"Wait, wait, wait," Logan said as he pushed aside the plate he just polished off, and reached for his wine glass, "Let me get this straight. When you were young you showed an affinity for biology. You got a Ph.D. in genetics when everyone else was worrying about what prom dress to by. Even though you never applied, the government chose you for a prestigious position, where they would fully fund your research and supply you with an endless supply of test subjects. You finished your research a couple years ago, and now you are bringing it into the market."
"Well when you summarize it like that, it sounds a lot more interesting than it really is. Besides, I would say you have the better life, living as though the pulse never happened. Now that is impressive." Dr. Marion too had finished her meal and was pushing the plate to the side.
Logan waved away the comment, "Why didn't you stay with the government if they were willing to pay for everything?"
"I don't know, I guess it got to the point where I didn't want to be spoon fed all my life. I kinda wanted to see the world, instead of holed up at some base, with day after day of research." There was something in her voice that Logan couldn't figure out. It was like she was only telling a partial truth and that the real reason ran much deeper than that.
"So, they just let you go?"
"I requested it about six years ago, but they insisted I fully complete my research as stated in the contract. They pretty much just took what they needed from me. Besides, they brought in younger geniuses who could continue my work. So I left and now, here I am, helping those who need it."
"Thank God." They both smiled.
*****
It was a comfortable room they had placed him in. Surprisingly, considering the fight he put up. Though he was still wary of the X-6 who came in and gave him food, they acted in stark contrast from that first day a week ago. One of the girls came more frequently than the others, her name was Eden, and though he was still young Cole knew a beautiful face when he saw one. Though she bore fragile features with pale skin and dark hair, he knew she was strong, as she was one of the first to attack when he resisted their attempts to grab him. Despite that he still had this insane urge to protect her. At the appropriate times everyday she would come in to bring him his meals with a smile on her face and a polite inquiry as to how he was doing. She confided in him that they didn't mean to hurt him, but that they were told he would kill them and such forceful tactics were necessary. It seemed all the X-6 wanted to do was be his friend.
And he wasn't cold to the thought. In his short life he had no time to develop anything to a semblance of a friend. Not being allowed out of this room for the first few days, he found Eden's visits highly enjoyable. She would always come in and talk with him, acting like what he imagined a caring sister or a good friend would act. Eden had been there when, on the fourth day, he attended some of the morning classes. And though he was the youngest there and most obviously the new guy they welcomed him. He remembered many of the faces, and though he had tried to kill some of them, they greeted him with no hard feelings. Even Ty, whom he had only a week earlier, severely scratched across the face (though Cole noted there was no mark left on his cheek) welcomed him with a smile. It was like he had come to a home where he would always be welcome.
However, it was awkward when a minute before the class started everyone went to their seats and sat down, hands on their desks, backs straight, staring ahead. Looking from the rear it was like a class full of mannequins, not a noise could be heard. Even Eden left him to sit at an assigned spot. Not wanting to stick out even more he chose an empty desk and mimicked their poses. A scant minute later a man came in wearing army fatigues and he would talk about military maneuvers.
Cole couldn't explain why but he clearly understood everything that was being said, and when the class ended his mind was hungry for more not even realizing it had already absorbed four hours worth of information. Eden had taken him back to his room, saying if he had more class time, he might one day be able to join them for the afternoon activities. And so his field trip apparently ended for the day, much to his disappointment. So it had gone for the last five days and though he missed his mother, he had spent more time with the X-6, as they collectively called themselves, and he found himself craving their company more and more each day.
He stood up to stretch, walking over to the window that looked out over the forest that surrounded the compound. Among the dense forest, on the first day they placed him in this room, he saw a bunch of children running around in camouflage, they seemed to be hiding from a group of larger men who were sweeping through the area. He asked Eden about it, when she brought him lunch, and she told him it was a game they played, here at Manticore, called escape and evade.
As he took that first step to the window, he grabbed at his hip. An intense pain flared up from the joint. So much so he had to stop, fearful that any movement would set off the pain again. He may not have known it but his body was protesting to his rapid growth. He had shot up another foot in the past week taking him to a full height of three feet, nine inches. A couple more weeks and we would be the height of an average man and he wasn't even one yet. And his mind was developing even faster than his body.
Daring another step, he proved his fear right, and the same hip sent out another jolt of pain. Focusing his energies in making the pain go away, he didn't even notice someone enter the room.
"Are you okay?" It was Eden carrying a tray of food.
"My hip," he grimaced in pain, "it just went out on me."
"Growing pains most likely," she soothed his worries with her reassuring voice, "We all had them." Each day always presented another way in which he was similar to the X-6 and in all honesty he didn't mind the consoling feeling of belonging. The only difference, besides his height, was his tiger striped hair, which he now ran his fingers through. He even got confident enough to take another step, and he grimaced through the pain forcing his way to the window. Maybe he could catch another glimpse of the games that they played without him in the evening. Soon, he promised himself, he would learn the rules better then the rest of them and join their afternoon and late evening games.
"I…" she hesitated, "I have some information about your mother."
The words turned his head sharply. He realized with a sickened heart that he almost forgot about his mother amongst the novelty of his new friends. To top that off, the tone in Eden's voice was soft and mournful.
"What happened?" His voice didn't convey as much concern as he would have expected.
"Kat escaped. She left us this morning."
Cole could find no words to say as the feeling of being abandoned nibbled at the edges of his mind. Why would his mother leave this place? Why would she leave him behind for a second time? It may have been hazy, as all early life memories were, but he could recall the day when she had left him at the apartment, while she followed some strange men. She had stashed him in a laundry basket in the closet, only to be picked up and taken away by another strange man who claimed to be his father.
One would have expected him to be broken hearted, but Manticore had changed him in its own subtle way. Instead, the sadness he felt and disappointment in his supposedly loving mother stoked flames of hatred in his heart. If she didn't want him, he didn't want her either. He didn't even need her. Wasn't it he that saved her and Max and Zack from the X-6 above the pizza parlor? Cole could handle his own and when he couldn't he had his new family to go to for help. He turned around again to face the window watching his new family, as they wielded their guns and ran through the forest, silently signaling to each other. That would become his new language.
"Cole? Are you alright?"
"Don't call me that. That isn't my name anymore." Cole didn't see it but Eden smiled at the conviction in his voice as he had just forsaken the last thing that linked him to his former freedom. She smiled because she knew after this he would dedicate himself to her and her fellow X-6, instead of his pitiful mother, who was currently locked up tight in the lowest levels of the compound.
"Then what are we to call you?" she dropped her smile so he wouldn't hear it in her voice.
"I want you to choose my name." He turned around to face Eden once more and in his eyes she could see how, with those words, Cole had given himself to Manticore.
*****
The past week had crawled along for Zack, Raven and Max. They each procured jobs under aliases, to collect enough cash for fuel and food. Zack worked at a warehouse twenty minutes away, while Raven and Max got a job at a bakery right across the street.
"Woah, don't work too fast, or we won't have anything to do in the afternoon," Ethan said as he watched Raven sweep the floor in the back. Raven looked away from her coworker slightly embarrassed at her predicament. She was a trained soldier and if she wanted to she could snap this cocky sixteen year old's neck, but instead she swept the floors as she was told. At his jibe, she slowed her pace. Truthfully she had only ever watched the caretakers at Manticore do this sort of menial work.
When she looked up again, he stood there leaning on his broom, smiling at her. "What?" she asked, accusingly as she knelt down to collect the pile of flour and other various baking goods, into a dustpan.
He shrugged his shoulders. "It just amazes me that you have already been working for a week and you're still eager to do all the work like your gonna finish it or something."
"Isn't that the purpose to work? To complete something?" Raven bit back.
"Hey, simmer down. I mean the work will never be done. Once you finish that, the big boss man will find us something to do." He ran a hand through is red hair then turned his attentions back to sweeping at his normal leisured pace.
An incessant need to prove him wrong itched in her hands, so she ducked behind a shelf and began to organize the baking goods. Now it was her turn to watch him. She marveled at the procrastinating powers of this boy. Everything he had said or done this past week was in a laid back manner. It was a wonder he still had his job, though Raven had her suspicions that the baker was his uncle.
"So what? Does my working amuse you now?" he smiled, without looking at her nor pausing from his sweeping. Her muscles involuntarily tensed. She had not expecting that Ethan would have been aware of her scrutinizing. Flustered, she turned her full attentions to her work, trying to ignore his smug smile, and the strange warmth that rose in her cheeks.
*****
Zack paused to take a breath. Not because he was tired or his muscles were sore from unloading the trucks, but because the rest of the guys were tired. Truthfully he could work at this pace for days at a time, and only feel a slight ache in his shoulder after a week. But there was no reason the guys he worked with needed to know that and there was no reason to draw any unnecessary attention.
Before long another truck came along and they all put down their drinks and, with heavy feet, headed toward it. Much to the dismay of the rest of the guys, it was another unsorted load. However, Zack found the monotonous drone like mentality of his new found job to be oddly comforting. It was something to do, that didn't involve to much thought. No planning, no effort, just pick up the box and put it on the right palette.
"Hey, kid!" Zack hated the nickname he had been tagged with when he got the job, but he was, by far, the youngest guy to be working at such a grunt job. "You like overtime, you wanna pick up an extra five hours?"
"When?"
"Tonight, right after your shift. Murray can't make it in for his shift."
Not that Zack would know who this Murray guy was. "Yeah, sure." He did it for the cash flow that would come in. Passing up an opportunity for an easy hundred was ludicrous in his mind. But he also did it to stay away from the loft. For the past week the mood at the loft has been miserable. Though Max tried to hide it, it was obvious that the hurt still lingered in everything she did. Every once in a while, Zack would even catch her gazing off to the south with a look of longing in her eyes. Not even a long night ride on her precious ninja could change her mood.
What bugged him more was that Max had never taken him up on his offer since that time on the roof top when the grounds for friendship were first laid out. Maybe it was for the best that she didn't go to him. What comfort could a stone wall give? Deep down inside he knew, that he picked up the extra hours to stay away from Max. He knew that long after the sun had set, Max would either be sleeping or out for a ride. Either way he wouldn't have to face her. Was that the cowards way out? Yeah, sure, but everyone has their moments of weakness.
*****
"Permission to speak freely, sir."
"Permission granted."
"I don't like the idea, sir."
"I know you've been working hard on her, but this course of action could be best. It will help your efforts and Eden will benefit as well with Project Nemesis. There will be no risks."
"Of course there will be risks."
"No, there will not. She will be returned to you as she was taken."
"Slightly damaged I am sure. If what you are saying is true, and we still need to secure the loyalty of Project Nemesis, then this course of action could be risking that. What if he sees his mother and regresses? He will know Eden has lied, and we risk him turning against us. The only reasons I am having difficulties with the mother is that she clings to the thought of her son. Meaning the encounter will be detrimental to my efforts this past week as well. I see no need to risk all this."
"Noted, soldier. But the Triumvirate cannot be swayed in the matter. They see it as the fastest way to secure Project Nemesis, so we can put him to work. They are eager for the money to fully move Manticore into phase three."
"I still see no need for phase three. The experiments downstairs are highly unstable. What can they benefit from that?"
"You may think highly of yourself soldier, but in many ways you are still weak."
"Sir I-"
"Move her to another room, I will contact you further when it is deemed appropriate to execute Operation Lock Down."
"I-"
"Dismissed."
"Well when you summarize it like that, it sounds a lot more interesting than it really is. Besides, I would say you have the better life, living as though the pulse never happened. Now that is impressive." Dr. Marion too had finished her meal and was pushing the plate to the side.
Logan waved away the comment, "Why didn't you stay with the government if they were willing to pay for everything?"
"I don't know, I guess it got to the point where I didn't want to be spoon fed all my life. I kinda wanted to see the world, instead of holed up at some base, with day after day of research." There was something in her voice that Logan couldn't figure out. It was like she was only telling a partial truth and that the real reason ran much deeper than that.
"So, they just let you go?"
"I requested it about six years ago, but they insisted I fully complete my research as stated in the contract. They pretty much just took what they needed from me. Besides, they brought in younger geniuses who could continue my work. So I left and now, here I am, helping those who need it."
"Thank God." They both smiled.
*****
It was a comfortable room they had placed him in. Surprisingly, considering the fight he put up. Though he was still wary of the X-6 who came in and gave him food, they acted in stark contrast from that first day a week ago. One of the girls came more frequently than the others, her name was Eden, and though he was still young Cole knew a beautiful face when he saw one. Though she bore fragile features with pale skin and dark hair, he knew she was strong, as she was one of the first to attack when he resisted their attempts to grab him. Despite that he still had this insane urge to protect her. At the appropriate times everyday she would come in to bring him his meals with a smile on her face and a polite inquiry as to how he was doing. She confided in him that they didn't mean to hurt him, but that they were told he would kill them and such forceful tactics were necessary. It seemed all the X-6 wanted to do was be his friend.
And he wasn't cold to the thought. In his short life he had no time to develop anything to a semblance of a friend. Not being allowed out of this room for the first few days, he found Eden's visits highly enjoyable. She would always come in and talk with him, acting like what he imagined a caring sister or a good friend would act. Eden had been there when, on the fourth day, he attended some of the morning classes. And though he was the youngest there and most obviously the new guy they welcomed him. He remembered many of the faces, and though he had tried to kill some of them, they greeted him with no hard feelings. Even Ty, whom he had only a week earlier, severely scratched across the face (though Cole noted there was no mark left on his cheek) welcomed him with a smile. It was like he had come to a home where he would always be welcome.
However, it was awkward when a minute before the class started everyone went to their seats and sat down, hands on their desks, backs straight, staring ahead. Looking from the rear it was like a class full of mannequins, not a noise could be heard. Even Eden left him to sit at an assigned spot. Not wanting to stick out even more he chose an empty desk and mimicked their poses. A scant minute later a man came in wearing army fatigues and he would talk about military maneuvers.
Cole couldn't explain why but he clearly understood everything that was being said, and when the class ended his mind was hungry for more not even realizing it had already absorbed four hours worth of information. Eden had taken him back to his room, saying if he had more class time, he might one day be able to join them for the afternoon activities. And so his field trip apparently ended for the day, much to his disappointment. So it had gone for the last five days and though he missed his mother, he had spent more time with the X-6, as they collectively called themselves, and he found himself craving their company more and more each day.
He stood up to stretch, walking over to the window that looked out over the forest that surrounded the compound. Among the dense forest, on the first day they placed him in this room, he saw a bunch of children running around in camouflage, they seemed to be hiding from a group of larger men who were sweeping through the area. He asked Eden about it, when she brought him lunch, and she told him it was a game they played, here at Manticore, called escape and evade.
As he took that first step to the window, he grabbed at his hip. An intense pain flared up from the joint. So much so he had to stop, fearful that any movement would set off the pain again. He may not have known it but his body was protesting to his rapid growth. He had shot up another foot in the past week taking him to a full height of three feet, nine inches. A couple more weeks and we would be the height of an average man and he wasn't even one yet. And his mind was developing even faster than his body.
Daring another step, he proved his fear right, and the same hip sent out another jolt of pain. Focusing his energies in making the pain go away, he didn't even notice someone enter the room.
"Are you okay?" It was Eden carrying a tray of food.
"My hip," he grimaced in pain, "it just went out on me."
"Growing pains most likely," she soothed his worries with her reassuring voice, "We all had them." Each day always presented another way in which he was similar to the X-6 and in all honesty he didn't mind the consoling feeling of belonging. The only difference, besides his height, was his tiger striped hair, which he now ran his fingers through. He even got confident enough to take another step, and he grimaced through the pain forcing his way to the window. Maybe he could catch another glimpse of the games that they played without him in the evening. Soon, he promised himself, he would learn the rules better then the rest of them and join their afternoon and late evening games.
"I…" she hesitated, "I have some information about your mother."
The words turned his head sharply. He realized with a sickened heart that he almost forgot about his mother amongst the novelty of his new friends. To top that off, the tone in Eden's voice was soft and mournful.
"What happened?" His voice didn't convey as much concern as he would have expected.
"Kat escaped. She left us this morning."
Cole could find no words to say as the feeling of being abandoned nibbled at the edges of his mind. Why would his mother leave this place? Why would she leave him behind for a second time? It may have been hazy, as all early life memories were, but he could recall the day when she had left him at the apartment, while she followed some strange men. She had stashed him in a laundry basket in the closet, only to be picked up and taken away by another strange man who claimed to be his father.
One would have expected him to be broken hearted, but Manticore had changed him in its own subtle way. Instead, the sadness he felt and disappointment in his supposedly loving mother stoked flames of hatred in his heart. If she didn't want him, he didn't want her either. He didn't even need her. Wasn't it he that saved her and Max and Zack from the X-6 above the pizza parlor? Cole could handle his own and when he couldn't he had his new family to go to for help. He turned around again to face the window watching his new family, as they wielded their guns and ran through the forest, silently signaling to each other. That would become his new language.
"Cole? Are you alright?"
"Don't call me that. That isn't my name anymore." Cole didn't see it but Eden smiled at the conviction in his voice as he had just forsaken the last thing that linked him to his former freedom. She smiled because she knew after this he would dedicate himself to her and her fellow X-6, instead of his pitiful mother, who was currently locked up tight in the lowest levels of the compound.
"Then what are we to call you?" she dropped her smile so he wouldn't hear it in her voice.
"I want you to choose my name." He turned around to face Eden once more and in his eyes she could see how, with those words, Cole had given himself to Manticore.
*****
The past week had crawled along for Zack, Raven and Max. They each procured jobs under aliases, to collect enough cash for fuel and food. Zack worked at a warehouse twenty minutes away, while Raven and Max got a job at a bakery right across the street.
"Woah, don't work too fast, or we won't have anything to do in the afternoon," Ethan said as he watched Raven sweep the floor in the back. Raven looked away from her coworker slightly embarrassed at her predicament. She was a trained soldier and if she wanted to she could snap this cocky sixteen year old's neck, but instead she swept the floors as she was told. At his jibe, she slowed her pace. Truthfully she had only ever watched the caretakers at Manticore do this sort of menial work.
When she looked up again, he stood there leaning on his broom, smiling at her. "What?" she asked, accusingly as she knelt down to collect the pile of flour and other various baking goods, into a dustpan.
He shrugged his shoulders. "It just amazes me that you have already been working for a week and you're still eager to do all the work like your gonna finish it or something."
"Isn't that the purpose to work? To complete something?" Raven bit back.
"Hey, simmer down. I mean the work will never be done. Once you finish that, the big boss man will find us something to do." He ran a hand through is red hair then turned his attentions back to sweeping at his normal leisured pace.
An incessant need to prove him wrong itched in her hands, so she ducked behind a shelf and began to organize the baking goods. Now it was her turn to watch him. She marveled at the procrastinating powers of this boy. Everything he had said or done this past week was in a laid back manner. It was a wonder he still had his job, though Raven had her suspicions that the baker was his uncle.
"So what? Does my working amuse you now?" he smiled, without looking at her nor pausing from his sweeping. Her muscles involuntarily tensed. She had not expecting that Ethan would have been aware of her scrutinizing. Flustered, she turned her full attentions to her work, trying to ignore his smug smile, and the strange warmth that rose in her cheeks.
*****
Zack paused to take a breath. Not because he was tired or his muscles were sore from unloading the trucks, but because the rest of the guys were tired. Truthfully he could work at this pace for days at a time, and only feel a slight ache in his shoulder after a week. But there was no reason the guys he worked with needed to know that and there was no reason to draw any unnecessary attention.
Before long another truck came along and they all put down their drinks and, with heavy feet, headed toward it. Much to the dismay of the rest of the guys, it was another unsorted load. However, Zack found the monotonous drone like mentality of his new found job to be oddly comforting. It was something to do, that didn't involve to much thought. No planning, no effort, just pick up the box and put it on the right palette.
"Hey, kid!" Zack hated the nickname he had been tagged with when he got the job, but he was, by far, the youngest guy to be working at such a grunt job. "You like overtime, you wanna pick up an extra five hours?"
"When?"
"Tonight, right after your shift. Murray can't make it in for his shift."
Not that Zack would know who this Murray guy was. "Yeah, sure." He did it for the cash flow that would come in. Passing up an opportunity for an easy hundred was ludicrous in his mind. But he also did it to stay away from the loft. For the past week the mood at the loft has been miserable. Though Max tried to hide it, it was obvious that the hurt still lingered in everything she did. Every once in a while, Zack would even catch her gazing off to the south with a look of longing in her eyes. Not even a long night ride on her precious ninja could change her mood.
What bugged him more was that Max had never taken him up on his offer since that time on the roof top when the grounds for friendship were first laid out. Maybe it was for the best that she didn't go to him. What comfort could a stone wall give? Deep down inside he knew, that he picked up the extra hours to stay away from Max. He knew that long after the sun had set, Max would either be sleeping or out for a ride. Either way he wouldn't have to face her. Was that the cowards way out? Yeah, sure, but everyone has their moments of weakness.
*****
"Permission to speak freely, sir."
"Permission granted."
"I don't like the idea, sir."
"I know you've been working hard on her, but this course of action could be best. It will help your efforts and Eden will benefit as well with Project Nemesis. There will be no risks."
"Of course there will be risks."
"No, there will not. She will be returned to you as she was taken."
"Slightly damaged I am sure. If what you are saying is true, and we still need to secure the loyalty of Project Nemesis, then this course of action could be risking that. What if he sees his mother and regresses? He will know Eden has lied, and we risk him turning against us. The only reasons I am having difficulties with the mother is that she clings to the thought of her son. Meaning the encounter will be detrimental to my efforts this past week as well. I see no need to risk all this."
"Noted, soldier. But the Triumvirate cannot be swayed in the matter. They see it as the fastest way to secure Project Nemesis, so we can put him to work. They are eager for the money to fully move Manticore into phase three."
"I still see no need for phase three. The experiments downstairs are highly unstable. What can they benefit from that?"
"You may think highly of yourself soldier, but in many ways you are still weak."
"Sir I-"
"Move her to another room, I will contact you further when it is deemed appropriate to execute Operation Lock Down."
"I-"
"Dismissed."