Gaby, Emma, Angela, Gunn, the sisters, Alcott, and TransGenics are mine.
Rated PG-13 : Strong sexuality; harsh language, moderate violence.
Gaby sat down at her desk, tempted to close the door. But of course that would be unusual. And she had to act as normal as possible. With an inner sigh she turned to her computer, entered her password, and opened the file containing her report on Robert Taylor. Tracking him down had been tedious, but fun. Writing reports was just tedious.
It had been three days now since her adventure at the Collins house with Emma. Three days of waiting for something to happen, a situation that was increasingly nerve-wracking. They had agreed to give the impression that Wes was getting worse, and Emma and Gaby were spreading the rumor that he was going to be committed, and that Mr. Collins was too upset to return to work. Eric was even more silent and withdrawn than usual, responding to questions with curt and sometimes rude refusals to answer. Either he was a great actor or, more likely, the situation with his ex-girlfriend was on his mind.
She looked up at the sound of a soft knock, and saw Emma in the doorway, her smile not as bright as usual. When Gaby greeted her she walked in and sat down.
"Mind if I hide in here for a while? I'm getting tired of people asking about Wes, and looking at me sympathetically. And I could use a break."
"Of course I don't mind." Gaby watched her sit, slump tiredly, and rub her face.
"Emma… Do you mind a snoopy question?"
"You're curious about us."
Gaby grinned. "You read my mind."
Emma laughed. "Not really. I just felt curiosity. What would you like to know?"
"Well… what's it like? Being telepathic."
Emma shrugged. "What's it like not being telepathic? It's just the way I am." She looked at Gaby and smiled. "All right. I wouldn't call it telepathy, really. It's more feeling people's emotions than reading their thoughts. It's a pain, most of the time. Like you said, I know every nasty thing people feel about me. And everyone does it, they can't help it, no matter how nice they are or how much they like me. And I feel like a peeping tom a lot of the time. Not to mention it's distracting as hell. I try to block it out as much as I can."
"It must have advantages."
"Only if you're a spy or something. I wish I didn't have it."
"What was it like for you? I mean, for all of you, when you were in that laboratory?"
"I guess we were treated well enough. But we were prisoners. At first we didn't even know the difference, since that was the way it had always been. But then… when they brought us from South America, we were about twelve years old. They flew us in on a private airplane. I remember looking out the window. The whole world was down there, and we had never seen it. Never been outdoors before, never been with people except guards and the scientists supervising us. It was the first time we realized how trapped we were. After that, I guess we always just assumed we'd try to escape someday."
Gaby looked at her, trying to imagine what those five kids must have felt. "It sounds so lonely."
"We had each other. But you're right."
"How did you escape?"
"Gina knew when it was the right time. I could sense the guards before we ran into them, and Dana made them go to sleep. Gina and Carrie opened the doors. Carrie took care of the outside guards. We ran through the woods outside the laboratory. It was strange being outside, so beautiful, but scary too. They sent a helicopter after us, but Carrie disabled it. Gina knew which way we should go, and we got to a highway. Dana made a truck driver stop and get out to take a leak. Then she made him not see us when we got in the back."
"And what did you do then?"
"I had picked things up from the scientists and guards about the mutants in Silver Hills. Then Angela got some of them to tell her more. That's why we came here. When we got here… well, we did some things we're not proud of, to survive. Dana and Angela have ways to control people, and they got us some money and a place to live. Then when we'd had time to adjust, some of us got jobs."
"And you got this job."
"Yeah. Actually Dana made Wes think he needed an assistant, and got him to hire me. I started about six months ago. I did it to find out about the connection between Bio-Lab and the mutants. But I really got to like it. And to like Wes, and his father, and Eric." They sat silently for a few moments, until Emma added, "I guess I'll have to leave after this."
"Why?"
"Everyone who knows about me will be uncomfortable around me now."
Gaby stared at her. "I'm not uncomfortable around you. At least not much. And I don't think Wes would be. Maybe you should give it a chance."
"No. I got this job under false pretenses. As soon as this is over, I'll leave."
"I'm sure Wes would be sorry to lose you."
"After this I don't know about that. And there's Eric, too."
"Yeah. I guess he would have a problem, because you look like Angela. But he could get over it."
"I don't know. He's in pretty bad shape. I don't want to make it worse." She was quiet for a moment. "Angela blames herself. She went to see Eric a couple of days ago. She was pretty upset when she came home, but she won't tell us what happened."
"He's looked like shit for the last two days."
"You're right." Emma looked at her with a faint smile. "You really like him, don't you?"
"He's okay, I guess."
"I'm serious. I know about these things."
"I admit I think he's attractive. I do like him. But face it, he can be hard to get along with. Not to mention moody and depressed half the time. And I've heard things about his temper. I've got my own problems. He'd probably make me miserable."
"Maybe you'd be the woman to change him."
"People don't change. Not that much, anyway. Not for someone else."
"Keep an open mind. We're not always logical about love."
"I know. But I can try to be practical. Guys like that are only exciting and romantic in fiction."
"You're too critical. Remember, you've seen him at a bad time in his life. He's not always like this."
"Maybe. I guess I'll find out. But you should talk. I still think you like Wes."
Sadness crossed Emma's face. "Even if I did, it would be impossible. What human man would take the risk of being with one of us?"
"You might be surprised. Like you said, Wes is a pretty nice guy."
"It won't happen anyway. I can tell he's still in love with Jen, and always will be. Gina says his fate is with her. One of her few long-term predictions, although I don't see how it's possible." She stood up and smiled. "Anyway, I'd better get back. Thanks for listening."
"Anytime. See you later."
The house was getting as bad as Bio-Lab. Wes sat at another meeting in the Collins' dining room, listening to his father and Dr. Zaskin, and keeping an eye on Eric. His friend sat stonily, staring at the tabletop, looking even worse than he had two days before. He had barely responded to their greetings when he had come in, not even looking at Wes. As much as he had grown used to Eric's moods, he had never seen him like this.
"Sorry to drag you out here, Michael," his father was saying. "It's rather inconvenient that Wes and I can't show our faces at Bio-Lab, but necessary."
"No problem at all. I like coming here. It's a nice change of scene."
"How are things going?"
"Great. We've gotten started on researching the sisters' condition. The blood and tissue samples they've given us are fascinating." He went on, quickly getting into details none of the others understood, as enthusiastic as always about his scientific work.
Wes winced a little inwardly and glanced at Eric again. He had looked up at the mention of the sisters. Wes would have preferred to leave him out of a meeting including this particular topic, but his father didn't believe in letting personal problems interfere with work.
"Can you do anything for them?" Eric asked unexpectedly.
Zaskin looked at Wes and then Collins, suddenly seeming nervous. "Actually, I think I can. But you may not like it."
"Why not?" Collins asked.
"Well… you remember the Venomark serum."
"Yes. I told you to turn in your notes and files, and destroy the samples."
Wes's interest sharpened. Venomark had been one of the mutants brought from the future, a particularly nasty one, who had poisoned hundreds of people, including Wes's teammates, leaving them dying. Fortunately, working with Bio-Lab, they had been able to reproduce a serum that had been -- or would be -- used in the future as a cure, and had saved all the victims. Then Wes had successfully persuaded his father to abandon research on the serum, which did not belong in this time, and would cause damage to the timestream if it continued to be used.
"Well. I kept copies. And I didn't destroy all the samples." There was silence for a few moments.
"You kept it? That serum mustn't be used! You have to destroy that stuff," Wes said.
"Not to mention you disobeyed my orders," Collins added.
Zaskin faced them resolutely. "I'm sorry. I haven't used the notes or the samples, and didn't intend to. But I'm a scientist. I don't just throw away knowledge, no matter what the reason is. And now I think the serum could save those women."
"Explain that," Collins said.
"In my initial research, I discovered the Venomark poison causes deterioration of the DNA, among other things. The serum acts to cure it partially by reversing those changes and stabilizing the DNA. The sisters show signs of DNA damage which are very similar to the effects of the poison. I think the serum could help them."
"Wes?" Collins asked. "What do you think?"
"I don't know," Wes said. "That serum shouldn't exist in this time. We'd be interfering with history. This may be one of the things it can do that Jen warned me about."
"You used it before to save your friends," Eric said. "I think we need to use it again now."
"That was a different situation."
"Different how? Because they were your friends?"
"If all those people had died, it would have changed history more than using the serum did."
"How is helping those women going to change history?"
"Who knows? That's the point."
"You're probably right, in theory," Collins said. "But are you really willing to make the decision not to help them?"
"You're the one who was always talking about changing our own destiny, making things better," Eric said.
Wes hesitated. "Maybe you're right. I don't know if I could just let them die, or whatever might happen to them. Especially after they helped me."
Collins turned back to Zaskin. "Since you kept the serum, I don't see how we can avoid using it in this case. But it has to be under strict secrecy. You can treat the sisters, but don't tell them where it came from. And I don't want any more research done on it."
"Yes, sir."
They went on to discuss the other work Zaskin was supervising at Bio-Lab. Wes had little interest, and apparently the same was true of Eric, who returned to glumly contemplating the tabletop. When the meeting ended he stood up and started out almost immediately. Wes hurried to catch up.
"Eric! Wait up." He reached Eric, who stood silently, avoiding his eyes. "I'm surprised you would stick up for the sisters like that, after what they did."
Eric stared at him blankly for a moment, and then started away again.
"Eric…" But he didn't even stop this time, leaving Wes with the uneasy feeling that more was wrong than he knew about.
Eric locked his car and started up the walkway to his house, his reluctance to go in almost feeling like a physical force. He opened the door and stepped inside. It was still the same room, in the same house, but now he felt Angela's presence in it, and the presence of his own misery and guilt. He briefly considered getting drunk, but he'd done that last night and was still feeling the effects. It hadn't helped, had only intensified the pain he felt. And he didn't like the way it reminded him of his mother.
After changing into sweatpants and a tee-shirt, he turned off the light, turned on the television, lay on the couch and stared at it, not particularly caring what was on, just letting the noise distract his thoughts. After three nights of almost no sleep, he was exhausted. In a few minutes his eyes drifted shut.
When he opened them, his first thought was that something was wrong. The television was still on, but something had awakened him. Then he heard it again, a sound coming from outside. Coming from his door. A scratching sound. He reached for the remote control to turn off the television, but some instinct stopped him. Someone was out there, trying to get in. And if he turned off the TV, they would know he was awake.
Then there was no more time. He heard the sound of a blast, his doorknob disappeared in a flash of energy, and the dark forms of men dressed in black were bursting in. He was already on his feet, and leaped over the end of the couch to take cover behind it. That gave him a precious split second to raise his morpher and shout into it, seeing the familiar flash of light and feeling the welcome surge of energy as he transformed into the Quantum Ranger.
They were on him before he finished morphing, three of them firing blasters at him, catching him before the suit could fully protect him. He felt the painful pulses of energy -- a horribly familiar sensation -- and fell back against the wall. But he pushed himself up and attacked, vaulting over the couch on one hand and landing a kick to one of his opponents. He punched two of them away before two more tackled him. On his back, he kicked them off and drew the Quantum Defender, stunning a couple of them with quick bursts.
But there were more, and they caught him again with their weapons, the concentrated fire overwhelming his suit. In moments he felt the familiar, painful electric-shock sensation of his morpher losing its power, demorphing him in a flash of warping light.
Disoriented, his body barely able to move, he tried to fight back. Hands grabbed him, dragging him toward the door. Dimly he looked up, trying to force his body to get up and keep on fighting. Then he realized something strange was happening.
His attackers seemed to be struggling with something invisible. Some of their blasters had flown up to the ceiling, hanging there like some kind of bizarre decorations, and the rest of them were fighting to hold on to theirs. The ones dragging him had dropped him on the floor and were looking around in confusion.
"What is this? Where is he?" he heard one of them shout.
A moment later another shout came from the direction of the door. "It's them! Get out!" There was a general rush for the doorway, several of them stopping long enough to pick up their fallen comrades.
The blasters floated from the ceiling and piled themselves neatly on the couch. In a few moments it was all over. He sat up, looking around in a daze. The television had been knocked over at some point, and it was suddenly dark and quiet.
Then he saw them, in the light shining in from the street lights and the moon. Five women, standing in his doorway. He knew instantly who they were. Climbing unsteadily to his feet, he picked up a lamp and clicked the switch. When it went on he set it down on an end table. The birdcage caught his eye, lying on the floor in its corner, and he went to pick it up. The two birds were agitated, but apparently unharmed. He hung up the cage before turning back to his visitors.
"I guess you did this," he said. His eyes found Angela, standing behind her sisters.
"That's right. But personally I would have preferred to let you fry," Carrie said, her arms crossed and an unpleasant smile on her face.
"They seemed like they couldn't see me. That was you?" he asked Dana.
"Yes. Gina warned us. And since we're supposedly on the same side, we came to stop it."
"I guess you expect me to thank you."
"Suit yourself."
Eric didn't even have the energy to glare at them. He retrieved his cell phone from the floor, only to find it dead. The phone on his wall was smashed and useless. With a muttered curse, he raised his morpher.
"Wes. It's Eric."
After a few seconds it answered, in a very sleepy voice. "Eric? What's up?"
"I've just been attacked. By the same guys who broke into Bio-Lab."
"Are you all right?" He sounded awake now.
"I'm fine. My phone's busted. I need you to call the police and Steve Miller for me."
"Are you home? Do you want me to come over?"
"Yes, I'm home. Don't come over. I don't want anyone seeing you yet. Just call the cops and I'll see you tomorrow."
"Okay. Let me know if I can do anything."
"Thanks." He disconnected and looked up at the sisters again. "Thanks. I probably don't deserve it."
"We were glad to help," Emma said quickly, with a stern look at Carrie and Dana. "We need to leave before the police get here. Will you be all right?"
"Sure." He watched them turn to go, Emma giving him a sympathetic look, Dana and Carrie moving away quickly, Gina smiling at him shyly before leaving.
"Angela." She had lingered for a moment, and now looked at him silently, waiting. He took a few steps closer. "I'm sorry."
"You said that before."
"I don't know what else to say."
"Well, maybe we're even now."
"They recognized you. Now they know you're here. All of you put yourselves in danger, to save me. Why?"
"Maybe we still need your help. Or maybe we couldn't just stand by and let you be hurt or killed." She looked at him silently for a long moment, her face unreadable, then turned and left.
Eric watched her go. The situation had changed, dangerously. Now TransGenics would be looking for the sisters, trying to recapture them, perhaps to eliminate them. But there might be something he could do.
It was morning at Bio-Lab. They walked in, Angela with Dana, Carrie, and Gina, looking around curiously. All of them felt some familiarity with their surroundings, because of their link with Emma, but none of them had been inside before. Even with dark glasses, and a scarf concealing Dana's green hair, they attracted plenty of stares, with their four identical faces.
Emma met them at the reception area, and hurried them back into her office. They kept their faces down, and avoided looking directly at anyone. It was a relief to close the door behind them. Dana and Emma sat down, the others leaning against the desk or the wall.
"I feel like I just ran the gauntlet," Angela said.
"We did. I just hope it's going to be worth it. I hope we can trust them," Carrie said.
Emma turned to face her. "Of course we can trust them. I wish you'd learn not to hate humans so much."
"I don't hate them. But it's hard not to resent the way we've been treated."
"Only by T-Gen. Everyone at Bio-Lab has tried to help us. Even Eric, even after what we did."
Carrie frowned. "We saved his life. It's the least he can do."
Angela answered angrily, "Everyone here's been very generous to us. You're not being fair."
"And I think the two of you have been spending too much time with humans. Maybe you've gotten to like Wes and Eric a little too much."
"That's ridiculous."
"It would be ridiculous if either of you thought you could actually have a relationship with a human."
"I know that's not possible. But I still like both of them, as friends," Emma said.
"I think you want more than that. You're just not honest enough to admit it."
"Leave her alone," Angela said. "Just because you're too bitter to see that we're no different from humans..."
"We should go now. Hurry, before it's too late," Gina interrupted softly.
"Right. The three of you can fight later, when we have time," Dana said.
They stood with an exchange of glances, replacing their dark glasses. Emma went first, turning to beckon them. They filed quickly out of the office, looking around apprehensively.
They had gotten only a few yards down the hallway when Taylor turned a corner ahead of them and stopped to stare. They quickly turned their faces away. Emma threw a frightened glance at him and herded them into a side corridor, out of his sight. Once they turned another corner they stopped.
"Well, that's it," Emma said. "He saw us. He knows who we are. And he'll go right to his friends at T-Gen."