Flawed (34 page)

Ignoring him, she jerked away from Rein’s touch and squeezed harder. A satisfying shade of blue tinted the doctor’s face. His lips opened and closed like a fish’s. His eyes bulged within their sockets.

Just a twitch of my wrist
, she delighted,
then dead
.

Rein grabbed her wrist, not gently either. “Let him go now, Ellyssa,” he ordered.

Orders
. She scoffed.
None of them are a match for me
.

The words charged through Ellyssa’s head and scurried away before she had a chance to fully comprehend what she’d just thought. The implications. Her grip loosened, and the doctor took in a ragged breath. In an instant, she’d changed into the monster that her father had created. How easily she became his creation. Shocked, Ellyssa’s stoic expression crumpled into horror.

Rein let go of her wrist. “What are you doing?” His voice sounded far away, hollow, like a long tunnel separated them.

“I…” Having no answer, Ellyssa’s words faded. Two opposing forces warred inside her. Rage sizzled defiantly, willing her hand to stay locked around the doctor’s tender flesh. Revulsion at how easily anger took over. She released Dr. Loki.

Sputtering, chest desperately heaving, Dr. Loki tried to claim much-needed air.

Recoiling, Ellyssa backed away until her back pressed against the wall, and she slid her mental wall back into place, cutting off the images from his splintered memories.

Everyone stared at her. Dyllon’s and Trista’s faces were colored the same, bleached white. Neither of them had ever seen her in full soldering mode before. Their eyes held concern as well as incredulity and fear. Even Woody, who had witnessed her soldier side before, stilled, his stormy grey eyes as wide as his mouth.

They were afraid of her. The air oozed with fear.

Rein stood in front of her, blocking out everyone. Concern in his eyes, his hand traveled the length of her arm, over her shoulder, and stopped as he cupped her cheek. “What happened?”

Ellyssa shook her head. “I do not know. His memories were… The things they did…”

“Are inexcusable,” Dr. Loki finished, his voice cracked and harsh. He exhaled a rattling breath.

Ellyssa peered over Rein’s shoulder at the doctor. The blue tint on his face had changed into red blotches. Bruises the shape of her fingers flared angrily on his neck. Even now as she looked at the male she’d almost broken, hatred twisted in her midsection. And shame coated it.

The doctor’s eyes met Ellyssa’s. “Please give me a chance to explain,” he said, painfully grimacing with each word. “I withheld information, but so did you,” he pointed out. He inhaled another noisy breath. “My wall is down. You can look for yourself.”

Afraid her instincts would kick in again, afraid she wouldn’t stop next time, Ellyssa said, “I cannot.”

Rein’s fingers, feather light, traveled back down her arm and he laced their fingers together. “It’s okay.”

“I do not think it is.”

Her voice was robotic-like, monotonous, her old voice. Rein heard it too, a frown dipping his mouth.

“Breathe, Ellyssa.”

She did. Once. Twice. Three times. Cool air rushed into her lungs, settling the tension in her stomach, calming her soldiering side. She expelled the breaths through her nose.

“Better?”

Ellyssa nodded.

“Do you want to…um…scan him?”

Still unsure if she had a grasp, she shook her head.

“Come and sit down.” Rein pulled her arm.

Hesitant, Ellyssa willed her feet to move and let Rein take her back to the table. Woody slid into the seat next to her. Between Rein’s comforting caress as he trailed his thumb along the back of her hand and Woody’s soft touch as he drew little circles at the base of her neck, she felt the creature her father had made withdraw back into the recesses of her being.

Worried, Ellyssa chewed on her bottom lip as Dr. Loki’s breaths evened out. She’d felt anger and hatred before, but nothing like what the doctor had invoked. She feared what she could do, what she could become. She knew the soldiering side of her, the monster, still lurked within her depths, but the way it had sprung forth, unannounced and uninvited, uncontrolled, it terrified her. If push came to shove, she would always do what she needed to do; that was something she’d come to terms with, but she wanted to make the conscious decision to do so.

“I know this is a surprise for all of you, and I’m not even sure where to begin,” Dr. Loki said. His voice was scratchy, and speech was a struggle.

Ellyssa bore responsibility for the male’s condition. Remorse started to take playful nips in her. Guilt bared its gnarly teeth.

“How do you know Leland?” Woody asked.

“That’s a start,” Dr. Loki said. A slight smile curled the left corner of his mouth. “I found Leland.”

“Why?”

“That’s a long story. How this all came to be. But first, I want to tell you how sorry I am, Ellyssa.”

Her head snapped up at Dr. Loki’s words as his teal eyes, flavored with regret, examined her. “Sorry,” she muttered; strands of anger woke, peeking between the layers of remorse and guilt. “Sorry doesn’t even begin to cover what I glimpsed inside you.”

“Did you glimpse everything?”

Ellyssa opened her mouth to respond, but the fact was, she hadn’t. The memories that had spilled from the crack were fragmented, incomplete. Regardless, she had seen enough, the forerunner being Ida’s corpse being fed to the incinerator. Hatred sidled over next to the anger. She took in a deep breath. Control. “I saw enough.”

“No, you didn’t. If you had, you would know.”

Tension knotted Ellyssa’s muscles. Rein’s grasp tightened and Woody’s hand stopped massaging and splayed across the back of her neck as if he could stop her if she decided to rise.

Refusing to lose control, Ellyssa relaxed. She was different now. Not an animal, and definitely not a monster. Her father had failed.

“Then explain yourself,” she muttered between tight lips.

The doctor removed his hand from his throat and placed it on the table. Round, angry bruises from Ellyssa’s fingertips still glowed an accusing red.

“Your father was a genius, his IQ remarkable. As you know, he was a child of The Center, as was I. His physical attributes were…well, more defined than mine. His eyes were more pure, his physique within the acceptable guidelines. He was a remarkable specimen.

“We worked together, trying to perfect the Aryan bloodline. To create a superior being, strong, incredible reflexes, off-the-chart intelligence.” He paused, his eyes moving from one face to the other. “You look at me as if I’m lower than an insect. Perhaps I am,” he shrugged, “but I am nothing more than a product of what I was bred to do, what I was trained to do.” His gaze moved to Ellyssa. “Much like you.”

“Ellyssa’s nothing like you,” Rein seethed. “Nothing. She never killed because someone wasn’t perfect.”

“Neither did I. That is what you failed to see, Ellyssa. I was there, but I didn’t kill her.”

Ellyssa understood. In his attempt to keep his secret hidden, the doctor’s memories, when they bled through, were bits and pieces, as of a shattered vase. At the time, she’d known the doctor’s memories were fragmented, but she had reacted before she’d had a chance to puzzle the pieces together. The death of the female she’d found on the computer before her initial flight and her own detestation for her father had brought forth natural instincts. Fight or flight. One thing Ellyssa would never underestimate was that she’d always fight. Always.

Under regular circumstances, Ellyssa would’ve thought things through. Her dark side had been unleashed before she had a chance, though. That scared her.

Taking a chance, Ellyssa lowered her mental shield, sending the tendrils of her mind to soak up the doctor’s thoughts. As if understanding what she was doing, Dr. Loki sat still, his gaze unwavering. His mind freely opened to her, the recollections unfurled. For a minute or two, she watched. The stirring creature inside Ellyssa fell asleep.

“You were her father?” Ellyssa said, not really a question.

“I loved her.”

“And Leland.”

“Yes.”

“Others?”

Sadness enveloped Dr. Loki’s mind as he looked down. “Yes.” A few seconds passed before he found the courage to meet her eyes again. His throat moved visibly as he swallowed, followed by a grimace. “People change.
You
changed.”

Rein’s head swiveled back and forth between the two of them. “Would one of you like to let us in?” he said, voicing what the others wanted.

“Go ahead,” Ellyssa said, her tone soft, thoughtful, normal. The robot had disappeared. “It’s your story.”

Dr. Loki repositioned himself, straightening his spine before he started. “As I was saying, I worked with Dr. Hirch. Our goal was to unlock the genetic sequence to develop a superior human. We found it, as you can see,” he said with a nod in Ellyssa’s direction.

He studied her for a moment. “As much as I’ve grown to hate your father, I must say his brilliance is awe-inspiring. You are truly beautiful.”

“I fell short. My father had other ideas.”

The doctor nodded. “I understand. The problem with your father was an incredible god-sized ego.

“Anyway, to simplify things,” he said, returning his attention to the rest of his audience, “after we found the correct sequence, we sliced and diced DNA from both of our sperm samples, from other males’, and from different females’ eggs containing the desired qualities, then spliced them together. Amongst our discoveries were several genes that, once enhanced, brought about…special abilities, like Ellyssa’s gift.

“We had hits and misses, Mother Nature’s interferences. Most babies aborted naturally, some died in infancy. Some were born deformed. You understand society’s take on deformities.”

No one said anything. The practice of euthanizing severe imperfections was a practice that had been accepted for decades.

“The female Ellyssa was speaking about, Ida, she was one who I considered, my daughter.” His gaze grew distance as he reflected into his past. “By all accounts, my genetic makeup is not perfect. My eyes, you see. Yet she was the first to overcome all odds. She was extraordinary, strong, beautiful, always laughing. I loved her as a father should. I bought her pretty dresses and dolls.”

The doctor stopped, his eyes moist. Dropping his chin, he wiped away the unshed tears. The group remained quiet, too stunned for speech.

“Average intelligence,” he continued, “which disappointed your father, but she was gifted with the ability to start a fire with nothing more than a thought. Our first to possess such a talent. At first, we didn’t even realize it. Small fires would start from nothing. After a few more mishaps, we realized it was Ida, and a series of tests began.

“Ida hated them. But she was a good daughter and sat through them regardless. What we discovered, though, was she had no control over her gift. It seemed anger triggered the ability, but that wasn’t always the case. One day she killed a nurse by accident. It devastated her. It thrilled Dr. Hirch.

“Against my protest, he locked her up and forced her to use her gift on test subjects while he remained safe behind the lines. Finally, she just curled into a ball and no longer responded to any stimuli. That was when he murdered her. That was when I changed my whole outlook on life.

“The night my daughter died, I fled and hid. I just couldn’t take it. I was weak, I guess. I became a Renegade.” He chuckled a little, humorlessly. “Eventually, I met a contact. Eventually, I gained his trust. Eventually, I ended up here. Since the War, no one had been brought into The Pit to live. The consequences of such actions were too much to risk, but my expertise in the training Dr. Hirch and I developed wasn’t something they could pass up.”

Subconsciously, Dr. Loki brought his hand back to his neck. “I don’t know what brought about the existence of humans from the primordial soup, but I do know this; we were not meant to mess with it. Through evolution, we constantly change, moving toward this broad term called perfection. One day we may reach the ultimate goal; maybe we are closer than we think.”

Woody’s mouth opened. Dr. Loki held up his hand, stopping his unspoken words. “Let me finish. Through the Resistance network, I learned about Leland, who had been created the same as you all were, many years after I had left. I contacted him and you know the rest.”

“He told you about me?” Ellyssa already knew the answer, but asked for the others’ sake.

“Yes. About you and your siblings.”

“They are dead. So is my father,” she said.

“I know.”

“How?”

“Word reached us about The Center being destroyed. Before Leland… died…” Dr. Loki paused for a moment, pain etching a deep line in his forehead. “…he contacted me. I didn’t really think such an undertaking could ever be accomplished. You prevailed, though.”

“And my ability?”

“As I already said, we knew Renegades were coming because of what little information we gathered and the increase in patrols. I didn’t expect you, though. When I first saw you with your group, your physical characteristics, I knew you were the one Leland had told me about. The one who’d escaped. That is why I let you in.”

“Wait,” Woody said, leaning forward. “How did you block her?”

“A technique Leland told me about when I questioned him about you. Dr. Hirch was afraid Ellyssa would discover his true plans. Leland feared she would find out what side he really worked for.” He smiled. “It didn’t work well.”

“My siblings and I were prohibited from using our gifts against any personnel. I had obeyed. As for the wall you created, it was impressive, but there is always a leak.”

His story done, Dr. Loki slouched in his chair, seemingly exhausted from the recounting. Quiet settled over the group huddled around the rectangular table in the underground steel structure. No one moved, no one said anything. Minutes ticked away.

Finally, the doctor spoke. “I want you to understand that we will not help you get your friends back. We can’t.”

“We understand,” Woody said.

“But in the meantime, you are free to roam around the facility. No more guards.” A sad smile appeared. “There are no more secrets between us. When you are ready to go, you can retrieve your weapons and leave.”