Chapter 16
Karl walked along the west gun gallery at Alcatraz as he surveyed the work being done on the old main cell house. He was pleased at the progress his workers had made. According to his time frame, the entire facility will be operational sooner than expected. And the best part was that the humans still hadn't noticed the upgrades that had been made. He was able to hide them within the old equipment and that helped them go unnoticed.
Karl turned to his assistant, "Let's go inspect the power house." The assistant nodded and followed Karl from the gun gallery. As they walked to the power house they were met by a group of human historians.
A man patted Karl on the back, "You're doing a wonderful job of restoring this site. Visitors will now be able to get a greater sense of what life was like here on the island for the inmates."
Karl smiled, "They certainly will."
A week had passed and Ed had shown remarkable improvement and showed no after affects of the surgery. Claire was amazed at how quickly he healed. She was ready to give him the genogenesis serum and to her surprise, he wanted it. She thought back to the discussion they had about it a few days ago as she stared at the syringe.
"Ed, hon…" Her tone was filled with apprehension and he could see the same look on her face. He could also sense the emotion and knew it had to do with him.
"I know, Claire…don't worry, I want to do this." After a moment of silence, he continued. "I had once experimented on Tom, it's only fitting that I use myself this time around. If we're going to see if this works on a human turned dominant then I'm the best choice we've got right now. We can't use this on Darien until we find out what Arnaud's cure did to the gland and Darcy is pregnant. So, let's do it."
Ed slid his card in and the door swung open to the Keep. He had to admit he liked being able to sense her emotion. But he was ready to get this over with. Claire looked up and smiled nervously. She put the syringe down and met him in the middle of the Keep. They hugged tightly for a long time. Ed knew that this could fail. The memories of what happened to Tom and the monkey was on his mind, but it was a chance he had to take. He broke off the hug and cupped her face gently in his hands. He bent down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I love you," he whispered.
A tear fell down her cheek, "I love you too." She watched him take his long sleeve shirt off and fling it over a chair. He didn't have to say anything to her; she knew that he was ready to go through with this. He sat down on the counteragent chair while Claire turned around to pick up the alcohol swab that was on the tray behind her. She glanced into his eyes worried. Fear flowed through her and she hesitated. He wrapped his long fingers around her hand and helped her clean the injection site. With a nervous hand she picked up the syringe and with her other hand, located the injection site on his upper arm. She looked at him and he nodded his head for her to continue. She inserted the needle expertly into the deltoid muscle and pressed down on the plunger. He leaned his head back on the chair and glanced at her, "Now we just wait."
The night was a long one. Claire had moved Ed to one of the other labs so he could be in a bed. At first he showed signs of exhaustion and then the fever hit. It went as high as 106 and Claire began to fear for the worst. Sloan and Tara had come in soon after Ed was given the serum. Sloan reassured Claire that the fever was normal but it wasn't much comfort for her.
Claire sat by him wiping his face with a cool rag. He had become delirious and had been mumbling incoherently for much of the night. At some point he stopped and fell into a deep sleep. She took his hand into hers and thought back to their wedding night.
It actually surprised her that he was willing to wear it, she figured it was all the champagne they had at the reception that made him open to this impromptu fashion show. The real surprise came when he found out that his own mother had made one of these things for him. She had saved their matching outfits for the finale. She had enjoyed his portion of the modeling as much as he enjoyed hers. While he dressed into his Tarzan outfit, she had changed into her Jane outfit.
The door swung open and Ed rushed out of the bathroom in the Tarzan loin cloth banging on his chest as he performed his version of the Tarzan yell. Claire laughed and shook her head, "Hail Ed, King of the Monkeys!" Ed stopped and then burst out laughing, "I get it…I work with monkeys, so…cute…very cute." He leapt onto the bed and gently pushed Claire down on her back as he covered her body with his.
She was suddenly shaken from her memory by a soft moan escaping from Ed's lips. She picked up the cloth and dipped it into the cool water. She ran it gently over his face. Tara came over and took some blood. Without saying a word she left Claire alone with Ed again and she stayed next to him for the rest of the night.
By morning the fever had broken. Tara took another blood sample and they were all waiting for the result. They waited for the confirmation of the DNA test. The question was would the conversion hold?
After a few tense quiet moments the test finished and 1.1% flashed in the upper right hand corner of the monitor. Ed was human. Claire closed her eyes in relief. Sloan let out the breath she had been holding and sat down. Darien and Hobbes gave each other a low five. Things were finally starting to go their way again.
Claire sat down next to him and took his hand into hers, "Hon, it's me, it's all over. You made it."
He stirred slightly and then opened his eyes. Claire gripped his hand tight. "Good morning, hon. How do you feel?"
"Like, I was in a wrestling match with the Rock."
Claire smiled. "That bad, huh?"
"I ache," came Ed's weak reply. "Did it work?"
She rubbed his pale stubbly face with her free hand, "Yes, it worked. You're the Ed Tate that I met long ago in the Keep. No quicksilver gland, a little banged up and 100% human."
Ed forced a tired smile, "That's good. Just do me a favor."
"Sure, what is it sweetheart?"
"If Arnaud calls me again…cut the line."
Claire leaned over and hugged him, "I promise." His arms wrapped around her tightly as if he didn't want to let her go. Darien and the others made a hasty retreat to leave them alone.
They broke off the hug. "Can you sit up?" Claire questioned as she backed away slowly to give him more room.
"Yeah, I think can. I'm thirsty too." Ed sat up and at first he was a little dizzy but his head cleared quickly. Claire handed him a glass of water and he nearly drank the whole thing in one large gulp.
"Easy there, hon, you'll choke."
"I can't help it." He let out a long sigh, "So far so good, huh?"
"What do you mean?" Confused, Claire glanced at him.
"The serum, so far it's holding up. We'll know if it does work in a couple of hours. That's how long it lasted on Tom…" Ed paused, looked around the room and then continued, "Let's go home."
Claire smiled and pulled the covers off of Ed, "Okay."
Once at home, Claire started a bath for Ed. That's all he wanted to do at the moment was soak his aching body in a hot bath. It was good to be back to normal, no gland, and human. Deep down inside he hoped that Arnaud was still alive so that he could ring the scrawny man's neck. As he laid in the tub he looked at his wrist and thought back to the months he spent as the second invisible man…or was it the fourth.
"There was Simon, Darien, Arnaud then me…so yeah, the fourth…"
"Don't forget about the Chinese woman…" Claire mentioned.
Ed turned to glance up at Claire. She came in with a glass of water in her hands for him. She set it down and sat behind him on the side of the tub and started to massage his shoulders. Ed grunted in approval.
"Feels good?"
"Oh yeah," came the deep throated reply. "But I thought she had a back pack, doesn't count. No gland, no brain surgery, no fear…oooh…yeah, that's the spot, right there."
"No premature invisibility…" Claire added.
"You got that right."
Claire stopped the massage and quickly disrobed and got into the tub with him. A devilish grin spread ear to ear on Ed's face. He pulled her close to him and kissed her passionately and it was at that moment the phone rang.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!!!" They waited for the machine to pick up. It was Walter.
"Ed…I'm sorry to bother you after a long night, but we need you. We found a body. I need you to meet me. Please, you know I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important."
Ed lowered his head, and let out a long irritated sigh. "Walter, your timing is impeccable."
Claire raised his head and kissed him lightly on his lips, "How about I go with you and then later we can continue the bath?"
He forced a half smile, "Sounds good."
Ed and Claire walked through the group of trees to where Walter was waiting. "I'm glad you came…this way." They followed Walter to the yellow tape. Ed took out his gloves and put them on.
"Okay, so what's the deal?" Ed asked he started to investigate the body. He pulled up the yellow tarp.
"A couple of kids were out here and came across the body."
Ed examined the body and the surrounding area, he then looked up at Walter and Claire, "Neck's broken…" he turned his attention to the body, "Okay, Claire, write this down for me…male…caucasian…approximate height…5'10…weight…150…brown hair…brown eyes…visible signs of a struggle…one hell of a struggle I might add…" Ed stopped to look around the body. "I don't think the murder happened here…the body was dropped here, but left right out in the open…we were meant to find it here…not where the murder actually happened. See, the area around the body is undisturbed, if there was a struggle here, we would see the evidence of it." Ed looked up at Walter, "This was recent, the victim hasn't been out here long at all. Can we take it back to the lab? I want to do an autopsy, DNA test…everything."
"That can be arranged." Walter signaled to the police officers to start making arrangements for the victim to be transported to the lab.
"Ed…who do you think this is?" Claire asked.
"The description fits Randal Lynch, but it's not him. I think this is why Walter wanted me to check this out. I'm wondering if he thinks this is the serial killer." Ed glanced back at Walter suspiciously, "He knows something about this."
Claire glanced at Walter and then back to Ed with a worried glance. "What if this is the serial killer?"
"Case solved. But then who killed him?" They both glanced at the body as it was prepared for transport.
Claire, Sloan and Walter assisted Ed in the autopsy of the victim. Walter and Ed performed the autopsy itself while Sloan ran the DNA tests and Claire looked for fibers or any tissue on the clothing.
The DNA sample finished and Sloan ran the sequencing test. After a few moments she came in with the papers in her hand to talk to Ed. "The victim is a dominant…and according to the tissue and semen samples from the victims…this is our killer."
Ed glanced at Walter suspiciously, "You knew didn't you?"
"It was a hunch," Walter answered and went back to his work.
Ed and Sloan shared glances and went back to their work. Claire had heard the exchange and shot Sloan a glance as she walked by. Claire went back to her work as well. She eventually found some hair fibers and some dried blood. After a few hours, she and Sloan had worked on those samples and had begun to compare the DNA to the samples they already had. In a matter of minutes, they had their match.
Ed and Walter were taking a break in Walter's office when Sloan and Claire rushed in. "You're not going to believe this. But we found a match to the evidence that Claire found."
Ed shot Walter a look and then turned his attention to Sloan, "Well, spit it out Sloan."
"Kevin Taylor."
"Kevin Taylor?" Ed paused thinking back to the little boy he met long ago, the little boy who attacked three boys much older and bigger than him. He killed the man who raised him as a son and then tried to kill Sloan; he turned out to be a progeny.
Walter leaned back in his chair. Ed looked at Walter with a neutral expression; he didn't know what to think. "It would appear that Kevin is back," Walter finally said breaking the silence.
"But why kill a dominant…" Sloan asked.
"The same reason why he killed the monkey…to prove himself…" Ed said.
"But to whom?" Walter asked looking at the three befuddled scientists in front of him.
"Okay, let me get this straight. You're saying that a fourteen or fifteen year old kid took this guy down?" Hobbes asked.
"Yes, but you can't think of this kid as a regular teenager. For one thing he's a dominant and he's a predator." Tom answered and then continued, "He was born of mixed parentage. His mother was human but his father was a dominant, that union may have altered his DNA. He has special capabilities like Darien. He can interrupt electrical impulses. He might have been a result of some experiment, to see what would happen if a human and dominant mated and produced a child. There's a chance that he's not the only one."
"Were you aware of any research being done when you were a Chameleon?" Claire asked.
"No, I knew very little of what my species was doing. The only thing I knew was my missions and that's it." Tom replied.
"Okay, the real question here is, why has Kevin showed up in San Diego?" Ed asked.
"Me."
All eyes turned to Darien. "Hey c'mon, it makes sense. It's what I would do. If he has the same abilities as I do then it would be an even match…sort of…I'm assuming he can't turn invisible, right?"
"That's correct," Tom added pacing around the room. He thought back to the night Kevin disappeared, how he said 'It's not over, Tom' and then jumped from the window. He knew he would be seeing the young boy again, just not so soon.
"So, maybe this Kevin kid is under Lewis' wing. I mean, Lewis knows he can't control me…we've seen that…"
"I think Darien's right," Tom interrupted. "Kevin killed the monkey to show he's truly one of us. He can pick out dominants, like you can Darien."
"Wait, I thought all youse guys have that special radar," Hobbes interrupted.
Tom partly smiled, "No, not like the way Kevin and Darien can read the neuro electrical impulses. We can sense when someone is coming or nearby and we usually can tell if they're dominant or human by the emotions or how they act. But with Kevin and Darien it's different. Kevin sought me out because he knew we were the same and hadn't said a word to him yet."
"Great, so now what do we do?" Darien asked.
"We wait." Tom looked at Darien with a curved brow.
"Wait for what?"
"For Kevin to come to you. He knows he can't just sneak up on you."
"Would Lewis send a kid to fight me?" Darien asked troubled by the idea.
"Yes, he would. If he knew it would upset you, throw you off. Darien, you can't think of Kevin as a kid, he's a killer, a predator, and he would have no problem killing you. If you let your emotions get the best of you…he'll take advantage of that," Tom said gravely. He was concerned that if Lewis was behind this, then what was his true motive?
Darien sat on the couch at home thinking about the revelation at the Agency. "There's no way I'm going to fight a teenager," he said sternly. "Damn it, Lewis…"
Darcy let out a long sigh as she stood at the base of the stairs. "Darien, you'll have no choice."
He glanced up at her, "What? How can you say that? How do you or Tom expect me to fight a kid…and don't give me this he's not a kid crap…he is to me!"
Darcy sat down next to him on the couch, she put a hand on his leg, "You have to stop thinking like a human. Kevin had no problem killing the man who loved him regardless of who his real father was and what he was. He also had no trouble beating up on those three boys and killing one of them. He nearly killed Sloan and probably would have gone after Ed and everyone else at the lab just to get back at Tom. He's a progeny, Darien, his instincts are to kill. I've seen progenies in training, you think Lynch is bad, he's a puppy compared to progenies. And if Lewis is behind this, he knows that you won't fight Kevin. I know this is hard for you, but survival of fittest starts with the young. Tom is right, if you show any weakness, Kevin will take advantage of that."
"Then I'll have to find another way," Darien said. "Tom said that Kevin will come for me when he's ready, I'll just have to find him before that and put an end to it before something happens that I'll regret for the rest of my life."
"It doesn't matter, he'll still fight you…" Darcy paused and she glanced at Darien. He slowly rose to his feet and walked to the door. "Darien…?"
"Stay here…" he replied as he opened the door. He stepped out into the darkness and calmly walked down the stairs. His protective instincts had kicked into high gear. He searched his surroundings and slowly descended the steps to the sidewalk below.
"Darien Fawkes."
Darien turned towards the voice as a figure stepped from the shadows. "I guess you're Kevin Taylor."
Kevin kept his distance. "I've heard so much about you. It's uncanny really, your likeness to Dr.Tate."
"Yeah, we get that a lot. So did Lewis send you here?"
"No..." Kevin looked around quickly and then turned his attention to Darien. "I just wanted to see you for myself. You know they fear you."
Darien smiled smugly, "Really?"
"Yeah, you're more powerful than you realize…we both are."
"Ah, I see, is this your version of join me and we'll rule the world invitation? Well, I'm not interested, I've been to that dance and I'm going to sit it out this time."
Kevin tried to interrupt Darien's impulses and failed. "Don't even try it, Kevin," Darien sneered as the quicksilver coated his body. He masked himself as he approached Kevin. Kevin frantically looked around but couldn't sense Darien anywhere. He felt something cold grip him tightly around his chest.
"You're in way over your head, kid," Darien whispered in his ear.
"I like a challenge."
Darien gripped the boy tighter, "Drop this, kid." He let the quicksilver flake off and turned the boy around, "You won't win."
Kevin smiled, "Oh yes, we will." He took off and Darien didn't go after him. He just watched him disappear into the shadows.
Darcy came down the steps. "What was that all about?"
Still looking down the street, Darien answered, "I have no idea. But one thing is for sure, Lewis is up to something."
"When is he not?"
"True." Darien wrapped his arm around her and they walked up the steps. They entered the apartment with Darien giving one last glance around the area and then he closed the door.
"He didn't want to fight. I think it was a test."
"A test?"
Darien picked up the phone to call Tom, "Yeah, to see what he's up against. I have a feeling he'll be back."
A few days later Ed was doing some work in his office. A knock at the door stole his attention away from the mound of paper work he needed to catch up on. Ed jumped up from his chair and rushed to the double door. When he opened the door he saw his friend standing there. "Tony! C'mon in."
"I got your message, what's all this about anyway?" Tony asked as he hugged his childhood friend.
"All kinds of stuff. It's good to see you again." Ed led the way to his office and offered Tony a chair.
"Still going on with this dominant business?"
"Yeah, and that's why I asked you to come. I've got something I need for you to take a look at."
Tony edged closer to the end of his seat. "You've peaked my interest. What'd you got?"
Ed rose to his feet, "The water I told you about, I think it might contain anti-sperm agents. But this isn't my field so I need you to help me with it."
"You got it, bro. Let's have a look." Tony followed Ed into the lab area and sat down at one of the microscopes.
"I went to Aberdeen to check out the sudden low sperm counts in men in the area. It just seemed strange that so many men would be affected. Most of the men there are healthy and there's no medical reason why they should be suffering infertility. I figured it had to do with the water. Now, the strange this is, all the men are affected differently."
Tony looked up, "Really?"
"Yeah, some men had deformed sperm, weak sperm, and no sperm at all or their count is just to low to effectively fertilize an egg."
"Hmmm…interesting," Tony commented peering into the microscope. "You have those samples?"
"Yeah, I do, hold on and I'll get 'em." Ed walked away for a moment, "I really appreciate you helping me with this," he said as he returned with the samples already on slides.
"You know how I feel about you being involved in all this, especially now that you're married. But I understand it and frankly I would probably do the same thing. So how can I turn down a friend in need?"
Ed handed him the slides. "So, ah, Eddie, how're the waves now? When I was here for your wedding they were primo."
"Boss…way boss."
Tony smirked, "Glad you haven't lost the lingo, bro. I thought hanging around with geeks all these years would change you."
"And what about you? You hang with geeks too."
"True." They shared a laugh and went back to work.
It took Tony and Ed a few days to come up with any results. They had worked long and hard in the lab to find answers. And when they did, it was like winning the Super Bowl.
"Eddie, this is amazing…I mean I've never seen anything like this," Tony commented as he strode back and forth in the lab as he read the printouts. Ed just gazed at him with a worried expression.
"It doesn't act like a typical anti-sperm agent, it mutates often…incredible."
"I'm glad you think so," Ed said nearly under his breath.
Tony heard and glanced at him sullenly. He hadn't thought about the ramifications, just the discovery. "I'm sorry, Eddie. I forgot what this means to you…to us."
"Yeah, it's okay, look I understand. It's a discovery and I know how exciting it can be. But don't expect to apply for a Nobel Prize on this." Ed paused to wait for answer from Tony and when it didn't come, Ed continued, "We need to prepare a report for Walter. We better get started on it and try to see if there's a way we can combat this."
Nearly a month had passed as Ed and Tony continued their research. Ed had found out that this was more complex than the nanites. They were dealing with something that was extraordinary and wanted to make sure all the variables were included. Along the way they provided Walter with reports but the main one would be a presentation to everyone, with the Official included.
Ed and Tony walked into the new briefing room to give their presentation on what they've discovered so far. They handed out folders to everyone and had tried to keep it in laymen's terms so that everyone could understand. Ed put the slides into the projector and Eberts turned out the lights when he saw Ed's signal that he was ready to proceed.
Darien turned to Hobbes, "We should have brought some popcorn."
"Shhh…" Claire said.
"Sorry, Claire."
Ed smiled. 'Mmm…popcorn…that sounds good,' he thought to himself as he was feeling a bit hungry at the moment. The mention of popcorn sounded good to him.
'See, that's what I thought.'
Ed turned sharply to Darien and glared at him. Darien turned away sheepishly, "Sorry."
Everyone shot Darien an irritated look. "Hey, look, I said was sorry. Geesh…tough crowd."
"I thought you had that under control?" Hobbes asked.
"I do, until I think of food or it's mentioned and then I can't help myself."
Tony rolled his eyes. It was amazing to him how much Darien reminded him of Ed. Ed could pack food away like his stomach was the bottomless pit. And the worst of all was how Ed would comment how hungry he was as they worked on a cadaver during their anatomy class. "Whoa...wait... Eberts...turn the lights back on. Not everyone is here, right?"
"Affirmative, the two fat men aren't here," Hobbes said.
"Darien, go grab a bag...it's okay...I also have to adjust a few slides....you have time." Tony said as he started to fix the slides.
"I'm gone." Darien hopped out of the room. A few minutes later, Darien returned with a couple of bags of popcorn and some bowls. Claire and Hobbes grabbed a bowl. Darien and Claire started to munch as Tony and Eberts fixed the slides.
Hobbes walked back to his seat. As he passed Darien, he smacked him upside his head, "Thanks, man."
"Ow!"
"Whoops...sorry QT...I thought I was just hitting hair."
Darien crinkled his nose, "QT???"
Eberts replied without looking up from the AV equipment, "Q-Tip."
"What?" Darien's tone was tinged with confusion.
Eberts straightened up like he was updating the team on a report, "QT as in Q-Tip...as in...your hair is piled on the top of your head...like a Q-Tip."
Hobbes nodded and smiled, "You're catchin' on there, Ebes."
Eberts smiled and went back to helping Tony. Tony smiled as he thought about the Q-Tip remark. Ed shook his head and Claire rolled her eyes and continued eating her popcorn.
Darien turned to Tony, "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing."
"So sensitive....geesh..." Hobbes stretched out and yawned, "Ahhhhh..." A popcorn kernel whirled across the room right into Hobbesy mouth, gag!!" Hobbes put his hands to his throat as he started to choke.
Darien grinned, "Swish."
"Alright, alright, boys knock it off before we have a food fight." The Official stated as he walked into the room with Walter behind him and took his seat.
Hobbes grumbled as he picked up a handful of popcorn and was winding up to hit Darien, "Too late."
Darien smiled and began to quicksilver.
Claire yelled, "HOLD IT! Tony, are you ready now?"
"Yep."
"Let's get on with you and Ed. You two can fight later." Claire said angrily looking at Hobbes and Darien.
Hobbes sighed, "You, me, and the kernel..."
"...you're on...behind the bleachers after school...got it," Darien said as he reappeared.
Tony shook his head. "Okay Eberts...we're ready. Hit the lights." He turned to Ed, "Are they always like this?"
"Yeah, sometimes it's worse."
"Just like how we were in med school, bro."
"Okay, uhm…we're going to have to give you a quick lesson in biology here for you to understand better what's going on and I'm going to have Tony do that part." Ed stepped aside to let his friend give the lesson.
Tony let out a deep breath. "Alright," he clicked on a diagram of the male body. "Okay, I know this is a cause for laughter and an occasional giggle as well as embarrassment in mixed company but like Ed said, this will help you understand the situation we're facing."
TBC…