Conditioning

[Reaver Company Inc.]

Over the next few days, or weeks, or hours, or even months, Kato could not tell, he slipped in and out of conciousness. Some times he would awake to some kind of chamber, others to an operating table, and one horrifying episode where he awoke and found his chest spread open and people digging around his insides. He would have screamed, but his mouth would not work and all that came out was a strangled gurgle. One of the doctors looked over and seemed to recognize what was going on. He montioned to one of the others close by, and a mask was placed over his face. With a hiss of gas, Kato fell asleep again.

For what seemed an eternity, Kato slipped in and out of reality and dream. So much, in fact, he began to wonder if his dreams were real and reality was a dream. Then one day he awoke, fully. He was still the same, mutated thing that he had been when reality last left him. He lay, naked as usual, on a cot. Kato stopped worrying about nudity. Whatever had changed him changed it so that cloaths weren't exactly necissary, not that any would fit his new form in the first place.

He sat up and immediatly regretted it. Running his hand over his chest, he discovered that there was a scar there, and just about every cubic inch of him hurt. Kato curled into a ball and whimpered. It hadn't been a dream, they had dug inside of him, dissected him, while he was still alive. He sobbed as realisation hit him; whoever did this didn't care if they killed him. No ransome, no threats, just a Missing Person article in the new-cast and another unsolved case. There was no going back, Kato was stuck in this hell untill he died. Kato lay on the cot, balled and sobbing for a while, what seemed to be eternity. Slowly he stopped, and started to gather his wits, such as they were.

Any plans he might have had a chance of forming were discarded as the door beeped, clicked, and slid open. Eight men stood outside, wearing what seemed to be combat gear.
"On your feet." One of the masked stormtroopers growled out through the filter. Kato numbly complied, and the men escorted him out of the cell and through uncountable hallways, passageways, doors, lifts; a whole complex flashed by and blended together into one long walk. Eventually they exited to a rainy New Tokyo sky. On the pad in front of them were three Eagle VHFs. Two of them were taking off, and another man stood in front of the third.
"Here's your cargo!" A stormtrooper called out over the roar of the Eagles engines.
The flight-suited man nodded and motioned to the cargo hatch. The escort pushed Kato in, revealing a life-pod open and waiting.

Kato wandered through all this in a daze, not quite sure what to make of it. When he saw the life pod however, part of his brain kicked in and he resisted for a moment. The stormtrooper behind him gave a swift kick in the small of Kato's back, sending him sprawling into the bay. Two others picked him up and lay him in the pod.
"Nighty night." One of the troopers filtered voices giggled. The hatch closed, and the life pod put him to sleep once more.

***

When he awoke, it was on a different cot, with something looking down at him. Kato almost jumped as he realised it was another mutant. He looked frail and weak, and his neck seemed barely able to hold up his head, especially with the strance lattice of metal and wire on it. But his eyes sparkled with a grand inteligince.
"Sorry, didn't intent to startle you." His voice seemed to match the body, but one could not mistake the underlying confidence in it.
"My name is Randal, and like you I am a mutant. I was a professer at Cambridge, once..."
Kato held up a hand.
"Wait... Professor Randal James? THE Professor James?" His own voice sounded strange to him, low and gravelly, not like his old one at all.
The other mutant nodded. "I think you know just how good our, 'friends' are at hiding away those who don't look closely enough at their products warning labels. Suffice to say, all anyone knows is that i'm missing. Assuming they even noticed my passing, that is." Randal grimaced, then smoothed his face back into neutral features.
"Some Conditioners should be arriving to check up on you soon. My advice is to do as they say. The Spyder they have in all of us not only allows them to track you at all times, but at a single command it will explode. So, it's in your best interest to comply."

"You said 'All of us.' Are there others?" Randal never got a chance to answer, because at that moment, the door opened and in stepped a man in a white lab suit.

The man smiled brightly and with false chear. "Good, your awake! We can begin the conditioning at once." Kato shivvered. The man seemed normal, but his eyes were emotionless pools of liquid nitrogen. The man behind those eyes would not loose any sleep about splattering Kato brains all over the place. Kato decided to take Randals' words to heart.

*END PART 1*

Why end it here? I'm tired, it's late, and I have stuff tommorow. So, instead of leaving you hanging with chapter 2, I'm putting up chapter 3A. Chapter 3B should be along sometime tomorrow.

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