Alex – Heart Of The Vanguard

I awoke early the next morning with the sudden realisation that I hadn't peed at all yesterday and the current reminder of such, I had awoken in the same position we had fallen asleep in, wrapped in Sam's arms. My mind still arguing with itself... Yes it was nice, but it was also wrong.

'Where was I? Oh yeah, I need a piss!' as my bladder seemed to pulse, almost painfully. I managed to wriggle my way out of Sam's arms without waking him somehow, pulled myself out of the pit bed and headed for the shower. I couldn't see anywhere better to take my leak, the whole floor in this room seemed to be a drain, so I took it below the shower head so it could at least be washed away. I did my business, what a weird sensation it was to have to squat like that and turned on the shower to wash it away. But as I left the room something interesting happened, the whole bathroom floor came alive, it rotated like the rollers of a paper shredder and water spouted up an inch all over for a couple of seconds then settled again... A self cleaning system.

Me: "Huh?..." My mouth was partially dropped in awe from never seeing anything like that, simple but different. I headed back to the bed room and slinked back down into bed and had barely got comfy next to Sam when I had "WAKE UP" flash up at the back of my eyes.

Me: "Argh!" I said jumping back up, Sam had also partially sat up, screwing his face up and shaking his head.

Sam: "Grrr... Even in our sleep we can see that?" he asked rhetorically, then another message appeared "HEAD FOR TRANSITION TUNNEL"

Me: "For fuck sake!" I shouted, holding my head.

Sam: "I gets no less disorientating eh?" holding his head as well. The pipe door out in the main room opened, catching my attention.

Me: "*Sigh* Guess we had better get going." I said reluctantly.

I headed over and into the pipe as Sam pulled himself out of the bed. I had barely gotten all the way in when there was a clunk noise and a restriction appeared around my torso.

Me: "Argh!, what the fuck?!" I said, pulling back out of the pipe and falling onto my back. Looking down there was some sort of band around my chest, I tugged at it, trying to remove it but it wasn't budging. Sam leant down beside me and pulled as well, still wasn't moving.

Sam: "Hold on..." he said, rolling me over partially, "...Yeah, I don't think they want us flying." I looked over my shoulder to see that indeed the clamp was specifically shaped to hold my wings down in place.

Me: "Great, another thing we've got to deal with when trying to escape." I said sarcastically.

Sam got up and headed for the tunnel and hesitated at the entrance before heading in and I watched intently. Sure enough 2 mechanical arms extended from the walls and threw clamps around his torso as well.

Sam: "Argh!" I heard him say as well, he looked back at me with a huff and looked as happy about it as I felt. Restraints in place we proceeded along the tunnel, which turned 90 degrees right and then up a small slope, presumably over the top of the cells. We followed the route, this time marked by flashing yellow arrows, merged tunnels with other Dragons, who also wore the same restraint, to the dinner hall we were in yesterday for breakfast, which predominantly was a full English, just again, everything was smaller portions compared to the vast quantities of meat. We ate in silence mostly due to anxiousness of what the day holds in store for us.

We soon found out, we were ordered out of the hall once we had finished eating and adter the buzzer, back into the tunnels, down a different lit route and into a very, very, wide room with 20 well armed guards on the floor level with us all standing in front of probably 100 doorways. I hadn't actually counted how many of us Dragons were in this 'Delta' squad, but it must have been around 50, the thought went through my mind of getting others involved in the escape plan, over power this facility in shear numbers rather than a discreet exit, but it could present potential security leaks to our plans, maybe they had moles planted or maybe not everyone would agree.

"Alright Delta, you will each take a passage here..." The guard come trainer in the center of the room said, gesturing behind him "...to begin solo endurance and tactics training".

Sam and I turned to each other and I spoke quietly,

Me: "Keep an eye out for any escape routes, or anything we can use, just look for today, we'll report back to each other later." Sam nodded.

"Delta, proceed forward". We all moved towards the doors, I picked the one closest and stepped in and the door slammed down behind me, leaving me in a pitch black room, but not for long, the lights cascaded on towards me in rapid succession revealing a very long empty room ahead of me. A monitor on the wall to my right snapped on with a head and shoulders of a scientist being the focus of the screen. 

"Greetings Delta member..." It was Dr Skiff, "... Welcome to the start of your retaining. I must warn you any failures will result in retesting or disciplinary proceedings. Before you lies the first of your training, A beep test..."

Me: "Really? A beep test?! fuck me..." I questioned the screen, which obviously just continued on,

"... we have scaled this up slightly to match our minimum requirement and your increased abilities vs that of the standards required of a Human. You are already standing on the start line, 30 meters ahead there is a line. After tyge initial countdown you must reach it before the beep sounds. You will have 3 second countdown and on the 4th beep you may start." I sighed at the stupidity of this test, beep tests were easy, even if they have extended the distance... the first beep sounded and I readied up. 2nd beep, 3rd beep and the 4th longer, higher toned beep sounded and I cantered up to the line and made it easily with 5 or 6 seconds to spare before the beep, and I cantered back, again arriving at the start time with time to spare, this carried on for a couple of minutes. I made it once again to the start line one last time and Dr Skiff's recording announced,

Skiff: "Well done, you have completed this test."

Me: "Well it wasn't exactly difficult, I'm not even panting, why not change it up a little bit?" and as if answering his request, the walls moved outwards at staggered intervals at 90 degree angles, creating no clear line of sight to the finish line.

Skiff: "You will now complete the same test again, only now you will need to slalom to reach the end line within the same time limit." The beeps counted down again and I jogged off again, darting this way and that... the slalom hadn't really slowed me down though, I still made it to the next line each time with 4-5 seconds to spare.

These tests carried on for a while, each time I pass, the course would get harder, next involved jumping over walls which appeared from the floor as well as the slalom, then ducking and jumping, then the replaced the upper and lower walls with electrified fencing. Each new item added cost me about half a second each time so I was still completing them on time, even if I was was starting to pant a bit more now. Then came the next level, all of the above but Dr Skiff's recording added the new feature,

Skiff: "...now you must contend with paint ball guns, be warned any hits will minus a second off each run". I was actually getting a bit nervous with this one, the beeps signalled my start and I bounded through, after the first few meters a hatch opened in the wall and an automated century turret tracked my movement and fired several rounds. I managed to dodge them all, paint splattered the wall on the other side of me. A few meters down a turret popped out of the opposite wall and tried aiming for me again, again, all rounds missed. I made it to the end of this course with out taking a single round, then proceeded to run course back and forth on each beep again.

Me: "Yes!" I said triumphantly as Dr Skiff announced that I had passed again. A whir came from behind and I turned to look but before I saw what it was, there was a *SNAP* and pain struck me in the neck, I turned to see a turret folding back into the wall I wiped a hand over the spot where the humming pain originated from and looked at it as I pulled it away. Florescent orange paint ran down my fingers toward my palm.

Skiff: "Let this be a lesson Delta Member, just because you have completed your objective doesn't mean you can let you guard down, you are a valuable asset to us and we need you to return from missions alive."

I flicked and wiped as much paint off as I could in annoyance as all the obstacle's in the course reset to their original positions.

Skiff: "Proceed to the other end of the room where we will continue on to the next series of tests." I walked down the 40 or so meters to the opposite wall where there was indeed a door which opened as I approached and I was intrigued by what I saw on the other side. it was an outside army style assault course, but inside... there was mud, grass and dirt, the course itself had netting, walls to climb, large water crossings, rope swings, the lot. Another monitor near the door started talking, again with Dr Skiff introducing the rules for this section. 

Skiff: "This one is simple, a good time for a fit and able soldier to complete this course is 2 minutes 35 seconds. You will be required to complete it in 2 minutes flat to proceed. Please start on the 4th beep." I lined up at the start as the beeps counted me in, I ran, slid, crawled, jumped, rolled, anyway I could to get the end of the course. When I was human, I had an 'exercise just seems like too much effort' kind of attitude, I certainly wasn't overweight, but I wasn't fit and healthy either, but I actually found myself enjoying the speed, agility and flexibility this body possessed. I reached the finish line, mud and water dripping from me as I looked up at the the monitor to see 1:57.26 flashing...

'Jeesh... I only just made it though, some of the others must have struggled surely... I wonder how Sam is doing'

Skiff: "Well done Delta member, proceed to next area." The Dr ordered.

I walked through the door at the end of the room, again intrigued as I entered the next room at the vast difference this new scenario in front of me. It looked like a pedestrianised city street at dusk, with tall and varied shop fronts and buildings lining either side. There was no monitor this time, only Dr Skiff's voice on a loud speaker,

Skiff: "The purpose of this test is for us to analyse your tactical analysis of a situation to achieve your goal, which in this case, a building dead centre of the bottom of this street, 200 meters away, has a pole with a bell on top of it of the roof. Ring this bell without being eliminated from the scenario, elimination is achieved by anything that would cause death in a real world scenario. Once eliminated scenario must be reset by you returning to the start line. Good luck, proceed when ready." I stood motionless,

'What the fuck?' it was just an empty street, there was nothing of any danger here... I could see the building in question up ahead, my eyes focused in, the bell in clear view atop the pole, atop the building... I could see it as if it was only 20 meters away, not the 200 meters it probably was, 'wow my eyes are good'. I took just 2 steps forward, *SNAP*,

Me: "ARGH!" I backed up, holding my neck just below my jaw line and pulled my hand away, another fucking paintball, but where did it come from?

Skiff: "Scenario failed, reset." Dr Skiff's voice announced.

I sighed and took the 2 steps back to the start line and looked around. The room was about 10 or 12 meters wide, with the shop fronts and fake buildings it meant the street was narrowed down to about 5 meters, not a lot of room to manoeuvre in retrospect. I walked to one side and tried to slide along the shop fronts, got half way down the first shop then - *SNAP*

Skiff: "Scenario Failed, reset."

I growled as I massaged my shoulder and returned back to the start line. I looked around, there was an 'Alley Way' to my right, or an entrance to a fake one anyway at least, with some wheelie bins right at the edge I walked over to one, grabbed the handle and started to pull it out, but the was a beeping sound, I looked behind the bin and there was black box, I looked at it curiously as it beeped, but suddenly the beeping stop and was a loud pop. Suddenly everything in the alley was orange... including me... I blinked and spat a mouthful of the horrible tasting paint out out of mouth,

Skiff: "Scenario failed, reset."

Me: "Bleurgh..." I said protesting, spitting more paint out, I had tasted paint ball paint before, it's not poisonous at all, I knew that, but doesn't mean it tastes nice, far from it in fact. I didn't care about their rules, I dragged the bin back to the start with me, wiping the worst of the paint away from my eyes. I ripped the lid off the bin and threw up in the air down the street, *SNAP*, thankfully it wasn't me that got hit this time, it was the bin lid and best of all, I now knew where this mysterious paint balling sniper was located from the puff of CO2 gas emitted from the barrel as it fired. On the the first floor of my target building there was a window barely open and I could just about see the end of a barrel pointing in my direction, impressive range for a paintball gun.

Me: "Fuckers..." I maneuvered the bin around in front of me and started pushing forward, *SNAP*, thankfully the round hit the bin, not me.

Skiff: "Scenario failed, reset."

Me: "Oh come on! It didn't touch me!" I kicked the bin over, I was pissed, but I knew why that failed... quite simply, ANY normal gun would blow straight through that bin into me... but it was worth a try. I was about to head back when a thought crossed my mind... Why should I have to listen to their rules? I get shot, I go back to the start... But these are only paintballs, this isn't real world... I turned back and started walking up the street. *SNAP*

Skiff: "Scenario failed, reset." one round caught me in the shoulder but I hissed and kept walking. *SNAP*,

Skiff: "Scenario failed, reset." that one hit my forearm, I grabbed the bin lid that I threw earlier and held it in front of me like a shield, hopping along on 3 legs. *POP* another box detonated in a flower stool to my left, covering my whole left side but I kept moving.

Skiff: "Scenario failed, reset.", *SNAP*

Skiff: "Scenario failed, reset." I was now more or less bounding toward the building at a great speed for 3 legs, still holding the lid out in front of me *SNAP*

Skiff: "Scenario failed, reset."

Me: "Argh!", That one hit my index finger of the hand I was using to run on, but I kept going.

"RESET" flashed up at the back of my eyes, causing me to lose my bearings and stumble slightly.

"D24, you are breaking the rules of this test, further defiance will serves as grounds for disciplinary action." a male voice said over the loud speaker. I ignored and kept going *SNAP SNAP SNAP* The rate of rounds hitting my 'shield' increased but I kept going, until there was a pop, followed by a wind whipping sound and I was tripped as my legs stopped working and skidded along the ground on my front and jaw. I growled at the pain, looking down at my legs, seeing that they had been tied. *SNAP SNAP* again I growled through the pain as the rounds hit the top of my unprotected head as I laid on the floor, I swiped at the ropes with my free hand I had that was carrying my shield, slicing them with my claws, grabbed he lid again and continued to bound onward.

'STOP' flashed in my eyes, again causing me to stumble, but I ignored it and carried on, I was only about 20 metres away from the building when I heard a gun shot, a proper gun shot, although what impaled me was not a bullet, it was sharp... And immediately tasered me, I fell to the floor in spasming pain, too tensed to move. After what seemed like an eternity the taser ceased it's function and I could relax my cramped body, gasping for breath. I looked down at where I felt the round hit me, a small black cartridge jutted out of my left thigh. I grabbed it and pulled, ripping it out the barbed probes from my leg with another growl of pain and tossing it away and I dropped my head back to the floor, amazed that nothing was shooting at me.

"D24, stay down and wait for escort." I ignored them again, pulled my self slowly up, still twitching and in pain from the taser.

"D24, stand down..." I was now fully stood...

"...D24, final warning, stand down." I took 2 steps, there was another gunshot, something impacted my left flank, though didn't shock my like the last one, I turned, pulled it out and looked at it, it was a tranquilliser dart, I felt wobbly,

Me: "Mother fu..." My eyes rolled back in my head and I felt myself fall back toward the ground.

__________

I woke up to a clunking sound, 

"D-two four secured and ready for transport." a voice nearby said.

It was dark so I felt around. I'm in that bloody hexagonal pod again...

Me: "Let me out!" I banged against the walls,

"Jeesh! Hows it awake already?!"

"This one's a freak, she don't stay asleep long when drugged, that's why I told you to pull your finger out and get her in there!" another voice replied. I growled in frustration of being trapped again and slumped to the side of the container, hocking up and spitting some paint that I could taste at the back of my throat... Only thing was, it wasn't just paint I spat out... A small patch of fire now sat on the opposite wall, illuminating my cage, I stared at it wide eyed in shock.

Me: "Okaaay..." I said, noting even a small bit of fear in my own voice as I watched the flame die out. 'So I can breath fire as well...' I heard the whirring of machinery, a clack, then my pod moved for a short while before coming to a stop.

I sat there for I don't know how long, a couple of hours, maybe? I had experimented a bit more with my fire spitting, at the safety of sitting at one end of the pod and spitting down the opposite end away from me, turns out it's not hocking up that does it but very similar muscles in my throat by the feel of it. I decided after a short while that even from one end to the other, probably wasn't best for me to keep trying set fire to my confined space that I had no escape from. I pretty much sat there after twiddling my thumbs for a while, even had a nap for a while as well, but was rudely awoken by the machinery moving my pod again.

I travelled along for about 5 minutes then stopped, lowered and again the floor clicked beneath me like yesterday, just like yesterday I stepped up to the edges and allowed the doors underneath to open and I gracefully slinked out into a sitting position, much like an attentive cat would, in the glass cell I had been in yesterday, curling my tail around in front of me. I watched the pod retreat through the roof above me, the doors closing seamlessly around it, allowing no chance to escape. With the doors closed I focussed my attention back forwards, the male scientist that was with Dr Skiff yesterday was the only one present in the room. He tapped a few buttons on his keyboard and there was that strange click in my head again, causing me to wince slightly. He spun around and shuffled in his chair towards the glass and I intently watched him, noticing 'Dr. J Paul' on his badge.

Paul: "Heeyyy, there she is, D-two four... a bit of a mess there aren't you?" I looked down at myself, I was still covered in dried mud and orange paint, I merely shrugged my shoulders at him. He sighed before continuing on,

Paul: "Have you had any memories come back yet? the explosion? or before that? or anything?"

'Ahh... so we're still on about that, you're not taking my memories away from me...' I shook my head in reply.

Paul: "Then what happened out there? You know we're trying to help you right?"

Me: "Are you?, Being shot at by paintballs with no eye protection, restrained, tasered and drugged is not what I would class as help. Besides, I was doing as instructed, I was nearly at my objective." I replied, trying to keep my cool, he sighed again.

Paul: "Mostly because you didn't follow our requests-"

Me: "Orders." I interjected, correcting him.

Paul: "... BUT... The idea was to try and treat that scenario with as much realism as possible, Ie. if you get shot, you die, break your neck, you die, get caught in a road side bomb, you die. This is your opportunity to get it wrong, learn from mistakes and know what to look for when it comes to the real thing yeah? Look, Alex, neither of us really want to be here ok, let's agree on that." My eyes snapped hard focus on him, the look of shock and fear on his face at his moment of realisation of his monumental fuck up of using my real name, was absolutely priceless, he shifted uneasily in his chair.

Me: "Where's Dr Skiff?" I asked trying to distract him, trying to hide my smug smile of him admitting my real name.

Paul: "She's,... she's currently unavailable, as her assistant and having had dealings with you I was asked to deal with your disciplinary, however, given the circumstances, how about we forget about today, start anew tomorrow?"

'Yeah... you know you fucked up there eh?' I thought to myself,

Me: "Sounds good to me". He nodded,

Paul: "Ok, proceed into the tunnel and join you friends..." he said rolling back to the computer "...oh and D-two four, this still counts as your first warning, if you cause more trouble, things will escalate beyond my control, and others won't be as lenient as I am, is that understood?" I nodded back, he tapped some controls, *Click* I winced again, 'It's definitely something he's doing... but what?'

Me: "What is it you keep doing in my head when you touch your keyboard?"

Paul: "Into the tunnel." he said waving to the tunnel behind me with as smile.

Me: "That doesn't answer my question." but he didn't answer, just somewhat smiled at me with his arms folded, so I turned and got into the tunnel, although it wasn't a tunnel, it was another pod, before I could turn back around the door at the end slammed shut and machine whirring started.

Me: "Fuck sake... enough of these already!" I only travelled for a minute or so before there was a clack as the pod docked and the door opened I stepped up to the door of the bright room, it was the dinning hall and all of the other dragons were there, munching away on on their dinner. A few of them had a small orange stain here and there, marks on their scales, denoting impacts or wire fence shocks, but for the most part were clean.

A few of them turned to look at me as I stepped out of the pod and started laughing at my apparent messy state. I saw Sam who had turned to see what the laughter was at and his jaw dropped, I strode down between the tables ignoring them as best as I could and stood next to Sam. Jaw still dropped I could see his partially chewed food sat at the bottom of his mouth. I pushed up his jaw for him.

Me: "I don't want to see that, thanks..."

Sam: "What the fuck happened to you?" he finally spoke.

Me: "My challenge, was to recreate a painting of Jackson Pollock, but on myself."

Sam: "Really?" he asked confused,

Me: "No, I was stubborn and I paid the price for it."

Sam: "Why didn't you use the shower at the end?"

Me: "You completed it?!" I asked disappointed.

Sam: "No, turns out there's a time limit, I never made it, I asked around a few of the others here while I was waiting for you, I don't think anyone did... but anyway, what happened to you, where have you been? I was actually starting to get worried." I ignored him for a moment while I went to sit down on the seat next to him. 'D24' displayed on the screen in front of, there was a clonk but then a faint buzzer sounded and no food appeared, I looked back down to the screen, a message scrolled across which read "D24 - Ration denied under disciplinary actions." I slumped slightly, Sam looked from my screen back to his tray. Rage built up inside me, I shot up and headed for the tunnel system thumping the door as I got there because it took too long to open and headed for my cell.

Back at our cell, before the doors allowed me access, I heard the same clonk as this morning, the arms grabbed and separated the band around my chest, leaving a nice stencilled clean patch, free from mud and paint. I headed straight for the shower, stretching my aching wings out as I went to wash all of the crap off of me. Once I was done I shook myself like a dog to get the worst of the water off and sat by the window and gazed out. I was only there for a few minutes before Sam entered the cell.

Sam: "Hey." although he didn't sound right, sounding almost slightly muffled, but I wasn't going to ask, I wasn't in the mood.

Me: "Hey." I replied glumly back. He sat next to me and pulled something from his mouth. I looked over to see what he was doing, to see he had a steak in his hand,

Sam: "Sorry, it's not a whole meal... and sorry for the saliva..." he offered it to me, I grimaced ever so slightly, it was disgusting... but I was famished after today...

Me: "Fuck it..." I said to myself as I took the mildly warm steak from his hand, but before I took a bite made sure I showed him my gratitude "...you didn't have to, but thank you." I started chomping into it and he smiled.

After I had finished Sam again asked what happened to me, so I recited my day to him, Sam looking rather shocked that I ignored their rules, what happened after my warnings and the conversation in the glass cell, yet he had remained quiet the whole time and just listened.

Me: "So what happened to you?" I asked.

Sam: "Oh, nothing as exciting as that." returning his gaze to back out the window.

Me: "What's wrooonggg?" I asked worried at his day dreamy state.

Sam: "*Sigh* Being on my own today, brought back some memories, I think"

Me: " 'You think'?"

Sam: "Well, it's more memories of feelings, if that makes sense?"

Me: "Kind of? but what feelings?"

Sam: "Loneliness, terrified that something is lurking around every corner for you... I know, weird, right?"

Me: "Well, not really, that's exactly what today was." I reassured him, but he shook his head,

Sam: "No, you don't get it, I've been scared, something in my past has scared me beyond belief to the point that everyday I would have been scared who or what was around the next corner, today just reminded me of something I should be afraid of, but I have no idea what... Alex... I'm not sure I want my memory back." I frowned at him and pulled him in for a one armed hug as we both stared out of the window.

(-Subrot & Drago)