If you can’t come in from the cold, then you gotta grow ice over your heart.
DYAD - 1960
Rachel pressed herself against the wall and edged closer to the window. Her mother was in her office, having a meeting with Dr Suchong, and Rachel suspected it had something to do with the twins. She could hear snatches of conversation - unparalleled…genetic possibilities...production of ADAM...perfect candidate...Project Leda…
She furrowed her brow. Project Leda? Surely she had seen that written down somewhere...or was she just remembering her Greek mythology lessons? Then she heard Sarah’s name and pressed her ear to the glass.
“No need for - the sister,” Suchong said in his clipped tones. “We take - Helena - only.”
“Are you certain? If we double up on the samples, it may benefit us later.”
Rachel could hear the slight wheedling note in her mother's’ voice, even if Suchong couldn’t. Mother didn't approve of her friendship with the twins; she saw the Little Sisters as an unfortunate necessity, to be utilized for ADAM and nothing more. It had been her father who insisted on Rachel having some kind of socialisation with other children, and he, at least, still recognised the girls as human. Or he had.
I don’t think he sees any of us as human anymore. He spends all his time with the birds because they are what they are - a symbol of freedom locked in a cage. Like all of us.
Distracted, she had missed Suchong’s reply, then heard her mother say
“Very well. I daresay there will be some trouble in separating them - remember the last time?”
Suchong gave a short laugh.
“Aldous should have - been prepared. We will - not - have the same problem.”
Rachel felt a chill at the man’s words. Where they going to hurt Sarah? Or just take Helena away? To Sarah, those two things would be the same. She pressed the tips of her fingers to her lips.
She would have to tell them.
But she hesitated...if Helena was taken away - not hurt , Rachel told herself, just...gone - then she would have Sarah all to herself. She would be upset, but surely, she would get over it eventually. She would have Rachel, why would she need anyone else? What was Project Leda? Maybe it would only be temporary anyway?
Rachel moved away from her mother's office, absent-mindedly giving the closest security camera another short zap of electricity to keep it addled until she was gone. Feeling conflicted was a new and unwelcome experience for her, and she was starting to feel irritable. Deciding to head to the plasmid testing laboratory to vent her emotions with some practise, she missed seeing Suchong leave Susan's’ office, and spot her moving down the hallway. His eyes narrowed slightly behind his glasses.
Rachel had been in the lab for at least half an hour, going through her routine. (Incinerate: shoot flames; form and throw fireballs; mass flame: lay fire traps. Electro-Bolt: zap one target; utilize lightning chain to zap two or more targets; form and throw electrical spheres. Winter Blast: freeze targets...) She turned her head slightly when the door opened, saw it was Suchong from the corner of her eye, and was tempted to freeze him solid where he stood. Instead she inclined her chin and said politely,
“Doctor.”
He nodded back, and gave her a small smile that went nowhere near his eyes.
“Rachel. I would - like - to talk to you about - Sarah.” Suchong watched Rachel's face closely, but the only trace of disconcertation was the barest narrowing of her eyes.
“Sarah?” She kept her voice as nonchalant as she could.
“Yes. Now you - are - a very smart young lady. You know - we are doing very - important work here. Yes?”
Rachel nodded. Like I can’t hear the condescension in your voice, Doctor.
“...Yes. Now, your - little friends - are going to help us with - that. Helena has certain - qualities - that we need to study in - closer detail. “
Suchong had indeed been keeping an eye on Rachel, especially after she befriended the Manning twins. He had allowed Tenenbaum to keep him at a distance from them, and indulge the girls, (why the woman was allowing her emotions to overcome her scientific curiosity, he did not and could not understand…), patiently biding his time until the opportunity arose. As fascinating a study the mirror twins would make, the possibilities of Project Leda overruled all other priorities now.
A slight jab of jealousy poked Rachel. Why was Helena so important, anyway? What made her so special?
She turned fully to face Dr Suchong and gazed at him unblinkingly.
“So, you want to take Helena away to study her. And what does that have to do with me?”
Suchong seemed amused.
“You are - close - to Sarah, yes? She will need your - support - during this. Twins can be - difficult - to separate.”
He was careful not to use the words ‘distraction’ or ‘betrayal’. But Rachel understood him nonetheless. When the time came, she would need to distract Sarah long enough for her sister to be stolen from her. And then she would be the one to comfort Sarah afterwards and wonder aloud about how this could have happened...
Suchong raised his eyebrows at Rachel. Hopefully the girl would take after her mother and detach herself from the emotional bonds that serve only to impede progress.
Rachel stared back at him, then tilted her head to the side.
“What is Project Leda?” she asked.
Suchong smiled tightly.
“Something that will mean a - better - life for us all. And nothing that need concern - you - yet.”
Rachel nodded, and spun a snowball in her hands.
“Sarah mustn’t know about this conversation,” she stated. “It could prove...dangerous.”
She shifted her hands slightly, and the snowball melted into air, then a sphere of fire rotated slowly between her fingers, her eyes glinting silver in the light. It took a lot to unnerve Suchong, but he felt a chill down his spine. Rachel’s voice was emotionless, unthreatening - but her eyes.
Then he shook it off. Ridiculous to be afraid of a mere child.
“Of course. I am glad we are in - agreement - Rachel.”
Rachel smirked as he hurried out of the room. She may not have the ability to read people's emotions but she could sense fear, like a shark with blood in the water. She then thought about what she had just agreed to, and her feeling of superiority plunged. If Sarah found out that they were planning to take Helena away...and that Rachel had known about it…
No. She would be fine. The twins couldn’t actually read her thoughts, so she would just have to keep herself shielded from any volatile emotions that they would pick up on. It wouldn’t be too long, it seemed, and then she would have Sarah to herself, and everything would be fine. It would be fine.
Rachel was still absentmindedly turning the fireball but it started to wobble and flare, the flames coming dangerously close to licking her face. She caught her own gaze in the mirrored window and her eyes were silver, solid silver. Her hands crackled and the fireball imploded in her hands.
She stopped for a moment and breathed, in and out, until her hands stopped quivering with sparks, and her eyes returned to normal.
Maybe my father is right. Maybe I am becoming a monster, she thought.
And a slow smile spread across her face.