Chapter 8
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Finding the boy had not been a part of the plan.. And.. Wade wasn't exactly equipped with know-how on how to deal with most normal children let alone one that had a mind that was a completely blank slate..
Logan was only slightly more equipped with how to deal with a sudden child to care for seeing as he was an Instructor at a school full of them.. But again there was the thing where the kid's mind was basically an unmarked dry erase board.. And Logan wasn't exactly equipped to deal with THAT..
And there were hundreds of miles between where they were and Xavier's School .. Not only that, they were kind of in the middle of nowhere, mountains, woods, rough, rugged terrain and no civilization for miles..
There was no telling if the kid could handle walking that far.. And Wade could like.. Maybe just tell the kid "Follow me/us" again.. and let that be that and just let the kid follow vacantly behind.. And maybe if it was being done under orders then the kid wouldn't even break a sweat.. But then there was always the possibility that any moment the kid could just drop from exhaustion even under orders..
And the whole Mind Control thing and being the one giving orders-commands to someone who was under Mind Control thing, was unnerving as fuck..
Wade sat his duffle bag down and rifled through the files.. Logan stood next to the boy looking perplexed.. Probably still feeling dumbfounded and at a loss for what to do.. Wade could relate.. Finding an abused child with no ability to think for themselves had not been part of the plan..
"Wade?.." Logan asked "What are..?"
"Looking for something in these files to .. Like .. I don't know.. Give the kid some sort of.. Permission To Speak Freely .. Or whatever.. Something.. So he's not.. Like.. That." Wade interrupted and gestured to the boy.. "I mean the whole .. Blank .. Thing .. Is just creepy.. And who knows ??.. Maybe he can speak and think for himself at least a little and I think we need to know just how long of a trek he can handle without over-exhausting himself amd for that he really needs to chime in and give us some sort of fucking clue.. Ah ha!.."
Wade pulled out three file folders filled with papers ..
One folder was labeled: "Acceptable Commands." it didn't have a whole lot of papers in it, but there were at least thirty pages.. So while not a lot of papers, there were apparently a lot of Acceptable Commands..
Another folder was labeled: "Winter Widow X Project." There were so many papers the folder was fat and held closed with rubber bands, there was probably a "Part Two" to the folder somewhere in the duffle.. Things weren't exactly organized in Wade's bag..
The last folder was labeled: "Winter Widow X's, Peter Parker Incidents." Again not a lot of papers probably twenty in all.. But Wade recognized the Last Name "Parker" and he remembered seeing "Peter Parker" in one of the digitilized files that went on the flash drive.. So he just followed his gut and hoped the folder would be of some use in this situation when he grabbed the folder from the bag..
"Here.. Take some reading material on your kid.." Wade said as he handed a file up to Logan..
Logan took the file and kept looking back at the child as he flipped through the pages..
"Oh my god.." Logan put his free hand over his mouth as he collapsed to sit on a rock.. "Did you know that they..??"
"Yeah.." Wade interrupted.. "There were tapes on the computers.. I didn't watch them but I saw enough in just the thumbnails to know.. I would have told you.. But how do you tell someone something like that??"
Logan shook his head looking more and more mortified as he continued to read..
According to the file "Acceptable Commmands" the kid should not be able to think for himself, ever, hence there being Commands for pretty much every little thing from eating and sleeping to using the bathroom and Wade seriously had to put the folder down and fight the urge to vomit when he saw that a lot of the "acceptable commands" had to do with self-harm, torture and sex..
But..
There was a sliver of hope..
The file "Winter Widow X's Peter Parker Incidents." was full of instances where the boy was able to break free of his programming even for just a sliver of time, mostly to insist he had a name, "Peter Parker", and that he was a PERSON and he has rights and he deserved better.. The incidents grew fewer over time since the boy was recaptured from his brief escape, but they still happened despite the boy repeatedly having his mind wiped and memories erased.. Up until a few years ago when the incidents stopped completely.. But there were notations up to present day where every onve in a while someone had marked down that sometimes the boy had defianve in his eyes or some sort of spark of something in his gaze that was more than just that hollow vacant stare.. It wasn't much but it was something to work with..
"Um.. Kid?" Wade tried tentatively .. "Peter ??"
The kid didn't budge or even blink but there was a flash of something in the boy's eyes, there one second, gone the next..
"What.. Where did the name Peter come from?" Logan asked..
"Apparently that scientist guy who tried to save the kid gave the kid a name.. "Peter" and up until a few years ago every once in a while the kid was able to break his programming long enough to insist he was a person that has rights, to insist he was a person that had a name.."
"Peter?" Logan asked.
"Yeah.. Peter.. Benjamin.. Parker.." Wade replied.
And upon the "er" of the last word, the boy's head tilted "Mmmmyyy Nnnnaammmee.. Ppppeeeetttteeeerrrr" the boy slurred then fell silent and stood still as a statue once more..
"Holy shit." Logan whispered..
Holy Shit, indeed..