Rescue

Some of you may remember a certain showdown I had with a certain proxy back when I was still in Austin. I told you all at the time that I taunted him about his brother, and that it was a berserk button reaction. That's true. What I failed to mention was that we got in contact afterward. 

I'm still not quite sure what inspired me to send that first email. But we got in touch. We started fighting via email, and then we started bantering, and then we just started talking. And somehow we became friends.

I learned the truth of  his story, and I told him the truth of mine.

When I was being held captive by the police, he came and rescued me. Yes, that's right. The big kidnapping plot? It was a farce. A necessary one, if he were to do it without being killed. He came to get me away from the cops, he made sure they didn't hurt me, he made sure Terminator found a stash of drugs so I could get away cleanly that morning. He's all but stopped trolling me-in fact only doing so when it actually helps me. We've gotten insanely good at pretending to hate each other while sounding encouraging.

The fact is, I've been begging him for the past month and change to defect. This is going to be hard to swallow, but he's a remarkably good person past all the rage and fear and slendy-control. He's risked life and limb to help me multiple times over our short friendship, perhaps most notably when he actually risked coming into my 'cell' when he had me 'kidnapped' because I needed a friend and a shoulder to cry on. It was so stupidly reckless and and selfless and utterly /good/.

I find it impossible to dislike someone who's willing to risk life and limb JUST TO HOLD ME WHILE I CRIED.

Do you remember around a month ago, when Valtiel showed up to torture him out of the blue? It was because he was considering defecting, though he obviously couldn't say that in public. The big problem was that he's at least partially hallowed. He's undergone the process repeatedly, and while it doesn't seem to stick forever, it means that he doesn't have complete control over himself or his actions. Yes, that's right, folks. The proxy everyone loved to hate was oftentimes more or less a puppet on a string. Which has led to some rather unfortunate and spectacular tragedies over the past few weeks as we've been preparing for him to do the actual defecting.

Again. Yes, that's right, folks, he /agreed/ to defect. In his words, specifically so he could do a better job of keeping an eye on me-the first real friend he's ever had in his life.

So. We went to New Jersey today. We meaning Spencer and I. We went to Jersey, and... I wish we could have interfered in what went down today. I really do. I don't know exactly how it happened,  though I know that when we found him Melly wasn't with them, and they seemed to be doing a lot of arguing. So I hope that perhaps it went badly for them and well for us. I really, really do. But we couldn't risk interfering and dragging his handler into it, or else we all would have ended up dead. I'm so sorry.

Nonetheless. We've just rescued Morningstar.

An Alternate Point of View

I didn't hack the blog. For those of you who have actually read this whole account you'll know that I have the password because Cam gave it to me. For whatever reason, Elaine hasn't changed it yet.
Yes, hello, this is Jake. Seems Elaine has a lot more of a following these days. All due to her lies and deception, no doubt.
Yes, I know the truth about the woman you all know and love. This woman you work with so closely, trust with your secrets, trust to work for the good of the runners. And I'm more than happy to share the truth with all of you. But first, so that you know why I'm telling you all of this, some background on me.

I met Cam four years ago, when we were both in school. I was taking my leave from the Army for school, and we met in a class. I probably never would've even had the chance to talk to him, except he ended up my lab partner. I'd never actually dated a man before, though I'd had encounters of more physical kinds, but Cam was so sweet and so good that I fell for him hard. He seemed to reciprocate, judging by the glances and smiles and blushes, but he refused any and all offers of dinner or movies or coffee.
He rushed home after class every day, to sit alone by the phone. The semester was almost over by the time I figured out why. One day his phone rang in the middle of lecture and he looked at it and ran out of the room. Got himself into a lot of trouble in the doing.
He was missing in class for a week. When he came back, he was exhausted and falling asleep all over our work, but beaming. And then he told me about Elaine. Not much, of course not, so much of her is so secret. But. He told me about this friend from his childhood who was in trouble and needed a place to hide out for a few days. He let it slip that it was dangerous, but he didn't care. He was surprised when I called him on it, told him he shouldn't risk his life. He said that he had to look after Elaine, and that was that.
Even so, he invited me to have dinner with me that night. And thus we were dating.
He was always so soft and kind and innocent, so very in love with me and with Elaine, and he worked so hard to keep us getting along. He and I only really got serious when she went to jail and he didn't need to worry about her needing a place to stay at a moment's notice.
I was always acutely aware that no matter how much he loved me, how much I fought and begged to free him from her grasp, everything he was belonged to her first, and she never hesitated to make use of that. Ever.
The wedding was the first time he ever did anything for me before her.
But, because of her, it was wrecked.
Because of her, only a few days later I woke to find my lover bleeding out quietly on the bed next to me.
Because of her I chased a phantom out the door after he killed my husband.
Because of her I spent three weeks in a forest without end, hunted like an animal and getting ripped limb from limb every sunset.
Because of her I spent two weeks in a false heaven where my Cam was alive and Elaine wasn't there. She'd never existed and Cam was so much happier without her. Then that man showed up and tore me from my paradise to set me loose on the world.
Because Cam is dead and I need to set things right.

Let me clarify. I don't want to kill her. It might be nice to end her in such a visceral way, but the most important thing is for her to be exposed for what she is.

She is not some good, kind, noble woman. She's a killer. She killed for the first time when she was eight years old. The victim? Cam's twin brother, Joey. She then proceeded to kill fifteen people, mostly children, ending in her brother Lewis and her parents. The police found her hiding in Cam's closet. You can look it up, it made the national news. Her birth name was Melanie Brown, and it was back in New Jersey.
I don't know the details of those two years, Cam wouldn't tell me much, but I know she did it.
After that, I don't know much. She spent some time in an asylum, then ran away when she got out, but I know she was working for someone big and dangerous-possibly killing for them- when I met Cam. Of course, she went to jail for drugs, so it could have been just that.
All I do know is that she used Cam at every turn for his whole life. She shows no concern or remorse for people, she has no real feelings to speak of. Cam used to cry about 'his poor broken Elaine'.
There was nothing I could do.

I just want the woman who destroyed my Cam's life to see justice.