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Back to the first part
Josiah looked down at the small girl who shyly stretched out her hand and touched his red nose. She pressed it quickly and then snatched her hand away and giggled.
Josiah laughed with her and tucked her in, careful of the multiple IV lines attached to her hands. Seeing the faces of the sick little children light up as he and Nathan re-enacted classic tales and generally clowned around was indeed a gratifying sight. He saw Nathan walk over to their balloon stash and decided to join him and take a breather as it was time for medications for some of the kids.
"Seeing a smile like that makes it all worthwhile, doesn't it?" Nathan said softly and Josiah nodded.
"That it does, brother," he agreed. "Makes me wonder if I haven't chosen the wrong profession."
"I don't know about wearing this suit every day.... " Nathan said slowly." ... but I know someone who'd be happy to see me do something like this instead of busting gunrunners."
"Rain, huh?" Josiah nodded. "Have the two of you talked about the possibility of you leaving our group?"
"No... not exactly talked." Nathan said slowly and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. "She's -uhm- most persuasive in other ways... but... well... she does have a point and you just can't argue with Rain when she's right. She won't ask me to leave but I know she'd be happier if I was in a safer line of work"
"Right as Rain." Josiah grinned. " I see. But you wouldn't be thinking about leaving us anytime soon, now would you?"
"What, and let you guys take care of all your cuts and bruises by yourselves?" Nathan laughed. " Not if I can help it. I'd just go around and worry about what would happen to you all when I'm not there. Rain knows that too."
"Speaking of our friends." Josiah turned serious. "Why aren't they here?"
"Yeah, I was wondering about that myself...." Nathan said. He hoped the others were just delayed trying to coax Vin out of the car and that his gut was wrong when it tried to convince him that it could just possibly be something more serious.
"Where's the wizard?" A five-year old boy with a cast on his arm tugged on Nathan's baggy pants. "I want the wizard."
"Well, sorry little fellah." Nathan said as he carefully picked the pint-sized menace up in his arms. " It looks like he just magicked himself away before he even got here."
*And he'd better have a darn good reason for worrying me like this.* Nathan thought and wondered once again what had happened to their four missing compadres.
*******
Ezra searched desperately through his pockets for something - anything - he could use to free Vin. Coins and cards trickled through his fingers and disappeared down into the dark water but he never gave them a second thought. He pulled out a hidden staff - no good, it was too weak. As he threw it away it transformed in midair into a colorful bouquet before it landed next to a rat who gave a squeal of surprise and quickly moved away to a safer spot.
Next Ezra nearly gave himself a heart attack as he pulled out a rubber pigeon so lifelike that it seemed to flutter with panic in his hands. He swore and threw it away. All he had left was an endless row of silk handkerchiefs all tied together and reinforced by a sturdy but invisible fishing line.
Nothing, there was nothing. They were literally ...
Ezra searched for an expression to correctly assess their situation. Up the creek without a paddle didn't do it for him, it was too clean. He had to settle for the cold reality of being 'down the smelly sewer without a lever' instead.
Not only was the water starting to rise on the floor, it was also starting to rush out of a broken pipe directly over Vin's head. Vin spat and tried not to breathe in the deluge but he was hard pressed to find a way to keep his face out of the way of the pouring water.
Struck by a sudden burst of inspiration Ezra snatched up Vin's discarded wig and stuffed it up the pipe that was spewing water down Vin's face. Luckily it held off pretty well and the flow slowed down to just a tiny trickle. Good, that bought them some time. Not much, though. The water level was still rising at an alarming rate and the water was cold.
"Ezra .. help me." Vin struggled to raise the upper part of his body away from the water. Ezra leaned back against the wall and propped Vin up against his own shoulder.
"I need to go and get help." Ezra reluctantly stated what they both knew.
"Yeah," Vin calmly agreed. As soon as Ezra shifted away from him he had to struggle to stay upright and Ezra quickly moved back to support him.
"I can make it. You should go now, Ez." Vin said, but Ezra didn't answer. He couldn't leave without knowing that Vin would be able to at least keep his head above water
If only there was something Vin could hold on to... maybe something in the rubble. Ezra's thoughts suddenly went to the handkerchiefs in his pocket. Maybe they weren't so useless after all.
"I've got an idea," he said and rose to tie one end of the line to the pipe above Vin's head. He tested it, wrapped the line several times around Vin's body and felt optinmistic that it might work. He'd probably have to cut the line in order to free Vin again, but it would hold. For the first time since he had come down into the sewers Ezra felt a glimmer of hope.
Vin grabbed a tentative hold of the line and found it much easier to stay upright this time. He began to put a little weight on it and found that it was able to take it. With some help from Ezra he wrapped the line a few times more around his body and and secured the end by wrapping them around his hands before he leaned back against the wall again.
"Thanks Ezra," he said quietly and Ezra gave his shoulder a quick squeeze in response.
"I'll be back soon," Ezra said. " Don't fall asleep."
A sudden thought made him stop abruptly and turn back for a minute. Taking off his black cape he swept it around Vin's shoulders. It wasn't much of a barrier against the cold water but it was something.
"Ezra... Wait." Vin pleaded as long shudders ran up and down his spine. " This cold is numbing my mind. Give me something to focus on. A word, a rhyme - just something."
For the life of him Ezra couldn't seem to come up with anything but then a line from a song or a poem suddenly started playing in his head and the words just flowed off his tongue without a conscious thought in between.
"A jellicle cat is a magical cat," Ezra said and Vin looked up with a weary expression.
"A jellicle cat is a magical cat," he repeated and grinned slightly. "You listen to 'Cats' lately, Ezra?"
"No and I have no idea if that is even a correct quote," Ezra admitted. " In fact, I'm pretty certain it's not, but that's not important anyway. It's simple enough to remember. Just keep repeating it and hold on to the line. And don't fall asleep."
"Okay, " Vin nodded and tried to keep his teeth from chattering. "A jellicle cat is a magical cat. A jellicle cat is a magical cat. I won't let go."
"Good. Keep repeating that. I'll be right back." Ezra moved away and was immediately swallowed by the dark.
*A magical cat... I won't let go. I won't let go.* Vin wrapped his hands a little tighter around his lifeline and watched as the swirling waters rapidly engulfed more and more of his body. There was nothing he could do now but wait.
*******
JD sat up slowly and took a deep breath before getting back on his feet. He bit back a groan of discomfort as he bent down and reached for Jaxon's scattered papers. There were row after row of small numbered squares with perforated edges on each sheet and every single one of them contained a small drawing, cartoonish in nature. It looked very much like some kind of weird stamps or the type of fake tattoos that came with bubble gums. JD gathered the papers together and promptly cut himself on the razor sharp edge of one of the thin sheets.
"Ow." He stuck his forefinger in his mouth and sucked on the small papercut he had gotten. Underlying the coppery tang of his blood was a funny sweet and sour taste he couldn't identify. It must come from the glue residue that was on the back of every paper. The sheets were becoming sticky now as a light drizzle started to fall and he couldn't avoid getting some of the glue on his hands.
JD retraced his way back to the car through two smaller alleys and had just turned into a third one when he suddenly stopped and looked carefully at his surroundings.
Strange how he hadn't noticed before that the buildings around him were all leaning at that weird angle. And they moved around too .... It was enough to make his head spin and he had to sit down, except when he sat down it seemed that the ground was moving also. He lay down and spread out his arms and legs to hold on to the asphalt. Nope. Still moving.
Buck turned the corner at that point and nearly had a heart attack when he spotted JD flat on his back on the dirty street.
"JD!" he called anxiously as he hobbled as fast as he could on his crutches towards the youngster. "What happened? Are you all right, kid?"
"Oh hi, Buck." JD said and giggled. " Hi - hey I think I'm high ....hi-high ... geddit? Hehehe." Buck ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Oh, boy. What in the world had happened to JD? Was the kid drunk ?
So ... maybe this wasn't as bad as Buck had first thought, but it wasn't good either. He looked at the papers that were still clutched hard in JD's hand. It reminded Buck of samples of LSD that were sometimes distributed at rave parties in a similar fashion. Small, harmless-looking paper squares you could lick and get a trip for your troubles. No, this wasn't good at all.
"C'mon, sit up now." Buck grabbed ahold of JD's arm and tried to drag him to a standing position but almost ended up sprawled on the asphalt himself when he overbalanced. It was impossible for him to manage his crutches and JD both at the same time, the kid would have to get to his feet by himself.
"JD. C'mon, kid," he coaxed. "You don't wanna lay on the ground like this. Lets go and sit on them steps over there." He pointed his crutch towards a doorway in one of the abandoned buildings. Right nearby he noticed two old codgers in a cardboard box who followed his every move with great interest.
"No." JD said stubbornly.
"Ah, c'mon now, JD," Buck tried again. "It's starting to rain. It's gonna get wet and cold. We're gonna get wet and cold. You don't wanna stay here. Listen to ol' Buck now and go sit over there where there's some shelter from the rain."
"Sit. Stay." JD complained without moving an inch. "You can't order me around. M'not a dog."
"Maybe not, but you sure is part mule!" Buck snapped as he lost his temper for a minute.
"Go sit over there!" he ordered. "I don't want no arguments from you. Now do it!"
JD slowly shifted his body around onto his side but when he tried to sit up he quickly rolled over onto his stomach instead.
"Boy, the sky is dark." He remarked as he studied the surface of the street.
"Why's it so dark?" He twisted his neck until he could peer up at Buck. Buck
sighed.
"It's rainin', JD," he explained, trying to go slow and patient this time. "But most of all it's because you're lookin' at the asphalt. The sky's the other way."
"Oh. Okay." JD said and tried once again to sit up, this time with more success. Getting to his feet - well - that was another matter. Buck was reminded of Bambi's first steps out on the icy lake as he watched JD straighten up on shaky legs and take his first unsteady steps.
"There you go," Buck gently encouraged JD until they could finally take shelter in a nearby doorway. The two winos applauded their endeavours. Buck rolled his eyes and deliberately turned his back on them so he could concentrate on JD instead.
He looked the kid over carefully but he didn't seem to have as much as a bruise, just a small cut on his finger that wasn't even bleeding anymore. Buck figured that as long as JD was conscious and somewhat coherent he wasn't in immediate danger.
Lucky thing they had found some shelter because now a bolt of lightning crackled and thunder rolled across the sky. Buck and JD retreated a little further into the doorway as the rain came down on the city as if it wanted to wash the whole of it away.
Buck looked down at the papers still clutched in JD's hand. A portion of them were starting to loose their shape. JD's testimony would take them some ways to putting Jaxon away when they finally got ahold of him but would it be enough? If this rain continued the papers would soon be reduced to pulp and the evidence would be lost.
"Wish we had something to put that in." Buck muttered as he tried to remember how to get back to Ezra's car. Not that it would do them much good since Ezra still had the keys and they would do well to stay under shelter until the downpour became a drizzle again.
"Oh, I have one." JD stated cryptically several minutes later. He squinted to avoid getting rain in his eyes as he looked up at the sky.
"One what, JD?" Buck asked, totally mystified since he had been thinking about how to contact the patrol car he knew was cruising around out there.
"An ev-... " JD stumbled over the word. " ...uhm - evi- something. You know."
"An evidence bag?"
"Yeah, that's the word." JD said absent-mindedly and nodded. Once he started the motion he couldn't seem to stop doing it. Buck found it nearly hypnotic to watch and had to shake his own head to clear it and get back to the present.
"JD ... " Buck said. "This was our day off. Why do you walk around with evidence bags in your pocket on your day off?"
JD stopped nodding and looked at Buck as if he had suddenly been confronted by what could only be the most stupid being alive.
"Hello? " JD said sarcastically before he continued, "I always have some
with me."
JD explained it slowly to Buck, talking in short, simple sentences as if
he was talking to a very young child. "Always. Every day. In case I need
it. Like today."
Buck didn't know what to say to that. Somehow such a simple thing as carrying around evidence bags on the off chance that they'd be needed one day really brought it home to him how deeply dedicated the kid was to doing a good job. More than that - how JD was dedicated to earning the respect of his fellow agents.
Buck cleared his throat and blinked against the rain that had somehow got into his eyes. He busied himself with carefully transferring the papers into several of the largest type of evidence bags that JD had produced out of his pocket.
A strange, metallic scraping sound made its way into JD's consciousness and he looked around to locate its source.
He sat up straight and stared at the manhole cover that seemed to be moving on its own a short distance away in the street behind them.
"Buck, look... a prarie dog." JD exclaimed in wonder and when Buck turned around he could see the back of someones head stick up out of an open manhole. Suddenly it was gone and then the head reappeared and the man looked around so Buck could get a glimpse of his face. It was Ezra.
Ezra looked around with apprehension but thankfully there were no cars ready to run him over. He had been unable to find the place where he gone down into the sewers and realized that he must have taken a wrong turn somewhere but luckily he had found another ladder leading up to the street and here he was now. He was filthy and his shoulders ached from pushing the heavy manhole cover up and out of the way but none of that mattered when he spotted the most welcome sight of Buck limping towards him with a wide grin on his face.
"Hey Ezra, you old prarie dog." Buck said and laughed.
Ezra stiffened. Prarie dog? Prairie dog ?
Behind Buck he could spot the two old inhabitants of the cardboard box further down the alley. One of them actually waved at Ezra like he was greeting an old friend.
Ezra clenched his jaw. He still hadn't forgotten about that man calling him a penguin and now his fellow agents called him a prarie dog. Well, that did it. Another slight to his person and he would do something inapproriate.
Ezra crawled out of the manhole as gracefully as he could manage under the circumstances. For a second he contemplated hitting Buck but a gentleman wouldn't take advantage of a temporarily crippled man. He meticulously straightened out his grubby black suit while counting to ten before he gave Buck a look that effectively wiped the smile from his face.
"Ah - am - not - in - a - good - mood." Ezra stated slowly and punctuated every word. His rich southern accent had never been more obvious.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Buck's good humor had disappeared immediately when he saw how serious Ezra looked.
"Vin fell through several floors in an abandoned building. He's trapped under some debris down in the sewers."
"Damn. I'll call-"
"There's no time." Ezra interrupted him. "Water is overflowing from the storm drains. If we don't manage to free him very soon I fear he'll either drown or freeze to death. I could really use help down there. Maybe JD-"
"No can do. Sorry." It was Buck's turn to interrupt Ezra. " I don't know how it happened but he's on something. Jaxon left behind some stuff with some substance on it and JD was exposed to it in some way."
"Can nothing go right today?" Ezra vented his frustration to the skies before he turned back to Buck. "Will he be all right?"
"I don't think there's any immediate danger but we need to get him out of here.Vin too. Both of them. Heck - all of us. JD and I aren't much help but we'll do what we can. What do you need?"
"I came up here to try and find something to use as a lever. I think I can shift the concrete slab enough to get him free but I need something strong, preferably some metal pipe - I don't know..."
Ezra's voice trailed off and he looked very defeated as he wondered where in this wasteland he should start his quest for a probably non-existant tool. Buck stared intently at Ezra as his mind tried to come up with something.
"Take my crutch," he said suddenly.
Ezra blinked and replied, "What?"
"To use as a lever." Buck explained. "It's strong- it's durable and it's light. Try it! Now, Ezra!"
Ezra quickly gripped the crutch and disappeared down the manhole again without wasting another word.
"Wait Ezra!" Buck called after him and Ezra's head reappered again.
"What?" He asked and watched as Buck asked JD a question and the kid shrugged and searched through his pockets. JD handed Buck something and Ezra waited impatiently as Buck hobbled towards him with great difficulty now that he only had one crutch.
Buck was shaking his head and muttering,
"That kid. Can't find a thing on his desk or in his room but his pockets are organized and as full of stuff as Mary Poppins magical bag ..."
He carefully handed Ezra a swiss army knife and a mini-flashlight and said,
"You can probably use these. Don't lose them down there or JD'll have your hide when he remembers you borrowed them."
Ezra nodded and then he was gone again. Buck hobbled back to where JD was sitting and looked hopefully at the kid.
"You wouldn't happen to have a cellphone on you, would you JD? I seem to have left mine back at the car."
"Where did the prarie dog go?" JD asked forlornly as he handed Buck his phone.
"He went home, JD. Now shush. I gotta call for back-up."
Buck pressed a key and waited for the cellphone to answer with a happy little chirp. Instead the battery warning blinked and it died, he could almost hear the death rattle. He nearly threw the phone in the trash on the street but stopped himself at the last second when he realized that he would have to reimburse it if it got lost and that meant a whole lotta paperwork and a lecture from Chris.
Was it Friday the 13th today? It must be because in all his life he'd never had such bad luck. Murphy's law seemed to be in full effect and all he could do was wait.
He wanted to go out immediately and flag down the patrolcar he had sent out to search for the others but there was no way he could leave JD alone and what if they needed an ambulance for Vin? No, the best thing to do right now was to wait.Wait and hope that the back-up would somehow just magically find them here in the heart of the Labyrinth. Wait for Ezra to come back with Vin so they could all get out of here. It was driving him up the wall. He didn't even have much of a clue where they had left the car so even if the cellphone had been working he wasn't sure that he could have directed anyone to their location, anyway.
Buck looked over at the two guys over in the cardboard box. If Ezra wasn't back soon he'd have to chance it and get out and take JD with him. Maybe he could ask them for directions.
"Hey, old timers" Buck called. "Which is the quickest way out of here'n back to the street?"
He could see them conferring amongst themselves for a short while and then they both pointed. One of them pointed at the alley where Buck had come from, the other one pointed the opposite way.
"Well, that was sure helpful." Buck muttered. He was obviously stuck here until Ezra came back. He gave a half-hearted wave in thanks back at the old men. One of them gave him thumbs up.
"Didn't I tell you," Joe whispered to his compadre. " This is the best show I've seen in years."
His friend nodded solemnly. It sure was.
*******
Ezra waited for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness down in the sewer. He decided to spare the flaslight until he really needed it but he couldn't help but feel a bit desoriented as he set off in the direction where he'd left Vin. At least he hoped it was the right direction.
He was quite relieved when he recognized the shadowy lump patiently holding on to the brightly colored handkerchiefs as Vin.
"I sure hope that's you, Ez." Vin's soft drawl greeted him." Cause if you're an alligator you're a little too big for my liking."
"Fear not Mr Tanner. You are way down on my list of preferred gourmet meals and I can assure you that a nice, expensive restaurant is more to my taste than these surroundings."
"That's good to hear but these rats down here don't seem half as picky as you. They've been eyeing me all the time you've been gone."
"Uhm, yes. I can see that." Ezra replied and shuddered as a rat the size of a well-fed cat ran right over his left foot. "Well - there's just no accounting for taste these days."
He turned on the mini flashlight and the rats squealed and fled out of the reach of the light. Ezra looked carefully at the slabs trapping Vin and bent down, placed the crutch where he deduced it would do most good and put his weight on it. Slowly but surely the concrete shifted just enough so that Vin could finally pull his leg out of the trap.
"Are you free?" Ezra asked and simply let go of the crutch when he heard Vin reply *Yeah.* in a pained voice.
The crutch disappeared underneath a concrete slab but Ezra paid it no mind as he got his first good look at Vin's injuries with help from the flashlight.
He carefully stroked Vin's hair away from his forehead and probed gently at the large goose-egg swelling over the right eye.
"How does this feel?" he asked.
"It hurts." Vin said succintly and Ezra nodded.
"It should," he replied. "That's the worst bump I've ever had the misfortune of seeing with my own two eyes."
"Look Ez..." Vin said as Ezra searched over his scalp to make sure he didn't have any gaping cracks in his skull. "Unless you're gonna read my fortune by way of the lumps on my head, I suggest you cut me loose from this line so we can get out of here now."
"Frenology was never a favorite hobby of mine," Ezra assured him as he took off his coat so he could cut away a clean section of his shirt with a little help from JD's swiss army knife. He cut off the section of the line where it was tied to the wall so Vin could be free but he didn't waste any time trying to extricate Vin from the the elaborate way it was wrapped around his body. Blood was flowing freely from a bad cut on Vin's leg and Ezra wrapped it as carefully as he could with the white cloth. Vin just hissed in pain but didn't say a word.
Vin's leg was turning black and blue where it had been trapped by the concrete and Ezra didn't like the look of it, although he doubted it was broken. If Vin was lucky he'd be on crutches for a while without any lasting damage. That thought however did nothing to help their current situation since it was clear that Vin neither could nor should put his weight on that leg.
Ezra retrieved his coat, put JD's knife and flashlight in his pocket and slung Vin's left arm over his shoulders. They started to make their way towards the open manhole with Vin hopping on one foot but they had only gone a few feet before they realized it would probably take them at least a year to get there at the pace they were going. They were constantly stumbling over debris in the dark and struggling against each other and the swirling water in the narrow tunnel.
"This unfortunately seems not to be working as well as expected." Ezra said and Vin simply answered, "No."
Next they tried a fireman's carry, again without much success as Vin's wounded leg kept bumping into walls. Vin flinched from the pain and that unbalanced their precarious arrangement and almost brought Ezra to his knees in the muck.
"This isn't working either." Ezra said and Vin replied, "Nope."
They remained indecisively in the dark and smelly sewer for a moment and rested and thought on their options.
"Piggyback." Ezra reluctantly concluded.
"Okay." Vin agreed tiredly, having no desire to stay any longer than necessary down there. Dark, enclosed spaces was something he stayed as far away from as he could under normal circumstances.
Ezra must be getting tired too - the increasing brevity of his sentences were evidence of that - but he nonetheless managed to hoist Vin up on his back and advanced towards their goal once again. Vin held on as if his life depended on it and concentrated on trying not to be sick all over Ezra's black suit. With every step he could feel Ezra falter a little and breathe a little heavier.
"Bet you wish I was JD right now." Vin muttered, knowing he was far from a light burden.
"Not at all." Ezra politely replied but he did sound a bit breathless from hauling Vin around like a sack of potatoes. "JD would no doubt ramble on incessantly on some irrelevant topic. That is something I can do without right now."
"Bet you're real glad I'm not Buck then." Vin continued. He could see a faint light ahead of them now and an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
"How so?" Ezra asked in a faltering voice as he staggered a little under Vin's weight.
"Well, he's a lot heavier than me and more than a foot taller than you, Ez."
"What!? More than a -? He most certainly is not!" Ezra declared angrily and hoisted Vin higher up on his back again as he stomped off towards the faint light. "An inch or two - maybe. You're obviously delirious Mr Tanner and I fail to see how this discussion is in any way relevant towards making the way out of our current predicament any easier."
"You'd be surprised." Vin told him in a strained voice as he watched the light draw closer at twice the speed Ezra had managed earlier.
This way they made good time and Ezra halted suddenly, surprised to find his goal only a few feet away. He paused by the ladder as he played back their conversation in his mind.
Was he really becoming that predictable?
Compare his well-proportioned physique to a big, lumbering ox like Buck and indicate a discrepancy between their heights and he was just off and running without a second thought. Ezra always felt the need to defend himself against anything that would make him seem lacking in any way when compared to the rest of the group. He didn't always give voice to, or even acknowledge, this feeling, but it was there just the same.
Hmm, could the others all read him like a book? He didn't think so, maybe it was just the ever vigilant Vin Tanner. Hopefully it was just this once too. Well, whatever it was Ezra grudgingly admitted silently to himself that he had indeed been had.
"Mr Tanner....I do believe you are too wily for your own good," Ezra muttered with a note of warning in his voice, but there was just the faintest shadow of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He could appreciate a well-executed con - even when it wasn't one of his.
"Sorry, Ez. At least it got us here, right?" Vin said tiredly and blinked at the light pouring from the opening so far away up there. Suddenly a head was blocking out part of the light.
"You boys need a hand?" Buck asked and looked down on them with a welcoming grin on his face.
Vin just nodded and slowly dragged himself up the ladder with Ezra following close behind to make sure that he didn't loose his grip. When they were near the top Buck reached down and grabbed Vin's arms and tried to haul him up that way but his hands slipped on the now slimy clown suit and for a second the three agents could feel yet another disaster looming at the horizon as they could clearly visualize Vin slipping out of Buck's hands and away from the ladder and dragging Ezra down with him.
Suddenly an arm shot out and grabbed a better hold of Vin's clothes and old Joe helped Buck drag Vin out of the hole and onto the street. Ezra gratefully accepted help in getting out of the manhole and they all lay back on the dirty street to catch their breath after their ordeal.
"Much obliged." Ezra panted as he raised his head for a short second to nod to Joe.
"Yeah, pard. We owe you," Buck said as Joe helped him to his feet and gave him his one remaining crutch.
"Oh, don't thank me," Joe said. "It was real entertaining to see you fellas all run around and turn up every which way. It reminded me of those old silent movies with Buster Keaton and the Keystone Cops."
Ezra didn't even bother to comment on that as he got to his feet. A low chuckle could be heard from Vin where he lay with his eyes closed and savoured the feeling of clean rain on his face.
"You got any place to be tonight, old timer?" Buck asked. "Looks like this rain is gonna continue."
"Just here." Joe shrugged and indicated the cardboard box. "The shelters were all full."
"I know of one that should have some room left, it's run by a very nice lady I know." Buck borrowed a pen and a piece of paper from JD and scribbled down the address. "Just tell them Buck sent you. They'll find a spot for you - free of charge."
"Thanks, mr." Joe said happily and walked quickly back to where he had left his friend.
Ezra helped Vin to his feet and leaned him against Buck. He decided that since they each had one good leg, they could help each other.
"I'll go get the car," Ezra said, feeling tired way beyond exhaustion now. "Wait here."
"Ezra, could you-" Buck started to say but Ezra cut him off with a curt, "No."
"I was only gonna say-" Buck said but Ezra cut him off again with a more forceful, "No!"
Ezra started to walk away but stopped when he heard Buck mutter something behind him. It sounded suspiciously like,
"Don't have to be so short with me, I was only trying to-"
Ezra had to use all his willpower to keep going after hearing that and not just turn back and rip away Buck's surviving crutch and let it join its companion down in the sewers. Picturing it in his mind cheered Ezra up quite a bit and he walked more briskly towards where he believed he had left his car. Short indeed!
He would get the car, drive them to a hospital and make sure they were all okay. Then he would go home and sink down into a relaxing bath with a glass of fine wine at hand and just forget this day had ever happened.
*******
JD looked at Ezra and blinked. He hadn't noticed it before but Ezra's skin was all green. And most surprisingly of all was that he hadn't seen that Ezra's eyes were on big stalks that moved and swayed in time with the buildings. Now that JD had discovered this he thought that it looked pretty cool actually.
"Ezra ... hey Ezra. I finally figured out why you talk like you're from another planet. It's because you are from another planet."
"That's very funny, JD." Ezra muttered with a pained expression as he maneuvered
a giggling JD into the backseat next to Vin who was wrapped up in a blanket.
JD sniffed the air and declared,
"Geez, you two really stink!"
"Well-" Ezra said curtly with his patience running out. "Borrow this then!" and he pulled out Vin's clown nose from his pocket and pushed it firmly on to JD's nose.
JD's eyes crossed as he tried very hard to look at his own nose but he made no attempt to remove the object. Buck wanted to laugh but he didn't dare because Ezra was getting real angry now and he only had one crutch left and didn't want to be stranded in the middle of an alley in the rai....
"Agent Wilmington!" Ezra snapped and interrupted Buck's thoughts. " May I ask if it is your intention to accompany the rest of our little intrepid group or not?"
Buck just nodded and got in the car without argument. Ezra's way of becoming overly polite when he was irritated was a sure warning sign, although unfortunately not enough people discovered this in time. It didn't pay to argue with Ezra when he was in no-nonsense mode because he could run word loops around you that would make your head spin and as a result make you lose whatever verbal faculties you possessed from the beginning.
JD had given up trying to look at his nose and was instead involved in an attempt to unravel the myriad of silk handkerchiefs wrapped around Vin.
"A jellicle cat is a magical cat, " Vin mumbled groggily and yawned. He was getting real sleepy in the warmth of the car and made no effort to cooperate as JD tugged repeatedly on the line. Small rivulets of water were running from Vin's hair where his head rested against the corner window.
Ezra sighed and stepped on the gas. The sooner he could get them unloaded at the hospital and taken care of, the sooner he could change his clothes. JD was right. The two of them were both surrounded by a foul stench that made his eyes water in the closed confines of the car. Buck was already leaning as far away from them as he could come and all but had his head out the open window.
Ezra sighed a second time as he rolled down his own window. He just knew that his upholstery would never be the same after this.
*******
Chris swept into the ATF building and hoped he wouldn't be noticed too much. He knew he didn't exactly look his best with his left cheek swollen to twice its normal size.
He walked briskly to the elevator and then from the elevator into his office with only a handful of meaningful glares to stave off anyone trying to converse with him.
Chris sank down into his chair and enjoyed the silence. You never realized how much noise a dentist's drill could make until it was deep in your mouth and trying to drill a hole straight through your head. His ears were still ringing. First they had kept him waiting forever because of a complicated case of dental surgery that had taken precedence over his appointment. Then he'd found out that they couldn't just yank the darn tooth, they had to drill it out for an agonizing eternity.
He decided to rest up at the office for about half an hour and check some things out before going over to the hospital and see how the team had gotten along with the kids. Chris pushed at his swollen cheek experimentally. Huh, still a bit numb. He could do this. He could survive without taking the painkillers that the dentist had prescribed for him. Willpower would do the trick.
For thirty-five more minutes he lived with this illusion until the local anaesthetic abruptly wore off and he realized that someone was trying to take out a part of his jawbone with the help of a chisel. He quickly swallowed one of the huge pills before reading the label and noticing the warning that said he shouldn't drive while taking these pills. Oh, great! That meant either a taxi or the bus then, neither an alternative that suited him at this point in time when he could hardly speak and felt like an extra from a monster movie.
Maybe he should skip the visit altogether. It was pretty late already and he could hear all about it tomorrow. He would just check to see if there were any messages and then he could go home, put an ice pack on his face and take it easy.
He picked up the phone and listened in silence to the messages left on his voice-mail. Buck had done what to his knee? Vin and JD were where ? They had arrested someone? A joint operation to be scheduled- Drugs? What the-????
He groaned and almost banged his head against his desk in frustration. This was supposed to be their day off. You just couldn't leave them without supervision for a minute.
Chris rose quickly and stumbled a step. Hmm, this medicine left him a bit loopy. Maybe he had dreamed all that had just happened. He made his way out of the building, not so much glaring at everyone this time as just ignoring them.
Coming out on the street the first thing he noticed was that there wasn't a taxi in sight. Five minutes later he was still waiting for one to come by and decided on the bus instead.
The bus was packed with people and he had to stand up the whole way over to the hospital. Trapped between an old man who coughed constantly and an obnoxious child who insisted on standing on his foot, Chris had plenty of time to think of what he would do to his team if it turned out not to be a bad dream after all.
*******
"Uuuhhnnnn ..... my head." JD whispered tentatively and groaned at the sound of his own voice.
He vaguely remembered being prodded and poked at and asked a lot of questions and then he must have fallen asleep. That must also mean that he was awake now, right?
For a second he had no idea where he was. In fact - for a second he had no idea who he was either. He found it hard to think when his head was throbbing and his stomach was heaving.
Oh yeah, he remembered now ... his name was JD and he was really, really, really sick.
"That should teach you." A voice boomed loudly somewhere above him and JD promptly fell off his chair in reaction. Someone lifted the cold soothing thing that was his only comfort away from his head. Ice pack. It was called an ice pack. He had to remember that if he needed to ask for it. JD squeezed his eyes shut against the glaring light but not before he could clearly identify Buck who peered down at him and shook his head sadly.
"Kids today...." Buck said as he helped him back into the chair. "Got no sense. Got no stamina. It's a sad thing. Very sad."
JD dared to open his eyes for a second so he could locate his ice pack and plant it firmly back on his forehead. Oh, that just felt so good. He shut his eyes again.
"Go away," he croaked.
"What was that?" Buck went on relentlessly. "Did you just say ' Yes, Buck - from now on I'll think twice about running after a drugdealer without back-up' or was it 'Yes Buck, I know I could have been killed and I promise I'll never do anything as stupid as that ever again'?"
JD sighed. For every second he became more and more aware of his surroundings and the fact that Buck was actually speaking in a tone that could only be considered quiet for him. That didn't stop JD from feeling as if someone had buried a red hot poker in his brain and twisted it whenever a sound was heard. He needed to shut Buck up before his head exploded.
Besides... Buck was right. This time.
"I promise I'll never do anything as stupid as that ever again." JD repeated Buck's last option.
"Good." Buck said softly. He patted JD gently on the shoulder and winced in sympathetic pain as the kid could only groan in answer.
*******
Chris stormed into Vin's room and looked at his six agents. Vin was to all appearances peacefully asleep in the bed. He was freshly scrubbed to get rid of the sewer smell and the only proof of his brief interlude as clown was a red nose on the table next to the bed.
Buck was leaning on his one remaining crutch and hovering by JD's side while the kid was stretched out in a chair with the ice pack still on his head. Both of them looked like they had been rolling around in a dirty alley somewhere.
Ezra was standing by the window dressed in borrowed scrubs and sneakers and to top it off there was Nathan and Josiah, still dressed as clowns. Everyone but Vin looked up at Chris with apprehension. His left cheek was swollen to twice it's normal size, giving him the apperance of having just contracted mumps and he looked about as angry as a bee who's perfectly organized hive had just met with an unfortunate accident.
"-en-a-tol-ou-to-...." Chris started with great difficulty.
The five awake agents looked at each other in puzzlement.
"What did he say?" Buck stage whispered to Ezra but it was Vin who answered him without opening his eyes even once to find what was going on.
"He said ' when I told' ya to get to the hospital I didn't mean as patients.' Right, Chris?"
"-igh-." Chris confirmed. "-ow -t - g?"
"He wants to know what happened, how the kids liked the show and when we're getting out of here." Vin translated Chris's unspoken questions in advance before falling asleep again.
Chris nodded and put the full weight of his gaze on Buck as he waited for an explanation.
"Well, you see Chris ..." Buck started without looking Chris directly in the eye. " We didn't mean to leave Josiah and Nathan here without back up, so to speak, although they really didn't need us since the kids all loved them. " Nathan and Josiah both nodded.
"Yes, it all went exceptionally well." Josiah confirmed and Chris looked slightly mollified by this but he soon had Buck pinned down with his eyes again and Buck felt compelled to continue with the story.
"Vin had to take my place as a clown since I hurt my knee and we were all on the way here when we sort of got sidetracked and .... and .... and why don't you continue Ezra?" Buck quickly shoved the responsability for explaining over to Ezra.
"Me?" Ezra looked up with a look on his face like a deer caught in the headlight as he found that Chris had now switched his attention over to him instead of Buck.
"Well, " Ezra cleared his throat. "We came across some suspicious characters involved in violating the law. In trying to prohibit this act Mr Tanner and myself had to search through a derelict building where Vin unfortunately fell through the floor and we ended up in the sewers. Fortunately Mr Wilmington here could lend me his crutch so I could free Vin - but you had a better knowledge of what went on in that alley so why don't you tell the rest of the story, Mr Wilmington?"
"Yeah," JD said gleefully. "The buck has been passed back to you, Buck!"
He almost fell off the chair again as he started to laugh but it quickly turned into a groan instead when his head protested against this strenuous activity.
"JD here...-" Buck spoke loudly directly above JD's head and was satisfied to see JD squirm a bit in response." ...got himself in a spot of trouble and I had my hands full trying to take care of him. He didn't make a lick of sense when he spoke but it took me a while to notice 'cause I thought he was just trying out a new joke on me or something and we all know there's not a living soul on this earth who can get one of his jokes-"
JD groaned again and Buck relented a bit. The poor kid's head was probably killing him.
"Well -," Buck continued in a softer tone of voice. " It seems that one of the characters we were chasing were a drug dealer from Purgatorio and he had with him a batch of an experimental new drug and JD - through no fault of his own - was exposed to this and got a small amount into him."
Chris looked up in alarm and looked at Nathan who hastened to assure him that JD would be fine and didn't even need to stay in the hospital. He had only gotten a small dose of the experimental new drug they had discovered into his bloodstream and the effects were already on the decline. Thanks to Chris's team this new drug could now be stopped before it did some real damage out among the city kids. Nathan was careful to really underline this last point to Chris.
Nathan finished by telling Chris that the cuts on Vin's leg had been stitched and bandaged, his head had been looked at and he'd had his stomach pumped to get rid of the sewer water he'd accidentally swallowed from the broken pipe above his head. Vin was just in a night for observation since he was clearly exhausted after his ordeal.
Chris listened in silence and when they were finished he had only three words to say and he said them carefully and slowly through his clenched teeth.
"Full report. Tomorrow." They understood that all right and wisely took the opportunity to leave that moment
Chris walked over to the bed and looked at Vin who slept on undisturbed. He dragged the chair JD had vacated closer to Vin and sat down to rest a bit. It was nice to wait in silence and know everything would be all right. What a day.
Suddenly Vin sat up in bed and he looked at Chris but without really seeing him.
"Where's the lifeline?" he said hoarsly into the quiet of the room. "A jellicle cat is a magical cat. I won't let go."
He reached out blindly for something and as Chris held out his hand to gently push Vin back against the pillows he was instead caught in a death grip. As soon as Vin had a firm hold on his hand he lay down again, shut his eyes and fell deeply asleep without letting go.
Chris frowned. What was that all about? It was clear to him that Vin must have been talking in his sleep but what on earth was a jellicle cat - could he mean Cuervo? Chris decided that he had probably heard it all wrong. He needed to have a talk tomorrow with Ezra and get the details of what had really happened down in the sewer.
He tried slowly and carefully to free himself from Vin's grip but his friend just kept holding on for dear life. Chris really didn't want to mess with the IV attached to Vin's hand so there was nothing he could do but sit there patiently and look around the room and wait for Vin to wake up and let go of him.
"All right, Vin." He muttered in resignation and took great care to enunciate every word as clearly as he could. "I get the picture. Looks like I'm stayin' a while."
He thought he heard Vin answer, "Fine, Cowboy, " but it was immediately followed by a soft snore so once again Chris decided that he had probably heard it wrong. Had they given Vin drugs? Maybe his ramblings were the result of a sedative or something. Chris wished that Nathan had stayed a while so he could ask him. He vaguely remembered something about how sedatives or painkillers and head injuries didn't go well together but Vin wasn't that bad off so maybe they had given him something. Then again - maybe Vin had always been talking in his sleep.
Chris hoped he wouldn't do it again or the doctors might think Vin had scrambled his brain and decide to keep him indefinitely and then what would Chris do?
His eyes wandered away from Vin and fell on the red clown nose on the table.
He picked it up with his free hand, looked at it, shook his head and put it down again. He sighed. That was the absolutely last time he ever volunteered his team for anything, no matter how harmless the assignment. Next time they could call in some other clowns to do the dirty work.
*******
Out in the hallway Nathan had a look of wonder on his face as the group waited for the elevator.
"How do they do that?" he voiced everyone's question. "Vin's almost unconscious and yet he's the only one of us who understood what Chris was saying."
"It's telepathic." JD said as he moved the icepack to the back of his neck " They're on the same wavelength - or maybe they're from the same planet as Ezra," he continued before he noticed the sour look Ezra gave him when he heard this statement.
The drug was starting to wear off now but JD had what he himself decided must amount to the world's greatest hangover and what the others considered an even greater propensity for acting impulsively and speaking his mind without thinking first.
"Sorry." JD apologized to Ezra and decided to keep quiet. His resolve lasted for all of sixty seconds before the elevator pinged and they all got in.
"I like being a clown but these things are impossible to walk in." Josiah said as he stumbled over his clown shoes for the tenth time.
"How do you think Buck hurt his knee." JD said, again without thinking. " He tripped over his own feet when he tried and fell right there in the living room. It shook the whole house, I almost called Timber!"
"JD!" Buck hissed as the others all started to laugh hard enough to bring tears to their eyes. "Great! I'll never live this down."
"Sorry, Buck." JD apologized but didn't sound very apologetic at all.
"It's too late now." Buck complained and quickly switched the subject. "Hey Nathan, can I catch a ride with you?"
"Yeah, sure." Nathan answered. "Don't you wanna go back with Ezra?"
"No, I don't think even Ezra would want to go back in his own car."
*******
Ezra shivered in the raw air as he jogged out to the parking lot and over to his beloved Jaguar. He looked at the scratches on the paint, frowned as he spotted the bullet holes and groaned in disgust at the odor attacking him as soon as he opened the door to the driver's seat.
He decided to let it air out for a minute or two and walked around the car twice and looked at the damage again with pain in his heart and an actual lump in his throat. She had looked so beautiful yesterday with the sun gleaming on her shining new coat of wax. Today she just looked miserable. It didn't matter, in his eyes she was still a lady and if he had been able to embrace the whole of her, he would have.
"You'll be fine, precious," he said softly as he settled for patting the Jag gently on the hood instead." A little paint on the outside, some disinfectant followed by oil on those lovely leather seats and you'll be as good as new. I promise...."
He took a deep breath and steeled himself as he got into the car. The smell wasn't so bad, really. He could stand it a moment - for the sake of a lady. Ezra let his hand stroke a loving circle around the steering wheel.
"... and a real gentleman always keeps his word," he concluded quietly as he turned the key to the ignition and heard her engine start to purr in answer.
Alone at last.
THE END
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