Birgit stilled, blinking quickly, sitting back in her chair, looked at the screen sideway from the right and left, shook her head and re-read the document, which Craig must have accidentally downloaded from someone nearby PC or phone.

"What does that mean?" she whispered, "very conscious of Valencia resting while she worked; at times, it was difficult when half the body was shut down, but for some reason, they could cope, and their body seemed to function fine.

Typing the strange sentence she found into a search engine, Birgit sipped at her water bottle while waiting for results. The flash of results surprised her, spilling drops of water down her chin. Slowly closing the bottle as she began to read. Cold dread filtered through her as she gradually understood what she had stumbled upon.

"This is not good," she whispered.

"What's not good?" Valencia asked, making Birgit flinch with surprise, "Sorry… it's hard not to creep up on you."

"Sorry if I woke you," Birgit whispered, "I was trying to be quiet," pointing at the screen, she sighed, "I found a document in one of Craig's downloads. It has this sentence which I looked up to get a little more understanding when I read about it … it's some kind of process or another process within the gene manipulation process."

"Okay, so what about it?" Valencia asked.

"Every time they refer to it, they use this abbreviation," Birgit said, pointing at the letters grouped together, "haven't we seen that somewhere?"

"It does look familiar," Valencia said, "is there something about the process which is good or bad?"

"No idea yet," Birgit said, "I've just seen that."

"You say it was in the downloads Craig sent through," Valencia said, frowning, "but this looks like it's come from a computer or server. I'm not an expert on these things, but I think that can only happen when you're actively seeking information, which Craig was, plus you need to be near someone or something that has a link to the computer or server holding the information."

"My question is," Birgit sighed, "how close was Craig to this place to get this information?"

"From what I can see in the photos … pretty close," Phoenix said, "what did you find?"

The two women stared at Phoenix momentarily before looking at the screen and pointing to the abbreviation.

"Do you know what this is?" Valencia asked.

"Yes, and it's not a pleasant process," he looked at them, "why?"

"Birgit found it in a document Craig uploaded," she sighed, "but why would they be doing it to these enhancements. If what is being said here is try, it has to be completed early in the enhancement process or …" she stopped, "what exactly does this sentence mean?"

"That ... I couldn't tell you as I'm not specifically read into what it is supposed to be," Phoenix said, "but perhaps a little investigation will enlighten us."

"Someone needs to tell Bre," Valencia said, looking at Phoenix, "Oh, flip you for it?"

"No need," Phoenix said, "print out the document for me, and I'll talk to her."

Valencia hit the print button; as they watched him walk over to the machine, Birgit mentally whispered, "Did you see his eyes when he saw that abbreviation?"

"Yep, and I'm guessing he knows more about it than he's telling anyone," Valencia replied, "we dig … and don't stop until we find out everything about it."

Phoenix looked up, meeting their penetrating gaze, "You're talking about me, aren't you?" Valencia nodded while Birgit rolled their eyes; Phoenix sighed, "what is it?"

"What do you know about that abbreviation?" Valencia asked.

"Yes, I've seen it. No, I don't know where or what it means. Yes, Darcia and Madden used it in the early stages of the … procedures," he shuddered, "yes, I have a suspicion we have that …" his hand waved vaguely toward the monitor, "in us … whatever it is. Please, dig as deep as you can and find out what it is, what it does, and why we have it."

Valencia grinned, "You heard our conversation," she chuckled, "what else do you want us to do with it?"

"Find out who in those coming out of the original Darcia and Madden's facility has it and why," Phoenix frowned, "Darcia was insane and inhumane, but near the end, I think she realised that Madden was out of control and doing things without talking to her. How many of them or what they were … we will never know," he paused, frowning, "I get the sense Darcia didn't really know either, but she was trying to keep the supposed purity of her work to her standard of being pure," sighed, "in some ways, I think she was trying to protect her creation."

"That would be?" Birgit asked, staring at him incredulously.

"Her creation? Oh, that is easy to know," Phoenix shook his head, chuckling, "... that would be us."

"Us," Birgit said, their eyes widening, "as in those she started all this insanity with."

"Correct," Phoenix said, "we don't know what her reach was or why she did what she did … let me rephrase, in some cases, we know why Darcia did what she did, but with something like this … after all we have found out about Madden and his backstabbing ways," he shook his head, "I think whatever this is, was done by design to stop whatever it was the Darcia found out about. Perhaps she realised that Madden was more insane than she was," Phoenix said, "we will never know, but we can slowly find out what and why."

Nodding, Valencia sighed, "I see what you mean. We'll dig until we find something," she paused, "would it be okay to get others to help? I don't want to overextend the reach, but there may be a lot of information we need to work through."

"Get others involved; someone may find something that someone else misses," Phoenix said, "I'm going to talk to Breanna."

Nodding, the two women watched him leave the tech room, "Is it just me, or has he taken Craig's place while he recoups his strength?"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"No, it's not just you," Birgit said, "I think he feels … responsible for him."

"Huh," Valencia grunted before turning them toward the screen, "he's very involved for someone who didn't want to be involved in this world. Come on, we have work to do."

"Let's get to it," Birgit nodded.

"Dave," Phoenix called as he strode through the passageway toward the mansion's upper floors, "got a minute?"

David stopped turning toward his approaching friend, "Sure, what is it?"

Phoenix looked around before heading toward the library; David followed, glancing around as Phoenix checked behind curtains, under tables and every possible nook and cranny anyone could hide.

"Ah 'Nix, what is going on?" David asked, closing the door as Phoenix slowly approached him, looking at the paper in his hand.

"When we brought Craig in," he glanced around before lowering his voice as he stopped close to David, "do you remember what he was saying?"

David frowned, "We thought it was delirium and blood loss," he narrowed his eyes in concentration, "something about a genetic flaw. Why?"

Phoenix handed David the paper, "Val and Birgit found this in the uploads Craig sent through," he sighed, "do you see this abbreviation?"

"Yeah, I've seen that before," David paused, "this was among the procedures Tina had … wait, do you think we all had this done to us?"

"I don't know," Phoenix said, "it's possible, but I remember something Darcia did when she told me I was complete but needed one more procedure…." Phoenix glanced away before continuing, " ... even though you're finished, there is one more thing that needs to be done ... for safety reasons."

"Safety reasons?" David frowned, "what could she possibly want with safety? We were expendable to her?"

"Exactly, but I didn't remember it until Val and Birgit showed me," Phoenix whispered, "she wasn't looking at me …" frowning, Phoenix met David's gaze, "she was looking at Madden."

David stared at Phoenix for two heartbeats before he blinked, "You're saying she knew Madden was going off plan?"

"That I cannot say," Phoenix said, "but it wasn't the first time she would drop words like that and stare at him only to turn around minutes later and fall all over him and comply with whatever he wanted or was doing."

"Do you think he somehow held something over her or manipulated her?" David asked.

"Hard to imagine since she happily stepped over the moral line in the sand," Phoenix whispered, "but I think so. I used to get the sense that she knew he was more insane and dangerous than she was."

"Wow, and that is saying something," David said, shaking his head, "hard to think that someone else could be more insane than Darcia."

The two men stood there pondering until David shifted, "Who did the procedures on Darcia?"

"In the early days when she was working on everyone else," Phoenix shrugged, "I'm not sure. After I was completed and allowed to roam freely, I witnessed Madden doing many of those procedures even when Darcia had stipulated the doctors were to complete them. It was after Madden had pulled rank for a fourth time that Darcia started putting … precautions into place."

"What did she find that made her do that?" David asked.

"What do you mean?" Phoenix asked, his gaze becoming focused and intense.

"Darcia doesn't randomly do anything," David said, "she turned Tina into a bounty hunter for rogue enhancements and bounty hunters who happily crossed the line and turned on their own kind … why? She put in another procedure that could be done with any other but only with her enhancements … why? She has children who knew her and the new Darcia and Madden but have memory enough to tell someone about the difference ... why? The original Darcia did memory wipes on the subjects, you can be certain the copy also does so, but we have children who remember ... how come and why?"

"I see what you mean by precautions. I told Val and Birgit it was to protect her creation," Phoenix said, "but that was only to put their minds at rest. Did she really try to protect us against something Madden was doing?"

"Yeah, I do," David said, "we need to find out what she found … Darcia never did random, and we need to know why."

The two men left the room, discussing their next steps. High above, two young faces appeared.

"That was close, Gina," John whispered, "thank heavens they don't know about this reading nook."

"Yeah, I really thought Phoenix was going to find us," Gina sighed, leaning her head back against the wooden panel, "have you finished your homework and reading assignments for the day."

"I have," John said, glancing down again, "quick thinking on your part when you switched off the lights up here," John nodded, "saved our detection."

"Did you hear what they were talking about?" Gina asked, a slight crease above her nose puckering her forehead, "something about Darcia implementing a protection for her creation."

"If they are her creation, what does that make us?" John asked.

"Her creation," Gina said, grimacing at John, "remember, we're the only ones who have met both Darcia's and Doc Chemicals."

"I wonder if we have that abbreviation on file," John said, "but they do have a point, the second Darcia … definitely did random but not the original."

Gina glanced down at her pile of school books before sighing, "It's time to get back to Tina and the babies. We have a family now, John, and must do everything to stay together."

John stared at Gina momentarily, "What aren't you telling me?"

Gina shook her head and scooped up her books, "It … doesn't matter."

She moved to climb down from their place high above the shelved books, increasing her speed as she moved down the ladder, knowing John would not give up and he would insist on hearing everything she wasn't telling him. Reaching the door, she had the handle in hand when he gripped her shoulder.

"You're not getting away that easily," John said, his tone gentle, but she heard the determination in his voice, "what aren't you telling me?"

Turning, Gina sighed, closed her eyes, inhaled and babbled, "A few days ago, I hacked into the servers with our records from Darcia's facility," she exhaled and inhaled again, meeting John's astonished gaze, "I found Tina's, Craig's and our records …" she swallowed hard, "we all have the abbreviation on file."

John nodded, "Okay, so we all have had that procedure. When did you hack in?"

"The day Craig came back and was so badly injured," Gina whispered, "it was what he was whispering that made me wonder … so I had a look."

"You heard what he was saying?" John asked, "How? We were outside the infirmary."

Gina nodded, "Heard and understood."

"I'm not following the understanding bit; explain," John said.

"They only heard a few words," Gina said, "he was saying …" she sighed, "they are preparing to eradicate all with the flaws."

"What flaws?" John asked, frowning.

Gina stared at him silently.

"The abbreviation is the flaw," John gasped, "they are preparing to eradicate all of us."

"Darcia's creation," Gina said, "but Darcia put it in as a fail-safe against something. We need to find out what that was and tell the others if they don't come across it."

"You mean the adults," John said, crossing his arms over his chest, "we are the children in this equation Gina, not those who make the decisions."

"I know," Gina said, opening the library door, "and that kind of thing …" she groaned, "it sucks."

John followed her, chuckling at her as he put an arm around her shoulders, "Sometimes it does, but right now, it's giving us a chance to be what we're supposed to be. Children … whatever it's supposed to look like, we'll try it."

Gina sighed gustily, "Right …" glancing at John, ".... something tells me we're late for dinner."

"Then we'd better hurry up before Tina gets worried," John said, "we'll figure everything out don't you worry."

Gina nodded as she nestled under his protective arm. They followed the passageways back to their suite, home and family.