Chapter 22 – Examination
Take a deep breath… that's it; now here, and here, and finally, here.
The sound reverberates all around the doctor's office as he is lead into another room.
"There's nothing wrong with your heart, that's normal. Well, Alex, I want you to get on this treadmill here and wear this mask on over your nose and mouth. It will measure your breathing."
A 12-year-old Alex gets on the treadmill as his foster father puts on the clear plastic mask, which covers his nose and mouth. Two tubes run to the mask to measure intake and outtake.
"Now, can you run on the treadmill for me?"
"Turn it on." Alex replies eagerly, he wants to beat the machine, how ever it that can be achieved. The walrus twists the dial and gradually speeds it up to a jog, so that it's not uncomfortable for his son and just to get some early readings; they are all around what he expected to get.
"I'm going to turn it up faster."
The whirring of the treadmill becomes more high pitched as it moves faster, Alex manages to keep pace with it even though he's at 90% of his effort.
"You keep on running until you can run no more."
This how to beat the machine.
He runs for as long as can which is only for 45 seconds at that pace, his legs are burning and has trouble standing up when he jumps off to the back of treadmill, taking the mask off in the process. Dr. McSweeny reads the results off a computer; they are in the higher end of the normal range for a child of Alex's age. His metabolism is normal, but what he doesn't know is how Alex could just wake up in the morning and consume and entire box of cereal and half a litre of milk in one sitting without feeling sick!
"What does it say?" Alex asks through his panting for air.
"This machine can't find what's wrong with you."
"What's wrong with being hungry?" Asks young Alex, confused at his statement.
"Do you understand how much food you ate?"
"I'm fine, I'm not sick or ill." Alex answers back.
"I should have done this earlier." He comments quietly to himself. "What did you do before breakfast this morning? Did you sneak outside to go exercise?"
"I was sleeping!" Alex protests. "I woke up from a bad nightmare and I was hungry, so I ate."
"Hmmm." Tim thinks to himself. "Okay, we'll have to settle this later, you've got to go to school."
"Fine." Alex says, picking up his schoolbag from the corner next to his foster father's desk. Tim opens the white wooden door to his office only to find himself being stabbed as soon as he does this by the skunk.A second later, it's Alex's turn. It sends him falling into an abyss; black nothingness expanded out in all directions. The world is falling, or is it moving towards him? All he sees is the world approaching him from the top, like he's entered the atmosphere from space and landed directly in some bushes at night. He can hear some distant waves lap at the shore nearby as he meanders through the low-density shrubbery and trees. Ahead, he sees a clearing but before he gets near it, a pair of lights flashes on so he hides behind a tree. Alex takes a peak as the car lights pass by and sees the black vans with the police markings on the side; instantly he knows where this is and what is about to happen next. Not caring for his own safety he tries to run to save his parents. However, he is pulled back with infinite strength by his shirt by someone else hiding in the bushes.
"Why do you chase what is not attainable?" Jeremy whispers whilst gazing at the scene about to unfold. Alex tries to pull harder to get away from him as well as hitting him as hard as he can with his cane, but he absorbs all of the blows without reacting at all and without injury.
"There are fifty elite units out there, and you think you can save them from that?" Jeremy asks.
"Let go!" Alex shouts. He realises that some of the special forces have trained their lights on him.
"What are you doing? Come on, we have to escape." Jeremy whispers before letting go of Alex and running off at full speed into the bushes. Alex sees the special forces group trained on him with their high powered torches shining brightly into Alex's face which blind him.
"Say ah" The dentist instructs as the white walled room appears from the total white ness with the brightest thing being the overhead lamp which shines onto Alex's forced open mouth. The dentist holds a metal clamp and brings it inside Alex's mouth and reaches right to the back of his mouth. The pain the raccoon feels is incomprehensible as a wisdom tooth is pulled out in one go. He tries to bite down as hard as possible to cope with the pain and he's been strapped down in order to not move but he struggles against all of the restrictive devices on him. The dentist takes off his facemask and looks at the tooth in triumph.
"It wasn't so bad, was it?" Jeremy asks rhetorically to Alex. "You're feeling better now, no?"
The pain is dying down considerably with each second, so he is feeling better but he doesn't want to admit that to him.
"We need to feel some pain, without it we'd be monsters like Clockwerk, robots without a soul." Jeremy says as he puts the tooth into a little plastic jar. "Without pain, there is no reward."
Jeremy gets up in his pale green coloured apron and white button up shirt and black pants and walks away to leave the tiny office. The shackles holding Alex at the wrists and ankles suddenly come loose, allowing him to chase after the skunk in haste. Alex bursts through the door as fast as possible.
He flies through the air, plummeting towards the steep decline below covered in fresh snow. He looks up to the helicopter that hovers right from where he fell out then back down to his feet, where he finds a snowboard attached to his feet which is facing perpendicular to his direction. So he twists around 90 degrees to land on the snow before picking up considerable speed with the cane positioned on his backpack to be vertically positioned for aerodynamic reasons. He slaloms a little bit to wash off some speed so he doesn't loose control. The slope becomes a little flatter and becomes narrower with pine trees flaking each side. Out of those trees comes a skier racing out to join Alex.
"Fine weather outside." Jeremy remarks as the cloudless day on the snow covered slopes. He's no longer got a suit on, but now with dark green body hugging suit that covers every part of his body except for his head, hands, feet and tail.
"Challenge you to a race? First to the bottom." Jeremy asks as Alex just watches him, wondering how to get around this. They approach the end of the flatter section and over the crest they see a series of flags set up like a slalom course. There's even a grandstand crowd gathered, waving their flags of many nations on either side.
"How convenient." Jeremy shouts over the sound of the snow. They both pick up speed as the incline becomes steeper. Alex prepares to turn for the first corner whereas Jeremy plows on straight, missing the first checkpoint. Alex sees his failure to do the course and decides that all he has to do is pass through all of the gates to win. He slowly passes through the gates, getting more confident towards the end before crossing the finish line where Jeremy has already taken off his skis, waiting for Alex to finish.
"You're too slow." Jeremy shouts over the roar of the crowd.
"You cheated, you didn't pass through the gates." Alex replies.
"I didn't say this was a slalom race, did I?" Jeremy responds back. "You weren't paying attention; details matter Alex."
"He's right Alex." Erin says, like a voice from the heavens that echoes around and resonates with the world. Alex nevertheless runs straight at Jeremy to tackle him to the ground.
He tries to grasp where the skunk is, but he finds himself underwater; like the snow has all instantly melted melted. He looks up and quickly swims hurriedly to the surface, where he discovers that it's raining heavily. Alex begins the difficult task of treading water to keep himself up. He can't do it for very long, he's not the strongest swimmer and he's trapped in the middle of a lake. The nearest source of rescue he sees is a small row boat that is being rowed calmly toward with by an individual wearing a bright yellow raincoat with a hood. Alex stops treading water and slowly begins to swim over to the boat; by swimming it's more of a mixture of freestyle and dog paddling. The exhaustion is unbearable so he is extremely grateful to reach this small wooden rowboat and hang onto the edge for a few seconds before dragging his soaked body into the boat, heaving with every breath from the physical exertion.
"Are you okay?" The rower asks, taking off his hood and leaning over the edge; guess who.
"You!" Alex shouts.
"Where do you think you'd go next? You can't swim to safety." Jeremy reasons. Alex tries to push Jeremy into the water so he can steal the rowboat for himself and let the skunk fend for himself. But the skunk is like an immovable object, no amount of effort Alex can muster seems to move him an inch from his position from sitting on the single wooden board, calmly rowing the boat along the lake.
"Why is your first reaction always to fight? Can't you tell it is getting you nowhere." Jeremy remarks as he turns the boat around to shore towards the pier in the distance.
"Whereas…" Jeremy says overing one of the oars to Alex as well as shifting over to one side to let him share some of the space. "If we work together, it works out for both of us."
Alex is naturally hesitant at this offer.
"The rain is merciless, I am not. Work with me instead of against me." Jeremy instructs, ready with his oar, waiting only for Alex to join in. He does want to get away from this expanse of water and get onto dry land. So, joined with a common purpose, they begin to row together. They row faster than any one of them could do by themselves and it seems to not take that long at all for them to reach the pier and reach the shore. They row over to the shore and get out of the boat.
"Help me turn it over so it doesn't fill with water." Jeremy asks and Alex helps, once again, working together in the pouring rain. Once the rowboat is turned over, Jeremy looks over to the cabin with smoke rising out of the chimney in such an inviting way, warmth is but metres away. Alex knows where this is, but is extremely hesitant in letting the skunk anywhere near this place. By himself, Jeremy walks towards the cabin with seemingly nothing to impede him.
"Don't go in there!" Alex warns as he moves in front of the skunk to block him off. Jeremy, however, is unaffected and walks straight ahead; pushing Alex along with him like Alex weighs nothing and applies no force to him. Alex steps out of the way, knowing how futile his efforts are as the skunk stands opposite the doorway with a fist ready to knock on the door. He knocks once but as soon as he touches the wooden door, he is electrocuted and has to withdraw his hand from the house. It is the first glimmer that Alex's mind is beginning to fight itself; it won't allow Jeremy to traverse in such important and cherished memories.
"Can you open it, please?" Jeremy asks.
"No! I'm not letting you in there!" Alex shouts in defiance.
"Your choice." Jeremy says before pulling out a gun and shooting Alex right in the chest. It flings him back all the way into the water.
The fabric seat of a car catches him, sitting inside with a seat belt on and a blue business shirt and work pants with the top button undone. His hair is well groomed and he's no longer wet. This car is stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway in the morning, and he is in the driver's seat.
"We're going to be late." Erin remarks, sitting in the front passenger seat wearing similar work related attire to Alex except her shirt is white and has her hair pulls back into a ponytail. "We wouldn't want to your first day of work, would we?"
"Um, no, but the traffic; I can't do anything about that." Alex complains.
"It's not that difficult."
Alex wheels his head around to the rear passenger seat and finds that Matt is sitting in the back; dressed much more casually in a t shirt and shorts as well as a baseball cap, he's dressed like a child.
"We just have to fly." Matt explains.
"Fly?... cars can't fly." Alex replies.
"Why not?" Matt responds. "Look."
Matt takes a toy car and begins holding it out in the back seat and pretending to make it fly whilst; making sounds like whoosh and wrrrrrrr to simulate it flying. Alex turns back at this childish act.
"Look" Matt says but Alex is facing forward towards the stationary traffic that's there for miles on end.
"Look dad." Matt says.
Dad? That means Erin is…
What he's more shocked by is that the toy car is floating around in the back of the car by itself like Matt said it could do; he's still making the sound effects as it floats around in the back.
"Wha?" Alex exclaims in confusion.
"Stop doing that, you making dad upset." Erin warns, to which the toy car now obeys the laws of gravity. But the sound of the car falling is much louder than anticipated. Alex half shields himself and shuts his eyes from the sound, when he opens them, he's sitting as a desk with his manager standing over a huge pile of forms he has just thrust onto his desk in his tiny cubicle.
"Get these done by noon."
Alex looks up and sees who it is, the suit gives it away, then looks down to the pile of paperwork. Then he feels the cold chill of a shackle that's attached to his ankle to prevent him from moving away from his desk. The skunk walks away down the line corridor of desks in the dead silence, not even a sound from people typing; a pin drop would be louder. He takes the first bundled piece of paper and looks at the title. He realises what they are, these are dossiers of previous heists he has done. They contain all of the information about them, about what he did and how he completed the heists and in some cases abandoned them; but he doesn't know what to do with them. Alex stands up to see if there is anyone he can talk to; there is no one roaming the hallways so he checks to see where his colleagues are. Jess it to his right, Erin is to his left and Tyson is directly opposite.
"Um… what am I meant to do with these?" Alex whispers across to the three of them.
"You're meant to take the files and correct them Alex, we've been though this before." Erin reminds him.
"What mistakes?" Alex asks, there are no grammatical mistakes at all contained in any of the files.
"Yours." Erin answers. Alex sits back down and flicks through one of the files; there are photos, detailed descriptions of plans and entries as well as equipment listings. He reads through the first file intently before taking out a red pen to correct the mistakes such as timing, poor equipment or just luck. This is his work now, to figure out what he has done wrong in the past and correct them, at least in thought. With each confrontation of his own mistakes, Alex becomes more confident in admitting their existence to himself and correcting them. He goes into the zone, the zone where stuff gets done and everything else is faded out; immersing himself in the worlds portrayed on those files. In hindsight, all of the little mistakes or errors he has found were stupid mistakes; mistakes he would not make now, at least that's what he hopes for. He finishes the entire pile before looking at the time, with only 4 minutes having passed.
"Done already?" Jeremy asks, standing right behind Alex without him knowing.
"Yes." Alex replies. Jeremy looks behind him before turning back to Alex.
"Perfect, then I've got a few more for you to do." Jeremy replies before walking away. The ground begins to rumble, the exterior windows bow violently before shattering but the shackle on Alex's leg is holding firm. From the outside, flying in like a gale force wind, comes thousands and thousands of bound files and paperwork from all directions. People begin to shield themselves as everyone begins to drown in paper. Alex tries to break free, but the shackle does not let go, he pulls desperately as Jeremy disappears effortlessly into the corridor as papers fly chaotically around. Alex becomes buried in papers containing his mistakes; it becomes pitch black. He waits until the papers stop flying in before trying to push the top away just so he can get some light. He tries to lift the papers for all his strength, he pushes as hard has he can, but he is taken away from the scenario before can complete it.
45km North of Helsinki, Finland. 1:32am, 7th November 2032.
Alex races back into the real and present world. He sits up straight away, hyperventilating rapidly with his eyes darting around to assess the room for any attackers. With a weird relief, he realises it was yet another murderous nightmare where he is killed by his archenemy. He flops back down to look up at the bare wooden ceiling with exposed beams. He grabs the cushion his head is resting on and puts it over his head and pushes down. He forcibly screams as loudly as he can into the cushion, muffling the noise to make sure no one wakes up. When he runs out of breath, he stops and tosses the cushion aside.
How is he in my head?!
"Pssst." A voice whispers across from another couch. Alex rubs his eyes and tilts his head to the right to see who it is. He doesn't know who's sleeping where, because he was asleep before they even arrived.
"Why were you screaming?" She whispers out of frustrated curiosity because had been woken up by Alex. He sees that it's Jess covered under a dark coloured blanket, not that she can see him.
"Nightmare, I think." He whispers back to her, trying to unnecessarily conceal himself.
"You know, you're probably… and don't take this the wrong way… but you're probably the most weak minded criminal I've seen." Jess says.
"I know." Alex replies, but he thinks of a cheeky way to get out of it. "How many criminals have you met?"
"Lost count." She replies casually. "I mean you're probably the most skilled thief I know, but your head isn't up to the same speed."
"Nightmares don't make me weak." Alex protests, wondering about her statement and coming back to visual sight again. "I have a lot on my plate ok, it all comes together in new and exciting… violent and painful ways, inside my head."
"Give me an example." Jess whispers not at all affected by his emotions.
"At the end of every nightmare, everyone I care about is murdered in front of me, and I'm always killed last. I've been: shot, stabbed, drowned, fallen, poisoned, there's too many ways to list." Alex says as he makes a small chuckle more to cope with all of this gruesome detail. "Every single time it feels like the first time, I am plagued by death. I see it in my head more frequently than I want to, and now, people are dying in front of me."
"You don't have nightmares all the time?" Jess answers for him.
"Not all the time, but each time I'm shaken by them. I know that there not real after I wake up… but, there's this nagging and gnawing in the back of my head that pushes me into deep and inescapable worry. Only when that, evil, sick, twisted skunk is gone, not dead, gone; I think they'll go away." Alex explains.
She was ill prepared to face the raw nature of his explanation, he is incredibly open about himself like he has no one else to turn to at this moment. Of course, for Charlotte, this only increases the knowledge about this criminal which she can use to fill up his file. But this… this is not what the hard-line, tough guys of the world act like; then again he is a different class of criminal altogether. The thieves in his family tree have always been well-educated, sophisticated, embodied with swagger and above all, the best at what they do. The raccoon lying a few metres away from her does not fit that profile. He seems smart; all criminals that aren't arrested are smart. He has talent, he has skill but she thinks that he doesn't know what to with it. Is he still a threat? Yes. Is he as much of a threat as she thought he was? Definitely not. Is what he is doing wrong?
Legally yes, but does he deserve punishment? That's a dangerous question to ask, especially for an officer younger than Alex. Does he need to be punished for crimes yet to be committed? She's sure that he will do many heists if left unchecked, large supercomputers would agree with her too. However, the only thing she can do is to stay hidden, to stay undercover until an opportunity presents itself.
"I'm going back to sleep, don't scream again please." She asks as she adjusts her position to make herself more comfortable.
"I'll try not to." Alex replies.
Time passes, but sleep is beyond Alex Cooper. In the lengthy night, he fed himself no less than twice and ambled around outside for some fresh cold air. He even climbed onto the roof just to see the stars over the trees, all of this without making a sound. The stay on the roof didn't last long, he was reminded of how cold it was outside very quickly as his body heat and clothing could not repel the icy breeze. He checks his phone, no missed calls and no messages, and decides to go onto ThiefNet, just to explore what it is. Even with his limited technical knowledge and thanks to some user friendliness modifications my Matt, it's as simple to access as a normal website. Being both curious and somewhat narcissistic, he searches the keyword 'Cooper' in the forum archives, which have somehow been recovered by Jeremy. In it he finds a bunch of threads, the most prominent one talking about his disappearance and arrest.
Stealth32 wants to chat with you.
Alex quickly shuts down this distraction.
Synd1c4t3J wants to chat with you.
Bits+Bytes4 wants to chat with you.
N0 0NE wants to chat with you.
Alex shuts down all three of these distractions, but he wonders briefly about his apparent underground fame due to the spreading done by Matt of his far off need for someone else in his crew.
TheNextCooper disabled chat.
Is that the username Matt chose for him? Alex thinks that it's sort of fitting for him but it's a bit too…vulgar.
Super Mod: SpexGuy wants to chat with you.
That's odd, Alex thinks; not the username but that disabling chat hasn't done what it's supposed to do.
SpexGuy: Alex, it's me, Bentley.
Bentley, the name shoots out at him when he realises who it is. He hasn't heard from him in ages, but he's more worried about why he has chosen to contact him now and what is he about to say.
SpexGuy: We never had this conversation.
TheNextCooper: Understood.
SpexGuy: I stress that you do not have to do what I am asking of you, only do this if you feel that you are ready and prepared.
TheNextCooper: I understand.
SpexGuy: Again, this is something I implore you not to do unless you feel ready. And do not tell anyone of this except for your sister.
TheNextCooper: I understand.
SpexGuy: Go to this location (51.7528366,0.30218208), write it down, as I will not repeat this message. When you get there, there will be some information you will find buried there. Some information that I've compiled that you will need if you really want to 'succeed' your father.
Alex looks around for a pen and paper but can't see one in the darkness. He thinks about writing it electronically on his phone but thinks that information of this sensitivity and exclusivity should not be vulnerable to hacking. He quietly moves around the room and searches in draws and cupboards for the writing implements as he reads Bentley's message.
TheNextCooper: What information?
SpexGuy: Too sensitive to say on here. Only do this with Erin and only Erin. No one else can come with you. Make sure no one follows you.
TheNextCooper: How would I be ready?
SpexGuy: Be prepared in that once you know what's in there, everything will change. Time is against me and I fear that if you don't know what I know then you won't know it at all.
Alex finds a pencil and scrolls back up to write down the coordinates one a scrap of paper which he places inside his pocket underneath his mirror.
SpexGuy: You two stick together, okay. Together you'll be unstoppable. I know you will.
TheNextCooper: Thanks.
Super Mod: SpexGuy has left chat.
A choice has arisen from this message. Go to this location and find out more about who he is and what the legacy of being a Cooper really is, or go to Paris and continue the pursuit of Le Paradox. He thinks, why not both? He and Erin with go to this place and find out more about themselves and the rest will head to Paris to confront Le Paradox. He slowly types in the precise coordinates into a world map on his phone to see where it is, and finds that it's in Eastern England, north of London. It's still only 3:17am, and sleep shall continue to elude him through the very long night.
5:57am
"Can I ask a personal question?" Matt asks. It's the first he's heard of him this morning.
"Um… okay, what is it?" Alex says tiredly, sitting at a table, putting down his phone.
"With your… invisibility, do you know how it works? Like, scientifically how this is caused." Matt asks.
"Do you want to be the first to try? Is that what your asking?" Alex rephrases the rat's questions.
"I'm no scientist, and if you don't want to know then I'll respect that. But I wanna help you, you're my friend and you just seem to live with this and let it control you. Maybe there is a way for you to control it, but we'd have to know how it works." Matt explains.
"All I know about, this. Is that it's involuntary, happens when I'm nervous or scared, and it must use up a lot of energy because I get hungry after using it for longer periods." Alex explains. "If you can add to that, then, please. Be my guest."
"I've just realised, I don't even know where to begin." Matt says, changing from being calm and planned to suddenly poking holes in his own plan. He gives a self-muffled laugh to deal with the failure of being wrong. "It's not like I have equipment or even knowing what equipment could help. I know computers and engineering, I don't know molecular biology. Maybe what I said was a bit ambitious."
"It's okay." Alex replies, unaffected by his backtracking. "I'm sorta comfortable with what I know about it."
"But don't you just, want to know?" Matt asks.
"You sound like Erin." Alex replies. "If she had this then it'd drive her insane not knowing how it worked. I know enough, enough is all I need to know."
"You see, I don't get that way of thinking; you're not curious at all. I don't understand how people can just not want to know more." Matt replies.
"Now you really sound like my sister." Alex responds. Matt laughs at this statement for a short period, Alex chuckles as well.
"We're just different people." Matt replies. "I can't change that."
"You could." Alex replies. "Anyway, there's a small change to the plan. Erin and I have to back to London."
"What for?" Matt naturally asks, being of such a curious nature.
"Don't know. Don't ask." Alex answers back.
"Got it. I'll change the itinerary." Matt says, walking away from the table to continue the never-ending tasks to keep the wheels of this gang steady and aligned.