“What?” Troy and Asceia uttered in unison. “Is this a joke?” Troy added.

“A sercean mind is like a supercomputer. Rebooting her system might eradicate this fear off of her brain...a total reset.”

Troy raised his hand, “Hold up. First, she’s not a computer. Second, we can’t risk her life over an untested cure, you said that it might, right? What if you can’t bring her back?”

“We don’t have any medication to fix this. We can keep her calm but that’s just it, it will not go away. The planted fear will grow until she can’t handle it anymore.” She faced her. “But this is all up to you.”

“My people are swimming to the path of danger. They’re just pawns to Yrevia and the Order. How can I save them and your kind if I’m like this? I’m so tired, Troy. If the gods really want me to fight for this, they will bring me back.”

“But it’s too dangerous,” Troy protested.

“You can’t decide for me. You’re not the one suffering every day.” Asceia closed her eyes. “Do it, Fatima,” she ordered.

“Just hang on a little bit. I’ll prepare everything we need.” Fatima stood and stop in front of Troy. “I suggest you stay out of this room, please.”

“But I want to help...”

“You’re not a doctor. I have a team that will assist me. Just trust us, Troy.”

He sighed and nodded. “Can I at least borrow your computer?”

“Uhm...about that. I have a favor to ask.”

“What is it?”

“You made your way to us, I was hoping if you can poke around Herozoan Genetics to check on them. They’ve been silent for days. It’s unsettling to think they might have known we’re onto them.”

“Okay...okay sure.”

Troy left the glass room and headed to the wall full of monitors arranged perfectly into one big monitor. He occupied the chair in the center and his fingers started pressing the keys. He can’t deny that he was worried about Asceia and how the operation will go. He had trust in Fatima, but he just can’t brush off his thoughts. Focusing on another thing, like poking around his enemy’s system, might distract him for a while. But in the middle of his work, the phone from his pocket vibrated.

He stopped and pulled out his phone. A smile curved on his lips reading her name. He answered the call and leaned back in his chair as he placed his phone on his left ear. “Frejean...”

“Troy, sorry it got me this long to call you back. How are you? How’s Asceia?”

“We’re good...we’re fine. I found the Foundation. They’re helping us, right now.”

“Oh really? That’s great! I wish I could be there for you. I really can’t leave my parents, we’re still settling in our new home.”

“Am I still welcome there?”

“Of course, you’re always welcome here. My parents love you more than me.”

He chuckled as he imagine her rolling back her eyes. “Yep, I noticed that too.”

“How is she?”

“She’s not well but she’s fighting. They are helping her now.”

“That’s good to hear. Alright, I’m going to hang up now. Mom’s calling me.”

“Bye! Tell your parents I said hi!”

“Sure! Bye!”

The call ended and his phone beeped. As he put his phone back in his pocket, his attention was caught by a group of strangers who just arrived and stepped out of the elevator. His eyes followed them to the room where Asceia was held. He was curious and worried at the same time. He quickly faced the monitor again and after typing a few commands that initiated a full scan of the Herozoan’s system he just penetrated, he stood and left his station, and went back to the laboratory.

He stayed outside, through the glass wall, he watched how the strangers started the process of killing Asceia. His sight was switching from Asceia to the monitor beside her that was displaying her vitals. A drug was administered to her and right there, her heart rate slowed down. The sound of the machine in rhythm to her heartbeat was haunting. Until she flatlined. His heart was pounding as he watched the doctors time her, the air was cold and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He doesn’t know how long will they keep her dead, but he hoped they will not keep it that long. He prayed to his God and to Asceia’s goddess to ease his troubles.

He lost track of time on how long she was dead. Before long, the doctors started working on reviving her. They all looked so calm, despite how heavy and pressing the situation was. They administered another drug to her body and charged the paddles of the defibrillator. One of the doctors pressed the paddles to Asceia’s chest and side and in one high-energy electric shock, she suddenly gasped for air. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly. She also uncontrollably extended out her barbed stinger and waved it around. She roared, scaring away the doctors. The machine beside her started making sounds in rhythm to her heartbeat. His focus shifted to the other monitor showing her brain scan and there he noticed, that the hyperactivity of her activating reticular system stopped.

An idea came up to his mind. He quickly knocked the glass that caught Fatima and the other’s attention. “Put her in the seawater!”

The doctors stepped back, whereas Fatima rushed to the corner where she picked up her tablet and pressed something on it. Instantly, four thick glasses appeared on the floor perpendicular to each other. It rose and surrounded Asceia until it was higher than her. From the grate, seawater flooded in, filling up the glass tank. And there, they witnessed how Asceia was engulfed by water. Her skin started changing: thick scales were appearing and her broken flesh and skin were healed. She forcefully tore her shirt and pants and fully turned into her sercean form.

••°°••

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