Fan Fiction: Crossovers
Why Wasn't I There?
Part 3 (cont.)
"Why weren't you there?" asked Moe.
"I…I don't..." Stephen was at a loss he turned from Moe. In his way was Alex Thompson, as he was in the burning wreck.
"We needed you!" cried Thompson in pain, the team of agents with him.
Horrified, Stephen backed away. "But…" he bumped into Peter.
Peter's tone was accusing, and he pointed to the hurt agents. "They trusted you! Why weren't you there? Why didn't you know?"
Stephen turned and started to run…
…And smashed right into his uncle.
"You didn't save them." His uncle said, ashamed.
"I couldn't." sobbed Stephen.
"They would have been planning this for months. They struck at the very heart of your territory, and you didn't know."
"I…I couldn't."
"You should have!" declared a voice.
Horrified, Stephen spun, and saw his grandfather, Lamont Cranston, wearing the Shadow's hat and cloak. The mocking laugh rang out. "You could have known. You should have known. You didn't."
Stephen started to shake. "How could I know?"
Lamont burst out laughing. "THE SHADOW KNOWS! WHY DIDN'T YOU?"
Stephen screamed.
" You've failed."
Stephen screamed.
Stephen sat bolt upright and screamed out loud. "AAAAAH!"
"AAAAAH!" another scream answered.
Stephen hurled the sweat soaked blanket off him and leapt to his feet. Peter was standing in the doorway. "Nice to see you too."
Stephen looked around wildly. His Sanctum. His couch. His partner. Why had he screamed?
Then memory caught up. The Dream, the day before…
His failure.
Stephen let out his breath, collapsed into the chair again and shook.
Peter calmed his superhuman nerves and sat down across from his friend. "Nightmares?"
Stephen nodded, and buried his head in his hands.
"Stop blaming yourself." Said Peter firmly. "You did not know. You could not know!"
"BUT I SHOULD HAVE!" exploded Stephen, flying out of his chair. "That's what I do! That's who I am! I have to know, or things like this happen."
"Then you should know enough to cut this out!" shouted back Peter. "It happened. It's in the past, there's nothing you can do, so-"
"No." answered Stephen; in the most menacing voice peter had ever heard. "There is exactly ONE thing."
Stephen marched, slowly, over to the console. Peter was clearly unnerved by his _expression, but he didn't care. His guilt had turned to rage, and that had crystallized something inside him. He was going to track down the villain, just like he always did, but this time the punishment was going to be so much higher.
"Burbank." He growled into the radio.
"Yes?"
Stephen spoke slowly with every syllable was tightly controlled. "I want to know who did this. I don't care whom you have to bring into it: this is priority one. I want to know who hijacked the planes, I want to know who planned the attack, I want to know how they got the weapons past the scanners, I want to know where they came from I want to know what they had for breakfast last week. Is that clear?"
"Yes sir."
The connection cut, Stephen turned back to his partner. "We cannot take the mastermind down ourselves. The powers that be want him as badly as I do. They can have him, I can let slip some useful information, but the real problem is the long term."
Peter was confused, and it showed.
"Whoever did this opened the door." Explained Stephen. "He showed it was possible, he set a precedent. Now, all the terrorists in the world are going to target us, because they now know its possible. We are going to close that door again. Yesterday isn't the end of the terror campaign, let them hunt one terrorist mastermind, but we'll still finish this on the home front. This isn't going to happen again. I will not fail a second time."
"You haven't failed at all." Argued Peter.
"No? Go outside, turn left and say that again."
Peter fell silent.
"I failed Peter because I didn't see this coming. But in retrospect, it was almost obvious that someone would take a shot at such a high profile target as the World trade Center. It's my job to see those things BEFORE they happen. So why didn't I?"
"Because you're a sane rational person." Peter interrupted. "The world will always be vulnerable to madmen, because madmen plan and live for things that sane people would never even consider."
Stephen considered this for a long moment. Finally he cooled off and even allowed himself to smile. "Maybe so." He allowed, "but there'll still be consequences of the last two days that will last for decades. I'm going to make damn sure that this doesn't happen to anyone again. It stops with this attack. This is their last offensive. And we will respond in kind."
"Count on it." Peter said. "So. Where do we start?"
"We have to make it clear. Open season on civilians is closed. We have to make sure that the whole world, and particularly the terrorists understand that. We start by sending a message. We can start with anyone who is planning something similar."
As if on cue, the radio buzzed.
"Report." Commanded Stephen.
"Agent in upstate New York, managed to get about two minutes of close footage of flight 11 as it passed. Tape in on its way now. Investigation is continuing. Agents in intelligence branches are attempting to intercept anything useful."
The pneumatics hissed, and Stephen retrieved the tape. "Keep me informed." He ordered, and cut the connection. He stared hard at the videotape. "Maybe this will give some answers."
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