[Parasite Eve: Redux]
Chapter II: E. Pluribus Unum
"Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations,—entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigour, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad;…freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected,—these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation."
-Thomas Jefferson
*****
…On the road to L.A…
"Damn!" Jake muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "What the hell did that GOLEM hit me with?"
"A fast-acting neurotoxin - an analog of Botulism." Said Aya, driving for Jake. "It's pretty nasty stuff, but it's also easily cured. I would have purified your system myself, but I guess I was just tired…"
Jake looked alarmed for a second, then understanding set over his face. "Oh, that's right. You got those Neo-Mitochondria also, huh?"
Aya nodded yes.
"Fun stuff." Jake twisted around in his seat and looked at Eve. The little girl had been relatively catatonic since the run with the ANMC and the GOLEM. Jake returned to his previous position. "What's up with your little sis?"
Aya shrugged, then said worriedly, "I don't know. Her mind is… closed. It's like she's not even there anymore."
"Wonderful." Jake twisted his head around to look at the large figure crammed into the back seat of his car. "Anyway, we better get to MIST fast. I don't think that GOLEM's gonna be out for long."
*****
...MIST Headquarters...
Aya walked down the hallway at MIST, greatfull to be out of the car with Jake. Her happiness was dashed, however, when she heard an all-to familiar voice float down the corridor behind her.
"Yo! Agent Brea!" Jake ran up behind Aya, then slowed to match her pace. "That GOLEM we picked up when we went after Eve is all cleaned up and ready for interrogation."
"Debriefing, Jake. Debriefing." Aya said, turning to face the other Hunter. "Besides which, didn't Rupert give you all that paperwork?"
Jake shrugged. "Eh. I can do that later."
"Right. Just make sure you don't get to far behind."
"Don't worry. I'm to smart for that."
"Could've fooled me." Aya said under her breath. She stopped as they neared the debriefing room, "Looks like we're here." Aya paused, "Well?"
"What?"
"Aren't you going to go in the other room to monitor me?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because it's protocol!" Aya barely resisted the urge to light Jake on fire.
Jake rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll observe. But you're gonna let me in eventually, right?"
Aya threw up her hands, "Yes! Just get into the damn monitoring room!"
Jake walked into the darkened room, and sat down at the one-way mirror. Aya then entered the room with the GOLEM.
GOLEMs, in general, look and act largely the same. Same armor, same posture, same behavior. This GOLEM, however, was quite different. As it sat, Aya noticed it tapping it's foot and looking around. It looked... bored.
Aya sat down across the table from it. "Hello" she said, setting her notepad down in front of her, "My name is-"
"Name: Aya Brea. Age: 30. Hair: blond. Eyes: blue." The GOLEM looked at her for a moment, "I've had your profile uploaded into my database. I know your name."
"Well, um, that puts me at a disadvantage."
"I would think so."
"Might I ask what your name is?"
"My designation is Knight GOLEM No. 12." It looked at the mirror. "Why is the other officer coming in here?"
Oh, dear God, no... Aya looked up at the door just as Jake walked in, holding a very large gun. "Jake, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Helping." Jake pointed the firearm at No. 12. "Alright, Terminator wannabe, answer my questions and I might not blow your brains out. First, what the hell did you do to Eve? Second, where in the hell were you gonna take her? And third, what the hell were you gonna do with her when you got there?"
"Jake, please..." Aya said, but neither Jake, nor the GOLEM were listening to her.
"And just why should I tell you?" The GOLEM leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. "I don't have to answer anything."
"Well." Jake said, sitting down on the corner of the table, "If you didn't answer, then we'd have to start sawing your arms off, and that would just be a huge mess... and I really wouldn't want to have to deal with all the paper work."
"Jake!" Aya stood up, barely restraining herself from punching the other Hunter in the face. "Let me deal with this!"
"Fine. Have it your way." Jake pulled one of the chairs from the table and sat down against the wall. "I'll just watch."
"So childish..." Relieved, Aya returned her attention to the GOLEM, who had been watching the situation pan out with mounting interest. "Anyway, could you just answer the questions that my collogue so eloquently asked you?"
"You two don't really like each other, do you? Fascinating..."
Jake stood up pulling his gun out of it's holster. "That's it." He pointed the gun at No. 12's head. "This is pointless. I'm gonna shoot it now."
"W-wait a minute!" The GOLEM was definitely fearful. A first for Aya. "You can't kill me! I have information you need!"
Aya shrugged. "Now, you see, that sort of argument would work on a rational person." She looked at Jake. "Unfortunately, there lies the problem..."
Jake just grinned.
No. 12 looked back and forth between the two MIST Agents nervously. "All right. I'll tell you what you want to know..."
"Excellent." Aya looked over at her partner. "Jake, you can put the gun down now."
*****
…Three hours later, Rupert's office…
"This is all your fault!" Aya shouted at Jake.
"What?! How could this possibly be my fault?!"
"If you hadn't hit the GOLEM so damn hard-"
"So what, it's my fault the cyborg couldn't take a hit?"
"Agents!" Rupert slammed his fist on the table. "What the hell are you two talking about!?"
Aya was the first to recover. "Sir, during the debriefing of the suspect today," Aya glared at Jake. "Agent Brant Disobeyed direct orders, putting the suspect at great risk of physical injury!"
"How so?"
"After the GOLEM told us everything it knew, Jake was convinced it was holding out on us. So he hit the damn thing with a steel pipe! He knocked it unconscious!"
Jake scoffed. "Sure. Like you've never killed one of those things before."
"Not when they had vital information!"
Rupert hit his desk again. Aya was sure she saw cracks form. "Quiet!" Rupert recovered. "Now, Brant. Your turn."
"What's to explain? I used what methods I thought were necessary to extract the information we needed."
"And how, exactly, does hitting the informant with a steel pipe qualify?"
Jake shrugged.
Aya sighed.
Rupert looked annoyed. "So, what information did you manage to get out of the GOLEM before Agent Brant got… creative with the interrogation techniques?"
Jake spoke up before Aya could. "It told us that some super-human was getting cloned at the Shelter. It also said something about someone named Bowmen, or something…"
"Bowman. He was one of the researchers at the Shelter before the whole place went straight to the ninth circle of hell."
Rupert thought a moment. "Agent Brant, you may leave now."
"Wha-"
"Leave!"
Jake threw up his hands. "Fine!" he left the office.
Aya turned back to Agent Broderick. "Rupert, please. You have to reassign Brant. I can't do my job with him around."
Rupert sat down. "I… can't do that."
"Why not?"
Rupert took a deep breath. "I'm not authorized to tell you." He leaned in close. "There are forces at work here, Aya. Forces beyond you or me."
"What… what are you talking about?"
"I've already told you too much." Rupert leaned back again. "Although I can't say anymore, certain documents such as Brant's personnel file might be illuminating…"
Aya smiled. "Thank you." She left.
Rupert sucked on a cigar thoughtfully after she left. "Godspeed Aya, Godspeed."
*****
…Several hours later, filling room…
Aya had been looking through the personnel files for nearly three hours, and she was starting to get a bit tired. She had become firmly convinced that whoever created the FBI's filling system needs to be shot.
After going through the same set of files for the hundredth time, she finally found what she was looking for – a brown manilla folder that contained every bit of information about Special Agent Jakob Brant.
She started looking though it, and found what Rupert had undoubtibly intended her to read. It was a envelope labeled: "TOP SECRET - SECURITY LEVEL 3A AND ABOVE ONLY". Even stranger, however, was that said seal was broken, apparently by a knife of some kind.
Aya slowly opened the envelope, careful to not disturb the sticker any further, or contaminate it with fingerprints. She started to read the contents:
Army Ranger Unit 3 Personnel:
Carl Smith: Lieutenant
Sommers, Jonathan: Captain
Mathews, Brian
Masters, Leah
Brant, Jakob
White, Joseph
Hunter, Aaron
Will, Dereck
Vaughn, Steven
Durst, Martin
Locke, Andrew
15 May
15:30 (Local time) - Unit 3 is assigned to investigate fabricated reports of an Iraqi weapons dump. Before they drop, they are indoctrinated with the modified mitochondria we received from the Japanese.
17:00 - Unit 3 arrives at drop-zone, establishes base camp, and readies for over-land hike. They believe reports of heavy anti-aircraft weaponry around the weapons dump, fully ready to spend the next five days hiking through rough Iraqi terrain.
16 May
7:00 - Unit 3 sets out on path to the supposed weapons dump. Vaughn and Durst stay behind to monitor the comm equipment.
13:30 - Radio communications report a "strange wasting illness" taking it's toll on the Unit. Will, Mathews, and Hunter all apparently committed suicide (self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head) after ranting for several hours about "Her".
17:30 - Masters and Smith inexplicably die while attempting to return to the drop-zone. Reports indicate that they just "fell over and died".
18:15 - Unit 3 loses contact with base camp. Durst committed suicide, apparently through self-immolation. The rest of the camp, including Vaughn, is consumed in the fire.
20:00 - Unit 3 sets up camp. Moralle is dropping rapidly. The Neo-Mitochondria are showing signs of taking permenent hold in Sommers.
17 May
1:00 - Sommers completes the transformation. The Neo-Mitochondria have fused themselves to his cells, and have nearly completely taken over all cell function.
2:00 - Sommers attacks and kills Locke, and is only stopped when Brant, the only member of Unit 3 left unaffected by the Neo-Mitochondria, shoots and kills his superior officer.
19 May
16:00 - Brant is located in a burned-out bunker nearly three miles from Unit 3's last known coordinates.
"It took them two days to find me." Aya nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the voice speak behind her. She turned to find Jake leaning in the doorway. "When they did, the military tribunal attributed my testimony to the events to 'Post Traumatic Stress Disorder'. The only thing that kept me from going to the loonie bin was my psyc-test."
Aya stared at Jake for a minute. "You went through all that?"
Jake looked bitter for a moment. "That paper doesn't tell the half of it. Those five days were hell." He slid to the ground. "Seeing my fellow soldiers, my brothers, die in front of me… that's not something I'd wish on anybody."
"My god, I didn't know…"
Jake stood up. "No, it's okay." He walked to the desk where his file was splayed out. "This happened a long time ago." He picked up the military file. "That's why I joined up, you know? Why I joined MIST."
"What?"
Jake put the file down. "When I heard you guys fight those things… the sort of thing that Johnny turned into, I figured it would be my chance to get back at 'em. You know? Avenge everybody's deaths."
Aya walked up to Jake, and put her hand on his arm. "I know how you feel. After NYC…" She looked at the report. "Wait a minute… This report comes from the Gulf War."
"Yeah, that's when I served. Why?"
Aya looked at Jake. "The first NMCs didn't exist until 1997, when Melissa Pearce became Eve."
"You're serious."
"Yeah."
"Aww, crap. I think we're in deep shit now, Aya."
"What?"
"Think about it. If there were NMCs and experiments with Neo-mitochondria before Eve started wreaking havok, that means…"
"That means that there's some sort of conspiracy going on here."
"I know. Exiting, isn't it?"
"That's not the word I would use. Mind-numbingly scary is closer to what I was thinking."
"Same diff. So, where to now? I mean, were gonna follow this up, right?"
Aya smirked. "Of course. And I think I know just the man who can tell us more…"
*****