Rescue

by Wesa

Series: War of the Worlds

AU: Forbidden Lust

Sequel to Reunion

Spoilers: References to The Obelisk, though I don't believe that I've given away the plot, nor that seeing it is necessary to understanding of this story.

Rating: PG-13 (for nudity)

Disclaimers: They aren't mine. All characters belong to Strangis & Strangis and Paramount Productions.

By Wesa.

"Yeah, Kincaid," Stavrakos said into the phone, "I got it. You check the old theater. We'll check the arcade. I got it! Go on, man!" He hung up and turned to his curious companions. "Let's go. Debi's missing. Kincaid thinks she went to meet Ceto."

Kasey scowled, grabbing her weapons on the way to Stavrakos' pickup. "But Ceto's an alien. The kid wouldn't actually go to meet one of the people who cloned the Colonel, would she?" she wondered. No one answered her.

Derriman closed the warehouse door after Stavrakos backed the pickup out, then climbed in beside Kasey. "Why the arcade?" he asked.

"Apparently that's where they met," Stavrakos replied as the trio went out into the night. "The others are going to the old theater where they found them the last time."

"That assumes the aliens' kids are like ours," Kasey objected, "that they would go someplace that had emotional meaning for them."

"We don't care whether we find Ceto, Kasey," Stavrakos reminded her. "We're looking for Debi."

"I care," Kasey said angrily. "That alien brat will know where their base is. He might even know where they're keeping the people they cloned. If we find him, I intend to ask him. And if he doesn't answer me, I'll ask him again. And again, until I get an answer I believe."

The two men looked at each other in concern. "Kasey," Derriman worried, "you're not going to lose your cool when we find them, are you? If you hurt the boy, you'll alienate Debi, probably Dr. McCullough and Dr. Blackwood as well."

"So I should just let the opportunity to find the Colonel pass?" Kasey snapped. "I don't think so, Bill!"

Both men frowned; they knew she was right, but her deep anger worried them. If she became too focussed on finding Colonel Ironhorse, she might endanger not only the boy but herself, and them as well. "We all want to find him, Kasey," Stavrakos told her, a little abruptly.

"What we don't want to do is to alienate Colonel Ironhorse," Derriman added. "Don't do anything he wouldn't approve of. Don't hurt the kid, at least not unless it's self-defense. Keep cool. Watch your back, and ours. Okay?"

Kasey bit her lip and nodded, bracing herself against the dash as Stavrakos took a corner. She kept quiet the rest of the way to the arcade, but her friends knew they had not so easily convinced her to modify her attitude. The only advantage they had in keeping her restrained was that she sat between them on the pickup's single bench seat, without direct access to either door, but that wouldn't keep her from shooting out a window, either to kill or even just to get out.

"When we get there," Derriman suggested, "I'll go in, scout the place. You two stay out here and watch my back. If the kids are together, his people are going to be looking for them, too. I don't want them sneaking up behind me."

"What if they're already in there?" Kasey asked. "At least one of us better go in with you."

"One would be less conspicuous," Stavrakos noted, "and Bill's the right age to pull off an act like he's looking for his kid. You're only - what? - twenty-six? You'd have had to get pregnant at fifteen to have even a ten-year-old. I hope there aren't a lot of ten-year-olds and younger in there."

Kasey scowled, out-maneuvered, and agreed reluctantly. "Okay, Bill, you go in. I'll watch the door, and Alex, you be ready to make an emergency pick-up." The plan as Kasey had outlined it made sense, and after a few seconds the two men agreed, despite their misgivings.

They had arrived at the arcade. Derriman slid from the pickup, followed by Kasey, who carefully held her weapon out of sight as she took up her position outside the doorway. She leaned against the wall next to the door and tried to look uninterested in what was going around her.

Derriman paused just inside the entrance, scanning the interior of the games arcade; there was no immediate sign of Debi. He considered going to the manager and asking if he had seen her, but there were at least four girls he could see who fit her description, and he didn't have a photograph to show him. Instead, he wandered through the arcade. He passed up and down the aisles, then started down the far side, but at the back he spotted a group of men dressed in the gray workclothes and overcoats favored by the new Morthren. They didn't exactly look like they were there for the games, but neither did they appear to be threatening anyone who was playing. Derriman decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and beat a hasty retreat, grabbing Kasey's hand as he passed and practically dragging her along with him to where Stavrakos waited in the pickup. He shoved her in first, then climbed in beside her.

"There're at least four Morthren inside, but no sign of either Ceto or Debi," he reported. "I think they're looking for the boy."

"They may have better leads than we do," Kasey murmured intently as the Morthren soldiers came out. "Let's follow them. If they find the kids, we can attack to protect Debi; if they give up and return to their base, they may lead us to Colonel Ironhorse."

Stavrakos grinned and gunned the engine of his pickup as the aliens' car pulled away. "Maybe we finally caught a break!" he exclaimed excitedly.

**********

Debi and Ceto stood together outside the warehouse where the aliens had moved their base. The adults - Harrison, Kincaid, Suzanne, and Ceto's mother, Mana - had gone in, telling the kids to wait outside. Around the side of the warehouse a group of Morthren soldiers went in through a different door; the teens saw the light, looked at each other, and disobeyed the grownups in unison.

**********

Stavrakos had lost the aliens' car two blocks away. Driving slowly, he cruised through the neighborhood, while Kasey and Derriman strained their eyes, trying to see something, anything that might lead them to their quarry. "There!" Kasey pointed, just in time for the others to see the kids enter the warehouse. "Is she insane? What could he have told Debi that would have convinced her to come here with him? She knows he's an alien, and she's not stupid." She gasped as a realization hit her. "Debi loved the Colonel," she murmured. "If Ceto told her that he's here..."

"Let's go," Derriman said, opening his door.

The three soldiers piled out of the pickup, checking their guns and extra ammunition one last time as they rushed up to the door the teens had used. Derriman grabbed the handle, Stavrakos readied himself, and Kasey counted seconds off silently with her fingers. On 'three,' Derriman jerked open the door. Stavrakos led their invasion, followed by Kasey, and Derriman closed the door behind him as he followed them in.

They pulled up short. The place was deserted. "Where is everyone?" Stavrakos whispered.

Kasey shook her head, peering down a side passageway. "Dunno," she whispered back. "This is spooky."

They worked their way down what appeared to be the main passageway, easily falling into the same leap-frogging formation they had used in the past when invading what had always been, until this night, abandoned bases. As they neared the heart of the building, they began to hear voices. They followed the sound into a large chamber where easily twenty aliens, perhaps more, were gathered around the remnants of the Blackwood team. Strangely perhaps, the argument appeared to be between rival factions of aliens, with the Blackwood team backing the one led by a woman and facing off with a group led by a man.

Off to the left, Debi followed Ceto into the room, and things began to happen fast. Ceto accused the alien man of lying to their people; the man accused Ceto of treason, and raised one of the aliens' energy weapons. With a warbling sound, it emitted a green beam of light that hit, enveloped, and disintegrated Ceto before anyone else could react.

Suzanne, Harrison, and Kincaid were in the sergeants' line of fire; none of them had a clear shot at the man. But Debi did, and with a scream of denial, she shot him dead. For a moment, it looked as if the aliens were all going to attack the girl, and the soldiers spread out, preparing to defend Debi and the others, who had moved to protect her. Then the woman alien stepped between the small group of humans and her own people, and declared the war to be at an end.

"Over?" Kasey repeated in a dazed voice. Blackwood moved toward the alien woman, a determined expression on his face, but even dazed, Kasey was faster. She skidded to a stop in front of the woman and demanded, "Where is Colonel Ironhorse?" Startled, the woman didn't answer at first, and Kasey grabbed her shirt in a fist. "Where is he?" she demanded again, raising her weapon.

"Sergeant," Suzanne chided her, holding a weeping Debi, "her son was just murdered."

"And people are dying in those pods every moment!" Kasey retorted desperately. "If we wait, it could be too late for the Colonel, too."

"She's right, Suzanne," Kincaid said, taking Kasey's side.

"Mana," Harrison said gently, "he's very important to us."

Mana, the new leader of the Morthren, nodded and gestured to an almost skeletally thin man. "Ardix. Suspend all experiments. Release the prisoners and experimental subjects as quickly as can be done without loss of life," she directed. Then, her eyes meeting Kasey's, she added, "Begin with Colonel Ironhorse. Bayla, assist him."

"Thank you," Kasey said shortly. She released her hold on Mana and turned to follow Ardix.

Harrison and Derriman were right behind her. "I'll get some blankets out of the truck," Stavrakos volunteered.

There were so many pods in the storage area that Kasey didn't even try to estimate them. Ardix led them to a particular pod in the back of the room. "Colonel Ironhorse has been a remarkable subject," he told them.

"He should never have been a 'subject,'" Harrison retorted before Kasey could.

"I only meant that he has continued to try to escape, long after those captured at about the same time had ceased to struggle," Ardix explained.

"Paul would never give up," Kasey replied, not realizing that she had used his given name, and drew her knife from its ankle sheath to open the pod. Harrison looked at her curiously, noticing that Derriman merely nodded as if she had confirmed a theory. Her experience in opening the pods showed in the ease with which she cut through the tough membrane, and Ardix watched interestedly as she side-stepped to avoid the slime inside before it poured out on her feet.

"You have done this before," he observed.

"Probably fifty times," she agreed. "Mostly, the people inside were already dead." Her tone warned that the occupant of this pod had better be alive, and had better stay that way.

Derriman moved forward to help open the membrane, and Kasey reached inside, her face betraying her dismay at the inhabitant's condition. "Oh, Paul!" she cried softly just as Bayla led Stavrakos, Kincaid, and the McCulloughs into the room.

"Alex, help me get him out of there," Derriman requested. "Give Kasey the blanket to wrap around him." He glanced at Debi, who was still crying softly. "Uh, Dr. McCullough," he said to Suzanne, "uh, the Colonel is ... well, he's naked."

Kasey glanced at the other women, scowling, but then she had her arms around her lover again and forgot everything else. Oblivious to those around them, unconcerned about the coating of slime covering his otherwise naked body, she sat on the floor and wrapped the blanket around him, cradling his head against her shoulder, dismayed to find tears dropping down her cheeks and onto his face. "Paul?" she murmured softly.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Kasey ... They caught you? Harrison? Suzanne?" He looked and sounded so bereft of hope that they all hurried to reassure him.

"It's over, Paul," Harrison told him. "We're taking you to the hospital." He broke off at a sharp look from Kasey. "That is, if your aide there will let us."

"I can take care of him," Kasey growled possessively.

"Maybe," Derriman said calmly, as if he had expected this, "but you need rest yourself, Kase. Maybe now your nightmares will stop and you can get some real sleep. We'll take him to the hospital," he decided firmly.

"Nightmares?" Paul repeated. "I dreamed..."

Kasey stroked his forehead, combing her fingers through his slime-coated hair. "I know," she murmured gently. "Can you stand? They're right, you need to go to the hospital. This slimy stuff is in your lungs and everywhere. It needs to come out."

"They made a copy of me," Paul whispered. "Warn the others. Have to fight them."

"We know, Paul," Harrison assured him. "Let me help you up. Hang onto your blanket, now; Debi's here." He lifted him out of Kasey's arms, a little startled when she didn't seem to want to give him up. She scrambled to her feet and held the blanket carefully closed while Harrison half-carried Paul out.

Behind them, Ardix watched with Bayla as most of the humans retreated. He shook his head in an adopted human gesture of confusion. "So much concern for one soldier," he observed.

"He's our soldier," Kincaid replied, watching his friends go. He turned to Stavrakos and Derriman, who had also remained when the others left. "Best call ambulances for the others," he suggested.

Stavrakos nodded. "There's a mobile phone in my pickup," he said. "I'll be right back."

**********

Kasey adamantly refused to let Paul out of her sight. At the hospital, emergency room personnel threatened to have Security remove her until Harrison stepped in and warned them that most likely Kasey could take out all of their security people single-handedly, and that it would probably be better to let her stay. Then in a low voice he told Kasey, "If you don't stay out of their way, he could die. Get back against a wall and stay there until they tell you that you can move."

Kasey hesitated, then swiftly kissed Paul on the mouth, promising him, "I won't be far," before she found an empty spot along a wall and backed up against it. She held her hands clenched at her sides to keep from reaching out to him. She bit her lip and nodded to Harrison. "I'll watch him, Doctor. I won't lose him again."

Reluctantly, Harrison nodded and allowed himself to be removed from the treatment room. He retreated to the waiting room, wondering how he was going to explain this little development to Suzanne and Debi.

"You the wife?" one of the nurses asked Kasey; she was carrying a clipboard.

Kasey hesitated, then answered truthfully, "No. He isn't married. Next of kin is his mother in Oklahoma, Mrs. Maggie Ironhorse."

"And his name?" the nurse asked, scribbling furiously.

"Paul Ironhorse. Lieutenant Colonel, Special Forces."

"Who are you?"

"Katrina Coleman. His aide," she added, adopting Harrison's reference to her status.

"Oh. You can't make treatment decisions."

"If we didn't want him treated, he wouldn't be here," Kasey growled. "I know you've treated others in his condition."

Paul could hear Kasey and Harrison arguing with the staff. He was startled and grateful when Kasey kissed him and promised not to leave, that she wouldn't be far away, though he might not be able to see her. He heard her promise Harrison that she wouldn't lose him. Then Kasey was answering questions from another woman about him, about his next of kin, about his medical history. He heard all this but was unable to react to it, unable to react to anything except the emergency room staff who wanted to stick sharp things through his skin and too-large blunt things down his throat. He couldn't stop himself; he fought them.

Then Kasey was back, holding his face in her hands, catching his eyes with hers, encouraging him. "Paul," she murmured. "Paul, honey, don't fight them, they're trying to help you. They're doctors, human doctors."

He gazed into her warm, worried brown eyes for a long moment and asked, "Human?" He needed confirmation.

She smiled. "Well, I haven't taken blood tests," she admitted, "but this hospital is where we brought the others we found, and most of them survived. Paul, they know how to take care of you; let them do it."

"I want to go home."

"To Oklahoma? I'll take you as soon as you're well enough to travel."

"No." He shook his head. "The Cottage."

"It's gone," Kasey told him gently. "When you're well, I'll take you to the guest house if it's still standing. It was still there six months ago. Let them work now. Please? For me. For Dr. Blackwood, Dr. McCullough, and Debi. For your family. Please, Paul."

After another moment he nodded reluctantly, and Kasey dropped another kiss onto his forehead before she backed away. Paul clamped down on his natural inclination to fight being manhandled and tried to co-operate with the medical team. The attending doctor got right back to business, but one of the nurses who was helping him with Paul paused long enough to give Kasey a grateful glance.

**********

Paul woke, moaning softly against the pain, and was surprised to see Kasey's face come up so close to his.

"Good morning," she whispered, reaching for the call button, and he realized that she had been sleeping with her head on the mattress next to his arm.

"They made a copy of me," he whispered.

"Yeah," Kasey agreed. "Two in fact, but they're both dead. Just as well; I think three Paul Ironhorses would be an embarrassment of riches."

Paul tried to suppress the laugh he knew would hurt. He failed, moaning softly again. He looked up into Kasey's concerned eyes and smiled. "Time for me to be getting back," he murmured. "You're getting impudent and in need of some serious discipline."

Tears shone in her eyes. "I'll be getting it," she assured him. "Now that you're safe, I have to go turn myself in."

"Turn yourself in?" he repeated. "Why?"

"They weren't going to look for you, Colonel" she explained. "We went AWOL." She leaned down and kissed him thoroughly, gently. "See you in a couple of years, Paul. I love you." Straightening up, Kasey went to the door and through it, telling someone on the other side, "He's awake."

Harrison, Debi and Suzanne came into Paul's room to find him trying to get out of bed. "Whoa, where do you think you're going, mister?" Harrison laughed.

"Stop her!" Paul gasped. "Desertion in time of war - they can execute her!"