Haven City

Frank smiled. "Impressed me a bit." He said as they pulled into the base.

James walked into his apartment seeing William. "Hey."
"Hey, where've you been?"
"I was with a girl." James said. "Thought I'd give you a little time to yourself after everything."
"Ahh, well it's good to see you." William said.

Jannelle headed into her office taking her messages and looking them over before her first patient came in.

"And the girl will back me up that, killing me would do the very littlest," he replied flashing a glance at Ashleigh.
"Either call me by my first name or last name. Even Miss would be a lot better than girl. I'm 21!"
"I'm 45... yeah... I look damn good for my age, don't I?"

Ashleigh shifted to Keith.
"Kristyan never seemed to stay dead."
"Depends on the model."
"Huh?"
"Depends on the model. Oh... Keith, you're very good, you haven't told her? I'm curious now, do either of you know what I am?"

"you're like Kristyan" Keith said "There's nothing there. you're little more than a machine which means you can be switched off. I did tell her abotu Krityan, just not the things I speculated. Didn't see the point in telling her without proof."

"They're machines?!" Ashleigh said in disbelief.
"Now that’s a bit rude. So happens that I am very much human."
"And you have emotions? How come you have them and not Kristyan."
"Different designers."

Ashleigh got to her feet, "How do I know that you're not here to kill me?"
"Like Kristyan? Because she broke into Keith's office to steal a file about the person who created me. And if she found me, she'd want me to get to you, and your parents."
"They're dead, the real ones and the adoptive ones."
"Oh okay, well someone made Kristyan, and is releasing more models of her."

The man hopped up and turned to show them both a bar code.
"Damn... now I feel like I'm in Dark Angel or The Island."
"I like those movie's... two hot females in both of them."
"So Kristyan is more than one?"
"You've mostly been playing with number 24."
"And how many more of them is there?"
"28..."

Ashleigh moved behind Keith, "Shoot him?!"

Kieth sighed lowering the gun. "I can't do that. He broke into my house but nothing was taken and he never threatened me or you, there's no justification for me shooting him."

"That's actually incorrect, the door was open..." the man butted in.

Ashleigh gasped, "I thought it would be safe! Okay, give me the gun Keith."

"No, you can't shoot him either." Keith said "You can't go around shootign everyone you don't like. It's wrong."

Kristyan headed to Talbot's office, knowing it was one of two places that she could hopefully seek help from. The other place, she didn't know where it was. She spread herself out on the couch watching the clock tick down, even after the secretary politely informed her that she could have a wait on her hands.

"You two should be grateful of me being here. I'm telling you all these secrets and you seem the least bit interested. There's so much more to be said, and you're already frightened. It kind of shows that you're not prepared for the bigger issues here.

Don't worry, I know my way out. But let me ask you now Ashleigh... how are those voices in your head?"
"What voices?"

He circled her and whispered, "Ashleigh... can you hear me? Ah, you flinched. Let me give you the best advice, let it go. Ignore those voices."
"Who are they?"
"Your parents, but it won't be a nice reunion. Anyhow, time I should be leaving, before I am found."
"Wait... what are we meant to call you?"
"H-76145."

Ashleigh stepped backwards in even more disbelief. It was the same numbers on his neck.
"How am I expected to remember that?"
"Well, what about Ledger?"
"Like Heath Ledger? Well you look exactly like him. Oh my god, did they use the film star?"
"Spent several millions dollars."

Ledger went to the balcony jumping off it, and Ashleigh ran out following, "Where did he go?"

"I wouldn't worry about him" Keith said from behind her. "I'm sure we'll see him again."

"No! I don't want to see him again," Ashleigh said walking past him and started putting her items on the table, "Surely if I run away far enough, I can be rid of Kristyan and the voices?"

"You can't run from your problems forever" Keith said "They'll still be there when you stop running."

"Keith... I can't stop a machine! A cyborg...whatever they are! And those voices... its them messing with me. Making me trust him... my parents are dead and they're happily pulling on the threads that hold me together. Well, I can't! I'm losing those threads, they're ripping... hanging there with just a few strands."

"They can be stopped" Keith said "Everything has a weakness."

"I'm scared Keith," Ashleigh said sighing, "So what did he mean about your office?"

"Nothing you need to worry about" Keith told her.

"You can't keep protecting me Keith," Ashleigh said getting confused about placing items into her bag and then out of it, and then she stopped, "Is Kristyan trying to come after you directly? I warned you that you might get hurt."

"No, she's not coming after me" Keith said "She broke into my office looking for something."

KariganGladheon wrote:

Kristyan headed to Talbot's office, knowing it was one of two places that she could hopefully seek help from. The other place, she didn't know where it was. She spread herself out on the couch watching the clock tick down, even after the secretary politely informed her that she could have a wait on her hands.

After some time Talbot walked into his office noticing Kristyan. "Ahh...so what can I do for you?"

Kristyan got to her feet and noticed that she was unsteady, and her dress wouldn't stay in place, minor things that never bothered her until now, "I'm almost at the end of my game, and I have no where else to go. Refrain yourself from laughing, I would kick myself if it was possible. My other models got themselves killed too quickly, I cannot punish them now. I can only learn from their mistakes, but I'm fearful, Talbot. There's only four models left, I'm desperate. I need those two scientists. No one has the ability to disappear completely, you can help me find them, and I promise I won't run away from you again."

"Well, didn't you ask me if I wanted to come pester you at work?" Ashleigh asked.

Talbot looked at her. "Why should I help you? Remember if I do something it doesn't come for free."

"Everything I have, possession wise already has your name on it, unless you want anything from within me? Anyhow, if I'm successfully shut down, they're going to go with their operations of building a better cyborg than me. They don't want to have immortality any more, they want a cyborg that can cease anyone's powers permanently. And there's one girl that we both know that can do that. Just think Talbot, all I need is a few upgrades, and you'll have a major weapon right in your hands."

"I did" Keith said