Against All Odds (3/?)
Title: Against All Odds
Character/Pairing: Wash, Lucas, Mira, Carter in this chapter. Will (eventually) be Taylor/Wash.
Word Count: 3426 for this chapter
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Crazy Lucas makes an appearance!
Spoiler Alert: Season 1
Summary: She's forgotten who she is, he's fighting for his sanity, & his son is obsessed with vengeance on them both. She's deep in the belly of the Badlands, and he's a prisoner of his own tortured mind. Somehow, in the midst of all of this, love endures.
Author’s Note: Took me FOREVER to get to uploading this, but here it is! The plot bunnies have me at their mercy. They're evil I tell you... Evil.
I don't own Terra Nova. Now, ON WITH THE FIC!!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
She opens her eyes. This is a miracle in itself, despite the sharp pain that surges through her head when she does. She quickly shuts her eyes.
She isn't dead.
But as soon as she tries to open her eyes again, the brightness of whatever room she's in hitting her eyes and sending another searing pain through her skull, she starts to wish she was. She decides against opening her eyes again, opting to take in her surroundings through her other senses.
She's standing with her back to what feels like a rough stone wall, her body slumped against it. Her arms are suspended over her head, held by what feels like a pair of handcuffs. Obviously, she's being held captive. She tries to move, finds that it feels as if someone has poured sand in her joints, her body weak and stiff from inactivity. She mentally takes stock of her injuries; Her legs are burning, tired from the strain of supporting her body weight for god knows how long, her ribs are sore, and judging from the pain that lances through her side with every breath she takes, a few of them may be broken. Her head is throbbing painfully on the right side. A memory of her staring down the barrel of a gun hits her consciousness.
"You have your father's eyes…"
The war. Helping the Shannons escape... Lucas shooting her. The memories flood her all at once, her mind begins to race. The first thing on her mind is wonder about how (and why) the hell she was still alive. Her worry for Nathaniel was a close second; was he safe? Did Shannon deliver her message? Did they retake the colony? And if they did, why (and where) the hell was she being held captive? She doesn't stifle the agonized groan that emits from her mouth as a particularly excruciating throb wracks her head. Perhaps she shouldn't think so hard.
She isn't dead.
For the moment, she's content to relish in that knowledge and allow herself to slip back into unconsciousness, too exhausted to think on it too much, but then she hears a man's voice; it's a familiar one, but she finds herself unable to place a face to it.
"Well, hello, Alicia."
His tone is contemptuous, laced with both malice and amusement, and the sound of her first name from a voice she didn't recognize sets her on edge.
She slowly opens her eyes to glare at her captor.
She awoke with a gasp, eyes snapping open and darting around wildly about the tent's interior. She felt her heart pounding in her chest and a faint pain in the right side of her skull. She wills her racing heart to slow down as she tries to recall the dream (or nightmare) that's put her in such a state, finds that she can't, and closes her eyes again with a heavy sigh.
It's like this every morning.
She awakes with a start, head pounding and heart racing, sometimes a cold sweat coating her face and neck, thanks to a dream she can never seem to remember. It's maddeningly frustrating.
She opens her eyes again and notes that Lucas is gone; the cool, empty space next to her on their cot tells her that. She's not surprised. He's almost always up and gone way before she wakes, and today is no different.
She is surprised, however, when Mira pokes her head in, scowling at her as usual.
"Well good morning, sleeping beauty." She said scornfully, making her way inside the tent, "About time you woke up."
Alicia responded with a dirty look of her own as she sat up on her forearms, "Mira," She acknowledged, eyeballing the brown-skinned woman. She arched a brow and tilted her head as her voice took a mockingly innocent tone, "To what do I owe the displeasure?"
Mira rolled her eyes. "Please, the displeasure is all mine. This is hardly a friendly visit." She grabbed the pair of fatigues Alicia had left on the floor the night before and tossed them to her. "Get some clothes on. Your boyfriend wants a word with us." The word boyfriend came out with a sneer and Alicia's scowl deepened at her mocking expression. Smirking, Mira exited the tent to wait for her outside.
"Bitch…" Alicia mutters as she pulls the sheet away from her naked body with one hand, holds her pants in the other. She didn't know what it was about Mira, but something about the woman rubbed her the wrong way. She barely knew her, and they almost never said more than two words to each other at a time, but her dislike for her grew every day. Evidently, the feeling was mutual, as Mira had shown nothing but disdain for her for as long as she could remember (which, admittedly, was only a month). They tolerated each other at best; loathed each other at worst.
With her free hand, she grabs the white tank she'd discarded last night, and stands to quickly put her clothes on, foregoing putting on undergarments; the heat was already unbearable, and she wasn't about to make herself more uncomfortable than necessary. She ignores the uncomfortable prickly feeling of her skin against the fabric as she tugs on her combat boots. She was in dire need of a bath, covered in sweat that had long since cooled and dried from the previous night's activities, but it could wait until after she found out what Lucas wanted. She makes her way out of the tent and turns to Mira.
Mira eyes her from head to toe and back up again, takes note of her still-mussed hair, and smirks as she opens her mouth to speak again. "Have a good time last night?" She asks in a derisive tone with a quirked brow, heading in whatever direction Lucas had gone off to. Alicia glares harder, ignoring her question, follows behind her anyway.
She knows that everyone in camp knows about her and Lucas' relationship; she's aware of their eyes on her even now as she makes her way through the camp, and she's very much aware of the way they talk about her in hushed whispers when they think she's not listening. She knows all of this, and can't seem to bring herself to care. It's none of their damn business what she does with her- she pauses in that thought, searching for a proper word… leader.
Yeah, that fits.
Contrary to what Mira (and everyone else) thinks, Lucas is far from her boyfriend. She frowns at the mere thought of the word. Their relationship was physical, but it's hardly anything more. He was… comfortable. His was the first face she saw when she first awoke in the jungle a month ago; he was the one who told her who she was (kind of) when she had no recollection of her life before her 'awakening', and he was the only one in their camp who showed any kind of interest in her… and even though she hardly knew the man, there was something about his eyes that filled her with an inexplicable warmth. They felt… familiar somehow.
His azure depths turned out to be the only thing in her life that felt familiar, even now.
Although Alicia is more at ease with Lucas than anyone else, he still feels like a stranger to her most of the time; more like the lesser of all evils than a true companion. The time they spend together is usually brief and strictly business, and when it's not, they spend their time doing less talking than anything. Since she can't bring herself to miss something she's never had (lack of human contact has been a constant in her life since her awakening), and their physical relationship allows her a release from the all tension and stresses she's faced with on a daily basis, she's perfectly fine with keeping it that way. No emotions, no attachments, just pure physical release whenever she needs it. She'd gladly take sex- especially good sex- over camaraderie.
She continues to pointedly ignore Mira's presence as they make their way to the large tent at the center of their camp that Lucas affectionately (melodramatically, if you asked her) called the Command Center. His aggrandizement usually earned him an eye roll from his lover; it was a big tent in the middle of a bunch of little tents in a camp in the middle of a desert on the outskirts of nowhere. He made it seem as if it were the hub of some huge enterprise.
They step into the tent to find Lucas talking to Carter, Lucas sitting at the rickety desk in the back of the tent, Carter standing in front of it, his back to them. They stand at parade rest while they wait for them to finish their conversation. Carter is another person that unnerves her. The man can never seem to look her in the eyes, and she's caught him staring at her with something akin to pity on numerous occasions. It's very unsettling, and she keeps as much distance from the man as possible.
As if the man could hear her thoughts, Carter turns his head and instantly settles his eyes on Alicia, that sorrowful look in his eyes again. She feels her irritation flare. He nods stiffly in her direction. "Alicia," He greets, and then sends another nod to the woman beside her, "Mira."
Mira nods back while Alicia simply stares at him, resisting the urge to slap the damned look off his face.
The expression on the Sixer's face didn't go unnoticed by Lucas, either. "You're dismissed, Carter." He says, eyeing the man with suspicion. Carter didn't even turn back around. He nodded mutely and made his way out the tent, his eyes darting between the exit and Alicia.
Once he had left, Lucas clapped his hands and rubbed them together, a grin on his face. "Well," he said, standing up from his seat behind the desk, "If it isn't my two favorite ladies!" Mira and Alicia scoffed and rolled their eyes in unison. "Cut the crap, Taylor. What do you want?" Mira said, placing her hands on her hips. Beside her, Alicia raised a brow and folded her arms over her chest, silently asking him the same question.
Lucas' grin widened. "No need to be so testy." He said, making his way around the desk, "I have a task for you." He nodded to Alicia. "I'm sending Carter on another scouting mission, and I want you with him. Nothing too far out, maybe a mile or two beyond our perimeter. You should be back by nightfall." Alicia nodded mutely, but couldn't keep a begrudging look from crossing her features. She'd only just got back from a scouting mission yesterday, the last thing she wanted to do is go on another one so soon, especially not with one of her least favorite people in the camp.
"That's all fine and dandy, but what the hell am I here for?" Mira asked, exasperated.
Lucas turned his gaze on her, his smile giving way to a slightly annoyed expression, "Because you're going to be accompanying them." Mira opened her mouth to protest, and he quickly spoke again, "You know this wilderness better than either of them. If anything… unexpectedhappens while they're out there, you'll know how to handle it. Better safe than sorry, don't you think?" He smirked.
Mira glowered and nodded silently.
Lucas clapped his hands together, grin returning in full force. "Good. Carter's off getting supplies, so meet him at the supply tent in ten minutes."
"Can we make it fifteen? I need to shower." Alicia asked.
"Of course you do." Lucas quipped, a knowing smirk on his face. He ignores the glare she sends him and nods. "Fine, fifteen minutes. Mira and Carter'll be waiting for you when you finish."
Alicia nodded, keeping her expression stoic as relief flooded her. At least she'd be able to rid herself of the sweat and grime of the last scouting mission (and not to mention her activities with Lucas the night before) before going on this one. As she turned to leave, she stole a glance at Mira, who still had her eyes fixed on Lucas, a furious look on her face. She found herself unable to care too much about why she was upset, not with her extreme dislike for the woman and the prospect of finally getting clean in her future, and made her way out of the tent, heading in the direction of her tent to fetch some fresh clothes.
After Alicia made her exit, Lucas went to take his place behind his desk again, completely oblivious to the way Mira was scowling at him.
"Scouting mission, my ass." She said through clenched teeth, stalking toward the desk, "What are you really up to, Taylor?" She placed her hands on the desk, leaning so there were just a few inches between their faces.
Lucas looks at her then, a devilish gleam in his eyes, a fiendish grin on his face, the façade of stoicism he puts on around Alicia gone now, stripped down to reveal the real Lucas Taylor in all his maniacal glory.
"I have work to do, Mira. Work, work." He says, knowing she knew what he meant, "I can't have my little pet sniffing around here and sticking her nose in places it shouldn't be, now can I?"
Mira scoffed. "Don't you think she's gonna start getting suspicious? What with you sending her on 'scouting missions-'" she used air quotes, "-every other day?"
Lucas guffawed, a disturbingly mirthless shout of a laugh escaping his lips. "And what if she does? What'll she do about it, question me?" he barked out another humorless laugh, "Please. I've got little Miss Alicia wrapped around my finger. Even if she does, I can tell her anything and she'll believe it. She wouldn't challenge me if she wanted to. Not now." The crazed smile on his face widened as he took sick pleasure in recounting how much power he had over the woman.
My Alicia, he heard his own voice say in his mind, his words from a not-so-distant memory.
"If that's the case, why the hell do I need to go on this little mission? You've got Carter." Mira said, arms crossing in front of her chest.
"That's exactly the problem. I don't trust Carter around her." Lucas said, face contorting to a sneer at the thought of the man, "You've seen the way he looks at her. Every time he sees her, it's like he wants to break down and tell her all the dark little truths about who she is and what I've done, hop on a rover and ride off into the sunset with her back to Terra Nova... Back to Him." His teeth clenched as he mentioned his father, "That weak son of a bitch makes me sick. I need you to keep him in line so he doesn't ruin all of our plans-"
"All of your plans." Mira cuts him off, the intensity of her scowl increasing tenfold, "Your sick little play for revenge on daddy has nothing to do with me."
"Ah, but it does." Lucas retorted, that creepy too-happy smile on his face again, "It does if you want to get back to 2149. If you want to get back to your precious little girl." It was a low blow, he knew, and he chuckled giddily in sick delight when he saw her flinch. "That's what I thought. Now leave, I have work to do." He waved her off and returned his attention the papers on his desk, effectively dismissing her presence.
Mira hesitated, but began to back out of the tent, keeping her eyes trained on the demented man in front of her. Before exiting the tent, she spoke again. "Look Taylor," she said, getting his attention again as he looked up from the papers in front of him to look at her, a bored expression on his face, "I don't know what the hell you've got up your sleeve, and I honestly don't give a shit. All I know is that you need to find yourself a new babysitter." There was a hint of a threat in her tone as she spoke, "I've got better things to do with my time than watch your little pet." She spit the last word at him and left the tent before he could respond.
That suited him just fine, seeing as he hadn't planned on responding anyway. He snickered at the thought of the underlying threat that had been in her tone; as if there was anything she could do to hurt him. She needed him to get back to the future, to save her daughter from the perils of 2149 and the work camp she would be sent to if her mother didn't get to her soon.
Mira had no power, she was just another puppet, just like the rest of them.
Of all his puppets, though, there was none he was more proud of than his Alicia.
The devilish grin splits his face again.
Before he'd gotten his hands on her she'd been Wash, his father's most loyal minion, and he'd despised her nearly as much as he had his father. She had been no better than his father was, with their annoyingly warped notions of morality and honor and justice. She had worshipped the ground Nathaniel Taylor walked on, was willing to follow him to the ends of the earth without question, and he'd despised her for it. He had fully intended to kill her when she refused to reveal his father's location, but decided to stun her instead at the last minute, saving her for later in case he needed a Trump card on his father.
And boy was he glad he did.
He had taken Alicia Washington, his father's favorite lapdog and most trusted comrade, and turned her into his own little toy soldier.
Slash fuck toy, his mind added, causing his smile too stretch to an almost painful degree. Yes, that was certainly the part he was most proud of; the fact that he possessed Alicia in every way his father had, plus the one way he hadn't, but always wanted to.
Only a stupid person would miss the way his father looked at his second, and only an even stupider person could miss the way she used to fuss over him, the way she'd treat his wounds with a tenderness that wasn't there for anyone else, the way their interactions skirted just on the edge of propriety, but never crossing the line fully.
Lucas wasn't stupid. Not by a long shot.
Even in the early days of Terra Nova, when he spent nearly no time with his father (and even less time with Alicia), Lucas could read between the lines. The old man had been in love with her, and her him, but never had the balls to do anything about it.
He didn't know if his father's feelings for his second had been there when his mother was alive, but it was of no concern to him now. All that mattered was that he'd done the one thing his "perfect" father had been too weak to do, and all he wanted to do was rub it in the old bastard's face. He knew he had to be suffering already, having watched the second love of his life "die" at the hands of his only child, but Lucas had so much more in mind.
He wanted to relish his father's devastation when he found out that his emotional mistress had been taken to bed by his own son. He wanted to shove his tongue down her throat, right before his father's eyes, show him every cum stain on his sheets, show him how she'd never be his, how he'd branded her from the inside out, the way he never did.
And that was only the beginning of his plans.
Oh yes, he was going to make him suffer before it was all over. He was going to make them both suffer, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.
"Don't worry Mom, I'll get our revenge." He mused aloud with conviction despite the crazed amusement written on his features.
With that, his intention firmly in place, he got to work on his plans, meticulously plotting his revenge with a madman's smile on his face.
Character/Pairing: Wash, Lucas, Mira, Carter in this chapter. Will (eventually) be Taylor/Wash.
Word Count: 3426 for this chapter
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Crazy Lucas makes an appearance!
Spoiler Alert: Season 1
Summary: She's forgotten who she is, he's fighting for his sanity, & his son is obsessed with vengeance on them both. She's deep in the belly of the Badlands, and he's a prisoner of his own tortured mind. Somehow, in the midst of all of this, love endures.
Author’s Note: Took me FOREVER to get to uploading this, but here it is! The plot bunnies have me at their mercy. They're evil I tell you... Evil.
I don't own Terra Nova. Now, ON WITH THE FIC!!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
She opens her eyes. This is a miracle in itself, despite the sharp pain that surges through her head when she does. She quickly shuts her eyes.
She isn't dead.
But as soon as she tries to open her eyes again, the brightness of whatever room she's in hitting her eyes and sending another searing pain through her skull, she starts to wish she was. She decides against opening her eyes again, opting to take in her surroundings through her other senses.
She's standing with her back to what feels like a rough stone wall, her body slumped against it. Her arms are suspended over her head, held by what feels like a pair of handcuffs. Obviously, she's being held captive. She tries to move, finds that it feels as if someone has poured sand in her joints, her body weak and stiff from inactivity. She mentally takes stock of her injuries; Her legs are burning, tired from the strain of supporting her body weight for god knows how long, her ribs are sore, and judging from the pain that lances through her side with every breath she takes, a few of them may be broken. Her head is throbbing painfully on the right side. A memory of her staring down the barrel of a gun hits her consciousness.
"You have your father's eyes…"
The war. Helping the Shannons escape... Lucas shooting her. The memories flood her all at once, her mind begins to race. The first thing on her mind is wonder about how (and why) the hell she was still alive. Her worry for Nathaniel was a close second; was he safe? Did Shannon deliver her message? Did they retake the colony? And if they did, why (and where) the hell was she being held captive? She doesn't stifle the agonized groan that emits from her mouth as a particularly excruciating throb wracks her head. Perhaps she shouldn't think so hard.
She isn't dead.
For the moment, she's content to relish in that knowledge and allow herself to slip back into unconsciousness, too exhausted to think on it too much, but then she hears a man's voice; it's a familiar one, but she finds herself unable to place a face to it.
"Well, hello, Alicia."
His tone is contemptuous, laced with both malice and amusement, and the sound of her first name from a voice she didn't recognize sets her on edge.
She slowly opens her eyes to glare at her captor.
She awoke with a gasp, eyes snapping open and darting around wildly about the tent's interior. She felt her heart pounding in her chest and a faint pain in the right side of her skull. She wills her racing heart to slow down as she tries to recall the dream (or nightmare) that's put her in such a state, finds that she can't, and closes her eyes again with a heavy sigh.
It's like this every morning.
She awakes with a start, head pounding and heart racing, sometimes a cold sweat coating her face and neck, thanks to a dream she can never seem to remember. It's maddeningly frustrating.
She opens her eyes again and notes that Lucas is gone; the cool, empty space next to her on their cot tells her that. She's not surprised. He's almost always up and gone way before she wakes, and today is no different.
She is surprised, however, when Mira pokes her head in, scowling at her as usual.
"Well good morning, sleeping beauty." She said scornfully, making her way inside the tent, "About time you woke up."
Alicia responded with a dirty look of her own as she sat up on her forearms, "Mira," She acknowledged, eyeballing the brown-skinned woman. She arched a brow and tilted her head as her voice took a mockingly innocent tone, "To what do I owe the displeasure?"
Mira rolled her eyes. "Please, the displeasure is all mine. This is hardly a friendly visit." She grabbed the pair of fatigues Alicia had left on the floor the night before and tossed them to her. "Get some clothes on. Your boyfriend wants a word with us." The word boyfriend came out with a sneer and Alicia's scowl deepened at her mocking expression. Smirking, Mira exited the tent to wait for her outside.
"Bitch…" Alicia mutters as she pulls the sheet away from her naked body with one hand, holds her pants in the other. She didn't know what it was about Mira, but something about the woman rubbed her the wrong way. She barely knew her, and they almost never said more than two words to each other at a time, but her dislike for her grew every day. Evidently, the feeling was mutual, as Mira had shown nothing but disdain for her for as long as she could remember (which, admittedly, was only a month). They tolerated each other at best; loathed each other at worst.
With her free hand, she grabs the white tank she'd discarded last night, and stands to quickly put her clothes on, foregoing putting on undergarments; the heat was already unbearable, and she wasn't about to make herself more uncomfortable than necessary. She ignores the uncomfortable prickly feeling of her skin against the fabric as she tugs on her combat boots. She was in dire need of a bath, covered in sweat that had long since cooled and dried from the previous night's activities, but it could wait until after she found out what Lucas wanted. She makes her way out of the tent and turns to Mira.
Mira eyes her from head to toe and back up again, takes note of her still-mussed hair, and smirks as she opens her mouth to speak again. "Have a good time last night?" She asks in a derisive tone with a quirked brow, heading in whatever direction Lucas had gone off to. Alicia glares harder, ignoring her question, follows behind her anyway.
She knows that everyone in camp knows about her and Lucas' relationship; she's aware of their eyes on her even now as she makes her way through the camp, and she's very much aware of the way they talk about her in hushed whispers when they think she's not listening. She knows all of this, and can't seem to bring herself to care. It's none of their damn business what she does with her- she pauses in that thought, searching for a proper word… leader.
Yeah, that fits.
Contrary to what Mira (and everyone else) thinks, Lucas is far from her boyfriend. She frowns at the mere thought of the word. Their relationship was physical, but it's hardly anything more. He was… comfortable. His was the first face she saw when she first awoke in the jungle a month ago; he was the one who told her who she was (kind of) when she had no recollection of her life before her 'awakening', and he was the only one in their camp who showed any kind of interest in her… and even though she hardly knew the man, there was something about his eyes that filled her with an inexplicable warmth. They felt… familiar somehow.
His azure depths turned out to be the only thing in her life that felt familiar, even now.
Although Alicia is more at ease with Lucas than anyone else, he still feels like a stranger to her most of the time; more like the lesser of all evils than a true companion. The time they spend together is usually brief and strictly business, and when it's not, they spend their time doing less talking than anything. Since she can't bring herself to miss something she's never had (lack of human contact has been a constant in her life since her awakening), and their physical relationship allows her a release from the all tension and stresses she's faced with on a daily basis, she's perfectly fine with keeping it that way. No emotions, no attachments, just pure physical release whenever she needs it. She'd gladly take sex- especially good sex- over camaraderie.
She continues to pointedly ignore Mira's presence as they make their way to the large tent at the center of their camp that Lucas affectionately (melodramatically, if you asked her) called the Command Center. His aggrandizement usually earned him an eye roll from his lover; it was a big tent in the middle of a bunch of little tents in a camp in the middle of a desert on the outskirts of nowhere. He made it seem as if it were the hub of some huge enterprise.
They step into the tent to find Lucas talking to Carter, Lucas sitting at the rickety desk in the back of the tent, Carter standing in front of it, his back to them. They stand at parade rest while they wait for them to finish their conversation. Carter is another person that unnerves her. The man can never seem to look her in the eyes, and she's caught him staring at her with something akin to pity on numerous occasions. It's very unsettling, and she keeps as much distance from the man as possible.
As if the man could hear her thoughts, Carter turns his head and instantly settles his eyes on Alicia, that sorrowful look in his eyes again. She feels her irritation flare. He nods stiffly in her direction. "Alicia," He greets, and then sends another nod to the woman beside her, "Mira."
Mira nods back while Alicia simply stares at him, resisting the urge to slap the damned look off his face.
The expression on the Sixer's face didn't go unnoticed by Lucas, either. "You're dismissed, Carter." He says, eyeing the man with suspicion. Carter didn't even turn back around. He nodded mutely and made his way out the tent, his eyes darting between the exit and Alicia.
Once he had left, Lucas clapped his hands and rubbed them together, a grin on his face. "Well," he said, standing up from his seat behind the desk, "If it isn't my two favorite ladies!" Mira and Alicia scoffed and rolled their eyes in unison. "Cut the crap, Taylor. What do you want?" Mira said, placing her hands on her hips. Beside her, Alicia raised a brow and folded her arms over her chest, silently asking him the same question.
Lucas' grin widened. "No need to be so testy." He said, making his way around the desk, "I have a task for you." He nodded to Alicia. "I'm sending Carter on another scouting mission, and I want you with him. Nothing too far out, maybe a mile or two beyond our perimeter. You should be back by nightfall." Alicia nodded mutely, but couldn't keep a begrudging look from crossing her features. She'd only just got back from a scouting mission yesterday, the last thing she wanted to do is go on another one so soon, especially not with one of her least favorite people in the camp.
"That's all fine and dandy, but what the hell am I here for?" Mira asked, exasperated.
Lucas turned his gaze on her, his smile giving way to a slightly annoyed expression, "Because you're going to be accompanying them." Mira opened her mouth to protest, and he quickly spoke again, "You know this wilderness better than either of them. If anything… unexpectedhappens while they're out there, you'll know how to handle it. Better safe than sorry, don't you think?" He smirked.
Mira glowered and nodded silently.
Lucas clapped his hands together, grin returning in full force. "Good. Carter's off getting supplies, so meet him at the supply tent in ten minutes."
"Can we make it fifteen? I need to shower." Alicia asked.
"Of course you do." Lucas quipped, a knowing smirk on his face. He ignores the glare she sends him and nods. "Fine, fifteen minutes. Mira and Carter'll be waiting for you when you finish."
Alicia nodded, keeping her expression stoic as relief flooded her. At least she'd be able to rid herself of the sweat and grime of the last scouting mission (and not to mention her activities with Lucas the night before) before going on this one. As she turned to leave, she stole a glance at Mira, who still had her eyes fixed on Lucas, a furious look on her face. She found herself unable to care too much about why she was upset, not with her extreme dislike for the woman and the prospect of finally getting clean in her future, and made her way out of the tent, heading in the direction of her tent to fetch some fresh clothes.
After Alicia made her exit, Lucas went to take his place behind his desk again, completely oblivious to the way Mira was scowling at him.
"Scouting mission, my ass." She said through clenched teeth, stalking toward the desk, "What are you really up to, Taylor?" She placed her hands on the desk, leaning so there were just a few inches between their faces.
Lucas looks at her then, a devilish gleam in his eyes, a fiendish grin on his face, the façade of stoicism he puts on around Alicia gone now, stripped down to reveal the real Lucas Taylor in all his maniacal glory.
"I have work to do, Mira. Work, work." He says, knowing she knew what he meant, "I can't have my little pet sniffing around here and sticking her nose in places it shouldn't be, now can I?"
Mira scoffed. "Don't you think she's gonna start getting suspicious? What with you sending her on 'scouting missions-'" she used air quotes, "-every other day?"
Lucas guffawed, a disturbingly mirthless shout of a laugh escaping his lips. "And what if she does? What'll she do about it, question me?" he barked out another humorless laugh, "Please. I've got little Miss Alicia wrapped around my finger. Even if she does, I can tell her anything and she'll believe it. She wouldn't challenge me if she wanted to. Not now." The crazed smile on his face widened as he took sick pleasure in recounting how much power he had over the woman.
My Alicia, he heard his own voice say in his mind, his words from a not-so-distant memory.
"If that's the case, why the hell do I need to go on this little mission? You've got Carter." Mira said, arms crossing in front of her chest.
"That's exactly the problem. I don't trust Carter around her." Lucas said, face contorting to a sneer at the thought of the man, "You've seen the way he looks at her. Every time he sees her, it's like he wants to break down and tell her all the dark little truths about who she is and what I've done, hop on a rover and ride off into the sunset with her back to Terra Nova... Back to Him." His teeth clenched as he mentioned his father, "That weak son of a bitch makes me sick. I need you to keep him in line so he doesn't ruin all of our plans-"
"All of your plans." Mira cuts him off, the intensity of her scowl increasing tenfold, "Your sick little play for revenge on daddy has nothing to do with me."
"Ah, but it does." Lucas retorted, that creepy too-happy smile on his face again, "It does if you want to get back to 2149. If you want to get back to your precious little girl." It was a low blow, he knew, and he chuckled giddily in sick delight when he saw her flinch. "That's what I thought. Now leave, I have work to do." He waved her off and returned his attention the papers on his desk, effectively dismissing her presence.
Mira hesitated, but began to back out of the tent, keeping her eyes trained on the demented man in front of her. Before exiting the tent, she spoke again. "Look Taylor," she said, getting his attention again as he looked up from the papers in front of him to look at her, a bored expression on his face, "I don't know what the hell you've got up your sleeve, and I honestly don't give a shit. All I know is that you need to find yourself a new babysitter." There was a hint of a threat in her tone as she spoke, "I've got better things to do with my time than watch your little pet." She spit the last word at him and left the tent before he could respond.
That suited him just fine, seeing as he hadn't planned on responding anyway. He snickered at the thought of the underlying threat that had been in her tone; as if there was anything she could do to hurt him. She needed him to get back to the future, to save her daughter from the perils of 2149 and the work camp she would be sent to if her mother didn't get to her soon.
Mira had no power, she was just another puppet, just like the rest of them.
Of all his puppets, though, there was none he was more proud of than his Alicia.
The devilish grin splits his face again.
Before he'd gotten his hands on her she'd been Wash, his father's most loyal minion, and he'd despised her nearly as much as he had his father. She had been no better than his father was, with their annoyingly warped notions of morality and honor and justice. She had worshipped the ground Nathaniel Taylor walked on, was willing to follow him to the ends of the earth without question, and he'd despised her for it. He had fully intended to kill her when she refused to reveal his father's location, but decided to stun her instead at the last minute, saving her for later in case he needed a Trump card on his father.
And boy was he glad he did.
He had taken Alicia Washington, his father's favorite lapdog and most trusted comrade, and turned her into his own little toy soldier.
Slash fuck toy, his mind added, causing his smile too stretch to an almost painful degree. Yes, that was certainly the part he was most proud of; the fact that he possessed Alicia in every way his father had, plus the one way he hadn't, but always wanted to.
Only a stupid person would miss the way his father looked at his second, and only an even stupider person could miss the way she used to fuss over him, the way she'd treat his wounds with a tenderness that wasn't there for anyone else, the way their interactions skirted just on the edge of propriety, but never crossing the line fully.
Lucas wasn't stupid. Not by a long shot.
Even in the early days of Terra Nova, when he spent nearly no time with his father (and even less time with Alicia), Lucas could read between the lines. The old man had been in love with her, and her him, but never had the balls to do anything about it.
He didn't know if his father's feelings for his second had been there when his mother was alive, but it was of no concern to him now. All that mattered was that he'd done the one thing his "perfect" father had been too weak to do, and all he wanted to do was rub it in the old bastard's face. He knew he had to be suffering already, having watched the second love of his life "die" at the hands of his only child, but Lucas had so much more in mind.
He wanted to relish his father's devastation when he found out that his emotional mistress had been taken to bed by his own son. He wanted to shove his tongue down her throat, right before his father's eyes, show him every cum stain on his sheets, show him how she'd never be his, how he'd branded her from the inside out, the way he never did.
And that was only the beginning of his plans.
Oh yes, he was going to make him suffer before it was all over. He was going to make them both suffer, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.
"Don't worry Mom, I'll get our revenge." He mused aloud with conviction despite the crazed amusement written on his features.
With that, his intention firmly in place, he got to work on his plans, meticulously plotting his revenge with a madman's smile on his face.