Phoenix Feathers, Part II Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Joss is Boss, and…and…and all these ideas floating around in my head are mostly his doing. So it’s really just a lesser version of something that he could do much better. And I personally wouldn’t have any complaints if he did…

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The Warden woke up on the cold floor of an unfamiliar room. He did not remember how he got there, but the splitting pain inside his head kept him from focusing too closely on such trivial details. He pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, and noticed that his head wasn’t the only part of him that ached. He felt a wave of nausea at his sudden movement and retched.

Looking around, he saw the Other lying a short distance away. His partner was unconscious, but did not appear to have sustained any serious injuries. The walls of the room were lined with computer readouts as well as numerous cabinets that housed rows upon rows of what looked to be prescription drugs and chemicals. One of these cabinets was damaged. The floor depressed slightly in the center of the room, where an operating chair was housed. A small cart stood nearby, loaded down with metallic-looking tools of a type unfamiliar to the Warden. He could smell a powerful odor coming from somewhere that made his head throb again. The Warden stood up to examine the room further, taking care not to upset his stomach again.

He turned sharply at the sound of someone rapping at the door to the lab. He saw a middle-aged man in a white lab coat clutching an air filter to his mouth. The man was gesticulating furiously at him, motioning for him to open the door. The Warden warily moved to comply.

“Wait, wait!” the man shouted through the glass panel of the door. He pointed to the Other, who was still crumpled on the ground. “Get him out, too. Quickly!”

The Warden stepped over to the Other and dragged him towards the door. The man punched a combination into the room’s exterior access panel and it opened with a hiss. As soon as the Warden cleared the threshold, the man shut it again.

“Come on!” The man beckoned the Warden to follow him down the hall. The Warden turned awkwardly, still dragging the inert body of the Other. The man, already a good way down the corridor, looked back and grimaced to himself. He ran back and took the Other by his ankles.

“Thanks,” said the Warden.

“Of course,” said the man. He tried to smile, but his face twitched instead.

They paused so the man could enter another combination into another access panel, granting them access into a second, nearly identical lab. They propped the Other up in the room’s operating chair, and the man procured several medical instruments with which he set about examining the unconscious man. The Warden looked on curiously.

The man shook his head tiredly at the Other’s state. “You’re lucky to be alive, you know. Those chemicals would have fried your brain in another minute. It’s lucky that I got to you in time. Very lucky indeed.”

“Who are you?” the Warden asked.

The man paused. He sized the Warden up for a moment, a secret smile on his face, then returned to his examination. “The real question is, just who are you?”

The Warden frowned. “I’m the Warden.”

“Is that all?”

The Other groaned and his eyes flickered open as the man finished his assessment. The Warden let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Then he remembered the man’s puzzling question.

“What?”

“Is that all that you remember?” The man stepped away from the Other and moved to where the Warden had seated himself. The man then began to check him over in a businesslike fashion.

“How did you know?”

“Those chemicals you’ve been inhaling have caused you to sustain some brain damage. It looks like you’re suffering from retrograde amnesia. Memories from before you entered that lab may be lost, perhaps permanently.”

“Who are you?” the Warden asked again.

“Doctor Mathias. I’m the head of research at the Academy. My specialty is in neuroscience.”

“Where is this?” The Warden didn’t remember much about anything, but he did know that labs with dangerous chemicals weren’t exactly commonplace in the ‘Verse.

“You’re at a top-secret, high-security underground government installation that oversees the creation and development of mentally-enhanced covert operatives.” Doctor Mathias flicked off the light that he had been shining into the Warden’s eyes and neatly pocketed it.

“Oh.” The Warden reflected that there were worse places to wake up not remembering anything. He just couldn’t remember any of them at the moment.

“Do you want a tour, or can we get on to the problem at hand?”

“What problem is that, exactly?” said the Other. He walked over to the lab’s sink and ran cold water over his hands, then splashed it on his face. He nodded over to the Warden, letting him know that he was recovering.

“Academy Security has been compromised. We’ve been infiltrated by persons unknown, and they caused severe damage to our program. We have reason to believe that they were former Independents.”

The Independents. That was a name that the Warden knew. “What kind of damage?”

Mathias looked down at the floor. “They stole my prize subject, who goes by the name of River Tam. She was- is important to me. It is imperative that we get her back.”

The Warden glanced over at the Other, then back at the doctor. “Do we have any leads? Possible suspects, methods of entry and exit?”

“We have very little information about the theft. It looks like maybe it was an inside job.” Mathias fidgeted and looked towards the door to the lab as if fearful that an Independent would barge in and attack him.

“And this was less than two days ago, you say? This couldn’t have had anything to do with us being left for dead in one of your labs, could it?”

“This sort of thing has never happened at the Academy before. Perhaps the conspirators left behind agents to disrupt our pursuit of River. And that’s not my lab. It belongs to Doctor Barnes.”

“And where is he?” The Other looked meaningfully at the Warden.

“Barnes? I don’t think he was in on it, if that’s what you mean. His subject escaped at the time of the theft and fled the premises. The entire event is archived in the Records Room, of course.” Mathias glanced again at the door.

“All right, Doctor. We shall start our investigation immediately. Rest assured that those responsible will be hunted down, and your subject will be returned to you.” The Other fell into step with the Warden as they headed for the door.

“Wait.” said Mathias.

They turned as one.

“Whoever these people are, it’s probable that they haven’t left the facility. In fact, we’ve issued orders to keep the entire Academy locked down. So they may be cornered and could resort to desperate means.” He bit his lip.

“You’ll be protected, Doctor. And we’ll check in with you regularly, just to keep you up to date on our progress. Thank you for your assistance.” With that, the Warden followed the Other out of Mathias’ lab. They continued several paces down the hallway before the Warden came running back.

Mathias looked up, his face twitching slightly. “Yes?”

The Warden frowned. “Sorry, Doctor, but could you direct us to the Security station?”

Mathias chuckled weakly. “Of course! You take the lift at the end of the hall up to level five. That whole level belongs to Security.”

The Warden nodded grimly to him and ran off again.

Mathias slumped into a chair and breathed a long sigh of relief. His face twitched suddenly, and he slapped at it with his hand. Mathias’ lip curled disdainfully as he studied his hand. Then he smiled to himself.

***

Dr. Barnes’ rhythmic typing slowed gradually to a stop during the course of his seventh hour of research. His eyes ached from staring at the screen for so long, and his head hurt from filtering through so much information. Status logs, Cortex transmissions, Personnel rosters, even the subjects’ meal plans were scrutinized. But none of it was getting him any closer to the criminals.

It appeared that the whole job had been pulled off without a hitch. No alarms were raised, no security flags had been tripped when the conspirators sliced in to the Academy’s mainframe. But the only way they could have managed that would have been to physically enter the facility and gain direct access to the Academy’s central computer.

Barnes had checked the Academy’s entire staff, looking for people who had been able to access the mainframe. The single technician who turned up had been graded snow white by Parliament’s intelligence bureau. She could be trusted with very high-grade information, and had been conditioned to withhold such secrets, even when subjected to torture. It was another dead end.

Deep down, Barnes knew that he had begun to despair the second that he woke up after his session with Subject 04, which had ended so abruptly and violently. He had personally overseen his student’s development, from the moment that the boy had set foot on Osiris. While the other Doctors’ attentions were focused almost exclusively on River Tam, Barnes remained confident in his own project. Better than anyone, Barnes understood what 04 was capable of, so he knew that it was absolutely essential that the Academy recover the boy, before he escaped off-world, if he hadn’t already.

He wanted- no- needed to get 04 back. So he pressed on.

Barnes shifted his attention back to the data in the Archives, unplugging his computer from the interior security recordings and transferring it to the exteriors. He watched silently as Dr. Titus made good his escape, then growled under his breath and rewound the recording to the point of 04’s escape. He hit play and saw the boy look around, ignoring the blaring of the alarm system, orient himself in the direction of Horizon City, and start running. It was almost too much for the doctor to see his own creation leaving him behind.

He rewound the recording several minutes more, and looked on as a small, unmarked shuttle bore River and the faux-government inspector to safety. Barnes blinked. But they did not flee in the direction of Horizon City. In fact, they had gone directly into space, now that he thought about it. Had they abandoned 04 on Osiris, or did they have two escape routes planned?

Or was the whole thing just a coincidence?

Barnes shook his head. That was certainly improbable. Like it or not, however, that was the conclusion that the evidence supported, for the Independents’ cell, if it was the Independents, had hidden itself well. One trail was cold- the final destination of River Tam’s kidnapper was unknown. The other trail led to Horizon City, so that was where Barnes would have to start looking for a cell.

But Horizon City was absolutely immense. Millions of citizens lived in the sprawling metropolis, and innumerable ships ferried countless passengers onto and off of the planet every day. Barnes had simply no idea where to start.

But he knew people who might.

Barnes finished downloading the last of the relevant data to his computer, then closed it with a snap and unplugged from the Archives. He walked with purpose to the end of the hallway, and noted with pleasure that the young secretary had already summoned a lift for him. Barnes entered the lift and pressed the character that would take him to Housing.

He stepped out of the lift, and immediately four security guards moved to cover him. They recognized him, of course- Barnes frequently visited subjects in Housing, but the Security team trained their weapons on him for a split second longer than they had to, perhaps to impress upon him their heightened awareness and focus. Barnes appreciated the gesture.

Two of the men accompanied him as he walked down the rows between the individual holding cells. They halted as Barnes paused and looked up at the ceiling. He nodded towards the distant ventilation shaft.

“That’s how he got out?” he asked.

The dark-haired man to his left, who seemed to wear a perpetual scowl, answered him. “Yes, sir. I saw it with my own two eyes. He was a quiet bugger, if you don’t mind me saying. Didn’t hardly get a good look at him until it was too late.” The man glanced over at the doctor, wary of being reprimanded.

Barnes just shook his head and smiled. “I guess something we teach them gets through, eh?” His expression turned grim again as he continued towards the back of the large chamber.

“Ah, we’re here.” He stopped and began to enter a combination into a particularly large holding cell’s access panel.

The other guard cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, sir, but the subjects are not to be disturbed. Supervisor’s orders, sir.”

Barnes hissed softly, turning to face his escorts. “Do you know where Dr. Titus is right now? He’s on board a military cruiser, on his way to Londinium. He is in no position to close off access to these subjects, seeing as how they are particularly relevant to the current emergency. Titus is out of contact, so I am countermanding his orders.”

The dark-haired guard pursed his lips thoughtfully, then nodded curtly. “All right, sir, but you’ll have to sign some documentation. You know the drill. Please don’t take in anything that could compromise the facility or the subjects.” He gestured to Barnes’s computer.

“Oh, this?” Barnes held up the indicated device. “I need these subjects to assist me in a particular avenue of this investigation. Yes, I know, I’ll sign for that, too.” He smiled tiredly and finished entering the sequence. Then he placed his hand on the scanner and it briefly lit up. It pinged, and the two guards stepped back as the cell door slid open.

Barnes stepped inside the room and regarded the two figures who sat silently together on the floor. There had been no reaction from them when he had entered their cell- there never was. They just stared at him, as they had always done.

Barnes was always uncomfortable when he had to deal with other projects than those he personally supervised. He found that without knowing who they were before, it was impossible to guess what they were thinking after. And these two subjects in particular had undergone a drastic change. Not only had they been broken by the process, but their supervisor had been killed during an interview with another subject several months ago. He had been the only person who had ever been able understand them, so they had been more or less ignored since his death.

Barnes looked back at Subjects 01 and 02 determinedly. They were his best hope of recovering 04 quickly and safely, for who were better suited to finding one of the Academy’s most talented students than its only graduates?

Barnes walked slowly over to the two psychics and opened his computer screen to show them the faces of the missing students.

“I need your help.”

***