As the plane takes off Dariela walks into the Cargo Bay, "A little heads-up on the takeoff would've been nice. Is this Jackson's car?"
Abe nods, "We need to get out of U.S. airspace before General Davies can find us."
Jackson looks up to Dariela with rage in his eyes, "you… You were supposed to put me…"
Abe grabs Jackson, Jackson. Jackson, come…. We need to restrain him..." Abe shouts as he pushes Jackson against the railing between the cars. "Jackson, no, stop!"
Dariela straps his arms to the railing, "We had a deal. Jackson snarls, "You were supposed to put me down, not just shoot me. You didn't do it, you coward. I want you to see what you've done. Go over there, see what you've done." Jackson glance from Dariela to the back of the car then back to her.
I rush around stopping a few feet in front of Abe and Jackson when his eyes meet mine my freeze, "The defiant pupil…" One of his eyes has the same blown pupil we've seen on the animals.
Abe steps away from Jackson, but he tries to get out of the bounds. Throwing himself forward like an animal. "We're trying to help you, Jackson."
I shake my head, "This isn't Jackson." As he struggles the veins in his arms go black.
"We're doing this for your safety." Abe looks up to Dariela, "We'll be right back, Rafiki. Come, help me." Abe gestures for Dariela to help him with Robert.
As the almost drag an unconscious man up the ramp, Jackson shouts, "Where are you going? Abe, don't do it! Don't help him! He's evil. Don't trust him. He did this to me. You hear me? Don't trust him." I place a hand over my mouth, leaning against the side of one of the cars. "What aren't you gonna go with them?" I look him, wide-eyed. I take a deep breath, as I do I get dizzy and weak again, falling back into the truck. As I do I hear Jackson call out softly, "Kat? Are you okay?"
"I don't know, I think the mutation tries to spark when I'm pissed." I look over to him with a look of worry and fear.
"Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay. Mitch is gonna make the cure and it'll be okay."
I shake my head, "You're just like the animals."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you act normal around me."
"If you have the mutation too, shouldn't they be afraid of you?"
"There is another factor that goes into how they act around me."
Jackson looks up at me confused, "What?"
I take a deep breath, "Jackson, I'm pregnant."
Jackson chuckles "What? Seriously?" I nod and he tries to walk over to me, but he can't since he is tied up. "Kat that's amazing."
I walk up to him, staying at least a feet away from him. "In other circumstances, it would be."
"No, it's amazing now. I love you and you love me, that's all that matters."
"But you aren't you… Not around our friends… our family."
"We are going to find a cure and everything will be fixed."
"Jackson we have less than 46 hours to stop Davies or none of this will matter."
"I will not let him hurt you." Jackson looks over my shoulder and narrows his eyes and his breaths become almost growly.
I turn and see Robert. "Hello, Jackson." I step away from Jackson as he becomes agitated again, "You're gonna have to trust me."
"Why would I ever trust you?"
"Because I'm your father."
"I buried my father two years ago."
Robert holds up a pill, "Take this, and I'll explain why." Jackson looks over to me and I nod, as I do he takes the pill. As soon as he does Jackson begins to calm down, his veins go back to normal, and so does his eye, "There you are."
"Dad? Kat?" Robert nods and cuts him loose. I smile over to Jackson and step over to him, giving him a hug. When I pull away slightly Jackson looks into my eyes, whispering softly, "We're having a baby…"
I smile and nod, "Yeah, we are."
"Whoa, whoa, hold on…" I turn to Robert, who is waving his head, "timeout… Jackson, who is this lovely young lady."
Jackson smile and steps to my side, turning me to his father, "Dad, this is Katherine, my fiance" he smiles over to me, looking into my eyes, "And we are expecting a baby." I smile up at Jackson, so happy to hear him say those words.
"Well, congrats kids." Robert smiles to the both of us.
When the three of us make it back to the lab, Trotter comes over the P.A. "We've got an incoming call."
Abe walks over to the phone, "From who?"
"General Davies. He's asking to speak to Robert Oz."
"Okay. Patch him through."
The phone clicks and Davies speaks on the other end, "Professor Oz?"
"You're mistaken. He's not here." Abe replies.
"Smart choice to leave U.S. airspace. Small snag, you are headed straight for the USS Kettner, and all its F-18s are fueled up and itching to get in the air."
"I'm here, Davies," Robert calls out. "There's no need to do anything rash."
"We had a deal. Now, you have your son back, you give me the real formula for the TX gas or your little reunion will end up on the bottom of the Atlantic." Davies hangs up.
"Why does Davies think that you have the TX gas formula? Jackson looks over to Robert.
Abe shakes his head, "But he can't shoot us down, not when he needs something from Robert."
"Because I created the TX gas," Robert confesses.
"You created the TX gas? You want to kill all the animals and 2.2 million people?" I step forward.
"It's complicated."
Dariela and Abe are having their own conversation, but I hear Dariela make a comment about an EMP. Robert looks over to her, "I could build an EMP."
Jackson shakes his head, "Now you want to kill the pilots?"
"The electromagnetic pulse won't kill them, it'll kill their planes. That's what ejector seats are for."
Abe looks to Robert, "You really think that'll work?"
"It's just as cuckoo as every other plan we've had." Dariela shrugs. "We cut the power to the plane, fire the EMP then turn our power back on."
Robert turns to Jackson. " Jackson, I know you have a lot of questions, and I will answer them all. But first, we have to build a bomb." Robert turns and starts to list off what he needs, "We need alligator clips, batteries, copper wire."
Jackson shakes his head, "I am not doing anything with you until you give me answers."
"All right, what would you like to know?"
"Everything, Why are you working for Davies? Why'd you faked your death? Where have you been?"
"I know this may be hard for you to believe but everything I've ever done was for you and your mother."
"You're a lying piece…"
"I understand that you're upset."
"You understand nothing! I killed her because of you."
"Who?"
Jackson shouts and looks like he has a lump in his throat, "mom… I killed Mom because of you. Because you turned her into something horrible. So I put an end to it."
"Jackson, I had no idea. I never meant"
"Yes, you did! You created what she became. What I am becoming. And if Davies drops the gas I'll lose Kat and own baby."
"I am so sorry. I was trying to protect you."
"You can't expect me to believe that."
"I knew what was coming. And when the animals changed, I wanted to know that you and your mother would survive. I had no idea that you would experience these side effects. The lab burned down. My research was cut short."
"I burned down the lab, so it's my fault?"
"No, of course not. I'm not blaming you. Quite the opposite. You saw a situation that troubled you. And you took a drastic action to protect someone you love. We're not so different, you and I. And we will all be falling out of the sky soon if we don't get this done."
Robert gathers a few things and walks off as I look over to Jackson. "Jackson, I know it'll be hard, but you're going to have to trust your father right now."
Jackson nods and follows his father when I go to see the two of them, they have made a lot of progress. Robert chuckles as some sparks fly out of the machine. "This reminds me of your third-grade science fair project, do you remember?"
"No," Jackson answers coldly.
"You made a crystal radio, so you could try to hear the aliens. It was a hell of a radio."
"What I do remember is getting a phone call telling me that my dad had gone crazy and thrown himself overboard while deep-sea fishing. Oh, and that he drowned."
"That was years later."
"So what happened? Why'd you do it?"
"I had a lab in Japan. On the island. Off of Fukushima."
I step forward, stopping next to Jackson, "We know, we went there with Abe when everything started."
"Your dear old dad at his finest. I was discovered by a group of people who thankfully looked past the eccentric nature of my work. They recruited me to be part of a para-government organization. I didn't know exactly who these people were at the time. All that mattered was that they believed me. They suggested that my research could be done more effectively if I was off the grid."
Jackson looks up at him, "Meaning dead. Well, then how'd you wind up with Davies?"
"When the animals changed, these people that recruited me told the government that I wasn't quite as dead as they'd assumed. I started working on what became the Noah Objective. Of course, everything changed when I learned what was happening to the A3GC carriers."
"A3GC?"
"The gene responsible for your mutation."
I nod, "We call that the ghost gene."
"That's a much cooler name. When I learned the ghost gene carriers were experiencing side effects, I sabotaged my work on the gas. I demanded that Davies find you, and I started working on ways that I could help you."
Jackson shakes his head, "Mom and I thought that you were crazy. Turns out that you were right all along."
"Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."
"You had that written on a Post-it note in the Subaru by the radio."
"Nietzsche. Now, that you remember."
I smile at the two of them, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Robert looks up to me, "You can tell me the story of how you and Jackson met. I don't think Jackson will tell me."
I smile softly. "Well, my family and I went to Africa on a vacation, from New York."
"Ahh, city girl… I'm guessing you fell for more than the landscape and the animals."
I look over to Jackson, "As soon as I saw him, I was smitten… We stayed in contact after I left and about six months later we were on me planning on moving down there."
As I smile down at Jackson, Abe rushes in with Dariela in his arms. "I need help!"
I rush over to the two of them, "What happened?"
"I don't know, she just collapsed."
Robert shakes his head, "Of course. I should have known when the badger sprayed her."
"Knew what?" Abe asks.
I look up to Abe, "She's pregnant, Abe."
"Pregnant?"
Robert nods, "Yes. The carboxylic acids I harvested from the badger, they attack duplicating cells. They don't distinguish between cells that are duplicating towards death and towards life."
Abe looks over to Jackson, "Dariela is pregnant."
"Uh, it would appear so. Any idea who the father is?"
"Yes. Quite a good idea."
I look over to Robert, "Could she lose the baby?"
"Not if we act fast."
Abe looks over to Robert, "Please, do something."
"Of course." Robert nods as he walks away.
Dariela starts to wake up, "Wait. Maybe we shouldn't. Animals are drawn to me. I'm a target. I'll just I'll keep bringing heat to the team."
I look down at her, Abe had laid her on one of tables. "We can handle it. Plus, I am not going through pregnancy on my own."
Abe nods, "What about what you said? About the future?"
"Do we really want to bring a child into this mess?"
"Yes. Yes, we do."
"You can't answer that quickly."
"Before, I was wrong. But now I have something to fight for. Unless you don't want to."
"I do. I think. But only if you're sure, Bubble Bath. 'Cause I can't do this alone."
