I don't like the title "Never Say Never" and I would like to change it, but I'm out of ideas.
The person who can give me the best title will win the answer to any question they care to ask, or a look at the next chapter, though I can't tell you the ending.
As soon as she made the decision to visit Alexandra's cell every bit of Lisa's excess energy fell away like snakeskin. Now she knew what had been causing her anxiety, and she did not like it one bit.
She normally had iron control of herself, and the fact that she could not even control her own eagerness scared her a little. I am getting into this too deeply.
†
Lisa walked down to Alexandra's cell instead of hopping on a scooter like she wanted to as an exercise of self-control. She needed the time alone to calm herself and remove herself from the situation as it stood and look at things objectively.
One: She had been attacked by an experimental subject two days ago.
Two: After being released from the medical ward, she had gone down to the cell where the subject was kept, against everyone's advice.
Three: She had entered the cage upon seeing the subject badly bruised and beaten.
Four: When she had tried to comfort the subject, the subject had been overtaken by bloodlust and had bitten her.
Five: After she was bitten, the vampire had tended her wounds, and they had talked, and she had learned that they were called Methuselah rather than vampires, along with the Methuselah's name, Alexandra.
Six: Upon learning that the Methuselah had a husband, she had gone to visit him to acquire the pills that Alexandra needed.
Seven: She was now going to give Alexandra her pills to keep her alive long enough to escape.
Lisa opened the box and counted the number of pills there, twenty. That should be more than enough time for her to rescue Alexandra if she only needed one pill a month, which gave them almost two years. More than enough time.
She walked up to the door which led to the hallway that Alexandra's cell branched off of and stood on the pad to let the security procedures take their course.
"Welcome, Dr. Lisa Moravain."
She walked through the door and waited for it to close behind her, as she always did. These security procedures not only measured things about what she looked like, but also something of her habits—like that she paused and waited for the door to close—not that anyone would ever guess such a small thing, which was probably why they put it in there to begin with.
"Anyone here?" She shouted. Why did I say that, instead of 'is anyone else here'? My brain must be going to use such an old phrase. Must be those 22nd century novels I've taken to reading lately.
She was rather engrossed in her thoughts, so when a voice said, "Welcome, Lisa Moravain, new member," she nearly jumped through the ceiling.
The voice continued, "Please proceed to the control panel, your briefing will await you there."
What the...? Briefing? What do they mean? And who is 'they' anyway? Did I say some secret code or something? She laughed to herself. Oh that'd be the day, I unwittingly say some secret code and get into some kind of super high-security...huh?
She looked at the control panel-slash-info screen, but it was no longer such a panel. She looked at it a bit longer, trying to will it back to normal—or to wake up, either would work. Nothing happened. As she expected.
The screen now had a block of text.
The Creed of the Unleashed
This order was founded to nurture and keep under control those who would learn
about nature and her various gifts. We vow not to attempt to create or destroy, or
to allow those who would to come to a position of power. We vow to hold every
life as equal to every other, and to place no life form above or beneath any other.
We shall not attempt to rule over any life, nor shall we influence those who do. We
vow only to guide, and if necessary, redirect.
We shall stay apart from those we guide, acting as a parent to a child, always near,
but the influence never visible to those who are influenced.
We vow that we shall hold to our ideals and this creed, even through discovery and
punishment; even unto death.
Lisa shuddered violently as she read the text on the screen. "Even unto death." She whispered. What was this that she had gotten into? The document itself looked simple enough; there were no tricks or double meanings as far as she could tell, but for all its simplicity, it was a very foreboding article indeed. In essence, agreeing to this document would be the equivalent of selling her soul; for all that it may have been a creed, it was also a contract, and it was as binding as blood.
She was bewildered, no not bewildered, she was overwhelmed, by the choices before her. She could accept and play along with whatever was going on. She could decline. Or she could accept and turn them in.
She stared at the screen until the print was swallowed up by the white brightness of the screen. The claustrophobia of these choices, the fact that her life could only take one of three paths, threatened to break her.
By following the first, she might have the chance to get access to high-security information, if she was not caught.
The second idea appealed to her, but she could not know what he results would be. Her imagination showed her images of her memories being taken, of someone examining her mind, them finding out about Alexandra and being found later in the slums, of her simply vanishing.
There was no third option; turning them in was pure folly, a group as organized as this would have infiltrated the authorities long ago.
There was no choice at all.
"I accept."
"Welcome Lisa Moravain, Trainee."
A hologram of a pleasant looking man in a formal suit appeared. The shape of his eyes showed he had an Asian ancestor in his family history. He looked rather startled and adjusted his glasses, then he cleared his throat. "Forgive me, but your appearance is different than I expected. I am called Jacob; I suppose you could call me the leader of this organization. I am the elected head of the group called the True workers of the Empire, or TREE. We are the ones who 'watch the watchers,' as it were. We are the people who keep the power between the people and the government in balance."
Lisa's head was spinning with everything that had happened in the last five minutes, but she tried her best to hide it.
"You look confused. Don't worry; we didn't give you the specifics because we wanted to be sure you were with us before telling you anything that could be compromising."
She nodded. "Of course." At least that logic made sense.
"I would like to know one thing. How is it that in the file on you that I was given, it said that you were five-foot-eight, but here you stand at barely five-five?"
Lisa's lips pressed together in irritation, "Did you hack into my medical records to get that data?"
"No." Jacob seemed amused at her reaction. "We gather all our data from people around those we wish to know about. We do not stoop to such methods as breaking and entering, even in cyberspace."
Though his voice held no hint of a threat, it was there. He had not said it, but the word "investigate" echoed behind his statement. She could never know for sure who was part of this, or who would be reporting back to him.
She gave him a sardonic smile, "I believe that your informant forgot to mention that I frequently wear heels. I believe that would account for the discrepancy?"
Her formal speech only served to amuse him further, and he answered equally formally, "Yes, I believe it would."
She stayed silent, waiting for him to lead the conversation.
"I suppose you're curious as to what you will be doing in this organization."
Finally, this was what she was waiting for.
"We need you to keep an eye on subject 2846-61800-5484-973." The number appeared in front of him. "We figured that since you seem to have taken a special interest in that particular subject, it would hardly be a burden for you to continue doing so."
Lisa felt sick. That was Alexandra's number. They know, how could they know, I have been so cautious to disguise what was going on. Her vision seemed to darken slightly, and she felt the first hint of vertigo.
"Miss Moravain, are you feeling alright? I think you need to lie down." Jacob said, worried. He tried to help her into the chair, but his holographic hand passed right through her.
She took his advice and collapsed, nearly missing the chair. Almost immediately, however, she bolted upright again, fresh panic rising over her extreme reaction. There was no way someone as proficient in reading people as Jacob seemed to be could have missed the way she was acting. She stifled her feelings as best she could, even as she felt a scream clawing at her throat, begging for release.
When people used a hologram, they only wrote words when it was something that could not be said aloud, the equivalent of whispering. So when, suddenly, some text appeared in front of Jacob she was somewhat surprised. Don't worry. No one else knows.
How? She mouthed, astonished.
More text appeared. You could say that I have taken a personal interest in this case. "If that is all, I'll let you get to it then."
Lisa, still pale, nodded curtly, understanding perfectly.
***End Chapter 7***
I can't believe it!! Chapter seven done only a day after I got my flashdrive back!! *jumps around screaming for joy*
I was really not expecting this, and I'm dying to see where it goes from here!
I also just read a fic titled, "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" by Darth Stitch and I highly recommend it
I would also like some feedback as to whether I should turn this into an arc, a story on Abel's past, and then a story on his distant future. I'm not sure, let me know what you think!
