Twins

Chapter 7: A Monkey's Business...and Past

by Mary Christmas (unicorn_76010 at lycos.com)
11/28/01

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this up...but... you have to understand...I met the love of my life...and his name is Frodo Baggins. I had to spend time with him, don't you know....Lol, actually I started reading The Lord of the Rings and got really caught up in it. But I'm going to be good now. Chapter eight should be out soon....

Slate backed away from the seeping substance until she lost her balance and fell to the floor. She struggled to stand up, not an easy task with her hands cuffed behind her back. She finally made it up to her knees, but before she could regain her footing, she felt the substance soak through to her skin. She tensed and waited, but nothing happened.

"Doctor Slate!" Rusty yelled. He had been holding the scientists by their collars, but dropped them in his concern for her. They ran down the corridor.

"Don't worry about me, Rusty. Go after them." The boy nodded and took off.

Slate sighed and slowly got to her feet. She looked over at Pup, who was licking at the syringe still stuck in his shoulder. On the ground beside him was the key to the cuffs. She walked over and sat down in front of the key, then feeling around for it, picked it up.

Once the cuffs were removed, she gently lifted the puppy and carried him to a clear table. Then she removed the syringe. After doing a few tests, she realized that some of the substance was in the dog's system, but there was no transmutation occurring.

Pup licked her hand and wagged his tail. She picked him back up and placed him in his kennel. He circled it a couple of times, then lay down and fell asleep. Slate walked back to the table and looked at the syringe. It was almost full. Maybe the subject needed the entire dose to trigger the cells, but then, why didn't she start mutating? At least twice the amount that was in the syringe had soaked into her skin. She picked the syringe up and began doing tests.

"....The 7b1 formula will only work if injected directly into the spinal cord," Slate said into the recorder, "Which explains why neither I nor the dog were affected. Even a small amount injected in the main spinal nerve would cause instantaneous transmutation, but injection anywhere else, or absorption through skin, would cause no change, and the chemical would eventually be broken down into glucose." She stopped and disposed of the syringe and remaining substance. "I have now destroyed the last of the formula. It can no longer be used for whatever purpose."

"I'm sorry, Doctor Slate, they got away," Rusty said as he flew back in the lab, "I was chasing them, and then there was a cloud of smoke, and then they were gone!"

"It's okay, Rusty, they won't be able to do any more harm...."

"Those two maniacs just grabbed Dr. D!" Jenny cried, running into the room, "Not that I care or anything but...."

A voice came on over the intercom system. "Attention employees of Quark. This is Professor Moriarty speaking. I am now in charge; you now work for me. Oh, and if anyone tries to get outside help, I will destroy you all. Moriarty out."

**********************************************

"Sir, they are in Newtronic City. What are your orders, sir?" the man said over the vidphone. He smiled. The detectives were making his job more and more easy. Once they were given the formula, he wouldn't have to go to all the bother of getting them to America secretly. He was going to test them out against the Big Guy. If they could defeat America's last line of defense, they could defeat anything.

But he was thinking too far ahead. What he needed to do now was find out their exact location, and where the substance was.

"All right, nincompoops. Tell me what they are doing now, and if they have the formula with them."

"They are at a restaurant outside talking with a compudroid and another man. I don't see the formula, but the compudroid could easily store it in his chest compartment."

"Excellent. I will join you soon. Until then, continue following them."

He laughed as he signed off. Oh, this was going to be too easy. He began whistling a cheerful tune.

Lestrade frowned. Captains Anderson and Harris had been following them since before they left New London, and neither of them had bothered to hide themselves very well. She looked up and saw that Holmes had noticed them as well.

"How long?" he asked quietly. Louder, he said, "Ah, America...a wonderful place to visit but I certainly wouldn't want to live here."

Lestrade smiled and held a menu in front of her face. "Since before we left," she whispered through clenched teeth, "And they've been pretty obvious about it. It's almost like they don't think we'll recognize them."

Holmes raised an eyebrow at this. Ignoring Grayson and Watson's stares, Lestrade went on. "They were the two military men with Gregson."

Holmes frowned. "From what you've told me, they don't seem to be the careless type. Most likely whoever is behind this believes that you and your boss are incompetent. Interesting. All right, I want you three to go to your hotel. I don't think it will bode well for us if they find out Moriarty is here with the rest of the substance."

Lestrade started to protest, but Holmes held up his hand. "Lestrade, you may be able to capture one or both of them and get them to talk, to tell you who is behind all this. They will be following you. Therefore, I must be the one to try and find Moriarty."

"Okay, but what then?"

"Then, we shall see." He grinned and stood up. In a louder voice he said, "Well, it was nice seeing you again, Beth, Charles. I hope the same amount of time doesn't pass between our next meeting." Which was code for 'meet me at the same time tomorrow here if I haven't come for you before'.

Lestrade nodded grudgingly and watched as he walked off. She then sighed and stood up. Warding off what she knew would be Grayson's protests, she started walking in the direction of the hotel.

********************************

Holmes stood from behind the corner and watched Lestrade, Grayson and Watson walk off. Their shadows followed soon after. He sighed and turned his mind towards finding Moriarty. His eye caught a window ad display and he smiled. Quark would of course be the most logical place to start.

He very quickly found a map, and marked the obvious routes to the large building overlooking the city, as well as the not so obvious routes. Then he noticed something else of interest. The sewers led right underneath. Since Moriarty thought he was dead, the criminal would not think to look at something like that. If, of course, he was in control of Quark. If not, then there would not be anything to worry about in any case. Holmes chuckled to himself and made his way towards a manhole that was out of the way of prying eyes.

He carefully pulled the cover off and gingerly lowered himself down. To his surprise it was sparkling clean. Very odd. However he did not have time to wonder over that. He began to walk in the direction that would eventually take him to the spot he needed to be at.

*******************************

Jenny was shaking with anxiety. Natural in this case, but \Slate figured it was something more. "Jenny, what do you know about those two men?"

Jenny glared at her. "None of your business, Four-eyes!"

Slate walked over to her menacingly. "Look, Jenny. Over the years I have worked here I have felt sorry for you, I have been extremely annoyed with you. However, I have never been angry with you. Tell. Me. What. You. Know. About. Them. NOW!"

The monkey stepped back a few paces. "Okay, okay, don't get your skirt in a twist. I have no clue who the smooth talker is. But you know that disfigured guy? His name is Martin Fenwick, and he used to be an employee here. Until he started dabbling in things that would make even Pierre squirm."

"And?"

"And...he sort of created me. I'm a clone. His first, actually." She shuddered. "He wanted to clone humans, but with their memories intact. Don't ask me why, maybe he wanted to bring Hitler back to life or something. Anyway, he found this one woman who was mentally retarded. Actually, she was quite brilliant; she just couldn't get her brain to function with the rest of her. I am that woman now."

Slate and Rusty just stared at the simian.

"I don't get it," Rusty complained, "How are you that woman when you're a monkey?"

"Gee, I don't know, Sparky. I think it has something to do with the fact that I have the woman's memories!"

Rusty just frowned and shrugged. "Okay. Well, I'm going to get the Big Guy."

"Rusty, I don't think that's possible," Slate said softly, "Remember what Mortan said?"

"Oh yeah." He brightened then. "But I'm not outside help! I'm inside help!"

"He's rather intelligent, isn't he?"

Slate whirled around in time to see a handsome young man climbing out of the drain in the lab. He had an irksome grin on his face.

"Who are you and what do you want here?" Slate asked angrily.

The man, keeping the grin on his face, smiled and bowed. "I am Sherlock Holmes. At your service, Doctor." He looked at her closer. "How very interesting. I understand now why Lieutenant Hunter was so adamant about having seen Lestrade before. The resemblance is remarkable, though I doubt anyone without a keen eye for observation would have realized you were related. No doubt Moriarty has already noted it."

*************************

He laughed to himself. It was time. He walked swiftly through the doors of the hotel and up the stairs. Anderson had already subdued the robot. He frowned a bit as he realized that the woman was quite a lot more resourceful than he had imagined, having caught and tried questioning Harris. However, Harris had known his duty and had vaporized the moment she touched him.

Now, though, it would be him that would be doing the questioning. He smiled at Anderson as the man walked out of the compudroid's room. He took the syringe that was offered and, hiding it behind his back, knocked on the woman's door. Then he motioned Anderson to stand in front of the door while he moved to the side.

The detective opened the door and attacked Anderson standing there. While her back was turned, he injected the substance directly into her spinal cord, and then repeated the same process with her boss.

On to Part 8!

Back to part 6.

Back to the fanfic index