A New Breed Chapter

Authors: I_Woman (Da PeanutButter), M&Ms (Miami_Momma -
LithiumBorg), and Allianora2 (Da Chocolate - InvisoBorg)

Disclaimers on part one.

As always….thanks for the feedback!! :) I don't think ropes are needed for this
part....ah..I don't think...

Chapter 10


Hobbes didn't even bother to park within the lines. He just slammed
on His brakes and came to a complete stop. Hobbes jumped out and met
Claire, "He's in the back with Agent Daniels."

The back door flew open. Claire saw Darien curled up in a ball and
shaking, "Bloody hell! Let's get him inside now!"

Two nurses brought the gurney down and Tom lifted up Darien to put
him on it. Darien groaned and winced at being moved. Claire tried to
stretch out his legs, but Darien whimpered and pulled his legs back
up to the fetal position.

"What happened to him?" Claire asked.

"Don't know, Claire. We found him like this. All we know is that he
was shot in the shoulder, but he wouldn't have this kind of pain."

Hobbes watched Darien with concern and with grief. If he could
switch places with Darien he would. He hated this gland and what the
poor kid has gone through. Hobbes was sure that by now, Darien paid
his debt to society with all the suffering he's gone though.

They brought Darien into the Keep, where Sloan and Ed where waiting.
Sloan rushed over to offer her assistance to the wounded agent. Tom
went over to Ed, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll live. How about him, what happened?" Ed tried to sit up
and Tom helped him.

"I'm not sure, but I think you may want to do a blood sample and see
what his differential is." Tom shot Ed a look that said he suspected
something had happened to the young agent.

Ed wasn't really sure what agenda Tom had, but he knew that when Tom
suspected something, it usually was true. Dominants could feel
things, sense things that humans couldn't. If Tom suspected something
was wrong with the agent and it had to do with Dominants, Ed couldn't
risk not listening to Tom. He also couldn't risk the life of the
young agent just because he still hasn't completely come to terms
with trusting Tom like Sloan has.

Ed got up from the counteragent chair and looked at the man writhing
in pain. He walked over slowly watching Sloan and Claire work on the
hapless agent. Ed's eyes went wide went he caught sight of the
agent's face. Even though the face was full of pain and agony, Ed
saw his twin, "Oh my God, I can't believe it."

Hobbes kept staring at Ed along with Walter Attwood, the Official and
Eberts. The resemblance was remarkable, apart from Ed being slightly
thinner and his hair not in state of permanent attention; he could be
Darien's twin brother.

"This is too freaky if you ask me. Bad enough I have to deal with
one, now there's two of them." Hobbes shoulders shuddered as he spoke.

"Ed, we could use your help...Ed...Ed!" Sloan grabbed him and shook
him out of his catatonic state.

"Huh...what?" Ed blinked at Sloan.

"Your help, you are a doctor too, remember?"

"Yeah...what are his symptoms and vitals?" Ed reached down and tried
to take Darien's wrist to check his pulse, but he paused looking at
the tattoo. He thought back to Arnaud asking about the tattoo, "this
must be it...an orobros...a snake eating itself, odd tattoo for a
Fed."

"What Ed, what did you say?" Sloan asked while checking Darien's
pupils, "His pupils are dilating and then they get smaller," Sloan
shouted out to Claire.

"Pulse is 115! D*mn!" Ed yelled out.

Claire checked his blood pressure and shook her head, "175/120."

Ed shook his head, "Too high, we need to bring him down! What's his
temp?"

Claire used the ear thermometer to get Darien's temp, "105.6!" Claire
turned to Hobbes, "Get me some cold wet towels; we need to get his
temp down!"

Alex and Ray came running into the Keep; saw all the commotion, people
shouting out numbers and commands. Alex went over to Claire, "What
can I do?"

"I'm glad you're here, help Bobby with the cold towels and keep
switching them. We have to break his fever." Claire injected a Beta
blocker into Darien to help bring down his blood pressure.

Darien convulsed violently on the gurney and nearly fell off. The
wound in his shoulder opened up again and started bleeding. Claire
grabbed Hobbes and told him to put some gloves on so he could apply
pressure to the wounds. She hadn't been able to do anything about the
gun shot wound to his left shoulder. She was more concerned at the
moment about the blood pressure, high temperature and the convulsions.

Ed observed Darien grabbing for his stomach and the thought of Kelly
crossed his mind. He tapped Claire on the shoulder, "I need to take a
blood sample, where is your kit?"

Claire looked at him oddly, "Dr. Tate, can it wait?"

"No, trust me, I need to do this."

"Okay, its right over there," Claire pointed to the other side of the
lab to a mayo table. She watched intently as Ed walked painfully to
the table.

He got the necessary supplies and he motioned for Tom to help him,
"Hold his arm so I can draw some blood."

Tom nodded and held Darien's arm for Ed and he knew what the tests
Would reveal, Darien's DNA was mutating. Darien's body broke out in a
cold sweat and the shaking hadn't stopped, in fact it seemed to be
getting worse.

Ed filled two vials, "Where is my van, it had all my equipment in it?"

The Official's expression hadn't change while three doctors and two
agents tried to help Darien, "Eberts!!!"

Eberts quickly walked up to the Official side, "Yes, sir."

"Get Dr. Tate his equipment."

Eberts left the keep hurriedly and he was glad. Seeing Darien
suffering some unknown was not what he wanted to watch, he felt so
helpless in there. He asked one of the other agents to help to him
bring in Dr. Tate's equipment.

"Claire, do you have a centrifuge?" Ed asked holding the blood
filled vials.

"Yes, on top of the table, behind you."

Ed turned around and prepared the centrifuge and the blood for the
proper genetic testing. When he was done with that, he turned it on
and waited.

Claire looked at Sloan, "What does he think is wrong with Darien?"

Sloan didn't answer right away, she glanced over at Tom and she shook
his head in compliance. "Ed thinks that Agent Fawkes was given a
serum to change him into a Dominant."

"A what?" Hobbes blurted out, "You mean one of those evolved
whatevers?"

"How can that happen?" Claire asked.

"Wha...happen...ing...to me?" Darien said. His voice sounded raspy and
scared.

"Darien, that's what we're trying to figure out. Can you tell me how
you feel?" Claire said in her most reassuring tone.

Darien licked his dry lips, he tried to stop shaking but he couldn't.
His mouth started to move, trying to form words when pain shot
through every nerve. The veins and muscles bulged out on his arms and
head. Claire could tell that his heart rate increased by the way the
veins were pulsatng. Sloan looked in horror as it appeared that
Darien would just simply explode right in front of her.

Darien had felt pain before but not like this. It felt like someone
was doing reconstruction on his insides. It was a white searing pain
that radiated through his body; his vision went white and then
silver. He had quicksilvered right in front of everyone in the room.

The Official ran a hand over his mouth, turned away and then faced
Ed, who had a quizzical look on his face. He watched as Darien came
back and then quicksilvered again.

"Doctor! What is going on?" He barked out.

"Not now!" That was the reply Claire gave him. She didn't understand
why the gland was responding in this way. Darien was phasing in and
out of invisibility, "Darien!...Darien!" She tried to get his
attention, but every muscle was hard as a rock and burning. His fever
had gone up or rather it spiked.

On the inside, Darien felt like his head was going to explode. The
headaches he got from quicksilver madness didn't compare to what he
was feeling now.

"What is happening here, how is he doing that?" Sloan asked.

Tom just stood there, watching the whole show. He thought to himself,
"so, that's why he's different, he can turn invisible."

"The gland...is that it? I mean that's why Arnaud took me, because he
wanted the gland that turns Agent Fawkes invisible?" Ed gazed at the
Official, "If I'm going to help, I need to know everything."

Walter turned to the Official, "So, looks like the QS9300 Project is a
success after all, my congratulations, Mr. Borden."

Ed gave Walter a surprised look, "QS...you knew about this?" Ed threw
his arms up in the air, "Of course you did..."

The conversation between the three men was interrupted by Darien's
loud moans. Ed turned to look at Darien who was convulsing on the
gurney again. Claire grabbed for a sedative and injected it into
his arm. Darien relaxed, but his body still trembled.

Claire turned and looked at Ed, "What do you need?"

*************************

Ed checked the EEG imaging scan that was done on Darien. He compared
it to the one that Claire had done just days ago for an exam. Claire
walked up behind him, "Is that Darien's scan?"

"Yes, it is. See Dominants have a higher brain function than even the
smartest human. The parts of the brain that humans don't normally
use, as you can see, he's using them now. His mind will work like the
fastest computer." Ed's computer signaled that the genetic test was
done. He walked over to the computer and saw the differential flash
on the screen.

"This can't be right?" Claire checked the results.

"I'm afraid they are. The Dominants have a differential of 1.6%. Agent
Fawkes is at 1.2% and I suspect that this will change, if it hasn't
already." Ed turned and looked at the restless sleeping form on the
gurney.

"But, why Darien?" Claire asked.

"Okay, I don't think it was meant for Agent Fawkes, it may have been
meant for me."

"For you? " Claire looked puzzled.

"Lewis knew we were exposing the existence of Dominants to the world,
were responsible preventing many of his plans...."

Tom chimed in, "…and that Ed is a threat to their existence."

Ed continued, "I developed a serum, more of a counteragent if you
will, that would change Dominants into humans. It's still in the
experimental stage, but it's the best chance we have at survival.
They would have to test it, and ironically enough, I would be the
perfect lab rat."

Hobbes sighs, "Not you too."

Ed looked puzzeled, "Excuse me?"

"Nevermind. So what you're saying here is that these guys saw Fawkes
who in their mind thought was you, and injected him with this stuff
that would make him one of them for revenge and to prolong their
miserable existence."

"Yes." Ed nodded.

"And Stark was also a threat to these dominions..."

Ed corrected him, "Dominants…"

"….whatever… because Chrysalis also posed a threat with their new
breed of genetically altered agents. " Hobbes looked at Darien
trying to control his anger, "Okay, so why not just kill you or
Fawkes that is and inject Stark with this crap."

Ed turned to Claire, "According to your reports, Chrysalis has
genetically altered humans so they don't age. If Lewis ran a test on
Stark and found out that he had been genetically altered, his test
with the serum would not have worked efficiently." Ed paused.

"Would you mind explaining all that?" Hobbes continued his bedside
vigil next to Darien.

"Well, okay...uhmmm...Chrysalis had to have removed the gene that
causes aging. They genetically altered the DNA. There are 10
nucleotide pairs for each helical turn, I'm thinking that Chrysalis
was able to find a way to alter or remove one of the base pairs. Now,
if Lewis wanted to use Stark as a test subject, it wouldn't work,
plus he would need Stark alert to extract information about their
genetic tests. The serum was first used some time ago and it had
deadly results. Lewis may have perfected it." Ed continued to walk
around the room.

Hobbes was lost as was the Official and Eberts. Hobbes turned to the
Official, "The weird part about all this is he looks so much like
Fawkes. If I didn't know that this guy is a scientist, I would've
thought that Fawkes had been injected with the smart gene."

Ed continued his train of thought, "After Lewis pulled out the
details on Chrysalis' genetic altering knowledge, he wanted to test
it on Stark, bring him into his group maybe not knowing that Stark
was one of the original test subjects...but, the pre-testing would
have shown that he was not a normal human." Ed stopped and looked at
Darien, "So he tested the new serum on Agent Fawkes thinking that he
was me."

Darien lay on the gurney curled up in a ball in a state of semi-
consciousness. His body wracked in pain as he felt himself being torn
apart somehow and then put back together. 'This is how a caterpillar
must feel,' the odd thought going through his mind. His was vision
partly blurry, but he was aware as to who was in the keep. He felt
his muscles tighten up again and a low groan escaped his mouth.
Darien barely heard Claire's voice cry out, "Here comes another one!"

Claire, Ed and Hobbes held on to Darien as best they could as his body
jerked in violent convulsions. They were trying to keep Darien from
either hurting himself or convulsing right off the gurney like it was
a trampoline. Hobbes bent down to Darien's ear, "It's okay, partner,
you got a lot of people here who are going to help you."

Tom watched them with fascination at the emotional exchange between
the humans. Instinctively he bent down and kissed the top of Sloan's
head. He didn't know why he did that, maybe left over from when he
was a human For that brief time.

Darien's legs kicked out and sent Ed flying across the room. Ed
landed hard on the floor and slid a few more feet before coming to a
stop. Eberts was there to help him up, "You okay, Dr. Tate?"

Ed shook the cobwebs from his head and with Eberts help, got back on
his feet, "Yeah, I didn't expect that to happen." Ed caught a glance
from Tom and he knew what Tom was thinking. Agent Fawkes is already
gaining strength. He checked his side and the stitches were still
intact.

Darien curled back up into the ball and panted heavily when the
latest round of convulsions ended. Claire and Hobbes looked at each
other, Claire had a hopeless look on her face and the last time she
had that was when Darien started to build up immunity to the
counteragent.

Something caught Ed's eye on the scan; he walked over to it and
pointed, "So that's what the quicksilver gland looks like when it's
implanted, ingenious."

"Yes, that's right...it was grafted into his cerebral cortex." Claire
answered.

"I see. Do you know if Agent Fawkes was genetically altered?" Ed
turned to look at Claire.

"I don't know really...oh..." Claire stood up and walked over towards
Ed.

The Official looked like he was being left out of a very important
conversation, "If this has anything to do with my agent, I want to
know."

"From what I know, the gland is bio-synthetic right? Well, people have
implants all the time...like, hip and joint replacements and those are
usually synthetic, but what about the bio part? You can't just stick a
genetically encoded bio gland in someone without making sure the host
won't reject it. Someone just doesn't receive a bone marrow
transplant or
kidney or heart without making sure it matches first." Ed looked at
all the
blank faces except for Sloan and Claire.


"He's right, human organs are not transplanted with out making sure
if the recipient's body is a match. Now in the case with gland, no
one was going to be a match because the bio part of the gland is not
human. Darien's DNA had to have been altered in some way so his body
would not reject the gland." Claire said. "The rats in the original
testing were altered and their spines were reinforced to protect the
central nervous system. Kevin must have done something to Darien. I
never thought of it before."

"Ed, should we check for a tick?" Walter asked. Hobbes and the others
stared at Ed and Walter.

"No, I don't think it was a tick. Remember it took weeks for Kelly's
symptoms to show up. You injected the synthesized tick's secretions
into James and he turned in hours. Lewis may have done the same thing
because he didn't want to wait weeks." Ed said casually.

Hobbes burst out in anger, "Ticks, Kelly, James, Jerry Lewis, Richard
Lewis, whatever! What is going on here with my partner!?!"

"Okay, look, Lewis didn't give Stark the serum because he's not a
human per say, but he thought he had me. He knows I'm human and would
not have run the tests. He injected the serum into Agent Fawkes
thinking it was me. Here's where the gland comes in, if Agent Fawkes'
DNA had been altered than the serum might have a different effect on
him than on a regular human. It may even have an effect on the gland,
but I'm not sure without running more tests." Ed paused, "In other
words, Agent Fawkes is evolving and it's a good bet that the gland is
too.

Hobbes stared at Ed, "You had to say all of that other mumbo jumbo
just to tell us that my partner is evolving...why didn't you just
come out and say that? You're making my head hurt with all these
words that mean absolutely nothing to me."

Walter turned to the Official, "If what Ed is saying is true and your
agent is evolving into a Dominant, he will need to be contained."
Walter looked around, "And according to what I see here, you don't
have any where to put him that will hold him."

"We have a padded cell and another cell down in the lower level. I
think that would be adequate enough." The Official didn't like people
coming in and telling what to do, especially in his own house.

"You don't understand. Agent Fawkes' strength would nearly match that
of a young gorilla. He would be able to lift you up with one hand and
crush your neck like it was chicken bones. There is one person here
who would be able to stop him and even Agent Daniels would have a
hard time at that. Take my advice, Mr. Borden, move Agent Fawkes out
of here and take him to a military instillation." Walter said.

Hobbes studied Agent Daniels and thought to himself, 'He's about
two-three inches taller than me and he certainly doesn't look like
he's as strong as a gorilla. How can he take Fawkes down?'

Tom without looking at Hobbes said to him, "I'm stronger than you
think."

Hobbes watched as Tom walked away. Claire came up to him, "What was
all that about?"

"He knew what I was thinking. There's something strange about that
agent. He knew exactly where Fawkes was and now he knows what I'm
thinking. Mark my words, Claire, this is going to get worse before
it gets better."

Lewis and Lynch masked themselves from Tom and waited in the car
across the street from the agency building. Lewis sat there his eyes
transfixed on the people walking by. He wondered how they would react
if they knew what was going on, not only in the Harding Building, but
in general. Chaos, complete chaos, that's how they would react and
Lewis was hungry for it.

"There still inside, but they'll be moving him soon. The serum is
working the way I had hoped it would, but...there's still something
about this Darien Fawkes that makes him different. Perhaps, when he
comes to us, we will be able to find out," Lewis half smiled at
Lynch. The twinkle in his eyes showed that he was anxious to see this
new Dominant at work.


**

Darien was loaded on a military ambulance. They were taking him to the
Marine Corps Air Station. There, Walter and his team would have
access to whatever they wanted plus the protection that the civilian
world could not provide.

Claire, Hobbes and Ed stayed with Darien while the others followed
behind them. She sedated a restless Darien again, "I can't believe
this. I've given him enough to knock out an elephant and he's still
not completely sedated."

Ed put a hand on Claire's shoulder, "I might have a way to help him."

"You do? What...what is it?" Claire put her hands on her hips and
brushed the lose hairs from her face.

"At one time I developed a serum to turn Dominants into humans. It
worked for a short time on..." Ed paused, he wasn't sure if Claire
knew about Tom, "...on a dominant. But Agent Fawkes was human first,
so I'm thinking that it might work better on him. We can test it on a
blood sample. If I can stop the trigger enzyme that is causing the
mutation, it may even help reverse the changes in him already."

Claire pursed her lips together, "You mean deactivate the extra base
pairs that are developing?"

Ed smiled, "Yes, that's it. I have the base formula in laptop. I know
I can get this to work, with your help."

Hobbes eyed the two with caution. He didn't like it when Kevin's RNA
was in Darien that he had dated Claire. Now, a Darien look alike was
moving in on Claire and she seemed to be interested, a little too
interested.

"Ed, you might be able to help me with something else. You're a
medical researcher in genetics right?"

"Yes, but what else would you need my help on?" Ed looked perplexed.

"Removing the gland from Darien without killing him," Claire looked
intently at Ed with pleading eyes. She was trying to keep her promise
to Darien.

Ed let out a heavy sigh, "I'll have a look as soon as we return him to
normal, but I can't promise you anything."

"That will have to do," Claire looked over at Darien. He was
twitching and broke out in another sweat. She hoped that Ed's serum
would work and return Darien back to his normal wisecracking self.

"One question though, does Darien's gland need his adrenaline to
remain functioning also?" Ed asked while checking Darien's vitals.

Claire looked perplexed at Ed's question, "No, why do you ask?"

"That's what Arnaud told me. He wanted me to help him fix it; I can
only assume he was talking about..." Ed was interrupted.

"What was that...fix what?" Hobbes asked.

Ed suspiciously looked at Hobbes then Claire, "His gland...a gland he
said he got from a cow. At first I thought he was..."

"A cow? No, that's impossible; I blew them up...well, not me of
course..." It was Hobbes turn to be interrupted.

"You blew up cows?" Ed glared at Hobbes under raised brows.

Hobbes gave Ed a half cocked smile, "You look like Fawkes when you do
that. And no, I didn't blow them up, Chrysalis did. They cloned
Arnaud's gland and put them in these cows. I only stopped the truck
and then it blew up."

"The big question is; how did he get one of those glands then?"
Claire said looking at Ed.

"He didn't say, but he was pretty adamant about getting it fixed. He
killed one of his scientists and was going to force me to replace the
poor guy. Until Ray and Agent Monroe came in and scared Arnaud off.
He took the gland and the canister with the silver liquid in it..."
Ed was interrupted again.

"Whoa...quicksilver in a can, he milked his own gland like the
Chinese. I wonder what that Swiss Miss mother..." Hobbes stopped when
Darien started convulsing. He watched as Ed and Claire attended to
him. Helpless is how Hobbes felt and he didn't like it one bit.
Something awful was happening to Darien and he was kicking himself
for not getting to Darien sooner.

After what seemed like an eternity in that ambulance, they finally
arrived at the Marine base. Darien was taken to a more secured part
of the hospital where they had an isolation room and privacy. Ed,
Sloan, Walter and Claire were given all the equipment they needed.
Tom, Ray, Hobbes and Alex would be the security. Eberts took his
usual position next to the Official who watched the whole process
with concern.

Too many people here now know about the gland project. But what
bothered the Official more was the fact that Walter knew about the
QS9300 Project and he didn't know about the new species. Who was this
Dr. Walter Attwood and what position did he hold in the government.

On the way in Hobbes had explained to the Official about what Ed told
him in the ambulance. The Official huffed and decided that Arnaud was
probably long gone by now. He'll just have to deal with Arnaud later.

Tom stood by the window and watched Sloan as they worked on Fawkes. He
didn't need to wait for the next DNA check to know how much closer
Darien was to the 1.6% differential. Lewis' serum worked better than
it did on Kelly. Tom was determined to find out what agenda Lewis had
in mind this time.

"What are you thinking?" Sloan asked Tom.

He was so wrapped up in his train of thought that he didn't even know
she was there, "I was thinking about what agenda Lewis has. He wanted
to turn Stark, but chose Ed instead, of course not knowing that it
wasn't him. I think Lewis maybe trying to turn humans that would help
his cause. He knows that Ed found out about the tick, how to stop the
nano bug in the orange juice and about the serum to turn dominants
human. I would go looking for him, but I think I'm going to be needed
here." Tom stopped and turned his gaze towards Darien and then
continued, "He's very close now."

Ed worked on his serum and Claire had even given him the information
she got when she worked on the Dr. Galveston case, thinking that it
might help Ed perfect his serum.

Walter eyed Darien like a kid in a candy store. Lynch had gotten away
in the middle of his research and he was determined not to let the
same thing happen again. Darien may not have been born a dominant,
but he was changing into one and that was important research in
itself. Walter ordered some of the same equipment he had at the
prison to examine Lynch and it was brought in under the watchful eye
of the Official.

Through the pain, Darien started to sense things in a greater
capacity, the pictures in his mind became clearer, but there was
something else he could feel, emotions. When he was locked in the
freezer, he saw pictures, sensed that someone was outside, but now
without even opening his eyes, he could see in his mind and feel the
others. He felt the emotions of the ten people in the room. It hit
him like a tidal wave coming at him all at once. His back arched off
the bed and Hobbes was there to keep him falling onto the floor.

"Hang in there, Fawkes, they're gonna help you, just hang in there."
Hobbes put his hand on Darien's chest to try and reassure him, "I'm
right here."

Darien relaxed, opened his eyes and mumbled, "Too much...at once..."

"What? Too much what?" Hobbes bent down to try to hear Darien better,
but he was unconscious again.

Ed studied Darien's latest blood test as Claire sat next to him.
Hobbes kept a close eye on his friend. Darien's trembling had
subsided a great deal and he seemed to be resting peacefully. Ed
started the DNA differential program and watched closely as the DNA
patterns were lined up. Claire bit her lip and Ed let out a sigh as
the 1.6% flashed on the screen.

Sloan and Tom walked up and saw the results. Ed leaned back in his
chair, "Kelly only made it 1.3, looks like they have it working now.
Agent Fawkes is now a member of the new species."

Walter got on his phone and made some calls. Tom turned around
suddenly and there was Darien standing at the window with his hands
pressed up against the glass, smiling.

TBC....

****

Well...I guess you do need a rope...just a little one!

*three evil grins*