Thanks to those who submitted reviews of the first chapter. I really
appreciate (read: maniacally check for) any responses. I do have some idea
where this is going, but if you have any odd requests, let me know.
Disclaimer: Still not mine-with the exception of all the unfortunate souls working for Project Icarus.
******** NATURE OR NURTURE: PAPER TRAIL
Brennan and Shalimar walked up to Lily Cross's apartment building, which was pleasantly situated in a faceless, middle-class section of the city. From the playground across the street came the gleeful shrieks of happy children. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary.
With a quick zap, Brennan let them into the building. It was silent as a tomb. "Just your average Wednesday afternoon," he muttered under his breath. "Pay no attention to the body stashed in the alley."
Shal threw him a warning glare. They proceeded up the elevator to Lily's apartment, unit 509. The door was no problem for Brennan, and in seconds, the pair dipped under the police tape and into the apartment.
The first thing Brennan noticed was the marked lack of anything personal. There were no photos, no posters, no knick-knacks. Nothing but a spartan arrangement of Ikea furniture in pale wood finish. White curtains, stainless steel kitchen. Everything neat as a pin. It gave him the creeps.
"It looks like no one even lived here," said Shalimar, taking in the plain white sofa and empty coffee table. "Like a shell."
Brennan walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, revealing ... nothing. Two bottles of mineral water and an apple. "Even Adam would find this place too minimalist."
Shalimar walked into the bedroom, and then called out, "Um, Bren, if you think the rest of the apartment was scary, you should see this."
Lily's bedroom housed nothing but a floor lamp and a bare twin mattress. Brennan didn't get it-where had the three blood samples come from? The whole place was sterile as an operating room. Meanwhile, Shalimar had gone stiff next to him. She looked past him, at the door. "Did you hear that?"
Immediately, Brennan fell into fighting stance.
Shal rolled her eyes. "No, not people." She walked over to the door and began prodding at it. After a few seconds, she popped open a tiny compartment at the base of the paneling. A small sheaf of letters spilled out onto the floor. "Bingo," she breathed.
Leaning down, Brennan snagged on of the letters and opened it. It read:
Dear Lily,
I spent this morning watching a group of mothers sobbing into the rubble that used to be their children's school. I didn't sympathize with their pain. I didn't think about them sifting through the dust and finding their son's toe or daughter's arm. All I could think of was McKay's smiling face when I gave my report.
I cannot go on like this. You and Tyler know what I do, how I live. So you will understand when I tell you that I have to put a stop this meaningless existence. I trust you to keep silent, but Tyler is another matter altogether. I hope that you can convince him to let it go, to let me go. Maybe it would just be easier to tell him I'm dead.
Give my love to the baby, when it comes. Keep it as far away from people like me as possible. And keep it away from McKay. You know what he'll do to it.
Stay safe. Stay alive.
Seth
"Holy shit, Bren," murmured Shalimar, who had read the letter over his shoulder. "What were these people doing?"
"I think it was exactly what Adam said. De-stabilizing governments. Special ops." And if Emma was right-and she always was-Adam knew more about Project Icarus than he let on. A lot more.
Emma. At the mere thought of her, Brennan grinned. It would be a long time before he forgot the image of her nearly naked body, the clean lines of her back and legs. Her sleek little breasts. For the thousandth time since finding out about her powers, Brennan wondered what it would have been like if Emma wasn't an empath.
But she was. And Brennan had a deep-seated aversion to emotional attachments of the romantic variety. That's why he liked Shalimar-she was drop-dead gorgeous with all of the sensibilities of a man. Flirting here and there meant nothing. They were friends, and they both understood that. But with Emma, there would be nowhere to hide. She would sense what a shallow bastard he was (if he was honest with himself, she probably already knew) and hate him for it.
So he sat back and fostered an easy friendship. A stray lustful thought now and again was fine; Emma knew she was sexy as hell. She probably picked up stuff like that all the time from strangers. No harm, no foul.
"Enjoying your time in dream-land, there, tiger?" Shalimar's voice cut into his thoughts, brought him back to the letter clutched in his hand. "If you're done contemplating the workings of the universe, we'd better get these back to Sanctuary."
"Sorry about that," he said, slightly embarrassed. He carefully tucked the bundle of letters inside his leather jacket.
"No problem." She tossed her long blond hair and eyed him thoughtfully. "We'll just pretend that you were working on a scene for your novel."
They walked out of the apartment, pausing only for a second as Brennan re- latched the door.
Neither one of them heard the man slither silently out of the crawl space above Lily's empty closet. Neither could have seen the rage that streaked across his dark features when he saw that they had found the letters.
********
Emma's smile had long since faded from a perky grin into a forced half- grimace. Thank God she could make sure people still thought they saw a happy Emma. She was currently spending minute thirty-seven in the company of one Officer Miles Halston, a rotund desk sergeant with mild halitosis and a severe lisp.
Where was central casting when you needed them?
"Tho, I told Mrth. Walterth that we wouldn't be able to rethcue Mittenth until the Fire Department thowed up with their thpethial equipment. But, thee inthithted that I help Mittenth then and there ..." Officer Halston paused to peer at Emma's chest, running his hand absently through his thinning brown hair.
Whatever Jesse had found in the police records had better be good, because anything less would probably send Emma over the edge. She toyed with the idea of projecting an image of herself seated across from the pudgy cop and getting a glass of water, but it wouldn't be wise to leave him chattering away to himself should anyone walk into the room.
"Then Mittenth actually fell out of the tree onto the rothe buth-"
Emma actually felt herself loosing IQ points. The man was practically speaking a foreign language. His emotions, however, were crystal clear. The little man was stewing in his own hormones. Emma was afraid he was going to try to touch her leg.
And then she would be forced to hurt him.
Under her disbelieving gaze, a fleshy little hand crawled across the couch the occupied toward her still-pristine skirt. Emma glared at it and projected intense itchiness. She watched with mild satisfaction as Officer Halston snatched his hand back and began scratching furiously. Heightened powers did have their benefits.
Another five minutes passed before Emma sensed Jesse waiting in the hall, brimming with impatience and frustration. She quickly made Halston "remember" something urgent awaiting him at his desk and walked out the door.
"Tell me that you found something good, Jesse, because after that-" She broke off and gazed at the door with loathing.
"You won't believe what I found. But let's get out of here before we discuss anything."
Once they were safely away from the police station, Jesse began to tell Emma what he'd discovered. "Apparently, they don't know anything about Project Icarus. As far the police are concerned, Lily was a government contracted computer programmer with a bad case of paranoid delusion. Two weeks before she was found dead, Lily hired a professional bodyguard named Harrison van Dorn to accompany her everywhere. She purchased three guns in the past month, two of which were found on her body in the alley. The third is still missing, but obviously, it's not the murder weapon. The file also mentioned one boyfriend, a man named Tyler Verlaine. Three guesses what Tyler does for a living?"
Emma quirked an eyebrow. "Computer programmer?"
"Gold star for you, Ms. deLauro. Conveniently, there was no current address for Verlaine." Jesse took a breath. "It turns out there was a witness in the alley. She didn't actually see the murder, but she saw a tall, dark-haired man walking away from the scene. This is the sketch the police have of him." Jesse handed her a computer printout.
Emma looked down and felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. She would have known that face anywhere-it was the face that haunted her dreams. It wasn't possible ...
Disclaimer: Still not mine-with the exception of all the unfortunate souls working for Project Icarus.
******** NATURE OR NURTURE: PAPER TRAIL
Brennan and Shalimar walked up to Lily Cross's apartment building, which was pleasantly situated in a faceless, middle-class section of the city. From the playground across the street came the gleeful shrieks of happy children. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary.
With a quick zap, Brennan let them into the building. It was silent as a tomb. "Just your average Wednesday afternoon," he muttered under his breath. "Pay no attention to the body stashed in the alley."
Shal threw him a warning glare. They proceeded up the elevator to Lily's apartment, unit 509. The door was no problem for Brennan, and in seconds, the pair dipped under the police tape and into the apartment.
The first thing Brennan noticed was the marked lack of anything personal. There were no photos, no posters, no knick-knacks. Nothing but a spartan arrangement of Ikea furniture in pale wood finish. White curtains, stainless steel kitchen. Everything neat as a pin. It gave him the creeps.
"It looks like no one even lived here," said Shalimar, taking in the plain white sofa and empty coffee table. "Like a shell."
Brennan walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, revealing ... nothing. Two bottles of mineral water and an apple. "Even Adam would find this place too minimalist."
Shalimar walked into the bedroom, and then called out, "Um, Bren, if you think the rest of the apartment was scary, you should see this."
Lily's bedroom housed nothing but a floor lamp and a bare twin mattress. Brennan didn't get it-where had the three blood samples come from? The whole place was sterile as an operating room. Meanwhile, Shalimar had gone stiff next to him. She looked past him, at the door. "Did you hear that?"
Immediately, Brennan fell into fighting stance.
Shal rolled her eyes. "No, not people." She walked over to the door and began prodding at it. After a few seconds, she popped open a tiny compartment at the base of the paneling. A small sheaf of letters spilled out onto the floor. "Bingo," she breathed.
Leaning down, Brennan snagged on of the letters and opened it. It read:
Dear Lily,
I spent this morning watching a group of mothers sobbing into the rubble that used to be their children's school. I didn't sympathize with their pain. I didn't think about them sifting through the dust and finding their son's toe or daughter's arm. All I could think of was McKay's smiling face when I gave my report.
I cannot go on like this. You and Tyler know what I do, how I live. So you will understand when I tell you that I have to put a stop this meaningless existence. I trust you to keep silent, but Tyler is another matter altogether. I hope that you can convince him to let it go, to let me go. Maybe it would just be easier to tell him I'm dead.
Give my love to the baby, when it comes. Keep it as far away from people like me as possible. And keep it away from McKay. You know what he'll do to it.
Stay safe. Stay alive.
Seth
"Holy shit, Bren," murmured Shalimar, who had read the letter over his shoulder. "What were these people doing?"
"I think it was exactly what Adam said. De-stabilizing governments. Special ops." And if Emma was right-and she always was-Adam knew more about Project Icarus than he let on. A lot more.
Emma. At the mere thought of her, Brennan grinned. It would be a long time before he forgot the image of her nearly naked body, the clean lines of her back and legs. Her sleek little breasts. For the thousandth time since finding out about her powers, Brennan wondered what it would have been like if Emma wasn't an empath.
But she was. And Brennan had a deep-seated aversion to emotional attachments of the romantic variety. That's why he liked Shalimar-she was drop-dead gorgeous with all of the sensibilities of a man. Flirting here and there meant nothing. They were friends, and they both understood that. But with Emma, there would be nowhere to hide. She would sense what a shallow bastard he was (if he was honest with himself, she probably already knew) and hate him for it.
So he sat back and fostered an easy friendship. A stray lustful thought now and again was fine; Emma knew she was sexy as hell. She probably picked up stuff like that all the time from strangers. No harm, no foul.
"Enjoying your time in dream-land, there, tiger?" Shalimar's voice cut into his thoughts, brought him back to the letter clutched in his hand. "If you're done contemplating the workings of the universe, we'd better get these back to Sanctuary."
"Sorry about that," he said, slightly embarrassed. He carefully tucked the bundle of letters inside his leather jacket.
"No problem." She tossed her long blond hair and eyed him thoughtfully. "We'll just pretend that you were working on a scene for your novel."
They walked out of the apartment, pausing only for a second as Brennan re- latched the door.
Neither one of them heard the man slither silently out of the crawl space above Lily's empty closet. Neither could have seen the rage that streaked across his dark features when he saw that they had found the letters.
********
Emma's smile had long since faded from a perky grin into a forced half- grimace. Thank God she could make sure people still thought they saw a happy Emma. She was currently spending minute thirty-seven in the company of one Officer Miles Halston, a rotund desk sergeant with mild halitosis and a severe lisp.
Where was central casting when you needed them?
"Tho, I told Mrth. Walterth that we wouldn't be able to rethcue Mittenth until the Fire Department thowed up with their thpethial equipment. But, thee inthithted that I help Mittenth then and there ..." Officer Halston paused to peer at Emma's chest, running his hand absently through his thinning brown hair.
Whatever Jesse had found in the police records had better be good, because anything less would probably send Emma over the edge. She toyed with the idea of projecting an image of herself seated across from the pudgy cop and getting a glass of water, but it wouldn't be wise to leave him chattering away to himself should anyone walk into the room.
"Then Mittenth actually fell out of the tree onto the rothe buth-"
Emma actually felt herself loosing IQ points. The man was practically speaking a foreign language. His emotions, however, were crystal clear. The little man was stewing in his own hormones. Emma was afraid he was going to try to touch her leg.
And then she would be forced to hurt him.
Under her disbelieving gaze, a fleshy little hand crawled across the couch the occupied toward her still-pristine skirt. Emma glared at it and projected intense itchiness. She watched with mild satisfaction as Officer Halston snatched his hand back and began scratching furiously. Heightened powers did have their benefits.
Another five minutes passed before Emma sensed Jesse waiting in the hall, brimming with impatience and frustration. She quickly made Halston "remember" something urgent awaiting him at his desk and walked out the door.
"Tell me that you found something good, Jesse, because after that-" She broke off and gazed at the door with loathing.
"You won't believe what I found. But let's get out of here before we discuss anything."
Once they were safely away from the police station, Jesse began to tell Emma what he'd discovered. "Apparently, they don't know anything about Project Icarus. As far the police are concerned, Lily was a government contracted computer programmer with a bad case of paranoid delusion. Two weeks before she was found dead, Lily hired a professional bodyguard named Harrison van Dorn to accompany her everywhere. She purchased three guns in the past month, two of which were found on her body in the alley. The third is still missing, but obviously, it's not the murder weapon. The file also mentioned one boyfriend, a man named Tyler Verlaine. Three guesses what Tyler does for a living?"
Emma quirked an eyebrow. "Computer programmer?"
"Gold star for you, Ms. deLauro. Conveniently, there was no current address for Verlaine." Jesse took a breath. "It turns out there was a witness in the alley. She didn't actually see the murder, but she saw a tall, dark-haired man walking away from the scene. This is the sketch the police have of him." Jesse handed her a computer printout.
Emma looked down and felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. She would have known that face anywhere-it was the face that haunted her dreams. It wasn't possible ...
