TM Topic - 208 Four
As in previous posts where I have mentioned Kronos Inc - Science Laboratory and Institute, please be advised that these are real organizations and I ask you to be respectful of them and me and do not in any way search for them via this lj.
And please let me reminder everyone this is not knowledge that other characters would know about. Nuff said.
~~~
When he got back to the lab he made sure things were in order with Clyde before sitting down at the desk. He read the latest updates from his team of researchers at the Kronos Institute, Science Laboratory Division. After that he looked at a communication from the Chief Executive Officer titled, 'Kronos aligns with The Performance Institute to Extend Leadership in Federal Government Market.' He was very pleased with the news from both fronts and took a few minutes to send his compliments. It always made him smile that no one ever associated him with these enterprises. The work they did was positive orientated and for the betterment of mankind. Too obvious! Too straightforward! Too unlike him! He chuckled at the simplicity of it all.
The urgent business taken care of, he sat back in the chair and pulled up some personal records. On the way back from Korda's he'd been thinking about them. The files needed updating. Two new births this past month and a death. Not a bad month, he thought while registering the necessary information. His records up-to-date, he took some time to appreciate them. This was his family, generation after generation, sprawled out over time into every corner of the world. He'd always though of it as the way mortals achieved immortality. He'd kept track of them for millenniums and figured any immortal worth his salt did the same with their family. He supposed the Watchers did it as well. Why wouldn't they? It wasn't enough to simply monitor immortals; they had to keep track of the larger picture, the collateral view. Or at least if they were smart they did. Almost five thousand years ago, when Kronos was a green immortal, Methos had warned him about the organization. And from that moment on he'd never taken them lightly. He always figured they were smart, so he deliberately kept these descendants a mystery.
"My family." He smiled and ran a finger down one branch of the genealogy. It reminded him of that Anne Rice novel where the vampire kept track of the 'family' on a stone wall. He didn't have a wall but he did have their genetic pool. They weren't his blood, but they were his! From those first marriages in the ancient days, they'd been his. And they were everywhere he wanted them to be. He'd financed generations of families, educations, lined pockets, started wars when need be, to achieve this end. He'd systematically eased them into key positions of government, industry, finance, science, and military, always with one goal in mind. At the time he brought forth the sword of the apocalypse, they'd be his hidden daggers, the ones not even his brothers knew about. His will would be enforced and his goal of global domination achieved through their alliance. They had needed to be well hidden because, obviously, one man alone could not bring the world to its knees. He knew this and had from his first days with the Horsemen.
Let Methos and a few others think what they wanted about him. It was better that he was viewed as a psychopath. Better they didn't understand just how well equipped he was.
It was almost time to start inoculations of his family against the modern-day plague, which he planned to initially use. This was no small detail and would take time. That's where Korda unwittingly came into the plan and why he'd felt it necessary to see him. The timetable was crucial and he didn't want it interrupted. He'd made that clear to the other immortal when they had gone to the quest house. He knew the other man was very capable of handling this global endeavor.
He sat there for a time looking over his notes on Clyde and then finally he picked up the last memo. This matter needed his immediate attention. He'd started working on this little hobby, as he often called it, three decades ago. But it hadn't been until the success with The Kronos Institute that he'd seen convincing results. He got up and went to the lab.
He peered down at the child playing. His smile was genuine as the boy saw him and rushed over. "You come play!" the small child said with a lot of determination. He tugged on Kronos' trouser leg. "Play with me." Two perfect eyes looked up at him with compelling appeal.
"Yes." He crouched down to be at eye level. He took hold of child's coat and tugged him closer. "It's cold in here," he said and snapped the top few buttons closed. "Where is your father?"
A big smile came from the child and his arms reached out to give Kronos a hug around his neck. "I - daddy - I don't know."
Perfect, he thought with a satisfied grin. "Come on, let's find him." He picked the boy up and headed towards the office. "Dr. Calder?" he called out. A muffled sound from down the hallway caught his attention. There was a commotion in one of the rooms. Kronos put the boy down on the desk in the office and gave him a stern direction to stay put. He closed the office door and headed towards the sound.
The door to the room was locked. He looked inside through the small shatterproof window. A young man around nineteen or twenty was on an examining table and fighting against restraints. The doctor was about to inject something into his arm when Kronos tapped on the window, catching his attention.
He stepped out of the room and one of the team locked the door behind him. The signs of a struggle were apparent by the looks of him. He frowned. "He got out and went right for the animals. He cut one of the monkey's throats and when we attempted to take it away he came after us. I was just about to administer sedation."
"Are we losing this one?" Kronos asked unemotionally as he looked through the window.
The Doctor's face was grim. "He's at that age, just like the last two." He didn't want to say it.
"I know what you're thinking doctor," he said flatly. Kronos had always known using Caspian's DNA for cloning might be problematic, but three of them all developing the same behavioral problem... it wasn't coincidence as far as he was concerned.
"Our results seem to be coming to the same conclusion as the last two. What would you like done?"
"Get rid of him," he said matter-of-factly and without another word went back to the office. "Come here sport," he motioned to the young boy who had not moved. He looked at him and his thumb moved over his cheek. You're a chip off the old block, he thought and smiled. Maybe they'd have better luck with this one. After all, this kid carried his DNA and there was nothing wrong so far. "Your dad's got work to do so I'll take you for lunch. Where do ya want to go?"
"Kentucky chicken!" the boy declared with absolution and then crossed his arms over his chest.