The New Haven Incident - Part Thirty-Two

Sebastian’s eyes fluttered open. His body ached from struggling so hard against the restraints during his treatment. His joints, too, though now free of the effects of infection, held onto the dim memory of pain. Frowning, momentarily confused by the state of his body and unable to remember much from the past few hours, he looked around at the unfamiliar room he found himself in.

Turning his head, he saw Lilith in the chair beside his bed. She was asleep, but one arm extended to his, her fingertips resting lightly on his forearm. Sebastian smiled. He tried to reach across his body to take her hand, but was still bound to the bed. At the sound of the leather binding snapping against the rail on the bed, Lilith bolted upright. Her strange dark eyes met Sebastian’s blue, and she smiled. Without warning, she threw herself over Sebastian, pulling him close.

Surprised, but not displeased, Sebastian grunted softly. He let himself relax in Lilith’s arms a moment. She pulled away and looked down at him, gently brushing his hair out of his eyes. Her torso still rested on his. Sebastian was painfully aware of her weight on him. He wanted to wrap an arm around her waist, but was still bound.

“Um,” he said, his voice rasping painfully. “My wrists.”

Blinking in realisation, Lilith scrambled to unbind Sebastian’s wrists. Once freed she stepped back.

Sorry, she signed. Sebastian understood well enough.

“It was probably necessary,” he noted, rubbing his wrists. He frowned and shook his head. “I… I was infected, right? I remember none of it.”

Lilith turned to the counter, searching briefly for the pad and pen she had found and brought in. Finding them, she scribbled quickly and held it up for Sebastian to read.

Probably for the best.

Sebastian grunted in agreement. He pulled himself upright and Lilith put aside her writing implements to fix the bed so he could sit instead of lie. “Thank you,” Sebastian said.

You’re welcome, Lilith replied with a quick smile.

“Hey, hey,” Mendez said from the door. He held two steaming cups in his hand. “Look who’s awake.”

Sebastian turned to him and smiled slightly. “Hey.”

“You gave us a good scare.” Mendez walked in, handing a cup to Lilith and one to Sebastian. “Coffee,” he said. “The doc found a coffee maker in the office. I’ve got sugar and milk if you want.”

Sebastian shook his head. He took his coffee black. Lilith brightened though, and held out her hand. Chuckling at her cheeky grin, Mendez pulled out two packets of sugar and three milkers from a pocket and handed them over.

“Tactical barista?” Sebastian asked wryly.

Mendez grinned. “Sure.”

“Not having one?”

“Already did. Here.” Mendez pulled a sandwich from another pocket and handed it to Sebastian. The agent was more hesitant about accepting it.

“Tuna,” Mendez noted. “I robbed the refrigerated vending machine in the hall outside the lab. Pretty sure nothing heard.”

Despite himself, Sebastian laughed. He accepted the sandwich and settled back, putting the coffee between his legs so he could unwrap the sandwich. It was still cold, despite its proximity to Mendez’ body. Surprised by his appetite, Sebastian had to use considerable willpower not to shovel the entire thing in his mouth.

“Where are we?” Sebastian asked as he swallowed the last bite.

“Reinhert’s office.”

“Reinhert.” The name rang warning bells in his mind. Sebastian scowled. “Is he…”

“The fucker behind this whole mess? Yes.”

Sebastian’s scowl deepened. He fell silent, his eyes unfocussing as he fought through the post-pain fog to recall what had happened. It took him a moment to piece together the flashes of remembrances that remained. “Was this… This breach… Accidental?”

“Deliberate,” Mendez said. “Near as we can tell. Some sort of unhinged, large-scale test of his creation.”

“The infection.”

“Mm-hm.”

“Why?”

“Dr. Liu would be able to explain it better, but from what he’s managed to discover, it looks like Reinhert was working in secrecy at the request of Cedarwood leadership on the super-soldier programme they had outwardly abandoned. They have some very interested buyers for this kind of… thing.”

“So, they’re supposed to be super soldiers?”

“Well, they’re supposed to be mindless, controllable, hard to kill fuckers. So, mission accomplished, I guess.”

“Controllable? He ordered them to obliterate the entire city?”

“We’re not sure about that. Dude doesn’t seem sane, though, so… maybe?”

“For fuck’s sake.” Sebastian leant back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. “Where is he now?”

“Somewhere in this facility, probably.”

Sebastian shook his head. After a moment, he said, “He’s not the priority. Getting the civilians to safety. That’s the priority.”

“There’s more,” Mendez said.

Lilith looked to Mendez, then Sebastian, and back again. Catching Mendez’ eye, she signed, I’m going to go see if Dad needs help. Mendez nodded. She smiled at him, then at Sebastian, and left the room. Mendez could not help but notice Sebastian watching her.

“She wouldn’t leave your side, you know,” he mentioned in the kind of affected casualness that indicated an obvious, scheming interest. Sebastian turned to him. He rolled his eyes, and changed the conversation.

“What more?”

“Hm?”

“What more about Reinhert?”

“Oh. He had files on us. Sigma, I mean. Our DNA. Me, my team, all of Sigma personnel, actually.”

“How did he get those?”

“No idea.”

Agent Connors scowled. “Your team?” he asked.

“Might be in trouble. I have a favour to ask.”

Scoffing, Sebastian shifted his position. “Yes.”

“What?”

“Yes, I’ll help you find them. They’re collecting data here, right? How long was that likely to take?”

“If they didn’t run into trouble, they should be just about done.”

Sebastian nodded. He put aside his coffee and sandwich, threw aside his blanket and attempted to slide off his bed.

“Whoa, whoa!” Mendez said, stepping forward and stopping him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“We have to move if we’re going after them.”

“You’re in no state to do much of anything,” Mendez said. “Besides, the doc isn’t done retrieving the data he wants. We can wait until he’s done.”

“How long will that take?”

Mendez shrugged.

“We don’t have that kind of time, Mendez.” Sebastian pushed Mendez away and slipped off the bed. Unable to bear the weight, his legs gave way from under him and he collapsed to the ground with a surprised grunt.

Mendez laughed. “Told you so,” he said, before squatting down to help Sebastian back on the bed.

“Shut up,” Sebastian muttered darkly as Mendez, chuckling to himself, manoeuvred Sebastian back on the bed. Mendez laughed a little louder.

“Rest up,” he said, grinning. He reached over and retrieved Sebastian’s coffee and sandwich, handing them to him. “I’m going to need you at full strength if you’re going to be any help.”

Sebastian grunted, but offered no other retort. He twitched suddenly and turned to Mendez. “My gear.”

“In the office. I’ll fetch it. But first, finish your coffee. Think you can eat more? I can raid the vending machine again.”

Sebastian smiled. “I’m good.” He sighed. “We need to come up with a plan. How long before the evac window expires?”

Mendez checked his watch. “Eighteen hours before they abandon ship.”

“Not a lot of time.”

“We’ll get it done,” Mendez said cheerfully. His tone flattened as he said, “We have to.”

Sebastian nodded. His belly full of food, he struggled to keep his eyes open, despite the coffee. Mendez noticed.

“Rest up,” he said. “I’m going to catch a couple of Z’s in the next room myself.”

Sebastian nodded again, his eyes already closed. He fell asleep so fast he nearly lost his half-full cup of coffee. Mendez lunged forward, catching it before the contents tipped. He pulled it out of Sebastian’s loose grip and set it on a nearby counter. He looked Sebastian over. He no longer looked like death, but dark circles still haunted his eyes. Shaking his head, Mendez gave Sebastian a friendly pat on his shoulder, ensured the blanket properly covered him and left the room, switching off the main lights as he left.

The pods whined and hissed as they opened, oxygen-rich coolant emptying from them in heavy clouds before vanishing into the atmosphere. Inside the members of Team Two slept.

Harding watched and waited as their cushioned rests slowly rose in temperature, warming them and bringing them back to life. It would take a little while before they awoke. He wondered idly what they would be like. Dr. Reinhert had adjusted the formula in order to make them obedient.

Drones, the doctor had called them. Exactly like soldiers, but imminently more obedient. Unhappy soldiers could mutiny, turning on their commanders or abandoning carefully laid plans. Not these soldiers, though. Fear would have no effect on them. They would carry out their orders without so much as a peep, if Reinhert was to be believed. Orders that Harding would deliver.

They would kill each other if he commanded it, like God commanding Abraham. Harding smiled.

Previous Part                                                                                                                                                                        Next Part