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Slowly climbing out of bed she quickly looked at the table beside her bed to her clock. Clearly in the darkness she could see the red numbers showing that it was 2:05 in the morning. Wondering whom on earth would be trying to wake her at this hour. Hopefully they weren’t being sent out on another job.
Feeling her way, slowly, to the door –the tapping continuing the whole time – Andrea finally opened the door.
Standing in the doorway was Alex. He was dishevelled, still wearing the clothes from the mission and he clearly hadn’t washed or even shaved in the two days since then. One look at his face and it was clear why he was here. Adam had died! And he was taking it badly.
“Is she really….? Andrea asked
“Yes” Alex said, obviously trying not to cry “Do you mind if I…?”
“Come in? Of course not”
Andrea moved out of Alex’s way and closed the door behind him.
As soon as the door was closed his whole demeanour changed. Alex stood up straighter and his face no longer showed traces of grief and pain.
“Alex? Are you ok?” Andrea asked
“I’m fine Ann, do you mind if I call you Ann?”
“No of course not”
“I’m sorry about that out there but I have to keep up the charade for Miss Foxx or she will know something is wrong”
“Does this mean that Adam isn’t dead after all?”
“No sorry, but that Adam really is dead.”
“Ok now you’ve lost me. That Adam? You have to keep up the charade?”
“Ann you might need to sit down for this one”
With that Alex sat on the lone chair in the room and Andrea sat on her bed.
“The Adam that you knew was never the real one. The real Adam was replaced a couple of months ago for a clone….”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because that Adam did things differently to the real one. She had different mannerisms. The only thing they had in common was their name and their looks. And the real Adam might not even have that anymore”
“Ok but…”
“Please let me finish, the real Adam is being held somewhere in this facility. I know because I have an informant among the assistant scientists, but he can’t tell me where. We need to find her and get all of us out of here without getting caught, which is part of the reason why we need you! We will probably get another clone, hopefully one that would be more like us, but you can never guarantee. You are going to need to be very careful around her, at least until we know which side this clone falls on.”
“Oh… ok, I’ll try”
“Good now I know that this is a lot to take in. But we will have a meeting tomorrow about it. Now try and get some sleep.”
Then Alex got up and went to the door. Just as he was about to open it he turned and said.
“Don’t forget you need to at least pretend, tomorrow, that you’re upset because you lost a team mate.”
And with that he opened the door and was gone.
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Later that morning Marie and Mackenzie arrived to help Andrea make her way to the conference room (she still wasn’t really sure on how to get there) and to answer any questions she might have, at least as best as they could.
There was only one.
“Did Alex and Adam have some sort of relationship?” Andrea asked
“That really depends on what you mean,” replied Mackenzie
“It was of course common knowledge that they had a VERY close working relationship and spent lots of time together, at least between Mackenzie and I” added Marie
“But what I want to know is…” Andrea continued
“That stuff will have to wait until later” Mackenzie whispered, “There are ears everywhere!”
And with that they walked the rest of the way in silence.
Once they reached the conference room they sat at the long table, Mackenzie and Marie on either side of Andrea so that they could help her if need be.
Mackenzie automatically fired up her laptop (it went everywhere with her so it’s not like she needed to try and find it or anything) and got all the information on their next job. She printed the blueprints of the building for Marie, the firepower and capabilities for Adam and the job description for Alex.
A short time later Andrea and Marie were going through the blueprints deciding on the best way to get in and out if the building, while Mackenzie went through the computer schematics and capabilities. Suddenly the door opened for Alex, still looking like he hadn’t showered. Not long after that Miss Foxx entered the room followed by a scrawny little man in a white lab coat. There was something about the man that sent a chill up Andrea’s spine.
“As you are all probably aware” Miss Foxx started “ Adam is dead. This is of course a very sad occasion for all of you, but we must plough on ahead and go on with our lives.”
“As you are also probably aware The Foundation has a policy of cloning those of our operatives killed in the field. However two months ago while some was being experimented on…” This was said with a glare at Andrea “The cloning machine blew up. Our scientists, like Dr Frankie here, have yet to make a new machine” This was said with a much longer glare at Dr Frankie “We are going to have to wait at least a couple of months before we will be able to even start the cloning process. As such you will be a team member short, but I’m sure this won’t impact on your work at all.”
Once she was finished with her speech Miss Foxx turned and left the room. Clearly she didn’t want to be there any longer than she had to be. Dr Frankie gave each of them an apologetic look then quickly followed her out the room without saying a word.
After they were gone Alex turned to the team, he was obviously interested in getting right down to business.
“Ok we have been given a week to prepare for this next mission” Alex said “ because it is such a short time we are going to have to get started straight away. To begin with, without Adam we have no weapons expert, so no back up. That’s going to be Andrea’s new job, at least for the next few months.”
“Does this mean that I get to use Adam’s guns?” Andrea asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought.
“No” Alex replied quickly “Your weapons are going to be your powers. The majority of this week you are going to spend either in the training room learning to master your abilities better or working with Marie and Mackenzie working on your telepathy.”
Andrea’s eyes quickly lost their shine at the prospect of work. Not something she was looking forward to.
“Ok everyone we have a lot of work to do so let’s get started. Andrea, you come with me and we can start your training. Marie, Mackenzie, you guys know what to do!”
With that Alex led Andrea from the room while Mackenzie started typing into her computer and Marie started going over the blueprints again.
Alex and Andrea walked from the conference room down a corridor and into what she assumed would have to be the training room. There were mats completely covering the walls and floor, making the room look kind of like a padded cell – only without the small squares of padding every where. In one corner there was what looked like an office cubical with glass windows surrounding it. Alex led Andrea into the booth. Once inside she could see that there was a complex computer system with lots of buttons and flashing lights. Although she couldn’t tell what any them actually did.
Alex walked up to a cupboard against one of the walls and removed another electronic device from inside.
Turning to Andrea he said.
“This is a memory chip.” He was holding a small silver plastic disc, approximately the size of a 10-cent piece “ It goes on the side of your face just behind your left eye. It will bring forth memories of situations of when you have used your powers and download them into this computer” He said while tapping the console “From there we can change that room out there to look like that memory. That way you can learn to use your powers in a situation where we know you lost control.”
With that Alex placed the silver disc on the side of Andrea’s face and asked her to take a seat. While Andrea was making herself comfortable Alex started the computer and a low hum could be heard within the booth.
Turning back towards Andrea, he said, “Now Ann, I need you to think about all the times you’ve used your powers. Think about them and the machine will pick them up. She closed her eyes and her face changed as she remembered the painful times she used her powers.
Suddenly there was a loud BEEP and Alex quickly turned to the machine and after pressing several buttons the hum stopped.
“Ok looks like we got our quota of painful memories for the day. While I set this up, go through the door to your left and change into the outfit in the locker marked ‘Andrea’. Thanks.”
Slowly Andrea opened the door and she saw that there were five full-length lockers. It appeared to be some sort of dressing room with showers and all. Having a close look at the lockers Andrea could see that there really were names on all the lockers. Walking along the line she saw ‘Alex’, ‘Adam’, ‘Marie’, Mackenzie’, and ‘Andrea Baker’. Hers was the only one to have a last name. Wondering if this meant that she was not the only Andrea or if maybe the other just didn’t have last names, she opened her locker and saw that it was full of clothing. The top shelf was also full but with books instead. Picking up the first book she saw Anne McCaffrey’s “Freedom’s Landing”, Andrea was intrigued by why someone would put it in her locker without first asking her what she thought.
Putting the book away Andrea looked at the clothes next. Picking them up one by one then putting them back. There was a floor-length coat, several different pairs of pants – one leather and at least one pair of jeans – 2 skirts, several blouses and t-shirts, a karate outfit and finally a full-body suit made out of something that looked like a mix of latex and lycra, all in her size. Assuming that the body suit was the outfit that Alex was referring to, Andrea pulled this and the matching calf-length boots. Closing the locker Andrea decided to have a shower before getting dressed.
Moving towards the showers she noticed that there were also five of those. They also had names on them. Quickly finding the shower with her name Andrea closed the door and got ready for to shower.
15 minutes later she walked out of the locker/dressing room looking slightly flushed.
“Did you find everything ok?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think it would be so hard to get into this while I was wet!”
“You had a…”Alex turned around “Yes you did, didn’t you. Well I guess I really should have warned you. Shall we start?” He said while trying to stifle a laugh.
“Yeah I’m ready”
“Good just go back through that door we entered to get here and I’ll turn it on”
With that Andrea opened the door and walked back into the padded room. Walking to the centre of the room, she turned around.
“You sure your ready for this?” Alex asked
“Course I am”
“Ok just so you’re prepared!”
And suddenly the world went black.