by Peter Shillen
NRPG:
I didn't yet feel qualified to comment too much on the case but - did you ever wonder what Jim was *really* doing while he was away...
RPG:
Back at home, Jim was staring at the four walls. His loft apartment was good and secure. His Ducati, as ever, sat in the corner of the room as some kind of weird ornament.
So far, he hadn't been asked for any stories about his time 'training'. Not even Jordan seemed to be querying the fact that he was taken out so suddenly and put back in again. Maybe he just knew better than to ask. He had been a trainee, not the trainer. He had been pushed to the edge of his physical endurance and his sanity. He had come out on top. In fact, top of the class. A class of some of the baddest individuals he had ever known.
No one had ever given him a good explanation of why he had been given the intensive course and why it was secret, even from his team. He was a specialist in 'ass covering', but the kind of stuff he'd been put through, he'd never even dreamed of before. Would Leo even believe it? Well, probably. He knew the system too well.
When the man, identifiable only by the electronic scrambler's voice pitch, had explained the course to him, he had been intrigued.
"It's not an order, Reaper. If you go in, you go in voluntarily."
So, he volunteered. He signed the release papers which basically said, 'If you die, tough,' and went to the camp.
The instructors looked as if they came from a psycho ward. Hell, they probably did. They spent most of their time beating the trainees. They were pummeled rigoruously, mentally and physically. They had to learn how to take the beating of their lives.
Gradually, the psych tricks became second nature. He could take himself out of his body until he wasn't there. He knew the pain, but he was somewhere else. Even the sodium pentathol didn't affect him - his mind just wasn't there.
He could get in to almost any secure installation. He could torture beyond most people's wildest dreams. The ninjitsu instructor even told him he was one of the best pupils he'd seen. But, what had they really done to him? Had they brought out his potential for assasination and covert ops; had they brainwashed him into being some kind of automaton. Only time would tell...
He was stronger, faster, strategically more aware and trained in more methods of killing than he cared to think about. He was probably the kind of sicko that he used to dispise. The only real question was, had they altered his personality? Was he the same guy underneath all that? Hell, they even told him his IQ had gone up!! What the hell had they done!
So far, everything was going to plan. He was back in the team and no one was aware of any major changes in him. God, he wanted to tell Jordan what was going on!
His head was buzzing with thoughts. Calm soon returned, though. He had his orders, he had the skills and he might soon have the opportunity. His mind became ice cool. He would find out the information and if necessary, dispose of those involved without a trace. He went to bed but he had never managed more than four hours since the training began.
When he awoke, he took the Ducati down in the freight elevator and sped of towards the JEH Building.
8< *** SNIP *** >8
Zenya was nodding her head, "Chris is a doctor."
"He would never have willingly helped the people we�re dealing with here," Vanessa insisted.
"Are you sure?" Jordan asked, "He did take an oath to save lives." 8< *** SNIP *** >8
Jim wasn't really up to speed on this whole thing yet. One thing made sense to him, though.
"If Chris saw someone dying on a slab, he'd save them - no matter who they were. At least, I'd hope so. Wouldn't you?" he asked Vanessa.
"Yes. He wouldn't stand by and allow someone's death."
"Does he have any specialties? If not, then they took a risk to use him when any doctor would do. Unless they wanted to piss us off at the same time, of course," Jim ventured.
NRPG:
Genetic research, perhaps? :-)) Or maybe it was just the irony of using him?
I decided to spice up Jim's time away. What are his orders and what the hell is he going to get up to?