The Collector

Sorby clipped his communicator back onto his belt. The museum guards had their orders and already the building was in full lockdown. Knowing where they were within the building, Sorby knew that Kobra, Jet and their female friend were still located somewhere in the building. It was merely a matter of finding them now.

Moving forward, Sorby pulled Ghoul onto his back, astonished to see him still breathing and without a mark on him. Turning a confused expression toward Evelyn, Sorby offered a questioning expression.

“How did you do that?” he asked.

Evelyn lifted the white gun still in her hand and pointed to the two small dials along the cocking section of the barrel.

“As a ‘thank you’ BLI gave me one of their newer weapons. It has adjustable power and spread. I had the laser on full spread and low power so it would hit his whole body and not burn him. The low power just knocked him out.”
“Interesting,” Sorby smiled appreciatively. “What do you want me to do with him?”
“I’d like you to put him in guest room one, next to mine.”
“Yes, Miss Hart.” Sorby nodded, calling for assistance. “Do you want a governor implanted in him?”
Evelyn smiled broadly. “Ah, Miles, what would I do without you?”
“Miss Hart?”
“No, not for Ghoul, just a collar and activate the perimeter, I think. But,” she smiled as she pulled a small remote control from her purse. “I know how we will find the others.”

Turning the dial half way, Evelyn smiled maliciously.

“All you need do now is ask your men to listen for the sound of Kobra in excruciating pain.”
“The governor?” Sorby smiled. “Of course. I’ll see to it at once.”

Leaning down, Sorby hauled the limp form of Fun Ghoul up onto his shoulder once more and headed from the exhibition room.

*

Still hiding in the spaces between the structural shell of the museum and the constructed ceilings, Kobra gasped, stumbling forward and dropping to one knee clutching the back of his neck. His face contorted in agony as the governor triggered waves of pain coursing initially down his spine, but within moments it was radiating into his limbs, head and abdomen. Wrapping his left arm across his waist and gripping tightly, Kobra now on both knees, curled over and rocked slightly, his eyes screwed up in agony.

“Kobra,” Jet whispered, alarmed at the sight of his now deathly pale friend trying his hardest to prevent screams of excruciating pain bursting from his lips. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Go…” his jaw clenched once more as another wave of agony washed over him. “G-governor… neck,” he gasped.
“She’s…” Jet’s eyes widened in horror at the realisation that an implanted governor was causing Kobra such immense pain. “Le… leave me,” he insisted with a vague wave of a hand. “Go.”
“We’re not leaving you, Kobra,” Jet insisted, casting a glance toward Red who vigorously nodded her agreement.

Jet searched his mind for some idea what could realistically be done. Kobra was unable to walk, or even be carried in his agony. Besides, the ceiling struts were managing to hold their weight if they moved individually on all fours to spread the load, but if he were to carry Kobra, their combined weight concentrated in one spot would almost certainly cause the ceiling to collapse. Short of continuing as they were, there seemed no way to continue and no way to stop the pain. He knew the younger man couldn’t remain silent much longer as the pain was already causing him to lose control.

Red’s face creased in distress as tears sprang to Kobra’s eyes as Evelyn turned the intensity up still further, causing him to collapse onto his side.

“She must be controlling the pain levels,” Red placed a hand on Jet’s arm. “I’m going to find her, I can stop her.”
“How?” Jet asked.
“With this if I have to,” she replied indicating her gun. “But I can take her down with minimum noise and I’ll find out what happened to Ghoul too.”

At their side, Kobra was now almost whimpering as the pain grew ever more intense and unmanageable. Every now and then, a stifled cry escaped his lips as a sharp, stabbing pain travelled into his head, leaving him gasping for breath.

“Sorry, Kobra,” Red frowned unfastening her right boot. “You’re going to attract attention if you keep making noise.”

Jet watched in surprise as she pulled out a small carefully wrapped package from which she removed a piece of material about the size of a sock and stuffed it into Kobra’s mouth.

“Don’t lose that!” she whispered quietly at Jet. “That’s important to me.”

He merely nodded in reply, cradling Kobra in his arms rocking him comfortingly as Red made her way back down the large duct once more.

“Hold on, Kobra,” Jet whispered. “I’m sure she’ll find her and stop the pain.”

Moving a few yards further back, Red slowly eased a panel back and peered through; the coast was clear. Lowering herself through the panel, pulling it back over as she settled herself hanging by her fingertips, she frowned at how far from the ground she still was. Swinging slightly, she prepared herself to drop as she swung forward. Letting go of the ceiling, she landed lightly rolling forward to take the shock of the landing off he ankles. Rising to her feet, thankfully without damage, she turned and looked up – the panel had slid back into place. Good. Taking note of her location, she headed down the corridor in the hope that it would take her in the direction of the Hart woman. She had known Kobra – Mikey – since she was five years old and they were both in the employ of BLI, after she assumed that he had also lost his family. He had been about nine or ten when they met and had acted as a mentor and, still keenly feeling the loss of her older brother, he had stepped into the role of protector to her. She knew he had an older brother and that they were close, although she had never met him – it was astonishing to her that she would meet him all these years later. Perhaps what was even stranger was how she felt – that kiss. That amazing kiss. She recalled feeling slightly annoyed with Ghoul for interrupting, and now felt guilty that it very likely prevented his escape. She desperately hoped it hadn’t cost his life. She had to find out what had happened to him.

Ducking into a room quickly as she heard footsteps, she watched as two security guards rushed past, clearly searching for them. She released a silent sigh of relief as they headed past the panel she had jumped through and continued down the corridor without stopping. It was then that another sound, a very distinctive sound, drew her attention. The slow click of high heeled shoes on the tiled floor told her that Hart was approaching. There was only one audible set of footsteps, but just to be certain, she waited until Evelyn had taken a few steps past the entrance before stepping out and bringing the side of her hand in a sharp, carefully aimed chop down on the base of her neck where it joined the shoulder. Immediately, Evelyn crumpled soundlessly and Red dragged her into the room in which she had hidden. As she fell, Red smiled as she heard a light clicking of something light and plastic bouncing on the tiles. Dumping Evelyn to the side without care, she checked the corridor once more before retrieving what she knew would be the remote for the governor in Kobra’s neck. She scowled angrily as she realised that the dial was already turned up to two-thirds full power. This woman was going to pay for making him suffer the way she had. Immediately, she turned the dial back down to zero and after removing the precious battery, crushed the device as quietly as possible under the heel of her boot.

*

Kobra sagged in Jet’s arms as the pain suddenly ceased and his tired aching muscles were released from holding in his agonised cries.

“Kobra?” Jet whispered, looking desperately for signs that his friend was still breathing.

Reaching up with a shaky hand, Kobra pulled the material from his mouth and suppressed a cough.

“If she’s shoved a sock in my mouth, I am going to kill her!” he muttered grumpily.
“So, kissing to killing is only a sock apart? So fickle!”
“A sock, Jet!” he whispered hoarsely, as he pushed himself slowly to his knees before dropping the material in Jet’s outstretched hand.
“Calm down!” Jet unfolded of what he now realised was a piece of a blanket. “It’s not a sock, it’s a…”

Stopping suddenly, Jet blanched and his mouth dried as he looked at the cloth in his hand before shoving it into his pocket.

“It’s a what?”
“Nothing,” Jet shook his head, inhaling deeply as he saw Kobra’s questioning expression. “It’s a piece of blanket.”
“Jet?” Kobra frowned; something had clearly disturbed him.
“Come on, can you walk? Crawl? We have to move.”
“I’m okay,” Kobra confirmed as he readied himself to head off. “But…”
“Let’s go.”

Kobra frowned again. Clearly Jet didn’t want to talk about what had happened, he could wait.

*

The Memory Chamber was a daunting sight and the draculoids holding Party in their firm grip had made sure of removing the hood over his head. Party looked around, initially searching for the exit but the door to the room had been cleverly hidden somehow. No doubt a trick to make people feel even more helpless than they already did. As a gun was forced painfully into his neck, Party prepared himself for his restraining cuffs to be removed. He knew they wouldn’t shoot him; they probably wouldn’t even knock him out – Korse wanted him awake; he was certain. But to his extreme annoyance, before his hands were freed, his ankles were fastened firmly to the table with a simple arrangement of straps and buckles. Even if he could fight them off, he couldn’t run. He couldn’t see their eyes behind their masks, but he was certain they were sneering at him. Just because he didn’t think he could escape, didn’t mean he wouldn’t try however.

The second the restraints were removed, Party lashed out, striking one of the draculoids sending him staggering backwards. The follow through of the angry punch unbalanced Party unexpectedly, not realising how automatically he would normally shift his feet, he swung his arm back to grab a hold of the table. Swinging his head to the right as he felt his arm being seized and dragged toward one of the restraints, Party grimaced and, using the draculoid’s hold on him, pulled himself back upright and swung a left hook. He huffed in frustration as his arm was caught mid-swing by the other draculoid returning after recovering from his first punch. Now with both men taking firm hold of his arms, and one already fastening the strap around his right wrist, he knew the fight was lost – for now.

Party could hear a light chuckle coming from inside one of the draculoid masks as they continued to fasten buckle after buckle. Finally certain that Party was unable to move, one of them reached up and lifted a previously unseen head piece that was pulled down onto Party’s head and clamped firmly to the table. He couldn’t see what it was but it felt like a ring of steel that completely encircled his forehead. It was perhaps lucky that he couldn’t see holes punched at regular intervals throughout the device, nor the long needles, poised around it, each attached to a glass vial containing one of a variety of coloured liquids. But, it was as if they could read his mind and, if only to exacerbate his fears, the table was suddenly tilted back to leave him horizontal. Above him, a mirror now positioned only about four feet above him, showed him his predicament in detail. Terrified of needles anyway, this was one of the cruellest situations he could find himself in and despite his best attempts to remain defiant, the expression in his eyes and the glistening of beads of sweat on his forehead gave him away.

Fear was an important factor of the memory removal process. It had been recognised for many years that long-term memory, sense of identity and primary emotional responses such as fear were all processed within the temporal lobe of the brain and that manipulating one would have an increased effect on the others. It had been a connection that BLI had taken advantage of on many occasions.

Once inside the Memory Chamber few ever emerged as little more than pliant BLI drones. Most of the time BLI didn’t care how the treatments affected the poor souls they destroyed but today was different. Today they had Party Poison and Korse had very specific plans for him.

By the time Korse walked into the Memory Chamber, the draculoids were just stepping back from the table upon which Party had been restrained. Looking down at his prisoner, Korse took his time, at first merely staring and smiling. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, but the smile of a man considering how cruel to be. How to inflict the most damage, the most suffering. Party looked up, his eyes reflecting the fear he felt. Losing his memories seemed worse than death. Korse had promised to return him to the museum, but he knew just from looking up into Korse’s eyes that he had no intention of doing that. Well, if he was going to lose his memories, or even die, he was going to get some answers first.

“Why did you change your name?” Party finally managed to force out, despite his fear.

Notes