Blaze of Glory - Chapter 6
Does destiny choose the person, or does the person choose their destiny?
He's supposed to be just another guy. Just another notch on Brian's belt.
But Justin has other ideas; a whole other master plan that's going to shock Brian about everything he's ever known.
One thing is for sure: whichever road Brian takes, his life is never going to be the same again
Chapter 6:
It was late, but apparently not so late that Brian Kinney would go to bed. Justin watched the other man talk on his cell phone in the kitchen. If Justin made the effort, he could eavesdrop and listen to what Brian was saying, but Justin couldn’t be bothered. He had no security concerns, and was reasonably sure that Brian wasn’t blabbing to some yokel; if that had been Brian’s plans, he’d have done so before Justin had turned up. Moreover, Justin’s energy was zapped; trying to control the energy fields around Brian Kinney was exhausting work, and he had no desire to expend even more energy to eavesdrop on what was likely an entirely useless conversation.
Brian caught Justin looking at him, and raised a questioning eyebrow, though he did not end the call. Justin held the gaze, shrugged, and Brian looked away. Justin sighed, and lay down on the sofa. Now neither of them could look at each other.
The biggest break he had had so far was that no one had caught on to exactly how nervous he was, or how scared. Especially Brian. The moment someone smells fear on you, your mission is compromised. Everything becomes a long (and generally unsuccessful) climb up from that point. Ergo, the first trick was to never show fear, even if all your internal organs had melted away and the pull of gravity was the only thing holding you together. So Justin had played the role of the confident, cocky time traveller, and Brian seemed to be buying it.
So far, at least.
Truth was, Justin was scared shitless. The world he had known all his life had been left behind. Its salvation lay here, in his ability to perform a vague, nebulous, mostly undefined task. Was Justin even up to the task? Was Brian? Justin had no idea if he had found the right man, or whether Brian Kinney was going to turn into a mistake of disastrous proportions. And at which point was Brian going to give his head a shake and start disbelieving Justin - again?
Justin smiled to himself, as he heard Brian speaking on the phone; the call had been disconnected a few seconds ago. Brian was just trying to fool Justin, attempting to sneak up on him unawares.
“My hearing is too good for lame tricks, and brute force isn’t the best way to come at me.”
Justin couldn’t help but giggle as Brian cursed under his breath.
“You’re not even trying to prove that you’re from the future.”
“Is that what you’re looking for?”
“It would help.”
“Well, I don’t have the winning Lotto Max numbers, sorry.”
Justin moved his feet, making space on the sofa. Brian frowned, but sat down.
“I’m either crazy, lying, or worst of all, telling the truth.”
“Yes, I came to the conclusion that those were the only choices I was left with. You’re not crazy. Clearly. A crazy person can’t physically transform another person successfully.”
“Probably not,” Justin agreed. “So I’m a liar. Or…”
“It doesn’t matter now, does it?” Brian stared at him intently. “Whether you’re lying or telling the truth, it doesn’t matter. I know you’re responsible for the…for whatever is happening to me. You’re not stupid. And despite my being considerably bigger than you, and stronger, you could probably take me in a fight. I’m stuck with you either way.”
“It’s not probable, it’s certain. I will beat you in any fight,” Justin said. “For now, at least. The goal is to have you at a point where you beat me, every single time.”
“And then what? How do you know I’ll do a goddamn thing you say, after I’ve gotten this ‘training’ from you?”
Justin grinned. “And that’s the beauty of it. Since I haven’t told you what your ultimate mission is - since I’m physically incapable of telling you that as I myself don’t know it - you can’t spite me even if you wanted to. My job is to train you; it’s to prepare you and help you grow into yourself. After that, even if you kill me, my mission is complete. I mean, it would be unfortunate if you kill me, because I have a future to get back to and hopefully help save, if possible. But that’s just my personal desire, to stay alive. Still, if you - ”
“Don’t be an idiot; I’m not going to kill you,” Brian said, looking at Justin as if he was rethinking the notion that Justin may in fact be crazy.
“I’m just saying that one day you’ll be able to, and if you do, it’ll be okay.”
“I’m not sure that I want help from someone who’s so cavalier about his own life.”
Justin laughed. “You’re funny. Believe me, I try to stay alive whenever possible. I’m just saying that my staying alive in the long-term has no real bearing on you doing what is needed.”
Brian gave him a long look. “You really won’t even try and prove that you’re from the future, will you?”
“I couldn’t possibly ever prove that to your satisfaction. If I tell you future events, you can’t be sure of those things for years to come, if they even come true at this point, because we’re changing the future as we speak.”
“I hope you realise that nothing that happens here in the next two days would have affected the Lotto numbers.”
“Says you.”
Brian gave him a look that Justin could only describe as ‘weird’. “What?”
Brian shrugged. “Nothing. That’s just the first thing you’ve said that remotely resembles your age…seventeen or eighteen or whatever it was.”
“Almost eighteen,” Justin said. He wanted to add that he had never felt his age from the time that he was capable of forming thoughts, but kept that to himself. “I’m…I notice that you don’t have any food in your fridge. Could…I think I should go find something to eat. If you haven’t had dinner, I can find food for you as well.”
Brian gave him another look. “Or, I can just order in.”
It struck Justin that ordering food would be a normal activity for Brian, or for most people in this time. “Of course. Yes. That sounds like a good idea as well.”
“What do you want?”
“Food.”
Brian sighed. “Yes, I gathered that much. What kind of food? Thai? Indian? Italian?”
“Oh…umm…I’d love to try all of those. Or any of those.”
Brian frowned at him. “You’ve never had any of that? What do you like to eat?”
Justin shrugged. “I didn’t have many options. To be fair, a lot of cuisines are…were…will be banned, so…”
“Banned? Why? You mean Bloomberg will finally have his way?”
Justin frowned, unable to immediately place Brian’s reference. “Well…vegetarian food and vegan food got banned first apparently, for being unnatural and un-American, so every meal had to have some meat. And then Mexican food was banned when the Wall was…right, so America built a wall on the southern border to keep out Mexican immigrants…and then everything from the Middle East…then during the First Chinese War, all food from Asia was prohibited, and then…no, before that…” Justin paused. “Who’s Bloomberg?”
“Who is…what the fuck kind of world do you come from??”
Justin shrugged. “I don’t come from a different world…just a different period of time. Same as if you went back in time and told Marx that robots take over factories and people become both unemployed and poor.”
“Trust me, if I could go back in time, Marx isn’t the man I would choose to meet.”
“No, I suppose not. Who would you choose to meet?”
It was obvious that Brian thought of someone; it was equally obvious that he chose to hide it. “Can’t think of anyone. I’m going to order dinner.”
“Uh-huh.”
Justin watched Brian order food, and for a brief moment, allowed himself to fantasize. And recollect. In the normal lives of normal people, Justin could only assume that this was the kind of situation that they would try and turn into something else. Something more. Something sexual. Brian was a stunningly attractive man, and…
For the second time that evening, Brian caught his eye. This time, Justin looked away. He had been taught more than one skill to impress Brian Kinney, but all sexual lessons had been purely theoretical in nature. The Professor had always made it clear that Justin’s practical lesson was either going to happen with Brian, or not at all. And now…now that Brian had already had him…all logic and reason told Justin that attempting to pursue anything sexual with Brian would not be a wise choice. Justin had a mission. He had a goal he was to concentrate on. Trying to finagle sexual favours from Brian - or anyone else for that matter - was never part of the deal.
Involuntarily, Justin touched the capsule that he wore around his neck. It always helped bring him focus. No one was immortal, but Justin had always known that he was never destined for the pleasures of life. He was a mere clone. Clones were meant to serve a specific purpose, not gad about enjoying things that even millions of humans could only dream about. Brian was their saviour. Or he would be, once Justin managed to complete his mission. That it had been necessary for them to have a sexual encounter initially was incredible good fortune; good fortune that Justin knew could not possibly be repeated. It was dangerous to compromise his mission, and foolish to think that a real human would want him a second time.
“Where are you planning to sleep, out of mild curiosity?”
Right on cue, Justin thought. And dinner hasn’t even arrived. “Don’t worry, I won’t be disrupting you here. Well, I’d be here often for your training, and that’s obviously going to take a good chunk of your time, but...obviously I understand that I couldn’t stay here with you.”
Brian gave him that weird look again. “Right. Obviously. So where exactly are you planning on staying? Where are you staying?”
“Right now? At a motel. I won’t have trouble finding a room somewhere. I already looked at what was available.”
“Hmmm. And money?”
“We…I brought some counterfeit currency with me.” Brian looked horrified, so Justin quickly tried to placate him. “Don’t worry, no one will notice. I tested it on military counter-insurgency machines, and they pass. Besides, I have mostly lower denomination notes, so they’re unlikely to…Brian? You seem worried. I assure you, if they passed the military counter-”
“I will give you money for now. And then we’ll get you a job, so you’ll have real money to spend. Let’s just save your counterfeit currency for a rainy day.”
Justin shrugged. “I don’t think it’s necessary, but sure, if it makes you more comfortable...”
“This is weird enough without my aiding and abetting you.”
Justin shrugged once more. “Brian, just for your information, you will be breaking the law sooner or later. Counterfeit currency is nothing. You’re the saviour. Once you come to truly control your power…he with power calls the shots. It’s only a question of whether you break the law for a greater good or for your own personal pleasure.”
“Such derision you have for personal pleasure, it seems.”
“There are greater things to aspire for, in life.”
Brian rolled his eyes. “Only if you’re old, ugly, or both.”
Or a clone, Justin thought, but he kept the thought to himself.
Fortunately, the discussion was interrupted by the arrival of food. Dinner was a loud, messy affair. Justin had only seen photos of such dishes while researching this era. He was fascinated by the smell, the taste, the colours, and real wooden chopsticks that Brian had to teach him how to use.
“This is…wow…I’ve never, ever, eaten food like this. This feeling…the only time I felt better was when we had sex!”
Brian looked surprised. “So you did…” Brian seemed to change his mind about whatever it was that he was about to say. “What kind of job can you do?”
Justin paused to think briefly. “Anything with surveillance or counter-surveillance. Reconnaissance. Security. I’m also very good with firearms, so I can do either police work, or private security, or weapons training. I can find a job, you don’t have to look for one for me.”
“What do you like to do?”
“Like I said, I can do surveillance or - ”
“Not what you can do. What do you like to do?”
Justin stared at Brian blankly. “What do you mean, ‘like’? Any place where I can be useful or help…I just told you what I can do. Anyway, you don’t have to find me a job. I mean, I don’t need a job to begin with, but if you think I should have a cover, I can find one with you having to bother.”
Brian looked at him in silence for a long time. “You’re going to come and work for the admin department. Fetch people coffee. Bring them bagels. Photocopy shit. Mundane office work, away from guns and counterfeit money and…maybe you’ll find that you like doing that.”
Justin frowned, but nodded. He didn’t see the necessity in having to like whatever it was that he needed to do, but Brian seemed to take comfort in the thought, so Justin just shrugged and decided to go along with it.
“Tomorrow - ”
“Sorry to interrupt,” Justin said, “but I made plans for you already. For tomorrow evening.”
“Really?”
“Well, I spent most of the last two days observing you, and you have zero control over your rage, and little control over other negative reactions like frustration. We need to get a handle on that, pronto. There’s no time to lose. So I found someone who’s agreed to help meet with you for a few days, teach you breathing techniques, meditation skills, how to control your thoughts and emotions…obviously, I’ll do the hard work with you, but I think that it will help if your first few lessons are with a person who is…neutral.”
“I want to believe that this a bad joke, but your expression tells me that I’m going to be disappointed.”
“Brian, you know I can control the force field around you. You’re naturally going to make less effort. It’s better to start this with a neutral. Don’t worry; I checked the guy out and he’s solid, and legitimate. Plus, he has no issues with discretion, no questions asked.”
“Fuck me sideways. And where did you find this new-agey, chi-balancing hippy? The yoga studio down the road?”
“He’s a professor at Carnegie Mellon.”
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