Just a little thought that crossed my mind...Roman said Remi taught him how to be a sociopath (and Shepherd completed it), but Remi didn't sound much like a sociopath to me in the flashbacks. So here is what happens when I get bored at work.

A bit angsty, but since there are references to the orphanage, it can't be helped.

Read and enjoy!

In some ways, Jane was the better side of Remi. What they didn't know was that Remi was the better side of Alice. Now that Shepherd is planning Jane's death, he's ready to wake up the monster.

The Third Side of the Coin

Jane is tied to the chair, her head hanging low and her body leaning forward, drawn down by its weight. Roman thinks she looks pathetic and god knows pathetic is the very last thing his sister ever was. Shepherd paces around the room like a lioness around her prey. She obviously thinks that the bounds will keep the unconscious woman, well, bounded.

Roman wants to snort.

Ropes may hold Jane back for a while -they would have delayed Remi for a bit. But Shepherd, for all she prides herself on always being a step ahead, misses one little detail. It's not her fault though; she has never really met his sister. Not Remi -she's seen Remi grown, she raised her and Remi considers her a mentor. But before Remi, there was his first sister, the one who grew with him in the orphanage. Many times, Roman had thought of warning her. Come to think of it, he should have warned her. But Remi was always against it and she was the one in control after all. So he let it be.

He always knew burying his head in the sand would eventually bite him in the ass.

"She awakes," Shepherd says, angry and gleeful at once. "Hello, Jane."

Her daughter's betrayal has hit her hard, and she's been yearning for revenge for weeks. By the way things are going, Roman figures someone's suffering will end up tonight. He isn't sure whose it will be, though.

He lets Shepherd spill her anger, braze about the trap they've set, and keeps his head down. Shepherd leaves temporarily and Jane tries to convince him to help her once again. Shepherd is right on one thing; this isn't his sister. This is what she could have been if not for the orphanage; but not who she has become. And right now, Roman wants her back. He's waited long enough.

Say the words, Ian, a child's voice whispers in his ear.

He approaches her in her back, watches as she fidgets like a trapped animal.

"I believed in you. I fought for you. And all I had in return...lies and betrayal." He puts both hands on the back of her chair, leans close to her ear and speaks clearly: "Good-bye Jane." And then he adds: "Wake up Alice."

In the first memory Roman has of Alice -untainted memory that is -she's running. She's still a little girl, perhaps six or seven, wearing a bright red dress decorated with flowers -daisies. And she's running. It's not a fearful run; he thinks she laughs as her legs carry her away, very childish and pure. He clung to that memory fiercely for twenty years, if only to remember that there was a time where his sister was capable of innocent love.

It changes after their parents' death, of course; but the real shift occurs when the other children give him his scar. He sees her in the background as he is pinned to the floor. The helplessness, the anger and the shame on her face will always remain carved in his memories. He knows what she's thinking; she's the eldest, she should have protected him. But even he knows there are limits to what she can do. She reassures him, gets the coin back, but something changes in her eyes. She still looks at him with the same affection and protectiveness, but when others come around...she grows distant. Her mouth hardens and her face becomes a mask of cold indifference.

"How did you do it?" he asks her in awe when the boys part on her way like Moses walking though the Red Sea. Rumor has it that she nearly beat up a girl to death in the dormitory. No-one has approached her ever since. She merely shrugs.

"You need to learn to hide the things you love, or you'll never get out of here alive." She watches him with affection. "Strike before they do, and strike hard. Make them fear you. They won't bother you after."

When their handlers order to kill their rabbits, she's the first to snap its neck. Some of the children cry in the aftermath, he included, but Alice? Alice giggles. She giggles quietly, with a frightening smile on her face. Later on, Roman knows that was the moment she decided to become a monster.

Wake

They are rescued by American soldiers and those soldiers are horrified by what they find. The orphanage is well-structured for a military academy. The training grounds bear reminders of their accomplishments and their failures. Ten to fifteen bodies are found buried around the compound. Half of them are there because of the deadly training. The other half, Alice sent them there.

Their handlers have encouraged her taste for blood, pushed her to become an accomplished warrior. She is not physically as strong as them, but she compensates with a sharp mind, tactical skills and a complete disregard for others' lives (except his). She nearly stabs one of the soldiers in the neck when they burst into their dormitory without warning. The soldier lives because she slips on a sheet lying on the floor, loses balance, and her makeshift knife misses its target by inches. They are evacuated, brought to a military base, evaluated and the other children are sent elsewhere. He and Alice are held back though. The psychiatrist calls them too 'special' and unpredictable and deems they will never manage to settle in a normal environment. That's when one of the soldiers -ironically, the one Alice went after -steps up and signs for their adoption. They end up in a house in the suburbs of a small town in the United States, prepared to begin a new life.

Alice becomes 'Remi' because of him. The sad truth is, just like the other children, he came to fear her as much as he loves her and though he tries to hide it, she feels it. And she might have lost her ability to care for others, he is still the one person she will always love. The one person she will never, ever harm.

"If Remi isn't enough to protect you," she says seriously, curled in the bed by his side, "Call for me. Say the words, Ian; and I will come for you, okay?"

They spend the rest of the night in each others' arms. He doesn't sleep, even long after Alice falls into deep slumber. The mind is a powerful thing and his sister was always the strongest person he's ever known. When she'll wake up tomorrow, she'll be different, just as she promised. She won't be 'Alice' anymore because he's too weak to accept her as she is. She'll be a new sister, still loving, more approachable, adapted to his needs.

He promises himself that one day, he'll be strong enough to call her back. He'll wake up, think 'it is time', and whisper her name. And that day...

Up

At first, Roman doesn't fear 'Jane Doe'. She's a new version of his sister and the memories that slowly emerge are Remi's. It's not until Shepherd claims that 'something feels off' that he begins to wonder. All these years, Remi's hold on 'Alice' was iron-clad. She had to keep her reigned in, if only to control her bloodthirsty impulses during the battlefield in her military days. Roman isn't worried it will fade after the mind wipe. But his last conversation with Remi, after she warns him to cut ties with Kat, bothers him.

"Is this about the plan, or about you?" he asks angrily. He has done everything they have asked of him. He thinks he has earned his freedom by now. But Remi stares at him, her cold hazel eyes plant into his.

"I want to make sure she doesn't resurface."

The words knock him off cold.

"I thought you had her under control." He speaks quietly, in case others are lingering and eavesdropping. Alice is the one secret Shepherd doesn't know -and will never learn if he has any say in it. Remi snorts.

"I never really contained her, Roman. You did. As long as you were around, she keeps quiet. There's a chance all my memories return and if you're not there when it happens, she might break through." She's nervous, it's obvious in the tightness of her shoulders and the tension in her jaw. "The moment you'll pronounce her name, I'm gone."

Roman feels cold sweat pearl on his forehead. He wishes he could say she's wrong; but he remembers that Alice created 'Remi' for him. If she returned and he had vanished, how will she react? Too many possibilities are laid out, including one where she'd come after him. He doesn't think she will hurt him, but he can't say the same about Kat. So he pushes his lover far away from his mind and prays she will forgive him.

He gets his confirmation that Jane isn't quite Remi after they steal the chip necessary for Phase 2. She sits on his bed and she contemplates the puzzle box as he speaks of Remi. She looks horrified when he tells her she would have completed the mission and not risked their arrest to save him.

"I hope she never comes back," she says. And when she holds him later, she whispers: "I love you, Ian."

Alice was a monster and Remi contained her, but Remi became so cold. In retrospect, Roman remembers his true sister always loved him unconditionally and always let him know. He closes his eyes, breathes in Jane's scent and thinks that maybe, deep inside, he doesn't want Remi back either.

Alice

He realizes Jane really isn't Alice or Remi when he finds Borden's message in the dropbox and it's killing him. A part of him has genuinely wished that 'Jane' could be the best of Alice and Remi combined. He was obviously very wrong. His sister would have never betrayed him; yet Jane did.

When Shepherd comes up with a plan to destroy the FBI team Jane is working with, Roman nearly laughs. The scheme is grotesque and petty and oh-so unworthy of any of Remi's masterpieces. He thinks he should have left with Kat after all and not allowed Remi to play with his fears of Alice's return. Alice, come to think of it, would have probably demanded to meet Kat. She would have probably interrogated and threatened her. And then, claiming to use of her sisterly rights, embarrass him to death like she had done with Shepherd during their first meeting.

She would have let him go instead of tightening the leash around his neck.

Roman remembers his promise to himself, all those years ago. That once he would be strong enough, he would free her again. Shepherd wants Jane dead, but Jane isn't Alice. It's time to wake up the monster, he decides. He has waited long enough. Tonight, he will get his sister back.

Wake up Alice

The reaction is immediate. Jane's body slumps forwards like a puppet whose strings had been cut at once. Roman steps back, his heart pounding. Did it work? His sister's body is very still, barely breathing. If not for her mouth parting slightly when she inhales and exhales, he'd believe her dead.

Shepherd returns and lights the projector. She doesn't even give her foster daughter a second glance. Roman's attention is fully on her. He watches as she rises her head, stares at the images on the wall; follows with rapt attention the last moments of the FBI agents. She blanches at the explosion, shouts 'no!' when the image cut.

His heart breaks. It didn't work, and now, he's lost her forever.

Shepherd is smug and reeling in her pain. He's trying hard to swallow his bitterness he nearly misses her next words:

"You fucking idiot! That's not how you set bombs inside an old building! Now half of them are still alive!"

What follows is an eerie silence. Shepherd looks like she's been slapped. Roman stares at the back of her head, heart pounding even louder.

"This farce has lasted long enough. Untie me now, Ian," she snarls, and Roman feels hopeful again. Remi never called him 'Ian'. Only Alice –and occasionally Jane –did. He makes a move towards her, but Shepherd pulls out the gun and aims at him.

"I've lost one child already," she says, eyes narrowed and tone hurt. "Am I going to lose both?"

Roman hesitates briefly. He doesn't want to put the tied woman in the line of fire, and Shepherd can be a little trigger-happy when upset.

"And that's our mother?" Jane -Alice, he's sure of it now- snorts. "I thought she'd know better than to use stereotype villain sentences."

Shepherd is truly perplexed now. Roman takes advantage of her indecision to act and undoes the ropes. He's sure she could get away on her own, but his intervention will spare her a dislocated thumb.

"This is Alice," he introduces his sister with some apprehension. Their foster mother has pointed a weapon at him. Alice had killed a girl in the orphanage because she insulted him. "She's neither Remi nor Jane."

"We've never properly been introduced," Alice says sarcastically, rubbing her wrists to soothe the red markings left by the rope. "I'm the original. And I have very strong objections on the way you build up this little charade. Explosives inside a building? How unimaginative! You should have bombed the exits, trapping them inside. I'm sure you have some poisonous gas somewhere. Or pipes containing gas. A gum and a timer would have done the trick with much more efficiency."

As she rambles on a more effective killing blow, Shepherd's eyes grow rounder and rounder. Remi had been an excellent strategist, but even she had not the cunning and the sadistic side Alice had developed in the orphanage. Roman has forgotten how disturbing it could sound.

"And what's the point of cutting the feed? If you want to complete the cycle or revenge, hide cameras outside, far enough they won't be impacted by the blow. Let your victim witness the building crumble, the few agents trying to rescue their colleagues, and then cut the feed manually, so they can wonder and beg for you to turn it back on and see what happens next. That's when you kill them most without actually touching them. All torture isn't physical, you know. Psychology is so much more efficient and way cleaner."

Alice cracks her neck, stretches her arms over her head and cracks her shoulders. Roman watches, fascinated. Shepherd watches, horrified. The tattooed woman walks across the room, towards the table he had been sitting on. She's seen a knife lying on it. She turns away from her foster mother, a sign she trusts him to watch her back. So when Shepherd raises her gun again and aims at her, he doesn't hesitate.

Fifteen minutes later, they walk out together. They head to the car, jump in and shut the door. Roman's hands are shaking slightly, his skin tainted with small dots of red. Alice whistles cheerfully as she sits behind the wheel. Her hands are slightly red as well, although she wiped them on a tissue on the way out.

"It's so nice to be up front again. Remi was such a control-freak," she complains. A quick glance at him makes her look a bit guilty. "Will you be alright?"

Roman laughs bitterly. His thoughts swirl madly, he can't think straight.

"You just..." he starts, pauses, shakes his head. "You're just as wild as I remember."

"Beats crazy," Alice shots back, but she's grinning. "Though we're about to start anew from scratches, so we must be."

"You really think it'll be alright?" Roman can't help but question. "Your friends," the word tastes bitter on his tongue. "At the FBI, won't they look for you?"

"The FBI must think I'm dead and I doubt Shepherd will come after us after this little discussion."

"You humiliated her," he reminds her. "She will seek revenge, sometime later...but I suppose that's what you are aiming at?"

Alice nods seriously.

"I showed her I had no intention of obeying her anymore, even though I wouldn't hinder her plans. Now that she's seen what I am ready to do –and that you are ready to follow, she will focus on her main objective for the time being instead of chasing us. If she does decides to retaliate…I'll handle it."

Strike first and strike hard. This line of thought is the exact reason why the innocent little girl grew to be the most feared grooming operative in the orphanage. He has forgotten how uncomfortable it used to make him feel.

"So that's why you had to cut her index? So she would back off for a while?"

"That was a practical move, Ian," Alice nuances. "She can't pull a trigger on you -or anyone, for the matter- anymore, unless she's ambidextrous. Which, unless my memory is faulty, she isn't. Also, I only cut down to the middle phalanx; she can still use the rest of her finger."

Roman snorts. He feels a little sick and overwhelmed. But it's nothing compared to relief of having his older sister, his protector, back.

"And Jane thought I was the sociopath," he mumbles ironically.

"Technically, I'm a psychopath with sadistic tendencies. Sociopaths still have a conscience." She gives him a look of sympathy. "That's why I keep you around. You're my moral compass."

"Then there is no hope left for the world," he retorts dryly. "A sociopath, the moral guidance of a psychopath. I feel there's a bad joke in the making."

"Tell me all about it once you figured it out," she says and laughs loudly. She turns the engine on and launches her vehicle on the road, in the opposite direction of New York.

The night is cool and the roads deserted. Roman doesn't begrudge her for lowering the window and watching the starry sky. He doesn't think of the FBI that might chase them first thing in the morning when Weller has regained his senses. He doesn't think of Shepherd who will definitively come after them sometime. He just watches his sister smile and feels content.