See Part 1 for disclaimers

A New Breed
Authors: Evils 1,2,3 aka Allianora/Da Chocolate/InvisoBorg,
I_Woman/Da Peanut Butter, Miami-Momma/LithiumBorg

Thanks for hanging on to your ropes! Okay...here's the next part!!!


Chapter 13

Stark sat down roughly on his chair, his eye twitched and he turned
to glare at his men, "You took too long getting out there and we lost
Fawkes. Get out!"

The men turned and left Stark alone. He turned in his chair and
looked out his window. He was nervously clicking a pen repeatedly.
Stark seemed to do this lately whenever he was in deep thought. Those
men that kidnapped him thought that Darien was someone else. Stark
thought hard and the name came to him, Ed Tate. He called one of his
top researchers, "I want you find out anything you can about someone
by the name of Ed Tate, his description matches Darien Fawkes. Let me
know as soon as possible when you come up something." Stark hung up
his phone and a malevolent smile came across his face.

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

`Nooooooo!!!!'

Ed stirred out of his unconsciousness as the scream tore through his
mind, "Wha…what….Agent Fawkes?"

In the main building, Lewis covered his ears from the same scream.
It flooded his mind, "That's Fawkes!"

Darien, feeling Ed slice through his own wrist, called out to Lewis
telepathically. His command was so powerful, that Lewis could barely
stand. Darien continued, "Quick, he slit his wrist!"

Lynch stumbled into the room with his hands on his head and his face
in agony. He too was hearing the powerful thoughts of the "new"
dominant.

Lewis and Lynch both cringed in unison as Darien issued the last
message, "You must not let him die!"

They both looked at each other and raced out of the room towards Ed's
room ordering others to follow.

As Ed slipped back into unconsciousness after hearing Darien's
message, his last thought was, `Why won't he let me die…'

Suddenly the doors to Ed's cell flew open. Lewis, Lynch, and two
guards grabbed Ed as Dr. Rollins applied pressure to his wrist. Ed
was too weak to protest.

"Take him to the lab and keep him there. We need him alive." The
dominants whisked Ed to the lab and tended to his self-inflicted
wounds, "Lynch, stay with him. Inform me when he awakens." Lynch
nodded.

Lewis turned and headed towards the door, "And now, to attend to
Fawkes."

Darien smiled as he felt Lewis approach his cell. Lewis busted
through the door and stopped in the doorway. Darien's smile grew
wider, "Sorry, was that loud? I wanted to make sure you heard me."

"We all heard you. How did you…."

"..do it? Well, let's just say that I have a sixth sense."

Lewis took a step closer to Darien and looked suspicious. Darien
answered Lewis before he opened his mouth.

"Yes….you should feel threatened."

Lewis was about to respond to Darien when Lynch walked through the
door. Lynch came up behind Lewis, "He is conscious."

Lewis turned to Lynch and pointed to Darien, "Sedate him. As soon as
Tate is ready, we will get started." Lynch turned to Darien, "It
would be my pleasure." Darien responded with a wink.

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

Ed was disappointed that his life was saved. He was now in the lab
tied to a chair. Lynch was in the lab earlier, but left after he
awoke. Dr. Rollins came over to Ed, "We will release you as soon as
your blood level returns to normal. Ed continued to check out his
surroundings. Dr. Rollins continued, "We are preparing the lab so
you will have everything you need to work."

Ed venomously thought to himself, `Don't count on it.'

A voice answered back in his mind, `But I am counting on it.'

Ed looked shocked, "Agent Fawkes?"

Dr. Rollins nodded, "Yes, he will be brought down when you are ready."

Ed looked confused and thought, `But I thought I heard Fawkes.'

`You did,' The voice answered back. Ed jumped.

Dr. Rollins seeing Ed's expression looked concern, "What's wrong?"

Ed shook his head, "Nothing."

Dr. Rollins received a call on his cell phone. He ended the call and
walked over to check on Ed's straps, "I'll be back to assist you as
soon as I pick up more supplies. They have just informed me that
Agent Fawkes has been sedated and will be ready for examination."
Dr. Rollins left Ed alone with his thoughts.

`You're such a wimp.'

"What?" Ed swung his head around thinking that Darien would
materialize any minute now, "Agent Fawkes, are you here?"

`Yes and no', Darien replied telepathically, `I'm here, in your
mind. Those not-so-dominant dudes gave me a sedative. They think
I'm unconscious.'

"Oh. But, you're in my mind? How?"

`It's hard to explain. Sometimes I can hear thoughts clearly, other
times I can just feel others' emotions, but don't worry about that
right now. What I want to know is, what the hell were you thinking!'

"What do you mean?"

`When you slit your wrist and tried to kill yourself.'

"I had no other choice. They want me to help them. I can't betray
my own kind…"

`I am YOUR kind,' Darien responded so strongly that it filled Ed's
head with pain. Darien continued, `Think about it. If you died,
they would just grab some other scientist to take your place. They
already have five potential targets, Sloan being number two on the
list.'

"Not Sloan," Ed's heart sank as he thought of how she would survive
this brutality. He turned his thoughts back to Darien, "But you're
one of them now."

`Yeah well this formula of theirs didn't factor in a bio-synthetic
gland or the counteragent residue, so it has not transformed me to
their dominant state of mind.'

"So why did you…"

`…act like I was one of them in the hospital? Because I needed to
know what was going on. After that oh so pleasant examination you
gave me, your "Fat Man" and I had a little discussion.'

"My `fat man'?" You mean Walter? He put you up to this?"

`Yes.'

"But what about Sloan?"

`What about her? I needed to escape the isolation room. Oh, and by
the way, for God's sake, tell her how you feel.'

"Great, we're captured by Dominants and I'm getting a telepathic
lecture from Dr. Phil."

`Ed…listen..I have an idea….wait…they're coming.'

Lewis walked into the lab with Dr. Rollins, "Well Dr. Tate, nice try,
but you will not escape us that easily. We have little time, the
drug will take affect very soon."

"What was it, the dominant serum?"

"No, as we said before, we need you to study our first successful
test subject. It is a form of Methylphenidate that we manipulated in
order to achieve perfect cooperation. Dr. Copeland created it
especially for you in Alaska, but you escaped before he could inject
you. It slowly deteriorates the will of the victim causing
dysfunction in the frontal lobes which impairs initiative and
autonomy, reason, empathy and social awareness, insight and judgment
which will lead to emotional blunting and robotic like activity."

Ed shifted uneasily in his chair and said under his breath, "Sounds
like the dominant serum to me."

Lewis leaned over him and whispered, "You will eventually do whatever
I say without hesitation."

Lewis leaned back and walked around Ed, "Of course this will be a
painful transformation, but I'm sure you will be able to handle it."

Ed knew very well what the drug's capabilities were since he studied
pharmacology. But he would have no way of knowing what other drugs
were incorporated into their formula.

Lewis walked over to a table and picked up a blue vial, "As you know,
there is no antidote Methylphenidate, but we managed to create one
for this formula. We will give it to you after you're finished with
Agent Fawkes."

"Yeah right, you wouldn't give me the antidote. You need me here."

"Yes, this is true. You have no regard for your own life, but your
weakness lies elsewhere. The antidote is not for you, it is for Dr.
Parker."

"Wait, Dr. Parker?"

"Yes, she ingested the same drug," Lewis looked down at his
watch, "..about an hour ago."

*****

Darien was upset that he didn't have the chance to inform Ed of
Sloan's predicament. He just "read" the information from a
dominant. He felt Ed's feeling of helplessness.

"I'm sorry, man." Darien shook his head, "Come on, Hobbes, you and
Tom should be tracking me by now. I need to sense Tom and fast."

"I got to focus…focus…come on, think of what Kevin taught you. Okay…
he we go, he we go…."

Darien concentrated and tried to focus on Tom, "Okay….girls in blue
bikinis…whoa…definitely not Tom…...focus…come on." Darien couldn't
sense Tom at all. "Aw crap. I can only do the `Ms. Cleo' thing at
close range. They are too far away."

*********

"I'll do it," Ed announced reluctantly.

"I thought you would," Lewis signaled to Lynch, "Bring Agent Fawkes.
We're ready to start." Lynch grinned, motioned to two other
dominants, and headed towards Darien's room.

Dr. Rollins began to untie Ed, avoiding the bandaged wrist.

Ed stood up and walked over to the lab table. It reminded him of the
high-tech lab in Alaska where Copeland worked on the Spanish Flu. Ed
glared at Lewis He suddenly felt drowsy, like he had one too many
beers, `The drug, it's beginning to take affect.'

"Okay, I'm going to help. Give Sloan the antidote."

"Not so fast, Dr. Tate. She has plenty of time, her drug was diluted
to allow for time. You, on the other hand, only have a few hours
before you descent into mental anguish. I was familiar with Dr.
Copeland's work, so I know exactly what procedures you need to
perform. You should be finished with a few moments to spare for Dr.
Parker."

******

Darien knew Lynch was coming to get him. Time was running out of
time fast. He began to concentrate again, "Tom, where are you."
Darien closed his eyes, focused, and sent out his thoughts, `Tom?
Can you hear me?'

Darien did not sense him, "Aw crap."

****

Hobbes was talking to Tom about the situation as they were tracking
Darien, "Don't you think your `Fat Man' is as big a jerk as my `Fat
Man' with sacrificing my partner and all."

Tom answered, "Yes."

"You do? I was just joking there."

Tom clarified, "I do not believe Attwood would have sacrificed your
partner blindly. I believe he was doing what was best for the human
race."

"Well that's all well and good, but it would have been nice if the
man would have included us on his little scheme before putting my
partner in danger."

Tom looked over to Hobbes, "I believe you partner is not in danger.
It's the dominants that are in danger; from Agent Fawkes."

Hobbes turned in disbelief.

"Your partner is evolving. His strength surpasses any Dominant I
know. Attwood also believes Agent Fawkes will not take on the kill
mindset or predator-like psyche, but these traits are in him, just
suppressed. It appears that when Fawkes is threatened, his Dominant
instincts take over. Apparently the drug that was routinely used on
Agent Fawkes…"

"Counteragent…"

"…yes…and the gland had an effect on the serum. To what extent, we
don't know, until we are able to fully examine him."

"Examination should be Fawkes' middle name."

Tom continued to monitor the tracker. They were still some distance
from the signal, "I'll contact Agent Monroe and Detective Petersen,
we need to hurry."

*****

Darien was brought to the lab accompanied by the two guards. He
could feel Ed's discomfort, `Methy something. Come on Ed, slow
down.' Darien felt Ed's racing thoughts as Ed was preparing for the
tests.

"Put him in the chair," Dr. Rollins directed the dominants.

The two guards placed Darien in the chair. As he was being strapped
in, Darien couldn't help but feel like he was in the Keep, "Another
demented dentist chair. At least Arnie had a proper lab table."

Darien decided to focus on Tom while Ed was in his "techno" mode.
Still, Darien could not sense Tom, `What's taking so long?'

Lewis stepped up to Ed, "I'll be back to check on your progress. In
the meantime, Dr. Rollins and Lynch will keep you company."

He turned to Darien, "This won't take too long, and I'm sure the good
doctor will be very gentle," he smiled and walked out of the lab.

Ed worked quickly and quietly. He knew he and Darien would get of of
this, but will it be in time to save Sloan. He performed as many
non-invasive tests as possible, avoiding the gland. Suddenly, Ed
felt a sharp pain in his temple.

Darien winced, "Ouch!" Ed looked at Darien and
remarked, "Fascinating."

Ed worked long into the night. Most of the work was lab-oriented.
Ed was prolonging the physical examination as long as possible hoping
that they would be recovered. Unfortunately, the drug was taking
affect quickly. Ed began experiencing rapid heart rate, slight
dizziness, and nausea. His headaches were also becoming constant.

Due to Darien's evolving dominant empathic abilities, he was also
feeling Ed's symptoms. He tried to keep Ed focused and
encouraged, `Hey bro, you gotta hang in there.'

Ed's face had a painful expression on it as he tried to remain focus
on the test results. "I…can't…" Ed said as leaned on the counter for
support.

`Yes, you can. Just try to focus, Tom and Hobbes should be close
enough soon.' Darien said to Ed in his mind.

Ed looked at Darien and swallowed hard but his mouth was
dry, "Another symptom…I don't know how much longer I can last."
Ed straightened himself up and glanced over the lab results the best
he could with blurred vision, "Okay, let's check the CBC parameters.
RBC count is higher than the 4.9-5.9 million/mm3 for men. The WBC is
increased, not surprised there since Dominants have a higher immune
system than sapiens so it makes sense that the white cell
differential is higher than it would be in sapiens. Did you know that
these guys hardly get sick, I mean, one time in Alaska with the
Spanish Flu, but that was an isolated case. Well, at least that I
know of anyway. The polymorphonuclear cells or PMNs is on the high
level at 90%, the normal is 55-80%. 25-33% is the normal number of
lymphocytes and he's at 40%. 3-7% is normal for monocytes and I see
12%. Normal hemoglobin level is 14.0-18.0 g/dl for men and as usual
Agent Fawkes is above that. The normal Hematocrit values for men are
40- 54% and this is nearly off the charts, I guess that Dominants
won't be anemic. Agent Fawkes' MCV levels are 80-96, which is good
cause this means that he doesn't have a Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid
deficiencies. You've been keeping yourself in shape, that's good
because most men don't. The women do, isn't that funny. Normal
platelet values are 150,000-350,000 and Agent Fawkes is at the high
end, so this means that Dominants have a higher blood clotting
capacity than sapiens. Which is good, I mean, at least you won't
bleed to death. Like I almost did."

`Ed….' Darien tried to get his attention. `This is worse than when
Claire was in phase one of the Beta C drug.'

"Let's take a look at the cholesterol levels. Wouldn't it be funny if
Dominants suffer from high cholesterol? But what are the chances of
that happening, I mean everything that I know of so far show that
they are healthier than sapiens. So, why bother to kill us off, I
mean why not just wait and let us die off…" Ed continued.

`Ed…Ed…SHUT UP TATE!!!'

Ed dropped the papers and grabbed his head in pain, "Aughhhh!" He
slowly sank to the floor to his knees. Dr. Rollins and Lynch came
over to check on him. Tears streamed down Ed's cheeks and he
mumbled, "I…have…to rest…can't go…on…" Ed collapsed in Dr. Rollins'
arms and went into the sanctuary of unconsciousness.

Dr. Rollins and Lynch picked up Ed and placed him on the bed. The
doctor checked Ed, "I'll revive him in a short while. I'll tell Lewis
that he'll be continuing soon."

Darien felt bad that he shouted so loud in Ed's mind, `Ah crap, I'm
sorry, Ed. But you where getting on my nerves. I mean, you over
focused there pal and I thought you were going to blow a gasket or
something.'

Darien tried to sense how Ed was doing and quickly realized Ed was
running out of time, `Hobbes, Tom, where are you guys? Ed is almost
down for the count and I can't get him out of here on my own.' Darien
sighed, `I can't wait any longer, I've got to try and get him out of
here.'

*******

Ed was revived by Dr. Rollins and promptly hauled off the bed by the
guards. "You will get back to work and finish the examination," Dr.
Rollins sat Ed down on the chair.

Ed looked at the man with disdain in his eyes. "I need some water…"

The room spinned and Ed nearly fell off the chair. His vision went
white as dizziness washed over him like a wave crashing onto the
shore. He fell towards the counter knocking beakers and test vials
onto the floor. His head slammed on the table when a seizure caught
him off guard.

Dr. Rollins looked at Lynch, "This drug is taking effect faster then
we anticipated. I don't think he has much time before he becomes more
withdrawn and enters into the robotic state. We should wait until
then, he'll be more compliant in that stage. In the meantime, I can
go ahead with the examination."

"No," Ed said in a lethargic voice. "I can do this…" He struggled to
his feet and forced himself towards Darien.

Dr. Rollins stopped him, "Let me check your head first." He put some
gloves on and examined the nice gash on the side of Ed's
head, "You've got a pretty deep laceration on the left side of your
forehead just below the hairline. You're going to need stitches."

"Just put a band aid on it and let me get on with this exam." Ed's
tone was harsh. `Whoa…you're getting a bit irritable,' Ed thought to
himself as a couple of butterfly bandaids were applied. He approached
Darien with scalpel in hand. Ed looked down at the restrained man and
the scalpel gleamed from the overhead light.

`Ed, what are you doing?' Darien asked Ed mentally.

****

"Got him!" Tom yelled out to Hobbes and called off the numbers for
the address. Hobbes turned the van around and headed towards Darien's
location.

*****

Ed stared at the gleaming scalpel unaware that Darien was trying to
get his attention. He was losing the battle to the drug in his
system, "I can't…"

Darien quicksilvered the restraints and broke free. The first thing
he did was grab Ed by his throat. Ed dropped the scalpel and it
clanged on the floor. Darien swung his feet around and lifted Ed off
the floor, "What were you going to do with that, Dr. Tate?"

Ed grunted, "Cut you free."

Darien smiled at Ed and threw him at the two guards that were
approaching. Dr. Rollins ran out of the room. Lynch glared at
Darien, "Now I get to kill you."

"Come on, clone boy, give me your best shot," Darien made a gesture
for Lynch to come closer.

Lynch lunged at Darien and the two men fell to the floor. Ed
staggered to his feet and awkwardly looked at Darien and Lynch
rolling on the floor. He tried to brace himself on the table; jumbled
thoughts were going through his mind. It was as if his mind was on
overload, he knew and understood things, but couldn't put his
thoughts in any coherent order. He saw a door and stumbled towards it.

Darien kicked Lynch off of him. The two guards were back on their
feet and moved towards Darien, he waved to them and quicksilvered.
With the strength of a Dominant he snapped the necks of the two
guards. Lynch watched with fascination as the heads seemed to snap in
one direction and the men fall, first one then the other.

"Okay, now where were we…oh yeah, I was about to do this," Darien
reappeared and promptly punched Lynch in the face, "I thought it
would be more fair this way."

Darien grabbed Lynch by his shirt and threw him on to the table with
all the lab equipment, "Testing is over for the day."

Darien brought down the scalpel he had picked up off the floor into
Lynch's chest. He turned towards the closet door and smiled
maliciously, "I'll be back for you later, Tate. Right now, I have
bigger fish to fry," Darien quicksilvered and walked out of the lab.

Hobbes phoned Alex, but they were to far away, he and Tom would have
to go in alone. Once inside the building, they heard the sound of
glass breaking. "Sounds like Fawkes to me," Hobbes noted.

Tom and Hobbes peeked around the corner and saw the door open, but no
one came out. Tom looked at Hobbes, "I sense a Dominant and I'm sure
he senses us."

"You better go after him and wear these; you'll be able to see him
better." Hobbes handed Tom a pair of thermal goggles. "I'll find
Tate."

Tom put the goggles on and tried to find Darien. With his gun still
drawn Hobbes entered the lab and saw the mess, two dead dominants and
Lynch with a scalpel sticking in his chest.

Hobbes let out a sigh, "Fawkes…I don't know which is worse. QSM
Fawkes or Dominant Fawkes?"

Hobbes heard a sound coming from behind a door. He slowly walked
towards and opened it up. "Oh no…what did they do to you?"

The sight of Ed huddled in the corner with his knees held tight
against his chest made Hobbes stomach knot up. Hobbes approached Ed
and noticed that a part of Ed's pants had turned red. There was also
a nasty cut on his forehead that started to bleed again. Hobbes moved
Ed's hand and bandaged wrist, he winced at how cold and clammy Ed
felt. "Aw crap, doc, what did you do?"


***

Darien bust down the door Lewis' office. Lewis looked up, he hadn't
sensed anyone at the door. Darien's disembodied voice broke the
silence, "Oh Lewie…I'm home," Darien sang out. "Oh, but I guess you
want to see me don't you?"

Lewis watched as Darien appeared in an eruption of silver rain. "I
see that you are not going to follow the rules."

Darien laughed, "Oh that's funny. You see, I've never really been one
to follow the rules so why would I start now?" Darien ran his hand
over the plush chair and a malicious smile formed on his
face, "Besides, I have this thing about working for someone who wants
to kill me."

Lewis straightened up his posture and thought to himself, `He can
read minds, he knows.'

"Yeah, I know about your little plan to have Lynch do me in. But alas
poor Lynch is under the knife. Your two guards are dead and Rollins
ran away. You've managed to turn Tate into a pile of nothing, which I
will take of as soon as I take care of you." Darien attacked Lewis.


Hobbes wrapped Ed's wrist tightly in gauze and helped him to his
feet. Ed didn't have the strength to hold himself up and he collapsed
to the floor. "I'm not going to carry you to the van," Hobbes spotted
the gurney in the middle of the room. He picked up Ed and placed him
on it, covering him with blankets to keep him from going into shock.
Hobbes noticed the broken restraints, "Guess I know who was sleeping
in this bed and it wasn't Goldilocks."


Darien pulled Lewis off the floor and held him tight by the front of
his shirt, "There's a little something you need to know about `human
nature', Lewis." Darien's voice had coldness in it, like he had no
emotion at all, "When they don't feel threatened, they tend to…mind
their own business, but…when their backs are up against the wall…they
will join together and fight."

Darien dropped Lewis to the ground, "Have you ever seen a small bird
attack a much larger bird, Lewis?" Lewis shook his head in
acknowledgement.

Darien walked around Lewis as he lay on the floor, "Good, then you'll
understand what I'm about to say. You see, the smaller bird was
protecting its nest. The larger bird got to close. That's human
nature, Lewis, something that you don't understand. Did you know that
the most dangerous animal in the world is a mother protecting its
young?"

Darien bent over Lewis, "You're getting to close to the nest, Lewis.
If the sapiens feel that their backs are up against the wall, they
will attack like the mamma bird. They'll win and there is nothing you
can do about it. Yeah, you may kill thousands, but they will live on
and the dominants will either die out or learn to coexist. Why, you
ask? It's human nature to survive in the face of adversity. I know
this, because well, until you came along, I was a sapien."

Darien quicksilvered his eyes. Lewis was staring into the black
sockets where eyes should be, "Freaks you out doesn't it? I can not
only sense you, I can see you or any Dominant in a crowd before I can
be `felt'." Darien could sense the mood swing in Lewis, "That scares
you doesn't it? Well, it should." Darien held up his hands like he
was holding a rifle, "Yeah, far enough away were I won't be detected
by a Dominant's radar and *BLAM*, no more Dominant." Darien turned
and continued out the door, "Don't come looking for me, Lewis, cause
you won't see me, but I'll see you."

Tom rushed in the room and took off the thermal goggles, "Darien?" He
gazed at Lewis lying on the floor, "What did you do?"

"What does it look like, Tom? I was only doing what comes natural,
man, you are uptight aren't you?" Darien sauntered closer to
Tom, "Isn't that what Dominants are taught, survival of the fittest?"

"What does it look like, Tom? I was only doing what comes natural,
man, you are uptight aren't you?" Darien sauntered closer to
Tom, "Isn't that what Dominants are taught, survival of the fittest?"

Tom nodded in agreement, "Yes."

"Well," Darien smiled, "I am the fittest. And as the song goes, "I
Will Survive."

Darien leaped on Tom, going straight for his throat.

TBC....

******

A/N: Oh...ah..did we mention that you may need a rope again? *tres
evil grins* Whoa! *The three amigas duck hurling popcorn.*