Reckless: Season 2: Actions and Consequences: Part II - Act 1
by redmoon
Previously on Reckless...
The man in the white silk shirt smiled. “Name’s Michael.”
***
“You underestimate me,” Addison leaned across Tawnie’s desk, “I may be too old to sweep women off their feet, but I can knock them down like I’m in my twenties.”
***
Niki’s eyes were now fixed solidly on the advancing syringe. “So you’re going to bust me out of here?”
Addison shook his head once. “We can’t do that... I’m sorry.”
Actions and Consequences: Part II - Act 1
Niki’s hand closed around the Watcher’s throat and she threw him across the room. He struck the concrete wall and his hands fell to his sides as he slid to the floor. The now empty syringe shattered on the floor. The old man crumpled into a heap but that didn’t satisfy the Slayer.
She slowly looked from his body to her left hand. Slowly spreading her fingers she saw the tiny red dot from where the needle had punctured her skin. She closed her fist and stepped forward, her toes tingling. She sank to her knees when she got to him and rolled him to face her. He was groaning.
“It was that easy for you?” She felt her feet going numb, wondering what he had given her. When he didn’t respond, she gripped his face, her thumbs under his jaw where she knew it would be most painful. “Did you ever... ever give a shit?”
The prospect of his answer terrified her. Her personal claim to fame was her emotional detachment. She had screwed Logan and had made him love her. But she felt nothing for him. She had killed Pierce without a second thought. As she looked down at the bleary eyed old man in her hands right now, her safety was his job — now... she swayed dizzily, frowning as a sudden nausea churned in her gut.
“Answer,” she said tiredly. She shook his head and it flopped back down to his chest. She had given him quite a knock. He’d be out for a while. She didn’t have a while. She’d get him to talk... one way or another.
She stood, unsteadily, as the door burst open and Shields charged in, his gun drawn. The three goons charged in after him, looking from the unsteady Slayer to the unconscious visitor. There was a long moment of uncertainty, when finally Aaron Shields pointed to Addison on the floor.
“Arrest him... Uh, take him to the infirmary – then arrest him.” The young man stepped toward Niki and extended a hand, trying to steady her. “Maybe you should sit down.”
Each breath was becoming more difficult and red spots were beginning to appear at the edges of her vision. She blinked, her eyelids heavy, trying to form words on lips which didn’t want to respond. She wanted to raise her hand, take the back of the chair to steady herself, but her hands wouldn’t do what she told them.
As soon as Shields touched her shoulder in concern, she toppled over backwards, landing flat on her back, the world spinning out of control.
Logan dropped the phone on the desk with a clatter, racing out of his office. His heart was pounding: Addison was at the prison. Addison was with Niki. His finger stabbed the elevator call button repeatedly, harder each time. It lit up, but the elevator doors didn’t open. He stabbed the button several more times then slammed his fist into the closed doors.
“It look looks like you’re in a hurry,” a friendly voice said from beside him. Logan didn’t answer, not wanting to have to knock anyone out right now. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’ve got an instantaneous mode of transportation at your disposal, don’t you?”
Logan’s head snapped around, his gaze fixing on the owner of the voice. He recognized the man in the black pants, the white silk shirt and the blue silk tie. “How would you know that?” Logan demanded harshly, in no mood for games.
“Maybe you didn’t hear,” he said with a broad but gentle smile. “I’m Michael.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Logan frowned, glancing back towards the elevator as the doors slid open.
“Let’s go somewhere,” Michael said pleasantly. His hand shot out in a flash and touched Logan’s elbow. Instantly, the two of them were gone with the sound of great beating wings.
There are many opinions concerning the moment of death. Is there a light and a tunnel? Is there a beautiful city, welcoming arms of loved ones, comforting words? Or is there nothing, just a vast expanse of yawning blackness that eats away time and perception.
Niki’s eyes were wide open when she felt her heart beat one final, uncertain beat. Her lips were blue from the minutes she had been unable to breath. Her muscles were paralyzed and even the voices were becoming unmatched to the faces. Were they faces? Or was it just a quiet void?
“Clear,” the paramedic called out, the paddles surging seven hundred volts through the Slayer’s chest. Then the Ambu bag went over her mouth and nose and forced air into her lungs. Fingers pressed her jugular artery to feel for a pulse.
“Nothing,” he lifted the paddles again. “Clea–”
The paramedics froze, their gazes locked in one place as Logan and Michael appeared among them with the quiet sound of ruffled feathers. Logan looked down at Niki’s motionless body for a moment before noticing the similar motionlessness of the paramedics.
“What’s going on?” he asked quietly. There was no need to be loud. There was no noise whatsoever.
“You’re here to save her, aren’t you?” Michael asked, squatting down by Niki’s lifeless body.
Logan dropped instantly to his knees and took Niki’s shoulder. “How do I save her? What do I do?” He looked over to the frozen paramedic and his frozen paddles.
“Those won’t do anything,” Michael advised. “She’s been poisoned.”
Logan slowly turned his head around to the frozen guards and the frozen Addison they were putting in handcuffs. He tried to get his breathing under control. “I– I don’t know what—” He looked to the man in the white silk shirt helplessly. “I don’t do that kind of magic. I need something to kill!”
Michael cocked his head. “You can’t kill a neurotoxin.” His eyes were fixed on Niki, as if Logan were just along to watch.
Logan stood, backing quickly away from the scene on the floor. His mind was racing. He didn’t know what to do with his hands. This was a nightmare. “She– she’s a Slayer, won’t she heal? She heals fast – won’t she heal?”
“You can’t heal death,” Michael slowly leaned in closer to her ashen face. “I wonder what she sees?”
“What the fuck are we doing here?” Logan demanded unable to look at the frozen scene of death anymore. One look at the Watcher made him set his jaw and bear it, though.
“You can’t heal death,” Michael repeated quietly. “But I can.” He drew his hand gently down Niki’s cheek and then stood, backing away to the far corner of the small room.
In an instant that made Logan nearly jump out of his skin, action resumed and the voices and bustle of the paramedics and officers was like an assault.
“Clear,” the paramedic ordered, the mask jerking off of Niki’s face. Seven hundred volts surged through her heart and this time it spasmed, contracting powerfully as her augmented metabolism stirred back to life.
“We’ve got a pulse,” the other paramedic called out, his fingers on her neck. Niki drew in a deep breath, here eyes having never closed the entire time. She promptly sat up just as Addison was being shuffled out the door.
“Tell me,” she croaked, her last thought surfacing again. “Tell me it was easy.”
Addison, lifting his eyelids, struggled momentarily in the grip of the goons in uniform. They paused and he took in a breath to answer. “You’ve always made my job harder than it needed to be,” he said, wrestling for consciousness and winning. “This is no different.”
Logan backed away towards Michael and Niki’s head turned towards him. “Hey,” she managed. “What’s this bullshit I hear about you not seeing me?”
The paramedics were helping her into a chair and some were cleaning up the equipment. The guards escorted Addison from the room, one of them remaining to clean up the broken syringe.
Logan didn’t answer her, but instead turned to Michael. “Thank you,” he said sincerely. He had never felt so powerless. Never so indebted.
“Nobody ever thanks me,” Michael replied, the smile creeping into his eyes. “Not at a place like Wolfram and Hart.”
“Why do you work there?” Logan asked with a frown, not sensing the scheming evil which seemed to permeate the law firm he worked for.
“I never said I worked there,” the man shrugged. “I like to volunteer. Some jobs are more rewarding than others.” He turned towards the door and Logan began to follow him, ignoring the confused glare coming from the Slayer. “Out in the world,” Michael continued, “I do real work. I’m at the ICU – I’m also grief counselor.”
“Kinda morbid, aren’t ya?” Logan frowned, following the man in the white silk shirt into the hallway. “Do you do that trick–” he indicated where they had just come from “on people in the ICU?”
“I’m working at Wolfram and Hart as your liaison to the liaison — Tawnie. Apparently she’s seen enough of you as she cares to. Anything you want to bring to her, you bring to me instead.” Michael continued walking down the corridor until he got to a barred door.
“Then could you tell her something for me?” Logan said, still a little puzzled by the whole experience.
Michael nodded. “Shoot.”
“Tell her I want more security on Niki — constant security.” The lawyer glanced over his shoulder in the direction the guards had taken the Watcher. “And I want Addison denied bail.”
“I’ll pass it along,” the man agreed.
“One more thing,” Logan held up a hand, knowing there was no real way to stop Michael from leaving. The man in the white silk shirt raised an eyebrow. Logan’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Who are you, exactly?”
Michael let the sad little smile resurface. “I’ll be seeing you,” he said with a small nod. To Logan’s bewilderment, the man was gone again with the sound of large beating wings.
Logan tried to read the last few minutes in front of him like they were written on some cosmic script. Some things were solved. Some things were not. Addison and the Council were against him. No — they were against Niki going to jail for life. They were against Wolfram and Hart.
Suddenly a thought crystallized that he had never really considered before. There was a solution here, something staring him in the face from the cosmic script. Logan’s eyes narrowed at its utter simplicity. I just won’t lose.
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