The sinister secret organization is back, and they have more plans for Mac!
If you don't know what I'm referring to, I recommend reading When He Wakes and Speechless before you begin this story. Happy reading!
Programmed Part One
Rated: R
“MacGyver? Hello? MacGyver, are you home? I have something I need to tell you,” Pete said, entering the house boat.
Before he could react to defend himself, someone grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms behind him.
“What is this?” Pete asked, struggling against his unknown attacker’s firm, strong grip. “What’s going on? Who are you? What are you doing?”
The person did not respond. Instead, he threw Pete to the floor and straddled across him, making sure he was still pinned and defenseless. When Pete looked up into the man’s face that was holding him down, he was surprised. He couldn’t believe who he was looking at.
“MacGyver? Are you all right? Were you expecting somebody else? Are you in danger and that’s why you ambushed me?”
Seeming not to hear his questions, acting almost robotically, MacGyver lifted a butcher knife from the kitchen high in the air, prepared to stab him. His face was expressionless, but murder gleamed in his smoldering dark eyes.
“MacGyver, can you hear me? Listen to me, please. This is Pete. I don’t know what’s happening to you to make you behave this way, but don’t do it. Please, don’t do this!” Pete shouted, flinching as MacGyver raised the knife higher in the air, derangement and raw, primitive, wild rage in his eyes. “Come on, please! You have to hear me! MacGyver, what is wrong with you? Don’t do this! Please!”
Refusing to listen or relent, MacGyver began to plunge the knife downward towards Pete’s chest, but Pete moved quickly to protect himself, even though he hated to hurt him, kneeing him in the stomach, stunning him and knocking him backwards. He ran upstairs, hoping to reach MacGyver’s bedroom in time to lock the door and call for help, but MacGyver recovered quickly and sprang up, grabbing hold of his knife tightly and pursuing Pete up the stairs at a rapid pace, fierce determination on his set, hard face. Pete could hear him approaching, panting heavily and grunting like a feral, predatory animal, ready to pounce and overtake him, his athletic body tense and tightly coiled, his energy raw and unrestrained.
“MacGyver, stop!” Pete shouted. “You have to stop this now! You don’t know what you’re doing! I can tell. I can see it. Please! You have to hear me! You have to snap out of whatever this is! You don’t want to do this. I know it. Mac, please…”
MacGyver lunged towards him, but he tripped and fell backwards, rolling down the spiral staircase in a dramatic crash, striking his head and losing consciousness once he hit the floor below, the butcher knife falling out of his hand and landing by his side.
“Oh my God,” Pete said, rushing back down the stairs towards him, checking his condition. Frantically, he felt for a pulse. It was present, but weak. “MacGyver…what’s happened to you? Why did you attack me?” He asked, gently stroking his cheek.
He still couldn’t believe what had just happened, never before seeing MacGyver look so enraged and wild, so intent on killing someone he respected and loved, someone he considered his best friend and mentor. None of it made any sense. Hating to do it but knowing he had little choice in such a strange situation, he reached for the phone and called the only person he knew who could help him understand MacGyver’s altered, uncharacteristic and bizarre behavior.
***
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Pete said, staring down at MacGyver, sedated and lying on a hospital bed in restraints. A distinct feeling of déjà vu struck him as he watched him, remembering the last time he was that way. It didn’t seem that long ago. “He’s not a killer or a criminal. Something happened to him that made him extremely violent and mentally disturbed, and that’s why I brought him back here. Oh God, I wish I didn’t have to, though. It seems like he was just here. Everything was fine. His sanity was restored to him, now only to be taken away from him again.”
“You did the right thing, Mr. Thornton,” Dr. Ladd said, monitoring his patient. “His head injury was minor. I didn’t see any evidence of skull fractures on the X-rays, and I don’t think he has a concussion. He was just knocked unconscious by the impact.”
“Thank God,” Pete said, sighing, looking down sadly at MacGyver’s still form and how peaceful he looked in comparison to how aggressive he had been earlier.
“So, tell me what happened,” Dr. Ladd said, looking up at Pete with his cool blue eyes. “You say he just...started attacking you, like the last time he was committed here?”
“Yeah, except this time he had a knife in his hand,” Pete said, shuddering, not believing the words as he spoke them, finding it difficult to speak that way about MacGyver. “It was as if he wanted to kill me.”
Dr. Ladd raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure he knew it was you, or was he perhaps acting out in another realistic flashback episode?” He asked.
“Doctor, he was looking right at me, as if he knew who I was, but it didn’t matter to him. He knew his purpose. He was going to kill me, no matter what. He would have succeeded, too, if he hadn’t taken that nasty tumble down the stairs. It just…doesn’t make any sense. I can’t explain it.”
“Well, that’s why he’s here, so we can try to explain it.”
MacGyver moaned and began to stir, tugging against the restraints. His eyes opened fully and stared blankly for a moment, and then they began wandering around the room, trying to orient himself to his surroundings. When his black voids focused on Pete, he glared at him, his anger and hatred returning. His struggles against the restraints increased and he growled, desperately fighting to free himself.
“I…think you’d better wait outside,” Dr. Ladd said. “For some reason he is still reacting to your presence with a high degree of hostility.”
MacGyver twisted against the restraints, grunting and baring his teeth, straining to reach Pete, his fingers spread wide as if wanting to grab his neck and strangle him. Pete couldn’t believe what he was witnessing, not recognizing even a small fragment of the MacGyver he knew in that ferocious, wild beast strapped to the bed, his face contorted with rage. He howled and pulled on the restraints again, his eyes glinting with an unnatural, bloodthirsty sheen.
“All right,” Pete said quietly, struggling to withhold his tears. “I’ll leave the room.”
“I’ll try to communicate with him and calm him, perhaps see if I can get a reason from him about why he’s behaving in such a manner,” Dr. Ladd said, trying to hold down his patient as he squirmed. He released a shrill, ear-piercing scream that was loud enough to echo down the corridors of the psychiatric hospital and was unbearable for either man to hear. “We’re going to find a solution, I promise,” Dr. Ladd said after MacGyver screamed, still hearing it ring and vibrate in his sensitive ears.
Pete nodded sadly, exiting the room. He looked at MacGyver one last time, writhing and yanking on the restraints. Unable to stand watching him any longer, he closed the door behind him and leaned hard against it, his tears now flowing freely. The man he trusted and loved like a son had somehow turned viciously against him and was now a threat that needed to be contained and confined, separated from the rest of humanity, including him. MacGyver was in trouble again, and there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t save him.
***
Gasping, MacGyver fell back onto the bed, no longer struggling against the restraints. His eyes darted around the room in fear and confusion. No longer did he look like a savage, vicious killer filled with uncontrollable hatred and rage. Instead, he looked helpless and vulnerable, almost boyish and innocent. Dr. Ladd noted this abrupt change in personality with strong interest, watching him carefully.
“What…what is this? Where am I? What’s going on?” MacGyver asked, looking down at his restraints.
“It’s all right, MacGyver,” Dr. Ladd said soothingly. “You’re in the psychiatric hospital. Do you remember what happened?”
“What? No…” MacGyver said, tugging weakly against the restraints and looking around the plain room again. “Why? No…I don’t remember…what’s happened to me?”
“You attacked Pete again, except this time you used a knife.”
MacGyver’s eyes widened, a horrified expression on his face. “What? No…is he…is he…”
“He’s just fine. Are you telling me that you don’t recall chasing him around your house boat with a butcher knife, trying to kill him?”
“What? No, oh God…I swear…I don’t remember a thing…”
“Was it a flashback you were acting out on?”
“No…I…I don’t know…don’t understand…” MacGyver’s terrified eyes darted around the room again and he tugged absently at his restraints. “No…it can’t be possible… I don’t remember anything…”
“What’s the last thing you do remember?”
“I…I went to bed…”
“That’s the last thing you remember?”
MacGyver’s moist, pleading eyes met Dr. Ladd. “Yes,” he said, his voice quiet and distant. “Oh God…I would never…you know I would never hurt Pete...”
“I know you wouldn’t, at least not intentionally,” Dr. Ladd said.
“This can’t be…this has to be a dream of some kind…”
“No, I’m afraid it’s very real. But we’ll help you, all right? We’ll help you figure out what happened.”
“How did I get here?”
“Pete brought you in,” Dr. Ladd said, noticing that MacGyver was staring at the restraints again. “You have to understand that this is only temporary and that we had no other alternatives. Your behavior was erratic, violent, and completely unpredictable.”
MacGyver closed his eyes, a few tears leaking from them and rolling down his cheeks. “So it’s happened again,” he said. “It’s true. I am crazy.”
“Now MacGyver, we’re going to work on this, I promise,” Dr. Ladd said. “We’re going to find out what impelled you to chase Pete with a kitchen knife and try to kill him. It’s going to require some time, but we’ll solve this, of that I have no doubt.”
“Can…can I see him?”
“He was just here,” Dr. Ladd said. “When he was, you were uncontrollable and violent again. Don’t you remember that at all?”
“No…”
Intrigued, Dr. Ladd made a note of that as well. “You’ll get to see him soon,” he said. “Right now, I need you to rest.”
“You said he was all right,” MacGyver said, pulling harder on the restraints, tears in his mournful, terrified eyes. “If he’s all right, why can’t I see him? He isn’t, is he? I hurt him, didn’t I? You’re lying to me!”
“Now MacGyver, settle down,” Dr. Ladd said. “You know I would never do that. Pete’s fine. It’s just that…every time he’s near you, you seem to lose control. Until we find out why, I’m afraid his visits are going to have to be supervised and on a limited basis.”
MacGyver broke down into sobs. “Pete…” he said. “How could I have done this? What…what happened? I-I’m not crazy…am I? No…no, I can’t be…this can’t be happening…not again…”
Dr. Ladd calmly prepared an injection. “This will help you sleep,” he said. “You’ve had a harrowing day, and it’s going to take awhile before any of this begins to make sense, so for now, I need you to rest. We’ll work more on this tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to,” MacGyver said, almost pouting like a small child. “I want to… see Pete…”
Dr. Ladd had already injected the sedative, and soon he was lost in a deep sleep.
***
“Well, what’s going on? Was he coherent? Were you able to get any information out of him as to why he would do this?” Pete asked.
“I think he’s been programmed,” Dr. Ladd said.
“Programmed? What do you mean? Like brainwashed?”
“Maybe,” Dr. Ladd said. “It could be more complex than that. When you left the room, his behavior changed dramatically. He became scared and confused and told me that he didn’t remember any of the events that led to his confinement here. He didn’t even remember that you were in the room with him. It’s almost as if he’s been conditioned to lash out violently whenever you’re present. Until we learn more, I am operating on that theory.”
“So you’re saying…”
“Someone has made you a target, and MacGyver their perfect killing machine.”
To be continued…
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
--Henry David Thoreau
brains+brawn+beauty+personality=MacGyver
Actually that's how I name them in MS Word so that I can find them among all MacsChick's other stories. This way I know which stories are relevant to the other XD I got a weird way to organize my digital life!
you!!!! 
