Freedom is a relative concept. Is Original Jarod free? Sure he's no longer locked in a cell, but he can't stay in any one place long enough to develop normal friendships/relationships either. Miss Parker, Broots and Sydney probably all think of themselves as free, and they're all obviously better off than pre-escape Jarod, but they can't exactly walk away even when doing evil. I doubt Miss Parker thought she would end up as she did, chasing someone down for *years*, back whenever she agreed to go work for her father. (One thing that worries me about the new young-MP-at-training-camp novels is that they might make the mistake of portraying her as being brainwashed, which would remove all agency from the character and ruin the great banality-of-evil thing they have going. But I digress ...)

Also the Centre has more options, because both Jarod and Sydney do not realize that some of the sims are being used for evil purposes. He must have done a ton of legitimate good ones, or they never would have been able to keep him captive until his mid-30s.

Uh-oh, keep reading. You might not like the ending.

Freedom is a relative concept. Is Original Jarod free? Sure he's no longer locked in a cell, but he can't stay in any one place long enough to develop normal friendships/relationships either. Miss Parker, Broots and Sydney probably all think of themselves as free, and they're all obviously better off than pre-escape Jarod, but they can't exactly walk away even when doing evil. I doubt Miss Parker thought she would end up as she did, chasing someone down for *years*, back whenever she agreed to go work for her father. (One thing that worries me about the new young-MP-at-training-camp novels is that they might make the mistake of portraying her as being brainwashed, which would remove all agency from the character and ruin the great banality-of-evil thing they have going. But I digress ...)

Also the Centre has more options, because both Jarod and Sydney do not realize that some of the sims are being used for evil purposes. He must have done a ton of legitimate good ones, or they never would have been able to keep him captive until his mid-30s.

I'm going to assume that's a happy wow and not a disgusted & horrified wow, lol. Thank you for reading & reviewing!

Awwww, thank you. It's definitely motivating to hear your kind words :-)

And yes, even after thinking about it awhile I can't picture Miss P's childhood as anything but one of repression and -- after her mother's death -- utter neglect. It would be like losing two parents at once, only one is still technically alive to throw you a bone of a few minutes attention on occasion.

Thanks for reviewing, glad you like it!

Thanks! Next chapter - Miss Parker's point of view!