Find Me [Completed]

P28.5: Crossing The Line

[A/N: Mini chapter! Just a quick glimpse into what Tord is up to.....]

Tord marched through the large steel doors of the engineering warehouse on the north end of the Red Army base. Inside the warehouse was every mechanic, carpenter, and metal worker's dream, with its endless rows of machinery that could be used to make any and everything under the sun. Tord clutched Tom's glasses in his hands as he searched for his head mechanic. Whenever he couldn't find the man in the underground lab, the garage, or the armoury, he was usually in the warehouse.

Luckily, Tord managed to find Reed tucked away over some blueprints in one of the corners of the warehouse. "Specialist!" Was the only warning Reed got as his turned to face his leader and was instantly met with a metal hand gripping the collar of his uniform and hoisting him into the air.

"Care to explain how both the thought filters and action suppressors simultaneously failed in Tom's glasses?" Tord hissed at his mechanic, narrowing his good eye at him as he did so.

Reed sucked in a wheezy breath. "I understand you're upset right now, Sir. If you put me down and tell me more about this problem, we can find the source and fix it." The mechanic told Tord, his hands gently clawing at Tord's robot one. Tord did as Reed had asked when he dropped the shorter man back down, who was happy to have his feet back on the ground again.

"Could you please share in detail what happened when you mentioned that the thought filters and action suppressors failed?" Reed asked Tord, and took Tom's glasses from his leader's outstretched hands.

"We had an argument on the plane, and he tried to shoot me." Tord explained, clearly angered by the whole ordeal.

"But he didn't actually shoot you, did he? You don't appear injured, Sir." Reed replied, looking his leader up and down.

"No, he missed. The laser didn't even graze me."

"And how often does Tom miss his targets?"

"Never..?" Tord answered, calming a bit as he wondered where on earth Reed was going with his line of questioning.

"Then both systems are working fine, sir." Reed said, holding Tom's glasses back out for his leader to take.

"Are you kidding me?" Tord hissed, unhappy with his mechanic's claim. "He could have killed me! Those systems are suppose to prevent Tom from even thinking of doing things like that!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"With all due respect, Sir, the systems in Tom's glasses only help suppress such thoughts and actions, they don't erase them completely." Reed explained.

"Then fix it to erase it completely." Tord hissed, a sharp edge to his voice.

"Tom's glasses already tread the grey areas of limiting his free will... If we implement a system to erase his thoughts on creation, that would cross the line into complete mind control." Reed tried to talk Tord out of such modifications.

"Do you think I care about 'crossing the line'?" Tord growled, his hands balling into fists. "You'll make the required changes to Tom's glasses to keep him from hurting me, or you'll be disposed of."

"...Of course, Sir." Reed answered with a nod, fearing the thought of being 'disposed of'. Which usually mean shot dead where you stood. He placed the glasses on his workbench, and grabbed a screwdriver to start opening the complex system to begin his leader's requested modifications.

"Actually." Tord said, making Reed pause and glance over at him. "If we're already crossing the line into mind control... then why don't we just go all the way?"