The next update, so sorry to keep you all waiting but the other stories have kept me busy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dex Hamilton, feels weird to say it calmly on this.
A twitch.
A groan.
A small movement.
A moan.
The boy, resting in the small hospital cot, moved his head slightly, his lips mumbling something incoherent and inaudible.
The three team members leaned over the patient, eager to see what will happen next.
His eyes snapped open instantly, startling the crew backwards from the cot, so much so that the small tracker tumbled down to the floor in a bounce. The stranger tried to resist, moving violently against the restraints that had been put in place at his wrists and ankles thanks to the engineer.
"Quick, give him the sedative," Dex ordered to the clone. Jenny grasped the needle in her hand and with great difficulty, injected the serum in to the patient's arm. He gasped in pain before calming down to an almost comatose state. With trembling arms, the engineer removed the syringe and analysed it.
"I think I gave him the wrong injection," she spoke in shock while observing the needle. "This one's a sedative for dangerous insects."
"That's fine," Dex reassured with his hands on his hips. "I mean, that's what he is, right?"
He walked towards the patient with caution, leaving his hands on his hips as a sign of dominance. The leader bent over the cot, staring intently in to the stranger's eyes.
"Do you speak English?" he questioned; his voice loud and slow in case his conversationalist could not understand. With his body lying perfectly still, the boy meekly nodded his head.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" the leader asked while extending two fingers in front of the other's face.
"T…two," his voice was raspy as he coughed clouds of dust out of his mouth. He cleared his throat once again before collapsing back in to the cot.
"Well at least his vision hasn't been affected." He momentarily stared at his team before turning to the stranger. "What's your name?" this question left the guest stumped. In a sudden movement, he flicked his head from side to side in an attempt to see where he was.
His eyes fell to Tung, the tracker narrowing his gaze in suspicion. The boy only turned his nose up in confusion. He turned his head to the other side, eyes falling to Jenny. The engineer stared back with a vacant and worried expression, the patient appearing to sigh when he saw her. Dex cleared his throat, bringing the boy's attention back to the leader.
"Do you know your name?" Dex repeated, furrowing his brow. His suspicions were confirmed when the patient shook his head sadly.
"I'm going to set you free," the leader began, causing the boy to tense in determination. Dex held up a warning finger pointed at the patient. "But we can easily bring you down if you try anything on the team." Tung and Jenny exchanged nervous looks; that's the first time they'd ever heard Dex's voice reach so low.
"Jenny, come and unshackle him."
The boy stood straight in the centre of the control room, Dex pacing in front as though analysing the specimen in front of him. Because the team had destroyed his blood and mud embedded shirt when he came in, Tung had been sent on a mission to retrieve a temporary uniform for the momentary guest. His task was a success as he found a black flight jacket that matched the stranger's black pants perfectly. Dex was surprisingly impressed. His eyes wandered over the boy in thought.
'Why is he standing like that?' the leader thought deeply once he stopped pacing. All he had said was 'stand still', and the stranger had obliged with immediate action, standing straight with his arms by his sides and an intense stare plastered on his face.
Tung had left to see if he could get the Arthur beetle to eat; despite all the excitement going on, there were still jobs to be done in the habitat. Jenny was left to do the job she was programmed to do, manipulate technology to get what she needed. Pressing the keys as quickly as she could, many internet pages flashed on the screen that could hopefully give off any information useful in locating the source of this person.
"Have you found anything?" the leader questioned, his gaze not leaving the strange bug hybrid. She pressed a final button that caused the monitor to flick through multiple pages at a time, sighing in exhaustion.
"It'll be a while," she explained as the clone left her seat and joined her boss. The stranger's vacant stare into the distance never broke, unsettling the nerves of the two entomologists.
"What's he doing?" Jenny leaned over and whispered to Dex, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Wish I knew," he whispered back. "I just told him to stand still and he snapped straight like a robot."
Jenny's mouth pouted in thought. "Could you get my analy-ray from my lab? If this guy has any gears or gizmos inside him, the scanner will tell us." The leader nodded before making his way to the door.
"Oh and be careful, some of the cords aren't connected properly to some of the devices, don't zap yourself," Dex's shoulders jumped slightly in shock, his gaze falling behind Jenny. The clone tuned around and gasped slightly in shock herself at the boy. His stance remained the same, as well as his concentration, the only thing that was different was now, the stranger's right hand was raised to his face in a salute. Dex edged back in to the room, pulling Jenny away from the boy by her shoulders.
"Or maybe he's a soldier," Dex pondered in a whisper. The clone craned her head so she could meet the gaze of the leader.
"A soldier?" Jenny questioned with curiosity. With a quick curl of the lips, the engineer sucked in her breath before bellowing an order.
"At ease," as if on cue, the boy returned to his original stance, startling the two team members.
"Jenny," Dex whispered in a hushed tone in her ear. "What did you bring to my habitat?"
"I don't know," she whispered back, both cowering at the unknown specimen in front of them. "But at least he's not going on a rampage."
"Why did he salute?" Dex asked, releasing his grip from the clone.
"Not sure, did you do something?"
"It wasn't me," the leader began to explain, moving in between the clone and the bug. "He responded to you when you said something."
"Well what did I say when he-" Jenny began, but was cut off by Dex's frustrated voice rising above hers.
"It doesn't matter," he moved around and pushed the girl closer to the boy, the latter's stance still at ease. "Just repeat what you said."
She breathed out slowly, trying to be as confident as possible. "Oh and be careful, some of the cords aren't connected properly to some of the devices, don't zap-"
His hand flew up to his right temple once again, shocking Dex and Jenny. A curious expression fell on Jenny.
"At ease," she repeated, the boy removing his hand and bringing his feet back together.
"Zap," just as she suspected, the boy brought his hand back up to his face.
"Aim," she ordered again. The boy brought his hands in front of him, holding them as if a pistol was in his hands. He blinked a few times before allowing his hands to slowly relax, staring in disbelief at his actions. Jenny and Dex were doing the same, taking a step backwards in fear.
"Well, Dex whispered in a whimper. "At least we have something to call him by now." The bug boy looked up at Dex when the words left the entomologists mouth, breathing heavily as though petrified himself. Quickly, he pulled himself back in to attention, his head hanging slightly in shame. The other entomologists relaxed a little, reading and understanding the expression on the guest's face.
"Well…Zap," the bug boy raised his head at her words. "Do you know where you live?"
His head shook slowly once again, eyes returning to the floor. Dex walked up to the boy, placing his hand on his shoulder. The stranger quivered slightly, but recovered quickly.
"Zap, we're going to find out where you belong," he reassured, a more fatherly voice than anything heard today. "For now, you can stay here, but one toe out of line; I won't be afraid to send you back to Metro City."
Zap's eyes grew wide at the thought, before saluting his new leader.
"Jenny, can you create his ID tag. Just put general information on for now," Dex turned and smiled slightly at the engineer. "I'm glad we found out his name."
Thank you all for waiting so patiently, tell me what you think. R&R!