The second interlude, which is the first New thing that has been written for this story in some time. Well, the second half is, anyway. The first part was written sometime in June. Anyway, in theory I will have a new chapter next week. Since I have been convinced to write more...despite the massive unreviewed nature of the story.

PS: Those of you who DID review? You just rock. I was going to say 'Rock my socks' but...really...who says that?

Kingdom Come: Interlude the Second

Several Months Ago

The door read 'VP: Research in Progress. DO NOT ENTER. Classification Alpha-seven clearance required.' And Sirius Arnold let his eyes trace over the words and smiled to himself. Last time he had been here, the sign had been different. It was...a refreshing change.

He put a hand over his mouth and nose as he shoved the large steel door open. The blast of smoke and the stench of burning copper came over him like a wave, and he took several slow breaths through his fingers before he drew his hand away.

The lab was massive, three stories high at its center, decorated in dim colors and kept cold enough to chill Arnold through the suit he wore. He pushed past the towering rows of vials and jars, past the severed limbs in formaldehyde, the skulls and eyes of so many failed experiments. Once, he'd have been thrilled. Each of those jars represented another step, another leap towards their goal.

But they were meaningless now, relics of an experiment completed and forgotten. He headed directly towards the center of the room, drawing his coat closed as the temperature dropped with each step. He had been in a rush, coming here as soon as he had arrived on the Ark, and had not thought to wear the warm close he usually would have.

But things were different this time.

The center of the lab was a massive square, sunken six feet into the floor. Along every wall of the square were computers, monitoring machines, testing stations, every conceivable tool the dozen or so scientists who worked there could need. And in the center was a large glass cylinder, ice frozen to the sides,

One of the scientists, dressed in a heavy fur coat, hurried over to Sirius as he walked down the steps into the square. "Sir, I'm glad you came. I have a report, and..."

"Wait a minute, Fernsworth," Sirius held up a hand to ward off the scientist. Head of the department, and perhaps as close as Sirius had ever found to someone who shared his vision, David Fernsworth was a genius. But at that moment, he was in the way.

As Sirius stepped past the man, he couldn't help but smile. Originally, everything umbrella had done was for bio-weaponry. They were good at it, too. The T-virus, and in theory the G-virus, were both marvelous weapons. In every test, they worked flawlessly. Containment was an issue, but not one that Sirius particularly cared about.

By the time containment was considered, his thoughts had moved on. Alexia had been the key. Alexia Ashford, her idiot twin and their demented father had presented Sirius with something he had never dreamed of.

The T-veronica virus; a virus capable of mutating a human being, giving them strength and power but allowing them to maintain their sanity...truly, it was a thing of beauty. A flawed thing of beauty, but none-the-less...

So, Sirius had gotten the best of his scientists, two of whom had trained under William Birkin and the rest almost as smart as that failed genius had been, and he had presented them with the T-veronica, with the T and the G and everything else they had created. And he gave them an order.

"Make it work," Sirius had said, standing before the assembled men. A combined collective intelligence that dwarfed almost every other lab in the world. "Make the virus work. Remove the flaws, remove the...problems, and make the virus perfect. Make it something I can use."

They hadn't known the truth, of course. Not at first. Bio-weaponry, that is what it was supposed to be. Nothing like this. Only Fernsworth had figured it out, and once he had the scientist had doubled his efforts.

And they had succeeded! Sirius resisted the urge to run to the cylinder, but he allowed the broad smile to stretch across his face. They had harnessed the G, forced a stability in Alexia's ant virus, and even interlaced the T-virus's healing properties. They had created a perfect strain.

Fernsworth called it the V-Perfection virus. Sirius had frowned on that, but the man knew what he was talking about. And then, the two of them had met, and created their plan.

And here she was.

Inside the cylinder floated a young woman, perhaps sixteen years old. She was thin, with pale skin, long limbs and several feet of fire-red hair that trailed off into blonde at the tips. She had been in the tube for a month, grown from a pair of cells carefully chosen by Fernsworth, and if everything was accounted for she would be drawn out of the tube soon.

Sirius reached out and places his bare hand on the glass of the tube, ignoring the sharp pangs of cold that bit through his fingers. The cold had been the only condition they'd failed to remove from the T-veronica virus. The cold was still necessary to slow the development of the subject...of her...but soon it would not be, and she could be removed.

Sirius smiled and drew his hand back, wincing as his flesh tugged itself from the glass. Cold enough to burn he thought silently. Inside the tube, the girl shifted, eyes moving behind pale eyelids, and Sirius suddenly wished the tube was gone, so he could reach out and rub her hair and calm her nightmares. She did not deserve nightmares. She was perfect...her sleep should be perfect.

"Sir? We really do need to talk." Fernsworth had come up behind him.

Sirius sighed and nodded, tearing his eyes away from the floating subject. No...the floating child; his child, brought into the world through his vision. "Fine. What is it?"

"I've received another package from Dr. Fernando, and I think you'll be pleased. If all goes well, she will be awake in a few weeks..." The two men turned and walked away from the tube, towards the edge of the square. The girl in the tube seemed to shift again, her body following the path of Sirius as he moved across the square. She floated a bit higher, but her eyes never opened.

The simple sign above the tube, where once had been written 'V-perfection Subject B-313' had been changed, in the last week, in expectation of Sirius's arrival. It read, in plain letters:

"VIVICA."

Baltimore-Washington International Airport

"Move it!" Ada shouted out to the people in front of her as they passed through the remains of the giant glass doors in the airport lobby. Once, these doors had allowed those waiting to pick up their relatives to watch the planes land, but now they were a twisted wreck, and the overturned fire truck sticking halfway out of the building indicated how it had happened.

Just before she would have gotten outside, Ada twisted around and dropped down onto one knee, and bringing her handgun up as she scanned the lobby. She didn't even notice the shards of glass that dug into her leg. At the far end of the lobby the Secret Service man, Devin something-or-other, and several police officers they had picked up on their way here were attempting to bar the main doors. "Idiots," she muttered under her breath, standing again. At least the lobby itself seemed devoid of the carriers.

None of this would have been going on if she'd insisted they leave as soon as she'd reached the white house. But she had humored Devin, helping him try to find some survivors, and they had. But by the time they had gotten back to her plane a hunter had managed to tear the fuel line trying to get to the pilot. Luckily the man was alive, and so they had set off for BWI with their small crew of survivors.

And now they were here, with a horde of the carriers hot on their heels and god-only-knew what else behind them. "Leave it!" She shouted at the men near the door, waving her handgun at them. "We have to go now." And with that she twisted around and ran out onto the tarmac, enjoying the sudden feel of the afternoon light on her face. It would have been a beautiful day, if not for...well, for everything.

A few seconds later Devin ran up next to her. "What the hell are you talking about? We need to secure the area, not rush off like a bunch of idiots." He half-yelled at her, and it took every ounce of Ada's concentration not to hit him with her gun.

"No, we have to secure one area," she held up a thin finger in front of his face. "Just one plane. That's the only area we need. We are not checking for more survivors, or waiting to see if anyone else got our radio message." Her hand dropped back down to her side and she sighed. "I'm sorry, but we just aren't. Now get the rest of your 'men' to set up a firing line around whichever plane Ernando says we can use."

Devin started to open his mouth to saying something and Ada's hand shot up to cover his lips. "No. Don't argue, just go deal with this. Now." She didn't wait for a response, just twisted around on her heel and headed towards the last place she'd seen her pilot.

When he didn't follow, she let out another little relieved sigh and stopped to check her clip again. She could deal with this. This wasn't nearly as stressful as Raccoon had been. Hell, she even had a damn pilot this time. But the hero thing was getting old.

This was all so much more worthwhile when I got paid... She thought with a wry grin as she started moving again. A few moments later she came upon Ernando and the handful of survivors clustered around a 747.

"Are we set?" She called out to him, forcing her way through the small crowd. The Mexican man nodded, patting the side of the plane.

"It looks like they were refueling her when it all went to hell, Miss Wong. I need ten minutes to finish and we can go anywhere you wish." The man grinned, then pointed past her to where two of the survivors were pulling a large tube across the runway, with two more pushing a giant full barrel behind it.

"Ten minutes?" She frowned, glancing over her shoulder to where Devin and the other armed people were now standing, all of them with their weapons ready, watching the lobby. "Make it five." She said as she twisted back, and then she half-turned, waving her pistol at the others.

"Anybody that isn't helping, get in the plane. Ernando," she tapped him lightly. "Tell them what to do, and then get onboard. If things go to hell, you take off without us, alright?"

"But..." the Mexican man held up a hand to protest and Ada cut him off.

"No buts. You do it or you'll die just like us. Oh, and have some of them check the plane for carriers." She hoped there weren't any on there...it would be hell to deal with them once they were in the air, and they certainly didn't have time to deal with them now.

As if cued by her thoughts, there was the distant sound of shattering glass from inside the lobby and the men with Devin opened fire. "Five minutes." She growled at Ernando and then took off to help hold off the horde.

Woo. Cliffhanger interlude! How mean of me. Next time: Claire/Leon stuff plus Anne/Rebecca stuff. Unless you guys want character specific stuff. The reviews of the last chapter being all philadephia people seem mixed. Some prefer it, some do not. (and none of these people telling me this through AIM and such bother to REVIEW the story...but oh well.) so..lemmie know. Next chapter could be all leon-claire, and the one after that all Anne-Rebecca stuff, and the one after that back to Philly...or I can keep going the way I am.