Two Days Later…

Esben Hansen seemed to accept the report that Subject Seven had managed to get away, which guaranteed Tasha's son's safety much to her relief, although Esben wasn't too happy about the fact that Hunter made little effort to track or pursue their quarry.

After Tasha had been dismissed from the room to see to her usual duties around the secret headquarters, Esben and Hunter continued their discussion in private.

"Why didn't you go after her?" Esben demanded. "You of all people have the capacity to track her and you could have found her while her scent was fresh!"

"Because I didn't realize you'd stooped to the level of holding children hostage to make other people do what you want."

Esben scowled. "The… arrangements between Tasha and I are none of your business. It has nothing to do with you."

"No, I suppose it does not, particularly since they are not related to me and I couldn't care less about your precious assistant. But it's the principle of the thing; I cannot work for someone who threatens harm to a young, innocent child."

"Ah, I get it now… you think that because you couldn't save your son from wild wolves, you can save Tasha's." Esben folded his arms. "You should just remember one thing, Hunter. I hold your life in the balance as much as I hold anyone else's." He raised his fingers to hold up an imaginary object. "Do you really want to push me?"

Hunter's face became wooden and he became stone-still. The fact that no-one knew was that Hunter himself was very, very sick in a way.

During one of his hunting trips in Europe, sharpening his skills and testing his limits against larger and more exotic beasts, he had come across a very rare and ancient, feral creature that had possibly lost its mind and been consumed by wild instinct. For all anyone knew, it was quite possibly the last of its kind… a genuine werewolf.

He had managed to kill it after a time, but not before it had sunk its teeth into him. Upon returning to the states, no regular hospital could determine what was wrong with him, though they figured it was some sort of infection.

Miraculously, Esben Hansen had emerged from the woodwork and taken blood samples for a deep analysis and study… and ultimately concocted something that seemed to cure him.

What Hunter had not realized at the time was that Esben had managed to extract something from Hunter's own blood and used it in combination with a variety of research, including that of Banner.

In the end… it would seem that Esben had not cooked up a cure, but merely a serum that could temporarily suppress certain things in his metabolism and block whatever it was that triggered the transformation. It was a remedy that only Esben knew how to make, and it had to be injected a few times a month.

As much as Hunter hated it and wished he could be freed from his shackles, he was resigned to a life of Hell involving keeping Esben's experiments in line or hunting and tracking them if need be, and relying on Esben to keep the demon inside of him suppressed.

After all… the terrible thing was that every single werewolf, with the exception of lucky Subject Seven, had proven to be nothing but feral and mindless animals whenever they transformed. Seven was the only one who proved to have a mindfulness and a firm grip on her own identity, where the wolf was present in her human form as much as her human side was present in her wolf form.

"If you don't like the way I do things, feel free to leave," Esben shrugged nonchalantly. "But you know that you need me to keep giving you injections."

Hunter said nothing.

"Now," Esben said, "I suggest you get back out there and start looking for Seven. Do whatever you need to do to get her back but I want her alive. "

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"How much longer til we get there?"

"Should be another hour or so."

Sarah had contented herself to staring out the window for the most part during what seemed like the longest car ride of her life. They had stopped a couple of times over the course of the last couple of days to give David a chance to rest, but for the most part they had been going non-stop.

"David… there is something I have been meaning to tell you."

"Hm?"

"I'm very sorry I bit you. And I'm sorry I felt like I wanted you to suffer in that way, too."

"I thought we already went over this. You don't need to worry about it."

"Yeah I know, but… my intent was still there."

"Well, just use this incident as an incentive not to do it again to anyone else, hm?"

"I don't know if I even would have done it, if I'd known you change into a creature, too."

David didn't quite suppress a sigh. He spared a glance in her direction before turning his eyes back to the road. "Are you still bothered by the fact that I didn't tell you about my… condition?" His hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel.

"Maybe a little. I can't help the way I feel."

"No, I suppose you can't. But can you at least understand why I would choose to keep it private?"

"I guess. It's not like you really knew me, and it's not like I was very friendly or approachable the first few days we met anyway."

"You had your reasons, like I had my reasons." He cast her a meaningful, sideways glance.

"I'm just trying to make some sense of all this," Sarah finally allowed. "I mean, I've had two days to think about it. I think I can believe that you're not really responsible for anything that happened to me. But I still can't believe you would do something to yourself that would make you change into a big green creature…"

"We all end up doing things we regret later when we're desperate, Sarah. Such as you handing yourself over to Dr. Hansen when he sweetened the deal with promises of food, shelter, clothing and other things you might want or need."

"Yeah but it sounds like you had it made before you did this to yourself."

David grunted. He once again thought momentarily of Tasha's admission that she, by Esben's order, had been responsible for the gamma ray machine being mislabeled when he used it on that fateful night. He was not inclined to bring it up here and now, but on some deep level… he and Sarah had something in common, sort of. Esben had inflicted a "curse" on both of them, even if each of them had also voluntarily brought it upon themselves by subjecting themselves to experimentation.

"Look, I guess I get it," Sarah finally said. "Sounds like everybody's been dumb or had an edge all around. Tasha's only been thinking about her kid, and… you have your own problems, Esben has his goals, and I'm just…" She sort of shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure me out."

David gave a little nod. "Well, I'll try to help you any way I can while I can." He had taken the liberty of putting all of the paperwork and research notes Tasha had in the trunk before they left the house.

"Yeah, well… maybe if it's okay with you, I would like to stick with you for a while. I won't get in your way or anything, I would… just like to tag along, at least until I can get some bearing."

David said nothing. That was… probably something they would need to discuss after the present matters had been attended to, such as finding Tasha's son and perhaps dealing with Esben in some way. His lab needed to be shut down so that the experiments couldn't continue.

But… he wasn't sure about the prospect of having her 'tag along' long-term. He had never permitted anyone to go with him whenever he moved on, and he always had to move on eventually. He couldn't risk anyone else getting caught up in his problems, possibly to the point of getting hurt. Not to mention there was his ongoing search for a cure, the matter of McGee, and the constant fear of getting captured or being hunted himself…

Could he really turn her away, though? Someone who had no one else to turn to, nowhere to go? This was… a unique case. And they did have at least something in common.

When he felt her eyes on him, awaiting some kind of confirmation or rejection, he finally offered, "Well, we'll have to see."

She seemed happy enough with that answer for the moment.

For a while, they rode on in silence.