A/N And Part II of Jeb's side of things. Hope that it's easier to read split up into two sections!

I'll admit, that threw me. For a split-second, I almost forgot that I hated the man in front of me, that I wanted to hurt him in ways he couldn't even begin to imagine. He took advantage of my momentary speechlessness, moving straight on with his explanation...

'It was all because of you really, Max. Valencia thought she knew what she was doing when she donated the egg that made you; she understood what it was going to be used for, what was going to happen to the child created from her DNA. But soon after the donation was made, she changed her mind. I think that the reality of it all, the fact that it was actually happening, made her realise it wasn't something she wanted to be a part of. So she requested that the School found a new donor. They refused – they didn't want to involve any more people than was absolutely necessary in the process, which was top secret even within the organisation at the time. Your mother-' Jeb sighed, his eyes closing briefly. 'Your mother told the people in charge of the experiment that if they didn't strike her from the procedure and destroy her donation then she'd expose them, take them to court and have everyone involved in the organisation behind bars. They responded, saying that she was under contract with the School, meaning that any action she took against them would condemn her too. It silenced her for a few days at the most. The last time I spoke to her as the Valencia I knew, she seemed so determined, so unconcerned about her own future; all she wanted was to make sure that she never helped create something that would be put through so much pain.' He gave a sad little chuckle. 'You're just like she was.'

I was lost by this point, and that kind of made me want to lay a good fist into Jeb's face even more. Is he ever going to stop playing with us?

'So what happened after that?' Apparently Nudge didn't share my frustration, curious to hear the rest of the story. I let out a low growl and tried to stand, to walk away from this stupid talk and bang my head against the wall or something, but Kate held me down, her eyes on Jeb as he started speaking again.

'She went back to the School, saying she didn't care what happened to her and that she was going to reveal them if they didn't destroy her donation then and there. I didn't see her for ages after that. I asked what had happened to her, begged for them to tell me where she was, but I never got an answer, and soon it became clear that if I kept digging then I'd disappear too. So I kept quiet, praying that she was alright.

'She turned up again weeks later, apparently unhurt and working just as she always had. But there was something different about her; she wasn't fighting the School anymore, didn't show any of the discomfort at the things they did that she had done before. It wasn't right. I stayed close to her, trying to figure out what had happened to change her mind so completely, but she never gave me any clues. It wasn't until later that I realised they'd used their own newly-developed techniques on her, playing with her mind until she was convinced that there was nothing wrong within the organisation. They bent her morals, her memories, all the things that had made her such an amazing person before. She didn't joke anymore. She'd lost the kindness she'd always had. We'd been very close friends.'

I wanted to scoff at it all, make some sarcastic comment and shrug it off as just another lie, but there was a sorrow in Jeb's eyes that seemed so real…

'Hypnosis. Altering personalities. It all sounds so sci-fi,' I said, trying for derisive and not quite making it.

Jeb looked at me sadly, holding his hands out, gesturing around us.

'Isn't that what this all is?' he said simply.

I bit my tongue, clenching down hard and hoping that the pain might keep me grounded, somehow. I hated the part of me that was hanging on his every word, the part of me that had pricked up its ears like some kind of lost puppy when he started talking about my mother not being an evil maniac.

'Who's pulling the strings, then? I thought she was "The General", in charge of this whole thing. Who's controlling her?' I challenged.

Jeb gave a big sigh, screwing up his face.

'This is where things start to get a little complicated. The methods they used on your mother were the same as those they've been using on the children involved in the recent Doomsday Group movements, but back then they had no idea how to control what they'd done. They realised too late that they'd created someone who believed far too strongly in the organisation and what it did. Valencia kept her determination and extraordinary intelligence, only now she put it all into overthrowing the person who held the position of The General at the time. Like Frankenstein's monster, she turned on her creators, taking the position of power before anyone really realised what was happening.

'It was then that she formed her plan for you and what would later become your flock, Max. I believe she already told you her side of it all, but the way things happened at my end were a little different. When she made me her deputy, as it were, I wanted to decline. I wanted to escape from this place and get away from the thing that my friend had been turned into. But I couldn't; I had to stay by her. I thought that if I remained within the organisation, I'd one day be able to find a way to undo everything they'd done to her and bring her back. Then, as you grew up, I realised that being inside the School also meant I could help you in ways I'd never be able to manage without the information I was given as your mother's collaborator. It was difficult trying to support you and keep you safe without your mother noticing, especially once I was ordered to disappear from the house in Colorado, but I did the best that I could. When possible, I sent you messages as the Voice to push you in the safest direction.' He sighed. 'I understand that everything was very back and forth; I know it looked like my loyalties were constantly changing, but I had to keep up the front when your mother was observing me.'

Everyone sat quietly, all frowning as we tried to assimilate what Jeb had just told us. His words explained why the Voice always seemed to give such mixed messages, changing its mind about what I should do and where I should go and how "well" I was doing.

'So what you're saying – what you're telling us – is that my mother is a good person who's been made into a bad person who in turn was pretending to be good until today?' I asked, trying to get my head around the whole thing. If this was all a plan of his to get us well and truly confused, he'd done very well indeed; I'd pushed all my rage at him down in order to try and make sense of everything he'd said.

Jeb took a moment to think about my question, then nodded.

'That is so twisted,' Star muttered. I had to agree.

'If all this is true,' I started slowly, making sure he knew that I wasn't ready to believe everything he said quite yet. 'If all this is true then what does me saving the world have to do with anything?'

'If you asked your mother that, she would say that it no longer has any meaning. To her, the idea was always that you would lead the new world of altered humans once all the normal people had been eliminated. That much of what we told you before was true. Now it's been decided that you're no longer suited to the job, and therefore your usefulness has reached its limit. My answer to your question is different.'

I knit my eyebrows together, looking at him warily.

'Go on.'

'The way I see it, your mother and the organisation she runs are the biggest threat that currently exists to the world as we know it. If she isn't stopped, I can guarantee to you that her plan for the Earth and the human race will succeed. Your destiny to save the world never lay in your abilities or your soul or your fame. All of that was an attempt to wrap you tighter around the organisation's finger. The key to all of this isn't in who you are, so much as-'

'So much as who my mother is,' I finished, suddenly understanding where he was going.

'That's it,' he agreed.

'I get it,' Holden pitched in. 'When the child of The General learned about what had happened to their mother, they'd have been given a more personal reason than anyone else had to stop her and her work… By trying to save her.'

'Exactly,' Jeb nodded. 'That's where your power lies, Max. That's your incentive: if you save Valencia Martinez, if you bring her back, you will have saved the world.'

I shook my head hard, feeling like my brain was gummed up with this whole new twist on everything that had happened.

'So what about the One Light, then? I thought that was the big deal within the Doomsday Group. I thought that was what was running the threat.'

Jeb nodded again.

'Max, your mother is the head of everything. To those in the Doomsday Group, she is the One Light.'

I didn't respond, my mind buzzing so much that I almost didn't hear Iggy's next words:

'You said that you stuck around here to try and find way to help her. What happened to that? If it's possible then wouldn't you be more likely to find the cure than anyone else?'

Everyone turned to Jeb for his response.

'I made some headway relatively early on, but came up against a wall that I haven't been able to get past.' He cleared his throat. 'A firewall, to be precise about it; all the information we need is held in the mainframe computer up on the top floor. I managed to find enough to know that the key to undoing the psychological alterations is in a certain highly-specified frequency, a tone that resonates as just the right pitch to reverse the effects. It works in a similar way to epileptic fits being brought on by the right kind of light.'

'We saw that in Paris!' Kate said suddenly, turning to Star. 'You made some kind of noise that snapped the Doomsday kids out of whatever trance they were in.'

Jeb nodded in agreement.

'Different processes of mental adjustment require different tones to nullify them. The one specific to Valencia's modifications is buried deep within the mainframe. I haven't been able to find it.'

'But she could,' Ratchet said, turning his gaze on Nudge. She squirmed a little as everyone looked at her, but her face was determined.

'I can try,' she said, tilting her chin up. 'If I can get to that computer, I can try.'

The group turned to me, waiting for some kind of direction. I rubbed my hands over my face, lifting my head to stare long and hard at Jeb. Did we really have anything to lose by believing him? We were stuck here anyway, probably all scheduled to be retired sometime soon, and if he was telling the truth…

'Okay,' I said strongly, turning to gaze around at the group. 'Let's do this.'

A/N And there it is. Stay tuned to see what they do next, and review to let me know what you thought!