CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: OCTOBER – PERFECT SENSE, PART TWO
Donnie Bellum sat in a room, quietly reflecting on a picture he kept of Sarah, Hailey and himself. Sixteen months has been the longest time Donnie had been away from his family. Now here he was - daughter in protective custody and his wife a virtual prisoner for a crime she did not commit – fighting in a war he has no clue what exactly he is fighting for. Especially recently with Sarah being revealed as alive and any talk of freeing her kept falling on deaf ears. Just moments before this moment of reflection, Donnie was in a heated debate with Kevin Brody over any plans to go and rescue Sarah from the clutches of Jason Saxon.
“… Because a plan is slowly in motion. Anything we do now will jeopardize everything, including Sarah’s life!” Kevin had told Donnie.
“Well, everything has been going at a snail’s pace!” Donnie had protested. “When do we finally move more rapidly?”
“Very soon. We have rules to foll-“
“To hell with these ‘rules’!” Donnie had interrupted. “Maybe your wife is right! We need to say fuck to the rules and strike now!”
Kevin then got up and looked at Donnie. He quietly told him “Believe you me, if there was a way out of this that was a lot easier without dire consequences, I would have acted by now. In the meantime, if you want to make sure any of us will remain alive, you will be best to adhere to protocol.” Kevin then walked away as Donnie punched a wall in frustration. Donnie now had his hand wrapped in a bandage as he looked into the picture, sensing loss and was more resolved to make things right, despite things not going as he expected they would.
“It’s like we got lost in the shuffle or something like that,” Benny Carlson lamented.
“Who are you talking to exactly?” Lucas Goldstein asked to Benny, as the two of them were in the middle of a game of “Monopoly” with Sullivan.
“No one in particular, I think.” Benny answered back. “Sure you don’t want in on the action here Bones?” he asked, looking at Rachel Mills, who was engrossed in reading a particular file.
“That’s all right,” Rachel replied back. “Just reading something that we’ve all seemed to have lost focus on – that glove they mentioned the first time we came here. If what I read from the Section 31 files we procured back in April, it doesn’t look like it would be good news for anybody.”
“Explain yourself, Lucy!” Sullivan said as he moved his terrier game piece on the board.
“Well, from what I read, the glove – nicknamed ‘Project Lazarus’ – grants the wearer immortality. However, in order to do so, the wearer needs to absorb energy from the human cerebral cortex.” Rachel explained. “Also that the glove itself was one of the few projects that remained active after Project Looking Glass was decommissioned. In fact, one of the last two Section 31 agents in charge of looking after the Lazarus Project were… hmmm… Agents Black and White?”
“Wait a minute, the sexier version of Riggs and Murtaugh have this thing?” Benny asked.
“Quite possibly. I remember some of the projects and files were hijacked by those who worked on them as part of either self-preservation or for use in the private sector.” Rachel said.
“If I may ask, what does this glove look like?” Sullivan asked.
Rachel held up a picture of what was identified as the Lazarus Glove for everyone in the room to see. Sullivan’s face turned white with fear. “How did you find it?” he asked with a bit of a quiver in his voice.
Rachel replied, “Files were inconclusive on its exact date of discovery, but apparently it was found close… to where we are now.”
“I think we better show this to Jericho,” Sullivan added. “Not only would he be able to know for sure what it is, but if it is what it is, we’re all gonna be down Shit Creek with paddies.”
“Think you mean ‘up Shit Creek without a paddle,” Benny corrected Sullivan. “Either way, maybe Karen’s little prognostications of doom for us all are accurate.”
Jericho studied the picture of the Lazarus Glove and the same scared expression that Sullivan had earlier came across his face. “And you say it was discovered around the same time as your Section 31 found our Gate of Osiris and named it ‘Looking Glass’?” Jericho asked Rachel, who was joined by Benny, Lucas, and Sullivan.
“Everything indicates it being so.” Rachel answered.
“I guess it would make sense having the two together,” Jericho said as he put the picture down on a table. “Maybe the story was true after all.”
“Uh, what story?” Lucas asked.
Jericho looked at the four of them and began to speak “There was a legend among our people about a man that was one of the greatest men to ever serve on the Watchers’ Council. However, he became more and more obsessed with power and learning all the secrets of time and space. His obsession led to the very creation of the Corruptors and the first Temporal War. At the conclusion of the war, he was captured and put on trial as a war criminal. He was found guilty and sentenced to our most severe punishment – living out the remainder of his life as a mortal. Meanwhile, the Council realized that he really sought for control of all three objects – the Gate of Osiris, the Temporal Restoration Device, and the Glove of Midian – all three objects when combined would grant him total control over all the laws of time and space. So they chose the most logical solution and sent all three objects to a different time, hoping no one would ever learn of their true nature. One of the objects was destroyed by your Kevin Brody, the Restoration Device. We have the Gate, and now the Glove of Midian is the only one unaccounted for.”
“Well for all we know, the glove is among the govern… ment?” Rachel said with a dreadful pause.
“What do you mean?” Jericho asked.
“Two former agents of Section 31, apparently they now work for Jason Saxon.” Benny said.
“Then it is as bad as I thought it would be,” Jericho said. “When we first learned about Jason Saxon, we thought it was nothing more than a coincidence. Then as we learned more and more about him, we came to the conclusion that Jason Saxon was at one time – one of us.”
Rachel, Benny, and Lucas all had the same facial expression as they let out a collective “Huh?”
Jericho looked at them and went onto talk some more: “Some people on the Council feared that Jason Saxon could have been a reincarnated form of the man who sought too much power. Those same people feared that perhaps he had made his way into another time and retained some of his memories of power and would actively seek out the objects he needed to fulfill his self-appointed destiny. If he is in possession of the Glove of Midian, then more than likely he has regained his immortality. All this does now is confirm those fears and now we need a new plan of action.”
Kevin Brody walked into the same room, not hearing the whole speech. He asked at the drop off point in the conversation “What new plan of action?”
“Apparently Jason Saxon is a reincarnated demigod of time.” Benny matter of factly summarized to Kevin.
“Huh.” Kevin said. “That probably does change things, right?”
“Not necessary” Jericho said. “Kevin, stay here to discuss things with me. The rest of you can go,” Jericho said to Rachel, Benny, Lucas, and Sullivan. Kevin hobbled over to Jericho and asked him “So, is everything still going to go ahead according to plan?”
“Hard to say. Knowing now more about the true identity of Jason Saxon is going to make any plans of attack on him somewhat difficult.” Jericho answered. “But there is a contingency plan should our main plan backfire.”
“And what is that?” Kevin asked.
“In the event that neither one of us makes it out of our planned attack, the rules will need to be broken, but not by us. There is an elite team among the Cleaners and Watchers, a team that does not necessary adhere to the Temporal Cold War Protocols, but are nowhere near as evil as the Corruptors. Some of them have already begun a subtle attack on Jason Saxon, hoping to inspire an internal rebellion.” Jericho replied.
“And what is this elite group called?” Kevin asked.
Jericho answered “The Angels of Mercy.”
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