P.O.V: Elizabeth Harmon.
After a few hours, Renae and Logan came and pushed aside the white curtains and sat down with us. Don had woken up not long ago and was now chatting quietly with Renae, who didn’t seem to have any aversion to him despite what he did. Surely she knew, of course, she did. She was screaming at him like the rest of us, but she didn’t seem to care. In fact, nobody except me seemed to care about what Donny had done. It was hours before Jacob awoke, and at first, we didn’t even notice until his gruff voice broke through our quiet ones.
“Do you guys ever not talk?” We all whirled to face him. He was smiling slightly, and thankfully he didn’t look to be in much pain at all.
Donny grinned at him, the relief in his eyes obvious to anyone and I started to wonder just how deep their connection went. How angry Donny was after Jacob had been shot, how he had only listened to him- it was like they were family. No, they all seemed to be like a family- Thomas, Jacob, Don, Logan, and Renae, but Donny and Jake seemed to have a bond similar to that of a brothers’. As we talked for a moment, I noticed that Jake’s eyes kept cutting to Donny, like he needed to talk to him and I knew that Don sensed it too. Donny sighed and finally gave in, knowing he could no longer put it off.
“Hey, could Jake and I have a moment? Please.” His tone was one alike to a child knowing he was about to get scolded.
We all conceded and got up and walked past the white curtains to sit in the same spot we were in when we were waiting for Jake to get out of surgery.
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P.O.V: Donny Keeney.
Jacob waited until they were safely out of earshot before starting on me. He struggled to sit up before he turned his piercing eyes to me.
“What happened back there?” He growled, folding his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes at me.
“No idea what you mean, Jake,” I growled back, knowing fully well what he meant. His eyes lit with anger and I had no doubt he was remembering what I’d done.
“He shot you, Jake! Three times!” What didn’t he understand about that?
“Don, that- what you did-” he struggled for the right words to say and sighed, muttering something under his breath.
“You’ve been acting differently lately- more erratic than you used to be. Using your Blood Bending far more than you used to and when you don’t have to.” He tried something different and his eyes bore into mine and I looked away.
It’s true, I have been using my Blood Bending more than I used to when I was younger- but not to be cruel like he’s hinting at. Sometimes my anger gets away from me and my powers act up, but mostly it’s because it needs to be done.
“And I don’t like to say it like this, Don, but you’re acting like someone from the Order when you’re doing it.” My head snapped up immediately and I flinched back from the comment as though he had slapped me, and felt real pain when he said it too. But I felt anger as well and aggravation.
“I’m not the Order! And don’t you ever compare me with them-” But Jacob interrupted me, his tone mimicking my own anger.
“Then stop acting like them! You’ve been using your Bending just like them- without mercy, and it’s mercy that defines us from them. And we’re the good guys, Don, people look to us to act better than that, to show mercy to even those who don’t deserve it.” He looked like he was pleading with me like I was the one who needed to understand but it was him that didn’t get it. He had just as much taken away from him by the Order, shouldn’t he want them dead more than even me?
“And the next time you do something like that I’ll stop you from going on any missions.” His jaw was set like it always was when he’d made a decision, and I knew he wasn’t going to stray from it either.
“Last time I checked, Jake, our job isn’t to be civil, it’s to do our mission, and if some crackpot Blood Order soldier dies while he shoots at a Keeper- then I’ll be glad to do it. And being civil hasn’t done a damn thing for us so far, maybe we need to start acting more like them if we want a chance at surviving this war. ’Cause if we keep being nice to the Order, then that’s going to be the end of us right there.” I hissed, my hands clenched into fists.
“If we start acting like them then there won’t be a reason to fight! This war began because we hated how they acted, if we start acting like them then the war is already over Donny!” I immediately felt a pang of guilt because I knew that Jacob was right, he always was.
“Okay, I get it, Jake.” I sighed, running my hand through my hair. He relaxed back into the bed, knowing I couldn’t lie to him to save my own life.
“Get them in here, we need to talk to Liz.” he sighed, and I already knew how that conversation would go.
As I pulled the white curtains aside, I stopped and asked, “You really think she’s one, don’t you?” I asked checking his face for any hint of doubt. I found none.
“Yes, I really do. And it scares the crap out of me, Don.”
With that, I went to find the others, who were sitting in the same spot we were waiting for Jake in and motioned them in. Liz looked suspicious, but I paid no mind to it as we went back to the room, my hand in Renae’s.
__________________________________________________________________________________________P.O.V: Elizabeth Harmon.
Jacob was in a sitting position when we came back in and sat down and the others were looking at him expectantly, and I’m sure I was too. He got right to it.
“Okay, I’m not going to beat around the bush with this and there’s no reason not to tell you either, Liz, because you’re going to have to know if you’re going on missions.” He starts and my eyes narrowed at him. What did I have to do with anything right now?
“You’re a Connector, Liz.” He stated it so bluntly that it was like it was something I should know of already, but as usual, I had zero clue what he was talking about.
“I thought we already agreed that I was a Teleken, not a whatever you said. You know, I have Telekinesis, not that other thing.” Jake must’ve been confused with someone else, I already knew my power. Didn’t I? Renae and Thomas shared confused looks that must’ve been similar to my own.
He shook his head slowly. “Being a Connector isn’t exactly a mutation, I’ve even heard of one boy who was human and he was a Connector. Connectors are anyone who can combine two Mutant’s powers together to make something powerful. Deadly, if you mix the right powers. Back on the mission, when everything went crazy- that was you, Liz. You Connected with Tommy over there and the whole place went crazy, remember?”
I did, and in a way, it did make sense, but it also didn’t. Then I remember Thomas’s eyes- his aura mixed with my own. “But wouldn’t I know if I could do that? I mean, I’m seventeen, don’t you think I would already know if I could ‘Connect’?”
“Some things develop in fear or worry and then they show. Connectors are dangerous if, given the right powers to Connect together, it can be horrible.”
“Isn’t that kinda like what Rafe can do though?” Renae asks, her eyes flitting to me and back to Jake.
“Not even close- Rafe can steal powers and turn them against somebody, but Liz can’t steal the powers of a mutant, only combine it with someone else’s.” I may not know much about everything in this war, but I do know who Rafe is, and I didn’t like that Renae thought to compare me to him.
“We’ll have to train you how to use it so you don’t accidentally hurt one of us,” Donny cut in, turning to me and giving me a small smile and there was a glint in his eye I didn’t much like like he knew something I didn’t. Kaylee took this time to burst through the curtain, a look of concern on her face.
“Well, I suppose it is true then. So you got your ass handed to you?” She cocked a smile at him, watching him closely to see if he was in pain.
“Shut up Kaylee,” Jacob grunted, rolling his eyes.
“We got a location on those two soldiers that got away.” She informed us and Donny, myself, Logan, Renae and Thomas stood up straighter. “Donny, Elizabeth, Logan- I need you guys to go and get the information before they hand it in. No Thomas-” her eyes cut to Tommy as he struggled to get up, hissing as he put weight on his leg. “I want you to get yourself checked out, and I need you to stay here too, Renae.”
She motioned for Donny, Logan and I to follow her and we did. Donny murmured something low to Renae and bid goodbye to Jake and followed us out. “You’ll have to go through the Tunnels to get there and I’ll tell you where to go once you’re in there.” Donny and Logan nodded, but I had no idea what she was talking about. I had a faint memory of Donny talking about Tunnels the first time we met, but I never paid much attention to it. Apparently, the ‘Tunnels’ was literally that- tunnels right under the city. They led me to one of the walls- not the main entrance- but the one beside it and I realized that the whole base was in a giant square. How I hadn’t realized it before I had no idea. Kaylee pressed her wristband to one of the blocks and the wall started to fall, and it kept falling until there was enough room for one person to enter at a time. It looked dark and the walls looked covered in ivy and dirt layered the ground. Donny and Logan walked through immediately but Kaylee grabbed my arm before I could walk through. I turned to her, worried she’d changed her mind about me going when she placed something round in my hand. It was a yellow wristband just like the others had. My aura color.
She smiled at my subtle surprise. “We all get the wristbands after the first mission,” then she spoke up so Donny and Logan, who had stopped to see why I wasn’t following, could hear.
“Go to the middle of town and I’ll tell you where to go from there.” She instructed them and turned to go to the Commander’s building.
I walked carefully through the hole and followed Logan and Donny as we turned corner after corner. I slipped the yellow wristband on my left wrist, it was tight enough that I was sure it wouldn’t accidentally fall off, but not tight enough to hurt. The Tunnels was like a maze, every turn there was something you’d have to ignore, lest you get lost. Logan advised me that I stay very close to them or I’d get lost quickly. There were more twists and turns than a roller coaster and I found myself wondering how Donny and Logan could possibly know their way around this place. When I asked them, Donny shrugged and said,
“We’ve been roaming these tunnels for years, we know it like the back of our hands.”
Which made me wonder just how long they’ve been Missionaries if they’ve memorized these Tunnels. We had to have walked for fifteen minutes until they led me to a dead-end wall, the wall was cracked and, like the rest of the Tunnels, covered in ivy and dirt. Logan pushed past Don and held his green and blue wristband to one of the blocks. It started to fall away before my eyes into an alleyway that I could tell by the noise, wasn’t far from the town square. We all clambered out of the Tunnels, grateful to be out of it and shook off the dirt from our hair and clothes.
“We hacked into a traffic camera and saw them running into the square. Do what you must to get the flash drive back. They’re in the square- waiting for backup, I think. Please be careful, they’re not scared to get civilians in the trouble so try to cut them off from the rest if you can.” I was surprised to hear her voice, more expecting Renae to talk us through it than her, but we did as she said.
We walked the streets and I noticed Donny was pulling on the jacket he wore when we first met, thoroughly hiding his long scar. We hurried to the large square and were surprised to see just how many people were there. Of course- the Halloween festival. Every year, they hold a Halloween festival the weekend before Halloween and everyone gathers in the square at eight, parading in their costumes and handing out candy to the kids. There were food trucks and people selling Halloween outfits shared a look with Donny and Logan and knew that this wasn’t going to end well with all the civilians crowded around.
“Way to warn us, Kaylee, thanks.” Donny hissed so low that nobody could hear him except us.
Logan sighed and started toward the square, and Don and I followed behind him. We pushed our way through the crowd of people and urged ourselves to find the soldiers. After ten minutes of this though, we were more aggravated than ever. Maybe they’re not even in the square, they could’ve taken off without Kaylee seeing easily!
“Okay, we’re not doing any good doing, lets split up and search on our own,” Don commanded. “If you find them, do not attack if you can help it, get the rest of us.”
With that, he headed for the middle of the square and Logan went for the front of the crowd. I steered myself toward the back, wondering how these people could be so good at blending in and stopped dead. The Metalane mutant was leaning against one of the buildings, the other soldier that had been there right beside him. They had different masks of old monsters pushed on top of their heads and were talking in low voices to two other middle-aged man and woman. The Metalane took something small out of his pocket and handed it to the woman- a silver hard drive.
“Guys, they’re near the back of the square, you need to get here now.” I hissed.
“We’re on our way, Liz.” Was all Logan said before I heard them running and pushing people aside to get to me. Then he said more urgently. “Do what you need to get them to stay put.”
The Metalane handed the hard drive to the woman with a smile I didn’t like. Just as the woman turned to walk away, I thrust my hand out and the hard drive zipped out of the woman’s hand and into mine. The Metalane’s head snapped to meet mine and I could tell he recognized me. I didn’t hesitate to turn and run into the middle of the square, pushing people aside. My heart was beating a thousand times a minute and I know I’ve never run this fast before in my life. I could barely hear shouts from behind me, both from the soldiers and from Donny and Logan- only Don and Logan were urging me to run as they tried to fend off the soldiers so I could run. I made the mistake of turning my head to see if they were still behind me when I ran right into someone and fell flat on my face, the hard drive falling from my grasp. The girl I knocked down with me stood up and gave me a look of annoyance, but that look quickly turned to shock.
“Elizabeth?!” What had escaped me before was that the girl was Amelia, my friend before I came to the base. Amelia was dressed in a ripped dark witches costume topped off with a pointed purple hat over her light blond hair.
I didn’t answer as I scrambled up and desperately started searching for the hard drive. I gave up and opened my hand, subtly surprised as the hard drive slipped easily through my fingers. I turned to run again when Amelia clasped my arm tightly, a look of desperation in her eyes.
“Let go, Amelia!” My breath was ragged and I had no idea how I was talking when my mouth felt so raw.
“Where have you been- everybody has been searching for you and your dad for months!” She nearly yelled and I could see in her eyes that she’s been worried, but I couldn’t worry about her feelings right now.
Her eyes find my hand and she stares at the yellow wristband on it as she realized just where I’ve been. I take her moment of surprise and shove her hand off me and run for the streets. I didn’t get but a block before I felt something hit me in the back of the head and I fell to the ground, my fingers unable to let go of the hard drive. The Metalane stood behind me, his hand around a small pistol. How he made it past Donny and Logan, I’ll never know. He put his gun back in its holster and held out his hand. The hard drive wiggled in my fingers, straining against his will, but I held tighter to it. The pain in my head was blinding and cold fear was running through my veins and replacing my blood, but I managed to utter three words so low that I wasn’t sure Don and Logan could even hear me.
“Help. Metaline. Now.” But somehow they did, and I could hear them scrambling to get to me.
The soldier knelt down and unclenched my fingers from the hard drive but I couldn’t muster up enough energy to fight him. He stood up, holding the hard drive in front of him with obvious glee on his face. I managed enough strength to get into a sitting position and gradually stand, my focus on the hard drive in his hand. I closed my eyes, and imagined it tearing, could feel the wires and metal and plastic that made it up- and imagined it torn into pieces. There was a yelp and my eyes flew open as the hard drive split into several tiny pieces before my eyes as the soldier threw it against the wall in anger. He turned his fierce eyes to me and my heart stopped. His foot found my side and I screamed as pain coursed through my ribs. His hand grasped my neck and lifted me off the ground as I struggled to fight him off, gasps of air escaping my mouth as I struggled to breathe.
“Elizabeth!” Donny’s voice was loud in my ears and filled with worry, but I couldn’t force myself to concentrate on it.
Suddenly, there was a sound like thunder and the force on my neck was gone and I fell to my knees choking down all the air I could. Logan stood a few feet in front of me, a gun clasped in front of him in a firing position. Donny stood behind him, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. Logan ran over to me and helped me stand. I hissed as the pain in my ribs threatened to knock me down again, but Logan tugged my hand over his shoulder, putting nearly all my pressure on him instead of me. Donny took my other arm and did the same thing. Just as we were walking away, I saw the soldier yank out his gun and aim it at Logan’s head. Donny turned his head and saw him, and with a simple flick of his wrist and flash of red eyes, the man let out a howl and clutched the place where Logan had shot him and dropped to the ground. Somehow we made it back to the Tunnels and then made our way back to the base. As soon as we got there, Logan put his wristband to a brick and the wall fell away. We rushed through The House and into the hospital. They immediately got an X-ray of my side and assured me that my ribs were not broken, only extremely bruised. They wrapped a long bandage across my middle and told me to take it easy. Donny and Logan had stayed with me while they patched me up and still stayed with me when we went to see Jacob. I moved slowly to avoid the pain from overtaking me again but was surprised to see that Jacob was standing, leaning against the wall breathing deeply.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing, Jake?” Donny gasped and lunged toward Jacob, scared he was going to fall, but he simply rolled his eyes and pushed Don away.
Jacob tried to talk the doctors into letting him go back to his room and, to Donny’s displeasure, they allowed it. So we made our way upstairs and to our bedrooms. Even though I was taking it slow, my side was starting to ache unbearably and I was wheezing by the time I got to the room. Renae and the others were sleeping peacefully, small snores emitting from them now and then. I fell into my bed and, for the first time in months, didn’t have a single nightmare.
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