Among Them: 03

On my seat I twitched, trying to hold the anxiety. She unplugged her screen from the bracelet and put it over the table. A file with x-rays images, performance graphics and a detailed layout of a human body were all piled up together, making it hard for me to understand what it all meant. The data seemed to be a health evaluation about the Officer herself. In all the pages it had her name followed by dates and percentages.

As the images settled on my mind I started to understand where she was going. The BFS was a leadership project to create super agents to operate on high profile Force missions. These soldiers were trained on espionage, infiltration and advanced combat methods. They were pawns created to take down concurrent cities, corporations and to desmetal rebellions from within. What I learned about them was very little and all based on reports from people either banned from working for the City or exiled by the Leadership. However, all the stories said similar things about the objective and secrecy of the project. The Bionic Soldiers were selected from young cadets who received special training and gene therapy to endure the treatment. As for their objective, it was solely to destroy any threats to Tier-1, external or domestic.

- I was sixteen when I joined the Force. - behind the holograms, with her eyes down, the Officer was making circles on the border of her glass. - I was excited to serve my city and show them my best. It was a dream come true and I thought I was ready for it. - she paused and her hand did the same. - Turns out being athletic wasn't enough.

Leaned back with my arms crossed in front of my body, I watched her. My curiosity was over the roof with that story about the BFS coming straight from the source. However her tone was very intimate which made me think about how important those memories were. What it meant for her to share top secret information, and most importantly, private moments of her life with me?

- Training and studies consumed all my time, from morning to night, week day to weekends. I wasn't good at social activities so I thought maybe if I turned out to be a good soldier I would help people and then I'd finally be "social". - an awkward smile interrupted her flow. Discreetly, I was induced to do the same.

- I know it doesn't make much sense but that's what I believed in for… a good part of my life. - for a second she looked up at me but as she noticed I was watching her, she turned back to the glass of coke.

- Anyways, two years later I graduated top of my class and I thought it was at last time to live, when my Sargent told me to go to a meeting on the day after graduation. - deep in thought, she lightly touched her upper lip. - I didn't even get the chance to talk to the girl I liked… - the more I heard the more uncomfortable my seat became.

- Before I knew it, I was on a new program under the supervision of the City Lab and the Special Force. Two more years of classrooms, advanced training, special diets, periodic exams and a lot, A LOT of tests…

- Officer… - unexpectedly, even for me, I interrupted her. - If this is too painful for you to talk about you don't have to. Not for me. - the last thing I wanted was to make someone remember stuff they would rather forget.

- You see, even though it was hard and time consuming, those are the accomplishments I'm most proud of in my life. - taking her hand away from her face, she made eye contact with me. - My dad was II Sargent of Operations in the middle tier. - this time I was the one to look away. - He served 20 years in the Force... and died at the age of 36.

In my mouth, saliva turned into rocks that I struggled to swallow. I knew how intense her feelings were but I couldn't tell what exactly she was feeling. If a moment before I was ready to stop her, that had passed and my only reaction was to tighten the grip around my biceps.

- My dad was killed in an incursion to the lower tier. - her eyes weighed a thousand kilos, dragging her posture down and making me fluster in my skin. - Two kids got trapped in a store between the open fire. His unit was ready to launch a gas bomb when he saw the small child knocking on the glass… - if once I was watching her closely, at that point I couldn't stand to bring my eyes up. I focused on her finger. She had been rubbing it against the counter while talking.

- He gave his helmet to one of them and the antidote to the other. - her finger stopped. I followed her arm with my eyes until I met with her green lagoons again. They dragged me in and I noticed a trace of bright blue that made me shriver. - I never dreamed of being anything else, so when they offered me the chance to be "better", I took it.

The longer she looked at me, the further I felt her gaze penetrating my soul. I was empty of emotions and words. We stayed there quietly staring at one another till the point I couldn't do it anymore and looked away.

- I know my father was an exception. - I raised my eyes, she had lifted herself from her seat. - And all I want is to be like him, even if I don't remember what he looked like.

Everything was spinning and my head was clouded. The conflicts inside me were too great for that apartment. I wasn't sure what to make of all that. Was she with us or with them? Would she leave the one thing that defined her to save some random old woman and a wanted hacker? She probably had already made these questions herself, had she reached any conclusions? An enormous restlessness dominated me amplified by the quietness of the place.

- I need to go somewhere. - I stood up, turning my back at her without making eye contact.

- You can't-

She choked in her own words. I wasn't the one being hunted and I knew how to take care of myself on the streets. We both knew all of that and that was probably the reason why she didn't say anything else. Still, I walked away feeling the crushing load of her eyes on my neck.

- Don't worry, Officer, I'll be back in a while with something to eat.