The Brave and The Bold

Harley was happy to finally get some alone time with Flag. They had engaged in a pretty heated make out session that resulted in them both being naked, but the skin on skin contact only highlighted the fact that Flag was sick...


"You're burnin' up, baby...are you okay?" She asked, concerned. Despite her broken leg, she was straddling his lap, resting on her knees. He was sitting up in the bed, arms wrapped around her and nuzzling kisses against her shoulder. His body was beaded with perspiration.

"Yeah, I'm just tired..." He told her.

Harley cupped his cheeks and forced him to meet her gaze. "You've never been a very good liar, babe. You're sick. Are you sure it's not Mikko?"

Flag nodded and rested his forehead against hers. Even breathing was painful. "I'm sure. Somethin' just feels different. Like I'm poisonin' myself.."

Harley frowned deeply at that. If the venom was slowly poisoning him, that meant he would eventually die from it. She had to find some way to save him, because losing him was not an option! If Bishop had been experimenting with him, the guy probably had taken some of his venom and potentially had a cure. She would just have to break into that lab and find it....

"Maybe some fresh air would do you some good. What do you say tomorrow we head out to your granny's farm? Have a lil romantic outing.."

"You're supposed to be takin' it easy."

"I'll take it easy! Nothin' says R & R like a front porch swing. It'll be fun!"

Chris enjoyed cooking with Jinx, and all the flirting in between. Once they were finished, he joined Jinx at the table and dug into his food, tossing Eagly bits of egg and bacon.

"Thanks, man. Make sure she's okay, will you? Maybe she will wanna come out and eat with us.. "

Adrian gave a quick thumbs up and headed to Mikko's room. He knocked on the door but didn't get an answer. He knocked again but this time slowly opened up the door as he did so.

Hey. It's Vigilante, I got food for you. Are you awake?

He walked in the bedroom but didn't see her in the bed. He put the food down and turned just as she leaped on top of him, biting and scratching at his face.

He threw her off of him, tossing her into a dresser causing it to fall with a crash. But Mikko was quick to rebound and get to her feet attacking again. Adrian went for his gun but remembered he couldn't hurt her! What was he suppose to do!?

PEACEMAKER! HELP!

Hearing Adrian scream out, Chris was quick to jump up and sprint to Mikko's room where he found Mikko attacking his buddy. He quickly grabbed her and pinned her against the wall...

"MIKKO..NO! SNAP OUT OF IT!!"

Adrian was a bit shaken up but unharmed. Mikko had hit her head and was bleeding a little.

She struggled against Chris but she heard his voice, and reconized his scent. Slowly she stopped fighting and her body relaxed. She swallowed thickly tearing up.

I'm ok. I'm sorry. She said choking up.

Adrian shook his head. Chick needs to be locked up or something. She's gonna eat us in our sleep.

Chris slowly released his grip on her and pulled her into a hug. He knew the dangers. She could go back into a frenzy and rip into him, but his need to comfort her outweighed the dangers.

"It's okay, babe. But...maybe we should put you in the cell tonight. Just to be safe. Maybe this will all clear up tomorrow. I can stay down there with you if you want.. " He hated to do that to her, but if she hurt anyone, he would feel responsible.

Mikko hugged him tightly. She did not want to go into a cell. Maybe it was just a bad idea that she came here at all.

Can't you just lock me in this room? I'll probably just sleep the rest of the night.

You were going to eat me! Adrian protested.

I know I'm sorry.

Jinx and Eagly peeked into the bedroom. Everything ok?

Flag heard Adrian's scream and tried to push up from the bed, but Harley was not going to allow that! She pushed him back against the mattress and pinned him beneath her body...

"Nope. You're sick, babe. Whatever it is, Chris can handle it..."

"But what if Mikko attacked someone?"

"If that's the case, she could trigger you and things could get worse. Let someone else take care of it. You need to rest. I'm not letting you up. Besides, the screaming stopped. It got handled."

Flag knew he could overpower her, but she was right. If Mikko triggered him, it could turn into a blood bath. He sighed in defeat, but a small smile stretched across his lips as she kissed him softly and pinned his wrists above his head.

"You just rest and enjoy what I'm about to do to you..."

"Everything's okay." Chris told Jinx, then returned his attention to Mikko.

"If we lock you in your room, we'll have no idea what's happening to you in there. The cell is safer for everyone. It's just for tonight. You're not a prisoner, babe. We just gotta keep everyone safe." He didn't want to see her behind bars, but he also didn't want to have to bury a friend if she had another episode.

Finally Mikko gave a sad nod. She understood. She wasn't safe she had just attacked someone so it made sense that she had to be locked up.

Ok.

JInx was happy that no one got hurt. She was not happy that it sounded like she would be spending time in the prison with Chris. She knew that she could sleep in the bedroom, but wanted to be with her man, so sleeping in the prison it was!

Chris hated this, but he was glad that she understood. The last thing he wanted was to make her feel like she didn't have a choice. He knew all too well what it felt like to be a prisoner. He didn't want her to feel that way about the situation.


He also felt bad for Jinx. He knew that staying the night in the small holding area was not how she wanted the night to go. Of course she was free to sleep in their bed, but something told him it would not go that way.

Giving Mikko another squeeze, he led the girls and Adrian if he wanted to follow down to the cell...so many memories flooded him as soon as they entered. Looking back now, he could quietly chuckle at Harley going out of her way to dump ice water on him. Then there was the love making with Mikko. He didn't regret a thing. All of his bad choices had earned him a family, another best friend...and it had even led him to Jinx, and being reunited with Adrian and Eagly.

He unlocked the cell for Mikko, letting her enter at her own pace...

"You need anything?"

Everyone followed Chris to the cells. Once there Mikko walked inside her new bedroom for the night and sat on the cot.

Nah I'm good. I'm going to try and sleep. You don't have to stay here with me I'll be ok.

Adrian waved to her. Ok. bye than. I'm heading to bed. He walked off only to turn around and come back. No one gave me a bed.

Jinx grabbed a large blanket that was folded on a shelf and laid it out on the floor. You know we're staying here for the night with you. Chris isn't going to leave you and I'm not leaving him. though you should show your friend a room first. She told Chris.

"Yeah. We're gonna keep you company. That's what friends do." He knew Jinx was more or less just staying to be close to him, but it sounded good anyway.

Once Mikko was secured, he led Adrian to the spare bedroom closest to his own room. It had all of the nessesery furnishings, a bed, dresser and night stand.

"Make yourself at home." He offered him a fist bump. "It's good to see you, V. Didn't think I ever would again. Thanks for taking care of Eagly. I know he had your back, too."

Adrian followed Chris to his room. once there he checked the place out and gave a nod. Not a bad place.

He returned the fist bump.

Yeah We thought you were dead. Turns out you were knocking up chicks. Good for you. Can't wait to see your kid.

He leaped onto the bed.

Tomorrow me and you. We're going out to kill some fuckin zombies! Night P.

Chris snorted at that. The dude wasn't wrong. Though he had only knocked up one...to his knowledge.

"You got it. Maybe we can blow some shit up too, like old times. Night, V." With that, he left his friend to get settled, then returned to the cell to do the same.

Jinx had made them a nice little place to sleep, She was had kicked off her shoes and was laying down waiting for Chris.

Mikko was in her cot facing away from them trying her best to go to sleep.

When Chris came back Jinx reached out to him with a smile.

Chris knew there would be no fooling around tonight. It wouldn't seem right with Mikko in the same room. Still, that would not stop him from stripping down to his underwear, because sleeping in clothes was impossible!

He smiled at Jinx as snuggled into her embrace, lavishing her with kisses. "Goodnight, babe."

(A Month Later)

It been a month since Mikko left Bunker hill and stood at the Military base. The whole point of staying at the base was to spend time with Evelyn and not be alone. But the first three days Mikko was locked in the base's prison because she kept having episodes. When she was finally able to go to her room again She stood there.

Mikko didn't eat, she barely drank anything. She only allowed Chris, Evelyn and Rocky in her bedroom but she was never in a talkative mood.

She grown thinner over the month, her hair greasy and body weak. She was depressed and missed Gabe and Ezra. She badly wished she could go back home and everything would be alright, but knew that Gabe would never come back to her. She stopped taking care of herself and in the processes was not taking care of her unborn child.

It was morning now. As usual Mikko was in bed under the covers not planning on moving.

Mystique had secretly been working for Bishop for a while now. She had planed to keep doing so but a little baby changed all that. She knew that if she stole the child she couldn't come back to the lab. But the little baby had already been through so much and he wasn't even technically born yet.

Bishop was not a patient man, the child wasn't growing fast enough for him so he gave the baby a growth agent. Mystique didn't know what it was exactly but two weeks the baby boy was ready to come out of the machine it had been put in.

She and two other nurses were left in charge of taking care of the baby's basic needs.

Mystique had been gathering things she would need for the baby and setting it aside in a house she was preparing to take the kid.

Today was that day. She was feeding the baby, no one was around so she made a run for it. Not a run really. She tried to act casual and the act worked. The guards didn't suspect anything and soon she was outside, that's when she ran. She made a bee line for the house, grabbed her things, got into her car that she had waiting by the house and took off to find Mikko.

The last month had been an up and down struggle. Flag's condition continued to make him extremely sick. Harley had convinced him they should pack a few things and head out to the old farm house for some R & R, but even being far away from Mikko didn't seem to relieve the symptoms.

Still, the getaway had been a nice change of pace. Digger had been put in charge once again so that Flag wouldn't stress himself out while they were away. Chris had offered to help too, but the guy was still working at earning Flag's trust.

A lot of days and nights were spent just trying to get Flag through another bout of painful symptoms. The fevers seemed to come out of nowhere, making sleep impossible some nights. A lot of time had been spent out in the snow, trying to get his body temperature down...it was rough times...

When things were good, the two managed to make some repairs at the property, the goal was to someday move everyone out to the country. There was plenty of space and Harley wanted the girls to grow up with fresh air and room to run..maybe farm animals to play with. They just needed to build better, zombie proof fences.

Harley's leg was healed enough for her to be mobile, and the cast had been removed a week ago. She still needed to take it easy, but it was hard keeping her contained. It seemed that over time, she had become immune to Flag's venom due to their constant swapping of 'DNA'. A few accidents had happened, resulting in bites, but fortunately his venom did not harm her.


When it was time to go, Harley had a hard time saying goodbye to the place. Even though their time here had been spent trying to keep Flag stable, she focused on the good parts. The love making in front of the fireplace, cuddling on the porch swing and gazing up at the stars. The long walks around the pond and more love making in the hay loft. She couldn't wait until they could call this place home.  Still, she knew they had to return, and she was determined to break into Bishop's lab and find a cure for her fiance'.

All too soon, they were pulling up at the base. Luckily Flag was having one of his rare good days, but Harley knew how quickly that could change.

"I wonder how grey headed Boomer is now, trying to keep everyone in line.." Harley teased as she slipped out of the passenger seat of the humvee.

"I'm sure the place is beerless."

Chris had done his best to be there for Mikko, but it seemed she wanted nothing to do with anyone. He knew that she wasn't taking care of herself, and as if that easn't bad enough, he knew the lack of care could result in Libby being lost....but there was nothing he could do about that, and it hurt.

He had made a trip to Shell City to talk to Gabe, but that had not gone over well. Gabe attacked him before he could even get a word in. Chris could have easily hurt him, but knew that would hurt Mikko, so refrained. He honestly didn't want the guy dead, just wanted him to know about Mikko. He left that info with one of the Turtles to deliver since just the sight of him caused Gabe to become violent.

Now they were home again and Chris and Jinx was whipping up lunch for everyone, and he would once again try to get Mikko out of her shell.

Digger had been left in charge again. It wasn't like it was a hard job. Thankfully. No one had attacked them, Chris and Rocky took care of Mikko so he didn't have to bother with that. All he had to worry about was making sure there was food and taking care of Ally.

The time went by quickly and soon they were out of beer! This was an emergency. Thankfully Flag was back and he could bring it up with him to plan out getting more supplies.

Gabe and his son had been at Shell city for a month now. It was great for Raph's little one to have a friend to hang with.

But it seemed Gabe's wife wasn't doing so good and Chris couldn't even tell Gabe without Gabe attacking the guy. He didn't want to pry but there was some history there for sure. He had never asked why Gabe came to Shell City assuming something bad had happen.

He walked out to meet up with Gabe.

Hey, man. So I was told to let you know Mikko isn't doing good. Apperently the deal she made with Death got her infected again. She went blind. On top of that she's not eating or drinking anything and wont come out of her room. Chris thinks you should go to the bunker and get her. I have to agree.

Mystique drove for a while and soon came to the Base. She knew that Mikko lived in some kind of bunker so parked her car and took the baby bag and the baby that was wrapped in a blanket out of the car. She walked to the door and banged on it.

The little boy was pale with light brown hair and red eyes. He looked around smiling as a snowflake fell on his nose.

Harley and Flag where heading inside when they spotted a familiar face. It was the woman that had helped Flag back at the lab.

"Hey, Mystique." Flag greeted her with a smile that had not gone unnoticed by Harley. But then she spotted the little one and her bout of jealousy was forgotten.

"Awww, baby!!"