Part IX
~
AN: so very sorry for the delay, too many other things going on at once! The weights are all guesses, so's not to offend Mr. Mulwray by underestimating his lifting power.
~
Adam caught up with Sharon and Eber outside their room.
"Stay another day, please. You said I've opened you up, mentally, I need to show you how to bring that back in. I don't want you exposed to things you can't control if you're leaving." Sharon shared a moment's discussion with Eber before turning back to Adam.
"OK, we'll stay tomorrow then."
"I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to show you more."
"This is the way it has to be."
"Yes, I suppose it is."
~
Jesse yawned as he headed into the kitchen. It was early and all he wanted to think about was coffee. He glanced into the main hall as he walked past the door, seeing Eber on the dojo going through the moves he had shown her yesterday. He smiled to himself. He never thought he would be the one showing other people how to fight. He could still remember when Shalimar first took it upon herself to teach him. She had been so energetic, wondering why the poor boy couldn't do the things she could do. He could just about see Sharon sat behind Eber next to the meditation pool. She was facing away from the dojo and every so often she would turn and hold Eber's gaze for a moment, deep in telepathic discussion.
"I heard you're staying a day longer." He greeted as he walked over.
"Yes." Sharon replied. "Adam's teaching me some more control. When he gets up that is." She smiled.
"Guess that means we get to spend some more time training." He said to Eber.
~
Jesse was demonstrating a throw to deflect an attack. It was a move that he had been very proud of when Shalimar had first taught him it. Eber had seen Brennan watching from the sidelines for a while and looked up curiously as he headed over.
"Look, Jesse. You're doing this all wrong." Brennan pushed the young man out of the way. "Excuse me." He enunciated carefully to Eber before turning back to Jesse. "She's a feral, she doesn't need all this poncing about. Upper body strength." He said it as if it explained everything, turning back to Eber who was watching curious. "Throw your shoulder forward, like this." He demonstrated. "You take their weight over and then push forward as they fall." Nodding, she moved into the newly demonstrated position. "Jess?" Repeating his earlier attack Jesse found himself launched across the mats to land with an 'ooph' on the other side. "Oops." Brennan said, but Eber didn't see it, already at Jesse's side apologising profusely in clipped sign language. Jesse was up again quickly, laughing it off.
"I'll let you check out her moves first next time, bro." He told Brennan as he headed back over. "I think I've done my shoulder in, can you show her a little more while I go and see Adam?"
"But I can't sign." He complained, looking a little apprehensive.
"She lip reads, you'll survive. Just make sure you're looking straight at her when you're talking." He laughed at the look on Brennan's face. "You're that scared of a girl, dude, you need to get out more often." Brennan looked at Jesse for a moment.
"It's been a while since I've seen you laugh." He mused, quietly. His gaze dropped to the floor, ashamed of noticing and embarrassed about speaking it out loud.
"It's time, Brennan. It's time to let them go or they'll never forgive us." He looked up and their gaze met for a minute.
"Yeah. I guess so." He nodded, seeming to fill with energy at the decision that had been made deep within himself. "Go get your shoulder sorted man, I'll look after your kid."
"You do that." Jesse grinned, seeing the change in his friend. Things were on the turn.
~
Brennan led Eber into the weights room. He shook his head as he looked at the bench press. He had been angry last time he'd used it. The weight on there was much too much for him to handle. It had been fortunate that he hadn't been able to get it off of the brackets, otherwise he might have broken some ribs. It hadn't improved his temper, but still, broken ribs wouldn't have helped either. He seemed to remember throwing the wrench that he used to put the weight disks on and off the bar with. Spotting a dint in the wall he walked over and found the wrench on the floor below it. He picked it up and turned to find the long bar, complete with weights, sitting on the floor behind the head of the long bench and Eber adjusting the brackets for her own arm length. He hadn't heard the bar hit the floor, which could only mean... he moved over and took a quick estimate of the weight on the bar. Over 100 kilos. Wow. He took a closer look. A hundred and twenty kilograms. About one and a half his body weight. It had to be three times hers. Or more.
He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
"Did you lift that?" He asked, still looking for another answer. She nodded and moved around to the other bracket. She quickly set it to the same length as the other one and - as if it weighed nothing - lifted the bar back on and lay down beneath it.
~
Twenty minutes later - with a hundred and forty kilos on the bar and Eber still going strong, Brennan headed out into Sanctuary to look for more weights.
"Adam, do you know what happened to the spare set of weights for the bench press?" He asked as he saw Adam appear out of the lab.
"Not right now Brennan, I need to talk to you and Jesse." Brennan looked up from the box of junk he was excavating, hearing Adam's serious tone.
"What's up?"
"Can you get Jesse and meet me in the lab as soon as possible? Sharon is going to find Eber, they'll stay out of the way for a while." Now Brennan was really confused, but he had learned that normally if Adam was confusing people it was because something bad was going on and he couldn't find a simple way to explain it.
"Sure. I'll go get Jesse now."
~
"Do you have any idea how strong that girl is, Adam? She has a hundred and forty kilos on that benchpress and she's barely making a noise." Jesse looked up as he followed Brennan into the room.
"She doesn't make a noise anyway."
"Yeah, but she STILL isn't making any noise." Jesse frowned for a moment before brushing it off as a Brennan-ism.
"What did you call us over for, Adam."
"Have either of you ever heard of the Hellen Reiler case? It's possible it was too long ago for either of you to remember it. It must have been three or four years ago."
"The name rings some bells, but I can't remember what the case was about." Jesse replied. Brennnan just shook his head.
"Not many people remember it because no pictures of Hellen Reiler herself were ever published."
"That's odd. Normally everyone's bursting with pictures for publicity. The papers, the news."
"This girl killed seven people and was put on death row at the age of 16."
"Sixteen? Yikes." Brennan exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's what the public said. They all demanded that she went to counselling and therapy as an alternative."
"That sounds fair." Jesse put it.
"She killed two therapists and one counsellor. The minder whose care she was under was admitted to hospital with serious skull fractures. She had her life support turned off by family a couple of months later making her the eleventh victim." Adam sighed and put his head in his hands for a moment as if composing himself. "Unfortunately the case was more serious than they ever made out. The reason that no one was ever allowed to get pictures was that they were lying about her age."
"How old was she really?" Jesse asked weakly.
"Eight."
"That can't be right." Jesse retorted. Adam handed him a picture of a young Asian girl behind bars, clearly no older than ten. She wore an orange coverall which was clearly several sizes too big for her and she clung to the bars as if she thought she could rip them apart with her bear hands if she shook hard enough. The resemblance struck Jesse immediately. "You have to be kidding. Four years, right? So that would make her what, 12? She's older than that, it's just a fluke."
"You see it too?" Adam asked quietly.
"See what?" Brennan asked. He was handed the photo.
"The computer targeted them as a physical match, but the computer isn't always right. The computer does have her age down as twelve though." Adam explained.
"You're telling me I've been lifting weights with a serial killer all afternoon? A FERAL serial killer!?"
"She doesn't remember this, and she won't if we don't tell her. I don't think Sharon knows either. She escaped from death row on the day of her execution and disappeared without a trace. The body count doesn't get any higher. We can only assume that she was picked straight away by the guys who were testing on them."
"What do you think the likelihood is that Sharon will ever succeed in accessing those memories?"
"I don't know. She's surprisingly skilled at controlling memory for a rare skill and she's persistant. I don't want to risk it. We'll have to tell her."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jesse pressed.
"They're leaving tomorrow morning, Jesse. I don't want her accidentally causing the release of a serial killer, not after all that's happened to them over the last couple of years to fuel her anger. No, we need to tell her, and as soon as we can."
~
AN: so very sorry for the delay, too many other things going on at once! The weights are all guesses, so's not to offend Mr. Mulwray by underestimating his lifting power.
~
Adam caught up with Sharon and Eber outside their room.
"Stay another day, please. You said I've opened you up, mentally, I need to show you how to bring that back in. I don't want you exposed to things you can't control if you're leaving." Sharon shared a moment's discussion with Eber before turning back to Adam.
"OK, we'll stay tomorrow then."
"I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to show you more."
"This is the way it has to be."
"Yes, I suppose it is."
~
Jesse yawned as he headed into the kitchen. It was early and all he wanted to think about was coffee. He glanced into the main hall as he walked past the door, seeing Eber on the dojo going through the moves he had shown her yesterday. He smiled to himself. He never thought he would be the one showing other people how to fight. He could still remember when Shalimar first took it upon herself to teach him. She had been so energetic, wondering why the poor boy couldn't do the things she could do. He could just about see Sharon sat behind Eber next to the meditation pool. She was facing away from the dojo and every so often she would turn and hold Eber's gaze for a moment, deep in telepathic discussion.
"I heard you're staying a day longer." He greeted as he walked over.
"Yes." Sharon replied. "Adam's teaching me some more control. When he gets up that is." She smiled.
"Guess that means we get to spend some more time training." He said to Eber.
~
Jesse was demonstrating a throw to deflect an attack. It was a move that he had been very proud of when Shalimar had first taught him it. Eber had seen Brennan watching from the sidelines for a while and looked up curiously as he headed over.
"Look, Jesse. You're doing this all wrong." Brennan pushed the young man out of the way. "Excuse me." He enunciated carefully to Eber before turning back to Jesse. "She's a feral, she doesn't need all this poncing about. Upper body strength." He said it as if it explained everything, turning back to Eber who was watching curious. "Throw your shoulder forward, like this." He demonstrated. "You take their weight over and then push forward as they fall." Nodding, she moved into the newly demonstrated position. "Jess?" Repeating his earlier attack Jesse found himself launched across the mats to land with an 'ooph' on the other side. "Oops." Brennan said, but Eber didn't see it, already at Jesse's side apologising profusely in clipped sign language. Jesse was up again quickly, laughing it off.
"I'll let you check out her moves first next time, bro." He told Brennan as he headed back over. "I think I've done my shoulder in, can you show her a little more while I go and see Adam?"
"But I can't sign." He complained, looking a little apprehensive.
"She lip reads, you'll survive. Just make sure you're looking straight at her when you're talking." He laughed at the look on Brennan's face. "You're that scared of a girl, dude, you need to get out more often." Brennan looked at Jesse for a moment.
"It's been a while since I've seen you laugh." He mused, quietly. His gaze dropped to the floor, ashamed of noticing and embarrassed about speaking it out loud.
"It's time, Brennan. It's time to let them go or they'll never forgive us." He looked up and their gaze met for a minute.
"Yeah. I guess so." He nodded, seeming to fill with energy at the decision that had been made deep within himself. "Go get your shoulder sorted man, I'll look after your kid."
"You do that." Jesse grinned, seeing the change in his friend. Things were on the turn.
~
Brennan led Eber into the weights room. He shook his head as he looked at the bench press. He had been angry last time he'd used it. The weight on there was much too much for him to handle. It had been fortunate that he hadn't been able to get it off of the brackets, otherwise he might have broken some ribs. It hadn't improved his temper, but still, broken ribs wouldn't have helped either. He seemed to remember throwing the wrench that he used to put the weight disks on and off the bar with. Spotting a dint in the wall he walked over and found the wrench on the floor below it. He picked it up and turned to find the long bar, complete with weights, sitting on the floor behind the head of the long bench and Eber adjusting the brackets for her own arm length. He hadn't heard the bar hit the floor, which could only mean... he moved over and took a quick estimate of the weight on the bar. Over 100 kilos. Wow. He took a closer look. A hundred and twenty kilograms. About one and a half his body weight. It had to be three times hers. Or more.
He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.
"Did you lift that?" He asked, still looking for another answer. She nodded and moved around to the other bracket. She quickly set it to the same length as the other one and - as if it weighed nothing - lifted the bar back on and lay down beneath it.
~
Twenty minutes later - with a hundred and forty kilos on the bar and Eber still going strong, Brennan headed out into Sanctuary to look for more weights.
"Adam, do you know what happened to the spare set of weights for the bench press?" He asked as he saw Adam appear out of the lab.
"Not right now Brennan, I need to talk to you and Jesse." Brennan looked up from the box of junk he was excavating, hearing Adam's serious tone.
"What's up?"
"Can you get Jesse and meet me in the lab as soon as possible? Sharon is going to find Eber, they'll stay out of the way for a while." Now Brennan was really confused, but he had learned that normally if Adam was confusing people it was because something bad was going on and he couldn't find a simple way to explain it.
"Sure. I'll go get Jesse now."
~
"Do you have any idea how strong that girl is, Adam? She has a hundred and forty kilos on that benchpress and she's barely making a noise." Jesse looked up as he followed Brennan into the room.
"She doesn't make a noise anyway."
"Yeah, but she STILL isn't making any noise." Jesse frowned for a moment before brushing it off as a Brennan-ism.
"What did you call us over for, Adam."
"Have either of you ever heard of the Hellen Reiler case? It's possible it was too long ago for either of you to remember it. It must have been three or four years ago."
"The name rings some bells, but I can't remember what the case was about." Jesse replied. Brennnan just shook his head.
"Not many people remember it because no pictures of Hellen Reiler herself were ever published."
"That's odd. Normally everyone's bursting with pictures for publicity. The papers, the news."
"This girl killed seven people and was put on death row at the age of 16."
"Sixteen? Yikes." Brennan exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's what the public said. They all demanded that she went to counselling and therapy as an alternative."
"That sounds fair." Jesse put it.
"She killed two therapists and one counsellor. The minder whose care she was under was admitted to hospital with serious skull fractures. She had her life support turned off by family a couple of months later making her the eleventh victim." Adam sighed and put his head in his hands for a moment as if composing himself. "Unfortunately the case was more serious than they ever made out. The reason that no one was ever allowed to get pictures was that they were lying about her age."
"How old was she really?" Jesse asked weakly.
"Eight."
"That can't be right." Jesse retorted. Adam handed him a picture of a young Asian girl behind bars, clearly no older than ten. She wore an orange coverall which was clearly several sizes too big for her and she clung to the bars as if she thought she could rip them apart with her bear hands if she shook hard enough. The resemblance struck Jesse immediately. "You have to be kidding. Four years, right? So that would make her what, 12? She's older than that, it's just a fluke."
"You see it too?" Adam asked quietly.
"See what?" Brennan asked. He was handed the photo.
"The computer targeted them as a physical match, but the computer isn't always right. The computer does have her age down as twelve though." Adam explained.
"You're telling me I've been lifting weights with a serial killer all afternoon? A FERAL serial killer!?"
"She doesn't remember this, and she won't if we don't tell her. I don't think Sharon knows either. She escaped from death row on the day of her execution and disappeared without a trace. The body count doesn't get any higher. We can only assume that she was picked straight away by the guys who were testing on them."
"What do you think the likelihood is that Sharon will ever succeed in accessing those memories?"
"I don't know. She's surprisingly skilled at controlling memory for a rare skill and she's persistant. I don't want to risk it. We'll have to tell her."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Jesse pressed.
"They're leaving tomorrow morning, Jesse. I don't want her accidentally causing the release of a serial killer, not after all that's happened to them over the last couple of years to fuel her anger. No, we need to tell her, and as soon as we can."