Chapter 12

Tom opened his eyes, only to shut them again as the light blinded him. "AGGHH!"

"oh! you're awake!" Tom heard Paloma's voice coming from his right, he could also hear her approach. "how are you feeling?" the surgeon questioned Tom.

"like someone poked me in the eyes with a cattle prod" Tom groaned, what the fuck happened?" Tom rapidly blinked his eyes to adjust them to the sudden influx of light.

"what do you last remember?" Paloma questioned Tom back.

The last thing Tom remembered was hiding the two bullets he had sneaked in below his mattress. "I was in my room, going to take a shower"

"you collapsed due to your body being in a constant state of flux" Paloma explained "your nervous system was constantly breaking down and repairing itself, we believe you have a hereditary nervous disorder that was boosted due to the changes in your body"

"yes, there is" Tom confirmed "my grandpa had ALS"

"that checks" Paloma agreed

"So, then what happened? How did I recover?" Tom sat up

"Isaiah had designed a set of neural devices that would be attached to the nervous system, we used these devices as nervous tissue to stabilise your spinal cord, then allowed your healing factor to stabilise the rest of your body"

"what are neural devices?" Tom questioned Paloma

"lay back down" Paloma directed Tom down onto the bed "we'll explain everything to you after we've made sure that you're completely fine"

"very well" Tom agreed laying down back on his bed, he did indeed feel a bit light headed, and if Paloma was telling the truth, then he needed to stay as long as it took, meaning Tom still couldn't escape.

XXXXXXX

"he's awake" was the first thing Katie said when she barged into Doc's office

"fantastic" Doc nodded as he returned to scribbling on a notebook.

"you don't seem too excited" Katie shut the door behind her

"that is because I am terrified Katie" Doc admitted "I am preparing to undergo an extremely dangerous and unproven experiment"

"shouldn't we wait for a few weeks, see if there are any other adverse effects on Tom's body" Katie questioned Doc.

"I don't have the time" Doc's voice trembled "I just don't, after Tom's test are done and we are sure his condition is stable, I'm going through with it"

"you could die" Katie pleaded "don't rush into this"

"I'm already one foot into the grave" Doc smiled bitterly "might as well give staying alive, one last shot"

"I am here for you" Katie held onto doc's hand

"thank you my dear" Doc placed his other hand on Katie's "in this cutthroat world, you have been the one person I could count on"

XXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Paloma and Isaiah were explaining to Tom the new changes in his body. "these neural devices are basically like a computer" Isaiah set it out in layman terms. "a computer attached to your spinal cord"

"what does that mean for me?" Tom looked between Paloma and Isaiah "am I; like, more machine than man now?"

"you're still you" Isaiah reassured Tom "just... enhanced"

"enhanced how?" Tom questioned Isaiah, looking troubled and confused but filled with anticipation on the inside, Tom still planned to escape from the facility and any new ability could be the deciding factor between freedom and death.

"let's take this one step at a time, shall we?" Paloma asked rhetorically. "let's just make sure that you are still fit before Isaiah tries to teach you any new tricks"

"yes ma'am" Tom agreed, jumping to the balls of his feet. The three people exited the medical bay, and ran into Doc and Katie who were headed in their direction.

"hey" Katie hugged Tom "good to see you alive"

"good to be alive" Tom agreed, hugging Katie back tightly.

"shouldn't you be resting?" Doc asked as Tom and Katie broke their too long hug.

"I felt fine, but Paloma still wanted to run tests, so I thought we should get a jump on them" Tom explained

"very well" Doc agreed, thinking "works in my favour, the faster we finish these tests the faster I can complete my plan, end this entire goddamn charade"

XXXXXXX

The first test Doc made Tom do was the strength test. "we'll start with a hundred pounds, like we did the first time, and work our way back to four fifty pounds"

"screw that" Tom protested, loading four twenty pounds onto the thirty pound barbell "let's do it in a single shot"

"I don't think that's a good idea" Paloma protested, but Tom had already positioned himself behind the barbell.

Hyukk!

With a grunt, Tom deadlifted the four hundred and fifty pounds of weight, everyone watched on with bated breath, as Tom stood like a statue, time trickled by until he finally put down the barbell.

"how much time?" Tom gasped out, shaking everyone out of their reverie.

"oh" Katie checked the stopwatch in her hand "fourteen seconds"

"perfect" Doc nodded along "your strength levels haven't changed"

"endurance next?" Tom questioned "after a couple minutes?"

"let's just take today a bit slow" Paloma suggested, "go full swing form tomorrow?" the other agreeing, the group of five retired to the mess hall, chatting and joking as they cooked and then ate.

It wasn't long before Tom found himself alone, in his room. The first thing Tom did was check under his mattress for the two bullets.

"Still here" Tom silently cheered, he just had to make sure that he could pass all of Paloma's test. Once he got a clean bill of health, he was out of the base, consequences be damned.

"one week" Tom promised himself "I'm out of here in one week, one way or another" it was after a long time that Tom was able to fall asleep soundly.

Meanwhile, Doc silently enjoyed his bacon and rye sandwich as he observed the live feed from the camera in Tom's room. "you are indeed smart my friend" Doc complemented mentally "but I am smarter" while doc had been operating on Tom, Katie had taken the bullets under Tom's mattress and modified them, they looked the same but were now useless.

"you have nowhere to run"

XXXXXXX

Tom continued to take tests for the next few couple of days, getting his speed, endurance and healing checked, until Isaiah surprised him with some good news. "I think we can start teaching you how to use the neuro computer interface or NCI as I like to call it"

"alright!" Tom subconsciously sat up straighter, any ability that could give him an edge was much appreciated.

"as I explained to you" Isaiah paced around the room. "you have a computer inside your head"

"I remember" Tom affirmed

"Well, the first thing we need to do is turn on that computer" Isaiah explained. "you remember our lessons with the concussive pads? the NCI is the same, you need to use your mind to activate it"

"alright" Tom clapped his hands, adrenaline pumping through him. Tom shut his eyes tightly as he concentrated on activating the NCI; Isaiah, Paloma and Katie watched on with bated breath as... nothing happened.

"how will I know if it's activated?" Tom asked after two minutes of awkward silence.

"open your eyes and you will see" Isaiah explained

"whoa!" Tom nearly fell off his seat. "What's all this?" hovering in front of Tom's sight were various app like icons; Skeleton Key, Eyes In The Back, Loop de Loop, and many more; Tom reached out to one, only to realise that these icons weren't physically present.

"what you are currently seeing, is what would be considered the desktop of the NCI" Isaiah explained. "the first page of the interface"

"cool" Tom looked left and right and then giggled like a little kid, "they follow my sight"

"that's cause they're in your head, you goof!" Katie pinched the bridge of her nose.

"oh right" Tom chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

"Alright now" Isaiah took hold of Tom's attention once again "the next step is detection, firstly hide away the icons, and then look around, do you see anything?" Isaiah, Katie and Paloma continued to stare at Tom as he looked around with a scrunched up expression.

"yeah!" Tom finally replied "I see little green scope like circles everywhere" Tom pointed at the computers, on Isaiah's workstation, Paloma's bag and at Katie, or more specifically, her thigh.

"alright" Isaiah grinned excitedly. "all those little green scopes, they're indicating electronics in your immediate surroundings that you can access or hack"

"seriously?!" Tom shot up "I'm a hacker now?"

"No!" Isaiah cut him off "you're not" he then smirked, seeing Tom's down expression "but you could be"

"stop beating around the bush Isaiah" Paloma rolled her eyes, with Tom and Katie voicing their agreement.

"alright then" Isaiah pinched the bridge of his nose "Tom, all those icons that you saw? Those are all hacking tools, you aren't a hack, but I can teach you to become one, and so much more..." stars shined in Isaiah's eyes "are you in?"

"show me the way Mr. Miyagi" Tom simply smirked

XXXXXXX

Tom crashed onto his bed with a groan; it had been a long week for him. throughout the week, Paloma had been conducting her tests to make sure that Tom's body was completely healed and that Tom wasn't in danger of going into flux again.

On the other hand, Isaiah had been reaming Tom's brain, trying to teach him how to hack. Under Isaiah's guidance, Tom had learnt to break into computers, from PC's to smartphones, sift through their entity to find the required files in under a minute, plant software that will detect the computer's activity in real time, and even take over the complete functions of a computer remotely.

All these new abilities had been greatly useful when Tom had detected the hidden camera behind the vanity mirror.

The first night, Tom had climbed under his covers and panicked about the camera and what all it had seen.

The second night, Tom tried to hack it but to no avail.

It was the third night that Tom had been able to apply Isaiah's lessons and break into the camera's system, choosing to wait to shut it off until the right moment.

The fourth night, Tom had been inspired by Isaiah's morning lessons, choosing to plant a bug that would record the camera's feed in real time.

Now having a two day feed loop that he could set into the camera, Tom realised all he was doing by waiting was delaying the inevitable.

"Tomorrow I escape" Tom told himself, bracing himself up for the fight that was about to come.

Knock! Knock!

"what now?" Tom wondered as he opened his door.

Earlier that day

"We shall do it tomorrow" Doc informed Katie "all the required tests are completed and the results are good, waiting for any more time would simply be giving him more time to plot his escape"

"twelve years you have been working for this" Katie raised her glass of whiskey "and now it's just one step away"

"half of that time was made much more bearable with your undying support my dear" Doc lightly patted Katie's cheek, the military woman had always been the daughter Doc hadn't known. He truly doubted that he could have been able to reach this point without Katie.

"it has been a pleasure to be able to aid you Doctor" Katie sincerely swore as she downed her glass of whiskey "see you tomorrow"

"goodnight my dear" Doc bade her farewell "we have a busy day tomorrow"

Katie exited Doc's office, "this will all be over tomorrow" Katie told herself "everything will come to fruition" and yet for the rest of the day, Katie felt an odd restless feeling, no matter what she did or how she tried to distract herself, the feeling would come back.

"uggh!" Katie groaned, twisting in her bed and then burying her head under the pillow

"FUCK!" Katie threw away her pillow. Katie exited her room, pacing the hallways, trying to get he mind in order. "I knew this was going to happen" Katie told herself, "he was always expendable" and yet a small part of her was still agitated. It was after more than half an hour of aimless wandering that Katie found herself in front of Tom's door.

"fuck it! Here goes nothing" Katie knocked sharply on Tom's door.

"Hey!" Tom looked surprise when he opened his door, rightfully so.

"hey" Katie smiled "can I come in?"

"sure" Tom stepped aside, catching a whiff of peaches as she walked past him. "wassup?"

"couldn't sleep" Katie's shoulders slumped "thought I'd see if you were awake, see if you wanna do something?"

"I'm awake" Tom stood right in front of her "what did you have in mind?"

"nothing special" Katie leaned close "just... something we could do"

"I like the sound of that" Tom's face was just a couple of inches away from Katie's. neither Tom not Katie was sure who kissed who, but what both knew was that in a heartbeat they were both furiously kissing one another.

It was an urgent kiss, the two pulled their bodies close, a small part of them worried that the other person was going to disappear forever. Tom held onto Katie's face as his lips refused to leave hers, Katie in turn put her hands under Tom's shirt, digging her nails into his back.

After what felt like an eternity, the pair broke the kiss, staring hungrily at each other. Without exchanging a word, Tom pulled away his pants as Katie took of her shirt and they both sprawled down onto the floor.

Their lovemaking too was urgent, fast and powerful and full of vigour. These were two people who deeply wanted each other. All plans, agendas, and beliefs washed away as Tom Cassidy and Katie Darby melted into one another.