Weatherfac: Nice to see a new face! Hope you enjoy!
Vinyl: Juxtaposition! Great word. ;p Thanks for the review.
Anna: Thanks so much!
Dante's Girl: Thanks! I mean it. And for your second question, I don't know really. I just started writing.
Disclaimer: See previous umm... disclaimers. There's been no change in my lack of ownership.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Four Heads Are Better Than One
"It's not that we- look like each other, Jack. We all look- like him."
Jack was trying to wrap his mind around the concept when suddenly Jack heard a door open behind them. He spun around quickly, hand on his gun, half expecting to see David charge into the room, fangs bared. Instead it was another look alike with an expensive looking camera across his shoulder and a folder in his hand. He stepped through the doorway, removing a black cotton hat from his head before he spotted Jack.
"Whoa. Another one," the look alike said. Noting the gun on Jack's hip, his eyes narrowed. "He's not bothering you, is he, doc?"
"No," Schreber replied before motioning to Jack. "Arthur, this is- Jack- Bauer."
Arthur Banks looked hard at Jack and gave a small nod. "Nice to meet you," he replied in a flat tone.
"We've met," Jack said, his expression stony. He didn't care if Schreber trusted the man. From what he'd seen, Jack had reason not to trust him.
Banks frowned. "Have we?"
"Yeah. The Sutherland house, a little over an hour and a half ago. You shot at me and two others."
Banks looked at Schreber who was watching him curiously, waiting for an explanation, before looking back to Jack.
"I wasn't at the Sutherland house tonight," he replied.
"No?" Jack asked skeptically. "Then who was it we had tied up in the garage and gave us your name?"
"I don't know, but it wasn't me," Banks declared. "I was out looking for Sutherland and Others all night."
Jack shook his head, disbelievingly.
"Hey, if it was me that shot at you, you'd be dead," Banks replied, his voice low and threatening, but his eyes somewhat haunted.
"Then- someone else knows- who you are," Schreber concluded. "Another- like us."
Banks frowned, tossing the cap to a chair next to him. "Besides you, doc, I haven't spoken to any others like us. Tonight I didn't find any other look alikes at all and for the last hour and a half I've been developing photos in the basement."
"So, you saw no 'others' tonight though you were out all night?"
"Yeah."
"If he says he- did not- fire at you, then he did not," Schreber said with surprising authority. "More importantly there -is someone else out there- who – wants you and- your friends- dead."
Jack stared Banks down a little longer before nodding. He had punched the supposed Banks in the face hard enough to draw blood. There should be a nice bruise by now, but this man had none.
'That means there are at least six leas look alikes,' Jack thought with a frown. 'And that's not even including Sutherland.'
"Where- are your friends- now?" the doctor asked, forcing Jack's attention back on him.
"There were three of us. One turned against us and left. We split up to look for him."
"Why?" Banks asked.
"Because he's dangerous and unpredictable," Jack answered. He turned back to the timid doctor. "Do you know where Sutherland is now?"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Mick's phone rang once, then again before it was picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hayden, it's Jack. I may have a lead on Sutherland," came Jack Bauer's voice.
"Good, because I've got nothing here," replied the other.
"Meet me at Schreber's building in twenty minutes."
"Got it."
"Be careful, Detective. We think there's someone out there who's trying to kill us."
"Us? Who? Why?"
"'Us' as in everyone who looks like us maybe. The perpetrator seems to be another look alike. We're not clear on why," Jack answered.
"All right. Thanks for the heads up," he replied.
"Right."
With a tap of his thumb, the man Jack had called hung up. His hardened gaze moved downward where the real Mick Hayden was sprawled face down on the wooden floor.
-.-.-.-.-.-
There was a knock at Schreber's door. Gun aimed at head level, Jack opened it a crack. There stood a man in Mick's black suit with Mick's badge hanging from his belt. He saw Jack and had enough time to raise an eyebrow before Jack reached out, grabbed him by the front of his collared shirt, and pulled him inside, slamming him against the back of the door in one quick move.
"Woah, Jack! What-"
"Who are you?" Jack demanded fiercely.
"Detective Michael Hayden," Mick answered quickly, hands raised at his sides. He looked back and forth from Jack's gun to Jack's hard blue eyes, to the hand that still gripped his shirt.
"Who's David?" Jack questioned.
Mick glanced over Jack's shoulder to where Schreber and Banks watched quietly before looking back to Jack.
"The kid," he said, and then added more quietly, "And he's a bit... different."
Jack held him a second longer before letting him go.
"Sorry about that. Had to be sure it was you."
Mick nodded and straightened his shirt and tie before looking back at the other two.
"You must be Dr. Schreber," Mick said and the man who hung slightly back nodded. Mick looked to the other expectantly who paused before relaying his own name.
"Arthur Banks. And no, we haven't met," he added as Mick opened his mouth.
"Apparently the one we had before, the one that escaped, was not Banks," Jack informed as he tucked away his weapon.
"It was the... to-be-killer?" Mick asked.
Banks nodded and Jack answered with a 'yes'.
Mick shook his head and gave a wry smile. "Why can't anything ever be easy?"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Banks rolled out a map of Los Angeles and he and Jack pinned it to the wall. Mick was shuffling through Schreber's papers. Schreber stood off to the side, his squinted attention on Mick, his brow furrowed in thought. Banks' voice-no Jack's- caused him to look away.
"So... We need to find Sutherland. What do we know?"
"It seems he won't be home for a while," Mick replied. Banks looked at him questioningly.
"Empty clothes drawers, no perishable foods, that sort of thing," Mick elaborated.
Jack put a pin in the map at Sutherland's home and another at the beach house location. "Doesn't look like he'll be back there either. But he may have been there recently. Schreber's tape was there and someone watched it."
"But not necessarily him," Mick added without looking up from a photograph.
There was a pause.
"That office... That wasn't where Sutherland worked. Where does he work?" Jack asked.
Mick and Jack looked to Banks who shook his head. "I don't know. I only saw him a few times. That's when I took these photos."
Banks tossed the manilla folder he'd brought in earlier onto Schreber's desk with the other notes. Jack picked it up and started looking through them. The glossy photos all seemed to be of Jack or of Banks at first glance, but the man's style upon closer observation was slightly different and his face also seemed softer than either of their's or even Mick's
"I lost him soon after," Banks continued. "Whatever he is, he seems to always have a crowd. At least when I see him. It's hard to get close."
"Shouldn't it be hard to lose him then, as well?" Mick questioned.
Banks looked at him sternly. "You'd think so."
"Where did you see him?" Jack asked.
Schreber watched them all as he rubbed his hands idly together, taking in all that they said and extrapolating the personalities and quirks that made each one of them unique. He himself was a meek man. He wasn't a fighter, never had been as far as he could tell, but, of course, he couldn't be sure. Not since the Strangers. He could often come across as cowardly, but he always had the best intentions at heart. Or so he liked to think.
And these three... What interesting people! And for them to all look so much like himself... it was as if, maybe he were studying himself. Things he could have become had the situation been right, or wrong. Or perhaps, in a more philosophical view, he was studying different aspects of his current self.
And yet they were not. They were completely different people in the same way everyone else he'd ever observed had been. A small smile crossed his face at the fantastical nature of these other human beings.
First there was Banks. He knew what Banks did for a living. The man had admitted it to him after a time and Schreber found it intriguing if not saddening. It just added complexity to the man. He was always amazed to see what people did in order to survive. It didn't make Banks a 'nice' man by any means. He was not, though he'd never risen hand nor voice to the doctor. He had a hard exterior brought on by years of, well, 'work', and an inner wall of well-suppressed anger from some long ago betrayal. Inside all that was a normal man longing for a normal life.
"Wait, can't we just go back to the office?" Mick asked.
Jack frowned at him. "We broke in there last time. It would be better not to go back there if we don't have to. We should try to figure out a different way of finding him."
The other two Schreber hadn't known long at all, but already he could make several conclusions. Bauer was tough, more so than Banks, he thought. His 'shell' much more rigid and protective of whatever feelings the man possessed. The way the man wielded his weapon and the look in his eyes when he did it was truly frightening. He looked like a hardened killer then and yet now as he spoke with the others, though he was serious, there was emotion in his eyes, almost as if he were able to switch back and forth from killer to human being. Of course, just an hour might not be enough to properly judge all this, but he seemed trustworthy and honorable enough at least.
And then there was Mick Hayden. A detective. He seemed the least hardened of the three. Which wasn't saying much. Schreber crossed his arms as he went back to studying that one. It was too early to tell much about him as he had arrived not 15 minutes earlier, but there was something strange about him. He seemed intuitive, but, it seemed to the doctor, intuitive almost to the point of knowing the facts before hand. As if he knew more than he had yet admitted.
"So what's in this area?" Banks questioned.
Schreber turned his attention back to the map to see a good dozen pins stuck in at various spots. If you looked at it in just the right way it seemed that they made some sort of enclosed shape around several blocks.
"The map doesn't say?" Jack asked.
Banks shook his head. Jack seemed to be trying to recall himself, but didn't remember. Mick was looking at the map with knowing eyes, at least until the others shifted their gaze closer to him and the look vanished. Schreber frowned, but stayed quiet.
"Well, we should go check it out," Mick said.
"What, now?" Banks asked. "It's the middle of the night."
"Yes now," Jack said sternly. "Our first priority is making sure the man's all right. David is looking for him."
"David? This mysterious kid you keep talking about?" Banks asked. "What's so dangerous about him?"
"He's a killer," was all Jack said.
Mick frowned angrily and nodded, rubbing one of several light bruises on his face. "If he kills Sutherland, we'll never be able to ask him what the hell's going on here."
"Why would he kill Sutherland?" Banks asked.
"Why does anyone do what they do?" Mick asked with an undertone that Schreber noted but did not understand.
"Look, there's a chance that he could be in danger, so we might as well go now," Jack said.
Banks sighed and he turned to Schreber. "Fine. Let's go."
Schreber's eyes widened. "I am not going."
"Why not?" Banks asked curiously.
"I – I do not want to leave- my work. I can not leave- it here."
"Then take it," Jack said impatiently.
"I can not- take it all. I am staying- here."
Jack looked about to argue, but Banks waved a hand. "Let him stay."
"He can't stay here alone," Mick said quickly.
Jack looked annoyed. "Fine, you stay. Let's go-"
"No! I have something- I would like to- discuss with you, Jack," Schreber said hurriedly, avoiding Mick's gaze. A theory was forming in his mind and he needed to confirm it quickly.
Banks swung the camera bag over his shoulder and motioned for Mick to follow. "We'll go on ahead and check the place out. It is a few square blocks. It'll take some time."
Jack frowned and looked about to argue as he was used to being in the field rather than left behind, but something in Schreber's eye caught his attention.
"All right, fine," Jack replied.
"Be careful," Schreber said as the other two left. When the door closed behind them and he heard their footsteps fade, the doctor turned his attention quickly back to Jack. Schreber looked up at him from his somewhat hunched stance. "I am not sure what- company- you keep, Jack, but are you sure- that that man, Michael Hayden, is who- you think he is?"
Jack stared hard at the man before him, searching him and at the same time considering the question. A rap on the door interrupted any answer. Jack dropped immediately into his cautious mode and motioned for the doctor to stand back. Jack took a few steps towards the front door and Schreber hid behind the doorway of the second room, peering out nervously.
Jack's hand had just touched the handle when suddenly the entire door exploded inward, throwing Jack away like he was nothing but a leaf in the wind to land hard on his back across from Schreber. The doctor, mouth agape turned his shuddering attention back to the front door where a young man with a demonic face stood, laughing menacingly. He took a few strides into Schreber's apartment, pointing an angry finger at Jack who lay sprawled on the floor, momentarily stunned and gun lost from his hold.
"All right, Jack," the young bleach-blond growled. "Now it's my turn."
He picked up a piece of the splintered door in his hands, holding it like a knife. Jack, with only that second to reorient himself was still getting to his feet when David lunged in hard and fast.
-.-.-.-
