I had a good response from the last chapter. i'm glad you all liked it! well here's probably where the story is going to start winding down to its climatic finale. so there's about four chapters left i think, i'm not sure. but the story is starting to get deeper.

Confrontations

The doors of the elevator had closed. Standing there were four individuals, three in which were extremely nervous, and the fourth, well… the fourth one was just smiling. It was unclear if he was smiling because he was happy, or if he was smiling because he had something planned, or… he could've been smiling because he had attained an impossible victory. Justin was here in Boston, no longer in picture form but truly in the flesh.

It was clear Justin had escaped from his fate but it was unclear how… the good thing however was the fact he seemed to be in a balanced state of mind, nothing like he was when he ran across the hallways at the center, but he didn't seem all that introverted either.

"So… which floor do you live on?" Justin said turning to his family.

Carey, Zack and Cody just stared at each other. Nobody wanted to say anything.

"Oh don't be so nervous, you can't possibly believe I'm here to kill you… right?" He chuckled lightly but then stopped coldly.

Was that a joke? Was that a threat hidden in sarcasm? Justin turned back around and stared at the buttons on the wall.

"How does this thing work again? I remember only being told what they do." He asked curiously.

Justin began pressing random buttons on the elevator; he was enjoying how they lit up. Another smile formed across his face. The elevator began to move upward startling him but keeping him intrigued. The sound of machinery working its way up the floor with pressure increasing on his feet was something new to him.

The elevator kept stopping and going. People came and went with the passing of every floor, nobody being the wiser thought it was rare, but nice to see triplets.

Carey and the twins smiled it off pretending it was normal conversation, even Justin played along. But once people exited the elevator, it was silent again. Silent except for the eerie humming that was coming from Justin.

He was swaying back and forth from his heels to his toes, his hands crossed behind his back, Cody was looking at him from the reflective doors, Justin looked back and stopped humming, Cody's eyes immediately turned away facing the ground again.

Justin went back to humming.

Carey leaned against the back of the elevator; she was totally relying on that banister to keep her from falling on the floor from a nervous breakdown. It was like staring at a ghost, well… almost like staring at a ghost, she didn't make eye contact but she continued to stare at the back of his head and the suit he was wearing. Where on earth did he find those clothes? Did he steal them? Did he kill somebody for them? After that incident the other day, she knew that he was capable of absolutely anything.

The elevator stopped again, breaking Carey's concentration. The doors slowly opened. Standing there was London Tipton, and her very fashionable pet. Not really paying attention, she just squeezed herself into the elevator and was about to push a button but realized they were all lit up already.

London's eyes went wide.

"This hotel is magic! The elevator already knew that I wanted to push a button so it did it for me… wow."

It still floored everybody how air headed London could be sometimes. Cody rolled his eyes, Carey just lifted her hands and sighed, and Zack just nodded his head knowing if London weren't already taken care of, she would've been doomed a long time ago.

Then a thought crossed London's mind. She turned around to talk to the boys.

"I remember what I was going to ask you guys, could either of you take care of my lovely doggie for the next couple of hours? I'm going shoe shopping and I know she doesn't get along with the owner very much."

The twins looked at each other and then looked back at London. Did she even notice there were three boys in the elevator, Justin was standing right next to her for crying out loud, his arm was brushing against hers. London's admirable sidekick began growling at Zack and Cody.

"Be nice… I'm trying to get you a baby sitter." London said quietly to her dog.

"Uh… I think were all going to be a little busy London." Zack said, but London still didn't seem to get the big picture. There was an overcast of darkness brooding in that elevator and she couldn't feel the oncoming storm.

"Oh come on guys, Maddie doesn't want to do it… it's just for a little while. Zack… Cody…"

Then London turns her head and looks directly at Justin, she pauses for a second. Her head tilts as if to ask her brain, who is this? If she already talked to Zack and she already saw Cody, who could this mysterious, other person in the elevator be? Then London shrugged it off.

"How about you, creepy extra?"

Justin looked at her with one eyebrow raised. He then looked at the tiny animal in her hands. He reached out to pet it and was welcomed with doggie kisses, a first for anyone in the hotel besides London.

"Wow… she must really like you. Ivanna's not that friendly with anyone."

"People always said I was of an animal-like nature…"

Everybody on the elevator silently squirmed with that thought except London; that description couldn't have been more accurate.

Ivanna jumped from London's hands to Justin and started panting. He observed the fur ball as it kept rubbing its head on his dark blue coat. Justin looked up at London who was obviously pleading silently for him to take care of her pet.

"…or it could be, you little friend has a taste for the darker side of life."

"Tee hee, you're funny." London laughed.

Justin continued to pet Ivanna stroking her hair and right as the elevator stopped, the gang rushed to the doors, they had reached their floor.

"I'll tell you what… you go ahead and shop, and I'll take good care of your little friend."

"Oh thank you so much, you're the best, so much nicer than the real ones. Yay me!"

London applauded herself as the doors closed.

Justin stood there silently as the sound of the elevator faded away into silence. With Ivanna still in his hands, he turns to Carey and the twins.

"I like that one…"

Justin started looking around at all the paintings on the walls; he had never seen anything so classy. He started to follow the others down the hallway; each new surprise was bigger and better than the other.

"It must be great living here. This is like a palace. The servants and the maids, the royal chambers with a ballroom. This must be what they call a classic fairytale, a paradise."

All of them slowed down as Justin walked ahead of them. They stayed behind, watching him as he observed every wall, every light fixture and the fancy carpeting on the floor.

They came to a stop, reaching the suite. Carey fumbled through her purse trying to find the card key; she was still a little frantic, unable to focus. Finally Zack just swiped his card key and opened the door. Everybody waited for Justin to make the first move so they held the door open for him. He continued to pet the doggie as he kinda drifted into the suite.

The others quickly followed suit and shut the door behind them. It was only a few minutes but it felt like he had been there for hours. Everyone had spread out across the room wondering what to make of the situation. Justin kept circling the room as if he was doing a crime scene investigation, he opened the curtains to the outside and then closed them, he made sure that every source of outside light was shut out until finally it was just the reflections of the curtains lighting the room.

Cody decided to break his silence by clearing his throat trying to get Justin's attention.

"So… would you like to sit down or something?" he timidly asked.

Justin didn't reply immediately, instead he circled the couch a few times and then lifted up the cushions inspecting them, he placed them back down and then he set Ivanna on top. He looked back at Cody.

"You first…" he smiled.

Cody slowly walked to the couch and sat down at the very corner careful to stay away from the growling ankle biter. Justin looked at the rest of the group as if telling them to do the same. Carrie nudged herself towards the armrest and leaned upon it. Zack being the most cautious grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and sat far away enough to keep his distance.

Justin looked at him and let out a small laugh, exclaiming sarcastically," aren't we the skeptical one…"

Zack remained silent he just stared at Justin. Everybody just stared waiting for the next possible command, the next order from a psychopath. They all felt like hostages praying that somebody could set them free. Although Kurt was long gone, Carey felt that she needed him more than ever right at this moment.

"It's awfully warm in here…" Justin said.

He began to remove his coat but everyone quickly stood up expecting him to pull out some sort of weapon. He finally set his coat on the couch and everyone crept back into their seats. Justin shrugged of their fears knowing it was expected. The room went back to being dead silent until Zack finally had enough of all the discomfort.

"Why are you here?" he blurted out.

"Am I not welcome?" Justin replied.

The phone began to ring disrupting the impending feud between the brothers. After a few rings the answer machine picked up and Mr. Moseby was one the line with about five other people in the background.

"Carey, Zack… Cody, I don't know if my mind was playing tricks on me but who was that I saw in the lobby, it took me by supr… Estaban! Let go of the phone.

Little blond peoples… Are there really three of you? I can't wait to… Arwin stop screaming!

…are you taking good care of Ivanna?…

…you left you dog with them London?

Not with the twins Maddie… the creepy extra, unlike you he understands shopping emergencies."

The answer machine cut off. The phone started ringing again but Zack stood up and pulled the phone cord out of the wall. Since he was already standing, Zack approached his brother with a serious face.

"You're supposed to be getting help. How did you get here?"

"You think locking me up forever is supposed to get me help? I've never felt more alive than I do now."

"But Justin you're sick…"

"I don't need to hear that. Not from you. You're the one that told me that I haven't lived yet, that I shouldn't draw sudden conclusions, was that the truth, or something that you just wanted me to hear?"

"You act as if last week didn't happen, you put so many lives in danger."

"Look at the broader picture, nobody got killed, or even hurt."

"You call bleeding noses and electrocuting people not getting hurt?"

Justin paused for a second.

"Oh… that. I think having all of your limbs intact means you didn't get hurt. If you treaded in my shoes, that would be called a blessing."

"Exactly my point, you've lived such a different life you can't even tell if what your doing is good or bad. Your scale measures from bad to worse."

Justin backed away from Zack and headed towards the window. He opened the curtain slightly to look at the outside world, everything was so tiny from up here, just when life seemed to make sense even for a little bit, everything goes blank again and it was back to square one, total confusion. This was not what Justin was hoping for.

"So you really didn't mean what you said… you think I'm a monster."

He held his head down and closed part of the curtain over his face. He breathed a heavy sigh, it sounded as if he was about to cry.

Zack was beginning to realize what he was saying was awfully harsh. After all Justin did go through all this trouble to try and get here, they were the ones to reach out to him first, they were the ones that looked for him, and found him, and now that he was reaching out, Zack was trying to push him away. Before Zack could think of apologizing, the next thing Justin said made his skin crawl.

"I like that." He turned away from the window and smiled.

"What?" Zack's eyebrows twisted into confusion.

"It makes us even… this will level the playground."

Justin walks back towards the couch. He sits down and lets Ivanna crawl onto his lap. Cody does his best to stay far away by climbing onto the other armrest.

"Even? What do you mean?"

"You think of me as a monster, I think of you as monsters too… you abandoned me once before, placed me in this prison called life, left me to fend for myself all these years while you…"

Justin glares at Carey.

"…you pretend I never existed!"

Carey looks at the ground afraid to make eye contact. There was no sense in crying anymore, Justin would not sense her regret, and he would not care. The anger he felt was justified. He then looked at Cody who was shivering in fear of what his brother would have to say to him.

"… and then I see you Cody. For the first time in my life, throughout all my despair, you were the first to reach out to me, the first to see me as a person."

Justin leaned closer to Cody and looked into his eyes with sincerity.

"You were more than just a voice… I cant thank you enough."

Cody manages to let out a little smile but it quickly fades away when Justin finishes his words.

"But then you abandoned me… that's one two many times I should have to endure such rejection."

"So what is it that you want?" Zack interrupted.

Justin backed off Cody and looked at Zack.

"That is the question of the hour isn't it brother. What could this… monster, this inhumane creature, this… soldier, possibly want from you people?"

Justin placed Ivanna back onto the couch, stood up and slid a piece of paper from his pocket. After unfolding it he held it out for Zack to grab. 
It was the picture Justin drew when he was in the conference room. It had changed since Zack last seen it. All of the children had giant X's drawn through them symbolizing that they no longer existed. All accept one, Justin.

" I came here, not to learn about your life… but to live it. I want to know the people you know, see the world you have seen, live the life that I was never meant to have. You yourself told me that I haven't seen the real life, so I cant be doomed. Isn't that right?"

"But… you know this cant work. You probably have people looking for you."

Justin angrily cuts him off.

"I don't care! I don't want to end up like the rest of my brothers, dead since the day they were born."

Justin looked around the suite at all the images on the refrigerator, the pictures on the walls, the family portraits, and the school papers.

"I want all of this! The memories, the laughter, the joy!"

Carey stopped looking down at the floor and looked at Justin. She was beginning to realize that he wasn't here to seek revenge, or unleash his anger on anybody in particular. It became so obvious to her that Justin was a very scared and lonely kid. Underneath all those mental scars existed a boy wishing to be set free, he was crying for a chance to come out. Justin was desperately seeking a way to bury his dark past.

A tear ran down Justin's eye.

"I want to feel that my life was not worthless… even if it really is."

Zack wasn't going to say anything else. He just stared at Justin, shifting his focus from both the drawing and his brother. He was beginning to understand just a little bit why Justin was so messed up. Torn against being a trained killer and a psychologically damaged thirteen-year-old boy, he was a wreck.

Cody wanted more than anything to help Justin get better. He felt that as his brother, he should be there when he needed him. Maybe there was still a chance his dreams could come true. Justin was here after all wasn't he? It didn't go exactly as planned but that didn't matter, the journey ended with Justin standing right here in the suite regardless of how it happened.

Carey took a good look at Justin. After all the things they had gone through In a short period of time she knew it would be quite a struggle if she decided to go through with what Justin had planned, but in the end, Carey felt that more than anything, it was owed to him. She owed Justin for a lot of the mistakes made in the past. This could possibly be the road to healing. Maybe this could mend their relationship and he would be able to accept her, and maybe even forgiver her. But this would take a lot of effort; this would not happen overnight she knew that for sure.

Finally as if to relieve all of the guilt from her past in order to welcome a whole new world of chaos, Carey did the unthinkable.

"If this is really what you want… I won't turn you away. Not again…"

Justin looked at her with shock. He wasn't expecting her to say yes. In his being over whelmed, Justin walked up to his mother and gave her a big hug, something Carey desperately wanted since the first day she saw him. She wanted to cry tears of joy right then and there but she knew that it was way too early to start the fireworks. Justin let go of her and for the first time truly looked into his mother's eyes and said "thank you."

Cody, being a sucker for a happy moment ran up to hug his brother too. It was one of the happiest moments of his life.

Zack just stared at the extremely sappy reunion in front of him and wanted to gag from the uncomfortable situation of everybody hugging. But then everybody stared at him as if to say, "Get your ass over here and welcome you brother" Zack shrugged his shoulders as if to admit defeat and crept closer into the vortex of ultra gayness praying nobody had a camera. He gave Justin a light hug and then quickly backed away.

It all seemed like some sort of dream that wasn't really making sense at the moment, why was everyone so eager to welcome this stranger into their lives, they didn't even know how he arrived, how he even managed to find them. It may have been the fact that they were all hoping for something good to happen so bad, that they didn't want to know, they didn't want to have to care about the consequences. It was as everyone silently agreed to ask no more questions. it was time to move on, time to live a normal life.

But sadly… the questions they chose to ignore would possibly be the most important facts they would need in deciding what would be a life and death situation…

As everyone rejoiced in their newly established family arrangement, it was time to create a really good cover story for the rest of the people at the hotel to explain the sudden arrival of this stranger. Of course they would be dying to know about Justin.

Meanwhile… about two days away from Boston, Kurt was back on the road again with his band having absolutely no idea about the events that had transpired. They had all reached a truck stop, so while the rest of the band was asleep, Kurt was in a bar trying to drink his problems away, hoping to forget about the catastrophe that happened before he knew his third son was slated for a one way trip to an insane asylum.

After he finished his eighth beer Kurt was cut off by the bar tender. Now that he was extremely drunk he wobbled his way outside and found himself sitting in the dirt. His mind began to drift.

Was making that trip worth all the trouble and sadness that he felt?

Was it worth meeting his long lost son even though it ripped his heart apart to know he would never be normal thanks to what he did?

Kurt couldn't stop thinking about what happened, this drove him to tears.

In the distance, Kurt's blurred vision was making out a vehicle. As it came closer it began to take shape and he could see that it was a dark limo. It looked as if it was going to pass by but then it stopped in front of him. Kurt stood up from the ground and stared at his reflection across the window, the window rolled down just enough to hear a voice, and nothing more.

"I can help you," said a mysterious voice. Kurt tried to see who it was but a light was shined in his face.

"Who are you?" Kurt asked.

"Who I am is not important, what's important is what I am going to tell you."

Then Kurt began to realize something was very familiar about this person. Suddenly his eyes went wide.

"You…"

Kurt was drunk but he had enough sense in him to know that he was dealing with the person that took his son thirteen years ago.

"You took my son away from me… what did you do to him you bastard! You turned him into a freak!"

There was silence but the engine kept rumbling.

"I told you long ago… that we make it a point to make sure that the child is well taken care of and properly educated in ways that will benefit the world… everybody needs soldiers don't they?

"You made me a promise god damn it!" Kurt yelled.

"Your son was pulled away from his training far too early for him to benefit from it. And now it's too late for him to resume his trade. He is forever lost; whomever he will come into contact with will now be in immediate danger. Much like your family is now…"

Kurt looked puzzled. "What are you talking about? Justin was sent to an insane asylum."

"Or so he was supposed to… but he escaped, he was on the run but now he has been tracked down at the Tipton hotel in Boston."

"Oh my god… are they going to be alright?"

"If you are referring to your family as "they" then yes, but not for long. The split personality that soldier 448891 has was supposed to be a triggering mechanism that would be activated in his brain around the time he was needed, and when the mission was completed, his mind would return to normal. But since he was pulled out of training early, the trigger was not established, and now his mind can flip sides at anytime."

"What does all of that mean?"

"It means, if you don't get to the soldier soon, he can and will kill your family. It's in his nature to destroy all living things around him regardless of who they are."

"But how do I stop…"

"Just get to your family before it's too late."

The limousine drove away as fast as it had come. With this new bit of information Kurt realized he had to warn Carey. He rushed to a payphone but little did he realize, Zack had pulled the cord out of the wall. After hanging up the phone, Kurt took a deep breath. It was up to him to get back to Boston as fast as he could before something awful would happen.