Michael Webber crooked his head and peered warily through the top of the car window. Ominous black clouds were forming in the quickly darkening heavens, shedding a haze of deep gray over the entire sky. Just outside, the scenery passed by quickly as the car traveled smoothly along the highway. There was another flash of lightning in the distance, followed seconds later by a low-pitched rumble of thunder.

"You gawking at it won't stop it from coming," Petty said from the driver's seat. Webber turned his head to the young Lieutenant and smirked. "Thanks for the tip." Lisa cracked a grin. "It doesn't bother me any, I like it when it rains. Especially at night."

Webber sat back in his seat and raised his arms above his head. "Yeah, good love making weather eh?"

"What?" Lisa laughed. "Where did you come up with that?"

"You've never heard that expression before?"

Lisa shook her head. "Nope."

Nudging the wheel, Lisa turned the car off the main highway and headed for the downtown of the city. She was making much better time compared to her earlier trip. Traffic flowing into the city was very light. The thick stream of headlights heading in the other direction indicated otherwise for traffic leaving the metropolis.

"So what's the story with you Ms Petty?" Webber turned himself towards her. Lisa raised her eyebrow at the question. "What do you mean?"

"Where are you from? How'd you end up here? What's your favorite ice cream? I'm supposed to be working with you and I just realized I know hardly anything about you." "Oh okay," Lisa nodded.

"So?"

"So..." She thought for a moment trying to find an answer. "I'm from Missouri. I went and studied law at Harvard and graduated. I tried the bar exam twice and figured out law wasn't what I wanted to do, so I went to the naval academy and joined USSD."

"You gave up law school to join USSD?" Webber sounded a bit shocked.

"Well I still have my degree, it's not like I dropped out or anything." Lisa slowed as she came upon some traffic ahead of her. "I just didn't want to be a lawyer. My father wanted me to be one more than I did."

"Oh I see," Webber nodded. "So is this what you really want to do then?"

"Kind of," Lisa said. "I enjoy my career but I don't like the position I'm in now." "You mean investigations?"

"No investigations is fine." Lisa looked out the window for the exit ramp. "Although I admit I don't like this particular investigation much at all. A year out of the academy, I was positioned at the pentagon. I suppose I wasn't much back then. Worked mostly in front of a computer all day, but at least I was up with the big fish you know?"

Webber nodded. "How long were you there for?"

"Not long," Lisa shrugged. "About three years I think."

"And then they sent you out here?"

"Yeah, I got transferred last year. I guess I'm being sent to get some more experience, but to tell you the truth I liked it in Washington a lot more."

"Well you can't expect to be Admiral right away," Webber chucked.

"Oh I know." She accelerated to pass a car. "Still I don't like it out here much. So what about you, Webber?"

"Me?" Webber gazed upward reflectively. "Well, originally I'm from New Jersey. Went to college at MIT for my undergraduate degree and then to Cal Tech for my masters and doctorate. I liked it out here, so I pretty much stayed in California. I taught at Cal Tech for about six years then finally left when I landed a research position with Genesis."

"Professor Webber huh?" Lisa smiled. "So what exactly is your field? Sorry for sounding like an idiot."

"Cybemary engineering," Webber chuckled. "I specialize in cyberbrain research." "So that optical processor," Lisa said. "You invented that?"

"Well I designed that particular one," Webber admitted. "Wouldn't say I actually invented it."

"I see." Lisa still didn't quite understanding the difference.

"So are you married?" Webber gestured to the ring on her left hand.

"No not yet," she said. "Engaged."

"So your fiancé is back in Washington I presume?"

"Yes unfortunately," Lisa sighed. "One of the main reasons I dislike it here." Webber laughed and smiled sympathetically at her.

"So what about you, Webber?" she turned to him. "You married?"

"Divorced twice," he ran a hand through his hair and laughed. "No woman has been able to put up with me it seems."

"Oh," Lisa didn't know quite how to respond. "Well sometimes you just end up with the wrong person, I guess."

"Well both of them started out good." Webber gazed through the window and then let out a sigh. "But I was always on the move with my research. I hardly realized it then, but I really didn't put enough effort into either marriage. In the end they both left me." "Sorry to hear that," Lisa tried to comfort him.

"I have a son from my first marriage though," Webber changed the subject. "He'll be nine next month. He's coming to visit me and stay for the summer."

"He lives with his mother then?" Lisa slowed and exited the highway.

"Yes, in San Diego."

"What's his name?"

"Kyle," Webber told her. "Wait I have a picture."

Webber lifted himself off of the seat and retrieved his wallet from his pants pocket. Opening it, he flipped to the small picture holder inside, and held it for her to see. Lisa smiled in response. "He's cute. Looks just like you."

"Thanks." Webber held the picture and looked at it for a while. "I'm looking forward to seeing him. I just hope all this will be over soon, so I can be done with this contract."

Lisa nodded in agreement.

"The headquarters is not too far from here now." She began keeping an eye out for the entrance. "Hey, did you manage to get those background checks done?"

"Oh shit," Webber said. "I nearly forgot, sorry."

He reached down to his briefcase that was resting on the floor and promptly opened it, retrieving two folders. "I meant to show them to you earlier."

"That's okay. Was there any problem getting the information?"

"I didn't ask," Webber replied. "I just gave the names to the guy in intelligence and left. I guess the search wasn't too hard, he got a lot of information."

"Well it might not be compete," Lisa glanced over at the folders. "But it will be enough to let me know who I'm dealing with at least. Could you read the details for me?"

"Sure." Webber then opened one of the files. "Major Eric 'Shade' Corbin."

He began reading the dossier. "Born November 8' 2008 in Seattle Washington. Joined the marine reserves soon after high school and went into special-forces Recon. He fought three tours during the Central American conflict and attained the rank of Staff Sergeant before leaving to go to college. He then joined the Marines full time, graduating from the Naval Academy as a commissioned officer with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. He was an armored company commander during the Chinese conflict, operating deep infiltration missions into Wu-han. He left the Marines with the rank of captain and came to Cronus City nine years ago. A year after his arrival he joined CDI. After two years of undercover work, he was promoted to major and put in charge of their heavy weapons division. That's pretty much it. He has a shit load of medals too, four purple hearts, two silver stars. Hmm, doesn't seem to have much on his personal life in here though."

"Damn, he made it all the way up to staff sergeant? Then went for officer and made major?" Lisa was humbled; not only was he a massively experienced soldier, but he was a war hero as well. She felt even stupider for trying to pull rank on him before. "What about the other one, his partner?"

Webber fumbled slightly as he opened the other folder. "First Lieutenant Lance 002 Harrington S."

"What?" Lisa peered over confused. "What kind of name is that?"

"Oh he's a bionid," Webber said. "Lance is his name, 002 is his generation and Harrington S. is his model name."

"Weird," Lisa pondered. "Why doesn't Commander Suta have a complicated name like that?"

"With Cyberoids it's different," Webber said. "They are manufactured with totally artificial components so they can be given arbitrary names. Bionids are cloned from actual people. Lots of legality and stuff gets involved then. You'd probably know more about that than me since you went to law school. Anyway, his model name, S. Harrington, actually belonged to the person he was cloned from. Any other Harrington models would look exactly like him."

"Creepy," Lisa cringed. "You said he was second generation? Those are the ones you were telling me about before right? The ones that go crazy?"

"Um no," Webber said. "That's another difference between bionids and cyberoids. In cyberoids, yes, second generation means just that. With bionids, however, a second generation means that the bionid is in its second run of production."

"So you mean there is a Lance 001, 002, 003, 00 whatever?"

"No it's illegal to have two runs of the same bionid in existence at the same time," he explained. "Just as it is illegal to have a clone and original existing at the same time. You can have as many as you want of the same model though. Like Harrington S. John, Harrington S. Mark, Harrington S. whatever. There was a Lance 001. He was this Lance's predecessor. Anytime one dies they take a brain tissue sample to clone the next generation's version. The next generation bionid is loaded with any new skills to fit its new occupation but retain the knowledge of most of their skills from their predecessor. So basically the higher the generation of bionid the more skilled they are likely to be."

"That's even weirder," Lisa shook her head. "So this Lance still has the memories of his predecessor?"

"Kind of," Webber said. "Not cognitive memories but some do have dreams or even nightmares of past lives. The only thing that really holds over are their skills and abilities since they are stored in a different part of the brain."

"So what happened to 001?"

Webber looked at the file. "He died in Hunan province during the Chinese conflict. He was a marine platoon commander. Short life too, lived fourteen months. Lance 002 was created six years ago as a personal aid to Major Corbin, by his request in fact. Hmm, I wonder if Corbin actually knew 001? Anyway, 002 specializes in heavy weapons intelligence and mecha operation."

"Hell of a team," Lisa said dryly. "Look, Webber, although we are trying to cooperate, let me do most of the talking okay?"

Webber didn't see much reason why but he agreed anyway. "Sure." "We're here," she announced slowing the car. "Oh one more thing." "What's that?"

"What we are doing here is kind of illegal," she pulled up to the gate. "So be sure to leave this out of the Admirals update report. Okay?"

Webber blinked and then said as flatly as he had before. "Sure."

**********