- Chimera of Life -

Story Five: Righteous Mirage

Chapter Two

By Heartfire

~*~

She watched him.

Every Thursday, a new set of troops were sent out to training grounds set with all possible dangers… not only was Blake creating mindless soldiers, he was also making the perfect ones…  Brainless with instincts… Unafraid of death because they have no personal opinions, no feelings, and no future to look forward to… And every Thursday, Matthew would run into the Emergency room and help those in need until near to faint- which had never happened, but…  it seemed near to happening every time.

She watched him now, in that small room above head… According to one of the orderlies, he'd been in there for nearly eight hours straight… And just a few minutes ago, it was over… His latest patient died…

Bloody hands raked through his dark, thick mop of hair before he looked up and glared at the camera… at the camera just beside her… then it hit her…

'That look couldn't have come from a weakling that he tries to exude…'

She walked down the stairs and rounded the corner where he exited.

'That look couldn't have come from someone he was portraying…'

He was sitting against the wall, with his knees near his chest and his face in his hands when she reached him… The epitome of a miserable man…

And now, she knew why he had piqued her curiosity from the very start… It was because… he was a fake. "Who are you?"

Jessie slowly looked up from his hands to her indifferent face, hard and lifeless… He's tired… he doesn't have the strength to fight her right now. "I'm tired, Ms. Catalonia… I'm dirty… I don't think you'd want any blood stains on your beautiful clothing…"

His high-pitched voice raked through her. "So… Even when you're tired, Mr. Matthew, you still intend to play your game…?"

Jessie dropped his head down on his knees once again. He's not in the mood… not right now. He can't battle with her. "What game?"

Dorothy's cold eyes narrowed. "You are trying to make us think that you're someone you're not… even now… But I'm onto you, Matthew…"

"I'm tired, Ms. Catalonia."

"I'm onto you… I'm not about to let anyone blotch this project… And when I find out who you really are… You'd be out of this project in a nanosecond."

The clicking of her heels echoed through the deserted hallway. How he wasn't able to hear that noise before she reached him, he could only blame on himself… He was too preoccupied with Wells' death… But if her threat was true…

"Not if I could help it, Ms. Catalonia… Not if I could help it…" He dawdled in this place far too long…

…

Dorothy's lips disappeared to a thin, white line as she stared at the results from the computer. She had just hacked into the main data systems, into Blake's personal records… but she could only garner the surface of this whole operation.

"So you were sent here by Morley…" She leaned against the backrest of her chair. "That was very intelligent of him… Knowing that Blake wouldn't be able to turn down anything from his highest benefactor and that Blake wouldn't meddle with his brain because he's a doctor… well… I give you my hats off, Morley…"

Dorothy stood up from her chair, her perfect nails trailing the edge of her desk as she thought of what she must do.

"We have a spy…"

She looked outside her windows and remembered that day she arrived. How she had stared at this land of nothing, surrounded by a clutter of trees… She saw nothing and thought she was being played with. Then… Mr. Blake drew out a card, pressed something against one of the well-made trees that opened into a panel, pushed the card inside the slot and viola! Right before her very eyes, a greenish glow emulated around the open space and slowly… An outline of a building showed, and then the very thing…  The whole base was invisible!

With one last look at Matthew's records, she shook her head. "Nothing personal, Matthew, but… I can't let you blotch up my plans…"

She faced the compact closet and slowly stripped off her clothing then she grabbed a black one-piece suit and donned it. "Time to go to work…"

Dorothy propped her door open and checked the camera… waited until it was facing away from her door then quickly walked to the camera, reached up, and did her job. The small red light behind the camera disappeared and Dorothy's right lip tilted up. 'One down, four to go…'

She had timed each numbered camera to the minuscule detail, observed, pulled in the information, and studied how to… misuse it.  By the time she arrived at the third camera and reached up, she frowned.

She tried once again to make sure that her sense of touch wasn't giving her illusions, and sure enough… someone had already tampered with it…

Her frown intensified after she checked the last two cameras and found both in the same condition… Her hand gripped her gun by the time she reached the main control system at the end of the path… had it out by the time she pressed the code for the door, and had it ready to fire by the time the door opened.

The sight that greeted her was a person in black, half the body inside one of the control units while the bottom half was protruding… the firm butt was an easy mark for her if she dared use it as a target practice…

"As children would say when they play hide and seek… Come out, come out where ever you are…" Her sarcastic, commanding voice did not belie the threat and the owner of the butt, in hugging suit, just as jet black as hers, slowly came out from inside the panel's controls.

"Keep your hands where I can see them… Slowly…" She made sure that he- obviously a he- had his hands out- very far away from his body. "Good… I'm glad to see that you have reason enough in that brain of yours to follow my orders… even if you exude no reason by trying to sabotage this project."

"I was not trying to sabotage this project… Miss Catalonia…"

Dorothy frowned at the all male voice. She'd never heard him before… how come he knew her…? Her eyes widened as she stared into a familiar back… A back she had observed for the past three Thursdays.

Jessie…!

There was only one more thing that was screaming to come out of her mouth… a question that she couldn't stop from asking-

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"