Leon paced around the safe room, thinking of plans. John invited Selena to take a seat and then got her a blanket from the closet. "So, can you just help me understand exactly what happened in the lab?" John asked her.
She looked at him, almost seeming offended, but then took a breath. "I don't remember what happened to me before the lab. While I was there, the scaries took you from your home. Then, they started doing the ultra experiments." She told him. It clicked.
"Wait, you mean MKULTRA?" He said shocked. "That would make perfect sense. The CIA had been looking for some way of conducting mind control, the Council must have started it. MK91 was the name of the experiment that they did on you, so that would fit too."
She continued, obviously not having a clue what he was talking about. "Yeah, well the scaries started the testing. For a while, when they were setting it up, we got to meet and talk. You didn't like that the scaries called me Subject 591, so you named me Selena. The scaries started calling me that too, it was easier. Then, once they had the test ready, they did something and you were yelling real loud. I didn't like it. They pulled me into your room and told you to do something, but you didn't like it, so you didn't really do it. They thought your experiment had failed, so they did the next test on me, but you stopped them just as I stopped yelling. You tried to get me to leave with you, so I made you leave me there and I accidentally put memories in your head of daydreams I had of living where you used to. Then your real memories were pushed out of your head. The scaries didn't look very hard for you, since they thought you were a failed test and I told them that I erased your memories." She said with a blush.
"You lied to them?" John asked, astonished.
She nodded, then tipped her head. "Well technically no, but I didn't know that at the time." Then she thought of something. "What did you do after you left?"
John thought back. "Assuming someone didn't replace those memories with fake ones too, I did what I had to. I met a kid on the bus route back to what I thought was my home. He was with his parents and they wanted to know what I was doing on the bus without my parents. I headed home, but the house was empty. I figured my parents must be at work or something, I guess my mind didn't investigate too much. I ended up getting back on the bus and the kid and his parents took me in. They seemed concerned about something, but I didn't know what it was. I'm guessing that they looked up my parents and found out about the missing boy and dead parents and realized a bit about what was going on. I think that they thought I had run away and my parents had killed themselves, so they took me in and didn't ask questions in the hopes that I wouldn't find out about my parents. I finished up middle school and high school with them, but halfway through high school I got an internship at a real estate firm. By the time I graduated, I had myself a full-time job and I moved out."
Selena looked completely lost. "Wait... What's a bus?" Leon and John laughed and then John tried to explain it the same way he would explain it to a child.
They talked for a while longer and then went to sleep. In the middle of the night, John woke up to someone shaking him. He jolted awake. It was Selena.
"I think I heard Daddy coming!" She whispered to him. He looked at the cameras, but no one was on them. All of the security systems were in the green, no motions or sounds or lasers tripped.
"I don't think it was him, that screen shows all around the house and has ways to check for movements and sounds and everything." He said to her softly. "What exactly was it that you heard?"
She shook her head and then started crying. "I don't believe the screen. I'm scared!" He held her and then picked up their blankets and pillows and walked with her over to the corner of the room. He laid out some cushions on the ground up against the wall and the pillows and blankets on top, making a make-shift bed.
"Here, lay down." They laid down on the bed, his back up against the wall with a pillow in between and she curled into the spot between his arm and chest. "I will keep an eye out for him. You just get some sleep." He told he softly.
She nodded and sniffled. "I missed you. I wish you had been there to help me down in the scary place." She whispered, partly to herself, and then drifted back to sleep.
Just to be safe, in case what she had "heard" was something to do with her powers, he stayed up about half an hour. He kept his eyes peeled and his ears listening, but the only sounds he heard were Selena and Leon snoring, so after that he went back to sleep.
He woke up to find John getting dressed. Selena had also woken up apparently and was just staring at him, until she saw that he had fully woken up and she got up too. Once they had both stood up she turned back to John. "The bathroom is through that door over there." He pointed. She nodded and then ran off.
Leon shook his head and chuckled. "Sleep well?"
John nodded. "All right, considering. She woke me up last night because she thought she heard Council Leader Stevens, so I told her to go back to sleep and I would keep an eye out. I stayed up for a while just in case it had something to do with her powers, but I think it was just her being scared. After that, I managed to sleep well though."
They put together a quick breakfast, John making a plate for Selena as well. After a short time, Selena came out wearing the same clothes that she had worn yesterday. Leon looked at her. "Okay John. I have the makings of a plan, but I need to go get in contact with one of the Eld that is a friend of mine. Why don't you take Selena to go get some clothes and things so that she doesn't have to keep wearing the same outfit everyday? It's probably best that I don't bring the whole entourage with me so that if we are being followed, they follow you shopping and my friend doesn't get spooked." Leon tossed him a set of keys and a wad of cash and started typing into the computer that connected to the security system. "Here, set a password for the security system so that you can come back here when you're done. I will text you when I am on my way back so that you can let me in."
John didn't like the idea of splitting up, but he had to admit that Leon was right. "Okay, we will leave and draw out anyone that is following us, then you go meet your friend." He said as he typed in a password. "Just, be careful. Okay?"
Leon chuckled. "When have I not been... Don't answer that."
John and Selena got into Leon's car and drove off towards the mall. John wasn't sure how Leon planned to get to his friend's house, but he also wouldn't be surprised if he had a garage full of sports cars hidden around his mansion somewhere.
John parked the car in the back of the mall and then led Selena in. He tried to avoid being seen until they got into the first clothing store. He grabbed a baseball cap and put it on Selena's head, then put one on himself. After that, he grabbed sunglasses for the both of them. John payed the clerk at the counter and then they made their way over to a women's clothing store. Selena was looking in every direction, too enraptured by the sights to be paranoid like John.
"I forget that this is your first time in a mall. It's pretty isn't it." John said to her, looking at a beautiful fountain under a skylight. He pulled out a pair of dimes that they had gotten as change and handed one to Selena. "You are supposed to use a penny, but a dime is worth more anyway. Make a wish and then toss it in." He said, and then tossed his in. He wished that Selena and John would come out of this ordeal safe and happy.
"I wish for a bike!" Selena said, tossing hers in.
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