Chapter 24: Regret

Warren knew the moment he pulled into his driveway that something was wrong. The mild anxiety he had been feeling was building to a complete panic attack. He needed to see Brooklyn, he needed to see her right now!

But, looking his house, he knew that wasn't going to happen. All the lights were out, nothing moved in the quiet night and, he knew without being told or even needing to look, the house was empty.

Still, he couldn't prevent himself from leaping from his car and almost sprinting up his walkway.

His hands were shaking from worry and it took his a few tries to get the key in the lock. No sooner than he succeeded that he was bursting into his house, calling out Brooklyn's name.

It didn't take him more than a cursory examination to confirm his suspicions. He was turning and running back out of the house, back into his car, and speeding back to the MCRC complex before a minute was up.

XXXXXXXXXX

“But...but...that makes no sense!” Brooklyn cried out as Victor smiled at her. “That's impossible!”

“What is, my dear?” he asked her kindly.

“Who are you?” Brooklyn asked him desperately realizing all at once that she had no idea. “You can't be working with Intrebari. You're the MCRC leader! You're our president.”

“I'm not working for Intrebari.” he corrected her. “I am Intrebari. One has nothing to do with the other.”

“Yes it does!” Brooklyn shook her head as if she could deny what her eyes and ears were telling her. “Intrebari is nothing but senseless murderers, MCRC is trying to stop them.”

“Now, I won't deny that we've murdered,” Victor agreed calmly, “but to say they were senseless is just an insult. Their deaths were necessary.”

“For what?” Brooklyn demanded to know. “There's no excuse to forgive child murder, Victor!”

“We did it in the name of science.” Victor assured her. He gave a nod to Alin who was waiting behind her. “It shall be the very same cause you will die for.”

Brooklyn felt Alin's hands clamp down on her arms and began struggling in earnest. There was no way she was getting on that table. She refused! She knew what would happen, she knew what would become of her.

What would become of her unborn child.

“You see Brook,” Victor smiled at her like she was his favorite niece, “you are very special to me.”

“Liar!” Brooklyn shouted as Alin, who seemed completely impervious to anything she did to him, maneuvered her over to the examination table and slammed her back onto it.

Before Brooklyn could fling herself off the table, the blonde was there strapping Brooklyn's wrists onto it. Her fingers were sure and quick and Brooklyn couldn't prevent them from securing her.

“You are special.” Victor insisted, he looked almost insulted at her accusation. “You see, Brook, most of the women we've gotten a hold of are already late into their pregnancy. They're not quite so easily spotted when they're early in their pregnancy like you are. That makes you special.”

“What do you have against demis?” Brooklyn shouted as she thrashed against the binds that held her. Tears of fear were coming into her eyes. Not just for her life; she was terrified for her child as well.

“Absolutely nothing.” Victor looked surprised at the question. “I adore demis. We need more of them in the world.”

“Then, why...” Brooklyn found she couldn't finish the question. Part of her wanted him to never answer her, part of her wanted things to go back to how they were. But a voice in her head, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Jack, demanded she find out.

“Do you know who Dr. Daun is?” Victor asked her suddenly much like a teacher would a student.

“Of course I do.” Brooklyn answered hesitantly. Maybe if she could keep him talking, keep him from doing exactly what she knew he wanted to do, Warren and Jack might have enough time to find her. “He's a scientist. He invented the CBI serum, he's famous for his work in the mythic field.”

“Very good.” Victor nodded, pleased with her. “Do you know how he did it?”

Brooklyn didn't answer because she didn't know. It had never seemed like something she needed to know so she never bothered to find out.

“He did it by getting large blood samples from multiple changers of many different backgrounds.” Victor told her when it became obvious she wasn't going to answer. “For progress, he had to drain the blood of many different people.”

“Those were volunteers!” Brooklyn shouted immediately. “Those people gave him their blood willingly. What you're doing is just wrong!”

“It's the same principle.” Victor informed her calmly. “For progress, we have to make some sacrifices. For knowledge, we have to conduct a few experiments and in experiments, some subjects need to be used up. It's the basic principle of science.”

“You're not a scientist!” Brooklyn shouted desperately as she struggled against her restraints. She knew that she couldn't escape the secure hold but she couldn't stop herself from trying.

“Perhaps not.” Victor shrugged as if it were completely irrelevant. “But Lester is. He's been benefiting from my research and, in turn, society will benefit.”

“B-benefit from-m wh-what?” Brooklyn asked, her fear was finally overwhelming even her ability to cover her own stutter.

“Haven't you ever wondered, Brook,” Victor asked as he ran his hand along her belly, almost lovingly, “how mythics can breed with humans? Only certain mythics and, I've found, only certain humans.”

“Wh-what?” Brooklyn asked as she tried moving her abdomen away from his touch.

XXXXXXXXXX

“Jack!” Warren burst into his boss's office a desperate man. “Brook is gone! Something's happened to her!”

“Calm down.” Jack told him immediately as Warren practically collapsed, gasping, onto his desk. “What about Brook?”

“She's gone!” Warren repeated trying to lower his voice. Panicking wouldn't help anything. Knowing that, however, did nothing to ease his panic. “She's not at home. Something must have happened. I've called her but she didn't answer. Jack, I know something's wrong. I don't have any proof but I know...”

“I believe you.” Jack told him seriously. The three words calmed Warren down a bit. Not much, but enough to enable him to think clearly. “Did you call Kieth?”

“No, I...” Warren hesitated. He hadn't even thought about Kieth much less remembered he had Brooklyn in his panic to find her.

Without waiting for him to finish his sentence, Jack was picking up his phone and dialing Kieth.

“Did you check both of your houses?” Crispin asked him.

Warren shook his head. “She would have gone to my house, hers is under construction.”

“He's not answering.” Jack threw his phone down with a curse. “Do either of you know where he might be?”

Crispin and Warren shook their heads and Warren cursed.

“Jack, please...” Warren wasn't even sure what he was begging for but he had never felt so helpless before in his life.

“We'll find her, Warren.” Jack told him, his voice reassuringly stern as he reached for his phone again. “Crispin, go find Joe and Kai. Tell them New York can wait. Warren, go with him.”

“But-”

“You're no use to me here.” Jack told him, his tone of voice leaving no room for questions. “Go with Crispin or I'll have him put you to sleep.”

Warren nodded because he knew Jack wouldn't issue an empty threat and followed Crispin as he left the room. Every instinct he had was screaming at him to find Brooklyn but he didn't even know where to start his search.

Just as they reached the elevator, the doors dinged open and Kieth stepped out, Brooklyn's purse in his hands.

XXXXXXXXXX

“My entire life is mythics, Brook.” Victor told her as he continued to stroke her belly as if he was adoring the child within. “They and their rights are what I live to progress.”

“A-and you accomp-plish this through m-murder?” Brooklyn asked in disbelief. “Th-that makes n-no sense!”

“On the contrary,” he told her easily, looking directly in her eyes, “if I can isolate whatever genetic or physical quirk that lets certain mythics and certain humans be able to reproduce I can bring the species closer together. The future of our world will be filled with demis and, when that day comes, demis will be the predominant species. Humans and mythics will be the minority and I will be put down in the history books as the man who made that future possible.”

Brooklyn blinked in surprise as he spoke. His words barely registered with her, he might not have been speaking at all. She was, she realized, looking at the real Victor Ozera for the first time in her life. There was no charming mask here, no political facade. This man didn't care for mythics or humans or demis at all. Stripped of his mask, Brooklyn could see for the first time that he was simply a maniac. He got joy from killing, he would get joy from killing her. The demi excuse was just that, an excuse. It was something he told himself to justify his actions to himself and anyone that would believe him.

Brooklyn was going to die by his hands, her child would go with her, and, in the end, Victor would stand with a smile on his face at the blood on his hands.

The man who stood before her now felt no love for her, he felt no love for anyone.

XXXXXXXXXX

“Kieth, that's Brook's.” Warren said, his voice sounding distant even to his own ears as he regarded the bag in the younger man's arms.

“Where's Brook, Kieth?” Crispin signed. His serene expression didn't change but there was a new harshness to his eyes.

“He promised...” Kieth dithered as his fingers tensed and loosened on her bag. “He said he just wanted to talk.”

“Where is she?” Warren asked. “WHERE?” he screamed so loud his voice broke and Kieth jumped.

“He promised...” Kieth repeated looking at them with broken eyes. He turned to Crispin as if beseeching him, “It was just supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be an adventure.”

“Real life adventures have consequences.” Crispin reminded him. “Do you want Brook to be one of them? Where is she?”

Kieth looked at Crispin like he didn't understand the question. Warren made a move to jump forward, grab the kid and shake the answers from him if he had to, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

“Where, Kieth?” Jack demanded to know. His voice was steady and his eyes glittered like steel.

Kieth couldn't stop the shudder that went through him at the simple question. “A shack.” he answered, his voice uneven. “It's outside of town. It's pretty far. But, he promised.”

“Take me there!” Warren demanded as he jerked against Jack's hold. It wasn't that Jack's hand was particularly strong, it was that Warren was loyal and the hand on his shoulder was all he needed to stay his movements. But, for Brooklyn, it wouldn't last if Kieth resisted him.

Kieth blinked a few times and seemed to come back to himself. He nodded once. He resigned himself to paying the price for what he did but he couldn't make Brooklyn pay it. All he wanted was a little excitement, he didn't want anyone to get hurt. But Crispin had been right. Real life adventure wasn't even close to what happened in the movies.

XXXXXXXXXX

“We'll have to work quickly, dragul meu.” the woman said to him as if she was afraid to speak up. “Jack-”

“Is not a problem.” Victor cut her off with a glare that she shirked from. “I am going to kill him anyway. I should never have made him head.”

“Jack?” Brooklyn repeated. Hearing the name gave her a bit of courage. Of course. Jack. Jack would find her. Warren would find her. They would both be there. What did she have to fear with Warren and Jack around? She had to hold onto that. It was all she had.

“He's the best.” Victor explained. “I needed him, unfortunately. However, he is now more a liability than an asset. He will be dealt with in due time. But, first.”

Victor reached down and lifted a scalpel from the metal tray and held it up, examining the blade, it gleamed menacingly in the light.

“Please, Victor.” Brooklyn begged him, tears falling from her eyes. Tears of fear, of despair, of helplessness.

“I would give you an anesthetic, but I'm worried that will skew the data.” Victor told her absently like even he didn't believe what he was saying. “Alin, you have the camera rolling?”

“Dora has the camera.” came the dark man's response.

“I'm sorry, dragul meu.” she apologized immediately as she bent down and began fishing for the camera.

“You're incompetence is beginning to wear on my patience, Dora.” Victor told her, his voice going lower and darker than Brooklyn had ever heard it.

He looked back at her and gave her a little half smile, “We'll get started in just a moment, my dear.”

XXXXXXXXXX

“Tell me everything you know about Intrebari.” Warren ordered as he weaved dangerously in and out of traffic. Jack was beside him being eerily silent. Kieth and Crispin were in the backseat. For the moment, Kieth was still in total control of himself but Crispin was under orders to whisper in the kid's ear if it seemed like he was guiding them in circles or if he became uncooperative.

“I don't know much.” Kieth admitted. “The guy I spoke to only ever called me. Take this exit up here.”

Warren switched quickly into the left lane earning an angry honk from the driver he cut off. “The only one I ever saw was Alin.”

“Alin.” Warren repeated the familiar name angrily.

“Oh, and Dora.” Kieth said thoughtfully. “I saw her once. Last December. Blonde, sexy, but kind of creepy.”

Crispin said nothing but he knew exactly who Kieth was referring to. It was the same woman who had nearly slit his throat a year earlier. He felt almost eager to face her again now that they would be on more fair terms and he wouldn't have a shock collar around his neck.

“Did you know that the other heads were traitors?” Jack asked his voice soft and cold as ice.

“Uh, I knew Fontane was.” Kieth admitted. “I didn't know about Eisenhower until you told me. He said I would know only as much as I needed to know.”

“So you're transfer to criminal...?” Warren asked.

“This left up here.” Kieth pointed to the road. “He said I could only learn so much in the library and that I should transfer. It sounded fun so I didn't protest.”

“What kind of things did he want to know?” Jack asked as he watched the world zoom by out of the window.

“Mostly what you were up to.” Kieth cleared his throat anxiously. “He told me to watch after Brook when he found out about the hit. He was pretty interested in her pregnancy too.”

“You told him about that?” Warren snapped as his fingers clenched on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. It wasn't anger that had the question bursting from him, it was fear. He knew what Intrebari did with pregnant women.

“Was that wrong?” Kieth looked between Warren and Crispin, confused.

“Everything you did was wrong.” Jack answered softly. Kieth flinched at the words.

“I didn't mean to.” he said weakly.

“You're no longer a child.” Jack glared back at him, his eyes as cold and emotionless as when Kieth had seen him speaking of Eisenhower's death. “You're actions have repercussions. Fatal ones in this case.”

“He promised...” Kieth repeated, looking away quickly.

“You know you don't believe that.” Jack told him. “This man you've been reporting to kills pregnant women. He cuts them open while they're still alive.”

“Stop!” Kieth shook his head urgently.

“If Brook dies, it's your fault.” Jack said mercilessly.

“T-this road up here...” Kieth pointed, his fingers shaking.

A minute later, they pulled in front of a crumbling shack and Warren leapt from the car without even bothering to turn the engine off.

“Put him to sleep.” Jack ordered Crispin opening the door of the car as Warren ran inside.

Crispin leaned over and whispered the gentle suggestion in the boy's ear. The softly spoken word held great power over the tired, stressed, guilt ridden child. He slumped over his seat immediately.

Then Crispin was climbing out of the car and following Jack and Warren into the shack.

The scream started the moment his foot crossed the threshold.