"She will be tracking his movements. He's gone to retrieve the subjects from their home in Texas. As for me, I'm about to go visit Margo for the first time in twelve years."

"Have fun with her. If I remember correctly, she was quite a beauty."

Accustomed to ignoring Donovan's advances toward attractive women, Kenneth rolled his eyes.

"Once I get the subjects back into my possession, I'll be able to harvest the serum's formula from their blood. We'll be able to start back where I left off!"

"Now wait a minute, Kenneth. I think our clients are getting pretty effective products even now."

"You don't understand, Donovan. These three are different. I've tried to explain it to you before. Their serum brought things out in them that I've never been able to duplicate in metahumans since. They are exceptionally enhanced."

"Okay, friend. You go play with your subjects and don't forget to bring me back my candidate Michelle. I have clients waiting in the wings for a Monarch with just her skill set," he chuckled deeply before adding, "A woman with brains and looks is a valuable asset to any discerning client."

"I'll bring her back with me, Donovan. And I'll call you once I have the subjects in my possession. I'm dying to see how M57 turned out. She was especially different even as a very young child."

Chapter 9 Not The Time Or Place.

Alik, Farrow and Maze held to the shadows as much as possible as they dashed from the Research Hospital to the van glowing eerily white in the moonlight.

"Where the heck is everyone? This place should be crawling with soldiers." Alik breathed softly as they peeked around a line of shrubbery.

"There is only one thing I can think of that would clear out the compound like this, and that would be a Retribution Match."

"I thought of that too, but I remember Creed mentioning Matches are always on Saturdays at noon."

Their stealth paid off as they quietly pressed the latches on the van's doors and slipped inside. "Damn, I wish Evan were here to check for explosives," he mumbled under his breath as he reached up and flipped the visor open, letting the van keys fall into his wide-open hand.

He slipped the key into the ignition and turned slowly, listening for the telltale pause, click and eerie silence that would happen when a car bomb has been triggered.

The key turned easily; the engine starting right up and purred softly in the silence of the night.

Alik let his breath out in a gush of relief. Even Maze seemed to relax the tension in his wide shoulders.

"Wow, you really thought they'd planted an explosive in the van? I thought you were kidding."

"Think about it Farrow. It would have explained why there was no one in sight."

Farrow's dark-doe eyes widened as she realized the validity of his logic.

"Could it still go off?"

"Chances are we're fine now." Alik reassured as he put the van into drive and started up the curb and directly across the pristine lawn. He didn't bother with the headlights, not wanting to attract too much attention.

Maneuvering as quietly and carefully as possible, Alik positioned the back of the van at an angle up against the front doors, just as his sister had asked.

Once there, he put the van in park and kept it running. "What time do you have?" he asked anxiously looking at his watch in the dim glow of moonlight trickling through Farrow's passenger window.

When she didn't answer he looked up to see her eyes watching him intently.

Too anxious to hold still, Alik climbed into the back of the van and began shuffling through the junk back there looking for...well, anything to keep his mind off the beautiful blush that tinged Farrow's cheeks when he caught her staring at him.

"What are you looking for?" Farrow's voice asked from the front seat.

"Um, a shirt, I guess," Alik murmured. He was rummaging through the bags strewn in the back of the van. The second bag he yanked open was Farrow's. Alik's hand pulled out the small black dress she'd worn earlier. A whiff of her perfume mixed with the scent he knew to be hers naturally drifted to his sensitive nose. He resisted the urge to bury his face in her dress to breathe her in.

Coughing, he shoved the dress back into the bag and yanked it closed as he covered his blush with dialogue.

"Do you see any movement out there?"

"No, nothing." Farrow's eyes were scanning the area around them.

"Good," he mumbled both in response to Farrow and to finding Creed's satchel and in it, a black T-shirt that would fit him fine.

He was on his knees in the back of the van slipping his beautifully muscular arms through the shirt before dragging it up to his head. In that instant, Farrow couldn't help but stare at his beauty. His wildly long brown hair slipped through and in that instant, Farrow was caught ogling the boy who had completely captured her heart. He glanced away from her, an adorable crooked grin on those full lips.

Farrow busied herself checking her weapon as he climbed back into the driver's seat.

"Time?" he asked, his voice a bit gruff. Farrow cringed inside, wondering if she'd embarrassed him by watching him dress.

"It's been three minutes, thirty-eight seconds," Farrow frowned at her digital watch as though it was the cause of their awkward moments.

What am I thinking? Farrow scolded herself. We're in the middle of life and death, and I'm worried about what Alik Winter thinks about me? He doesn't think of you that way, Farrow. How could he? Focus soldier!

Alik grabbed his weapon and was taking the safety off, eyes scanning the area around them then whipping back to the front doors of the hospital, desperately looking for the others.

Keep it together, Al. Alik shook himself mentally. Meg expects nothing but the best from you and you cannot let her or Ev down because of some girl-no matter how attractive she is. But even as he thought the words "some girl" he cringed. She wasn't just some girl. She was Farrow.

"Over there," she whispered.

Alik's eyes followed her intense stare. All he saw at first was a grove of trees and shadows draped around them.

"What did you see?"

"Movement." Farrow was holding her scope up to her eye, keeping absolutely still as she searched the blackness. The anxious coyote let out the softest of whines, his eyesight even more acute than the metahumans in the van.

He just confirmed what Farrow already knew. All her training as a sniper was telling her they were being watched. Just then she saw moonlight glint off something metallic.

"I see a weapon," she breathed.

Alik was scanning the surrounding area, not wanting to be caught off guard from a different direction. That's when he saw movement himself.

"Damn it," he breathed and pointed his weapon directly at the moving shadow, tracking its progress through his scope.

"They're coming for us," Farrow said. "Probably just waiting for backup before they attack," she added rationally. And though she seemed completely confident on the outside, inside she was terrified everything was about to go to hell.

"We need to go on the offensive. Meg and the others could be pouring out that door any minute. We can't let them walk into an ambush."

"Agreed."

"I'll take those on the right, you go left. We run to the doors and defend the others from there."

"Right. On the count of three, we run."

Alik looked directly at Maze. "Get ready to run with us, okay?"

Maze licked his muzzle and pranced in place, as though excited to bolt away from the danger he sensed.

Together Alik and Farrow counted: one, two, three.

Both metas yanked open their doors and sprinted, guns blazing in their predetermined directions. Maze bolted past the two soldiers and ran like a silver blur into the building, the front doors still hanging wide open.

Return fire was swift. A barrage of bullets showered from both the north and south.

They ran further back into the lobby to find protection from what was bound to be a convergence of soldiers coming for them. That's when they saw what was left of the elevator.

"What happened here?" Farrow breathed, trying to make sense of the destruction.

"Damn!" Alik breathed, putting the pieces together quickly with his perfect memory. "The power's out. The only way to the basement is by elevator. They crawled down the elevator shaft to get to the kids." The vein in Alik's forehead pulsed angrily, worry etched deeply in his youthful face.

They ran to the jagged hole in the floor of the elevator and peered down. Maze was already barking into it as though he'd chased quarry there.

Alik put his hand on Maze's flank to calm him before yelling, "Meg? Creed? Evan? Are you there?" his deep voice echoing through the darkness.

Silence screamed back at them.

Alik and Farrow exchanged worried looks. "Well, this explains why it was taking them so long," Alik rationalized.

"I wonder if the metas out there are coming in after us." Farrow crouched at a corner and risked a peek around it to see if she could determine how badly they may be trapped.

She saw nothing.

Seconds passed.

"Maybe we should go in after them?" Farrow whispered, torn between watching the front doors for soldiers and looking back at the elevator.

A metallic squeaking sound pierced the silence. Someone was coming up the elevator shaft. With their attention drawn to the hallway behind them, they didn't notice the furtive soldiers until it was too late.

Ratt-a-tat! Ratt-a-tat!

Farrow and Alik both dove for better coverage even as they rolled to return fire. Chunks of mint green cement and plumes of white powdered dust flew around the room as the soldiers' bullets hit the lobby walls. Farrow was sprawled flat on her stomach. In her outstretched hands she held her weapon, calmly aiming and pulling the trigger returning fire with precision. Across the hallway Alik was in a very similar position, though he had crawled toward a sturdy metal waste bin and was crouched behind it, reaching around the corner and returning fire with just as much success as Farrow. His perfect memory seemed to slow the action in his mind so he could watch the patterns of the soldiers' techniques and predict where they would fire next. Both metas knew someone else was firing against the metasoldiers, but neither could to turn around to see who had emerged from the elevator shaft.

The last soldier was struck down by that unknown meta. Both Farrow and Alik turned to see who it was and felt no surprise to see Creed's white-dust covered face step out from around the wall he had been using as cover. The foyer was riddled with bullet holes, still steaming white dust.

"Where are the others?"

"I'm right here," Evan's voice came from behind Creed. His gun was drawn and still smoking.

"Meg, Sloan...it's safe. Come on up." Evan called down the shaft.

Seconds later Meg emerged with a small bundle in her arms. She was hugging it to her protectively, her eyes bright and darting around looking for danger. Meg's empath senses were bursting with energy. The world around her was crackling with newfound definition. Even in their moment of peril, she felt a connection to the world around her she'd never known-especially now that she held the precious bundle in her arms.

She would kill anyone who tried to harm a hair on this baby's head. She'd never felt so overwhelmed by her need to protect as she did holding the little boy who seemed content to snuggle his little face deep into her neck. She kept sending him waves of soothing empath emotions. So much so, that the little fellow had fallen fast asleep. Even through all the sounds of gunfire, the baby slept, a fist full of Meg's dark locks in his tiny hand.

Sloan emerged from the black hole of the elevator shaft right behind her.

"Let's go," Meg ordered over her shoulder even as she headed down the destroyed lobby. She easily stepped over and around the bodies of Williams' metasoldiers, refusing to allow herself to look into their faces. These people were just as brainwashed as Creed and Farrow had been. Maybe some of them could have, would have turned away from his teachings if given the chance.

No, Meg. You can't think that way. Save who you can, and get out! Her self-talk was stern and stoic.

"Where are the other children?" Alik whispered to Creed even as they hurried to the waiting van.

"Gone. And this one looks as if he might not last the night. That's why he was left," Alik tossed the van keys to Creed even as they exchanged a pained look. They knew Meg would never get over losing the one child they could save.

"Let's go before the rest of the compound shows up," Evan said, helping Meg, Farrow then Sloan into the van before he clamored in himself. Maze leaped inside last. Just as Evan slammed the back doors shut, his sister let out a painful gasp.

Everyone stopped to look at her upturned face contort in obvious anguish, her back arched and a silent scream pulsed in her throat. She started panting, gasping for air and clinging to the baby in her arms even more tightly.

"What is it, Meg?"

Through gasps, she locked eyes with Alik and said the one word they were all hoping she wouldn't say: "Mom."

Chapter 10 How Mortal Are You?.

Margo knew she wouldn't be able to keep pace with the enraged coyote running at full-speed through the dark, though she tried. The Facility was eerily quiet. She kept to the shadows and slinked past the administration building, desperate to find her children.

She had studied the maps of the compound Creed made for them and had a general idea of where the Research Hospital was located. As she rounded the administration building and saw the tastefully lit courtyard, she got her bearings and located the hospital easily. Its rectangular shape stood lit against the velvet, European sky.

The sound of many voices cheering a sport somewhere northeast of where she stood brushed passed her ears.

White lilies were planted in such abundance around the courtyard; their scent in the cool night air came across as cloying. Margo wrinkled her nose at it and chose to breathe through her mouth instead. Still calculating her next move, she ignored the small white puffs of warm breath as they escaped her o-shaped mouth.

Her initial reaction to seeing the building in which her sweet children were trapped was to attack with the rage of a lioness, but she forced herself to hold back and work through that emotional response. The soldier in her knew better than to run off half-cocked. She rolled her shoulders and her head trying to force herself to relax through the body shakes compliments of the fight-or-flight adrenaline coursing through her.

Calm down, soldier, she scolded. Focus.