[HEADING=1]Chapter 2[/HEADING]
Over the next few days, Nikolai would drift in and out of consciousness. Even when he was awake, he was hardly lucid. His vision was so blurred he couldn't even make out faces that were only a few inches from his, and sounds appeared to be coming from very far away. He barely even had the strength to lift his own arm, and when he did, someone would only force it back down again. Visions and faint sensations drifted past. At times he felt like he was being carried inside the belly of a Metal Beast, and at other times he thought that he may have just been floating, lost somewhere. Was any of this even real, or were these sensation just the faint deliriums of a decaying mind, desperately trying to cling on to some kind of consciousness. He tried, through dry throat and cracked lips, to make some kind of sound, to connect with something or someone on the other side of the veil he was trapped behind. He could not tell if any noise escaped him, and even then, no response found its way back.
Eventually, on the sixth, or perhaps the seventh time he woke, he was able to make out some level of detail. He looked to be in some kind of bunker, lying on his back. The walls and ceiling were whitewashed concrete, and there were no windows that Nikolai could make out. The bright light directly over him seared behind his eyes, while all around him the sound of beeps and hisses. Machines that appeared to be connected to him, monitoring him. A tube was in his mouth, reaching all the way down his throat. As soon as he became aware of this, he gagged violently, bringing his hands up to his face and trying to tear out this invader. Before he could do so, Nikolai was set upon by a group of Men, all of them big and strong looking, but it still took at least five of them to hold him still in his panicked state, while another removed the tube for him. Once in was out, Nikolai spluttered and gulped in air, trying again to throw off the Men retraining him, as they all shouted at him in voices he couldn't make out. There were more tubes in his arms, and across his chest. Nikolai couldn't understand what was being done to him. Who were these people? Why wouldn't they let him go?
"Be calm!" Those two words cut through him frenzied distress and found their way into Nikolai's consciousness. He couldn't see who had said it. The voice was soft, musical even, and yet it carried such wait and authority. Nikolai paused, still tense, his chest rising and falling rapidly, as the owner of the voice stepped into view.
It was a female, dark skinned, like that of the Impi Warriors who had lived underground in the deep places. he eyes were even darker, close set in deep sockets. Warm, yet piercing. Her black hair was cut short beneath a red beret. She was tall and toned, wearing a faded grey vest and camouflage trousers. By far her most distinguished feature was her left arm, or rather her lack of it. In it's place, starting not far above the elbow, was a metal prosthetic. The design was crude, grisly even, and yet so intricate Nikolai couldn't help but be mesmerized by it. There was no attempt to imitate a layer of skin, and so the skeletal framework and internal workings were laid bare. The arm was an incredibly complex design. More than just a model for cosmetic purposes, the metal appeared to have been fused onto, and into, her remaining flesh, with an array of wires, springs and gears that traveled all the way up inside the stump of her bicep, connecting to her organic muscle and nerves. The female moved the arm upwards, and scratched underneath her chin with the same deftness that anyone wielded their natural extremities with. The only real distinction in functionality to a real arm was her hand. Instead of four fingers and a thumb, there was one stubby, opposed digit, with three spindly, elongated fingers, each almost twice the length of the hand itself. At the end of each finger was a Raptor's talon. Recreated in black steel. the talons were over-sized, curved, gleaming. One look was enough to tell that they were razor sharp.
"You were very sick when my Songbirds found you." She told him, reaching out with her organic arm, and caressing his bald scalp. Nikolai flinched from her touch at first, but she didn't appear to mean him any harm. She smiled at him sweetly.
"You're safe now, along with your friends." she went on "We've given you clean water, and the medicine you need. However, some wounds do not heal so easily..."
Nikolai followed her gaze, down his body and passed his waist. All the way down to the leg that had been mauled by the Alpha Wolf.
The leg that was no longer there.
Nikolai gave a low, haunting howl. No words in particular, simply one long expression of anguish and despair. A cold metal finger rested on his lips, and the female drew her face closer, her eyes staring deep into his.
"There was no saving it, but there's no need to cry. If you lie still for me, I can make it better. I can make you better."
Another Man appeared behind her, wearing thick, leather overalls. His face was concealed by an iron mask, and in his hand, a blowtorch ignited.
"No!" Nikolai exclaimed, his voice high and panicked. Inside his head he could hear the screaming again. "Please, no!"
"Shhhh, it alright." the female told him, and somehow Nikolai was no longer inclined to struggle. With her human fingers she caressed his bare torso, lightly brushing every twisted, ugly scar.
"How many times they must have hurt you..." she wondered aloud "They cut you open, and burned you shut. Again and again and again... and now you shrink from fire."
She looked into his eyes again, and Nikolai looked back into hers. What he saw there was utter conviction. Conviction in something that lay far out side of this room. Something fundamental, something untouchable...
"It was Men that hurt you, not the fire." she told him "The fire was beyond them. It had a purpose beyond their plans. Fire is an cosmic instrument, a way the universe changes our destiny. When they used the fire, it was both less than them, and so much more at the same time. This time, the fire will heal you. Do you understand?"
Nikolai wasn't sure that he did, yet something about her made him stop resisting anyway.
"Lie back now," she said "and be ready to be reborn in fire again."
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The past three days since the arrival of the Executives had gone relatively smoothly, Lee reflected, as he poured over the files that he wished to study this morning. Since their private conversation, he hadn't had the chance to have any more in-depth discussions with Ms. Hernandez. The woman had proved more favorable than he had feared. Still, he thought it best to keep her and her cronies on as short a leash as possible. The inspections had continued periodically, but the state of RACDI-Alpha was a sideshow to the larger game at hand, at best. Lee wondered how much the rest of the Executives knew, even how much Selina herself knew. She had a rather paradoxical reputation. Whether she was a mercenary or a stalwart cheerleader for Venture Horizon depended on entirely who you asked. Certainly, she was very close to the Board of Directors, but military pursuits were one area that lay outside of her expertise. Whether she was ignorant, or consenting, to the larger goal at hand, could make the difference between success and failure of Lee's most important mission yet.
He would have to investigate this matter further, he was sure. However, it was not at the top of the list of his business for today.
"Please tell Captain Korovich to enter." he said, over the intercom to his secretary.
