More Than Meets the Eye
Chapter 1: Everyone Has A Secret
~1978, Rural New York State~
Dr. James Watson, who planned a visit to the States to see an old friend, had decided to make a short stop in New York before continuing on to Old City, Washington where his friend resided. A contact at the U.K. Sanctuary had told him about a possible werewolf clan in rural New York that he and this friend & colleague, Dr. Helen Magnus, might be interested in studying. Since James was already going to the States anyways, he decided to check it out himself, rather than tell Helen about it first. If he and his cohort, Duncan Wilson found anything of importance, than he'd have something worth mentioning.
They were in a forested area near Brooklyn. Both he and Duncan had been on the hunt for over an hour and still had found nothing that would lead someone to believe that werewolves might live here. James looked over at Duncan, whose impatience, he knew, was growing. Duncan, a tall young man with brown eyes and borderline black hair, had not wanted to come along to begin with. However, after much complaining and negotiation on the matter, Duncan reluctantly agreed.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Duncan asked, his frustration at being dragged along in the first place showing through.
"Yes, I'm sure. These creatures are quite good at hiding themselves Duncan and your impatience may be just what scares them away," James replied as he heard some rustling near the brush to the left.
"Did you hear that?" Duncan whispered to James, also hearing the same rustling.
"Yes. It appears that our friends have decided to make their presence know to us, curious creatures they are," Watson whispered back in speculation.
Duncan gave Watson a questioning look at his use of the word friends, as it wasn't exactly the word he would have used to describe these creatures. Although Duncan had been working with James at the U.K. Sanctuary for some time now, he was still a bit uncomfortable around abnormals. He had slowly but surely gotten used to the ones actually at the U.K. Sanctuary and preferred to have stayed there instead. But, James had always had a way with words and thus Duncan begrudgingly agreed to come along when James asked.
James moved towards the noise, curious if his theory were correct, and careful not to make so much noise himself as to scare the creatures away. When he cleared the brush he grasped at what hew saw. He looked back in Duncan's direction, motioning for him to come over.
"What the hell happened here?" Duncan asked as he approached, scanning the multitudes of dead bodies.
"Whatever it was, it was a massacre and it happened within the last couple of days," Watson answered, as he walked over to inspect one of the apparently human corpses.
"With the look of these paw and bite markings, it looks like we may be dealing with more than one clan," James speculated out loud.
"Hold on," Duncan replied, turning further to his left.. He had one of those hunches that almost always turn out to be right.
"There," he told James, pointing towards a group of trees in the distance. "I saw something moving."
Both walked very slowly towards the trees. Neither spoke a word to each other, for fear they might scare the creature away die to un-necessary noise. As they started to draw closer, they heard what sounded like whimpering. James motioned for Duncan to lower his gun, as he lowered his own.
"Oh My God he's just a child!" Duncan whispered to James as they found the creature lying unconscious on the ground.
"And probably the only surviving member of this clan," James concluded as he started to examine the young werewolf. It wasn't too badly injured. The youngling appeared to have only minor cuts and bruises. He had probably knocked himself out while falling in an attempt to get away. As to whether he had any internal or more serious injuries, Helen would be a better judge of that.
"We have to take him with us. While he doesn't appear to be badly injured, I believe it best if Helen examines him further," Watson instructed.
Duncan than picked up the unconscious wild child at the request of his boss. He was surprisingly light. 'At least he might not have to fend for himself,' Duncan thought to himself as picked up the boy to be carried back to the car. Once he and James had reached the car, Duncan placed the boy gently in the back seat before getting in the driver's seat himself. James had never really trusted the newer technologies, things like telephones and automobiles. He was 140 years old after all. That's why Duncan always drove. James had decided to ride in the back seat with the child. He thought it better to keep him company, just in case he woke up before they reached the Sanctuary in Old City, Washington.
~The Sanctuary, Old City, Washington State~
The child had surprisingly slept though most of trip and was now peacefully resting in one of the Sanctuary's guestrooms.
"He's fine as far as I can tell. The only physical wounds he has are the minor cuts and bruises you mentioned. For as long as he's slept, I surprisingly find nothing else wrong with him," Helen Magnus concluded. She was a tall raven-haired woman with blue eyes and a strong-willed intelligent personality.
"That's a relief to know considering the emotional trauma he has undoubtedly experienced. Do you think you could keep him?" James asked concerned for the creature's safety and well being.
"Here? As much as I'd like to, I don't think its plausible James. I've got Ashley and Henry to raise plus the Sanctuary to run. I simply have too many responsibilities right now. I can't take in another child," Helen replied.
"Where else could he go? As far as Duncan and I can tell all his clan were killed during the massacre that probably happened only days before we found him. Helen, he has no family left. He's an orphan and I don't think I could take him in right now for the same reasons you say can't" James pled.
"Look James, I would love to have him be able to stay here as much as you would. However, I don't think it would be any better for him than had you left him out there to fend for himself. Honestly, I think our best recourse is to give him to an adoption agency," Helen told him.
"Then perhaps it's best the agency be one near where he was found in New York State. I also think we should set up a way to track him so when he does start going through his metamorphosis, one of us can find him easier," James said, giving Helen a concerned look.
"I agree. I can also give him something that will deter his metamorphosis for some time, but it won't permanently prevent it from happening. I'll make the arrangements immediately and you can take him with you when you leave," Helen told him as she got up to go to her office.
~Federal Building: Boston, Massachusetts: Present Day~
FBI Special Agent Charlie Francis was in his commanding officer, Philip Broyles' office discussing a possible lead on "The Pattern" and ZFT.
"How does an un-solved British serial homicide case from over a century ago fit in with all this? Doesn't this seem just a little bit odd to you?" Charlie asked unconvinced of the cases relevance.
"Francis, we deal with 'odd' daily. I don't understand the link, if there is one, either, however British intelligence seems convinced there is one. Since we have more experience dealing with ZFT and The Pattern, they thought we might have better luck finding one. If we do end up finding one and ZFT decides to go international with these attacks, this could turn out to be very valuable intelligence. Do you hear me, Agent Francis?" Broyles answered commandingly.
"Yes Sir. And since Agent Dunham is still in a meeting with William Bell, you want me to look into to this?"
"That would be correct, Agent Francis," Broyles told Charlie.
"Alright," Charlie answered with a questioning look before heading back to his desk. His instincts told him there was no connection between the un-solved "Jack the Ripper" case and The Pattern, however since Broyles was his commanding officer, he knew he would have no choice but to look into the matter. He sighed as he threw the file on his desk. It had been a long day already and he was still trying to rap his head around the whole alternate reality concept.
After a few seconds, he noticed another file on his desk that wasn't there before his meeting with Broyles. Being the curious person he was, he picked up the file and opened it. There weren't many things that completely shocked him, but this was one of them. It turned out to be his own and it was the un-doctored version at that. What shocked him wasn't so much that it was his file, but more the information that had been doctored. As far as he knew, he had lived a relatively normal childhood; born in Brooklyn, NY, with one older brother. Then, when he was ten, they moved to Boston because his mother had changed jobs.
He didn't really remember much of his early childhood, if anything. Most of his childhood memories were from when he was eight years old and older and perhaps what the un-doctored version of his file revealed was the reason why. According to this version, he was actually adopted by those he thought were his parents around the age of eight. A man named Duncan Wilson from London, England had apparently dropped him off at a St. Jude's Adoption Agency.
'What the hell would an Englishman be doing in the U.S. dropping off a kid at an adoption agency?' Charlie thought to himself. He gathered his black trench coat, gloves, & keys and headed out of the office to his car.
Once inside, Charlie took out his cell phone and called his brother Richard who lived in Brooklyn, New York. He knew his brother would have been old enough to verify the information in his file and he couldn't shake the bad feeling he had about it.
"Richard, it's me, Charlie. I need to ask you a question and I want the truth. Was I adopted?" Charlie asked his brother trying to keep the multitude of emotions that were currently attempting to surface from overwhelming him.
"What makes you think that Charlie?" Richard asked, attempting to hide his fear for his little brother.
"Because I just read the un-edited version of my own Bureau file that states mom and dad did adopt me after I was dropped off at an adoption agency. Look, I just want to know the truth," Charlie retorted.
After a long silence, his brother answered, "It's true. . . What the file says is true."
"Why didn't anyone tell me? If it was just a simple adoption, why hide this from me?" Charlie asked his brother. There was more here than met his eye.
"I . . . I knew there would . . . come a day . . . when you would find out the truth. I just wish it had come from Mom or Dad first. . . This was kept from you because we wore told that if a certain group of people found out, you would be taken from us," Richard finished and broke into tears.
"Okay, claim down. No one's going to abduct me and I'm not going to fall off the face of the earth. I'm going to get to the bottom of this, I promise," Charlie said, trying to reassure his brother. Truth was, he didn't know what to believe. Someone wanted him to know he'd been adopted; that the world he grew up in wasn't really what he thought it was and he had a feeling it wasn't Broyles. Was this someone another ZFT mole? Was ZFT the group of people his brother was talking about? Had he been treated with Cortexiphan and not been "activated" yet?
Even with the questions pilling up inside his head, he was too tired to think straight right now. He needed to get home and get some sleep so he could be ready for work tomorrow. He started his silver Toyota Prius and pulled out of the underground parking ramp. Once at the gate, he looked into the iris scanner, the gate came up and Charlie drove into the street towards home.
He was about ten minutes away from home when a black van pulled out right in front of him. Charlie slammed on the breaks. He quickly unbuckled himself, and grabbed his gun, badge & keys. He unlocked the door, kicking it open and broke into a run towards the park nearby. It was a centrally located park with restaurants and shops around that by this time should be closed. Someone was after him and he had no intention of getting captured.
Gun shots came at him from behind, managing to just miss his head. He hid behind the nearest tree, turned around and fired back, missing his intended targets. The cycles of back and forth shooting went on for a couple of minutes. Then, unbeknownst to Charlie, four of his attackers, two from either side, came out from their hiding places.
"Stay right there and don't move," the apparent leader of the four said as they all pointed their weapons at Charlie.
"What do you want?" Charlie asked, his own weapon up, ready to defend himself.
"We want to help you," a tall man with an English accent told him.
"If you want to help me, what's with all the shooting? Oh, and I'm fine thank you. I don't need your help," Charlie told them, still very suspicious of their motives.
"Very well then. You leave us no choice," The Englishman said, as two of his accomplices shot Charlie.
"Ah", Charlie gasped. He dropped his gun as he crumbled to the ground. His eyes shot wide open with fear as the tranquilizer hit his system. He tried to fight the effect it was having, but as strong as he was, he couldn't. It was simply too strong. His vision began to blur as his attackers drew closer, until he finally passed out.