A/N: Hello again everyone! I'm back with another update!

As always, a huge thank you to everyone that read last chapter, and special shout-out to winterschild11, BigTimeRush-BTR, Side1ways and annabellex2 for reviewing! :)

I hope you all enjoy the new chapter!

Lucy didn't give him shit when she arrived the next morning, mostly due to the fact that he'd found a bomb in his car. Stuff like that tended to bring cases into sharp perspective. Maybe it was the set of his jaw, or the tension that'd settled across his shoulders, but she didn't mention James, either, or the fact that he'd obviously spent the night on their couch again. Not for the first time, he was glad that she knew when not to push.

Kendall stared at the blank wall behind his desk, jumbled ideas trying to find some measure of order. For all he'd said about being Agent Kendall Knight-and how the hell did he manage to say the worst possible thing?-he couldn't force himself to focus.

"I think we're missing something important. Let's go over the crime scene again." He was babbling at this point, and they both knew it.

"Kendall we've been over it a hundred times. There's nothing there that we haven't talked about."

"There has to be something we haven't figured out. Like, why did the killer take their eyes? Trophies? A ritual that required it?"

Lucy sighed. "Maybe it was just a threat."

"That doesn't make any sense." Kendall said. "The threat was already obvious in the death of Kelly's husband. Maybe it wasn't related to any of Kelly's old cases. Maybe we go back to our theory that someone inside the Society was responsible. In that case, we need to find someone indirectly related to Dalhousie, who wanted to prevent Kelly's investigation and has access to the evidence room."

"Every agent has access to the evidence room."

"Right, but anyone who wants to look at the evidence needs to check in, and it's all kept on a physical spreadsheet that's off the network, even after they update it. So they'd have to have left some trace of their interaction, right? And they enter that stuff into their system once a week, don't they? Could we pull up a list of everyone who's gone down there in the past six months? We'll need to look at the original spreadsheet too, but we might be able to assume that they didn't hack in and change the records because of how pointless it would be."

Lucy's fingers launched across her keyboard. "You're lucky I installed that back door virus last time I helped them with their virus removal. Otherwise, we'd be up shit creek without a paddle." It only took her a minute to get in. "Let's see... most of this is Research and Development."

"How many are repeat visits to collect the same items? The guys downstairs are really anal about check in and out times."

"Only two weren't repeat checkouts. Neither of them on the same floor as the missing drugs."

"So nothing that really stands out as a glaring declaration of 'I'm the killer.'" He took a calming breath. "I need to focus. If my arm wasn't in this fucking sling, I'd call up Dak to put me through my paces back in the gym."

Like his arm was really the reason he couldn't concentrate. The way he and James had left things sat sourly in his stomach. All he wanted was to pick up his damn phone and call him. Apologize. Beg James to help him figure out where the agent ended and where Kendall-the real Kendall, who he'd lost touch with years ago and who'd just started surfacing again-actually began. But every time his finger strayed toward his phone, he pulled it back. What was really going to change? Not a single fucking thing. Not while this case was still taking up his time. Not when he got his next one. Or the one after.

James deserved much better than Kendall could give him. Just because it hurt like hell to think about it didn't change anything.

Their office door opened, cutting off his train of thought. Matthew scuttled in, tightly clenching a piece of paper.

"Agent Knight. I have this for you. It's from Kevin." Despite his words, he seemed slightly hesitant to part with it. But he relented when Kendall reached for it.

"Thank you." Kendall said, watching as Matthew gave him a nod along with a small smile before leaving. He unfolded the letter and stared at the words on the page. "This pass gives me permission to speak with Charles Metzgern."

Lucy stared at him. "You're serious?"

Kendall nodded. "Kevin's granting me special visitation on account of our investigation." According to the timestamp, they had until the end of the day to get out there. "I have to go."

"I'm coming too. I'm not letting you out on your own anymore."

XxX

On paper, it was a retirement community. In reality, Kendall had never seen a senior's home with armed guards patrolling the perimeter. Every one of them was in the Society's employ to prevent escape and breakout attempts. For the people who disagreed with Kevin's changes-those who wanted to return to the dictatorial policies that Griffin had in place before Kevin took over-the compound was filled with martyrs and heroes, each one with some great symbolic meaning. Kevin had recreated the Society with minor bloodshed, but Kendall wondered if he'd been a little too lenient in letting some of the people inside simply move on with their lives.

They'd tucked Metzgern's tiny room into the farthest corner from the line of parking stalls, and Kendall passed four security guards on the walk in. Lucy had opted to wait in the car, but he knew she was listening to the rapid sound of his anxious breathing and the heavy footsteps that drew him forward. The man is eighty. He's not a threat anymore.

He knocked on the door, dancing from one foot to the other as he waited for an answer. Metzgern would have a guard/nurse assigned to watch him at all hours but Kendall couldn't imagine the sort of person who would willingly want to do it.

The man who answered the door fit the bill. Tall, broad, dressed in vaguely prison-yard chic, he reminded Kendall of the orderlies Dalhousie had kept on staff. Emotionless and obedient. But this guy was obedient to the Society instead of the deranged killer inside.

He stepped back to allow Kendall in. The room was neat and tidy, every hardwood surface thoroughly scrubbed and polished. The nose-curling smell that Kendall associated with medication and strong cleaning products filled the air. The interior was bright. Airy. Completely inappropriate for a mass murderer. At that moment, Kendall hated Kevin for showing such mercy to such a monster.

The guard/nurse silently led him inside with a lone occupant. The man was slightly shrunken with age, small and engulfed by his wheelchair. An oxygen mask hung off the wheelchair's arm, attached to a heavy tank that sat beside him. Sharp intelligence resided in his pale green eyes and, man, was it ever unsettling.

Charles Metzgern.

A lamp flickered across the room. The light bulb seemed as nervous as Kendall felt. He paused in the middle of the room. Anyone else and he'd simply seat himself in the nearby armchair.

Anyone else and he wouldn't be so on edge...

"Come on, agent. Sit. My dentures are not sharp enough to bite." His voice was gentle and unassuming. He reminded Kendall of an aging grandfather. Harmless. Friendly. It almost made him forget that the man was responsible for the murder of thousands.

Kendall stepped forward, keeping his pace deliberately slow and unassuming. "Dr. Metzgern."

"Call me Charles, please. And you are Agent Kendall Knight. I've heard about you."

Yeah, that's definitely sitting well... "Dr. Metzgern, I've been given permission to come and speak with you regarding a scientist who was involved with your Research and Development team. Dr. Jessica Dalhousie." He wished he had a notepad or something to give himself an excuse to look down. Because doing so without? Not good. Not if he wanted Metzgern to respect him enough to give him the answers he needed.

"Yes. Jessica was a gift. So talented. And very intuitive. If you put a problem before her, she produced results."

"Were you aware she continued her research after it had been derailed by Kevin?"

Metzgern chuckled dryly. "Not directly. But then, I knew she would wish to continue as soon as they informed us that they were shutting us down. You cannot deny genius like Jessica's. But she was wise, as well as intelligent. I'm sure you understand the difference? She lacked resources and access to her original findings-"

"Sorry, her original findings? Wasn't everything recovered when she was removed from R&D?" The number charts and experiment logs...hundreds of pieces of information without context...it all looked so thorough. If she had hid some of it when she was removed from Research and Development... if there was more in her labs, then they could use it to draw out Kelly's killer.

"I have no doubt that much of her work was seized, but Jessica knew such a thing was likely when dear Griffin was murdered. I find it likely that she hid most of what she had in the databanks of her computers. She wouldn't be able to continue without it."

Someone had erased the location of Jessica's labs from the documentation he'd recovered from Kelly's home, but if they could get the location and collect the remains of her research, from there...

"Wait. I don't understand. If she wasn't going to be able to advance her findings, then why'd she keep going?"

"I see you are not a scientist. We have ways of performing our tests and retrieving our results."

"Ways that involve killing people?"

Metzgern smiled. "Sometimes. Are you familiar with the expression 'the ends-'"

"Bullshit. There's no such thing as justifying the means when it comes to innocent lives."

"There are many who would argue with you. Including your beloved Kevin, perhaps?" Before Kendall could reply, he continued, "As clever as Jessica was, she needed those baseline readings before she could move on. She would've needed to recreate her initial findings. Not gather additional information."

A spike of anger pressed against Kendall's chest. "So all those people died because she needed something she already had?"

"No people died, Kendall. This is what your generation does not understand. The vampires, werewolves, psychics, faeries, dragons... they are all lesser beings. Mankind was put on earth to rule over the beasts and birds and monsters. Some of these monsters have become clever enough to take human form, but they are not human. Not people."

"How can you say that?!" Kendall demanded. Metzgern wasn't just talking about nonhumans who manifested in obvious ways. He was talking about people like James and Shane. People who couldn't even be picked out of a lineup as being different. Kendall had read the stories. He knew that, under Griffins rule, he himself would have been shuffled into the inhuman category, along with every other supernatural being on the planet, but he'd never considered himself as less than human.

Jessica had thought this way. It was why she'd tortured Shane. And years ago, Kendall would've been laid out on a stainless steel table right next to him. The thought shook him. In some small corner in the back of his mind, he'd always known it. The Society's past wasn't as great as they wanted it to be. But having this suddenly shoved in his face? Not something he was feeling particularly comfortable with.

"You are very young and do not know what true war is. Griffin crossed the world to fight what he thought to be monsters in a war orchestrated by human ignorance. When he returned, he found that the true monsters were at home, living richly off the suffering of humanity and profiting from the misfortunes of their betters. This is what drove him to make the necessary changes in the Society. He forced an obsolete and decrepit organization to act and better itself. Instead of observers, we became warriors. And when he died, we lost one of the greatest men this world has ever known."

"Griffin was a murderer and a tyrant."

"So they say about many who do not deserve such ridicule, yet lost the wars they were fighting."

Don't let him get to you. "I think we've gotten off topic."

"On the contrary. To understand our research, you must understand that we are not the villains Kevin has made of us. Imagine the advantages the monsters have over humankind. Werewolves with their instincts. Vampires able to regenerate from near obliteration. Fae with their glamour. Even Kevin's control of the shadows. And so many of them possessed an unnaturally long life. There is little we can do to compete.

There was one lycanthrope, I remember, that we literally flayed alive, removed every essential organ except for the heart, and still it was able to regenerate. Its mind ruined, of course. It had nothing left but primal instinct...the procedure had destroyed its basic grasp on human language. Can you appreciate what that could mean to one of our agents facing off against such a beast. There is no way to fight against it. This is why we were seeking a means to move humanity onto a more level playing field with the depraved beasts with whom we are forced to share out world."

Steady. "And how did you propose to do that?"

"Interesting. I feel compelled to answer truthfully. But, really, there's not much hidden about us that a particularly diligent mind might discover."

"Assume I'm not one. What the hell were you two doing?"

"I merely supervised. Jessica, however, dedicated herself to what she referred to as a 'transference vector.' She proposed we could genetically map the abilities of an individual of the paranormal variety onto a receptive human, provided they were properly prepared ahead of time. She had several minor successes. Griffin was thrilled at her progress. He had several practical uses in mind, all of which would have been glorious had they come to pass."

"You're saying it worked."

"Of course. With Jessica heading the project, I'd have been shocked if it hadn't."

"But if she'd done it, why the need to continue experimenting?" Kendall barely realized he was speaking out loud to himself until Metzgern surprised him with an answer.

"Her formula was brilliant, but of limited use. She was unable to replicate the results with stronger subjects. I believe the highest threat rating we managed was a three. While I can only speculate at this point, I would think that she was responding to a demand for a more effective formula."

I don't like where this is going. "She wouldn't have reinitiated the research herself?"

Metzgern placed a hand on Kendall's knee. "Think, dear boy. Think of how she got the resources and subjects. I assume you know much of this already. Now consider the logistics of it all."

"We already knew she was involved with someone in the Society."

"Good. Now go a step further. Jessica was ambitious, but not particularly courageous. She wouldn't have acted on her own. Someone would have had to approach her."

"Someone who'd known about her research."

"Yes."

"Someone who wanted her to continue it."

"Yes."

"For the purposes of effectively using it against people with paranormal threat ratings over three." Kendall's brow furrowed in concentration. "And the timing..." His eyes widened. "Whoever it was wanted to be able to use it against Kevin."

"Well done, my boy. Well done."

Kendall stomped viciously down on the sudden swell of pride and snapped back to reality. Was this how Metzgern had collected all those followers? With words of encouragement? "Why are you helping me?"

"I am an old man, Kendall. It is my prerogative to help when and whom I chose." Metzgern's gaze drifted out the window. "This pretty cage will be my coffin. Every day, I feel myself slowly dying, and I have nothing left to offer to anyone. I have a horrible reputation. And although I live without regrets, I would like it if one person remembers me fondly."

"After what you did? All those people?"

"Do we really need to get into the semantics of it? You can argue it all you want, but at the end of the day, there is a difference between humanity and monstrosity. While those differences may not be physically evident, I assure you they exist."

"You can't convince me that what you did was right."

"Be careful, Kendall. Blinding yourself to contrary views is a sign of brainwashing. Ask yourself why Kevin does what he does. Why he snatched power away from Griffin. It certainly wasn't altruism. What does that leave?"

"You're wrong. Kevin has done nothing but strive to move the Society forward."

"I doubt it." Metzgern eased back in his seat. He gestured toward his attendant. "Tea, please. Some of the chamomile."

"Just because someone isn't completely human doesn't make them a monster."

He sighed. "And just because you wish that to be true doesn't make it so." He waved at Kendall. "Go. Run back to your boss, boy. I have answered all the questions I wish."

Kendall stood. His mind raged with a thousand different comments, questions and thoughts. Showing himself the door, he gave one last look over his shoulder. How many ghosts still lingered in the corners, screaming for retribution that never came?

He left the room behind, relieved when he heard the door close behind him.

Done! So yeah, kind of a lot to process in this chapter. But Kendall is getting a little closer to figuring the case out, and things will start to piece themselves together over the course of the next few chapters. There's also the fact that he's not exactly handling the breakup well and is essentially throwing himself into his work even more to try and cope.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about on the chapter as well as if you had a favorite moment!

And now a fun little announcement, you won't have to wait long for the next chapter! I finished three chapters for this story over the course of this past week, and this was the first one! So I will update again tomorrow, and then again on Sunday!

We'll check in with James next chapter to see how he's handling the break-up.

See you all again tomorrow!

-Epically Obsessed