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To scienceficfan24 – Thanks for your review! You know me and my cliffhangers, they go where I go lol. Hope you like this chapter!
To heather mcdaniels – Thanks for your review! Updates are every Saturday unless I'm gone without my computer. If that happens, then I upload early. Depending on how much I write though, I might change it to twice a week. Hope you like this chapter!
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So look me in the eyes, tell me what you see, a perfect paradise, tearing at the seams – Bad Liar,Imagine Dragons
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Hal really wished right now that one of the powers he got was the ability to instantly teleport himself to someplace else. He should've just stayed in his room instead of actually coming to meet his Dad. While that might have made him and Anne upset, at least then, no one would overhear them talking/yelling and come in to see what was going on. But he did come and the others did overhear and he had no idea what to do to get out of it. He recognized that look on his Dad's face. The older man was not going to let this go.
"Why were you in the infirmary Hal?" Tom demanded again, taking a step closer to Hal which caused him to back away. He was no longer looking worried, but angry and forceful. It was actually a little terrifying.
"It doesn't matter." Hal responded, doing his best to not show just how panicked he was really feeling.
"Yes it does." Tom insisted, either not noticing or not caring about the fearful look in his son's eyes that he was trying to hide. If Hal had to guess, it was probably because his Dad was too focused on getting answers to think about anything else, not that he really tried to see how he was feeling before though.
Luckily, the others in the room seemed to notice because Weaver stepped forward, put a hand on the father's shoulder and said, "Tom."
"Did it have to do with your shoulder?" Everyone looked over at Anne when she asked that. Seeing that she got everyone's attention, she continued, "I've noticed you've been favouring it every now and then."
He didn't think it was possible, but Hal somehow tensed up even more than he already was. He was surprised that Anne noticed that as he didn't think it was that obvious that he was favouring his shoulder. Then again, she was a doctor and ever since he came back to the 2nd Mass, he had been watched by practically everyone. He just wished she kept it to herself, or waited for another time to bring that up because her words got his Dad's attention on him again.
"Hal, what happened?" Tom asked as he turned back to Hal, his voice now more desperate than angry.
"Nothing." Hal insisted once again.
"Stop lying to me." Tom practically shouted in Hal's face.
"Of all the times I've lied to you that you didn't care about you suddenly decide to care about this?" It was a low blow, and Hal knew it, but he was hoping that it would stun his Dad enough that he could escape the room. When he looked to the door though, he saw Ben standing right in front of it, clearly blocking him.
"Hal…" Tom started but didn't really know what else to say. As much as it hurt, he knew Hal was right about what he said. Yet he also knew that he was just bringing that up now because he was trying to get him to stop asking questions.
"Look, it's not that big of a deal, okay? Let's just drop it." Hal told him as calmly as he possibly could, thinking that maybe if he was calm, his Dad would calm down too. However, it did the exact opposite.
"Yes it is a big deal." Tom responded.
"Tom, calm down." Weaver once again tried to intervene. At this point though, the other 2nd Mass leader was sick and tired of being trying to be patient, of being told to calm down, of his son trying to push him away.
"You are not leaving this room until you tell me what happened." Tom shouted right into Hal's face. Hal stared at him for a minute, then looked at the others. They all looked torn between wanting to try and calm down the whole situation and wanting Hal to actually tell them what happened. There was no getting out of this, not anymore.
"I tried to escape, not long after they brought me there." Hal said, looking down at the floor, picking an old stain to focus on, "The Overlords didn't like that so they…"
"They…" Tom repeated Hal's last word slowly as realization dawned on him, filling him horror.
Quickly sensing that his Dad, and probably everyone else in the room figured out what he didn't say, Hal continued, "But at that point, they had already given me powers. I used them to try and escape again."
"What happened? They still managed to stop you?" Weaver questioned, not seeing how Hal, with his powers, wasn't able to get free.
Hal glanced over at him, then shook his head and said, "I stopped myself."
"Why would you do that?" Tom wondered. He had known for a while that whatever Hal went through while being trapped in the ghetto or camp or whatever you want to call it was bad, but with the added knowledge that his son was tortured there and yet stopped himself from escaping made no sense.
"I lost control, and I," Hal stopped again, avoiding everyone's eyes. If he looked nervous to the other people in the room before he started talking, he looked terrified now.
"Hal, what happened?" Tom asked as he put a comforting on his son's shoulder, a little scared by what the answer was. He had never seen Hal act like this before and he had no idea what to do about it.
"I," Hal started, then stopped and looked down at the ground. He couldn't meet his Dad's eyes, not when he could feel his eyes swell up with tears, not when he was about to tell him the truth. Taking a deep breath, he said, very quietly, "I killed a harnessed kid."
"What?" Tom's voice was filled with shock and his hand dropped from his son's shoulder as he took a step back.
"I don't really remember much but, I think he was trying to stop me and I," Hal paused again, wishing this whole thing wasn't happening. Since it was though, Hal continued, still looking at the ground, "I broke his neck, before I, snapped out of it. Karen found me and brought me to the infirmary building. I was there until the Espheni started bombing the place. After that had happened, I decided I'd never use my powers again."
The entire room was completely silent, a silence that was starting to make Hal feel like there was an elephant sitting on his chest. He wondered if anyone could make out that he was struggling to breathe. Since it was so quiet, he doubted it would be hard for anyone to hear. He did his best though to control it, to even it out, to remain calm. Freaking out right now would just make things worse, he could lose control.
"Hal, I," His Dad pulled his attention back to him.
"You what?" Hal asked harshly, finally looking up at him, letting any and all anger he had been keeping locked up inside him out a little, just enough to push his Dad away. From the look in his eyes, he knew that he had succeeded.
"Look, now you guys know everything. So can you just please leave me alone?" Hal asked. Without looking at anyone else or giving them time to answer, he turned and stormed out of the room. Ben, who was still standing by the door, didn't move out of the way but didn't try to stop his brother at all.
"Hal!" Tom finally called out about a minute after Hal had already left, the shock dying down enough for him to realize what just happened. He moved to go after him, but Weaver's grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Tom no. Let him go." Weaver told him, "Just give him some time alone right now."
The former history professor wanted to fight him, but didn't. He knew that Weaver was right. Everything was so messed up. The whole point of this was to just talk to Hal, to explain to him that they wanted to make sure he was okay, that that was why Anne wanted to run more tests. Yet somehow, they ended up in a screaming match because Tom couldn't stand not knowing what happened to his oldest son and demanded that Hal tell him everything, and he made him do it in front of his brothers, Maggie, Weaver, and Anne.
"Maggie." Tom's attention was turned to the blonde when he heard Anne's voice, just in time to see her walking out of the room. Though she didn't say anything, everyone knew exactly where she was going and no one tried to stop her. No one could stop Maggie when she set her mind on something. And if there was anyone that Hal would listen to, anyone's presence who Hal would accept right now, it was her.
