"She’s gone," Seth said as he entered the dorm area. Jasmine, David and Alexis, the only other people there, just looked at him.
"Who’s gone Seth?" Jasmine asked curiously.
"Brittney,"
Jasmine rolled her eyes, "We know that Seth. We watched her escape, remember?"
"That’s not what I meant."
"Hun? Then what did you mean?"
"I just talked to her, she’s, she’s dead…"
Jasmine’s mouth fell open and Alexis’s hand flew to her mouth as she gasped.
"Are you sure?" David asked shakily. Even though none of them were Brittney’s biggest fans, she was their friend’s sister.
Seth nodded sadly. "She contacted me, and before she could finish the transmission…there were these missiles…"
Jasmine was the first to speak. "I’m sorry Seth…"
Seth just nodded and sighed. "I need some rest." He grumbled. He stared at the floor as he headed for his dorm room.
"Hey! Seth, wait a minute!" Jasmine cried as she ran after him.
"Imagine losing you sister like that…" Alexis commented once they were gone.
David nodded numbly. "That’s almost the same way my parents…" he broke off. Alexis gave him a sympathetic look and pulled him into a bear hug. "I’m sorry David," she sighed. She couldn’t believe everything that was happening around the base. It seemed that everybody was losing somebody. She couldn’t help but think who was next. This war was getting to be too much for her.
~~~
Jason had crept out of the infirmary bed and started towards the gym. He knew Helen would be down there, and even though she was mad at him again, he needed to talk to someone. Helen was always a reliable friend.
He shoved his hands into his pockets and continued his walk. As he left the infirmary he heard a familiar bark. Jason grinned and turned and whistled. Pluto came bounding around the corner. Jason was sure the dog had died along with Gary, it was a miracle that he was still alive.
Someone had taken the time to wrap up the dog’s wounds, even in all the chaos. Jason scratched the big golden retriever behind his ears and then stood up again. "You want to go see Helen?" He asked Pluto. Pluto barked in response and Jason grinned. "Well, then, come on boy." He started towards the gym again with Pluto at his heels.
As he neared the gym, he could hear Helen pounding away at her favourite punching bag. She would need a new one pretty soon, at this rate. It was starting to get worn around the middle.
He let Pluto in first, and the dog ran over to Helen immediately and sniffed her, as if making sure she was all right. He sniffed at her sling and whimpered a bit. Helen looked down at him and smiled. "Pluto! You’re still alive!" She squatted down and scratched his ears. The dog barked and licked her face happily. And then something surprising happened; she actually laughed. Jason smiled; he loved her laugh.
He carefully stepped towards Helen, slowly so she would not notice right away and leave before he could talk to her. His method worked; she was so distracted with Pluto hat she didn’t notice him until he was right beside her.
~
Helen hadn’t noticed his approach until it was too late. She saw his foot and groaned and cursed herself. She should have been paying more attention.
Sighing, she stood up and came face to face with Jason Yuy.
"What do you want?" She snarled.
Jason shrugged and looked down at her. His expression was sad and he looked worn out.
"You looked terrible," She commented.
"Thanks,"
"No, I mean it. You should get some more rest. The day’s been rough on you."
Jason studied her for a moment.
"What?" She demanded.
"I’m trying to figure out if you’re being nice if you just want to get rid of me…"
Helen sighed, "I’m not sure either. What are you doing down here anyway?"
"I needed to talk to someone."
"So you came to me?"
"Well, yeah."
"Why?"
"Well…" Jason blushed. "Believe it or not, you’re easy to talk to."
Helen snorted at this. "Admit it Jason, you just came down here to flirt."
"Well, that too," He grinned.
"Are you OK?" Helen asked suddenly.
"Yeah…well, as OK as I can be after my dad fired a bullet through his head."
"That’s not what I meant."
"Oh really, so what did you mean?"
Helen turned back to her punching bag. "It’s just that…you’ve been acting really weird lately."
"Meaning what…?"
"Well, for starters you’ve stopped calling me ‘babe’."
"I can change that back if you want…"
"No! I didn’t say it was a bad change."
"Ok, go on…"
"You’ve been making really lame passes at me…"
"Well, that is a problem,"
"And you’ve been really quiet too," She began pounding the bag furiously.
"I know babe,"
"Knock it off,"
"It’s just that I’ve been doing too much thinking ever since Brittney tricked me back on earth."
"I told you to forget about that little skank." Helen hissed.
"Whoa! Whoa! Helen hold on!" Jason grabbed her flailing arms to sop them from attacking the bag and looked at her. "Did you just call Brittney a skank?" He nearly laughed at the thought.
"Well, she is." Helen said firmly. "Considering that I caught you two making out just before she tried to hand us both over to Neo Zion."
"Oh, I see the problem, you are jealous of her!"
Helen rolled her eyes and groaned. She wrenched her hand free of his grip and started to storm off. "Helen wait!" He called after her. He chased her and caught her in the hallway. He grabbed her arm and spun her around to look at him. "Come on Helen, relax."
Helen glared at him, "Listen Jason…"
"No, you listen." He backed her into a corner and held her wrists tightly by her sides. Helen still stared him down defiantly.
She looked up and met his eyes. They were angry and searching at the same time. She hated him so much. She hated how he looked so serious. She hated that he was taller than she was and stronger than her. And she especially hated how he made her heart race. It wasn’t fair! Jason took a step closer and squashed her against the wall. "You can’t talk that way about her Helen. I don’t think she’s really as bad as you make her out to be."
"God Jason, I don’t need to stand here and listen to you talk about your crush on an enemy soldier." She struggled to escape from him but he only tightened his grip.
"Helen," He said softly. The words sent shivers down her spine. "Don’t be so stubborn." He leaned even closer and his mouth hovered near her neck. Helen shut her eyes tightly and took a deep breath.
"Jason, let me go." She said slowly.
Jason shook his head and raised one hand and brushed her hair away from her neck.
"You know you have nothing to be jealous about. You’re the girl I’m crazy about."
Helen’s muscles tightened and she clenched her hands into fists. "Jason," She gasped as he brushed his lips over he sensitive area of skin behind her ear. She tried again to twist out of his grip, but he had somehow managed to capture both her wrists in one of his hands while the other caressed the back of her neck. She hated that he had her so helpless.
She sucked in her breath as he nipped playfully at her long, slender neck. His hand up her shirt; just enough so that he could feel the cool skin of her midriff underneath his fingers.
"Jason I mean it, let me go!" She suddenly realised that she was powerless to stop him and for the first time she was actually afraid of him.
Jason only smirked. "I can feel your heart racing, baby. Is that good or bad?" He pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her tightly, pinning her own arms to her sides. He worked his way around to the back of her neck, which made her shiver. He couldn’t help but feel satisfied. He made his way back around her neck and over her jaw line, leaving a trail of butterfly kisses. As he reached her lips he looked up for a second and stopped. He saw the last thing he expected to see in her eyes: fear.
"Helen…?" He suddenly felt like a total jerk. He had made the toughest girl in the world cry.
"Get away from me!" She cried. She shoved him back violently.
"Helen I’m sorry, I didn’t think…"
"That’s just it Jason! You never think!"
Jason was taken aback by her harsh words. "I’m sorry Helen," He said again. "I didn’t mean to scare you…"
"You can’t just go around treating me like your own personal slut!" Helen glared at him as she wiped the burning tears from her eyes. She hated that he had hit it right on the nose. He had scared the shit out of her. She couldn’t face him; her ego had taken a major blow. She wasn’t afraid of the enemy, so how could she be afraid of him, her own friend? It didn’t make sense.
"Helen, you know that I would never hurt you." He took a tentative step toward her. "I…I won’t do that again…I promise…" He tried to comfort her but she jerked away. "Stay away from me Jason."
"But…"
"No! Just…" She sighed, "Just give me some space, OK?"
He nodded and watched her try and dry her eyes as she stalked away. He felt like the scum of the universe. She asked him to stop but he ignored it. He was getting too forward, too serious for her. It used to be just joking because he was infatuated with her; but now…it seemed to be something more. Grumbling to himself and trying to sort out his emotions, he turned around and headed to other way towards the dorms.
~~~
"I’m the biggest jerk in the world!" Jason complained loudly the next day. Helen had avoided him all day. She had even refused to come to the meeting that day. Helen never missed and important meeting like that.
"And…this is supposed to surprise us?" Joel replied.
"Be quiet!" Jason snapped. "I really mean it. Helen hates my guts!"
"She’s always hated your guts." Seth chuckled.
"Yes, but now she hates even more than that. She hates the fact that I even exist!"
David looked at him and shrugged. "Nothing new there."
"You guys aren’t helping…"
"Are we supposed to?" Joel and Seth burst out laughing and David chuckled. Jason couldn’t believe that his friends were making him the butt of a joke.
"It isn’t funny guys!"
"Oh yes it is…" Seth snorted. "It’s hilarious. What did you do this time?"
"I’d better not…Helen would kill me…"
"Oh come on Jason! You’re already a walking dead man, you might as well just spit it out." Joel laughed.
"I can’t do that. I don’t want to hurt Helen any more than I already have."
"Ohhhhhhh…" Seth pretended to look interested as he leaned on his open palms and closer into the group of boys. "This is one of those really deep things…" He blinked his eyes thoughtfully. Joel roared with laughter and Seth fell over with tears of mirth in his eyes. Even David was having a hard time hiding his laughter.
Jason gave his friends an extremely confused look. "What have you guys been smoking, and why?"
"Really cheap shit," Seth managed to choke out before falling on the floor again. "Yeah, Seth was a little depressed, so we decided to cheer him up." Joel cut in.
Jason groaned. "You’re no help. Just wait until the girls see you like this…"
"No no no no no!" Seth cried, waving his arms frantically in the air. "If Jasmine sees me like this she’ll never go out with me!"
Joel turned his head and looked at the redheaded teen. "You and my sister?" He gawked. His face darkened and his eyes narrowed into slits. "Don’t you dare go near her!"
Seth blinked at Joel now and laughed. "Too late man!" He fell down to the ground once again and rolled with laughter.
"Why you…" Joel growled and jumped onto Seth, attempting to punch him. David looked at the two, pointed at them and started laughing.
"Holy shit…" Jason could only blink. David was nearly falling out of his chair and he was clutching at his side because of the pain of laughing so hard.
Jason stared at his friends helplessly. "You guys really are stoned…"
"Oregano! Nature’s cheap pot!" Joel snorted with laughter. Jason was wide-eyed with shock. "I’m leaving before I get blamed for this." Jason shook his head as he left the room, leaving his insane friends behind.
"Hey Jason," Seth called after him. "Maybe you should go strip for her, that’ll make her feel better."
Jason groaned. "This is what you get for asking advice from your stoned friends…" He looked back at Seth who was now dancing on the table. "Hmmm, I wonder why Seth was depressed?"
~~~
Helen sifted through the notes from the meeting earlier that day. She had asked Indy to get them for her. Indigo was confused as to why Helen would miss something so important, but thankfully she didn’t say anything. Indy was with her now as she looked over the notes. "Thanks for getting these Indy."
"No problem Helen." Indigo answered with a smile. "Now are you going to tell me what’s going on or do I have to pry it out of you?"
"What do you, I just was feeling kinda sick this morning, that’s all."
"Sure…" Indigo snorted. "Come on Helen, you know you can trust me."
"I just took a blow to my ego, that’s all. I’ll be OK tomorrow."
"Must have been a pretty bag ego puncture if you missed planning our next attack. Funny, I didn’t even know you had an ego."
"You’re feeding it right now!" Helen laughed as she threw a pillow at her friend. Indigo dodged it and smirked at her friend. "It has to do with Jason, doesn’t it?"
Helen turned red and refused to answer.
"I knew it!" Indy cried.
~
In Jasmine’s dorm room next door, the other girls were listening to the conversation.
"It does have to do with Jason!" Jasmine squealed with delight. "This will make some great gossip.
"I’m not sure if Helen is going to appreciate us spreading rumours about her…" Alexis said nervously.
Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Lex, baby, first of all, we’re not spreading rumours. We’re getting the facts first. And she won’t appreciate it, that much I know, but that’s why we sent Indy in there to take the blame when the entire base knows her secret." Jasmine smirked.
"But it isn’t right!"
"Oh who cares what’s right? This is war! We’re doing Helen a favour. She can’t have any weaknesses."
Alexis shook her head. "I don’t know…"
~
"So spill," Indy commanded.
Helen shook her head. "It’s none of your business."
"I’m making it my business." Indigo growled. "Come on Helen. You’ll feel better when you get it off your chest."
Helen shook her head again and dropped her head against her knees. Indigo frowned. "This is serious isn’t it?" She sat down next to Helen. Helen nodded, "It’s stupid really…God, Jason is probably telling the other guys all about it right now…"
"Oh I doubt that," Indigo winked. "They were all getting hammered on oregano in the guys’ lounge last I checked."
Helen looked up and blinked "What?"
"Oh yes, all three of them, I’m just waiting for Noin to catch on."
Helen laughed. "I’d like to see that."
"Oh, Jasmine is getting it all on tape as we speak. You can watch it later. But right now you need to share."
"It was really dumb. I don’t even know why I happened…He pulled another Jason on me, but…he was more serious this time."
"What do you mean?"
"He scared me…I just suddenly realised that he was stronger than me."
"Helen, he’s guy. Guys are always stronger. It’s a fact of life. You’ll have to get used to it."
"That’s not what I meant!"
"Then what did you mean? You’re really starting to confuse me, Helen."
"It doesn’t matter anyway," Helen shook her head.
Indigo frowned, "OK, OK, so Jason scared you?"
Helen nodded sadly.
"Why? You’re not scared of anything, Helen."
"You know, if he really wanted to…"
"Oh Helen, don’t be silly…Jason wouldn’t hurt you like that."
"You weren’t there Indigo. He was so rough with me, for the first time I can remember I was actually helpless. He had his hand up my shirt!"
Indigo looked at her friend sympathetically. She gave her a weak hug. "You’ll feel better soon, I promise. I’ve got to go, but you make sure you look at those plans, make some suggestions if you want too."
Helen nodded and looked at the pile of papers in her hands. "I guess I should go over these. When are we leaving?"
"It’s all in there," Indy winked. "I’ll see ya later Helen."
"Bye,"
"Oh, Helen, what’s you’re favourite flower?"
Helen smiled, "Uh…Daffodils, they’re my favourite. Why?"
Indigo only shrugged. "No reason, just wondering." The she disappeared into the hallway.
Helen sighed and turned back to the papers she had. It would probably be a good idea to know the plan before the mission.
~~~
"Delete that tape you made." Indigo ordered.
Jasmine looked up at her and frowned. "That one of the guys? Why? That was hilarious. Besides you just promised Helen you’d let her see it."
"Not that tape, the one of Helen talking to me. You can’t use that on her."
Jasmine sighed. "I guess you’re right. That’d be like betraying one of our own. Besides, the tape of the guys is way better."
Indigo couldn’t help but chuckle. "Yeah, and they even got David in on it!" She laughed. Jasmine popped the tape out of the recording machine and handed it to Indigo.
"No tricks?"
"No tricks, I swear." Jasmine crossed her heart. "It wasn’t that interesting anyway."
Indigo frowned but accepted the tape. "I mean it Jasmine. I don’t feel right about humiliating Helen. She’s one of our best friends."
"Yeah, yeah, just like you to spoil my fun…" Jasmine grumbled.
~~~
Helen sifted through the files in the folder and tried to concentrate on their plans, but she had too many other things on her mind. Still, she scanned the cluttered pages until something caught her eye.
Information source: Brittney Norris, deceased
Brittney was dead? How has she missed that? She wondered if Jason knew. He would be upset when he heard. Helen groaned; she didn’t know why she cared so much. Grumbling, she dropped the papers on her bed and decided to grab some coffee at the cafeteria. She opened her door and stopped. There, at her doorstep, was a beautiful bouquet of daffodils and bleeding hearts. She looked for a card, but there was none. But she didn’t have to guess to know who had left them for her. Not only were they symbolic, with the pretty little torn-heart flowers, but he had taken the time to find out her favourite flowers too. She wondered how he had figured it out. Suddenly it hit her; she remembered Indigo asking her what her favourite flowers were. ‘She must have told Jason.’ Helen cursed under her breath. "What business does she have playing matchmaker?" Still, they were very pretty. Helen scooped them up and placed them in a vase on her desk. They made the room look brighter.
~~~
"Are you sure you don’t want to come to the final assessment, Helen?" Noin asked with concern. It was the day of their finally mission, and Helen still refused to attend any meetings since Jason would be there.
"Helen, what is going on? We’re all concerned about you."
"I know Noin, and I’m sorry. It’s just something I need to deal with myself."
"But you don’t even know where we’re doing! If you don’t understand the mission…"
"What’s not to understand? We go in, plant the bombs and get out." Helen sighed.
Noin eyed the teen and then sighed. "Fine, have it your way. But maybe I should ask your father to talk some sense into you."
"Please, my dad couldn’t talk sense if his life depended on it."
Noin laughed. "Fine, but I’m giving you an individual briefing whether you like it or not."
"Fine by me."
Noin nodded and then turned and headed for the conference room. She walked in and scanned the room to make sure everyone was there.
Once she was satisfied she started the briefing.
"OK everyone, just to go over some last minute changes in the plan. Once you get to Earth you will not be able to infiltrate the base immediately. We’ve discovered that this base is expecting a shipment of neo titanium alloy in three days. Plus it’ll be helpful to you to scope out the routines for a while. This is an extremely important mission. I want you take all possible precautions. Do you understand?"
"Yes ma’am," The present teens echoed.
"Seth," Noin turned to the red haired teen.
"Yes?"
"I realise that you are not an official Preventor but, we’re sending you with them anyway. We’ll need some extra help on surveillance."
Seth’s face brightened. "Really!"
Noin nodded. "Yeah!" Seth cheered.
"Don’t screw up Seth, think of this as a test."
Seth didn’t hear her. He was too busy congratulating himself.
Noin chuckled and continued, "You’ll be expected to know the plan inside and out. Now, I don’t think there’s anything else, so get ready. You’ll be leaving at 1700 hours sharp. You’re dismissed."
The teens began to stand up and file out of the room, but Noin stopped the boys in the doorway. "Just so you know, there will be no getting high off of oregano on this mission."
Joel, Seth and David blushed but nodded and raced out of the room. Jason only laughed and shook his head.
"I swear, I had nothing to do with that." He answered to Noin’s glare. Noin only sighed. Jason started to leave when Noin stopped him. "I need to talk to you first, Jason."
"What? I told you I had nothing to do with the oregano episode."
"I know Jason, Jasmine has a tape,"
Jason stared at her and laughed, "That girl has a tap f everything!"
"Jason," Noin warned, "This is serious. Early this morning Seth received a transmission from Brittney."
"Brittney! Why would she be calling here?"
"She gave us necessary information for this mission."
"She did…?"
"Yes, but shortly after she contacted us, the shuttle she was on was hit with missiles and we were cut off. All evidence shows that the shuttle was destroyed."
"What…?" Jason gasped. "You mean…she’s dead…?"
Noin nodded sadly. "I’m sorry Jason, I figured you’d want to know." She left to the room, leaving Jason standing there to ponder what she had said.
"Brittney…" He sighed, he felt his stomach sinking. How could she be dead? Although he was hurt that she betrayed him, he had been friends with Brittney. He was now even more confused than he was before. Everything was happening so fast. Why did people have to keep dying? Using more strength than he knew he had, he slammed his fist into the wall, making a hug dent. He took a moment to calm down and then turned and hurried to his dorm room. He needed to get his things ready for the mission anyway.
