Project Shadow Ch 6
Sorry it took so long; the rehearsals for my high school's musical, made it hard to work on this, and the writers block didn't help much either. But now that the musical is done (Footloose, if anyone is wondering), I finally was able to get around to finishing this chapter. So here's Chapter 6, enjoy
"This doesn't make any sense." 0014 said, looking down at the radar given to her. "I thought this was supposed to make it easier to find 009, but I'm not picking up anything."
"It is;" Albert said. "Something must be disrupting the signal."
"If that's so, it'll be harder to find him then."
"Jet, are you having any luck up there?"
"No such." The young American replied from the air into his communicator. "I don't see him anywhere. Maybe he's in acceleration mode."
"For what reason would he be using his accelerator?" 0014 said.
"Hey, it was just a suggestion!" Jet then snapped.
"Don't get snippy with me, boy;" 0014 snapped back. "I get enough of that from 0022!"
"'Boy'?! You're practically my age!"
"I'm technically older than you!"
"Alright, that's enough, you two." Albert said. "Jet, you head back and rendezvous with the others. 0014 and I will be along shortly."
As Jet flew off in a huff, Albert noticed 0014 pulling at her collar.
"Ehr, I've forgotten how uncomfortable this uniform is." She said.
"You'll get used to it." Albert chuckled as he helped 0014 readjust her scarf. "Of course, it also helps to have it on correctly."
"Thank you." The young girl said, although she was more focused on the direction Jet had flown. "Why does he always act that way around me?"
"I'm honestly as confused as you are; I've never once seen Jet act like this with anyone before."
"004, can I ask you something a little personal?"
"Only if I get to ask you something personal when you're done."
"Why do you always call 002, Jet?"
"That's his real name; Jet Link."
"But why do you?"
"Well, Jet's one of the younger ones of us to have been made into a cyborg and to have been cryogenically frozen."
"But isn't 003 the same age as him, and wasn't she cryogenically frozen too?"
"Yeah, but she has 009, Jet doesn't have anyone but me; I call him by his real name because it makes him feel better, even if no one else will."
"Is that why he calls you Albert?"
"Yes; my real name is Albert Heinrich." At that point, the German had finished readjusting 0014's uniform. "Now it's my turn; what have you been seeing in your nightmares?"
0014 looked deep into Albert's pale blue eyes and saw a great amount of concern for her. At the same time, Albert saw a great amount of fear in 0014's brown eyes.
"It was the same thing every night;" she began. "I'm in a place surrounded by a barbed wire fence filled with seemingly endless lines of cabins. In the daytime, the skies are usually gray, at night, it's often storming. But it didn't matter what the sky looked like; my skin still felt so cold. A lot of the people there are almost lifeless, ghostly, scared, some can barely even stand. Those who aren't are heartless, terrifying, and merciless towards those who aren't like them."
"What do you mean?" Albert interrupted.
0014 was silent for a moment, then answered, "Those who either don't look like them or the way they're supposed to look, those who didn't believe in what they did, those who…those who they thought didn't belong. I often heard the sound of gunshots, the sound of people screaming in fear, or in pain, or for help. I sometimes see black smoke billowing into the sky from somewhere and sometimes, I can even smell what I think is burning flesh;" 0014 wrapped her arms around her stomach and shuddered. "I always feel sick to my stomach when I do, as if I know what it is. I see faces that I somehow know I should be afraid of. They keep saying the same things to me in a language that I can barely understand but can understand enough of."
"What do they say?" Albert asked, his concern for 0014 growing. The young girl took a shaky breath before answering. "Things like, I'm nothing, I don't belong, it won't be long now, my turn will come soon, and…and…and that I'll soon be dead as well." The last part she said barely above a whisper. Albert reached out to put his hand on 0014's shoulder to comfort the trembling girl. "Last night, though, was different." She continued before he could touch her.
"Different how?" Albert said, pulling back his hand. 0014 clutched her stomach harder and tightly closed her eyes. Her face twisted into both fear and sadness.
"I was in that same place, under that same sky, surrounded by those same people, those same smells, those same sounds, those same faces telling me the same things, my skin colder than ever. I was curled up on the ground, clutching the back of my head, crying, shivering, begging for it all to stop." Tears rolled down 0014's face as she recalled her nightmare. Then she opened her eyes and looked back up at Albert. "Then I felt someone wrap their arms around me. I looked up and I saw a boy, about my age, I think. I couldn't see his face clearly, but I could tell he was important, at least to me. He pulled me closer to him and for the first time, I felt safe, calm, warm, all the sounds and smells around me seemed to vanish. The place I was in and the people around me didn't seem as intimidating as before. I wasn't bothered by what those familiar faces said to me. When that boy held me in his arms, I felt protected from my own nightmare. He then placed something in my hand; something small, round, and cold like metal. Then he gently whispered to me in a language I could understand as clear as crystal, 'its ok, everything will be alright; I promise'…then I was someplace completely different, I don't know where though; it was too dark for me to see. I heard a loud explosion and that boy disappeared. My entire body felt like it was burning, it hurt so much. I was sure I was going to pass out from the pain but before I did, I saw two people wearing black who I didn't recognize looking down at me. The last thing I remember before I woke up was those two men exchanging looks, then one said to the other, 'she'll do perfectly'."
When she finished, 0014 saw Albert look down at, then rub his machine gun hand; something that, as she had found out long ago, he only did when something was really bothering him.
"You know who they are, don't you?" the young girl said after taking the German's metal hand in her own.
"In a sense, I do;" he sighed. "They're the ones who took us all away from our lives to be made into cyborgs."
"I'm guessing that included you?"
Albert tightly closed his eyes for a moment then answered, "Actually, I didn't have much of anything left when they found me."
Before 0014 could ask what he meant, Dimitri's voice came through her communicator, and his voice sounded worried.
"Guys, I think I found him." The young Russian said. "He's at the forest clearing fighting someone in his acceleration mode…and losing."
"Try and help him anyway you can; we'll be there soon." Albert said.
"Hey, 0015, you wouldn't happen to know where that is, would you?" 0014 asked.
"I know where it is," Carlos replied, "but you don't. And I don't know where you are."
"But I do;" Francoise said. "It's about half a mile from your location, and you, 004 and 002 are the closest ones."
"002 flew off to the rendezvous point." 0014 said.
"I'm not too far from the clearing." Jet replied. "I should get there to help before you two."
"Be careful, Jet." Albert said. "Don't do anything stupid."
"That goes triple for you, 0022." 0014 growled. "And focus on fighting the attacker, not 002, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am." Dimitri replied.
"You don't trust 0022 that much, do you?" Albert said after 0014 turned off her communicator.
"Alone with 002?" she replied. "Not a chance, especially not after the fight those two had today."
Albert couldn't help but chuckle at 0014's response as he placed his hand on her shoulder and felt her stress melt away at his touch.
"Come on, we'd better go help 009." He said as he started to walk off.
"Mmm, right." 0014 nodded. "Oh, and 004, for the record, I think your real name suits you much better than your cyborg name."
Albert looked back at her in surprise; it was the first time 0014 had said something about him rather than to him, in fact, it was the first time she said anything about anyone on the team. The now red faced girl slowly made her way towards him, too nervous to look him in the eye, and all Albert could do was smile at her and say, "Thank you."
The large craters, destroyed trees, and shattered rocks they found when they arrived at the forest clearing were obvious signs that a fight had occurred. Unfortunately, when they arrived, 0014 realized something important.
"Albert," she began, "how are we going to help 009 if we can't even see him? In fact, how do we even know if he's still fighting his attacker here, or if 002 or 0022 are here helping him?"
Suddenly as if on cue, Jet was thrown out of his acceleration mode as if struck by an invisible force and slammed headfirst into a fallen tree. Albert quickly rushed over to the dazed teenager's side, 0014 following close behind him.
"Jet, what happened?!" Albert said.
"He's so fast;" Jet groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't even see him coming."
"Didn't see who coming? Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine once I stop seeing double."
"You must have hit your head pretty hard for that to happen." 0014 said as she reached out to feel for any bumps on Jet's head. Suddenly as her right knee touched the ground, her entire body tensed up.
"What's with you?" Jet asked.
"Shh!" 0014 exclaimed, putting her right hand on the ground, closing her eyes.
"Hey, don't you give me that when I'm talking to you; especially when my head's throbbing!"
"002, seriously, be quiet!"
The firmness in her voice made Jet quiet down. Moments later, 0014 snapped her head to one side and activated her drill. Then she quickly relaxed and grunted in frustration.
"What is it?" Albert asked.
Before she could answer, 0014's body tensed up again then she fired a single shot behind her. Seconds later, Dimitri tumbled out of his acceleration mode with a surprised yelp and rolled head-over-heels several times before coming to a stop, his right leg smoking and sparking.
"What happened?" The young Russian groaned as he tried vainly to stand.
"Am I still hallucinating, or did 0014 just shoot 0022 out of his acceleration mode?" Jet gawked.
"Whoops." She said nervously.
"'WHOOPS'?!" Dimitri yelled. "You shot out my leg, my jet, and my ability to fly, and all you can say is 'whoops'?!"
"How did you even know where he was?" Albert said.
"I could hear the fight happening around me." 0014 mused. "I can't explain how or why, but every movement they made I could feel."
"Can you find them again?"
"I'll try."
"This time, try and hit the right person." Dimitri said as he crawled over to the others.
"Be quiet, 0022," 0014 replied as she put her hand back on the ground and closed her eyes, "I can only focus so well."
Moments passed and every now and then, 0014 would snap her head to one side then another until she sighed in frustration and defeat.
"I'm sorry," she sighed, "it's too hard for me to pinpoint 009's attacker."
"Well, what do you need to make it easier?" Dimitri asked.
At that moment, Joe was slammed out of his acceleration mode against a tree close to them.
"That!" she replied before firing a single shot to her left. Almost instantly, something blue and red streaked past them and stumbled into the bushes.
"Nice shot." Jet said almost impressed.
"No, lousy shot; I missed him, I fired too early."
"It was still enough to throw me off, though." The attacker replied, his voice somewhat Italian sounding. The five of them looked over at where he had landed and saw an 18 year old boy standing up with light brown hair, dark blue eyes, and softly tanned skin. What caught everyone's attention though was that he was wearing the same blue uniform with four red buttons and long, red scarf as Carlos, Dimitri, and 0014.
"Who the hell are you?" Jet demanded.
"I am 0019;" he replied with a bow. "And you might say that, in a sense, I am 009's shadow."
"Y-you have to be kidding me!" Dimitri exclaimed. "N-N-Nico?! Nico, is that really you?!"
Everyone else looked at the young Russian in shock. "You know him?!" they said.
"Nico Salvai;" Dimitri said. "He was once a prisoner at the Testing Grounds!"
With a smile, Nico put his right arm behind his back, gestured his left arm outward, and with another slight bow, said, "Buongiorno, Dimitri. How's Carlos doing?"
to be continued
Well, plenty of questions answered, so many more brought up; What do 0014's nightmares mean? Who was that boy who was with her? Why wasn't Nico at the Testing Grounds with Carlos and Dimitri? Why didn't they mention anything about Nico before? Where was he all this time? And most importantly, where are the other Shadow Cyborgs? Don't worry, these questions, and possibly more will hopefully be answered soon!