“I don’t think she’s breathing” said Jarvis.
“Yeah, dead people do that a lot.” said Willoughby sarcastically. “Get rid of it.”
“I’ll take her down below, do it the old way, stitch her into a blanket, weight it with lead.” Jarvis glanced around the room “Got plenty of that” he said.
“SCREW THAT!” cried the Doctor. “Just dump the bitch overboard.”
“Best not, miss. You can bet they got eyes on us. If you’re pretending to be her on the bridge the last thing we need is them spotting her going overboard.” Explained Jarvis. “The two of you can go up to the bridge via the internal stairs, I’ll carry her body around and go up the deck stairs so they can get a sight of her. They won’t know she’s dead. But then they’ll think she’s in a bad way for when you put on the voice. I’ll go onto the bridge from outside then take her back down the internal stairs and then stitch ‘n’ ditch her. Hide her body with other trash when I put her over the side. With these currents body could be 5 miles away by the next tide, they’ll never find her.”
“Why bother?” asked Wheeler. “Just leave her body on board. It’s too much hassle. Not like we’re gonna live here or nothing.”
“If they do storm the ship we’re caught bang to rights with her body. If we get rid, then they gotta prove we killed her. We could just say she flew off. No one knows who she is or how to get hold of her anyway. It’d be like she just disappeared. I’ll dump her with other bags of trash and garbage we got on board . Oh, they’ll know we did it, but without the body they can’t prove a thing. All they got us for is taking this boat. And we ain’t sailed it away or taken anything, so it’s just illegally boarding really, rather than piracy.” Jarvis explained.
“Ya know, Jarvis, you aren’t as dumb as you look.” Willoughby nodded her approval. “We’ll go with that. Wheeler and I’ll go up to the bridge, then you bring her body up via the deck so they spot her.”
As Wheeler and the Doctor made their way back through the control room then up towards the bridge, Wheeler addressed his boss.
“That was pretty sharp of Jarvis. Guess he ain’t as stupid as you thought, eh?” He said.
“Oh, please. That guy probably thinks Billy Joel is Superman’s dad.” She said disparagingly.
“Huh?” Wheeler said confused.
“Never mind. Forgot you hadn’t seen the government files on her and her cousin. It doesn’t matter.”
Jarvis stood still, watching them leave, then listening to them talking and for the sound of them going up the stairs. Satisfied they had gone, he rushed to kneel beside Supergirl’s body. He brushed back the bloodied, matted hair from her face, looping it back carefully to the side of her cheek with his index finger, before he gripped her chin, turning her head gently to see the wound at her neck, wincing as he caught sight of the lacerations, each with a tiny, faint, green glow at its centre. None of the wounds were particularly deep in human terms, as the force of the bullets had largely been expended when they hit Supergirl’s skin, and the slender splinters of Kryptonite , being light, lacked real penetrating power. But a faint trickle of blood was visible from the wound at her neck, near the tendon, first thin, then slightly thicker, then thin again. She had a pulse. He raised an eyelid with his thumb. Her pupils had rolled up in her unconsciousness, but there was a slight reaction to the light. He cast his eye over her other wounds. None were particularly serious to a human as they were not very deep, but he realised the dozens of slender green fragments embedded in her must be acting as a poison to her. Her palm, her forearm, her thigh and the two shots to her chest were far more serious, as the bullets had hit her body more straight on than in the other instances and so had discharged more of their lethal payload.
As gently as he could, he slipped an arm behind her knees and the other behind her shoulders, her neck draped over his forearm. Her head rolled to turn her beautiful face upwards to his, as he looked down at her. He had a cruel-looking leer to the left side of his mouth, with that eye slightly hooded at the outer corner.
“What am I going to do with you, eh?” he said quietly to himself as he carried her up to the bridge.
On shore, Lewis, the Mayor’s aide, rushed into the harbour master’s inner office from the radio room next door, which was being used as a base of operations.
“Got a confirmed sighting of her from Watchdog 6. She was being carried up to the bridge. I overhead some guy tell Wilson. Think 6 was on the nearest harbour crane, so that would put her on the portside” he pointed to a map of the dockyard facilities and then swept it out to where the lightship was marked as at anchor.
Eddy, the Mayor’s wife squeezed her husband’s hand with concern. He reciprocated by patting it gently with his other hand. Wilson walked in.
“She’s been confirmed as on board, but it looks like they have indeed captured her.” He informed them.
“Feared as much. She would’ve wrapped it up by now if she were able.” said Reynolds. He moved into the communications room and headed for the radio transceiver. “I’ll get onto that crazy bitch” he said grimly as he picked up the handset. “Is the chopper standing by?”
Lewis nodded. “Sir, as an elected official, you can’t go over there. They can’t guarantee your safety, it would be madness to set foot on that ship.”
“You’re a good lad Tom, and I value your advice. But 4 months ago I wasn’t the mayor. And in a few years I won’t be the mayor again. I’m 68 and I’ve had a good life and always tried to do the right thing. Mayor’s come and go, is my point, and I can’t just sit back and watch her destroy half the city just to preserve me as a token figurehead of an Office. And Eddy is coming too, no argument. It’s what we both want . But above all I can’t let her destroy a brave young woman who is a far more important figurehead to the entire country than I’ll ever be. It might not come to us going aboard. But if it does, I’m willing to go, if it means saving her. Now, we’ve got Eddy wired up so at least you can hear what’s happening inside and there’s the micro camera in my jacket button and I’ll use a phrase with a number in it at some point to let you know how many guys she has on board. We know at least two have been seen. Once we got eyes on them all and we’ve established the device is on board, you can send in the cavalry and take ‘em out, OK?” He turned to face Captain Hudson, the SEAL team commander who was studying the ship deck plan for the Compass Rose. “Your men are ready?”
“SEALs, sir. Born ready. We’re not the cavalry though, we don’t go near horses. Well, except seahorses.“ He smiled, trying to put Reynolds at ease. ”Got two teams of four in the water at the bow chain and stern anchor as we speak, under Lieutenant Jones, who’s with the bow unit, just waiting for the go. They’re team ‘Trident’, at the bow, ‘Sceptre’ at the stern. All have had demolitions training. Got four marksmen on the dock cranes, with spotters, they’re call sign ‘Watchdog’, then Cooper’s team are in two Blackhawks , their designation is ‘Kite’ 1 and 2, they got the bomb squad guys, one in each, codename ‘Leonard’ and ‘Sheldon’. They are in whisper mode, 3 miles out to sea at the moment, can be over the target in less than a minute. Got a back up team in assault boats standing off about 800 yards under Craig. They’re ‘Shortstop’. But I’d be surprised if we need them.” Hudson said with a voice brimming with professional confidence. “Full medical support is waiting dockside. The Police chief is in charge of the outer cordon, got around 200 officers and we got a total media blackout.”
Reynolds nodded, soberly, as he put down the radio mike and moved to stare at the map “No doubt you have men around too?” he asked Wilson who said nothing. The Mayor nodded. “Leonard and Sheldon? You named the bomb squad guys after those two on the ‘Big Bang Theory’?” Hudson looked slightly embarrassed, but the Mayor smiled. “I like it. Do me and Eddy have codenames?"
"'Penny' and 'Raj'"
Reynolds smiled "At least I'm not Wolowitz. You ready, Eddy?” he smiled at his wife.
“This mike is damned uncomfortable, Mike” she retorted with a smile, as she adjusted her bosom where the wire was hidden. “But I suppose no young man is going to want to look at these old udders” she smiled deprecatingly. She was wearing an old pair of sneakers and some comfortable looking tracksuit pants with the microphone hidden beneath a very old ‘I shot JR’ T-shirt, that she’d owned since the eighties, and the powder- blue tracksuit top. The baggy clothing made it easier to hide the wire.
“Sir this…this is just stupid.” Tom Lewis said despairingly.
“No Tom, this a Kansas City Shuffle.” Said Reynolds. Hudson smiled.
“What?” said Lewis, looking to Hudson who explained.
“We’ve got a big old Sikorsky ready to winch the Mayor and his wife to the deck if it gets that far. Makes a helluva racket. We sent a drone over after that F-15 went too close. That boat is bristling with cameras. But if the targets are watching the chopper, then they ain’t looking at the camera screens. Or if they are, they are likely to be looking at the ones trained on the chopper. It’s a diversion. Get them to look one way while the action happens somewhere else. That’s the Shuffle. Should give Jones’ crew at the stern under Daniels time and cover to get on board, as the chopper will cover any gunplay aft. They’ve all got silencers but just in case they pop a guy and he screams. Shouldn’t happen but you never know. Jones’ team at the bow can be up that anchor chain in less than ten seconds once we give the go. If we do have to lower the Mayor and his wife down, we got marksmen covering Mr and Mrs Reynolds every step of the way. Though to be honest I would rather use a body double. If you do insist on going, I would prefer it if you and your wife would at least wear a vest, your Honour.” Hudson said.
“I do insist on going. And she won’t wear one , so I won’t. I won’t have someone else risk themselves pretending to be me. If you’ve covered all options I won’t need one, right?” Reynolds seemed to need reassurance.
“Nothing is certain, sir” said Hudson. “I’d feel a lot better if you were protected. But hopefully you won’t need to be exposed. If we haven’t identified the number of targets by the time you are over the ship, then we will need to lower you down. But we are hoping the infrared heat scans from the drones will show up how many targets we are dealing with. I would rather that neither of you were involved, but if you insist…Please, Ma’am. Please reconsider your decision about a vest.”
Reluctantly, Eddy nodded.
A naval intelligence officer hurried in at that moment, saluted briefly and addressed Hudson. “They’ve just had the prelim drone results back, sir. It’s a no go. That ships got lead compartments all over the place and the heat of the generator from below the light tower is creating a dead zone. Infra red can’t penetrate all of the inner ship. What they can see is just two guys, plus the Doctor, but we keep losing them sir, cant be certain we keep picking up the same guys. Like I say, lotta dead ground. “ At that moment the radio crackled as Wheeler called from the lightship.
The radio operator turned in his seat “Compass Rose is back on the horn sir, same voice as before, asking for the Mayor.”
Hudson looked grim as he turned to the Mayor. “Then I’m afraid you’re a ‘go’,sir. We will need to use you after all.”
After a brief trip to the bridge with Supergirl, via the deck, Jarvis hurried back down to his cabin, carrying the unmoving body of the heroine as if it were glass, scurrying awkwardly down the ‘tween deck stairs as he struggled not to drop her. As he reached the final narrow ladder that lead to his makeshift cabin below decks, he reluctantly hoisted her as tenderly as he could up onto his shoulder. He knew it couldn’t be any good for her, putting pressure on all her wounds like that, but he had no choice.
He had been hard pressed to hold her body casually when he was on the bridge, as if she were dead, when he was desperate to take her below as quickly as he could. He made sure he had backed into the wheelhouse, keeping his body between the Doctor and the ‘carcass’ as it were, lest the Doctor realised what he already knew, that she was still alive, but barely. Then he had hurried down below, leaving them to play out their charade on the radio.
He entered his bare cabin, laying her slender body on the camp bed as carefully as he could. He ran some water into the small sink in the corner, quickly washing his hands and then soaking some kitchen tissue and a small towel.
He looked for a moment at the motionless body of the beautiful young girl laid out before him. There were no signs of life. He retrieved a needle from a hotel sewing kit that he had liberated, looked for a moment at it then at her and wondered if he was too late. In sea burials on the Nantucket whalers in the 1800’s it was customary as you stitched the corpse into his shroud to put the last stitch through their nose, thereby ensuring they were really dead. It was a centuries old global seafaring tradition and one he thought of now almost absent mindedly. He leaned forward and pricked the side of her nose with the needle. He was rather surprised when the needle bent.
“Oh!” He said slightly shocked, but the young girl did not stir.
He knelt beside her, using the paper towels to clean up the wounds as best he could. Some of the larger shards were still protruding from her skin and he quickly plucked them out as he worked around the cuts, anxious not to drive the splinters any deeper, dropping them into a discarded soup can he had retrieved from the trash basket. Blood seeped up from the scratches. ‘Likely her heart is still pumping then’, he thought to himself, ‘albeit weakly’. When he had removed the easily accessible fragments, he took stock of her injuries. Her thigh and palm wounds were the deepest, her ribs and forearm the slightest. Her right shoulder and neck were visually nasty but had not penetrated any arteries. The two most serious were the ones in her left breast. Poor little thing. He didn’t think she would hinder him much. She would be too weak to do anything in her current state. He sighed as he looked down at the helpless heroine laid out before him. Best get to it. He gently lifted her shoulders, rolling down her bright blue top over her upper arms.
The large shards he had removed eased Supergirl’s plight slightly, and she slowly started to regain consciousness.
Supergirl gradually became aware of some presence hovering over her, feeling rough skinned hands lift her slightly by the shoulders. As she came to, with a low groan, her worst fears were realised as she felt him slowly start to strip her defenceless body.
Her eyes flickered open and she gazed through narrow slits at the leering face of Jarvis looking down at her. As her top brushed against her wounds as he rolled it down her body, she moaned loudly.
“AAA-AAGGGHHH! Y-you …you creep…” she said weakly, through tearful eyes. She had vague recollections of him feeling her ass after she had been shot, as he had hoisted her up onto his shoulder for the final descent down the ship’s ladder to this deck. She was filled with revulsion and disgust for him. So this was to be her terrible fate, to be raped as she lay dying by some cruel murderous maniac, whilst the doctor destroyed the city and she was powerless to stop it. Despair filled her heart at the thought of the terrible price innocent people would pay for her failure.
“Shhhh, now. Just lie still and be quiet. Don’t want you screaming the place down now do we, miss?” Jarvis smiled his crooked smile down at her. “You’ll be alright, miss. It’s all right, I’ll be gentle. I’ll try not to hurt you.”
Vainly, she tried to lift her shoulders, to rise from the bed, to offer some kind, any kind of resistance to the monster pawing her. She moaned again at the effort. She felt crushed as tears filled her eyes, though she was not weeping for herself, but for the citizens she had failed.
“G-get it …get it over with, … you… bastard” she hissed as she swallowed her pain and her rage. She felt too weak to do anything as she ached all over from the terrible sapping power of the Kryptonite that riddled her body. He winced as she moaned again, watching her biting down tearfully on her lower lip as the pain ripped through her chest. “Hush, now there’s a good girl. I’ll be as quick as I can, but we can’t have you making a rumpus, now can we?” he smiled his dreadful leering grin down at her as he brushed her hair back lightly from her forehead.
She felt sick to her stomach as she watched him start to undress himself. He unbuckled his belt and unthreaded it. “Bite down on this, it’ll help quiet the screams.” She had little choice, as he virtually forced it into her mouth, looping it behind her head so her own body weight kept it in place. She was too weak to dislodge it as she shook her head as violently as she could. As he touched her body and the pain grew to unbearable levels, almost reflexively she found herself clamping her pristine white teeth down on the old leather, as he clutched at his jeans as they started to slip. “When you feel like screaming, and believe me you will, bite down on that as hard as you can.”
She closed her eyes, screwing them tightly shut to the next few terrible moments as she felt him pull her top down completely, exposing her firm round chest as he gathered her top at her hip just above her belt and skirt. With a sick sensation in her stomach she waited for him to go further, dreading the groping and clawing of her body by the strong, rough hands that she felt was sure to follow. To her surprise, the next touch was gentle, caring. The hands were still rough but that was the skin, from a lifetime at sea, not his touch, which was light, tender, delicate. And to her extreme surprise, non sexual. She felt a towel being sensitively draped across her nakedness, covering her modesty but leaving both shoulder wounds exposed as he patted around them softly with damp, warm cloths. As she opened her eyes she saw him start to remove the shards with a tweezers, dropping them into a can beside her. He was concentrating on that task all the while he spoke to her, soothingly, trying to reassure her.
“You’ll be alright miss, none of this is too deep. I think this is like a poison to you though, yes?” He glanced at her for confirmation. She was too weak to acknowledge him but flickered her eyes and barely moved her brow in a ‘yes’ gesture that she hoped he understood. He nodded his affirmation as he dropped more of the deadly crystalline rock into the can. He still had that leering look to his face and she realised it was not an expression, but a natural disability. She felt slightly guilty about judging him so harshly, just on his appearance. Then she recalled he was part of a gang that had tried to kill her and was threatening thousands. Suddenly she didn’t feel too bad. As he worked he explained his situation, how he had thought this was a government operation that would earn him a pardon. “Pretty dumb, huh?” he smiled that crooked smile of his down at her. He saw her reaction to his smile written all over her face. “I had Bells Palsy in my twenties, it’s like a nervous paralysis, messed up the left side of my face.” He said apologetically, sweeping a finger to encompass his affliction. Then he looked rather embarrassed as he finished removing the shards from her left upper body. “I…I need to move the towel now, miss…need to get at that one” He gestured at the wound just above her left nipple. “Its not what you might think…I need to…well, er,…” He was obviously struggling to express himself and she put him out of his misery with the barest of nods. He smiled awkwardly at her and gently peeled back the towel, exposing her magnificent breasts.
As he started to touch the shards she screamed and her body arched suddenly, an act that surprised them both, causing the belt to fall away and him to start, jerking the tweezers inside the wound and thus causing her to scream again, even louder. They were two decks below the bridge where Wheeler and the Doctor were, as far as he knew, so it was not loud enough to carry to them, but Jarvis realised he couldn’t take the chance of one of them hearing her if they were elsewhere on the ship.
“Please, miss, I’m trying to be careful, but you’ve got to be quiet. These ones are deeper. Bullet must have hit you more square on. Seem to be a lot more of them. Guess the bullets that hit at an angle soaked up some of these crystals.” He said as he carefully started to reinsert the belt into her mouth.
She realised that although he was removing the splinters from her body, she was only feeling marginally better. She suddenly understood what the problem was.
“Get…away…from…me…” she said weakly, the effort exhausting her.
“But miss, I have to get these out of you or el-“
She shook her head as rigorously as she was able, to cut him off.
“No…. Get…A-AWAY…from…ME…” she gestured with her head feebly and this time he realised she meant for him to move the can containing the deadly shards. As he had been taking them out, so too they had been building up in the tin can right next to her, their power growing with their mass. He placed it on the floor temporarily and the relief was instantaneous for her as the tin still shielded her from direct exposure and being those extra few feet away helped her enormously.
“I’m sorry, I –I didn’t think. I’ll empty it in a moment, miss, get that green stuff away from you.” He said as he slipped the leather strap back between her slightly reddened lips.
Then he resumed working on the deeper wounds at her breast. The pain was excruciating as he removed the lethal strips, her body arching back on her head as this time tears of pain fell down her cheeks. She bit viciously down, her moans of agony now stifled by the leather.
As the cabin door suddenly opened behind him, Jarvis spun round and stood fully, accidentally brushing the towel from Supergirl’s breasts to the floor; his jeans fell about his ankles, just as Wheeler walked in. She froze, stifling another cry as she couldn’t see who had entered. Then she recognised Wheeler’s voice.
“Hey, Doc says y-“ Wheeler stopped, gazing from the half naked woman on the bunk to Jarvis standing in his boxer shorts, his jeans around his ankles. Supergirl’s head was hidden from him by Jarvis’ body, so he couldn’t see the belt in her mouth and tell that she was, in fact, still alive. He reached the obvious, but erroneous conclusion.
“HOLY FUCK!! NECRO?!!! You’re into necro, you dirty bastard? Christ, I always knew you Island folks was weird, but JESUS! You SICK, sick fuck!” He shook his head. He looked passed Jarvis. “Still, she has got great tits… What am I saying? Look, just, Jesus- just stop it, ok? Whatever the fuck you were gonna do to her, its sick. Doc wants you in the control room once you’ve finished dumping the body. AND THAT MEANS OVER THE SIDE, not whatever the hell you were gonna do to her. Just finish up and get on the cameras, we’re gonna stay on the bridge. Jesus….fucking…Jesus, you weirdo” Wheeler closed the door shaking his head in disgust. As he did so Jarvis called after him.
“ Gonna be 30 mins to stitch her up and weight her down…”
“Yeah, right. Dirty necro fucker. I’ll get on the cameras meantime, just hurry it up you dirty bastard. Sick FUCK.” Wheeler called from outside.
Hudson closed the door to the Harbour Pilot’s small room on himself and Wilson, leaving the Mayor and his wife to be fitted with their Kevlar vests in the Harbour Masters office.
“What the hell is this?” Captain Hudson asked the government man. “Since when do we let city dignitaries go into harms way like this? This is fucked up.”
“He wants to go.” Wilson shrugged “So we’re letting him. His wife too. It suits our purpose. Like you said, it’s a distraction. That’s it.”
“Bullshit. You’re making a play and I’m not risking my men’s lives without knowing what the hell is going on.”
“You’ll do as you’re told Captain Hudson. Or I can end your career.” Wilson said calmly.
“We’re SEALs, sir. It’s always about the current mission, not the job. To a SEAL ‘career’ just means a peninsula in Asia. So, I DON’T GIVE A SHIT WHAT YOU DO TO ME AFTER TONIGHT. I care about what’s going down in the next hour. Why the hell are we letting two civilians go into the middle of this? And why the hell did you call in that F15? And we normally have a one, maybe two, eight man team deployment – we’ve got FOUR teams of eight tonight , what the hell are you expecting us to find?” Hudson shouted angrily.
“Keep your damned voice down. Ok. This is the deal. Nine decades of work by the finest minds this country has ever produced are at stake tonight, all wrapped up in that Doctor’s head. We want her alive at ALL costs. The mayor and his bitch are what she asked for originally, well ok not his wife but they come as a set. So we give her him now, and it might placate her a little, keep her calm. Easier to take down. He’s happy to do it, I’m happy to let him. There’s still that bomb. And that’s why the F15 is under my control. If everything goes south, that’s got a last resort package. Ok, he flew too close, my bad. But you get the idea. The Doc alive and we stop the bomb, or else…everyone is toast.”
“My men are going to be on that ship!” Hudson spat.
“I know. And I’m sure they will do a great job. They get her alive and everything is good.” Wilson remained calm. He handed Hudson a sealed envelope.
“What’s this?” Hudson asked quizzically.
“Executive orders. A special directive. Lieutenant Jones has already been briefed and issued with the weapon.” Wilson stared coolly at the navy Captain.
“What the fuck? I’m his C.O., NOT YOU! What weapon? What orders, goddamn it?!” Hudson was getting more irate with each new revelation.
“It’s all in there.”
Hudson reluctantly opened the envelope and read the contents. He looked up incredulously. “I thought rescuing her was one of the objectives?”
“And it still is. Unless she is about to harm Doctor Willoughby, in which case Jones has permission to intervene.” Wilson said quietly.
“But these rounds …they could kill her…I mean, what the hell? Two slugs tranq. darts, the third a Kryptonite tipped dart?” Hudson asked.
“Two for Willoughby, every third round for Supergirl, if it comes to that - he’s got a twelve shot magazine, semi-automatic. Four chances to take her down. The Kryptonite should just drug her, just to make sure she doesn’t harm Willoughby. That’s what the boffins think.”
“But she’s in a bad way already, do we know what exposure like this will do to her for sure? What if she’s hit by multiple darts? Will it just drug her? Do you even know THAT much for sure?” Hudson cried.
“Well if she is incapacitated already, all well and good. Jones won’t need to use them. But if she isn’t and poses a threat to Willoughby… then he has permission to act. Past intell shows the effects of exposure are instantaneous to her kind, but the impact does vary according to size , proximity and purity of the mineral” Wilson said.
“But she’s in there trying to stop the Doc at YOUR REQUEST! Now you’re talking about using potentially lethal force to stop her doing what you’ve asked her to do!”
“She was supposed to disarm and capture the doctor quickly, that’s why we sent her in. That scenario didn’t play out. If we are faced with a choice of two assets, Captain, Supergirl or the Doctor, which will it be? Well, one is human and as such can be controlled, manipulated and has the culmination of almost a century of human endeavour inside her head. The other is a powerful alien with free will, who today is working for us but tomorrow could turn on us without warning. There’s no real choice to make.” Wilson seemed very pleased with himself. “If she can resolve this fine, but if she, at any stage, looks as if she will harm the Doctor, Jones knows what to do. Look, for all we know she might be dead already. Jones’ primary target is to tranq. the Doc, then save Supergirl. That hasn’t changed, unless Willoughby is in danger from her. I’m sure it will work out fine.”
“There’s something else, something you’re not telling us. Any one of my guys could tranq the Doc, no sweat. These bullets …why even have them? And why have pre-prepared exec orders for a situation that’s only just happened? You thought she’d struggle, you thought she’d have to get rough with the doctor to stop her…maybe fail…that she might need to be stopped herself. Which means the Doc has something to level the playing field. I don’t mean the bomb. Something you ain’t told us about. Maybe that’s what’s incapacitated her already. Now you got cold feet, if she is still on the scene you’re worried how far Supergirl will have to go to bring her down, if she recovers and escapes – or once we have freed her. She’s trying to stop the bomb and bring in the doctor…You’re trying to bring in the doctor and stop the bomb, in that order. Are these even the same orders as Jones has received? Exactly?” Hudson asked waving his sealed orders.
Wilson remained silent.
“You piece of shit, you’ve told him to take them both out! But Willoughby will just get a tranq… for Supergirl…these bullets could kill her!” Hudson said angrily.
“She’s not in the game at the moment, any how. Last eyes-on we had, she was carried into the wheelhouse. She might be dead already… it’s just if she isn’t … we don’t want her getting carried away is all.” Wilson made it sound perfectly reasonable.
“For all we know she’s been fighting for her life over there… now, if she has recovered somehow, you want to stop her fighting for it again!”
“I hope it won’t come to that. But Jones is under my authority as of now.” Wilson said imperiously.
“You’ d better hope it doesn’t come to that , Wilson. Because nobody fucks around my guys and nobody takes command control from me in the middle of an op without repercussions. If this mission goes belly up because of your bullshit , I ain't got Kryptonite darts. I got 9 milli Glock rounds and all 15 of them have got your name on.” Hudson raged.
“Don’t threaten me Captain. Your Operation will proceed as planned – the chopper will lower the Mayor and his wife plus a suitcase full of money to the ship. It will hide Jones’ team under …Daniels was it? – at the stern as they board her. They’ll secure the aft section of the ship; once the Mayor and Willoughby have moved inside, Jones will secure the foredeck. Then both teams secure the ship and the bomb. We suspect just two crew besides the Doc. We take them out if we have to , secure Willoughby, find the bomb and defuse it. And if possible rescue Supergirl. Everybody happy.”
Hudson just stared at him. “So why give Jones orders to shoot? To actually SHOOT the person we are ‘rescuing’, with this new dart-gun of yours?” He straightened suddenly. “That’s it isn’t it? All new weapons need to be combat proven at some point. You’re testing these anti –Kryptonian darts of yours! You’ve developed them to keep Supergirl and her cousin in check but you have no idea what it will do to them, have you? So now, you intend to find out! And you are using this situation as cover if it all goes wrong. Jesus! You just so happened to have the gun with you and the darts, just in case, huh? FUCKER! She’s been injured helping you! And this is how you repay her? You’re using this Op to see if you can take her down for the future! Jesus!JESUS!” he turned away angrily with his hands upon his hips. “She’s already been hit by something that’s put her down, maybe even killed her. If she has survived…how do you know that another shot of this Kryptonite stuff won’t be more than she can take?” Wilson stayed silent.
“My god, you don’t know, do you? But you don’t care either! And none of this bullshit about shooting her if Willoughby is threatened – you want to see what your little toy does- what better time than now, while she has been weakened- you can pass off engaging her as a mistake in the heat of battle - you’ve told Jones to take her down regardless!” Hudson cried. “I’M STOPPING THIS NOW! I’m overriding Jones’ orders.” He headed towards the door.
“You can’t, Captain Hudson. Your man Jones is under orders to disregard all attempts to countermand the special directive. I’m sure he’s an excellent young man, who will do his duty.”
“You piece of shit! I can live with most op scenarios. To be KIA is one thing, hell even to be sacrificed for the greater good most military men would accept…but to stand by and watch you risk killing someone, an ALLY, JUST TO SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN? Just for you to test this new weapon? I can’t accept that. I’m pulling the plug.” Hudson railed.
“I remind you, Captain, that your team is on the ground and going in. The lives of half the population of this city are at stake here, not just hers, not the Mayor’s and not just your men’s either. If you call it off then we will use the F15 option. It may work it may not. Jones has independent orders once the go is given. We both know this has to go ahead Captain.” Wilson remained calm. “Now , I do hope she comes through this ok. If it does kill her, it would be a great pity.” He smiled coldly.