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Saving Grace part 2

It had been a while since Jason had slept in such an uncomfortable position, those metal benches were unforgiving on the spine and ass. But he hadn't slept in a week, so he didn't complain, he wanted to stay here until Jack was well, and the Hospital couldn't really tell a team of commandos to just leave. It had been a long day, and his dreams were filled with destruction, death and rage, the same rage from that time in the library, and earlier today, when he killed fifteen heavily armed crusaders mercilessly. He didn't feel good about it, he had thought that rage was gone.

He slipped in and out of sleep, reassured by the ten armed men and the shield protecting him, but still fearful for Jack's fate, he hadn't even been allowed to see him yet.

A hand shaking his shoulder woke him from his latest nightmare of blood and anger. Quickly snapping awake and taking stock of his surroundings, the soldier jumping back just in case Jason took a swing. "You wake up a like a seasoned vet you know." Said the Captain in front of him.

"Huh, yeah, sorry." Jason mumbled out.

"Don't worry about it. Here." He said, extending his arm, a not very appealing brown muffin was in his hand. Jason reached out and picked it up, peeling off the paper wrapping and demolishing it in a few bites. One of the soldiers commented

"He eats like a vet too." Followed by a round of laughter.

"He shoots baddies, saves people and flies, I think he deserves an appetite." Commented the Captain, giving Jason a smirk. And as another round of laughter ensued, Jason thought 'ugh, that's not funny.'

Jason checked with the Captain to see if there had been any news, but he just shook his head. 'Well, it's not like they are going to forget about us.' Jason reassured himself. He was right, about half an hour later a nurse came out to tell him that Jack had been moved to a private room, giving him a room number and some directions, also warning him that Jack was in and out of consciousness.

Jason followed the directions till he found the room he was looking for, opening the door and heading inside, he heard one of the soldiers, who was starting to follow him in, get stopped by the Captain. And a few seconds later the door closed behind him. Jason made his way to the bed, where Jack lay, he was asleep, or unconscious, Jason couldn't tell, but he didn't try to wake him, he looked down at Jack's face and said quietly. "They say you're going to be okay, sorry I didn't get there sooner." And stroking a finger along the sleek black Feline's forehead. He then seated himself in a mildly comfortable chair right next to the bed.

He registered a face come past the window every five minutes or so, 'I guess they still have to do their job.' He thought as he noticed one of the faces pause as it gazed in. About an hour passed in much the same manner, and then there was a knock on the door, it opened, and the Captain poked his head in and motioned for Jason to come out. Wondering what he wanted, he got up and followed him out. When he cleared the doorway, he saw the soldiers all huddling over a disposable news pad, cheap screens that kept themselves updated with the latest news for a week before the batteries died. As he approached, they turned it around and he was faced with a picture of the school, there were the crusaders, firing at the fleeing students, and Jason realized where this was going, he was about to show up.

A few seconds later, a blur came from the top of the screen, hitting the ground and raising his weapon and firing, fast and precise at the four men in the room. Three more entered from a hallway off to the right, firing at Jason as they went, Jason spinning to face the new attackers, dropping them all with a few lightning fast shots. Though you couldn't see it, Jason remembered seeing two more men turn around and flee, and that instant Jason watched himself sprint off screen, down the hallway. About ten seconds passed, and then the whole building shook, 'that would have been the ship' Jason thought. About fifteen seconds after that, Jason re-emerged from the hallway, holding his arm out in front of him, he was homing in on Jacks beacon, moving to the left of the screen, bashing a door down and then disappearing inside for about ten seconds. Again re-appearing, holding the black Feline in his arms, moving to the crater in the ground he had left from his entry, the wings shooting out of his backpack, and it looked as if he jumped all the way out under his own strength. Writing started scrolling at the bottom of the screen, saying the mysterious and powerful hero had yet to be identified, but the wounded feline he carried out had been identified by students as 'Jack.'

As Jason looked away from the pad and up towards the huddled men, he noted that they all looked gob-smacked, and were speechless. Once he was done they quickly seized it back, watching the video again. Jason could hardly believe that he had done that himself, and he would have probably considered it cool, if there weren't bodies of students littering the floor in the video. But the soldiers didn't seem to mind that part, Jason guessed that they were probably used to that part.

"Seriously, where did you train?" asked the Captain from behind him, Jason had forgotten he was there.

"I've never had any training." Jason said, flatly, turning around to face the Wolf.

"Cut the shit. I have never seen anyone shoot like that! I can't believe some 18 year old with no military training or experience could do that." Pointing at the pad the rest of the soldiers were just about glued too. Jason just shrugged his shoulders, he had no explanation for the Captain.

"Well what the hell was that then? Make me understand."

Jason thought about it for a while. "You remember the library?"

"Yes, you knocked three boys, one bigger than you, cold, according to the file, in five seconds."

"That's what that was." The Captain was seeing a part of him he didn't understand, and certainly didn't like himself. Jason turned around and the conversation was over. Heading back into the room with Jack. Leaving the Captain searching for answers he wasn't likely to find.

Captain James Black

The Captain knew that teams of scientists with truckloads of funding took years to create just prototypes of new weaponry, most of which didn't work as advertised. Jason claimed to have developed not one, but two weapon systems, and an equally amazing flight backpack in two weeks. 'What that hell is he?' he thought to himself. Viewing the footage from a few more angles in his visor, from the military database. He zoomed in on Jason's face as he fired, he saw no emotion, nothing, no fear, no anger, it was like watching a robot go about its business, and it was scary.

When Jason ran outside, the time between him seeing the ship taking off, and when he started adjusting his super gun, was almost nonexistent, and in less than a second he finished, aimed and fired at the ship, hitting it just in front of its engines, no hesitation, no lining up the shot, and the ship was coming down, Jason unleashing another volley into the cockpit, anyone inside would have been vaporized, he then watched him sprint, at an unreal pace, over to the side of the ship, again adjusting his weapon, and a constant beam of light came out of it, using it like a sword he cleaved the hull open, disappearing inside for about five seconds before coming out again and sprinting back into the building.

The reports said three crusaders inside had been decapitated. He took that ship down, breached it, cleared it and was back inside the building in just a little under twenty seconds. He wouldn't have believed it if he wasn't seeing it. No man he knew of was capable of doing that, until now. And he took some comfort, in the fact that he seemed to be on their side, for the moment.

He was unsure how footage managed to be leaked to the media, but he had a fairly good idea. For decades the general public had been aware that they were fighting a battle against superior numbers of enemies with superior weaponry. Incidents here and there had demonstrated their ingenuity and bravery, but ultimately, most of those stories ended with the heroes getting killed. And along comes Jason, He went in, alone, beat the baddies and saved the girl, figuratively. He suspected the military was going to use him as a shining beacon of light in quite a dark hour.

It dawned on him that Jason had probably just become the single most important person alive. And he doubted Jason, a man with a troubled past, and the ability to kill without thinking twice, wanted that attention. As he reviewed the incident from the various angles he became more sure, the angle in the main room cast him in the most heroic light, his face was obscured, and it seemed as if he was trying to protect the defenseless students, and not that he was a bloodthirsty monster.

And then it showed him rescuing Jack, thus completing the classic hero recipe, it avoided showing how little emotion played across his face as he mowed the crusaders down, and how he went into the ship and hacked three peoples' heads off. He had to concede that Jason wasn't a bloodthirsty monster, but neither could he agree that he was simply driven to being heroic. 'This is probably going to end badly' he thought.

Silver Tongue

Jason

Back in the room, Jack was just starting to wake up. Jason stood next to the bed smiling down at him. Jack noticed him staring and said.

"I feel like shit." As he sluggishly brushed one hand across his chest.

"Well you did get shot, twice."

"Hmm, yeah that might be why." He paused and smiled before continuing. "Thanks for coming, I hit the button and you came, I remember being in your arms." Jason returning the Feline's smile.

"The doctors say you're going to be fine in a few days, your organs are healing, and the muscle damage is well on its way. Depending, you might be able to come home tomorrow."

"That's good, hospital food tastes like shit, I remember from that time you broke all my ribs." Jason tried not to laugh at the joke, before smiling and saying.

"Very funny, but listen, some stuff happened, and there's ten soldiers outside. So don't be surprised if they come in and talk to you. They are here to guard us." Jack looked confused for awhile.

"Soldiers protecting us? Does this have something to do with your ah, what did Stuart say, super tip top secret military project?"

"Yeah, I guess it does. Now, how does jello and a cheese sandwich sound?" asked Jason, motioning to the tray of food on the counter next to his bed, and changing the subject.

"Like crap, but I'm hungry, so gimme." Jason laughed and passed him the food.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and one of the soldiers, the one the captain called a retard before, poked his head in, "Uh Jason? Can you come out here?" Jason turned back towards Jack and said.

"See, soldiers, now you." He said, lowering his face towards Jack. "Get better, and I'll be right back." Smiling at Jack, before walking to the door, opening it and stepping out.

There was a new face in the corridor as he emerged from the room. A thin white and grey Feline wearing fancy military dress. She introduced herself as Lieutenant Sparrow, personal assistant to Colonel Briggs. Forgoing politeness he replied, "What does Briggs want?" Sparrow didn't seem to mind the bluntness.

"He wants to have a formal meeting with you."

"Now?"

"Yes, now, there is a car waiting to take you to Fort Hope."

"That's about a thirty minute drive, any idea what exactly Briggs wants to talk about?"

"I wouldn't know, will you follow me this way please?"

"Sure, just a second. Are you staying here Captain?" he asked, turning his head to face the Wolf.

"Uh, no, he wants to see me as well, but I'm going to leave my men here."

"Ok, that makes me feel a little better. Let's go."

He followed the Lieutenant down and out of the hospital and into the waiting car. Waiting until they passed by a noisy area before muttering 'Sarah, track my location, tell me if I alter course from Fort Hope.' The AI's response silent to everyone but him.

The trip was uneventful, and Sarah gave him no indication that he had altered course, although he wondered exactly how far Sarah could stay in contact with just this tiny earpiece.

They passed through a security checkpoint, not particularly impressive, but the large plasma cannons mounted every fifty meters along the wall were quite impressive, they all pointed up into the air, fending off attacks from the sky, where aggression was most likely to come from.

They drove for about another minute before they came to a large building, it looked like a real fort, from the stories of old earth, only with a more modern set up. There was the thick walls, reinforced and plated with some kind of probably very advanced alloy. And the towers at each corner, each manned by a soldier and with some sort of mounted weapon hanging out of them. The car pulled up right outside and everyone got out, apart from the driver. Who waited for them to clear the vehicle and then pulled away.

Jason and the Captain followed Sparrow through the large doorway into the main building, walking straight past another soldier behind a desk, and up a flight of stairs. Then from there into a small, very brown waiting room, everything was wooden. The door at the other end had a Col J Briggs nameplate on it. Sparrow seated them in the somewhat uncomfortable chairs lining the walls of the room, knocked on the office door and stepped inside. Emerging about ten seconds later and telling the Captain to head in. 'Briggs probably wants the Captain's assessment of me before seeing me himself.' Jason thought. He waited in silence for about ten minutes before he heard the door handle on the office door swing open and click as the door started moving inwards. The Captain emerged, and waved Jason in, making for the exit himself. Jason took a deep breath, thinking 'Here it comes.' As he walked inside.

He entered the office and found the Colonel sitting behind a large stained wood desk, the Bear motioned for him to sit in the chair right in front of it. Jason sat down and waited for him to begin.

"Firstly, let me thank you for what you did at the school, you saved hundreds of lives, if not more." Jason simply nodded in acknowledgment.

"The Captain seems to think there is something very special about you, I've reviewed the footage myself, and I agree with his assessment, the way you moved was not the way of an untrained teenager. You killed without hesitation, and very effectively. You maintain that you have never received any training?"

"No, never."

"I have been briefed on your involvement in the AM project, you lived with its creator, a man called Derek, and helped him with the electronic control systems for two years, is that correct?" Jason nodded his head. "When the military bought your project, you had no interest in continuing working on it, unlike Derek who signed up as a contractor to help us develop the technology. You were given a percentage of the lump sum He received for selling us the project, and then you parted ways?" Jason again nodding.

"Now, our leading scientists and researchers, who have been working on that project for over two months now, with no success, despite Derek's assistance, tell me that the principle behind it is very adaptable, and that physically making it a big gun isn't the problem. They say that the control system, which, you coded, is what's tripping them up. They say, and I quote." The colonel looking down at a piece of paper on his desk as he read from it "We've never seen anything like it, even if we had twenty years we couldn't work this out." Looking up and gazing at Jason. "Yet you, have managed, in two weeks, to make three different devices, all based on this technology. Amazing in itself, but it also points out to me, that you were the real brains behind the AM project in the first place, and yet you walked away with 20% and a pat on the head?"

"I wouldn't go that far Colonel, I learned everything I know about engineering from Derek, and it WAS his idea, his vision. I doubt that he even realized that the control system was the key to the whole thing. I didn't think that no one would be able to figure out my code though, it didn't seem all that hard to me."

"Yeah well the eggheads disagree. I want you to come work for us, with us." He quickly corrected himself. "I can see that this is much more your project than it is Derek's, and we can't do this without you. You are one of a kind Jason, You're the smartest and the strongest, as you demonstrated yesterday."

"Oh yeah, thanks for releasing that footage by the way." The Colonel made his best taken-aback face and started to try and deny it, but Jason cut him off. "Don't bother trying to bullshit me, I know it was the military, perhaps not you specifically. I would be surprised if my friends haven't already plastered that it was me all over the Comnet, everyone is going to know my name and my story by the end of the day."

"Yes, I guess you have thought this through, ok I will admit that we might have done that, but we had a good reason, for years we have been losing a war. People need a hero, and smack bang here you are, not just any old fought valiantly till the end hero either, you're the man who is probably going to turn this war around." Jason was starting to realize just how important he was as well.

"I really don't like having my hand forced with this manipulative shit." Referring to the footage being leaked. "But I was going to help you anyway. However, I have a number of conditions, the first, the manipulative shit stops immediately." He watched as the Colonel tried to control a smirk. "Second, we do things my way, as in, what I say goes. And lastly, I'm helping you, I'm not working for you so if I get orders that I don't like, I'm just not going to follow them."

A broad grin spread across the Colonels face as he said. "You're a reasonable man Jason, we were prepared to pay a far higher price for your support. We have little choice you see."

"In that case, you can do me a favor, I want Jack to graduate, he's only a couple of months away from graduating anyway, make it seem like he earned it on his own though. I doubt he is going to want to go back there for a while"

"I think that can be arranged. Welcome to the team Jason, hopefully this will be the start of the end of the war. If you will follow me, we just have a couple of quick tests to do, and we can let you get back to the hospital."

"Quick?" Jason asked, skeptical.

"Twenty minutes, tops." The Colonel assured him, Jason frowned but offered no resistance and followed the Colonel back out and down the stairs, through a more secure door and down into an underground area. It looked much more modern down here, and people with lab-coats were moving around the place. Some kind of science lab Jason thought. The Colonel led him down a number of corridors until they entered a room dominated by a large machine built into the wall. Some kind of 3D imager, and judging by the person sized tray leading into it, for people.

"Brain scan?" He asked.

"Brain scan." Echoed the colonel, in confirmation.

'Fair enough I guess I expected this.' Jason thought. A skinny, light cream coloured Wolf wearing a lab-coat walked into the room, all business.

"If you could lie down on the tray please, uh, sir." Gesturing for Jason to lie down without even looking up at him. Eager to get this over with he did as he was told. "This will only take a minute" the man said as he started operating a control panel beside the machine. The machine above him hummed to life and he slid into the belly of the beast. A few moments later he could hear some talking between the two men outside, muffled by the machine. The lab-coat wearing Wolf soon bent down next to Jason and handed him a data pad. "If you could please attempt to solve this." Retreating back to the control panel.

Jason brought the pad up to his face and immediately recognized that it was a portion of the code he had written, he could see where someone had tried to scale it up, but it seemed like they didn't understand the basic concepts behind it. He quickly scanned through the three dimensional representation of the code, despite the cramped space and a crappy touch screen, he fixed the errors they had put in, and then adjusted it to make it work for something five times as strong, which was what he thought they were trying to do anyway. It took him about ten minutes altogether, but this was only a few pages of code, and it wouldn't work on its own. "Done guys." He called out, and the tray started sliding out. Just as his head was emerging from under the machine, he saw the Wolf holding his hand out for the pad, Jason handed it to him, and then the Wolf hurried off, seemingly in quite a rush. Jason cast a questioning glace towards the Colonel, but the Bear wasn't forthcoming.

"What?" he finally demanded.

"Interesting results Jason, that's all."

"Interesting how?"

"The good kind of interesting, don't worry." Jason didn't think he would give anything else away so he left it alone.

"All done with the tests?"

"Yep, follow me and I'll get a driver to take you back to the hospital." Jason following the man back up into the reception area, where he got the soldier behind the desk to call up a car. The car that pulled up looked a bit more intimidating than the one he had been brought here in. There was a turret mounted on the top and thick armour plating surrounding the cabin. He got into the back seat, as both front seats were occupied, one by a driver, and the other he guessed by the guy who operated the big gun on the top. The Captain was also sitting in the back of the car, when he got in.

"Captain." Jason said, acknowledging him when he stepped into the car.

"I've just been handed my new orders, my squad has been permanently assigned to guard you." Jason noted the distance of the man's words and replied.

"That's not so bad is it?"

"Well, no, but your also my new commanding officer, and I've been told to follow any orders you give."

"Oh, I see, yeah I guess that is a bit weird. Don't worry though, I won't order you to do anything silly." Jason said, poking his tongue out at the Captain just as the car started pulling away, eliciting a chuckle and a head shake from the man.

It had been a strange day and Jason was anxious to get back and check in on Jack. Thankfully the trip passed without incident, and they made good time. Jason hopping out of the car and making his way up to Jack's room. When he arrived in the corridor outside all the soldiers there jumped up and saluted him, stunning him for a moment. "You don't need to do that guys, and, I would prefer if you didn't." They all put their hands down and looked a bit sheepish, and he could make out the Captain chuckling behind him. He made his way into Jack's room, the Feline was wide awake. He went and stood next to the bed and asked.

"How's my favourite victim feeling?" making him smile, but Jason could see something in his face, something different.

"One of those soldiers came in earlier, said hello, and showed me that news pad." Jason made an audible 'ah' sound. "You didn't mention earlier that you didn't just come and get me, you fought your way, single handed, through a dozen crusade soldiers, saving heaps of other people in the process, then flew me to hospital." Jason couldn't quite make out Jack's emotions, he had hoped he would get a bit more time before Jack found out.

"Yeah I guess I did that." He said, softly, stroking the side of Jacks head with one hand.

"Who are you Jason?" This was the question he knew was coming, and it made his heart sag. He might have saved Jack, but he had also destroyed the Feline's perception of him. He might have seen the gentle, generous and modest man who had done well for himself before. But now he saw something entirely different. He saw a man capable of wholesale slaughter.

"I just did what I had to do Jack." Sliding the chair closer in to the bed, sitting, leaning forward and laying his head gently on Jack's shoulder.

Sometime, hours later, the Captain was about to go into the room, but peeked in first, seeing the scene, and then it hit him. What if his wife was shown a video of him killing a group of people. Even though she knows that's what he does, she might never get over it, that's probably what was happening right now in that room. Only worse, because Jack had no idea it was coming. 'That's really bad' he thought to himself, deciding not to bother the pair. Deciding instead to work out who showed Jack the news pad and tell him what a retard he is in as many different ways as he could think of.

Houdini

Captain James Black

The next morning came, and the Captain strolled up to the pair of soldiers who were still outside the door, both fast asleep, which was annoying in itself, since they were supposed to be guards. But when he looked into the room, Jason wasn't there, 'Shit!' he thought. Turning to the nearest soldier and shaking him awake vigorously. "Hey, where did Jason go?" the soldier, once he had gained some of his senses asked.

"He's gone?" the Captain probably couldn't have heard a worse two words, it meant Jason had snuck past them. This was a man who may have just been dumped by his boyfriend, who he was willing to kill for, for saving him too well. 'That's REALLY not good.' He thought as he started jogging through the hallways looking for him, if Jason had left the hospital it was unlikely they could find him, especially if he didn't want to be found. A few minutes and quite a number of hallways later he spotted him, in the cafeteria, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a sandwich in the other, relief flooding through him, and he tried to catch his breath and not clue Jason into his overreaction.

As his pulse returned to normal he walked towards Jason, who was sitting at a table by himself, now draining the last of his drink, and standing up to tip the cup and wrapper in the bin. Out of nowhere a brown blur seemed to tackle him from behind, nearly knocking him over, and the Captain raised his rifle, startling everyone around him, and as he made his way through the tables and chairs to Jason, he realized he wasn't being attacked, there was a sobbing brown bear hugging him and blurting out torrents of appreciation. 'Damn, two overreactions in ten minutes, this guy is dynamite.' Lowering his gun and keeping a few meters back, enjoying the show, ignoring all the people he had startled with the gun waving.

Jason seemed to know he was there, he looked over and mouthed, 'Thanks,' but the Captain just laughed. He heard the near hysterical Bear saying something about Jason saving her son, and how he's alive because of him, and how a nurse mentioned than he was here. Jason eventually managed to get her to let go, saying. "Hey, really, it was nothing, but think you could do me a bit of a favour?" the woman nodding furiously in response. "Could you maybe not mention that you saw me here?" the woman looked stricken for a moment before saying.

"Umm well I kind of already mentioned that the nurse said you were here to a few of the other mothers, sorry."

"No, that's ok, you didn't mean any harm." Jason replied back, and followed it with a sigh. "How long ago did you mention it?"

"About twenty minutes." Said the woman, sheepish.

"Okay, well I've gotta go, well, hide now. So if you'll excuse me." The woman waved goodbye, looking apologetic. The Captain had to wonder, he was seeing a completely different side to Jason, how could the same man who was so serious two nights ago, the same man who slaughtered those crusaders, manage to turn around and make just about every situation humorous.

Jason hurried towards him, sighing in exasperation.

"It was never going to last." The Captain said to him as he approached.

"Yeah I know, still, there's nothing fun about getting surprise body slammed by weeping mothers." The Captain just smiled, trying not to laugh.

"How long did you know I was there?" he asked, curious.

"Oh, since you came barrelling down the hall thinking I'd run off."

"The whole time?"

"I would have let you think you had gotten away with it, but the surprise attack really threw me off." Damn this guy, he was either an amazing liar or even more perceptive than he already seemed. As they walked back to Jack's room he asked. "So Jack is being released today?"

"So the doctors say."

"What's the plan then?"

"Well for now I'll be taking him back to my place."

"What about me and my men, we're supposed to guard you around the clock." Jason giggled for a moment before saying.

"Yeah tell those two who where outside the door they are doing a great job, but seriously, my place is huge, and it's like a bunker, you military guys will love it." Jason seemed fairly sure about himself but the Captain had to ask.

"There's ten of us you know?" And Jason just replied with.

"Huge. Trust me." The Captain thought Jason was lots of things, but trustworthy wasn't really one of them.

A bit later, he was asking the Liger, Pirelli, who Jason had taken with him to his house, early yesterday morning, about the place, and the Liger responded with.

"We're going there? Shit, it's gonna be hard to argue that we never get the good jobs after this one." The Captain was finally convinced after that.

He saw a few doctors with hand-held scanners leave the room a bit later on, followed by Jason pushing Jack in a wheel chair, funny thing he thought, since they still called them wheel chairs, even though their design no longer incorporated any actual wheels. They made their way out of the hospital, and he got in the car with Jason and Jack, and the rest of his men mounted up in the APC that had arrived earlier.

As they arrived at Jason's house he started to really think that this would be the best place to stay. The door looked sturdy, and there was a vantage point on the top, with an easy access point via the lift.

Jason

They had arrived without incident, no news teams or rampaging parents to be seen, even with that giant APC following them, like waving a big 'over here' sign above their heads. 'Maybe I'll be able to relax a bit more now,' Jason thought. Jack was still treating him strangely, and he hoped it would pass with time, but he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't. He had been thinking furiously for the last half a day about how he could win back Jack's trust. So far he hadn't come up with much. First things first though, he had to get Jack inside, and get the soldiers settled.

He gently helped Jack out of the passenger seat and into the 'wheel-chair' also contemplating why the name hadn't been changed. And leading the way up to the door of his dwelling. He got to the door and it didn't open automatically. Puzzled he tapped his earpiece and said "Sarah door." But instead of the door sliding open Sarah asked. 'Jason, there are ten armed men with you, is everything okay?' He sighed and said, "Yes Sarah everything is fine, I will explain in a few minutes." The door sliding open and letting them pass. Once they were all inside it closed again, making some of the soldiers a little uneasy about the AI that seemed to be smart enough to consider them a threat.

"Wait here for a minute guys." Jason said to the soldiers, pushing Jack towards his room. Helping the still quite weak feline into their bed, and saying that he would be right back after he got the soldiers settled in. "Ugh more beds, at least this one is comfortable." He heard Jack mumble as he left.

He walked back into the lounge and tapped his earpiece and said loudly enough for everyone to hear. "Sarah, I know it's your job to protect me, but these men are here to protect me as well, and they are going to be staying here with us for a while. Keep in mind that if anyone needs to be shot, until I equip you with those cannons, these guys are the only ones who can do it, ok. Give them free reign over all of the internal and external commands and controls, but the standard off-limits areas for guests still apply."

"Ok Jason I understand." Sarah played through the internal speakers as well as Jason's earpiece.

Jason took a few more steps towards the soldiers. "Go find yourselves a room guys and have a look around, if you need help finding something or operating something, or really, anything, Sarah can help you out, she is exceedingly advanced. However, she does have some limited emotional programming, so you might find her less helpful if you make her mad."

The soldiers began to disperse and the Captain took a few steps towards him and asked "You are planning to fit cannons onto a house that can get angry?"

"No, not really, that was just a joke, but she can read moods and react accordingly." He watched the Captain's face start to ease until he realized that he was actually planning on fitting the cannons.

"Oh, and standard off-limits areas?" Jason just smiled for a moment before replying.

"Everyone has their secrets." Pausing before adding. "Sarah will warn you if you are about to go into one. So unless you're deliberately trying to get in there, you can't go wrong." Both reassuring the Captain, and also making him uneasy and curious about what exactly it was that Jason felt needed hiding enough to have a standard off-limits protocol.

Confident that Sarah could help them with anything they were likely to need right now, Jason headed back to his room. Sitting down on the bed next to the Feline once he got there.

"Want anything to drink? Or eat?" He asked.

"Not right now, but I would like some answers instead." Jack replied, softly and sincerely. Jason making himself more comfortable, lying down next to the cat and moving his head in closer.

"What would you like to know?" he said, equally as sincerely.

"What's with all these military guys? And that gun in the news footage, and the flying!"

"Well, it all started way back when I was in the psych hospital, remember?" Jack giving a nod. "When I got out, they had taken away my brother and sister from my mother, and since she was probably looking to murder me, I had to find somewhere else to live. Just so happens, that a friend of my shrink was in need of someone handy with computers to help him out with a project. So, I went to live with him, Derek was his name. for the better part of every day for two years we worked on this anti-matter project, Derek thought it was going to be the next evolution in Spacecraft engines, but eventually we found out that it was much more suited to working as a great whopping gun, waaay better than anything we have at the moment. We showed it to the military, and they couldn't jump on it fast enough, they paid Derek a big sum of money, he cut me a slice and that's when I came to live here."

"Okay that tells me a lot, but doesn't explain what's going on now."

"Well two and a half weeks ago, after the missile attack I realized that I had no way to protect you, or anyone else from the crusaders. So I started working on a personal shield, followed by a great whopping gun, and that flying backpack. I was just working on them while you were at school, but then a week ago, when that school got attacked, I realized I needed to have my tech done sooner rather than later. I didn't sleep for that entire week, I got out of bed overnight and kept working.

Actually I hadn't tested any of them when you hit that buzzer, but I couldn't wait, and I had to finish the last little bit of code while I was on my way. Most of the rest you know. Apart from that the military now wants the tech I used to save you, really bad, hence the bodyguards." He said, gesturing towards the rest of the house at the end.

"So that's why you were all weird for that last week. I actually thought you might have wanted to break up with me or something." Jason just chuckled and said.

"No, Way!"

"How come I've never seen any of this super cool technology around? You got a secret lair or something?" Jack asked, mostly just joking, and then he was surprised when Jason said.

"Yes, actually I guess I do. I dunno if I would call it a lair though, more like a 'secret lab.'" Letting out a small laugh at the end.

"Where is it?" Jack was curious at the idea.

"Hey, when your strong enough to walk, I'll show you and you can see for yourself."

"Fair enough. Now, go get me something with sugar in it, that hospital food is just no good."

"Sure thing." Said Jason as he rolled off the bed and made for the door. 'Things were looking up' he thought to himself.

The rest of the afternoon passed without incident, and half of the soldiers went to sleep right after getting there, their first proper bed in a few days. After getting Jack his food he stayed with him while he fell asleep, then ventured back into the kitchen, where he found the Captain and his sergeant discussing something, sounded like they were talking about the best ways to defend the house, and they stopped when he approached anyway, so he decided to go and try and get in touch with Stuart and Kat. Let them know he was ok, and hopefully stop them from telling everyone about him. He accessed a computer terminal and sat down.

A few clicks later the screen displayed that he was calling Stuart. About five seconds passed before Stuart's face appeared on the screen, and Jason wasn't really prepared for how excited Stuart was.

"Holy shit! Jason! I saw you on the news man, that was amazing!" the ranting continued for a few moments before Stuart got a hold of himself. "Hey, are you okay man? And what about Jack?"

"I'm fine, and Jack is going to be fine soon."

"That's really good to hear, I've been trying to get in contact with you for days."

"Yeah I only got back from the hospital today. Hey, listen, do you think you could keep that it was me on the down-low for awhile? I'm really not ready for the attention." Being as honest as he could. "I would rather that I stayed the mysterious hero for a while."

"Umm." Jason knew straightaway that he wasn't going to like this. "I've already told a bunch of people that it was you, sorry bud."

"That's alright." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Any of those people know where I live?"

"Well, yeah, everyone who was at your party knows, pretty much, we've been talking about it online for days."

"Damn." Jason said out loud. Stuart realizing something was wrong.

"Is everything alright?"

"Ahh, no, not really, the military is involved and it's a... delicate situation."

"Yeah I guess the military probably would get involved, what with the crusaders, and you already part of that secret thing. Hey, have you spoken to Kat yet?"

"No, but that's a good idea." Replied Jason, tapping a few more buttons and calling Katherine, making it a three way Vid-call. She picked up almost straightaway.

"Jason, I was so worried about you! Are you okay? Is Jack okay?"

"Yes, Kat, we're both going to be fine, he was shot but he's getting better."

"I saw that video of you, that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!" Jason just smiled back.

"Yes, so everyone keeps saying." Kat looked confused at this.

"You don't think it was? But you saved all those people!" he could see Stuart nodding along, obviously in agreement.

"Okay, so it was pretty amazing, I admit. But hey, I don't really want to have a swarm of reporters outside my door, I know it's probably too late, and they are probably already on their way, but could you keep that it was me a secret? The military is involved, and a crowd of reporters and parents asking me questions and trying to shake my hand will make life a bit difficult for me right now."

"Uh, sure, I won't tell anyone else, but a lot of people already know."

"Ok, thanks guys." The conversation continued for a few more minutes, mostly they just wanted his version of the story, he tried to keep it to the broad strokes, but when they pressured him for an answer on whether he really shot down a ship, he had to concede that he did, and he watched Stuart's face light up, and Kat's display a look of awe. He also asked them to try and get the people at the party to not give his address out. They both agreed without a second thought, and then he logged off after saying goodbye.

'Hopefully that will slow down the news a bit' he thought to himself as he stood up. That thought didn't last long however, as Sarah almost immediately said in his earpiece 'Jason, there appears to be a news program on right now that is talking about you, would you like me to display it?' Jason sighed and said.

"Yes please Sarah, main screen." The rather large screen flickered to life and the sound began playing through the speakers in the lounge. 'The mysterious man who crashed through the skylight and single handedly killed at least seven crusaders is being tentatively identified as 'Jason.' We are aware of the rumor that he also shot down the crusaders' ship, and a number of eyewitnesses have confirmed this. We received reports that the man called Jason was sighted at a hospital in the area earlier today, but he was already gone when we got there.' The screen then switched from the newsreaders to a nurse he thought he recognized from the hospital, 'So you can confirm that the man from the footage you saw, the man being called Jason was here?' the nurse seemed very nervous about being filmed but she managed to say.

'Y-yes h-he was here, a-and there was about eight soldiers with him.'

'Was he injured? Is that why he was here, or was he here with the Feline being called Jack, from the footage?'

'U-umm no, he was fine, I saw him and the soldiers outside a private room, but I don't know who was in there.' At this point the camera turned around to a reporter, a golden furred liger.

'There you have it, the man who saved an entire school by himself, is uninjured and is with a large number of soldiers, whether he is working with them, or in custody, we don't know.' After this the news went back to outlining the attack on the school, mentioning the attack two and a bit weeks earlier and then one the week previously, it seemed as if that was all the information they had on him. "Sarah turn it off." And the screen turned black for a second and then disappeared.

"The media loves you." He heard the Captain say from behind him.

"Mmm, I've got Briggs to thank for that." Jason replied without turning around.

"It's not such a bad thing you know, people need a hero."

"I know." Jason responded, with a defeated tone in his voice. "I just wish I had some say in it. You know?"

"Yeah I do, you didn't sign up or ask for this." They both stood there for a few minutes while Jason thought about it. Turning around he replied.

"You know, I never really knew my father, and when he died I hated him for it."

"He died a hero, Jason."

"He died and left three kids and a wife behind. I'm not gonna do that to Jack." This was logic the Captain simply couldn't argue with, nor would he try to. Jason was a man with a dark past, being shoehorned into the public eye as their savior. This little conversation didn't make him feel any better about Jason, he was dangerous, and they both knew it.

Hard Puncher

Captain James Black

Jason's house was indeed huge, and it would be hard to attack, the one door, which was built like it was supposed to protect from direct bomb hits, made defending it easy. He suspected that a military officer at some point had this built, maybe even a general or an admiral. He knew that there was off limits areas, but so far he hadn't found any, nor had Sarah stopped him from going anywhere, and he had searched the place over, apart from inside Jason's room. Either it was inside Jason's room, which didn't seem to be any bigger than any of the other bedrooms, judging by the relative positions of the walls on either side. Or there was a secret entrance somewhere. That sounded exactly like a paranoid military man's type of thing.

For the moment Jason had gone back into his room, probably for the night. He was however worried about one of his soldiers, Perkins. He had a big mouth and tended to say the wrong thing all of the time. He didn't really mean anything by it, but he had already overheard him grumbling about some guy with a boyfriend being in charge. And if he had heard it, he would bet his next paycheck Jason had as well. This house was always listening, and he had made god knows how many changes to the AI system that runs it. He wouldn't be at all surprised if Jason was getting updates on everything they did into his earpiece. While Jason wasn't exactly a loose cannon, he might not appreciate being called a faggot by a soldier from the same military who is turning his life upside down. And if Jason decided to do something about it, there wasn't a good god damn thing he could do to stop him.

He had organized the men into teams of two, so that there would always be a couple of guys in the lounge, next to the only door, around the clock, each team would do six hour shifts, rotating all ten of them through the thirty hour long days. He had discussed defense plans with his Sergeant, but really, there was only one door, if it was breached there was no exit strategy, and any attackers would be coming through it. If attacked they would just try to hold the door, and wait for backup. He wondered if that off limits area Jason had mentioned had another exit. If this place was built for a military man, then it almost certainly would, trapping yourself in a room or house with only one door was a rookie mistake in basic strategy, any military man powerful enough to have a place like this made would have surely realized that.

He got the distinct impression that something was happening, the Colonel had contacted him earlier, asking for a status report on Jason, he didn't seem to care how defensible this place was, or how Jack was doing, and the Colonel seemed distracted. Something was going to go down, the Captain just prayed that whatever it was didn't piss Jason off.

Quite a few hours later that night, Jason re-emerged from his room, and entered the kitchen, getting himself out some food and sitting down at the kitchen bench, where he and a few other soldiers, including Perkins, were also seated, most of them having just eaten themselves. They all nodded their heads in acknowledgment of his presence, and he responded with, "boys." Looking down, Intent on his meal. After he had taken a few bites, Perkins opened his mouth to say something, and the Captain went rigid.

"How 's loverboy?" came Perkin's question, hinted with a sneer. 'Holy shit' thought the captain as he saw Jason's eyes flash, it was so fast he almost missed it, and the expression on Jason's face didn't change, and he finished chewing his mouthful and replied "Fine." Continuing with his meal like he had missed the insult. The Captain stood up and grabbed hold of Perkins, dragging the staggering soldier into the next room. And pressing him up against the wall, out of sight and hopefully out of earshot.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he demanded. "Are you insane?"

"What!?" The confused soldier replied. The Captain was silent for awhile, before lowering his tone of voice and saying.

"Our orders say we are here to guard him, but we are living in his house, eating his food, drinking his grog and if any shooting starts, chances are he's going to be the one protecting us. Unless you have a death wish, you need to keep your mouth firmly closed."

"He doesn't seem that dangerous to me!" the soldier retorted brashly.

"I doubt that crusade terror squad he butchered would agree with you." He finished. Letting Perkins go and making his way back into the kitchen. Hopefully that would make an impression, but if he knew Perkins, it probably wouldn't, he just didn't seem to be able to grasp that Jason was a killer.

Jason was just finishing eating when he came back around the corner. He put his plate away and left, heading back towards his bedroom.

The real incident didn't come until the morning after. Jason had been in his room all night, and one of the shifts had just ended, and the people who were coming off of their shift were in the kitchen, talking with the ones just about to start, the Captain was also there, and so was his Sergeant. Unfortunately Perkins was there too, just about to start his shift. Perkins and the other three soldiers were standing in a group to the Captain's right, near the doorway to the lounge, the Captain and the Sergeant were leaning against the bench running along the wall of the room, with the central kitchen bench about two meters away from them, and the doorway to the bedroom area to his left. The Perkins group was talking about Jason, and just as Perkins opened his mouth, the Captain saw Jason's black silhouette appear in the doorway to his left. As if on cue, Perkins said "I wonder if Jason had sex with his faggot boyfriend last night."

By the time Perkins finished, Jason was standing directly in front of the Captain. The Captain's blood turned to ice, that would be a wildly inappropriate thing to say in any circumstance, let alone this one. As everything seemed to slow down, he saw Jason place the plate and cup he was carrying down on the bench, still giving nothing away, 'surely he heard it!' he thought, in disbelief that he would be able to ignore that magnitude of insult.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Perkins notice Jason was in the room, but he didn't have time to react, with the plate and cup out of his hands, everything still moving in slow motion, he saw Jason make the slightest crouching movement, and then he was gone. The next thing the Captain registered was Perkins' body hitting the wall, and Jason standing where Perkins had been, fist outstretched. No one else in the room even registered that anything had even happened for a few more seconds. And the Captain felt fear rise up in his throat, he didn't even see Jason attack, 'how could anyone be that fast!?' his mind raged, he also feared for Perkins, a hit like that could easily have killed him.

The soldiers now standing around Jason took a few steps back in confusion, but Jason simply straightened up, and walked out. Leaving a coughing and spluttering Perkins on the floor, completely winded. The Captain's instincts told him to get away from Jason, his lower brain screaming that he was a predator, but he had to help Perkins, rushing over to him.

Once Perkins started to get his breath back, long after Jason was probably back in his room. He started struggling against the Captain's grip, wheezing something about beating the shit out of that guy. The Captain couldn't believe it! Shaking Perkins hard and yelling.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!? He could have killed you, You Fool! That was just a warning!" Lowering his voice he continued. "Perkins, I knew it was coming and I didn't even see him move, he lunged halfway across the room and knocked you ten feet through the air faster than anything I've ever seen. Did anyone even see him move?" he asked the men in the room, some muttering no, others shaking their heads. And that's when it seemed to dawn on Perkins, that same 'predator around' instinct that was firing in the Captain, and probably the other four soldiers in the room as well. "Still think he's not that dangerous Perkins?"

Jason

Jason was back in his room, he felt bad about Perkins, but he was still pissed about what he said. He continued feeling bad for a few more minutes before tapping his earpiece. "Sarah, can you tell me if Perkins is all right?" 'Mr Perkins doesn't seem to be permanently injured, but he was winded after striking the wall. He is sitting in the kitchen drinking a glass of water right now.'

'That's good.' Jason thought, 'I haven't hurt him too bad then.' A few seconds later Sarah interrupted his thoughts. 'However, I think he may have damaged one of the aluminum panels on the wall he struck, my sensors indicate that the panel has been bent inwards.' Jason smiled for a moment before saying "Sorry about that Sarah, I'll fix that dent up for you soon." He thought he heard the AI hum before responding. 'Thank you Jason.' 'Damn she's getting more like a person all the time.' He thought to himself.

"Hey Sarah, can you tell me where the captain is?"

'He is standing on the top of the cliff.'

"Is there anyone with him?

'No, he is alone.' Jason thought he should probably go apologize to him. But he didn't really want to trek past the soldiers in the lounge. A good time to use that secret exit he thought to himself. Deciding to take it, and then use his wing pack to fly to the top. The Captain would probably want to know that there's another exit out of here anyway. Jason walked out of his room, leaving a sleeping Jack in the bed. But instead of turning left towards the rest of the house, he turned right taking a few steps towards the flat surface of a dead end. Saying, "Sarah, stairs." As he reached it, the whole flat surface in front of him, about four feet wide, slid backwards, on hidden rails, revealing a set of steps leading down and into total blackness.

He confidently strode down them, and got Sarah to turn on the lights once the wall panel, now above his head, was back in place. The whole operation was almost silent. And it was unlikely the soldiers in the lounge heard it. Once in the lab, he made his way over to where his backpack was laying on a bench, putting it on and then heading for the other side of the room, where a small dimly lit passage stretched out for about twenty meters before ending in a ladder, heading up, into a long, dark, circular tube.

Jason made his way to the ladder, and started climbing, it wasn't long before he reached a small alcove, you had to get off the ladder and step into the alcove to access the hatch. Jason asked Sarah to unlock the hatch, and Jason pushed it open, Jason had to crouch as he stepped through the opening. Coming out of a hole flush with a vertical cliff face, on the inside of a crevasse on the other side of the rocky outcrop. Closing the hatch and getting Sarah to lock it again, he made his way out of the thin crevasse. Reaching open ground and spreading the wings from his pack. Jumping up, and into the air.

He casually glided higher, fairly unwilling to see if the small modified anti-grav thrusters could cope with a vertical climb. He glided about thirty feet above the top of the cliff, seeing the captain standing on the other side, looking the other way. Jason glided gently into a landing right in the middle of the flat area. And as his wings folded down, making a distinct clacking noise, the Captain spun around, startled, gun raised and aimed at Jason. Jason raised his hands and said, "Don't shoot." Poking out his tongue and teasing the Captain. The Captain lowered his gun, but didn't seem to think it was very funny. Jason walked over to stand next to the man, who had turned back around, facing outwards from the cliff and getting a very nice view of the surrounding landscape.

"I thought I would come and say sorry, about Perkins." The Captain looked thoughtful at this.

"I was going to say the exact same thing." Pausing before continuing. "I would have hit him as well if he had said that to me." Another pause. "Perhaps not so fast, or hard though. How exactly did you do that?"

"Do what?" replied Jason confused at the Captain's question. The Captain could see the confused look on his face too.

"When you hit Perkins, how did you move so fast? I've seen you Scalies do that lunge thing before, but not like that."

"Was I really moving that fast? I dunno, I just did it."

"I didn't even see you move Jason, I saw you crouch for a split second and then Perkins was hitting the wall and you were halfway across the room."

"Didn't seem that fast to me, but I guess I wasn't really thinking about it at the time." A pause then. "Sarah could you play back footage from the kitchen on the FSU screen?" Jason walking over to it, the Captain following him. When they got there the screen lit up and displayed the food menu for a second before it changed to a full screen video of the kitchen, the camera was above where the captain had been standing. It played back for about twenty seconds before Jason walked into the room, it showed him putting down the plate and glass he was carrying, turn towards Perkins, that same crouch the Captain described was there, and then Perkins was hitting the wall.

"Wow!" Jason said. "You're right that is fast." The Captain was just as stunned as when he saw it first hand, and he said out loud. "Sarah, could you go back to just before Jason moves, and then playback frame by frame?" she didn't respond to the Captain but the image re-adjusted to just before Jason crouched and moved. It scrolled forward at a painfully slow speed. "A bit faster please Sarah." And the image sped up a bit. Then it happened, Jason was simply gone from his position in the next frame, on the other side of the room, his fist just touching Perkins, and then it showed, almost comically slowly, Perkins flying back towards the wall.

"What the fuck," they echoed. "Sarah, how many frames per second does that camera capture?"

"200 Captain." Came the reply.

"So you moved halfway across the room, in under..."

"Five hundredths of a second." Jason finished, his face showing no less astonishment than the Captains'. "How the fuck did I do that?" Jason wondered out loud

"I guess that explains why no one in the room saw you move."

Sarah at this point piped up and said. "I've analyzed the other cameras in the room, they all show Jason crossing the room in one frame or less."

"Thanks Sarah." Said Jason. Going and sitting down in one of the chairs, and resting his forehead on his hands, thinking. The Captain gave him a few minutes before walking over and sitting down on the opposite side to him.

"It's physically impossible you know." Jason said, when the Captain sat down, still looking down at the table.

"You're telling me."

"Could you maybe not mention to Jack that I can apparently move in excess of 800 meters a second. God, that sounds so stupid. And it's just so impossible in so many ways."

"Other than the obvious, like what?"

"Well, for a start, that's over twice the speed of sound, so there should have been a shockwave, and you and everyone else still has all their eardrums, and, you know, internal organs on the inside. And also at that speed I wouldn't have just sent Perkins flying, my fist would have gone straight through him. And that's not even considering that the g-forces that I would have experienced would have been more than enough to turn me into a pancake."

"So what then? It didn't happen?"

"Not according to the laws of physics. I don't know what happened, I've got no answers for you, but It didn't seem especially fast to me, what am I going to do James? All this weird shit is happening, and I can't ignore it anymore. It's like I'm in the most twisted dream ever."

"What do you mean you can't ignore it anymore?"

"Stuff like that." Jason pointing back at the screen. "Has been happening for years now, nothing this big, or this frequently though."

"Starting when?" Asked the curious Wolf, hoping to get some solid answers on this guy.

"Well." Jason stopped to think about this. "In the library, I was so stressed, and angry, and frustrated, when that bully shoved all of my books and work onto the ground, it was like the last straw, I physically felt something snap." Pointing to his head. "Like someone hitting a switch. It was like I wasn't in control of my actions, but I was still thinking, I waited for him to throw the first punch and then, well you know the rest, I think I probably wouldn't have stopped with just knocking them out if I hadn't of broken my hand." There was a long pause and then Jason started laughing quietly.

"I'm sorry, what's funny?"

"Well, you know how I kicked one of them in the chest and broke his ribs."

"Yeah, that's what it says."

"Guess what his name is." James looked seriously bewildered at the question, he must be missing something.

"No idea." And after another couple of chuckles, Jason said.

"Jack." And it all fell home for the Captain.

"The same.."

"The very same." Jason cut him off. After a few seconds James let out a chuckle and smiled.

"Yeah I guess that is pretty funny. Small world huh." Jason let the silence hang for a few minutes before he said.

"Well that was the very first thing I've done that doesn't seem possible to do."

"Well I'm no doctor, and I'm certainly no scientist, but I'll bet that uhh 'snap' you felt is the key to all this." Jason looked thoughtful at his words.

"Hmm, actually you might be right. You know how I saw Briggs after you?"

"Yeah."

"Well after he got me to agree to help him build his superweapons. We went down into this big lab underneath the building and they put me in a big brain scan machine, some type of 3d imager, anyway, when the test was done, the 'lab-coat' who was running it just about sprinted off somewhere."

"They didn't tell you anything."

"Briggs was the only other person in the room." James nodded at this. "All he would say was that the results where interesting."

"Brain scan results that are interesting enough to make some science dweeb sprint off somewhere? They must have been pretty damn interesting."

"Sounds like Briggs might have the answers I'm looking for then." Jason said, standing up and moving away from the tables and towards the edge.

"Hey, Jason, something is going to go down, I don't know what, but it's big, be careful." Jason turned his head to face the man and said.

"Thanks." Turning back around and saying. "Sarah, deactivate the energy railing." And as he sprinted towards the edge of the cliff, he saw the lights of the barrier projectors dim. He made the final few strides and dived off the cliff. His wings shooting out just as he started to fall, and he began his flight towards Fort Hope.

Sympathy for the Devil

Jason

As Jason started to get close to the Fort he started thinking about those big cannons mounted on the walls, and whether his shield could cope with a direct hit from one of them, it probably could, though he could only guess as to their power, but he didn't really want to risk it. So when he was in sight of the walls he dropped down, folded the wings and started jogging. Coming up to the large gate he passed through in the car with Sparrow and the Captain a few days ago. He slowed to a walk just before he reached the booth with the soldier in it. Walking up to it, mildly puffed and saying. "I'm here to see Colonel Briggs." The gatesman pressing the button and the gate sliding open. 'Guess he knows who I am' Jason thought to himself, and he could see the man pick up the hard-line phone in the booth as soon as he walked through the gate. 'Probably warning the good Colonel that I'm here.'

Faced with the prospect of another four or five minutes running to get to the building where Briggs's office was, Jason chose to fly, and just tried to stay as low as he could, just a couple of feet from the ground. Activating the shield just in case he hit the deck. He made the trip in about thirty seconds, making just about every person in the base come out to look at the spectacle of a Dragon with purple wings flying through their base just off the ground. He was starting to get quite good at landing and he tilted the wings up and lowered the thrust a bit more aggressively, taking him a few feet up and into a standing position and then dumping him on his feet, the wings folding in, a few seconds later.

He stepped into the building and approached the desk with the soldier, he looked a bit frazzled but waved him up the stairs. Jason taking that as a sign the gatesman had indeed phoned ahead. He entered the waiting room just as Lt Sparrow was exiting the Colonel's office, she looked quite hurried and didn't stop to smile or say hello, walking past him and out the door. 'Weird' Jason thought, 'Looks like James was right, something is definitely going down.' He knocked on the Colonel's door, "Come." He heard from inside the room. He opened the large wooden door and walked in. To find the Colonel again sitting exactly in the same place as before, though this time he had a more casual outfit on, instead of the formal one with the badges and ribbons.

"Jason, what can I do for you?" motioning for Jason to sit, again, the same as last time. Jason sat down and fixed his gaze on the man.

"Some answers would be nice." He said, keeping his tone even. The Colonel looked intrigued before asking.

"What sort of answers do you want?"

"I want to know what was so special about my brain scan." The Colonel seemed to consider this for a few moments before sifting through some of the files on his quite large desk.

"Paper?" Jason asked, curious as to why all these files weren't stored digitally.

"Paper is less likely to hit a glitch and erase everything on it." Jason just nodded, 'fair enough' he thought. "Here we are." Said the Colonel, retrieving a small stack of papers, and handing them to Jason. As he started looking at them the Colonel said. "Those scans were so special, because your brain activity levels are higher than normal. Are you at all familiar with how the brain works Jason?"

"No, not really."

"Well in your average person, of any species, the brain's activity levels, can range from about 8%, to, when under strain, about 11%. Yours however, started at 12%, when we took the reading with you just lying there. But when you started working on that code, it jumped up to 16%. Previously the highest percentage we ever recorded was 13%."

"So, my brain is more active?"

"It means, Jason, that you are by far and away the smartest person who has ever been through a machine like that."

"Well, that's very flattering, but why the secrecy, and while I'm at it, how come you haven't asked me to build a single weapon in the last two days?"

"I thought that you would probably be too concerned about your friend, Jack, to work on anything over the last few days, I was going to give you more time."

"Colonel, you're not that considerate." The Colonel just smiled broadly, like he had been complimented.

"No, perhaps not, but those 3D brain mappings, and that code you fixed up have caused enough of a stir to keep me and the eggheads busy." Jason feeling that was at least closer to the truth.

"Something is going on Colonel, and I want to know what it is." The Colonel took a few moments to consider this.

"I'll make you a deal, you submit for another brain scan, we'll give you another section of code to fix, and we can compare the results, to make sure they are accurate, and then I'll let you in on the secret." This sounded more like the Colonel, he gets another brain scan, and another segment of code, and only has to tell him what's going on. So Jason decided that he would play along, for now.

"Fine." Jason replied. "Lead the way." The Colonel nodded, and then touched a few icons on the small screen on his desk and seemed to be waiting for something, a few seconds later a male voice, that sounded like the 'lab-coat' from the previous brain scan said "Dr.Fargo"

"Yes, Fargo, it's Colonel Briggs, fire up the 3D imager." The Colonel hitting the end button without waiting for a response. The Colonel then stood up and motioned for Jason to follow him. Jason following him, the same as last time, down into the science area. When they arrived at the room with the 3D imager, Dr Fargo was already there, looking harried as if he had run to beat them here, fiddling with the controls and he heard as the machine hummed to life.

"Same as last time doctor?" Jason asked, walking towards the tray. The man just nodding. He took off his backpack, laying it on the ground, then lay down on the tray, and a few seconds later he was sliding into the machine. Everything seemed fine, and then he heard he Colonel say something, drowned out by the machine. A second later he heard a hissing noise, and felt something blowing against his head, he breathed it in and could smell the chemicals, and he realized he was being gassed!

"I'm going to kill you Briggs!" he bellowed, starting to fall unconscious he punched upwards, trying to get some leverage to push himself out. And he vaguely felt the machine above him give way, just before he lost consciousness.

"Colonel." Said Fargo, still standing behind the controls, calling him over. As the Colonel came around to see what Fargo was pointing at, he saw that the screen had frozen, probably when Jason punched into it. What Fargo was pointing at though, was that Jason's brain activity read 22% when it froze. Both men's eyes widening.

Captain James Black

The Captain was sitting in the kitchen, Jason had been gone about an hour, but he hadn't heard anything yet. He suspected he would get an earful for not warning the Colonel that Jason was on his way. Just as he finishing thinking that, he heard a buzz and then a click in his headset, but it wasn't the Colonel, it was Sarah.

"Captain, Jason is in trouble! He yelled something really loud and now he won't respond." The Captain quickly becoming alert.

"Where is he Sarah?"

"He's still inside Fort Hope, he was having another brain scan when he started yelling." The Captain noticed that all the soldiers could hear what was going on, some of them grabbing equipment and putting gear on, and he saw someone race towards the bedrooms to wake up the sleepers.

"What's the last thing he said?" he asked the AI, running to collect his own gear.

"He yelled." And then a pause before Sarah played back the sound byte and the Captain, and every other soldier with their headset heard Jason yell "I'm going to kill you Briggs!" 'Wow,' he thought to himself, 'I wonder if this situation could get any worse,' Briggs had done something, Jason was either busy ripping his head off, or incapacitated somehow.'

"You heard the lady men, we have someone to save." He just wasn't entirely sure who it was going to be. By now everyone had grabbed their gear and they were assembled in the kitchen. Sarah said over their radios.

"Wait, Captain, I can't look after Jack by myself, someone has to stay here." The Captain paused for a moment, continually amazed, and made uneasy at the AI's intelligence. Then he heard Perkins pipe up.

"I'll stay Captain."

"No fucking way Perkins." Then he considered for a moment. "Pirelli." Talking about the black liger. "You stay here."

"Why him?" demanded Perkins. And the Captain just didn't have time to think up a lie or excuse and he just said.

"Because he's gay is why Perkins." Leading everyone except for the Pirelli out the door, and into the APC, Perkin's at the back of the pack, with a flabbergasted look on his face. 'Probably realizing all the gay jokes he's made around him,' thought the Captain. As the APC flew down the road under manual controls, the Captain thought about how he was going to approach this situation, he can't storm a friendly military base on the word of an AI, nor could he discount the possibility that Jason was going berserk himself, and they would end up trying to protect everyone else from him. And just to top it off, he was down one of his best men.

"We're going to play this by ear guys. Don't make any aggressive moves until we figure out what's going on." They had been the quick deployment strike force for Fort Hope for nearly a year now, and they knew it backwards, and everyone there knew them, so hopefully they wouldn't meet any resistance.

They slowed down as they started getting close to the base, and as they pulled up to the gate, the Captain stuck his head out the window and said.

"Private, we have time sensitive cargo on board." The man nodding and opening the gate without so much as a questioning glance. 'That was easy enough' thought the Captain, but the lack of commotion probably meant Jason wasn't going berserk. Pointing towards the other possibility, that Briggs had attacked and incapacitated Jason somehow, he doubted he would have killed him, wouldn't make sense to do that.

The APC arrived at Brigg's building about a minute later. And the team piled out, trying to look casual, normally quite a feat in full combat gear, but this was a military base after all. The Captain led the way up the stairs, past two guards posted either side of the door, they saluted as he walked past and he returned the gesture. Once he got inside though it quickly became apparent all was not as it seemed. The room was void of anyone, and once the last member of his team cleared the door, it slammed shut behind them, and teams of riflemen appeared out of every doorway a split second later. They had been caught with their pants down and they had no chance of fighting their way out. The Captain raising his hands and saying, "They got us boys." His team all raising their hands as well.

There's probably going to be 8 or so parts to this. More to come XD