control - muke

Chapter 17

"Michael? What's going on?" Luke asked nervously, reaching for the younger boy. He was shoved away when he got too close, landing on the floor with a thud. "Stop! It's me!"

Jack stepped forward slowly, not wanting to provoke Michael as the truth was, they had no idea what he was really capable of. "I think we need to leave, right now. We'll help Michel as soon as we find a way to, I promise you that, but I'm not letting you get hurt again."

"I'm not leaving him," Luke stated, remaining in his position on the floor by Michael's feet. Jack tried to grab his arm but failed to move him, motioning for the others to help. But they just stood there, watching intently, and Jack huffed. He'd known his brother would react like that, but was still frustrated by it.

Michael didn't move, his eyes fixed on Luke but taking no action against him. It was strange, if he wanted to hurt them then he would have done it by now. What was even stranger was that his eyes were as empty as they had been down the alley that night, and then when he had carried Luke from the cell as he fought once again for his life.

Michael wasn't Michael. But how was that possible this time? How had the doctor managed to take control?

Luke was terrified of what horrors their futures held, now so more than ever. "Please, Michael. You have to fight this. I know you can, you're so strong baby, please. Do it for me."

But his face stayed blank, his hair falling over the side of his face. Any reaction would have served as comfort to Luke, even if he were to lash out or try to kill them. It was the uncertainty, the lack of a reaction, that scared him.

To interrupt the silence and as if on cue, Luke's mobile began to ring and he quickly ignored the call. He didn't even hesitate to look at the number because he really didn't care who it was, nor why they were calling - nothing was more important than this. Nobody was more important than Michael.

But when it rang again, and then a few times more, Luke knew that something wasn't quite right about it.

"Maybe you should answer it," Ashton suggested, not removing his eyes from Michael in fear of him moving suddenly.

The others nodded in agreement, and Jack looked sadly down at him. "Put it on loudspeaker too, we deserve to know as much as you do."

"I know," Luke smiled weakly, answering the call and feeling his throat constrict as an all too familiar voice echoed across the line.

"Hello, Luke. Nice to hear from you again."

"What did you do to Michael?" Luke asked immediately, placing his phone on the table nearby so they could all hear the conversation that was about to go down. Not to mention the fact that his hand was shaking so violently he would have inevitably dropped it and smashed the screen had he chosen to keep a hold of it.

"Straight to the point," the doctor chuckled. "I like it. How about we talk about you first?"

Before Luke could respond, his two brothers visibly tensed behind him. The blond noticed, and reminded himself to ask about it later, but it wasn't his priority in that moment. "Me? I escaped, that's what happened. But no, you couldn't be having that, could you?"

"Luke, Luke, Luke. I'm always in control, remember? You escaping may not have been a part of my original plan, but plans can be changed and oh how I love the way this story is going to end for you."

"I'm going to kill you now," Michael spoke in an almost amused tone, tilting his head slightly to the side and smirking down at Luke. "Nice and slowly."

But Luke still didn't move, despite Jack pulling repeatedly on his sleeve and insisting that they needed to leave. His face fell, sadness filling his lungs and weighing his bones to the ground. "He didn't stutter, Michael always stutters. Why didn't he stutter?"

"Our experiments with you," the doctor continued, "and then with Michael, allowed us to create a transportable serum that could be injected directly into the bloodstream of any living being. But that doesn't mean I never found another way to take control."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked, not taking his eyes away from Michael who hadn't yet moved.

"You see, Michael was the first. He was such a sweet little kid, raised in the facility, and oh how I detested his innocence. We implanted a chip into his brain, not quite sure of what might happen. It worked, that was for sure, it just seemed to affect his speech. We did everything to try and get rid of that stupid stutter of his, but soon gave up. I guess it's good that Michael was always so unaware to ask about it."

"You're sick," Luke spat, "he was so young. How could you do something like that to him?"

"Science is in everything, Luke, it's all around us. It gives life, and it can take it away just as easily. One boy meant nothing to me, given how much I could learn from him."

Luke found himself unable to respond after that, he was just so disgusted with the way Michael had been treated his entire life. He learnt something new about the boy's past every day, and he hated it. It wasn't right.

"It appears I've hit a nerve," the doctor chuckled. "You don't know what to think, entirely understandable, but hear me out. Michael has done things straight out of nightmares, worse than you could ever imagine. He has tortured, killed and mutilated countless innocent civilians. Yet you have some sort of sick, twisted feelings towards him."

Luke was beyond angry now, having flinched at every word that echoed across the line. "But it wasn't him. You're the only one to blame, I don't care what you say he's done because none of it was Michael. Not really. It was all you. And some day soon, you're going to pay for everything you've ever done."

Silence.

"I'll see you very soon, Luke."

The line went dead.

~~~~~~~

A/n: damn I love this plot so much

I've waited so long for this and I'm so excited, what do you all think?

Thank you, love you all lots xx