AN. 1 - Okay, first and foremost my apologies. I tried to get this out a lot sooner, but my animals have been having a ton of problems. As much as I love writing, I love them more and had to make sure they were cared for properly .
AN 2 - Secondly thank you to everyone that reviewed. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I tried to get back to everyone and my apologies if I missed you or you didn't leave an email address. I just wanted to extend my deepest thanks for your support.
AN 3 - BAD News and GOOD news! I really wanted this chapter to be more then it turned out to be. When I had the outline in my mind it flowed a lot faster, but once I started writing it I realized I needed to answer a lot of questions. So unfortunately this chapter isn't very long but I couldn't cram everything I wanted into this chapter. Which leads me to the GOOD news, if you want to take it as such. Since I didn't finish this chapter as I wanted, I have one more chapter to write before the epilogue. So if you wanted more, I can gladly make you a little happier.
AN 4 - Thank you to my beta's and friends for all of their help and support. Sara, Stephanie, Rachel, and Rachel (she always seems to pop up when I need help with an idea!) You guys are the best and I'll send you cookies of your choosing.
Again thanks to everyone who has reviewed, and I'd love to know what you think of the chapter, and I'm sorry in advance if it's a little slow. That will be remedied with the next one.
Chapter 25 - Rebuilding the Future
Looking into the familiar eyes each of them knew so well they murmured the same name under their breaths, "Adam."
"I see that you have discovered Haven." Adam walked around now converging group and looked at each one of the faces peering curiously and cautiously at him.
As he came close, Shalimar stretched out a hand in a rapid sweeping motion and felt the air part as her hand went through his body.
"I'm sorry, Shalimar." The hologram had a regretful tone. "The real me can't be here to help you."
"Oh, oh, you did it! I can't believe it!" Ian's voice broke through the silence. He saw everyone's eyes turn to him. He looked back at the hologram. "You really did it," his voice and expression were both of awe.
"What the hell is going on here?" Lexa said, grabbing Ian. She glanced out of the side of her eyes, watching the Adam hologram walk around them.
Ian had a look of barely contained excitement. "He did it! He got it to work!"
"Ian what are you talking about?" Jesse asked, walking up beside Lexa and placing a slightly restraining hand on her white knuckled grip.
"I think I can answer that for you," Adam's image started.
All eyes faced the projection with curiosity and preparation for something worse to happen. Their experiences with the Dominion had left everyone on edge and wary of anything that could be a trick.
"I'm a holographic image of Adam, created through his memories and experiences." The hologram moved over to the computer terminal. "Part of what I, well the real Adam had been trying to do for months was to create a computer generated image of himself with all of the same experiences and knowledge."
Adam continued tolook over the faces of the group standing before him. Lexa had released Ian, but her guard was still up. All three ferals were constantly sweeping the area with their eyes intermittently glowing amber. Too much had happened for them to relax. The fear that they had been caught in a trap loomed heavily over all of them.
The image continued, "Ian was my aid when I was trying to build this program. He never knew that it was completed. His abilities were able to help me tap into all of my knowledge and research to create a version of myself to help aid Mutant X if anything ever happened to me. I was instructed to turn on if the team came here and I had not entered a cancellation code in a pre-determined amount of time. I'm truly sorry that my real live version is not here."
"So Adam was able to upload his thoughts and memories to a computer that is generating a holographic projection of you?" Brennan's voice was laced with confusion.
"In short, yes," the hologram responded. "With Ian's help of computer manipulation, he and myself, or the real Adam so to speak, were able to record and retrieve Adam's conscious and subconscious to create a completely life-like representation."
"I thought that we had hit a wall when we were transferring the data," Ian's questioning voice filled in the hologram's pause.
The hologram smiled, "After you left, I was able to find someone else to help me. They were able to complete the task and over come the last bits of data disruption that we were having trouble with."
"So wait," Lexa cut in. "What you're telling us is that you are a computer representation of Adam? How is all of this possible?"
Jesse beat the hologram to the punch, "I've read theories on it in the past few years. No one had put it into effect yet." His view shifted from Lexa to the hologram. "So you are able to learn and adapt as well?"
The image nodded, "Yes, I was created to input and process experiences and effectively learn from them."
"Do you know where Adam is?" For the first time since seeing the image, Shalimar spoke. The tone was quiet but firm.
The hologram shook his head and frowned, "Unfortunately I only have the thoughts and theories of what Adam had before he left last year to meet with Mutant X when Lexa was having difficulties."
"But you might be able to start recreating the lab experiments and figure out what he did to stabilize the DNA?" Angel asked.
"Yes, I can run the theories, but because of my limitations, I will not be able to actually do the experiments for the most part. I however am able to control all of the functions of Haven through the network."
"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Brennan asked stepping up and glancing around.
"Adam realized that and created several fail-safes that he had not included in Sanctuary. He wanted to afford you as much protection as possible." The image walked over to the computer bank and pointed to a small cylindrical device next to the computer terminal. "This is the safety. You all have pass codes that once this switch is activated you can manually shut off my program to keep any harmful side effects from happening. Adam also did a mass encryption and multiple routing throughout an extensive program to avoid any hackers obtaining external access to the program."
"Wow," Jesse said. "If he used the routing programs that we were thinking about using in Sanctuary then it would be almost impossible for an outside agency or person to gain control of this place.
For several moments that was all that was said. The team looked to one another questioningly.
Shalimar spoke up, "How do we know that this place hasn't already been infiltrated by the Dominion and you are here to lead us into a trap?" Her emotions were on a tail-spin and she was trying to grasp the knowledge of all that the image before her was saying. When her hand had met the air as she tried to touch the hologram, she was reminded of the last time Adam had been in contact with her after he died. She had been so torn and upset, now those feelings all came cascading down upon her in an unrelenting deluge.
"Ian can verify my work while he was involved and I can access anything that has happened to Adam in the past that you might want to know to help dissuade your fears." The image stated confidently.
From the body language and the words, it appeared to be a projection of Adam. It had Adam's ticks and quirks. Shalimar couldn't help but notice the small half-smile that he had. The way he turned, and moved, and certain ways that he said each of their names each were identical to Adam. To a normal person they might not hear the subtle differences, but her feral hearing allowed her to pick up on the slight changes and nuances that were particular to each individual. These traits were all indicative of Adam; no one could have copied them.
"What happened to me when I first came here?" Lexa's voice asked softly, as if she needed to hear the answer, but wasn't sure if she wanted anyone else to be privy to it.
The image gave a sad smile, "I remember that you almost set the whole place on fire when you had a sneezing fit. If it weren't for the water elemental, Roger, staying with us at the time, you probably would have had me rebuilding Sanctuary from the ground up."
Lexa stood silently staring at the hologram. She didn't move or speak for several seconds. When she finally did her voice sounded controlled. "What happened to Roger?"
"He died two weeks later." The response was automatic, but tinged with sadness. "He was involved in a gang drive-by when he was trying to rescue a group of new mutants from the GSA. You were supposed to go and help him, but I had given you another assignment at the last minute. Roger assured both of us that he would be okay. You were on the other end of town retrieving data that I needed to infiltrate a ring of people selling new mutant children."
Lexa's eyes were damp with the memory. Shalimar walked over to her side and took her hand. Their eyes met and both nodded in acceptance of the image standing before them.
"So what do we do now?" Beau asked.
No one answered for a long moment. When a voice finally broke the silence, it was Adam's hologram that offered the answer. "We rebuild, that is if you are all willing."
"What about Adam?" Shalimar inquired.
"We work to try and find him again." Ian said after a short pause.
Lexa turned to look at the elemental. "I thought this was the end of the road for you? You wanted to live off the grid and stay away from the Dominion and any other big nasty."
Ian smirked and shook his head slightly. "I knew when I started helping Adam with this project that I wasn't going to be able to stop. When I met all of you I saw you work together as a team. I realized how involved I'd already become and it was too late for me to want to turn back. I'm already wanted for my abilities, but now I want to stop hiding out and help." He paused to look over the faces now looking at him, "That is, if you will have me."
A quick glance around the room showed everyone's agreement. Brennan placed his hand out, "Welcome to the team, man. I guess we'll need to build onto this place!"
"Maybe not," Beau said. Everyone's gaze shot to him and he continued. "Angel and I are going to return to the safe-houses soon."
Shalimar's eyes shot up to the larger ferals, alarm shining through. "I thought you were staying?"
Angel grabbed both of Shalimar's hands, "We want to, but when we were talking with Lexa last night we decided that maybe it would be best for us to be on the outside and help with the Underground."
Shalimar looked directly at Lexa, but before she could say a word, Lexa cut her off by holding up her hand and beginning to speak. "I know that I might have overstepped a little, but the truth is that we need people out in the field. Let me rephrase that, we need good and trained people out in the field. If we are going to stay ahead of the Dominion we need to have trusted and reliable assets we can count on."
"Did you even give them a choice?" Brennan's tone was bordering on a growl as he shot an icy glare toward Lexa.
"Of course she gave us a choice," Angel said stepping between the two elementals. She turned to Brennan, "We chose to go back out into the field. It was actually Beau's idea. We enjoyed our work with the Underground and our knowledge of it has kept us all alive these past few months."
Brennan looked slightly apologetic, and the icy glare turned to a questioning one as his gaze swung back to Beau. "Are you sure?"
Beau smiled warmly at Brennan's concern and nodded, "Yes we've been talking about the idea for several weeks now."
Jesse walked over to Lexa's side and gently squeezed her arm, "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean the Dominion has already figured out where a lot of the safe-houses are."
"That's why I was programmed to start rebuilding and creating new ones on an entirely separate network. I've also started the schematics for all of you to have comm-rings, Angel, Beau, and Ian, included." Adam said.
Shalimar walked to Beau's side and placed a hand on his broad bicep. "Where are you going to go? We don't have anything established yet."
Beau gave her a small kiss on the head. "We haven't really gotten that far yet. This is more like one of your fly by the seat of your pants plans."
Shalimar felt a small smile tug at the corners of her lips. She turned to the hologram, "So we will all have functioning comm-rings again?"
He nodded. "Yes within the next few days I'll be finished with the design and the new frequency signals. Each of you should have one by the end of the week. That is if one of you is willing to do the last physical touches."
Jesse stepped forward. "Wait a minute; you said that you were working on new safe-house locations? How is that possible? We didn't know that they would be compromised until the Dominion attacked."
The hologram paced slightly back and forth and ran a hand over its mouth. There was no way that anyone but Adam could have created this image before them. He was a copy right down to Adam's habits and reflexes. "I, well Adam, knew that something big was coming, and he had long planned to separate Mutant X from the Dominion's control and influence. He knew that would mean rebuilding almost everything he had worked for. I was instructed to start doing the calculations to provide various new safe-houses and contact sites throughout the area. I'm now working on a larger band surrounding the city."
"How come Adam never warned us?" Jesse asked.
Ian stepped up and glanced at the hologram and nodded. "He didn't want you to be compromised."
Brennan, Shalimar and Jesse all started to voice their objections. Ian held up a hand in deference to their comments. The three quieted and let him continue.
"At the time I started working with Adam again, Lexa was an unknown, in the sense that he still was unsure of where her loyalties lie." He spared an apologetic glance toward Lexa who shrugged it off. "He wanted to make sure that everything was in place before revealing his plans. He also wanted to know what side Lexa was working for. By the time things started to come together here, things with the Dominion had progressed too rapidly and he was unable to safely move Mutant X and his operation away from the Dominion."
Silence reigned over the room for a long moment.
"So I guess the big question is; what do we do now?" Lexa asked.
"It depends if you are all staying or not, now that you know the truths and ends of it." The hologram answered.
"I'm staying on," Jesse said, almost immediately.
"We're too engrained as soldiers to not want to fight. You can count Angel and me in." Beau's baritone rumbled.
Lexa stepped up by Jesse's side and grasped his hand. "I'm in."
Shalimar looked to Brennan; she was waiting for him to change his mind. He had always battled with Adam over the lies and half-truths. She loved him, but she knew where her future lies. She needed the team and she needed to make sure that one day Adam could return to them. She stepped up towards the others and put a hand on Lexa's shoulder and smirked. "Someone has to keep you in line."
Brennan glanced into Shalimar's eyes. He had the choice still. He hadn't told the others that he was thinking about leaving. He had told Shalimar the truth though. He wanted to stay. Not only because of her, but because these people, this team, had become his family. He stepped forward, not breaking eye-contact with Shalimar, and grasped Shalimar's hand, bringing her knuckles to his mouth and placing a kiss on them before looking at the others. "I guess you're stuck with me."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx
Over the next two days all of the team's remaining items had been moved to Haven. Ian kept his house in the woods, and planned to work out of there. He was less then an hour away by car, and as with Angel and Beau, it was agreed that it was good to have someone on the outside in case of emergencies. Ian's ability with computers also allowed him to open a link to access Haven's computers through a "back door" in the system. He would also have a room at Haven being that the majority of his time would be spent there anyway. He had decided to take over in the assisting of holographic Adam and be his hands, so to speak.
Three days later Brennan, Jesse, Lexa, Angel, Beau, Shalimar, and Ian were sitting down to dinner for the first time together in Haven. The hologram of Adam had disappeared shortly before saying that it was going to be looking for any clues as to where the real Adam might have been being held.
The kitchen was smaller then Sanctuary, but they had managed to pack it full of food over the past two days, and everyone pitched in to help with dinner.
"So what do you think so far?" Ian asked Shalimar after swallowing a mouthful of food.
"I think that it will start to feel like home soon." Her eyes glanced at Brennan and his hand drifted down to gently squeeze her thigh in accord.
"Have you guys decided anything about the safe-houses yet?" Jesse asked Angel and Beau.
"We were working with Adam… I mean the hologram?" Angel started.
Everyone joined in a short stint of laughter at the confusion that had been felt throughout the past few days as to how they were going to address the hologram.
"Did we ever decide on what we were going to do about that? I mean it's not really Adam, but at the same time it is who he was." Angel asked as they all stared questioningly at each other.
"Well," Lexa said. "We could call him holo-adam?"
A chorus of groans prevailed at the bad-joke on the old-movie.
"Well we could call him by the frequency designation code." Jesse piped up.
Shalimar picked up a piece of bread and hit him in the face before saying, "I'm not calling him by a string of numbers I'll most likely forget anyway."
Brennan, Angel, and Lexa nodded in agreement while trying to chew their food.
"Okay, fine, you guys have any better ideas?" Jesse said, slightly pouting into his food.
The hologram appeared in the middle of the kitchen. "I would love to interject on my own behalf, but I found some important information that needs attending to."
Ian jumped slightly and the rest of the group looked up at the appearance.
"What is it? Can we finish dinner?" Shalimar asked.
"Not if you want to catch her." The hologram said walking out to the computer terminals.
"Who are we going after?" Lexa stood and followed him out with the others following suit within seconds.
"Dominique," the hologram answered pulling up a picture of a face mostly covered by a large-brimmed hat and several dark brown tresses flowing down her shoulders.
Remember Dominique from Season 3? Can anyone remember why Lexa wanted to get to her so badly?
Please Review - My muse is a certified junkie for them. I've tried to find her help, but the doc said the only fix is to give her more!