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Chapter -11- Breadcrumbs

Tuesday, July 20, 2049 - 9:05am San Francisco, California ...

Conner Parker sat up in bed. On his left, Sinopa Guillot had her hands on her hips. On his right, Karla Loupe stood with her arms folded. He looked from one to the other then frowned. "How the hell ... heck did you two get in my room?"

Karla tilted her head and furrowed her brows at him.

Sinopa sighed and pointed to the mirror hanging on the wall above his bureau. "Surely you know if you can pass through to visit Tamamo-sama, we can also pass through. I have a number of issues to speak of, including your scandalous behavior with my sensei; also you running off without telling anyone where you are. Not to mention you've left Reno Nevada undefended. This is unacceptable behavior. However, I will not attack you over these things, especially while you're in bed, having just risen. No, we will speak upon these things as adults when the time is proper."

"After breakfast?" he asked with a weak smile.

Karla shrugged. "We came from Paris. It's five in the afternoon there. We're ready for dinner."

The kitsune pursed her lips for a moment. The admonishing gaze caused Conner to frown. He sat up in bed wearing a t-shirt and boxers, cutting his eyes from left to right and back.

Sinopa narrowed her golden gaze somewhat. "Young man, you know I did not want to come back to this city after what happened to my husband of over two decades. You knew I would find you. Conner, be more considerate in the future."

Conner threw his hands up in defeat. "You lied to me about who you are my whole life. My own father did the same thing. And you guys expect me to just fall in line like a good little soldier? I've learned not to trust anyone but myself. I follow my gut from here on out. I'm not angry - I understand why you guys did what you did. But you treat me like a child. I've learned how to break a person's neck, and practiced this technique on mannequins. I've learned how to dodge bullets, stich a gunshot wound on dead pigs for practice ... I learned things kids shouldn't have to learn. I was brought up to be a survivor. This qualifies me as more mature than the average fifteen year old. Plus, you two expect me to treat you a certain way - the whole 'respect your elders' routine. Well, Karla looks my age, and you, Sinopa, look like you're the one that buy's beer for the group."

"Conner..."

"I'm not finished. This is the most important part. You kept a secret from me for fourteen years. Where were you going to tell me? Did it get easier to keep the lie going with every passing year? Well guess what? You didn't tell me, I found out from someone else. Now I'll never know if you're going to lie to me 'for the sake of the greater good,' or whatever you tell yourself is your reason for doing it."

"Conner, kudasai..."

"Don't you get it? You've done it all my life. Why would you stop now? If you think a lie will protect me, you'll do it - tell me I'm wrong. Tell me why I should think otherwise? Look at this from my side, Sinopa ... I barely knew you. My first real experience with you is that you lied about your identity. That's all I know about you so far. So cut me some slack. I'm not trying to be rude, but you need to know that I don't take disrespect very well. I won't stand for it. And right now, you haven't done much to earn my trust."

Sinopa looked over, across the mattress, to Karla with a frown. "Oh dear."

The succubus sighed. "Look, bud. Just because you're sleeping with her boss, you don't automatically get the right to talk to her any certain way."

"Karla!" hissed Sinopa.

"You need to have some more 'yes ma'am' action in your words, pal. I'm about a hundred years older than Sinopa, but she's a demi-god. So guess what? She has my respect. When she raises her voice to me, I stiffen up, straighten my back, and give her my respect."

Sinopa sighed and ran her hands up over her face then tugged on her red bangs in frustration. "Conner, if you want to know what's going on, I will tell you. Everyone is gone. My beloved family members are dead or missing. We went to Louisiana the other day, gathered the last of my belongings, and put all of my possessions of sentiment into celestial storage. Then we went to Chicago, Illinois. We could not find Fara Watson, nor her husband. We could not find their son, James Parker. He is the half-brother of my children. He has Jonathan's ability. He would be about twenty-six by now, and we could use his help desperately. So far, we cannot find any help. If we are to be successful in rescuing our loved ones, we will need a competent, mature team. I dread the possibility that such may never happen."

Conner tilted his head. "Are you finished?"

"Hey!" Karla snapped.

"Whoa, chill out." Conner held his hand up, palm out, to show Karla a defensive posture. "You wanted my respect. I let her finish without interruption, okay? What? You didn't think I notice that you cut people off all the time?" He made eye contact with Karla and they had a stare down.

No one spoke.

After a moment, he said, "I wanted to make sure she had nothing else to say on the matter before I tell her ... before I tell you both that Uncle Jaye and his girlfriend are here in the guest wing. They're safe, they're good people, and they aren't judgmental. They are smart, they ask questions, and they're both useful and competent. However, Uncle Jaye never learned the Parker traits and abilities."

"What?" Karla blinked.

"That's right, he has no idea about supernatural people. Instead, he discovered them by accident. Now, I'm not saying he's useless to the cause. I'm just saying I need to take him to the island and get him ready. Without my mother here to keep us on track and keep us from learning the wrong way to do something, it's going to take some time."

Sinopa sat down on the mattress and placed a hand upon his knee. "Earlier, I said 'oh dear' because I realized you felt disrespected and out of the loop. I understand respect is a two-way street. I am Japanese; I live and breathe the language of respect. I assure you we will work out our differences by keeping communication open. Now, you said James is here? I would like to introduce myself to him."

"Whoa, hold up. He's already a little freaked out about everyone missing. And I jumped the gun by trying to call Tamamo on the mirror the other day. She didn't show and they think I'm nuts. We can't just teleport them around the house and call it 'proof.' I don't need them going home and sucking their thumb. We need to ease them into this."

Karla stuck her tongue out at Conner but he didn't respond to it.

Sinopa folded her hands and, in a polite tone, asked, "What do you suggest, Conner-kun?"

"Let me take him to the island. I have Tamamo watching and you're just a mirror-hop away. I promise I won't get into trouble. I just need to prove I can stand on my own two feet. Plus, I'll have my uncle with me. You're so worried I'm not mature enough to handle myself in the big bad world. Well, he's eleven years my senior, and his girlfriend can come with us, too. I'm the last trained Parker left, so it's my island, now. I say she can come."

Karla and Sinopa suddenly vanished from the bedroom. Conner blinked. He slid out of bed and walked to his door but heard them in the hallway. He leaned his ear against the door and listened.

Muffled through the doorframe, he heard Karla say, "He'll be safe on the island, Sinopa. We can focus on looking for more candidates for this team without having to worry whether or not Falcon's people will come for him. If he really is the 'chosen one' then we need to keep an eye on him. We can't go gallivanting around and looking for people if we have to keep glancing over our shoulder to make sure he's okay. The island is a fortress, nobody knows where it's at, and he needs to work with this other guy."

Sinopa's voice sounded fading, as though she was walking down the hall away from Conner's room. "Hai, Karla-san. However logical it is, I struggle with it because I am over-protective. He is the last of my bloodline that I know to be breathing. I'm terrified to leave him alone."

"C'mon, Red. He'll be safer there than Paris. You and I might have targets on your asses, but we can protect ourselves. It's best to keep him hidden. The boy had a great idea, let's roll with it."

Sinopa's voice changed. It sounded as though she was pacing back towards Conner's room and grew in tone as she neared. "I do not disagree with you. He most certainly is safe. All the requirements are met. Safety, location, adult supervision."

"So what's the hold up?"

"My 'wall' is emotional. I finally have my grandson in my life. I just saw my husband executed by gunshots to the head. I am still grieving! I haven't had enough time for mourning! And now we are slung back into this nonsense. I begged Topaz and Fox and Jules to be a big part of his life, and they said no. I trusted their judgment, but now Conner blames me! I finally have my grandson in my life and all I want to do is protect him. Let us go back into his room and speak to him as an adult. He craves to feel like a man. I will give him that courtesy."

"Yeah, benefit of the doubt stuff, huh?"

Conner ran on the balls of his feet, dove back into his bed, and slid his legs under the covers. He propped himself up against the pillows and folded his arms, as though he'd never moved.

The door knob of his room jiggled. A second later, Karla and Sinopa appeared in the bedroom, in front of the locked door, facing the bed.

Karla smirked. "You locked your door huh?"

"There's a female in the house. I sleep in my boxers. It's a privacy thing." Conner smirked, adding, "I lift the seat when I pee, and I even flush after I'm done."

Karla rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her amusement. "You put it back down afterwards, right?"

"I put the lid down, too. If I have to lift the lid the girl should have to, too. If she wants to drop down and sit on the lid in the middle of the night, that's her problem. My sister did that once. I was pretty young. She dropped down and sat on the closed lid, half asleep, and cussed up a storm about it. So I did what any younger brother would have done. I made sure to put the lid down every-single-time since then, hoping for the same result."

"You're a piece of work. But at least you lift the lid, kid."

"I was well trained by a woman who doesn't take shit from anyone." He frowned and looked back at Sinopa then, quietly, corrected himself. "I meant 'crap.' Sorry."

Sinopa replied with a thin smile, glad for his courteous correction.

Karla turned to Sinopa with a shrug. In a lowered tone, she said, "At least he's not one of those guys that pees in the sink."

Sinopa turned back to Karla and whispered, "That we know of."

"True."

Conner cleared his throat. "I can hear you both just fine. Just saying. Who the hell pees in a sink? Are they not housetrained?"

Karla shrugged. "I've seen guys do it. They're weird. I'd rather they go outside and pee in a bush than in the sink where I ... why on earth are we even talking about this?" She glanced at Sinopa with a frown. "He distracted me."

Sinopa closed her eyes. "Obviously, Karla-san." She glanced back at Conner then moved back besides the bed and sat down on it. "So you listened to us in the hall?"

"What makes you ask that?"

Sinopa offered a wan smile. "The blanket was quickly pulled taut. The wrinkles left in it where I sat on it earlier - they were gone. I assume it's because you dashed across your bed when you heard us coming back. You wanted to fix the covers so we would think you didn't just dash across your bed. You fixed them a little too well."

Conner eyed her for a moment then smiled. "Perceptive."

"Hai. I was married to a Master Thief. I raised two Master Thief children. I know all the tricks. And just so we are clear, my dear, you cannot trick a Master Trickster. I am a fox. We are the greatest tricksters in the world. Jonathan's tricks were told about in newspapers. The tricks of my people were written about as lore and mythology and stand the test of time in Japan."

Their eyes met. Conner's lips tugged into a grin at the corners. His expression melted into a sly smile.

She returned the smile and smoothed her kimono with her left palm. "Truce?"

"Okay, truce. But I don't want Karla telling me what to do. She's pushy and she's a know-it-all."

"Why, you little..."

"See?" Conner smirked. He swiveled his head back towards the succubus. "Yes, I did things with Tamamo. Yes, you guessed right. But nobody likes a know-it-all. Just because you're some five-hundred-year-old sexual savant doesn't mean you can dictate my life and my romance."

"Okay, okay," said the blond with a roll of her eyes. "Slow down, champ."

"Now you're being condescending."

"God, I didn't realize you were so sensitive, kid!"

"Still condescending."

Karla threw her hands up. "I'm not a sexual savant. And you're not the first person to say that about me. Why is it always that term? Is it the alliteration? Look, I'm a sexual clusterfuck. I bang, I get hyper, and I get silly. Hormones go nuts. My idea of seduction is, 'Hey, you. Yes, you, let's go back to my place. Or your place. I don't care. Let's get it on.' And it works on most guys. If it doesn't, I try another. That's not being a sexual savant. I don't charm people with a tender touch and a whispered word. There. There's your alliteration. Get 'sexual savant' out of your head - that doesn't describe me. You got it? It's a compliment, I get it. But it doesn't work, so I don't feel complimented. If anything, it's a reminder of the potential I never lived up to."

Conner reached up and folded his hands behind his head, leaning against his headboard. "Now who's being sensitive?"

The succubus gawked at him. "I was just telling Sinopa, out in the hallway, that you should be able to go to that island and that you're mature enough to be out there without us."

"Oh, don't try and act like we're buddies," he snapped in reply. "You weren't doing me a favor. Sinopa came to the same conclusion. She was just slow to agree. And I can't blame her. At least it shows she cares about me. I can appreciate that."

Sinopa placed her hand on his knee again. "Conner, please."

He frowned. "Watashi..."

Karla immediately interrupted him. "I know enough Japanese phrasings that you can't talk about me behind my back. If you want to talk to her in private, be a man and ask me to step outside of your bedroom. Don't try to bitch about me in front of my face."

Sinopa closed her eyes and gave her grandson's knee a firm pat. "Take James to the island."

"I will. And what about you and your little friend with the attitude?" he asked, side-nodding to Karla.

Sinopa frowned. "The two of you need to be separated for now. You are both thoughtful, passionate and intelligent. But you are like oil and water at the moment."

"I'm the oil," Karla said, "because I'm on top of your games, boy."

Conner replied with a higher-pitched mimic. "I'm on top of your games, boy!"

Sinopa raised her voice. "BOTH of you, stop! Now! I will not tolerate this insufferable childishness one moment longer!"

The room grew quiet.

Karla looked away. "Geeze, ma, you didn't need to holler. We're right here."

Sinopa slid off the bed and began pacing again. "I now see why you two fight."

"Because," Karla said, "we're oil and water like you just said."

"Iie, Karla-san." The kitsune's tails brushed the bedroom floor as she stalked, pacing in frustration. "It is because you are both exactly the same. And because the fact that you are both upset with yourselves, and you blame yourselves for everything that has gone wrong, you are both subconsciously angry at yourselves. Because you remind each other of your own selves, you take your frustration out on one another. This childishness needs to stop. We must learn how to work together if we are to survive together." The kitsune walked to the mirror, facing it.

Karla turned to Conner. Conner looked up at Karla. They both whispered in unison to one another. "She told you." They narrowed their eyes together. "Fuck you," they added in harmony. Both glowered. In an off-sync reply gesture, they stuck their tongues out at the other. Conner drew his back in and pursed his lips together. Karla kept her tongue out then grinned as though victorious.

Sinopa shook her head, watching them in the reflection. "I'm returning to Paris, with or without you, Karla-chan."

"That's my ride, kid. Behave." Karla vanished then reappeared at Sinopa's side. Then she disappeared once more, only to reappear standing on his dresser. She reached down for Sinopa's hand. Using telekinesis, she levitated Sinopa until the kitsune stood even with the dresser surface.

At this angle, Conner could see her four tails beneath her kimono. The kitsune ducked a bit and stepped forward through the mirror mounted to the wall, careful to lift her foot over the frame in a graceful fashion.

"Goober." Karla grinned back at him then followed Sinopa through. The mirror warbled like water, with ripples emanating at the center. It faded back to a normal reflection.

"God that's going to give me a complex about mirrors, I swear." He stared at it for a moment to make sure they weren't looking back at him. He slid out of his bed then went to his closet. Conner withdrew his bathrobe and draped it over the mirror, stuffing the sleeves over the top of the frame where it was mounted to the wall. Mostly covered, he opened his dresser drawers and took out fresh clothes then kicked off his boxers.

He paused, half expecting to hear Karla say something snarky.

Silence.

He used his boxers to cover the last little corner of the mirror, stuffing the fabric between the mirror and the wall, and holding it in place with part of the robe. Satisfied all was in order, he got dressed in sweat pants and carried his fresh clothes down the hallway to the bathroom for a shower.

In the bathroom, he opened each section of the long mirror so that all the panels were open. Satisfied he couldn't see any reflective surfaces, he turned on the faucet to let it heat up and put his clothes on the sink counter. Conner retrieved a bath towel from the linen closet, glanced back at the open mirror one more time, then got undressed and into the shower.

X

X

July 20, 2049 - unknown time Beneath the Atlantic Ocean ...

Topaz Nevada held her hands out to steady herself. She looked around the street then back towards several buildings in the distance at the center of the city. "What the hell was that?" Again the city trembled beneath her feet. Skyscrapers at the center of town swayed as though they were designed for it.

After a few seconds, people began filing out of buildings and standing around on the streets in groups.

Topaz pinched the bridge of her nose. "Christ they're evacuating just about every structure taller than two stories that I can see."

"You! Lady! You look in shape; can you lift?"

Topaz turned around to an out-of-place man in a lab coat. She blinked at him in confusion until he asked his question a second time, to which she replied, "Yeah. I can do one-handed pull-ups. Why?"

"We have a woman trapped - my coworker." He glanced down the length of the road then back at Topaz. "And with people in the streets, we may not get the help we need in time. Follow me."

The man, over fifty and with a crowning hairline, like Caesar's circlet, led her into a simplistic building nearby. He opened a door leading to a short staircase. The room opened up to a wall with side-by-side elevators. He took her to a staircase instead and they rushed down them.

Topaz was careful not to show off her graceful abilities, and simply followed at a matching pace. At the bottom of the staircase, three stories down, they arrived in a well-lit laboratory.

"I'm probably going to get chewed out for bringing a civilian down here but we can't just let her die. Over here."

"I can keep a secret," Topaz replied, following him around a row of computers in the middle of the room. She saw, at the far end, a large terminal bolted to the far wall had broken away from its fastenings and was lying across a woman's lower body.

The woman had tears on her face, and her forehead glistened with sweat. Of the three other technicians in lab coats, all four men were fairly old and greying. The woman appeared in her early fifties but with a face that appeared somewhat younger than her hands. One of the men was using a fireman's axe from a nearby wall as leverage to take some of the weight off of the woman's body.

Topaz looked around herself, assessing the situation. She frowned then nodded decisively. Nevada lifted her right index. "Wait here." She hurried back to the glass case on the wall where the axe had come from, and drew the fire hose from a hook. She hurried it back and began pushing the flat hose beneath the far end of the fallen server. "Okay, if there's enough water pressure, than when we turn this hose on, it will get thick. That will take off some pressure, and, if we're lucky, we can use it to help shift the weight of this thing. But it could also be dangerous to move this."

The woman beneath the computer server looked up with wide eyes. "What? Dangerous how? It hurts!"

"If your leg was crushed, then that thing might be all that's stopping you from bleeding out."

The woman swallowed. "In the first aid kit, we have a powder we put on wounds that seals them. We could just..."

"It doesn't matter if you bleed out externally or internally. Blood doesn't do you a damned bit of good unless it stays in your veins and arteries."

"Please. Please help me. It hurts," she pleaded.

Topaz bit her lower lip. She looked away from the woman for a moment then back at her. "Okay." Nevada leaned down and looked at the bottom section of the server, where it was still connected to the twisted metal clamps six inches from the floor. "It looks like it broke from mounts on the wall up top, but not the lower ones. Use that axe to break the mounts at the bottom, then we'll try and roll this whole damn thing off of her. Are there any more axes?"

"I don't think so," said the man who brought Topaz down from the surface.

"Of course not," Nevada said with a sigh. She hurried back to the base of the fire hose and cranked a metal wheel. The hose began to expand. Topaz went back to the group and withdrew the axe from the man holding it. She lifted it then brought it down, breaking a bracket at ankle height. She went around to the other side of the server unit and broke the other with the blade then wedged the handle down beneath the large machine. "Someone who isn't tired from all of this excitement, I need a second set of hands."

One of the men moved around adjacent to Topaz. They each grabbed a section of the metal 'T' at the top of the axe, and pushed down and forward, then they both shifted it and lifted it.

With Topaz directing the movement, they managed to get the weight so that it moved to a corner of the large server. "Now we're going to pivot it on that corner, and shift it. Follow my lead." She grunted and began to push firmly. A few inches into the maneuver, she said, "Okay, someone replace this guy."

The adjacent started to object at being replaced.

Topaz cut a glare at him; they all looked alike to her. "Don't get your manhood in a bunch. I need someone whose palms are not sweating so this axe doesn't slip."

"But what can I do?" he demanded, releasing his end of the axe.

Paz drew a deep breath through her nose to keep herself calm. "You grab her hand and get ready to pull her out. You've got the adrenaline going now that you've been straining. Use it to pull her free. Now rotate your jobs. Do it."

Another man took his place holding the axe, next to Topaz, one with the sweaty palms got down besides the woman and took her left hand. The other two men moved adjacent to the trapped woman. One took her right hand, the other grappled with her lab coat.

Again, she couldn't get it out of her head that these men looked the same to her. Sure, one had a notch in his nose, the other had bright eyes, one had dark hair, and another was blondish grey. But, really, they were just drones of the city to her. She didn't even want to know their names, lest she'd mix them up further.

"And, all together - one, two, three." Topaz shifted again, inching the large machine in a pivot. The other three men began pulling on the injured woman's wrist as directed. "Make it quick, boys, the handle is starting to crack!"

The three men pulled their coworker free from beneath the server all at once, leaving a trail of blood from her leg across the tile floor.

Nevada expected the fire axe handle to give out but it continued to hold. She ground her molars together. "Are the drives on this thing really important?"

"Yes," said the woman, breathlessly. "I put myself beneath that when it started to fall. That's how protective I am of my work. It's better I die to protect what is on those drives than for them to be damaged."

Paz groaned, "Christ, are you serious?" She inched away from the machine, opening up her stance. "Okay, down easy. Little by little. Almost there." She glanced over her shoulder at the others. "One of you turn off the water or you're going to have a puddle when this beast crushes the hose."

The injured woman sounded alarmed. She looked up at the men and, in a commanding tone, ordered, "Do it."

One of the men hurried back to the base of the hose at the far wall and cut the wheel back. The hose softened slightly. Another one of the men snagged the nozzle and pushed it into a wall vent then discharged the water into the ventilation ductwork. Minimal water ran down the wall, leaving only the slightest bit of a puddle on the floor.

Topaz and the other man at her side managed to get the server lying flat on the tiles without breaking the axe handle. She lifted it up and showed it to everyone in the room. The shaft was cracked and slightly bent. "Be glad this wasn't made out of wood."

"Thank you so much for helping me," said the woman, lying on the floor.

One of the men worked to split the fabric of her pants. He worked diligently, addressing the woman's wound with a medical kit.

"Now what?" asked the man with the gray hair that had flagged her down outside.

"We shouldn't move her."

The woman's eyes glistened. "If emergency services sees me injured, in passing, they're more likely to stop and help. Please, let's get to the surface. These quakes worry me, being underground."

Topaz sighed dramatically. "Fine." She gestured to the men. "C'mon, boys. Let's get her upstairs," said Topaz, adding, "What is this place anyway?"

"You probably shouldn't be down here but we needed help," said the man with the crowning hairline.

Topaz shrugged and looked around. Her eyes fell on something that caught her attention on the south wall. A sign leading to a hallway read, "Cryogenic Research and Stasis Monitoring; Charlie lab; secondary offices." She stared at the sign, unable to believe her luck. She glanced back at the server and, for the first time, noticed it had a reflective back panel, which was the section that originally faced the wall. She looked back at the sign leading to the hallway on the back wall.

"Miss?"

Nevada coughed into her hand and glanced back at the group. "Let's get everyone upstairs. When emergency responders show up, we'll need to flag them down to let them now we have a situation. Look, I was never here. Nobody has to lose their jobs or get chewed out or whatever. C'mon, let's get upstairs."

"How should we move her?"

Topaz looked the woman over, noticing a belt wrapped around her leg as a tourniquet. She looked back at the four men. "Everyone take off your lab coats. We'll tightly tie the sleeves together where they meet the body of the coat. Then each of us will take one of the four free sleeves. That's how we'll carry her."

Topaz worked quickly to tie the coats together. She laid them on the floor and helped the woman scoot onto them. "Okay guys. Let's move." Nevada took the sleeve beneath the woman's good leg. The others grabbed sleeves with the odd-man-out left to get the door. The group helped Topaz to carry the injured lady to the stairs. They made their way through the door and took the steps carefully, supporting the woman's weight evenly. The man holding the door came up last and put his hands beneath the woman's neck and shoulders to help support more of her weight.

Nevada grunted. All six of them continued up the steps, pacing themselves. She huffed through her nose. "I wish we had a better way to move you but, if we have another quake, well, I guess you're right - I'd rather not be down there, either. What the hell was that anyhow?"

The woman sighed. "Nothing to worry about, actually. A few years ago, we drilled into the sea floor. It's important to the science that we're down here to study. Anyhow, the quake was seismic activity transferred from the ocean floor right into the super structure of the dome. We always knew this sort of thing would eventually happen. I'll be more interested in hearing what the seismic rating was for the quake. What should I call you young lady? I owe you."

"No, you don't owe me anything. My name is Krys," she lied. "Just a little more to go."

Before long the group made it to the top floor and approached the front entrance. Topaz gently eased the woman's leg down slightly, grabbed the door and held it open. "Age before beauty," she said with a sly grin, in consideration that the forty-nine year old thief appeared far younger due to her tone athletic shape.

The fourth man came around and took Topaz's sleeve, helping to carry the injured woman through the door, gingerly. Paz added, "I have to go and check on my family, good luck with your leg, lady."

Nevada reached into her pants pocket, withdrew a credit card, and guided the door shut, sliding the card in place over the sensor. The door clicked shut in its frame but didn't lock.

Paz walked out into the street and flagged an ambulance two blocks up. It turned at the intersection and headed towards them. She grinned and turned back to the group. "That was easier than calling a taxi back in the old days on the surface."

Her joke garnished weak chuckles from the others. "Feel better, miss. Everyone take care of yourselves." Topaz waved to them and headed back towards the apartment complex.

Five minutes later, Topaz reached her temporary address. She hurried into the building and made her way up to the apartment. Fox was hunched over a television watching the news about the quake.

"Paz! You're okay, good! That was actually a really, really bad earthquake. You okay?"

"I'm better than okay. Get your shoes on. We've gotta move quickly." She looked around then added, "Vincent is still at work?"

"Yeah. He's off in a few hours. Thanks to the quake, he'll be an hour later than usual." Fox turned off the TV and pulled his shoes on. "What did you find?"

"A fucking science lab found me."

"What?"

"The lab found me, Fox. I'll explain it later. Let's go. Our window is really small, here."

He followed her out the door. "What'd you find hon?"

They made their way down to the ground level and down the street at a brisk pace. "I saw something I'm not supposed to have seen. It's a lot easier to just show you."

"We've been down here a while. You found something at random because of a quake?"

"The rear panel of this server is reflective and it was mounted to the wall."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think Tamamo-no-Mae pushed it away from the wall or something. It's the only thing I can think of. It had to be her. She must have somehow knew I was nearby. It's the only thing that makes sense, because fate and coincidence never give me freebies like this."

"What happened, Topaz?"

She led Fox back the way she'd come, excitement in her voice. "This thing fell away from the wall during the quake and flattened one of the lab techs. The others couldn't get this lady out from beneath it. Four old out-of-shape guys. One of them ran outside to get help and saw me. He panicked and asked for me to help. Shit like this doesn't just happen. This wasn't fate, it was design or something. Or whatever. I'm telling you, it happened too perfectly. C'mon, our window is really small."

She went through an alley and approached a non-descript building. Topaz Nevada opened the door and caught the card she'd slid between it and the frame and grinned at him. "I made it so it wouldn't lock. They left in an ambulance. Let's go." She led him inside the building.

Fox and Topaz headed to the stairs adjacent to the two elevators, down three flights and into a computer server area. Fox gazed about himself, delighted. Parker gave his twin sister a firm slap on the rump. "That's what I'm talking about!"

"Yeah. Wait until you see what's on the back wall. Follow me." She led him down a row of servers and showed him the one on the end, against the far wall. "See? It broke and fell right on her." She came around the server and pointed to the backside that had been up against the wall. "It's not a mirror, but it is reflective."

Fox leaned over and peered at his reflection. "Tamamo? Was that you? Or mom?"

No reply.

Fox shrugged. "Well, who knows? What else did you want to show me, Paz?"

Playfuly, she grasped the front of his pants and pulled him to follow her along the adjacent wall. She pointed her hand up at the sign over a hallway. "What's that say?"

"Cryogenic Research and ... are you serious? Holy shit." Fox moved into the hallway and took point. At the end of the hallway the room opened up with monitors on either side. He looked around then frowned. "Have you been in here?"

"No, I came for you. I didn't want to waste any time. Where are the tubes? I thought they'd be hiding the bodies here."

Fox sighed. "No such luck." He approached a nearby monitor and moved close then read the information on the screen. "Well, this is the next best thing."

"What? How so?"

"They're monitoring the bodies remotely. It proves everyone is here, somewhere, and it proves they're all alive and they're being closely monitored and studied."

"But where?"

"I don't know, Paz. Not yet." Fox walked the row of small fourteen inch displays then stopped in front of a screen near the end of the room. "This one is for Reno Nevada. It says he's 'active status,' but a little further down the monitor it shows he's in 'sleep mode.' What do you think that means?"

Paz shrugged. "Fox, you're the one that does the computer interfacing thing. You tell me."

Parker nodded and placed his hand against the glass monitor. Fox paused then shook his head. He crossed to the other side of the small room and traced his hand against the wall, walking along it.

"What are you doing?"

"There's an interface in this room. But I need to find it. It's close." He continued back up the facing wall then stopped. "Jackpot. They set their portable right here and access it with an NFC..."

"Fox. I don't know what that shit means. Just see what you can find."

"Right, sorry." He leaned against the wall and folded his arms.

"What're you doing?"

"Staying close and rooting around in the system. I'm wirelessly interfacing with their NFC..."

"English, Fox."

"Okay, just gimmie a sec, Paz."

She smirked. "If you find them or find a way to help them, I'll owe you a blowjob."

Fox scoffed with a grin. "I get those anyhow."

"Yeah, well. Then just do it for me."

"Paz, I'll do it just to see you smile."

She turned away to hide a delighted expression. "Would ya now? I love when you're sweet to me."

Fox closed his eyes and leaned against the NFC transponder on the wall. "Hold on. These files aren't in folder trees and they don't have extensions like Windows or Mac. Or even Linux. Falcon's IT people have their own network down here. And this is a Virtual Private Network, so I'm..."

"Fox. I can't see or feel or understand that stuff the way you do. I can't do that. I never had a reason to learn it. I play video games. I use computers to laugh at cats. I eBay. Just find them babe, please."

Fox nodded, keeping his eyes shut and his body leaned up against the wall. After a moment he opened his eyes and nodded. "I don't know where the bodies are kept. But I know where they're controlling Reno."

"What?"

"I think Falcon sent him on purpose to lure everyone out of hiding, and test Vincent's reaction. He's trying to see if Vincent is loyal to him or Reno."

"Vincent didn't run to the surface or anything."

"Well yeah, because he trusted us to take care of it. And we did. He knows Reno is in good hands. Vincent was smart; he didn't give Falcon any reason to distrust him."

"Thank God," she said. "If that asshole did anything to my husband..." She trailed off with a sigh. "Fucking Falcon. As much as I'd love to, it's not like I could hurt him."

"Paz..."

"So what did you mean by 'controlling Reno.' He's not on Falcon's side or anything is he?" She frowned, adding, "He's not a sleeper agent is he? Jesus Christ, if he went after Conner..."

"Paz," Fox hissed in a whisper to calm her. "Relax baby. Please. It's nothing like that. He's in a medically induced coma. According to the files I'm reading, here, there is a chip under the skin, powered by the body. Everyone in stasis has one. Once a person has been woken up from stasis, there has to be a computer command entered into the system that will remotely release a capsule into Reno's blood stream. That will wake him."

"You said the words 'controlling Reno,' Fox. Are you sure Reno won't be a threat to our friends?"

"I meant like a remote control. It's a safety protocol in case someone rescues our people. The system looks pretty well made. I can't hack the chip on Reno's end. It has to be done here. Falcon must think that sending your brother-in-law back to the surface is a safe play. Reno'll stay in a coma until we activate this command."

"So do it! Our people back home need his help!"

"I can't from here, Paz. But there are a few helpful files in this system. I now know where to go. The thing is, it's a one way trip."

"What?" She eyed her twin for a moment then scrunched her eyebrows. "Explain."

"Whoever goes to activate Reno will be caught immediately afterwards. And it has to be me. I have to sacrifice myself to wake up Reno."

Topaz shook her head firmly. "What the fuck would you do that for?"

"Because Carmen is here, too. There is a file on her and I'm looking right at it in this network folder."

Topaz's eyes widened. "What! You can confirm my daughter is here?"

"She's not in stasis. But Falcon must've figured out that she's not able to help him do whatever it is that he needs to do."

"What do you mean she's not in stasis? How is there a file on her if she's not in stasis?"

"Calm down, Paz. She's in 'sleep' status. Just like Reno."

"Fox ... are you sure you can't see where she is or take control of that system from here?"

"I'm sure. Listen to me, Topaz. I will go to the control center. I will wake her and Reno. I'll be captured and Falcon will probably put me into stasis. Carmen will wake up and utilize her training to escape. Vincent will make sure to put a wrench in the system. You'll find Carmen and get her to the surface."

"But Fox, you'll be captured. I need you."

Fox offered a sad smile. "Baby, you have Vincent. And I know everyone will come together and rescue the rest of the people in stasis. Including me. I won't be in there forever."

"Fox ... you're," she trailed off and licked her trembling lower lip. "You're the only one that can interface with these computers and recuse everyone. If you're in stasis, we won't be able to rescue you."

"Conner can do it. He's even better than I am. Karla's daughter is down here, too. Donovan Loupe is in the system. Collobulous is in the system. Everyone is here, Topaz. They're in stasis. I see Johann Foster, I see Abigale Chase Krenyenko, Samantha Summers, and a few other names. I can see everyone's vitals and monitored stats."

"Goddamn it, I wish I knew where they were," she muttered.

Fox frowned. "I hate seeing you upset. Look, without physically getting our hands on the cryogenic chambers, we can't get them out. And if we can't unfreeze them, deactivating their sleep thing won't matter. I have a plan."

Topaz turned to her brother and put her hands on his chest. "When you say that, it's your way of saying you have a Hail Mary pass and you want to use it."

Fox offered her a weak smile. "Yeah. Don't worry, though. We've got to do our homework before this operation. Carmen, wherever she is, will wake up and escape. She's your daughter. She's capable. You will have her back, along with Vincent. She probably came down here looking for him."

"Fox, you raised her as your daughter. Up until a few years ago, she always thought you were her father."

"Yeah but when she found out, she really connected with Vincent during his visit right before her twenty-first birthday. Remember?"

"Yeah."

Fox reached forward and touched Paz's face. "You guys are a family."

"You're part of that family, Fox!"

"Topaz, we need her and Reno awake to get me back. And hey, I won't age. The longer you take, the more you'll become my older sister," he chuckled softly.

"Fox, stop. That's just ... whatever." She threw her hands up in the air. She knew it was the only way to get her daughter back. She sighed and hid her face in the crook of her brother's neck. The perfect crook on the perfect crook. She wept softly, knowing it was their only choice. "If Falcon catches you, he'll look for me."

"He thinks I'm Carmen's father. He also thinks that I think I'm Carmen's father. I'll tell Falcon that I came for her. He'll say she can't possibly be my daughter because his master plan for her didn't work. I'll tell him he's insane, and that we had a DNA test."

"What'll that do, Fox? You're going to waste his time with conversation?"

He laughed in a good-natured way. "No, sweetheart. It'll cast a bit of doubt on whether-or-not his plan simply failed. He'll want to test Carmen and me. But she'll have escaped and he won't be able to test us both. I'll be wasting his time, yes, but by misleading him."

"Fox ... I've never been without you before."

"You ran away from home, remember?"

"I didn't run away, I moved out. I was twenty-four."

Fox smiled. "Always so quick to argue."

She blushed a bit, still hiding her face in his neck. "Fucker."

"Paz, listen. Don't take Carmen topside."

"What?"

"Karla is coming. She's coming for her kids. Kalen is coming for Carmen. Rufus is coming for Collobulous..."

Topaz pulled her face back and looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "Kalen is what?"

"You and Carmen need to lay low and stay here. Play family. Play nice. When everyone arrives, you will find them and help keep our people alive."

"Why would Kalen come for Carmen?" she judged his expression then folded her arms. "Fox, are they dating? Why didn't I know?"

"Carmen begged me not to tell you. She said you'd be freaked out that she's dating a vampire."

"And she'd be right!"

"Which means she was right to keep it from you?"

"No!" Topaz balled her hands into fists. "Shit! Okay fine. She's an adult. I can't stop her. But that's weird. God that's weird. He's technically dead, right?"

"I try not to think about it." Fox feigned a thin smile. "At all. Not even a little bit. It's akin to necro..."

"Fox, stop."

"Yeah, sorry. Look. We're both being emotional right now. Let's get back to the apartment. We'll figure out all the details and make our move when it's time. We have our homework cut out for us. This needs to be a precision operation to get me into this computerized lab."

"Okay. C'mon. Let's go back to the apartment, then. I owe you that blowjob," she said with a nervous chuckle.

"What's wrong?"

"You're the one leaving me this time. I hate not having control, Fox. I worry. I mean, technically, Falcon won't need you anymore, right?"

"Of course he will. He'll run tests on me. Carmen will have escaped. He'll think I freed her and sacrificed myself for her to get away. Eventually he'll somehow figure out that she's not my biological daughter. He's a smart geneticist. It's just a matter of time. And when he does, I'll tell him that both kids belong to Vincent, but that Vincent thinks both children are mine. And we'll let Vince in on it, so he can corroborate the story."

"What's your angle?"

"Falcon will think you and I never had kids. He'll need me. He'll want to find you and capture you and force us into a small room with a bed and a lot of wine." Fox grinned. "Doesn't sound so bad, huh?"

"Oh Christ. So you think Falcon will keep you alive and force us to have a kid?"

"Yup. Little will he know that he can't find you because you'll be hiding right under his nose; right in plain sight! That's what Parkers do - we blend in and disappear. Hell, Falcon might even send Vincent to the surface to look for you or draw you out of hiding. Then Vincent will be out of here and safe."

She eyed him for a moment then nodded slowly. "You're a sly boy, Fox. C'mon, let's get back to the apartment. We'll talk this over with Vincent when he gets back. You might be right about everything. If we can trick Falcon into thinking you and I never had kids, he'll grab us both, and force us have children. Then he'll have no choice but to be patient. And at the absolute worst, it will keep him from going after Conner, and buy us another twenty years of time before Falcon has an adult child to break into that stupid city. If it even exists."

Fox placed his hands on her shoulders. "His files seem to think it exists. C'mon, let's go. You got the card you used on the door up top?"

"Yeah." She took her brother's hand and led him back through the building, fingers intertwined with his. "I'm going to miss you. I hate your plan."

"I know."

X

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Next chapter: https://www.sofurry.com/view/685582