Remi knew that everyone—her twelve siblings that escaped—successfully climbed the fence surrounding the woods, everyone except her. She stayed, clinging to the trunk of a pine tree, hidden in the brush. She counted the little bugs—well, what was left of them in the winter—going up and down the trunk, sometimes over her hand. It distracted her from the echoing barks in dark of night, their snouts grazing the snow. It was a reminder that they hadn't stopped looking for her yet. They knew that she was still in these woods somehow. The German Shepherds smelled her, or they only faintly smelled her because she was so high up, buried in the tree. Not even the lights shining down from several helicopters could see her. She blended right in despite the faded, dark grey gown she was wearing. It wasn't exactly her field gear—camo patterned—which made it hard to track and see her because she was so small. She was a lot smaller than the others. It didn't help that she was three years younger than them too. She wasn't wearing any shoes either. Thanks to her DNA, the winter cold didn't really effect her.
Through the view the bristles barely gave her, she looked out to the fence, which she calculated to be more than ten feet away from her, excluding the height of where she was in the tree. No one seemed to be around. No dogs. No Manticore workers. No Lydecker. Of course, she knew that Lydecker would be in charge of the whole search, never to step in unless he absolutely had to. That was what commanding officers did. Made sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to. Made sure that everything was going to plan. It made Remi feel better about the whole situation. The only person on Manticore's staff that she was afraid of was Lydecker. Anyone else, she wouldn't think twice before knocking them out. Despite that, she didn't want to take any risks that may ruin the possibility of freedom for her.
What if I just stay here until they all went away? At least long enough for them to assume that I already made it over the fence?
Knowing Lydecker, he won't stop searching until me and my other siblings are found. But the thing is, they're human. They're weaker. They can't go without sleep for more than twenty-four hours. They can't go without water for three days. They can't go without food for two weeks, maybe three. So, maybe there is a chance of getting out of here without being seen, but that chance isn't now.
Remi shifted on her feet, the wood of the branch making her feet ache. It wasn't the most comfortable platform to stand on. She figured that once she was free, there might be splinters waiting for her at the soles of her feet. While hiding away and making sure she wasn't found was not a time to be careful and wary of splinters. She didn't really care. They wouldn't bother her anyway.
Remi kept her eyes on the fence, waiting and waiting, but her eyes caught movement. It was one of the many men that were searching for her. She held her breath, like if she were to make even the smallest of sounds, they would find her.
She hyper-focused on the Manticore agent, her pupils dilating. She was curious as to what he was doing by himself without any of the others around him for back-up, just in case. Whatever he was doing, he had a walkie talkie in hand. Her sensitive ears started to pick up on the conversation. He was communicating with Lydecker.
"Any signs of 8-1-2?" she heard Lydecker ask. They were still looking for her. They really believed that she hadn't climbed over the fence yet.
"No, sir. The whole woods is clear."
"Keep looking. 8-1-2 is a sneaky one. She's just playing a small game of hide-and-seek, like she always does. She'll come out eventually. She'll have no choice."
"Are you even sure she's still in the premises? She could be anywhere, sir."
"No. I know 8-1-2. She's too much of a coward to hop that fence."
Remi flinched.
"You doin' okay, Remi?" Amanda asked, looking through the rear-view mirror. "You seem a bit uneasy."
Remi stared out the window, watching people walk by on the sidewalks, people go into different buildings and stores. Some were talking on their phones, others had ear buds in. A few couples past by too, walking with their hands laced. Some were walking with their children, probably to the park. She wondered about the good lives they all probably have, the normal lives they live on the daily. Going to work or school every day, being with loving family and friends. She tried to imagine living one of those lives, but she just didn't see it. Her mind drew a blank, and she was kind of pissed at herself that it did. All she saw was herself at Manticore, training like she was born to do, eventually to fight for the country. Wasn't that Lydecker's ultimate goal? To create an unstoppable army?
She forced herself to peel her eyes away from the window and move them to Amanda, who sat diagonally from her in the driver's seat. "I'm fine."
Amanda woke her up earlier that morning. She told Remi that she was going to take her to the precinct to be further questioned by her boss, or the sergeant she spoke to on the phone last night. Together, the two got ready for the day at the precinct. Remi took a nice, warm shower, one that she always dreamed of because at Manticore, the running water was always cold. Amanda let her barrow some of her clothes—a t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants. They were a bit big on her, especially the pants as she was still growing in terms of her height. She wore the same shoes—boots that have the fuzz on the inside—and the same hoodie that she was wearing when Amanda found her. The two ate some cereal for breakfast before leaving the apartment. Remi asked if they could bring Frannie with them, thinking that maybe she would be more comfortable with the cute pup around. Amanda told her that Frannie would be a distraction for herself and her fellow detectives.
"They have some things there that can make you feel more comfortable during questioning, and if you want, I'll let you play on my phone later," she remembered Amanda saying.
"There's games on your phone?"
"There sure is, kiddo."
Remi smiled at the small memory, even though it just happened this morning. It made her feel like she was being cared for. "I was just thinking about something."
Amanda hummed and turned on to another street where the 1-6 sat. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
"I know you don't really believe me, Amanda, so it's not worth talking about," Remi said. Amanda opened her mouth to protest, but Remi cut her off before she could. "I sensed it. I figured that not many people would believe that I'm not like them, that I was raised in a harsh environment, that I was made to be some super soldier. I mean, if a kid told me that they weren't human, I would've found it to be rather ridiculous."
"Well, Remi, that's why I'm bringing you here. My sergeant is one of the best of the best." Amanda pulled up to the curb right outside the precinct and parked. She took the keys out of the ignition and shoved them into her coat pocket. "You'll see."
Remi swallowed and got out of the car with Amanda. They walked up to the precinct, and it wasn't until they were inside that Remi grabbed a hold of Amanda's hand. Amanda stopped and glanced beside her at Remi, who met her eye contact with a soft smile. Remi hoped that Amanda didn't mind her holding her hand and figured that she didn't when they continued towards the elevator.
One trip up the elevator later, and they arrived at the SVU squad room. As Remi took in her new surroundings—the several desks, computers, officers that walked about, some detectives too—, Amanda guided her to the interview room. They past by a small area with a large screen attached to the wall and some different kinds of boards. There were two male detectives sitting around a circular wood table. Remi wanted to hear what they were talking about, but she didn't want to invade on police business. She knew that privacy was important, yet she couldn't help overhearing Amanda's phone conversation last night. A part of her still regretted listening in.
How was she supposed to go against what she was trained to do? To use her abilities and enhanced senses to gather information and fully understand everything that was going on around her?
Maybe she would feel less guilty knowing that her siblings would probably do the same thing because it was instinct.
Amanda opened the door to the interview room, and Remi let go of her hand, eager to explore. "Why don't you take a seat? My sergeant will be here soon."
"Okay," Remi said, too focused on scanning the room to fully acknowledge Amanda's presence. Her eyes went into hyper-focus, picking out the little details on everything around her. She didn't even know that Amanda closed the door. She didn't hear it, despite how sensitive her hearing was.
She spotted a box by some toys on a wood shelf, filled with what she didn't know were Legos, and grabbed it. She brought them with her to the large table in the middle of the room and set the box on top of the table. She sat down on one of the spin-y chairs and opened the box, almost gasping at the tiny pieces that lay inside. It was her first time she'd interacted with something that didn't have to do with training. It was no gun or weapon, but tiny blocks that she could put together. Her smile grew wider. Her eyes lit up. And she didn't hesitate to take out a hand full of Legos and build something. She wanted to try to build one of the sky scrapers she'd seen around the city, putting together some Legos to start with the base. However, she didn't get very far as the door opened again. Remi heard the door open that time and shifted her attention to it.
A woman with brown hair stepped in, with a note pad, pen, paper, and box of colored pencils, and closed the door behind her. Remi watched her every little movement, from making brief eye contact with Remi to looking at the Legos on the table. She smiled and took a seat at the spin-y chair in front of Remi, setting the note pad and the other things she brought with her on the table. Remi shook her head and focused back on the Legos.
"I see you found the Legos," she heard the woman say.
Remi connected a few Legos before something clicked in her head. She'd heard that voice before, except it sounded softer compared to when she first heard it on the other end of Amanda's phone call. Remi's eyes left the Legos, a smile pulling across her face. "You were on the phone with Amanda last night. You're the sergeant."
"I am, but you can call me Olivia." Olivia slid the piece of paper and colored pencils towards Remi. "I know you're hooked on those Legos, but we usually have the children we question draw. It tends to keep them in a calm state of mind, as being poked with questions can be a bit overwhelming."
Remi nodded and pushed the start of the sky scraper to the side, along with the box. "Okay." She grabbed the paper and box of colored pencils.
As she stared at the two objects for a moment, she felt eyes on her, Olivia's eyes. At first, she didn't really know what to do, but followed what her gut told her to do, just like back at Manticore during training or sparring sessions. She opened the box of colored pencils and spilled them out on to the table. The colors ranged from a simple red to purple. There were some neutral colors too like grey, brown, and black. She reached for the black colored pencil. It reminded her of Manticore, always being in the dark, separate from the real world. Remi looked back up at Olivia and cocked her head to the side, as if she was studying her. Her eyes, her nose, other facial features that stood out to her. Then, she put the colored pencil to the paper, starting to draw.
Olivia smiled, keeping her eyes on Remi rather than watching her draw. "Amanda never said what your name is."
"I'm Remi. That was the name that my big sister gave me. All of my siblings called me that. I like it." Remi glanced at Olivia again and grabbed another color. Red, like all of the stored anger towards Lydecker. Like all of her blood that was shed during training. "It's better than 8-1-2."
"8-1-2?" Olivia moved her pen on the paper, writing what she was hearing. "Is that some kind of I.D.?"
"Identification?"
"Yes."
"No. Designation. X5-812, or 3-3-5-1-7-6-1-1-5-8-1-2. They practically drilled that into our heads." Remi set the red down and picked up the blue, which reminded her of her siblings, how she may never reunite with them. How she didn't even know if they were still alive.
Olivia parted her lips slightly as she processed her thoughts, leaving them in silence for a second. She pushed on once she got everything going on in her head situated. "Sweetie, who's they?"
"Manticore."
"Now, is that a group of people? Or a place maybe?"
Remi stopped drawing and lifted her head. "It's the place I was born, a bad place. Gillette, Wyoming is the place where Manticore was at. It's outside Seattle now. They moved it there after me and my siblings escaped. I don't know why they picked Seattle."
"You have siblings? How many?" Olivia asked.
"A lot, but they're not biologically related to me. They don't look like me. I only look like me." Remi picked up the blue pencil again and continued drawing. "But we're all the same. That's why we were in the same unit. I miss them. I don't know where they are. I don't know if they're alive."
"What about your parents?"
Remi bit the inside of her cheek, her grip tightening around the pencil. She could hear the wood start to crack from inside it. It was a nice sound, made her think of when she climbed that tree to safety back in the woods after her escape. Listening in to that Manticore agent and Lydecker. Was she really a coward?
She exhaled and dropped the pencil before she could break it, receiving a concerned look from Olivia. "I'm fine. I just don't want to talk about my parents."
"Then we don't have to, okay? Hmm?" Olivia glanced at Remi's hand, the one that was wrapped up. "Tell me about what happened to your hand?"
Remi held her hand close to her chest as if she was protecting it. "I got into a fight. There were two men attacking some girl in the alley. They had a gun to her head. I was able to fight them off long enough for her to get away."
"How could a twelve-year-old fight off two men without getting killed?" Olivia asked, obviously not fully believing Remi.
"I'm not like other twelve-year-olds, Oliv—" A thought pulled at her head, her words coming to a sudden halt. The two men took away the most important thing she needed to survive. She'd been lucky so far, but she knew that her luck wouldn't last too long. Not only was she weaker than the others in her unit, she also had seizures more often. There were some days where she'd endure multiple seizures, mostly from over exerting herself during training. Manticore agents made sure that she was given Tryptophan after rough training sessions. But what was she going to do now without her Tryptophan pills? That was her only supply, and of course, some bad men had to take the one thing she needed most, that she couldn't live without. A seizure could hit her any time now, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. "Olivia, I..."
Olivia looked at Remi, waiting for her to possibly finish what she was going to say. She saw her eyes drift to the mirror, or the one-way window, which on the other side stood Amanda and Nick. It was like she knew there was something, someone beyond that window, watching her.
Not hearing anything further from Remi, she reached her hand out towards her in a comforting manor. "Do you need a break? Amanda could get you a snack from the vending machine if you—"
Remi kept her eyes on the mirror. "It's nothing like that. I just... I need to talk to Amanda about something. It's important."