Mr Hook's Big Black Box

«Awake»

"Didn't you worry about her getting back to the house when those people were still there?" Kris asked, "I never realised Montgomery had been so close to danger then, with nobody to protect her."

"Yes, I thought about it," Marco snapped, "I thought about it for all of five seconds, because that's all the time I had to make a plan. I hated the thought of leaving her in that room with those guys, and just hoping they wouldn't notice she was there. But they were about to break in, and there was no other exit for a non-athlete. I did the only thing I could think of, and we were lucky it worked."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I can see that would have been difficult."

"I thought about how to let them know we were the good guys, too," Marco admitted, "The plan in my head was actually to shout to them, let them know we were trying to save the girl. So after I'd gone, if they were the good guys, their reaction would make it clear, and maybe Monty could ask them for help."

"But nobody wanted to set the demon free," Destinee grinned, seeing the irony that none of them had been able to understand fifteen years ago, "They all wanted to be the one to turn the key, or to analyse and dissect it."

"Yeah, but we didn't really know that then. I wasn't buying the demon thing at all, I just wanted to save the little girl. I ran close to the wall, I was going to shout 'we're good guys', or 'we're not your enemy, we just want Hope out of the Box'."

"But you didn't?" Destinee seemed confused.

"No," Marco shook his head, "Because when I put those words together in my head, I finally got it. It's Pandora's Box, right?"

"The magic that is Hope while it's in the Box, but Disaster if released," Dwayne quoted, "That's how they described it when it showed up in an anime. I'd probably just watched it around that time, as well, but I didn't spot the connection."

"What is this?" Destinee asked, the conclusion flying over her head.

"It's an old myth," Ferrari explained, "Pandora's Box. I think everybody's come across it in some form, but most people probably don't know all the details. Just that letting hope out of a box is a bad thing."

"Maybe it has some roots in reality," Dwayne shrugged, "but it's got distorted a lot by thousands of years of translation and retelling. I can see the myth could be the result of the people who had the Box thousands of years before us, trying to tell their story without really understanding what happened, and then their audience trying to pass on the story to their kids, changing little things to make it more dramatic, or glossing over the bits that didn't seem to make sense, until only the core remains, and nobody realises it was ever connected to a real event."

"Almost makes you wonder what other old legends are real," Marco nodded, "Think there's a dragon out there somewhere?"

"Not any more," Destinee smiled, "I'm pretty sure we saw all the dragons die."

"You remember that, then," Dwayne grinned back. She had an infectious smile, "How are you liking the story so far? Does it match up with the bits you remembered? Jogging any old memories?"

"A few," she nodded, and squeezed her sister's motionless hand, "And I know there's a good bit coming up soon, a bit of family, and then the really bad bit. But I can deal with it. Do you think we can get to the parts I can remember before visiting hours end?"

Marco was going to reply with something like 'Of course!' in his normal confident way, but before the words came out of his mouth the figure in the bed stirred. Her eyes opened, and she gripped Destinee's hand weakly. There was a faint smile on her face, but she stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Good to see you awake," Destinee smiled, "We were just talking about..." and then she stopped. Even her carefree attitude realised there were places it might not be good to go.

"I heard," Her voice was soft, maybe a whisper or maybe muted by vocal chords unused to talking. She still slept for weeks or months in between her moments of lucidity, after all.

"Do you remember who you are?" Kris asked, "Who we are?"

"No. The doctors tell me my name, and I forget again. They say my childhood, all my memories before, are gone. But maybe it's just buried, I'm sure I remember reading about someone in one of those magazines." Sometimes her voice was too faint to be heard at all, and the others could only make out a few words. But there was enough to understand her meaning.

"Should we continue?" Destinee asked. Her sister's lips moved, and she nodded.

"Maybe there'll be bits you can remember too," Kris suggested.

"I have like one memory that sticks. Only one. I was going to visit Destinee, make sure she's okay. But that was before you changed your name, I think? I'm not sure. Then two men with guns came in, and the ceiling fell on me. That's all, until a doctor is telling me I've been in a coma for three years. But maybe if I can connect other memories to that one..."

"–those things might stay too," Destinee finished the sentence, "I thought the same."

"So, let's continue. Monty had the key, and she was going back to her house to let Hope out of the Box," Marco recapped.

"I wonder if she was scared," Ferrari added, "There was no way she could have known if those guys were still there or not."

"Were they there?" Kris asked, "I don't think I ever asked how you got them away from the house. Did they just give up because they couldn't find the Box? I'd have thought they must know there was a hidden safe there somewhere, you said they intercepted the silent alarm signal."

"No," Destinee beamed, "They didn't give up until they got the Box. They pulled up floorboards, followed the power lines from the breaker box to the safe, because it's on its own circuit, and blew it open with plastic explosive. Daddy was livid, I remember that much, and he was so relieved when he found out I had his precious sword, safe on campus. He wasn't even too upset that I stabbed somebody."

"Good to see you remembering something, too," Kris pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head, "The story's really helping now. So, the Box wasn't in the house then?"

"No," Ferrari shook her head, "Century thought they had it. But I'd already–"

"Century?" Marco interrupted.

"Century House, headquarters of MI6," Dwayne interrupted, "If the spy movies are to be believed, sometimes international operatives refer to their spies as working for Century if they're working for the good of the agency itself, rather than their purpose of protecting the country. You know, the corrupt senior agent using a team for his own ends."

"Yeah," Ferrari nodded, "They sent people to the house without checking with Tightrope. I probably got into that habit from movies, but it's a good name for them. Anyway, they thought they had the Box, but my brain was working overtime trying to get people to betray each other. My loyalty wasn't divided now, and I was determined to make sure the LUSARS team came out on top. There were rivalries between the police and the Security Service I could use, and friction between Century and the other Tightrope agencies. Even within the police, some officers have their own loyalties. I can tell you, when you see a law-enforcement operation running like a well-oiled machine, you don't realise how much chaos there is behind the scenes."

"If you ask me," Dwayne smirked, "It looked pretty chaotic on the ground too..."