Story: Nine Lives (chapter 12)

Authors: MadPanda

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Chapter 12

Title: Chapter 11: Comings and Goings

[Author's notes: Naya and Annette confirm their relationship, while making a new friend.  Meanwhile Capt. Armbrister wakes to find his daughters missing.]

Disclaimer: Nothing to worry about here...just go read!

Ikimashou!

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Chapter 11: Comings and Goings

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Captain Ed Armbrister had his first good night\'s sleep in quite awhile. For the first time in months, the vision of a smirking Naya didn\'t haunt his dreams; rather, it was the smiles of his daughters and wife, standing against the breathtaking backdrop of a beautiful Alaskan landscape. Unfortunately for him, that happy dream didn\'t last long.

A loud scream woke the captain from his pleasant dream, followed by the sound of his wife bursting their bedroom door open. “Ed!! Wake up!! The girls are missing!!”

“What?” the man said, still groggy.

“I just came from their room,” Elena said, her heart racing. “Their beds are a mess, but they\'re nowhere to be found. I\'ve checked everywhere!”

Had this been any other day, Ed would just chalk this up to Jenna getting her sister to join her on some fit of rebellion, or Jane getting her sister to school early for once. But as they were scheduled for a trip today, and it was a Saturday to boot, things didn\'t exactly add up.

The captain was about to call the police when he remembered something that sent a chill up his spine. It was the conversation he had with Cortez, right after he assigned the man to catch Naya:

By the way, sir...your daughters are quite beautiful. I wonder how they\'d look with cat\'s eyes...or worse...”

“He couldn\'t have...” Ed hurriedly got dressed and set off to check the security alarm. When he saw that it hadn\'t been activated he cringed. “Of course not, they\'re know what they\'re doing.” He then went to Jane\'s room and checked her windows. When he didn\'t find anything, he stood and stared at the ceiling...and wanted to smack himself silly for not thinking about that first.

“Elena...call the security company. Tell them we need an upgrade.”

The captain\'s wife stared at her husband, dumbfounded. “But what about the girls, Ed?”

“I know where they are...I\'ll take care of it.” The captain grabbed his cellphone and his keys, and was out of the driveway in a hurry.

Elena knew better not to ask questions when her husband set out to take matters in his own hands. That meant things were out of the realm of local law enforcement, and that meant she should stay out of his way.

- - - - -

Annette had just come out of the shower when she heard a knock at the door. “Can you get that, Naya?”

When she got no response from her girlfriend, she huffed and answered the door herself. “Who is it?”

“Breakfast, Ma\'am,” came the muffled reply, a female voice.

“Whoa...we even get maid service here?” She opened the door and was startled by what she saw.

“Good morning, Ma\'am. I hope you enjoy today\'s breakfast. It was especially designed for yourself and Miss Attaturk. My name is Lupe...short for Guadalupe. Please feel free to call for me if you need anything.”

The fact that the woman was extremely polite was nearly lost on Annette. The fact that the woman had fox ears behind her bright red hair, and was swishing a thick red, white-tipped tail behind her maid outfit wasn\'t lost on the blonde whatsoever.

“Um, Naya...” the reporter drawled, her eyes never leaving those of the newcomer. “...could you come out here for a moment, please?”

The taller woman stormed out of the bedroom of the suite, tying the sash on a robe she hastily put on. “My goodness...can\'t a woman groom herself without someone calling for her at all hours of the...” Her entire expression changed when she saw the maid. “Lupe!!”

“Miss Naya? Is that really you?? You haven\'t changed a bit!”

“The benefit of having nine lives...you get to age much slower than everyone else!” The two women shared a laugh, much to the dismay of the third party in the room.

Annette sidled up to her partner. “Is there something I should know about you two...better yet, is there something I shouldn\'t know?”

The maid blushed, leaving Naya to handle the explanation. “This is Guadalupe...as you can see, she\'s a kitsuneko—a fox-girl. I took care of her in my previous life...she was just a cub back then. Unlike myself, she was a kitsuneko from the beginning...genetically engineered in vitro. She\'s the first of her generation.”

“And one of the few who has progressed enough to be gainfully employed!” Lupe said proudly. She then addressed Annette, not wanting the blonde to feel left out of the conversation. “That is thanks to Miss Naya. She taught me a lot when I was little...including the idea of always doing my best and exceeding expectations!”

A proud Naya blushed furiously. “You\'ve grown up to be so beautiful! Look at you!”

Lupe did a twirl and bowed when she faced Naya again. “Thank you, Ma\'am!”

“And such a proper lady, too! Do you run this place by yourself?”

“Oh, yes. It\'s quite easy, since I don\'t usually have customers. You two are the first people I\'ve had here in about six months...not counting Sgt. Cortez.”

Annette\'s smile soured at the mention of his name. “So you\'ve had the pleasure of his acquaintance as well, huh.”

“Yes. I do not wish to speak ill of any of my guests, but...I\'ll just say he isn\'t my favorite.”

“Yeah...I can understand why.” The reporter then thought about something the redhead has said earlier. “You said you were the first of your generation...are there others on this island?”

“Of course,” Lupe answered. “Not all are as progressed as I am, though. Some haven\'t turned out so well, and roam the island. That\'s why we have the fence—to keep them out. On the other hand, some have become quite adept at working with and alongside humans. Even now, they are assistants in the humane centers.”

Annette turned to Naya for an explanation.

“Ah...the so-called \'animal humane centers\'...where we were supposed to care for injured and endangered animals, and do testing to find ways to make life easier not only for wildlife, but for common household pets as well.” Naya stuck out her tongue and brushed it with her upper lip, as if to wipe the taste of the words off. “I don\'t need to tell you what a load of bull that is, do I?”

Annette looked at both Naya and Lupe, and shook her head. “No...the evidence to the contrary is standing right before me...not to mention my own little problem.”

“You too?” Lupe jumped in. “What did they do to you?”

“That\'s what we\'re trying to find out, Lupe.” Naya took her girlfriend\'s hand in hers. “All we know is that she\'s insanely strong, and that her body had the ability to regenerate itself.”

The maid thought for a moment. “I don\'t know any animal that can do that, but there were some humans they tried to do that with. They all went mad after awhile, though. Something about some hormone that drove them to be exceedingly violent or something like that.”

Naya had a hunch. “Were they all male?” When Lupe nodded affirmatively, Naya held Annette\'s hand a bit tighter. “Now I know why they want to watch you so closely. It seems testosterone doesn\'t mix well with the serum.”

“I\'m just glad they didn\'t use it on another woman,” the reporter said. “Could you imagine what a room full of super-strong, pissed off women having their period at the same time would be like?”

Lupe blanched, then giggled. Naya just rolled her eyes. “It would take you to think of something like that!”

“Naya...I know I should not be asking this of you, as it is probably well out of the realm of possibility...but I have a request of you and Miss Stanhope.”

“Please, call me Annette! You\'re not our maid, you\'re our friend!”

Naya nodded in agreement. “And we love to help our friends. What can we do for you?”

The maid fidgeted as she tried to word her requests carefully. “Well, there\'s two things, if I may be so bold to ask two favors instead of one. Firsr, I hope you can find some way to close this place. The suffering that goes on here is interminable, and the ones lucky enough to survive are nothing more than animals to be hunted, or slaves made to work long hours for nothing.”

Naya smiled. “Oddly enough, we\'re working on that as we speak. However, I\'m worried about the ones who are not feral; if they are left to their own devices, can they fend for themselves?”

“Yes, we can! We have been using what we\'ve learned to plan for the day when we can care for ourselves. Our hope is to take over this island and live here; as no one else ever comes here, I doubt we\'ll be bothered by anyone.”

“Makes perfect sense to me, especially since I\'m sure the government won\'t want anyone digging up anything here.” Annette beamed a confident smile. “We\'ll do it, Lupe...and if we don\'t, I\'m sure we know someone who will, right Naya?”

The other woman nodded. “In fact, if my message got through, she should be on her way to the Courier in a day or two.”

The reporter\'s eyes widened. “Really? That\'s wonderful! See Lupe? We\'re already on the case!”

Lupe\'s amber eyes were already tearing up before she got the answer she had hoped for, so it was a logical next step for the dam to burst. She rushed to Naya and wrapped her arms around the tall woman, practially knocking Annette out of the way in the process.

“You\'re welcome...?” the blonde said, a hint of sarcasm and a dash of jealousy added for good measure.

Naya waved off her partner\'s look of protest. Once the maid composed herself, Naya asked, “So...what was the second request?”

“When you leave...when you both leave...can you take me with you?” Before either one could protest, Lupe was already listing the pros and cons of such a request. “Now, I know someone like me would be very hard to hide in public, so I\'d work for you, Naya, as your maid! I\'ll clean your house, cook your meals, and take care of you in any way possible!”

Annette cut her off. “Hold on a minute! Have you seen her place? Dust is afraid to go there! You\'d have nothing to clean...she eats mostly fast food, too! As for the \'taking care of her part\', well...” She roughly grabbed Naya by the waist and kissed her forcibly on the lips, as if to burn her seal on them. “I think I\'ve got that covered!”

Lupe\'s fox-ears drooped as her face folded into a frown. “Oh...” Then she took another look at Annette\'s position with Naya—and remembered the kiss. “Oh!! I\'m so sorry, Miss Annette! I did not mean to come between you two!”

“Don\'t mind her, Lupe,” Naya said with a chuckle. “We\'re new at this, so she hasn\'t had a chance to mark her territory yet...right, dear?”

Annette relaxed her hold on her girlfriend, but just enough to keep one hand gently on her waist.

“But I do have a better idea...since my place is empty, and I\'ll be staying with Annette, you can stay there. And since it\'s in the Village, I\'d doubt anyone would give you a hard time.” Naya looked at Annette with a smirk. “I think she\'d be better off working at our apartment, seeing as it really does need professional maintenance.”

“Well, that is a good idea...hey! What are you trying to infer, here?”

Lupe took the reporter\'s free hand. “Please, Miss Annette...let me work for you? I won\'t cause a problem, and I\'ll keep your place spotless and make wonderful meals for you both! Please!”

The blonde fought hard not to, but there was just no turning down an offer like that. “Fine, you can come!” Lupe was about to throw herself at Naya again, but Annette stepped in the way. “Hey! Hands off! That\'s the first rule, okay?”

“Yes, Ma\'am—I mean, yes, Miss Annette!!” The redhead bowed and stepped backwards towards the door. “Thank you both, and enjoy your breakfast!” She closed the door behind her, but the squeal of happiness she let out was still loud enough be heard across the island.

“She\'s a nice girl, Naya...she must have been fun to train back in the day...Naya?”

The white-haired woman was staring at her with an odd expression, and two fingers pressed to her lips.

“What is it, Naya?”

“You kissed me.”

Annette looked at the other woman in shock. “I did?? When did I do that?”

“Oh, about ten lines of dialogue ago. Think back a couple minutes.”

The shorter woman did as she was told, and came to a startling revelation. “I...I did, didn\'t I?”

Naya\'s lips curled into a pout. “It\'s bad enough you don\'t remember our first kiss...it\'s even worse that you didn\'t even do it right.”

“I\'m...I\'m so sorry, Naya! Please, let me make it up to you!”

“You\'d better...\'cause you have a lot of making up to do!” She let Annette kiss her again, much more tenderly this time. Soon she began to laugh into the kiss, and the blonde slapped her upside the back of the head.

“Knock it off...I\'m trying to make this memorable!”

“Oh yeah,” Naya said with a wide grin. “I\'ll definitely remember this!”

- - - - -

Capt. Armbrister pulled into the parking lot of the Water Street Power Plant which doubled as a sattelite base of operations for The Zoo. Upon entering his office, he was met by Cortez, who had been chatting with the receptionist. “What is the meaning of this?” he barked.

“That depends,” the tall man answered, excusing himself from the woman as the front desk. “Let\'s go into your office and discuss the matter. I doubt it would be fit for some ears to hear.”

Armbrister bit his tongue, then stared at his secretary. “No calls, no anything until I come out, you hear me?”

“Y-y-yes sir!”

The two men went into the room, and the captain slammed the door shut, nearly jarring his nameplate right out of its bindings.

“I\'ll only ask you this once again,” the captain said with a scowl. “Where are my daughters?”

Cortez was unfazed by Armbrister\'s bluster. “I\'m sure you don\'t really need me to tell you where, do you?”

“If you think I\'m gonna sit here and let my girls be guinea pigs for those experiments, you\'ve got another thought coming!”

“So, it\'s fine when it\'s someone else\'s kids or pets, but it\'s suddenly a horrible thing when your own daughters are involved, isn\'t it?”

“Get them out of there right now, Cortez...or so help me I\'ll--”

“You\'ll what?” the other man interrupted. “Send me to Camp Hero? I\'ve already been there, remember? Me and my sister...only I came out alive, which is more than I can say for her...thanks to you!”

Armbrister just stared at the man, dumbfounded. “What the hell are you talking about, Cortez? You were never a subject at Camp Hero!”

“No, but I\'ve been there many times, gathering the garbage your people couldn\'t keep to yourselves. Doing your dirty work...until I found some information that pissed me off. You didn\'t know I had a sister, did you?”

“No, and why should I care?”

The captain\'s flippant atitude only served to enrage Cortez. “For the same damn reason you should care about your daughters, you heartless bastard!” He was an inch from tearing the other man\'s head off, but he wanted him to know the hell that awaited him first. “My sister died at the hands of your researchers, Armbrister...at the hands of Naya Attaturk!”

“Then why aren\'t you out to kill her? Why are you taking your revenge on me?”

“Because she isn\'t at fault...YOU ARE!” Without warning, Cortez moved across the room and landed a punch squarely on Armbrister\'s jaw, sending the man crashing into a library cabinet. “She was trying to HELP her, but you and your cronies rushed her, and your impatience killed my sister!”

“You\'re mad, Cortez!! Completely insane! I have no idea of what you\'re talking about!”

“That\'s because you always thought of those horrendous experiments in terms of military successes and failures; you never thought of the people—the children—involved!”

Armbrister found his footing and stood, leaning against his desk and staring right back at Cortez. “That\'s all that mattered...you know better than anyone else that we\'re in the results business. Failure is never an option, and neither is attachment! As far as your so-called sister goes, we have no record of her being here at all, much less her being killed by us!”

“Ah, but you do, dear captain!” Cortez reached under his black military jacket and pulled out a folder marked “CONFIDENTIAL”, with “1985” written on a tab. “Does this look familiar to you at all? Or is denial and debunk the rule at The Zoo?”

Armbrister took a casual glance at the top of the folder. “I\'ve never seen that before in my life. We in the upper ranks never see any of the paperwork. We have other people who handle that. So even if you show me a moutain of evidence, I can\'t confirm having anything to do with any of it.”

“That\'s a nice little system you have there,” Cortez said coldly. “Makes all of you inexcusable and irresponsible for anything that goes on...legally. But I\'m holding you responsible, because I know for certain that you had something to do with it! I know you were there, Armbrister, and I know you gave the order for the kitten and her team to rush the serum. You want to know how I know all of this?”

The captain stood and smiled smugly. “Being that you can\'t prove a word of it, why not? How do you think you know about all this, Cortez?”

“Because you sent me to get rid of the kitten yourself. That\'s why!” Cortez opened the folder and pulled out a sheet of information which had a picture of a little girl with black hair and shining black eyes on it. “This was my sister Diana. She was only five years old when she was abducted from our family. We agonized for years as the police searched for her, only to come up with nothing. They gave up after three years, but I never did. I swore I would find her, and I did everything in my power to do so; getting good grades, joining the military out of college, excelling enough to join the SEALs...even getting my own special team. All this, and I still couldn\'t find her...until you sent me after Naya Attaturk. The more I looked her up, the more I connected to her partner, Annette Stanhope.”

“Who the hell is that? Never heard of her...”

Cortez scoffed at the captain\'s ignorance. “Of course you haven\'t...she was yet another experiment. Another abducted child thought long missing, only to end up on someone else\'s front door years later. I did some checking into her background, trying to find out what connection she had with the kitten. Imagine my surprise when I found out she was involved in the same experiment...only she lived!”

“What?? That\'s impossible! None of the children from that experiment lived!”

Cortez smiled. “And you know this...how, captain?”

Armbrister flushed then banged his fist on the desk. “That\'s none of your damn business! You still can\'t pin any of this on me!”

“Actually, I can. You see, I spoke to the kitten myself, in person.”

“What? You caught her? Why didn\'t you tell me sooner?”

“As you can see,” Cortez said with a smirk, “I have my reasons. There were some loose ends I needed to have tied, so with a little help from the son of an old friend of yours, I watched as she and her friend found the information for me. Once Attaturk told Stanhope what she had done, and when she had done it, I just put two and two together. And if you\'re still wondering how this all ties directly to you, look at the bottom of the page with my sister\'s picture...the name next to the line marked \'Project Director\'...look familiar?”

The captain looked at the page incredulously. “I didn\'t write this! Yes, it\'s my handwriting, but...I...I didn\'t write this!!”

“Tell it to the judge, captain. Oh, and don\'t bother destroying the file. I\'m sure that\'s one of the things Naya gave to who ever it was she had to get the story out to. I also took the liberty to make copies of everything. One way or another, Camp Hero and Plum Island will be shut down for good...but before that happens, I suggest you get a couple of matching litter boxes for your home...provided your daughters survive what the younger Tesla has in mind for them.”

Armbrister gripped the desk so hard, it threatened to buckle underneath him. “Tesla...he\'s nothing like his father! I\'ll kill him myself if I have to!”

“You might want to hurry,” Cortez said as he left the room. “I hear he gets pretty excited when he gets new toys to play with!”

As the sergeant closed the door behind him, Armbrister grabbed the folder and tossed it across the room, then he overturned his desk, caring not about any damage it caused.

“Sir...I know you said you didn\'t want to accept any calls, but the Overseer\'s on the line...and he\'s quite upset about--”

The sound in the speaker cut out, and the large screen in the room descended, seemingly on its own. Soon the image of a very annoyed man stared menacingly at the captain. “I hope you didn\'t have me on hold so you could redecorate your room, Armbrister...I want a status report on the target, and I want it now!”

“Sir, the target is in custody. As far as I know, she is either at Camp Hero, or Plum Island. Either way we have her, sir.”

The man on the screen was about to pop a nerve. “Let me get this straight—you have her, but you don\'t know where? Try again, Armbrister, and this time make some damn sense!”

If the truth did indeed set one free, Armbrister was going to see if he could pull a \'get out of hell free\' card out of the deck. “Sir...I sent the Control Squad to retrieve her, which they did...but it seems they\'ve collaborated and gone rogue. They are attempting to compromise the security of The Zoo. For the sake of all concerned, sir, I suggest we scrap the site altogether and relocate.”

“Damn it, so much for using her now,” the man on the screen sighed. “Tesla predicted this would happen...it\'s a good thing we already have a backup plan in place. Inform all parties concerned that, effective immediately, we\'re moving to Kansas. Details will follow. Camp Hero is to be converted into a secured national park, and Plum Island is to remain off limits due to...whatever. Think of some biological disaster that would keep people away from there. All operations are to cease immediately—and tell that little pipsqueak of Tesla\'s to report to my office ASAP.”

“What about the...subjects...that are still roaming free on Plum Island, Sir?”

“Without food, they\'ll kill each other off. Less work for us...less attention for the rest of the world. Get moving!”

The screen darkened in seconds, and returned to its customary roost in the ceiling.

Armbrister heaved a huge sigh of relief, then left the office and headed to Camp Hero.

“Sir,” his secretary said as he went by. “What\'s going on?”

“We\'re moving. Have everything sent to Manhattan, Kansas...including yourself.” With that, Armbrister was gone.

- - - - -

 

[End notes:

In case anyone's wondering why I chose Manhattan, Kansas as the relocation spot...do a Wiki search of the Montauk Project or Camp Hero--if you haven't done so already.  There's more going on out there than college basketball and corn-husking, believe me!

Read and review...or just enjoy!  Almost done!

Until next time..."So long..and thanks for all the fish!"

]

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