Author's Note: Sorry for the wait guys I was out of town again. As for the next two weeks up dates might be a bit slow as this is my last week of classes and i have exams the week after. But after that I hope to start putting this baby to bed
CHAPTER 70
SOMETHING WRONG
December 11, 2010
2:52pm
Carthis, Scotland
The New Centre
After leaving Alex and Bane, John went to his room. He needed to think. Pacing in front of the fire John tried to understand what was going on. Why did he have that vison? Was he being lied to? And if so, by whom?
'Who do you think is lying to you? It's the girl. Filling your head with doubts about Father. He would never do such a thing to his wife, he would never use the people he loved as Centre projects,' John thought savagely.
'But, what about Morgan? If Father loved Mother so much wouldn't he still have loved the child of his wife? Instead he used her, stole her children from her,' another part of John thought.
'Morgan isn't a Parker, she never was. She was nothing more than a bastard child of the Centre. And as a child of the Centre she lived served the Centre. She owed the Centre her children,' He thought in a voice that sounded a lot like John's father.
'No she didn't. What Father did was wrong. Momma had loved him unconditionally, and he used that love, he manipulated her,' John debated. He then froze realizing that he just refereed to Morgan as 'Momma'. John was suddenly struck with a massive headache. He pressed his hands to his temples, as though he were struggling to hold his brain together.
He screamed as images flashed through his mind.
"Do you know who I am?" A dark haired man turns asks the child sitting behind him.
"Ahuh." the little boy with brown hair and blue eyes says nodding his head. "You my big brother Ethan. Momma told me 'bout you."
"What would you like?" A woman questions the three year old she is tucking in bed.
"A mom and a dad." The boy whispers.
"I think we can cover that." A man with kind brown eyes says from the doorway. "I happen to know two people who wouldn't mind being your Mom and Dad."
"Who?" The boy asks.
"You're looking at them." The woman tells him
"Love you Katie." A little boy whispers into a girl no more that seven years of age."I love you too Tiger." The girl -Alex?- replies.
"Run," A boy hisses desperately as he shoves two younger boys to get them moving. Next to the older boy is another boy with blonde hair casting a fearful glance behind him as four men in dark suites approach.
"Pete, I'm scared," Whispers a five year old boy with blue eyes and red hair as he and his twin brother clings to an older boy somewhere between the ages of ten and eleven.
"It's okay Jasa. Everything's gonna be okay," The older boy reassures the twins.
Sitting in the dark a boy pulls a wallet from his back pocket and runs his fingers over the initials that adorn it.. "P.S.V.R. Peter Simon Vincent Russell." he whispers. He then looked up at the camera.
"I won't be who you want me to be," He tells the camera. "I'm a Russell not a Parker. I won't run this place I won't be a Parker."
"I am your father and you will show me respect. Now apologize. I will not repeat myself again." Parker commands a boy lying in a hospital bed.
"I-I'm sorry," The boy manages to say. He then screams in pain as his thumb is broken.
"Sorry what?" Parker prompts.
"I-I'm s-sorry, F-father," The boy says tears steaming down his ashen face.
"A few years back Dr. Ripley designed a new reeducation technique. She created a drug that will rid you of your memories concerning your false family. Afterwards she will implant other memories. New memories." Parker tells the boy before him. The boy stares at the former Centre chairman, horror on the his face.
"Y-You can't do that. You ca-can't make me for-forget my Mom and Dad, my br-brothers and s-sisters."The boy speaks.
"After this you will no longer be Peter Russell, but John Sebastian Parker," Parker says
"I'll fight it," The boy -Peter- hisses. "I won't give in. I won't forget."
"I'd expect nothing less from a Parker. Your... half sister may not have been a Parker by blood but she still acted as one. She knew how to fight for what was hers. I see that she passed that on to you. But you see John, being a Parker is your birthright, that is what you should be fighting for," Parker replies banging his fist on the side of the Peter's table.
"You're wrong," Peter says.
John collapsed to the floor, trebling. His head felt as though it had been split into two. John was unable to form any coherent thoughts, save one. Something had been done to him, something very wrong.
December 11, 2010
2:52pm
Carthis, Scotland
The New Centre
Alex watched looked at the door through which John had just exited through.
"What was that about?" Bane asked her. "He looked as though he had seen a ghost."
"Maybe he has. A ghost of his old life," Alex said. Her eyes fell to the leather bound book on the table. "Let's see what baby brother has been writing about."
Bane passed Alex the journal and she began to read out loud.
"October thirty-first. My allergic reaction to the flu shot that I received not only resulted in my coma but a few odd side effects. This morning, as I was putting on my tie to meet Father for breakfast, I was struck with a vision of a little boy who questioned an older man, who I can only assume to be his father how he looked. But that is not the oddest thing about this -for a lack of a better term- this vision. The man bore an uncanny resemblance to the escaped pretender Jarod. As for the boy well...he looked like a younger version of myself."
"Things only became queerer as I heard the voice of a woman in my head. Should I tell Father? I don't want for him to think that I have gone mad. After all we are to meet with the Triumvirate soon. I am unsure what course of action I should take," Alex read.
"It looks like John has been having flash backs of his past every since he awoke from his reeducation," Bane said.
"It makes since. Will and Alley told me how when they were younger the Centre tried to reeducate them but it never took. Best we could ever figure was that it had to do with their inner sense. Later on the Centre faked Alley's death. They gave her some drug to make it look convincing, but in the process the drug stripped Alley of her inner sense. So when they reeducated her to make her believe that Will had died she believed it. That is until she saw Will walking around Centre halls," Alex told Bane.
"I'll pretend everything you just said makes perfect sense," Bane replied.
"Well you are a pretender," Alex said grinning.
"Ha, ha," said Bane dryly. "So what else has John written?"
Alex flipped through a few pages of John's journal until she found something interesting.
"Father and I arrived at the New Centre this morning. Over breakfast he informed me that I was to begin my combat training. After breakfast I went to my lessons. My trainer is no other than a sixteen year old pretender who doubles as an assassin. He is smarter than most of the Centre subjects even though he is far from the top pretender here. But he can think for himself unlike most and he doesn't quiver in fear whenever I walk by him. I have requested to Father that this pretender -Bane- become my personal sweeper."
"You impressed him," Alex commented. "How long was your first training lesson?"
"Just an hour," Bane answered.
"Huh," She muttered and leafed though the journal again. "Wait here's something. Listen."
"I must be going mad. There is no other explanation, again a voice has spoken to me when there was no one around. This makes the fifth time in just two weeks. But I can't tell father, he is too ill to deal with an insane son. He is counting on me to restore the Centre to it's former glory. For it to be the way it once was before he dies. The doctors say Father may have three months at the most. I don't want to give Father too much trouble in the last few months of his life," Alex read.
"So the old man's finally dying. 'Bout time can't wait to tell my brothers..." Alex trailed off. "Shit," she cursed.
"What? What's wrong?" Bane asked worried.
"I need to contact them and let them know what's going on. I haven't told them anything since early yesterday morning," Alex said.
"What do you mean yesterday morning?" Bane questioned.
"That's right I didn't tell you. Yesterday I found out that I call talk to my brother's via my telepathic bond with them. It was only by chance we even found this out. Air called out to me on a whim and I heard him. We never even knew we could contact each other over so far a distance," Alex told Bane.
"Did the rest of your family get to safety?" Bane asked genuinely concerned for Jeremiah, Steve and the others.
"They're safe. Will, Jamie, Alley and Jeff have been united with their children. Will and Jamie named their son Matthew Aiden Leo Russell. Alley and Jeff named their daughter Alexandra Radha Stewart, in honor of me," Alex said proudly.
"Poor kid," Bane muttered. Alex swatted at him.
"If I wanted that type of abuse I'd listen to any of my thirteen brothers," Alex said. Bane paled and Alex's eyes twinkled with mirth.
"Th-thirteen?"
"Yes I have thirteen brothers. Soon to be fourteen now that Alley and Jeff are engaged. Along with six sisters which will soon be seven once Will gets up the courage to propose to Jamie. I also have several uncles, seven to be exact though I suppose Steve will earn the title of uncle soon. Both Steve and my Uncle Sam are ex-sweepers, my Uncle Bobby is Mr. Lyle. My Grampa Charles was a major in the Air Force. And of course my Mom is the former Centre Ice Queen, Miss Parker and well you know who my Dad is," Alex said with a grin.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Bane mumbled to himself.
"Don't worry I won't let them hurt you. Besides I'm my Daddy's baby girl, and more or less the family favorite," Alex told him.
"Aren't we modest," Bane laughed. "The family favorite."
"Hey it's true though I wish it weren't. A lot of stuff happened to me when I was little, and because of that coupled with the fact that I'm the baby of the older kids, everyone is pretty protective of me. Hell even my baby brothers of protective of me," Alex said softly.
"Yeah well I'll fit right in huh?" Bane commented squeezing Alex's hand.
"Hey, you help bring me and Pete home not only will you fit in but you'll be the new family favorite," Alex told him.
"So, when are you going to contact your brothers?" Bane asked her.
"No time like the present. What time is it now?"
"Quarter after three," Bane answered.
"So it's ten in the morning over there. Damn it didn't realize it was so late," Alex cursed.
"Ten a.m. is not late," Bane said.
"For us it is. We go to bed about three in the morning, and wake up at six. We don't sleep much. Bad dreams and the like. They've been up for over four hours...if they went to sleep at all," She said darkly. Bane understood completely it wasn't that the Black Files didn't need sleep they just didn't like what they saw while they slept. Bane, himself could go almost three days with out sleeping.
"What do you need me to do so you can contact them?"
"Just keep an eye on me. I might zone out a bit, but I'll be alright," She reassured him. Alex then closed her eyes and called out to Aaron and Andros.
'Air? Andy?'
Up Next: Alex talks to her brothers, and her family learns that Alex is a bit smitten with Bane. A bit of news Jarod nor Morgan take all to well.
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