Title: Now that I’m Standing on My Own
Author: Laekin
Disclaimer: I hold no claim to the primary characters in this story. Jim and Blair belong to PetFly and Edwards and David belong to Susan. To PetFly, no money is being made or sought. To Susan, thank you again for creating Edwards and David and for being generous enough to let me play with them.
Warnings: (PG-13) Intense violence, angst, intense H/C This episode is a little more violent than And I Remember.
Notes: As before, I cannot say thank you enough to Susan for letting me play in the universe she created with the characters she gave life to. I also need to extend a world of thanks to Gail, not only for the excellent beta work she did but also for being a patient and supportive sounding board. Gail, I don’t know that I would have gotten through this without you. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Any remaining problems are mine, all mine.
Italics indicate thoughts.
Now that I’m Standing on My Own
For the drugged Guide awareness came back slowly. Consciousness had returned almost half an hour ago but drug induced disorientation kept Panther Clan Guide Prime, David Sutherland prone and silent.
His ears were filled with a terrible rushing sound; like the crash of ocean waves only magnified by a hundred. Worse, David was certain his eyes were open but all he could see was a series of stars racing across his vision like so many out of control comets.
Closing his eyelids did little to stop the sensation and the young Guide had to fight the urge to be sick. Rolling over onto his stomach, David pressed his cheek against the cool floor. His arms were caught fast behind his back and his ankles were bound together. David had never been leashed in his life but it only took a small, experimental wiggle to confirm the fact that he was expertly bound, by the disciplinary device.
For a moment, the flight response to danger took over. David tried to draw his knees up under his body, seeking to gain his feet, but the motion drew the leash taut and the collar tightened around his throat. The natural instinct to fight against the restraints trying to choke him engaged and David began to kick out with both feet, gagging as the collar jerked tight around his neck. Squirming with his whole body, the Guide Prime tried to flip himself inside out, seeking to relieve the alien pressure on his neck, wrists, ankles, and waist.
David was so intent on his battle with the leash that even if he hadn’t still been suffering the effects of the drug, it was doubtful he’d have heard the door to his cell opening. David wasn’t even aware of the presence of the GDP guards until strange hands landed on his shoulders and calves, flipping him over on his stomach and pinning him down.
“Damn it! I told them. His record indicated he’d never been leashed. He shouldn’t have been left alone like this.”
The voices sounded garbled and very far away. David whimpered, still struggling weakly against the hands trying to hold him still. In a coherent state of mind, the young Guide would have wondered how strangers were able to touch him without frying his empathic pathways but between the drugs and the panic, David was running on pure primal instinct.
~Sentinel! Sentinel! Neds! David’s mind screamed silently, the collar strangling him.
David wriggled and squirmed wildly making it difficult for the hands to hold him. Somewhere far away, behind the rushing sound in his ears, David could hear the voice that had spoken before.
“Ah, hell! He’s got this collar so tight it’s going to throttle him. Who the hell put this damn thing on? It’s at least a size too small. Get me a knife.”
A second voice spoke, but it was simply too distant to be anything more then noise.
“I don’t care what the Doc said! I’m cutting this damn thing off him before he breaks his fool neck or worse, chokes himself to death. Stop being such a rule pusher. Hell, he’s not Sandburg with that damn Dark Guide crap, give me the damn knife.”
There was more of the second voice, then the hands holding him down shifted until David felt the point of an elbow digging into the middle of his back, pinning him to the floor.
“Stop your damn wiggling, Guide. I’m trying to help you here.” The voice snarled and David felt an intense pressure against his neck, followed by a sharp jerk, then suddenly his neck, arms and legs were free.
Well, free of each other. His hands were still bound together as were his ankles. The heavy weight on his spine lifted cautiously away but David could still sense the presence of at least two people in the room. If he could have stopped breathing, he would have.
Flopping onto the floor, David hid his face against the cool tile and went as still as a mouse caught under a cat’s paw.
A large hand patted him between the shoulder blades in the manner that one might stroke a favorite pet.
“There, see? This one’s a hell of a lot more docile then that rabid Senior Guide Prime. We won’t have any trouble with him.”
The last thing on David’s mind was causing trouble. Closing his eyes, he remained as quiet as possible, hoping that if he didn’t move, they wouldn’t have any reason to hurt him.
“Docile? He’s just playing possum, he almost kicked me just now.” The second voice was female and finally close enough that David could understand her words.
“He couldn’t breath. I bet you’d kick too if you couldn’t breath.” The male voice growled.
“You’re getting soft, Jarhead. He’s just a Guide. I’m sure that Sentinel of his has had him leashed up plenty of times. I’ve seen Sentinel Prime Edwards. Now there is a man who doesn’t take crap from anybody, let alone his own Guide.”
The man still kneeling beside David snorted.
“You might want to keep that in mind, Henion. In case it’s escaped your notice, we’ve just taken a Guide, without his Sentinel’s authorization, out of his Sentinel’s territory. Edwards is going to be all kinds of pissed. If that wasn’t enough for you to chew on, remember, we’ve got the Senior Guide Prime Apparent of the Panther Clan tied up here. You know, Senior Sentinel Prime James Ellison’s clan; a Dark Sentinel’s clan.”
“Bah, Doc will take care of all those details. If Edwards had just signed the paper when Doc asked him too, none of this would have been necessary.”
“Well, that’s kinda the sticking point here isn’t it. Edwards didn’t sign. In fact I believe that Officer Carpentar is going to be out for six months with that compound fracture of the right forearm and all he did was touch this little one here.”
“What the hell is your point JarHead?”
“My point, you miserable bitch, is if you again feel the urge to get your kicks leashing this Guide, pick the right size leash.”
David fought the urge to hyperventilate as the room fell silent. Even with his empathic abilities numbed, he could feel the mutual animosity cascading off the two unseen Guards. He didn’t need to see to know they were facing each other down in an almost primal battle of wills.
“You’re getting way too emotional about this JarHead.”
“You know, Henion, your opinion means absolutely nothing to me. I’m the officer in charge of this situation and I’d like to come out of this whole operation with my neck intact.”
“You want an opinion? I think you’re wigging out at shadows.”
“You’ve never seen a Sentinel in Blessed Protector Mode have you?”
“Of course I have… in the lab.”
“Yeah, controlled setting and all that. Let me clue you in on something, when Edwards and Ellison show up here, and believe me they will, there will be nothing controlled about it.”
“JarHead…”
“Officer Henion, you’re dismissed… get out.”
There was a pause, than the man’s voice shouted loudly enough to make David jump.
“GET OUT!”
The woman must have retreated, because the next time David heard her voice, it was once again muffled by distance. The man, JarHead, made a dismissive noise in response to whatever it was she had to say. There was the sound of a door opening and closing, than silence filled the room.
David remained frozen in place on the floor. He was tempted to open his eyes and take a look at the man who seemed to be defending him but the stars were still dancing behind his closed eye-lids, keeping him slightly nauseous.
“I’m not taking the restraints off your arms or legs but the middle strap is cut so you can sit up when you feel a little clearer.”
David licked his dry lips and tried to say thank you, but his throat felt raw and bruised. All he could produce was a pathetic little noise.
“Don’t go thanking me. You’re turning out to be a hell of a lot of trouble. Better just hope Doc thinks you’re worth it. Keep your eyes closed, it will help with the nausea”
With those wonderful words of comfort, David felt the air move as the man stood up and moved away from him. Again, he heard the door open and close, then the room was truly silent.
Keeping his eyes screwed firmly shut, David slowly rolled on his side
and then curled his knees up towards his chest. He wanted to wrap his arms around his folded legs and burrow
into a small ball but his hands were still bound behind his back. Ducking his head towards his chest, David
bit his lip hard, trying to stem the flood of tears threatening to overwhelm
him.
In seven years, he’d never been involuntarily separated from Edwards for any extended period of time. Even when one, or both of them had been hospitalized for one reason or another, they’d been within sight of each other. The most time he’d spent away from Edwards had been just recently, when he’d been working with Blair on the interior shielding, and even then he’d known where Edwards was. Had known that Edwards would come for him in a few hours.
~Just, have to keep faith in that Dave me lad. You know Neds will come. He just… needs to figure out where I am. ~
David tasted blood as he bit into the soft skin of his lip, stifled a whimper.
~Where
am I? ~
~Neds! ~
~~~~~Flash Back~~~~~~
David was about ready to pull his hair out. How someone, as disciplined as his Sentinel could be so haphazard about keeping track of his checking account baffled the young Guide.
“Neds, where are your duplicate checks?”
“Huh?” The Sentinel’s voice echoed from the bathroom, where he stood, finishing up with his shaving.
“The duplicate checks? Those pieces of carbon paper behind the checks, they record when you wrote the check, to whom, and for how much?”
“Oh, those. I shredded them.”
David blinked, stunned. He was sitting on the couch a lap desk perched on his right knee, surrounded by bank statements, a checkbook and other bills. Leaning a little to right, he used a mirror on the far wall to look in the open bathroom door.
“You shredded them?”
“Yeah. I kept tearing the damn things out with the checks. I didn’t want to risk one of them falling out of my checkbook and getting picked up by someone who knew how to use that sort of information, so I shredded them.”
David reached up and rubbed at the bridge of his nose with his middle finger, mentally reviewing a meditation mantra he’d learned from Blair.
“By any chance did you record the checks you wrote?” David asked hopefully.
“Mmm… in my notebook.”
“Which is…?”
“Breast pocket of my gray blazer.” Edwards answered readily.
David grumbled as he carefully extracted himself from the piles of paper.
“I heard that.”
David didn’t bother to respond to the bait. Finding the blazer in question, he dug out the battered, leather bound spiral notebook that Edwards used for taking notes at crime scenes. Flipping through the small book, David frowned, as he couldn’t locate anything that looked like a list of checks.
Walking up to the bathroom, he leaned on the doorframe.
“What page are they on?”
“Page?”
“Page.”
“Uh…”
At that exact moment, David spotted a hastily scrawled line cramped along the side of an autopsy description.
“’Groceries, $122.38.’ In with an autopsy… nice. When did you write this?”
“Well, what was the date of the autopsy?”
“It doesn’t say.”
“Oh, well what does it say?”
“I told you, groceries…”
“No, no no, I mean on the autopsy.”
“Oh, uh… single GSW, dorsal POE on left side…”
“Yeah, yeah the Wemp murder. That would have been the, ah… ninth.”
“Are they all like this?” David muttered hopelessly, flipping through the book and confirming his worst fears.
“No. I mean I’m sure I dated some of those notes, I would have had to.”
“Neds, damn it.” David tried to sound angry but laughter threaded its way in through his voice.
In the bathroom, shaving cream still on the lower half of his face, Edwards gave his young Guide a sympathetic look.
“I know, Kiddo. I try, I really do, it just slips my mind.”
“That’s why we got the duplicate checks, so you wouldn’t have to think about it.”
“I know, but…”
“You tore them out with the check and then shredded them.”
Edwards looked properly abashed.
David chuckled softly, reaching up to lightly swat his Sentinel’s broad shoulder with the notebook.
“I swear, what is it with Sentinels and paperwork? You don’t need Guides for your senses, you need us to keep your financial affairs straight.”
David moved back to the couch, carefully resettling himself in the middle of the paper chaos that represented their day-to-day lives.
“Well, it helps that I’m bonded to an aspiring bean counter.” Edwards voice was muffled as the Sentinel toweled the excess lather off his face.
“That was long ago Neds. Besides, I told you, I’d just declared my accounting major. I didn’t even have half the core classes completed.”
Edwards stepped out of the bathroom, the towel wrapped over his bare shoulders. Leaning against the wall, he looked at the top of his Guide’s bowed head.
“You should go back. To a real college this time, not a GDP run facsimile and get your degree.”
David paused in mid notation and looked up at his Sentinel. “Neds, we’ve talked about this before.”
“I know but we haven’t talked about it since coming to Cascade. With Sandburg at Rainer…”
“Neds…” David squirmed, shaking his head, dismissing the thought.
Edwards sighed softly. “All right, it was just a thought. I mean if you wanted to.”
David looked up sharply, his green eyes darkened with annoyance. “I don’t! I mean, really I appreciate the thought Neds but I’ve got enough on my plate and even if I got the degree, I can’t do anything with it. It’s a waste of money.”
Edwards took a couple of steps towards his agitated Guide. “It’s not a waste of money, David.”
David sucked in a quick breath, then slowly let it out, leaning back on the couch and looking up at his approaching Sentinel.
“It’s still a waste of time.”
“Not if it’s something you want.”
David sat silent for a moment, staring at a spot on the far wall. Then, he gave a little grin and swung his eyes back up to his Sentinel’s face.
“Hell Neds, keeping up with your finances are enough of a challenge.”
Edwards matched his Guide’s smile and gracefully backed off the subject. “Glad to know I’m keeping you occupied.”
“Mm, more than. However, you
should be worried about keeping Sentinel Doctor Harvey waiting. You’re going to be late… for your da-ate.”
David drawled out the last word in his best needling tone of voice. Edwards shot a mock glare at his grinning Guide.
“It is not a date.”
“Of course not. Its just lunch.”
“Exactly. We are meeting to discuss Clan business.”
“Just ‘business’?”
“David Sutherland.”
“Hmmm?”
“Does the word, ‘swirly’ mean anything to you?”
David wisely closed his mouth and lowered his eyes in a demure manner. Edwards watched his Guide warily for a moment before turning to head towards his bedroom.
“You know…” David began, grinning like a mad fiend. “Blair and I were reading up on Sentinel mating habits. Really primal stuff… lot of times first names were never exchan…oof!! ACK!”
The Guide’s voice broke off as he suddenly found himself pinned beneath
his much larger Sentinel, having his hair tousled
mercilessly as the larger man mock wrestled with his soul mate.
After thoroughly subduing his Guide, Edwards had finished getting ready for his non-date with Sentinel Harvey. If asked, Edwards could pinpoint the exact moment when he and the female Sentinel lost control of the situation. They had been discussing the future of a couple of unbonded Sentinels who were new to the Clan. Work obligations kept interrupting them and they had decided to meet at the end of the week for a Saturday lunch and a more focused discussion. At the time they had both naturally assumed that their Guides would accompany them.
Jon, who had been sitting at the break table with David, had looked up from his fruit salad and quickly explained that he needed to finish editing Harvey’s most recent medical paper. There had been a moment of silence as Jon’s toe found David’s shin with a pointed kick pulling the younger man’s attention away from the book he was reading. At first, David had looked at his fellow Guide Prime like he’d grown a third eye but he quickly caught the clue bus and came up with the fact that he needed to do the monthly bills.
Subtle they were not, but the point got across. Harvey and Edwards were going on a … non-date da-ate, together, alone.
David eventually got Edwards out the door only after the Sentinel had made a thorough sweep of his territory. Windows had been checked multiple times and David had had to promise to lock, every single lock on the door and not to answer the door for anyone, unless it was Ellison.
It had been almost comical when Edwards had stood outside the closed apartment door and waited, listening, until David had thrown every last bolt. The young Guide had been tempted to pound his fist on the door, just to let his Sentinel know that he was aware of what the older man was up to but even though Edwards deserved it, David couldn’t bring himself to cause his Sentinel even the minor discomfort. He understood the imperative behind the over-protective behavior.
Two hours had passed and David had finally reached a turning point in getting everything to balance in Edwards’ checkbook. He had a meditative piece of music on and was humming along with the steady drums, the music masking the first couple of knocks on the front door.
>Bam-Bam-Bam<
The series of knocks, which followed, carried clearly into the living room.
Blinking, David looked over at the clock and frowned. No one was expected. He didn’t think he had his music turned up loud enough to disturb anyone else in the building. Setting aside a small stack of bills, he stood up and cautiously approached the door.
>BAM-BAM-BAM<
The noise caused him to jump a little and he quickly closed the distance to the door, standing on tiptoe so he could look through the peephole.
Outside the door stood two people. A man and a woman, both dressed in GDP uniforms.
Biting his lip, David rocked back on his bare feet. He’d promised Edwards he wouldn’t open the door for anyone but Ellison. Given the events of the past few weeks, ever since the GDP had become aware of David’s secondary shielding, Edwards had been hovering on the edge of Blessed Protector Mode almost 24/7.
>BAM---BAM---BAM<
“Guide Sutherland? Open up, we know you’re home.” The male voice practically boomed through the door, making David jump again.
David took a step back from the door. Every instinct in his body told him not to open the door but he’d been trained in GDP protocol since pre-adolescents. A Guide never refused the request of a GDP officer. That had been one of the very first lessons driven home in his Guide training and it was conditioning that was very hard to break.
His hands shook as he reached for the locks. Leaving the chain latched, David pulled the door slightly open, peering out at the two officers.
“Yes?” He asked shyly.
“Guide Sutherland, I need you to open this door please.” The man spoke in a no-nonsense tone of voice.
“Ah, Sentinel Edwards is due home any moment, can this not wait?” Usually the GDP spoke about David, to Edwards.
“No, it can not. Please open the door.”
David started to push the door shut, uncertain himself whether he meant to release the chain or redo the locks. Either way, the choice was taken out of his hands. A sharp sting suddenly exploded on his exposed thigh, causing him to jump back, startled.
Looking down, he stared at the fletched end of a dart buried in his upper thigh. As he watched, the red faux feathers started to blur and the room suddenly felt unbearable hot. David was unconscious before he hit the floor.
~~~~~ End Flashback~~~~~
Whatever drug cocktail had been in that dart had done a number on David. His head was clearing a little but his vision was still messed up and he was desperately thirsty, but what was of greater concern, was the sensation of being wrapped up in yards of cotton wool.
David had read of drugs that were used by the GLA to help empaths tamp down their sensitivity. With the cobwebs starting to clear out of his mind, David figured that whatever else was in that dart, something to inhibit his empathic sensitivity was part of the mix.
With the drugs still running through his system, he was having a hard time getting his bearings. How long had it been since they’d taken him? David cautiously squirmed around until he could get into a sitting position. Leaning his head back against the wall of his cell, he tried to get his muzzy thoughts to move in a coherent pattern.
Okay Sutherland, think. What’s going on here? Well, besides the obvious.
David drew his legs up until he could hide his face behind his folded knees. Forcing himself to take deep, calming breaths, he fought to get some sort of perspective on his situation.
The GDP has you. Grabbed you, took you down like a rogue. I’ve never been rogue, why would they do this? Wait, I’m asking for logic out of the GDP? Okay, lets look at the facts Sutherland, heaven knows you’ve hung around Neds long enough to be able to do that.
Lifting his head, David perched his chin on his knee, staring across the room at the closed door. Eyes fixed on the only entrance into his cell, so that no one could enter without his seeing them, David let his inner eye wander over the facts at his disposal.
I’ve never given the GDP any reason to pick me up. Well, heck with Blair around, Karl, Jon, Tina and I could be tap dancing on the GDP’s heads and they wouldn’t notice us. Those who follow the rules are so leery of Ellison they treat us with kid gloves and the rest… well Sandburg is their primary focus. So, what changed the order of things? Well, let’s go with the obvious, my secondary shielding.
Okay,
so that is most likely the cause of this little incarceration. I haven’t done anything else that would
warrant so much as a second glance.
Okay, I’ve got a reason, now I need a ‘whom’. Who’s got me?
Commander
Slater said that the GDP would leave the research of the secondary shielding to
Sandburg. Slater promised Edwards that
the GDP would respect this as Clan business and stay out of it.
Okay
Sutherland, stop being naive. All this
means is that this is someone working independently of Slater. Like that’s never happened before.
David gave a discreet little snort to go along with his mental musing. He’d lost track of the number of times Blair had been promised something, only to have someone conveniently misplace the memo.
So, I could be held by just… wait a minute. What was it that female guard, Henion, said? ‘Doc’ she said ‘Doc’ Oh bother, what was the name of that doctor who wanted Neds to sign me over to the lab for a week so he could re-test my level and run a few EEGs? Gah, I thought Neds was going to put the man through Captain Falks’ window. What was his name?
David felt the
urge to press the heel of his palm to his forehead as if to squeeze the
information out of his head. Without
thinking, he tried to pull his right hand up and winced as his left shoulder
wrenched painfully. He’d completely
forgotten that his hands were tied behind his back.
Closing his
eyes tightly, the young Guide fought back tears of frustration. David couldn’t understand why he was being
treated like this. He’d never done
anything wrong.
He’d been
identified as a Guide at the age of thirteen.
Even at that intractable age, David had been a biddable young man and
the sudden upheaval in his life had done little to change his openly accepting
nature.
David had been
looking forward to a season of Little League, and instead he’d been taken off a
team he’d played on for years and sent to a summer session of GDP introduction.
Most of the
other young people in his group had given their GDP mentors a hard time. They’d been disgruntled at the change in
their lives and sullen at loosing their summer fun.
A few had been
terrified, filled with images of Guides living a life of complete servitude;
beaten, raped and completely at the mercy of their Sentinels.
David’s father,
Julian Sutherland, had not been thrilled at the news that his youngest son was
now an identified Guide. David’s three
elder siblings, two boys and a girl, were already well on their way to
fulfilling the Sutherland legacy. His
eldest brother Samuel was a corporate lawyer, one year away from making
partner. The second Sutherland child,
Edmund, had shipped out to the American Embassy in India two months before the
summer break had started, and David’s sister Juliette was reveling in her
summer internship at the DNC headquarters in Washington.
Julian
Sutherland had expected his youngest son to follow his mother’s footsteps onto
Wall Street. Katherine Sutherland had
been a leading Wall Street analyst before she’d walked away from her job to
raise her growing family. A case of
wing ice on a shuttle flight back from New York had turned Katherine into a
statistic before she could enjoy her youngest child’s first birthday. David had no memory of his mother but was
constantly told how much he resembled her.
David had grown
up knowing exactly what was expected of him.
For David, the news that he was a Guide and his future was now in the
hands of the GDP was not that big a deal.
His future had been in the hands of his grieving father for as long as
David could remember.
Then he’d
bonded to Edwards. While Edwards was a
man used to being in control, the Sentinel had always sought his Guide’s input
and opinion on matters that concerned them both. Edwards often made his own decisions all the same but he never
failed to really listen to David’s thoughts.
It was more then Julian Sutherland had ever bothered to do.
Gah, Sutherland, now is not the time to
be strolling down memory lane.
David gave his
fuzzy head a shake and leaned his shoulders back against the wall.
Neds will be looking for me. I know he will. I’ve just got to hang in there until he finds me. If it is that doctor... what was his name damn it? If it is that doctor, then he just wants to run some tests. Okay, you can do tests Sutherland. You can do tests till Neds gets here.
Caught up in
his mental pep talk, the opening of the cell door startled the young Guide and
he jumped. Despite his brave words to
himself, David felt his mouth go dry and his heart rate accelerate as two large
orderlies entered the room, followed by an older man with a queer sort of smile
on his face.
“Ah, good, he’s
awake and alert. Excellent, excellent,
I had no wish to add more drugs to his system.
I need the subject as natural as possible.”
Subject? David thought to himself, drawing further back
against the wall and staring at the man with an expression of growing horror.
“Jerry, let’s
get a blood sample. I want to compare
it to the sample on file and see how much of the drug he’s worked out of his
system already. Then we’ll form a time
line on when we can get started.”
“You want a
urine sample also Doc?”
“Hmm, oh yes,
yes, thank you for reminding me Jerry.”
“Sure thing
Doc. Len, give me a hand here, we’ll
get the urine sample first, then the blood.”
David glanced
rapidly between all three men. The
doctor was focused on a chart he’d brought in with him and wasn’t paying a bit
of attention to the other people in the room.
The horror he’d felt when they’d entered spiked sharply and David tried
to scoot back towards a corner of the room.
Len was on him in an instant, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him
down onto floor, using David’s own weight to pin his arms. Pain lanced through David’s shoulders and he
cried out, kicking with his legs, trying to roll over. The pressure on his shoulders just increased,
forcing him to lay flat or inflict more pain on himself.
The other man,
Jerry, was stripping the packaging off a large syringe. Expert fingers added a long needle to the
syringe and then he was turning to the Guide on the floor. Using his one arm to pin down David’s
trembling legs, he grabbed the bottom of David’s shirt and yanked it upwards,
then began to unbutton David’s jeans.
Confused and
hopelessly pinned, David lay still trying to figure out what Jerry was
doing. A flash of the horror that Blair
Sandburg had endured assaulted the young Guide and David bucked.
“Bah, keep him
still will you Len, I don’t want to miss.
I hate having to poke em twice.”
More pressure
came to bear on David’s upper torso and he had two choices, lay still or risk
dislocating his shoulders. Panting
heavily, he peered down his body at Jerry as the man started to squeeze points
in his abdomen.
Realization
dawned on him.
They were going
to draw the urine sample straight out of his bladder.
“NEDS!” David screamed desperately.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clement ‘Neds’ Edwards was, to put it kindly, frantic.
He’d arrived home from a pleasant afternoon spent with his fellow Sentinel, exchanging Guide Handling 101 tips as much as anything. Edwards had been whistling, twirling his keys on the end of his finger and pondered stringing David along with a much more exciting tale, just to see how far the younger man would let himself be lead before he realized Edwards was funning with him.
Edwards could
still remember the sense of peace he’d felt as he turned the corner of his
hallway towards his apartment. He could
remember the way that peace was shattered in an instant, when he saw the
partially open door.
The partially
opened door had lead to minute pieces of fletching left behind from the
dart. The evidence of the dart had
alerted the panicked Sentinel to the presence of the unique ‘unscent’ that GDP
guards wore in the mistaken belief that a Sentinel wouldn’t be able to scent their presence. All of the evidence had lead to one conclusion.
David, his
Guide, was gone.
Taken.
Ripped from the
security of his Sentinel’s territory.
Taken.
Now, two and a half hours later, Edwards stood by the large window that dominated the office of Captain Simon Banks. Behind him, Ellison, Sandburg, Banks, and Dan Slater, were discussing the apparent GDP abduction of his Guide. Ellison had ordered Edwards away from the conference table after the agitated Sentinel’s second attempt to throttle Dan Slater.
“I’m sorry Jim. Yes, I agree that all the circumstantial evidence points towards the GDP, but there is nothing concrete that will justify a warrant. Even if we could get a warrant, which facility would we get the warrant for?”
Dan Slater sounded properly contrite about the situation but Edwards still had to bite his lips to keep from growling at the man.
Blair shot a quick look at the tense set of Edwards’ shoulders before turning his attention back to Slater.
“Dan, come on. You know David. Edwards had instructed David to open the door only for Jim. There is only one circumstance that would prompt a Guide to disobey a direction from his Sentinel; a GDP order.”
Simon Banks chuffed. “Sorry Blair, but that’s a hell of a statement coming from you.”
Blair responded to Simon’s humor with a tight grin.
“Yeah, I know, but we’re not talking about me. We’re talking about David, who is practically the poster child for the GDP’s image of a ‘proper’ Guide. David would never have disobeyed Edwards, unless his Sentinel was in visible danger, or the GDP overrode the order.”
Slater sighed and sat back in his chair.
“Blair, I hear what you’re saying and I agree but it still doesn’t change the fact that we have no hard evidence to tie the GDP to this, and even if we did, what facility do you think he’s at?”
“Vancouver.”
Edwards’ rough voice was so soft that the other three men in the room barely heard him.
Ellison turned in his chair and looked at Edwards’ haggard profile.
“Vancouver?”
Edwards took a deep breath and turned his head to face his clan leader directly.
“Doctor Francis Gelt. He wanted me to sign David over to his care for a couple of weeks, to retest his level. That was the official reason. Unofficially, he wanted to test David’s secondary shielding. He wasn’t too pleased with my ‘no’.”
Slater frowned. “How do you know…”
Edwards turned, snarling. “Because I do Slater! And if that isn’t a good enough answer for your ‘concrete evidence’ seeking heart then because he told me.”
Slater closed his mouth and looked down at the top of the table. His face was schooled to a noncommittal expression but Blair could read the hurt set in his shoulders.
Jim and Blair exchanged a quick glance before Jim stepped into the uncomfortable silence Edwards’ outburst had created.
“Okay. How do you know Vancouver?”
Edwards had turned back to the window.
“Part of the paperwork he needed me to sign involved transportation for David across the boarder. Hell, it wasn’t even a proper passport, it was like David was freight.” Edwards paused clenching his jaw so tightly Ellison was afraid he’d crack a tooth. “Anyway, I read the destination on the paperwork, it was for Vancouver, Canada.”
“Did you see an address?”
Edwards shook his head. “No, I didn’t go that far down into the paperwork.” He didn’t bother to add that he’d been too busy throwing the papers back in Dr. Gelt’s face to read further.
Slater chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip, darting a quick glance towards Edwards before starting out cautiously.
“Well, if it was Gelt then that fits. There is a secluded research center just north of Vancouver that Gelt is attached to.”
Blair bounced forward in his chair. “Alright then, we’ve got a who and a where and we know why. Let’s go.”
“Blair, it’s not that simple.” Slater cringed even as he spoke the words.
“Yes, it is.” The matter of fact answer was pure Dark Guide.
“We need to get GDP approval…”
“Screw GDP approval. Dan, they are illegally holding a Guide against his will and against the will of his Sentinel.”
“Blair, they won’t even let us through the gates without proper authorization.”
“Well then ‘you’ better get started.”
“Blair, it’s not that simple.”
“Yes Slater, it is that simple.” This time it was the Dark Sentinel who answered. “We can go in with or without GDP authorization, but we are going in.”
For the most part, Simon Banks had been staying out of the conversation. Matters pertaining to the Clan and the GDP usually left him feeling out of step and he wasn’t comfortable getting involved with something that was not his business. His personal opinion of the situation wasn’t important but he still had a professional obligation to uphold and that involved keeping the situation within its legal means.
Sitting forward he pinned Jim with his best ‘I am Captain, hear me
roar’ expression.
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that Ellison because you are very close to making statements that would require official action on my part. If this is all circumstantial, you go barging in half-cocked and you’re wrong… you are in for a heap of legal trouble. You don’t know for certain that Sutherland is at this facility. This facility is not even in your jurisdiction, let alone your country. Now, calm down and do this by the numbers Jim.”
“By the numbers?!?” Edwards couldn’t contain his incredulous cry. “How long will that take? How many days do you want me to sit here, while my Guide is in the hands of a man who sees him as little more than a verbally proficient lab rat?”
“Edwards…” Slater began only to be interrupted.
“No! No ‘Edwards’. You didn’t see this Gelt. David isn’t a person to this man. He’s a curiosity, a paper topic. I will not tolerate sitting and waiting for talking heads to push papers while my Guide is being treated like…”
Edwards trailed off, visibly shaken by the mental images of the treatment that his gentle Guide was possibly enduring.
The pain flowing off Edwards was an almost tangible force. Blair scooted his chair back and stood up, crossing over to Edwards. Standing next to the Senior Sentinel Prime Apparent, he reached up and laid his hand against Edwards’ forearm, helping the frazzled Sentinel focus and regain control of his ragged emotions. Edwards was doing fairly well in controlling his senses, but the emotional stress he was under was threatening to cripple the frantic man.
Jim watched his Guide move to sooth his SIC. There was a tense moment where Jim feared that Edwards would push Blair away, but then the taller man exhaled a shuddering breath and turned towards his Senior Guide Prime, pressing his face into Blair’s shoulder and letting a Guide, not his own, help him.
Turning back, Jim fixed both Banks and Slater with a look that could freeze lava.
“Where is this facility, Slater?”
Jim’s tone brooked no nonsense.
“Approximately 50 miles northwest of the Vancouver city limits.”
Jim quickly did some mental figuring then looked down at his watch.
“We will be leaving Cascade for Vancouver in three hours. It will take us six hours to get to Vancouver. I plan to be at the gates of this facility by 2:00am tonight. You have until 1:59am to get us authorization, Dan. That gives you seven and a half hours. I suggest you get started.”
Slater studied Ellison’s expression for a moment, then nodded and stood, scooting his chair back out of the way.
“You can reach me on my cell. I’ll call you when I have word.”
Slater snatched up his coat and looked towards Edwards, who had straightened and stepped away from Sandburg. The Sentinel was regarding him with an expression that was part hostile and part desperate. The looked of an injured wild animal that isn’t sure he wants to trust, but knows there are very few options.
Slater gave Edwards a reassuring nod then turned and slipped out the door.
Edwards turned so he could face Jim, Simon, and Blair directly.
“Twelve hours.” He spoke softly.
Simon frowned and looked at Jim but it was Blair who answered Bank’s silent question.
“David will have been in Gelt’s control for close to twelve hours.”
“We don’t know…” Simon began but bit the words off as three pairs of ice-cold eyes landed on him. “All right, just stop glaring at me.”
Jim stood and walked over to his fellow Sentinel, talking in a low voice that was meant for the other man’s sensitive ears only.
“We’ll find him Edwards.”
“He’s never been held by the GDP, Jim. He’s never been leashed, he’s never…”
Jim laid his hand on Edwards’ shoulder, gripping it tightly. He knew what the other man was trying to say. Edwards had always protected David from the harsher realities of Guide life. Even when David had been beaten, Edwards had been close enough to respond immediately.
“I’ve never not been there Jim. I might have been late…”
“And that’s all you’ll be now Edwards... late. Just a little late, but you will be there.”
Edwards turned as if to pull away from Jim, but the taller man tightened his grip on his SIC’s shoulder.
“No, listen to me. I know what you’re afraid of. You’re afraid David won’t survive this. You’ve always been there. You’ve always protected him. But you have to trust your Guide Edwards.”
“This isn’t how it works Jim.”
“Yes, it is. You trust him, he trusts you. This is something beyond the control of you both but you have to keep reminding yourself that you ‘both’ will come through it, otherwise you are going to paralyze yourself with the ‘what ifs’ and then you’ll be no use to David what so ever.”
Blair had walked up beside his Sentinel as Jim spoke to Edwards and the young Guide nodded his agreement, his usually laughing blue eyes sober and serious.
“Jim’s right and David will be all right Edwards. He’s strong.”
Edwards gave Blair a skeptical look, his dark eyes full of confusion and automatic distrust. Blair knew that conversations of a personal nature did not come easily to the Boston Sentinel and he smiled reassuringly.
“I’m not feeding you a line Edwards. I’m telling you what I ‘know’ from working with David and his shielding. He is strong. You and he aren’t the Apparent pair just because of ‘your’ abilities. David is also equal to the task. Have some faith man.” Blair risked a small grim smile. “Hell, I’m willing to bet this Gelt is already regretting grabbing David.”
There was a pause, where Blair worried that Edwards wasn’t going to respond at all, but then the Sentinel gave a small snort and turned back towards the window, muttering darkly.
“He’s going to regret it a whole lot more when I get a hold of him.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It could safely be said that David was already regretting the whole experience. He was strapped down on a cold metal table, electrodes glued at different points to his skull, digging into his scalp where he lay on a couple of them. He was naked to the waist with more sensors taped down to his torso, keeping track of his heart rate, respiration and blood pressure.
The tests had started out simple enough. They had tested his level, compared it to whatever they had on file and then run a series of normal diagnostic tests: unpleasant but bearable.
Bearable until they graduated to more insidious tests.
It had started as a quick, sharp pain to his temple, like a sudden quick flash of a headache. Then there had been another, and another. They had then begun working on a series of electrical shocks, designed to map out the form and function of the secondary shielding.
David had been reduced to a sobbing mess by the time they finished with the battery of tests. He had been barely aware of the conversation, taking place between Gelt and his assistant over his writhing body.
“The shields don’t seem to be able to block out any sort of physical stimuli. Mark down that the secondary shielding seems to serve an emotional purpose only.”
‘No
SHIT!’ David caught himself thinking through the agony. ‘ I could have ‘told’ you that you sadistic
bastard. Why not just ‘ask’ me?’
“Do you want to continue on with the structural tests Doctor?”
“Hmm? Mmm, not at the moment. I want a chance to study this mapping we did. Also I want to approach those tests from a ground zero baseline. The subject is stressed and agitated, I don’t think we’d get an accurate reading if we proceeded at this point. Have the Guide taken back to his cell and fed.”
“Do you want him sedated?”
“Not unless he doesn’t sleep on his own. I want to keep him as drug free as possible.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
David kept his eyes screwed shut as the electrodes were plucked off his head, pulling out his hair. He felt the restraints holding down his legs being released and then his arms. He was transferred off the exam table onto a gurney and tied back down.
All the young Guide wanted to do was curl up in a ball and be left alone. His torso ached, his arms ached, his head was killing him, and his neck and back felt like a pretzel. Some small part of David’s mind told him he should open his eyes and try to get his bearings but he didn’t want to show that much awareness.
It’s not like I have any chance of escaping. I wouldn’t even know how to escape, or where to go.
David felt a tear track it’s way down his temple. It tickled, annoying him and he wanted to lift his hand and brush it away but his arms hadn’t been his to control since he woke up in this hellhole. Unable to perform the simple act of wiping away a tear frustrated the young Guide unbearably and he couldn’t take it.
Crying wordlessly, David threw himself with a strength that surprised even him, against the bindings on the gurney. The sudden, violent action surprised the orderlies and David tipped the gurney over, sending it and him crashing to the floor.
“What the hell!”
One of the orderlies shouted.
“GUARD! GUARD!”
David knew he should feel pain but he was simply too overwrought at that moment to feel anything except the desperate urge to be free. He wriggled wildly but the restraints holding him to the gurney barely budged. Lodged up against the wall, the gurney itself barely moved and in short order the young Guide exhausted himself. Hanging, uncomfortably to the side, David’s tense muscles suddenly relaxed and his body sagged against the hard metal railing of the over turned gurney.
Somewhere near his head there was movement. Blinking tear blurred eyes, he craned his head around to look up into the face of the GDP guard, JarHead.
“Hey. You done?” JarHead asked in a reasonable tone.
Miserable, David nodded, closing his eyes and letting his head hang.
“Yeah, kinda thought you might be. Fitz, get over here and help me get this gurney back up.”
Ears filled with the frantic rushing of blood as his adrenaline high wore off David heard only a muffled response. Then his world was being tilted back up on its axis and he was not longer hanging.
“I’ll take him back to his room.”
JarHead’s deep voice sounded from somewhere near David’s head and without waiting for a response the guard began to wheel the gurney on down the hall.
David turned his head to the side and pushed his face against the pillows trying to wipe the sticky tears off his temple. He rode along quietly, eyes closed, feeling the gurney take a couple of turns before it came to a stop. He heard a door open and then he was tugged along and back into his room.
Eyes closed, he felt JarHead moving around him, freeing his legs, then his arms, and finally the bands across his torso.
“Come on, we need to get the leash on.” The GDP guard’s voice was not unkind.
However, the word, ‘leash’ struck a new wave of terror through the battered young Guide and from somewhere; some well of determination David had never suspected he had, he found the strength to throw himself off the gurney. Landing awkwardly on the floor with a knee cracking momentum, he scuttled into a corner of the room and curled himself into as small a ball as he could manage.
JarHead watched the Guide’s quick retreat with a bemused expression, blinking a couple of times as he met the fearful but slightly defiant green eyed glance the younger man was shooting him overtop of his knees.
“Not too keen on this leash hmm?” JarHead kept his voice calm and reasonable, the way one might speak to a child, or a wild animal.
His voice raw from screaming, David just gave the guard a look that spoke volumes.
“Yeah, I gettcha.” JarHead hunkered down on his heels, threading the leash through his fingers in a pensive gesture.
“Listen, if it were up to me, no leash. I mean, little fellow like you… heh I don’t need a leash to handle the likes of you.”
David blinked, uncertain whether the guard was trying to be reassuring or insulting.
“However, lot of these other folks, well… for them the only good Guide is a leashed Guide and I don’t think you really want them getting their kicks putting this thing on you.”
The guards words just helped remind the Guide Prime of the near hopeless situation he was in and he whimpered softly, laying his head down on his knees.
“Hey now, it’s not so bad as all that. Just… well you gottah let me do my job.” JarHead’s rough voice held a certain tone that drew David’s eyes back up to his face.
Studying the guard for a long moment, David blinked a couple of times then blurted out without stopping to think about his words.
“Who did you know?”
JarHead rocked back on his heels as the Guide’s ravaged voice, like crushed velvet, washed across him, surprised not only by the fact that the Guide spoke, but the question.
“What are you talking about?”
David swallowed a little, trying to get some moisture down his dry throat.
“You … you lost somebody. Somebody you knew… somebody close.” David tilted his head rubbing the corner of his eyes against his knee but keeping his gaze focused on the GDP guard across from him. “Were they a Guide?”
JarHead’s face flushed and for a moment he looked murderous. Frightened, David drew further down on himself, his green-eyes wide and panicked. At the smaller man’s obvious terror, JarHead forced himself to relax the tight muscles of his face.
“Not a Guide, a Sentinel. My older sister.”
David didn’t ask the follow-up question. He was afraid to see that murderous look in the eyes of the one person who seemed to remember he was a person. He simply waited.
JarHead sat down, looping his arms loosely around his knees and threading the leash back and forth.
“Jennifer was identified pretty young, she was seventeen. It took her a couple of years to find a Guide, but Kelli was worth the wait. They were a hell of a combination let me tell you, spitfires, both of em.”
There was obvious brotherly pride in JarHead’s voice and a hint of something more.
“They worked together in Colorado, doing mountain rescue. Kelli got jumped by a group of youngsters who were just out to cause mischief. Jennifer was there in a jiff and managed to chase them off but Kelli sprained her ankle. Couple days later, there was an accident up on the mountain. Jennifer was dispatched and Kelli insisted on going with her. They were able to secure the victim but the mountain was unstable. On the way down an avalanche started. Long story short, Jen was able to get herself and the victim into a cave and out of the way but with her ankle… Kelli couldn’t move out of the way fast enough.”
JarHead paused tugging on the leash a couple of times in agitation.
“Jen… was…” He stopped and took a deep breath giving his head a sharp shake. “Jen took her own life a day before the funeral. We buried them both on the same day, side by side. It seemed the right thing to do… the only thing left to do.”
David was quiet as he just listened. Sometimes, you could encourage a person to talk just by not interrupting them and though his empathic abilities were battered, raw and almost painful, he could not miss the wistful surge of emotion coming off the man sitting across the room from him.
Emotion… and something else.
David had tried to keep the secondary shields locked up high and tight while they had been testing him but he was tired and the shields were starting to crumble. As JarHead rode the tide of his memories, David found himself reading more and more off the man.
There was something….
There was something….
There was…
“Oh!”
David’s sudden exclamation drew JarHead out of his thoughts and he frowned forbiddingly at the Guide.
“Oh, what Guide?”
The young Guide blinked at the ex-marine and he licked his lips, biting back the words on the tip of his tongue. The older man’s uncommon kindness, almost protectiveness towards him made sense all of a sudden.
JarHead was a latent, weak talent Sentinel.
It was unlikely that the Marine would ever develop the keen senses of a full-fledged Sentinel, but the genetic make up was there along with the primal instinct to “protect the Guide.”
The instinct, however, was almost subconscious at this point and David’s instincts told him that the ex-Marine, however kindly, would not take kindly to being told why he was feeling the urge to help a Guide.
Taking a deep breath, David considered fabricating a reason for his short outburst but he quickly discarded the idea. JarHead did not strike him as someone who appreciated being lied to. Instead he took a deep breath and slowly uncurled himself from the wall. Trembling from head to foot, his arms already aching from where he threw himself against the restraints of the gurney, skin chilled by the institutionalized air, David stretched out, stomach down, on the cold floor.
Folding his hands behind his back, he bit back a whimper as stiff muscles protested the action but presented himself to the GDP guard for leashing.
JarHead watched the younger man adopt the humiliating position with a quiet, painful dignity. Reaching for the gurney he grabbed the blanket off the top then set about the distasteful task of leashing up the Guide. Neatly folding the blanket around David’s bare torso and wrapping the leash in such a way to help hold the cloth in place.
“There. Not so bad eh? Also keep you from catching a cold.”
David couldn’t help a small grin. The words sounded just as unconvincing to JarHead as they did to David and he could tell the ex-Marine knew it.
“Yeah. Okay, point taken.”
JarHead carefully picked the Guide up and set him back against the wall. The GDP Guard set a cup of water with a straw within reach of the leashed man.
“There, a little water should help you feel better. I’ll be honest, I don’t know that it’s not drugged but I don’t think it is, Doc wants you as … ah…”
“Un-compromised specimen?”
JarHead had the grace to wince at David’s dry delivery.
“Well… yeah.” What else could the guard say?
David just closed his eyes and exhaled a breath that seemed to deflate his already small form.
JarHead stood, watching him for a moment then he hunkered back down in front of the Guide.
“Hey…”
He waited till David’s tired, frightened green eyes opened and looked at him.
“Right now, it’s your job to survive, and you need to do anything and everything you can to do your job.”
There was an intensity to JarHead as he spoke those words and David felt himself responding to the older man’s sheer determination of will. He still couldn’t bring himself to speak but after a couple of beats, he nodded.
JarHead waited till he saw that nod then he stood back up.
“Okay then. You hang in there. Try to get some rest. They want to wear you