Chapter 53

Family

Sitting at a bare metal desk in a bare concrete room with one single dim light bulb without a shade, Gerald Myers sat rigid back in his seat. One hand was resting on his chin, while the other was on the table, tapping as if on a keyboard. The metal pings as he tapped echoed around the room, the only sound other than the faint buzzing of the light and the even fainter breathing of the man.

To most, it would look like Myers was waiting, tapping in boredom. But to those few who knew Myers on a personal level, they would know that was not the case. They would know that Myers was accessing his 'computer'.

Myers was a unique case in many humans, in that he was a living database. Not only did he have photographic memory, but he remembered everything he had ever seen or heard. Most stored away in the back of his mind, but if needed be he could call it back into the foreground.

Of course, most normal humans wouldn't be able to handle such a process of memory and information. Myers himself wouldn't have been able to handle it had it not been for the various medications he was taking.

The Marvin hotel has fallen, taking Riley Garcia and Becca Matthews with it. Two more down, add that with Josie Garcia in the subway. Not to mention… Jennifer Storic.

Shutting his thoughts out and shutting down his 'computer', Myers stood up, a wicked grin plastered over his face. Moving to the only door in the room, Myers entered into an apartment building. The whole building was actually his, but most of the other rooms were occupied by fake tenants. This room was Myers' 'base of operations' so to speak, where he made each and every plan. Only three other people occupied this room as well.

"Honey, are you all right? You've been in there for an hour."

Turning to the tall woman standing in the kitchen, Myers allowed a soft smile to invade his features. Taking the few steps to her, he kissed her on the cheek. "I'm fine. I just had a long day yesterday, and I needed to sort it out."

Beatrice Myers nodded, turning her husband's head to land a kiss on his lips. Myers didn't protest, responding eagerly before he managed to stop himself. Smiling once again Myers walked towards the coat rack, grabbing a grey trench coat. "How're the girls?"

Glancing to an area Myers had built when he moved in, which acted as a second bedroom, Beatrice smiled. "They're fine. Sleeping. It is eight in the morning. You know how they hate waking up when they don't have school."

Nodding slightly, Myers made his way into the room to see his two daughters sleeping peacefully on the bunk bed. The oldest at thirteen was Abbie, with brown hair and freckles. On the bottom bunk was Mary, twelve years old with raven black hair, usually tied back into a ponytail but hanging free over the side of the mattress. Myers moved over to both and kissed their brows before moving to the front door.

"I'll be back at around lunchtime." Myers said to Beatrice, before exiting the room. On the second floor, he went into an elevator and hit a button which simply had a cross etched on it. The doors closing, Myers felt the lift move down.

Beatrice Myers, Abbie Myers, Mary Myers. Still don't know what I do. I must tell them one day, probably cause a divorce, but I'm not exactly going to be healthy enough to care. I'll probably be dead.

Shaking his head, Myers gripped his hands. He wasn't going to die, not until he was done with his experiments, not until people registered him as the ultimate human, the immortal saviour… God.

XXX

"It wasn't what you think! It was one time only, Alex, one time only!"

"I know…" Alex said softly, his eyes tracking Jay who was walking back and force, distressed.

Jay stopped and snapped his finger at Alex, pointing at a spot between his eyes. "You don't know! You don't understand, you have to understand! I was mourning, I needed comfort… you… you were the only person there, you offered it, I couldn't deny, I wasn't thinking straight!" Jay rubbed a hand over his mouth, his other hand flexing and unflexing. "Christ, you practically manipulated me!"

"Jay." Alex said firmly at this, standing up. Jay flinched back, his eyes watery. "I didn't manipulate you, and I realise that this was only a onetime thing. But you needed that comfort, you needed that support."

"I-I… I…"

"You love Josie, I know this, I appreciate this, hell, I respect this. I'd want you to love Josie. She's a sweet, lovely girl."

"Was." Jay growled.

"No. Is." Alex said firmly. "Just because she isn't here physically doesn't mean she isn't here. She's in your heart, in your head, watching you."

Jay just snorted and shook his head. "She's not. She dead, she's gone, she is never coming back."

"Ja-"

"No!" Jay snapped, spinning around so his back was facing Alex. "No, no, no! I need to be alone this time, I need to think, I need to realise what the hell I'm thinking, all right? Can you understand that?"

"I…" Alex started but stopped. Ducking his head slightly, he sighed. "I understand." Watching Jay walk out of the room Alex felt a tug at his stomach. Feeling sick, Alex sat down on a nearby chair, looking to the roof. "That didn't go too well…" Alex said softly.

XXX

Watching Jay storm past, Joshua raised an eyebrow. Well, he wasn't going to get involved or stop him, since he wasn't going to be in danger any time soon. Looking around the lobby he couldn't help but think how much money Fisk must have had.

After the Marvin Hotel burnt down, Fisk had let the survivors into a motel-like building. It was all one floor, with rooms lining the edges of the main lobby. A peculiar building for a peculiar man. Smiling to himself, Joshua heard steps to his side and turned to see Lukas looking worn and tired.

"Hey." Joshua greeted with a sloppy grin. "I heard you wanted to kill me. Almost hit my mother, if I heard correctly."

"Huh…?" Lukas blinked, not expecting Joshua to go straight into the situation like that. Lukas had come over to apologize but was expecting it to be hard. Instead, he walked straight over for Joshua to dive straight in.

Joshua stood up and opened his arms wide as if to hug Lukas. "Well, that's all good. Beat me up to your hearts extent until you get rid of your anger. I'm your own personal punching bag."

"No, no, I'm good." Lukas put up a hand in protest. "I don't want to hit you."

"Really?" Joshua cocked his head. "I figured you'd want to."

Lukas just shook his head. "No, I was just an idiot… I mean, I blamed you for Dominika… for the bus crash. Even though I knew you got shot, even though I knew you were trying to save us… I just felt fury… anger…"

"It's all good. You felt pissed because someone you loved was hurt." Joshua said bluntly, shrugging. "It isn't a big deal, really. I'd probably be smashing down walls if Miles was somehow hurt… despite the fact he's chosen. Well, you know what I mean." Joshua put a hand on Lukas's shoulder and looked into his eyes. "It really isn't that big a deal Lukas." Moving his hand, Joshua put his arm around Lukas' shoulder. "Anyway, I want you to meet someone."

Lightly forcing Lukas into a turn, he guided him towards Fisk who sat with Detrikov in the corner. Fisk glanced up towards Lukas before offering his hand.

"My pleasure to see you again, Lukas Solveig. How is Dominika?"

"You know me?" Lukas looked both confused and suspicious at the same time.

"Of course he does." Joshua smirked. "This is the guy that kidnapped Dominika in order to force you to try and kill me… his way of trying to get my attention." Joshua snuck a glare to Fisk.

"Wha…"

"You won't remember any of it." Fisk said, standing up and straightening his tie. Joshua moved back as Fisk stepped closer to Lukas. "So it really does not matter."

"That sounds... how would I forget it?"

"To be exact, the memory is hiding in the deepest recesses of your mind, locked away. You'll only be able to access it if I let you." Fisk explained. "But let's not converse about that, shall we? Assume we have just met. My name is Gregory Fisk."

"Um… nice to meet you…" Lukas shuffled on his feet, feeling intimidated and out of place.

"I think I'm scaring him." Fisk noted dryly. "Joshua, where will I find your mother?"

Unnoticed to most, Joshua's face hardened ever so slightly. "She's out at the moment."

"Out?" Fisk questioned.

"Out." Joshua clarified with a hard edge to his voice. "If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from her."

Fisk's lips curled up in a deadly grin. "Why? What could you do to me, Joshua?"

"A lot of things, I'd be willing to bet." Joshua paused for a moment before turning around. "Well then, Fisk, we'll talk later. I assume our contacts are finding out where this guy is in New York."

"Of course. Give it 24 hours, I'll have all the information we'll ever need about this kidnapper."

XXX

"What is it you want?"

"What I have always wanted."

"Death and destruction? Sure."

"You know that is a false thought."

"I saw what you did to Willingboro! How many people were killed because of you?"

"Not because of me. Because of the person imitating me."

"Whoever that was didn't kill them, did they? Whoever that was didn't wipe it completely off the map."

"It was necessary."

"Necessary? You didn't even kill the person imitating you, did you? I thought you were meant to supervise death, not cause it."

"You think I am at fault? I chose you. I chose Joshua Valentine, Gregory Fisk, Miles Valentine and-"

"Sure, you chose us. But how are we meant to find this person? We have no resources, we have no hints, we have no clues! I thought you were meant to be an expert of clues. Are you just going to keep on using the 'chosen' as an excuse to keep killing? How were we meant to save Riley and Becca? It was completely impossible. People keep dying, and there isn't a chance for them to survive a year!"

"If you locked them in a room for a year, the solution would show itself."

"That's even worse! None of us are about to imprison any of these people! They don't deserve that! They deserve to follow their lives! Why can't you do it? Surely you'll be able to find out easily."

"I cannot involve myself."

"Sure, sure, can't involve yourself in our so called 'physical plane'."

"So you know why."

"…look. Just… just promise me you won't do anything like Willingboro again, okay? My conscience can't handle that, knowing I was predetermined to survive."

"It was not predetermined. If you staying in that township, you would have been killed. It was only chance and luck that you are standing upon this earth."

"Just chance and luck? So you were really willing to just kill me? To kill Joshua, to kill Miles, to kill everyone?"

"The imitator is more important than any of you. If he is not killed, then the balance is undone."

"That's fine, but surely you can focus just on him when we find him? Don't destroy whole towns! Please… promise me!"

"I can make no promises."

A/N:- Thanks to Gabe's-Girl-Forever for the review! Nothing much to discuss, so 'till next time!