Control

The doctor had Lorraine take Ren's shirt off as Ren was in too much pain to move much. She found it almost impossible to do this without Ren's cooperation, however. She decided to grab what looked to be a sharp knife from the doctor's tray of tools and cut Ren's shirt off.

When she pulled the shirt off of Ren she noticed that a patch of skin turned the color of white plastic on Ren's right side.

"Doctor, what in the world is this?" Lorraine asked worriedly.

"I've never seen that before. I have an idea, but still need to take some visuals with this device here," the doctor replied.

The doctor proceeded to set the device up over Ren. As he was doing so, Ms. Croft and Eric entered.

"How did you two find us?" Lorraine questioned.

"Ms. Carter lead us to your position here," Ms. Croft explained. "Anyway, that's not important. What happened to him?"

"I don't know, that's what the doctor's trying to figure out."

All three sat back as they watched the doctor take notes when looking at the monitor and take pictures of the inside of Ren's body.

After around ten minutes of waiting, the doctor finally had an answer for them, "I'm afraid it is as I thought. From what I observed, he has 100% compatibility, correct?"

"Correct," Ms. Croft responded.

"He is the only one that I know with that compatibility rate, but that is the sole reason he has this problem. It turns out that the core is slowly merging with his body. It is a very painful process. There is high probability that it may also attempt to influence his brain."

All three listened but didn't like what they were hearing.

"What will happen if it does?" Lorraine blurted out.

"It may try to slowly take over his conscious by influencing his thoughts."

"So you're saying that the core has a mind of its own?" Eric clarified.

"In a way, yes."

"I don't understand." Lorraine grumbled.

"The core was originally invented a by someone named Leonard Molinari. He said that the core naturally seeks destruction and so strengthens the host as long as the host trains or takes on damage. He warned that this sort of thing may happen to someone, like this man here, with 100% compatibility. We haven't had to worry though since no one seemed to have that capability, until now."

"What do you suggest we do?" Lorraine asked.

"Unfortunately, there is nothing that I can give him to try and stop the core from merging. It's going to take time. I suggest that you keep him from engaging in any stressful situations that may trigger multiple feelings, especially the negative ones. If that happens, that will increase the chance of him losing control."

All three looked back at Ren. You couldn't see his face because of the mask but he was breathing heavily and groaning from time to time. His body was also covered in sweat.

"I don't know how long it will take," the doctor continued, "but he's going to have to go through hell and back in order to pull through."

Eric and Lorraine hoisted Ren off of the table and started to head out of the room.

"Wait," Ren heaved. "Doctor... do you know anything... about... the white light?"

The doctor was surprised at this, then answered, "Find Leonard Molinari. He can tell you."

Ren breathed painfully before glaring at the doctor with his green eyes, "Thanks for your help doctor, but don't let me catch you in another facility like this... or I will kill you."

"Take your friends with you too." added Ms. Croft.

After this was said, they all exited the room with Ren and made their way back to the van where Ms. Carter was stationed.

They arrived at the van about twenty minutes later, Ren groaning in pain the entire way. They hoisted him into the van and carefully laid him on the floor.

"You alright Ms. Carter?" asked Ms. Croft.

"Yes, but don't worry about me. Let's hurry and get him to a hotel or something."

They all climbed into the van and headed out of the facility.

They drove for about an hour while Ms. Carter made a reservation for a nearby hotel.

At the hotel, Ms. Carter checked them in while the rest carried Ren up to their rooms. Many people gave them weird looks as Ren was still wearing the mask.

Ms. Carter reserved three rooms. All of them had two beds against the left wall, a television on the opposite wall and further down was the bathroom with a shower.

They laid Ren down on the bed furthermost from the door. After they locked the door and made sure no one was going to see Ren's face, they removed the mask to reveal his face, which was now twisted in pain.

They all gathered around Ren as he continued to groan in pain.

"Do you think he'll make it?" asked Lorraine.

"He's been through hell before. Maybe, he can do it again." Ms. Croft answered hopefully.

"We should give him his space," Eric suggested.

They all agreed. They decided to figure out which rooms should go to whom. They decided that Ms. Croft and Ms. Carter would get one room, while Eric got the other. Lorraine insisted on staying with Ren.

"If you want, you could sleep in the extra bed in my room," Eric offered. "It may be hard to sleep if he's groaning like that all the time."

Lorraine smiled, "Ok, thanks."

They all dispersed to their rooms and settled in. Ms. Croft decided to go out and find some food to eat while Ms. Carter went through the information she acquired from the facility in Nevada.

Eric decided to take a nap and Lorraine stayed with Ren.

She took a towel, got in wet using the sink, then placed it on Ren's forehead in an attempt to cool him down.

"You have to make it, Ren," she whispered.