Chapter 25
"Is he going to be okay?" Ochre asked as she entered the room. They were in the Bishop's office at Dragontech laboratories; the Spectrum agents were relieved to find that Dragontech had an actual medical doctor on their payroll. It was that doctor, Doctor Simmons who was currently giving an unconscious Captain Blue as through a once over as he could with his limited medical equipment. Unfortunately, the doctor didn't have access to any medical scanners so his assessment was going to have to be based purely on observation.
"It's difficult to determine the true extent of his injuries until he regains consciousness," Simmons explained "or is given a full body scan" he added regretfully. "Until then I'm afraid there's very little I can do," he added before excusing himself and leaving the Spectrum offices alone.
Magenta was seated in a chair that matched the sofa upon which Blue was lying; he watched as Ochre took a seat in his chair's twin which was opposite his own.
"How did your update with the great White Chief go?" he asked. Ochre had requested somewhere private so that she could contact Skybase and update the Colonel once they had arrived at the lab. She had been escorted to a small office by a member of the labs Spectrum security team where she was given access to a secure communications terminal.
"As well as could be expected under the circumstances," Ochre replied her Irish accent thicker than usual; the only hint of the exhaustion she as was currently feeling. "Unfortunately until Adam wakes up to tell his side of the story…"
"True," Magenta agreed.
"However I did tell the Colonel that if it wasn't for Adam, there was a possibility that we may not have made it to the lab at all."
"Hey," Magenta objected at her implication that he wouldn't have been able to outmanoeuvre the car that had been trying to run them off the road.
"Oh come on Mario you know I'm right," she retorted and he reluctantly gave a small nod of his head. As much as it pained him to admit it, she was right. Blue had saved their lives back there.
"I bet that's going to put the Colonel in a difficult position," he commented. Ochre raised her eyebrow quizzically. "I mean in terms of the punishment he's going to give to Adam for disobeying orders," he clarified.
"Despite what he did, he did disobey the Colonel's orders so he is well within his rights to punish him…" but her words were cut short by a pained groan coming from the sofa. Blue was starting to come around.
"Adam?" Ochre said quietly as she moved over to the sofa and crouched down at Blue's side.
"Elaine," he mumbled groggily, his eyes having to work to focus on her smiling face.
"How are you feeling?" Magenta asked.
"Like I was hit by a Rhino," Blue replied as he tried to sit up.
"Try not to move," Ochre instructed. However, the pain that ensued as he tried to move was enough to convince him that maybe she was right.
"What happened?" he asked.
"That's what we were hoping you could tell us," she told him.
"Yeah," Magenta agreed. "After you ran that car off the road, I went over to check on the driver but the car was empty."
"Black." Blue spat.
"Black? Ochre and Magenta replied in unison.
"He's right Elaine, it had to be, that's the only way to explain the empty car, but I don't understand why he'd try to run us off the road like that," Magenta commented.
"So that was why you took the raid bike and disobeyed Colonel White's orders?" Ochre asked Blue.
"Yeah," he grunted as he managed to drag his injured body up into a more upright position, despite the protestations that came from his friends…and his own body. But this was one conversation he did not want to have lying flat on his back. He was about to continue when the office door opened and Yelena Bishop walked in.
"Adam!" she exclaimed "I'm so glad to see that you're awake. How are you feeling?" she asked her delight and concern at seeing him conscious clearly genuine.
"Alive."
"That's good," she said returning the smile that he gave her. "The nanotech should be ready in about 5 hours. I'll ask Doctor Simmons to come back and have another look at you now that you've regained consciousness." Then she once again exited the room.
"How long have I been out?" Blue asked.
"Almost an hour," Magenta told him. "They have their own doctor here, he checked you over once we got you here," he added. Blue gave a nod of acknowledgment.
"Has there been any news on Paul?"
"When I spoke to the Colonel to update him on our situation he told me that he was still stable," Ochre informed Blue.
"I'm guessing the Colonel wasn't too pleased with me after what I did, is he?"
"Once I told him what had happened once we'd left the airbase he seemed a little more understanding."
"However," Magenta continued "I have a feeling that once Paul hears about what you did he isn't going to be too pleased, especially since he did put himself in harm's way to protect you from the lab explosion."
A blush made its way up Blue's neck and heated his cheeks. He knew that Magenta was right. Although Scarlet would understand the reason why he disobeyed the order to stay on Skybase, he knew that he wasn't going to be happy that he had put himself in a potentially life-threatening situation when he wasn't operating at a hundred percent. Now with his new injuries added to the ones he already had…
"You'll be lucky if you're allowed back on duty any time this century," Magenta commented with a small chuckle, trying the ease the tension that had been building in the room. He knew Blue well enough to know that other than feeling embarrassed by what happened he would be feeling guilty too, and he was right. Although his actions hadn't done anything to further aggravate his friend's condition Scarlet was only in this mess because he had used his body to protect him, and how had he repaid that sacrifice? By ignoring orders which resulted in him putting himself in further danger.
Yet he had learned over the years that when his gut told him that something wasn't right, he had to act on it and from what had happened out there his gut had been right. He told Magenta and Ochre as much.
"So what was your gut telling you?" Ochre asked curiously.
"There was something that had been bugging me about this whole thing from the beginning, something that just didn't sit right with me."
"Like what?" Ochre asked again.
"If they saw the nanotech as a threat, then why not just destroy it, why set off the security alert that would get our attention," Blue explained.
Ochre suddenly saw where Blue was going with this. "They didn't want to destroy it."
"What do you mean?" asked Magenta.
"When Paul and I walked into that lab everything appeared to be fine. Then the moment he joined me over by the tank that was holding the nanotech the explosion occurred?" Blue shook his head, "It was like they had set it up so that his presence in that room was a trigger for the explosion. I think that they intended to use the technology in the lab to take out Paul once and for all."
"It makes sense," Magenta agreed.
"But how would they know that the nanotech could be used to…" Ochre began, but her query was cut off by Blue.
"My guess is that they were watching us to see what we would do. Then the moment we headed back to the lab, they realised that we had found a potential cure for Scarlet's condition. At least that's the theory I'm working on here."
"I suppose it's possible," Magenta agreed. "So why stop us from getting back to the lab in the first place? What if this plan we have isn't going to save Paul, wouldn't they just be better allowing us to try and find out the outcome."
Silence hung in the air for a moment, as the truth of Magenta's words hit home. What if this plan wasn't going to save Scarlet?
As much as he was against the idea of using the same nanotech that was killing his friend to try to save him had repulsed Blue, but he reluctantly agreed to it in the hopes that it could save his life. Because for him; losing Scarlet was not an option.
"I see no reason why the reconfigured nanotech won't work," Yelena Bishop said suddenly, her voice startling all three of the Spectrum captains as none of them had heard her come back into the room; with her was Doctor Simmons. "My initial testing of the modified Nanites is more than promising. But the only way to know for sure…"
"Is to use them on Paul," Blue added in understanding. "So if that is the case then the sooner we get back to Skybase the better."