Rico was confined to bed rest and couldn't join his team in the interrogation room.
The Sorenson family was shocked to hear of this. Rocky was unable to make it, but Skipper's brothers were there along with their parents and Brian's girlfriend, Jackie. At Skipper's request, Private and Kowalski were also there.
The interrogators were Agents Simms and Zander.
The room had a one way mirror so they could see Toby. George Sorenson stared blankly at his unconscious son. Chris had a comforting arm around his distraught mother while Brian and Jackie leaned on each other for support.
Skipper stood next to his father. He looked back to see Kowalski and Private standing behind him, ready for any command he could give them. But what would he say though? What could he say? A loud groan interrupted his thoughts and he turned back to see Toby begin to struggle against his new bindings.
"Hey! HEY!" Toby yelled. "What's going on?! Let me out!"
Simms entered first. "What's going on? That's what I'd like to know."
"I didn't do anything! I have rights, you know."
"Do you know who I am?"
"Yeah, Simms, you've sent me on at least a dozen missions." Toby scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Correct. Do you know who you are?"
"You mean knowing you isn't proof that I don't have amnesia?"
"Answer the question, do you know who you are?"
Toby's face showed confusion for a second before going back to irritation. "Toby Sorenson. Now that we've established I'm definitely not an amnesiac, could you stop giving me the third degree?"
"I haven't given you any degree, Toby. I'm simply asking questions."
"It's annoying. Why am I here?"
Simms' brow rose. "Honestly, I should be asking you that." He said. "Or more precisely, what were you doing sneaking around in a law firm?"
"Some idiot attacked me."
"We received intel that there was a break in and sent out personnel to stop you. Why were you there? Why was there an unconscious girl?"
Toby growled instead of answering the question.
"I would like you to know that Agent Zander will enter and question you if you are unable to answer mine." Simms said coolly.
"Fine. Bring him in. I don't have to tell you anything."
"So be it."
Simms got up and left. Toby avoided looking at the mirror.
BAM!
They all jumped as the interrogation room door was flung open. Zander stomped in.
"Alright you little traitor, when did you start working for Blowhole?" The older man demanded.
"Wow, you really got the whole bad cop persona down."
"Stop messing around and tell me what I want to know."
"I wanted to leave a heartfelt message for a friend." Toby's words dripped sarcasm. "And who are you calling traitor? I've seen your files-"
"SHUT UP! You're already on thin ice, you wanna break it further?!"
"Go ahead, what are you gonna do to me? Hit me? You're recording this. Won't look good for your already tarnished record."
Zander's knuckles cracked as he formed fists.
Before anything could happen, the door opened.
"Let me speak to him, Ryan."
Toby's eyes widened and he immediately looked down at the table. Zander cursed as he left the room.
Skipper took a look back to see Kowalski signaling Private that he didn't have to keep covering his ears. His focus shifted back to the room.
George sat across from his son. Toby refused to look at him or the mirror. Skipper wondered if Toby knew his family was there. He'd seemed surprised when their father walked into the room.
"What's going on?" Private and Kowalski had approached the window next to Skipper.
"He's trying to figure out what to say." Kowalski answered. "He cares about his kids. This is a massive shock even if it's someone who acts like Toby."
The two Sorensons sat in the room for a while, not speaking. The tension in the room must have been high.
Then there was a crackle and Zander's voice rang out.
"Any time today, Sorenson."
George sighed. "Is it something I did or said?"
Toby shrugged awkwardly.
"We've tried our best to raise you kids without feeling like you had to compare yourselves. We never measured any of you to our level or made you think you had to be like Chris. Whatever competitive or comparative feelings came from you being siblings. I honestly don't remember if I've said or done anything to push you to this point. I know your mother hasn't and I don't think you would take any negative things your younger siblings said to heart, would you? You know they care about you, right?"
Toby nodded.
"Talk to me then. What is it? Are you being forced? Threatened? Mind controlled?"
Toby shook his head.
"I need actual verbal responses now. You had no problem talking back to the other two agents."
"Zander sucks. Feel kinda bad for talking back to Simms." Toby mumbled.
"At least you said something. We need this to be an adult conversation though. This isn't you and your sister getting in a fight and toys breaking. This isn't insulting a kid from a troubled home. This is far more serious. How long have you been working with them?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes. You got sloppy and got caught. Why? You couldn't fight off an eighteen year old with only three years fighting experience. Was it because Skipper was there?"
Toby's head shot up in alarm, making eye contact with his father. "What?! Where is he?"
"Safe. You seem concerned, which tells me you weren't expecting him and his team."
"That was Rico?"
"Yes. You caused him quite some injury. He'll recover. Your concern tells me you never meant for them to get involved."
"No. They weren't supposed to find out, no one was. I was supposed to get in and out with files about Rhonda. It was an easy job." Toby's gaze went back to the desk. "They made me take the girl for distraction. She's innocent."
"We know; Kitka is safe. Your brother and his team are the ones who caught Rhonda, remember?"
Toby nodded. "He wanted her out without issues and if the files were missing, there was nothing to convict her with."
"Except multiple witnesses who still remember their sixth grade sub. And the fact that we have it on our files which were highly protected from all those attempts at hacking in."
"That wouldn't have happened if those bumbling idiots did their job."
"Were you supposed to be one of the hits on Campbell?"
"No. I was too close to Rocky and Skipper."
"What was your job then?"
"I wasn't anywhere near there. Brian can attest to that."
The intercom buzzed and Simms spoke "He has confirmed this."
"Wait, who's here?" Toby paled. "Is Mom here?"
"Would that make you unable to answer questions?" George asked.
"I-I don't know."
"How long have you worked for Blowhole?"
"Since Agent Twelve was planted there."
"So, for about two years. Why?"
Toby's mouth moved, but no sound came out. He looked like he was thinking hard and fast for an explanation. None came.
"Were you involved with the principal's disappearance?"
Toby started shaking.
"Toby, this is serious. The man's in the hospital and unable to tell us what happened to him. Did you ransack the house, attack him and his wife, and kidnap him?"
"Yes." It was almost too soft, but the speakers picked it up. Private gasped.
"And no one went after the kids?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I told them to leave them and go. We had our target."
"You didn't want to hurt the kids, but they did?"
"They wanted to kill the rest of the family."
Private felt ill. He clutched his stomach. Kowalski held him. Skipper couldn't tear his eyes away from the interrogation.
"You're not above beating up defenseless civilians but you draw the line at children?"
"I drew the line at beating the civilians. They said they'd use knockout gas, trash the place, and leave with him. I yelled at them to stop."
"Why are you okay with robbery and kidnap, but not with assault? Why did you join them? Why did you take this man to be tortured-"
"I didn't know!" Toby was breathing heavily, tears were dropping. "They wanted to question him about Campbell. I didn't think they'd torture the guy half to death...damn I'm an ugly crier..."
"You didn't think."
"No. As usual."
"Have I said that?"
"No! Why do you keep thinking you did everything?"
"Because you're my son. I raised you and therefore I'm responsible for how you turn out."
"You didn't do anything wrong! None of you did! I'm the one who-" He stopped, staring at the mirror.
Skipper jumped. Toby was unknowingly staring right at him.
"Who what? What did you do?" George asked. "Please, son. Tell me so we can fix this."
"Fix it? It can't be fixed. I'll be in prison or something for all the charges that'll be against me."
"House arrest then. I'm not leaving you to rot in a cell. I'll fight for you."
"Why? I'm not worth fighting for."
"When did I make you feel-?"
"STOP IT! YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! NONE OF YOU DID! IT'S MY F-ING FAULT BECAUSE I'M A BAD PERSON!"
"Bad isn't inherent. You weren't born bad. You were born and acted like an average child. A bit more hyperactive and rowdier than your brother, but completely normal."
"Then why did I hurt them?"
"Hurt? In play? I'm sure you've all caused injury to each other as siblings do. But nothing where we had to take you to a hospital."
"I...stabbed him..."
"Stabbed who? When?"
"I was eight...I should have told you so you could send me away..." Toby inhaled shakily and continued. "Skipper was only a kid. I told him he had to take a shot and I jabbed him with a sewing needle...that's why he's scared of needles. I made him swear not to tell anyone..."
"Skipper...is that true?" Sapphire asked. Skipper cringed and looked around at his shocked and teary faced mother.
He nodded, ashamed he'd kept the secret all those years. Truthfully, he'd forgotten that it was Toby who did it. The explanation in his brain kept changing and he settled on maybe he saw something on tv that scared him.
Simms buzzed the intercom again. "Skipper confirms this."
"Are Mom and the others here too?" Toby asked. "Please...It doesn't change my answers, I promise...not that that's worth anything."
"She is and your brothers are here along with Jackie and two of Skipper's teammates."
"Agent Davis's kid?"
"Yes."
"Did you enjoy hurting your brother?" George asked, his own question making him visibly uncomfortable.
"I couldn't stop. I...saw him...he was only a kid, practically a baby...I wanted to stop."
"What made you stop?"
"The highest pitch scream I heard. My head felt...I dunno...pressure?"
"You didn't answer the other question."
"No. I didn't enjoy it. He was my baby brother...still is. I'm supposed to protect them...but no one protects them from me..."
George sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "As your parents, we're supposed to stop it from going too far. What made you do it?"
"I don't know. It was just there. He didn't ask for it. You didn't ask for it..." He looked to the mirror, unaware that Skipper had actually moved. "I'm sorry."
The intercom buzzed, but no voice came.
"You okay, Simms?" George asked.
"You knew what you were doing...that day you taunted Kenny." Skipper finally spoke. "It was planned. You wanted Kowalski to overhear it. Why? Why did you want us to dislike you? Did you actually not like them?"
"I don't dislike them. I mean, I'm indifferent to them...I didn't think he'd actually run away. He was at his friend's house-"
"A friend didn't matter when we were younger." Kowalski spoke into the intercom. "A friend was just a nice person who was helpless when it came to our situation. Seven-Four disregarded friends because they still lived in the same town. If we ever had to, it meant to disappear forever like we couldn't then. Even if you didn't know we had that code or that he would do that, you underestimated the amount of suffering we had at the hands of our father that a kid Kenny's age couldn't help him with. Even if Barry was wise beyond his years, he was a thirteen year old, same as Kenny, and therefore his words wouldn't have held much water. At that point Barry was just another friend who was, by our definition, nice but helpless."
Toby had no words for that.
"You told me you didn't know why you said that." George said softly. "We had our talk and you said if you could take it back you would. What's going on?"
"I don't know..."
"Are you being mind controlled?"
"I'm aware of when I say and do those things."
"There are different types of mind control, you don't always have to go blank. Did it start when you were eight? After we discovered Skipper's fear of needles, you complained a lot of pressure in your head. We took you to an ENT who said your sinuses were fine. We tried to do x-rays, cat scans or MRIs, but you screamed and protested each time so we couldn't force you."
"I don't remember that."
"It's been fifteen years and each time we mentioned wanting to see what's wrong, you shut us out. So we stopped asking and waited for you to come to us. You stopped complaining about it eventually, and we thought it was over. It was just a weird thing and it passed."
"How did none of us notice that?" Brian asked through the intercom.
"You did." George said. "I told you he had sinus issues. The last time he complained about it was when he was sixteen. Unfortunately, that's when a certain incident happened and our focus was diverted."
Skipper blushed.
"I...think I remember that...when did you stop asking?" Toby asked.
"When you were twelve. We didn't know if shutting us out was a preteen/teen thing and we just told you that you could talk to us anytime about anything."
"I remember that...sort of. Did anything happen to me as a kid?"
"You did get lost once at the Fourth of July fair when you were almost eight, but we found you near a snack booth chatting away. There was a small bump on the back of your head and you had no idea how it got there. We just figured you were looking for us, bumped into something, spotted a snack booth and assumed we'd find you there eventually."
"I wasn't upset or anything?"
"The person running the booth said you look like you'd been crying, but as soon as they gave you a bag of chips, you started to feel better. You were talking to them about random things to get your mind off being lost. Skipper's actually the one who saw you. I had him on top of my shoulders while your mom the other way with Brian and Rocky. Chris was with me, calling your name."
"I don't remember that at all." Toby said in a hushed tone. Being roughly 6,4, and 2 years old at the time, his younger siblings wouldn't remember.
"I remember at least half of it." Chris's voice came through. "I'd never seen Mom and Dad so scared in my life and I was about twelve."
"I probably got away because I was being dumb."
"You do remember you graduated early, right?" Chris asked.
"By a year, what of it?"
"Your grades don't tell me you're dumb or barely scraping by. You just never wanted to admit you're good with academics. You wanted to be done with school so you could go on missions like me. You wanted to be one of the good guys...so what gives, little bro? I've been running it through my head this whole time, wondering if I'm to blame, but Mom and Dad really did their best raise us without comparing us to each other."
"What if I'm just bad? Didn't Blowhole murder his own mother at four or something? What if I'm like that too? Like Michael Myers evil?" Toby asked.
"If you were anything like Myers, we'd all be long dead and you wouldn't be so chatty and teary eyed." Brian said with a laugh. "Honestly-"
"This interrogation is going nowhere." Zander cut in. "This isn't a cute and cuddly family reunion. We need answers, kid."
"I'm not a kid." Toby snapped. "Stop calling me one. I'm an ADULT who made a screwed up ADULT decision. Why can't you leave me alone?"
"On the contrary, Agent Zander, it is definitely going somewhere." Kowalski said across the intercom, much to the protest of Zander. "Admittedly, it took longer than I thought and there's still another thing, but I finally got something. When did you start having meetings?"
Toby looked confused. "Didn't we establish that I started working for them-?"
"No, with Zander."
Kowalski was pulled away from the buttons. Zander glared at him furiously.
"This is a serious accusation, Agent Taro."
"Harrison. I told everyone my preferred last name." Kowalski tried to separate Zander from the image of his father that was shoving itself into the front of his mind. "And it's not an accusation, it's a theory based on observation."
"What's going on out there?" George asked, opening the door.
"Taro here seems to be accusing a senior officer of sneaking around having meetings unknown to the agency." Zander growled.
"I never said that, sir. And it's Harrison." Kowalski said. "I simply asked Toby when you two started having meetings. There was no accusation of sneaking anywhere. I was still unsure of whether this covert mission was known to the agency or not."
"Covert-? Wait, I'm extremely confused right now." Private said.
"Hold up. Let me get this straight. You think Toby's been tasked with a covert mission by Agent Zander?" Skipper asked.
"That was the ongoing theory, sir." Kowalski responded.
"What did you do to my son?" Sapphire's tone was low and dangerous.
"He asked me for help and I helped him." Zander said, not bothering to look at anyone.
"You didn't run this by Kent?" Simms asked.
"I don't have to ask for permission to help a younger agent."
"That sounds very ominous." Jackie said. "Sorry, I was trying not to butt in."
"You didn't help!" Toby shouted out. "I told you I needed Kent's help and you said you'd handle it!"
"What did you need help with?" George asked, re-entering the interrogation room.
"I was being followed. The accident wasn't an accident. Someone was trying to strike me out to get to you."
"How do you know that?"
"I didn't at first, it was just paranoia that pushed me. They told me when I joined them. It was Zander's idea to go undercover."
"Skipper, I want you three to go home." George said, turning to his youngest son. The boys began to protest, but he cut them off. "No. This has become something above your level. We shouldn't have let it get this far. I promise I'll tell you what I can."
"But he's my brother!" Skipper protested.
"And I'm your father. My decision is final, do I need to have Simms escort you out?"
"Skipper, please listen to your father. I'm sure Rocky will have questions too. We'll answer all of you to the best of our ability." Sapphire said.
"Fine." Skipper muttered dejectedly. "Come on, boys, let's check on Rico."
