Backstab

Chapter 14: Confessions

A/N: In case anyone is confused about what Tyler says later in this chapter, Brattleboro, Vermont is the city the Institute was in, it says so on the gate entrance in the movie.

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I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the sounds of SweetPea's muffled crying to prevent myself from doing the same. I could tell she was trying her best to hold it in, but despite all her effort tears continued to stream down her face.

"It's all over," she said between ragged breaths, clutching her knees where she sat on the floor, "Blue finally won."

From my position across from her, I shook my head slightly. "Not yet, and he never will as long as we're still alive."

I heard SweetPea scoff slightly, anger rising to replace her grief. "How can you say that with such confidence?"

"How can you give up so easily?" I countered, my voice surprisingly calm.

However, despite my earnest intentions, SweetPea glared at me, unable to withhold her bitterness. "There's a difference between giving up and knowing when enough is enough. Normally I would agree with you, but…" she faded off, turning her hard gaze to the floor. "It's over. We can't win this fight."

Unwilling to let myself come to a similar conclusion; I drew my attention away from SweetPea, focusing my attention on the empty wall.

At first, it had seemed that everything was going according to plan, that we were truly going to be able to pull this off and free Rocket. Blending in with the other girls had been easy, as was sneaking away during meal time towards the back of the institute. Thanks to the mass of guards working to search for us outside the facility, the girls here were under much lighter watch than usual, and no one took notice of the two of us breaking off towards the back of the Lennox House.

From there, we had a fairly simple time navigating our way through the halls, the lack of guards making out job that much easier. However, we must have made a wrong turn somewhere, for when we reached our destination we found ourselves in a room full of Blue's men. We fought hard, and managed to take down about two or three of them just using the knife and our fists. But in the end, their numbers overwhelmed us. After much squirming and fighting, SweetPea and I had been dragged somewhere deeper in the institute, and locked in the tiny makeshift prison room where we now sat.

Here I glanced behind me to look at SweetPea, disappointed to see that she was still quite tense. Not wanting to goad her, I returned my attention to the wall.

I had no idea what Blue intended to do with us, so I clung tightly onto the only emotion beside hate that I had left. Hope. Hope that Tyler would figure something was wrong and save us, and maybe free Rocket on the way. Hope that we'd all find a way out and live happily ever after. Hope for a miracle.

I was still hoping when the pale green door swung open and three guards filed in, carrying Tyler by his shoulders.

"Let go of me!" he demanded, kicking and struggling in their grasp. In response, the men ungraciously deposited Tyler on the floor, closing the door just before he spun around and slammed his fists against it.

"Damn it!" he growled, beads of sweat gathering on his face. Tyler took a moment to collect himself before turning around, assessing the situation. He was almost unrecognizable at a glance, his face covered with purple bruises and cuts and swollen blackness around his left eye.

"What happened?" I asked, standing up from my uncomfortable sitting position on the floor.

"The guards. They caught me sneaking around the back of the building when I was trying to find out which window to tie the escape rope to. I tried to fight them but..." he gestured to his beaten body. "What about you two?"

"We made a wrong turn and walked into a room full of them," I answered simply, "We didn't have a chance."

Tyler nodded once, and then slumped back against the door in a sort of defeat. For a few moments there was silence, only broken by the faint sound of our breathing.

"So what now?" Tyler asked quietly, echoing my thoughts. I glanced towards SweetPea, knowing what her answer was going to be.

"Nothing. It's over, Blue wins."

"It can't be over," I demanded softly, though I could hear the desperation in my own voice. "There has to be something more we can do or use against him."

As my words were met with more silence, I felt the hope and exhilaration draining from my body, and I sank soundlessly down to the floor next to Tyler and SweetPea. No one said anything for a while; we just sat there, all wrapped in our own thoughts. Tyler was the first to speak up, and when he did his voice sounded deflated and tired.

"Babydoll, SweetPea. In case this really is it… there's something I need to tell you. Something I should have said long ago. About why I really helped you two that day."

SweetPea and I curiously looked towards Tyler, unsure of where he was going with this.

"I'm sorry I haven't told you guys everything, but I didn't want you to judge me based on my past, only on who I am now," he smirked. "But now that it's over anyways I guess it really doesn't matter."

"As you probably already guessed I was born here in Brattleboro and lived here my entire life. My mom and my dad raised me in an apartment not far from the Lennox House; in the building we slept under the first night I met you guys." Tyler smiled slightly, reminiscing. "It was my mom who wanted to name me Tyler, and I took her last name 'Summers' instead of my dad's. One day, my mom decided to visit my Dad at his work, which was The Lennox House for the mentally insane."

My eyes widened, but I held my breath as I waited from him to finish.

"When my mom found out what really happens in here, she was furious, and threatened to tell the police and have this place shut down. My dad tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't budge." Here, Tyler's right hand closed into a fist.

"She disappeared the next day. I woke up and she wasn't there, she was just… gone. The police didn't find anything; they just put up a missing person's report and left it alone. My father acted just as shocked as I felt, but I could tell he didn't mean it. He never went searching for her, he never even tried. In fact he got a new girlfriend just a few weeks later. So I ran away into the deeper parts of the city. My father actually looked for me, which of course only added to my hatred for him. But eventually he just gave up, and I was free."

Tyler sighed. "But I wasn't free. I still ached inside like something was missing from life. At first I assumed it was my mother, so I went looking for her. I never found her of course, and the aching didn't stop. Then one day I met a girl named Hailey. She had escaped from the institute, and lost her best friend Honey on the way. She told me what really happened inside the institute, and I finally understood everything. Of course I wanted revenge on my father, especially after I learned the truth about the Lennox House. Ever since then I helped any escaped girls make it to freedom, doing my best to hide them from the police and give them shelter."

"But after a while I realized that that wasn't enough, that the only way to truly end this was to stop my father." Tyler looked up from the floor, and glanced quickly at both SweetPea and I. "When I met you two, I finally found someone with equal motivation for revenge on my father. So I helped you like I helped everyone else, but I also convinced you that we had to kill him, that it was the only way to stop this."

There was a deep silence as Tyler uttered this concluding statement, and I thought I could actually feel my mouth drop open. However, it was SweetPea who spoke first.

"You… used us? This entire time we thought you wanted to help but you were just using us to get to your father?" SweetPea demanded, her voice quiet and hurt.

"No it's not like that-"

"Did you not help us mainly because of our ties? Did you not become closer to us so you could gain our trust to help you kill your father?!" SweetPea yelled, now full on crying.

"Yes but I never meant to hurt either of you, especially you SweetPea. As soon as I learned how many upper hands my father had-"

"Don't try to protect us Tyler," I half-whispered angrily. "Say his name."

Tyler flinched, but continued his sentence. "As soon as I learned how many men Blue had, and all the risks he was willing to take to catch you, I wanted to pull back so you would both be safe. But when he showed you that he had Rocket… I knew there was no way I could dissuade you."

SweetPea opened her mouth to argue again, but at that moment the door swung open, giving Tyler barely enough time to jump out of the way of being smashed between it and the wall. Six of Blue's men arranged themselves inside our room and just outside the hall, their eyes cold. Then, they parted like water as someone moved through their ranks, until he stood before us in all his glory.

Watching our expressions with a look of amusement, Blue smiled victoriously. "Welcome back."

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A/N: Thanks again to all the readers and reviewers. But this time I mean what I am saying. Unless someone other than Wolfie-chanLovesSilently reviews, I WILL NOT UPDATE AGAIN!