Chapter 7: Modified Gift
"Solitude, isolation, are painful things and beyond human endurance." ~ Jules Verne
Chris finished reading the note he was given by V and was now more curious than ever about what the soldier was up to. Chris never mentioned where he lived to anyone on Alpha Team, or at least, not that he could remember, so how did they know that this guy would find him? Chris also began to brainstorm ideas of what this modification V had mentioned could possibly be. Glasses maybe, something for Piers' arm perhaps, but then, what could that power unit V took with him be used for?
Even though the note had specifically said to not even try, Chris really wanted to know what this modification of V's was. He began walking back towards V's house and although it isn't something he should do, he felt like spying on him. He walked up to the front door and heard the buzzing noises start up all over again. Chris looked in through the window and could see V wearing his gear from earlier. Sparks were flying all over the place and Chris could barely make out what he was working on but it was obvious that it was some kind of attachment for a weapon or something like that.
Chris decided to ring the doorbell but when he looked back at the door it was slightly open. He really should have knocked but Chris wanted to try and get a look before V knew he was there. That did not work very well; the second Chris so much as touched the door a little bit all the noise he was hearing suddenly stopped. Chris waited a moment, the noise continued, so Chris tried pushing the door open a little slower.
The noise stopped once again, and Chris silently cursed himself for being so stupid. This time, Chris heard the clicking of a gun and the heavy and slow footsteps of the soldier approaching the front door where Chris was standing.
Chris stopped moving and even breathing in the doorway so he hopefully would not get shot on sight. Chris waited with baited breath as the moments seemed to stretch into years before his eyes. Chris had only been expecting the soldier to come out of the room, but instead he threw a flash bang near the door and Chris was momentarily blinded. Chris felt a heavy weight crash into him knocking to the ground, Chris was heavily distorted and he heard some words but couldn't make out what they were. Chris waited for something else to happen but nothing ever did.
It took a few moments for his senses to come back and when they did V was just standing over him and he looked really pissed off at Chris. Chris was nervous and did not move to do anything, just waited for the other soldier to say something. When he finally did Chris did not fail to notice the annoyance in his tone of voice.
"Captain… you do remember that I have a doorbell, right?"
Chris bit his lip before he said something really stupid. Chris figured the truth would be better than nothing in a situation like this. After all, the worst thing that V could do was simply say *no* to him.
"I uh, read the note you gave me and I got a little curious so… I wanted to try and see what it was that you were making since the note said to not even try to ask you. I just kind of figured the second I asked about it you would just tell me to leave." Chris was rubbing the back of his head from where he had hit the ground and got a nervous smile onto his face.
V laughed at Chris and helped him up to his feet before deciding to answer him, although he still had a little bit of annoyance in his voice. While he was watching him Chris noticed how he kept glancing back to the room he had come from. It was pretty obvious that whatever Alpha was getting him to do was something he didn't think was ready to be shown to the Captain.
"Yeah well, I mean the note isn't exactly what I had said to them. They asked me to try and make something for Piers that would hopefully cheer him up and that is how I found out a little bit about him. I obviously needed to ask some questions to kind of get an idea of what I would be doing, although they had no specific thing in mind. Seeing what his arm looked like for myself helped a lot more than what I thought it would have, and I think he will be genuinely happy when he sees what I've been up to. By the way Captain, you haven't uh, mentioned anything about this to him, right?"
Chris didn't really need to think for that question, "No, I just read the note and decided to come over here one more time tonight."
V smirked at Chris, "That's good. Well if you want to know what it is as long as you do not go and tell him what it is, I guess I could let you take a look at what I have so far."
Chris nodded his head in agreement towards V. It might be a secret he is keeping from Piers but hopefully it will turn out to be a good thing in the end. V took him into his workshop area which just happened to be right next to the door and showed him what he had been working on. What he had was not complete by any definition of the word, it was so far just an assortment of attachments but Chris still could not figure out what they were going to be for. Chris and V talked about the *attachments* for a few minutes and after V was confident Chris would not tell Piers anything he bid Chris good night so he could get back to work on his project.
Chris said good night and he walked back out of the house and headed for his home for the last time that night. He walked in through the front door of his house and was surprised that he wasn't greeted by Hope jumping up on him. Chris walked to the back bedroom since he saw the door was still open and found her curled up on the bed next to Piers and was fast asleep and snoring softly.
Piers seemed to still be awake and looking in the direction of the television but his main focus was still on his arm. Chris walked over and gently put his hand on Piers' shoulder. He looked up at Chris at the sudden contact and smiled for the first time that day, and Chris cracked a smile of his own back in response.
Chris, still smiling said, "Hey, it is getting kind of late and you haven't had anything to eat yet. Are you hungry for anything specific Piers?"
Chris watched as Piers pursed his lips in thought for a moment. Thinking of it, Piers must have been hungry. Granted, Chris may not have seen everything in the hospital but he was pretty sure Piers had not eaten anything since China. Chris continued to watch as Piers scratched the side of his head still wondering if he was hungry or not. Finally Piers responded and Chris hoped his cooking skills weren't horrible tonight.
"Uh yeah, uh can you make some kind of pasta? I think that would be good for now."
Chris smiled, "Sure thing Piers I will get it done as soon as I can."
Piers smiled back at him and turned his attention back to his arm. Chris walked out of the room to go get dinner ready. Chris had everything done after about forty-five minutes, because he hadn't been paying attention and burned some of the meat a little too much and almost started a fire. Once he got it all done he took some into the back room where Piers was. Piers was still focused on his arm although not as much. Chris decided to try and lighten to mood and ask him how he was doing.
"So, how is that arm of yours doing Piers?"
Piers rolled his eyes a little bit and smiled, "Same as always I guess, the little bit of movement I had is gone now but it was nice while it lasted."
Chris smiled, "Well at least you got some movement in it though huh? Here's dinner, and I got something to tell you about tomorrow."
Chris set the bowl of pasta in Piers' hands and smiled, although he knew Piers probably could not see it. Chris put the fork in Piers' left hand and let him start eating. Chris sat down on the bed next to him and just watched. Piers may not have realized that Chris was next to him but that was all the more better, it was nice for Chris to be able to just sit there next to Piers and not have to worry about upsetting him in some way. Then out of the blue almost as if he had remembered it out of thin air Piers asked him a question.
Finishing the food that was in his mouth before questioning Chris Piers said, "So, what exactly are we doing tomorrow then Chris… you know how today went."
Chris sighed; he hoped Piers had somehow pushed that to the back of his mind after what happened today. Obviously, Piers had not forgotten but he had not yet gone into a depressive mode like he had earlier in the day so there was still hope that it would not happen. Chris kept a watchful eye on him as he started to respond to Piers.
Piers still had one eyebrow raised at Chris waiting for an answer, "Well, tomorrow Alpha wants to take you down to the base to do some training, that sound ok with you?"
Piers pursed his lips in thought for a moment, "Um, those two guys I saw in the forest… are they going to be there, and that guy from earlier, what about him?"
Chris smiled even bigger when he answered Piers with a *yes* for both questions. Piers' eyes lit up a lot; it was understandable since V had given Piers his first chance of movement with his human arm in quite some time. Chris and Piers just sat there in silence as Piers continued to eat and the television kept playing. After a while Piers was done and Chris took the dishes into the kitchen so they could get washed later on.
Chris walked back to the bedroom and saw Piers lying there, actually watching into the doorway. Chris smiled and moved back onto the bed next to his former sniper. Chris didn't say anything for a few moments, just stared into Piers' face, trying to imprint the image of his infected face into his brain for the rest of his life.
Chris reached around for Piers' mutated shoulder and pulled him in closer, "Hey, you know you mean a lot to me and everyone else right?"
Piers nodded, "Yeah, Captain, it's just… this is really hard and I just don't feel like anyone really cares if I get through this or not."
Chris frowned at the way Piers was thinking, "Piers, I care if you get through this or not. So do a lot of other people. I mean if they didn't care do you really think they would be going through all of this for you Piers?"
Piers yawned and smiled lazily at Chris, "Yeah, I know, you're right Chris. Sorry, it can just really bring me down sometimes you know? Anyway, I'm getting tired, see you in the morning?"
Chris pulled Piers in closer and kissed him on the head, "Yeah, see you in the morning Ace, sweet dreams."
Piers slowly closed his eyes as Chris laid him back down, "Sweet dreams, Captain."
Chris smiled to himself as he saw Piers doze off into a welcome slumber. Chris mused to himself how it would feel good to finally sleep in a bed next to Piers. Chris didn't do that though, he figured it would be refreshing for Piers to sleep in a bed on his own for once since China, and not a hospital bed either those didn't count. Before leaving the room Chris gave Piers another kiss on his head and laughed silently as he murmured something in his sleep.
Walking on out of the room Chris headed to the kitchen to wash the dishes from dinner. Once he cleaned them off he set about making himself a bed on the couch. It wouldn't be the most comfortable of sleeping places but it would suffice. Chris grabbed a pillow and blanket and lied down to go to sleep. However before he was even able to fall asleep Chris heard his phone buzz and picked it up, he had a message from an unknown number.
*Hey, this is V. Sorry got the number from Ares; I think Piers will be really glad to see this stuff tomorrow. Almost done with it and that power unit worked perfectly for it! See you guys in the morning Captain.*
Chris smiled to himself and sent back a simple *thank you* and put his phone back down. It didn't ring again that night, or not that Chris could hear it. Chris drifted off into sleep mere moments after he set down the phone anyway, not realizing how tired he has been with the no sleep and terrible sleep he had since finding Piers. Drifting off into slumber this might be one of the most restful sleeps Chris has ever had.
Chris was running down a hallway as fast as he could but had no idea why. He saw a door up ahead that said *Removals* and he isn't sure why that made him scared. Chris poured on the speed and almost broke the door running through it. Chris turned a few corners and came up to another door to a patient's room, for some reason he felt relieved and started smiling and laughing to himself. He pushed open the door to find Piers and V inside.
V and Piers paid him no attention, it was almost as if he was an invisible bystander, "Alright Piers, get ready I'm going to press a few points and we'll see if it works."
Piers seemed a little nervous when he answered but Chris was momentarily focused on his eyes, they almost seemed normal, "Ok, just be careful with it I guess."
Chris watched as V began his pressing movements along the mutated arm. Chris took one last look at Piers' face. Where the first scars of the infection had been was a darker shade of his skin, like he was wearing a partial mask. His eyes however looked a lot different, one eye looking to be completely back to normal, and Chris had a sneaking suspicion that it had the best vision in the world. The other one was eerily strange, the pupil was a dark purple color and the rest of his eye was a light blue.
Chris turned his attention back to V. He was almost done with the pressure points. Chris started to feel nervous the more and more as V went on with the pressure points. Suddenly when he pressed on the last point Chris' vision turned white from the surge of lightning that arched out of the arm and Chris jolted awake from his sleep.
Chris looked at the clock and it was almost six in the morning. Chris heard a knock at the door and got up to go answer it. He rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes before opening the door and was surprised to see V standing there. V smiled at Chris and shook his hand before Chris had even said anything.
"Everything is ready to go when you guys are! Well, I am anyway. Alpha might not be all there yet but I have my little… gift I guess you would call it in the trunk and I can take you guys there with me whenever you are ready to go."
Chris said thank you and invited V in to stay for a bit since he had just woken up and was not even sure if Piers was awake. Hope didn't seem to be awake yet either but then again the door to the bedroom had been shut when Chris walked out last night so she might just be sitting in there. Chris walked to the back room while V waited on the couch. He opened up the door and got jumped by Hope as soon as it was open enough for her to fit through. Chris fell on the ground laughing as he got blitz attacked with a dog tongue to the face. It took him a moment to get Hope off of him but when he did he saw Piers sitting on the bed looking in his direction. Chris walked in and sat down next to Piers.
"Hey, how are you doing?" Chris said as casually as he could.
"Good, so you are finally awake are you Captain?" Piers was smirking like he knew something Chris didn't.
"Uh yeah… I mean it is only like six in the morning why are you smirking like that?" Chris was getting pretty curious with the mischievous look Piers had on his face.
"Oh no reason… I just set a few of the clocks to a random time because I obviously can't see." Piers gave Chris a lopsided grin and Chris playfully punched him in the shoulder.
"Heh, well anyway, V is here to take us out if you are ready to go."
"Uh, yeah, about that… would you be able to help me take a shower first so I don't like fall down and break my head…" Piers was frowning slightly at Chris and turning a little bit red.
Chris chucked softly to himself, "Yeah Piers of course."
After they were both done getting showered and ready for the day Chris led Piers out into the living room where V was still waiting. V led them out to his vehicle and they got Piers situated in the back and Chris was going to sit up in front but V convinced him to sit back with Piers. V gave Chris a little remote and told him that Piers could use it to play whatever music he might want to hear.
When Chris got into the back of the truck he handed the remote to Piers and explained to him what it was for, thankfully it seemed to be voice activated so Piers could just speak into the remote to have whatever music he wanted to play. Chris was delighted and surprised to hear the music that Piers started playing. Piers had started playing *Somebody's Chelsea* and he was smiling at Chris.
Piers had to hold himself back from laughing, "Captain, would you care to sing with me?"
Chris looked up to the front of the truck towards V but he didn't seem to be paying any attention so he turned back to Piers and said, "Yeah Piers, I would love to."
Chris didn't go along very well at first so he only joined in on certain parts that he knew completely. It was heartwarming to Chris whenever they sang the *I want to be somebody's Chelsea, somebody's world, somebody's day and night* and the *a love story that never has an end* parts, always getting a heartwarming smile from Piers as he leaned in closer to Chris. Once they sang those words for the last time in the song Chris pulled Piers in and gave him a kiss, murmuring to him that he doesn't want their love story to have an ending. At one point Chris saw V look back and give him a thumbs up smiling.
It took them about an hour to drive to the B.S.A.A. base that they were meeting Alpha at. They started unloading and Chris saw V pull out a huge case that looked like it was long enough to hold a rifle in it, and he had several more power units that he slung across his shoulder as well. Chris followed V while he was helping Piers along and they ended up in front of a target practice building. They went inside the door and it was completely empty except for Alpha Team standing there. V walked over and set the stuff down and turned around smiling while the rest of Alpha Team greeted Chris and Piers.
Ares was the first to walk up, smiling bigger than anyone else, "Hey Captain, hey Piers! You guys ready for today?"
Chris smiled, "I think Piers should be ready more than anyone."
Piers perked up at hearing that, "R-ready for what, exactly?"
That is when V spoke up, ushering Chris to bring Piers over, "This is what you should be ready for Mr. Nivans."
V was opening up the case he brought with him and slung off a few of the power cases, keeping one in front of his chest again. Chris mused that it was time for Piers to have some more arm therapy. Chris was surprised, what V pulled out of the case looked like it might have been Piers' old Anti-Materiel rifle but with some modifications. V brought up a chair and motioned for Chris to help Piers sit down on it. V went through the motions of their arm therapy again, shooting lightning off three more times. When he went in to do it a fourth time Chris became quite curious.
"Alright Mr. Nivans, so this time we are going to see if we can get movement in the clawed portion and help you bend it a little bit so get ready for this one."
Piers nodded at him and V slung a power unit in front of him that was twice as big as the other ones. V focused in two places on Piers' arm, four points in each location. The first location was the wrist area near the claw and the second was where Piers' elbow would be at, when the lightning went off it was actually not blue, but a dark purple color which was actually quite amazing to see. V slowly had Piers try and move his arm, and he was able to slightly bend it and open and close the clawed portion fairly well.
V had Chris set up the rifle on a stand so that Piers would be able to use it, and looking at it Chris saw that V had made two detachable triggers, one for a normal hand and one that would accommodate Piers' mutated claw. He also pulled out some goggles and secured them on Piers head, he then slowly slid them down in front of his eyes and after a few seconds he turned a dial on the side. Chris heard Piers gasp.
"M-my eyes… I can see almost perfectly… what did you do with these goggles?"
V chuckled at him, "I got some magnification equipment and used the bio-electricity as like a… improvised power unit to help increase vision, it's kind of hard to explain but bio-electricity can be adapted to help with improvements, such as these goggles and the scope that is on your rifle."
That is when Piers noticed the rifle and he looked over at it with his mouth hanging open. Chris caught a glance at what was below Piers' goggles and saw that his eyes were tinted dark blue, and it seemed like there was less of those root-like object going across his eyes, almost like they were transparent. V took him over to it and pulled the chair up by it, all the while Chris noticed that Alpha was just watching what was happening. Quentin and Ed seemed to be looking in closer than everyone else, probably feeling proud that they were able to help get a soldier like Piers back to the B.S.A.A.
V helped Piers get situated with the rifle and actually had Piers start taking a few practice shots. The recoil was horrible for him but he held it in, probably being helped that they almost had it nailed into place with the stand they were using.
The members of Alpha were happy to see that Piers was getting along good with everything. A few of them had left throughout the time that they were there, they mainly just wanted to be here to say hi and show Piers that people could still do things for him. After about an hour more of shooting Piers was too tired from it all to keep going. At this point the only people left were Chris, V, Piers, and Quentin.
After Piers was done shooting V packed the stuff up and Quentin left since they were all done, but not before giving Piers a pat on his mutated shoulder, wishing him luck. V put the rifle in a case and before he closed it he ejected one of the power units out of the scope it had and started to explain how some of the stuff worked in a little bit more detail.
"Ok, so the scope here works off of the bio-electricity as well. It is tied to your eye's movement while you are looking into it. It can… *sense* for lack of a better term, when you are focusing on something specific and it almost acts as a telescope, it can zoom it further than any other scope you are going to find. As for the goggles, those work off of the power units as well, they can actually help with healing his eyes quicker with the bio-electricity that goes through it. It gives off almost unnoticeable shocks every few seconds aiming it towards the locations that are covered with the C-Virus and helps to speed up its healing properties a lot. As for the two triggers they are detachable, you just need to let me know when they need to be switched out once Piers finally gets his arm back."
Piers and Chris both smiled and shook V's hand. V finished packing up the rifle and slung the power units over his shoulder while he carried the case out to the truck. He set the stuff in the back and got in the driver's seat. He had Chris sit in the back with Piers again while he started driving off. V gave them one last piece of advice before they actually left the base.
"By the way, do not wear those goggles all the time, I'm not really sure what kind of lasting effect it would have getting those shocks twenty four seven, so for now just wear them when you need to go out for something or when you go to sleep, any other time keep them off okay Mr. Nivans?"
Piers shook his head responding with *yes* so quick Chris hadn't even blinked. Chris couldn't blame Piers though, it must be exhilarating for him to finally have his sight back, even if this wasn't a permanent fix, and they still had to wait for the virus to finish its work. Piers picked up the remote again and had *Somebody's Chelsea* play one more time. Chris and Piers spent the rest of the time back to their house singing along together just wishing that it could never end.