Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the Casteau's and the vast majority of their foster kids.
Family Relations
By Be Boring
Chapter 2: "Friendly" Discussion
"Since I like to think of myself as a reasonable man, I'll let this one slip. All that I ask is that you stop taking whatever it is that you're on, and don't disturb anything else where that boy is concerned. In order to make sure you're following my orders, I'm going to have some of my men keep an eye on you for a few days. I wouldn't want you to make a mistake and forget your promise."
The funny part was that she hadn't promised her foster father anything, but he had gone ahead as if she had. Even worse, she had been watched for more than a few days. It was a week later now, and the three men she jokingly referred to as her stalkers showed no signs of leaving her alone. The only good thing was that Victor was staying as far away from her as possible, although she didn't know if it was because her stalkers made him uncomfortable or if he was afraid of what she could do to him. It was probably a combination of the two.
"Do those guys have to follow you around in school? It's like you don't have any time to be alone," Brandi grumbled. The two girls were sitting in an empty classroom that they always went to talk in.
"I don't," Jondy replied glumly. "The only time I don't have someone staring at me is when I go to the bathroom, but if I stayed in there too long they'd probably come in after me. I swear it feels like I haven't smiled in weeks."
Suddenly, Brandi sat up as far as she could in her seat. "There's something that will make you smile. Look at the new guy!"
Jondy glanced over disinterestedly, but was brought quickly to attention when she got a good look at the boy walking down the hallway. She and Brandi rushed to the doorway to peer out at him, although he hadn't noticed them yet. "Wow, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone as well built as that," Jondy whispered. He was probably a senior, while she was only a sophomore, but she would take a shot at him any day. He had to be at least six feet tall, with blonde hair that was long enough to just barely reach his blue eyes, and a very muscular body. He also seemed to have a brooding look, as though he didn't smile often. It suited him though.
"Wow, I hope he's sticking around," Brandi murmured, more to herself than to Jondy. "Hannah, how old do you think he is? He looks like he's nineteen to me, but then why would he be in school?"
"Lots of people start school late or get held back a year these days. Not that it matters, I'm just glad he's here. We've got ourselves some eye candy!" she cracked. Suddenly, as though he had sensed their gazes or their words, he paused in mid-stride and turned his head slightly back at them. While Brandi pulled herself back into the classroom with speed that Jondy hadn't even known she'd possessed, Jondy felt strangely frozen in place. A part of her didn't want him to see her, but another part insisted that she at least make eye contact. That didn't take too long.
As soon as his eyes met hers, a chill ran down her spine and all the way to her toes. Who is that? I've seen him before, but why can't I remember where? However, she didn't see any sign of recognition in his eyes. Still, he smiled at her as he seemed to search her face quickly, then turned and continued down the hall. Her face flushed and she turned to face Brandi, struggling to keep a grin from popping out.
"Ooh, he did something, didn't he? Did he see you?"
"Yeah, he looked right at me. I think he liked me," she whispered, suddenly not wanting anyone to overhear her.
Brandi laughed and gestured with her hands at Jondy. "Well why wouldn't he? Have you ever taken a good look in the mirror, Hannah? You're like a model!"
"I have the body of a twelve-year-old," she muttered in reply. "He only saw my face, if I had stepped out farther he wouldn't have even taken a second look at me."
"That's not true. You sell yourself short too much, your body is just fine. Just because you don't have big curves doesn't mean that you don't look like a woman. Besides, your face just might have him sold on you already."
"I'm not going to bother thinking about him, I probably won't even get a chance to talk to him," Jondy said, trying to make her voice carefree. She didn't know how wrong she was.
~~~~~
Finally, her favorite class of the day arrived: gym class. Sure, Jondy was great in all her other classes since she knew most of the material already, but she truly loved using her physical abilities, even if she had to hold most of them back. It was the one place where she felt completely secure in school, although her stalkers made her more worried about her skill in gym getting back to her foster father. She really didn't know what he would do if he ever found out what she really was, but something told her that he wouldn't hesitate to sell her to the highest bidder to make himself more money. Spending the rest of her life in a lab didn't really appeal to her too much.
"Ready to kick some ass?" Brandi joked, pulling her hair back into a ponytail as they walked out from the locker room. She had already latched onto her friend in class, determined to be on the same team so that she would be guaranteed to be on the winning side. Her own athletic abilities were pretty decent, but Jondy completely outclassed her.
"Always," Jondy smiled. They were usually the first ones out, so they lowered themselves to the floor to wait for everybody else to come out. Jondy caught a glimpse of her stalkers standing just outside the gym doors, talking on their cell phones. They glanced in her direction, forcing her to look down at the floor and become overly interested in a black mark that was there.
Brandi started poking her in the arm excitedly. "Hannah, you won't believe who's in our class!"
Jondy's head snapped up and she was stunned to see the new boy walking towards them wearing black shorts and a gray tank top that defined his well-shaped pectoral muscles. Brandi was the first one to find her voice however as he reached them. "You don't look young enough to be in sophomore P.E. Not that I'm disappointed, it's just strange." She gave him a flirtatious smile, which he really didn't seem to know what to do about. If anything, Brandi was making him uncomfortable. He flashed Jondy a brief look that seemed to scream "Help!"
"Nothing else that I wanted could fit into my schedule, so I took this," he mumbled, trying his best not to make eye contact with Brandi. Any further conversation was cut short as the other students finally made their way into the gym and Mr. Jakesby came out with his clipboard in hand. Brandi and Jondy immediately jumped to their feet, they were really supposed to be stretching until he came out.
"Ok everybody, run five laps and then we'll talk about what we'll be doing today." Everybody groaned, but it didn't really bother Jondy. Five laps was nothing for her, even if it left some other people puffing wildly. Sure enough, at least seven kids bent over and stood with their hands on their knees, trying to catch their breath when the laps were completed.
"Well, as you all know, someone vandalized the back room and thought they'd be funny by puncturing all the balls and taking the ones that weren't filled with air. So now we all have to make due without them. I have to say though, I am glad about one thing. By taking away the balls that we would have normally used, these students have forced the school to allow me to teach you something that I've wanted to teach for a long time, but they wouldn't let me because they were afraid it would be used in the wrong way. Today, we're going to learn a little bit about self-defense."
I've already passed that class, Jondy thought sarcastically. Still, she listened patiently as he started describing the different situations that they could find themselves in and just how they should handle each one, but she didn't really become interested until he said they were going to try out a few of the situations.
"I want to you to pair up with somebody of the opposite sex first, and we'll go through how to defend yourself if someone comes up behind you."
Pairing up was something that Jondy didn't usually like because she never knew who to go with if she couldn't be with Brandi, but she was surprised to see the new boy immediately step over by her. He towered over her; she barely reached his collarbone. Damn, everybody's going to get suspicious if I flip him right over my shoulder. As everyone took their positions, she started to feel a little nervous. She wasn't sure she could override her instincts, which would immediately send him flying when he grabbed her. After listening to Mr. Jakesby describe how they were going to use the momentum of their attacker against them by bending over and flipping them forward, she tried to block out everything in her that was getting excited by the prospect of using some of her training. Why did Manticore have to instill the urge to fight in them? It's okay, I can control it, she reassured herself. Suddenly, the whistle was blown and the boy's hands came around her neck. Without even batting an eyelash, Jondy grabbed one of his arms and hurled her weight forward, sending him straight into the ground in front of her. Dammit, she groaned inwardly.
"Are you okay?" she whispered nervously, trying to ignore the stares of the other students.
He nodded and sat up, not looking shaken whatsoever. I must have held back somewhat, otherwise he wouldn't have sat up so easily. "I'm okay, but you've got quite an arm on you." Rather than looking shocked, he seemed amused. She had to force herself not to grin foolishly at the light in his eyes as he looked at her. She felt like she was a normal, six-year-old, pre-Pulse girl on Christmas, his smile was a gift better than anything she could have received after her horrible week.
Mr. Jakesby walked over to them, looking at her with an interest he'd never had before. "Ms. Michaels, where did you learn to do that?"
Jondy's throat tightened as she realized that not only was the entire class staring at her, but so were her stalkers. "Lived on the streets as a kid, so I know half of this self-defense stuff," she replied quickly, wishing that she sounded more convincing. He studied her skeptically, but didn't question her any farther. Jondy only stared at the ground as everyone continued watching her while getting back into position. This time the partners had to switch places and do the same thing, so she walked behind the boy, suddenly wishing she knew his name. It would be nice if she knew the name of the only person in the room who wasn't looking at her like a freak.
At the whistle, she rushed forward and grabbed his neck, preparing to be flipped over. It wasn't like she was that heavy, he'd be able to do it easily. What really surprised her was the force with which she hit the floor. It nearly knocked the wind out of her, and once again everybody had turned in their direction. Brandi came running over, rubbing her back in the spot that had hit the floor the hardest. "Oh my God, Hannah! Are you okay? Why the hell did you do it that hard?" she yelled at the boy, who didn't seem fazed by her anger at all.
"She's fine, ask her yourself if you don't believe me."
Jondy nodded before Brandi could say anything and quickly climbed to her feet to show that she was alright. He hadn't done it roughly enough to really hurt her, but hard enough to let her know he was very strong. Why had he done that? She turned and looked straight into his eyes, unsettled to see that he once again seemed amused. She felt one of the chills she had felt earlier rush through her, so that she was forced to break eye contact with him. "Brandi, relax. It sounded painful, but it wasn't." Now her stalkers left the doorway, pulling out their cell phones as they went. Shit, I'm not going to like going home tonight.
"I have to give it to you, you took that pretty well," the boy whispered as everyone finally turned away again.
She scowled at him. "It doesn't matter how well I took it, today was not a good day to pull something like that." He seemed shocked by her sudden anger, but she ignored him and partnered up with Brandi as Mr. Jakesby told everyone to now get together with someone of the same sex. She didn't really want to talk to him anymore.
~~~~~
Jondy wasn't looking forward to going home, but it ended up being very different from what she had expected. The moment she stepped through the door, she was nearly run over by one of the servants who was rushing past with an armload of plates. Right behind him was the maid with a couple handfuls of silverware and a package of napkins under one arm. As the butler trailed along after them while trying to balance a platter of chicken on one hand and a dish of scalloped potatoes in the other, she reached out and gently tapped his arm. "What's going on today?"
Evidently not pleased with having someone talk to him while he was busy, the butler snapped, "Mr. and Mrs. Casteau made last minute dinner plans with an old friend, so if you don't mind, I have a lot of work to do." She stepped aside to prevent him from walking straight through her, then headed upstairs. This old friend couldn't have had better timing, now she wouldn't have to face her foster parents about her interesting gym class for at least a day.
"Why are you so happy?" Mindy asked innocently as soon as Jondy came into their room. She was sitting on the bed where Jason was napping peacefully, playing with a couple dolls that Patty had snuck up to them.
"Nothing much. How has your day been?"
Mindy shrugged and held her finger against the shoulder of one of the dolls, where the arm was coming off. "It was ok. Jason don't feel good again."
Jondy sighed and sat down next to Jason to feel his forehead. He didn't even wake up at her touch, and his skin was almost scalding against her palm. "Maybe he has the flu again," she said thoughtfully, sadly wishing that Jason could have ended up with a foster family that cared more. He was such a sensitive little boy, so all the sickness was probably a result of his own frustration and loneliness. No matter how much he loved the girls in his room, what he really needed was a good family with loving parents. Perhaps he would cheer up when he started school. Having friends his own age other than Mindy would be good for him.
"Is Cassie home yet?"
Mindy looked around nervously, then leaned ridiculously close to Jondy as she whispered, "She has a boyfriend!"
"So she's with him?" Jondy asked, amused by the mixture of wonder and disgust in the little girl's voice.
"Yeah, she told me not to let anyone but you know. Even Jason doesn't know, he was sleeping when she told me. Isn't Cassie too young?"
"Well, twelve is pretty young, but these days it's not that much of a stretch. Besides, Cassie's a responsible girl, she's not going to do anything stupid." Jondy was saying this more for her own benefit than for Mindy's because she desperately wanted to believe it herself. She trusted Cassie enough, but she didn't trust any males in this state, let alone in Minneapolis. How did she know that some pervert wouldn't try to take advantage of an innocent girl? She felt towards Cassie like she felt towards her siblings in Manticore; she would do anything to protect her. "Do you know who it is?"
At this, Mindy grew very silent. Her eyes had widened to a point that Jondy was sure couldn't be considered natural, and her tiny little hands started toying with each other's fingers. "She didn't tell me."
"Mindy, you're a terrible little liar, so you may as well spit it out. Who is she with?"
Without any warning, Mindy turned and tore out of the room as fast as her stubby little legs could carry her. Jondy was so caught off guard by this that it took her a few seconds to realize what had happened and take off after her. The door to Kyle's room slammed shut just before she reached it, and she heard Mindy start clicking all the locks shut. "Mindy! Open this door right now!" she shouted, pounding against the rich mahogany wood furiously. "Kyle? Are you in there? Talk some sense into her and let me in!" She could hear Kyle's soft tones trying to reason with Mindy, but her insistent little voice let both of them know right away that she had no intention of letting Jondy into the room, much less tell her who Cassie's boyfriend was.
"Sorry, Hannah, but I don't think we're going to get anything out of her. I'd let you in, but she has one of the keys in her mouth and is threatening to swallow it," Kyle called out.
"Ok, I guess I'll go back to my room then," Jondy replied, then made loud, deliberate footsteps as she walked back to her room. After waiting a few seconds, she turned and snuck back soundlessly so that she was right next to Kyle's door. Finally she heard the tentative unlocking of the many locks that she had fastened and the door cracked open slightly. Jondy pressed herself against the wall so that she wasn't in the little girl's line of sight and waited for her to step out. As soon as Mindy had stepped far enough out of the room that she wouldn't be able to scurry back inside, Jondy jumped forward and wrapped her arms around her so that she couldn't strike out, then hoisted her up so that she could carry her back into Kyle's room. She didn't want to go back into her own room because she didn't want to disturb Jason, so she figured this was as good a place as any.
"Just tell me and this will all be over, honey," she gasped, surprised at how hard it was to control such a little kid. If it wears me out, how do normal people do it?
Mindy screamed at the top of her lungs, shocking Jondy so much that she had to let go in order to cover her ears, giving the cunning little girl a chance to once again run from the room. Jondy groaned and flopped back against the nearest bed, gesturing for Kyle to come over. "If she's not going to tell me anything, could you at least tell me where Victor is? It would be nice if I knew where some of the older people from my room were."
"He's, uh, got a girlfriend," he replied tentatively. Jondy sat up immediately, her eyes widening. Of course, if Victor couldn't have her, he'd go right after the other nearest available female.
"Oh my God, I figured he might be that stupid, but her? I thought she had more sense!" How ironically the timing of the world worked out, although it wasn't always necessarily a good thing. Victor's heavy footsteps could be heard moving down the hall. Jondy almost didn't feel her feet hit the floor as she shot into the hallway and grabbed him from behind. They both slammed into the wall, but they ended up on the floor with Jondy above him, holding his throat tightly.
"Not this again!" he choked, twisting to try and get her hands off of his neck. "I guess you didn't quit the steroids, huh?"
"You son of a bitch! She's only twelve years old! I swear to God, if you –"
He cut her off sharply. "Of course I didn't, she's just a kid. Besides, we quickly found out there was plenty of other stuff we could do without actually going all the way." Despite his precarious situation, he couldn't help wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Jondy couldn't help it, she slapped him so hard that she actually heard some of his teeth chip as they clashed together.
"God dammit!" he yelled, and caught her by surprise as he flipped her over so their positions were reversed and he was on top now. "I don't care if you're a girl or not, you're going to pay for that one!" He missed his chance to hit her as his raised fist was grabbed by one of her stalkers and he was dragged off of her. Another one jabbed a taser into her side, forcing her to curl over in pain. She struck out, but they had arrived so suddenly that she wasn't prepared for such an attack. They quickly forgot about Victor as they were forced to turn all their attention to her. Something was viciously telling Jondy that she was in a very bad situation. It was more than just being reported to her foster father, she felt that there was something else that was going on. She never remembered these men working for the family before, so where had Mr. Casteau found them? She'd never really thought about it before, but right now it seemed to be one of the most important things she'd ever had to figure out.
All three of her stalkers landed on top of her, struggling to pin her down. One held onto her arms, another was clinging to her feet, and the third was lying across her stomach while pulling something out of his jacket. Jondy's breath caught in her throat as she realized he was holding a syringe. What are they going to do to me? What in the world is going on here? she thought frantically. She turned and bit into the arm of the man by her head, but despite the pain he held on fiercely. She spit the mouthful of blood at the one trying to give her the injection. He only scowled at her and started pulling down the sides of her pants, looking for a good place to give the shot. An extreme weariness followed right after the piercing jab of the needle, but she fought every second to keep her eyes open.
She could see the shock in Victor's eyes as they started dragging her towards the stairs. Mindy came tearing out of their room and grabbed her hand, tugging desperately. "No! You can't take 'Annah! 'Annah didn't do nothin' wrong!" Jondy felt tears burn in the back of her eyes as one of the men struck Mindy hard across the face, sending her flying back into the wall. For once in his life, Victor stepped forward and put his arms protectively around the little girl, trying to soothe her tears. This was the last thing Jondy ever saw of them again.
It took her awhile to realize that the men were muttering into walkie-talkies. "Yes, sir. We're on our way," one of them whispered, apparently trying to keep her from hearing him. Fat chance, buddy, she thought fiercely. But where were they going? It really confused her when they reached the bottom of the stairs and turned towards the middle of the house rather than the front door. Were they just going to lock her up somewhere? It wasn't until they entered the dining room that her heart stopped and seemed to drop into the pit of her stomach. At the table, her foster parents were speaking to someone who rose to his feet the moment she was brought through the door. When his blue eyes landed on her, they seemed to light up with a combination of satisfaction and relief. He hadn't changed much since the day of the escape, although she saw a strange, exhausted glint in his eyes that hadn't been there before. There didn't seem to be any extra gray in his hair, no more wrinkles, no weight gain. It's like no time has passed, she thought with a tired form of wonder. Any feeling of fear had been drowned away by her sheer exhaustion, but she did have enough sense left to recognize the danger she was in. She might not have her own memories much longer, not if he was taking her back to Manticore.
"It's good to see you again, Jondy," Lydecker said softly as he stepped in front of her and her stalkers slid her into a chair. She could only stare up at him blankly, wishing that she could feel something, anything. "I'm finally going to take you home. I must say, Zack's slowing down. You're the first one I've managed to get my hands on since the escape. Don't you have anything to say to that?"
Jondy took a deep breath, willing herself to get a few words out. "Don't be so sure." Why did I say that? I haven't seen Zack since the escape, why did I give Lydecker the impression that he's here now? Nevertheless, it worked like a charm. Lydecker gave a quick signal to his three men, who seemed happy to have something to do other than follow a teenage girl to school.
Now he kneeled down so he was on her level. "You could save me a lot of trouble and just tell me where he's hiding. It'll be a lot easier on all of us in the long run. Don't you want that? You can't tell me you've been able to use your skills since you came out into the world. Living in this place, probably the best you could do is run up and down the stairs. I've heard a pretty good description of your gym classes, so I guess you haven't really lost any of your strength over time, even without honing your skills. My guess is that you'll become even more powerful after we've reprogrammed you and placed you back into regular training. Pretty soon I'm confident that you'll be one of my best soldiers. It was only the best of you that got away, did you know that? I've been going out of my mind trying to get you all back. I couldn't be happier to be bringing you to Manticore for good."
Jondy looked over at her foster parents, who both seemed a little upset to know that they'd had a genetically engineered girl in their home. Lydecker followed her gaze and smiled with a look of pride flitting across his face. "Are you wondering how they knew about me? Well, they're not part of Manticore, but I knew Charles from when we were in the military together. He knew about my interest in science, and he also vaguely knew about Project Manticore. When you attacked that boy last week, he became suspicious and called for me to send a few men out to see if you were really one of my kids. After your gym class earlier today they were convinced that you were indeed one of the X5s, but it wasn't until I saw you that I knew which one you were. Your eyes are unmistakable."
She felt sick to her stomach, although she wasn't sure if it was because of the situation she was in or if it was a side effect of whatever drug they had given her. Turning her eyes away from the bright light over the kitchen table just behind Lydecker's head and focusing instead on the window on the other side of the room, something caught her eye. Far off in the distance, just by the trees on the edge of the property, someone was hiding in the brush. Zeroing in on the person with her enhanced vision, Jondy realized that it was the new boy from school. That face of his was unforgettable. That was odd, he seemed to be staring straight into her eyes, but there was no way he could see her from that far away. Was there? As if he had heard her thoughts, he turned around and lowered his jacket slightly.
Oh my God, he has a barcode! she realized excitedly. A jolt of pain shot across her forehead as she tried to focus on it harder, trying to read the barcode. 330417291599. How did he know? Zack, what took you so long? Suddenly, the strain was too much for her, but it was an immense relief that the last thing she saw before blackness took over was her brother's face.