The star maker says it ain’t so bad
The dream maker’s gonna make you mad
The spaceman says, “Everybody look down
It’s all in your mind”
It’s all in my mind
It’s all in my mind
– Spaceman, The Killers

---

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Istanbul, Turkey

Kiremit House: Britt’s Bedroom

Britt used her fingers to zoom in on a chart in one of the medical reports, then scribbled a note to herself in the notebook by her side. Then scowled and erased, rewriting it — it still didn’t quite look right — She tossed the pencil aside, then dragged a hand down her face.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the day before, about Nikolas calling her a liar again, Lucky chasing her down in the street —

Or what he’d confessed to her last night. Nikolas had not only know Jake was alive, but he’d known it for more than a year. He’d visited the kid while he’d still been living in Port Charles. Britt could still remember that horrible night at Wyndemere when Elizabeth had revealed the secret about Ben — the truth that she’d been holding so tightly — that Ben was Lulu’s lost embryo—

She sat back in the chair, remembering how Nikolas had ripped into Elizabeth for enjoying the revelation — he’d done that first, Britt thought, before turning his fury on Britt. And then just a few months later, Nikolas had learned about Jake’s survival. And kept quiet.

It was so difficult to reconcile the two pieces of the man she’d loved. The man whose respect she’d been working so hard to regain. How could he have kept so many explosive secrets? Now Britt was asking herself more questions. If Nikolas had known about Jake, how long had he known about Chimera?

When he’d sent her to Russia to help Jason, to bring him home, Britt had always thought he’d only just learned about the trigger in Jake’s brain. But if Lucky’s story was true, Nikolas had been working with Helena for an entire year before her death. How had he known about the trigger and the toxin? She’d never asked him questions when he’d given her the mission—had only thought about what she’d get out of it. Worrying about the bottom line.

She turned back to her tablet, scrolled away from the medical record she’d been reading and clicked into the Patient 2 files. There’d been a field report from one of Helena’s men that she’d ignored in her first skim through of the files, but she wanted to return to it—

Patient 2 is settling back into his daily routine. Interacting with previous associates, including his brother and former girlfriend. There is tension to exploit with the brother who has developed feelings for the girlfriend. Madame is encouraged by this and wants to be kept informed —

“Anything good?”

Britt looked up to find Lucky in her doorway, leaning against it. “I was reading through your files again. The field reports.”

Lucky grimaced. “There’s nothing there—”

Britt straightened. “I’m not so sure,” she said slowly. “When you summarized the files, you said that Helena had brainwashed you about your feelings towards Elizabeth—”

“This isn’t important—”

“But that’s not the whole story,” she cut in and he scowled. “I’m not looking for gossip. I’m—” She moved from her desk to sit cross-legged on her bed. “Hear me out, okay? There’s obviously no love lost between me and Elizabeth for a lot of reasons, and most of them—” she winced. “They’re justified. But I was reading these field reports — Helena didn’t just brainwash you to stop loving Elizabeth. There’s some notations about you and Nikolas having tension. She went further. She made you push them together.”

“Yeah.” Lucky knitted his brow together. “I don’t see how it’s relevant, but yeah. Uh—” He scratched the edge of his brow with his thumb. “Uh, when I got back, I was still in love with her. Really in love. And she—I think she was with me. It’s hard—” He came into the room, closed the door, then leaned against it. “It’s hard really to know objectively what was going through her head, but I wanted her back in my life. Every time I opened my mouth to tell her that—” he grimaced. “I told her to be with Nikolas.”

“Helena programmed you to do that.”

“It was—it was bad,” Lucky said slowly. “I was hurting her. So much. At first, I tried to fight it, and then I tried to avoid it. But it just kept happening. And I was losing her. She wasn’t—I could see—” He looked at her. “You ever watch the light fade from someone’s eyes? The life just bleeding out. She kept trying, but I wasn’t strong enough. And it didn’t help that Jason came back, and—” Lucky looked away. “She got that light back with him, and I just knew—I knew if I could figure it out—” He cleared his throat. “We broke through that, and we thought the brainwashing was done. But it was just the beginning. Helena let me think it was over until she needed me.”

“Yeah, I’m hoping that we can get more from this time period. About what the notes referred to as Endgame.” Britt paused. “I’m sure that was really hard for you to go through, and I’m not diminishing it or anything. I’m more focused on the why. Why did Helena want you to deliberately hurt Elizabeth? Why did she use Nikolas to do it?”

“I thought she wanted to hurt me. Or to find a way to isolate me. The programming worked best that way. Do you have another theory?”

“She could have done that a thousand ways, Lucky. She could have programmed you to forget everything. She did eventually, so why not earlier? Think about the things you ended up being forced to do,” she said. “Doesn’t it seem like a really, small, petty thing to do, to make you break up with your girlfriend?”

Lucky frowned, rubbed his chest. “Yeah, I guess when you put it that way. But—”

“I don’t know how its connected, it but it just feels like it is. I was thinking about what you told me yesterday,” Britt continued. “About Nikolas knowing about Jake and keeping it from Elizabeth. When he and I—when we were engaged for about five minutes, Elizabeth was the one who blew it up—I mean, it was my fault for lying,” she muttered. “But it was Elizabeth who found out the truth and told everyone at our engagement party.”

“I didn’t know that—” Lucky sat on the bed. “Why is that important?”

“It felt like he was more mad at her than me,” Britt said. “He actually flipped out on her first before me. And you’d think since I had done something so terrible to his sister and lied to him, I’d be at the top of the list. I’m just saying — that’s weird. And then you’re telling me he lied to her about her kid being alive. He also lied to her about Jake Doe. By the time he got to me, it was like he didn’t have much left.”

Lucky shook his head. “I don’t see why that’s important—”

“I don’t know, but it comes back to Elizabeth,” Britt said. “Helena didn’t just want you to break up with Elizabeth. She wanted you to tell Elizabeth to be with your brother. Why? These field reports — they say Nikolas had feelings for her. Was that true?”

“Britt—”

“Helena made Nikolas poison her to test his loyalty. It’s just—” Britt shook her head. “I don’t know. There’s a lot of weird contradictions and these little bits and pieces that don’t add up. Helena notices that Nikolas wants Elizabeth, tries to get her for him? But then wants him to kill her to prove his loyalty? And then Jake Doe — Nikolas told me that he kept the secret because he wanted to find out what Helena was up to. Maybe that explains some of this. Why he kept Jake a secret — he could have just been trying to learn why Helena wanted Jake— I know that’s not a good enough excuse,” she added when Lucky opened his mouth. “I know that he should have said something, but I can see how he’d think he was doing the right thing.” Britt made a face. “I don’t know. Maybe I’d understand more if I’d been there for all of it—”

“No, I think I follow you. And yeah, okay, when you think about it — Helena worked hard for a long time to get Nikolas on her side. I don’t know that she ever forgave him for fooling her that first time. I just don’t see what that has to do with anything—Helena wanted to isolate me or Nikolas. Maybe both of us. Elizabeth was a means to an end.”

“You never know what the puzzle looks like until you’re finished putting together the pieces.” Britt shrugged. “Like I said, you caught me before I’d really thought it through. Sometimes you think out loud, and there’s nothing there.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Something vibrated, and Lucky glanced down at his phone. “My dad wants us in the study.”

“Oh, goody,” Britt muttered. “Another staff meeting.”

Maslak Lab: Hallway

Valentin scrolled through the list of missed calls — if only it were just Nina leaving him messages. His wife was easily cajoled into forgiving him — she’d forgiven others much worse, after all. But there were also calls from his daughter, from business partners at Cassadine Industries, and even a few from Lulu — and the text messages — not to mention the voice mails.

He exhaled slowly, counted to ten, reminding himself that he’d worked so hard to get to this point. He’d already made enough mistakes; he couldn’t let his impatience ruin it now.

He needed to remember his endgame. To focus on the goal. And not destroy the world he’d built and planned to enjoy. He’d been gone six days. He couldn’t afford much more time here in Turkey.

The door opened across the hall and Klein stepped out. Valentin focused on him. “Well? What’s the verdict? Is he awake?”

“He is fully conscious, and his brain activities are intact.” Klein paused. “I cannot, of course, guarantee that he answers any of your questions or even has information that is useful to you, but—”

“No, that would be too easy.” And he didn’t expect Stefan to cooperate that easily anyway. If Valentin could just get into the files, if he could locate the memory protocol, he’d get the information another way. All he needed to know was that his brother’s brain remained undamaged, and that couldn’t have been assessed before he’d awakened.

But there was no harm in trying to extract what he needed willingly.

In the bed, Stefan was wan, his expression slack. His eyes fluttered as Valentin approached, then opened more fully as he met Valentine’s gaze.

“Hello.” Valentin tipped his head. “Do you recognize me?”

Stefan pressed his lips together, his eyes darkening. “I do,” he said, his tone short and clipped, his voice raspy. “We’ve met before.”

“We have. I wasn’t sure you’d remember.”

“I know you,” Stefan said. “Ivan Theodore.”

Valentin hesitated at the alias he’d used while training for the WSB, one that he had discarded, believing himself betrayed by Anna Devane. “I’m sorry. Then you don’t know me—”

“Oh?” Stefan managed to arch an eyebrow. “Perhaps you’ve chosen another identity. What is it now?”

Valentin’s lips curled. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You were one of my father’s goons. Mercenaries.” Stefan closed his eyes, his voice fading. “You worked for him. Then my mother after he died.”

So Stefan didn’t know Valentine’s parentage—assumed or true. “When did you last speak to your mother?” he demanded. “You were in a coma. What is the last date you remember?”

“Ah. So it’s information you want.” Stefan nodded. “Good. We can set the terms of our negotiations—”

“Negotiations—” Valentin laughed, though his stomach was uneasy. His chest was tightening. Why did nothing ever come easy? “You are my captive. You will tell me what I want to know, or you will go back into your deep sleep. That is only the negotiation I will consider—”

“And you will still have nothing.”

Valentin’s fists clenched. He could put Stefan back to sleep, but there was no guarantee the memory protocol would be located — and he desperately needed a piece of leverage, some indication that he was near the end of this journey. That his identity was safe, that there was no other threat to his inheritance save for the man in this hospital bed.

“I see that you have reconsidered. If you’d like to know what I remember, then you will bring my nephew to me.”

Valentin shook his head. “No. Choose something else.”

“There is nothing else. There is only Nikolas. He is all that matters to me. You will bring him to me or arrange for me to speak to him. You have my terms. Do what you will with them. Without Nikolas, I will say nothing.”

And Nikolas was a decomposing corpse at the bottom of the Aegean. “Then we are at an impasse. Enjoy your rest.”

He stalked out into the hallway where Klein remained waiting. “Put him back to sleep. Then prepare to transfer him and your research to the lab on Spoon Island.”

Locating the memory protocol had become his number one priority.

Kiremit House: Study

Britt’s questions still echoed in Lucky’s head when he found his father and brother two flights down. Britt trailed into the room after him, but he noticed that she stayed near the door. Preparing for another hasty exit.

She’d raised some interesting points that Lucky had never thought much about. Why had Helena used Elizabeth and Nikolas as the first test back then? Had she wanted to exploit the tension between Lucky and his brother? To prevent them from developing the bond they’d begun to build before the fire?

And what did he make of Britt’s line of thought about Nikolas being angrier with Elizabeth than with Britt — only to turn around a few months later to lie about Jake? What exactly had Nikolas been doing in Greece? How many secrets was his brother keeping?

“I had another phone call with Robert.” Luke folded his arms. The home front is getting restless. Suspicious.”

“What do they expect from us?” Nikolas demanded. “Miracles?”

“Nothing from you,” Britt muttered. They focused on her. “Well, you’re supposed to be dead, Nikolas. And they probably expect Luke to have found Valentin by now. Which he has and isn’t telling them. So are you surprised that they’re getting pissed?”

Lucky smirked. “She’s got a point, Dad. You started with a list of properties Nikolas gave you and got nowhere. Now you’re using Spinelli’s, and you found Valentin right away. Seems like they know there’s a good chance you’re lying to them.” And if Lucky was right about what he’d detected in the last batch of files, Spinelli knew more than they thought, but Lucky didn’t mention that. He’d done enough to protect Nikolas.

“Who’s side are you on, Cowboy? Hers or ours?”

“Mine,” Lucky said, even as Britt scowled. “And that’s all I ever promised anyone.”

Nikolas scowled. “This isn’t helping anyone. Luke — what’s the problem? They’re antsy. So what? We’ll think of something—”

“Right now, Drew and Jason don’t seem very interested in coming to Turkey to see for themselves,” Luke said. “Robert doesn’t think it’ll take much to change their minds. They don’t trust us—” He glared at Britt who snorted. “Don’t start.”

“Just seems like Drew and Jason are pretty smart and might actually be helpful if they knew what was going on, that’s all.” She shrugged. “Don’t mind me—”

“I’m trying not to.” Luke returned his focus to Lucky and Nikolas. “They have the same list of properties I do. They come here, and they’ll start with that lab. We need to make sure they don’t get that far. We need them to stay in Port Charles.”

Lucky grimaced. He hated this. Hated that they were lying to everyone that actually mattered to Lucky — that he’d given up his entire life and had nothing to show for it but lies. “So, what? You want me to send them to Siberia? Tell them Valentin has made another run for it and he’s in the Pacific?”

“Damn it—”

“You need a cover story,” Britt said, and they looked at her. “Something to explain why you haven’t found Valentin yet. And something to divert their attention. We can do that.” She looked at Lucky. “We’ve been reading all those files, we have our questions and theories. We’ll just develop something that will get their interest.”

“And why should I trust you, Little Obrecht?”

“You should trust me,” Lucky said, and his father looked at him. “Britt’s right. Nikolas wanted us to work on the files while you tracked down Valentin. You’ve done your part, Dad. Now Britt and I need to do ours. And Nikolas—” He focused on his brother. “Keep looking busy. Great work.”

“That’s not—” Nikolas scowled. “That’s not all I do—”

“Sure. But since we need to keep your secret,” Lucky said, “maybe you let me and Britt get back to work and Dad can head over to the lab? Otherwise, you’ll still be pretending to be dead when you’re ready for the nursing home.” He turned his back on them. “Ready to get back to work?” he asked Britt.

“Ready to leave this room,” she muttered.

“Great. Have fun,” he told his father and brother, then left.

“You really think antagonizing them is a good idea?” Britt hissed as they climbed the narrow steps back to their rooms.

“I don’t know. You started it.” He shrugged. “I’ll get my stuff. We should work together instead of separately. We need something to keep Jason and Drew out of the country. Neither of them will believe a word I say, so we need something that feels enough like the truth without being the truth.”

“Oh, good, I was worried it’d be something hard.”

Maslak Lab: Hallway

Hours later, as the city slept, Luke tugged the cap low over his face, keeping the handle of the broom to block it from view. He’d watched as Valentin had exited earlier that night and knew that the lab was mostly empty this time of night. A few more days of watching the building, and he’d have the schedule down perfectly —

But tonight, it was time to get a better sense of the place. What had pulled Valentin thousands of miles away from Port Charles without warning for so long? It was the first impulsive act the man had committed — everything else he did seemed carefully calculated —

Leaving Jason Morgan alive had been a particular stroke of genius. Luke knew that those back in Port Charles had been lulled by that period of quiet — by the lack of attack on Jason after he’d made his way out of the clinic and back home. Not a single attempt after New York. If not for the accident with Anna and the trip to Turkey, they’d still be questioning Valentin’s involvement.

That took a cold-blooded kind of thinking — something the Cassadines had once excelled at but had gone by the wayside as Helena had grown older and more desperate. Then again, the old witch had always kept one eye on the long game. The big picture. Brainwashing Lucky hoping to destroy the Spencers and resurrect Stavros? Kidnapping Jake to raise a new generation of weapon?

It was the petty bits of revenge that gave Luke pause — drugging Elizabeth to make her ill enough to hallucinate and then getting her to Spoon Island so that she’d see her son, and no one would believe her. So much planning for an event that could only serve as amusement. It had revealed a hatred for Elizabeth that Luke didn’t quite understand. And while he didn’t buy the current theory that Jason and his brother had been targeted because of Jason’s connection to Elizabeth —

He also couldn’t explain Helena’s actions any other way.

And now Valentin was making Helena’s mistakes. He’d left Jason to rot in that coma — and done nothing to silence him once he’d come home. But going after Anna because maybe Maddox had told her something? And leaving in the middle of the night for Turkey?

No, there was something in this lab. Something that would explain everything — or at least give them a thread to tug so they could start to unravel this entire mess.

Luke ambled down the hallway, haphazardly cleaning. Not much security at night — just the cameras. No real guards. He checked doors. Mostly offices. A few empty patient rooms. He went down a flight of stairs, intending to work his way down the four floors until he found something or ran out of time. There was always tomorrow—

It was on the second floor — or first story as the Dark Prince would smugly say — that Luke hit jackpot. In the middle of the hallway lined with doors, Luke pushed one open — and simply stopped at the sight of the man stretched out on the bed, sleeping.

“Damn it,” he muttered. “No one ever stays dead.”

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