WARNING: This is a one-take chapter — meaning that I have just written and haven't read over it to check for any punctuation errors. Sorry! Will go back and edit it when I have time :)
CH 31 |
"Sabrina, Theo and I, we were 'test subjects' of C.H.A.N."
"I KNEW IT!" I exclaim, utterly shocked by the fact that my Captain America theory is right! Maybe not entirely, but with the whole human experimentation thing, yes! Which is very messed up. All four of them stare at me confusedly, and I sheepishly sink deeper into my seat before murmuring, "Sorry, continue."
Shooting me a blank look, Vincent sighs annoyedly before resuming his explanation. "Theo was the first to be experimented on, and the name they gave him was 'Project Terminator'."
I've never seen Phoebe look so horrified, and I have a feeling she has never been this horrified in her entire life. Even I am pretty shaken.
"Theo." She whispers, tears brimming in her eyes. "What did they do to you?"
Theo smiles comfortingly at his sister. "Don't worry, Pheebum. They didn't torture me or anything like that."
"Oh thank God!" Phoebe visibly relaxed, relief displayed evidently on her face.
"They injected me with something."
"Say what?" Phoebe and I sputter simultaneously.
Theo shrugs. "I can't say 'what', because I don't know either. We all don't know what exactly happened to us, because the people behind C.H.A.N wiped our memory of the project's time-frame."
"But, lads and gentlewoman, we're about to find out." Sabrina announces, pointing enthusiastically to the mysterious package in Vincent's hands.
Slowly and cautiously, Vincent opens the dull, grey package to reveal a simple, white envelope. He faces the envelope towards the light source of the room, scrutinising it with suspicious eyes. Though the thin walls of the envelope, I could make out a donut shape that can easily be recognised as a CD.
"Um, what are you doing?" Sabrina slowly asks.
"Checking to see if there's any bombs inside." Vincent answers casually. "Jodie can't be completely trusted."
"Then how do we know that he's given us the real-deal?" Theo questions.
"Exactly!" Sabrina agrees, causing Theo to look at Sabrina, and then look away too quickly to seem casual. "What if he's edited it or like, modified the CD in some way?"
"He doesn't know he sent me a CD. I told him it contained cat fur in it for a science experiment at school because he's allergic to cats, so hopefully he fell for it." After inspecting it for a few more moments, satisfaction overwhelms his facial features and he opens the envelope.
I narrow my eyes at him. He's pulled that trick on me before. Not that I'm allergic to cats — he had his own version for me, where he told me he had a collection of bug skeletons inside this mysterious, purple box and I absolutely loathe bugs, dead or alive.
He walks over to the nearby stark-white cabinet, opens up his Macbook and begins meddling with it. Meanwhile, I uncontrollably peek over at Theo and Sabrina, who are sitting direct opposite of Phoebe and I on the long, meeting table. I can literally feel the tension between them, and I can physically feel Theo's tenseness and awkwardness towards Sabrina.
Phoebe and I turn our eyes to each other with knowing looks. We both know that something is up between them.
"So, you must be Theo's sister!" Sabrina breaks the awkward silence, leaning towards Phoebe with her chin resting on her palm.
"That's me." Phoebe bluntly replies, shooting her a big, forced smile.
Don't get the wrong idea — I don't believe Phoebe's being particularly dry towards Sabrina, she just must be really tired. I mean, it's hard not to like Sabrina; she has this natural, good-spirited charm that can also lift one's spirit. Maybe that's why Theo has such a connection with her.
Proving my point, she smiles sweetly, a reminiscing look in her eyes. "Theo's told me a lot about you."
Obviously Theo has heard that, but he sure can fool someone into thinking that he didn't. His actions remain stoic and unfazed, as if Sabrina she hadn't just mentioned him, or that she's even sitting next to him at all.
"Is that so?" Phoebe raises her brow in amusement. "Well, I wish I could say the same to you."
There's a slightly disappointed look on Sabrina's face before she quickly recovers and moves her attention to me. "And Summer, hi! My, have I heard a lot about you too from V—"
"—Alright everybody shutup, we don't have time for chitty chats." Vincent growls, effectively attracting all our attentions.
However, my mind was eagerly pondering about Sabrina's words before she was rudely cut off. From who?
Vincent pressed a key on his laptop, and within a flash the transparent whiteboard lit up with a hologramic screen. Suddenly, I feel like I'm in a sci-fi movie. Not that I'm complaining! Well, either than the fact that the bad guys have my father in ransom.
The video begins playing, and from the corner of my eyes I can see Vincent slip on his glasses, of which almost took all my attention away. As I glimpse at him, I feel like as if I just glimpsed at the old Vincent and my heart nearly leaped out of chest at the memories.
Vincent walks over to the meeting table and takes the seat beside me. My back is facing him as my front is facing towards the screen, which is very fortunate for me because I might just have a heart attack if I see Vincent in those glasses again.
The screen goes black, and one simple title in white writing appears: "Project 501 : Terminator".
From the right corner of my eyes I see Sabrina put a hand on Theo's shoulder, brewing some nasty bug of jealousy within me.
There was a series of flashes of pictures that went so fast that I barely even deciphered them. All I could make out was a picture of computer screen filled with codes, a scene of Theo unconscious on an examination bench wearing nothing on his upper body but these white circles attached with a wire on his skin and then a needle that contains a chemical substance with mixed clouds of colours such as blue, purple and yellow. It looks far from ordinary chemical substances.
Suddenly the slideshow abruptly ended, fading into black.
"Er, what the heck was that?" Phoebe voices my thoughts, and from the looks of it, everyone else's too.
Well, everyone except for Vincent, who just stares at the screen in concentration. "Of course they wouldn't just simply make a presentation." He mutters to himself, however audibly enough for everyone to hear. "They just have to make everything so complicated just for extra security."
"So like, this is a code?" I guess, furrowing my brows as I try to recall the very confusing slideshow that we have just watched. A flashes of various pictures for 10 seconds and then done.
"Sort of." Theo replies, looking a little pale from the pictures. "What if we slow down the speed of the video and analyse it like that?"
Vincent shakes his head disapprovingly. "We don't have time. Even if we do, a bunch of pictures won't tell us enough. It's not informative enough—"
"—But that's exactly what C.H.A.N wants us to think; that these pictures hold all the answers." Sabrina interjects, looking down thoughtfully at the table. "And they want us to waste our time analysing it and trying to discover the secrets behind our insane abilities."
"Oh. I see now." I speak with tone laced with sarcasm, scanning everyone with a grim smile. "Basically, this CD is a bait."
"But something doesn't add up." Phoebe pipes in. "How did C.H.A.N know we were going to fight back and thus give us a bait to spare themselves some time?"
"Oh shit." Vincent curses, his face growing pale as if he just figured something grave. Then he followed on with a string of colourful profanities.
"What? What is it?" Panicing, I question him eagerly.
"I think— I think the CD isn't a bait..." The adam's apple on Vincent's throat vibrates, indicating that he has just swallowed. "It's a tracking device."
Ah, that makes more sense. Well, shit.
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A/N: Don't worry, the next chapter is more interesting! :)