Author's Note: ::Doing little dance:: I'm happy about all the reviews I've been getting, I'm loving them all.
Disclaimer: Alright so the superhuman angle is mine, but I swear I'm not the author of the Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew books.
Question: Does anyone know about who really authored the Nancy Drew On Campus Series? I heard that Keene didn't actually write them, that it was a staff of highly respected authors but I don't know if any of it is true. Anyone out there know the truth?
Chapter 15- Sweet Confessions (Sunday)
"There it is again," Nancy announced. "The sound."
Michael frowned, "You're sure it's not just extra feedback."
"Positive."
* * *
"You're a clone," Vanessa said slowly.
Sweet nodded.
"So that guy Victor," Joe said, "he was just doing his job. He was just keeping track of your activities?"
"Yeah but of course I would get the idiot," Sweet said with a humorless laugh.
"So what the hell does that have to do with your father having photos of my family?" Joe asked, once again angry.
Frank stood up, "Yeah, it's not like we're clones."
"Guys get out of there now!"
"What was that?" Vanessa asked.
"I'm wired," Joe answered, "But I didn't know they could talk to me."
"Joe!" Frank recognized Nancy's voice, "Someone out there is tapping the house, they're nearby and getting closer. LEAVE NOW!"
"Where are we supposed to go?" Vanessa asked, alarmed.
"Follow," Joe ordered.
* * *
"They're coming," Michael said, looking at the monitor.
"Good," Nancy said starting the van's engine.
"Damn, whoever it was that was tapping the house is incredibly close."
Nancy picked up a small walkie-talkie, "Hurry up."
"We're here."
Nancy turned to see the five teenagers crawling into the back of the van.
Vanessa looked at the backseat, "Hey Callie's here too."
"Hold on!" Nancy commanded as she hit the accelerator.
* * *
"Mr. Hardy, the residue on the piece of glass Vlores found seems to be a chemical of some sort."
Fenton tightened his grip on his cell phone, "What kind of chemical?"
"What's the lady saying?" Vlores asked.
Fenton silently shooed his younger partner.
"The chemical is not one I've ever come across. So far I've found several different hormones and steroids disguised as memory enhancers."
"Hormones? What kinds?"
"Hormones that to control several different aspects of human behavior and physical traits. Some of them are growth hormones, some of them seem to be designed to make whoever was taking the chemical to become more sensitive. Some could even increase a person's desire for sex."
"You said 'designed.' What makes you think they were designed and not natural?"
"They are too perfect to have occurred in nature, as a doctor that bothers me."
Fenton said nothing.
"Mr. Hardy one more thing."
"What?"
"The residue, it looks like it was a drink."
"I picked up on that Doctor."
"I need more time to analyze this Hardy."
"I understand, call me when you think you've found anything more."
* * *
"Nancy I think we're being followed."
"Yeah Frank I figured that, the same truck has been on us since we left Sweet's house. Just don't let on that you know they're following."
Frank studied Sweet's face, the girl was staring mutely into space. What else had the girl not told them?
"Hey what's going on?" a sleep voice asked.
"Good morning Callie." Vanessa said.
"What's going on?"
"Well," Biff's voice sounded soothing to Vanessa, "We went to Sweet's, she revealed that she's a clone, we had to get out of her house because it was being tapped and now we're being followed by whoever was tapping the house."
"Oh, is that all?" Callie asked in a humorous attempt to break the tense atmosphere.
Joe sat quietly, eyes not straying from the seat in front of him. "Are we clones?"
"What?" Sweet asked.
"You said they kept track of clones, there's a whole timeline for my brother and myself and come to think of it you never did get to explaining why your father had a pictures of us."
"I would have but we had to leave the house in a hurry." Sweet said defensively.
"Well you have the time now so answer!"
"Joe," Vanessa said in a low voice, "back off."
"What?" he shouted at Vanessa, "now you're defending her. She's been lying to me, to you, since she got here and you're defending her!"
"Shut up Joe!"
"Hey, both of you shut up!"
Joe and Vanessa glared angrily at each other.
"It's hard enough to drive under the pressure without the two of you shouting at each other. Now, Sweet will you please answer some of our questions?"
"Fine. Like I was telling you in there, the FBI hired my father to come to Bayport. I know it was to spy on you two but I don't know the details."
"Is that why you became," Joe fought to control his voice, "friends with me?"
"No," Sweet replied quickly, "I was planning on avoiding you completely."
"So you don't know why the FBI is keeping tabs on us?" Frank asked.
"No."
Michael frowned, "Why do you keep calling this man, Colonel Rodriguez your father?"
Sweet looked into his chocolate brown eyes, "That's the role he's played in my life for the last 17 years."
"Who is he to you, really?" Nancy asked.
"He, well you could call him my creator." To relieve herself of the blank stares she continued, "His daughter, I'm his daughter's clone."
"I'm assuming his daughter had diabetes," Vanessa said, "otherwise you wouldn't have the disease, not with being a 'superhuman.'"
Sweet nodded, "But I'm not really a 'superhuman' I'm more like a…defect."
"Explain," Joe demanded.
"The Colonel's daughter was cloned with the intention of becoming one of the strongest of clones but along the way something went wrong with the genetics, I really don't know any of the technical terms, all I know is that they boosted my intelligence but nothing else worked. I didn't get any of the superhuman strength or DNA."
"Superhuman DNA?" Michael asked.
"I don't know what was meant by that but in my files one of their 'Reason's for termination' was that I lacked the DNA. And before you ask, if one is stamped with the reason's for termination label it is because the government has no intention of letting you live. If it wasn't for the Colonel's insistence that I live a normal life with him I might be another discarded government project."
"So, they were going to kill you?" Vanessa asked, horrified.
"Wait, why did they clone the Colonel's daughter to begin with?" Chet asked.
"I honestly don't know, I tried to ask the Colonel about it once but he got angry."
"What do you know about a Jack Maher or Berney Valleys?" Michael asked out of the blue.
Sweet's eyes widened, "I haven't heard those names in years."
"Are you sure?" Nancy asked, "We have witnesses that have linked you to him in the last few months."
"I'm positive."
"Who are they?"
"They're middlemen of sorts, always looking to fix everyone's problems."
"Yeah, yeah," Michael said frustrated, "we figured that much out."
"Why do you ask?"
"I don't think you're in any position to," Joe started to say.
"Joe shut it!"
"Vanessa it's okay," Sweet said calmly.
Nancy sighed and told her the whole story of how she and Michael had ended up in Bayport.
"And they were just standing on the top of the frat house?" Sweet asked, "That sounds a little odd to me."
"Well that's the way it happened," Joe snapped.
Sweet turned angrily to Joe, "Look Joe I haven't actually done anything wrong so will you please just get off my case!"
"Hey it's your father that's involved in this so in a way so are you! Hell you could have told us your father was spying on us!"
"Hey your dad is a part of all of this too!" She screamed back.
Joe was stunned into silence.
"What?" Frank asked.
"I said," Sweet stated with a little more self control, "your father had a hand in all of this too."
"That's impossible," Joe told her, "Our dad would never do anything to put our lives in danger."
"Look, after the Powerhouse experiment the FBI opened up a new case, the BLACK WIDOW."
"What did this one entail?" Frank asked.
"As far as I know it was to catch certain double agents that were involved with the Powerhouse experiments. The leader of these double agents went by the name of Harry Jaswall."
Joe looked at his brother, "Your teacher's last name right?"
Frank nodded.
"I don't know much else except that a Fenton Hardy of the NYPD was called in to investigate."
"Why with the FBI?" Frank asked. "And why wouldn't he have told us?"
Sweet was silent.
Nancy who had been carefully driving the car looked in the rear view mirror, "Um guys I think you should duck."
"Why?" Biff asked.
"Because from the looks of things those guys in the truck behind us have AK 47s and they're about to use them." As Nancy finished her sentence she heard shots ring out.
"Hit the floor!" she heard Joe yell.
"Nancy get down!" Michael screamed.
Nancy got down as low as she possibly could, making sure she could still see above the dashboard, "It's no use," she cried out as she heard a wheel burst from sudden contact with a bullet, "we can't get away!"
"Quick drive into a crowded area!" Joe yelled, "They won't try to kill us in broad daylight!"
Nancy steered the car at high speed into the nearest shopping center parking lot. Surely enough the truck drove past not bothering to finish them off. Turning around in her seat she asked, "Is everyone alright!"
Her response was a shaky "yes," from Callie.
"Good because it looks like we're stuck here."
"What?" Vanessa asked.
"Well the van only has three tires left, it was risky enough driving to the parking lot with three wheels, I'm not willing to risk driving anywhere else."
"Joe, please tell me you keep spare tires in this thing," Frank pleaded.
"Um, the wheel that popped, that was my spare," Joe replied sheepishly.
"Great so we're stuck here," Chet complained.
"Hey feel lucky we're alive at all," Frank told him, "Those guys were definitely out for blood."
Joe opened the door and hopped out of the van. He circled his van to survey the damage. "OH MY GOD!"
"What's wrong Joe?" Nancy asked, hopping out of the driver's seat.
"Look what they did to my baby!"
Nancy walked around to the back of the van and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Joe it's okay."
"No it's not."
"Joe," he heard Chet say as he walked over to them, "I'm sure it's not that bad, oh holy shit!" Chet took in the sight of the bullet-riddled van. "Joe I'm sure this is fixable," he lied.
Nancy looked around, "Joe do you have any money?"
"No. Why?"
"There's a Sears right there," she said, pointing. "I was thinking we could buy a new tire."
"Ask Frank if he has any money," he muttered before laying his forehead against the cool, now uneven, metal of his dearly beloved vehicle.
* * *
"Alright boss, we managed to scare them, now what?"
"Patience. They are taken care of, for now. Now bring me the girl."
"Yes sir."
* * *
"Frank dad's not answering his cell, what do you want me to do now?"
"Keep calling." Frank replied as he searched row after row of tires.
Joe hit redial and muttered angrily when he was once again given the option of leaving a voicemail.
"Hey Joe what kind of tires do you use?"
"Goodyear." Joe hit redial again.
The Hardy brothers had been given the chore of buying the tires while the rest had opted to walk around Sears rather than sit in the lopsided van.
"If you would like to leave a voicemail press one now, if you would like Sprint to attempt to deliver a message for you…"
Joe pressed one. "Um hey dad it's me, Joe. Frank and I had some questions for you concerning a case you once worked one, BLACKWIDOW. If you would call us back we would be deeply-"
"Joe?"
"Dad?"
"Yeah."
"Dad we need to talk."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wow, didn't think I would ever get this chapter finished, even if it is my shortest one. Hmmm, what will Fenton tell his kids about his past case? Guess you'll find out in the next chapter as this story comes close to it's end (hopefully).
FYI, the day of the week that I keep in the parenthesis next to the title is for my own benefit, it drives me crazy not knowing what day it is in my own stories. It's really not vital to the story.