6th Oct 2003
The one that got away.
Set immediately after "Gill Girl"
Ames' thoughts
00:43am
Ames White's house.
Ames' study.
Ames is sitting at the desk in his study, he was so keyed up by that day's events that he had not been able to sleep. So he's now sitting in his study, going over the day's fiasco.
Damn it! Ames thought. I want to be exercising! Okay I want to be demolishing a punch bag, with 452's likeness taped onto it! He sulked. But I can't in case I wake Ray!.............Or Wendy! His wife was an after thought.
Ames recalls the day's events.
In NSA headquarters, which appears to be just another old building, only with humvees parked outside, Ames is jumping rope. A man comes downstairs and interrupts him.
"Excuse me, sir." The man said hesitantly.
"What's the rule on fitness time, Otto?" Ames asked his new second in command, Dobbs had had to give up the position on medical grounds. He couldn't handle the stress of being my second! Ames thought sarcastically. He got an ulcer! I'm still stuck with him though! Covert ops can't keep exchanging personal! Ulcer or not, he's still here! Ames thought sourly. Now I've gotta train this new idiot!
"No interruptions, sir." Otto replied, looking abashed.
"Then what are you doing here?" Ames asked sarcastically, still maintaining his rhythm with the jump rope.
"Sir, we've got a lead on a possible code red." Otto hurriedly explained, his co-workers, Dobbs in particular, having warned him about his new superior's temper, as soon as he had arrived.
Ames immediately stopped jumping rope. Ignoring Otto, he walks to the shower and swiftly showers and dresses. He and Otto then walk through the building into the office area.
"Some fisherman came to the dock this morning, started showing off their catch." Otto debriefed Ames.
"And how is that a code red?" Ames asked archly.
"Apparently they netted a girl...with gills." Otto swiftly replied.
"Gills." Ames said rhetorically. What next! Wings!
Otto nodded a reply anyway, just to be on the safe side.
"Huh." Ames finished his sentence. He's scared of me, good!
"They think they've got themselves a mermaid." Otto informed his boss.
"Idiots. What did they do with it?" Ames said aloud. I suppose they've called it Ariel! Was his sarcastic thought. Don't say that out loud! It'll ruin my image as an ogre! Mermaids, ogres, I wish Ray would get out of his fantasy story phase. I don't want to lapse into fairy tale sarcasm!
"That's what we're trying to find out." Otto assured him.
Dialling a phone, Ames replied. "All right. Let me know when they confirm code red. Could be we're dealing with a bunch of drunks telling fish stories. But who knows what those Manticore scientists and Sandeman created in their labs! Senile old fool!
"Yes, sir." Otto said and quickly left to carry out his instructions.
"Gills." Ames said to himself, rolling his eyes. He then entered his office to do some paperwork, whilst he waited for confirmation of the report. The sooner I start the blasted paperwork, the sooner I'll finish it!
A little while later.
NSA Seattle H.Q.
"Sir, code red's been confirmed. She's got a Manticore barcode." Otto diligently reported.
"And where did our merry fishermen take their prize?" Ames asked, with only a touch of sarcasm.
"Sold her to a guy who runs a bar in sector nine." Otto replied.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Ames was incredulous.
"They've got her on display. Drawing quite a crowd, too." Otto hurriedly confirmed the Intel.
"That's great! I don't want to attract any more attention to the situation! This has gotta be clean, surgical." Ames said, not bothering to tone down either sarcasm or annoyance. Blasted humans! I don't want the secret getting out! Well, not until I have orders for it to become public! Ames corrected himself.
"We've already got someone in place." Otto was quick to assure in superior.
The Blowfish Tavern, Ames' men retrieve the gilled female with no trouble. They quickly take her to the chosen holding site.
A short time later.
In the chosen old building, Ames is talking on his cell phone while standing in front of a small cage. containing the gilled transgenic. She is sitting in the cramped cage.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about last night, baby. I had a situation here at work. Yeah. I love you, too. Sure, put him on. Hey, big man! You did? Well, that sounds like fun. Yeah? Yeah, me too. All right. Well, I'll see you tonight. I promise. Okay." Ames conclude his phone call home and turned all of his attention to Otto. "So how long can this thing stay alive out of water?" Not that I care if it dies! But our scientists prefer live subjects.
"No way to be sure. We arranged to ship her out tonight." Otto replied.
"Keep it alive as long as you can. I'm sure the boys at forensics are gonna want to study it before they take it apart." Ames ordered, even though he didn't give a damn about the scientists wants. He had to keep up appearances. he started chuckling. "Now, I wonder what the hell they were smoking when they cooked this up."
"Probably designed for amphibious sabotage. Laying mines, that kind of thing." Otto informed him, totally dead-pan, not getting Ames' humour.
"Well, what I don't understand is how it made it out of the fire and all the way down to the ocean." Ames said, not bothering to explain his joke. Great, they sent me an idiot with no sense of humour! He moaned to himself.
"Well, there's a stream not far from the Manticore site. It dumps into the Duwamish River." Otto told him.
At that statement, the woman looked at them and makes an emphatic noise.
"English!" Ames yelled at her. Stupid freak! Gills like a fish, but sounds like a dolphin! How many species did Sandeman use in his freaks!
"Manticore probably used some kind of computer interface to communicate with her." Otto informed him.
"Whatever." Great he thinks he's Data! Ames paused slightly then spoke to the freak. "I'm not that interested in what you have to say anyway." Hell I don't give a damn!
Ames walks away, as Otto pours a bucketful of water over the transgenic.
Later on.
Still inside the detention building.
"Bring the planks over." Ames ordered one of his agents.
"Think she'll last the whole trip?" Otto asked, concerned.
Ames and Otto peer into the cage.
"Well, it's a freezer car. She'll do as well as any other fish. Seal her up." Ames replied, not caring one way or the other.
The agent who collected the planks, begins fitting them over the cage.
"Charlie Six Bravo, report. Report, Charlie Six Bravo. Charlie Six Bravo, report." One of the soldiers assigned to Ames, could be heard saying.
"What's the problem?" Ames asked coming to stand behind the man.
"No response from Charlie Six Bravo." The soldier informed him.
"Call up his eye-cam feed. Play back the last few minutes." Ames ordered.
The soldier obediently hits some keys and his computer monitor is soon showing footage from the silent soldier's camera.)
"Freeze it." Ames ordered.
The camera footage pauses on a shot of 494's face.
"Wait a minute--that's 494. He's supposed to be dead." Ames said highly aggravated, since he had convinced himself that the previous footage of the supposedly dead transgenic, was that of another clone. That Manticore had made some more clones, and had messed up and given them the same designation. Wishful bloody thinking! Ames fumed to himself. Blasted cat freaks!
The footage resumes and shows 452 winding up for a punch.
"And that's 452." Ames snapped. How the hell did they find us?
In the production area of the old building, a soldier is operating a forklift and is moving the now crated cage. The gilled transgenic is still squealing.
452 and 494 suddenly appear. They quickly dispatch the soldier in the forklift and with the male gilled transgenic, they free the female.
Soldiers suddenly appear, and begin firing on the four transgenics, who hurriedly take cover, they appear to be pinned down.
494 shoots at the soldiers, while 452 swiftly heads for the forklift. Ames and Otto join the soldiers standing on the balcony. 452 begins driving the forklift, which is still holding the empty crate, aiming it towards a steam tank. One of the soldiers' shots hit 494 in the shoulder. 452 sneaks out of the forklift and rejoins 494. He hits a soldier, who goes down. Ames takes the soldier's gun and fires at the crate. The still moving forklift punctures the tank and steam escapes, creating a hot cloud cover. Ames and those near him are scalded. They take cover from the escaping steam.
"Come on!" 452 yelled to the man and woman with gills. "Let's go!"
"They're getting away!" Ames yelled at his men, and ignoring the scalding steam, he fires at them, but to no avail, all four transgenics escape via a water pipe.
Ames just stood fuming as his men, scurried from the building, led by Otto, to try and recapture the female and to capture those who had helped her escape. Or if that was not possible to kill them.
Curses! Foiled again! Those darn freaks! Ames thought, then paused realising what he had just thought.
Damn! Gotta stop watching Scooby Doo reruns with Ray! At least I didn't say that out loud! Ames decided to join his men outside, though he already knew that the likelihood of capturing the freaks was nil.
The End