Five squeezed the band tight. A surprisingly large part of her wanted to just bash the thing against the wall until it gave her all of its secrets. Technology didn't work that way, but was it too much to ask for it to happen once?
The band was just so simple. There was a chance that it could only be used for audible commands and in that case, it made sense that these weren't under lock and key somewhere.
Five dropped back to lie on the small bed. She could feel every second until they noticed she didn't have the nanites dropping away. Time was running out and there was no way she was going to be able to figure any of this out.
They were all so screwed.
"Maybe if I had more," she muttered. "I'm sorry, One."
The band beeped. Five looked all over it until she found a tiny green shine on the underside. She pressed her thumb to it and held. There was a small flash of light and then a word formed over the band, connected to it by thin strings of light.
Profile?
"Derrick Moss."
The word was replaced by a screen that showed the doctor who'd come to get One. The screen flashed red around the edges and she saw hands come up, fingers curled into claws. She was seeing through One's eyes. The screen went black.
Interesting. Not really that helpful, but interesting. The band had beeped when she said, 'One,' though. On a whim, she did that. "One."
The screen came back, this time showing her Three. There was a patch of dark red on his throat just under his jaw. They stood in a room staring at a large screen that showed both of their bodies on it. The door opened and One turned to see a man that looked a lot like a security guard.
"Mr. Boone, Mr. Moss. Please come with me."
"What happened?" One asked.
"There has been a situation." The man said.
"Situation?" One asked.
Five had her back to the door when it clicked. She swiped the green light and the projection vanished. The band went down her shirt before anyone could see it.
"How are you feeling? I don't think I ever introduced myself to you. I'm Dr. Fremont."
Five glared up at her. She wasn't going to give her – or any of them – any more words than she had to. They weren't friends. Five and the others were prisoners.
Dr. Fremont nodded in understanding. "Okay. Fair enough. This is not the greatest situation. If you can behave yourself, I won't have to use the nanites. We don't want to use the nanites on you if we don't have to."
"Then why infect us? Why do that to us?"
The doctor held the door open so that she could see the white hall beyond. "If CoreLactic contacted the Raza and wanted to hire your team as mercenaries, no questions asked for each mission, would you have agreed?"
Five got up. "No. We don't do that anymore."
"But now you will."
"Whether we want to or not."
She nodded to the door. "Please, come with me."
"Where?"
"Please."
Five stepped into the hall and the doctor began walking in front of her. The thought crossed Five's mind how stupid that was. If Five had the chance, she could attack the doctor and she wouldn't see it coming. Five had to remind herself that the good doctor was under the impression she had full control of the situation. If she heard 'Emily Kolburn,' then she had to play along no matter what. Free and trapped at the same time.
Dr. Fremont had turned them down another hallway before she said anything else. "Have you ever performed any kind of maintenance on Portia Lin?"
"I'm not a doctor..."
"We are gaining more of an understanding of what she is. Parts of her are synthetic and could – in our theory, anyway – need to be maintained. Such as her nanites."
"I...I do machines and technology. Two – Portia is a person."
She hummed. "I was really hoping that you could help us on this."
"Help you on what?"
Dr. Fremont brought her through a large open area to a room with a large window. Five jumped when something bloody hit the glass. It moved and then Two's eyes stared at her from a mask of blood. They jumped side to side and she thumped her head on the glass.
"I take it this has never happened before." Dr. Fremont said.
"What...what's happening to her?"
"Her original nanites had been overwriting ours until they began to malfunction. The most damage seems to be occurring in her brain as her nanites fight back. I was hoping that you could offer some insight."
Five shook her head as Two kept staring at her, panicked. "I don't know. Isn't there anything you can do?"
"I didn't want to, but..." Dr. Fremont touched her ear. "Yeah, contact Dwarf Star. Minimal information and tell him he can use Transport Transit. We need help, now."
Five touched the glass. "She looks terrified. Can I go in there?"
Dr. Fremont pointed at the dark-clad body Five hadn't seen in the corner of the room. "Not all of the blood is hers."
A door close by opened and both One and Three came out followed by the guard Five had seen on the projection. The men stopped, looking first to her and then the window where Two stood bloody.
One's mouth fell open. "What...?"
"What's wrong with her?" Three finished for him.
Two banged on the glass before stepping back. She looked around the room and then her whole body began to tremble. Her eyes rolled back and she dropped to the floor.
"There's been a problem with the nanites." Dr. Fremont said. "Sandoval, take the three of them back to the others."
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to help her?" One asked.
"At this point, there's nothing we can do. She'll be up again in two minutes. It's too dangerous to enter the room."
"But you have to – " Five said.
Dr. Fremont grabbed Five, dragging her so close her face almost touched the glass and forcing her to look at the dead man again. "I am not risking any more of my people."
She let go and Five moved closer to One and Three. Sandoval took the lead this time.
A/n: Thanks for reading!
