(The Pain in the Heart)

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I don't own Bones.

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He didn't know why he had told Dr. Saroyan that the marks on the mandible indicated that the bones had been gnawed on by someone wearing dentures. They had clearly been done by someone using human teeth, but once he'd said it, he couldn't unsay it. Zach had been trying to find a way to protect the Master, but this wasn't the way to do it. If Dr. Brennan chose to examine the skull herself it would become apparent that he had lied and that would raise doubts about the rest of his work.

He still believed in what the Master was trying to do, but he was finding it hard to find ways to protect him from his friends and co-workers. Dr. Brennan was the best forensic anthropologist in the country if not the world and misdirection wouldn't stop her from finding out the truth sooner if not later. He had done what the Master had asked of him without question, but he was starting to wonder if The Master was being purposefully reckless. He had tried to explain to him that he was underestimating everyone at the Lab, but he didn't seem to care. The Master had too much faith in his abilities to protect him.

When he had heard of Booth and Brennan's plan to move the Master's skeleton in an attempt to capture the Master he had thought the plan too simple for the Master to fall for, but he had passed that information on to him anyway. He had been shocked when the Master had used a satchel bomb to try to blow up Agent Booth's cab. The fact that Booth and Brennan could have been killed had alarmed him greatly, but the Master had told him that he had counted on Agent Booth's training as a Ranger to see the danger of the satchel on the road and to evade it. He had assured him that the bomb had merely been a diversion so that he could get to Ray Porter without Booth's interference.

The fact that the taxi had rolled over and that Brennan had been injured made Zach rethink what he was doing. He was afraid that Brennan was in danger and that he could not follow the Master if he was planning on killing his mentor and his friends. The Master had promised him that was not his intention and he would make sure that he did nothing in the future to jeopardize anyone. He needed Zach to be logical and to see that what they were doing would benefit mankind and that mistakes would be made from time to time, but they were human and that was to be expected.

They were fighting an ancient battle. There were no crowds to cheer them on. Very few people knew that the struggle existed. They were alone in this fight and the Master counted on Zach to help him. There were secret societies that existed all over the world. The human experience was adversely affected by these secret societies. The Master explained that attacking and killing members of secret societies had an ameliorating effect on the human experience. This meant that the human experience as a whole was more important than a single person's life.

Gavin Nichol's belonged to the Knights of Columbus as well as Ray Porter and Father Doug Cooper. The Master considered the Knights of Columbus to be an evil organization. It's purpose is to support the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II referred to the order as the strong right arm of the church. The Master believed that organized religion was evil and was used to suppress the common man therefore Nichols, Cooper and Porter had been eliminated. Since Zach didn't believe in God, he'd found that the Master's argument was compelling.

After the Master was done with the Lobbyist's body, Zach had cleaned the bones and placed them in various boxes containing other skeletal parts in Bones Storage. After the Master had killed Ray Porter, he hadn't wanted to risk Porter's bones being found like Gavin Nichols and Bishop Doug Cooper had been, so he had asked Zach to find a way to hide them. Zach had chosen Bones Storage because he usually set up the boxes on the examination tables. He recorded the box number and other pertinent information into the computer and it was easy to move the extra bones to a new box. So far, his system was working, but there might come a time when Dr. Brennan might retrieve a box and record the information. The odds of her finding a box with one of Ray Porter's bones was quite high, but people did win the Lottery, so what he was doing was a gamble that might not pay off. It was a risk he was willing to take. Mankind needed protecting and he would do what he could to accomplish that goal.

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The situation started to fall apart and Zach realized that his position at the Lab might become untenable. The Master wanted his skeleton back and Zach had thought of a way to do that. He would use his misstep about dentures being used to gnaw on Ray Porter's mandible and do an experiment. He had presented Hodgins and Cam with the facts and his need to create a pair of dentures. He had argued that it might point to who had made them. What he really needed was a diversion while the Master stole the skeleton from Bones Storage.

After he found a way to time an interruption of the security cameras in the Lab, he set up the experiment with Hodgins. It was his intention to use tricyclic acetone peroxide in place of a monomer during the experiment creating a small explosion. The explosion would trigger the security alarms, the cameras would cut off, the Master would use Zach's extra security card to access a door located near the vault in the basement and allow him to steal the skeleton.

The plan should have worked, but Zach hadn't counted on Hodgins wanting to do the actual experiment. The temperature rose too fast and became too hot while he argued with his friend and when the tricyclic acetone peroxide had hit the molten thermoplastic, there had been a much bigger explosion than Zach had counted on.

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The pain in his hands was extreme. The skin and muscle surrounding the phalanges had been destroyed on both hands. Zach was certain that he would be crippled when he was released from the hospital, but he had done it to save Hodgins from this fate and he didn't regret it. He had miscalculated the intensity of the explosion and he had to pay the price.

Overhearing a few conversations between Angela and Hodgins, Zach knew that the Master had retrieved his skeleton from the vault and he would continue his work for their cause. He hoped that he would be able to slip out of the hospital and join the Master at his home, but he was so badly hurt that there was no hope that his friends would leave him alone long enough to accomplish that.

As he lay in his hospital bed, Zach knew that the investigation into Ray Porter's death would continue and he would not be able to divert Booth and Dr. Brennan's attention. He had failed his master and he wondered if the Master would end his life and search out a new apprentice. Their cause was more important than his life. The apprentice's life was expendable, his life was expendable and he would accept his fate bravely and with the conviction that he was doing a good thing.

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Zach's world came crashing down and it was done with logic. Brennan had figured out that he was Gormogon's apprentice and she and Booth had wanted him to betray the Master.

Her hands on the side of his head, Brennan concentrated on Zach. "All of your assumptions are built upon a first principle, Zach. To wit, the historical human experience as a whole is more important than a single person's life."

Not surprised that Brennan understood where his loyalties lay and why, Zach gave a slight nod to his head, staring intently at Brennan. "Yes." There was nothing else for him to say.

"Yet you risked it all so you wouldn't hurt Hodgins."

It was at that moment that Zach realized that his reasoning had been inconsistent. He had been a fool and now he would pay the price. His loyalty to a cause that no longer seemed right, Zach had told Booth where he could find the Master. Their cause was a false dream based on false logic and people had died because of it. He now realized that he should have gone to Brennan when Gormogon approached him and talked to her about The Master's vendetta against secret societies and his attempt to recruit him. Clearly, he hadn't thought through all the ramifications of following the Master and he could not reverse what he had done.

He confessed to Ms. Julian his part in betraying Agent Booth and Brennan when they had set up their plan to capture the Master. He admitted that Porter was killed because of him and he would not deny it. He didn't mention that he hadn't actually killed Ray Porter because he knew in his heart that if the Master had asked him to kill the Lobbyist, he would have done it without hesitation. He was as much of a murderer as the Master was and he would accept his punishment. Of course, he had been surprised that he was declared mentally non compos mentis after agreeing to plead guilty and to agree to cooperate in the investigation of the Master's killings. Hodgins assured him he could survive a looney bin better than prison and he believed him.

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"I don't know if I can visit Zach in the institution." Brennan stared out of the nearby window watching pedestrians pass the Diner by. "I . . . I miss him, but what he did . . . I still don't understand how this happened. If only he had come to me when Gormogon had approached him. I could have prevented what happened."

"Don't Bones. Don't do this to yourself." Not sure what he could do to get Brennan past this, he decided to be blunt. He knew she appreciated bluntness. "Look, Zach's a genius, we both know that. He's so smart he thinks that people like me are no better than trained monkeys."

Startled, Brennan shook her head. "That's not true."

Chuckling, Booth shook his head. "Of course it's true, Bones and I don't really care what he thinks about me, that's not what I'm getting at . . . Zach is a stratospheric genius. He thinks he knows more about everything than anyone else. He didn't come to you because he thought he knew what was going on and he agreed with Gormogon's bullshit logic. He chose to follow a serial killer that ate people because Gormogon had used a train of logic that seemed bullet proof . . . Zach lives in his head and he's gotten worse over the years. He barely talks to anyone outside the Lab. He's rude to normal people and I'm pretty sure that was why he lost his contract with the Army. He probably questioned every order he was given and that is dangerous in a war zone . . . You did what you could for him, but ultimately the decisions he made are his responsibility. If you want to visit Zach in the institution then go ahead but do it as a friend and not as a failed teacher or whatever because you're not. Be his friend, but don't think for one moment that you could have prevented what happened, because you couldn't have."

What Booth said was logical and Brennan felt that he might be right in this case. "I will visit him when I can. It will be sad to see him in an institution and not at the Lab . . . I will have to find a new intern soon . . . Cam thinks we should have a rotating group of interns. That might be best."

Sad for his partner, Booth knew that Brennan would survive Zach's betrayal but she was going to guard her heart even more now. Zach had betrayed her and she would be wary of letting anyone else become too close to her.

Fuck Zach. I'll never forgive him for doing this to Bones. Never.

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