Back in the Fold
Gillette, Wyoming 2010
Today was different. Normally as soon as she woke up she was taken to the labs where they would poke and prod her some more, ask her what she thought she was doing and generally annoy her and then she would either be carted off to Psy- Ops to be reindoctrinated or taken to the training rooms where she would undergo intense training.
Today, instead of being dragged off to rigorous physical torture she was escorted to Lydecker's office.
Max stood to attention. Her eyes fixed on a point six inches above his head, her feet spaced 12 inches apart and her back ramrod straight.
"452 you have been in solitary confinement, reindoctrination and observation for the past twelve months. During this time you have had ample time to reflect on the choices that were made by your former C.O and consider the actions of your unit last February. What are your conclusions?"
"Our attempt was an act of desertion caused by weakness sir." She answered quickly.
"What are your fellow unit?"
"Deserters Sir." She would never call them traitors.
"Who are you?"
"X5-452 Sir!" Max, she thought rebelliously. Psy-ops may have given her a healthy fear of displeasing Manticore but it could never eradicate who she was, who her siblings had been. She was Max.
Lydecker nodded at her prompt replies. "Very well 452 you are cleared for return to the barracks. Your reindoctrination was a success and you are once again one of us."
Max stayed silent unsure what her response was supposed to be.
"You shall be assigned a new unit and will bunk with them." he turned to the guard by her side. "Escort 452 to block 6." She saluted and turned to go only to pause with his next words.
"Oh 452, we will be watching you."
The walk to her new dorm was long enough to give her time to think. So she was back in the fold. Once again to stay with a barrack-full of children who were being trained to be deadly killing machines. She just hoped that they were as nice as her previous unit, they could never take their place but maybe they would help her take this place in stride and make things more bearable. One thing that she was certain of was that she never wanted to go back to Psy-ops, the very name left shivers going down her spine.
She had not too fond memories of sensory deprivation and starvation, solitary confinement and psychological breakdown tactics, the endless barrage of questions and tests and punishments if her responses were too slow or not to standard, any hint of independent thought was frowned on and resulted in pain and she had to learn pretty quickly to mask what she was thinking so as not to merit more punishment.
Too soon the guard stopped in front of a large door emblazoned with a 6.
"Here." He said gruffly, slightly creeped out at the girl who never seemed to get rattled by anything. He had known that she was not normal whenever she came out of the torture chamber with a blank look on her face and in her eyes. Most who left looked haunted or broken but not her, it was almost like there was nothing there to be broken and it rattled more than one of the guards who gave her wide berth.
He pointed to the only spare bed in the pace and pushed the door closed behind him leaving her standing in the quiet room by herself. She guessed that her new unit was still at breakfast, something that she wasn't really bothered with this morning; the feeling of being free of Psy-Ops enough to take the edge off her hunger.
She sank down on the empty bed noticing that her clothes had arrived before she had and lay in neat piles on her bed, all regimented and perfectly the same. She fought the urge to mess them up and almost grinned at her new contrary behaviour. Zack would be so annoyed with the changes that a year had given her.
A year in solitary had been enough for her to determine who she was away from others and it was someone that she liked. She was no longer the baby that needed to be looked after and coddled by her unit. She was a soldier in her own right; she had made it through Psy-ops and had not compromised her siblings or broken down under persecution. She was strong.
The bang of a door alerted her to the fact that people were arriving and she shook herself out of her musings as her new "family" arrived.
They all stopped in the doorway staring at the new-comer.
"Who are you?" a tall dark haired boy with broad shoulders demanded.
Max didn't like his tone "Ma- X5-452." She caught herself on her name and corrected quickly "I have been assigned to your unit."
"452?" a small ginger haired girl glared at her "Didn't you try to run away last year?"
Max ignored the question and watched as the curious stared turned to hostile ones.
"We don't need traitors in our unit." The dark haired boy stated.
"Snakes."
"Rats."
"Poison." Hissed several of them.
"I'm not a traitor." Max said hotly, their accusations riling her "It was my C.O's idea and I followed orders." She clasped her little hands into fists.
"Well I'm C.O here, I'm X5-261 and I say you are a traitor." He stuck his hands on his hips.
"No I'm not." Max growled "Colonel Lydecker said I was a success and he's cleared me."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." they stood nose to nose now and the rest of the unit gathered around.
Gillette, Wyoming 2010
Today was different. Normally as soon as she woke up she was taken to the labs where they would poke and prod her some more, ask her what she thought she was doing and generally annoy her and then she would either be carted off to Psy- Ops to be reindoctrinated or taken to the training rooms where she would undergo intense training.
Today, instead of being dragged off to rigorous physical torture she was escorted to Lydecker's office.
Max stood to attention. Her eyes fixed on a point six inches above his head, her feet spaced 12 inches apart and her back ramrod straight.
"452 you have been in solitary confinement, reindoctrination and observation for the past twelve months. During this time you have had ample time to reflect on the choices that were made by your former C.O and consider the actions of your unit last February. What are your conclusions?"
"Our attempt was an act of desertion caused by weakness sir." She answered quickly.
"What are your fellow unit?"
"Deserters Sir." She would never call them traitors.
"Who are you?"
"X5-452 Sir!" Max, she thought rebelliously. Psy-ops may have given her a healthy fear of displeasing Manticore but it could never eradicate who she was, who her siblings had been. She was Max.
Lydecker nodded at her prompt replies. "Very well 452 you are cleared for return to the barracks. Your reindoctrination was a success and you are once again one of us."
Max stayed silent unsure what her response was supposed to be.
"You shall be assigned a new unit and will bunk with them." he turned to the guard by her side. "Escort 452 to block 6." She saluted and turned to go only to pause with his next words.
"Oh 452, we will be watching you."
The walk to her new dorm was long enough to give her time to think. So she was back in the fold. Once again to stay with a barrack-full of children who were being trained to be deadly killing machines. She just hoped that they were as nice as her previous unit, they could never take their place but maybe they would help her take this place in stride and make things more bearable. One thing that she was certain of was that she never wanted to go back to Psy-ops, the very name left shivers going down her spine.
She had not too fond memories of sensory deprivation and starvation, solitary confinement and psychological breakdown tactics, the endless barrage of questions and tests and punishments if her responses were too slow or not to standard, any hint of independent thought was frowned on and resulted in pain and she had to learn pretty quickly to mask what she was thinking so as not to merit more punishment.
Too soon the guard stopped in front of a large door emblazoned with a 6.
"Here." He said gruffly, slightly creeped out at the girl who never seemed to get rattled by anything. He had known that she was not normal whenever she came out of the torture chamber with a blank look on her face and in her eyes. Most who left looked haunted or broken but not her, it was almost like there was nothing there to be broken and it rattled more than one of the guards who gave her wide berth.
He pointed to the only spare bed in the pace and pushed the door closed behind him leaving her standing in the quiet room by herself. She guessed that her new unit was still at breakfast, something that she wasn't really bothered with this morning; the feeling of being free of Psy-Ops enough to take the edge off her hunger.
She sank down on the empty bed noticing that her clothes had arrived before she had and lay in neat piles on her bed, all regimented and perfectly the same. She fought the urge to mess them up and almost grinned at her new contrary behaviour. Zack would be so annoyed with the changes that a year had given her.
A year in solitary had been enough for her to determine who she was away from others and it was someone that she liked. She was no longer the baby that needed to be looked after and coddled by her unit. She was a soldier in her own right; she had made it through Psy-ops and had not compromised her siblings or broken down under persecution. She was strong.
The bang of a door alerted her to the fact that people were arriving and she shook herself out of her musings as her new "family" arrived.
They all stopped in the doorway staring at the new-comer.
"Who are you?" a tall dark haired boy with broad shoulders demanded.
Max didn't like his tone "Ma- X5-452." She caught herself on her name and corrected quickly "I have been assigned to your unit."
"452?" a small ginger haired girl glared at her "Didn't you try to run away last year?"
Max ignored the question and watched as the curious stared turned to hostile ones.
"We don't need traitors in our unit." The dark haired boy stated.
"Snakes."
"Rats."
"Poison." Hissed several of them.
"I'm not a traitor." Max said hotly, their accusations riling her "It was my C.O's idea and I followed orders." She clasped her little hands into fists.
"Well I'm C.O here, I'm X5-261 and I say you are a traitor." He stuck his hands on his hips.
"No I'm not." Max growled "Colonel Lydecker said I was a success and he's cleared me."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." they stood nose to nose now and the rest of the unit gathered around.