The Outside World 11:00 AM
When Frank had come down with a high fever a second time within 48 hours of the first one, he had been rushed to the emergency room and then after it mysteriously subsided, he was transported to a medical research center out in Ohio.
It was there that Frank had met his new doctor, Dr. Sanders. To Frank, Dr. Sanders had seemed like your normal run of the mill doctor that you might find in a regular hospital. He had asked Frank all of the usual questions, like: "When did the symptoms start?" and "How are you feeling?" Frank had answered all of the doctor's questions to the best of his abilities.
When Dr. Sanders said that the wanted to take a blood sample from him, Frank had readily agreed, until he found out where the good doctor had wanted to take the sample from, Frank's stomach area. Frank refused when the doctor asked him to lift the covers off his stomach so he could take the sample. After some persuasive words from the doctor, Frank had finally agreed. After Dr. Sanders had taken the sample, he left Frank's room with out a word.
At the moment, Sanders was aboard his private jet en route to California. Sanders grinned as he patted a container on his lap that held the needle. Dr. Sanders was not an average run of the mill hospital doctor. He was a highly respected, trusted, not to mention high paid, medical research scientist who worked secretly for the United States Government. Before the Treaty that banned the creation of biochemical weapons in countries like the U.S. and Russia, Sanders was on the research and development team for several of the U.S.'s bio experiments.
Now, Sanders was still working for the government but instead of creating diseases to kill people, he was developing cures to help people. His most famous (well among his government superiors) is a cure for cancer. This cure is still currently being tested and has not yet been released to the general public. His other projects involve a cure for AIDs, Ebola (all strains), a cure for the new strain of the Bubonic Plague and a project that has been christened Project Black.
It was because of Project Black that Sanders had to come out as far as Ohio, had to leave his lab back in California. Sanders smiled, as he knew that he had finally obtained what he was looking for all along. For years Sanders had been tracking down a new virus that killed solely by attacking the Hypothalamus gland and in doing so, causing a deadly fever. He had seen so many cases of it before and had even been lucky enough to witness the passing a several of the virus' victims. He had tracked down the virus to Maine, to a man named Frank Detorri who had mysteriously survived encounters with the new and deadly virus on two separate occasions.
Originally, his superiors had scoffed at the outrageous concept of Project Black. Dr. Sanders had anticipated their reactions since this new approach had never been tried before. Dr. Sanders believed the idea that fighting viruses at their own level, was becoming increasingly difficult and in this day and age, impractical. He instead supported the idea of fighting the enemy at our own level, by enlarging the viruses to our own size and then either killing them, or studying them further to develop a sure fire cure that would work on either of the two levels.
His superiors had originally laughed and rejected the idea; saying to Sanders that he was crazy and even if he was allowed to do it, de-atomization was still in the experimental stages so the probability that he would succeed was very low. After conference after endless conference, Sanders finally got permission to go ahead with Project Black on the basis of his past work and ongoing success rate.
Dr. Sanders had known how far the research on de-atomization had progressed. For the purposes of Project Black, it was more then enough. All he had to do was separate and then enlarge the atoms of a microscopic organism and after some study, destroy it. Dr. Sanders laughed in his seat as he poured himself a glass of wine and drank to his success. Sanders thought that microscopic organisms were mindless things that were put on this planet to either serve or in some cases, destroy a larger being. Unfortunately for him, Sanders would find out just how wrong his accusations were, soon enough.
Inside the Syringe, South End 11:30 AM
"RIP!!!! DRACO!!!!!" Thrax yelled through the silence as he pushed a large hunk of debris off him. "WHERE ARE YOU!?!"
Thrax heard coughing and then a reply, "Over here Thrax!"
Through the mist, Thrax could see the outline of a large figure standing and waving with one arm just a few micrometers away. Clearing away the debris and rubble in his path Thrax was able to make his way over to Rip. As he neared closer, he noticed the other seven members of Stryker Team Alpha emerging from underneath various piles of rubble and complaining about either their injuries, the condition of their equipment or the situation at hand.
"Rip!" Thrax yelled walking towards the large virus. "Is Draco okay?"
"She's fine. I shielded her body with mine so she sustained no further injuries. All she needs now is some rest and a little bit of time." Rip replied, holding Draco's sleeping body in his arms.
"Is everyone else okay!" Thrax yelled to the rest of the Strykers.
Thrax thought he heard everyone try to shout a reply.
"Are we missing anyone!"
There was pause and then a reply form Raven, "Yeah man, we're all here. We can see you and Rip over there and we're comin' over!"
It took a few moments for the members of Alpha to pick up themselves and their gear and actually find the strength to walk the small distance over to Thrax, Rip and Draco.
"Are we all alive?"
"Yeah, we're alive but not kickin' if that's what you mean man." Shade replied, sitting down on one the tires from the bus that Alpha used as cover during their fight.
"Xion, what's our status?" Thrax asked after Shade and the rest of the team sat down.
"My laptop's trashed but I backed up everything onto my spare laptop and on to VIN's server in a hidden folder that they don't know about. As for me, I'm pretty beat up and tired but other than that I'm okay."
"I didn't ask for your equipment status or your personal status Xion, I want to know where the hell we are." Thrax said, raising his voice.
"Already ahead of you Thrax." Xion replied, pulling out his handheld computer which had already been turned on. "According to the data I'm receiving, we're currently inside a syringe of a hypodermic needle."
"You kidding?" Thrax asked with some sarcasm.
"No, I'm not."
"Okay so where the hell is the needle?"
"Um, well according to the GPS, the needle and syringe are moving steadily west and our destination looks like California."
"Xion, baby, let me see if I got this straight." Thrax said rubbing his forehead with two of his fingers. "We've been sucked out of Frank through a hypodermic needle and are now traveling west, en route to California."
"That's correct Thrax."
Thrax growled.
"Can this get any worse?" Thrax asked, sitting down on an overturned barrel.
No one replied.
"Xion?" Diego asked.
"Yeah D?"
"Do we have any ideas where Beta landed?"
"Not a clue but I doubt their close."
"Jones." Thrax said coldly.
"What?" Diego asked.
"Jones. Osmosis Jones, that stupid pill partner of his and The Chief of the FPD also got sucked up into this syringe." Thrax said with a sinister grin, his deadly claw beginning to grow orange.
"You're not thinking of going after him are you?" Zen hissed from atop of an overturned car.
"Maybe." Thrax replied, his claw glowing brighter.
"I don't think so." Xion said, looking up from his handheld computer. "This place is way to big. You'll never find your way back, much less find Jones, especially with the infrared down. There's no way to pin point their location at the moment because I'm loosing my connection with the VIN satellite. Moreover, even if you did manage to find them, there would be no way for you to get back. Here's something to think about. What if were got ejected from this syringe and you weren't with us? Plus, there's Draco to think about."
At the mention of Draco, Thrax's claw retracted and turned back to normal.
"I hate to say it Xion but you're right. I'll have another chance at Jones seeing as we always seem to run into each other." Thrax snarled.
"So what do we do now?" Demo asked, sounding uncertain.
"We wait Demo, we sit here, rest and wait." Thrax replied.
Inside the Syringe, Mid-section 11:42 AM
"Drix! Chief! You guys there!" Osmosis called.
There was the sound of rubble being moved away and then there was a reply. "Yeah, we're both here Oz."
"You guys okay?" Osmosis said, spotting The Chief and Drix and walking over to them.
"Fine, Jones, just fine." The Chief replied, brushing some dust off his shirt.
"Where are we?" Drix asked, looking around.
"In the middle of freakin' nowhere." Osmosis replied, putting on his sunglasses and sitting down. "Chief, how come we didn't know that Frank was getting a blood test?"
The Chief gave Ozzie the "now isn't the answer obvious?" look and then replied, "We didn't know because there was no one in the brain to notify us. Frank doesn't have a Mayor anymore, remember?"
"Oh yeah." Osmosis said, scratching the back of his head. He had been so caught up in the situation with Thrax, Draco, Sirus and the other viruses, he had forgotten that Frank was with out a Mayor.
"So what do we do now?" Drix asked.
"We wait." The Chief replied.
"Wait? Wait! I can't wait!" Osmosis yelled, standing up. "We don't even know where we are and you just want to sit here and wait!"
"That's too bad Jones, I'm still your superior and I say that we wait."
"Why?"
"Think about it Oz. There are eighteen viruses out there. One group of nine is neutral towards us, for now and the other group of nine would delight in killing us. Three against nine, and especially eighteen viruses are not very good odds."
Osmosis grunted as he sat down Indian style and crossed his arms.
"Fine, we'll wait." Osmosis said sounding very irritated. "But you know that I hate waiting."
Inside the Syringe, North End, Near the Needle 11:53 AM
"DAMN IT!" Sirus yelled, throwing down his gun and empty magazine. "We were so close!"
Sirus was pacing back and forth in the middle of the circle that had been formed by Stryker Team Beta, who was sitting down and listening to Sirus intently. Sirus himself really should have been the one sitting. After taking an immense beating from Draco and Thrax, his body was sore all over and it hurt even more as he paced back and forth inside the circle. Dex and Rotor had already tended to his injuries prior to his little fit of rage.
"GOD DAMN IT!" He shouted, punching the roof of a car that had been turned vertically, it's back end up in the air. Sirus was now completely filled with rage and his rage consumed him, allowing him to ignore the pain that he was in. "We were so close! Draco was mine, her life was mine! Where did we mess up!"
There was silence from Beta.
"FUCK SHIT DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" he screamed, kicking the vertically flipped vehicle as hard as he could and causing it to fall onto it's roof.
"You should calm down sir." Filipe suggested from behind.
Sirus spun around, eyes locking on Filipe's.
"Calm down. Calm down! HOW THE HELL CAN I CALM DOWN WHEN WE HAD THEM AND WE ALLOWED THEM TO SLIP THROUGH OUR FINGERS!!!!!!" Sirus shouted, his face contorted in anger.
"I'm sorry sir but you should sit down and relax because you're only hurting your self." Filipe said calmly to the enraged Sirus.
Sirus just stood there, breathing hard.
"Please sir, come sit down. You, above all, need to rest." Filipe said calmly once again.
Sirus closed his eyes and took a few minutes for his breathing to return to normal.
"Perhaps your right Filipe." Sirus said with a sigh, sitting down on the ground. "Maybe I do need some rest."
Sirus lay down, put his hands behind his head, closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Outside Redding, California, Nuzzled in the Cascade Mountains 12:00 Noon
When Dr. Sanders' private jet touched down at an airstrip in the middle of the woods, he was greeted by a U.S. military hummer, engine already running. As he got off the plane, a young soldier ran up to him and gave him a salute.
"Dr. Sanders sir. I am Lieutenant Owens of the United States Military. I was sent here to provide escort for you to the Top Secret San Andreas Biological Weapons Research Facility." The soldier said, sticking out his hand.
Sanders took it and smiled.
"Follow me please sir."
Sanders followed the young Lieutenant to the idle hummer. Owens got into the drivers' side as Sanders put his suitcase on the floor of the vehicle and climbed into the passengers' side. Owens disengaged the parking brake, put the hummer into gear and drove out onto an old dirt road. The pair rode on in silence until they got to the entrance of the facility.
The San Andreas Biological Weapons Research Facility obviously no longer functions for its original purpose. Instead, it is used as a medical research facility headed by the world's top medical research scientists. At the top of that pyramid is Dr. Sanders.
Owens stopped the hummer when they reached the entrance, which was currently still closed. The entrance to the facility is a set of four-foot thick, reinforced titanium-diamond steel doors, disguised as part of the mountain. Owens spied the concealed security camera and waved at it. The operators of the door must have obviously recognized Owens because the enormous doors to the facility began to open. The doors opened just enough for the hummer to drive on through.
Once the hummer was inside the facility it was forced to stop at a second set of doors for a retina scan. A guard from the security station walked over to the driver's side of the hummer and held a device to Owen's eyes. It took seconds for Owen's name and information to appear on the screen of the scanner device. Then the guard walked over to the passengers' side and did the same thing to Sanders. Dr. Sanders' name and information also came up on the device's screen. The guard walked back over to the station, opened the doors and waved them on by.
The hummer drove through the opening and then Owens parked in his usual parking space, near the back of the underground lot. As Owens and Sanders exited the vehicle, a young private ran over to them.
"Dr. Sanders sir. General Weston and the others are waiting for you in conference room B."
"Thank you private." Sanders said, walking over to the elevator and pressing the button.
"Will you be needing anything sir?" Owens asked.
"No, that will be all Lieutenant."
"Yes sir." Owens said, giving the doctor a salute and walking away.
When the elevator arrived, Sanders got in and pressed the button labeled with an arrow pointing downward. The conference rooms were all downstairs. As the doors closed, a computerized voice asked Sanders what level he wished to go down to.
"Sub-level C please." Dr. Sanders said.
"Of course doctor." The voice replied.
Sanders waited a few moments for the elevator to reach its destination and for the doors to open. When they did, he got out and walked down the hallway to a room marked "Conference Room B". Sanders put his hand on the doorknob and turned it. He didn't bother knocking.
"Dr. Sanders." An aged black man with graying hair said, standing up.
"General Weston." Sanders replied with a smile.
General Weston began to walk over to Dr. Sanders and when they met, the two shook hands. General Adam T. Weston was an accomplished man in his early fifties who had done a great deal for his country. Weston was a man with an average weight, build and height. His blood pressure was a little high but that can be expected for a man of his age and profession.
"Did you get that sample you wanted?" The General asked, sitting back down.
"Yes, sir. I did." Dr. Sanders replied, setting his briefcase on the table.
"And is that alleged deadly virus contained within that sample?"
"I believe so."
"You believe so?" Weston asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. I do but we won't know for sure until I am able to enlarge whatever living organisms are in this sample." Sanders explained, removing the hypodermic needle from his briefcase and showing it to his superiors. Sanders' black bangs hung down in front of his eyes. He used his other hand to brush them to the side. "But I have reason to believe that my virus is in this syringe and I guarantee that Project Black will be a success."
"For your sake Sanders, it had better be."
"Oh trust me, it will be. It will be." Sanders repeated with a confident grin.
The Syringe, South End 12:32 PM
By this time, the majority of Stryker Team Alpha had fallen asleep. Only Thrax, Diego, Spike and Xion were still awake. Spike was sitting on top of the bus tire that Shade had sat on an hour before, reading a mystery novel. Xion was still staring at his handheld, cursing whenever he got a signal from a satellite but it was either in use or moved out of range to quickly for him to make use of. Diego had made a fire and was now making up some coffee in an old pot that he found amongst the debris. Thrax was also sitting in front of the fire, his elbows resting on his knees and his head resting on his hands. Thrax was not wearing his coat because he had given it up for Draco to use as a pillow while she slept peacefully on top of a mattress that he had found.
"Care for some coffee?" Diego asked, reaching for a cup.
"Sure." Thrax said flatly.
Diego poured Thrax the first cup out of the pot and handed it to him. Thrax took a sip.
"Any good?" Diego asked, pouring himself a cup as well.
"Yeah, it's fine Diego."
"Thrax. Look, I know you're worried about Draco."
"Damn right I am." Thrax replied, turning his head to look back at Draco. She was still sleeping.
"I know and it's normal to worried about the people you care about. If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one who's concerned about her. We all are."
"I figured that out." Thrax said, taking another sip of his coffee.
Suddenly the pair heard a noise that made them want to cover their ears.
"What they hell is that?" Thrax asked, cringing a bit. The noise sounded like a mix between a gym whistle and a bull horn and worst of all, there were two of them.
Diego laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"That noise is just Raven and Shade. They're snoring Thrax."
"Snoring? That does NOT sound like any snore I've ever heard. How do you put up with it?"
"Well normally I wear ear plugs but I don't have a set on me at the moment."
"Those two are loud enough to wake the dead, if they haven't already."
"I know but we've tried all kinds of surefire cures for their snoring problem but nothing seems to work."
"Did you ever try throwing a brick at them?" Thrax asked with a slight grin.
"Yep. We've also tried shoes, miscellaneous car parts, power tools, garbage, textbooks, roller skates and Demo's patented roast turkey."
"Roast turkey?"
"Yeah, roast turkey. Demo may be an expert at blowing shit up but he sure as hell can't cook. His roast turkey always turns out black and crispy and seems to belong in a nuclear waste treatment plate instead of on the dinner table." Diego said with a laugh.
"Well remind me never to ask Demo to make me dinner."
"Sure thing. So, do you think we're ever going to get out of here?"
"Eventually." Thrax replied finishing his coffee. "And if not, we'll make a way out baby."
"You got it. You want some more coffee?"
"No. I think I'm going to try and get some rest." Thrax said, standing up and walking over to the remnants of a couch. Thrax lay down on the couch, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. Hie dreams were filled with ideas of revenge. Revenge against Osmosis Jones and now revenge against his new mortal enemy, Sirus.
San Andreas Bio-Weapons Research Facility, Sub-Level F 12:49 PM
Sub-Level F was the lowest level of the San Andreas Biological Weapons Research Facility. It used to be where scientists would test out their newly developed weapons on live subjects, some human and some animal. As of now, Sub-Level F was now being used as the test facility for de-atomization technology.
Dr. Sanders, General Weston and Sanders' other superiors were sitting behind a 3-inch thick glass window looking inside a large white room. In the center of the white room were the de-atomizer and a set of robotic arms that hung down from the ceiling. There was also a shot glass placed only a few feet away from the de-atomizer. The robotic arms were over the shot glass. One was holding the hypodermic needle that Sanders had before. The other arm was in a position where it could press down on the plunger that would force the liquid out of the syringe and into the shot glass.
"Gentlemen." Sanders began. "We are ready to begin the next Phase of Project Black. When I press this button, the robotic arms will release the sample in the syringe into the shot glass. Once I have pulled back the arms, I will fire the de-atomization beam at the shot glass. The beam has been set to work on the blood inside the glass only, not the glass itself. The beam will separate all of the atoms of every living organism inside that sample, cause them to grow and then re-atomize them into a larger form of human size and proportions. From there, you will all see the fruits of my labor. Shall we begin?"
"Yes Dr. Sanders, go ahead." General Weston said, taking a sip of coffee from his mug. "Let's get this over with. I have a golf game with the Senator of California at 3:00 this afternoon."
"Very well General." Sanders said, pressing a button on a computer panel in front of him. The robotic arms came to life and began to eject the blood sample from the syringe into the shot glass.