THREE


Kate whistled appreciatively. "Nice floor tiles."

Helen rolled her eyes. "Don't get me started." Nikola had ripped up the old flooring at New York to install patterned tiles that followed mathematical algorithms of the power of three. It had cost nearly half his budget for the quarter. And the bastard had still managed to improve daily functions and abnormal research by two hundred percent.

"Doctor Magnus."

"Ubuntu!" Helen quickly hugged the tall, regal looking man who strode over to them. "It is bloody good to see you again."

He smiled briefly at her. "We're still waiting on the delegates from Cairo, but everyone else is in the conference room. Will you be having breakfast?"

Helen pursed her lips. "Does Nikola still have his ban on tea in place?"

Ubuntu mock whispered into her ear. "I've managed to keep a private store." He smiled, paused, gave Kate an odd look and then walked away.

Kate frowned. "What was that about?"

"Were you thinking anything inappropriate about him? Helen asked casually.

Kate blushed, "No!"

Helen smiled and patted Kate's arm. "Ubuntu's an empathy, but even I could see you giving him the glad eye. Come on, let's go collect Henry."

"I bet Will's still pissed he had to miss this trip."

They pushed open the large doors that led to the conference hall, already buzzing with chatter. Henry was already inside chatting excitedly with Erika. It had been a while since they last had an opportunity to see each other in person. She saw Nikola over at the far side of the room going over some documents with Onryuji. Mildly puzzling.

"Helen, how was your flight?" Declan pushed an illegal cup of tea into her hands with a secretive wink.

"Oh, thank you." She took the tea, her eyes scanning the room for unfamiliar faces. New operatives from Russia and Norway. She'd have to make her acquaintances.

Declan lowered his voice. "Think he'll behave this time?"

Helen arched an eyebrow. "He will if he knows what's best for him. I can still fire him."


"We've successfully bred them in captivity. Once they reach sexual maturity they will be released back into the conservation areas and hopefully this will restore the balance of the desert ecosystem."

Helen glanced beside her and noticed Nikola was a few minutes away from falling asleep. She kicked his foot under the table and glared at him.

"That is wonderful news, Pili," Helen said. "Are you still having issue with the black market trade of eggs?"

Pili, the Head of Cairo Sanctuary, nodded briefly. "Some. We've managed to secure arrangements with local Bedouin tribes and have been receiving guerilla assistance."

"You should alert the authorities. Get the military to strike the base of trade."

Pili looked over at Sherman scandalized. "Do you know what would happen if we involved the local military and gave them carte blanche, Mr. Sherman?"

"Yeah, they'd do their job—"

Nikola raised a finger to his lips. "Hey junior – down, boy. The grownups are talking."

Sherman looked as if he were about to say something further, but wisely bit his tongue. Moodily, he sank back into his chair. Kate gave Henry a knowing look and mimed shooting herself in the head.

Helen gave them a quick, stern look and went back to Pili. "Thank you. I trust Cairo has nothing further to report. Shall we move on to New Delhi?"

Vikram, also a recent appointment to Headship, leant forward as if he had been waiting the entire meeting to voice his concerns. "Yes. We have been receiving disturbing reports of abnormal migration patterns that fall completely out of the norm. It doesn't follow breeding, habitat changes, feeding cycles, anything."

Helen was mildly disturbed. "Is it concentrated to species? Geographical area?"

"No, we can't find any links."

Onryuji lifted a delicate finger. "We have observed the same thing in Japan."

"And in Nigeria, the Congo and Mozambique."

The room was beginning to fall into disorder and Helen quickly cut off the barrage of excited chatter. "What other Sanctuaries have noted this?"

Several Heads raised their hands, and several others didn't. Helen was baffled by the results. India, Africa (but not Egypt), Japan – but not China, Norway, isolated pockets of Germany, Russia not at all, some parts of Canada, and South America not at all…

"Nikola, have you noticed anything like this in New York?"

Nikola was glib and merely shrugged. "Nope, we just have rats. Big rats." He gestured unhelpfully with his hands.

"Will you take this a little more seriously?" She hissed. "While this may just be an aberrant occurrence, it could also have very serious implications."

"Do you want all the Sanctuary research teams on it then?" He replied.

Helen was taken aback. "No…that can be at the discretion of the individual Sanctuaries affected."

"Then I have two words for you, Helen." He flashed her that mad bastard's grin. "Lighten up."

Helen smiled sweetly at him and forced through grit teeth, "You're making me seriously regret giving you this appointment."

"But it's really starting to grow on me." Nikola then looked at Vikram and called out, "Your concerns are noted. Moving on." Nikola ignored the angry look on Vikram's face and pushed forward. "New York has an issue that needs Head approval concerning refugee resident status for a dangerous abnormal."

The Heads looked mildly stunned. Declan spoke up, "I haven't heard of the discovery of any new abnormal that would fall into that category."

Helen looked pointedly at Nikola. "Neither have I…"

Nikola pressed his hands together, his fingers steepled under his chin. "He is an abnormal that would be considered dangerous by all charter standards. He has taken human lives, and is a prime target by all International agencies to be terminated or weaponized. Definitely not an abnormal we want falling into the wrong hands."

Doctor Pang (the granddaughter of the former Head of Beijing) asked, "What sort of residency status are you proposing? Does the abnormal require secure containment?"

"No," Nikola had adopted a very serious, business-like tone that made Helen uneasy. "But he requires Sanctuary protection. He should have free mobility within the network."

Alina Belkov, Head of Grozny, narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Is he a threat to the network?"

Nikola thought about that. "I shouldn't think so…unless you pissed him off." He saw the alarmed looks on their faces and hastily continued. "He has aided the Sanctuary network in the past. New York will host his residency and act as a guarantor. I will hold personal responsibility and vouch for him, but as an international threat it does require a majority vote from the Heads for me to do so."

Kate's eyes suddenly widened and she whispered so only Henry could hear, "Oh my god…I know who he's talking about."

Helen was getting annoyed by all the evasive tactics and cut in. "Who are you proposing as your new resident?"

Nikola avoided her gaze and looked to the other Heads instead. "Montague John Druitt."

The room grew instantly silent, and if Helen weren't seated she would have rocked back on her heels. Nikola saw that he commanded full attention of the room and continued. "He has unofficially been harboured by the Network for many, many years. I do think it's about time we took responsibility for him in an official sense."

Helen finally managed to splutter, "John? You're talking about John?"

Nikola finally looked to her, a mild expression on his face. "Do we really want to keep a potentially ruinous situation like that outside of our direct jurisdiction where we can actually exert some form of control?"

Helen was still in shock, reeling, and she grabbed Nikola's arm. She pulled him closer to her where she could hiss into his ear without being heard. "If this is your idea as some kind of game you have gone too far. What are you thinking to play with peoples' lives like this?"

He quietly muttered, "Why do you not want to give Johnny public sanctuary?"

"Why do you? And that is not the point—"

Nikola raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it?" He turned to face the rest of the group. "Well? Where do we stand on the matter? The charter makes our options quite clear…we either grant Sanctuary or terminate the abnormal."

Helen went pale as a ghost, and she could feel all eyes on her. The other Heads looked distinctly uncomfortable. They didn't want to put Helen in such a position, but they also agreed with Nikola's reasoning.

Nikola looked to Helen. "We've let the matter wait for too long, Helen. Either we adopt Druitt or we disavow him and give all agencies carte blanche to kill him."

Declan hurriedly raised his voice to spare Helen. "I think we're all clear on the details, Doctor Tesla. If we can commence voting, I'm in favour of Residency."

The other Heads quickly voted in favour of Residency, unable to meet Helen's eyes as they did so. When Nikola looked to her for an answer she quickly choked out, "Residency" before she was on the butt end of anymore snide remarks. "Meeting adjourned," she said, getting up from her chair and storming out of the room.


Kate sidled in next to Henry and passed him a can of soda. "That meeting was…interesting." Everyone had retired to the large sitting room for brunch and a meet and greet. Everyone was also trying to push past the awkward meeting, and Helen and Nikola were nowhere to be seen.

Kate looked to Henry, who had been quiet the whole time, and nudged him. "Earth to Hank. What's gotten into you?"

"N-Nothing," He stammered. Kate narrowed her eyes as she watched him squirm.

"Spill."

Henry passed her a piece of paper he had folded up into his pocket. "Tesla slipped this to me during the meeting."

Kate snorted as she unfolded the paper. "What is it? A love note – holy shit." She looked up at Henry with wide eyes. "Is this for real?"

Henry nodded. "Yup. A contract to transfer to New York's technical development and application team. For twice what I get paid right now."

Kate handed him back the contract. "Wow…I guess we can call shenanigans on all the times Tesla called you worthless." She suddenly grew quiet. "Are you…gonna go over?"

Henry wrung his hands together. "No…maybe – no, definitely no. I don't know. Probably not? I don't think right now is the time to bring it up either – I would not want to be the man to give Doc an excuse to go vamp hunting right about now."

"Would you really want to work for Doctor Spooky?"

Henry moaned. "Maybe not him, but the lab here…and the pay grade – I could afford to fly to London or fly Erika to New York every week if I wanted to."

Kate sighed and patted him mockingly on the back. "First world problems, Hank."


Nikola poked his head around the rooftop door and quickly ducked behind it again when a bullet zipped his way. Three more thudded into the door and he yelled, "You're scaring my pigeons!"

He heard the click of the safety being turned back on and deemed it safe to emerge from the door. His head snapped back as Helen clocked him under the jaw instead, her eyes raw and furious.

"Why, Nikola – why would you do something like that?"

Nikola swayed on his feet, gripping the door for support. "One moment, dear – I think you've dislocated my jaw."

She rounded on him again, infuriated. "You did this deliberately behind my back, you made me look like a fool…you used that entire room as a means to manipulate my and my feelings – to what end? Is this really some other petty way to get my attention? Or grandstand me – undermine me?"

Nikola grabbed her by the arms and shook her gently. "Helen, do you trust me?"

"You've got some bloody cheek to ask me—"

He looked at her, she could tell earnestly, and repeated, "Do you trust me?"

Helen forced herself to calm down, and eyed him warily. "Yes…should I be regretting that?"

He let go of her and walked over to his pigeon coop. It was more like a small open shed the birds were allowed to fly freely in. He gestured for her to come inside and sit on the bench in the middle, closing the small wooden door behind them.

"John's protection was a problem that had been left for far too long. Without the Sanctuary's acknowledgement of him he could have been scooped up by any black ops force or fringe agency and used as a weapon, not a person."

Helen sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes. "I know that, and you could have told me this."

"For you to ultimately decide it was your responsibility and take full charge of the situation. One, that would have really pissed off old Johnny to have to officially answer to you—"

Helen gaped. "And since when were you concerned with what John thinks?"

"And two," Nikola furrowed his brow at her for interrupting, "That would have compromised your authority. Again. The other Heads have already come close to a vote of no confidence in you because of your compromised feelings towards John – or so how they perceive. If you knew about this beforehand, they could have still seen it as you having a hand in this. To see it was done entirely without your foreknowledge, and even to some extent without your approval…"

Helen sighed, this time wearily. "…if anything does come up no fingers get pointed at me as I've completely washed my hands of the matter."

Nikola gave a small smirk. "And even if you do try to get involved, Helen – you can't. The matter is completely within my domain now."

Helen muttered unhappily. "You're an ass."

Nikola grinned. "And a damn useful one. You know, I was still mildly disappointed when you didn't vote for termination."

She punched him in the shoulder.


"Helen."

"John."

Ubuntu grabbed Kelly's arm and dragged her away from the rooftop door with a stern, "no eavesdropping." He shut the door so Doctor Magnus and Druitt could have their conversation in private. It seemed they had a lot of troubled ground to cover.

Kelly pouted at him. "I was not eavesdropping."

Ubuntu blinked slowly at her. "You're lying."

"How would you know?"

"I'm an empathy."

Kelly sighed, there was no argument that could stand up to that. "Why exactly are we going on a night mission?"

"Doctor Tesla thinks it will be a good idea for us to work with the Old City team…get a feel for their methods."

Kelly shrugged; it made sense. "So what's the icebreaker activity?"

"Giant crocs."

Kelly groaned.


"Sonofabitch." Kate smacked the butt of her gun against her palm. It had jammed. Again. The dampness of the sewers was not working in her favour.

"You guys are just too gun crazy," Kelly yelled over the din. Dodging a swipe from the giant croc's claws.

"And all you do is rely on your gizmos that don't work half the time!" Kate yelled back, furiously swapping out her pistol for a stunner.

Kelly looked back at Kate incredulously. "I am not the one who pissed it off by shooting it in the nose!"

"Ladies," Henry called out, "Can we cool it and tranq the sucker now? Jimmy is not slowing down."

Kate and Kelly both glared at him and yelled, "You named it Jimmy?"


"Newton. Franklin. Einsten. Hawkins."

Helen pointed at a pigeon with a bent wing. "Oh, he's crippled."

Nikola glanced up briefly. "And that's Marconi."

John laughed. "I don't want to know what happened to Edison then." He held up his empty glass and Nikola poured him another measure of brandy.

Nikola walked to the edge of the roof and reached up for a cable looped around a lightning rod. A spark leapt from his finger and glass spheres stationed around the roof shone with a bright white light. He experimented with dimming the bulbs until they were all bathed in a soft pool of light.

"You don't have to run anymore," Helen murmured softly to John. There was still an air of discomfort and awkwardness, but they both tried to ignore it.

John snorted. "I'd rather be shot by firing squad then be indentured to him."

"I'll remember that," Nikola commented dryly. "The bounty for you dead or alive is enough to fund my labs for a year."

Helen rolled her eyes. "And you would have that money if you hadn't spent it on floor tiling."

Nikola pulled a wry smile. "I like keeping a nice house."

"They've made an old woman of you," John chuckled darkly. Nikola bared his teeth at him with a displeased growl.

"I think I'll excuse myself and spare myself anymore of this childish bickering." Helen rose from her seat. "And remember, Nikola – this was all your idea." She laughed as she exited from the coop and made her way down from the rooftop.

They heard the rooftop door shut, and John reached for the decanter of brandy. "I think the only way I can remain civil around you is drunk."

Nikola noticed something twinkling by John's neck, the hint of a chain. His eyes followed down to the locket swinging from it…the locket was open. A picture of Helen, back at Oxford, and a small portrait of Ashley too.

Nikola looked away quickly, but it was too late. John had already noticed what Nikola was staring at. He regarded the vampire, his benevolent jailor for now, with cool, knowing eyes.

"You're a masochist, Nikola."

"What do you mean?" Nikola murmured quietly, resolutely looking away from John.

"I'm here as a constant reminder to you…a small scar still healing, itching, irritating to the very bone…" John sipped his brandy carefully, trying to puzzle out the man sitting across from him. "Why ever have you decided to chain yourself to me?"

When Nikola refused to answer, John rose to his feet as well, making his way out of the coop. "You'll drive yourself mad, old boy."

Nikola sat alone, save for the pigeons fluttering above him.