Chapter 53 “Excalibur Actual.”

Sara spent the week finally feeling in control. Jen’s official assignment to open the immovable door freed her up to help with the deluge of paperwork. This let Sara make her briefings on time, eat in the mess, sleep in her own bed.

Not that the free time didn’t have its downsides. Namely time to think. She expected her father any day now.

Sara woke early. She squeezed in a couple laps of the perimeter wall. The other runners gave her space, out of respect. She gotten used to the distance, even understood it. It didn’t make things easier.

She found a quiet corner of the gym and worked the heavy bag. Sara had just found her rhythm when a familiar beeping sounded behind her. Jen’s pipboy alarm, the sound that governed her day. “Morning briefing Boss.” Jen clicked off the sound, almost apologising for the interruption. Sara loosed a roundhouse kick and hit the shower.

She returned ready for her day of dull meetings, finding Jen jabbing at the bag. “You punch like a girl.” Sara teased. “Plant your feet.” She moved Jen’s feet with hers. “Now, from the hips, arm straight.” Sara mimed a punch, Jen copied, hitting the bag firmly. Sara could have stayed there teaching Jen all day, but her radio squawked into life.

“Excalibur outpost, This is Excalibur Actual. Request Tempest on site x-ray.” Her father had returned.

“Solid copy. Tempest inbound.” Sara felt the knot in her stomach tighten.

She rushed to gear up, heading out to the yard. “Reed I want that drop pod hooked up. Val get the bird prepped.” Sara gave her orders and within minutes they were airborne.

The slower flight gave her time to think. Her mind ran in the same circles it’d done for years now. She always came back to the same thought. She had a duty to keep the technology of the old world out of the wrong hands. Even if those hands belonged to her father and the organisation she dedicated her life to.

Val hit the precise coordinates and cut the pod loose. The heavy metal box tore straight through the canopy, hitting the ground below. They took a wide arc to reach the Vault, buying more time.

Sara lingered in the bird as the engines wound down. She peered through the trees, seeing the pair of suits she’d dropped off. They carried a metal crate between them, flanked by a man and woman in black fatigues.

She didn’t say anything to them as she walked them to the tunnel entrance. A ramp had been excavated to allow access. Each step she took revealed more of her father. Dirty and dusty from the road, except for his sword. Clean shaven, with a spark in tired eyes. He looked more like his old self to her, before they came out here. And now she had to take it away.

“Excellent work Paladin.” Her father shook her hand. Sara couldn’t speak for the lump in her throat. “Where is your aspirant?”

“Right here.” John snarled, taking off his helmet. Sara saw the uncommon anger in his face, as did her father.

“What is this?” Her father asked, seeing the metal crate and sensing something off from Sara.

“You ought to know Clarke.” Brandon took off his helmet. “It was your idea after all.” He forced a smile beneath frightened eyes.

“Arrest this man.” Elder Maxwell barked.

“No.” Sara’s refusal delivered a crushing realisation. She saw the rage in her father’s face, shocked by the betrayal. Then his glare turned to Brandon.

“Tornado, go.” Brandon gave an order to Rosie, who stood waiting at the top of the ramp.

A gust of wind and a blur zipped by her. Suddenly her father had been disarmed. His weapons tossed aside and his sword in Rosie’s hands.

“Unhand that blade girl.” Her father growled, feigning strength in a moment of weakness. “You aren’t fit to wield it.”

“This blade?” Rosie suddenly had the tip of the elder’s sword to his throat. Her arm held the weight without trembling. In a flash Rosie span back, switching hands and twirling the blade into precise strikes and flourishes. She saw Grimm’s instructions in her movements and felt a pang of fear.

“My apologies. May I have the honour of your name?” Elder Maxwell asked.

“Rosie.” She answered, hitching up her sleeve.

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“Your real name.” He clarified, seeing who he spoke to.

“Tornado.” She answered proudly.

“One of yours is she.” The elder spoke to Brandon but kept his stare on Rosie. “How many years of combat experience are here. A century, more even. She could kill us all. If I had a dozen of her I could take the east coast in three months.” He turned to Brandon. “Don’t you see, it’s all behind that door. Everything we need.”

“There’s nothing in there but death Clarke. A pandora’s box that’ll start the next great war. Some things should stay buried.” Brandon’s conviction had only grown in their time apart.

“What about you?” He turned back to Rosie. “You think you can get things done with five scouts. I have fifty. Air and armour support. And that’s just my chapter. You get that door open and I’ll give you access to the greatest fighting force on the planet."

“If you had your way, I’d still be locked underground.” Rosie’s anger flared. “The only reason you’re breathing right now is your family say you're a good man, despite what you've done.”

“I do only what is necessary!” The elder yelled. “I have to get inside so I can…” He trailed off. For the first time Sara saw something in him. Something she mistook for determination. Now she saw guilt, and so did Brandon.

“This whole time I thought this was about us. That you’d gotten it into your head a prize like this would force them to accept us.” Brandon hopped out of his armour, worry for the man he loved in his eyes. He drew closer, forcing Clarke to look at him. “No Clarke, tell me you didn’t.” Brandon put the pieces together.

“What choice did you leave me.” Clarke lashed out.

“Don’t blame me for this. Tell me what happened. Exactly.” Brandon held a firm tone, but Sara saw the hurt behind his eyes.

“We were going to be recalled. I needed a reason to be out here. We were careful, had them ingest trackers before…” He couldn’t carry on.

“Before what?” Sara demanded.

“Before I gave the order to turn them into mutants.” The elder confessed to his daughter. “I sent Callum’s team west till they found one, had them bring back a sample. Collins weaponised it and we used it on raiders. We thought we had them contained.”

“Jones.” Brandon said, his voice filled with heartbreak. “You didn’t count on a mutant with the mind of man.”

“To meet my maker.” Rosie added. “That’s what he said he wanted.”

“I’ve had Recon on him for months. Took out his crew. Nothing since.” Clarke looked back to Brandon. “Help me Bran, we get inside and Jones is nothing more than a ghost story. Help me make things right.”

“I will. Starting now.” Brandon gave John a nod, and he stomped over to the Vault door and placed the metal crate down. Brandon opened it, and armed the nuclear warhead. “One of my best will have her eye on this place. I hear about a field scribe so much as taking notes, and I blow it. Wipe this place off the map for good this time.” Brandon turned from the door. “I have a place we can go, talk things through.”

“Hold on.” Sara had begun to fill in the blanks with the new, horrifying information. “The night I brought John in, the night we lost Greg and Alice. You never told me why they were in the city.” Sara had lost good friends to the Abomination over the years. Those were the latest two.

“The local lad heard a rumour about green monsters in the sewers. Greg took Alice to see about blowing them up, trapping Jones.” He had shame in his voice.

“You sent them out there to clean up your mess.” Sara wanted to cry, but her anger boiled over. “Elder Clarke Maxwell, under my authority as a paladin of this chapter, I am relieving you of command and placing you under arrest.” She stepped forward, ready to bind her father’s hands for the trip to the brig.

“On what charge?!” Her father’s dismissive tone only angered her further.

“Heresy.” She knew the punishment, as did her father.

“Sara,” Her uncle tried to calm her.

“No, fuck you. Fuck both of you. I’ve broken my oath. I’ve let down my team, hurt my friends. All to try and keep our family together. Try get us out of here whole. I’m fucking sick of it Dad, you put me in charge, I’m taking charge. Or we can call the Circle out here and take bets on which one of us they execute first.”

Sara took her father’s hands, the same hands that plucked her from the streets, and cuffed them. Brandon took off his black fatigue top, placing it over the cuffs so no one saw. She marched her father up and out. “Area is hot! Fall back to secondary lz for extraction.” She yelled, sending the half dozen knights into a flurry of activity.

She put her father in the back of the bird. Brandon brought his weapons and stowed them. “We’ll talk soon. I love you Clarke.” Brandon didn’t get an answer, he turned to Sara. “We’ll keep the Baron in play for now. Reach out with your orders.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry Sara. I never should have put you in the position I did.” His face looked racked with guilt and doubt.

“We’ll talk soon.” Sara couldn’t deal with anything but her father right now.

“Elder Maxwell, permission to speak freely sir?” John asked respectfully. It surprised her.

“Granted.” The elder looked him in the eye.

“When you gave the order to arm that bomb outside my Vault. Did you think about how it would make all those lies they filled my head with true?” John asked. She watched her father's reaction, saw the shame. So did John. “Thank you for the opportunity to serve, sir.” John put out his hand. He had more reason to hate the elder than anyone. Still he showed respect.

“You are a true knight John Blake. Brave and loyal.” The elder shook his hand, but couldn’t look him in the eye.

“I had a good teacher.” John put a hand on her shoulder. “Anything you need, Boss. Let me know.” Sara gave him a nod, unable to speak. She gave Val the signal and they took off.

“You’ll be confined to quarters. Everything runs through me.” She laid out her terms, shouting instead of using the comm.

"All I want is to finish what I started.” He reached out to take her hand. Sara got up and sat in the front seat.