"Your father wasn't responsible for the 7/15 incident 12 years ago... he was framed."
That sentence that Chloe spoke to him echoed in Justin's head the entire night. It also brought up a lot of questions and created mixed feelings towards his father as Justin laid in his bed staring at the ceiling in the dark.
Suddenly, Justin heard someone entering through the front door which made him get out of bed.
"Mom." Justin called as he came downstairs.
"Justin, what are you still doing up?" Sarah asked.
"I couldn't sleep, how'd the interrogation go?" Justin asked.
"Not good, just like Brody and Speed Demon, Pulse isn't saying anything, and since Tony is dead, we can't interrogate him." Sarah replied as she took a seat on the couch.
"Pulse?!" Justin inquired with a confused tone as he took a seat beside her.
"Oh, I mean Roman." Sarah clarified.
"Are we seriously giving these guys code names?" Justin asked.
"Well Jones was the one who named him, plus I kinda like it." Sarah.
"Well…. what about Otto, did you manage to track him down?" Justin further questioned, wanting to be up to date with everything.
"No, the blood trail he left behind disappeared a few blocks out, we couldn't track him." Sarah replied, delivering more bad news.
"But my motherly intuition is telling me that there's something else on your mind." Sarah added as she read Justin's facial expressions.
"Yeah, there is, when you came to rescue me, you took down ten guys and even cut one of their heads off without hesitating, just where'd you learn how to fight like that?" Justin asked.
Sarah froze for a moment with a look of shame on her face.
"I um…. I was…." Sarah began shakily, finding it so hard to tell Justin the truth about herself.
"Let's just say I had a past before I was your mother and leave it at that for now okay." Sarah stated, choosing to keep that secret to herself.
Justin noticed from her demeanor that she wasn't comfortable talking about this and decided to let it go for now.
"Is that all that's on your mind?" Sarah asked as she noticed from his body language that there was something else that was still troubling him.
Justin took a breath before he asked the question that he was really dying to ask.
"It's about 7/15, what exactly happened with dad that night twelve years ago?" Justin asked, getting it out of the way like ripping off a band-aid.
"Wha…. What do you mean? you already know what happened." Sarah answered as his question caught her off guard.
"Do I know what really happened though." he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Justin, where's this coming from?" Sarah asked, realizing that he knew something.
"It's just... is there something you're not telling me about that night? about dad?" asked Justin.
"Of course not, I'm not hiding anything from you."
"Okay…. if you did know something…. you'd tell me, right?" he asked.
"Of course, I would sweetie." Sarah replied, as she hugged him unaware that Chloe and his friends had overheard everything and told him.
As he was in his mother's warm embrace, Justin became a bit angry; knowing that his mother just lied not once but twice to his face, yet he decided to play it cool.
"Alright, goodnight." He said as he got up and went upstairs to his room.
"Yeah, goodnight." Sarah replied, realizing that he knew something.
As Justin was walking upstairs, he decided to let this go for now, thinking that she must have a good reason for lying to him.... at least he hoped.
THE NEXT DAY
"Morning." Justin greeted his mom as he came downstairs ready for school.
"Good morning, I made your favorite for breakfast this morning." Sarah announced.
"Actually, I'm not really hungry." Justin replied as he was about to walk out the front door.
"Can't wait to meet up with Chloe and your new friends right." Sarah teased.
"Um…. yeah, that's right, I'm going to meet up with them." Justin lied.
"I'm really glad that you have friends now, you should invite them for dinner sometime." Sarah suggested.
"Yeah, I'll definitely think about it, but I'm going to be late for school, so I better get going..." Justin answered, wanting to leave.
"Oh yeah, okay, well have a good day." Sarah spoke, playing along even though she knew he was an hour early at least.
"Thanks, bye Mom." Justin threw over his shoulder as he left.
Sarah noticed that Justin just wanted to get out of having to talk to her, she realized that it might be because of their conversation last night.
AN HOUR LATER AT SCHOOL
The school hallway was full of students finding their classes before first period started, as they did every day. Justin stepped through the school doors and walked down the hallway to his locker. Justin could feel the gazes of his peers on him as he walked past them, it was the usual ever since he transferred back to Washington Heights.
"Hey, you." a female voice called.
Justin turned around and even smiled a bit when he saw who it was.
"Hey Amethyst." Justin greeted.
"You didn't show up for school yesterday, I thought you might've been sick or something." Amethyst voiced.
"No, I'm alright, something just came up yesterday is all." Justin replied.
"There you are, I've been calling you... oh, hi Amethyst." Chloe interrupted as she walked up to them with Max and Kade.
"Hey Chloe, Hey guys." Amethyst greeted them.
"Hey Amethyst." Max replied.
"Wass up Amethyst, you're looking really nice, as usual." Kade spoke as he was attempting to flirt with Amethyst.
"Cough! BETA! Cough!" Max spoke as he mocked Kade.
Kade glared at Max as everyone laughed at Max's joke.
"Thanks; Did you guys study for the science test today?" Amethyst inquired.
"Crap, I forgot that was today!" Chloe grumbled as she and the others started to panic.
"We're so screwed, Ms. Hamilton is a tough grader." Kade added.
"You mean you're screwed." Max voiced, so confident he'd pass.
"Guess I know who I'm sitting beside in the exam." Kade said with a smirk on his face.
"You're not cheating off of my paper." Max spat as he shut Kade down.
"What?!, why not?" Kade asked.
"Because I said so." Max replied with a stoic look on his face.
"Y-you traitor." Kade spoke in a deep voice.
"What about you Justin? Chloe mentioned that you're kind of a science wiz." Kade turned around and asked.
"You know we should really get to class since we don't want to be late." Justin changed the topic as he pretended not to hear him.
"What about you Chloe? Can you…." Kade began before he was cut off.
"Bye!" Chloe spoke as she walked past him with the others before Kade could even finish his question.
"Hmmph!, with friends like these." Kade mumbled to himself as he and the others made their way to class.
"Hey, should we let Amethyst in on the secret?" Kade whispered to Justin, Max and Chloe while Amethyst was further in front, unable to hear them.
"No, I can't let anyone else know about my powers, the A.D.A, or any of this stuff, especially not Amethyst since her father made me promise that I wouldn't involve her. Besides, I'm still in trouble for bringing you guys into this." Justin whispered back.
"Why are you guys walking so slow?" Amethyst turned around and asked.
"Your books look heavy Amethyst; I can carry them for you." Kade flirted once again.
"No, I'm fine." Amethyst replied.
"Cough! SIMP! Cough!" Max mocked Kade again.
"Shut up." Kade spat as everyone laughed.
TWO HOURS LATER
"Where'd Justin go?" Max asked as he and the rest of the class exited the science test.
"Yeah, he was the first one to finish the exam." Chloe added as she, Max and Kade looked for him in the crowd.
MEANWHILE
Justin went on the roof of the school to be alone with his thoughts since it was free period.
"And here I thought that I was the only one who came up here to think; looks like you found my spot." Amethyst voiced as she walked through the door.
"Oh, I didn't know." Justin replied.
"Don't worry, you now have my permission to be up here." Amethyst said as they both laughed.
"So, what's on your mind?" she asked.
"What makes you think I have something on my mind?" Justin asked.
"Well, I usually come up here if I need to think, and right now you look like you have a lot to think about, so what's wrong? you can tell me." Amethyst said as she read him like a book.
"This stays between us, right?" Justin asked.
"Of course." She assured him.
"It's just…. I recently learned something important about my father that has changed the way I feel towards him, making me realize that he's not the person I thought he was." Justin began to explain.
"Really? what did you learn?" Amethyst asked as she became intrigued.
"I found out that he might not have been responsible for the 7/15 incident twelve years ago, and I know that my mom is lying to me for some reason, so I'm thinking that I should just let it go since she must have a reason for keeping all this a secret." Justin continued.
"You want my honest opinion?" Amethyst asked.
"Well, I mean…. as long as it's honest." Justin said.
"If it was me and I learned something like that about my mom, I wouldn't let it go, I would do anything and everything to find out the truth; he was your father Justin, you deserve to know the truth about him." Amethyst voiced.
"What happened to her? If you don't mind me asking." asked Justin.
"She died in an explosion when I was really young." She replied.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Justin expressed his condolences.
"Thanks, so are you going to take my advice?" Amethyst asked him.
"I want to, but if what I've learnt is the truth then that means that I've spent most of my life hating my father for something that wasn't even true."
"Don't worry about that, at least you know the truth now." Amethyst encouraged as she placed her arm around Justin's shoulders to cheer him up.
"The question is… now that you know the truth…. what are you going to do?" she asked.
With the help of Amethyst's words of wisdom, it became clear to Justin as to what his next course of action should be.
"I knew I'd find you up here." Duncan spoke as he surprisingly walked through the door looking for Amethyst.
Duncan was shocked to see Amethyst so close to Justin with her hand around his shoulders.
"Duncan! why didn't you tell me that you were getting out of the hospital?" Amethyst asked as she removed her hand from around Justin and hugged Duncan.
"I wanted to surprise you." Duncan replied as he hugged her back and glared at Justin.
"Glad to see that you're alright." Justin spoke, trying to break the ice.
"Yeah thanks." Duncan replied.
"What are you doing up here with him?" Duncan whispered to Amethyst.
"We were just talking, why? what's the problem?" Amethyst asked.
"It's.... it's nothing, forget about it." Duncan said.
"Okay, well free period is almost over so we should go back before class starts." Amethyst told them.
As the three of them arrived back in the hallway, Duncan received a warm welcome from teachers and his peers, especially his female peers, like a soldier returning home from war.
"Hey guys." Duncan greeted Max, Chloe and Kade.
The three of them greeted him and welcomed him back.
"Justin, where did you go? we've been looking for you." Kade asked his friend.
"Oh, I just needed to clear my head." Justin replied.
"Is this about what we heard about your dad?" Max questioned.
"Yeah, I've decided not to let this go, after school I'm going to my mom and I'm demanding the truth." Justin filled them in.
"Good, you deserve to know the truth." Chloe supported his decision.
"Oh, I forgot to ask, are you guys going to the winter dance coming up?" Amethyst asked as she walked over.
"Yeah, I'm going." Max answered.
"Wouldn't miss it." Chloe answered.
"You know I'm going; I mean it wouldn't be much fun if I didn't go." Kade spoke, singing his own praises.
"Justin, what about you?" Amethyst asked.
"I don't think so, school events aren't really my thing, and neither is dancing." Justin declined.
"Oh, come on, it'll be fun, and if it's the dancing you're worried about, I could even teach you." Amethyst tried convincing him.
"I don't know…" Justin contemplated.
"I'll even teach you how to dance." Amethyst added while laughing.
"Alright, if you insist." Justin chuckled.
"Good, I'll see you guys then." Amethyst said, turning to leave.
Justin's eyes were glued to Amethyst as she walked away.
"Looks like someone has a little crush." Max teased as he nudged Justin in the arm.
"What are you talking about?" Justin asked, attempting to deny it.
"I'm talking about Amethyst, obviously." Max replied.
"I thought I was the only one who noticed, but you're probably wasting your time." Chloe interjected.
"Yeah, because I got dibs on her." Kade joined in.
"You literally have dibs on any girl with a heartbeat." Max spat.
Kade paused for a second.
"What's wrong with that?" Kade asked.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted…. you're probably wasting your time since you already know that she's dating Duncan." Chloe continued, ignoring Kade in the process.
"They've only started dating for a few weeks, who knows, he might have a chance." Max spoke.
"Since we're friends now and all, I'll let you have Amethyst." Kade added.
"Assuming she was ever yours to give away in the first place." Chloe replied.
"Come on, we both know you have a permanent residence in the friend zone with that girl." Max added to Chloe's statement.
"Why you gotta hate man?" Kade asked.
"Guys, seriously, I don't have a crush." Justin tried to convince them…. and himself.
"Sure kid." Max replied sarcastically as he patted him on the shoulder.
As they were talking, a guy walked between them and deliberately pushed Justin to the side and kept on walking.
"Hey, you need glasses or something, why don't you watch where you're going." Justin spat.
The stranger turned around and glared at Justin, he was wearing the school's red and black letterman jacket like the one Duncan wears which made it evident that he was a jock.
"What's your problem?" Justin asked bravely.
"You." He replied.
"Leave him alone Eddie." Max tried to mediate.
"I wasn't talking to you." Eddie said he had a reputation for being a big jerk and a bit of a bully.
"Why don't you go back to wherever you came from, look around, can't you see that nobody wants you here." Eddie pointed out.
Justin looked around at everyone in the hallway and saw resentment on their faces as they looked back at him like a freak.
"Just leave me alone alright." Justin insisted.
"Or what, you're gonna kidnap me and do experiments on me.... like your crazy father?" Eddie patronized.
That comment made Justin so angry that he started to clench his fist.
"You really need to back off." Chloe stepped in between them noticing Justin's clench fist and tried to stop the situation from escalating before Justin did something that he'd regret.
"Come on Eddie, lay off." Duncan spoke as he placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Huh? since when are you two friends?" Eddie questioned as he found it weird that Duncan was coming to Justin's rescue.
"Just stop." Duncan insisted.
Realizing that he couldn't do anything to a girl especially in front of so many people and accepted defeat in that moment.
"Whatever bitch." Eddie spat as he proceeded to walk away.
"What did you call me?" she asked defensively.
"You heard me." Eddie scoffed.
Chloe, who had an even shorter fuse at times when she's insulted, kicked Eddie right in his balls.
"Ugh!" Eddie groaned, as he fell to his knees.
"Who's the bitch now?" Chloe mocked as she walked away while Eddie was lying on the floor writhing in agony.
"Um…. thanks for that." Justin spoke surprised.
"Yeah, don't mention it, come on, let's get out of here." Chloe suggested as she was still fuming.
"Remind me to never get her angry." Kade spoke.
"No kidding." Max replied with shock evident on his face.
"Give me a second you, guys." Justin spoke as he went to talk to Duncan.
"Why did you step in like that? I thought you didn't like me." Justin inquired.
"Yeah, I am sorry for how I acted before, I let my anger get the better of me...," Duncan voiced.
"Really? That's um..." Justin was saying before he was interrupted.
"Don't get me wrong, I still don't like you, I know you aren't who you pretend to be." Duncan stated.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Justin played dumb.
"I might not remember all the details but I'm sure that we both were inside the locker room when it exploded, and yet I had to go to the hospital for treatment while you don't even have a scratch on you." Duncan pointed out.
"I just got lucky, I guess." Justin lied.
"Sure." Duncan said sarcastically.
"I still think that you had something to do with that night twelve years ago." Duncan expressed the lingering hatred he had for him because his father died that night.
"No, I didn't have anything to do with that night." Justin spoke up.
"Oh yeah, then how did baby you appear in the crater after that monster disappeared?" Duncan asked a good question.
"I…. I…." Justin tried to come up with something to say, but he didn't know the answer to that question.
"See, I knew you were hiding something, and something tells me that you don't want her to find out what it is." Duncan said as he subtly pointed at Amethyst as Justin turned around.
Duncan walked away as Max, Chloe and Kade walked towards Justin.
"That didn't exactly seem like a good conversation." Chloe said.
"Yeah, what was that about?" Max asked.
Justin began telling them about what really happened to the locker rooms, which caused Duncan to go the hospital.
"So, you blew up the locker rooms?" Kade asked surprised.
"Not intentionally, my powers had just started manifesting so I couldn't control it." Justin explained.
"Do you think he remembers anything?" Max asked.
"No, I don't think so." Justin replied.
"Well let's hope it stays that way." Chloe spoke.
AFTER SCHOOL
"I can't believe you kicked him in the balls." said Kade as they were leaving the campus.
"I mean it's not like he didn't deserve it." Chloe mumbled.
"Hey, the way Eddie harassed you and the way everyone looked at you…. Is it always like this for you?" Chloe turned to Justin and asked.
"Yeah, pretty much, but I've been through worst." Justin shed some light on some of his struggles making them realize how bad he really had it up until now.
"Well, you won't have to go through that alone anymore." Chloe assured him.
Justin looked at Max and Kade and they both nodded at him showing that they shared Chloe's sentiment.
"Um…. thanks." Justin said, as he looked away with an embarrassed look on his face since he still wasn't used to receiving this kind of kindness.
"Hey, what's with that look on your face." Chloe teased as she rubbed her hand through his hair.
"Alright, alright, cut that out." Justin spoke as the other three laughed.
"Justin, are you still going to confront your mom for the truth?" Max asked.
"Yeah, I'll catch up with you guys later." Justin replied as he went in the opposite direction.
Justin went to the A.D.A to confront his mother for the truth.
"Justin? I didn't know you were coming in today." Sarah voiced as she was talking to Director Stone.
"We need to talk?" Justin said in a serious tone.
"Ok, I'll give you two some privacy." said Director Stone as he was about to walk away.
"No, you should stay since this probably involves you." Justin suggested.
"Okay, what is it?" Sarah asked.
"I need you to tell me about dad, about what really happened that night." Justin began, getting straight to the point.
"But we already had this conversation last night…." Sarah said.
"Mom please stop, I know that he was framed, so tell me the truth this time." Justin demanded.
"How did you find that out?" Sarah questioned.
"Chloe and my friends overheard you when you were talking to Miles Drake." Justin stated.
"I think it's time we told him Sarah." Director Stone suggested.
"What?! No, I don't want him getting mixed up in all this anymore than he already is, telling him all this will only bring up more questions that he'll want the answers to." Sarah argued.
"Which is why it's better he gets those answers from us before he seeks them from someone else." Director Stone explained his reasons.
"Miles has been helping us over the years to find out who framed Joe, so we can exonerate him. We realized that it had to have been someone within H.T.I. who did it, Miles even became C.E.O so that it would give him more power, but so far, we haven't been able to get to the bottom of things." Director Stone explained.
"But we may have found a lead today, I did some background checks on our little friend Otto, it turns out that he used to be an H.T.I employee and now is helping to continue the same experiments that your father is being accused of, which I think is kind of suspicious." Sarah added.
"Which is why I am going to stop by H.T.I tomorrow to see what information I can gather, why don't you come with me?" Director Stone suggested.
"What? No! I'll come with you." Sarah insisted.
"No, you need to track down Otto in the meantime, you're the only one with the skills to do it, don't worry, we can handle this." Director Stone assured her.
"So, what do you say Justin, you up for it?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm in." Justin replied.
THE NEXT DAY
Justin stood outside the H.T.I tower which is one of the tallest buildings in New York City.
"What's taking him so long?" Justin mumbled, looking at the time on his phone counting the seconds as he waited for Director Stone.
"Sorry I'm late, were you waiting long?" Director Stone asked, as he made his tardy appearance.
"Yeah, I was starting to think you forgot." Justin replied.
"Well, I'm here now, come on, let's get inside." Director Stone said as they both walked through the doors and walked towards the receptionist's desk.
"Hello Monica." Director Stone spoke as he read her name tag.
"Hello again Mr. Stone, what can I do for you?" asked Monica.
"I came because I need some information on this man." Director Stone said as he showed her a picture of Otto.
"Otto?" Monica said, surprised.
"I was hoping you would know him." He said as he put the picture away.
"Yes, I do, since Mr. Drake has made you and Ms. Jackson authorized personnel, you can have a look through the personnel files." Monica revealed.
"Thank you, stay here." Director Stone instructed Justin.
Justin had his own ulterior motive for coming to H.T.I, so he went to the receptionist as well.
"Um… hi, I'm here to see Miles Drake." Justin spoke.
"Do you have an appointment?" Monica asked.
"No, but it's important, I came to speak to him about my father, Joe Jackson." Justin stated.
"You're… Justin." Monica voiced as she realized who he was.
Monica called Miles's office phone to inform him that he had an unexpected visitor.
"Good morning Mr. Drake, you have a visitor." Monica announced.
"I'm really busy right now, can you tell them to make an appointment." Miles suggested over the phone.
"Sir, its Joe Jackson's son, Justin.
There was a dramatic pause for a while after Miles heard who was there to see him.
"Monica, can you delay all my meetings for the day and send him up." asked Miles.
"He'll see you now." Monica told Justin.
Justin went to the top floor of the building where Miles' office was.
"Hello Justin, I've haven't seen you since you were three years old." Miles greeted Justin as he stepped into his office.
"Yeah, it's nice to see you again." said Justin as he shook his hand.
"So…. what brings you here." Miles asked.
"I came here to talk to you about my father, and to find out who framed him." Justin revealed, wanting to hear the truth from him since he had doubts that his mother and Director Stone were telling him the truth.
"Oh, so I take it that your mother finally told you everything." Miles assumed.
"Yeah, but only after I confronted her about lying to me this whole time." Justin answered.
Miles told Justin everything that he's found out about the framing and cover up so far and regretted telling him that he still has no idea about who's responsible.
"Sometimes I wonder how we got here, Joe's research was all about helping people, we were going to change the world, and now we're in this mess." Miles spoke.
Justin realized that all this time he never took an interest in his father's work despite their shared interest in science.
"Mr. Drake..." Justin started as he was getting ready to ask a question.
"Please, Justin, just call me Miles." He insisted.
"Oh okay, Miles, would you mind showing me some of the things he created, if you still have any?" Justin asked.
"I don't see why not, come with me." Miles agreed as he led the way.
While Miles was showing him some of the things his father created, Miles took the time to explain what each device did and the two of them would also have scientific discussions which made Miles realize that Justin might possess his father's genius; Justin was then made aware of all the great things that his father has done and things he was trying to do. Despite the terrible reputation that he gained soon afterwards.
"You really are smart for your age, why don't you visit more often so I can pick that brain of yours sometime." Miles invited.
"Sure, that sounds cool." Justin accepted the invitation.
"Alright, I think I've delayed my meetings long enough, until next time Justin." Miles voiced.
"Yeah, till next time." Justin said as they both proceeded to leave.
Justin went back to the first floor before Director Stone came back to realize that he was gone. Justin looked at Monica and Monica looked away almost immediately which he found suspicious. Then he remembered that she was also acting weird when Justin told her his name; so, he went over to talk to her.
"Your name is Monica right." Justin asked.
"Yes, it is, anything I can help you with?" Monica asked, trying to keep calm.
"Did you know my father well?" Justin began digging for answers.
"Yes, I did, I think it's terrible, all the things that happened that ruined his image and caused so much trouble for your family.
"Do you know anything about him being framed for the 7/15 incident twelve years ago?" Justin asked.
"What…. no...I don't know anything about that." Monica tried playing dumb.
"Are you sure?" Justin asked again since he wasn't buying it.
"Listen, a little friendly advice, be careful of the kind of questions you ask around here, before you find yourself in the middle of something dangerous." Monica advised.
"What do you mean by that?" Justin asked.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid it's time for you to vacate the premises." Monica dismissed him.
"Wait…. please, he was my farther and I must know the truth, so if you know something, anything at all, please tell me." Justin pleaded with her.
"Sigh, alright listen, you aren't the first person to realize that there was something fishy about what happened twelve years ago, two people who worked here even attempted to investigate." Monica explained.
"Where can I find them?" Justin questioned.
"You can't, they both died under suspicious circumstances right after they started investigating, and I don't think that's a coincidence. Which is why I'm urging you to stay out of this, but if your anything like your father, I know you're not gonna stop until you get to the truth." Monica stated.
"Do you have any idea as to who's responsible?" Justin inquired.
"Sorry, that's all the questions I'm answering, because I believe he's still watching, and I'm pretty sure he'll kill me if he knew that I was telling anyone this." Monica said as fear was evident on her face.
"He? who's he?" Justin asked.
"I don't know, his voice is always disguised, and he never shows his face, he always stays in the shadows." Monica revealed.
With that description Justin knew exactly who she was talking about.
"The man in the shadows." Justin spoke.
"But I will tell you this, you should stay away from Mr. Stone, I really don't think you can trust him." Monica advised.
"What? why?" Justin asked, confused.
"After the first employee died suspiciously, he was the one that sealed the records, then the second employee realized that there was something weird going on and started looking into Mr. Stone, soon after that, he died too, the next day that…. man in the shadows paid me a visit to intimidate me, once again I don't think that was a coincidence." Monica explained, implying that Director Stone is the man in the shadows.
"There's no way it's him, right?" Justin started to question himself.
Monica took out a flash drive that was hidden in her desk that had files that could help him.
"Here, maybe there's something on here that can help you." Monica spoke as she took Justin's hand and subtly slipped the flash drive into his hand without anyone noticing.
"Thank you." Justin spoke, expressing gratitude.
"I managed to ascertain some files about that but most of them are encrypted, but I wasn't able to decrypt them, and I stopped trying when people started dying because of this; maybe you'll gave better luck." said Monica as she was trying to get rid of him before things began to look suspicious.
"I understand, I can handle the decrypting." said Justin.
"I do hope you find what you're looking for, but for your sake, don't come back here, and stay away from Mr. Stone." Monica urged him.
"Hey, what are you two talking about?" Director Stone asked, appearing suddenly.
"Um… nothing important, did you get what you were looking for?" Justin tried to change the subject.
"More or less." Director Stone replied.
"Goodbye Monica." Director Stone spoke, before leaving the building.
Justin slipped the flash drive into his pocket before Director Stone noticed it.
"So why was Monica telling you to stay away from me." Director Stone asked as he overheard the last part of their conversation.
"What? when did she say that? "Justin tried to play dumb.
"I could've sworn I heard her say that." Director Stone said.
"Nah, you must be hearing things." Justin lied, being as convincing as he could but wasn't sure if he believed him.
LATER THAT EVENING
Monica was one of the few people still left at the H.T.I tower after closing time. Monica started to pack her things as she was getting ready to leave when she heard a weird sound.
"Hello, is…. is someone there?" Monica asked.
Two men stepped up out of the shadows and they both worked for the shadow man.
"Who are you two?" she asked them but didn't get an answer.
Then she noticed another figure in the shadows.
"It's been a while since our last chat Monica...." The shadowy figure said in a disguised voice that she recognized and instantly knew who it was.
"What do you want from me." Monica asked as she started to panic.
For what was probably the first time, he stepped out of the shadows and showed his face.
"It was you, this whole time, it was you." Monica voiced, shocked when she realized it was someone that she knew.
"The boy, did you tell him the truth about his father? about what really happened that night?" he asked.
"No, I didn't, I swear, and I'm not going to tell him anything, I promise." Monica answered.
"I know you won't, because I'll make sure of it." He said.
THE NEXT DAY AT THE A.D.A
"Morning." Justin greeted, as he walked into Director Stone's quarters.
"Morning." Director Stone returned the greeting.
"Did you find out anything about Otto from the information you got yesterday." Justin asked.
"Not much...." Director Stone began before he was interrupted by the daily news segment on the monitor.
"And this just in, Thirty-Steven year old Monica Parker was found dead earlier this morning, the cause of death is still unclear." The news anchor reported.
Upon hearing this, Justin looked at the monitor and saw Monica's picture on the screen.
"Really, and we just saw her yesterday, Justin, Justin?" Director Stone called his name, but Justin was in shock and didn't hear anything.
Justin didn't want to believe the things that Monica had said about Director Stone but with the fact that Director Stone overheard her telling him to stay away from him and this news about her sudden death made Justin realize that maybe there was some truth to what she said.
"JUSTIN!" Director Stone called out again.
"Huh? What?" Justin spoke.
"Are you alright." Director Stone asked, seeming nonchalant.
"Yeah, I have to go." Justin spoke, as he turned around and proceeded to leave.
"Alright." Director Stone spoke, realizing something was up.
Justin walked away asking himself.... If Director Stone and the Man in the shadows, are one and the same.
~KEOKROSTOS