Lazarus Corporation Headquarters

@0stinato


"Hey." Shark mumbled, turning her head to Tethys. They both got out of it alive. As impossible as it was, they both got out alive. They both had something in them. Something keeping them alive. Something pushing them forward in spite of everything life throws at them. They were made of the same thing. It didn't matter that one was human another a clone. They were both strong enough. "We're alive." Shark smiled.


"It's a miracle, really." A sharp, flat voice said as a figure stepped into the room. Shark looked at the newcomer. She knew who he was. The man shorter than the Specialist but there was something about him. When he came closer, his small but sharp, blue eyes landed on Tethys before settling on Shark. The man's tiny eyes were almost gray in their paleness. He was cleanly shaved and his completely white hair was kept short.


While he was thin, his black uniform was carefully tailored to suit him. "I'm Mr Keyes." Keyes said, his tone a flatline. Not even the slightest change in pitch. Not even a blink of his eye since they landed on Shark. "I represent Steele right now as he is involved with a serious matter at the moment." Nothing but a few muscles of his mouth moved as he spoke. Even his jaw made the barest attempts to make him appear human. Still, every word he said came out clearly and with the weight of a judge delivering a sentence. "I will be your new handler." Shark saw him several times discussing things with Steele and researchers while she was taking tests. Steele always nodded along to whatever Keyes was telling him but she never caught a word of what it was. When Steele couldn't be around, he was. Shark concluded Keyes was the extention of Steele's will but now it was confirmed.


Even though there were a few wrinkles on his face, Keyes was unmistakably older than he appeared to be. Anyone could tell he was a veteran soldier from the first look. Many soldiers found work in corporations when governments started making cutbacks. Few lasted long, their skills needed reshuffling, and fewer still managed to reach high ranks in corporate armies. And Keyes was in the clouds of the corporate ladder.
"You did well at Ronin." He gave Shark a sharp nod. "You kept a VIP save against a major threat which you did not predict. What was meant to be a simple mission turned into a greater test than we expected. We started making plans for your replacement but Steele seemed convinced you would be fine." Keyes said and took the laser gun from the Specialist's holster. Examining it for a short moment, Keyes pointed the gun at her.


At Tethys.


(Wrote a post last night and the site screwed me out of it so this one may be a bit eh.)
 
Because Shark was talking to her, Tethys had made an effort to open her eyes. From behind her eyelids she was aware it was horrifyingly light in the room, though the light didn't bring forth the odd headache in full force, surprisingly enough. All it did was just remind her that the headache was there and still had the potential to ruin her... morning? afternoon? evening? Tethys had no idea. But, when she was more awake, it was no surprise to her where she was. All white and chrome, all smelling faintly of something that, on first sniff is pleasant, but eventually reveals itself to be a sickly, chemical imbalance of disinfectant and polish. It was sort of nice to smell it again rather than shrapnel and blood.


Her body was under a thin sheet, all the areas she'd identified recently still hurting her. Of course, her mind tried to make sense of these injuries, as if it hadn't hidden away the memories of what had happened. Playing innocent. She didn't move anything, not even her head, because it was immediately apparent that her body was going to feel heavy. Anaesthesia, probably. Sometime prior to lying in this bed, she'd been anaesthetised like some kind of zoo creature. Tethys had been under anaesthetic before and back then she'd awoken in a hospital bed needing the loo. So she'd tried to get up to go. But, upon collapsing to the floor, the scene turned out to be not very pretty. She just wasn't ready for her knees to be so unaware of the weight she'd be putting on them


She was going to reply to Shark, but a voice that definitely wasn't hers penetrated the room. It was the kind of voice that didn't demand to be heard, but... maybe there would be consequences if you didn't listen. Alessandro had much the same tone. He didn't always speak rough, most of the time he was just a soft-spoken pale Londoner with a bad beard. But, as Tethys turned to look towards the voice, afraid of the hypothetical consequences she'd invented for herself if she didn't, she saw that the man looked nothing like the one she'd known.


Experienced was probably the correct word. As correct as Tethys could get. She had no idea who he was though, and she didn't know if Shark did - but, since the man, one Mr. Keyes, had referred to Steele, someone Shark had mentioned, Tethys was going to assume she did indeed know this gentleman. With eyes of dying light.


In her peripheral vision, she noticed that Shark didn't look... right. Somehow. She, of course, knew what was wrong, but didn't want to admit it to herself. Her mind was trying to protect her from something. Something Tethys couldn't put a bruised finger on.


Mr. Keyes spoke, his words coming in sentences punctuated with his mere presence. Perhaps by the way he walked, speaking, taking a gun that wasn't attached to him but to the other professional in the room, it was clear that he was powerfully dangerous. Or dangerously powerful. Or whatever chiasmus Tethys could come up with.


Mr. Keyes returned to looking at them before raising the weapon in a sort of lazy way. Tethys, whose body was also reacting in a, frankly, lazy way too, didn't react straightaway. But, as soon as she realised where the gun was pointing, she struggled to sit up. Her eyebrows were creased, not in a 'please don't shoot, I'm scared' kind of way, more like a 'really? Really?' kind of a way.


"Aww, c'mon!" she said, her tongue alien and lethargic. Her throat was still crackly and she sounded absolutely pathetic really. "I just got saved from somefink my brain's hidden from me and... my ... best friend is a fuckin' potato and I really needa piss, can yuh just not right now? Lawd!"


She looked away. If he was going to shoot her, she had no way to defend herself now. She couldn't expect Shark to do anything in her condition, being a potato with no freaking limbs and all, and why should she? She'd saved Tethys a million times already. If this Mr. Keyes was going to turn the lock on her life now...


Well. Tethys wouldn't be surprised if he did.


@Mr_DC (Don't worry about it - awesome we're [I'm] meeting new characters.)
 
@0stinato



"Sir." Shark raised her voice but paused. Potato? She frowned for a moment. Best friend? Shark's expression softened but she maintained certain confidence. Questioning both of those would have to come later. She had to beg now. "I would like to keep this recruit as my partner." Shark said, watching Keyes. The man was now focused on Shark and barely responded to Tethys. Something wasn't... Right. "She possesses certain qualities I think would be useful to both Lazarus in general and to me on the field." Shark bluffed. She was far from being convincing but she forced herself to make up a case for Tethys. After all, what else could she do? She could bite Keyes if he came closer but that was about it. She felt stupid in her current state. Completely helpless.



"And what are those qualities?" Keyes asked, maintaining the expression of a man listening to someone discussing bird mating habits - not moved in the slightest.


"She has the drive to survive and is eager to learn whatever it takes." As Shark said it, she realized it wouldn't be enough. Lazarus cared about one thing and that was... "Efficiency." Shark mumbled, looking to the side for a moment before locking eyes with Keyes again. "She would increase my efficiency both on and off the field. Just as long as we find a better position for her. She shouldn't be out in the field right by me but should be closely involved with me as I am something her skills can be focused onto." Shark fought back surprise at how well that came out.


Still emotionless, Keyes returned the gun to the soldier and nodded.



"Tethys O'Shea." He started, looking at Tethys. "Age 29. Born in London. Been a mechanic for most of your life." He spoke as if he was reading it from some folder. Shark frowned. Did he just read all of that? Or was he one of those people who knew everything about everyone.


Then it hit her. She realized what wasn't right. It was obvious. If they wanted Tethys dead, he wouldn't wait with shooting her. They wouldn't have operated on her. They wouldn't have let her into the car at Ronin. They wanted to see what she meant to Shark. Tethys was never meant to die. Shark was meant to be tested.


"With no previous military experience, you joined the Lazarus Corporation." He nodded. "You probably expected you would be in our engineering unit. Well, Mr. Steele would like to extend his apologies. For both this..." He motioned his head at the Specialist's gun. "And sending you out to die. We were aware of your new connection with agent Shark and believed it would be a good test. We knew she would get you out alive but didn't anticipate the enemy you faced."



Steele himself apologizing to Tethys. The corner of Shark's lips twitched. She could see him right now. Taking a deep bow while saying his most sincere apology as clearly as he possibly could. Instead, Tethys would have to be content with this man. Mr. Keyes. At least Keyes seemed more professional than most other officers in the Lazarus security forces. That must be why he was positioned so high that he actually knew Steele.


"We would like to hire you as an agent." He quickly looked at Shark. "And promote you to the rank of a special agent." He looked back at Tethys. "You see, Lazarus required a small, specialized unit which could tackle whatever task Lazarus has. I have convinced Mr. Steele to use special agent Shark as that unit but as I agree with her, special agent Shark's efficiency could be improved even further." Keyes took a deep breath. "Keep in mind that this decision cannot be thought over. If you reject, we will let you go under certain conditions. If you accept, however, there is no going back. We will give you cybernetic implants to make up for the wounds you earned in combat and apply specialized training." He stopped, waiting frozen for Tethys' reply.


Shark looked at Tethys. This was her chance to get out. And Lazarus would directly state when there was no way out. They meant to let her leave if she wanted. But Shark didn't want her to leave. Shark wanted her friend to stay. She knew it was selfish but she wanted her to stay. She wanted to fight alongside her friend. Her friend. Friend. "Tethys?" Shark's eyebrows arched upwards. Don't leave me. She wasn't quite sure if she said the words or not but clenched her jaw to avoid any word from slipping through.
 
"The hell yuh lookin at me like that for? Dun yuh trust me?" Tethys scowled at Shark, ignoring Mr. Keyes watching them both absently. He seemed to have more important things on his mind. And so did Tethys. The way Shark was staring at her, from her laid-down position on the bed, for once helpless in this world she seemed so capable in before... maybe she was a little more alike to Tethys than either of them had seen. Now Tethys was looking, she could see part of Shark's shoulders above the hem of the sheets. And - of course - she had cybernetic arms... which could be removed to be worked on. Duh. And legs as well.


But, without these all-important limbs - the ones that had supported Tethys' weight and had propelled Shark onwards through what Tethys was struggling to remember - she was nothing more than what Tethys was in those moments. A lamb. If she wanted, if she felt strong enough, Tethys could pick Shark up and run with her. Without the weighty electronics, just her mostly flesh body, Tethys wouldn't say it would be hard to hold Shark for a while. Maybe run a lap or two with her.


Back to Shark's eyes though - they both begged Tethys not to go, she could see it, almost hear it. Which was slightly insulting... why would Tethys choose to go?


"I always said I wanted to lend myself to a cause," she said, this time more to Mr. Keyes. "And I seen too much to refuse, 'avn't I? Yuh migh' as well put me on the payroll right now, I en't going nowhere," she turned her gaze back to Shark, "I dunno why the hell you think I would. Y'think I'd turn my back on yuh now? After all that shit we went through? I got bits o'brain on me, fer fuck's sake. Pretty sure I'm too deep in to back out now, ay?"


There wasn't much else to do but to accept Mr. Keyes' offer. She wasn't interested in what life she could lead beyond the walls of Lazarus, out on the streets of Nevereign again. She wasn't interested in what the 'conditions' were if she had refused (actually, she was quite curious about that one). All he knew is that her heart had been born in the midst of a gang-on-gang turf war, and it was still there. Only now her heart was beating in a rough-and-tumble battle between names. And it so happened that she'd signed up for Lazarus, not Ronin, not MosTech, not any of the others. And it also so happened she'd met Shark.


Where else was she meant to belong in this city?


"Can yuh not just stand there?" she exclaimed to Mr. Keyes. "Let's fuckin do this."


@Mr_DC
 
@0stinato


Shark looked away. She doubted Tethys. Believed she would want to return to her regular, peaceful life. To her sitcoms. To her soap operas. She doubted her friend and now felt embarrassed. Ashamed. Why did she even think Tethys would leave her? Because she went through hell? Because it's what Shark would do?


"Thanks." Shark smiled, still looking away. She didn't want Tethys to see her now. Not after doubting her.


"Mr. Steele assumed that would be your answer." Keyes nodded, taking a couple steps to the door before pausing. "I was advised to give you two a moment before we escort you both to surgery. Two minutes." He said and walked to the door, followed by the Specialist who was watching over them.


Steele assumed so. The words bounced in Shark's head. Yeah, that was Steele. When he assumed something, you could bet that's how it would be. He assumed Shark would be a useful investment and that she would get out of Ronin alive with Tethys. Where is he? Shark frowned. She just caught a glimpse of him at Ronin. Could he still be there? Maybe they captured him? No. If that was the case, Shark would have her limbs and be heading for Ronin.


"That was something." Shark sighed as Keyes and the Specialist left. "Ronin, I mean." Shark still kept her eyes away from Tethys. She was afraid Tethys could see something in her that Shark wasn't sure about. Would she leave Tethys if she had to?


"For a moment... I didn't think we'd make it." Shark admitted. It was a realization which hit her only when they were safe. She gave up on the staircase. Before the Ronin Samurai rushed down and the recruits rushed in. When the turrets attacked the mercenary woman. She gave up, was ready to accept death. Maybe trade death with the woman. Just grab her and pull the pins from her grenades. Kill both of them to buy Tethys another few moments.


"Thanks for staying." Shark smiled, looking back at Tethys. She was sure. She wouldn't leave Tethys. Not after everything she did at Ronin. If she would have left her, she would have done it at that staircase. "You called me a potato." Shark said matter-of-factly.
 
Tethys watched Mr. Keyes leave, not missing him at all when he did finally leave them alone. The Specialist followed suit, and it was just Tethys and Shark in private now. Well, almost private. Tethys didn't doubt there would be cameras and/or microphones dotted around the walls and ceiling to watch and record their every interaction. But that was the way it was, and she'd have to get used to it. She was part of Lazarus now, and she was going to become cyberfied. Not sure how she felt about that, Tethys drew up her arms. Her right hand had been wrapped into some kind of nub and had a tight mitten-like piece of material pushed over it. Probably to keep it still or to stop Tethys from breaking it further. What the hell had happened to it? At any rate, she hoped she'd get a replacement hand before she had to sign any documents, or she'd have to resort to trying to write her name wrong-handed.


Shark began speaking almost immediately and Tethys waited beside her on the bed. It was strange, sitting up a little while Shark was just... there beside her. What if she had an itch or something? Tethys shuddered to think about it - being unable to satiate an itch was one of the worst things. Like those weird internal itches. When it felt like the inside of your cheek needed scratching, or the back of your throat, or inside your foot somewhere. Tethys couldn't imagine a worse hell.


But speaking of hell, Shark was literally speaking about it. She'd called hell Ronin though, and Tethys, with her limited capacity to recall the events, didn't have much to add to the conversation. Shark was speaking in sweeping vague terms, a quiet melancholia in her voice as she spoke of the 'nevers' and 'impossibles'. Part of Tethys wanted to ask Shark what exactly had happened, how Shark had come to be falling out of a building with Tethys pressed to her, when exactly they'd been put under anaesthesia, what Shark was even going in for. But another part of Tethys told her a few other things: a) The nightmares will tell you what happened, all in vivid caricature and b) You'll look stupid asking.


And then Shark brought up what Tethys had compared her to.


The topic change was so sudden Tethys almost got mental whiplash trying to figure out the connection. From 'we almost died' to "you called me a potato." And, at this, Tethys couldn't help but give a sheepish but cheerful smile.


"I just... yeah, a potato. You know? All lying there and not doing much. And yuh kinda look like a potato too, just being all... torso-y. I dunno, maybe I'm just hungry? I just saw yuh and I was like Ooh lawdy, my friend's a potato. Dunno why I said potato. Maybe I just like potatoes? Baked potatoes, like. With cheese 'n' beans maybe."


Tethys realised she was rambling. Little bit embarrassed at having been caught out at calling the person who'd saved her life after a mundane root. But it was true - Tethys did like potatoes.


@Mr_DC (Tethys' Irish surname is becoming understood...)
 
@0stinato


"I'm torso-y." Shark repeated, a smile escaping. She chuckled. She laughed and kept laughing. She laughed because Tethys was funny. Because they were alive. Because they were together. Because she had a friend. And she kept laughing as tears streamed down her cheeks. It felt liberating. Like she finally took off a massive backpack she was carrying until now. She could finally laugh without getting judging looks. She could finally cry.
Shark rubbed her face into the pillow the best she could to wipe away the tears while still giggling to herself. "I apologize." She chuckled. "I..." She sighed, closing her eyes and smiling. "I don't know. That was funny." She looked at Tethys, giving her a short chuckle.

"I'm glad you're my friend. My best friend." My only friend. "Maybe later, when you get your cybernetics, we can do some training. Just so we can fight like a team next time. Now we have more time than just a single day." She looked ahead. "There's something I want to show you." As she said it and silence filled the room again. That's when she noticed it. Something so familiar it sent chills down her spine. It was coming from the short, white cupboard by her bed. The ticking. She knew what it was. It had to be it.


"Can you, please..." Shark quickly turned to Tethys. Where was it? First drawer? Second? Third? "Check the drawers." She motioned her head.


The pocket watch she stole. The one she played with. The size of a closed fist and had its entire mechanism open to the world so she could stare at it, mesmerized. The brass cogs and gears. She knew every bit of it. After all, she put it apart and together so many times she lost count. It was where she focused all her emotions before she was allowed to have any. It was the only thing she cared about, the only thing she loved, the only source of joy, the only thing she looked forward to when the day was done. She spent hours watching the fine mechanism work perfectly. Please be it. She watched the drawers expectantly. It had to be it. It had to be. Nothing else made a sound like that. It had to be it. It has to be.
 
"I'm just glad they're laughing tears a not crying tears," was all Tethys said before Shark became more serious and told her to check the drawers in the bedside cupboard. Her sudden attitude change put Tethys slightly on edge as she tried to stand up from the bed. Fortunately, her legs were just a bit stiff; she hadn't been shot there. They'd support her drowsy body.


She walked slowly around to Shark's side, and Shark was watching her intently. Before she even approached the drawers, she wondered what Shark was so interested in. Was she asking Tethys to "check" in terms of reassuring them that nothing was in there? Like a recording device or whatever? Tethys was sure there would be. Like in the spy movies when they put the microphones around the room. So that conversations were heard by the spies. But then, if the people figured out or suspected they were being listened to, they'd talk in code, like calling the latest sniper project 'Polly' and instead of talking clearly they'd talk about how well Polly the Parrot is doing. Man, Tethys almost hoped she would find a recording device so they could spend the rest of the conversation being all sneaky like and talking 'below the table' on certain matters.


She opened them one by one, starting from the top, slowly. At first glance it was just... completely empty. As in, as pristine white inside as it was outside. But then again, it was Lazarus... they probably didn't want stuff lying around. Just by the way the walls looked - completely white and barren - Tethys could believe that. So she closed it again slowly and checked the one below. Not empty. Inside, lying carefully as if someone had placed it down so it was symmetrical to the drawer itself, was an old-fashioned looking watch. As Tethys picked it up carefully, she noticed that, although it looked like it might have been from the times when the roads were filled with the tic-tac-tic of horses' hooves and gentlemen's canes on cobbles, but Tethys wasn't sure it was that old. After all, the cogs, the motor, the hairspring... they were all very compact. Precisely made. Lasers probably. Not the centuries-old method of hand-crafting every piece. Each piece was brass and very smooth, but with a few obvious scratches here and there. All the casing was off at the back, including the internal casing that hid some of the cogs, and most of the screws were missing. Tethys felt like it might fall apart at one wrong angle but it was perfectly secure. Quietly ticking away between her fingertips.


The mechanic in Tethys, a persona of hers that always popped up to speak her wisdom should it come up, identified it as being worked on. Just from the angles of some of the scratches in the mechanism. A small screwdriver could easily have ejected itself from the screwhead and attacked the metal beyond. And was it Sharks? If so, this must be her drawer, this must be her room, this must be her bed. Not that it felt much like a comfy place to lay one's head. But then again, Shark probably didn't need for any of that. Methodical and mechanical. Or, at least, that's how she had first come across. Before Tethys had seen more to her.


"Is... this what you wanted?" Tethys said quietly. There was something deistic about the pocketwatch that she didn't want to disturb. It didn't feel right to speak loudly, as if she was in a church where even sneezing seemed sinful. Not that Tethys had ever been in a church, but she'd seen them in the films. The watch, in all its minuscule delicate ways, was so fittingly perfect that Tethys liked it. She always had liked stuff like that, things that fit the space they had. Instruments did it beautifully, motorbike engines did it wonderfully, and this watch was making Tethys very happy. Things just weren't the like that in these days of digital. This watch was a rare gem.


@Mr_DC
 
@0stinato


Shark's face lit up as she saw the watch. That was it. Her watch. She chuckled, closing her eyes and letting the ticking fill her head. Steele remembered what it meant to her. He knew they would be taken to the infirmary and placed it there himself. For someone so dreaded, Steele knew how to earn loyalty. It was the little things that made Shark respect him. Steele didn't have to throw around money to his employees to earn their loyalty. He didn't have to make countless bloody threats to make his soldiers fear him. Steele had that certain something. He could see through the person and see exactly what they wanted. And he knew what was the best way to give it to them.


"Yeah." Shark smiled, watching the watch. She wanted to take it. To hold it. To feel its little pulse in her cybernetic hands. As complex as her hand was, Shark loved her watch. She dreamed of having her hand like that. Not for combat, of course, but just having it. Have it tick away all the time as a part of her.


The little clockwork mechanism mesmerized Shark. It was so perfect. Every piece doing its duty perfectly. So precise.


"Do you like it?" Shark looked up at Tethys. She seemed to like it. Had almost the same look in her eyes as she examined the watch. Maybe she appreciated that something about it as well. "Be careful with it, please." Shark gave a nervous smile at Tethys. The watch wasn't exactly fragile and it wouldn't be difficult to put it back together but she would feel awful if it broke even for a few hours. She would feel like she betrayed it. Even though it was just an innanimate object, it was by Shark, ticking, through all of her training. Always waiting for her to return. Always so fragile, yet so strong.
 
"D'aww," Tethys grinned round, snapping out of her trance of staring at the watch. "I'm not gon break it. I fiddled with much fragiler things than this. I do have the hands of a bloke though so I see your point," she wasn't far wrong. She had the hands of a welder and the fingers of a guitar player, although she'd never picked one up before. Years of injuring them, pushing and prodding at hard things and accidentally brushing them against hot parts of cookware or vehicles had left her fingers calloused and experienced.


"Wassup with it though," Tethys decided to put the watch down beside where Shark lay. Her thinking about breaking it had spooked her too much. She frowned, realising how close to the edge it, was, retrieved it and put it on the other side of Shark. It'd not fall now. "Why'd you have it? Why's it here? Is this your room? This where you sleep?"


Did Shark sleep? Or was the cybernetic part of her stronger to the point where, instead of 'sleep' it was 'shutdown'. Though anaesthetic had worked on her so maybe Tethys was just thinking a little too much. With a hop, skip and a careful jump on to the bed again, Tethys rejoined Shark on the bed, kneeling, the watch between them. Shark was mesmerised obviously, so Tethys merely stayed put for a few minutes, eyes occasionally switching from the watch to Shark's potato-ey form under the covers. It wasn't anything Tethys would have assumed Shark would own - Tethys saw her as more of a digital watch type person, like Tethys herself was, not an analogue type person.


But perhaps, somewhere, there was a contrast. The watch looked intricate and detailed, every piece of metal had to be perfectly fit and made in order to have the thin hands move around the round face for eternity, each tick slicing a second off the finite universe. But then again, was it so complicated? After all, once its function was perfected all those years ago when watches were invented, when, in England, there was simply one huge analogue clock that kept and gave its name to Grenwich Mean Time. No one had their own watches then. If you wanted to know the time and you weren't near the clock, you could pay a woman to tell you it. That was honestly how it worked. But, since then, watches had carried on being simple and commonplace items to hold in your front pocket. Simple in their own rite.


Unlike Shark. To Tethys, Shark was complicated. She called herself a clone, but, in the films, clones were mindless slaves. Tethys didn't like the word relating to Shark. And then, the so-called 'clone' in front of her was currently missing all her limbs, just a flesh body, neck and head. That was very complicated. Shark obviously wasn't feeling pain or, if she was, she was so used to hiding it that doing so had become Shark's second nature.


Tethys wondered if Shark thought her existence was complicated too. She probably did. Tethys had questions since she'd first heard Shark be called a clone... and that felt like it had happened weeks ago now when it would be more accurate to count the passed time in hours. But something kept her from asking the questions.


Originally, Tethys had suspected her mind was keeping her from speaking the questions because it was a little impolite. To ask, "So does that mean there's a person you were cloned from?" or, "can you replace one of your arms with a massive bottle opener?" it just wasn't right, was it? But surely now she could ask those questions. But no, her mind was still keeping them away from her mouth. And it wasn't because they were marked as impolite. Tethys reckoned she wasn't asking the questions because she was sure Shark didn't have the answers.


@Mr_DC
 
@0stinato


Shark watched her put the watch gently on the bed. She understood. Shark could see it in her eyes. She saw the beauty in its complexity. She had the capacity to see through Shark's eyes and understand. Maybe then... She would understand something more. Later, however. Not just yet.


"You can look at it." Shark nodded at the watch. "You probably won't irreversibly damage it." She nervously chuckled. It felt strange. Allowing someone else to see and experience something so private. Something which brought her so much joy.


"It's mine." Shark smiled at the flurry of questions but the first answer she gave was a lie. It wasn't hers. She stole it. Sure, the person she stole it from was dead now but that didn't change the fact that she stole it. And that he is dead because of her. "I..." Why do I have it? Shark's eyes avoided Tethys'. "I just like it, I guess. I don't know how to explain. I was allowed to have it and I like having it." The answer was simple. She didn't have to put any flourish on it. She had it because she liked it and was allowed to like it.


"This isn't my room, no." Shark skipped a question. Maybe it was best to answer that one last. "This is the infirmary at Lazarus Headquarters." She spent a day there only once. She passed most tests without a scratch but the EMP test completely ruined her cybernetics and caused her to black out from the sudden shock. At least, that's how it was explained to her. Now she was there again, awaiting surgery. With her friend.


"Steele probably left it. He knows I like the watch." Her eyes landed on the watch again. He allowed her to keep it. He punished the person who raised too much dust about it. The owner. She smiled. It was his gift.
 
"Ehhh, Steele again. Yuh gonna have to introduce me sometime, sounds like he'd throw a cool party," at this stage, Tethys wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not. The name 'Steele' didn't imply the happiest things; Steel was hard, unyielding, used in construction from the largest ships to the smallest cutleries. Of course, Shark's Steele wasn't a fork or knife or anything, but somehow, even though she'd not met the man, his name already fit. And Steele, who Tethys could only assume was Shark's boss of sorts, either had friendly tendencies or was someone who invested in others' emotions to get what he wanted at a later date, given how he'd provided Shark with the - her - watch.


Tethys hoped it was the former.


And hadn't Mr. Keyes mentioned something about Steele too? Meeting him or something. Which was hardly surprising - Steele sounded like a key player in Lazarus, and if Shark was his asset, and Tethys would be sticking with Shark, she knew she'd come face-to-face with him soon. It wasn't something she was dreading, but nor was she looking forward to it. It was unlikely either of them were in trouble with Steele, or he'd probably not have left the watch? That was logical, surely. So it wouldn't exactly feel like Tethys having to face Alessandro when she'd messed up. Like that time she thought she'd been smart hiding quite a bit of cocaine inside a football for delivery and payment the next morning. It had been opened, carefully repaired and pumped up. Tethys thought she was so smart for doing it. Only, the next morning, when her brain had had time to filter out the information that there was something valuable in the ball, she'd kicked it around as she walked. All she remembered was that the ball was necessary. Only when she got near to where the buyers were did she realise.


Apparently her mind was very choice about the things it remembered. But Tethys knew she learned from getting this wrong. And the more wrong she got something, the less likely she was to get it wrong again. Didn't make for good employment where if you mess up and break or damage something permanently you get fired. But it meant that in her next job she never broke or damaged that particular thing again. It had taken her three separate garage jobs, each one getting fired for doing something heinously stupid, before she'd found herself doing well at the fourth place.


God. Imagine how badly she might screw up working with Shark at Lazarus.


She suppressed the shudder that threatened her spine and instead picked at the bandage around her broken hand. Still felt kind of numb. What were they going to do? Where were Shark's limbs gone?


"Aheh, I s'pose I can't really touch it if mah hand's all nubbed up like this ay?" she nudged the watch gently with her right hand to demonstrate, leaving her fine left hand in her lap. "Lawd, d'yuh know what's gonna happen to my hand? Is it gonna be fixed or is it gonna be cybertised or whatever the lingo is. Cyberfied? Gawd I dunno. I'm gonna have a hand like that watch there, all mechanical 'n' shit, aren't I?"


@Mr_DC
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@0stinato


A party. Shark frowned, thinking. What would be a cool party? Steele... didn't seem like an overly social person. He kept most conversations short and preferred to listen, asking questions just to keep the other person talking, answering only in short phrases. Yet, he wasn't frustrated with Shark. He didn't mind her short answers or confused misunderstandings of his questions. "We will probably see him." Shark nodded but knew she had no basis for that assumption. He wasn't there to give her any supportive words when she left for the mission. She knew, though. She knew he was watching her from somewhere. He was there at Ronin. It gave her a small boost of confidence to know Steele himself came to watch.


"The surgeons are waiting." Mr. Keyes walked in, followed by the Specialist. His flat tone and equally flat expression weren't changed upon seeing the two share a bed with a pocket watch between them. He looked like a man who could hardly be surprised by anything. "Special agent Shark, we will implant you with several artificial organs as your current ones are failing from the damage they sustained from combat." Shark nodded. She didn't feel like they were failing. Wouldn't they have done something before? Or was she just held together by glue until the main surgery? What was the point in waking her up then? Tethys. Tethys was the point.


"Agent O'Shea." He looked at Tethys, his tiny, sharp eyes burning a hole in her. "Some of your limbs will be replaced and you will be implanted with several neural implants." He looked at Shark again. "You will have neural implants as well." He added. Shark knew what that meant. They didn't want them escaping. It was something every Specialist went through. A tiny bomb inside your skull, ready to be detonated at the slightest disobedience. Every corporation did it. While illegal, everyone knew that it was a fact of life when you wanted to work for a corporation. Eiter get that implant or find a new job. "The implants should increase your performance in the field while allowing us to keep track of you." He moved aside, letting a pair of nurses in. "Are you ready?" He asked even though the answer hardly mattered.
 
Agent O'Shea. Agent! How exciting! Tethys felt like a James Bond. It was all she could do to hold her tense on her thighs, one curled into a loose fist, the other numb and held in its bandages. She wanted to give a little giggle of excitement, but knew she shouldn't. Several factors told her she shouldn't: 1) her friend in this place was lying there with no limbs and completely static until someone moved her personally. 2) Mr. Keyes' face wasn't exactly congratulatory. It wasn't any sort of reward or promotion, her being made into an agent. 3) Look what Lazarus had done to them both.


Mr. Keyes had called her friend "Special agent Shark". She was a Special agent and she was still completely broken down with injuries, failing organs and, again, no limbs. And Tethys would just be a normal old agent. It was clearly not something to get happy about. It was a job, a serious, hard job that would take time, effort and blood. But, somehow, she couldn't be scared. After all, they were both alive weren't they? Tethys had survived - mostly with the help of her Special Agent friend - while being a normal flesh-and-bone nothing. The only power she had was in her wrists from forcing bolt nuts to sit tight. She wasn't particularly bright or intelligent, sort of clumsy and illogical... nothing really worthwhile to be an agent at all, but even just being those things, she'd survived. Becoming an Agent and working and living alongside Shark would make things different.


She'd be able to stand on her own two feet the next time they went anywhere deathly or were sent on a mission, and Shark wouldn't have to take so much damage saving her. Maybe Tethys could never repay Shark for saving her life, but maybe she could prove Shark wouldn't have to be in her debt twice. Tethys would be able to stand up all cybernetic and take hold of a gun she'd trained professionally with and be a little more efficient.


In all honesty, she was proud of how she'd actually managed to shoot stuff. Or what she remembered she'd shot. As she always had, she had railed off a few shots at once instead of just one, in case her aim was off the first or second time. They were more insurance shots. Hadn't she busted a camera or something? Shot it clean through the lens? God. All she remembered was being a little proud, a little surprised, when her bullet had done something useful. She still had it, she still had her knowledge from all those years ago.


With training, maybe she could climb onto the same ladder Shark was on. Be good at things. Not be surprised when she was good at things, but be shocked when she wasn't.


"I'm gonna be a robot too am I? Well, I kinda guessed what with my hand 'n' all," she said to Mr. Keyes. "Kinda half robot. Or a third. Or a qua'ter? I s'pose I can't argue against it. Is my left arm gonna be replaced 'cos I kinda like the tattoo...?"


But Mr. Keyes didn't seem like he was going to reply. The nurses came towards Shark and Tethys, probably armed to anaesthetise them both again. Why should Keyes reply? It wasn't his job to cut off Tethys' amenities was it? So why should he tell her anything? Tethys could wake up with only one breast and no one to demand an answer from. She looked at her chest and her hand. That was something she hadn't thought about - losing parts of herself. She'd carried these parts of her around for 29 years and she was going to have to part with some without saying goodbye.


As one of the nurses advanced on her, Tethys looked down at Shark. Shark had practically given her limbs for Tethys. The least Tethys could do was the same.


@Mr_DC 


(Amazing how depressing but uplifting this situation can be at the same time...)
 
@0stinato


Shark looked at Tethys as the nurse came over with a syringe in her hand. Feeling the sting in her neck, Shark turned her attention to the nurse, making sure to stay focused as long as she cloud as her vision faded. She didn't intend to look away, feeling some sort of a challenge from the woman who tried hard to avoid eye contact. Some animalistic urge in her not to back down. To fight the sedative pulling her into darkness, shrouding the edges of her vision. Her body relaxed, her vision blurred but she still forced herself to stare. She didn't even notice the point her head relaxed, rolling to the other side.


"I will see you shortly, agent." Mr. Keyes nodded at Tethys as the other nurse gently turned Tethys' head away and brought the syringe up. Keyes turned to the Specialist, mumbling a few words, and walking out as the nurse finished sedating Tethys. "It will be over in a blink." She smiled when Keyes closed the door.


(I don't find the situation laying so far down the either end of the spectrum. Probably the shortest post so far but the next one will be interesting... Probably... I hope.)
 
It will be over in a blink.


A blink. Tethys' mind turned useless almost as soon as she felt the pressure increase in her neck. For a second it burned, something new being forced into her already compact bloodstream, but it numbed in a quick instant, like a wound gone numb. Her eyes were on Shark as they involuntarily closed. She could do nothing to fight against it. This must be what they put her and Shark under to bring them here. Why Tethys couldn't remember arriving in the room. And, although she didn't remember how she and Shark were alive, what the hell happened and what her wrapped-up hand looked like, she knew the memories were somewhere, hidden in a lockbox of her mind. Fleeting gasps of realisation so quickly sucked away from her brain that it felt like they'd hardly been there at all. But from how they'd got from that vague place to this striking white one was a blank.


And this would be a forgetting too. Just the pressure, the release, the pain and the sudden lack of it, as if Tethys' perhaps-believed-in soul was being pushed out of her material body and into the air. Left to spin blindly and unfeelingly, she'd know nothing of what was being done to her body, only thinking of what Keyes had told her before, what parts would be replaced... essentially how her flesh body would turn into that of a machine. And not some gorgeous clunking engine hybrid, no... something sleek, like the inside of a television remote control, but even thinner. And would it look weird, would one arm look thinner than the other? Tethys had not the brain capacity to ask the questions, or to do anything.



Dreaming was out of the question. This wasn't a self-inflicted slumber. It was a different mix of chemicals keeping her from thinking, keeping her reflexes from triggering. She wouldn't dream her way through this little excursion where her weight would increase with the new somethings she'd have attached to her, and her flesh taken away. The strong arms built up from years of lifting semi-heavy things, from twisting and forcing and cutting and getting cut. Gone, wasted. And she'd not remember a second of it. She'd not do anything. She'd not think, she'd not wonder, she'd not dream.


She'd blink and wake up.
 
@0stinato


Shark was awake for almost half an hour. She was in the same room but the lights were off. She was staring at the pale white of the projected screen where Keyes stood before the surgery. Steele's speech was constantly replayed and dragged through the news. That familiar face saying such powerful things. Things which barely concerned her except one. She felt nervous listening to him. Somehow, it put a weight on her but she couldn't exactly understand why. She barely had time to examine the new additions to her body and they were noticeable.


Her arms no longer resembled slender human hands with inexplicable strength. They were made from a different material, if the darker color was any indicator, but it wasn't the most noticeable difference. While her previous cybernetic limbs were also designed to resemble human muscles - a Lazarus corporation style - the new ones looked buff. Bigger than what her actual arms would look like by now. Her old hands could have punched a hole in the wall but these looked like they could bring an entire wall down. Still, it suited her. Somehow, they didn't look bulky and uncomfortable but like they were made just for her body. It was a Lazarus specialty, after all.


Her legs didn't appear different (except in material) but they felt different for Shark. She didn't bother with it yet but she could feel there was something more to them. Some functionality she had yet to discover. She ignored the dull pressure in the side of her head where a small patch of gauze was taped. It also hid something more and Shark knew exactly what it was. It just wasn't active yet. Now, it was just a dull pressure. Later, it will be a massive window. Something which would improve her efficiency. Efficiency.


Her friend was there as well. Still out, it seemed. Were they out for just a day, though? Or far more? From what she could see, Tethys was modified as well but not as drastically as Shark. Forearm on her left arm. Complete right arm. Her arms were bulkier, that was for sure, but they were packed with countless tools Shark only saw Lazarus engineers work with. The arms were probably powerful enough to bend rebar like it was twine. Shark also spotted a claw in there. The arms were probably delicate enough to handle the most precise task while being able to handle combat zones with ease. Tethys wasn't trained in it yet. That would come later. Probably.


Shark saw a patch on Tethys' skull as well. Not active just yet. Later.


She turned back to the screen as the scene started again, Steele walking out to the stage.
 
Again, Tethys felt herself slowly rising like a bubble in a flask of water to the surface and awakening. On her back, just like before. It couldn't be good for a human brain to be anaesthatised so often, but she wasn't feeling the pains she was before. She wasn't experiencing the voice-inducing throbs from her hand, or her chest or anything. Just a little drowsy, that was all, but she felt... fine. Not even that hungover feeling was present. So she tried opening her eyes.


"Ow, gawd, where...?" as she moved her eyes around, the light being slightly too harsh, she realised that... well, had they even moved at all? This was the same room wasn't it? Surely. Or, if not, one very like it. Whatever had happened to her, it might as well have happened in this room. And she looked over and there was Shark, still. Shark was still there. With limbs. That was good.


She opened her mouth to speak to Shark, but a voice not belonging to either of them penetrated her world. A quick glance around confirmed it was a television, screen on and audio loud. On the screen, what looked like some broadcast of political importance was going on. Tethys had seen plenty of things like this - political leaders of countries and the like standing with either hand on the side of a podium to deliver a decision that 50% of the population would hate.


The screen told her the name of the man as he began speaking, immediately delving into addressing the press and thanking various people, not giving his name verbally. Franklin Winthrop Steele. So. This was Steele was it? Tethys narrowed her eyes - his head wasn't as narrow as she'd imagined it.


She glanced at Shark, but her friend seemed to be fully engrossed in paying attention to the screen, didn't seem like she was going to speak if Tethys asked a question or anything. So Tethys didn't ask a question. She just lay on her back, neck uncomfortable as she watched the television too. And, as Tethys had thought, his words were... weighted. Decisions - huge decisions - about Lazarus being the end-all-be-all of corporations in Nevereign, about Lazarus being the corporation to lead the oligarchy and to change the way the whole city - nay, the whole country if not the world - worked.


Tethys' mouth was dry. Was she afraid of Steele? Or just afraid of what he wanted to do? Or was doing? Maybe it was because... next to her, Shark was a Lazarus agent, a special agent, an employee of longstanding usefulness and stature. And then Tethys, who still considered herself an outsider here. But... once she thought of herself as an internal point of Lazarus, she wouldn't be scared anymore. Would she? No, because she'd be the one doing the screwing over, not part of the group getting screwed.


It was probably wrong to think like that, to hear Steele's words as something negative, but Tethys wasn't sure how else to take it. It was well-known that Lazarus, and MosTech, and Ronin, and all the others - all the other corporations in this world - were fighting for themselves. Behemoths made of the minds and bodies of the elite who were inside. Crushing the singles like discarded drink cans. They did for themselves and gave as little as they could back. But that was business.


All she could do was be glad she'd be next to Shark and not across from her.


@Mr_DC
 
@0stinato


Shark looked down, blinking a few times. Were they a part of that new service Lazarus provided? Could they just take a bullet and be put back together? Could any Lazarus soldier do that? And what did it mean for her if that was the case? Skill would no longer matter. Experience could be passed through several bodies and survivability wouldn't be as important. Efficiency wouldn't be how long an employee can survive but how much can they do while throwing themselves into enemy fire. Another question came to her. What if she was that?


Shark knew she was a clone but what if she was someone else before they died? Maybe she was just one of the first experiments and something went wrong. She lost all her memories. Just had a fondness for clockwork mechanisms. Was her life a lie? Did she love soap operas as well? Sitcoms?


Shark closed her eyes. She was a loyal soldier. They wouldn't lie to her like that. Steele cherished her. Was she someone to Steele?


"Awake?" She turned to Tethys, catching a glimpse of her moving. Did she hear the entire report? If so, what did she think of the situation? They were both a part of something so massive that it couldn't be called a business anymore. They weren't just employees. They were something more. Everyone associated with Lazarus was something more. What exactly that was depended on how things would turn out. The scenes of violent riots across the world being put down by corporate security and the military meant people weren't satisfied. They knew how corrupt Lazarus was making everyone. They all wanted a chance at immortality and it would be Shark's job to make sure they don't get it. Shark and Tethys'.
 
"I'm... something like that," Tethys said. Once again, her voice was crackly, unused. So maybe she was out for longer than she thought... She tore her gaze from the television screen and looked gratefully round at Shark. Familiar. Home. Nothing scary. Eyes, nose, mouth, chin, forehead, all Shark's visage. And Steele on the screen, he had all these things too. All those his own. But she could look at Steele's hairline or eyebrows and feel intimidated even if he was nowhere near them. She could look at Shark's hairline and eyebrows and feel a litle less intimidated. They looked at each other differently now.


Shark's eyes weren't the hard gems they had been. They were a bit more pliable now. A bit more prone to blinking in concern. And Tethys didn't know what her eyes said about her, but she was guessing they'd outline the vulnerability she felt, yet a little less vulnerability if she was being helpful to Shark. Confidence. She supposed. Coming into Lazarus a rookie, a completely unknowing to everything, oblivious and stupid to danger. And now she shouldn't feel like that but... look who she was lying beside. Shark was strong, trained, accurate. Tethys knew how to get a dent out of a car.


For a few seconds more they didn't speak, just watched Steele as he finished up. Watched as a thrown pen went right... through him. Tethys' eyes narrowed - so Steele could be near them. He could be taking the lift up to see them as they lay there uselessly. He could be strolling down the corridor - Tethys wasn't sure, but she suspected Steele was a stroller - towards them as they breathed. He could be right outside the door. If the... hologram? worked that way. If it was a prerecorded message of sorts, or if it was a live feed, or if it had its own conscience.


It looked so real, too. Even in pixels on the screen, Tethys could see the shadows on Steele's hologrammed self. It made her anxious somewhere. Slowly, she looked round at Shark again, before drawing her right hand from beneath the covers and poking Shark's arm. Fortunately, it had physicality to it and--


"Oh Gawd what's this?!" Tethys struggled to sit up suddenly as she stared at her arm. "Aw shit, what the hell? Where's my-- ack! Both of em!" she had retrieved her other arm too. The left, with the forearm replaced. "Where th' fuck's my tattoo gone. Is... my arms gone? Like, totally? Like, I don't... do I have fingerprints? On this hand? How're my elbows?" she reached each hand - the still-flesh one and the replaced one - to the opposite elbows and felt them. The cybernetic - that was the word right? - hand could feel everything her flesh hand could. It just felt a little heavier perhaps... more... calculated. Like every movement, every newton of force, was being ticked and spun by gears and locks and pistons in her arms that made the faintest noises. And she no longer had the rough skin on her elbows.


Damn. She liked that part of her. It was sort of ugly, yes, but no one ever talked about that part of a person. It was a part of the body that Tethys always felt an attraction to. Any lovers she'd had, she'd always wanted to... feel their elbows. Just so she knew their bodies were as flawed as hers. And she no longer had that part of her.


"Shark," she said as she leaned back a bit, the initial shock dissipating slightly, "what's... what do I have to know about... these?" she shrugged her shoulders. "And what does Mr. Steele mean? Is... it good or is it bad? It doesn't sound nice but... I dunno what to think, I'm in Lazarus now, am I meanna think it's good? Oh, Gawd, I dunno..."


@Mr_DC
 
@0stinato


"Calm down." Shark instructed, staring at the projected screen. She didn't understand the need to panic. The change wasn't as drastic as Shark's and it was an improvement. Did everyone else make such a big deal about getting cybernetic augmentations? Tethys lost it at Ronin as well. For a moment, sure, but a moment was enough for someone to die in a situation like that. She wasn't dulled down yet. She wasn't a perfect machine like Shark, doing whatever she is told in the most efficient way. She wasn't efficient yet and Shark kept forgetting it. She kept not appreciating it.


"It's going to be fine." She smiled at Tethys. "We can get you a new tattoo." Was that the most horrifying part about the surgery? "You will get used to it. Just remember not to use too much force." Shark looked away. Maybe Tethys wouldn't be trained like Shark was. If she reacted like that to the new limbs, she definitely wouldn't react well to being rough with... "Be gentle at first." She blinked a few times, trying to get the image out from behind her eyes. She couldn't. "It's like a tool." Shark raised her own hand from under the sheet and examined it. It had a certain beauty to it. The design was perfectly Lazarus. They made cybernetics like that a new fashion. Some resembling modern pieces of art. Others, like Shark's, looking like exposed muscle, moving just like the real deal. "Just be careful how to use it. You're good with tools, aren't you?" Shark smiled again, looking at Tethys.


Shark looked back at the screen. "I think it's good." She answered the second question while not quite sure about the answer. It was obvious on her. She had the expression of a soldier being asked if the gunfire in the distance was his side winning or losing. She wasn't sure. She just knew that a lot of weight will end up on her shoulders. Maybe even enough weight to break her in two. To snuff out her flame.


"We are together, Tethys." Shark decided to say the words which would make her comfortable. Facts. Positive facts. "We are both working for Lazarus." She nodded, glancing at Tethys as a pair of reporters started discussing a potential political career for Steele. "And we are both working for the most powerful person in the world." She looked down. They were both going to have a lot of weight on them. If it came to it again, Shark would have to carry Tethys' weight as well. And she wouldn't be allowed to fail. Not with the whole world waiting for an opening. There was no failure.


"We will be fine." She blinked. There was no smile on her face. No need for one. She was a soldier and her head was filled with emotionless thoughts. Steele raised the stakes without thinking of them. It was up to them to continue playing the game better than they had before. At least they had the entire weight of Lazarus behind them. Most of the weight of Lazarus on them.
 
"My hand's like a tool? Yuh mean like a wrench or sommit," she stared at her right hand. This was her dominant hand. Her left was still fleshy and weak she knew, in comparison to her right hand... this one was mechanical and manufactured. But it hadn't gone though 29 years of Tethys' life with her. Her left hand could heal, could her right? She inspected it, running her flesh fingers over her not-flesh fingers. The material was strange. It was... almost recognisable but not quite. It had no pulse... her thumb held no heartbeat anymore. And the heat of her arm was the heat of mechanics not of healing, living and oxygenating. It was science trying to imitate nature and nature almost... turning its back on the science. She felt resentful towards her new arm. Even though it was probably an augment. Not a boon.


"Guess it dun't have a bottle op'ner on it ay," she sighed, trying to be witty. Just as a comfort to herself. Just because her right arm was gone didn't mean anything. Her right hand wasn't her. Her mind was her and that was still inside her head, below her shock of dyed bright hair. She was still the same. Same black east-Londoner. Pretty solid definition of a Cockney. Soft but tough body, as toned as the number of vehicles she'd ever worked on. Hands more familiar with tools than another's skin. Yeah. She was still Tethys. Just now Tethys had a cybernetic hand.


She listened to Shark speak, of course she did, she'd never not. After all, what else did she have to hold onto? No longer had the hairbands around her left wrist... but as little as they were, they were still something. It had been a matter of days, and Shark had been a constant throughout. Been there at the beginning, eyeing Tethys, glaring coldly into her eyes. Now Shark didn't glare. She practically gazed. And Tethys would gaze back.


Little shred of familiarity. So fickle it was. But Tethys had to hold onto it, if for her own sake more than for Shark's. But...


Listen to her.


Tethys listened. No longer so absently, no longer as if Shark's voice was a radio song she was busy thinking over, but as if Shark's voice was the oxygen under the sea. She no longer was the stoic and solid woman Tethys had met. That was just Shark's shell. Her skin, her thick, biting skin. And Tethys hadn't meant to get through that skin but... it'd happened. And now Shark wasn't hiding anything. She was saying "we" not "I". She was telling Tethys they were more than a team, that they were more than a pair. Shark was telling Tethys that they were a part of each other.


Tethys looked at her right hand again, then looked at Shark's. How different they were, how different Lazarus had made them. Tethys' right was a little bit... bigger than her left, but it was almost unnoticeable. And Shark wasn't wrong about the tools. There they were, secured, ready to switch out and interlock to create a new object, a knew attachment she'd be able to use just like a hand, she assumed. For now, she didn't want to fiddle with it, wasn't sure how to operate it. After all, Shark had warned her not to be too active with it. Maybe it was a brain thing. Had to see that system of tools as part of her, not a remote-controlled contraption. That would be hard. But she'd get it. She had to, after all.


When Shark finished speaking, Tethys looked back at her slowly. Even though she and Shark had come so far, she still felt... young somehow. And not in a good way. Though she had a feeling Shark felt that way too. After what Steele had said at his hologram's place at the podium, she doubted Shark had any idea what to do. But she was smiling at Tethys, telling her little things, reassuring her, telling her part of her could be recreated on her new forearm... Hiding something. Tethys wasn't about to go and ask though. She'd let Shark not speak when she wanted, and speak when she wanted. It was all she could do. Let her do what she must. Let her hide what she must. Let her show what she must. Tethys wasn't about to change that.


She sniffed in the quiet. The sheets were silent around them. But was this stillness too much for now? It would come to an end all too soon probably, and Tethys would be put to the training Shark probably underwent. Or something similar. Mr. Keyes had agreed with Shark that Tethys would improve her efficiency, so they were clearly going to be doing the same kinds of things in future. Whatever they were. Suicide missions again...


She couldn't help a laugh escaping her mouth, "Oh, my God right," she said, breaking her own spell of quiet lucidity around her, "yuh said it was like walking into death right, but if it was, we musta kicked death in the balls. 'Cos he in't here. We're here. Hah. Oh, my God, imagine that in a sitcom though. Death walks through the door and - wham! - Shark kicks 'im right in the balls," she smiled at Shark, "I'll try'n kick 'im next time though ay? Don't hog all the fun."


@Mr_DC


(I'm not dead! Lots of work stuff and another picture of Lull had to be drawn. But have a ridiculously long post to make up for it.)
 
@0stinato


Shark smiled. Her friend had an interesting view on their survival. She also spoke a lot. Perhaps it was just a way to deal with what happened. Just talk it away. Shark operated differently, though. Her mind was going through everything that happened and planned for the next encounter. It wouldn't be much easier but at least next time she would be prepared and will have better cybernetics. Probably even better weapons. She wasn't fond of prototypes. When one laser weapon exploded in her hands - when she still had limbs of flesh - it completely destroyed one forearm. She wouldn't be bothered by it as it was normal. Just another thing to survive.


However, she inherited the distrust towards prototypes from Steele. He was angry for several days when it happened. He wasn't throwing chairs or yelling. No, Steele was watching. He was there, in person, watching over every test. She didn't think it was anything worth remembering at first but she saw how the researchers responded. They visibly shivered. No one dared looking at Shark the wrong way. No one dared raise their voice at her. People usually tried getting out of her way while holding their breath when Steele was nearby.


That didn't last long. When Steele left, they continued treating Shark how they have been treating her before. She was never again given a prototype to use, though.


"You're awake." Mr. Keyes walked into the room, looking just like he did before. Like the operation took a minute. He was, of course, followed by one Specialist. While Shark didn't consider the Specialists a threat, she felt they were completely outmatched now. Even with Tethys' lack of official training, she probably could rip them in two with her new arm.


"L.L., activate their neuralware." Keyes ordered, looking at nothing in particular. Shark had a short moment to process what he said and at knew what to expect. Tethys might not have had such comfort.


Shark gasped. A painful flash in her head, so short she felt she imagined it. But she didn't. What followed was something she only heard of while eavesdropping on researchers. Her mind was expanded. Like she just found out she had a sixth sense she never used. Like she just opened her eyes after never using them. Like she just used her ears while never hearing anything before.


She was aware of every single camera in Lazarus. Of every single turret. Of every single door. The cameras were her eyes. The turrets her hands. The doors her mouth. She could see every corner of Lazarus at once and it was normal. Her brain could process it like it wasn't anything she never experienced before. She could see the patrols in the courtyard, the hallway in front of their room with two extra Specialists in front of it, the researchers in her training facility.


She just couldn't see Steele's office. Shark knew there was security in it. Turrets and cameras. She just couldn't open those eyes or use those hands.


But it was so much more. She could see the patrol routes, know the names of the dog the Specialist by Keyes had as a child, the secret fetishes of the researchers who tormented her for, what Shark now understood was, their perverse pleasure. She also knew everything about her partner. She knew how much money Lazarus spent on gathering information about Tethys and had access to all that information. And it wasn't just Tethys. She knew everything about everyone Lazarus watched. Almost everyone. Keyes was still a complete mystery. Keyes and Steele. And Shark. She simply wasn't allowed to see. To know. Tethys was probably as blind as Shark when it came to that.


It all lasted a second. And it wasn't over. She had access to all knowledge databases Lazarus had. Instructions on every weapon and cybernetic Lazarus ever encountered. Something which would be of use to both Shark and Tethys. In theory.


She knew what materials her new arms were made of and what they could do. She knew that Tethys had a sturdier alloy. She knew about every tool Tethys had at her disposal and everything she could do with them. In theory.


She knew about every combat move and tactic Lazarus ever studied - some her own. In theory.


"Is it working?" Keyes asked, the barest hint of a smile on his face. Of course it worked. It was Lazarus tech. It was perfect.
 
About fifteen years ago, Tethys had caught fire. No purposeful action, it was rather just an unfortunate happenstance that was hard to remember the origin of. It was highly likely Tethys was sporting some kind of oil on her clothes, even if she was young. Get too close to a few stray sparks or the ashes of a cigarette and it was dangerous. And perhaps that's what happened. All she remembered was the sudden heat and panic, friends - no - family telling her to take it off. Her jacket, a hand-me-down black denim one, was wrecked, and she spent the next three days in someone else's overcoat. But she hadn't been badly hurt. The fire was occupied with her clothes, not her flesh. But Tethys had thought she could feel the fire in every nightmare she had about it. It would consume her skin, then flesh, then it would trail up her spine to her brain. It was imagination running into physicality. It was memory splicing into pain.


And now her body contorted with a sudden fire, eyes locked closed and hands clenched. But working its way backwards - brain, flesh, skin - before vanishing completely. As quickly as it began, it vanished. Leaving her body in a state of stun for a few seconds before she got herself back to normal. So quick had it been that she'd not been able to react to the pain vocally. And there seemed little point now. With a gasp, exhaling sharply, she sat up slowly and tried to get comfortable in herself. Was it just a spasm?


She opened her eyes. Hundreds of eyes. Squadrons of them, fully HD, fully static, fully open. And then she opened her physical eyes. And turned her panicked head to Shark, but Shark was staring forwards. As if reading invisible text in front of her. Tethys didn't have to say anything, hardly needed to, she could almost feel that Shark was in here with her.


What was this? Optimal efficiency at its peak, it was natural despite Tethys' unfamiliarity. All eyes, all lenses, they were being deciphered and relayed in her own mind. As if her brain had thousands of codecs positioned around, bringing in the visible and audible information from cameras and letting Tethys see every speck of dust in every corner in every corridor. She could see them all, and didn't miss a thing. And she could interpret Shark beside her, and listen to Mr. Keyes' voice all the while.


Looking sideways at Shark, Tethys felt as if she could physically read the information that her mind was listing. All facts, non-trivial, all revealed to her as soon as Shark was in her vision. Everything, even things Tethys could never have known. From the things she did know: Agent Shark, successful Clone, soldier optimal to the things she didn't: little reception to amusing phrases. Or Tethys did sort of know that. Shark wasn't the 'jokey' kind. Trying to make jokes that Tethys didn't realise were jokes the first time she heard them... yeah.


But she felt now like she and Shark were somehow joined by the brain, like conjoined twins whose skulls had fused together. All the things Tethys could see, not in front of her but as if she had television screens behind her corneas, she knew Shark was seeing also. A third eye. A thousand plus third eyes.


And third arms too. Third hands. Third fingers. Like some sort of spider, she was privy to every apparently automated system in Lazarus. And the control, the potential she had to swivel and fire, or close and lock, or even to just switch off a light... all deep within her palms. That's where that feeling felt it belonged. In her palms. In her left flesh palm and in her right non-flesh palm. Juggle all the object she could feel, an the pent-up power in a turret or energy in an elevator belt. Between her bones. Under her skin. And maybe she knew how to make a turret swivel, how to make a door close but... she was too scared. So, as she sat there, feeling that lost fire of pain reminding her of her new abilities, it smouldering away in her coccyx, she stared at Shark and tried to just look at her. Not let the information relayed about her into her conscience.


She liked the way Shark was a mystery. She liked the way Shark's foibles existed. She didn't want to know why. But she had no choice now.


Abject fear of death. Will act in all instance to avoid it. Sacrifice of others is of no consequence. Shark has shown ruthlessness and efficiency in every test. If death is an option Shark will choose the other. If death is the only option, Shark will create another. Memory of past self is not present in her mind. Friendship is a distraction, Shark works just as efficiently alone. Reliable. Fast.


Some things, some passages of text Tethys was seeing in her mind's eye devolved into unreadable symbols. But that was... It was like if she looked over at Mr. Keyes. If she looked at him all about Shark would halt and instead paragraphs of symbols would fill her up. Hidden? Shark had hidden information. And Mr. Keyes did. Private. Not for her eyes, not for Tethys' eyes. But she didn't want to know all she did about Shark... not yet anyway. What was a friendship if not a series of questions to get to know someone? What was curiosity if there was nothing to be curious for?


So perhaps seeing the unreadable symbols in Shark's paragraphs... seeing things she would likely never read... it left Tethys with a future for them. Always with one more question she could ask.


Though she was almost sure now that Shark wouldn't like any of the sitcoms she did.


@Mr_DC


(I apologise it took me this long to reply - thinking of a way to write how Tethys would react was tough. So thank you for the practice. I don't think I did as good a job as you at getting in the frantic feeling of suddenly sensing everything but... maybe I'm one step closer.)
 
@0stinato


Mr. Keyes nodded. He understood what just happened. Perhaps he had one of those in his head as well. Perhaps he knew exactly what was going on in their heads. Though, it didn't matter for Shark. Her mind was going through everything she could reach for. She had the entire world at her fingertips and it was making up for everything she was never allowed to experience. Satellite imaging of various sites of interest was a replacement for the trips around the world she never could take. The automated cars allowed her to see what it's like to race down the city streets. The street cameras in front of Lazarus businesses allowed her to take in all of the lights and crowds of people so different from each other.


Yet, she couldn't experience it. It was all there but it wasn't the experience she could have had. She couldn't feel the heat of the sun in the Australian branch. She couldn't feel the Nevereign rain on her face. It wasn't right. It was right there and it wasn't it. Just a tease.


Just. Not. It.


Shark closed her eyes with a frown. She didn't like where her mind went. She wasn't meant to have those desires. Soldier. Shark opened her eyes. You're a soldier.


"L.L." Mr. Keyes looked away. He seemed bored. Like he had somewhere better to be. Maybe a meeting. Maybe a meeting with Steele. Maybe making new plans or setting up a new mission for the pair. Or thinking up a training. Or he was simply bored of looking at their tired forms.


Shark's eyes suddenly closed. All other eyes except the pair in her head. No more cameras or turrets. No more doors or cars. She was just Shark again. And she knew exactly what happened. Who the 'L.L.' Keyes was speaking to was. Who it was that turned off their neuralware.


When her training was finally coming to an end, she started taking virtual training monitored by a special artificial intelligence. LL-01 and LL-02. Though, she had more experience with LL-01. While at first, it seemed just as professional as one would expect a corporate AI to be, LL-01 later opened up to Shark. The pair started talking about things other than the most efficient strategy. She was the closest Shark had to a friend at the time and they spoke only a few times. Now, Tethys was her friend.


"When you're ready, get up and head to the VR training room." Mr. Keyes ordered, watching the pair. "You know the way." He nodded at Shark and took a step to the door before pausing. "You will be sleeping in the R&D facility from now on." He looked at Tethys. The closest he got to a frown. The closest he got to an actual facial expression. Not a sign of displeasure. A sign of warning. "Mr. Steele would like to meet you tomorrow evening. Someone will be sent for you. Do not leave the facility." He said slowly, making sure every word was processed. Then, he left again.


Shark and Tethys were alone. Just the two of them in the storm which didn't seem to have an end. Only lulls. Shark turned to look at her friend and smiled. At least they were together.


(That better be sarcasm because you outshined me there. I would say this post isn't my best but I think you're getting used to this quality lately.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top