Adopted Soldier

"Why do you think James died? Were you there when it happened." The start of Phil's story was a question to Specter who answered quite quickly.

"I wasn't really there when it happened, but was informed after the fact."

"Then why did you believe in this information? Surely you of all people know the truth behind the Shadow Mercenaries. We do not abide by camaraderie or friendship, what really makes us stay together is the overwhelming power of the one hiding behind the curtain, and a similar goal of hoping for a better world, but each of us has a different take on what a better world is. So why did you believe in the information that you haven't seen with your own eyes? Who was it that gave the information, that you never doubted its authenticity?"

Specter finally caught on with what Phil wanted to convey. He then started to recall who was it among them that actually witnessed James' death. At that moment Specter finally recalled who was the one who gave that report.

"It was the former leader, Gabriel."

"Bingo, Gabriel was the one who gave the report regarding James Bourne's death. Next question who was it that declared me and Margie as traitors?"

Specter tried to remembered who it was that said both Margie and Phil were traitors, once he remembered he was once again surprised.

"It was Gabriel as well."

"Correct again. Now onto the final question when were we declared traitors, and when was James declared dead?"

This time it took Specter a bit of time to remember the answer to this question. Phil and Margie were declared as traitors long before James was declared dead.

"If I remembered correctly you two were declared traitors six years ago, and James was declared dead a year after that."

"Do you think that's a coincidence? Of course not. Gabriel noticing something amiss from the way Hektor was moving decided to let me and Margie his most trusted friends escape the organization. Of course at that time, it wasn't possible to fake our deaths, so we were made into traitors. A year later once we finished our preparations Gabriel sent James to us."

Specter was amazed by this revelation and was about to ask a question but Phil motioned him to stop.

"All questions will be entertained later, for now I just want you to listen. So where was I, oh yes, Gabriel sent us James. Now unlike you, Hektor wouldn't simply believe in Gabriel's report so we needed to stage James Bourne's death. At that time we have finally perfected cloning, and we were able to clone James Bourne perfectly. Aside from Gabriel, Hektor was there as well to confirm James' death. Actually Hektor was the one who orchestrated the demise of James Bourne. Too bad for him on that fateful mission where James dies, we already switched the real one with a clone."

"Once the whole of the Shadow Mercenaries believed that James Bourne was dead, Margie and I wiped James' memory and replaced them with new memories, thus Oliver was born. We became his parents, and treated him normally. We made him experience a life without killing, a life without fearing the next day. Still because James was somehow fighting the effects of the memory wiper, his past manifested as dreams. Due to this we needed to add some more background memories for Oliver, so he won't be confused with his old memories, but nowadays it seems like it's only a matter of time before he remembers everything."

Phil was finally done explaining what had happened and it was a shocking story. Specter who was listening intently didn't even realize that Margie came back and his tea was getting cold.

"I have so many questions."

"Of course you do. Since you're here better ask away."

"Why did Gabriel go through all this trouble just for James?"

"Not many know of this fact, but James is the actual son of Gabriel. The only people who knew of this fact were Margie and I as well as Hektor and of course Gabriel."

The answer to the first question was shocking enough that it took Specter a minute to process the information he just heard.

"What?! James is actually Gabriel's biological son! Then who was the mother?"

"Hektor's sister Patricia."

Specter was being bombarded by new information that was so intense he needed time to process each new information he received. Patricia was a former agent that was now deceased, same as Gabriel, and Hektor blamed the death of his beloved sister on Gabriel who was unable to protect her. It was an amazing fact, and made the whole family's situation so complicated.

"Okay then, if everything you said was real, then why did Gabriel not tell Oliver the truth? Why make him suffer? Why make him think that he was an orphan unloved by his parents?"

"It was also because of love that Gabriel never told Oliver the truth. His mother had passed away and it was his father's fault that she died. Gabriel didn't want James to know this fact and make him grieve because of it. He also knew the world James was going to live in, would be harsher if everyone knew Gabriel was James' father. If he acted as his father many of the members would've tried to kill him, or use him as blackmail material to become the next leader. Knowing this, Gabriel decided to watch over his son from a distance."

Specter was not convinced by this reason, but he still accepted it as is it is.

"Then why did he need James to die and become Oliver?" This was the question that Specter wanted to ask, since the beginning of the story.

"It's all because of Hektor. His uncle who believed that his beloved sister was killed because of Gabriel's negligence, he hated the man to his very core. He wanted to tear him apart and make him pay, yet he was feeling conflicted since Gabriel was the man his sister loved, and she even gave birth to his child. In a way James and Gabriel were his family as well. Still Hektor was already mentally unstable because of his sister's death, and his conflicting feelings of wanting to kill Gabriel but couldn't made him even more unstable. Years of this mental torture slowly but surely broken Hektor, until it was obvious that Hektor had finally lost any semblance of his former self and decided to kill Gabriel. With this knowledge at hand, Gabriel knew that someday Hektor would try and kill him. If he succeeds he might try and kill James as well. Knowing this, Gabriel devised a plan to save his son from his own uncle."

Hearing the whole truth from Phil made Specter simply looked at him in a daze. The current leader Hektor was someone like that. Though most of the members of the Shadow Mercenaries were already on the verge of insanity but none of them were really on that deep level Hektor was at.

With this new information at hand, Specter started doubting Hektor's ability to command them. It also raises the question, does Hektor still believe in making a better world, now that his beloved sister is gone?