The Redemption of Ace Merrill

Ace once more opened his eyes as he sat up and looked around.

The cobras were all sat around the bed he was laying on.

"Ace?" Eyeball asked quietly as he leant closer. "You feeling okay?"

Ace nodded slowly, yet if he was honest, he'd have admitted he still felt somewhat dazed.

Was that a dream? It was fading so fast from his memory, he was slowly beginning to question if it had happened.

"What the fuck happened to me?" He mumbled as he raised his hand to his head, trying to rub away the pain.

Yet his eyes fell upon a silver chain around his wrist. The same one he saw. The 'M' dangled gently down.

"You've had a rough couple of days buddy." Billy mumbled. "Gave us quite the scare too."

Ace's fingers reached out for the charm as he softly brushed his fingers over it.

"Stella gave that to you yesterday, said it would bring some luck, keep you safe and that." Charlie mumbled, noticing Ace's reaction.

Ace nodded slowly as he lowered his hand and looked about.

"Where is she?!" He almost began to panic.

They all tried calming him down.

"Hey hey, it's okay. She's fine. Perfectly fine." Eyeball said as he gently held Ace's hands down. "She's back at the house."

"The house?" Ace questioned.

They all nodded.

"As we said, you've had a rough couple of days. Her dad didn't like how she was becoming. Made the agents take her back to yours, said you wouldn't mind."

Ace shook his head slowly, he didn't mind.

"Can I go see her?" He asked as he looked about them all.

They nodded slowly as Eyeball held his hand out.

"There's something you gotta know first..." He spoke solemnly. "It's about Austin..."

*****

Ace allowed the rest of the cobras to help him along the streets.

They'd successfully sorted out his discharge papers and judging by his new job status and role, he was quickly allowed to be released.

Eyeball had his arm around his shoulder as the pair led the rest.

"What happened to Jordan?" He asked quietly, somewhat uncertain if he wanted to know the truth.

Eyeball was silent for a moment as he looked down.

"You did what you had to do." He mumbled. "You protected her. Just focus on that."

Ace nodded slowly. He had killed Jordan. His mind flashed back to seeing Jordan struggling for breathe under the pressure Ace was forcing himself to use.

"It was his boss that set up the accident." Ace mumbled.

Eyeball nodded in response. "Her dad and the entire fucking country are already on it. The guys been arrested and further investigations are being made."

Ace nodded slowly.

*****

He stopped walking as he saw his house. Looking up he saw the house from his dream, if you could call it that.

Yet his attention focused on the window. There, sat on the windowsill burnt a candle.

The wind softly blew around yet the fire remained burning.