Supernatural

54

MARCH — THE APARTMENT — 3:12 PM

Monica looked between them, confused. "No, I said Teddy. They're pretty different names."

2832 ignored her, tears prickling at her eyes. She couldn't stop staring at him. She had recognized him immediately, even with the stubble of a beard he had grown, and the change of clothing. "I... I heard you die. I thought you were dead."

Joey looked at his feet. "I know. I thought I was dying. I mean, I knew as much as you."

"I'll leave you two alone, even though I have a lot of questions," Monica announced, awkwardly leaving the room.

There was a silence between them, and 2832 looked at him hopefully. "If you lived, does that mean Casper did, too?"

Joey swallowed. "He did. At least, he survived the gas chamber."

Her hope faltered. "What does that mean?"

"He was being really stupid," he said, bitterly. "We were sent to a SN human trafficking rig; we were sold to the highest bidder for whatever they wanted. While I was kept by Camden, the boss of the whole thing who gave me that stupid nickname, Casper was bought."

He closed his eyes at the memory. "I remember, when we were in line, and he told me he wasn't going to be enslaved or kept prisoner—not again. Before I could ask him what he meant we were told to be quiet.

"Camden bought me first, and I waited at the back of the stage of the rest of the others to be bought. Apparently, pyrokinetics interest people. People were calling out crazy high numbers left and right and he just looked back at me with these eyes that just quietly said that he was sorry.

"As soon as it was over, they tried to take him over but he refused. He stupidly stood his ground. God, out of every other chance, he chose that one time to be brave. They got rough with him, so he fought back and somehow got the handcuffs off. He was spitting fire out of his hands and then—" His voice broke, and he cleared it. "Then someone shot him."

She closed her eyes and breathed in.

"He's gone. Gone gone. Not like I was," he said, quietly. There was a moment of silence between them. "Then, I found out about Rylie—or his alias, Light Glider. I got into their computers totally by accident, and discovered his true identity. Then, I met Alexis and I tried to help... But they were too late."

"Yeah, how did you know Rylie and everyone? How did you form this team?" 2832 asked.

"Pepper hunted me down." He chuckled. "She's pretty smart. I escaped Camden and we organized a plan to save you—that ultimately went incredibly wrong but worked out in the end.

"What happened to you, anyway?"

"That's a long story," she said. 2832 went through the details of how she left the lab and joined the AMO. She explained how she went on missions with her team, and how one of them happened to be to find Rylie. She told him about Siphon, and that Rylie had lost his powers thanks to him, then how she switched sides. She continued on to how Siphon kidnapped her, and how she was kept prisoner by the AMO for a few days.

"Joey," she whispered, after finishing. "The night before you two disappeared—"

"Forget it," he cut her off, shaking his head. "You were brainwashed. I know you didn't mean what you said."

"It was the last thing I ever said to Casper," she muttered. "I told him I wanted him to die."

"That was a different person. I can tell you've changed."