Animorphers 2.0. DT

I opened my eyes just as all four Japanese assassins fell to the ground, revealing the four men standing behind them, holding their own silenced guns. They all wore unmarked army-green jackets and grey baseball caps. They each lowered their weapons.

My eyes faded back to normal. I stared at them, frozen. They stared at me. Then finally one of them said, "What is your name?"

"Why do you want to know?" I asked.

"Does Project Miles Eximius mean anything to you?"

My eyes widened a little. Just then, Emma came around the corner.

"Gwen, there you a--" She stopped cold. Looked down at the men on the floor, then up at the four men surrounding me. "What is--"

"Your name is Gwen?" one of the men said to me.

I looked back at him. "Who are you?"

"We're agents of F.U.S.E.. Does that mean anything to you?"

I shook my head a little. "What is F.U.S.E.?"

"Federal Unit of Scientific Experimentation. We green lit Project Miles Eximius. You were involved, weren't you? Both of you?"

I didn't know who these men were, or if they could be trusted. But they saved my life and seemed to have answers. So I gave them a small nod.

"My name is Jay," the man said. "It's not safe to talk here. Come with me."

Jay led us down the hall, leaving his comrades to clean up the mess. It was just him, me and Emma, which made me feel a little better. There was more of us than there was of him, and based on what he said, he should know what we're capable of. If he was planning to kill us or capture us, he would have done it by now.

He led us up to the roof of the hospital. It was a bitter cold day. A light wind tossed my hair around, made a chill run down my spine.

Finally he turned to face us. Took us in for a moment. "God, you're just kids."

"If you green lit the experiment, why don't you know who we are?" I asked.

"F.U.S.E. provided the funding for the project, but everything involved was done at M.E.L.. All of the data and records were stored in their computers. Once the lab was bombed, we lost everything having to do with the experiment, including the identity profiles of the test subjects."

"You mean of us," Emma butted in. "We were the test subjects."

"Yes, I'm sorry," Jay said. "There was a lot Dr. Liam and Dr. Neil kept from us, including the ages of who would be involved and whether they would be willing or not. The project didn't go how we intended. It was a failure and now we're trying to clean up our mess... our mistakes."

"That sounds a lot like what the Japanese are trying to do, only they want to kill us," Emma said.

"Our intensions are quite the contrary. We want to protect you from the Japanese until we can find a way to stop them. We've completely shut down the experiment. No more trials or tests. Now we just want to make things right," he explained.

"Why now?" I asked.

"Like I said, after the lab was bombed, we didn't know who you were. We've been spending every waking hour of the last three weeks trying to find you guys. We kept hitting dead ends or missing you by a couple of hours... but when Riley West was brought into the hospital, it put you guys on the map," he said. "It allowed us to find you, but that also means it's going to make it easier for others to find you as well, which is why you're going to need our protection."

"Why should we trust you?" Emma asked.

Jay ponders her question for a moment. "Like I said, we just want to make things right. Enough lives have ended because of this. We don't want yours to be added to that list. And after everything you guys have been through, you could probably use someone you can trust, and above all else, someone who understands. You don't have to keep your secret from us. We probably know more about it than you do."

I crossed my arms over my chest, bracing myself from the cold that was starting to seep into my clothes. "So, what do you want from us?"

"Because the lab was bombed, the project was interrupted. We never got to run tests on you after the initial experiment. You kids underwent something that no one else has ever gone through before. We'd just like to do a check up to make sure you're all okay. On top of that, we'd like to give you a safe place to come to, and allies in times of need. You kids have been carrying this burden for a long time. Let us take some of it off your shoulders."

Emma and I looked at each other for a long moment, then looked back at him. Neither of us were sure what to say.

Finally, Jay gave us a smile. "I know it's a lot to take in. Take my card, and call me once you've had time to process and tell your friends." He handed me his card, then looked sincerely into my eyes and said. "I promise you, you can trust us. Make the right decision before more of your friends are almost killed."

Then he looked over at Emma and said, "It was a pleasure meeting both of you. I hope to see you again soon." Then he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his green jacket and headed for the door to the stairwell.

And just like that, our world had been flipped upside down all over again.