Rebel Young

Part 16

A/N - Sorry for the wait, I have been writing... just not publishing so... yeah. Enjoy! :) 

That explained the familiarity of the eyes - they were my brother's. The eyes I'd looked into for years when I wanted comfort or confirmation. The eyes I thought had disappeared forever when I'd had to let go of my sibling, my best friend, my Ethan.

"This isn't quite the reception I was expecting little sister," Ethan jested.

"You're not the man I was expecting," I countered. Ethan visibly flinched at my words, something I said had pained him, but I couldn't guess what.

"Charming. It's wonderful to see you've been keeping yourself busy in my absence," Ethan commented, his tone blatantly condescending.

"Leave April alone!" Jack butted in. I was thankful for the prompt distraction, it gave me a moment to gather my thoughts and plan my next course of action.

"Oh how sweet," Ethan drawled, "It seems you've gone and gotten yourself a boyfriend April."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"I'm not her boyfriend!"

Jack and I responded simultaneously, exchanging an awkward glance. I hadn't considered Jack in a romantic light and was clueless as how to respond to Ethan's comment.

"Keep telling yourself that little sister, one day you might just believe it," Ethan patronised.

"Why did you contact us?" Lacey broke in, diverting the conversation, "I doubt you intended to hack our system just to verbally harass your younger sister."

"Oh aren't you intelligent." Ethan's face twisted into an ugly sneer. "I did not arrange this meeting just to have a friendly little heart-to-heart with my dear baby sister."

"Your baby sister is dead," I whispered, memories of Annabelle appeared at the front of my mind. Ethan had never met his youngest sister, and I was beginning to think that wasn't such a bad thing. If he didn't know her, he wouldn't be able to use her against me as effectively. The man had enough emotional ammunition as it was.

"You're avoiding the question Ethan," Jack barked, "answer Lacey, why did you contact us?"

"I merely wanted to meet my opponents," Ethan replied, "so far I'm not impressed, but looks can be deceiving." He fixed his eyes upon my figure, "take my dear sister for example, she doesn't look like a whole lot does she, but we all know just how important she really is." Shocked murmurs echoed around the room as Ethan revealed that he knew the truth, "Don't look at me like that, I've known her longer than anyone else here."

Of course Ethan had noticed my Talents, after all those hours we'd spent together as children I would be more surprised if he was still oblivious to the truth. His knowledge added a whole other dimension to the problem faced by my companions. Not only was their enemy a powerful figurehead to one of the country's strongest militia, he also knew more about their secret weapon than anybody else. His past alone placed the man named Ethan Winters in a league of his own.

"Freddie, have you regained control yet?" Lacey asked impatiently, her gaze never wavering from the screen before her.

"I am cut deep," Ethan feigned offence, "I merely called to say hello to your wonderful gathering and my presence is already being rejected."

"Turn it off," Lacey commanded, ignoring Ethan's comment. With the press of a button Freddie powered down the Lab's computer system. The video of Ethan shut off abruptly, cutting him off mid-sentence.