Soldiers Of Fortune (For Crim)

Shaking his head absently behind Alexis' back as they walked, Rache contemplated any sort of reaction he could have given to the teenager's words. It hurt, in fact it made him rather angry, to be told that he was like Lynch in any way was one of the greatest insults. But he didn't say anything; to say anything would be to admit that he was hurt.

And Rache understood what it was like to be hurt. What it was like to lose something precious.

"It's about a days drive away." He answered after a moment, his hand slipping down from the boy's shoulder. He didn't feel the need to continue leading him like a child, but he still remained close behind. "And... And I won't hurt you again." No. Rache wouldn't hurt him again. He would let the other's take care of it this time.

The walk to the garage was, of course, filled with multiple twists and turns through the hallways, but he was at least glad that there was a variety of vehicles still present. Though the vast collection was still diminished, they had the ability to choose a less stand-outish car. Leading the teenager to a rather common looking commodor, Rache opened the door for him, easily finding the keys taped to the roof of the car.

The subconscious of Alexis's mind was telling him that there were options at this point, about how he would go about bringing Rache's head back to his 'master'. He could do it now, away from help by waiting until they were half way out and kicking him as he drove, then killing him and escaping the cuffs. But no, he would wait, survive once they were at the second base, thus giving him a new location to give to Lynch to attack once he had the chance.

Sliding into the passenger seat as the door was held open, the teen sat there as he waited for Rache to get into the car. "I do like you..." He mumbled, staring out the window. "I have since I first opened my eyes way back when. I just didn't know it."

And with that, he closed said eyes, settling in for the ride.

Climbing into the driver's seat and very blatantly ignoring Alexis' confession, Rache followed the teenager's actions and settled in for the long drive, starting the engine and rather calmly exiting the garage.

He'd decided the moment he got in the car that he wouldn't let his guard down; nor would he speak a word, lest he wake a possibly sleeping Alexis. The car was smooth, the traffic little to none on the open road. Even Rache didn't know specifically where the secondary base was; all he knew were the directions on how to get there. He'd left it that way on purpose when contracting the builder.

The day seemed to drag on as they drove into a small town and past it, continuing on until they saw the sun set and the still of the night creep its' way into the car, high beams on and all manner of bugs splattering the windshield, the teen counting forty-two big ones as a car passed them, causing him to turn in his seat.

There was lights flashing in blue and red a few seconds later, the car being one of a police vehicular persuasion, wanting them to pull to the side.

Glancing up at the illuminance of red and blue, Rache frowned; the cops? This wasn't good. Despite not actually doing anything to warrant being pulled over, he had a teenager handcuffed in the seat next to him. Hesitating for only a moment, though, he pulled to the side of the road, his grip on the steering wheel tightening slightly before loosening to a casual rest.

The cop car pulled up behind them, Rache knowing that taking his hands off the steering wheel wasn't a good idea, and a lanky police officer climbed out of the vehicle, checking something in his own car before closing the door and wandering up to the driver's side. The young leader gave Alexis a side glance a moment, before turning his attention back to the window, giving the officer a rather professional, yet questioning look.

"Evening." He greeted absently, tapping his finger on the wheel.

Alexis caught the glance to him from his leader and tried to look normal, leaning back on his hands as much as he could to hide them shifting to the side as if he was sleeping and had just woken up, lowering his eyelids to half way as the cop came up to Rache's window.

"Hey," He answered the officer in a half hearted sigh, yawning a little. "What's going on?"

The officer seemed to be checking something; a list of sorts, the papers shuffling as he moved, standing just beside the door, his gloved hand suddenly coming down to rest on the edge created by the open window.

"Would you please step out of the car, sir." The cop said, not answering much of a question, nor paying much attention to what was supposed to be common courtesy between people. Shifting to the side slightly so that Rache could get out, the young officer kept his gaze on the paper as the driver opened the door and stepped from the vehicle.

The cop closed the door, leaning on it as he flipped the piece of paper, the glimpse of a photo catching Rache's eye.

"Yep, you're the guy." With a sharp smack, the clipboard was dropped to the ground, and Rache was very openly attacked, his defenses only quick enough to block the fast appearing blade from slicing open his throat, the sharp edge sinking into his forearm.

"Shit--"

Whilst the commotion with Rache and the young officer errupted outside the car, another had slipped down the opposing side of the car, opening Alexis' door, lockpick in hand.
"C'mere kid, Lynch is done waiting."

"Rache!" Alexis shouted after the casual routine of checking licences turned into a very quick and bloody brawl between the two, his door being opened and another officer turning him around so he could get at his cuffs.

"Wait, did you say Lynch?!" He cried as his hands were released, sliding out of the car to stand next to the fake cop, peering over the roof top at the fight. He wanted to move, to help Rache out, hand twitching before swinging up to backhand the fake cop in the face, deciding to help after all.

"Rache, hold on!"

Knocking the cap free from the cops head only caused Rache to stop near on dead, his eyes widening slightly; the blonde hair-- the face. But it didn't last long, the young leader of the Aufstand retaliating with a new found aggrevation. This man was the man responsible for everything.

The second cop, one of Lynch's little cronies, recoiled slightly at the slap to the face, his reaction only to stop and watch; he wasn't ordered to do anything else.

The blonde laughed, taking a few steps back, the small pocket knife in his hand smeared in Rache's blood. "Ah, Aurel, how nice of you to remember me." Lynch smirked, glancing toward Alexis. "And Alexis.." Everything seemed to have stopped; Rache wasn't moving, save for his heavy breathing, Lynch was overly calm, standing quite casually, the knife by his side.

"I believe I gave you something to do."

Paling at the sight of the blond on the other side of the car, Alexis felt his heart beating to bursting point in both sudden fright and hatred for the man he followed for so long, and joy that he was here. Flashes of the white suit appeared in his head as he rounded the car without knowlegde of doing so, standing next to the Scriosta leader.

He felt drugged once more, in a daze as he glanced over at Rache, slowly raising his hand for the pocket knife. "How... how did you get here so fast?" He asked, eyes half pleading for his body to stop its movement, begging to Lynch for an order to stop. "How did you find us?"

"I'm the leader of the Scriosta; I have eyes and ears everywhere, Alexis. It is not hard to find a couple of ingrates out in the open road." The blonde replied, the smirk turning to a victorious grin; he was amused by his own devices.

Betrayal flashed through Rache's eyes, followed by a pang of hurt and dashed hopes; he'd indeed hoped that Alexis wasn't a threat-- that he hadn't been comprimised. But this.. It was hard to ignore the obvious. Backing up a step, the young leader of the Aufstand clenched his jaw; he was outnumbered, and even more unnerving, he was out gunned.

"I don't blame you Alexis." He stated after a moment; what else could he say? He really didn't. He knew what had happened, and knew the teen couldn't help it. "And I forgive you." Reaching back, he retrieved the gun from the back of his pants, the weapon resting against his hip for a moment before he took another half step back and lifted it.

"I only hope you can grant me the same privelidge." However the first to move was Lynch, jumping forward within the split second of a blink, his foot hitting the ground inches from where Rache stood, only for his hand to grab hold of the pistol, locking Rache's hand against the weapon and holding it there, deeming it unusable.

"Now, now. No forgetting that I'm here." He half turned his gaze on Alexis. "I believe I could never give you a wider opening, boy. You should feel commended that I am even aiding you in such an honorable kill."

Rache's expression hardened; he could do nothing but stand there, his hand trapped, Lynch within arm's reach, but untouchable. He couldn't move-- he was frozen.

He waited, closing his eyes as he waited for the click and the ringing of gunshots, the pain of being shot or the sudden ending of his life, but when he opened them again, he found both leaders locked in a desperate struggle for the gun that Rache had produced from the waist line of his pants, looking at this impossible situation.

Lynch was ordering him to kill the one whom he liked, which caused his body to ache as that very thought fought against the order, slowly stepping up to the pair. He stood between them for a matter of seconds before raising his hands and slamming them both down over the gun jammed between them, hearing it fire as he grabbed it off them both, lifting it to shoot the guy who un-cuffed him just in case he decided to join in on the fight.

The stray bullet had lodged itself into his side, his blood soaking into his black shirt unknowingly hidden from view in the darkness, hands shaking at the choice he now had. Shoot one or the other...

"What!?" Lynch hissed, clenching his teeth as the gun was torn from both their grip, his eyes snapping to Alexis. Not only had he disobeyed a direct order, but he had killed an accomplice and had quite blatantly gone against the Scriosta. That.. that was near on impossible, not with the amount of Obedience he had been injected with. The blond stepped back, distress obvious in his eyes.

But Rache wasn't in the clear, either; the teen had only shot the tag along-- he hadn't completely turned against Lynch himself, and the struggle the boy was having was clear. There was little to no choice left in Rache's deck of cards, his hands twitching at his side; no weapon, outnumbered, out gunned once again-- no allies, no chance.

"You insolant-- kill him!" Lynch shouted, the deep seeded anger pure in his words; it was almost like he himself wasn't willing to get his hands dirty with the job. Perhaps there was a reason for this. But the hesitation of the teen gave Rache the small opportunity he needed, his stance shifting closer to Alexis, his hand grabbing onto the teenager's wrist, and his elbow coming back and slamming into his face. If this worked, perhaps he'd be able to get away with both of their lives in tact.

The battle for dominance over his own body was nearly lost in favour of raising the gun and putting a bullet into Rache's head, the gun trembling as he lifted it up slowly, biting back pain and tears, not wanting to shoot the Ausfund leader at all after everything he had done for him.

Lynch's Obedience serum was winning, the split second he blinked and the next thing he knew, he was on the ground, head swimming with pain coupled with his side from being shot. Rache had hit him in the face with his elbow, the gun thrown into the darkness somewhere beyond the headlights of the cars.

Groaning, he tried to sit up, blood pouring out of his nose. "Run..." He spluttered through the gushing crimson liquid down his face, hoping Rache would take the chance to leave.

Rache's movements were quick and precise, his fingers snatching up the gun, the end of pistol driven into Lynch's shoulder, and the trigger pulled. The loud bang echoed, the blood of the Scriosta leader splattering the ground behind him. The next action was a hard kick to the man's chest; the blonde was startled, in pain-- this couldn't be happening to him.

Sent flying onto his back, Lynch let out a startled, pained sound, his hand grabbing for his bloody, shattered shoulder. The hinder in actions gave Rache the chance he needed, reaching down and grabbing Alexis' hand, yanking the teenager up from the ground with little concideration and, after opening the door, threw him into the back seat of the car.

Rache didn't have time to do much else; he didn't want to lose Alexis, not to Lynch, so much so that he wasn't even willing to stay and finish off Lynch himself. A serious fight between the two-- well, it was a scary thought even to Rache. Lynch wasn't just a Soldier, but he was a one of a kind experiment.

"Hang in there Alexis." He murmured, more to himself than anything, as he climbed into the front seat, the engine coming to life before the tyres screamed against the road as they took off. There were only two options left-- get to a hospital, or get to the base. But the problem was, he didn't know which was closer.

Watching the whole thing unfold in front of him, that glorious moment in which anyone had seen Lynch get injured, both filled him with joy that the bastard was now able to suffer as much as they all had, and caused him pain due to the amount of Obedience coursing its way through his body.

Rache's following movements startled Alexis as he started to settle down, hoping to given the man a few more minutes to escape rather then expect the rebel leader to grab his hand, drag him up over his shoulder and throw him into the back seat like a rag doll before hauling ass down the road in their car.

"Wh-what the fuck are you doing?!" He shouted, clutching his side as he sat up a little, words gargled with the blood from his still gushing nose. "You should have just... should have just left me there! I'm still under the Obedience!"

He didn't have much else to say as they sped off, hands brutally twitching to grab Rache by the neck and choke him, sitting up just enough to view three oncoming cars, the front one flashing its highbeams a couple of times before breaking away and doing a U-turn to catch up with the car Rache drove, speeding up to pass him as another pulled up behind him like a convoy, the other continuing on their way towards the cop car and the other injured people.

The car in front of Rache was full, one person turning in their seat to hold up a sign. "NATAL SENT US. TRACKER IN YOUR CAR"

"Just shut up." Rache snapped rather loudly, knuckles white with the grip he had on the steering wheel. He hadn't exactly thought about what he was doing-- in fact, he knew that exactly what he was doing was wrong. It could get him killed, in fact it was likely to get them both killed. But still, he did it.

Squinting at the high beams, he frowned, his foot lingering on the exelerater. His movements however were dashed as the car came back around and cut in front. It took him a moment to see the sign, but the words finally sunk in and he flashed his own high beams. Everything was happening all at once, and he wasn't even sure if he could trust these people. But what other choice did he have?

Pulling over, the tires screeching, he glanced over his shoulder at Alexis, the blood suddenly becoming very obvious to him.

"Why didn't you say something!?" He shouted, reaching back to grab at the boy's shirt and lift it, the bullet wound looking rather nasty and bloody.

The shouting did just that, Alexis slumping back into the seat as his leader continued to drive a break neck speeds, even with the convoy of cars in front and behind them, which eased his mind a little before Rache pulled over to the side.

The sudden attack on his bloodied person attire with insanely warm hands meant that Alexis had lost a lot of blood and must be clammy to the touch, frowning at Rache as he questioned him. "What was I meant to do?! Shout that I had been shot while trying not to shoot you?" He answered, jumping at the tap to the window, recognising the girl as being one he saw in the war room speaking to Natal.

"Sir, we have to get you out of here," She said through the glass, pistol at her side as she spoke, ready to fire if needed at any enemies. "One of the others will take this car as a decoy, you get into the front one with an escort."

The teen stared at the woman before knocking Rache's hand away from his body, trying not to look hurt as he did so. "You need something to fight for, and they are waiting for you to come back..."

Rache paused at Alexis' words, his grip tightening in the material of the teenager's shirt, but he didn't say anything; what could he say? The kid was right.

Looking up at the tap at the window, only to have his hand knocked away, the young leader frowned, returning fully to the front seat, only to open the door and climb out.
"Make sure he's taken care of properly. I need him alive." There was a coldness to his tone, though it was more guarded than his previous demeanor. But he had quite bluntly ignored the teenager, and was now moving toward the front car; he didn't care if he was in the same vehicle as Alexis-- in fact, it was probably better that he weren't. All that really mattered was that they both got back to base more or less in one piece.

He hesitated before getting into the car, only taking a few moments of thought before climbing in the back seat; his arm was sore, bleeding-- in fact, he was even certain that the bone had been severed with the impact of the blade. Lynch was one of those things that you didn't mess with, because he was impossible to understand. At one point, there was even a rumour that he had managed to combine all six abilities into his own person. It made him almost impossible to beat in one on one-- but then, he also relied heavily on science, and the people he controlled.

Rache let out an unsteady breath as he settled into the back of the vehicle, pulling his mobile from his pocket and dialing the number he believed Mitch would be on the other end of.

The woman kept an eye on the kid in the back seat as her leader stepped out of the car, motioning for the people in the car at the back to get out and start helping, one of the other people sliding into the front of the car as two others opened the back door and pulled Alexis from the seat by his shoulders and legs, propping him up in the back seat of the second car.

Once everything was set, and everyone had gotten back into their cars, they drove off at a normal pace, the bloodied car speeding off into the distance. It made Alexis wonder how far away the second base was.

At the airport, Mitch picked out his phone from his pocket and sighed at the number. "Hello, Mitch speaking."

It took a moment for Rache to construct exactly what he was going to say in the back of his mind, biting into his bottom lip absently as Mitch picked up the other end.
"Have you made any progress?" He asked into the receiver, not bothering to let Mitch know who it was; he assumed he didn't have to make it obvious. " I'd really like it for you to be able to meet us there."

It was at moments like these he needed the people that he really trusted by his side; all of them. Lynch was making his move, and despite being less cautious than was expected, the Scriosta was still pushing the Aufstand back with each attack. They'd already managed to drive them from their main base of operations, the place that they knew the best and were most comfortable in. Their home.

He clenched his jaw as he listened to the phone, waiting for Mitch's response. They needed to do something, they needed to keep everyone safe-- they coulnd't let Lynch win, or take them back. That was worse than death.

Mitch inhaled deeply, the tone in Rache's voice was obvious that something had gone down and that he was needed back. He hadn't even left the country yet, and was tempted to leave Jordan and head back to base.

"No, not yet. About to hope onto a plane now. I can drop everything and return, Jordan is capable of hiding rather well, so hunting her down is going to take some time..." He replied, checking his watch. Knowing jordan, she probably torched the building to make sure she wouldn't be found. Something like that he admired about her.

"You wanna give me the details over the phone or face to face?"

Reaching up, he ran a tired hand down his face; somehow he knew that Mitch wouldn't have been able to get far, but he'd just hoped that maybe..
"Lynch is making a rather strong move against us." He stated after a moment's pause. "We need to do something now, and we can't afford to have units outside of the base. We need everyone back as soon as possible." He frowned, tapping his fingers on his cheek. "That includes Jordan." Exhaling, he frowned, closing his eyes and resting his head back on the seat.

"Just head back to base-- if we can spare the resources, we'll continue looking for her. But only once we've figured out what to do." His mind absently travelled back to the kid in the other car; whether or not he was alive was a question he couldn't quite surpress. "Who knows, though; maybe she'll find us."

"Hah, it almost sounds like you ran into the bastard..." Mitch laughed, but the laughter soon dropped the moment he didn't get a response, picking up his small suitcase and racing out of the line up for the plane to london, heading for the exit as fast as the huge traffic of people he had to weave through would let him. "Holy shit! I will get back as soon as possible. I'll call before I get there to check in."

Weaving about the crowd, hastily apologizing to a few of them until he was stopped by a few cops who had noticed him running, asking him why he was in such a rush. Mitch grinned and said his wife was having their baby right now and he said he wouldn't miss it, being let go and he set off once again. " I gotta go, I'll call you later." And he hung up.

Alexis was alive, barely but with still enough fight in him to warrent a fresh set of hand cuffs to keep him from hitting anyone in the face again, not of his own accord, but the Obedience kicking in stronger than ever now that he had seen Lynch get injured. The people sitting either side of him were either holding him down or holding a cloth to the wound in his side to staunch the bleeding so they could save him.

The front car pulled into the dirt drive way of the Shady Oaks Power Plant, a fully working power plant that powered the small city they passed in the way in, the occupants mainly Soliders rather then the working class or civies, those people were hidden in another location. Parking in the garage, a stretcher was brought out for Alexis, who struggled as he was cuffed to the side railings of the bed and an oxygen mask placed over his mouth as he was wheeled into the building to the underground hospital wing.

Natal was sleep deprived and ruffled, not his usual self as he walked out of the building. "Glad I found you, not as in tact as I would have liked, but glad I found you..." He said pointing to Rache's arm. "Stitches for you. Now."

Rache sat there, listening to the other end in silence; sometimes, he swore that Mitch had some sort of sixth sense. He seemed to guess very precisely with what little he was given.
Giving a short breath when the tall blond hung up, he himself hung up the phone, placing it down in his lap.

On coming to the power plant, and being met with a seemingly flustered Natal, and ontop of that being told that he was getting stitches, Rache almost felt like a little kid again; he seemed to be feeling like that a lot lately. 

"Alexis comes first. This is just a flesh wound." He stated bluntly, pullinh his jacket off and handing it to Natal. "Mitch is also on his way-- and wr'll eventually need to send someone to seek and retrieve Jordan when we can spare the resources." He was in full leader mode, it seemed, and he didn't pause long enough for Natal to argue. 

"What's the current status here? I assume there was no trouble during the evacuation." He had only glanced toward Alexis as he was practically dragged past on a bed, only to shrug the Obedience drugged teenager from his mind. This was no time to worry about one in particular; he basically had a whole civilisation to protect.