A “Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons” story
By Kelly Haycock and Ono
Colonel White sat behind his desk waiting.
Lieutenant Green kept looking about expectantly. "Where have they got to?" he
asked.
"They'll be here soon, don't worry, lieutenant,"
White answered calmly, while staring out the door.
A
noise outside betrayed the arrival of the very men they were expecting and Green
smiled, visibly relaxing.
White looked at him,
"You see? There they are. Right on time as well," he said, regarding the clock
on his panel.
The walkway in front
of the communications console Green was manning started to move and Captains
Blue and Scarlet appeared in the room.
"Good afternoon,
gentlemen," White said, pressing a button on his desk, rising up two stools for
the officers to sit on. "Lieutenant Green was getting worried," he continued.
"He thought you wouldn't make it on time!"
The pair smiled.
"Lieutenant, you should know by now, we're very rarely late. I don't remember
the last time actually," Blue said.
Scarlet looked round
at Green. "I think the only time either of us will be late to a mission
debriefing is if Cloudbase is under attack or one of us isn't here!"
"Well, there's a
positive thought!" Green said, getting back to his work.
"Anyway, I trust the
mission was successful?" White said, getting back to the point.
"Yes, sir. We were able to stop the Mysterons from carrying out their threat of
renewing the English currency," Blue said.
Scarlet sighed. "We
were almost too late. It took us so long to figure out they meant the Queen that
we almost didn't arrive in time! One of her chauffeurs had been taken and was
trying to drive her into the side of Buckingham Palace rather than out of the
grounds and to their Gala evening."
"Well, you made it,
that's one thing I can say for sure," White said, smiling at the two.
"I'm still not
entirely sure what they meant, though," Green said, looking up again.
"If the Queen had been killed, the English currency would have been renewed.
They would have had to change all the coins and notes to update them on the
arrival of the new Monarch. That would also mean that anyone due for the throne
would think twice. They wouldn't want to be a Mysteron target, now would they?"
Blue said.
Green looked at him a
little blankly then nodded. "Right." He continued on
with his work.
"Right."
Colonel White leaned in towards his loyal agents, "While you were out thwarting
another Mysteron threat, Spectrum intelligence found something very
interesting."
"And that is?"
Scarlet asked, plainly.
"A Mysteron research
lab, or what is identified as one, from our sources it is an active centre and
that something out of the ordinary is going on there."
"Begging your pardon
sir, but with the Mysterons, everything is out of the ordinary." Blue sniggered
at his companion’s rather flat humour.
White raised an
eyebrow, "Thank you for pointing that out Scarlet."
"Anyway, what's going
on with this research lab?" Blue asked. He wanted to know if it involved them
leaping into action once more.
"Well, we don't know,
but we want to take the direct approach, other methods of being veiled out of
sight have proved useless, the idea is to go in and confront them."
The two officers
exchanged glances. "So, do you want
us... to...?" Blue trailed off, his voice full of hope.
"Yes, Captain, I want
you to go in. Scarlet, you too."
"Just us two?" Blue asked looking from Scarlet back to their Colonel.
"No, you will be
rounding up Ochre, Grey and Magenta to go with you, your mission is to blow up
the lab, you must destroy their work, everything they do is a plot against
planet Earth...and we must defend against it, you will leave at eight tomorrow
morning, dismissed."
Blue and Scarlet stood up and walked out passing Green who had a
worried look on his face, he was concerned about what the Captain's might end up
encountering while down there.
Scarlet caught the
look Green had given them. As soon as he realised he'd been spotted; Green
turned away and busied himself with adjusting labels on various buttons.
"D'you think he knows something we
don't?" Scarlet asked quietly as they exited the room.
"Don't be so
paranoid, Paul," Blue responded lightly. "He's probably just annoyed that he's
not coming."
Scarlet looked back
at the lieutenant as the doors shut. "If you say so."
Ochre and Magenta
were sat in the officer's lounge with their feet up while listening to some
music. Behind them, Destiny Angel, off duty from both the Interceptor and Amber
room shifts, was sat by the window reading.
"I'm so-"
"Ochre, I swear, if
you say you're bored once more, I'll throw you off the observation deck!"
Magenta said, smiling.
Ochre grinned back.
"No I was just gonna say, uh... I was gonna say..."
"Afternoon, boys,"
Blue said from the door.
"Captain Blue!"
Ochre said, getting up and walking over, thankful for the distraction. "I
didn't realise you were off duty!"
"We're not," Scarlet
said, joining them. "We're looking for you, Magenta," he nodded at the pink-clad
agent in the room, "and Grey."
"Dunno where he is, he's about somewhere though."
"I last saw him on
the promenade deck," a French-accented voice said.
"When was that,
Destiny?" Blue asked, looking over at her.
"About an hour ago."
"What about me?
Aren't you looking for me?" Ochre was practically begging in his words, "I need
some excitement, I'm..."
"Don't say it!" Magenta warned, gritting his teeth.
Ochre smiled, a very
cheeky one at that, "...bored!"
Magenta stood up,
"Right..."
Scarlet kept a
straight face the whole time, not like everyone else in the room, "Alright, save
your little fun and games till later, we need to find Grey."
Grey was still on the
promenade deck, just as Destiny had reported. They hadn't expected to find him
fast asleep with his head against the table.
Ochre and Magenta
grinned and walked forward, stopping one on either side of their colleague. They
crouched down, both knowing what the other was thinking simply by their
mischievous grins.
"WAKEY, WAKEY GREY!"
they both yelled.
Grey jumped literally
from his chair, knocking it over behind him then stumbled and landed next to it.
"Okay, we meant get up," Ochre said as Grey slumped up onto his knees.
"Thanks you two, I
nearly had heart failure."
They sniggered as the
man got up dusting down his uniform, looking tired and dismayed they had
disturbed his slumber.
"Sorry your royal
laziness, but you are required on a mission," Magenta informed.
Grey yawned as he
spoke, "Oh...I am."
"Yeah, Sleeping
Beauty now lets report our butts down to the hanger
before Scarlet stomps a mud hole and walks it dry." Ochre grabbed Grey's arm and
dragged him forward; his pace limbered slightly.
Scarlet was pacing
about outside the promenade deck. "Look, will you stop doing that! All we're
doing is going in and laying charges!"
"That's not the
point! They're deliberately taking their time!" he snapped.
"Whoa, calm down
Paul!" Blue said holding up his hands; "They're mucking about! That's what they
do, get used to it."
Scarlet shook his
head. "I'll never get used to them." The other three officers walked out, two of
them grinning, the third yawning. "Ah, finally."
"Ready to go blow up some Mysteron ass?" Blue said, grinning.
The SPJ had been
loaded up with the equipment they needed and made lift off clearance at the
scheduled time.
Scarlet flew,
co-piloted by Blue with the other three Spectrum agents sat behind on
corresponding seats.
"I hope this doesn't
take long," Ochre moaned, Blue turned his head slightly and gave a smile to him.
"It's in the North of Kansas City, it won't take us long I assure you,
we'll
be there in no time at all."
"You shouldn't say
things like that! Something bad is bound to happen now!" Ochre retorted.
"Always the optimist!" Magenta said, smirking.
"Ok, ok, you two!
We'll be there soon," Blue said, looking out the window.
The plane soared
swiftly away from Cloudbase and flew progressively lower until finally levelling
off and making their way towards Kansas City.
The lab was built on
a vast area of land, practically dried up by the heat and destroyed by the freak
weather that emanated from Tornado Alley, that
was no further than a couple a miles to the east.
It was a large square
building, two floors of deep dark dusty confinements.
The SPJ circled over
ahead, looking over the site, the place would have looked abandoned but only
naive people would believe that.
"Take us within a
safe distance on the west side, Scarlet," Blue said directing the landing path.
Scarlet nodded and
started to make the plane descend, flying it round before finally performing a
perfect landing, the plane touching down with little more than a bump.
"Right. Now we all know what
to do," Scarlet said, turning in his seat to face the others in the rear of the
plane.
"Yes, we know! Go in,
lay charges, get out, fry Mysteron butts!" Ochre said,
slightly annoyed that they were being reminded yet again.
"Ok then, let's go!"
Blue said, smiling.
They leapt out the
door of the plane and headed over towards the facility, keeping a watchful eye
out for any Mysteron threat.
The main door to the lab was sealed up tight, but a few blows to the lock panel
threw it open.
The five men walked
in, guns poised, carrying packs of deadly explosive charges.
Scarlet listened to
the loud sounds of hums that croaked out through the ventilation shafts.
Blue turned to his
companions, holstering his gun for the time being "Okay, Magenta and Ochre are
with me, we'll take the north corridor, Scarlet, you
and Grey take the south."
Scarlet nodded and he
turned on his heel followed by grey down into one of the long dark routes.
Blue nodded at the
other two, "Come on, let’s go."
The two teams
separated off, their ears picking out any noises and their eyes constantly
darting about for movement.
Blue stopped
suddenly. "Did you guys hear that?" he asked, looking about.
They, too, stopped
and listened. "I can't hear anything," Magenta said. "You must be hearing
things, Blue."
Captain Blue frowned.
"I was sure I heard something," he said, quietly. "Oh well." He shrugged it off
and they continued on further down the corridor.
Scarlet and Grey had arrived at an inter-section, which turned off on about two
other different routes.
On the side panel
against an opposing wall was a main power box, beeping away nearly silently in
its full perfect running order.
Scarlet opened up his
case of explosives and motioned Grey to help him fix one up to the terminal,
they thought it might be a possible point of power to the whole building and
would be a pinnacle point of destruction.
"One laid," Scarlet
noted and then took a turn down a left corridor which lead
to a small room filled with boxed up equipment, a mixture of medical and basic
science.
Grey joined him,
having been left to close up the tightly packed bag of charges, and looked
about. "What d'you think
they do in here?"
"I don't know,"
Scarlet replied. "But I don't like it."
They stepped further
into the room and looked about. There was a great deal of equipment in there,
but mostly it was in storage.
Blue, Ochre and
Magenta had got much further into the building, having found nothing of any
interest to their mission.
"How much further are
we gonna go in?" Magenta asked.
"As far as we have
to," Ochre replied.
"Just come on, the
sooner we lay all our charges, the sooner we're out of here," Blue said,
shuddering. "This place gives me the creeps," he added quietly to himself.
"Here we are," Magenta said as they came up to a small room filled with glowing
machines, it was the generator room, the whole power source to the lab.
The three began to
unpack their charges hooking some up to the panels and heading through another
door into a twin room with smaller controls in, doing the same thing.
Blue then heard a
creaking noise, he turned his head looking around, past his fellow Spectrum
Captain's the door way and each accessible corner of the room; things were
getting uneasy.
“Blue, I swear you're
getting paranoid," Ochre said, noticing how his hand had edged towards his
pistol.
"I'm not paranoid,"
he said, quietly, his blue eyes scanning the room. "There's something here.
We're not alone."
The air was thick; they whipped their guns out and scanned the room for any
presence.
Then for a moment
Blue could feel the air turn cold, the hairs on his neck standing to attention,
instinctively he looked up, then wishing he hadn't as they were pounced on from
above.
Three strong
Mysterons had jumped from the rafters above them. Magenta and Ochre had had
enough time to fire shots at their oncoming assailants but Blue wasn't so lucky.
His attacker had kicked his weapon from his hand. Blue saw it skid across the
floor but was quick to move out the way of a blow coming in his direction. The
Mysteron yelled out as he punched the wall instead of his intended target
Magenta and Ochre had both received blows from their attackers but they found
that they were just being held back rather than being killed.
The lead Mysteron
grabbed Blue and swung him against one of the metal panels, the sound of his
body smashing against it rippled in angry waves through the whole room; the
blonde man fell down, dazed, unable to get back to his feet.
Magenta and Ochre
were down and out; their attackers had put them out for a while, then turned back to their leader.
"Disarm those
charges, take those two outside." He turned back to Blue who he kicked in the
back of his head, rendering him unconscious, "Take this one to Black, we have
plans for him."
Scarlet and Grey had
made their way to a few rooms, planting their explosives as they went.
Grey was at that
moment fixing a charge to a console when Scarlet nearly collapsed, a wave of
nausea sweeping him.
Grey looked at him,
but before he had a chance to speak, he heard footsteps coming their way.
They ducked down
behind some boxes as two people rounded the corner dragging two familiar
figures.
"That's Magenta and
Ochre!" Grey said, starting to get up. Scarlet put a hand on his sleeve and
pulled him back down.
"Wait!"
They remained
crouched behind the boxes, Scarlet swaying slightly as the group approached.
The Mysterons passed
and Scarlet felt his head return to what passed as normal.
"They had Ochre and
Magenta, Scarlet! Where's Blue?" Grey said, getting up and looking about
desperately.
"Easy, Grey," Scarlet
said, getting up too. "We'll find him."
Blue began to wake
from his unwanted slumber; the entire back portion of his head throbbed wildly
with a discomforting tingle.
The base of his back
was stinging, and various other areas on his body was
warped over with pain.
When he finally had
some sense back again, he realised he couldn't move his arms and legs, they were
tied down onto a table, one like in an operating theatre.
He lifted his head to
look around and down at the predicament he was in, hoping he could quickly think
of a way out.
"There is no way you
can escape." A figure came from a shadowy corner.
"I know that voice,"
he said to himself, then peered over at the person, clenching his fists hard,
the knuckles turning a sharp white.
Captain Black moved
fully out of the shadows to be stood next to Captain Blue, a former colleague
before that fateful expedition to Mars.
"You, Captain Blue,
are our prisoner. You will not escape. We have been waiting for you to come."
"Waiting for me?"
Blue repeated quietly, frowning.
Black ignored the
confusion Blue was showing and turned to some controls.
Blue started
fidgeting to try and loosen his restraints, but was unsuccessful.
"If I were you,
Captain Blue," Black said without looking up, "I'd make myself comfortable,
you're going to be here for quite a while." He flicked a few switches and pulled
some levers then turned back round. "We knew if we made it obvious to you that
we were here you'd come running."
"What are you talking
about?" Blue snapped.
"You, my foolish
friend, have walked into a trap.”
"WHAT!" Blue struggled even more than before, "What do you want from me?"
"A little
co-operation, if not, this little test of ours is going to be rather messy."
"Test? What are you up to?"
"You have been chosen
to test out our little project, which we call X2L9."
"What's that?"
"Something we have
created from animal matter, it's an interesting experiment; we want to see the
results."
"I don't understand
what you’re talking about, but whatever it is, I know I'm not going to do as you
say."
"You will do..." He
smiled, a very evil gesture over his power as some men and women dressed
in lab coats emerged, focused on Blue.
When Ochre came to,
he found himself lying in a dusty heap on the floor outside the facility.
Magenta was beside him, but still unconscious.
He leaned over and
shoved him. "Magenta!" His companion stirred, raising a
hand to his head. "Magenta, wake up!"
"I'm awake, I'm
awake, please don't shout!" Magenta said, slowly sitting up.
"Blue's still in there! They took him!" Ochre said, getting up.
"What?" Magenta
looked about then realised it was just the two of them. Just the two that is,
until they saw two figures emerging from the entrance and running in their
direction.
"Captain Magenta!" a
voice called out.
"Captain Ochre?" the
other yelled.
The dusty pair
exchanged glances. "Captain Scarlet! Captain Grey!" Ochre shouted.
They ran over to meet
them. "They've got Captain Blue!" Magenta said angrily. "Those sons of bitches
have still got him!"
"All right, easy,
Magenta," Scarlet said. "We'll get him back in one piece."
Inside the main lab,
Blue had been drugged to make him calm down, his reactions to everything had
slowed down, and his mind slurred and everything he thought about drifted over
and over.
The scientists had
removed his clothes dumping them out the way, while they hooked up wires to some
monitors stationed in the room, connected up to all the main areas of his body.
Then they heard an
alarm go off, a female scientist turned to Black absently, "They have passed
perimeter one."
"Lock down the emergency system," he said, she complied, pressing a button on a
power console.
By doing this, thick
metal barriers fell in place of the normal flimsy doors, blocking off all ways
the Spectrum agents could get to their friend.
Black looked back at
her, "Good, they are out of the way for now, what specimen has been chosen for
our animal endowment?"
"Specimen X5, sir,"
she replied, nodding to another person near her. He nodded and pulled a small,
sedated cat from a cage nearby and showed it to their superior.
"This creature will
do fine! And will make for some interesting changes to our friend here," he
said, referring to the unconscious Spectrum agent. He ran a hand down the back
of the creature. "Yes, this specimen will do fine. You may begin.”
She picked up the cat and placed it on a near by tray, taking a needle and
taking some of its blood, measuring it up then taking the bottom tube off and
adding it to the X2L9 formula that had been stored in a cooling tank.
She added it to
another needle case and injected the serum into Blue's arm, he whined in pain
letting out a barely audible cry.
She turned to her
fellow scientists who were graphing up the cat’s DNA pattern, its structure of
cells and many other important systems.
Once all the aspects
were taken, a machine was directed over Blue, emitting the copied patterns of
the cat’s over him, being integrated into his body.
Scarlet kicked the
metal barrier that now stood in the place of the door they'd previously used to
gain entry.
"Now how are we
gonna get in?" Grey said, looking about.
"There's gotta be some way!" Ochre said.
"I suggest we contact
Colonel White. He may have some suggestions," Scarlet said, his mike swinging
down.
The others nodded in agreement, "This Captain Scarlet, to Colonel White."
"Go ahead, Scarlet,"
the deep voice responded.
"Blue has been taken
by the Mysterons, we don't know what they are planning but they have blocked off
our path, there are no routes, all ways have been sealed with thick steel."
"There maybe some
cutting gear in the SPJ, use it the best you can, it may take a while but there
are no other alternatives."
"SIG, sir." Scarlet's voice trailed, thinking he could be already too late to save
his friend.
Inside the
laboratory, the Mysterons’ test subject was still unconscious. Scientists were
milling around, monitoring his condition and readjusting wires and such.
Black was prowling
round the outer edge of the room watching with interest. "What sort of effects
do you anticipate our serum will have on him?" he asked the female scientist.
"Many sir, the effects will change many things of the
human structure." She was reading some scan dictations on her clipboard, "He
will be a much evolved human form, still looking as he does but being able to
show of new traits."
"Like?"
"He'll be faster,
more agile, flexible, stronger and his senses will be much more powerful, of
course his mind will integrate the cat traits into his human ones, his thoughts
and feeling will proximate on desires and other animal instinct...also he will
be able to transform..."
"Transform? What do
you mean?"
She looked nervously at him. "Transform.
As in take on the form of a cat."
"I see," he said,
looking over at their captive.
Blue groaned and
moved his head. "He's coming round," the scientist said, putting down her
clipboard and going over to him.
He opened his eyes
and looked about, feeling very disorientated and still very much under the
influence of the drugs. "Where am I?" he said slowly then saw who his company
was. "You! Let me go! What have you done to me?"
Black said nothing, but smiled evilly.
Blue was in a state
of frenzy, at first feeling all the fears and hate run through him before a
sudden jolt of new emotions and senses ravaged his brain, he screamed out in
pain.
Black smiled even
more, the plan was going smoothly so far, but this wasn't going to be his day.
Blue began pulling at
his restraints that had seemed to have become weaker to him than before, he tore away the ones on his arms, making the whole
group back away in shock.
"What the...?" Black
watched Blue get free and give the most inhuman roar
that anyone had ever heard; he scared even himself.
He held his head, he
didn't know what was happening to him, but his first thought was to lay one into
Black.
Magenta and Ochre
were hard at work cutting through the thick steel dividing that separated them
from their colleague while Grey and Scarlet were
planning how they'd get Blue out.
"Scarlet! We're
nearly through!" Magenta yelled. Scarlet turned to them.
"Good work, Magenta,"
he said. "Wait a minute." He looked up, seeing something. "What's that coming
towards us?"
The others looked up.
"My God! It's Blue!" Ochre said.
The lab Blue had
previously been held in was now torn up, like it had been made up of thinnest of
paper.
The scientists lay in
heaps across the floor, all had faced an encounter with the much-enhanced
man/cat, Black smiled through a bloodied face, "What strength...the power was
beautiful...all the work lies here!"
His smile faltered
when he realised the computers had been smashed up, half the experimental work
gone, he growled.
Blue was tired and
half way down the corridor fell to his knees, he panted heavily, feeling he was
going to pass out.
"We're through!"
Magenta yelled, scrambling to his feet.
The others followed
him through the gap they'd made and ran over to where Blue now lay.
"Adam!" Scarlet yelled, dropping to his knees and skidding to a halt next to
him.
Blue looked up at
him. "Paul?"
"It's ok, Adam. We're
gonna get you out of here, don't worry."
"I feel so
strange..." He coughed a few times. Scarlet looked at his arm, it was bruised
with a small pinprick in the centre of the mark.
"He's been injected
with something," Scarlet said. "That must be why he feels and looks so unwell.
When I find out what they did to him, I'll-"
"Whoa, Scarlet! We can't do anything till we get him back to Cloudbase,
he needs to see Dr Fawn right away!" Magenta said.
Scarlet let Blue lean against him while he helped him to his feet, there was a
sudden rumbling under foot and a computerised voice spoke out, "Warning, power
surge in the main frame, pressure level 2 decimals above normal.
Explosion imminent."
"We've got to get out
of here, quick!" Ochre nearly shouted.
"Way ahead of you!" Magenta said, running off the start up the plane.
Scarlet, with Blue by
his side, made his way as swiftly as was possible for them to the SPJ with Ochre
and Grey running ahead of them when suddenly a mighty explosion erupted behind
them, knocking them over.
"Get a move on!"
Scarlet yelled to the others who were ahead of him. "Come on, Adam, we're nearly
there!"
Then Blue did
something that surprised Scarlet. He suddenly seemed to sense how close the
danger was to them and was instantly alert. It was as though someone had flicked
a switch in him. His eyes snapped wide open and his ears pricked up. Before
Scarlet realised what was going on, Blue had grabbed him and flung him over his
shoulder and was tearing towards the Spectrum jet at an unbelievably fast rate.
Once safely inside,
Grey slammed the door shut and Magenta affected a take off.
Blue looked about, a tired but embarrassed look on his face.
Scarlet was shocked
as Blue put him down, he stared at him with wide and astonished eyes, and Blue’s
face went completely red.
"Don't look at me
like that Paul and hand me a blanket."
He nodded, retrieving
one from the first aid cupboard, handing it to the blonde American who sat down
with it around him tight.
Scarlet sat down next
to Captain Grey but was unable to remove his gaze from Blue, uneasy as he felt.
"Paul, please! I
asked you once! Stop looking at me like I'm some sort of freak!"
"How did you do
that?" Scarlet asked.
"Do what?" Blue
replied.
"I knew you were fast
but that was just ridiculous! And there's no way that you'd be able to pick me
up under normal circumstances. I'm not exactly light."
Blue looked back at
him. "What?"
"Adam, what did they
do to you in there?"
"Look, I don't know, really I don't!" There was fear in the eyes of Captain
Blue, much more than Scarlet had ever seen before, "I feel so strange and I
can't explain it...oh god!"
He covered his face,
like he was trying to hide it from his friends, who were concerned for him
deeply.
Back on Cloudbase,
Blue had been taken straight to the Sickbay with all four of his companions in
tow.
"Will you all just
get out of the way and let me attend to him?" Dr Fawn yelled as he tripped over
Captain Grey for a third time. "I will let you know of any developments, ok?" He
looked at each of them in turn until they nodded. "Alright. Now. Get. Out."
Colonel White stood
looking out the window near his revolving desk. "Sir?
Are you alright?" Green asked timidly.
White turned. "I'm
sorry?"
"You've been staring
out of that window since the team arrived back."
"I've been thinking
about the Mysterons. First they take over Black, then
create replicas of Brown and Scarlet and now they've done something to Blue."
Green remained
silent, not knowing what to say, leaving White to return his gaze to the clouds
outside.
Green leaned his
elbows onto his desk when a pale brown light began flashing on the Colonel's
desk.
White walked over to
it, nearly breaking the button as he answered. "Any news Fawn?"
"I think you'd better
come take a look at this, sir," came the Australian
man's reply
They did so; going to
see Blue who was lying under a scanner, the good doctor
checking the results.
"Colonel, there is no
physical damage, and mostly on the inside I couldn't detect anything until I
took my scans onto the molecular level and I found some strange patterns."
"Strange Patterns? How so?"
"They are inhuman."
"Inhuman? What do you
mean, 'inhuman'?" White asked, tilting his head as
Scarlet walked back in.
"I mean that he has
been somehow altered. His DNA pattern now includes that of a feline."
"What does this
mean?"
"We don't know yet.
It will mean changes in his behaviour and abilities."
"Like being able to
run faster, being more alert and being stronger," Scarlet mused quietly to
himself.
"What was that
Captain?" White asked, looking at him.
"When Blue got out of
the facility and it exploded, it was as though some sort of animal instinct took
over in him. He was able to pick me up and run faster than I've ever seen anyone
run before."
"My god..." the Colonel said under his breath, then he
cleared his throat, "Keep me up to date on your tests."
"Yes, sir," Fawn said
watching the Colonel leave, only Scarlet and Fawn standing next to the shocked
Captain Blue.
"It's impossible,
what the heck...? How can I have feline DNA in my body?"
Before Fawn could
answer there was a small voice calling through the door, "Adam."
Symphony Angel stood
looking worriedly at Blue who leant up, "Karen?"
"I'll leave you alone
for a minute. But don't strain yourself or anything," Fawn said.
"Oh, come on, Fawn!
It's not like I'm ill!"
Fawn shook his head.
"We don't know that yet." He turned to his companion. "Come on, Scarlet."
"Coming." Scarlet looked at
his colleague. "See you later, Adam. And don't worry. We'll find something out."
Blue nodded as
Scarlet passed Symphony Angel.
She sat down beside
his bed as Scarlet and Fawn left.
"Oh, Adam! I was so worried!"
"It's ok, Karen. I'm
here and I'm fine."
"But what's all this
about feline DNA? I don't understand. How is this possible?"
"I don't know. I wish
I did." He closed his eyes and looked down, drawing in a deep breath before
turning back to Symphony.
She could see that
whatever he was trying to say was hard for him, so leaned forward and put a
gentle hand on his bare arm. "Adam? What is it?"
He looked into her
eyes. "I'm scared," he said quietly. "I'm scared that whatever those Mysteron
bastards did to me might..." His voice trailed off as he lowered his gaze again.
She cupped his cheek and he leaned into it, turning back to her, looking into
those eyes she had, the gentle brown that was so soft and understanding.
"Might?" She caressed
his cheek.
"I might turn against
you...everyone...I can't imagine what this DNA will do to me, there is no
telling what will happen to my body, with the things I display, it's all too
much."
He had to turn away,
her hand falling from him.
"Oh
Adam." Her voice was scared.
Fawn looked in on
them and, seeing how Blue had turned away, decided it was time for Symphony to
leave.
He walked in and
cleared his throat, attracting her attention. She looked up and he could see the
fear in her eyes. "I think you should leave now, Symphony," he said gently.
She nodded and got
up. "You'll be ok, Adam. Dr Fawn will know what to do and he'll help you."
Blue didn't look at
her. She sighed and turned away, leaving the room briskly.
"If it's alright with
you, Captain, we have some tests to perform."
Blue still remained
silent but didn't hinder the doctor's job.
Colonel White walked slowly along the corridor, Captain Scarlet along side him.
"What was the
Mysterons plan?" White said aloud, Scarlet looked at his superior.
"I know we are all
thinking that this is a very...well, strange thing that they were trying to do
with Blue."
"Hmm, I wish I knew
their intentions."
"Don't we all, Sir." Scarlet folded his arms, keeping his mind
focused on Blue's condition.
The young Symphony
had taken a walk to the promenade deck to admire the darkening sky, it cooled
her mind for a moment, which was so wrapped up with personal issues, and it was
just so complex.
'I hope Doctor Fawn
can do something for you, Adam,' she thought, 'What will that DNA do to you?'
Blue sat in Sickbay
wondering the very same thing. Fawn had taken several tubes of his blood and now
had him hooked up to a heart monitor and was stood next to a treadmill. He had
been given his blue training shorts to maintain his dignity. One of his uniforms
had been lost in the destruction of the laboratories.
"Ok, Captain. Nice
simple, painless test this time," Fawn said. "All I want you to do is to a bit
of light jogging on this treadmill for me. I want to see what your stamina's
like."
"SIG, Doctor." He
climbed onto the treadmill and slowly built up his pace to a steady jog.
"Ok," Fawn said, about two hours later. "That'll do for now." He handed Blue a
bottle of water but Blue declined.
"No thanks."
"Don't need it?"
"No, I don't feel
worn out."
"I see." Fawn added
this to his list of notes. "Ok, I'd like you to go back to the treadmill, but
this time, try and run as fast as you can."
Blue frowned, but
shrugged and did as he was told.
Fawn nearly dropped his notes in shock as he watched Blue build up a speed that
was pretty much off the scale; his speed was great and you couldn't even see him
strain.
The treadmill began
to feel the strain and went haywire, breaking to a stop, making Blue fall off
backwards.
Fawn looked at the
piece of equipment that smoked on the control column, he sighed, "Okay...a death
to running machines and a very interesting experience for me to watch."
Blue got up slowly
rubbing his lower back.
"How do you feel?"
Fawn asked.
"Like I just dropped all my weight on my butt."
Fawn sniggered, "You
know what I mean."
"Yeah I know what you
mean," Blue said, sighing. "I feel fine apart from a bit sore where I fell, but
nothing major. I still don't feel
out of breath."
Fawn frowned
thoughtfully. "Ok, thank you Captain." He paused. "Hungry?"
Blue smiled. "Finally! A question I like the sounds of!"
Fawn had ordered in some food from the kitchens, which was soon brought up for
Blue to eat.
After finishing two
plate-fulls that were given to him he looked a bit
disgruntled, "Is that it?"
Fawn looked up,
"What?"
"Is that all I'm
having?"
"Are you still
hungry?"
"Yes, very hungry."
"God, Adam, that dinner would have filled up one man, especially
two plates of it."
Blue shrugged, Fawn
quickly noted down about the extended appetite.
Again more food was
brought up, Blue troffed down, and seven plates later,
he had finally been filled up.
"You could have fed 9
people with those!" Fawn commented at the stacked dirty dishes that were being
carted away.
"I don't think those
9 people will mind." Blue grinned leaning back on the bed.
"How are we ever
going to make meals big enough to feed you continuously?"
Blue grinned again
and patted his stomach. "Dunno. It felt strange
though."
"What did?" Fawn
asked absently, brushing at a stain he'd acquired on his lab coat.
"I've never felt
hunger like that before."
"I'm not surprised,"
Fawn said, looking up, ignoring the tomato stain. "That was a very large meal."
Blue sighed. "There
is one thing that worries me about that though."
"And what's that?"
"The way I'm eating,
I'm gonna be needing
a new uniform soon!"
Fawn chuckled.
"People will be calling things like, 'Fatso' 'Beefy' and saying things like,
'Look out here comes the chunk monster', it's just weird!"
"Maybe your
metabolism is quicker at breaking down food now than before, I don't think
you’re going to be putting on much weight."
"Thanks for your
confidence, Doctor."
He sniggered, "Well,
I don't see why I should deprive you of living,
you can return to your quarters, I will call you when I want to runs some more
tests."
"S.I.G." He stood up, sighing
heavily and walking out.
Captain Scarlet was
headed down to the Officer's lounge. He was off duty and wanted to spend some
time with the others.
On his way, however,
he saw Captain Blue padding bare foot along the corridor. "Adam?" he called out
turning his heading to meet with his friend.
Blue turned and saw
him. "Hi, Paul. You must be off duty."
"How could you tell?"
he asked as he joined him.
Blue merely smiled
and continued along the corridor.
"Want some company?"
Scarlet asked.
"Uh, sure, ok," Blue
said.
"You sure? I could leave you alone if you'd prefer."
"No, it's ok, I could do with some company at the minute. I need
someone to talk to who's not taking notes."
"Notes?"
Scarlet thought for a moment then realised, "Oh! I see, well, don't you think
you should get some more clothes on then if you’re going to be joining me?"
Blue looked down,
remembering he was only wearing some training shorts and getting eyed by most of
the female crewmembers, "Oh, I guess so."
"I'll meet you in
there then," Scarlet said as Blue turned in the opposite direction to head to
his quarters.
They soon disappeared
from each other’s sights and Blue strolled as casually as he could a long the
corridors.
As he passed a couple
of female nurses, something just seem to tick in his
brain, an instinctual feeling that he had never felt.
He stared at them,
tantalised and interested, like they had a scent that was over taking his mind,
but he had to go on though, ignoring this sensation before he could get himself
into trouble. He day dreamed a little, wondering what
was stirring in him, like a hunger...not for food but for desire...of course he
wandered off into his thoughts so much he bumped into someone.
"I'm sorry Karen..."
he said looking down to her, she looked pretty lost in thought too; then he got
that distinct feeling again, being around her, smelling more than that perfume
he had picked out for her from Paris, but one that was drawing him to her
womanly nature.
She looked up at him
feeling worried. The look on his face was scaring her. "Are... are you alright?"
Blue said nothing but
held out a hand for her. She took it and he pulled her up. There was so much
strength behind the pull that she was up too fast and stumbled forward into his
arms. "What the...? Adam?
Are you ok? You don't look too good."
"I'm fine," he said,
his voice a purr. He still had hold of her wrist and had taken hold of the
other.
"I've got to go, I'm
on duty." She tried to pull away but he refused to let go.
"Adam!"
He tilted his head curiously at her, watching her with expecting eyes, he
brought one hand away from her wrist and traced across the edge of her cheek,
she was a little bit scared, standing there with him at that moment.
But she hadn’t
predicted in one fluid moment that he would sweep her off her feet and carry her
into his quarters, which was only a few doors down from
where they were.
He put her on the
floor, there was some shock flowing over her, she stood up to give him a piece
of her mind, but when she saw him blocking the doorway, pressed there looking at
her with enticed eyes, she felt her strength melt.
Scarlet was in the
Officer's lounge with Captain Ochre and Lieutenant Green, who both had a bit of
time off too.
"I wonder where Adam
got to," Scarlet said to himself, staring at the door.
"Paul, stop staring,
you're making passers-by nervous!" Ochre said.
Scarlet turned back
to him. "Hmm? I'm sorry. I was miles away."
"We noticed," Green
said.
"Sorry. It's just I'm
worried about Adam. He's not right. I just know it."
"Paul, he's been let
out of Sickbay, what's the worst he could do?" said Ochre.
"Adam, what is wrong
with you?" Symphony held her hands up in front of her, Blue was walking
gracefully towards her, light on his feet, many men couldn't do it but even this
was beyond strange.
"Stop...please." She
felt something behind her making her fall back onto the bed, she sat up on her
elbows; he liked where her little predicament had placed her.
"Don't...!" she cried
before he stopped dead in front of her.
She held her breath,
he smiled and climbed on the bed, a knee each side of her legs, placed over her,
arms resting against the Angel’s shoulders.
Blue rubbed his cheek
to Symphony’s affectionately, and began to make a strange noise that rumbled
from his throat.
Symphony was a little
surprised by it, it sounded like purring...YES! He was purring for her.
"Adam?" she whispered
putting a hand on his face. He nuzzled affectionately against it.
Her eyes went wide.
"Adam? What's happening to you?" She thought he was easing back by the way he
was simply 'purring' and nuzzling against her. She soon found out she was
mistaken when he pushed her backwards so she was lying down. He crawled forwards
over her and made himself comfortable on her.
"Adam! Stop! Please!"
She pushed at him, but he remained exactly where he was, but lowering his face
towards hers.
"Captain Blue!" She
resorted to his code name to see if that would snap him out of whatever he was
in, but nothing happened, he continued. He ran his hands slowly down her front,
gently caressing her figure.
She squirmed
underneath him but was unable to get free as he started to undo her bright white
uniform top.
He opened up her top, revealing the small vest top underneath; he was enjoying
every moment, looking at her body. He moved his hands under her small vest,
pushing it up, she let out a deep gasp, he knew he had touched the right spot,
and he let himself fondle.
But she wasn't in the
mood to be played around with; he was going to hurt her if he carried on because
she wasn’t going to be willing. She cried out, tears falling down her face, this
was her last option of crying, she hated to do it, but it was the only thing
left that would cloak her.
He suddenly stopped,
his warm hands pressed to her front and the purring deep in his throat stopped.
"Karen..." he
whispered, she looked at him through her tears, soft sobs murmured from her
lips.
He pulled back; he
had somehow managed to regain his senses to see she wasn't enjoying him going
onto her like he was.
"I'm...so
sorry...I..." He suddenly grabbed his head as a wave of agony crossed over him,
he cried out, hunching over.
"Adam?" She leaned
over, reaching to him; he looked up at her and watched her face drain of colour.
What she had seen was
that his blue eyes had been replaced by glimmering green ones, with the pupils
thinned to slits.
She backed off
against the headboard and screamed, covering her face.
Blue fell off the
bed, closing his eyes tightly.
Symphony could only watch in horror as the man in front of her began to change.
His perfectly toned
body became covered in a thin layer of brown fur, which grew progressively
thicker. His ears changed from being
rounded to pointed and moved up the sides of his head. He cried out in pain, but
even his voice had changed. The cry sounded more feline than human.
Symphony's eyes went
wide with fear as a long tail appeared behind him and whipped at the air. His
hands and feet changed from the normal human features to become more like paws;
paws with sharp claws bared.
Blue looked up at the
scared woman on his bed. His face was nearly unrecognisable. His jaw had become
more elongated, and his teeth were pointed and needle sharp. His nose had become
small and black with long whiskers protruding from either side. He hissed and
cried out again as he began to grow.
This was more than
Symphony could take and she ran across the room to the intercom on the wall. "Symphony Angel to Sickbay! Emergency in Captain Blue's
quarters!"
She turned back to what had now become of Blue, the creature that he had
transformed into stretched out in his new form, the form of a puma, then looked
up at Symphony, turning his full attention to her.
She inched towards
the door as he moved nearer to her, eyes again like the original Blue had looked
at her with...desire.
She wasn't going to
let him try to take her now, she had to get away, she flung the door open
quickly as he was about to pounce at her, slamming it, feeling the pressure of
him slamming into it, knocking her back a bit.
She looked at the
closed door and backed away, roars of displeasure came from the other side, and
the door shook on each attempt it made to unhinge it.
She gathered her
sense and began to run down the corridor, looking back she watched with wide
eyes as the door smashed open and the great cat emerge out, seeing the direction
she was going and followed her.
Symphony saw him turn
to follow her and panic flowed through her. Was she fast enough to outrun this
creature? She was certainly going to put her speed to the test.
'Where can I go?' she
thought, running. Her mind worked swiftly until she came to the only possible
conclusion. She turned suddenly and took a side corridor, making Blue charge
past her.
He skidded to a halt,
emitted a deafening roar and followed again.
"Paul! I asked you
already! Stop staring at that door!" Ochre said, picking up a cushion and
throwing it at him.
Scarlet felt it hit
his head and turned back. "Don't do
that! I'm worried about Adam! He said he'd join us ages ago but-" He was broken
off as Symphony ran in and slammed the door shut. The look of fear on her face
made all the officers get up and run over to her.
"Mon
Dieu!" Destiny said, approaching her.
"Karen, what's wrong? I thought you were on duty!"
"I was! It's Adam!
There's something very-"
A loud roar followed
by a thump on the door made everyone in the room jump. "What the hell was that?"
Green said.
"That was Captain
Blue!"
"Captain Blue!" they all voiced in unison, Symphony nodding wildly as the door
buckled again.
The frightened Angel
ran behind Captain Scarlet and held on his back tight, delving her face into his
shoulder, breathing hard and fast.
The door couldn't
withstand the force being thrown into it, and it flew open smashing against the
plastered walls with a hefty bang.
Blue padded in
heavily, his green eyes focused straight in on Symphony, he could smell her
scent behind Scarlet.
When he looked at her
clinging onto him, he let out a deep hiss; his thoughts were animal driven and
instinctual.
'She's mine,' a voice
murmured in Blue's head, 'My mate...I will get her back.'
He lowered forward
ready to pounce at Scarlet who stood ready, as did the others.
Blue stood ready, his
tail twitching as he pondered when the best time to attack would be. His lips
curled up revealing the sharp white teeth and he unsheathed his claws.
Scarlet knew he was
about to pounce when his stance changed. He shoved Symphony out the way so she
wouldn't be harmed and took the full force of the attack, throwing him to the
floor.
Claws bit into flesh
and Scarlet yelled out in pain then he felt the pressure ease after hearing
shots being fired. A security team stood in the doorway armed with
tranquillisers as Green had advised them.
Scarlet took in a
deep, shaky breath and pushed the sedated animal off him. "When did you call
them in?"
"When he was watching
you, I used the opportunity to get to the intercom unnoticed," Green answered,
looking down at Blue. "We've got to get him to Sickbay and find out what's
happened to him!"
Blue had been put in
a quarantine hold, his cat frame stretched out on a long bed, the chest area
rising and falling with each calm breath.
Symphony was sitting
with Scarlet, his wounds were being cleaned, but they knew that they would be
gone in less than an hour, she was there being treated for shock.
Green and Colonel
White stood looking through the glass over the animal; a mixture of emotions
could be deciphered by the looks on their faces.
Fawn had given
Symphony a drink to calm down with, he reassured her that she would be fine and
went to the Colonel.
"What's the latest on
Blue?" White asked. He stood with folded arms not turning his stare from the
giant cat.
"We have done scans
on him, the results are fascinating, the feline DNA is
equipped with small cells that take over the human ones, reforming him."
"Any ideas how to get rid of this DNA?" The Colonel still did not look
at Fawn.
"None, sir," the
Doctor said, quietly.
The Colonel briefly
glanced at Green and the others, then turned quickly around as they heard Blue
stir, lifting up gingerly onto his front paws.
Then he let out a cry
that ripped like thunder throughout Sickbay, making Symphony fall off one of the
medi-beds; the cat’s form began to change back.
They watched with a
strange fascination as he reverted from the deadly and powerful cat back to the
Spectrum officer, Captain Blue.
He opened his eyes,
which had returned to their normal colour and looked at them through the glass
of his enclosure. "What's going on? What the hell is happening to me?" he
managed to ask. The transfiguration had made him weak.
The others exchanged
uneasy glances and Colonel White stepped forward. "You'll be alright, Captain.
Dr Fawn and his team are working all day and all night to find an answer to
this."
Blue looked into his
superior's eyes. "I want this to stop! I..." He broke off and lowered his gaze
to the bed. He slipped his hands out of the restraints, which had been set to
cater for the puma’s larger paws.
He looked up again
and saw Symphony. The first thing he felt was regret over his actions but the
feline instincts were strong in him. 'I'm glad I'm in
here,' he thought bitterly. 'At least I can't smell her in here.'
Symphony looked back at him; she remembered every moment of what happened in his
quarters leading to his change into that beast.
He had wanted her
like a primal need, she felt sick to her stomach wondering what would have
happened if he had caught her in his cat form.
She covered her face,
she knew the tears were coming, she left the room quickly, Scarlet looked up at
her with worried eyes, "Karen?" She ignored him and continued out.
Blue watched her
leave and lay back to his side, realising he was bared completely naked to his
commanding officer.
Colonel White decided
now was a good time to leave and turned to do just that telling Scarlet to do
the same as soon as he felt his wounds were healed.
Before he left, he
turned to Dr Fawn. "One suggestion, doctor.
Captain Blue's been through enough in recent days without being stripped of his
dignity too."
Fawn knew what he was
getting at and nodded as White left.
He made his way
slowly back to the control room, all the while thinking. Whatever it was the
Mysterons did to Captain Blue, it was not only causing him a great deal of pain
both mentally and physically, but it also put the other members of Cloudbase in
jeopardy. If he could change into such a dangerous creature without any warning,
his officers could be in serious danger if he wasn't properly contained. White
shook his head. That was the last thing he wanted and he knew that Blue would
feel the same. Captain Blue was the sort of person who wouldn't take to
captivity very well.
Within the hour,
Scarlet's wounds vanished without a trace, and left as he was instructed to do.
Immediately, he felt
he had to go talk to Symphony, she had her shift taken
over by Destiny whom she was going to repay the favour tonight.
He headed to her
quarters, he assumed she'd be there, after this ordeal, anyone would retreat
back to the safest place in their mind, their own abode.
He knocked at her
door, "Who is it?" he heard her call out.
"It's Paul." He
waited for her to answer, which wasn't more than a few seconds later.
"Come in."
He opened the door
and stepped into her lush room, decorated with many beautiful items, most
treasured by young ladies of her style.
She was sat on her
bed, reading a book, pressed tightly against the far wall.
"How are you feeling,
Karen?"
She looked up at him
and he could still see the fear in her eyes.
"I'm fine," she lied.
He walked over and
sat next to her. "Do you really mean that?"
She looked away from
him, back down to her book. "Yes."
"Karen," he said
softly, making her look up. "What did he do? I know it was more than just
chasing you across Cloudbase."
She shut her eyes.
"It was so scary! It was like he was a totally different person."
"It's ok, you can
tell me."
"He..." She looked up
at him then thought of the Adam she knew before this. "I can't."
"Karen." He took her shoulders, but her face turned from him, clenching back the
horror that was resting in her mind, "You have to tell someone, it will damage
you more if you conceal it, what happened? Please tell me."
She gritted her
teeth, pushing away from him, "It's too hard to say, how can I?"
Her eyes met his,
they were glazed over with shock and dismay, and he then caught on to something.
"He...he didn't..."
He wandered over the thought as she watched him, still terror driven.
She closed her eyes
as tears began to fall from them. "I know it was something inside him making him
act that way, but..."
Scarlet looked at
her, his eyes full of compassion and worry. "It's ok, take your time."
"How can I ever look
at him the same again? He..." She took a deep breath and looked into her
companion's eyes. "He tried to rape me! To him it was probably something primal
or something, but to me it felt like he was..."
She shut her eyes
again and her tears flowed freely.
Scarlet opened his arms and she hugged him, sobbing softly onto him, "It's
okay, you know he'd never act like a monster, maybe it was something
else...maybe he wasn't going to rape you."
"I really don't
know..." she said, looking at him with tear-swollen eyes.
"You need to talk to
him." She pulled back from him with wide eyes.
"You’re crazy! Why?"
"Because you need to
prove that he is Adam Svenson and not some animal with his face."
She held her breath;
thinking hard, "I don't know," she gasped out.
Scarlet stood up,
watching her drifting gaze follow across her bed linen and he walked to the door
but turned around when she spoke again:
"I will see him after
my duty shift tonight, I need time to think."
Scarlet nodded and
left her to think over everything, hoping she could block the images of horror
from her head.
Blue sat in his
isolation room staring at the ceiling. They given him
some clothes and bedding as well as taking some more of his blood.
He turned his head
again to watch the activity outside. There were doctors and nurses milling
around, casting wary glances at him every time they past near his confinement.
He sighed and turned back to the ceiling.
Dr Fawn walked over
and went inside to see him. The security guard at the door watched him
carefully.
"How are you feeling,
Captain?"
"Like I could change
into that puma again at any minute and hurt all my friends," he said, not taking
his eyes from the ceiling.
Fawn shook his head
and sat down on the end of his bed. "Come on, Adam. You know this isn't your
fault! If anyone's to blame, it's those bloody Mysterons!"
"So what if they're
to blame!" he yelled, sitting up. "It's still me doing this! Not them!"
The doctor looked at
him, worriedly. "Adam, stop this! It's not your fault and you know it!"
Blue ignored him,
lying back down with one arm under his head and his gaze returning to the
ceiling.
"Let's face the fact
that I'm more of a monster now than they are!"
Fawn shook his head,
disbelieving his words, "No, you really can't say that!"
"Why not? I tried to kill my best friend and do some god awful things to the woman
I love!"
"You have to get use
to instincts, control them, control the animal side of
you."
"How?" Blue leant up
looking at the Doctor who thought for a moment.
"Concentration is the
key to it all."
"So when I'm that
animal, I have to concentrate on being me, the human self when I'm not."
"See! No wonder you
think yourself an animal, you never will believe that you were human in the
first place!"
Blue was about to
answer but stopped; he couldn't come up with answer to what Fawn was saying.
He sighed and turned away again. Fawn shook his head and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Blue called out. Fawn turned back to him. "Will you help me?"
A
smile formed on the doctor's face. "Of course. But I
think I may need some help too. Take no offence, but should anything happen, you
could hurt someone." Blue lowered his gaze again. "Though there is one person
who can't be fatally harmed in the same way."
Blue knew whom he was
talking about, “Fine, but I still don’t think I can control this thing.”
Symphony had gone on
duty in the Interceptor feeling a little downhearted but she had to keep her
sanity as long as she was an active member of the Spectrum organisation.
After her shift
finished, she left quietly from the Amber room, being replaced by Harmony.
Rhapsody and Destiny
sat watching her leave.
"Poor Karen,"
Rhapsody said, Destiny nodded slowly at her.
Symphony quickly
changed in her quarters to something more comfortable and out of her uniform.
She freshened up and
headed down to the Sickbay.
On arriving she saw
Doctor Fawn running some tests on some blood samples, namely Blue's.
She walked over to
him, "Edward?"
"Yes?" He turned to
her.
"Can I see him?" she
said quietly.
"That's out of the
question,” he plainly said, turning back to his testing.
"But I really need to
talk to him, if I don't, I could go crazy, please don't stop me."
"Look, he could hurt
you..."
"Not more than he has
done, but I really need to talk to him right now."
He narrowed his eyes
and sighed, "Fine, go in, but it’s not my responsibility for any of his
actions."
She nodded and walked
to the door of the quarantine room, the security guard letting her through.
"Adam?" she said
softly upon entering. Captain Blue looked up at her through blurry eyes. "Oh,
I'm sorry! Did I wake you? I'll go." She turned to leave.
"Karen?" he asked as
if only just realising whom it was. "Please don't go." Symphony turned back to
him and he lowered his gaze. "I feel awful for what I did to you. I... I'm
really sorry. I wasn't in control of myself."
She walked over to
him, noticing how the security guard outside had a firm
grip on his weapon.
"I didn't mean to
hurt you or scare you, I'd never mean to do that."
She closed her eyes briefly then looked into his.
"I know..." she said
in a near whisper, she sat down on the bed next to him, he moved up to her and
touched her shoulder, she
didn't pull back.
"I love you so much,
maybe I let myself go around you...and it wanted you...the animal loves you in
its own way, because I do."
"Adam, I care about
you...whatever you are."
She kissed his cheek
softly, he was so happy she wasn't scared of him, then he felt that feeling
again like he did when they were in that corridor together, her scent was
stronger now and so addictive.
He pulled back from
her, shivering, "I think you should go."
"What's wrong?" she
said reaching for him but he kept away from her.
He grabbed his sides,
"I think I'm going to change."
She gasped, tears
started to prick her eyes, "It's me! I'm doing this to you,
your emotions around me make you change!"
She flung her arms
around him, not caring about what was happening at that moment, "Please, I don't
want you to change, I love you Adam Svenson."
He shook, feeling
ripples inside his body, he wrapped his arms around her, "I love you too," he
whispered, pain in his voice.
Fawn put his pads
down and checked his watch. Symphony had had enough time in with Captain Blue.
He looked up and through the glass panels of the isolation room walls then saw
his patient huddled in the corner with Symphony trying to comfort him. His eyes
widened and he ran over and banged on the glass. "Symphony!
Get out of there!" he yelled. "Symphony!"
She turned to look at
him and in that space of time, the animal instincts in Blue took over and she
was thrown to the floor just in front of where Fawn stood.
"Get in there and
sedate him now!" he yelled to the security officer. The young man nodded and ran
in.
"Blue! You've got to
concentrate! You are Captain Blue! Come on, Adam! Concentrate!"
Blue looked over at the security officer who was aiming the gun at him, but he
didn't have time to fire as the speed of the Captain astonished him and the gun
was thrown from his hands.
The security guard
backed away from him; Blue had already progressed into minor stages of the
transformation. His eyes had turned into the piercing green ones, his ears had
moved up his head and stood pricked up, his teeth had sharpened and lengthened,
and at the ends of his fingers were claws that retracted in and out of the tips.
Symphony stood up
behind slowly, she was a little sore from being thrown over but she managed to
regain herself.
Blue let out a primal
cry and swiped fiercely at the Security guard, who ducked out the way letting
Symphony take the hit.
She was knocked back
with great strength into the glass screen, shattering it.
Blue froze, breathing
hard with feline sounds murmuring from his throat, he looked down at her, a gash
emanated from her neck and blood was pouring from a head wound; he fell to his
knees.
He had finished
transforming and now two separate consciences inside him were battling, like two
different voices. The cat's was giving him predatory signals and was
overpowering the human side.
Blue let out a roar,
making the staff of Sickbay run to the other side of the room in terror. He
looked about at them. 'My friends, they are my friends and I won't hurt them.'
'Creatures such as
you don't have friends, they are prey or mates, nothing
more.'
'No!'
'They are nothing to
you! This place is a prison! You must be free!'
Blue couldn't control
himself. He let out another roar then ran across the room, leaping with claws
beard at the control panel. It sparked and fizzed as he came into contact with
it and he ran out.
Fawn and the other medical staff emerged from hiding as Blue disappeared out of
Sickbay.
Fawn immediately ran
into the quarantine room, knocking the useless Security guard out the way as he
knelt down by the badly hurt Angel.
"Karen, can you hear
me?" He got no response; he called through to the cowering people in the next
room, "Get in here, medical emergency!"
Rhapsody and Destiny
were reading magazines while their boring shift dragged on.
"Really, it's all too
quiet around here, where's the excitement?" Rhapsody commented over her reading
material.
"What are you talking
about?" Destiny dropped her magazine staring at the British woman, "Haven't you
been keeping up to date with things going on around here?"
"Yes, but I mean,
when do we ever have a chance to have heart racing experiences?"
At that moment Blue
crashed through the doors of the Amber room, making both Angel's scream at the
top of their lungs and scramble to climb the bookcase, the highest point in the
room.
"Is this exciting
enough for you?" Destiny said, practically gripping the ceiling as the big cat
stalked towards them.
Rhapsody swallowed
hard as below them the large and sleek form of Captain Blue prowled, looking up
at them and sniffing the air.
"What's he doing?"
Rhapsody whispered.
"I don't know,"
Destiny admitted. "But I hope someone comes along soon, I won't be able to hold
onto this bookshelf forever."
It shook violently as
below them Blue had reared up onto his hind legs and was knocking into the
shelves with his front legs.
"I don't think you'll
have to!" Rhapsody answered the panic in her voice clear as crystal.
They both could feel it go, screaming along with as it fell down to the floor
throwing them both off.
Blue looked at them
and steadily moved towards Rhapsody.
"Don't move," Destiny
whispered, curled up behind one of the sofas.
"This isn't a snake
we are talking about!" Rhapsody barely shouted.
Blue's paw dropped
down next to her face, the red haired woman held in her scream, eyes widening as
he bent in to sniff her face.
Her heart raced, she
felt him paw at the back of her uniform, she really
wanted to get away.
"What is he doing?"
Rhapsody said calmly, Destiny peering round to look at the big cat.
"I have no idea!" she
said watching on with fear.
They lay perfectly
still as Blue walked round them, sniffing at them with interest. Their scent was
tantalising to him, but didn't come near to Symphony's.
The two Angel pilots
tried their best to control their breathing and keep their fear in check.
"You know, taking an
Interceptor against the Mysterons never as frightening as this is!" Rhapsody
said quietly then quickly shut her mouth as Blue bent down to her again. He
nudged her face with his nose, making her turn to look at him. He seemed to
study her pale and frightened face then turned to Destiny and did the same.
He then got off them
and went to the other side of the room. The large frame of the cat shuddered
then as though something had clicked; the creature lay down and started to lick
its paws.
"What the...?"
Rhapsody said as she saw what happened.
"You don't think...?"
Destiny wondered.
"Worth a try."
Destiny took a breath
and got up. She edged towards him but he ignored her. She got to the sofa he was
sat closest to and sat on it.
"Juliette, be
careful!"
"It's ok, Dianne."
The French woman turned to the massive cat that was now cleaning his ears.
"Adam?"
He stopped and looked
up at her.
Her eyes went wide.
"Adam, is that you? Can you hear me?"
He stared at her and stood up making Destiny back off as he came close to her,
she closed her eyes waiting for him to strike her but nothing.
Then she heard a soft
purring and opened her eyes, to see him directly in front of her face, whipping
his tail happily around and giving an affectionate nudge.
"Adam?" He climbed onto the sofa and brushed past her with his weight of fur
tickling up to her then passing with his tail that made her squeak with
laughter, he was playing like a regular household cat even though he was giant
beast.
"How long before his
mind goes wild nature?" Rhapsody said, "We don't know if he'll stay tame for
long."
"Let’s pray he
doesn't let the wild side go on us, or I think you and I would be expecting
kittens."
Rhapsody gingerly
walked over and sat down next to him. "Adam?"
His body was in a
seated position-facing Destiny but when he heard his name, he turned his head to
look at Rhapsody. He was now looking at her upside down. She smiled slightly and
slowly reached out a hand to him. She let it touch the soft fur on the underside
of his chin and instantly the purring grew louder.
She let out a gentle
sigh and stroked him gently, but stopped when he pulled away. She worried for a
minute, thinking he might be losing control again but calmed down when he curled
up between them, and his tail gently twitching at Destiny and his head in
Rhapsody's lap.
The two pilots
exchanged glances and sat very still, though continued to stroke him, hoping
that it'd keep him calm.
It wasn't long before
the security team looking for Blue arrived with Fawn. They saw him curled up
asleep with the two Angels and Fawn smiled. "He's learning."
The puma was taken back to Sickbay and placed in a new isolation ward, where he
transformed back into his human self.
He awoke, lying with
blankets covering him up, this time he wasn't having his dignity provoked.
He sat up and rubbed
his face, he felt tired but his strength soon returned to him.
Doctor Fawn came into
the room he was in, "How you feeling, Adam?" He asked.
"For one thing..." He
sniffed his arm, "...I smell like Dianne and Juliette."
He smiled, "You
managed to take control."
"It wasn't easy, I
kind of guess I didn't want to have it off with either of those pretty Angel's,
they are just my friends, I had to stop myself."
Fawn nodded and
handed him a drink leaving the room.
Blue sipped it,
feeling refreshed and much more relaxed; he heard a voice outside say:
"Prep for surgery."
He frowned then
watched a trolley being wheeled by to the operating theatre; doctors and nurses
surrounding it but he could see who was on it. Symphony.
He dropped the glass
from his hand; it smashed against the floor.
He scooted out of the
bed bringing the blanket with him around his waist and pressed up to the glass
separating him from everyone else.
He gasped when he saw
her and wondered what on earth had happened to her then he remembered. He'd done
that to her. He remembered seeing the deep cut across her throat and the blood
seeping from a head injury.
He closed his eyes
tightly shut. "What have I done? What have I done?" he kept repeating to
himself.
He went back to the
bed and lied down on it. "I hope to God they can help her," he said, watching
the doctors wheel her trolley into the operating theatre.
Scarlet received the news about Symphony Angel and blamed himself for what had
happened to her, sending her in on a dangerous situation.
He had been told by
Doctor Fawn to go to Sickbay, he was going to help Blue control the animal
inside him.
He walked into the
dark medical room, most must have been in surgery with Symphony, and others were
busy running around clearing up the shattered glass on the floor.
Doctor Fawn appeared,
"Hello Captain, follow me, Blue is this way."
Scarlet nodded
silently and followed Fawn across the room, their feet crunching across an area
of broken glass.
"It's amazing just
how powerful he can be," Scarlet mused silently and wondered what he was letting
himself in for.
"Yes," Fawn replied
grimly, not turning back.
They reached Blue's
new quarantine room and the security guard waved them through.
"Be careful in there,
Scarlet."
He nodded and walked in, looking at the barely decorated room, centred by the
bed that Blue was occupying.
He had his face in
his pillow, ignoring everything around him.
"Adam?" he said
calmly.
Blue looked up, his
eyes were distraught, Scarlet walked towards him.
"What's wrong?"
Blue snapped up,
"What's wrong! Have you heard about Symphony, I could have killed her! She is
now being operated on for what I did!"
"Calm down, Adam."
"Don't tell me to
calm down! I love that woman, how will she look at me again without being
afraid!"
He cupped his head in
his hands; Scarlet sat on the bed, "Don't beat yourself
up over it."
Blue grabbed Scarlet
by the front of his tunic and practically lifted him off the bed with ease, "You
don't understand, I am such a monster, I may have taken control over the animal
but it was too late, I had already beaten the living crap out of Symphony!"
Scarlet put his hands
up, "Whoa! Adam stop getting stressed, you'll change if you do!"
"I...can't..." He
kept a grip on Scarlet as his eyes changed, his voice
too.
Scarlet looked into
the green eyes. "Adam! You've got to control yourself! If you don't there's no
telling what you might do!"
Blue was too far-gone
now to respond in any way. His hands changed to paws and his claws tore through
Scarlet’s uniform, cutting into him. He grimaced but tried to remain as calm as
he could.
"Adam! You've got to
listen to me! You are Adam Svenson, Captain Blue, take your pick, but you are
not an animal! You are my friend! Please! Concentrate on my voice!"
He continued to talk
encouragingly despite the pain he felt in his chest from the sharp claws.
Blue had nearly
finished transforming and released his hold on Scarlet as he fell forward onto
all fours.
Scarlet gasped in a
lungful of air as he landed then pushed himself onto his elbows and looked back
at Blue. "Adam! Listen to me!"
The cat jumped from
the front of the bed and prowled over to him, snarling and teeth bared.
Scarlet pushed
himself up onto his knees so he was roughly eye height. "You've got to
concentrate, Adam! Listen to me."
Blue continued to
growl at him, and lowered his head and front legs so he was in a perfect
position to pounce. His tail flicked angrily behind him and he unsheathed his
claws.
"Adam, listen to me!"
Scarlet yelled.
The Spectrum Captain
had to dodge Blue's pounce, shimmying away across the room.
The puma was getting
very angry and his aggressiveness excelled.
Then both Blue and
Scarlet stopped when they heard a familiar voice:
This is the voice of the
Mysterons, we know that you can hear us Earthmen. You may have destroyed
one of our Earth complexes but there is another. We will be taking another of
your officers for the same nature as one on your base now. We have infiltrated
you Earthmen, Infiltrated you!
The threat was over, the cat stood frozen looking at Scarlet then went to
lay down, looking at him with sad eyes.
Scarlet got up from
where he'd moved to and crawled over to him.
"Adam?"
Blue didn't move but
turned his eyes up to look at him again.
"Are you ok?" Scarlet
didn't really expect an answer to this question. He was surprised though when
Blue moved forward, not raising his body from the floor much, but inching his
paws across the floor to move towards Scarlet. He stopped right next to him and
raised his head to look at him, his eyes scanning his companion's torso. He saw
the injuries he'd inflicted then put a paw gently on his leg. Scarlet looked
down at it, slightly confused then the massive cat moved its head forward and
gently licked the wounds.
Scarlet assumed this
was more the cat in him, but was thankful that Blue was under control more now,
even if the poor creature was overcome with despair.
Within the next six hours, Symphony was operated on and the doctors’ work proved
a success and she was taken to a ward to recover.
Blue had returned to
his normal self and Scarlet had left him to some peace, his wounds healed
completely.
Blue watched Symphony
lay still under anaesthetic in one of the many beds, looking a sight for sore
eyes, he felt bad.
Fawn stood by her
bed; she began to ease her way back to consciousness, through the drugs.
Blue looked pleased
to see her open her eyes, he called Doctor Fawn over to him.
Fawn approached the
window to Blue's room, "Yes?"
"I want to see her."
"Oh
no! I'm not going through that again!"
"Look, I'm under
control, please let me see her?"
Fawn sighed. "Why do
I bother?" he mumbled. "Ok, but if anything happens, we're sedating you straight
away."
"S.I.G.," Blue said.
Fawn shook his head.
"What am I doing? I should be reviving Scarlet from the dead, not playing with
cats!"
Blue looked at him,
he felt slightly offended but ignored it; he didn't want Fawn to say he couldn't
see her. "Can I have some clothes then?" He was still wearing his blanket like a
toga.
"Oh yeah," He
retrieved some clothes for Blue, a thin long jumper and some shorts.
Symphony was trying
to make her vision focus, her head was spinning, she could remember the feeling
of her head making an impact on the glass screen, she
could still hear it shattering inside her head.
When she finally got
herself together, she noticed someone was at her side; she turned her head
gradually to see Blue standing over her, she choked up as he touched her cheek
softly.
She shied away from
his touch and he pulled a confused face.
"What's wrong, Karen?
It's me, Adam."
She said nothing but
used what strength she had to pull herself away from him.
"Karen?" His voice
sounded hurt.
"Stay away from me!"
His eyes went wide. "Just get away from me, you freak!"
He turned away
slightly. The woman he loved had just rejected him over something that was out
of his control. His emotions ran wild through him, he felt hurt, unwanted and
unloved. He shut his eyes then turned to the security officer beside him. "I
think I'd better go back," he said, his knees buckling slightly.
The officer saw this
and moved to grab him and held him up. "Ok, sir." He led him swiftly back to his
room and quickly shut the door.
Blue didn't mind
that, what he did mind was what Symphony had said. He continued to look at her
sadly throughout his transformation.
The music was played loudly in the officers’ lounge.
Rhapsody sang along
and danced around Captain Ochre and Magenta who enjoyed watching.
"How much money would
you take if you did some table dancing?" Magenta winked at Rhapsody.
"You sad little man,
Patrick," she said falling back onto Ochre, who laughed at her as she stole his
hat and put it on her own head.
"That suits you," he
commented.
"Looks better on me,
just such a nasty colour," Rhapsody said cheekily.
"Watch it, girl, or
we'll be calling you Rasputin Angel!"
Scarlet walked in and
raised an eyebrow at the pair, "Never knew you were an item."
Rhapsody jumped of
his knee quickly, "In his dreams!"
"Thanks!" Ochre said
with a smirk, then reached his hand to her, "Can I have my hat back now?"
She walked across the
room and threw it back at him as though it were a Frisbee. Everyone in the room
laughed when he fell off his seat trying to catch it.
"No fair, that was a
bad throw!" Ochre said, smiling as he got up.
"No, it was a fine
throw, you just can't catch," Scarlet said, sitting down wearily.
"What's up, Paul?"
Magenta asked.
"I'm worried about
Adam."
Rhapsody sighed and
sat next to him. "We all are, but he'll be alright, you'll see."
"But you didn't see
the look of sadness in his eyes when we received the threat." He closed his eyes
as he remembered it. "I dunno, I know he's learning to control himself now, but..."
"What happened to
your uniform?" Ochre asked, seeing the blood stained tears in it.
Scarlet looked down.
"I forgot about that. I'd better change before the Colonel sees it."
"Why? What happened?"
Ochre repeated.
"Captain Blue. His
claws are really sharp!"
The others understood
and said nothing more on the matter. They sat in silence for a while, aside from
the music until Rhapsody decided they needed cheering up. She leaned over and
pinched Scarlet's and Magenta's hats. "What d'you think: red or pink?"
"The colour is Magenta, Rasputin!" the Irish man hollered.
"Oh be quiet, Captain
Pink!" She sniggered.
Symphony lay in the
quietness of the wards; she was bored senseless just lying there.
She sat up, her head
feeling a little strange; she rubbed her temples to make the spiking headache
disappear.
Then she noticed she
was being watched, from the other side of the room through the windowpane into
the isolation ward; Blue sat on his bed staring at her.
She bit her lip and
turned away from him. Just knowing he was watching her scared her. She didn't
know when he could change into that puma and break out of confinement.
She shuddered.
From his vantage
point, Blue saw her actions and looked away sadly. "I am a monster," he said,
bitterly to himself. "I'm never gonna
be anything else and I'm gonna lose Symphony forever."
He sighed deeply and
turned onto his side, pulling his blanket further over him.
When the night came, it turned cold in Sickbay.
Both Symphony and
Blue had fallen asleep, both not stirring to the sounds of the humming machines.
An on duty doctor,
Violet, was taking care of the patients, or so she seemed to be doing.
She watched Blue
through the window; he was curled up, being extra flexible now he could do that.
She looked over at
Symphony, whom was resting peacefully, she walked over to her and smiled evilly,
she was one of the infiltrators.
She opened a cabinet
near by and poured out some chloroform onto a hanky she had in her pocket and
walked over to the sleeping Angel.
She stood over her
and placed a hand on her arm to keep a steady grip on her while bringing down
the hanky.
Symphony felt the
cold hand and woke up, seeing the action about to be performed she screamed but
had them muffled by the chloroform soaked item.
Blue shot up, his
ears pricked up on the sounds.
He saw the action
through the darkness, Symphony struggling under someone’s grip, he hissed under
his breath.
This time, his
transformation was faster and less painful. He knew he had to. He had to help
Symphony, no matter what she thought of him and he couldn't do that locked in
his isolation room.
He dropped onto all
fours and let out a low growl then, sniffing the air, assumed his pounce stance.
The nurse pulled the
hanky away from Symphony's face, satisfied with her work. The Angel pilot was
unconscious again. She went over to the other side of the room and picked up a
syringe and filled it with a non-lethal drug. Non-lethal
unless taken in large quantities.
She went back over to
the pilot and was about to stick it into her arm when she heard a loud roar from
behind her then a crash as Blue broke free of his quarantine room again.
Her eyes went wide
and she turned, dropping the needle to the floor as Blue hit her hard in the
chest, all his strength behind the pounce. He was in total control of his
actions, but let the cat guide him in what he should do.
He had the Mysteron
pinned to the floor with his large paws and unsheathed his claws, digging them
deep into her chest. Then bared his teeth at her and growled again.
Then something shot Blue in the back and he growled and backed off the Mysteron,
dropping down, tranquilliser dart in his back.
A Mysteronised guard stood, "He will be out the way for a
while."
He looked down at her
as she got up, the needle near her.
"Were you trying to
kill her?" She nodded and received a slap, "That was not the plan!"
"I'm sorry,” Violet
said.
"Help me get her to a
Jet," the guard said, the doctor nodded picking up Symphony and stepping over
the fallen Blue.
Scarlet had been
woken by a wave of nausea and instantly worried. That meant there was a Mysteron
nearby. He got out of bed and left his room, heading towards the control room,
but in doing so, the migraine he felt pounding inside his head lessened. He
thought for a moment then turned and went back the other way. His head felt
worse so he knew he was going the right way.
Seconds later, he
heard a loud crash like a window breaking and he knew what was going on. He
broke into a run and headed for the Sickbay.
The doctor and guard
carted the unconscious Symphony out of the room and towards the hangar bay,
leaving the feline form of Captain Blue lying motionless on the floor next to
her bed.
When Scarlet arrived,
he noticed Symphony's empty bed and Blue
lying on the floor. While he was out, he'd changed back.
Scarlet ran over to
him and tried to bring him round. "Adam! Come on, Adam; wake up! What's
happened? Where's Symphony?"
Blue opened his eyes,
which were just reverting from green cat's eyes to blue human eyes. "Paul?" He
looked round and saw the empty bed. "They got her! Oh no! They got her!"
"Who?"
"The night shift staff! They must have been Mysterons! They sedated her and took
her! I tried to stop them, but... I guess they must of
hit me with a tranquilliser.”
“Damn it!” Scarlet
slammed his fist against the floor, “This is their threat, we’ve got to find
them; I know for one thing they won’t be sticking around on Cloudbase!”
Scarlet stood up,
Blue managed to get back to his feet grabbing the cover from Symphony’s bed to
cover his body, “I’m coming with you,” he said, still a little woozy.
“You’re not right at
the moment,” Scarlet said to his blonde friend who just shook his head madly.
“No, I must help you, if they go anywhere, I can smell her there.” Blue touched
Scarlet’s shoulder, “I know her scent, you need me!”
“Fine, grab some
clothes.” Blue nodded, “I’ll inform the situation to Colonel White.”
Colonel White lay
sound asleep in his quarters, lightly snoring, when he was suddenly woken by an
insistent bleeping. He opened his eyes and looked round to see a light blinking
on his intercom. Reaching over, he answered it, his voice betraying his fatigue.
"What is it?"
"Colonel, sir! There are Mysterons on the base! They have Symphony!"
White frowned and sat
up. "Can you repeat that, please Scarlet? Slowly?"
"Symphony has been
taken, sir."
Colonel White quickly
got out of bed, grabbing his uniform, "Find them," he hollered over the radio.
"S.I.G." Scarlet cut off
leaving White to struggle into his trousers, trying to get dressed at an
unbelievable speed.
Symphony was hauled
over the Mysteron guard’s shoulder; they had managed to sneak into the hangar
bay; Violet keeping a watchful eye for anyone whom would try to stop them.
They commandeered a
small jet, putting Symphony into the back cabin and starting up the vehicle's
engines.
Violet moments before
had cleared them for lift off and opened the hangar doors, jamming the system so
that they wouldn't shut until the access code was broken; she made her way back
to the stolen jet, it began to move around a platform, aimed now towards the
open doors.
She jumped in through
the open door, then before joining the guard in the cockpit; she slid the outer
door shut.
She glanced back at
the unconscious Angel as the plane soared through the doors toward their
destination.
Blue led Scarlet
through the twisting corridors of Cloudbase, his every
sense was alert and tuned into Symphony's distinct scent. He didn't know where
he was taking Scarlet until his companion stopped him.
"Adam! This is the
hangar deck!"
Blue looked up and
saw the indication proving this on the door. He tilted his head to one side.
"They've taken a plane. I can smell gas."
"You mean petrol?"
"Gas... petrol... same thing."
They both entered the
hangar bay, instantly feeling a chill from the cold wind breezing through from
the open hangar door.
Blue growled and
turned back to Scarlet, "We need to get up to the control room, get a proper fix
on where they might be taking her."
Green scanned through
the computers and logged down the flight path that was plotted on screen behind
White's desk.
"From our data, we
have them making a bearing of 174 to the west, and we have guessed their
destination is rural Texas. We have located another research lab there."
Scarlet's eyes
widened, "That's where they’re going...the threat!"
"Oh
no!" Blue turned to his friend, "God knows what they'll do to her in their
hands, we have to get after her!"
The Colonel stared at
the screen then back at the three men, "You may take an SPJ, Green go with them,
I'll have Magenta take your position."
"S.I.G., Colonel."
Green saluted and he followed Blue and Scarlet in the rush out of the room.
Captains Blue and
Scarlet and Lieutenant Green were strapped into their seats onboard the SPJ.
"This is Captain Blue, request launch clearance."
"Spectrum is green,"
came the Irish-accented voice of Magenta.
Blue nodded to
Scarlet and they directed the craft off the flight deck.
They were well on
their way. Scarlet looked over at his friend and saw his anger and
concentration. He was worried about him as well as Symphony. There was no
telling what the Mysterons would do to her once they got her to their lab, but
there was also no telling what Blue might do.
About half an hour
ahead of them, the jet had landed in front of the new facility, met by a group
of Mysteronised scientists.
Symphony was carted
out of the jet and inside, straight to the main lab.
Black stood there
waiting, "You have our next patient." His voice was cruel on the irony.
She was placed down
onto a table, the former spectrum agent staring over her prone body.
He turned to the head
scientist, "Start Project X2L9, same as what we did to Captain Blue."
"Yes, sir, I know
what I must do." He turned and nodded to some of his group to undress her from
the garments she was wearing while he brought in a cat, getting the experiment
started.
Soon the SPJ landed.
Within touching down Blue bolted out, Symphony's scent fresh
and thick over him.
He panned his eyes
across the area and the building, charging to the door and practically knocked
it off its hinges.
"She's in here, I can
smell her scent; it's strong." His eyes followed to a long corridor, "This way."
Blue bolted ahead,
Scarlet and Green had trouble keeping up, but Scarlet with his power to stand
more endurance left Green looking like he was skipping as a little school girl.
Blue skidded to a
stop and his eyes glinted green as he came to an iron reinforced door.
He hissed, knowing
Symphony was in there, he let out a roar and slammed
against it, jolting the whole frame but not budging it.
He was getting angry
and felt the feline instinct boil through his veins.
He banged his fists
into the door, making dents the size of footballs in the metal, and soon it
became too feeble to stand up to his strength and caved in.
All the scientists
whipped round as he stalked in, the cat’s eyes had covered up his natural blue
ones.
He saw Symphony lying
there, unclothed for the experiment and by the looks of things the group had
already started to perform, but how far gone had they done was not known to him.
He leapt up onto the
table and straddled her looking around at the group who backed away.
He looked down at
her, Scarlet and Green entered the room, with them an array of gun shots.
'Karen,' he thought,
he could feel his transformation coming, 'I hope you're okay.'
Captain Black stood
in the corner and watched with fascination as the man in front of them slowly
changed. Hands and feet became large paws, nails became sharp claws, his teeth
sharpened and lengthened. His face changed to resemble that of a cat and a long
tail extended from behind him.
Where once there was a man, now sat a fully-grown puma.
Black's eyes narrowed
thoughtfully. The serum was working better than he could have imagined.
Blue seemed to know
that by staying where he was he could hurt Symphony so jumped down and prowled
round the table she'd been strapped to while above him bullets still whizzed at
their Mysteron targets.
Being scientists,
they didn't have weapons on them so weren't as quick to return fire. By the time
they did, most of them had been taken out temporarily.
"Blue!" Scarlet yelled while still firing at the more quick and agile
Mysterons.
The cat looked round,
still fiercely guarding Symphony.
"Try and free her!"
Blue hunched his
front legs; his tail twitching then leapt up, his front paws resting on the bed
next to her. He used all his strength to bite and pull the restraints from her
arms.
Once each of the
binds snapped, he again stood over guarding her, but when a scientist got close
he felt it his duty to take him out, so he wouldn't go near Symphony.
Scarlet and Green
exchanged rapid gunfire with the Mysterons, while hiding behind instruments.
Scarlet looked up at
a main machine with readings on about the experiment and nudged Green, "Try and
get some information off that machine, it may help us find a cure for Blue."
"Right, I'm on it."
Green crawled over briskly to the console and tapped into the machine while
Scarlet kept the group of Mysterons busy.
Blue had torn up the
scientist and now had his eyes set on Black, who stood looking not in the least
bit worried about the big cat who hissed at him with a deep hatred.
Blue pounced at him
but Black made a swift side step then began to tread out quickly from the room,
gone from sight.
Blue ignored him, he
seemed no threat at all, and he wasn't even going to attempt to try and stop the
agents.
Suddenly there was a
great hefty bang from a wall monitor and a voice rang out, "Mains pressure valve
rupture, core melt down in two minutes."
Scarlet took out the
last scientist who had put up a struggle with him, "Damn, we have to get out of
here! Hurry up Green!"
"I've done it!" Green
had access to a disk from a small box near by the computer; he had downloaded
some helpful context. "I'll get Symphony."
Scarlet nodded. "Blue! Time to
go!" he yelled as Green darted across the room.
The Spectrum Lieutenant
carefully picked her and ran from the room, the swift puma following her
closely, still unwilling to leave her.
Scarlet took one last look at
the Mysterons in the room. All of them were temporarily out of commission,
except Black. The fact that he'd gotten away yet again annoyed Scarlet more than
anything, but he knew that he had to get out of there quick before the facility
blew up.
They made a swift break for the main entrance that was
quite far from them, around them blurred warning beacons and the continuous
voice warning them of imminent explosion.
After getting through the winding corridors, they made
it to the front entrance, opening it and quickly running back to the SPJ that
was close by.
They climbed on board, Scarlet heading directly to the
cockpit, and starting up the vehicle, he knew they would be in danger if they
stayed rooted there much longer, the impact of the explosion could blow the Jet
up where it stood.
Green had placed Symphony down in one of the back
emergency first aid areas, on a bed covering her up with the blanket; Blue
prowled around him looking at the sleeping woman intently.
Green made is way back through the cabins to the
cockpit as the SPJ began to take off, Scarlet was over exerted to make sure they
got away before it was too late.
"You got the disk?" Scarlet asked briefly, Green
flicked the disc out with a smile.
"I managed to get some important information on this
baby."
Scarlet nodded through concentration as the SPJ circled
round and sped off, the lab exploding beneath them.
They felt the minor shockwave that rippled for just a
moment through the jet, but subsided quickly.
Blue jumped up onto the bed along side Symphony, who
still was out cold from being drugged.
He began a slow transformation back to human, his
feline features reforming back to his human ones.
He lay there covered half with the blanket, looking at
her prone state, watching her breathe lightly.
He began to stroke her hair, letting his fingers
intertwine with every soft strand.
He than felt something wave over him, a scent coming
from her so powerful it was overwhelming.
He looked at her with wide eyes, it was like her whole
smell had increased to become more tantalising than before; he began rubbing his
cheek to her face, picking up the scent, purring as he went.
'What is that smell?' He thought, 'It doesn't seem
right but it's so... invigorating.'
Green was sat up front with
Scarlet so neither noticed how strangely Blue had suddenly started acting.
He took in a deep breath,
enjoying the powerful and intoxicating odour and wanting more. His purring
became louder and he continued to rub at her cheek with his own.
‘Why am I acting like this?'
Blue tried to think through all the desire that was filling his body, 'What is
coming from her?'
He looked back to see the cabin
door was shut, nobody was coming in for a while.
He looked down at her and
pressed his lips to hers, holding her cheek as he took on the sweet taste of her
lips, they were so vexing, drawing him in.
He slipped the blanket away to peer at her body, he had wanted to do this back
in his quarters when he had her there but she was too frightened and unwilling
to let him have her, but now she looked so peaceful and open to him, his feline
senses urged him on.
He leant to her body; it was warm and soft, so
touchable in its own right.
He traced his finger along her stomach and upwards across each curve looking at
her face, only gently stirring but still showing she wasn't going to wake.
His senses wanted him to take
her, his mate that lay there right then but he pulled back, his body trying to
force him on but he realised he couldn't let the animal win.
He sat still, but his entire body was shaking as the two consciousnesses inside
him fought for superiority over the other.
As the puma's mind took charge, he moved closer to Symphony, sliding his hand
down her soft skin. He shook violently again and Blue surfaced once more and he
moved his hand quickly away and so it continued.
Eventually, the puma forced Blue down making him take the next step by moving
onto Symphony. It was while he was sat on her, feeling the animal totally
enjoying itself that Blue managed to take control again and cried out, holding
his head between his hands.
It was this anguished cry that brought Captain Scarlet running in from the
cabin.
Green had taken the controls as Scarlet bolted in to check on Blue.
He opened the door into the cabin and saw the situation, a little embarrassed
that he was seeing Blue, pressed up against Symphony in the way he was.
The blonde captain pushed himself away from her and curled up on the edge of the
bed breathing hard.
Scarlet kneeled down next to him, "Adam, are you alright?"
Blue finally caught a breath to speak, "Yeah, it was trying to be dominant
again, but it’s backed down now."
He took his hands slowly from his head and sat up, looking at Symphony.
"Something about her drove the animal crazy, more than it had ever done."
Scarlet looked at her, she lay peaceful, he pulled the blanket back up to cover
her.
"We'll sort things out on Cloudbase," Scarlet told his friend, "We'll have her
checked over by Doctor Fawn."
The SPJ soared higher and higher, climbing to reach Cloudbase hovering forty
thousand feet above the surface.
They touched down and were met in the hangar by Dr Fawn and a team of medics.
They were instantly fussing over Symphony who still hadn't revived.
"How long has she been out?" Fawn asked as he wheeled the trolley bearing her
through the base to the Sickbay.
"Unknown, she was out when we got there," Scarlet answered, following them at
their quick pace.
Green had gone back up to the control room to report to Colonel White while Blue
had been asked to go with them to check him over, too. He had a blanket wrapped
round him, but hung back from the group, not wanting to go near Symphony in case
the puma should react again.
They arrived in Sickbay and instantly the Angel was hooked up to many machines
and scanned over.
Blue went to another bed where a doctor checked him over, there was nothing
wrong with him so he was left to sit in the background watching the medical
staff work on Symphony, who still felt he primally
needed to protect.
Fawn was looking over a scanner, tested some of her blood, he looked intrigued
at it, then accessed his machine.
Symphony began to awake, Blue sat forward; he watched her face spring back to
life slowly her eyes looking blurry.
"What...what's going on?" she said weakly, "What happened to me?"
"You were taken by the Mysterons, Symphony," Fawn answered still doing his work
and not looking at her at all, "We want to know if they did anything to you."
She looked around the room, she was disorientated still but when she saw Blue
she locked her eyes onto him, she thought she could smell something over herself
from him; it frightened her a lot.
He kept his eyes fixed on hers, all the while his urges and instincts sat thick
inside him.
Doctor Fawn's eyes widened, "My god...there is feline DNA inside you, Symphony."
She turned back to the source of the voice, pulling her eyes away from Blue at
the last possible moment.
"What?" she asked, confused.
Behind her, Blue's eyes widened. No wonder the scent had been so much stronger.
"Just as was the case with Captain Blue, you also have feline DNA in your body,
Symphony Angel."
She put a hand to her chest. "This can't be possible! You mean," she looked back
over at Blue. "You mean I'm just like him?"
"Not just like, I doubt, but we'll find out. If you don't mind, both of you, I'd
like to run some more tests on you, Captain and run some on you, too, Symphony
and compare the results."
Symphony wasn't listening and hadn't looked back, and Blue hadn't heard either.
Green walked in looking at the doctor, "I have some information on a disk you
may find useful."
Fawn nodded at him as he picked the small disk from his pocket, handing it over.
"Thank you Green, the Colonel knows now of what’s been going on?"
"Yes, Doctor." Fawn nodded and dismissed him and turned back to the two patients
who looked at each with unreadable eyes.
"Okay you two." They turned to him finally; "Let’s get you tested."
After an hour or so, both had been tested on and Fawn had just processed his
results through.
"It looks like your DNA pattern is slightly different to Blue's," Fawn said to
the young Angel who stared into thin air, unbelieving.
"I don't want to be an animal!" she said; she was about to cry.
Blue watched her; he was lapsed out across one of the beds, hand behind his head
watching her closely.
"We'll do the best to look for a cure, but we are still stumped at the moment."
Fawn put down the result sheets, "Well I think we should put you both into
quarantine, since Blue smashed up two already, there is one left meaning you two
will be sharing."
Symphony's eyes went wide and she spun her head from Blue to Fawn, "No! I want
to go to my quarters."
"Sorry, but after incidents we have had, you are in quarantine."
"But..."
"Don't argue with me." Fawn looked sternly at her, she turned to Blue who was
still fascinated with her, but the look on her face was masked with fear.
"I'll get you both clothes then in to the hold you go."
She tore her gaze away from Blue, if not without difficulty. She was petrified
of what he might do, but in another light, she was strangely drawn to him.
Fawn walked back carrying a pair of blue shorts for the Captain and
a white vest top and white shorts for the Angel.
They pulled them on then grudgingly on Symphony's part, allowed
themselves to be taken to the quarantine room.
Once inside, Blue lied down on one of the beds and put a hand under his head
again, his eyes still locked on her.
She sat on the other bed, her knees hugged as tight as she could to her chest.
Blue simply smiled at her attempts to hide herself from him.
For the next fifteen minutes he stayed in the same position looking at her with
wanting eyes.
She felt scared, coiling up on
herself hoping that he would get bored soon, but still
he wasn't showing signs of letting up on her.
She was getting agitated at him for his continuous gaze; she finally reached her
least nerve, "STOP IT!"
He leaned up giving a deep grin, "What is it?"
"Just stop it! Don't stare at me!"
He laughed, "I'm sorry...I can't help it."
"Why? What is so interesting?" She sat properly, his eyes tracing her, she felt
violated.
"There is a sense about you, a feline one, it just
draws me to you."
She had to admit, something was making her want to go jump on him but she pulled
back, she was bluntly terrified of his strength and his strange hungers and
need.
She
turned her back to him but felt his stare on her, making her want to scream.
Blue smiled when she turned away. He let his gaze drift over her slender
shoulders exposed by the straps of her top. He looked at the way the harsh
sickbay lights made her hair shine and enhance her figure. His grin broadened as
he lay back down again.
When her head dropped and her shoulders started to shudder, accompanied by the
sounds of muffled sobs, he continued to smile, even though deep inside he knew
exactly how she was feeling. She was scared of this new change and what its
consequences might mean and she was scared of him. Even though he knew this and
longed to make her feel better, he also longed for something else, something the
animal wanted.
"How is she doing?" Rhapsody occupied half of the couch in the officer’s lounge;
she was extremely worried about her friend.
Scarlet looked at her, his face had been distant most of the time he had been in
there; he looked at her, "I heard she is a little distraught."
"I definitely would be if I found out I had cat genes!"
Scarlet felt bad for his best friend and a woman he called a close companion, he
didn't know what to do anymore, and everything was just out of hand.
Rhapsody could see he was wrapped with thought and went over to him, wrapping
her arms around him.
He hugged her, making him feel better, with warm hands and heart next to him.
Symphony had got up to pace, she was restless and having the blonde man she was
not communicating with well watching her like she was a toy made her stomach
twist.
Inside she felt a deep burning; it made her want nothing more than to kill
herself, her senses were going wild.
She turned to Blue who hadn't stopped looking at her since they came in, and
still taking her in his sight.
She stormed over to him, "I TOLD YOU TO STOP LOOKING AT ME!"
He leaned forward, pretty much wrapped up in his smirk, she began to tremble,
something making its presence in her mind, opening up her wants and needs and in
an
flash she didn't know what she was doing.
She grabbed Blue and pulled him into a deep kiss, he wrapped his arms around her
tightly pulling her back against him.
They embraced strongly for a moment before she pulled back wide eyed, turning
away and walking to the other side of the room, shaking wildly, not knowing her
own intentions anymore.
She
became more disturbed when she felt Blue approaching her; she didn't dare look
around.
"Stay away from me, Captain," she said quietly, focussing on the wall in front
of her.
"What's the matter, Karen?"
She screwed her eyes shut, forcing herself not to turn round. If she did, she
didn't think she'd be able to hold back. "What's the matter? What
d'you
thinks the matter?" she yelled. "Those bloody Mysterons capture me and turn me
into a freak and I'm scared of what might happen!"
Blue tilted his head slightly at the way she referred to herself and in a way,
him too, but continued smiling. He liked being so close to her. Just her scent
was enough to keep the animal mind calm but it wanted so much more than to just
be able to smell her.
"Just go away, Captain. I don't want to talk to you."
"Ok, fine," he responded, his grin still not lifting. "I'll leave you alone, but
I can't really go away, we're both locked in here." He walked back across to his
bunk as he said this; his eyes still fixed on the Angel pilot.
She finally turned her head to look at him, he was too right it hurt her
head, she grimaced and settled in the corner looking at him.
He stared at her with more intending eyes, if he had been the cat, she could
imagine him whipping his tail around behind him with desire.
"What is wrong with you?" she said softly, he pressed his head to his arms
listening, "What do you want from me?"
She was afraid to know the answer because it was all too obvious.
"I want you, Karen," Blue said, his voice a near purr, "No... I have to have
you,
I can't play this little game anymore."
She pushed her back further into the corner as he took a graceful leap off his
bed onto all fours crawling towards her.
She shook her head, "No you can't...I won't!"
"You know you want to, Karen." He narrowed his eyes; "It burns inside you."
He was directly in front of her now; he lifted his hand under her top, she
watched in complete dread.
He pressed his face to hers, and the thing that made her scared the most is that
she wanted him too, but she couldn't let herself go.
He
touched her on her curved top and she jumped a little; she was rocked with
different emotions, all pounding at her, she felt something sweep her body, she
let out a cry making Blue look at her with concern along with his desires.
Blue knew instantly what was happening having gone through it so often. He
backed off a little, there were so many emotions running through him he didn't
know what to do. He was nervous because Fawn had mentioned a difference between
his and her DNA patterns, he was curious to see what it looked like to watch
having only experienced the transfiguration and he still felt a longing to be
right beside her.
She let out another cry, slightly deeper than the last one then looked up at
him, her bright yellow green eyes were full of pain as her jaw elongated and her
teeth lengthened and sharpened. Long whiskers formed on either side of her pink
nose.
Blue tilted his head as he watched fur appear in ripples across her body, but
unlike his, hers was golden brown and black spots were rapidly appearing.
She dropped onto all fours as her legs changed, the
knees reversing direction to become more like a feline's. Her hands and feet
grew and changed into the strong and powerful paws of a skilled hunter and sharp
claws replaced her immaculate nails.
Her
ears moved up the side of her head and reshaped into the pointed cats' ears
while behind her, a long spotted tail appeared.
Her complete transformation made him spin with mixed feelings, triggering his
own transformation.
His fur waved over the human skin, engulfing it. His hands and feet reformed
into large paws, the nails becoming large dark claws.
His size grew out into the new body as his facial features pushed out into his
new mouth and nose.
Once every part of him was completely changed he stretched out in his cat form;
one of the mutated types like Symphony was now experiencing.
She was lying down, cowering in a way, like the human brain was playing the
bigger role.
Blue glanced over her frame and nudged against her affectionately, her scent
sending him over the edge.
He lay down next to her; moving in as close as he possibly could but she backed
away. Blue began to purr. He thought she was playing and so followed her to
where she now lay. Seeing him approach, she got up and leapt across the room,
landing softly on her bed.
Blue watched her; he was crouched low to the floor, his tail flicking happily
behind him. Symphony wasn't in the mood to play games. She
arced her back, all her fur standing on end and hissed at him, baring her
sharp white teeth and extending her claws. Her fear had allowed her to remain in
control, though the animal inside her was fighting to be released.
Blue still didn't understand and tilted his head to watch her. She didn't move
but stayed exactly where she was.
He flicked his tail again then pounced towards her, landing on the bed just as
she leapt to the other side of the room again. He wasted no time in following
her, but now Symphony was in a larger area. When he arrived next to her, she
reared up on her hind legs and swiped at him, her claws cutting into his
shoulder.
Blue let out a cry and Symphony used this time to throw all her weight at the
window, breaking free and tearing out of Sickbay.
When Blue realised, he roared in annoyance then chased after her, ignoring the
bemused and frightened medical staff.
Fawn looked shocked at the mess of glass on the floor, "Not again,
somebody call security" In his mind he was trying to amuse himself on the
situation, 'I wonder how Spectrum is going to compensate for all this broken
glass, the damage bill is gonna be run up...again!'
Harmony and Rhapsody were walking towards the Amber room; the British red
head was off duty but decided to join her friends in there to chat and get the
gossip.
"Oh darn, I forgot my reading book, I'll meet you in there"
Harmony nodded, "Okay, Dianne"
Rhapsody turned on her heel and jogged back the way she had come, but
before long she came to a grinding halt as some strange noises approached from
up a head.
She felt sick to her stomach when she saw the giant Leopard screech to a
stop directly in front of her, staring deeply at the Angel pilot with scared eyes, that melted from their greenish colour to soft brown
ones.
Rhapsody tilted her head, still a bit unsure what to do, 'There's another
cat...that means...' She let out a sharp gasp and said aloud, "Karen!"
The cat acknowledged her words and lifted her ears up.
Her eyes when wide when she realised just who the
creature was. "Oh Karen!"
She heard another loud roar from nearby and Symphony's fur stood on end,
her tail set firmly between her legs. Rhapsody saw this. "Are you afraid of
him?"
Symphony looked at her, giving Rhapsody enough time to register the unease
on the cat's spotted face, before running off. The redheaded angel wasted no
time in following her. She ran after her and into the Amber room where Symphony
lay cowering behind the sofa, the other angels on the other side of the room,
clearly uneasy with the situation.
"It's ok, it's Karen!" she called out, shutting the door and running over
to her. She put a hand softly on her head and rubbed gently between the ears.
Symphony looked up at her; Rhapsody could see some of her fear beginning to ebb
away, her brown eyes flickering back to green-yellow then to brown again. The
others slowly moved forward and crouched down round her.
"Karen? Are you ok?" Destiny asked.
The leopard looked up at her then on hearing Blue's roar echoing outside
she pinned her ears flat against the top of her head and lay as close to the
floor as she could.
Destiny, Rhapsody and Harmony got up and quietly walked over to the door.
Rhapsody put her ear against it and listening closely. She could hear Blue
prowling around outside. She told the others.
"Why doesn't he just break in like last time?" Harmony asked.
"I don't know," Rhapsody said, moving away from the door. "Quick, we've
got to inform security where they are," she said, her voice barely a whisper in
case Blue heard.
"I'll do it," Harmony said.
"Ok, I'm going back over with Karen, see if I can calm her down a bit. By
the way her eyes kept changing, I think she's fighting
a battle inside for control."
Symphony shook, not only from fear but also from a raging war inside her
body, the cat and human side trying to be the dominant one.
Her eyes kept flickering until suddenly they stuck on the cat’s colour,
but beyond that she began to transform back to the human self slowly.
Rhapsody and Destiny watched on in fascination, Harmony only got a brief
glance of it, she was too busy calling security and making sure Blue was keeping out of the room.
Symphony had de-transformed to a state of her human self but with
differences, her eyes were still the yellow green and her skin was a mixture
between peach and a soft blonde with black spots. Her human side was playing the
better half but still the feline side of her wasn't letting go.
She looked around scared, "What's going on? What's happening to me?" She
looked at herself; deepness stayed in her voice, still between her two sides.
Rhapsody and Destiny looked at her, unable to tell if she'd finished or
not. They both hoped that she hadn't. She still didn't sound or look like the Symphony they knew.
"Why is this happening to me?" She dropped her head into her hands. "It's
not fair!"
They exchanged glances as Harmony called quietly. "They're on their way,
girls."
Rhapsody nodded then turned back to Symphony. "I wish there was something
I could say or do to help you, other than say that Dr Fawn will find a cure to
this, I'm sure of it." She put a hand on Symphony's discoloured arm. She looked
into the green-yellow eyes with sympathy. "I promise you, both you and Captain
Blue will come through this."
Symphony visibly shuddered at the mention of his name.
Behind them, Destiny had been looking round the room, trying to find
something to give to Symphony to conceal her bared skin.
There was a large towel packed into a box next to a protruding storage shelf on
the wall, she picked it out and brought it over to Symphony, wrapping it over
her shoulders, the hybrid like woman pulled it herself across her front.
"Thank you" She said, as soft as she could.
There were loud roars emanating from outside the room, Symphony squealed
and got up grabbing Rhapsody and held her tightly in a hug, looking more like a
death lock.
Rhapsody and the others backed away from the door to the far side of the
room, knowing that Blue was fed up of waiting for his mate to come out to play
again. The doors burst open and the Puma dropped back onto all fours after
pushing into the room with his front paws.
Symphony sobbed into Rhapsody and shivered like crazy, not looking at Blue
who was taking steady strides towards them, eager to be next to Symphony.
The other Angels formed a protective barrier round their frightened
friend, knowing there was little they could do against the Puma, but did so to
reassure her they'd stand by her.
Blue prowled across the room, and lay down in front of the group of
Angels, his head resting on his paws and his tail twitching behind him. He
didn't remove his gaze from Symphony behind them once. The cat's mind was trying
to figure out why she looked so strange. She was neither human nor leopard, but
both. This confused him and much as he wanted to be right next to her or closer,
he remained where he was, watching her closely.
He didn't move a muscle aside from his tail, until the security guards
came in. When they arrived, he was up like a shot and ran across the room to
avoid their tranquillisers. His speed surprised them and he was able to get out
of the room again. The guards looked at each other dismayed; a few sighing then
ran after him again.
Then Fawn ran in, having heard where Symphony was.
He was a little flabbergasted by what he saw of Symphony but he knelt down
by her and touched her cool skin in various places before speaking to her in a
soothing and reassuring manor.
"Karen, you'll be okay, concentrate on yourself, imagine you're just an
ordinary human being, in control over your body, just like every normal day of
your life"
She closed her eyes, small vibrations rippled across her skin in tiny
waves, her body returning to normal.
She collapsed against Fawn, heaving hard on each breath, her face pale and
tired from the strain of her change.
"Its okay," He hugged her, some of his medical staff arrived in, and they
instantly went to the Doctor.
Blue ran as fast as he could, he knew the security team
were after him, there was no way he wanted to be captured by them.
He skidded to a swift stop as Scarlet walked out from the conference room
in front of him, jumping back when he saw him, not from fear, just from having
something suddenly appear out of nowhere.
They glared at each other then at the security team who came running round
the corner; tranquilliser guns aimed at Blue.
He quickly dodged behind Scarlet as they fired, the dart hitting the
Spectrum agent in the leg. His face clenched for a second then he felt some of
the serum inside rush through his body for a few seconds making him woozy, but
then it disappeared when the retro-metabolism kicked into play.
"Nice shot" Scarlet mocked, a little angry, the security guard that had
fired looked embarrassed.
"Sorry, sir" He replied, then spotted Blue trying to sneak away and
finally got a hit in on him.
The dart pierced his pelt then injected the tranquillising serum into him.
Scarlet and the other guards watched as he turned back to face them, sway
slightly then drop to the floor. With a thud, he landed on his side, his legs
outstretched and his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.
Scarlet rolled his eyes then went over to him to make sure he definitely
was tranquillised.
"What was all the noise for Scarlet?" Colonel White said, appearing at the
door to the Conference Room. His gaze took in the security guards and the large
Puma lying unconscious on the floor. He grimaced as he realised what must have
happened. "Not again!" He repeated the very words Fawn had said less than an
hour ago when they first escaped. "This is getting too much. We need to find a
cure for these two and fast!"
Scarlet stood looking thoughtful.
"What is it, Captain?" White said, walking over to him, being careful not
to stand on his other top agent.
"This is why they did it," he said quietly.
"Who did what?"
"The Mysterons," Scarlet said, turning to look his superior in the eye.
"They didn't just experiment on them to see the effects, but also to create
chaos on Cloudbase."
"Well, it's working," White said, a tone of
dissatisfaction in his voice.
Scarlet nodded. "While we've been running round the base playing chase the
kitty, they've probably been cooking up something much bigger for us to deal
with and where we're too busy trying to sort Blue and Symphony out, we won't be
as ready to counter their threat should one arise."
White looked at him, worriedly. "Well, let's hope it doesn't," he said as
some people arrived to take Blue back to Sickbay again.
The glass had been scattered like glittering molecules across the floor.
But the staff had already taken care to clean it up and use some scrap boards to
bar up the window to use the quarantine room again for Blue who was restrained
with Iron shackles, bolted down to the table. Symphony was more trusted and was
only sedated on minor drugs for the time being.
Hours later, she awoke, looking over to see Blue wide-awake and a little
bit displeased that he was maximally restrained.
He looked at her, she jarred slightly with fear, and he was hurt with
regret practically written all over his face.
"Karen..."
"What are you going to say to me now, hmm? Anymore lies come from your
lips or maybe your actions spoke more"
"Please, I want to apologise"
"Shut it, Adam, I've heard that one before, then the next thing I remember
I was woken up after surgery"
She walked over to his bed, he was firmly restrained, and he wasn't going
anywhere.
"What will you say now, go on, try and fix things, even if we are cured do
you expect me to look at you the same again?"
Blue looked at her, shock replacing his regret. Then anger brewed inside
him.
"Well, fine!" he yelled, pulling against his restraints. "If you don't
want to know me because of something out of my control then I guess I'm better
off without you!" He narrowed his eyes. "I thought you loved me, I sure as hell,
loved you!"
She looked a little confused for a moment, trying to gather her feelings
on the situation before snapping back at him with a lot more force.
"Why are you angry, I'm the one who should be angry!"
She stood right up against his bed, "After all you put me through, and you think
you're worse off, how can you be like that? How can you bring love into this?"
"Hmm, let me think! Because I did love you! I remember you telling me
you'd love me no matter what I were, but you were
obviously lying! You shouldn't be an Angel pilot! The Angels are honest and true
to their friends!" He turned away when he realised he'd said that out loud. Even
though deep down he meant it, he hadn't actually meant to say it.
Symphony backed away, her hands on her hips. "Oh, so now we're going for
the organisation's link, huh?" She clenched her teeth and glared at his back.
"Two can play that game! With the way you've been treating me, with what you've
been putting me and the other members of this base through, it's a wonder you're
still here! There's no place in Spectrum for a stupid self-centred
prat like you!"
He turned back to her. "I've already told you! What I did was in no way my
fault!"
"No, of course not! Then how was I able to control the leopard’s mind? Or did you actually
have control but just went along for the ride?" She sat down on her bed again.
"You're a sick man, Ca-" She paused. "No, you don't deserve the title Spectrum
gave you! You're a sick man, Adam Svenson!"
Blue took in a deep breath; he'd been thinking the same of himself and
hearing it from someone else cut deep.
She gripped one knee up to her chest, the other dangled off the edge of
the bed, swaying slowly, she was heated up and had a thousand and one things she
wanted to say, but it was neither the time nor place. She had to back down now
before she would say something that she would really regret.
Blue closed his eyes, trying to think about the whole animal mind, was he
really weak and letting the puma dominate or was he just sick and wanted to lay
his hands all over Symphony, he didn't know how to answer the question.
"I loved you so much, Karen, but now I see you are just so high of
yourself, thinking you're better," He narrowed his eyes, "You talk about me
being sick, well you're just selfish and so ignorant"
She didn't want to say anything, she was boiling up to the brim with
hatred and anger, and all she did was scream, but more coming out as a feline
cry.
She covered her mouth, feeling as if the cat just swept over her, tears
poured in gentle drops down her cheeks, Blue looked at her with firm and
unresponsive eyes.
She fought hard against the animal that was desperately trying to break
free. She sat back, her back to the wall and she was breathing hard. The
struggle had taken a lot out of her and she shut her eyes.
Blue saw this happen and frowned, wondering how she was able to suppress
her change, but said nothing, still being mad at her.
The pair sat in silence; their heated rage had cooled off, but for how
long? Fawn entered the room, grabbing their attention from their distant
concentration, they looked at him, Blue had trouble
doing so since he was pinned down to the bed.
Fawn looked at them with a wide smile; “I have good news for you both,
from the information Lt. Green brought back from the lab in Texas I have managed
to find a way to break down the cat cells, eradicating it totally. In simple
terms I have found you a cure”
Symphony looked at him with broad eyes, a happy smile crossing her face,
she would finally be shedding off the animal inside her, all the emotions and
instincts would be gone, she was about to turn to Blue to express her excitement
but she remembered she hated him.
Blue looked at Fawn, his face still looked neutral. He didn’t know how he
felt about the news.
He would be glad to rid of the cat’s instincts but the extra strength and
speed would be missed.
He returned his gaze to the ceiling seeing is that was the most
comfortable position to be lying in due to his restraints.
He pulled on them in an annoyed way trying to get more comfortable.
Fawn looked back at them, worrying. He’d heard their argument but hadn’t
heard what they were saying. He’d have to administer the treatments soon or
their relationship would be ruined.
Colonel White had just got the news sent up to him that a cure had been
discovered to rid Blue and Symphony of the cat DNA permanently, which he was
pretty much pleased with, he was fed up with having to lock up his best agent
and fighter pilot.
Meanwhile, Scarlet was talking with Destiny, Ochre and Rhapsody in the
officers lounge, when they found out, their reactions were the same as the
Colonel's, but they were much happier.
"It will be so nice to have Karen back to normal," Rhapsody said with a
sigh, "And Adam too"
"Yeah, we won't have to worry about them trying to kill us or sniff our
crotches" Ochre leaned back in his seat, feet on the coffee table.
Destiny backhanded him across the head, shutting him up after his lame
attempt at practical humour.
"I hope they aren't mentally affected" Destiny said, she was equally as
worried as everyone else who nodded at her as she spoke.
"We won't know for sure..." Scarlet said, his best friend on his mind,
"...until they have been tested on, given a day or so to revert to their
original body structure from what they recall on how it feels"
"Don't be so damn technical, Paul" Ochre scratched his head, a little
boggled by what Scarlet was rambling about.
"I was mealy thinking aloud,” He said.
"Well, does your thoughts have to be so damn
complicated!"
Scarlet shrugged and sat back in his chair, his arms folded and wearing a
distant expression. Ochre tilted his head then picked up his drink from the
table and sipped it thoughtfully.
Everyone had been touched in some way by what had happened.
Fawn came into the quarantine room an hour or so later after preparing
things for the experiment to have Blue and Symphony back to normal.
"Okay you two, it's time"
Symphony sighed with relief, realising this was the moment when she would
get rid of the horrible cursed DNA that didn't belong in her body.
Blue remained silent as he was unshackled from his restraints and helped
up by Doctor Fawn, both taken to the next room and laid on some beds next to a
monitor, especially hooked up with a serum pack, ready to have the contents
injected into the two Spectrum members.
"Okay you may feel a strange sensation, but we don't know if there will be
any pain, and just relax and you'll be back to normal in no time"
"No" Blue said sitting up, Fawn looked at him with a confused face while
Symphony just looked blankly on him, not understanding what he was up to
neither.
"What?" Fawn said befuddled.
"I won't go through with it, I don't want to be cured" His eyes flicked
onto Symphony who couldn't find a motive.
"What? Why? I thought you'd want to be rid of this!" Fawn said, his voice full of confusion as he walked over.
"So did I, but I don't see why I should bother now." He looked into Fawn's
eyes unflinchingly. "I have no reason to return to normal, no one will care," he
said quietly.
"Of course you do!" Fawn countered. "All your friends want to see you
happy and back to your normal self."
"Well, maybe I've accepted this as what is normal for me now!"
"How can you say this?"
"Easily! And
you just heard how so I won't repeat myself!"
"Adam, you can't be serious about this!"
"I assure you I have never been as sure about anything in my life."
Fawn sighed. He knew he couldn't force anyone to have treatment, but this
wasn't just about Blue, every member of Cloudbase's
personnel could be put in danger should he change.
"As a patient, I have the right to refuse treatment and so that is what I
am doing." His eyes were narrowed, his gaze steady on the doctor.
Symphony continued to look at him then something dawned on her. "You just
like the attention!" she said suddenly. "I always thought you were slightly
jealous of how Paul got attention whenever he died and came back, but this is
ridiculous!”
"This is not about jealousy!" he snapped, turning to face her. "I just
don't want to be given something that will make me a weak! Since this has
happened, I've been stronger, faster and this power of mine, the power to
change, that's something our organisation could use! Imagine it, sending a
Spectrum agent who is capable of changing into a deadly predator to take out the
Mysterons!"
"This has nothing to do with Spectrum!" Symphony yelled. "What's happened
to you, Adam? Since this has happened, you've changed!"
"Of course I've changed!"
"I don't mean physically, I mean in your personality. The Adam I loved
must have died when that first lab was destroyed because that was the last time
I saw him."
Blue shuddered with anger, he felt the stir of
his change but held back on it, he didn't want to provoke anything at that
moment.
"You know, I've thought about it, this power you say you have was given to
you by the Mysterons, the bad guys, even like Paul was given power too...but in
your case they are corrupting you, even though they have no control over you.
You're just a monster in general... you'll turn against us, finally thinking
everyone is too weak"
Blue's face became a little shocked, he didn't believe a word she was
saying about him, it was just her silly little theory, but it had bitten at him
fiercely. He could see she wasn’t relenting, proving there had been love there
but he had killed it with what he had become.
"I did say I could love you for whatever you were..." This snapped him
from deep thought, he watched her expression release
from an angry one to a sad and un-nerved one. "...But you let yourself become an
evil, weak minded beast, I loved you for what you were...not some selfish
animal"
Blue was up like a shot, stood beside her bed with a hand on her throat.
His eyes were narrowed and his lips were pulled up into like a snarl. She
pounded on his arms until a security guard, knocked his head with the butt of
his weapon. His grip loosened and Symphony took a deep, gasping breath. Blue sat
on the floor rubbing his head and glaring at the security officer.
"Don't look at him like that, Blue, you brought
that on yourself," Fawn said, his tone neutral but he averted his gaze from the
man on the floor. Blue frowned. The way the doctor had addressed him confused
him. "What's the matter Blue? Don't like the way I'm speaking to you? Because if
you've decided you'd rather be an animal, that's more than likely the way people
will be talking to you from now on." He turned his attention n to Symphony to
make sure Blue hadn't done any damage to her. "Are you still wanting to go through with this?" he asked her
softly, a hand resting on her shoulder.
"Of course, the sooner I'm less like him the better," she said, throwing
an icy glare at the man who’d climbed off the cold floor and sat back on the
bed.
Fawn nodded and took a brief glance at Blue, who was not paying attention
to anything around him, too busy deep in thought.
The Doctor picked up a serum pack and attached one end onto the monitor
and the other was put with a needle and put into Symphony's arm, she winced as
the sharp prick tingled on her skin.
Blue had to turn and watch, he hated everything
she had said to him but he wanted to see what became of the experiment, one part
of him wanted it to go wrong or fail, just so he could get back at her.
She squeezed her eyes closed as she felt the serum run into her body, it
was a painful experience and she breathed hard, feeling as if she was being
burned inside, she finally screamed out, Fawn held her shoulders, helping her to
calm down.
She lay on her bed, squirming and screaming as the antidote flowed through
her. She couldn't feel anything except the pain, not even Fawn's hands on her.
She arced her back, letting out another deafening
scream. It took all of Fawn's strength to push her back down onto her bed,
though she continued to writhe, tears streaming down her face.
She suddenly stopped screaming and fidgeting and became very still; the
movement of her chest from breathing was barely visible. Fawn stood fixed to the
spot, where the treatment was new to him, he had no idea as to whether her
reactions were good or bad. She started to tremble then shaking violently.
Fawn's eyes widened. He had no idea what to do.
After a few moments, she stopped; Fawn held his breath as she gained
herself to breathe more calmly than she had been.
Her eyes grew wide as she looked around, stretching out a little bit.
She smiled a little, "Oh my god"
"What is it?" Fawn lent near to her.
"I think it’s worked, I feel normal, no other feelings inside me"
Fawn gave a chuckle, "Good, at least I know that the serum is a success"
Blue laughed, making them turn to him, his
expression was a mixture of hate and angst.
"Good for you, you're happy that you can go around like before, no regrets
for killing a poor animal" Symphony raised an eyebrow, disgusted by his words.
"I don't care, I don't need no one, it seemed before
everyone wants to get rid of me, they can't accept any species beyond human,
that's how this whole war started"
He stood up; pressing his fingers deep into the bed while the people in
the room looked at him with strong confusion.
"Why don't you face something perfect, better than you!"
His eyes flashed green and everyone knew what was coming next
The medical staff jumped back in shock as in front of them the puma
reappeared, his front paws up on the bed and his back paws shifting around on
the floor. His tail twitched behind him as he considered what he was going to do
next.
Fawn looked at him, nervousness written all over his face. He tried to
judge how far away the intercom was compared to Captain Blue, but the cat saw
him and dropped down from the bed and walked calmly over to him.
Fawn backed off as far as he could, but Blue jumped up at him, his front
paws against the doctor, forcing him into a table behind him.
"Stop it, Adam" Symphony said weakly, the Puma turned its head and growled
at her, she didn't have the strength nor
the skill to confront this animal.
He snarled slashing at Doctor Fawn and leaping over to the other side of
the room, watching all the terrified faces of the medical staff before briskly
bounding out of the room.
The other medical staff were helping Doctor Fawn
as Symphony sat, eyes in a dream state, thinking as hard as she could.
"I understand now..." She mused on her thoughts, "...I know why the
Mysterons did what they did"
Blue ran out of the medical bay and into the hallway, growling and roaring
at any personnel who stood in his way. He ran through the corridors until he
reached a familiar room, a room he had sat in often as a human for mission
briefings and debriefings.
He growled quietly and then stealthily went in, unnoticed by the
green-clad lieutenant at the communications console.
Colonel White was busy reading a report from one of the land based
Spectrum installations when he heard a shuffling noise. He ignored it, thinking
it was Lieutenant Green fidgeting, his shift was nearly over and he tended to
get a bit restless towards the end.
He shrugged to himself and continued reading.
He heard a noise behind him and on looking up,
he saw Green's scared face. He knew what he'd find behind him when he turned.
"Lieutenant, get out."
"But, sir..."
"Just do it, I'll be alright. Get security."
Green stood looking shocked. "I gave you an order, Lieutenant."
The lieutenant nodded and ran out as White turned to face the puma.
"I see you have not gone through with the treatment," he said, knowing the
animal would understand. He shook his head. "A shame really, you were one of my
best officers. All you're fit for now is the zoo."
The puma looked at him, his head tilted to one side and growled. The
Colonel knew what was going to happen and soon as he saw the creature in front
of him lower his head slightly, the piercing green eyes still fixed on him.
Before he could do anything to get away, Blue had leapt, pinning the
Colonel to his desk and dug his claws into his chest.
White yelled, the pain was unbelievable. Blue jumped off him, giving him the opportunity to get out from behind
his desk. He climbed up onto the chair and watched White stumble away from him.
His eyes narrowed and his tail flicked about, this was a game to him.
White moved as quickly as he could to the door, but Blue pounced again and
he was pinned to the floor before he could react.
Then he heard voices coming towards them and looked up away from the man
below him, being crushed by Blue's weight.
He growled and leapt off charging through the security men and Lt. Green.
He made a quick exit and was off like a bullet down the corridor, heading
into the conference room.
He stalked around and saw the lighting panel, slashing at it, so he had
the cover of dark hiding him.
He stooped against the large table, heavy and thick grunts flowed through
his throat.
Then the door opened, light seeping in, he was well hidden from sight
watching a lone figure stand in the doorway, he considered it to be one of the
security men.
He crawled around as the figure walked in looking through the darkness;
Blue was ready and took the advantage of the man's back being turned to pounce
at him.
They tumbled across the floor, Blue being quicker with his cat graces,
moved on top of the man, clawing into him and grabbing him around his neck,
crunching into it.
For an instant after pulling back, he could have though he heard his name
called by the dying man, one he recognised.
The emergency lights were flicked on, dimmer than the original ones; he
looked down at the body, to see it was Captain Scarlet.
His green eyes widened, staring down at the man he had just killed by
tearing his throat out.
"Oh my god" Blue turned to see Symphony pressed up to the door, she had
her hand on the back-up control panel, and she was staring with shock at
Scarlet.
Blue began to turn back to his human self, he
couldn't believe he just butchered his best friend.
"Oh no...Why..." He managed to say after he regained a voice.
"You killed him..."
"I know...I don't know what I'm doing anymore"
"They knew you were gonna go crazy" Blue looked
at her, he was stressed out intensely, "The Mysterons planned this all along, to
give us this power, to make us hateful and turn our backs on Spectrum. They
waited for this to slowly corrupt us...I fought it...that got to you deeply"
Blue shook and leaned closer to the floor. "I don't want to be an animal,
I don't want to be treated like one" He looked up at her. He looked like he was
going to have a nervous breakdown, "I thought this is what I wanted, I thought
it would make me stronger...but it didn't it made me weaker, I want to be
normal...I want life back"
Symphony walked over to him and kneeled down beside him, "I never would
admit it, but I loved you all along, through my hate, because I knew we'd get
through this...I don't want to loose you"
She wept softly, he touched her cheek and wiped the streaming tears away,
"Let them cure me...I hate this part of me..."
After his words he collapsed, she stayed there staring at him before
security found them.
Dr Fawn was running round sickbay attending to his patients when a
security guard ran in carrying the unconscious Colonel White. There were red
bloodstains all down the front of his pure white uniform vest. He stopped what
he was doing when he saw him and went straight over.
"What the...? Blue found him, didn't he?" he said, directing the guard to
a nearby bed. "Right, we've got to stop this bleeding!"
He was about to start seeing to Colonel White when the voice of another
security guard came over the intercom. "Security Officer
Reynolds here, medical emergency. We will be bringing Captain Blue back
up to sickbay. He has collapsed and requests the antidote and Captain Scarlet is
dead."
Fawn sighed as he heard Reynolds mutter again under his breath. "Bring
them up," he answered then turned back to Colonel White. "Ok, you're more
important than them right now, sir. Scarlet'll
be back and Blue can wait!"
Fawn turned away and groaned, "I feel a headache coming on, I really wish that they'd transfer me sometimes"
Within the next sixteen hours, everything was sorted out.
White received treatment for his wounds; Blue
and Scarlet were carted in, Blue given the antidote and Scarlet came back from
the dead.
When the Colonel regained consciousness, Symphony explained her theory
about the Mysterons using the cat gene as a way to send someone off the deep end
and that Blue was going under an influence that came with the DNA.
White still was angry but was going to see for himself what became of Blue
mentally when he recovered.
Colonel White was sat up in his bed in the Sickbay ward. His wounds had
almost healed but Doctor Fawn had insisted he stay and rest until he was
satisfied he'd be alright to return to active duty. This annoyed the Colonel a
great deal as he preferred to be behind his desk.
He looked around and saw Dr Fawn removing the bandages from Captain
Scarlet's throat. The bandages themselves were soaked in blood but there was not
a mark on his throat.
He tilted his head, despite the fact that he's witnessed Scarlet's
unbelievable powers many times, he was still surprised
at it. The man had had his throat ripped out and yet there he was, good as new!
He shook his head and looked the other way. In another bed, Blue lay
asleep, wearing a pained expression.
He jumped with shock when Blue sat bolt upright, yelling.
Fawn ran over. "What is it, Captain?"
Blue rubbed his forehead, wiping away the forming sweat. "A nightmare, just a nightmare. I expect I'll be getting a
lot of them, won't I? After what I did, I mean."
Fawn shrugged and Blue rubbed his temples softly then looked at his
commanding officer who looked slightly alarmed from when Blue had snapped
upright.
"Sir," He said looking down, White shook his head slowly, "I suppose
you’re going to give me a court martialled"
"No, Captain"
"Huh? Why not" Blue looked at him astonished.
"Because Symphony told me of what the Mysterons she figured, where doing,
she said she had experienced some things that could relate to it,"
Blue thought of Symphony, she was a lifesaver, and maybe overall, she was
right about what had happened.
Melody and Destiny sat in the Amber Room talking about recent events.
Melody had been up in the Interceptor throughout quite a substantial part of the
drama involving Symphony and Blue and Destiny had just finished recalling the
events that had occurred in the Amber Room, the Control Room and the Conference
Room.
"You mean he ripped his throat out?" Melody repeated, astonished. Her dark
face was a mask of surprise.
“Yes, and attacked the Colonel” Destiny responded.
“Yes, I heard about that, he’s still in Sickbay isn’t he?”
Destiny nodded, “He doesn’t like it though, from what I’ve heard, he keeps
telling Dr. Fawn he’s alright to return to duty, but Fawn is still insisting him
on staying”
Melody giggled.
“Why doesn’t that surprise me”
Destiny smiled, “At least things should start going back to normal now”
"Yeah, hopefully. I guess it all depends on how Captain Blue comes out of this."
Symphony was sat in the officer’s lounge alone, she was thinking over what
had happened.
From the minute she had first walked in to Blue
when she first discovered he had the DNA to when she found him coiled on the
floor next to a dead Scarlet, throat mangled up.
She sighed; it was if life had taken a turn for the worst with her most
recently.
The radio was quietly humming a soft tune, which made her much more calm, but not as soothing as it needed to be.
Then she saw the doors open and a familiar face walked in, "Paul..."
He had last been in sickbay and was now fully rejuvenated and out of
uniform, she remembered about his death and how frightening it had been to look
at his dead body, she covered her face quickly trying to block out the images
from her mind.
Scarlet saw her movements and pulled an embarrassed
face, stopping just inside the doorway.
"Uh, hi Karen.
I can
go if you want."
She didn't respond, she couldn't find her voice
to talk to him.
Scarlet's shoulders dropped and he sighed. "I'll go then."
"No, you don't have to," she managed to say quietly.
He looked at her, confused then realised what she must be feeling. She was
the one who had found him. He put his hand on his throat as he remembered. "I'm
sorry," he said.
She looked up at him, her eyes straying to his neck as if to continue
reassuring herself he was all right. "What? Why?"
He shrugged. "A lot of things, I guess. For making you go and talk to him
back when this started, for not getting to you sooner when the Mysterons took
you." He looked into her eyes. "And for you being the one to find me, you
shouldn't have been exposed to that."
"That was hardly your fault, Captain."
"I know, but still..."
"Oh Paul," She stopped him, "No more being sorry, I guess most of it was
my own fault, but still, I love Adam...I am willing to forgive in time"
Scarlet smiled and sat down with her, "You've been put through a lot"
"I know that, I just wish that sometimes I wasn't here" She looked out the window, "And that I’m safe at home"
"I wish that sometimes too" He smiled, "Then I wouldn't have this strange
gift of coming back from the dead like out of some cheesy horror film"
Symphony just had to laugh, he looked at her, and glad to see she was
smiling like she usually did.
A few days later, after Cloudbase had settled down, Symphony was walking
up to the Amber Room to take over from Rhapsody in Angel 1. She wasn't paying
attention to much of the world around her, but was deep in thought. Her thoughts
centred on what had happened and the possibilities of what might happen in
future.
She stopped quickly in the cafeteria to get a quick drink to deal with her
very dry throat then carried on along the corridor, walking along watching the
ceiling.
Ahead of her, unnoticed to the Angel pilot, Captain Blue walked round a
corner, heading towards the Control Room to report to Colonel White. She hadn't
seen him and walked right into him, tripped over and landed heavily on the
floor.
Captain Blue looked down at her and offered her a hand, which she took
after hesitation, remembering what had happened last time they had walked into
one another.
"You okay, Karen?" He asked her, "I didn't mean to walk into you, I'm
sorry"
"Yes, I'm fine" She kept her eyes to the floor.
"Something wrong?" He lifted her chin up so she would look at him.
"Just a feeling of déjà vu a few moments ago”
Blue understood immediately what she was going on about and blocked it
from his mind, he just didn't want to remember.
"Is everything clear with us?" He said in a low voice, she looked at him
and nodded.
"Yes, I don't know about our relationship in other terms, I..."
He put a finger to her lips, "I want you to know, I truly understand if
you don't want to be with me after all this...but I really want another chance,
I hate the thought of us being distant, please tell me you will still be with
me?"
She looked into his eyes, her face slightly saddened.
Blue understood and lowered his head. "I didn't think you'd want me back,"
he said, his voice full of pain.
She put a hand on his arm. "It's not that, I do want you, I love you, I
just..." She paused, running a hand through her hair. "I think we should take
things slowly."
He nodded his eyes still on the floor. She put a hand on his chin and
raised his face to look at her. "And you can start by letting me past, I'm on
duty now." She smiled at him and his face instantly brightened.
He grinned and kissed her cheek softly. "Thank you," he said.
"What for?"
"For caring and for making me realise that I was wrong, even if it was too
late for Paul."
She shook her head. "You realised that yourself."
"I wouldn't have done if you hadn't come in! "
She smiled again. "Come on, you. Why not get together for a while next
time we're both off duty then we can talk properly."
"Ok," he said, nodding again.
He lent in and kissed her cheek then moved away to let her past, she
smiled and went on her way to the Amber Room, Blue watching her as he went,
thinking he was so lucky to have someone around as understanding and
sophisticated as Symphony Angel.
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