– Chapter Eleven –
Rat grumbled and put her laptop away, before looking back at Leigh, who was back at the window again. After a moment, the hacker sighed and her expression softened very slightly. Though she was too proud to admit it, she felt bad about what had happened. She'd been so sure Leigh knew all along, but she'd been wrong and had ended up causing damage without meaning to. Even though she'd made an awkward attempt to apologize, it seemed Leigh wouldn't say anything else about it for now.
Putting everything she needed in her bag, Rat glanced over at Leigh. "Hey. We should eat, and then figure out how to approach Aryanna at home," she suggested evenly, checking over the money she'd brought with her. Leigh made a sound of vague agreement, and made her way towards the door. Rat blinked. "Um, your bag?"
"Fuck's sake…" the hairdresser sighed, turning around to grab the bag.
Rat watched her in silence, mildly disturbed by the zombie-like display. Did finding out she had a sister really cut that deep? Or was it just because her sister was the head of DYAD? Did she even know that much? Or was she really kept ignorant about what Rachel was in all ways?
"Where do you want to eat?" Rat asked.
Leigh shrugged. "I'm not particularly hungry," she responded. "So it's up to you."
Rat could only stare at Leigh in disbelief. From what she'd seen, Leigh usually had a large appetite, so this was beyond strange now.
After another half an hour so, the two of them found themselves in a small, local café for some food. Rat ordered, and managed to convince Leigh to buy something too, but Leigh barely touched her meal. The atmosphere was growing more awkward by the minute, and Rat's discomfort at the situation only increased the more she tried to put aside what had happened.
"For God's sake, will you just eat something," she told Leigh sternly. "Seriously, I'm not having you passing out from lack of food later when we're faced with Aryanna; it'll be such an inconvenience…"
Leigh didn't even bother arguing. She picked up her sandwich and took a few large bites before setting it down on her plate again. Rat continued to stare.
"What?" Leigh asked her.
"This is just…it's awkward. I'm awkward. Oh…damn it," Rat muttered to herself.
"I was going to suggest calling Aryanna before going to her house, but then I remembered she can't talk," Leigh grinned a bit, choosing to ignore Rat's comment. "So I suppose risking it and just going there is our only option."
"Leigh," Rat said firmly. "I don't like you like this."
"You don't like me full stop," Leigh reminded her bitterly. She looked directly at Rat at last.
"I didn't mean…look, about Rachel…"
"Forget Rachel. She's not important," Leigh snapped.
"She is if DYAD's well and truly screwed you and her over like they do everything else," Rat insisted.
"Doesn't change the fact we're on the run from a killer, does it?" Leigh asked.
Rat sighed, leaned back, and chose to fall silent for now. Attempting to be somewhat nice was making things awkward and more frustrating. At the very least Leigh had eaten something, so hopefully she'd hold out the rest of the day.
Shaking her head, the hacker opened her bag and pulled out the maps of Rome that Aila had drawn up. Aryanna's house was marked, so Rat tried to locate the diner they were at. After several minutes of looking at street names and tracing the path they'd taken from the hotel, she found their current location.
"Alright, if we catch a taxi, we should be able to get there in a half hour. Only question is what to do once there. Do we do a Katja and just walk right up to the door? Or hang back and just observe from a distance?" she muttered, glancing up at Leigh.
Leigh shrugged. "She'll probably end up calling the cops no matter what at this rate. She knows where the hotel is, you said, so… I dunno, maybe hang back for now and keep an eye out for trouble around the building? Don't wanna get arrested or scare her off again. Don't wanna meet up with her monitor either, in case she's not as understanding as Selena was."
"Yeah," Rat agreed, looking around before she took out Aryanna's file. She looked up the information on Aryanna's monitor. "Monitor's name is Alessi DeLaurentis. She works as a crime scene investigator full time, and was a former ADA before becoming a CSI. Greeeeeat…." she sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Just what we needed. A monitor with some degree of authority and influence."
"Shouldn't you have known that already?" Leigh muttered, poking at her food absently.
Rat glared at her. "Since meeting you people, I've been doing twenty things at once every day, and the last two days have been more focused on reading about Aryanna rather than her assigned DYAD puppet," she said, trying to keep her voice low and even.
Leigh just sighed. "Let's just hope she gets called out to some scene and works late."
Rat stared at Leigh for a moment. Even though she didn't trust Leigh, it was unnerving to see her looking so…broken. Rat sighed heavily again and gathered up the maps and files to put them away.
Katja and Aila would know what to do if they were here. They would be able fix this somehow, or at least make it better. Rat just seemed to make it worse, so she kept her mouth shut and paid for their food, ignoring Leigh's protests about doing so.
"Let's just call a taxi and get to it while we can. We'll figure out how to approach her when we get there," the hacker said, before turning and walking out of the diner.
"What a friggin' waste of a day," Leigh complained that evening.
She and Rat dragged themselves over the road towards their hotel as the sun started to set. Both them were completely deflated after the day's events. They had tried and failed to observe Aryanna's house without looking suspicious, only for Leigh to lose her patience and finally decide to make their presence known. Either Aryanna refused to answer when Leigh knocked, or nobody had been home, for there was no response during the whole three hours the clones hung around, and finally, they had given up.
"Not like we could break into her house though, was it?" Rat scoffed.
"I'd never do something that drastic," Leigh assured her.
"DYAD would."
"Yeah," Leigh agreed bitterly, nodding her head. "DYAD would. And I'm not DYAD."
"Well…if she doesn't want to listen, we can't exactly force her," Rat sighed. She sounded genuinely lost on what to do.
"So we just leave her to be tracked down and hunted?" Leigh asked.
Rat shook her head, but shrugged. "No…I just…say if she does listen. What then?"
Leigh remained quiet for a moment while they approached the hotel. She stopped when they were in front of it and sighed. "I don't know," she admitted, and she sounded very insecure. "I'm not even sure what I was hoping to accomplish when I set out to do…all of this. Can't expect them to just drop their lives and go into hiding like me and Aila did…I know it's not possible; not really…"
"Perhaps our focus should be on finding the killer and putting a stop to her," Rat suggested. "As for the other clones, the only thing we can do is warn them there's a killer on the loose. The rest, whether they go into hiding, or chose to ignore our warning…well, that has to be up to them."
Leigh nodded. Rat was right. She hated it when Rat was right. "I know," she muttered.
The two of them quietly entered the hotel, and Leigh busied herself with thoughts of Beth Childs and the advantages of having someone like her on their side. If catching and stopping the killer was the answer, Beth would be a great asset to them.
Just as Leigh was thinking about calling Aila to discuss this with her later on, she looked up when Rat exclaimed something incoherent in surprise. Leigh looked over at the waiting area of the hotel.
There, standing up from one of the seats, staring right at them, was Aryanna. The Italian clone looked rather nervous as she looked at her genetic identicals, obviously very unsure about being there.
Rat put on a small smile as she cautiously approached. "Hey, Aryanna. Um…have you been waiting here long?" she asked, feeling a strange mix of relief, awkwardness, and nervousness.
Aryanna signed something to them, and Rat raised an eyebrow. "Three hours? Wait, so that means that…" she trailed off, resisting the urge to face-palm.
Leigh narrowed her eyes, gritting her teeth. If she wasn't happy before, she was livid now, even though it wasn't Aryanna's fault that their afternoon had been wasted. Hers had been wasted as well. "That's just our fucking luck," the hairdresser scorned before turning and making her way to the elevators.
Aryanna flinched and shrank back from Leigh's harsh tone, looking to Rat for some type of explanation.
"Ignore her. She's had a bad day," Rat sighed, shaking her head as she rubbed her eyes. "Sorry…I'm really glad you decided to come find us. We have a lot of important things to tell you."
Aryanna signed something to Rat, who smirked.
"No, she's not always like that. Don't worry," she muttered, holding a hand out. "I'm Rat. The other one's Leigh. Does anyone else know you're here? Or know about us?"
Aryanna shook her head and signed again. 'No. They warned me not to see you, but I was curious of you.'
Rat nodded. "I see. Alright then, we should head up to the room to talk. If Leigh starts with her mood again, I'll kick her," she muttered, to which Aryanna gave a small smile and nodded.
Explaining the situation to Aryanna wasn't as difficult as Leigh thought it might be. She half expected Aryanna to freak out and try to leave, but she was strangely still as Rat booted up the laptop to get in touch with Katja.
"I know it's scary as shit," Leigh told Aryanna while they waited. Something about this girl's shy demeanour made Leigh feel genuinely bad for the situation she was now in; more so than any of the others she'd met so far. "And I'm sorry…we just thought you had a right to know."
Aryanna simply nodded. She looked rather pale. Leigh frowned.
"Do you want a drink?" she asked her. Aryanna looked up at her curiously. "I have like…beer and stuff."
"For God's sake," Rat muttered, rolling her eyes. "Is that really wise with the state you got yourself into last night?"
"It was nothing," Leigh said automatically after seeing the alarmed look on Aryanna's face. "Just…ignore Rat. She over exaggerates."
Rat laughed the loudest laugh Leigh had ever heard from her. "She's full of crap, Aryanna." She shook her head in disbelief as she spoke. "Ah, here we go. How's it going Katja?"
The German's face lit up her laptop screen. She appeared to be eating. "Rattyrat," Katja greeted her. "Leigh hung over yet?"
"I'm perfectly fine, thank you," Leigh called loudly and irritably. "We have Aryanna with us."
Katja perked up, looking much more curious at the mention of the Italian's name.
"We thought we'd let her…'meet' you and Aila, just to confirm everything we've told her about clones," Rat continued. She turned the laptop so the camera could capture Aryanna's face. The mute anxiously raised a hand to signal a wave at Katja, who waved right back.
"Hallo," she said casually. "I hope zose two are not bringing you down vith zeir constant drama – HEY!"
Katja appeared to fall off whichever chair she was sitting on, causing the three other clones to exchange confused and alarmed glances. After a moment, it became apparent Katja was struggling with something. Playful yapping could be heard, and Katja sounded angry.
"YOUR DOG EZ A ZIEF!" she shrieked, chasing the animal away from the laptop.
"Erm…" Rat said blankly.
"You nick my cookie, I smack your face!" Katja could be heard yelling.
"You better NOT smack my dog!" Rat shouted angrily now. "Do it, and I'll smack YOUR face when I get back there!"
Aryanna looked half amused and half scared, while Leigh simply buried her face in her hands. After several minutes, Katja reappeared, looking rather annoyed. "Bianca needs to be better trained. She does not know zee meanings of 'sit' and 'stay'," she grumbled.
"She wasn't raised to listen to English," Rat said, rolling her eyes slightly. "You know that. Say 's'asseoir' and 'rester', and she'll do it."
Aryanna shook her head and carefully picked up her file. Leigh had given it to her previously, and Aryanna frowned at the idea of being watched all the time for the purpose of some experiment.
Leigh glanced over at her and frowned. "You OK?"
Aryanna looked up at Leigh and nodded quietly, absently looking over the file. She pointed something out to Leigh, who moved to see what it was, reading through a paragraph describing Aryanna's accident in vivid detail.
Leigh nodded. "Yeah, that's what made it so you can't talk, right? Something about a piece of shrapnel damaging your vocal chords?" Aryanna nodded, pulling back her hair slightly to show several light scars running along her throat. Leigh frowned. "Do you remember that happening at all?"
The Italian clone shook her head, looked back to the file. She seemed interested in reading about it since she couldn't remember it herself.
Then came the part when Aryanna realised she was being monitored by her girlfriend.
Leigh could only watch as the clone struggled with herself. She appeared to be holding back the urge to express confusion and anger. She looked as though she might cry. Leigh didn't know what to say.
Rat, who was still busy talking with Katja, appeared not to have noticed, and suddenly beckoned Aryanna over to introduce her to Aila. "Aila's here now," she said, still not taking her eyes off the screen. "She's from Scotland."
"Hello," Aila's voice greeted everyone from the laptop. Aryanna shifted closer to wave, biting back her tears. Leigh stood up and made her way to the small fridge in the room. A moment later, she returned with some beers and handed one to Aryanna.
"Go on," she said gently. She had no idea what else to say or do to help, and Aryanna took the bottle after hesitating.
Rat rolled her eyes. "This drunken idiot is a bad influence," she spoke loudly.
"Is Leigh on the beer again?" Aila asked.
"Look, we could all do with chilling out a bit, yeah?" Leigh said, shrugging. "Even you, Rat. Here, take one." She tossed a bottle at Rat, and it landed softly on the sofa she was sitting on. Rat glared at it as if it caused her great offense.
"One bottle won't kill you," Leigh told her.
"I don't drink, " Rat muttered, kicking the bottle away. "Go be a piss head by yourself."
Leigh rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, loosen up a bit," she said, rolling the bottle towards Rat again.
Aryanna watched the display with wide eyes. She set her unopened bottle aside, choosing instead to go back to reading her file, though she looked up again a moment later as the two carried on arguing.
"Leigh, drop it with the friggin' beer!" Rat hissed. "Get it through your skull! I don't drink, period!"
The Italian clone frowned, feeling uncomfortable and nervous. She moved to sit on the far side of the room with her file instead, keeping her head down as she did.
Meanwhile, Katja and Aila both shook their heads, sighing in exasperation.
"Fine, more for me then," Leigh gave up. She snatched the bottle back and set it down on a side table. "Either of you spoken to Beth again today?"
"Not today, no," Aila told her. "We were considering trying her on Skype again actually. Then again, she's a busy detective isn't she? And she did say she'd get back in touch…"
"Yeah, leave her for another day or so," Rat agreed.
"Although," Leigh spoke up again, suddenly remembering what she and Rat had discussed earlier. "I had a thought…"
"Oh God," Rat began.
"Shut up," Leigh snapped. "Earlier we agreed we should stop this killer instead of just running from her all the time. I was wondering if Beth might be able to help."
A short pause followed.
"It's possible," Aila said, nodding.
"Ve vill discuss it ven she next calls," Katja agreed.
"Yeah…just be careful," Rat warned them.
"Alvays am, Rat," Katja said simply.
Rat rubbed her forehead. "Right. Well, we'll let you go for now. Call us again when you've spoken with Childs."
The call ended abruptly. Rat set aside her laptop to observe Leigh and Aryanna. Leigh appeared to be watching the Italian too, apparently unsure of how to respond now it was obvious Aryanna could no longer hold back the overwhelming confusion that struck her. Her face was damp with tears.
Leigh looked to Rat for help, but Rat felt just as helpless. Aryanna felt their concerned eyes on her and frowned, signing something quickly.
Rat shook her head. "No need to be sorry," she said gently. "You're fine…"
Leigh nodded. "Yeah…I know it's a lot to take in." She frowned, not really sure how to help. She crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed where Aryanna had perched herself. "Is there anything in particular that's upset you, or..?"
Aryanna bit her lip hard, her hands trembling as she signed the letters of a name.
Rat nodded. "Alessi...yeah…sadly, everyone has someone who watches them," she sighed. "It's part of DYAD's whole sick experiment, though it's hard to say who wants to do it and who's being forced. A lot of times it seems like they find dirt on people and make them do it. Alessi might not even know about clones."
Leigh glanced at the hacker, surprised for a moment. She was sure Rat would go off on one with her hatred for DYAD as usual, but she was thankful for the hacker's willingness to put that aside for the time being to soothe Aryanna instead.
Aryanna didn't look convinced, but she nodded and closed the file. She slid it back over towards Leigh. She didn't want to read anymore, looking hurt and betrayed even as she considered what Rat had said.
Leigh took the file and put it back in her bag quietly, not sure what else to do for the moment as she sipped her beer.
The following week went by without much incident, and so Rat and Leigh decided to return to Appenzell for the time being. Aryanna told them she could handle the situation with her monitor, and promised to keep in touch through Skype.
For the most part, Katja was pleased with the outcome of the trip, and though Rat and Leigh weren't close to being friends yet, they could at least hold a basic conversation before resorting to jests and insults.
The clones continued talking to Beth on and off, and the detective told them she was planning to meet another Canadian clone named Alison soon. In the meantime, they decided to hold off on trying to meet Danielle and instead tried to find a way to track down Helena and the other Proletheans.
They'd sent Beth and Aryanna clone phones and taught them the riddle that had become the official code between clones. Mailing something to someone under a false name was surprisingly easy to do, and of course Aila insisted that both phones have pink cases as well.
Aila walked into the living room one afternoon, and noticed Katja lying on the sofa with her eyes closed. An untouched packet of cookies lay on the table. Aila watched the German for a moment, noticing that breathing sounding slightly strained and uneven. This wasn't the first time she'd noticed it, but so far she hadn't said anything about it.
The doctor sat down on the chair near the sofa, and Katja opened one eye at the sound. "Hallo," she said with a smile.
"Hey…" Aila said, looking at her calmly. "Feeling OK? Normally you have the half packet eaten by now."
"I am saving zem for later," Katja said with a shrug. "Our money sources…I am zinking vee must be careful or vee vill start to run out. I cannot be buying so many cookies all zee time, so now I am trying to make zem last."
"Good point, and one I agree with," Aila nodded. "But…are you sure you're OK?" Katja said nothing. "You're not looking too good," Aila continued.
Katja let out a short sigh. "I have cold coming on. It vill pass. Hey, I zink I hear Skype…"
Katja forced herself up and scrambled around for her laptop. It was sitting on the coffee table before the sofa, and the incoming call told her Beth was attempting to make contact. "Hallo Beth," Katja greeted her when she answered.
Beth was looking rather tired, but determined. "Ladies," she greeted them curtly. "Just updating you on the Alison situation."
As though automatic, Leigh and Rat appeared from either end of the house, apparently aware of the Skype call. They both drifted over to where Katja was sitting and curiously waited for Beth's report.
"Did you meet her?" Aila asked. Beth gave a short nod.
"And?" Rat urged her.
Beth sighed. "She tried to punch me in the face and then ran off screaming," she said seriously.
Everyone stared.
"Then what?" Aila asked.
"I ended up chasing her into some dodgy back alley down town just to get her to listen to me. I had to make sure she didn't go blabbing to the cops, didn't I?"
"You are a cop!" Leigh reminded her.
Beth rolled her eyes. "Yes, but Alison didn't know that, and just because I'm a cop doesn't mean I can't be arrested for harassment!" she said urgently.
"Well did you manage to convince her or not?" Leigh asked.
"She's proving to be difficult," Beth said bitterly. "However, she agreed to meet me again tomorrow evening somewhere discrete, but to be honest, I think she's scared more than she is aggressive. She seemed very high strung."
While they talked, Rat dragged her own laptop over to her and lifted to lid to search for something. Curiously, she pulled up Alison Hendrix's file. Leigh noticed and peered over Rat's shoulder, raising her eyebrows at the very pink-clothed clone photographed on the file.
"Jesus," Leigh breathed, struggling to hide her amusement. "She looks like a bitchy version of Aila."
Aila heard this and raised an eyebrow, glancing over to see what Leigh was on about. "Oi, I resent that," she said, giving the hairdresser a light smack on the back of the head. "She has very good taste in clothing."
Leigh grinned. "Does not. Pink is awful," she said, giggling as she avoided another smack.
Rat looked between the two, before shaking her head and scrolling down through Alison's profile. "Well I don't know about bitchy, but from what I can gather, she's a typical stay-at-home soccer mom who has two adopted children and a husband."
Beth raised an eyebrow. "Where exactly are you getting your information?"
"Places," Rat grunted, still scanning through Alison's profile. "Oh…seems she's got a record of threatening to use melee weapons on people when she feels threatened...particularly golf clubs. Best be careful when meeting her."
"Noted," Beth muttered. "Though I'd still like to know what source you're referencing."
"Rat hacks," Katja said with a shrug.
Rat shot her an alarmed glare. "Don't tell the friggin' cop THAT!" she snapped. "I'd rather NOT go to jail, thank you."
Beth shook her head, looking bemused. "Since I'm off duty, I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
"Find out anything about Proletheans yet?" Katja asked curiously.
Beth shook her head. "I'm working on it. Your guess is as good as mine as to where this Helena weirdo is at the minute. It seems she's very good at keeping hidden."
"Yeah, and that's what makes her even scarier," Aila nearly whispered.
"Mhm. You might be interested to know I found info on another American clone though, but I'm holding off on meeting her for the time being."
"Oh? Who?" Rat inquired, but Beth shook her head.
"Can't remember her name without looking at the documents I found. I've hidden them away and can't be doing with getting them out again now…Paul will be home any minute. It was some weird eccentric sciencey name anyway."
"Right," Rat responded, unimpressed.
"Let's just focus on Alison for the time being, right? I should get going," Beth said, almost yawning. "I'm meeting her tomorrow, as I said. I'll update you all again afterwards."
"Cheers Beth," Leigh thanked her.
Everyone was quiet for a few minutes after the call ended. Rat sat reading through Alison's file in full detail, apparently curious to learn as much about her as possible.
Katja got to her feet at last, and yawned. "I vill go nap," she said tiredly. "I am not feeling great." She shuffled towards the stairs to head for her room, and Aila watched her for a moment, frowning. When Katja was out of sight, Aila wandered over to Leigh, who was now bustling about the kitchen.
"Coffee?" Leigh asked as she pulled up a cup.
"Aye…cheers," Aila said.
"Rat?" Leigh called.
"What?"
"Drink?"
"No."
"Suit yourself," Leigh muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.
Aila folded her arms and watched Leigh boil the kettle. "How're things with you, Leigh?" she asked quietly.
Leigh froze and turned to look at her. "I'm good. Just trying not to ask questions about things I can't have answers to."
Aila nodded, looking out the window as she waited for the water to boil. After a moment, her gaze became distant. "Has it really only been two months since we met?" she muttered. "Sometimes it doesn't feel real."
"Yeah," Leigh agreed with a quiet sigh. "Feels like it should be a hell of a lot longer by now. I didn't know what the hell I was signing up for when I decided to do this…"
"You've done good though," Aila said with a smile.
Leigh just shook her head and poured the hot liquid into two cups as she reflected on everything that had happened over the last few months. "I wish I could call my parents…" she confessed quietly.
Aila frowned and put a hand on Leigh's shoulder comfortingly. "You'll see them again. I'm sure of it. Though you know who you could maybe ask…"
"No," Leigh grunted. "I'm not asking her for shit."
Aila shook her head but didn't press the matter, sipping her coffee as she leaned against the counter. "I'm worried about Katja," she said instead.
Leigh frowned. "Eh?"
"She's not…well, she seems unwell," Aila explained, shrugging.
Leigh remained quiet for a moment. Aila wondered what she was thinking about as they spent several minutes sipping their drinks. "How do you mean?" Leigh asked at last.
Aila shrugged. "Well she says she has a cold coming on," she muttered, though she did not need Leigh's raised eyebrows and small smile to realise how paranoid and overly concerned she sounded.
"A cold?" Leigh asked.
"Yeah but it's more than that," Aila said desperately. "I don't know; she doesn't seem herself."
"Well…maybe she's still having a hard time with the whole Lucas thing," Leigh suggested quietly. "It was sprung on her pretty suddenly out of nowhere. Or maybe…"
"Maybe what?" Aila asked.
Leigh shrugged, but averted her gaze. "Maybe she's just homesick."
Aila was stunned into silence. It was only then that she realised Katja wasn't the only one. They all missed home. It was bound to show every now and then.
Aila nodded, gripped her coffee mug tighter, and moved into the living area to sit down on the sofa. She realised she'd been trying hard not to think about home ever since fleeing with Leigh. She wondered if she'd ever get to go back to her old job…probably not, since everyone seemed to think she was a murderer. Leaning back on the sofa, the doctor sighed and glanced over at the staircase. Was it just homesickness and a cold?
"I'll keep an eye on Katja just in case…" she murmured to herself.
The next few days were the most boring yet. The clones barely left the house except to take it turns to play with Bianca and Charles (Rat reluctantly agreed just so everyone had something to do, and the dogs seemed to enjoy the company of the other clones anyway). When they weren't running around the outside of the house with the dogs, they were speaking to Beth, Aryanna and Janika on Skype; all of whom updated them on their situations and assured them they were still safe.
Aila continued to keep a close eye on the other three clones she resided with. When she wasn't insisting Katja eat and drink more to keep up her strength (The German's energy levels seemed to drop by the day, and everyone else started to notice now too), the doctor was focusing on Rat and Leigh, and the endless possible ways of improving their communication skills.
"You want me to do what?" Rat asked her one morning over breakfast. Aila had taken the opportunity to talk to her while Katja was still sleeping and Leigh was in the shower.
"Well…only if you can do it, I mean," Aila began explaining. "I understand if it's too risky…"
"No, no, I can do it," Rat assured her, unwilling to allow her skills to be doubted in the slightest. "Whether Leigh will accept my help though is another matter…"
"Ah," Aila agreed, averting her gaze. "Aye. She can be rather stubborn."
"You got that right," Rat mumbled, stuffing a spoonful of cereal into her mouth. "And another thing; even if she agrees to this; even if we do manage to contact her parents, who's to say DYAD won't be watching them? They're bound to be looking for answers from those Leigh's close to. And anyway, what if her parents are doing DYAD's dirty work too? How do we know we can trust them?"
"I dunno," Aila sighed. "It's just, she's still all torn up about Rachel, however hard she tries to hide it. She won't admit it, but she needs some sort of explanation. Don't you think she deserves one?"
Rat sighed. "Yeah...everyone deserves to know if they have siblings they never knew about."
"Cheers," Aila told her.
The hacker made a sound of vague acknowledgement and pushed the bowl of milk off to the side. She grabbed her laptop and booted it up. Aila watched curiously as Rat pulled up various screens and began typing out lines of code that made no sense at all to the doctor.
After a several minutes, Rat leaned back in her chair and let out a long breath. "Baise…"
Aila vaguely recognised the French curse word and raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
"Yeah…Leigh's parents have been relocated to DYAD's main institution in London indefinitely. Leekie's probably been trying to get answers from them, or is potentially planning on baiting her with them…suggesting they're not in on it, mind."
Aila gasped, her eyes wide. "They'd do that?"
"I wouldn't put it past them," Rat sighed. "OK, hang on. Let me see if I can get a visual…as for communication, that'll be…risky, to say the least…I'll see what I can do."
Aila watched Rat work for several tense minutes, before a new window appeared on the screen that looked like it was from a security camera. They were looking down into a room which could pass for a living room, except it distinctly looked like a lab, with too-clean white walls and various bits of lab equipment dotted around. Two people were looking miserable as they wandered around the room.
"Holy shit…" Aila muttered, covering her hand with her mouth. "They…they can't leave there?"
"As far as I can tell, the door only opens from the outside… fucking Leekie! I told you he's a sick bastard," Rat hissed. She didn't usually swear, but this situation called for it.
Aila shook her head. This was too shocking for her. Losing control, the doctor grabbed the lid of Rat's laptop and forced it shut. Rat raised an eyebrow at her, but her expression softened at the look on Aila's face.
"Sorry," Aila breathed. "It's just…"
"You don't know if you want Leigh to see this," Rat finished for her. Aila nodded. "Look…Leigh gets on my nerves. You know that, but I don't think it's fair or wise to keep something like this from her. If she finds out we knew…"
"Yeah," Aila agreed shakily. "We just…we should figure out a way to break it to her without…" She trailed off, unsure of how to continue.
"Yeah, I get it. You don't wanna shock the hell out of her again, but there's no avoiding Leigh's reaction when she finds out," Rat tried to reason with the doctor.
Aila covered her mouth, panicking. "Sh-she's gonna be so scared," she almost whispered. "She's gonna be so torn about what to do…"
Rat sighed. "Yeah…" she agreed, glancing up at Aila. "Breathe and release, doc. If she comes out seeing you lose it, it'll just freak her out more."
Aila nodded and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, if only slightly. Suddenly, the doctor heard footsteps and glanced over, seeing Leigh walking out with fresh clothes and damp hair. She gave an awkward wave. "M-Morning Leigh…"
Leigh raised an eyebrow at the weird look on Aila's face. "Uh…hi? What's up?"
"Um, n-nothing?" Aila said, though she knew she was horrible at lying.
Leigh stared at her. "What's happened?" she asked flatly.
Rat watched the exchange, resisting the urge to face-palm. "Smooth doc…" she said with a shake of her head. "Leigh, come here for a moment. You're…gonna wanna sit down for this one…" she said, her voice holding none of its usual bite.
"Just…" Aila added as she placed a hand over Leigh's arm. "Just don't freak?"
"Err, bit late for that," Leigh spoke in a high voice with raised eyebrows. She watched as Rat pulled the laptop towards them.
And then Rat began explaining. Leigh forced herself to stay quiet until the hacker had finished.
"Are you taking the piss?" Leigh spat eventually. "No. They…what?"
"Just listen," Rat told her urgently. "We did this because we thought they could give you answers about Rachel, but we found out that this has happened instead. Don't worry, they don't look like they're hurt or anything-"
"Show me," Leigh demanded.
Everyone hesitated.
"Leigh, we think they're gonna blackmail you with this," Aila said regretfully.
"Just show me," Leigh repeated.
The room remained silent as Rat opened the laptop and found once more the window into DYAD's room. It took a few moments for the unmistakable figures of the two people Leigh hadn't seen in over two months to appear, and when they did, all Leigh could do was stare.
Janet and Spencer were still pacing the room rather uncertainly, and they appeared to be alone. The small amount of relief Leigh felt to see they were unharmed was almost completely drowned out by feelings of dread and guilt.
"How could I have been so stupid?" she whispered.
"No…you're not," Aila tried to assure her. "You didn't know…you didn't know Leekie would do such a thing…"
Rat said nothing. From the look of sheer horror on Leigh's face, the hacker was beginning to doubt that Leigh was in league with DYAD at all. Her reactions to recent events spoke volumes of her ignorance to DYAD's corrupt ways, and the damage Leekie continued to cause.
"We just…look, we can try and talk to them later if we can be sure nobody is around to listen," Rat offered, though Leigh still looked hopeless. "But you should know that communicating with them now isn't gonna be easy. Hell, I don't even know if we should risk it at all."
"I should go…I should…I-I…they…they don't deserve…" Leigh mumbled almost incoherently.
"Leigh, you know that won't accomplish anything except giving Leekie exactly what he wants," Rat frowned, taking in the completely distraught look on the hairdresser's face.
Leigh closed her eyes, choking back a sob as she barely resisted the urge to claw at her own hair. Aila frowned and lightly put a hand on Leigh's shoulder as Leigh broke down and sobbed. How could Leekie do such a thing? Did he really care so little about his people that he'd use them as pawns in this game? Bait to draw her out of hiding? Was that all they were to him?
Aila wasn't entirely sure how Leigh would react, but felt she needed to do something to help, and enveloped Leigh in a firm hug. The hairdresser was still for a moment, before relaxing slightly as she continued to cry.
From just past them, Rat noticed Katja sleepily wandering down the stairs, looking confused at Leigh's crying. Rat stood up and made her way over to the German woman, quietly explaining what had happened.