I'd like to clear up some misunderstandings- the discussion between Dumont and Warlock was not suggesting that all of the hybrids began as humans and then were altered. Rather, I was trying to imply that Doctor Ainsley was different from the other hybrids, she wasn't born as one. Well, any way, on with the story.

Chapter Nine: Revelations

.o.o.o.

Macintyre watched the area below through the view port of the control room. The room was filled with computers, monitored by technicians.

"All readings are good." One of them remarked.

"All teams report that the plants are all producing optimum power levels." Added another.

In the area below, other scientists monitored massive tanks filled with different colored liquids. Various vague shapes could be made out in them.

Macintyre turned to one of his workers. "Send a report to the central office and tell them that we will be able to make the deadline."

"Yes sir."

Macintyre left the room and met up with Clarke.

"Sir?"

Macintyre looked at him. "Once we have gathered all the data, 'Project Leviathan' will begin, and all our troubles will be over."

.o.o.o.

"Where am I?"

Dr. Warlock looked down at the female. "My name is Warlock, Dr. John Warlock." He spoke.

She looked up at him. "I don't care about your name."

He shook his head. "Then perhaps you'll care about your name- Dianna."

She bristled at the last word. "Don't call me that, that has no meaning." She spat.

Warlock leaned in. "No, Doctor Ainsley, it has all the meaning in the world!" He replied with some effort. "You're avoiding the truth."

"How do you know any of this?" The woman asked.

Dr. Warlock looked down at her seriously. "Because we've met before, in Cambridge." He replied. "You were attending the summit on global warming." He added. "You even brought your little girl with you, Susan as I recall."

She looked away. "So what, you know who I am, what good is any of this anyway?" She asked weekly.

"I want to know why you're doing this, and what happened to you?" He asked. Pulling a key out of his pocket and unlocking one of the bonds.

She grabbed his wrist briefly and leered at him, but let go after a moment, realizing that she was as their mercy.

He pulled his arm back momentarily. "Now Dianna, I'm going to let you go, but I want you to promise you'll behave."

He finished unlocking the other wrist and then the legs. She sat up and looked at him, she then pulled her knees together tightly when she realized that was still wasn't wearing anything. "Do you mind?" She asked darkly, her expression looking to be mixture of ambivalence and lewdness as one of her brows arched.

Doctor Warlock nodded and took off his coat and tossed it over to her.

She quickly slipped the lab coat on and pulled it shut in the front with some effort. "Thing's haven't been too good for me these last few years." She remarked. "I didn't choose to be like this, it was an accident." She added.

"What happened?"

She looked at him gravely. "I took a job at a research center, working for Global Technologies."

Warlock spoke up. "You mean the company that emerged during the height of the war?" He asked.

She nodded. "They have a monopoly on oil and fuel production in these post-war years, they are also the leaders in the field of genetic research, specifically in efforts to understand the nature of Zorndyke's modifications to the genetic code in regards to the adaptive genes." She replied.

"The idea was that if we could duplicate the results of his experiments, then we could better understand them, perhaps even offer some form of cure to people who had been modified." She paused. "There are two kinds of genetic mutations in this world, the proper ones that were born from the original stable Zorndyke creations; and the second are the people who were converted into hybrids for various reasons, through gene-therapy."

Warlock sighed. "Yes, but that doesn't bring us to what you're doing attacking us?"

She frowned. "I was needed for the branch that specialized in marine-based hybrids, but there was an explosion and a chemical leek covered me in a toxic proto-mutagen compound that we had formed from blood samples from the specimens."

"Then you were mutated?" Warlock reasoned.

"Yes, just like in the comic books." She replied. "My skin peeled off and my hair fell out, while my internal system began to mutate." She explained. "After weeks of this, I emerged to find myself in a cell in a dark room." She added. "And besides my physical change, I'd acquired a fierce form of survival instinct that made me mentally unstable and hard to control."

"You seem fine now."

She smiled darkly. "I had four years of isolation to learn how to control my true nature when I wanted to- I'm forced to walk a fine line between madness and stability." She went on. "Well over half of my body has been altered to the point of no return."

She paused. "And it seems that everything I was and once knew has left me behind, thinking me dead." She looked down. "I don't want Susan to see me like this, it's better for her to think I'm dead then to know that her mother is a monster."

Dianna looked over at him. "I was unleashed upon your friends to kill them because he said that I'd be released if I did- and to make sure that I didn't ever come after him, he threatened Susan's life."

Warlock smiled slightly. "Well, as for her, I had some contacts check up on her and she's quite safe now, she's far away from all this and the soldiers have agreed to make sure of this."

"He did this to me."

Dr. Warlock looked at her. "You mean Macintyre?" He watched her nod. "He's at the center of all of this, but we have no proof." He replied. "But something has to be done, and soon." He added.

Dianna leaned back against the wall and crossed one long leg over the other. "What am I going to do?" She asked herself.

Warlock walked over to her and looked her in the eyes. "You just go on living, its all you can do."

She smiled. "Thank you, John."

Doctor Warlock looked down and smiled back. "I think we ought to find you something to wear."

.o.o.o.

Kino walked back into the lab and dropped a bag onto the table. "There, I got that stupid cow her underwear." She announced.

She then looked around and saw that no one was in the room. "Damn, Hayami must be with Mutio somewhere else; and the others. . . they must be doing something." She reasoned.

She picked up the bag and walked into the room where she recalled the strange woman being taken.

She walked into the other room and noticed that Dr. Warlock and the woman were sitting on the far end.

Warlock looked over at her. "Well, now that you're here, I think I'll leave you two ladies alone to get on with things

Kino floundered. "What!" She exclaimed. "You want me to be alone with her?"

Dianna looked at her and smiled oddly. "Well now, aren't you a cute little thing, I can't wait to get to know you better."

Kino panicked as Warlock exited the room.

The taller women quickly strode over to where Kino was standing, seemingly in confusion as to what to do. "Darling, I'm so glad to find another sister." She remarked. She then looked down and noticed the small box under Kino's arm.

"What's that, dear?" She asked.

Kino held it up to her. The other female was easily a foot taller then her.

Dianna smiled. "Wonderful, just what I needed!" She exclaimed and set the box down. She slipped off her coat.

Kino blushed furiously and shook her head. "Wait, I don't think you should be doing this in front of me!"

The nude hybrid slipped on the underwear and then turned to face her. "Come now, we're both women- I want to get to know you better anyway." She smiled as she slipped on the bra.

Kino frowned. "Well, I'm glad that those fit you, it was horribly embarrassing to get those."

"Why?"

Kino bristled. "Because the people in the market thought I was buying them for myself!" She exclaimed. "It was awful, those merchant women giggling at me!"

Dianna shook her head. "Well, it's over now," she replied. "And I want you to accompany me on a little trip."

"What!" Kino exclaimed.

Dianna held up a set of Keys and smiled. "I'm going to find myself a wardrobe- after all; it's not proper form a woman to walk around naked when she can help it." She explained, giving the smaller girl a toothy grin.

Kino thought it over for a moment. "Fine, this certainly isn't any weirder then anything else that's happened."

.o.o.o.

Hayami placed the card that Maxtable had given him in his pocket. It contained all the information for contacting him in the near future. He then turned to face Dr. Dumont. "How is she doing?"

The scientist, who had been standing before a large swimming-pool sized tank- looked up at him. "Emma seems to be progressing well. "I'm sure she'll be at full strength in no time."

The two of them looked over to see Mutio sitting on the edge of the tank, her legs dangling into the water. Emma was floating in front of her. They seemed to be communicating about something.

"I wonder what it is that they're talking about?" Dumont remarked.

Hayami shook his head. "I'm not sure myself." He replied. "I've never understood Mutio's language- so it's a total mystery to me." He finished.

Warlock walked into the room. "Well, I'd think by now that Dianna and Kino are getting along quite well." He remarked.

"Are you sure it's safe for her to be alone with Kino?" Hayami asked.

Dr. Warlock nodded. "Dr. Ainsley is a logical and intelligent woman, so I feel that it is best for her to find some outlet for all those years of isolation." He explained. "She needs to be able to feel human again."

"I had hoped that we might finally have proof of Macintyre's involvement in this, but Dianna is useless as a witness, she must remain anonymous."

Hayami looked at him. "One way or another, he's not going to get away with this."

.o.o.o.

Kino sat on top of a crate in the large storage room. Dianna was busy rummaging through boxes and racks of clothing. "Any luck yet?" She asked.

The green woman, now back in her underwear, was flipping through rows of shirts. "The woman's cloth is too small for me." She replied. "The mutation made me taller and bigger all over." She added. "So it looks like it'll be men's clothes for me."

She then turned and looked at some stacks of folded pants and pulled out a pair of gray trousers and pulled them on. She snatched up a leather belt and pulled into the loops. "A bit snug in the hips, but I think I like this." She remarked.

She then walked over to the row of shirts and smiled, pulling out a white dress shirt with ruffles. "This is perfect!" She exclaimed with a smile and slipped in on over her head and tucked it into her trousers. She fastened adjusts the cuffs and lased up the collar.

"Boots!" She exclaimed. She turned around picked up a pair of riding boots and slipped them on. "Good, the leather should be strong enough for my feet.

Kino smiled oddly at the woman who was dressed in what were clearly very dated men's clothes, but it seemed to suit her.

Dianna pulled out a brown plaid vest and slipped it on and buttoned it up. She then found a deep red ascot and tied it around her collar- which she flipped upward.

She then opened a tall container and looked through it, pulling out a dark brown coat and slipping it on. She then walked over to Kina and smiled.

"So, how do I look?"

Kino looked at her briefly. "Something's missing," She paused. "I know!" She walked over and pulled and old felt fedora off of a hat and coat stand. "Try this on."

Dianna took the hat and pulled it down over her unruly mane of red hair and adjusted the wide brim. She turned and looked at Kino and smiled. "Now it's perfect."

Kino smiled back. "Yeah, it's very 'Bohemian'."

Dianna filled a trunk with some extra shirts, pants, an extra coat, some ties, shoes, and underwear and easily carried it on her shoulder. "Let's go."

.o.o.o.

(- End of Chapter 9 -)

I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter. I admit it is rather long (2201 words), but I had a lot of story development to get done to move the story along. Anyway, see you guys later. The next chapter should hopefully clear up a few more things.

-Bojack727