AN: Sorry that it's been almost a month since I updated. I got so caught up in my other stories for awhile, plus I'm preparing to return to college in a few weeks. But this story will be finished, I promise. Thanks for all of the reviews and story/fav alerts! I'm really glad that this sequel is going well.
Chapter 8-Traitor
"Are you sure this is safe? I mean, we've been at this for months and I still haven't gotten this. Plus, all this standing up is making me have to go pee," I whined to Jason and Steve as they positioned themselves on either side of me in a nearby clearing.
"I'll say. Your belly looks like a pumpkin. Have you guys even picked out a name yet?" Steve said aloud.
I shook my head. "No, we still don't know what it is yet. It's driving Andrew crazy, which just makes me stress out. Then, it makes the baby squirm around, which just makes me pee. It's like a never-ending cycle these days."
"Okay, you two, enough chitchat. It's time to focus. This will be a very short session, Melanie, I promise," Jason said to us.
I sighed and nodded at him to continue. He motioned with his hands for our training session to begin. Ever since Mrs. Norberry attacked me, we had been having these training sessions since I had to explain to them what happened. The first couple of sessions were great, but then, Jason and Virgil started pushing me to expand the force field from myself. It worked for a short time, but then it would snap back to me like an elastic.
Leslie and Michael were currently at the house, trying to hack into Biotech's mainframe once more. However, it never worked since their spyware was top notch. It was like trying to hack into the CIA. Mrs. Norberry, on the other hand, was sent to stay with some family up north. She no longer had hallucinations like before, but the toxin had given her slight brain damage, so she would forget things easily.
I snapped back to reality as I heard a whooshing sound overhead, and Jason took off into the sky. Steve and I glanced around to see where our 'threat' would come from. A few minutes passed, and nothing.
"Okay, I get that we're supposed to be taken off guard, but how long is this gonna-" Steve was cut off by Andrew, who flew out from the trees and tackled him to the ground. Andrew and I laughed as Steve tried to catch his breath.
Andrew stood up and helped him up. Steve dusted himself off and glared, "That was not cool, man! And Mel, I thought that you were supposed to be protecting me?"
I shrugged and lowered my hands as the barrier dissolved. "I didn't have time to think about saving both of us. You distracted me, and I put the barrier around myself as a reflex. We've told you a million times, Steve; you cannot distract me!"
"Yeah, yeah, you say that every time. But when that kid comes, do you think that 'reflex' of yours will save it when Carter comes after him? Or her?" Steve asked.
"I don't know! Look, let's just try this again. This time, Steve, you come after us," I suggested.
Steve rolled his eyes and jogged into the woods. Matt lowered himself down from the sky and positioned himself on my other side, while Andrew took my hand.
"Where's Steve?" Matt whispered to me.
"He's the attacker, so I have to be careful. Plus, Andrew got him pretty good, so he's kinda pissed," I answered as my eyes darted from the trees to the clear blue sky above my head.
"It might also have something to do with his fight with Leslie last night," Matt told me.
Steve and Leslie had a fight? That was pretty unusual. I mean, couples fight; Andrew and I fought every now and then, but not Leslie and Steve. Despite the 7 year age difference, they got along pretty well.
Out of nowhere, I saw Steve fly toward us, but this time I mentally prepared. I threw my hands out, and immediately the barrier appeared. I used my mind to will it out towards Andrew and Matt. Steve collided with my barrier and fell to the ground on his butt. We all laughed.
"I DID IT!" I exclaimed and then I hugged Andrew and Matt.
Xxx
It was very quiet at the house as night approached us. Steve and Leslie had gone out for dinner, and the Guardians took Andrew and Matt out for a short practice session. I went upstairs to sleep and was out for a while.
The sound of shattering glass awoke me from my sleep, but I couldn't move my body. I was able to turn my head and cried out, "Andrew!"
The door opened and Leslie walked through, clad in all black clothes. She held up a needle and asked in a sarcastic tone, "Feeling a little stiff, Mel?"
"Leslie? Wha-What is going on? What have you done to me?"
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. They were cold and hard. "It's a concentrated dose of a paralytic toxin that my team whipped up especially for you. I have been waiting for this for a long time, and now everything is starting to fall into place."
I glanced around and saw several guys with guns and black suits shuffle down the hallway. All of sudden there were voices and the house shook violently. I let out a whimper of pain as the baby starting moving around frantically in my womb. Andrew was here.
"Where's…Steve?" I managed to breathe out after my kid kicked me in the ribs.
Leslie tilted her head and inched toward me. She kneeled down and whispered, "I stabbed him in the gut, Mel. And then, I left him to die."
"NO! YOU BITCH!" I screamed as tears ran down the side of my face. Steve couldn't be dead, he couldn't.
She stood up and said, "You really think that Carter, Carter of all people, orchestrated this? No, he was too much of a wimp. I had to motivate him to keep up the charade. Persuade him. Sadly, our mother had to pay the price, but-"
"You killed your mother?" I asked horrified. Who was this person? What was happening?
Leslie turned away from me, but she didn't answer. Then, she recomposed herself and called for two men to take me away. And I couldn't even fight them off.
I just kept crying and screaming, "ANDREW! MATT! ANYONE! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!"
The baby was still thrashing around inside me, clearly terrified by the sudden movements, my screaming, and Andrew straining himself to try to save me. But it was no use. I was paralyzed.
I had no choice but to let them put me in a helicopter and take me away, the helicopter's Biotech logo fresh in my mind.
Xxx
Third Person POV
Even though everyone else was against killing, Andrew wasn't. Whoever stood in his way was going to die by his hand. The anger that he had kept locked away for the past several months was finally unleashed and he couldn't contain it anymore. It was like a wild animal inside of him, driving him and igniting his soul with pure rage.
They had waited too long, and therefore, dropped their defenses. Jason had agreed with Andrew that they should move Melanie to another hideaway since she was nearing the end of her pregnancy, but everyone else was too comfortable, Melanie included.
So, Andrew had decided to run away with her anyway, but now it was too late. They had her. Carter had her. And…Leslie. The one person who had they had thought to trust the most had been the one to have been deceiving them all along. All Andrew wanted to do was rip her head off.
Jason didn't know what to feel, but everyone else was angry. And hurt. And violated. And guilty. They had left Melanie alone again, when she was vulnerable, and therefore, she was an easy target.
Jason had known that the girl was in trouble when he saw he heard the helicopter pass over them. Andrew was the first one to take off toward the house and the rest followed. Several men with guns emerged from the chopper and entered the house. Andrew shattered the glass window and flew through, taking out several of the men. Leslie came downstairs and motioned for the men to take him out.
Jason followed, lifting a small group of three and sending them out through the front door. His jaw dropped when Leslie came up behind him and (literally) stabbed him in the back. She whispered, "Was this how you pictured your own daughter stabbing you in the back?"
Jason gasped for air and some blood spilled out of his mouth. "What have you done?" he choked out. The others were still fighting off the intruders so their little exchange was being ignored for now. Jason coughed out some more blood and started to feel his body weaken.
"You think that you can gain all this power, disappear for 12 years, and just come back into our lives like nothing happened? Well, you can't, Dad, not without repercussions. I have been waiting for this moment for years. Now, it's done. I have everything that I need, and you can't stop me."
"This…isn't…your…destiny. You…don't…have…to…do…this," Jason choked out. Leslie withdrew her knife and Jason crumpled to the ground. "Oh yes, I think I do," she sneered before kicking him in the gut. Then, she took off upstairs.
Jason couldn't get up off the ground; he was in so much pain. Melanie's screams hurt his ears, but she was needed them. And he couldn't save her; he couldn't even try to. Then, the screams got further and further away as the last man fell to the ground unconscious.
Blood, bullets, glass, wood, and bodies were strewn in and around the house. Michael rushed to Jason's side, even though he was had been shot in the leg. Michael checked Jason's injury and determined that he didn't have long. Virgil checked Matt's pulse since he had been knocked unconscious just a few minutes beforehand.
Andrew limped from downstairs, since one of the men had tackled him and nearly broken his leg, and his face was contorted with rage and sadness. Melanie was gone, and he had no clue where she was. Maybe his father was right, maybe everything was his fault. He had failed Melanie again by not being there for her, just like he had failed his mother. Andrew sat down on the stairs and put his face in his hands.
Virgil handed Michael the serum that he had made from Melanie's blood, and Michael stuck Jason in the arm. Jason let out a cry of pain, and his body shook violently. Then, it stopped. Jason opened his eyes and looked down. The bleeding had stopped and he sat up.
"Wha-"
"We collected a sample from Melanie's blood, and isolated the genes that trigger the healing process. Then, we conducted some experiments and made this serum. We made many more duplicates of it as backup," Michael answered.
There was a whooshing sound and a loud thud followed it out on the front porch. Everyone, except Matt, headed outside and sighed in relief at Steve.
"Hey, guys, wha-what I'd miss?" Steve croaked before passing out.
Xxx
Melanie's POV
When I awoke, I was in a hospital bed, my hands and legs constrained. The room they put me in resembled a normal hospital room, but when I looked out the window, several eyes stared back at me.
I heard someone groan beside me, and turned my head. "Mrs. Norberry! What are you doing here? Did they get you two?"
She raised up her head, and my eyes widened in horror at the sight of her. Her lip was bruised and she had a bandage over her left eye. She also had several scratches and cuts on her chest and arms. When they had come for her, she obviously put up a mean fight.
Her eyes adjusted and she took me in. "Melanie! Oh, Melanie, what have they done to you? Are you okay? I can't believe they got you too!"
"I wanted to fight, but Leslie paralyzed me so I couldn't. Andrew tried to save me but it was too late. We were already too far away," I said as my voice got smaller and smaller.
"Leslie? What does she have to do with this? I thought she was on our side?"
I shook my head. "No, she has been behind the whole thing. She set us up, set us all up. She's been working with Carter the whole time, I believe. I bet she copied those files and put Carter's name on them, to make us believe that we couldn't trust him. Then, she sent us to her uncle's house, someplace far away, but easily accessible. She made me believe that she was my friend so that I would trust her, and it wouldn't stress me out to be living with a traitor. Now, I'm three weeks away from my due date."
Mrs. Norberry took a while to put the pieces together and then she said, "She was waiting. She had Carter scare us, by giving me those drugs, but she was waiting on you. They must've pushed her if they sent her with enforcements."
"They?"
"BioTech. They must want your baby. Why do you think she was so interested in your pregnancy the whole time? She was monitoring you, making sure that nothing went wrong."
"And she killed Steve. And her mother," I sniffled as my emotions caught up with me.
"Oh my god."
I nodded and Mrs. Norberry started crying with me. Then, she reached over and patted my hand. I knew that she could free me if she could, but they were watching us. There was even a camera in the top right-hand corner of the room.
The door flew open and Leslie strolled in, dressed in a suit. A doctor followed her and she nodded at him. He sighed and motioned for Mrs. Norberry to move aside.
"What's going on?" I glared, my face stained with tears.
"I'm on a tight schedule, so Dr. Freedman is going to induce you. Starting now. Congratulations, Melanie! You're going to be a mother soon," Leslie taunted, a sinister smile on her lips.
AN: So what did you guys think of the bombshell that I dropped on you guys? Did any of you think that Leslie was actually the bad guy? What do you think will happen next? Please Review!
