Primal Passions: Issue #8- Skeletons in the Closet
Primal Passions: Issue #8- Skeletons in the Closet
"So," said Erica awkwardly.
"So," echoed Tyler in a hollow voice.
The group sat in a broken circle in the center of the base's forensics lab. Erica and Primal sat side by side on a low but sturdy workbench. Tyler perched atop a stool staring down at the floor. Natasha stood nervously beside the electron microscope while Jason leaned back against the chemistry station, a severe look on his face.
"As far as the GDF is concerned our team has gone rogue," Jason began. "That means that they will be coming for us soon."
"This team was founded on lies and secrets. No more. No more secrets. No more lies. If we're to have any chance of survival we have to trust each other. That means that we all come clean now and try to stick together or we go our separate ways and wait to be hunted down and collared."
"I'll go first," said Jason, releasing a huge sigh. "I know that you all have a lot of questions and you deserve answers."
"Damn right we do," mumbled Tyler without conviction. Jason ignored him and continued.
"Everything Watchdog and I said before was true. Each of us was placed on this team so that they could keep an eye on us, control us. In short, they're afraid of us, me especially."
"Why you?" asked Erica.
"Because of my father."
"Guardian?"
"No. As you all know, Donald Shepherd was my adoptive father. My biological father is Victor Crown."
"The War-Monger!?"
"Yes."
Erica could not help but marvel at fate's twisted sense of humor. Of all the original Guardian's nemeses, none was more despised than the War-Monger. Although not as well known to the general public as other villains, the War-Monger was among the top ten names of the GDF's most wanted list. Although he did not wear a costume or possess superpowers, he possessed much more dangerous qualities: a cold, calculating intellect coupled with boundless greed and ambition. As the world's largest black market weapons dealer, he and his organization had ties to almost every war, rebellion and act of terrorism within the past three decades.
"He raised me until I was about eleven years old, teaching me how to be like him. Then he approached Guardian with a proposition to take me as his apprentice. Guardian was the only one who was ever really able to fight him on his on his own terms and beat him, his greatest opponent. He thought that someone with both his and Guardian's training would be unstoppable. He couldn't resist the idea of having a perfect heir to his "legacy," and Guardian couldn't pass up the opportunity to rescue me from my father. He took me in, raised me, and trained me just like my father wanted, but that's not all he did. It took awhile but Guardian finally freed me from my father's war dogma. He taught me empathy and responsibility. He taught me to protect people as he did and to stand up for those who could not protect themselves."
"The GDF was reluctant to accept me as Guardian's apprentice or his heir but he eventually convinced them that I was trustworthy despite my early upbringing. Everything was going fine until a few months just before he died. Guardian sent me undercover to infiltrate a crime syndicate. It turns that they had a big stockpile of War-Monger's weaponry. The GDF tried to stop one of the syndicates heists one night. They recognized me and saw me with the weaponry. I had to take a few shots at them to keep from blowing my cover but I didn't permanently harm anybody. Guardian explained to the GDF why I did what I did but I don't think that they entirely believed him."
"Donald Shepherd was my real father. Victor Crown is nothing but a criminal to me. I cut all ties with him a long time ago. However.....I can't escape the fact that he raised me for the early part of my life or the things he taught me. I can be manipulative. I know the means don't always justify the ends but sometimes I can't help myself. I see the result I want and I calculate the easiest way to get it."
"Is that why you didn't tell us about the nano-machines?" Erica asked crossly.
"And what would you have done if I had told you? What could you have done? Nothing. You either would have had to play along until I could figure out a way to disarm the paralysites or helped me try to stage a scenario where Monique would have been force to use the paralysites. No offense but unless you all took acting classes, I couldn't risk letting you try fake it.
"I had a plan but I had to wait until the right time to use it, otherwise, the GDF would have neutralized me easily and you would all still be walking around with no idea that they could turn you off whenever they felt like it. I guess that doesn't matter now. I know you feel used but I assure you that I did what I did for all our sakes."
He genuinely seemed to mean it.
"Now that my sins have been laid bare, does anyone else want to come clean?"
There was a pause.
"I guess I will," said Natasha nervously.
"Communist spy?" Tyler asked, recalling Monique's accusation.
"Yes. I really was a ballerina and my condition really is terminal. None of the doctors I saw could help me. They all said that I would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life. When a medical corporation secretly offered me a procedure that could let me dance again I took it. I didn't find out until later that the chip they installed in my brain was actually developed by the Chinese military to modify their soldiers. They knew about the Next Generation project. They wanted me to defect to America during the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. They wanted me to look for dissent and try to enlist as many neo-humans as I could for the Chinese government. If I refused, they said that they would take the chip back and I would have to go back in my wheelchair."
"Most of the world's neo-human population is concentrated in the America's and Europe," Jason added. "For a country of its size China has a disproportionately small number of neo-humans. That puts them at a strategic disadvantage from a military standpoint. They would give a lot for a few more human weapons on their side."
Natasha nodded her head.
"I was supposed to report to a contact every month but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I hoped that being under GDF protection would discourage them from retaliating against me. But now...."
"The GDF is supposed to be an international organization dedicated to protecting the planet. However, it's not exactly fond of the communists and their views on human rights. They wouldn't have taken a Chinese operative trying to recruit American citizens lightly. They probably discovered your contact a long time ago. They were probably waiting on you to try and make contact before busting you. When you didn't they simply put you somewhere they could keep an eye on you."
"You don't seem that surprised," stated Erica, looking directly at Jason.
"I figured it out a long time ago," he admitted.
Erica felt a wave of annoyance. Jason was too smart for his own good sometimes. It seemed that he already knew everyone's secrets already. She decided to try and shake him.
"Was that before or after you started sleeping together?"she asked off-handedly.
Jason's gaze snapped sharply to Natasha, his eyes questioning.
"She didn't tell me," Erica assured him. "I noticed that you weren't in your room one night and I started to notice a few things after that. You were discreet, just not discreet enough. Honestly Jason, you're only a genius when you're thinking with one head."
Erica paused, expecting Tyler to cut in with some obscene remark. For once, he remained gravely silent, simply staring at the floor without any indication that he was listening. She took a deep breath before confessing.
"Noah and I are romantically involved too. That's why he and Tyler were fighting. He walked in on us."
Jason didn't seem surprised. A look of disgust crept across Natasha's beautiful face as she pondered the implications. Erica resisted the urge to curse at her and instead leaned gently against Primal's bandaged side. He in turn wrapped an arm defensively around her waist. Tyler shifted uncomfortably on his stool.
"It's a miracle that none of us ever ran into each other in the halls at night," she finished lamely. She began to rub the fur on the back of Primal's hand absent mindedly with one finger.
Natasha eyed the innocent display of affection with discomfort.
"And while we're on the subject, what the hell is your problem Natasha?"
"Me?" Natasha asked indignantly.
"Yes, you! Noah saved your life that night but you treat him like he's some kind of dirty animal. You do everything that you can to avoid getting close to him and you haven't stopped shooting nasty looks our way since I told you about us. What the hell is your problem?"
"It's just...." Natasha paused.
"Freaky," offered Tyler with a hollow sarcasm.
"Have you seen our lives?!" demanded Erica. "Nothing about us is normal. Why should our love lives be any different?! We're happy and if you all can't be happy for us then you can piss off!"
Natasha now looked disgusted and pissed. Jason seemed a bit more patient.
"Tell them Erica. Tell them everything," he encouraged her. "It's why we're here."
Erica stared at him blankly for almost a minute before giving in and inhaling deeply. She knew he was right. So, she started at the beginning or at least where it all started from her point of view. She started with the aftermath of her father's death, her rape, getting the bracelet, and being drafted into the GDF. When she began to speak of Primal and how their relationship had began, her tone of weary regret gave way to the kind of euphoria that only someone in love can express. She told them how only she and Primal really understood one another and how even if they couldn't go back to their old lives, it was okay because they had each other and they were happy. Upon finishing, Erica was relieved to see that Natasha was somewhat mollified, the edge gone from her uncomfortable expression. Tyler seemed less irritable as well, the revelation of Erica's rape temporarily distracting him from Monique's betrayal.
"I'm sorry," Natasha offered hesitantly, looking at Primal. "You did save me. It's just that when you changed that night and....when I saw you charging at me and the Leech.....I thought you were going to kill me. I've been afraid of you ever since."
"The only reason he changed was because he wanted to save you, Natasha," Erica explained. "I don't know how he did it but I know he did it for you. He may have to fight his wild side now and again but he's not a monster. You would know that if you just gave him a chance."
Natasha closed her eyes and turned her face away. It was only the second time Erica had ever known Natasha to show shame, the first having occurred but an hour earlier.
Jason tried to comfort Natasha by putting his hand upon her shoulder.
"Now that we all understand your situation Erica, I'm confident that no one here will stand in the way or your relationship. You and Primal have every right to be happy."
"Noah, Jason! His name is Noah!" Erica declared as she glared at their leader. Jason seemed taken aback by her hostility.
"The rules say that we're only supposed to use our real names when we're out of costume, but Noah isn't wearing one. He can't take it off like we can. It's not far that he has to be Primal every second of every day," she explained as she looked pleadingly at Jason. "You've stopped using his real name and you never even bother to ask his opinion anymore."
"But he can't..." Natasha began.
"Just because he can't talk, it doesn't mean that he doesn't have anything to say. No matter what he looks like on the outside he's still a human being. You should treat him like it."
Erica heaved a great sigh of relief as the weight that she had been carrying in her chest for so long was lifted. Primal drew her close to him with his bandaged, furry arm and gave her the tiniest of licks upon her cheek. For once, Natasha did not flinch.
"Wow," said Jason with an ironic smile. "I really do suck as a leader."
"No, Jason," Natasha assured him.
"No. She's right. I've just been playing the part of a leader. I was so concerned with figuring out what the G.D.F. was up to that I ignored your problems. You all depended on me and I let you down," Jason admitted in a repentant tone.
"I'm sorry...Noah," Jason said, emphasizing the name. "I'm not used to caring about anyone's voice but my own. The fact that you don't have one just made it easier for me to forget about you. I swear that I'll listen harder from now on."
"From now on?" Tyler asked with a humorless chuckle. "Your still trying to act like a leader. News flash! There's nothing to lead! This whole thing was a setup from the beginning! It's over! There is no team!"
"It's only over if we decide it's over Ty. We can still be a team. We just have to trust each other. That's why we're doing this."
"Oh, I see. So if we bear our souls and pull a few skeletons out of the closet then that will make us a team. Hey, I know. Why don't we sing Kumbaya around the camp fire next?" Tyler mocked.
"So that's it? You're giving up? You have nothing to say?" Jason asked him calmly.
"There's nothing to say."
"Really? There's nothing you want to say about what Watchdog said in there?"
"What? About me being emotionally unstable? Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm dangerous. Maybe their right to be afraid of me!" Tyler seethed as he got up from his stool, the air crackling around his balled fist.
"I should have known this whole next-gen-hero thing was bullshit from the beginning. I was never meant to be one of the good guys."
"That's not true, Ty ," Jason said with sincerity.
"And how the hell would you know?! You don't know anything about me! I'm bad okay! I've hurt people!" Tyler growled at Jason, the air around them becoming thick with the smell of ozone.
"Who did you hurt, Ty?" Jason asked, the tone of his voice sounding oddly more like sympathy than fear or anger.
The question seemed to dissipate Tyler's fury, like ice-water thrown on a fire. The snarl on his face imploded as he slowly slumped back onto his stool. He stared at the floor for a moment before raising his eyes. For once, the young hot-heads eyes held shame rather than bravado.
"You don't get it. You can't. Ever since I got my powers, it's like there's this fire in my brain. That's why I'm so fucking angry all the time. It just builds up and builds up until I have to let it go.
"At first it was just accidents. I'd get mad, kick a can or punch a wall, and it'd blow up up like a M80. I always felt better afterwards, and I wouldn't get mad again for a long time, but eventually the sensation started coming more often. I'd hold in for as long as I could but eventually I just had to let it out and blast something."
"One time I held it in for too long. It felt like there were bees in my head stinging my brain, driving me crazy. There was an old, abandoned house in my neighborhood. Everyone said it was haunted. I went there because I knew there wouldn't anybody around. I went around the back of the house where no one could see me and I just........it was like someone dropped a bombshell on the house. The fire department came. I slipped into the crowd to watch. The fire fighters found.....there were some kids using the old tool shed for a club house. Two of them were dead. One little girl was still alive. She had burns and shrapnel, and her spine was cracked. The paper said that she would never walk again. The police found some old crack pipes in the rubble. They said that there must have been a meth lab in the old house. They blamed the whole thing on drug dealers. Nobody ever found out. I never...I never told anyone.....
"It was me," Tyler confessed as he grinned, his eyes watery and touched by something not unlike madness.
"I did it and I got away with it. It was me!" Tyler began to giggle uncontrollably, his mania leaking out in the bubbly laughter. The sound of his laughter died away although his body continued to shake. It took the others a moment to realize that he was sobbing silently.
Erica had never really thought of herself as a forgiving person. It seemed as if the last few years of her life had been nothing but tricks, betrayal, and manipulation. Outwardly she was just another embittered young woman with a penchant for wearing black. Had he been able to tell her, she would have laughed at Primal's notion that he was attracted to her compassionate nature. Of the few people she still any regular contact with she, Tyler was definitely in the running for her least favorite. Considering that he had nearly killed her boyfriend a few minutes prior, he was probably a shoe-in. All this made it all the more difficult for Erica to determine exactly what possessed her to leave Primal's side and cross the distance to where Tyler sat. Perhaps his confession struck a chord within her. After all, she understood what it was like to bear an unwanted power and to be haunted by the pain inflicted by that power. She also understood how that path could lead a person to become someone who was hostile and not easily likable. She understood that very well.
Erica wrapped her arms around Tyler and helped him as he
Erica walked over to Tyler and wrapped her arms around him. He embraced her back as he shook silently.
"It was me...," Tyler choked as Erica cradled him.
"Shhhh," she whispered gently. "You didn't mean it. Just let it out." She repeated the two phrases like a mantra as Tyler continued to release years of repressed guilt.
It was several minutes before Tyler's was finally able to sniffle an, "I'm okay." Erica released Tyler but did not immediately return to Primal's side, choosing to remain close in case he needed her.
"I guess Watchdog was on the mark with that whole emotional instability thing," he said with a humorless chuckle.
"Maybe," Jason admitted. "But you're not evil Ty and you're not a villain. But you will be if you leave now. Not because you'll want to be but because you'll have no other choice. It'll be the only way you'll be able to survive on your own. You need this team as much as the rest of us."
It was only now that Jason paused. For the first time since he had initiated this meeting, his confidence seemed to falter.
"My father is dead and I don't have anyone else whom I consider family. The GDF will never trust me to succeed my father. I still have his company. I don't think that they'd try to take that away from me but......," he said with uncertainty. He looked at the others, his eyes beseeching.
"I don't have anywhere else to go."
All was silent for a moment.
"Neither do I," followed Natasha, breaking the silence. "I cannot return to Russia and I cannot turn to the Chinese. They would either imprison me, kill me, or worse, take their chip back and let me rot in a wheelchair until I am drooling husk."
Natasha wrung here hands nervously as she spoke, the fear of her affliction weighing upon her. Jason edged closer to her and took her hand, a weak smile gracing his face as he tried to reassure her.
"I'm not ready to be out there," Erica stated as she kept the ball rolling. "I still can't control my powers all the way. I might hurt someone. And even if I could get by out there, there's no way in hell that I'd leave Noah behind. I'm staying."
As if on cue, Primal rose and turned toward Jason. He used his un-bandaged arm to give his best salute as he faced their leader. The message was clear.
All eyes turned towards Tyler. Having recovered from his earlier outburst, the dissenter shifted his eyes from one person to the next as they watched him. He sighed heavily as he ran his hand up over his face and back over his close-cropped red hair.
"What the hell," he finally said. "You guys would be lost without me anyway. I'll give it another shot."
A wave of relief seemed to sweep through the lab, thinning the cloud of doom which now hung. Within the course of two hours their entire world had been turned upside down. With so much confusion and uncertainty of the future, they now clung desperately to one fact like a life raft: Their team would stay together.
Their sense of relief was short lived.
"What do we do about the GDF?" Natasha asked. "They're not just going to let us walk away."
"No they're not," Jason agreed. "They're charged with managing all the neo-human activity on the planet. There is no way that they would let us operate independently from them......at least not officially."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyler asked suspiciously. I've made arrangements so that if the GDF moves against us, documentation of all their recent activities will be delivered to the United Nations. I doubt they want the U.N. to know the extreme measures that they had to undertake just to get all of the neophytes under control. I'm hoping that they'll just leave us alone in exchange for our silence."
"But what about the others?" Erica asked. "The others three teams with the paralysites? What do we do about them?"
"I'm sorry Erica," Jason said as he shook his head. "There's nothing we can do for them. I'm sure the GDF is already taking measures to ensure that none of the other teams slip out of their grasp. Each batch of paralysites is programmed to respond to a different signal. Even if we could reach them first it would takes days of hacking to free them all. It was all I could do just to free us. You're all safe, and for now that's enough for me." Again a weak smile touched his face.
"So now what?" Tyler asked with a sigh.
"It's been a hell of a morning," Jason responded, sounding equally tired. "We're safe for now and we're together. I vote we hold off any major decisions until tomorrow."
There was a tense pause before Erica wearily raised her hand. "I vote we spend the rest of the day drowning our troubles in pizza and cheesy movies," she offered.
Tyler snorted at the misplaced humor. "I second that motion," he said as he raised his hand.
Primal and Natasha raised their hands as well.
This time Jason smiled completely as he nodded. "Pizza does sound pretty good right now."
"Do you think we can get them to deliver to the parking structure up there?" Erica asked.
"It's against protocol," Jason said without much conviction.
"Screw protocol," Tyler growled as he pushed up from his stool and stretched.
"Well, maybe this once, "Jason agreed as they began to move lazily towards the door.
Erica began to move to Primal's side, before Tyler gently grabbed her arm. She tried not to tense before turning to look at him.
"I'm sorry, about everything," Tyler said timidly. "I was wrong. Noah's a lucky guy."
"It's okay Ty," Erica said quietly as they walked down the corridor behind the others. "I think I get it now. And I'm sorry about Monique, I know you two were getting pretty close."
"Yeah, well.....wasn't meant to be," he said sadly before seeming to mull something over in his head. "Hey Jason, if we're not with the GDF anymore does that mean we get to pick a new name?"
"Why, everyone knows us as the New Defenders," Jason said as they reached the lobby.
"Exactly, it sounds way too dorky. We should pick something cooler," he said as he turned towards the rest area. Seeing the mutilated furniture and wet, scorched floor he cringed and turned back towards the dining area. Natasha and Primal followed close behind him, as Erica made her way back towards her room to raid her footlocker for some movies.
"What did you call us earlier, 'neo-knights'?" Tyler asked as they sat down at the cafeteria style table.
"You mean neophytes?" Jason asked with a bewildered look as he took a cell phone out of his pocket, to call for pizza.
Tyler scrunched up his face. "Nah, I like my idea better."
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Elsewhere, in an unknown location.........
A man clad in a white cassock like robe looked down upon the factory floor from an office high above. Down below, members of the Church of Human Purity scrambled like ants, involved in all manner of duties. Those suited to manual labor had been assigned to operate machines and assemble components. Those familiar with politics and business where busy elsewhere, liquidating all their funds and turning all their assets and connections over to their new employers. The feeble and unskilled stood by at the ready, helping where they could, cleaning up, filing papers, and when necessary serving as guinea pigs to test new weapons. The man smiled knowingly as he watched them scurry about their tasks.
"I promised you a work force and I delivered," the man said without turning. The continuous sound of keystrokes gave no evidence that his words had been heard. An older man wearing a suite sat studiously at a large modern desk behind him.
"Just as I thought. Their hubris is sickening," the suited man said. "Even if they assume that Brainframe is dead, any security engineer worth his salt would have changed all the access codes once they were compromised. They only bothered to change to change the external mainframe access. All Brainframe had to do this time around was get in. After that their entire operation was an open book. We now have our own private backdoor into their system and their none the wiser. Pathetic."
"What do you expect?" the white robed man asked. "They are false gods looking down upon mankind from their tower on high. They've been untouchable for so long that they've forgotten what it's like to be afraid. Their last great loss was among the most mortal of them."
"There was nothing 'mortal' about Guardian. He was a genius. He would never have allowed them to become so vulnerable. Watchdog is a poor substitute," the suited man said before sipping water from a glass beside him. A sharp stabbing pain between his eyes caused him to drop the glass which spilled its contents onto the carpeted floor. He clutched the bridge of his nose as if nursing a migraine while the sound a thousand desperate whispers filled his ears.
"I told you that doesn't work on me," the suited man snapped as he spun his office chair to face the robed man. "I'm not like those week minded sheep."
"True," the robed man replied as he turned to face him. "You do not allow petty emotions such as fear or hate to rule you. Still, you are not without weakness."
The robed man leaned down and placed his hands on the arms of the office chair as he looked the suited man directly in the eye. His eyes were intense as he spoke softly. "Do you think that I cannot see into your heart? Do you think that I do not know why you are helping me? You think that you can use me to further your own agenda? I know you better than you know yourself. You will succumb eventually."
The suited man stared back into the white clad man's eyes without fear. "Perhaps, perhaps not. In the mean time why don't we just agree to use each other as we agreed and then we'll see who comes out on top?"
The robed man said nothing for a moment, his face impassive. The suited man swore that he saw something shift in the other man's eyes: some flicker of red deep in the darkness of his pupils.
"Fair enough," the robed figure replied with kind smile, his demeanor free of any sign of agitation. With a sudden jerk of his head, he looked up at the office door with expectation. Anarchy strode into the room a moment later, the tread of his boots muffled on the office carpet.
"Ah, Jonathan," the robed man said, using Anarchy's real name. "Good job in getting Brainframe back to the facility. Your father has already used him to infiltrate every aspect of the G.D.F.'s operation. Our victory is assured thanks in large part to you."
"Thank you, sir," Anarchy said with a salute.
The suited man looked upon the mark on Anarchy's palm with disappointment. He had hoped his son would have proven himself to be made of stronger stuff but like the Purists he too had fallen under the sway of his new client, although the control did not seem to be as complete in Anarchy's case. Disheartened the suited man continued to tap away at the keyboard. He did not even look up when he felt Anarchy's eyes fall upon him. The sensation lingered as Anarchy stood expectantly in the center of the room. The suited man felt another wave of disappointment at his son's desire for praise, like a dog fawning over its master.
Suddenly, a new file popped up on the screen before him, tagged as an urgent message to all senior members of the G.D.F. With a few keystrokes and a screen tap from his finger, the suited man directed Brainframe to reveal the files contents to him. A small smile broke out on his face as he read the report. The robed man drifted silently behind him and began to read over his shoulder.
"Well," the robed man spoke. "It would appear that little Jason has started his own little coup against the G.D.F."
Anarchy glowered, his fist clenching as his father finished reading the report.
"That's my boy," smiled the War-Monger.