The Squad

“Jason, you’re not a monster, and neither was he until he went experimenting. Though you do share some traits with him, because you’ve not dabbled in the things he did, you’ve been spared that. What I’m saying is that the potential is there, but not without experimentation.” I looked at him, confused as shit because I was.

I’ve long known that my body’s potential is a little bit different from others around me. It’s one of the reasons I’m so good at what I do, and the reason I refuse to look too closely at myself and my capabilities. “I see you’re confused, so let me spell it out for you. Do you know what the golden blood is?”

I shook my head because I didn’t. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s the rarest blood type in the world, otherwise known as RH-null. You happen to have RH-null as well as AB negative blood, which are the two rarest blood types documented anywhere. Rh-Null can be found in roughly fifty people all over the world; your mix is even rarer.”

“Your dad had RH-null blood, and because of this and his greed for money and power, allowed himself to be used in an experiment. His blood was crossed with that of an animal, the closest to humans, or the one that shares the most humanlike traits, and no, it’s not an ape. You know what it is, don’t you?”

I didn’t answer, just stared at him. Here is a man that I’d come to see as one of high intelligence ever since I’d done a run on him in the last few days since Gideon told me we were heading here. On paper, he has way above average intelligence, and though his personal and public life has been kept pretty much out of the limelight, it wasn’t hard to find enough to fit some of the pieces together, enough to form a picture of a well rounded, astute businessman. The shit that he was saying sounded more like a kook special on YouTube.

“What the fuck are you saying to him, Mancini?” Gideon stepped through the door, looking ready to kill.

“He needs to know this Thorpe; you can’t shield him from it forever.”

“I see why Flanagan almost took your fucking head off up there. Have you ever heard of tact?”

“Would you prefer that he live the rest of his life in fear? Afraid to have a family of his own, afraid of what he might become?” Gideon looked at me, speechless. This is something I’ve kept hidden from him for the past ten years, and this asshole just spilled it all over him.

“Jason? Is this true? Have you been afraid all this time? Is this why…?” He didn’t have to say anything more. Yes, it’s why as much as I love my family, and as protective as I am of them, I never let myself get too close. Why it always seems like I’m on the outside looking in.

I kept my head down, not wanting to look at either man. The shit was just too out there for me to deal with right now. “There’s nothing for you to be worried about or ashamed of. You’re perfect the way you are. You just happen to have a slight advantage over the rest of us when it comes to your abilities. I want to enhance them but not in the way your dad did.”

“What do you mean, Mancini? You’re not experimenting on my kid.”

“Which is it? Brother or son?”

“He’s fucking both, and I’ll end any fuck who thinks different.” Mancini actually grinned at this.

“I don’t want to experiment on him, note I said enhance. The kid’s not using all of his strengths right now; I want to bring them all to the forefront.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

“Training, of course. Why do you think he’s so good at what he does? He doesn’t even know himself. With the right training, he’d be damn near unstoppable. His senses Gideon, are sharper than the average human’s. He has the ability to feel everything or nothing at all.”

I have no idea what the fuck he’s talking about, but the way Gideon was looking at him, I wasn’t sure he was long for this world.

Lyon

As soon as Mancini left the room, I looked for a quiet corner to get two minutes downtime. No one has mentioned anything about the stuff we’d learned here today; I guess the boys were still processing the fact that their lives have been changed in a second. I sat with my eyes closed, and my mind going to blank. I’m not thinking about the shit Mancini dropped in my lap, not right now, too much to take in at once.

The others were still looking into the new case Mancini had mentioned as a distraction, but I’m sure they all pretty much know what the hell is going on there. From the little bit, Mancini had all you have to do is follow the breadcrumbs, which is what I guess he has those two kids doing. As to what the hell was going on there, that too is very obvious. Someone was avenging some shit that these nasty fucks had done to either them or a loved one in the past.