Thanks for replies. We received quite a few of them in private email, so thanks again and glad you all are enjoying this crossover. On that note, we're working on Chapter 9 and that should be out soon. Just have a detail to work out and it's all set to go.

Alli and MM
Chapter 8

Karl held out his papers to the guard and was quickly ordered to proceed towards the compound. He smiled as he looked at the driver, "Too easy." The driver laughed in response.

The three vehicles stopped in front of the massive building. The men got out and lined up in ranks. Karl waited patiently for their contact to greet them. He watched as the huge double doors opened and group of men and women came out.

"Captain Hunter is it?"

Karl nodded nonchalantly, "Yes, sir and these are my men, the best and the bravest."

"I'm sure they are to have been chosen for this mission. I'm Colonel Anderson, the commander of this facility." The Colonel turned to another man and introduced him, "This is Dr. Mills, the director of the medical personnel and this is his assistant, Dr. Williams."

Karl sensed immediately that Dr. Williams was his contact. The two men exchanged glances. Karl turned to his men and gave them the first signal. They fell into line. Karl turned and faced the others again, "We're ready, sir. Just tell us where to go."

Colonel Anderson looked at the well trained squad, "Very well, Captain. Follow me."

Karl glanced again at Dr. Williams and walked passed him as the squad walked passed. Dr. Williams excused himself and went in the other direction.

Colonel Anderson directed Karl to station his men at the main holding facility. Karl smiled. The plan couldn't be going better than this. Darien was being held in that location, he was sure of it. As soon as Dr. Williams gave the signal, they would have Darien in their custody and on their way to the High Council.

****

Claire cried as she sat on her bed. For a moment, she had found Ed and just as quickly, he was taken away from her again. She loved Ed, but she couldn't risk giving information to Stark about the gland. Claire spoke softly into the air, "I'm sorry, Ed. I can't, I just can't let Stark know anything about the gland." She lay down on her bed and cried herself to sleep.

****

Karl's men were in position. As fate would have it, Karl was standing outside of Darien's room. He could sense the dominant and he also knew Darien was in pain.

"I need two of your best men stationed out here. We have a very special project behind this door and we want it kept safe."

"Yes, sir," Karl said. He turned and signaled for two of his men to stand guard. He glanced at the men and quietly gave them orders, "You know the signal, don't move in until then. Tranquilize Agent Fawkes and get him to the truck."

"Anything wrong, Captain?"

Karl didn't take his eyes of his men, "No, sir." He turned to face Colonel Anderson, "Just giving my men a quick pep talk."

"Very well, come with me."

Karl glanced at his men again before following the Colonel down the hall. Karl was about to get a tour when the alarm went off.

The Colonel looked around, "What the.?"

Karl had grabbed the Colonel and snapped his neck before he could finish his question. He ran back down the hall and the two men standing guard were already in the room.

Darien sat up with a confused look on his face, "You're." Darien felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and slumped to the floor.

Karl walked over to him and stared at him for a moment. 'Dr. Tate has a twin. If I didn't know better I'd say this was Tate,' he thought to himself. Gunfire, explosions and shouts snapped Karl from his trance. "Get him out," Karl ordered before he turned and ran from the room.

One of the human guards ran to the security room to see what was going on. The room had been blown up. The weapons against the dominants had been destroyed. The guard turned and was greeted by a dominant who promptly snapped his neck.

All of Karl's men had made it safely out of the facility. Darien was secured in one of the trucks and the convoy quickly took off. They approached the guard house where two dominants waited. They had taken care of the guards outside and jumped into the last truck. They sped off leaving a trail of dust behind them.

****

The door to Claire's room opened and she sat up on the bed. She watched as Stark came in with a guard behind him. Stark motioned for the man to place the tray on the table. He then turned and looked at Claire, "I didn't know you cared that much. I'm curious though, it is because of Dr. Tate's brains and or his looks that have you so attracted to him? I'd hate to think that this is your way of crossing the doctor/patient line."

"It's called chemistry and if you're here to get me to talk. I won't," Claire sounded smug in her response to Stark.

He smiled as he looked down at the floor, "Tisk, tisk, have you forgotten the state that Dr. Tate is in?"

"You think you have this all worked out. I know that even if I do give you the information, you'll still keep him in that cryopod. You said so yourself that you were going to replace what Darien had taken from you and that Ed had almost slipped through your fingers." Claire folded her arms, "So, whatever you plan on doing to me, get it over with. I'm not talking."

"Okay, then answer this question for me. Did the gland or counteragent effect the conversion in Fawkes?"

Claire glared at Stark, "You must be deaf or something. I said I wasn't going to talk," Claire stood up and faced Stark, "Besides, the only one that can answer that question is in a cryopod."

"My point exactly," Stark looked at his watch, "You now have 44 hours. Is it worth it? Sacrificing the man you love?" Stark smiled and walked out.

Claire sat back down on the bed. "Oh, Ed," she said sorrowfully. She sat there trying desperately to remember Ed's smile, his laugh, the smell of the ocean on his skin. She had to remember him that way and not lying in a cryopod.

"Bobby, you've got to find Darien fast. Ed doesn't have much time," Claire said into the air with the look of beseeching on her face. Claire suddenly thought back to Ed's last words, "Genetically altered dominant DNA, what did Ed mean by that? I have to find out what Stark is planning to do."
Stark walked into the room where Ed was kept. There was a technician looking over the pod. "How's our guest doing?"

"Everything went fine with the freezing. He's ready for transport."

"Good, we'll be moving shortly. Don't want to stay in one place with Fawkes out there." Stark said looking into the cryopod, he smiled down at Ed.

"I thought that was the plan?" The tech asked.

"It is, but only after the 48 hours is up. I doubt they know how to unfreeze him after the time has expired."

"Do you think she'll talk?"

"No, she won't give up the gland so easily. Once I have Fawkes, I'll have all the information I need. Any help that Dr. Keeply gives me is just a bonus." Stark started to leave, "Still, I'm curious to see how long she'll last knowing her love is getting closer to the point of no return. Fawkes went to great lengths for Dr. Easton; I wonder what she'll do? I don't plan on letting her go." Stark smiled and walked out of the room.

****

"Looks like dominants did this," Ray said looking at the dead men strewn around the compound.

"It was a quick strike, they knew what they were after," Mark replied.

Hobbes became infuriated, "Fawkes is not a *what* he's a person, human or whatever."

Ray looked at Tom, "Well, where do we go from here?"

Tom looked around first before returning his gaze to Ray, "I don't know."

"This is just great!" Hobbes yelled, "I'm gonna get my candy ass fired for losing Fawkes." Hobbes went up to Mark, "You were able to find this place, think you can pull that trick out of your hat again?"

"I'll try," Mark wasn't very reassuring.

Hobbes grunted and walked away. His phone rang and reached into his pocket, "Hobbes.Sloan? Slow down, what was that?" Hobbes' face became red. He hung up and looked at the other men, "We have another problem, Claire is missing." He slowly put the phone back in his jacket.

Ray shook his head and looked down at the ground, "They're picking us off one by one."

Tom thought about the situation for a moment, "We need to get back to the lab to regroup."

The four men got back in the car and drove off. Neither one said a word until they were all standing in Walter's office.

****

Darien's head didn't hurt as much by the time he woke up. He tried to move his hands but he was bound, "Aw crap." He slowly sat up. Realizing right away that he was no longer on a cold floor but on a cot, the room was different too. He looked around wearily, "Okay, now what?" He sensed other dominants, quite a few of them outside the door. He had started to quicksilver his wrists to break the cuffs when the door opened.

"Good you're awake, get up and let's go." One of the guards said.

"Some how I doubt it's to see the wizard," Darien said as he was pushed down the hall.

Darien surveyed the surroundings. There were odd carvings in the walls and dominants stared at him as they walked. Darien would smile gleefully, "Hey, how are you?" He noted the seriousness of the emotions, "Man, you are some uptight people. Don't you party?"

They stopped in front of the double doors, "Whoa.the Presidential suite, guess you dudes do know how to party."

Darien was pushed inside and guided to stand in the center of the room. His hands were still bound behind his back. He glared at the faces in front of him. "What do you want with me?" Darien asked. He watched as Lewis backed away from him.

"We just saved your life."

"Funny way of doing it.can I go now?" Darien tried to read them but they had cleared their minds. Darien laughed, "You're afraid of me.you should be." Darien smiled.

The Council members watched as a small trickle of a silvery substance streaked down Darien's face. It had started at his hairline. Another trickle streaked down the other side. Darien usually allowed the quicksilver to flow faster, but he was taking his time. The Council stood up and watched as Darien turned like polished silver then disappeared. The lead Council member yelled at Lewis, "Where is he?"

"Oh, I'm still around," Darien's voice said.

The Council leader looked around trying to sense him, but Darien's masking abilities were too strong. The headache was too weak to affect him. The Council heard a clanking sound on the table. Darien had broken the cuffs and dropped them. They watched as the cuffs that had bound Darien's hands suddenly appeared on the table. The Council grew restless and Lewis loved every minute of it.

"Bring him back, NOW!!" The head of the Council yelled out.

Darien grabbed the Council leader and held him in a head lock, "I could break your neck right now." To illustrate his point, Darien pushed on the dominant's neck. Darien heard guns clicking.

"You see, you can't leave here." The leader choked.

Darien laughed, "Only if they can see us," he quicksilvered the dominant. "It's not only me; I can make pretty much anything disappear. I'm betting that you really don't want me dead. But then again, to take me out, they would have to go through you and I'm willing to take that chance. Are you?"

"I'm ready to die,"

"Are you.or are you afraid?" Darien whispered.

"No, Darien. I think it's you who are afraid.afraid of what you are."

"And what would that be?" Darien asked.

"You're a dominant, a special dominant."

Darien let go and reappeared. "No, I'm not." Darien shook his head and looked down at his feet, "I wasn't born this way." He walked over to Lewis and glared, "You made me."

"You may have born human, but you know as well as I do that that is not what you are now. You *are* one of us."

"No, you're wrong. I'm not some brunette that dyed her hair blonde and now calls herself a blonde. Regardless of what you want to call me.I'm human."

"No, Darien," Lewis stepped up to Darien and stood in front of him, "Genetically speaking, she is still a brunette. The DNA is not altered by artificial hair coloring." Darien lowered his head. Lewis smiled, "What are you, genetically speaking of course? Homo-Sapien or what Walter Attwood has termed us.Homo-Dominant?"

Darien didn't answer.

"What is your DNA differential compared to other humans?" The leader of the Council asked.

Darien continued to look down at the floor, "1.6%."

"You see, not so human after all. You are one of us; you just haven't realized that yet." Lewis said. He walked away leaving Darien alone in the center of the chamber.

"Where is Dr. Ed Tate?" another council member asked.

Darien laughed, "Do you really think that I would tell you where he is? You're dumber than I thought."

"Why do you help humans? You know we will prevail." One of the Council members said.

"Yeah, that's what Napoleon thought until he went to Waterloo." Darien shifted his weight and leaned to his right and ran his hand over his face, "Okay, this whole natural selection thing I get it, I mean I've been readin' up on this evolution stuff. So, why force it? Isn't nature supposed to take care of it? Why not sit back, down a few beers and watch it all go by?"

"Because, two species cannot occupy the same ecological niche at the same time; you should know that from your reading." The lead member said.

"So, that gives you the license to kill?" Darien asked.

"From the dawn of time until the present day, a single biological imperative has ruled every species that has ever existed on this planet." The lead member stated as he looked seriously at Darien.

"Survival of the fittest," Lewis added.

Darien turned his gaze towards Lewis.

"You can't fight it, you can't hide from it.it's our destiny and now yours." Lewis said.

"I'm not one of you...I don't have to follow your ways." Darien said sternly.

"Darien you of all people know that the past is for the foolish, the wise live in the present. This is who you are." Lewis stated.

Darien shook his head, "If you're going to quote Napoleon at least do it right. * The stupid speak of the past, the wise of the present, and fools of the future.* If you think you can win this evolutionary war than you're the fools."

"No, Darien.you're the fool if you think humans can survive natural selection. We have been selected to be the new higher species in the natural order. The strong will always survive; it is the weak that will become extinct." Lewis said.

"Yeah.look what happened to the dinosaurs.they were pretty dominant at the time. All it took was one giant meteor to wipe them out and." Darien snapped his fingers together, *snap* ".the so called weak inferior life forms took over. One meteor.that's all.mankind is the meteor and you are the dinosaurs. So, take your Darwin theories and take a hike."

Angrily, the leader stood up, "Take him out of here and put two guards on him at all times."

"Does this mean I won?" Darien smirked proudly.

Two guards grabbed him forcefully by his arms and led him out of the chamber.

Darien looked at one of the guards, "I did good didn't I?"

He looked at the other guard and he wiggled his brows, "Heh.you gotta admit it, I was on tonight."

As the doors slowly closed, the Council could still hear Darien's colloquy, "I should have joined the debate team in High School, but I was too busy with the B&E thing, you know what I'm saying?"

The doors closed behind Darien and the two guards.

Lewis walked to the center of the room. Darien had made fools out of the Council and he had loved every minute of it. Lewis wasn't done though; he still had a few more tricks up his sleeve. "I can turn him, as the humans say; there is more than one way to skin a cat."

"Do it, Lewis, or you will be the one being skinned." The Council members abruptly got up and left the chamber.

"As you wish," Lewis said under his breath with acrimony in his voice. Lewis left the chamber and met with one of the guards outside. "Don't feed him for a while and have Darcy come to my room." Lewis instructed the guard and walked away.

****

Darien didn't know how long he had been sitting there. The dominants there were pretty good at masking themselves or they weren't allowed near his cell. He stared at his tattoo as he ran a finger across the bump feeling the now useless monitor under his skin. "Where do I belong?" He asked out loud. Since his conversation with the Council he had started to wonder himself.

Darien's head shot up as he sensed someone was coming, but he felt no threat. The door opened and woman appeared with a tray of food. She sat down on the bed next to him and held the tray in her lap.

"Hello, Darien, I'm Darcy."

"Double D.Darcy" He pointed to her and then himself, "Darien." They both smiled. "Whoa.a dominant that smiles.it's a miracle."

"Why are you fighting this?"

"What.not you too? Don't they ever give up?" Darien said. He got up and paced the room.

"I was once like you.human."

"What.you were? Nah.can't be.Lewis is just trying to get to me."

"Search me, Darien and you'll see." Darcy dropped her shield and allowed Darien to read her.

Darien ran his hand through his hair, "And here I thought I was the first. Looks like I'm a sequel again."

"Excuse me?"

"Ah, nothing." Darien sat back down. "So, you were human.do you miss it?"

"What, miss being weak and vulnerable, powerless. Come on, this is way better than being human." Darcy touched Darien's hand, "The best night of my life was when Lynch put that tick in me. I wish Kelly could have experienced this." Darcy looked down.

"Wait.Kelly.I've heard of her." Darien looked at her, "You're that Darcy? I mean, the one that was with Kelly?"

"Yes, that's me." Darcy smiled.

"Ed couldn't save her. She had some reaction or something; her body couldn't take the conversion, some scientific thing like that." Darien said sadly.

"She didn't live?" She ran her hand over Darien's face, "You look so much like him."

"Who? Ed? Yeah, it's kind of weird, to have a twin and not be your birth twin or related." Darien looked at the young girl who showed no grief at the loss of a friend, "I guess the serum worked on you?"

"Yes, it did, but not like it worked on you." Darcy placed her hand on his face, "You've become what we've strived to be. You've achieved a level that so few of our kind have reached. Why can't you see that?" She leaned forward slightly, her lips just inches away from Darien's lips. "Let go of your humanity, Darien," she lightly kissed his lips and pulled back. "You can have power, prestige, respect." She kissed him again, but lightly stroked his bottom lip with her tongue this time, ".you can be so much more as a dominant than as a human. Give in to it, Darien." She looked into his eyes, "Have you made love yet since converting?"

"No.almost." Darien ran his hand through her hair.

Darcy smiled, "Time for show and tell." She put the tray on the floor. Darcy looked into Darien's eyes. She saw them burning with desire. She forced her kiss on him this time, pressing hard on his lips.

Darien responded with a groan and held her head tight. He opened his mouth and their tongues touched, taking in the taste of the other. Darcy's hand lightly skimmed across the front of his pants. He felt her emotion, her passion, her desire and combined with his, it was more than he could control. In his mind he heard Darcy say again, 'Let go of your humanity, Darien.' He pressed his lips harder to hers. One of his hands sneaked under her shirt, she wasn't wearing a bra and he moaned his delight as his hand found the warm flesh of her breast.

All vestiges of humanity, all the things that Tom had taught him, were gone. The dominant instincts he fought so hard to control, to keep at bay were released in one moment.

Darcy broke the kiss and arched forward into his caress. Darien took that opportunity and her shirt came off. He pushed Darcy down on his bed and lay on top of her. His lips and tongue explored her half naked body.

Lewis stood far enough away to sense what was going on. He felt the strong emotion coming from Darien and Darcy. A smile chipped away the stone cold expression, he turned and walked away.

TBC.