Chapter 6

Ed came across a name he recognized. "Arnaud?" He searched the files. His curiosity peeked when he saw the file for surgical notes. Ed looked at the two guards who were still busy with their chess game. He pulled up the file and quickly scanned it. "They took Arnaud's gland out?" He whispered to himself. He copied the file and was ready to send it to his email when the door burst open.

Two other guards rushed in along with a smaller guy who wore glasses. Ed looked up in surprise. The smaller man pointed at Ed, "Stop him!!" The two guards along with the chess playing guards ran at Ed.

"Shit!!!" Ed yelled out. He hit the enter button just as the smaller man pulled the plug on the computer. Ed was jerked off the chair and held by the two largest guards. The smaller man walked up to Ed and punched him the stomach. The guards held him up for another punch.

A few moments later, Stark and Sharon walked in just as the smaller man laid a third punch to Ed's midsection. "What is going on here?" Stark yelled out.

The smaller man turned and was surprised to see Stark standing in the door way, not at all pleased. "Dr. Tate hacked into our files, sir."

Sharon heard the name, 'Dr. Tate.Ed Tate.' she thought as a plan was formulating in her mind. 'This was the man that Darien was looking for,' she smiled. She walked over towards the hunched over man to get a good look at him.

Stark glared at the two guards that were supposed to be watching Ed, "You two were supposed to be watching him." Stark turned to smaller man, "What files did he see?"

"He saw the files on the surgical procedure that was done on Arnaud de Theil."

Stark's face turned red with anger, he huffed as he turned to face Ed. The two guards still held Ed up. He coughed raggedly and his midsection felt like it was fire from the blows. Sharon placed her hand under his chin and lifted his head.

Ed noticed the surprise look on her face and he knew why. 'She knows Darien,' he thought to himself as he fought against the hands that held him. He wanted to lie down and curl up in a ball.

"You're a foolish man, Dr. Tate," Stark said. "You were supposed to hack into Walter Attwood's computer."

Ed looked up, "How did you get my notes on the gene therapy?" Ed coughed out his words.

"I have my ways," Stark smugly said. "What else did you see and don't lie.I'll find out."

"If you got my notes, why did you need me to hack into Walter's computer?" Ed asked as he fought back the nausea.

"I'm sure you know by now that Walter is not who he appears to be. He has information stored on his computer that we couldn't get into. I was really hoping that you would help me out. Now answer my question. What else did you see?" Stark stepped closer towards Ed.

Ed lowered his head, "Nothing else."

Stark turned to the smaller man, "Find out for sure and see if he sent anything out. I don't want to take any chances." He looked at the guards holding Ed, "Take him to his room. I'll deal with him later."

Ed was jerked around a little as they left the room. He had made a fool of them and the guards were not happy about it.

Sharon looked at Stark, "You were right, Jared. He is intelligent. He was able to break our security systems." She cocked her head sideways, "Or did you plan on it."

Stark smiled, "I planned on it. The files on Arnaud's gland removal are false entries. Those files are on disk and hidden away. I was hoping he would send a message to Darien Fawkes." Stark motioned for Sharon to follow him out of the room.

"How did you know that he would try to get into our files?" Sharon was amused at Stark's ploy.

"He's a scientist, Sharon. The desire to know would be too great for him to ignore." Stark smiled. "Now, all I have to do is set the trap for Fawkes." They walked to his office and shut the door behind them.

****

Hobbes woke up with a killer headache. He moaned as he tried to sit up, "Oh man, what was that stuff." realization hit and he looked around for Darien. "Fawkes!" There was no answer and no sign of him either. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his cell phone.

"Keepie.it's Hobbes."

"Bobby! Did you find out anything about Ed?" Claire's voice sounded frantic.

Hobbes curled his lip at the mention of the name, "No, we didn't but we have another problem.Fawkes is gone.not AWOL type of gone.gone gone.as in someone took him." Hobbes' head was pounding. He waited as Claire handed the phone to Tom. "Yeah, Tom.he said they were human. They were dressed like military personnel; they had gas masks and thermals. They did something to Fawkes, he was acting all weird like he was off kilter or something and then they gassed us. When I woke up he was gone." Hobbes waited for Tom to ask his next question. "I know for sure it wasn't Chrysalis, that's not their MO. It was more like SWRB.SWRB? Secret Weapons Research something, I can't think my head hurts too much. But I doubt it was them since they kind of blew up last year.Yeah, they could have regrouped, but it doesn't feel right." Hobbes spoke to Tom a little bit longer and then hung up. He decided to go back to Fawkes' apartment and crash there until his headache went away. He was no good to the kid in this condition.

**** Tom walked into Walter's office and told him what had happened. Walter sighed, "I think I might know who is behind this." He picked up his phone and speed dialed a number.

"Your boss.she took Darien?" Sloan asked.

"It wouldn't surprise me." Tom added sourly. He didn't trust that human female especially after what she had done to him.

Walter waited until his boss picked up, "Where is Agent Fawkes?"

"What makes you think I took him?" The lady asked.

"Well, first off, I didn't say you took him, you did. All I did was ask where he was, which means you know he's missing and therefore I assume that you had something to do with it."

"Very good, Walter. I'll have to give you kudos on that one."

"You do realize that Agent Fawkes has in his possession government property?" Walter said.

"Yes, and like you, I have orders to follow. Nothing you can do about this one, Walter. You owe me."

"He doesn't." Walter heard the click and hung up the phone, "She hung up and she has him."

Sloan and Tom looked at each other. Sloan showed obvious signs of fear. It had taken months for Tom to heal both physically and mentally from the exams and tests Walter's boss ordered on him. Now Sloan was afraid for Darien.

"Tom, we have to find him."

"I know." Tom placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed reassuringly. The memories of his time in her so called care came back like a tidal wave. Being locked up in the cage was only the beginning of his ordeal. The information they gathered about dominants from him would be used against his people and he knew it.

"Stay here, Sloan," Tom said to her in a stern tone.

"No, Tom.I want to go with you,"

Tom sensed the emotion and it was deeper than he would like it. "No, Sloan, it's too dangerous for you. I won't be able to protect you. Besides, you have to be here when Ed is found."

Sloan shook her head and watched Tom leave the lab. She turned her gaze to Walter, "What do we do now?"

"We keep looking for Ed, let Tom and Hobbes handle finding Darien."

"So who is looking for Ed now?" Sloan asked.

"Ray and I will take of that." Walter said.

Suspiciously, Sloan glared at Walter, "Uh-huh.like how you traced us in Mexico?"

Walter half smiled at Sloan's remark, "I will use any means possible to find my people."

"Great, does that include Darien, I'm sure Tom could use a satellite's help."

Walter sighed, "I can't do that Sloan and you know it. I had to bargain with the devil to get Tom back and the devil has come for payment."

"You know what she did to Tom, God only knows what she'll do to Darien," Sloan blurted out in anger.

"I know exactly what she's capable of, Sloan. If I interfere in anyway she'll close us down again and will have no problems taking Tom again." Walter got up from his desk, "I know this is hard, but Darien belongs to the agency, he's out of my reach. I'm not even his handler."

"What? Handler? He's not some kind of animal to keep in a cage.he's a human being." Sloan paused after her last remark. Her eyes had started to turn red and were ready to tear, "Then call the Official since he's Darien's *handler*." Sloan stormed out of Walter's office.

"I'm afraid that even he won't have a say in this matter. It's up to Tom and Hobbes." Walter said to himself as he watched Sloan walk out of the lab.

****

Karl walked into Lewis' office. "What news do you have for me?" Lewis asked.

"Depends on which news you want, the one on Dr. Tate or the one on Agent Fawkes?"

Lewis stopped typing and looked at Karl, "Agent Fawkes?" He asked in surprise. "Tell me."

"I had one of my men follow Agent Fawkes in San Diego. I had hoped that he would lead me to Dr. Tate." Karl paused and then asked, "Do you know a human female that rides in a limo?"

Lewis nearly threw his computer to the floor at the mention of the human female, "Don't tell me she has them both?"

"I don't think she has Dr. Tate, but she does have Agent Fawkes." Karl waited for Lewis to gather his thoughts. He was hoping to have the chance to go in 'rescue' the new dominant. Karl had heard about him and wanted to see for himself this new breed. Karl waited patiently like the soldier he was.

"Are your men still following Agent Fawkes?" Lewis asked.

"Yes, they followed two dark vans to a facility outside the city limits. Give me the word and I'll go get him."

"You have it. I don't care about human casualties.bring me Agent Fawkes alive and unharmed." Lewis looked sternly at Karl.

Karl nodded and strode out of the office.

****

There were so many voices or so Darien thought. As the drugs wore off, he became aware of voices around him, not talking to him but about him. He tried desperately to turn away from the bright light but he couldn't move his head. Or his hands, or his feet, 'Great, why do I always end up on someone's lab table?' he asked himself as he struggled to wake up.

Darien became aware that what he thought was voices were actually sounds. Metal. Metal hitting metal. Instruments. That's what he heard with the voices, metal instruments being placed on another metal surface. He quickly did a mental check of his body to make sure they didn't decide to cut him open. Nope. He seemed to be all intact. The only thing that hurt were the metal bands around his wrists and ankles that held him down. 'Oh please tell me I'm not naked?' To his relief, he had pants on. But no shirt, socks or shoes.

A light shown in Darien's eye when someone lifted his eyelid, he squirmed to get away from the sudden bright intrusion.

"He's waking up," the voice said.

"No, it's too soon, give me another sedative." Another voice said. This one was female.

Darien tried to protest but felt the cotton swap on his arm and then the needle sliding in to deliver its contents. "No.wh." Before Darien could even finish, he slipped back into unconsciousness.

"That was close, we have to be careful and monitor him better than that. This one is different from Tom Daniels. Lets get these first tests done with, and then the real fun can begin."

****

Ed sat on his bed while he waited for the inevitable return of Connor and the stun gun from hell. His only hope was that he could last long enough until help arrived, if Walter received his message. He's not even sure if he was successful on sending the information he stole about Arnaud's gland removal procedure. It would help Claire to find a way to remove it without putting Darien's life on the line. If she was successful then he would be able to convert Darien's DNA back to the 1.1% human differential.

Ed heard the click of the lock turning. He sat up straight on the bed, his stomach bottom out and he started to sweat. The door slowly opened. Ed found it hard to swallow his throat was so dry. He really didn't want to appear to be afraid but with what happened earlier he knew he was about to experience some serious pain.

"Le bon Après-midi, Dr. Tate," The woman's voice said.

Ed looked up and saw the woman he met earlier as she stood in front of him, "Huh?" Ed was surprised, he expected to see Connor.

"Me pardoner," Sharon smiled, "Forgive me, good afternoon, Dr. Tate."

"Depends on which side of that door you're on," Ed said in a relief voice at his stay of punishment, at least for the moment.

"Ah, oui, this can not be pleasant for you." Sharon looked down at Ed and raised her brows at him.

Ed rolled his eyes, "Forgive me if I seem rude, but I'm not one to be kind to people who kidnap, shock, punch their guests in the stomach and then lock them up." Ed relented, "Have a seat." Suspiciously, Ed watched as the woman sat down next to him, "So, how do you know Darien?"

Sharon tried to hide her surprised look, "Why do you ask?"

"Cause of the way you looked at me, I saw the recognition on your face. That sort of thing is hard to miss, especially since I've been mistaken for Darien lately."

"You have to admit," Sharon put her hand on Ed's thigh. Ed looked at it cautiously. Sharon continued, "You do bare a striking resemblance that would confuse anyone. Are you two related?"

Ed smiled and a soft chuckle escaped his mouth, "Not fair, you didn't really answer my question. How do you know Darien?"

"Everyone in Chrysalis knows about Darien Fawkes. He's made a name for himself in our organization." Sharon's hand moved up a little bit.

Ed put his hand on top of hers to stop it from going any further, "I don't think so, Miss.?"

"Sharon."

"Sharon.I don't." Ed stopped when Sharon lifted his hand up. Her hands cupped his and she studied it carefully.

"You have soft hands, Dr. Tate. No calluses, nothing to show heavy manual labor and long fingers.hmmm.what things you can do with long fingers."

Ed pulled his hand away from Sharon and stood up, "Look, Sharon, you're attractive, but you can't seduce me into playing along with Stark's game. You know I sent a message and I know you know." Ed paused to think about what he just said. He shook his head and continued, "So, obviously I had no intentions on hacking into Walter's computer. I just wanted to get to that computer. I know what's going to happen to me, but you know what? I got the feeling that you people are not about to let me go anyway no matter what I do. So, just have that big guy come in here and beat the crap out of me," Ed sighed, "Might as well get it over with." Ed stared at her as he stood in the corner of the room with his arms folded.

Sharon stood up and walked over towards Ed. She put her hands on his arms and stared into his deep brown eyes. "Jared will listen to me, he has too. I don't want to see you harmed, just do what he asks," her hands went up his arms to his neck and then to his tanned face. Her hands traveled through his hair and to the back of his neck, "Vous êtes juste aussi beau que Darien Fawkes."

"I'm sorry, I'm a little rusty on my French. You said something about Darien." Ed felt himself being pulled down closer to Sharon.

Sharon seductively whispered, "Kiss me, Dr. Tate."

"You French are real forward aren't you?" Ed grabbed her arms, "What makes you think I'm going to kiss the enemy?"

"We don't have to be enemies," Sharon ran a finger along his bottom lip.

Ed leaned down as if he were going to kiss her but he went past her mouth to her ear, "We are." He broke the embrace and walked away leaving Sharon by herself in the corner.

Sharon turned around and glared at Ed, "I could have made your stay with us easier."

"Some how, I don't believe you," Ed said looking around the bare cell.

Sharon walked past him and then stopped when she reached the door. She turned around and with a tear falling down her cheek, "Goodbye, Dr. Tate." She walked out and the door locked behind her.

Ed slowly closed his eyes, "I'm in deep crap." He flopped down on the bed and put his head in his hands, "All I wanted was to be a scientist, not some freakin' secret agent man."

Sharon met Stark in the hallway. He noticed the tear, "I'd say it went as expected."

"Yes, it did. He loves that woman, get her and bring her in. I'm curious to see if she is just as devoted as he is." Sharon smiled and walked with Stark back to his office.

****

Darien felt cold all around him, it enveloped him like a blanket. He tried to open his eyes, but failed. They felt like they were sealed shut, but it was his eyelids that did not respond. He was on his back and whatever he was lying on hurt. Darien attempted to roll over and that only made matters worse. His head pounded and he fought back the nausea that overwhelmed him.

Darien did manage to roll over at the last moment to avoid vomiting all over himself. His body broke out in a sweat and he trembled. He was able to get to his knees and leaned over. Finally, his eyes opened and he looked at his new surroundings. He panted as he gazed into the darkness around him. Something didn't feel right, something inside of him. He had a feeling like he was immobile, no, more like confined.

A bright light came on suddenly, piercing the darkness and shined right in Darien's eyes. "Auhh!" He scurried on his legs to try to escape the light but he hit the back of something. Bars. He knew the familiar feel of bars. He shielded his eyes to try and get a good look at his current situation. Darien was in a cage.

The door opened but Darien couldn't see who came in. He huddled in the far corner of the cage. Why was he so scared, what was it about a cage. He certainly had spent his fair share of time behind bars either in jail or in prison, why was this different.

Darien watched as a form moved from out of the light. He noticed the hose in the man's hands. The water was turned on and the man cleaned the floor. The water made its way down a drain in the middle of the cage. Darien saw the man look at him with disgust and felt the same emotion radiate from him. Fearfully, Darien stared back and wondered what the man would do next.

The man stood as he waited for his next orders. When they came, he smiled. Darien read his mind and tried to escape the blast from the hose, but he had no where to go. Darien put his hands up to protect his face from the water that discharged out of the fire hose. The man laughed maliciously at Darien's plight.

After what seemed like agonizing minutes, the water stopped. Darien still only wore his pants and now he was completely soaked. Resting on his knees, he bent forward touching the floor with his forehead. His body ached from the force of the water.

The man looked at the pathetic sight before him, "I see nothing but a dirty animal. Look at you, locked up like some animal at a zoo. Your kind won't last." The man spit at Darien.

Darien looked up with dread drawn on his face, "I was human."

"Yeah, *was* being the keyword. You're not one of us; you're one of them now. The only good dominant is a caged dominant." He leaned forward, "In case you haven't noticed.uhmm.your kind don't like to be confined like this, drives you all nuts." The man laughed spitefully as he hit the bars with the end of the hose. He left the room and the light was turned down low. It gave the room a moonlit atmosphere.

Darien struggled to get to his feet. He looked around trying to find the one-way mirror. There had to be one, there always was one in rooms like these. The room was too dark near the walls, so he just shouted out into the darkness, "I'm not like them! I'm human!" Darien yelled it out again as he clutched the bars. "Get in here!" Darien tried to shake the cage, but it was bolted to the floor and very firm. Darien eased down to the floor slowly. He repeated in a distraught tone, "I'm human."

Darien sat on his knees again with his head resting on the bars. "Lab rat in a cage," Darien lifted his head when he noticed a change in the room's temperature. It had gotten colder. He looked at his wet pants and ran his hand through his wet hair, "It's an experiment." Darien looked up, "Oh God, just kill me now."

Darien curled into a ball to try to escape the temperature that seemed to get colder as time went on. Then it occurred to him what Claire had said about the quicksilver. The coating that surrounds his body to protect him from the freezing surface levels also holds in his body heat. He debated on whether or not he should give a sneak peak, but figured that they would know sooner or later, if they didn't know by now. Darien kicked the gland in gear and was immediately covered in a silver liquid. He wasn't sure how long he could stay awake, but maybe it would be long enough for him to dry off.

In the observation room there was a chorus of shocked reactions. The lady stood there and smiled at what appeared to be an empty cage. "That ladies and gentlemen is your tax dollars at work. Agent Fawkes was the government's ultimate secret weapon until just a week ago." She turned to face the doctors, "Now, he's ours. The President wants to know how the dominants conversion serum affects humans," she looked at the cage, "here's your chance. He is not to be harmed.well, killed anyway. He has 17 million dollars worth of scientific technology in his head; try not to harm his brain." She turned and walked out of the room.

Darien's body shuddered; he was able to read the minds of the people that were close by for a brief moment. They were making plans for him and it wasn't to take him on a picnic. The words of the man echoed in his mind, 'You're not human.' Darien repeated to himself, "I'm not human." He looked at the bars, "I'm not human." He looked at his hand that was a golden orange color, "What am I?"

The events of the past few weeks stampeded through Darien's mind. Ed doing the DNA tests, Tom helping him to control his aggressive instincts, the way he was able to manipulate minds. In his mind he saw the man with the hose again, "See, you're not human. Your DNA is 1.6 different from humans.you're what Attwood calls Homo Dominant.not Homo Sapien."

Darien looked at the man, "1.6?" Darien shook it from his mind, "No.!" He dropped the quicksilver, got up and he grasped the bars, "NO!!! You hear me? I was born a human!" Darien shook the bars again, the feeling of confinement was getting to him, "Let me outta here!" He let go of the bars and went to the center of the cage. Darien twirled around as he held his head with hands, "Let me out!" His voice sounded desperate, almost a like a request.

One of the doctors in the observation room took note of Darien's behavior, "Isn't that curious. Humans are held in confinement like in prisons and you don't see this kind of reaction. Now I would expect this from a human in solitary confinement." He looked at his notes, "Did we get this response from Tom Daniels?"

"Yes, we did. Soon, he'll just sit in the center staring off. This is a normal response, almost like claustrophobic tendencies." Another doctor remarked.

"And they're supposed to be superior." All the doctors started to laugh.

The sound of the laughter reverberated back to Darien. He sank to the floor, "Receptacle turned spectacle." Darien curled up in a ball and waited for the next experiment. The temperature had leveled off, but he was still cold. It didn't matter now. This was probably the easiest test he would under go. He hoped that Hobbes and Tom would find him. He had to believe that. It was the only thing that would keep him sane. The belief that his partner would not bail on him had to be enough to see him through.

One of the doctors held up a scan of Darien's brain to view box on the wall, "It takes a lot of energy to keep a brain like this functioning."

"Have you ever seen a fat dominant?" Another doctor asked.

"No, guess I haven't. But I see what you're getting at. Metabolism equals energy. A car needs gas to keep running among other things, but essentially it all boils down to energy." The doctor studied the curled up figure in the cage, "I'd say lets limit his energy intake and see what happens."

"What do you mean cut down on his meals?"

"Yes, let's go to.say.once a day, but not a full meal, half a meal." The doctor jotted down his orders and handed it to the guard, "See that my orders are carried out."

The guard took the note and looked at it, "Anything specific he shouldn't eat, doctor?"

One of the doctors smiled, "Give him whatever contains the least carbohydrates." He looked around as the other doctors' agreed, "That should speed things up a bit.for us anyway."

"We should monitor his sodium and potassium levels. If they become imbalanced it could be dangerous."

The doctors all shook their heads in agreement and wrote notes in their charts. One doctor stared at Darien quizzically. He noticed that Darien had been staring at them the whole time. "Did he hear us?" He said out loud.

"Excuse me, Dr. Davidson, did you say something?"

"Look at him." Dr. Davidson motioned for the others to look at Darien. "The look on his face, I would swear that he heard us."

"Or read our minds."

"They can do that?"

"We've only begun to understand what they're capable of. Some may have different abilities than others, but it wouldn't surprise me if he does have some form of ESP."

"We did have the report of a young dominant that was able to scramble Dr. Parker's electrical impulses. I have a feeling he can too."

All the doctors studied Darien's expression as it changed from misery to fear. "He can read our minds," one of the doctors said in alarm.

TBC..