Chapter Text
Recombination:
By Wildannuette
Series: Angel up to season 3's end and Buffy season 6's end after that it just my twisted reality.
Spoilers: Too many episodes to mention, some subtle some not so.
Pairing: Eventually will be Spike/Xander, Angel/Wesley but I'm trying to get the background in first. Starts in the Angel universe last episode, though no one knows Angel, Cordelia and Connor are gone.
Disclaimer: God I wish I owned them but I don't my only attribute will be seen later on.
Thank you very much to Shara for beta reading this for me (even if it was a year ago *whoops*), and encouraging me to post it, cheers! :)
Prologue:
"So this is your plan is then?" The man asked indifferently to his companions. The short, dark eyed man smiled sardonically whilst his female companion nodded somewhat hesitantly. "An intriguing project" the man continued, "but is it worth it?" he asked lightly, staring directly into her eyes.
A chill surrounded the three of them, as they stared at the mass of laboratory equipment surrounding them. There were several nervous technicians bustling around trying to avoid eye contact.
"We think so," the female answered in an amused, yet cold voice, "But judge for yourself." She keyed in a code on the nearest computer which opened a door, that to the naked eye seemed to just have appeared from the flat surface of the wall. The three silently made their way inside. A nervous and over-exuberant man, clad in a white lab coat and scrubs, rushed up to greet them.
"Sorry, we had no idea if you were coming today; I've got most of the notes in order and we are on schedule for today." The man put a finger to his lips and the scientist cut off talking automatically. Though the man appeared average and middle aged, the scientist wasn't going to take any chances, the mans reputation preceded him . All three pairs of eyes were locked on a small glass cubical and the scientist turned to watch them.
"Is it in there?" the man enquired, his voice neutral. The scientist nodded hesitantly, he could feel the power that the man had over the other two, and it unnerved him.
"V-vitals are good. Brilliant actually considering the speed of
growth and development. We have run numerous blood tests and it appears to be fine, perfect in fact." His voice contained a trace of awe.
The man glanced at him with a slight smile playing around his
lips, "I see." He moved closer to the cubical, his small entourage following and his smile deepened. "So I see" he
confirmed "and what exactly is it?" he asked the scientist, the
scientist hurriedly looked down on his notes. "Female, approximately 18 months of age, outwardly it appears normal. Its growth is unprecedented it was only removed from the host a few weeks ago, which was destroyed," he added hurriedly.
"Under my orders" the woman interjected, "she had served her purpose, we had no more use for her, so the good doctor here performed a somewhat premature," her mouth flickered into a quick smile, "autopsy. She remained human, no change save for a slightly elevated amount of oxygen in the blood."
The scientist nodded in agreement. "Usual in human pregnancy but no where near as high, fascinating neither the less." He looked over his notes, "As I was saying, we removed it several weeks ago and its growth is, well, you
can see," he gestured to the cubical.
The man nodded "But what is it?" he asked again, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"What I believe we wish to know is - what use is it?" the dark eyed man finally spoke up giving the woman a chilling, almost smug smile.
"Of course!" the scientist answered his eyes widening, "It's perfect. A perfect specimen, completely aware and intelligent," he smiled slightly seeing the other men's looks of curiosity. "More so than your average human baby. It is able to read basic sentences and its motor skills are advanced enough to write them down, basic writing you understand, almost a four year olds standard. Unfortunately it is unable to speak," he admitted. "But the rest of its attributes, physical and mental are well above normal. The child can walk, run and move with an unnatural grace for a pre-toddler. The male's DNA seems to have taken precedent over
the females in the physical area. It has extremely enhanced strength and is able to lift loads of almost three times its own weight. It has exceptionally fast healing, not as fast as a normal vampire but well above human. The female's DNA seems to have given it, a human appearance, it only changes when in contact with blood."
The short man coughed, "So it drinks blood?" he asked disbelieving, The scientist nodded "Human or animal, though it seems to prefer human; it only requires one maybe two pints a week directly ingested. We give it three set meals a day consisting of the five food groups, human food groups. Vegetables, minerals you understand." he added quickly. "It seems partial to those high in sugar." He stared into the cubical. "It seems a lot less deadly then than we believe it has potential to be" he murmured, wonderment turning too almost reverence on his face.
"It appears human," the man said slowly, "But it could be of use." he sighed and glanced at the woman, "How often do you come here?" he asked suddenly.
The woman stared into the cubical avoiding his eyes. "At least once a day, I like to be informed," she murmured. The dark eyed man raised an eyebrow looking from it to the woman.
"I see." The other man made no comment so he continued. "So the female, the mother gave it the human appearance? Strange how it looks more like the father," he commented.
The woman glowered at him, "This is the only one we have who survived; whether demon or human. For some reason the other female embryo's aborted and the male survivors died within days." Her eyes glanced back to the cubical, "But you are right she is more like him." Her eyes locked on the thoughtful dark brown eyes in the cubical. "Same eyes, same hair."
The dark eyed males' eyebrows raised, "She? I'm surprised Lilah, you know you shouldn't be thinking like this, maybe you've become too attached to the project?" Lilah's gaze whipped round on him, and she momentarily stepped forward as if to grab him by the throat, but stilled at the last minute. The other man and the scientist watched, the former amused and the later embarrassed. The woman's voice shook slightly with barely controlled anger, "The only attachment I have is
wanting to see how well she can be trained and what kind of assassin she'll be. That and the added bonus, the look on his face when she comes up against him."
She turned back to the man and glanced at the cubical annoyance twisting her features "She can't hear us can she?" she asked carefully, seeing the intelligence in the deep brown eyes.
"No, of course not," the scientist answered. "Her hearing is
extremely sensitive but the glass is several centimeters thick and completely soundproof."
The three seemed to accept this. The woman's gaze kept drifting back to the thoughtful eyes still locked on them. The man was looking over her notes. "Well, I must say you have redeemed yourself in my eyes, and I'm confident the senior partners will see it this way too, Lilah. I am completely satisfied by this report." He closed the report, noting with amusement the jealous look from the male, and the slight smile from his female companion. "Now when Gavin came up with
the idea to take Connor, I must admit I believed he would come out tops, but this..." His smile widened, "It would make an interesting assassin, and I'm sure we would all welcome that; However if you did it once you can do it again. The samples are still here, I presume?"
The scientist balked slightly, "Yes, the female's DNA and eggs we still have of the human version are still functional. For the male we have enough blood samples to extract from."
The man's smile broadened, although a cold light shone from his eyes. He moved in front of the cubical and squatted down with one hand on the glass. "I told you I love kids, didn't I?" he said in an almost wistful voice. Waving his hand slightly as the tiny one on the other side of the glass waved back. "Oh you're cute, aren't you?" his voice took on a babyish patronising tone, "And you'd be even cuter if we let you grow up, but now your mummy's gone we only need to get rid of your daddy and that's where you come in." He turned back to the small crowd, "Cut her open, find out how she works, then if all goes to plan, make another." He looked back at the child, "Maybe looking more like the its mother?" he added.
The short man smiled smugly, "Well Lilah, looks like you'll get to prove yourself then. You suggested the same thing for the other one, didn't you?" he smirked at the child who still held his gaze. "Yes.." the man said slowly, "Shame, maybe we could have got your brother in too. To see how different you were?" he smiled again.
"It's half vampire-half human, the other child was completely human, wasn't it?" the scientist asked enthusiastically, "That would have been interesting."
The man quickly stood up and moved back over to the group. " One week, gather the information you need, then we'll be back for the final study." He strode out of the room, the other two followed, leaving the scientist to nod enthusiastically, and dash for his computer.
The woman cast a look back, and jumped slightly seeing the child's eyes still observing them. Both of her colleagues were too busy with trading theories on the childs 'working parts' to notice. Her mouth opened slightly as she saw the certainty in the child's eyes, she'd heard every word, no matter what assurances had been given. Lilah knew that she was right. The child blinked, a sorrowful look in her eyes before she turned around to play with the toys. Lilah looked down at her hands as she followed her colleagues out of the door, they were shaking slightly. Unnerved, she pushed them into her
pockets and tried to concentrate on being enthusiastic over the project, when all she could see was the child face in her mind.