Trapped
a Clone Wars fic by Amy K. Cyrway
amy@gcolor.com
DISCLAIMER: Gargoyles weren't created by me. They belong to Disney and BVTV. Clan Winslow were created by their respectable creators, the Outklaws were created by myself and Donika Doyon, and Eva and Rommel were created by Mary Pletsch. MATURE LANGUAGE AND MILD VIOLENCE.
This is my first true attempt as first person/present tense, in Eddie's POV, the night during the Clone Wars took a massive turn for the worst...
***
TIMELINE: April 2018
***
I can here the bastards coming this way...
Can't see them, that's for damn sure. Even if I had the strength to shake off the sedatives and open my eyes, the strange numbness on the left side of my head disagrees tells me otherwise.
Goddammit...
Why don't they kill me and get it over with?
My memory's fuzzy...all tonight was a blur.
I remember...I remember our mission...vaguely...
We were to influtrate the Gen-u-tech HQ...raid it, flush out the motherfuckers out. Get them to the bridge, and Team Charlie would open fire and waste them.
Of course, that was the plan.
And, as Murphy's law would state, everything that could go wrong did.
Fuck...
Here they come now...
I manage to push myself up to my feet, feeling the hard cold steel of my prison against my skinned palms. I wobble a bit, my head light and buzzy.
I can't think straight, dammit!
I can only think two things...
Survive...
...or die fighting...
I am able to open my right eye now...my left refuses to open...all I see is blurriness.
A dark shadow approaches.
"Wanna piece of me, bastard?" I snarl, though it sounded more like a slur. "Kill me, if you want to try...I'll take you down in the process."
"Ed." The voice was soft, familiar. In my drugged state, I couldn't match it with a face. "Ed, we're getting out of here."
"Fuck you..." I collapse back onto the hard unyeilding floor. "Fuck it all to hell, I don't care..."
"Eddie, you're wounded...we've gotta get you back to base."
There's a loud tearing noise like a car collision, and I sense someone picking me up from under my shoulders, someone with large, furry hands.
MUTATE!
I resist, dead-weighting myself.
"LEAVE ME TO DIE!!!" I screech just before another hand clamps down over my beak.
"Ed!" the voice snarls. "Ed, it's me, Brooklyn. We need to get out of here, and there's only three of us left. I don't want to knock you out, but if I have to, I will."
The name clicks in, and I relax somewhat.
"Brook...what happened?" I demand, semi-consciousness.
"I was hoping you would know...come on, Claw...I don't know how bad she's hurt. Ed, you need to stay conscious...stay with us..."
My stomach suddenly clenches, bile choking my throat. A flash of my love reaching out to me lights up against my mind's eye, his dark blue eyes brimming with pain, vanishes a millisecond later.
"Where's Magnum?" I demand just before blacking out.
***
I wake up in a well-lit room, my focus finally adjusting.
Everything, however, seems...flat...
That's when I realise my left eye's still closed.
But it doesn't seem closed.
There's someone brushing my hair gently. I can barely make out the soft talking.
"...you've got such beautiful hair, Eddie...I don't know how you could manage it all..."
"Wha...?" I lift my head up, trying to turn my head. A dark blue hand stops me.
"I don't want to mess up this braid, Eddie...you're back at the Pyramid...in the infirmary. You were banged up pretty good, but Rommel and I patched you up, good as new..."
"Eva?" The German female's voice sunk into my memory.
"Of course! Who else would it be?"
There's something toning her words. Something I don't like.
She wasn't telling me everything.
"I can't see out of my left eye," I tell the medic blatantly.
"You have a bandage over it," she retorts quickly.
A little too quickly.
I feel a slight tug to my hair; she has just finished braiding and wraps an elastic around the end.
"There," she dusts off her hands and walks around the bed to face me. "How're you feeling?"
"Like shit..." I grumble. "But much better than when I found myself drugged...do you know what happened?"
"Well, I know what happened to you physically," Eva sits down gingerly on the edge of the bed and glances down. "You have a bad concussion. A couple of broken ribs, a few more bruised. Quite a few abrasions, cuts, bruises, lascerations."
"What about my eye?" I reach up to tap the bandage, right where my eye is. I expect to feel some resistance, the roundness of my eyeball underneath, I hit nothing.
I panick, leaping from the bed and tearing off the bandages as Eva protests. With pained strides, I storm to the bathroom and snap on the light.
I look up into the mirror over the sink and fall back.
My left eye is gone...not blinded, but gone, a vacant hole in my skull where it should have been.
I barely notice the fresh new wounds littering my face, joining countless other scars...I could not believe half my sight was now gone.
I realise what this means.
I'm left-hand dominant.
I just lost my ability to aim my firearms.
"I'm useless," I whimper, trudging back to the bed. "The goddamn clones took my eyesight...I'm as good as useless..."
"Ed, that's bullshit and you know it." Eva helps me back into bed. "You need some rest..."
I nod, still in shock...what am I going to do? What good am I now to the Resistance?
And suddenly, I become self-conscious.
I've never been that good-looking. Most gargoyle females are usually if not pretty then gorgeous. I'm one of those rare cases, at least in my honest opinion. Usually I couldn't give a damn on what I look like.
But Mag thinks I'm the most beautiful woman in the world, and I let him think that...
...and now, with my eye gouged out from its socket, my face looking like it went through a meat grinder--
"Eva, where's Mag?" I ask.
Eva shook her head.
"We don't know. Most of your team haven't returned. We were hoping you knew what happened to them."
I don't..." I shook my head slightly as she wrapped fresh bandages around my head. "I don't remember...my mind's fuzzy..."
"You're still in a bit of shock. You'll remember soon enough."
"We need to know soon," Brooklyn walks in, his left arm in a sling. "None of them have checked in for six hours."
I stare at him. I was with Goliath's team at the beginning of the night. Mag and me both. What happened between then and when Brook and Claw pulled me out of wherever I was?
"We entered the compound," I whisper hoarsely. "I flanked Goliath, Mag behind me, the rest were scattered behind him. We were picking off clones when suddenly..."
I shake my head, my brain numb.
"I don't remember."
"You've got to, Ed," Brooklyn is worried, I can tell just by the tone of his voice.
"I'm sorry, Brook; I don't remember." I think I say it a little too forcefully.
Then I wonder where my love is....
And suddenly, I realise the Resistance erupts into chaos.
There is shouting I can't make out, as Razor, Talon and Maggie's older son, runs in, carrying a limp Broadway, tears streaking the dark fur of his face. I leap to my feet and help him and Eva get Brooklyn's brother onto a gurney. His eyes are closed and bleeding from the corners, though those aren't the only wounds.
I then notice Claw across the room. Heavy bandages are wrapped around his wide chest. He sulks, and I see that his wings are no longer there.
Amputated...
Good lord, what has happened?
Claw and Broadway had gone with Brooklyn on the raid. I, despite my protests, was stuck with Goliath.
I stand in the middle of the chaos, watching as the infirmary is flooded by a wave of people, gargoyles and humans alike. Rommel shouts something to Eva and Akira, though I still don't hear the words.
I'm so confused.
I think I'm the only one standing still there, as even Claw jumps up to do what he can to help.
I'm so useless.
As Angela walks in, her face downcast, she searches out for someone, and then bolts to the bedside of where Rommel is hard at work, shouting to his mate.
Shouting...too much shouting...
Angela gasps as Akira leads her away, telling her something for her ears only. She then leans against Brooklyn, her best friend, I think, and sobs. He hugs her, asking her...
...Again I cannot hear...
With a disgruntled sigh, I sneak out of the infirmary, past my rookery brothers and sisters who remain here at Wyvern, searching out that one face etched in my mind.
Magnum, where are you?
Now I overlook the ruined city outside, from one of the higher parapets. Jumbled memories fill my head as I try sorting them out.
What did happen a few hours ago?
"Eddie?"
I do not hear Angela call my name.
"Eddie," she touches my arm. "Eddie...we brought back news..."
This brings my thoughts back to the real world, as I make eye contact with the lavender female. She was part of the search party Brooklyn sent out two hours ago, after we returned.
"What news?" I ask, my voice hoarse, barely noticing she has tears streaming down her face.
"They..." she chokes, and presses a cloth in my hand. "They...they're gone, Eddie...they're all dead...you're the only one that made it...."
I think her words didn't register with me.
"Where's Mag?" I demand.
Angela looks downward, not at the stone ground, but at the object in my hands.
"I'm sorry..." she whispers, and turns to leave.
Again, I cannot comprehend what she was talking about.
I then take a look at what I hold: a white headband with a stain of blood, sporting the Korean flag.
And it dawns on me.
My gentle warrior will not be returning to me.
Memories of the night engulfs me abruptly, forcing me to remember what I did not earlier.
I remember screaming...pain....
...The Shockers kill so many....
...I am being carried, pain flaring in all my joints...
...blood fills my vision as I open my eyes to see Magnum carrying me, his dark blue eyes filled with panic, knowing we are the only two still somewhat alive...
...he is crying...
...there is a crack not unlike a thunderbolt. He stumbles, crying out in pain, cradling me from the fall...
...I am able to see where the laser had hit him. His leg is blistered and bleeding, burnt and twisted...
"I'm sorry, Ed," he sobs, holding me close. "I'm so sorry..."
...he releases me, kisses me on the forehead, and whispers, "I love you...now and forver..."
"Now and forever," I repeat, somewhat incoherent of the laser fire around me...
...Standing, he balances on his good leg, drawing his bo staff...with a growl, he attacks, knowing his life's now lost...
...oh, Magnum...my love...
The memory is more painful than my wounds...I colapse on the parapet, hugging my knees to my chest.
And I sob uncontrollably, clutching the last reminder I have of the only person I feel could love me for who I am.
Someone takes a hold of my shoulders and hugs me tight. I do not resist, nor do I see who it is.
The voice gives it away, and later on I will probably be shocked he would speak to me in such a way, but now, it's almost comforting.
"We'll get those bastards," Mauser whispers into my ear. I can hear tears in his voice. "We'll get our revenge, I promise you."
I only nod as he stands silently and leaves me alone.
Alone.
I don't want to be alone.
Absently, I play with the braid Eva had done earlier.
My hand goes for a knife sheathe I kept hidden under my sleeve. To my surprise, I find that not all my weapons were removed as I draw a thin throwing dagger from its housing.
"We'll get our revenge, I promise you..."
Deftly, I raise the knife, swiping it in a downward motion.
Loose strands of hair fall in my face as I pick up the severed braid, staring at it curiously.
My eyes and my hair are the only things that reassures me of being a woman. Now that one eye is gone...
I wrap the braid tight and place it in my pouch for a later time, for my love's funeral.
There is a fight that needs to be won.
I need to be there when it happens.
For my love's sake, it must be won, or his death would be in vain.
Never.
I won't let it happen.
Please, my love, grant me your strength so I can make it through this war...
"I love you...now and forever..." Fini