Margret Walsh stared at Riley Finn as the young man stood before her. He was really an interesting subject. She smiled gently to encourage him. He was upset, but his sense of duty had won out. She nodded to encourage his prattle. His interest in the girl was plain to see, and might be useful. He would do anything he thought might save her. Anticipation raced through her body.
"Vampires don't marry. I wonder what Hostile 17 is doing?" Maggie turned and tapped a pen against her chin. "We need to observe the pair in a natural setting. Set up a team to observe and report. Where does the girl live? We will need to set up a perimeter."
"She lives in the dorms on campus." Riley replied. "I will deploy team three to watch the perimeter."
"Graham blends in well and he is highly trained, a good choice." She paced back and forth, the low heels of her sensible shoes clacking on the concrete floor.
"He won't fail." Finn said. "Team seven should be reassigned to cover the patrols."
"I concur, and we need to step up the search for unusual hostiles. The more we know the better our chances." She smiled at him reassuringly. He needed a great deal of positive reinforcement.
"When will we bring Subject Summers in?" Finn asked.
His concern was apparent and might prove problematic. Romantic drivel was one of the worst difficulties she faced in creating her teams. The notion of love was laughable, but young idealists couldn't resist it. She looked at him and crinkled her brow in a show of concern.
"We need to study her, to see if we can save her." She watched as his reticence began to fade. His good-natured personality was easy to manipulate. He was perfect for her longer term plans. "That is better accomplished in the field for the time being."
"Yes, ma'am."
"If she requires our assistance, I have no doubt your friendly face will be a comfort to the poor girl." Maggie smiled briefly. "Dismissed."
She watched him leave before she sat at her desk. She took several deep breaths. Engineering Hostile 17's escape had been difficult, but she had hoped he would lead her to his vampire family. She needed to observe a family, that family. She pulled out her grandfather's journal, and flipped to the marked page.
"William the Bloody," she smiled. "I had only found weak, useless vampires when you fell into my lap. I wonder how you escaped the U boat. My grandfather noted it as lost at sea. Did the other subjects survive? They would be interesting, but not as useful."
She stroked the picture with the tip of her finger. He was a prize, the youngest of the Aurelian family. When she had seen him in the cell, it had been a shock, her grandfather's journal come to life in her very own lab. Now, he was in Sunnydale, apparently playing around with the coeds.
She pulled out the file on the girl from her class, Buffy Summers. She looked at the picture and shook her head. The impertinent blonde from her third section of Into to Psych stared at her. Pretty enough, but she wasn't anything special, nothing to draw such a hunter. She tapped her chin with one blunt fingernail. She needed more than her school file. There had to be something drawing him. She took the photo and placed it next to the drawing. Perhaps he was using her to procure his food. She might be nothing more than a simple-minded retriever.
He hadn't left the area, so the others must be close. Observation was definitely required. She wanted all four of them, lethal, beautiful, and under her control. It would be the fruition of her grandfather's carefully designed plans and a coup for her own research.
Vampires would be fine weapons, once she had mastered the control system. The chips could be easily tweaked and vampires could be reasoned with, at least some of them could be worked with. They could blend in easily among the human population, a finesse weapon. The Aurelian Family would be ideal, already tied together by some elusive bond, the ultimate wet team. Dropped anywhere in the world to do her bidding.
She put her hand down on the desk and rocked slightly in her chair. She looked at all the high tech gadgetry at her disposal and shook her head. The tools worked, but she needed the right subjects. She looked down at the picture and drawing on her desk. William, Drusilla, Angelus, and Darla would assure her funding for the foreseeable future.
"Well, Miss Summers, you may wind up serving the greater good." She plucked the picture up and examined it. "You wouldn't have had all that much to offer the world anyway. I'll use you to find my vampires and then we can test our controls with young Riley."
She turned to her computer and began typing furiously, outlining a series of experiments. The girl would be Finn's ultimate test. If he could be forced to overcome his natural protective instincts, she would have confirmation that the control system worked. Adam could be brought on line. She smiled.
Adam would be the first of his kind. The blending of technology and flesh to form the perfect soldier would be her greatest gift to the world. She would be the mother of warfare in the post nuclear world. Soldiers strong as tanks, unstoppable. No force could stand against them.
She cleared her desk and restored her office to order. Organization and preparation would secure a future for her children. Precision was required in all things. Her work would remove human error from the equation. She carefully replaced her grandfather's journal and added the Summers girl's file. She locked the drawer.
She needed to visit Adam. It helped her to think, to plan. There were circuits to integrate and she needed to check his tissue regeneration rates. She needed to refine the tests for Finn. Adam would be complete soon. If Finn proved docile and manageable, she could proceed.