Chapter 08
"Hey Isaiah" Tom sat down beside the bespectacled computer whiz "whatcha doin?" it was late morning, which started after early morning ended.
"I am calibrating a set of neural nano-processing device that I designed, it comes with its own memory drive of about 4TB, audio and video transmission, and even...." Isaiah paused his excited explanation when he saw Tom's face "... I'm making a tiny computer split into tinier parts that can be attached to the human nervous system, making a person a computer" he dumbed it down; lamenting his own intellectual superiority
"oh... cool" Tom's response was flat "listen, these concussive pads on by back...you said that they were designed to be used by soldiers offensively"
"yeah; I did say that" hearing about the pads plunged Isaiah's mood down the drain "a weapon to be used by soldiers to save their lives; and look how it was turned on me"
"Dude; Let. It. Go." Tom pleaded
"how can you let it go so easily?" Isaiah demanded "your own body was turned against you"
"because I get where he's coming from" Tom exasperated "when I was a kid and I accidentally let the family dog loose and it ran away, I was lambasted for a week by my brothers, slapped across the face by my dad, and called a disappointment by my mom"
"dude" Isaiah's eyes were wide as saucers "that's abuse, you were abused as a kid"
"my point is..." Tom evaded Isaiah's concern for his mental health "I understand taking drastic measures to prevent things going wrong, especially when the stakes are this high; you get me?"
"...I guess" Isaiah admitted "still not okay though"
"No, it's not" tom agreed "Now, back to my question, can you teach me how to use the concussive pads as you intended for me to use them?"
Isaiah gave Tom a toothy grin "of course"
"great" tom jumped to his feet "let's start"
"whoa, whoa whoa" Isaiah waved his arms in front of tom's face "hol up, you mean like, right now?"
"of course," Tom grinned "when else?"
"later" Isaiah explained "when I'm done with my work"
"all work and no play will make you a dull boy" tom poked Isaiah's shoulder "come on"
"evening" Isaiah promised "lemme finish my work"
"...Fiinee" Tom groaned as he walked away; having nothing better to do, Tom headed to the gym to see Katie punching and kicking a sandbag.
"Hey" she nodded at Tom who simply nodded back. "wanna spar?"
Tom stood very still for a moment before grinning "sure" Tom needed to figure out a way to subdue Katie before he escaped, he couldn't afford to hurt someone with an influential godfather. Another spar could give him some more minuscule insight into her.
Tom walked onto the mat, taking off his shirt, "one fall, or boundary" his opponent declared as she stood opposite him.
"okay", Tom agreed, taking a step to the right; and immediately, Katie was upon him.
"shit" Tom panicked, but his mind didn't blank out as he threw out a punch. Due to his new enhancements, and practice with Doc and Paloma, Tom was faster than the average athlete.
But so was Katie, and she had also been studying Tom during all of his training and had the advantage of foresight and initiative. Katie grabbed Tom's arm as it flew past where she had stood a moment ago, she twisted it and slammed the base of her palm against Tom's elbow.
Such a move would've been enough to break the elbow of most men, but Tom only felt a sharp spasming pain, shaking it off, Tom twisted his arm, slipping it around Katie's neck, Tom reared her back, pulling her head down and backwards to his own waist.
Katie didn't falter for a bit, with a jump she flipped, using her locked neck as an axis she pivoted her entire body over Tom's right shoulder and out of his grasp.
Slamming his left palm into his right fist, Tom pushed back his elbow to drive it into Katie's gut; but before Tom had even pushed out his elbow past his own torso, Katie had twisted aside and low, slapping the back of her wrist against the back of Tom's knee, making the man fall to his back.
"I win!" Katie declared happily, even all of Tom's enhancements couldn't make up for pure, actual training; Katie felt like this knowledge bought her a certain level of validation.
"you are too damn good" Tom admitted as he sat up, he now knew that if he wanted to take Katie out of the equation, he'd have to do it before he even attempted to escape.
"I see that you've been practicing as well" Katie pulled Tom to his feet. If Tom got even a little bit of self training done, Katie might not be able to subdue him when needed, but she also knew that with doc's concussive pads, she might not even have to.
"yeah..." Tom admitted "wanna go for round two?"
"maybe later" Katie rejected his offer "I have to go prepare my weekly report to submit to my bosses.
"maybe next time" Tom suggested as he bid Katie farewell. Tom then went on to pump weight all by himself.
XXXXXXX
Knock! Knock!
"Enter" Doc spoke up, eyeing the door as it opened to reveal Katie.
"you called?" Katie asked her mentor as she plopped down on one of the chairs.
"I did" Doc got up from behind his desk and went to his liquor cabinet.
"should you really be drinking alcohol in your condition?" Katie questioned Doc.
"it's not as if the alcohol can kill me any faster!" Doc laughed as he poured a drink for himself and Katie, handing her the glass, Doc sat down on the plush leather chair opposite Katie.
"I heard a disturbing conversation today" doc began the conversation "I heard Tom and Isaiah discussing how Isaiah could teach Tom to harness the power of the concussive pads for his own use"
"oh?" Katie raised an eyebrow "how is that a matter of concern?"
"what are your views about this?" Doc leaned forward; Katie had a completely different outlook on the world compared to Doc, due to their different backgrounds; her insights had always been helpful to doc during his times of confusion and emotion.
"I understand that you've built a master switch into those concussive pads" she paused to allow Doc to acknowledge her statement "so no matter how well he can control those pads, your master switch will still push him down when switched on"
Doc smiled at Katie, it was a soft smile, one that was birthed by a mixture of love and pride; it was the smile of happiness and care. "you, Katie are much smarter than people initially perceive you to be"
"that has always been my greatest asset" Katie laughed, being underestimated had always brought its fair share of advantages to her.
"you are right in your theory and hypothesis" Doc praised his closest friend "but there is an unknown quantity at play here"
"what?"
"willpower" Doc revealed "when it comes to the human body, the will to fight is an unknown quantity of utmost importance"
Katie nodded in understanding, as a lifelong athlete, she understood the effect of willpower in a fight.
"I connected the concussive pads to Mr. Cassidy's muscles and nerve endings as per Isaiah's design; but now I've come to realise that I've given Mr. Cassidy more control over those pads than I would like"
"so, you believe that he's going to try to escape?" Katie gulped down her drink.
"with every fibre of my being" Doc reaffirmed.
"alright then" Katie stood up "we'll let you, Tom and Isaiah officially make peace tomorrow; but instead of directly talking to Isiah, I'll first convince Paloma that Tom has some shadiness in his past; let her drop it to Isaiah"
"alright" Doc agreed "I'll inform Tom tomorrow that he'll be out of here in a few more days, get his hopes up and distract him from the pads"
"fantastic" Katie saluted Doc "Good Night!" and thus she took her leave.
XXXXXXX
It was mid-morning the next day when everyone in the base coincidentally met for breakfast.
"hey" Tom greeted everyone
"good morning" Doc responded
"morning everybody" Paloma was in high spirits after beating her personal record on the track field
"morning" Katie was happy to head to town today as it was getting rarer for even her to venture out of the base
"ungh" Isaiah grunted, having had a night of fitful sleep; he sat down between Tom and Katie, placing Tom between Isaiah and Doc, also known as a rock and a hard place.
"So; Tom!" Katie's voice rose a few octaves as she poured cereal in a bowl "what's up?" she 'casually' asked her colleague about what was going on in his life.
"not much" Tom spoke with a mouthful of bacon "the days just started" he was rewarded with a swift kick to the shin from Paloma who sat opposite him.
Glaring at the two girls, Tom turned to Doc "y'know I've been thinking a lot about what has transpired between you and me these last few days"
"have you now?" Doc gave Tom an opening to continue the conversation.
"what are you? A high school prom queen?" Paloma asked Tom mentally, and then mentally laughed at her own scathing remark "I'm so funny"
"yes... yes, I have" Tom continued "after a lot of thought and reflection, I guess... I guess I understand where you're coming from"
"you do?" doc tried to add a hint of emotion to his voice to look vulnerable, but it came of woody to everyone else.
"I do" Tom reaffirmed, praising himself in his mind for masking Doc's bad dialogue delivery by keeping the conversation flowing. "your hands were tied, as were Katie's" he gestured towards the raven-haired woman "you were given orders and you followed through, without letting your personal opinion get in the way" everyone stared at him awkwardly, unsure of what to make of that statement.
"I guess what I mean to say is..." Tom backtracked "I understand"
"so; you forgive us?" Katie prompted Tom to say the words to motivate Isaiah
"there's nothing to forgive" Tom made what seemed like a glorious save in his head "how can I forgive you for something you're not responsible for?"
"eh! Could've gone worse" Katie consoled herself. The kitchenette went silent, with only the sound of eating as everyone not-so-discreetly eyed Isaiah, who was concentrating completely on his pancakes.
A couple minutes passed as nobody talked and everybody ate and stared at Isaiah; finally, Isaiah looked up from his gaze moved past Tom and met Doc's eyes "we're good" was all the black man said before turning back to his pancakes.
Nobody said anything more, everyone contently eating their breakfast, happy that things were back to normal. Bit by bit, conversation started flowing as people finished their breakfast.
"hey, watcha guys doing today?" Tom asked the group "doc says I don't have any tests today, so I'm free"
"I'm attending an online lecture on cryosurgery" Paloma replied.
"I'm working on my neural nano-processing device" Isaiah added
"haven't you figured out a name for it yet?" Paloma turned to Isaiah
"I'm confused between Mind Eye and Mind Link" Isaiah admitted
"horrible names, both of them" Doc shook his head.
"what about you Katie?" Tom turned to said girl.
"oh, I'm headed to town to buy supplies for the base" Katie shook her head
"oh cool; Can I come?" Tom's question made everyone turn to Doc.
A moment of tense silence passed in the room followed by Doc's answer "sure"