Thicker Than Blood by rebellious_one
Chapter 18 by rebellious_one
Author's Notes:
Okay, decided to change it up a bit. This chapter won't be the ellaboration of powers, but instead an emo chapter. Yay. Lol. Thanks to all those who have reviewed and are enjoying the story. =]

Kevin glanced into the rearview mirror, checking over his brothers, who were all crammed in the back seat of the car. He shot a look over towards the stranger that had helped them to escape, wondering where he was taking them, but deciding not to question him.

“I don’t like silence.” AJ suddenly groaned out, causing them to jump a little at the sudden break of silence.

Nick rolled his eyes, “Well, what do you want us to do AJ? Talk like everything is okay?”

AJ looked over at the driver, “Why don’t we start off with some questions like who the hell are you, where the hell are you taking us, and what the hell just happened back there?”

The man looked up into the rearview mirror, staring at AJ for a while. He took a deep breath in and sighed heavily, “My name is Dr. James Manwell. You guys may not remember me, but I’m a family friend. Right now, I’m taking you guys to my lab where I’ll explain anything and everything to you.”

“A family friend huh?” AJ scoffed. “How do we know you’re not just one of those fucked up doctors that’s pretending to help us only to take us back to your fucking lab to perform tests on us?”

“Alex, stop it.” Howie warned.

“He’s right D.” Nick voiced out. “How do we know who to trust?”

“You can trust him.” Kevin spoke for the first time.

“How do you know that for a fact Kevin?” AJ fired back. “He’s probably another one of them, just wanting to know what’s wrong with us and what we can do.”

James sighed, “There’s nothing wrong with you guys. I already know what you guys are capable of doing, and I’m going to explain everything to you once we reach my lab. I know you guys are going through a lot at the moment, but you’re just gonna have to trust me on this, okay? I want to help you guys.” having that said, the car fell silent once again, and remained that way until they reached their destination.

They pulled up to a large estate, a mansion settled right in the middle of it. James shut the car off and had pulled his keys out of the ignition. “Follow me.” he said as he jumped out of his car, closed the door and began to make his way over towards his house.

The rest of them filed out of the car and had followed James up to his doorstep. They continued on in silence as James led them inside his house and through his foyer. They all looked around in awe, fascinated at all the plaques and certificates that decorated his walls. James led them into a room that looked as if it was his office. Tall shelves filled with books lined the walls, and a large cherry oak desk sat in the middle of the room.

James walked over to the wall and had moved the picture that hung on it to the side. Behind the picture was a panel of numbers and a scan pad. James punched in a few numbers, then placed his hand on the scan pad, allowing the high tech security system to read and recognize his handprint. Once that was done, one of the shelves that were filled with books recessed into the wall.

“Come in.” James said as he walked into the secret room that was revealed.

The five of them slowly followed James into the room, looking at everything in astonishment. Beyond the door was a fully equipped laboratory, it almost looked as if it was a hospital.

“You guys may want to take a seat for this.” James suggested as he gestured over towards an area that looked like a small meeting room.

They all made their way over towards the small meeting room and had situated themselves at the table, James standing at the head of it. He took a deep breath in, “The people you guys had a run in with are apart of a huge and steadily growing organization known as the Supernatural Engineered Corporation, or SEC. It was established by a man who believed he could generate supernatural human beings that would become the world’s answer to all it’s problems, everything from warfare to ailments. It was first tested on chimpanzees, who seem to be more genetically related to humans than any other specie on this planet, to which the trial was successful. In 1970, he injected his newly formulated chemical into his first human subject.”

“Were we his first human subjects?” Nick asked in confusion.

“Not exactly. His first human subject happened to be a female. She is the only one on this earth that possesses all the abilities.”

“And what are these abilities that you speak of?”

“The powers you all have. While the five of you have one elemental power and one mental power, she possesses all of them, being the most powerful creature to walk the earth. You five are right below her.”

Nick shook his head, none of it really making sense to him. “You mean to tell us that we’re not… humans?”

“You guys are very much humans, just supernatural. As far as I know, you six are the only of your kind, which is why SEC is after you guys. You five are basically their prized possession right now, and they will do anything in their power to obtain you.”

“So, what does all of this have to do with you?” Brian questioned. “Why are you helping us? Who was that lady and why did you guys come to help us?”

“Like I said, you may not remember, but I’m a family friend. As for that lady, she’s…”

“Our mother.” Kevin finished off, staring straight ahead blankly.

AJ shot a look towards Kevin, “Come again? Who’s mother?”

“We all share the same mother… and that woman that came to save us was her.” Howie answered, everything making sense to him now. “Why couldn’t we remember this?”

“We made you all forget.” James answered sadly. “She felt at that time that was the only way she could protect you from him.”

“Protect us from who?” Nick snapped. “What the hell is going on?”

James took a deep breath in as he began to explain everything to the guys, from the beginning. When he was through, he was met with emotional stares, none of them were able to say anything in response.

“Why is he out to get us now?” Kevin finally croaked out, not being able to believe the fact that the man behind all of this was his own real father.

“You guys have grown and matured, he knows how your powers have developed over the years, whether you guys know it or not. He’s been after you five for quite some time, which is why your mother decided to split you guys up into different families and wipe away any and all memories you all may have had from your earlier years. Both her and I were convinced that Will wouldn’t be able to find you guys. You five are the missing pieces to his puzzle, he needs you all in his possession in order for him to present his discoveries to the government, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants.”

“So… we’re nothing but some fucked up experiments?” Nick asked, his eyes welling with tears.

“This is fucking bullshit!” AJ snapped as he flew up from where he sat, flinging his chair back in the process. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are or what the fuck you’re trying to do, but there is no way in hell I’m gonna let you corrupt our lives.”

“Alex, please…” Howie tried to calm him down, but AJ ignored him.

“You’re gonna believe him Howard?” AJ asked him in disbelief. “You’re gonna allow some fucked up man to just walk into our lives and tell us the way we’re living and everything we know is a fucking lie? Fuck that… I’m the son of a mother who divorced her good for nothing husband and was raised solely by my mother and her parents, and I’m not gonna let some fucking stranger tell me otherwise.” and with that, he stormed away.

Howie sprung out of his chair as well, deciding to go after him. He jogged briskly towards AJ, catching him right as he walked out of the lab.

AJ felt a pair of hands grab him by his shoulders. “Get the fuck off of me.” he said as he tried to shrug the hands off, but failing. He didn’t even need to turn around to see who was holding him back, he already knew. “Let me go D., just please let me go.”

Howie spun AJ around to face him, watching helplessly as tears cascaded freely down AJ’s cheeks. Without saying another word, Howie pulled AJ into the strongest embrace he could muster, holding him close and tight so he wouldn’t try to pull away and leave. AJ didn’t even try to fight, he simply fell limp within Howie’s arms and cried on his shoulder, letting everything he was feeling at that moment out.

“Tell me this isn’t true…” he cried out. “God Howie, please tell me this isn’t true.”

Howie closed his eyes as he heard AJ beg him to say that everything wasn’t true. He remained silent, knowing that no words would be a painless way to confirm that everything was true. At that realization, AJ broke down within Howie’s arms. Everyone knew how close AJ was with his mother and grandparents, but only Howie knew how AJ had struggled all these years trying to find himself based on the life he was living. Just when AJ was beginning to find himself, he’s being told that everything was a lie.

“How could she do this to me?” AJ choked out. “She tells me everything, how could she have not told me about this?”

Howie was sure he was talking about his mother. “We all didn’t know Alex… and our parents didn’t tell us because they were trying to protect us. We can’t hold this against them. They took us in, they took a risk trying to protect us, they did everything they could to have us live normal lives.” he pulled away slightly to look AJ in the eyes. “They gave us a life and a reason to live.”

AJ gave a small nod, knowing what Howie was saying made sense, but couldn’t help than to feel hurt and betrayed. Howie slowly began to walk AJ back into the lab to join the rest of the fellas. He looked up to see Kevin staring blankly, seemingly in a phase, Brian holding his head in his hands, and Nick looking dejected, yet fuming. James simply looked depressed and guilty.

“Can you take us all home?” Howie asked James. For the first time in his life, he never felt so awkward saying the word “home”.



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