Chapter XXVI: Home Improvement
January 1, 2540 (UNSC Calendar)/
Undisclosed Location, New Alexandria, Reach, Epsilon Eridani
"Yeup, he's up Major," a voice said.
The floor was blurry below me, and I could clearly see that I was sitting on a chair. The last thing I remembered had been putting my hood over my head after that barfight.
"Awww crap," I said out loud, suddenly realizing what I had done, now that a little bit of the alcohol in my blood had disappeared I could think more clearly, which was weird, given that I had just been hit with a tranq gun.
"Good to see you up and awake sergeant," said a cheery voice.
"Major Cavallaro?" I said confused. In front of me was the man that had sent me to the worst possible ship in the whole UNSC Navy.
"What am I doing here?" I asked.
"Well, ONI want's to do some business with you," he explained.
I looked around me. I was sitting in a chair and was in a small metallic room without any windows and a single door, there wasn't even a camera around. It looked like a broom closet of sorts.
"Did you really have to tranq me?" I asked while I rubbed my temples.
"No, but it's standard ONI procedure, you know, being secret and all that bullshit," he told me.
"Ok, why am I here?" I asked once more.
"You have met the Spartan-IIIs haven't you?"
"Well, yes." No point in lying.
"Ok, and what did you notice about them?"
"They're kids," I told them, still a little outraged that ONI would use kids as soldiers. "Child soldiers."
"Well, what did you notice other than that?"
"That they were superbly trained."
"Anything else."
I searched my memories until I found exactly what I was looking for. "They're faster and stronger than anyone should or could be."
"Exactly, do you know why?"
"Medical enhancements I guess?"
"Bingo, those medical enhancements happen to be very dangerous. Which means that anyone who is going to have those medications given to them is going to need to meet certain genetic requirements."
"Ok," I said to show that I was paying attention.
"You, meet some of the genetic requirements, which means that you are perfect for what ONI has in mind for you."
"What?"
The major took a deep breath and went on. "Ok, since you have met the Spartan-IIIs, we do not have to break protocol and inform you on the details of the project, it would be to much paperwork and bureaucratic shit. Since you are attached to an ONI ship, you fall directly under our jurisdiction, which means that we can order you to do this for us, again, it's perfect because we skip a lot of paperwork. Finally, you meet some requirements, but not all, which means that you'd be a perfect test subject for the project that we have in mind."
"Which is?" I asked. My head was starting to hurt. I don't know if it was the tranq, the hangover, or the information dump. Maybe all of them.
"Enhancements for humans all around!" he said in a happy tone that creeped me out.
"I still don't see why you had to kidnap me," I said. I wasn't about to let that go. The major only laughed in return and motioned for me to followed him. We left the small room and I found myself facing a long hallway. An armed soldier that had been outside the room positioned himself behind me and stayed in step with me and the major.
"Well, the experiment we have in mind will be similar to the initial augmentations that you had when you joined the ODST forces, only that this time they will be a whole lot stronger," he told me as we crossed the hallway.
"I haven't agreed to this yet," I stated, despite knowing the futility if that.
"Yes you have, we have your signature and everything."
Go figure.
"Ok, I guess I did agree to this after all. What will the so called experiment consist of?" I asked. Might as well know what shit I got myself into.
"We'll give you a cocktail of drugs consisting of muscle and bone strengtheners, something to increase the speed reaction time of your nervous system, and some other medicine to help your brain adapt to all those changes in your body," he told me. We had reached another room.
"So basically I'm going to move faster?" I asked.
"And be stronger."
"So, I'll be able to go mano a mano against a Spartan?" I asked. That would be exciting.
"Not a Spartan-II, but you might prove a real challenge for the threes," the Major told me. "Might," he emphasized.
"That's good, I guess. What happens if this works like it's supposed to?"
"When," he said, not if, "this succeeds, you'll submit yourself to blood tests and other tests, which will be done by Commander Albaf, your ONI liaison. The results of those tests will be sent here so that drugs that can successfully bond with most of the human population can be created," he explained.
Superhumans all around? That could end the war with a victory on our side. Or a stalemate to the very least.
"Ok, that sounds like a reasonable goal," I said. "Better than kidnapping children at the very least," I muttered.
"Ahhh, yes, that was Section-III, not us, so you really should thank me for doing my best to avoid similar incident in the future," the major stated.
By that time I was already mostly naked and wearing only my underwear, which consisted of a couple of white boxer briefs with smiley faces all around. A doctor guided me to a machine where I was supposed to lay down. Once I had done just that I was tied to that same machines with leather straps on my arms, and legs. My head was secured by a couple of robotic arms.
"Is it gonna hurt?" I asked the doctor.
"Like you have no idea."
Fucking great.
I was injected anesthetics so that I wouldn't have to go through all the pain, but when a doctor tells you that something will actually hurt, it means it's going to hurt. Bad. Three robotic arms descended from the ceiling, one of them would be injecting every single one of my bones with a fluid that would bond with them and make them stronger, my muscles would receive some sort of medicine that would make them denser to support my heavier bones, and my spinal chord would receive some injections to make my nerves able to conduct electric impulses better. Finally, my brain would be lobotomized, yes lobotomized so that it would be able to keep up with the rest of my body.
I felt a sharp pinch on both my arms and then my mind started to blur, I thought about my friends, my luck, and my life before I fell asleep.
Then I felt the pain.
I woke up to a bright light shining on my face. I felt like crap. To be honest I felt like I had been skinned alive, had had my body dumped in a lemonade pool and then salt dumped on it, after that my skin had been stitched back on with large needles and no anesthetic to speak of. That's how I felt. Oh, and every single bone felt like it had been broken a couple of times on different points. My head hurt like hell too.
"Easy now," the doctor's voice told me. "You've been in a medically induced coma for the last three days."
"Three days?" I said as I woke up for real. "Three full days? Where's my ship, I was supposed to board yesterday!"
"Calm down, calm down, the Inconvenience is still in orbit waiting for your return. They were given four more days of leave so that we could work on you," the major said.
My head was beginning to hurt even more, my eyes seemed to move to fast for me to process what was happening around me, and then they'd start moving to slow for my brain, resulting in a giant headache from hell. My arms and legs were being unstrapped, and I could make out little gauze patches covering most of my body. I even felt a bandage on my head. I felt another sting in my arm and the pain started receding a little bit.
"It'll be a while before the pain washes away completely," the doctor explained, "but when it does you'll be able to do all the things you could do before, only better."
"Sounds good," I said as I tried to keep my balance.
"Walk around a little bit, will you?"
I did as I was told, taking small careful steps, at times it seemed that either my feet or my brain didn't react fast enough causing me to stumble, I even fell down a couple of times. I kept walking in circles around the room for half an hour until my brain seemed to synch with my body. It took me half an hour to learn to walk again. I don't now if that is an accomplishment or just really pathetic.
I was treated like a test dummy for a couple more hours before I was finally able to rest. I didn't actually feel stronger, but I felt a whole lot faster (when I didn't feel like my body wouldn't move). I lifted a couple of tables to see how much stronger I had become, and found out, to my pleasant surprise, that I had become significantly stronger, although not really into Spartan levels. My body hadn't changed all that much in appearance, but according to the doctors I was now a couple of inches taller and slightly heavier, courtesy of denser muscles and bones.
"Well, we're done here," the major told me as I put on my clothes. "I don't think that we have to remind you not to tell anyone else about this."
"Of course," I answered, "how will I deflect questions about me being taller?" I asked.
"Commander Albaf will take care of that, you should be able to find a way to answer those questions without compromise."
"Sure, and when people notice I can run at 40 miles per hour?" I asked once more, "Oh, and don't forget me being able to bench press a mongoose?"
"As I said, Commander Albaf will handle any and all curious soldiers, but try not to actually bench press a mongoose in public, also, do not run that fast, we cannot deflect every single doubt and question asked on board your ship."
"Makes sense," I said as I did a couple of power jumps, trying to get used to my new and improved body.
"Oh, and one more thing," I asked, "why me?"
"I already told you that," Major Cavallaro said.
"Well yes, but seriously, what made you think that I was the best option for this?"
"You're a good soldier, you're on board a ship that is under our direct control, you meet the requirements, and you've proven very lucky in the past four years that you have been on the ship."
"That's it seriously?"
"It was also cheaper," the major stated.
"Ok, I guess I really shouldn't question you guys making me better."
"No you shouldn't." Having said that Major Cavallaro turned and left.
I sighed, did a couple more power jumps and tied my shoelaces, which was quite an odyssey, since my fingers didn't quite move when I wanted or expected them to. I would have to either learn to do a whole lot of stuff again or simply have to get used to my new body. I guess I'd just have to wait a couple of days to see what would happen.
Hey, I know this is drifting a little bit away from the story's origins, if I can even claim to have that, but I really wanted to make Frankie somewhat special. Don't worry, I haven't made him as strong or fast as ANY Spartan, but I have made him better. Again, thanks to anyone who's reading this and has stuck with me for twenty-six chapters.
-casquis