Project Shadow Ch 4

I guess uploading chapter 4 so quickly makes up for taking so long to upload the last chapter. Actually, this chapter is the reason it took so long to upload chapter 3; part of it was supposed to be in that chapter, but I decided it would be better in this chapter instead. so here's Chapter 4, enjoy.

"This is absolutely amazing!" Doctor Gilmore said after examining the three new cyborgs in the Dolphin's sick bay.

"What's so amazing about them?" Jet said from the bed opposite them, Albert in the bed next to him.

"Well, to start, 0015 has unbelievably powerful frequency emitters built into both his hands that give him the ability to destroy at will anything on contact."

"Is that how it works?" Carlos said, looking down at his hands.

"And 0022, the jets in his feet allow him to reach speeds of Mach 7, and yet he's incredibly maneuverable."

Dimitri folded his arms and smiled smugly at Jet.

"What's most amazing, though, is 0014's weapons; they're not only specially made for long range and close range offence and defense, but they're surprisingly advanced despite how long she's been a cyborg."

"Well, the scientists have been working on her when they weren't working on us." Dimitri replied.

0014 sat quietly, looking at the floor, something clearly on her mind.

"Hey, 0014," Carlos began, "can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" she replied, looking at him.

"The file I read had a lot about you after you became a cyborg, but it had next to nothing about who you were before you became a cyborg. Would you mind filling in the gaps?"

"I-I wish I could, but I was kind of hoping one of you could tell me."

"¿Qué?"

"You see, I don't remember anything from my past; my family, my home, I-I can't even remember my real name."

"Doctor Gilmore, can you help her?" Albert asked after a moment.

"I'll do everything I can to restore her memory," he answered, "but I can't make any promises."

"Hey, where are we headed, anyway?" Carlos asked.

"We're going to stay with an old friend of mine until things cool down."

Carlos snapped his head towards Doctor Gilmore in shock. Then he said something in Spanish and bolted out of sick bay.

"Where's he off to?" Jet asked.

"Did anyone else not like the look in his eyes?" 0014 said.

"Come on;" Dimitri sighed as he stood up. "We better make sure he doesn't do something that'll get him thrown overboard."

"I doubt there's anything he can do to make that happen." Albert said.

"That's because you don't know how many times he's been run out of his country, or for that matter, how many countries he's been run out of."

The five found Carlos in the control room, fighting with Pyunma over the ship's steering.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" 0014 yelled, getting everyone's attention. "0015, explain, now!"

"What? Where we're going is way too obvious a place to hide;" Carlos explained. "We need someplace more out of the way to lay low or they'll find us within a couple days. And I know the perfect place to do just that."

"You know, you could have told us that instead of trying to wrestle the steering away from me." Pyunma said, stepping aside and letting Carlos take the wheel.

"Uh, you do know how to work one of these things, right?" 0014 asked cautiously.

"How hard could it be?" Carlos replied as he jerked the wheel hard, tossing everyone off balance. Pyunma had grabbed the back of the chair Carlos was sitting in to keep from getting thrown around, but Chang GB and Doctor Gilmore were being tossed around too much to do anything. In the panic, Francoise wrapped her arms around Joe's neck for support that wasn't there. In a desperate attempt to stay upright, Jet and Dimitri got airborne but were slammed into the wall when Geronimo toppled into the both of them.

"We're all going to die!" 0014 shrieked as she grabbed the closest thing to her.

"Chert poberi, CARLOS," Dimitri yelled as he pulled himself out from behind Geronimo, "even out this stupidly named ship!"

"All right, all right!" Carlos said. "Just give me a minute!"

After several corkscrews and nosedives, the young Spaniard was able to level out the Dolphin.

"There, are you happy?" He said.

"I will be once I regain my footing." Dimitri groaned as he and the others tried to stand up.

"For all our sakes, I hope we get there soon." Jet added.

"Don't worry," Carlos replied, "if this thing is flies as fast as I think it does, we'll be there in no ti-ay caramba!"

"What?" GB said.

"Alguien aquí trabaja rápido."

"Carlos, no one here speaks Spanish!" Dimitri groaned.

"I said, 'somebody here works fast'." He said as he pointed at 0014.

The team looked over and stared in shock at the young girl. Jet's face turned dark red and GB, Chang and Dimitri did their best not to laugh at what they saw. 0014 couldn't figure out why everyone was staring at her until she looked at what she had grabbed onto. 0014's face turned bright red as she realized that she had wrapped her arms around Albert's waist. The young girl yelped and quickly let go of him, a look of terror in her eyes.

"I-um-I'm sorry!" she stuttered. "I-I didn't mean to-I mean, I-I didn't know that-GAAAAHHH!"

The young girl bolted out of the control room grabbing the back of her head, whimpering. Albert found her again later in the Dolphin's break-room, sitting down on the couch, clutching her arms.

"Are you alright?" He asked, causing 0014 to flinch away from him. "Hey, it's ok," he continued as he sat next to her, "I just want to see how you were doing after that little air show 0015 did."

"W-well, I'm fine." 0014 said, not looking at Albert. "Thank you for asking. Look, 004, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to grab onto you; I just-"

"It's alright, you panicked; I understand…you know, it's doesn't make much sense."

"What?" 0014 asked, finally looking at him.

"That someone as sweet and timid as you would be nicknamed 'The Goddess of Blood'."

"Well, it doesn't make sense for someone as nice and gentle as you to be called 'The God of Death'."

Her response caught Albert's attention. "How did you know I was nicknamed 'The God of Death'?"

"I-I don't know; it just came to mind! I didn't mean to say it! I'm-I'm sorry!"

0014 clutched her arms tighter as her head sank low into her shoulders. It took Albert a moment to realize that she was crying.

"What is wrong with me?" She whimpered. "Why can't I remember anything? Why is this happening to me?"

Albert placed his arms around 0014 and pulled her closer to him. Then, to his surprise, her tense body immediately relaxed to his touch. "It's ok," he whispered, letting her rest her head on his chest, "we'll do everything we can to help get your memory back…I promise."

Albert felt 0014 shift her arms so that one hand was resting on his chest, just beside her head, and the other was just touching the hand he had placed on her shoulder. Albert held 0014 calmly, not saying anything; only listening to her breathing. The calmness of the moment was destroyed by the sound of Jet clearing his throat.

"If I'm not interrupting anything," he said as Albert quickly let go of the young girl in his arms, "0015 says we're almost there."

After a rough landing and a long walk through a dense forest, the group found themselves in front of a large, old looking house that looked as if it would collapse at any moment.

"You can't be serious." Dimitri said. "We're going to be staying in this plotva motelʹ?!"

"This place might look like a 'roach motel' on the outside," Carlos said, "but the inside is a different story."

The young Spaniard opened the door and, true to his word, everything inside looked completely different; the wallpaper was bright and smooth, the carpet was clean and tidy, even the lighting and furniture looked new.

"How can a house that looks so lousy on the outside look so new on the inside?" GB said.

"Well, you didn't think we would make our safe houses recently lived in, did you?" Carlos replied.

"'We'?" 0014 asked.

"Vamonose, I'll give you a tour of the place."

After the tour, and a long debate on who was sleeping where (one of which turned into an argument between Jet and Dimitri and then a fist fight that 0014 and Albert had to break up), everyone began settling in; everyone except 0014, who spent all afternoon and much of her evening outside, alone, staring off into space until Albert came out and placed his hand on her shoulder. When 0014 flinched at his touch, Albert couldn't help but chuckle.

"You know, you're kind of jumpy for someone called 'The Goddess of Blood'." He said.

"You're not going to let that name go, are you?" 0014 grumbled.

"Not likely. What have you been doing out here?"

"Trying to make sense of what little I do remember."

"I thought you said you couldn't remember anything."

"I can't; my past is a blank, but I can remember feelings, emotions. Some of them are stronger than others."

"What feelings are those?"

"Fear. Sadness. Comfort." 0014 started gripping her arms. "Fear in particular is the strongest of those three. Do you think I'm better off not remembering who I really am?"

Albert wrapped his arm around 0014's shoulders and the gesture immediately caused her to relax. "What do you think feels right?"

"I-I don't know." She sighed. "I just know something good had to have happened to me; I wouldn't want to remember it so badly otherwise."

"Excuse me," said the voice of the young American in the window sill, "if you two aren't busy, it's dinner time."

"Should I be worried?" 0014 asked, pulling herself away from Albert.

"Only if he made it." Albert chuckled.

i"004, wake up!"i a voice called in Albert's head. It didn't take him long to figure out who it was.

"001, you better have a good reason for waking me up." He groaned as he rubbed his eyes.

i"It's 0014;"i immediately, Albert bolted upright. i"She's clearly having a nightmare, but I can't wake her up; whenever I try to, she pushes me out, it's as if she wants to be having this nightmare. But her brainwaves tell me that she's really scared."i

Albert ran into the room 0014 was sleeping in and sure enough, she was tossing and turning in bed, whimpering, her face showing fear.

"0014." He said, shaking her shoulder. "0014 wake up!"

The young girl shrieked as her eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, breathing heavily, a look of complete terror in her eyes.

"A végső megoldás." 0014 whispered.

"What? 0014, what happened; 001 said you were having a nightmare, but you refused to let him wake you up from it, why?"

"Everything in it, everything I saw, it looked so familiar. I thought if I continued through it I might remember who I am." 0014 wrapped her arms around Albert and held on tightly. "But every minute of it was nothing but terror; I was scared to see what might happen next."

Albert wrapped his arms around the crying girl and felt her quickly relax in his arms. In the room next to them, Jet listened as Albert said what he could to try and calm her down, and the thought that his closest friend might be drifting away from him crossed his mind. "No." He said to himself, shaking his head. "Albert would never do that…would he?"

to be continued

and there's Chapter 4 uploaded. I hope you liked it.