LJP- Jeremiah is actually going to use his powers on Lyle but not really in the way you're hoping.

Authors Note: In honor of me getting The Pretender Season One yeasterday, Here is a new chapter today.


CHAPTER 53

COUNTDOWN


February 24, 2000

2:21pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

The Black Files all sat around the table in the middle of the sim lab. Having completed their mornings work, the children found themselves bored. Marc looked off into space as he drummed his fingers on the Formica table top.

"Could you stop that?" Alex asked tersely.

"Stop what? Marc asked and intentionally drummed his fingers louder.

"So help me, if you don't stop I'll break them," Alex threatened.

"You could always cut off his thumb them he could look like Lyle," Greg snickered.

"Like I'd ever want to be like that freak," Marc said making a face. Jeremiah squirmed in his seat. He hated it when ever the subject of Lyle was brought up. All Jeremiah wanted to do was forget 'The Day', the day in which his whole world was turned upside down.

Lyle was Jeremiah, Greg, and Melissa's father. The man -monster- had hurt the people Jeremiah loved. It had been six days since Jeremiah had learned the truth and he found it difficult to swallow. He didn't know how he was going to tell Melissa and Greg. And what about the others. What would they think when they learned who his father was. Would they hate he, Greg, and Melissa. The thought shook Jeremiah to the core.

"Jer you okay?" Alex asked sensing something was wrong with the boy. Jeremiah quickly borrowed Alex's empathy abilities to form a mental block around his mind so that Alex couldn't feel what Jeremiah was thinking.

"I'm fine," Jeremiah replied. Alex looked at the boy questioningly. Jeremiah was saved from anymore of Alex's questions when Lyle entered. Jeremiah found himself frozen in his seat. It was the first time he had see Lyle since the day Lyle had murdered Jeremiah's mother.

"What are you all doing?" Lyle asked.

"We've completed our work sir," Jake told the man. Out of the corner of his eye, Jeremiah saw Aaron and Andros, slid closer to Alex. It was a subconscious action that all of the boys were guilty of. When ever Lyle, Raines or Cox entered the room, the boys would always move closer to their sisters, as a from of defense for the girls. When it came to their sisters' protection the boys would willingly risk their own safety.

"Really you're done. Well then I have a new assignment for one of you," Lyle smirked.

"Stay way from her," Jeremiah growled getting to his feet. He didn't need to hear anymore of what Lyle was going to say to know that Lyle was going to do something to Alex. It was always Alex when it came to Lyle. Jeremiah didn't know what it was that made Lyle hurt Alex so much but he did. Jeremiah was damned if he was going to sit there and let Lyle hurt Alex. The boy hated himself for hiding in the air vent as he watched Lyle murder Alannah.

"Now Jeremiah you don't even know what I was going to say," Lyle chuckled. But his smile didn't reach his eyes. Lyle's eyes were cold, and they shown with anger and outrage at the fact Jeremiah had spoken.

"I won't let you hurt her. Go find your secretary and lock her in your shed, but leave Alex alone!" Jeremiah yelled. He was vaguely aware of the children behind him gasping. And they weren't the only ones shocked. Jeremiah had no idea where the words that were tumbling out of his mouth were coming from. He then realized that it was the voice of his mother that was whispering the information to him.

"Who told you," Lyle hissed grabbing Jeremiah roughly by the arm.

"I -I heard Ra-raines talking about you t-to Mr. Parker, ages ago," Jeremiah said stuttering. He was frightened, Jake was the one known for his bravery not Jeremiah.

"Mr. Lyle please don't hurt him. He's been acting funny every since his... incident," Greg said. Lyle narrowed his eyes at Jeremiah, studying the boy. Lyle still found Jeremiah's cationic shock to be strange. The boy had gone into shock the same day his mother had been killed. Lyle searched Jeremiah's green eyes trying to find any sign of Jeremiah knowing that Lyle had killed Alannah.

Seeing nothing in Jeremiah's eyes Lyle let the boy go. "Next time I won't be so kind. Next time it won't be just her. It will be her, Melissa, Greg and you," Lyle warned the boy.

"I believe you," Jeremiah replied. Jeremiah then did something he never would have dared. Jeremiah quickly borrowed Alex's empathic abilities, to find the closest telepath. He then borrowed the telepath's powers to take a peak inside Lyle's mind.

It was three seconds before, Lyle felt the tickle of an intrusion into his mind. He realized what it was soon enough.

"Don't do that!" Lyle roared backhanding Jeremiah. "Like I told Alyssa years ago, 'save it for the chairman'."

Jeremiah looked up at Lyle in shock, Lyle had said her name. He said Alyssa's name, did that mean she was really real?

"Who is she?" Jeremiah asked before he could stop his self. "Who's Alyssa?"

"She's dead," Lyle replied. "Nothing but another ghost that hunts this hell hole."

"No," Jeremiah whispered to himself.

"Keep playing theses games Jeremiah and you'll end up like her," Lyle warned with that he left the room.


Lyle closed the sim lab door behind him, as he walked back to his office he tried to figure out why he hadn't punished Jeremiah for intruding into his mind. Had it been Jake, or any of the others, Lyle was sure he would have had them locked up on SL-15 and tortured for the next three days.

'Is it guilt?' Lyle asked himself. Did he feel guilty because he took away the boy's mother, that Jeremiah -Greg and Melissa- would never get the chance to meet. Kindred sprits maybe, both taken away from their mothers, never to know the love of their mothers.

bond runs much deeper than that

A voice whispered inside his head whispered.

"Shut up," Lyle muttered.


March 25, 2000

12:04pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

"You guys can't be right. Jarod would never do such a thing," Will said as he reluctantly ate his lunch.

"Hey kid you can't argue with the evidence," Sam pointed out. "His whole lair was full of drug paraphernalia. Who knows maybe old genius finally gave up and gave into drugs," Sam shrugged

"No. You guys thought he had gone crazy earlier and were wrong. And I'm telling you that your wrong about this. Take it from me," Will said firmly.

"Alright," Sam sighed. "Let's play the game then."

"What game?" Will asked.

"The game in which you make me guess what you know," Sam said. "Why do you say that Jarod wouldn't turn to drugs?"

"'Member when you were sixteen and what Raines did to you?" Will asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied softly as he subconsciously ran his left hand up and down his right arm. Sam remembered all to well when Raines had gotten Sam addicted to drugs and forced, Sam to endure withdrawal day in and day out. And though it had been over twenty years Sam still had the track marks running along both arms.

"Well that drug Raines gave you was originally intended to make pretenders smarter. But it didn't work turned out that the drug had a rapid addiction, and devastating withdrawals. As you know all too well," Will answered. "Jarod had to endure that, for a week I think. So like I said he wouldn't voluntarily go through all that again."

"Well I guess we'll find out if you're right sooner or later," Sam said.

"You doubt me?" Will asked.

"Kid if there is one things I've learned from being around you is never to doubt you. But all the same everyone is wrong every now and then," Sam told Will.

"Not me," Will said grinning, and for a moment Will reminded Sam of some one by the sweeper couldn't figure out just who.


March 26, 2000

7:56am

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

"Well you were right," Sam said as he placed Will's breakfast on his desk.

"Like I said I'm never wrong," Will replied.

"Well I bet you didn't know the whole story. About why Sydney..."

"Never stepped in. He did and Raines got Sydney hopped up on the same drug to keep the good doctor out of the way," Will finished. Sam looked disappointed.

"How is it that you know so much about Jarod?" Sam asked.

"Sam Jarod's practically legend to us lab rats. He's one of the few who's actually made it on the outside. Sure he gets captured every now and then, but still it's more than the rest of us can say."

"Why didn't you and Alley try to escape?" Sam asked Will.

"We though about it a couple of times. But where would we have gone to? We were seven years old. It looked pretty suspicious to have a pair of seven year olds wandering the state. More than likely we would have gotten put in an orphanage, and then the Centre would have found us again. And it's not like a could leave now. I couldn't leave the others behind," Will answered.

"You got a point there. Well kid I need to go, I have to go and get the other kids ready. See you at lunch," Sam said.

"See ya later Sam," Will replied. It wasn't until after Sam left did will let his facade down. His face contorted in pain, as he removed his shirt to get a look at his back in the metal mirror over the sink. There were black and blue bruises decorating his back and arms.

"Jesus," Sam gasped. Will turned around and looked up at Sam. Will's heart pounded in his chest. The last thing he wanted was for Sam to find out about Will's beatings. Will was more frighted as to what Raines might do to Sam, than to what Raines would do to Will.

"S-sam I thought you were gone," Will stuttered.

"Will what happened?" Sam asked inspecting Will's back.

"It's nothing," Will said and quickly pulled his shirt back over his head.

"Bull shit Will. How long has this been going on?"

"Sam just let it go okay. You'll only make it worse. Then you'll end up like Reed, and that can't happen the Black Files need you," Will told the sweeper.

"Reed ate his own bullet, Will," Sam reminded Will.

"Yeah, but only 'cause of what Raines made Reed do to me," Will said looking at his feet.

"What did Raines make Reed do?" Sam asked.

"If I tell you Sam, you can't tell anyone. I mean it Sam, you can't tell anyone. Swear to me Sam."

"I swear. Now tell me," Sam said.

"Raines found a way to control my pyrokinesis. Every month he has some sweeper beat the shit out of me. My body's so focused on mending that I can't do much with my P.K. The day Reed ate his bullet, Raines made Reed whip me. He- Raines- wanted me to give up my name. He wanted me to become Phoenix. I wouldn't do it. That whipping hurt Reed more than it did me. Reed couldn't stand what he did. That's why he killed himself." Will explained. Sam shook his head not knowing what to say.

"Let me take a look," Sam said finally.

"No," Will replied "You need to go see to the others. I-I'll let you look later," Will promised. Sam took that as his hint to leave.


April 22, 2000

2:23pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

Sam stood in the corner of the sim lab watching Will, preform a sim. Sam had managed to get Raines' to stop Will's beatings. The triumvirate was not pleased when they had learned what Raines' was doing to the Centre's top pretender.

Sam's cell phone ranged and he reached for it. "What," Sam said into his cell.

"Stealing my catchphrase little brother?" Parker teased.

"Just borrowing. What do you need?" Sam asked getting down to business.

"Edna Raines showed up at my house. She's in an out of it. At first she though I was Momma. But then she asked me how were my mumps. I'm coming in to the Centre to see if Broots has found anything on Mirage, and to check on Sydney. See if he had any luck with Angelo. Do you think you can watch Edna while I come in?"

"Sure, let me get Adams to cover for me an I'll be over in twenty," Sam replied and hung up.


April 22, 2000

2:40pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

Home of Miss Parker

"So let me get this straight I'm playing babysitter right?" Sam asked Parker as she grabbed her keys.

"Correct. I'll be back as soon as I can," Parker said and left.

Sam sat next to Edna on Parker's couch. "Hello Mrs. Raines. I doubt you remember me. I'm Sam Grey. You took care of me after your husband's sweepers beat the crap out of me," Sam said to the woman. Edna didn't reply.

"You don't mind if I watch a bit of TV do you?" Sam asked. Once again Edna remained silent. "Yeah, didn't think so," Sam muttered as he reached for the remote, all of a sudden Edna closed her hand around Sam's wrist.

"Jesus," Sam panted, the old woman had scared him half to death.

"You're Allen and Liz's boy," Edna stated as she let go of Sam's wrist. Sam nodded his head. "Heir to a triumvirate seat as well."

"Not any more. I declined," Sam said, wondering how a woman who had been doped up for twenty years knew that Sam had been heir to a triumvirate seat.

"Smart boy," Edna said.

"How so?" Sam asked, but Edna did not reply. "Great," Sam muttered "You're worse than Jarod and Angelo combined."

To Sam's surprise Edna then got up off the couch. Sam followed the woman as she made her way to the guest room, and laid down on the bed. Satisfied that Edna wasn't going anywhere, Sam made himself comfortable on the couch, and turned it to CBS so that he could catch the last twenty minutes of As the World Turns.

Sam knew that if Parker ever found out that the sweeper watched the daytime soap operas, Sam would never live it down.


April 22, 2000

3:52pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

Home of Miss Parker

Sam heard the door unlock and quickly turned off the television before Parker could catch him watching Guiding Light.

"Is Edna okay?" Parker asked Sam, as she entered the house with Sydney.

"Yeah. She hasn't made a sound since she went to lay down almost a hour ago," Sam replied. Sydney and Parker walked to the guestroom where they found the bed empty.

"Sam!" Parker yelled.

'Oh Shit,' Sam thought as he made his way to Parker and Sydney.


May 6, 2000

10:52pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

Will laid in his bed staring up at the ceiling. Several sub levels below a girl was doing the exact same thing. Words were being spoken in hushed voices. The one word, both children had heard a great deal was Mirage. Alley knew that she should know something about Mirage. She was pretty sure that right before he inner sense had stopped the voices had told her something about Mirage.

Will on the other hand had a pretty good feeling what Mirage was about. A man named Ethan. A man who like Will also heard the voices. Will was pretty sure that this Ethan was going to have major effect on the Centre. Edna Raines had been killed by her husband, in attempt to keep secrets buried.

The young pretender was pretty sure that Edna's murder had been in vain. Morgan Parker was nothing if not persistent. Will knew that his mother would keep digging to find out the secretes surrounding Mirage. After all she had just dug up her mother's grave and discovered that Catherine Parker was not there.

Parker's son had felt the anguish, as well as hope that his mother had felt when she opened the coffin. Parker no longer knew if her mother was truly dead. If all of the years of morning her mother's death had been for nothing. And there was the slight chance that maybe, just maybe Catherine Parker was alive.

Will knew that Catherine was dead. She would have never left her children to survive the Centre alone. One of the most wonderful things about being a Centre subject is that certain people tended to think that Centre subjects were dead dumb and blind, even if their IQ charts were off the scale.

Raines and a woman by the name of Melanie Bannerman -Will later learned that Bannerman was Sam's former trainer- had been talking. The two were arguing over Mirage, and how Bannerman regretted the fact that Catherine had been killed because of the project. The two had also talked about Sam, Parker and Jarod. Bannerman was afraid that the truth of Mirage would be discovered and that the sweeper, the pretender, and the chairman's daughter would come after Bannerman and Raines.

Later that day Will had asked Angelo about Mirage. Angelo had told Will that Mirage was none of his business. Will had been shocked by Angelo's response, normally the empath would answer any question Will had. But when I came to Mirage, Angelo was dead set on Will staying out of it.

Will had shocked both himself and Angelo by not perusing the subject. Will had no need to. Between the voices, and the rumors being whispered around the Centre, Will was learning more about Mirage than he cared to.


May 6, 2000

11:05pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

Home of Miss Parker

"Mor," Sam called out entering Parker's house.

"I'm in here," Came Parker's soft -and slightly slurred- reply.

"What happened. Broots told me that you found something," Sam said as he sat on the couch next to Parker. Parker let out a bitter laugh and Sam cast a worried glance at the half empty bottle of scotch that sat on the table.

"That's the thing Sammy we didn't find anything. She's gone."

"What do you mean? Who's gone?" Sam asked.

"Momma, she's gone," Parker said.

'She's drunker than I thought,' Sam thought to himself. "Mor, listen to me. Mom's been gone for a long time now," Sam said softly taking Parker's face into his hands.

"No you idiot. Momma isn't in her grave!" Parker yelled, yanking he face out of Sam's hands. Sam was unsure how to reply.

"Sammy what if she's alive?" Parker asked. Sam still trying to digest the information reached for the bottle of scotch and took a swig.


May 13, 2000

11:47am

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

Will crawled his way through the air vents and towards his mother's office. The voices where telling him that there was something he need to see. In his mother's office, was Parker, Sydney, and Broots. The three of them sat around a DSA case. Broots inserted the DSA.

Will watched from the air vent as a young Jarod entered a room in which a very much alive Catherine Parker sits on a couch. Catherine tells Jarod to sit beside her. Will could tell that his father was nervous but Jarod went to sit next to Catherine Parker none the less. Catherine then took Jarod's hand and placed it on her stomach.

"Jarod you're going to have a brother," Catherine spoke on the DSA.

Will's jaw dropped. He had the feeling that this Mirage, this Ethan, was connected to him. But never did he think that Ethan was his Uncle.

'This can't end well,' Will thought to himself. And he was right


May 13, 2000

10:21pm

Blue Cove, Delaware

The Centre

Five blue eyed, brown hair children woke up screaming, as hundreds of miles away a bomb exploded


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Up Next: Jeremiah's in trouble again, and after what hapens to Jermeiah, Jake comes to a Decision