"You ever been on a freighter before?"
"Ummm no…is that a problem?"
With a sigh, the portly red faced man shook his head in disapproval. "You ever even been on a boat before?"
"I went kayaking once…and fell off."
"Look kid, this job can be dangerous. Can't you find a nice job in the city?"
"I've looked; this job pays better then any that I can find in the city. Please, I'll work hard, and I learn quickly."
The Captain put his foot down, face set in a determined but sympathetic expression. "Look David, I understand but we've got better people offering to help out. I don't want to risk lives hiring inexperienced hands."
"Captain Reynolds please, my mom just lost her job, and my sister's pregnant with her second kid. I-we need this money."
"Damn it son." Running an exasperated hand through his thinning hair, the captain shot a murderous glare towards his desk. "David I understand family trouble, I really do, but people will rely on you. You're not trained, and you've never even been on a real ship. I'm sorry, truly, but I can't in good conscious give you the job."
"I understand," Nodding respectfully towards the captain, David turned to leave. "Thank you for your time."
Captain Reynolds nodded towards David as he turned away. Glancing at his desk he spied a nearly empty mug of day old coffee. Against his better judgment he took a swig of the cold liquid, grimacing in distaste. Swirling the murky liquid slowly, the Captain came to a decision. "Wait son," David paused at the doorway glancing back into the Captain's office. "You'll be shadowing Thomas Fanrik, you'll do every damn thing he tells you without question. If you cause any kind of trouble I reserve the right to throw you off of my ship," Extending a hand towards the surprised man the Captain finished, "we have an understanding?"
David felt his shoulders slump in relief. Smiling broadly, he caught the captain's calloused hand in his own, "That we do sir, that we do."
()
After a few minutes the monster-in-white led Theta into a small building, instantly she detected the faint scent of dried blood, pain, and death, a scent she would always associate with the ones who took her humanity. Her initial concerns were not needed; it appeared that the monster was in fact a doctor.
The room was small and dimly lit. The majority of the floor space was taken up by two parallel tables, judging from the stains they were used for surgery. A counter circled the room; various medical supplies were strewn, seemingly haphazardly, across its surface. Several pantries hung from the far wall, no doubt also filled with things of a medical nature. Beneath the pantries lay a large sink, so clean it actually sparkled. Despite the seemingly random and disorganized layout of the room, everything in it was meticulously clean. The room seemed almost tense with anticipation, eagerly awaiting its next patient.
"Set him on the far table, I need a couple of seconds to get ready." The monster-in-white was busily scrubbing his hands under the faucet of the sparkly sink. "If you could hand me the knock out gas please, it's just there, the light blue canister on the counter." Theta set her sister on the ground before, somewhat grudgingly, grabbing the indicated container. A quick sniff of its contents succeeded only in bringing back memories of pain and terror and a short burst of lightheadedness. Shaken, Theta set the canister down on a table next to David's unmoving body.
Still scrubbing its hands furiously the monster glanced at her over its shoulder. "Place the mask over his nose and mouth." Intelligent green eyes followed Theta's movements as the monster calmly watched her actions. "Good, now turn the valve just enough to-." Theta turned the valve slightly, releasing the gas into David's mask. Eyebrow raised the monster gave her an inquisitive look. "Perfect, I take it you've done this before?" Theta shook her head, shoving painful memories aside.
The monster, having finally finished with its hands, ran to the other side of the small room and reached for a pair of rubber gloves. For no reason that Theta could detect, the monster extended his arm for the gloves, stopped, and retracted his arm. Only after going through that motion tree times did it allow itself to grab the gloves. Theta raised an eyebrow at the unexplained odd behavior.
"Doc, can you save him? Please tell me you can save him!" Eyes closing in exasperation, Theta sighed, the she-monster had followed them…wonderful.
"He shoved me out of the line of fire, doc!" No he didn't you idiotic cretin!
"You can't let him die! I still need to thank him for saving me!" How could he have saved you? He was shot in the first second of the fight!
Theta's heated glare towards the irritating entity was interrupted by the sound tearing fabric. The monster-in-white had cut open David's shirt with large pair of scissors and was raising a scalpel. Theta watched with morbid fascination as it cut into David's fragile skin. The smell of fresh blood filled the room slowly, the red liquid trickling slowly down David's bare chest.
"How is he doc? Does he need blood? I can give him blood!"
Sending a withering glare at the she-monster, the monster-in-white paused in its delicate task. "Andrea, shut the hell up! Unless you are trying to distract me with your inane shrieking, you are not helping!"
Suitably cowed, the she-monster responded in a hushed whisper, "Sorry doc, I only wanted to help." Theta didn't bother to contain her arrogant smirk, as, with a final nervous glance in David's direction, the she-monster left.
The process was far faster then Theta had expected, after only a minute the monster pulled the pea sized object out of David's chest. "Your friend is lucky, the bullet missed anything vital. He shouldn't do anything too strenuous for a few days though." After a pause the monster extended its hand, "Here." Theta took the small object from the monster's hand, unsure of what else to do.
Theta's keen eyes studied the unassuming piece of metal. This object, this miniscule piece of metal, held the power of life and death. How could something so small kill someone? Was the human body really so fragile?
Slight discomfort drew her attention to her own injuries. It appeared her body had healed around the bullet she had taken in the shoulder; she could feel it rubbing against bone when she rotated her arm. That was not acceptable; she would remove the foreign object later, once she knew David and her sister were safe.
"-with some Adam to accelerate the healing process." In a flash, Theta caught the monster's wrist, halting the Adam laden syringe an instant before it would have injected its payload. "He doesn't want Adam? Are you sure? It will help him heal." Theta shook her head stubbornly; he wouldn't want it, especially now that he actually understood what it could do to him.
"As you wish…" Despite the cluttered surroundings, the monster found surgical string and a needle with in seconds. With remarkable skill the monster stitched David's wound shut. Its task now complete, the monster turned its attention to Theta, shrewd eyes studying her pale features. "Now if you could lie down in the other table we can deal with your wound."
Sensing her growing alarm, the monster attempted to calm her. "I'm a doctor, it's my job to see when someone's hurt, and to see when someone's trying to hide it." The monster wasn't arrogantly toting its success, quite the opposite in fact. It just leaned against the counter, as far as she could tell it seemed honestly concerned about her wellbeing.
"I know you heal quickly, very quickly in fact, but that doesn't make you immune to injuries. You and I both know that you don't always heal correctly; any Sister who has broken a bone knows that." Theta felt herself beginning to hyperventilate. She wouldn't let the monster hurt her! It was just a trick! It wanted to hurt her like the others did! It just wanted to change her into something else, something even less human!
"That flawed healing isn't restricted to your skeletal system. Any injury you suffer has a chance to heal incorrectly. Nerves can cross and misfire or control the wrong muscles, muscles reconnecting where they don't belong." Theta felt tears begin to flow down her face as she franticly shook her head. She didn't want it. She didn't want it to hurt her. She didn't want it to cut her open, rearrange her insides, inject her with Adam, and take what little humanity she had left.
"I'm a doctor, I've taken an oath. I will not hurt you, I will not hurt anyone. I just want to help; I want to make sure you heal correctly." Why hadn't she realized it before? It wore white like the others; of coarse it would want to hurt her. Not bothering to hide her whimpering, Theta shook her head more forcibly. Please don't. She didn't want to get hurt again. She'd be good, she would! She'd do whatever it wanted! Just don't make her lay on the table!
"Just lay down, I'm trying to help." Nearly beside herself with fear, Theta sat on the table. She stared into the monster's eyes, terrified tear filled gaze silently begging the monster to just leave her alone.
A soft smile spread across the monster's features. "Good, now lay down, this won't take long." Soft sob slipping past her lips, Theta obliged.
"This isn't a serious wound so I'm just going to apply some localized anesthetic. You can watch if you want, I promise I won't hurt you."
"I promise we won't hurt you, we're only going to make you better." The monster's softly uttered attempt at comfort was the last straw; its similarity to that empty promise long ago didn't escape her. Eyes closed in terror; Theta grabbed the mask from its idle location next to David and pressed it to her face, deeply inhaling the scentless gas. If she was going to become a true monster, she didn't want to remember any of it.
More terrified then she had ever been in her short tormented life; Protector M2-Theta let consciousness leave her.
()
Trapped in a horribly familiar room, she screamed.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
Blood flooded her mouth as she bit Papa Suchong.
The gas hadn't done what they said it would, she could still see and hear and feel.
Fists rained savagely down on her unprotected face as undecipherable screams echoed in the confined space.
The first suicide attempt occurred at age 7 during her imprisonment in the room.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
She had vomited twice while trying to eat her socks, the third try she kept them down, it was only an hour before she moved on to the bile.
The knife, as it cut open her belly, hurt more then she had thought was possible.
It wasn't her fault; she just didn't want to drink from the body.
The first time she used a weapon in an attempt to kill herself was after Daddy tried to kill her.
The monster's sightless eyes stared accusingly at her, silently condemning its murderer.
Her life flashed before her eyes as the behemoth brutalized her, she wished that it wouldn't do that, she was already upset enough.
She couldn't move without her skin splitting, it was so dry.
Roaring in fury, Daddy's lance smashed into her face.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
She was so hungry, she didn't think it was possible to be this hungry and not die.
She couldn't move as the wriggling worm was sewn into her body, she could feel every twinge of agony as the needle traveled through her flesh.
The metallic taste of blood flooded her senses as she gulped down the red liquid in great desperate gulps, she was so thirsty.
She lay in the fetal position and cried, even though the tears had stopped coming long ago.
Mammoth boot crushing her chest, all she could do was whimper as the monster loomed over her.
The hands holding her exposed organs were very, very cold.
The first time she used fire in an attempt to kill herself was after the monster violated her.
She stared uncomprehendingly at the closed door, they had do let her out, didn't they?
All she could do was scream and writhe in agony as the laughing monster set her aflame.
Even the feeling of air brushing against her exposed stomach blinded her with pain, and made her miss the knife.
It was only when the rage had left and the blood had dried that Theta realized the monsters had lied; they hadn't made her better they had made her into another monster.
What had she done to deserve this, she must deserve this, right?
She lost count of her suicide attempts in the room; she'd tried and tried until she had been too malnourished to move.
She beat her ruined hands against the unyielding door, ignoring the sound of her bones breaking, they had to let her out, they just had to.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
She had to go with the bad men; they said they would hurt her parents otherwise.
Her vision clouded and her lungs felt like they were going to explode as the hand closed further around her throat.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
Samantha was dead, she had deserved what she got, Theta was a good girl she wouldn't get hurt anymore.
She tried eating herself once, only once, it was too painful, even if she was nearly mad with hunger.
She lay on the ground trembling, torn clothes strewn about the room; she wished the monster had just killed her.
Pinned to the door with an arrow, all she could do was watch and scream as the monster carved intricate designs into her flesh.
She didn't know why she was surprised when her voice left, everything else already had.
Instead of a scream she released a wet wheezing noise as the monster slit her throat.
A scream slipped past her cracked lips as the soulless creature pretending to be a little boy sunk its teeth into her flesh, vacant eyes showing only hunger…an endless all encompassing hunger.
Hung, shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, burned, and electrocuted, she had stopped trying to kill herself after that, it was too hard.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
Defective products are put in storage never to be seen again, she was a defective product.
She was a defective product…and she deserved everything that happened to her.