Chapter 37: Slowburn

The Eraser glided towards the body of her assassin, nudging the cold, lifeless Eraser with the toe of her boot. She snorted in disgust; did she need to do everything herself?

The Eraser bent down, placing two fingers on the dead girl's forehead. Extracting memories wasn't that hard, The Institute had taught her well.

The scenes flashed behind her closed eyelids, and she cursed the sight of them. She had assumed correctly, her assassin had failed to eliminate Greg.

She stood again, eyes flashing in annoyance as she located the gun in the undergrowth. Skye had interfered; she hadn't been expecting that,

The Eraser expertly disabled the gun and put it in her jacket pocket.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

\xxx/

Skye gasped as she awoke, shaking with suppressed screams. She was drenched in a cold sweat that was quickly drying in the soft night breeze. Leaves rustled behind her, and a hand was gently laid upon her shoulder, making her jump. The hand squeezed lightly,

"You okay?" Greg asked quietly. Skye shivered again and he pulled her into a hug from behind. "Bad dream? Vision?"

"I don't know. Not a dream, definitely not. It felt like a vision, but I wasn't in it, like I usually am. I felt more like a bug on a tree, observing the action and knowing what everyone is thinking, but not taking part…it was so odd…it's never happened before…" Skye shuddered, and burrowed deeper into Greg's comforting embrace. He stroked her hair slowly until her shuddering stopped, and her breathing was slow and deep.

Asleep, Skye looked so different to him. The creases on her forehead that were almost always present nowadays were gone, her mouth slightly open, but not gaping. She looked peaceful, as most people do when they are asleep, but Skye had a seraphic touch to her peace. It wasn't the snowy wings she bore—though they certainly would have contributed to the human image of an angel—but her posture. She wasn't curled into a ball, which would suggest insecurity and fear, despite what had happened to her throughout her life. No, she was stretched languidly over him, suggesting comfort and a feeling of security. Despite all she had been through, with the experiments, Arcane's death, and even her own near-death experience by his hands, she still felt safe in his arms. Greg shook his head sadly. She was a fool to trust in him, he could protect her, but he could kill her just as easily; he had almost succeeded. A fool, but she was his fool; his first real friend since he had been changed. He hadn't realized just how lonely he had been. Wolves were pack animals, and while he was not fully wolf, he had enough genes in common with a wolf that the pack mentality existed within him. The need to be with his own kind was overpowering, and while Skye was not his kind in species, she was so much like him in other ways. Both were alone in this world. Not even the carbon copy of Arcane could fill the emptiness in Skye, he could sense that. He didn't know if he could fill that chasm himself, but he would damn well try his hardest.

As for hurting her? He didn't know if he would lose control again. He could hope and pray, but he couldn't promise never to hurt her again.

We could damn well try though.

With an exception that he was sure of, however. The exception? They needed to go back to The Institute. The reason? Well, he wasn't very clear on the details, but something was amiss; it was obvious in the records he had stolen. The fact that all of the trainees documented were born in and around the same year Greg was just a tad too convenient. And the shear number of them. Greg had trained more each day as the numbers multiplied. There had always been many Erasers, but they had been at The Institute all their lives; pumped with growth hormones to speed up the aging process. The new trainees had seemed to come about like Greg had; as runaways who had signed up to be changed. It just didn't make sense; The Institute had never done anything like this as far as he knew, not in such quantities.

So what was going on?

And while he didn't want to hurt Skye, he needed her for this, to help him gather information.

On the other hand, he really didn't want to take her, because he didn't want her going back to Arcane. Because while Skye would never admit it, there was also something very wrong with the clone. He couldn't put his finger on it, yet, but he would find out. He just didn't know if Skye could handle the truth, whatever it was.

Ah, what a mess.

He'd tell her tomorrow what the plan was.



He just had to think of one first.

-+-

"That's INSANE!" Skye shrieked after Greg was done explaining the game plan.

"It's not insane…maybe a tad risky, but not insane…" Greg mumbled defensively.

"Yes. It. Is. If you go back to The Institute, you'll be killed on the spot! They frown upon unscheduled leave, not to mention the stealing of top secret documents!!" Skye shouted the last five words. A number of birds in nearby trees took flight.

"Skye, calm down, nothing's going to happen—"

"Why? Why do we need to go back?"

"Because something's going on at The Institute, even you have to admit that. All those new generation Erasers? Why are they all showing up now? And from where? What's The Institute up to—"

"Why does it even matter?!"

"Because it's our duty to—"

"No, it's not. We have no duties that in any way, shape, or form involve The Institute. They ruined our lives. We owe them nothing." Skye spat, "We don't need to go back, we can run away. You and me, and meet up with The Flock and Max. I'll make up with them somehow, I dunno how yet…" Skye pleaded, but Greg put a finger to her lips to silence her babble. He smiled solemnly and pulled her into a hug.

"We'll be fine. Trust me. Besides, with your invisibility, you at least should be safe. And I'm strong enough to hold my own. Don't worry, okay?" Greg grinned and kissed her forehead lightly.

"Yeah, but what about bullets? You're not indestructible!" Skye blurted. Greg snickered at that,

"Actually, I'm pretty close to bullet-proof, if I morph that is. The outer layer of my fur is stronger than a wolf's; it significantly slows down a bullet, therefore only giving me a shallow wound. It makes taking bullets out much easier." Skye winced,

"Tasers?"

"I can withstand up to 125,023 volts without being incapacitated, though, to tell you the truth, after about 115,000 volts, it's hard the think…" Skye gaped at him in horror, to which he smiled darkly, "You aren't the only one here who's been experimented on."

Skye held him tighter, resting her head on his shoulder, "All right, we'll do it, but if you die…so help me, I'll bring you back to life just to kill you again myself…" She whispered into his neck. Greg chuckled at that and lifted her chin so that he could look at her face,

"Promise that?" he asked, eyes twinkling in the morning sun.

"Promise."

A/N: Hey all, thanks for reading this next chappie. (: Sorry it's been so long! Summer vacation is busier than I expected it to be. Though, the next chapter should be up soon, I've already written it, I just need to type it up. :P Anyways, please review! I hope you all are having a great summer!