DISCLAIMER in the first chapter...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! Special thanks to Crazyrussianangal and Jar-Par Fan for reviewing since the very beginning and for having the patience to drop in a word of encouragement every step of the way.

Annette: Jarod is still no here, but be patient, he has a big role in all of this

Me( whoever you are ): Don't worry, this is not a stairway to heaven. I don't believe anything that is worth having comes easy. Thank you for your review on my writing, not only on the plot. I agree with you, descriptions are my forte, but a story cannot stand only on that. Hope you like chapter5!

On with the show...

Chapter 5: Rebirth

Shit!

Screwed...

Renewal Wing...

No privileges...

Reeducation...

Lyle was seething, at the same time fear started to creep within his hardened heart. With more force than was really necessary he hung up on poor Steve. Someone had to take the blame. And it would not be him. All of his perfectly calculated plans had gone down the drain.

Failure.

His overconfidence together with his arrogance pushed him into this situation. Their prized pretender was dead. Gemini, their only successfully bred clone, was missing. The Scrolls, which would allegedly give the Center great power, were somewhere in the Atlantic ocean alongside with the man he thought to be his father. He started pacing.

Whatever...

Their last chance, himself included, to rise above it all and return the Center to its glorious days of the past just walked off into the sunset to God only knows where. He should have known... Should have guessed the moment he caught her crying in the makeshift morgue, that something was going on. It wasn't the tears, he had expected those, it was the way she had caressed the body's burnt cheek... Wonderboy had meant to her much more than anyone could have ever guessed. He had actually seen the Ice Queen melt. But his will to see her suffer had over clouded his judgement.

Fool...

Miss Parker, whatever her name really was, disappeared. How she knew not to go home was anyone's guess. Their project to resurrect the Read Files and breed a whole new batch of super pretenders was a fluke. No more Rebirth, not yet, anyway. And to make things worse, their lab, together with all their heavily guarded genetic material for this project went down in flames and a big boom that rocked the Center to in its lowest foundation. Lyle didn't know who had been responsible and planned to kill whoever it was as soon as he got a name. A very, very slow death.

Bad luck for him, the perpetrator had left no clues of his deed behind. He was safely hidden among the extensive ventilation system, like always, planing his next move. Lyle was impatiently pacing, back and forth, practically burning a hole in the concrete floor. For the fifth time since the phone had rang, he ran his fingers through his hair. Nervous was an understatement.

And just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, a distinctive squeaking sound approached his door. Slowly, the threat of Raines' arrival looming in the air. The walking emphysema didn't bother knocking, as he walked into the room. His face bore a scowl and his left eye twitched every few seconds. His barely contained anger showed deeply in his rough voice.

"Where is she?". Each word had been punctuated separately. When no answer was forthcoming, he took in a deep breath. " You better find her, and fast. Don't think any of our necks will be saved from the Zulu's wrath when we present them with another failure!" Breathing heavily, he twisted his oxygen tank, leaking in more O2 into his lungs.

"I will. She can run, but she can't hide. In the mean time, present the Triumvirate with Baby Parker. That should give us enough time." His fear and anxiety didn't show through his face or voice. He was the picture of calm, letting a gentle, menacing smile grace the corner of his lips. As a product of Center upbringing he was well versed in hiding his emotions. However, Raines next words threw his mask, surprise was made clearly evident.

" Baby Parker can hardly breathe with the aid of an incubator much less without one, he is not going to last another week. What makes you think he is of any use to us? No, we have no time. FIND HER!" And without another word he turned his tank around and left. Still squeaking.

Instead of feeling sadness because of this news or remorse for never getting to now his half brother, Lyle felt only hatred for the boy. His association to both Parker and the LabRat were enough to wish him dead. But his ability to ruin his life on his death bed made him see red. No one could ever blame Lyle for his heart. He had none.

And inside a vent, somewhere around SL-8, outside a nursery no mother would fashion for her child, a pair of blue eyes mourned for the little boy's life and for everything he would never get to see, to experience. His mother was long since dead and his father was an old man who knew not of his existence. He would never get play in a park with other children, would never see the sun rise, eat ice cream and pizza. Laugh just because he could. Cry just because he felt like it.

No.

Would never grow up to be someone's son, someone's brother, someone's husband or father...

Never...

Soon, he would be just another statistic of the Center

Soon, MP whereabouts, Jarod's story and Angelo's plan!

Review, review, review!!