Agents Of Perfidy...

[zarathrustra_ink]

"Tell me again why you thought this was a good idea."

The longer we were huddled in front of Dr. Patil's garage door, the more my thoughts were in agreement with Toilyn. "He's a doctor." 

Lights flashed from behind us. There was no way we could turn without dropping Jan. A door slammed. "I thought that was you. Why are you here?!" Dr. Patil's shrill, panicked voice cut through the darkness. His voice hadn't lost its air of fear since we'd last encountered him. "What do you want?!" 

I sighed in relief. "We need your help. It's Jan." I shifted to better balance Jan's weight against me. 

"Why didn't you take him to a hospital?" Dr. Patil scurried around us. He looked down at Jan, scrutinizing him. Just as I was bracing myself to be turned away, he sighed his resolve and reached down to pull the garage door upward. "Nevermind. Bring him inside."

"Could we hurry this up? I'm supporting him and my gear." Toilyn strained. "He's short, not light."

Dr. Patil led us to a workbench. From the looks of it, it was fresh off the presses, never used. We placed Jan on the wood as gingerly as we could manage. Dr. Patil ducked out of the garage. When he returned, there was a pillow pressed between his hands. On instinct, Toilyn and I flinched to our bracelets. "Wait, wait… This is for his head." He said, hurrying to lift Jan long enough to slide the pillow underneath. "See?"

I hadn't noticed the blanket that was tucked beneath his arm. "He saved my life." I said quietly, watching Dr. Patil cover Jan.

"No, he saved our lives." Toilyn corrected. "When she… When she clipped me… Z, I thought- I thought I was dead." 

Dr. Patil leaned over Jan. "His pulse is weak. Why here?"

"Aren't you a doctor?" Toilyn shrugged her gear onto the floor. She rotated her shoulder at the relief. 

"I'm not that kind of a doctor." Dr. Patil rebuffed. "I'm a psychologist. I specialize in the study of the mind."

"He got hit on the head pretty hard." Toilyn walked to the garage door. She threw her eyes across her shoulder one last time, first to Dr. Patil then to me before: "Fix him." 

She stomped off into the darkness.

Dr. Patil pushed a black button on the wall. The garage door lowered to a close. He sighed the same resolved sigh from earlier. "Just in case the neighbors noticed a body being dragged up the sidewalk." 

"Look, Jan has the ability to heal certain things. He put the same tech in my bracelet…" I held up my arm so the doctor could see, as if he had a clue what I was talking about. "When I tried it after he blacked out…" It was stupid. I had no idea what to do. I'd tried without discussing with him which way I was supposed to turn the dial. Was it left to heal or was it right? It was left. He'd gotten lucky on that account. I placed my hand on Jan's shoe. His laces were untied. "It didn't work, okay? I don't know if he made a mistake with the installation or if…" I didn't, no I couldn't… I couldn't say it could be my fault. Not again. 

"How did he black out?"

"I don't know!" I shook his leg angrily. "Jan…"

"That's not a good idea." Dr. Patil said though he didn't move to stop me. "I need a better understanding of what happened. I know you can't tell me everything but give me something."

"The roof of the nursing home that was in that packet you gave us…" I was pacing now. "It collapsed. He saved my life. If it weren't for him… He saved Toilyn not twenty minutes later. I thought he was fine." I stopped abruptly. "The last thing he said was 'She's fine'."

"Sounds like a concussion." Dr. Patil said. 

Something dawned on me. "No no, wait…" Something he'd mentioned. "He said that his tech allowed him to heal minor injuries. He collapsed a few seconds after healing Toilyn." 

"Could be overexertion, could be both." Dr. Patil said. Not helping. Like, at all. "It could be that because his body was already in a weakened state when he healed your friend, he didn't have enough energy to sustain his own life force." In english? "My apologies." Apparently my face was projecting what my mouth wouldn't. "What I mean is, when he healed your friend, whatever adrenaline that was holding him up was spent. He was probably already damaged from the crash but sometimes you tap into strength you didn't know you had when you're protecting loved ones."

"Whoa there… Toilyn hates him and he's just…" Suddenly, the fact that the garage floor was carpeted was more interesting than it should have been. "He's just my assignment." 

"I don't think it's the bracelet that's not working." He didn't have to voice the "delusion" for me to hear it in his voice. "Would you like to try something?" He offered me his hand. When I didn't move to take it, he continued: "Maybe if we hold hands while you try." 

"Hold hands?" I repeated, practically turning up my nose. 

He didn't acknowledge my reservations. Instead his hand remained dangled between us. "From what you've told me, I believe in order for his tech to work, you have to offer a little of yourself. In theory, I would say your attempt didn't work because you didn't have much left to give after the crash." I stared at his hand for a few more seconds before taking it. The warmth felt foreign yet welcoming. With his encouragement, I switched the dial on my bracelet and placed it on Jan's forehead. Heat pulsated through my body. It pushed upward, fighting through my uncertainty. Golden flakes glittered from beneath my hand. "Jan…" The glowing gold grew brighter until it encased his entire body. 

I stumbled but other than that, I was otherwise unharmed. 

Dr. Patil released my hand to check Jan's pulse. "It's getting stronger."

"I… I um…" Despite being afraid of us, Dr. Patil had helped. It said a lot about him and I wanted him to know that I understood that. I just didn't know how. "I…"

He pushed the button on the wall. "You should tell your friend." 

I found her sitting on the front lawn, staring at the sky. "Ya know, a part of me is hoping you're here to say you figured it out and the rest of me is already falling apart because it knows how much that guy went through. He didn't deserve to go out like that." 

I took the empty space beside her. "H-He's alive, Toy." 

She turned towards me. The brims of her eyes shone with unshed tears. "He is?" 

I reached for her hand. She linked hers with mine and our fingers nestled in the grass. Together we stared at the stars, holding hands. We sat there in silence, breathing breaths decorated with relief because neither had the courage to voice that we'd almost gotten Jan killed. Finally, I broke our chain. Toilyn glanced at her hand, now alone in the grass, then back at my face: "We should check on him. I don't know how long that stuff takes."

"Neither do I." 

I offered her my hands. She accepted them so that I could pull her to her feet. We headed across the lawn to the garage door, now closed. Toilyn tapped on the door three times. When she received no response, she did it once more. And again. And again, urgently this time. I stepped on the tips of my toes to peer through the dusty window. The pillow and blanket were on the workbench, but no Jan. 

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Toilyn punched her hand through the glass. She unlocked the latch and I lifted the door manually. 

"Toy, your hand."

"No time." She grunted, wiping the blood on her shirt. 

With glass crunching beneath our boots, we surveyed the room. Other than the abandoned workbench and surprisingly, her gear, the room was deserted. Toilyn snatched her bow off the floor. 

"Wait!"

"For what?!" Her boot was already flying through the adjoining door, leading us into a dark kitchen. The tip of her arrow led us with me following close enough to watch her back. 

We were making our way through the living room when I saw it. "Toy…" Through the curtains, I could make out some sort of shadow darting across the lawn out front. "Look!"

I stumbled over a coffee table. A lamp and a vase shattered in the darkness but that was of no importance. Toilyn didn't turn to see if I was alright. She was already out the door. I caught up as she was aiming at the back of whatever we were chasing. 

“Wait!” I shouted, darting past her. A silent prayer on my lips, I purposely blocked her aim. I kept running, awaiting an arrow that thankfully never tore through me. I dove forward, crashing into the shadow. From both hands flew a single suitcase. One rolled down the carport until it came to a stop in the middle of the street, open. 

"Don't hurt me! Please don't hurt me!" 

Dr. Patil? 

“What the hell?!” I jumped to my feet.

"I'll tell you everything! Just don't hurt me!" Dr. Patil cried.

“Everything?” Toilyn jogged up beside me, her aim steady. “What the heck would you have to tell us?”

On the ground, Dr. Patil was still cowering, both hands barely muffling his wails.

I ignored his pleas. “Why is he even out here?” And if he was here, where was Jan?

“Nah. Nope. No. Did you not see the suitcases?” She was talking to me, but glaring down at him. “He was making a run for it.” 

There was no way he would be able to tell us from whom he was fleeing with an arrow through any parts of his anatomy. “Would you stop pointing that thing down at him before you accidentally shoot him?” It wouldn't have been an accident, this we both knew. 

“Fine. Have it your way.” Toilyn shoved her bow in my arms. “Where's Jan?!" She shouted, jerking him off the grass. "If you so much as flinch crooked, I'm going to break your arm, maybe both. You got that?" 

"Yes, yes." He was sobbing now. 

"Where is Jan?!" His tears meant nothing, we only wanted answers. 

"They took him! That's who they were after the entire time!" 

"Who the fuck is they?! I'm going to need more words." Toilyn growled hauntingly. “Now, talk!"

"Noir. Noir has him." 

"Tell me you didn't just say Noir." Toilyn's voice lowered to barely a whisper. "How do you know that name?"

"No. No they don't." I couldn't unhear it but I also didn't want to believe it. "You wouldn't do that." Colleges taught Luminous Studies and that was all. Luminous kept an obsessively shined magnifying glass to the ground in their efforts to maintain that fact. What was this? 

SMACK! Toilyn's hand connected with the side of Dr. Patil's face. "What did you do?!"

"T-They threatened my family. I- I didn't have a choice." He stammered. "Mavis was supposed to bring him and it was all going to be okay but she got in that wreck."

"So the wreck wasn't Altura or Noir?" 

"No." He replied though he was turned to me and not Toilyn. His right cheek was now flamed red from the slap. "It really was just an accident. He didn't read the letter so things didn't move ahead like they were supposed to."

"So all the boo-hooing you did at the college?" Toilyn's palm was ready for another swing. 

“Hold on.” I put my hand up. "Let him finish."

"They were after his research. Periodically, they've been attempting to pop up on him but it wasn't working. He always evaded capture."

Something fell into place that I didn't want the answer to but I needed it: "Luminous reprogrammed his remote to be like our tech. Is that why the target changed from the remote to Jan himself?"

Dr. Patil nodded weakly. "They were going to murder my children."

"Oh, shut up!" 

“Toy…” I knew Toilyn wanted to smack him again but we needed answers. 

"Don't you see? That's why they added Brie to this." She said softly. It almost went unheard. Almost. "You knew… Didn't you?" She hissed in his face.

Because of my history with Dax… Because of my history with Brie… Because of me…

"So all this covid mess?" 

"Coincidence. Everything I put in that packet was true… Except for the nursing home." He shook his head. "I was never told that my interference would have ramifications. When they came to me about Mavis' boss, they told me to use her suspicions regarding Altura. They told me what to do, I swear!"  He hiccuped. "They were going to-"

"Kill your family. Say that shit one more time and I'm going to rip your vocal cords out and use them to strangle you to death!" Toilyn spat at him. "Do you know how many families will be wiped out if we don't fix this?!"

"You doomed hundreds of thousands just to set up Jan?!" My hands were beginning to shake. "What does it matter if you saved your family today only for Covid-19 to wipe them out tomorrow?"

"I don't know what Covid-19 is!"

99… 19… None of that mattered now. "That's beside the point!" Toilyn grabbed him by the collar. "You sentenced innocent people to their deaths, you piece of shit!" 

He was heaving wet sounding, heavy breaths now. "They… They… This. They gave me this…” He turned his right pocket to Toilyn. When she didn’t react, he inched his pocket closer. “Take it, please… They gave… This…”

She snatched him forward. “What the hell is that?” 

She dropped something on the ground. It rolled to a stop at the end of my boot. 

Don’t touch it. Too late. My fingers were already wrapping around it. The metal shined beneath the moonlight. I pointed it at him. “What is it?”

His sobs echoed louder. I couldn’t even make out what he was saying. “Toy…”

She balled up her fist. 

He caught his breath quickly. “I said that’s how I contact them!” He cried. “You push the button… There. There’s a button on the bottom.” 

“What does it do?” 

“It’s how they find me.” He hiccuped. 

It was him. Realization clicked into place. All this time. It was never Jan. It was him the whole time. My free hand had balled into a fist. "You… You caused the timeline change." My knuckles were smashing into his face before I could think better of it. 

Toilyn's grip slipped. His eyes disappeared to the back of his head. He fell backwards with a soft THUD! in the grass. 

"Well, now what?" She said, placing her hands on either side of her head. 

"I don't know. I don't know." I really didn't. My mind was struggling with the comprehension that we'd walked Jan into the arms of the enemy. "Let me think." 

"I know what you're doing." I felt the warmth of her hand on my shoulder. "You can't do this to yourself. There's no way you could have known." 

"It was my idea to bring him here." 

"And it was my idea to go to the nursing home." She interjected. "You don't have to carry this one alone. We both made mistakes.” 

"We've got to save him." I said, turning the apparatus over a few times. It glistened beneath the moonlight. “Here.”

She looked down at her bow between us then back at him. “You should have just let me shoot him.” She said, accepting it. She flicked the string, her face a mask of pure disdain. “At least let me kick him.” 

I nodded my permission. From the looks of it, she was going to do it with or without my approval anyway. (Knowing her, she was waiting for me to turn my back long enough.) She landed a kick to his ribs before nodding with a weirdly triumphant grin on her lips. "Ah, that’s better. So, where are we going?" She stepped over him, careful to run the back of her boot across him on the way.

"To get terminated probably."

"You want to involve Luminous?"

"Do you not see this mess?!" I exclaimed, jabbing a finger down at the doctor's unmoving body. "This is bigger than us. We've got to fix this and I don't know how, do you?"

"I wish I did, Z." She said, shaking her head. "I've got nothing." 

"I don't mean any ol' higher up either."

Toilyn cut her eyes at me. "Yes you do."

I shook my head. "No I don't. We've got to ask to see Gillian."

"Oh, you're trying to get fired, fired."