The Thing That Turns Heads Chapter 13, a pretender fanfic

Sattinger's Law: It works better if you plug it in.

Oregon was a muddy and not overly large puddle, Parker decided the next day as they arrived outside Jarod's apartment. It hadn't stopped raining since the plane had landed; she felt like a drowned cat, and the weather was positively ruining her clothes. The old brick building in front of her looked even worse than she felt, with moss growing between the bricks, and ivy slowly invading on the western front. The inside wasn't much nicer.

Parker ran up the stairs to Jarod's apartment upon hearing from the landlord that he was still occupying it, and crept over to his door, gun drawn, not willing to let another chance to bring him in slip away, especially not with Lyle there... She wasn't sure if he would try anything serious, like putting her in another T-Board, but she was quite positive that at the very least she would never live it down. Ever. He would be leering at her for the rest of his godforsaken days on Earth. She checked the door to the apartment as Lyle, Broots, and Sydney all caught up behind her-

Locked! Dammit!

Lyle ran up the stairs after his twin, only a few feet behind her, he ran into a long hallway, and watched as she made to kick in the door.

"Parker! Wait!" He shouted; trying to stop her before--

Well, that's one way to get in.

Parker turned towards Lyle, peeved that he had interrupted her; if they didn't get in there fast Jarod was going to go out of the fire escape! Lyle gave her a condescending look that only served to make her even more pissed off at him, "Was that really necessary?" He asked her, holding up a brass key with his good hand.

"It was either the door or a certain part of your anatomy Lyle... I thought you'd be more appreciative of this choice." She told him through gritted teeth, stepping over the splintered mass of wood and into the apartment.

Lyle took a tiny step back from the threshold after she turned her back, taking the assault on his anatomy seriously. "Or you could just kick down as many doors as you like... no problem-" He muttered as he slowly followed her into the room.

Jarod pushed his piece of leftover lasagna into the microwave and set the timer, eagerly anticipating the Italian dish that he had only recently tried. He rummaged for a moment in the refrigerator, looking for some blue Kool-Aid he had made earlier. He snaked his hand past the piles of Hershey's chocolate bars, and slid the leftover sushi out of his way. When he ducked back out of the fridge, he had Kool-Aid in his hand. Jarod paused in his movements as he listened to what sounded like a heard of small elephants storming up the stairs. Were the kids in 18B back from school already? He checked his watch, 1:30 Their school didn't let out for another two hours. He eyed the door warily and willed the pounding to pass, but then he heard the footsteps stop outside his apartment; he listened with baited breath as someone tried the lock. He knew now that it was Parker; she was going to kick down the door any minute now.

Move! Or do you want to be taken back there?

Jarod snapped out of his daze as he heard Parker slam down the door, he peered quietly from the kitchen and thanked Lyle silently for the distraction he so willingly offered. Jarod crept out into the living room and, grabbing the Halliburton case full of DSA's, silently climbed out of the fire escape in his bedroom. He jumped the last few steps to the ground and hesitated, he should leave, he really should, and yet there he was, waiting. Jarod paused for one more moment and counted silently to himself

One, two, three, right on time.

He gave a mock salute as he saw Miss Parker at his window, then jogged down the alleyway and onto the sidewalk, setting to memory the look of her face, and the glow the sunlight had played out on her hair.

Lyle followed Parker inside, looking around himself with interest. The place was done up in the usual rat-boy décor, with one wall being a tribute to a truly retched piece of mural art-- no doubt the genius had painted it himself, it was all dark and brooding; very Bruce Wayne. He stepped into the living room, looking around for any sign of the DSA's; if Jarod was still living here, than his DSA's would probably be somewhere in the open, easy to access should Jarod be found by the Centre and have to flee from his work... Well, it wasn't in the living room, though there were some rather obvious signs of habitation... A PEZ dispenser for one, but what surprised him was that the head had been replaced with one of Jarod's own design; it now looked like Lyle's own! Parker gave a frustrated cry from the area of the bedroom and stalked out.

"Don't even bother Lyle, he's not here!" She tossed some other PEZ dispensers at Sydney and Broots and, holding up her own, she looked at it and Lyle could have sworn she started to smile for a moment, but the moment faded and she went back to looking like her furious self. "Now this is just disturbing." She said, lifting up the top on hers and taking a candy.

Lyle flipped the top of his own PEZ head and looked inside, but instead of finding candy, "He left me a note." Lyle picked the miniscule folded piece of paper out of the candy dispenser and unfolded it, careful not to accidentally rip it in two.

"A note?" Parker looked at him incredulously, "Let me see it." She held out her hand demandingly, snapping her fingers as if to say 'hurry up!' Lyle ignored her, reading the message which was almost sure to be some taunting, two-liner which would probably hint at how evil of a person he was. What Jarod didn't understand, was that Lyle couldn't care one way or the other for his approval. Violence was a part of life, and Boy-Wonder needed to quit lamenting the horrible deeds of others.

Sorry I couldn't wait around to see the look on your face,

But I had to catch a plane to Blue Cove. I think it's about time for a little Father-Daughter road trip.

Have your people call my people and we'll talk custody issues. Just ask for Dewey, at my law firm: Dewey, Cheatum, & Howe. The contact number is (666) 666-6666.

-J

The bitter joke spoke of barely controlled restraint, as though Jarod wanted to tell Lyle that this didn't bother him one wit; because then it meant that the Centre couldn't get to him. Lyle knew better though-- Jarod was furious. He crumpled the note up and shoved it in his pocket, running out the door, Parker following him a few steps behind.

"Lyle where the hell do you think you're going? We haven't even searched the place yet! Lyle!" Parker shouted as she saw her brother turn the corner and run out of sight. She cursed, throwing her hands up on the air as if to say 'What deity did I piss off now?'

Lyle pulled his cell phone from his pocket on the stairwell and hit the speed dial, but his phone jammed halfway through the call. No, Jarod wouldn't allow him so easy a way out, would he? Damn. Beaverton was too small a town for payphones, and Lyle could just bet that the hotel had lost his room key, or perhaps any record of him staying there. He threw the phone down the stairwell in frustration, regretting it when the little device shattered upon hitting the bottom step. Jarod was a genius, but one thing that Jarod failed to understand, was that taking Riley outof the Centre and away from the only place she felt safe, would leave the girl scared. Desperate and scared.

Riley lay on her stomach in bed; trying to avoid aggravating any of the large welts that showed up like tiger stripes on her back. Mr. Lyle, please come back soon... please. The simulation she had attempted today had been gruesome, not the SIM itself, but rather what Mr. Raines had been doing to try to force her into cooperating. The only problem was that she was cooperating! To the best of her ability she was cooperating! She honestly couldn't figure out how to juggle both personalities, not to mention that she was unused to working SIMs with Mr. Raines! Every time he spoke to her she got jolted off track, his raspy voice was so different from Mr. Lyle's, and her brain couldn't accept it as part of the simulation. He was so foreign to her, and yet he expected her to run it perfectly! She hadn't even been able to run the simulation all the way through working with Mr. Lyle. Riley didn't know if she would be able to survive another day like this one, she didn't think she would be able to handle Mr. Raines' demands...

"Riley... do the SIM!"

"I'm trying, I swear! I-I just don't-"

"Yes Riley you do know how... You have been running simulations since before most children are able to even speak in complete sentences... You know how to do this!" He glared at her, giving an almost imperceptible glance at one of the sweepers behind Riley, and the man moved a few steps closer to the girl in the middle of the room.

"Please, Mr. Raines I honestly can't do it! I need to be able to practice! I-"

"No Riley! You are a pretender. You do not need practice. Because of your genius, you will never need practice at anything!" He glanced once more at the sweeper behind the girl, this time being obvious enough to capture her attention, "All you need is motivation."

Riley looked over her shoulder at the sweeper behind her and paled visibly.

"Sir! Please... I swear I'm trying, I swear, but I don't know how to do this! Please! I just-"

"Run the SIM Riley! You can't talk your way out of punishment. You are the property of the Centre. It is your job to run these simulations. If you fail at your job you will be punished... Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

Riley's heart nearly sank to the floor, she couldn't pretend to be someone pretending to be someone else! It was impossible. Her head dropped to her chest, and she struggled to hold back the tears of frustration that were threatening to fall. "I'm sorry Sir, I can't." She kept her gaze on the floor, she knew what was about to happen, it happened every time she worked with Mr. Raines... It didn't matter if she saw it coming or not...

Raines looked down on the young girl, nodding one last time at the sweeper behind her. Some time later, after it looked as though the girl were going to bite through her lip from trying to hold back tears, Raines had stopped the sweeper, giving her one last ultimatum before having her taken back to her room.

"Complete the simulation Riley, or this will only get worse."

She was exhausted. The lights in her room had been turned out hours ago, and she was supposed to be sleeping, but she couldn't, she couldn't ignore the shooting pains running up and down her back. They must have known that she wasn't asleep; the camera in the corner of her room, which was normally set to scan or sweep the room while she was sleeping, had been focusing on her the whole night. Riley heard the guard outside her room saying something, and she felt a thrill of fear as she heard Mr. Raines' raspy voice answer him. She couldn't make out the words though, and part of her really didn't want to. Riley had to snap her eyes shut against the harsh florescent light that suddenly flooded her room and jolted up in her bed as she heard the sound signaling the door was about to open. She flinched slightly at the burning sensation that ran up her back at the movement, but a moment later she had her mask firmly back in place; showing any sign of pain would be a sure way to get Mr. Raines' temper up. Mr. Raines entered the room, eyeing her contemptuously- her 'ill behavior' that afternoon still weighing heavily on his mind. Riley shied away slightly at his unfaltering gaze nervously; her anxiety increasing as a sweeper followed him inside, it was Gar. Why did it have to be Gar? Gar hated her; he absolutely despised her with every atom of his being! Riley had inadvertently humiliated the man when she had run away before (he had been on guard duty), and he couldn't seem to let go of the past.

"Ready to cooperate yet Riley?" Mr. Raines glared at her, it was more of a statement then a question, and Riley didn't bother answering; what was the point? He would only lay into her again. "I'm sure you've thought of my proposition..." Raines taunted her, knowing that she hadn't been able to think of anything else. Riley knew that she had to figure out how to complete the SIM, at this point failure wasn't an option. In reality it never had been, but at least before she hadn't been in such dire straits. She gave a small nod, focusing her gaze on the floor and hugging her knees to her chest, Mr. Raines always made her feel as if he could see all the weaknesses that she tried to hide away inside of herself. "Good. The members of the Triumvirate have arrived. They flew all the way over from Africa, just to see you. They have been reviewing the simulations you have done previously during this assignment. This SIM is to be performed in front of them."

Riley's head flew up and she had to force herself from letting out the strangled cry of protest that she was about to give. She felt her chest constrict with fear, and she knew she was going to have to find some way to make him see that she needed more time... at the very least some more patience from him... She said she had thought about what he had said; she never said that she thought she could run the SIM! She walked in a dreamlike state as Mr. Raines herded her in the direction of the SIM labs, she felt as though she were having an out of body experience, just watching it all happen. She couldn't believe what was going on! She just couldn't! She needed more time, she needed... Mr. Lyle. She needed Mr. Lyle to be there. She needed his help; she had been thinking about the simulation all night, she had even practiced slightly, nothing big, in fact she had only just been fusing two simulations that she had completed in the past. But the point was that she had been able to switch the view points... sort of. She had been able to switch from one point of view to another, and had been able to maintain her own objectivity throughout, but she hadn't been able to keep all three going at the same time. She had been thinking about it though, and when she thought about it, she wouldn't need to maintain too much of Jarod's viewpoint, she just needed to keep it there... she only needed to keep it going in the back of her head at a minimal capacity so that she could go straight back into it when the 'SIM within the SIM' ended, she needed to keep his personality there the same way that she kept her own. It was a good plan. It was a great plan! But she needed fine tuning, and if she couldn't get that, she needed Mr. Lyle.

Riley came slightly back to herself as she entered the SIM lab, it was different than the one she had been working in for the past two and half weeks, longer and thinner, and along an entire wall there was a single pane of glass. The other side was shrouded in darkness, so she couldn't make out anyone. Even so she couldn't stop her eyes from flicking over to the mirror, it seemed as though her eyes were being drawn automatically to the people she knew were watching...

Mr. Raines stopped walking beside her once they reached the center of the room, and she stopped as was expected of her. He walked around to stand in front of her so that they were parallel to the mirror and she could almost feel the stares of what she assumed were the same people that she had been forced to face after her original escape. Somehow she got the feeling that this experience wasn't going to be any more pleasant than that one, and she wondered vaguely if she was destined to always screw up right when the Triumvirate was watching her, it was amazing her program hadn't just been pulled by now. All They ever saw of her was mistakes and failures. Riley chewed her lip nervously and rubbed her moist palms on the grey cotton pants she wore as Mr. Raines was given the go ahead to begin the simulation. She suddenly felt like a gladiator, being thrown to the beasts in the Roman Coliseum, all for the entertainment of some doddering old fools who she would most likely never have the displeasure of meeting. In some ways it couldn't be closer to the truth.

"Ready..." Mr. Raines wheezed at her, it wasn't a question, it was a demand, and Riley had to remind herself to breathe for a moment as she realized that Mr. Raines had just signed her termination order.

Why don't you just give me a toe tag and be done with it? She thought snarkily, and surprised even herself by having the capacity to think anything beyond 'nonononono NOT READY.' She gave no indication of hearing him except to close her eyes, trying to calm down enough to bring herself into 'SIM mode' as she had heard Mr. Lyle call it. She missed Mr. Lyle's coaching, his ability to calm her down was a gift that she took for granted far too often, one which she needed desperately right now. She heard his voice in her head, repeating the instructions that she had heard him say so often in the past. 'Calm down Riley, just breathe, everything's alright, breathe Riley, just take deep breaths... That's it... Now let go, just let go... Good...' She reopened her eyes, which were no longer focused on any one thing in the room, and gave an almost imperceptible nod, yes she was ready.

Mr. Raines signaled for the sweeper standing at the door and he flicked on a projection along the wall she was facing, it depicted a scene of Jarod in the SIM lab, but it was different from any she had seen previously... Riley suddenly realized that the picture was missing a key component of Jarod's life; Dr. Sydney. Jarod wasn't with Dr. Sydney. The projection flickered to another picture of Jarod, from a different perspective, and Riley felt herself slip into the now familiar personality.

"Where are you?"

Riley felt her train of thought derail for a moment, before her subconscious remembered that she was not working with Mr. Lyle. She took another deep breath, using Mr. Lyle's words to coach herself, to allow herself to recognize the situation and Jarod's feelings towards it.

'What is he thinking? What is he feeling? Become the boy Riley. You are Jarod.'

"I-I'm..."

"Where are you?" Mr. Raines was getting frustrated, she could tell. But if he kept derailing her thought process, there was nothing she could do about it! Riley shook her head at the thought, trying to get herself back on track.

"I'm in the simulation lab... Sydney isn't here."

"What are you doing?"

Riley tried to ignore his prodding; she needed to stay inside the SIM... She had to, if she didn't- Just don't think about that now... think Riley. You are Jarod. You are in the SIM lab... Sydney isn't with you... You are... You are... looking at the vent... Why are you looking at the vent?-- Riley was once again shaken from her train of thought as Mr. Raines rasped under his wheezy breath "Concentrate Riley. Run the SIM, or face the consequences."

There's air coming from the vent... its cold, colder than normal...

"Riley..." Raines had raised his voice this time; it seemed that he wanted to look like he was doing something about trying to get his project to run the simulation in front of the Triumvirate members.

Riley finally took some notice of the agitation in Mr. Raines voice, realizing that he wasn't going to allow her any more time to think this through, she had to say something or he was going to force her to. "I'm making paper snowflakes... it's winter outside, Sydney always leaves during the winter... I'm looking at the vent next to me... I want to see real snow... The vent leads to the outside, I can feel cold air coming through... if I go through the vent- maybe I can get outside... maybe I can avoid the alarms long enough to go outside for a while..."

Riley ran the rest of the simulation with a fair amount of ease, although Mr. Raines was not helping very much. He was disrupting her every time she reached a piece of information she actually needed to think about, always pointing her down the wrong path. The simulation finished and the projector was snapped off. Mr. Raines walked into the other room to confer with the board members, leaving Riley to concentrate on stopping herself from hurling; the next simulation would deal with multiple perspectives... she had been able to deal with just Jarod's, but she didn't know what would come from this next one...

Jarod watched the young girl from the vents above them. He'd gone to her room first, but only arrived right after Raines had walked in to take her elsewhere. Jarod had followed along above them as the man escorted her here, to a SIM Lab, to be watched by the Triumvirate. She was scared, he could tell, her pale face was flushed and her eyes held almost constant worry. She was carrying herself wrong too; stiffly, as though she were in pain. She turned her back to him and Jarod could make out a small drop of blood staining the top of her shirt, near the collar. He swallowed, stifling the urge to hit something. She was so small-- fragile. And she seemed so desperate to please. Jarod doubted Raines even realized what a gem he had in this girl... Jarod's daughter. She was beautiful, but not in the conventional way of Hollywood, or the beautiful Jarod had been indoctrinated on when working as a plastic surgeon. She looked a lot like him, he could tell even from here, but he could also see little differences-- her lips and nose, her ears, the set of her shoulders. He was probably just a little bit biased. Jarod stiffened as the door below him reopened, and he tried to mentally prepare himself for tortures he knew were coming. He couldn't lose his temper-- couldn't protect her; couldn't enter the room. Not if he had any chance of getting her out of the Centre. He felt so helpless. This place always made him feel helpless.

Raines entered the room concealing the board members, not entirely sure of the response that would meet him; the Triumvirate had been called here with the information that Riley was one of the most promising pretenders they had seen since Jarod's time... And while the performance she had just given them was interesting, it also was a stunted version of the simulation... Raines hated to admit it, but Riley's performance would have increased immensely had she been running the simulation with Lyle. He knew it; and Lyle knew it, what was more. The next simulation might not go through at all. Raines had given the girl plenty of motivation when it came to this simulation, but that didn't matter when she was being too obstinate to try. This afternoon's session had not been promising. He glanced through the window into the next room; Riley was sitting down against the wall opposite, her knees to her chest and her head resting in her arms. The girl was exhausted, caused in large part by the beating she had received that afternoon, and even more so by the SIM that she had just done. She was tiring too soon. Raines made a mental note to add that problem to her training program and began listening to the praise his project was receiving from the board members... good, they were pleased, and if he could motivate her to do this next simulation properly he was probably looking at a large salary increase.

Lyle sped through the Centre parking lot, pulling his beloved car to a screeching halt and running inside the massive, labyrinth-like, building. He ran down the hallways, skidding in his slick work shoes, and rushing towards the secured elevator that was able to access the lower sub-levels, where Riley's room was. He'd tried calling Raines the instant he had found a phone, but the man wasn't in his office, and Lyle couldn't bring this news to the attention of anyone else; it was a classified topic. He reached her space but found it empty, and immediately thought the worst-- Jarod had taken off with his pretender. But the Centre would be in an uproar if that happened... she wasn't gone yet, he could feel it. He began running off in the direction of their usual SIM lab, when he was hailed by the sweeper at the guard station.

"Mr. Lyle!"

Lyle turned around, clearly showing his agitation at being held up from his search. "What!"

"N-Nothing Sir." The unfortunate sweeper stepped back a few paces, knocking into the table behind him and successfully backing himself into a corner.

"If it was nothing, then why did you stop me?" Lyle's voice was cool as ice, and the unlucky sweeper immediately recognized the danger signs of a full out psychotic episode.

"I-I just t-thought you ought to know that your girl was taken to do a p-pretend in front of the board m-members!" The man squeaked out, looking as though on the verge of a heart attack. Lyle approached him slowly, menacingly.

"Where was she taken?" He asked frigidly.

The sweeper tried speaking, coming out with barely more than a squeak. "S-SIM l-lab n-nine."

Lyle took off again at a run, changing his direction when he reached the corner, rather then going up the usual elevator ride. Lab nine was on this floor, he could get there in five minutes. Just five minutes and he could fix this mess.

"I-I" Riley searched for the right words to convey the emotions the simulation was causing her to feel.

"Complete the simulation!" Mr. Raines ordered her through gritted teeth, they had reached the point in the simulation where she was to switch perspectives from Jarod to the man in the simulation; a John Doe who had turned up dead on the side of the road.

Riley struggled through trying to juggle the various personalities fighting for dominance inside of her... she couldn't change her perspective though. She had been able to keep herself inside the simulation, but she couldn't concentrate on the actual events going on, she was having to focus too hard on maintaining her perspective, and not getting startled out of her skin every time Mr. Raines spoke to her... somehow she had to force herself to think of him as part of the simulation... just another piece of scenery...

"Riley, don't make me force you. Now finish the simulation."

Finish the simulation! I'd like nothing better than to finish the simulation! Riley's conscious snapped back to the present, to the here and now, and she gave up trying to maintain the perspectives she was having trouble sifting through. She shook her head trying to clear her thoughts, and looked up at Mr. Raines, who seemed to have realized that she had come back to reality. "I am trying Sir. I'm sorry, I-"

Raines backhanded her, snapping her head around to the side as she took the full force of the blow without a single cry of protest. "Complete the simulation Riley or I will hand you over to the sweepers and this time I won't stop them until you pass out." Raines ground out under his breath, ensuring that the board members behind him wouldn't be able to hear the threat. Raines and Riley were both startled from this line of conversation as they heard a loud clanging noise, it seemed to Riley that it was coming from the vent directly above them, but Mr. Raines signaled to a sweeper at the door. The man nodded his head once before turning and exiting the room- most likely to discover the source of the sound. Riley wiped away the blood that trickled down her chin from where her tooth hit her lip, and tried to think of a convincing argument she could give Mr. Raines... He signaled to the sweeper behind him and Riley saw the smile Gar was trying, and failing, to hide.

Gar advanced upon her, holding a wide strap of leather wound around his fist. Riley backed up slightly, fear twisting in her stomach as she inadvertently empathed Gar. She nearly passed out from the man's ruthless, and rather evil intentions; he wanted to hurt her, wanted to cause her immense pain. And he knew that Mr. Raines wouldn't stop him.

Riley was never fully able to categorize the events that came next... it all seemed to happen in a blur to her foggy mind.

Jarod sat in the ventilation systems watching the exchange, his vision was limited and auditory was next to nothing, but he got the gist of the conversation. He had been on the receiving end of Raines' 'do or die' threats himself. Jarod highly doubted the old man's routine had changed much over the years. He did, however, jerk away from the vent grating when he saw Raines hit the young girl. His head impacted with the vent roof above him, and while the sudden force didn't knock him unconscious, it did manage to make quite a bit of noise. Jarod flinched visibly as the loud clang reverberated around the room. He didn't wait to see if they would come looking for him, but took a final regret filled look at the girl before turned in the shaft and racing back to escape route he knew out of the massive building. He couldn't save her tonight, but he would be back.

Lyle ran into the board room, startling the members and watching as Gar advanced upon his project holding a torture implement that Lyle himself hadn't even been tempted to use to modify Riley's behavior since she was around four or five. He ignored the startled exclamation of Mr. Parker and ran into the adjoining SIM lab, wrenching the whip-like device from Gar's grasp and throwing him to the ground.

"Come near my project again with any more than a pair of handcuffs and you will hear from me Gar, now get out of my sight before I change my decision to let you live." He hissed softly, watching the frightened sweeper scramble out of the room frantically. Lyle then turned back to the rest of the room at large. Raines was looking murderous, and the board members had all left there seats, coming into the SIM lab to inquire as to what exactly was going on. He took a deep breath, calming the homicidal rage that had been coursing through him, before addressing Raines.

"Were you having problems in here?" He asked the man, echoing his words back at him from the day that they had briefed Riley on this matter. Raines didn't even answer, he just walked into the room opposite, taking a vacant seat as the board members returned to the viewing room, eager as to what this new change in events could bring. Lyle waited until all of the members of the board had left before he knelt down to speak to Riley one on one, she was looking at him with a mixture of relief and mingled anticipation in her eyes, and he knew that she was still trying to process what all had just happened. Lyle leaned in and spoke in a low whisper, taking her wrist and discreetly checking her pulse as he talked to her, trying to see if he could get her calmed down enough to the point that she could SIM. "Are you alright?" He asked her, and received a small nod in return. Raines must have really scared her; she looked as though she were going into some form of shock... like her brain had shut down temporarily so that it wouldn't have to deal with anything. "Riley?" Lyle looked at her anxiously, waiting for her to give him some form of a response. "Riley, it's alright; I'm back... you won't be working with Mr. Raines for a while, don't worry..." Lyle was saying anything that popped into his head that he thought might reassure her.

"I thought you were g-going to be gone longer than this..." She finally answered him, looking at him confusedly, but her gratitude was obvious even then.

"What and leave you here? You know I couldn't stand missing an opportunity to put Gar in his place..." Lyle winked at her, and received a small smile for his efforts, he felt her pulse returning to normal, and released his hold on her wrist. "So, you think you can run a SIM for me?" Lyle asked her this last question in a normal voice, allowing the board members into their conversation now that it related to their work. Lyle watched as Riley's eye's flicked over to the mirror before settling with a determined look on him. She nodded, and whispered a sentence that made it feel as though the world had been lifted from his shoulders-

"I think I understand how to complete it now."

"I'm glad to hear that," He whispered back. "I knew you could do it, if you really wanted to." He praised. "Do you need help getting into the simulation?"

Riley shook her head mutely, if she was going to make up for the mistakes she made in front of the triumvirate earlier she would need to pull out all of the stops. She had to make this a show to remember, some part of her brain was still reasoning that she still wasn't safe from Mr. Raines' wrath. Not by a long shot. The projector flicked on once again and Riley allowed her sense of self slip away to a storage container in the back of her mind, putting it away until she next needed it.

"Where are you?"

"I'm..." Riley closed her eyes and went completely into the SIM... it was like she was looking through someone else's eyes, she could see a simulation lab materialize around her... and could see a man walking around on the outskirts of a ring of light, the light was illuminating her, but nothing else, and in front of her were projections... pictures of a man... a mangled corpse who looked as though he had been stabbed to death... There were projectors running all around her... giving her the impression that she was in the middle of a forest clearing...

Lyle waited patiently as his project got the scope of her surroundings. He knew that she would come back in a few seconds and know exactly where she was and what she was doing... it always worked like that for her.

"I'm in the simulation lab. I'm with Sydney. I'm looking at the pictures he's given me... A man was stabbed to death just outside of his town in Washington."

"Good Riley. Now what are you feeling?"

"I'm... confused." Riley fully took on Jarod's personality as she began sifting through his feelings, "I don't understand... how could anyone kill another person... how could they just kill someone, someone they don't even know; someone who just happened to have the ill fortune of running into them... it doesn't make sense." She said slowly.

"Why doesn't it make sense?" Lyle watched as Riley struggled to explain Jarod's feelings towards the SIM.

"If life is so... precious... how could someone just- just take it? Like it was nothing; no big deal. I don't understand."

Lyle took his cue from the projectors in front of them, pushing Riley in the direction of the actual simulation. "People... Some people don't have any trouble killing others. They don't always see something wrong with it. This is why we need you to do this pretend; we need to stop people like them."

"I- I'll do it." Riley answered him with a slight hesitation; Jarod had been a little bit older in this pretend... and something was nagging at the back of his mind as he agreed to the SIM. Something was telling him that this pretend might not be used for the sole purpose of saving people. Riley pushed it to the back of her mind. She had work to do. She watched as the projections on the screen changed; turning from pictures of Jarod, to pictures of the man in the simulation. The pictures showed him walking down a long road. The road lead to a clearing, it was hidden from the road, and illuminated only by moonlight. The perfect place for a murder.

"Become the man. What is he thinking? What is he feeling? You are the man." Lyle stated the mantra, coaching Riley from one personality to another, and was a little bit surprised when she actually transferred to the personality correctly. This was good. This was very good. "Where are you? What are you doing?"

"I'm on a road. Walking. My car broke down, and my house is only about a mile away, it's right on the outskirts of town. It's getting late, almost dark. I speed up, knowing that I probably won't make it to my house before the sun goes down completely. There aren't any people on the road, and it's getting colder. It looks like rain... I keep walking."

"Where do you go? Do you stay on the road?" Lyle prompted Riley, pushing her in the direction of the next choice the man made.

"No. I can see a path in the trees, I know it. This path leads right to the edge of town. It's used by the kids who walk home from the high school. I know it because it leads almost directly to my property. It's a shortcut. I look up at the sky and the rolling thunderclouds make up my mind for me. I go into the forest."

"What then? What happens?"

"This may not have been the best choice... I can hardly see my hand in front of my face, and the trail is nonexistent. I don't have a flashlight. I spin around, deciding that I should probably head back to the road, I'll probably get rained on, but at least it has streetlamps. I start walking back, or at least I start walking in the direction I think is back... I don't know where I am. I think I'm lost. I can make out a light in the distance, it might be the road. I start walking towards it, as I come into a clearing I begin to hear voices. I see a group of men, they're standing in front of their car, and the headlights are on. I don't interrupt them right away; I think that I should just disappear."

"What do you do?"

"I feel as though my feet have rooted themselves to the ground, I can't move; one of the men has been attacked by two others. They have him pinned down, he's screaming. The man he's pleading with shoots him. I take a step back, trying to leave without anyone noticing me. I cringe as I hear a stick snap beneath my foot, the men look up, and one of them points a flashlight at me, I don't know what to do! I stumble away, and begin running. I can hear them chasing me, the man with the gun is barking orders, and I run faster as I hear him tell the other men to 'dispose' of me. I can't think! All I can see is the man being shot, over and over again. I hear a bullet ricochet off of a tree I just passed, and I run faster."

"Where do you go?"

"I keep running straight ahead, I stumble out onto the road and feel raindrops begin to fall, the shower quickly gets heavier and it begins to pour, raindrops splatter on the ground around me and I look in both directions, trying to decide which way to go. I can hear one of the hunters crashing around near me and I rocket off down in the direction of my car; it's closer than my house, if I can get in and lock the doors, they might not be able to get to me..."

"What happens?"

"A man tumbles out of the underbrush and onto the slick road behind me, he fires his gun and I can feel the bullet lodge in my leg, I stumble, and fall to the ground. I'm bleeding a lot! The pain is... blinding. I try to scramble backwards as the man advances upon me... he's holding a knife, it's huge! I can't move, I can't think, I don't know what to do... Somebody help me! Somebody help! I can't do anything... Help!"

Riley began shaking uncontrollably, and Lyle knew the simulation had ended, the man had died, and Riley's subconscious didn't know how to handle it, Lyle had to get her out of the simulation before she collapsed. If she passed out during a SIM, the effects on her mental capacity could be disastrous, her brain could revert to the personality in the simulation, and seeing as he was dead, well that really wouldn't be a good thing.

"Disengage Riley." The shaking lessened slightly, but didn't dissipate entirely and Lyle watched his pretender struggle for dominance over her own mind, "Riley stop the SIM." Lyle reached out and shook the pretender lightly, hoping that her inherent fear of being touched might help him snap her out of it. Riley came to, stumbling backwards and clenching her hands into fists as she tried to control the tremors racking her body, her breath came in shuddering gasps and Lyle allowed her the loss of control over her emotions; after all, for all technical purposes she had just died. He checked her pulse once more as he tried to help her calm down.

"It's okay Riley... you're safe. You're with me, it's alright I promise, you did that simulation very well. I'm proud of you. That was a very good job. Now take some deep breaths, that's it, good. Its okay, you're okay. Very good Riley." Lyle spoke in a hushed voice, and watched as the pretender stopped shaking entirely, slipping into a slightly dazed state, brought on by the adrenalin pumping through her veins. He patted her on the shoulder, keeping eye contact, and getting her used to his touch. "It's alright, I promise."

Riley's breathing slowly returned to normal and her eyes slipped back into focus, her attention went back to him and she regained the lost control over her emotions.

"Riley," Lyle addressed her in a regular tone again, asking her some follow-up questions about the simulation that would show the Triumvirate just how good Riley really was, "What was Jarod thinking during the simulation?"

"He..." Riley hesitated as she thought about it; his emotions and thoughts were always so complex compared to what she was used to analyzing, "He thought... he thought that the simulation might be used for purposes other than the one's that Dr. Sydney had told him."

"What did he think it might be used for Riley?"

"He thought that the simulation could be manipulated to be used as a way to murder someone rather than help them."

"What were his feelings on that?"

"He was... angry... and confused; he didn't think that Dr. Sydney would lie to him, but Jarod also thought that the SIM was built for purposes other than what they were telling him. The theory is logical; the simulation didn't have any actual purpose for trying to help a person. However it did have the possibility of telling the pursuers of a person how they would try to escape..."

"Good Riley. I have to go talk with the board members, stay out here and wait for me." Lyle directed her towards a table at the back of the room, and gave her a pen and some paper before disappearing into the room opposite. Mr. Parker and Mr. Raines seemed to be glad-handing the board members, accepting the praise for the work that he and Riley had just performed. Typical. Parker pointed over Adama's shoulder, and the man swung around to greet Lyle.

"That was quite the show." The man spoke quietly, but his deep voice commanded the attention of all those in the room. Lyle accepted the praise humbly, as he knew it would go further with the man than anything else.He didn't say a word, but nodded his head in acknowledgment.

"It would seem that your project has undeniable potential, has she fully reached that potential yet?" This question was directed at both Raines and him, and Lyle waited for the older man to speak before chiming in himself, Raines was Riley's director, as much as he loathed it, and Lyle wasn't about to contradict him in front of Adama, that was a sure way to get himself killed.

"The project... Has not reached fruition yet... If the program continues according to plan... her skill level should progress at a regular rate as she matures..." Raines wheezed out, looking in Lyle's opinion altogether too pleased with himself for a man who had hardly done anything to do with her program.

Adama looked over at Lyle, "Would you agree with that assessment?"

"While I agree with the assessment of her potential, that's only half of the actual project. Her obedience and tolerance levels both exceed those of Jarod's. And her ability as an empath is growing as we speak. Her ability to judge some of the more passionate emotions needs some work, but her training program allows for that. The simulation that you just witnessed is only her third try at becoming more than one person at the same time, a feat which, by the way, has never even been tried with Jarod. Her simulations are performed at an ability which nearly exceeds Jarod's own, and she hasn't even been fully trained yet." Lyle looked out of the screening room window, watching his project with an almost parental fondness, not that he would ever act on that impulse, or tell anyone about it. Not if he intended to live. "Her skills are developing at an alarming rate and she has shown absolutely no sign of even contemplating running away."

Lyle turned back to Adama and the other board members, watching their reactions cautiously, Mr. Parker had a smile that spoke of malicious intent growing across his features and Raines was looking very self- satisfied, reminiscent of the cat-who-ate-the-canary.

"I see." Adama noted. "You said that her simulations were performed at an ability that nearly exceeds Jarod's?" Adama's expression grew serious; he had been lured out to Blue Cove with the information that the project was the best the Centre had seen.

"What Mr. Lyle meant to say was-" Raines jumped into the conversation, trying to cover up Lyle's seeming blunder, but Lyle cut him off.

"What I meant to say was that while Riley does exceed Jarod in several areas, she has severe confidence problems- she can be unsure of her answers- despite the fact that they are right. She isn't as open or trusting as Jarod was at her age, and these facts show in her work."

"So you are saying that I was brought out here to watch a lesser pretender."

"No. She simply has strengths in areas different than Jarod. In several other ways she exceeds him. She has more military background, she is easier to control, she doesn't care about the effects of her simulations like Jarod did, and as I said before; she shows no signs of ever planning to leave the Centre." Lyle almost took it as a personal affront that Adama had called Riley 'lesser', he hadn't spent eleven years working on a 'lesser' pretender. "She isn't fully trained yet, but her program allows for growth. Riley's potential is a veritable gold mine for the Triumvirate, given time her abilities could triple from what you witnessed tonight."

The black man's smile broadened, showing white teeth which reminded Lyle vaguely of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. "Good."

Lyle walked out of the viewing room and strolled over to the table where it seemed that Riley had fallen asleep waiting for him, he couldn't blame her either; the meeting had lasted well over an hour, they had been discussing Raines and his new salary raises. Lyle was almost certain that she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep while he was gone; Raines had a way of frightening the pretender that Lyle could never fully justify. Giving one person that much reason to fear you only lead to an uncomfortable relationship, one of the things that the people who worked with the projects typically tried to avoid; if the project wasn't comfortable around you, it wouldn't be able to work with you. Lyle looked at the drawings covering the table. They were pretty good, given the rather graphic nature of some of them, depicting scenes from the pretend she had just undergone. Giving her the pen and paper had been meant for that purpose after all; drawing was the way that Riley could release the emotions she had towards the simulation, and Lyle used it as a way of controlling the frequency of the girl's nightmares. It was one of the few forms of self expression which she was allowed to have, and Lyle never stopped her from taking advantage of it. He knelt down next to the table and gently shook the teen awake, generally he couldn't touch her like this without her becoming terrified, but sometimes, after emotionally exhausting days like these, she would react like any other young girl would; accepting the touch as a source of comfort.

"Riley, hey kiddo, wake up." Lyle whispered into her ear, trying to wake her up as gently as possible. "Riley, we've got to get you back to you're room, and I'm not going to carry you." Lyle teased the groggy young girl as she slowly came to.

"Huh? Wha-" Riley looked around her confusedly, rubbing at the sleep in her eyes.

"Hey there."

"Mr. Lyle!" Riley looked up at him in surprise, fully awake once more, "Oh, I-I..." Riley struggled for words and Lyle laughed lightly at the speechless pretender.

"You ready to go back to your room?" He asked her fondly, giving her an escape route out of the tired state of confusion she was experiencing.

She nodded mutely, getting up from her seat and heading sleepily to the door. Lyle grabbed the drawings and followed her, punching in the door code and walking in the general direction of her room.

"How'd it go?" Riley interrogated him, forgetting to ask permission to ask him questions because of her half-conscious state. Lyle didn't really mind though, after all, she had just managed to get him an extra ten thousand dollars a week.

"Pretty well." He understated. "The board members are pleased with your work. You did very well, and I'm proud that you took the initiative to figure out how to complete that SIM, I know how much trouble it was giving you." Lyle praised the young girl at his side, making sure to tell her how proud he really was. He had hardly ever received any form of praise from his own father when he was her age, or any other time, and he knew how terrible it felt to want the approval of someone so bad, and be unable to attain it no matter how hard you tried. He also knew that Riley had similar feelings towards him; he had to admit their relationship was confusing, even by Centre standards. Lyle was in a way her father, he had provided the cells to help create her, and had raised her since she was four, and some part of Riley had inherently trusted him. She had never been able to open up to anyone that easily outside of himself, even Sarah had had a difficult time getting her to talk at first. Riley didn't exactly see him as a father, but Lyle recognized a feeling of loyalty, one that she only seemed to give him. In other ways their relationship was very difficult, Lyle had to punish her for misdeeds through physical abuse, and that could strain anyone's relationship. In most cases, she didn't give him a reason to have to hurt her though. So granted there were rules that both of them had to follow, but otherwise Lyle and Riley's relationship was just as codependent as Sydney and Jarod's; Riley needed him as a support figure, and right now that was good for both of them.

They reached the door of her room and Lyle walked inside, watching her crawl into bed stiffly. "Would you like some pain medication for that?" He asked. Normally, she wasn't allowed anything of the sort, but this was a reward for good behavior-- and she would understand it as such. Really, he wanted a reason to stay in her room a while longer, until he could arrange for some tighter security around the girl-- with Jarod running around, he wanted no lag anywhere.

She stopped in her movements and hesitated before sitting back up, leaning back on her hands and looking at him tentatively. "I wasn't acting properly around Mr. Raines... I made him angry." She said haltingly. "I deserve this."

The answer was in accordance with what their training had taught her, but the answer still surprised Lyle just a little bit. He gave her a small smile. "You have also made me very proud tonight; I think you deserve some relief more."

She swallowed tightly, "Really?"

"If I didn't think that, then I wouldn't have offered. Would you like some medicine or not?" He asked again, giving her a second chance to say yes.

She nodded quickly, chewing her lip, trying to hide the warm glow spreading through her body at the praise. He called out the door to get the sweeper, then drew him aside, out the door, when the man arrived. Riley didn't know what was so secret about pain meds, but apparently it wasn't something for her to overhear, and for once, she didn't try. She drew her knees up to her chest, putting her head on her arms. It had been a very long day. She shifted on the bed and something small and hard slid into her leg. She looked down in confusion, feeling around beneath the coverlet until her fingers wrapped around the little offender. She pulled it out, and she was holding her necklace again. She inhaled sharply, having thought she would never get it back, and started tying it up around her neck, but then stopped. She couldn't wear it anymore. Mr. Lyle had forbidden it-- if he caught her with it he'd probably confiscate it. She hesitated, then bent over the frame of the bed and tied it tightly to one of the springs; it would be safe there. Mr. Lyle returned to the room and Riley immediately felt a wretched sense of guilt consume her, she shouldn't be hiding things from him... but she shouldn't have to either, she justified. He shouldn't have pushed her to it.

When the sweeper came back a short time later, a small paper cup and two pills in his hand, Mr. Raines was walking at his side. Riley felt her breath hitch at the sight-- she must have humiliated him; working so horribly on the SIM, and then practically swimming through it with Mr. Lyle-- and in front of the board members! He probably hated her! And here she was, weaseling her way out of the punishment he had decided she needed, and Mr. Lyle had been encouraging her to do it! Oh she wished she had never agreed. What if it had been some sort of a test? Mr. Lyle noticed the horrorstruck look she was sending to her blanket. He leaned over to her before heading out the door to go talk with the man, handing her the two small tablets as he did.

"You have done nothing wrong, Riley." He murmured, before heading out the door, making her feel just a little bit better. Enough to swallow the pills before someone took them away from her.

Lyle stepped out of the room, maneuvering Raines just a little ways down the hall, so that he could still keep a vigilant eye on Riley's cell door. "We have problems." He said bluntly. "Jarod knows about her. He somehow knows everything about her, and where she comes from."

"How did you find this out?" Raines rasped, turning to keep an eye on the door to the young girl's space as well.

"The lead to Oregon was a fluke. It was a distraction, so that he could come here and whisk her away." He explained, crossing his arms over his chest. "We need heightened security around her at all times; until we have Jarod back in custody."

"Which shouldn't be for much longer." The old man wheezed with a hint of satisfaction.

Lyle agreed wholeheartedly. "With the way things turned tonight; no, it shouldn't be long at all."