AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER
Belongs to L.J. Smith, Stan Lee, Marvel, and whoever else is involved with these charries. I'm just mashing up the sandboxes and I own the plot. Some slight description of torture at the end of the chapter, so if that's something that squicks you, skip from the paragraph line "The man gave out a startled yelp". Everything after is the torture scene.
"What are you guys doing here?" he wondered. Then, "Wait…who are you?"
"You know perfectly well who we are," came the response. There it was. The perfectly cultured voice he remembered Nik having.
"That's impossible. We were together when we were twenty-five," Brock countered. "And I was seventeen when we were together," he continued to Katherine. "So this…doesn't make sense. I don't know who the fuck you two are, but this isn't funny," he snapped. At this, the two in the doorway turned to one another.
"You never told him?" they chorused. "Well neither did you," they continued still in unison, causing Brock to roll his eyes.
"I really doubt you guys are who you say you are since when I last dated a girl named Katherine, I was seventeen and since you're just seventeen yourself and you look so much like the girl I once dated, you're most likely her daughter, which means she would be fucking worried sick that you've run away with some stranger that's twenty-five years old," he stated, stepping closer to her. How can Kat's kid be here? I need to figure this out. I need to figure out who this guy is and how to get Kat's daughter away from him, he thought to himself. It was weird though. How could this guy look exactly like Nik? He needed to figure this out. To his surprise, both people let out exasperated sighs.
"Always so stubborn," she muttered. "We're vampires," she told him.
"Oh that's great, Katerina. Just blindside him. Lovely idea," the man said sarcastically.
"There's no such thing as vampires," Brock automatically objected. Great. Not only did he have to worry about Kat's daughter being here with some pedophile, but he also had to worry that she was getting sucked into some weird cult.
"May we come in?" the girl asked.
"You can. Him, no," came the response.
"Now wait a minute-" the man objected as the girl walked inside the house, brushing a lock of hair behind an ear. As she did this, Brock caught sight of the intertwined words on her wrist: Brock and Niklaus. Eyes widening, he gently grabbed her wrist, pulling it towards him.
"What the hell?" he asked. It's the soul marks. How can Kat's daughter have her soul marks? he wondered. Did that mean that they shared soul? The man bit back the bile that tried to rise. He was not going to accept a child as a mate! That was sick and wrong! "How do you have my soul mark?"
"Because Bric-Brack, it's me," she retorted. At this, Brock froze as his hand dropped. Bric-Brack. Only one person had ever called him that. Unable to help himself, his mind went back to the first time she had used it.
"Are you sure about this?" Brock queried.
"Absolutely, Bric-Brack," Kat responded.
"Bric-Brack? Why that?" Brock wondered.
"You don't like it?" the girl asked, sounding hurt.
"I like it. Just curious," he admitted.
"Because it's a nonsense word representing the fact that you've brought the fun back into my life," she told him.
"l like it" he said. They kissed. "I love you, Kit Kat," he told her.
"And I love you," she said.
"Brock?" Hearing the girl, the man gave himself a mental shake.
"How can you know that name?" he wondered. "Only one person has ever called me that," he stated.
"We told you, we're vampires," she responded.
"But there's no such-" the man began to protest. We've dealt with aliens and we just found a guy who's been frozen in ice for about seventy years. Why couldn't there be vampires? he mused.
"Damn it, Bulldog, will you just listen for one bloody moment?" the other man interrupted and once more, Brock froze. Bulldog. Another nickname only one person had ever called him. Again, Brock's mind went back.
"You don't let things go, do you?" Nik queried.
"Not usually, no," Brock admitted.
"Much like a bulldog," Nik mused. Then, with a grin, "My Bulldog." At this, Brock grinned and pulled him close, kissing him.
"Brock?" At Kat's voice, Brock gave himself a mental shake. This is insane, he thought to himself. This guy shouldn't know that name.
"How do the fuck do you know that name?" he asked the man.
"Because it's me-Nik," the man replied.
"Okay, say you're vampires-say I'm believing it-why pretend the way you did and just leave? Why not kill me once you were sick of me?" Brock demanded.
"Is that what you thought?" Katherine gasped. How could he think that we had gotten sick of him? she wondered. It wasn't possible.
"You both left," he pointed out.
"You're our soulmate," the other man reminded.
"And yet," came the response. At this, the vampires fell silent. It was a good point. And they couldn't blame him for being pissed at him as they had hurt him pretty bad. Can't believe this is happening, Brock thought to himself. He hadn't thought of his soulmates in ages and now here they were. What was he supposed to do with this? Did he believe what he was being told?
Meanwhile, in Mystic Falls, a group of four people-Elena Gilbert, Stefan Salvatore, Damon Salvatore, and Bonnie Bennett-were sitting at a table eating.
"So….do you think they've had any luck?" Stefan queried.
"Who?" Elena wondered.
"Katherine and Nik," Stefan replied. At this, Elena, Bonnie, and Damon looked at him.
"I know he's your friend, Stef, and he and Katherine reached some weird type of truce with you, but I don't really care about him or her," Damon stated.
"Well I mean, he was willing to listen to me when I proposed a truce to stop Silas after we got Kol's warning," Elena commented. "I mean, I'll forgive him for killing Jenna, but I can be civil, and if I can, you can," she continued, fixing the older vampire with a look, which was mimicked and she rolled her eyes.
"True," Bonnie agreed. "And to answer your question, I don't know," she responded. "We all know better than anyone that despite what people think, some soulmates have to work harder to come together. I mean, look at us: it took us a while to get our act together," she continued. That had not been fun. Their dynamics were somewhat odd, even for soulmates, and it had taken them forever to get everything figured out.
"Well that was mostly cause Damon was acting like a bastard because he was so hung up on Katherine," Elena reminded.
"Hey!" the older man protested, though there was no heat in his voice. "I thought we were in love," he defended himself.
"And we were both trying not to freak out because we had each other's names as a soul mark," Stefan added.
"Yeah, I imagine that had to be weird," Bonnie commented. Who would want to be with their sibling in a romantic way? she mused. But Stefan and Damon made it work.
"It was," Damon and Stefan chorused. "But our arrangement makes it less creepy," Damon added.
"You share the girls and divvy up the romantic stuff," Elena smirked. "Of course, making us wait until we were eighteen to get all serious about us was mean," she scolded.
"I am physically twenty-four. It wouldn't have endeared me to anybody to court you two before you were of age, even if Stefan looks two weeks shy of being eighteen," Damon reminded.
"Good point," Elena conceded with a sigh, causing Stefan and Bonnie to smirk at one another. It's so weird how Bonnie brings a calmness to us all, Stefan thought to himself. Not that he was complaining, mind you. He just…never thought that he and his brother would be involved with a witch, much less a Bennett witch. But at least they were all happy, and that was the only thing that mattered.
"But we're all together now, which is the only thing that matters," Stefan reminded and the others grinned. "And excuse you, I am eighteen," he defended himself, causing Elena and Bonnie to laugh.
"But yes, we get what you're saying," Bonnie stated as they continued to eat, each of them occasionally glancing up to smile at each other.
Back at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Nick Fury frowned as he perused some papers. Worried, he thought to himself. But he had to pretend that he wasn't. It wouldn't do for him to run off half-cocked, no matter how much he wanted to. He needed to figure out why the people under his command were changing on him. And they were changing. It was subtle enough, but the more he researched it, the easier it was to see the signs. He just…wasn't sure what he was going to about what he was seeing. Aliens and mind control, he knew how to handle, but this just felt like something else entirely. But what? That's what he had to figure out. There's gotta be something I'm missing, the man mused. But what? What was he missing? Need to figure this out, he thought to himself. If he didn't, it'd bug him all night, he was sure of it. He just…he needed to figure this out. He needed…something…that would make sense. Was that so wrong? He didn't think so, but apparently, he was wrong. Yeah, he was in trouble. Maybe I should call Carol, he mused. She would be able to figure things out and could then advise him. The way people were changing all the time concerned him. As his eyes flickered, he opened his desk drawer and stared at the small pager. Should I call her? he wondered. Maybe he should wait. He didn't have any proof of what he suspected and he wasn't going to call the woman on a mere speculation, but once he had something concrete, he'd make a decision. Yeah, that sounded okay. He sighed and leaned back in his seat. I'll make the call once I know for sure, he decided. There was no need to bother her with this. Everything could wait until he knew just what exactly was happening to his agency. But still, he needed to warn somebody. But who could he trust? That's what he had to figure out.
At the same time that all of this was going on, back at Brock's house, the man had started pacing, an action not unnoticed by the two vampires.
"What are you thinking, Bric-Brack?" Katherine queried.
"You lost the right to call me that when you left me," he grumbled, glancing at the man outside his doorway. "Come in, I guess," he sighed. The last thing I need is for the neighbors getting nosy about the fact that I have some strange guy standing outside my apartment, he thought to himself. Without a word, Klaus stepped into the apartment.
"Thank you," he said softly.
"Yeah, whatever," Brock said. Still not convinced, but not letting my nosy neighbors have anymore ammunition than they've probably already gotten, he thought. Klaus' eyes flickered.
While all of this was going on, the Secretary Of The World Council Alexander Pierce, was in a room of a non-descript building, watching with a bored expression as the man on his knees in front of him trembled. He's really getting on my nerves, he thought to himself. Why had he put up with him for so long?
"Sir," the man said, his tone pleading.
"You thought that you could…what? Walk out on HYDRA? Tell all of its secrets to Nick Fury?" the Secretary mocked. "And you don't even have the guts to do it out in the open? You skulked about like a rat in a sewer?"
"Sir, Sir, no. It wasn't-it wasn't-" Pierce just rolled his eyes and yanked the agent to his feet and dragged him to another part of the building where a small group of people were milling about.
"Secretary Pierce, Sir!" one of the men noted as he and the others straightened their stance.
"Is the Asset finished with our other friend?"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Here's another." The man gave out a startled yelp as he was dragged to where a man in a blood-splattered white tank top and black jeans equally as covered stood staring at the lifeless gaze of his last victim.
"No, no, no, no, no, no! Sir, please!"
"Asset! Got another for you! Same parameters: anything goes!" The man let out another cry of alarm as he was thrust towards the man, and the metal arm shoved him to the ground, keeping him in place.
"Please, please." The Asset's eyes barely flickered as he switched hands on the man's chest, the metal hand gripping a knife that was on the ground next to him. Then he raised the knife and jammed it into the man's thigh, resulting in an agonized cry. "You don't have to do this. Please. You can let me go. I won't say anything." For an answer, the Asset just moved the knife in a swift downward motion, his eyes unseeing as skin tore away under the rough blade. The cries turned into whimpered moans as the skin continued to peel away under the knife, revealing bone. Once the first leg was done, the Asset moved on to the other leg. The cries didn't bother him. They never did. They were just noise and noise didn't mean anything. The only thing that mattered was doing his job. Besides that, the noise never lasted long. This was no different. The man beneath him had already stilled considerably. With a blank expression on his face, the Asset continued to cut, paying no mind to the blood that splattered onto him. He had been built for cutting and cutting was what he'd do.