CH 6.

"I knew it was a psychological drug," Blake said as he looked at the sample in his computer. Luckily, there was some of the liquid left in the syringe, enough so that he could run several tests on it. "Blah, blah, blah… Effects, blah, blah… It is also a highly-" Blake stared at the computer screen. His eyes dashed in lines as he read the whole screen, and the information on this medicine. He pushed up his reading glasses.

Experimental.

"What the hell does that mean?" Blake asked, looking at the computer screen in disbelief. "Experimental?" He knocked the small tube onto the floor. It rolled away.

"Wouldn't it just mean experimental as in, 'not ready for use'?" Zack asked as he picked up the tube. "Right?" He walked to Blake and offered it back to him.

"It was used," Blake said, taking the tube and looking at it. "How are you feeling, Zack?"

"Uh, I think a good word would be sore…?" Zack semi-said, semi-asked as he shrugged.

"Anything else? Like, random thoughts?"

"Like what you're doing? No. Not really. Why?"

"No reason. Stay with me."

"As if I have anywhere to go."

Blake looked at Zack. "What?"

"I don't have anywhere to go." Zack repeated. "They killed Julie."

"Julie?"

"My 'mother'."

"Oh." Blake fell quiet.

"Yeah. Oh." Zack took a seat in an empty chair. "What is that medicine for?"

"It's linked to split-personality disorder." Blake said absentmindedly as he fumbled with the computer. "It's supposed to be some kind of cure…" Blake trailed, his mind going into the past, trying to figure out why Zack would need some sort of cure.

"What's the worst that can happen, Blake?" A younger Zack asked, looking at Blake. "I'm so strong that even if I did get away, there's nothing that the whole army could do to me. I'm practically invincible." A small smile spread across Zack's face. One that hasn't been seen ever since.

"I just don't trust them. We're technically under their control, Zack. They could do anything to us," said a younger Blake. "Why are you so sure of yourself?"

"Because I'm invincible."

Days later they attacked Zack in his sleep. Of course they attacked him in his sleep. He was still a kid. What kid doesn't want to sleep a good night's sleep? Since he was in such a deep sleep, of course he didn't even budge.

"Where did they take him?" Blake asked, arriving in what he'd learn to be a little too late.

"He's passed the program. We're putting him in citizen surroundings now." A scientist told him.

"Passed what program?" Blake asked.

"The same one you guys are all in, silly." The scientist said, before walking away. Blake had managed to pick her pockets before heading back to his room.

"Blake, I said Blake!" Zack called, tapping Blake's head.

Blake blinked before looking up at Zack. "What were you saying?"

Zack sighed and walked back to his seat. "I wasn't saying anything."

"I'm sorry. I just realized something, and that something needs to be looked at. It's of utmost urgency."

"Ah, you've noticed your brain damage." Zack closed his eyes and nodded.

"No, you ass, it's just really important to me."

"Okay. I don't see why, but okay."

"Because. If I can get to it quickly enough, it'll help me protect you." Blake said, kissing Zack before leaving the room.

Zack frowned and followed after Blake. "So, then where are you going?"

"I have to make it to the base, and back, before I lose the both of you." Blake said, walking down the stairs.

"Both of us?" Zack asked. He gripped onto the railing. His head felt fuzzy.

"Yes. Just, this time, Zack, please listen to what I have to say." Blake stopped at the door. He grabbed Zack's gun from it's holster and placed it on the table beside the stairs. "If anything happens, use this gun. Just don't hurt yourself. I'll be back." Blake quickly left the house.

"Hurt myself?"

Zack wandered through Blake's house, knowing that it wasn't his place to look at something that could be private, but technically, Blake was his boyfriend, and that gave him the liberty to do many things.

So he did.

Slightly disappointed after seven minutes, Zack sat in the downstairs living room. He had wandered through three rooms, two bathrooms, a walk-in closet, and they were all full of nothing.

"Wow, I never realized that my life is this boring." Zack told the TV. "I never realized that I sat around this much. God, I suck." Zack stood. "Okay, Zack, you should get to Blake's main base."

Zack nearly jumped when the TV turned itself on. It screamed with white noise before switching a clear image.

Zack moved his hands from his ears slowly as he turned to watch the TV. "Did you have to be so loud?" he asked as he sat on the sofa. His eyes slightly widened when the volume bar appeared and turned itself down.

The image itself was confusing. A place that Zack had never seen before. Whatever it was. A room, was all he could guess.

"Where is that?" Zack asked.

Moments after Zack had asked the question, letters popped up on the screen. Zack mouthed numbers. "Where the hell is that located?"

"It is located in the bay area."

Zack sighed. "I'd never make it there."

"May I suggest to you a mode of transport?"

"I'm not taking a bus."

"Then suit yourself."

Zack sighed and reclined into the couch. "If I touch the gun, then I won't remember anything after I get rid of the gun," Zack contemplated whether or not to touch the gun.

"You are nothing like the Zack Anasika that is described in the records."

"Yeah? Maybe because I'm not actually him." Zack retorted, looking away from the screen. He stopped. "Wait. Are there records on me?"

"Not you. Zack."

"Yeah, him."

"I'll pull them up for you. Do you know the security code?"

"Zack." Zack told no one as he walked back to the computer room.

"The files are ready."

Blake was nearly out of breath as he hurried through the hidden door that lead to the elevator he was searching for. Once inside, he knew he would have a limited amount of time to get through the building to his personal room. That is, if the General hadn't returned before he had. Several hours had passed, but the General had other places to attend, didn't he? He had to submit a report.

"Score." Blake whispered to himself as hurried towards his room. It was unusually quiet, but Blake didn't care about that. He had to see if what he thought was happening was the truth.

After going down many flights of stairs, Blake reached his room. He rummaged through his things until he found a small vial. He read the label quickly. "That's what it was," he gasped out. "Another experimental drug. This leads the brain to separate itself..." He stopped when he heard clicking. He smelt the air. Gas.

"You are a traitor to the country, Blake." Blake heard over the speakers. "You can smell it, and that's the last thing you'll smell before you smell your own flesh rotting away." The general made a sound. "You know, I slightly will regret killing one of my best, Blake." Another pause. "Get rid of him."

"Shit." Blake shoved the vial into his pocket before running out into the hall. He listened to small explosions as he ran to the stairs and grabbed the railing, hurtling himself upwards. He caught next railing, and so on, until he reached level one.

As he walked onto the floor from the stairs, he could feel heat from below.

"Just stay still. Maybe you won't feel anything." The rest was cut off as more explosions rang out.

Blake looked around to see that the whole building was a possible explosion. Blake continued to run across the expanse of the room as the building began to crumble under the collapsing support beams.

Bigger explosions could be heard as Blake closed the elevator doors. He could feel the elevator shaft rumbling as it made it's way up. He looked down to see flames climbing the shaft. Another rumble. Blake looked up to see the shaft literally imploding on itself. He sighed and shook his head.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Blake couldn't really do anything about Zack. He wouldn't make it in time to see that Blake's house was no longer occupied. The gun was gone.

"Make a stop at the base. There's no way that he could've survived all the weight of that shaft on him." The General said as he surveyed the large crater in the soil of a small island off the coast. "Also, get me clean-up. They have a lot of work to do after this. You seven. Get me his body."

It took the cleaning crew approximately thirty-eight minutes to reach their destination. They couldn't account for why they were eight minutes longer than they reported to be. The only thing that they said, was that one of the workers was running late.

"And I want him fired and disposed of when he finishes this last job."

"Yes sir."

The 'cleaning' took much longer than it should have, since the whole area of the island had to be secured. The crew then could begin to dig for the body of Blake. It took many hours of digging, including the help of Thane's unit, to dig nearly one-hundred feet down. They stopped when they saw a familiar fabric. The same fabric, they noted, that their special suits were made from.

"It's the Second's body. Pull him out." The General said, walking closer to the hole. He slid down the large incline made by the digging.

The Cleaners lifted a bit more dirt from around Blake's head, and freed his arms so that they could lift him more easily. They were able to pull him slightly out, before the general kicked Blake's head to the side. A gash appeared, but hardly any blood dripped from the wound.

"This is hilarious." The General said, kicking Blake once more, just because he wanted to. "Who knew that this was all it took to kill the Elite?" He was about to kick once more, but before his leg connected, Blake's arm rose to grab it.

"So if they die, they become this..." The General whispered.

"No, you just keep kicking me. It's getting slightly annoying." Blake increased his grip on the General's lower leg, smiling as he heard a snap.

The General let out a scream of pain, and fell back. He crawled on the dirt, trying to get away from Blake. One of the cleaners helped him get away.

That was when Thane's unit closed in on Blake, tearing him from the ground, and sending him flying into the dirt slope. Blake quickly recovered and stood. He was dusting the pants he was wearing before he looked the barrel of a gun.

"How are you alive?" Thane asked.

"You can't kill perfection." Blake said, eloquently.

Thane snarled as his discolored eyes glared down at Blake. "Watch me."

Blake just stood in his spot, looking at the barrel.

Thane pulled the trigger, the bullet shot to the side, impaling the dirt to the left of Blake's head. That was quickly followed by more gunfire.

Thane's unit had fallen back, unable to locate where the gunfire was coming from.

"I told you all to secure the perimeter!" Thane yelled as he looked around. Thane watched as the unit scrambled up the slopes to reach the mouth of the whole. Each one of the unit carried one of the cleaners.

Blake had already moved, and was taking Thane on at the bottom of the floor.

"You had friends, did you?" Thane asked.

"I have no friends."

"Then who would want to protect you?" Thane asked, kneeing Blake in the side. Blake fell to his knees and gasped out. "Oh, did I seem to strike a nerve?"

Blake looked over at Thane. He laughed dryly. "Protect me?"

"I would." A voice came booming from the lip of the hole.

Thane looked up to see one of the cleaners holding one of Thane's unit at Gunpoint.

"A rebellious Cleaner. You pathetic trash." Thane looked to his remaining unit. "You all, kill him!"

They made no motion, except falling forward. They were all unconscious.

Thane's face contorted with anger as he looked up at the Cleaner. "I'll kill—"

"Yeah, yeah, we've all heard that before, buddy." Blake said, holding a knife to Thane's neck.

"Blake, get away from him." The cleaner said.

Thane reached for his quasi-face mask and pulled it off. He breathed in the cold air. "I can't believe a simple cleaner even got a hold of one of my men."

As Thane finished saying this, the member that the Cleaner was holding flipped behind him and kicked forward. The cleaner simply caught his leg and threw him to the ground.

"I'll shoot him."

"Will you really?" Thane asked, running a hand through his chocolate colored hair.

"I will."

Thane laughed, and kicked backwards, catching Blake off guard. Blake stumbled backwards and moved to the side. He didn't want to admit that Thane really was getting good at his job.

Thane appeared at the top of the hole and stared the cleaner down. "Shoot your superior."

"I'm," The cleaner began, pulling his safety helmet off. "Your superior." Zack said, shooting several shots.

"Zack." Thane mumbled stupidly, looking at the holes in his suit.

"Refer to me as Superior." Zack said, kicking at Thane, but Thane was no longer there. He sighed when he looked up to see Thane sneaking away with the General.

"Zack?" Blake called from below.

"Yeah. Hi." Zack waved, falling to his knees.

Blake sighed before falling to his side. He was out of breath. He could've died right then.

Zack stood and slid down the side of the hole. "Blake!"

"I'm fine," Blake said, repeating what Zack said only hours ago. "I'm still awake."

Zack lifted him and placed him over his shoulder. "We have to get out of here before they get their friends."

Blake nodded.

"Are you hurt?" Zack asked, climbing up the slope.

"No."

It was silent as the two made their way up. Zack helped Blake climb onto the solid land. Zack sighed as he slid down to the ground.

"That was much more difficult than I thought it would be..." Zack said, looking at Blake.

Blake was looking at Zack.

"What?"

"Where's the gun?"

"I have it...?"

Blake furrowed his brows. "You have it."

"Yeah? You told me to-" Zack stopped. "Oh... I'm still me. That's what you're wondering?"

"Yeah."

Zack stood. "I read all your files... Even the ones about the drugs. I was injected with a P1D3, an experimental drug back then that ruins my psyche. It worked, slightly. Who knows what it is right now, but I was recently given the antidote, and since it was experimental, it has a fifty percent chance of working."

"I'm assuming it partially worked," Blake said, finally able to breathe properly.

"I think it's a work in progress." Zack admitted. He lifted his hand. It was shaking violently. "The other Zack could possibly beat me down. I'm not supposed to be real, anyway."

Blake didn't know what to say. Zack was half right, but a soul is a soul. Blake opened his mouth to speak, but Zack went to the helicopter he had 'borrowed' from the Cleaners.

"You don't have to say anything," Zack said, jumping in. "I've already prepared myself. Hurry up." Zack looked ahead. "Cops."