Chapter 9

Dolos

"There is nothing left but the desecration of the soul."

Dallas sat in the office adjacent to the laboratory, overlooking the scans from the device connected to Martin's head. He was frustrated; for the last four hours, the device couldn't connect to the chip inside his head. He wondered if the device was a dud or if the chip had been damaged. Although the discomfort the machine brought Martin pleased him greatly.

It was fortunate that Madz was unable to remove the chip back on Omega. They had learned that the chip would fry itself if removed manually. The supposed data on that chip was considered priceless if the Illusive man was to be believed, although no one knew what data it contained.

Martin stared at the ceiling, restrained on the table. The feeling returned to his body a short time ago. For the last four hours, his mind burned as he resisted the device attached to his skull. He thought about just allowing the machine to do its job so Cerberus would leave him alone or kill him. But his stubborn defiance was a message to Dallas.

He was exhausted and somewhat delirious from the pain he had experienced. Martin tried to rest, preparing for when the next attempt would start. He had to buy time. Hopefully, someone would find him soon. The door to his left opened, and he prepared himself for the coming torture. A figure moved into view and stopped a few feet from the table. Martin looked up at the man now standing over him. He looked familiar yet different. "Williams. Greg, what the hell?" He couldn't believe who was standing over him. Maybe a figure of his imagination?

The man grabbed a chair from the room's wall, slid it over, and sat down while making a pained noise as he sat. "They got you too?" Martin asked. Williams smiled and dropped his head, "Kind of."

"What do you mean, kind of?" Something was off; then again, who had he met from his past were who he thought they were? "It's a long story, but you shouldn't be here" He paused momentarily, "None of us should," Martin replied.

Williams smiled, "Yeah, I guess I know what you mean."

"Greg, you gotta get me out of here; these people are nuts!" Williams' smile faded, and he dropped his head. "I can't do that right now. You wouldn't survive; there are too many people watching."

Williams stood up slowly with another pained noise. That's when he realized just how sickly he looked. "What did they do to you?" He asked as Williams headed to the door. He stopped a few feet from the door and leaned on the table. "They killed me."

It had been two weeks since Dallas captured Martin and returned him to the Lab on Elysium. Although pleased with Dallas' handling of the situation, Sören was frustrated that he couldn't get the data. All of their attempts had failed, and the Illusive man was annoyed by their progress. It also appeared that someone else was after the data. Dallas had reported several ships stalking the freighter as it returned, not to mention a few break-in attempts on the facility in the last few days.

Sören had sent the device away to be looked over by his engineers two days ago while the scientist watched over Martin under heavy guard. Dallas often paced around the lab like a hyena waiting for its prey to weaken. Waiting for his chance to sink his blade into Martin. Sören forced him away several times. He couldn't trust him enough not to kill him.

Sören stood by a window overlooking the Lab, waiting patiently for the device to return from the engineers. The door to the observation room split open as Dallas entered the room. "I hope you have good news." Soren greeted. Dallas walked to the window by his side and looked down at the Lab's floor. "The device was sabotaged; I've already dealt with the saboteur."

Sören smiled and placed his hand on Dallas' shoulder for a moment, "This will all be over soon, and then we can focus on the future." Dallas leaned forward onto the bar in front of him; Sören noticed something was wrong; he seemed troubled. "I would have thought you'd be more excited about this."

"I just had to arrest the only friend I had left; you'll excuse me if I'm not enthusiastic about this. How many more lives have to be destroyed because this monster wants to live?" Sören nodded in silence, understanding the mission thus far might have taken its toll on him. The Batarian attack on his ship in the traverse, the assault he led on the Batarian slave cruiser, and being humiliated at the loss of Madz, his crew, and his life on Omega. "I'm sorry about Williams."

"Don't; he made his own choices. I just hope this data is worth it." Soren ordered Martin to be awakened. Dallas headed out the door. Sören followed close behind but began walking toward the Containment cells. "You don't want to watch?" Sören asked. "Later, I'm going to find some answers." Soon a technician came into the Lab and handed one of the scientists the device. Soren gave the go-ahead to begin; however, they would have to wait until the drugs wore off.

Williams sat in the empty cell, cold and tired. He hadn't been given his daily medication and was feeling weak. He didn't give in to the hope of living or being rescued; Williams didn't care.

He saw a shadow across the window, and the door split open. Dallas stood in front of the glass door. He smiled but did not acknowledge him. "After everything I did to convince Sören and the Illusive man to keep you around, you do this and make me look like a fool?" William's smile faded, but he kept his head down, staring at the wall before him. Dallas clenched his fists, stormed over to Williams, and slapped him. Williams sat unmoved but angry like an abused child. "I want some goddamn answers!" Dallas screamed. Neither moved for a few moments; the sounds of the facility's machinery hummed around them. "You were always the idiot Dallas, but you could never see it."

"What?"

"Everyone around you has played you. The only person that didn't, you betrayed." Dallas' face turned red as Williams attempted to pull himself up on his feet. Dallas was taken aback by this tone. Williams was always joking or quiet; he had never heard him use this inflection.

"When I found Martin's body, I called the Shadow Broker and the Batarians. I knew the others from Project Titan were on your ship; I had hoped between the two, they'd kill everyone. I led you to Omega when Martin arrived; I hoped you would start enough shit that Aria would end you both. When that failed, I led him to Elyisum and set him up to find you. I prayed he'd end you all."

"Why!?" Dallas' rage turned to confusion; he couldn't comprehend. "We're just playthings to them." Williams paused and looked down at his hands. "Look at what they did to me. I'm not even alive!" Williams' voice turned to a panic. Dallas stepped back from him, the rage began to resurface, "You killed everyone because you're sick?"

"I died; I'm a fucking clone!" The room was overtaken by silence as Dallas stared at the face of his once friend. Williams grabbed his hair and frantically pointed to his head. "I'm not real; these memories aren't mine!" Dallas stood unmoving; he had the same doubts when he woke up, but this was something different.

"I saw my pod on Mars. I was still in it, but… I died when they tried to bring me out. I was the first. I saw what they were doing to us. We needed to die; it was the only way to stop them."

"Stop what? I don't understand!" Williams ignored his yelling and leaned against the wall. His legs became weak from his condition. "Dallas, they are controlling you. Do you think Martin was the only one that had a control chip? I disabled mine and managed to sabotage Martin's, but they still have control of yours."

"Bullshit!" Dallas drew his pistol and pointed it at Williams. "You're full of shit," Dallas growled while turning the safety off. Williams turned away slightly from the sight of the pistol. He may have been a clone, but he still felt fear. "The next time you're around Soren, try to shoot him; you won't be able to pull the trigger."

Dallas' mind was in a fury of emotions. Betrayed by his friend, and now possibly Cerberus, had all of this been a lie? The thought of not being in control was too much. He looked into the somewhat fearful but defiant eyes of the thing in front of him. He wouldn't let doubt get in his way; he squeezed the trigger.

He walked out of the room and wiped the blood from his face. He took a moment to process his thoughts and looked down at his hands. A panicked feeling rushed over him. The idea of not being himself and being controlled disturbed him. The thought began to overwhelm every other feeling he had. Dallas tried to calm himself as he made his way to the lab. When he arrived, Sören had already left for his office to wait for the results.

Dallas stood just outside the door and gathered himself. He tapped the button, and the door split open. He took two steps in and stopped. Sören looked up from the console on the desk. "I assume everything has been handled?"

"Almost," Dallas responded. Sören's eyebrows dropped flat across his face. "Is there something wrong?"

Dallas drew his pistol and pointed it at him. "Dallas… explain."

"What did you do to Williams?" Dallas hesitated to pull the trigger but did not know if it was his own failing or the control chip. His mind bounced around his doubt and his duty.

"We didn't do anything to Williams," Sören responded, seeming unfazed by the gun pointed at him. "Bullshit, I know he was a clone!"

Sören leaned back in his chair. "Did he tell you that? If he genuinely believed that, he was sorely mistaken." He stood up from his chair, confronted Dallas, and stopped at the end of his pistol. "He was sick, delirious, and facing the end. Obviously had a misplaced grudge against us for his predicament. I assure you, we had nothing to do with his illness."

Dallas slowly dropped his aim, unable to shake his jumbled thoughts. He couldn't know who was telling the truth. As his rage quieted, Soren noticed his blank troubled expression.

Sören took to his side and escorted him to the lab. "We all deserve some rest after this."

They watched from the foot of the table. Martin lay restrained, unable to move, still defiant with every action. "The device had been connected to the chip."

His muscles tensed as the device made contact with the chip. Dallas saw the pained expression on Martin's face.

A voice came in over the radio to Dallas and Sören. "Security Team three to checkpoint five, No response from five for last call in." Sören looked at Dallas and nodded, as Dallas then turned and exited the room. He quickly turned his attention back to Martin and the scientists.

"Are we ready to begin?" The balding scientist turned around from his console, "The device has been connected, and we have confirmation that it has linked with the chip." The sounds of muffled gunfire rang throughout the Lab, and vibrations from several small explosions were felt. "Start now, Doctor; we appear to be out of time."

The scientist turned back around and started the device. It began to mine the data. Martin's muscles tensed, and his eyes shot open. His back began to arch as if he was being electrocuted. Flashes of light ran through Martin's mind. He lost all control of his body as a warm feeling began pulsing.

Martin's mind disconnected from his body as the flashes of light morphed into cloudy pictures and sounds. Soon the pictures turned into visions, memories.

Back in the lab, Sören had rushed to a locker on the far side of the room and gathered a rifle. The sounds coming from deeper in the facility grew more frequent and louder. He moved a few unoccupied tables around for cover against the door Dallas had exited.

A large explosion shook the room, and for a moment, the power flickered. The scientist paused and waited for his console to reset. He then turned back to the table to reset the device. The table was empty. "Sören!"

He turned away from the door to see. Sören, now enraged, immediately called over the facility's PA system. "Code black, I repeat, code black!"

Martin had managed to muster the strength to quickly leave the room and headed down the hall. His joints and muscles ached from being stuck and restrained for so long. His head burned from their prodding. The memories it downloaded into his brain weren't his. They still flashed, making it hard to navigate the halls.

The sounds and vibrations of combat made concentrating even harder for him. He continued down the corridors leaning on the wall for support. He didn't know where he was heading. Anywhere was better than back in the lab. The sight and sounds of a black armored squad rushing past his view snapped the flashes out of his mind.

Dallas rushed down the hall towards the decontamination area, hoping to cut off the rest of the reinforcements. He had stopped the first three squads from entering the lab but needed to ensure no one else could enter the building. There were three checkpoints he'd have to clear.

He rounded the corner to the first checkpoint and walked to the window. Martin stood locked in the room as it ran its Decontamination cycle.

Dallas stood at the window, staring at his prey. "You just don't know how to die, do you?" Martin quickly turned around, realizing who was behind him. "No, but you do."

Dallas' heart began pumping harder, and his chest grew warmer. "I'm growing tired of these cat-and-mouse games."

Martin hovered his hand over the door's opening mechanism. "That makes two of us."

"Decontamination is complete." The VI voice announced as both doors unlocked. At nearly the same time, both Dallas and Martin opened their doors and quickly dashed through them. Dallas quickly raised his weapon and attempted to shoot him in the back as he rounded the door but missed by a hair. Both doors shut again, this time trapping Dallas inside. Martin took off down the hall to the next checkpoint as Dallas attempted to force the chamber to stop its process.

The door finally opened, and Dallas sprinted to the second checkpoint. Again Martin was inside waiting. Dallas attempted to override the door controls. "I still don't understand how you can work with Cerberus. Not after what they've done to us. Especially to Williams."

Dallas paused, "They made us better!" He began pacing the window between them. His own statement seemed to rattle him. He wasn't sure if he even believed it.

"Better? Is that what they told you? The control chips, the cloning, the surgeries?" Martin protested. "I saw everything. That chip showed me everything they did to us!"

Dallas pounded on the window in anger. "All of it made us stronger!"

Martin stood hovering over the door release. "For what? To become their puppets?"

Dallas stood in front of the door and waited for the cycle to end. Again both doors split open; Dallas rushed through, catching the second door, and tripped the safety sensor as he, in a complete rage, forced himself through the half-opened door.

Martin quickly ran for the last checkpoint. Dallas aimed and shot him in the lower leg, forcing him to slide across the floor. He then crawled into the third checkpoint.

Dallas ran to the checkpoint's window and saw Martin on the floor bleeding from his wound. "You want to talk about being a puppet! Take a look in the mirror! Williams was playing you the whole time, and now look at you! Pathetic! What have you done since waking?" Dallas watched Martin drag himself to the second door and pull himself up. He left a blood trail on the floor and the wall, smearing it all over the white walls.

"How many people have you murdered just to live?" He paused and paced again. "Just like the war. You could have just surrendered. Instead, you took everyone down with you."

"Oh yeah, sure." Martin began breathing heavily as he ripped his shirt under his hoodie to make a bandage for his leg. "I should have just negotiated with the bullets as they came screaming at us." Martin tried to pack his wound as much as possible before wrapping it. "You've always been an idiot. I'm surprised Cerberus hasn't put you down yet.

"Better an idiot than a monster!" The last set of doors opened. Martin quickly ripped the door console off the wall before falling out of the door. The door slammed shut, and the security system tripped, forcing the door to lock. He lay on the floor catching his breath while Dallas pounded on the door screaming at the top of his lungs.

Martin slowly stood up and began limping to the end of the hall. A man wearing a lab uniform was hunched against the wall, bleeding from gunshot wounds. He approached the man slowly; he looked close to death and could only muster the strength to place his arm on Martin's as he searched his pockets. Martin found his security pass and stood back up. Without hesitation, he headed again down the hallway.

The building was on lockdown, and the security card didn't work on the front exit. He did manage to find an escape hatch in the security room. He had to climb up a ladder that seemed to go on forever.

Martin made it to the top and pushed the hatch door open. The cold wind greeted him as he climbed into the snow and attempted to limp away. The blinding snow made it hard to see as his eyes tried to adjust. He was exhausted and hurt. Without his combat suit, the cold air ripped through the thin layers he wore. Martin felt like he had come back full circle from when he first woke up. Cold, in pain, unable to see.

After a few minutes, his eyes adjusted enough for him to see the silhouette of a city, and he headed toward it. He shuffled his feet in the snow before catching the hill's edge and losing his balance. He rolled down the hill and slid into a half-plowed road. He lay there for several minutes, dizzy and shaken. His hands now going numb from the contact with the snow. He lifted himself up, hearing the sounds of a vehicle heading towards him. The truck pulled up alongside him as the window on the door winded down.

"You alright?" The old white-bearded man asked. Martin tried to stand up straight but could only muster a pained slouch. He must have looked ridiculous, covered in snow, limping around. "Kinda; you think you can give me a lift into town?" The old man didn't hesitate, "Sure, hop in."

Sören returned to the lab once the intruders were taken care of. They almost lost the entire facility. Dallas quietly entered the lab behind Sören, unsure what to tell him.

He stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by a few dead bodies in black armor. Sören quickly saw Dallas, "Do you know who these people are?"

Dallas shook his head, keeping quiet, ashamed of his failure. "They're Shadow Broker agents." Sören walked to the now-dead scientist's console and reviewed the data they obtained from their chip scan. "One fucking file." Sören lamented.

He opened it, and it began to play. They both immediately recognized the voice that was playing.

"If you are seeing this message, then everything should have gone as planned. I have to ask, how much time have you wasted scurrying around to get this? How many credits were wasted? How many lives have you lost? I may not be able to destroy all of Cerberus, but I can at least stop one project. I can correct one foul note in this symphony." The voice paused and sounded shaken.

"I saw something I wasn't supposed to. I saw the experiments for Project Titan. I saw hundreds of people suffer horrors not thought possible. I watched them be injected with unknown fluids, only to wither and die from mutations, cancers, tumors, and organs bursting from stress. I've seen some literally go insane. All sacrificed so we could live. I've seen what they did to them, to me. I'll see you all in hell."

Soren stepped away from the console and turned to Dallas. He paused for a few seconds, "This is your fuck up. Fix it!" Dallas quickly turned for the exit leaving Soren alone in the darkened and ransacked Lab. He walked over the bodies and broken glass to return to his office. He needed to make a call; however, it was a call he was fearful of making.