Destruction - The Oasis Project Book 2 (Complete)

Forty-Four - Linkin

"Tina?" Thierry called as he opened the door, deactivating the alarm. I hadn't moved from the living room like he had ordered after we argued for an hour and a half about my ability to stay by myself. I never glanced up from the laptop or bothered to break my concentration on my work as I heard a herd of people entering the house. "Tina, where did you go?" Thierry was not a bit more panicked.

Sighing, I glanced up just as Ira was walked by in handcuffs. The Russian had his hand on her midback as Thierry mumbled instructions of where to put her. "Is everything alright with One?"

"One?" Thierry questioned as he walked into the living room, looking worse than he did when he left.

"That's what the Oasis Project labelled Ira," a voice said from over his shoulder. For a second, Stuart looked relieved to see me. "Linkin..."

Stuart's pace sped up, his arms lifting slightly and I didn't even smile as I nodded. "Doctor Neville, it is good to see you again."

If I cared to look, I could have watched his heart break. Arms falling by his side, Stuart nearly stopped in his path. "Doctor-" he started to ask but never finished his question. "How are you feeling, Linkin?"

Him using my real name, for the second time now, made my head fall to the side as I started to type once again. "I'm alright, Doctor Neville. Head's bothering me slightly, but that's to be expected." I brushed off the minor irritation which now seemed to be a normal pain. "Is One alright? Is it because of New York or did she fail in Egypt as well?" I scoffed and laughed softly. "I know it isn't my place, but she should really be a Three or Four. One is never going to be loyal. Your last six attempts of reprogramming have failed."

"S-Six?" Thierry nearly choked out as he sat down across from me, glancing to Stuart nervously. "Tina, Stuart is here to help, why don't you put the laptop away for a bit?" he said gently, almost like to a child.

I shrugged, "He also asked for all the files to be completed and if he is going to reprogram One, he will need the information. I assume Project 2-1 failed."

Stuart and Thierry exchanged a look of confusion, but instead of replying to me, Stuart sat down at my feet and reached forward, closing the laptop for me. I frowned as he took it, placing it on the glass coffee table. "Linkin, I think we need to talk about Project Oasis." I nodded and waited expectantly. "About what they did to you?"

"What did they do?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Stuart said with a bit of a huff. "You said Ira was reprogrammed, were you?"

I shrugged. "Once. My eidetic memory allows me to be more efficiently educated properly." There was a long silence, so I continued to speak assuming my answer was inadequate when really, they both looked too shocked for words. "There were so many difficulties being unable to use Project 2-1 after it was discovered she causes a negative feedback loop with my mutation, but procedures were put in place to ensure the most recent time should remove any chance of... glitches." The word tasted funny in my mouth. I knew I should feel like a computer, but really, I felt nothing at all.

"Glitches? Like what?" It was Thierry chiming in.

Glancing to him, I opened my mouth and frowned. "Like asking for you..." I started off slowly, the stabbing feeling in the back of my head increased and I raised a hand, rubbing my skull. "Before my last reprogram, I'd wake up, screaming your name, begging for your help..." My voice became softer. "You're dead," I finally stated. That simple fact helped relieve some irritation.

"He isn't dead, Linkin, he's sitting right there. The Oasis Project lied to you." The way that Stuart spoke had a cold edge to it, a detachment from the association which he had claimed to be a part of.

"Doctor Neville, I know this is theorized, but I can try to reprogram One until Project 2-1 arrives to complete her work?" There were so many things wrong with that sentence that I didn't comprehend. Emma wasn't coming back to alter Ira's thinking, and I shouldn't want that either.

Stuart had no problem putting me in his place. Since Dell Island, he showed levels of aggression and a temper he never had before. "You want to reprogram Ira?" he was shouting.

"Stuart!" Thierry tried to rein him back in.

Raising his hand, Stuart shook his head. "No, don't defend her, Thierry. She's a fucking robot for the Oasis Project." I had never heard him curse before.

"That's why you're here to help her!"

I stayed quiet and let the two of them argue. "I don't think she can be helped." Reaching out for the laptop, Stuart leaned forward first and shoved it out of my grasp and onto the floor.

"So you're giving up?" Thierry asked.

"Oh, that's rich coming from you," Stuart spat back. "At least I looked for them while they disappeared. You just sat here and cried while I healed from a bullet wound and helped the Deviations."

"You looked, you found, not fix!" Thierry raised his voice as well as he shot up from his chair. "She doesn't even remember what happened on Dell Island and you heard her, she thinks I am dead."

I raised a finger at that. "You are! They killed you back in the States," I interjected before motioning for them to continue.

"See!" Thierry huffed, the exhaustion from the last few days finally started to show. His patience was wearing thin.

Stuart went quiet and stared at me, shaking his head as he thought. "I don't know how to make her remember something." He muttered, then paused. "But we remember it."

"That's not exactly the problem here Doc," Thierry spat.

As tempted as Stuart looked to snap back at Thierry, he didn't reply as rolled up his sleeve. "So, Linkin, you think the Oasis Project is good, right?" My head bobbed, wonderful memories of how they were trying to save the world washed over me. "Then get ready to see the bad." Without warning, Stuart reached out and took my hand.

My tattoos rippled, my arms turning red as the first thing Stuart showed me was blood covering the floor of an operating room. A child, thirteen years of age, was rolled out of the surgery, uncovered, dead, tumours on every major organ. Stuart felt sick as he walked by the operating room and to his office.

It was his first day working on Dell Island.