The Bionic Unit

The Bionic Unit



By Termaine Jenkins




Chapter 1
The Bi-uT





Tyronte




Okay, this is what happened. It was Saturday night and my moms was telling me I needed to get up early the next morning and get milk for me and my little sister. It’s not unusual that I wasn’t about to get up before the sun did, so I told mom I’d rather go right then. I don't know what time it is right now, but that night it was around eleven. So I was walking home from the corner store late that night and I hear some bushes ruffle behind me. I turned around looking for a loose mutt that I used to run from a lot when we first came to America. But there were these men in black uniforms like the special police units they have here when the local police can’t handle a mob or say a crazed man with a bomb. They all had on these strange gadgets and little guns that look like the the pouching tranquilizer guns back home. I didn’t bother to count them, I tried to turn around and run away from them but I didn’t get two feet before I felt something sharp sting me in the back. I was out cold in seconds.
Back home this sort of thing happened a lot. Usually, if they were robbers, they’d want your money and not you. Or sometimes, kids my age or younger would get kidnapped and sold to some part of the country where there’s still slavery. Some people to this day don’t know that there is still slavery going on in the world.
So now I wake up and thank God that I'm not dead. I feel so messed up at first, like I'm full of morphine. I guess my logical side or whatever is telling me this is a joke. Like that Punk'd show I watch on MTV. But at the same time, my sensible side is telling me that even popular American shows like Punk’d don’t have a license to be shootin people in the back with darts. I’m sure it’s against one or more of the laws here in the United States. I can hardly spit on the sidewalk without violating a state statute of some sort.
I'm sitting in a bathroom-sized room with padded walls, floors, and ceiling. There is no door that I can see.
Where am I?
My first instinct was to look for an opening or any way I could get out.
I'm sit still for a minuet and I feel air movement. There was an air-vent! It’s was probably behind the wall and ceiling padding.
I started to get up but sat back down as soon as I see a tiny camera was watching me from the far corner of the room. I try not to look at it, so that I didn't let whoever was watching know that I knew they were watching me. So I got an Idea. I took a pack of gum from my pocket and started to chew. I’d gotten it from the store before I got kidnapped. As I did I saw something in all the creases of the floor padding. There was a tiny logo in the cracks that said “AUGMA INC ”.
Now I may be from a poor country, but I think everyone knows an Augma logo when they see one. Augma is like a super multi-billion dollar corporation, and it‘s owned by a very smart and rich man. It’s supposed to be a company devoted to the correction of the human body. Revolutionary eye laser surgery, false limbs, plastic surgery, hearing restoration, and even bionic organs has made this huge corporation a fortune that is said to be estimated to be worth billions of dollars. But I also see their logo on a lot of the new sidearm being produced for the police. The company has even established a branch within the government to work hand in hand with the military to develop new armor and protection equipment for the soldiers. Heck I heard they even designed NFL cleats that they say feel like you’re running on soft rubber when you wear them.
But what would they want with me? This is starting to get way too confusing.
So I get up as if I’m lost and confused. Which I am. And I take the gum from my mouth and stick it to the camera’s lens. Now all I have to do is find the vent; if there is one, then find a way to break into it. Maybe easier said than done.
I run around the room till I feel where the air is strongest. Bingo! It’s in the wall in the opposite corner of the room from the camera. It was hidden behind a wall pad. I checked my pocket and found that they hadn't taken my pocket knife. After I sliced the padding up real good, I saw the vent.
Two loose screws…Hah!
I unscrewed the vent with my fingernails. At first the vent looked big enough to get into comfortably. But as I squeezed in I knew I’d have to back out if hit a dead end because it was way too small to turn around in. The duct was dark and cold. I crawled till I saw light coming from another opening. I do feel kinda proud of myself for getting myself out of that room back there. I crawled up close to the new light and took a peek. There were other kids! Five of them all around my age! And I was starting to getting worried that I was alone. But this was also bad news because that means that this wasn’t a joke. This was serious!
I can see two girls and three boys. They looked confused and worried. The place they were in was different from the place I was in because theirs looked like a prison cell with thick bars. Mine looked like a loony bin.
One of the boys that had braids was trying to pick the lock on the door. The boy with small dreads pointed backwards sat in a corner to himself. He had been the one talking. There was another boy that was bigger than the other two, he was pacing impatiently waiting for the boy with the braids to pick the lock. Two girls sat next to each other on the other side of the room. One was Light-skinned with very long black hair. She looked like a model. The other girl is pretty too, but I can't really tell what race she is. She's slightly darker than the other girl. I think she's Asian. And fine.
"Man it's like this," The boy with the dreads said. "I had to go outside to take out the trash right, and these dudes hopped out a black van and grabbed me. They had to be bout like twenty deep!"
"I thought you said there were five of them!" The light skinned girl said.
“Pss!” I went.
Everyone’s heads jerked up from their places. The room froze.
“Who was that?” Everyone was whispering.
“Over here.” I went. “In the air vent.”
Everyone started to move toward the vent. The biggest boy who had been pacing was first.
“Hey man, they kidnapped you too?!” He asked. “Yo I'm Chris. Can you open that vent real quick?”
“No no! The Camera! ” I said quickly. “Act like I’m not here! Sit down like you don’t see me!”
The boy with the braids turned to find the camera. Everyone else kinda eased away except for the Asian girl. She decided to get frantic and she ran up to the vent and started banging on it acting like a fool.
“Please help me!” She said. “I need to get out! I’m rich, I’ll pay you whatever you want! Please!-”
The boy with dreads went up to her and just back-handed the girl on the side of her face. She fell to the floor and screamed.
“Bitch didn’t he say si-down?!” He said. “Hey, do ya thang man and get the vent off."
“Hey,” Chris says. “You ain’t have to do dat.”
“She was gonna get us caught!” the short guy said.
“We already caught you git!”
“Nobody move!” It was the boy with the braids.
He took a piece of gum from his mouth and threw it perfectly and nailed the camera’s lens. Back home only the kids that practiced hunting with spears could aim like that.
“Whoa” I said. “Umm, while I work on this tell me your names or somethin, that way we stay calm.” At fist they looked at me like I was lame, but they ain't had a better idea so at least they did it.
“U’m Jamal Wilds, got it?” Said the short boy with dreads.
“I’m Kalyn… And I’m really fast.” The lightskinned girl said.
"Nobody cares how fast you is." Jamal said.
Kalyn gave him a hard look. "Hey Kalyn don't even trip," Chris said. "He's just mad cause he's short!"
Kalyn turned to the Asian girl. "Hi, what did you say your name was?" Kalyn asked with a cheerful smile. How could she do that? I wonder.
"I didn't." She replied.
"Well say it now you bimbo!" Jamal snapped.
Then everybody scolded Jamal. When it got quiet again, the girl spoke on a low tone.
“…Angelina.” The Asian girl said. “I just want to go home…”
"How bout you?" Chris asked me.
"Tyronte Tarun." I go.
“Now that’s Ghetto!” Jamal said.
“Look who's talkin! Jamal Wilds? Come on man! I bet yo real name's Jermaine!” Chris said.
Kalyn got up and came over to the vent as if she could see me through it. She tilted her head and said, "You're from Africa aren't you?"
"How'd you know?" I asked as if I really didn't know. She grinned as if it were some huge secret.
"You still got a little accent." She said. "How long have you been in America?"
“Two years.” I tell her.
"Wow," Chris went. "It's hard to notice you even have an accent. You talk just like us."
"What part of Africa are you from?" Kalyn asks.
"Hey!" Jamal went. "What ya'll think this is, the damn love connection? Can't ya'll wait till we get out?"
"Hey aren't you gonna say something?" Chris says to the kid with the braids.
“I don’t care what your names are.”
The boy with the braids said. “…But,I don't want you all calling me anything stupid so I’m Ken, and while you and Chris work on the vent I’ll try to finish the lock. What ever gives first is where we’ll…” Ken froze just then. Everyone’s eyes got big.
“What’s wrong?” Jamal asked.
“They’re coming!” He whispered loudly.
“Who?” Chris asked. Nobody answered because nobody knew.
I backed away from the vent and everyone acted normal. Scared. I peeked through the vent. Four men came and unlocked the cell doors. Two of them were wearing somthing like the people who kiddnapped me, only these guys were wearing uniforms that said "Augma S.T.G."
I can't think of the first two letters but I think the G stands for guard because they were holding guns.
My teacher in the tenth grade told me one time that Augma had been authorized to have it's own security people. The the man in the white lab coat looked like a scientist, and the other one was dressed in what looked like a very expensive Italian suit looked like an executive.
“Hey you,” Jamal went. “Why you brought us here?”
The scientist ignored him and stepped forward. He looked at a clipboard he was holding.
“Let's see here, um... 1147, 1141, 1140, and 1146 are top priority." He said. and then pointed at Angelina.
"We’ll take 1146 first.” He said. “And… The other girl too. 1145. Then we'll send for 1141.”
"Which one is that again sir?" One of the guards asked.
"That would be Tarun." He answered.
Ah shit! There gonna find out I'm not in the room. I don't know what I'm gonna do but I sure as hell ain't going back.
“Hey what’s with the damn numbers?” Jamal asked.
The other kids gasped when the Gaurds raised their guns, and then fired. Angelina screamed as a small dart hit her neck. The other girl Kalyn had dodged the dart with very impressive quickness. Everyone was relieved that they weren’t real bullets. Angelina pulled the dart from her neck and started to run but then she just dropped to the ground when the sedative kicked in. The Guards pointed their guns at Kalyn. She looked as scared as I don't know what but she poised to run.
They fire again and Kalyn dogged both darts. The Augma staff were shocked at how evasive she was. The executive looked impressed and delighted. The scientist also was impressed but seemed impatient. All the other kids were silently hoping the guards and the scientist would just leave her alone.
Kalyn looked really scared.
“Impressive.” The executive guy said. said. “Lets see how long she'll last. Wear her down.”
Now the guards took turns firing. The guards made bets on who would hit the girl first. One fired and Kalyn dodged. Then the other fired but Kalyn dodged again. The guards were keeping Kalyn moving constantly till she was eventually gonna get tired.
I looked and noticed Ken make eye contact with Chris and Jamal. They were planning something. Ken knew what he was doing alright. He was going to wait till the troops ran out of bullets.
About thirty seconds later Kalyn was showing fatigue. Ken slowly braced himself. Kalyn was breathing very hard and just barely avoiding the darts. Kalyn collapsed with exhaustion. The guards aimed and pulled the triggers. The guns clicked but they were empty. Yes! This was what Ken was waiting for. He darted forward and hit the closest guard awkwardly in the throat. The guard coughed and hit the floor.
Jamal and Chris rushed the other guard and double-teamed him. The next threat was the puny nerd scientist. But then he turned and ran cuz he knew that even that fast girl could take him if she weren't exauhsted.
The executive guy reached into his pocket for something. A piece of paper fell from his pocket as he pulled out a stun gun! Ken didn't look like he was scared or anything but froze. The Executive made eye contact and smirked.
“Don’t move!” Ken told Chris and Jamal.
The guard they were jumpimg got up and punched Chris in the stomach. A total cheap shot. The guard grabbed both Angelina and the other guard on the ground and left the room. The executive followed after he closed the door back. Right before he left he said,“We’ll be back for you. And you 1147.” He was looking directly at Ken and Kalyn. Then he was gone.
“Why were they calling us numbers?” Jamal asked. “What’s 1147?”
“I guess I am.” Ken said.
“Chris, you alright?” I asked. Chris jerked up like he had forgotten I was there.
“Yeah u’m strait.” He answered back. “That dude hits like a girl. Thanks, hey you remembered my name!”
“I’m done.” I say as I'm pulling out the last screw! Ken finished the same time I do.
“I’m finished.” Ken goes.
“Oh, now ya’ll wanna get done? Which way do we go?” Jamal asked.
“Aren’t those soldier people still in the halls?” Kalyn asked.
“Well the door is open.” Ken said. “I’m leaving. You guys can do whatever you want.”
Chris looked at me. “I’ll follow you man. Wanna try the vents?” He asked. I think for a moment and I say, "Maybe the halls are better. Let’s go that way.”
When I stepped down from the vent it felt great to be on my feet again. “OK, let’s get out of here!” I said.
“But what about Angelina?” Kalyn gasped. She was obviously still tired. “Are we gonna leave her behind?”
"Hell yeah!" Jamal said. "We can't save them!"
“Sorry Kalyn, but ain't gonna try and go save sombody when I need savin myself.” Chris said.
At first every one looked to ken, who was looking at piece of paper. He looked up and put it in his pocket. “We don’t have time to worry about anybody else.” He said simply. Then they looked at me. I like to be brave, but not stupid, so I say, "Lets get the hell outta here. No Need in tryin to save the Titanic."
I didn’t give it much though I just said it because I didn‘t want everybody looking at me for every little thing. What if I I made a mistake? The blame goes to me weather I like it not because they wanted to follow somebody and I chose to be the man. I don’t want to be the man. Now I gotta give a reason. “We need to tell someone first then they’ll come back for the others.”
At that Ken took off. At first the only one who could match his speed was Kalyn, she was fast. But she quickly got tired and was barely running anymore. Suddenly she collapsed. Short of breath, she couldn’t keep up with any of us anymore.
“Wait ya’ll” Chris called out to everybody. “Kalyn is tired.”
Everyone stopped. Ken was very annoyed. “We don’t have time for this!” He shouted.
“Hey man,” Chris said. “She’s tired from all that jumpin ‘round she did back dare!”
“Listen, that ain’t my problem!” Ken said. “If you want to live, follow me. If you get soft you get caught!”
“Man why you so cold?” Chris demanded. “You don’t care about nobody but yo-self?”
“Hey, I told you from the start,” Ken said. “I don’t c-”
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A loud computer voice came on the intercom.
ALERT!! ALERT!! SUBJECTS HAVE ESCAPED FROM HOLDING PIN-2 IN CELL-BLOCK 4 OF SECTOR FIVE. LOCKDOWN OF SECTOR FIVE WILL BE ADMINISTERED IN TWO MINUETS.
“Sector 5?” Jamal said. “What the hell is dat?” He answered his own question when he read a sign on the wall that said “SECTOR5 CELL BLOCK 7”
“Great now they know we got out.” Ken said. “Let’s go, we only have to go three more blocks till we we’re out of sector 5!”
“Man you don’t know where we are!” Chris said.
“Hey shut up!” Ken said.
“You shut up!” Chris snapped back.
“One more word and I’ll-”
“Why don’t ya both shut up!” I shouted. I’d had enough. When I said that Lil Jamal, decided to jump in. He stepped in between Ken, Chris, and I.
“Hey ya’ll can’t double up on him like dat!”
Jamal said. “If it wasn’t for Ken, you’d still be crawling around in the damn vents!”
Ok. Hell Nah. I know this light weight ain't talkin to me. He's the one about to get stuffed into a vent right about now.
“Alright,” I said. “I’m bout to drop you in like, two second if you don‘t watch yo mouth.”
“You’ll do what?!” Jamal said stepping toward me. Kalyn Reached up and grabbed Jamal’s shirt. I’d almost forgot about her. “Jamal stop it!” Kalyn pleaded.
“Hah, hey let e'm go Kat,” Chris said laughing. “What’s he gonna do? Hit Ty in the knee caps?”
At this point Jamal had had enough, He rushed Chris, jumped and punch him full in the face. Chris was so surprised, he didn’t have time to react, so when he go hit, he just fell back. When Chris jumped back up I grabbed him and tried to tell him to wait till we got out to kill Jamal. The Alarm sounded again just in time to scare the crap out of us. The flashing lights and loud noise made my adrenaline pump.
“Kalyn can you run?” I asked.
She hopped up without a word and lead the scramble with a burst of speed that came out of nowhere. Ken was second. She pulled so far ahead of us till she could stop and take a few precious seconds of rest. It worked a little. But her third try went terrible because this time she darted past us for the third time, Kalyn tripped and fell very hard. As she fell, She smashed her knee against the metal floor. We all heard the bone shatter. We sucked in air through clinched teeth.
As we all got to her Jamal tried to help her up but she screamed and he couldn’t move her. Ken kept looking behind us impatiently to see if those people had caught up yet. Chris gently tried to move her but she cried out again.
“We have to go!” Ken said impatiently. “We only have to go one more block!”
“Hey wait she’s hurt!” Chris said. “Don’t leave her! We’ll make it!”
5! 4! 3! 2! 1! LOCKDOWN! LOCKDOWN! ALL EXITS FROM SECTOR FIVE ARE BEING SEALED!
Ken and Jamal took off. Chris shouted and screamed for them to come back and help. Soon after he gave up and looked to me. I wished that I could have ran on ahead with Ken and Jamal. But I couldn’t leave Kalyn and Chris behind.
“What do we do?” Chris asked.
“…Pick her up.” I said. “We’re getting out.”
Chris was relieved at how calm I sounded. He picked her up with ease. She moaned in pain as we tried to catch up to the other two. 30 seconds later we had gone in a circle. I tried to be optimistic and I pulled Chris along. But I realized it was pointless.
“Chris,” I said. “Put her down.”
“What? Ain’t we leaving together?” He asked.
“We can’t.” I said. “Didn’t you notice that sign on the wall there?” I asked. “We’ve passed it three times.”
“Are we locked in?” He asked rhetorically. “So what, we just gonna give up just like dat? What if we’re all most there?”
“Oh my god I don’t want to die!” Kalyn cried. “God please don’t let me die!”
“We’re not gonna die!” Chris said. “We gotta be close! Let’s keep trying!”
I get up ready to try one more time. But just when I was about to get Chris to carry Kalyn again, I heard loud clattering noises that sounded like boots running through the halls. As the noises got closer, I knew they were boots. Lots of them.
We just stood there frozen and scared like shit till they got there. There were at least twenty of those guards like the ones from the cell. And this time there was an old lady with them. She was dressed in an expensive bussines suit and had a walking cane.
The guards stood with stun guns at the ready. At least Chris had been right. We probably weren’t gonna die because they were shooting darts and not bullets. So that meant they probably wanted us alive, for now. An old woman stepped forward with a walking cane made out some kind of metal. She was accompanied by the same executive guy we saw earlier. She ordered us to be, put under.
Never heard that before. I thought. What dose that mean? I hoped it didn’t mean “killed”. Chris got up and took the first rounds in an attempt to shield me and Kalyn. Three darts caught him in the back. Chris turned to face the troops and say something slick, but he fainted before he could get out one word.
I turned to look at Kalyn one more time but she was unconscious. A dart had got her on the shoulder. I was next. The woman in the front was old enough to be my grandmamma.
“Ma’am,” one of the soldiers said. “It looks like 1145 has sustained a serious injury to her knee. Do you want me to take her to Sector OP1?”
“Yes, and I want 1141 placed in sector B-R1.” She said. One of the troops turned to her and said, “But Ma’am, That’s the same room that they’re are still finishing operation H.B.A.O. on specimen 1140.”
“Don’t ask questions.” She said. “Just do it.”
Is that all we are to them? Numbers and specimens? I looked her in the eyes and with surprise, she didn’t have the eyes of a cold heartless old hag, but her eye’s were experienced, concerned, and focused. Amazing what you can learn from people’s eyes.
The Gard or soldier or what ever raised his gun. I thought about asking a dumb question to by myself time but They probably wouldn’t answer anyway. When the guy fired, I at lease tried to block the dart. It stuck into my forearm. And it HURT! Bad! Like a nail in my arm. It stung and throbbed. Why hadn’t Kalyn and Chris cried out or something? I was about to find out in a second. The next thing I see is nothing.





















Jamal







Jamal ran as fast as he could. In any other situation he wouldn't have followed a guy like Ken. But Jamal had the feeling this Ken dude knew a lot more than he let on. And He seemed to know where he was going. Jamal learned a long time ago to learn from people who looked like they knew what they were doing. Ken was going to get him out. All Jamal had to do was keep up. Jamal was determined to keep up. He wouldn’t be left behind like the other three. He knew only the tough made it out of these situations. Nobody needed to tell Jamal how to be tough. He grew up in a rough neighborhood. Ken stopped at a door suddenly. Jamal was happy that he stopped but he tried not to show it!
“Why’d you stop?” Jamal asked trying not to sound tired. Ken nodded his head at the door.
It read SECTOR B-R1.
“I wanna to take a quick look.” He said. ?Jamal nodded calmly.
Ken went in first and Jamal followed and left the door open. It was an empty, narrow room. The room was like a dark empty hallway. At the end of a hallway was a huge wall of glass. On the other side were a bunch of doctors operating on someone. One of them was the puny science guy they encountered before. “how’d you find this room?” Jamal asked. Ken showed him a small piece of paper. “Oh yeah the fancy guy dropped this.” It read: SECTOR B-1.
“Do you know what’s happening?” Ken asked after about ten seconds. Jamal tried to sound as calm and focused as Ken. “Uh, looks like their pulling his guts out.” Jamal said. “But it really don’t look like no operation. It looks like they’re ex-”
“Experimenting on him.” Ken finished. “Yeah they’re doin a lot of cutting and waiting.” Jamal stepped closer. He didn’t have the stomach for this stuff but he had to be tough. “Her.” Jamal corrected. Black hair with gold highlights hung off the end of the operating table. Jamal tried to see what she looked like, but a nurse was blocking her head. A doctor pointed to a tray with various tools lined up. The nurse nodded and moved to get something. The her was a girl with no face!! The girl had no facial skin at all!
“Oh, that shit is ill!” Jamal Cried out as he flinched. “What the hell is going on?” Ken hadn’t moved. He stood calmly with his arms folded. The people in he room stopped all of a sudden and looked in Jamal and Ken’s direction. “Let’s run!” Jamal said. Ken didn’t move. Three of the nurses walked toward the window. “Man Let’s get the hell outta here!” Jamal said backing up. “Quiet.” Ken said. “It’s a one-way widow. They only see a mirror.”
“But they heard us!” Jamal said. “Let’s run!”
“They didn’t hear you,” Ken said. “It’s soundproof. Now be quiet. Gotta figure this out.”
The nurses made their way to a door on the other side of the wall at the end of the glass in Ken and Jamal’s room. Four shock troops walked in carrying somebody followed by an old woman and the Executive from earlier. The executive glanced at the window on his way in. There was no sound at all, so it was hard to tell what was happening. It looked like the old woman and the other guy were giving an explanation to the surgeons or doctors or whoever. The four troops were carrying a boy.
“Hey that’s Tyronte!” Jamal said. “What happened to the other two?”
Ken rubbed his chin. “Hmm, don’t know.” Jamal hoped that maybe they had escaped or at least they weren’t caught yet. The troops walked over and placed Tyronte on another operating table. “Hey! They’re gonna mess up his face too! Let’s go!”
“Wait,’ Ken said. “Not yet.” The other doctor cut his clothes off to get him ready. Nurses injected something into him with needles. The executive glanced at the window again. Jamal looked at Ken who stood with his arms folded watching. What was he thinking? The nurse handed the doctor a scalpel. “Ah damn I can’t watch this!” Jamal sounded like he was going to throw up.
“Hang on, we’ll leave in a minuet.” Ken said.
Jamal tried to be cool and calm like Ken so he held it in and tried to watch. But it wasn’t working. The doctor slit Tyronte’s stomach wide open and started pulling stuff out. Jamal turned around to lean against a wall. What the heck was happening? All of a sudden a loud alarm sounded. Jamal jump two feet and turned around. There was a emergency button in a glass case that said, push in case of emergency. Ken gave Jamal an ice-cold look. All the people in the operating room didn’t react to the alarm. The room was designed to keep out noise. “Let’s go!” Jamal said.
“Wait!” Ken said back. The room was still normal. The troops that were watching the operation were even whispering and laughing about something. Till all of a sudden one troop pulled out his radio and his face turned serious. He said something to the executive and the other troops. They all looked at the window Ken and Jamal were behind. One Troop waved his hand out of curiosity. The executive slapped him up-side his head and the Shock Troops rushed out of the room.
“Now we run!” Ken declared. Jamal felt relieved as Ken led the way out of the room. When Ken got out the door it automatically closed behind him trapping Jamal in the room! Jamal Screamed and kick it as hard as he could. He yelled for Ken to come back but he heard his foot steppes fade away along with his only way of escape. Ken wouldn’t come back, he’d already said he didn’t care for the weak. Jamal kicked and screamed for fifteen minuets more but he only ended up with a sore foot and throat. It was too late. He would be butchered and experimented on too. Twenty minuets went by and the alarm went off finally. That meant they got Ken.
Jamal had never cried before in his life. He figure now would be a good time to start. He wasn’t gonna get out alive. Five minuets later feet came pounding to the locked door. BEEP!, Beep!, somebody was accessing the code to the door. This was the end. The door opened and it was
“KEN!!” Jamal cryed.
“Now, we run.” Ken said with a smile. “Ah man, were you about to cry just now?”
“Hey shut up!” Jamal said. “I thoughtI was dead!”
“I found a control room next to the exit. I had to figure out how to work it.” He said. “And besides, I said now we run didn’t I?”
“You found the way out?!” Jamal asked. “Let’s run!”
At that they ran. Far and hard through the maze of chrome hallways for five minuets. “I think we’re almost out!” Ken said. As they rounded the next corner they stopped dead in front the executive and ten shock troops.
“Almost isn’t good enough I’m afraid.” The executive said smiling. “This was a very amusing little run 1147. You failed to escape but you passed my test. I‘m happy I chose you.”
How the heck did they know Ken and Jamal were coming? And why was he still calling him 1147? Ken felt angry all of a sudden. He’d been “If you hadn’t hit the alarm! We would be out of here!” He said to Jamal. Then he had an Idea.
The executive did this for amusement so that meant ken could use that against them. A fight might amuse them long enough so they can escape. Would Jamal get the message? “I didn’t see that button!” Jamal yelled back.
“You mean the one in the glass case of the B1 observation room?” The executive asked grinning. “You should redirect that anger at yourself. He didn’t press that button.” He said laughing.
What is he talking about? Ken thought. Yes I meant the one in the glass case. Jamal had to have pressed the button. I sure didn’t-ah shit!
And then it dawned on Ken like day. The executive laughed again. That was right! Jamal couldn’t have pressed the one in the glass case, and neither could he have! because it was in a glass case! Ken felt remedial!
STUPID! But how did he-
“How’d you know we we’re in the room?” Ken asked.
“The answer to that is on the paper you picked up in the cell.” The executive said laughing.
He DIDN'T drop the paper!! He left it there on purpose!! This whole thing was a setup! A setup to amuse the damn executive before they did what ever they had to do to us.
“Goodbye 1147 and 1143.” He laughed but then he lowered his voice till only Ken could here him. “The next time you see me I'll be one of the few people running the entire world. You will awaken, with a purpose.”
And the last thing Jamal and Ken saw was the smile on the executive’s face.


















“All subjects are recaptured.”
“…”
“Sir, now that the initial seven are accounted for, now I’d like to propose a new notion. I propose that we skip the three year conditioning program and just move forward with the bionic augmentation process so we can get on with the tests and the observations.”
“I agree. England is very enthusiastic about the whole idea. They even want to purchase 1146 right now. If we omit the conditioning program we could close the deal with England.”
“Sir that’s just crazy! If we don’t do the conditioning program there’s a very high chance that their bodies won’t survive the augmentation process.'
"There's a very high chance they won't survive even with the conditioning. But still, the conditioning process is quite inevitable.”
“Still, that’s a lot of money we could be missing out on…”
“Stop thinking about money. Boss, please don’t listen to those two.
“…”
“Sir, 1145 has sustained serious knee injuries that will affect the original designs for the cartilage structure. We’ll have to modify the designs”
“Sir? So other than that will we go with the original designs?”
“…Well, if there are no more notions…”
“…Sir, if I may?”
“Ah, Lady Madre, Proceed.”
“I move that Valmont and I be given full creative ability of designing the subjects’ special enhancements. We will design each subject with it’s very own special enhancement, unique from the others.”
“Ok. That won’t present a problem.”
“Sir, I thought that we agreed that I was doing the designs. Now you want to cut me out of it completely?!”
“Ms. Sinclaire,”
“Why should they just be given a major position in this project when I’m the one that came up with the idea in the first place!!”
“Ms. Sinclaire…”
“They are representatives of a rival corporation!!”
“Ms. Sinclaire!! Need I remind you that though you have made valuable contributions to this corporation, I am the supreme authority around this operation. You contributions will not be a means of comfort or confidence in my presence. Do you disagree with anything I just said?”
“…”
“… I didn’t think so. Lady Madre and Valmont will be in charge of the designs, the rest is as it was decided prior to this meeting. Any objection? No? Good. For those of you in the Bionic Unit, there is no margin for error. This meeting is adjourned.”































Chapter Two
The Wake




“Look at them.” Osborn marveled. “Those two are only sixteen years old and they have the bodies of Olympic "Absolutes.” Osborne and Tom stood close to the huge window in the observation room. “Yeah, looks like the conditioning process was a good idea after all. The U.S. doesn’t know what their in for.” Tom said. “But I feel like I gotta ask you something that everybody outside the Bionic Unit have been wondering these three years.”
“What? Is it about how we were able to supply their power?” Osborn asked. “Ever since I got out everyone’s been walking on eggshells around me.” Tom Squinted as he struggled to get the words out. “ No I already know the secret to their power. But, uh, why,” Tom began. “Did they only choose to select black adolescents?”
At this, Osborn scratched his head.
“To tell the you truth,” Osborn said. “It should be obvious. If you had to train a breed of dog to kill, which would you choose, a golden retriever or a pit bull?”
“Ah come on,” Tom said. “Don’t give me that. Really, is it a genetic thing?”
“…well, yes and no.” Osborn said. “To put this in Lay-mans terms, we needed to bond and coat their bones with the new super alloy. Some races have a higher percentage of surviving the Stevenson Process than others.”
“Stevenson pros-, hey wait a minuet, all of these children test positive for the calcium- 2 in their bones?” Tom asked.
“Yeah, hey do you even know how the Stevenson process works?” Osborne asked. As Tom shook his head Osborn had already began a lecture.
“Basically, after we locate and find the children with calcium 2, which less than one percent of all children are born with calcium 2 and even less knows that calcium 2 actually exists. Then the few children we acquire-”
“Kidnap.” Tom corrected.
“Uh, yeah what ever, less than half of them have at least a 23% chance of surviving the Stevenson process.”
“Stevenson process…” Tom said.
“It’s the process in which Diamondite is chemically bonded to the bones of a subject with Calcium 2 in their bones.” Osborne said.
“Hm, Diamondite otherwise known as the living metal. Sure would like to know how it works.” Tom said.
“I wouldn’t even be able to explain it to you because I don’t understand it myself.”
Tom sighed. As Osborn walked out of the room he handed Tom a general observation of the units. Tom was insulted that it was writen in lay-mans terms. "What do I look like a Neanderthal?"

1140 Penny Rains Augmented to manipulate metal
1141 Tyronte Trones Augmented to accumulate and discharge charged Particles
1142 Chris Dre Augmented to discharge electrical energy
1143 Claudia Dre Augmented to lower the temperature of oxygen and liquid atoms.
1144 Jamal Wilds Augmented to manipulate ignited particles (Fire)
1145 Kalyn Nylak Augmented for sonic locomotion and SC implant
1146 Angelina Sinclaire Augmented to animate paper molecules
1147 Ken Derant Augmented to absorb and discharge negatively charged particles
1148 Betty Tarun Augmented to manipulate liquid particles.
1149 Cariza Kundanika Absorbs light into skin cells to use as destructive energy
------- Darsha Classified

Tom laughed at the classified part and balled the paper up.

“It’s been a long three years.” Tom murmured. “I hope the awakening process goes okay tomorrow. I got a feeling it won't though.”