Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

It was only an hour after Pierre, Cristiano, and Joseph had gone that Elizabeth had taken Whitlock to the new resistance’s base, knowing that Chelsea was there and that it would be a prime opportunity to use the gene.

She only learned of the three leaders being there when they had gotten there, putting a hole in the vision that Whitlock had seen.

The boy seemed afraid, shaking his head as he started breathing rapidly. “No no no, this can’t be happening, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Mom, they’re going to get chipped, they’re going to go against us.”

Elizabeth quickly got on eye level with her son and put her hands on his shoulders. “You’re seeing this, what can we do? It’s time to stop using your visions and start using your brain, let’s figure out a way to work through this, alright?”

He pulled away from her gaze before pointing behind her. “Orsino and Camillo followed us. If Orsino goes in or I do or both of us, it’s going to get out of hand. There’s three different ways it’ll end if you and Camillo go in but I don’t know which one of them would be better.”

“Whitlock, I just told you to stop using the gene. I understand you’re afraid and that you don’t know what else to do but I need you to listen to me. You stay here, Orsino and Camillo will come to you and I’ll go inside. Watch where I go and tell Camillo to follow me, can you please just do that for me?” Whitlock nodded, keeping his hands at his side as he pulled away from his mother.

She watched him back away towards where he indicated Orsino and Camillo were, neither of them sharing any final word to the other.

To get in while avoiding the cameras and the people patrolling, Elizabeth climbed a tree to the second floor and forced a window open, climbing in and leaving it open so Camillo could follow. She stayed in the room for about three minutes before Camillo climbed through the window, shutting it behind himself. “Why did you leave him like that?”

Elizabeth put her index finger to her mouth and pointed to the camera in the room, then to her own ear to tell him that the cameras could hear everything as well. She turned her back to him and cracked open the door that she was standing in front of, briefly looking into the hall to see that nobody was patrolling.

They left the room with Camillo leading, keeping very little distance between themselves so they would be able to grab the other on the chance that something grabbed them. While Camillo led, Elizabeth pointed out each camera to him and they would both make a mental note of it as they went on.

Camillo briefly looked back at Elizabeth to ask her where they were going before realizing that they had been spotted by someone, Elizabeth turned to face what Camillo was looking at, the both of them freezing in fear. The person watched them from the end of the hall before raising a gun at them. “Stay where you are and drop your weapons on the ground.”

“Do what he says and when I get him, you follow the voices.” Elizabeth whispered, disarming herself and Camillo following her lead without question. The man kept his gun drawn and approached the two to take their weapons.

As he reached down, a small bit of skin was exposed on his wrist. That’s what Elizabeth noticed and that’s what she relied on, diving to grab the man’s exposed wrist.

Camillo waited until she grabbed on and took off running as she had told him to whenever he knew she had made contact. Going down the stairs, he stopped to listen for the voices she had been talking about. He briefly heard his own father yelling about a woman and a child, prompting him to finish going down the staircase.

He followed his father’s voice to a room with double doors, he rested his hand on the handle and stopped to wonder if he should wait for Elizabeth, if he should go back and get his brother, or if he should go in at all. He heard someone going down the stairs while he was stopped at the door; not wanting to risk it being a guard while he was unarmed, he went through the double doors.

As soon as he entered the room, all eyes were on him and all the voices had stopped. His father was standing at the table, there were four people standing on the wall next to the double doors, and six people sitting at the table.

Daniel’s face scrunched up, the man quickly taking to his feet. “Why are you here? How did you get in? Did you hurt any of my people?” Two of the four people on the wall stepped forward as if they were going to grab Camillo.

“I’m unarmed.” He stayed frozen in place, unsure of what to do.

“That’s not what I asked.” As Daniel stepped closer to Camillo, his father and Pierre hurried to get in the way, Joseph, Gregory and Gus put themselves in the way of the two people from the wall.

The door behind Camillo swung open, pushing him into his father and Pierre’s backs. In came the man he and Elizabeth had faced earlier, only with the notable absence of Elizabeth herself. “I tried to stop him but he got away from me.”

Daniel focused on this man’s face, his confrontational tone vanishing in a moment as he studied the man. “Where did you find him?”

“Upstairs in the hallway. I haven’t got a clue of where he came from, though.”

“What’s your full legal name?” Daniel questioned the man. “Your birth name.”

The question was answered by an almost girlish giggle, the six foot man turning into five foot Elizabeth in a matter of seconds. She kept laughing as the rest of the group tried to process what they had just witnessed, a number of their faces turning pale.

Daniel himself seemed shocked, almost a bit afraid. “What was that? What did you do to him? Where is he?”

Daniel pushed through Cristiano, Pierre, and Camillo to get to her. Her laughing stopped as Elizabeth’s eyes locked on to the hand that Daniel kept on Camillo, drawing a blade that she had taken from the guard. She pointed it straight at Daniel’s chest, her eyes flicking up to look at his hands. “Do you want to be next?” She left room for him to answer, getting no response from him. “Get your hand off of him and get away from my people. I already heard Cristiano tell one of your people to get out of someone’s face so what makes you immune to that order?”

“This is my home, these are my people, your people are guests here and you need to respect that.” Daniel straightened himself out, holding his hand out for the knife. “Give me the knife that you stole from my guard, I’ll let your buddy go, and we’ll continue this meeting with no questions asked.”

She opened her mouth to say something, shaking her head to herself before handing over the knife. Daniel did as he said he would and let Camillo go, returning to his seat. His people returned, prompting the Voyagers to return to their seats while Elizabeth and Camillo went to stand on the wall opposite of Daniel’s people.

Camillo whispered to Elizabeth as Daniel started talking. “What did you do to him?”

She didn’t respond, instead taking Camillo by the hand. ‘I tried to knock him out by overwhelming him whenever I grabbed his wrist but it didn’t work. We fought for a little bit and the last thing I remember from being myself is that he was on top of me, I headbutted him and he bled on me. There was a lot of pain and it stopped after twenty seconds. I pushed him off of me, except I was pushing myself off of me. I went to the bathroom, saw that I was some dude that I didn’t even know, went back to the hallway and stabbed my body to see if I would go back to myself but it didn’t work. I think I killed him, but I really didn’t mean to.’

“How did Daniel know?”

‘My eyes, we made direct eye contact before he asked me to give him my full legal name. I wouldn’t have gotten past that question either way because I don’t know who he was.’ Elizabeth let go of Camillo’s hand, making direct eye contact with Daniel again.

Daniel stayed watching Elizabeth. “Is there something you’d like to tell the group?” She shook her head. “Good, then I’m moving on. With Elizabeth and Camillo here, this puts me in a place that I feel incapable of bargaining anymore, especially when I am unaware of the state of the man who she was.”

Joseph turned back to Elizabeth. “Is his man okay?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I know that when I became him, I stabbed myself so it’s likely that he’s dead.”

Daniel scoffed, leaning back in his seat. “You know what? Take your people, I don’t want to work on any treaty between our groups. Your people have made the decision for you.”

---

Chelsea joined the group just immediately after they left the new resistance’s base, making the arriving group of three into a departing group of eleven. They didn’t speak on the way to the town, but it was very clear that the day hadn’t gone the way the leaders had intended it to.

While each leader sat with their own family, they each had the same conversation.

Pierre eventually stood at the front of the dining room as he noticed people were getting ready to leave; Joseph and Cristiano joined him as soon as they saw he had gotten to the front of the room, only nine words were spoken and they were all by Pierre.

“We’ve made a decision on what we’re going to do with the new resistance. I will speak for the Crusaders, Joseph will speak for the Voyagers, and Cristiano will speak for his family.” He faced the center of the room since his people weren’t in one specific place. “Crusaders, we came here with the intention of helping the Voyagers pull through. They haven’t done that yet so our job here is not done, we’re going to stay here and start taking the offense instead of just defending because that’s not working anymore, we need to be ahead of the opposition.”

Joseph nodded, pulling his own head up to address the Voyagers. “We’re going to stand our ground against the new resistance. We have a goal in mind and they’re standing in the way of our goal so we need to treat them as they are; a blockage. We’re going to clear it and move on.”

Cristiano was the last to go and he still didn’t seem ready when his turn came along. “I came up here knowing the same thing that I know at this very moment and I’m going to share that with all of you.” He paused. “No matter what I say, my boys and Ines will do whatever they please. I wouldn’t be able to drag Horatio and Fillippo away from the Voyagers, no matter how much I tried. I see that Camillo has taken a bit of a liking to the group and he feels involved because he's seen Daniel multiple times in person now, he will probably stay as well. I do know the best course of action for my people is for Ines and myself to return to Ottawa.” He looked to his wife and sons, clearing his throat. “Ines will be returning to Ottawa, along with any of our boys that want to go.”

Joseph and Pierre shared a look between each other before Joseph addressed Cristiano. “You’re going to stay here?” He nodded in response. “Are you sure? Have you actually put any thought into your decision?”

“I have. I’ve decided that so long as any of my sons stay here then I can’t leave on a good conscience, knowing the danger that they face daily and will continue to face. These are dangers that my lineage will face until the end of time, I need to step in to help try to change the tides.” Cristiano looked settled in his decision and while all of his sons seemed shocked, Ines looked to be almost proud of him.

Chelsea looked over the other families in the dining hall, her vision stopping on Anthony and Amanda. The siblings seemed a bit down, neither of them looked at anyone else and they sat on their own tonight. “What about Anthony and Amanda?” Chelsea paused. “What about me?” She looked up to Pierre, Joseph, and Cristiano. “Anthony wants to go home, he misses his wife and his parents. Amanda feels like combating the new resistance is suicide, she doesn’t want to do it.”

“And what about you?” Joseph watched Chelsea, not touching on her statements about Anthony and Amanda.

“I think it’s a difficult decision and I don’t envy the position that you guys are in. I want to help, but I don’t think going head to head with these people is going to lead to anything productive. I think it’s leading the Voyagers and Crusaders both into a place where they fight to live.”

Joseph nodded. “That’s the intention. We’ve gotten too comfortable with doing nothing to defend ourselves, we’ve done nothing to get where we are now and we’re being challenged for it when we can’t just get up and move because it’s getting tough for us. We’re done moving around because things are hard.”

“The sentiment is admirable but the method is wrong and you all know it.” Elizabeth chimed in before Chelsea could speak back, she kept her head lowered. Chelsea watched Elizabeth for a moment, catching some feeling from her that she’d never gotten before. “If we were going to do it this way then we should have done it eight years ago, before the kids came around. There’s more at risk than just our lives, but our children’s futures.”

Leah frowned, knowing what her daughter was trying to say but also knowing that this was the intention. “Eliza, that’s your incentive to follow along.”

Cristiano whispered something to Joseph and Pierre before going to Horatio and saying something to him. He shook his head and argued with his father for a moment before sighing in defeat and getting up from where he was. He handed Cecily to Camillo before going to sit across from Elizabeth.

She wouldn’t look at him until he waved at her. “What happened in the new resistance’s base? How did you become somebody else? What did it do to you?”

“How would I know that?” She crossed her arms, staring him down as if he had done something wrong. “The gene has been malfunctioning for years now, it almost definitely has something to do with the gene.”

“The gene was never meant to do something like that, but you were also never meant to be around other carriers for this long. Prolonged exposure and use is allowing constant mutation, it’s hurting you and I know that it is.” Horatio got to his feet and faced the leaders. “Either Chelsea or Elizabeth needs to go back to the city but they both can’t stay here. It’s taking a toll on Elizabeth because she’s weaker, she’s reached a point where it’s completely taking over her body and she can’t keep up. It’ll kill her if they’re not split up sometime soon.”

Pierre and Joseph shared a look,shaking their heads. “We can’t separate them. Elizabeth is needed here and Chelsea is the only one who has access to their base.”

“If you can’t separate them then I will. Chelsea won’t have access after what Camillo told me today, not a single person in this group has Daniel’s trust because the gene malfunctioned and took control of Elizabeth, we’ve lost that advantage and now Chelsea is useless to us.” Chelsea had to admit that if there was one thing that Horatio was almost an expert at, it was separating a situation from his feelings towards someone. “Chelsea and Anthony need to go home, they need to be with their families.”

“What about my sister?” Anthony looked afraid, it was the first time Chelsea had seen him actually show vulnerability. “I won’t go anywhere without her.”

Horatio didn’t respond, which told Chelsea what he was really trying to do; he was trying to start a distraction. She didn’t know why but she had a feeling it was important.

“Amanda needs to be here. We’ve already built up a plan on the assumption that everyone would stick around.” Joseph sounded sad with his own answer,making Chelsea realize that the plan that was set up was done by Pierre.

“Then I’m not going, it’s that easy.” Anthony quickly shot back.

Pierre nodded. “That was the intention, that you would stay, thank you.”

“Hold on.” Orsino interrupted. “If it’s an option then I want to stay, why do the people with less experience get to make a choice?”

“Because you need to stay with your mother.” Cristiano responded in a very cold tone. Chelsea went to look at Horatio, seeing that he and Elizabeth had disappeared in the middle of the discussion.

---

Horatio Villa

“Hold on.” As soon as his brother chimed into the conversation, Horatio knew it was their time to leave. He turned back to Elizabeth, motioning her along as they stuck to the wall and left the dining hall.

They stayed outside the dining hall for a moment before Camillo slipped out of the doors, handing Cecily over to his brother and going back inside without a word. Horatio then started off towards the medical center, knowing that Elizabeth would follow behind him.

“Where are we going?” Elizabeth questioned after a few minutes of walking.

“We’re staying in town, we’re just going to the medical center so I can provide proof of the claim I made in there. If I can do that then I can get you out of this mess.”

“Did you mean what you said in there about Chelsea being useless and needing to split us up?”

Horatio gave a small shrug. “Kind of. You guys do need to separate because you’re the weakest mind, it’s infecting you. Chelsea at the moment has no purpose here, but I’m sure she could find one.”

Once they reached the medical center, they went to a room in the back of the building. Horatio put Cecily in a bouncer and had Elizabeth sit down. He took some blood from her and started his work without a word.

Elizabeth watched Cecily bounce in her seat, seeing pure innocence and joy in the baby. “Do you normally bring her with you when you work?”

“As often as I can.” He turned back to look at Cecily himself, quickly returning his attention to his computer. “I don’t like to leave her out of my sight. I’ll only do it if Noelle is in the surveillance room because she looks out for her, she’ll give me updates pretty frequently.”

“Now that you don’t have any of your research regarding her sickness, what do you plan to do with her?” Elizabeth hesitated with asking the question, knowing that it would be a sensitive topic for him.

Horatio stayed quiet for a few minutes, making Elizabeth believe that he wasn’t going to answer the question before he sighed. “I can’t use her to study the illness because she’s not displaying any symptoms or coming up positive on any tests. For the current time, she’s a completely normal baby. The only thing I can do is raise her as she is until she’s not normal anymore.”

The two didn’t talk anymore after that, Horatio stayed focused on his work while Elizabeth listened to the rattle of Cecily’s bouncer for half an hour until Pierre, Cristiano, and Joseph entered the room.

Joseph made direct eye contact with Elizabeth before shaking his head. “Horatio, what the hell was that?”

“A diversion because you guys wouldn’t listen to me.” Horatio didn’t face the leaders, instead he printed something out and took the papers in hand. “I’ve been studying the gene for years, I know what I’m talking about and I just don’t think it’s wise to shut down the one person who actually knows what’s happening with the gene.”

Cristiano crossed his arms, letting out a sigh. “I told you to look at her eyes, I didn’t tell you to steal her, what were you thinking?”

Horatio handed the papers to Pierre, picking up Cecily from her bouncer. “I did what I was told and decided that you guys were in the wrong when it came to her situation. She’s running out of time and the stress that you guys are putting on her isn’t making anything easier, you’re just killing her faster.”

“Killing?” Elizabeth quickly got out of her seat. “What do you mean killing?”

“Elizabeth, the gene is killing you. The malfunction that happened at the base was the gene trying to transfer to someone else, it didn’t stick because you killed him before it could implement itself. While you were fighting you got some of his blood mixed in with your blood and vice versa, you started the end stages.” Horatio paused for a moment, reading the look on her face and realizing that he was being too hard on her. “You didn’t mean to and it didn’t happen, that’s what matters but the bond needs to be broken tonight, it needs to end tonight or you’re not going to make it.”

Pierre passed the papers to Elizabeth, an unreadable look on his face. “What do you suggest we do about this?”

“Send Chelsea home. If you send Elizabeth then you’re taking away someone who’s incredibly useful to us, even if she’s just staying put.” Horatio looked at the baby in his arms, a second idea quickly hitting him. “Or you could send Elizabeth into the city with the kids. That would completely free up Marshal, Alyssa, and Milo’s attention.”

Joseph nodded slightly. “The Carter family has agreed to stay on the condition that we get their RV back.”

“Even better, it’s more capable hands.” Horatio turned his back to the leaders and went to the desk, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen to make some notes. “Whoever goes into the city needs to take the kids, that would be Chelsea or Elizabeth so that the gene isn’t a problem anymore. Kyle and Leah will go with whoever goes into the city, they’re not physically capable and they don’t need to be sitting targets.”

“When you say the children, you need to be very clear with who you’re talking about.” Pierre moved to stand next to Horatio, looking at his notes.

“Cecily, Jude, Nora, Whitlock, Victor, Juliet, Jack, Gwen, Devin, and Greg.” Horatio didn’t like his own answer, he knew that at least Greg and Gwen could be helpful. “All of them.”

Cristiano uncrossed his arms. “I agree with that, but you need to be completely honest with us right now. Do you think it’s better to send Chelsea or Elizabeth into the city?”

Horatio looked at Elizabeth, her face had fallen completely flat after she read through the papers. He knew in the moment that she didn’t have much fight left in her, but he knew that if she was to separate from Chelsea and Whitlock that she would significantly improve in just a few days. He knew that she would be valuable, even if she just stayed at the base. What he didn’t know is if she could separate herself from the knowledge that her children wouldn’t be around and could very well be in danger and she could do nothing about it.

He had a number of concerns involving Chelsea, the biggest one being that if something happened to her then Onyx would be less inclined to help the Voyagers should they need it.

“I can give you an answer for that in the morning, but I’ve just realized something.” The leaders looked at Horatio as he quickly passed Cecily to Elizabeth. “There was someone missing from the meeting.”

Pierre’s face went white as he hurried out the door, the other leaders and Horatio following behind him. “How did I not notice?”

“You didn’t notice because you were focused on the Crusaders, not the Voyagers.” Horatio started to run with the leaders, their run catching the attention of people in town.

They ended their run at the front door of Lecia’s house. Pierre tried to open it, only to find it locked. They knocked on the door repeatedly, absolute silence greeted them each time. They waited outside and continued knocking for twenty minutes before Joseph and Cristiano went to the surveillance room and grabbed the extra key to her home.

They went back to Pierre and Horatio, giving Pierre the key and waiting for him to open the door.

Pierre braced himself, unlocking and opening the door. The house was in tatters, the scene eerily similar to how it looked whenever Morgan was killed.

Horatio grabbed his dad’s arm as he went to walk in, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Go get Jean Luc, tell him to hurry.” Cristiano nodded and took off running towards Jean Luc’s house.

Pierre, Joseph, and Horatio split up once they got past the entry hall. Pierre and Joseph went to the hall of bedrooms, Pierre checked the rooms on the left and Joseph checked the rooms on the right. Horatio went into the kitchen to find the floor covered in glass.

All the cupboards were closed, all the drawers were pushed in, nothing seemed out of the ordinary besides all of the glass. He noticed a piece of paper stuck to the refrigerator under the magnet, he read it as he took it in his hands. ’Lecia isn’t your traitor. Nice try, though.’

Horatio could tell that the note was meant for someone specific, likely Jean Luc as he had been in charge of the investigation and finding the traitor.

He turned to look out the kitchen window, staring straight at a man whose skin had a soft olive glow, his hair was dark and his eyes were dark. The sight of the man genuinely startled Horatio, making him believe it was Orsino until the man started running from the window.

Horatio went to chase him before he heard Joseph in one of the bedrooms. “Horatio, we need you! Now!” He pocketed the note in his hand and went to the bedroom that Joseph was in, finding him and Pierre leaning over Lecia, who was lying on the floor and covered in her own blood.

As Jean Luc and Cristiano entered the home, Horatio got on the ground next to Pierre and Joseph. He shook his head as he grabbed her wrist with one hand and put his other hand just under her ear. “It’s too late.”

Jean Luc stopped in the doorway, a look of pure disbelief on his face. “What happened here?”

Horatio took his hands back, looking over the body in front of him. “I’d like to know that as well, there’s no wound to be seen.” He took Lecia’s hands in his, looking under her nails for a moment. “Nothing under her nails, there was no struggle.”

Pierre got up and walked to the edge of the bed that Lecia laid in front of. “It looks like she just got out of bed and collapsed.”

Jean Luc nodded. “The keywords are looks like, that doesn’t happen if you’re her age and primarily healthy, which she was.” He turned to Cristiano. “Can you help me get the body to the medical center so Horatio can do an autopsy?”

The two men went to the body, grabbing the blanket from the bed and wrapping it around her. Joseph helped them pick the body up and the three of them started a walk to the medical center with the body.

Pierre stopped Horatio as he went to follow them. “You’re going to be distracted with the autopsy tomorrow, I’d like your answer for who to send in to the city today.”

[Advise Elizabeth going with the children.]
[Advise Chelsea going with the children.]