Cause I’m a Little Unsteady | Part 1
He was working too hard again, but it seemed the easiest thing to focus on lately. There was too much for him process all at once, despite his ability to navigate it. Ever since he’d woken up, things had been different in a way he couldn’t quite describe. He found himself chasing ghosts from his past-- a past too clouded to make any sense of. Still, he persisted to be the best soldier he could for Jedikiah. He owed that much to the man that had saved his life and taken him in too many times to count.
Growing too curious for his own good, he’d cornered one of the supposed targets or ghosts, he’d been chasing down for months now. Just like Jedikiah had said, she’d tried to gain his favor in certain ways. Be that asking about memories he was supposed to have or using tactics to turn him from Jed, himself. John was no fool as she must assume. Still, there was something so familiar about her that he’d begun to question the older man’s full story.
This woman had abandoned him when he’d needed her the most. She’d turned against him, so what was the point in giving her any benefit of the doubt. “Nice try Cara-- I can see you’re-- very persuasive. But I’m informed.” He calls out to her as he feels her reaching into his mind. He pushes her out easily with force causing her to falter.
She’d had to have witnessed this with her own eyes or she wouldn’t have believed it. As she stands opposite the man she was once so close with, she struggles to get through to him. “Can’t you see, John? He’s using you. Just like he always does.” She cries just as a strong mental blast is sent in her direction. He didn’t want her in his head. While she was no stranger to him blocking her out, this was different-- he’d forced her out and now it seemed as though he wasn’t standing so many feet from her. She blinks slowly a few times, cringing at the aftershock.
He’s half a mind to bring her in now, but his acute senses pick up on another presence watching them from above. Whoever it was is gone the second he looks up. He scoffs at the idea that this woman might have set a trap for him. In an instant he teleports out, jumping from location to location until he’s as far away as he deems necessary. He straightens up and hears a voice echo in his head from around the corner. “You’re faster than you used to be-- but still too slow to outrun me.”
His eyes quickly dart in the direction and he follows it. Maybe he was becoming to arrogant for his own good, but he’s certain that while he has the ability to kill, this woman doesn’t-- leaving him with the upper hand. Again, his curiosity drives him further to seek her out. Who was she? Why had she been watching his interaction with that Cara person? Was she on his side or was she against him?
She feels so familiar he’s certain he knows the voice but it isn’t until he comes around the corner ahead of him that he realizes who it is. He hadn’t seen her in so many years, well even more now than before. She’s the first person from his past that he can actually say he recognizes, but then, he’d known her since they were kids. “Emma?” He questions, taking in her appearance. “I see you’re still short and bossy as ever.”
The brunette before him feigns offense, her mouth falling open with a scoff of her own. “I’m surprised you still remember me pretty boy, it’s been a long time--” She pauses for a breath and shrugs. “That and-- Jed’s really worked a number on you this time hasn’t he?” She chuckles, before teleporting out. He leaps in time to catch her arm, teleporting easily with her.
He can’t believe after so many months of confusion, there’s someone he recognizes, someone he’d once been able to trust. As they land, his grip tightens on her arm. “What do you know?” He demands, a deep pleading coming from behind his eyes.
“Remove your hand before I remove it for you.” She warns lowly, her own eyes darkening in his direction. She quirks a brow at him in challenge, staring him down until he lets go of her.
Even knowing what his powers have become, he doesn’t want to fight her. She was a synergist if he remembered correctly, that and-- she was one of his oldest acquaintances. If anyone could tell him the truth about what had happened to him-- it might just be her. He finds himself softening at the idea that he had someone he could really trust. “Please,” He says, closing his eyes.
She’d kept up with him even after he’d escaped Ultra, watching him become a leader Roger Price would be proud of despite his transgressions. When he’d formed another family, she’d ceased from his life. After all, she still had the Founder to worry about back then, never stopping in his quest to rid the world of humans. One might liken her to John where it concerned her relationship to the Hugh Bathory.
She’d been recruited young, after her parents had been killed. She’d been taught by him for much of her formative years, and likewise looked up to him as the father she’d lost. She’d been kept at a sister facility discretely in California, that she practically ran. Like John, she’d insisted on being treated with the Anax serum, especially after she’d heard about John doing so. She always took the golden boy from the east coast to be a sort of challenge. They met on many occasions that Bathory and Dr. Price did business, the elder men always comparing their progress.
They’d spent a summer or two at a special camp off the grid to train. She’d always had a hard time understanding why someone like John was caught up in all of this. But then, she supposed he had no other choice-- that was something to which she could greatly relate.
She remembers finding out about the experiments on Cassandra and be threatened with them time and time again. It wasn’t until threats became reality that she knew she needed to get out. Upon further investigation and frankly, an accident, she’d come to find that it had been a kill ordered by none other than Bathory himself who had taken out her parents. All for the chance at using Emma for her gifts.
The memories flash in her mind as she looks up to him unwaveringly. She shows him all that she’d witnessed in the time he seemed to be missing. Including the truth about Cara and how he’d really lost his abilities. She steps away from him, closing her memories out as she finishes out all that she knows. “You’re just a pawn Young-- that’s it, a pawn in Dr. Price’s chess game.” She warns him, even if it risks her own safety.
She contemplates what she’s really doing here. She was sort of a rogue at this point with the Founder gone. Since his obsession with New York had taken place, she’d felt all the more expendable. She’d finally broken free of that cage, and ironically, John had been the first person she’d come searching for. She wasn’t sure if she’d intended to help him or just take a few pointers. However, when everything had played out, it turned out that there was nothing she could do to prevent it.
His eyes fall shut as she plays back how they’d met and then proceeds to carry him through to present day. It was certainly a different story that Jed was telling and he’s inclined to believe her. But if memory served right, she was just as tight if not more with the Founder. This might just be more of his sway. But he was gone now and the parts she’d briefly flickered over showed a betrayal by him.
As her words ring through his ears, he’s at a loss. He feels as though he’s in an impossible situation. His allegiance was to Jedikiah and Ultra. Everything he’d been told was that Bathory had gone to war with them, meaning Emma was likely just another soldier of his.
She senses the apprehension coming from him and heaves an angry sigh. “Why can’t you ever just see what’s right in front of you?” She demands, crossing her arms over her chest. She refuses to admit defeat. She knows what it’s like to kill an innocent person, she’s not clean of that sin. Likewise, she knows what it does to a person every time they do it. She knows what John feels when he does. These plans that Jedikiah had, to use their kind as weapons. It was sick-- they were better than this, she’d come to realize that some time ago. There was a reason homosuperiors evolved without the ability to kill.
Her mind courses on, easily accessed by the man standing opposite her now. “Never mind-- remind me to kill myself before you help that psychopath destroy this planet?” She spits, turning to walk away.
“Strange that you’d judge my alliances when your record is just as tarnished if I’m not mistaken.” He tosses, standing firmly in place.
“Well Johnathan it looks like we both fucked up in that respect, yeah?” She scoffs, turning back to him. “At least I didn’t lie to my people about what I’d done-- or what I could do. Points for transparency.“
The blonde throws his head back laughing at the sharp words she sends his way. “I don’t remember any of that-- but I do remember just how damn stubborn you are when you don’t get your way.”
“Don’t get cute with me Young, at least I’ve made peace with my demons.” She lies, before turning again and stalking away with her hands in her pockets.
His head jerks back at her forcefulness, blinking a few times. “Yeah I can tell you have. That’s why you’re following me.” He calls back just as boldly. He can’t remember the last time he’d interacted with someone in such a way. Talking earnestly and being connected by the mind-- it was something he wasn’t used to. He can tell he’s upset her, but for the life of him he can’t figure out why. What did she care what he did?
Admittedly, she had some good points about Jedikiah and what he’d put him through in the past. He watches her teleport about a block away, but doesn’t follow her this time. He makes a mental note to keep this exchange from Jedikiah, even if the older man would come to find out about the meeting with Cara.
His loyalties weren’t in question, but seeing Emma-- knowing what she’d shared-- they may have been a bit shaken. He walks back toward the Ultra facility deep in thought, intent of making more sense of the different stories he’d been told.
Come to think of it, Emma’s version seemed to align more with that of Cara than Jed. Still, what she hadn’t been clear on was whose side she was on. He fights the strangely urgent desire to trust her, just before teleporting the rest of the way to Ultra and entering the florescent lights of the building.
