Dark Angel: Rediscovered

Chapter 2

Dark Angel: Rediscovered
Chapter 2

Considering the difficult order, it hadn't taken the cybertek side of manticore long to come up with a replacement heart. It filled the empty cavity where a pumping machine had been and was a drastic improvement. You had not been privy to the specs of the device but you had been a part of the stress testing. They had you spike his heart rate multiple times for different durations before they were satisfied that it was a viable replacement.

It had taken a lot more time and effort on your part to get his system to produce enough epinephrine, and balance it with the right amount of norepinephrine, to make his body think it was under stress in order to test the heart. On top of that keeping him paralyzed while doing such a thing has taken a lot of concentration. You had no idea how his physical state would be interpreted by his mind considering that there was severe damage to his prefrontal cortex. You just knew that it would have been unpleasant to put it mildly. Unfortunately it was necessary as it was just another step to keeping him alive and getting him restored.

When everything had come to a satisfying conclusion, the small team of personnel left. All save for your S.O; but he hadn't planned on staying for long.

"You have 80 days left. Get to work."

You nodded sharply. The sounds of the other machines, which were doing a multitude of things to keep him alive, was a persistent, pesky buzz in your ear. You could hear them whirling and given what you were about to need to do, everything sounded too loud. You focused on keeping a straight face until the head of the division walked out.

You returned to the side of the prone 599. There were still wires and tubes all over as well as the fact that a good portion of his face was covered. It was where he'd voluntarily taken a bullet to the brain when he'd been captured. Although why he would ever do that was beyond you. What was so great about the post-pulse world that made him feel like reindoctrination was worse than death?

"I know that you can hear me. I just don't know if you can process what I'm saying. Regardless...Manticore nearly fell into enemy hands; there was a traitor at the main facility or something, I wasn't given all the details. There was an order to euthanize and destroy all transgenics so that the enemy didn't get their hands on us. But we aren't at the main facility so I was able to convince the commanding officer to spare our...your life. In order to do this though I had to ensure that the reward would be greater than the risk."

As you talked, you traced the lines of muscle on his damaged arm. Even though transgenics healed faster and more completely than normal humans, he would still need time to heal the damage he'd inflicted on himself. The nerve damage, however, didn't affect blood flow which was the most pressing matter. You amped up your own production of pheromones to the point where they practically oozed out of your skin. Just the start of the biochemical feedback loop that you needed to complete your current assignment.

"What I'm about to do...I do in order to save your life. Not like you'll understand or remember any of this but if you do...know that. You might have been a deserter but you're still one of us. You deserve to die on your feet soldier, not laying prone in your bed."

Given that he was still pretty much a vegetable, the most effective position to encourage pregnancy was out of the question. But you felt that the short recovery time, which allowed for multiple ejactulations, made up for that. And even though everything in you quivered with the need to shower, once he had contributed as much as was healthy for him to, you laid on the ground on your back with your legs in the air.

You tried to quell the nauseous feeling over what you had just done. You wouldn't delude yourself. Given that he hadn't been conscious to acknowledge his orders, or even receive them, what you had just done was rape. It was an evil act to save his life and some day you were going to have to deal with that. As it was you were just trying not to puke.

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The sound of a gun being field stripped was like music to your ears. You watched as X5-599 took apart the gun and performed maintenance on each piece. Since you had upheld your end, X5-599 had practically been restored. The pieces of machinery were the top of the line but they still seemed like they had their kinks.  For example, he had an exoskeleton on his right arm while the nerves continued to heal. And it seemed like the computerized part of his brain was running a lackluster program or something seeing as any hint of personality was missing. You expected far more rebellion from one of the '09 X5s.

Still...he was alive and healing. That's what mattered.

As you watched X5-599 practice skills you let your mind wander a bit. You fingered the bandage on your lower stomach. Of course your standard issue clothing covered the area but you could still feel the swell of the bandage that covered the area where a talented doctor had removed the 5 week old embryo from your uterus. It was maybe a two inch incision at most and with enough time even the scar would heal.

April; that would most likely be the month where the surget mother would be induced into labor. You most likely would never get to see your offspring. That didn't bother you very much. Yet you did wonder what the difference between the transgenic born through reproduction and one created in the DNA bank, which no longer existed, would be.

The door opening up snapped you to attention. One of the lab techs you'd seen fiddling with X5-599 to get all the parts just right came in. He looked extremely nervous. You watched him sort of fidget about when he realized you were there. So you took the initiative and spoke first.

"Is something wrong?" Since he wasn't military personnel alot of the formal titles and stiffness were not needed.

"For the two of you, Yeah," the lab tech rattled out.

"What happened?" You pressed.

"Someone leaked it to the government that we were harboring two transgenics."

And you were guessing from his body language and tone that wasn't a good thing. Your eyes moved over to 599 who was staring at you and the lab tech through the one way mirror. He could probably hear you better than he could see you but with the mechanical eye there was still a chance he could see better than before.

"The government sent a group out to investigate. The leader, some Agent White, seems like a real hard-ass."

"What does the Major require of us?"

The Major was the officer you reported to directly at this facility. He was the one you had convinced to help keep 599 and yourself alive for future insurance. He wasn't completely heartless but he was opportunistic by nature. Which was how you'd convinced him that restarting the transgenic program from scratch was a mistake. You just hoped that the Agent White hadn't offered him better terms.

"Agent White is demanding we turn over all Transgenics over along with all data and mission reports we collected from the lot of you. He isn't giving the Major an option."

Damn. You flinched momentarily but regained the mask that had been drilled into you since childhood. You might have been in psyops but you were still manticore through and through.

"Which is why I was told to get you out before White sees you."

"You have orders to smuggle me out?" You questioned just to make sure you heard right. The man in front of you nodded. "With all do respect I'm not leaving without X5-599."

You understood how urgent it was to get out. By this man's description it seemed like White wasn't exactly a patient man. However, 599 was still the only other Transgenic that you knew with certainty was still alive. You weren't just going to leave him for an ambiguous branch of the government to decommission. There may have been others on missions but they were unconfirmed. Not to mention based on the current situation liable to be hunted down as well.

"Fine but we need to go now."