2 weeks later as Zoey confronts David
"are they seriously charging her with raping Logan of all people" asks Zoey showing up at the Vega home completely unannounced
"it's a cover Zoey, it's a federal case now, I have no control over how they get confessions" says David
"I stopped by Jade's house yesterday because that's where they said she'd be and she's not, I asked to talk to her and Mrs. West said that Selena was never there" says Zoey
"they said they called last week and you didn't answer, it was regarding living arrangements for Selena, they had to take emergency action to protect her, they temporarily changed her name to Sasha Brown so her brother couldn't track her, he's become very creepy and desperate to locate her, she's still at Jade's but as her name has been changed, even if only temporarily, legally at the moment no record of Selena exists in Julia West's registry of patients" says David
"my parents bank account was somehow drained, they couldn't pay the phone bill when it was due so the phone company shut our phones off until payment was received, Jade put money in their account so the phone bill could be paid, our phones were only turned back on yesterday, that's when I found out that she was being charged with raping Logan" says Zoey
"I'll make a call, stay here" says David as he goes to another room and calls FBI agent Margo
"what is it David" asks Agent Margo
"Zoey didn't avoid your call about Selena, her parents bank was drained suspiciously so they couldn't pay their phone bill and their phones were shut off, they were only reactivated yesterday, what's this I hear about you charging Selena with raping Logan, you and I both know that he raped her" says David
"I'll be at Julia's today in about an hour to talk with Selena some more, have Zoey go there and her and I will talk, apparently Logan had plans to make her bow to his will but his plans got cut short by the investigation, as for the charges it was a mistake, Logan threatened one of my agents and told her a fake story about Selena raping him and the agent believed him and let him press charges against her, when I found out I reversed the decision and now Logan is in custody for lying to the FBI" says Agent Margo
"to be fair Selena is quite smart, possibly smarter than Quinn Pensky so I can understand why that agent believed Logan" says David
"true but under hypnosis yesterday we learned that Selena was indeed raped by her brother, Zoey living north of Pacific Coast Academy will allow her to keep distance from Logan and Selena's brother" says Agent Margo
"oh my God, may I inform Zoey about Selena having a crush on her, Selena was going to let me tell her but at the last minute changed her mind and told me not to" says David
"her brother told her that women belong to men not women, if he'd gotten wind that you told Zoey something about a girl crush, he might have targeted her, on some level Selena knew that and told you not to tell Zoey so that she would remain safe, Logan stopped all plans after the investigation started up in fear that his father would find out what he was doing but Selena's brother doesn't fear police, FBI or otherwise so he'd believe he could get away with raping her, as he has done to Logan's under age cousin, Kyle is older than Selena, almost eighteen, him being stupid plays a role in how bold he is, he's even slapped their mother when she tried to tell him to do his chores, anyway I have to go, remember to send Zoey to Julia's house" says Agent Margo as she hangs up and David heads back out to the living room where Zoey is waiting
"how much does Selena matter to you" asks David
"like as a friend or as more than friends" asks Zoey cautiously trying to find out David's intentions
"the latter, my daughter is bisexual, I have no problem if you like girls" says David as the anxiety seems to drain from Zoey's face
"I like her, she can outsmart and out science Quinn, nobody else in Southern California can do that, I just don't know if we should date, I mean she's related to Quinn, I don't want to cross a line, Quinn is very protective of Selena" says Zoey
"the FBI agent Margo will meet you at Jade's house, apparently Selena's brother did rape her though the timeline has yet to be found for if he raped her before or after Logan, Margo will ask you a bunch of questions to make sure sending Selena into your care is a good fit security wise, oh and Selena has a crush on you" says David
"ok, also I knew she liked me, it was very adorable but Quinn would get jealous so even though I do like Selena back I don't know if I should date her, the last thing I need is an unstable Quinn at school" says Zoey
"is she jealous of you or her sister" asks David
"she likes me…. Wait Selena and Quinn are sisters" asks Zoey shocked
"half sisters but Selena didn't know that until a few days ago, apparently Quinn found Selena's smarts a little too close to home and grilled her mom about it a few years back, apparently she didn't want Selena knowing that her father cheated on her mother two years before she was born" says David
"ok so how long do I have till I need to be at Jade's house" asks Zoey moving the conversation along
"you can head there now, I'm certain that Margo has already informed Julia that you're to be trusted, though I want to know if you knew you were Logan's next target, apparently Logan had this plan to dupe Dustin into handing you over to him" says David
"I'm not that stupid, though Quinn might be implicated in Logan's crimes, she made this device that turns people unconscious for a science fair and Logan stole it when he read a far right article about how women are meant to be property of men" says Zoey
"did she know Logan stole it" asks David
"no, she thought Selena stole it to improve it to work on everyone" says Zoey
"so she trusted Logan" asks David
"oh absolutely not but Selena has been known to borrow Quinn's science experiments to make them better, see Quinn sets her expectations too high, every experiment to her is a potential Nobel prize, unfortunately she always messes something up and Selena never openly offers to help, only sneakily fixing them without Quinn's permission or approval, almost nobody knew that Selena was even at PCA, they knew of her because Quinn would mention her but nobody ever met her, I begged Quinn to introduce me to her and Quinn said 'ok but don't expect her to say a word to you', she was right, Selena never said a word to me, though she did keep staring at me when she thought I wasn't looking, after that all of a sudden she was texting me non stop, Selena isn't exactly known to be very bold, she is known for being invisible though, even when people did begin to realize that she was enrolled at PCA nobody could find her except for Quinn or Dustin, she has a tendency to live in one's peripheral vision, she doesn't seem to like to let anyone see her" says Zoey
"it's because she doesn't want to be the focus of people's attention unwillingly, if she wants someone's attention she will make it known to that person and that person alone, maybe I should drive you, it will put your location temporarily out of reach of Kyle" says David as Zoey nods wanting to continue this conversation
"so her letting Dustin know where she is, is what exactly" asks Zoey as they leave the house and get into his car
"trust, Selena didn't know you all that well, she became friends with Dustin to try and get to know you without asking you any questions so you wouldn't freak out, if Selena can ask a family member about someone and have that family member keep the conversations a secret then she will do that so that things don't get awkward between her and her target of interest romantic or otherwise, in this case you, but you should know her brother might target you if he finds out you and Selena have talked at all after she was expelled from PCA, she might say she does not want you there but know that's only because she's afraid of aggression from Kyle if he finds out" says David as they leave the driveway
"I'm not afraid of Kyle, Logan yeah ok he scares me a little, Kyle can't hurt me, the first time he tried attacking me he ended up with his ankle broken in two places, the second time I broke his wrist, trust me he won't come near me" says Zoey
"let's hope you're right Zoey" says David
30 minutes later as they pull into the west house driveway and Julia comes to meet them
"oh thank God you came back Zoey, Selena's going nuts" says Julia
"what like she is having a mental breakdown or something because I'm pretty sure her mind is stronger than that" asks Zoey showing that she's concerned
"more like a massive panic attack, nothing I've tried has worked" says Julia
"because I'm the only person that can help her, bring her down here" says Zoey
"it'd be safer if you went up there" says Julia as they walk into the house
"and I will but I can't just walk into a room you are letting her use, in a panic attack mode she will get defensive and will make me leave, this living room is set up as the common room of the house, I can tell that just by looking at it, she will see this as an introduction to me being in her space, once she sees I'm here she will begin to let me into her space and only then can I go into her room" says Zoey
"are you a therapist's daughter or something" asks Julia recognizing the approach
"a therapist's niece yes but I've never had to use the information she taught me before, this method has only ever failed her once and only because the patient was in a deeply paranoid state and couldn't even remotely grasp reason and logic" says Zoey
"do I tell her you're here or how do I do this" asks Julia as Zoey sighs
"don't use my name, tell her that her cutie pie is here" says Zoey
"that's a bit odd" says David
"not really, I'll explain later but anyway she combines Quinn's super smarts with the body of a super model, AND she doesn't brag about it, where else am I going to get that" says Zoey
"fair enough, I'll go get her, David you explain the situation if Agent Margo agrees" says Julia as she goes to get Selena
"I don't understand" says Zoey
"Margo will be here in a few minutes, basically a judge ruled that Selena has to go back to PCA, that her education can't suffer as a result of the investigation, he ruled that Logan was to be in FBI custody until trial, whether the investigation ends in a month or a year, it doesn't matter, Logan will remain in FBI custody until then, her brother is under house arrest, basically he isn't allowed to leave his mom's house and she was given authority to slap him, authority given to her by a man, mainly so that Kyle would think it was valid and not fight her, eventually he will go through therapy to see if it is possible to rid him of that incredibly sexist belief, Logan's cousin is in Quinn's care as she is not legally able to consent to the things he did to her" says David as Agent Margo arrives
"Kyle's a lost cause Mr. Vega, at least let him serve time for his actions before you think he can be redeemed" says Zoey as Julia brings Selena down fighting every last step until Selena sees Zoey and stops fighting
"I know you had more questions for Selena about Kyle today Margo but Selena is still having issues processing the fact that her brother did indeed rape her, her thoughts aren't in line enough nor is the topic safe enough for her to ask her questions today, maybe tomorrow or the day after" says Julia
"I understand, today I only have questions for Zoey" says Margo as Selena shakes her head rapidly
"can Selena be there while you ask these questions" asks Zoey desiring comfort from Selena
"unfortunately not, Selena needs to eat, though she can watch from afar, she's proven that she's so afraid that asking you to be her protector will only lead to your death that she will absolutely freak out, so the decision has to be yours" says Agent Margo as she ushers Zoey to the pool area as Selena gets a granola bar and sits at the patio door watching them carefully
"how far from PCA is your parents house" asks Margo
"they live in Cornell, far enough away that people consider it remote, for most of us students at PCA, our families moved to Malibu or Los Angeles or Anaheim as it's close, my parents like remote communities, we lived in a small town in Louisiana, which we still lived in when Dustin started going to PCA, but when I got a chance to attend they didn't trust Dustin not to hover as while being my little brother, he is always worried about me, though he doesn't like to show it at school" says Zoey afraid she's oversharing
"regarding Selena, she needs to attend Pacific Coast Academy again but Dean Rivers is unwilling to do so if Selena doesn't have someone who will protect her from people like Logan and her brother, will you protect Selena" says Agent Margo
"I like Selena, like as in love so absolutely I'd protect her" says Zoey
"this weapon that Logan used, its some sort of high frequency sound device, that can be targeted to an individual, it says it was created by Selena, we need to know if more exist" says Agent Margo
"no, no more exist, that device is one of Selena's only ever scientific failures, it was supposed to be a high tech dog whistle type device, she wanted to protect kids from wild animals, every daycare in Los Angeles said they'd buy one if it worked, it was a science fair project, the programmable chip she used is the one time programmable type, either she messed up some code or it malfunctioned, either way she will never know because she can't analyze the code in the chip and she can't make another one even if she wanted to" says Zoey
"why not" asks Agent Margo
"because it relies on that specific chip and the company believes that she intended for it to target humans so that they could be abused, they banned her from ever buying ANY product from them for the rest of her life, her entire scientific life revolved around that company, their chemicals, their hardware, their chips, their beakers, that girl you saw when you walked in, that's not someone under the influence of that device as it only lasts ten minutes, that's the face of someone who's scientific career is destroyed because of a malfunction" says Zoey
"can you prove it was a malfunction" asks Agent Margo
"me no, Quinn maybe, Quinn tried to recreate it thinking that Selena had an error in her code somewhere, other than fixing grammar in the code comments there were no errors that Quinn could find, her recreation of the device only rendered people unconscious and wasn't targeted at specific people, Quinn couldn't figure out what went wrong but she's had a lot of time to analyze her device since the investigation started" says Zoey
"the thing is Quinn refuses to talk to us, we've asked her about the device before but she just shakes her head and says nothing, it's really stalled this investigation not understanding the device" says Agent Margo as things click for Zoey
"oh right, actually that makes sense, I just learned that Quinn is Selena's half sister" says Zoey
"what's the significance of that" asks Agent Margo
"Quinn is protective of her family, especially the innocent ones, people like Selena, Quinn would refuse to give any information about stuff if she thinks it will be used to convict an innocent person, she like Jade has a strong moral compass" says Zoey
"so who can convince Quinn that Logan bribed an investigator to allow him to press false charges against Selena, by the way the charges were dropped and the agent has been put on review, he is no longer a part of the investigation" says Agent Margo
"whatever you do you better do it quickly and you better do it soon, that little stunt Logan pulled, it's turning people against Selena, the media is calling her the fallen angel, the hidden criminal and stuff like that, so long as Logan is allowed to sow lies and deceit and Selena remains the central victim of your investigation, let's just say you will never get a conviction with how the public now sees Selena, with her scientific lifeline cut, Selena's will to live will shrivel like a dead animal and she will bleed like one too, now if you don't mind I'm going to spend what little time I likely have left with Selena" says Zoey as she heads back inside and follows Selena back to her room
"is what Zoey says true" asks Agent Margo
"Logan has a history of lies, it also isn't his first time sowing mistrust in the girls from PCA, the last time he did something he'd put an internet camera inside a rather large stuffed bear as an 'apology' for his past grievances against them, said camera streamed audio and video to his laptop, video of the girls dorm lounge, the camera went unnoticed for at least two days though the LAPD has retrieved three other hidden camera stuffed animals from Pacific Coast Academy, one had been retrieved from Zoey's former shared room with Dana and Nicole and was confirmed to be there while they were roommates in that room" says David
"can you confirm they were owned by Logan" asks Agent Margo
"the camera inside says 'property of Logan Reese, tell no one of the camera', if you send a formal request for the teddy bears we will send them to you" says David
"why weren't they handed over when the FBI took the investigation over" asks Agent Margo
"because they weren't received as part of an investigation involving Logan or anyone at PCA, Quinn handed them in last year after she found them" says David
"I'll send that request to you as long as nothing has been tampered with" says Agent Margo
"nothing has been tampered with, I made sure of that, we opened them, found the note and closed them back up and confirmed for Quinn that there were indeed internet cameras inside" says David
"I need to talk to Quinn asap" says Agent Margo
"I'll talk to her first, you go get that request sent" says David as Agent Margo nods and leaves
30 minutes later at PCA
"what do you want Mr. Vega" asks Quinn
"the charges against Selena were a ploy by Logan to ruin her credibility, when Agent Margo found out he'd bribed and lied to an investigator she dropped the charges, she's making an announcement on the matter tomorrow, she's going to want to talk to you about Selena's high frequency device, that's what Logan has been using to put holes in girls memory" says David as Quinn's jaw drops
"wow, that machine, that's what he's been using, he's lucky it didn't become a bomb and kill him, because then we'd have nobody to answer for his crimes" says Quinn
"So that chip is faulty, that's what Zoey thinks" asks David
"faulty wouldn't even begin to explain how bad it is Mr. Vega, the company majorly screwed up the power regulation in their chip, I tried her code on a different brand chip that does similar functions and it worked as intended, I was able to keep birds away from my now perfected banana-apple tree, when the chip they recommended Selena use for the same operation with the voltage they recommended for her code, it literally melted, the chip melted and ten minutes later it exploded, destroying my experiment containment box entirely" says Quinn
"then how hasn't the one Logan stole done the same, it's in FBI custody now" asks David
"because after the failed science fair experiment, she destroyed her custom power delivery circuit, leaving only a capacitor in place, she thought that it would render the device useless but it only limited the power going into the chip to below specifications, making it stable, though the low voltage means only declared 'important' code is executed, in the failure mode she experienced that means the high frequency targeted sound wave generator code" says Quinn
"ok they also want to know why it targets humans not animals as she claims it was designed for" says David
"it's the way she defined the variables, there are good humans and bad humans, good animals and bad animals, the malfunction just sees the word human and executes code, if you let it run in a room full of animals you'd get the same response, it would target all the female animals, Selena is mega smart but she didn't account for this type of failure, so long as a guy is using the device it will target girls, it's designed to be used stand alone without any direct input but it will gladly take input if offered" says Quinn
"can it be used to manipulate women into obedient slaves" asks David
"no, not even remotely, though someone like Logan could make it seem that way by physically abusing them then using the device then beating them up more, eventually the memory gaps and the abuse will turn anyone into a submissive person" says Quinn
"can you give me an example" asks David
"Logan's cousin Lucy, he did exactly that until she acted the way he wanted her to, only a therapist like Jade's mom could get through to her and reverse the damage Logan did but he let Kyle rape her whenever he wanted, that kind of trauma won't rub out as easily for her" says Quinn
"I hope you don't mean the kind of rub out I think you mean when you say that" says David as Quinn realizes the word soup mistake
"I'm talking about the conditioning he gave his cousin, that can be sorted out by Jade's mom, the trauma she suffered at the hands of Kyle will be harder to sort out, it will stay with her more readily, I'm sorry if I confused you, I'm just worried about Selena, she's not safe in Los Angeles, Logan has friends that will kidnap her if given even the slightest opportunity, when I get worried I mix words up" says Quinn
"she will be returning to PCA on Monday, classes adjusted so she can stay with Zoey, Nicole and Dana will also be returning now that Logan is no longer a student here" says David
"what about Jade" asks Quinn
"no, she won't be coming back, at least not as a student, her girlfriend Tori is a student at Hollywood arts and she made a commitment to stay a Hollywood arts student for the rest of the school year at the least, however as there is expected to be another flu epidemic here in California again as well as a few other states and Tori is slightly immunocompromised and the flu tends to hit her hardest it is possible Jade, Tori and a few friends will opt to spend time here and go remote learning for the winter season" says David
"will Dean Rivers be ok with that" asks Quinn
"he has loosened his policy on that and started a report system for abuse or coercion type issues, Jade will be allowed to bring a few friends, them being Andre, Cat and Robbie, Tori is already allowed as Jades girlfriend, though don't openly call her that yet as she is worried about public opinion, officially nobody knows they're dating yet" says David
"ok" says Quinn
"so you'll talk to Agent Margo about the device and anything else she needs to strengthen her case" asks David
"only so long as she let's me deactivate the device and until she meets with me the device needs to be put in a thick steel box" says Quinn
"why thick steel" asks David
"because the microphone will pick up any possible commands otherwise, it works like echolocation in bats and marine animals like dolphins, orcas and sperm whales, it can determine targets, like if you were to say I don't like Emma's red hair, it could target anyone with Red pigments in their hair within fifteen feet of the device, it can see the full spectrum of colors, it was designed that way to determine the differences between different birds and stuff like that" says Quinn
"ok I'll let her know, Jade may pop by tomorrow with Tori and Zoey will be back on Monday with Selena, Dana and Nicole are expected to return on Tuesday, anyway I'll let you study, I don't want your grades to drop, though I do want your opinion on Kyle, I want to know if he's a threat" says David
"Kyle isn't a threat without Logan guiding him but he needs to be deprogrammed, Logan fed him tons of lies and if anything Kyle is abundantly gullible, before dad died you could tell him that books write themselves and he'd believe it, as long as Logan made things sound official Kyle would believe him, Logan treated Kyle like a girl that he could control through fear and lies, he never treated him like an equal, if Jade's mom can get him to see through the lies then he will come clean about everything he's done, Kyle John Barnaby Pensky isn't a threat, all three of us were affected, I got scared, Selena got a little paranoid and Kyle felt lost, Logan took advantage of the situation Kyle and Selena were in, I'm almost certain Logan in some form had dad killed, he wanted access to Selena, that much I know for a fact" says Quinn as David nods and leaves