Andre awoke in a dark room several days later to Robert Stanton's voice. "What is your name?" Robert asked as he shown the light in Andre's face.
"I, I don't know." He said. Looking down.
"Well, it looks like the injections took care of that sharp tongue of yours. Now, think hard. Your name is D-"
Andre cut him off "My name is Dante. Dante Redgrave. I was the test subject for project Satan. I am the property of ZERO." Andre said in a shaky voice.
"Good. Now do you remember what project Satan was?" Robert asked, happy with Andre's responses so far.
"Project Satan was the biological engineering of humans containing the "x" gene, and untapped source of physical and mental strength under extreme stress. The scientists were trying to make it so the subjects could tap these reserves voluntarily. I was the only one that survived the experimentation and testing phases. They gave the project the code name "Satan" for the way the subjects would fight after tapping into these reserves. They would be calm and controlled, almost happy. They would fight with a ruthlessness that hasn't been seen since the days of the Spartans." Andre rattled off the project like it happened yesterday.
"Good. It looks like you've regained your memory." Stanton was ecstatic with the results in such a short term. "Now. Do you remember what your first assignment was?"
"I was to infiltrate the U.S. Army base in Guam and use NORAD to locate the genocide angel, codename "Jo"." Andre's orders were clear.
"What's the last thing you remember of your orders?" Stanton wanted to make sure that he didn't remember anything from his time of Andre Donner. If he did, his programming could easily be short circuited by his emotions and he could turn on them.
"I was compromised, and started to engage them." Andre was tired and confused " the last thing I remember is i was taking cover by a munitions supply room, and it blew, and then." He started to rub his head. " I woke up in this room."
"Good. You've been held by the military for three years in a comatose-like state. We rescued you." Stanton lied with a smile on his face.
"Oh, so now what?" Andre was confused "Are we going to try and locate the second genocide angel?"
"No." Stanton continued "She is a lost cause. We are going to do our best to rehabilitate you and team you with Maria, another genocide angel to complete our objective, but until then, we must keep you in a holding cell, just in case the military was able to turn you into a sleeper cell. We will continue psychological evaluations and when you are cleared, we'll continue your training so that you can work with Maria."
"Understood" Andre stood up. "In that case, I would like to return to my cell. I'm still kind of woozy."
"Of course." Robert opened the door as the guards shackled Andre. "We will continue tomorrow and if everything goes well, we will introduce you to Maria."
The guards took Andre back to his cell and placed him inside, removing that shackles.
"Thank you." Andre said as the soldiers left. He then took of his shirt and held his right shoulder up to the mirror, stating his proclamation to himself in his nightly ritual as he stared at his tattoo.
"Texas-Omaha. 90th infantry, code name 'Tough Ombres'" He put his arm down and looked himself in the eye, " My name is Sergeant first class Andre Donner, 101st Airborne Special operations. 08060104. I declare this to myself alone. I will continue to allow ZERO to believe my past is who I am. I will act on ZERO's behalf as long as it benefits myself. I will return to Bialan. I will return to the United States Army. I will return to Jo. I will protect and serve those I love. My past is what I make of it. I am Andre Donner."
5 years later
3 days until assault
"I will protect and serve those I love. My past is what I make of it. I am Andre Donner." Dante muttered to himself in the bathroom of his high rise apartment as Maria laid in bed passed out.
"Maria. time to get up." Dante woke up the silver-haired girl in his bed after he finished his daily recital of his declaration to himself.
"Hm?" Maria opened one eye. "Why do you always get up so early?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes.
"I don't know," Dante told her, "I just can't sleep late. besides, its like 10 in the morning."
"Oh, I see." Maria got out of bed. "I'm gonna take a shower, what are you gonna do?"
"The usual, I'm gonna head down to the coffee shop across the street and read the paper."
"And what if another Hanshin police spots you? I'm sure that girl from yesterday has them looking for you."
"Don't worry about it, I dyed my hair blond and I'll wear some glasses, they won't notice me." Dante was confident in that.
"Ok, how do you know her anyways?" Maria asked.
'Shit' Dante thought to himself, she thought he didn't remember anything from those 3 years he was gone. "I got arrested once in Osaka a few years back and she interrogated me before ZERO sent some lawyers there to get me out."
"Oh, ok, I'll call you when I finish up up here, we have a meeting with Robert later to pick up the gear and tell him how every things going."
Maria walked into the bathroom as Dante got dressed and walked down to the coffee shop.
'I hope she bought it' He thought to himself as he walked down to the coffee shop.
"Hey Mr. Redgrave, the usual?" The young teen working their asked.
"Yea, that'd be great. Do you have the paper?" Dante asked as he walked up to the front.
"Yep. right here, that'll be $7.50. Put it on your tab?" The young girl asked.
"Um, naw, here" Dante pulled out a credit card. "Pay off my tab and give yourself a nice tip."
"Thank you Mr. Redgrave, but this card says Robert Stanton?" The young girl was confused.
"Uh yea, its my bosses, he said I could use it whenever. Just take out $200 and keep whats left for yourself." Dante smirked.
"Thanks Mr. Redgrave! Love the new hair by the way." the teen was ecstatic for the $70 tip.
"Really? I'm not to sure about it quite yet." Dante ran his hands through his newly colored hair.
"Well I think it looks terrific." the teen said.
"Well thank you. Ya know what? Take another $50 off that card and keep it. My boss is always a big tipper anyways." Dante smirked, thinking of the look on Rob's face when he gets a $250 credit card bill from a coffee shop.
"Thank you Mr. Redgrave!" She was bouncing with joy.
"Please, call me Dante." He smirked as he walked over to his corner to read his paper and drink his coffee. 'Things always taste better when its free.' Dante thought as he took a sip of his coffee.
At the Elizabeth the girls were going through their regular routines as well.
Meg had just finished putting on some deep cleaning mask that has to sit for 30 minutes, Amy was already downstairs eating breakfast with Sei, and Jo was asleep.
"So Sei," Amy decided to use Jo's absence to see if Sei had found anything else. "any word on Andre?"
Seiput her fork down in disappointment. "No, its like he's playing with us. He just pops up when he feels like it and then he vanishes. Anything on that code that Jo gave you?"
"Not yet." Amy started pondering. "So far all i know is it's some kind of GPS code. But I don't know what company its through and even when I do it's gonna take a few days to get into their system and bypass all the security to track it. What do you think it tracks?"
"The better question is who." Sei added. "The last time we saw this much security on a GPS system was when we used it to find Jo after ZERO kidnapped her."
"Maybe it's Andre's?" Amy was hopeful "It was dropped off by someone who knew Jo was gonna be at the cemetery."
"Could be, but I think its too early to say." Sei didn't want to get the teens hopes up.
"You know that if he does come back, him and Jo won't come out of her room for days." Amy said after finishing a piece of toast.
"I think you need to stay off those websites and away from Josh." Sei remarked.
"Don't insult me! Josh is a creep, plus, I don't think he'll be messing with us anytime soon."
"Why? Because of what Jo did or because someone took a few shots at him?" Sei wondered.
"No, because Andre's still alive." Amy said. "Duh."
"But how would he know?" Sei added, not knowing about the encounter between Josh and Amy.
"Because, when I was taking that picture to your office, I ran into Josh and he took the picture away from me and asked who it was, so I told him it was the guy he was making fun of earlier."
Sei dropped her fork "Amy, are you crazy! What if he tells Jo, she'll go off the deep end!" Sei lectured to the young genius.
"Oh, I never thought of that." Amy said with her finger on her chin.
The 2 stared at each other for a second before standing up and running out of the dining room.
"You go to Josh's room and make sure he doesn't tell her! I'll go to Jo's room just in case he already told her!" Sei ordered as she ran down the hallway.
"Got it!" Amy said as she broke off down a hallway leading to Josh's room.
Seiburst into Jo's room, out of breath, only to notice that she had woken her up.
"Has Josh bee here?" Sei asked the half-asleep Jo.
"No, why? Is something wrong?" Jo asked, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Nothing at all!" Sei tried to act non shellant. "Just wondering." She walked out of the room, leaving Jo dumb founded.
"Well, might as well get up and see what Meg's doing." the silver haired women said as she crawled out of bed.
She walked over to see Meg putting on her makeup and a scenario played through her mind "Jo I think so eye liner and lipstick would really bring out your eyes, and maybe if we trimmed your bangs and put the back up, you would just look so cute!"
Jo shook her head rapidly, "On second thought, I think bed sounds terrific." she said to herself as she walked back to bed, "besides, your still with me in my dreams." Jo looked back at the dog tags hanging from the mirror in the bathroom that connected Meg's and Jo's rooms.
Sei walked down the hallway only to see Amy walking towards her. "So what did Josh say?"
"He said that he won't tell her, thanks for sending me by the way. The girl in charge of shipping was in there and he asked me if I wanted to join, perv." Amy had a disgusted look on her face. "Ewe." She said as the 2 walked back to finish their food.
Jo awoke to the sound of Meg weeping. When she got up to see what was going on, Jo noticed that Meg was in the bathroom, while looking at the picture of Andre that was taped to the corner of the mirror. Jo knew she had to comfort her friend.
Jo walked over to the grieving redhead and from behind and wrapped her hands around Meg's stomach "Its ok Meg, I miss him too." Jo began to tear up.
"What's going on? He can't be!" She turned around and grabbed jo, resting her head over Jo's shoulder. "He's gone Meg, he's gone." Jo wiped away her own tears before pulling Meg away so she could wipe the redhead's tears.
"No! No he's not!" Jo was confused, why was she in denial about it now, but Jo knew this wasn't the time to question Meg.
"It'll be ok Meg, it'll be ok."
Dante and Maria went to go meet up with Mr. Stanton that afternoon to get the scuba gear for the bombing that night. This time though, they decided to meet at a less formal setting. A park near the harbor.
"Maria, Dante, So nice to see you." Robert Stanton said as he kissed Maria on the cheek and put his hand out to shake Dante's.
"Not happening Bob." Dante said with his hands in his pocket.
"Call me Robert." Mr. Stanton was trying to hold his temper.
"Ok shit stain." Dante Fired back. "By the way" Dante tossed Robert his credit card, "thanks for the coffee, TV, surround sound, and the girl at the coffee shop said thanks for the $120 tip."
That was the line. "Who the hell do you think your talking to! I'm the president and Chairman of Global Inc.! I was in the Japanese Army for 5 years! You can't talk to me like that! Any you sure as hell can't take my credit card!"
Dante was unfazed. "Really? Because I'm pretty sure that I just did, you beach ball."
That was the line, and Dante just pissed on it. " Why you little." Robert took of his suit Jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up his sleeves. "I'm gonna teach to a lesson."
Robert walked up to Dante in a boxing stance, and caught him with a left hook.
Dante laughed as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and looked at it. "Your really gonna do this? Ok old man, but I warned you." Dante put his left leg behind his right, holding his hands at chest level, partially open in a Ju jit su fashion.
"Hm," Robert rushed in with a right hay-maker, only to find himself over Dante's shoulder and on his back with Dante's left hand still around Robert's right wrist and Dante's boot in his throat.
"Thanks, you just showed me how to take an ass kicking. Now do you have the gear or.." He was cut short when Maria's foot appeared to make contact, but with a second glance she realized it was in Dante's free had, just millimeters from his face.
"Oh, I'm sorry, we were ignoring you." Maria was is disbelief, in all their sparring sessions, as far as hand to hand, Dante didn't have anything close to these reflexes.
"Is this the power of project Satan?" Maria asked as she lowered her leg.
"Just a fraction if that." Dante smirked as he took his foot off of Robert's neck and pulled him up. "Now, BOB, stop ogling my girlfriend. ya get it?"
Stanton nodded as he tried to catch is breath. "Good," Dante began "Now, do you have the gear?"
"YYea," He choked out, "Its in my car. Shall we?"
"Unless you wanna get a second look at the pattern on my boots, might as well. Maria? Are you coming?" Maria was staring blankly until she snapped back.
"Yes, hey Dante" maria asked, "do you think you could show me the full potential of project Satan?"
"No," Dante stared straight ahead coldly.
"Why not?" Maria was curious.
"Do you know why I'm the only surviving member of project Satan?" Dante asked her.
"The report said all the others died in a training session."
"Yes, they did, because I killed them." Maria's gaze shot over to him.
"Our orders were to never use our peak potential when in the same area as another member for a similar reason that the angels weren't allowed to fight. When a member who has undergone the engineering of project Satan uses their full potential, the conscious mind loses control, and its like a pack of wild wolves. I peaked during a training session, and that caused others to, which lead a chain of events causing us to fight for an alpha male position. The first thing I remember after I snapped back was I was holding my best friends heart in my hand. All the doctors said that he had the most potential and abilities. They told me since i knew this, that I saved him for last, and we duked it out until I killed him to prove dominance, like a wild dog."
Dante's face was cold, but he snapped out of it when Maria grabbed his hand."Its ok, its in your past."
He looked over to see her smile, and shot one back at her. "Thanks, now lets hurry up, the beach ball is beating us."
Maria chuckled. "I'll race you." she let go of his hand and started jogging forward.
"Ok, loser gets a kiss." Dante yelled as he took off after her.
"Sounds good to me!" Maria yelled back as she passed Mr. Stanton, who just smiled. Then dante hurdled off a bench and over the top of him, landing on a knee in front of Robert.
"Its not polite to stair, Bob." He said as he shot a cold gaze up for a split second before taking off after Maria.
"That guy's scary." a man playing chess said to Robert as he walked past.
"Yea," The man he was playing with started "I've seen him around town. His Ora changes. It's disturbing."
"He's not that tough" Stanton began. "You just have to know how to control him."
