Inside Voices ▷ Bruce Banner | ✓

3 - SNEAKING IN

SHE DIDN'T KNOW HOW MUCH TIME HAD PASSED WHEN SHE WAS CALLED. It could have been a few hours or a few months, but time had passed, as she was awoken with an alert, the injection irrelevant to her as the enclosure opened, allowing her to step out and onto the floor. She saw a form waiting for her by the door, which meant she was going to be escorted to the bathing area.

"How're you doing?" the person said as she stepped out into the hallway, and she vaguely filed away the information that they were one of the newer employees, as only the new employees ever spoke, though she didn't know how many of them there were, as she always forgot after she filed them away.

"I don't know," she said, because she didn't, but she had to respond, though part of her tried to shout, demanding to know what the consequences would be if she hadn't.

Silence descended upon them as they made their way to the bathing area, her escort having no reason to speak to her and her never having words to say. She quite liked the solitude of the bathing area, finally having a reason to take off the clothes she was changed into every night; she never felt them, but it was an interesting concept, being fully exposed yet having no true perception as to who she was exposed to; when she was in the facility, there was no reason to be aware.

She stepped into the pressurized chamber, watching as it filled with water, encasing her yet keeping her from floating to the ceiling, the water swirling about. Along the glass were warning markers, flashing to let her know when her hair would be washed and when the water would rise to rinse out the shampoo in her hair, submerging her fully.

She liked it when she was fully submerged in the water, her breath caught and her short hair floating above her. There was something serene and freeing about being in the water, grounded but not controlled. Her mind was free in the moment, not empty like it always was, but calm.

When her sanctioned bath was over, the water drained out, the chamber turned into a large dryer, blowing out all the water and leaving her warm and ready to be changed into her mission clothes.

Climbing out, she put on the form fitting suit, dark brown and covering of all areas of her body without being constricting, breathable despite first impressions. She also had a bandana, allowing her to see but keeping others from identifying her, though she was never seen nor caught.

As she followed her handler to the debriefing area to meet with her masters one last time before at most a week, though she would hope less, she felt a sharp pain in her side, sending her sprawling and screaming in agony, her entire body feeling as though it were engulfed in flames.

She was vaguely aware of her handler shouting for someone to help, but they sounded muffled, faraway and distant and she wondered if, possibly, she was dying and, even more so, she wondered if that was at all a bad thing.

But the feeling fled as quickly as it had arrived and in a few moments she was back on her feet, albeit unsteady and shaking, and her handler could do nothing but lead her to the debriefing room and explain to her masters what happened.

"Oh, you'll be fine," one of her masters said, just as she felt a slight jab of pain in the back of her neck as she was injected with her compliance, "Are you ready?"

"Yes," she replied, feeling her senses begin to clear, looking towards her masters who slid over a file filled with all the information she would need.

"Then get going."

º º º

She didn't understand how they expected her to make it into the tower on such minimal knowledge. There were no patterns to be understood, no defenses and weaknesses covered, nothing except an understood entrance and exit point and the instructions to be inside by nightfall that day.