Disclaimer: Do you see a sign that I have placed on the Pretender characters and plot that says 'private property'? No? Then they sure as hell aren't mine.
Rating: This one's going to be rated PG-13 folks for a bit of violence, and mature topics (not sex).
Summary: I know that you know that I know you know the plot. (Going to be thinking about that one for a while eh?)
Author's Note!!! (Holding up printed feedback list like it's an Oscar) You like me you really like me! I shall forever be in your debt loyal fan fiction…erm… fans! Also remember, contrary to popular belief, I will not bite off the heads of those who give me constructive criticisms. However, flames of death will be deflected by Shadow Elf's power of storytelling and your cat will wake up hairless.
Feedback: (Shadow Elf has finished telling last chapter to the frog and sighs as she looks down upon him.) "Oh well, too bad frogs can't give feedback. I have to be going little guy." [She picks him up gently and gives him a kiss. Instantly, there are bright swirling and colorful lights. A clean-shaven, black-haired man with icy blue eyes stands before her in fancy clothing and a black cape]
[Shadow Elf gapes at him] "Are you a prince who will now marry me because I've kissed you and broken a witches' spell?"
Man: yes.
"Really?"
Man: No. Actually I am an evil mage bent on overthrowing the king and enslaving the people of this magical world. I was imprisoned in that body and have found that because you are a Shadow Elf your story telling has magic and I will now take you to my castle after I easily overthrow the king and imprison you so that I can drain away your magick.
[Shadow Elf nods nonchalantly] "Oh. Crap." Why can't I just have a prince like all of the blonde bimbo princesses? Nooooo I have to have Mr. Evil-Guy-With-Aspirations-For-World-Domination. God. I wonder how many people saw this coming?
---- ShadowElfBard
Story! Story! Story! Story! Story!
9:29 PM
Los Angeles, California
Mountain Ridge Area
Cabin
Jarod held Elf 17's arms behind her back with all of the strength he could muster. Yet still, she was slowly but steadily making her way to the cabin door. Broots was at the moment staying out of sight, and for good reason.
"I'M GOING TO KILL THEM!" She shrieked, in transformation.
The information they had just discovered was shocking, even for the Centre, and Jarod was very tempted to just let go of her. But he was holding her back not for the Centre, but for her.
From what Broots had told him earlier; the girl had trouble controlling her emotions and actions when in transformation. Broots had told him that as her normal self, she was selfless, and cared for every living thing no matter how small. He'd said that she had even saved caterpillars and various insects on the sidewalk when they were going around the many towns. That type of person would not want to be allowed to kill people, no matter how much those people might deserve death.
The information they'd discovered, quite plainly, was this: The orphanage was not only infiltrated by Centre agents, it was run by them.
The entire orphanage had been built for the sole purpose of helping the Centre. Parents were found whose children were likely to have the pretender gene. The Centre then proceeded to get the infants' or toddler's blood sample, (posing as the child's doctor), verifying whether or not they had it. Those that were unlucky enough to possess it were taken away. Not in the night, but very formally. False charges of abuse and such were brought up against the parents and the jury was completely picked by the Centre. It was a lost cause for the parents who desperately battled for their children, and the parents were allowed to remain out of jail, (in most cases) while their children were taken away from them. The orphanage was where the children were raised basically, until someone from the Centre or Triumvate was sent down to pick a child for a project or experiment they were doing. The orphanage was a pet store basically, one where the animals never knew that they were caged.
Elf 17 still fought against Jarod's hold and suddenly grew furious at him. She maneuvered out of his grip in a complicated but smooth movement, and turned to face and most likely maul him. But when she saw his eyes, she became lost in them. Her transformation disappeared as thought it had never been there and she collapsed to the ground in a heap, hugging her knees and sobbing. Her parents hadn't abandoned her, they hadn't hated her, and she'd been loved. She'd been cared for and she'd been stolen.
Jarod sat on the ground beside her, hugging the crying girl close to him, letting her tears soak his shirt as he slowly caressed her silky hair. Jarod comforted her, even pretending for the moment, in spite of himself, that he was her father.
Elf 17 let him hug her, hold her, and eagerly became enwrapped in his care and love. She doubted he would ever know that at that moment, she had pretended to be his daughter.
And from living room, a balding man listened to Jarod's comforting sounds and Elf 17's muffled sobs, and dreamed of when he'd see his own child again.
1:03 AM
Los Angeles, California
Mountain Range Area
Cabin
Elf 17 stirred restlessly in the sleep she'd thought would never come. Jarod was out sleeping on the couch at his request, and Broots was in the next room over. They'd fallen asleep perhaps three hours ago, and the fire in the fireplace had been put out.
Suddenly Elf 17 eyes snapped open, and she calmed her rapid heartbeat as she realized that she'd been having yet another nightmare. She sighed and sat up in the bed, resting her sweating forehead in her hand. The things she'd discovered this night… her entire decision had to be rethought. She was still getting Broots away, but was she going back to the Centre afterwards?
She'd been lied to her entire life, though it should come as no surprise. But the thing that got her was not that she'd been taken away from her parents, but that she'd been led to believe that they'd hated her. She could have been fine with the truth that she'd been taken to the Centre, if she'd been told at an early age, but to make a child believe that their own parents had abandoned them was something that she could not, and would not tolerate.
She reached over into the bag at the side of her bed and pulled out the clothes Broots had bought for her. She slipped them on and left her feet bare as she went towards the cabin's bathroom to brush her hair. She could no longer sleep, and perhaps a nighttime walk would calm her nerves and give her peace of mind.
She went in and grabbed the comb, and began brushing back her short hair. Suddenly the brush caught on something, something on her scalp. She paused, confused, and ran her fingers through the hair in that area. Odd, there was no knot or tangle. She slowly brought the fine comb through once more and it caught in exactly the same area.
Parting the hair to one side, she carefully raised her fingers and felt around. Her fingertip then touched something small and cold. Something that oddly felt like metal. Her eyes widened and she grabbed it. After closing her eyes and giving a sharp yank, whatever it was came free, leaving a small cut on the skin of her scalp.
She looked down at what she held and almost dropped it in fright. It was shaped like a small tick, except that it was made of metal. There was a faintly glowing red light on its side, and it appeared to have been holding on to her skin by six metal appendages that resembled legs.
It was undoubtedly a tracking device.
She thought furiously fast back to when the Centre could have placed this on her and her mind went back to when Raines had given her the suitcase with supplies in it. He'd patted her on the head, and by doing so had equipped the Centre with a means of finding her again. She'd thought that the Centre had been much to trusting…
But wait, that meant that the Centre now knew where she was, and that could mean that sweepers might be following the signal and that might mean…
"Jarod." She whispered.
She dropped the brush and metallic tick on the ground and rushed out into the living room, throwing on the lights and blinding Jarod as he sprung awake. She wasted no time and then shoved open Broots door, shaking him awake and flooding his small room in light. The technician sat up and shielded himself from the change in light, blinking a few time before staring at her with squinted eyes.
"El-Elf 17 what is it?" He yawned.
"Get up now!" she yelled at him. "Sweepers could be coming at this very moment!"
That got his attention. He scrambled out of bad and ended up falling onto the floor, hurrying to get dressed.
Elf 17 left him to get ready and ran back out to where Jarod was getting his stuff together.
"Jarod!" He looked over at her. "Raines put a tracking device on me! Its off now but they could have had sweepers following our entire trip. They could very well be coming as we sp-"
Suddenly there was pounding at the door, and with her sensitive hearing she could hear orders shouted outside. Jarod jumped and began moving to Broots' bedroom. Elf 17 followed and when the two got there Broots stumbled out, with his shirt on backwards and his shoes untied.
"What do we do?" He asked in whisper.
Elf 17 looked at him, then back in the direction of the door. "Forgive me. " she said quietly, and then jumped up and caught Broots in the head with a well performed kick. She had aimed correctly and he fell to the floor unconscious.
Jarod realized why she'd done it and helped her drag him into a closet, locking the door, and throwing Broots' backpack in with him.
The shouts from outside the cabin grew louder and Elf 17 could hear Jarod's pounding heartbeats and the fear rushing through him.
"There's a back door," Elf 17 told him. "Take it, I'll try and go out the front."
"But they're right there!"
"I can handle myself now go!"
He looked at her once and then nodded, running with his coat on and the DSA case in hand.
Elf 17 then whipped around and headed to the living room. The entrance was being forced open and she shut off the lights and crouched next to the door, coiling her muscles.
Come on, come on…
Jarod rushed to the back door, praying that Elf 17 would get away all right. He understood why she'd knocked Broots unconscious and it had been a well-made decision. This way Broots could say that he'd tried to stop Elf 17 from letting him go, but that she'd knocked him unconscious. It was the only way that Broots could remain safe from the Centre's wrath.
Jarod made it to the back door and flung it open, rushing outside, when the sky seemed to be flooded with lights. He stopped in shock, and shielded himself from the bright glare that was burning his eyes. After blinking once or twice, he saw the silhouette of a man walking towards him purposely.
Jarod's heart seemed to clench as he recognized him.
Lyle stopped and smiled, his hands in his pockets. "Hello again Jarod. Miss me?"
Jarod made a move to run but one of the sweepers that had been hiding on the sides of the back steps brought the but of his gun forcefully against Jarod's skull.
Jarod crumpled to the ground, like a balloon that had been popped. At Lyle's signal two men came forward to grab the limp pretenders arms. Lyle pointed to the black car they'd brought, whose headlights had been responsible for Jarod's momentary blindness.
"Cuff his arms, legs, tie him up, do whatever you can to make sure he can't escape." He growled suddenly. "The fool of a man who lets him escape will lose something very close to him before he's killed."
The sweepers exchanged wide-eyed looks before setting to work.
Lyle cracked his knuckles with a grin. "Now it's time to go check on my trap."
Elf 17 waited patiently beside the door while the men outside banged against it. The door began to give way and she surrendered herself to the transformation.
The door was flung wide and the sweepers ran in with their guns drawn and flashlights in hand. Elf 17 let out a battle cry and sprung forward, knocking three to the ground before moving outside.
They must have brought more than twenty sweepers, a voice said in the back of her head as she saw maybe twelve men in black suits and glasses running around in front of her. They all had flashlights and many were wearing night vision goggles. Three began firing shots at her but she didn't need night vision goggles to see in the dark. She was out of their aim before they ever pulled the trigger.
She ran with speed and prowess through the dark, her bare feet barely touching the ground before they were once more lifted into the air. Adrenaline coursed through her body, and she moved powerfully with the blood pounding in her ears. She hardly felt the attacks on her skin by the rocks and sticks as she made her way to the forest, where she'd be safe. There were sweepers near the way she was heading and turned to avert them, and headed through a different woods opening.
She could hear the loud footsteps behind her and smell that the trail she was on had been used not more than fifteen minutes ago by the sweepers. But she didn't care; perhaps being on the trail they had traveled would help her get out of here easier.
Bark on a tree next to her seemed to jump off and bite her exposed arm as a poorly aimed bullet sped by. She jumped to the side and began running in a rabbit-like zigzag to evade any stray bullets.
She could hear them getting farther and farther away as she poured all of her strength into her running, ignoring the freezing night air that made her lungs ache as she breathed. Sweat trickled down her forehead and back, and her ears trembled to show her exhaustion as she ran.
She was beginning to feel dizzy when she was yanked up with a powerful might and speed into the air by her feet. She let out a worried cry before she became suspended upside down, hanging helplessly like a fish out to dry.
She wriggled against the bonds that held her feet so close together, but her movements made the metal rope that held her tighten. She could feel her skin cut into cord and she held back a whimper of pain. Her eyes were still glowing orange and yellow, shining now in the light of the pale and translucent moon above. She'd been caught in a snare that had been set up by the sweepers.
She heard the footsteps before she saw whom they belonged to. She turned herself as best she could to see who it was, and was slightly surprised to see Lyle standing in front of her with five sweepers at his back. As always, he was wearing an expensive clean pressed dark suit with his black leather gloves.
He stopped his slow and steady walk towards her and tilted his head to one side quizzically.
Lyle could easily be thought of as handsome, but all Elf 17 could see was the cold, calculating intelligence behind his deceptively kind blue eyes. She could practically smell the cruel intent behind his smile.
The sweepers moved out from behind him and formed a circle around Elf 17, their guns drawn. But Elf 17 ignored them and kept her stare focused on Lyle and the bulge of the weapon in his pocket.
Lyle raised a hand and lowered it slowly and a sweeper began cautiously moving Elf 17 onto the ground using the snare's release rope. Before she was halfway down three sweepers moved towards her and forced her free arms behind her back and cuffed them tightly, though she struggled as much as she could. After they felt her safely secured she was completely lowered onto the ground.
She hit the dirt roughly on her stomach and once more the guns became trained on her body. Lyle squatted down, holding his hands out in front of him. He was so close to her face that she seemed to be able to see nothing else.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Running away from the Centre," he scolded. "Picking up traits from Jarod hmm?" He smiled as he looked at her tightly fitted and slightly revealing black outfit. "My, my even picking up on his fashion sense."
Elf 17 slightly bared her teeth and growled, her ears pressed flat against her skull menacingly. "You should be a bit more careful Lyle. Else you gain a new set of scars." She nodded her head as much as she could in the direction of his cheek, which still held the reminder of the time she'd fought with him.
But unfortunately Lyle didn't respond to the provocation, as she'd wanted him to. Instead, his grin just grew wider.
"You're hardly in the position to be threatening me girl." He stood slowly and pulled out a gun from his pocket. It glinted in the moonlight and Elf 17 recognized it as a tranquilizer gun.
Lyle held the weapon in front of him, turning it in his hands, as he seemed to study it. "By the way," he said casually, still looking at the weapon. "Good job on finding and catching Jarod for us." He stopped and turned his gaze towards her, an evil gleam in his eyes. "But I'm sure Raines will thank you himself once we get you two back."
Elf 17's face paled. Jarod…
She closed her eyes, and she rid herself of her transformation, allowing her eyes to return to the color they once were. Tears for the freedom's that would be lost this night fell shamelessly and wet the hard and uncaring ground.
Lyle took a step back and aimed the tranquillizer at her throat.
She felt a quick, sharp pain in her neck before her worries faded away with her vision and she went spiraling down into the darkness…
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Well folks, it's on this bright and cheery note, (yeah right) that I end this chapter. Talk to you soon I hope and don't forget to tip your storyteller! Feedback is accepted. ;)