Twist of Fate: Chapter 7
by Lisette
Legalese: See Chapter 1 for disclaimers and ratings.
Sighing, Jarod slowly leaned back against the faded upholstery and turned his weary eyes away from the rapidly fading hospital behind them. "They won't rest until they're sure that I'm gone," he muttered, weakly running a hand through his spiked hair. "But you'll be safe then."
"Well, then it's time to get you out of Dodge," Buffy replied evenly, swiveling in her seat to take in his haggard appearance, trying not to snicker at seeing him squished so tightly next to Xander in the small backseat, Willow trying her best to be comfortable atop her friend's lap.
"Dodge?" Jarod muttered, obviously confused as he slowly shook his head. "But this is Sunnydale-"
"Cultural pop reference," Giles interrupted with a knowing smile, hazarding a glance at the younger man through his rearview mirror. "She means that we need to get you out of Sunnydale - immediately."
"But I can't leave yet," the Pretender quickly protested, energy once more returning as he struggled to sit forward. "I haven't done yet what I came here to do."
"Which is?" Xander prompted, grunting as Giles hit a bump, causing Willow to shift into a painful place. "Easy there, Will," he muttered, trying to shift her away from delicate places as her face flushed red.
Ignoring the teens' banter, Jarod locked eyes with Buffy. "To help Harmony Kendall's parents understand what happened to their daughter and find out who blew up Sunnydale High School a few weeks ago," he stated, his eyes boring into her own.
"Well that's easy," Buffy replied, ignoring her Watcher's startled glance. "Having Harmony's parents believe that she's dead is better than telling them that her daughter has become a soulless, blood sucking demon, and," she added, her eyes twinkling a bit, "I blew up the school," she finished, her smile innocent.
Speechless, Jarod could only stare in silence at the small girl that sat in front of him.
"Yeah, and can you believe that this is the second school that she's toasted like that?" Xander quipped, only to receive a nasty glare from the petite blonde.
"But.. how is that-" Jarod stammered, slowly turning from one calm face to the other.
"Don't worry about it," Willow added innocently from beside him. "It's not like she did it for fun or anything. We had to in order to keep the Mayor-snake-thing from becoming a true demon and destroying the world." As a thick silence once more fell over the car, Willow balked beneath the Watcher's heated glare.
"In any case," Giles continued, his voice gruff as he pointedly met the eyes of each teen as best as possible while trying to keep one eye on the road, "we should focus once more on the issue at hand. Namely, getting Mister..." he trailed off as his eyes slid up to meet Jarod's even gaze in the rearview mirror.
"Just Jarod," the man quickly supplied, smiling benignly at the watcher's gaze.
"Well, yes then," Giles fumbled, obviously a bit put off by the lack of a proper name. "Jarod, here, out of town as quickly as humanly possible," he finished, hazarding a glance at his slayer beside him, a thick silence once more falling over the vehicle.
"I have a car," Jarod spoke up quietly as all eyes turned once more back to him. "Rented, that is. I imagine that it's still back at the cemetery-"
"But you can't drive in your condition," Willow quickly protested before sending her friends a questioning look. "Can he?"
"I'll be fine," Jarod assured, straining to make his voice steady. Honestly, just being away from Lyle's unnerving boyish grin was enough to make him feel strong enough to do anything to make good on his escape. "I just need to get my things from my room."
"Where are you staying?" Buffy interrupted, her mind already mulling over different scenarios and possibilities.
"The Sunnydale Motel," he responded quickly, noting the snickers that comment received from the two sitting beside him.
"Good," Buffy cut in, her eyes silencing her friends. "We're right by there. Giles can drop Jarod and I off at the motel and while he's getting cleaned up, you three can retrieve his car and meet us back there."
Nodding in agreement, it only took a minute more before Jarod was directing Giles across the parking lot and to his room. As the car pulled to a grinding halt, the petite blonde bounded energetically from the car before leaning back in to help the pretender from the small confines. "Hurry back with the car," she instructed one last time as her friends quickly pulled away, leaving her alone with the stranger.
Sighing, she watched the dwindling taillights for a moment longer before turning her full attention back to the man that leaned against her. "Let's get you inside and cleaned up," she murmured, noting the color that was finally beginning to return to Jarod's cheeks as he became more steady on his feet. "You're a quick healer," she commented as they stepped into the drab room, the flickering overhead lights illuminating a garish combination of orange, red and green fabric.
"I've experienced worse," came Jarod's mumbled reply as he scooped up a small duffel and headed towards the bathroom. "Give me a few minutes to get cleaned up."
Nodding idly, Buffy slowly swiveled as the door clicked shut behind him and took in the room. From all appearances, Jarod really hadn't had a chance to get settled in as the room looked virtually untouched. The only sign that it was inhabited was a large, silver briefcase that sat on a scarred wooden table, a putrid green chair pulled up alongside. Curious, Buffy settled in the creaking chair, grimacing at the various stains that covered the tattered material. "God, I don't even want to know," she muttered as her eyes turned once more to the case.
As her small hands reached for the clasp, a brief feeling of guilt swept over her as she stole a glance at the closed bathroom door. "Well, if it was private then he wouldn't have it sitting in the middle of the room," she reasoned to herself, no matter how illogical she knew it to be, as she popped the clasp and opened the case, only to reveal a strange machine built within. Perplexed, Buffy noted a random assortment of what looked to be miniature CDs off to one side with a small screen being the only prominent feature.
"Where's Will when you need her?" she muttered, idly selecting one CD amongst the others and slipping it into a small slot. Instantly the small screen came to life before her, showing a black and white image of a drab, institutional-looking room. Within sat a small boy, hooked to various nodes and wires and seated on a hard, metal chair. No, strapped to what looked to be an-
"Electric chair?" she breathed, eyes growing wide in horror. Disgusted, Buffy turned her gaze away from the hard lines of the chair and took in the small boy. He couldn't have been more than six or seven, with dark hair and large dark eyes... dark eyes that were so familiar. Surprised, Buffy couldn't help but feel that she knew the boy as she stared into those eyes - filled with so much loneliness - a feeling that she could relate to despite being surrounded by her friends. After all, no matter how much they aided her when she needed it most, in the end, it would always be her destiny to face whatever evil headed her way.
"Jarod, you must complete the simulation," a tinny voice echoed from the machine's speakers, drawing Buffy from her reverie as a slim man with thinning hair slowly stepped into view, pacing alongside the small boy. Startled, her eyes were drawn once more back to the small child, realizing at once that she was seeing a video of Jarod from when he was just a little boy.
"But Sydney, I don't want to," the child protested, tears glistening in his eyes. "I don't want to feel what he's feeling!"
"Jarod," the man quickly interrupted the child's quiet protests, "you must finish the simulation. A lot of people are depending on this," he urged, a brief flare of pity flashing across his handsome features before being replaced by one of cold detachment. "Now think. You are about to have your life ended by electrocution - the strong currents are about to course through your body. What are your last thoughts? Is he thinking about his victim? About the girl that he raped and killed?"
Aghast, Buffy could only watch as sniffling, the small boy forced back his tears as he visibly trembled under the heavy restraints. "I'm... I'm thinking about my family, and the fact that I'm never going to see them again," he whispered, his voice hollow and his eyes far away. "Even now I think about my family and what a mistake this is," he murmured, his features becoming firm. "Sydney, he didn't do it. He didn't rape that-"
So engrossed in the boy's tale, Buffy didn't notice Jarod's approach until his hand surged forward over her shoulder and snapped down the lid of the DSA unit. Startled, Buffy jumped from her seat and turned to face the man, a guilty blush staining her cheeks. "I..." she trailed off, a suitable excuse evading her as she noticed his change of clothing. With his black jeans, leather duster, and slightly mussed hair, he could almost pass for normal. "I was just-"
"It's none of your business," Jarod curtly cut in, his frown cutting a hard and unforgiving line across his handsome face.
Spurned more by shame and the realization that he was right than anything else, Buffy nonetheless felt her temper spike at his rebuke. "What was that?" she demanded, watching as his face closed up even more. Sighing, Buffy slowly bit her lip as she tried another tactic. "Jarod," she whispered, tentatively stepping forward until she was staring up into his large brown eyes - the same brown eyes that held the same look as the child from years ago - her small hand resting on his arm. "What's going on? Your friends? The guns? Who are they and why do they want you so badly? The truth," she demanded, her green eyes boring into his own.
Sighing, Jarod felt himself begin to waver under her intense gaze. The Truth. In general, he made it a rule to keep the Truth of his past to himself and a few select others. In the past four years that he had been running from the Centre, despite the appeal of friendship and a temporary release of his great burden, he had learned that too much information, namely the Truth, could be dangerous to those he loved and trusted. The Centre made sure of that. But then again, as memories of earlier that evening flashed before his mind's eye: the girl's quick actions and inhuman strength, Jarod realized that of all the people that he had confided in, this small girl probably had the least to fear from Centre goons. That thought, strengthened by his natural curiosity, caused his frown to finally break into a tentative smile. "Not unless I get some answers from you as well - the truth this time," he added as he watched her consider his offer.
Kneading her lower lip, Buffy briefly anticipated Giles' reproach when he learned of this deal and then pushed it aside as her curiosity got the better of her once again. "Alright, it's a deal," she nodded, firmly taking his hand in her own and pumping it a few times. "But you get to start," she added as she settled her small frame into the ugly green chair, her earlier disgust forgotten as a lazy smile lifted her lips.
"Okay," Jarod murmured, his smile fading as he slowly pondered the bizarre tale that was his life. Inevitably, it always came to this: "I was taken from my family as a small child by a corporation called The Centre."
"Taken?" Buffy queried, afraid that she already knew his answer.
"Kidnapped," Jarod clarified, his voice becoming soft as his brown eyes met her green. "I was told that my family was dead and was raised in the Centre as one of their prized possessions - my natural ability as a pretender exploited to the highest bidder."
"Pretender?" Buffy asked, arching an eyebrow in disbelief. "As in playing dress-up and make-believe?" she continued, her natural affinity to lighten any situation coming through.
"Not quite," he responded, smiling ruefully. "There's something in my genes that has made me a genius with the ability to become anyone I want to be - from a doctor to an aerospace engineer," he explained, relating his past to her as he had done to others. "Given enough information, I can think like someone else and react and foretell how they would act."
Stunned, Buffy could only blink at Jarod. Instinctively she wanted to outright dismiss his tale as ludicrous. Then again, how would he react to her tale of vampires and demons? Deciding neutrality was the best venue for the present, Buffy slowly nodded her head. "A genius," she murmured, scrutinizing the man that stood before her, taking in his lean, athletic frame and kind features. "I would have pictured a genius to look more.. I don't know, brainy or something," she added, unable to keep the small smile from her lips. But at Jarod's frown, Buffy quickly dropped her attempts at levity and pushed ahead. "Well why did this Circle place go to all the trouble to kidnap you?"
"Centre," Jarod automatically corrected as his eyes seemed to focus on something just beyond Buffy's head. "And because they're evil," he answered simply, his eyes returning once more to hers.
"Hmm, evil," Buffy responded, nodding her head slightly as she aimlessly began picking at invisible specks of lint on her red tank. "I can relate with evil," she murmured as she took in Jarod's questioning glance. Shrugging her shoulders at his unasked question, Buffy quickly motioned for him to continue. "Not my turn yet."
Pushing aside her puzzling response for the moment, Jarod quickly returned to his earlier statement. "Well, not all of them are evil," he clarified, thinking of Sydney, Broots, and even Miss Parker and Sam. "Many of the people that work there are just caught up in their work, unable to get out and not understanding the full horrors of the Centre. You see, they used me to do a lot of different simulations, simulations that I was told were to help, but were really used to hurt and kill a lot of people," Jarod admitted, his eyes becoming unfocused as he thought of all of the harm that he had inadvertently caused. "I was naive and when I realized what was really being done with my work, I escaped," he finished simply, shrugging his shoulders. "That was four years ago."
"And they're still after you?" Buffy guessed, cocking her head to the side.
"Yes. Since I broke out I've spent every moment searching for my past, and I've come so close," he murmured, his eyes growing sad. "I was reunited with my dad very briefly, but I've lost him again, and I've seen my mom and sister once," he continued, his voice growing soft. "And I had found my brother... but he died to save me."
"I'm sorry," Buffy murmured, her heart going out to this man as she slowly stood from the chair, awkwardly placing her small hand on his shoulder. Sighing, she watched as Jarod seemed to struggle with old memories and wounds that hadn't had time to heal. Shaking her head, she understood why she felt she could relate to this man so well. His sacrifices and personal loss were something she could relate to. Sighing, she quickly turned her thoughts away as she gently squeezed his shoulder to draw his attention. "But what does your search for your family have to do with Harmony and Sunnydale?" she asked.
"Nothing," Jarod replied, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he smiled wearily at the girl. "When not looking for my family, I also try to use my gifts to help those who are unable to help themselves-"
"Righting wrongs and other such heroic stuff?" Buffy asked, trying to make him smile. "Well where's your tights?"
"Tights?" Jarod queried, his expression turning puzzled once more. "I've never worn tights... well, except for that one time..." he trailed off as Buffy blanched. "Anyway," he quickly continued, trying to hide his blush, "I'm just trying to make up for all the hurt I inadvertently caused with my sims from my time at the Centre."
At this, Buffy couldn't help a small smile. "Sounds like someone else I know," she murmured, her thoughts turning to Angel and his departure which still hurt so much. Frowning, she quickly buried those memories and turned back to Jarod. "So what's the story with Strip Tease, Gramps, Baldy, Boy Wonder, and the Gorilla?" she asked, watching as a small smile pulled at his lips.
"The 'strip tease,' is Miss Parker - daughter of the man in charge, Mr. Parker, and the person who's been in charge of chasing me for the last four years. We were friends as children but her mother's death has made her cold - and a good deal of fun to torment," he added, not voicing the other strange feelings that he had for his adversary. "With her was Sydney, my surrogate father from my stay at the Centre, Broots, their computer technician, Sam, one of the foot soldiers, so to speak, and.. Mr. Lyle," he finished, his gaze turning stormy.
"Mr. Lyle?" Buffy asked skeptically, her mind instantly returning to the image of the impeccably dressed, dark-haired man. "The creepy looking cocky guy?"
"Yes," Jarod responded simply, unable to control the small shudder that went through his body. "A very, very... bad man," he finished lamely as his thoughts went back the torture that he had endured under Lyle's care just a short time ago.
"Bad man?" Buffy echoed, trying to match the man's boyish grin with the faces of past evils she had faced. Failing miserably, she quickly shook her head. His little impish smile had nothing on any of the Big Bads that she had faced in her time. "Guess I'll just have to take your word for it."
"If that's all that you have to take, be grateful," Jarod muttered darkly, forcing himself to pull away from the memories. "He was the one who killed my brother and tortured me for nothing more than his amusement. You never want to have to see that side of him. Ever."
Horrified, Buffy found that for one of the first times in her relatively short life, she was speechless. What could she reply to such a thing? And in the end, there was nothing that could be said to ease the pain that was shown in every tired crease on Jarod's face. Unwillingly, Buffy found her heart once more going out to this virtual stranger. "I'm sorry," she murmured, tentatively resting her hand once more on his arm as his eyes slowly lost their hardened edge.
Sighing, Jarod shrugged away her concern and forced a small smile for her. "Well, you've heard my story," he murmured as he backed up and settled on the creaking bed frame behind him. "Your turn."