author's note. yes it has been too long. i had a small window of opportunity in which to move to the land of my dreams, so i took it. opportunity knocked, and i had to answer it! thanks for your continued support!)
...
"I will kill every damn one of you! DEATH, I AM!"
Then Kyle laughed.
With a bag over his head, and his feet and arms tied securely, he bounced around in the back of the van, as three of Peller's goons prepared to drop him off at Network 23, in the care of his father, Ben Cheviot.
"You're afraid! Oh, good! You should be afraid! Cos I'm totally gonna kill the shit out of you!"
"Stop it!" one of the guards shouted with fear in his voice.
Kyle laughed louder. It was so loud he started coughing.
"Shut up, you monster!" Gabrielle called out from the front seat. Then she turned back to the front as the van continued on its way.
She insisted on coming, even though Mr. Peller warned against it. He didn't want any of his people near any "damn dirty mutants" as he put it in the most furious voice he could muster, which actually wasn't hard these days.
He had changed in the last three months.
Gabrielle had been his nurse in the 2 weeks without his eyesight. Every night for 14 days, he had nightmares. In his waking times he was angrier than ever, often snapping at her, and even throwing things. Gabrielle put up with all of it, and occasionally he was even grateful she stood by him.
Then Zik Zak came forward with an offer he would never refuse; they would restore his eyesight, if he committed himself to ending "the mutant menace" once and for all. They would provide him with hardware he would need to accomplish this daunting task, including mechanical robots programmed and designed to combat mutants on a rampage(IE, caught after curfew or just in public, seen to close to normal people, they just looked like a mutant, and any number of xenophobic ideas. Peller promised, and upon a full restoration to optical health, filed the paperwork necessary to run for office, one final time.
And Gabrielle swore her support.
""That's it," she pointed at the 23 parking structure. "Let's get him dropped off and fast. He's giving me the creeps!"
So, the deed was done, and a security guard arrived to escort him to his father's office. Of course, Kyle would have none of it.
"You can't tell daddy, I'm home. I need to go see my little friend with the glasses. Oh, come on! They took my girlfriend away from me! All I need now is just need to see my little friend!"
x-x-x
"Oh... yes... he's here. He got here safe and it took me 30.567 minutes to figure it out... Kyle that's your brother!"
Kyle looked mad.
"But... I thought he was a vegetable... "
Kyle rubbed his head, looking all around carefully.
"No, Christina fixed it. Christina... she's in a safe place... "
"Ahh, she patched his brain! Hey, I developed a mutant-detecting-program... uh, alter... huh! Well, I need to get it 'on the air'. That might be difficult. They made me promise not to do anything 'weird'."
"Bryce he's gone! He's not here!"
Bryce pointed. "He's back there, sleeping... oh... " Bryce realized "he told me he'd stay put till you got here! Does... he have powers?"
"Come on!" Kyle demanded, grabbing his arm and dragging him from the lab.
x-x-x
Tommy left because he was hungry, and he remembered the vending machine he passed on the way to Bryce's lab. He stood in front of it, puzzling over what he wanted, when a lovely woman with dark hair came up beside him.
"You're lovely," he said with a grin.
"Well, thank you! Are you a new intern here?"
"I'm waiting for my cousin, Kyle. He doesn't know I'm here it's a surprise, so no telling," he replied innocently.
She grabbed his shoulder, startling him. "Kyle... Cheviot! He's here?"
"Uh... well... " he pulled away, looking hard at the machine. Her suddenly-frantic tone put him off.
"Do you have three coins? Takes three coins." He pointed to the machine, trying to distract her.
"Where is Christina!?"
Now the woman asked about Christina? He couldn't say anything about her being taken by a giant robot, could he?
"She... was... taken by a giant robot... " he tried.
"What?! No!" she screamed.
"I had nothing to do with it, honest. She and Kyle told me to run for my life! They told me to find Bryce Lynch and that's what I did!"
The vending machine suddenly dispensed all of its products. Food coming out clogged the chutes, and the drinks made the machine short circuit and began sparking.
A door on the other end of the corridor swung open.
"Theora!" Edison cried out. Kyle came in behind him, followed by Bryce.
"Back to my lab! Hurry!" Bryce cried out, as Edison went for Theora and Kyle picked up his shaking brother from the floor.
He saw what had happened to the vending machine and went "Hmmm!" very loudly.
"Edison! He... he knows where Christina is!" Theora cried out, clinging to him.
"This better be good Kyle!" Edison warned.
"Oh, crap!" Bryce realized.
"Come on! If daddy finds out there will be hell to pay!" Kyle said, one arm around Tommy and moving off fast.
"Relax. You're safe here."
"I won't see him, and I won't talk to him. Kyle... I hate him!"
"Please erase those surveillance tapes, little friend!"
Bryce huffed angrily, but did as Kyle told him.
"What's going on!" Edison demanded.
"Spill it, Kyle! What happened?" Edison demanded. Theora stood beside him, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Kyle, what happened to Christina. Kyle, I can take it!"
"I don't think so... but you don't have to. She's safe... well safer... she knows it, I'll deal with it... " he shrugged "she's with Harriet Garth."
"You're joking!" Theora gasped.
Tommy snuck off quietly, back to Bryce's room. Edison watched carefully
"Can everyone just tone it down?" Kyle begged.
"Done!" Bryce said. "Please note, I think we all benefit from this! That's why I did it!"
"Kyle!" Theora begged.
Now in Bryce's lab, safe from the eyes of the outside world, and video surveillance of the rather ugly incident erased from computer memory and history, Kyle went to his brother, and placed a hand on his shoulder gently, even lovingly.
"Please, Kyle, please! You promised!"
"Righto, Edison!" Kyle stepped back. He flashed Bryce the peace sign with a little reluctance, then turned to Edison and Theora.
"It's exactly what you think."
"What exactly do I think, Kyle?" Edison queried, as Theora left his side, and headed back.
"You can trust her, she's good!" Kyle yelled. Theora stopped momentarily, then continued.
"My brother... we brought him back, because he wanted it... well mostly. I'm his family, Christina will be his sister-in-law one day... my brother can think for himself now!" Kyle explained with pride.
However, Edison was not happy at all, but before Kyle could brag further, the gate to Bryce's room slammed shut, and Theora gasped. "Oh, God!"
She came back quickly.
"Does he have powers too?" Edison bit out.
"Everything's in control. We think it has to do with Christina fixing his brain. It unlocked his power."
"Tell me she's in a safe place!" Theora begged.
"Well... there is no safe place for us... just safer... she's with Harriet Garth."
It was like a thunderclap all around them. Theora covered her face with her hands, Bryce said "WHOAH!" and Edison was still, quiet, yet the fury in his eyes was evident, as were other things.
"Headache!" Kyle pointed to his skull.
""Surely she must know that Harriet Garth is using her to win the upcoming election... altogether not a bad idea but still... "
Theora was sighing and weeping in relief. "Well, anything is better than Simon Peller... I think?" She looked at Edison. "I know she's a politician but other than that... "
He didn't look encouraged by that, so she turned back to Kyle.
"We need to see her," Theora stated.
"We all do!" Kyle frowned."We had no idea about the robots."
"I'm sorry, miss." Tommy came out from the back, and sat in a chair. "My dad... I can't see him... I don't want to see him."
He looked sad and lost. Edison stormed out of the lab, and Theora followed.
"She fixed him!" Edison gaped.
"She... she meant well. I guess she was trying to make up for what happened with Peller. " Theora tried.
"They brought him back here! Theora, does she even know what she did?!"
(in the next chapter, a special easter egg just for you, the reader, if you can guess what she did?! :p )
