58
"Jack."
"Hmmmm?"
"I have something to tell you. In these old files… in my memories… something dormant I had forgotten. Been made to forget. Like… that pill. Retcon. I remember now. I need to tell you a story."
"OK Lover."
.
.
The children were seated at desks, one for the boys and one for the girls. They were working silently, the workbooks open and the hands all moving in time, their motions so synchronized it was eerie to watch.
They turned a page as one unit.
Then canted their heads, continued to write.
Their caregivers watched on from seats around the outer circle, not talking but monitoring, writing their own observations. Then… again as one unit… the children froze. Their heads all turned towards the door.
They placed their pens down and rose, pushing back their chairs in a loud grinding noise, and they all turned to face the door like they were waiting for something.
The door opened and several black suited people entered the room, their caps on jauntily, their guns drawn at their sides but pointing at the floor so as not to alarm the kids.
"What is the meaning of this" one of the parents asked "We have been locked in here for almost an entire day. I demand to know why we are being treated like this."
Then her eyes fell on the one who had silently entered to stand and stare at her. His head devoid of a cap. But he wore the same unifrom.
"You?"
"Hello Gwen."
"What the fuck…"
"Language" ten voices called out in unison, their annoyance clear as they scolded her. She turned to look at the children their scowls deep as they added "Do not talk to Daddy Ianto like that!"
"Hello chickies" Ianto said, stepping around her like she did not exist "I am so happy to finally see you all. You are all as I imagined with my inner eye. Gorgeous. Strong. Righteous."
Gwen seemed unhappy with the brush off and she reached for Ianto's arm only to find herself frozen in the spot. Ianto turned to look at her with something akin to amusement, shaking his head as he said softly "Beware Gwen. They are stronger with me in the room."
Ianto took an adult chair to the middle of the room and sat, the children moving to sit at his feet. Story time.
"Once upon a time… about… oooo… twenty-eight years back, there was a village called Midgwick." He began and they all looked up at him expectantly "Now, in this town there was a little bit of thuggery for the establishment. You see… they had a local doctor administering to the townsfolk and he artificially inseminated the women who were viable with something the government had given him, getting ten of them pregnant all at once. It was an experiment, to see what would happen with superior genes."
"And alien ones" came a soft whisper from ten mouths.
"Yes. An Alien strain found in a meteorite… so the official line goes. Not sure, I think they extracted it from a body from a crashed vessel myself. Idiots. They wanted to know what it would create. They created ten children with an ability to connect psychically. To control things and to be more powerful than they could imagine."
"What did they do?" came voices in unison.
"They experimented and killed one…only to discover the ire of those left. In the ensuing battle another was lost… it became clear that they would destroy any and all those against them, their powers finally shown in their grief and terrible anger. The Queen stepped in and stopped it as she knew the public would discover the children's deaths if the attack went nationwide… and she knew form their warnings to her that they would kill many across a wide area. So, UNIT broke them up, gave them a forgetting drug called Retcon, they scattered the remaining eight to the wind in the hopes they would never discover their true origins." Ianto sat back and looked around, then said softly "Now. What do you think happened."
"They all reconverged."
Ianto laughed, the large word startling some of the others in the room, but not those stadning at ease around the perimeter in their green caps.
"Yes. They were still connected, if only so faintly that it was like a tickle in the back of their minds. They found themselves together as friends, as naturally as the wind blows, they found one another without knowing why they felt so comfortable as a team. But then… the idiots decided to try again. This time with an alien device they had found and fiddled with, discovered it shot DNA into people to help repopulate a species after famine, flood or war. They thought this might work…. Better."
All the heads nodded now seeing their origin story.
"Look around the room. For there are seven men and women in green berets. These are the men and women who are loyal to the Queen, we serve only her. And of course… each other. I am Ianto Jones. I was First Born of the Hateful Eight."
It lingered.
Then one of the children stepped forward.
"I am the First Born of this Clutch. I speak."
"As do I" Ianto smiled softly "Hello Anwen. Nice to finally meet the one I have been communing with. My son, Zane is First Born of his Clutch. I am here today to invite you to join our Asylum."
Gwen made a noise in her throat as she went to step forward, only to hesitate as the men and women in Green Caps all turned their heads, snapping them around to stare at her. As did the children. The only two in the room who did not were still in conversation like nothing was happening.
"I was so young … I had forgotten. When in training I was put with these brothers and sisters almost by chance. Of course, we were born and bred to serve of a clutch so naturally we call managed to find our way or one another. That's the thing see. When you are a cuckoo. We know each other. And now… we are one."
"You can't take them!" Gwen said shakily.
"We are not taking them. Don't you get it?" Ianto looked over at her "We are Legion. We are Many. We are One. Do you not see it Gwen? She is destined for greatness. Either come along for the ride or get out of her way. She chooses her flight path".
The children and eight growns all said in a soft voice that sounded like a song "we must flock together, we birds of a feather."
Gwen spluttered, looking at her daughter who finally turned her head to look over her shoulder at her. Then turn away, dismissing her. Anwen did not care if she came or not.
"Taddy Ianto. We are ready to go" ten little voices chimed.
"We are ready to receive" came the reply from eight adult voices.
And so, the First Born of the original Clutch, led those of this new world to the First Born of the new Full Clutch… his own child with such enhancements due to the double dipping of parental love…. That no one could really stop them.
Oh. One did try.
Gwen seized her child's arm and found herself flung back to slam into a far wall. All children continuing to walk as the closest Green Cap leaned over to say softly "And that was not even a flex mate. Best decide. Come. Stay. Get out of the way."
Ianto now knew all the children were accounted for. All those not killed were now heading to the one who would lead them into their future. Twenty chicks in total from around the country, from facilities, hidden bunkers… and these ones.
Zane waited for his siblings to come home. To enter his nest.
And they would be invincible.