He chewed his bottom lip, watching me back. "Hope might know."
"Hope?"
"Yeah, they're supposed to be friends or something, but you won't find her here. I think she's in class."
"Thanks, man." I patted him on the shoulder and left. There was no way to know when she’d be back. Even though we participated as a team in physical activities, the portions that were taught in the classroom were individually based. I didn't want to miss her if she happened to come back while I was out, so I waited back in my room. Picking up the jeans I’d been wearing a couple days before and rifling through the pockets, I retrieved Noir’s green ribbon and pocketed it.
When done, I pulled out my phone to sign into Skype and immediately got a video call from Arena; my mom was standing next to her with her nursing clothes on. There were plenty of ‘what happened?’ and ‘are you okays?’, which I responded to by making up some excuse about jetlag. I hated keeping things from my family but didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. Now I really knew how Candace felt. We video chatted for almost an hour before ending the call with my class time nearing.
I took the stairs to the second floor and knocked on Hope’s door, but there was no answer. Maybe she’s still in class? I left the dorm house after and made my way towards the learning center where I'd only been the day before for the aptitude tests. Kei was tapping on her touchscreen device behind the desk when I entered. "Hi, Kei."
"Oh, Adin, it’s you…” She tilted her head to the side. “But you already took your aptitude test."
I laughed. "No, I have a class in a different part of the building. Actually, do you know how to get to classroom two, F?"
After a confusing set of directions from her, I found it and sat near the back.
"Hi."
I turned my head and saw Hope sitting to my right. "Hope, I didn't even see you there." I whispered.
"I am a little short."
I gave a short laugh. "I didn't really mean it like that."
"Quiet back there." The instructor admonished.
I immediately sat forward. Guess I have to wait until after class to speak to her. It seemed to drag on forever, but I turned to her again when it was over. "Are you free now?"
"Mhm."
We exited the classroom and made our way outside, walking through the courtyard.
"You must think I’m pathetic, huh? This morning wasn't too pretty."
She shook her head, her dark hair with it. "That's not true. You lasted way longer than I thought."
I didn't know whether to take her statement as a compliment but smiled anyway. "Thanks."
She nodded.
"I hear you're pretty close with Noir."
She looked sideways at me. "If you want to know something, you can just ask."
So, she was the straightforward type. I liked her already. "Noir, I want to know why she's so..." I tried to find the right words.
"Hulky." Hope finished for me.
I blinked at her. "Hulky?"
"Yeah, ‘cause Hulk go smash." She said like it made all the sense in the world.
I laughed. "Okay, so why is she so hulky?"
"If you want to know, you have to ask her."
That was exactly my plan. "That's actually why I wanted to talk to you. Do you know where she stays?"
“She usually wouldn’t want to be bothered, but I think it’s okay this one time.” The smaller Asian girl gave me the directions.
I wasted no time and headed straight for her place. Supposedly, it was in an isolated part just north of campus and before I knew it was in a totally different area. Instead of the stone and brick Addison was comprised of, there was mostly grass and trees around now. Making my way further into the underbrush, I batted away branches that sprung up to block the path and eventually came into an open clearing that had a wooden cabin surrounded by a wooden fence.
Behind the fence was a small garden with multiple vegetables growing. I went to the front door and knocked, but there was no answer, so waited another minute before knocking once more. But again, no one came to the door. I knew she was home, but if she wanted to play that game, I could play too. After all, she had to come out sometime. Sitting with my back against the door, Indian style, I waited twenty minutes, then forty, then an hour or maybe it was two?
I had stopped keeping track. Maybe she wasn't even home. No, for some reason, I knew she was. All of a sudden, the door swung open, almost making me fall back.
Noir stood above me with her arms folded. "A normal person would have left long ago."
I tilted my head back, viewing her through upside-down vision. "Oh, Noir, I was in the neighborhood so thought I'd drop by."
"What do you want?" The friendly demeanor she had when we first met was definitely gone.
I uncrossed my legs and stood up to face her. "Aren't you going to invite me in? It's kinda hot out here." The sun was out in full force now, and I was starting to feel like a chicken on a rotisserie.
She continued to stand at the door, unmoving.
"Please?"
After several seconds, she turned around and walked in. I followed her and shut the door behind me. Inside her cabin wasn't big, but it was nice enough. To my right was a small kitchen and the area in front held a fireplace with a wooden chair, and a bed was in the corner.
She went over to the bed and sat down with her legs crossed.
"Nice place." I looked around more.
"Thank you."
“Do you get campus Wi-Fi out here?”
“Cut to the chase, Adin. Why are you here?”
Her sudden question suited me fine. I didn't really feel beating around the bush anyway. "Why did you almost try to kill me this morning?"
"Why does one do anything?"
Ah. I forgot that Noir loved to talk in circles. It was her most annoying and endearing quality. "I know what happened to you."
"You don't know anything." Her expression was empty.
I sighed and moved closer. "Look, I'm not trying to poke my nose into your business. I just need to know what your deal is if I'm going to lead Team Umbra correctly. It's literally our lives on the line out there."
“I have no ‘deal’ as you put it." She made quotations with her fingers.
"Just because you’re strong doesn't mean you can beat all your problems away, Noir. Violence isn't always the answer."
"Strength is everything."
I paused. "I’m sure you know there are rumors about you, but I don't give a crap about them. I want to come to my own conclusion. Call me crazy, but for some strange reason I like you - despite the fact that you beat me within an inch of my life this morning."
She stared at me with her big, green eyes but didn't say anything.
I couldn't read her face, so mentally sighed and had to remind myself; Rome wasn't built in a day. "Before I forget..." I took her ribbon out of my pocket and dangled it in front of her. "I picked it up when the whole thing went down at the airport, here." I reached further to drop it in her hands.
She watched the ribbon as if waiting for it to hatch. When she finally lifted her head, she had an expression that was hard to make out. "Thank you. I'd thought I lost it."
"You're welcome… But if you're really thankful, you'll start showing up to the dorm house when we have scheduled, team training. We need to all be in sync." I walked to the door and glanced behind me before leaving to see Noir was still intently gazing down at her ribbon like it was the only thing in the world that existed.
Chapter 18 - Solution
It'd been only about a week since my near transformation, but felt a lot longer, so I was very thankful when Dean Dexter finally summoned me.
"Good afternoon, Adin. How are you?" He greeted me with a wide smile.
I looked around the office from my seat. "I’m doing okay, any good news?"
He chuckled. "Slow down, I know you're eager, but patience is a virtue. How about a truffle?" He gestured to the white plate he kept on his desk.
"Suit yourself." He popped one in his mouth.
I inwardly cringed. Some people became nose blind to their own odors; maybe the same rule applied to food.
"I never got a chance to tell you this, by the way, but congratulations on making team tactician. That is an extraordinary accomplishment, Adin. And with Team Umbra no less!" He rubbed his chin. "I think you'll do very well with that bunch. Your unorthodox ways just might be what they need."
So, he knew the problems I’d be facing with them. His praise did make me feel a little better, though. "Thanks, it definitely wasn't easy."
"I'm still flabbergasted as to the way you defeated the dome-dummy." He leaned back in his chair and barked out a laugh. "It was truly inspiring!"
"I actually heard you were pretty amazing, yourself, Dean. If you don't mind me asking, how in the world did you ever beat that thing with just your hands?"
He put two fingers up in a peace sign. "There are two rules to success; the first is, never tell all you know."
I waited for him to give the second rule then laughed when I realized the joke. "I'll make sure to remember that."
"There's actually something else you should remember, too." He crossed his hands and set them on the table. “The result of your simulation training."
When Dean Dexter got serious, he was actually kind of intimidating. But he didn’t need to remind me; the whole debacle was still fresh on my mind, often picturing the perfect, circular hole in the middle of my teammates' forehead. Her warm blood splattered all over my face and being shot over and over and over again.
"Adin?"
I blinked a few times. "Sorry... what were you saying?"
He watched me for a bit. "Do you understand why the target was a child?"
To be honest, I didn't. Weren't the bad guys supposed to look like bad guys? You know, six-foot-tall thugs that held children hostage - not the children. That's what I thought anyway, it made it a lot easier. "Why?"
"We want all our operatives to understand what you learned the hard way. The child in the simulation is based on actual North Korean dictator's son, Kim-Jun, who himself personally has persecuted and condemned thousands of his own people."
"That kid?"
"’That kid,’ as you call him, ordered the massacre of an entire village based on rumors of a revolution that turned out to be completely false."
I didn't say anything. What could I? Killing a kid? It felt evil, no matter what the situation. But if what Dean Dexter was telling me was true, it might be a necessary evil.
He held his arm out. "This is the dilemma we face, Adin. We are the best of the best, the cream of the crop, elite covert ops agents, therefore we require our agents to think, to have a brain. We can't have mindless drones handling sensitive missions that often times require a touch of finesse. Do you understand?"
I slowly nodded.
"I won't ramble on, but remember this, Adin Anderson if you remember nothing else, you are what may stand between life and death for any number of people on a mission." The older man made sure to look directly into my eyes.
When he put it like that, I felt I really couldn't afford to make such huge mistakes; others would be the ones paying for it like he eluded.
He noticed my somber mood and leaned forward to pat me on the shoulder. "There's nothing to feel down about. You just got here and have plenty of learning to do.”
I gave him an obligatory smile and nodded.
"Okay..." He sat back in his leather chair and picked up a piece of paper that was on his desk. "Let's get down to why I called you here today.” He slid it over to me. "Take a look at that."
I picked it up and skimmed across it. "This doesn't make any sense…"
"That were the exact initial thoughts of our scientists until we compared them with blood samples taken shortly after your run-in with Taylor Louis and the samples drawn just recently here at Addison.”
I looked back up at him. "Hold on, how did you get my medical records? Aren't they classified?"
He gave a wry smile.
"Oh, right." He was only an authority at an elite, spy organization.
"Anyway, you could only guess our astonishment once we confirmed the results were accurate. According to the various levels in your blood, you shouldn't even be alive."
Funny, I didn't feel very dead. "How is this possible?"
Dean Dexter smiled. "That is the million-dollar question, isn't it? When we ran your blood through cultures, our astonishment only grew. The virus that's currently in your system is unlike anything we've ever seen."
"What… do you mean?" My heartbeat sped up.
"Viruses can execute very complex functions that mimic life, but they do not reproduce themselves or process food, so technically are not 'alive'. However, in your case, the virus exhibits signs of being sentient.”
“I’m not sure I understand…”
He glanced at the ceiling in thought. “When a person has an infection or a virus, antibodies are created to neutralize the threat, but your virus has convinced your body into thinking it's a perfectly normal cell. Do you recall ever being sick as a child?"
I crossed my arms, thinking. "No, I actually don't." My mother would sometimes call me Superman as a kid because no matter what, I never seemed to get sick and now understood why.
"That's what I thought. Viruses infect a number of organisms, even other viruses. The reason you never became ill is because the virus attacks and kills any invading foreign matter. It is truly fascinating."
If he thought that was amazing, he was about to be more impressed. "I've noticed other changes, too..."
He leaned forward on his elbows, his gaze on me was intense and a little unnerving. "Tell me."
"Well, I barely ever sleep anymore but don’t seem to get tired. And when I cut myself the other day and went to grab a band-aid the cut was already healed by the time it took me to get it.”
Dean Dexter’s eyes glazed over and became distant. "That is... remarkable. It seems the virus is maturing at a rapid rate. It's the likely cause of all the subject’s recent changes."
Subject? He was talking like I wasn't even in the room anymore, but I tried to ignore it. "Why is the virus only maturing now if I've had it since childhood?"
"Viruses have genetic information inside of them that dictate how they function. We theorized once your life was in grave danger it kickstarted its protocol."
"So, what in the world are the transformations?"
"It’s the viruses' way of ensuring its survival; very effective - and destructive."
I leaned back in my seat. What he was saying made things a lot clearer, but it was still hard to fully grasp.
"Have you experienced any negative effects?" The dean asked.
Yeah, there's a whisper in the back of my mind that won’t go away, like a bad itch. I kept telling myself it was just stress, especially with all that'd been happening in the last few months, but it was getting harder and harder to believe that. "None that I can tell." Liar.
He studied my face for a few seconds, then cracked a smile. "Well, that's good news. But I have even better news." The dean produced a pocket-sized box from a drawer in his desk and placed it in my hands.
"What's this?"
"Open it and find out."
There was no writing or labels located anywhere on it that indicated its contents. However, I did notice a small keyhole on the right side.
"There's a lock on it."
"Oops, sorry about that." He ruffled through his robe and gave me a silver key.
I opened the box with it and saw three, yellow-filled syringes." I gently removed one and inspected it. "What are these?"
Dean Dexter pointed at it. "That, my friend, is the answer to your current problems. It’ll stop the transformations."
"Are you serious?" I couldn't contain the excitement in my voice. There was no den
ying my power when the virus took over, but it wasn’t worth all the destruction; Taylor Louis’s face flashed in my mind.
"Yes. It works by circumventing the virus' protocol during a transformation."
"So, I take this before the virus actually takes over?"
"Precisely. You inject it into your buttocks during -"
"M-My butt?" My eyes widened.
He smiled apologetically. "Unfortunately, that’s the only area that’ll properly absorb the medication."
I guess I didn't have much of a choice. Hopefully, I didn't transform in front of anyone and have to drop pants. In that case, it'd be less traumatic to let the virus take over.
"But know that this is only a temporary fix. We only prepared three doses because we have no doubt that the virus will adapt. So, in the meantime, we need to learn how to control it. Your father's research suggests that there is a definitive way to achieve that.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, we're not making much progress. I was actually hoping you could help with that."
"But I told you I don't know anything. I don't even remember my father injecting me."
"Just because you don’t remember doesn't mean it's not in your head." He pointed to his own, smiling.
"What?"
"We have reason to believe your father may have suppressed certain memories, such as your being injected with the virus. Inside your brain may lie all the answers we've spent almost a decade searching for."
I was silent for a moment, trying to come up with any answer as to why my father would do such a thing to his young kid and came up blank. My mother always told me he was a good man, but that notion was rapidly declining. What would she think if she knew the truth? "So... what now?"
"First, we'll be seeing each other more frequently from now on, at least twice a week. During our sessions, I’ll be asking you questions you may find strange, and putting you through certain tests and obstacles that are equally peculiar but assure you they are all to accomplish our goal. You are the key to replicating this virus successfully, Adin. I'm counting on you."
Sixty-Seven Salamanders Page 12
