Chapter 14

Disclaimer: except for Alexandra and her minions, all of the characters belong to Impossible Pictures™.

Note: contains spoilers for the official series.

As soon as they had arrived, the minions of Ethan and Alexandra began to run amok and to spread panic around the ARC.

Well, relatively speaking: the invasion of Helen's clone army was in the past, but not that far in the past, and so the ARC stuff had some experience in dealing with invaders. Not a lot, but some, that allowed them to leave in an orderly fashion to various places of safe retreat, as the horned minions, walking and climbing up the walls (they had claws on their hands and talons on their feet to accomplish that) roared and fired their repeating rifles and colts all over the place, almost like a bank heist gone irreparably weird.

The ARC field team, however, were used to weird. As soon as the invasion began, Jess grabbed Becker and they ran to left, Connor grabbed April and pulled to the right, and Matt and Emily... stayed where they were, staring at Alexandra and Ethan with at least some curiosity in their gaze.

"So," Emily broke the obviously tense and uncomfortable silence, "are you really Matt's sister? How'd that happen?"

"I thought that you would rather talk to him," Alexandra looked slightly surprised.

"No!" Emily and Ethan replied simultaneously before Matt fired his weapon at Alexandra. The energy blast hit Alexandra right in the chest...and was absorbed, for the lack of a better term.

"Come on, big brother, is that all you got?" she mocked Matt.

"You're not my sister!" Matt snarled as he fired several more times at Alexandra, before Emily knocked the weapon out of his hands:

"Stop it!" she whispered to her boyfriend. "I think you're actually making her stronger!"

"Precisely!" Alexandra grinned widely, before opening her mouth even wider and spitting out a genuine bolt of electricity at the two humans. "I'm not like you, big brother; I'm of a superior breed!"

"Sure you are," Emily said flatly, as she disentangled herself from Matt. "Where did you come from, then? And do you have any other siblings?"

"None that are related to him, I bet," Alexandra confessed, "and honestly, I'm not sure. Someone has once said that I have not half my mother's strength and less than half her wit – that certain someone is dead, I'm sure, but she did have a point: my mother is much wiser than I, and if she has any other children than me, she kept us separate from each other, for nothing good could come from sibling closure, I'm sure."

"Bull," Emily snapped. "My twin brother and I were quite close, and there's nothing wrong with either one of us."

"You have a twin?" Alexandra paused, curious despite herself. "How that works?"

"Well, it's like this," Emily started to explain. "Mother wasn't father's first wife – he was a widower, and had a son – my stepbrother Sheldon – in the Royal Navy. Father was quite proud of him, but I he was still young and probably was lonely, when he met mother. It was not exactly a whirlwind romance, but father was lonely, mother was lonely, they grew fond of each other and wed. In nine months – give or take one or two more – I and my twin brother were born."

"So? How that worked?" Alexandra repeated her question.

"Pretty well, actually," Emily grinned briefly. "My brother and I probably had our differences, but until father died we got well along. Once father died it all fell apart: Henry – my husband – became what this time is called a control freak – and my brother went to the colonies to seek his fortune-"

"The colonies?" Matt asked, since until now he and Emily never really talked about their families."

"They're called the States nowadays, mate," Ethan explained helpfully. "So are we going to fight or what?"

"There are any other options?" Matt said dryly.

"Well, the ladies look like they just might wander away and have tea somewhere else instead," Ethan shrugged.

"Why not," Alexandra suddenly agreed. "Son of Gideon, we only seek the daughter of Vigdis – why're you interfering? Your parents weren't friends!"

"Daughter of Vigdis – April is the daughter of Vigdis?" Matt repeated with a groan. "Crud! And we still need her!"

"For what?" Alexandra asked flatly.

"Well-"

\\\

"Here, April, we're safe," Connor exhaled as he showed April – still wheelchair-bound - into a place that vaguely resembled a broom closet. "Got to admit, I never saw this coming."

"Mm," April noncommittally agreed as she looked around. "Now what? I've never been in such a situation before."

"What, running for your life?"

"No," April shook her head, remembering the times when she had to escape her mother's rage or pay the price. "When someone – anyone, really, helped me out of a tight spot."

"Not even Philip?" Connor could not help but ask.

"No, not even him," April nodded. "I actually helped him, remember?"

"Hmm," Connor said thoughtfully, feeling a bit conflicted regarding the fact how even the great Philip Burton had had needed help. "Well-"

It was then that the door flung open and a pair of the dinosaur-like minions burst on the scene, growling.

"Eep!" Connor said bravely, instinctively falling back, right on top of April, who... shoved him out of the way as she half-rose – wincing from pain – from the wheelchair, grabbed the two invaders by their collars and smashed their heads together, before sinking down, clearly still in pain.

"What was that?" Connor asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"Never mind that," April sighed. "Connor, take me to their leaders. I'm through with running and skulking in the shadows, you know?"

"No, I don't," Connor shook his head.

"Fair enough. I still need to confront them," April sighed. "It is the only way this mess can be resolved."

\\\

"Where are we going, Becker?" Jess nervously asked as the two of them were quickly walking through some ARC corridor or another.

"To my quarters at the ARC," Becker said slowly. "I admit, I'd be happier going to the armoury, but odds are that either Ethan, his strange new friend or someone in their force had realized that as well, and I would rather not confront them unarmed, not without some firepower and with you in the way-"

"Now see here, Hilary Becker!" Jess snapped. "I can pull my weight, you know I can!"

"Now see here, Jessamyn Soleil Parker!" Becker snapped back, but it was then that Jess's cell phone rang. "Yes?" she spoke into it. "Oh, hello Mr. Lester! No, we are not at the movies! Ethan and his friends have invaded the ARC, and we need to stop him – Mr. Lester, are you still there?"

Dejected Jess closed her cell phone and looked at Becker. "That was Mr. Lester, and he was very upset about the new invasion of the ARC. Now what?"

Becker and Jess just looked at each other, but no answer was forthcoming from either of them.

End chapter 14