Not Quite Dead – Chapter One
Taya Guevera
Getting home from her ride, Mischa dug out the package that she had 'obtained' from Manticore's computer systems 18 months earlier. Looking at it brought back all the memories from that fateful night twelve years ago.
From the moment she had regained consciousness in the recovery room, she had known that from now on, everything would be different. When the clones of the escaped X5's were taken in for Psy-Ops reprogramming, she had been included. However, instead of the normal retraining process, she was bombarded with a new barcode and identity. She went from being X5-766 to X5-391. No one knew the difference, and to keep it under wraps, she was kept from the rest of the X-series still on base. Lydecker knew the bond that had existed between herself and her brothers and sisters that had escaped, and he had also correctly surmised that her 'death' would have major impact on them as well.
Glancing at the file, the long repressed memories of reprogramming and training came back, flooding her enhanced senses with the images that she had fought so hard to forget. Trying unsuccessfully to control herself, she made it to her 'gym' before unleashing her anger upon the boxing bag hanging in the corner. Two hours later, and feeling slightly better, Mischa grabbed a towel from the cupboard and made her way back to the kitchen, to face the file and to make a decision which would change her future.
Since the news of Terminal City had reached Australia, Mischa had wrestled with the idea of staying in Australia and being Mischa Henderson or returning to the US and taking her place with her family. All her 'parents' knew about her was that she had no family.
They first met her at a church youth group thing which she had gone to with a friend - pretty much for the shelter and the food - but somehow, ended up going with the Henderson's, who eventually adopted her a year later. Although Christian's, they never once tried to force their beliefs onto her, for which, she was grateful. Even though Ben had regaled them with stories about the Blue Lady back in Manticore, Mischa couldn't help but feel that, in retrospect, it had been one big lie to give hope to those who had none.
Her parents were great people, and had been easy to live with. They had put her through the last two years of High School with their natural Daughter, Aleysha, with whom she had become best friends. She did extra curricular activities after school and during the holidays - mainly martial arts, which she saw as a way to keep her at the level that she was 'designed' to be at Manticore. To her instructors and family, it just looked like she was a natural at it. After Graduation, Aleysha had gone to University, but Mischa had decided that she was finished with School. So she'd gone out and found an apartment of her own and started working in a Café, where she still worked. Just like the rest of the X5's, she had her 'heat' problems, which she sometimes 'scratched' and sometimes waited it out, taking the time to exercise like crazy, after locking herself in her apartment. Her barcode was always covered up with makeup, and she kept her dyed blonde hair long to hide it just in case. Her seizure's were few and far between, and that was mainly due to the supply of tryptophan that she could get from health stores. For as much as $50, she could get enough tryptophan pills to keep her going for 3 months.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the file and sat down at the kitchen bench. Slowly reading through it, she made notes on the pad of paper next to her. The notes she would add to the file, so they would be able to understand the information they were looking at. When she finished, the file was twice as thick as it had been with the original information. As she had read it, the gravity of what she was had fully hit her, and now she realised why the people in Seattle were making such big noises about them not being human. Although their Human DNA was the dominant in their cocktail, there was so much more added to it, that they were really hybrids of the Feline/Human type. Thinking in those terms, she had written the notes in a way that her Human parents would understand.
Pulling a large envelope towards her, she wrote the address to which it was to be sent and quickly wrote a note to the people who would receive it.
ATTN: Dr. Richard and Mrs. Sarah Henderson
Finishing it, and sealing it shut, she held the thick package in her hands and closed her eyes. She didn't know how they would react and she knew that it was a cowardly way to tell them the truth. Although she had been designed to be a supersoldier, the one thing they didn't teach them back at good old Manticore, was how to deal with emotions. And it was something that Mischa still had trouble with.
Sitting in the car across the street, his feline eyesight enabled him to look in the window of the apartment he had been watching for the past two days. Logan had salvaged a lot of the Manticore Database that Lydecker had shown up with a few weeks ago, and according to both him and Lydecker, there was one too many X5's on the books. It would have gone unnoticed had Deck not been there with his 'wealth of information' about his 'kids', and Logan knew a lot more than the average Joe about the going's on of Manticore.
Far more than he should if you ask me He thought to himself as he continued to watch the girl in the apartment attack a boxing bag.
So far, everything he'd seen of this girl hadn't told him that she was a Manticore chick, but then again, his kind were designed to blend in with the Ordinaries. Logan had taken him aside one day and told him that both he and Lydecker thought that this extra X5 might not actually be an extra at all, but one from one of the original units. Recalling the information Logan had told him, he closed his hazel/green eyes and sighed.
"Logan, buddy, what's up?"
"Remember that database that Lydecker brought to us?"
"The one that you rebuilt"
"You knew about the extra X5 that we found on the books right?"
"Yeah. Look Logan, I was there for the better part of my life, and I didn't know of someone extra. Apart from Max's little rugrat brothers and sisters who took off, I knew about all of the remaining X5's."
"Lydecker told me some information that could lead to the identity of the extra one."
"I wouldn't trust a word that he says Logan. Either would Max. You know that."
"True, but from what Lydecker says, I think it is."
He'd sighed in resignation, knowing he was going to hear it whether he wanted to or not. Taking a seat in one of the loungechairs in the living room, next to the TV he'd installed when he'd had to lay low with Josh, he'd put his hands behind his head and shrugged.
"What did he say and why is it so important?"
"When Max's brothers and sisters escaped back in '09, they left their 2IC Eva, who had been shot by Lydecker."
"Yeah, We got told about that. It was always used as an example of what happens to good little X5's who don't play by the rules"
"Well, according to Lydecker, she didn't die."
"What are you talking about? Everyone knows that she died."
"It was kept on the down low. She was re-integrated, re-designated and re-programmed."
He sat up a little in his chair and leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees.
"So you're telling me that Max's sister, her 2IC is out there, alive and well."
"Yes."
"Are you gonna tell Max?"
Logan had paused and looked at the screen across from him. There was the file on Eva on it, along with the most recent picture they had of her.
"I'm not sure. I don't want to tell her that she's alive and then find out that this girl we have a lead on isn't her."
"How old's the most recent picture?"
"Eva was at Manticore's Wyoming facility until the winter of 2014. They were transporting her to an undisclosed location, when she got away."
"And they didn't have any idea as to where she went?"
"No. According to this file, she was going into Spec. Ops training. They felt that the re-programming had taken well, and that she was able to go deep cover missions."
"Well, they cleared me for Deep Cover, and that was after I had 6 months of psy-ops thanks to my twin."
Getting up from his seat, he'd walked to the computer where Logan had been sitting and looked at the information.
"Any leads as to where she is now?"
Logan had called up a new screen, one from the original notes left by Renfro. They had obviously been looking for her as well, but the destruction of their Washington facility had put deep holes into their progress.
"Their last known location for Eva was in Australia."
"Australia? How did she get there?"
"Well, you've all been trained to blend in.."
"So naturally, she would have found a way to get there. Especially if they were taking her to Spec. Ops."
"Exactly."
"What do you want to do?"
"I want you to go to Australia and find her. If Manticore had this information, chances are that White's men probably have the same information. Although Australia wasn't hit by the Pulse, with their thermal scanners, they'll be able to find her fast."
"I'm on it. Should I approach her? Or just follow her to establish that none of White's guy's have her number?"
He'd automatically slipped into soldier mode, talking in military terms. This was a mission he was being sent on, and he needed to get the information right.
"You should probably check out her background, her contacts. See if there's anything there that could be compromising for her. Then, if need be, touch base with her, and let her know what's up. With the broadcast of TC, she probably knows about what's going on over here."
"Fine. When do I leave?'
"Eye's Only contacts have made a passport and papers for you, and your ticket is for the 4am flight in the morning."
"What do I tell Max? I'm assuming you want to keep this quiet until we know more."
"I'll tell her that you had to go on a solo mission for Eye's Only. She'll get over it."
He settled himself in the car to get some rest. He'd pretty much slept the entire flight from Seattle, and thanks to his designers, he didn't need that much sleep, but it wouldn't hurt to stay alert. He'd follow her to work again in the morning, and, depending on what happened, he might meet her then. He would wait and see what the morning held.
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