Subjects

60 - Re-remember

"I vote lake," says Ben. "Ange?"

"Lake!"

"But it's freezing out there!" Eva says. "We can play twister."

Let the morning argument about today's activities commence!

"I'm with Eva on this," says Emily.

"But we played twister so many times already," Ben argues. "What do you say, Roger?"

"Sorry, Ben, the lake really is freezing," Roger says.

"Come on," Ben says. "We can't let Eva win again!"

"Hi," Eva says. "It's not my fault you are all bad at the only game we have in this house."

"Don't worry," Alice says. "Tomorrow I will get some new games when I go to town."

She, too, is tired of having to judge their games. The more they played, the more rules she had to make up. For example, the no tickling rule. Trust me, you don't want to know the events that lead up to the creation of this one.

"I just wish Roa would come back already," Emily says. "How long has it been since the last time she was here? Three weeks?"

"I think so," Eva says.

"We really got to talk to her about making me remember my superpower," Ben says.

As if on cue, they hear the rumble of Roa's motorcycle engine. Angie jumps up and runs to the door. The rest follow her, a little less excitedly. It takes Angie only a second to recognize her beat-up pen pal.

"You brought Jeff!" Angie runs up to them happily.

Roa steps off the motorcycle and starts to untie the crutches. She is forced to stop when she sees an energetic small creature charging at her.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Angie hugs Roa tightly. More like hugging her legs, actually, but it's the thought that counts. "Jeff!" Angie jumps at him next, nearly making him fall off his seat on the motorcycle.

"Ange! I missed you!" Jeff hugs the girl back.

"Jeff!" Ben is the next in line. "What are you doing here? I thought you were getting a new leg!"

"Didn't you hear?" Jeff says. "I'm the newest member of the nearly-killed-by-Roa club!"

Roa isn't smiling at the wink Jeff sends her way. In her line of work, having a club of people nearly killed by her is not exactly a good thing. However, as it seems she is no longer going to work as an assassin. She will let this club pass, for now.

In the living room, Roa takes her time letting everybody hug and catch up. She knows she will have to talk to them sooner or later. All of them are so nice to her, too nice to her. True, she did nothing bad to them, but she wasn't the nicest person either.

"There is something we need to talk about," Roa says, finally.

"Yes! Right, we were all waiting for you to come back," Ben says. "We need your help with something."

"I know," Roa says. "And I will help, although you may not like me very much after I do."

Now she has everyone's full attention.

"Why is that?" Emily asks.

"Because..." Roa begins to say, then she turns to Ben. "I need you to remember."

"Wait, how do you know?" Eva asks.

Roa doesn't manage to answer before Ben jumps up from his seat. "You!" He has trouble finding the right words. Charging at Roa seems useless, now that he remembers how that turned out last time.

"What is it, Ben?" Eva asks again. This time Roa turns to her and reminds her. Same with Emily and Roger.

"What is going on?" Alice asks the four.

"She made us forget!" Ben points an accusing finger at Roa.

"Why would you do that?" Eva asks.

"I wasn't sure if I can trust you!" Roa says. "I had to."

"You could have, you know, talked to us!" Eva says. She tries to keep her cool but she is so angry. Roa betrayed them.

"Can someone tell us what's going on?" Jeff interferes.

"I'll tell you what happened," Ben sits down again. "Last time Roa was here, she reminded me of my superpower."

"Superpower?" Jeff asks.

Angie, who sits right next to him, says, "I'll tell you later." She is very curious about what Ben has to say.

"I not only remembered what Leo taught me," Ben says. "I also figured it out, his plan for us."

"What is it, Ben?"

"I know what Leo wanted," Ben said. "I know what his plan was," Ben took a deep breath and started talking. "It's not a coincidence he took us to Midway. It was all a part of this operation," as he was talking, the memories got clearer. "Leo taught me how to operate a spaceship. But not just any spaceship. The one that's hidden at Midway! Everything he taught us, those abilities, he wanted us to use them. I don't know how everything fits together yet but-"

"I got it!" Emily jumped. "Leo didn't just teach me science, he gave me a bargaining chip! The experiment on earth was just the beginning."

"Right!" Emily says. "I remember now. How did I not figure this out sooner?"

"Figure what out?" Alice asks.

Roa feels a very unfamiliar feeling start to sink in as the story unfolds. She feels ashamed.

"They've been working to develop another gene, version two, and it is not for us. It is for other aliens! If they succeed here, they are planning to take over other planets. I'm guessing the blue ones you were talking about are next in line."

"How is this a bargaining chip?" Ben didn't get it yet, but Roger did.

"I don't think the Kacholamok will be too happy to hear that they have this plan to take on them," Roger explained. The name of the alien race still sounded very strange to the group.

"After all this time, we finally had a plan!" Eva says. "And you took it from us."

"I couldn't let you go through with it," Roa says. "Not without making a choice." She glances over at Jeff.

"What did you do?" Jeff asks.

"I had to make them forget it. All of it. I erased the conversation from their memories."

"You forced the conversation out of our memories!" Ben says.

"It was the only way. And I'm back now."

Ben still remembers the look on Roa's face right before she erased everything. She was frozen, processing.

"I am on your side."

"How can we trust you?" Roger asks.

"Yeah, how do we know you are not going to freak out and erase all our memories again?" Eva joins the attack.

"I won't."

"Very reassuring," Ben mutters.

"I won't because I will never again serve the ones that had my brother murdered. I will not see another planet destroyed by their greediness. I will not see another family torn apart on the way to their goal. Whether you trust me or not is your business, but I am going to bring them down. Even if I have to take them out one by one."

"I think that's a pretty good reason," Jeff says.

This time Roa has to try very hard to keep her smile under control.