Angie lifted the mask from the GARP unit. The face was clearly Loubar’s but Rollie had designed a cheesy foundation over most of the face as if produced during the stay in a womb, like a living fetus. With Uri pacing back and forth and Rollie gingerly setting up the adult clone unit rigging system for filming, Ursula and Doctor Batham continued to monitor their Loubar clone progress.

 

Ursula had already filmed the embryo’s progression from a 4-cell blastocyst outside of Angie’s body to the implanted embryo in the artificial womb. She was clearly intrigued with the progression. Dr. Batham seemed matter-of-fact, clucking occasionally to himself and mumbling medical jargon into his recorder.

 

Angie stood applying the mask to Uri’s face with Rollie’s help finally. Rollie’s intense brown eyes would catch Angie’s and they would lock for a moment, no words needed as they continued their last ditch plans for any escape. Uri squirmed frequently, complaining of the heat from the mask and protesting the cheesy makeup that Rollie began rubbing into his hair.

 

"Must you do that?" Uri asked, snapping at him.

 

"Hey, you wanted realism and this is it. You want B movie Invasion of the Clone Clowns, you needed to kidnap some other F/X guy," Rollie countered.

 

"Shut up Uri," Ursula said, her irritability with the long hours spent with the embryo catching up with her, "the film must be ready today! Just get in that womb and lay still. You can do that, can’t you?"

 

"Fine! But I want some spending money to buy a little Fiat tomorrow," he said, moaning, "I just am getting into a Fiat mood."

 

"Whatever!" his sister replied and tapped Angie hard on the shoulder, "you, want to see the progress we have made in the past two hours?"

 

Rollie gave Angie a warning look. He didn’t want her to go over and look at the thing. Angie’s strange but understandable attachment to the clone would only get stronger, he felt, if she kept monitoring it.

 

But Angie wanted to see, wanted to watch the creation process. She looked down at the ground, wiping her hands free of the foundation mix and walked over to the workbench. Rollie sighed and motioned for Uri to get up and walk with him over to the artificial womb.

 

Angie looked down into the little artificial womb and gasped. She could see a true baby now. There were arms and legs. The lids had formed. She could see organs inside with the heart pumping. The fetus clone was moving inside slightly. Although, the skin was transparent and semi-white, she could not help thinking how this baby was going to appear at full term.

 

"How far along now?" she asked, not even looking up.

 

"We are at approximately 4 months," Dr. Batham said, and then sighed, "Not much longer now…"

 

"What, you mean until this baby is full term?" Angie asked, her hands against the glass of the womb.

 

"No, not much longer until we see if it will survive the fifth month changes," he replied, frowning.

 

"What?"

 

"Just as I said," he repeated, scribbling something in his notes, "this next step of development is crucial and will determine everything."

 

"But, you have seen the full term clones, right?" Angie asked, turning back to the fetus, "they do go on and are brought out of the womb and develop normally after that?"

 

"Um, personally, no. The fifth month was as far as my research ever got," he told her, adjusted the flow rates on the womb device.

 

"What do you mean?" she asked, looking over to him as her shock registered on her face.

 

"I mean, just what I said, young woman. My clones have always died at five months. I was not really expecting much more here but there is always the possibility that my methods will have a breakthrough!"

 

"My God," Angie said, her mouth agape, "you invaded my body, put me through hell and you already knew that this was just an exercise in film-making 101 for sale to Loubar’s clients?"

 

"Well, it’s not a sophomoric stunt at my end!" he snapped back at her, "this is a living creature right now and would have to be for these people to even be interested in the technology."

 

"But that’s why Ursula and Uri could get you to come along with them in this scheme. You’ve never finished this project. No self-respecting scientist would do this for these two insane people!" Angie was incensed and she walked away from him to rejoin Rollie who was putting Uri in the adult womb.

 

Ursula was happily setting up her camera for the filming of the adult clone processing. Angie came over to Rollie’s side, and stooped down as if adjusting the dry ice triggers on the canisters. Out of Ursula’s view, she whispered to him; "God, I hope Mira got your beacon. I hope this rush job of yours won’t get you killed!"

 

"Well love, hopefully- Ursula will be so wrapped up in filming and the Doc in his work at the bench and Uri trapped in this thing…we can make our split. You did notice the door over there where Ursula came in earlier. It is the only other exit other than the room where we were kept, eh?" Rollie said in a soft voice as he knelt beside her.

 

"Shut up over there. Are we ready?" Ursula called out and walked over as Angie popped her head up and came around to the front of the womb. Uri was looking pathetically clumped up inside the unit. Ursula knocked on the surface, the clear glass starting to fog slightly with the slight release of dry ice cloud as Rollie opened the first canister by hand. He held the remote in his hand and checked out Ursula for where she was keeping her gun.

 

Angie could see the revolver in Ursula’s belt, near her right hip. Ursula walked back over to the camera and adjusted her focus, "God, Victor- I wish you could see us now!" she voiced, looking up into thin air.

 

The Doctor was still monitoring his project and did not even turn around as Rollie clicked the remote and the dry ice canisters lids popped one at a time and Ursula started filming.

 

"Great, good- keep it going…" she was telling them as she swept the top of the artificial womb with Uri inside, slightly writhing and moving as the clouding of dry ice began to intensify. The plan had been for Uri to start to curl and move as if in the throes of contractions for the eventual ‘birthing’ scene but Rollie’s plans were going to put a crimp in that detail. As Rollie pushed the silent switch for the release of the smaller, more potent canisters to quickly pop and sizzle, causing smoke instead of dry ice release, he looked to Angie for her cue. She was to immediately snap the lock device he had made for the womb and retreat to the side of the room near the door. Rollie would rush Ursula, get the gun and get her out of the way. The Doctor, both felt, would not be a problem with a gun held over him.

 

He nodded and Angie, with the sudden pop of smoke and noise, snapped the lock, without Ursula’s notice. She was taken back by the smoke and Rollie moved quickly, under the cloak of it to behind her back. Angie went for the door. She could hear Ursula shouting as Rollie surprised her and wrestled her out of the gun, but she could hear a fierce fight going on now as Ursula was fighting back. Angie could hear Uri screaming from inside his artificial hell, the smoke dying down now. Her eyes then went for the Doctor. He had cringed against the bench, looking quickly at the fight ensuing and then to her close by the door. He looked panicked and befuddled.

 

"Ange! GO!" Rollie yelled at her and she opened the door, seeing a long corridor. She started out the door but stopped in her tracks as she saw people running toward her and in the lead to her wonderment and relief was Mira and Frank.

 

"Oh God, Mira! Help him!" Angie yelled, her voice hoarse as Mira touched her shoulder and could see the stress that had inundated Angie with being in captivity for over 72 hours.

 

"Stay with her, Angelino," Mira said in a brisk order to a police officer behind her, "Frank, let’s go!"

 

Angie sank to the floor in the corridor. The patrol officer named Angelino squatted beside her, his revolver ready in anticipation. She could her more shouting, yelling, and finally, gunfire. The popping noise sent Angie’s heart into a flutter as she held her breath.

 

"Oh…" she said, shaking her head, "I gotta get up, gotta see…" and she pushed herself up the wall as the patrol officer grabbed her arm.

 

"No, miss! You stay out here," he told her, protectively.

 

"You don’t understand," she told him, pulling away from him, "my future is in that room, my life!"

 

He grabbed for her but she managed to slip his grasp and pushed inside the door. There was broken glass on the floor near the adult clone womb. A body was crumpled on the floor next to it. Mira was standing over another body with Frank kneeling over it. Angie held her breath as Rollie was not in sight.

 

Rollie!" she called out, "no!"

 

Mira turned around, her gun raised immediately but lowered it as she recognized Angie’s cry and form entering the room. Angie ran over to the broken glass area around the womb. Lying among the glass was Uri, a gun that he apparently had on him that had been kicked from his hand in death. He had shot himself out of the locked womb, only to catch Mira and Frank’s return of fire. Her shock at seeing his dead face, so like Victor Loubar’s made her feel faint and nauseated.

 

Mira was walking over to her, holding out her arms. NO! Angie was shouting in her mind, don’t let it be Rollie!

 

"Angie, I am so glad to see you!" said the tough detective who had become so close to her, "thank God for your beacon!"

 

"Where is he?" Angie asked, almost pushing her away, her mind racing as she looked to Frank who was starting to rise.

 

"Man, this tootsie was one hard mother to drop!" Frank told her, grinning with his toothy smile. Angie looked down and saw Ursula lying face down. She had obviously put up a good fight before being taken down to her death.

 

Angie looked over to the workbench. Seated at the table was Rollie! Doctor Batham was sitting, cuffed to the edge of the bench. His face was red and swollen. She imagined Rollie at least, got a punch in to the deranged scientist. But Rollie was alive! She walked slowly over, Rollie’s back to her. As she neared him, he turned and smiled. His arms reached out for her and she fell into them, his warmth and strength all that she needed now.

 

She couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder, staring down at the artificial womb. The womb was open, the fetus gray and lifeless inside. She stiffened in Rollie’s embrace and he stood up, letting her go.

 

"Why did you do it, Rollie?" she asked in a small voice, her heart breaking as she looked up at him in horror.

 

"No! You got it wrong, Angie. I would never do that! It was like that when I got over here," Rollie told her, touching her face softly.

 

"But how, when?" she asked, staring down at the pitiful little creation that was never to be.

 

"During all the ruckus, I guess there was a power disconnection or something…" he replied, shaking his head.

 

She looked over to the Doctor who was glaring at her and Rollie. She saw his opened notebook and saw the final input from his shaky handwriting; ‘Five months, embryonic development arrested. Fetal demise…reason: Unknown.’

 

She closed the book softly, pulled at Rollie’s hand with hers and lead him away from the bench. He followed without words. They left Mira and Frank in their captive laboratory and walked out to the fresh night air. They could see that they were still in the warehouse district, an ugly section of town, standing outside of a dilapidated, gray brick building. Police were running in and out of the place. Ambulances were arriving and people were shouting all around them but they didn’t hear anyone except each other.

 

"Look, Ange- there!" Rollie told her, as an ambulance crew, on Mira’s orders, were trying to get Angie to go to the hospital. They had pulled out a stretcher and were just standing there, waiting. Angie looked up, following Rollie’s pointing finger to the sky. A shooting star was just disappearing over the horizon.

 

Angie made a little wish silently and Rollie smiled, "I’m riding with her!" he told the crew as she sighed and let the crew assist her onto the stretcher.

 

"Only if you are her husband, mack!" the crewman barked back as they started to roll her up into the ambulance and shut the door behind them.

 

"Oh," he said, softly, as Mira came up behind him. She put a hand on his shoulder.

 

Angie’s voice bellowed out as the doors slammed back open again at the back of the ambulance. The crewman jumped out, irked and walked over to Rollie.

 

"Get in!" he told him, his face red. He turned and went up to the front of the ambulance and got in without another word.

 

Mira smiled at him and Rollie shrugged his shoulders. He grinned and jumped up into the back of the ambulance as Angie fussed with the other attendant about the IV that had been started in her hand.

 

"Well, what did you say to get him to change his mind?" Rollie asked her, bending over her as the radio squawked out dispatches coming into the ambulance.

 

"Nothing much…" she said, suddenly grinning and then touched his chest over his heart with her small hand, "only that I had just been kidnapped, artificially inseminated, had a clone baby in less than 48 hours and been proposed to by my future husband; a man who makes movie magic at the drop of a hat and who has certainly captured my heart- AND- that he had just left him standing outside."

 

Rollie took her breath for her because only Angie could talk that fast, make that amount of sense and not take a breath.

 

"Bloody well done!" he said, "I’m glad that you know who the real hero is around here!" he told her, shaking his head and came down on his knees beside the stretcher, kissing her as the other crewman smiled at them from his seat.

 

Angie smiled at his humor, his handsome face and firmly in her heart now, her Rollie Tyler.