You Could Have Given Me a Warning

(1) Target #0052

"I thought I told you to stay in the car, Damien. Go back," I whisper-yelled, annoyed.

"I know, I know, but I wanted to see what was going on," he said. He crouched next to me behind the bush as I stared into the restaurant with my binoculars.

"Go back to the car," I whispered again, more sternly. I looked away from my binoculars to look at him with an intense stare, and he got the message and left. I sighed and looked back through the binoculars.

"Target spotted," I said into my earpiece as I spotted the man I was looking for. He was dressed way too nice for a Denny's, I mean who would wear a suit to such a place?

"Target's approaching," Gemma said to me through the earpiece. She was sitting at a booth near the window, reading a menu. 

"Hey, there... yes that is me... John Gusman was it?..... Nice to meet you..." I listened to Gemma work her magic through the earpiece, and within a matter of seconds, Gemma had him outside and approaching my position. She had him linked to her elbow and they passed me, John not suspecting a thing. I turned to watch them continue walking and got my blow dart gun ready. Naturally, I hit him exactly where I had wanted to. He turned around as he felt the pain to see me wave at him manically. He fell over and I ran up to catch him, and so did Gemma.

"That was awfully dramatic, Lina," Gemma said as we worked together to carry John to the car without looking suspicious. Luckily, Damien used what he had left of his brain to drive up closer and get out of the car to help. Together, we shoved John into the backseat next to Gemma, and I sat in the passenger seat and let Damien drive.

"Ya know, this would work better if you let me help out with the missions," Damien said as he drove out of the parking lot.

"Yeah, but you still have way too many things to learn before I give you responsibilities," I said, trying to be condescending but it just ended up sounding mature. Gross.

"Stop being hard on him, he won't learn if you don't let him do things!" Gemma said from the back.

"I know, I know," I muttered and the rest of the car ride was silent as Gemma was filling out paperwork regarding the target.

When we arrived at headquarters, Damien drove us through the back way where there was a gurney waiting for our arrival. Together, we lifted John out of the car and onto the gurney.

We rolled him into one of the cells and placed him onto the bed. I locked the door and hung the key on the hook that matched the cell number.

"Let me out, let me out!" a prisoner yelled from next to John's cell.

"Then tell us what we need to know, Peter!" Gemma yelled.

"Never," Peter scoffed. Then he growled for some odd reason and we started cracking up.

"Then you won't get what you want. You'll get much worse," Gemma said, getting serious for a second which startled me, quite frankly.

"When's his surgery?" Damien whispered in my ear. Instead of replying, I smacked the back of his head.

"He could've heard you, idiot," I whispered loudly. Peter silently shook the bars on his cell as we walked down the hallway next to each other, me in the middle.

"So, looks like John is Patient #0052 and will start his trial tomorrow," I said after reading his file we had created the day before and the notes Gemma made during the car ride.

"What's he being tested for?" Damien asked.

"Not your business," Gemma and I said in unison. We both didn't want to have him around because it felt like babysitting, but he was the Boss's son and he needed to train or something. Gemma tended to act nicer around him, but she complained about him when we were alone. He really really slowed us down.

"Okay, Gemma and I have a meeting, but it looks like you're on janitor duty for the hour," I said to Damien once we reached the end of the hall. He sighed and walked away.

"Are we too mean to him?" Gemma asked me, but I shook my head. She handed me the file on patient #0052, so I looked it over as we walked.

"This is how we've always been treated. Just because he's the son of our boss does not mean he should be treated better," I said coldly and opened the door to our boss's office, allowing Gemma to go first. I followed her in and took a seat.

"So you got the person I wanted?" our boss said, placing her hands on her desk and staring at them. She had a little bit of trouble with eye contact, but it did not make her any less intimidating.

"John Gusman, age 27. A businessman. We used a business pitch at a local restaurant to lure him in. He's got a suitable body for any Class C through H test, and I know we need a subject for test G so that's where we've scheduled him," I said to her as I looked through the file I was holding. Having something to look at helped my anxiety; I always got super nervous about disappointing her so I always made sure I had something to grip onto.

"Ah, I see. That test is tomorrow, is it?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied, looking up from the file. 

"Any other targets you want us to look for?" Gemma asked. Our boss was a huge fan of Gemma's, which I was always jealous of.

"I've got another thing for you to do, actually. There's a trial B test going on very soon, it is patient #0046's first experiment.  I want you both to observe and come back here after," our boss said.

"Are you sure? We've never witnessed an experiment before," Gemma asked.

"Yes. We're... quite understaffed at the moment. Plus, I think it would be good for both of you."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Nope," our boss said as she waved her arm towards the door, signaling to us that it's time to leave. We stood up and I held the door open for Gemma and I followed her down the hallway to the experimental sector. She walked very fast, so I ended up following her often.

When we got to the surgery room, we typed in the keycode and went inside. There, we saw the patient unconscious, laying on a table. A doctor was standing over the patient holding a tube of what looked like lava.

"What's that?" I asked him.

"You know what the B sector is, don't you? Take a guess," the doctor said as grabbed a syringe and pulled some of the lava-like substance into the syringe. He kind of creeped me out, the doctor's mask blocked his mouth so all we could see were his tense focused scrunched up eyes and I didn't like it.

"Are you putting that in his blood?" Gemma asked.

"Not all of it. I've been developing this chemical for months. Don't want it to go to waste."

"Okay..."

"Are you two ready? I am going to begin the process," the doctor said and then began without waiting for an answer. I winced at the scene because I truly was not ready for what came next.