– Chapter Twenty-Five –

How had none of them realised sooner it was possible Helena took Janika's laptop? Anger hit Katja suddenly at full force; it made so much sense, and they had all overlooked it-

"How is doggy friend doing?" Helena's rough voice interrupted Katja from her thoughts. She grinned crookedly from the screen and laughed darkly. Katja knew Helena was talking about Rat...hoping to hear the cut to her throat had killed her...

"You are sick," Katja hissed.

Helena laughed again, louder this time. She looked more exhausted and less sane than Katja remembered her. The killer clone appeared to be in a rather dark, poorly lit room, and this seemed to enhance her disturbing features.

Katja made to get up and call the others in, but Helena distracted her again.

"You cannot run forever, Katja."

Katja stopped in her tracks to glare at the screen. It was rare she struggled to stay composed, but here she was, looking at the face of the woman who attacked her sister so shamelessly, and ended the lives of Aryanna and Janika with no remorse...Katja wanted to strangle her...

"You are zee von who better run," she warned Helena seriously. "Vee know all about you. Vat you do and vhy you do it. You are a fool if you can't see zey are just using you." Helena only laughed once more. It made Katja tremble with fury. "If you do not stop, you vill only make more enemies," she almost whispered now. "One day, sooner or later, you vill be stopped. You vill suffer for vat you have done."

Katja caught a glint of something silver in Helena's hand, and suddenly, it was in her mouth. When Helena let go of it to hold it with her teeth, Katja saw it was a spoon. "Tell me about that," Helena said casually in a surprisingly friendly tone of voice. "Dog lady said I am not the original. That it is a lie. Why would she say this?"

"Because it's true," Katja responded instantly.

"And crazy pan woman said I was killing my own, but that is not possible."

"Proletheans lie to you, Helena," Katja insisted angrily. "Vhy can you not see?"

"You cannot give valid reason why I am not the original," Helena challenged her. She took the spoon from her mouth and dug it into a pot she was now holding in her free hand. It was full of a red substance. "Tomas said 'Helena, these copies, they will say anything to pull wool over your eyes. You must be strong. You are the original, you are the light. These copies, they are filth, born by science, an abomination to God-'"

"Vere exactly does your God say it is OK to kill?" Katja interrupted.

Helena hesitated. She watched Katja thoughtfully while she continued to eat, and then tossed the pot aside, and stood up. "I must get more jello," she announced, disappearing off screen. Katja shook her head in disbelief, but before she could call Rat in, Helena was back with another jello pot.

"I do not enjoy the killings," Helena managed in a somewhat innocent voice. "That is vhy vee punish ourselves also."

"Vat?" Katja asked, stunned.

"But it is for the greater good. I have asked myself many times, is this the answer? I have looked for other explanations, but there is none."

"Of course zere ez!" Katja told her. "You just have not searched in zee right places-"

"I am giving you a chance now," Helena interrupted. She peeled off the lid of the jello pot and flicked it aside before sticking her spoon in. "But it seems you cannot convince me."

A horrible silence followed. Katja twitched angrily. She knew they were all born of science, but how much did she know about the clones, really? How much did any of them know? What were they for? Why were they created? If there was an original, who was it?

Katja swore under her breath. It dawned on her she couldn't really provide Helena with a strong enough argument; not when she and the others didn't understand it fully themselves.

"You do not even know," Helena giggled as though reading Katja's mind. She brought the spoon to her lips, but missed her mouth, causing jello to wobble and fall onto the desk. Helena frowned irritably for a moment at wasting it in such a way, but her attention was back on Katja quickly. "You do not know, because there is no...acceptable reason for you to live. For you to exist. You are not real."

Katja's anger began ebbing away now, slowly replaced by sadness. How could Helena look at her clone sisters and feel nothing? How could she not see herself in them? See the lives they'd built, and the relationships they'd made? She couldn't believe Helena saw fit to take all that away.

"You are tragic," Katja whispered, though she was sure Helena hadn't heard her. She was too busy scraping up the jello she had spilled onto the desk with her spoon.

Katja threw her face into her hands suddenly when the urge to cough hit her out of nowhere. She heaved and spluttered violently, spraying her hands with blood.

Helena chuckled. "I think it is you who is sick; not me," she mocked, spoon hanging out her mouth again. "Poor, broken, useless little copy. You do not work. You are not real. Next time I see you, you will die. Bye bye."

Helena reached out for the laptop and pressed a button to end the call, leaving Katja sitting in numbed silence. She didn't even notice when the door opened again and Rat walked back in.

"Katja, are you coming or..?" the hacker trailed off when she noticed the broken and defeated look on Katja's face. She crossed the room quickly and knelt down before her, concerned. "Hey, what's up? Talk to me," she said.

Katja numbly turned her head to look down at Rat, though she said nothing and stared at her in silence. Rat frowned, lightly placing her hand on the side of Katja's jaw. "Talk to me. What happened?"

Katja met her gaze, though her eyes seemed strangely distant. "Are vee real, schwester?"

Rat blinked, her eyes widening slightly. She hesitated for a split second. "Why are you asking that?"

"Vee are clones...just copies...are vee even human?" Katja asked quietly. Helena's words circled her mind, somehow making her doubt herself and everything she stood for.

Rat stared at her. "Katja, look at me," she said, waiting until the request had been met before continuing. "We are clones, but we are also people. We're not just copies. We each have our own lives and thoughts and feelings and connections to those around us. It doesn't matter that we were born of science...we still go through life the same as anyone else."

Katja nodded slowly. "Ja..." she said, though she looked unconvinced.

Rat frowned. "What happened that's suddenly gotten you thinking about that?"

Katja sighed and confessed everything that had happened, from when she noticed Janika's account online to when she'd spoken to Helena. Rat stared in blank shock as she listened. Some part of her wanted to be angry that Katja hadn't immediately told them what was going on, but she found she didn't have the heart.

Keeping herself in check, Rat spoke calmly and gently. "Katja, she's a killer. She wants to get in your head and make you second guess yourself...that's what she does. She wants you to give up the fight and make it easier for her to make you play her sick game. Don't listen to her. Wherever we came from, we are real, and we have every right to carry on like anybody else."

Katja nodded. She felt tired and numb, but she got to her feet and beckoned Rat to follow her out of the room. "Vee should tell Aila and Leigh."

Rat agreed, so they took Katja's laptop into the living room and sat Aila and Leigh down to talk to them about what happened. Rat wasn't surprised they both reacted negatively, both of them standing up and exclaiming in panic to hear the news. Rat couldn't blame them. It was starting to trouble her more too.

"We've gotta ditch the laptop," Aila suggested the first idea that popped into her head. She pulled her ponytail anxiously while Leigh began pacing the room. "Right? If there's any chance she can track us-"

"Janika's still on my contact list too," Rat remind her.

"Well then delete her!" Aila said.

"Helena's thick as shit; she won't know how to track us just by having us on Skype, will she?" Leigh asked. She sounded unconvinced at her own words.

Rat shrugged. "I wouldn't underestimate her. She's clearly smart enough to kill all these women and remain undetected by authorities for so long. Besides, even if she can't track us, one of her Prolethean buddies might be able to. Someone with more experience of the technological world, for instance."

Leigh stopped in her tracks to look at Rat in surprise. "Maggie Chen?" she guessed.

"Who knows?" Rat said.

"So what now? Should we leave?" Aila asked.

"No," Leigh said stubbornly. "No! I'm tired of running! Let's get Danielle's samples while we're here! We're not going anywhere until we've dealt with this!"

"But Helena-"

"We weren't too worried when we thought DYAD had the laptop, were we?" Leigh snapped irritably, rounding on the others. "I'm sorry, but I think they're more likely to have the knowledge to get to us than the friggin' Proletheans are. If you're worried, we'll go find Danielle today, or tomorrow – or I don't know when - just soon! Then we can head to Canada!"

Rat nodded quietly. "The only time she's not surrounded by security is when she goes to pick up her drugs. As far as I can tell, she does it herself because very few know she's a crackhead. That might give us an opportunity, but we'll need to be quick if we're going to approach her like that. I'll see about putting together a timeline of her typical patterns in accordance with her file. That might mean having to deal with her boyfriend too, mind, but it'll have to do. We can't waste any more time."

Katja frowned. "How vill vee get her samples zen? Vee can steal blood and hair, but vat of papers and zings? She vouldnt be carrying around everyzing like zat vith her, ja?"

Aila looked between them. "Well...can I make a dumb suggestion?" she offered, getting their attention. "From what we know about her, it seems like she's pretty narcissistic, right? She seems to love herself and love the fact that people fawn over her, and she keeps her addiction a secret...so what if we threaten her with that? Say we'll expose the addiction with proof to every major news outlet in the country if she won't cooperate with us? At the very least, something like that would definitely get her kicked out of competitive skating."

Leigh stared at her, having not expected an idea dealing with blackmail to come from Aila of all people, though she had to admit it was definitely better than anything else they'd come up with.

Rat and Katja seemed to be thinking the same. Rat nodded. "That might just work."

"We should probably actually show her we can prove it," Leigh added. "Can you pull any photos or whatever out of her file, Rat?"

Rat shrugged. "I'll see what there is. There aren't really many photographs included in our files. It's mostly text. Just the fact that we know the details of her addiction, and even the names of some of her dealers should be enough to spook her, though."

Leigh nodded and leaned back, thinking. If worst came to worst they could always just grab Danielle, though she knew doing that would be dangerous and could quite easily get them all arrested. Most people didn't take kindly to their celebrities being kidnapped, after all...

Leigh gave a frustrated sigh and stood. "I need tea," she told them, walking into the kitchen. She was about to ask the others if they wanted drinks too, but her thoughts distracted her. They were so close. She knew it should be simple – get Danielle's samples, and make a break for Canada. Easy.

But it wasn't going to be easy, was it? Leigh flicked the switch on the kettle and leaned against the kitchen counter while it boiled. She folded her arms and frowned. How long would it be before Helena caught up to them again? Leigh had to admit the fact she contacted Katja worried her more than she let on.

She looked up when Aila shuffled over to her. "Make mine a coffee," she said with a small grin.

Leigh smiled a bit. "Sure."

"I see you have your serious thinking face on," Aila commented.

"Yeah. I was just thinking about Helena..."

"Oh?"

"I'd love to know what goes on inside her head," Leigh whispered.

"We already know that," Aila reasoned. "Those religious weirdoes made her think that's her only purpose. I..."

"Go on," Leigh urged her.

Aila averted her gaze and shrugged. "I have to wonder if they'll even keep her alive after all this. If they're just using her to get rid of the rest of us, and then..."

Leigh watched Aila trail off, and a dark, daunting feeling took over her. "I never even considered that," Leigh admitted. "I suppose it depends if they really do believe she's the original, or if they're just saying that...where'd she even come from?"

"I've been wondering that as well," Aila said. She spun around to find the kitchen cupboards. She opened them to pull out two cups, and then headed for the fridge for milk. "It's hard not to pity her."

Leigh nodded. She knew Aila had a point, but all Leigh felt was anger for the killer clone. Or maybe it was anger at herself for not being able to stop any of this...

"Lucas said the Proletheans kidnapped her, if I remember rightly," Aila continued as she set the bottle of milk down on the counter.

"Yeah," Leigh agreed, nodding again. "Like I said before, I don't think DYAD's even aware of Helena. She must be unmonitored, to have disappeared like she did, but how did she-"

Leigh stopped talking abruptly and froze as if she had seen a ghost. She stared ahead at the wall blankly, causing Aila to look around in confusion.

"Oh fuck," Leigh whispered to herself. "She can't be..."

"What?" Aila asked.

Leigh just shook her head, snapping herself out of it, and abandoned her task of making tea. "I need Rat's opinion on something," she said shakily as she rushed from the room. She hastily found the hacker and sat beside her, ignoring the other clone's protests about personal space.

"Holy shit, I just had a thought. Do you think Helena could be the daughter of the surrogate that went missing? The one who was supposed to give her baby to Rachel's adopted parents?" Leigh asked urgently, her eyes wide as she spoke. "Could you see if anything in the files would suggest that might have been what happened?"

Rat blinked, surprised by the suggestion. The thought had never even crossed her mind, but she had to admit the idea was entirely plausible, given what little they knew about the feral clone.

"Fine. Give me a minute, and give me room to breathe, Callingham," Rat grumbled, shoving Leigh back a little bit before turning her attention back to her computer.

She put down Danielle's file and instead pulled up ones relating to Rachel's adopted parents; Ethan and Susan Duncan. It took several minutes for her programs to scan the files, highlighting keywords within the lengthy documents.

Feeling Leigh's impatient eyes on her, Rat shot her a glare. "Will you quit staring? I'll tell you what I find when I find it. Go make your tea or whatever," she said flatly.

Leigh narrowed her eyes slightly, but sighed and returned to the kitchen where Aila was finishing making their drinks. The doctor glanced at Leigh and handed her her tea. "So where's the fire?" she asked.

Leigh accepted the tea. "Cheers," she said before explaining the thought she'd had.

Aila's eyes widened. "Really? Helena might be the one the Duncans would have gotten? That would make sense, I suppose..."

Aila knew if it was true, it would give Leigh a whole new reason to hate Helena. After all, even though Helena herself would have had nothing to do with it, the surrogate vanishing would be the reason Leigh wasn't raised with her sister. For a moment, Aila wondered what Rachel might have been like if she'd been raised alongside Leigh instead of under the care of DYAD.

"Leigh, get over here," Rat called after another moment. Leigh hurried to see what Rat had discovered, gripping her mug of tea tightly. Rat stared at the screen as she spoke. "So apparently the surrogate mother was a woman called Amelia, but I can't give you much more than that. Everything on here matches up with your mum and dad's story – that the Duncans paid her, but then she took off before the kid was born."

"And they have no clue where," Leigh finished, disappointed.

Rat nodded. "If they did, the missing clone child wouldn't be missing, would she? They'd have found Amelia by now. No; I'm pretty sure DYAD are still clueless as to what became of Amelia in the end."

"So there's no way of finding out what Amelia did with the baby," Aila's voice spoke behind Leigh. Leigh turned to see the doctor had followed her, apparently curious at this latest revelation. "And whether or not that baby was Helena."

"Exactly," Rat confirmed.

Silence followed. Leigh reluctantly sat on the sofa, staring at Rat's laptop absently.

"The only other thing you can do is attempt to track Amelia yourself, but I wouldn't recommend it. It'd be damn near impossible with the little info we have on her," Rat spoke again eventually. "We can't afford to get sidetracked now anyway. Perhaps when this is all over, your parents might be able to help."

"Yeah," Leigh nodded, agreeing. She knew it would be unfair to distract everyone from Danielle. She was best off focusing on this later.

Aila sat down next to Leigh, sipping her coffee before speaking. "You said before you considered handing Helena over to Leekie," she began timidly. "That's another possibility, right? Maybe then you'd have your answer."

"Yeah but we still don't know if we can trust him," Leigh responded with a shrug. "You were dead against it last time we talked about it."

"Well what about Rachel?" Aila asked.

"Rachel?"

"Like you said, she'd be a great help if you can get her on our side."

Leigh stared at her knees, frowning. She could see Rat glaring at her and Aila from the corner of her eye, apparently still hesitant at the idea of trusting someone like Rachel. "She told me not to contact her again," Leigh muttered. "She might not even believe she's my sister, anyway."

"You could send her proof," Aila suggested.

Leigh's head snapped up quickly in Aila's direction, and Rat's eyes grew wider. "Oh hell no," the hacker spoke loudly. "Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking..."

Aila shrugged. "Why not? I mean, who knows...she might want to help us if she knows?" she reasoned.

Leigh bit her lip, before turning her attention to Rat, knowing already that the other clone didn't like this idea. She couldn't deny she wanted Rachel to know about their blood connection more than she was willing to admit.

"Could you?" Leigh asked quietly.

Rat glared at both Leigh and Aila darkly. "On top of looking into DYAD, and Danielle, and Helena, and the lost surrogate, and trying to keep up with my own personal work? Is there anything ELSE I should do for you people while I'm at it?"

Realistically, Rat knew she was the only one who could do any of those things, but she couldn't help feeling annoyed at how the others saw fit to pile her with more and more work every time they had a bright idea.

Aila and Leigh both stared at her, looking taken aback. Leigh frowned. "Never mind about that then. We should just focus on getting Danielle's samples and then get to Canada to see Beth. Rachel wouldn't help anyway...I don't think."

Rat sighed and rubbed her head. "Sorry, that was out of line," she muttered, surprising everyone. "Just...give me some time to get to it. I'll see about getting into Rachel's email or something, and dropping off a copy of the original file under an untraceable IP."

Aila and Leigh stared at her, neither of them expecting any sort of apology. The Swiss clone was known for being short-tempered and sharp-tongued at the best of times, and usually didn't care if she hurt anyone's feelings.

Katja spoke up for the first time in a while. "Ratty's been vorking many more hours zan normal on legit job since she knows vee are running dangerously low on money," she explained, looking between Aila and Leigh. "On top of doing every other tippy-tappy computer thing for all of us all the time. She is stressed."

Rat grumbled quietly and looked away, saying nothing, and Aila could almost swear the hacker looked embarrassed. The doctor wasn't sure if it was because of the admission that she'd been trying to do more for the group without them knowing, or just from the fact that doing so was stressing her out.

Rat knocked on Leigh's bedroom door later that evening after everyone had eaten and retreated for bed. The hacker wondered for a moment if Leigh was sleeping already, but she was greeted by a tired voice almost instantly.

"Come in," Leigh said.

Rat opened the door and stepped into the room to face Leigh, who was lying on her front on the bed, apparently reading Danielle's file.

"I've done it," Rat said bluntly. Leigh looked right at her, confused for a moment. "Alerted Rachel."

A pause followed.

"You have?" Leigh asked, surprised. "I didn't think..."

"Didn't think what?"

"Nothing," Leigh said quickly. "I didn't mean to make you feel like you had to do it. You were right. It could have waited. Katja was right too. We need to be careful with money...you shouldn't have to support all of us by yourself. I hope you know if there was some way the rest of us could work, we would..."

"Forget it," Rat said with a shrug. "I just hope some good will come of this."

"What exactly did you send to Rachel?" Leigh asked, bringing the focus back to the original topic.

"A copy of the original files detailing your birth, and hers. I still don't know if she can be trusted, but..."

Leigh nodded. "I really want to trust her. Maybe...she might not even care. All this might mean nothing to her."

Rat closed the door and reluctantly approached Leigh. Leigh sat up straight to let Rat sit down on the end of the bed. "You're nervous for her reaction. I get that. It was the same with me and Katja..."

"Yeah?"

Rat nodded, but offered little else as an explanation. She looked directly at Leigh. "Let's just hope she'll be willing to help us figure out Helena. If she really is 'the missing clone'."

"And if she is?" Leigh asked.

"I suppose we'll work that one out when or if it comes to it," Rat finished.

Leigh nodded again. Rat eventually stood up and approached the bedroom door. "Thanks," Leigh said, but she wasn't sure Rat acknowledged it or even heard her. She was out of the room and the door was shut without any response.

"You're sure this is a good idea?"

Rat glanced over at Aila, looking unimpressed. "You tell me. It was your idea, doctor."

A few days had passed since they'd agreed to attempt to blackmail Danielle. Rat had put together a loose idea of when the ice skater jumped out of her lines of security to retrieve her drugs, leaving them very few windows of opportunity. They'd found one such window that Sunday afternoon, after realising Danielle usually left the house alone to walk to a large park to pick up her stuff.

The clones were currently scattered around the park in the general vicinity of the pickup spot, keeping an eye out for their French counterpart while still being in view of each other as well. They planned to grab Danielle and force her into a sheltered area surrounded by bushes, well out of view of the rest of the park in order to talk. It wasn't the best plan by any measure, but it was all they had to go on.

Aila sighed. She felt both guilty and edgy. "I know, but what we're doing is practically kidnap! What if she screams and someone comes running over? And what if she isn't alone like we think?"

"Well we'll have to deal with it if that's the case," Rat said flatly. She held onto Charles' leash as the old dog wandered around happily. "We know already that we can't waste any more time."

The park was massive and filled with dogs as well as people, and the clones had brought Rat's dogs along to blend in better. Rat had Charles while Katja took Bianca.

"This is hopeless," Leigh muttered repeatedly. She was wandering close to a group of trees, ducking out of the way every so often when people walked by. A good twenty minutes passed, and she was sure Danielle hadn't been spotted. She took out her phone and typed a message.

'Any luck yet?'

On the other side of the park, opposite Leigh's area, Rat's phone buzzed. She grumbled to herself to see Leigh's message.

"You too?" Aila called not far away from Rat. She too was holding her phone, having received the same message from Leigh. "I told her we'll alert each other when we see Danielle," she said tiredly.

Rat glanced up at Leigh in the distance, who waved when she noticed Rat was looking. Rat rolled her eyes. She was sure Leigh was trying to annoy her on purpose.

'Stop being a troll and look for Danielle,' Rat sent back irritably.

It was at that moment that Aila gave a surprised squeal, loud enough to catch Rat's attention despite the distance between them. The doctor ducked behind a large bush and peered around, fumbling with her phone. "She's coming!" Aila mouthed to Rat.

Rat hurried back to make sure she was hidden, and called Katja's number quickly.

"Hallo?"

"Katja, Danielle's here – she just walked by – I'm sure she'll be heading to your area within the next minute or so-"

"Ja, I vill grab her."

"Don't be ridiculous, you're not strong enough to take her by yourself in your condition," Rat rushed her words as Danielle hurried past. "Just be ready to block her path – the rest of us will come – oh hang on, I think Leigh's seen her too; she's following..."

"Me and Leigh vill grab her zen. Do not vorry. Vee got zis."

Katja hung up before Rat could get another word in. The German lowered her sunglasses to wear them properly, and watched and waited for a sign of Danielle. It wasn't long before the French clone came into view, her face partially obstructed by a fluffy scarf. As far as anyone could tell, she was alone.

Danielle quickly walked over to a tree with a hole in the side of it, withdrawing a plain brown paper bag that had been stuffed inside. While she opened it to check the contents of the bag, Katja stepped out from the bushes with Bianca and waved.

"Hallo."

Danielle's eyes widened in shock, though before she could scream, Leigh grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth. Katja helped restrain her, and they both forced her to walk into the bushes where the four clones had agreed to meet up.

Danielle struggled and attempted to throw the other two clones off, but she couldn't overpower them both while her arms were being restrained. She took to trying to kick at Leigh instead, though most of her blows missed.

"Settle down for fuck's sake! We're not gonna hurt you!" Leigh grunted, tightening her grip and avoiding another kick.

"I do not zink she speaks English," Katja said, keeping a firm hold on the ice skater's arms.

Aila and Rat appeared just a moment later, and Danielle shot Rat a seething glare, even while struggling.

Rat met her gaze evenly. "Cesser de lutter. On ne va pas vous faire de mal, nous voulons juste parler, mais cette fois vous serez bon et écouter." ("Stop struggling. We're not going to hurt you, we just want to talk, though this time you will be good and listen.")

Danielle continued to glare furiously, trying to speak although her words were muffled from beneath Leigh's hand.

"Je l'ai dit assez, ou voulez-vous vraiment vos précieux fans de découvrir que vous êtes vraiment juste un drogué pathétique?" Rat continued casually, raising an eyebrow. ("I said enough, or do you really want your precious fans finding out you're really just a pathetic junkie?")

Danielle froze, her eyes wide as she eyed the other clones warily. "Ce est de la folie!" she shrieked. She forced herself to relax at last, and Leigh and Katja reluctantly let go of her. Danielle stood up straight and dusted herself off, leering at Katja, who was closest, for daring to touch her. "Je ne veux pas savoir..."

Leigh looked around at the others, dumbfounded. "What did she say?"

Rat just stared at Danielle, apparently disapproving of the French clone's entire existence. "She said it's madness and she doesn't want to know."

Danielle, despite her words, folded her arms and remained quite still as she watched the others expectantly with raised eyebrows.

Leigh squirmed uncomfortably. "Well she HAS to know!" she bellowed, rounding on Danielle now. "Do you hear me? You WILL listen, because I am sick to death of-"

"Leigh, shut your trap," Rat snapped at her. "She'll listen."

Aila, who had been silent so far, stepped forward to pull Leigh back. "Let's just stay calm," she advised. "This doesn't need to be harder than it is already."

The doctor turned to watch Danielle. Danielle grew agitated to realise all eyes were on her.

There was an awkward pause.

"Eh bien aller de l'avant alors!" Danielle said loudly. ("Well get on with it then!")

"Pas ici. Suivez-nous, et de garder votre bouche fermée," Rat responded coolly. ("Not here. Follow us, and keep your mouth shut.")

The hacker whipped around and strode away down the path, trusting Katja, Leigh and Aila to make sure Danielle complied. Leigh moodily shoved Danielle forward to make her follow, and Danielle shouted something in angry French at the hairdresser for doing so, but she walked anyway. Katja lowered her sunglasses once more and caught up with Danielle, while Leigh marched on behind.

Aila sighed to herself before joining them. This was going to be a long day.

The clones managed to drag Danielle back to their house and explain properly what was going on. The skater didn't seem overly impressed with the story, though she had to admit she didn't have any other explanation for why there were several other women who shared her face.

"Alors permettez-moi obtenir ce droit, vous devez mes cheveux, le sang, et de la paperasserie en raison des problèmes de santé impliqués dans étant un...cloner...ce droit?" Danielle said slowly. ("So let me get this straight, you need my hair, blood, and paperwork due to the health problems involved in being a...clone...that right?")

"Oui," Rat nodded.

"Et vous dites qu'il ya aussi quelqu'un là-bas qui pourraient être en train de me tuer?" ("And you say that there's also someone out there who might be trying to kill me?")

"Plus 'peut-être', il est quelqu'un qui essaie de vous tuer. Ce est pourquoi nous sommes venus pour vous avertir ainsi," Rat said, sounding more and more annoyed. ("More than 'might be', there is someone trying to kill you. That's why we've come to warn you as well.")

"Très bien, je vais vous donner mes papiers et le sang...cependant, il ya quelque chose que je veux en retour," Danielle said, an almost smug look on her face as her eyes shone with mischief. ("Fine, I'll give you my papers and blood... however, there's something I want in return.")

Rat raised an eyebrow, biting back an annoyed groan at the words. "Qu'est-ce qui pourrait vous voulez peut-être de nous?" ("What the hell could you possibly want from us?")

Danielle grinned slightly. "Je veux que vous me apprendre à parler Anglais. Pour chaque leçon, vous obtenez un morceau de l'information."

Rat gaped at the French clone, completely taken aback by the demand. "Cheeky bitch!" she exclaimed, glaring at the skater darkly.

"What? What did she say?" Aila asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She wants me to teach her how to speak English in exchange for her information. Said that for each lesson, she'll give us one bit of info. Like hell I'm wasting that much time pissing about with this cheeky cow," the hacker hissed. She was severely annoyed at Danielle for making such a time-consuming demand when Katja needed to get to Canada as soon as possible.

Rat proceeded to tell Danielle to get lost, which resulted in a heated argument the other three clones couldn't understand. Aila rubbed her temples, knowing it was useless to try and get involved for the time being, while Katja just stared, astonished.

Danielle eventually turned on her heel to leave the house, but Leigh wasn't having it. The hairdresser bolted after her, grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around to pin her to the wall in the hallway.

Danielle stared at her with wide eyes. Rat came rushing in, stunned by Leigh's behaviour.

"Leigh!"

"Do you want her to get herself killed or what?" Leigh snapped at the hacker. "I told you; I'm done messing around! We don't have time for it, and she needs to understand that!"

"Don't you think I've just tried to tell her that?" Rat gasped. Katja entered the hallway then, tugging her sister's arm to keep her calm. Rat ignored her, instead focusing on Leigh, who tightened her grip on Danielle.

"Lâcher-" Danielle began, but Leigh shoved her back again when she attempted to wrestle herself free.

"Shut up," Leigh snapped at her. "Rat, tell her we'll expose her drug habit if she doesn't co-operate."

"I already did," Rat sighed, though she couldn't deny she was very tempted. "But Leigh, if we DO do that, think of how much messier things will get. She's not going to co-operate then, is she?"

Leigh trembled furiously. "We'll take her samples by force."

"Vat?" Katja gasped.

"Well why not? Being nice has got us nowhere so far, has it? And we're running out of time! So come on, you," Leigh hissed, dragging Danielle back into the living room to force her into one of the dining room chairs. "Aila, get ready to take her blood."

"You can't be serious!" Rat wailed as she followed them back into the room.

Aila glanced up at the hacker and shrugged. "Katja's life depends on getting this done with quickly, Rat," she said sternly. "I'm sure Danielle will understand how serious we are if we go to such lengths."

"Vee still need her papervork and such zough," Katja murmured. She watched with wide eyes as Aila hurried over to pin Danielle to the chair while Leigh searched for something to bind her hands behind it.

"Well let's get her samples first, and it's one less thing to worry about," Aila said sharply as she rummaged through her bag. She took out a sterile needle and a plastic vile.

"You two help hold her down," Leigh snapped at Rat and Katja, ignoring Danielle screaming at them in angry French.

"Knock it off!" Rat snapped. "Have you even stopped to think this through? If we take her hostage like this, she won't be able to bring us anything, and she'll probably call the cops on us as soon as we turn her loose to bring us things. I'm sorry to say it, but cops can be bought and paid for, and I'm sure she's got the money to organize a cover-up, even if we tell them about the drugs!"

"Well what the hell do you suggest then?" Leigh yelled. "She's giving us fuck all no matter what we do!"

Rat grit her teeth hard, turning to glare down at Danielle, who was watching the exchange with wide eyes. "Très bien! Je vais vous donner vos cours d'anglais putain, mais laissez-moi être très clair en disant que si je le fais, vous allez coopérer et nous apporter ce que nous voulons, ou alors me aider la merde de drogue est hors ainsi que tous les autres mauvais chose que vous avez jamais fait dans votre vie misérable, clair? Pas de flics, rien du tout."

Danielle stared up at the hacker in surprise as she stopped fighting Leigh, before nodding in agreement.

"Bon," Rat said with a nod. "Maintenant rester immobile et laisser le médecin ont le sang juste pour être vachement difficile. Première leçon commence demain aussi longtemps que vous avez la paperasse à nous donner."

Danielle looked like she was going to argue for a moment, but then seemed to think better of it as she relaxed completely, watching the other clones warily.

"Get the blood, doc. She'll be good for now," Rat sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. Leigh took a step back, expecting the skater to try to run again, but she stayed still.

She glanced at Rat in surprise. "What the hell did you say to her?"

"I told her I'd give her the lessons, but if she doesn't keep up her end of the deal, the drug thing will be out as well as every other bad thing she's ever done in her life," the hacker muttered as she walked into the kitchen to put the kettle on, needing a hot drink now the mess had been mostly sorted. "Damn rich bitch pisses me off already..."

Katja shuffled forward towards her sister while Danielle glowered at Aila. The doctor prepared to draw blood, while Leigh cast a dark glance at the scene before disappearing into the hallway. Katja turned her attention away from them for a minute to focus on Rat.

"Thank God for your logic," she said in a hushed voice. "Vee vould struggle vizout you, Gina."

Rat forced a dull laugh, shaking her head at Katja using her real name. She only did that once in a blue moon. "Really?"

"Ja; zey vould have gone zrough vith it if it vasn't for you. You are a ragey thing sometimes, but..." Katja trailed off and grinned cheekily.

It was very hard for Rat not to smile back. "Well you're one to talk," the hacker snapped, fighting to hide a smirk. "You're the most reckless of us all..."

"I am allowed to be though," Katja said with a grin. Rat suppressed a laugh as Katja wandered back over to Aila and Danielle to keep a close eye on the situation. The hacker was thankful for Katja's humor and the ability to keep her sane throughout this entire experience.

Rat's grin faltered when Leigh reappeared in the room with her hairdressing equipment. Leigh raised her eyebrows as she innocently carried it across the room to put it in her bag, though why she was suddenly moving it, Rat didn't know.

However, the hacker didn't fail to notice Leigh taking out a pair of scissors and deliberately glaring at Danielle as she snipped the air with them, grinning evilly at the horrified look on Danielle's face.