Subject 15

CHAPTER 40 - Seth

The "hidden" camera exploded in a burst of sparks, and I let go of the breath I was holding in. I closed my eyes and took in a few deep breaths before opening my eyes, the animal inside me calming, to survey my surroundings. Blood stained the sand, and some of it seeped into the ground below. Barton was walking out toward me, his armor slightly glowing, reloading his gun. Raven was kneeling on the ground, the fire dying around her as she regained her breath. I went and knelt beside her, putting one of my arms around her shoulders as I asked, "You doing alright?"

Raven leaned her head on my shoulder, slightly nodding, breathing quickly through her nose. "Yeah," she replied, "I'm alright."

I nodded, then looked around at the bodies, but stopped when I saw one of the soldiers closer to the entrance move.

Barton saw him too, and he jogged to the soldier, placing the gun barrel against his head. I ran towards the two, reaching Barton in time before he pulled the trigger. I smacked the gun away from the soldier's head, and the plasma blast struck the dirt, inches from the man's head.

"What the hell, Seth?!" shouted Barton. "These are the men keeping my daughter!"

"No they aren't!" I growled, my grip tightening on the barrel of the gun. "Greyson is! We are after him!"

Barton's eyes drilled holes into me, but he eventually lifted his finger off the trigger. I released the gun, and turned to the soldier. He was holding his left arm, his leg bleeding. He cowered behind his helmet, and pressed himself against the dirt as much as possible, trying desperately to get away from us. I knelt down, and slowly removed his helmet.

But it wasn't the eyes of a man that stared back at me, but the eyes of a young boy, no older than 15 or 16. His brown eyes were wide with fear, and his black hair fell over his eyes in a thick curtain. I couldn't help but let some of my surprise coat my face, my Mask twisted and contorting, the device having been the swirling black and white mass throughout the battle. I heard Barton mutter, "Dear God, have mercy on us." I looked the boy in the eyes and asked, "What's your name?"

The boy looked around in panic, and I put a hand on his tender leg, making him wince. "Your name," I repeated calmly. The boy looked down at his chest and whispered, "Diego."

"Where is Farran Greyson, Diego?"

The boy shook his head and said a little louder, "I don't know." I looked into his eyes, and I knew that he lied to me. I threatened, "You saw what I did." I held out my hand, and with a sickening sound one of my blades flew to my hand after a pulse of air dislodged it from a wounded soldier. I stared at Diego, saying, "Don't make this any harder on yourself. Tell me the truth. Where is he?"

The boy winced as I applied a small amount of pressure on his leg, and he quickly blurted, "Go to the elevator, 17th button going down, big oak doors at the end of the hall. That's his office. If he's not there, I dunno where he is, I swear!"

I nodded curtly as a reply. The boy looked at me with something that looked like anger in his eyes, but it was erased as I ripped off my torn t-shirt, using the scraps as bandages. As I carefully put his arm in a sling, Raven came to kneel beside me, taking another portion of the cloth and wrapped his leg. She didn't say a word as we cleaned the wounds as best as we could before the bandages were applied. When we were done, I stood, but the boy asked, "Why?"

I looked down at him, Raven coming to stand behind me and to my left. I replied, "Why what?"

"Why are you going after him? Why did you fix me up?"

I turned to Barton, and the same burning questions were in his eyes. I nodded my head and said slowly, "I never wanted this." I gestured to the bodies around me, and continued, "This was forced upon me... I thought running was the best choice, that I could escape from the purpose of my creation." I shook my head, and looked Diego dead in the eyes as I said, "But the time for running is over. I'm going to take my life back." I looked down and away from Diego and whispered, "I'm going to be free."

I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder, and I looked up at Raven. Her eyes were not fierce and fiery as they had been in battle, or anguished and watery as they were on the rooftop: instead, they held a new kind of property, a different kind of strength and emotion that I could not read well. My Mask, not knowing how to read my emotions, started to become transparent as I looked into Raven eyes.

I turned, and started walking in the direction of the elevator before pausing and asking, "And what about you, Diego? Why didn't you use that knife you were trying to hide behind your back, on us or yourself?"

I heard a sharp intake of breath, then a sigh as Diego said, "'Cause I didn't believe what they said about you."

I looked over my shoulder, viewing Diego with one eye as he finished, "I didn't believe that you were a monster." I nodded, then turned away from the boy and walked toward the hill after retrieving my blades, sheathing them after a simple cleaning. I walked to the hill, the mound slightly shimmering. I passed my hand through the illusion, stepping through the influence of the cloaking device. In front of me was a simple metal elevator inside a concrete bunker: the one I had used on the day of my escape.

I walked to the door and pressed the button, and heard Barton and Raven come to stand behind me. No words were exchanged, because none had to. But I felt Barton's mood change; I felt it change from ready to kill anything, and anyone, to one I didn't expect at all.

It was respect.

The elevator doors opened, and I stepped inside, pressing the lowest button on the panel. "That's not where Greyson is," grumbled Barton.

"No it isn't," I replied. "It's where Samantha is."