Disclaimer: No it's not mine. It's just a rental, but what a sweet rental it is! ;)
Rating: The usual. PG/PG-13. Nothing new.
Summary: In this chapter the escape plan is told and everyone's thoughts on what's going on is made known.
!!!Author's Note!!!: The feedback I am receiving is extremely intricate and detailed. I LOVE IT!! Oh, and to joonepur, I hope this provides an answer to your insightful review.
Feedback: (Shadow Elf must do something if she is to make it to the next realm, but with the evil Maverick blocking her path, the only way out may be to truly do battle with him. But what good can a bard be against a powerful mage?)
[Shadow Elf holds up her hands in a non-threatening way.] "Look, psycho wizard, anti-Gandalf, whatever you want to call yourself, I don't want to fight you. I just want to travel to the next realm. You can have this one. I've never really been the type who gets involved in these sorts of things anyhow. You want to enslave this world? Go right ahead! I'm not stopping you!"
Maverick: Well I want your mystical energy. We can't get what we want without sacrifice. [He rolls up his long, draping sleeves] Now, let's fight.
[Shadow Elf rolls her eyes heavenward and moans] "All of this for kissing a damn frog…"
Maverick: [He grins and winks at her] Not only that, but I'm pretty sure that you'll be growing warts.
[Shadow Elf's eyes become slits] "You are really, really evil."
Maverick: [Shrugging it off] So are politicians, but now one gives them a bad time about it.
Quote:
"People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them that I have the heart of a small boy--- and I keep it in a jar on my desk."
----Stephen King
--------ShadowElfBard
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In The Twisted Words Of Paul Revere:
The Story Is coming! The Story is Coming!
9:05 PM
Blue Cove, Delaware
The Centre
Sl-27 Holding Block 24
"So what changed your mind Ms. Parker?" Elf 17 asked as she walked over to them.
"None of your business." Ms. Parker quipped. "Besides, it would take too long and Dr. Freud and I only have a few minutes before we have to scram."
Elf 17 stopped walking. "Huh?"
Ms. Parker raised four fingers lightly to her temple and closed her eyes. "Oh, you tell her Spock."
Sydney rolled his eyes upward at his nickname but turned to Elf 17. "The escape plan that we have come up with does not involve all of us actively helping him. Broots right now has taken over for a friend in the security control room, so this conversation is not being monitored, and when the true security technician comes back, you'll be in your cell, alone."
"I will? But I thought we were going to free Jarod."
"And we will. Or more accurately, you will. Exactly ten minutes after Ms. Parker and I leave this cell, every computer-controlled device in the Centre will shut down. That includes everything from the computers, to certain lights, to the cameras, to the security pads that control the sub levels."
Elf 17's eyes widened. "Broots is going to override the Centre's computer systems? It sounds like a good plan, I mean after all it means that my cell will be open and I can actually get Jarod out on my own but…won't they suspect him?"
"No, because Broots will be in Ms. Parker's office in a meeting at the time." He grinned. "He couldn't have possibly done it if he was with Ms. Parker. After all, she's the director's daughter."
"Ah." Elf 17 nodded her understanding. "And I am to find a way to get both Jarod and I out before the techs fix the problem right?"
"That was our plan."
Elf 17 bit her lip. She thought she could get Jarod out safely, but the timing would be a problem. She couldn't really just throw him outside of the Centre and hand him the needle and antidote telling him to stick them in himself. But then again, she couldn't escape with him either, not if she was going to offer herself up to the Centre as a sacrificial lamb. This escape was going to need to be pinned on someone, and Elf 17 was going to make sure that the Centre pinned it on her. She'd take whatever punishment they came up with, even her own death. It would be worth it if Jarod got free.
She looked up at Sydney and Ms. Parker, who had been watching the emotions as they flitted across Elf 17's face.
She gave them a smile of reassurance. "Thank you very much Ms. Parker and Sydney. I will make good use of the time that is to be provided for me."
"You'd better," Ms. Parker threatened, narrowing her eyes. "Broots is risking his neck for this chance to free freak-brain. I won't allow you to screw it up and have the Centre find out that it was Broots."
"You really care about him Ms. Parker," Elf 17 commented thoughtfully.
"He's a good friend, and he has a daughter who needs him." Ms. Parker replied. "Just, just get out of here safely."
"Jarod will be free Ms. Parker, that I promise you."
"I hope so, for your sake." Ms. Parker made to turn and leave, but when she heard Elf 17's voice she turned back around.
Elf 17 sighed. "I was wrong about you Ms. Parker. You are truly as kind inside as Jarod told me."
Ms. Parker stared at her for a moment, a taken off guard, and then slowly nodded before turning around and walking out, the sound of her stiletto heels echoing down the hall, and with Sydney following behind with a thoughtful look on his face.
Elf 17 had briefly contemplated telling them of her plan to stay behind and let the Centre punish her for Jarod's escape, but had reasoned that it was best that they didn't know. This way, she could be sure her plan wouldn't be stopped by outside interference. She glanced at the wall clock inside of her cell.
Nine minutes left and counting.
Eight Minutes Remaining
SL-27 Holding Block 25
CP 1 couldn't sleep. The simulation he'd done with Mr. Lyle today had been horrible. He'd been simulating Mr. Lyle himself, and it had scared him more than anything he'd ever done. During the sim he'd also come to a very frightening conclusion.
Mr. Lyle was an evil and psychotic man.
He'd always known that Mr. Lyle wasn't kind, and that he wasn't a man to cross because he didn't care much about causing pain as a punishment. But the sim he'd gone through…he never, ever wanted to do it again. Never. It was just sick and wrong. The man was dangerous, there was no doubt about that, and CP 1 would have to be careful around him. Which would be easy, since ever since he'd first saw him CP 1 had unexplainably known to fear him.
There was something else that was keeping CP 1 awake tonight. It had been the dream he'd had a few days ago. It was happening more frequently. Nearly every time he went to sleep. Only, last night it had elaborated some. In the new version of the dream, after he'd seen himself in the cage, and fell into the clear and liquid abyss, he'd been able to turn around and see two faces looking down at him from the surface of the liquid. Mocking faces; faces that laughed at him. They had been the faces of Mr. Lyle and Mr. Raines.
Ever since the change in the dream, he'd begun to look at it as more than a simple nightmare. Perhaps, perhaps it even had something to do with why he had amnesia. So far no one had been able to tell him the truth about it. They'd always either change the subject, or tell him not to worry about it. The first time he'd asked Mr. Raines, the doctor had actually gotten angry with him. The experience hadn't been pleasant.
The last thing that had been bothering him (besides a weird candy craving that he hadn't been able to understand) was the person he'd seen in the vents.
He'd been sitting having lunch in the Sim Lab, drinking his soymilk, eating his wheat grass, and taking his essential vitamins and minerals in pill form, when he'd felt someone watching him. Mr. Raines had been out talking to the director at the time, and the sweepers had been guarding the locked door on the outside, so no one had been in there with him. Yet he'd felt it, he'd known it. But strangely, he hadn't been scared. It had actually made him happy. Again he couldn't explain why, but he'd known that whoever was watching him was a friend. His suspicions of a watcher had also been confirmed, when he heard the person moving through the vents above when Mr. Raines had come back in. He'd caught a glimpse of a face, and a name had popped into his head.
Angelo.
And boy had Mr. Raines gotten angry when he asked about him! His face had gotten all red, he'd yelled at him and told him that sims were over for the day and commanded the sweepers to take CP 1 back to his cell. When CP 1 had been leaving, he'd heard Mr. Raines yelling at Mr. Lyle about it on the phone. Something about CW-A-41 and the possibility that it was beginning to lose its effect. CP 1 had no idea about what he'd meant, and still didn't for that matter, but he knew it was important, and that he had to find out the truth about it.
One thing he'd always known, even when he'd first woken up not knowing who he was or why he was here, the truth had to be known.
CP 1 nodded in concurrence to his own thoughts. Yep, the truth was important, and he'd find out what it was, or die in the attempt.
Five Minutes Remaining
Sydney's Office
Sydney intertwined his fingers and with his elbows on his desk, and used his clasped hands to hold up his head as he stared into nothingness. He was worried (as he often was these days) and he wasn't entirely sure that the plan they'd come up with would work. Surely it would at least divert blame from the three of them, if it went as planned, but he was more concerned about whether or not Raines' project…no, Elf 17 he corrected himself, would be able to get Jarod and herself out in time. Surely the girl was nothing if not brilliant, and quite talented as well, but to get an amnesiac out of the American version of the Bastille, escape without getting caught and give the man back his memory at some point or another before the techs get the computer functions going again, which was likely to be about twenty minutes or so…well, it was a mind boggling task. It would be completely impossible for Ms. Parker or himself, but then again, she wasn't the average person. Not by a long shot.
He crinkled his brow as he contemplated her reaction earlier when they'd told her of the plan. When she'd sat there, quietly thinking, the most curious thought had popped into his head. He'd dismissed it, passing it off as just the foolish thinking of a tired mind, but now…he wasn't so sure. He hadn't been hired as the Centre psychologist for nothing after all, just as the Centre hadn't accidentally employed the fast thinking and intelligent technician known as Broots. And one of the emotions his well-trained psychiatrist eyes had caught occupying Elf 17's features had been a kind of regret. Perhaps even sorrow. He couldn't understand then what a person would have to regret or be sad about when given the news that they can escape a prison that has held them for so long. But now he thought he might have an idea.
Perhaps, she was regretting being told of the escape, and of the possibility of freedom, because she wasn't planning on taking it herself.
Years ago he might have snorted derisively at this, called it ludicrous and come up with another explanation. But he was different now from when he'd been a young, eager and quite idealistic youth searching to cure the world of its madness by advancements in science and psychological research. He'd been through too much, seen too many people's unpredictable reactions and discovered too many secrets to dismiss an idea such as this one, no matter how improbable it seemed at first glance.
But if he chose to pursue his theory, to think that Elf 17 was indeed planning on staying behind but letting Jarod free, then he'd have to come up with a solid reason as to why she'd choose such a severe course of action. And that was where he ran into a ninety-foot high brick wall. Because, what reason could one possibly have for giving up their freedom? The plan was sound, there was no call of distractions to keep the Centre busy, no need for someone to go out as bait. But she had to have a reason, and thumping good one at that. After all, Jarod's own priorities were family and freedom. This entire country was based on it, for god's sake! Why give up something so precious as your own right to liberty? Sydney would wager that even if his own life depended on it Jarod wouldn't give his freedom up--no, wait a moment, that's not right. Jarod's always put others lives before his own.
Jarod had told him on many an occasion that he'd give up his own life before he'd willingly give up his freedom, that had always been an easy decision for the pretender, but never once has he had to question whether he was willing to give up someone else's life for his freedom. Hmm. Certainly to a pretender such as Jarod or, even Elf 17, someone who revered life so much, they'd give up their own chance at a normal life should another person's survival be threatened by the outcome of their decision. That would be a plausible reason to give up their liberty.
Sydney leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and gazing up at the ceiling with tired eyes and a thoughtful look on his face. But if such were the case for Elf 17's decision, (should his theory be correct) whom would she be trying to save? The three of them were fine, Broots, himself, Ms. Parker, they're protected. Who could…what reason would she… why…
Sydney sighed loudly and folded his arms on the top of his desk, resting his head upon them.
"I'm getting too old for this sort of thing."
Three minutes Remaining
Ms. Parker's Office
Broots cast a nervous and all-around anxious glance in the direction of Ms. Parker. He couldn't stop fiddling with his hands and it felt as though a wild rabbit was beating in his chest, trying to break loose. He ran a worried hand over his head for perhaps the tenth time and scratched the hair he had back there. Anticipation was not a fun feeling…
Ms. Parker noticed every uneasy movement Broots made (after all he was just on the other side of her desk) and was beginning to become effected by it. If he didn't calm down soon she wasn't sure she could stop herself from smacking him upside the head. She saw him crossing his legs and uncrossing them, then giving up altogether and putting both feet on the floor before, his hands resting upon his thighs, and bouncing them up and down. Finally she couldn't take it any longer.
"That's enough Broots!" she yelled, standing up and glaring at him.
Broots stopped moving instantly and widened his eyes in stunned silence. Then he smiled sheepishly. "Oh, I-I'm sorry Ms. P it's just that I'm worried about Elf 17 and whether the plan will run smoothly or not and if we'll get blamed and such."
Ms. Parker sat down and sighed. "I understand that, we're all worried, but," she narrowed her eyes. "That doesn't mean you can hop around like a teenager on a date with way too many hormones in his blood."
"Sorry."
"You're forgiven. Now, when do you start the process?"
"Oh." He turned to the laptop resting on Ms. Parker's desk and checked the progress. "Uh, well I should be able to manually shut them down in about oh, one minute. Give or take a few seconds that is."
"So everything's prepared?"
"Everything Ms. P." He began twiddling his thumbs. "Hey Ms. Parker?"
"Yes Broots?"
He looked at the floor in embarrassment for a moment before speaking. "Um, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, I mean I'd understand and all, but I've been wondering, what is it that women want in a man?"
Ms. Parker's mouth opened slightly. This day was getting weird. "Well Broots, most women want someone who is kind to them, truthful, courageous, and is not a typical chauvinist pig."
"Is that all? What about looks?"
Ms. Parker stared at him and his attentive expression. Poor guy, looks as eager as a kid at Christmas… "The things that matter when a woman looks for a man do not include looks."
He snorted softly. "Oh come on Ms. Parker. We both know that women want someone with a strong muscle build, rugged face and pretty eyes. " He sighed a bit angrily.
"Why are you asking about this Broots?" she asked him seriously, though she was half-wishing that they could drop the subject. She'd never thought she'd be the one to give any advice on love. God knows her decisions haven't been all that great.
Broots shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't know Ms. Parker I'm just…I'm just becoming lonely you know? And I'd like to start dating again and I was hoping you could give me some pointers."
Ms. Parker was getting uncomfortable, much like a parent who's been asked by their five-year-old child where babies come from. "Well…"
There was a soft beeping from the laptop and Broots turned to it quickly and began typing and clicking furiously. "Ms. Parker, I'm in."
Saved by the beep…
Broots suddenly stopped in his mad actions and then turned the laptop so that it faced her.
Ms. Parker looked and saw the white message on the screen, asking for a confirmation on the shutdown.
He looked at her with questioning eyes and she pursed her lips and gave a solemn nod.
Broots hovered the pointer above the box marked 'yes' and then said a silent prayer for Elf 17.
"Good luck." He whispered, and then he clicked.
SL-27 Holding Block 24
Elf 17 was pacing restlessly, her muscles coiled and her senses on the alert. She wanted to be aware of every smell, every sound, every touch and every taste. She would not let this plan fail, and she would get Jarod out. She'd made this vow to herself and to Ms. Parker, and she had no intention of breaking it.
She wondered how exactly she was going to give Jarod his memory back before they got out of the Centre, and was answered by the fix-all answer of 'worry about that when you get to it'. She'd decided earlier that Jarod with his memory would be much more useful than the loyal dog he now was.
Which, if you thought about it, was an extremely good analogy. Like with a dog, you could kick it, hit it, yell at it, and nearly starve it, and in the end it would still follow you obediently, hopelessly clinging on to you out of need.
Which is why you need to free him, a voice of reason reminded her. Yes. That was why she needed to free him, and she was overjoyed at the prospect of his liberation, but she still felt a bit of sorrow that she would not be joining him. But you know why you need to stay behind, she was again reminded. And it works out for his best interests. Again, she understood the need, but she still felt so pained. Why? She had every logical reason to stay behind, it worked out for him, and though he might disagree with her decision when he discovered it, he'd understand later on. If all this was true than why did she still feel so bad?
Elf 17's need to be the sacrifice served many purposes, the main ones being something to occupy the sweepers chasing him should they be discovered, and it would also serve as a way to ensure that she'd take full blame for Jarod's escape, and also to keep the Centre's sights on her rather than him (after he'd escaped) for as long as possible.
She sat down on her "bed" and folded her hands, resolute in her decision and once again reassured that it was the right choice. She would miss the outside world greatly though, and the foods she'd discovered, (namely a chip brand called puffy cheetos), and she would forever regret not being able to see the sky again. That had been the one thing she'd cherished most on her trip with Broots, the infinite and beautifully serene sky with its wide blue expanse and its puffy cotton clouds. Yes, she would miss that terribly.
I wonder if they'll kill me as punishment. She mused thoughtfully to herself. It seems reasonable enough. Would the Centre drag it out? Or maybe it would be a simple injection. Hmmm. Hey, maybe if I attacked Lyle right before the execution I'd be able to take him down with me.
She was calmly contemplating what death would be like, and if killing Lyle would be against her morals and ethics, when everything was abruptly coated in an impenetrable darkness…
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I know, I know. I'm mean, it's not fair… Yeah I hate cliffhangers too but this time it was necessary! I wanted to give you guys something to tie you over while I worked on the exciting chapter. Speaking of which, the next chapter will be up as soon as possible, and I personally apologize to maestra for not giving Jarod his name back in this chapter. But don't fret, as you said, Elf 17 'has the power' (LOL) and she will put it to good use.
I will eternally love and cherish feedback, comments, and questions! The longer the better!
------See you soon! (I hope)