"Yet there is no report for this, for this date." The natural shifted in his large leather chair to face Rikky dead-on, hands folded loosely in his lap. To keep from playing this run-around game, the boy answering only what was directly asked and offering no more than compulsion forced of him, the Highlord tried another approach. "That you went to this place doesn't concern us, we've sent you there before with orders to gather intelligence. But Rikky…" and here the man bent forward, speaking as Mr. Cleaver might to The Beave. "It does concern us when certain cameras display techies wandering off the job at inappropriate times as soon as you enter the transport chambers. And they have no recollection of ever seeing you. We know you've tried to hide your steps, wiping the information from the data banks, but we have this little safe guard, see, called a back up system. No transport is not, eventually, accounted for. And when no report is lodged for the days transport is used, especially to those coordinates, when videotape is reviewed matching times and dates to the one utilizing the transports, its rather simple to conclude one might…. Joyriding…. As it were. To add all that with the missing techie memories, well…"

Rikky's already pale skin was losing color by the moment, large eyes widening. He'd been caught.

The Asian gentleman went on. "By your own admission you tracked down Sai Canaan. Did you find him? Answer honestly now."

"….Yes."

"Did you speak to him?"

"…Yes."

"Were you gathering information and perhaps simply forgot to write the report?"

"…No, sir."

"Ah. So what were you doing? Please, be specific. I'd like details."

The youth's shoulders slumped in defeat, brows knitting together as if pained, eyes squeezed shut. He didn't like this. "Sir, I--- I created something of a memory bank and placed it in Sai. Then I revealed myself, told him the truth. I thought that, maybe, though Aerik had hurt terribly hurt him, he would overlook my likeness of the bastard… pardon my language, sir… and judge me on my own merit. I wanted a friend, sir…"

A heaved sigh, heavy, Warpole rolling his head both in sympathy and understanding of the gravity of the situation. "Shit, kid."

Rikky flicked his glance at the cyborg a moment, the young clone appearing pathetic, forlorn; he, too, knew what kind of trouble he might be in. Scratch merely shook his head.

"I understand the necessity of friendship, Rikky," the Highlord's voice was soothing, gentle and all the frightening for being so. "Adults needs friends, too. We all do. I empathize. But I sincerely hope you can appreciate the position you face me with now. Sai is a high priority bring-back, his super structure unlike any we've ever seen before and we need to learn more. You know he's high priority, you know he's ex-GUARD and you know, because we have the report of the mind-rape, that he's connected in many ways to your twin. But quite frankly, we're now more interested in his design than anything else. 'Syntant', you called him. Was Venin perhaps a peace offering? Let one go, bring in another?"

"No, sir."

"Were all your joyrides to see Raiden?"

"No, sir."

"Honestly now, whom else did you see?"

"Some rides were simply to relieve boredom. I met no RUNners, but other creatures. I wrote no reports."

"Did you purposefully seek out other RUNners for the express idea of socializing?"

"Perhaps not express, but main---"

"Who?"

A beat. "Jesse Raymond, sir."

Now the Highlord seemed a bit put-out. "You have fraternized not only with Raiden, but Ei-Que?"

"Yes, sir."

"You lost yer mind, kid?" Warpole tossed the question out incredulously.

"She is very pleasant company," Rikky murmured in defense. "We looked at the stars. She made me a gift."

By that time, the Highlord was perched at the edge of his chair fighting the urge to seriously slap the young man. "You reveal yourself to Sai Canaan in hope he's overlook you're GUARD, decide you're a nice guy and skip off with you to pick daisies, and then you go stargazing with Little Miss Sunshine?" An animated gesture, the broad sweep of his arm, and his attention swings to Scratch for a moment. "Ian, what is this boy's major malfunction? You assured me he wasn't damaged."

Warpole gently banged the side of his own head against the wall. Old Scratch pinched the bridge of his nose between forefinger and thumb, eyes squeezed shut. Hard to hear what was muttered from the elder, but it sounded close to a gravelly fuck.

Rikky's eyes darted from one man to the other, wide and confused. "What? What? I removed the memory bank from Sai, he has no recollection I was even there. You might be interested in knowing he exhibits signs of budding telepathy. As for Jesse, she believes me to be Him, her beloved soulmate, Aerik. I did not endanger anything." The youth folds his arms primly across his slight chest, half-sulking, offended.

Oriental composure was regained in an instant. Once more he leaned back, a smooth, sinuous motion. "So both Sai and Jesse still think you're Aerik."

"Of course."

"How beloved is Aerik to Jesse?"

"Extremely. I think she is the only one who like him."

"How beloved? Give me an example."

Rikky paused before answering. "She lowers her shields for him, hides nothing."

"That stupid girl," hissed Commander Christopher.

"Well, then," The Highlord smiled, addressing each man in turn. "Warpole, since you were acting on orders and unaware of the situation, only my official report will contain your trespasses. You will not be cited. Bad boy, don't do it again."

"I won't, sir. Thank you, sir." The cyborg saluted, standing at ease afterwards.

"Commander Christopher, it's with regret I have to mar your until-recently flawless record, but you will be cited, it will be noted in the report and I'm docking you a week's pay. Your intentions were admirable but if its one thing I will not abide by, its those under me going over my head. Do not do it again. I'd hate to give Jayde the opportunity to discipline you."

"Yessir. Thank you, sir. ….It won't happen again, sir." There was a real spark of fear in Scratch's eyes as he spared a disconcerted glance towards the silent bodyguard. Scratch had gone up against Chalice, narrowly survived, escaping only with aid. Chalice had gone up against Jayde and narrowly survived, escaping only with aid. Anyone who could hurt the scarlet-skinned ally of RUNners was not someone with which Scratch wanted to be alone, a credit to his great wisdom. Jayde winked back at the unnatural.

"Which leaves us with Rikky. You, son, are going to make up for lost opportunities. Sai couldn't be too much of a threat to you, especially taken by surprise, which you'll resort to if you must. I want him back. As for Jesse, Bring her back if you can. If she lowers her shields for you, that shouldn't be a problem. We've kept Psi-Warp a very quiet secret; he wasn't here when she was with us. If you can't change her mind, maybe he can. If all fails, she'll be terminated. Ei-Que is simply too powerful and knowledgeable about us to allow her freedom, any longer. She's a royal thorn in our collective side. Those two bring backs will be given your highest priority, understand? It is an order."

Contradictions sprang up and smoothed through his mind rapidly. He hates it… hates these orders. He cares for the ones he's supposed to betray. If he could think or say -no- he would. But he isn't given the option. It tugged in him for only a microsecond, the dissention. It is an order. It's excessive. Its an order. Order. Of course… the good of the GUARD, the ultimate good of them all. It all smooths out. There was no fight within him. He still cared but that didn't matter… nothing came before a superior's order. "Yes, sir."

"What about her friends? Soon as one that… popular, or whatever… is brought in, they try and break 'em out." Warpole's statement was valid and the Highlord nodded his sleek head.

"If Ei-Que is ours and they try to free her, she'll capture or kill them, that simple. Generally, I prefer employment with us to be of free will, but there are always exceptions. And if Rikky is as powerful as Scratch boasts, there should be no problem with 'shaping' her decisions. As for the Raiden look-alike…well. I doubt he could hold off half a dozen Cyhunters at once. He'll be dealt with as will the rest, though I want him alive. Sai can be reinstated with the GUARD and perhaps Rikky's friend and the other can be held in cold storage for testing. Or whatever the lab boys want to do. That's all gentlemen. Thank you for your time."

Warpole, closest to the door, saluted before exiting. Scratch kept himself calm somehow, saluted the Highlord and briskly strolled down the hallway leading away from the wicked shields. Egressing the building entirely, ignoring the curious glances of those he passed on the way, Ian Christopher gulped down fresh air, his senses allowed to breath again. Ten cigarettes later (his healing factor dealt with any undesirable side effects often associated with smoking) he was finally composed.

Rikky was the last to make his way to the door---- the shadowy voices that whispered to him when he crossed into an unlit area, juts loud enough to be a nuisance outside his ability to make anything out, the leaden heaviness of the psi-netting which felt like a physical burden strapped to his back and Jayde's dark eyes pressing over his face---- it was like trudging through sludge, difficult to move. Walking slowly, he reflected on the events he'd witnessed, attempting to ignore the rest and wishing he'd handled himself better. The youth saluted his superior, was about to step out of the chamber; he could see Scratch taking long, fast strides down the corridor, out-pacing Pole; when a distinctly feminine voice stopped him.

"Wait."

Jayde. Rikky winced, turning back around to face her. The Highlord, PsiClone noticed, was visibly startled, blinking up at the woman who ignored him. Never before, never, had Jayde spoken to anyone in the room but himself unless asked. Her job was to protect the Highlord, not quip with the staff. She performed her duties extremely well and not for the sake of money, which she didn't need. Jayde's focus was solely on the young man, eyes unblinking, intense, a very real touch. In a serpentine manner she cleared the immense desk, approaching the object of her fixation. Involuntarily, Rikky took a tiny step back.

Still set in her gaze she reached up slowly, absently tapping the door shut with her fingertips. Jayde was nearly half a foot shorter than the euphonious clone, but he felt the shorter one, as if looking up at her, somehow, her presence overwhelming, lapping over his skin. Shadow whispers were louder but no clearer. Quite suddenly, Rikky felt dizzy.

For long moments which stretched into an eternity, those exotic eyes searched the beautiful face of the boy, took in his amazing perfection, delicate features, supernaturally large eyes with there massive fringe of smoky lashes. The web-fine mane of silken onyx, his natural liquid grace. Finally, and still without blinking, she circled him with agonizing slowness, judging everything. The Highlord watched silently, slightly tensed. Had Jayde ferreted out a hidden weapon? The notion unsettled him, kept him still. In due time, her voice came through again, sibilant, dark, snaking through the tiny space between her body and Rikky's. It made him jump… somehow he hadn't realized she was so close.

"I don't know you. I've never seen you before. But you smell… familiar."

Dark amber eyes blinked once, slowly, Rikky forcing himself to lower his gaze, meet her eerily piercing sight. "…Smell?"

A hushed hiss, pushed between her white teeth, tone low so the 'Lord might not hear, her warm breath dusting Rikky's neck. "I'm magic blind. Can't see it, have a hard time recognizing it. Won't cast it, can't be affected by it. But I've learned to smell it. I know your scent." By that she meant the scent of magic still clinging to him. His twin's body was given to Aerik in exchange for information; The mute but living form of an Eshva male, created by magic and demonic powers. Aerik's subconscious had judiciously chemibonded Aerik's mind, mental powers and essence to the host body itself, mixing magic to science, unnatural to supernatural and creating a being wholly unto himself. Yet things hadn't taken totally, there were flaws, the event maybe too rushed even though it had taken Aerik nearly a full agonizing year to complete. Aerik's fusion wasn't one hundred percent, at least not as it was meant to be, the difficulty of cold logic melding with magic proved great. Rikky, though, was cloned from the finished version, his DNA structure not forced together, but pre-existing, as if it had always been. Aerik was a mutation, Rikky was not. Not exactly. No matter… what else might have been lost or gained, one thing was certain; the exterior remained and the auricle signature, the scent, of the magic brand hadtransferred.

The youth, however, rolled his eyes. He couldn't take this seriously any longer. "Magical? What have you been smoking?"

But words didn't faze Jayde and she continued. "You're not high enough, not higher than I, so you can't be a master. You must be a servant."

"I am an employee, not a servant." Rikky frowned, offended. "And I think you are plenty high, yes."

"A construct, a creation. More to the point, the one you're cloned from," She stepped back, again positioning herself before him, and raised an arm to circle his face with a finger extended but not touching him. "Here, here. Somewhere around here…" Jayde trailed off appearing to be in some kind of trance, trying to recall.

The youth looked over her to the Highlord imploringly. "Sir, may I leave now?" But the older man, fascinated, shook his head once. A touch to Rikky's forehead, firm, shocked him back to Jayde. That searching finger had planted itself where she remembered---

"An amethyst Jewel." It came back to her in a rush of memory, old events. She spoke them aloud. "A Jewel and an elf. He was cursed for Chalice's sake. Valyn de Balois." Stepping back, the Darkeling smiled to herself. "You smell of the Jewel."

"Jayde," Soft Asian accent breaks the silence. "What're you talking about?"

Without turning, she answered. "You'll remember Chalice, of course. She's on file, ally to more than several prominent bring-backs. The first time we met her, you and I, she'd come to reclaim Snowfire, your legal ward. I fought her and in an act of cowardice, she rifted away with the girl, before the battle was resolved."

"I remember that. She tried to attack me."

"Yes, and I protected you. But, I'll admit, I did it for more than one reason. Our enmity goes a long ways back."

"But you just said it was your first meeting---"

Jayde cut him off with a wave of her hand. I know what I said. But I was displeased with her actions and once I found out where she frequented I went to finish the fight. Well, that was the eventual plan. First, I wanted to toy with her, hurt her, and I did. By that time she, too, had been Jeweled… by Valyn, and that incurred the wraths of many. So I helped him even the odds a bit and took my fun." She doesn't go into detail, doesn't reveal her true nature of Chalice's, or the Clans, or the last battle where Chalice was killed by Valyn's hand. She may not be aware of the result, Valyn finishing Chalice so the Jewel could restore again, so mangled was the younger Darkeling once Jayde had finished with her. Jayde herself had been chased away from the deathblow by several powerful allies of the Rifter.

"There's no report of all this."

Jayde snorted. "Of course not. It had nothing to do with my job. My private escapades are my own. The point is, I was around Jewels long enough to catch their scent and this one bears it. You wanted to know what he was, I've given you a link and at least a partial answer. He's connected some way to those Jewels, though Chalice's was bloodred, and to whatever power they harness…. " She tips her head, pausing. "No, not exactly. But close enough. He's connected in some way to Valyn de Balois. His rung is too low, meaning he's a construct, which means the one he's cloned from is also a construct. But Aerik Winters has an unnatural cousin, so his body must be a host. Aerik was, at one time, unnatural. It's not completely unheard of, such transfers, if you listen to the right voices."

Coal eyes narrowed sharply. She was withholding much and the 'Lord knew it. But he also knew she wouldn't divulge what she withheld. Instead, Rikky spoke.

"What… what does this Valyn look like? And what kind of construct?" He didn't sound certain he wanted to learn the answer.

"Valyn. About my height, beautiful. Gold hair, dark eyes, elf. What kind of construct? My dear child, you're a demon."

Instantly Rikky was searching his memory, sifting through information he'd laid aside for the sake of Sai's privacy after the mind-rape. He'd consciously kept only what pertained to Aerik, but his eyes widen as he finds an image to fit the name. "Blondie," he breathed a few moments later. "Sai had seen him on occasion… helped him once." A few more siftings. "Sai was also a friend of Chalice."

"Well, this is getting thicket by the moment," Japanese brow arched high, "Sai was romantically involved with Aerik as well, as was Ei-Que. Your brother travels in interesting circles, Rikky."

"Yes… he seems to get around," The clone scowled briefly. "But… a demon?"

"Really, Jayde, I have to agree with Rikky there. I don't believe demons exist."

The vehemence in Jayde's spat words surprised both men as she turned to admonish her boss. "Then you're a fool, and utterly lost!" Abruptly, a smile flashed, her tone mawkish. "But that only serves their purposes. Demons do so adore ignorance and pride."

The Highlord balked. Jayde had broken several 'nevers' today in the presence of the clone-youth. She certainly had never taken such a voice with her employer before… ever. In Rikky, though, a chord struck.

"I can hear voices sometimes," he admitted in a hush, for Jayde alone. "Whispers from the shadows, from dark places."

"What do they say to you?" She asked just as quietly, turning back to him.

"I… I do not know. I cannot understand them. I try to ignore them."

"Some demons, perhaps your kind, have communion with night. Next time, listen to what she says to you."

"Jayde, I'd like a full report of this," came the request in a soft lilt.

"I'm hardly your secretary," the Darkeling responded haughtily. "I'm just your bodyguard." Then she took her place again, behind the Highlord, silent as she was before.

Long after nightfall, nervous for reasons he couldn't pin down, Rikky padded outside into the French Countryside and stood, tall and pale, under the ghostly caress of a full moon. Stars winked at him knowingly, sibilant whispers in his ears. What am I? He asked of the dark, not with words, not with telepathy, but acting on something close to instinct, the question simply transmuting into the darkness. He heard many answers, but he couldn't yet make sense of them. He remembered some feeling of warning when he met red Yeeyan in the gardens, after the sun had shied away… secrets then, too, hushed breath of night. A single word he made out above the clutter of hisses as darkness brushed his lips like a real touch. Eshva. And the shadows embraced him.