Chapter 7

When Scarlet finally came too, his vision was blurred and he felt dizzy and nauseous. His ears were ringing and he could hear his heart pounding in his chest. As he took in a breath, the smoke irritated his lungs causing him to cough uncontrollably. It was then that he noticed the excruciating pain radiating down the entire length of his body. Grimacing he tried to move but realised that there were hands gently holding him in still.

"Easy Captain, try not to move" It was Doctor Gold

"What happened Doc?" he managed through gritted teeth as he turned his head to look at Gold who was kneeling over him

"There was an explosion..."

"...Adam?" Scarlet managed, his voice hoarse but the fear that his friend was hurt or worse was evident too; desperately he tried to free himself from the doctors restraining hands to get to his friend

"It's okay Scarlet he's alive" Gold told him as he looked over at Captain Blue, who was being attended by Doctor Bishop

Doctor Bishop had shown up in the control room while Scarlet and Blue were in the lab taking a look around. He had been watching the Captains' on the monitor with Gold and the Spectrum security men. When suddenly there was a bright flash on the screen before the image went dead. Then they heard the sound of an explosion from the other side of the building where the laboratory was located. Bishop grabbed a medical kit and left the control room followed closely by Doctor Gold and Sergeant Moss. The three men ran through the corridor towards the lab, when they had arrived, they found Lieutenant Amber clearing the debris from the doorway. Between them, Amber and Moss were able to clear a pathway through so that the doctors could get to the fallen men.

Gold went to examine Scarlet, while Bishop went to check on Captain Blue. Bishop began to carefully examine Blue for any obvious life-threatening injuries. He could find no broken limbs or damage to his neck. But without a more thorough examination there was no way of knowing if he had suffered any internal injuries. The most obvious injury was the wound to Blue's forehead, which had bled profusely, covering the blond man's face and hair in blood. Bishop took some gauze, which Moss had handed to him and pressed it firmly on the wound.

"How is he?" he heard Gold ask from his position next to Scarlet.

"He's unconscious; it looks like he might have hit his head on the bench as he went down. I think he may have dislocated his left shoulder, probably from when he landed on it as well as some cuts and bruises. How's Scarlet?" he enquired looking over at Gold and Scarlet.

"He's suffered extensive burns and lacerations to the back of his body" Gold informed him. "Hey, why is he wet?" Gold looked around confused. It was clear from the small fires that had been burning when they had gotten to the lab that the automatic sprinklers had not activated after the explosion. Then Gold remembered seeing the water tank on the video feed. Looking over to where it was he noticed that it was severely damaged. In fact, you didn't need to be an expert to know that that was where the explosion had originated.

"Doctor Bishop, what was in the tank that was in that corner over there?" Gold demanded, hoping that now they might actually get some real answers about what was going on here.

"Nothing to be concerned about Doctor Gold" Bishop informed him "I assure you that what we were working on was nothing that posed a threat to anyone. Otherwise your men would not have been allowed in here without protective gear"

"Forgive me if I don't take your word for it" Gold muttered almost to himself as he continued to treat Scarlet's wounds

"Excuse me!" Bishop yelled, offended by Gold's comment

"You also told us that nothing had been tampered with, yet if that had been the case, then this would not have happened" Next to him Scarlet groaned

"Doctor" Scarlet mumbled, his voice pained and weakened

"It's okay Captain, we'll get you both back to Skybase. Everything will be okay."

"Is Adam okay? You said he was alive, but how badly..." his words were cut off as pain gripped him

" I won't know how badly his condition is until we get back to Skybase" Gold told him "But it looks like he has dislocated his shoulder and will have a nasty concussion when he finally regains consciousness" Scarlet nodded to let Gold know that he understood as his eyes closed. The pain too much

"Just rest Scarlet" Gold whispered to him "You'll be fine soon enough"