The Rescue
The next six months of Carl Webb’s life were agony.
The first week after Stanton Parish and his people kidnapped Carl Webb in Grand Central Station were torture. Literally.
After it quickly became apparent due to a quick “conversation” between Carl and the Alpha Alpha, two things became apparent. One, Stanton knew about Carl’s ability and wanted him to use it to find Dr. Rosen’s “old team”. And two, that Carl was unwilling to help the healer Alpha in this regard. Therefore, for a week straight, Stanton Parish had Carl tortured both physically (although Carl was able to make this stop after one particularly nasty 30-minute session by convincing Parish that physical injuries negatively impacted his Alpha ability) and psychologically (with Stanton employing his mind-raper Alpha to read Carl’s mind through her agonizing touch, a tactic which also did not work, since Carl was able to block her Alpha ability using mental images of card games and waterfalls). However, after a week of these tortures, Stanton Parish finally came up with a more devious plan to make Carl talk. A plan that, once unveiled, made Carl wish that Parish had stuck with torturing him instead.
Parish abducted Charles Webb.
Carl had, off course, been keeping his “third eye” open towards his family members as often as possible between torture sessions, so by the time Parish returned to his home base (somewhere underground, underneath a major city, if the noise and the number of people that Carl could “feel” above him were any indication), the tracker already had a good idea about what had transpired. Stanton Parish had found his captive's son and kidnapped him as well. In the process, Charlotte Webb had been killed.
Carl could think of nothing else, could look at nothing else except his wife’s death as he watched, from many miles away in his underground cell, as Charlotte Webb’s extremely bright lights slowly went out. And by the time that Stanton Parish had returned to Carl’s cell, the tracker was simultaneously depressed and livid. In fact, the first thing that Carl did when he looked at his captor with tear-filled green eyes was say: “When my son and I get away from you, I swear I’m going to kill you for what you’ve done to my family! For what you’ve done to Charlotte!”
Stanton had merely shrugged at that comment and made up some sob story on the fly about Charlotte having “resisted” his efforts to reunite Charles with his “true brothers and sisters” and that killing her, a mere neuro-typical human, was necessary to get Carl to do what was necessary for “the greater good.” Carl didn’t really listen to Stanton’s explanation. Or care.
Carl was mostly under Stanton’s thumb after that, as the villain threatened to kill Charles, who was at another location miles away, if the tracker didn’t tell Parish whatever he wanted to know.
However, sometimes, Carl was able to avoid giving Stanton the information he wanted through deception, as the tracker Alpha would lie. He told Stanton the same lie he had told Rosen (that Skylar had created a device that could counteract Carl’s abilities). And sometimes he would tell the healer that he was too tired, that his abilities were strained under duress, or that Rosen’s people were blending themselves in among a number of other Alpha’s or moving too frequently (which was actually sometimes true), so Carl couldn’t keep track of them. And on occasion, this would keep Stanton Parish off Carl’s back.
But all too often, Carl’s lies would only make Parish more impatient, and he would retaliate by punishing Carl, or worse, Charles, for the tracker Alpha’s failures to perform his “duties” to Red Flag. Two of Stanton’s favorite methods of retaliation for Carl’s failures to perform included subjecting Carl to NSA torture methods or more mental raping. However, when Carl continued to resist Stanton after these tortures were employed, as the tracker cited a “really messed up upbringing with some seriously twisted foster parents” and that “I have a telepath for a son, you moron! Do you really think I could have gone this long as his parent without learning to create some serious psychological barriers?” as his reasons for being able to resist Stanton’s physical and psychological torture, Parish turned his sights on Charles. After this point was reached, Carl was forced to watch, via video chat, some of Stanton’s men shock Charles every time Carl didn’t tell Parish were a target of interest was. He even forced Carl to watch as his people “upgraded” Charles’ abilities with a photic stimulator, a process which caused the young boy to scream out in pain and hold his head while complaining he couldn’t “make the voices stop.” Then, the healer Alpha had threatened to make Charles psychically interrogate his own father, or suffer the consequences, if Carl didn’t tell Stanton everything he wanted to know.
Carl finally broke then, telling Stanton Parish everything he wanted to know, including where the members of Dr. Rosen’s team (which had expanded considerably since Grand Central Station) that Carl knew about, were. With one exception. Evidentially, Stanton had bought Carl’s lie that Miss Adams’ had a machine that could hide her from his abilities, so Stanton did not continue to pressure Carl to find Skylar or any Alphas near her. As a result, Carl was able to keep at least a few of Rosen’s Alphas safe at any given time. But many Alphas were still killed by Red Flag using information that Carl was forced to give them, as well as any humans that got in Stanton Parish’s way of eliminating any “traitor Alphas”, including, sadly, Rachel’s boyfriend, John Bennett, who died saving Rachel and Nina from some of Stanton’s thugs. Carl “watched” the man’s lights go out with great sadness from afar when this happened, knowing that he had indirectly caused the death of someone one of his best friends loved.
Due to all of these events, by the time six months had passed in Stanton Parish’s “care”, Carl was in bad shape, and he didn’t even notice the presence of multiple familiar Alphas entering the facility he was being held in until he heard the sound of sirens coming from the center of the Red Flag base.
The noise finally got Carl’s attention, but the tracker was too exhausted to smile even when he heard several small explosions, heard the telltale sound of electricity, or smelled a faint whiff of ozone coming from underneath the door to his cell. However, the tracker did manage a half grin when Bill Harken and Cameron Hicks came into his cell (after Bill broke down the door) to rescue him and Cameron shouted. “Carl! We’re here to rescue you, but we need to hurry! Skylar’s stun bots will only keep Stanton’s men unconscious so long, and we still need to find Parish and your son!”
Carl shook his head sadly as Bill propped up the tracker and helped the half-starved, exhausted Alpha walk even as said Alpha spoke. “Don’t bother. They’re not here. Not anymore. Stanton or Charles. I know where they are though, and as soon as you get me out of here, I’ll lead you straight to them so that you can rescue my son…and so that I can kill Stanton Parish!”
Cameron shook his head. “No, you won’t kill Parish. He can’t be killed now. We’ve tried since Grand Central Station. The blood coagulants don’t work anymore…”
Carl chuckled. “No. You’re wrong. Don’t forget, my abilities got upgraded that day too. Now I can sense more than just people’s talents and abilities…I can sense their weaknesses too. Parish can still be killed. It requires a complex chemical formula which includes Borax, being injected into his veins. But he can be killed. And after what that bastard did to my wife and son, I want to be the one to kill him!”
Cameron shook his head. “No. You’re not a soldier. If Parish can be killed, I will kill him.”
Carl snorted. “Yeah, I’ve heard that before. Your reluctance to do what was necessary is what got us all in this mess.”
Neither Cameron nor Bill had a reply ready for that, so the soldier and former FBI agent said nothing as they led Carl out of the Red Flag facility.
…One hour later…
Carl Webb’s “homecoming” to Rosen’s group was an awkward one, to say the least. After Harken and Hicks escorted Carl to Rosen’s team’s mobile command center, a train, with many technological wonders, including a robot servant, inside, that continuously moved from coast to coast, the tracker Alpha soon found that nobody on his old team could look at him the same as they used to. Bill and Cameron had looked like they were irritated with Carl since the moment they had rescued him, Neither Rachel nor Gary, the former of which had bags under her eyes, like she had been crying for several days, would even look at the tracker Alpha now. Kate also ignored Carl, although she would glance at the tracker out of the corner of her eye from time to time, the way she did when she was trying to remember someone she knew she should know, but couldn’t remember. Nina and Skylar, on the other hand, both looked at Carl with pity in their eyes. Before Carl could try to take in the faces of all of the new members of Rosen’s team, one of which had a scaly, reptile-like appearance, while another, a female, had brown spikes jutting out from her shoulder blades, the tracker’s attention was forcefully brought back to Dr. Rosen himself, who began to interrogate the still shell-shocked Alpha, who could only barely make out what was being said over his own mental confusion, about what information Carl had hemorrhaged to Parish, if Stanton knew the location of their home-base, and why Carl had never told him the doctor that he, himself, was an Alpha.
At that point, Carl lost it, as all the anger he had been holding in for six months towards Parish, Red Flag, and Dr. Rosen himself, exploded out of the tracker Alpha all at once.
Carl reacted so swiftly and instinctively to Lee’s questions and accusations that no one saw it coming until Carl hit Rosen, breaking the doctor’s nose and sending him tumbling to the floor while the loud SMACK! Sound the hit made was still reverberating through the air. But even after Bill restrained Carl, the tracker wasn’t finished with Rosen yet. “How dare you!?”
Carl glared at all of the members of his old team, except for Nina as he continued yelling. “How dare all of you! When I signed on to work with this team, I was promised…I was promised, that my family would be kept safe! You all didn’t live up to that bargain, especially you, Lee! And now my wife is dead!”
Carl was crying now, and tears started falling from his face even as the angry expression remained and he continued shouting. “And my son, my only son, is in the clutches of a psychopath!”
The room was silent for several seconds as Carl looked down at the floor and quietly sobbed before he added so quietly that some of the newer members of Rosen’s team, who were at the back of the train car, couldn’t hear. “And Red Flag tortured him. They tortured my son. And I could stand it when they tortured me but…I couldn’t watch them hurt my son. I just couldn’t. That’s how Parish broke me.”
Carl sighed heavily. “That’s why I gave away some of your locations to him over the last six months. And I know that a lot of good Alphas, and a lot of good non-Alpha women and men died because of me. I’m very sorry about that.”
Rachel quietly sobbed into Nina’s shoulder then, although Carl noticed that the red-haired Alpha would at least look at him now, as the tracker continued speaking. “But I did not give away the location of this train because I couldn’t find it. It’s always moving.”
Carl glared at Rosen as the doctor got off the floor while pinching his nose, and Carl added. “The rest of these people can blame me for the deaths of their friends and loved ones all they want to. But don’t you dare take that tone with me again and judge me, Lee! You and I both know that I did what I had to do because you failed to keep my family safe like you promised to by killing Parish when you had the chance! And by the way, the only reason that I didn’t tell you that you were an Alpha who attracted other Alpha’s into his presence like a magnet was because I thought you already knew that and just wanted to keep it a secret from the team! It’s not my fault that my assumption was wrong!”
Dr. Rosen motioned for Bill to let Carl free from his grip, and the big man reluctantly did so before the doctor spoke through his broken nose. “Yur…right, Carl. I...wees….shudn’t…have…judged…you…or…been…so quick…to…weez…blame…you…I…think…we all…need to rest…and…talk…in…the morning….”
Cameron led Rosen away from the meeting car before his nose could bleed more heavily, even while Skylar, looked right at Carl and said. “I don’t blame you for what happened, Carl. A lot of us here…”
The tech motioned towards Nina with her head. “Don’t blame you for giving Stanton information. He had your son. And it just makes me think that if Parish ever got ahold of my daughter…”
Skylar shuddered. “I don’t know what I would do. I don’t think any of us know what we would do if our loved ones were being threatened like Charles was. We will find your son, Carl. I promise. But you look like you could use something to eat and some rest first. You are no good to your son if you are too tired and hungry to think straight. You should do that while I go back to the lab car to make more drones to look for Parish and Charles. And by the way, I'm so sorry about your wife's death..."
Without another word, Skylar, who Carl just now noticed looked emaciated and sleep-deprived due to the bags under her eyes, left the room, and many other Alphas, who had nothing to say as this point, all began leaving for another train car as well, but Carl gently pulled Nina to the side of the car before she could leave for her quarters. “Hey, Nina. I know I must look like death warmed over right about now, but that’s because I’ve been tortured and forced to help Stanton hunt down my friends over the last six months. Why does Skylar look about as bad as I feel right now? And why is she still working with us? I thought she would leave to go see her daughter after Grand Central Station, but I sensed that she has been working with our team and that she has not seen Zoe in six months! What is going on with Skylar?”
Nina sighed. “Wow, Carl! That’s a lot of questions! But I know you’ve been…out of commission for the last six months so I will answer them as best as I can. Skylar blames herself for the 1,264 people that were killed in the Grand Central Station incident, since Red Flag used her device to commit that massacre. Therefore, Skylar said she was determined to continue helping Rosen until we stop Parish. Taking orders doesn’t come easy for her, but I think remembering what she is fighting for has helped her to swallow her pride enough to work with a team…at least temporarily. And that’s where you come in.”
Carl shook his head. “What are you talking about? What do I have to do with Skylar working for you and what does any of this have to do with why Miss Adams looks as bad as I feel?”
Nina frowned. “I was getting to that, Carl. Stop interrupting. Anyway, ever since your disappearance, then Charles’ abduction, Skylar had been obsessed with getting you and your son away from Parish. In fact, when the rest of us couldn’t find you after we woke up at Grand Central Station, she was the first one to theorize that Red Flag had abducted you, then that you child’s disappearance and you wife’s murder…”
Carl inhaled deeply at the mention of Charlotte’s murder, but said nothing as Nina continued speaking. ”Were connected to you going missing. And as I said, Skylar has been working tirelessly to get both you and your son back ever since you both were taken. She let us use this train she invented years ago, built thousands of drones to search for you and Charles since the day of your disappearance, argued with Dr. Rosen at every turn whenever the missions he assigned concerning Red Flag didn’t involve trying to get you and/or Charles back, and eventually, created a way to find you, using numerous gadgets she built to identify your Alpha signature and locate you based upon everything you have ever told her about how your powers work. And that’s how we found you. But in the meantime…”
Nina shook her head. “Skylar hasn’t been sleeping. And she only eats when I make her, and even then, not nearly enough. Between her lack of food, sleep deprivation, her obsession with finding you and your son, and missing her daughter, who she refuses to see until Stanton is defeated, so Zoe won’t be endangered…Skylar’s gotten herself in bad shape trying to help you Carl!”
Carl shook his head and looked down in shame. “I’m sorry, Nina. I didn’t mean for that to happen, to hurt Skylar and so many other people over the last six months…”
Nina playfully smacked Carl’s arm softly and rolled her eyes. “Again, Carl. I don’t blame you for everything that’s been happening over the last six months, and neither does Skylar. You were held captive by Red Flag, and forced to help Stanton, against your will! Everyone on this team knows that now. I didn’t tell you what’s been going on with Skylar to make you feel guilty! I just wanted you to know that….”
Nina sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of her noise before she spoke. “That Skylar cares about you a lot, Carl. Loves you, even. And yes, I do know that for sure! I have never, in all my years of knowing Skylar, seen my friend this obsessed with helping another person that wasn’t Zoe. So I can tell you for certain that Skylar loves you. And we both know you care about her too.”
Carl opened his mouth to reply, but Nina verbally steam-rolled over him as she continued speaking. “I know now isn’t the time for you and Skylar to discuss that though. I know that your son is still being held captive, and your wife hasn’t been dead that long, and that you are probably rocking a major case of PTSD right now because of…whatever Parish did to you. I understand that. I just want you to understand what Skylar’s mindset is right now, and warn you not to do or say anything stupid that could break my friend’s heart or further destabilize her mental state. Also, I was wondering if you could talk to Skylar about getting some food and sleep? Maybe she’ll listen to you, even though she won’t listen to me or Dr. Rosen.”
Carl smiled thinly. “Yeah, sure. Why not? After all the harm I’ve brought upon this team and other people over the last six months, it might feel good to help someone again. And for the record, Nina, you’re right. I do care about Skylar. But I need to focus on getting my son back and nailing Parish to a wall right now. That being said…I can still try to be a good friend to Skylar when she needs one…just like you are being a good friend to me now. Goodnight, Nina.”
And with that, Carl walked out of the meeting room train car while Nina smiled and spoke to the tracker’s retreating form. “Goodnight, Carl.”
…. 30 minutes later, In Skylar’s lab car…
Skylar Adams face was scrunched up in concentration as she tried to fix a circuit that had shorted out in one of the damaged drones that had made its way back to the train for repairs, but her eyelids kept closing, as they felt heavy on her face, and the technopath was finding it hard to focus on what she was doing because she hadn’t slept in almost 72 hours. In fact, the only thing that was keeping Miss Adams awake at the moment was the gurgling of her own empty stomach, which the tech Alpha felt hard to ignore, even though she was used to going for long stretched of time without food, since she hadn’t ingested anything but coffee over the last two days. The results of Skylar’s lack of food and sleep, and her subsequent inability to concentrate one any one tasks for longer than a few minutes at a time, where found all over the technopath’s left arm and hand in the form of small burn marks from her small welding instrument, but still Skylar pressed on with her task for Charles…and for Carl Webb.
Eventually, however, fatigue overcame Skylar once again, and she once again found herself closing her eyes. This time, however, Skylar slipped into an unconscious state for several seconds, while the small welding tool in her right hand slipped out of her grasp and onto the table next to the still damaged drone. Only a few moments later, however, Skylar was awoken by the sound of several objects, including the drone and welding tool, being pushed to one side of her long work bench.
Skylar opened her eyes, and her mouth, to yell at whoever had the gall to touch her things, on her workbench, before a large bowl filled with a familiar substance and a spoon was placed on the table in front of her. Skylar quickly recognized that the person who had moved her things, and put a bowl of macaroni and cheese in front of her, was Carl Webb, and the technopath quickly shut her mouth as the equally tired-looking tracker Alpha and father put a tall glass of ice water in front of her as well, before the man, who was still carrying a tray with the same items he had placed in front of Skylar on it, spoke. “Here. A little bird told me that you weren’t sleeping and eating enough, so I came over here to make sure you took your own advice and got some food and sleep.”
Skylar shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Nina always has meddled too much for her own good. But I will tell you what I told her before. I need to do this. To help you find Charles and Stanton Parish before…”
Carl’s gaze hardened and his voice took on the same tone as a parent scolding a child. “I already know where my son and Parish are, Skylar! I told Rosen where they are too, and we are currently driving the train in that direction. But it will be a couple of days before we reach them…plenty of time for us both to get some much needed rest! But first, we both need to eat something! Now, Nina told me once that macaroni and cheese was your favorite food, which is a weird coincidence, since that’s my favorite food too, so I had some of that made for both of us by your robotic….assistant. Now, here’s the thing, neither one of us are going to be any good on this next mission to rescue my son, or kill Parish, a job I am greatly looking forward to doing myself, if we are too tired and hungry to focus! So, I’ll make you a deal, you eat as much of that food in front of you as you can, then get some sleep, and I’ll do the same! Deal?”
Skylar reluctantly nodded, then took a bite of the food in front of her. Given how hungry she was, it was the best macaroni and cheese that Skylar Adams had ever tasted, and the technopath was embarrassed when she couldn’t stop a loud “Mmmmm!” sound from escaping her lips after she pulled the spoon out of her mouth. The tech expert was mortified as she looked at Carl and waited for his reaction.
It turned out she needn’t have worried, as Carl just smirked and took a bite of his own pasta before making a similar noise of his own, an action which caused Skylar to laugh for the first time in over six months. Skylar smiled. “Thanks. I needed a laugh. There haven’t been many of those around here since…you know...”
Carl nodded as the smile ran away from his face. “I know what you mean. There hasn’t been much happiness in my life over the past six months either. But that’s going to change for both of us very soon. After I kill Parish and get my son back, you can go back to your daughter and be on your way…”
Carl frowned after making that last statement, and Skylar responded in kind. Neither of them were looking forward to being apart again, as both of them were enjoying this rare moment, were the two of them were able to spend time together. And in that moment, a familiar ache that Carl had not felt in over six months, when he had been mourning his wife and focusing on protecting his son and teammates as best he could, returned to Carl’s chest as his feelings for the brunette in front of him returned with a vengeance, causing Carl to feel elated, guilty (for having romantic feelings for someone else when his wife still wasn’t “cold in her grave”) and fearful of the near future, when he would have to say goodbye to the technopath again, perhaps for good. And Skylar was feeling similar feelings and attraction and dread, but with one added complication, which she now revealed to Carl as she cast her eyes downward. “Actually, I’m not sure it would be in Zoe’s best interest for her to stay with me. I mean, just since you’ve meet me, my daughter has gotten kidnapped twice because she was near me, and when I think about what happened to your son…” Skylar shook her head sadly as she took another bite of mac and cheese. “I’m not sure it’s safe for Zoe to be around me anymore. So I was thinking of just leaving her where she is, with my uncle, after this is all over. I miss Zoe so much!”
Skylar was getting slightly tear eyed now, but she refused to cry as she wiped the moisture from her eyes and continued speaking. “But she’s better of where she is, away from me!”
Carl frowned and ate his food silently for several seconds before he replied. “You’re wrong.”
“What?!”
Skylar glared at Carl, but the man wouldn’t budge as he continued to frown and said with a steady voice. “I said you’re wrong. About you daughter being better off without you.”
Skylar’s glare intensified. “Well, with all due respect, Carl, I don’t think it’s any of your business to decide what I should do to keep my daughter safe and…”
Carl shook his head and shrugged while interrupting Skylar. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it isn’t my business but…I felt I had to say something because this subject…of a parent leaving their child behind? That’s something I know a little bit about. You see…”
The green-eyed man sighed. “I don’t know who my father is, and I probably never will. Even my mother, who I’ve met a grand total of three times, told me she doesn’t know who fathered me. But my mom…That’s a different story. When I turned eighteen, right after I got out of foster care and started making my own way in the world, my mother reached out to me for the first time. And, long story short, I met with her, and she told me that she gave me away to social services when I was six months old because…she had a lot of problems back then. She didn’t elaborate, and I didn’t ask during that visit, but…She claimed that she believed that, given her circumstances, I would be better of being raised by someone else. Now, I’m sure her intentions were good, and that’s what I told her, but…foster care was hell for me, Skylar. And not just because some of my foster parents were abusive, but also because I couldn’t stop wondering one thought. One thing that kept me awake at night more times than I care to recall. Wondering why my parents gave me up. Why they didn’t want me. And I know now that my mom was just doing what she thought was best for me when she gave me up but…I would kill to have those years back, to be able to spend them with my mom. To actually have a parent. And I am bound and determined to make sure that Charles never feels that way about me. So I will get him back, at any cost. And, one parent to another, I strongly suggest you go back to Zoe at the first available opportunity before her childhood runs out, like mine did.”
There were tears in Skylar’s eyes again as she nodded. “I never thought about it like that. That my absence could negatively impact Zoe’s psyche. You’re right! I need to get back to my daughter! I need to see her again.”
Carl nodded. “Yeah. You do. Because, look. I don’t know everything about this parenting stuff, but…I can tell you really love Zoe, just like I love Charles and I think…I think that the best person to raise a child isn’t necessarily the person who’s life is the most stable, or who has the most things to give them, but the person who loves them the most. And for Zoe, I’m pretty sure that would be you.”
Skylar smiled and said. “You’re damn right that’s me! Zoe is my daughter, and even though she can be a handful sometimes…nobody in this world loves her as much as I do!”
Carl just nodded again. “Just likes nobody in this world loves Charles as much as I do…nobody alive, anyway.”
The tracker sighed. “I don’t know how I’m going to be a good parent without Charlotte. Especially with how crazy the world has become since Grand Central Station. Dr. Rosen told me a little about that. Told me that the government has been cracking down hard on pretty much any Alpha that isn’t already working for the government. And given some of the things that Parish made me tell him…that doesn’t bode well for me. Or for Charles. All I know is that, whatever I have to do, I will not let my son become some government lab rat!”
Skylar s squeezed Carl’s hand for a second after that, and somehow, the moment wasn’t awkward at all until the technopath pulled her hand away and both parties immediately regretted the loss of contact as Skylar said. “I know you won’t let that happen to your son. And I really think…that you and Charles will be okay by the end of all this.” The technopath forced a smile and forced herself not to tell Carl that she was thinking about helping the tracker and his son evade government custody after the situation with Parish had been handled, because she wasn’t sure how she was going to do that yet.
Carl nodded and said. “Thanks.”
The next few minutes were spent in relative silence as the two Alphas ate as much as their malnourished stomachs would allow them to, before Skylar put down her spoon and half-eaten bowl of mac and cheese. “I’m done.”
Carl put down his spoon in his ¾ full bowl as well. “Me too. We better get some sleep. Do you know where the nearest unoccupied bed is on this train of yours?”
Skylar sighed. ”Good luck with that. This train is currently holding far more people than it was designed too. All the beds are full and a lot of people are in sleeping bags. You should ask around, see if there are any sleeping bags left. In the meantime, I’m going to tell Dr. Rosen that I want to see my daughter again as soon as possible before I go to bed.”
Carl nodded. “Good. Stanton and Charles are in a facility in Northern New York state. If Zoe is at the same house as last time, we should be able to pick her up on the way to the mission.”
Skylar smiled. “Great. It will be nice to see her again.”
The technopath was about to turn and leave the room, leaving the dishes and leftovers for her robotic assistant to clean up, before she turned to Carl with a thoughtful look on her face and said. “Don’t kill Stanton Parish. Let Harken, or Hicks, or one of the others do it.”
Carl shook his head. “No. That’s not up for discussion. That man tortured me. Worse than that, he tortured my son. And he killed over a thousand people at Grand Central Station using a device he brainwashed you into mass producing for him…”
Skylar interrupted Carl. “And for all of those things, and more, Parish needs to die. I know that. Everyone on Rosen’s team knows it too. Believe me, I certainly want him dead, after he used my tech to kill all of those people. But you shouldn’t be the one to do it. I know you, Carl. I saw what you were like after killing Scipio. I was worried you had lost your mind due to guilt for a little bit there.”
The tracker shook his head. “This is different. This is personal…”
Skylar shook her head too. “And saving my life wasn’t?”
Carl didn’t answer, and Skylar took that as his permission to continue speaking. “I know you hate Stanton Parish. And you have every right to. But please…just let someone else kill him. Because I have a really bad feeling that if you kill again…especially if it’s premeditated, it will destroy you. You won’t come out of that experience as the same man. And I’m afraid that if that happens, you won’t be the same friend that your teammates need, or the father your son needs, or that man that I love.”
Skylar shook her head and mentally face-palmed herself for her lack of restraint. She always had been impulsive, but this? Practically throwing herself at a grieving widower who was focused on getting his son back? That was a new low for her. “Actually, can you just forget I said that last part? I didn’t mean to just blurt that out, and I know you are still grieving and… Please just forgot what I said.”
Carl smirked, but his eyes were sad as he spoke. “Sure. And …I will take your advice into consideration. About not killing Parish myself, I mean. But that’s all that I’m willing to promise for now.”
Skylar nodded. “I understand.”
The technopath nearly left the room again before she turned to Carl and smiled. “Is Macaroni and cheese seriously your favorite food too? Because I know it’s an odd favorite for an adult to have but I picked up and appreciation for that stuff when I was pregnant with Zoe, and she loves it now too, so I guess that’s my excuse. What’s yours?”
Carl’s smirk grew wider now. “Actually, I like lasagna. But I figured…close enough.”
Skylar smiled back at Carl. “I guess so. Still, I’ll see if I can program my assistant to make the two of us lasagna tomorrow. And by the way….” The technopath hesitated, then added. “If you have trouble finding a place to sleep, I have a cot available here in the lab. It’s not that big or comfortable, but…you can use that as a last resort option, if you want.” Skylar pointed to a niche in the wall that, open closer inspection, the tracker saw held a fold out mattress, and Carl just nodded before Skylar went to tell Dr. Rosen about a slight change in the train’s travel plans.
…30 minutes later…
Carl arrived back at Skylar’s lab car, although he supposed thinking it was Skylar’s wasn’t technically accurate, since Lee had told him that the government had commandeered the vehicle for Dr. Rosen’s purposes…and their own. The entire car was plunged into darkness at the moment, and Carl was fumbling for a light switch as he thought out loud. “Damn it. First I can’t get a sleeping bag, because they’re all taken…and now all the lights are off in this car so I can’t find the cot here. I love you Skylar, but what the hell?!”
Suddenly, all the lights in the train car came on, and Carl saw a sleepy-looking brunette with disheveled hair and purple pajamas holding up a remote of some kind while smirking. “Well, that’s nice to hear, Carl. But no woman wants to wake up to someone cursing them out!”
Carl’s eyes went towards the floor as he shuffled his feet. “Right. Sorry…I, um…didn’t mean for you to hear that and…All I meant was, you know…”
Carl cleared his throat. “Obviously, you are already sleeping here. I should probably find an unoccupied, hopefully heavily carpet-padded, section of floor to sleep on somewhere around here….”
Skylar rolled her eyes. “You just spent the last six months being tortured, Carl! You need to rest, if nothing else, and get your body looked at by out medical specialist in the morning! In the meantime, I’ll sleep on the floor, I’ve had to do that a number of times while running from the Feds or other people. I’ll be fine.”
Carl shook his head. “No way. You need rest too. And after you spent the last six months burning yourself up trying to look for me. I wouldn’t feel right about letting you sleep on the floor.”
Skylar shrugged. “Okay then. How about we share the bed? We’re adults, right? And I know it’s small, but I will try to keep to one side of the bed as best as I can if you will. And Carl, we both need to sleep, so I won’t take no for an answer.”
Carl looked warily between Miss Adams and the bed she was setting up in for a long moment before making his decision. In the end, despite all the reasons he knew it might be a bad idea, Carl’s longing to sleep in a real bed after being forced to sleep in a sitting position over the last six months outweighed his fears, and Carl quickly found himself crossing the distance between him and the bed and crawling under the covers on the side of the bed that Skylar had just vacated for him. Then, as childish as it felt, Carl added with a smile. “Good night, Skylar. And thank you.”
Skylar used her remote to turn off all the lights again, so Carl didn’t see her smile as well before she replied. “Good night, Carl. And you’re welcome.”
…The next morning…
When Carl awoke the next morning, Skylar was still sleeping, and the tracker and the technopath were spooning in each other’s arms, with Skylar’s head on Carl’s chest, and Carl’s head on top of Skylar’s. This revelation nearly made Carl jump out of the bed in surprise, but the tracker choose a more subtle approach instead, opting to carefully untangle his limbs from the technopath’s and pull away from the latter’s body before slowly getting out of bed, so as not to wake Miss Adams from her much needed rest. The man then slowly crept out of the room, hoping he could bum some sanitary supplies, a comb, and a change of clothes from another member of Rosen’s team, and that he would be able to sneak away from the lab before anyone would notice that he and Skylar had slept in the same bed and jump to baseless conclusions.
Carl was successful in the first endeavor. He was not so successful in the second.
Carl came to realize this shortly after getting out of the (cold) shower he had taken in the train’s only bathroom, combing his hair, and putting on a fresh change of clothes he borrowed from another male earlier that morning. As he was exiting the bathroom, he found Bill Harken smiling and waiting outside the door to the facility. The African American’s smile grew wider after he made eye contact with Carl and said. “Well look at you, finally up and ready for your day after spending the night with Miss Adams! Well, I guess you must have streamline the mourning process pretty well if you’re already getting right back on that horse! And if Miss Adams still being asleep is any indication, you rode that horse well!”
Carl rolled his eyes, but inwardly, he was glad that he and Bill were in a good enough place that the latter felt comfortable teasing him again. “It’s not like that, Bill….”
Bill’s smile didn’t diminish in intensity as he patted Carl’s shoulder before walking into the bathroom. “Right. Whatever you say, man. Whatever you say…”
The next several hours were uneventful, for the most part, other than a quick visit to the healing Alpha in the train’s small med-bay, a brief meeting between Rosen, Harken, Hicks, Carl, Gary, Rachel and Nina concerning how they were going to rescue Charles and kill Stanton Parish, and the tracker having to deal with Alphas he didn’t know staring at him untrustingly, or some of his friends (like Cameron, and of course, Nina, who were a couple again, according to Rachel) congratulating him for “sealing the deal” with Skylar, despite his protests that they were misinterpreting what was happening. Throughout all of these events, a clearly exhausted Skylar kept right on sleeping, and she continued to do so until they arrived at the train station nearest to the house where Zoe was staying with Skylar’s uncle, at which point Carl woke Skylar up to tell her what was going on.
Skylar’s excited reaction, which involved getting herself showered and ready in record time, then taking off like a bat out of hell in her car (which had been housed in the rear car of the train) with Carl and Nina in tow, both for moral support, and because Dr. Rosen insisted that none of his team members should be traveling alone as long as Parish was still at large, towards her uncle’s house. By the time the three Alpha’s arrived at the small house to the sound of screeching tires, Zoe was already waiting for her mom outside with her great uncle.
Skylar quickly got out of the car and ran towards her daughter, who was, in turning, running towards Skylar and shouting “mommy!” at the top of her lungs. When the mother and daughter were close enough, Skylar grabbed Zoe in a big hug. “Digit! It’s so good to see you again! I love you so much, you know that?! I’m back and you are coming with to live with me again!”
Zoe slowly pulled away from her mother. “I love you too, mommy, but…how long will I get to stay with you this time? You were gone a really long time!”
Skylar nodded with tears running down her face. “You’re right, Digit. I was gone too long this time.” Carl didn’t even spot Skylar giving him a look over Zoe’s shoulders as the mother hugged her daughter again. “And one of my friends helped me see that. In return, I’m going to be helping him find his own child. But know this, I’m never leaving your side again, okay? You’re coming with me to stay!”
Zoe yell was almost deafening. “Yay!”
Several seconds later, after pulling out of a long hug with her mother, Zoe turned towards Carl and Nina’s general direction and shouted. “Hey, I remember you! You’re mommy’s friend!”
Nina held her arms open wide as Zoe ran…right past her and towards Carl, whose legs she hugged. “Carl! You saved me and my mommy before!”
Carl shrugged, then, after receiving a nod from Skylar gave Zoe a quick hug before he smiled and nodded. “Yes, I did, Zoe! But I had lots of help from some of my other friends! Like Nina here…”
Nina smiled gratefully at Carl as Zoe hugged her as well and said. “Yeah, Nina! I like you too!”
…. …
Shortly after Skylar, Zoe, Carl and Nina left the house, after Skylar thanked her uncle for taking care of her daughter and gave him some money for his trouble, the four Alphas all made the short trip back to the train, with Zoe chatting excitedly along the way. Hours later, after Skylar, Zoe and their friends shared a small lasagna dinner in Skylar’s lab car, and going over some of the details about tomorrow’s mission with Skylar, it was time for bed.
Skylar decided to let Zoe sleep in her bed that night, since their where no free beds available. But Carl wasn’t bothered by this, and he made do…by stealing Bill’s sleeping bag that night…and hiding in the rear train car as he slept in it.
By the time it was time for the mission to start the next morning, everybody had been awake and ready at the meeting spot near the front of the train for over half an hour. As Dr. Rosen went over the details of the plan once again, two people were glaring at Carl, for completely different reasons. Bill was glaring at the tracker for stealing his sleeping bag the night before, but Skylar was glaring at Carl for a completely different reason…the .45 gun at the man’s side, loaded with the same special ammunition as Bill and Cameron’s weapons were loaded with, made the man’s intentions all too clear. He still wanted to kill Stanton Parish himself.
However, before Skylar got the chance to talk to Carl about this after the mission briefing, it was time for Dr. Rosen’s team to take their positions. Skylar knew her protests wouldn’t be heard anyway as Carl loudly declared, as the members of Rosen’s team split up around Stanton’s base. “It’s time to get my son out this hellhole and end this!”