Consequences, from a simple change, are rather fun to play with, don't you think?

Warning: descriptions of torture, but not really violent.


Awakening

Shimamura Joe opened his eyes. There had been no slow waking process, one moment he'd been unconscious, the next, wide awake. It only took him a second to analyze the room he was in, a rather plain metal room with a window high in the ceiling and a metal table which he was laying on, or rather, strapped down on. He was wearing some odd uniform, too, a blue one with a red buttons and a similar shade of red scarf.

"Ah, you're awake." A short man with dark glasses and a lab coat stood nearby. "I am Dr. Ross, you are 009, a Prototype Cyborg soldier."

"My name is," Joe started, unable, or rather, unwilling, to accept what the crazy man in the lab coat said.

"No longer valid." Dr. Ross cut him off, hands behind his back. "You jumped off a cliff, 009, your human life, as well as your human name, ended, the authorities have declared you dead."

"I …" Joe started, but a lump was forming in his throat.

"We of the Black Ghost organization have given you a new life, 009. With it, comes a new designation, free of any stigma from your previous human life." Dr. Ross took a step forward, straightening to reach his full (though unimpressive) height. "I will ask what your designation is, you will answer me correctly." There was a threat behind those words, Joe realized, but he still rebelled at the thought of just giving up his name, his identity. "What is your designation?"

"Shimamura Joe." Came the quiet, but defiant answer. It was followed by blinding pain, his nerves, his computer systems, sparking with electricity that came from the straps and something connected to his neck. The pain ended, and the echoes of a scream finally registered.

"What is your designation?" The doctor asked again, and Joe wondered if that was concern in his voice.

"Shi-Shimamura Joe." He knew the pain was coming this time, but that knowledge didn't stop his screams.

The Doctor asked the question a few more times, and Joe was certain that each time the pain was even more horrible than the time before. He wasn't sure why he was fighting for this, either, it seemed like such a stupid idea now.

"009, why do you fight this? What did Shimamura Joe have that was so important? Friends, Family, What is it that's so important?"

Friends? No, he'd only ever had four, and three had just left him for new families years ago while the fourth he hadn't heard from in months. No one else had wanted to befriend a half-japanese kid that got into fights. Family? The priest had been his only family, once the others had gone. He was dead now, and Joe had been arrested for his murder. No one would take him now, not after the way he had been accused by the neighbors as they'd pushed him into a police car. "Nn- Nothing. There is nothing." Just his name, but according to the doctor, he didn't even have that; legally, he was dead, and no one would mourn him.

"Then why hold onto a ghost?" Did it really even matter what he was called anymore? The combination of pain and despair made him close his eyes.

It didn't. No one had cared for Shimamura Joe, he knew that now.

"What is your designation?" The Doctor asked again.

"I am Cyborg Soldier 009." 009 answered, voice dull.

"Good. We will begin testing tomorrow. For now, you shall be taken to your room." The straps were removed, the wires disconnected, and 009 almost stumbled when he first tried standing on his own two feet. "The heaviness will fade once your organic systems learn to cope with your new ones." Dr. Ross lead the way, and it took everything 009 had to follow him.

His room turned out to cell, for lack of a better word for the metal vault like door that locked from the outside, inside was a cot just wide enough to fit him, and a small chest of drawers next to a sink with a mirror and a sliding door that lead into a small room with a toilet and a small indent for a shower.

009 remained silent as the door closed and locked, sinking onto the bed as he stared at his reflection. "I am Cyborg Soldier 009." He repeated, despite no one asking him. He continued to repeat it until he finally fell asleep.


Sorry, Joe, but it wouldn't be Cain's revenge if you weren't tortured a bit. It will get better from here, though … maybe.

Anyone recognize Dr. Ross?