Bring The Heat

23. Blood in the Water

Lewis scoured all the data that BM had brought in over the past month. Her eyes flicked to the clock on her monitor. It had been 5 hours since she had last checked. With this knowledge, she suddenly became aware of her awful posture, and how much her spine hurt because of it.

She leaned back in her chair and groaned, then sighed. 'I should take a break...' she thought to herself, before realising she had nothing to distract her. It was 2AM, and everyone would be asleep. But maybe... not Wren. The thought made Lewis's heart flutter slightly. She had become attached to Wren in a way she hadn't felt in months...

Trying not to think about it too much, Lewis stepped out into the cool, peacefully lit hallway. She felt very... sleepy... ah, shit. She should probably just sleep on it. But she wanted to see Wren first...

Lewis wandered to the kitchen, but stopped at the door, hearing Wren and Rebound talking inside. She felt so stupid for stopping, and tears welled up in her eyes... but she wasn't ready to see him yet. Lewis turned back, reluctantly throwing herself onto the medical bed to sleep. Before she drifted off, she held her hands up in front of her face.

"Robin..." she muttered quietly, and felt a warmth in her soul hearing the name.

Robin looked around warily, before allowing herself to smile gently. Expressing full, true emotion was strange for her... but she liked it. She drifted off to sleep, content for once.

-(WREN)-

Wren entered the kitchen, and saw that Rebound was already hunched over what looked to be a glass of alcohol at the table. He looked up at her.

"More night terrors?"

"Yup. Worse than the last. Bad day?"

"Yup..."

Wren poured herself a glass of the alcohol, trying to seem cool, but Rebound took it off of her instantly. She sighed, too in the wrong to feel angry.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked.

"Fine, but it's not getting you any drinks."

"Shit. Nevermind then." Wren joked. Rebound laughed, before continuing:

"I nearly got shot today. Shotgun, pretty close range, but BM took the bullet for me. I mean, it's nothing to him - but he shouldn't have to."

"Man, I get that. Must've been scary."

"Nah, it's not like that... I just mean I've been slipping lately, y'know? And the people back here... I'm not used to people not relying on me."

"Hey, I rely on you! If I ever got something I need to talk about, but I don't want to worry Tenson or get BM trying to fix it for me, you're my guy. I don't tell the others about my nightmares."

"Fair enough, but I wanna be good at fighting. And I mean... I even lost to you..."

"Hey, asshole! That's just cos I'm the strongest one here!"

"Honestly, true. You should've seen the day before we went to get you."

Wren smiled, but then realized what Rebound had just said.

"Wait, what happened the day before I got here?"

"You shoulda seen it! There was two huge power spots traveling across almost the whole country... one of them seemed to disappear, and the other was you."

'Chelsea...' Wren thought to herself.

"But yeah, it was so big that BM insisted on going alone, and didn't even take a direct approach. He tricked you into coming to him!"

Wren sat there in silence, deep in thought. She had almost forgotten the events of her first days... and how could she? They were all she had left of her past life...

"I need to go sleep." she said, abruptly and unconvincingly, not that she cared.

Rebound seemed concerned to see her leave so suddenly, but didn't stop her from swiftly exiting the kitchen. As she jogged down the hall, her mind felt like a spool of wire unraveling fast. Why was she forgetting her first couple of days? Was she slowly going to forget her entire life, eventually dying not knowing anything had happened at all? She stopped. She had to find Chelsea. FAST.

Suddenly, Wren's attention was snatched by a noise to her right. Her head snapped over to see... Lewis, lying on the medical bed and snoring. It was kind of cute, and Wren felt her heart flutter with every snore. Everything suddenly felt ok again. Slowly, she entered the medbay, and slid a blanket over Lewis, kissing her on the forehead and saying goodnight. In her sleep, Lewis smiled.

Wren slugged back to her own bed, and eventually managed to get to sleep, through wild thoughts about her past, and who Chelsea could be.

-(BM)-

BM sat alone in his study, reading the results Lewis had sent in for the night. But he couldn't properly focus - he was angry. Who was this 'Twig', who wanted them dead so much that they were willing to kill their own men if they didn't do it? Who valued the lives of others so little that they just saw them as pawns? It was... disgusting! This 'Twig' had to be brought to justice, for the compound, and for the man who was forced to die trying to carry out someone else's goal.

However, it was much more important to consider that this was most likely more than a one man operation. Twig's way of using people was different from what had happened to Dominic. There was likely someone with a power who was controlling Dominic, and now there was a link between this person and a location - two separate people were unlikely to have the same desire to kill members of the compound, and if these opponents were based further out, Twig would've sent more men. The man sent was likely a scout.

Someone who's life was being given by someone else for a cause that wasn't theirs...

BM gritted his teeth and furrowed his brow. He thought back to the promise he had made 8 months earlier...

-(8 MONTHS AGO)-

BM kneeled alone in his study. He just kneeled there, in the absence of emotion, completely overwhelmed. Robin was in hospital, and Rebound and Cece had gone to support her. But BM stayed back...

He yearned to be there for her, but knew that the man he currently was wouldn't be one she'd like to see. BM's head hung low, and his breathing got faster. Sweat dripped from his forehead and pooled on the ground around him.

He. Had. Failed.

Robin might die. She had every chance to...

"I... Malcolm... solemnly swear... that never, ever again will I allow the abuse of power, and the gifts that we have been granted with!" he yelled, to nobody. The words tried to catch in his throat, but he forced them out, breathing heavily.

The lights in the compound dimmed as time went on. BM just stayed kneeling, repeating his promise to himself, and himself alone. Between words he panted in desperate breaths, the ones he would've breathed calmly in an alternate universe where things had gone differently... where he hadn't failed.

"Abuse of power... abuse of others for your own personal gain..."

It was a rule that he had to enforce, as Best Man. But even the best of men struggle with one thing; understanding when they are the problem. The images flashed through his mind, of Robin submerged in the water of the bath, red clouds of blood blossoming eerily from long, violent cuts in her wrists.

"Never... again... shall I allow... the abuse of others... never... again... shall I allow... personal gain to come first..."

BM breathing quickened, until his lungs were no longer filling. He was now soaked in sweat.

"Never... again... shall I allow..."

He felt his brain tense, veins on his forehead popping. His heart slammed against his chest, and he felt lightheaded.

"Shall I allow... ANYONE... to be harmed by my actions! To die by my hand!"

BM gasped massively, and air rushed through his body. He fell unconscious to the ground.