Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

Information Gathering

It was the day of Ogdin's visit and as promised Bane had informed the men that he'd picked for the testing that they were not to mention the felines currently living in the town or his cousin's twins. He'd waited until they were on the way to give the order since he hadn't wanted to risk that one of them would leak to Talia that they'd been asked to keep silent about the hybrids. That would have tipped her off that there was a reason Ogdin couldn't know about the felines and she would have used that to her advantage somehow. And as expected Bane could see that the other wolves wanted to question him about the order, but he was their alpha and so none questioned him. Of the ten men he was bringing with him Bane trusted only Barsad completely not to report his words back to Talia after the tests were over, but hopefully by then she wouldn't have time to cause too much problems. His kitten had said that he'd take care of the wolves under Kingsley's rule, and so he arrived at the hall with a somewhat hopeful feeling that things would be okay.

Everything was set up when they arrived, the large room slowly filling up as ten of the first wolves created, including Kingsley, his biological father, and uncle, mixed and mingled with ten of their descendants including Eames, who looked sleep deprived to Bane's accessing gaze, but happy too. Blake's brother had accepted his cousin's proposal apparently, the date not set as yet. His cousin would get his happily ever after with his mate, and Bane was happy for him. That he would not be so lucky was a familiar throb in his chest, one Bane ignored as he nodded a greeting in Eames's direction but didn't go over to speak to him.

There was little time to chat anyway before it was time to get the tests underway, Ogdin telling them to take seats until they were called over, thick questionnaires handed out for them to all fill out in the meantime. Knowing that he would be called last, as usual, Bane turned most of his attention to dutifully filling out the questions, his brain not remotely being taxed by any of them since he'd been examined, experimented on, and tested all his life. Being treated and thought of as little more than a rather intriguing lab rat by Ogdin was standard, these tests and talks something to tolerate and get through since arguing about their necessity would get him nowhere. The British and American governments wanted to keep a close eye on them, and fighting this would only draw more attention to them which they did not want.

As it was the bloodwork and physical evaluations Ogdin was doing were so basic that his aunt and her nurses could have easily gathered the data and sent the findings, but Bane knew that Ogdin considered them his finest work and liked to be more hands on where they were concerned.

When the old man died none of them would mourn his passing in the slightest.

It wasn't that the man was evil, he wasn't, it was simply that Ogdin was a scientist as opposed to a man who had any empathy or attachment to the rest of the human race. That was what made him so very dangerous. Ogdin could cause great suffering and pain without remorse or hesitation in pursuit of his scientific discoveries, and to this day Bane still remembered the way the man had told them that Layla had died unexpectedly in the night. He'd told them so bluntly and offhandedly, like the death of one of their most important pack members was no more important than an observation about the weather. If they hadn't all been in shock they probably would have torn the man apart then and there for his complete lack of humanity.

Feeling his cellphone vibrate in his pocket, bringing his thoughts back from the past, Bane retrieved it, not really surprised to see that he had a text from his kitten. The other man probably wanted to make sure that he and his men were keeping their mouths shut about him and his family as promised.

But no, the message had nothing to do with that, Bane saw, completely out to sea as to why Blake would send him a text informing him that his country's humor was weird. Especially since they were from the same country, which was what Bane awkwardly texted back. He hated texting, his fingers were too big for it.

'Technically you've lived in England longer than you did the U.S., so it's arguably your country now.' Was Blake's return answer less than a minute later.

Normally he would have argued that his formative years had taken place on American soil, and that above and beyond that he wasn't in any way, shape, or form, responsible for the humor or lack thereof when it came to the English, but that would have required too much texting so Bane opted to simply point out that humor was subjective.

'Like how unlike you, I'd find it fucking hilarious to watch Talia fall down several flights of stairs head first?'

'Yes'. Bane looked up to the ceiling in a 'why me' gesture after sending that response, the fact that any conversation he and his kitten had seemed to have always ended up turning to Blake's desire to cause Talia's bodily harm a constant headache.

'I'd give you a lifetime supply of blow jobs if you were the one to push her. Just saying.'

"What's wrong?"

Looking over at Barsad Bane didn't know where to begin. So he simply lifted the phone a little. "Blake."

"Ah." Knowing better than to ask, Barsad didn't inquire as to what his alpha's pain in the ass mate had said or done now. He preferred to avoid being mentally scarred whenever possible.

To spare his second more mental scarring Bane didn't explain, instead typing out a message that informed the feline that he wouldn't continue this conversation if Blake just wanted to talk about the physical harm he wanted to cause Talia.

'Can we talk about the mental harm I'd like to cause her?'

Shaking his head, and determined to be firm for once, Bane texted back a goodbye. He had to completely his paperwork anyway, Bane told himself as he sent the message. And Blake wouldn't respect him if he didn't put his foot down more firmly. That they both knew he was pretty much wrapped around the manipulative tease's clawed finger…

His cell sounding again Bane mentally prayed for strength before accessing the message, knowing Blake too well to think it would be just a return good bye.

'So rude. And here I was going to offer to give you a full physical to make sure Ogdin didn't miss anything tonight if I can get away.'

'Behave and perhaps I will let you.'

'Heh. Who are you kidding? You know you don't want me to behave when we're together. You love it when I misbehave.'

That there was a picture attached to the message sent a foreboding shiver up Bane's spine even before he accessed the picture to see that it was of him, his arms webbed to a headboard, the look on his face so blissed out and…happy that Bane couldn't believe it was his own face even though he knew it was.

'When did you take that?'

'I have a number of pictures of you. If you're a good boy maybe I'll let you see them someday.'

On the heels of that message was one stating that it was his turn to say goodbye, Wilee and Luke had decided that they were hungry again and Arthur was napping at the moment.

Returning his cellphone to his pocket after typing good bye again, Bane couldn't help but wonder just how many pictures his kitten had taken of him while he was unaware or asleep. And whether or not anyone else had seen them, and just what areas of his body had been captured on the little imp's cell. Oh shit.

Years of discipline and the knowledge that it would do him no good kept Bane from groaning or walking over to the nearest wall and bashing his head against it, but it sounded damn appealing regardless.

Not knowing or really wanting to know what Bane's mate had done now, Barsad reached over and gave Bane a pat on the shoulder in sympathy.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

)

They had just finished up, the others preparing to leave as Ogdin announced that it was Bane's turn to be poked and prodded, when Talia was suddenly making her way towards the front; he'd missed her arrival completely. And knowing he had no chance of stopping her, and sensing that somehow she either knew about the orders given concerning Blake's family or just wanted to cause trouble for them, Bane cut off the conversation he was having in midsentence and started to move towards her, having mentally prepared for this possibility.

Blocking her with his body Bane spoke to her in Arabic as he stated that they'd agreed not to speak of the town's guests in front of Ogdin. He had given his word.

Bane could also see out of the corner of his eye that Kingsley had also moved to intercept her, and he was grateful that the man had the sense to let him handle this as he stared into Talia's eyes, willing her to cooperate.

"I won't mention them then." Was her answer, Talia's face betraying nothing of her thoughts on the matter as she reached out to give his shoulder what she probably thought was a reassuring pat. "I just have a question for him and then I'll go. That is all, My Friend."

Moving out of her way, what else could he do, Bane watched as she went over to greet Ogdin, who didn't appreciate the interruption but was being polite enough since the man knew that to do otherwise would cause problems for him later on. None of them failed to notice that everyone who'd been preparing to leave was now staying in the room, waiting to see what Talia was up to.

"My apologies again for interrupting, Dr. Ogdin, I just have a question for you and then I'll get out of your way. It's about something that occurred to me a while ago." Talia was all smiles for the old man, who told her to go ahead with her question. "I was just wondering why you and the other doctors didn't try for multiple births when creating the hybrids. With triplets or more you would have upped the chance of more surviving infancy, yes?"

Immediately everyone saw what she was doing, bringing up the hybrids that way, but no one could say anything without tipping the doctor off that something was going on. And as long as she didn't outright bring either set of twins up…maybe she would get enough information to satisfy her need to know everything she could about Blake without causing problems for them.

Taking off his glasses for a moment, Ogdin began to polish the lens as he answered. "It was considered, but the hybrids were being born with too many defects already, and we decided that the odds of that happening would only increase if we attempted to use fertility drugs for that reason. The one set of triplets and four sets of twins that survived infancy were natural occurrences."

"I've only met one pair." Talia spoke quickly, not wanting to risk being interrupted as she inched closer to her target.

"Yes, none of the others lived long enough to come here. It's strange really, the bond between multiples. One would die and the other would follow soon enough. Most of them died fairly young, they were too damaged to survive, and the one set…well it was for the best that they were killed in the end. One of the triplets is still alive; I don't know if he knows he had siblings originally, they died so young." Ogdin shrugged that off, it not being remotely important to him. "So yes, only the bird hybrid twins survived for you to meet. Is that all?"

Everyone thinking the same thing, that Blake and Arthur had to be the pair that was 'killed in the end' even if that didn't make any sense since they were alive, it was Barsad who asked why it was for the best that the one set of twins had died. Had they been defective in some way?

"Defective? Oh no. Quite the opposite. The pair of them were the finest hybrids ever created. Perfect, really." Ogdin shook his head regretfully, glasses back in place now. "The physical irregularities that resulted from their animal DNA were easily removed or hidden, no medical conditions or deformities to speak of with both demonstrating high tolerances for pain and excellent healing. Given the number of surgeries and experimentation they both went through…it was remarkable really, what excellent physical specimens they were. Genius level minds too, utterly brilliant. And of course lethal, particularly the younger one, which was what they'd been bred to be. They were considered the pick of the litter, so to speak, by the people in charge."

It was Kingsley, his voice bewildered, who asked why Ogdin was glad they were dead if they'd been so perfect. Creating the perfect hybrid of man and animal was the man's dream after all. Was he just bitter that he hadn't been the one to 'create' the twins they were talking about?

"I argued that they should be put down because they couldn't be controlled." Was the doctor's blunt reply. "As long as you had the one you could force the other to cooperate, but both of them…they just couldn't be broken or brainwashed like the others were. When they looked at you…you could see in their eyes that it wasn't a question of if they'd kill us if they got a chance, but simply a matter of when. And it would have only been a matter of time with them, one bite, you see, and you're dead. It's why they were slated to kill Bane, if that became necessary."

"What do you mean, slated to kill me?"

"Well as I found out after the fact, from some of the other scientists I talked to, the organization was worried that al Ghul intended to make you wolves his personal army and perhaps take the hybrids from them. It was thought that if need be the order to kill the higher ranking wolves would be given, the others spared if possible."

Bane asked why only the higher ranking wolves had been scheduled for assassination when ALL the wolves in his pack were loyal to both them and their former leader, those of his pack in the room growling in absolute agreement with that statement.

"They believed that the lower ranking wolves could be indoctrinated to follow the more alpha hybrids, as your betas wouldn't know how to function without someone giving them orders and leading them. I told them, when I found out, that odds were the whole pack would have had to be eliminated as the betas would have tried and failed to get revenge for your losses."

A number of much deadlier growls rent the air over that, Talia's face one of absolute fury while Bane continued to try and wrap his mind around the fact that if the twins Ogdin was talking about were the Blake twins, then his former lover had basically been trained to kill him when they were teenagers.

"My father said they were all fools. Thinking that a couple of hybrids could defeat Bane or I." Talia's voice dripped with derision at the very idea.

"Oh no, they would have been quite successful. They even ran simulations to project the likely outcome if one of both of the feline hybrids attempted to assassinate him. The odds were overwhelmingly in their favor, especially in those scenarios where he was unaware of the threat they posed initially."

When a hand settled on his shoulder Bane was surprised to look over and see his biological father standing at his side, the older man commenting that from the sounds of it these scientists and the organization had been eager to kill all their children.

"Children? Oh, you mean the wolves and hybrids. I see." His expression of bafflement leaving Ogdin's face, the scientist had never thought of them as children, it took a moment for him to re-gather his thoughts before continuing to explain why the cold blooded murder of his experiments wouldn't have led to all out massacres in his expert opinion.

"You have no experience with that particular compound, so it's no surprise really that you would doubt their ability to put down the wolves quickly and without suffering any real injuries on their part." Reading the continued disbelief on their faces Ogdin elaborated a little, wanting to get this conversation over with so that he could get back to his examination of Bane. "Just for an example, since we were talking about him earlier, the younger twin was highly venomous. All he'd have to do with sink a fang into Bane's flesh and that would have been the end so to speak. No antidote, no time to even really realize one's impending death, it would kill him so quickly. We tried to milk the feline's fangs, sell the venom, but as it turned out it had to be freshly delivered to work effectively. Pity, that, though fascinating as well."

"So these twins were trained to kill us, who cares? We would defeat them easily."

"Actually, someone else was assigned to you, Talia. The threat you were thought to pose wasn't nearly as high as Bane or Barsad for instance. In your case it was felt that with your past history, it was only logical for their most recent addition to be given the opportunity to end you. A sort of poetic justice as it were."

"And who would that be?" Talia demanded to know, the reference to her having a past history with some unknown hybrid confusing her. She hadn't personally met any of the other compound's hybrids until after they'd been brought to England and forced to all live together.

"Why Captain Kingsley's genetic offspring of course. Layla."