The Curious Case of the Two Dirk Gentlys

3: Project Marzanna

When it came to nightmares Mr Priest and ordinary people had two widely differing definitions. Most people had terrors of death and violence. These were both things that Priest revelled in. Priest had lived his nightmare and lived it well. Redundancy. He'd been pushed out of the hot mess that was Blackwing 1.0 and found himself in a Hellish state of retirement full of crosswords and gardening. Now at last he'd awoken and was back in employment where he belonged. He strode with pride through the corridors of Blackwing 2.0, fire in his heart and plans in his mind, and felt a sinking feeling as his boss emerged with a tray of food.

"You know we have people who can take that for you?" asked Priest, gesturing at the tray which appeared to carry two Chinese takeout containers. He couldn't help but feel the food failed to match up with dietary recommendations. Of course, they had both tried to work the regulations out. It was just regulations had never been their forte. After hours of head scratching they decided that as long as they had microwaves and takeout menus they'd all survive.

"I know." Ken shrugged off.

"Is that second container for you?" he grumbled.

"What? Oh yeah, I promised Bart I'd eat it with her today. She gets bored if I leave her alone too long and you can imagine what happens then." Ken explained.

"I worry about how close you are to Project Marzanna, Sir." Priest commented.

"She only came to us because we're friends, Mr Priest. This Chinese is the only thing standing between this facility and disaster." Ken justified.

"I could control her if need be, Sir." Priest scowled defensively.

"No you couldn't, Priest, you never could." Ken told him bluntly. Without further comment he barged past with the two piping hot meals. If he really wanted to Priest could block his path with ease. He did no such thing. It wasn't worth it. Ken, Supervisor Adams, was still new to the wonderful worth of underground experimentation. He would learn soon enough. Oh yes, he would learn.

Bart Curtish, known throughout the forever on edge facility as Project Marzanna, had spent the last two months locked in the most secure room they could find for her. In fact, it wasn't technically a room at all. It was a re-purposed vault. It wasn't really necessary, Bart was there entirely by choice. She'd shown up at the door of an observation van, signed every contract they'd handed her, and put up absolutely no resistance since the day she arrived. Still the facility was nervous. Just days after the Battle of Wendimoor Project Marzanna, widely considered one of the most dangerous subjects ever catalogued, had returned home without a fight. They were scared, they were suspicious, and they weren't taking any risks.

Ken reached the heavy metal doors and watched as they slide over, cutting Bart's painted on symbol clean in half. Inside the sterilised room sat little more than a bed and desk. There she sat under a single light. Ken always found it strange that she sat on the cold floor instead of the chair they provided. Electricity jumped from bulb to bulb like wildfire, illuminating the entire room. Ken walked in, stepping over hundreds of colouring pages each scribbled on in a rainbow of crayons.

"Hey Ken, which one of these say 'I'm a princess but I could totally kill you if I wanted'?" Bart smiled. She held up two crayons, one in each hand, a bright pink and a dark purple.

"Purple." he answered confidently as he placed the food down on the desk.

"Cinderella is gonna look like such a bad ass." Bart commented under her breath.

"So today's around menu tour has brought us to...spicy chicken chowmein." said Ken as he handed the container over. He grimaced. He'd never had a very high spice tolerance. Unfortunately, he was ordering by number not by a dish as part of a little game proposed by Bart. With Blackwing's newly found funding and only one subject to spend it on Ken could afford for him and Bart to try everything on the menu, one day at a time, in order.

"Awesome." grinned Bart. She started wolfing it down without any regard for the spice. "So how are you?"

"Tired." Ken sighed. "and extremely bored when I'm not with you."

"You find Dirk yet?" she asked calmly.

"Finding him isn't the problem. It's getting him to come in. His friends are vicious." He almost thought they were more vicious than some of the ex-Blackwing subjects. He found Icarus with ease, his address was plastered all over the Internet and his number was in every phone book. Getting to him, however, was an entirely different matter. Farah and Todd were the best guard dogs he'd ever seen, Mona could turn into any weapon she wished, and then there was the ever present threat of the Rowdy 3 showing up to pummel him into the ground.

"Do you want me to kill him?" Bart asked without even the slightest change in tone.

"No, we kind of need him alive." Ken grumbled.

"Are you ever going to let me kill anyone?" she continued miserably.

"We're urr...working on that. The CIA is kind of hesitant about having a civilian killing for them." Ken explained.

"I'm not a civilian. I'm Project Marzanna." she announced proudly. Ken cringed. He was used to hearing Bart's name substituted with the clinical 'Project Marzanna', it was in every file and the whispers in the corridors, but something about her addressing herself that way made him sick to his stomach.

"Icarus isn't that important anyway. We've got other projects to deal with." Ken sighed.

"Other projects?" Bart scowled.

"Old projects, old projects." Ken clarified.

"Good. 'Cause that deal still stands you know?" she pointed out.

"Yeah I know." he nodded. Wherever he went he held their deal in the back of his mind. No new projects. It wasn't a solid deal like the contracts that they'd both sighed in triplicate. It was a private deal, an agreement between friends. He could bring the original projects if he had to, if that was really where the universe, was leading them, but under no circumstances would there be a new project. No one else would get hurt because of Blackwing.

"And I will kill you if you break it." she reminded him. 

"I believe you." he chuckled nervously. "Forget the other projects. I got something for you."

From his pocket Ken retrieved a small white MP3 player with matching wire headphones, He handed it over and watched as she fumbled with the headphones. After a few seconds she worked it out and carefully placed the plugs in her ears.

"Go on, press play." he laughed. Bart loyally obeyed. A joyful smile spread across the face as the music began to play. Most people would think of it as just another pop song, some might have been able to identify it was Backstreet Boys' 'As Long as You Love Me', but to Bart it was their song. It was the song on the radio the day he sung to her. And he had smiled, that beautiful smile that told her he wasn't afraid anymore. Many things had changed since that day, for better and worse. Mostly worse. Yet even after everything that smile stayed the same. As long as it stayed unaltered she knew she was safe. Ken wasn't afraid and neither was she.