Activate (3 page)

A
s directed by their triggers
, the five slept for a full eight hours after being activated. In the morning, I watch them all walk out of their houses. They’ll never return, and as they ignore their parents who have followed them outside, those nine people realize it. Some collapse into each other, and some burn with a rage they can’t hide on their faces. It doesn’t matter what reaction they have. It’s not like I’m going to send them back. They’re finally coming home where they belong.

I wait for them at the entrance to the lab. This is the building where they were created, and also where their fate was decided. It’s where their “parents” traded their nightmares for temporary dreams. And now it is where they’ll work together to save this country.

“Welcome, my children,” I tell them, once they’ve all joined me in the command center. “I am your Creator. The United States is under attack, and only the five of you can save us.

“This is what you were born for,
created
for. You all possess more knowledge and skills than our entire military and intelligence communities combined. Your DNA is infused with super-strength and intelligence. From the time you were born, you’ve all been given the knowledge of every great detective or spy from literature, television, and the movies. This is so you can think outside of normal parameters. You have the abilities of the best fighters who ever lived, and now you must use what you’ve been given. Your country needs you, and you will fulfill your destiny.

“Do what you must. Take what you need. Let no one stand in your way.”

With those three additional triggers, they fan out into the room. They take five seats, pulling analysts from chairs when they don’t move fast enough. I smirk as their fingers fly over the keyboards, all of them looking for what no one else could find.

I sit and watch them for most of the afternoon. As analysts come and go from the room, giving my five a wide berth. Now that they have been activated, all pretense of them being normal, stereotypical teens is gone. They don’t need to eat, and they won’t need sleep, either. I need both, so I start to call them in one at a time to give me updates. I’ll sleep in my office here while they work through the night, but I need to know that they’ve figured some things out already, or none of this will be worth it.

S
abrina

Sabrina is the first to enter my office. Her personality, pre-activation, was a direct result of bring infused with the charm of Charlie’s Angels. Those women could get in and out of any situation they needed to, and so can she. She’s going to be a little more like Wonder Woman, but not quite Diana Prince. She now knows she has the wisdom, and strength of an Amazon, but she doesn’t have

that pesky thing called compassion to get in her way.

“Sit down, my dear, and tell me what you’ve learned.”

She flips a chair around and straddles it, fully abandoning the girl she was just yesterday. “They’re good. Better than anyone on our government’s payroll.”

“Better than you?”

“I’m not on the payroll,” she reminds me with a cruel smile. I didn’t need the reminder, but I wanted to hear her say it.

“Go on.”

“They’ve infiltrated more than just the computer systems. They are integrated into every major organization and business in this country. They hid their digital footprints well enough for amateurs to miss, but I spotted them easily. Pinging off of satellites all over the world is child’s play. What that tells me is they didn’t think you had people smart enough to find them.”

“We didn’t, until yesterday.”

“Well, now you do. I have a program going that is slowly pulling the names and photos of everyone involved in the computer attacks and hacking.”

“What about the monuments, and everything else?”

“You know that’s not what I’m here for. This is just a game. My skills will be useful once I’m in the room with these monsters. I’ll sway them to our side, and then you can destroy them.”

“Once we get the information we need, they will indeed be dealt with. I had thought you might like a turn with them, Sabrina.”

“I’ll leave that to her,” she says, looking out to Michaela with a smirk.

“She will enjoy it,” I agree. “You may go back out to your desk. Please send Coalton in next.”

“Will do,” she tells me with a salute. She’s no longer the “good girl” she was before. She’s better, and I almost feel bad that no one will ever know.

C
oalton

Coalton walks in, and the change in him is so drastic that I’m almost speechless. I knew the change would come—I orchestrated it—but it is still shocking. Gone is the cocky athlete. He’s now in a button down shirt and slacks, looking like any computer nerd in the U.S.

His former persona was based on Tony Stark, a character who is always brutally honest, yet charismatic at the same time. Now, he’s like Jason Bourne come to life. A super-spy, who really has no knowledge of his past, but can do anything he needs to, including killing his enemies by any means necessary.

“Hello, Sir. I think I found something.”

“You think?” I challenge him, wanting to see if he has truly accepted his real personality.

“I
have
found something,” he says, standing up taller.

Good. He won’t be so brutally honest anymore,

because I don’t want him offending anyone who might be an ally, but I need him to show confidence at all times, especially with his new computer skills.

“Tell me.”

“There is a pattern to these attacks, but the other technicians out there are saying they can’t see it, even when I try to show it to them.”

They’re not lying—I’m quite sure they really
can’t
see it. “Never mind them. You just keep doing what you need to in order to contain it.”

“It’s not as easy as you make it sound.”

“If it was easy, I wouldn’t need you.”

He nods. “I’m on it,” he says, turning to walk back out.

Oh, I have no doubt about that.

H
inton

Hinton visits me next. He hasn’t been summoned, but while his fun-loving side is gone, his inherent need to test authority is not. He will be a little harder to contain, but I’m not worried.

We knew we wanted someone to keep everyone entertained, and who better than Austin Powers?

As Hinton got older, we played with his DNA and added in some Shawn Spencer, trying to balance him out from being so wild. Now, he’s going to be more like Ethan Hunt, able to blend in, and fight for us from the inside. I’ll miss some of his old humor, but not enough to let him keep it.

“We need to move out now.”

“There is still more to learn. Your sisters and brother have more information to gather.”

“Let them gather it while I go.”

I lean back in my chair, steepling my hands on my chest. “Why would I send you out on your own?”

“I’m ready. I have a target.”

“If you’ve found something, you will share it with me, and then with everyone else. This is a team.”

“You didn’t make me a team player, so why are you asking me to be one now?” he asks, genuinely confused. I’m also unsettled, because he shouldn’t know what he was built for.

“I need you to trust me, Hinton.”

“I trust no one, but I have no choice in following your rules, do I?”

“No, son. You do not.”

He turns and storms out of the room, slamming my glass door as he walks back out to the computer terminal he’d been working on. Maybe he’s not going to be so easy to rein in, but I’ll do it—I have no choice.

M
ichaela

I walk out of my office to talk with Michaela, since I don’t think she’ll stop what she’s doing to come to me. She’s laid five of our best soldiers flat already, and she hasn’t broken a sweat.

Her old anti-social behavior was a side-effect of her being infused with the personality and mindset of Sherlock Holmes. Like the others, she has a bit of everyone else in her, too, but that character was her most dominant before she was activated. Now, she will behave more like Black Widow, combining that brain of hers with the fighting skills she now knows she has. I’m perfectly fine with her beating up my men, but I need to see where she’s at mentally right now.

“Michaela, a moment please,” I say as she throws soldier number six on his back.

“I’m not done.”

“They’ll still be here when we’re done.”

She raises an eyebrow, and I can’t help but smile back at her. Truthfully, the men still standing would probably scatter if that was an option for them. It’s not, and they know it, which is why when I nod, they fall into line. She smiles back at me and follows me into my office.

“They’re weak.”

“Weaker than you, yes. Stronger than most, also yes.”

“They are not a challenge.”

“You will be challenged soon enough.”

“I can’t wait.”

“You will surely have to kill.”

“You can count on me to do whatever is necessary.”

“Very good. You may go out and resume your exercise now.”

“If it was exercise, I’d be breaking a sweat. Don’t you have anyone who can truly challenge me?”

“You will be challenged soon enough,” I tell her again, and hold the door for her as she walks out.

A
bigail

Abigail comes to me last, as it should be. She holds the keys to all of this, and I have no doubt she will embrace her destiny once I make it known. She has already traded her designer dresses for combat boots, jeans, and a tank top. Her transformation is the most extreme of them all, both on the outside,
and
on the inside. The inspiration for the old Abigail was Nancy Drew, the inquisitive, but nice girl. Now, she’s all Nikita.

Well, not all—she’s not going to develop a conscience that would interfere with the work she needs to do. Oh, and she’s also got the leadership tendencies of M.

“You’re wasting my time here with them,” she says, her lip curling into a sneer as she motions to the others behind my glass door. “They need to know I am their leader now.”

“It’s not time yet.”

“It is!” she insists, slamming her hands down on my desk and leaning over it. “I am everything they are, and more. I will not stand by and be treated as if I am just one of them, when I am so much more.”

“You will do what I tell you to do. You may be destined to be their leader, but I am in charge here. Do not forget that.”

She immediately responds to the venom in my voice, stepping back. “Yes, sir. Of course. I will do whatever you tell me.” Oh, I know she will.

She has been programmed to be aggressive with everyone else, but to back down from me. God help me if she hadn’t been, because I would not survive it if she decided to attack. I honestly wouldn’t survive any of them, but she is the most dangerous—and the deadliest.

T
wenty-four hours later
, everything is in place. Our enemies have been revealed to the five, and they are ready to do what they were created for. A plane is waiting, and it’s time for me to send them on their way.

“This is it, children. You will go out and make me proud. Gather what you need, and go.”

They do not run because none of them feel as if time is an issue. They know where they are going, and they think they’re invincible. As I watch them walk to get their things, I hope they’re right. They know where we’re going, but they don’t know what’s waiting for them there. I can’t tell them—or anyone—but I do need to let my “boss” know our status.

“Hello, Mr. President,” I say when he answers. “We’re wheels up in thirty minutes.”

“May God be with you, and those children.”

I don’t correct him as I disconnect the call, because I know I can’t change his mind.

These five are not “children,” and they never
truly
have been. He knows it, but refuses to accept it. He will have to accept it soon.

Soon enough, everyone is gathered back around me, and I lead them out to the waiting jet. Once inside, they spread out, none of them wanting to be too close to the other. They know of their bond now, but in this, nurture has overtaken nature. Or rather, society has broken the bond they could’ve once shared. They were not friends for sixteen years, and one day will not undo what we’ve done.

They glance at each other often, looking for something they’re not going to find. They will never love each other like most siblings do. They won’t support each other unless it will help them in some way. And they definitely won’t put the others before themselves. They simply don’t have it in them to care.

I’m distracted with my own thoughts, so I don’t see Abigail stand and move to the front of the plane, until she starts speaking. I sit up straight, but I don’t try to stop her. It’s time.

“I am your leader, and you will all do as I say.”

“I’m not taking orders from you,” Hinton says, laughing at her.

“That’s not happening,” Michaela adds.

“What have you done?” Abigail asks while moving to stand in front of Sabrina, who’s filing her nails and ignoring her. “Tell me!”

“I’ve done nothing. I agree with them, but I haven’t tried to influence them. I don’t think it would work on them, but even if I did, you’re not worth it.”

“I’m with them, in case there was any doubt,” Coalton tells her.

Abigail is about to lose it, and I can’t let that happen. At least not yet. “Calm down, everyone.”

“You know I’m telling the truth,” Abigail says, pouting.”

“Yes. You will be their leader. But you must understand, although you were born to lead, they were not built to inherently follow anyone other than myself. You must earn their respect.”

“I won’t ever respect her,” Michaela says.

Abigail charges her, and they begin to exchange blows. I let it go on for a couple of minutes, because it needs to happen. I can’t let them fight to the death yet, so I get up and stop it. “Enough!” I yell, and they immediately break apart. “Clean yourselves up and go back to your seats.

They do as I ask, each going in a different direction; one to the lavatory in the front of the plane, and one to the back. I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing their conditioning is firmly in placer indifference for one another develops into hate. It’s all part of the plan, and it makes me feel something close to pride, but I keep my mouth in a tight line as I survey the others.

None of them seems affected by what just happened, which means they, too, are behaving as they were trained to. Nothing around them should distract from what they have to do, even if it involves members of their own team—their own family.

Death and destruction around them will need to be used to their advantage, not their detriment. There was no time to test them properly, but the two girls just did it for them. If I was a better person, I’d probably thank them, instead of feeling so happy about sending them to their deaths.