PART 8: Changed?
When Angela woke the room was dark and she was frightened for a moment, until she remembered where she was. In her quarters, the rooms she shared with Alec. She smiled remembering some of things they had gotten up to in this very room. Angela rolled over to look at the clock, the light seemed to be very bright in the dark and it hurt her eyes. The little red lights said 5:23. Where was Alec? He didn't usually get up until it was absolutely necessary. While she was thinking on this the door opened and Alec walked in the room, looking all rugged and manly.
Angela smiled up at him. "Where have you been? It's five thirty in the morning. You've never got up this early before."
"I haven't been to bed yet." Alec answered moving to her side of the bed and sitting down. "How are you feeling?"
Angela frowned a bit. "Fine. Why do you ask?"
Alec shrugged. "You had a bit of a fever before. That's why you were sent back here before your training was over. Remember?" Alec said looking directly into her eyes.
Angela waved it off. "Yeah I remember. I feel fine now. And because you made me sleep for ages I've woken up and can't get back to sleep." She looked at him reproachfully. "I told you I was fine."
"Yeah, but you can't expect me to believe you. You would say you were fine if you were shot. I have to look after you, baby." He leaned down to kiss her softly of the forehead. "Lydecker wants to see you when you're feeling better. But I think he meant at a decent hour. So until then now about we get some rest." He stressed the 'we'.
"But I'm not tired." Angela said as Alec lay down beside her, wrapping her in his arms.
"Yes you are." Alec said. "Just try to get some sleep. For me please?"
"But I'm not tired." Angela repeated even as she felt her eyes slide closed and her breathing even out.
Alec grinned as he watched her sleep. "It really worked." He murmured to himself. I'll tell Lydecker in the morning, he though, right now I want some sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Angela woke up again it was 8 o'clock and Alec was still fast asleep. He always was a deep sleeper, she thought. Angela felt something nagging at the back of her mind, but whenever she tried to get to it, it seemed to disappear. She shrugged, if she couldn't remember, then it couldn't be that important.
She tried to move to get out of bed but Alec's arms were too tight around her. "Alec," she whispered. "Alec, it's time to get up." She said in a singsong voice.
Alec only muttered something under his breath, tightened his hold even more and buried under the covers.
"Alec, it's past 8 o'clock. We need to get up." Angela said giving his hair a slight pull.
"Go 'way," he said pulling his head away from her. But when she just kept doing it he opened one eye and glared at her. "What?"
Angela laughed, they went through this every morning. "I really don't know how Lydecker puts up with you. But we need to get up now. We have work to do."
"I know," Alec said, then he grinned at her. "Do you know what went down while you were out of it?"
"You got some manners?" Angela asked hopefully.
Alec shook his head. "No, we caught the rogue X5's."
Angela's eyes widened. "All of them?"
"All of them." Alec said his grin widening.
Angela smiled and jumped into his arms. "Congratulations. I bet Lydecker's happy about that."
"He is. And he said that he wanted to see you when you were better. So get ready." He slapped her on the bottom. "We'll go see him now. You better hurry or we'll be late."
Angela got up and went into the bathroom. Alec heard her muttering to herself as the door closed. "He tells me to hurry. He's the one that doesn't want to get up."
Twenty minutes later she came back out, all refreshed and ready to go. "You better hurry up Alec, or we'll be late." She said smiling sweetly at him.
Alec snorted. "I'll be ready in five minutes." He walked into the bathroom and shut the door. A few seconds late Angela heard the shower start.
And sure enough, five minutes later he was ready.
Angela snorted and shook her head. "How do you guys get ready so quickly? It's a miracle if you ask me."
Alec smiled. "Because we don't do the things that the female population does. It tends to narrow down the time. Now lets go." He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room. They walked down the long, boring corridors of Manticore. It all seemed familiar, and unfamiliar at the same time.
Angela looked at the people as they passed, she knew who they all were, but she didn't feel comfortable talking to them, especially the men. Alec would lave to hear that, Angela thought to herself, Alec was a very jealous boyfriend. Angela remembered when they were still living in Seattle and she had been talking with, Jason a friend she hadn't seen since she was a kid, and she gave him a good-bye hug. Just one harmless hug, when Alec walked up and punched the guy in the face. Poor Jason had a broken nose and Alec dragged Angela away furious that she had talked to another male. When Angela looked back on it now it was amusing, she could feel her face break into a grin.
"What are you grinning about?" Alec asked. He looked at her strangely before saluting to a passing officer, Angela just nodded to him. He sighed when he saw her nod. "Why can't you salute to superior officers?"
Angela smiled sweetly at him. "Because I have a problem with authority. You've said so yourself. And I was smiling because I remember when you punched Jason and broke his nose."
"Jason?" He looked at her questioningly. "Who the hell is that?"
"Some guy I went to school with as a kid." Angela responded. "I saw him when I still lived in Seattle I hugged him and then you punched him out." She looked at him reprovingly. "You didn't have to do that you know."
Alec smiled at the memory as well. "Yes I did. That guy had his grubby hands all over you. He wanted you and you know I don't let anyone take what's mine." He looked her in the eye as he said it. "No one, understand?"
Angela looked at him strangely. "Yeah I know. No need to look at me like that. Come on we're almost there." She took the lead this time; thinking about the look Alec had just given her. It was as if he thought that she had been with another man. Well I haven't, Angela thought, so there's nothing for me to worry about. She knocked on Lydecker's door and opened it without waiting for permission.
"Lydecker!" She cried walking into the room. "You wanted to see me?" She smiled at the look on his face. She knew not to enter a superior's office without permission but she never followed that rule. The other officer that was there gave her a dirty look and turned back to Lydecker.
"Sir are there any other further orders regarding the rogue X5's?" The officer asked.
"No, you can go now." Lydecker said not taking his eyes off Angela.
Angela smiled at the officer as he walked passed her he just looked at her scathingly. "What's his problem?" Angela asked when the door was closed.
"The usual," Lydecker responded as he stood and walked to the other side of his desk so he was closer to Angela. "How are you feeling soldier?"
Angela scrunched her face. "Fine. I told you yesterday that I would be fine; you didn't need to take me out of training.
"We can't take any risks with one of out best fighters. You know that. Now as Alec has probably told you we have caught that rouge X5's." He eyes seemed to light up as he told her about the fight that went on to capture them. "Now I want you to go and see them and see if you can get any information out of them."
"What kind of information?"
"We've heard rumours that they had contact with people outside. We want to know who they were and what became of that contact."
"What makes you think they'll tell me anything?" Angela asked confused. "I'm the enemy. They won't trust me."
"I think they will. Angela you know how persuasive you can be. Now use that to get what we want. But be careful, they will use any method they can to try and get to you. Go there now and see what you can get. Don't try for too much all at once, they may catch on."
"I don't think so. If they were stupid enough to get together again and be caught, then they won't realise what I'm doing until it's too late." Angela nodded to him and Alec and walked out the door towards the holding cells where she knew they would be.
"Do you think she remembers anything?" Lydecker asked Alec after Angela had gone out of earshot.
Alec shook his head. "No sir I don't. I hinted at things she would have known before but she didn't react. Her face or eyes did not change on bit. And I know that Angela cannot keep what she is hiding from her face."
"Good," Lydecker said. "Very good."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What do you think they did to Angela?" Jondy asked as she lay on the narrow bed in her cell. All the cells were the same with just a small bed and sink. There was nothing there they could use as a weapon. There were guards posted outside the room that the cells were in and then further down the hall. All in all, if they did get out of the room they would be killed before they got far.
"I don't know," Max said leaning her head against the bars. "But whatever it was you can guarantee that it's not good."
"They're doing to her the same thing they did to Brin." Zack said from his position on the floor. He closed his eyes. Whether he liked to think it or not, he was the one that got her into this situation. He should have insisted that they move on, not stay in one spot. It was his bad judgement that got them into this situation and now there was nothing he could do about it.
"What do you think they'll tell her?" Tinga asked. "I mean if she's been brainwashed or whatever how are they going to explain all the time she's spent outside this place?"
"They won't," Max told her. "They'll probably just start making memories from when she was supposed to get here with Alec. She won't remember any of us, or anything from after Alec left. And that is just what they want. She's now the perfect soldier in every way. She's-"
Max was cut off because the door was opening and Angela stepped through. She smiled at all of them. "Hey guys,"
Zack jumped up from his position on the floor and pressed himself against the bars. "Angela! What are you doing here? What have they done to you?"
Angela looked Zack up and down and grinned. "I'm here because I want to be. And as for what they did to me, gave me a shot or something, I fell asleep and now I feel much better."
"Why did they give you a shot?" Max demanded. "What was in it?"
Angela shrugged. "Beats the hell outta me. I had a fever, they solved the problem." She pulled up a chair to sit in front of the cells. "Now I have a few questions I want to ask you guys. And please answer truthfully."
"That's not Angela," Max said backing away from the bars and sitting down on the bed. She put her head in her hands. "They've brainwashed her. Don't tell her anything."
"No tell me everything." Angela said looking at Max peculiarly. "I want to know everything and if you tell me I promise to put in a good word for you. You know that you can trust me Max, I-" Angela stopped and her eyes widened for a second. She got up from the chair and turned around, shaking her head. What the hell was that? She thought. She felt things pushing against her mind but it hurt to find out what it was.
"Angela?" Max asked looking up. She saw the conflict on Angela's face. "Angela, please remember. Remember what they did to you. Remember your life before all this happened. Remember all of us. Please remember."
Angela turned around. "Shut up! I know what your doing. I do it all the time. You're trying to weaken me psychologically but it won't work. Now tell me everything you did outside and all the humans you've been in contact with. Tell me!" She yelled when no one spoke up.
"Angela," Zack said quietly. Angela spun around to face him. "Fight what they've done to you. Remember what you told us when we got Brin back? You told us that she needed constant reminders of who she really was. Now we're doing that to you. Try and remember the truth. Don't belief what they've told you."
Angela looked at him and closed her eyes. Everyone could see that she had an internal struggle going on and they wanted to do all they could to help. But they know that she had to do this on her own. There was nothing more they could do to help her just yet.
"Remember," Zack whispered. "Remember me."
Angela's eyes snapped open and she looked at all of the apprehensively. Then she turned and practically ran out the door.
"Do you think she's remembering?" Max asked as she watched her best friend run.
"I think so," Zack said, a pleased look on his face.
TBC
So what do you guys think? Please post feedback and I have a question for all of you. Do you think that Angela should remember now or later? Please email me and tell me what you think. Thankyou.
When Angela woke the room was dark and she was frightened for a moment, until she remembered where she was. In her quarters, the rooms she shared with Alec. She smiled remembering some of things they had gotten up to in this very room. Angela rolled over to look at the clock, the light seemed to be very bright in the dark and it hurt her eyes. The little red lights said 5:23. Where was Alec? He didn't usually get up until it was absolutely necessary. While she was thinking on this the door opened and Alec walked in the room, looking all rugged and manly.
Angela smiled up at him. "Where have you been? It's five thirty in the morning. You've never got up this early before."
"I haven't been to bed yet." Alec answered moving to her side of the bed and sitting down. "How are you feeling?"
Angela frowned a bit. "Fine. Why do you ask?"
Alec shrugged. "You had a bit of a fever before. That's why you were sent back here before your training was over. Remember?" Alec said looking directly into her eyes.
Angela waved it off. "Yeah I remember. I feel fine now. And because you made me sleep for ages I've woken up and can't get back to sleep." She looked at him reproachfully. "I told you I was fine."
"Yeah, but you can't expect me to believe you. You would say you were fine if you were shot. I have to look after you, baby." He leaned down to kiss her softly of the forehead. "Lydecker wants to see you when you're feeling better. But I think he meant at a decent hour. So until then now about we get some rest." He stressed the 'we'.
"But I'm not tired." Angela said as Alec lay down beside her, wrapping her in his arms.
"Yes you are." Alec said. "Just try to get some sleep. For me please?"
"But I'm not tired." Angela repeated even as she felt her eyes slide closed and her breathing even out.
Alec grinned as he watched her sleep. "It really worked." He murmured to himself. I'll tell Lydecker in the morning, he though, right now I want some sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Angela woke up again it was 8 o'clock and Alec was still fast asleep. He always was a deep sleeper, she thought. Angela felt something nagging at the back of her mind, but whenever she tried to get to it, it seemed to disappear. She shrugged, if she couldn't remember, then it couldn't be that important.
She tried to move to get out of bed but Alec's arms were too tight around her. "Alec," she whispered. "Alec, it's time to get up." She said in a singsong voice.
Alec only muttered something under his breath, tightened his hold even more and buried under the covers.
"Alec, it's past 8 o'clock. We need to get up." Angela said giving his hair a slight pull.
"Go 'way," he said pulling his head away from her. But when she just kept doing it he opened one eye and glared at her. "What?"
Angela laughed, they went through this every morning. "I really don't know how Lydecker puts up with you. But we need to get up now. We have work to do."
"I know," Alec said, then he grinned at her. "Do you know what went down while you were out of it?"
"You got some manners?" Angela asked hopefully.
Alec shook his head. "No, we caught the rogue X5's."
Angela's eyes widened. "All of them?"
"All of them." Alec said his grin widening.
Angela smiled and jumped into his arms. "Congratulations. I bet Lydecker's happy about that."
"He is. And he said that he wanted to see you when you were better. So get ready." He slapped her on the bottom. "We'll go see him now. You better hurry or we'll be late."
Angela got up and went into the bathroom. Alec heard her muttering to herself as the door closed. "He tells me to hurry. He's the one that doesn't want to get up."
Twenty minutes later she came back out, all refreshed and ready to go. "You better hurry up Alec, or we'll be late." She said smiling sweetly at him.
Alec snorted. "I'll be ready in five minutes." He walked into the bathroom and shut the door. A few seconds late Angela heard the shower start.
And sure enough, five minutes later he was ready.
Angela snorted and shook her head. "How do you guys get ready so quickly? It's a miracle if you ask me."
Alec smiled. "Because we don't do the things that the female population does. It tends to narrow down the time. Now lets go." He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room. They walked down the long, boring corridors of Manticore. It all seemed familiar, and unfamiliar at the same time.
Angela looked at the people as they passed, she knew who they all were, but she didn't feel comfortable talking to them, especially the men. Alec would lave to hear that, Angela thought to herself, Alec was a very jealous boyfriend. Angela remembered when they were still living in Seattle and she had been talking with, Jason a friend she hadn't seen since she was a kid, and she gave him a good-bye hug. Just one harmless hug, when Alec walked up and punched the guy in the face. Poor Jason had a broken nose and Alec dragged Angela away furious that she had talked to another male. When Angela looked back on it now it was amusing, she could feel her face break into a grin.
"What are you grinning about?" Alec asked. He looked at her strangely before saluting to a passing officer, Angela just nodded to him. He sighed when he saw her nod. "Why can't you salute to superior officers?"
Angela smiled sweetly at him. "Because I have a problem with authority. You've said so yourself. And I was smiling because I remember when you punched Jason and broke his nose."
"Jason?" He looked at her questioningly. "Who the hell is that?"
"Some guy I went to school with as a kid." Angela responded. "I saw him when I still lived in Seattle I hugged him and then you punched him out." She looked at him reprovingly. "You didn't have to do that you know."
Alec smiled at the memory as well. "Yes I did. That guy had his grubby hands all over you. He wanted you and you know I don't let anyone take what's mine." He looked her in the eye as he said it. "No one, understand?"
Angela looked at him strangely. "Yeah I know. No need to look at me like that. Come on we're almost there." She took the lead this time; thinking about the look Alec had just given her. It was as if he thought that she had been with another man. Well I haven't, Angela thought, so there's nothing for me to worry about. She knocked on Lydecker's door and opened it without waiting for permission.
"Lydecker!" She cried walking into the room. "You wanted to see me?" She smiled at the look on his face. She knew not to enter a superior's office without permission but she never followed that rule. The other officer that was there gave her a dirty look and turned back to Lydecker.
"Sir are there any other further orders regarding the rogue X5's?" The officer asked.
"No, you can go now." Lydecker said not taking his eyes off Angela.
Angela smiled at the officer as he walked passed her he just looked at her scathingly. "What's his problem?" Angela asked when the door was closed.
"The usual," Lydecker responded as he stood and walked to the other side of his desk so he was closer to Angela. "How are you feeling soldier?"
Angela scrunched her face. "Fine. I told you yesterday that I would be fine; you didn't need to take me out of training.
"We can't take any risks with one of out best fighters. You know that. Now as Alec has probably told you we have caught that rouge X5's." He eyes seemed to light up as he told her about the fight that went on to capture them. "Now I want you to go and see them and see if you can get any information out of them."
"What kind of information?"
"We've heard rumours that they had contact with people outside. We want to know who they were and what became of that contact."
"What makes you think they'll tell me anything?" Angela asked confused. "I'm the enemy. They won't trust me."
"I think they will. Angela you know how persuasive you can be. Now use that to get what we want. But be careful, they will use any method they can to try and get to you. Go there now and see what you can get. Don't try for too much all at once, they may catch on."
"I don't think so. If they were stupid enough to get together again and be caught, then they won't realise what I'm doing until it's too late." Angela nodded to him and Alec and walked out the door towards the holding cells where she knew they would be.
"Do you think she remembers anything?" Lydecker asked Alec after Angela had gone out of earshot.
Alec shook his head. "No sir I don't. I hinted at things she would have known before but she didn't react. Her face or eyes did not change on bit. And I know that Angela cannot keep what she is hiding from her face."
"Good," Lydecker said. "Very good."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"What do you think they did to Angela?" Jondy asked as she lay on the narrow bed in her cell. All the cells were the same with just a small bed and sink. There was nothing there they could use as a weapon. There were guards posted outside the room that the cells were in and then further down the hall. All in all, if they did get out of the room they would be killed before they got far.
"I don't know," Max said leaning her head against the bars. "But whatever it was you can guarantee that it's not good."
"They're doing to her the same thing they did to Brin." Zack said from his position on the floor. He closed his eyes. Whether he liked to think it or not, he was the one that got her into this situation. He should have insisted that they move on, not stay in one spot. It was his bad judgement that got them into this situation and now there was nothing he could do about it.
"What do you think they'll tell her?" Tinga asked. "I mean if she's been brainwashed or whatever how are they going to explain all the time she's spent outside this place?"
"They won't," Max told her. "They'll probably just start making memories from when she was supposed to get here with Alec. She won't remember any of us, or anything from after Alec left. And that is just what they want. She's now the perfect soldier in every way. She's-"
Max was cut off because the door was opening and Angela stepped through. She smiled at all of them. "Hey guys,"
Zack jumped up from his position on the floor and pressed himself against the bars. "Angela! What are you doing here? What have they done to you?"
Angela looked Zack up and down and grinned. "I'm here because I want to be. And as for what they did to me, gave me a shot or something, I fell asleep and now I feel much better."
"Why did they give you a shot?" Max demanded. "What was in it?"
Angela shrugged. "Beats the hell outta me. I had a fever, they solved the problem." She pulled up a chair to sit in front of the cells. "Now I have a few questions I want to ask you guys. And please answer truthfully."
"That's not Angela," Max said backing away from the bars and sitting down on the bed. She put her head in her hands. "They've brainwashed her. Don't tell her anything."
"No tell me everything." Angela said looking at Max peculiarly. "I want to know everything and if you tell me I promise to put in a good word for you. You know that you can trust me Max, I-" Angela stopped and her eyes widened for a second. She got up from the chair and turned around, shaking her head. What the hell was that? She thought. She felt things pushing against her mind but it hurt to find out what it was.
"Angela?" Max asked looking up. She saw the conflict on Angela's face. "Angela, please remember. Remember what they did to you. Remember your life before all this happened. Remember all of us. Please remember."
Angela turned around. "Shut up! I know what your doing. I do it all the time. You're trying to weaken me psychologically but it won't work. Now tell me everything you did outside and all the humans you've been in contact with. Tell me!" She yelled when no one spoke up.
"Angela," Zack said quietly. Angela spun around to face him. "Fight what they've done to you. Remember what you told us when we got Brin back? You told us that she needed constant reminders of who she really was. Now we're doing that to you. Try and remember the truth. Don't belief what they've told you."
Angela looked at him and closed her eyes. Everyone could see that she had an internal struggle going on and they wanted to do all they could to help. But they know that she had to do this on her own. There was nothing more they could do to help her just yet.
"Remember," Zack whispered. "Remember me."
Angela's eyes snapped open and she looked at all of the apprehensively. Then she turned and practically ran out the door.
"Do you think she's remembering?" Max asked as she watched her best friend run.
"I think so," Zack said, a pleased look on his face.
TBC
So what do you guys think? Please post feedback and I have a question for all of you. Do you think that Angela should remember now or later? Please email me and tell me what you think. Thankyou.
