– Chapter Twenty-Five –
Aila was looking for an opportunity to speak to Morgan. It had been two days since Aila's last call with Rat, but it seemed Morgan had been strangely absent from the social areas of the wing since her last seizure. Aila knew that people who had normal seizures typically reported feeling out of it and disconnected with reality for three to seven days after having one, and it seemed like this pattern held true for Morgan as well.
Aila was tempted to visit the other clone in her cell, but that seemed like an extremely bad idea. She simply bided her time for the moment. In the meantime, Aila focused on sending out another visiting order.
Aila couldn't believe that Leigh really was alive, and if the doctor was honest with herself, she really wasn't quite sure what to feel about seeing her. Of course, she was extremely happy to hear that the hairdresser was alive, but she found that thinking of Leigh still brought forth sickening waves of anger after their last encounter in person back at the DYAD facility in London.
Maybe this visit could be used to get some of her more negative feelings out into the open, so that they didn't continue to eat away at her. In a way, Aila felt a bit childish for continuing to hold on to anger and resentment from months prior, but surely it would be better to express it before moving on and letting it go.
It was nearly lunch time when Aila noticed Morgan coming down the stairs. The surgeon outwardly appeared to be back to normal, at least enough to eat. Aila stood and walked up to her. The other clone was still extremely intimidating, but Aila knew she had to go through with this.
"Hey. Can we talk?" Aila asked, forcing her voice to be firm and steady.
Morgan paused, arching an eyebrow at Aila. "May I ask what you wish to speak about, dearie?"
"Let's just say I want to make a deal, and leave it at that for now," Aila told her. "It's a sensitive topic, so I want to discuss it in private."
"Really? How interesting. Very well," Morgan agreed. "After lunch, I shall be returning to my cell. Feel free to come up as well, and we may speak there."
Aila nodded, and left to make up a lunch tray. She vaguely heard Sylvester calling out to her again from across the room, but the doctor ignored her and mentally reviewed everything that Rat had told her.
After lunch, Aila made her way up to the third floor, following along behind Morgan. She felt quite nervous to be alone with the other clone, but she tried not to let it show.
Morgan's cell was much bigger than Aila's due to the fact she didn't need to share the room with anyone. Many of the items in the cell were also much fancier than the items in the lower cells.
Morgan sat down on her bed, looking up at Aila curiously. "Very well, now what is this deal you wish to make?" she asked.
"I need a way out of prison," Aila told her. "I know that you've broken out of prison twice before in Canada, so I know you can break out of this place too."
Morgan stared at Aila, seeming to be slightly taken aback. "And just how have you come to learn that?" she asked, her voice carefully neutral. "Even the guards here do not know of such things."
Aila bit her lip slightly. "I know far more about you than that," she told Morgan, forcing her voice to be firm. "I know about the people that you killed in Canada, and I know that it was your older brother who caught you and turned you in. I also know why you had to move over here, the real reason why you have random seizures, and why you're in prison now. DYAD keeps records of every single one of its clones, and I have someone on the outside who can access those records. Here's the deal: if you can get us out of prison, I'm prepared to offer you documented proof that my story about clones is legit, as well as proof that your seizures aren't caused by epilepsy."
"I was promised information from someone in this 'clone club' before, Aila," Morgan hissed. She looked strangely unstable for a moment.
Aila nodded. "Aye, Tracy. I get that it's a lot to take in. I certainly wouldn't have believed it if I didn't have proof back when..." She trailed off. Finding herself almost talking about Leigh was entirely unwelcome.
"Helping you is a big risk when there are no guarantees that you will stick to your word." Morgan stood then, and took an intimidating step forward. "I am tired of being lied to, and I'm afraid I shan't accept responsibilty for my actions should you dare to cross me."
"I won't cross you!" Aila exclaimed. She couldn't help panicking at Morgan getting so close. It was an instinctive reaction to flinch back. "Don't you want to get out of here anyway? Why you even consent to staying in here when you know you can figure a way out is beyond me-"
"And not your concern," Morgan snapped. She backed Aila into a corner, and took her by the throat. Her grip wasn't tight or painful, but Aila still hated Morgan touching her. The fierce look in Morgan's eyes was threatening enough.
"I can get you the info," Aila said calmly. Her heart raced in fear now, but she knew she could keep it together. "Saffi can't be trusted. That's all I can offer for now, but I need toget out. I worry about being double-crossed too, Morgan. You can't fault me for that."
Morgan considered Aila's words, and then let go and stepped away. "Leave," she ordered. She sat back down on her bed and gazed at the wall opposite. Aila rushed away from the corner, but stopped at the cell door.
"So is that a yes or a no?" Aila demanded. She was tired of not knowing what Morgan intended to do.
"It's a 'get lost and leave me to consider our options in peace'," Morgan told her. "Prison breaks take time and planning. I will approach you if I decide it's possible, or even worth it. I don't want to see or speak to you until then."
Aila frowned. Not speaking to Morgan wouldn't be a problem, but they lived on the same wing. Morgan couldn't really expect not to see Aila around. That would be impossible. "And if you decide it's not possible or worth it?"
Morgan hesitated. She turned her head sharply to throw a threatening glare at Aila. "Then you'd better request a wing transfer. It'd be the safest option for you, dearie."
Aila took a deep breath and left the cell, feeling cold with panic at the threat. She couldn't demand to be transferred to a new wing without valid reason, and in Aila's mind, she shouldn't have to! Dominant psychopaths like Morgan didn't understand or care about that though.
"Fuck," Aila scolded herself. This was bound to end badly whatever Morgan decided now.
Morgan let out a weary sigh and lay down when she was sure Aila was gone.
It took over a week for Aila's new visiting order to come through, arriving in the mail on 8th April. Rat took it to Janet and Spencer's when it arrived to show Leigh and plan the visit. The clones had been using the Callingham household as a temporary base, and Leigh's excuse for being there was to clean up and maintain the building. It had gotten rather dusty in the months it had been abandoned, and Rachel didn't seem overly concerned about Leigh being there to address the issue.
"You do realise DYAD are gonna know we're back together, right?" Leigh asked Rat. The visiting order had both Leigh and Rat's names written on. "That's if they are tracking Aila's post and know who she's sending orders to."
Rat shrugged. Leigh stared.
"This doesn't bother you?" Leigh asked. She sighed and leaned back on the sofa. "Do you know why I stayed at DYAD, Rat?"
Rat, who stood staring out of the window with her back to Leigh, froze. She'd never really understood why.
"Because I saw a way to keep you guys safe," Leigh explained. "The deal was I'd stay there and help them with Amelia, and they'd back off and leave you and Aila alone. After I saw Aila in the state she was in...I dunno; I just knew I had to do it."
Rat said nothing. Leigh should know by now that DYAD were liars, especially Leekie. It was obvious from the simple fact that Lucas had still been ordered to monitor Rat, despite Leigh's deal.
But then a strange realisation hit Rat. DYAD had always been trying to capture Aila, Rat, Katja and Leigh when the four of them were together. Was this why Lucas hadn't been ordered to sabotage Rat? Why DYAD didn't insist on capturing them? Had they truly stuck to their promise to Leigh, and simply made sure they were at least monitored?
It wasn't like DYAD could be blamed for Aila going to prison. That was a separate issue entirely.
It suddenly made sense why DYAD hadn't tried to interfere with Rat or Aila at all.
"You did that for us?" Rat asked Leigh in surprise. She willed herself to turn and face Leigh.
"I'd do anything for you," Leigh insisted. "You're my sisters. That's what I've been trying to explain from the very beginning. Since we first met."
Rat frowned, suddenly feeling very guilty again. It was true, she realised. Leigh always put everyone else before herself, no matter the risks. It was simply part of who she was.
"I'm sorry," Rat blurted out before she could stop herself. "For how I treated you when we met."
Leigh blinked, having not expected that. She smiled a bit. "Don't worry about it…I do understand now why you needed to be careful, especially with me being Rachel's twin. Before meeting you all, I never would have guessed what DYAD was really like." The hairdresser paused, and then sighed a bit. "Rachel still doesn't get it. I wish I could make her see them for what they are."
Rat said nothing. She wasn't sure that someone like Rachel ever would see DYAD for what it really was. She was far too deep into it, and far too blinded. Instead Rat turned her thoughts to Aila. "You'll probably have to explain why you left us again when you see Aila. She was really angry about it when we first told her that you decided to stay, even before we thought you were dead."
"Really?" Leigh asked, surprised. It wasn't normally like Aila to get angry over anything.
"Yeah," Rat nodded. "To be honest, I've been worried about doc since we got her back from DYAD. She's been…different. I hoped that taking her to Canada would help get things back to normal, but then all this prison crap happened."
"Yeah…" Leigh sighed. "I couldn't believe it when I found out. She doesn't deserve to be there. I was hoping maybe Beth could help us think of some way to get her out, but..."
Rat looked around at Leigh when Leigh trailed off. "But what?"
Leigh shrugged. "OK, I forgot to mention this before; it's confusing trying to keep track of everything-"
"But what?" Rat pressed again.
Leigh sighed. "So you know Leekie's off in Canada already, right? Well I spoke to Rachel recently. Apparently Beth's not Beth at all. They did blood work and tests and stuff in her sleep, and it told them she's an imposter."
Rat sat up straight. "An imposter?" she repeated, sounding very curious now. "But how can they differentiate between clones like that? Our blood and stuff should be identical..." she said, before trailing off and falling silent for a moment.
"I don't know; I haven't got a clue about all this bullshit science stuff," Leigh shrugged. "Point is, Beth's not Beth anymore. That's why you can't get in touch with her."
"Christ," Rat gasped. She leaned back on the sofa again, pulling at her hair. She stared down at the ground. "So what in God's name happened to Beth?!"
"I don't know," Leigh shrugged again. "All I was told was that a clone named Sarah Manning is impersonating her. Rachel even reckons she might be Helena's missing twin."
"Sarah Manning?" Rat asked. She frowned hard, trying to think. "Beth never said anything about a Sarah Manning...I have a bad feeling...if Beth wanted to go into hiding, wouldn't she have told us about a plot to have this Sarah Manning take her place? Wouldn't Katja, if she was with Beth? Hell, was that why Katja did a friggin' runner?! Were she and Beth planning something?"
"I have no idea," Leigh said desperately. "We won't have any way of knowing what's going on with Beth until DYAD catches up with this Sarah Manning. All the more reason to find Amelia and figure out if she really is Helena's twin."
Rat nodded, and fell silent. In all of the recent madness, she hadn't even spared a thought for the Canadian clone, even though Beth had been struggling the most out of all of them.
"I just hope Beth and Katja are looking out for each other if they're still together, wherever they are," she said out loud. Leigh watched her, noting that Rat really was quite worried for them both. "It's tough, you know? I don't even know how Katja's illness is progressing. I wish she'd at least made it possible to keep in touch. I could've told her about Castor and our new plan to find their creators; offer her some hope or something...assuming Castor and Leda really are connected like I'm hoping they are..."
Leigh blinked. It took a moment to register what Rat said. "Wait...Leda? As in Project Leda?"
Rat looked directly at Leigh at last. "You know about Project Leda?" Leigh had been aware of DYAD all her life, but Rat knew by now that Leigh's knowledge was still extremely limited. The fact she knew what Project Leda was was a bit surprising.
"Wait there a minute," Leigh instructed. Rat watched Leigh jump up to hurry into the kitchen, where she'd left her bag. She returned a moment later holding her journal. "I found this photo a good while back," she explained to Rat. She sat next to the hacker to show her. "It was in a tin at my mum and dad's house with some other documents and stuff about the experiment."
Rat took the photo, her eyes growing wide at the sight. "Holy hell," she breathed. "That's the same photo! That's the same photo I found online!"
"Seriously?" Leigh asked. Her eyes flickered to the soldier in the background. "You said these Castor guys are military?"
"Yeah!" Rat squeaked. "Castor and Leda are both names from Greek mythology. And seriously, it's the exact photo!"
Leigh took it back off her to flip it over. "It has 'Project Leda' printed on the back. I was gonna email my parents and ask them what it meant, or do some research or some shit...but I knew DYAD would be tracking my emails and internet history, and I didn't want them to find out I had this photo. I don't think I'm supposed to know what Leda is."
"You're not, technically...I only know because I hacked DYAD's systems a while back...why are the names blacked out?"
Leigh shrugged guiltily. "I didn't want Shaun putting two and two together if he saw the names, and telling Rachel."
"Telling Rachel? Does that mean – oh..." Rat turned the photo back over to look at the scientists.
"Yeah," Leigh nodded. "Ethan and Susan Duncan. Rat, this is crazy! I always knew Rachel's parents were part of the experiment, but I didn't know they were involved in actually creating us!"
"Well we don't know that for sure," Rat explained. "Their names weren't present when I found the photo online; it was just captioned with the same date as your photo...and it had 'Project Castor' written with it. There's no indication that they're actually the creators of either project..."
"But they must be involved somehow! You said it yourself; there are too many parallels with their illness and ours, and the mythological names – there's too many coincidences for them to be...well...coincidences," Leigh reasoned.
Rat shrugged. "Yeah, at the very least, it's obvious the Duncans had links with both projects...we're gonna have to find people who worked with them. They're both dead, right?"
"Yeah," Leigh murmured, looking away. Rat nodded. She'd seen the reports of the fire that killed a group of scientists.
"Well that's the only way we're gonna get to the bottom of this, Leigh. We can't ask the Duncans if they're dead. We need to talk to people they worked with."
"Great," Leigh groaned, but she knew Rat was absolutely right. "More bloody people to track down. Reckon we should focus on Amelia first."
"Absolutely," Rat agreed. "We need to be sure that the people in this photo really are the Duncans, anyway. Amelia carried clones for them. She'll be able to confirm it for sure."
Leigh frowned. "I know it really is them. I've seen them on Rachel's tapes enough times."
"It doesn't hurt to be absolutely certain though," Rat shrugged. "But before all of that, we have something much bigger to deal with..."
A small pause followed. Leigh frowned and nodded.
"Yeah...Aila."
When the day of the visit arrived, Aila sighed to herself and waited for an officer to escort her off of the wing. She hadn't heard anything from Morgan since she approached the surgeon almost two weeks before. Aila had been doing her best to avoid the other clone as much as possible, even though they still caught glimpses of each other at meal times.
When an officer finally did appear and led her off the wing, Aila followed along behind him quietly. She blinked, noticing that they weren't going towards the normal visiting room.
It took a few minutes to realise that she was being led towards a set of private visiting rooms instead. Aila hadn't requested such a thing, but she wouldn't be surprised if Rat had done something to make it so.
The private room was reasonably large, and had only a single table set up in the middle of the room. Rat and Leigh were already there. Aila stared at Leigh as she approached the table and sat down, her face strangely blank as she saw for herself that the hairdresser was indeed very much alive.
"You've got one hour," the officer told them all, before closing the door.
Aila continued staring at Leigh, before speaking. "So you're really alive," she said quietly, inwardly relieved to see the proof for herself.
Aila couldn't help but feel a rush of anger towards DYAD for telling them all that Leigh was dead, even though she knew by now that DYAD told terrible lies like that all the time. The clones should know better than to take anything DYAD said at face value.
"Yeah, I am," Leigh said. "Gonna punch Leekie in the face next time I see him for making you lot think otherwise. You guys should know I'll never die though. I'm too arrogant," she added with a small grin, trying to lighten the situation a little bit.
The hairdresser soon frowned again though as she looked at Aila. She could tell already that the Scottish clone had been through a lot over the past several months. Her eyes weren't nearly as bright, and she looked tired and fed up. Leigh couldn't help but notice the long scar running down the side of Aila's face as well, and the fact that she wasn't wearing her signature pink colour anymore.
"I've missed you," Leigh told her honestly. "I'm so happy to see that you're alive too. I was so scared that Lucas wouldn't be able to help you in time."
Rat remained quiet and simply observed the two of them talking for the moment, knowing that they needed to clear the air and catch up on everything that had been going on. She figured for now she could just keep an eye on the time and mediate if needed.
"Why did you stay at DYAD?" Aila muttered then, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice. They only had an hour, and she wanted to get this out of the way before anything else was said.
Leigh wasn't shocked to hear this question. Rat had warned her about this, after all.
She explained her side of the story carefully, but she didn't like the fierce gaze Aila gave her as she spoke. Leigh found herself looking away, mostly out of nerves.
"She was trying to keep DYAD away from us, Aila," Rat offered meekly.
"I know it's shit that you ended up in here and Katja and Beth are missing, but none of that was DYAD's doing," Leigh explained shakily.
Aila forced out a sarcastic, dry laugh. "No? Not their doing that another clone's locked up in here with me, either? Or the fact I've been banged up with my long lost mother since I got here?" she hissed.
Leigh stared, completely lost for a moment.
"Or did Rat not tell you about that?" Aila snapped.
Rat swore to herself. "Yeah...I should've told you about Tracy," she murmured to Leigh.
Everything clicked into place in Leigh's mind. "Holy friggin' hell on fire. You're the mysterious Hailee clone?"
"Yes," Aila breathed, clapping sarcastically that Leigh finally understood. "I'm the mysterious Hailee clone, which makes you and I cousins. Makes Rachel and I cousins, which makes this whole fucking mess just that much harder to swallow, thank you very much."
Leigh shrugged pitifully. "I dunno what to say...I don't blame you for being angry...as soon as I found out you were in prison, I tried to get in touch! If Tracy had just told me...I could've done more; tried to get you out...I wanted to help, but DYAD made it nearly impossible; I couldn't let them know I was breaking our deal! The whole point was to protect you-"
"I was trying to protect YOU!" Aila snarled. She jumped up and slammed a hand on the desk before her, making Leigh and Rat jump hard and fall silent. "I wasn't about to betray you to your psycho sister, was I?! No matter what the cost! Not after everything you did to protect and save me from Helena; to protect all of us!"
"Aila-" Rat spoke, but Aila shouted over her.
"You stayed," she growled down at Leigh. "You stayed with DYAD, and all of THIS-" she gestured to her scars, mostly the one on her face "-was for NOTHING! You made it all for NOTHING!"
A ringing silence followed as Aila caught her breath and fell back into her seat. Rat looked between Aila and Leigh uncertainly, and Leigh just shook her head.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I did what I thought was right. I still firmly believe what I did was right."
Rat looked a bit surprised. Aila shook her head madly, her eyes wide with anger and disbelief.
"Aila, please," Rat pleaded.
"I'm going back to my cell," Aila huffed. She stood again, and Leigh and Rat watched hopelessly as she went to fling the door open, but something stopped Aila. A sudden, harsh cough crippled her, which could only have been brought on by the sheer force of her shouting.
"Aila?" Rat spoke. She stood up to assist Aila, but then remained still, too stunned to even move.
A great sadness hit Aila. Tears streamed down her face as she turned to face Rat and Leigh, and she held her hand out for them to see. There was no point in hiding it further.
The other clones stared in horror at the blood in Aila's palm. They were all too used to the look of fear and desperation that accompanied this particular cough.
Rat sank helplessly back into her chair. Leigh swallowed hard and got up. She crossed the room and took Aila by the shoulders, despite Aila trying to shake her off. Leigh remained determined.
"DYAD left you all well alone," Leigh began calmly. "Monitored, yes, but they stuck to their word. I uncovered secrets about Amelia, and learned of Helena's twin, and now we have a chance to find them both. We can still stop Helena, Aila; we can finish what we started and save lives! Not to mention what Rat found out about Castor, which is friggin' huge, by the way, and might very well hold answers about our origins! Do you know what that means? If we find our creators, we're one stop closer to finding a cure! And you...you found your birth mother, Aila. She's out there right now and I bet she can't wait to be with you again; and she's got other kids, which means you have siblings! It means the family you always wanted...and I'm still here. I'm going nowhere. It wasn't all for nothing. There's still hope. More now than perhaps ever before."
Aila trembled as she considered Leigh's words. She'd known deep down what Leigh said was correct; she'd known it for a long time...life, lately, had been impossible to be rational about though. Anger and blame had been difficult to let go of.
Aila raised her hand again to indicate to the blood. "I-I'm so scared, Leigh," she admitted with a whisper. She shook her head and cried. "I can't do it without you."
Leigh shook her head and pulled Aila into a hug. "You won't have to," she promised.
The two were silent even as Aila sobbed. Rat watched for a moment. She eventually got up and wandered over to awkwardly join in with the hug, knowing Aila needed all the support she could get.
Leigh and Rat glanced at each other as they held Aila tightly. The Abandoned were back together.
For the first time since being assigned the mission to hunt down Amelia, Leigh truly felt motivated to get on with it. She was sitting back at home three days after returning from the prison, considering her options. Rat had already started trying to figure out a way to disable the chip in Leigh's neck, so that they could go to Canada together after Amelia was found.
Leigh took out her journal and flipped through it, looking over everything she'd learned from Tracy and Lucas. At this point it seemed like the best thing to do would be to just go to Ireland and start the search there.
Leigh supposed she could use either DYAD's database or Rat's hacking skills to search for the name Emily Ormand in Limerick. She hoped that even if Amelia wasn't there anymore, there would at least be some trace of her left.
Leigh glanced up at the sound of footsteps. Tracy was making her way into the room with a large cup of tea. She settled down in a nearby armchair, before glancing at Leigh. "Hey."
"Hey," Leigh replied. "Settling in OK?"
"Yeah," Tracy nodded. "Cheers for lettin' me stay here, Ashleigh," she told Leigh sincerely.
Leigh smiled at her, nodding. "Yeah, no problem. I wasn't about to put you out onto the street, was I?"
Tracy smiled, looking down into her cup of tea. "Forgot how good a real brew tastes. That stuff they give us in prison were proper crap by comparison."
"I'm sure," Leigh smirked. It still boggled her mind to think that her aunt was Aila's mother. Leigh couldn't help but think about the point Aila had made during the visit. Did Rachel know she'd ordered her own cousin to be tortured? Leigh would like to think that Rachel had no idea…but really, anything was possible.
"What's that?" Tracy asked then, nodding to the journal.
"Oh…just notes about Amelia."
Tracy frowned a bit. "Ya still goin' after 'er?"
Leigh hesitated a bit, before nodding. "Yeah…but not for DYAD anymore. Rat wants some info from her about Helena and her twin. I'm hoping to get back with Rat afterwards, and maybe even help find a way to get Aila out of prison too. There's no way I'm sticking around DYAD anymore after they made my closest friends think I was dead."
Tracy was silent for a moment, before speaking again. "You and your friends are playin' a dangerous game, between fightin' DYAD and fightin' the Proletheans."
' And potentially fighting the friggin' military,' Leigh added silently, even as she nodded. "Yeah, we know, but what else can we do? DYAD will never stop fucking around with clones, and the religious nutters will never stop killing clones. Someone's gotta do something, so why not us?"
"You remind me of an old friend of mine, in a way," Tracy sighed, before looking at the hairdresser again. "If you're plannin' on goin' to Ireland, I'll come with ya," she offered.
"Really?" Leigh asked, surprised.
"Aye. Got some old contacts there who might still know where Amelia's at. I imagine she'll be more willin' to talk to someone she knows as well," Tracy pointed out. "Figure this'll settle my debt with the old bald ass n'all."
Leigh smirked a bit, nodding. "What about Gabby? Shaun'll have to come with us since I'm meant to be monitored all the time."
"She'll be fine. She keeps telling me how much she likes spendin' time with Shaun anyway. Them two can treat it like a vacation, and DYAD shouldn't be none the wiser."
Leigh nodded, knowing full well that she could trust Shaun with Gabby for a while. "Yeah, she'll be fine with him," she agreed, before looking down at her notes. "Best get some tickets to Limerick, then."