I'm going to let you know in advance that there's some violence in this chapter. You've been warned.
As soon as those words left Delalieu's mouth I ordered him to send troops to the area, he told me they were already on route. I now find myself suited up in the back of a tank on the way to the compounds. The air is tense as the four of us - Aaron, Kenji, Adam and I - mentally prepare ourselves. All of a sudden the tank stops, the sounds of gunshots and fighting can be heard from the inside. After a few moments of silence we all stand and begin to exit; Aaron stops me before we climb out by grabbing my wrist.
He leans his forehead against mine and whispers, "Be careful, love."
I kiss him softly on the lips, "You too." Then we're scrambling out of the tank right into the chaos. Blood and bodies are scattered all around the compound, some of the corpses are civilians others are soldiers. A feeling of nausea unexpectedly washes over me, but I quickly shake it off and refocus on the battle. I hear a gunshot and see a bullet bounce off my chest and land at my feet. I lock eyes with the soldier who fired and run towards him. I grab him by the throat and slam him into the ground. He dies on impact. Another soldier bashes into my side, I stumble but quickly recover. He throws a punch but I dodge to the right and kick his legs out from under him. I finish him off by stomping on his throat. I'm up looking for my next victim when I hear it.
"Help!" A woman screams, "Someone please help me!" I look for the source of the noise and spy a frail woman by one of the homes. I immediately make my way towards her.
"What's wrong?" I call to her.
"Oh thank god! It's my kids they need help. Follow me," she then darts around to the back of the house and I follow her without hesitation. As I round the corner I feel a hand close around my wrist and my abilities immediately shut off. I look up at the woman who's now standing in front of a group of Sector 46 soldiers holding a large stack of bills.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, her eyes watery. Before I can react I feel a pinch in my neck and the world fades to black.
The first thing I notice when I come to is that I'm sitting upright, bound to a chair by a series ropes slung around my chest. My eyes flutter open, but quickly close again due to the bright florescent light.
"Give it a minute, you'll get used to it," a vaguely familiar voice says. I slowly lift my head and lock eyes with Stanton who has seated himself in a chair across from me.
"Drink?" He offers as he puts a Styrofoam cup to my lips. I eye him warily but take a gracious sip. I take a moment to study him the way I neglected to the night of the dinner. He is tall, and lanky but his features are sharp. His light grey eyes are piercing and void of emotion. Judging from his perfectly combed hair and freshly pressed suit he seems to be well put together.
"Feel better?" he asks as he places the now empty cup on the floor.
"Not particularly," I respond, suddenly very aware of the ropes digging into my skin.
Believe it or not Juliette," he begins as he fishes a knife out of his pocket, "I want you to be healthy and comfortable here," he says as he slices off my bindings. He grabs my chin and tilts my head up towards his, "You'll have to be for what I have planned."
I jerk my head back as if he's burned me, "And what would that be?" I spit.
"Well phase one of course was to overthrow you, and that step's already complete, so now we're free to move on to phase two," his eyes suddenly take on a crazed and excited look, "It happens to be my favorite."
I can feel the color drain from my face, "What happens in phase two?" I ask.
"I'm glad you asked! This is where you come in my dear, let me get us some food and we can discuss the details." As if on cue a guard comes in carrying two trays of food and hands one to Stanton and the other to me. Stanton continues after the guard has left and closed the door behind him.
"I imagine you want to know what's going to happen to you down the road. As you know I will be the Supreme. At first I thought that everyone would immediately fall to my feet after seeing you fail, but then I realized that I would need a little more oomph to get the people to follow me," a crazed smile spreads over his lips, "It became clear that I needed to incorporate terror. But not just guns or firing squads, no I need something bigger. I then began to think of you and how you toppled the entire Reestablish nearly on your own, only using that magnificent ability of yours. I was jealous at first, you know. I wanted a power like that under my control, but I knew it would never happen. That is until a group of my researchers came to me and assured me that it was a possibility. I didn't believe them at first, but when we captured some people with simple abilities, such as freezing water with their mind, and ran some tests I knew that it was possible."
"What's possible?" I ask already fearing the answer.
"We can take blood samples from individuals, isolate the gene that holds their ability, and implant it within other people. At times it's difficult to force the body to accept the new gene and gain the abilities, and the transition has killed some of our receivers in the past, but it's all worth it. Once we have the science perfected we can mass produce your gene and I can make my army and I invincible. Until we can work out all the kinks you'll be locked in a room with daily visits from a doctor to ensure you stay healthy. We'll be keeping you on our special serum too to keep your powers turned off; we can't expect Matthews to keep a hold on you at all times and we don't want you breaking out now do we?"
My stomach rolls at the end of his speech. The wave of nausea from earlier hits me again, harder this time and I find myself throwing up on the floor in front of me.
"Uh-oh," Stanton tuts as he backs away from the vomit, "That may have been too much for today, I'll send for transportation to the medical bay to get you checked out." Moments later men and women in scrubs are in the room trying to guide me onto a gurney, I push their hands away and fight to escape their grip.
Stanton sighs, "I guess we're going to have to do this again," I feel the familiar pitching sensation in my neck and fall limply onto the stretcher.
When I awaken again I find myself hooked up to various machines. Standing in the room is Stanton and a nurse who appears to be monitoring my vitals.
"Everything looks good sir, no illness to report."
"Good, good," Stanton responds. When he sees that I'm awake his face immediately lights up.
"My day just keeps getting better and better. I thought I was set after capturing you, but after learning this, the plan is fool proof."
"What do you mean?" I asked genuinely confused.
"You mean you don't know? Now instead of one gene factory I'll have two." I stare blankly at him waiting for him to elaborate.
His lips curl up mischievously, "You my dear are pregnant."
Bam! That took a twist. Let me know what you think in the reviews. Next chapter we'll be checking in on Mr. Aaron Warner to see what's going on with him. As always thanks for the support, you guys rock!