Disclaimer: Cybersix and all related aspects are property of Telecom, and the rightful creators. Maggie's mine!

M-17 woke up from stasis sleep to find Jos� leering down at her, she yawned, due to her past-human habits. "Hi Jos�," She said groggily, sitting up from her stasis chamber, where she had just finished recharging with a fresh batch of her own sustenance. Jos� smiled, not being his usual annoying self. "M-17, father wants to speak with you!" He said. Maggie slid out of the chamber, and stood up, standing tall over Jos�'s ten year old form. "All right, I'll be right there!" She said, as she unplugged the thin cords from her arms, which connected her cyborg-self to the machine. Jos� nodded, and left the stasis-chamber, leaving her alone.

Maggie had only joined Riechter and his "son" a few months ago, and they were getting along fairly well. Jos� seemed to have developed a liking to her, and she didn't mind having the kid around. She lived with him in a large stone house, which would have been the same as any house if it didn't have the laboratory and stasis chamber in the basement. Maggie had been getting along fairly well since her descent into M-17, which was her cyborg code-name. Though Riechter didn't live in the house, he still made regular "house calls" and made sure any experiments or plans were running smoothly. They usually where. Usually.

One small plan hadn't exactly succeeded yet, and M-17 had a feeling that it was exactly was Riechter wanted to see her about. Cybersix, the cyborg failure that Reichter had created before M-17, and which had eluded him up until now. It was M-17's prime directive to find her and eliminate her. She had found Cybersix....she hadn't eliminated her.

M-17 climbed up the stairs from the basement, replaying exactly what excuse she would give Reichter for not completing his orders.

"Gee.....I don't want to!"

Maggie shook her head. "Yeah right..." She muttered. Sighing, she headed towards the main hall, and stood before a humongous painting of Von Reichter, which stood above a stone fireplace. The fire illuminated the face on the painting, sending ghostly shadows across it and making the scene all the more haunting.

Sometimes, Maggie figured that Riechter's prime directive had been to make the painting look as haunting as it did. It had been, he had succeeded.

"Ah, M-17! How is my best success this evening?" Riechter asked. M-17 blinked, looking up at the painting. She still had to get used to the fact that the painting wasn't really a painting, but a video transmitter made to look like one. Then again, she had to get used to a lot of things. Like being half-cyborg, having the knowledge that Jos� wasn't really Riechter's son, but a clone, and the still beating memory of killing her father in cold blood. She winced at the memory, then pushed the pain away. He had deserved it! Even Riechter had agreed with her on that.

"Fine Von Riechter! You?" Maggie asked, trying to sound as clueless to the reason of his call as possible. Somehow, she doubted that he was calling in to invite them to tea and crumpets. Unless he was planning on experimenting on them after.

Von Reichter looked down at her, and she was suddenly aware of Jos� standing next to her, looking up at Riechter, who looked down at him with some distaste. "Jos�, am I to understand that you have not yet succeeded in terminating Cybersix? I designed Maggie's cyber-program to exceed that of Cybersix....and with rare tracking capabilities. How is it that she has managed to elude her demise?" He asked, looking down at the both of them with accusing eyes.

M-17 smiled innocently, and looked down at Jos�, who was giving Reichter the same smile. Jos� knew why Cybersix wasn't dead just as much as M-17. M-17 had fought her, and she had gotten the perfect opportunity to kill her. Cybersix had been down, badly hurt with multiple injuries that M-17 could have made fatal, but just as she had been about the stroke the fatal blow, she had stopped. She hadn't known why, but now she did. M-17 was incapable of killing an innocent. She could beat someone half-to death, but never finish the job. It had been easy to kill her father. He hadn't been innocent. There was too much guilt weighed within his soul...too much to save him.

M-17 stuttered slightly as she spoke, trying her best to disguise it. She knew that if any of Riechter's creations were flawed in any way.....

Maggie didn't want to think about that. "I'm really sorry Dr. Riechter! But somehow...she has managed to elude me before I could dispose of her. But don't worry, she will be dealt with soon!" Maggie lied, trying to sound convincing.

Riechter said nothing momentarily, and for a moment, Maggie felt really afraid. His face had darkened, and his monocle glowed within the room. Then the darkness vanished, and his voice lost it's threatening tone. "Very well....Maggie!" He said, switching back to her original name. She knew that she was off the hook, at least for now. Riechter only called her M-17 when he meant business, which was all the time when he spoke of Cybersix. Maggie knew that his rage was directed at Cybersix, not at her, yet she still feared for her own well-being. She knew that as M-17, she had failed at her directive, and it wouldn't be long before Riechter could see right through her lies, and she would be punished.

M-17, was in truth, his greatest success. Her abilities did exceed that of Cybersix. She was faster, stronger, with the eyes of a hawk during the night, and the ability to locate all of Riechter's other creation with a special tracking module chip that Riechter had installed into her brain during the experiment.

But being the best would cost her dearly, and for that, she would trade even her new found strengths.

THE END

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page