m going to have to choose one of those routes and it’ll ruin everything.”

Lewis shook his head. Was Dick breaking up with him?

“No it won’t! Don’t you get it? I would choose you over anyone Dick. I could never get tired of you. You’re perfect. I don’t want you to be into the things that I’m into, that would make you someone completely different. I love that we’re so different, but I hate that my habits bother you. I’d choose you over them too. When that day comes just say the word, and I’ll stop. I swear. I love you so much, how could you ever doubt how much I love you?”

“We don’t really bring it up.”

“Well I’m bringing it up now. I love you Dick. I like…soul mate love you. Wow that made more sense in the cab..”

Dick just smiled his all knowing smile. “It makes sense to me. I’m sorry…for everything…I was just being insecure.”

Lewis just let out a laugh and wrapped his arms around the only person he’d ever honestly loved, “I’m the insecure one, remember?”

Dick sighed and returned the embrace, “If you say so.”

“Oh and Dick?”

“Yeah.”

“Could you maybe call Buck less?”

“That should be easy, he’s transferring to our school. I can hang out with him anytime. Why? Don’t you like him?”

Nixon just sighed in defeat, “I just ADORE him.”

Ron had been checking this damn corridor long enough to know that Lipton wasn’t in any of the rooms nor was he just wandering about. Where was he?

Damn he needed to sit…badly. Looking around all he saw was the far off confessional.

Maybe…

Walking over as quietly as he could, he slipped into the empty space where a priest would normally reside and lightly tapped the thin wooden window separating them.

“Hello?” came the confused reply.

Ron just smiled and pulled the window back so that he could see Lipton through the small grate. “This seems kind of ironic.”

“…..Ron?”

Speirs swallowed, dread creeping up through him. What if Lipton still hated him? What if he didn’t want to see him? Why was it that this man always made him lose his nerve?

“Yeah. Carwood I-”

“Are you okay?” Lipton’s voice was still soft despite the panicked edged in it that Ron hoped he wasn’t imagining, “I heard you got hurt. I’ve been going nuts worrying about you!”

“You were worried?”

“Of course I was. Ron…I know things went badly last time we saw each other…I mean…well I’m sorry I threw that bottle at your head…and locked you out of your hotel room.”

“Forget about it. I deserved it. I am never going to be able to tell you all the regrets I have…about us.”

Lipton let out a deep breath, “I just…I don’t know. I was just overwhelmed by all the drama and I freaked out. I just…I liked you so much and it felt like…I dunno.”

Speirs knew that now was the time to say everything he had been dying to say to Lipton since the last time he had seen him. Or when he had woken up, nursed his hangover and realized that he was gone. So maybe the last time he’d talked to him?

“…I know that I am a detached, cold, mean, violent, irrational asshole. And I know that there’s not really many good qualities to me.

But you always made me feel like I could be more than what people perceived me to be. You gave me a chance to prove that I could love somebody and I ruined it. I put you through so much stress and I know I don’t deserve a second chance.”

He leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes, “But I want to be better for you, with you, because of you. I can change and you are the only person I would ever do that for. I just want you to forgive me.”

Ron waited for what felt like forever. When he didn’t get a response he chanced a look through the grate.

Lipton wasn’t there anymore.

Suddenly his door was opening from the outside and Ron wasn’t sure if the light pouring in was coming from the hall or from finally being able to see Lipton’s face.

“I forgive you.”

Ron straightened and smiled, “Just like that?”

The corner of Lipton’s lip curled up and he let out a soft laugh, “I only wanted you to ask.”

Ron stood up and pulled him into the room with him. Lipton melted against him and Ron savored the feeling of having him in his arms again.

He felt perfect.

Lipton looked at his face and smirked, “What happened to your face?”

Ron just rolled his eyes, “Babe, Nixon and a Sharpie. That’s what happened.”

Lipton’s smiled faltered and he put a gentle hand to Ron’s bandaged head, “Does it hurt?”

Speirs shook his head lightly, “Nothing hurts anymore.”

“That was so lame.”

Laughing Ron backed Carwood against the wall and moved his hands along his back, before casually slipping one under Lipton’s shirt. Leaning forwards he pressed their lips together softly.

“I know.”

Buck couldn’t help but get concerned when the driver began to slow down on a very empty looking street.

“What the hell?”

Suddenly two policemen were rushing out of nowhere and waving their arms in the air, one shouting in Dutch at the driver who quickly got out of the car.

The other spoke in English to them, “We need this vehicle to pursue two suspects that have stolen our police cruiser. You’ll have to stay here.”

Buck was about to ask what they were suspects of if the man knew they had stolen his car….

Then he saw a red car in the distance.

“Oh..okay.”

Luz grumbled and hopped out after Buck and watched as the officers sped away in their cab.

Buck looked over at Luz, “Well you’ll finally get to walk.”

Babe wasn’t sure what he was about to bust in on but they were only moments away from the church and he was pretty sure that those cops were after them already.

Whatever he was going to say or do, he was going to have to do it quickly.

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:49:51 GMT

Summary: Another game of cards and Luz being Luz causes Talbert to reflect on the relationships around him and the lack of any real relationship of his own.
Disclaimer: I don't intend to make any money off of writing this-not that anyone would give me any if I wanted it anyways. None of this actually happened, it's based, as many others say, off the performances portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers-not the real people. I don't own anything so...yeah. I wrote this for your enjoyment so...enjoy!

"So if you could screw one officer which one would it be?"

"AH Jesus George- where the hell do you get these things?" Frank Perconte glared at the man in question as he threw down his cards. "I'm not answering that."

Luz just smirked at him "You don't have to Frank no one's twisting your arm about it," he replied eyeing the face down cards, "I guess that means you fold."

Floyd Talbert, who had already folded, just rolled his eyes. The only way Luz ever won a game of cards was by distracting someone. He just shook his head and shuffled the cards.

"That's the weirdest question you've asked yet." He decided as he started to deal to the assembled group which consisted of himself, Luz, Babe, Grant, and Perconte. He turned his head as the door opened.

"What is?" asked a grumpy looking Liebgott as he strode in, an equally grump looking Webster behind him. If Floyd decided to hazard a guess, which he wouldn't...aloud, he would say that they had probably been arguing. That's all they ever did. He didn't really think they made a good pair. Liebgott was known for his temper and Webster was pretty much the only person who wouldn't ignore that temper. It wasn't what he assumed was a healthy relationship. Not that he would ever say anything. It wasn't that he didn't care, it was just that he was pretty sure Joe would tell him to fuck off. And none of the relationships, romantic or otherwise, that the men in Easy had were really normal or healthy.

"You guys want in?" he asked over his shoulder as the pair sat down. Liebgott squished himself between Babe and Grant. Webster gave him an offended look and walked to the other side of the table and pulled up a chair next to Floyd.

"Depends." Web started, "what are you guys playing?"

"Five card draw," Luz answered, "but you guys better kiss your money goodbye cause I'm having a hot streak." That said he waved the money he'd won in the last hand in the air.

"Please, it's not like you're actually good." Floyd replied as he dealt the two newcomers in. "You just distract people
with your dumb questions."

"Well if it works it works," Luz smirked, "besides you still haven't answered my question. I'm in." He threw a small
bill into the middle of the table.

Grant noticed Webster's confused look. "It's two to call." He told him.

Web nodded, "Yeah but two of what? I've got three different currencies in my pocket."

"What's the matter Web? Don't know currency exchanges off the top of your head?" Liebgott asked.

"Fuck you." Webster hissed back. Liebgott just shot him a smug look. Yeah...not healthy...moving on.

"Just put in whatever you think is right." Babe told him before glancing at Luz. "I gotta agree with Tab on this one though- that question was outta left field."

"What was the question?" Webster asked as he finally decided what to put in.

"Which officer would you screw?" Luz repeated only to have Perconte growl and stand up. Luz smirked as he folded his cards yet again.

"That's it-I'm out. I'm not going to get trapped into answering this question. " Perconte grabbed his stuff and shuffled past an amused looking Luz who kicked at him as he passed.

"Good no one wants that mental picture in their head anyway Frank!" He called after the retreating form of his friend. "It's not like there are that many options anyway right? Plus I'm only counting the ones that anyone might even WANT to fuck. So like Winters, Speirs, Nixon, Lipton or Welsh. Lt. and up I guess."

"Wait-do you think anyone’s going to pick Welsh?" Babe asked with a disbelieving look. Luz just shrugged.

"How the hell should I know?" The funny man replied, "Although now that I think about it he'd just be all "Kitty this" and "Kitty that" the whole time so let's just take him off the list."

"Whatever," Liebgott replied, "It's not THAT strange a question. We'd all be lying if we said we'd never thought about it."

Babe shook his head, "Well I'm thinking about it NOW...but I honestly never have before."

'Why should you?' Floyd thought as he glared at the young red head, 'You have Gene.' If he was honest with himself, which he liked to think he was, Floyd would say he was jealous of Heffron. If for nothing else but the fact that he had Eugene Roe...and Floyd Talbert didn't. Floyd also had to rethink his statement about Easy's relationships because Babe and Gene were surprisingly normal. They brought out the best in each other whereas Joe and Web seemed to bring out the worst.

"I'd have to think about that one..." Grant trailed off. Liebgott just snorted as he folded his cards.

"Please we all know you'd pick Speirs."

Grant glared at him, "You don't know shit."

"So who'd it be then?" Luz asked lazily. They all looked at Grant who stayed silent.

"That's what I fucking thought," Joe laughed.

"Nah man Speirs is too intense y'know?" Babe contributed as he laid his cards out. Trip aces....lucky bastard. "I think I'd pick Lipton." He nodded to himself.

Luz got a huge grin on his face as he looked past Babe and at the door, "Hey doc."

Babe paused and looked up to see Eugene looking down at him. "Pick Lipton for what?" Gene asked as he settled next to Babe and thus on the other side of Floyd. Who was all too happy to let him in on their topic. He knew he shouldn't try an instigate fights between them but he couldn't help himself.

"To have sex with. Luz was asking one of his hypothetical questions." Floyd supplied to the curious medic, who promptly flicked Babe in the ear.

"Goddamn it OW!" The younger man clutched his ear, "I'm sorry! I didn't know I couldn't answer hypothetical questions!"

"Oh you can but it's gonna piss me off a little when you do. You don't need to be thinking about that." Gene glared at him for a moment before smiling, "Nice choice though-I'd go with Winters myself."

"Yeah?” Babe smiled "Lip reminds me of you sometimes."

"And we all know I like red heads." Gene smirked although he mumbled the last part. Everyone one just gawked at them.

"You guys," Webster stated slowly, "are sickening. Seriously."

"Ah you're just jealous," Babe replied.

Floyd frowned at him. 'Yes I established THAT already.' He really was. He had been attracted to Gene since Toccoa. Floyd knew he was a popular guy-he got along with pretty much everyone in the company. The thing was-Doc wasn't
like everyone in the company. He was quiet and introverted while at the same time being straight forward and urgent, and he was always so caring. He had things to say and worry about that Floyd couldn't relate to because he wasn't a medic. And Floyd liked that. Gene had always taken care of him when he got hurt and it was Gene's turn to be taken care of. It's just that Floyd had always kinda hoped he could be that person. Obviously not.

"I think we all agree that Babe and Doc are annoying with their affections," Luz chimed in, "and also that couples shouldn't answer since they’re already biased."

"Whatever." Liebgott mumbled.

"Oh yeah who's it gonna be then?" Luz asked.

Liebgott shrugged, "I dunno...Nixon." Luz nodded slowly.

"Really? You know who that sounds like..." Luz glanced at Webster who glared back.

"Oh what so we both go to college and suddenly we're exactly alike? No offense to Capt. Nixon but at least I'm not an alcoholic." Webster snapped.

"I'm sorry how is that NOT offensive?" Grant asked. Webster shrugged. “Besides Maj. Winters certainly doesn’t seem to care.”

THAT got everyone interested. Rumors had been flying left and right about those two for as long as anyone could remember and to be frank the topic never got old. It could be because it was interesting or maybe it was because they had too much fucking time on their hands to think about stuff like that lately-Floyd wasn’t sure.

“Personally and no disrespect to Maj. Winters but he doesn’t really discourage the drinking.” Floyd said. He wondered about that sometimes. Even if they weren’t together it was still obvious that they cared about each other. Was Winters being an enabler or was he just loathe to ask Nixon to change something about himself? Was that how it worked? You love someone enough to ignore their flaws? Or was it that you loved their flaws? But if you love them are they even flaws then? Floyd was snapped from his own thoughts by raised voices.

“Christ Web you just know fucking everything don’t you?” Liebgott was staring heatedly at Webster. Maybe that wasn’t how relationships worked for some people then. Or who knows? Maybe they were actually fighting about something legitimate this time.

For his part Webster looked pissed too. He stood up abruptly, “We need to talk. Now.” That said he stormed out of the room angrily. Everyone got quiet and looked at Joe. For a minute Floyd was almost sure that Joe wasn’t going to go after him. But after a moment he got up and made a huffy exit of his own.

Grant looked at the door before turning to Luz, “Man you really know how to fuck things up huh, Luz?” Floyd assumed that they must have been arguing about that question then.

Luz just pursed his lips and shrugged, “If it wasn’t that then it would’ve been something else. They’ll be fine. They always are.”

Which Talbert supposed was true. They always came back to each other no matter what they said or did. He didn’t understand what it was that they had. Only that whatever it was- it was alluding him. He coughed and stood up.

“Uh I’m out guys-I’m gonna go.” He told them and Luz looked up, cigarette dangling from his mouth. He looked disappointed somehow.

“You sure?” he asked as he fished in his pocket for a match.

Floyd nodded slowly, “Yeah.” He looked over at Gene-who never played cards with them. He was leaning against Babe’s shoulder and looking at the red head’s cards before whispering something into his ear. “I was losing anyway.”

So that scenario just popped into my head and I started writing and this is what I came up with. I really like Talbert and I got the idea of him and Roe solely based on seeing them standing together from time to time and of course when Talbert got stabbed. I’d like to expand on it as far as Floyd is concerned and I really hope it didn’t suck…too much. I haven’t written anything in God knows how many years and I’ve NEVER posted to livejournal before or written anything for BOB. Let me know what you think.