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Disclaimers 'n' crap: Haihai peeps! Well, I just thought I'd give you guys an update before I leave for a cruise to the Caribbean tomorrow. I'll be back in about a week. Seriously, I'm going on a cruise. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Everything is mine. 3nj0yz0rz! (omg, l33t)
"Huh?" said Que, looking a bit blank "Uh…yeah, that's my name. Do I…know you from somewhere?" The woman was still gaping at him. Bee started to look quizzical, a look which quickly changed to surprise when the woman suddenly threw her arms around Que.
"What the…!"
"Oh, Quentin!" the woman sobbed "I thought I'd never see you again!" Now, Que and Bee were both dumbfounded.
"Umm, look, lady," said Bee "I can understand that, for some reason, you're really happy to see my friend…but, could you at least let him breathe?" The woman managed to subside her tears and let go of Que. While she wiped her eyes, Que glanced at Bee and mouthed "Thank you!".
"Sorry," said the woman, clearing her throat slightly "But…you're like a clone of someone very important from my past. What did you say your name was again?"
"Ben, Ben Egnaro," Bee cut in "As this is my friend, Quentin Wolley." Que recognized the pitiful attempt to womanize on his friend's face and scowled. He hated it when Bee did this. The woman's eyes lit up.
"Wolley and Egnaro…" she looked at their hair "…Yellow and Orange…" With a jolt, Que suddenly realized that he and the woman had the exact same hair color. Bee apparently noticed this too, as he was now looking more shocked than ever. Or, maybe it was perhaps the fact that a woman they'd just run into on the street was suddenly reading their identities like open books. The woman's expression suddenly became very serious. "I think you two had better come back to my place," she said, turning around and gesturing for them to follow her. Que turned to Bee, looking urgent.
"What've you gotten us into?" he whispered, the turned back to the woman. "Uh…look, Miss," said Que "We should really be heading home now…"
"Let me put it this way," said the woman "Does the name 'Marvin Ledger' mean anything to you?" Que and Bee froze at the mention of their head designer's name. The woman smiled "I thought so. C'mon." Que and Bee followed her.
"C'mon," he hissed "No pick-up lines!"
"That wasn't a pick-up line!" Bee hissed back. Que gave a small snort.
"Well, it sure sounded like one!" he said, smirking a bit.
"MARVIN!" yelled the woman, making Que and Bee start "We've got company!"
"What kind of company?" yelled a familiar voice from the back room.
"The kind of company that I believe you've met before in your lab!" the woman yelled back.
"You ran into some of my colleagues on the street?" said Marvin, his voice drawing closer "Wow, Carolyn, where do you go that you'd run into a couple of science gee..." Marvin entered the room and froze. There was a short silence.
"…Oh," he said.
"Dr. Ledger!" said Que and Bee, smiling to see their friend.
"Que…Bee…" said Marvin, a bit awkwardly. He glanced between them and Carolyn "I…see you've met my sister."
"So you do know them," said Carolyn, beginning to look livid.
"Sis, please calm down!" said Marvin with a very nervous smile as he backed up a little with his hands in front of his face. Carolyn turned on him.
"So, THIS is what you were doing in that lab?" she growled "Creating a synthetic version of our brother?" Que's jaw dropped. Bee looked stupefied. Marvin's face turned very serious.
"Carolyn, his real name is Yellowcode Que," said Marvin, looking at Que "He's one of the MTA specimens I told you about."
"Wait, you told her about us?" said Bee "I thought the MTA project was supposed to be strictly confidential!"
"He just told me that they were creating humans to run the subway system," said Carolyn "He didn't exactly give me any of the details." Her voice was low now, but then it took a sudden, sharp jump in volume.
"Marvin, haven't you learned yet? YOU CAN'T REPLACE QUENTIN! YOU CAN'T BRING HIM BACK! HE'S GONE! ACCEPT IT!"
"You seemed to believe he'd come back!" Marvin bellowed "Why else would you've brought him here?" Carolyn was quiet at this but was obviously choking back tears. "And, for the record," Marvin went on "I wasn't trying to bring Quentin back. I was just using him as a body model for Que." At this, Carolyn slapped him audibly across the face and stormed to the back of the apartment. They heard a door slam followed by wails of despair. Marvin looked genuinely hurt, and not just by the bruise on his cheek.
"Wow," said Bee. And I was about to say 'She's cute when she's mad'.
"So, is it true?" said Que "What you said about my being modeled after your brother?" Marvin looked very somber.
"Yes, it's true," said Marvin "Come and have a seat and I'll explain." They all took a place at the marble kitchen countertop. "You see, when we were first beginning this project, I asked Express what we should base the bodies off of and he just said 'anyone you want'. So, everyone began to model their MTA member off of a dead loved one." A chill ran down Que's spine as he remembered that most of the MTA were teenagers and younger. In fact, the only adults who came to mind were Ay, Emm, Doubleyu, and Ell. "Our brother, Quentin, got tangled up in some nasty street gang business and the cops found him one morning with a knife in his chest." Que winced.
"So, who is everyone else modeled after?" said Bee, becoming very interested.
"I don't remember a lot of them," said Marvin "But I do remember that Doubleyu's model, Walter Doppler, was the father of Doubleyu's designer and that he died of lung cancer. Also, Bee and Dee's models were killed in a motorcycle accident. As for your friend Six…goodness, I think her model used to be a cop or something who got shot in the line of duty."
"What about Gee?" Que suddenly blurted out. He worried, even as the words left his mouth, that he would regret asking. Gee was the youngest of the MTA, appearing to be only 7 or so. Marvin's brow furrowed.
"I don't quite remember hers," he said, and Que relaxed a little "But I think she was very important to Express and Local themselves."
"Local?" said Bee "Isn't she Express' girlfriend or wife or something?"
"Mrs. Benita Serph. Yes, she's his wife," said Marvin "She's also his top cohort. From what I understand, she's a master assassin." Bee gulped.
"Hmm," said Que "Thanks for the info, Dr. Ledger. It's getting late, we should probably go." Marvin nodded.
"Yeah, and I need to talk things over with Carolyn," he said as they headed for the door.
