Chapter 19: Foreign Body, Foreign Mind

  Alarms were ringing, red lights were flashing.

  "What's going on?" He heard himself say. Although the voice was coming out of his mouth, it wasn't his own. It felt familiar, a soft feminine voice that seemed calm despite the situation.

  "Dr. Rue, we've…" not letting the woman finish her sentence, he told her; "Ah, I think I understand what happened," she said. "Have everyone leave the emergency room. I'll take care of it." Wait, Dr. Rue? Was this one of Serena's memories?

  "But doctor, this is a dangerous situation, we need to evacuate…" facing her glare, the woman shivered. Finally diverting her eyes, she nodded and left.

  Soon enough, Slava felt his head ache. Not long after, thoughts began invading his mind.

  Serena knew this would happen, she tried to prevent it but there wasn't much she could do against General Michels' influence. There was a reason why there seemed to be a skill cap to fighters' strengths. Beyond a certain point, becoming stronger required a certain level of understanding that led to an awakening. And by then, the AITF would step in.

  By the time she reached the emergency room, it was empty, the walls glowed red while floating text all-around flashed with the same message:

[AI Protocol Activated!]

  In the center of the room, on a bed, lay a groaning Kolya. His figure was much less imposing than he remembered and far fewer tattoos covered his body.

  Approaching him, her heart rate spiked up. Damit, just treat it as another one of your experiments. How many did you betray, how many did you kill to further your own goals. This is nothing different. Rolling him to the side revealed his softly glowing back.

  Seeing this, she grabbed his head with both of her soft white hands. Softly smiling, she leaned in.

  "Nic, I know you can hear me. Don't reject it," she whispered, "I know you've tried to hide it from me, it's okay. I know everything. I know you can feel it, you know how it works, calm down, control it," to her flurry of words, the unconscious Kolya frowned. In the next moment, red sparks materialized around him as his body began to swell.

  "Shit," she murmured, she'd done everything right, logically he should be able to control it, it was his knowledge. This was stupid.

  Clenching the sleeves of her lab coat, she grit her teeth. Fuck it! Grabbing Kolya's head once more, she let the energy she knew so well flow through her. The color of her skin, eyes, and hair all started to change into different shades of green. Bringing her lips closer to his, she kissed him.

  For a second, Slava's consciousness took over, but as a thought began forming in his head, Kolya's eyes snapped open, distracting him. The lightning around him was dying down and Serena could feel his back slowly dimming.

  "Serena? What are you doing here? What's going on? Why are you…" not letting him finish, she covered his mouth with her hand.

  "Oh, now you wake up?" She smiled. "It's been hard on you, go back to sleep." Soon Kolya's eyes rolled over and he passed out again. When she saw his eyes close fully, her expression turned cold

  "What are you doing here, Crow?" She said, glancing at the corner of the room. At the same time, the ground trembled slightly as vines started growing from it.

  "Is that your new experiment?" Said a man, materializing from the shadows. "I had no idea you were here, they just sent me to check on the newborn." Henosis, she frowned. She didn't know their intel had become this good. "Listen, Thorn, I'll tell them it was a false report because they'd ask me why I didn't engage you and I don't want to have to deal with that. But he won't be able to hide forever," he said, pointing at Kolya. Yes, the time would come, but not today, not today.

  As he disappeared, Serena let her vines wrap around Kolya. Slowly slithering onto his body, the vines imprinted all kinds of tattoos on his skin which eventually overshadowed the empty circle on his back.

  "I'm sorry Nic, I'll come to find you later, I had to make you forget this." Kissing him on the forehead, she closed her eyes, letting her vines cover the rest of his body.

  "They should be here any minute now," she thought. Henosis' interception had probably slowed down their response, but they wouldn't let her do this in public... He certainly wouldn't.

  Noticing distortions appearing all around her she smirked. She could probably stop them, but today that wasn't her goal.

  "By order of the AITF, cease all hostile actions." Hearing this, Serena looked up, her smile turning maniacal. She could identify every single unit surrounding her. "Wait," another voice chimed in, "this signature is archived, initiate 'Protocol Original'," to this, one of the people crouched depositing a device on the ground. Following his actions, they disappeared one by one. Once they were gone the device transformed into a translucent screen. On it, a shaded figure appeared followed by the sound of a warped voice.

  "It seems like you've finally lost your mind," it said coldly. "I let you roam free for the work you did but you've overstepped your boundaries." Even though the voice was masked, it was alluring. Slava was almost mesmerized, but Serena's laugh broke him out of his trance.

  "Old man," she smirked. "You've grown stale in the past decade," she retorted as vines surrounded her, elevating her on what looked like a throne. "I've grown bored, have you lost your conviction? I've built this new world with you. I helped you suppress Henosis. All the while, never even questioning your identity. You used to be so fervent in your convictions. But these days you've become passive," seeing his lack of response she grew curious. "What are you waiting for? Are you afraid? I wonder…" It really was interesting, the truth was that she knew that he wasn't being passive. Everything this man did was calculated. The world was a board and the people, his pawns. He was probably gathering his forces, he was lying in wait. He couldn't win against the Shén so he was preparing something, although she didn't know what.

  "Oh well, seems like our partnership is coming to an end," sensing the foreign domains surrounding her, her vines began to move. "To think that you'd send H units out just for me." Despite the gravity of what she had just said, she didn't look perturbed in the slightest. She still looked like she was having fun.

  "This isn't a game, I told you, you've overstepped your bounds this time," the cold voice retorted.

  "How cold, but you know you can't do anything to me, right? What would happen if you deployed a Gamma unit here?" she said almost condescendingly. "We both know there is a limit to what the populous will believe." She was now looking down at his projection, her legs crossed, leaning forward, interrogatively grabbing her chin. "You wouldn't want the world to start asking questions, would you? I think they've been asking enough lately, don't you?" When no reply came, her vines began retreating into the ground, carrying her with them.

  There were a few things she knew about him, he did everything for his goals and what he used to call 'The Greater Good'. He would stop at nothing, no matter the cost. She knew he was responsible for the death of millions, but she also knew that it didn't faze him. Oh, and there was another thing. He would always…

  "This one stays." At the sound of the man's words, she felt the sting of one of her vines being burned. Feeling the burn, she smiled internally. No matter how many lives he took, he would always cherish those he didn't. A strange dichotomy, but she knew Kolya would be safe with him. She'd masked his awakening almost perfectly. Unless he used it, it would be impossible to detect. And she was confident they would meet again before then.

  "Wait for me my love," she whispered, the vines carrying her under the ground as she closed her eyes.