FIC: Renegade (3/3); The Mentalist
Title: Renegade
-
Sometime around Rigsby’s third mouthful for cooked fish, Cho heard a garbled sound of “Grace!” come from his mouth. Bits of chewed (and saliva-covered) fish flew from Rigsby’s mouth and coated both himself and Lisbon, who had her teeth clenched to keep from losing her temper with the younger agent’s lack of “proper etiquette”.
“We need to find Jane,” Lisbon said quietly to him, as he silently surveyed the reunion between Van Pelt and Rigsby. “We might have plenty of food here, but Jane doesn’t.” Van Pelt glanced in his direction for a split second and he offered her a slight smile, which she returned. Rigsby seemed oblivious to their small exchange, which nearly caused Cho to roll his eyes. “However, Van Pelt can’t walk.”
“If she stays here,” Cho commented, “she’ll be dead before nightfall.” Lisbon said nothing. “Those creatures will go after the weak, and we both know they’d go after her before us.” The lack of her foot didn’t make her weak; but Red John’s continuous presence in her life did.
“So we either take her with us or we let her die,” Lisbon replied and Cho nodded. “What a shitty choice.” He said nothing and she continued to speak. “I want to remain optimistic about everything, but you know…”
“I do,” Cho interrupted her.
He knew their chances of living.
He also knew their chances of dying.
And the way he saw it, none of them would find Jane-alive. It was a feeling he’d been compressing for almost twenty-four hours, and from the sour look on Lisbon’s face, he knew she was thinking along those same lines also.
After all, Jean Caribe letting them all leave the woods-alive-would make no logical sense. If she had killed her partner, he knew one (or more) of them wouldn’t make it out of the woods alive.
“Lisbon,” he started.
“I don’t want to hear it, Cho,” Lisbon interrupted, shaking her head. “We’re going to find him and everything is going to be okay. We’ll get out of this, go back to the CBI and we’ll solve crimes.” He wanted to agree with her. He wanted to support her thinking.
However, he couldn’t and he wouldn’t, as her line of thinking would condemn them all to death.
“Rigsby, Van Pelt,” Lisbon called, gaining the attention of both agents. “We’re finding Jane today. We’ll be out of this forest by nightfall, I promise.”
Cho knew her promise was moot. If she couldn’t promise them safety or protection, they all knew her idea of “nightfall” was ambiguous; they would either walk out, alive, or they would be rolled out in black body bags.
Either way, Cho thought as he moved to recollect his vast arsenal of weapons from near the tent, we’ll have to be prepared for our deaths.
In all of his years as a military official and as a CBI agent, he had always found that the acceptance of death was one of the hardest things to accomplish as a human being.
“Hey Cho,” Rigsby’s voice broke through the eerie silence, as the group of three followed behind Lisbon. Van Pelt was sound asleep on Rigsby’s back and Cho merely moved his head to acknowledge Rigsby’s conversation. “Caribe said her station deals with plenty of missing persons. Do you think…?”
“Yes.” He had no doubts that the rash amounts of missing persons within Sheridan had something to do with Jean Caribe and her “experiments”. Cho had also figured out, nearly thirty minutes into their forest scouring, that their involvement into the Jessica McCain case had been purely accidental. “McCain was an experiment gone wrong…”
“Caribe had never killed any of her experiments before,” Rigsby continued, as they kept trekking through the forest. “Jessica, leaving the cult-community that is Sheridan town, was prime pickings for a scientist, who knew she had to stop her secrets from escaping.” Cho rolled his eyes. Rigsby had one hell of an overactive imagination, but at least, his story kept the eerie silence at bay. “So, she lured Jessica into the park and their conversation went awry. Jessica swore to expose Caribe and Caribe, angry, drained Jessica of her blood to be used in the creation of her demons…”
Lisbon paused in her tracks to glance back at them both. “Conjecture, really? Rigsby, this would be something I expect from Jane.” Rigsby sheepishly grinned and Lisbon sighed. “There’s one problem with your theory, however.”
“What?” Rigsby asked, hastily. “Jessica McCain was murdered to keep her silent.”
“Unless McCain stumbled upon Caribe’s secret on the outside of the forest,” Cho corrected him quietly, “I doubt she knew anything about the experiments.” Lisbon nodded her agreement. “I’d say Caribe was luring her into the forest, but it wasn’t to keep her quiet; it was to continue her experiments.”
“Whatever the story is,” Lisbon continued, “I’m not enjoying the painted picture. Either way, I wouldn’t wish Jessica McCain’s fate on...”
“Or she’s not really dead,” Rigsby interrupted and Cho blinked. “I know it sounds insane, but hear me out. We found Jessica McCain’s body at day; we had no idea about these things until after nightfall when they attacked us all. We’ve been in here for two nights and three days now, so it is possible that Jessica’s body has arisen and…”
“This is not Dawn of the Dead,” Lisbon scoffed. “This is real life.”
“And these creatures aren’t real enough for you, Lisbon?” Rigsby fired back, crossing his arms against his chest. “If these creatures didn’t rob you of your arm, then what do you chalk that up to? Fate? Bad karma?” Rigsby paused for a second, before uncrossing his arms. “God?” He heard Rigsby snort. “Yeah, your all-seeing and powerful God. Where is he now, Lisbon?” Lisbon said nothing, as her hand went around her crucifix. “I can tell you where he is! He’s laughing at us, right now, while we scramble around like little lab rats.”
Cho blinked twice.
Lisbon’s expression darkened, before she narrowed her eyes. “My faith is not a topic up for discussion…”
“It isn’t?” Rigsby asked, scowling. “We’re talking about zombies, Lisbon! Actual flesh-eating creatures of the night, and yet, you still hold onto your faith…?” Cho stared at Rigsby and shook his head. Exhausted or not, some topics were just completely inappropriate to discuss with anyone. “I understand needing something to believe in, Lisbon, but God can’t save us now. I’m not even sure our weapons are going to do us much good either.”
He watched Rigsby’s shoulders sag, and Cho silently maneuvered Van Pelt onto his back. If they were going to argue, he was going to let Van Pelt have a decent amount of comfort until they were finished.
“I know,” Lisbon replied, softly, still clutching onto her crucifix. “But I have to believe we’ll make it through; we didn’t survive everything with Red John, only to be eaten or turned.” She frowned. “Faith has gotten me through many things, Wayne. I’m not going to apologize for praying that we’ll all be safe.”
Everyone grew silent.
“I’m sorry,” Rigsby replied, quietly. “I should have never…” Cho watched him rub the back of his neck and swallow. “I’m worried. I can’t leave my son without a father, Lisbon. I refuse to become my father.” Lisbon hand moved slightly, and Cho knew she wanted to comfort him-but Teresa Lisbon had never been a touchy-feely type of person.
“We’ll make it out,” Lisbon answered. “We’ll find Jane, and everything will be fine. We’ll go home and laugh about this later.”
The lack of a promise, however, didn’t go unnoticed.
Lisbon took a step forward. “Come on. We’re almost at the end of the forest, I believe.”
Each of them took another step forward; and not before too long, all of them were rolling down a steep incline.
“Is everyone okay?” Lisbon asked, after she had regained her footing at the bottom of the incline. Cho stared up at her from the forest floor, before he slowly stood and turned toward the incline they had all rolled down. “Yeah, we’re climbing back up that.”
“We’ve hit the end of the forest though,” Van Pelt’s voice replied quietly and Cho glanced down at her. “I see a cave and nothing else beyond the cave.” Everyone turned to glance at the ominous cave and Rigsby groaned. Cho continued to eye Van Pelt. “It’s a symbol, isn’t it?”
“Of what?” Rigsby asked.
“Of our…”
“No,” Lisbon interrupted. “It’s just a cave.” From the corner of his eye, he watched Lisbon turn on her heels. “Even in best shape, climbing back up this incline would be nearly impossible.” He heard her sigh. “Staying here, however, is not an option…”
“Exploring the cave shouldn’t be an option either,” Van Pelt replied. “We have no idea how large the cave is, or what lurks within.” In the open, it was still daylight; they could avoid the creatures. In the cave, darkness was everywhere; and avoiding the creatures wasn’t going to be nearly as possible. “We were fooled into believing that these woods were small. I’m not going into the cave, only to find out that we can’t get out.”
“The longer we’re in the open, the more danger we’re in,” Lisbon explained. Rigsby nodded in agreement. “Caribe is developing her experiments; what if she’s somehow harnessed the power to make her creatures attack during the day?” Cho hoped not. Caribe’s creatures already seemed powerful enough. “I’m not saying she has, but it’s a possibility we have to consider.”
Rigsby nodded. “I’ll stay out here and keep watch.” Van Pelt lifted her own hand.
“I’m not going to be much help in there, boss,” Van Pelt quietly responded, before Lisbon turned to him and eyed him.
“Are you going to keep watch too?”
“No,” Cho answered. “We need to find Jane.”
Lisbon nodded and smiled, grimly. “If we don’t come back in before nightfall, leave.” Rigsby opened his mouth to argue when Lisbon shook her head. “You would both be in the greatest amounts of danger, if you didn’t run. I’m asking you both to leave, because what else could you do for Cho or I?”
“Put you both out of your miseries,” Rigsby responded and Lisbon rolled her eyes.
“You have a limited amount of bullets; don’t waste them on something stupid,” Lisbon chided. Rigsby blinked. “Get yourselves out of here first and don’t worry about us; just continue on with your lives and know you tried your best.”
“But we…”
“You did,” Lisbon interrupted, softly. “You did.”
Everyone grew silent.
“Okay,” Rigsby replied, before he bent down and wrapped his arms around Van Pelt. Van Pelt struggled in his hold and Rigsby shook his head, his lips finding Van Pelt’s forehead. “They’re right, Grace. There’s nothing we can do.”
“This isn’t right!” Van Pelt cried, struggling. “We can’t let them die, Wayne! We can’t…”
Lisbon glanced down at Van Pelt. “You were a good and kind agent, Grace. It truly was a pleasure working with you both.” Without another glance at Van Pelt or Rigsby, Lisbon motioned for Cho to follow behind her.
Amidst the sounds of Van Pelt and Rigsby calling for them to come back, they ventured forth into the darkness.
-
Sometime around Rigsby’s third mouthful for cooked fish, Cho heard a garbled sound of “Grace!” come from his mouth. Bits of chewed (and saliva-covered) fish flew from Rigsby’s mouth and coated both himself and Lisbon, who had her teeth clenched to keep from losing her temper with the younger agent’s lack of “proper etiquette”.
“We need to find Jane,” Lisbon said quietly to him, as he silently surveyed the reunion between Van Pelt and Rigsby. “We might have plenty of food here, but Jane doesn’t.” Van Pelt glanced in his direction for a split second and he offered her a slight smile, which she returned. Rigsby seemed oblivious to their small exchange, which nearly caused Cho to roll his eyes. “However, Van Pelt can’t walk.”
“If she stays here,” Cho commented, “she’ll be dead before nightfall.” Lisbon said nothing. “Those creatures will go after the weak, and we both know they’d go after her before us.” The lack of her foot didn’t make her weak; but Red John’s continuous presence in her life did.
“So we either take her with us or we let her die,” Lisbon replied and Cho nodded. “What a shitty choice.” He said nothing and she continued to speak. “I want to remain optimistic about everything, but you know…”
“I do,” Cho interrupted her.
He knew their chances of living.
He also knew their chances of dying.
And the way he saw it, none of them would find Jane-alive. It was a feeling he’d been compressing for almost twenty-four hours, and from the sour look on Lisbon’s face, he knew she was thinking along those same lines also.
After all, Jean Caribe letting them all leave the woods-alive-would make no logical sense. If she had killed her partner, he knew one (or more) of them wouldn’t make it out of the woods alive.
“Lisbon,” he started.
“I don’t want to hear it, Cho,” Lisbon interrupted, shaking her head. “We’re going to find him and everything is going to be okay. We’ll get out of this, go back to the CBI and we’ll solve crimes.” He wanted to agree with her. He wanted to support her thinking.
However, he couldn’t and he wouldn’t, as her line of thinking would condemn them all to death.
“Rigsby, Van Pelt,” Lisbon called, gaining the attention of both agents. “We’re finding Jane today. We’ll be out of this forest by nightfall, I promise.”
Cho knew her promise was moot. If she couldn’t promise them safety or protection, they all knew her idea of “nightfall” was ambiguous; they would either walk out, alive, or they would be rolled out in black body bags.
Either way, Cho thought as he moved to recollect his vast arsenal of weapons from near the tent, we’ll have to be prepared for our deaths.
In all of his years as a military official and as a CBI agent, he had always found that the acceptance of death was one of the hardest things to accomplish as a human being.
“Hey Cho,” Rigsby’s voice broke through the eerie silence, as the group of three followed behind Lisbon. Van Pelt was sound asleep on Rigsby’s back and Cho merely moved his head to acknowledge Rigsby’s conversation. “Caribe said her station deals with plenty of missing persons. Do you think…?”
“Yes.” He had no doubts that the rash amounts of missing persons within Sheridan had something to do with Jean Caribe and her “experiments”. Cho had also figured out, nearly thirty minutes into their forest scouring, that their involvement into the Jessica McCain case had been purely accidental. “McCain was an experiment gone wrong…”
“Caribe had never killed any of her experiments before,” Rigsby continued, as they kept trekking through the forest. “Jessica, leaving the cult-community that is Sheridan town, was prime pickings for a scientist, who knew she had to stop her secrets from escaping.” Cho rolled his eyes. Rigsby had one hell of an overactive imagination, but at least, his story kept the eerie silence at bay. “So, she lured Jessica into the park and their conversation went awry. Jessica swore to expose Caribe and Caribe, angry, drained Jessica of her blood to be used in the creation of her demons…”
Lisbon paused in her tracks to glance back at them both. “Conjecture, really? Rigsby, this would be something I expect from Jane.” Rigsby sheepishly grinned and Lisbon sighed. “There’s one problem with your theory, however.”
“What?” Rigsby asked, hastily. “Jessica McCain was murdered to keep her silent.”
“Unless McCain stumbled upon Caribe’s secret on the outside of the forest,” Cho corrected him quietly, “I doubt she knew anything about the experiments.” Lisbon nodded her agreement. “I’d say Caribe was luring her into the forest, but it wasn’t to keep her quiet; it was to continue her experiments.”
“Whatever the story is,” Lisbon continued, “I’m not enjoying the painted picture. Either way, I wouldn’t wish Jessica McCain’s fate on...”
“Or she’s not really dead,” Rigsby interrupted and Cho blinked. “I know it sounds insane, but hear me out. We found Jessica McCain’s body at day; we had no idea about these things until after nightfall when they attacked us all. We’ve been in here for two nights and three days now, so it is possible that Jessica’s body has arisen and…”
“This is not Dawn of the Dead,” Lisbon scoffed. “This is real life.”
“And these creatures aren’t real enough for you, Lisbon?” Rigsby fired back, crossing his arms against his chest. “If these creatures didn’t rob you of your arm, then what do you chalk that up to? Fate? Bad karma?” Rigsby paused for a second, before uncrossing his arms. “God?” He heard Rigsby snort. “Yeah, your all-seeing and powerful God. Where is he now, Lisbon?” Lisbon said nothing, as her hand went around her crucifix. “I can tell you where he is! He’s laughing at us, right now, while we scramble around like little lab rats.”
Cho blinked twice.
Lisbon’s expression darkened, before she narrowed her eyes. “My faith is not a topic up for discussion…”
“It isn’t?” Rigsby asked, scowling. “We’re talking about zombies, Lisbon! Actual flesh-eating creatures of the night, and yet, you still hold onto your faith…?” Cho stared at Rigsby and shook his head. Exhausted or not, some topics were just completely inappropriate to discuss with anyone. “I understand needing something to believe in, Lisbon, but God can’t save us now. I’m not even sure our weapons are going to do us much good either.”
He watched Rigsby’s shoulders sag, and Cho silently maneuvered Van Pelt onto his back. If they were going to argue, he was going to let Van Pelt have a decent amount of comfort until they were finished.
“I know,” Lisbon replied, softly, still clutching onto her crucifix. “But I have to believe we’ll make it through; we didn’t survive everything with Red John, only to be eaten or turned.” She frowned. “Faith has gotten me through many things, Wayne. I’m not going to apologize for praying that we’ll all be safe.”
Everyone grew silent.
“I’m sorry,” Rigsby replied, quietly. “I should have never…” Cho watched him rub the back of his neck and swallow. “I’m worried. I can’t leave my son without a father, Lisbon. I refuse to become my father.” Lisbon hand moved slightly, and Cho knew she wanted to comfort him-but Teresa Lisbon had never been a touchy-feely type of person.
“We’ll make it out,” Lisbon answered. “We’ll find Jane, and everything will be fine. We’ll go home and laugh about this later.”
The lack of a promise, however, didn’t go unnoticed.
Lisbon took a step forward. “Come on. We’re almost at the end of the forest, I believe.”
Each of them took another step forward; and not before too long, all of them were rolling down a steep incline.
“Is everyone okay?” Lisbon asked, after she had regained her footing at the bottom of the incline. Cho stared up at her from the forest floor, before he slowly stood and turned toward the incline they had all rolled down. “Yeah, we’re climbing back up that.”
“We’ve hit the end of the forest though,” Van Pelt’s voice replied quietly and Cho glanced down at her. “I see a cave and nothing else beyond the cave.” Everyone turned to glance at the ominous cave and Rigsby groaned. Cho continued to eye Van Pelt. “It’s a symbol, isn’t it?”
“Of what?” Rigsby asked.
“Of our…”
“No,” Lisbon interrupted. “It’s just a cave.” From the corner of his eye, he watched Lisbon turn on her heels. “Even in best shape, climbing back up this incline would be nearly impossible.” He heard her sigh. “Staying here, however, is not an option…”
“Exploring the cave shouldn’t be an option either,” Van Pelt replied. “We have no idea how large the cave is, or what lurks within.” In the open, it was still daylight; they could avoid the creatures. In the cave, darkness was everywhere; and avoiding the creatures wasn’t going to be nearly as possible. “We were fooled into believing that these woods were small. I’m not going into the cave, only to find out that we can’t get out.”
“The longer we’re in the open, the more danger we’re in,” Lisbon explained. Rigsby nodded in agreement. “Caribe is developing her experiments; what if she’s somehow harnessed the power to make her creatures attack during the day?” Cho hoped not. Caribe’s creatures already seemed powerful enough. “I’m not saying she has, but it’s a possibility we have to consider.”
Rigsby nodded. “I’ll stay out here and keep watch.” Van Pelt lifted her own hand.
“I’m not going to be much help in there, boss,” Van Pelt quietly responded, before Lisbon turned to him and eyed him.
“Are you going to keep watch too?”
“No,” Cho answered. “We need to find Jane.”
Lisbon nodded and smiled, grimly. “If we don’t come back in before nightfall, leave.” Rigsby opened his mouth to argue when Lisbon shook her head. “You would both be in the greatest amounts of danger, if you didn’t run. I’m asking you both to leave, because what else could you do for Cho or I?”
“Put you both out of your miseries,” Rigsby responded and Lisbon rolled her eyes.
“You have a limited amount of bullets; don’t waste them on something stupid,” Lisbon chided. Rigsby blinked. “Get yourselves out of here first and don’t worry about us; just continue on with your lives and know you tried your best.”
“But we…”
“You did,” Lisbon interrupted, softly. “You did.”
Everyone grew silent.
“Okay,” Rigsby replied, before he bent down and wrapped his arms around Van Pelt. Van Pelt struggled in his hold and Rigsby shook his head, his lips finding Van Pelt’s forehead. “They’re right, Grace. There’s nothing we can do.”
“This isn’t right!” Van Pelt cried, struggling. “We can’t let them die, Wayne! We can’t…”
Lisbon glanced down at Van Pelt. “You were a good and kind agent, Grace. It truly was a pleasure working with you both.” Without another glance at Van Pelt or Rigsby, Lisbon motioned for Cho to follow behind her.
Amidst the sounds of Van Pelt and Rigsby calling for them to come back, they ventured forth into the darkness.