She felt herself panic as a holographic image flickered onto the wall to the side of her and when Kit looked over, she saw Hawk smiling at her.
'You're finally awake I see,' she said.
'What have you done to me?' Kit asked.
'Brought you back to your family,' Hawk said. 'You didn't think you could stay away forever did you?' She asked
Kit looked around her, she was struggling to breathe. Struggling to focus. 'Where am I?' She asked.
'In a secure testing facility,' Hawk replied. 'Your powers seem to have grown in a way that none of us quite expected,' she said. 'I'm particularly curious to see what your DNA holds,' she paused. 'As it's linked to my own.'
Hawk watched as Kit looked at her curiously and then confused. 'We have linked DNA?' She asked.
She thought back to when she had once seen the testing facility that was filled with incubators, the fetus' that were being bred from mothers who were harvested for their eggs. 'You...?' She asked.
'We need to meet,' Hawk said. 'This is not a conversation to have through a screen, my men will come to collect you,' she said.
Something had changed in Hawk's demeanor, unnervingly softer after the revelation and Kit's heart pounded against her chest as the screen went dark. Kit sunk to the corner of the cell and hung her head in her hands. She had spent so much time thinking of her father that she had blocked out memories of her mother. The woman who had raised her since birth before she had been taken away from Kit and sent to the prison camps. Her father had desperately tried to get information and secure her freedom but on the night they had escaped they still had no information on what happened to her. Edward was determined his wife was still alive but Kit had struggled to share his optimism. Her mind raced with what Hawk was going to tell her, she was ready to refuse any idea that her family wasn't hers. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her thoughts. She thought of Evie, the softness of her embrace, the beauty of her eyes and the thought settled her. Hawk was lying to her.
She was lying about everything.
She had to be.
When the cell door opened a shaft of bright light filled the small room and Kit shielded her eyes. Two Armistice Guards entered and grabbed her by the arms and lifted her to her feet. Her instinct was to fight back, to resist in some way but she found herself unable to. She felt heavy, like her brain was filled with a fog that wouldn't lift. The Armistice Guards dragged her forward to the corridor and to an open door. When Kit was pushed through it the light blinded her, as she blinked her surroundings into focus, she saw they were at an abandoned railway yard.
'Where are we?' She asked.
Neither of the guards answered her as they marched her forward. She could see a person up ahead examining the corn, he looked oddly out of place, like it was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. As they got closer, Kit saw an older man dressed in a suit, who looked over to them. Kit looked at him curiously as she tried to recall if she recognized him.
'Katarina Valletta,' he said in an English accent. 'It's a pleasure to meet you at last,'
'Who are you?' She asked him.
'My name is Walker and I have wanted to meet you for many years.'
'Pleasure's all mine,' Kit said dryly.
'Shall we step inside where we can talk further?' Walker asked, indicating to one of the train cars. 'Gentlemen, please unlock her, I don't believe I will be in any harm.'
Kit watched as one of the guards unlocked her chains and she shook her wrists free of the feeling of chains. The guards saluted the man and walked away from them.
'Who are you?' Kit asked him again.
'Follow me,' Walker said and began to walk over to train car, and Kit walked behind him. She stepped up into the cart and saw it was an empty operating room. There was a gurney in the center of the room and abandoned medical supplies in the cabinets on the walls.
'What is this place?' She asked.
'This is the birth place of the first mutants,' Walker told her. 'Where your kind was first created.'
He watched as she walked round the cart taking it in and trying to comprehend what she was seeing. 'I don't understand,' she said.
'Mutants are man-made,' Walker said. 'In an experiment that's been underway for generations, the very first experiments on American soil were conducted in train carts like this one throughout much of the old United States.'
Kit looked at him. 'How do you know this?' She asked.
'I work for the Alliance that ordered the experiments,' he told her. 'There's a group of men who formed one power union when the invasions first occurred, but we have existed in multiple different ways for centuries prior.'
'A secret government?' Kit asked.
'To those who don't know about us,' Walker said. 'But yes. A World Order that was designed to focus on global matters that concerned every country in the old world.'
'Including the Empire?' Kit asked.
'Yes.'
'Where's Hawk? She told me she was coming, that our DNA is linked?' Kit asked.
'Hawk is on her way, which is why I came to you first,' Walker said. 'Under great risk to myself, I must add, revealing secrets is a thing that can get a man killed.'
'You're human?'
'Most certainly,' Walker said. 'I wasn't part of the scheme that was ordered to start the next wave of human evolution.'
Kit narrowed her eyes at him. 'You're saying it was all orchestrated?' Kit asked him. 'To what end?'
'To protect ourselves against the invasion of the Others,' Walker said. 'They arrived here with the intent of taking over our planet, evolved our humans into something that was more like them. The DNA we found in the Arctic gave us something we could develop to fight back with.'
'The cells they found weren't human were they?' Kit asked.
'I think you know the answer,' he said.
'That mutant powers are extra-terrestrial in origin,' Kit said.
'The Russians were able to merge the cells they found with human genome, and the first super soldiers were created, during the cold war, a group were sent to America to work in genetic facilities to continue the experiments. They began to conduct those experiments on trains like these across the country, abducting people and changing them,' Walker told her. 'The aim was to build an army to stop the Others from complete colonization.'
'Why are you telling me this?' She asked.
'Because Hawk thinks of you as her daughter,' he said. 'She was one of the women who volunteered her fertility properties and from that, she saw you being created in the lab,' he told her.
'I grew up with my mother,' Kit remembered the woman whom she had adored as a child. 'My mom was taken by the guards and sent to one of the prisons.'
'And she's still alive,' Walker said. 'As is your father, but you will never find either if you continue to fight Hawk and Galen from the outside. You have to make her believe that you are her ally.'
Kit looked at him confused. He was telling her everything she had wanted to hear; that her parents were still alive, that there may be some small chance that she could have a family again but it couldn't be, not after all this time. Not in exchange for what he was asking of her. 'I can never work with Hawk,' she told him quietly. 'Not after everything she's done.'
'She's going to offer you a deal,' Walker said. 'To join her in Volt and stop the invasion, we've learnt that she's been infected by the Others and they're priming her to take over Galen's presidency,' he said. 'The Alliance have agreed that this cannot happen.'
Kit narrowed her eyes at him. 'You allowed Galen to happen,' she said.
'Galen's grandfather came into power to contain the invasion, and then turned rogue,' Walker said. 'He created a closed state, continued the experiments and shaped the country to be what it is today. His dynasty continued his work and here we are.'
'Was Evie meant to be arrested by Galen?' Kit asked him.
'It wasn't what we were expecting,' Walker admitted. 'But it has allowed us to have a situation which can work to ou
r advantage.'
'What advantage?' Kit asked him.
'We want to bring the Empire back to its former Union, we cannot have a country operating the way this Empire has been and we want to take it back to the fold, Evelyn is now a vision for everyone who's felt repressed by the government. She's the one who can help end us living in a closed state,' he said.
'You think we can change from being a closed state?' Kit asked.
'Hawk and Galen developed the government in the Empire to what it is,' Walker told her. 'But Hawk is one of the Others, she's been what we call a 'sleeper' for decades and now that she is going to challenge Galen for power it means she can take over and pave the way for the Others to complete their colonization.'
Kit walked round the train cart as she tried to comprehend what Walker was telling her. She looked at him, not sure she could trust what he was saying. Hawk and Galen had worked so closely together for years, they couldn't operate separately. 'Where are my parents?' She asked finally.
'You will find them,' Walker told her. 'But you need to be back inside Volt to find that information.'
'I'm going to need more than that,' Kit said.
'There's a storage facility in the Arrow prefecture,' Walker told her and pulled out a leather wallet. 'Everything you need to gain access is in there, if you find it you will obtain the answers you need. Where your parents are, how to end the virus, and how to restore mutants to human form.'
'What if we don't want to be human?' Kit asked him.
'True,' Walker said. 'But ask yourself, if we create a new world where America is once again united with the rest of the world order, can there truly be a place for mutants?'
'We're not the threat,' Kit told him.
'And the only way you can prove that is if you work with Hawk to show her and everyone else that there can be unity between the two of you,' Walker said. In the distance, they heard a car approaching. 'She's coming,' Walker said. 'Are you going to agree to help us?'
'What will you offer me in return?' Kit said. 'She wants to kill me, not work with me.'
'We'll offer you as much protection as we can and if you are able to end this government, then we will work with you to create a place where mutants can live alongside humans and you can have the freedom you've been wanting. And you can be with your parents again.'
The car was closer to them now and pulling to a stop. 'And Evie?' Kit asked.
'We'll protect her,' Walker said. 'We already have men with her who will keep her safe and we'll find a way for the two of you to be reunited.'
Kit thought quickly. 'Well it's not like I have much choice is it?' She asked.
'You will be rewarded for your sacrifice,' Walker told her. 'Now you need to go and meet her,' he said.
Kit looked at him, wishing there was an alternative, wishing she had time to think about what was going to happen but she had to act. She stepped out of the train cart and into rain. She saw Hawk exit a car with two Armistice Guards but she didn't seem surprised to see Kit in the train cart.
'Taking in the sights I see?' She asked.
'Something like that,' Kit said.
'You and I have a lot to discuss,' Hawk told her.
'The future of the Empire,' Kit said.
'I want you to come with me,' Hawk said.
Kit's instinct was to refuse, to fight the woman in front of her with everything she had. The thought of her parents locked up, beaten and bruised stopped her. She thought of Evie who she couldn't leave to Galen and the idea of her being tortured by them caused fury to rise inside her. She couldn't fight Hawk, she needed to save those she loved and as she got into Hawk's car, she felt the war change around her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
EVIE WAS IN A large empty room. It smelled of damp, and the rusting walls emitted cold that bore under her skin. She paced the room and stopped by the door and tried to blast through it with any powers that she could summon but it was no use. Frustration got the better of her and she sunk to her knees. She winced in pain as bruises began to knot in her skin. She was tired and hungry and found herself longing for the comforts of the apartment in Fort Isa, to be curled up in the bed with Kit wrapped around her again. The thoughts made tears sting her eyes, and even though she tried to fight them, they spilt over, and she broke.
She didn't know how much time had passed when the slot in the door opened, and she saw a set of eyes looking through at her. The door was unlocked, and when Evie looked up, she saw Galen in the threshold. She looked as beaten as Evie did, she was walking with a cane and had marks on her face where Evie's powers had scarred her.
'Well this is a sight,' Galen said, with a rasp to her voice. Evie looked away from her, too exhausted to retaliate. 'You were one of our youngest and brightest and now poor decisions have made you our enemy.'
'My only poor decision was believing the lies for years,' Evie said. 'And that I wasn't strong enough to kill you.'
'Yes, it seems like your powers have returned to you after years of them being dormant,' Galen said, her tone was one of condescension and Evie didn't have the patience for her. 'You have been lying to us for years, tried to use what we gave you against us, this simply cannot be. You know already of the experiments that we can conduct, I think it's time we resume these tests to see what has changed since you last showed any results.'
Evie pushed herself backwards as she remembered the experiments she was subjected to as a child. The pain. The feeling of being violated and her body no longer being her own. Two doctors dressed in white stepped into the room next to Galen. 'No,' Evie said as she got to her feet and tried to move back from them.
'Don't make this harder than it has to be,' Galen said. 'It will be easier for you if you cooperate with us.'
Evie felt her fear take over as the men approached her. Electric energy swirled around her arms, and she tried to fire it towards the men, but they rebounded her attack and she was flung against the wall. Lights dazzled in her eyes, and her head pounded in pain. She continued to try and attack the men as they approached her and they were able to grab her and inject her as she tried to lash out at them. Evie felt the serum enter her and fell limp.
When Evie woke again she was in a white room. She tried to move and found that her wrists had been strapped down to a bed and she couldn't move. The door opened and as she strained her head she saw Jack walk in.
'Jack!' She called. 'You have to help me, you have to get me out of here,' she said as he came over to her.
'Shh,' he said gently as he placed a hand on her head. 'Struggling won't help you.'
'But you need to help me,' she said. 'Undo my straps.'
'I can't do that,' Jack told her as he looked down at her wrists.
Evie looked up at him confused. 'Why are you being like this?' She asked. 'You need to help me.'
'I don't have orders to help you,' Jack said. There was something different about his voice, it was cold and distant. Evie looked at her brother and couldn't see him, his eyes were like the soldiers who had been scrambled, their training and personality changed to something that was robotic.
'What's happened to you?' She asked him, suddenly scared that something terrible had happened to him.
'I re-joined my unit, I am once again loyal to the Empire and President Galen,' he said, his voice cold and distant.
'You've been scrambled,' Evie whispered. 'You're not yourself.'
'I have been made human again,' Jack said. 'And it's time for you to join me,' he told her.
He watched as Evie's eyes went wide with fear. 'No,' she said and tried to fight. 'Jack, you can't do this,' she said but Jack didn't listen and he walked away from her. 'Jack! You can't do this! I need you to help me!'
Jack left her alone in the room and she tried desperately to pull the straps free. A window appeared on the wall to her side and she saw the two doctors stood next to Galen, on her right Jack joined her. Evie watched as the scientists looked down and saw their arms move, the machine above her began to move over
her and Evie continued to struggle. The room went pitch black and Evie saw the machine hover over her, the blue circle of lights looked down at her and as the lasers shot out into her chest she felt spasms erupt through her body.
As the spasms contracted her body and sent pain erupting through her she was certain it was going to burn her alive.
There was a loud explosion to the side of her. The lasers stopped and Evie lay exhausted and covered in sweat.
She couldn't move and saw someone wearing a gas mask enter the room.
They scooped her up in their arms and carried her away as she fell unconscious.
When Evie woke, she was in a comfortable bed. She felt the softness of mattress and sunk into it as she curled the warm blanket around her. With great struggle, she forced her eyes open. She saw she was in one of the studio apartments in Fort Isa, pain ebbed through her chest and she reached around for a light. The room flickered into view and she pulled herself out of bed and looked around confused. She walked over to the bathroom, and her chest felt tight and constricted. She pulled off the gray t-shirt that she had been dressed in and saw that her chest was bound with tight bandages. Memories of the lasers suddenly came back to her and she held out her arm, she tried to summon her energy, she wanted to feel the power return to her arms, she wanted to know what they had done to her.
'They tried to change you,' she heard a small voice say behind her. When she looked up to the mirror she saw Rook stood behind her. She turned around and Rook hugged her tightly. Evie held her close, and she could feel Rook's energy, she was exhausted and terrified.
'What happened?' Evie asked and followed Rook out of the bathroom as she pulled the t-shirt on again.
Rook sat down on the bed looking visibly upset. 'It's all changed,' she said. 'They've changed.'
'Who?'
'Jack, they found him and he got scrambled,' Rook said quietly. Evie didn't say anything, she didn't have any words to use that could express how she felt. 'We were able to find you before they did the same to you, Canaan came back and carried you out of there as the rebels attacked Volt.'
Rogue (Convergence Series Book 1) Page 24
