~Two weeks later~
Dmitri
Limping through Arrivals sandwiched between Myra and Shell wasn't exactly how I had ever seen myself arriving in America, but it could be a nice change to dreams, I decided. Only if I ignored the pain in my chest every time I breathed in too deeply. Myra had told me that I was lucky to have only cracked a few ribs, and then proceeded to poke at them, leaving me breathless. I could tell she didn't like me too much, and I could only assume it was because I was close to Shell. Or rather, had been close to Shell. Now that she had gotten her friend back, she seemed to make a point of keeping her distance. Maybe it wasn't a bad thing. Neither of us would be hurt more than we already were that way. My heart twinged, disagreeing with me, but I ignored it, distracting myself by looking around the airport instead. I wasn't particularly interested - most airports looked the same.
I blinked as Myra sped us though Security, just one glance and a short phrase for me to be accepted. If there had ever been a reason to doubt that what I had gotten involved with was high up, then this blew it away. I didn't doubt that security was paramount here, but I had just been waved through. My gun had been lost at some point, and seeing how I didn't know exactly what I was diving into, I definitely missed it. Putting blind faith in people who I didn't know, and certainly didn't trust wasn't my thing, but it was for Shell. I couldn't leave her on her own.
The car that Myra had called ahead for sat in front of the airport, waiting. It was big enough for the three of us to sit in the back, and I clambered in gingerly, careful of my ribs and legs. Myra frowned slightly as she slid in between me and Shell.
"You should've waited another week. You're still not healed."
"You were going to leave without me." I countered.
"And come back for you when you were fine!"
"Sure." I knew we both grated on each other's nerves. Shell being distant was actually frustrating me, and I was venting on Myra. Not too fair, but I reasoned that she probably wasn't as nice as she made out, and deserved it. I wasn't going to poke fun at Shell, at any rate.
Sighing, I turned away and stared out of the window. The highway blurred past in a mess of cars and signs. Everything was oversized, like the Americans had something to prove. I shook my head. Everyone had something to prove.
***
I stretched a little as the car stopped smoothly. Waking when a mode of transportation stopped was a travelling habit. It had stopped me from missing quite a few trains. I noticed the car door opening, or rather being opened by one of those suited men. I tensed a bit as I saw Shell being helped out, then Myra started to go but stopped before getting out of the car and stared at me,
"This is all confidential, what you see in there is not to be discussed elsewhere. Understand? I could have you arrested if I find out anything."
"I'll only discuss it with my conscience," I replied, curling a lip at her. She smirked.
"Good." she said finally leaving so I could get out. I almost groaned getting out of that car by myself. There it was before me, the Pentagon. It was riddled with security all around. I followed after Myra and Shell and the suited fellow who was helping Shell, I kept glancing at them hoping Shell would turn her head for some reason so I could see what she was thinking. I didn't know what to think. We rounded a corner and entered the bulding through some unexpected door. It wasn't very secretive if they were trying to keep people out.
"Seems like anyone could just stroll in here." I muttered as I entered, last again. Myra of course heard me and whiped her head around. I rolled my eyes.
"This is a special department, only for the GEHS."
I raised an eyebrow at her. "GEHS? cause you couldn't just give them a name that made them feel human." This time she rolled her eyes.
"They aren't really, and neither am I. Best to face it. Alright we're entering the labs now. Don't stare too hard, some of them are doing testing and may seem to be doing strange things, others are sleeping so don't be too loud. Although if I recall correctly they sleep through anything." They? I shook my head as Myra pushed open double doors. Somehow I had lost Shell durring Myra's explanation and I started looking for her, she was just in front of us with her guide. I walked a little faster to catch up, and that's when I got a good look at everything.
It was like a huge, huge hospital except there were no typical odd smells of medicine and blood, but new strange smells of chemicals I'd probably never seen or heard of. Also there were ladders everywhere, transportable ladders, they were some kind of high tech ones or something. What I noticed more than the buidling and the lab coated scientists or the strange smells were the people, everywhere you could see a colourful array of people of every kind of ethnicity and facial structure either doing the "weird" tests that Myra was talking about, or with IV's stuck to them and connected to a computer. The place was like one long hospital hallway, without any doors. That and it was who knows how high up.
I kept walking faster and before I knew it I was beside Shell, I leaned over quickly.
"If only you could see this..." I whispered. "Though you really wouldn't want to." She turned toward my direction for a moment, her eyes widened. Myra caught up before she could reply.
"And this is Shell's department." We stopped infront of one of the "rooms" they were like rooms without doors, only three walls. They were pretty big, but it seemed only five people could really fit in the space. There was a bed in the middle of it, and one of the computer things that were attached to some of the people I'd seen. There was a short balding man with a white coat too big for him, near the bed tinkering with the computer. Myra walked up to him. "Dr. Lanster, Shell's back!" The man whipped around, he had a pretty chubby face, almost cartoon like his whole persona, I wanted to laugh but held it in.
"Shell, we've missed you here! My how you've grown." I rolled my eyes. Shell didn't seem to buying it either.
"I don't think I've been gone that long." She replied.
"American scientist acting like an overly affectionate uncle. What a joke. I could get him down in about two seconds," I muttered in Russian, seriously contemplating it. Shell tried to stifle her giggle. I heard it though and allowed a tiny smile to show. There was enough creepy around here for me to want someone on my side, which didn't happen often. It would be better if it was her.
"Russian? Or is that Czech? Anyways, I'm gonna have to ask you all to clear the room in about ten minutes, but for check ups I guess visitors are okay. Although I think I have some right asking who you are?" He said looking at me. Myra interrupted conversation,
"He's nobody and we'll be gone as soon as we need to be. Could you do some trauma checks on her? Also I think that they took her memory is there anyway to restore it?"
"I'll do the checks right now. Hey Shell, I'm gonna guide you to the bed and ask you to lie down, then I'll hook an IV up, you know, to the computer radar, so that we can check your brain. It'll be over in a few. Is that alright?" His tone made me want to scoff. She nodded. Once the IV was attatched to her bloodstream she fell right asleep. She looked peaceful. The doctor was scanning the screen as an image of her brain popped up and Myra moved closer to look at it, and so did I. Everything looked normal, the two of them were pointing and jabbing and talking nonsense so I just let my eyes gaze at her.
After what seemed like an hour they were done trying to figure out her feelings though a screen and she woke up after the needle left her body.
"So how am I?" There was an edge to her voice that hadn't been there before. She was upset about something.
"You're doing surprisingly well for someone who went through what Myra had described. I think that we can have the surgery on you as soon as tonight?" He turned to Myra for approval. What Myra should have done was then ask Shell, but nope, this was Myra.
"Sure! The sooner the better. She's had experiance with the outside world already so maybe she can handle some projects like mine. It'll be fun."
"Wait. Surgery?" I had been left out of the loop somewhere, and somewhere important.
"Yes, Surgery. She's finally getting her eyes fixed. By experts; people who actually know what they're doing."
"You can say my father doesn't know what he's doing, I'm sure, but didn't she go blind because of your meddling at the beginning?"
"I think we should talk without the presence of other people. Shell, what do you think, is tonight alright?" the doctor said. Shell nodded carelessly, she was thinking. "Alright I'm going to have to ask everyone but Shell and Myra to clear the area."
"You realize I just need to take one step back in order to do that right? There's no door." I told him. He frowned and nodded. I took a step back and crossed my arms, ready for a wait.
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