Author's Note: Science was the enemy of this chapter. Much research was put into making this what it was. So I apologize if some facts or not quite correct. Reviews are greatly appreciated.

Chapter Five: Plasma

Marla watched the pills swirl around the toilet evading her gaze.

The woman stared at the empty containers on the ledge of the sink noting how barren her medicine cabinet had become. She was finally free. Months of hard work at keeping her body regulated were bubbling away in the sewers of London. Despite finally having the courage to toss her pills away she hadn't been taking them as she used to. She steadied herself against the toilet almost crumbling to her knees as she felt the unsteadiness. Her dizziness was a result of her fear, her shadow of death was looming closer.

She would be free from that soon, perhaps in death. The young woman would no longer feel nauseous at every turn. She would no longer need to rest constantly. Her head would no longer be spinning. Marla McGivers would have her senses back in every way. She'd be the best self she could be.

Still the thought nagged her, the uneasy feeling that these body changing medications were saving her life. She knew they had been helping her, despite feeling worse from the medication then actually reacting to the radiation poisoning. She hadn't really been all too affected by the poisoning beside her lack of appetite, sensitive skin, and loss of hair. She tried hard not to recall the images of her blotchy skinned mother attempting to speak as she died.

Marla shut her eyes trying to think of anything else, but her mortality. Yes, she understood without the medicine she would die, but her instability was to affect her work with Harrison. She wanted to be a part of the restoration of several unique 20th century weapons. Her hands could not be shaking when she held these dangerous things. She couldn't need to sit when there was work to be done, things to discover. Despite the fact that she had been sent there merely for Marcus to see Harrison's savagery she wasn't about to waste an opportunity. Her life was ending after all.

Her hands smoothed the porcelain toilet before she was ready to get herself up. Marla found her center ready to get back to her work. Section 31 was calling her. Weeks had gone by since her first working interaction with Harrison. She had continued to assist the man unharmed. The weapons, as they were finished, soon began to disappear. She had hoped she had proved acceptable at assembling the rarities Harrison found in his care.

The doctor was very observant of the way the augment quickly handled his weapons. The phasers were taken apart and put back together with ease. His fingers danced across buttons and wires working to make the fixtures click together. He never fired them. He simply put them aside letting his eyes shift from one instrument to the next. It was incredibly fascinating to watch. The man was like a machine in his hard pressed movements. She wondered if the motivation the admiral created had even played a factor or if he was simply bidding his time waiting for a good moment to attack.

Marla knew from her research the augments were known for their patience. They observed and sought out a deep seeded weakness in their enemies and only when they saw that glimmer of uneasiness in those they deemed unworthy they would cut them straight through. She wondered if Harrison was willing to see her weakness now that he had promised to not harm her. So far the man had been good to his word.

She wasn't quite sure what she was looking at by the dimming lights in the work room. She would have complained to Marcus about it if he hadn't gone back to headquarters. She couldn't seem to find anyone willing to talk to her these days, at least in Starfleet. As she approached the middle of the room her eyes widened.

"Is that -?" Her pace quickened as she asked.

Harrison was off in another corner with his blueprints again. Marcus seemed to have tasked the man with focusing on designs while Marla was there to restore the old into the new. The plasma cannon mounted on the long table was what Marla's eyes became fixated on. The large equipment took up the whole space. Marla was amazed by its condition. She hadn't seen one up close. They were supposedly all destroyed long ago after the Eugeneic Wars. They had been used on smaller starships, but the augments had ripped them off and modified them to their liking. Truly the weapon was a beautiful sight.

"The core is missing." Harrison said aimlessly. "I'm told there are no replacements."

It was common in those types of weapons. They were made so quickly to be so light that often the interior would leak causing a lack of pressure and therefore a lack of damage. Marla also knew what had been put into this weapon was no longer still around. She mused over the black outer area noting the details on its structure. The weapon was rare to find. Marla had only seen one in scarce footage of an early Augment escaping from the German base, the first of the rebellion of the super men. That footage had been blurry at best.

"No," The red head agreed shifting in gray work pants. "It's a shame too. They made such pretty green colors." She was about to wonder what to do with the thing when she had something pop into her head. "Commander Harrison?" It was the first time in a long time she had properly addressed him.

His head peeked up from his work. A pen was still in his hand. She noted he liked to work with his hands. She had always imagined his kind did. Marla could see Harrison was a bit numb to her appearance by now. She had never been a problem to his work, but Marla was seeing in that moment that she perhaps had picked the wrong time to speak up.

"The hull of your torpedo. The one that is impervious to sensors."

"No." He said it before she could finish.

"You didn't let me –"

"No, Dr. McGivers you cannot use my design to make the canons inner layer able to hold the leak of energy to convert the core." He said not looking up her. Harrison's voice replied with such clarity it almost frightened her. She could hear his voice echo against the walls.

"But, Sir, this weapon," She had thought he would interrupt her, but Marla quickly saw his eyes were looking at her from under his brow, annoyed, but still willing to listen. "If we only restore one we can show Marcus how efficient they can be." She turned from him looking to the weapon running her finger over it as if it were her pet. "I'd like to see her fire." She felt utterly like her father in that moment, crazy about shooting off one weapon or another.

"Just the one." Harrison stated. "You rebuild just this one. The rest of the material is mine." Marla nodded quite suddenly as Harrison began to roll up his plans. Slowly she saw his face no longer become ridged, but instead cast a hint of joy. "I'd like to see it for myself as well Lieutenant." She could see his eyes become like hers as he approached the canon. "It's been a long time since I've seen a weapon like this," He grabbed the thing with one hand tilted it upward and toward him with ease. "Create such beautiful chaos."

Marla marveled at the ease he had with such a dangerous weapon before he slowly put it down. He turned to her with a gravity to his eyes. She swallowed slowly expecting to cough, but it didn't come out. She felt relief and fear mixed together. Harrison took a steady step toward her, his chest an inch or so from her shoulder. He leaned downward popping the top of the canon.

"It would be best if you got to work," His breath was saturated with a mix of hot air and sharp words. "Doctor."

It took Marla days to work on it. She found Harrison to work on his designs more often than he paid attention to her details. Still she caught him glancing at her hands running along the interior checking the under belly for imperfections. Marla knew it had to be perfect. Everything had to be right in order to contain the radiation. She closed her eyes when she thought about the pulsing rays eliminating their enemy through a burning fiery sensation of radioactive material. The red would suit the weapon better. She made the interior well. She crafted the canon finely with the steadiest of touches.

Marla wondered if the restoration should have taken her nearly as long as it did. She was glad her hands were steady. She was glad to wear her gloves as she rewired parts and fashioned metal to the shattered inside. Harrison continued creating plans and designs for Marcus. The writings and drawings didn't concern her at all. She was more interested in the weapons. Soon it became clear to Marla that her talents were for that reason only. Marcus needed weapons from the past, but he also needed a mind worthy of creating high technology for the future. Harrison was his man on that.

Ten days into the project was when the canon clicked for the first time.

"Oh!" Marla raised her hand in alarm as the inside suddenly hummed red. The insides were glowing. She could feel her heart racing watching the canon buzz. She snapped the container closed letting the humming dull and a snap echo.

There it was.

"Done." The word was a whisper of relief.

Marla McGivers suddenly needed the piece in her hands. Her strength was minimal, but she did not care. Her attempt to pick the canon up was successful for about a moment or two before the heavy lower half started to teeter. Harrison had been making his way over in time to level the canon. He ran his thumb over the wide firing canister. He observed it closing listening softly to the hum. She could have sworn his low voice was mimicking the sound.

"A suitable job, Lieutenant." He acknowledged quietly. His fingers ran over the weapon with a similar edge to his touch as the self-proclaimed weapons expert. His eyes then focused on the trigger. Marla's boney fingers were ghosting it. She watched his slow smile at her anticipation. "I doubt the admiral will let you witness the destruction she creates." Slowly he lifted the weapon from her hands placing it with a firm easiness on the table.

"I've," She paused before speaking again. Her eyes were glued to the weapon, so beautiful and raw, a mix of her creation and the augments' invention. "Seen it fired once before." She soon corrected herself looking to Harrison to explain. "Well actually thousands of times. There is rare footage of the wars, but the first breakout has the plasma canons featured." She could see the blurred image of the blonde man running in her mind. He swept the weapon against doctors before blasting guards in the distance. It was a remarkable use of combat and weaponry combined into one.

"Armon was a fool." She saw Harrison's disgust as he spoke through tight lips. "He did not survive long after that."

"Four months I believe." Marla confirmed recalling the records. "The first augment to break free and the first to die. He ran on shear will force and power. A dangerous combination without thought." She watched his expression. He seemed relieved by her statements.

"The Germans have always been cruel in history." He broke his contact with her admiring the weapon once more. "However the Durcheinander facility was not one of the cruelest sites they perfected our forms in."

Her history was being tested. She knew that a worldwide project had begun in the early 1980s to perfect humanity in order to keep the world at peace. The scientists were resulting in different forms of Augments. It was why she could nearly tell Harrison's point of origin. His mannerisms, extreme ambition, and complete devotion to his people were far different from the easily slaughtered hot heads with all impulse and no thought that escaped from Durcheinander.

"Kali offered little hope to those who would escape her walls." Marla referred to the Kali facility in the heart of the poor sectors of India with ease.

The base had been concealed as an orphanage and factory for its augments. They worked under harsh conditions before a rebellion broke out. She watched his face knowing full well that he had been one of the few to survive Kali, the facility named after the Hindu goddess of chaos. His British accent would put him there. There were no facilities established in Britain at the time. His posture was a note of the strict rules the facility laid out for their creations. His utter hatred for those who were inferior would have been brought about by his upbringing amongst those who knew him better and treated him as worse. From everything she had read Kali was the worse facility to be brought into the world. Perfection was the only option.

"A very proper quote for such a place." Harrison remarked able to create a dead pan look into Marla's eyes. "No hope."

Marla cleared her throat abruptly feeling a bit violated by the words as if Harrison was directly referring to her condition. There was no hope for her to survive much longer. She was done with medication. She was letting the death take her when it saw fit. Marla wanted to die without aid from drugs. She wanted her body to die fighting and her mind to still be able to do what she loved with ease. She soon snapped her neck to Harrison looking at him in a similar solemn expression.

"Marcus will let me see these weapons fired." She didn't explain why he would, but simply stated it as fact.

She knew Marcus had to have an expert in the room to see if the weapon came out properly. She half expected Harrison to fire it and escape however she knew guards were pressing themselves outside the doors. She also knew that augments bided their time. Blasting his way through Section 31 was no way to keep his people safe. She watched as Harrison simply nodded going back to continue his work.

Marla was right.

She had gotten a request the following day to enter a firing range where Starfleet was to test her weapons. She had already restored lower class weapons perversely before the plasma canon. The step up was outdoors in an open field Marla had gotten into a cab to travel there. She hadn't been blindfolded. It disappointed and frightened her. She didn't have much longer to live Marcus suspected. Perhaps he knew she was off the medication, that she had stopped refilling her pills or seeing her doctor. Maybe Marcus was glad she had accepted her fate.

Only four Starfleet officers were at the firing trail. When it came time for the canon to be fired Marla could feel her pulse rise. She was instructed to wear headphones however she refused.

"I have to hear the sound." She clarified. "It needs to sound right." The sound on the footage of Armon's escape was not quite clear, so she would be hearing the canon fire for the first time.

The officers looked to her questioningly. They had had those look on her since they had been instructed to pick her up however these looks raised new questions. Their superior waved her off with a shrug before putting on his head phones. One of the officers carried the canon out with steady ease. He struggled only mildly with it. She noted that Harrison would merely have lifted it to his shoulder to fire. A target of foam and rubber was set up to aim at. The target was placed quite a distance away, far enough that Marla could only recognize the shape of the figure, but not the details.

"You need to raise it higher." She alerted the officer with a shout. He only had it to his waist. He did as he was told.

She listened to the superior give a countdown before the weapon was to be fired. Marla could hear her heart in her ears. She suddenly realized it was the fastest her heart had raced since she had first faced John Harrison with burning questions. Now she would see some fire again. When the one was sounded off the blast peeled from the gun, faded red like she had tampered with, it blistered out in a ping knocking the officer into a stumble backwards. The beam blasted the figure into a mix of ash and fire.

Marla made a noise that alarmed the other officers. The noise was something gasping and orgasmic. Her breath stuttered as her teeth shone through her smile. It was an awe inspiring sight to finally see a weapon burn so bright. She was on the balls of her feet nearly jumping for joy at the sight of the destruction. She could only imagine the real damage it could do.

"The admiral will be pleased." The superior concluded before addressing Marla. "I assume that's how you wanted it to go." She didn't speak. Marla only nodded. It had gone better than what she wanted.

The next day she entered Harrison's weapons' room noting the lights had gotten bright. The red dimming was replaced with a softer white gleam. She was about to say something about Marcus rewarding them for hard work when Harrison spoke.

"Your reaction was rather divine, Dr. McGivers." Harrison was smirking as he fiddled with a rifle sized phaser. He didn't make eye contact with her just at his work.

"You saw?" She wondered how, but not why.

"They wanted confirmation that the weapon succeeded." He finally took his eyes off his prize, but they feel into the space in front of him, not on her. "It went better than I expected."

"And my reaction?" Marla was finding it hard to imagine that through the blast Harrison could hear her, but it was a complete possibility given his background.

"A hopeful sign for humanity." He merely said as he looked at her with soft restless eyes.

When his gaze was over he went back to work. She toyed with other things processing the information as the day went on. Harrison and Marla merely worked side by side that day never touching or interfering with the work of one another. She glanced at his designs for a wireless transporter deeming it truly uninspiring to herself. No destruction could be had in it. Marcus was simply using intelligence at that time. She felt dissatisfied that he was not using the truly savage parts of Harrison's mind. That was left up to her by rebuilding his past.

When she arrived back home from the day's work it was quite late. She kicked off her boots and quickly undressed herself. Marla McGivers more often than not found clothes restricting. She was left in a faded white bra and panties to mull over Harrison's words about hope, hope for her, hope for humanity. She could have been over thinking it, but she thought perhaps there was something more to his words.

With need for caffeine, she replicated some coffee deciding some reading on her subject was important at this moment in time. She had suspected who Harrison could be. Few pictures survived however tyrants of the Eugeneic Wars had vast structures left. She flipped through pages of books created by her colleagues stating brief details of the wars before deciding to move onto their creation. She dashed in and out of readings of selected facilities that bred augments for higher purpose. Some were deemed sanitary. Some were deemed inhuman. She had read these facts before.

However she nearly teetered her coffee into her lap when reading Suzette Pierce's book, The Study of the Advanced Body Through History. Suzette and Marla had worked together on a project exploring the site of the last battles of the Eugeneic Wars. Suzette had always been more fascinated by the bodies of the augments rather than the weapons. Their bones had been quite an exciting find for the promising young doctor. Marla slowly allowed her finger to glide over the words describing facilities that experimented on their experiments:

"Unlawful inhumane experimentation occurred perhaps resulting in a bitterness to humanity in the augments. Facilities of the late nineteen eighties showed that before their rebellion these men and women were subjected to torture to test their endurance to disease, burnings, and gunfire. The hardship laid in the fact that many endured these tests through suffering."

The word disease popped into her mind. She flicked through Dr. Pierce's book looking for something else that mentioned anything about these unkillable men however she found nothing more relating to that. Suzette was discussing biological warfare on the following page. As the passage seemed to end abruptly Marla decided it was best to finally put some contact between her and her old friend. Suzette was now a wife, mother, and doctor living in South Africa. The time was much earlier there in that moment.

"Suzette?" She heard a screaming baby in her communicator instead of a female voice. "It's Marla."

"Marla?" The voice sounded tired and groggy.

"Yes," She said softly sipping at the last of her now lukewarm coffee. "I didn't mean to disturb you." Marla was actually glad she had. Her feelings were soon faltering to not caring for the needs of others. "But I was looking through your book . . ."

"Marla, it's quite early here." She said as the child screamed once more. This time it wailed. "And I haven't heard from you in ages."

"I have been . . . dealing." Marla heard the silence in Suzette's voice as she quickly decided to calm the baby down. The sound grew into a peaceful coo.

"This is about my thesis book?" The medical doctor asked quietly.

"Yes," Marla nodded her head as if the woman could see her. "About the augment section to be more specific."

"Of course it is." Her voice sounded drained. Marla didn't like the tone or the more chirper tone she forced out. "What intrigues you about it Marla? We've discussed it in length several times." While that fact was true Dr. McGivers was never quite finished with the history of the super beings. "Are you finally writing that tyrant book you've always talked about?" Marla wrapped a sheet around her body before answering. The coffee mug was on her night stand before she completed the task.

"Not . . . yet." She mused over the subject time and time again. If she wasn't writing it now she wouldn't ever see it finished. She only had a hundred pages of her Napoleon section completed. "I was more interested in the biology of the augments."

"For what?" Marla had forgotten how inquisitive Suzette was. It was rather annoying.

"I'm," She paused trying to find the right lie. "Working at the archives again." Suzette and Marla had once held positions there together. "I'm verifying information from a data entrance taken from . . . India. More specifically north India. Where Kali was located. In your book you describe experiments that occurred on the augments. Torture."

"That's right." Dr. Pierce clarified.

"You stated that they continued to heal. Was it ever discovered why?" There was a long pause as Marla waited. She heard everything in the background of Suzette's place, the chewing of food, the rolling of wheels perhaps from a child's toy, and the hum of a broadcast mumbling about recalls.

"It was rumored by some researchers at the time," She heard Suzette take in a breath as if she were about to lie or tell an honest truth. "That the augments were perfected to withstand any harm or disease. The plasma in their blood fought off the effects better than white blood cells ever could. They almost worked together." Marla felt her heart sink and soar together. "They were only rumors Marla. What data is asking you to verify these so called rumors?"

"It most be a mistake if it was only a rumor." She heard Suzette about to protest, but she didn't even get out a word before she stopped.

"It was nice to hear from you, Marla." Her voice was soft once more. "I am sorry to hear about what happened." The red head wasn't sure if she was talking about her or her mother. She tried to remember the last time she had spoken to the woman. Perhaps it was right after she had her son, her second child.

"So was I." Marla concluded. "Thank you, Suzette. You've been helpful." She snapped the device closed putting it beside the coffee mug.

Marla slowly sunk into bed laying her head carefully to the pillow. She thought about plasma. The blood inside her in that moment was thin and fading. Harrison's was thick and perhaps lifesaving. It was only a thought though. In her mind she imagined it was true, a great discovery. She could steal it from him, but that thought was barely formed before she denied it a chance to live. Marla then concluded the only other option, asking. Harrison still caused a slight quiver in her body, but she wasn't sure if that fear had developed into something else, perhaps admiration. Or perhaps something far more dangerous.

If she were to ask he would counter her with a request of his own. Marla had no doubt in her mind that he would want his escape and the return of his crew. Unleashing the augments back onto the world was a hard notion to swallow, however she would perhaps be alive and maybe even be spared. Marla didn't want to die withered if she was to die at all. She would have liked to die strong and still fighting, but she knew she was continuing to fight even now.

However the problem still was lingering. She could save herself. She could ask him for that favor, but she would only get one from the man. Marla let her reality fade into dreams as she debated whether or not her life was more precious then the death of the man who caused her death and the death of her mother.