The drive to wherever William was trying to take us ended up lasting a lot longer than I had expected.
Though we had set out early in the morning, it wasn't until about ten o'clock that we all made our first stop at a gas station. As fast as it took to fill up the tank, we all relieved ourselves at the toilets-- Ava and I with a certain amount of difficulty-- and purchased some food and a drink. Then we were off again, down a highway. Past the cows and the fields and the asphalt and.... well, that was about it.
At some point, however, Ava and I must finally have fallen asleep. Once somebody had shouted in our ears to wake up and get out, I realized it was about six in the evening and we'd finally reached our destination. Leaving my trash in the car half from childish spite and half from laziness, I jumped from the van and grabbed Ava's hands to help her out of it as well. Her hands shook as I held them, and her frame slumped over weakly until I could wrap her arm around my shoulder, barely holding her up.
It was only then that I took a look around. The van had ambled away down an old asphalt side road, around a corner and out of sight. It had left us at what appeared to me like a small military camp. There were tall metal fences lined on the tops with barbed wire, and the only entrance was a big gate in the center front of the fence. One man, dressed in reflective clothes-- my guess was for safety if he also watched at night and the sun would soon set-- stood at the entrance, right next to a keypad that was mounted to an electric system connected to the fence.
William walked up to the man guarding the gate and talked animatedly with him for a few moments. The exchange was short but odd. Odd, in that the man seemed very anxious suddenly at seeing the four of us standing there, yet perfectly willing to listen to what William was telling him. I couldn't hear anything they were saying aside from the occasional useless snippet of the conversation.
As soon as they had finished talking, the man-- whom I had only just noticed carried a significantly large-looking gun clipped to his belt-- turned away towards the keypad. He sheltered the screen with his hands and typed in the combination. As soon as he'd finished and tapped a small green button, a grating sounds rent through the air and the big lock on the gate started to pull back. Then the grating morphed into more of a high pitched, nails-on-chalkboard screeching sound which opened the gate entirely. Once it had stopped, William beckoned us forward, and Stevie, Ava and I followed him inside. I was wary of the gate guard staring blankly at us, is complete silence, as we passed.
What was this place?
Ava and I limped together in Stevie and William's wake as he led us across a large expanse of black asphalt. It was marked here and there with lines of white paint, though I wasn't sure what they were for or what they meant. At the back of the black top was a one story, though significantly sized sand-coloured building with wide double doors and no handle that I could see.
In retrospect, I think that had I not already witnessed a house with shifting scales, a hand implant with a computer database, and a room with Google Maps in the walls, I would have been more shocked to watch as William stood in front of the doors, was scanned in a blue light, and then walked forward to phase through the doors and into the building.
However, it still took me a moment to really take in what I had seen before Stevie chuckled lightly.
"Yes, he really did just walk right through the door. It's a pretty cool bit of science, really. Once the scanners confirm the person's DNA sequence matches what they have in their database, the molecular density of the material used to build the door lessens and you can literally walk right through it as though it were nothing but a harmless gas. However, once the door solidifies again, it becomes as thick and heavy as a foot-deep block of ice. The material is newly engineered; we're the only people to have any. Our people do great work." Stevie said.
"Wait, but if it needs a DNA match how're we going to get through?" I asked, pointing between Ava and me. Stevie half-smiled, giving us a look that seemed almost like she found us humorous. Or ignorant- regardless, I suddenly had a bad feeling about the answer.
"Believe me... we've got your DNA. We'll explain everything inside, you'll see. Don't be afraid. You two can go through together, just step up close to the door." Stevie replied. I gave Ava a sidelong glance and a worried look before I helped her over to the door.
In a moment the blue light that'd previously scanned William slowly raked its beam over our bodies. An LED light above the door turned green and made a quiet "beep" sound. I looked back at Stevie, who nodded us forward.
Together Ava and I stepped up into the door and through the other side.
It's rather a rather odd sensation, phasing through molecules. I have to say it's not one I find altogether unpleasant; more like, nothing I've ever felt before. It's like suddenly you feel... smaller, and harder. Walking feels a little bit slower, like trying to run when you're up to your neck in water.
But as soon as the feeling started, it had stopped again, and I was facing a long, brightly lit hallway with several windowed, wooden doors on the end and on either side. William was only a few feet in front, facing us both ; he had waited there for us to come through. And soon enough, Stevie'd joined us, and William jerked his head to his side in a silent gesture to keep following him. I felt unnerved at the silence; nobody was walking around. Nobody was talking. Though all the lights were on in the hallway and in every room, nobody seemed to be inside them. It wasn't until we reached the door at the end that I noticed somebody behind it.
William opened the door to let us in. We all walked inside what looked like the type of room where police hold questionings, with one side empty of anything but a large window and a door, and the other room with tables and where the window is in the first room sits a mirror instead. Two-way glass.
"Ben, we'd like you to see somebody. You and Ava both. He will answer all of your questions and more- not to mention offer both of you a place here and a reasons why you were right to join with us. I... You probably won't like it at first, but trust me. We're all on the same side." Stevie offered. I looked over to the window, looking at the person inside the room. His back was to us and he was wearing a hooded jacket. For a moment I found myself, once again, feeling a particular sensation of foreboding as I contemplated what we were about to see. I, of course, had no idea what I could be walking into; for all I knew, all it could end in was more pain. However, I didn't see either a choice or a way out of it.
The Vicodin must have worn off, because I felt Ava once again in my head.
I can't tell who it is, there's something blocking this room from the other one and I can't get through. Should we do it? She said. I thought for a moment.
I don't think we have that much of a choice, I replied. I shifted my feet to keep Ava standing up, but both of us were starting to feel the pain again. My hand stung painfully once again and my chest ached in an arc of pain that washed over me every time it throbbed. It was not until that moment that I wondered if I needed a doctor.
"We need a doctor." I said suddenly, looking at Stevie. She smiled.
"Of course. As soon as everything is sorted, you'll get one. Both of you need care and rest, so the sooner we do this, the better." Stevie said resolutely. I nodded at Ava, who nodded back. William turned the handle on the door, opening it so that we could step inside. As soon as we'd done so, William closed the door behind us.
The light was a little bit darker inside this room than the other one, and reminded me faintly of a hospital ward due to the cheap tiling and the droll white walls and blue accents.
I helped Ava take a step forward, and we both looked at the figure sitting at the table, who was examining his hands with his head down.
"...Hello?" I said, unsure of what to say to start the conversation as I helped Ava down into a one of the two empty chairs. We both looked at him expectantly. And soon enough, he raised his head, the light above us shining down on him just so, in a way that his hood cast a shadow over his face. Ava suddenly jolted upright in her chair, just as the man removed the hood from his head- revealing thick, grey curls; circular glasses, kind eyes...
Oh, my god.
Jensen.
"Hello, kids." He said. I stood up so fast in that second that my head spun and I nearly fell off balance.
"You! What the hell are you doing-" I started shouting, reaching across the table and grabbing him with my good hand by the collar of his jacket. His expression didn't shift; he didn't looked scared. He remained completely calm, even as I started pulling the neck of the jacket back tighter and tighter against his neck.... What was I doing?
"It wasn't me. I know what you think, and it wasn't me." He said, his breaths now coming out on long wheezes.
"You betrayed us! You betrayed us, what do you mean 'it wasn't you?' We literally SAW YOU. What are you thinking, coming back here? I swear to god that I could kill you in a second; and you had the AUDACITY to come anywhere near me and expect-" Ava started shouting at him, her expression not even wavering as the fabric around Jensen's throat tightened considerably. Jensen's eyes squeezed shut, almost as though trying to calm down enough to get out his answer.
"It. Wasn't. Me. Please. Let me explain." Jensen asked evenly, and despite my every attempt to intimidate him he still remained perfectly calm. I think now that had Jensen not acted exactly the way he did I might have killed him then and there. It was nothing but shock that made me aware, suddenly, of just how tight my grip was on him; just how close I was to making sure we never got a single answer for all of our efforts...
I lessened the grip on his jacket, and he spluttered and wheezed. We gave him a moment to return his breathing to a normal rate. Then, he began to talk again.
"It was never me. Ben, I've only met you one time before in my life and it was at the hospital ward the day you first woke up in the facility." He said.
"Wh.... what? No, that's not true at all. How could you not remember the orientation? And the the mission assignment?" I asked, shocked. Had he gone crazy? What had happened since Ava and I left the facility?
"No, none of that was me. Ava, search me for the truth- I give you full permission to look through my memories and see what happened. I'll show you." Jensen said calmly. It was only then that I finally let go of his jacket completely and sat back down, still on edge. My brain was frazzled. Of course Jensen was there both those times. How did he think we were going to believe this story?
I looked over at Ava, who looked completely focused. We both stood still in complete silence for over a minute. Then, suddenly, Ava's eyes widened, and her mouth gaped. She looked at me.
"Ben, it's... it was Aaron. He sent us here, Jensen's been hiding. The whole time." She said, slowly.
"What the hell do you mean? That's impossible, there's no way he could have been in.... two places at once..." I trailed off, suddenly remembering what Folkvar had said about Jensen when he found us. Two places at once. That's... It couldn't have been...
"Aaron was pretending to be me. He has since you arrived at the facility. I knew something was changing really early on and if I stayed my life would have been put in jeopardy. So I ran, and I came here." Jensen explained.
"But how? It's impossible, Aaron said there's no shapeshifter that can mimic another human being." I said. Not only that, I thought, but if I saw Jensen and Aaron- sometimes even in the same day- how could that be true?
"He doesn't really shapeshift, per se. He can sense the presence of people from rather far away. If he is in a situation where he needs to pretend he's me to people in his proximity, he can manipulate what they see and hear- so that they literally think they're talking to me, even though it's really him you're looking at." Jensen explained, then continued.
"It seemed like everything was normal because he and his version of me were never in the same place at the same time. You might have seen him down at training, but if you then came upstairs to see me, he would have changed how others looked at him and made his way into my office.
"It was Aaron that sent you on that mission that was set up to make it appear like I had betrayed you all to my superiors. While the Jensen you saw on the lake was, in fact, me, what I was doing was transferring the student's-- including yours and Ava's-- genetic information to one of our underground labs. The only thing I don't know is how he knew. We used marked pennies to communicate the time of the exchanges where I gave the samples to our scientists. We didn't think anyone would be able to figure it out, but somehow, he did- and used it as a chance to turn all of you against me. I swear, I'm in league with the resistance. I'm here because everything that's happened since that explosion at the lab years ago has taught me that what our organisation has been doing is wrong. Completely wrong. I should never have experimented on the kids." Jensen finished. Only now, after the whole explanation, did his expression shift. He looked downward, his expression so deeply sorrowful that I felt myself almost moved to the point of believing him.
"He tried to send Folkvar and Anna as your partners, but Stevie and William- whom I sent, after hacking the transponders Aaron put in your hands, and discovering the fact that he was sending a team- got there first, and if I'm correct, I don't think any of you returned to the hotel after the finding that I'd 'betrayed' you." Jensen continued heavily.
"But if that's true, then why wouldn't Stevie and William have told me you were on our side afterwards and explained the whole thing?" I asked suddenly, my suspicions starting to grow again.
"Ahh, right. William guessed at Aaron's plan. Betray me to you and then show up as the white night, convincing you to stay on his side and fight for him. William also knew that Aaron is rather skilled at mind reading. We needed you to honestly believe I was a traitor, so that Aaron would let his guard down and you all could escape back here before he put the pieces together." Jensen explained.
"What about Stevie and William, then? Wouldn't Aaron have been suspicious of them? Wouldn't he have been able to tell whose side they were on if he was so excellent at mind reading? And not to mention the fact that Folkvar and Anna weren't there at all." Ava spoke up, forming words to a question I had been working up to myself.
"Well... I said already that Aaron is very skilled in manipulating the way others perceive him, as well as reading minds. However, if Aaron's good at that... he's almost nothing compared to William. William concealed himself and Stevie so that Aaron believed that they were Anna and Folkvar. Even the memories were fabricated so that Aaron would perceive that everything had gone according to plan. It was... all very genius, really." Jensen finished. My jaw dropped, just about in time with Ava's.
"Everyone here is working for the resistance, Ben. You're safe now. And soon enough, we'll have as many people as we can get from the facility safely transported here to the base, like you. As we could confirm Aaron's here in this state and not at the facility, we started transporting kids yesterday. Now, you've got all your answers. And you both are very sick. It's time for you to see a doctor. Sleep." Jensen said.
And in the space of a single breath after he said that, my vision suddenly went completely black- Ava and I fell forward, just as we were also falling into unconsciousness. Everything was black, and everything was quiet- until everything was gone.
***