FIC: Brothers in Arms, Chapter 3

[shadowstark]

Title: Brothers In Arms, chapter 3
Notes: Ahhh! My beta is superette. Yay! Can anyone tell me how I should format this so it's readable on LJ? Well, hopefully no one will have to, but...


The power of example is very important to people under stress. - Gen. Sir John Hackett

"Geoff, it's heavy and unwieldy."

"But wax is a proven technology."

Despite the sunburn, Arthur was doing his standard duties. A lot of his job centered around paperwork: how well things were going, assigning jobs to others, keeping track of the work that was done. Luckily, he also had some more active things he was able to do. Right now, for instance, he was discussing stabilizers with one of his colleagues while a bored guard stood behind them.

"Proven technology is not what we're doing here," insisted Arthur. "Do the degrees at the ends of our names mean nothing?"

"Of course they do. But these military men," said his colleague quietly, "don't appreciate research. They don't think they can get anything from us, and look at how they treat us. Don't think we didn't notice you weren't here this morning. Don't think we don't see the sunburn just because they order us not to. We aren't military. They can't order us not to observe."

Arthur shook his head and looked at the guard nervously when he realized that the collective attention of the room had suddenly turned towards him. "We're here now, so we do our job," he said quietly. Despite his frequent escape attempts, it had never occurred to Arthur to talk to the other scientists about trying to leave the complex. Many of them had requested working in this area; even the ones who hadn't were generally Russian citizens. He hadn't really considered they would want to leave. "I've heard petroleum jelly can work," he said in a louder voice. "I read it in a paper a few months ago."

Geoff shook his head. "None of us are really here. A lot of us, we've been talking. You got away, even if you got dragged back. Look, if we all made a break for it-"

"No, I promised I wouldn't-" Arthur stared at the man, then looked away. He hadn't really meant what he'd said to Big Boss, had he? Of course not. If all of the engineers and scientists left at the same time, there might be a better chance of getting off to Riyadh. "All right, we're none of us stupid. We can't just run. If you're all serious about this, we need a plan. How many of us are there?"

"Twenty seven."

"But that's everyone," protested Arthur, his eyes widening. Did they really think they had so much of a chance? One almost-successful escape and they were ready to risk their lives? It was mind-boggling. Arthur glanced at the unconcerned guard again. He looked around the room at everyone. They were paying scant attention to the burners and tust tubes and electrical equipment, obviously more interested in what was happening with Arthur and Geoff. They wanted out, and they weren't going to laugh at him for trying anymore! "Right then, we'll-"

"Quiet!" Arthur turned around at the hissed german from one of the men behind him. The guard straightened at looked warningly over Arthur's shoulder as Kayin appeared in the doorway to the lab. He looked pretty happy about it.

It seemed that after the angry fuss he'd made, Kayin had finally found Big Boss and brought him back for a better tour. "You didn't have enough of a chance to look at what we're doing here, with my brother distracting you," said the lieutenant, walking into the room with the colonel. Arthur looked at him for a moment, guilt straining at the back of his head. He was considering helping everyone leave, but he had promised...

He felt his back press against the lab bench behind him before he'd even realized he'd stepped backwards. Big Boss' eye was lighting upon everything. It came to rest on him. For a moment, Arthur felt his eyes falling to the ground, but he raised them and forced himself to hold Big Boss' gaze. Big Boss was giving him an almost challenging glare, but it seemed more inquisitive than hostile. Almost... gentle.

Big Boss' eye looked away and Arthur's face drew up into painful confusion for a moment. Then he saw Kayin's eyes on him. Arthur shrank into himself and dropped his gaze quickly. His skin prickled where Kayin looked at him, as though Kayin had real heat behind his eyes.

The pause lengthened.

"So. What have you actually done here?" asked Big Boss in a bored tone.

Arthur could hear everyone begin to shift uncomfortably. He looked around in what he hoped was an unobtrusive manner. Almost everyone was still looking at him and he frowned, shaking his head minutely and nodding faintly towards Kayin. The majority of the engineers and scientists went back to their work as though they'd never left it. Big Boss' eye flickered to him for a moment. Arthur suddenly felt a bit queasy as it occurred to him that being the leader when Kayin was supposed to be in charge was, while gratifying, not likely to be good for his health.

"We've been advancing the formulations of numerous weapons. We've been specializing in chemical weapons for a while. This current mission requires standard explosives, so I've been working on making lighter versions."

"Have you?" Big Boss looked somewhat interested. "Are you a scientist then?"

Kayin gave a tense smile. "Yes, sir! I studied at the University of Moscow before receiving my postings." Geoff sniffed quietly. Kayin gave him a strong glare while Arthur elbowed him. "My input directly led to some of the weapons advancements we've sent to Moscow."

"I see." Big Boss smiled and walked towards Geoff. "I talked to you earlier. What do you think of the Lieutenant's input?"

Geoff mumbled something under his breath. Big Boss' mouth twitched.

"Lieutenant Shet has been instrumental in several of our major discoveries," said Arthur. Geoff shot him a dirty look. Arthur agreed with the man: Kayin had done nothing to help any of the men in this room. Unfortunately, Kayin had the power to kill any of the men in this room. Arthur wasn't willing to let Geoff get himself beaten for telling some higher up soldier about Kayin's incompetence. "He was just giving us ideas on parafin wax as a stabilizer this morning."

"Was that before or after you went out?" Big Boss inquired lightly.

"Sir," said Kayin almost respectfully, "I think it might be best if we don't give any of them ideas."

"Well, Lieutenant," said Big Boss with a very small, controlled smile, "I doubt you would do that. What contributions have you made, personally?"

"We've been experimenting with chemical warfare. I guided them to some work on potential new applications of sarin last month."

Nevermind that the ideas had been proffered by Arthur Emmerich himself; nevermind that the extension given by Kayin had been completely unworkable, not to mention unethical and repugnant; nevermind that the work itself had been going on for three months before that and they had moved on: Arthur nodded.

"Is that in active field testing yet?" Arthur held back his laughter. This man certainly knew what questions to ask.

"Emmerich, have you started testing my ideas yet?"

His ideas? Arthur's hands twitched. "N-not yet, sir."

"Why not, Emmerich?" Kayin asked conversationally while stalking towards him.

Perhaps because they were dangerous and wouldn't work? "We've been having more luck with t-trychothecene." Kayin kept moving closer. If Arthur could have moved farther back, he would have. "The... the sarin is proving difficult to w-work with and..." Kayin was inches away from him. He could feel the man's breath on the top of his head, could see Kayin's hands slowly forming fists. He looked up. Big Boss was watching over the Lieutenant's shoulder, a calculating expression on his face. "And..." He was just standing there, his good eye on Arthur's face. "And..." The whole room was focusing on him again, experiments being forgotten or set slightly aside. Beside him, Geoff had pulled away. The guard was tapping his hand against his gun, standing alert.

"And?" Kayin asked pleasantly.

Big Boss was staring at him, unwavering. Challenging. Arthur's eyes went over Kayin's shoulder and rested on Big Boss' face. "The research on sarin has been discontinued, sir."

The small smile from Big Boss was instant gratification. The hit to his gut from Kayin was ultimate agony. That he did not hit the ground alone was priceless.

"You will not hit your staff, Lieutenant." Big Boss' face appeared over Arthur's. "A good officer leads. A good officer is not afraid of the truth." Big Boss extended his hand to Arthur. Arthur took it. "A good officer should inspire people to follow his actions." Even though Big Boss had turned his attention to Kayin, Arthur had the most disconcerting feeling that the words were directed to him.

Arthur's eyes couldn't pull away from Big Boss as the soldier offered his hand to Kayin.

"Sir." Kayin's strangled voice chopped the word and he stood by himself.

Big Boss shrugged and pulled his hand back and smiled with one corner of his mouth. "You can't expect to get higher than Lieutenant by your brother's work. In the meantime, these men haven't had enough to drink today."

"Sir."

He nodded a dismissal towards Kayin. "Walk with me, Arthur." Arthur nodded slightly, his feet moving him forward without his express consent. "We'll leave your guard here." Arthur nodded again and followed behind Big Boss through the corridor and out into the sun. Even at dusk, there was enough sun and heat to make Arthur feel distinctly bad, but he continued following Big Boss until they reached a shadowed area where the soldier leaned against the wall.

Big Boss took a cigar from his pocket and lit it. "What do you see, Arthur?"

Arthur looked at him pensively. "A cuban cigar?" Big Boss chuckled. "Sand? Desert? A sunset? The sunset's on the other side of the building, though."

"Sit down," he said, still half-laughing, as he slid down the wall. Arthur joined him on the cooling sand. "I see opportunity here, Arthur." Arthur nodded slowly. "These men, the soldiers and the scientists... If you were in command, what would you do?"

Arthur shrugged. "I'd leave. Take everyone with me."

"Hmph. I don't think the guards would let you." Big Boss gave Arthur a smile. "Let's say the soldiers didn't want you to leave. How would you get your scientist friends out?"

Arthur sighed. He'd been working on that problem by himself for such a long time that it was hard to think of how to do it with others. Still... "There's a timing to the way the guards move. And the whole pairs thing isn't foolproof. Lots of times, there's someone who isn't being watched. If we could take them out one by one, we could do it."

Big Boss nodded. "But you're talking about scientists and engineers. You people don't have guns. How would you take down a soldier?"

"We're doing research for chemical weapons. How do you think we'd take down a soldier?"

"There is that," said Big Boss, a smirk on his face. He drew the smoke into himself and slowly blew it out. "You smoke, Arthur?"

"I don't like cigars. They taste disgusting."

Big Boss looked at his cigar, the amusement clear on his face. "You haven't tried a Cuban." He pulled one from his pocket and held it out to Arthur.

"I really don't think the heat would be good for me right now."

"Probably not," Big Boss nodded and put it away. "Tell me something, Arthur. Why didn't you continue with chemistry?"

"You saw my records, so... you know I was studying with Afinson?" Big Boss nodded. "I had some great ideas. He got a Nobel prize. It's pretty much that simple. You tell me something... what's your real name?"

"After a week on the battlefield, there aren't any names left."

Arthur looked down at the sand. "That's pretty sad."

Big Boss shrugged. "Some people might say so."

Arthur looked up. The sky was darkening. "I think you just don't want to tell me." Big Boss shook his head, his sardonic half-smile reappearing. "You don't want to tell me. That's all right. We're not friends."

"You're a good man, Arthur. A good leader. Potential officer material. You just need to learn... a few things. For example," Big Boss touched Arthur's sunburned hand. "You need to know when it's better not to run off into the desert." Arthur shrugged uneasily. "How's your gut?"

"Hm? Oh, you mean from when Kayin punched me. That wasn't so bad. He's done worse to everyone." He smiled briefly. "It knocked me down, but I could still get up afterwards."

Big Boss nodded. "All right. Have you seen the doctor about the rest of it?"

"The... the rest of it? I can't!" The stories Arthur had heard... Before he'd come, a man had been injured, and gone to the base doctor. Kayin had heard about it and had him beaten to death! If it wasn't going to kill him, Arthur had no wish to go to the doctor. "K-Kayin... he'd b-be upset. It's my own fault. H-how would I learn a lesson if I w-went to the doctor over it, right?"

Big Boss shook his head sharply and put out the cigar. "How long have you been here, Arthur?"

"Here specifically? A year and a half. I think. Shouldn't that have been in my files?"

Big Boss shrugged casually. "I don't remember everything that was on them." He pulled something out of one of his pockets. "Here. Get that on your burns." Arthur took it and looked between the tube and Big Boss. "It's burn ointment."

"Thanks." Arthur started putting the ointment on. It felt cool against his skin, unless that was just the nighttime breeze that was starting to pick up from the west.

"Are you going to try it, Arthur?"

"Try what?"

"Are you going to try to get the rest of the scientists out?"

Arthur raised his eyes. "You told me where the nearest town was." Big Boss was staring at him again. Arthur stared back for a moment. "I don't know," he said finally, breaking eye contact.

Big Boss nodded slowly. "What if things were better? Do you all hate weapons design so much?"

"I can't speak for anyone else." Arthur rubbed the ointment onto his face. "But I personally think it's... it's a great work. My father worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people... There were a lot of people who thought that man shouldn't have that kind of power."

"You think we should? Don't forget your eyelids."

"I'm proud that we do. I'm proud that my father worked on the most perfect project in the history of mankind."

"All those people died. You're proud of that?"

"They were the enemy," said Arthur harshly. "Why shouldn't I be proud that my father helped to stop a war?" Arthur put the cap back on the ointment and offered it back to Big Boss. The other man waved it away. "I grew up with them. Oppenheimer, Groves, Fermi, von Neumann, Compton... they were like unofficial uncles. I'm proud of what they did."

"And what you've done?"

Arthur sighed. "Dad told me to go into physics. Maybe if I had, things would have been easier. I just didn't want to follow in his footsteps. I haven't made a name for myself, I... well, I ended up here." He laughed nervously and looked up at the sky. It was getting towards full night now. They were going to miss dinner, and the water that came with it... "But I don't have a guilty conscience, if that's what you mean."

Big Boss nodded again. "So how would you get them out? Hypothetically."

"Well... I don't think we're in any condition to climb up or down walls. We'd probably break our legs. So at minimum, we'd have to take down the two on gate duty. We could probably distract the three on the ground, so they wouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Distract them how exactly?"

"I told you we're developing weapons here. Not all of them need real skill to deploy." He considered the look of the place. "Really, if we were going to do an all-or-nothing break for it... I guess we could set up explosives. If we set them up on three of the walls, the guards might be too distracted to notice us going through the front gate! Of course, the explosions would probably have the rest of the guards up... might not be such a good idea."

"Mmhm." Big Boss smiled at him. "Explosives can be difficult to set up, too. You might have one of them go off early if you weren't careful. Your scientists aren't demolitions experts, after all."

"No." Arthur pulled his lips together. "But I think we've got enough people who know how to put together a time bomb. If we had one go off at the far wall, we would get everyone's attention there. And then, if we had more go off to cover our escape... We might even make it seem like the base was under attack, if we timed it right. They'd be too busy looking at the dunes to watch us."

"What about the underground tunnels?"

Arthur's eyes widened. Those were supposed to be secret. "What underground tunnels?" Big Boss gave him a look.

"I said I liked honesty, Emmerich."

Arthur looked away. "Well, they don't go outside the complex anyway. But... A few explosives in them might keep everyone from watching what's going on outside. But I'd worry about taking the whole place down. They aren't structurally sound, you know. And if it went down, everyone would be out. There'd be a lot of dead."

"I thought you didn't have the problem of a guilty conscience."

"If I'm leading them out, I don't want any of them dead!"

"Good. But sometimes having casualties on your own side is the only way to an objective, Arthur."

"Maybe. But I don't think this is one of those times. The guards spend more time watching each other than anything on the ground." Arthur drew a picture of the base in the sand with his finger. "There's a big dune here." Arthur's finger stabbed a place not far away from the compound. "All we'd have to do is get here, and then here, and then here..." The sand was sticky. Arthur brushed it off his sunburned finger.

Big Boss' finger came down and traced a path between the dots before he wiped the picture from the sand. "So. When's the escape attempt, Arthur?"

Arthur looked up at Big Boss, the blossom of fear opening in his belly. "That was all theoretical. Just a what-if." The other man smiled, danger shining in his eye. "I promised you I wouldn't." His hand was moving to one of the guns. "I won't!" Arthur moved backwards, not quite daring to get up and run.

Big Boss' smile grew. Arthur's eyes locked on that feral grin even as the other man stood. He closed his eyes as he saw something flying toward him, his shoulders pulling in. It hit his lap with a sloshing sound.

"You don't get enough to drink, Arthur."

Arthur's eyes stayed closed as the sound of Big Boss' footsteps on the sand blurred away. When he couldn't hear them, he put his burned forehead into the palms of his hands, his fingers rubbing painfully against his scalp, and looked at the canteen in his lap.

"Who are you...?" he whispered.