A/N: Okay, sorry for the slight delay, I've been quite busy lately. Hope you enjoy the chapter though!

Don't own.

Chapter 9

Benji had to blink several times before realizing he was awake. He began to check on his surroundings. Everything was white (well, almost everything), and he was clearly in a bed. Hospital? Could it be that he was just brought to this hospital after the shooting and being captured and tortured was just some kind of a weird dream? Looked like it. The agent sighed. It had felt so real. Too real. More real than now, actually, because now there was no pain at all.

Just as he thought that, the door opened, letting in a familiar looking man. The agent's heart dropped. It was Mike, just as broken and weak as in the "dream".

"They've let me sit here with you," Mike smiled sheepishly. "I can't run away anyway".

Benji didn't know what to think. He just wanted to cry. It was like in one of his childhood nightmares: everything was odd, out of place, and this weirdness was suffocating him, and there was no way out. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he felt so numb. Numb. He remembered his arm. He tried to move the fingers on his left hand but to no avail. Summoning all his strength he outstretched his right hand to touch his left. Nothing. The feeling of being lost and going crazy was accompanied by fear. What if he would never be able to use it again?

The movement, however, made Mike giggle.

"Man, you look like you're high or something," he chuckled. "What are they giving you?"

That was an interesting question but Benji didn't feel like thinking about it now.

"I can't feel my arm," he complained instead, hoping that he didn't sound as childishly scared as he thought he did. Mike's face sobered up a bit.

"Oh, I'm so sorry…" for a moment there Benji thought he heard the normal, the sane Mike. There was a silence as neither of them knew what to say. When the agent finally opened his mouth he noticed that his friend was wearing that lost expression again.

"So you're a spy?" he asked. Benji didn't answer. "Like James Bond?"

Mike chuckled at the silence.

"What, if you tell me you'll have to kill me or what?"

The glare he received in response made him swallow his tongue. There was a long pause, after which Mike's voice sounded again, completely serious this time.

"Have you ever killed someone?"

The former technician looked at him attentively before redirecting his gaze back to the opposite wall. In his peripheral view he saw his friend nod.

"And how does it feel?"

Benji swallowed, remembering his first kill in Mumbai. He hadn't doubted his actions for a second. And he never regretted them.

"I just try to think of what would have happened if I hadn't done so," he finally mumbled. "Helps me to know I did the right thing".

Finally the main point of the weirdness around started to dawn on the agent.

"Where are we?" he finally asked, as if at last acknowledging that he wasn't sleeping.

"Very good, the thought process seems intact," a voice sounded from the door, and Benji dully recognized its owner as his recent captor. The broken nose looked hideous on his already hideous face. Definitely worth the effort.

"So, Benjamin," the agent hated that voice anyway but hearing it say his name was even more disgusting. "How are you feeling?"

Benji decided not to grace that question with a reply.

"I am assuming you are not in any kind of pain, are you?"

The ex-technician didn't know where this conversation was heading. He grabbed a glass of water from the table beside his bed and froze with it, having pulled it midway to his mouth, staring at it in utter confusion. The Suit Guy grinned.

"Are you thirsty, Benjamin?" he asked.

Benji looked at him, his expression changing from confusion to shock.

"No," he answered, his voice hoarse and low. What was going on with him?...

"And what about your pain?"

The sudden wave of agony nearly made the former technician jump. He gritted his teeth, trying to suppress a yelp and failing.

"What's wrong with him?" Mike's worried voice sounded through the ringing in Benji's ears. It wasn't just the wounds. Everything hurt. Everything was on fire. Every cell of his body was screaming, and his vision was white. He felt he was about to vomit due to sheer pain when he heard "okay, that's enough" and everything stopped. Panting from the recent experience, he opened his eyes. What the hell was going on?

"Okay, from your expression I see you really have no idea what the Anti-God is," the man sounded so self-satisfied that Benji wondered whether a broken nose was enough. Clearly it wasn't.

"You see," he went on explaining, "technology has always been marching forward. New and more advanced devices and gadgets keep being invented. But we all know that the most perfect computer is the human brain. Many years ago Dr. Wickham and I began our research on the matter. Combining the most complex computer in the world and its most complex inventions. We called it the Anti-God because it looked like we were creating a new human. And the best part? The ability of control. And you have just demonstrated it by doing exactly what we have programmed you to do".

Benji looked at him with the mix of disgust, confusion and horror.

"So I can congratulate you. You are now officially part of the Anti-God. Or, more literally, it is part of you. It's in your blood flow, in your brain. I knew that getting into the pain centre was going to be effective, I'm sure you agree".

Benji felt a lump in his throat. He didn't remember ever being so horrified in his life. He would never believe it was possible if he hadn't just experienced what he had. He wanted to fight, to run away but felt too weak to even raise his arm again.

"That's what you did to the other students?" Mike's voice was now serious and accusing. "Where are they?"

"Oh no," the Suit Guy was sickeningly calm. "They just knew too much. Had to be dealt with when I came back and found out about Phillip's mess up. And thank you for helping me find them".

Tears were streaming down Mike's face.

"Which reminds me," their captor looked at him closely. "While Benjamin here gets some much needed rest to restore his abilities, it's time for you to take your medicine".

Mike's yelps and protests were the last thing Benji heard before slipping into the so much appealing unconsciousness.