Before any of the three of them there in the bedroom could voice an opinion on what should be ‘done’ with the only normal, human adult among them, there was a loud knock at the front door of the small one bedroom apartment. The sound did well to worry them all more than a bit.
Swallowing that fear as best she could, Star spoke softly, “people coming to kill you don’t usually knock, do they?”
“Unless they just don’t want you to know that’s why they’re there” Sky replied just as quietly.
Brie took a breath, her own fear quite apparent then too, “I’m gonna at least see if I can tell who it is, you two stay in here, together... just in case” she whispered as she moved back out of the bedroom, closing the door tightly behind her.
Fear slowing her footsteps more than a bit, it was several seconds before Brie approached the door as quietly as she could and peered through the peephole. When she saw the rather impatient scowl worn by her visitor, she still wasn’t quite sure she should let him in.
Though she took a moment too long to respond, before that impatience caused the visitor to call to her first through the door, “Come on Brie. Let’s not play this game. Just let me in” Connor told her through the door in that same cool tone of his that seemed to be his natural one.
“I thought we were no longer pretending to be some happily married couple, Connor. Pretty sure that means we don’t really have a lot left to say to each other” she attempted to keep her voice steady, though there were cracks.
“I know they’re here, Brie. Let me in” he returned, his tone still rather unreadable, though it did do well to cause Brie’s heartbeat to triple, and not in a good way.
Brie took a deep breath, still making no move to open the door to him before finding some response, “you made it pretty clear that you no longer wanted them to be your problem. You never wanted them to be, actually. So why are you here trying to make it your problem again, now, after over a year?”
“They’re my kids too, Brie. And they’re still minors. Law alone states that I have the right to see them. Do we really want more cops sniffing around. Honestly, Brie?” Connor replied in the same calculated manner
Brie couldn’t help a derisive laugh, “you just happen to know they’re here tonight when neither of us had seen them in a year; and you want me to buy that you’re here as a father? Did you really think that story would work?”
Connor scoffed on the other side of the door, “no matter why I’m here, the law is still the law, Brie. Let me in” he repeated again, his anger barely veiled at that point.
Brie took another shaky breath before trying to stall a bit longer, if possible, “Connor, I can’t let you give them back to those people. Not again. We thought they were damaged before...” she just shook her head again, despite having a door separating the two still.
“Fucking hell, Brie” he complained, “is this you tryin to give them time to do their little tricks again, and see if they can leave me like they left that entire lab team?” he then raised his voice loudly, in an effort to be heard by anyone else still hiding inside that apartment, “before you two try to escape, or... make anything happen...” he decided on, “you may just be interested in what I have to tell you.”
Brie cringed at him offering them any of that knowledge that they had hidden from them for their entire lives, and made one last ditch effort to dissuade him, “I already told them everything. You’re too late Connor. You have no other answers to give them. So if that’s really why you wanna claim you’re here, you may as well just leave now.”
Then making sure to speak loud enough for Sky and Star to hear, “did you tell them we might be able to cure them, too?”
Brie paled a bit at that claim, as she heard the teens moving toward the bedroom door, already seeming lured in by this brand of bait, “Cure?” she scoffed, “they don’t have a disease, Connor” she argued, though weakly, her heart sinking as they peeked out from the bedroom.
“You listening now, kids?” Connor stated from the other side of the door, “tell your mom to be nice and let dad in for a chat, would you?” he added with a bit of sarcasm.
“He can really do that?” Sky asked Brie under his breath.
“It’s a theory. Completely untested. He’s just trying to tell you what you wanna hear” Brie returned worriedly.
“Cure us how?” Star finally spoke up, moving slightly closer to the front door.
“I really don’t think the neighbors need to hear our chat, Star. Open the door” Connor replied, forcing what little softness he even could manage into his tone.
Star then looked up at where Sky was looking back down at her, then taking one another’s hand, and a deep breath, moved to unlock the door; Brie just hung her head and moved aside.
“About time” Connor complained as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him, and moving his eyes over where the teens took another step back, still clasping each other’s hand and centering a cold suspicious gaze on him; though that gaze also had the slightest bit of hope hidden behind it.
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“Like she said, we don’t have a disease; so what do you mean 'cure?’” Sky was the first to ask, still holding Star’s hand while standing at a safe distance and eyeing Connor with clear distrust.
“It means, we might be able to make you normal. Well, in a manner of speaking” he had to add as he cast another look at what was left of the dark makeup on each of their pale faces after their earlier encounter.
“Connor---” Brie interrupted.
“Hush hon, me and the kids are chatting, just like you always wanted us to” he added with an insincere smile.
“Normal?” Sky scoffed, “according to your former lab partner here, we’re patently abnormal...as in on a genetic level” Sky retorted, his distrust not wavering yet.
“True” Connor allowed, “but we’re genetic engineers. We can turn genes on and off if we want. Including your ‘special’ ones” he told them.
“We’ve never tried it with anything but human genes, Connor. Stop leaving details out” Brie scolded him.
“They never made it past ninth grade; I think I have to leave some details out, don’t I?” he scoffed.
Pushing forward past the slight insult, Star spoke again, “turn them off?”
“Yes, suppress them so to speak” Connor responded.
“And that would do what?” Sky asked with continued skepticism.
“It would mean that you two can fuck like bunnies, without anyone else’s head exploding, anyway” Connor told them bluntly.
Trying not to flinch at the reminder of the lives they had ended, Star pressed on, “but that would mean that we couldn’t do anything else anymore then either, right?”
“Aside from the fucking?” Connor returned sarcastically.
“If, and that’s a very big if,” Brie interrupted, “he even could do that, to those genes, without the genes themselves going on the offensive” she stressed, “then yes, all your abilities would be suppressed...leaving you just as defenseless as any other person without those genes” Brie warned them.
“You’re not helping, Brie” Connor told her with a glare.
“I’m not your fucking wife or even your partner anymore. I’m not trying to help” Brie shot back.
“Don’t fuckin play innocent now, Brie. You’re just as responsible for all this shit as I am” he then paused, looking down at her angrily, “no, scratch that. You’re more responsible than I am. I wanted to destroy them on the day they were created. You’re the one who wanted to play house and try to get them to believe they were twins in the first place” he then turned back to them, “did she leave that part out when she confessed all her sins? She’s the one who decided the best way to keep you two from discovering your powers was to lie to you about being related, even though she knew you two wanted each other before you even came out of the tanks. That was all her; your sweet little mommy dearest. So, which one of us are you really gonna trust again. Think about it” Connor finished as Brie turned away, not wanting to see their faces right then.
After a long pause, Sky burning a hole in the floor with his gaze, Star trying to hold more tears back, she finally spoke, “like we’d ever trust either of you” she whispered with a shake of her head.
Brie tried to find her voice again then, “I know I’ve done some horrible things to both of you; and I know I’ll burn in hell for them, the way I tried to make you two think you would for what you felt” she sniffled slightly, “but he wants to take...try to take away the most special thing about you both...and it just happens to be the most powerful way you have to defend yourselves.” she reminded, “so trust or don’t, but at least know what you’d really be giving up if you went along with this story of his.”
Another long pause before Sky spoke again, “why would you even wanna suppress your little experiment with our family trees? Your torture-happy pals constantly wanted us to use our powers. Forced us to, over and over, for an entire year; forced us to put on a little show for them every fucking day, literally” he couldn’t help a sarcastic scoff, “they wanted us to do just what those jock assholes wanted us to do; but only on a daily basis. And they forced us to” Sky repeated, his voice shaking as Star turned her eyes down to hide the tears produced by all those memories. Brie also turned away with a shaky gasp in response to Sky’s words. Sky swallowed hard, forcing himself onward, “the point is, it was obvious they really wanted to see what we could do, no matter what they had to do to get us to show them. And we did show them. We put on quite a show our last night there as a matter of fact. Of course, none of them are alive to tell you about it” he had to add, which did cause a slight crack in Connor’s composure, “and now you’re saying you wanna help us get rid of these powers; the same powers that they all had hard-ons for? Seems like you and your bosses don’t have the same squad goals anymore. That can’t be right.”
Connor was quiet a moment, letting himself find any possible response to the even more damaged soul standing before him now; even more damaged than the one who had already tried to take his own life three years earlier. He swallowed a moment before speaking, “You’re right. You did show them. And, it made an impression, to say the least. And that’s why they want to now get rid of what you can do. It’s definitely been deemed too dangerous, to put it mildly. Of course, their first instinct was just to kill you both. But I guess raising you for almost your entire lives has made me a little biased, after all.”
“You’re trying to play good cop here?” Sky scoffed.
“Listen, Sky. They saw what you did and they wanna put a stop to it, by any means necessary. This is the only way that could possibly happen and still leave you two breathing. So, it’s trust me and hope that I can make these abilities go away...or don’t....and then I guess we’ll have to play the role of the grieving parents for real this time. Cause if you don’t agree to let me try it my way... they’ll stop you their way instead.”
Star then looked up through her tears, “So, it’s go with you and let you try to take away our powers, or tell you no, and run until they kill us both?” another sniffle. “That's our so-called choice?”
That was when Sky spoke again, “Well, joke’s on you, dad. Cause I’m pretty sure that I’m not afraid of dying. I guess maybe you forgot, not like it woulda mattered to you to lose me anyway. You already said you wanted us dead on the day you made us. Guess you’ll get your wish.”
Brie just gasped again at how easily he still was ready to just give up on that precious life of his, still. Not that she could really be surprised after his recount of their last year. But it was Connor who responded, “Yeah Sky I get it. You’ve been longing to die for years. I got that memo. But, one question.”
“This should be good,” Sky scoffed.
“If you don’t both come with me and let me try to do this, then it’s not just you they’ll kill, Sky. And I think we both know how you’d feel about her dying too.”