Chapter Twenty-Seven

Jack opened his eyes as the bright, warm, summer sunlight streamed into the room. He blinked several times, trying to remember where he’d been taken. There was no strong antiseptic smell, no voices drifting in from the hallway, so it wasn’t a hospital. He thought a minute longer. Challengers HQ. He never thought he’d see the inside of that place again.

He tried to rise and unhook all the monitors as the door opened. He frowned at the man who entered, and his chest went cold. Jack’s hand curled around a weapon that wasn’t there.

“Don’t get up,” Cap said. “You need to give yourself more time to heal.”

Jack lay back. “Misty told me some interesting things last night,” he said, turning an expressionless face to the captain. The hero wore no micro chainmail armor this morning, just sweat pants and a T-shirt.

The captain stood to the side and allowed a short girl with sparkling white hair to come in, carrying a food tray. “Stopwatch wasn’t sure you could handle solid food after your internal injuries, but she changed her mind after she ran your tests this morning. Your healing factor is as close to natural regeneration as I’ve ever seen. Eat first. Your questions have waited this long. A few more minutes won’t hurt.”

Jack watched her put the tray down and helped him sit a little higher. She made sure he had everything before leaving the room.

He looked at Cap. “New member?”

“Got to put new blood in the ranks. Some of us are feeling the effects of too many battles.”

Jack ate in silence as Cap leaned against the wall. Questions burned in him as he watched the hero out of the corner of his eye. He’d waited for this day, but he’d seen it going a little differently. He had no weapons, no armor, and was laid up after having the hell kicked out of him.

He finished and pushed the table away, turning to stare at the man across the room. “Misty said you’ve been working for years on my behalf. Is this true?”

The hero nodded. “The last time we spoke, when you saw the evidence I found, I couldn’t shake the feeling something wasn’t right. I decided to do some checking. The results were...interesting.”

Jack’s body tensed. “You found something that could’ve supported what I was saying and you kept quiet? Why didn’t you at least tell me?”

The captain moved to sit in the chair next to the bed. “I wanted to but didn’t want to get your hopes up. Soon after that, you disappeared.”

“How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” Jack looked over at him, and his eyes narrowed. “We didn’t have a good last meeting.”

Cap leaned forward. “I understand you don’t trust me, and that’s fine. It’s going to take time.” He stood and paced. “I called Michael Frailer. I don’t think you’ve had a chance to meet him. He’s the current ULTRA commander. He’s coming by to talk to you today.”

Jack’s hand twitched as he wished for any kind of weapon as he frowned at Cap.

The hero simply smiled. “He just wants to talk to you. No agents, no warrants, nothing for you to worry about. You’re currently under my protection, on my personal word to the commander. You apparently have two guardian Angels looking out for you.”

Jack frowned. Misty he could understand, but Rena…? “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Cap stood next to him. “Michael also wants to know exactly what you learned thirteen years ago, and how George Fenmore is involved.”

“How does he know all this?” Jack asked.

The captain chuckled. “Rena and Misty have explained about everything the two of them had uncovered.”

Jack was really confused, now. He looked up at the captain. He opened his mouth, but Cap held up a hand, stopping him.

“I’m not sure of the particulars,” the hero said, “but Misty is still here and will be in to see you when we’re done. A couple of friends of yours showed up last night, also.”

The only sound for several long moments was the steady beeping of the monitors hooked to Jack saying he was recovering just fine. Jack thought about what he’d been told and frowned as he ended up with more questions now than before.

Captain Starblast stood at the end of his bed. “So are you still planning my immediate demise or can I stop worrying?”

Jack’s gaze shot to him and he relaxed, seeing the grin on the hero’s face. “Keep worrying for now. I’ll let you know if I change my mind.”

Starblast nodded. “Fair enough.”

Misty walked in, nodding to Cap as he left, heading straight to Jack’s bed. “Good morning. You’re looking better.”

Jack gave her a skeptical glance. “I just need to rest and let all the beautiful nurses come and take care of me.” He took her hand, pressing a small kiss to the back of it. “You wouldn’t want me to get up too soon and have a relapse, would you?”

She grinned and shook her head. “I knew it. You’re a typical male who needs to be babied constantly.”

He pulled her down next to him. “Only if you’re volunteering.”

“Pick me,” she whispered just before kissing him lightly.

“Hey, you two, break it up,” Frank said from the doorway. He led Amy into the room and let her sit in the chair by the bed. He made sure she was comfortable and didn’t need anything before turning to Jack, who watched him with open amusement.

Amy grinned. “I keep telling him I’m not made of glass. I’m fine. I’ve been fine, but he won’t leave me alone.”

“I just want to make sure she doesn’t overtire herself,” Frank said, sounding a little more than slightly defensive.

“How did you guys find me?” Jack asked, deciding to ignore Frank’s adoring looks at Amy and Amy’s pink cheeks every time he did.

“Rena telepathically called me,” Amy said. “She said she thought you’d feel better if we were here with you.”

Jack glanced at Misty. “Did you know about this?” he asked her.

Misty shook her head. “Rena really does care, Jack. For all her quirks, she knows what people need.”

“I just can’t believe she would do this for me,” Jack said, his voice low. “I mean, she made no secret of her dislike for me.”

“I think it was more because she thought you hurt me,” Misty said. “She’s kind of over-protective.”

Jack just nodded and took Amy’s hand. “This means the world to us.”

“I’ll let you guys have some time and check on you later.” Misty kissed him again and left.

Jack watched her leave then turned to his friends. They’d been so close and now, things were going to get ugly for the whole team. He wanted to tell them everything would work out the way they wanted, but he was sick of lies.

“How are things progressing?”

Frank shook his head. “Not good. No one on the street is talking.” He paused. “Everyone’s gone.”

Jack trembled, a deep, internal chill pushing its way out to his skin. “What about Mexico? Is he safe?”

Amy smiled. “He’s safe. The more people stopped talking, the more he knew something was wrong. He’s at the country house.” She wrinkled her nose. “And I told him to burn those rags he wears. They reek.”

Jack grinned, knowing Mexico would probably have argued, but eventually would’ve done it. Nobody told Amy no. He looked up. “Frank, I need you to find Cyber-X.”

Frank’s eyes opened wide. “Are you sure? Wasn’t he trying to bring you in recently?”

“Yes, but we’ve established a sort of truce, and we need help.” Jack turned to Amy. “My girl, you’ve got the harder job.”

She sat forward. “What? I’ll do anything to help.”

Jack squeezed her hand. “The head of ULTRA is coming by today to talk to me. I want you to talk to him, too. You know more about the paper trail than any of us.”

Frank began to pace. “Are you sure about this guy? How do you know you can trust him?”

“Rena requested Michael not do anything until he had the full story. As a telepath, she’d have known if he couldn’t be trusted. I think we have more allies in this than we first believed.”

“Ha! I told you so,” Frank said, grinning wide when Jack just scowled at him.

“Jack?” Amy asked quietly. “What happens to you now?”

He had thought long and hard about what would happen to him, and he had no illusions about his fate. “I’m probably looking at life in the HighPower Containment Facility or possible execution.”

Amy choked back a small sob. “After all you’ve done to protect them? They wouldn’t.”

“They would,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what Commander Frailer’s going to say when he hears our story, but we’ve got to face the fact I’m not a free man anymore.”

Amy kissed his cheek. “We know, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.” She stood back, taking Frank’s hand. “We’ll let you get some rest. See you later.”

He lay back, letting the silence enfold him. The day he’d been waiting for had finally arrived and he had nothing. All he had was his word and that hadn’t been trusted for years. Would the ULTRA commander believe him? Jack closed his eyes and prayed the answer was yes.