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Alli and MM
Chapter 9

Stark escorted Claire to his office. She sat down on the chair across from his desk. He watched her for a few moments, and then slid the phone towards her. Claire studied the gesture confused, "What is it that you want me to do?" she asked.

Stark put his hands together and smiled, "I want you to make a phone call."

Claire hesitated for a moment and then reached for the phone, "Who do you want me to call?"

"Fawkes."

****

"Well, Darien, how do you feel?" The gray haired man asked.

Darien sat on a chair in the middle of a white room. "Fine." Darien looked forward as Lewis walked around him.

This kind of setting was typical for Lewis while he trained his Chameleons. There were no distractions, nothing pleasing to the eye, just him and his killer. "What is your objective?"

"Kill humans."

"Why?"

"They are inferior."

"But, you are human."

Darien glared up at Lewis as if he said something insulting, "Not anymore."

Lewis smiled, his plan had worked and now Darien belonged to him. He had actually wanted to convert Dr. Tate, but this turned out even better. There in front of him was a dominant like no other. A Chameleon that literally blended in, this one didn't have to go through all the infiltrating, trying to get inside. All he had to do was turn invisible, walk in and make the kill without anyone even noticing. Now Lewis had the advantage.

There would be other ways Lewis could use Darien and it all had to with the High Council. Lewis held leverage now. He had a weapon at his command that would put fear into any dominant and that was not an easy thing to do.

Lewis opened up the black case and prepared a clear liquid to be injected into Darien to make his brainwashing complete. Once Lewis' special formula was working inside Darien, he would send him out to complete his first task.

****

Darien waited for what seemed like forever, and then he saw his opportunity. The last student had left the building. He had watched Walter from the bushes for two hours, as he waited for the right moment. He saw the other three huddled in the lab when Walter motioned them into his office. He could sense urgency and concern from Walter.

"It's show time," Darien whispered as he quicksilvered and moved to the front door of the building. He snuck passed the guard's station, and before he entered the double doors; he masked himself so he would not be detected by Tom. He headed towards Walter's office and listened.

Walter paced in his office, "I just received a call from Claire. She said she's being held by Stark and he has Ed, which confirms the message that Ed sent me. The only problem is he wants Darien to meet him." Walter said.

"What do we do, Walter? We haven't been able to find Darien." Sloan said.

"I don't know. But we need to get Ed back. I was wrong about him," Walter looked at Sloan, "I should have trusted Claire's judgment."

"No, you should have trusted Ed." Sloan got up and walked out of the room.

Hobbes stood there looking at her. He turned his attention on Walter, "Okay, so where does Stark want to meet?"

Walter held up a piece a paper, "He wants to meet Darien halfway in Laguna Nigel. It'll take about an hour to get there."

"What do we do about Darien?" Tom asked.

Hobbes thought for a moment, "What we need is a plan."

Darien strained to hear the conversation in his mind. When the new weapon was used on him earlier, the humans' thoughts sounded muffled as if he were underwater. But now it was clear, he had regained his full abilities. He showed no emotion as he listened to Walter's recount of Claire's phone call. He simply shook his head and sauntered over to the fire alarm.

"Stark, you are way out of your league on this one," Darien pulled the lever down and set the alarm. Bells rang out in the lab.

"Whoa, what, did someone leave a Bunsen Burner on or somethin'? Come on, let's move out, people." Hobbes said as he motioned them to leave.

Darien smiled as he watched Hobbes and the others quickly leave the office and exit the building. He went into Walter's office, retrieved the item from Walter's desk, and walked out.

"Right..." Darien showed no emotion has he picked up a stool and started smashing everything in sight. The bells didn't bother him; he was too focused on destroying the lab. Computer monitors went flying across the room and landing on the floor only to explode on impact. He poured chemicals all over the floor and set the room on fire.

Phase two of his plan was about to begin.

****

Connor entered Stark's office. He smiled at Claire as he addressed Stark, "We are ready to move Dr. Tate out."

Stark looked pleased, "Proceed."

Connor winked at Claire and walked out.

Stark smiled at Claire, "Shall we?" Stark got up and moved over to Claire. She stood and walked out of the office.

****

"They are moving out, sir, you were right." The dominant announced into his cell phone.

"Good. Keep me informed of their movements. If our information is correct from our insider, Fawkes will be in place to acquire Dr. Tate." Lewis said.

"Yes sir." The dominant followed the convoy into the night.

****

Darien watched as the truck made a stop. He saw in his mind two cryopods and six guards. One of the cryopods was already in use and he knew that Ed was in that one. The limo behind the truck came to a stop. He watched as Stark got out of the limo along with Connor and Claire. Darien smiled, 'Revenge is a dish best served cold.'

**** Stark nodded to Connor, "Get ready. I'm sure he'll be here," Stark paused to look around, "If he's not here already." Stark got back into the limo and motioned the driver to proceed to the vantage point so he can view his victory from a safe place. He'll gloat in Darien's face later when the quicksilver is being pumped out of his head. The thoughts of Darien in agony sent a warm rush through his body. This was the day he waited for. "Yes, sir." Connor grabbed Claire and proceeded to take her to the truck. Once the back door was opened and a ladder was in place, he pushed Claire towards it, "Get in." Claire climbed into the back of the truck. Connor ordered his men to prepare the trap for Darien. They had a short time to prepare themselves. Darien should arrive at any moment. One of the men jumped out of the truck to secure the controls on the remote detonators for the truck. After a few minutes, the other two men prepared their firearms and other weapons that were stored under the carriage of the truck towards the first set of tires. Claire sat near Ed's cryopod. It was difficult for her to see him through all of the ice on the inside of the glass. She wanted nothing more than to be able to touch him and hear his laugh and see him smile again. She hoped her act in Stark's office convinced him that she had spoken to Darien and not someone else. The timer that Stark had installed on Ed's cyropod showed that time was nearly up. If Hobbes didn't get there soon, she may never see Ed again. She had no idea how to unfreeze him after the 48 hours were up.

Claire had an idea, but it all depended on how soon Hobbes and Tom showed up. She would have to wait for the right moment and then she would put her plan in motion.

Connor completed his work on the controls of the empty cryopod. He smiled at Claire and jumped out of the truck. He looked around. He noticed none of his men returned. "Rychek....Petry...." Before he called out his last man's name, he felt a cool breeze on his neck. "I guess your spidey sense is on the fritz," Darien whispered in his ear threateningly. He shook off the quicksilver, "Let's get ready to rumble."

Stark watched from his vantage point, he had seen the men go down and tried to contact Connor, but he was too late when he saw Darien appear. He had been worried that his plan may fail, but with Connor fighting Darien, it wouldn't be a contest.

Claire heard Darien's voice and she got up to see. To her surprise there he was, "Bobby must have found him." She smiled and went over to Ed's cryopod. She had studied the one they had for Adam Reese, so she knew the mechanics behind it.

Claire pushed a couple buttons and the unfreezing process started. She watched as the freezing vapors seemed to be sucked out of the chamber. The ice on the inside started to melt.

Outside, Darien severely beat up on Connor. "You know, I remember you kicking my ass all the time," Darien sneered at Connor.

"It's not over yet," Connor winced in pain.

Darien smiled, "This is just too easy." Darien waited for Connor to attack him, but it never came. Instead, Connor took off running as best he could. "I guess he's right, it's not over. We fight another day, my friend. You can count on it." Darien turned his attention to the truck, "Now to see what my Keeper is up to with her lover boy."

Darien climbed into the back of the truck, "Am I too late?"

Claire hugged Darien, "No, I've started the unfreezing process already. How did you get away?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later. Right now, lets just concentrate on Ed," Darien watched as Claire nodded and continued to monitor Ed.

Darien kept his shield up. He knew that Hobbes and the other would be here soon, he read that from Claire. The last thing he needed was for Tom to sense him and that ruin the whole plan.

The lid opened and Claire immediately wrapped Ed in a blanket, "We need to warm up his body some more."

Darien smiled at the perfect opportunity, "I can take care of that."

Claire stepped aside. Darien lifted Ed out of the cryopod and let the quicksilver flow over both of them. Claire smiled, "Very good, Darien. The insulating polymer will hold in your body heat. I'll see if I can find another blanket to wrap him up in."

"Okay, Claire, you do that," Darien's tone was half hearted.

Claire stopped for a moment and turned around, "Are you okay?"

There was no answer, only the sound of foot steps on the ladder. Claire stood at the back of the truck, "Darien?"

No answer.

"Darien!"

Claire saw a pair of thermals on the floor of the truck. She put them on and looked around. Darien and Ed were no where to be seen. Fear ran through her body, "Oh no." She jumped from the truck and yelled out Darien's name again. The only sound she heard was a car speeding off in the distance.

****

Hobbes, Tom and the others reached the rendezvous point where Stark was supposed to meet Darien. "This doesn't look good, my friend," Hobbes said looking around. They walked cautiously towards the truck. Sloan looked at Tom, "Do you sense anything?"

Tom raised a brow as he reached out to survey the area, "One survivor in the truck. Everyone else is dead."

Hobbes, Tom and Ray all had their guns drawn as the approached the truck. Hobbes mouthed to the others, "One.two.three!" They jumped and raised their weapons.

"Freeze!" Hobbes yelled. He slowly lowered his weapon when he saw Claire standing by an open cryopod. "Claire?"

Claire turned and looked at Hobbes, her eyes swollen from crying, "He took him, Bobby. He killed them and then took him."

Sloan came to the back of the truck. "Who did this?" Sloan asked.

"Darien," Claire said.

Hobbes got up into truck and looked at the cyropod, "This one was in use." Hobbes put his arm around Claire's shoulder.

Tom helped Sloan into the truck. She walked over to where Claire and Hobbes were standing, "These look like."

Claire reached into the pod and picked up the puka shell necklace, "Ed was in this one. I saw it when Stark had him frozen."

Sloan covered her mouth, "Oh my God, no, not Ed."

"Okay, look you all are going to have to explain this," Ray said looking at the pods. "These look like a couple of coffins to me."

"Have you heard of cyrogenics?" Claire questioned still holding onto the necklace.

"You're talking about freezing people?" Ray answered.

"Chrysalis uses these cryopods to freeze people in the hope of reviving them in the future. They've developed a way to do this successfully." Claire said.

"Wait.you mean to tell me that Dr. Tate was frozen?" Ray asked.

"Yep.just like all the others." Hobbes added.

"Others? And here I thought that this whole dominant thing was about as weird as it could get.then I meet you people and weird just goes right out the window." Ray commented.

"You think this is weird, you should have been with us the time that Bigfoot wanted to mate with Fawkes." Hobbes said.

Tom, Sloan and Ray all turned to Hobbes and shot him an astonished look. Hobbes glanced back, "It's true, tell 'em Keepie."

"Not now, Bobby." Claire put the necklace on. The others watched.

"Okay, how did Fawkes know to meet Stark here?" Hobbes asked.

Sloan's phone rang at that moment. She picked it up, it was Walter. A horrified look came across her face as Walter informed her that the lab had been destroyed by a fire and everything was lost. She closed her phone and just stared for a moment.

Tom put his hand on her shoulder, "What is it, Sloan?"

"It's the lab.it's gone.everything is gone." Sloan sounded like someone close to her had died.

"What?" Ray asked.

"The lab.it caught on fire, all our research, everything is gone." Sloan started to cry. Tom held her tight.

****

Ed woke up and felt a presence next to him. His eyes focused on the familiar face, "Darien?"

"Yeah, it's me. You gave me quite a scare." Darien said.

"What year is it?" Ed asked.

Darien smiled, "Don't worry, its still 2003. You were only frozen for a day."

Ed looked suspiciously around the room, "Where am I?"

"Well, you're not at home and not at the lab because I destroyed the lab." Darien said with a slight smirk on his face.

Ed looked shock, "Wait, did you just say that you destroyed the lab?"

Darien smiled and leaned over Ed, "I sure did." He grabbed Ed by his shirt and roughly hoisted him from the bed.

They were eye to eye so fast Ed was dizzy from the sudden movement, "Darien.what's wrong." Realization hit Ed when his eyes focused on Darien's eyes. "Oh my God!"

Darien jerked his head to one side and smiled. He threw Ed to the floor quickly with his cat like reflexes. Ed looked up and saw the look on Darien's face, "Darien, you don't have to do this.I can help you."

"Too late for that now, Ed," Darien said Ed's name with a harsh tone. "Besides, I don't want your help or Claire's for that matter.I like the new me after all."

Ed tried to scoot away but Darien caught his legs and spun him over on his stomach. He felt Darien's weight on his back, "What are you doing?"

"Tying you up," Darien grabbed Ed's arms and tied them together tightly. He watched Ed's face grimace from the pain and that made him smile even more. "There are some people who want to meet you." When Darien was done he lifted Ed off the floor and they faced each other again.

"You betrayed me.us." Ed said accusingly. "How long were you pretending to be friends, to be brothers?"

Darien patted Ed's face with the palm of his hand, "Everything from before wasn't an act. Let's just say I had an epiphany and go with that, okay?" Darien pushed Ed forward and they left the room in silence.

****

Ed was face to face with two large double doors. They opened and Darien pushed him inside. Darien stopped pushing Ed when they reached the center of the room. Ed looked around, "What do you want from me?"

Darien punched Ed in the kidney area and he dropped to his knees, "Where are your manners?" Darien bent down and grabbed Ed by his shirt and lifted him up to a standing position.

"So, you're Dr. Ed Tate, the one that Dr. Copeland spoke so highly about. Your resemblance to Agent Fawkes is remarkable.almost as if you two were clones. Like Lynch."

It was at that moment that Ed knew where he was. He turned to face Darien, "You brought me to the High Council.Why?"

"Relax, Ed. They just want to talk to you, they want Sloan killed." Darien looked at his watch, "Hmm.speaking of. Sorry, bro, but it's time for me to disappear." Darien chuckled, ".that was funny wasn't it?"

Ed looked at the Council members than back at Darien, "No.no you wouldn't?"

Darien walked away as he whistled. Ed tried to run after him but hands grabbed him, "Darien! NO!!!" Ed twisted his torso trying to break free but the hands on him were too strong and they held Ed in place. He let out one last plea before the doors shut, "Darien!!!" Ed's head fell forward and he stopped his fight, "God, no.please."

"Hello again, Dr. Tate."

Ed was turned around and stared into Lewis' face, "Damn you."

Lewis smiled. "Now Dr. Tate, someone in your position should use proper language."

"Okay, you're like the second person that has commented on my language and you know what? I don't care. You're going to kill me anyway, so I might as well be upfront with the way I feel."

"Dr. Tate, we've never had any plans to kill you, only Drs. Ann Coulter and Sloan Parker. You however, we've been watching ever since you worked with Dr. Ian Copeland. He said that killing you would be a waste and that we could benefit from someone like you." Lewis said.

"You know I would never voluntarily betray my people. I think I proved that already." Ed said stoically.

"Yes, that you have, no matter." Lewis turned and headed for the double doors, "You will." The doors closed behind him.

Ed was turned around again to face the council. "I think I was better off frozen," he mumbled to himself.

****

Stark stood before Sharon giving her a full report on what happened. Sharon had been listening intently.

"Fawkes was able to overpower my men and take Dr. Tate. From what I've read from Dr. Tate's notes, he seems to have the ability to interrupt electrical impulses in the brain. I thought I had found a way around that."

"You thought? Your thinking cost us Dr. Tate. Not to mention your failure again at apprehending Darien Fawkes. They are on to you by now and will take extra precautions with their computer securities." Sharon got up and walked up to Stark, "Don't fail me again." She walked out.

"Believe me, I have no intentions of failing again," Stark said with a vengeance.

****

Walter and Sloan walked through what remained of the lab. It was all gone. All the work and information accumulated was all gone. They would have to start from scratch. Walter hoped that Ed had enough information stored on his laptop at his apartment.

Sloan looked like everything was hopeless. "Ed is still missing, Darien's lost control, what do we do?"

"I don't know, Sloan." Walter sounded defeated. "Lewis has really thought this through."

"Do you think Darien did this?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. I think he was here last night while we were all in my office. He must have set the fire alarm off. When we left, he took the address. He knew exactly where Stark was going to take Ed."

"Do you think." Sloan trailed off. She couldn't say it.

"In Darien's state of mind, he's very capable."

Tom and the others came in and surveyed the damage. Hobbes kicked over some burnt equipment, "This looks like something Fawkes would do when he's doing the red eyed mambo."

Sloan looked at Hobbes, "What would he do to Ed?"

Hobbes thought back to all the times when Darien was quicksilver mad, "Well, actually that would depend on what stage he was in. Red eye stage, he would just kill him. Silver eye stage he would play with him like a cat plays with a mouse and when he got bored, then he'd kill him. But we're not talking about quicksilver madness here are we?"

"Sloan, I don't think that Lewis would want Ed dead. He's too smart of a human. Dr. Ian Copeland tried to get Ed to join him, I'm sure that Lewis will do the same." Tom said.

"Like before," Sloan's eyes were watering.

"Yes, like before," Tom's tone was serious. He wasn't sure if Lewis would try to use that drug on him again or just go ahead and alter Ed's DNA. He knew that Darien would be regarded as a predator and that worried him. Darien was too strong and his masking capabilities exceeded Tom's or even the top Chameleon for that matter. And not to mention that Darien did have an advantage over him, for all he knew, Darien could be with them now and he would have no way of knowing until it was too late.

"Ah, hello.what about the broad in the limo?" Hobbes asked. "When Fawkes was first taken, he was acting all weird and stuff. Like he was drunk."

"You mean like she was able to interrupt his electrical impulses in his mind. Like what Kevin did to me and Darien at the military base." Sloan said. "Is that possible? Maybe she used another dominant."

"I don't think so. Darien's mind is too strong for a dominant to interrupt his brain waves for him to react physically." Tom added.

"A weapon then." Sloan turned towards Walter, "She did have this lab locked up, who knows what information she got from our research and you."

"It's possible, I'll see if I can contact her and find out. If we can have this weapon." Walter stopped.

"We can use it on Darien. But you can't be near it, we may need you." Sloan said looking at Tom.

Tom nodded.

*****

Lewis smiled at Darcy, "The human mind is so fragile. Breaking Dr. Tate is going to be easier than I thought. Nothing hurts more than having a brother betray you. Tell the guard to move him into isolation. No food or water until I say so and then get yourself ready for your performance."

"Yes, sir." Darcy answered and quickly walked away.

Lewis turned his senses back on Ed, "You care too much, Dr. Tate. When I've taken away everything you care about, you'll be ours to control."

Ed was led down a series of halls and then some stairs. It was getting darker as they went. He figured that the dominants had taken him below ground. 'Lewis must have programmed Darien like he did Tom,' Ed thought to himself as he walked.

Ed didn't say a word until he saw the sliding metal door. It slide open like a sliding glass door to reveal a room barely large enough for a person of average height to move around. Ed being over six feet in height wouldn't be able to stand without hitting his head on the ceiling. 'Solitary confinement,' Ed thought to himself as fear gripped him. He began to fight. Twisting his body and trying to get traction with his shoes on the concrete floor. "NO!! NO!! Don't put me in there!" Ed yelled out.

Another guard came to help and opened the door. Ed used the leverage from the guards holding him and hoisted his legs up in the air and planted a foot on either side of the door frame. He pushed back with all his strength, "I'm not going in there!"

The third guard punched Ed in the solar plexus. His body went limp and his legs fell to the ground. They untied his hands, and tossed him into the room and onto the floor. Ed moaned as he tried to get up. He heard the metal door slide shut then lock behind him. Ed staggered to his feet and banged on the door, no one listened. He slid down the door and sat on the floor, fighting back the nausea. Ed looked around the room. The walls were solid concrete and tan in color. There were no windows, no bed, no toilet, and no sink in fact, the room was completely empty except for him.

Ed didn't have far to go to reach the back of the tiny cell. He leaned up against the wall, "I've gone from a freezer coffin to a concrete coffin.just great!" Ed tested the height of the cell and was barely able to stand up straight, "Confinement.this is meant for a dominant, they hate confinement like this. Well, I'm not all that thrilled about it either." Ed sat back down and tried to focus on something else, but the memories rushed back at him.

A nice sunny day on the Kona Coast of Hawaii and Ed was on vacation from just finishing his doctorate. He had spent the good part of the morning surfing and now it was time for some snorkeling.

Ed had trained himself to hold his breath for a long time, it took time and practice but he was able to do it. He took a deep breath and dived underwater to check out the ocean bottom. He had gone down further than expected and an underwater current had taken him within a cavern.

The strong current held him there, trapped underwater; his left heel got stuck in a crevice. He struggled to free himself and the walls of the cavern seemed to close in on him. The air in his lungs was nearly gone as he watched bubbles escaped his mouth as he tried to scream.

In the small cell, Ed covered his head with his hands as he tried to escape the vision. To this day he still doesn't know how he broke free of the death grip the cavern had on him. The only thing that remained from his near death was mild claustrophobia. Elevators bothered him more than anything. At least the lab at the University was on the second floor. It didn't take long for him to run up the stairs.

Now, he found himself in a cell that was barely high enough for him to stand and worst of all, no windows. Ed felt his heart start to beat hard and his chest became heavy. He began to sweat as it became more difficult for him to breathe.

****

Darcy lay on Darien's lap facing him as his hand ran through her hair. Her hand played with the front of his pants. A soft animal growl escaped his lips, "Keep that up and you'll be late."

"Hmm.maybe that's a good thing," Darcy started to unbuckle Darien's pants and then slowly pulled down the zipper.

"Darcy," Darien moaned and rested his head on the back of the couch. It didn't take long for Darien to cover the both of them with a silvery blanket. "I hate that Lewis has you going to Ed," he said in between gasps from Darcy's light stroking.

"If he really loves Claire like you say, I doubt it will get very far. I guess we'll find out won't we," Darcy said as she firmly held Darien.

"If he does, then I'll." Darien growled as Darcy forced him into non-verbal communication.

Since her mouth was busy, Darcy sent Darien a mental message, 'So territorial, you really are a dominant now aren't you?"

Darien groaned his answer.

****

The cell door opened. A guard came in and looked at the pathetic sight before him. He smiled, grabbed Ed by his hair and dragged him out of the cell. "You humans are so weak," he said vehemently as he threw Ed to the floor.

The guard looked down at him, "This is going to be easier than I thought." He picked up Ed and pushed him up against the wall.

"Don't put me back in there," Ed pleaded.

"Just wanted to give you taste of what Lewis went through and even Tom. You didn't like it did you?" The guard hissed in Ed's ear.

"No, I'm." Ed stopped; he didn't want the dominant to know his weaknesses.

The guard pushed Ed harder into the wall, "What.you're what?"

"I didn't like it," Ed said hoping that that was what the dominant wanted to hear.

The guard stepped back and Ed turned around slowly to face the slightly shorter dominant. He motioned for the other two guards to drag Ed away.

****

Darien sat with Lewis and they made plans to bring Sloan to the compound. Darcy walked to the new cell where Ed had been transferred to. It was time for to see him again after all these years. 'What a surprise he's going to have,' she thought to herself as she prepared to play the victim.

**** Ed was brought to another cell and was pushed inside. He watched as the door was closed, "Just frickin' great!" he yelled out loud. As he started to sit down using the wall for support when he spotted a pair of eyes that stared back at him. 'It can't be,' Ed thought to himself.

"Darcy?" Ed asked not really believing who he might be looking at.

The young girl looked at the man across the room. "Dr. Tate, is it really you?"

"I don't believe it.I thought that you."Ed watched as Darcy crawled over to him cautiously.

Darcy reached Ed and started to touch his face, "It is you!" She looked in his eyes and smiled. 'Time to put this act into high gear', she thought to herself as she collapsed into his arms. Her head rested on his shoulder. She felt him put his arms around her and hold her tight. "Did you come to rescue me again?" she asked.

Ed nearly banged his head against the wall. The last time he had seen Darcy and Kelly was when he, Tom and Sloan had rescued them from the cave where Lynch held them. "I'm sorry, Darcy, but it looks like this time we both need to be rescued."

Darcy squeezed Ed tighter. "What do they want with us?"

"I don't know. Darcy, I have something to tell you," Ed said sadly. He lifted her chin up so he could look straight in her face when he broke the bad news.

"What is it, Dr. Tate?"

Ed smiled, "Please, call me Ed." He paused and watched her nod in agreement. "Darcy, while you and Kelly were in the cave, Lynch did something to Kelly. Now, what I have to say may seem odd but you have got to believe me." Ed waited and Darcy nodded again. Ed continued, "Lynch and the people who have us prisoners are an evolved form of man. They are called dominants and they mean to wipe us out. After the cave, did you have any headaches or stomach aches?"

"Ahh, no.why?"

Ed sighed, "Okay.that's good. Lynch tried to change Kelly's DNA, to make her like them. But it failed, Darcy.I'm sorry.Kelly didn't make it."

"You.mean.she died?"

"Yes.I'm so sorry; I know that you two were friends. She said had told me that she tried to find you but you were gone. I thought that maybe Lynch had tried to convert you too and you had died also. Are you sure nothing happened to you in the cave?" Ed felt bad having to be the one to tell her all this but it had to be done.

"I'm sure, Ed.nothing happened to me. I can't believe this, she didn't want to go with Lynch.we had decided to only take rides with families.I killed her." Darcy lowered her head to rest on Ed's chest again.

Ed wrapped his arms her, "No you didn't, Darcy. You had no idea what was going to happen. I'm sure that Kelly didn't blame you." Ed looked around the room again, "How long have you been here?"

"I guess five years or close to it. I haven't always been here; they've moved me around a lot. They used to take blood from me but not anymore. Are they going to kill us?"

"I don't know." Ed thought about what Darcy said, he stared up at the ceiling. There was a vent but it was too high for either of them to reach, even if he had her stand on his shoulders. Besides, from where he was sitting, it looked too small for her to crawl through. "Kelly's conversion failed.they may have taken you to run some tests on their serum. Instead of testing it on you like they did Kelly, they just used your blood. They stopped taking blood from you when they perfected the serum."

"You think they will use it on us now?" Darcy was still resting her head on Ed's chest.

"I don't know.I hope not." Ed wasn't sure what Lewis had planned or what he had done to Darien to change him. All he could think of was that Lewis used the same mind control technique on Darien that he used on Tom.

"What are we going to do?" Darcy asked. She was playing her part and playing it well.

"I wish I knew. Guess we'll have to wait for the Calvary to come." Ed started to rub her back to comfort Darcy. The two stayed like that for a long time. The room was kept lit and with no windows, there was no way for him to tell what time it was. His escape from the compound in Alaska was easy, this would be harder to accomplish. At least with Dr. Copeland, Ed knew what they wanted from him, but this waiting was going to drive him nuts. Was Lewis going to try to convert him after all or was he going to kill him. The wait was going to drive nuts, 'Just get this over with.whatever it is, just do it,' he thought to himself.

The lights dimmed to give an appearance of a moonlit night. Darcy lifted her head, "What's going on?"

"Looks like they're in control of nature in here, guess it's night time.for us anyway." Ed's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and he could see Darcy staring at him. "You okay?"

"Yeah, now that you're here," Darcy leaned forward and lightly kissed Ed on his lips, "Thanks."

Ed was surprised at the gesture and figured that she was only showing her appreciation. She was scared and she needed somebody. "Sure anytime.uhmmm.lets try to get some sleep." Ed lay down on the hard floor, he turned onto his side. Darcy was facing him; she curled up into a ball and pushed herself up against his body. Ed was going to say something but decided not too. The poor kid must have gone through hell the past five years and being alone didn't help. Ed decided that he would do his best to help her and if she needed the closeness then he would provide that feeling of protection for her.

As sleep finally claimed Ed, he hoped that Tom would be able to protect Sloan from Darien.

Darcy sensed that Ed had finally fallen into a deep sleep. Considering that he was on a hard cold floor it was remarkable. She lightly ran her hand over his chest and purred, "You and Darien are more similar than I had imagined. Nice, very nice, for a human." Darcy rolled Ed onto his back and straddled him. She bent down and slowly placed soft kisses around his mouth. Her hands roamed their way up under his t-shirt as her tongue traced his jaw line.

Ed squirmed at the sensation and with his eyes still closed, he moaned. "Claire."

Darcy smiled, 'Time to move this up a notch,' she said to herself. Her mouth covered his and her tongue demanded entry.

Ed unconsciously opened his mouth. His arms wrapped around Darcy and he held her tight to his body. His hands ran through her hair. He lifted his head slightly into the kiss and their lips pushed together even more. Ed moaned as he felt a hand unbutton his pants and then the zipper slowly made its way down. He arched his back as a hand slipped inside and massaged him through his boxers.

Ed opened his eyes and everything came back to him, Stark, the cryopod, Darien, the cell and Darcy. His mind went into overdrive. He grabbed Darcy's shoulders, "Stop! What are you doing, Darcy?"

Darcy bent down and whispered in his ear, "Doesn't it feel good, Ed?" She nipped at his ear lightly eliciting a soft growl from Ed.

"Uhhhh." Ed tried to get control of himself and he found it difficult. Darcy kept squeezing and pulling on him through his boxers. Finally, he sat up and grabbed her hands, "Darcy, I can't do this.not with you.I'm in love with someone else and I won't betray her."

Darcy became angry at Ed's refusal. She hit him in the face with her right hand. Ed's head hit the concrete wall. Darcy grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him, "You will learn not to say no!"

Ed looked at her dizzily, "Darcy?" Before Ed could react Darcy stood up and kicked him in his ribs. Ed hit the wall again and slide down the wall to the floor. The lights came on and Darcy stopped her assault when Lewis walked into the room.

Lewis spied the trail of blood leading down the wall to where Ed lay, half dazed and gasping for air. Lewis smiled, "Dr. Tate, I guess Tom never told you about our women. They don't like to be turned down when they're ready to procreate."

Ed looked up at Lewis, "Your women.you mean that."

"Yes, Dr. Tate, Darcy is one of us.has been for quite sometime." Lewis walked towards Ed, "You were right you know, we learned a lot from our failure with Kelly. I took Darcy and studied her to perfect the serum. She was the first human to be successfully converted. Now I bet you're wondering if Darien is the second.no, he isn't, just the first of his kind."

"And what 'kind' would that be?" Ed managed to ask.

"He's the perfect predator or assassin, which ever way you want to say it." Lewis took Darcy by her hand and led her out. The door locked behind them.

Ed took his shirt off and applied pressure to the wound on his head which throbbed like someone was using a jackhammer to get inside his head, "Why do people find it necessary to clobber me on my head?" His ribs hurt and he hoped that none were broken.

All that paled of course to Lewis' announcement that Darien was a predator, a hunter. Ed had heard Tom talk about them. They were supposedly more aggressive than the Chameleons. Ruthless assassins, trained experts in terrorism and normally used when a quick kill was necessary.

The door to the cell opened. Ed rolled his eyes, "Now what?" He looked up and recognized the tall black man, although he hasn't seen him in years, since Alaska.

"Nice to see you again, Dr. Tate. I don't think Dr. Copeland had the chance to introduce us, I'm Karl Hunter and I'm going to make your stay a living hell."

TBC.