Drew covers over topknot guy's corpse with some heavy-duty carpet found in a bombed out building, "That's all the dignity he deserves," he says, as he wipes his hands of him.

......

Kelly leads the children back to the safety of our homestead. They walk in a tired trail, dragging their inactive imps lazily across the broken ground.

Although sleepy, the children look relaxed and released. Conversely, Kade, Troy and I are tense and taut.

Kade voices his concern, "Drew, shouldn't we think about this first?"

Drew holds up the topknot guy's security key, "We have our way down there." He holds up his rifle and looks directly at Kade, "Our thinking is done; their thinking, their collective thought process has to be stopped, and we have the weapons to do it." His eyes scan the three of us, "It's imperative we do this now, for our future, he points to the children in the near distance, "and for their future." He steps back from us and points again at the children, "Their release and freedom is a victory for us; let's continue in the wake of this success, why waste anymore time?" He suggests

We glance nervously at each other, but it's Troy who speaks up, "I say we go down, now, and strike why the iron is hot."

Kade and I focus on each other with an intense stare, which I eventually break with an affirmative head nod.

Kade inhales, and exhales loudly, "Right, let's go under!" He says, his words carried on a confident breath.

......

Kade and I continue to glance at each other, communicating with our almost telepathic sense. I know he's thinking the same as me, that we are putting our trust completely in Drew's hands. With every blink of Kade's eye and in every flicker of his mouth I know he's saying, we'll deal with any potential betrayal when it presents itself to us – betrayal is something we know how to deal with.

Drew leads us, with Kade trailing directly behind; furtively he pulls out his pistol, points it at Drew's back, then puts it back in its side sling. In that swift gesture, Kade communicates his intention – 'at the first sign of betrayal, Drew gets a bullet.'

Troy, at my side, registers his knowledge of Kade's intention with a knowing glance at me. "Drew, you suffered so much down there, yet you don't have any hesitance or nerves about your return," says Troy, a question clear in his statement.

"Nerves don't help, they hinder." Is Drew's swift reply, followed with a stern missive, "Toughen up, you're about to see some gruesome scenes down there, but we have to pass the horror to get to the heart of the facility – and stop it beating," he says, his face focused on a small concrete building in our near distance.

"So I take it you know who we have to kill?" Asks Kade.

"Yes, I do."

"You'll lead us directly to him, her, or them?" I ask.

My question halts him suddenly. He turns to face us, "I'll lead you directly to IT!" He says, before turning and marching onwards, "We kill them who try to prevent us getting to it – things will make sense when we're down there."

......

We arrive at a small crudely built concrete building. Looking at the structure I vaguely recognize it's broken walls as being part of a much bigger building from which Drew helped me escape from this underground facility.

Drew sees the recollection on my face, "Yes, when you last came up from here, you entered the bustling throng of a packed them park," he says, with a smile that slightly reassure me that he really is a good guy, with our salvation in his heart.

The entrance is short and we have to stoop to enter. Drew stands at the side, "Kade, you go first," he says, his hand gesturing forward.

A bolt of anger shakes Kade, "No way, you lead the way Drew, it's you who goes first," he says, replicating Drew's hand gesture. His body has the intense tremble that tells me his anger is still brewing, and as Drew bends to enter, it boils over, "Actually Drew, there's something I gotta say," he says, pulling him back, with force.

Drew remains calm, "Say it," he says, ignoring the violence in Kade's pull.

Kade doesn't hold back, "Where's this sudden change come from, your machismo, this deepened voice? Weren't you a 'castrato' didn't they lop off your boy bits to give you that falsetto, or was that all a lie: to fool us, have us sympathize; lull us into a false sense of security and lead us right back to them?"

With a sudden and lightening speed, Drew swipes down his trousers, "LOOK!" He asserts.

I can't, instead I focus on his trousers and underpants at his feet.

Drew continues, "BE A MAN KADE, LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO ME," he says, a slight falsetto returning to his voice.

I won't look, only listen.

Drew's voice regains control, "The disgust on your face says it all – I'm hideous aren't I?"

Kade's response is low with a little regret, "No, you're not."

Hearing him pull up his trousers, I feel it safe to look up. Drew's face is hard and resolute, "I had to regain control, reclaim some of my masculinity – do you understand that, now you've seen what I have to live with and without?" He asks.

"Yes, and I admire and respect your bravery," says Kade. I look over at Troy; his face is still contorted with disgust and is completely drained of color – his legs buckle and he hits the ground with a thud; spark out cold.

......

Drew quickly attends to Troy, putting him in the recovery position. After a few minutes, he comes to, all groggy and disorientated, "What happened?" He asks.

"You fainted at the sight of my pee hole," says Drew. Troy's eyes roll back, and he passes out again. Drew looks up at me and smiles, "Troy isn't doing a lot for my confidence," he says, putting him back in the recovery position.

......

When Troy recovers for the second time, Drew is pragmatic, "I think it best that you go back to Kelly, Tony and the children. There will be many more distressing sights underground and we can't risk you fainting again, that could be fatal for all of us," he says.

Troy rubs his head, "No, not at all, I'm used to seeing many horror's, that was just a blip," he says, standing up, but still visibly shaky on his feet.

I interject, "Actually Troy, it's probably best you go back to Kelly, those kids might become a handful." I pause for thought, "You know, we are being a bit rash and hasty here. Why don't we three go under on a reconnaissance recce which was are initial intention; then brief Kelly, Troy and Tony, before we come back and take them out."

Drew agrees, but with a caveat, "If I see someone I know is a key player, I will shoot," he says.

......

Drew opens the small trap door and descends first, followed by Kade and I.

As we descend the stairwell widens, considerably. I was in such a hurry to escape the last time, that I don't recall this dramatic change in dimension.

At the bottom, I recognize the large open room; this is where I first met Drew, when he orchestrated my escape. Back then; he was a fearful, crimson nailed, silver toothed follower who'd never even had a hug. How he's changed, I think, as I watch him taking control and returning to exact his revenge, of sorts.

White coats hang from hooks all around the room, giving the impression that the walls are made of stark white cotton fabric. Drew pulls a jacket, "Find one that fits you right and put it on, it will give us a little cover, we'll blend in, be mistaken for a lab technician," he says.

Once we're jacketed up, Drew draws us into the dead center of the room, "This is the first level, where you were held captive, Tanya. We'll go down to the next level, which is where storage, labs and presentation rooms are located," he says. He looks down and points to a silver circle on the floor, "These are the security points, when I zap it with the key fob, it'll initiate access." He looks at us both, "Steady yourself as the initial drop can be swift," he says, putting one foot in front of the other.

Whoah – the sudden drop makes my belly flop, then it settles into a steady decline, the whole room descending.

The room comes to a stand still and the far walls part and open – to reveal a large auditorium type space, like a large clinical theatre, with rows and rows of banked seats that look onto a large stage.

White coated people are pouring in and taking seats. From this gathering crowd comes a palpable air of excited expectation.

"I didn't expect this; are you taking us to the movies, Drew?" Asks Kade.

Drew steps silently from the room, "Come on down, you can't get back up without the key," he says. We both glance back to see the back wall sliding forward – we can only go one way.

Kade and I jump from the room, but we're not in the auditorium, a large pane of glass separates us from the theatre. "It's one-way glass, they can't see or here us," explains Drew.

Although I'm reticent, I'm not suspicious of Drew's intention. But I can't say the same of Kade, "I thought you said there'd be many distressing sights, this all looks pretty tame?" He says, his voice doused in doubt.

Worryingly, I see a fleeting something in Drew's face, a kind of urgency, "We don't need to see this, come down this way, into the labs," he says.

Kade seeing what I see, reacts, "NO – I wanna see this!"

Drew is insistent, "Guys, watching a clinical presentation is of no use to us, time is of the essence..."

...his words are suddenly drowned out by a rapturous applause from the assembled audience. My jaw drops when I see who they are applauding.

The Surgeon struts the stage, bowing to her adoring audience.

Drew looks suddenly nervous, "She's virtual, a hologram – let's go, we've got more important things to do...

...Her words drown out Drew's.

Kade and I are transfixed by her speech – "Today I will present to you our most important findings on 'G.F. that is Gender Fluidity." The audience grows silent with rapt attention – "To begin my presentation I would like to show you real footage of a transgender girl having sexual intercourse with her cis gender, heterosexual male lover. The transgender subject had an enforced gender reassignment at the age of sixteen. She entered into a naturally developed relationship with her male lover at age eighteen. The footage you are about to see was recorded recently."

My blood runs cold as an image of Kade and I, both naked and wrapped in each other's arms appears on a huge screen, in monumental 3D.

The Surgeon continues, "I, myself, was the reassignment surgeon for this subject, and as such, I would like you to observe carefully, both the penile penetration and note the vaginal authenticity, while observing her emotional and arousal responses to the male's sexual activity."

Suddenly, I'm watching Kade and I make love in 3 Dimensions, being watched by a transfixed audience.

My horror is so profound that I can't tear myself away; I look for clues as to where and when this invasion of our privacy took place – it was our room in the hospital, in London, where we thought we were secure and safe!

The footage suddenly stops and The Surgeon says proudly – "Just before you observe penetration, I would like to thank our secret agent who supplied this immensely intimate footage whilst he resided in London with the subject..."

...Kade explodes and grapples for his gun as Drew's hand shoots forward, defensively. I try to stop his rage – NO KADE, PLEASE NO!" I shout...

...But I can't halt Kade's shoot – the bullet slams Drew against the glass wall, his blood smears and obliterates our view as he sinks downwards towards death.

He lies on the floor, his arm outstretched toward us both, in his hand he holds the security key, "Kade, I wanted to give you this, that's all," he says, blood spouting from a wound I can't find.

While watching Drew's life ebb away, The Surgeon's word's invade me – "Please applaud our agent who recorded this brilliantly intimate footage, one of my most successful clones, Little Kelvin..."