Birthplace

"The townspeople told me that there is an old laboratory to the west," Clive stated, "It was said to have belonged to a team of scientists who tried to rejuvenate the environment of Filgaia. I would think that there might be a clue there as to how to either complete their experiments ourselves, or to kill the Demons."

Virginia and Jet traded mental sighs. Neither was particularly happy about going into the lab where they were born, but they kept it to themselves. If they said there wouldn't be anything there, or that what experiments the scientists had been working on were all either gone or destroyed, the others would start to get suspicious. And if that happened, it might lead to their true identities being compromised right there.

But once they arrived, the two felt a lot better. Virginia looked around the hallways, nothing much had changed in five years. Only the building had become more run down, and there were more monsters to roam the hall. She knew all the access codes to get them through, but would have to hide how she'd found them. Luckily, there were hints scattered all around, and she was the leader. She could tell them to split up and search for whatever they could find individually. Then, Virginia would override the security systems.

"Hey, guys. I got the elevator working. And Jet found a Radar in the locker room. We should get to the second floor, I don't think all of the best experiments would be in the places that people can easily get into. More likely, they'd be behind a place that was locked either by keycard or password," she said.

* * *

On the second floor, they would need a keycard to get on to the third. Using the Radar, they were able to locate one that Pete Inkapilia had kept. Virginia stifled a laugh, her Uncle Pete was scatterbrained, and always was losing something. One time, he'd even lost the important documents he was working on to complete the Filgaia Sample, and Elliot had a huge fit. Which ended up with him drinking a whole lot. The next day, the documents were located, and everything was back on schedule. All that happened the day before the Yggdrasil blew up. As the girl thought about it, she found she remembered like it was yesterday.

Finally, they arrived at the topmost floor. There, they found all the data, but most of it had been torn up. That was because monsters just love to mess with wires, and they'd decided to mess up the computer systems that stored each bit of information. As the two older men read the little that was left about "Adam Kadmon", Virginia was looking at the sliding wall nearby. Knowing the release point, she pretended to just be goofing around, and tripped it. Then, she called, "Hey guys, I found a secret entrance. Maybe the best of the experiments were conducted behind it, if it looks just like a normal wall to the naked eye. If these men were actually trying to create a human, and had an idea where to go with it, they had to be smart men."

Seeing her point, the others began to follow. This was the specimen room, where the cylinders that had once held the bodies of the two youths were kept. It made Virginia a little nostalgic to look at them, the girl thought of her father, and wondered if he was still alive. But she knew she had to move on. Luckily, she also knew the laser password. Since it was hidden in a book, all she had to do was read and pretend to get an idea as to what she should type into the console. Again, they brought her story, knowing she was a very experienced Drifter. But Jet knew why she really knew these things, and kept silent for both their sakes.

The final room was another mess of data. Most of it had been ruined too. Virginia then had a killer idea as to help the others. She took the photo of the council, the one she'd pilfered before she and Jet had made their escape from here, and placed it on the desk. Let one of them find it, then they'd start to think about who the men were. A little research here, and she wouldn't have to reveal her identity to give them a piece of information that just may very well help the team out. Jet understood, and gave her a small wink.

It was Clive who found it. He studied it for a moment, and looked at the others. "This is a very old photograph, it must be the scientists who were a part of this laboratory. I can see a total of seven, six men and one woman. We must look into this, if we are to find out who exactly owned this place. I have some old books at my home in Humphrey's Peak, that speak of experiments like this. They may give us a clue."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to do that," a female voice rang out, "You see, my orders are to kill all of you. In any case, I would love for you to meet my little friend, Asgard." In came Melody with a Golem. It was brown, with blue barriers on its arms. The creature was a type of mechanical android, not like the bio android that Jet was, and those types were less likely to feel real emotion. Only the most advanced Golem had the potential to gain emotions, and what they would gain would depend on what their use was to be.

"Melody! Your wicked scheme is going to end here!" exclaimed Virginia. She brought up her Duel Pistols, aiming them at the Golem. But they were unable to make even a scratch in his mechanical body.

Asgard attacked and knocked the team down. But just as they were about to become the victims of the monster, smoke covered the room. In came Maya and her team, to help Virginia and the others get away. Although Virginia didn't know exactly why Maya had come, she was eternally grateful for her help.

* * *

Maya insisted that the four of them just give up, but Virginia wouldn't hear anything of it. She was determined to find out what happened, and why her father's former allies were trying to destroy the world as they knew it. It was unanimously decided to head for Humphrey's Peak first think in the morning, once they had rested from their ordeal. So after lighting the campfire, the four settled down and decided to take turns on guard. Virginia had learned from experience what could happen if no one was watching their campsite.

Jet could feel the tension the second he went on guard, he knew someone was out there, watching them. But he didn't detect one of the Prophets, or even Janus, so he didn't feel afraid. He did, however, take a look at Virginia and smile. He whispered, "You're going to be ok, I'll never let anything happen to you as long as I live. Remember, you're my first and best friend, and I'm going to protect you until the day I die."

In the shadows, a figure watched. 'The boy is doing quite well, I was so worried after those two just vanished from the lab, thought they'd been abducted. But to see that he is interacting with humans in at least a decent manner, and Virginia in a really caring manner, that's a nice thing to know. I can see that the experiment was more or less a success. Now if only he would be able to fulfill his purpose and save us all.'

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words…

Yeah, Werner didn't need to speak to Jet this time. Well, Jet didn't try to run off, so he didn't need to use reverse psychology in order to make him stay. That's what I believe Werner did, just tell Jet to go, but give him enough cryptic sentences so as to make him want to stay in order to find himself. Probably saw the boy protecting Virginia before or something, and wanted him to be by her when he found out the truth.