Disclaimer: A.T.O.M. and all related characters © SIP Animation and Jetix. I do not make money writing this fic.
Alicia Garçias, Angelin and Damian are original characters created by AFH Entertainment just for fun.

Angelin and Damian can also be found in the fiction by the CC-squad. That's because I'm a part of that squad.
Eventually, this fiction will tangle itself in the storyline of the Charity Café (the fiction-series of the CC-squad), so keep an eye on both fics!

Now that's all sorted out: VAMOS!

"Why did I ever get myself into this?", I asked myself while staring at the grey ceiling above. In the cell next to mine, I could hear the bed squeaking and cracking as if there was a heavy weight lifted from it.
"Probably because you were too ugly to get an other job.", a low voice replied. The man laughed at his own joke.
"Shut up, you big ball of useless meat."
The laughing stopped for a moment. My comment had to find it's way to Flesh's tiny brains.
"That's not a nice thing to say!", he finally spoke and I sighed. How stupid could a person actually be?
The bed started to make cracking noises again, a sign that the oversized man had made his way back to where he had previously been.
I looked from the ceiling to the door of my cell. A couple of months had passed since Manning and his team had finally caught us.
I ask myself the same question again, but this time in my mind to avoid Flesh's foolish comments, and start scanning my memory…

Who am I?

I was born thirty-four years ago somewhere in India, but was adopted by an Australian couple ever since my biological parents couldn't take proper care of me. I don't know anything of my true home and family, and to be frank, I don't feel like ever getting to know them either. All I know is that one of my biological parents must have had a Western background, because I've got blue eyes and blonde-brown hair, features that are not so common in India.
My life in Australia was good, and I had everything I wanted. I loved the wildlife of the Outback and often went out with my dad to study insects and such. That's why I'm so fond of arachnids, I guess...

When I reached the age of sixteen, I met the big love of my life. Alicia Garçias was her name, a beautiful Latina whose eyes were as black as charcoal and she had blackish brown hair that framed her heart-shaped face. She truly was perfect. Lucky for me, she liked me just as much as I liked her. We started dating, but when we reached our six months anniversary, dark clouds appeared: Alicia found out she was pregnant.

Most guys of my age ran off when this happened, but I decided to stay. After all, it takes two to tango, and I felt completely responsible for the situation. Unlike Alicia's parents, my mother and father supported us for as long as we needed help. Trying to do the best for the child, we got married and moved out to a place of our own. I started to work as a technician at the local garage while my wife stayed at home. Good thing all went fine, because we soon found out that there were two little hearts beating inside her belly instead of just one…

Two little hearts... two babies...

Off course, we were shocked when we discovered that we'd be getting twice as much trouble as we expected landing on our shoulders, but we had to accept it. After all, there was no turning back now.

It was in the eight month that we had to rush to the hospital in Brisbane. Twenty-eight hours later I held my offspring in my arms for the first time and I have to say: there's nothing more wonderful than the sudden realisation that you've become a parent.

Now, every parent says that their child is the most perfect child in the whole universe, so I guess I'm allowed to brag about mine too. The firstborn, a petite girl, had a pair of chemical blue eyes that'd leave you stunned when you'd look into them. The boy, who was born ten minutes later, definately looked like his mother, having dark hair and nearly black eyes.
Alicia and I decided to name our son and daughter Damian and Angelin.

I have to say we did extremely well for such young parents. In fact, I could pick up my Zoology study again and finish it within three years! Right after I received my diploma, a foreign company offered me a job as a caretaker for arachnids. Both Alicia and I looked forward to moving to this unknown place, and so I accepted this offer to work at Landmark City Zoo.

It took us a while to adapt to the life in the city, and we had our ups and downs, but we got through most of it unharmed.

At least, that's what I thought...

How many twists could a life possibly get?

In my eyes, life couldn't be better. I had a great job at the zoo and my colleagues were my best friends. The kids were happy and healthy, and turned out to be big lovers of the animal world. Damian enjoyed spiders and scorpions so much, I eventually bought a few to keep as pets. Not that I'd let him touch them, no, that was way too dangerous for a five-year-old. Angelin on the other hand had a fascination for butterflies, and could often be found strolling around in the park watching the delicate creatures. She never captured them though. If she did, she'd let it go after a few seconds because a living thing should be free to go where it wants to go.

If only she could see me now...

Now Alicia seemed to have a weird view on how to be a decent parent. One time, I got a call from the twin's teacher. School was out for over one hour and still no-one had picked the kids up. I tried to reach Alicia, but didn't get any replies of her, so I had to get over there myself. Imagine a twenty-one year old man in dirty jeans and a green shirt covered with mud apologising to a teacher for his wife being irresponsible. Believe me, I felt as if I failed in parenting.

I took the rest of the day off and went out looking for Alicia without any result. At around midnight she finally came back, stumbling and talking nonsense. She had spent the entire day down at the pub, drinking and forgetting the time. When I asked her why she did this, she blurted out that she was still young and wanted to enjoy her life without constantly looking after the twins.

And that's when I lost it. I started to yell at her, trying to keep myself from hurting her physically. If she wanted to have more freedom, why didn't she contact a babysitter? If she didn't want to look after the kids any more, why did she decide to keep them in the first place?!
Now it was her turn to yell at me, saying I was the one that had caused all this trouble and that I had forced her into keeping the kids. That ticked me off so much that I took the twins out of their beds and went away. No way I'd ever let my children near a drunken woman who seemingly didn't care about them anyway.

I went to the home of my best friend. He didn't mind me dropping in at such a weird time. We stayed there for the night, and my anger slowly went away. Off course Alicia had a rough time, we both did, but still that was no reason for her to act the way she did.

When I went back home the next morning, I found a few suitcases standing in the hallway. Was she planning on leaving me?! I found her standing in the livingroom and asked her what was going on. She simply said she wanted a divorce. No discussions possible, I could hit the road and figure out what to do next myself. She practically pulled Damian and Angelin away from me and pushed a letter against my chest, saying I was expected to show up at court next week.

There I stood, out on the streets holding two suitcases. I looked at the window and saw my daughter waving at me, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. It truly broke my heart to see my little girl crying...

Those seven days I lived in a trance-like state. I was staying at my friend's place, I kept on working at the zoo, but I did it all emotionless. I was so zombified at that moment that my senior told me not to work with scorpions for a while, because I might got stung while not paying attention.

When I finally stood there in court, in front of the judge, I hoped the man would give me the parental rights. Losing my kids would mean losing everything I live for. My feelings for Alicia, I had lost them quite quickly. I now saw another side of her, and that side kicked me out of my own home.

You could imagine how I felt when the court did not only gave the parental rights to my ex-wife, but also forbid me to get anywhere near the kids! I was left speechless! I still don't know how I made it back to my friend's home.. I felt horrible, betrayed, used…

Off course I couldn't leave my kids just like that. I think being an adopted child did have an effect on me after all. And so I fought for visiting-rights while still keeping an eye on them, trying to get evidence that Alicia wasn't a good mother to them. Though that wasn't as easy as I thought. In two years I've been called to court several times for 'stalking' my kids. After I-don't-know-how-many warnings, I finally ended up in jail for a short matter of time. During my stay there, I snapped. My mind started to play tricks on me, though I didn't show it to the guards and fellow cellmates. I'd work out my new plan as soon as I got out of there. I'd no longer target my children, no, now it was time to look after my ex-wife. Poor little Alicia, if only she knew what kind of creature was coming after her…