Bits Before a Breakout

San leaned against the wall, eyes squeezed shut. He could feel the rising of the almost stifling guilt. With a deep breath, he pushed the thoughts away.

One hand fumbled into his pocket and pulled out a small packet of white powder. He hadn't believed the girl when she'd said it mimicked Quell. After that first, delirious taste, he firmly believed now. A part of him wanted to call Nelson and ask if he needed a sample of the powder while a bigger part was urging him to just take another hit while he could.

San stared at the bag for a second before dipping his pinky inside. Just one more taste and he'd call Nelson. Just one.

*****

"This is really abnormal," Lucy said, looking through the binoculars at the precinct.

"See? We were right," Dawnie said. She opened a bag of gourmet chocolate chip cookies. "These are delish! Want one?"

"Sure," Lucy replied as she absentmindedly grabbed one. "Some of them look so familiar, but younger than they should be?"

"Clones, maybe?" Aarti offered as she leaned back on her arms. She kicked her legs over the ledge, admiring her new black boots. "Are clones even a thing nowadays?"

Both Dawnie and Lucy looked at her. Aarti shrugged in response.

"I was watching television and late at night there are these movies with clones and zombies and vampires. Obviously, they aren't documentaries. The same girl was in two of them," Aarti added under her breath.

"Can they clone people?" Lucy mused.

"It would have to be easier than acquiring original material, I guess?" Dawnie frowned and shivered at the thought. "Do you think they cloned us?"

"They wouldn't have cloned us. If they'd cloned us, the world would be worse off than it already is," Lucy said. She lowered the binoculars. "Court is stuck in there, waiting for us to rescue him."

"Or maybe waiting for transfer to somewhere else less troublesome to break him out of?" Dawnie said, cracking open a bottle of milk. "Milk and cookies are so totally delish together!"

"Milk and cookies?" Aarti asked, intrigued.

"You so have to try them. Awesomeness just doesn't describe it," Dawnie assured her.

Lucy rolled her eyes and polished off her cookie. As she chewed thoughtfully, she sat down next to Aarti. A slight smile tugged on her lips as she watched Dawnie pour Aarti a thermos-cupful of milk. By this point, she wasn't even curious about all the stuff that Dawnie kept pulling out. Who knew where her friend was getting the stuff.

"We're going to rescue him. There has to be a reason that they want him back," Lucy said. "I don't know what that reason is, but there has to be one."

*****

Court nervously stared at the camera. He'd noticed that it only switched on when Detective Daniels was present. Detective Sanchez was like a ghost to it. He'd nearly driven himself crazy thinking that he'd made the woman up.

The return visit had disabused him of that thought. She'd been the one to deliver his meal of soda and damp hoagie. He hadn't dared to eat or drink either.

Court looked at his handcuffs. They were tighter and had less give courtesy of Detective Sanchez. He wished he'd paid attention when Don had showed how to unlock handcuffs with a simple piece of wire. While he'd thought the entire show was just something Don had made up out of boredom, perhaps he could have picked up a few hints from it.

The door opening got his attention. Detective Sanchez was returning, and she wasn't alone. A woman entered with her, a warm smile on her face. She was dressed so nondescript that she'd be hard to pick out in a crowd.

"So, there's our guy," she said as her eyes raked over Court. He felt strangely naked. "You've made sure to neuter all the electronics, Gracita?"

"Of course, Dr. Lawn," Detective Sanchez said, submissively.

Court felt his heart sink and his gorge rise. The detective he'd been dealing with so far was a fierce and nasty individual, at least to him. This turnaround of attitude was disconcerting to say the least.

"So, Court, how are you?" Dr. Lawn asked, sitting down opposite Court.

"Fine, I guess," Court slowly answered. His eyes darted from Detective Sanchez to Dr. Lawn.

"That's good to hear. Now, are you ready to return to the loving embrace of our masters? It must have been so hard for you to survive out here. So many people who just didn't understand how great you are and just throwing you into so many places." Dr. Lawn's voice held great sympathy.

Court was getting seriously alarmed.

"What do you mean 'by so many places,' Dr. Lawn?" He asked. He'd been so sure that he'd erased those records. Perhaps he needed to go back and do a deeper scrub.

"Oh, Court." Dr. Lawn glanced at Detective Sanchez who withdrew to stand outside the door. "We've been keeping tabs on our more," and here she paused. "Our more successful creations," she finally finished.

Court regretted not learning that whole unlocking handcuffs thing even more. There was nothing he wanted more at this moment than the ability to jump up and run away.

"We're going to bring you home where you belong, Court." Dr. Lawn pushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "It's going to be so glorious."

She pulled out a small device from her pocket. The small electronic looked like nothing more than a garage door opener. Court could almost hear a screaming in his ear.

"We're going to take you back and cut you open and see just how you adjusted to the experiment. Then we're going to see if we can replicate it." Dr. Lawn pointed the device towards Court who leaned as far back as the chair and cuffs would allow.

"Can't you see it? A whole army of technomancers working for the greater good of our masters, and you're the key to it all, Court. You should be thrilled."

Court wanted to tell her just how not thrilled he was when the silent scream in his ear intensified and spread across all five senses. Waves of agony washed over him before blessed blackness took over.