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“Let me come with you next time, Scott. You know this couldn’t have happened if I was there. I can help.”
Scott turned on his brother, anger showing in every line of his body. John wasn’t afraid, though. He knew Scott wasn’t angry at him. “Please let me help.”
“I won’t risk someone figuring out your secret. I won’t put you in danger for such a little thing. Not after last time. The money doesn’t matter compared to your life.”
“People could have died, Scott. I don’t care about the money any more than you do, but I could never forgive myself if I sat back and stood by while people died because I was too scared to do anything. You know I can help, and no one will ever know.”
Scott’s shoulders slumped, and John knew he had won, even without using his power. “I can’t put you in danger, John.” He whispered.
“You won’t. I trust you, Scott. I can keep it a secret, and even if I can’t, I know you’ve got my back. But I have to do something. I can help, you know I can.”
Scott nodded. John laughed suddenly, as his brothers’ thoughts hit him. He had been so focused on not reading Scott’s thoughts, on giving him enough respect to allow him to keep some things private, that he hadn’t realized all three of their younger brothers were standing outside the door. “You can come in, guys.” The door burst open, the three boys falling through. “We’re fine. Just something we needed to discuss. I’m sorry we were yelling.”
Alan was the first to emerge from the pile, running to his brothers. “I hate it when you guys fight.” Now that they were in the room, all three of his younger brothers were actively shielding their thoughts from him, in order not to overwhelm him. Scott, as usual, was trying to shield and failing miserably. John could feel the snippets of ‘must protect John-of course he’s right. He’s always right-I hate this idea’ leaking from his brother’s thoughts.
“We’re not fighting, Alan. I promise. John was right. I was just being stubborn.” Scott smiled faintly, and John knew he was forgiven for his refusal to back down. “We still need to talk about this, though, John. If you’re coming with me, I don’t want them to know who you are. I won’t put that target on your back, too.”
“That’s easy, Scott.” Gordon laughed. “You two look nothing alike. Introduce him by some other name, and no one will connect him to you as being a Tracy. No one has ever seen pictures of us all together.”
John could feel Scott’s approval of the plan, and knew he would be accompanying his brother to his next meeting. He didn’t even need to read Scott’s thoughts to tell.
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John had been nineteen when he first discovered his power. Scott, just newly twenty-one, had taken over the reins of Tracy Industries after their father’s death. John found he knew the thoughts tumbling through his brother’s head, even thought Scott continued to insist he was fine. Even Virgil, usually the observant one, believed Scott’s front, but John knew he was lying. He didn’t quite know how he knew, but he cornered Scott late one night to find out. After a long conversation, Scott finally admitted that he wasn’t okay, although he took a blow to his pride to admit it. He couldn’t believe that John had been the one to call him on it though.
After that, John found himself noticing it more and more. He could tell when Alan was lying about his homework, what Gordon was thinking about, could visualize the painting Virgil was working on. It was a few months before he caught Scott lying again, though.
Scott had just gotten home from a long day of work, barely taking the time to complete the post-flight checks before he was running upstairs and locking himself in his room. John, who had watched him land, followed him up the stairs, sitting down outside the door, waiting for Scott to be ready to talk. It wasn’t the most comfortable spot to sit, but John was patient, and just stubborn enough to wait him out. He would have sat there all night, already falling asleep, when he heard a clatter of something thrown against the wall, and felt the anger, hurt and frustration rolling off his brother.
He pushed the door open, barely noticing the pain in his feet as he ran over the broken glass to get to his brother. “Scott, talk to me. What’s going on?”
He could hear the answer somehow. His brother’s mouth didn’t move, but he knew just as clearly as if he had been there what that man had said to his brother. ‘You’ll never be as good as your father. You’re just a boy. You’re not worthy of the name Tracy.’
“I’m fine, John. It was just a long day. I could just use some time to relax, and then I’ll be down for dinner.” Scott clearly didn’t want to be having this conversation, but John was too concerned and confused to let it go.
“You know you don’t have to be the same as Dad, right? I don’t care what that man said to you. You’re a great man, and I’m so proud of how you’ve stepped up in this family and the company after Dad died.”
Scott relaxed back onto his bed. John knew it would take time before his older brother would truly believe him, but it was a start, at least. “That man had no right to say something like that to you.”
“Wait. How did you know what happened?”
“I can hear what you’re thinking. I think. I don’t really know what’s happening. But I’ve been able to know things I shouldn’t have been able to for the last few months. I don’t know what’s happening. It’s weird, and I can’t control it. Is there something wrong with me?”
Scott sat up, wrapping his arms around his younger brother. “There’s nothing wrong with you. Let’s get your feet taken care of, and I’ll tell you what’s going on.
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John strapped himself into the passenger seat of Tracy Two, watching his brother complete the final pre-flight checks before they took off. John could feel Scott’s worry, and he strengthened his own mental shields in order to keep him out. He was going to need to be on top of his game today.
It was a forty-five minute plane ride to the mainland, not enough to fall asleep, but enough for his mind to drift. Finding out his mother had had the same powers as he had had been a shock, but once Scott showed him some of her old books and journals, he was forced to believe it. He had poured himself into learning everything he could about it in the last five years, and his power had only grown in that time. His brothers, too, except for Scott, were now all quite adept at keeping him out of their minds, after quite a few embarrassing incidents early on. Scott, never one to keep secrets, had never really tried too hard to keep him out, not that John ever tried to push in. Some things were best kept private, after all.
John had been incredibly grateful that they lived on a private island. The few times he had attempted to spend time in a crowd had left him overstimulated and anxious, the amount of information bombarding his brain far too much to process at once. His never very social nature had only been strengthened by his powers, and he much preferred to spend his time alone. Today was the first time in over a year he had left the island, which was causing its own level of anxiety for him, without needing to feel his brother’s worry as well.
*******************************************
By the time they reached the private runway at Tracy Industries, John had calmed his breathing enough that he felt ready for this meeting. Scott was much more stressed, but hid it well to outside eyes. They climbed down from the plane together, walking over to the buildings. They entered quickly and hurried upstairs, managing to avoid most of the people in the building. By the time they had made it to Scott’s office, John could feel a mild headache forming, either from keeping out the thoughts of the employees they had run into, or keeping out Scott, he wasn’t sure.
They had a few minutes before the meeting was due to start, and they took the chance to grab some water, before quickly changing out of their more casual clothing into the tailored suits they all owned but refused to wear anywhere other than Tracy Industries. Just as they took their seats at the desk, Scott’s assistant knocked at the door. “Mr. Tracy, Mr. Greene is here to see you.”
“Show him in, please.” As the man entered the room, Scott and John both rose to their feet. Scott reached out to shake his hand first. “Mr. Greene. A pleasure to see you again. This is a good friend of mine, Dr. John Glenn. He’s here to help me review your proposal.”
Mr. Greene reached to shake John’s hand, and John nearly flinched at the wave of suspicion coming from the man. He was up to something, obviously, and had been hoping to trick Scott in some way. John strengthened his resolve not to let that happen.
“Dr. Glenn has experience in coding and engineering, as well as more general math and science. Your proposal was so intriguing I called him in to help me look over your blueprints. His experience in these areas is far greater than my own.” Scott was exaggerating, of course. John may have more experience coding and engineering, but Scott was just as smart as he was. He just didn’t have the spare time that John did to practice and research, not while being a father to his four younger brothers, and the head of a multi-billion dollar business.
The three settled into their chairs, and Mr. Greene spread his blueprints out on the desk between them. “I’ve designed a set of mechanical limbs, intended to be used by people who are unable to walk, for whatever reason. They could either replace the strength of someone’s legs, or simply support them more firmly. The battery is also strong enough to last for a month between charges.”
Scott and John leaned over the blueprints. The idea was incredible, but sounded almost too good to be true. If it was real, though, this was the exact kind of thing Tracy Industries would love to invest in. As John looked over the papers, nothing jumped out as being a problem. He could hear the man thinking, though, a constant stream of thought that must be incredibly exhausting to maintain. There was one that kept repeating, though. ‘Please don’t ask about the joints.’
John tried to subtly grab his brother’s attention, but Scott was much too focused on the practical applications of the tech to notice him. So John asked. “Tell me about the joints of the legs.”
The man froze, stiffening. John elbowed Scott hard enough to break him from his concentration. As Scott straightened, Mr. Greene began to rant, going on and on about his qualifications and experience. “That doesn’t answer his question, Mr. Greene.” Scott replied calmly.
“I don’t need him to answer.” John interrupted. “The math for the joints doesn’t add up. He’s never actually tested them, so they’ll never work, and he knows that, but he was hoping you would be blinded by the applications and uses for the tech and give him the money before you figured out that all he actually has are a bunch of fancy drawings and some complicated looking math.”
“Is that true?” Scott demanded. He trusted his brother, but wanted to hear the man admit it.
Mr. Greene spluttered for a few moments before beginning to gather all his papers off the desk and shove them back into his briefcase. “How could you possibly know all that?” He demanded.
John’s grin sharpened. “Mr. Greene, I am very, very good at my job.”
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Scott was laughing nearly the whole way back to the island. “That was amazing, John. His face, when you said all that! I thought the man was going to have a heart attack right in front of us.”
John smiled. It had been a good day. He had saved his brother from making a mistake, had humiliated a liar, and even better, the man’s fake blueprints had given him some ideas for a working set of braces like that. He couldn’t wait to get home and start working on the plans.
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Back at Tracy Industries, there was a rumor already going around. ‘Don’t try to lie to Mr. Tracy, or the mysterious red-haired doctor he had brought with him would know.’