XTC
by Henry Wyckoff
Crossover: XF, DW (4th Doctor), HL, ST:Voy, and the world of
David Eddings
Chapter 11
The Best Laid Plans...
The two killers rode up on their bikes. Two grizzly bikers
weren't an uncommon sight around those parts, along with the
homeless, hippies, and others of similar appearance.
"They're in that house over there," noted Thanatos.
"I see three outside," said Chuck. "One of them is FBI. The
other two...? I don't know, but I remember seeing the man
when the man came in."
"Of course. Do you want to take the inside or the outside?"
A moment of thought. "I'll take the inside. Do you want to
take the lead?"
"We'll go together."
Chuck shrugged. "Let's do it!"
They didn't quite sneak up to the house, but they didn't
blow a fanfare either. All in all, nobody noticed their
coming. Sometimes being mortal had its own advantages.
* * * *
Zedar looked away. In his time, he'd interrogated many
people of all walks of life to get the information he
needed. He wasn't like the other Disciples of Torak, who
tortured for the fun of doing it: Zedar was a utilitarian
who believed in doing what needed to be done.
This interrogation was tame by all standards. Perhaps if
this device that the Doctor used were available in his home
world, the art of interrogation might become civilized, so
to speak. He didn't know how this technological device
worked, but he had a feeling that if he had a few years to
work with the concepts presented by the Doctor, he could
come up with a similar means of producing information
without the need of technology.
He sensed, rather than knew, that Chuck was approaching. It
wasn't a certain feeling either, like knowing that you feel
hot or cold. It wasn't a visual picture you see in your head
when you know that two plus two equals four. It was more of
a reflexive jump as your nerves sense something before your
brain can even process the signals.
Zedar didn't say anything, but instead went to the window.
He saw nothing.
Sarah stood next to him. "Yeah. I'm bored too."
He smiled, "Consider yourself fortunate. I would rather be
bored at an interrogation than sickened. I think that you
might rather that as well."
"You're right." She smiled too, holding out her hand. "We
haven't had the chance to be properly introduced. I'm
Sarah."
"I'm Zedar."
Sarah frowned, "Is that Hungarian?"
Zedar chuckled softly, "You have never heard of my homeland,
and probably never will." He shivered as the import of that
statement sank in. His homeland, forever beneath the waves
because his Master, Torak, had split the world so that the
other Gods could not return the Orb which he had taken. Not
that it worked in the long run.
"I'm sorry." Maybe she saw a different meaning of his
statement than he intended, but she saw a look of sorrow on
his face. She didn't pursue the question.
Both looked out at the traffic.
* * * *
Janeway looked at Powys, "So in practical terms, then,
Powys... what would you suggest that we do? Don't talk to
one another? Have our memories removed? Kill ourselves so as
not to disrupt the space-time continuum?"
Powys laughed until tears came. "Don't take it the wrong
way, but you're not that important! As for the solution to
this collision? I don't know. I'm just pointing out that
this is a fine mess we're in."
Methos snorted. "So why did you bring it up then?"
He smiled. "No reason. I was bored and just needed to talk
to someone."
It was that moment that Chuck emerged with a drawn gun. "You
need excitement? How's this?" The gun was clip-loaded and
equipped with a large silencer. He fired several rounds at
Jan, Methos, Powys, and Janeway. He was fast enough to shoot
Jan, Methos, and Powys twice through the heart. But by the
time he reached Janeway, however, two seconds had passed and
so she was able to fall to the ground with her phaser drawn.
By default, it was set to stun, so he all he got was a solid
blast to the chest that sent him flying back into a tree. He
gun fell out of his hands en route.
However strong this blast was, it didn't knock Chuck out. It
just pissed him off enough to pull out a spare gun. This one
didn't have a silencer, which was probably why he didn't
fire quite yet. "Drop it. I don't normally kill ladies or
children, but if you don't drop it, I might change the
rule."
She smiled sarcastically, "How chivalrous of you! I can
kill you as well as stun you, so why don't you drop your own
gun, and maybe I won't set this to 'disintegrate'!"
BLAM! BLAM!
Janeway fell to the ground, but she wasn't dead.
Deliberately, it seemed, Chuck had mercifully shot her in
both the shoulders. She couldn't use either hand, and she
was bleeding a whole lot, and maybe she might not even be
able to use her hands again, but she wasn't dead.
Powys had pulled himself back to his feet by now. "That wasn't
nice, Chuck." He had been hit by the bullets, but he wasn't
bleeding. Beneath his shirt, ceramic was visible. "Nice
shot, though."
* * * *
Scully sighed in exhaustion. This questioning process was
tiring, as the kid didn't really have all that much useful
information that he admitted to having. At least they were
getting somewhere, however.
One of the men from the Stone tapped her on the shoulder, "I
think we can narrow things down quite a bit." She didn't
know him, but he was introduced to her as 'Silk'. What
country he came from, she didn't know for sure, but he had
something close to a Russian accent.
"Oh?" she raised her eyebrows. "Do you know something about
this?"
Silk smiled, "I don't need to. I've asked enough questions
to know what to ask." He looked at the kid, "We want to you
to take us to this man who gave you the XTC. Did he tell you
how to contact him again?"
"Yes."
Scully stared at him, and Silk smiled. "Even if they planned
to kill him off, they usually make it easier on themselves
if they tell him to come back. That way, their hitmen don't
have to chase him across the town."
Scully felt like an idiot. Trust a low-life who probably had
Mafia ties to come up with the solution.
BLAM! BLAM!
Everyone jumped in shock. Scully pulled out her gun, running
for the door. Zedar didn't follow her lead, but rather stood
in the middle of the room, searching around with three of
his five senses. The sixth sense, fear, was one that he
didn't need to use. He already knew that he was deathly
afraid of something.
Scully opened the door and to her credit, didn't announce
her position to the world by identifying herself as an FBI
agent.
The only ones who didn't follow Scully were Silk and the
Doctor (which meant that Sarah stayed too).
Silk asked Zedar, "There's another one?"
He shook his head uncertainly, "I'm not sure..."
That's when one of the windows exploded into fine powder,
and the gang kid's chest exploded almost immediately after.
Whatever blew through his chest hit the wall opposite him
and punched a big hole through the solid brick.
A single man dived through the space where the window used
to be, flipping once, and landing on his feet. It was
obvious that he was a professional, because he didn't pose
dramatically or start making macho statements. He landed
with his automatic shotgun blazing. In the space of a
heartbeat, he had spread five full rounds at chest level in
a 180 degree spread.
It would have been an impressive sight had everyone not
remembered to duck.
* * * *
Chuck thought he had everything under control, but it was
only a moment later when he knew that things were no longer
under his control. The task was simple: kill everything in
sight. That was the task, at least, but it was complicated
by the fact that Chuck didn't kill women or children, even
if he was a hired killer.
He wanted his control back, as much as a young brat wants a
toy that's been taken away. Maybe that's why he was a bit
more violent than he usually was.
Scully saw it from a distance, and it seemed to telescope in
front of her, telescoping away. Janeway had what looked like
a short-distance zap gun in her hand, holding off the biker
she saw in the British Stone. The biker had a gun in his own
hand. Jan and Methos were on the ground, shot up pretty
badly. Maybe they were even dead. Powys was bleeding from a
big heart wound, but he was standing and smiling.
The biker yelled something and fired his gun, just as a
laser burst fired from Janeway's zapper. The biker screamed
as the energy hit him, and he got slammed to the ground by
its force. Janeway screamed as well, dropping her zapper as
two bullets ripped through her right shoulder.
"CAPTAIN!" she could hear someone yell in slow motion as
Janeway slammed into the ground.
* * * *
Chuck saw the other woman raise her gun in reflex and fear.
Her nerves were in control, and though she had enough
training to allow some conscious thought to interfere with
those nerves, it didn't stop the bullets that flew towards
him.
"God. Please, no."
Perhaps it's not macho for a hitman to pray for mercy from
some higher power. Maybe it would be more dramatic for the
hitman to stoically accept his death, knowing that death
happens sooner rather than later to his kind. However, the
truth is the truth: everyone's afraid of death. Everyone.
Chuck just happened to be more honest about it, as he was
more honest about everything else in his life.
He could actually see the bullets flying towards him. They
weren't slowing down. If anything, it's like being able to
see the individual blades of a moving fan momentarily by
following the motion with your eyes as fast as they can
move. A blur becomes a still picture. That's what the
bullets were. A still image of two bullets hovering in
mid-air.
She was a good shot, Chuck would have to admit.
What he didn't understand was what the loud sound was, and
why he slammed into the ground when it wasn't the bullets
that hit him.
When the lights went out, he wasn't around to ask how.
* * * *
Scully forced herself to lower the gun. The biker was down,
and his gun a few feet away. Jan and Methos were pulling
themselves to their feet, groaning.
"Are you all right?" demanded Scully.
Methos muttered, "He shot us, and we're just now coming back
to life! What do you bloody think?"
"Ask a stupid question..." she muttered.
"He popped up out of nowhere and sprayed us before we could
do anything!"
* * * *
Perhaps Zedar would have dealt with the killer, but Silk was
faster. He threw a knife hidden under the shoulder of his
coat. It would have hit the mark, had Thanatos not caught it
in mid-air and plunged it towards Zedar's chest.
Zedar moved aside and laid an open hand on Thanatos' neck. A
blue energy flashed, and the killer dropped to his knees,
moaning in pain. "Down."
The Doctor's ears filled with a rushing sound that he had
heard only once before, on the world where Zedar came from.
He nodded. It was only to be expected.
Thanatos almost fell flat on his face, but he fought back,
elbowing Zedar in the groin, who fell to his knees as well.
When Silk had reached them, attempting to tackle Thanatos,
he had to dodge the knife that was suddenly aimed for his
face.
All in all, it gave Thanatos enough lead time to get to his
feet and leap out the window. He was running off pretty fast
too.
* * * *
Silk ran out the door then. "Good! The kid got killed by
another one! He's getting away!"
Scully turned around. "What about them?"
Zedar followed Silk out the door. "I will handle this
situation, and you go. Now, before he gets away!"
In the meanwhile, Chakotay had propped Janeway against a
tree and ripped some material off his uniform, forming a
rough bandage. Janeway was in no position to do it on her
own.
"Do it!" She looked at Silk. "Let's go!" Pointing at Jan and
Methos, who were still struggling to stay upright, Scully
commanded, "Stay!"
Jan muttered, "Hell with that!" and staggered after her.
Methos nodded and did the same.
That left Zedar alone with Janeway and Chakotay. He smiled
as he viewed Chuck's prone form and waved a hand. Like the
lifting of a mist by a strong wind, the vision was replaced
with a prone, unwounded Chuck who had been knocked out cold
by something altogether different than bullets. In the air,
the two bullets still hung suspended. Frowning, Zedar could
feel the heat still emanating from them. The mechanical
energy had to be converted to something, and this was a slow
release.
He knew better than to try to 'fix' the bullets. They would
be fixed by the passage of time. Either the forces holding
the bullets would vanish, or the energy would dissipate.
Nodding, he walked over to Janeway. "Relax. I'm going to
help."
"How?" asked Chakotay, who hadn't even noticed what had
happened with Chuck. "I've got things under control."
Zedar sensed the power emanating from the object that
Chakotay held, but he sensed that it had the equivalent
power of a novice healer. Perhaps Chakotay had things under
control, but Zedar needed to change things just a little.
"Should have --" she clenched her teeth, unable to finish
the sentence. Already light-skinned to begin with, she had
become bone-white because of the loss of blood.
"Don't waste your breath. Sleep." He passed a hand over her
eyes, and he heard a faint rushing in his ears. The telltale
mark of sorcery. She closed her eyes and immediately began
to sleep, breathing soft, relaxed, and silent breaths. Not
the snoring type, apparently.
"Heal."
The wound began to close of its own accord, and he nodded.
Time to take care of other matters.
"What are you?" demanded Chakotay, standing up, and backing
off a little bit. "Are you Q?"
"I don't know who you're talking about. I'm Zedar."
"No..." Half-remembered visions sprang up then. It felt as
if he were living a dream. Remembering this scene. "There's
something else about you." In the place of Zedar was
superimposed a vulture. "The Vulture spirit!"
Zedar looked shocked. "I have taken that form on many an
occasion. Quite useful, in fact." He became thoughtful. "I
don't know what hand he is playing in all this, but it
doesn't help matters." Chakotay fell to his knees, and quite
immediately began to sleep soundly too. He twitched,
however, as if he were having a very intense dream or
nightmare.
Now, he regarded the prone figure of Chuck, who was
beginning to stir. "You, my friend... How do I deal with
you? I'm not good at this."
* * * *