His robotic leg was running faster than his normal leg, thus causing a lag which resulted in a face plant on James's part. For some reason Nadia was able to keep her legs at the same pace and run at an astonis.h.i.+ng rate. Her bionic leg never got tired but that was to be expected, it was made of machines, her other leg though was sore and throbbing towards the end of the training session. A few days of working on running left Nadia's leg in terrible pain but she never made a comment to anyone but James, Rebecca and Michael who all pushed her to say something to the staff. Once they had convinced her Nadia was able to do much more in the exercises and work for a lot longer.

It took James nearly an entire week to fix his gate and by that time Nadia had trained her body to react to the pain and push it to the back of her mind so that she could get more work done in one day. Jack took note of the increased work ability that Nadia produced and made notes about it. It was clear that Nadia's body had already adapted to the machine leg and was taking its own precautions for the workload.

By the end of the week Jack gathered James and Nadia together and explained the next phase in the rehabilitation work. This phase was more than the mastery of movement as far as getting around, walking and running. In the upcoming phase there were going to learn a few techniques that there leg could do to give them an advantage in battle. For one this is was made of sold metal and so it wouldn't hurt to get shot or to kick with all their power.

"So you little kids, are you ready to start learning how to use your leg in combat." Nadia and James didn't really say anything but more or less nodded their head because it was what Jack was looking for. Jack smiled and stood up from where he had been sitting on the floor, causing James and Nadia to follow his actions.

"Daniel, will you enter at this time?" As Jack was speaking to him Daniel entered and stood beside Jack.

"We are going to run drills on these two in preparation for their first combat training. Isn't that going to be so much fun? Of course it is how could it not be? Okay, Daniel I will need you to try and throw some easy punches at them. See if they can dodge them. That means you two will have to do what I say. Try and dodge the punches he is going to throw at you, this should be fun to watch." Jack sat back down on a chair that Daniel had brought in with him and smiled as Nadia and James took turns alternating between throwing punches and dodging the ones that Daniel was instructed to throw. James got hit it the face a couple of times and Nadia was. .h.i.t once. The punches were hard and left bruises on both of them, with James having a few more than Nadia.

"Well done, well done, my pets. That should be enough for now Daniel; we will start this up again tomorrow. Then I can tell you how to kick with your metal legs and cause some severe damage. Till tomorrow, goodbye." Jack took his leave of them at that point and Daniel escorted the two of them back to the infirmary room and left them in the hands of the staff. Once rejoined with Rebecca and Michael they talked about the training they had done that day. Rebecca and Michael had worked on how to grasp something in their hands. It was learning to control each individual finger and joint in the mechanical arm and telling it what you wanted it do. James explained to them that Nadia and him had been dodging punches and just finished up how to run. Rebecca informed Nadia that they were not scheduled for combat any time soon.

"It is probably because the arm is a lot more complicated than moving a leg. For us it is just lifting the leg and making it run with you at the same pace. Besides, you should be happy that they are not making you go too fast. Enjoy the time you are given, right?" Nadia was trying to rea.s.sure Rebecca and it seemed to work because Rebecca gave her a smile and that particular conversation dropped. Nadia slept fitfully that night tossing and turning and so the next day, the day that they were going to learn their first combat training she was exhausted from inadequate sleep.

"Well, you look like s.h.i.+t, Nadia. Were you partying last night? Heehehahahaaa." Nadia did not find that the least bit funny and today of all days she was in a p.i.s.sy mood and really did not want to be bothered. Jack kept pus.h.i.+ng at her and teasing her and Nadia kept taking it hoping that he would get the hint and stop annoying her. On this particular day Nadia was short tempered and quick to anger. James had learned that when she had woken up and he was complaining about something or other and she snapped at him. Today was not the day to push Nadia's b.u.t.tons.

"Can we just get the lesson over for the day so I can go back and get some rest?" Nadia asked as politely as she could but it still came out angry and annoyed.

"Well, little miss prissy pants, I will try and make it fit into your schedule." Jack was obviously joking around but that was lost to Nadia.

"Sounds good, let's go and get this over with already." Jack was starting to get annoyed himself and stomped over to Nadia and looked her straight in the eye.

"Now listen her you, we are not going to change anything about today just because you are a bit tired. My suggestion is that you get over it and join us her on earth where you follow what I say you are going to do. Now snap out of your little trance and do what I tell you to, got it?!?" Jack was not expecting an answer and so turned away to continue walking down the hallway to the white room. Nadia came up from behind him and kicked his knee down, dislocating it from its socket. There was a sure sound as it popped out and Nadia's expression did not change at all. She still had on her sleepy face and for a moment James did not believe what had just happened. That is until Jack began to curse like it was n.o.body's business. Daniel came running up and looked down at Jack and seemed to silently be asking him what was wrong with him.

"Grab that b.i.t.c.h and take her to a holding cell. She just dislocated my knee, s.h.i.+t, that f.u.c.king hurt!" Jack was holding his knee and Daniel went after Nadia. It was easy to get a hold of her, she was so tired. Daniel was in disbelief that Nadia had done what Jack had claimed she did, she looked half asleep. How could she have done that? Daniel did not stop to ask questions, he put Nadia's arms behind her back and escorted her to a holding cell similar to the one she had been taken to when she had first arrived.

Nadia laid down when she got in the cell and started to sleep. She slept for nearly eight hours, the time she had lost the night before. When she woke up she was confused as to how she had gotten there and why she was there in the first place. The last thing she remembered was feeling tired and arguing with Jack. She thought he had complied to make the lesson quick but now she was here, in a cell. Nadia looked around and a.s.sessed her surroundings. It was the same build as the cell she had been put in when she had first arrived and that put her on edge for a moment. Then she told herself to relax and took a deep breath. There was no guard standing duty in the room and that piqued Nadia's curiosity.

"h.e.l.lo, is anyone there?" Nadia put her voice to use, but it appeared that she was all alone, with no one to guard her. Either this was an exceptional time to attempt an escape or they were watching her waiting to see what she would do. If that was the case than an escape attempt would soil her favor with them and set her back to square one, not a good place to be. She had worked too hard to have to start over. The idea to escape was put to rest and Nadia worked on finding a way to get in contact with someone so as to find out why she was being held in a cell and not in her infirmary bed where she usually woke up in these days.

It was only until someone had come to her several hours later than she found out what had happened. Immediately following her briefing Nadia was escorted to a conference room, one that looked similar to an interrogation room, with a table and three chairs. There was one chair on one side of the table and two on the other side. Nadia was placed at the single chair side of the table. When she arrived at the room, no one was there and the escort had said nothing during the entire time it had taken to walk to the room, nor did he say anything once they had arrived. Nadia was placed in the chair with her hands tied behind her back.

At that point the door opened, but the door was located directly behind Nadia and so she could not see who had entered. She could hear crutches and heels, a least one female. Then Nadia knew who was in the room, it had to be Jack and Elizabeth. They came around into view and Nadia's a.s.sumption was confirmed. Jack was using the crutches and did not seem happy in the least. Elizabeth was stone faced, as usual and the both of them sat down across from Nadia.

"I a.s.sume you have been briefed as to the incident, am I correct?" Nadia sat up straighter and glanced over at Jack.

"I have been told what has happened, but I have no memory of doing anything. Is there any way to prove that it was I who did it and not someone else?" Nadia was trying to keep practical but odds were they were not going to believe her no matter what. Elizabeth sighed and Jack snorted. That was their answers; there was no way out of it.

"It was without a doubt your doing, but..." Here Elizabeth paused, as if for emphasis, and Nadia stopped her fidgeting and looked at her. Nadia could feel that Elizabeth was going to reveal something that could potentially clear Nadia's name. She was going to listen. Elizabeth started again.

"...But, if you say that you have no memory of doing it then that brings to mind another explanation. It is possible that your mind had your body commit what it thought the best defense maneuver without your conscious consent. That day you were very tired and probably slipped into a sleep state while your body remained active. Your subconscious, combined with the implants we put in you, caused your body to react and harm Jack. If that is the case, then we can be done here and move you back to the infirmary to await your next surgery. If not then it's back to the cell for you for another couple of days. So what will it be?" Elizabeth ended it like that and Nadia was a bit dumbfounded. All she had to do to get back to her bed was to say that it was her subconscious and that would be that? It was almost too easy, it could be a trap. But Nadia really didn't care either way.

"It must have been my subconscious and machine parts working together on there own. I will try to not let that happen again." That was that, Jack and Elizabeth got up from their seats and proceeded out the door. The escort came back in and took Nadia back to the infirmary beds and James. When she got back all three of them were happy to see her, as well as curious as to what had happened.

"It was my subconscious working together with the machines in me to launch an a.s.sault on Jack and to harm. I was in a sleep stage when it happened so I don't remember anything." Rebecca and Michael were amazed that Nadia had somehow injured Jack. James had been there so he did not hesitate to believe what Nadia was saying.

"It was so weird, watching you just walk up behind him and kick his knee out. There was the sound of his knee popping out of its socket, really nasty sounding. For a moment I didn't believe what I was seeing. Then you just stood there, all mellowed out and the guards came and took you away. Where did they take you?"

"Just to a holding cell, similar to the one I was first put in when me and my siblings arrived here. Not bad, really quiet though." Nadia lay down on her bed and looked up at the white ceiling and let her mind wander. Rebecca and Michael went on to talk about other things and James just stared at Nadia, as if wanting to say something but deciding not to.

Training halted for a few days as Jack's knee healed, as he would not let anyone else train Nadia and James so the two of them sat around in their beds for those few days and talked, just like they always did. Rebecca and Michael would leave in the morning and come back in the late afternoon, and then they would talk together as a group. Once Jack's knee was mostly healed he came by and picked up James and Nadia.

"Alright you sissies, you had a few days of rest so I expect you come out with a fire in your bellies and work extra hard. And Nadia I would appreciate it if you would refrain form kicking me again." It was obvious that Jack was still angry but there was nothing that Nadia could do to make him believe that it had not been her, at least not really.

James and Nadia walked out in front of Jack, he would always bring up the rear from that point on and Nadia understood it was because he had got hit from a behind attack. Jack took them to the room where they had been training before the injury and life returned to the way it was before, brutal training. Nadia and James had started to learn hand to hand combat using their legs and focusing on causing as much damage as possible.

"This lesson will focus on kicks, as Nadia has so wonderfully showed us before. Daniel will you come here please?" Daniel appeared in the doorway and walked over to stand beside Jack. At that point Jack had a smile creep upon his lips and Nadia knew that this was going to painful and not fun in the least.

"Nadia, you and Daniel are going to do some sparring. He is going to come at you with all he's got and you have to dodge and retaliate. I want to see what kind of action you can handle and to find out what you still need to learn. Let's begin, shall we?" Jack stepped back and leaned against the wall to rest his injured knee. Daniel stepped forward and Nadia mirrored his actions. Daniel was a strong man, and Nadia was uncertain of her ability in this area of combat. Without a weapon of some sort how was she going to stand any chance of beating the man, let alone surviving the training?

Without warning or hesitation Daniel launched his first attack and landed it on Nadia's left cheek. That punch made Nadia fly backwards a few feet as well as dazed her. She had not expected Daniel to begin without some word from Jack but apparently he had a mind of his own. Nadia jumped around trying to get her concentration back and form a basis for an attack. Daniel led an unrelenting a.s.sault throwing his punches at her and Nadia did everything in her power to avoid them. For the most part Nadia was able to dodge the punches, but then as soon as she let up and attempted an attack of her own Daniel would be there to knock her down.

"Keep going Nadia, don't stop and let him get you. Just be patient and make him come to you." James was cheering for her on the sidelines, knowing full well that he was going to have to face Daniel next and shouted out his game plan. It wasn't as though Nadia wanted to use his tactic but she felt compelled to out of guilt for having James yell it out.

"Shut up you stupid kid, don't you know when to keep your mouth shut? This is not your fight so just b.u.t.t out of it. Don't worry, you will have your own chance to fight Daniel so just keep it in your pants for now kid. Geez!" Jack threw his hands up in the air and let out a sigh. Nadia was moving back and forth trying to avoid Daniel's closed fists and all the while thinking of her own strategy.

Finally the whispers in her head spoke up. Since she had heard them weeks ago to decipher lip reading they had gone away. Now they were back and were full of ideas. They whispered plans and thoughts, giving her advice on how to gain the upper hand. At first Nadia was hesitant to use their advice but figured what the h.e.l.l, they had been useful in the previous situation so why would they disappoint her now?

Move back and while his arm is extended hit him in the right temple. His weakness is the temples, as in nearly all human beings. It is where the skull is least dense in bone. Hit the temples, the temples! The voices were quite adamant at having her hit his temples and so she resolved herself to follow their instructions. As Daniel was extending his arm towards her she moved just out of his reach and leaned back to land a hard kick to his right temple with her metal leg. There was a definite klunk as metal hit bone, followed by a cracking sound as the bone broke. Daniel fell to the ground and began bleeding profusely from the temples, where he had been hit. Nadia backed up, unsure if she had done her job and kept Daniel at bay. Daniel did not move, he lay perfectly still bleeding. Jack pushed himself forward off the wall and walked over to Daniel as quickly as his injured knee could take him. Jack checked for a pulse and found only a faint one.

"Help, man down, man down! Get a medic in here NOW!!" Nadia backed up and went to the wall at the back of the room. There was no way that she had done that to someone. He was laying there bleeding so much, his blood every where, even on her. It had splattered and had formed a spray pattern on Nadia's outfit and face. She reached up to touch the blood and when she pulled her fingers away from her face there it was, red and thick. James was leaning against the wall near Nadia and had his mouth open so much so that Nadia thought he would swallow a fly.

"James, what did I do? All I did was listen to the voices, they told me what Daniel's weakness was and I listened to them. I should have never listened, they are evil. Does that make me evil to?" Nadia was pleading with James, begging him to justify what she had done. He moved his head so that he could better look at Nadia. His face was dejected and terror overcame him.

"What have you done, Nadia? You have just hurt a man so badly that he may die." James was pleading with himself and trying to tell himself that what he had just seen was not true, that Nadia had not just nearly killed a man.

The medics came in and put Daniel on his back. They examined the wound and were about to put an IV when the lead medic holds his arm down. The second medic looks puzzled but the lead medic just shakes his head.

"I am sorry but there is nothing we can do for this man, he was dead nearly instantly. The blow to his head caused a bleed that filled his skull quickly and the brain then ceased to function. Would you like for me to dispose of the body?" Jack was speechless, Daniel, his body guard and friend had just been killed by a child. This was not the sort of training exercise that he had had in mind when starting the day. Jack had been sure that Nadia would get a beating and that it would teach her a lesson. How sorely wrong he had been, never again would he underestimate her. Jack got up slowly from on the ground and turned to face Nadia.

"What have you done? What have you done? Is this what you wanted, to kill Daniel. Was this your plan? You need to be able to control yourself; this was only a training exercise, not a fight to the death. Take her back to the infirmary and restrain her tightly. I want a guard to watch her at all times." A guard came in the door and surrounded her and James. Together they were taken back to the infirmary where they restrained her with chains instead of leather restraints. Rebecca and Michael had already gotten back from there training session so they were utterly confused by the sudden amount of guards filling the room. Also the chains on Nadia let them know that it was her that the guards were for. James came in and lied down on his bed and let them restrain him and he merely looked at the ceiling. Nadia refused to look at anyone in the room and so also looked directly at the ceiling above her. She did not move from that position for what seemed like hours.

"What the h.e.l.l happened?" Rebecca and Michael cried out in unison. James and Nadia said nothing and so that only fueled the curiosity and concern that Rebecca and Michael had.

"You guys better tell me what the f.u.c.k happened right now or I am going to personally throttle you next chance I get. I mean it!" Rebecca was shouting at the two of them, but mostly at Nadia. Rebecca thought that Nadia would tell her anything and now she remained as silent as a stone and as emotionless as one too. Jack did not come by the next day and neither did Elizabeth. Rebecca was fuming by this time, the night had not lessened her concern and she was demanding to know what had happened, but again Nadia and James were silent. Finally after three days without speaking James leaned up in his bed and faced Rebecca and Michael. Both of them sat up straight waiting to hear the news.

"I will tell you what happened if you promise to not freak out." Since seeing what Nadia had done he had come to forgive her. The time he had spent silent let his mind wander to the event and the more he thought about it the more he believed that Nadia had not done it to kill Daniel. She had done what she was taught and nothing more. Rebecca and Michael eyed each other but quickly agreed to keep calm and to listen with a rational mind.

"We were training, and Jack brought Daniel in for a sparring session. Nadia went first because Jack was still mad at her for hurting his knee. At first Nadia was just dodging and trying to fit in an attack or two but he always got to her first. Then it was if something switched in Nadia, as she told me, the voices in her head told her what to do. At first I didn't know to make of that, but now I believe that it was the implants they put in her. The purpose of the implants is to help in combat situations and languages. Apparently the voices had a more vicious attack in mind and told Nadia where to hit him. She was only listening to the combat aspects of the implants and she landed a fierce kick to the right temple of Daniel's head." James paused for a moment and Rebecca and Michael thought that the story was over.

"Well, that's not too bad. What is a little roughing up if you were asked to do so?"

"That is not the end of what I have to say, nor did the event end there."

"Oh," Rebecca stopped talking and now a look of concern filled her face.

"The kick was fierce, so fierce that it cracked his skull and he died..." James ended there and Rebecca and Michael quickly glanced at Nadia whom had not moved since she had been placed there a few days ago. She was in a state of shock and was refusing to socialize with anyone. Rebecca and Michael moved their gaze back to James and practically demanded that he explain more, but there was no more to say.

Rebecca lied back down on her bed and let the information she had just heard to sink in. How the h.e.l.l had that happened, she kept asking herself. Nadia would never do that, would she? A seed of doubt was planted in Rebecca's mind at that moment and nothing Nadia could say or do would change how she felt at that exact moment. Michael had not said anything and he looked over to Rebecca as if to find an answer to the madness that had surely been a joke. After finding that Rebecca was in thinking mode he too followed her example and lay down on the bed to further his thoughts.

"I told you so that you would understand. Do you not see that it is because of the way we were trained that such a thing would have surely occurred at some point down the road? At least now she has us to help her get through this tough time. Please, you promised to keep yourself at peace." James was pleading with Rebecca and Michael for an unknown reason. Why was he begging so hardly for there understanding? The next few days pa.s.sed in near silence and still neither Jack nor Elizabeth came around. The only way to tell the pa.s.sing of the time was by the meals that were brought. The silence cut deeply into Nadia's mind, she was waiting to speak, waiting for the understanding that James had. Mostly she wanted Rebecca to understand, they had been through so much together, why was she shying away now, when Nadia needed her the most?

Chapter 9.

It was an additional week before Elizabeth finally showed her face to the four of them. She came in and sat down silently on the chair located at the front of the room. At first n.o.body noticed her sitting there. Then Nadia moved her head, the first time since coming back, and looked at Elizabeth. Her gaze pierced Elizabeth and she had to look away. It was not that Nadia had killed someone that had Elizabeth on edge; it was the coldness in her eyes. Usually that did not happen until after the brainwas.h.i.+ng procedure, when there was no morals left in the cyborgs and they had become tools.

Nadia had changed so much from a few days ago, now she had let go of the remorse she had for killing Daniel, believing in what James had said, that is was due to the way she was trained, not her personality. In part Nadia blamed the voices in her head for telling her to hit Daniel in the first place. Elizabeth cleared her throat and the other three in the room took notice of her. They face the front of the room and waited for what she was going to say.

"As I am sure you all know by now, Nadia has killed one of our staff. While this is frowned upon this is the ultimate goal of the company: to bring all of you to an a.s.sa.s.sin level. Though we had wished that it had not been one of ours. It is of no use to dwell on it any further and I am here to let you know that we are moving on to the next limb replacement. For Michael and Rebecca we will be replacing your leg. For Nadia and James we will be doing your arm. We feel that continuing on in the process is the best choice for you at this moment. If there are no questions we are going to wheel you into the surgery room and begin right away." Elizabeth stood and opened the door to let in the staff that would escort them to the surgery room. Nadia was taken out first, then James, then Rebecca, ending with Michael.

The procedure went nearly the same as the first one save that they expected the pain and the gagging and so it was a bit of a lesser shock to their system. The surgery for Nadia and James went smoothly, nearly mirroring the first procedure in many ways, expect the limb replaced. They were put into the infirmary where they had been for the past several weeks. Their shoulders were covered by the bandaging and they strapped down to avoid having them wake up in a panic and damaging either themselves or the shoulder joint.

This time Nadia and James were kept on the drugs for a shorter time, adapting the machine shoulder joint to their body a lot faster then before. As they say practice make perfect, in this case, if you do it enough times the body will learn to react faster each time, as was the case with Nadia and James. The staff kept a close watch over them from morning till night to ensure that the moment they woke up they would be check out and if need be placed under again.

After two weeks of unconsciousness Nadia and James opened their eyes. The drugs still had their senses confused but their minds were slowly clearing up. They looked across the bed at each other and in their own way smiled with their eyes, since their facial muscles were still learning how to function once more. This time the pain was understandable, and though it hurt neither of them started to move around or thrash and thus did not need be put back under. It took a few hours before the anesthesia wore off and their minds finally cleared. They were not permitted to sit up, only to move their heads, which James and Nadia did so that they could talk to each other.

"Hey, James, I know I didn't get a chance to say this before, but thank you for believing in me. I know that it sounds corny but I thank you nonetheless. You know that I like you, right?" Nadia had limited her emotions long ago, but she had never stopped liking James. For James he just looked at Nadia for a moment before responding.

"Yeah, I like you to. We are partners till the end, no matter what. That I promise you, Nadia." The two of them smiled at each other, and their bond grew even stronger than before. Then a thought entered Nadia's mind and she eyed James.

"I wonder when Rebecca and Michael will wake up. I would have thought that they would have been as quick as us. Oh, well, I guess we will just have to wait a few days before we can find out. I hope that they get adapt to their legs as fast as we did. Maybe we can train together, that would be awesome." James nodded and moved his head to look at the ceiling.

"I hate having to wait around and do nothing. I would rather train, that's how bored I am."

"Wow, you must be really bored if you would rather train. My gosh, at least in recovery we don't have to see Jack or hear his smug retorts or listen to him talk to himself. I tell you he is weird and I would not be upset if I never saw him again."

"I agree." James was nodding, but continued to look at the ceiling. Nadia turned her head and the two of them lay there in silence thinking about different things.

Another few days went by and James and Nadia's joint was healing nicely and the limb connection process were off without a hitch. The staff told them that they would be able to sit up in a few more days, after the arm replacement had settled into the socket and the healing was a little further along. The nanites were certainly doing their work. By experiencing the same event again the nanites already knew what to heal and went to work.

"I still haven't heard any noise at all from either Rebecca or Michael. I guess there are healing a lot slower than we are. I would have thought that by now they would have at least woken up for a little while. But perhaps it is because their bodies were not used to the new surgery and need more time to adapt and heal." Nadia was facing James and he was trying to move so that he could try to see Michael or Rebecca, but he was not at a good angle to see much of anything.

"Yeah, you are right; but I am starting to get an uncomfortable feeling, a sort of gut feeling that something is not right." James gave up trying to see either of the other two and went back to facing Nadia instead.

"The more time goes on that I don't hear anything from them the more nervous I get." Nadia had been feeling the same way, but there was no way to see what was happening without sitting up. They would have to wait a few more days.

When the doctors finally cleared them to sit up they waited from them to leave the room and together they sat up at the same time. As soon as they were in viewing range of the other beds they were shocked at what they saw. The beds were empty and it looked like had been for a while. This was confusing to Nadia and James, for they were sure that Rebecca and Michael had gone into the surgery, yet here were their beds, empty.

"Where are they?" Nadia asked, though she knew that James did not know the answer. Sometimes it was better just to ask the question even though there was no immediate answer.

"I have no idea. Maybe we could ask one of the staff members."

"Like they would tell us, they are just paid to make sure we don't die or damage the machines they attached to us." Nadia was acting very pessimistic and James could tell that she was feeling nervous about the meaning of the empty beds.

"Well it never hurts to try, right?"

"I guess not, but you are the one asking."

"Fine, fine, I will ask." James waited until another staff member walked into the room and when they went to check on his stats he looked at him.

"So, kind sir, would you happen to know where the other two patients are that are supposed to be in this room?" The man eyed him suspiciously and continued to check the stats before making any reply.

"How should I know? You should ask your handlers, I believe Elizabeth was planning on dropping by tomorrow, ask her then instead of me now." And with that he left the room and proceeded down the hall.

"Well, at least we only have to wait a little way longer. I am pretty sure that Elizabeth will tell us what happened to Rebecca and Michael." James seemed to trust what the staff member had said but Nadia was still skeptical.

"Maybe, maybe not, the only way to find out is to ask Elizabeth tomorrow, I guess." For the rest of the day Nadia and James thought about all the possibilities of why Rebecca and Michael were not in the room with them, but avoided the one reason they didn't want to even consider to be true. The next day Elizabeth did pay them a visit and the moment that she entered the room Nadia and James sat up.

"Calm down you two, don't want to damage anything now do we?" James and Nadia slowed down and propped themselves up with care. Elizabeth sat down on the chair at the front of the room, but now only two pairs of eyes stared back at her.

"There are a few orders of business that I need to go over with you." Nadia was holding her breath without even realizing it, hoping to hear news about Rebecca.

"First things first, Jack will no longer be a part of this group, from here on forward I am the sole handler for you." Nadia did a silent shout for joy and she was sure that James was doing to same thing. Elizabeth was not smiling and Nadia and James turned back to face her. They had unknowingly glanced at each other in sheer joy. Little did they know that the joy was soon melt to despair from the following news that Elizabeth was about to reveal.

"That is not all, there is still a more important piece of information that I should tell you two about. It concerns your partner team, Rebecca and Michael." That statement quickly sobered Nadia and James right up, the gleam in their eyes dulled and they eyed Elizabeth with a spark of fear in their eyes.

"During the surgery Rebecca encountered some problems. We had known that she had a slight bleeding problem, but up until then it had not been a problem. The uterus removing surgery resulted in little blood loss. In the arm replacement surgery she had shown signs of the problem but we figured that it was not quite a big deal since we had stopped the bleed easily. This time however when the bleed started it would not stop. She bleed out on the surgical table, and subsequently died." That was a blow to Nadia; she gasped for air and felt the tears forming in the back of her eyes. It was such a shock, never had Nadia thought that Rebecca could or would die. She had thought that they were going to escape together, and be friends for the rest of their lives. As if that was not enough of a shock Elizabeth continued.

"Due to the fact that Rebecca died Michael had no one else to be his partner. We try to stagger the surgery rounds so with no partner Michael was required to be terminated in order to keep the numbers equal. He was injected with a poison and he died quickly. We tossed both Rebecca and Michael's bodies into the crematory. As of right now you two are the only ones in the special ops program, the farthest along out of the entire company and community housing developments. We need you two to continue on, and make it all the way. Please, for me, or if not me than the company, and it not for the company, for yourselves." Nadia had gone into denial mode and James could see it on her face. She was freaking out within which caused her to look completely calm on the outside. Elizabeth had not noticed it and after she had finished informing them of the incidents her reason to be there was completed. She got up to leave and closed the door behind her.

"James, James, oh my G.o.d! I can't believe. I refuse to believe it. How could that happen, she was here with us just a little while ago? I never got to ask her, does she think I am a horrible person, for killing Daniel. I wanted to know. I needed to know. Now she's dead, what am I going to do?" Nadia had held in her emotions until Elizabeth had left the room and now the tears flowed freely down her cheeks. James was in shock himself and was of little help to Nadia, though he tried to respond to her pleas.

"It happened, Nadia, there is nothing we could have done to prevent it. We need to let...it...go..." The tears were choking James and he was unable to continue talking. James knew that he needed to believe what he was saying as the truth, but he couldn't. James could not finish his thought because he himself did not believe it to be true. Nadia was holding her head in her hands and was sobbing.

The one constant person in Nadia's life since coming to this horrid place had been Rebecca. She had been the one to show her around, the first person to be her friend. The only one she could confide in for nearly three years and even after meeting James she had still been the number one person in her life. Now she was gone, forever and was never going to come back. Nadia thought to herself, 'how could she be gone in such a short time? Why did she have to go know? It was not her time.'

James was not going to cry, Nadia had done enough for the both of them, and instead he fed the anger within himself. When they got out of this place, he and Nadia were going to take care of some business with the company. If it had not been for them none of them would be in the state they were in. Nadia would not have become a cold, stoic, killer. Rebecca and Michael would not be dead, and he would not have felt such anger. It was all the company's fault and they would pay for it.

After a few hours of solid crying Nadia finally fell asleep, drained from crying so much. James remained awake for a while longer dwelling in his thoughts of anger and revenge. What was the best way to get at the whole company in one fell swoop? For most of the night James thought of only that and nothing else. The morning brought dried tears and scowls. Nadia had made a pact with herself to not cry anymore and James looked over at Nadia.

"I have a plan. I think you will find it worth while and satisfying." That piqued Nadia's interest and James spoke in low whispers his plan to take down the company and escape. Once free they would tell the world about what they had endure, what they had suffered. They would tell of the lives that had been lost, of Rebecca and of Michael.

"But how are we going to get out of here? I have been working on trying to figure out how to escape but even after nearly three years I am no further ahead in finding a way out than before." Nadia scowled and tried now to look at Rebecca's empty bed. James tried to look around, as though the answer to their escape was merely pained on the wall somewhere.

"I don't know, I just know that we need to get out of here before we are either lost in the eternal darkness of this company or we die. And I don't want to die here, I want to live out there, with you. I want to go back to life before, but more than anything I want people to know what happened here, what happened to Rebecca and Michael." James was clenching his fists, his anger nearly to the boiling point. Then a door opened and revealed Elizabeth and a small team of doctors.

"Alright you two, it is time for rehabilitation for your new arm to begin. You have been given enough time to heal properly so let's get a move on." With a small wave of her hand the team of doctors descended on Nadia and James. They poked and prodded and set about removing the IVs and other cords that would make getting out of bed difficult. All the while Elizabeth merely watched the two subjects with a harsh gaze. There was going to be no riff raff while she was in charge. Jack had been too rash and foolish when dealing with this partners.h.i.+p, which had been the reason why he had been injured by the girl. But now that Jack was recovering from his jump off the mental deep end, Elizabeth was in charge of the most progressive team in the company. Well that's what they say, one man's misfortune is another man's fortune, or something like that.

"Get up now, we are moving to the rehab room, but not the same one that you used before. That has no longer an acceptable room for working with you two." Elizabeth started down the hall, her heels clicking loudly, her gait not showing any hesitation as she led them to their new rehab room. Nadia and James followed closely behind, still reeling from the news of their friends, as well as their talk of escape.

"Now we are going to work on grip strength and mobility today. I want you to start by making a fist, as tightly as you can." Elizabeth motioned for a doctor to enter and had him walk around to monitor their progress. There was no way Elizabeth was going to get too close to either of them and risk another situation like with Daniel. Nadia and James tried to work on the task, but beyond moving their fingers minimally there was no way that they were going to be able to form fists today. But part of Nadia knew that Elizabeth already knew that.