Author's Note: Alright so I've never done this before…this whole chapter is going to consist of flashbacks, flashbacks inside of flashbacks…trust me you will all figure it out. I'm sorry for not updating this story in such a long time, I've been busy with a new show for my broadcast class. If we can pull it off my class will be the first in the state to put on a drama series on high school television. I'm so excited for the first episode to air!
Disclaimer: He he he, yeah right.
Last time…..
They're finally in Philly at Yaline's house where they eat dinner and the older detectives are about to tell them what's going on when suddenly the writer annoyingly changes scene. Later on that night Michael and Nancy are getting ready to sleep in the same bed, even though they aren't sexually intimate (go figure), when Michael asks Nancy a personal question about Frank. Nancy admits to having had feelings for Frank in the past but claims that's all over and done with. They start to kiss and Nancy murmurs "hmm, Frank." Dum, dum, dum…
Chapter 17-Discoveries (Monday)
"Fenton now is a really bad time," Agent Yaline insisted, "if the Assistant Director catches us.."
Fenton ignored the Agent as he continued to drag her, by the arm, into the nearby elevator. He pushed the button for the fifth floor but pulled the emergency stop as the elevator began to move.
"Fenton," Yaline hissed as the elevator doors closed, "Why are you acting irrationally?"
"Yaline I couldn't take the chance that anyone would hear me."
The Agent observed her distressed friend with worry, noticing for the first time the sweat dripping down his face, the nervous eyes flicking back and forth. "Fenton what's wrong?"
"The case they assigned us to," Fenton whispered, tightening his grip on Yaline's arm, "it's fake."
"Fake?"
"Imaginary, obsolete, doesn't exist!" the detective pulled Yaline closer, looking into her eyes with his wild ones.
"I know what the word means," Yaline said calmly, "But how could it be fake?"
Fenton let go of Yaline's arm and she noticed a sweat stain on her white t-shirt. "I mean they set us up with a case that doesn't exist, its a coverup." He began to pace.
"Fenton lets think rationally. Why would they use a false case to cover another? And why assign anyone to the false case for that matter?"
He stopped pacing and looked at her as though that was the most idiotic question he'd ever heard, "I wondered that at first too but then I dug deeper into our case. They were performing some kind of experiments and when the others found out they were told to stop and then-"
"Fenton!" Yaline exclaimed in agitation, "Who are they? Or the others?"
"They are the CIA and the others are the government! Don't you see Yaline? The CIA were experimenting and the Federal government found out and put the FBI on the job of exposing the CIA's plans." Before Yaline could interrupt, Fenton rushed on, "What the feds weren't expecting was that the FBI is in on it. They made it look like they were helping the feds when in reality they were wasting the time of their own agents, sending us on goose hunts, all so that the CIA would be protected."
Yaline shook her head, overwhelmed, "Fenton how could that be? The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation, if anything the FBI would help the federal government. And why bring in a New York City Detective for that matter?"
"The initial activities took place in New York, in my precinct, my guess is that the FBI wanted to make it look like they were being cooperative."
She reached passed him and released the emergency button, sending the elevator into motion again, "Fenton this is ridiculous! I know we've been stuck on this aggravating case for a long time but that's no reason to go grasping at straws."
* * *
"Of course I didn't think anything of what he'd said," Yaline was explaining to her guests, "To me it was just the ranting of a crazed Detective."
"But you wrote him off?" Nancy asked.
"Yes," Yaline looked at the table, "but then things started to get…odd."
* * *
The Agent opened the door to her apartment, "FBI cover ups, my ass," she muttered to herself. Closing her door, she set her purse down on her dining table. She walked over to her couch, plopped down on it and turned the television to the news.
"President Reagan has announced his plans to…"
She changed the channel. Sports on NBC. Click. Mindless sitcom on ABC. Click. Back to the news.
"Yes John, the president has announced that he will not let the country's education go to the dogs. In fact he has outlined a new plan to…"
Yaline sighed, I just can't get away from politics.
Ring.
"Hello?" she said.
"Agent," a soft voice said.
"Yes? Do I know you?" Yaline frowned.
"No but I have a message for you. You have to believe your partner before.." Click.
* * *
"It just went dead?"
"Yes Fenton, I already told you that."
"Sorry," Fenton apologized, "its not like my informant to do this, I wonder what's wrong."
"That was your informant?"
Fenton nodded as he took a seat across from Yaline's desk. "Usually she doesn't bother to call anyone, just shows up randomly. She's the one who let me in on the cover up."
"If you ask me you're both a little…touched."
"Yaline what is it going to take for me to convince you of this?"
"Proof."
"Come with me tonight. I'm going to check out a lead."
* * *
Joe leaned forward in his seat, "So what happened with this lead?"
* * *
Fenton shined his flashlight to the right.
"Fenton," Yaline whispered, "this warehouse has been empty for months."
"Yes I know," he told her, "but according to my informant there should be some kind of evidence here."
"Evidence of what?"
"That the FBI is covering something up."
Yaline rolled her eyes and went back to looking around the warehouse, flashing her flashlight in every possible direction.
"Yaline, over here."
She looked over her shoulder to see Fenton crouched in front of an old wooden crate. Carefully she made her was over to him. "What am I looking at?"
Fenton pointed at the bottom of the crate, "Scratch marks."
"They could be from rats."
He shook his head, "No, this looks like some one tried to move the crate." He stood up and placed his hands on the top of the crate.
"What are you doing?" Yaline asked when her partner leaned his weight against it.
"There has to be a reason someone tried to move it."
Yaline decided to help, she placed her flashlight on top of the crate and began to push. Little by little the crate began to move.
"Just a little farther," she heard Fenton tell her. "There, that's good."
Yaline looked at her partner, then at the floor, "What did we just do?"
"Don't you see it?" Fenton crouched down and began to trace a near invisible line with his finger.
Yaline crouched down beside him. She watched as he traced what looked like a box. "What is it?"
Fenton frowned, "I believe it's a door of some sort but I can't seem to figure out how to open it."
Yaline began to feel the floor for some kind of a doorknob. Her hands came across a small indent in the floor. "Fenton I think I've found something."
He leaned over, "I think you have."
* * *
"So..was it a door?" Vanessa asked meekly.
Fenton Hardy nodded, "And it lead us to the very core of our mystery."
* * *
"Fenton, I hate to admit this but I'm a little frightened." Yaline took in her surroundings, a dark, musty tunnel. The stench of what must have been sewage overcame her senses.
"Don't be. Remember, we have guns."
"Yeah yeah, you men and your guns."
Fenton smiled, "Have you ever read Dr. Jaswall's theories on the psychology of the male versus the female?"
"No," Yaline told him as they walked.
"He came to the conclusion, through years of lab research, that men have a love for violence because it helps us compensate for what we are lacking, which in this case would be the right and ability to give life."
"I like that theory," Yaline said, "although I must admit I think the guy is a real nut case."
"So do I, but his books are fascinating."
"So bullshit is acceptable as long as it's fascinating?"
"Yep."
After about one hundred yards, Yaline spoke up, "Fenton I don't think there is anything down here."
"There has to be," Fenton insisted.
"Don't you think that if there was anything we would have found it already?"
"Oh ye of little faith."
"I'm serious Fenton, there isn't anything-" she was cut off by the sound of a door closing.
Fenton turned to her, placing a finger to his lips and motioning for her to follow him. Wordlessly, Yaline let him lead her to a dead end in the tunnel. She watched as he pressed his ear to the brick wall, understanding what he was thinking, that there must be another concealed door here.
Fenton pressed against the wall with all his weight. Yaline watched in fascination as the wall began to rotate. Fenton grabbed her arm and yanked her through before the wall finished rotating. Yaline looked at the now closed wall behind her. Man things are starting to look like one of those plots from the old mystery novels my mom used to make me read.
Yaline did a double take when she finally noticed the room she was in. She looked over at Fenton and knew he was thinking the same thing as she was. Why is there a laboratory down here?
Before either one could guess they heard voices coming near. Both dove under a nearby desk. Luckily the voices passed by the room without entering.
* * *
"So was the room part of a larger building or something?" Frank asked.
Fenton nodded, "The voices we heard were two doctors passing through the hallway. It turned out the room we were in was only a minimal part of the…experiments."
"And what's worse," Yaline added, "Was that we knew one of those doctors."
* * *
Fenton looked Yaline in the eyes, "Jaswall," he mouthed. Yaline nodded, indicating that she had recognized his voice as well.
As soon as the voices passed the two detectives stood up and crept around the room, searching for anything that might help make their situation make sense. There was nothing out of the norm. The lab was like any other, tools, lab coats, computers, and the irritating smell of different experiments. Unfortunately these experiments were normal as well, consisting mostly of plants.
Yaline signaled to her partner. He raised his eyebrows and she motioned towards the door. Fenton nodded and Yaline slowly opened the door, peering out into the hall. She signaled to him and both crept out into the well-lit hallway. Fenton was astounded, who would have thought there would be a large scientific complex underneath the city.
He tapped his partner on the arm and led her through a door to another room. Yaline frowned in question and Fenton pointed. A look of shock appeared on his partner's face. In several glass jars were the half-developed bodies of human babies. By the look of the development it was clear to both that these babies were not miscarried but rather physically retarded. Yaline could not explain why babies carried to full term would be so physically retarded. Instead of trying to rationalize she began to read the tags on each jar.
Each baby was assigned a number and described. #376, one month, failed. #377, six days, failed. #378, one day, failed. #379, two days, passed. Yaline looked at the jar of baby 379, she could not understand why it was given a passing label. Everything about the baby was the same as the others. In fact it was even more retarded.
Fenton, meanwhile, was going through some files very carefully. Yaline tapped on his shoulder and pointed towards #379. Nodding, Fenton pulled out file 379. Opening it he found the words PASSED in bold black lettering. Both read the file to themselves:
#379
Age: Two days
Status: Passed
Hypothesis: The added amounts of our genetic syrum should be enough to cancel any and all problems we have been having with our other subjects. Subject 379's brain activity should be fully intact as the syrum will help the brain's ability to operate under increased DNA activity.
Conclusion: The hypothesis was correct. The subject was able to operate brainpower superior to that of a naturally born child. In fact, the subject was able to open its eyes right after birth, which is not usual of a child and was, in fact, able to breath without having to cry. All that remains is creating a subject without retardations.
Reasons for Termination: Retardation (physical)
Fenton flipped through the file, finding pictures of the child immediately after birth and charts. Yaline stopped him when she saw the charts. Although Fenton did not understand them, he knew that Yaline did.
Agent Yaline looked at a few more jars, noting that the next few were labeled passed. Each became more and more deformed until she came across #390. She signaled to Fenton to find file 390, which he did.
#390
Age: Two months
Status: passed
Hypothesis: By keeping the genetic syrum at the same level as our other passed subjects we will be able to keep the brain activity constant. However, by decreasing DNA activity, which we failed to do with passed subjects, we should be able to decrease retardation.
Conclusion: The hypothesis was correct. Subject #390 was subject to less retardation because of the reduced stress of DNA activity.
Reasons for Termination: Retardation (physical)
Yaline flipped through the charts of the child and frowned. Fenton recognized the look of a detective on a roll. Deciding against disturbing Yaline he began to look for a child without deformations, after failing to do so he began flipping through files again. What he found surprised him, files with military seals. Most were from the Air Force and Marines though there were a few from the Navy. Curiously, he opened one of the Air Force sealed files.
A54
Age: Two years
Status: Passed
Hypothesis: The reproduction of cells in the body should, as passed experiments have shown, be possible as long as we continue to give the same levels of genetic syrum and reduce DNA activity.
Conclusion: Reproduction of cells was possible, however, there were unforeseen side effects. Subject A54 has shown, after two years of life that it has become subject to the same disease its original counterpart experienced, Sickle-cell anemia. Unusual phenomena occurred with this subject that was not seen with others, the ability to recollect memories before its time.
Reasons for Termination: Retardation of the cells.
Fenton frowned and handed the file to Yaline. She read the file and frowned as well, especially as she read the analytical charts. Realization dawned on her. She carefully placed the files back into their slots and motioned for her partner to follow. Before leaving the room she murmured, "There has to be a room down here where they are keeping any of their living Passed experiments."
* * *
Callie's eyes teared, "Those poor children, discarded like trash."
"To the scientists they were," Yaline told her, "they were genetic trash."
"So," Nancy started, her voice wavering, "Those children that were in the jars, they were just the first steps of the experiment."
"Yes," Fenton answered, "First the scientists had to focus on making the children intellectually superior, then they decided to move on to the physical."
"I'm a little confused," Joe admitted, "What was in the files exactly?"
Yaline explained, "On each of those charts were the details of what the scientists had done to the children's DNA. It showed that the scientists were experimenting with the amount of brain activity that the human brain can experience as well as how much DNA junk they could remove from the human genome."
Chet raised his hand tentatively, "I hate to sound stupid but I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You see Chet, human DNA contains a lot of what scientists call junk DNA, DNA that does nothing, they seem to be fillers. To this day, scientists are not sure why its there. The scientists we found were trying to make that part of the DNA active. They found that it was useless to try because humans only use a fraction of their brains. As a result the babies came out retarded. Finally a doctor, Jaswall, found that they could increase brain activity with a genetic syrum and manipulate some of the junk DNA."
"This balance," Fenton went on to explain, "allowed the scientists to create a balanced, superior intellectual and physical, child."
"But the two year old.." Vanessa started.
"Probably the same thing that happened with me," Sweet murmured.
Fenton nodded, "The child retracted the same genetic disease that its original had so the Air-Force and the scientists decided to end its life."
"So did you ever find a room with living subjects?" Frank asked. "And what about those memories?"
* * *
Fenton followed Yaline through the halls. For long periods of time they found themselves passing identical labs, research cubicles and supply closets.
Why haven't we run into any of the researchers working here, Fenton wondered, not that I'm complaining.
Yaline stopped suddenly. Fenton looked at his partner in confusion.
"Look," she mouthed.
Fenton looked around and shrugged. The FBI agent rolled her eyes before instinctively reaching for her gun. Fenton followed her lead and pulled his gun out from beneath his suit. He watched as his partner edged closer to a metallic door. Confused, he watched her twist the doorknob with one hand while holding on to her gun with the other.
Yaline looked back at her partner and jerked her neck. Fenton nodded. In one swift movement Yaline let go of the doorknob and kicked the door open.
* * *
"Wow, why so dramatic?" Biff asked.
"What I didn't know at the time was that Yaline had heard children crying," Fenton explained.
Yaline continued, "It had sounded like children being tortured and what can I say…the more humane, and less FBI agent, side of me took over."
"So what was it?" Joe asked.
"I think I can take it from here," Sweet told him. "When that door flew open…"
* * *
Both detectives looked into the surprised faces of a dozen or so children.
"Are you children alright?" Yaline asked. She received no verbal answer; instead the children stared at her blankly.
Fenton gasped as his eyes adjusted to the room's low level of illumination. The children were all shaved bald, serial numbers tattooed to the sides of the heads. Most of the children looked as though they had been deprived of food, some taking on the shape of their skeleton. "Yaline how old do you figure they are?"
"I'd put most of them in a range of about 1-3 years old." Yaline indicated towards a corner of older children, "and I'd put them in a 5-9 year range." Turning towards the children Yaline began to talk, "We don't know why or how you got down here but we are here to take you back to your parents." The children looked at each other blankly.
"Don't bother," a voice from the back of the room told her.
"Who are you?" Fenton asked.
A figure made it's way to the front of the room, "I'm the eldest one here, my name is Sweet Rodriguez. I've been down here for the last seven years, and if you hadn't noticed, I am a teenager."
"But why? Who?" Fenton was at a loss for words.
Sweet snorted, "So many questions, so little time." She looked at what the detectives had by now deducted were subjects of the experiment, "They don't know any better, they've all been brainwashed into believing what they want us to believe." Yaline did not the contempt with which she had said they. "These kids don't know what the outside world is like, I've tried telling them but it always lands on deaf ears."
"Come on," Fenton told her, "We're getting you all out of here." Yaline nodded in agreement.
A look of fear passed across Sweet's eyes, "But they'll know and they'll come looking for us."
"Don't worry honey," Yaline said softly. "We'll keep you safe. Now come we have to get everyone to safety, Fenton and I will lead the way."
As the detectives turned to leave the room they felt a strange tingling sensation on the lower parts of their backs, followed by a sharp jolt. They fell to the ground, gasping for air. The last thing they saw was Sweet standing above them, smiling wickedly.
"You poor fools," she laughed.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Well after a long hiatus there you go, I hope you all like the chapter. I was actually hoping to get all of Fenton and Yaline's story out of the way in this chapter but it didn't work out that way. I guess the next chapter will have to be a collection of flashbacks as well. ::sigh:: At this rate you'll never get to see Michael's reaction to Nancy's slip up.
Alright it has been so long since I updated that I can't even remember whose reviews to respond to. If I forgot anyone out there who reviewed I am deeply sorry…
Aurora Dannon: Shame on you, go to bed. Just teasing. Thanks for clearing up the whole thing with the authors of the two series. I just had to know. Because I haven't updated in forever I am guessing that you've already had your baby. Congratulations! Girl or boy? If it's a boy you should have named him Spike, Beatrice for a girl…what do you think? He he he, now you probably think I'm nuts. Anyway, thanks for reviewing.
Mp: Yo wuz up? Don't worry, everything will tie together eventually, I promise you.
Showstopper: Yup that was Nancy, sorry I didn't make that more clear. I went back and reread the chapter and I was even confused as to who was moan…er…talking. bad Pookie
Casey Rogers: Weird, I live for weird. Hey a fan of those classical couples, that's cool. I had to have them break up in order to add more drama to the story. Well Joe and Vanessa probably could have stayed together and I could have had Biff get Sweet and go from there but I've always felt that Joe and Vanessa's relationship didn't stand a chance in Hell…for many reasons.
Snippets' friend: Addicts, I love addicts. You're my reason for writing. This long wait between chapters must have been killing you. Well as much as I love accidental homicide I guess I'll have to learn to update much more quickly.
Snippets: Introducing my drug to your friends are you? ::grin:: thank you.
Fandnshipper: Oops ::grins sheepishly:: I should check on my pop culture references more often, make sure I don't do stuff like that. Don't worry, I love it when my readers are observant.
Alright its time for you all to go review, if you review I'll love you forever. And those of you that don't…..you're on my list.