– Chapter Thirteen –

Leigh sat at the table sipping at her hot tea as she sighed, thinking about what had happened last night. It was obvious now that Rat knew more than she was letting on, but she had no idea how to breach the subject without getting into another massive argument.

Aila glanced over. "All right, Leigh? You seem awfully moody this morning. What's on your mind?"

"You mean you didn't hear me and her at each other's throats last night?" Leigh asked miserably.

Aila sighed. "Yeah, I thought that might be it. I told you she wouldn't want to-"

"Yeah, I know," Leigh interrupted, slamming her cup on the table before. "But I had to do something instead of sitting around…"

Aila stared. "No need to snap. I was only saying," she said testily. "Besides, maybe you ought to consider that the choice to seek help from Rachel or not isn't yours. It's not Rat's, either." Leigh stared furiously at the table before Aila continued. "Have either of you even asked Katja what she wants to do?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "I agree she needs to be looked at properly, but I completely understand if she won't go to DYAD for answers."

"I never said she should get help from DYAD. I was more thinking that Rachel could join us and share with us what she knows," Leigh explained tiredly.

Aila shook her head. "We need to focus on how to approach Danielle," she told Leigh. "And you need to stop fixating on Rachel."

"How do you expect me to do that?" Leigh yelled, coming across far harsher than she intended. "She's my sister!"

Aila sighed, looking away as she scowled. "Fine. I give up." With that, the doctor swiftly left the kitchen with her coffee.

Leigh stared after her, face-palming at her own rashness. "Shit, Aila, wait!" she said, but the doctor was already gone. Leigh sighed as she buried her face in her hands. She knew none of this was Aila's fault. The doctor had only ever tried to help and make things better for everyone else. She didn't deserve Leigh's shouting...

A few minutes later, Leigh heard footsteps and prepared to apologise, but looked away as Katja and Rat appeared in the kitchen instead.

"Vhy ez doctor upset?" Katja asked, raising an eyebrow at Leigh.

"Because I'm a flaming idiot. Why else?" Leigh told her.

Katja and Rat could only watch as Leigh stood up, marched to the front door, and left the house.

Leigh crossed her arms and kept her head down as she ran across the fields, every step making her angrier at herself, at Rachel, at DYAD, and at the whole situation she'd found herself in. She couldn't believe what a complete idiot she'd been about all of this right from the start, and now she'd probably already lost the sister she never knew she had because she'd been too quick to judge the situation. If she'd tried harder, maybe things would have been different. Maybe Rachel wouldn't still be at DYAD. Maybe she'd be with Leigh, and less of a perfectly groomed DYAD robot-doll-clone.

"FUCK!" the hairdresser screeched to the thankfully vacant hills.

This was so messed up in so many ways. She knew she shouldn't have upset Aila, but did the doctor expect her to forget about Rachel? To leave her to DYAD's influence? After this was all over, would there even be anything left of the other self-aware clone?

Leigh walked until she reached a tree. She punched the base of it hard, over and over and over, screaming curses and questions with no answers; releasing all her pent up rage until finally, she slumped to the ground.

Her knuckles bled and were bruised in several places. She didn't consciously register the pain though; only the numb feeling of being completely drained of emotion for the time being. It took a while for her to catch her breath. She swallowed hard, suddenly realising she could really do with a drink. At long last, Leigh pulled herself to her feet again, and aimlessly walked.

Ten minutes turned into twenty minutes, and twenty minutes turned into fifty…soon enough, an hour had passed, in which the pain in Leigh's hand became stronger and stronger, throbbing and burning. She couldn't deny she felt better for having a release though, no matter how much she knew she ought to find a healthier outlet.

"Walking helps," she mumbled to herself, picking up the pace now to speed over the hills. "Next time I'll just walk…"

Leigh eventually slowed to a halt on top of a steep hill, and flopped down on the grass to stare at the clouds. Completely drained of energy, she had to fight not to fall asleep.

She stayed there until the sky turned gray. Dark clouds rolled over the hills. Leigh knew it was going to rain. When she sat up and checked her phone, she realised she'd been out of the house for almost three hours. She forced herself to stand again, eager to get back to the others before it threw it down.

And then, as Leigh stood and looked over the land below the hill, a figure could be seen in the distance. A person. A very fast person.

"Lucas?" Leigh asked herself, squinting.

As the person ran towards the house, Leigh was sure it was him. Seeing how fast he was running, she felt her blood run cold. Had something happened?

Leigh jogged down to the man. "Oi! Lucas!" she called out.

The man skidded to a stop, looking around. It didn't take him long to spot Leigh. "Katja? No…Leigh, yes? It doesn't matter. Are your fellows at home?" he asked urgently.

Leigh nodded, not bothering to comment on how he kept thinking she was Katja. "Yeah, they are. What's up?" she asked.

Lucas shook his head. "I have something to tell you all. Ve have to get back to zee house. Come on; hurry!" he said, before taking off again.

"Fuck's sake!" Leigh groaned, but she sprinted off as well.

Rat and Katja sat the sofa, quietly discussing things among themselves. Bianca barked at the window suddenly, standing up on her hind legs to look out. Rat glanced over at her and raised. an eyebrow.

"Bianca, descendre et être tranquille!" she said, though the dog seemed reluctant to leave the window as she looked out, whimpering.

"Vhat ez her problem?" Katja asked.

"Hell if I know," Rat shrugged, standing to look out the window as she ran a hand through Bianca's fluffy fur. She didn't see anything immediately, but after a moment s two people ran up to the house. Rat only needed a moment longer to realise it was Leigh and Lucas.

"Uh Katja, Lucas is here," she informed the German clone. She couldn't help narrowing her eyes at the sight of Lucas.

Katja shot up and darted towards the window, rolling her eyes. She grumbled under her breath, but hurried to open the front door anyway. "Hallo. Vat brings you here vith angry beer lady?"

Lucas stopped in his tracks and cast a confused and alarmed look back at Leigh, who kept her mouth clamped firmly closed at Katja's comment. Then, Lucas became panicked again, and raised both hands quickly.

"Maggie," he said breathlessly, his eyes wide with terror. "Maggie – she knows – she knows…"

"Shit," Leigh whispered behind him. Katja and Rat stared, completely frozen. "W-what do you mean she knows? She knows we're here?"

"Ja, ja," Lucas said quickly, inviting himself into the house. "I cannot explain; not here. You need to go, you need to leave-"

"What do you mean?" Leigh asked desperately.

"Please, zere is no time!"

Everyone scrambled around in blind panic. All three clones were confused, but something about the tone Lucas used told them he was serious, and they knew they had to leave.

"Aila," Leigh whispered, and she ran quickly to the hallway leading to the doctor's room. She knocked loudly twice and burst in before waiting for an answer. Aila was sitting on her bed with many fliers and maps sprawled over the mattress. She looked alarmed at Leigh's sudden appearance.

"Aila, get up, w-we have to go," she told her urgently.

"What? Why?" the doctor asked, though one look at Leigh's panicked face told her it was serious, so she gathered up her maps and clothes. She hastily shoved them in a bag already stocked with medicine and money. She'd kept it bag prepared in case they ever needed to leave in a hurry.

"Maggie knows we're here! I don't know how, but…fuck! We have to leave!" Leigh explained, before fleeing towards the living room again just as Katja and Rat appeared with packed bags as well.

"Bianca! Charles! Venez ici!" Rat called. She rushed to attach the dog's leashes when they scrambled to obey her command, both whining fearfully at the panicked atmosphere.

The hacker knelt down and tried to calm her animals with reassuring words and pets as the rest of the clones grabbed what they could to shove into bags. She'd only bothered to take her laptop, her passport, her money, and the few items she had for the dogs, as well as their food. Everything else was irrelevant.

Lucas looked out the window as they prepared to leave, cursing under his breath when he saw Maggie fast approaching the house.

Then, Lucas swore loudly.

"She has rifle!" he warned the clones. "Go! Go!"

Everyone hurried towards the back door of the house; all of them crouching down under the windows as Maggie approached and forced the entrance open with a strength nobody thought possible from someone so small. She paused in the doorway to take in the environment of the now empty house.

Everyone outside remained very still. Leigh stared right ahead. They could easily make a run for it, but if Maggie saw them through the back windows, there was a chance of them being shot. Evidently, the rest of them were thinking the same. Nobody moved an inch, and even Rat's dogs understood to be quiet and still.

Footsteps could be heard inside the house now. Out of sheer panic, Leigh threw herself to the ground and began crawling around the house. Maggie was bound to notice the back door was open sooner or later, and instinct told the hairdresser to move. She didn't need to look to know everyone else was following.

The clones almost made it around the corner, when Katja coughed uncontrollably, spraying the ground with blood as she tried in vain to silence the fit. The sound was enough to give them away though, and they soon heard rapid footsteps and yelling.

"Run!" Aila gasped just as Maggie appeared out the door.

The Asian woman took aim at them, but before she could fire, a large shape tackled her from the side, causing her to lose her balance and drop the rife. She and Lucas tumbled to the ground in a heap, both scrambling to subdue the other.

Lucas looked over to the group. The clones paused to watch the scene with wide eyes as Katja regained control of her breathing. "RUN! I'll hold her off!" Lucas yelled desperately as Maggie fought to grab the rifle. The clones wasted no time and fled from the house, sprinting towards town.

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a gunshot echoed through the hills.

Nobody stopped running.

It didn't matter how much their legs ached, or how desperately they needed to catch their breath. Stopping; looking back, if only for a second, could prove fatal. It was not a risk they were willing to take.

Not until they reached the town, that was, and Katja fell to her knees outside the nearest building, struggling violently with herself. Rat, who was behind her, stopped in her tracks, shaking all over, before looking around quickly to check they were safe. She then dropped down next to Katja and tried to urge her up.

"I'm sorry," Katja managed, coughing again now. "I couldn't-"

"Don't you dare," Rat warned her, tugging on her arm. "C-come on. We can't stay. We have to get hidden…"

Leigh and Aila stopped too. They'd been leading the others and failed to notice them stop at first. Now they were backtracking, both looking very shaken and pale and upset. Leigh remained completely silent as they approached, but Aila cleared her throat.

"Rat's right. I won't feel safe until we find somewhere…"

"S-she wouldn't try anything out here with people around, right?" Rat asked, referring to Maggie.

Aila shook her head, but shrugged, looking desperate. "I wouldn't put anything past the psychos in our lives anymore," she told her. She bent down to help Katja up, supporting her fully. "I say we leave town. It's our best bet."

Rat looked around as people stared at them. The hacker shakily nodded at Aila."Y-Yeah, we need to keep moving. The longer we stand here, the more chance Maggie's gonna be coming after us. Let's go."

"Where though?" Leigh asked, looking around wildly for any signs of being pursued.

"We'll figure that out later. For now we should just get the next bus out of here," Aila said quickly as she helped support Katja, who continued wheezing from the run.

Soon enough, the clones were on a bus on their way from Appenzell to Zurich, huddled together in the back along with Rat's dogs. The other passengers seemed less than pleased by the dogs being allowed on the bus (thanks to a generous payment to the bus driver), though after an hour, nobody bothered about it, seeing as the animals simply sat and kept to themselves for the most part. As the adrenalin of the stressful situation slowly wore off, the group settled into a quiet state of melancholy.

"Anyone have any ideas vhere to go now?" Katja asked quietly. By now, she'd gotten her breathing to even out, though she'd been especially quiet since they left. She felt guilty for being the reason Maggie found them so quickly.

Aila shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. "I don't know the first thing about Switzerland. I don't know where's safe and where isn't."

"Maybe we can stop off at a hotel and figure it out from there?" Leigh muttered, staring out the window intently. Even though they'd gotten on a bus and left immediately, she kept an eye out of the back window in case Maggie came up in a car. She didn't care how paranoid it was. They'd only just gotten out of that one in time.

Rat shook her head, sitting with Charles across her lap. She was holding the old dog close, and had been for most of the bus ride. "In Zurich, we should make our way to the train station," she said, even as she looked less than pleased at the thought. "The further away from Appenzell we are, the safer we'll be."

They all silently agreed. They remained silent for while after that, until something caught their attention, one by one.

Katja was the first to notice. She looked up at the sound of someone sniffing, and then so did Rat, and finally, Leigh. The three of them watched the fourth clone, having only just realised she was crying.

"Sorry," Aila whispered, wiping her eyes. She immediately pulled herself together, taking deep, calming breaths. "It's just…Lucas…"

A mutual realisation dawned on the other three. Katja swallowed hard, folded her arms tightly and looked as though she was trying to collapse into herself. She frowned. "He saved us," she muttered.

"I guess…I guess we should have trusted him all along," Leigh added guiltily. Biting her lip, Leigh reached over and took Aila's hand in her own, squeezing it gently. The doctor was still visibly upset. Leigh looked right at her. "I'm sorry," she told her seriously. "For everything."

Rat watched the two of them, still hugging Charles tightly. She felt her throat tighten. She silently wondered if things could get much worse.

"Some birthday," she whispered to herself, sure that nobody had heard.

But someone had.

"Ja…some birthday."

After a mind-numbing and seemingly never-ending journey, everyone stepped off the train they caught later on, arriving in a new station. Exhausted, and lost, Leigh, Aila and Katja couldn't help but look to Rat, hoping she could guide them.

Rat looked a bit worried. "Come on," she told them quietly. "No use in hanging around."

"Where are we anyways?" Aila asked, having lost track of the towns and cities as they jumped from trains to buses to trains again. They'd been travelling all through the afternoon and well into the night. The local clock told them it had turned two in the morning, and by now, everyone was sore and exhausted.

"Welcome to Geneva, ladies," Rat murmured, looking around as they stepped out of the station.

"Can we get to a hotel and rest for a bit?" Aila dared to ask.

Rat seemed to be thinking intently about something, but she eventually nodded. "Might be safer that way," she muttered in agreement.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Leigh asked, though she sounded more tired than challenging.

"Yeah…I do have somewhere in mind, though going there at night won't be safe," Rat explained. "Too much crime on the streets at night; trust me. We're all exhausted anyways, and it's not exactly close to here."

The group made their way to a small, relatively cheap motel, which was just a short walk from the train station. It wasn't the nicest place, but nobody seemed to care as they booked a room with two large beds, deciding it would be safer to stay together for the night. It would be hard for Maggie to locate them so soon, but they wanted to take no chances.

After taking showers, everyone retired to bed without a word.

The following morning, the clones woke slowly one by one, still feeling drained from the sudden trip, though a good sleep did everyone good. Aila stretched as she awoke, pleased the heavy exhaustion had offered a dreamless sleep for once.

The doctor looked around as Katja and Leigh started to wake as well. "Where's Rat?" she mumbled, noticing she and the dogs were gone, though her bag had been left by the bed where it had been the night before.

"God knows," Leigh murmured, head pounding. She rubbed her forehead, stifling a yawn, and then looked at her battered hand. She hadn't spared a thought for it up until now. It really was quite painful.

"It…it vas our birthday yesterday," Katja mumbled suddenly.

Leigh and Aila stared. "Your birthday?" Aila repeated, eyes wide.

Katja nodded. "Ja. Mine…mine and Rat's."

Neither Leigh nor Aila spoke as the German stood up and carefully made her way to leave the room for the bathroom. A strange silence followed.

Leigh swallowed hard. She couldn't imagine having to go through such an ordeal on her birthday, and what was more, Katja and Rat suffered through it together? Was there something they weren't telling her and Aila?

Leigh snapped back to reality when Aila sat herself down next to her. The hairdresser offered a weak smile. "I meant what I said. I really am sorry."

Aila gave a small smile and nodded. "Don't worry about it," she said, before catching sight of Leigh's bruised hands. "Leigh, what the hell did you do to your hands?" she asked, wondering how on earth she hadn't noticed that before. Then again, thinking about it, Leigh had kept her arms crossed through most of the trip. Had she been hiding them on purpose?

Leigh looked away, considering trying to hide them again, though the pain was worse than it was yesterday. She knew she'd be stupid to hide it, and so she reluctantly showed the doctor the extent of the damage and explained what she'd done.

Aila sighed and shook her head, before getting up and going over to her bag. Leigh watched her pull out a medical kit. Aila wasted no time cleaning the open cuts and applying antibiotic ointment to them. She then wrapped Leigh's hand in a clean gauze.

"Tell me if the pain gets any worse in the next few days," she said after a few moments.

Leigh nodded quietly and sighed, feeling guilty for how much she kept relying on Aila to treat her whenever she did something stupid and injured herself. "Sorry…" she said again.

Aila nodded. "I'm sorry too," she said quietly. "I didn't mean you should forget Rachel. I understand if you want to go back and see her again."

Leigh shook her head. "I can't. She wouldn't…I don't think she'd join us, and I wouldn't feel right leaving you all anyway," she decided on. She shrugged and stared down at her bandaged hand.

Aila frowned, seeing how torn Leigh was over the whole situation, though she wasn't sure there was much she could do to help. Leigh sat quietly for a while, thinking to herself. She would not talk about Rachel again. It wasn't worth it; not when just mentioning her name seemed to cause arguments and disagreements…no. Leigh's focus had to be on those around her.

As she stood up to look out the window to see if she could spot Rat outside anywhere, Leigh held in a sigh. She had to trust that her parents were safe; that they were able to get away. If there was any way of making contact with them to be sure, Leigh promised herself she would do it.

But not until the killer was caught and all of this was over. For now, there was no point in worrying.

"Let's find Rat," she told Aila, turning back to look at her and smiling. "I think she and Katja deserve a better birthday, even if it's a day late. Don't you?"

Aila smiled and nodded. "Yeah, definitely," she agreed without hesitation. "What do you have in mind?"

Leigh thought about it for a minute, and grinned. "We should make a cake!"

Aila raised an eyebrow. Leigh's sudden good mood raised her own spirits. "A cake? Have you ever made one before?"

Leigh shrugged, still grinning. "Can't be that hard."

Aila opened her mouth to say something else, but closed it again and glanced over as the door opened. Rat walked into the room with the two dogs on their leashes. She noticed Leigh and Aila and nodded. "Ah, you're up. Good. Where's Katja?" she asked, looking around before the bathroom door opened and Katja walked out.

"Guten morgen," the German woman said quietly, before moving to her bag to get ready to leave.

Rat noticed Aila and Leigh watching her and Katja. She stared at them. "What?" she demanded, but the other two clones shook their heads.

"Nothing," they said together. Even Katja stood up straight to give them a confused and suspecting look.

"So where are we heading?" Leigh asked to change the subject. She spun a few times on the spot, trying to locate her bag to check she had all her possessions.

Rat grumbled something as she did the same. "You'll see," she told the group. "Hurry up and get dressed, and we'll go."

As the group of clones made their way across the vast city of Geneva, Aila noticed that many of the buildings looked very old. She wondered how long the city had been here for. It was a very pretty place though, with trees and mountains, and what looked like a vast lake close by. If she didn't know Switzerland was a landlocked country, she might have mistaken the large body of water to be the sea. Rat told her it was called Lake Geneva, and was one of the largest lakes in Western Europe.

Aila could feel that everyone was tense after yesterday's stressful ordeal, though the doctor tried to keep a positive mindset after her conversation with Leigh earlier in the morning. Leigh kept trying to find out where they were going, though Rat wouldn't say. As secretive as the hacker was being, she seemed to have a very good idea of how to get around the city.

After an hour of travelling, alternating between buses and walking, Rat stopped and glanced back at the group. "Stay close and move quickly. It's not safe to be on the street in this area of town," she told them.

Leigh stared at her. "Not safe? Oh for fuck's sake. Where the bloody hell are you even taking us?"

"You'll see when we get there," Rat said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, though she seemed edgy to be out in the open now. "Just come on, quickly."

Leigh, although anxious to know the area was unsafe, couldn't help looking around for signs of shops as they walked. She wondered how long it would be before they all needed new supplies, but for now she kept quiet and simply followed the others to wherever Rat was taking them.

At long last, they reached their destination. The building was large, with its front door and windows boarded up. The steps leading up to the place were cracked and old, and covered in broken glass.

"What the hell?" Leigh asked when they stopped. "What is this place?"

"You'll see," Rat murmured, leading the clones to an alleyway between the buildings. It was overrun with weeds, plants, bottles, and garbage. Rat ducked under a broken iron fence and made her way to a small and very hidden doorway on the side of the building. She opened the lock on the door and ushered the clones down the old and cracked stairs into the basement. She locked the door again behind her.

"I'm not sure I like this..." Aila said uncertainly as she made her way down into the darkness, which smelled strongly of dust.

"It's safe, I promise," Rat told her.

When the staircase gave way to the basement, everyone paused and looked around. There were many empty wooden shelves along the massive space. The clones wandered around curiously, frowning in confusion. There were books and papers scattered around everywhere, and a narrow path led through the mess to another staircase.

"Is this…a library?" Aila asked nobody in particular as she looked around.

Rat nodded as she approached the staircase leading up to the first floor. "Yeah," she said slowly and carefully.

"Why a library?" Aila questioned.

Rat hesitated. "I live here," she answered after a moment. Everyone looked up at her curiously. The hacker just shrugged and averted her gaze. "This city has been my home since I was adopted shortly after birth. This particular building has been my home for the last seven years," she explained as she walked up the old wooden stairs. She unlocked another door when she reached the top.

This door's security was fancier than the last, and required an electronic code as well as a key to unlock. The first floor of the building was spacious and much tidier than the basement. The room was dimly illuminated by several small lights strung up on the ceiling when Rat flicked a switch on the wall. "Most everything's on the third floor," she stated.

While the outside of the building was boarded up to give the illusion of abandonment, the inside was reinforced with iron bars which would make a break-in very difficult. The shelves were still full of books, though many of them looked as though they hadn't been touched in years.

Rat checked the iron bars were still firmly in place with a few solid tugs. Charles and Bianca made their way up another staircase by themselves, knowing the layout of the building.

"This place is huge," Aila commented, looking over all the books on the first floor.

Rat snorted. "Wait till you see everything upstairs." She walked over to the staircase the dogs had wandered up. "The second floor's the main library, and the third has its fair share of old shelves as well."

"Why are you telling us all this?" Leigh asked cautiously as they walked up the stairs to the second floor, trying to phrase her inquisition as tactfully as she could. "I thought you hated everybody except Katja, and didn't want to tell us anything about yourself. Why suddenly lead us to your home and even admit that Geneva is your hometown?"

Rat glanced over at Leigh, and then at Katja. The German woman smiled and gave a nod of encouragement.

The hacker sighed before turning her attention back to Leigh. "We have nowhere else to go for the time being, and by staying in the country, we don't risk our passports being tracked for now. Look, against my own advice, I'm choosing to trust you with this. Don't make me regret it."

"Wait…if this is your hometown, doesn't that mean DYAD are here?" Aila interjected. The thought had only just dawned on her.

Rat shook her head. "No, not anymore. The facility that used to be in this town was shut down six years ago due to a few documents of illegal activities being…accidentally leaked to the police," she said, and a small smirk gracing her lips. "Many of its scientists were either deported or thrown in prison where they belong for illegal experiments, as well as for performing illegal alterations on human subjects."

"Alterations?" Aila asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rat nodded as she led the other three women through the rows and rows of bookshelves on the second floor. This floor was very dark, with just enough light to show the cracks in the boarded up windows. "They call it 'Neolution'. Self-directed human evolution. Long story short, they're screwing with human genetics and making really freaky things happen. For example, a new 'thing' I guess, is people wanting one pure white eye. There's also a rumor of a guy who's been given a fully functioning biological tail."

"Excuse me? A-a tail?! That sounds like science fiction," Aila said, glancing at Leigh uncertainly.

"And human cloning doesn't? Leekie loves screwing with everyone in every way. We're part of it too, though I haven't yet been able to dig up why we were created. Knowing Leekie, it's probably a case of 'I wonder what would happen if'," Rat muttered, clearly disgusted. "He has no respect for life, period."

The hacker took them to yet another staircase, bringing them to the third floor. This floor was much brighter than the three lower levels, with its windows unobstructed by boards or bars. A large part of the ceiling was made of glass as well, letting in copious amounts of natural light. The clones shielded their eyes at the sudden change in lighting, momentarily blinded.

When Aila's eyes adjusted, she wandered over to one of the windows and stared out over the city skyline. "Woah…Leigh, come look at this!" she beckoned the auburn-haired clone. From the third story windows, the pair could see over many of the other buildings in the immediate area, as well as rows of trees and plants, and a good view of Lake Geneva and the mountains beyond.

"Yeah…very nice," Leigh muttered with a hint of sarcasm. She had to admit the view was spectacular, but right now it didn't seem to matter. Now they'd reached a safe place, thoughts of Lucas, Maggie, and the other clones were crashing back to her, as was the urgency to stop Helena, wherever she was.

"Jesus shitting Christ."

"Yeah. The last few days have been rough."

Rat was sitting slouched in front of her laptop that evening, talking to Beth, who was watching her with a look of concern on her face over a Skype call. Rat, however, yawned and dismissed Beth's worried look with a wave of her hand.

"But we're fine," she assured the detective quickly. "We…we got away."

"Well, that explains why I haven't been able to get in touch," Beth said with a sigh. "You sure you're all OK?"

"Ve are still alive, ja?" came Katja's voice as she approached and slumped down next to Rat. "Lucas, however…"

The three of them remained silent for a moment. Rat frowned. "If it was safe to find out what happened to him, you know I'd do it, Katja," she said quietly to the German. "But chances are-"

"Don't," Katja told her, holding up her hand. "Can't be helped. No point in…in…" She trailed off, turned away from the laptop, and coughed rather violently. Rat's frown turned into a look of panic.

"Uh, you OK there?" Beth asked from the laptop.

Katja nodded quickly. "Ja. Excuse me." She got up and hurried out of the room, inspecting her hand as she went.

Beth stared at Rat. "I don't think you lot really are fine," she told the hacker accusingly.

Rat raised her eyebrows. "What do you know?" she challenged Beth.

"I'm a cop," Beth reminded Rat sternly.

Rat tutted and rolled her eyes. "Katja…she's sick, but I'm sure she'll be OK," she explained though she struggled to believe her own words. However, she did not want to worry Beth. It wasn't her problem.

"Right…" Beth responded. "Well listen, I just want-"

She was interrupted by a loud clanging sound coming from the other room behind Rat. Rat turned to look at the door to the room just in time to see Leigh poking her head out, face covered in what looked like a pale powder, while Aila crept through various doors with her arms full of food items, apparently looking for something.

"The hell are you two doing?" Rat snapped.

"Nothing," the other clones responded. Rat stared. Beth also stared.

"Go back to your Skype call," Leigh told Rat firmly.

"Yeah," Aila agreed, nodding, as she kept her hands behind her back. "And stay out of this room." She and Leigh disappeared, closing the door behind them. Rat continued to stare.

"What was that about?" Beth asked.

Rat shrugged. "Hell knows. Not sure I care much anyway."

"Right. Well, look, I'm gonna have to get going. I'm teaching Ali how to use a gun in a bit," Beth changed the subject.

"Ali?" Rat questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Alison," Beth corrected herself. "I dunno; she's really anxious about this whole thing. I figure she'll feel more confident if she learns to protect herself."

"Well, at least that's one clone willing to take this whole thing seriously," Rat sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "It seems Janika and Aryanna are trying to go about things as if they're still completely unaware…"

"Their choice though," Beth said with a shrug.

"Yeah…I know. Cheers Beth. We'll keep you updated if anything happens," Rat said, giving the detective a small wave. She closed off the Skype call just as another loud clang sounded, followed by one of the two clones cursing at something.

"Enfer putain!" the hacker cursed as she jumped at the sound, before glaring over at the makeshift kitchen area. "If you two mess up my kitchen, you're not getting fed until it's clean again!"

"We know, don't worry!" Aila called out from behind the wooden wall of what was once an office area.

Rat just shook her head and made her way over to a large round table and booted up her desktop computers. The setup was elaborate and consisted of four separate monitors. They were connected to a large, expensive-looking tower sitting on the floor under the desk. The desk itself was covered in papers, as well as a framed photograph of two clones together. Rat stared at the photo for a moment, before sighing and shaking her head. She put it down flat against the wood so the others wouldn't notice it. The hacker the pulled up files of another clone and read quietly, trying to block out the sounds of whatever Leigh and Aila were up to.

"Who ez zat?"

Rat glanced over, having not heard Katja approach, though the German woman stood right behind her. The hacker shrugged. She debated lying, but she knew it wouldn't be right to do so, and so she motioned for Katja to read for herself.

"Jennifer Fitzsimmons? Who ez she?" Katja asked, tilting her head.

"A clone of American origin who's currently living at the DYAD facility in London," Rat explained. "She's…also sick. She was diagnosed six months ago. I'm looking to see if they've made any headway on a cure, though typically, they haven't. Leekie's probably too busy getting a sick kick out of his 'treatments'." Rat's eyes grew dark at her own words.

Katja frowned. "Can vee help her?"

"I wish, but that would be beyond dangerous. We'd need to infiltrate the very heart of DYAD, and given our current standing with them, I doubt that'd be any sort of possible."

"SHIT A BRICK!"

The exclamation came from the kitchen area, and Rat had had just about enough of ignoring the two other clones doing whatever on earth they were doing. "Seriously, those two are in for it if they're making a mess," she growled, standing up and marching over to the door and forcing it open.

Leigh and Aila flailed at Rat's sudden appearance. Aila slammed shut the oven door, wafting away a large cloud of black smoke and standing in the way to hide it. Meanwhile, Leigh put down a large bowl on the counter and stood before it, wiping flour off her face.

The entire kitchen was a mess with various ingredients, bowls and utensils lying abandoned throughout it, and hundreds of chocolate chips were scattered on the floor. Someone had apparently dropped a bag of them, as well as a bag of sugar, which looked as though it had been knocked off the counter.

Rat froze. "You've made a RIGHT mess of my kitchen!" she hissed, horrified. "What the HELL is all the shouting about?!"

"Aila burned her hand," Leigh said with a shrug, and the doctor nodded, showing Rat her now red, blistering skin where she had caught it on the smoking oven.

Rat struggled to respond, stuck in horrified silence as Katja crept up behind her to see what all the fuss was about. She looked around at the mess and snorted a laugh.

"It's not funny Katja!" Rat scolded.

"Of course it ez funny," Katja chuckled, eyeing Leigh in great amusement. "These two are hopeless."

"No we're not; at least I'm not," Aila huffed, crossing her arms. "It was going well until Leigh decided to burn everything-"

"Burn WHAT!?" Rat demanded, fists clenched in fury.

Aila and Leigh exchanged glances as if debating whether or not to show the other clones what they had done. Leigh just shrugged and shook her head, and Aila finally moved out of the way and opened the oven door again.

"It was meant to be a surprise," she began explaining as she pulled the contents out of the oven. It was large and circular, with bits of burnt cookie dough and chocolate chips melting and dripping to the kitchen floor. "But…"

Rat stared at the…thing, whatever it was meant to be. She couldn't believe these two could possibly be so incompetent. How on earth did they manage by themselves? "Clean all of this up," she snapped at them. "And bin whatever that thing is. You two are not to come in here again."

"It was supposed to be a cake," Leigh muttered, glaring at the floor. "For you guys…since Katja said it was your birthday yesterday."

At that, Rat's anger deflated and was replaced with genuine surprise. She glanced up at Katja, looking lost for a moment, as if she wasn't entirely sure how to react to such a gesture.

Katja still looked bemused at the whole situation. She shook her head as she giggled. "Zat vas a very sveet zing to do…zank you," she chuckled.

Rat was dumbfounded at Katja's amusement. She turned to walk out of the room without another word. Watching the hacker leave, Leigh grumbled and kicked the table in frustration. "So much for that," she sighed, moving to set the disaster of a cake on the counter to cool down before it went in the bin.

Aila frowned and quietly ran her hand under the cool water of the tap. She knew Leigh had wanted to try to get onto more friendly terms through the gesture, but that had gone and blown up in a spectacular array of smoke and fire.

Katja looked at Leigh. "I vill talk to her. Do not vorry. Rat...she doesn't have much experience vith social situations like zis. Birthdays vere never more zan another day for her, so I don't zink she really knows how to react to somezing like zis. It ez not personal."

Leigh and Aila simply looked at each other, both feeling uneasy at the situation. With a sigh, Aila turned to leave the room to tend to her damaged hand, while Katja attempted to help Leigh clean up.