So back after a long pause (I was taken by MassEffect...) I offer you another chapter! The updates won't be regular though...
your comments were rewarded :P
I hope the lines will help you understand better the changes of person or personality. I know it is confusing by moment: Arianne has to deal with tree minds inside one body after all...
Marta Shearing was amazed! She knew the mind pills were working wonders, but she had never thought it could be to such an extent. Three out of the nine Outcomes had had their IQ rated below average. She had never met with them at the first stages of the process, so she could not judge first hand of their progress. She had seen, though, the written tests they had been given. Some had really come a long way.
What she was witnessing now was even more than she could have ever hoped for. Not only did the pills enhanced the cognitive functions, they also allowed it to regenerate! Subject 4, who had been neuro-vegetative at the beginning of the process was now beginning to respond to simple stimuli such as light, or pain. Subject 91, which, according to the state of his skull and bones, had probably fell from a roof, was beginning to talk and interact with the medical corp. What really struck her was 37's response to the treatment. After only a few weeks of mind remodeling, she was completely off the sedative and could now stand alone, walk around and even jog! Her EEG was showing above average neural activity, not unlike the Outcomes, and her brain scan showed a perfectly normal brain tissues, where, weeks ago, there had been black, dead neurons spots.
She was getting stronger. The blue pills they made her take were helping clear her brain. Lieutenant James had taken a liking to this new body of his. Of course, he avoided thinking about the hows and whys of the situation, but he liked it. He liked her too: Arianne her name was. She was the original owner of the body they now shared. She had fought him at first: confronting him relentlessly to his painful death in the Iraqi desert. That had been extremely unpleasant, for he felt himself fading each time he remembered those cursed moments. She had hoped he would be gone after a while, like the Mafia men or that last one... some sort of agent with crucial informations. She wanted her mind back, but she also wanted freedom and that she could not achieve on her own. She had no fighting skill and the only target practice she had ever had was with water guns. So, one day, she had allowed him to surface to expose her plan. He would strengthen her, allow her muscles to memorize basic fighting stances and attacks, and in exchange, once they were free she would allow him to see his wife and son one last time.
Training was a bitch, Aaron thought. They gave you barely enough chems to make the road, almost no informations concerning the terrain and you were not even allowed to make contact with anyone! To annoy him even further, he was now followed by a pack of wolfs and he hadn't have a decent night of sleep in at least 86 hours. The only up side, was that while staying awake, he was free of the nightmares that otherwise plagued his nights.
Was he an agent? Here in the middle of nowhere, in a log cabin? He claimed not to, but Aaron had seen the blood work on the counter. Only agents like him had that to complete. So he decided to ask questions. He had been good at it before being recruited, playing dumb and curious. He knew he could pass for an innocent men if he wanted to, asking questions, poking his nose where he shouldn't have. Even as stupid as he had been, he had always been able to make people talk, except, he never understood the use of it until he took the chem treatment...
He could have had more answers! Why had they felt the need to blow them sky high! He needed to make it out of here alive. He had to take that bug out of his thigh first, than he needed answers, but most of all, he needed chems.
It was quite extraordinary, the power of mind over body, Leutenant James thought. Although the time was nearly impossible to grasp, he assumed they must have been training for about three weeks and Arianne was showing a lot of progress. The nasty fever they caught had slowed their progress, nealry killed them too, but since then, their chances of escaping had drastically increased! Yet he was no fool: even as it was now and even if he had been in his original body, escaping a fully guarded facility was out of the question. All they need now was a bit of luck.
That "luck" came under the form of a blaring alarm while the nurse was passing their meds. Both guards flanking him unholstered their weapons and ran up the corridor. The nurse himself looked lost and unsure of what to do with his two goons gone. 37 had been known to have caused trouble before she was transferred. Sensing a chance of escape, Leutenant James sprung in action. Grabbing the man by the shoulders, he tackled him down and smashed his head against the concrete floor rendering him unconscious. He than roughly pulled the IV line out of this arm and ran. He had never been a very good strategist... He had absolutely no idea were to go. The corridor was deserted, but he really did not fancy waiting until someone showed up. Taking a chance, he went right. The guards had ran left after all and he really wanted to avoid confrontation if possible.
As they passed by other doors like the one in their rooms, he felt Arianne taking over. She could not leave them here and do nothing! This clinic, or whatever it was, would be the end of them. She tried to turn around and find a control panel, the nurses office, anything to open the doors, but he fought her. For a moment, their body collapsed while the minds were fighting together. This disagreement nearly cost them their escape.
Having muffled Arianne's protests, the Leutenant picked them up the floor. There would be a time to think about others, but it was definitely not now. Great, thought he, as a man in a white lab coat ran toward them. The man was fat and sweating profusely. Not a very dangerous opponent, thought James. Crouching, he grabbed the man's belt and collar and used his own inertia to bring him down. He than kicked the man's throat and ran. It was probably a matter of minutes before an other alarm was raised. They needed to find a way out and quickly.
There was a desk not ten meters in front of them. She needed to make him stop. Releasing the other prisoners would likely increase their chances of escaping. With all the doors unlocked, they would not be the only fugutive to catch.
She was really beginning to annoy him with her idea of freeing any other than themself! But he had to admit, she had a point. He made his way to the desk. He silently thanked God, for their was a computer open and on it, a plan of the floor they were on. Rapidly checking the screen, he located a fire escape. There was also a command to open the "test subject"'s doors. Open all, he clicked. There was a loud buzzing sound, and the doors snapped open. Expecting a riot, or something close by, he was disappointed when only two others shyly looked through the opened doors. So much for covering their tracks!
Without wasting another second, he ran for the escape door. It was looked, obviously, but for such an advanced facility, he was surprised: a few smashes with a fire estinguisher were enough to open it. He was running down the stairs, nearly jumping from top to bottom as yet another alarm went off. Hoping the guards were occupied dealing with the first one and the "test subjects" he kept running. When there was no more stairs to climb down, he turned right in what seemed to be a small and run down storage room. On the left wall was an old rusty black door, kicking it open, he was rewarded with fresh air and an alley. They were out! Deciding it would be wise not to linger here, he sprinted. At the end of the alley was a busy street, with cars honking, pedestrians and firefighter trucks. On the other side was a cul-de-sac. They had but one option: make a mad dash in the street and hope or the best. For the first time since exiting their cell, Leutenant James realized they were dressed in a white paper exam dress... Well, that would slightly complicate matters!
He woke up. He was cold. Whe was he? Where was his Teddy? Where was Mommy? And Papa? Why was he alone in the dark? Tears were rolling down his cheeks and sobs shaking his body. He only wanted to go home.
So he got up on unsteady feet and slowly walked bare foot through the park. The shadows were too dark, too tall and there was a cracking noise behind him. Gasping, he turned around. There was no one, but he could see a light behind a tree, like the shimmering eye of an Orc! Terrified, he ran away from it.
He had reached the street! He was safe! The Orc and monsters from the park would not dare attack him under the street lamps. It was an unknown street and he could not find his house.
Would Papa be angry if he asked a stranger for help? That house had flowers on the porch and a light lit. It looked like a nice house, he would ring there.
Climbing the stairs had been easy! He was happy. He must have grown too because he didn't have to stretch to reach the doorbell.
Who could that be? Ringing at such a late hour! Getting up from her sofa, Suzan tighten her pink bathrobe around her. The doorbell rang again and she said,
- Don't be hasty, give an old lady the time to reach the door!
Opening the door, she was faced with quite an unusual sight. A young woman with shaved hair, looking like she had seen the Grim Reaper himself and dressed in a tattered and dirty trench coat was looking at her with big scared eyes.
- Have you seen my Mommy or Papa? I'm scared, said the woman, tears rolling down her dirty cheeks.
To clear up matters :
Arianne as both Lieutenant Thomas J. James and The Boy's mind inside her head.
Aaron has escaped the explosion at the beginning of the movie and will now try to reach Martha Shearing
Martha just survived the shooting in the labs. It was that which caused the first alarm which led to the escape of Arianne.
The man with dead blue eyes is an OC created to become an Arch-enemy.
Suzan is a 87 years old lady living in an apartment near the park where The Boy woke up in Arianne's body.