Downtown…………
Brennan and Shalimar sat in the GV looking up at a tall apartment building. It was about midday and the sun was shining down on the newly painted grounds of the building. From the information that Adam had given them they knew that the building had five levels each of which was a separate apartment.
Inside the car Brennan looked at his watch.
'It's just gone one o'clock, we'd better move in and see if anyone is in.' Brennan said as he opened the car door and stepped out, Shalimar followed suit.
They made their way across the courtyard of the building and towards the door, entering to find themselves in a small lobby.
'According to Adam's data the kid lives on the top level.' Brennan said looking at the name plates on the mail boxes. 'And what do you know. He was right. Steven Duffel, apartment 5.'
Shalimar and Brennan walked towards the lift that was situated to the left of them and entered. Brennan pressed the button for the top floor and they felt a slight jolt as the elevator slid into motion. The numbers on the control panel lit up as they passed the floors, until they reached the top floor. They exited the lift and found them selves standing in a small room where a door lay in front of them. They approached it and after looking at Brennan, Shalimar knocked on the door.
They waited a few more minutes and knocked again.
'Maybe the guy isn't in.' Brennan said finally, when there was no answer.
'Or maybe the GSA got here before we did.' Shalimar replied sighing. 'You know,' Shalimar continued thoughtfully, 'I could probably take down the door…….. What do you think?' She asked finally looking at Brennan, smiling.
'Although I have complete faith in your abilities Shalimar I think it's probably better if we do this the silent way, in case somebody's in. We don't want to scare this guy away by bursting in there.' Brennan said, smiling when Shalimar started to pout.
'Fine. We'll do it your way' Shalimar said even as Brennan crouched down to examine the lock, taking from his pocket two thin pieces of metal, and began fiddling with the lock. 'Although my way would have been quicker.'
Brennan stood up a look of triumph on his face. 'After you.' He said bowing slightly as he opened the door open for Shalimar to enter. Shalimar rolled her eyes. 'Oh brother' she muttered to herself as she entered the apartment closely followed by Brennan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sanctuary, Same Time…………
Jesse sat at the computer screen quickly scanning the files to see if there was any mention by the GSA of why they were so interested in Sage. He had easily hacked into the Genomex computer system over an hour ago and he'd been unable to find any information that was of use to them. Jesse sighed and leaned his head back so he was looking at the ceiling.
'No luck, huh.' Emma said from the computer behind him where she was keeping an eye on the GSA phone and car activity.
'This is a waste of time. I've tried dozens of different searches in the Genomex computer network and I've got nothing.' Jesse complained, turning in his chair to face Emma who took her eyes of her computer screen long enough too give Jesse a small knowing smile.
'Well at least you have the handle of the computer. I'm afraid too touch it in case I accidentally destroy the work' Emma said as she turned and faced Jesse the smile still on her face. She looked behind him at his computer screen. 'What are you searching now?' she asked.
'Well after I could find nothing on any of this kids aliases I did a routine search to give me information on any recent mutant activity. As you can see it's a long list.' He was about to go on when Emma stood up and walked over to him staring at the computer screen behind him.
'Jesse I thought you said that you did a search for the kid and you came up with nothing?' She asked not taking her eyes of the computer screen.
'Yeah I did' Jesse replied as he swirled in the chair scanning the screen to see if he could locate what had interested Emma.
'Then why is the name Cappern listed under something called the G.D Project.' Emma asked, pointing to the place near the bottom of the computer screen where the words were located.
'Well I didn't check his real name. There wasn't much point after Adam said that the GSA only knew his alias' Jesse said as he clicked at the words on the screen and waited impatiently for the new page to appear.
When the information appeared on the screen both Jesse and Emma read it in silence.
'G.D Project: Established 1960. Present condition: dormant. Led by Doctor Benor the G.D Project was created to test the effects of a drug called D.T.31 which had been discovered some years ago in the Amazon. Original tests showed an increase in the subject's brain activity and the materialization of Psionic abilities in some of the subjects. Many of the original subjects died from exposure to the drug while others went crazy due to their new found uncontrollable abilities. A small group of them survived unharmed some retaining their abilities while others lost them. The survivors were let go but kept under close watch for the next ten years. During this time when the subjects were under surveillance the Project had started to research with Genetics in the hope of being able to create a super human. After seeing the mutations that they caused it was decided to bring the D.T.31 survivors in to see what effect their genetic manipulation would have on them. Although their original experiments gave them some success, it was not until one of the subjects became pregnant that they really began to get results. Early scans of the fetus indicated that the child had inherited the subjects powers. Although the child did not survive to full term enough information was gathered by Doctor Benor to continue the research. However due to the accidental death of a few of the staff the Project was shut down and the subjects let go. All files on the experiment results and the subjects, including the D.T.31 drug, were destroyed so no record of them exists today. At this time all subjects remain at large and are high priority for capture. They are too be considered extremely dangerous as in some cases they have retained more than one mutant ability and have shown the ability to pass their powers on when they reproduce.'
Underneath the file description another paragraph had been added.
'One of the subjects, Dana Cappern, was later recovered when her powers mutated causing her to loose control of her new found Feral ability in a crowded night club. She was taken in for examinations but died due to the break down of her DNA, cause remains unknown. An attempt was made to capture her offspring who were thought to have inherited their mother's mutant ability but they escaped. It is still not known whether they retained any mutant ability and there have been no known sittings. They are a high priority for examination.'
Emma looked at Jesse, her eyes wide in shock at what they had just read.
'Wow.' Jesse said, glancing back at the screen. 'We'd better tell Adam about this.' He got up to leave, but Emma stopped him by grabbing on to his arm, her eyes wide in fright.
'Jesse. When Adam examined the kids blood sample he said it was corrupted in some way which was why he couldn't determine the kids mutant powers.' She said the fear etched into her voice. 'What if the kids powers are mutating, he won't be able to control his powers. He could hurt someone. He could hurt Brennan or Shalimar. We've got to warn them. They aren't expecting any kind of fight.'
Jesse tried to calm her down although he had already caught her fear for their friends. 'Emma calm down. Brennan and Shalimar can more than handle themselves against one mutating mutant they'll be fine. Look we'll go tell Adam, he'll know what to do. But first we'd better..' Jesse was interrupted by a beeping sound and the flashing red screen of Emma recently vacated computer.
'On, no. they've found out where the kid is.' Emma said staring at the screen. 'They've sent a GSA van. It'll be there in about five minutes. We'd better go tell Adam and warn Shalimar and Brennan about the unwelcome company.'
At that Emma ran across the floor and down the stairs towards the lab where Adam was working, closely followed by Jesse.
