Broken Masks

Chapter 30 - Study

(A/N: This is page 73 on my pages doc... my iPad is going to kill me one of these days)

TJ rushed into the room, shoving the tree that was Tommy out of the way, and took their place kneeling in front of Klaus. He grabbed his beloved's hand, dragging it off the table like it was superglued there, and held it in his own. Klaus's fingers didn't move, didn't squeeze back when TJ squeezed. They were like rocks; solid, ridged and cold.

So, so cold.

"Klaus?" TJ whispered. Klaus didn't respond.

"A1M?" Tommy asked suddenly, an idea floating in their head.

Klaus's head snapped towards Tommy, his eyes staring emotionlessly at the officer.

"A1M reporting." He answered, voice monotone.

"Where are we right now?" Tommy questioned.

"We are in the Citywide Official Police Headquarters, Fitch floor, Interrogation Room 3. The time is 16:27." He listed. TJ felt his heart drop. Lena turned to her friend.

"Tobes, go grab a hot drink and sit down somewhere. This is hard enough for you as it is. Tommy and I will sort it?" She stated, looking to Tommy, who was still half sprawled on the floor from TJ's unceremonious shove, with pleading eyes. They nodded, giving TJ a soft, reassuring smile.

"He'll be fine, we can sort it out." They told him gently, their reassuring smile giving TJ a little sense of hope.

"Fine. But tell me if he... comes back," TJ answered, half reluctantly, before leaving the room.

* * *

Lena slid a sheet of paper in front of Klaus. On it, a set of questions, with a box underneath left blank for the answers. The layout of the question sheet was identical to that which was used by the Brain Manipulation Unit during it's glory days, the original being kept in a safe as one of the few surviving documents from the raid on the facility. On it, the questions had been changed, from quizzing rules, breaking down attack and defence strategies, and other more disturbing topics, to far tamer questions:

What is your full birth name?

What is the code and birth name of your 'sister'?

At what age were you introduced to the Brain Manipulation UNIT?

Give a full list of your super human abilities.

Lena turned to Klaus.

"A1M. You have a half hour to fill in and answer correctly every question on this sheet. Your time starts now." And she started a stopwatch. Tommy, from the chair he had taken up in the corner, started scribbling on a notepad in front of him at the same time that Klaus turned to the questions and began answering in a robotic hand writing similar to computer text.

Lena watched as Klaus completed the paper, each answer box being filled quickly, precisely, and with no mistakes. Not a single word was crossed out. It was honestly rather scary; the eyes showing no emotion.

30 minutes later, Lena took back the sheet.

Stepping outside, Tommy by her side, she found TJ sat on the hard, plastic chair outside, two empty coffee cups on the floor beside him and a third, half drank, in his hands. His left knee bouncing rapidly.

"Tobes, he finished the test."

TJ stood hurriedly, kicking over the empty cups in his haste, and followed as Lena and Tommy began walking down the corridor to Lena's office. Once inside, Lena took her sheet behind her desk, TJ fell into the plush armchair beside it, and Tommy leaned against the wall on her other side.

"So. On this test, Klaus was given and answered a series of questions regarding himself, this 'sister', and his upbringing in the Brain Manipulation UNIT. I haven't read this yet; I thought it would be better if we all heard it at the same time." Lena explained. TJ and Tommy nodded in agreement.

"Start from the top." Tommy suggested. Lena nodded.

"Ok, here we go."

"Klaus Abby, birth name Alois Cain Laber, was born in Derin on xx/xx/xx, to Louisa and Marcus Laber. At the age of 6, he was removed from his family and transferred to the Brain Manipulation UNIT and given the code name A1M, standing for Conditioning Subject A Grade, 1st Class, Melguard. At the age of 10, he was introduced to his conditioning subject pair, or 'sister', A2M, birth name Athena Godson. They were taught, conditioned and brain washed together, but Athena appeared more responsive to the indoctrination.

"When the two subjects turned 12, their powers were unlocked through a procedure the Brian Manipulation UNIT called the Unlocking Process. Both subjects' powers are the same. Increased speed, strength, healing speed and..."

"And?" TJ pressed.

"And shadow manipulation."

And then they heard the scream.