The Gathering

CHAPTER 12


Hours later there was a loud alarm that woke those who had been trying to sleep. They rushed to the Command room and found Lance there already.

“What is it father? What is going on?” Rick asked from behind Johnathon, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he yawned and joined them, wings shaking slightly as if cold. Lance frowned when he saw how pale he was but his son seemed to know what he was thinking. He waved his concern away and said softly “I am fine father, just a little tired and sore. I’ll be fine I just need to sleep a bit more and get used to what I am now.”

“Then go back and sleep” Lance said to him sternly “We can handle whatever this is.” Rick shook his solemnly and Lance knew better than to argue so turned back to the monitor as Cathrine asked him “what is happening Lance?”

“Unknown life forms headed this way from the north fast, and multiple.”

“Can’t Central Command see what they are yet?” she asked curiously and the blond man shook his head “no and we can’t see why. She’s run a full series of tests on her systems but there is nothing.”

“Let me see” Rick said to him and the man moved from the chair so his son could take his place and after a few uncomfortable minutes of trying to work his wings into the seat behind him he finally settled for letting them open slightly and hang limply on either side of the chair, but sitting forward slightly so the bones from his back wasn’t cramped.

With an intense look Rick focused on the screen, hands flying over the keys as he typed up commands. However he soon sat back and frowned. Cathrine looked at him and asked in concern “what is it? Why isn’t it working?”

“I know not, Cathy. Whatever it is it is protecting itself from the monitors, like it knows where they are and how to hide from it.”

“Could it be another Idar?” Cathrine suggested softly “maybe who doesn’t know the cameras are there or is trying to avoid us knowing about them?”

“It could be Hawko” Lance suggested with concern and slightly fear-fear for his son’s comfort and safety “come back to have a go at us-at you?”

“No” Rick shook his head at this “for a start he is like Sky-so he could only sleep of a day and secondly both Anna and I would feel him coming before he got here. His presence in our head is like...well…a violation.” Lance and Rick both suddenly looked seriously distant, as if remembering something from the past and Rick went on “if it was an Idar I would know through Sky’s blood in me but it is not. I sense something weird but it is not Idar or Renegade.”

“Then what? One of Zimmer’s forces?”
“Not that either, I think I would know if it was that as well. Somehow I know that whatever it is, is not an enemy.”

They looked at him “how do you know that?”

He shook his head with a surprised look on his face “I have no idea. Perhaps it is something of Sky and Idar inside me that I do not know yet. Whatever it is…” he stood up from the seat “…I am going to see.”

“NO!” Cathrine and Lance chorused in union, Cathrine adding in horror “It could be dangerous!”

“That is why I am going” Rick said to her as he reached out to gently stroke her cheek with one hand, careful of his long and sharp nails as he guided her face up to look at him in the red cat-like depths, bleeding into the warm aquamarine she remembered and loved but knew was a disguise.

Now and for who knew how long he was no longer human or mutant. He was continuing softly “I am more than I was before, stronger and faster. Zimmer will never touch myself or anyone I care for again, I vowed this when I lost Celine to his greed. I will NEVER risk loosing another again.”

Cathrine looked stunned at his admittance and managed “but Richard…”

Richard cut off her protests as he lowered his head down towards her, guiding hers around slightly so he could fasten his lips to hers in a deep and intense kiss. When she reacted in surprise and her mouth parted slightly he took advantage of this and his tongue slipped into her mouth, touching her teeth with a seeking caress as if tracing her mouth, following her teeth back in her jaw before it dropped to her tongue to stroke and tease as he had touched her cheek seconds ago.


When his tongue touched hers Cathrine shuddered where she stood, body going almost instantly boneless with pleasure and need, only his firm but insistent grip on her head keeping her up. This was something she had wanted for so long, since realizing how she felt for him and now it was confirmed-he felt the same for her as she did, he loved her as well!

“How could you doubt it?” asked a voice in her head, a voice she didn’t know who belonged to at first and then it continued “I have ALWAYS felt this way towards you, since we met.”

“Father?” she thought cautiously, unsure whether it was wishful thinking or reality. The voice in her head laughed “of course not. Believe your senses my love.”

Cathrine frowned thoughtfully at this, wondering why it seemed so familiar for Rick to call her that when he had never done it before-when he had never admitted he liked her past a friend. Was she remembering it from when she had been with Cara and he was Zealer?

“No my love,” the voice said to her with such a warmth he had never showed her “In our minds it is easier to admit what I do not want to. I may not be ready to love you yet bodily or even emotionally but inside I know my mind. And I had help knowing what is to be true.”

“Help?” she thought drowsily through the pleasure and warmth, the joy of his love. She knew how much courage he had suddenly needed to even touch her let alone to kiss her and it gave her hope for the near future.

“Yes, you see I know our future, that we WILL become a part of each other. That I will eventually make you my wife and mate.” She felt both a wave of joy at this knowledge and confusion “How? How do you know for sure?” Cathrine was suddenly seized with an urgent need to look into his eyes and before she could realize what was happening his eyes seized hers and dug deep into her mind.

At first she reacted with fear, he would discover the truth about her and her father and tried to rally her mind to hide it before he discovered the secret, but that wasn’t where he was headed. He headed for her memories, pulling some thing out she didn’t know existed and could never remember.

A memory she didn’t remember ever going through but now seemed so familiar.


It happened when they had been at Johnathon’s time, when they were going to rescue him after getting the Sword Of Virtue. She remembered every thought, every smell, every move and every word. And she remembered Richard, an Idar as he was now only more powerful and even the other figure with him.

Eagle Strongheart, and as a friend of Richard!

After this something else flooded her mind, something not her own. She found herself inside a different body and mind, feeling as though she wasn’t in control of herself, someone else was and she was along for the ride. She watched as the figure of the present Rick headed towards her with a frown and asked softly “you are too strong for my control, are you not.”

She felt herself nod and the other frowned “then how do I prevent you knowing about the future?”

Cathrine felt the body she was in speak and even as it did she could suddenly sense another with her and she KNEW it was Rick just like she knew she was in his body when he was being possessed by the guardian of the sword. She could feel his soul just like she had been him and while he was speaking about his soul being separate from Rick’s she suddenly experienced something weird.

His soul suddenly surged forward using the power of the sword and guardian spirit for control long enough for their eyes too meet. So while it seemed that the guardian was telling him he wouldn’t remember it really was Richard trying to fool him, his mind absorbing all the info from his future versions mind it could without alerting him to the action, desperate.

And Cathrine knew somehow that it was the desperate need to see if something happens to them all that spurred this invasion. As if knowing it the future self cut the link before he could learn any more.

Instead of learning of Dale and Celine’s murder, his attack and his torture at Zimmer’s hands he saw Corin, Sky, Payton and Anna and their abilities as well as his own future ones, plus a red head green eyed mysterious woman and she didn’t know how but knew she was the Alex the suit belonged too.

She saw Rick as he was now, felt herself as him being pulled into the back of their van with red raw and damaged wrists and ankles that hurt like hell-helped into the back by herself and an Idar Payton, pulled inside by them as the others joined them inside. Lance was in the driver’s seat and Sky behind his young heir. There was suddenly Hawko on the roof of the warehouse behind them that was blaring alarms and running at them. Hawko raising a bow and arrow, aiming it at Rick\herself…

The vision suddenly cut off and she saw herself over Rick and realized they were making love for the first time, finally able to touch each other without fear and pleasure and desire filled her completely as she realized that they would be together finally and very soon. It gave her so much hope for the future, to be married to the one she loved and be finally properly loved and in love like it was suppose to be, a couple like Gwin and Johnathon or even Steven and Veronica.

She didn’t think of children, COULDN’T think of children or she would become excited when she KNEW that was an impossibility. She would NEVER have children-she just didn’t have, for lack of a better term, the right equipment. Sure she was a normal teenaged girl but she had what today’s people would call a genetic defect. She could have sex even though she had never had it but she couldn’t conceive, that part was never created when she had been made.

Cathrine could NEVER have children and had come to accept it but until now she had never worried about it. Despite the curse of the Simpson Line she wanted to give Richard children when the time came, she knew he would be an exceptional father-she had seen it in the proof of his ways with and around the two boys.

Somehow Rick knew and sent her the calm and comfort that she would come through when the time came for such a thing but before she could even consider questioning it she sensed the start of his withdraw and knew he was going to stop, so tried her best to stop him in her amateur way but he was gone before she knew what was going on.

When she finally was able to recover she found herself in her father’s arms, concerned as he sensed her turmoil of thoughts, his thoughts and mind merging easily with hers as it always had done but for the first time in her life Cathrine didn’t want him there. She didn’t want him to know what she had gone through, what she felt and wanted more than she had EVER wanted in her life and even when he frowned she still tried to hide it.

He withdrew with a flash of power when he sensed her need, she had never wanted anything from him in all her existence so the least he could do was consent to her only ever request and let her sort it out herself. The two boys however still clutched her arm in concern and fear. However when the group saw her open eyes Gwin pulled Andrew away while the boy protested and Peter followed his young friend.

“Wh…Where’s Rick?” she managed when she noticed he wasn’t part of the concerned crowd around her. “Gone outside to see what’s coming” Veronica said softly and Cathrine frowned at them “How long was I…did he…?”

“Only a few seconds for the kiss and you to come out of whatever that was” Steven was stuck exactly between a grin at what had happened and concern over her reaction “whatever it is it is still out there and coming.” Without asking him Tommas helped her to her feet and held her up until she was steady enough to move to the chair behind the monitor and type a connection, asking loudly “Rick can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear” he came back with “you understand now, do you not?”

“A little more than before” she answered his question “at least about the suits and you knowing about Payton and Anna-about his being mutant before even we knew.”

“That is it.”

“How did you keep those memories from your present self and the guardians knowledge and protect against the way he made us forget?”


“I have no idea” he came back with “I just suddenly sensed like it was vital to the future I knew this stuff and did instinctively what my body told me to do. Perhaps it was Zealer helping from the world of the dead. I never felt its like since or before, except when I KNEW I had to let Zealer in me and to trust him. That is why I did not struggle unless he wished us to, to help him.”

“Against the spell and Bengal’s control” they guessed and the monitor view from Richard’s headset bobbed as he nodded. “That’s how he knew when he was clouded to trust mother, because he could feel my love and belief in her and that she would help long enough to get to know her.”

“Did you know he was Peter’s father?” they asked curiously as the said boy curled up in Paul’s arms and watched the view closely. The view bobbed again and he added “I knew his memories and remembered Peter from being a baby. He looked and FELT the same.”

Cathrine was about to speak when he did again “hold on a minute, I see something.”
They frowned “what? We can’t see anything in here.”

“My sight is better because of Sky’s blood inside me. Wait a minute” the view bobbed a few seconds as he adjusted something and then the view zoomed in to allow them to see a huge dust cloud moving towards him.

“Can you see anything yet? Any shapes or forms?” she asked him but this time the view shook from side to side “I see heat and more than one form but I can’t tell what it is, it seems to be bunched together so I can not tell one from another.”

“It’s almost within your sight Rick” Cathrine reported “you should be able to start to see something by now.”
“Hold on a minute.”

Through the camera on his headset they watched as the dust cloud came closer and closer, holding their breath in worry and anticipation. Rick suddenly spoke and they could hear the frown in his words “I can smell something strange now, like dirt and dust and animal, fur I think.”

“A stampede of animals? Maybe some of the wild life was spooked by something and panicked and are just running towards us?” Paul suggested in confusion, not even believing his own words.

“Not enough wild life in this area for a start” Lance said softly, speaking what they already knew “I have a bad feeling about this, come back inside Rick.”

“I am fine father and will continue to be, do not worry. I have to see what it is, what might be endangering us. I am not afraid and I do not know why. Perhaps it is because of Sky’s blood in me but I KNOW it is no threat. The closer it gets the more I sense friends, not enemy.”

“How can you be so sure?” The blond man asked his son and the camera moved with his shrug “I do not know, that’s why I am down here alone.” When Lance opened his mouth to speak Rick beat him to it “stay there dad, I mean it.”

Reluctantly the man did so but said firmly and in a voice that demanded no argument “the minute it looks like there is any danger I’m down there whether you want me or not Rick.”


“Me too” Cathrine agreed and the others chorused their agreement. This agreed they turned back to watch in time to hear Rick cry “what the…” just in time to see a brown and black blur, hear a low deep growl and the camera view sharply went back and smashed into static as something hit the boy directly in the chest.

Lance and Peter cried out and the man headed for the door, the others at his heals but Cathrine suddenly cried out to stop them “listen!”

They stopped and heard it. Over the speakers they could hear laughter, pure joyous laughter and it took them a few minutes to identify it as Richards. But he had NEVER laughed like that before-never-not the serious or guarded laugh they were used too before Dale’s murder but pure and uninhibited joy, a joy he could not fully express.

“Rick?” Cathrine questioned as she curiously touched her headset, barely believing her own ears “what is it? What’s going on?”

“It is dogs” they heard Richard say through his laughter “a group of huge German Shepard’s. The lead one jumped on me and now he is licking my face, I think he likes me.” They heard a soft woof of agreement and Richard laughed louder “hey now, stop that!”

“Dogs?” they frowned “what would dogs be doing here, coming to us in a group of all things.”

“I do not truly know” Rick came back through his laughter “but whatever and whoever sent them knew about us and most especially me.”

“What do you mean Rick?”

“The lead one knows me, like he has been born or created for me. I do not know how to explain it but it is like I have suddenly found a part of myself I did not know was missing or that existed in the first place, I feel like he knew I was missing this piece and becoming Idar had set off some sort of genetically created instinct. He joined these other dogs with the same instinct and they came here, tracking me down.”

“Zimmer?” Paul questioned and the static suddenly switched back and they saw Rick’s face, hair ruffled and red cat-like eyes lite by an playful joy they had never seen before as he adjusted the camera and replaced it, swinging it around to show them the group of dogs all seated in a neat and organized group, patiently watching him as if they expected something from him.

One sat in front of him, all chocolate brown except for a black patch between his ears and the tips of the upright ears, watching him just like the others. As they watched it cocked its head to the left side, tongue hanging out of the side of its jowls as if to say “well?”

And suddenly the others each felt one of the group connect to them, even from inside, knowing just what Rick was feeling and all it took was a look over the group to find theirs instinctively. The group all told Rick they would join him and headed downstairs without realizing what they were doing.

A small group of the larger one met them at the hidden elevator door, going straight to their new owner without confusion, even Peter and Andrew unafraid as their dogs licked their faces, giggling like Rick had and at one point they looked around to see both boys perched on their ones back and peals of laughter came from them as the animals ran around, the boys riding them like horses and they didn’t seem to mind.

In fact they seemed to enjoy it just as much as them. At one point Cathrine seemed to rouse herself and looked to Rick, asking softly “whom do you think the other dogs belong to?”

“The Idars” he said without hesitation. “I do not know how I know but I know these dogs are our guardians and the others are for the Idars, to guard and protect them of a day time-and night time.”

“But there isn’t nearly enough for them all” she answered with a frown.

“But if you look you shall see a few are obviously pregnant, females. Maybe they have to be born yet.” Cathrine’s eyes swept over the group, set a few seconds on a few and nodded.

“Who is yours?” Rick asked her “I know yours is Morbane’s mate but I do not seem to know her name.”

“Tayntalla. How is it that I know her name?” Cathrine frowned in confusion and concern and Rick said to her “Because she is yours Cathy, she belong too and with you.”

“But I have Kellar” the girl continued to frown “I don’t need a pet.”

“She is your protector and companion, not pet and besides, Kellar is a wild animal who only stays with you because your father makes it. Now you have a proper protector he can realize it and let it go back to the wild where it can mate and breed like it is suppose too.”

“But...” she started to protest but Rick took her shoulders in his hands and made her look at him “you know I am right, my love, so do not protest. It was not right for him to do that to it in the first place. It is a violation of nature.”

“What do you mean?” she frowned at him, he seemed to like the word violation and he spoke again after a deep sigh “how would you have felt if instead of asking Tommas we took you by force here, away from your father? Or if he took you back by force, stopping any chance of a life for us together.”

Seeing it from his point of view made things so much clearer and even though she didn’t want to see it that way-no child wanted to see the bad or wrong in a parents action-she couldn’t deny it and nodded as she promised “I’ll tell him to fix it up.”

“Good” he nodded and suddenly they became aware of a series of growls. When they turned they found the dogs had locked on something coming a distance away and towards them, fast. Even Cathrine and Rick’s dogs were locked onto it now, eyes slits as they growled in anger, the two with Andrew and Peter sitting on their hunches near the base of the rocks at the elevator so they slid off and then planting themselves in front of them, shielding them both from whatever was coming.

“Something’s coming they don’t like” Paul said as he clutched the neck of his “dogs know when you should and not be afraid, we better get back inside.”


“I think so too,” Steven said as the entire group of dogs protectively surrounded them and started to usher them towards the elevator by closing the group tightly and force them towards the hidden door.

They were just entering the elevator, Cathrine and Rick last, when a group of Zimmer’s ships appeared across from them and a light from the base of the lead one seized Rick who cried out in pain, pulled away from them and towards the sky and the opening base of the ship.

Lance and Cathy cried out, the dogs growled, the lead one launching himself straight at the light dragging his new master away from him, only to be shot aside by another ship. Despite his pain as power shot through him Rick saw and cried out in fear and concern, struggling to get free.

The group fled out of the elevator, attempting to fight off the flood of sudden Ice forces and get too the Idar boy but there was too many despite their numbers and the aid of the dogs. The Protectors were too worried about Zimmer getting Rick to wonder on the fact that the dogs seemed as comfortable and a part of them as their own bodies, acting and moving like an extension of their masters and mistresses.

There was a sudden chocked scream and they looked in time to see Rick blaze with a flash of power and the lead ship was shot and damaged with a burst of intense power from him and it dropped Rick, the boy even through his pain managed to open his wings and glide to the ground, however just above the earth he lost consciousness and they heard a loud thump as he landed hard a distance away from them.

They thought Rick would be right where he was, safe from Zimmer’s forces but the sudden furious snarl of the lead dog as it struggled to its feet and sped off towards the distant spot told them otherwise-especially when Cathy’s dog barked in concern of her mate and sped off after it.

With a cry of fear and concern Cathy gave chase and was followed by Lance and his companion. This left the others by themselves-minus Tommas and his animal that had disappeared again, presumably after his daughter.

Steven, Veronica, Paul, Gwin, Johnathon and the boys managed to fight the forces off long enough for CC’s systems to kick in and-recognizing danger to those she was programmed to protect-her defense lasers and other systems attacked the group of evil aliens’ forces.

Combined with the groups power and attacks the evil aliens’ group was out forced and forced to flee back to their master. Once they had made sure they were gone they followed where the others had gone and found them bent over something silently with their dogs seated at attention by their sides.

Moving around so they could see whatever they were looking at they found the boys dog sniffing a puddle of blood but no Rick. That’s when they saw it, something they at first thought was blood-stained material but was pale white and shone like a piece of flesh.


It took them a minute or so to realize what it was-a piece of Rick’s wing, the veins and nerves threaded through so they could identify it. Richard’s dog, who had ran off a distance away for a minute, returned with something white and small clutched in his jowls gently. He went straight to Lance, dropping it into his hand before returning to sniff the area.

“It’s funny” Cathrine though to herself “how destiny and fate just come together so neatly. It’s come around full circle, now.”

In Lance’s hands was a photo ID badge of a woman with red hair and green eyes. The badge called her Alexandra Times, said she was twenty-five and had type A- blood. It also said she belonged to a place called Genetic Defaults Research Labs Of New America.

“Why would biologists kidnap Rick let alone hurt him?” Paul asked in concern and a voice behind them spoke “let me have a look at that.” They turned to find Anna and a weak-looking Payton there, a dog by their side and with Payton baring the eyes and claws of an Idar. The group frowned, they hadn’t known the mutant man was awake let alone he had turned.

While they were staring he deftly plucked the badge from Lance’s hand and looked it over. “I know this place” Payton murmured thoughtfully “it used to be called CIDAV, Center of Infectious Diseases And Viruses.”

“The place that cured cancer, AIDS and HIV?” Lance asked and when Payton nodded he frowned “didn’t they go bankrupt and shut down?”

The negro mutant half-turned Idar nodded again “it was because of those guys I wanted to be a scientist or biologist-actually both. In college I did every course I could because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Then I heard about what these guys had achieved and when I saw they weren’t even boasting about it I suddenly knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be one of them, not for fame or popularity but I wanted to be like them, saving lives and taking it all in their stride.

I met Anna when I applied for a position there as she also did, only we were told the place had gone bankrupt and were no longer hiring.”

“If they were bankrupt and closing down then how could they have been hiring before you both?” Gwin asked and Payton looked at her, his red cat eyes somehow different to Rick’s, as if they belonged on him-as if the outwards changed now reflected his inner difference. Or maybe it was because he was negro-his skin color was similar to Sky so seemed to make him more normal like them. He spoke thickly and they could see his new fanged teeth, the two sharply pointed incisors glistening with saliva.

“That’s what we thought so we tried to find out what was going on by doing our own little investigation.”

“And?” Lance asked and he continued softly, blinking blankly at the human man for a few seconds “we only discovered a little before we were scared off the case, but what we DID find out was shocking in itself.”

“Like what? Shocking how? How did they scare you off?”
“We found out a millionaire had brought the place. While that seemed innocent enough his motives weren’t.”

“Was he going to sell the cure to the highest bidders?” Paul asked and when Payton shook his head he asked with a frown “then what?”


“You watch too much TV Paul, it was nothing as simple as that.” He frowned deeply as he tried to remember. Finally he said to them “this guy had apparently lost his wife and daughter to some violent murder. He wanted to find the killer who he claimed was a mutant so funded them to find a way to change all mutants human so the murderer could be found and brought to justice.”

“A cure for mutants” Lance breathed and Gwin shuddered in her husband’s arms. Unlike Lance who’s first thought was ‘cure Rick so there was no chance of him getting the power and burning himself out’ she and her husband had accepted what they were long ago and even relied on it.

“No, that story was a front. We heard rumors he had payed the biologist and scientists to silence, fired those early who he couldn’t control and was developing a new and deadly virus to use to agonizingly kill the murderer when he found him. He took homeless and people off the street to experiment on-and even used those who protested his methods.”

“We were lucky they rejected us or we would be one right now” Anna’s voice trembled at their near miss. Payton went on with “it was rumored he bribed the police and government against interfering, and we believed that after they threatened us and the cops and law ignored our reports and complaints.”

“But Rick wasn’t a street or homeless person” Gwin protested the implication “are you saying these people grabbed him because he was or is a mutant?”

“No I don’t think so.”

“Surely he doesn’t think Rick is the killer! I mean the place going bankrupt happened ten years ago so the murder would have been before that and Rick was only a child then…” Lance said this but Payton looked at him and interrupted his flow of words with “not that either.”

“Then why?” Steven asked him and the man answered softly “convenience.”
“What do you mean?” Paul asked him with a confused frown.

“I just remembered something. I one night found one of the biologists in a pub just before he disappeared. I got him drunk and talking about this guy. Apparently he witnessed his wife and daughter’s murder. He said the murderer was a young American Indian who bit their throats out and drunk their blood. Their bodies were found without a single drop of blood left in them and he was crying over them.”

“My god Hawko!” Cathy cried out when he had finished “a young American Indian-all blood gone-that’s Hawko!”

“I know” Payton nodded to her, eyes wide “it just occurred to me also. Think about it, you know your family’s murderer isn’t mutant even if you tell people it so and you create a virus-or those who work for you do. So far you’ve done all the experiments you can with it on humans and some mutants, but before you use it you have to see if it works first on the creatures kind.”

“On Rick” Gwin said and Cathrine cried out in horror “but Rick is different to Hawko! Rick is still mutant and mortal where as Hawko WAS human and a full Idar, immortal and Undead!”


“I don’t think he would care, to him it would be a mere technicality.”

“Wait a minute. What if we called him and made an exchange, Info on the murderer’s ID and possible location in exchange for Rick back and in one piece.”

“We can try, but what about a back-up plan just in case he doesn’t go for it.” Lance said this and they nodded in agreement.

“Then let’s get started then shall we? Using CC’s systems I can make the call with no worries of being traced” Payton turned to them and then noticed their frowns of concern “what is it?”

“You’re awfully pale and fragile-looking right now Payton. Are you sure you don’t want to leave this to us and just sleep some more to get your strength back?” The mutant half-Idar looked disgusted at them “I’m fine and it would be better coming from me anyway. I can make it more believable since they already know about Anna and I. All I would have to do is convince them Rick isn’t what he seems.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“He won’t believe that Rick is just some victim of circumstance we care about and are trying to retrieve, that would be too easy, too believable. But if we instead said we also were developing a virus and Rick is either the result or an volunteer of some experiment gone wrong, that Hawko was also only mad who temporarily escaped like Rick did when they found him…”

“We can convince them we’ll give him Hawko in exchange for Rick” Anna uncannily followed her fiancee's train of thought. “And why would we do that, exchange one lab animal for another?” this was Paul who asked.

“Hawko was an earlier ‘accidental’ exposure with illusions of power who exposed himself to it and Rick was a volunteer-he means more too us not just because he happens to be the latest and more up to date version but he is the son of one of our most trusted men” he motioned at Lance.

“And how did Rick get out?”

“A rival company kidnapped him. We tried to stop them and that’s why the mountain hideout-secret top security stuff so no one outside interferes.”

“Then how did the rival group know where we were and how to get him?”
“A spy in our midst of course who had direct access to him.”
“And who is the spy?”

“I don’t know but I’m going to damn well find out, AFTER we get Rick back, he’s top priority.”
“Who funds us?”

“Sky could be” Cathrine said softly, excitedly “he’ll want a part in this. He could be our funder and chief biologist.”
“Where would he get his biological knowledge from? We don’t have time to teach him all there is too know.”
“Well his mind is linked to both Rick and Anna right? All he has too do is take the info from their minds as they ask him.”

“You’ll have to go disguised like Sky can” Steven said to them “or they wouldn’t believe a word you say because you’re one of them.”


“I know” Payton nodded to him but they noticed Lance was frowning. When they asked him what was wrong he asked them “why can’t you make Rick the victim of circumstance?”

“What do you mean by that Lance?” they asked him and he shrugged and spoke softly “I mean Hawko also attacked Rick. Why don’t you use that to play on this guy’s feelings and humanity? Tell him about Hawko attacking Anna and how Rick tried to protect her, about Hawko then drinking his blood and almost killing him-only say we stopped him from killing him outright by outnumbering him. Then say he came back and almost did it again and now he’s using his link to the change in Rick’s body to try and control it and his soul. If we don’t get Rick back and soon he would get him back and turn him into one of his slaves.”

“Lance this guy is using both street people and his own workers to experiment on so I doubt he’ll care about HOW Rick was turned and any danger to him now or he wouldn’t be doing it in the first place. I doubt he feels anything but a desire for revenge and anger right now.”

“Enough of this” Paul said out to them suddenly “we’ll do and say whatever Payton wants. Let’s just do this before they start on Rick already."