Murphy's sixth Law: If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

Parker scanned the file folder in front of her, across the front in bold lettering were the words "Project Silence." Inside were documents on documents of genetic data, medical reports, psych analyses, and some records of previous SIMs, but nothing in the folder told Parker anything about the girl who had been previously occupying her office chair. This was, naturally, the doctored version of the girl's file, with numerous things either blacked out or missing entirely. Parker wished she could find some way of gaining access to the complete file, rather than this piece of carved up garbage. The girl was an utter mystery; she was a shadow without a past, present, or future. In Parker's opinion, this was simply an invitation to go snooping. After all, you know what they say about mysteries needing to be solved. Parker stood up from her chair and gracefully walked out the door of her office, headed in the direction of the Tech Room.

-

-

Sydney leaned back in his chair, thinking about Riley, he couldn't believe they had done it again, taken another child to mold into a human computer. But not only had they stolen her life, they had created her in the first place! She was a scrambled egg of genetic codes from three different red files, the ultimate pretender. He thought back to his time spent with her in Miss Parker's office, the girl had spirit, there were no doubts there, but it was well hidden from the public eye, pushed down under years of Lyle and Raines' influence, years of absolute torture he was sure.

She was smart, incredibly so, she wouldn't be here if she wasn't. Her questions in Mr. Parker's office spoke of great foresight into the problems with the simulation, and the fact that Lyle felt her capable of becoming someone who is becoming someone else told him almost all he needed to know about her pretending ability. But because of her shields, her defense mechanisms of changing the subject or asking the complicated questions, he still knew absolutely nothing about her, not really. If she always felt threatened with the prospect of Raines or Lyle finding out what she felt, Sydney doubted he would ever get the chance to know her either. He wished he had access to her SIMs, better yet the DSA's of her when she wasn't simming, he wanted to find out what could have possibly influenced her so much that she felt it necessary to hide herself away from the world.

When he thought about it, Angelo did too, he was constantly hiding in the ventilation systems, but he hid because of the electro-shock treatment he underwent as a child. Why did she? What was her electro-shock treatment? There were so many questions and so few answers at the Centre. And it seemed as though each answer only gave more questions, he doubted they'd ever find the answers to all of them. But perhaps they could find the answers to these ones.

-

-

Morning at the Facility was always the busiest time of day; people arriving, meeting up with colleagues, getting assignments, and in the hustle-and-bustle, Riley had her own routine. She pulled herself into the vents and played imaginary games while no one was manning the cameras. She explored, and watched people, and ran mazes in the vent shafts, and it was fun. Lonely... but fun. But this morning she hadn't gotten to. This morning someone had come to her room before she was even awake and taken her out to the simulation lab, to Mr. Raines. He'd given her a packet of math papers to work on and then gone into his own office off the SIM lab to work. She was done now. She'd been done for half an hour, and he knew that. He'd just snapped at her to stay put and keep quiet.

Riley leaned forward over the desk, trying to see into his office doorway, but she wasn't tall enough. She slipped down off the chair and slowly, hesitantly, moved to the office door. She waited on the outside a minute before crossing the threshold. He didn't look up from the file he was writing in. She took another step forward, then another. Finally, she stood on tip-toe to peer over the edge of his desk.

"Mr. Raines?" She whispered. He looked up from his papers with an angry snarl, standing up to move around his desk.

"I told you to stay put." He growled, grabbing her by her upper arm and dragging her back out to the SIM lab.

"Ow." She tried pulling away from him, but his grip only tightened. "That hurts. Let go."

"Be quiet." He deposited her back at the table then turned to go back to his office.

"Can't I go do something else Sir? Please?" She asked, swinging her legs back and forth, itching to move.

"No."

"But I've finished my work-- I wanna go play."

He turned back around and she quailed under the evil glare he was giving her. "There's no playing here."

She bit her lip until he'd turned back around. "Sarah always let me play once I was done."

This time he turned back around and walked the length of the room back over to her, pulling her out of the chair, and shaking her by the shoulders. "Sarah is gone! She's not coming back! Not for the likes of you." he finished, releasing her. Riley stepped back from him, eyes tearing up. He sent her a caustic glare. "Stop sniveling."

"You're mean. I don't like you." She said, struggling as he tried to put her back in her seat.

"That doesn't matter." He said, once he had her firmly planted.

"It does matter. You aren't supposed to be mean to people-- it hurts their feelings." She argued.

"You don't have feelings. I say so."

"I do too!"

"No, you don't. Know why? Because you aren't a person. You're an experiment; a subject; a piece of property. My property. Your feelings don't exist; they're immaterial--"

"Imma-what?"

"Immaterial, Riley. They don't matter. Nothing about what you want, or what you want to do, matters. You belong to me-- you live so you can do what I tell you."

Riley pushed out of her seat and ran from the room, but she was caught by a large black man standing guard at the door. He brought her, kicking and struggling, back inside to Mr. Raines, who was fuming. "Willie. Take her to Mr. Lyle. Have him determine a suitable punishment for running away from me."

"No!" Riley woke up, trying to blink past the inky darkness filling the room. Her stomach hurt, and there were dried tear tracks on her face. She sat forward to cradle her head in her hands. This day had been bad enough. Why did she have to dream that? Why? She opened her eyes back up to the pitch dark room and shuddered, remembering the rest of what had happened. Riley had been locked in a dark room for three days. She hated the dark. The fluorescent rod above her started humming quietly and Riley closed her eyes quickly just as it began flickering to life. She squinted her eyes back open, allowing her pupils to adjust, before unscrewing her face and opening her eyes again completely. The quiet tone came from the doorway, alerting her that someone was coming down for her. She didn't bother getting up to cross the room and wait for them either. She just didn't care. If they'd decided they wanted to come down to SL-25 in the middle of the night, then they couldn't possibly blame her for not getting out of bed to meet them.

Mr. Lyle walked through the open door, his jacket folded over one arm, and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He must have still been working. He sighed when he found her, still on the bed, and pulled her desk chair out and over, sitting down in it sideways.

"It's been a tough day between you and me, huh?" He said.

Riley just shrugged.

"I saw you on the monitors upstairs," he tried again, motioning up at the ceiling, "you were having a nightmare. Are you feeling alright?"

Riley took a deep breath, fiddling with the blanket down by her feet. "Why does it matter?" She asked, avoiding his eyes. "I'm just property, right?"

Mr. Lyle leaned back at that, and folded his arms in front of him. "We haven't had to talk about that in years. What's wrong?"

"Why does it matter?"

He rolled his eyes dismissively. "It matters, because you are my property," he said. "And tonight, I'm taking an interest. Tell me what the problem is."

"Just that, you're right-- it's been a tough day."

"Tough enough to give you bad dreams?"

She shrugged. "Guess so."

He could see he wouldn't get any more out of her that night, and stood up with a loud sigh. "Alright. It's late. That's really all that you want to tell me?" He asked, pausing on his way out the door.

"That's all there is to say."

-

-

Broots poured himself a cup of coffee from the carafe sitting by the wall before moving back to his seat in front of the computer, staring lethargically at the search code traveling along the screen. They'd been at this all day.

"Anything yet?" Miss Parker asked from where she was pacing around behind him.

"No." He answered, then lowering his voice, "And to the question you ask in five minutes, also, no."

Sydney looked up from the chess game he was playing in the corner. "Parker, is something bothering you?"

"No." she bit out acidly.

Broots leaned his head back and closed his eyes as the room lapsed back into silence.

"She's so tiny." She finally said, coming over to Sydney's chess game, moving the bishop he'd been reaching for, down four squares.

"She's malnourished." he answered, beckoning for her to take the chair across from him. She didn't, just began pacing again.

"But why?" She asked aloud. "That doesn't make sense. Raines would want her healthy, wouldn't he?"

"You call cowering, blind obedience healthy do you, Parker?" Sydney asked bitterly. "I expect she was denied meals as a child."

"But why Syd? What does that achieve?"

"Because if you hit a person too many times, they will, one day, hit you back. I believe they were trying to vary their tortures back then, to avoid such an occurrence."

Broots looked up as his computer beeped at him. It practically sounded proud of itself. "Yeah, save the smugness for when you actually find me something." He muttered.

"I heard a beep. You said there'd be beep when it was done Broots. Is it done? What do you have?" Parker demanded, coming up behind him.

"Absolutely nothing. But that was just the internal database. Now there are the foreign databases, Raines' personal files, and of course the off chance that I'm not even entering the right search terms." Broots sighed. It had been a long day and was shaping up to be an even longer night. He needed to get home to Debbie. He'd left her with her aunt, thankfully not recovering from surgery this time he'd asked, and though the woman adored Debbie (who couldn't?) she also deserved her own chance at some peace tonight. He leaned back in his chair again, thinking of his own daughter, having to grow up under those two monsters.

"Just how tiny is she?" He asked.

"Small. Look at her genes Syd. Those men are not tiny."

Sydney sent Broots a look that plainly said 'you just had to bring this up again?' "You're rather fixated on that point Parker. Are you feeling alright?"

She laughed. "Aside from the mad urge to go and buy her a Big Mac, Syd?"

"Don't. You'll make her ill."

Parker saw the opportunity to argue and took it, deciding to let off a little steam. She was still angry with Sydney over his behavior in her father's office that morning, and she wasn't about to let him forget it. She turned on her heel and rolled her eyes contemptuously at him, knowing that to show disdain for his advice was a sure way to get his ire up. "One burger is not going to--"

"Oh really?" Sydney sniped, which was to Broot's understanding a very good indication of how tired and tense they all were, to have Sydney snipe anything was a BIG sign. "You go try and digest something you have never been allowed to have, then come back here and tell me how you like it."

Parker rolled her eyes. "Killjoy."

Sydney pulled up his sleeve and laid his arm out across the table, blatantly revealing the bluish faded tattoo marring his skin. "In your words Parker, 'look at your flippin' forearm Syd.' I still remember my first bite of food after the allies came and freed us. The very thought of mille-feuille sickens me to this day. Do her a favor, and don't interfere on her behalf."

"But--"

Broots spoke up from his corner. "Raines'll take it out on her."

She placed her hands on her hips, "That's unbelievable."

"No. That's Raines."

-

-

Riley tossed and turned on her bed, caught in the throes of another nightmare; she was making small incoherent noises and curled up in the fetal position.

She was surrounded by a murky darkness, a sudden absence of everything that undermined time itself. The world spun around her, though she couldn't see it, she could feel it, and she could feel that she was falling. The world faded into its existence around her, the lights came on, and she was in the lab with Sarah. Eyes were on her, watching, and waiting, and searching. It was Them. Someone grabbed her, she couldn't see, someone was yelling, she was screaming, she was turned around, a man without a face was holding a gun, it was pointed at her! He fired, but there was no impact, the sound of someone hitting the floor behind her. Sarah! She collapsed, she was crying so hard! What's going on! Help me! Someone, anyone... do something!

"You work with me now Riley."

Riley shot straight up in bed, the last words echoing in her mind. She shook her head dazedly, banishing them. She didn't know what they meant, she couldn't remember ever going through a day like that, and part of her didn't want to know if she had. She tried to calm her breathing, it was just a dream, just a nightmare, she had had them before. It didn't mean anything.

Her breath was coming in short gasps, as though she couldn't get enough air to fill her lungs. Her mind was racing as it shot from one scene of the dream to another. The dark specters swam before her eyes and suddenly every shadow in her room was a potential danger. She closed her eyes shut tightly and forced herself away from that sort of thinking. Opening them she could see things as they really were, it was just a desk and a chair, a bookshelf, nothing to be scared of. She was safe, she was perfectly safe. Her hand drifted towards her necklace, but upon reaching her throat all she found was bare skin, the events from the night earlier hit her and she slammed her fist into her pillow, wanting to scream. It wasn't fair! She didn't even have that one small comfort anymore. Sarah had always known how to calm her down after she had a nightmare, had never tired of reminding her that the shadows in her room weren't going to try and smother her in the night. Once a dream had frightened her so badly that she refused to let Sarah leave. She had been perfectly understanding throughout, she had taken Riley and carried her up to her office and made up a bed for her on the couch inside. It had taken some time for Riley to fall asleep that night, though she had eventually dropped into slumber while listening to Sarah murmuring a slow melody as she weaved her fingers through her hair and watching the stars outside the window. Sarah had pointed out a few of the constellations to Riley, and she could still remember the position of Orion in relation to the Big and Little Dippers. Riley knew that she wasn't going to fall asleep for some stretch of time this night either. She glanced up at the camera before slipping out of bed and into the ventilation systems, as long as she was back before Mr. Lyle came for her in the morning, no one need know she was running around.

-

-

Parker grabbed up her jacket from the back of her chair and swung it around her shoulders. "This is pointless. Broots, go home, tuck your daughter in bed."

Broots sat up from his computer. An hour earlier and he might have been eager, but he could hear the disappointment in his boss's voice. "We can keep searching tomorrow. There are other places to look." He offered, grabbing his laptop bag, and slinging it over his shoulder. "I'll start on it first thing in the morning."

"Thanks Broots."

He nodded goodnight and left for the tech room to get his bike. It was going to be one hell of a ride home this late at night.

Sydney memorized his chess game one moment longer before standing up and holding the door open for Parker. "I'll walk you out."

"Only because you insist." She permitted. Her lack of fight gave Sydney his own gage of how truly tired she was. "Syd, what did you find out about Frankenstein's monster?" She asked irritably after a few moments walking in silence down the hallway. Parker did not like being left out of the loop, never had either. If there was any person she especially didn't like being left out by, it was Raines, with Lyle coming in a close second. With them working together, the feeling multiplied dramatically. In her father's office, it had seemed as though Raines had been utterly horrified to have Parker snooping around his project, but really, the old ghoul should have recognized that there was nothing else he could have done that would have drawn more attention to this girl, than by trying to keep her a secret.

Sydney thought of telling the woman beside him that the girl wasn't a monster, but he knew that it wouldn't change anything. Thinking of the pretenders at the Centre as something other than human... lab rats for instance, was her way of keeping them separated from the inhumane conditions they lived their lives in. At least, that's what Sydney liked to think.

"She is, of course, incredibly smart-"

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." Parker retorted sarcastically.

"Well, she may have attempted escape once." Sydney said, perfectly calm. Waiting to see Parker's reaction.

"She what?" Parker spun on her heel to face him, looking incredulous.

"Well obviously the attempt didn't work Parker. I'd imagine it's an experience she would rather forget about... I'm rather more interested in why she tried-" Sydney was cut off by the appearance of someone in the next room as they rounded the corner.

Parker stopped short as she saw the pretender silhouetted against one of the large picture windows in the mezzanine, lying down, stretched out along a bench, watching the stars. She looked like she might have fallen asleep; her chest rose and fell gently, completely at peace with the world. She stood up presently, looking around and behind her in case someone was still at the Centre at this hour. Parker and Sydney dropped back into the shadows before her eyes could find them. Riley turned back around, taking a final look out the window, and headed over to a vent grate, prying it loose and slipping inside, she had no idea anyone was watching her.

Sydney watched Parker closely as they exited on their way out to the car park, but if Parker had any strong feelings towards what they had just witnessed, she kept them very well hidden. Sydney hardly expected anything different.

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