Chapter 7
A chill encompasses Edward's body as Emmett places his hands against him; one against his stomach, the other on his shoulder. It's enough to make Edward want to shiver, but he finds himself unable to. It does nothing to numb the pain racking his body as every cough and shift causes another stab of agony from his perforated lung.
Bella, Jacob and Alice stand over the two men, helplessly watching with an assured concern. Bella's hands tremble with fury at Emmett's actions. She wants to hurt him like he unfairly hurt Edward, but now is not the time.
"Just relax," she tells Edward.
Her words are lost in his pain. The chill is gradually replaced with a fierce burning, covering his face and filling his chest. His vision goes white. Beneath the heat, he feels a shift in his chest and the pain begins to fade. As the brightness from his eyesight fades, the faces surrounding him seem brighter. Details clearer. As Emmett removes his hands, Edward feels uniquely recharged and relaxed, as if he had been massaged for hours.
"How do you feel, sir?" Alice asks.
Edward weighs the question. "Really good."
"That's why we go full contact," Emmett says, standing. Bella immediately punches him in the back of his head.
"That was entirely uncalled for," Bella says.
"It proved the point." Emmett says.
"Stab me. Puncture a lung," Jacob says, holding a hand out to the Captain. "Hell of a start."
With Jacob and Bella's help, Edward stands. He sees Colonel Cullen standing near the entrance, dour with crossed arms. Still mentally shaken from the injury and the experience of being supernaturally healed, Edward stares at the floor for some composure.
"Edward," Bella says, drawing his attention, "Want to shoot him?"
God yes, Edward thinks. I want to beat the asshole's brains in. He shakes his head. "We're a team."
Filled with annoyance, Emmett walks away.
"Hey," Edward shouts after him. "I want to talk to you." Emmett begrudgingly stops, allowing Edward to join him.
"Sir?" Emmett growls the word.
With a sudden, whispered rage, Edward speaks. "If you sucker punch me, or any team member, again we'll see just how much you can heal from."
"How so, sir?"
Emmett's cavalier response catches Edward off guard. He tries not to show it while thinking of the most gruesome thing he can imagine. "I'll have you fucking drawn and quartered."
"That's a new one. Dark." Emmett smiles. "I like it."
"Captain Masen," Colonel Cullen calls.
Edward glares at Emmett a moment longer before responding. "Sir."
"You've met your team."
Stoically, Edward turns and heads towards the superior officer. Oh shit, he thinks, did I mess up? Am I not authorized to fight them? Bella smiles as he passes, a gesture he returns. Edward falls instep behind Colonel Cullen as he pushes open the doors and they leave the Pen.
The gray hallway is claustrophobic after exiting the massive training room. Their steps echo loudly against the tile, each one making Edward uneasier as the Colonel remains speechless.
They enter Colonel Cullen's office, brightly lit and heavily decorated with a broad assortment of items representing a range of cultures. The walls are painted a bright shade of blue, complimenting the golden wood furniture. The shelves behind the desk, filled with books and binders, house pictures of a young Carlisle with various heads of state. The Colonel reaches into a drawer and pulls out a small towel. He opens a side door and motions Edward inside.
"Clean off that blood."
Lost in the euphoric sensation, Edward remembers that the healings don't make blood disappear. He follows the Colonel's order and finds himself in a small bathroom. Looking in the mirror he looks ghastly. Claw-mark patterns of blood cover his neck and cheek while thick, caked crimson covers his mouth and jaw.
Colonel Cullen sits behind the desk, reading a thick, worn book, when Edward returns. Edward holds the damp cloth up, inquisitively.
"Toss it," the Colonel says, "and have a seat."
Edward finds the trash can in the corner, sits, and waits for the Colonel to speak again. After an uneasy silence, Colonel Cullen marks his page, sets the book down and focuses on Edward.
"You should have put up a better fight," the Colonel says, flatly.
"I wasn't planning to fight today."
"You wanted to meet your team."
"I'm glad I did."
"You're lucky they didn't kill you."
"Emmett healed me, sir."
The comment gives Colonel Cullen pause. He turns and pulls a file from a shelf. "You trust them?"
Edward's eyes narrow. "They're my team. My life depends on it."
The Colonel opens the file in front of Edward. The official photo, decades old, of a man in his twenties, dressed in a khaki dress uniform stares back. Stamped in faded black ink across the document behind the photo is the word, DECEASED.
"What is this?" Edward asks the question before reading anything else.
"An outcome, Captain."
"What is the point of this, sir? Why am I here?" Edward sits back in the chair, incredulously.
"To lead Gamma Team."
It's not the answer Edward wants. "Then why am I not with my team? Why am I in your office?"
"He was a good guy," the Colonel says, pointing at the picture. "His team killed him."
The accusation comes across so matter-of-factly Edward finds it unnerving. "Why?"
"Do you trust your team?"
"Should I?"
Colonel Cullen doesn't answer.
"I have to ask, sir. What is the point of a team leader?"
"To lead the team."
"You've said that already, sir." It's a pointed response that Edward knows may cross a line, but his desire for answers has taken over.
"Captain Michael Newton's death at the hands of his team in the '52 altered the role of humans involved with the Lilim Division. Especially leaders in the field." The Colonel pulls a small wooden box from a drawer under his desk and places it on top of the dead man's photo. "The Division realized that, because of the creatures' immense power, we didn't need to manage them tightly. We just needed to hold the leash."
"What do you mean, 'hold the leash?'"
"You don't send a pack of vicious pit-bulls out on the street without someone walking them. That is your job."
"Is that really necessary, sir?"
"Yes," Colonel Cullen says quickly. "We can't trust them to control themselves or each other. We, humans, can only trust other humans."
"But they're part-human, sir."
"No. Agent Eliz was human, but not for decades."
Edward hides his surprise at Bella's age. "Then what's their incentive?"
"They have different reasons for initially joining, but at that point," he places a hand gingerly on the box, "they accept our policy."
"What is that?"
"This is your primary function. The Kill Switch."
Processing the statement, Edward's face tightens. Disbelief and frustration leave him speechless.
The Colonel continues. "The Lilim Division requires trustworthy, dutiful humans to travel with their team to observe and make the necessary decision when it is believed the mission is compromised or an agent is going rogue."
"Do they know this?"
"All Lilim Division creatures are implanted with a unique, high-yield explosive that has been modified to have a limited blast-radius. It also acts as a GPS for you when you are issued your switch."
"I can't believe they willingly fight under those circumstances," Edward says, impulsively.
"They're monsters. This allows them to at least be of some use exercising their abilities."
Objections flood Edward's mind. His responsibility, the team, the Colonel's attitude, all of it muddles together in confused indignation and patriotic duty.
"I recognize the difficulty in this," Colonel Cullen says with dry sympathy. "I recommend you develop a firm detachment from your team."
"That's not really how you lead, sir."
"You have seen their capabilities. Even when you are given your ARMS, a human cannot compete with them physically."
"ARMS?"
"It's an exo-skeletal suit designed to assist humans in the field. You'll begin training with it within the month."
A sick sensation comes sweeps over Edward. There was an expectation that dealing with his supernatural team members would require a different mindset, but the Colonel's guidance and the revelation of the Kill Switch feels wrong.
When Edward has no other questions, Colonel Cullen speaks. "I have immense confidence in you, Captain." He pulls a set of keys from his pocket and hands them to Edward. "Head to your new home. Relax. Take a couple of days to process this. When you come back, you'll start reading up on the team and the sort of creatures you'll be facing."
Edward takes the keys, resigned to follow the order.
Using the implanted radio below his ear, the Colonel calls Alice. "She'll confiscate your identification, then you can leave."
"Yes, sir." Edward stands, briefly comes to the position of attention and exits. Alice meets him in the hallway.
"I'll take that, sir," Alice says, trading him his old wallet for a new one. Her smile fades, recognizing team leader's faces after the kill switch conversation. Silently, she escorts him into the lobby. "Sir?"
For a moment, Edward doesn't know how to address her. "Yes, Agent?"
"I don't know what Colonel Cullen says to new team leaders, but he never calls us by our names."
Edward, not feeling a desire to talk, shakes his head.
"Please, call me Alice. Call all of us by our real names." Her request is genuine. "Don't do what he does."
It makes Edward smile. "Okay."
Alice grins shyly. "When will you be back?"
"Couple of days."
"Until then, sir."
Edward returns her wave as the elevator doors close.
The events of the day swirl in his mind as the elevator rises. The fight with Bella, Emmett healing him, the talk with the Colonel, every moment melds into the next. He feels his neck tense with every thought. He presses his palm against his eye.
I need a drink, he thinks as he leaves the facility into the dusk.