Knocking on the door, Breanna waited. Michael opened the door, staring at her for a moment.

"I take it Craig spoke with you," he said, stepping aside indicating for Breanna to enter.

"Yes, but I doubt Craig will be able to hold the "big brother" status over me again," she smiled.

"Why are you here if not to complain?" he teased.

"Talking about that, I am here on another matter. We found pictures of Darcia in a residential area, and we have a location," she said, "it looks like there is another facility."

"Heavens," he sagged into a chair, "how many of these places does she have?"

"What do you mean?" Breanna frowned.

"Going through everything attached to her in any way. I found expenditure indicating she may have secondary and tertiary facilities," Michael scrubbed his hands over his face.

"She took the liberty of building more than her military handlers knew of," Breanna sank into a chair facing the large oak desk. "Darcia is really out of control. We are prepping to attend the conference. Information on attendees, venue logistics, and the best way to head Darcia off is being researched. I'll add finding locations of any other facility to the list. We'll have a better picture before we destroy any facility. We'll go out to scout the location discovered today."

"Destroy? We don't make a move until we have solid intel. I'm not in any state of mind to lose anyone," Michael said.

"We're only checking it .... why would you feel that we would lose someone?" Breanna asked, "is it those faces that Clio named?"

Michael nodded.

"You know there are no guarantees, but we will not leave anyone behind." Breanna said, "Can you find out where those faces are working? We have an idea on one of them, but the others are a total mystery. Specifically, anyone working for the Biotech lab with a prototype of a molecular gun."

"Will do," Michael said as Breanna stood.

"Mike," she waited until he met her gaze, "we have something Darcia will never have. Each other."

"Thanks," he said, standing to accompany Breanna to the door.

"All of us know what is at stake. When we go out, we will return," Breanna whispered, stepping into the passage.

Closing the door, Michael absently moved toward the floor to ceiling windows. Pushing his hands into his pocket, he took in the view of rolling lawns, birds drifting on the lake or flying around it. Memories came to mind playing with his beautiful twin sisters in a garden similar to the one outside. Sadness pushed past the lid he had slammed down once too often over the years. Those were innocent times. Happier times. Even then, Darcia had competed with Breanna in every area. Boys. Friends. Grades. Attention during a conversation. Memories of the sour expression on Darcia's face when people turned from her preferring to talk to Breanna. Everyone had been drawn to Breanna. She was like a flame attracting the moth.

He often had come up against and stopped someone overstepping the invisible moral mark. Bringing order. He had told his commanding officers he was okay with ending one of his own family members. But doing it was not as easy as saying the words. He had to take action against someone who looked up to him as a young child, but she may look like his sister, but in his heart, he knew the human part of Darcia was no longer. Swallowing hard, he turned from the window, moving toward his desk. Slowly sinking into his office chair, he opened his email programme, settling in to answer and send communication before digging up the required information. Talk about life giving you lemons ...

Sitting on a barstool at the very long and wide kitchen counter, Breanna looked around the hacienda styled kitchen. The sound of the nearby crashing waves mixed with the loud, chatty milling affair breakfast had become. The large wooden table in an open corner was packed with bodies making the counter the last resort for space.

"Can I have the jam?" a husky voice asked from next to her.

Looking up from her plate, Breanna met the cautious expression of one of Craig's team. Reaching for the jam, she handed it to him. He took it with a nod of thanks but did not look at her.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Jonathan," he said, piling jam on a cheese roll.

"Are you doing okay here?" she watched in fascination as he sprinkled sea salt on the jam before closing the roll.

"It's better than places I've been to before and one of the best I've been to for some time," he said, taking a bite, still not meeting her gaze.

Breanna's abilities felt his unease, "What's bugging you?"

He cleared his throat, shifting on the stool, "nothing."

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

"If you're going to lie, try someone else," Breanna said, "talk to me."

"How do you talk to these people?" he shifted again.

Looking around, Breanna realised the happy, chatty bunch of strangers could scare anyone who didn't know them.

"It can be a little overwhelming, but you talk to them like you talk to me," she said, "what can you do?"

"I'm a logistics expert," he said quietly, "but that's not what you're asking, is it?"

"Nope," Breanna said, taking another bite of food.

"I have enhanced fighting abilities," Jonathan said, finally meeting Breanna's gaze, "speed, hearing, strength."

"Your necklace was light purple, wasn't it," Breanna watched as surprise turned into a concerned frown, "David has some of those enhancements as well. His necklace fizzed purple."

"Didn't know that," he cleared his throat nervously.

"Everything okay here?" Craig asked, reaching for the jam.

"Yes," Jonathan nodded, "we were just talking about the colour of necklaces."

"Yours was purple," Craig said, "same colour as David's."

"Yeah," Jonathan said, looking at his empty plate, "so I hear."

"Let me introduce you to some others around here," Craig said, "most of the others met some of Breanna's team last night, but you weren't around to chat, so we do it now."

"Where were you last night?" Breanna asked, watching his nervous movements

"Steve and I were close," he said, "I didn't feel like company last night. I was in my quarters, and ... I think her name is Tania, she came looking for me. We ... um ... chatted a little."

"That was nice of her," Breanna said as Tania walked through the kitchen door and waved in their direction, "she seemed a little upset about Steve as well. I'm glad the two of you got to chat."

"If you say so," Jonathan said, "she has a bizarre way of chatting."

Breanna chuckled, "Yes, Tania doesn't always use words. She is more a physical conversationalist."

Craig and Jonathan moved off toward the others as Tania sat next to Breanna.

"How are you doing? Any better than yesterday?"" Breanna asked.

"Yes, thanks. I knew Steve," Tania said, "before he became what he was. I was there when he died."

"Tania," Breanna whispered, putting her hand gently on the other woman's arm, "I'm sorry."

"Steve told me to be careful. He wasn't the only one who got an implant," Tania whispered, "that's what I was doing last night."

"Looking for the implants?" Breanna nodded.

"I found each of them on their own and checked them," Tania said, spooning fruit and yoghurt in her mouth chewing before continuing. "None of them has scars behind their ears, but I have Fiona working on the frequency thing."

"You checked Craig?" Breanna couldn't help grinning.

"Not the same way I checked the others," Tania returned the grin, "he was playing cards when I checked him. He's clear."

"Thanks for letting me know about this," Breanna nodded. "If you come up with anything, I'm all ears," checking her watch and taking in the beautiful ocean view, "I need to do a final check before we get going."

"Watch your back Bre," Tania said. "Darcia may not know all your abilities or current enhancements, but I can bet you anything she has spies everywhere."

"Thanks," Breanna nodded, "I'll be careful as I can. Besides, I have you tense enough for all of us."

Leaving the kitchen, Breanna started toward the armoury.

"Breanna," Tina called, running toward her. "Breaking news regarding those key players we were talking about," she took a moment to catch her breath, "they are meeting with the head of the Biotech company. The same company Darcia has her plants working in," Tina breathed in deeply, holding her breath before releasing it, "the meeting is happening tonight."

"Okay," Breanna said, "why am I to be worried?"

"Valencia and I were able to find a photo of the acting CEO," Tina said, pulling a piece of paper from a file.

"Acting?"

"Yes," she nodded, "there hasn't been an elected CEO since last year when the previous CEO was involved in a freak accident."

"Freak accident, my ass," Breanna muttered, taking the photo, "what am I looking at?"

"Look behind the ear," Tina pointed to an area on the photo, "we thought it looked too clean to be a scar from an accident, so we blew it up."

Pulling another piece of paper from the file, she handed it to Breanna.

"It's the same kind of scar we found on Steve," Breanna whispered, "what about their security details?"

"None of them uses security for meetings such as this," Tina frowned, "they don't see any potential threats while having a pre-conference meeting."

"She's going to own them before the conference and have access to the molecular gun even before it is demonstrated," Breanna ground out.

"We checked the staff as well," Tina said, clearing her throat, "you need to look at something we found in the lab."

Valencia, Iris, Calla, Rose and Daisy sat at the bank of computers working through dozens of photos on screens. Faces of staff members who currently worked or had worked with the Molecular-gun. Some had moved on; others were still employed.

"What have we got?" Breanna asked, entering with Tina.

"Iris has photos of everyone who has worked on or is still working on the project," Valencia said, focused on her task at her station. "Between her and Rose, they are sorting those who have the scar from those who do not. Plus, they are tying them into the faces Clio pulled from the Commander's memories."

"How is it going?" Breanna asked.

"Slowly but methodically," Iris said.

Breanna glanced at the photos, "These are a lot of people," she whispered, "how long until the meeting with the acting CEO?"

"Five hours," Calla called from her station, "we'll be done by then, if not before.

"Find David for me," Breanna said to Tina, "wait … David and Craig. We may need more than one team for this."

"On it," Tina disappeared through the doorway as Kyle came in.

"What's happening?" he asked, looking around.

"Key players meeting acting CEO in five hours," she handed him the photos. "Darcia just tightened the control screws," Breanna said as Rose motioned for Kyle to join her, quickly updating him, "how are those codes on the molecular gun?"

"They should be changing every hour," Kyle said, checking a computer near his station, "I came to check it."

Sitting at the machine, he got to work. Calla moved over to him, handing him printouts before rolling back to her own station.

They had meshed on a level most teams had to work hard to achieve. There was always space for improvement, but Breanna was happy with how they operated. Looking at the plans of the biotech building, Breanna began putting a plan together. Five hours and counting.