To Be A Hero

Chapter 59: Back In Black

"Now, I attempted to persuade the Minister to come down to Abel on several occasions. She obviously was unwilling to do so because she knew Dr. Meyers and Dr. Cohen would recognize her. The only thing that tempted her down here in person was hearing that my brother had produced some useful intelligence, which suggests to me that he has something useful inside his head."

"And so we're going to try and make him believe he's back on ops with you in Alergia?" Sam asks, sounding unsure. "Because that seems like it could end up with another cheese wire thing again."

"If he knows anything about what's in Z-92, or how to get in there-"

"Z-92... Z-92... Yes, I heard them say it." Tom's eyes snap to Janine, his face serious. "I should never have heard it, Jane. They thought I'd be killed. That's why they didn't bother to cut off our transmissions. I heard what was in Z-92. It was the baby."

"Uh, right," Sam says, and I simply stare at Tom for a long moment. He simply blinks, his eyes going out of focus again, and he looks back ahead.

"Our original mission in Algeria took place around ramparts quite similar to these at New Canton," Janine states. "I suspect we might get a great deal out of Tom if we take him for a run around these ramparts. Most of the various councils and subcommittees now leading New Canton have agreed to our presence here. Ready, Runner Five?"

I swallow thickly, but nod.

"I don't think there are likely to be any more cheese wire incidents. I don't even know how he got hold of the cheese wire on that occasion... I realize that may not be marvelously comforting."

"I have New Canton security standing by, in case you need them," Sam says, and Janine nods as New Canton starts to come into view.

"Come along, Tom, Runner Five. Let's go for a little run."

They let us through the gates when we reach them, and once we're in, Janine gives Tom a headset. He blinks, staring at it for several moments before taking it and slipping it onto his head, turning it on. Janine takes us through the New Canton subsections, heading towards the one that contains the castle and the ramparts connected to it. I keep an eye on Tom, fearful that he might run, or possibly attack, but he doesn't. He just follows Janine, glancing at me every few minutes.

Every time he does this, I look away, too afraid he might lash out by my staring. Tom's a loose cannon, really, and while it may be because bad things happened to him, that doesn't mean I can just feel bad for him and forget the fact that he's extremely dangerous. Like Nicole said earlier, he did break Janine's wrist, and he rigged a car to explode, not to mention when I first met him, he carved a 'J' into Janine's arm. She still has the scar from that.

Plus I doubt he has any good memories of me since I saved Janine when he tried to kill her, and I punched him in the face when he took Sarah, and I nearly choked him to death. The only time we shared a good memory together was when we were in that crumbling library, and I'm honestly not even sure if that counts, considering the fact that he was shooting at us at that time.

Janine leads us up onto the ramparts. I can't exactly see with all the rain, so I just blindly follow, blinking rapidly as the rainwater gets in my eyes. I make sure not to look down, the fear of falling still scaring me to death. I keep my eyes ahead, on Janine, on Tom.

Tom's looking around. His eyes aren't exactly glazed over like they were before, but I can't exactly tell if he's... listening to us. He's looking around, and I'm not sure if memories are coming back. Janine is saying a few words to him, but the rain drowns out most of her voice. At least, it does to me.

Tom just keeps shaking his head, his face crumpling in pain.

I remember the words carved into his skin, what they did to him... People shouldn't be put in cages. It does things to them. It did things to Tom, and I can only pray that we can break through to him before we run out of time and the Minister decides to attack, because if she does, then we're all screwed.