Disclaimer – I own nothing.
AN – Warning you all, this chapter is very long, sorry. Hope you all enjoy though.
Ben stared at the food on his plate. He had only taken a few bites even though he went through the food line almost half-an-hour ago. As he continued pushing his food around with his fork, his thoughts stayed on his older brother.
It had been three days now since he had gone on patrol with Hal, and Ben couldn't stop thinking about what happened, though he really tried not too. He and the rest of the soldiers, including the Berserkers, were getting ready to head out and destroy a new Espheni outpost a few miles away in a few hours.
The rebel skitter leader had shown him and Deni where it was, a secluded spot in a valley where there were thousands of skitters, Mechs, and an Overlord. He really should be focusing on that, yet his he couldn't stop thinking about what happened.
Hal was doing an excellent job at pretending nothing had happened, but Ben couldn't forget. The look his brother had on his face as he killed that skitter scared him. It was like Hal wasn't there, that he wasn't seeing or hearing anything. Then, it changed to a mixture of anger and determination.
Once the skitter was dead, Hal snapped out of whatever trance he was in. He looked so confused and scared. Ben knew that Hal had no idea what he had done, he could tell that much. When Hal asked him not to say anything, Ben couldn't help but wonder if it was a good idea even as he promised Hal he wouldn't say anything.
Ben remembered when he first started realizing he could connect with the Espheni through his spikes, and learned about the rebel skitters. He remembered how confused and scared he was, and Hal saw it. Hal witnessed that harness communicate with him through the spikes while they were saving Matt, and Ben told him to back off. Hal did, and kept it secret until he felt like he had to tell someone. So, when Hal asked him to keep what happened to himself, Ben agreed. He owed his brother that much.
"You okay?" Ben jumped when he heard Maggie's voice. He looked up from his plate in time to see Maggie sit down across from him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He replied.
"You sure? You've been staring at your food for at least 10 minutes, not taking a single bite." Maggie commented.
"Just tired." Ben told her, hoping that she would drop the matter.
"Ben, be honest with me. Did something happen on that patrol with Hal?" Maggie questioned, lowering her voice so that only he could hear, even though the cafeteria was practically empty.
"What do you mean?" Ben asked.
"Ever since you two got back, you keep shooting him worried glances whenever you two met up, and Hal seems more determined to prove that he is fine, that nothing is affecting him." Maggie explained.
Ben stared at her for a few minutes. He promised Hal he wouldn't say anything, but this was his brother's girlfriend. If anyone was going to figure out something was wrong with Hal, it would be her, and he knew that he could trust her. He knew she wouldn't do anything that could hurt him.
"When we got to the edge of the city, Hal just completely blanked out, like he wasn't there. Then, he raised his gun and pointed it towards a building over a block away and fired. A skitter fell dead onto the street. It was hiding behind the building. I didn't see or hear it, yet Hal somehow knew it was there and killed with a single shot to the head. When he snapped out of it, he didn't even know what he did." Ben revealed.
Maggie took it all in silence. He could see from the expression on her face that she was trying to figure out something. It as though she was trying to put pieces in a puzzle together, and was trying to find out what piece he had given her, but he could also see the worry in her eyes.
"This isn't the first time, is it?" Ben realized.
"Hal has blanked out before, but not like that, not that I know of. We should tell someone." Maggie told him.
"I promised Hal I wouldn't tell anyone." Ben said.
"The last time Hal and I thought there was something wrong, we both kept our mouths shut. It ended with him taking your Dad hostage, and trying to shoot himself. I do not want a repeat of that." Maggie stated.
"Neither do I, but it's only been a few weeks. We should give him more time than that." Ben told her. Maggie didn't get a chance to respond before Tom showed up.
"Ben, there you are. We're getting ready to go. Have to leave now if we want to try and be back by morning." Tom told his middle son as he came over to the table where Ben and Maggie were sitting at.
"Why are you guys attacking this place in the middle of the night?" Maggie questioned as Ben stood up.
"Because with the dark will give us more cover, especially with the trees surrounding the area." Tom explained as Ben came to stand by his father's side.
"Okay, good luck." Maggie wished them.
"You sure you don't want to join us?" Tom asked, though he knew the answer. Ever since they got Hal back, Tom and Weaver didn't put her on many assignments as he wanted someone with his son at all times. They still knew nothing about what happened, and he was still very uneasy at the thought of his son being around people who were still thinking he was a threat.
"Nah, I'm good." Maggie answered.
"Alright. See you tomorrow." Tom told her, and the two Masons turned and headed out of the room.
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Hal slowly came to, biting back a groan. His entire body was aching, the pain in his head and wrists were the worst though. He was still strapped to the metal table, he could feel the ropes embedding into his wrists, and the dried blood on them. On the back of his head, he could feel a bandage tapped tightly over the cut they made, and the dried blood on his neck.
He opened his eyes, and saw that he was still in the same room, but the skitters and harnessed kid was gone, or at least, not in his line of sight. What he did see, was Karen, and an Overlord. They weren't doing anything but staring at each other, like they were having a glaring contest. When Hal tried to move his head to see if there was anyone else in the room, a whimper escaped his lips as the pain in his skull intensified.
Instinctively, he closed his eyes, and waited for the pain to subside. When he opened them again, Karen was making her way towards him and the Overlord was walking out of the room through a door Hal didn't notice before. Karen came to stand beside his head, and gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Don't try to move Hal. You need to rest." She told him, her voice soft. She lifted her hand and placed it on his forehead, slowly pushing his hair away from his face.
Hal opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was so dry and sore he couldn't form the words. As though expecting it, Karen turned away for a moment and when she turned back to him, he could see a cup in her hand. She moved the hand that was still in his hair, and placed it under his head and lifted him up gently. She put the cup to his lips and tilted it slowly, allowing him to drink.
After taking a few sips, Karen pulled the cup away, and lowered his head back down onto the table.
"What did you do? What's going on?" Hal asked.
"Don't worry about that right now, you'll see soon enough. I need you to co-operate with me though right now. This will go much easier if you don't fight me." Karen pleaded.
"Go to h*ll." Was the only response Hal gave. The human Overlord actually flinched at the harshness of his voice, then gave him a determined stare.
"Well then, you have only yourself to blame for this." Hal didn't even see the needle in her hand until she stabbed it into his shoulder. He grunted at the sudden pain, and tried to pull away but it was too late. She had pushed the plunger all the way down, and Hal's vision turned black.
Hal opened his eyes to see that he was lying on the bed in his room, his head at the foot of the bed and his legs over to the edge on the other side. He sat up and saw Maggie sitting on the couch looking at what appeared to be a bunch of papers.
"What are you doing?" Hal asked and she looked up at him, mild surprise on her face. She obviously didn't realize he woke up.
"Nothing really, Marina just decided that in order to have a gun here in the main building that's not in the armory, or when you're not on a mission, you have to fill out a bunch of forms. Apparently, it's supposed to help keep track of the weapons." Maggie explained.
"Did Dad and Ben leave already?" Hal questioned.
"Yeah, about an hour ago." Maggie answered.
"Why didn't you wake me?"
"You needed to sleep. You barely got a wink last night, don't think I couldn't tell." Maggie told him, remembering his constant shifting as he tried to get comfortable, and hearing him scream himself awake.
"I'm sick of sleeping. I feel like that's all I've been doing." Hal responded. Maggie put the pile of papers she had on her lap on the couch and came over and sat down beside him.
"You're still healing, and getting used to everything again. That can be overwhelming, and when you're overwhelmed, you get tired. Being so hyper vigilant probably isn't helping either." Maggie suggested. Hal looked over at her, and saw what she was getting at. Over the last few weeks, she had been trying to get him to open up about what happened, but he told her nothing.
"You know, if you told me what it was that has you so, guarded, I could help." Maggie said, rubbing his back.
"I know you would try, but I don't think you can. I just want to forget everything that happened." Hal revealed, turning his head to look down at the floor.
"You can't though. It happened, and it's affecting you, more than you're letting me or anyone else know." At that, turned back to her. He could see something in her face that he couldn't place, like she was accusing him of something, yet trying to be gentle about it.
"I talked to Ben, before he left. He told me what happened on the patrol." Maggie said when she saw Hal's confused and questioning gaze.
"You promised you would tell me if anything like that happened, and you didn't." Maggie stated.
"It wasn't the same thing as what I told you about. What happened on patrol, was something completely different." Hal defended himself.
"You still should've told someone." Hal shook his head and looked back down at the floor. Maggie wanted to push, but she could see there was something else going on, there was a reason Hal didn't want anyone to know what was happening.
"You know what I think? I think, that you know there is a problem, that Karen did do something, but you don't know what and it's freaking you out. I think, you want to find out what's going on by yourself, so you can deal with it, without anyone else knowing because you're worried about how people will react." Maggie concluded.
Hal couldn't help but look at her in total surprise. He had no idea how she did that, completely guess at what was going on, and get it all right, at least, most of it. And with the look on Maggie's face, he could tell that she knew she was right. She really did know him better than he knew himself.
"Hal, I get that you don't want to freak anyone out, but you have to know I just want to help, so does your Dad, and brothers, and Anne." Maggie tried to get him to believe.
Hal didn't respond, instead, he looked back down at the floor. He remembered when he started to realize that Karen was controlling him, and he tried to leave Charleston because of it. He didn't want to put anyone in danger, especially not the people he cared about, but Maggie convinced him to stay, saying that they would fix it, that she wasn't going to let Karen win. While they did get the bug out, they didn't manage do to it before he hurt his father.
Everything that was happening, the nightmares, the sudden images that would invade his mind at random, hearing Lexi's voice in his head, and the lack of memories during those five months told Hal something was wrong. Karen did do something to him, and he didn't know what it was. All he knew, was that he wanted to protect his family and Maggie. And if he had to leave in order to do that, he knew he would, but he was terrified of it. Terrified that Karen was still alive and would find him.
"Hal? Come on, talk to me." Maggie gently shook his shoulder, trying to get his attention.
"I just, I just want everything to go back to normal, but not at the cost of risking that I might hurt anyone." Hal finally spoke. Maggie wrapped her arm around his shoulder.
"You're not going to hurt anyone. I know you won't. You didn't when Karen was controlling you, and you won't now." Maggie told him, but he shook his head.
"I still took my Dad hostage, and pointed a gun at him, you, and Matt. And this, this is different. I was with Karen for five months, and I barely know what happened. She was constantly drugging me. Now that I'm here, I kept getting these random images in my head, and I don't know what's happening because Karen never told me what she was doing. If she made me into another mole…" Maggie put her hands on each side of his head and forced him to look at her. Hal couldn't hide the fear he was feeling from her, she could read him too well.
"I know that there is nothing Karen, or anyone else could do to make you hurt the people you care about, the people you love. You are too strong to let anyone make you do that. I don't care what she did to you, we'll deal with it, okay? You are stronger than this." Maggie insisted.
Hal nodded, and tried to push down his fear. Maggie leaned forward and gave him a small kiss which he returned, then she pulled him into her arms. He wrapped his own arms around her waist and held her just as tightly as she was holding him. She was right, he wasn't going to let anyone make him hurt his family or the woman currently in his arms. He'd die before he would let that happen.
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Hal didn't find Ben until the next evening. Apparently, he, and the rest of soldiers that went on the mission including their Dad, had gotten in early in the morning and went straight to bed. Hal didn't blame them, he knew if he was up all day and all night he'd be tired enough to sleep on a bed of nails. Hal finally caught up with Ben in one of the hallways.
"So, how did it go?" Hal asked, coming beside his brother, and matched his stride.
"Good. We didn't destroy them all though. There were too many and some fled. But we didn't lose anyone." Ben informed Hal.
"Well, that's pretty good." Hal commented, then went silent. After a few minutes, Ben couldn't take it anymore. Ever since he told Maggie what happened while they were on patrol, he couldn't shake the guilt that had settled in his stomach.
Ben stopped walking. It didn't take long for his brother to realize that he had stopped, and Hal turned around and came over to him. Ben waited until Hal stood in front of him before he spoke.
"Look Hal, I know I promised that I wouldn't say anything about what happened, but I told Maggie."
"I know. She kinda confronted me about it yesterday." Hal admitted before adding, "It's okay. I'm fine with her knowing."
"So, are you going to tell Dad, or Anne?" Ben wondered, hoping that his brother would say yes, though he doubted it.
"I don't know. I mean, I know I probably should, but if I do, Anne will want to run a bunch of tests and Dad will freak out and make me stay in the infirmary." Hal told him.
"What's so bad with being in the infirmary?" Ben asked.
"Remember when you had your first asthma attack? And you had to stay in the hospital while the doctors ran a whole whack of tests? Think of it like that, but no TV and no window." Hal explained.
"Fair enough, but I think-" Ben was cut off by the sound of an explosion outside. He looked over at Hal to see if he heard it too. Hal did, and they took off running to find out what was going on.
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"Come on people! Let's move it!" Weaver yelled at the soldiers as they grabbed their rifles and guns and headed out to where the skitters and Mechs were attacking.
"Do we have any idea how many there are?" Tom, who was standing beside Colonel, questioned, grabbing a gun for himself.
"Not yet, but it looks there's a lot." Weaver answered.
"Dad! What's happening?" Ben asked as he and Hal came running over to them.
"Skitter and Mech attack, on the East and South perimeter." Weaver explained.
"Hal, you should go back inside." Tom suggested to his oldest, though one look at Hal's expression made it very clear to what he was going to say.
"Alright fine, you and Ben, come with me." Tom decided before Hal had a chance to speak. The two brothers each grabbed a gun and followed their father to the east perimeter, while Weaver went to the south.
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Once they got there, they saw that Matt, Tector, Anthony, Maggie, and a woman with blonde hair that Hal learned was Sara.
"How many do skitters and Mechs do we got here?" Tom asked, getting into position beside Tector.
"Two Mechs, still not sure about the skitters though. They keeping ducking behind the buildings and those old cars. At lot from what we've seen." Tector informed him.
"What are you doing out here?" Maggie demanded to know as Hal came to kneel beside her.
"Not an invalid Mags." Hal responded. Maggie didn't have time to reply when a Mech started firing. They all started shooting back, but it was Pope with a well thrown bomb that finally took it out which revealed five skitters heading towards the makeshift barricade. Again, everyone on the line started firing at the invaders.
"You shouldn't be out here!" Maggie yelled over the gunfire.
"As if I'm going to let you guys have all the fun!" Hal yelled back, and Maggie fought the urge to grab his arm and drag him back to safety. Maggie was about to try and convince him to get out of here when Weaver showed up.
"Fighters got the south covered, not many skitters left. Thought you could use a hand." Weaver explained, taking position beside Tom.
"Got another grenade by any chance?" Tom wondered as the second Mech started heading towards them, more skitters taking cover behind it. Weaver smiled and pulled the small device from his jacket pocket. Pulling the ring off, the Colonel threw it at the Espheni robot and they all ducked as the Mech blew up, taking some skitters with it.
"Is that all of them?" Anthony asked, as they looked back at the street.
"Nope." Ben said when he saw at least 10 a little farther down the street, fighting against the rebel skitters. For minute, Ben wondered what the rebels were doing this close to the city when he remembered that they had new intel about another base the Espheni were making.
The soldiers moved closer to help the rebel skitters finish off the attackers, taking positions behind the abandoned cars that the alien were heading behind just a few minutes ago. The skitters saw them approach and started charging at them, and they started firing at them in return.
Ben didn't see that one started crawling the wall of the building that was beside them, not until it was about to jump on him. He moved his gun to kill it, but someone beat him to it. He turned his head to see that it was Hal who had shot it. At first he was just grateful that he had only less skitter to worry about, then he saw the look on his brother's face, the same glazed over expression and he knew what was happening.
"Oh no. No Hal, not now." Ben whispered.
Hal aimed his gun at the skitters and started firing, only needing one shot for each skitter. Everyone else stopped when they realized that Hal was killing the aliens with perfect accuracy. All watched with a mixture of confusion and fear, none of them knowing what was going on.
It didn't take long for Hal to kill the attacking skitters, and no one stopped him. After all, that was what they were going to do anyways. But when he finished, he didn't snap out of it like last time. He pointed his gun right at a rebel skitter.
"Hal! Hal stop!" Tom called out, moving closer, but Ben stood and watched. He was horrified that his brother would point a gun at their allies, but Hal wasn't pulling the trigger, and the rebel skitter didn't move away either. They just stared at each other.
"Hal, Hal drop the gun." Tom told Hal, his voice calmer. Hal didn't seem to hear him at all, and Ben knew from what happened last time that he didn't. Tom took a few steps closer, but didn't get right beside him, as he wasn't sure what was actually going on.
After a few drawn-out seconds, Hal opened his grip and the gun fell to the ground. When the sound of the weapon hitting the pavement reached Hal's ears, he broke out of his trance. He jerked his head, and looked around in confusion.
"What, what happened?" He asked, seeing the dead skitters and the one rebel still staring at him. When he looked back at the human fighters, he saw the fear and worry on their faces. He knew what happened, he remembered what he had suddenly saw, and what he did.
"Did, did I?" Hal couldn't even finish his question before he felt a huge weight on his chest, stopping oxygen from getting into his lungs. He slowly started walking backwards until he hit the wall of the building behind him.
"Hal? Hal, it's okay." Tom said, walking towards his oldest, though Hal shook his head at his father's words. Pressing himself hard against the wall, he slid down to the pavement.
Maggie also headed over to the young man and since she was closer, she got there before Tom did. She knelt to the ground in front of him while Tom sat down beside him.
"Hal, listen to me. It's okay." Maggie tried to calm him down, but to no avail.
"I killed them, I could've-" Hal started, then Maggie cut him off saying, "But you didn't. You killed the skitters that were attacking us. You didn't kill or hurt anyone else."
Hal could hear her, but it was as though he couldn't understand what she was saying. His head was hurting so bad it felt like someone was hammering nails into his skull. He felt like he couldn't breathe, and the images of the dead skitters kept playing in his mind. Tears started to well up in his eyes, slowly dripping out onto his cheeks.
Maggie knew from the way he was breathing and the horrified look in his eyes that he was having a panic attack. When she saw the tears making their way down his cheeks, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. Tom laid one of his hands on Hal's back. She could barely hear him whisper, "It's okay."
Ben looked over at the other soldiers. Weaver looked wary, yet heartbroken at the sight of the young man, as did Anthony and Tector. Pope and Sara both looked confused, as though they didn't know what to think or do. Matt on the other hand, looked like he was about to cry at the sight of his big brother.
After seeing his little brother's face, Ben went over to him and wrapped on arm around him, trying to comfort him. Matt sank into the embrace, yet didn't return it, or take his eyes off of Hal. Ben on the other hand, looked to where the rebel skitter was standing, but saw nothing. The skitter was gone, leaving the humans with a bunch of dead skitters and a broken man.