AN: right, so I've been busy for a couple of weeks, and I haven't had much time to work on this.
BTW, tell me if I need to change the rating to M. I dunno, I think i'm skirting the edge here.
Three days later
Life went on. People still stared at Jennifer for punching Bella, some still giggled when they saw Mike, pouring melted butter down Eric's back. Still. Life went on, the flow of the school remained the same.
Scott and Jennifer, however, were not the same.
Morale was at an all-time low, losing their only lead, and not much information had been gained on the wolves. Everyone felt it, and so avoided them. Scott's bad mood mode was the "I'll punch your teeth out if you talk to me" kind, and no one really wanted to test him after his sister had that "violent altercation", as the teachers called it.
If only Bella did something! We've got NOTHING.
Scott had nothing to work on, apart from a nagging feeling that he had missed something. Something in the past events that he had missed. Something that would give them their case a much-needed breakthrough.
What the hell have I missed? Jen hit Bella, she's human, Charlie yelled at Dom....
Jennifer, on the other hand, had nothing, having to endure stares and whispers in the corridors. No one actually did anything though. After Bella, no one actually dared to confront her directly. It made things even worse.
I think I'm in love with the guy that's supposed to be my brother, he's obsessing over the case.... This sucks. So much.
Scott bumped into her, jolting her out of her trance.
"What? It's not the case, is it?"
"It is. I did. I missed something. I know I did."
"Nothing, Scott. Concentrate on the wolves."
"I wish I could."
A stare did it.
A stare gave Scott his breakthrough.
A stare from, surprisingly, Edward Cullen himself.
Scott had walked down the hall, deep in thought, when the Cullen stared at him.
It wasn't a "hey what's up" stare. More of a "I know what you are up to and I'm going to kill you" stare.
That's it. That's what I missed. A normal boyfriend would yell at Jennifer, react in some way. Edward did nothing. Either he hates Bella, which I doubt, or he is trying to avoid us. And the only reason he would try to avoid us... is that he is a vampire. Also, the fact that he avoided us tells me that he has precognition. He can tell the future.
This could be a problem.
"This complicates things, Scott."
The team was in their house, around the dinner table.
No shit, sherlock.
"First, Dom, we have no idea what kind of precognition this is. He could predict our intentions, in which we still have a chance, or he could predict the definite future, in which case we may as well pack up and go home. We don't know what he can do yet. We still have a chance. I need to think of a way to differentiate between what kind of precognition he has"
"Good. Let me know if I can help."
Scott, seems like you're in charge of the mission. I'm fine with that, but just don't get us killed.
The next day
Mr Merriweather had a lot of students. The one that pissed the hell out of him the most, however, was Scott Grayson. The dark-haired boy had been such an ass to him, in person. But he had always handed in homework, gotten average grades, and was relatively nice to the other teachers. He had no idea why Scott hated him, but this time he had a chance to retaliate. One piece of homework undone. He smiled. It may be immature, but Scott was an ass. he sure deserved it.
"Scott!"
Damn
"Yes?"
Get the hell away from me
"You haven't handed in your homework. Detention for you."
Dude, what the hell!? You have just earned Scott Grayson's patented smart-ass remark.
"I think I'll go home sick now."
Damn right I will, asshole
"Don't show me that face, boy."
"Bye."
Good riddance
"Come on, Scott! What would your father say?"
You did NOT just go there.
An hour later, after the paramedics declared the teacher stable, Scott was getting talked to by both Dominic and Charlie.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Screw you, Dom.
He zoned out the talking.
I have daddy issues. Big deal. You go through what I did, and you try keeping your sanity. Go on, I dare you. Just try.
His thoughts went back to before he joined FEAR. Those dark days where there was no one to trust apart from Jennifer. When someone showing you kindness was interpreted as insanity or a ploy to gain your trust. Harsh, but experience had taught him that.
Scott's mind went back to the time his view of the world changed.
The guy's name was Tony, or at least that was what he called himself. The man had taken him and Jennifer in after a particularly bad gunfight which had left Scott with shrapnel in his torso and Jennifer with three bullets shattering her shin. At first, the man seemed like a godsend. Jennifer was bleeding out, and Scott wasn't exactly in fighting condition either; when they woke up after collapsing in an alley it was the last thing they expected. The bearded man had nursed them back to health, and expected nothing in return.
Well, almost nothing.
Turned out the creep had an underground basement, his "playground".
Turned out he had been helping them to their trust, then drug them and torture them to death in the basement.
The first sign that told Scott something was wrong was when he woke up tied to a board spread-eagled, with Jennifer in a similar position opposite him.
The smell of rotting meat and blood filled the air. In the dark, in the corner, he could see what looked like and probably were two dead bodies.
Except something was wrong with them. Scott tried to pinpoint what it was.
Then, with a shock of revulsion and horror, he realised what had disturbed him about the bodies.
He couldn't tell whether they were male or female, thanks to horrific wounds and burns all over.
Tony had walked into the room, with a whole tray of nasty tools. Scott noticed, among other things, a power drill, barbed wire, pliers, and - what scared him the most - a blowtorch.
The sick little fuck actually liked it. He loved it. He would kill Jennifer, make Scott watch, then move on to him.
Fuck
Scott closed his eyes.
Tony picked up the barbed wire. A sick grin appeared on his face as he moved in.
It had taken him ten minutes to wriggle his right hand out of the binds. The man hadn't noticed, too busy with Jennifer to realise. As soon as she'd seen him free his right hand, she'd started screaming louder to distract the man.
All in all, it took Scott an hour to free himself. By then, Jennifer was too "damaged", as Tony called it, to scream anymore. Scott had then picked the drill up and took it to the man's bald head. Brains covered his face as he drilled, screaming as he did.
Scott blinked. Charlie and Dom were staring at him. He realised that he had suddenly gone silent and started murmuring to himself, narrating events in his mind.
"You okay, Scott?" Charlie's expression had turned from angry to worried. Turning silent and murmuring to himself about mutilation tended to scare people.
"I'm fine."
Dominic ran a hand through his hair. "It's fine, Charlie. I'll talk to him at home. If Mr Merriweather is alright, then I think we should leave."
Charlie hesitated, eyeing Scott's glazed eyes.
Dominic put a hand on his shoulder, and a little more forcefully said, "It's fine, Charlie. I've got this handled."
Charlie made up his mind and sighed. "Alright. Just hope the teacher doesn't press charges."
Scott didn't hate the teacher for any logical reason. Instead, the intense loathing he felt for the man was merely because he looked like Tony. He sighed, falling into his bed at home. It was dark, Dominic and Lori were having a discussion on his mental state, and Jennifer... well, when she heard the reason Scott flipped out she got up and locked herself in her room.
Scott knew his loathing was not logical, nor was it even remotely reasonable. It was illogical and dangerous for him to give in to that hatred he felt, but considering everything Tony had done, he didn't really feel bad for giving someone who looked like him a concussion. Scott sighed and blinked his tired eyes.
The sound of the door opening made Scott sit up. As expected, Dominic and Lori both walked in.
This is the part they tell me I'm unstable and a danger to others.
"You endangered the mission."
It wasn't an accusation, it was a statement, an acknowledgement of the fact.
"But we've spoken to Command. They're a little busy, so we were cut short, but bottom line is, you're staying."
Lori offered a tired smile.
Scott nodded dully. Tony's leering face was still etched in his memory.
"Look, whatever happened to you there, you're fine now, kay? Whoever did what they did to you, they're dead. You'll be fine."
Odd. Lori never seemed like the comforting type.
Dominic spoke up.
"Scott. I don't blame you for what you did. From what I heard, I can understand."
Now they were both pretending to be nice just because he was an emotional mess.
Scott sighed.
"Command told you to do that, didn't they?"
He stared at the two agents' puzzled faces.
What? They didn't?
Lori was the first to speak up.
"Scott, Command's a little tied up. We've got a helluva crisis in Auburn, something about Armacham, so a lotta resources are being diverted to the team there. It doesn't affect us, though. Just that we can't count on any support soon."
That meant that they were doing this because-
Because-
Did they really care for him?
Scott didn't understand why. They were both military, trained to stay detached. Why would they do this emotional thing now?
The answer was simple.
They decided to do it themselves.
It was logical. Command, harried with that thing in Auburn, had brushed them off. That also meant that they both would have complete control of the mission. And that meant that they had decided to go do that emotional comforting shit themselves.
"Stop doing that...emotional thing with me. I'm fine. I promise I won't do anything to jeopardize this assignment."
Scott noticed, with a small smile, that both of the agents looked surprised for a split second before reverting to their usual stone-cold state.
"Good. That's what we needed to hear. Make sure you follow through on that promise."
The two agents nodded and left his room.
Scott stared into space.
Damn you, Tony.
Jennifer's emotional state, though not as bad as Scott, was pretty bad.
After all, she'd been the one that sadistic bastard wanted.
She reached a hand under her shirt, feeling the scars on her back and chest.
She sighed and buried her head into her pillow, fighting to stay afloat, drowning in painful memories.
Physically and emotionally.
Bastard.
The sound of the door opening snapped her out of her reverie.
She turned, a scream rising in her throat, preparing to unleash hell on the one who'd-
The anger died in her chest.
Scott was standing in the doorway, hand shaking, tears glistening in his eyes.
"I... didn't know who else to talk to. Dom and Lori... well, to be honest, they just wanted to make sure I was fine."
"And?"
Scott sighed, walking in and sitting on the floor.
"I'm not, Jen. This assignment... It's different. The others, we just shot anything that moved. This one... I don't know. It's hard to stay normal. I know, it's not even logical for me to hate that guy... but whenever I see him..."
He sat in silence for what seemed like eternity.
"Hey, you're the one who's got it worse. And he didn't even touch you. Me, I just don't care anymore. I don't care about anything.... whether we end up vampire chow or whether we get to kill something. I dunno why, it's just... I'm tired. So sick of living, but suicide's just being a pussy."
Scott stared up at her. Beautiful green eyes stared back.
Jennifer sighed. She rolled up her sleeve.
A spiderweb of scars met Scott's eyes, too many for any normal 16 year old girl to have. He didn't bat an eyelid, he'd seen enough of those when he was patching her up. Hell, he'd even been the cause of some of those wounds. Bad tactical error on his part.
"See that? Why is it I can handle that, and you can't?"
"I dunno. Just... brings back memories, y'know?"
Scott laughed humorlessly. He got up from the floor and sat beside her on the bed.
"It isn't even that big a deal. I go batshit just because he looks like someone we... killed."
They both sat on the edge of the bed, stock still. The silence was deafening. Scott didn't know what to do, carry on like nothing happened or apologise to the teacher.
Jennifer lay down on her bed. "Do what you want, Scott. I can't tell you what to do. This is your problem, and you have to deal with it yourself."
Scott lay down beside her. He could feel her breath on his neck. Suddenly aware of how awkward the position was, but not caring, he turned and stared deep into her eyes.
"... I know. Thanks."
They lay there for a long time. Scott fell asleep first.
Jacob couldn't believe his eyes. Walking home from Bella's house, he saw brother and sister, Scott and Jennifer, friggin' lying on the same bed whispering to each other.
He blinked.
Close enough to kiss. Are they... Holy shit. That's creepy. The Cullens I can understand, they're not related. But this... hot damn.
Unless...
His eyes narrowed.
Maybe they're not siblings after all. A special forces team with brother and sister is unlikely... though just as unlikely as 16 year olds working for the government.
He needed to tell Bella this.
The next day, at 9 am in the morning, Jacob was awoken by a hammering on the door. He opened it.
Holy shit.
Scott Grayson stood in the doorway. Jacob opened his mouth to greet him, but Scott cut him off.
'Hey... I know you and Edward don't get along well."
"...So?" Jacob had to clench his teeth and calm his breathing.
Don't change here, don't change here, don't change here
"I was wondering... I've got my eye on Bella. Could you.... help me out? We go up against Edward. Both of us."
It took all of Jacob's willpower not to do a double take and disembowel Scott right then and there.
His mind started to work.
If he's asking me this, that means... either he knows that I know his secret, and he means he wants my help to take the vampires down, or he really... no, the other alternative is that he doesn't know I'm on to him and that he means that he really does like Bella. If I hadn't walked by yesterday...
Jacob's heart skipped a beat.
He knows I'm on to him. Shit. No... this could be useful. With Edward dead, Bella would come to me. I can easily betray Scott later. Human meat got nothing on werewolf claws.
He nodded, putting on his best slasher smile.
"Let's do it."
Of course, there was the little problem of the treaty. Sam would have his hide if he broke it, but if a vampire broke it....
Jacob closed the door, blueprints of a plan forming in his head.
Scott walked away from the reservation, feeling very pleased with himself. He had seen Jacob before nodding off the other night, and decided to pay him a visit. The wolf boy was good at hiding his emotions, but Scott saw through it. Guy knew. He didn't know how he found out - probably Bella, which meant the vampires were on to them as well - but one thing was certain.
So... we will be friends, on the surface, but down under, we both know once the vampires are gone, we will betray each other.
No matter. The vampires will go down first, way before anyone.
It's on now.