Chapter 5
Athena:
I checked all of his vitals and pulled up the history. He was improving, but not enough to take the edge off my concern just yet. I looked at him floating in the tank chamber, tubes and wires everywhere. I knew that it was for his own good, and essential for the final bonding stages of the second skin, but it still didn't seem right.
I flattened my hand against the outer shield of the tank. I knew more about him than I let on to anyone. I had just been playing with Panaceia; I knew his name, I knew lots about him. He was a ninja, a proud warrior. He believed in things like honor and decency, strong morals and discipline. I knew that he would hate to see himself in that chamber. He would hate how weak he was, and he was very weak.
I hadn't meant to find all of that out. It just…happened. I thought back…had it only been a week ago? It seemed much longer. Rhea told us about the "company" that worked out of that building. Her instructions were clear: clear the lab and take all files, then level it and don't leave a trace. It was pretty standard as our jobs went. She just didn't prepare us for what we were going to find. We didn't know what she meant by "clear the lab" until we saw it for ourselves. If it weren't for my training, I probably would have been sick. I'm still trying to figure out why anyone would do that to them. It just didn't make any sense. We'd combed the files and still found no answer. We could have interrogated someone who worked there, but we'd made short work of all of them upon arrival. If we had only known…maybe we could have held onto one or two of them. Oh well, it was too late to worry about that now.
I ran my hand across the shield, still lost in my own thoughts…we'd each grabbed one of them, and Iris helped me with Leonardo. He was in much worse condition than the others; the lab had very obviously not gotten as far in the process with him. He was so bad that we weren't sure he would make it. On the way out, Iris left me with him to make sure we all had a clear path out. I had to be so careful with him; I didn't realize we were going so slowly. The explosives had already been set. I heard the first one detonate just as I got him outside. I knew there was no way I could get us completely clear in time. I heard Iris yell something to me, but it was lost in the blast. It knocked us back a good 15 feet, and I made sure that I took the whole hit. As soon as I'd absorbed the impact, I moved myself over him to act as a shield. My suit protected me from the heat anyway. I realized as I was above him that I was losing him. He was dying right in front of me. I panicked. Normally I'd have more control, but for some reason I just panicked. I kept him alive the only way I could think of right then…I tapped into his very life force and wouldn't let it go. Now, that's one of my gifts I'm not really supposed to use, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. By the time Panaceia and Iris got to us, and I knew they could take over, he'd printed on me already. I probably knew a few things about him that he didn't even know about himself. Knowing what I knew about Leonardo, I didn't think he'd like that very much. I also knew my sisters would definitely disapprove (even though it had been unintentional), so I thought it best to just keep the information to myself. So without letting on to anyone, I would use what I knew to help him in any way that I could. I also knew he felt responsible for his brothers, so I would make sure they were taken care of for him.
Panaceia:
Forget about a penny for your thoughts. I would have given thousands to know what the hell she was thinking about, standing there with her hand on the case, her mind light years away.
Well, I guess the third time's a charm. I said her name again.
"Athena!"
"What?" She snapped out of her reverie and turned to look at me. Actually, I probably would have paid more than thousands…she could be so damn secretive. I knew my sister well enough to know that asking was useless so I moved on.
"Well, that's done."
"How'd it go?"
"Well, about as well as I thought it would go. Maybe worse. They're all sleeping soundly." Athena gave me a puzzled look, so I explained. "They asked to be sedated again."
"Oh. They took it that well, huh?"
"I need you or Psyche to go perform some damage control."
"I'll do it."
"You don't have to, Athena. You're actually looking a little tired."
"No, I'm fine, I want to take care of it."
"Do you want me to get Psyche to help?"
"I've got it covered, no worries. Just concentrate on working your medical magic on Leonardo."
I looked over the vitals on the screen. Better. Not good, but better. "Yes, I know. As soon as I can get his vitals a little stronger again I have to do the final application. If all goes well we should be able to take him out of there in the next day or so."
"Good."
"Mmm…" I looked at him suspended in the tank. "I hate having him in there, but it's what has to be done. I'm glad the others aren't in here. I don't think they'd like seeing that very much."
"Speaking of…I've got work to do. Let me know when you're ready to complete the phase on him and I'll help."
"Sure."
"You know, you're doing a great job with them. You shouldn't be so hard on yourself…"
I forced a smile because I knew that was what she wanted to see. "I'll let you know when I'm ready."
Athena:
"I'll let you know how it goes."
"Thanks."
One thing was for sure—I wasn't the only one making this personal. We'd helped countless people out, medically and otherwise. It wasn't often that Panaceia formed such an obvious empathetic connection with our "clients."
I cleared my thoughts as best I could as I walked down the hall. Now was the time to concentrate on the task at hand…