Mik was staring at the BP machine trying to hear it beep because he knew it beeped when the light went on...and his stomach growled again. He felt it, but Ric was the only one who heard it. Ricohh heard the beeping too and it was driving him crazy, but he was playing good boy, not getting frustrated - at least not showing it! His stomach growled.
~Are you hungry too? ~ Had he asked that question like 10 times in the last half hour or what?
~Gods, yes, Mik. Geez. ~ He tossed and turned in the bed. Itchy, itching, twitching. Something twinged and he groaned. Slower going to return to his original position. On his back and in the dark. For the tenth time in a half hour, his fingers drifted over the bandaging across his eyes.
~ Sorry. Dammit, where the hell is he?~ When Bell had come in before, Mik had wanted to twist his little blonde head off. Bell had seemed like he wanted to talk to them, to tell them a thing or two about what had happened. Mik was too angry at him and at Brrace to listen and, for once, Mik had been more hungry than curious - one thing at a time, he reasoned. So he sent him to the cafeteria for meat of the day stew.
~ He's probably making googly eyes~ Ric said, with a bit of mental wince, ~at all the lunch ladies. ~ Speaking of Bell, he was. He poked a finger against the padding over his left eye.
~He's a runt.~ It was mean – which wasn’t typical Mik – but true. ~If he knows anything important, then Brrace already knows it too and why the hell did *he* not come to us himself?~ It really irked him, that this man he thought of as something like a father had either lied to them or betrayed them or both. He wondered if there really were an air-strip hidden in Kermaddikk or if that too had been a lie. He’d find out for
himself.
~ Cause he's scared, Mik. Scared of a couple of invalids. ~ His stomach growled so loud he was sure Mik could hear it, deaf or not. Fingertips followed the wrapping to the back of his head. He looked so casual as he brought his other hand back and around, like he would use his hands as second pillow.
The door opened, Bell with the tray, and his voice rang out pleasantly, "Don't touch those bandages Ricoh, please ..." as if he were the doctor.
Mik heard it only through Ric's ears..kinda like listening through a glass to the wall and looked over at Bell. "It's about Godsdamned time!"
As if he were a 10 year old caught with his hands in the cookie jar, Ric snapped his hands forward and into his lap. ~ Quit yelling!~ "Yeah...about time." Too swaddled in gauze to exude disdain, Ric just looked the mummy he was.
Mik mentally winced. ~ Sorry!~ He sniffed the air, eyes roaming the tray. "I smell something that's not stew..." His voice was modulated better.
~ Better. You sound all nasal now. ~ "It's...it's..." and he sniffed exactly like his brother. "...chocolate pudding?" Ever hopeful.
~Nasal?? Oh great! that'll impress Bliss.. if I ever... ~ trailing off, not about to say "see her again" when there stood a chance Ric might not. He worried that over a bit until he smelled the chocolate.
"Brownies. Baked by a woman named .. Roan?" Bell said.
Miks' mouth was already watering... stew first, he tried to tell himself even as Bell carefully set the tray on a table nearby and set up his rolling tray for him. ~Did I hear right through your ears bro? Brownies?~ Then he saw 'em and let out a soft lil moan.
Bell moved over and set up the tray for Ric as well, then gently asked him. "Are you feeding yourself or do they help you with it, Ricohh?" He hadn’t been in with them since the first visit when Mik had screamed at him to get out and get them some food. Before that, as much as he’d wanted to, the nurses and Asche had kept him out. Even though he, like Asche and Merikka, had had hands into both of them, stitching, clamping… suctioning.
"Roan?" Ric sat up straighter, rattling the tray as he hit it. He growled. "I ain't no baby. I can feed myself." ~ Yeah, brownies. Haven't had a brownie since...before boot camp.~ That was how he defined things. Before boot camp and after. Easier that way and it avoided all sorts of unpleasant memories.
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean it that way." Bell was a PTB, he never called anyone sir.
~Gods, Ric.. I just might have to marry that woman.. Brownies!~ Mik, ever mindful of the proper order to things, set to his stew with eager gusto. He wanted to get to the treat at the end.
All sorts of facial expressions were lost. He turned his blind eyes toward, Bell's voice. Quietly he said, "What did you call me?" ~ Yeah...you'll hafta beat up the current Cult leader to get her though. ~ And Mik noted that Ric’s mental voice sounded...puzzled.
Mik picked up on that tone... ~Maybe she can teach Bliss... Ric? uhm... What is it? ~
~ Bell just called me...Sir. ~
"Sir. I called you sir." Bell confirmed it while Mik made an extra effort to hear through Ric's ears, chewing and staring at Bell trying to see his mouth as it moved.
"That's what I thought you said." His tone dripped suspicion. "Why?"
Mik watched and saw Bell scratch his head. "It's about time I did. Things are ... changing. I'm sure you have a lot of questions."
~ Did you hear it? What the hell's he talking about? ~ This side of fear, anticipation. He covered his confusion by pawing the tray for a spoon. Despite it all, he was ravenous. "We got a helluva lotta questions. You gonna answer 'em?"
~Questions.. he's right.. I heard that... ~ Shifting his eyes toward Ric, Mik opened up that tunnel vision if it helped any.
Adriann nodded. "I'll do the best I can, Commander."
He had to fall back on his spatial geometry to deal with the new perspective Mik's sight leant him. It took a moment orient himself before the "commander" registered. He grasped the spoon like it were one of his knives. "This better not be some stupid game, Bell. Cause we ain't playing anymore."
~What ...~ Mik read Bell's lips as much as he listened through Ric. ~ .. is he Freemen now or something?~
"No game. I promise. I think the games are over. I can't say for sure, but I think the Game ended when Raines and Cannon tried to kill you both."
He was about to give Mik's question a voice, when Bell's admission stopped him cold. "Tried to kill us both." He railed silently at the dark. The effort put an edge on his tenor. "What the hell happened?" He was translating the sounds he heard into his mental voice so Mik wouldn't miss a thing. For his part, Mik had to tap in, eat and be silent, otherwise he'd miss by asking questions; but he would ask when he had one.
Adriann sighed softly. "I don't know everything; I'm a lowly scientist; but the day the two of you met in Immin, Col. Brrace came to the Complex for a meeting. Cannon and Raines wanted to bring you both in. Mikkaill's weight loss, this involvement of yours with the psionists... It was troubling to some. Bryan wanted to hold to protocol. When the meeting adjourned; that's where we left it. By vote." He shook his head. "Raines and Cannon took
off after you. I know Bryan did not give away your position to betray you. He had no idea that they were planning anything. None of us did really. Raines has been with us so long … "
Ric took a moment to digest the information. He certainly wasn't digesting any food. Mik had stopped chewing.. damn these guys for knowing how to ruin a meal. And because he could never sit still long, Ric tapped his spoon against the bowl of stew. "Brrace is the one who blew us up. Why?" He was really being very calm about the whole thing. The incessant tapping was the only clue to the inner turmoil and the only release. What he really wanted to
do was smash in Bell's face. How could one Power not know what the others were up to? They’d been in this together, both Gideonn’s knew it, from the start. Even the new ones, like Bell, brought in 10 or 12 or even some of them 15 years ago.
"No, sir! He's not... When I saw Raines leaving with the Complex's contingent of Freemen soldiers... I went immediately to the Colonel. It was Brrace who ordered the men outside the house in Immin to drop their grenades... but they were Raines loyal men. Mikkael Blackk was there." As if that said it all. "He wouldn't listen to the Colonel and ordered the pineapples tossed."
~ Gods! They were really trying to kill us! ~ It was unbelievable. Unthinkable. Unsettling.
Mik's hand holding the spoon dropped numb back to the table. Mikkael Blackk. That explained so very much. Blackk had been the one at Progress who had flaunted Mik’s plan, who Mik was sure would obey Malley and himself even though Blackk had openly criticized the plan in war-room sessions. When it came down to it, Mik couldn’t pin the loss at Progress on Blackk’s free-styling on the field that day. He wanted to, but when the battle was
reviewed, after he’d healed, the Powers had said it was his fault. The winning or losing of the battle was bent upon precision. Mik had been over it hundreds of times and he believed the failure of the overall plan had been his. Blackk had been interviewed by the Powers and found not to be at fault. It was Mik’s fault that Malley had died and that now Ric had to pretend to be him; since he’d been in Ric’s position and Ric had been in his
on the field. Everyone believed Ricohh Gideonn had died. Mikkaill through his brother, had announced to the Freemen forces that he would take the name Ricohh Mikkaill Gideonn from then on, in honor of his dead brother.
Stupid.. it had all been so very stupid. But his reverie was shattered because Ric’s dialogue was being filtered through to him and Ric was cursing at Bell. Asking what they’d done.
"What did we do? I mean, to terminate the p..project like that?"
Ah, if only he'd eaten the brownie *first*... Mik thought. He'd utterly lost his appetite. ~ This can't be right... ~
Bell's mouth worked a bit. "Look, Ric.. I - I don't know. They'd been talking about replacing you ever since Demm. Bryan wouldn't have it. I didn't want to scrap the project.. we were making progress... but Cannon wanted to pursue other alternatives."
"Which means Raines wanted to pursue other alternatives..." This was all too much. He needed to move, to walk, to feel the "fresh" air on his face. He pushed feebly at the tray, no longer hungry. Needing to break free. "What other alternatives?"
"They were voted down. The other projects they wished to implement weren't ... ready..." Bell turned aside and moved a few steps away, his forehead was damp, his heart racing. "Not ready" didn't say that Raines and Cannon were voted down permanently either. Neither man missed that.
"What other projects than us, Bell?" Ric found both sides of the tray and lifted. It felt like it weighed a ton.
Mik murmured, "Crap. What other alternatives, Bell?" Echoing his brother.
"There's a ..." He swallowed. "We were trying to..." Again, he gulped air. "You were erratic Ric... Cannon insisted the Doritinn wasn't holding. I was told to work on a successor. There was no telling if you died in some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father what that would do to Mikkaill."
"My Gods ..." Mik groaned softly. He’d already been reliving the guilt of Progress.
Damn the tray. Ric let it crash to the floor and began ripping tubes and wires off him with less care than Mik had done a day or two back. He was gonna choke the life out of Bell. Oh yeah. "You guys wanted me that way. How else were we supposed to get Demm under control?"
Bell knew he was coming for him too and held up his hands. "There had to be system in place in case it didn't work! You two are the best thing that's come out of the Complex, Ricohh."
Mik saw the hands fly up and looked at Ric ripping tubes out.. little lights were blinking madly on machines beside his bed. "Ric! Geeeezus..."
"When I came back, I took your damn meds. All the threats you made... took 'em and...and... was that new stuff something you cooked up? Hook me on it so I can't *live* without it?"
Bell blinked. "Threats? What threats? Dammit, Ric.. I don't make the pills! I'm Genetics Cannon's Drugs!"
Just the effort of extracting himself from the hospital errata had produced a fine sheen of sweat on his brow. Ric’s breath came in gulps as he levered his feet to the floor. "Threats to my wife, against my wife. I was doing fine. I *was* fine!"
Skidding backward while Mik was tugging on his own tubes, the words came out of Bell in staccato denial. "We Never Made Threats. That's not our style. We don't like something we change it. When have we ever had to do that?" He watched Ric closely, because he didn't want the man to tear open any half healed wounds.. he'd worked too hard with Asche to close them all!
Ric’s laughter was pained as he tried to put weight on his legs. His knee made a loud, popping sound. Mik cried out in soft dismay at the feel of that pop. "Cannon made them to my face. My wife.... she gets a note from Someone..." It was clear who he thought that someone was. A PTB. He stood, wobbling.
"Cannon's a freak, a Cultie... he was there trying to kill you, he'd say *any*thing!" As crazy as it was, Adriann moved closer. "Look you should get back in bed..."
All Ric’s weight was on his left leg. He flailed blindly out to find something to lean on. He cursed Bell venomously. "Cannon was one of you. I was only part of the project."
Bell rushed in to grab him, support him. "Dammit, kill me if you need to; but you're getting back in the godsdamned bed... Cannon was never one of us. He was a bad choice when Romannov died."
Ric struggled to get out of, what in comparison to Ric’s weakened state was, Bell's "Iron" clutches. His voice broke. "You picked him. I killed him. Aren't you scared, Bell? Scared erratic Ric's gonna freak and take you out?"
"Ainsleighh and Raines gave him their vote. Brrace didn't want him." There was relief in Bell’s tone that it was all coming out. He'd hated every moment since he found out about the girl in the lab... found she wasn't just a number on a file, like he'd always thought... but a person... "You'd be doing me a favor." He shifted him despite how much bigger Ric was in height. Bell's 5'9" low center of gravity frame gave him perhaps a slight
advantage. "I didn't want Cannon either... but the psionics advisor ... he voted for him." Cannon had misrepresented himself and Raines voice was strong, In the end it didn’t take much.
Bell’s position and the fact that Ric was weak as a kitten right now, gave the smaller man the upper hand. "Too bad I ain't worth trokk crap now..." His knee made a sound like crinkling foil and he dropped.
Bell was strong enough, had done it before and lifted Ric enough to get him back onto the bed... he wasn't about to leave him on the floor. "Easy..." Bell was sure Ric was gonna go white and pass out. And that's just about what Ric did... curling up fetal, he clutched at his knee.
"Ain't worth crap no more..." he whispered very softly and passed out. The pain and vertigo washed through Mik and he too lost consciousness and the tubes pulled from both of them left blood trickling down their arms.
"Oh hell." Bell muttered.
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