Part 3
The Captured
Amy awoke in a dark room. Dark by wall color, and dark by absolutely no light. She got up from the cold floor. She had just been put in, or else the spot would've been warm. How long had she been out? She had recovered from the tranquilizer as fast as her talents had let her. They might've done tests on her, or something. The last time they had captured her, every other Amy had been there too, but now it was only her. Probably because the last time she was the only one not to take the test.
Amy began to imagine things. She knew they weren't real, but it was like they were meant to be there and drive her mad. She closed her eyes, tried to blot them out of her vision even though it was just as dark as when her eyes were open. With her eyes closed she felt safe.
They were watching her, she could feel it. Their eyes were piercing through the darkness. Watching her every move. What were they planning to do?! Was it Darien? Was it her talents? Too many questions were left unanswered. It was driving her crazy. Time seemed to pass more quickly every second. Did she have to be alone?
Then came the sound. It started out low, then became louder and louder. It wasn't a screaming sound, it was bees buzzing. She was in a hive. They had used the same noise as the last time she had been captured. One of the Amy's had died because of it. How long could she last like this? It was the kind of sound that was made to drive you mad. She tried to stay calm, but it was so hard....
Claire was pacing around the lab trying to figure out what to do. Darien hadn't gotten the license plate number of the car, it had been so far away. Darien was watching her, but at the same time thinking of something as well to do. Hobbes was sticking to his decision of making them think of the answer and then he would agree.
"Do you think they would expect Fawkes to go and retrieve her?" Hobbes asked. There are many angles to a situation, as everyone knows by now. Did they know anything about him? Claire seemed to take this into consideration.
"They've only seen him with her once. Maybe they think he's a friend of her mom's or something," She said, "Although they will probably expect him to tell somebody."
"Yeah, unless they're really stupid." Hobbes commented.
"Hello!'Him' is here." Darien said. They still failed to notice that he was there when they were talking about him. Claire sighed.
"We have to take action. Darien, I want you to go and ask her mom what she knows about the organization." Darien looked satisfied with the idea. She looked to Hobbes, "I want you to access her messages online. See if you can get anything from them." Hobbes frowned. Then he mumbled something about not being a computer specialist and all that junk.
"I will be analyzing her DNA that brushed off and Darien's jacket when they were walking. Now go." She shooed them away. As soon as they were out of her office Hobbes said,
"The Keep is sending us out to do detective work, what next?" Darien looked down to the smaller man.
"It won't be that bad." He said.
"That's easy for you to say, I'm not the one who wasted a whole day already reading her messages." Darien smirked. Hobbes usually complained about the job he had to do.
Amy was lost in the blackness. The senselessness was making her weak. What did they want to do? How many times had she asked that question? AHHHHHH! Every word echoed in her mind. It was making her crazy. Just when she though things couldn't get any worse, she saw a small beam of light. Someone was opening a door at the front of the room. Very, very slowly.
She crawled to the doorway with all of her strength left in her. She managed to get her self partially out of the door. The light felt warm and good. She smiled the light made her think there was hope. Then she heard people talking.
"When will number seven be interrogated?" a male voice asked. There was a pause. Number seven was her 'Amy' number.
"As soon as she is strong enough to pull herself out of the room. If she gets out, test one will be completed." Amy became panicked and confused. It was a test. She could either give them the results they wanted or shove herself back into the room. If she went back in, that would show how far away she could hear and probably give them more info anyway. Slowly, she pulled herself out.
No sooner than she had, she heard a door close on the other side of the room. Two men walked in and picked her up. She was barely aware of what they were doing. They didn't say anything and she still couldn't see anything from the sudden bright light. They dragged her down a hallway and into another room. Where they plopped her into another chair. She tilted her head back and let the light shine on her face. It was wonderful.
She was beginning to be able to see again and just as someone else walked into the room. She put her face down and looked at the man. It was not someone she had met before. His eyes were a shade of brown which made his whole face look sinister.
"Hello, number seven."
Darien was in Mrs. Candler's living room and was explaining everything he knew so far. Amy's mother was surprised.
"She never even told me about this, I going to talk to her when she gets back." She said. "If she gets back, I know just about as much about the organization as you do Darien. I'm sorry I can't help you." She looked as if she was about to cry.
"It's okay Ms. Candler. I'll find Amy." He said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice.
As he walked out of the house, Amy's mother yelled out:
"You might want to try the Morgans' next door, she might have told Eric and Tasha something." So Darien walked next door. A boy answered the door.
"Are you Eric?" Darien asked. Eric nodded. "Do you know anything about Amy Candler?" The ninth grader narrowed his eyes.
"Who wants to know?"
"Someone who was part of the agency that helped create her."
Tasha and Eric began talking to Darien about what they knew. It was about the same info that her mom had given him, only there was one other interesting piece.
"...and this guy called Mr. Devon is always following her around and giving her hints. He is always around when something weird is happening." Tasha finished. It had been 6 hours already and it was nighttime. Would Mr. Devon know about Amy's disappearance already? It was doubtful, but who knew?
Hobbes had gathered no other information, he had barely managed to get the computer on. On the other hand, Darien had a lead...
"So, where will he probably be looking for Amy?" Claire asked rhetorically.
"Her school." Hobbes and Darien chorused.
Amy watched the guy who was keeping her where she was. For some reason, the darkness had made her weak, and she didn't know why. The feeling was coming back to the rest of her body and her fingers were beginning to shake in anticipation. Every so often his eyes drifted up to her from the file he was reading.
"You were not compliant the last time we had you. For some reason you have a change in personality than all the others. We want to know why." Amy remained silent. He came to one sheet and began writing on it.
"Subject does not wish to speak." This, of course, made Amy even more angry.
"We will begin tests now." The men came back from the hallway and helped her to her feet, where she was taken to the testing room.
"Hello Dr. Evire." A woman said as they entered. She smiled, "Thank you!" she took the file from his hand. He left the room
"I am Dr. Samms. I will be the one recording your test results. I hope we can make this pleasant, so we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Amy narrowed her eyes and still said nothing. Dr. Samms sighed.
"Yes, we will get the results we want. But unfortunately for you, it will be against your will." Then she motioned for someone to come in and everything went black.
"Don't forget about the A.R."
Darien was searching around the school grounds for Mr. Devon. Sure enough, by the school entrance was Mr. Devon. He was looking at the passing kids to find Amy. He must know Amy so well that he knew she always came out this entrance. Kid after kid his frown grew more noticeable, for Amy wasn't coming out. Darien walked right up to him and pulled him roughly around the side of the building.
"Hello there, I heard you have information I need." He said. Devon straitened himself out.
"Who says?"
"A lot of people." Darien sighed, "I know what happened to Amy, but I don't know where she is now. Can you tell me where she might be?" Darien asked.
"Why should I tell you?"
"Just give me the damn answer." Devon looked at him suspiciously but complied.
"They use the entrance to an underground lab in a warehouse a few blocks from here, you'll probably find her there. I was just going there myself." He explained. Darien took out a walkie-talkie.
"Hobbes, bring the van around, we're going to the nearest warehouse." Hobbes came around. As Darien was going to tell Devon to go with them, he noticed that he had already gone.
"Figures." Darien muttered and walked to the van. Once he was in he told Hobbes what had been explained to him from both the Morgans' and Devon.
"First, we go to the Keeper." Hobbes said. Since they were going on a mission they would probably need the keeper. They drove back to F&G. Before they went to the Keeper's lab Darien knocked on the Official's door and yelled in before he opened it,
"It all came back to Devon." Of course now the Official had known about their unplanned mission and wasn't surprised by what Darien said. He sighed
"I shoulda known." They walked into the lab in which Claire was writing something at the far desk.
"Hey, Keep." He said and sat in 'his' chair. She got the Hypodermic needle ready.
"So you found where she might be?" Claire asked as she gave Darien his counteragent. Hobbes answered first.
"Yeah, Darien found out that they have her in an underground lab below a warehouse." Claire looked at him.
"Be serious. Bobby." She said.
"No, he's telling the truth." Darien said. Claire couldn't help to give a little laugh while she gave Darien his counteragent.
"It's smart, no one would believe someone who said people kept them underground." Hobbes shot a told-you-so look sarcastically at Claire.
"Then you better get going." She told them, "Go easy on the Quicksilver Darien."
The first test Amy was put through was one of questions. The ones that they really wanted to know about mixed in the ones used to disguise the true meaning of the test. When she found out A.R. stood for Artificial Reality, she was worried. It didn't make it any better when she finally experienced it either. They had found her weakness, being trapped...and alone. Trapping her in her own mind, making her beg for mercy. Then, they'd bring her back into reality and do it all over again.
It was pure torture.
"Do you believe the story of how you were created?" they asked first.
"Yeah, but that's not something you need to know about me, is it?" she replied. They didn't answer. They never did. Only went on to the next question.
"Why don't you want to go along with our plan? All of the rest of the Amys agreed. And you know what happened to the Amy that didn't. We only kept you alive because we wanted to observe you."
"Blah, blah, blah, I'll do what I want." She said making her restraints go taut in anticipation of the darkness that always followed an answer like this. Only it didn't come. It seemed that was the answer they wanted. She was trapped again, in the middle of it all. Many more questions came at her in which she answered absent-mindedly. While she still kept her personality up, she began thinking of a plan to escape.
"When is Darien going to get here?" she thought, "If he doesn't get here soon I'm going to go crazy!" but then she began to wonder if he never came. What if he was part of this agency after all?
"Who was the man that was walking with you before we captured you?" the one question penetrated her deep thought. At least this answered one question. Knowing she couldn't reveal who he was, she tried to lie.
"My...my uncle." She said and she wished she could lie convincingly. The horrible darkness crashed down and stayed there for the longest time that she could remember. Her mind tore back to before. When she had first read Darien's e-mail. Didn't he say he was an experiment too. After her memory confirmed this, she relaxed. With the great feeling of hope she passed out.
The Captured
Amy awoke in a dark room. Dark by wall color, and dark by absolutely no light. She got up from the cold floor. She had just been put in, or else the spot would've been warm. How long had she been out? She had recovered from the tranquilizer as fast as her talents had let her. They might've done tests on her, or something. The last time they had captured her, every other Amy had been there too, but now it was only her. Probably because the last time she was the only one not to take the test.
Amy began to imagine things. She knew they weren't real, but it was like they were meant to be there and drive her mad. She closed her eyes, tried to blot them out of her vision even though it was just as dark as when her eyes were open. With her eyes closed she felt safe.
They were watching her, she could feel it. Their eyes were piercing through the darkness. Watching her every move. What were they planning to do?! Was it Darien? Was it her talents? Too many questions were left unanswered. It was driving her crazy. Time seemed to pass more quickly every second. Did she have to be alone?
Then came the sound. It started out low, then became louder and louder. It wasn't a screaming sound, it was bees buzzing. She was in a hive. They had used the same noise as the last time she had been captured. One of the Amy's had died because of it. How long could she last like this? It was the kind of sound that was made to drive you mad. She tried to stay calm, but it was so hard....
Claire was pacing around the lab trying to figure out what to do. Darien hadn't gotten the license plate number of the car, it had been so far away. Darien was watching her, but at the same time thinking of something as well to do. Hobbes was sticking to his decision of making them think of the answer and then he would agree.
"Do you think they would expect Fawkes to go and retrieve her?" Hobbes asked. There are many angles to a situation, as everyone knows by now. Did they know anything about him? Claire seemed to take this into consideration.
"They've only seen him with her once. Maybe they think he's a friend of her mom's or something," She said, "Although they will probably expect him to tell somebody."
"Yeah, unless they're really stupid." Hobbes commented.
"Hello!'Him' is here." Darien said. They still failed to notice that he was there when they were talking about him. Claire sighed.
"We have to take action. Darien, I want you to go and ask her mom what she knows about the organization." Darien looked satisfied with the idea. She looked to Hobbes, "I want you to access her messages online. See if you can get anything from them." Hobbes frowned. Then he mumbled something about not being a computer specialist and all that junk.
"I will be analyzing her DNA that brushed off and Darien's jacket when they were walking. Now go." She shooed them away. As soon as they were out of her office Hobbes said,
"The Keep is sending us out to do detective work, what next?" Darien looked down to the smaller man.
"It won't be that bad." He said.
"That's easy for you to say, I'm not the one who wasted a whole day already reading her messages." Darien smirked. Hobbes usually complained about the job he had to do.
Amy was lost in the blackness. The senselessness was making her weak. What did they want to do? How many times had she asked that question? AHHHHHH! Every word echoed in her mind. It was making her crazy. Just when she though things couldn't get any worse, she saw a small beam of light. Someone was opening a door at the front of the room. Very, very slowly.
She crawled to the doorway with all of her strength left in her. She managed to get her self partially out of the door. The light felt warm and good. She smiled the light made her think there was hope. Then she heard people talking.
"When will number seven be interrogated?" a male voice asked. There was a pause. Number seven was her 'Amy' number.
"As soon as she is strong enough to pull herself out of the room. If she gets out, test one will be completed." Amy became panicked and confused. It was a test. She could either give them the results they wanted or shove herself back into the room. If she went back in, that would show how far away she could hear and probably give them more info anyway. Slowly, she pulled herself out.
No sooner than she had, she heard a door close on the other side of the room. Two men walked in and picked her up. She was barely aware of what they were doing. They didn't say anything and she still couldn't see anything from the sudden bright light. They dragged her down a hallway and into another room. Where they plopped her into another chair. She tilted her head back and let the light shine on her face. It was wonderful.
She was beginning to be able to see again and just as someone else walked into the room. She put her face down and looked at the man. It was not someone she had met before. His eyes were a shade of brown which made his whole face look sinister.
"Hello, number seven."
Darien was in Mrs. Candler's living room and was explaining everything he knew so far. Amy's mother was surprised.
"She never even told me about this, I going to talk to her when she gets back." She said. "If she gets back, I know just about as much about the organization as you do Darien. I'm sorry I can't help you." She looked as if she was about to cry.
"It's okay Ms. Candler. I'll find Amy." He said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice.
As he walked out of the house, Amy's mother yelled out:
"You might want to try the Morgans' next door, she might have told Eric and Tasha something." So Darien walked next door. A boy answered the door.
"Are you Eric?" Darien asked. Eric nodded. "Do you know anything about Amy Candler?" The ninth grader narrowed his eyes.
"Who wants to know?"
"Someone who was part of the agency that helped create her."
Tasha and Eric began talking to Darien about what they knew. It was about the same info that her mom had given him, only there was one other interesting piece.
"...and this guy called Mr. Devon is always following her around and giving her hints. He is always around when something weird is happening." Tasha finished. It had been 6 hours already and it was nighttime. Would Mr. Devon know about Amy's disappearance already? It was doubtful, but who knew?
Hobbes had gathered no other information, he had barely managed to get the computer on. On the other hand, Darien had a lead...
"So, where will he probably be looking for Amy?" Claire asked rhetorically.
"Her school." Hobbes and Darien chorused.
Amy watched the guy who was keeping her where she was. For some reason, the darkness had made her weak, and she didn't know why. The feeling was coming back to the rest of her body and her fingers were beginning to shake in anticipation. Every so often his eyes drifted up to her from the file he was reading.
"You were not compliant the last time we had you. For some reason you have a change in personality than all the others. We want to know why." Amy remained silent. He came to one sheet and began writing on it.
"Subject does not wish to speak." This, of course, made Amy even more angry.
"We will begin tests now." The men came back from the hallway and helped her to her feet, where she was taken to the testing room.
"Hello Dr. Evire." A woman said as they entered. She smiled, "Thank you!" she took the file from his hand. He left the room
"I am Dr. Samms. I will be the one recording your test results. I hope we can make this pleasant, so we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Amy narrowed her eyes and still said nothing. Dr. Samms sighed.
"Yes, we will get the results we want. But unfortunately for you, it will be against your will." Then she motioned for someone to come in and everything went black.
"Don't forget about the A.R."
Darien was searching around the school grounds for Mr. Devon. Sure enough, by the school entrance was Mr. Devon. He was looking at the passing kids to find Amy. He must know Amy so well that he knew she always came out this entrance. Kid after kid his frown grew more noticeable, for Amy wasn't coming out. Darien walked right up to him and pulled him roughly around the side of the building.
"Hello there, I heard you have information I need." He said. Devon straitened himself out.
"Who says?"
"A lot of people." Darien sighed, "I know what happened to Amy, but I don't know where she is now. Can you tell me where she might be?" Darien asked.
"Why should I tell you?"
"Just give me the damn answer." Devon looked at him suspiciously but complied.
"They use the entrance to an underground lab in a warehouse a few blocks from here, you'll probably find her there. I was just going there myself." He explained. Darien took out a walkie-talkie.
"Hobbes, bring the van around, we're going to the nearest warehouse." Hobbes came around. As Darien was going to tell Devon to go with them, he noticed that he had already gone.
"Figures." Darien muttered and walked to the van. Once he was in he told Hobbes what had been explained to him from both the Morgans' and Devon.
"First, we go to the Keeper." Hobbes said. Since they were going on a mission they would probably need the keeper. They drove back to F&G. Before they went to the Keeper's lab Darien knocked on the Official's door and yelled in before he opened it,
"It all came back to Devon." Of course now the Official had known about their unplanned mission and wasn't surprised by what Darien said. He sighed
"I shoulda known." They walked into the lab in which Claire was writing something at the far desk.
"Hey, Keep." He said and sat in 'his' chair. She got the Hypodermic needle ready.
"So you found where she might be?" Claire asked as she gave Darien his counteragent. Hobbes answered first.
"Yeah, Darien found out that they have her in an underground lab below a warehouse." Claire looked at him.
"Be serious. Bobby." She said.
"No, he's telling the truth." Darien said. Claire couldn't help to give a little laugh while she gave Darien his counteragent.
"It's smart, no one would believe someone who said people kept them underground." Hobbes shot a told-you-so look sarcastically at Claire.
"Then you better get going." She told them, "Go easy on the Quicksilver Darien."
The first test Amy was put through was one of questions. The ones that they really wanted to know about mixed in the ones used to disguise the true meaning of the test. When she found out A.R. stood for Artificial Reality, she was worried. It didn't make it any better when she finally experienced it either. They had found her weakness, being trapped...and alone. Trapping her in her own mind, making her beg for mercy. Then, they'd bring her back into reality and do it all over again.
It was pure torture.
"Do you believe the story of how you were created?" they asked first.
"Yeah, but that's not something you need to know about me, is it?" she replied. They didn't answer. They never did. Only went on to the next question.
"Why don't you want to go along with our plan? All of the rest of the Amys agreed. And you know what happened to the Amy that didn't. We only kept you alive because we wanted to observe you."
"Blah, blah, blah, I'll do what I want." She said making her restraints go taut in anticipation of the darkness that always followed an answer like this. Only it didn't come. It seemed that was the answer they wanted. She was trapped again, in the middle of it all. Many more questions came at her in which she answered absent-mindedly. While she still kept her personality up, she began thinking of a plan to escape.
"When is Darien going to get here?" she thought, "If he doesn't get here soon I'm going to go crazy!" but then she began to wonder if he never came. What if he was part of this agency after all?
"Who was the man that was walking with you before we captured you?" the one question penetrated her deep thought. At least this answered one question. Knowing she couldn't reveal who he was, she tried to lie.
"My...my uncle." She said and she wished she could lie convincingly. The horrible darkness crashed down and stayed there for the longest time that she could remember. Her mind tore back to before. When she had first read Darien's e-mail. Didn't he say he was an experiment too. After her memory confirmed this, she relaxed. With the great feeling of hope she passed out.