Fury and Flame | 3

6 | 5

R I L E Y

      I tried not to get my hopes up as I arrived at the ONNT headquarters.

      It had been four days since Arden Rong's warning about the incoming invasion. As expected, we had hear nothing from her. She was most likely dead for communicating with us, executed by Orion.

      In those four days, nothing else had happened, save for Hunt's reinstatement and my daily testing at the headquarters; they were working to try to get my memory restored. Krasowski had never pursued gaining my memories back because she wanted a monopoly on the knowledge I once held. Hunt had no such desire.

     As much as everyone wanted my memory back, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. To them, it was getting my old self back, along with information that could potentially destroy Orion. But this was my own mind and I wasn't even sure what lay in its depths.

     I'd never quite thought my mind was a prison, even when forced to fend for myself as a child among other equally-ravenous children. With my harsh exterior and the secret hours I spent honing my powers, I'd created a haven inside myself. Of course, I'd always grappled with feeling like I might not be enough for anyone else. But I was enough for myself.

     However, now my mind was a prison, and I was locked out of it.

     In the beginning, I'd been afraid to know what was hidden from me, what was a still mystery about myself. I'd thought perhaps living in willing blindness would be better than the agony of awareness. But I'd always been too curious and reckless for my own good. Sometimes I wondered which would get me killed faster.

     Now that I'd become familiar with the looming threat of Orion's invasion, I vowed to die on my feet after taking out the maximum number of enemies.

     That couldn't happen unless we knew what intelligence was locked inside my head.

Kane walked beside me—he'd quietly insisted on coming along for my daily testing and I had no reason to object. Quite the opposite, actually. And though I might not admit it, the growing terror of never getting my memory back was easier to face when I wasn't alone. I wondered if that was Kane's reason for coming.

Though Hunt's position was his own again, I did feel a small note of unease walking through the front lobby—this had all been Krasowski's just four days ago. I knew little of the director himself, other than the brief encounters we had while I was being treated. From the others' stories, I knew he was a good man. Nevertheless, it was another thing still left in the dark. And I could hold my own, that was certain. But Kane's looming presence at my side comforted me more than I could say.

The doctors and scientists—both groups clad in white coats and translucent gloves—were ready for me. As had become custom for me in the past four days, I pulled myself onto the examining table and waited for them to check my pulse and other medical necessities; they wanted to be sure the previous treatments had truly not begun working.

Shoving a hand through my hair, I watched as Hunt entered the room. He didn't even look at Kane or object to his presence, as it had come to be expected. My lips twisted upwards.

In hushed robes, the director exchanged words with the group of doctors about my progress—or the absence of it. When they were done, he turned to me and gave me as much of a friendly look as he could. "We're going to try something new today, Riley. It seems you're going to need something more powerful than the previous treatments to jog your memory."

My eyes narrowed. "Why did you say it like it's going to be horribly painful?"

"Well...it shouldn't be too painful." He paused, gathering his words. "Krasowski took a blood sample from both Benton and Delphinium when they still had the drugs Orion gave them inside their bloodstreams. Several of them appear to have some unique properties. We all know how Orion was able to control the assassins' thought processes through his own mind. We were thinking...that a certain replica we made of one of the drugs could bring your memory back to its full extent."