Adjustments

"I... don't understand." Two said uneasily as Amelia and Iriana knelt to examine Jennifer.

Horatius stood quietly where he had the whole time. Watching. The Empress and the Lotus had vanished after the Lotus had taken the Reverend Mother's oath. Sun had gone as well. Nikis and Janet stood near one wall, talking quietly to Sara whose face was set. Jasmina was alone, but was shaking her head, obviously having a conversation with the others in her head. The Reverend Mother knew the feeling.

"What do you not understand?" The Reverend Mother asked, her tone calm.

"You say you are not... part of them. But you are." Two said slowly, shaking her head. "And you...are different."

"Physically and mentally different, yes. A clean slate. A fresh start. I do not remember all of the tests." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "I remember feeling sick. Being sick a few times. But... I do know who I am now. I know my strengths. I know my weaknesses. I am angry. I probably always will be. I am dark. Vicious when I can be, not just when needed." Two stared at her and then nodded a little. "That ruthlessness is what drew them to me, Tenno Two. Compassion to friends and family. Utter mercilessness to enemies. Pragmatism. If I have to sacrifice one life to save hundreds... which is right?"

"And if that life is a Tenno?" Two asked, her tone hushed.

"What we do is not safe, Tenno Two." The Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "But this I can promise you. I may have to sacrifice things. I may have to sacrifice lives. But I will never do it lightly. Not human, not Tenno, not even any of Jasmina's allies who can reform from biomass." Two turned to stare at the woman who had been her sister and the Reverend Mother nodded. "That was Jennifer's problem. She got jaded. Lost perspective. Tracking Vina, Mercedes and the others was never part of the plan. If we could track them, then others could. That put them all at risk." The Reverend Mother sighed. "She stopped listening and was jerked up short for it."

"By the others." Two said carefully.

"Yes. Tenno Two." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "By the others. And no, I am not alone in my head. Well, I am. But I am not. It is complicated." She shrugged.

"Can you explain it at all?" Amelia had risen and was now standing beside Two. Jasmina was listening as well.

"It..." The Reverend Mother paused as a thought came to her from elsewhere. "Ah, one of our researchers had the notion of putting it in computer terms. We are all separate people. Same network, different systems. We can all communicate fine. We share the same firewalls and protections. And with us? Said protections are massive." Two and Amelia both stared at her and the Reverend Mother smiled. "It is not quite pure telepathy. I am the only one of the Clergy who was enhanced to have such. It is more a hardwired data network. Encrypted and as secure as it can be made. There is an element of telepathy, but I am the only one who can use it consciously."

"They can... do that..." Iriana had frozen where she knelt beside Jennifer. All of the others were staring at her now. "Make a person telepathic?"

"They have had lots of practice." The Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "Not on Tenno, mind you. But my physical brain structure is essentially the same. Every human has the potential. It was engineered in by the Orokin. But not all humans can do it, because the genes are artificial and recessive. It takes a lot of practice. Luckily I learn fast."

"And...they enhanced... bits..." Amelia said slowly. The Reverend Mother nodded. "Doesn't that... bother you?"

"Yes it does." The Reverend Mother agreed. "The potential for abuse is high. Which is why there is only one person so enhanced at a time. And why there are always at least three Clergy personnel watching me at all times. That is how Jennifer was yanked up short so fast when she did what she did. Saving Mishka was one thing. The consensus was hard to achieve, but they managed. Tracking the people to the Relay was wrong." She shook her head. "The whole idea was for them to get away from us. Out of the line of fire. But she had to be in control." Sorrow warred with pity as she looked at the still woman on the floor.

"This..." Janet was shaking and Nikis laid a hand on her arm. "I... I never knew..."

"Yes you did, Janet." The Reverend Mother said sadly. "But then you were hurt so badly both by the Tenno and by Bek. You never felt when the others tried to help you with your nightmares. When they tried to talk to you. You... could not hear it."

"That is... why she..." Janet paled.

"Why Jennifer took you in." The Reverend Mother agreed gently. "To give you time to heal. Time you were denied." She shook her head. "I hate to say it, but it is just as well. Jennifer would have been tempted to meddle if you had come into your powers while still with us. Either to use you or to neutralize the threat." Everyone but Janet hissed at that and Nikis stared from the Reverend Mother to Janet and back. "You would have gone to sleep and not woken. We are all glad it didn't come to that. Sad that you were hurt, but glad you survived."

"So... they knew this whole time." Janet said softly. "About me. About Avalon. About everything." Not questions.

"Not everything." The Reverend Mother reassured her. "But yes. We left you alone. Because that was what was best for you. And because Nikis would have killed us all." She said with a smirk. The Nekros chuckled darkly. True that. Then she sobered. "Juliet V-54 has been torn for some time, Janet. She is devoted to you. We have left her alone. We do not communicate. But I can feel her. She... feels uncomfortable. Wrong." Juliet V-54 served the Oracle now, but had been a Clergy agent.

"I knew she was sad..." Janet said weakly. "But..."

"My predecessor said to serve you and she has." The Reverend Mother said softly. "Her loyalty is to you. She has not connected to us."

"And it has been hurting her, hasn't it?" Janet sounded upset now. "We thought... it was just the change that caused the nightmares. She never said!" Then she snorted. "Well, duh! Of course she wouldn't. Can you... I..." She shook her head.

"Probably. We will need a closer connection." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "With your permission of course, she can link to us again." She shook her head a bit. "Doctor? Healer?" She asked Amelia and Iriana who looked at each other. "Can Jennifer be aided as we wished?"

"It can be done." Iriana said quietly. "But not here. Not virtual. Frankly, she will need help. She will be in pain for some time. Nothing physical, but..." She shrugged. "That makes it worse."

"Indeed." The Reverend Mother said quietly. "Physical pain can be tended, medicated. Emotional pain? Spiritual pain? Not so much." She shook her head and then nodded to Nikis. "Grand-..." She trailed off as Nikis growled at her. "Okay, Okay..." She raised her hands in a placating manner. "Nikis... she is your prisoner."

"You want her to tend Rocky." Nikis was not really asking.

"She is good with kids." The Reverend Mother kept herself calm through sheer force of will. "Always has been. She lost her daughter, Nikis and she loved Lilly very much. None of us blame her for losing perspective. She cannot stay. But killing her is a waste."

"Fair enough." Nikis said with a curt nod. "I will be watching." A warning.

"Please." The Reverend Mother asked. "He... I will always love him. But I cannot take him with me where I must go. Sara?" She asked.

"She will need time to recover." Sara said with a nod that matched Nikis'. "I will stay with Rocky until she is okay to take him. And... while she is recuperating... I will talk to her."

"I think you will like her when she is not being a Machiavellian witch." The Reverend Mother said with a smile. "I hope so." Horatius snorted. "You hush." She said in a mocking tone.

"Whatever you say, your Reverend Mother-ship-ness." Horatius said with an extravagant bow.

"Why do I ever try with you?" The Reverend Mother groaned. "Jasmina?"

"We will be watching." Jasmina promised. Nikis, Janet and Iriana all nodded agreement.

"Fair enough." The Reverend Mother repeated quietly. Jennifer vanished along with Iriana. Jasmina sighed and was gone. Sara looked torn for a moment, then ran up and hugged the Reverend Mother tight. "Oof...Sara." She said with a fond, sad smile as she returned the embrace gently.

"You will always be my Ma." Sara said with a gulp, fighting back tears. Then she too vanished. Nikis shook his head and vanished as well, leaving Two, Amelia and Janet with the Reverend Mother and Horatius.

"Amelia." The Reverend Mother said calmly but the doctor shook her head.

"I cannot trust you." The human shook her head. "Nor do I want to."

"Good." The Reverend Mother's calm rejoinder had all three of the other women staring at her. "The Corpus hurt you as badly as they hurt me. They cannot be trusted. We... have to work within them for the most part. Therefore, we will have to be sneaky. Do not trust us, Doctor Amelia. Do not. Be paranoid. Be as paranoid as you can and still remain sane. They will keep trying. We cannot catch everything they do. Every other set of eyes watching will help. We do not take it personally."

"I am staying until Two leaves." Amelia said with a glower.

"Okay." The Reverend Mother said with a nod. "But... there is... one other thing." She nodded to the Tenno who had been her sister self once upon a time. "Serene." Two...stilled. Amelia did as well. Janet... smiled? The Reverend Mother looked at her and then back at Two who seemed at a loss for words. "I bound you in the darkness once, Sister. Then I made you be a second class citizen." Two was shaking her head but the Reverend Mother was having none of it. "Let me finish."

"You did not know." Two said quickly.

"No, I did not." The Reverend Mother said sadly. "But that does not change the fact that I hurt you. That I made you less simply by being who I was." She shook herself a bit. "That ends now. I am the Reverend Mother. The name is yours, Serene."

"But..." Two swallowed hard, starting at the floor. "I..."

"It is time for you to step up." The Reverend Mother said with a smile. "Your clan and Amelia will not let you fall. I am not alone. I never will be again. You shouldn't be... Sister."

"I have been 'Two' for so long..." The other female Tenno said slowly. "I don't know..."

"Take your time." The Reverend Mother said with a sigh. "But there is another reason. I no longer look like Serene. The Tenno at the very least are going to try and take the boys alive. To see if they can be rehabilitated." Two snarled. "I know."

"There is no way." Two said firmly. "René was different. They treated her differently. The others?" She shook her head. "After our experiences, I dislike using the words 'insane' or 'crazy'. But they were. Are."

"From what I have seen in the records of the attacks, I have to agree." The Reverend Mother said with a matching snarl. "They have left half gnawed bodies of men, women and children as taunts to the Company. This will not stand."

"They are attacking small, underdefended outposts." Two mused. "They want females." The Reverend Mother nodded and looked at Janet who frowned, but nodded as well.

"I was busy looking for you." Janet said with a sigh. "I will look for them now."

"Janet, be careful." The Reverend Mother warned. "We have no idea what kinds of powers -if any- these boys have. We do know they are amoral and vicious. René is pure human, but we do not know anything about the boys."

"We know they bleed." Horatius interjected. All the others looked at him and he shrugged. "The second attack, one of them was hit. Where we got the DNA samples from that let us ID them. By all appearances, it wasn't a bad wound, but they do bleed."

"And two of the bodies were... intact but drained of blood." The Reverend Mother said with a wince that the others shred. "They are not vampyres or other mythological creatures. But they are acting the part. Horatius and I need to get back. Virtual time is much faster than real world time, but we do have a lot to do since there was another attack. Janet..." She asked quietly. "How bad?"

"The outpost held twenty." Janet said softly. "Two... were taken. Both female."

"And the kids?" The Reverend Mother really did not want to ask, but she had to. Janet shook her head and the Reverend Mother bowed her head. "Lord, bless and keep the innocents we have lost. Let us bring justice to the guilty." She reached out to hug Janet who smiled forlornly and returned it. "And bless all who try to bring peace back to the Solar System."

"Amen." Horatius said quietly as the Reverend Mother reached for his hand. "We will be in touch."

Then they were gone.

Elsewhere

Cindy S-79 was not asleep. She could not sleep. She was trapped. Blind. Doomed.

She had slept. She knew that. She... wasn't where she had been. The surface under her was different. Plastic of some kind. Not hard, but also not soft. She tried to move and couldn't. She was strapped down. Cool gas was playing into her nose and her mouth was strapped closed, but not totally. She could move it, but not much..

"If you keep drinking from her, she will die." The voice was Francis D-12. The woman who was her caretaker or whatever. She sounded tired, despondent. "I have done what you asked, you filthy..." The sound of a blow cut her voice off and she gave a soft cry. "Go ahead! Hurt me! Kill me! Eat me! Her body cannot keep replacing her blood as fast as you are drinking it! You will kill her despite everything I do!"

"Then you are useless." This...wasn't a voice Cindy had heard. Another young male. "Our new sister did not wake again after her meal. Your doing?"

"What you demand is not possible!" Francis D-12 exclaimed and then she screamed. "No! No!" She cried out in pain. "No..." She begged.

"You will do as we say." The first voice said with cold conviction. "You will make this one compatible." The screamed continued.

"I am an industrial medic!" Francis D-12 screamed the words out through her agony. "Not a reproduction specialist! If the automated systems cannot do it, how am I supposed to..." Her words trailed off in another scream. Then sobs. Then Cindy gagged as a sound came to her ears. Someone was munching on something.

"Tasty..." This was the Georges voice. The one who had thought Cindy's blood was delicious.

"You have nine more toes." The first male voice said as Francis D-12 sobbed. "We recovered reproduction equipment. We acquired tools. We downloaded the databanks. We have the subjects. Now get to work. We want at least one compatible by the end of the day."

"I..." Francis choked. "I... don't..."

"No excuses, Medic." The male voice said sternly. "You have nine hours. Georges, set course for the next target. If she cannot do it, we will find another medic there and she can come to dinner tonight."

"I hope you fail..." The one called Georges said with glee. "Your brains will taste good."

A door hissed and all there was, was the sound of Francis D-12 crying. Then Cindy S-79 heard the sound of rummaging and medical equipment running. She jerked as a hand touched her arm. It...was swabbing her am. Preparing an injection site?

"I am sorry..." Francis D-12 sounded awful. Pain, fear and horror all warred in her tone. "This is going to hurt."

"Worse than my husband dying?" Cindy S-79 managed to mumble. "Worse than them eating my son?"

"Yes." Francis D-12 said simply. "They want to breed. They cannot. They are... not human enough to breed with us."

"So they want me... like them..." Cindy S-79 said slowly.

"Yes." Francis said as something hissed and warmth spread from Cindy S-79's arm to suffuse her entire body. "I... I don't know what I am doing! This is not anything I was trained for!" Then she was babbling. I want to disobey! I want to do something. Kill you! Kill myself. Something! I...I can't... I try and try and I can't..."

"That's right." An oily voice sounded and Francis gave a short scream before falling silent. "You cannot resist. You are mine. Ours." His voice was calm, but menace lay underneath it. "Get to work. I need to... talk to this one."

"Yes... Master Pieter..." Francis D-12's voice was listless.

"Good girl." The voice mocked. The sounds of medical machinery sounded and the voice sounded again, closer to Cindy S-79. "Well... Cindy? May I call you Cindy? We are going to get very well acquainted in the next few days. Provided that Francis here does as she is told." Cindy could not restrain a gasp as coldness was slathered onto her skull and things were suddenly hanging from it. Other coldness was slathered other places and she could feel things hung those places as well. Wires? Something stung her elbow and she felt... odd. Dark. "It's okay, girl." The male voice might have intended to be reassuring Maybe. It didn't work. "I learned a lot when the Company doctors tried to program me. How the Company programming works. And more importantly? How to break it."

Cindy S-79 was struggling against the restraints that held her and the voice clucked at her.

"Now, now..." The voice said severely. "Don't be like that. Yes, we hurt you. Yes, we took your eyes. We will replace them. We will make you more than a mere Company functionary." The hand was touching her cheek in an eerie mockery of tenderness. "I am going to free you."

Cindy screamed as energy flared directly into her brain and other parts of her body. Dimly though the pain, she heard cold, triumphant words.

"Free you to join us. To bear the future."