Chapter 03

Tom's breathing hardened as he ran; his heart was pounding furiously. Every step felt like his last, and every breadth hurt his lungs, yet Tom continued to run, Tom ran and ran and ran, because that's what anyone would do in his situation; run.

"Woo!" Isaiah cheered as Tom crossed the finish line, letting the inertia drag him a little bit more forward until he finally fell to a stop.

"Two minutes and twelve seconds" Dr. Lorca declared, staring at the stopwatch in her hand.

"Not bad Mr. Cassidy" Doc praised Tom "Not bad at all"

The only thing a panting Tom could do was give the doctor a thumbs up.

"This puts your top speed at twenty seven and a half mile per hour" Isaiah calculated giving Tom a high five. "That is; awesome"

"Indeed" Doc agreed "You are truly extraordinary"

XXXXXXX (a few days ago)

"What do you mean pinnacle of humanity" Tom asked the doctor, hoping this whole ordeal was a nightmare "What exactly did you do?"

"We had to make changes to your body" Doctor Boucher explained. He, Tom and Katie were in the gym of their headquarters "Modify it"

"Modify it how?" Tom asked, still reeling from the news

"We injected a titanium and organic polymer into your bones, your bones are now like titanium, making them much stronger, but the resulting blood formed in the marrow is also enhanced, and in return has enhanced your body" Doctor Boucher explained.

"Enhanced it how?" Tom hadn't stopped reeling from the first reveal as more and more information was being dropped onto him like bath bombs being dropped in a bath tub.

"That… is a good question" Doctor Boucher crossed his arms "I was hoping you and I could find the answer together"

"What do you mean?" Tom felt like the whole world was once again coming into focus "You don't know what happened to me?"

Doctor Bucher looked embarrassed "You must understand that you are the first person to have survived this experiment"

"You mean I could have died?" Tom looked aghast

"You were already dying" Katie gave a stoic glare to Tom "All the doctor did was give you a shot at survival"

Katie's words rang true to Tom, yet the feeling of fear and confusion didn't leave him. Tom stumbled over to a chair and sat down as he tried to make sense of what he had heard.

"I know it's unnerving to find out your body has changed" Doctor Boucher appeared over Tom's shoulder and handed him a glass of water "That in just a day, you don't know your own body, like the world will never be the same again" the Doctor's eyes stared into the distance, as silence filled the room, with Tom and Katie giving him the space he needed.

The doctor swayed abruptly as he came back to the present "I apologize" Doctor Boucher looked embarrassed again "It's unlike me to drift off mid conversation"

"No problem Doc" Tom understood; he stood up and turned to the other man "Just tell me... will there be any side effects"

"That is what we need to find out" Doc grabbed Tom's shoulders "You are the first of your kind in this world. I need your time and cooperation to make sure that there will be no repercussions to the enhancements we've made"

"Time and cooperation…" Tom looked confused and unsure; six feet behind Tom, Katie was silently pointing her gun between his shoulder blades.

Doc gave a glare to Katie without moving, making her put away the gun with a frown.

"Alright" Tom agreed to the Doc, blissfully unaware "I'm here for however long you need me to be"

"Fantastic" doc gave Tom a big smile. "We'll start tomorrow"

Tom did not like the gleam in Doc's eyes

XXXXXXX (present day)

"Top speed twenty seven and a half mile per hour" Katie noted down in the notepad handed to her by Doc.

"Maximum lifting strength is four hundred and twelve pounds" Katie read off the notepad "And basic cut healing time is instantaneous"

"Prothrombin test" Doc reiterated "It's called a prothrombin test"

"Yes" Katie agreed distractedly "That"

"Hey Doc" Tom called out, sitting on the grass "Can we order in Pizza tonight" Tom's words made even Isaiah and Paloma turn to Doc, looking hopeful.

Their work was off the books, and extremely secretive and even their compound was at the edge of a small unknown town; as such Doc and Katie frowned upon letting outsiders into the facility. Even if it was just a pizza delivery guy.

"Alright" Doc agreed with a smile, he was feeling particularly happy and lenient today.

"Alright" Tom, Isaiah, and Paloma high fived each other. The three soon decided to hit the showers, leaving Doc and Katie in the open field behind their facility.

"He is too dangerous" Katie glared at the doctor "His speed, strength, and healing factor…. He could be tens of miles away before we realised that he'd escaped"

"I'll admit the serum has been far more potent than we ever anticipated" Doc sighed "But nothing has changed, he's still under our thumb; no matter his physical capability, Thomas isn't taking a single step out of this facility without our permission"

"I just hope you know what you're doing" Katie gave a resigned look to the doc before she walked away

"You and me both" Doc sighed

"I heard that" Katie shouted without breaking her stride

"Go away"

XXXXXXX

"Ahh!" Tom sighed happily, placing down his can of coke "That was nice" he, Isaiah, Paloma and Katie were sitting around their dinner table that was covered with empty Pizza boxes and soda cans.

Doc did not join them for dinner as he was lactose intolerant, and was pursuing a healthy diet due to his failing health.

"So; Katie" Paloma gave her friend a small smile "You wanna watch a movie tonight? We can finally watch Training Day that you can't stop talking about"

"You haven't watched Training Day?" Tom gave Paloma an affronted look "What were you doing during the double o's?"

"Getting my medical degree" Paloma didn't miss a beat.

"…good point" Tom conceded.

"You wanna join us?" Katie asked, running a hand through her black pixie hair; I should probably get a good understanding of this guy; see if he's going to become a flight risk"

Paloma's lips parted as she started to say something, but no voice came out.

"Um… we were gonna watch the NBA playoffs together today; remember" Isaiah reminded his new friend.

"Oh yeah" Tom agreed.

"The playoffs are tonight?" Katie leaned forward "Fuck; how did I forget that?"

"Join us" Tom offered to Katie "It'll be fun" she turned to Paloma, pleading with her eyes.

"Of course," Paloma gave a big smile to Katie "Go; have fun, we'll catch a movie later"

"You won't be joining us?" Tom asked the Mexican woman "C'mon three's a crowd; four's a party"

"I'm not much of a basketball person" Paloma shook her head

"Please Pal" Katie asked; she was sure that Paloma would notice any behavioural anomaly and report it to Doc.

Paloma and Isaiah believed that their work was legitimate government work, and as such were much easier going than Katie, or even Doc; but they were good at their jobs, and Katie had full faith in Paloma's mind and instincts.

"All right" Paloma couldn't say no to Katie.

"Fantastic" Tom cheered "It's a party"

XXXXXXX

The sun was slowly rising up from the east, people were snoozing their alarms, birds were getting worms, and Isaiah was drinking his morning tea.

"Good morning" Paloma hummed happily as she entered the Mess to grab an apple.

"You're in a good mood" Isaiah peered interestedly over his tea cup.

"And why wouldn't I be?" Paloma tried to play cool.

"Oh, I don't know…" Isaiah leaned onto the table "…probably because, Katie did not get your subtle signs of inviting her to your room, and instead dragged you to see the NBA Playoffs" Isaiah's smile stank of smugness "But that's just my guess"

"Su Puta Madre!" Paloma swore "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes; but only to people who enjoy watching rom coms" Isaiah laughed "Now spill"

"It's true" Paloma admitted "I was pissed with Katie's obliviousness; but dude…" she took a deep breath "That playoff; Katie was leaning against me the whole time, and hugged me when the Warriors won" she gave Isaiah a dazzling smile "I enjoyed last night"

"I can tell" Isaiah was happy for his friend "Where is Katie by the way?"

"At the gym with Tom" Paloma replied airily "They're work out buddies now" she chomped into her apple "I'm really getting a family vibe at this place now"

"Me too" Isaiah happily sipped his tea.

Meanwhile, Tom and Katie were shooting down targets at the gun range.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Bullet after bullet made hole into the paper targets, as the man and woman fired away continuously. "What's your weapon of choice?" Katie asked Tom when they took a break; anyone could tell that he knew his way around a gun.

"Sig Sauer GSR" Tom answered, he was full of admiration towards Katie's aim, all her shots had been on point. "and you?"

"Yarygin Parabellum"

"Commie!"

"Redneck!"

The two stopped talking as they put on their ear muffs and went back to shooting paper targets; taking a break after the second round. "If you could get me a hand press, I could reuse these bullets" Tom told Katie "Save your bosses some money"

"You can press 9 mm rounds?" Katie was startled, ninety person of gun enthusiasts didn't care much for pressing their own bullets, happy to buy from the store.

"It was my first job" Tom revealed "When I turned eighteen"

"Where?"

"A few miles off Jacksonville"

"You didn't like it?"

"It was good, simple mindless work, paid for by booze, food and gas for my car slash home" Tom stared off into the distance "It was simple living, no debt, no big plans; just work and chilling"

"Why'd you quit?" Tom Cassidy did not have any presence in the cyberspace except for one misdemeanour when he was a kid, he was an enigma.

"To find my calling" Tom scratched his neck "Sold my car, brought a bike, travelled across America, and then I got into the accident near Bakersfield while going to L.A."

"So, you came all the way from the east coast to here?" Katie raised an eyebrow "And still didn't find your 'Calling'?"

Tom just shrugged and the two went back to shooting targets with a smile on their face.

"He's running away from something" Katie was glad to know that Tom wouldn't be looking to leave anytime soon, people on the run wouldn't easily leave a place where they thought they were safe.

Tom was smiling because he now knew that they were still in California.