Chapter 3
Since returning from the presumed dead, Charles Marlowe had been busy. He quickly caught up with what had happened during his long regeneration. Genomex was now a shadow of its former self, run by the Strand, which he proceeded to join. Mason Eckhart was gone indefinitely. Thus far there had been no attempt to retrieve him from stasis. Gabriel Ashlocke was clearly a more maniacal force than Eckhart had been and far more powerful. He spoke often of New Mutants being freed, walking the streets without shame and using their powers without regret, but there did not seem to be any plan to bring this about. Ashlocke had the opposite problem of Marlowe. Patient Zero was dying. Once it was clear that nothing at Genomex would prolong his life, he more-or-less abandoned the facility and Marlowe seized the opportunity this afforded him.
Having come to terms with the fact that he was truly invulnerable—it was undeniable, especially after his recent resurrection—Marlowe was forced to accept the fact that he could never join his wife and child in death. Adam Kane's procedure had only caused a temporary counter-mutating effect on his DNA. If he was forced to live, he would rather live as ruler than slave. He had little faith in Ashlocke as a leader and set about preparing for Gabriel's ultimate self-destruction, which could not be far off.
Taking charge of Genomex and reorganizing all of its assets as a legitimate firm with an unblemished record was the first step. He called it Fasergen. Marlowe's new corporation rose to the forefront of genetic research within one year of opening its doors. The legitimate scientific and business communities did not realize that the firm's success was due largely to its over five hundred employee-shareholders—all new mutants, working in a small subsidiary called "Site G", the former headquarters of Genomex. The remnants of the Strand, those few weak mutants whom Gabriel Ashlocke had left behind when he abandoned Genomex in pursuit of his ill-conceived plans of mutant supremacy, were supplemented by former mutant employees and recruits, located by his assistant, Maria Raven, a psionic who could detect New Mutant kind on site.
"How are the boys getting along, Ms. Raven?" Charles Marlowe asked his assistant. It amused him to stand in Eckhart's old office, looking down on the stasis pod room, knowing that somewhere in deep storage, Mason himself was staring up at his glass case in disbelief. He hadn't died either.
"Very well, sir." Maria Raven was an attractive African American woman with a Rubenesque build. She was obedient and easily intimidated. Her latest finds had been her greatest—a pair of Telecyber-Psionic twins, Elian and John Ramos. "They were able to salvage most of Genomex's research, which had been encrypted or deleted. They have also recovered Eckhart's dossiers and intelligence files. The twins will be up here shortly to brief you on their findings."
"Excellent." Marlowe had worked hard and spent a large percentage of Fasergen's early profits to rebuild the old Genomex intelligence network in order to keep tabs on both the Strand and Mutant X along with the less interesting, but still important normal world. After he recruited Julia Lechner, with her special banking skills, funding for his less-than-legal activities became much easier. He had laughed each time Ashlocke's insane plots were thwarted by Adam Kane. Marlowe's stratagems were more subtle, steady and successful. He still had half a mind to see that Ashlocke's child was put to death along with the former Strand leader, if only he could find the infant. It had recently come to his attention that another splinter of Ashlocke loyalists was planning on creating a new Gabrielle by combining genes of Psionic, Feral, Molecular and Elemental to form a mutant with all four abilities. Thus far they had been unsuccessful, but it was something to keep an eye on.
"How many Strandlings have come over to us?" Charles Marlowe asked.
"All that we've been able to locate, though a core group remains unaccounted for along. Most likely they are all together and in hiding." Once Patient Zero was a thing of the past, his followers still remained…leaderless. The Strand clung to the hope that Ashlocke's child might someday come to lead them, but for now, they were ready to follow someone, anyone, and that made them the perfect tools for Marlowe's plans. Gabriel's legacy was the child and the belief in its potential power could be used to Marlowe's advantage. Those who hadn't followed the mother to watch over the development of the child were prepared to do anything to pave his way. His sales pitch of preparing the world for the mutant messiah had gone over well and been a powerful recruitment tool amongst the Links.
Only one had objected to his new leadership role, an Ursine Feral named Wayne Miller. When Charles had announced his plans to a group of Ashlocke's followers, a seven-foot tall man had attacked him, attempting to tear him limb from limb, but could not hurt him as no one could. A leader who could not come to harm, who could not be killed, was a godsend for an organization whose all-powerful head had just died. He had a vision and that vision became theirs. Even Miller believed and was now head of perimeter security at Site G.
The Ramos twins arrived in Marlowe's office. "Ms. Raven, you may go. Boys, have a seat." When Maria had originally brought them to Genomex, he had thought the twins looked more like boxers than computer hackers. They were muscular young Latin men with dark hair and thick brows. In the past few weeks they had become invaluable. "So, I understand you have made great progress in the little job I gave you."
"Yes, Mr. Marlowe," they answered in unison. Elian continued alone, "I have searched every computer at every former Genomex facility and recovered nearly twenty terabytes of information that employees had believed deleted from their computers after Mason Eckhart's fall."
"And I have defeated all of Genomex's encryptions for their emergency back-ups and the hierarchy's personal files. The employees were unable to delete this information when Ashlocke took over since they did not have the access." John's telecyber ability was focused in decryption, while Elian dealt with recovery. Together, they made an amazing tandem. "I have also begun the project of breaching the security of our competitors and decrypting their research information."
"We have compiled and organized everything we have learned with the assistance of Dr. Harrison and a New Mutant named Dylan Lawson." Marlowe raised his eyebrows in question, not having recognized this new name. "He is a molecular with the ability to reassemble complex objects that have been shattered to pieces. We recovered thousands of discs and hundreds of hard drives from all over the facility."
Marlowe briefly skimmed the digital version of their report, which highlighted several theories and discoveries Genomex researchers had never published or patented. If they panned out, these ideas had the potential to further consolidate Fasergen's position in the field of genetic and general scientific research. There was, however, one thing missing from the Ramos brothers' report.
"Mutant X?" Marlowe asked.
Both Elian and John suddenly looked nervous, but it was clear that John was more on edge as this was his area. "I have not been able to penetrate their computers remotely. They seem to have a network of physical firewalls set up like a honeycomb throughout the region. Any unauthorized access and their network cuts off all around the offender. My mind has very nearly been trapped in cyberspace each time I have attempted to locate Mutant X." There was a lingering silence and it was clear that this news was not welcome. "If I were physically in their headquarters, I am sure I could hack their computers, but they are well defended against a remote attack."
"Very well. Their time will come." Charles Marlowe rose from his desk and stood facing out the window again, looking over the stasis pod room. The Ramos twins awkwardly departed, leaving him alone.
