Nineteen:
Peter lead the way around the building, to a line of sewer entrances. They could fit finely through the bars.
"No." Reno said, "I'm not going in there."
"Reno!" Jennifer whispered.
"No, Jen. Not after last time!"
"Reno, please! It wasn't as bad as you thought. In fact nothing really happened!" Reno looked at the sewer in disgust, but after Jennifer and Peter left him, Reno followed.
"What happened to Reno?" Peter asked as they walked. The way he saw it, you keep Reno focused on something else and he won't complain as much, although, he
thought, talking about what happened might not be the best. . .
"We were on a mission, from Toby, Reno fell through a hole and we couldn't get him out."
"No, you pushed me! I stayed there for 24 hours, with he disgusting rats, waiting for someone to get me out." Peter smiled and chuckled a little bit.
"I don't think it was that bad." Jennifer argued.
"I'm Cluastrofobic! It was horrible! I lost my voice!"
"Only because you were screaming at things that clearly weren't there!"
"There were things there Jen! I heard them!"
"Reno, seeing and hearing are two completely different things!" They came to a trench that had four pillars going across it, each a foot apart. The trench was so deep it made you nauseous going a foot to the edge. Especially with the dimly lit light that
reminded you that the first black you saw actually wasn't the blackest black you've seen.
"One hundred feet deep, with eight foot ling spikes all and inch apart." The two glared at her, questioningly. She looked at them, "I helped build this place. . ." She walked over to the wall to the right of the pillars, "There's two ways to get across. One, you leap from each pillar and hope to God you make it. . . Or. . ." She pushed a button, " You can do it this way."
There was a sound and pendulums with sharp blades swung out from the ceiling. The men stared at them, eyes moving as the pendulums swung quickly, side to side.
"That's new." Jennifer said, quietly. Reno looked at her as if she was crazy. Jennifer shrugged, "I guess they installed it a while ago, I can't believe they actually took my idea," She shook her head, "The one time they take it, I don't need it." She clapped her hands together, "Only take a minute. . ." She put her hands to her face as if to pray. She stomped her right foot and thrust her hands sideways. There was a
loud bang and the air moved throughout the room, pushing the pendulums slower and almost to a stop.
"Oops. . ." Jennifer said.
"What?" Reno asked, dirt covered his face like a mask.
"Oops." she said, "ah hell." She went over to the wall again and pulled a lever. A separate bridge extended from their side of the trench and slid to the other side. She smiled at them, " We can use this!"
Reno's mouth was small and his face was covered in annoyance, "Why didn't we use this before?"
"Cause I forgot it was there. . ." Jennifer said, already going across the bridge, "Come on!" Peter and Reno followed, almost taking their time. They got across and stood for a moment.
"Is there anything else like this?" Peter asked, he liked to be prepared.
"No, no one ever really got past that. . ." Jennifer said, "Mostly because the pillars would collapse when you stepped on the middle one."
They ran down halls and through secret passages Jennifer had installed when Toby wasn't looking. In five minutes they made it to the lockers that had everyone who worked there's valuables. No one was allowed to open them until they retired. Unfortunately, most everybody died before they could retire. In that case, Toby would collect the valuables and sell them, it they made good money.
They came to her locker, new stainless, silver that nothing could stick to. Very curious when it came to people who came in but never came out. Reno put his hands to the locker and pushed on it. The locker snapped off and crashed to the cement floor.
"Shit!" Jennifer whispered, "Could you be any louder?!" She slid the locker out of her way with her foot. She bent in and collected her things, which consisted of necklaces and an envelope that obviously she hadn't known was in there.
"Find it yet?" Peter asked. Jennifer nodded, then frowned, there was an edge in his voice, a hurried weird voice, like he was spooked or something. She gripped the envelope in her hand and straightened. Good move? Not really.
She screamed, tried to run away, but was met by five shadowed figures. She turned around to run the other way and smacked into Toby. Tall, buff, strong handsome face, graying hair pulled into a ponytail. Jennifer pushed off of him and next to Peter.
"Hello. Jennifer." He said, practically spitting her name out, "What are you doing here. . . When they told me you had survived the. . . Trap, I was so excited. Cause then you could get that clue you have in your hand to me." He smiled widely.
Jennifer snorted. She took the envelope tightly in her grasp. The next second her hand was engulfed in fire, begging to creep up her arm. Toby screamed loudly and wacked her in the face. Jennifer’s face contorted and she fell backward, sliding on the smooth ground. Peter jumped, but went to help her up, anger pulsed through him, what the hell was the man thinking, hitting her like that.
Toby put his hand on Peters face and propelled him in the air. He hit some lockers and fell to the ground, unconscious. Jennifer had an impulse to bolt over there and make sure he was alright, but Toby continued to talk.
"You bitch! I needed that!" He bent down to her level, which was propped up on her hands, "What was the clue?"
"Did it look like I read it?" Jennifer said quite calmly.
A thin line stretched across Toby’s mouth. He stared at Jennifer until he slapped her hard, turning her face horribly rough to the side.
"Hey!" Reno yelled. Two shadowed figures grabbed his arms tightly. He smiled a cheesy smile and laughed a little bit.
Toby stood up and snapped his rough fingers. The shadowed figures bent down and grabbed Jennifer. Others grabbed Reno and picked up Peter, they hauled them off after Toby.
Peter woke to a terribly awful, pounding headache. He groaned as he moved his head from side to side on the cold rock ground. He heard a faint wispy sound calling for him, wanting him to wake up. He didn’t want to wake up, he was soar all over and he deserved a few more minutes of rest.
"Peter! Get up!" The wispy voice said, getting louder. He muffled a no or something like that at least and thought he turned over. He felt soft, trembling lips on his cheek, then a whisper for him to get up again.
He recognized the voice again. It became familiar and it nagged at his hear, broken and worried, "Peter, please! Get up now!" She pleaded quietly, "For goodness sakes, get up now!"
There was a distinct pitch in her voice, like if he didn’t wake up now she’d die of someone would die. He snapped his eyes open and groaned a what. Jennifer slapped him hard on his cheek. He jumped, frowned and sat up.
"What the hell was that for!?" He asked exasperated, standing up and looking down at her.
"I told you, you shouldn’t have come!" She frowned down at him.
"Well your so fuckin stubborn, not asking for help!"
"Well I knew it would get screwed up!" Jennifer yelled back at him. The room they were in was solid metal all the way around it. The only cracks were on the ceiling and where the door was outlined. The cracks in the ceiling were air vents that pumped in air and scooped it out.
Peter looked down at her, frowning, close to him and not backing down, "I didn’t know I screwed it up." She huffed and turned around going to Reno who was sitting off to the side watching the couple.
"Unbelievable!" Jennifer said under her breath.
"What?" Peter said, "What’s so unbelievable?"
"You!" Jennifer screeched at him. Peter didn’t say anything, he just stared at Jennifer breathing a little more heavily. Their eyes met and then Jennifer got it, "What’s really wrong Peter?" At first Peter wasn’t going to say it, now wasn’t the time, but then again, now was the perfect time.
"You lied to me."
"What?" Jennifer said.
"You lied to me about your whole life!" Jennifer’s lips went small and she looked at the ground. Peter spoke up again, "Jen, I’m a fucking detective! I can tell when you’re keeping something from me."
Jennifer continued to look at the ground, not wanting him to know that he was right. She had lied to him, about everything. She couldn’t hold it any longer, she looked up at Peter. She saw the sad, betrayed look on his face. Her heart stopped and began to ache.
"Peter. . ." She trailed off. He looked at her, hopeful, but then it was just disgust. Jennifer stopped breathing, she didn’t want Peter to be disgusted with her. It made her feel dirty and like there were bugs crawling all over in her skin.
She stepped forward a little bit, "Peter. . . I had to. . . I. . . I had to make something up that would fool Toby and everybody else. . . I was protector of that
thing. . . I was too young so the elders and Heather and I established a distraction. . . I had to tell you that story. . . I didn’t like lying to you. . . But the whole World’s at stake. I. . ." She trailed off again.
"Tell him the whole story Jen." Reno said quietly after a pause.
Jennifer nodded and looked at him hopefully. Peter shrugged. Jennifer sighed and took a seat next to Reno, Peter sat on the opposite wall as they did.
Heather and Justin rode away in the car. Heather had turned around and sat nervously in the seat, cold clammy hands, shakily repositioning around and around in her lap. Her hand caught fire.
"Shit!" Justin yelled and swerved into the shoulder of the road. He turned and watched Heather make a fist and examine her hand.
"That's interesting. . ." She said as it inflamed. She opened it and held a worn, brownish- yellow envelope. Her face went even more pale and she seemed to shrink back in her seat.
"What is it?" Justin asked, concerned.
"The Buswick method. . ." Heather wrapped her fingers around it making a squeaking noise as she held it very tight, "They've been caught." Heather looked behind
her, "Keep driving Justin." Heather said quietly.
Justin looked back to see what Heather saw. All he saw was cars zooming past them and looking to see if they were ding anything unjustice to the public, nothing out of the ordinary. Heather got his attention and told him to go in a quiet, worried voice that furthered the frown on his face.
They road in silence until he couldn't stand it any longer. He cleared his throat, "What did you see?" he didn't know what her powers or whatever they called them were, but he did know she had seen something.
She almost didn't answer, but she sighed and replied, "Just keep driving, you don't want to know." What did Heather see? It's simple really, she saw the future,
and it consited of black polished cars surrounding them where they where pulled over on the shoulder. She saw them killing Justin, killing her and taking the envelope out of her cold, dead fingers. She knew that would eventually lead to the world's demise.
They stopped at a red light in town, watching the cars drive past them. the light trned green and Justin sped up, working his way across the intersection. Out of the corner of her eye, Heather saw a slick, black car speed into their car's side. Justin's car flipped and landed up-side down, on fire, it blew up. Heather blinked.
"Go now." She said, eyes scanning for any black cars.
Justin frowned deeply, "But it's not green."
"NOW, Justin!" Justin mumbled something under his breathe, but just as there was a clear space, he slammed on the gas. The car made a screeching noise, as it sped through the light. Heather watched as a slick, black car came zooming by, obviously intending to hit them.
"We've always been special," Jennifer explained, " Our mother had it along with every woman before her. She died shortly after giving birth to Heather- her and I being ferternal twins. . . So when we turned six, our grandmother and aunts from our mom's side came to live with us. They begain to train us vigorously.
"Heather and I got good at using our powers. Then Reno came to stay in our hundred year old castle Victorian. It ran in the family to when my ancestors first built it. The house was a very small castle, with ten rooms, five bathroom.
"Reno helped us train-"
"You mean I was the target and you guys chased me after your aunts threatened me to run or get killed." Reno interrupted.
Jennifer chuckled a little, "Anyways, Dante. . ." She stopped to make the lump in her throat go away, "He was our friend from childhood. His family however were in and out of jail, so we basically took care of him. We loved him like a brother. . ." She leaned her head on her knees and tried desperately to get control of herself. It wasn’t working.
"When they were in middle school," Reno said for her, "Dante became what you would call a rebel. Then when they were thirteen they where given. . .Whatever we’re looking for and the two and I learned about it, Dante over heard. He became obsessed with it, it got so bad that he actually tried to steal it. . . Well let's just say we found him in the act and then we had to hide it. So the Elders- the, "he made air quote signs, "'Boss' to us- told us to hide what ever we're looking for right now and after we made clues, we erased our memories." Reno summed up.
There was a long pause as this information sunk in. Jennifer was still crouched down, but at least she wasn't crying anymore. She raised her hand, " No, the elders erased our memory, with out any warning or explanation. After we hid that . . . Thing, they just whiped it away and said this is the story we tell everyone. . . We had no choice. . ." Jennifer trailed off, remembering the past.
It was silent for a while until peter just couldn't stand it any longer. He looked at Jennifer, "So, that whole story you told me was a lie?"
Jennifer nodded, "It was the only way we could keep it safe. . ."
They heard voices from the other side of the wall. So far all they’d been able to see on any of the walls was a little sliding machine like the ones for credit cards, only this was for ID purposes. A second later it seemed, Toby, Dante, and more shadowed figures gathered behind him, clouding the door.
Jennifer stood up, ready for anything. She learned with Toby, not to let your guard down, because then something would happen like what was happening now. Reno and Peter followed her example, Peter however stood in a ready position that said he was clueless to anything.
"Jenny, lovely wife I-"
"Cut the crap Dante. We’re not married, give it a rest." Jennifer said.
Dante smiled, annoyed, "Okay, Slut, you and your fuckin posse will come with us." When none of the moved Dante shouted, "Now! Or you’ll all be wishing you’d died when my Shadow Lady was there." When none of them moved further, Dante snapped his fingers and the Shadows moved as blurs, until the where inches away from the trio, samurai swords positioned at their necks.
"Easy Dante," Toby warned calmly, "There’s still use for them yet. Come along, bring them this way." He said to the Shadows.
They followed down narrow halls and through training rooms where there were many Shadows training to become master murdering machines. They passed experimental rooms where you could hear screaming coming out of some of them. Jennifer put her head down, though the story she’d told when she first met Peter was fake, the experimenting part had been true. They’d wanted to figure her out, to find out what made her powers so great.
"Do you remember these rooms, Jennifer?" Toby asked, reading her mind, "I remember them. . . Those were memorable times. Not just the love making, but the experiments together. . ." Toby trailed off.
Jennifer continued to look at the floor. She didn’t want to remember what happened a year ago, before the envelope had first come to her and she’d started dating Paul. She hated Toby, it made her sick to think that she ever crawled into this filthy man’s bed and screamed his name in the middle of-what she’d thought then- wonderful orgasms.
Though it was very impossible-Toby being human and all- he read her mind again, "It wasn’t that bad was it?" They came to the room Toby had wanted and ordered them inside, with Dante and this time only a few Shadows guarded the outside of the door. Toby went over and sat in his executive chair behind his desk. He looked at Jennifer, who had crossed her arms and was leaning on the wall.
" I gave you wonderful and exciting pleasures that you’d never felt before, didn’t I?" He asked, smiling wickedly smart.
"Depends on what you mean. If you mean, pain and agony because you saw fit that you ‘had’ to know how I worked, then yeah. But if you mean numerous nights of sex that technically meant nothing, then no."
Toby frowned and did a some what baby voice, "Awe, don’t be PMS. It was wonderful times Jenny."
Jennifer laughed and shook her head. He was mocking her and she was frankly, tired of it. She looked at him, eyes full of anger and weariness. She was tried of playing his stupid games.
"What do you want?" Jennifer asked, calmly, she knew how to deal with him.
He smiled wider, "I think you know what I want."
Jennifer sighed, "I don’t know where it is or how to get it. I told you, I don’t remember what it’s made for or where it is."
"Yes, but you have that clue, right? The one you Buswicked to your sister."
"I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I be looking for something I’m not supposed to?" Toby just smiled at Jennifer, he knew she was lying, she knew he knew she was. An idea struck her. She lifted off the wall and walked over to Toby’s desk, swaying her hips just the way he liked. She went around it and swung her leg over his legs and sat on his lap, facing him.
"Besides, you know I wouldn’t remember the clues." She said quietly, smiling seductively at him. She felt his breathing go rigid, she was hot and knew how to manipulate him, as long as he hadn’t blown his top already. Even though, he’d still want her, after all, they’d had sex every night, and every time it’d always seemed like it was the first time they’d done it.
She played with his hair at the side of his head, the other hand wrapped around his neck. She smiled at him and leaned closer, "To tell you the truth, I do miss the old days. . ." She let her breathing by his ear become heavier as her words faded away. His breathing got harder and Jennifer knew she only had to do one thing to make him horny.
She took her left hand-the one not playing with his hair- and she let her index finger slowly drag down his built chest, down his barely hidden six-pack, and lightly grazing his cobra-as he’d called it back then. She looked at him, eyes blazing with passion, of course, she’d by now put Peter’s body, face and essence on to Toby, so it was pretty easy for her to seduce Toby.
She leaned forward to kiss him, but Peter stood up and stole the gun from Dante’s belt and pointed it at Toby. Dante made a move to grab him.
"Move and I shoot him. Jennifer, let’s go, you distracted him enough."
Jennifer looked at him, stupid, stupid, stupid!, she thought. She sighed, "No, Peter."
Peter stopped, "What?"
She hugged Toby tightly around the waist. She leaned on him and looked, puppy eyes at Peter, "I love him Peter." Jennifer almost gagged saying that, the last thing she wanted to do was be any where around Toby. Too many memories they'd had together. All she wanted to do was take a ten hour shower and then wrap herself in Peter's arms and never crawl out.
As it were, she was stuck pretending to have feelings for this sick perverted "curious" doctor. He’d been doing ruthless experiments on innocent girls and had gotten caught, then he met Jennifer. He’d had his licence taken away and had came up with this place. He’d gotten her drunk and took her to this place. The next thing she new, she was fixated with Toby and thought he was the love of her life. That is, before she’d found out that he’d been slipping her this chemical that made her fall in love with him day and night, over and over again.
So, Jennifer had found a way to wean herself off of it without anyone knowing. Now, she had to recall those memories and make it seem like old times, like she really did still love him. Like all that had happened was a very long distance between them and that no matter how far away they were, she love him. Talk about holding back the gag reflexes.
"You’ve got to be joking!" Peter said, still holding the gun, steady and ready.
Jennifer shook her head and scooted further on Toby’s pelvis area. She looked back at Peter. She saw how hurt and betrayed he looked. She swallowed once and willed the feelings away. She smiled, "No, Peter, I’m not. I’ve always loved Toby. I was just fighting it back until I almost bursted just now. It feels great being back with him." somebody kill me before I’m forced to give this prick a blow job, she thought.
He lowered his gun as Dante hesitantly stepped forward and grabbed it from him. Almost simultaneously, the shadows walked in and took Reno and Peter by the upper arms. As they walked out Reno shouted back.
"Traitor!" Jennifer blinked, sorry Reno. . . She turned back to Toby and smiled.
"Thanks for getting rid of them. . ." she brushed her hands over his "cobra", "They were distracting us. . ."
Without taking his eyes off Jennifer’s he ordered Dante to follow the shadows and then not to disturb them until he called for him. Dante obediently left them alone.
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