This was much faster to write than the last one. This is the final chapter.
There was a time when Jessi was brutally blunt and straightforward. There was a time when she just spit out the first thought that came to her mind. But by now, she had learned how to be tactful. So she pulled Declan to the side where no one could hear them. "Okay, now that Lori has seen your 'heroic battle scars', will you let me heal your face?" she asked.
Somewhere underneath all that purple, Declan's face turned a little red. "What are you talking about? Lori doesn't have anything to do with it," he scoffed. But Jessi knew hat wasn't true. When they were back in Arizona, both she and Kyle had offered to heal his face numerous times, which had taken quite a pounding from Nate's skull. But Declan refused. He called his bruises 'battle scars' and insisted on keeping them so that everyone back home would know that he contributed too. Jessi had seen how happy he looked when Lori was fawning over him.
"Look, I can hear your heart beating faster," she reminded him. "Is it really necessary for me to have to tell you that?"
Declan sighed defeatedly. "I can't hide anything from you guys. It sucks!" he complained as she put her hands on his face and concentrated. In just a few seconds the swelling went down and his face was completely healed. It reminded him of the time when Jessi tried healing his ankle but couldn't do it all the way and the pain only came back. He hoped his bruises wouldn't come back later that night. "Wow. Thanks Jessi, that feels a lot better."
"That's what I've been trying to tell you this whole time," she said gritting her teeth. "And I don't know why you continue to try and impress Lori when she's not into you anymore. She chose Mark. You're stupid for even trying." She knew that sounded too harsh but it was for his own good. He needed some tough love and Jessi was the expert on telling it like it is, even if she was much more tactful now days.
But Declan didn't get mad. He knew how to get her back. "Oh, but didn't you do the same thing when Kyle was with Amanda?" he asked grinning coyly.
That certainly got her flustered. Declan watched with amusement as her face turned red. He just hoped she wouldn't lose her temper and throw him into a car again. But she went on the defensive. "No…I mean…I never…I didn't…but that was different!" she protested.
Declan laughed. "Different? Really? How is that any different? Remember that time when we all helped Amanda sneak out of the house and you ruined the whole thing by telling her mom?" he reminded her. "That's right, Amanda told us all about that. At least I never tried to sabotage Lori and Mark."
"Nice!" Josh laughed coming up behind them. He gave Declan a hi fi. He then turned to Jessi and said, "You just got owned!" Jessi couldn't say anything to defend herself because Declan was right. She was so embarrassed by her past behavior. Even though her personality hadn't changed much since then she would never again stoop that low.
"Alright, let's not be too mean," Declan said to Josh with a satisfied smirk on his face. "I think she got the point."
"Okay, I was wrong," she said looking down and feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry for being a hypocrite. I guess it's only natural for us to feel attracted to people even when we know we can't have them. I finally got Kyle but I was lucky. You really should make things easier on yourself and get another girl instead of waiting for Lori. Jackie still likes you."
Declan wasn't sure what to think about Jackie. He was still mad at her for dumping him because she wasn't looking for commitment when she was the one who approached him at that party. But he still had feelings for her as well. But he didn't want an on and off casual relationship. He had his fill of that in high school. Now it was time for something serious.
"Anyway, shouldn't you go home and tell your dad that you're okay?" Jessi suggested. She didn't mind but ever since they got back to Seattle he was just hanging around the Tragers' house when his dad could have been worried sick about him.
"Nah, he's not even home," Declan replied. "Besides, I called him. Told him that I'm going down to Phoenix to party with some friends of mine that are in college down there. You know what he said? He said, be careful and don't drink and drive, and then he hung up. I tell him I'm taking the car and driving to Phoenix, hundreds of miles away, and he doesn't even give a crap. That's my dad for you." He laughed bitterly.
"Dude, cry me a river," Josh said rolling his eyes. "I don't know what the hell you're complaining about. I wish my parents could be like that." Jessi thought he sounded a little too insensitive even though she agreed with Josh.
"No Trager," Declan said shaking his head. "You don't know what you're saying. Trust me, you're parents are perfect. You don't know how good you guys have it."
Jessi went deep into thought. I can't understand why Declan would have a problem with his dad. I would enjoy that kind of freedom. But maybe that's because I was raised differently she reasoned. When she lived with Emily she had completely control over her. She didn't allow Jessi to date, or go to social gatherings, or do anything that might have distracted her from Madacorp's mission. As a result, Jessi came to resent any form of control and became completely independent. When she moved in with the Tragers, Steven and Nicole found it difficult to adjust to her habit of leaving the house in the middle of the night and coming back when she felt like it. She actually felt a little annoyed that they should worry like that because she was a responsible person.
Declan's situation was different though. He came from the other extreme. She once heard him telling Kyle that his father never came to any of his basketball games after his freshmen year. Of course he loved his son. He was just probably very busy with his job; after all, their family was quite rich. And Declan never talked about it but his relationship with his father was obviously strained. And from what he just said, he seemed to resent the fact that his father wasn't concerned about him the way Steven and Nicole were concerned every time she left the house at night.
She decided it was best to change the subject to a happier one. "So what car did you buy?" she asked Josh.
"I didn't buy one yet," he said.
"Because you can't decide on which one to buy?" she guessed. "Well for $20K I recommend a…"
"Jessi," he interrupted her while looking at her like she was a moron for not understanding, "it's not because I couldn't decide on which car to buy. It's because my brother and sister were fighting people with guns, who could have potentially killed them. That's all I've been thinking about for the past two days. That's all anyone in this house has been thinking about. We were all scared for you."
"Oh," she said sheepishly. She didn't even know how he found out about the mission. She only told Lori. Maybe Lori told him or maybe he heard it from Kyle.
Just then Lori came into the living room looking frantic with Mark following her. Her face was white with fear. Mark must have told her about the cameras Jessi realized. She was right. "Josh, get this. Mark said that Cassidy came into our house and planted cameras all over the place and he's been spying on us for I don't even know how long! I can totally picture that sick creep watching me undressing," she shuddered at the thought.
Josh's eyes widened. "What? Are you serious? He did that?" he asked Mark.
"Well, he really did put cameras all over the place but don't worry, I don't think he was spying on you guys, or watching Lori," Mark said. "He just did it to make a point. He wanted to prove how easily he came into your house and you had no idea. He wanted to show me how easily he could kill all you guys and you wouldn't even see him coming."
Lori's face became even more pale. "Okay you just told us something that's a whole lot worse. Why the hell would you start of by telling us not to worry?" she asked. Mark didn't know how to respond to that so he awkwardly stayed silent. Jessi tried not to smile because she didn't want to have fun at their expense. It didn't surprise her that Lori would be freaking out like this. She knew her sister must be feeling so vulnerable right now. It must be a terrible feeling to just realize that you're not safe in your own home she thought. Jessi didn't grow up her whole life thinking that her home was a safe haven so she didn't have that problem of facing reality.
"Why don't we find all the cameras and get rid of them?" Declan suggested hoping to calm her down.
Everyone agreed that it was a good all fanned out looking for a camera in the living room but none of them had any idea what to look for. "It obviously won't look like a camera," Jessi told them. "That would be too obvious. It must be really small, too small to be noticed unless you're looking at it up close. So it would be attached somewhere where the Tragers are unlikely to look at close up. And it would also be attached to something the Tragers are unlikely to move." She gazed around the room and spotted a clock on the wall. As she made her way towards it to inspect it she heard Steven and Kyle talking in the kitchen.
"When I got that call from the hospital telling me that you'd been shot, I never felt so scared in my life," Steven was saying. "Ever since you told me how dangerous this mission could be I was petrified that something like this would happen. And it did. Thank god, she managed to heal you in time. That's all I can say," he choked out. Steven would never actually cry in front of Kyle but Jessi could tell from his voice that he was close to it.
"I'm sorry for what I put you through," Kyle apologized sincerely. He truly hated making his family worry about him like that. "But I hope you realize that what I did was necessary and even if I didn't come back, it still would have been worth it just because we stopped Cassidy." Of course Kyle would say something like that. Noble Kyle, always so selfless, always putting others before himself she thought smiling. That was one of the reasons she loved him, ever since he tried to bring her back that time when she ran away from Emily even though it put him at odds with his family.
"Well, that's something I'll never agree with you on as a father but I'm just glad this whole thing is finally over." There was a small pause after which Steven said, "Of course, that's what I said last time, when Cassidy broke into our house and attacked you." It only got worse after that night. And Steven, Kyle, and Jessi knew that it was probably not over this time either. At least with the two of them living in UW, whatever happened to them wouldn't involve their families as long as they didn't know about it. Unless of course they tried to use their family members to get to them the way Latnok kidnapped Amanda.
Jessi took the clock down from the wall and looked at it. Just as she suspected. It was so small that no one would have noticed it. "Hey guys, I found one," she told them. Immediately they all went over to her to see.
"That's a camera?" Josh said sounding surprised. No one besides Jessi and Mark expected it to be so small and look nothing like a typical camera.
"Well, at least now we know what to look for," Declan said. "Good job Jessi. I'm not even going to bother to ask how you found it." It was so small that he picked it up with only two fingers. He dropped it on the floor and crushed it under his shoe. "One down and how many more to go?" he asked Mark.
"Uh, I think there was like ten or twelve," Mark answered. "I don't remember exactly how many screens I saw. I think there's one in each room and hallway."
"Let's do my room now," Lori said impatiently. It was understandable that she'd want her room to be safe and secure as soon as possible. Her room was supposed to be a place where she could have privacy, from her brother and her parents, while she and Hillary or other friends gossiped about whatever they wanted. The fact that someone was watching her in there was just sickening to her.
"Trager, don't you think we should do the whole downstairs first before moving up?" Declan suggested. Jessi didn't follow them to the next room. She walked into the kitchen to join Steven and Kyle.
Kyle was in the middle of telling Steven about the new possible threat. "He said he didn't want to force us into anything. He said he wanted us to work for them on our own free will. We hung up on him."
"Good! You were smart not to believe him," Steven said feeling very proud of them. "Because if you remember, Cassidy told you the same exact thing when he was trying to get you to join that junior Latnok program at UW. And look what he turned out to be." He then turned to Jessi who had just come up beside him. He hugged her tightly and said, "I am so glad we brought you into this family. You saved his life. I can't thank you enough for that."
"He saved mine too," Jessi told him. "I got shot too but the body armor managed to stop it and it only knocked the wind out. I was on the floor trying to get my breath back with bullets flying over my head when Kyle dragged me to safety. So I guess I owed him." She smiled at Kyle who smiled back.
Steven let out a whistle and shook his head. "Wow. It must have been like a warzone in there," he exclaimed. "I'm just glad you two are alright," he said hugging them both. When he let them go he looked at them seriously and said, "Nicole still doesn't know. All she knows is that you went after Cassidy but she thinks it was more of a sneaking around kind of job not full on gunfights. She doesn't know you got shot. And you're not going to tell her, got that? I don't want her to know how close she came to losing you two. Understand?" Kyle and Jessi both nodded.
"Hey Jessi, are you going to help us out or what?" Josh's yelled from another room.
"I have to go and help them," she said and excused herself "Well I better go pick Nicole up from the airport," Steven said and left leaving Kyle all alone. Kyle didn't even know that Nicole had gone somewhere but he didn't bother to ask where. . Kyle contemplated whether to tell Nicole about her suicidal plan with Cassidy, after all she was a shrink, but decided that it was one of those things that you just forget about and never mention again. Just like his killing of Grace's body guard. The whole team knew he did it, they clearly saw the body, but no one had brought it up with him. They understood that he did what he had to do and just left it at that. He felt grateful toward them for being so understanding.
He felt his phone vibrating. He looked at it and to his surprise he saw that it was Emily calling him.
Now that the government knew that she was only helping them take Cassidy down, they gave her a free pass on the whole Madacorp break in. He answered the phone, "Hey, Emily. What's up?"
"I'm just calling to see how you guys are doing," she said. This surprised Kyle. Once they got back to Seattle they thanked her for her help and parted ways. He didn't think she would still be concerned about how they were doing. Perhaps the whole experience had bonded the five of them together. When Emily reintroduced herself, he, like everyone else, felt nothing but hostility towards her, but he was willing to give her a second chance. And she had definitely redeemed herself in his eyes.
"We're doing alright," he told her. "Jessi and I are about to go to UW in two days so that's on our minds." Actually he hadn't even thought about UW until now. His mind was focusing on all the less happy things.
"Nice," she said. "College is going to be one of the best times in your life. Trust me. You're going to make some great friends and connections that you'll keep in touch with for the rest of your life."
"How about you? Did society accept you back?" he asked.
She laughed at how he phrased the question. "Yeah Kyle. Once it came out on the news that I was secretly working for the government, yeah," she said sounding relieved. "Of course I really wasn't and they were just using us. My neighbors keep asking me questions. They want to know the whole story but I told them it's classified. And now that Madacorp's in the spotlight I have to find a new job." She paused for a bit and then added, "You know, that Perez character has a lot of nerve thinking that you owe them for keeping you in a pod for all those years. But at least he gave me my life back. So he can't be all bad in my eyes."
"I never thought he was a bad guy," Kyle said. "He's just an employee doing his job. The people he works for are the real bad guys. I don't have anything against the man personally but I'll never work for his organization."
There was a short silence after which Emily asked, "Did you hear from them again?"
"No," Kyle told her. He wondered what they were up to. "The last time we talked was in Arizona."
"Well, in any case, watch your back," Emily advised him. "I doubt these people would just give up like that. I know they said they weren't going to force you but for all you know they might have a machine like the one we had in Madacorp. They could erase all your memories and give you a whole new life so you'll willingly work for them."
That was a very real possibility. They could ambush him and Jessi take them to some facility where they had their memories wiped. If they didn't know who they really were, they probably would just blindly obey orders. It was too terrible for him to think about. He sighed. "Emily, please don't take this the wrong way, but you're really lucky that there's nothing extraordinary about you," he said. It might have sounded a little rude but Emily knew what he meant. Being unusual made you a target. Everyone who envied him and Jessi had no idea how good they had it. He longed to be ordinary too.
"I know, Kyle. Hey, if ever need anything, just give me a call. If you guys are ever in serious need of money, and I mean really need, like a life or death situation, I still have a few million saved in the bank from when I was CEO. You and Jessi saved my life when I got shot so it's nothing."
Kyle couldn't believe that Emily was willing to spend her fortune to help him out if he ever needed it. Of course he couldn't see himself in a situation where he needed that kind of money but the gesture was very touching to him. To think that just a few weeks ago he hated her. "Thank you. That's very generous," he said.
"That offer only applies to you though because I know you would never take advantage of it. If anyone else in your family needs the money they have to get it through you so I know they're not trying to cheat me. I'll keep in touch. Bye."
Kyle put his phone away feeling more down about the future than ever. He'd have to constantly be on his guard from now on. What kind of way was that to live your life? His fear turned to anger. Jessi was right. They would have to train and become as strong as they could so that they would be able to protect themselves, each other, and everyone they cared about. He called Foss up to tell him to start training them again.
"Hello, Kyle?" Foss answered.
Kyle took a deep breath. "Foss, I want to start training again. Me and Jessi both. And we want it to be as hard and grueling as you can make it. We want to become as strong as possible. When can we start?"
There was a long silence as Foss was stunned by what he was hearing. He couldn't understand why Kyle would suddenly want to start training again. "Kyle, if that's what you really want, I have no problem with it," he finally said. "But didn't Adam want you to have this time to be ordinary and enjoy life or something?" he asked.
Kyle felt a stab of regret that he could never have an ordinary life like Adam wanted him to. "I would love to be ordinary, Foss, but I can't risk anymore people kidnapping or hurting the ones I love to get to me. I want to be strong enough to fight back. You told me to get used to the fact that I'll have to use violence in my life because I'll always be under attack because of what I am. Well I've made peace with that. I want to be ready for when they come, Foss. And they will come."
Foss smiled on the other end. "I'm glad you finally realize that. Meet me tomorrow at the warehouse. And bring Declan along too. Since I have to protect both you and Jessi now I could really use his help but he needs a lot more training." He paused for a moment and then added, "When they finally do come for you, they'll have no idea what they're in store for. I'll make sure of that." He hung up. Foss words gave Kyle hope and eased his tension. He knew that Foss had been looking out for him before he even came out of the pod. He was confident that Foss would be able to make him strong. He also knew that Foss would die protecting him, not that Kyle would ever let it get to that point.
"Hey, I found another one!" he heard Jessi saying. I should probably help them he thought and began walking there. Before he left the kitchen however his phone began vibrating again. He looked at the caller I.D. and was stunned. It was the last person he expected. He immediately answered.
"Hello, Amanda."
"Hey, Kyle. How come you never keep in touch?" she asked pretending to sound a little hurt.
"I'm really sorry, Amanda. It's just that we've been really busy in the last few weeks." He felt really bad for forgetting all about her when he told her that he would give her a call now and then. True, he and Jessi were dating now but that didn't mean they still couldn't talk.
She laughed. "Relax Kyle, I'm just kidding. I know all about it. Congratulations on stopping Cassidy by the way," she said. Kyle was completely taken aback. How could she know about that? he wondered. Lori must have called her and told her all about it. But Amanda then told him the real reason why she knew, "You guys are all over the news!"
Kyle was too stunned to say anything. He just stood there with the phone in his hand thinking of the possible consequences of him and Jessi being exposed. Amanda realized what he was thinking about and quickly said, "Don't worry, I didn't mean you and Jessi were on the news. I'm talking about what you did in Arizona. What you prevented." Kyle let out a sigh of relief.
"So, what did they say?" he asked.
"They said that Cassidy was trying to create clones and sell them to shady people that were going to use them for who knows what," Amanda said cheerfully. "They also said that Madacorp was sponsoring him. And they said that the whole thing was foiled by government agents and Emily Hollander who was working for them the whole time. They also said your mother was killed in a helicopter crash while trying to escape." There was a short silence and then Amanda said, "I'm really sorry about that Kyle."
"She tried to kill me," Kyle told her. Amanda gasped. She knew that Grace was one of the bad guys but she couldn't imagine why anyone would kill their own child. "Grace went down the wrong path," Kyle said. "I'm not saying she deserved to die but I'm not sorry for it either." There was another silence for a few seconds.
"I'm glad that Jessi didn't kill Cassidy," Amanda said. "Even if he deserved it for what he did to her. Tell her I'm proud of her." She knew that Jessi was easily capable of killing Cassidy and she was glad that she had somewhat of an influence in convincing Jessi to not do it.
"Why don't you just tell her yourself?" Kyle asked. "I'll give the phone to her right now."
"Kyle no, don't do that," Amanda said.
Kyle was puzzled. "Why not?" he asked. "You two are friends now aren't you?" Before Amanda left, she and Jessi seemed to be getting along okay. Well, they no longer seemed to hate each other.
"Kyle, no, we're not. When I asked her if we could be friends I meant that we should stop fighting and she knew exactly what I meant. Jessi and I can never really be friends and trust me, Jessi feels the same way," Amanda told him.
Kyle felt really confused. "But, why not?" he asked.
Amanda sighed. Kyle was so naive sometimes. What was she supposed to say? That she still loved him and hated Jessi for stealing him away from her and Jessi was well aware of all this? Back when they were dating, practically everybody but Kyle could see that Jessi was insanely jealous of her and treated her like crap. True, she also treated Jessi like crap but Jessi was the one that tried to screw up their relationship. Amanda would never do that to her and Kyle. But now that Jessi was dating Kyle, she didn't want to say anything bad about her so she said, "Kyle, I have to go. I have a recital in half an hour and I need to practice. Bye," and hung up leaving Kyle feeling more confused than ever. Ever since he came into the Tragers' house he was always trying to study his fellow human beings and find out why they acted like they did. Since then he had learned a lot but apparently he had much more to learn.
"He's in here," he heard the guard saying. He didn't even bother to look who had come to see him. Probably the public defender who could at best lessen his sentence by a few years. He didn't really care. The way he saw it was that there was no difference between getting ten years and eight years or whatever other amount they would give him because in the end, when he finally got out of prison, his future would still be thrown away and his potential wasted.
"Nathanial," he heard somebody calling him. He sighed and turned around while trying to make it obvious to the person that he wasn't in the mood for this right now. He saw a young man, not much older than himself. He expected the public defender to be a little older since law school takes a while to complete. "You're one of the scientists that helped Cassidy, correct?" the man asked him.
"Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't be here," he replied.
The man looked down at some papers. "I don't know about that," he said shaking his head. "It says here that you're also here for attempted murder because you and some accomplices were about to shoot five people." He looked back up at Nate and said, "You're looking at a lot of time."
Nate scoffed, "Yeah? And what, you're going to shave a year or two off?"
"Try the whole sentence," the man said. That got Nate's attention. He stared laughing wondering why this guy was messing with him. The man didn't laugh back or even crack a smile. He just stared at Nate with a serious expression. Nate studied his face trying to find any sort of sign that this man was not telling the truth. Neither of them said anything for several seconds until the man finally said, "I'm not joking. I really could erase your sentence."
Nate couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So, you're telling me that even though I tried to kill five guys, if I help you out you'll set me free?" he asked incredulously. "How stupid do you think I am? I don't care how good of a lawyer you are there's no way that's going to happen. And you look like you're barely a year out of law school. Leave me alone, I'm going to sleep," he said turning over again.
"I'm not a lawyer and I didn't say you would be free," the man said. "You'll have to spend the rest of your life working for us. You'll do what we say and you'll keep your mouth shut about it. We'll basically own you. But it would still be a lot better than in here. We'll still pay you and let you leave our facility every now and then, with a guard of course. And you'll be able to pursue a career as a scientist which I know you love."
Nate got up from his bed and stared the man right in the eye. "Okay pal, just who the hell are you?" he demanded.
For the first time the man smiled and extended his hand towards him. "I'm special agent Perez. I think we can both benefit by working together."
And that's the story. I'm going to write another one to pick up where this left off. Let me know what you thought about this chapter and the whole story in general. You don't have to have a fanfiction account to leave a comment.