New Motivation

Ren stared blankly at the file. "My parents are... dead?" Ren closed the file and put it back into the file cabinet where he found it. After pushing the door back into the file cabinet, he sat in one of the chairs in front of Dr. Donavin's desk and sat still while in absolute shock.

The Doctor and Sergeant Adams both walked back into the office shortly after Ren sat down.

"Well, the gas has been taken care of, but I'm sorry Ren, your questions will have to wait for some other time. I have a pretty serious problem I have to deal with now," sighed Dr. Donavin.

"Let's go Lennon," ordered Adams.

Ren stood and Adams led him out of the lab back into the elevator and head down towards the bridge.

"If you want food, now would be the time to grab it," advised the Sergeant. "I'm not going to let you out again until tomorrow morning."

"That's ok, Sir. I'm not hungry," Ren replied.

Adams noticed the somewhat sad and disappointed tone in which Ren answered. Adams guessed it was because he would have to wait for the answers to his questions. Adams was pretty disappointed as well, he wanted to hear the answers to those questions.

After Adams had locked Ren in his room, Ren sat down on his bed. Tears began to form in his eyes and slowly trickle down his face.

"Mom... Dad..." The tears began to stream down his face as he couldn't hold them in any longer. Ren was absolutely miserable. His friends were gone, and now his parents. He was completely alone. The life he wanted to live was stolen from him.

Slowly, his sadness turned into absolute hatred. It wasn't his fault that his parents were dead. He didn't kill them.

"It was a mistake to give me this core," said Ren through gritted teeth. "I can fight back now. I'm going to use the very power they gave me to put those bastards in the ground. I'M GOING TO MAKE THEM REGRET MESSING WITH ME AND MY LIFE!!" Ren smiled at the thought of himself tearing the Commander and everyone on his side into pieces.

Meanwhile in the Commander's office...

"You wanted to see me Doctor?"

"Yes Sir", muttered Dr. Donavin. "We have a little problem regarding the brainwashing drug."

"What!" The Commander's mood switched violently.

"There was a problem with the mixture. We are not sure if someone mixed in the wrong amount of a certain ingrediant, or added one they weren't supposed to. It is going to take time to analyze and correct before we can start moving forward again."

"How long?"

"It is going to take another estimated 2 months to get everything situated."

"Doctor, that is unacceptable. I want everything fixed in one month, you got that!"

"Sir, I don't..."

"No acceptions Doctor! I need that drug!"

"Yes sir, I'll do my best." The doctor turned and walked out of the office.

The next morning Alex and Sergeant Buckley were already ready to go for the next run. Alex waved at Ren and Ren returned a weak smile in return.

Alex noticed something different about Ren. He was usually more cheery. This morning, though, Ren had a determined look on his face.

After they had looped the rope around their wastes, they were ready to start.

"Alright, start," ordered Adams. Before Adams had even finished his sentence, Ren took off, snapping the rope tied to the ATV. Both Adams and Buckley were awestruck as Ren shot off onto the path into the woods.

"Quick, we have to catch up!"

"No, you go the same pace as you do with Alex. I'll go after Lennon!" snapped Sergeant Adams. Sergeant sped ahead in order to try and catch up to Ren. It took 5 minutes in order to catch Ren.

"What to you think your doing Soldier!" yelled Adams.

Still focused on the trail ahead, Ren answered in between breaths, "Sir.., if you... don't mind... I'm going to go... my own pace... from now on."

"Was he holding back this whole time, or is it something else?" wondered Adams as he looked at Ren and his green eyes that flashed in determination.

The trail that wrapped around the facility usually took 3 hours to run the entire thing. Ren finished it in only 2 and a half hours. When he finished, he still had energy left. He told the Sergeant that he was going to run a bit more. Adams looked a bit concerned, and shocked at the same time, but he allowed it.

Sergeant Adams followed Ren, who was leaving a dust trail in his wake. Around 2 hours later, he wrapped around the trail again, drenched in sweat. He caught his breath, then began to walk back towards the East building in order to eat some food and see if Alex was still there.

"Damn, he actually sped up," marveled Adams as he watched Ren walk back.

Ren arrived at the food court, but regretably couldn't find Alex. Ren figured he was asleep, trying to recover. Ren finished his food, and met up with Adams who escorted him back to his room.

After Adams locked the door and walked away, Ren turned on the sink to wash his face. He noticed for the first time that his legs had some tone to them now. His upper body, however, was a different story.

"I better start focusing on my entire body," thought Ren. "I've got loads of free time. I better start putting that time to good use." Ren got on the floor and started doing push ups until he couldn't do any more. He then switched to crunches, and any other exercises he could think of, and did as many reps as he could until he failed.

While Ren was doing this, Sergeant Adams was watching him in the surveillence room. "It looks like I'm going to have to make a call."