;"Chapter 27 – Ansin and Eolas/p
"Jack threw his and Frank's suits in the washing machine, they had just come home from another day in court, they had presented most of the evidence in Zara's case, they were in for a long case from the defence. Frank had ordered takeout pizza and was in the kitchen watching the app, waiting for the delivery to arrive, Jack had ran down the stairs and opened the front door to the delivery man before Frank even knew the pizza had arrived. Jack brought the pizza into the kitchen and sat opposite Frank at the bar, "I never knew this side of being an agent could be so tiring" Jack said, Frank nodded taking a bite of pizza, "There is something I want to talk to you about" Frank said, Jack dropped his pizza slice and it landed back in the box, "You're not in trouble" Frank reassured him, Jack didn't pick up the pizza slice, he waited for Frank to explain, "I spoke to the Smith's before the coordinated arrests," "Yeah, I was here" Jack interrupted, Frank shook his head, "Eolas, Ansin, how come you never told me?" he asked, Jack picked up the pizza slice, "because MI9 would want to use it" "Why's that a bad thing?" Frank asked, "It'd never stand up in court, you couldn't use any of the information, and Eolas is personal, if MI9 got hold of it, it'd be an invasion of privacy" Jack replied and picked up another piece of pizza, "But this seeing into the past, we could confirm things and…""No" Jack cut him off, "I don't use Ansin anymore" he said, "Why?" Frank asked, he was curious, Jack would frequently use Eolas with the others, why not Ansin, was it because only he and Jana could use it? "Pain." Jack said simply, "You don't know what you are going to see, the last time I used Ansin I watched a family being sadistically murdered including the kids, items hold memory, and I cant stop that memory from playing out once its started. That man, I saw everything, it was like I was there watching it play out from inside the room, could see everything, hear everything. They were begging for their lives – I've never used Ansin since." Frank reached out his hand over the bar to Jack, he smiled, "I'll prove them both come on" Jack said after a pause, "You just said you'd never use Ansin again?" Frank said, "You got an object, has to be something that holds memory, just make sure I'm not going to see anything bad please" Frank nodded, he went to his room and got a hat from his bottom draw, he took it out to Jack who was in the garden, MI9 had adapted the house to remove as much technology and cables as they could so it wouldn't start effecting Jack. Jack took a deep breath in and sat down on the grass and took the hat from Frank. Frank sat opposite him, he saw Jack's eyes turn yellow and waited, "Woman" Jack said, "she's in a small room, there's an open fireplace, she's knitting wearing the hat, she's cold." Frank smiled; he knew exactly what Jack was seeing. It was true, Jack could see into the past. "a man has come in, with a kid, the kids got a video camera. It's the woman's birthday, there's cake. The woman takes off the hat and gives it to the boy, he puts it on." Jack's eyes turned back blue, he handed the hat back to Frank, who was smiling, but crying at the same time, "Dad?" Jack asked, Frank shook his head and wiped his eyes. "Eolas?" Jack asked, Frank nodded, Jack told Frank to call Stark, Frank nodded, he told Stark what was going to happen and they switched to video call, "Make him do something, don't tell me what" Jack said, he took a deep breath in and his eyes changed again, he looked up to evening sky, "Stark's in his office, and he's, he's, he's dancing?" Jack looked at Frank confused, he heard Stark laugh from over the phone, "The kids insane, that's brilliant" Stark said gleefully
"Frank took Jack back inside, he asked Jack to wait in the living room, Jack was confused but obliged. Frank returned moments later with a VCR player, he hooked it up to the TV and inserted the cassette. Jack watched as the scene he had seen in his head minutes earlier played out on the TV but from a different angle and with audio. "That's you?" Jack asked as the camera continued and panned to the little boy. Frank nodded, "The hat belonged to my grandma, she passed a few years after this was taken" Jack went over and sat by Frank, he seemed sad and so went over to comfort him. They sat watching Frank's old tapes until it finished, "Stay here" Jack said, and he ran upstairs and grabbed his laptop, he placed it on the coffee table and began to play video clips taken from the camera he had smuggled back to the wild before he came back to Stoneybridge.
"Jana, come here!" Jack said on the tape, the camera was focused on Jana and she walked over, "Show us around alpha" Jack laughed, Jana swatted his arm, "Not so loud, Aran doesn't want anyone to know yet" She laughed, Jack and Frank watched as Jana took them around the camp, and other clips Jack had managed to film, "Rhydian's happy" Ceri said as she came into the frame, "Maddy too" Jana used Eolas and Frank watched the screen intently, studying her trying to figure out how they did it, but the camera footage changed angle as Jack dropped the camera, "give it here, you try" Jana could be heard saying and the angle changed again, this time Jack was on screen, he too used Eolas, it was the same as when he performed it in the garden, the footage showed Jack smiling, "What you got?" Jana asked, "My friends, they're busy" Jack replied, "Busy doing what? What keeps humans busy?" Ceri asked, Jack smiled, "Saving the world" Jack stood up "do you miss the human world?" Ceri asked, Jack shrugged, "My friends yeah, the rest not so much" "MI9" Jana asked, Jack nodded, "It like being a superhero" he laughed, suddenly he stopped laughing, "Someone's coming," Jana put the camera in her pocket, "Segolia" She said in fear, Jack howled and the camera picked up sounds of them running, "Alric! Aran! Hunters!" Jack shouted, "Meinir grab the cubs lets go". The camera continued to pick up sounds of the pack running in fear and the occasional gun shot, em"Hafren! You guys keep going I got her!" Jack shouted, Jack skipped the video forwards, "It was just Jana running" he said to Frank, "We should be okay here" Alric said trying to catch his breath, "Aran, Meinir, go find food" He said. "CERI!" Jack shouted, "Help!" Jana pulled the camera out of her pocket and turned it on herself, "If anyone finds this, this is what we're dealing with, someone has to stop Segolia, they're not who they say they are" Jana turned the camera on Jack, Ceri and Hafren. Hafren was bleeding badly and very weak, "I can stop the bleeding" Ceri said, Jana pocketed the camera again, "Jack, Jana, come here" Ceri could be heard saying, "I can't do anything about the poison, we have no supplies. We have to make a choice, she's too weak to fight the poison." "So, who does it?" Jana asked, "Me" Jack said, "Jana, Alric's weak, you need to lead, they wont respect you if you took pity. Ceri you're meant to be a healer. We've been through this before, this is my job, you two keep her calm, I'll tell Alric" Jack could be heard walking away, "This shouldn't be done ever, now we've had to create a role for it." Ceri said, "Segolia's done this, not us." Jana said, "Jack's only Rhydian's age" Ceri said sadly, "Me, and Rhydian are the same age, do you have faith in me to lead?" Jana asked, "Good, I have faith in Jack he's only a year younger but I've got faith, Rhydian's tame, he couldn't handle a conflict in his own back yard remember, Jack's got this." "Jana, Ceri" Alric said, the footsteps grew closer, "Hafren my dear" Alric then whispered something that the tape couldn't pick up, "I'm ready" Hafren said weakly and through tears, "no more pain" Jack said softly, There was a squelching noise and Frank stared at the black screen unsure what was happening, Jack was close to tears and grabbed Frank's hand, Frank didn't look away from the screen. "I'll station the guards, Jana, Ceri, get the boys, start the digging, grab some rocks." Alric said, Jana and Ceri's footsteps crunched the leaves they stepped on, "I don't know how he does it, that's the fourth one now" Jana said, "the 13 year old executioner" Ceri said, "That wasn't execution Ceri, it was mercy." Jana replied. The video shut off and Jack turned to Frank, "I think that answers one of the other questions you wanted to know" Frank nodded, "Life in the wild was different. Mercy killings, that was my job." Frank didn't say anything, he merely pulled Jack in for a hug, Jack wasn't one for affection, but he appreciated it. Frank let Jack go and looked at him for a moment, "I see it now" He said, Jack was confused, "we need to go to the city, come on, bring the laptop" Jack grabbed the laptop and followed Frank to the car.
"What are we doing?" Jack asked as they sat in rush hour traffic, Frank stared at the road, "You don't want me anymore – that's it, now you know you don't want me" Frank sighed, the traffic started moving, Jack stuck his headphones on and climbed into the back seat, Frank pulled into the service station and parked the car, he turned around "Come on" Jack kept his headphones on and followed Frank, he was scared Frank was going to leave him at the service station, they went round the back to an alleyway, "You're going to leave me here is that it?" Jack said angrily, he took his headphones off and started walking away from Frank, "No" Frank said, Jack turned around confused, "When I was your age, I got into a fight here, I'd just run away from home, my dad was my only family after my grandma passed, he wasn't a nice person. I came to this service station, took shelter in this alley, a group of men came through trying to do a drug deal, they turned on me when they realised, I was there. I took an iron bar from the floor and I killed one of them. MI9 was tracking the men and they found me like I found you." Frank sat on the floor, Jack joined him, "you wanted me to know?" he asked, Frank shook his head, "No, you just got so mad when you thought I was going to give you away, I didn't want you to think I was judging you, so I pulled in to show you that we're the same." Jack stood up, "Except for the wolf" He laughed, he helped Frank off the floor and they walked back to the car, "I'm not giving up on you, whatever you've done, we've all done things in the line of duty we're not proud of." Jack smiled, "So why are we going to Headquarters – you said city so I assume that's where we're going" Frank nodded, "Well we've all assumed you were the same age as the others, you gelled well with them, but we never really got your true age because you didn't know, and that recording proves it. You're 13, or 14 – either way, you're younger than the others so we need to correct that now we know." Jack understood, "can you prove it?" he asked, "Like I know that's what Ceri and Jana said, but what if they're wrong?". Frank started the car and in the time that they had been at the service station the traffic had cleared and it was an easy drive the rest of the way. "There has always been a way, but I didn't think you'd want it, dental x-rays and tests will prove it." Frank said.
"Jack sat terrified through the x rays and dental exam, at the end he ran out of the chair and straight back to Frank, "You do that all the time?" "every six months yeah" Jack shook his head, "never again." They went and visited Stark and Stella whilst they waited for the results, they were going through the plan for the court day tomorrow, it was the start of Zara's defence case and they needed everything solid, they knew they would be called by the defence to testify. There was a knock on the door, "Frank London?" a voice came through the door, Frank left the room for a few moments and returned with a documents folder, "Jack, come on" Jack left the room, he realised they were headed to the bosses office. Frank knocked on the door and the secretary let them in, Frank told Jack to wait outside and Frank went inside and stood behind the desk and Frank put the folder on the table. "Dental test?" She asked, Frank nodded, "So?" the Head of MI9 asked, "estimated birthday February – 13 years ago." "Just turned 13?" she asked, Frank nodded again, "He should be moved to year 9 next year, when the others go into year 11" "Who was the social worker cover?" She asked, "Stella and Horatio, send them into the school? Rectify the mistake?" "Yes, I'll sort the legal paperwork" she said, then Frank asked the question he wanted Jack out of the room for, luckily, the office was soundproofed and there was no way that Jack could hear them. "We don't normally put them in the field at 13," Frank said, not entirely asking the question, "would moving him in school year affect the running of your team?" The Head of MI9 asked, "I doubt it. They're a tight knit team." She nodded, "Then we carry on as normal, we'll sort the documents, move him to year 8, and we'll see you both tomorrow"
"What?" Jack said as soon as Frank exited the office. They headed out to the car, "tests confirm it, you're 13. We've got court in the morning, but you'll be moving year groups – two years below unfortunately" Frank explained, "I can still work though?" Jack asked, Frank nodded, Jack smiled.
After the morning court session, two MI9 agents came back to St Hopes with Jack and Frank, the Head of MI9 realised she couldn't send Stark or Stella to pretend to be social workers and lawyers as Mr Flatley and Mrs King had met them multiple times during the court cases. Both teachers were shocked at the news, and they couldn't take their eyes off Jack's school ID, now that they knew, he did look younger that the rest of the year tens. Mrs King came out the office and took Jack to his new class, he found the work easier in this class, and it would be easier to get away now he was the only one trying to leave class, rather than four of them.
"Jack man, where have you been?" Rhydian asked him as the lesson change began, Jack laughed, "Turns out I'm actually 13, so they've moved me." They couldn't speak for longer as Mr Jeffries was waiting outside the class for Jack's history lesson.