246. Operation Jupiter

Thornton had his people verify Cruz's research before he called a meeting with the senior executive members of the Vampire Council.

Though it was at short notice, all heads of states, along with their deputies made it to the meeting.

Zahara, accompanied by her eldest son, was the last to arrive, and as soon as they were all seated around the long oak table, Celina powered up the overhead projector and Thornton's laptop, while one of the junior secretaries handed out notepads, and folders with the research on the science facility.

For over an hour, Thornton had the floor as he clicked through the slides on his laptop, going over the data, starting with the botanist research in Moonlight Falls and the plague report from the government, ending off with the gene sequencing experiments.

For a while no one dared to breathe as they sat processing everything they'd seen and heard. But the silence didn't last long and it was chaos when they all suddenly spoke at once.

"We can't let them do this!"

"Are you insane? We can't touch the humans."

"The situation is already tense enough!"

"They started this with their lies!"

“We need to retaliate, fast!”

"Do you have any idea what this would do us, to the Vampire race if this wonder drug ever makes it to the market?"

"Have you forgotten the agreement we have with the humans?"

And it went on for a while until Thornton couldn't take it anymore. He quickly reined them in and explained they were all missing the point, innocent people were being used as guinea pigs by MorcuCorp; they couldn't sit by and allow this horror to carry on.

"How did you find out about the research?" Charles had been silent all along but now he looked very interested in the matter.

Thornton reluctantly mentioned Cruz, and it started again. The outrage. Thornton's competence was questioned, he had a wolf in his offices and he did nothing to apprehend him. A few called for him to be dismissed. But Zahara had the final say in the matter, there would be no dismissals that evening, or anytime in the foreseeable future.

And so the meeting carried on. Thornton pushed for the raid on the facility. "Don't you see, the humans have been lying to us all along? We need to stop this before this drug hits the market, and it's not just about the wolves anymore. They are using our DNA in their study, who knows how many vampires they're holding captive? We have a responsibility to do the right thing and get our people out of there!"

They had argued about it long enough. He called for a vote. And Celina passed around the ballot papers.

Zahara thought ballots were a waste of time, she wanted to do things the old school way. "All those in favor of a raid, raise your hands!"

Seven hands, including Thornton's, shot up in the air.

"It's settled then!" Zahara announced. "I expect a full report on my desk after the raid." With that the meeting was over.

For two days straight, following his meeting with the heads of states, Thornton was locked up in discussions with the VIA and the Vampire Council’s defense force, preparing for the raid.  

Tensions were running high between Thornton and the VIA’s commander.

David thought three days was not enough to come up with and execute a rescue plan, they needed months to prepare for such an operation.

Thornton explained, rather harshly, that time was a luxury they didn’t have, MorcuCorp had already began evacuating the building, they had to strike quickly before the greedy corporate vanished with their genome research.

David wanted to have the raid pushed back, explaining that without proper planning, they would not only be risking his men’s lives but also of the people they were meant to rescue.

But as the head of Bridgeport’s Vampire Council, Thornton had the final say. 

And so the raid was scheduled for Thursday night, just after the Science facility closed its doors for the day, when there weren’t a lot of personnel in the building to minimize the amount of collateral damage.

At 20h00, ten VIA agents, led by the VIA’s commander himself, stormed the building, breaching walls and doors with explosives.

All hell broke loose when the lab’s security personnel on the ground floor fired their weapons, trying to defend the facility against the intruders. But they didn’t stand a chance, the VIA agents were heavily armed with military assault rifles and AK47s, night-vision goggles, body armor.

The skirmish on the ground floor was over in less than a minute, and David and his team advanced to the first floor, leaving a bloody trail of bodies in their wake.

It took another two minutes to clear the first floor, where six researchers and scientists were hooked to their machines.

They didn’t try to fight when they saw the heavy armor. They stepped away from their machines, and in a single file, with their hands above their heads, they were escorted out of the building by two agents.

On the second floor they found more medical personnel and a few security guards, weapons were fired and by the time the cloud of gunpowder had cleared, only the nine VIA agents were still standing.

With all the floors cleared, the team advanced to the basement where the experiments were being conducted.

Nothing could have prepared them for what they found when they stormed the lab.

“Jesus!” David breathed into his comms as he stared at the scene in front of him. He counted at least fifteen test subjects, all in  in various stages of deterioration, some were hooked to strange contraptions and test tubes, and others appeared to be frozen inside what he could only describe as quantum capsules. 

“What’s the status?” Thornton’s voice on the comms sounded impatient and David quickly filled him, describing the room and what they were looking at.

“Did you find our people? Are they there?" Thornton asked.

And David confirmed they had located the three vampires along with the Shape-Shifters.

"What about the girl? Have you found her?” 

“Negative. Still looking,” David switched off his comms then, followed his men deeper in to the room.

He almost broke down and cried when he approached one of the quantum capsules and found a young girl not older than sixteen.

She looked very weak and malnourished, and there were dozens of bruises on her arms and legs. David guessed they were from the IV needles; some appeared fresh, while others were already fading away.

He pulled out a picture from his pants pocket to confirm the girl’s identity.

“Got her!” He shouted into his comms when he was positive the girl in the picture was the very same person inside the capsule…

“Jesus,” he cried again as he pressed a green button on the panel on the side the capsule. The glass lid popped open, and the girl took a weak step out of the chamber.

He caught her swiftly before she could fall and gently propped her up on the floor.

Her forehead felt hot and clammy, her heartbeat barely present, her neck immediately lolled to the side and he knew they didn’t have long, if they wanted to save her it had to be now.

“I need the EMT’s in here ASAP!” He yelled through his mouthpiece, at the Emergency Technicians on standby.

Within minutes the room was buzzing with EMTs, Jupiter was loaded onto a stretcher, and airlifted to Bridgeport’s Medical Center. The other test subjects were transported by ambulance to various hospitals in Bridgeport.

No one knew how the media found out about the raid, but just before David and his team could clear out of the facility, a  news channel van pulled up, and before long, the cameras were rolling and David was at the center stage as he fielded the reporter’s questions.

Yes, they’d received an anonymous tip about MorcuCorp conducting illegal research, and yes, they could definitely confirm they’d rescued fifteen people, three of which were vampires.

The little girl who’d been airlifted to Bridgeport’s Medical Center was in a critical condition, and David asked the whole of Bridgeport to pray for her.

No, the raid was not politically motivated; it was about doing the right thing, saving innocent lives and stopping corporate greed.

When asked about the kind of research MorcuCorp had been conducting, David, looked straight at the camera, and with grave seriousness in his voice he told Bridgeport, “Wait and see.”

Thankfully the people of Bridgeport didn’t have to wait long, Cruz’s research along with the data the V.I.A had seized from the science facility was breaking news the following morning.

The outrage following the news reports was bigger than J.D.’s arrest, and the government had a media nightmare on their hands as they scrambled to regain the trust of their citizens. Publicly, they denied having any ties to MorcuCorp; they even lambasted the corporate for its inhumane studies. They also thanked the V.I.A and the Vampire Council for stopping the gene sequencing experiments. But behind closed doors, their anger burned hot, and they vowed to retaliate; they would hurt Thornton in the most brutal of ways, hit him where it mattered the most.

After his conference call with Zahara, briefing her about the raid, Thornton set out for the hospital.

He found Cruz reading to his sister even though she was still unconscious.

Cruz got up from his seat when he heard him walk into the room. He extended his hand, Thornton took it, and they exchanged a quick handshake.

“I can’t thank you enough for what you did,” Cruz told him as he returned his attention to Jupiter.

“There’s no need,” Thornton murmured.

“Yes, there is. You saved Jupiter and the others.” Cruz insisted. 

He resumed his seat and picked up the book while Thornton occupied the chair on the other end of the bed.

“She loved it, my mother used to read it to her at bed time,” Cruz said almost defensively when he saw Thornton staring at the battered copy of Beauty and the Beast.

“It’s a beautiful story, I wish I’d had chance to read it to my little girl,” Thornton told him.

“Well, you have three young granddaughters, I’m sure they’d like that.” Cruz replied absently, he was playing with his sister’s hand now, silently willing her to wake up.

“How is she?” Thornton quickly changed the subject; he didn’t like talking about his family and his past mistakes.

“Her heart gave up twice throughout the night, but the doctors managed to bring her back. I can’t lose her. Not now, not after everything we’ve been through.” There were no tears in Cruz’ eyes, but Thornton could hear them in his voice. He wished he could say something to comfort him. But he wasn’t a doctor, and he already knew meaningless platitudes would be wasted on the boy, so he kept quiet and stared at the young girl lying helpless on the cot.

For a while they both didn’t say anything, they were content to just listen to the steady beeps of the machines, and the suction sounds coming from the tubes attached to Jupiter. The sounds were oddly comforting, they reassured them that Jupiter was still breathing, and God willing, she’d stay that way.

“Good luck with everything Cruz,” Thornton touched his shoulder awkwardly, preparing to leave.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. And if you ever need anything, let me know.” Cruz told him, and he meant it. He didn’t have much, but if he ever found himself in a position to help the other man, he would.

“I might take you up on that offer,” Thornton nodded before let himself out of the ward.

Jupiter stayed in I.C.U for another week. Ordinarily once stabilized, the doctors would have transferred her to a public hospital since she wasn’t on any medical aid, but an anonymous donor had been generous enough to pay for her medical bills.

Eloise, Devon and Blake stopped by the hospital every day to offer their support. Eloise would bring food, and Blake never had a short supply of comic books. They’d spend hours, just sitting around the cot, reading to Jupiter, and praying for her recovery. 

Their prayers were answered a week later when Jupiter finally opened her eyes. In another three days she was stable enough to be transferred to the recovery ward.

AN: As always, thank you Ozzy for all your help with cleaning up the shots and general proofing of the updates.