Maria yelled to each guard standing in front of the three doors.

"In here, Ms. DeLuca."

Maria looked where the voice had come from. It was the one guarding Isabelles white room. Maria ran down the hallway, and she lifted her shaking hand to the keypad and punched in her code, then waited impatiently for her eye to be scanned, and the release of air. Then she forced open the door. "What the hell is this!" Maria yelled as she lifted up the clipboard.

"It is what is to happen today, just as you know Ms. DeLuca." Dr. Bernard, told her as he moved towards a table.

Maria glared at his cool demeanor. Maria walked over to him as he snapped on the latex gloves. "Oh no. I don't think so. A little more then this should be happening. No where in here is mentioned that anaesthesia will be used."

"What?"

Maria turned to the scared cry. It had come from Isabelle. She had never known Isabelle to look so drained before. It was sad.

"You can't do that!" Isabelle screamed and pulled at her restraints.

Maria turned her head, as to not see the tears streaming down Isabelles face.

"It could be because anaesthesia had never been planned. It would pollute their system. We cannot have that. You signed it. You should have read it."

"Listen to me." Maria grounded out. "You make any attempt not to use anaesthesia, you are going to disappear for good."

"Ms. DeLuca, don't threaten me. You know nothing about the doctoral field. You knew what was to happen when you read that." Dr. Bernard told her snottily.

Maria grabbed a scalpel from the nearest table and pushed him roughly, holding it in front of his face. "How about I look at your ligament structure? If you do not use anaesthesia, then when you are taken away, for not doing as I say, I will be sure that you are strapped down in a white room, and someone looks at your ligament structure, without anaesthesia."

"You wouldn't do it." Dr. Bernard told her stubbornly.

Maria reached into her labcoat pocket and pulled out a cellphone. She entered a familiar number then lifted the phone to her ear. "Connect me to Brian DeLuca." Maria noticed Dr. Bernard stand up strait and his back stiffen. But she didn't move, and continued to hold the scalpel in front of him. She hadn't won yet. "Maria DeLuca." Maria told the women on the other end of the phone.

"Maria?"

"We have a problem." Maria told her father.

"Fine, you want anaesthesia, we'll use it." the doctor spat out.

"What happened?" her father asked her in a stiff concerned voice.

Maria placed the knife on the table. "On all three of them. And if you do not every single one of you will experience everything these subjects go through."

Maria backed up slowly towards the door.

"Maria what the hell is going on?"

Maria didn't respond and stepped out of the door way. "Close it." Maria ordered the guard. Maria waited a moment then began walking down the hall.

"Who is this Dr. Bernard?"

"He is a specialist. He was there when the dead alien bodies where discovered. Why? Are there problems?"

"Not right now. But he is trying to get over on me. And I don't trust him." Maria told him.

"You have no reason to. He may be the best, but he does have his own agenda. With your mother gone, I am concerned about what is going on there. Check in with me every five hours. If you don't then I will personally make a visit." her father instructed her. "Your mother will be gone for a a little while, she is dealing with the political front of this right now. I need you there to oversee everything."

Maria sighed. She felt so alone right now. The only people she did trust, she had to protect. "All right. Every five hours." Maria agreed, and hung up with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maria's visitations to them had been halted for the day, considering the experiments that would be going on. She had sent in some of the more vulnerable and trusting doctors to each room, to oversee the process. The reported back to her that anesthesia had been used on the three of them. And they had experienced none of what had went on. So for the day she had busied herself with making an appearance in the outside world. Because that night, and the next day she would have to remain in the facility. She had spoken to Liz only once. And it was her who contacted Liz.

Her coat had been left in her room, and the name tag was shoved into her pants pocket. She had planned on making a surprise appearance. Hopefully at this time of night, Dr. Bernard, and his pets would be asleep, and the three of them would only be checked on every so often. The halls where quiet, and the lights where dimmed. She passed a guard every so often. But for the most part, everyone was asleep, or gone, if they had to keep up the appearance of the outside life they had, like her. She had made the decision before she had arrived that Michael would the first she would visit. Once in front of his door, she stopped and looked at the guard. "Swanson right?" she asked softly, in a tired voice.

"Yes, Ma'am" he responded but looked strait ahead.

Maria liked him. He didn't have a personal agenda, or judge anything. He just did as he was told. He hadn't lived with a life of this.

"Did anything happen today? Like did you hear anything unnatural from behind these doors?" Maria inquired.

"No, Ma'am."

Maria sighed. She hated that. He sounded like a robot. "What is your first name?"

"Robert." he responded, almost confused.

Maria let the corners of her lips turn up at the confused tone of his voice at her question. "Well, Robert, I want your true opinion on something. And don't try to spare my feelings. It won't get you in trouble. The aliens, are not like us, but do you think they should be treated with the same respect as we treat humans?" Maria watched as his face twisted in thought.

"I have no idea."

Maria smiled. This time he didn't add the Ma'am. And he almost seemed confused by his own response. "Okay, fair enough. One more question. And for this one I want a yes or no. Do you think that if these aliens are to be experimented on, that we should at least spare them the pain, and administer anaesthesia. And I want your personal opinion. This isn't going down on record. And I won't tell anyone." Maria watched as he gave it some thought, and after a moment he turned his head just a little and looked at her.

"Yes, Ma'am"

"Yes that you think they should be spared the pain?" Maria asked him wanting to be reassured.

"Yes." Robert forced out, worried about her repeating her question. Maybe it was the wrong answer.

"Why?" Maria asked him curiously.

"Because, it would be inhuman of us to treat any being like that." Robert told her.

Maria smiled, and let the warm feeling take over her. It was nice to here something positive for a change. "Thank you." Maria told him sincerely.

"You're welcome, Ma'am." Robert said and continued to stare ahead.

Maria sighed and turned towards the door, and went through the whole process.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maria walked into the darkened room and pushed the door shut behind her. She reached out for the keypad on the wall, and brightened the room just enough so that she could see where she was going.

She walked slowly towards Michael, glad that he was asleep. But as she advanced slowly, she noticed his left arm to be pulled away from his body, and strapped down to a table. Maria walked closer towards the table, and a choked sob escaped her mouth. Michael had a gash about four inches long running down the inside of his fore arm. Blood pooled around his arm onto the table, and she knew that there had been no attempt to bandage the wound. Maria flew through the room, and into the wash room on the side. And then through that into Max's room, where she found one of the nurses monitoring Max. Maria rushed forward to find the same sort of gash on Max's left arm. "What is this?" Maria asked unbelievably.

"Dr. Bernard is testing the amount of blood flow, and the time it takes them to heal." the nurse replied and continued to check the monitors.

Maria eyes widened. Control. She had to have control. "That was not in the report." Maria grounded out. Maria ran over to the control for the lights, and brightened the room. "Bandage that up now."

"Ma'am I don't have perm-"

Maria grabbed her ID out of her pocket and held it in front of the nurse's face. "Can you read the word Supervisor? Can you read my last name? If you do not bandage up all of the subjects, you have no idea what amount of trouble you will be in."

The nurse nodded and hurried into the washroom.

Maria didn't waste any time, and hurried back into the wash room that connected Max and Michael's rooms. She grabbed the needed supplies to bandage Michael and ran into his room. She had been taught since she was little how to bandage a bullet wound. She could easily handle a gash. She ran to the light switch and brightened the room, then hurried towards Michael. She undid the restraint on his wrist, but left the one on his elbow alone. She brought a towel up to his arm, and put pressure on the gash. His body responded to the pressure, which most likely gave him some pain. Enough that his eyes opened.

"Get away from me." Michael told her weakly, but his anger was apparent.

"Like you're in a position to order me around. Everyone around here is going to have to learn that before anything happens it goes through me." Maria said angrily.

"Give me a break? Do you think anyone would show you any respect? And for someone who feels nothing, you are in an awful rush to fix this."

"This was not done with my permission. So don't flatter yourself. I would have allowed them to do it anyway. But not leaving the three of you here, to almost bleed to death, without supervision." Maria told him. She was doing her best to remain calm, and keep the tone of her voice flat. After wiping away the blood, she went on to bandage his arm.

"You're a liar. You are way too emotional, and it is obvious." Michael told her, sure of himself.

"What, do you think I am secretly wanting to help you? I don't think so." Maria told him, and hurriedly bandaged him. She had to get away from him as soon as possible.

"I find it hard to believe that you could have fooled us all that time, that every emotion you showed towards everyone, including me had been a lie. I don't think you're that good." Michael told her.

Maria put the last piece of tape over the gauze and stepped back, her hands covered with his blood. She looked at him pointedly and decided it would be wise at this point to lay it on him hard. "Mr. Guerin, you're clinging to something that isn't there. If I wasn't acting then, they I must be doing a pretty good job of acting now. It must be killing you then, not knowing which is the real me. Well, let me clear it up for you now. All emotions I felt towards all of you were a lie." Maria paused and mentally apologized for her next comment. "And so was everything I felt towards you. All the times that I let you touch me, and kiss me, and the times when you needed me and I was there, were all lies." Maria told him and turned to exit the room. She flipped off the lights as to not see his face as she laid on the last comment.

"Seriously Mr. Guerin, from all that you are hoping for, I would think that you might have loved me. Let me assure you right now, that my feelings in this case are the total opposite, I never have and never will, need you, want you, miss you, or love you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael stared into the darkness, as the door shut behind Maria. He let his head rest against the hard table, and let the haziness of the drugs overtake him. But his mind was still full with thoughts. Too many to allow him rest. He had had a life, although crapy as it was, it was his. Now he no longer had anything. All he had had where friends. Now they where either strapped down to a table, or turned against him. He had caught a glimpse of Max earlier that day, when both sides of the room connecting them had been open. Max had called out to him, and just as Michael turned to get a glimpse of Max the doors had been closed. Michael's only guess, was that Isabelle was on the other side of Max. Michael had tried using his powers, but they had discovered easily, with a certain amount of sedative, the ability to use his powers were halted. It took a certain amount of strength, and he lacked that being pumped full of drugs, and losing all of the blood. Sure his mind had filled with the possibilities of what could happen to them, and what would be done.

And it scared him. But the thought of what Maria really was scared him more. That Maria had had the ability that whole time, to be so cruel and unfeeling.

And even when he did tell her he didn't believe this whole bit about her not feeling, he wasn't even sure of it himself. All he could do was hope that it was true, and she would break down from having to keep up the facade. But from what he had seen, she had remained untouched by any emotions. And she held little concern for his feelings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Come in." Maria responded to the knock on the door. She turned in her chair as the door opened and the guard stepped in.

"Ms. DeLuca, Dr. Bernard is here to see you."

Maria sighed. "Let him in." Maria watched as Dr. Bernard walked in, in a huff, obviously upset. "Is there something I can do for you Dr. Bernard?"

"You can explain to me why you ruined my testing. You had no knowledge of what was involved here, and you had no autho-."

Maria jumped up. "I had plenty authority. Much more then you do. You went ahead with testing I gave no approval of. And you had one nurse monitoring three subjects, who were bleeding from open wounds. When testing is going on, all subjects are to be monitored, all of the time. And there will be no testing without my knowledge and approval. This is the second time Dr. Bernard, I would advise you to not do it again."

"Listen to me," Dr. Bernard advanced upon her, "You have no knowledge, of the amount of blood that they can lose, and how fast they can heal. They would have been just fine in the morning. I have a job to do, and I cannot do it if you keep coming in trying to control something you know nothing about."

"I have a job to do to. And that job is to oversee what goes on here. And what I oversaw was a doctor performing tests that he had no business doing. And when that happens those tests will be put to a halt. There will be no more discussion of this subject. All three of the subjects better be bandaged. You will not do anymore testing until tomorrow, after I give my approval. Now leave my quarters, before I have you removed." Maria ordered him.