by Sybil Nelson
How in the world could we get out of this? I was praying for a miracle.
"Hello, Priscilla." Colonel Selliwood's face popped up on the holophone and I jumped. "We've been expecting you,” he continued. Ian lunged for the image as if he could actually punch Colonel Selliwood. Marco grabbed him and held him back.
If Marco was afraid, he sure didn't show it. His shiny metal face showed nothing but confidence and determination. I wondered if he had a plan.
Ryan and Ian's emotions were a bit easier to see. They wanted to rip Colonel Selliwood's head off right there. Even though he was only eight years old I'm sure Ryan was trained enough to kill Colonel Selliwood in a matter of minutes. He was literally shaking with anger. Josh stood up and put a hand on Ryan's shoulder to calm him. I wondered if he had sent him a telepathic message as well. When he looked at Josh and nodded, I knew they were communicating.
"Things are going to go a bit differently than the last time we met, Priscilla,” Colonel Selliwood said. "When we land your jet, just come out peacefully." Colonel Selliwood's holographic face peered around the cockpit. "And what do we have here? Specimen Iota. It's been a long time. Did you ever work out your nudity issues?"
For the first time since I'd met him, Ian was stunned silent. I actually felt kind of bad for him. Selliwood's taunting had to be humiliating.
"Nothing to say?” Colonel Selliwood continued. "I can see the reprogramming is going to take a bit of work on you. You've been gone too long. But, hey, if it worked on Specimen Q it can work on anyone."
"Specimen Mu and Specimen Rho,” he said, talking to Marco and Ryan. "Welcome back. Don't try anything stupid and I might let the little Sumners live."
I noticed Marco flinch at that statement. Marco was not about to let Colonel Selliwood take me without a fight. I could see it in his eyes.
"Priscilla,” Ian said once the holophone clicked off. "I know this is your mission and I'm sure you have a plan. But I think I speak for all of us when I say if anything goes wrong, just light this place up. I don't care if we're inside or not. I'd rather be dead than under that man's control."
Ryan nodded in agreement.
I looked at Marco hoping he'd be the voice of reason. I wanted him to say that nothing was gonna go wrong and we were all going to get out safely, but instead he said, “I agree with Ian. I would rather be dead."
"No one's dying,” I said. "We're gonna get out of this together. Right, Josh?” I looked at my brother, but he turned away from me. I thought he had tears in his eyes. He knew something. He knew one or all of us weren’t going to make it.
"Josh, if you -”
"Priss, I found something,” Tai said interrupting me. She was oddly calm. Normally, at this amount of danger, Tai would be curled up in the fetal position rubbing her rock collection. I hadn't even noticed that she was still tinkering with the computer. If we made it out of here alive she was definitely getting promoted from best friend to...I don't know. What's higher than best friend? I guess a sister. Tai would forever be my sister. Maybe we could even get matching outfits.
"What?” I asked, leaning over her shoulder.
"It's a blueprint of the underwater base. See that there?” she said, pointing to the screen. "There's a ridiculous amount of radio waves coming from that room. I think that's where I need to be."
Just then we landed with a thud on the ice. Glass walls rose from the ground and covered us so that it felt like we were in a giant snow globe. Then the ground gave way slowly dropping us into the Earth.
I looked out of the window of the jet and noticed that we were being lowered into what looked like a loading zone of some sort. And we weren't alone. Besides Katya and Peter, there were at least twelve armed guards waiting for us at the bottom.
"Okay, here's what we're gonna do,” I said with as much confidence as I could fake. "Josh, you take Tai to this room she's talking about."
"What about Katya? I want to save her," he protested.
"I thought you said this was my mission? I know what I'm doing!” I lied. I had no idea what I was doing. "Tai is going to need your protection."
"She's right, Josh. Don't worry. I'll get Katya,” Ian said.
Whoa. Wait. What? Did Ian just agree with me?
"Ian and Ryan,” I said trying to not show my shock. "You guys take care of Peter, and Katya. Use the collars that Tai modified."
"What about you? What are you going to use for Mom?” Josh asked.
I shrugged. I hadn't thought that far in advance. All I knew was that we were not going to get out of that loading dock with Peter and Katya there. We only had two modified collars. We had to use them now.
"I don't know. I'll figure something out," I said and then I turned toward Marco, “You’re with me."
He nodded his metal head and crossed his arms over his chest.
Suddenly we stopped moving. I glanced out the window and saw Peter and Katya standing with guns trained on the door of our jet. I had never seen either of them use a firearm before. As far as I knew, all of the specimens preferred to use their own abilities and training in battle. They felt since they already had so many genetic advancements, using a gun was just plain unfair. I had to remember that Peter and Katya weren't really Peter and Katya anymore.
Hands shaking, Tai was making some final adjustments to the collars before handing them over to Ian. I sure hoped those things worked.
Marco ran out of the jet first, skillfully deflecting all the bullets shot from Peter and Katya. Ian followed and stayed close by Marco until he could find a good opening to go after Katya. He found it when Katya looked down for a split second in order to reload her weapon. Another reason why specimens never used guns. You were always vulnerable when you had to reload.
Ian ran and tackled his sister, knocking the gun out her hands. They rolled around the ground for a second until Katya kicked him off. She rolled over and went to stomp on his neck, but Ian grabbed her foot and twisted it making her land face down in the concrete.
Josh closed his eyes and turned his head. "It's gonna be okay, Josh. Ian's not gonna hurt his sister,” I said.
I nearly missed Ryan flying out into the action, but he went next and headed straight for Peter who was hovering near a light fixture and firing at Marco. As soon as Ryan was close enough he kicked the gun away. Peter responded by punching Ryan in the face sending him into a backward spiral through the air. Ryan and Ian were in for a long fight.
As Tai cowered behind me, I surveyed the room. Several jets and helicopters in various colors and sizes lined one side of the room. On the other side, there was a glass room with computers and a bunch of high tech gadgets.
"You ready, Tai?” Josh asked as he clicked the safety off one of his guns.
"I-I-I-,” she stuttered. She was totally freaked. The calm confidence she had just a few minutes ago when she was in front of her computer had all but disappeared.
"Don't worry, Tai. I won't let anything happen to you." Josh tried to reassure her and even wrapped his arm around her for a second. "Which way do we need to go?"
Tai pointed a shaky finger to a door on the left.
"Alright, let's do it,” he said.
I turned and gave Tai a big hug. "Take care of my best friend,” I told Josh.
"She'll be fine,” he said, looking directly into my eyes. Then he looked out into the loading zone and sighed. I knew what that meant. Someone out there wasn't going to make it.
Josh jumped out of the jet staying low in case more gun fire came. Tai was practically glued to his side.
I decided to dash for a door in the opposite direction that said Exit. I hoped it led to the rest of the compound and not to the freezing waters of the Arctic Ocean. I should have taken a few more minutes to study the blueprints Tai found. I really had no idea where I was going.
I leapt out of the jet and made a run for it. I blasted a hole through the door and jumped through it head first. I didn't land in the ocean. It was a corridor. I got to my feet just in time
to get knocked over by Marco who had jumped through right behind me.
"You weren't trying to leave me behind were you?” he said, getting to his feet and helping me up. "I told you before, where you go, I go."
Chapter 21: The Elephant on the Broom
What was I thinking? I thought as Marco and I slinked along walls and poked our heads into room after room. Clearly, I wasn't thinking. That's the only explanation for how I could end up alone with Marco. Maybe I did it on purpose. Maybe I just wanted to spend time with him. No, that wasn't it. He and I together was just logical. It only made sense that Ian and Ryan fight their own twins. They'd match each other in skill level. And Tai certainly couldn't be left on her own. But I guess I could have sent Marco with her and Josh with me. I shook my head. Whatever the case I couldn't change my mind now and the tension between us was making it hard for me to concentrate. Every time he even accidentally brushed his metal body against mine, sparks flew. Not literally...this time anyway.
The narrow steel hallways reminded me of a submarine. Old timey light bulbs hung from the ceiling. This place definitely wasn't as high tech as the Selliwood Institute was. I wondered if Colonel Selliwood was having financial trouble. Who cared? Why was I thinking about that? I shook my head and tried to focus.
"So when are we going to talk about the elephant on the broom?” Marco asked as we checked out yet another empty room.
I stopped and stared at him. I shook my head a couple of times trying to clear out the cobwebs or whatever was taking up so much space in my head that I was now hearing things. Elephants and brooms? Did I hear him right? "What are you talking about?” I asked.
"You know. The elephant on the broom. It as an American saying, no?"
I stared at him some more while squinting my eyes in confusion. Had Tai's little collar trick given him brain damage?
"You know. Me and you. The elephant,” he continued.
"Oh!” I said finally understanding what he was trying to say. "First of all, the saying is the elephant in the room. Although, if there was an elephant on a broom, we'd definitely need to talk about that, too. Second of all, we're on a mission. I think we should concentrate on finding my mom and then getting out of here. Later maybe we can talk about...other things.
Marco nodded. "Of course, you are right. We should focus."
We took a few steps in silence. Suddenly he said, “It’s just that with what Tai has done to the collars, it opens up so many more...opportunities for us. I was able to kiss you without any dangerous side effects."
"Yes, but you also didn't remember it. You weren't yourself when you had that collar on."
"True, but I'm sure Tai can make some further adjustments and make it work more efficiently for our purposes."
I stopped again. "Our purposes? What exactly are our purposes?" I asked with a grin. I knew exactly what he was talking about. I just wanted to see him squirm. He was even cuter when he was nervous.
"Um," he said, averting his eyes
I decided to let him off the hook. "And you'd be willing to wear that collar again just to be with me?"
He nodded. "I'd do anything for you."
I think my insides melted on the spot. What are you supposed to do when a ridiculously cute boy says something like that to you?
We stared at each other for a moment that could have lasted forever. Unfortunately, our special moment was interrupted by my super hearing. I heard a gun engage and then a bullet slice through the air. It bounced off of Marco's shoulder and grazed my cheek.
Marco knocked me to the ground and blocked the other bullets with his body. "Oh no! You're hit! You're hit!” he said, wiping the blood from my face with his metal fingers. He was actually scratching me more than the bullet did.
"I'm fine,” I said, trying to look past Marco and see who was shooting. "It barely touched me."
I pushed Marco out of the way a little and got a good look at none other than Specimen Xi. I rolled my eyes. I really didn't feel like dealing with Xi. She was annoyingly hard to defeat. I mean she had no pain receptors which meant she never even felt it when I burned her and she could grow back skin and body parts. The last time we fought her in the United Arab Emirates, Marco and I had to cut off both her hands in order to get away.
When the shooting stopped, Marco turned around and saw her as well. He grumbled something in French. He was annoyed too. Then he said, “We don't want any problems, Xi. We just want Mrs. Sumner back."
Xi didn't respond. That wasn't like her. Usually she would have said some rude remark or at least insulted my outfit by now. I stared into her eyes. She didn't look the same. She looked...stupid. Xi was a lot of things, but she wasn't dumb.
"I don't think that's Xi,” I whispered to Marco.
"What? What do you mean?"
I sent a flame down the corridor and melted the gun in her hand. She yelped in pain. "See,” I said. Specimen Xi would have laughed at the gun melting in her hand. She wouldn't have felt a thing.
"Specimen Zero,” Marco said through clenched teeth. He hated the shape shifting Zero as much as I hated Xi. Well, almost as much. I don't think it's possible for anyone to hate someone as much as I hate that girl.
Two months ago Specimen Zero posed as me and then kidnapped the President's daughter, Elizabeth Gonzalez. He (or it, we still weren't quite sure what it was) almost got me killed. Tai ended up having to shoot both of us because she couldn't tell us apart. I knew the bullet wouldn't hurt me, though, because Marco had just transferred his powers to me through, well, a kiss.
Before our eyes Specimen Zero kind of melted back into his natural state. He looked really gross. Kind of like a skinny Hunchback of Notre Dame with transparent skin. Suddenly, I think he realized he was outnumbered and without a weapon. Specimen Zero turned and started running.
"We can't let him get away this time,” I said. "Maybe he can lead us to Colonel Selliwood."
"Let's follow him," Marco said.
"You follow him. I'm gonna keep looking for my mother."
Marco looked concerned. "I don't think we should separate. Especially since you are injured."
"I'm not injured. I'm fine. The bullet barely touched me. You go after Zero, I'll go after my mother, and we’ll meet in the loading dock in fifteen minutes."
He sighed and stared into my eyes still unsure. I didn't quite know what else to say. I really didn't want to say anything. I just wanted to kiss him. "Fifteen minutes, Marco. You better be there,” I said, grabbing the collar of his suit. "If you die, I'll kill you." Okay, so that made absolutely no sense but he got the point. He stared into my eyes with a smile then took off after Zero.
As Zero and Marco disappeared from sight, I tuned my super hearing and tried to listen for Zero's partner in crime. Zero was usually never too far away from Xi. I needed to be prepared for that psycho chick. But instead of hearing Xi's high heels and distinctive British accent, I heard something completely different and, well...bizarre.
Chapter 22: Big Willie's back
Singing. I heard singing. Who in the world could possibly be singing in the underwater coffin we were in? I had no idea. And I wasn't close enough to even make out the words of the song. I know I have super hearing but I think something about being underwater affected how far sound carried. I stood up and followed the sound.
As I walked, I stared at the old timey light bulbs again. Suddenly they started flickering. And then darkness.
Snap. Now how was I supposed to figure out where I was going? Wait a minute. What am I talking about? I'm a human torch. I held up my hand and lit a flame. Hmph. That works.
I kept walking, sliding along the cold walls trying to listen for...Okay, I don't know what I was listening for. All I knew was that someone was singing and that I had a feeling I needed to find that person. Although chances were pretty good that it was a psycho specimen, I refused to give up hope.
Suddenly, the lights flickered back on. That was a good sign, right? I shook my hand to extinguish the flame.
I focused my super hearing again and was finally able to make out the words of the song.
In West Philadelphia born and raised
On the play ground is where I spent most of my days
Chillin out maxin relaxin all cool
I was shootin some B-Ball outside of the school
When a couple of guys they was up to no good
Started causing trouble in my neighborhood
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared
She said 'You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air'
I recognized that song from a show on Nick-at-Nite. It was the theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Specimen W! He was here! And judging from his choice of song, he was still himself and not taken over by Selliwood.