Thanks to everyone who is reading this weird but fun story.

MM and Alli
Chapter 4

Ed and Claire stared up at the ceiling for a while. "You want some breakfast?" Ed asked as he broke the silence.

"That would be great," Claire purred. She watched as Ed got out of bed and put his boxers on. He went to the kitchen and started to make some breakfast.

"Do you like scrambled eggs?" Ed had his head in the refrigerator when he asked Claire.

Claire propped herself up on one elbow as she watched Ed pull out an egg carton, milk and some other things, "That's fine." She watched as Ed prepared breakfast.

Across the street, a black Lincoln with dark tinted windows had parked in the place of the other one that had followed Ed and Claire earlier. The solitary occupant's phone rang.

"Yes." he listened as he stared up at Ed's apartment window, "No, they've been here all night. No one left and no one came for a visit." the man checked his watch, "Yes.I'll keep an eye Dr. Tate until my relief reports in."

Completely unaware that they were being watched, Ed and Claire finished breakfast. Ed looked at his watch and saw that it was still early. Being Saturday there really was no set time he had to go to work; it was all voluntary on his part. He realized it had been weeks since he surfed and he really wanted to get back out on his board.

"I'm going on dawn patrol, you wanna come and watch?" Ed asked wondering if Claire would understand.

"Really? You want me to watch?" Claire was wondering when Ed was going to ask her.

"You know what I'm talking about?" Ed looked at her and smiled. She understood after all.

"Yeah, I am from Australia you know. I would love to watch you surf," Claire said. "It must be beautiful this early in the morning."

Ed smiled, "It is." Ed put his dishes in the sink, he turned and leaned up against the counter, "Sometimes I like to surf this early it helps clear my head so I can face the day. Let me get my trunks on.oh wait.I don't think I have a bathing suit for you though."

"I hope not," Claire said as she winked at Ed. "Don't worry, I'll manage."

Ed looked at her and smiled, "Hold on, I've got some shirts for you to wear. Maybe one of my shorts will fit, may look baggie but at least you'll be comfortable."

Claire watched as Ed threw on the couch a top with long sleeves and a pair of shorts. Claire picked up the top and watched Ed get dress. He was wearing a blue/black rash guard top and it fit his body tight. Claire could see every curve of muscle. But that was nothing compared to the surf trunks he put on. They were the same color and just as form fitting. A typical surfer wet suit.

Claire shook her head from side to side. Ed caught her gaze and looked at himself, "What?"

"Ed.you look absolutely.fantastic in that." Claire couldn't help but stare. He obviously was completely unaware of how he looked. Ed wears baggie clothes and it hides his physique, but what he had on now, showed off what was normally hidden under his clothes. 'Why on earth this man doesn't have women lining up at the door is beyond me, but I'm glad,' Claire thought to herself as she gathered up the clothes Ed had given her and headed for the bathroom.

Ed blushed, "Thanks Claire." Ed grabbed his bag and started to pack some things for the beach.

Claire came out of the bathroom and modeled for Ed. "You look great, you even look like a 'honey'," Ed said. He liked the way Claire looked wearing his clothes.

"Well, I may even have a few tricks up my sleeve." Claire said running her hand up and down Ed's board.

Ed watched her hand carefully and swallowed deeply, "Wait, you are a 'honey', I mean you surf?"

Claire moved up against Ed's body, "I know what the term means.a female surfer.no, actually I don't know how to surf. But I sure could use a teacher."

Ed opened the door and let Claire go by first, "I'm surprised that you guys don't surf in San Diego, you have 'da kine' waves there."

"Da kine? I'm afraid I don't know that one." Claire said.

Ed locked his door and carried his board under his arms, "I'm not surprised, it's a Hawaiian slang term for 'good or the best'."

"You have a whole other language don't you?" Claire said.

"Yeah, we do brah.hopefully I won't get hammered and the nalu will be primo." Ed chuckled.

"What?" Claire looked at Ed like he was someone else.

Ed laughed, "'Brah' is a Hawaiian slang term for 'brother'. And what I said was.I hope I won't take a pounding and that the waves will be great."

"Hanging around you is going to be very interesting. And Darien complains when I speak scientist, he hasn't heard you speak surfer."

Ed placed his board carefully inside his van along with the bag. The two got in and drove off. The black Lincoln followed behind.

Claire sat on the blanket that Ed brought for her. She watched from the shore as Ed caught a wave. He stood up and turned his board from side to side to pick up speed. Claire saw him bend down with arms outstretched for balance and he disappeared under the curl of the wave. She clapped like a school girl and shouted. She watched as he came from under the curl. His speed had slowed and he tried to turn the board again but he misjudged the speed of the wave. Ed's board went up the backside of the breaking wave and his board angled straight up in the air. Ed cannon balled off the board and hit the water. All Claire could see was his board go straight up in the air like a rocket.

Claire got to her feet and ran to shore line. She looked out over the horizon and saw Ed grab his board. She let out a sigh and smiled. He waved to her to let her know he was okay. Ed got back on the board and paddled to his position to wait for the next one.

Ed had surfed for a while and he brought his board in. He leaned it up against a board rack and sat down on the blanket. Claire gave him a water bottle. "You looked great out there, Ed. I didn't realize how good you really are."

"It's been a while, I'm rusty but thanks. Not too many people believe that I surf or that I'm a doctor. It's an odd combination, but surfing is something I enjoy. Most doctors play golf to relax.I surf." Ed took a drink of water and looked at his watch, "Guess we need to go. You still need to go to the hotel to change. I like seeing you in my clothes but."

Claire ran her hand down his tanned cheek, "I would rather wear your clothes in private, not in public. I don't want to look like Daryl Hannah in 'Splash'."

Ed laughed, "Now there's a mental picture.would you wear my underwear too?"

Claire leaned closer to Ed. She could smell the combination of the salt water and the lotion on his damp skin, "Maybe," Claire whispered seductively.

A deep growl rumbled in Ed's throat. Claire licked her lips slowly and ran her hand over his taut muscular chest. "Do you have any idea what you do to me?" Ed asked in a low voice.

"I got a pretty good idea last night and this morning." Claire kissed along his jaw up to his ear.

Ed grabbed Claire and rolled over on top of her. He brushed the hair from her face. He gazed into her blue eyes, "I think I'm falling in love with you, Dr. Keeply," he paused and then stared at her warily, "Is that your real name?"

"I can't tell you that, it's for the protection of the project and my family. Please understand, Ed, I have to keep my true identity a secret." Claire gazed into Ed's chocolate colored eyes.

"Its okay, Claire, I understand. But I'm still falling in love with you.whoever you are."

"And I think I'm falling in love with you, Dr. Tate?" Claire ran her hand through his wet hair. Ed bent down and kissed her as she wrapped her arms around him.

Ed broke the kiss, "We better get going. I'll drive you back to the hotel." Ed got up and helped Claire to her feet.

They put their things back in the van. Ed carefully laid his board inside the van. Ed turned to Claire, "I'll be right back. I'm going to shower off."

Claire nodded, "I'll wait here."

Ed went to restroom area and took his shirt off. He stood under the spray for a few minutes. When he felt that most of the sand was off, he dried off and put on a tank top. He would take a real shower when he got home.

Ed put down some plastic and then a towel on top of that on the car seat. He gave Claire a double look, "Oh.I don't want to get the seat wet and frankly I don't like using the public showers."

"Don't blame you at all. I don't use them either," Claire sat down on the passenger seat. Ed got in and they headed towards the hotel.

The black Lincoln slowly pulled out and followed. "They just left the beach.no, I haven't been spotted.okay, I'll let you know as soon as he's alone."

Ed drove Claire to the hotel. He parked the van at the drop off. Before getting out, she leaned over and kissed him, "Hmm.still have a salty taste."

Ed smiled at her and pulled her in for another kiss. This time their lips met slightly parted, their tongues tasted each other. Claire ran her hand down the front of Ed's tank top, slipping her hand underneath and felt his chest rise with each deep breath. They broke the kiss to get some air. Their foreheads touched and both tried to catch their breath.

"Claire, I.I need to."

"I know.I'll see you later at the lab." Claire broke the contact that their heads had made and she opened the door. With the clothes in a bag from the night before, she got out of the car and watched Ed pull away. She went to the elevator and went up to her room.

Ed reached his apartment in record time. He grabbed his board and the blanket and rushed up stairs. He figured he had enough time to take a quick shower and get to the lab. Since it was Saturday, no one would be there and he could do some work in peace. He unlocked his door and walked inside.

To Ed's surprise, someone was standing there. Ed's survival instincts kicked in and he threw his board at the man to distract him. Ed turned to run out of his apartment, but was met by another man who had waited behind the door. Ed stopped momentarily as his exit was blocked. He shook himself from the sudden fear that paralyzed him and attempted to launch himself at the other man. Ed had planned to push his way through like a defensive tackle who tried to sack the quarterback. Ed's forward motion stopped as Connor came up from behind him and used the hypo.

Ed felt something on his neck and then a cool liquid going into his skin. "You gotta be kidding me," he said as he collapsed to the floor.

"Get some clothes for him. I'll carry him to the car." Connor said to the other man. He picked up Ed off the floor and carried him to the limo. Stark opened the door and watched as Connor put Ed into the limo.

"Good work as usual," Stark said with a smile. He got in the limo and they drove off.

****

Claire walked into the lab. "Ed!" She called out thinking he was already since the doors were opened.

"Claire?" Hobbes answered. He sounded like he wasn't expecting her.

"Bobby?" Claire walked towards Attwood's office. "What's going on here? We didn't expect all of you to be here." She saw Attwood, Hobbes, Sloan and Ray sitting around the room. The only ones missing were Tom, Darien and Ed.

"We? Who else is supposed to be here?" Attwood asked.

"Why, Ed of course. We were supposed to meet here to continue some testing. Now, please answer my question." Claire put her hands on her hips.

"I received some disturbing news that someone has been leaking information from this lab to the dominants." Attwood stated. Everyone in the room looked at Claire.

"Who would do something like that.maybe it's another dominant," Claire said.

"No, Tom and Darien would have sensed another dominant." Sloan responded.

"Not if they were masked, right?" Claire asked. She leaned up against the door frame.

"Darien has a heightened sense of ESP, even their best wouldn't get under his radar. He can also point them out when he's invisible. Dominants seem to give off an aura that shows up in his field of vision. Darien said it looks like a brownish red color. And I saw it for myself." Sloan sneered in tone that dared anyone to ask her about what she said. That was one of the things she found interesting in her research. Although the description of the color is odd, it was the best Darien could do and herself.

"Okay, so if it's not a dominant, do you have any idea who it might be?" Claire was anxious. She was surprised that Ed wasn't involved in the discussion let alone Darien and Tom.

"We think it might be Ed," Ray said.

"What? Ed? Not a chance. He's worked too hard on finding a way for the gene therapy to work, why would he throw it all away?" Claire said. She couldn't believe that they would actually blame Ed.

"That's what we need to find out. You did the tests on him, are you absolutely sure there were no residual effects of the serum in him?" Attwood asked.

"Yes, of course. I cleared him and I stand by it!" Accusing Ed of treason was hard enough for Claire to hear, but now she was being accused of not doing her job well.

"You two have been working close lately, even staying late and going to his place together," Hobbes said in an accusing tone.

"Bobby! Were you spying on us? I can't believe you. You really think that I'm helping Ed give away information?" Claire said, "Are you listening to yourselves? Ed has worked by your side for years. He's the most loyal person I know. And now you're accusing him without even talking to him. You practically have him tried and convicted without letting him defend himself."

"Some of the information leaked out was about Darien as well. I think this concerns the agency. Lewis has cloned Lynch at least on two occasions now. If he finds a way to clone the gland and uses Agent Fawkes as a model to insert the gland, we could be faced with a whole new breed of dominants.with the same abilities like Agent Fawkes." Attwood said.

"No.no.you're all wrong about Ed. He wouldn't risk that. Even if there was a residual effect of the drug, it wouldn't be enough to push him this far. He would have fought it. Have you forgotten that he tried to kill himself? That should be your answer right there about Ed's loyalty." Claire walked out of the office in a huff.

"You better be right about this, Walter." Sloan said and walked out.

Sloan caught up to Claire, "Claire! I'm sorry about what happened in there."

"You know, Sloan, you didn't even defend him. You've known him for a long time. Why don't you have faith in him? He did with you when you and Tom were accused of murder." Claire said as she got in her car.

"He told you about that?" Sloan asked.

"Yes, we talked a lot while we worked together. He told me about the pilar, the trip to Mexico, everything. There's no way he would betray you or us for that matter. There's another answer to this mystery and I'm going to find it. The question is are you going to help me clear Ed's name?"

Sloan didn't even hesitate, "Yes." She ran around to the passenger side and got in, "We're we going?"

"To Ed's apartment, he should have been here by now and that's as good as any place to start." Claire started up the car and drove towards Ed's apartment.

"You've fallen in love with Ed haven't you?" Sloan asked. "I hope you don't mind the girl talk."

"No not all, actually I don't get to 'girl talk' that often. Alex is usually off on some case and I'm by myself in the lab. Snakes, spiders and piranhas don't make good conversationalists." Claire smiled, "And in answer to your question, yes I do believe I have fallen in love with Ed."

"Does that mean that you love Darien?" Sloan asked.

"No.I do love Darien but not in that way. He's a good friend and nothing more." Claire said.

"Okay, so it's obviously not because they look so much alike. What is it about Ed then?" Sloan asked.

"It's like he's two different people, there's the lab persona, all serious and a confident attitude. And then this child-like quality that pops out when he steps out of the lab. He's so shy that he's just bursting at the seams to shout at the world. Walter tries to manipulate him, but Ed hasn't fallen for it. He's not your typical pencil pocket beaker geek."

Sloan laughed, "What did you say?"

"Oh, 'pencil pocket beaker geek', it's a name that Darien called his brother, Kevin." Claire looked at Sloan who was laughing.

"Darien sure does come up with some funny ones." Sloan shook her head from side to side. She had heard plenty of bantering between Darien and Hobbes the past week that she kept a list of all the names they came up with.

"And what about you? I've seen the way you look at Darien." Claire said as she noticed Sloan's cheeks start to blush.

"Is it that obvious?" Sloan asked and Claire nodded. Sloan turned her head to look at the scenery. "There's just something about him that I can't resist. I think it's because of the way he carries himself. He definitely hates to be manipulated and he speaks his mind. I admire that in a strange sort of way. He's been on his own for so long, this really must have been an adjustment for him."

"Working for the government and having to follow orders has been interesting for him to say the least." Claire chuckled, "The first time we met I shot him with a tranquilizer dart and stuck him in the padded cell for 48 hours."

"Why on earth would you do a thing like that?" Sloan was surprised at Claire's story.

"I needed to see him go through quicksilver madness so I would know the signs." Claire paused, "Well, also to get him to trust me."

"You have a funny way of showing it. Weren't you scared?"

"Yeah, but I knew that there were guards outside waiting."

"Did you ever cross the doctor/patient line with Darien?"

Claire smiled, "Actually once, but he was quicksilver mad and I was not exactly firing on all cylinders."

"I would love to hear this story." Sloan smiled at Claire and got herself comfortable in the passenger seat.

"What.really? Okay." Claire proceeded to explain to Sloan about the Beta C drug and the day at the pier.

Claire and Sloan finally arrived at Ed's apartment and Sloan couldn't get the story out of her head. They walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. No one answered. "Odd, his van was still in the parking lot," Sloan said. She tried the handle and the door opened.

"I don't like this," Claire said as she pulled out her mammoth size gun. Sloan's eyes went wide. Claire snickered, "Walk softly and carry a big gun."

Sloan let Claire walk in before Sloan and the first thing they both noticed was the surf board lying on the floor. "Oh bloody hell," Claire said looking at Sloan. They both bent down and looked at the board.

"What do you think happened?" Sloan asked. She noticed that the fin had broken off of the underside of the board.

"I'd say first off that he's not your mole. He's been taken again." Claire stood up, "His board is broken. He must have either thrown it in defense or dropped it. I don't know of a single surfer that would leave their board lying around."

Sloan went to pick it up and Claire stopped her, "No, leave everything as is. I need to call Bobby."
In no time at all, Ed's apartment was occupied by everyone other than Ed. Hobbes performed his routine search of the apartment. Tom sensed tension in the room and Darien knew what happened, the answer he wanted to know was why Walter would suspect Ed.

"Okay, look, why didn't you guys ask me? I can read friggin' minds, you know what I'm saying here," Darien said more like a statement. "You'd think they'd ask the guy who would know if someone is leaking information?" Darien glared at Walter. "How did you find out anyway?"

"I have my sources," was all Walter said.

Darien chuckled, "Yeah, you mean the chick in the limo, the one who nabbed Ed instead of me and took him to Lewis." Darien was irritated and it showed in his body movements as he paced around Ed's apartment, "You science types are all the same. Stick with what you do best and leave the spook business to Hobbes and me, okay?"

"So you believe it wasn't Ed?" Ray asked.

"Ed.spying for dominants.not a chance, my friend. He tried to kill himself rather than help them. But I guess you people forgot about that tiny detail."

"Then how was the information leaked if Ed didn't do it?" Walter asked.

Darien rubbed the scar behind his neck. It's simple.if there was a mole in the lab I would have sensed it or at least read their intentions, right?"

"Right.so." Hobbes said.

"So, Einstein, someone has hacked into the computers." Darien shrugged his shoulders. "Find the hacker and you'll find Ed." Darien stopped and changed his train of thought. "Aw Crap!" he said in anger.

"What is it, partner?" Hobbes asked.

"What was the information that was leaked?" Darien asked.

"Information about the gene therapy that Ed had been working on and your test results.Why?" Walter asked. His hands were still resting inside the pockets of his jacket. To him, Ed staged his disappearance to throw them off.

Darien shook his head, he knew what Walter was thinking, "Okay, we have two options here," Darien held up one finger, "The information was leaked to Lewis." he held up a second finger, "And coming in second place, Chrysalis."

Hobbes closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh, "Chrysalis.of course."

"Why would Chrysalis want Ed?" Claire asked.

"Simple.when Lewis thought I was Ed, he was asking me all kinds of questions about Chrysalis. What they were, how did they re-engineer their genetic DNA, you know that kind of science stuff. Lewis must have felt threatened by them and needed to find anything he could on them. Lewis might have thought that with Ed's work here he might be helping Chrysalis with their world domination plan."

"Now, Chrysalis might want to know what Ed knows about dominants." Sloan said. She suddenly became ashamed of herself for not speaking up for Ed. Sloan glared at Walter, "You made me believe that Ed was betraying us. We should have talked to him first." Before long, everyone was involved in a shouting match except for Darien and Tom.

Darien shuffled his feet as he stared at his shoes. He didn't join in, he only listened. He also knew that Hobbes had accused Ed also and felt the jealousy that raged inside of Hobbes. It concerned him, he didn't want Hobbes to go and do something foolish like with Viv. Darien furrowed his brow and lightly bit down on his lower lip as he watched Tom's expression.

Tom wasn't one to change his usual brooding look, but this time he half smiled at Darien. He raised a brow to Darien. This was Darien's signal that he needed to regain control of this situation.

Darien took notice and acted. "Hey!" Darien shouted. Everyone stopped and looked at Darien, "Thank you.Can we stay focused here? We need to find Ed. Hobbes and I will check the Chrysalis angle and you guys can check the Lewis angle." Darien saw this as a great opportunity to speak with Hobbes about his emotional volcano that was about to erupt.

****

Ed stirred and opened his eyes only to close them quickly when bright light greeted him. He moaned and rolled over trying to escape the light. "Why can't they dim the lights when someone wakes up from a drug induced sleep?" Ed said in an exasperated tone.

"Glad to see you're awake, Dr. Tate."

Ed heard the voice. Achingly, he rolled over again and saw a figure standing in front of him. "Aw come on, what now? Wait, you know who I am?" Ed was definitely surprised that someone called him Tate instead of Fawkes.

"Of course I do, doctor."

Ed covered his eyes with his hands and opened them. He wanted to get a good look at whoever was talking him. His vision was blurred, "I can't see very well. Who are you?"

"Don't worry, that's one of the side effects, it'll pass. As to who I am." the figure bent down next to Ed, "I'm Jared Stark."

"Stark? Wait, I know that name.Chrysalis!?!" Ed let out a moan, "What do you want with me?" Ed wanted to curl up in a ball and escape this madness. His world was bad enough dealing with the dominants, but having a share in Darien's world was getting under his skin. The only good thing was that he met Claire.

"We'll discuss that later, but for right now, I think you may want a change of clothing. To show that I have no desire to treat you poorly, I'll even let you shower." Stark motioned for one of the guards to hand Ed his clothes. Ed took them in his hands and tried to shake off the blurred vision. Stark rose to his feet and looked down at the tousled man on the cot. "You bare a remarkable resemblance to."

Ed raised his hand and waved it, "Yeah.yeah.I know.I look like Darien Fawkes. Trust me.we're not related. I did DNA tests and we talked about our families. There's no connection. Just chalk it up to being freaks of nature."

Stark turned and faced the two guards, "When he's ready, bring him."

Ed blinked at Stark, "What's going to happen to me?"

Stark smiled at Ed, "Don't worry yourself Dr. Tate. Like I said, I have no intentions of harming you. I just want some information about the new species and what happened with Fawkes."

"You really think I'll tell you?" Ed sat up with difficulty. 'I can't believe this is happening to me,' he thought to himself.

"No, but I'm sure you can be persuaded to tell me everything I need to know." Stark held the door open and walked out.

Ed was helped off the bed and taken out of the room to the showers. As they walked down the hall, Ed asked one of the guards, "Uhmm.you two don't plan on guarding me in the showers do you, I mean, come on, don't I deserve some privacy?" Ed waited for the response, but the guards only gave him a fixed glare. Ed looked at the two faces and noticed no emotion in them, "Ah.I guess that means 'no'. Great!" Ed was pushed down the hall, "Just remind me not to bend over if I drop the soap."

****

Lewis sat at his desk as he worked on his computer. He felt a presence, stopped his typing and looked up, a broad smile was on his face. "Karl Hunter, welcome, I'm glad you're on my team."

"I'm glad you asked me join you, now what is it that you want me to do?" The tall black dominant asked. Karl was trained in the military. He was a strong dominant, skilled in martial arts, weapons, interrogation, and physically fit in both mind and body. His demeanor was always one of eloquence but highly confident, loyal and ready to fight for the dominant cause in anyway possible.

Lewis liked all those in the dominants that worked for him. After what happened in Alaska, it wasn't very difficult for Lewis to persuade Karl to join him. "My plan is ready to be set in motion but I have a slight problem that I didn't foresee and I need your help."

Karl stood with his hands behind his back like he was a soldier standing 'at ease'. "And what is that.problem?" Karl asked as he stared Lewis straight in his eyes.

"A secret human organization called Chrysalis has taken a human that I want." Lewis leaned back in his chair.

"Is a human part of your plan?"

"Yes, an important one, he is an essential part of my plan and I would highly appreciate your help in finding him." Lewis said.

"And what would this human's name be?" Karl asked.

"You know him, Karl.it is Dr. Ed Tate." Lewis smiled and raised both brows to the sudden change in Karl's demeanor. "I see you remember this human?"

Karl breathed heavily through his nostrils. It had been four long years since Alaska, since Dr. Ian Copeland died from the flu because of that human and his so called vaccine. Karl has never forgotten that name and vowed vengeance for Dr. Copeland's death. He turned his hateful gaze back to Lewis, "I will deliver him personally to you." Karl's voice was filled with hatred.

Lewis stood up and walked over to Karl, "Karl, let's get one thing straight, I don't want him dead, at least not yet." Lewis patted Karl on his back, "Just find out where he is and we'll go from there. Don't worry; you'll have your revenge. When I'm done with Dr. Tate.you can have him to do what ever you want." Lewis watched the malevolent smile appear on Karl's face and he smiled back in like manner, "Good, I'm glad we have an agreement."

****

Ed was pushed into the room, "Hey! Easy there." Ed was pushed towards the computer.

"Have a seat, Dr. Tate." Stark motioned to the chair.

"What do you want me to do?" Ed sat down reluctantly. Stark turned on the monitor and in front of Ed's eyes he saw the DNA Differential Sequencing Program, it's was Darien's test result. Ed turned his startled gaze towards Stark, "How did you get this?"

"Let me get one thing straight here, Dr. Tate. I ask the questions and you answer them," Stark stood next to Ed, "Obviously by your expression, you didn't expect me to have this? Tell me, Dr. Tate.what is Fawkes? Is he one of the new species now? Don't lie to me."

Ed stared at the monitor and then at Connor who stood with an ominous smile on his face. Ed got a terrible feeling about what would happen to him if he lied. Connor looked as if he willed Ed to be uncooperative. Besides, it wouldn't do any good to lie; the truth was right in front of him. Reluctantly, Ed answered Stark, "Yes, he is."

Stark motioned for one of the guards to get him a chair. He smiled at Ed, "See.now that wasn't so difficult." The guard brought Stark a chair and he sat down, "Now, you and I are going to spend some quality time together, Dr. Tate, and you are going to tell me everything you know about the Dominants." Stark grinned at Ed.

Ed rolled away form the computer, "No.I don't think so."

Stark's eyelids twitched at Ed's sudden display of bravery, "Dr. Tate, I already know about the gene therapy you've worked on for the dominants. I also know that you tried to find a way to reinforce the gland to change Fawkes back to human status." Stark got up and stood behind Ed, "You're serum doesn't work. I have scientists here that can make it work and we can come up with a way to inoculate the dominants." He walked around the chair to face Ed again, "I can help you."

"Help me? I know all about your great master plan." Ed glared at Stark, "So how did you do it? Which base pair did you extract from the DNA? Or does the aging gene start to die when you reach puberty.oh wait.let -7.yes of course.humans have it too. Animals that are missing this gene never develop into adults." Ed paused, "But if that gene was removed you'd never go beyond puberty and wouldn't be able to reproduce." Ed snapped his fingers, "Caenorhabditis elegans.the tiny worm shares 40% of its genes with humans. Daf-2.we have a gene similar to it, when that gene isn't working, the worm lives longer. You're burning less fuel in your bodies.so of course you would live longer. The daf-2 gene mops up the highly reactive molecules, you know, the free radicals." Ed stared at Stark, "You found a way to manipulate the brain and control the aging genes.all 61 of them." Ed studied Stark's face; he was on to something by the way Stark's expression turned from amusement to worry. Ed continued to see what else would happen, "You could have also just manipulated chromosome number 4, which contains the anti-aging genes."

Stark's straightened his body and he moved his shoulders back, "I see that my research on you was correct, Dr. Tate. You are intelligent and quick. I don't know how we missed you." Stark observed the bewildered appearance on the young scientist's face. He merely smiled back and continued, "But of course that technology is only for us." Stark was sure that Sharon would be pleased with this latest find.

Dr. Tate would be an excellent addition to the collection of scientists they already have. After all, Allianora had given Fawkes Kate Easton back and this seemed like a good trade off. Granted, Dr. Tate was not a quantum physics scientist, but his knowledge of dominants and his work in immunology proved to be valuable. Stark also saw in him his vast knowledge in the field of human genetics, another plus in his eyes.

"Yeah, well my intelligence doesn't seem to keep me out of trouble as of late," Ed said. His tone marked a certain amount of nervousness. He looked down at his hands, "You want to help me with the gene therapy only so that you can take over the world? Is it me or is there something wrong with this picture?" Ed said sarcastically.

Stark stared at Ed intently, "You will get me what I want, Dr. Tate. You have no choice." Stark placed the keyboard in front of Ed, "I can make your life a living hell and I have a lifetime to do it in."

Connor stood behind Ed to keep him from rolling away from the computer again.

Ed warily looked at Stark and then at Connor. He let out a deep sigh, stared at the monitor again and weighed his options.

"You really have no choice here, Dr. Tate. If I don't get what I want from you, I'll just have to get it from someone else. You wouldn't want that on your conscious would you?"

Ed thought of Sloan and Claire. "You wouldn't?" He said in trepidation.

"Are you willing to take that risk?"

"I guess this would be the part where Darien would say.'Oh crap'."

TBC.