Thank you to everybody who read or review the last chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed that action-packed installment and were only slightly pissed off about the cliffhanger ending. As promised I started working on the next chapter out of sequence. I will warn that it's going to take a couple of chapters for everything to resolve itself.

However, those of you who really like the Take a Third Option series are going to be a little disappointed since it's probably going to be a little bit longer before I get another chapter of that story up. Basically it's the only story I'm working on now not at a critical point and therefore it's the only one I can put on the back burner for a little bit until I get all my other stories to a place of emotional stability.

Warning: Children in danger. Actually everybody is in danger.

The title for this chapter is a reference to the Eminem song The Monster. The reference will make sense as you read.

Chapter 22: Conversations with Monsters

Spock surveyed the home that seemed like a luxury resort only mere hours ago. Now it was in ruins. Dead bodies littered the ground,10 in all. Thankfully, his mother, son, and Nyota were not among the casualties. However there was blood in the entrance way. Spock wondered if it is appropriate that he is happy the blood in question is red.

"There's nothing appropriate about preferring your mother's death to that of your son that you've known for a week at most. You do realize this is all your fault?" The voice in his head was angry and definitely did not sound like James from earlier. James went into captain mode as soon as Spock related the situation. He was already convening a meeting of the Starfleet personnel that he actually trusted to help with the investigation.

The voice was nowhere near as kind. This was the Voice of somebody who took pleasure in his pain. This individual feeds on his misery and tries to make Spock doubt himself. He knew exactly who this entity was. Spock hoped that the medication would prevent this, but apparently the situation was too dire for such a thing.

"Marshall, I presume." Spock turned to see his human looking double once more. This time he had spiky hair and was wearing blue jeans (the pair that Spock wore for James on their second anniversary).

"Did you really think you could get rid of me? I'm part of you. I'm the part of you that cried for Carol, despite how badly she screwed us over. Or rather it was us that screwed her over. If you never met her, she would probably be alive right now." Marshall taunted.

"I find no truth in your words." Spock retorted.

"Ask your other self how long she lived in his world."

"I am not responsible…"

"But you always feel responsible. I should know because I'm the one who feels that responsibility. I'm the one who hates that our father is dead. I'm the one who's worried about your husband that is in the hospital. Bullet to the shoulder, right? You weren't fast enough. You are never fast enough." Marshall's tone is just as mocking as ever. Yet he knew better than to listen to it. Spock could not allow himself to be controlled by his anguish.

"If you were the one responsible for all my human impulses then you were also the one who believed sleeping with Carol was a good idea." Spock sniped at his human counterpart.

"The sex was good." Marshall shrugged.

"We were two teenagers who had no idea what we were doing. By your logic, you were the one responsible for what happened, including her death." Spock snapped right back at the illusion in front of him.

"Don't try to blame me for all the dumb things that you did. You're the one that screwed the underage. You really thought that she was 17?"

"I'm not arguing with you." Spock told the figment of his mind as he went back to processing the crime scene. They needed as much information as possible to figure out what happened. Arguing with the personification of his human side would not help get his mother back.

"No, you're wandering around the space looking for clues, trying to find out what happened to Amanda and our son. Do you really think Marcus' people are going to leave you a card that says our son is here?" Marshall snickered.

"He's my son." Spock corrected violently.

"Our son. Remember, I'm a part of you." Marshall taunted.

"I would really appreciate it, if in the words of my husband, you would just 'fuck off'." Spock felt that profanity may be the only thing that would work on Marshall.

"I love Jim. He makes it so much easier for me. Your humanity is closer to the surface now. It's almost impossible for you to push me away like you used to. I get to come out in little pieces. A hug here, a kiss there. Sometimes you even scream. You actually cried. I consider that progress." Marshall said scornfully.

"Yet, you are still here."

"I'm not completely integrated yet. You still try to shut down sometimes. You think it's better to not feel, to shut yourself off from everything. You really think the medication is helping, but it can only do so much. Your son is missing or dead. Your mother may be with him or she could be equally dead. Nyota is also gone. Do you think that is her blood in front of you? Do you think they took her as well? Do you think she's alive? Or is she like Nurse Chapel? Remember Jim just told you about that. Your son just lost another one of his pseudo aunts. Or maybe he lost more than one." Marshall goaded viciously.

"Why are you even bothering to look for clues? At this point you're probably only going to find bodies."

"Stop speaking to me. I do not need to listen to your negativity." Spock shouted at Marshall.

"Who are you talking to?" Asked 'Agent 13', the woman who was also allegedly James' new stepmother.

"Apparently, the personification of my human self. He is currently trying to convince me to give up searching for clues in the disappearance of my mother, son, and Nyota because they are most likely…

"Dead already." Spock just nodded his head in agreement.

"And has this personification of your human side visited you in the past?" Agent 13 asked seriously.

"He appeared to me during the destruction of Vulcan, when my father died." Spock said not wanting to give her all the details of that particular incident such as the fact that he tried to strangle his ex-boyfriend, due to the fact he marooned James on Delta Vega. "However, I have been on medication since the incident and have not had any reoccurrences."

"Okay, extreme stress seems to be a trigger for you and this will trigger something like that." She said pointing to the room filled with dead bodies. He tells himself that Nyota is the one responsible for this carnage and therefore she can take care of herself.

"Well, she's almost taking you seriously. Or maybe she's just humoring you. This is our new mother-in-law." Marshall said once again in his usual mocking tone. "I think you might be older than her."

"According to Chris, she is several years older than me and a psychologist. However I am uncertain of that career considering her Starfleet affiliation." Spock defended.

"You're talking to the other voice again?" The woman asked watching him closely.

"Unfortunately, yes." Spock told her non-plus.

"She's quite annoying." Marshall ridiculed.

"When was your last dose of medication?" She asked almost sounding concerned.

"This morning at 6:15 AM."

"Well if you're taking your meds every eight hours you should've taken a dose 45 minutes ago which explains the special visitor."

"You are correct." Spock said realizing that due to recent events he did not take his last injection at the appropriate time.

"We were staying here earlier." Spock said as he made his way to the guest room with the agent following behind him, weapon in hand. Due to the fact he was dealing with 'Marshall', Spock did not trust himself to hold a weapon.

When he entered the room, the place was in shambles. James' suitcase was on the bed with everything tossed about. The weapons were missing. He wasn't sure what to think of that yet. Thankfully the toiletry bag was left untouched in the bathroom. Spock quickly found the hypo.

"Oh, you're not getting rid of me that easily. I'm the one in control." Spock paused for just a moment at those words.

"Whatever that voice is telling you, don't listen to it. I need you now. I know you're one of the top hackers in Starfleet. If it wasn't for your diplomatic ties, you would have been perfect for section 31. I need you to see if you can undo whatever they did to the surveillance system. We need that information and you may be the only person who can get it. But if you don't take that shot, you are no use to me and you are definitely no use to your son.

"Do you really think this is going to have a happy ending?" Marshall taunted.

"It did last time. I found Jim again and we defeated Nero." Spock said defiantly as he placed the hypo against his neck.

"But your father still di…" Marshall's words fell away as the drug quickly entered his system.

"Are you with me now?" The agent asked.

"I believe so. I'm no longer seeing a physical personification of my human side." Spock said realizing she was the only person in the room with him now.

"That's always a good sign." She said handing him a PADD.

"Let's see if you're as good of a hacker as your mom says you are. Focus on what you need to do."

"You know my mother?" He remarked grabbing the device.

"Do you really think your mother would let us take care of her two daughters if she didn't know us personally?" The woman asked incredulously. "Your mom has few friends and many enemies. I do not know her well, my wife does, but we both consider her a friend and I would like to get her back as soon as possible."

"As do I." Spock needed to find his family and the first step was recovering the security footage.

"See if you can access the surveillance system. I'm hoping these guys are idiots and they left something behind." Spock hoped that too.

It took Amanda a few moments to realize that she was not at the Vulcan embassy. Actually they may be on a starship. It doesn't matter because it doesn't change the fact that she is surrounded by people who probably want her or her grandson dead.

"Don't even think about taking my grandson." Amanda screamed as Sank's henchmen tried to take David from her. She held on as hard as she could to a crying toddler.

"You're really not in a position to argue. I'm stronger than you are. You are no longer in a position to bargain with me." The Vulcan spat venomously.

"There are many definitions of strong." She replied with as much dignity as she could muster.

"That isn't strength, that's arrogance. It's such a human quality." She is well aware that her fellow councilmember equates being human with weakness. It is a pity he doesn't understand the strength one can gather from emotions.

"That's because I am human. But I'm also Vulcan. More Vulcan than you. I live by the principles. I embrace the uniqueness of all. What do you believe in? What do you care about other than power?" She held her head up as high as she could despite her fears.

"To be what we once were. To be a proud race of billions, not a few thousand scattered on a planet that is not the place of our ancestors. I wish for our children not to be raised by people like you who have contaminated our culture because they have no real knowledge of it." Considering she is considered one of the premier Vulcan historians, that last statement was so ridiculous she chooses not to address it.

"The only way to accomplish that is to go back in time. If you do that you wouldn't change the past in this dimension, only create another reality. This is the reality in which we must live." Amanda chose to say instead.

"No we cannot go back, only forward and this child is the key to that." The Vulcan pointed to David, practically salivating.

"He should be predominantly human, yet he is not. David is the key to genetically modified perfection." Amanda always felt there was something off about the elder and now she is positive that he has lost all sense of sanity.

"What are you talking about?"

"Did your boyfriend not tell you?" He spat out venomously. "The researchers on NCX17 were not trying to replicate 20th-century human genetic engineering. They were trying to figure out how to restore the Vulcan species to its rightful place. David is the key." Definitely mentally unsound.

"My boyfriend doesn't share extremely classified information with me." Amanda lied. She was briefed earlier about the recent discovery of unsanctioned experimentation on Vulcan embryos. Dr. Jackson and Dr. Marcus discovered this seven weeks ago and reported their findings to Lume. That was why Dr. Jackson was on Earth when the rest of the team and David's mother was murdered. Amanda was not surprised that the elder was involved. That would explain the vast amount of funds that have recently been disappearing from the budget.

It also explains why he was trying so hard to get her off the council. She would be the one who would have the most problems with the genetically modified embryos. Spock was created via in vitro, but not genetic engineering as most people assumed. However she would keep this information to herself. Because she was an expert in hostage situations, Amanda knew not to give out more information then she absolutely had to. The safest course of action was to play dumb right now.

"It is a pity now he never will. Actually that human will never share anything with you ever again." The Vulcan allows anger to enter his voice even if Amanda is sure that he would never acknowledge feeling such emotions.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your precious human lover is gone. I had my contact in Lume's office kill him for me." He boasted.

She took a deep breath and put on her Vulcan face of indifference. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her pain and anger. He had no right and maybe Amanda hoped he was wrong. She would like to believe that just like last time she would know if he was gone, despite the lack of psychic link. This was probably some ploy to manipulate her. She refused to let him.

"Do not think I believe you, because I don't. I believe nothing that you say because you're a manipulative bastard and you always have been." She spat back.

"My parents were married at the time of my conception." Of course he took that statement literally. "The only reason why I grew up without a father was because of you."

"How am I responsible for your father not being around? I never met the man. He's been dead for years even before the destruction of Vulcan." Amanda was getting very tired of this Vulcan blaming her for anything he does not like or anytime he does not get his way. It is as if he is completely unaware of the concept of personal responsibility.

"He died in prison because of you. He tried to take that brat away, the one that is an abomination and destroy him." It was obvious he was referring to one of the Vulcan supremacists who tried to kidnap Spock as a child. Considering the council members obvious xenophobia, it makes complete sense that he was raised by someone with such leanings. It would also explain his personal grudge against her (beyond the obvious anyway).

"Now I'm going to destroy you and your grandson will give birth to our people's destiny." At that Amanda feels fingers against her neck and David being pulled out of her arms.

When she regained consciousness sometime later, she found herself in a cell. This confirmed her earlier suspicion about being on a starship of some type. Although David was not with her, she was not alone. An unconscious T'Panda was lying next to her.

It took Spock 4.6 minutes to make his way into the system. It helped that Marshall was no longer mocking him, but his emotions were still close to the surface. He needed to concentrate on finding Amanda and the security footage would assist with the investigation immensely. He finds it more productive to feel the emotions, then to suppress them. Suppression leads to Marshall (along with forgetting to take his medication). That would be worse right now. He needs to work through his fears.

They begin by watching footage from two hours previous, right when Leonard left the house for Starfleet medical. His mother was in the kitchen talking on the communicator as David ate in the background. He made a note to pull up records of her communicator activity. Who was she speaking to? Was that important?

The next thing he saw was Nyota going to his and Jim's bedroom. She left 5.6 minutes later carrying several weapons. This confirmed his suspicions that Nyota had removed the weapons from Jim's suitcase.

It was only mere minutes after this that most of the cameras in the compound stopped recording. However, a few did not, most likely because they were on a separate system that the attackers were unaware of. These cameras included the kitchen, the transporter room, and one of the cameras outside the front entrance to the house. No one utilized the transporter room which was good to know. They would not have to pull up the records now.

The camera in the kitchen provided the most information. As the attack began, Amanda grabbed David and seconds later she tapped at a pendant around her neck. Just before the room fills with attackers, Amanda and David are gone.

"Stop the file and back it up about 10 seconds." Spock does as Agent 13 requested. "Do you know what that is?" She said, pointing to the pendant around Amanda's neck.

"I am unfamiliar." He has seen the pendant before, but assumed it was nothing more than a decorative charm. Obviously, he was mistaken.

"Both of your sister's wear something just like it. I don't think that's a normal necklace." The agent remarked.

"That much is obvious. However, if T'Pen wears something similar she may know what it is."

"They are at the hospital with Whitney. I do not want them to know that their mom is missing right now. Can you think of anyone else who would know what that is?"

"It is possible that Christopher may know." Spock suggested.

"Who is still in a coma after surviving a phaser blast on the kill setting. What about someone else from the Vulcan Council? I heard rumors about some sort of emergency evacuation device or plan. I don't know all the details."

"Elder Selek. He may already be at Starfleet medical." Spock decided not to explain that the elder most likely accompanied his girlfriend to the facility when James called in all of Enterprise's top officers because of what happened. When a certain voice tried to bring up his displeasure at such a relationship, Spock pushed it away.

"Okay, we have a place to start. Let's check with the last camera pick-up before we return to Starfleet Medical."

There were three very important pieces of information discovered while viewing this file. First, Spock realized that two of the attackers were among those that survived the siege on NCX17. Actually, Spock believed one of these individuals was the individual who betrayed the other scientists at the compound.

The second piece of information was that an unconscious, yet still breathing, Nyota was carried out of the compound by two of the attackers. The final piece of information was that the two attackers left the compound using a device similar to what was found on NCX17.

"At least we know what happened to her. Now we just need to find out where she is. Look, they left us a clue."

"Where the fuck am I?" Nyota asked out loud as she regained consciousness. The room was dark with just one light providing any illumination for the entire space. The ground was moist, but not very cold. Nyota has been stranded on enough strange planets to know that she was lying on top of rock and not any sort of man-made material.

"A basement. I don't know if we are still on Earth, but if we are, we're in one of the warmer parts of the world." A voice responded, making her realize that she's not alone.

"Who are you?" Nyota asked.

"That's a very complicated question or maybe it's a simple question with a very complicated answer." The woman replied.

"My head hurts too much for a response like that." Nyota quipped.

"I guess in this time I am Dr. Jane Jackson." The woman out of time. She remembers this from the briefing, but never had a chance to make her acquaintance.

"Before that?" Nyota asked.

"A young girl sucked into a Revolution that she wanted no part of." The doctor responded.

"So you're not on their side?" Nyota asked skeptically.

"This man killed my family, my husband in front of me. He murdered my friends. I will never be on his side. At most I would pretend to be, just so it would be easier for me to kill him." That last part was said in a language that she barely recognized.

"I find that hard to believe considering you were doing research on baby Vulcan embryos and my almost nephew was patient Zero." Nyota spat bitterly, not taking account of the woman's earlier words.

"David was only exposed to the drug because it was the only way to save his life. However, I knew nothing about the research involving Vulcan embryos. I was working on finding a cure to diseases that still haunt us even in the 23rd century. The cancer that almost killed me as a child still takes thousands of young children every year." Dr. Jackson explained.

"You expect me to believe you're that altruistic?"

"Believe whatever you like, I have no desire to play God. I already saw firsthand how destructive that could be. I already explained myself to you. If you choose not to believe me, that's on you. You only hurt yourself if we don't work together."

"Most people now don't believe in God. That's why there's less wars now." Nyota quipped.

"People will always find some reason to hate those that are different. I saw that firsthand. You may wish to think that things are different now and I too wish that they were different. Unfortunately, that is not the case." The woman in front of her actually sounded sad about that.

"Do you know anything else about where we are?" Nyota asked, deciding that this was a safer avenue of conversation.

"No. Unfortunately this is not a James Bond movie where the villain comes in and brags about everything." The doctor replied.

"Who is James Bond?"

"Okay, I was sure that piece of culture would have made it to this time period." The doctor frowned.

"I'm not Jim. What about other prisoners? Have you seen Amanda or David?" She asked her fellow captive. The last thing Nyota remembered was trying to hold off the attackers. But if she was here then that meant…

"I haven't seen her. They could be holding her in another cell, but..."

"You don't think that is the case?"

"Because of what happened on Vulcan, all members of the council have on an emergency evacuation device that can pretty much transport them out of anywhere. Even if there are measures in place to prevent people from beaming in and out of the property. Jonathan told me about it." The woman explained.

"So you think Amanda got away?" Nyota asked hopefully.

"I hope she did."

"She did escape, only to fall into our trap, just as planned." Nyota heard a voice say that she didn't recognize. However when he stepped into the dark room she recognized his face. She remembered him as the traitor on NCX17.

"Why am I not surprised you're here, Eric? You've always been a yes-man for Marcus." Jackson spat out angrily.

"So was your husband." The man shot back.

"Jonathan is now dead, so I doubt that he was that loyal to Marcus' cause. He also arranged for your boss' dirty little secrets to be all over the net. Now everyone knows that he's a monster." Jackson spoke defiantly.

"Not all of them. They don't know about you. If they did you would be in jail or worse." Eric retorted.

"I'm not as foolish as I once was, although that's mostly because I have all my memories again." Dr. Jackson said cryptically. "I've also done a great deal of reading in this time. I know what you're saying is false. If you think I'm going to help Marcus build his army of super soldiers or whatever he's planning because of such worthless threats then you better think again. I'm going to need better motivation."

"How do you know I'm working for Marcus?" Eric questioned.

"I would say it's because you just told me, but it's because who else could you be working with. I can't think of anybody else evil enough to try to kidnap his own grandchild or murder his daughter, even if you were the one who pulled the trigger." Anger was dripping from every single one of her words.

"She was no daughter of his." Eric spat right back out.

"Because she was a lesbian, mostly, or because she slept with a non-human?" The man didn't answer her. Instead he slapped her. At least he tried to. Jane quickly grabbed his hand before he made contact with her skin.

"You forget who I am. Maybe that's why you came after me with phasers this morning instead of bullets." Dr. Jackson mocked.

"That's because we were not trying to kill you, only Pike, and we succeeded at that." Those words made Nyota's entire body go cold. She hoped this was a lie. "Marcus wants you alive."

"And me?" Nyota spoke up for the first time since the man entered the room.

"According to your Starfleet CV, you speak more supposedly extinct earth languages than anyone else, excluding me. I'm guessing that they think you can translate my work if they can't persuade me to help."

"You're very smart woman." Eric remarked with a vicious smile.

"What do we get for cooperating? Food? Maybe some better accommodations? A window would be nice. Maybe some sunlight?" Dr. Jackson asked without condescension.

"You would be aboveground at the very least."

"Let me talk it over with my companion." She said before turning to Nyota. "Play along. And take this." The woman said in the same ancient languages earlier as she handed a hairpin to Nyota. "We have to rescue ourselves."

"Fine. If you want us to cooperate, I want a room with a view." Nyota demanded, realizing that she needed to play along. At the very least she would be above ground and have a better shot of escaping or being rescued.

"I promise you will be able to see the new Vulcan sunrise." She smirks to herself at his words. At least she now knew where she was. She'll play along for now, but as soon as she could, she was getting out of here.

To be continued.

I will try to get the next chapter out relatively soon, but I have family visiting which will cut into my writing time.