A/N: re: 'Are there three of you..." - My psychiatrist says three is a conservative estimate... LOL
A/N2: Uh.. Just kidding. Really.
Search and Seizure - Chapter 7- infie
Recap: (Thursday)
Manatov gave an inarticulate noise and spun the dial in the other direction until it could go no further. "Right way now, asshole." he said in a low rage filled voice, and pressed the button.
494's world went away in a wash of white pain.
(Friday, 0915 hrs)
When 494 cracked open his eyes, he knew it was not going to be one of his better days. His left leg throbbed with malevolent anguish, and the rest of his body ached with a mind-clouding intensity he hadn't been subjected to since his last run through re-indoctrination. His gaze immediately met the criss-cross of the wire mesh ceiling delineating the realm of his control, and his mouth twisted with a bone-deep hostility. {Well, Costeel 494,} he thought darkly. {I've definitely graduated to an intense distaste for you.} He resisted the urge to snarl, and slowly and painfully rolled to his left side, curling slightly as his wounded leg made its displeasure acutely known. The skin on his back cracked and wept as the burn blisters broke, and 494 could feel the warm trickles of fluid trace their way down his side. {That's gonna hurt in the morning.} He rolled his stiff shoulders and bit back a groan. {Oh yeah. Its already morning.}
He looked down at the room. 529 was awake and staring up at him, face grave with concern. They had double chained him, weighed him down with so much iron he had to strain to clench his fists, and had gagged him with a leather strap. 494 nodded at him, and 529's face relaxed into what looked like a tentative smile, then smoothed into flat impassiveness as their current guard shifted in his seat. 494 let his head fall back against the cage, and closed his eyes.
He could feel the changes beginning in his body, and knew that they were being hastened by his weakened state. It wouldn't be long before the virus would have him in its teeth, and 494 knew, from previous experience, that those teeth were very, very sharp. {You know, this isn't very fair,} he thought idly. {There should be a rule that the bad guys can only subject you to one spirit-crushing flavour of torture at a time.}
"Saleh." his voice was faint, throat sore from producing the noises that had been wrenched from him. He licked his lips and tried again. "Saleh."
529 looked at him, blinked to show he had heard.
"Saleh, I'm going to be pretty out of it for a while."
529's eyes opened wide with denial.
"They've injected me with a virus. It's going to take effect." His stomach spasmed, and 494 caught his breath in a hiss. {Shit. This is coming on faster than I thought.} "Soon. Very soon. Don't interfere, Saleh."
529 growled, low in his throat, moving his head back and forth as much as he was able in refusal.
494 raised himself on one elbow and stabbed 529 with a flat glare. "I am giving you an order. Do not attempt to interfere." he whispered at the other man fiercely. "They need me alive, and they will make every effort to keep me that way." He pointedly did not mention any need for 529. "Do you understand?"
The corners of 529's dark eyes creased with displeasure, but he gave a single curt nod.
"Good." 494 rolled himself the rest of the way onto his stomach and pressed his forehead against the cool mesh of the floor. He was starting to heat up. His heartbeat was becoming more rapid. {Fuck.} He beat down the sneaking threads of fear that were trying to wind their way into his mind. {I don't want to go through this again.} His eyes stung, and he wrote it off as due to the sweat trickling down his cheeks. {Yeah, right.}
A moment later, his stomach cramped viciously, curling him into a ball. His wounded leg dragged along the cage and he barely felt it. The heat burst over him in a scalding wave, and he knew that it had begun. {Oh Christ.} he thought a split second before he convulsed. {I wish this was the first time. I wish I didn't know...} His head slammed into a corner post of the cage, and it was lights out again.
(Friday, 1300 hrs)
511 lay on his back, baking in the afternoon sun. He scratched his beard, rubbed his fingers over the bump of his transmitter, drummed his fingers. He listened intently to 494's slow, choked breathing. Every pause made his heart stop, and he would tense, willing 494's chest to move. Finally he couldn't stand it any longer. {Fuck. Even reporting in to that asshole is better than lying here doing nothing.} He clicked over to the sat.
"Hot Zone to base. Hot Zone to base."
[Go, Zone.]
"Six is showing symptoms." He reported flatly. {Symptoms. Jesus. What a mild word...} "Request permission to initiate retrieval."
[Status?]
"Bad, sir. Very, very bad." He tried to forget the sounds 494 had been making.
[And unit two? Will he interfere?]
"Six gave orders against intervention, sir."
[Good. Obey them.]
"Request permission to initiate retrieval." 511's voice was more insistent this time, and he threw his arm across his eyes, as if Lydecker could see the anguish he couldn't keep from his face.
[Negative. Right now, he's in the best hands he can be in.]
"Sir..." 511 heard his voice crack and took a deep breath. When he continued he sounded almost normal. "How long, Colonel?" {How long will I have to listen to this?}
[A couple of days.] Lydecker replied grimly. [Then another couple to synthesize the vaccine. You know the timeline already, Zone.]
"I know your timeline, sir." 511's curt tone made it clear he didn't share Lydecker's schedule.
Lydecker's amusement was so clear that 511 could practically see him grinning. [Base, out.]
(Friday, 2100 hrs)
529 had never felt so helpless. Not through all of the training at Manticore had they ever come up with a scenario like this. {So, what the hell do you do when you're wearing a couple hundred kilos of iron chains, and you're watching one of your brothers die in a cage from a designer virus in a compound in Uzbekistan?} he thought to himself with a black humour he hadn't known he possessed. {Not a fucking thing, that's what.} He tensed his muscles for the hundredth or so time, trying to find a weakness in the iron somewhere. Anywhere. Again he was denied.
The guard's commander, Andrei, entered the room, flanked by his usual phalanx of companions. His eyes skated across 529, dismissing him. {You wouldn't be so complacent if I wasn't wearing these chains, asshole.} 529 thought with a fine, heated rage. Andrei surveyed the rest of the room, then raised his eyes to the cage where 494 lay huddled in the corner. A closer look showed foam around his mouth where he had actually begun to froth.
"Shit!" Andrei raced to the intercom and pressed the button.
[Da.]
"Get down here. It's started."
[Are you sure? It is not a trick?]
Andrei looked at 494's limp body curled in the cage.
"This is no trick."
[I am on my way. Get him on the table.]
Andrei released the intercom and snapped his fingers at one of the guards. The guard just looked at him, eyes wide. "I'm not going anywhere near that." The guard gestured at 494's fever wracked body with one shaking hand. Andrei looked around at the others, and not a single one of them would meet his eyes.
529 made a sound, deep in his throat, and Andrei's dark gaze swung around to him. 529 blinked, trying to convey with his gaze his need to speak. Andrei hesitated, then shrugged and came over to 529's table. He loosened the gag and slipped it around 529's neck.
"Let me..." 529 stopped, swallowed to wet his throat. "Let me help. I'm not afraid." he spoke rapidly, desperately. "Please. I'll help. I won't interfere. I'm not afraid."
Andrei stared down at him impassively.
"Christ. You'll need help with him. Let. Me. Help."
Ashkovich's face appeared beside Andrei's. "X5-529." he said in his slow, accented voice. "You do realize that you are not immune."
529 nodded. "I know." His eyes burned with intensity. "You need help. I'm it."
Ashkovich tapped his lips with his finger. "If you try anything that goes against my wishes, I will have every bone in your body turned to dust, while you live and beg me to stop."
529 thrust away the desire to roll his eyes and sigh, concentrating instead on being earnest. "Let me go. He needs attention."
Ashkovich stepped back. Andrei looked away, at one of the guards, and nodded. Moments later, 529 was free. Instantly he headed for the cage. Andrei grabbed his arm to hold him back.
"One moment." 529 stopped. "We need to cleanse him first. None of us are interested in becoming ill. Georgi, please rinse him off."
An astringent-smelling solution began to rain down from a pipe above the cage, showering 494 and sloughing the grime and sweat off his naked body. He began to shiver, although the liquid was warm. After several minutes, Ashkovich gestured and the deluge ceased. Andrei readied the pole to release the lock, and nodded at 529, who promptly positioned himself under the cage. Andrei popped the lock, and 494 tumbled bonelessly into 529's waiting arms.
511 blinked sweat out of tired eyes and resisted the desire to do a happy dance. {Way to go, 529! Lucky bastard.} An available asset was going to be of invaluable assistance when the time came to break 494 out. {Fuck. I wish there was something that I could do other than sit here and cheer you two on.} He called in.
[Go, Zone]
"Unit two is loose, sir." He grinned fiercely.
[What?] Lydecker sounded shocked.
"Unit two is loose." he repeated, enjoying the Coloner's upset.
[What the hell is he doing?]
"He is assisting with six's care, sir. No one else would go near him." 511 was careful to keep the condemnation out of his tone, if not out of his mind.
[Oh. Okay. As long as he doesn't interfere.]
"Six ordered him not to, sir." 511 reminded carefully. "Two would never go against six's orders."
[Unlike mine, huh?] Lydecker's tone made it clear that he knew exactly what 511 was getting at. [Base, out.]