Project: MI
Chapter 22

“This is an unmitigateddisaster,” Gordon Avis growled from behind thecomputer screen, his jowls quivering. He was sweating profusely, and waspromptly mopping his brow with a handkerchief. He looked greatly upset by thecurrent turn of events. “Completely andutterly.”

“Gentlemen,”Steiner began in an attempt to placate the group. “Ladies…”

“Don’t you dare try to sugarcoatthis, Steiner!” Gordon interrupted angrily,shifting in his seat and looking as though he were about to lurch out of itlike a great lumbering beast, and assault Steiner through the computer screen. “This is all because of your ‘oversights’!Had you been more forthcoming with information none of this would havehappened!”

Steinerclosed his eyes and tapped his fingers, entwined around each other, against hislips.

“Moreaccurately,” he said in a contemplative tone, “I should have had moreinformation. I was woefully unaware of the connection Ran had with a heroi fromout of the Bronze Age. This was an extremeoversight, and one that will continue to have consequences for our project.”Opening his eyes, he gazed at his colleagues. “Romana Pax is out of the loop.It falls to me to ensure that the project continues without furtherinterruption. That is my penance for my recklessness.”

“Can we even be certain that youwill accomplish that?” Gordon asked derisively.

“Avis…”warned Elizabeth from her corner of the screen. “I am sorry that we will have to cut support,” she said, fixing theman with a sympathetic look. “Have youtaken steps to extradite Mr. Beck from the authorities?”

“Iam currently doing my utmost in that regard,” Steiner replied. “But it doesn’tlook good at the moment. They have seized all relevant technology anddocumentation that they can immediately access under law, but the situation isbad enough for them to utilize the Protection Act and go outside thoseboundaries. The heroi was accused of a class four act of terrorism. That ismore than high enough once they realize that they aren’t getting what they needfrom us conventionally.”

BelowElizabeth, Alfred regarded him with cold, but quiet disdain.

“Have you taken steps to ensurethat doesn’t happen?” he asked.

“Ihave,” Steiner nodded. “But nothing is certain. That is not an excuse. Justfair warning so that you can prepare yourselves. I’m afraid I have proven to benothing more than the weak link in our chain.”

“Indeed,” Averyagreed. “In that case, if there isnothing else to be said here, then I’m leaving now. I have to take care ofthings on my end once this explodes on the net.”

“Capital idea,”Gordon said, and with that both of their screens turned dark, leaving Steineralone with Elizabeth.

“I will inform the remainder ofour party of today’s events,” she told him.“This will be the last time you hear fromany of us.”

“Directly,I’m assured,” Steiner said. “If I am able to free my employees, they will needsomeplace to go. A new employer that is outside the bounds of my governmentslaws.”

“I will keep in touch at leastthat much,” Elizabeth nodded. “Is there anything else?”

“Nothingthat I can think of, I’m afraid.”

“In that case, best of luck toyou. We’ll do our part in ensuring that the project continues uninterrupted.”There was a brief pause on her part before she continued. “Goodbye Richard.”

Withthat, her screen went dark, leaving Steiner alone in his office. Tapping on hiskeyboard, he erased all logs on the conversation. He would need to do a morethorough cleaning to make sure that the conversation wouldn’t fall into theCHC’s hands. He prayed that his colleagues wouldn’t fall as he had.

As long as they don’t bring inany techno-wizards, things should be fine.

Hegrimaced. The CHC would undoubtedly do just that. Leaning forward in his chair,he considered his options before sighing heavily.

Queen takes pawn. Check.

Moniquequietly slipped into the Grey household via the unlocked window at the topfloor, carefully controlling her shape so as to not fall off the side and outinto the alley. She licked her lips as she retracted spider-like hairs backinto her body, trying desperately to not break her concentration until she waswell enough inside. Her last limb slipped inside and she collapsed to thefloor, breathing heavily as the glow of her Q-Field vanishing from around herpale body.

Hate… Hate shifting between threeforms at once like that, she thought, wiping her brow.Bracing a hand against the wall she got to her feet and leaned against it. Onceshe caught her breath, she padded down the hallway to Jamie’s room, listeningintently for the sounds of anyone inside. She didn’t really expect anyone to behome, not with the way the city’s traffic was turning out these past few hours.What exactly happened she wasn’t sure except that it involved a heroi attack ofsome kind on Romana Pax. The skies were so full of Guardians that she wouldn’t havebeen able to investigate properly if she wanted to.

Stoppingin front of Jamie’s room she pushed the door open and took a look inside. Not here, she thought, closing the doorand leaning her head against it. Her mouth set itself into a grim line as shetried to think of what to do next. Until Teruo was finished ‘taking care of afew things’ there wasn’t much to do. Pulling out her cell phone she dialedBeth’s number.

“We’re sorry,”came a prerecorded voice from the other end. “But the number you are trying to reach is disconnected or unavailable.Please try again later.”

Terrific, Moniquesulked. It took me forever to get herethanks to the mess, and I can’t get a hold of his Companion either. Where…?

Sheground her forehead against the door, clenching her eyes shut in frustration.After a moment she pulled away and took a deep, calming breath.

I hope that he’s okay,she thought, brushing her white hair out of her amber eyes while she pannedaround the room. I should get in touchwith my handler; let him know that this whole thing is starting to look pearshaped. Her hands tightened around the doorknob in front of her. No. I can do this. I shouldn’t take anystupid risks. The CHC is going to be monitoring as many signals they can get ahold of right now.

Closingher eyes, she thought about what to do. Jamie wasn’t home. At a friend’s house?That seemed to be the most logical answer. She didn’t think it was likely thathe would be at Romana Pax just in time for there to be an attack there. Theboy’s profile suggested that he preferred to avoid trouble if he could help it.

Shewas snapped out of her thoughts as the sound of a door opening downstairscaught her attention. Getting into a crouch, she quietly hurried to the edge ofthe stairwell and peeked around the corner to see a pair of men wearing suitsentering the household. Her first thought was instantly that of the CHC. Thetwo men took a quick look around the house before one looked over his shoulderand beckoned a pair of paramedics to enter. Monique gasped. Strapped to awheelchair they carted in front of them was a woman, Jamie’s mother. Her headrolled to one side as they struggled her over the front step and into thehouse.

Gods! What happened to her?!Monique exclaimed mentally as they came to a stop and began to unbind her.Lifting her up, the paramedics began to climb up the stairs. Nearly panicking,Monique ducked back behind the corner. A faint glow surrounded her body and shemorphed her body down to the Cerberus she remembered as Jamie’s pet. As theparamedics cleared the landing, she coughed at the sudden sensation of twonecks and heads on her shoulders. The feeling was almost insanely alien to her,and she wobbled on her feet to keep her balance.

“Isthat mutt sick or something?” asked one of the paramedics, eyeing her as sheregained her balance. Baring her newly formed fangs, Monique growled at themand backed away. Uncertain as to what else to do, she went with the mosttypical Cereberus behavior when dealing with complete strangers.

“Doesn’tseem like it,” the other grunted. One of the two agents emerged behind them andgave Monique a raised eyebrow.

“Justtake her down the hall and go into the last room. The sooner we get this donethe better.

Retreatingdown the same path, Monique wondered just what was going on. She contemplatedmorphing into Jamie’s father as soon as she disappeared into the room, butdecided against it. She didn’t know the man well enough to properly mimic him,and should he show up at the wrong time her cover would be blown. Best to laylow for the time being.

Shewatched warily as the paramedics laid Libby Grey out onto her bed and took outa syringe and a small bottle. After injecting her with whatever was in thebottle, the paramedics stepped back, giving deference to the suited agent as hecame to the forefront. Monique watched as Libby groaned and started to comearound, her eyes fluttering open.

“Where…?”she whispered in a sleep-dulled voice, her eyes coming to rest on the agent.

“Mrs.Grey,” the man said, focusing on her. “I am Agent Stone from the CHC. I am toinform you about the matter regarding your son…”

Monique’stwin pairs of ears perked up at this and she leaned forward to listen closely.

Shecouldn’t wait to get out of there as quickly as possible. No sooner did theagents leave was Monique already racing down the hall and toward the half-openwindow, the issue of Jamie’s mother already far from her mind. Finally!Something she had to go on! Granted, it wasn’t much. She could only glean somuch from a conversation between people who knew enough about a situation tonot explain too many details, but as she shrunk her body down and grew wingsshe knew full well where she had to go. Clark City hospital, specifically theemergency care section where Jamie would be treated for his injuries. It seemedthat there was a great deal more that went on than just a simple attack onRomana Pax, leaving her to wonder if the two were related. She brushed thethought aside for the moment, opting instead to just get to the hospital asquickly as she could and replace Jamie. The sooner, the better.

Althoughher body was still exhausted from her earlier rapid transformations, she willedher body to hold to its new shape as she flapped her wings and took to the air.Speed was of the utmost necessity as she soared upward—up, up, up to the sky before diving down at arapid pace. Flapping her wings, she pulled up again and checked her landmarksbefore going into yet another dive.

Asshe did so, she wondered why there was smoke rising from the direction of thehospital.

Moniquenearly lost her avian form prematurely before collapsing in an alley outside ofClark City General Hospital. She rolled with the impact, groaning when shefinally came to a stop. She lay there for a second to catch her breath beforefinally forcing herself to a sitting position. She took in her condition. Shewas back in her natural form, pale and this time shaking.

Forthe moment however, none of that mattered.

Devastation.There was no other word to describe what Monique saw. Smoke, fire, the cries ofthe wounded and people calling for assistance… Monique clenched her eyes shutand ducked back into the alleyway she arrived in, fighting back the tears thatthreatened to spill forth. This was too much like…like…

No. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it! Pulling out her cellphone she immediately dialed Teruo’s number—given to her before she left hisresidence—which he quickly picked up.

“This had better be important,”she heard him begin on the other end. “I’mkind of in the middle of…”

“Somethingbig has happened,” she interrupted. “Clark City hospital… It’s… It’s like… Ohgods…”

“Um… Are you okay?”the boy asked, a worried tone in his voice. “Whathappened?” She could hear him typing on the other end, obviously attemptingto locate news sources online through his pad. “Oh shit…” he breathed, having clearly found it.

“Itlooks bad over here. People are hurt! I think… I think Jamie self-destructed orsomething! Went Gamma! I don’t know! There’s a huge chunk missing from thehospital!” She ran a hand through her pale hair, refusing to believe it. He can’t be…! He’s supposed to be the M! M’sdon’t die!

“Calm down,”Teruo tried to ease. “Let’s not jump toconclusions, all right? This could be something like a terrorist group likeNoir or Golden Rings, or maybe another heroi…”

“Thatdoesn’t make things better,” Monique replied in a throaty whisper, huggingherself with one arm. “Jamie was in that hospital…”

“I’m looking to see if I can replacehim. Gods, the hospital computers are a mess right now. Twenty dead for surebut a bunch of missing and injured people. Crispy gods this is bad. I… Huh?”

“Huh?”Monique blinked back a tear. “What do you mean huh?”

“Just…huh. There’s a bit hereabout someone arriving real soon. Someone called LifeMaker.”

“Soon?”Monique asked, recognizing the name. “Howsoon?”

“Like now.”

Lookingup, Monique saw a helicopter approaching the hospital, bearing the markings ofthe federal government on its side.

BruceKane stood atop the hospital roof, patiently waiting as the helicopter toucheddown. Almost immediately, the door to the copter opened and out stepped a tall,thin man wearing a silver-grey uniform and a pair of goggles over his eyes. Onhis chest was a circular patch with a serpent winding up a tree.

“Mr.Kane?” he asked, approaching the Sentinel with one hand outstretched. Kane tookthe offered hand and shook it.

“Thankyou for coming on such short notice doctor,” he said. The man snorted.

“Don’tbe so quick to thank me. Getting here so fast has its risks, so this better beworth it. What have you got?”

“Youwere given the mission briefing?”

“Briefingis right, or rather brief. Veryshort. I don’t like it.”

“I’msorry you feel that way, but this is a matter of national security. Now thatyou are here, you have work ahead of you.”

“SoI gathered from the briefing,” the doctor nodded. “Expensive business that. Itake it you have a sample?”

Kanenodded and lifted a small cooler from the ground, passing it to the man.Unlocking it, the doctor lifted the lid and took a look.

“Onlythis amount?” he asked, taking out the small vial of blood for a better look.“I can work with this fortunately. What about its source?”

“Thechild is not your concern,” Kane replied. The doctor shook his head.

“Ibeg to differ, but since you outrank me I have no other choice but to obey.”Returning the vial to the container, he closed the lid and locked it. “Verywell.”

Behindthem, the entrance to the roof opened and out came a group of nurses carting agurney approached them. The doctor glanced past Kane, eyebrow raised as he sawa body, fully wrapped from head to toe, obscuring its identity.

“Andthat is…?” the doctor asked tentatively.

“Noneof your concern,” Kane replied. “That is for a separate destination.”

“Verywell,” the doctor said, shrugging his shoulders. “If this is all I have to takecare of, then I’ll get started immediately.”

“Howlong will it take you?” Kane asked. The doctor smiled.

“We’veimproved our techniques. Once we get everything offloaded and set up in thelab, I expect it won’t take very long at all.”

Inthe women’s bathroom of the hospital, Monique finished gulping down the last ofthe burger she swiped from the cafeteria and ran a finger along the edge of herlips, scooping up the last juicy remnants of her meal and popping it in hermouth. Her stomach gurgled in utter satisfaction.

Shakes are almost gone,she thought, relaxing a little. She felt yards better now that she had food inher. Even now she could feel her energy returning in leaps and bounds. Verysoon she would have very little trouble with making complex transformations andeven maintaining them.

All I need to do now is change mylook, she thought. She had picked out a‘patsy’ earlier. One of the benefits of her mutation was her unconsciousability to remember people and faces down to the smallest detail in order tomimic them. There were things she couldn’t replicate, such as whether or notthe person she mimicked was right-handed, their signature, or even a heroi’spowers unless their abilities were more of a physical nature than Q-Fieldrelated, but when it came down to looking like someone? That was no difficulty.

Therewas also another trick she had, the only one of her kind to exhibit it, and wasthe primary reason why she had been selected for this mission in the firstplace.

Enteringthe bathroom and bee lining into the nearest stall, she closed the door behindher and began to tear off strips of toilet paper. Once she was satisfied shehad enough, she piled them up and she placed her hands around it. Her Q-Fieldsnaked out and engulfed the toilet paper, causing them to merge and reform intoan identity card. Wiping her hand across her forehead, she picked it up andinspected it.

Looks just like the nurse’s,she thought, grinning. It wouldn’t work like the nurse’s unfortunately when itcame to security, but for the average layman it would suffice. This ability wassomething of an extension of the metamorph ability to create clothing to matchtheir target, but at the same time different. While most metamorphs used theirown body mass, she could utilize the mass around her to do the job. It was muchmore energy intensive than simply using the standard clothing mimicry,especially if it was more complicated, but in this situation she needed to beable to remove the card from her person to get into wherever she needed to be.

My handler will be proud to knowthat this works in the field, she smirked.Getting up, she closed her eyes, and a second later she was changed again,looking just like the nurse that she picked out earlier; a tall, muscular manwith an easy-going smile and dark stubble on his chin.

Inshort order she picked her way through the hospital, aiming toward the heroiwing where Teruo said, according to the hospital records, was set aside for somekind of high tech rejuvenation surgery or some such. All he knew for certainwas that the famed Life Maker wassetting up shop there and that would be most likely where Jamie would be found,dead or alive.

Alive,she thought desperately. He has to be alive! He has to be!

Whileshe poked her head down a hallway to get her bearings, she heard the sound ofan elevator door ding open and from it came loud, anxious calls for everyone toget out of the way. Furrowing her brow curiously, she craned her head in thedirection of the voices, only to jump back as a group of nurses rushed by,pushing what appeared to be a large tank or vat filled with a green liquid. Sherecognized it right away.

A Life Pod!Looking out the room’s entrance, she followed the path of the pod as it wentdown the hall and turned a corner. Briefly—very briefly—Monique swore that shecaught sight of a familiar face inside that caused her heart to jump briefly inher chest.

Jamie?!she began, preparing to pursue, only to stop when a voice called out to her.

“Frank!”hailed a male nurse, approaching her…him…inwide, swaggering steps, one hand raised in an attempt to flag her down. “Frank!Get over here! We have a…Frank!”

Moniquerushed after the Life Pod, pretending not to have heard the nurse whilesimultaneously hoping that he didn’t take offense to being brushed off likethat. That was one downside to her powers that she hated; she always madetrouble for someone else.

Shechased after the Life Pod and its entourage. Quickly rounding the corner, shesaw the group disappear behind a pair of doors that quickly locked behind them.Rushing after them she pulled out her metamorphed card and reflexively slid itthrough the card lock without thinking, peering through the window for a betterangle.

Thegroup turned again and this time, with the card reader refusing her card, shesaw Jamie’s face clearly, floating in the pod. Monique felt a burst of emotionwell up within her as she pressed one hand on the glass.

Thank the gods,she thought, a tear of relief falling down her face.