Chapter 6
2024 Words
The Offer
The abandoned factory had become a temporary home for JJ and Ricky.
It wasn't comfortable, but it was safe enough.
For several weeks, they had managed to stay hidden. They ate whatever food they could obtain, explored the city during the day, and returned to the factory before nightfall.
But their situation was becoming harder.
They needed money.
They needed identification.
They needed somewhere that didn't have broken windows and rusty machinery.
Most importantly, they needed a way to build a life outside Orion Division.
Ricky had begun looking for work.
JJ couldn't easily explain himself to strangers. Without a voice, almost every ordinary interaction became complicated.
Ricky usually spoke for him.
That had always been their arrangement.
But now it was becoming a problem.
One afternoon, Ricky returned to the factory with a newspaper.
He dropped it onto the floor.
"Nothing."
JJ looked at him.
Ricky shook his head.
"Every job wants identification."
JJ looked down.
"We don't have any."
JJ picked up the newspaper and looked through it.
Most of the advertisements meant nothing to him.
Then something caught his attention.
A small advertisement for a restaurant was looking for workers.
Ricky noticed it too.
He smiled.
"Maybe they'll take us."
JJ looked doubtful.
Ricky shrugged.
"We have to try."
---
The next morning, they went to the restaurant.
Ricky did most of the talking.
The owner asked several questions.
Where were they from?
Where were their parents?
Why didn't they have identification?
Why were they looking for work?
Ricky struggled to answer.
JJ stood beside him, completely silent.
Eventually, the owner shook his head.
"I'm sorry."
They left.
JJ walked down the street with his hands in his pockets.
Ricky followed.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Then Ricky broke the silence.
"We'll find something."
JJ looked at him.
Ricky smiled.
"We always do."
JJ smiled back.
Neither of them noticed the black car parked across the street.
Inside it, two people watched them.
One of them held a photograph.
It showed JJ.
The other showed Ricky.
The driver looked at the photographs.
"Confirmed."
The passenger nodded.
"How long have they been here?"
"Long enough."
"Does Orion know?"
The driver smiled.
"They're about to."
---
That evening, JJ and Ricky returned to the factory.
Something felt different.
Ricky noticed it immediately.
He stopped at the entrance.
JJ looked at him.
"Wait."
Ricky closed his eyes and focused on the thoughts around them.
Nothing.
Then—
A thought.
Someone was nearby.
Ricky's expression changed.
"Someone knows we're here."
JJ immediately became alert.
A car pulled into the abandoned parking lot.
Its headlights illuminated the factory.
JJ raised his hand.
Ricky grabbed his arm.
"Wait."
The car stopped.
Two people stepped out.
One was a man wearing a dark suit.
The other was a woman carrying a briefcase.
They walked toward the entrance.
The man stopped several feet away.
"JJ."
JJ froze.
Ricky stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The man looked at him.
"We're not here to hurt you."
Ricky laughed.
"That's exactly what people say before they hurt someone."
The man smiled.
"Fair enough."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out an identification card.
"Our organization has been monitoring the activities of Orion Division for years."
JJ's expression hardened.
The name immediately brought back memories.
The laboratories.
The guards.
The tests.
Ricky stepped closer.
"What do you want?"
The man looked directly at JJ.
"We want to offer him a job."
Ricky stared at him.
"A job?"
"Yes."
Ricky laughed.
"You're serious?"
The man nodded.
"We know what JJ can do."
JJ remained silent.
The man continued.
"We also know what Orion Division did to him."
Ricky's expression became suspicious.
"And you expect us to believe you're different?"
"We're offering him a choice."
The man opened the briefcase.
Inside was a small device.
JJ stared at it.
The man removed a photograph.
It showed a sophisticated medical device.
JJ immediately recognized what it was.
A prosthetic voice system.
A new voice box.
His eyes widened.
Ricky noticed.
"No."
JJ looked at him.
Ricky shook his head.
"JJ, don't."
The man smiled.
"We can give him his voice back."
---
For years, JJ had learned to live without his voice.
He had learned to communicate through gestures, writing and expressions.
But that didn't mean he had stopped wishing he could speak.
There were countless things he wanted to say.
He wanted to tell his mother that he was alive.
He wanted to ask his father why he had abandoned him.
He wanted to thank Ricky.
Not through a piece of paper.
Not through a gesture.
Not through someone else's voice.
He wanted to say it himself.
The man noticed the conflict in JJ's expression.
"You don't have to decide tonight."
Ricky immediately responded.
"He isn't joining you."
The man looked at him.
"I wasn't speaking to you."
Ricky stepped forward.
"You don't understand."
"I understand perfectly."
"No, you don't."
Ricky pointed toward JJ.
"He isn't some weapon you can buy."
The man remained calm.
"We don't see him as a weapon."
"Then what do you see him as?"
"A person with abilities that can be used to help people."
Ricky laughed bitterly.
"That's what Orion said."
The man didn't argue.
Instead, he handed JJ a card.
"Think about it."
He turned toward the car.
Before getting inside, he looked back.
"You don't have to spend the rest of your life hiding in this factory."
Then they drove away.
---
The following morning, the same organization returned.
"We've arranged a place where you can stay while you make your decision," the man explained.
Ricky immediately became suspicious.
"You're taking us somewhere?"
"Only temporarily."
JJ looked at Ricky.
Ricky shrugged.
"At least we won't be sleeping on a factory floor."
They agreed.
The journey took them to a modern facility hidden among several ordinary buildings.
It was nothing like Orion Division.
There were no intimidating walls or obvious prison cells.
Instead, there were clean hallways, comfortable rooms and people calmly going about their work.
A receptionist sat behind a large desk near the entrance.
The two agents led JJ and Ricky to a waiting area.
"We'll be back shortly," one of them said.
The receptionist smiled politely.
"I'm here if you need anything."
The two agents left.
JJ and Ricky sat down.
For several minutes, neither said anything.
Then Ricky looked at the receptionist.
She was typing something on her computer.
JJ looked at Ricky.
Ricky looked at JJ.
"Do you need anything?"
JJ shook his head.
Ricky nodded.
"Me neither."
Another minute passed.
Ricky suddenly stood.
The receptionist looked at him.
"Yes?"
"Can we get some water?"
"Of course."
She handed him a bottle.
Ricky sat down.
JJ stared at him.
Ricky shrugged.
"What?"
JJ pointed toward the water.
Ricky whispered:
"She said she's here if we need anything."
JJ rolled his eyes.
A few minutes passed.
Ricky raised his hand.
The receptionist looked over.
"Yes?"
"Do you have snacks?"
She smiled.
"There's a vending machine down the hall."
"Thank you."
Ricky sat down.
JJ stared at him again.
Ricky whispered:
"She said anything."
JJ shook his head.
Five minutes later, Ricky stood again.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
"Do you know what time it is?"
The receptionist looked at the clock directly above her.
"Two fifteen."
Ricky nodded.
"Thank you."
He returned to his seat.
JJ struggled not to laugh.
The receptionist began laughing too.
"You two are bored, aren't you?"
Ricky smiled.
"Very."
JJ nodded.
The receptionist looked at JJ.
"Would you like anything?"
JJ pointed toward Ricky.
The receptionist looked confused.
Ricky laughed.
"He wants me to ask for him."
"What does he want?"
JJ thought for a moment.
Then he pointed toward the vending machine.
Ricky nodded.
"Apparently he wants a chocolate bar."
The receptionist smiled.
"There's one in the vending machine."
Ricky looked at JJ.
"Anything else?"
JJ shook his head.
Ricky sat down.
The receptionist returned to her computer.
A few seconds later, Ricky raised his hand again.
She looked up.
"Yes?"
"Actually..."
JJ immediately pointed at him with an annoyed expression.
Ricky laughed.
"Never mind."
The receptionist shook her head.
"I have a feeling I'm going to remember you two."
For the first time since leaving Orion Division, JJ laughed.
It was quiet, but genuine.
Ricky smiled.
"See? We're already making friends."
JJ shook his head.
The receptionist laughed again.
For a few minutes, the weight of their past disappeared.
They were no longer fugitives.
No longer experiments.
No longer escapees.
They were simply two teenagers sitting in a waiting room, bothering a receptionist because she had made the mistake of telling them she was available if they needed anything.
---
Eventually, the two agents returned.
"Sorry for the wait."
Ricky stood.
"No problem."
The man looked at the receptionist.
"Everything alright?"
She smiled.
"Your guests are very... interesting."
Ricky smiled proudly.
JJ shook his head.
They were taken to another room.
The man sat across from them.
"You've had some time to think."
JJ nodded.
The man waited.
JJ reached for a pen and wrote:
I want my voice back.
The man smiled.
"Then we have a deal."
Ricky looked at JJ.
"JJ..."
JJ looked at him.
Ricky sighed.
"I know why you want this."
JJ remained still.
"But remember what happened at Orion."
JJ looked down.
Ricky continued.
"I don't want to lose you again."
JJ wrote:
You won't.
Ricky looked at the words.
"You can't promise that."
JJ stared at him.
Ricky took a breath.
"I escaped because I wanted freedom. I don't want either of us to become someone's property again."
JJ nodded.
Ricky looked at the photograph of the voice box.
"But I know how much this means to you."
JJ wrote:
I want to say your name myself.
Ricky stared at the sentence.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Finally, he looked away.
"I hate this."
JJ placed a hand on his shoulder.
Ricky moved away.
"Don't."
JJ stopped.
"I don't want to fight with you."
JJ lowered his hand.
Ricky took a breath.
"If you go, I can't follow you."
JJ nodded.
Ricky looked at him.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe they're different."
He paused.
"But I'm not taking that chance."
---
The next morning, JJ prepared to leave.
Ricky didn't come with him.
JJ stopped at the entrance.
He looked back.
Ricky stood several feet away.
Neither of them spoke.
JJ raised his hand.
Ricky nodded.
"Go."
JJ hesitated.
Ricky smiled.
"Go get your voice back."
JJ turned around.
He walked toward the waiting car.
The door opened.
JJ climbed inside.
The vehicle drove away.
Ricky watched until it disappeared.
For the first time since they had escaped Orion Division, they were alone.
---
The organization took JJ to a secure facility.
It was nothing like Orion Division.
At least, not at first.
There were no cages.
No laboratory rooms filled with restraints.
No scientists treating him like an experiment.
The people there spoke to him respectfully.
They showed him where he would stay.
They explained the work.
They told him he would be trained as an operative.
And they showed him the technology they had developed for his voice.
JJ couldn't believe it.
A technician placed a small device against his throat.
"Your original injury was severe," she explained. "But we've developed a system that can restore your ability to produce speech."
JJ looked at himself in the mirror.
The device was almost invisible.
The technician adjusted it.
"Try."
JJ opened his mouth.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then—
A weak sound escaped.
JJ froze.
The technician smiled.
"Again."
JJ tried.
This time, the sound was clearer.
He touched his throat.
His eyes widened.
He could speak.
Not perfectly.
Not yet.
But he could.
The technician smiled.
"Welcome back, JJ."
JJ looked at his reflection.
For the first time in twelve years, he heard his own voice.
And the first word he said was barely above a whisper.
"Ricky."
But Ricky wasn't there to hear it.
And somewhere in the city, Ricky was beginning to wonder whether losing his best friend had been the price of their freedom.
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