Being Different

Operation: Freedom (Libertate)

 A/N: And one more to keep you all from being in suspense! Above are Darius' offices within the compound. We will see if agent Kelly's mission is a success to free both Ilya and Mara from Grodin's clutches...

Darius POV

Marcus told me Grodin's story which was a sad one. The man had apparently been brought into The Organization on a recommendation from Senator Thorpe, for his heroic acts in previous missions. He seemed genuine enough until he had lost his daughter, a young agent on the field during an intense mission in Laos, Cambodia exactly 26 years ago.

The man left The Organization and became a recluse, refusing to speak to anyone. He disappeared off the radar for two years after the incident and blamed it on The Organization and the team, which at the time was headed by a young graduate from the academy who was in a senior position due to his own successful missions – ME.

In the years that followed, no one had seen hide nor hair of the man until he re-surfaced exactly 24 years ago, in Texas, at a helm of a new prototype project for one of Thorpe's associates. The project was named 'Enhancement' which was a highly controversial project which Thorpe found out about and ordered it shut down.

But Grodin did not back off and found new investors, and willing lab technicians and geneticists provided that the money was right. The investors pooled their resources and built a huge technical, scientific facility which housed specialised laboratories deep below ground, which made it hard for our forces to detect from above.

Agent Kelly had no choice but to personally infiltrate the section, posing as a lab technician newly recruited to the project, hence disguised as the perfect mole. He managed to get in and get out quickly with enough information for us to take over and handle the rest.

I liked Kelly's spunk and encouraged him to join our team, which of course consisted of Bry, Damien, Dante, Bron, Mick, the triplets and ARTURO. Even Zack and Walid both insisted on tagging along, Zack doing so as to study the technical side of the operation. The final addition to the team would eventually be Randy, if he passed all examinations which he was taking quite seriously.

However, Marcus still insisted that I have 24-hour bodyguards tailing me wherever I went, since we all had the sneaky suspicion that Grodin would be after me. He had a grudge against me for the longest time, due to the unfortunate incident with his daughter, and my guess was that he would use anyone to get to me, including Dante's parents, that is, if they believed him.

Marcus would continue to track Grodin's whereabouts with Fahey and Mason at the forefront, making sure that one way or another he would be distracted long enough for Kelly to make direct contact with Dante's parents again and carry out our plan for their rescue.

After that meeting, I called on the rest of the boys into the room for briefing before moving out. As they all bundled in quietly, both Sam and Damien were talking Dante through his visions of his parents.

"Can you see them?" Damien asked Dante, coached by Sam, as we all observed Dante's reactions.

"Yes, they're both dressed in hospital gowns sitting by a large window. They're above ground now, at an infirmary, no longer the lab...' Dante nodded in confirmation, his eyes darting to and fro under his eyelids.

"What's the view like?" Damien continued.

"Lots of green...a huge lawn...but it seems unnatural..." Dante whispered.

"Unnatural?" Damien coaxed Dante on.

"Like...it...no... wait...that can't be...they're in a virtual space...it is all unreal...but somehow...they are aware of this..." He gasped suddenly, gripping the arm rests of his chair.