'Four'
A Kyle XY Fanfiction
A/N: Just a few small one shot bonuses in this universe.
BONUS CHAPTER: EXTRAS
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The warehouse was filthy.
That was Grace Kingsley's first thought as she crossed the threshold. You would be hard pressed to find someone who knew her that would believe she would ever step foot in such a ghetto. Her security chief Chad walked in front of her, but with no weapon drawn or any indication of danger. There was none, the rest of the detachment had seen to that. They all stood a various posts on the balcony, around crates and making up an impenetrable barrier circling the perimeter. She walked around the desk, ignoring the gagged and cuffed man on her left and instead focusing on the dead boy propped against the paneling. He looked so much like Adam that Grace had to close her eyes tightly for a moment to solidify herself in the moment.
"He's been deceased for awhile, Ms. Kingsley." Chad said, his hands folded in front of him.
She nodded and kneeled down to Kyle's corpse, raising her hand tenderly and brushing her fingertips down his cheek.
"I'm sorry, Kyle. I should have protected you." She said in a hushed voice.
The gagged man made a stifled scream that prompted Grace to remove her hand and stand, turning on her son.
"Michael." She said, sternly.
The large man standing above him removed Michael Cassidy's gag and pushed his shoulder violently forward.
"I'm sorry mother; did I ruin the grand plan for your other spawn? Ha-ha." Cassidy laughed, slightly manically.
Grace stepped forward dangerously and Cassidy stopped talking. She knelt in front of him just like she had to Kyle and brought her hand up to his cheek as well, touching it gently.
"Why must you always make such a mess of things, Michael?" she asked sadly.
"I don't! I'm capable, mother, if you only let me…"
"Enough!" Grace snapped and quickly withdrew her touch.
Her smoldering look held his gaze for a moment, but then he looked away in embarrassment.
"Time after time, you have shamed me. Do you remember coming to America and begging me for a position? Do you remember constantly burning bridges with fellow academics until I could only place you in a faculty position? Have none of my instructions, none of my lessons gotten through to you, Michael?" she asked with pity.
"I've tried! I've done my best!" he yelled, facing her but she slapped him across the cheek.
"Don't you dare! Don't you sit there, beaten and broken, and say to me with a straight face that you've done your best. You've never come close to doing your best at anything you've attempted." Grace stood, straightening her suit jacket.
"Ms. Kingsley, the police will be converging on this location in seven minutes." Chad informed her quietly.
"Have your team move the body to one of the cars, we'll be gone before they arrive." She instructed and Chad dutifully went about it.
"What happens to me now?" Cassidy asked mockingly.
Grace sighed and turned to him coldly.
"You're going to tell me every little detail of this hair-brained scheme that you botched. After that, I'll decide what to do with you. I have it on good authority that you contacted The Deserters." She said, almost as a question.
"I did." Cassidy smirked.
She sighed and pinched her nose between her eyes, placing her other hand on her hip.
"This has escalated out of control. The Deserters have already begun to act out, and you just added fuel to the fire Michael."
"It was all going fine until the bitch appeared!" he yelled and had Grace's attention.
"Jessi did this to you?" she asked.
"They were supposed to take her, leaving me with Kyle, but somehow she made it here! I was so close, mother, you have to believe me…"
Grace paused for a moment as the people around her finished off cleaning all trace evidence of their presence from the warehouse.
"You handed them a dangerous weapon in Jessi, Michael. I don't think we'll be dealing with a trio for long. Get him a vehicle, we'll take him with us." And with that, Latnok swooped out of the warehouse with no sign of their presence left behind.
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Lori fidgeted on the couch, Josh shot her a glance of annoyance. As if their parents taking turns pacing up and down the house wasn't nerve-wracking enough. Mark was acting off, too. He was just sitting there, like a stone blinking occasionally, but otherwise he could have been furniture.
"Where are the police? It's been nearly an hour!" Nicole exclaimed, slapping her hand to her forehead.
Like magic, there was a knock at the door. Stephen rushed to it and wrenched it open, to reveal two police officers who looked weary.
"Hello sir, we received a call about a kidnapping?" the first said questioningly.
"Yes, please come in. I'm Stephen Trager, our son's girlfriend was kidnapped earlier this evening." Stephen said, allowing them to enter the house.
The two men walked into the living room and seemed to do a mental count of the people in it.
"I'm John Smith, this is my partner Smith Johnson, we were told there were two more… a boy and a girl?" The first officer said.
Nicole blinked at the strange names but then said, "They both went out, to where the kidnapper allegedly is."
The officers glanced at each other strangely. Stephen gritted his teeth and balled a fist saying, "You're not real police officers, are you?"
"No, we're not, Mr. Trager. We're Latnok, parent organization." The one said simply as the other drew his pistol.
"Please, let's not make this fatal, have a seat." Smith said, pointing his pistol at Stephen.
The Trager parents raised their hands peaceably and slowly walked backwards, sitting on the chairs.
"Now, first things first, we need to take this off of you…" John said, kneeling next to Mark and touching the back of his neck with a small cylinder.
There was a small shock and then, "NO! NICOLE, STEPHEN, R-"
Then Mark slumped over, unconscious as the Tragers all glanced at each other in fear.
"Not to worry, he will be okay. He was being controlled against his will." John said, standing up.
"What is this? What are you people doing?" Stephen asked.
"Believe it or not, Mr. Trager, we have nothing to do with this. Michael Cassidy has not been a part of the organization for months and has been terrorizing your family independently." Smith said, lowering the pistol but not holstering it.
"And what happens now?" Nicole asked, her eyes shining.
"Mrs. Trager, I'm afraid your family has accidently fallen into a conflict that is decades old. Now, Latnok mostly works behind the scenes but Kyle changed a lot of our policies. We just didn't act soon enough, and for that we are very sorry." John said, placing a small orb on the table in front of all the Tragers.
"Soon enough for what?" Lori piped up.
Smith and John looked at each other, the latter sighing and gesturing for his partner to take lead.
"Kyle is gone. He was killed by Cassidy."
The shock that rang through the family was visceral, even John stood up and took steps backwards.
"I understand how earth shattering this is for you, but you don't need to worry about it." Smith said, pulling a circlet over his mouth as his partner did the same.
"And why the hell not?" Stephen asked in fury.
The small orb spun for one rotation and all the Tragers slumped over, unconscious. The two agents stowed their gas filtration systems and began to pack the orb away as well.
"Because you won't remember any of this when you wake up. You won't remember Kyle at all." John said, sadly.
They never did. The Tragers became the Taversons. Stephen became Max, Nicole became Anne, Lori became Justine and Josh became Stuart. They were relocated to Florida, their new lives were successes, and none of them ever remembered Kyle or Jessi.
Mark was freed from Cassidy's control and relocated as well, under the Southwestern branch of Madacorp. His memories were also wiped, leading him to believe his life would have been terrible if he had stayed in Washington.
Brian was found dead in his room a week and a half after Kyle's death, Latnok let him die rather than try to preserve him. Without control of his actions he died of dehydration, getting to feel every moment of it. Amanda's mother was also silenced permanently. She went in her sleep, peacefully, and her family was all informed she and her daughter died in a plane crash.
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July 2011
It took almost two years to track him down. 2. The cruelest of The Deserters, the most prominent one in the eyes of their enemy. Why did he keep her alive for so long? It was just one of the many things they would have to ask.
"Alright Jessi, you're up." Dennis said, an edge to his voice.
"I know that. I'm ready." She said, getting out of the car.
Jessi walked down the backroads to the inner city. 2 had invited her to his 'office' so she could accept her role as 4 and end their small conflicts with his hired security teams. He knew Adam was 1, he didn't trust 3, and he still had Amanda. It was a tense interlude that both sides knew had to come to a close. She had no weapons, besides her brain, and wore no armor. This was Jessi Hollander still, not the war-hardened Four that she would eventually become.
As she approached the Vancouver building, she felt him watching her. He was up there, he was waiting for her. Jessi walked through the lobby quickly and entered the elevator, punching the button for the 24th floor (How clever, har har). Adam and Dennis were a few blocks over, but they had failed to ambush 2 before and they all knew it would have to be Jessi alone. She was ready. She had trained against Adam in his armor many times, although they suspected 2 had upgraded his tremendously.
The Deserters were not super human. They were men, all three of them on the board of Latnok when it began the experiments that culminated in Adam Baylin. They defected when Adam introduced the possibility of creating more like him, and the rest of the board fawned over him like some sort of messiah. They stole many prototype technologies in development and forced Latnok to begin to hire security and tighten the circle of trust. Many sister branches were formed, all dedicated to different pieces of a puzzle no one quite understood. After his 'death', Adam tracked down the first of The Deserters and convinced him that they could co-exist and even work together. 1 revealed the inner workings of the suit, which was a formed and mobile chamber that prolonged life indefinitely. It also had gravity manipulation capabilities that would give the illusion of invulnerability or super strength. Once he was certain Adam would carry on where he had failed, 1 removed the suit and fell asleep, never to awaken.
Jessi didn't need a suit, she was equal to Adam without one, but the idea of her controlling the abilities was intimidating to say the least. The elevator doors opened and she stepped onto the floor, feeling a pulse of elation from the room at the end of the hall. Her own heart surged and she clenched her fists. It was time, she had been working for two years and it was time to put it all to the test. She opened the door and crossed the threshold.
It was very different than what she had imagined. She had pictured white floors and walls with huge glass pane windows overlooking the city. Instead it was open, brown palette, with empty desks and… type writers? It was like a 60's office floor where the secretaries gossiped. 2 sat at one of the desks, very relaxed.
"I'm glad to see that you came alone this time. That business in Portland was… messy." He said sadly.
"Oh yeah… how many of them survived?" Jessi asked with feigned interest.
2 just inclined his head slightly, Jessi got the impression of a smile from his hazy shroud of a face.
"This is an interesting set up… preparing for the Soviets to attack?" She asked sarcastically, walking cautiously around the desks creeping slowly closer to him.
"This was our office before we succeeded with Adam Baylin." 2 said, gesturing to everything. "Latnok abandoned it when the three of us left, but I've restored it over the years. Everything is exactly the same."
"He never mentioned it." Jessi said, indifferent.
"No, he's never been here before. Once his mother crossed the 10 month goal we relocated the experiment to Washington." 2 said, almost reminiscing.
"Where is Amanda? I hear her heartbeat." Jessi said, her eyes narrowed.
"Ah yes, one moment." 2 said, standing in a flash and opening the office door behind him.
He came out followed by Amanda Bloom, but she wasn't as Jessi remembered her. She was thin, skin tightened to bone, and her head was completely shaved. She wore a single dingy dress that went down to her knees. She didn't even look at Jessi, just sat where 2 had been, folded her hands, and bowed her head.
"Amanda!" Jessi exclaimed, but the girl didn't react.
"She no longer remembers that name. It took a long time, more than some men I've done it to, but I broke her. She no longer has a sense of self. She's empty, a vessel capable of small, simple tasks and not much else. I hear that Latnok has a device that can control ones actions, but this method is much more… permanent." 2 said gleefully.
"You sick bastard." Jessi said, through clenched teeth.
"You were the one that fled after I showed you mercy, you were the one that chose to leave her in my hands. Her fate is your responsibility." 2 stated simply.
Jessi lunged for him with shocking dexterity. The time for discussion was over, now was the time to settle it once and for all. She delivered two light, glancing kicks on either side of his frame and 2 backpedaled, letting them land. Okay, so not there. Jessi swung her left leg towards him but pulled short and followed it with the right, taking him by surprise and hooking the back of his neck then spinning him around. She landed on the striking leg and delivered another kick with opposite, directly between his shoulder blades. 2 Fell forward but regained his composure and spun on her, bringing his fists on either side of his face.
"You've grown stronger!" he exclaimed.
She didn't care to talk, she had a goal. Jessi leapt forward, delivering two fast front kicks mid-air that 2 deflected, and when she landed she threw a right straight and a left haymaker towards him. 2 blocked the straight punch but the haymaker slammed the side of his head. Jessi felt two knuckles fracture and 2 didn't even move a little.
"Nothing has changed, Jessi! Strength has nothing to do with my invulnerability!" He said gleefully.
She gripped the back of his neck with both hands and began delivering crushing knee strikes to his torso that put him off balance but did not seem to damage him. Jessi unleashed a barrage of fast kicks up his inner legs which also seemed to do nothing. When she swept one of his legs up, finally he struck her with a lightning straight punch to her chest and sent her flying backwards. That's it.
"Enough! This is futile, now… will you be 'Four'?" he asked, furious.
Jessi coughed, spraying small particles of blood in front of her. She wiped her chin and stood, feeling the heavy damage to her organs that was caused by the strike.
"I know about the control relay embedded in your shroud. As soon as I put on that suit, you would be able to remotely control everything I do." She said weakly.
"You're very well informed. But it doesn't matter now. Your heart and your lungs are failing you, the suit is the only thing that can keep you alive." 2 said, as a-matter-of-factly.
Jessi fell to her knees dramatically, feeling the truth of his words as her heart slowed at an alarming rate. 2 walked over her, arrogant in his obvious victory, and seemed to produce the '4' suit from thin air. He dropped it on the ground beside her and inclined his head.
"Put on the suit, become 4… or die." He cooed.
Jessi locked her hand behind his ankle and pulled as hard as she could. 2 lost his balance and fell backwards, and as he did Jessi gripped the sole of his boot with her other hand and tore it off. He had moved the gravity disruptor to the bottom of his foot, believing it was safest there. As soon as it was dislodged, his super strength and invulnerability began to crash.
"No…" he croaked.
His voice was human, the gravity disruptor must have also been powering other systems. Jessi smiled and stood, towering above his feeble form and he crawled backwards shaking.
"Yes. I admit, it was a little too easy for my taste but you know what they say: it's only as difficult as you make it." Jessi said, triumphant.
"Knife to throat!" 2 called out, seemingly mad.
Jessi paused and glanced around to make sure there wasn't some crazy robot about to cut her up. When she was sure nothing had changed she narrowed her eyes at him.
"What are you doing…?" she asked.
"I hold all the cards, Jessi. Now, saw it open." 2 called again.
Jessi's stomach sank as she understood all at once. She spun around the corner but it was too late, Amanda was collapsed with a knife in her hand and a gash in her throat. Rage welled up inside Jessi as one of her last connections to Kyle was severed and she turned on 2 with menace. He slapped himself on the chest and his shroud fell away, revealing a pleasant looking face with combed hair. As Jessi advanced, his eyes closed and he fell limp against the floor. He had taken Amanda, and he had taken away her vengeance. All in all, Jessi concluded that she had lost this day. She ran her fingers down the seam of the 4 suit and closed her eyes in deep thought. There was still the last of The Deserters, but 3 had little impact on anything nowadays. Some say he was dead, some say he had rejoined Latnok. Latnok. They had heard many things about the organizations' new goals, like space time continuum experiments and androids, but what they knew to be true was that all the sister branches were being closed down and moved to the same area.
Michael Cassidy was in charge of it. Grace Kingsley had gone into hiding to work on something 'truly magnificent' while Cassidy was in charge of greater Latnok movements. That was what they had to do, that was Jessi's goal now. To stop Latnok, to end it once and for all. She drew her phone and punched in speed dial with Adam answering quickly.
"It's done. You can come up now." She breathed.
Jessi hung up the phone, shed her clothes and squeezed into the '4' suit, activating the shroud and feeling all of her internal damage begin to repair itself. She activated the gravity disruptor and felt power course around her body like she had never felt before. She was sure that with some modification, she could enable herself to fly. She murmured and was elated to feel the deep metallic ring in her voice.
"I'm ready, Latnok… are you?" she asked no one in particular and began to giggle uncontrollably, the voice modification making her sound positively monstrous.
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Four has officially concluded.
But Jessi's story has not.
Stay Tuned.