Firebird

Risen from Ashes, The Phoenix

Blue eyes, slim face, long curly red hair slipped back into a tightly drawn pony-tail, eyes scanning, pupils small from the bright lights that lit the room, burning. His eyes burned to more he stared, squinting back shut after only a few seconds of being open, but he had still been able to see her face. His ears rang, everything felt loud and cacophonous, his head throbbed, as if about to explode under the pressure of his own blood, and he felt something missing. What could it be? Nothing was missing. But where was he, who was he. Perhaps that was what he was missing, the knowledge of himself. She was speaking to him, he could feel it pass the buzzing, but he couldn't make it out, not yet.

"It's no use, he can't hear me. Who calibrated his ears? They fucked up." She spoke, he could feel the vibrations on his metal bed. Was it metal? It was cold like metal. Perhaps a wood. "Someone ask Krios if his father was always deaf."

"Negative professor."

"Shit, well then call the otolaryngologist. I don't think he can hear me, perhaps his systems are adjusting, but that should have been accounted for when we put him in the chemical coma. Don't let Krios in yet, I don't want him to panic and go all nutso again." She paced the room, placing her thumb into her mouth, biting down ever so slightly on it, thinking. "Nobody touch him either, we can't let him go into shock."

"Ma'am, we did it, we one up'd Cerberus."

"Not yet, he's still... this. He's useless right now. And we got him in much better condition than the Lazarus project did theirs, but... we were more effective. I suppose this warrants celebrations. But we didn't do this to prove our superiority, we don't need to, it's obvious we're better than they were." She turned to face a salarian, standing tall and proud in the doorway, a smile barely tugging at his lips. "Too bad the geth turned out to be useless. But, it was a blessing we were able to restore him without cybernetics. I suppose this will do well in your research."

"It will, thank you professor."

"Ma'am, Krios is waiting for you. It would seem he hacked into the local area wireless, he wants to know why his father was awoken without his consent or knowledge."

She groaned, tossing her head back to look at the lights she had spent so long under in the past few weeks, carefully monitoring the Drell's life signs in preparation to wake him. "Tell him I'll be there in a moment, also upgrade our closed systems, I don't want him hacking in again. That's the second time this week. Heaven forbid his father hears his voice and panics for some reason. You know how dead people are- wait... that's backwards... it's the living that freak when they hear the dead. Whatever." She stepped out of the airlock, heeled boots echoing on the linoleum as she headed towards where young Krios always was, right outside the lab's doors. Just as she knew he would be there, there Kolyat was, sitting on the blue leather backless stools, legs crossed at his ankles.

"You said I could be there when you woke him up. You lied, yet again." He stood up, towering over her by at least half a foot, jaw tight with anger.

"Yes, however more recent data suggests that hearing your voice could have triggered memories too early and sent him into shock, we couldn't overload his mind too quickly, unless you would like your father to have a stroke and leave this lab a useless vegetable. Don't forget that handy little contract you signed, clause 4A, we could do whatever we wanted to the body in exchange for bringing him back to life, as long as we cured his Kepral's syndrome, which we have." She smiled up at him triumphantly, her gaze almost condescending, eyes narrowing as she placed her hands on her hips. "You also broke segment 16B... six times this month? The one that specifically stated you could not access any of our information or communication systems without the Project Head's permission, which is me, by the way."