The man leaned back, satisfied. The file lay unopened on his desk. 'Confidential . . .' he murmured. 'Right, like they could hide anything from me.'

The intercom rang suddenly, and though he still wasn't used to it, he simply sighed and pressed the button on top. 'Yes, Theo?'

'Sir, we found archives on what you wished. Thirty-six thousand hits. Seems like a busy little band of aliens, huh?'

He looked again at the file. Without speaking a word, he tore it open. Inside lay a thick band of papers, all bunched together with two rubber bands. Each had one photo on it and information about that person.

The man looked at them, confused; and then he realized. A grin spread across his face. 'Yes,' he said. 'Now I remember . . .'

Theo ran the intercom - again. The man closed his eyes and furrowed his brow in annoyance: he hated that thing. Next time, he would develop a though booster, so you wouldn't have to communicate using sound. Just signals.

'Yes, Theo?'

'Sir, it seems as though the archives have just been remotely deleted. But we did get them on disk. As long as they don't have access to the files with the file signature on it, we're fine.'

'And . . . you are changing the signature now, right?'

There came a sudden noise, as if Theo had just knocked something over. 'Oh, yes . . . commencing change.' A faint rapid click of keys was heard as Theo remotely accessed the file, and changed the signature on all of the files - at light speed.

'Done, sir.'

'Good job, Theo. Remind me to give you a raise this year.'

There was a pause. 'Yes, very funny, sir.'

The man didn't respond.

'What . . . sir, you're serious?'

His grin came back, only larger. 'Without you I wouldn't have this office, a computer past, or a legally changed name. Oh, and by the way - delete all files on that. It's still their signature, they probably accessed it long ago.'

Theo gulped silently on the other end. 'Yes, sir.' More clicks, and a faint curse. 'Sir, they downloaded the files via remote access. They're gone, and the only have to trace the IP address. But we didn't change the signature, and our technology is far greater than theirs. Maybe we can . . . remote destruct?'

He thought about it. 'Good one, Theo. Commence deletion. Oh, and Theo?'

'Yes, sir?'

'You did manage to get the files on subject 002, right? I mean . . . she did survive, and her brain seemed to have even been mutated by it. Her intelligence is far higher than it should be. Get the files on that. Download it to my laptop.'

'Uh, sir . . .'

'Yes, you mumbling freak?'

'I can't get the address. It changes every single minute. Even I can't track it that fast.'

He patted his ultra-thin laptop, which was lying on the desk. And chuckled drily. 'Don't you worry about that. I can do that - expresso pronto.'

'Very good, sir.'

The man launched his fingers upon the keyboard - and they literally flew. Within twenty seconds he had a permanent address. 'Theo, it is done.'

'Good job, sir.'

Theo tapped some keys, and found the address in seconds. 'Nice one, sir. Encrypted coding. Marvelous,' he mumbled automatically, and before the minute was finished the files were sent.

A little pop-up blipped on the screen. 'YOU GOT MAIL!' it proclaimed loudly. The man chuckled - but only when he knew that Theo wouldn't hear. It wasn't good to realize your boss was developing a sense of humor, you know.

'Oh, and Theo -'

'File has been tracked. Remote location out in Spain. I don't know what they're doing there. Sorry, sir.'

He laughed under his breath. 'No, Theo - you've just helped me with the most complicated thing in my life.'

'Really, sir?'

'Positive.'

'Well, um . . . thank you?'

'Very well,' he said, and shut off the intercom, rubbing his temples as soon as the signal was gone. He should be more careful - and should stop messing about, his conscience crossly told him, like a parent telling off a child. These Colas have power beyond anything you can imagine. One can communicate with ghosts, read minds, and find anything you wanted ON THE PLANET, and also see the future (a gift that could come in handy), one could heal you of any pain, one could . . . he readied himself with hate in his mind. Shapeshift, he continued silently. Two could create illusions that could stop an army in their tracks and fool the Secret Service. Two could vanish into thin air. And the last two could communicate telepathically with themselves and read others' minds. They could also mimic any sound on Earth. This was why they were proving hard to track.

The man shut his laptop, and walked out of his office. They shouldn't know, he thought. It's not good for them to know that you're Mr. Eades.

In the cab, Mr. Eades took out his laptop, motioning at the driver to continue. With a mental cackle, he cracked his knuckles, readying his fingers.

Now he was going to have some fun.

* * *

'DAX! Stop slacking off!'

Dax woke up, not before wincing. He had slacked off in French class - and was going to catch hell from Mrs. Dann. She scowled at him from the board, a smell came to his nose - annoyance and some little anger.

Gideon nudged him again. 'Mate! She knows you're slacking off! Stop!' The boy stopped grinned, and pointed at Lisa, ahead of them.

Hey, Lees? Help us out, will you?

LIsa nearly turned around in shock, mouth open, ready to abuse the ghost who was interrupting French class, before breathing out and turning back.

What do you want? Getting sick agaaain?!

Dax winced, remembering the memory of having a stroke. He bristled, feeling a shift coming on. Come on - help me out! I need to get outside and eat! Aren't you hungry?

Lisa snorted out loud. Yes - and everyone else! Come on, Dax. Ten minutes. After being dead before and having a stroke, I'm pretty sure even you could get a way past that.

Dax sighed. Okay, I'll wait . . . but please help me out a bit!

Lisa narrowed her eyes, and sent a strong telepathic message with involved a lot of things - including Dax getting tortured by the COLA girls.

Wondering what to do, Dax was able to think about what to do next. He grinned, counted 'one, two, three' on his fingers to his friends, and they yelled as hard as they could in their minds. LISA!!!!!!!

'What?!!?!?!?' LIsa turned around and yelled at them, but stopped, and turned back, blushing hard. Dax and Gideon grinned even more, if possible.

Mrs. Dann narrowed their eyes at them, ignoring everyone else, who was snickering. 'Dax, Gideon. Did you two have something to do with this?'

Dax stopped, and wondered how he could fake his way out of this. 'Uhm . . . .'

Mrs. Dann snorted, and rolled her eyes. 'Right. See me after class.'

'Okay, Mrs. Dann.'

Everyone else sniggered and bickered amongst themselves until Mrs. Dann yelled out, 'Enough! Anyone who doesn't be quiet will join Mr. Jones at lunchtime!'

With that, the bell rang. Dax sighed and got up. Now he wouldn't get out for a loooooong time.

Meanwhile, he wondered about when he would get out.

When Mrs. Dann had finally finished lecturing him about why he should concentrate in class, he actually managed to get outside. Not ten seconds out, and already wanting to get to the fox, he heard a yell from the main block.

Shifting to fox, Dax ran. He ran hard. Several other students were checking out what made the sound, other were peering in the window, others just simply shrugged and continued on. But Dax didn't. He ran inside, shifting to boy when he saw what was inside.

Mrs. Sartre lay unconscious on her desk.

* * *

By the time the principal had finally woken up, she had actually explained what happened - or actually, what she saw. She didn't go greatly into detail, but told the story anyway.

When everyone had left, and Dax and Mrs. Sartre were alone in the room, he asked, 'Mrs. Sartre? What'd you see?'

She took a deep breath. 'I saw . . . le . . . a Cola.'

Dax gasped. Another Cola? There was only a hundred and ten! Some hadn't even recovered from . . . Catherine.

'Dax, it wasn't right. Elle . . . . she was unlike the rest of you. When Eades found out about the power, he found a way, with help from the scientists, to find out how to inject the power into a normal person. Subject 002 is still alive. And she's the only one.'

As Dax went back to his dorm at the end of the day, Gideon demanded an explanation. He got one, though he didn't like it.

* * *

So, subject 002 was alive. What a pity all the others died. A real pity.

Mr. Eades wondered if he had done something wrong. Or, by doing something wrong, he got it right. Interesting, he mused.

Theo rang the intercom. Again. 'Sir, the files have been researched. Subject 002 is alive - and kicking. She's at school right now: but we can go after her at any time.'

Mr. Eades didn't reply.

'We can go after her at any time, sir.'

'Better. Now, you may want to pack up for office.'

Theo frowned on the other end. 'Why, sir?'

'Because we're going to get subject 002. And the reason is, Theo Brown, is that you might not be coming back.'

Theo's beating heart was the only sound in the room as Mr. Eades closed the door behind him.

How'd you like it? Reckon it's good? Want a second chapter? Please review!