For the love of money

Colin could not scream as the agony tore through him. As the images tore through him. He saw things that made no sense. Creatures like the ones he had seen in the warehouse, but in cages. In a lab? They were clearly as frenzied as they had been in the warehouse, throwing themselves at the enclosures that held them, but fruitlessly.

Something was wrong! He was in something. Glass shone all around him and he was floating in some kind of tank? He stared and that was his dad who stood just outside, but in a labcoat and with a clipboard in hand. His dad had been a soldier, not a doctor! What the hell? Colin could not move, all he could do was watch as the man who looked so much like his father shook his head and turned away, a small grimace on his face. Colin felt faint, but he focused, trying to see what was going on.

I am sorry, Colin. I didn't know how to say it. Nyx was sad, sick and more than bit angry but not with Colin. No. Her anger was directed at others.

I am not human, am I? Colin asked softly and there was no response. I… Sudden pressure choked him off, but it didn't hurt. The pain vanished and as Nyx gathered him up and held him close. Somehow, she was holding him with her mind. It didn't hurt. Far from it. It felt good!

I am not human anymore. Nyx was so gentle, so calm, so accepting. People like the ones who hurt you made me what I am. I was human once, but they wanted a weapon, so they made me this. A monster who can look like a human sometimes. I refuse to let them use me in their wars though.

You are not a monster, Nyx. Colin said softly as Nyx held him. A monster would not have stopped hurting me. A monster would not be trying to help me, trying so hard not to hurt me. We need to know. 'I' need to know. That was my dad, but… My dad was a soldier, not a doctor. This doesn't make any sense!

I… Nyx swallowed hard and then spoke slowly and carefully. What I can sense of your memory is a mess. I can tell that memory is yours. Not implanted. Others feel unnatural to me, alien almost. So, they had to be been implanted. Such can be done, but it is hard without powers like mine. It takes time and a deep knowledge of drugs and the human brain. I don't know what is going on, but you have been tampered with. Your mind has been damaged. Colin stilled and Nyx hugged him again. I might… I might be able to fix it, but… I don't know. She was really worried for him.

Am I a threat to you, Nyx? Colin asked in his mind Nyx did not answer. So, he had an answer. Not the one he wanted, but hey, that was normal for him. I am.

You don't want to be! Nyx all but snarled that.

What I want is irrelevant, Nyx. Colin said with a sigh. It always has been, it always will be.

That is not the way things are supposed to work. Nyx said weakly. What the hell did they do to you? You were not like this when I touched your mind the first time.

It has been two years. Colin paused. It has been two years, hasn't it?

It has. Nyx was annoyed now, but again, not with Colin. I cannot begin to fathom how badly they have messed you up. I may be able to fix some of this. Let me try.

No, Nyx. Colin said firmly as she started to gather power. He didn't know how he knew that she was doing that, but he did.

Colin, I can help! Nyx growled as he retreated a bit in his mind. Let me!

You put yourself in danger for me. Colin retorted. More than once now. No. Find out what you need to and leave me here.

I am not leaving you for them to torture again! Nyx all but screamed that but Colin retreated from her again. Colin! She begged.

Take care of yourself, Nyx. Colin said as he sank back to where he had been. Nyx was crying again, but he ignored that as he bared his mind to her again. She didn't move and he sighed. Nyx, please. I don't know what I am, but I refuse to play their game. Find out what you can and stop them! You are more important than me.

Bullshit. Nyx snapped at him and he went still. Do you have any idea how many people would see the utter insanity you just did and not freak out completely? You saw what Mag did. You saw what 'I' did. Hell, you met Hayden and didn't piss your pants! He is terrifying! I almost pissed mine when I met him the first time. Colin couldn't help it, he snickered at that and Nyx joined him. Colin, I don't know what you are and I don't care. I am not human anymore, but I still feel. I still have emotions. I know right from wrong and leaving you to them was wrong. You were so confused. So scared and you still fought and you might have won if there had only been one of the Infected.

I failed. Colin said softly only to go still again as Nyx snarled at him.

You were set up to die. Nyx was furious, but again, not with Colin. That whole place was set up as a trap.

Or a test. Colin said softly and Nyx stilled. If I am something they made from people like you? He asked and Nyx made a noise of uncertainty. Then they had to test me somehow, no?

That? No. You had no chance against that many of them. If we hadn't been closeNyx stopped short and Colin spoke.

Their 'special test subject' would have died. Colin said evenly even as Nyx hissed in shock. They probably knew how you would react. So, you saved my life and knocked me out to try and keep whatever secrets you have hidden. I don't blame you. I blame the dickheads who set this all up. He said quickly when Nyx tried to apologize. I am not sure why I am not angrier. I should be after so long imprisoned falsely. Is it me or some kind of programming?

I can't tell. Nyx said weakly. I am still figuring out a bunch of what I can do. I know there is wrongness in your head, but I can't tell where or what it is doing.

I may very well be some kind of sleeper agent then. Colin said slowly and Nyx did not speak. Do what you have to, Nyx. I don't blame you and I won't.

I do. Nyx said in a tiny voice and then the pain started again. This time, it bored deep into him and all he could do was writhe. He could not even see anything, just white. Voices murmured around him, but he didn't…

He couldn't…

The world faded and there was only the pain.


Later

Colin surged back to consciousness but did not move as the door to the small apartment slammed in and a small object flew to land in the middle of the room. He closed his eyes and let out part of his breath as he had been taught. The flashbang went off and he was stunned, but not nearly as bad as if it had taken him by surprise. Half a dozen forms in tactical gear moved in, their formation exact. He was expecting what happened. The dart from the one in the middle was exactly the same as the others that had been use don him, but when it hit him, nothing happened. He did not move, did not react at all and the team shifted their aim. All but one who kept his rifle aimed at Colin. Nyx and the others were gone.

"One here, sir!" Another sound of a the dart gun firing and then movement. "Female. Unconscious. We got one!" Was that awe, fear or lust in the speaker's voice?

"We need to move. Now." It was the same team leader who had yelled from the alley before. "We are jamming, but someone had a phone. 911 just got a call and the police are mobilizing. Secure them and lets get out of here!"

Colin did not react as hands grabbed him, roughly searched him and then pulled his hands behind him. He managed to twist just a little even as the zip ties went on. Darkness crowded his vision and then he was in the air. They must have been in a hurry. The bag that they had put over his head slipped and he could see something even as he was carried by two of the goons. Not much, but a familiar looking blue van with a very familiar logo on the side crowded his vision just before he was tossed to land on hard metal. A warm mass landed beside him and then, metal sounded on metal. A door. No, something more than a simple van door as the van revved its engine and took off in a squeal of rubber.

Colin did not move, just used what little he could see under the lip of the bag to catalog his environment. Yep, a delivery van. He had loaded enough of them in his time to know them inside and out, but none of the ones he had seen at his warehouse had contained cages. It was an odd cage, too. The bars didn't seem to be made of metal. They didn't shine like metal. He didn't dare look around, he had to be under observation and-

"You can stop the silent treatment." A totally unexpected voice sounded but Colin did not move. She was supposed to be dead! The woman he knew as his mother spoke again. "I don't know what those monsters did to you, but we will help you." Colin still did not react and the other sighed. "Don't be that way. Yes, it is confusing. No, I am not your mother."

"My mother was a test tube. My father is a knife." Colin said without feeling and then other scoffed.

"Don't quote Heinlein at me. You have no idea what is going on here." The voice was nothing like the kind, gentle woman he remembered, but then again, his memory was a mess according to Nyx. So…

"No?" Colin asked, more than a bit snide himself. "Then let me guess. The big bosses realized that hiring the detritus of humanity to fill out the workforce only works when said detritus do not understand how badly they are being screwed. Ten hour shifts, mandatory overtime…." He coughed a laugh even as another 'thwip' sounded and another dart stuck him. He ignored that as he had the first one. "So, in their infinite wisdom, they made people to work the warehouses. I guess I am a failure, since I didn't die as I was supposed to with everyone else."

"That was not the intention." The other was still cold even as more darts hit Colin. He ignored them too. They didn't affect him. "Those idiotic Tenno messed everything up."

"Did they?" Colin inquired, his own tone going cold. "So, you planned for me to fight those things and what? Die heroically or just get hurt and/infected by them?" He stilled as sudden, utter silence came and then he slowly shook his head. "You did. You planned for me to get infected." He snorted. "I am not even surprised. How many died so you could do that? A hundred, two hundred?"

"What did the Tenno monsters tell you?" The other was taught with fury now.

"They told me nothing." Colin said with a growl as he shifted his weight a bit. "Not that I needed any more reason to hate you and all of your kind. Tell me, was I intended to kill Trump or his opponents?" Colin smiled grimly as the other gasped. "Come off it. My hate for Trump was implanted just like the memories of you and the good doctor being my parents." The bound man shook his head a little. "Now, I don't like what he does, but I like what you do less. How many people have died because you want to make better slaves?"

"You are not a slave." The woman declared. "You are a product!"

"Yeah. I figured." Colin had the satisfaction of hearing the other sputter before he moved. A quick twist of his wrist and the badly placed zip tie was stressed beyond any plastic's capability to flex. If they had possessed sense or time, they would have shackled him with steel cuffs, probably legs and feet. They hadn't had time. They didn't have time! Colin reached up and pulled the bag from his head and yes, he was in the back of a delivery van just like so many he had seen. The sole immediate difference between this one and all the ones he had loaded was the odd plastic looking bars that ran all the way across the cargo bay, both between him and the cargo door and between him and his fake mother. He ignored the now pale woman. She was sitting at the divider between the cargo compartment and the driver. Another difference, no side door. He ignored her to scrutinize the form who lay beside him. Mag was still out, her face oddly pretty in sleep, but he ignored that. He was quick and efficient in checking Mag who was shackled hand and foot in plastic shackles and then at the woman who had pretended to be his mother. Her face was strained. "The problem with making a product that has a mind of its own is that it has a mind of its own. It may not agree with your bullshit. I do want to thank you for one thing, however."

"Which is?" The woman was psyching herself up for something.

"I should be raging after what you did to me. I should be going totally berserk and trying to rip the cage apart with my bare hands." Colin said with a shrug. "Which is probably what you want me to do, since they are electrified." At that, the woman outside the cell went still and Colin smiled. It was not a nice smile. He waved to the side where a tiny generator sat with wires going to bars. "Not subtle at all. Part of me really wants to beat you into a bag of blood and bones, but the rest of me, the sane part of me realizes that you have planned for almost everything."

"Yes, the bars are electrified and even if you stop the current? They are far beyond any human's ability to break." The woman declared. "The van is self driving! You are coming with me and we are going to fix this."

"No." Colin said quietly as he sat by Mag and checked her vitals.

"No one said you had a choice!" The woman declared and then spoke a series of nonsense words mixed with numbers. She smiled triumphantly at Colin but said smile faltered when Colin slowly shook his head. She paled as his face creased in a smile. "What?"

"Maybe the Tenno are monsters as you call them, but they were horrified by what you did to me. One of them worked hard to try and help me in my mind and guess what? I think she did." Colin said softly. "You wanted someone who would not get upset no matter the provocation, so you made me that way. I am calm. Far calmer than I should be in this situation. I should be raging, grabbing the bars and getting shocked into unconsciousness as you clearly want. I am curious, however. Did you make more or am I the first success?"

"Wouldn't you love to know?" The woman sneered, but then gasped as Colin squatted and did something that he never would have done in public. She stared as he reached down and pulled something out of his pants. "What-? Where did you hide that? What did they give you?"

"And they called me crazy… Geez, Fixate much, ya bitch?" Colin sighed but then shook his head. "They didn't do a thing besides try to figure out how badly you had hurt me. They tried a method that no one seems to use these days. An old, antiquated, silly thing called 'communication'. Discourse. Talking." He was being quite snide now as he shook the tiny packet of liquid he held now. "They didn't set up this contingency. I did."

"What is that?" The woman asked slowly, fear finally beginning to dawn.

"It is amazing what one can make in a cheap hotel's bathroom sink with access to a Walmart and a knowledge of basic chemistry." Colin said with a grin as he twisted the corner of the bag and then held it carefully over Mag. The conscious woman's face turned even more pale as drops of whatever was in the bag fell out and the plastic bands holding the unconscious woman started to smoke. Colin was very careful not to get any on Mag. In moments, every single bond that held the unconscious woman was melted on the floor of the van and Colin turned to look at the generator.

"We…" The woman who had pretended to be his mother actually licked her lips. Scared. "We can talk about this!"

"Why?" Colin inquired. "You have made your opinion quite clear. Your bosses have made their opinion quite clear. The tranquilizers and then the guns were a pointed argument that I cannot ignore. I am just a product, as you say. Defective product, no less. So, I guess I should just make a mess before you 'recycle' me." He hefted the bag and took aim at the generator! The concoction in the bag would melt the generator nicely. No power and he or Mag could break the bars.

"If you melt that, the hydrogen running it will go boom!" The woman all but shrieked, trying to push herself through the wall into the driver's compartment.

"So?" Colin inquired, still calm! "You mad scientists clearly wanted me to be calm in crisis situations, well guess what? I am. I am sure that no matter how big the boom and fire, this one will survive." He nodded to Mag who moaned softly. "I may or may not, but you will die and she will be free. I count that a win."

"You don't want to die!" The woman all but screamed that as Colin eyed the generator.

"No, I don't. But you made me a threat to everything I was supposed to hold dear." Colin snapped back. "You made me a patriot. You made me a dutiful worker. You made me empathetic. I care about people's feelings. Well done. You and people like you are a threat to everything the US is supposed to stand for. If I have to die to remove the threat you made me into, I will. Because that is what you made me to do."

"Colin?" Mag stammered from where she lay, taking in the scene at a glance. "I… No." She looked at him, her face ashen. "No, don't do it!"

"Don't tell me you want this traitorous witch to live, Mag!" Colin snapped but then went still as Mag rose up and slowly folded her arms around him. "You know what they meant me for! You should have just killed me!"

"Then we would be no better than them." Mag said softly as she took his hands in her own. She did nothing else, just held his hands. "You are not like me, no matter what these fools tried to make you into. You are not just a weapon."

"Did you see what I did in the ward, Mag?" Colin asked even as the woman at the front of the cargo bay all but fainted.

"Yes, I saw. We managed to snag a copy of the survelliance after they 'sanitized' the place. You had every right to act that way, Colin. You didn't start massacring unarmed, untrained civilians! You were attacked and fought back!" Mag said flatly. "I would have done far worse." She gave a sniff, but it was oddly humorous. "Hell, I have done far worse. They call me a monster, because that is how they make me act. You are not one, Colin. Not yet. Do not go my way, please?" She begged him.

"If they get us wherever the hell we are going, they will kill you and me." Colin said quietly and Mag nodded. "You, because you have made them mad and me, to refine the product."

"You are not a product to me, Colin. They won't take us." Mag said and then the world shattered as her power flared and the van came apart in a haze of green energy. A piece of metal slammed into the now screaming woman and wrapped around her, binding her in place in-

In the massive metal cargo hold that the van's remnants sat in. Four men in US Air Force uniforms were staring at the wreckage in shock. None of them held weapons. They just stared at the trio who now stood surrounded by metal fragments. One woman garbed as a hooker, one woman bound in metal and cursing up a storm. And Colin who was trying to understand this sudden change. From the sounds? They were on an airplane. A big one! But the engine sound was muted somehow. That was the only way what happened next could have possibly been heard.

"NO ONE MOVE!" A familiar voice shouted from nearby and both the Tenno and Colin turned to see a video screen come to life. On it, a familiar face shone.

Donald Trump was not happy.