Part XII - 7: Deceit is a Traitor's Motto.

I slept a really long time, something like three and a half days went by before I opened my eyes just to see the familiar white glowing ceiling.

This wasn't really a shock to me. After waking up so many times inside one of those cells, it almost was comforting to know something hadn't changed in the world.

I heard someone move to the right of me, then was surprised to find Penny walking up to me, still nude, but obviously was herself and not the slave she had been.

"Are you all right?" we asked each other, both of us giggled and then groaned from discomfort, mine being my head and hers being her back.

"You know, I'm getting tired of asking this, but... Why aren't I dead?" I asked half heatedly.

"How would I know. One minute I had just been sold to this really ugly man, then the next I woke up here with you sound asleep. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up... Uhm, Tim... You didn't like buy me or anything, did you?"

"Not that I know of. I would have if I could, but... Shit, why are we in here?" I said, braving the pain and sitting up.

Penny sat down next to me on the metal bed with a sigh, then said, "I was just going to ask you the same question."

I could feel her guilt and troubled thoughts, and I wrapped my left arm around her naked back. She stiffened a moment from my touch, feeling her guilt getting worse.

"Penny, stop blaming yourself," I said softly between the slow painful throbs in my head. "You were right, you know. I guess I did abandon you. I didn't mean to... I guess I just kind of... Fuck. This is all my fault."

"No it isn't!" Penny said with tears in her eyes. "I was the one who... I turned David and... Michael would be... " she blubbered before starting to out right cry.

"Shit," I said, finding myself having to console another weeping female I felt close to. "Penny, you weren't yourself, and you know it. You're not responsible for the things you did."

"That's easy for you to say... " she sobbed. "Michael's dead, I'm pregnant with his brother's baby, and I'll probably never get to see David again and... And I'm probably going to live my life as a slave, and... "

"Hey!" I said, smiling at her. "I got good news for you, girl. Michael's alive, and since I just found David's mind in the next cell, I don't see any reason why we can't just get up and walk right over there."

"Really?" Penny said. "You mean, your telepathy still works?"

"Yep. And maybe you didn't hear me the first time. _Michael_ _is_ _alive_."

Penny just sat there staring at me as her mind spinned. "But you said... "

"I know, and I was wrong. Come on," I said as the wall opened up. "Let's go get your hubby, and then we can go see what the hell is going on."

But the moment I stood up, my head started to pound again.

"SHIT!" I said leaning up against the opened wall. "This is worse than a hang over," I moaned.

"Maybe you should stay here while I go let David out. Then he can carry you or something," she said concerned.

"Yeah, okay," I said sliding down the wall into a sitting position. "He's in the cell next to ours in that direction," I said pointing to the wall on my left.

Penny cautiously peeked outside the room, them quietly tiptoed to the door opening mechanism for the cell David was in. As soon as she went in, I relaxed and stopped monitoring her mind, then waited to hear her come back out.

"Tim, something's wrong with... What?" she said to my startled expression a few minutes later.

"Sorry. I didn't hear you come back, that's all. What's wrong?"

"David isn't... normal. He just sits there with his eyes moving around," she said, barely containing her emotions. "And... Joey's and your mom and dad are in there doing the same thing. I've seen this before. They've lost their minds... "

"No they haven't," I said with a sigh. "Or at least not permanently. I think I know what's going on. You're going to have to help me get to the twins without David's help."

"The twins?" she stammered. "Why them?"

"Because they are the only ones who are immune to this telepathic madness, and you'll be safer with them than with me. I hope."

"But if its just a telepathic thing, why can't you just undo it?"

"Because it's not as easy as that. I just can't blink my eyes and have everything go back to normal. Melissa showed me how she did it, but it was really complicated. She used... weird commands I've never come across before. She did it so fast I couldn't even... Penny, did you see the guy who I had made open the door while you were out there?"

"What? No. Why?"

"Because I had ordered for him to wait. Shit. We better get moving. I don't like how this feels."

I got up to my feet slowly, and made it out the open wall before having to stop again and hold my head.

"Tim?" Penny whispered. "I... I'm not supposed to lift anything heavy or do any hard work until after... I mean, I don't want to lose my baby... I don't know what I'll be able to do if you get so bad you can't walk."

"Oh... I didn't think about that. How are you doing anyway? You weren't exactly resting while you were Penny the slave-girl you know."

"My back hurts, and so does my... rear end. What are you doing?" she asked when I closed my eyes in concentration.

"I'm feeling around your body and... heh. Found him. Or her. Whoa... "

"What?"

"Hang on a second... " I said, making sure I wasn't somehow getting my wires crossed. After using a different method to scan the contents of her womb, I said, "Well mommy, looks like you have two loaves in the oven, not just one."

"Twins?" she said louder than she would have liked. Then in a hushed voice, "Are you sure? The doctor never detected three sets of heart beats."

"Well, I'm detecting three separate minds, nervous systems, and... Yep. I've got a lock on both of their hearts. You wanna feel?"

"Please?" she said very faintly.

I opened a two way up, then led her mind into her own body and focused on the two young heartbeats which were distinctly separate. After giving her a little tour of the two life forms living inside her, I gently brought her back out and disconnected the link.

"Thank you," she said with a sniff and watery eyes. "That was the most... wonderful thing I've ever experienced," she said before giving me a kiss on the cheek.

"My pleasure," I said, feeling the bond between us grow stronger than it had ever been before. "Penny, no matter what happens, Your babies have to come first, okay? If you have to leave me behind, do it. I'll be all right. As far as I know, I'm not in any danger from these people, you know? I just want to make sure you're safe, and see if the twins know anything before I go and see Melissa."

"Okay... But... Tim? I'm sorry for everything my brother and I have done to you. I know you say I wasn't responsible, but... I was so angry with you for leaving me with my father that I can't help but feel I did some of those things just to get revenge. I know I did."

"Maybe you did a little, but you would have never brainwashed David and Michael or anyone else to forget who they were, and I know you would have never gone as far as to let me get killed. Look, I forgive you for anything you may have done, and ask you to forgive me for leaving you like that. I wasn't really thinking straight when I... "

We both froze when we heard someone moving about near us. I got ready to use my empathic or telepathic abilities on whoever it was when Penny relaxed and said, "It's just Tom. I forgot to close the door and he's wandered out."

While Penny managed to coax Tom back into his cell, I used my empathic senses to try and feel out anyone else in the local area. Every cell around me was filled with people all in the same state as David and Joey's and my parents were in, and when I risked scanning them telepathically, I realized that most of them hadn't eaten in a few days.

Penny brought back a little surprise for me, and as I sat down in the wheelchair, she gave me another kiss on the cheek and said, "I forgive you too."

"Thanks," I said looking up at her face, finding myself wanting to kiss her very much.

But Penny didn't take the hint, then after giving me a little smile, she looked around, wrapping her arms around her to keep warm and said, "Where to?"

"Good question... " I said. "I don't know where they are for sure, but I left them in cell A4 row 3 with Joey. Man... I hope he and Suzi are okay."

As we made our way towards the front of the warehouse, I felt Penny getting more and more upset with herself about the things that had happened to Suzi and Joey.

Finally I said, "Penny, I'm trying to feel out anyone who we might want to avoid running into, but right now all I can feel is your grief and worry. The twins helped me undo what you guys did to Joey and Suzi, so stop making yourself feel bad. It's not only making you miserable. I feel everything you're feeling, and so far I haven't been able to figure out how to switch that off."

"I'm sorry," she said with emotion. "I don't think I can stop from... "

Her tears started to fall again, and I knew this was not the time or the place for her to get the rest of her grief out.

"Penny, get a hold of yourself. We can't go through that again right now. Here, look at me a minute."

I formed the empathic connection and stabilized her emotions without really thinking about what I was doing. I was pressed for time, so I simply did what I had to do. Later when I realized the speed at which I had restored her spirits, I found I couldn't do it again with the same efficiency.

Anyway, when I closed the empathic connection, her lips found mine, Penny having felt my desire to kiss her grow in the link. We kept it short, and to tell you the truth, it wasn't as good as I had expected. Her kiss had been friendly and sincere, but yet at the same time had felt distant, for her strong feelings for David prevented her from returning the rediscovered affection I had for her.

When we finally got close enough to the cell for me to scan it, we quickly opened the door and went in, finding Joey, Suzi, and Michael all asleep.

"Well, at least they're not going hungry like the others," I said after checking them out. "They all three have food in their stomachs, but no memory of how it got there. Someone must remote control their bodies and have them eat and go to the bathroom."

"He looks so thin," Penny said sitting next to Michael holding his limp hand. "Why are they all asleep?"

"I don't know. But I'm pretty sure the twins will know how to wake them up. It must have something to do with what we did to undo their brainwashing... Huh."

"What?"

"Well, if I'm right about that, that means Michael must have had the same thing done to him. I wonder who did it. Oh well. We'll think about that later when we have time. Let's head over to Gladius's quarters. I have a feeling that's where all the twins will be."

Sure enough, long before we reached the doorway to the building where Gladius had been assigned quarters, I felt their emotional touches letting me know they had sensed me and were relieved I was on my way to them. Joy, Honey, and four other twins all met us as we entered the building, then my twins took over the pushing of my wheelchair while Penny gratefully accepted a robe.

"I don't know how you can stand being nude all the time," Penny said, holding the robe closed trying to get warm.

"Shit. After shivering myself to sleep every night from those cold showers you guys gave us, this is nothing. Besides, if you went around naked as much as I do, your body would adapt and start making more heat. Sometimes I take my clothes off just to stop sweating."

We paused at the door to the room where the others were, hearing sounds of furniture being moved away from the other side before the lock clicked and the door opened.

I was surprised to find not only seven more sets of twins and Gladius inside, but the Inquisitor and two other members as well.

And the first words spoken to us was not "hello", or "thank god you're okay", but "Did you bring any food?"

"Food? Uhm, no," I said. "How long have all of you been in here?"

"Three days," the Inquisitor replied.

I was startled to find his eyes bloodshot and his face looking very haggard and tired. It went beyond just not having sleep for a couple of days. He looked like he was on the verge of collapse.

"You don't look too good," I said, then noticed the other telepaths looked as bad or worse. "Haven't you had anything to eat?"

"It's not just that, boy," Gladius said in a cracked voice. "We're under constant attack by those lunatics."

"Wait a minute... " Garrison, the member who had spoken first, said. "Why aren't you either like the others or like us? He's IN WITH THEM!" he said getting up and leaping at me.

Before I could even try and get out of my wheelchair, the air sizzled with a burst of emotion as Garrison stopped mid-flight and collapsed on the floor.

"Shit," I said, realizing Joy and Honey had done that.

"Fool," Gladius said. "The girls would have known if you were under the other's influence or control. Boy. What did you see out there? How many guards?"

"Guards? None that we saw," I said, looking around at the hungry group. "Look, I'm going to go see Melissa about what's happening. I was hoping to leave Penny here with you, but from what I see you can't protect her any better than I could."

"Do you trust this Melissa?" the Inquisitor asked.

"Yeah... I trust her, but I'm not sure about the others. I've met some of them... sorta, and only a few of them seem halfway sane. I don't think they would do anything to me because of her, and Penny isn't any threat to them. I'd like to take Joy and Honey along too. If anything else I can send them back with some food."

"I don't like this," Gladius said, staring at Honey and Joy. "Why would they let you come to us first. It's almost as if... "

"TIM!" Penny gasped before her expression went blank.

"HEY! What you doing!" I said, finding Gladius's mind busily probing and inserting commands into Penny's mind.

"Hush, boy. I'm not harming her... In fact... Just as I thought. They hid her memory of being interrogated by the lunatics, and they placed her with you to act as a spy to find out what our situation is."

Gladius broke his mental hold on her mind, then urgently looked at me and said, "Go to your friend, boy. We don't have much time left. They're going to use gas on us from what they will find out from her. You must some how convince her the girls are not a threat. Don't worry about us. Just don't let them hurt the girls."

"Hey!" the other member protested. "What's the big idea putting the safety of these slaves above... " then promptly passed out.

"Kelly never could grasp the idea of shielding his body from attack," the Inquisitor said, leaning back wearily. "Tim, I think Gladius may be right. They will never trust us, but they might allow the girls go, and we can't last much longer without food and rest."

"What about Penny?" I asked, looking at her blank face.

"She'll snap out of it when you take her out of here," Gladius said. "I didn't want them using her to listen in on our conversation."

"Okay," I sighed. "I'd still like Joy and Honey to come along. If anything else, they could ride shotgun and knock out anyone who might give us trouble."

As soon as we were safely out into the warehouse, Penny snapped back to reality without even realizing anything had happened to her. Apart from the occupants of the cells and the steady hum of machinery, the entire warehouse seemed quiet and empty. Too quiet.

"Penny, is there a monitoring room where we could check all the rooms out through security cameras?" I asked after a few minutes of walking.

"Several. The nearest one is... this way, I think," she said leading to our right.

When we got there, the room was empty and dark. Penny started working the controls, not entirely confident on how everything worked, but had operated the cameras in the cells enough to figure out how to get other places in the facility.

"Shit," I said, seeing room after empty room. "This place is huge. What did they need so much space for."

"They do some legitimate research here. Mostly stuff that they can use in their conditioning program, but not everything. They had grants from the government and some private companies who didn't care about the facility, just results. It was more than enough to... Hey... Look at this."

"Fuck. What are they doing?" I said, staring at the picture of a dozen or so people all wiggling and dancing around in random directions, somehow all managing to stay within a circle while never bumping into each other.

"They're in the gym," Penny said, transferring from the main monitor to one of the six smaller ones. "Here's some more," she said.

"That must be Brainstormer," I commented. "I think he's harmless. See? All he's doing is making them laugh at his jokes and stuff. Lets go to the next one."

It took a few minutes to find another room with anyone in it, but when we did, it was obvious a few of the crazies weren't as harmless as Brainstormer.

"Oh my God," Penny said, realizing what the dark puddle was next to the three people laying on the ground. "Are they... "

"I don't know. I think that one is still breathing. Look! Something is going on in the room at the other end. Can you switch to that camera?"

"I think so... " she said, switching switches madly.

"Yeah, this is it. Okay. What are they doing? What is all that stuff?"

"It's one of the research labs... Look at what they are doing to that man... It's almost like they're getting ready too... operate."

"Holy Shit! That one there has three tits! Oh! I get it. I think they are just getting their revenge. Shit. They must have cut the breasts right off those others... Change the channel, Penny. This is too gross."