Chapter 2

  Bullets rain down on me like hail the size of a baby's fist. I'm knocked to the ground, no idea how many times I was hit, my limbs knocked around, at least one shot hits my head.

  For the second time in less then an hour I dwell on my mortality.

  A strong, gravelly bellows out, “Cease fire! Cease fire!”

  The gunfire stops.

  Multiple flashlights cut through the darkness of the room like scalpels through flesh, I frantically feel my body where I was shot. There's no bullet holes. I feel beaten to hell, but no bullet punctures my suit.

  A dull ache hits my face. My mouth, frick, my jaw is broken like fine china on a tile floor. It feels like it's moving though, I put my fingers in my mouth, the jagged broken teeth start to grow, smooth out, my lower face is itchy as hell. Soldiers are standing around, I see their stunned, slack jawed faces looking at me. In under a minute my jaw, my teeth are fully healed.

  I keep moving my hand all over my jaw. How?

  “Attention soldiers! Keep in mind all that happens here with Project Genome Gambit is highly classified and speaking to others about this is considered treasonous! We all know the punishment for treason!” A man barks. He commands the room like a seasoned officer, I don't know him. “And you, Underwood. You're a liaison to the King, you're here to report, don't you say shit to my men again. The next of you to follow an order from this asshole will be punished accordingly for disobeying my standing order.”

  “With all due respect Commander Paris, you work for the King, I represent the King, so you work for me.” The snivelling man says.

  Commander Paris walks up to the man and backhands him across the face.

  “Boy, shut your damn mouth. Observe, report to the King, stay the fuck out of my way." He turns to me, "Agent Goliath, the man you had these men shoot at, is one of our best agents, he volunteered for this debacle to be an even better agent. Wrapping Project Golem in with the Genome infusion; we're lucky any of them lived.”

  Underwood walks up to me, looking over my mouth and chin.

  “Why do they call you Goliath?” He says.

  “Are you blind?” Commander Paris says, “The man is well over 6 feet tall, his shoulders almost as wide as he is tall and you ask why they call him Goliath?”

  Some of the soldiers snicker.

  “What do you have to report, Agent Goliath?” Commander Paris asks.

  “6 dead, Stinger, Maria and I are the lone survivors.”

  “What a waste, she survived.” Underwood sneers. Maria doesn't react to his comment, she's either in shock still or perhaps it's just how she is. It seems like a bit of both to me.

  A soldier walks over to the Commander. “Commander Paris, the dead, things, they all had their hearts pulled out.”

  The Commander looks at me. I can read it in his eyes, he is suspicious. Frick, I don't blame him, I didn't think I would ever in my life rip a man's heart out with my barehands. What a sick fricken Bingo card box to tick off.. “Care to explain Goliath? Considering your hands and face are plastered in blood I assume that was your work?”

  “They came at us, they tried to kill us. I snapped their necks, crushed the skull of one but they didn't stop until I ripped out their heart.”

  He looks uneasy. There is likely no video or audio available indicating what happened, I understand his hesitation. What would I think of all this from his point of view?

  “Ok, we don't know the full extent of what's going on. Shackle the three of them and take them to holding.”

  Sitting on the edge of opposing bunks Maria and I look at each other, she smiles shyly, we both put our hands in our laps. The suit is like skin, I feel exposed. They kept saying it would be like a suit we could not take off, talking about it like it's any old set of clothes. But it's more like a layer of skin, I can feel the cloth of the bunk I'm sitting on.

  Stinger is walking around, a grin on his face. “Do you guys feel it? I feel stronger, I feel better then I've ever felt!” He starts hopping around shadow boxing.

  “I feel like I should be wearing clothes.” Maria says.

  “Yeah, I agree Maria.” I say. We glance at each other again, she has a pleasant smile.

  “Ah come on guys, lighten up. Don't you feel the power?” He says. He turns to me and starts lightly hitting my shoulder in the stance of a boxer, hopping around the holding cell. His comical bravado makes me grin, I stand and we start shadow boxing each other. Rough housing some he backs into Maria, putting his hand back to catch his balance he grabs her shoulder. They look at each other, it's a long full look. She swats his hand away.

  “I'm sorry, I swear I'm not doing it on purpose.” He says.

  “I know. I think it's just best we don't get close.” She says.

  “Do you feel it too?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Just, stay away. Whatever it is, it's not me. I don't like it.” She hunches over, folding her arms over her chest.

  “I know, but part of me and you seem...”

  “Stinger," I interrupt, Maria doesn't seem comfortable and he's not getting the hint, "We have all had more done to us then we signed up for, lets focus on whats going on. Now, I assume you're a soldier that volunteered like I did?”

  “Yes sir, I spent a year as a Specter and have been a Palace Guard for a couple. You?”

  “Three years as a Specter, I'll be doing this as long as I'm able. Freeing wetware hosts is the only thing I have interest in.”

  “I wish I didn't quit as a Specter and join up with the Palace Guards, it's a glorified police position. What about you Maria? Why are you here?”

  “I am here because I am meant to be here,” she says, with a pained look on her face. “And you're correct; I feel better than I have felt in a very long time,” she says with a smile.

  “So you have seen the files on the fusion?” I ask.

  “Yes. There are many benefits to the fusion; our bodies heal at an accelerated rate, we're stronger, our bodies run more efficiently, apparently we can see some in the dark. I heard rumours of the suit, clearly its bullet proof as Goliath doesn't have holes in him. Now Goliath, I can't call you that all the time, what's your real name?”

  “Goliath.” I say with a grin.

  “Aw come on, you know my real name.”

  Normally I refuse to use my real name, for some reason part of me just wants to tell them, “Ok, fine. Stanley. How about you Stinger?”

  “I was born Terry.”

  “Do you mind if we try something Stinger?” I ask.

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Lets see if our suits react.”

  “Yeah, I'm up for it.”

  We stand and tentatively move our forearms towards each other. Nothing. He suddenly grabs at my arm. Still no reaction.

  “I don't feel anything out of the ordinary brother.” I say.

  “Me either brother.” he says as we move our arms apart.

  “Just an observation; you both called each other brother.” She says.

  “You're right, I suppose. It's a pretty common thing in the service though.” I say.

  “Is that a normal thing for you?” She says.

  “Not for me.” Stinger says.

  “Now that I think about it, me either.” I say. Usually I keep to myself, I'm busy with work, I rarely go out to have a drink with fellow soldiers. Most aren't disciplined enough, they swear nonstop, they stop working when the clock stops. People's lives rely on us to be ready. Look at today; if I wasn't ready we would all have had our faces ripped off.

  “If you're up for it, did you want to try Maria?”

  She looks uneasy. “Yes, we need to try.”

  We both stand and slowly reach out, touching our forearms. I hadn't noticed how attractive she was before; thinking that I’m overwhelmed with a sense of guilt. My mind fills with an image; a girl and I are down by a pond, we are having a talk. We stand very close to each other, her eyes gaze into mine. There is a truck roaring up, horn honking. It stops by the road, a soldier jumps out of the truck, runs towards her. She runs towards him, he picks her up, spins her around as they embrace and kiss. Snapping out of it I go to pull my arm away, but it's like my suit is sticky, but it pulls away.

  “Guilt?” She says.

  “Yes.” I say.

  Her and I look at each other, then both look away. It feels like there is a sense of a lot not being said. The feeling subsides after we aren't in contact, but my mind still remembers. In the images it wasn't me though, and it wasn't Maria, it felt like we played a role.

  “Whatever this is; the three of us are connected. We need to stick together.” Maria says.

  “Yeah, I feel it as well.” Stinger says.

  “Same, brother.” I say with a smile. Stinger nods.

  We hear the door open down the hallway, two people can be heard marching towards us. It's Paris and Underwood.

  “Ok, we have sorted a few things.” Underwood says.

  “If its all the same I would prefer to talk with Commander Paris, the man that didn't tell soldiers to shoot me.”

  “That's Sargent Paris now, I am now the Commander of you four.” Underwood says with a smug look.

  Paris has a stern look on his face, clearly he's not happy but he's a professional soldier following orders. This makes no sense, why would they bust him all the way down to Sargent?

  “Very well Underwood, spit it out.” I say.

  “You four are a part of a newly formed special unit, you report directly to me. We will start off with running skinjacks, it'll be a chance for Maria to learn from you two as she hasn't had any military training.”

  “What if we don't want you as a Commander?” Stinger interjects.

  Paris snorts, Underwood turns to him but the venomous glare Paris shoots back causes Underwood to look away.

  “Then you can stay where you are, the three of you murdered 6 people. That'll be at least 30 years for Goliath.” Underwood says with a toothy grin.

  “They were trying to kill us!” Maria yells.

  “Calm down Maria, don't be getting so mad you'll rip out another mans heart.” He says in a snarky, sarcastic tone.

  He's a greasy politicians lapdog, the worst kind of Commander. He won't give a damn about his men, as long as the King is happy with him, he'll be happy. We're going to be stuck with him.

  “Well guys, we have no choice, do we?” I say.

  “No. Besides, what else are we going to do?” Stinger says.

  “I agree, I have no life before today anyways,” Maria says. There is definitely more there with her that she's not sharing. She turns to Paris, “So do you have any clothes for us?”

  “You have suits, why do you need clothes?” Underwood says.

  “I can arrange for some military fatigues, if that would make you feel more comfortable, Maria. But when in the field you are better off wearing just the suit, it has some benefits, we'll go over that in training.” Paris says.

  “Stanley wants clothes as well.” She says.

  “Stanley?” Paris asks.

  “Yeah, me. If it's no bother.”

  “No, that's fine. Do you want some clothes as well, Stinger?”

  “No need, I'm already dressed.”

  “Very well, we can start training tomorrow.” Paris says.

  “Can we start now?” I ask.

  “Not yet, you're still under observation for another 12 hours, we need to make sure you've stabilized.”

  Paris and Underwood leave us, we are. Shortly after a guard brings us clothes. It feels more, normal, wearing clothes. The suit under clothes reminds me of the cold winters up north, even wearing thermal underwear the cold, damp Atlantic air chills you to the bone.

  We all lay down to try and get some rest.

  Snoring erupts in the cell. It looks like Stinger has burnt out, he's fast asleep. Maria and I look at each other, she smiles and shakes her head.

  “I guess he tired himself out.” I say.

  “Yeah, all the boxing.” She says. She pauses then tentatively continues “When we touched, were you at a pond?”

  “Yes, you saw it as well?”

  “I did. But it wasn't you standing there with me.”

  “That's right, it wasn't you either. I don't know what that was. The man in the truck, do you think it was supposed to be Stinger?”

  “Probably. But how we felt, it wasn't us.”

  “Yeah, I agree. I don't know what it was but it's not us.”

  “I don't know if Stinger realizes that. Are skinjacks difficult?”

  “Many things are difficult. It's not impossible, I've done over 50 skinjacks, Stinger has experience, and the suit makes us darn well imperious to taking any damage. You'll be fine, just stick with us.”

  “I really wish they didn't give us the suit fusion, I don't like the suit.”

  “Crap. I mean, how do I crap?”

  She laughs. “After the day we hand your big concern is using the toilet?”

  “Well, it has to go somewhere.”

  “I'm wondering what all the suits can do, they want us to operate without clothes.”

  “That's a very good question, it seems.”

  Running my hand over my forearm is the oddest sensation, it feels like my skin, but like there is a small delay. I understand Maria needing training, but what training would experienced soldiers like Stinger and I need? It seems Underwood want's to keep us close.