– Chapter Twenty-Nine –

As far as anyone could tell, Lucas lived alone a few blocks away from the DYAD facility. He was under constant observation both inside his home and inside his work, mostly through video monitoring.

After some careful work the following day, Rat had managed to make the video feed at Lucas' house enter into a loop and display clips from the day before rather than streaming live footage.

The clones waited until night fell before to venture out onto the streets, carefully making their way towards the German man's house. It was nearly eight, and fully black outside when they arrived outside the front door. Katja didn't hesitate in the slightest and knocked loudly.

"What if he's not alone?" Leigh asked, looking around uncertainly.

"Then vee deal vith it," Katja grunted as she coughed into a tissue.

After another few loud knocks, the door slowly opened and a familiar face appeared. Lucas stared at the clones in shock for a moment before gasping loudly. "You are alive! Zank goodness! B-but you cannot be here, it's not safe! Zey are vatching me, zey vill have seen-"

"It's taken care of. Shut up babbling, for Christ's sake," Rat snapped, silencing the man's frantic words. "Now shift. We have things to discuss with you."

Leigh frowned and couldn't help glaring at Rat slightly. She didn't like how aggressive the hacker was being after Lucas saved their lives, but she held her tongue and followed the others inside.

The clones made their way to the living room, and when Lucas joined them, he found three pairs of identical eyes watching him.

"How ez it you're alive?" Katja asked him bluntly.

Lucas looked tired. He let out a weary sigh and sat down, a grave expression on his face. "Maggie...she had to be stopped," he began explaining. He kept his gaze on Katja, never once blinking or breaking eye contact. He needed Katja to trust and believe in him. "Ven you all ran, vee struggled, she and I."

"Vee heard shots fired," Katja told him.

Lucas nodded. "Ja." He slowly and reluctantly pulled down the collar of his shirt to reveal a scarred wound on his right shoulder. Katja thought he was lucky to have survived even that. "But it seemed I did more damage to she zan she did to me."

"What did you do?" Leigh asked.

"There vas a struggle. Being a man, I am stronger than she is, physically. I vas able to get hold of zee gun and stop her. She had head injury. I do not know how serious. All I knew vas to run vile she vas out cold. I have not seen or heard from her since."

"So you went back to DYAD?" Leigh asked.

"Ja. I vas still vorking for DYAD anyvay, and I vas injured. I vould sooner go back to them zan zee Proletheans. I needed help, you understand?"

"Ja," Katja whispered. She lowered her gaze to the ground to let this sink in. A strange mix of relief and regret hit her at Lucas being alive...she didn't like this latest revelation messing with her head again after she'd accepted he was gone. She also resented the fact he had gotten hurt while trying to help her and her clone sisters.

Rat squirmed uncomfortably. "Maggie Chen is dead," she told Lucas. Lucas snapped his head up to stare at the hacker in shock. "She was killed recently."

"She is dead?" Lucas repeated. "How..."

"It doesn't really matter. It's not your concern," Rat grumbled. She at least felt as though Lucas deserved to know what had become of the deluded woman though, after he had helped them. "That's not what we're here for."

"Zen vhy are you here? You are treading in very dangerous territory by coming here."

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't absolutely essential," Rat told him. "DYAD have Aila. They have her in the facility here in London."

Lucas looked between the three of them, as if only just realising there was a clone missing from the group. Rat wasn't sure she trusted the confused look on his face. What if he knew about Rachel having Aila kidnapped? What if he was playing dumb to trick them; to lure them into a trap-

No. Rat shook her head to snap herself out of it. This paranoia wasn't going to help, and her determination to seek out Lucas had brought her here in the first place. Besides, Lucas had been so desperate to prove himself to Katja the first time he showed up. Why should his efforts to help them all stop with aiding their escape from Maggie?

"If you care about us, you'll help us get Aila out of there," Rat said.

Lucas nodded, though he looked troubled. "I do not know how I can be of help...my job is only low-key. I am not permitted to go into restricted areas, vich I'm sure is vere your friend vill be. Plus...I do not know if it is vise for me to go against zem so soon. Zey are alvays vatching me. It vould not take much to know that I am straying from my vork."

Leigh sighed, rubbing her head. "So we need to find someone else to help us then. Someone higher up?"

"Ja. I vill think on it and see if I know anyone who may vish to aid you in secret," Lucas offered, standing. "In the meantime, vould anyone like something to drink?"

Leigh and Katja asked for tea and coffee respectfully. Rat denied the offer and watched as the older man vanished into the kitchen. She couldn't help feeling uneasy about him still, even if logically she knew he probably really did want to help them.

When Lucas returned, he seemed to be in a much better spirit as he handed out drinks. "I may know of someone who may agree to help...a very old friend of mine. I vill speak vith her tomorrow. How may I contact you to tell you vat happens?"

"Hold up. Just who is this friend? Is she trustworthy?" Rat demanded, sounding harsher than she meant to.

Lucas nodded firmly. "Her name is Elizabeth, and yes, she is extremely trustvorzy. It's not my place to say too much, but she has a very strong reason to vant to go against DYAD. I believe she vill be villing to help, and she has access to some of zee more restricted areas of zee facility."

Rat glanced over at Leigh and Katja uncertainly. Katja stared at Lucas. "I vill choose to trust zat you know vat it is you are doing vith zis Elizabeth. Ven you speak vith her, call me, and vee can arrange a meeting," she said, standing. The German clone found a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down her phone number for Lucas.

"Danke," Lucas said quietly. This was a chance to prove again he could be trusted.

Rachel wasn't happy. As she stood in the dark cell eyeing the limp form on the bed, she couldn't help but scowl in frustration. This wasn't working, and if she deprived Aila of water for much longer, she really would die.

Rachel didn't mind taking drastic measures occasionally, but she was smart enough to realise this clone was important to Leigh, for some unknown reason. Killing her would undoubtedly ruin Rachel's chance to get Leigh back forever.

This was a problem.

Rachel hated to admit it, but she didn't know how to handle somebody who insisted on being endlessly defiant. Even Leigh always gave into her demands sooner or later. Rachel always got what she wanted, but Aila was proving to be extremely difficult to break.

Rachel grit her teeth hard. Aila had won this round. Rachel would have to give her water to keep her alive long enough to get Leigh back. And Rachel hated it. She did not take kindly to being beaten at this.

She would make the other clone bend to her will one way or another.

Rachel disappeared from the room for a moment, leaving Aila temporarily alone. Aila wasn't holding up too well. Being unable to move her arm was uncomfortable and inconvenient, and trying to sit up straight made her dizzy and weak. It was for this reason she opted to lie down most of the time instead, shaking sometimes uncontrollably. She hated Rachel being there though, looking taller and superior in her flawless outfit with her flawless make-up and impossibly inhumane determination.

It surprised her when Rachel returned holding a glass of water.

"Get up," she spat at Aila in disgust. She slammed the glass down on the hard bed on which Aila lay, and some of it spilled over the top and onto the floor.

Reluctantly, Aila pushed herself up with her good arm with what little strength she had. She looked curiously at the glass of water, but didn't want to touch it. What if it wasn't water; what if it wasn't safe; what if-

Aila ceased her maddening thoughts immediately, and laughed. She was becoming paranoid. She was becoming like Leigh and Rat.

Rachel was not impressed at Aila laughing at the situation. "I fail to see what is so funny," she seethed.

Aila shakily reached out for the glass and took a grateful sip. She glanced up at Rachel as the cool liquid soothed her. Water had never tasted so good. "You would if you had a mirror in front of you."

It was true; Rachel's humiliation and annoyance at her defeat was clear on her face, however hard she tried to hide it. Her eyes flashed dangerously at Aila's comment. This was so unfair.

"Call Leigh," she told Aila sternly. She watched impatiently as Aila drank. The doctor only stopped when half of the water was gone. She paused for a break to watch Rachel carefully.

"Rachel, if you want her back because you found out you're sisters, I don't understand why you're going about it like this. You could have just joined us instead."

"That is never going to happen," Rachel shot venomously. It angered her the other clones had known about this before she did. That Leigh hadn't told her right away.

Aila couldn't help pitying the blonde clone, despite what she was putting the doctor through. Leigh was right. DYAD had warped her...

"You are running out of time," Rachel continued. Danger was clear in her tone. "You will do as I ask. It is urgent that Leigh returns immediately for reasons that are not your concern-"

"Rachel, what do you want me to do?" Aila challenged her now, sounding annoyed herself. "Pull Leigh out of thin air?"

It was a step too far. Aila brought the glass back up to her lips to finish drinking, but her comment angered Rachel so much that she stepped forward and smacked the glass out of Aila's hand. It smashed on the ground; shards scattering across the room as the water soaked the stone at Rachel's feet.

Aila froze, quite stunned. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Rachel tremble in fury. She thought for a moment Rachel would threaten her again, or shout, or say something, but the blonde clone simply marched out of the room after deciding Aila was too impossible to deal with.

This was war now, as far as Rachel was concerned. If drastic measures were called for, Aila had brought it on herself.

Katja lay across the sofa in the living room with Bianca, trying to relax as she watched a movie on TV. It had been two days since they'd met Lucas at his house, and everyone was on edge.

The longer they left Aila in DYAD's care, the more worried they became for her safety. Leigh seemed to be taking the doctor's absence especially hard, though Katja figured that was to be expected.

The German jumped slightly as her phone went off. She answered it without bothering to see who it was. "Hallo?"

"Katja?" Lucas spoke through the device.

"Ja. Vat is news?"

"Eliza has agreed to help us. She vishes to meet vith you all. Ven and vere vould be best to meet?"

Katja tilted her head, thinking about it. She supposed the safest thing to do would be to meet back at Lucas's house, though she figured she should ask the others before making plans.

"Hold on," she told Lucas, before sitting up. "Ratty? Leigh?" she called to the others loudly, causing a heavy cough as she did. The German scowled at the blood on her hand, but managed to wipe most of it off on a tissue before the others appeared.

"Yeah?" Leigh asked, holding a cup of tea. Rat said nothing but looked at her sister curiously, standing with Charles at her side.

"Lucas's friend vishes to meet vith us. Vat do I tell him? Meet at his house?

Rat frowned slightly, again wondering if it was a trap, though she reminded herself that Lucas had proven he was trustworthy. His friend, however...well, if he really trusted the person enough that he was confident they wouldn't hurt or betray them, then she reasoned it was probably fine to meet at the same location.

Leigh nodded. "I suppose that's fine..." she said, sounding somewhat wary as well.

"Yeah, you can tell him we can go over tonight when it gets dark," Rat said, preferring the safety of darkness for a meeting like this.

Katja nodded, repeating the words into the phone.

"We'll be here," Lucas promised before hanging up.

Aila was starting to grow bored. It had been the same all day every day, for how long, she couldn't quite remember. Every few hours or so, the door to her isolated cell would bang open, followed by a very vexed Rachel Duncan, and the two would struggle over the same subject each time. Then Rachel would leave, more annoyed than when she'd appeared.

Aila let out a weary sigh the next time it happened, fully preparing for another round of deja vu. She sat up straight on the bed, bracing herself for the proclone's demands.

But wait.

Rachel wasn't alone this time. The figure of a man followed her. The man Aila recognised as her kidnapper.

Something about him made Aila's skin crawl. She resisted the urge to shrink back into the shadows as the two approached, instead boldly sitting still to show she wasn't about to be fazed. Rachel stared silently at Aila for almost two minutes before anyone moved or spoke.

"Give back what is mine," Rachel's voice shattered the silence. "Or suffer."

Aila stared at Rachel, and then at the man she'd brought with her. Surely Rachel wouldn't actually hurt her...though the longer she stared at the man, the less sure she was. Rachel herself might not, but somehow, Aila thought Rachel wouldn't have any problems ordering someone else to.

The doctor silently weighed her options. Would Rachel kill her? Or just try to force her to talk through inflicting pain? Either way, if Rachel truly was so far gone that she was willing to do this, there was no way Aila was going to give up Leigh. Leigh had saved her life, and if Aila had to die to protect her then so be it.

Game on.

"I'm not calling her."

The words seemed to resonate in the silence as Rachel's eyes grew dark with rage, even as her face remained still and stoic. "Fine," the blonde hissed after a moment, her voice low and threatening. She turned to face her companion. "Daniel."

Daniel nodded. "Leave it to me. She'll talk."

Rachel turned to leave. The blonde stopped before the door, not turning around or looking back as she spoke. "Do not disappoint me, Daniel."

With that, Rachel left, the door slamming behind her with a resounding bang. Aila looked up at the man and grit her teeth hard, trying not to show him any fear as she wondered what exactly he had been ordered to do. Maim her? Rape her?

The doctor shuddered hard at the thought, involuntarily shrinking back a bit as he approached the bed. She knew there wasn't much she could do to fight back either way in her weakened state. Even though Rachel had allowed her enough water to live, she hadn't eaten since she was brought to this horrible place.

Daniel reached into his pocket then, taking out a small knife. Upon closer inspection, Aila could tell it was a pocket switchblade, and she was sure this was no coincidence.

Daniel smirked slightly. "Been doing some reading on you. You like knives, don't you? Especially this kind. Is that right?"

Aila remained silent, looking entirely unimpressed as she stared at the weapon. "If your plan is to intimidate me, I think you'd better come up with a better one," she said quietly, her voice surprisingly steady and firm even as her heart pounded with a sickening mix of fear and anxiety. Daniel reminded her of the bosses who ran the house she grew up in. In a way, it helped her resolve to show no fear outwardly, and not bow to him for as long as possible.

Daniel's eyes flashed dangerously at her words. He reached out and grabbed Aila's hair at the back of her head, forcing her to look up at him as he pressed the blade to the skin on her cheek. "Last chance to give me the information Rachel wants."

Aila met Daniel's gaze, gritting her teeth hard. "Make me."

Impatience was increasing for Rat as the hours dragged on. She wanted this meeting over with already so they could get Aila back.

The remaining three clones barely uttered a word to each other for the rest of the day while they waited to leave. Katja sat quietly with Bianca, deciding to conserve her energy, while Leigh kept mostly to other rooms as if she wanted space. The silence was bothering Rat a lot. She didn't like the tension.

The hacker abandoned her laptop at one point to help herself to a drink from the kitchen, only to find Leigh already in there. The hairdresser was leaning against the fridge with her back to Rat, apparently staring into space. As Rat approached, she realised Leigh was waiting for the kettle to boil.

Rat crept up behind her, having every intention of telling her to move so she could access the fridge...but something was wrong. As the hacker stepped past Leigh to make her presence known, the hairdresser jumped, startled, but then froze in defeat.

Leigh was crying.

It had hit her earlier how much Aila meant to her; to all of them. How much she had possibly taken the doctor for granted. How Leigh had grown to love her as a sister and not just another clone. She never should have let her take part in that stupid tournament; she never should have left her alone in the hospital...

Rat could only watch Leigh for a few moments, unsure of how to respond. It unnerved her a little that Leigh looked right at her as tears escaped, not even bothering to hide her sadness. The hacker had seen Leigh upset and angry countless times, but this was different.

This was hopelessness.

Grief hit Rat suddenly as well. A part of her wanted to tell Leigh to get a grip, to keep focused and get through tonight so they could form a solid plan, but she knew Leigh had probably had that conversation with herself already anyway. Leigh was trying so hard. She always had been, and it hit Rat hard when she reminded herself of that.

Rat placed a hand on Leigh's arm, both to attempt to offer comfort, and make the hairdresser move away from the fridge. Leigh complied when Rat stirred her away to open the door. She hovered in the middle of the kitchen as she wiped away her tears, barely paying attention to Rat taking out a carton of milk.

She was about to leave the kitchen to retreat to her room, but Rat caught up to her and pressed a warm cup into her hands. She had finished making the tea Leigh had started.

Leigh managed a smile and a laugh. Rat smiled too.

Something caught their attention at the kitchen door. A sleepy Katja had appeared, holding her coat in one hand. "It is nearly time," she told both clones. "Vee should start getting ready to leave...ja?"

Leigh and Rat both nodded and hurried to leave the kitchen. Leigh drank her tea as fast as she could, allowing its warmth to lift her spirits as they all prepared for the meeting.

When the clones arrived at Lucas's house under the comforting guise of nightfall, the streets were thankfully empty. The German man opened the door and ushered them inside quickly.

"Now, we have already started tossing around ideas about how we might figure out where your friend is being held. Eliza believes she may be able to gain access to Rachel's office temporarily to search for clues..." he was saying as he led the group into the living room.

On the far side of the room was an older woman who looked to be around Lucas's age. She had long red hair that was turning grayish-blonde with age, and wore a white DYAD lab coat, and a pair of thick-rimmed black glasses.

Eliza turned to face them all properly with a light smile, and Rat froze on the spot, her eyes wide in stunned shock.

"M-Mom!?" she gasped before she could stop herself.

Eliza blinked, her eyes landing on Rat before her expression mirrored the clone's. "Regina?" she whispered.

Leigh and Katja could only stare in surprise. This woman was Rat's mother? Leigh realised then that she never once stopped to wonder if the hacker had any living family besides Katja, but why was her mother here? It seemed like almost too big of a coincidence.

Rat rounded on Lucas, her eyes blazing with rage. "Did you know about this?!" she demanded.

Lucas backed away from the angry clone, raising his hands up in surprise. "K-Know about vat?!" he asked, entirely lost as he looked to Eliza for some type of explanation.

Eliza seemed taken aback by Rat's aggressive reaction to her presence, but she somehow stayed calm as she spoke. "Lucas...do you recall that one of my daughters went missing shortly after the other passed away?" she asked quietly.

Lucas nodded. "O-of course. DYAD suspected zat she committed suicide..." he trailed off then, looking at Rat as the dots connected themselves. "Z-zis is...zat means you are..."

Eliza nodded. "Your other living daughter...Katja's blood-sister."

Rat continued to glare at Lucas, not believing for a second that he didn't know. "You honestly expect me to believe this is a coincidence?!" she hissed lowly, her eyes darting between him and Eliza.

Katja spoke up then. "Vee need to save doctor," she reminded her sister gently, seeing that Lucas really didn't know about the connection. "Lucas said zis voman can help, ja? Vhy not listen just for doctors sake?" She was as surprised as anyone to actually meet Rat's mother, but she knew they couldn't lose sight of their goal now. Getting Aila back was still the top priority.

Rat glanced at her, the fire in her eyes hardly dimming. "As if she really wants to help anyone," she muttered. She fixed her glare on Eliza. "You've never given a shit about clones before. Don't expect me to buy that you want to help now. You're probably just a spy for Leekie."

"I'm not," Eliza insisted firmly, meeting her daughter's eyes as she spoke. "I didn't even know you were one of the clones Lucas mentioned. How could I have possibly planned something like that?"

Leigh could only watch the scene unfold in sheer exasperation, largely tuning the argument out as she retreated into her own mind to mull things over. At this rate, they were never going to come up with a plan to rescue Aila. She couldn't help wondering how the doctor was doing at that moment as she again felt a deep pang of guilt and a powerful longing for the other clone's calming presence.

She hoped Rachel was at least taking care of Aila, even if she was holding the doctor somewhere against her will. Leigh still couldn't bring herself to believe Rachel would let any harm come to Aila. Rachel was a bit robotic at times, but she wasn't violent.

The hairdresser turned her attention back towards the events unfolding in the room to pick back up with what was being said, realising she'd missed a good chunk of the conversation. Seeing Rat still glaring down at Eliza, she was tempted to try to break up the pointless fighting herself so they could redirect to the real issue at hand.

Eliza met her daughter's cold and angry gaze. "I'm not asking you to forgive me. No...that would be far too much to ask. What your father and I put you and your sister through was unforgivable. However...I am asking for the chance to explain why we treated you both so poorly. Perhaps then you will understand that I do want to help you now, and we can move onto the more important topic we came here to discuss in the first place. It's inconvenient, I know, but we have time, and I'm going to need you to trust me before we'll have any chance of finding your friend."

Rat grit her teeth hard, inwardly fighting between the urge to fight and the urge to get as far away from this woman as possible. Katja was right though. They needed to save Aila, and if this was the only way, shouldn't she at least hear what her mother had to say before deciding if she could be trusted temporarily?

She stared at Eliza for several tense moments, before slowly lowering herself to sit on the sofa. Her cold gaze darted between the older woman and Lucas, still skeptical of the extent of his knowledge about this mess.

"Fine," she muttered. "You have one chance, so choose your words carefully."

Eliza nodded in understanding. Katja quietly moved to sit beside Rat, taking her sister's hand in hopes of keeping her calm. Leigh walked over to listen but remained standing, hoping they could sort this out so that they could focus wholly on finding Aila.

The older woman adjusted her glasses and took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking. "I know you don't believe it, but we did love you and your sister, Regina," she said quietly, ignoring Rat's eye roll at the statement. "We just weren't allowed to show it."

Rat blinked, looking unimpressed. "Explain."

Eliza leaned back in her chair. "When Lucas was made to give the three of you up, one was adopted fairly quickly, but the family could only take one at the time."

Rat nodded, glancing at her sister before turning her attention back to her mother. "Yes, I know about Katja and her family. You can also assume I know about everything that's in my official DYAD file. Get to the point."

Eliza nodded and sighed quietly. She turned to speak directly to Katja now. "When you were adopted, Aldous obviously looked into the family who adopted you in order to figure out who your monitor should be. It didn't take long to realise you'd be raised in an environment that was completely devoted to love and family. After making this realisation...I suppose he saw the situation as an opportunity for a study on nature and nurture, especially since he was dealing with children who were both clones and blood-sisters. If one child was raised in a loving environment, what would happen if the others were raised in other fixed conditions..."

Rat stared at her, her face completely void of emotion as she allowed what Eliza just said to sink in. "So what you're telling me is we were neglected just because...because Leekie wanted to see what would happen? To see how different we'd end up being from Katja? Is that right?"

Eliza nodded sadly. "Yes. He wanted you and Cecile raised in an environment where you'd be safe, fed, and given a proper education, but emotional attachment would be withheld unless it was critically needed."

"That's disgusting!"Leigh couldn't help but blurt out as she stared at the scientist. Her hatred towards Leekie and DYAD increased tenfold. The organization really was more vile than she ever could have imagined. She couldn't help feeling like she understood Rat a lot better in that moment though, as she recalled Katja explaining that the hacker didn't have much experience with birthday gestures or other social situations. It made sense now.

"And you agreed to do it," Rat said flatly, inwardly agreeing with Leigh. It wasn't a question; just a cold statement. The hacker wondered how many other clone blood-sisters had been separated and put through similar experiences, glancing at Leigh as she thought this. It had been exactly like that for her and Rachel too, Rat realised.

"Yes," Eliza continued. "We were in Aldous's debt, and he made it clear it would be in our best interest to agree...originally, we were just going to have one child, and the third would be sent elsewhere, but Aldous decided it would be more...interesting...to keep both of you together. He wanted to see if the two of you would work together and compensate for the lack of parental direction. We never really wanted children, and thought that following orders wouldn't be overly difficult...but we ended up caring for you both far more than we thought we would. Several times, we debated just taking you both and running, but then what life would that have been for you?"

Rat narrowed her eyes coldly. "Probably a better one, to be blunt. At least then we wouldn't have thought you two didn't give a crap about us. Even when C was on her deathbed in never-ending agony you were always stone-faced whenever we saw you. I don't know why you really want to help us now, but you can't really expect me to believe you loved us after witnessing that," she seethed, her voice dropping to a threatening pitch.

Eliza flinched and sighed. "We had no choice. We pleaded with Aldous to allow us to break the contract just for that time. You both were so young and in so much pain...we couldn't stand not being able to comfort and support you both, but he wouldn't have it. He didn't care, despite his promises to help."

"So why the hell did you LISTEN then if you cared so damn much?!" Rat demanded, her nails digging into the palm of her free hand as she clenched her fist tightly. She gripped Katja's hand hard with her other hand. She tried to yell, but her voice grew raspy when she raised it, forcing her to talk at a normal volume, which only increased her frustration.

"Because he made it very clear that your sister would have a tragic accidental mix up of medications if we did," Eliza whispered. Her eyes glazed over with shiny, unshed tears as she recalled that moment from so long ago.

All three clones stared at Eliza in numb shock. Rat lost her fire in that moment as her mind spun. She turned pale and felt very sick. She thought she knew the lowest Leekie was willing to stoop to to get what he wanted, but this was a whole new level of psychopathic. Had he really threatened to kill an already dying girl just to make sure their parents continued to act neglectful, even in the worst of situations?

Eliza continued speaking. "We decided that after Cecile was healthy again, we were going to tell you both everything and flee, despite the risks. That threat was taking it too far."

"But she died," Rat said numbly as she unconsciously leaned against Katja for comfort.

"Yes...we thought it would be best to allow ourselves and you time to mourn before we told you everything, but then you vanished before we could. At first we thought DYAD had taken you for some reason, but Ian told us you left on your own in the middle of the night. We tried to find you, even pleaded with Lydia to give us some idea of where you might have gone, but she always kept up that she had no idea where you were. We were at a loss as to what to do next, though once Aldous learned that you ran away, he relocated us here. He probably thought we'd sent you away."

"A-and you've just...stayed here ever since?" Rat squeaked, trying to get her mind around everything. It was impossible to take in such a huge revelation so quickly.

Eliza nodded. "We decided staying close to Aldous was our best bet of one day finding you. We never wanted to believe his eventual theory of suicide, though we never expected to find you again under such extreme circumstances."

Rat sat in silence for a moment before shakily getting to her feet. She looked as though she was going to be sick. "I...I need some air..." she whispered, physically trembling with the force of her thoughts and emotions. She fled the room before anyone could say anything else.

A piercing scream penetrated the silence at the DYAD facility. Rachel had been making her way to one particular cell, and the sounds coming from inside forced her to stop in her tracks. It sent shivers down her spine and made her feel cold.

Not that she'd ever show that. Too much was at stake to show such weakness now.

Rachel continued on, inviting herself into the dark cell to make her presence known. She dreaded to think what Leekie would have to say if he became aware of what Rachel had done; what she was ordering her monitor to do...was she taking it too far?

Well, it was too late to change her mind now. She might as well see it through. The doctor would break. She had to.

"Daniel," Rachel spoke firmly to the cold room.

Daniel was crouching over the bed. He stood up straight at the sound of Rachel's voice, turning to face her. A sharp blade shimmered in what little light had crept into the cell, illuminating drops of blood. Rachel felt a wave of sickness hit her at the sight.

"Stand aside, Daniel, so I can speak with her," Rachel told him.

Daniel didn't hesitate to move. Aila was shaking on the end of the bed, willing herself to sit up straight and wipe away any tears that had escaped her. Her face was lined with fresh cuts, as well as her arms. They looked sore and painful...but Rachel couldn't focus on that.

"This stops when you co-operate," she said to Aila.

"Go to hell," Aila spat.

"You are only doing this to yourself," Rachel responded. Who was she trying convince? Aila, or herself?

Aila forced out a broken laugh. "You think Leigh's gonna want to have anything to do with you after this?" she blurted out before thinking of the consequences. She didn't care. She was too angry. Too betrayed. "How she ended up with a sister like you is a joke."

Something finally snapped within Rachel. She delivered a sharp slap to the doctor's face, causing her to stumble slightly and almost fall off the bed. Rachel watched, furious, as Aila regained her balance and stared up at her.

"How dare you?" Rachel hissed. She was shaking now too, even more so than Aila.

"How dare I?" Aila seethed, glaring at Rachel darkly. "You sick bitch. You don't deserve to have a sister as wonderful and kind as Leigh! She would never even come close to doing anything like this, and she's never gonna forgive you when she finds out what you've done."

Rachel lunged forward, slamming her hand on the wall beside Aila's head, their faces now just inches apart. The crackling energy between their glares could have sparked into a flame at any moment.

"WHY WON'T YOU BREAK!?" Rachel screamed, losing herself completely for a moment. "You don't understand! I want Leigh SAFE, so I need her BACK! NOW!"

Aila could only stare in horrified shock, never knowing Rachel to lose her cool over anything like this. Before she could say anything though, Rachel stepped back and glared at her darkly. "I will break you if it's the last thing I ever do," she hissed lowly before glancing at Daniel. "Don't hold back. Just do not kill her," she ordered before whipping around and leaving the room again. The door slammed shut with a loud bang.

Aila swallowed hard, inwardly steeling herself up as much as possible for whatever the sadistic man would have in mind. This was going to be a long night.

Out in the hallway, Rachel took several steadying breaths to regain control over herself. That display of emotion was unexpected and entirely unwelcome. She couldn't believe such a lowly clone could get under her skin so much. Emotional outbursts were not becoming of her. She was above them, and she would remember that. She decided not to see Aila again after this. She'd simply gain updates from Daniel.

Rachel looked down and noticed blood smeared on her hand. She paled at the sight of it, and almost ran to the bathroom to wash it off before staring into the mirror. She gazed upon her own reflection.

She could only see Leigh staring back at her.