Elite 2: The Wrong Side of Revolution (2 page)

Now Daniel was assigned to protect her fiancé, the man she had pretty much left him for. He would be reunited with his old flame and it would be as if they were complete strangers. He wondered what that would feel like—being so far removed from the person he had once felt so comfortable around. He imagined rather awkward.

For a moment he wondered if she would even recognize him anymore, but quickly shook that thought away. Of course she would, it hadn’t been
that
long.

Still, a lot had changed and a part of him was anxious to show her what she had missed out on.

“Well you can still bang her,” Charlie countered.

Daniel tried not to wince at the statement. For so long he had dreamed of sleeping with Jordan. It had been the thing he wanted most in the world. Now the idea of sex only made him think about Norma. He missed her and longed to have her back. The thought of going to bed with anyone else made his heart ache. It was still too soon.

Of course neither Daniel nor Norma had ever shared their love affair with anyone else at the complex, so Charlie had no way of knowing his suggestion would cause Daniel so much grief.

“Nah,” Daniel replied, trying to stay casual, “I think that ship has sailed.

“Besides,” he continued before taking a sip of his brew, “I want her to regret her decision.”

“Ha!” Shifty exclaimed before taking a swig of his own beer. “I hear that!”

The three men sat for hours drinking and laughing as they did almost every evening they were all in the complex at the same time. Other agents would stop by and join the conversation for a while before moving on to other tables. Charlie, Daniel and Shifty had become somewhat of a staple in the lounge and the other agents expected to see them there whenever they stopped by. It reminded Daniel a lot of the TV show “Cheers.”

Tonight there was an unexpected guest however, as around ten o’clock Titan made his grand entrance. He had been at home recovering from the fight with Daniel all week. This was the first time anyone had seen him since.

The room was silent as the large, muscular man made his way over to where Daniel and his friends were sitting. Daniel had his back to the door, but he could tell by the looks on the faces of those around him that something was up. He turned to see Titan striding toward him. By the ease in which he moved you would have never guessed that he was suffering from two broken ribs and a concussion.

Daniel and the entire room watched as Titan approached Daniel in his chair. Daniel felt a lump in his throat as Titan stared down into his eyes, an unreadable expression on his face.

“I never got a chance to congratulate you,” Titan said, extending his hand out to Daniel.

Daniel took his fellow agents hand and shook it. “Thank you Tee,” he said. “That means a lot to me.”

“So I hear you’re taking my job with Demérs,” Titan commented, pulling up a chair and sitting down at the table.

The conversation in the room began to pick up a little as the other agents realized there would be no hostile confrontation. The conversation was not as light as Daniel would have preferred it, but he no longer feared for his life.

“
My
job with Demérs,” Daniel corrected with a smirk, hoping Titan wouldn’t take offense to the remark.

Titan just smiled and nodded his head, looking down at the table. He wasn’t the normal Titan—he seemed defeated. He appeared to be making an effort to hold his head up while adjusting to the fact that he was no longer top dog.

“Right,” Titan said, forcing a smile. “I still have to get used to the idea of being number two.”

Daniel guessed that Titan had been struggling with his new place in the world all week while he recovered.

“Dude, in my mind neither one of us is better than the other,” Daniel said, trying to lift the spirits of the agent he admired so much. “We just have different strengths is all, and mine worked in my advantage out in that ring.”

Daniel pointed to the challenge ring through the glass wall of the lounge.

“I don’t believe that makes me the ‘better agent.’” Daniel concluded, gesturing with air quotes around his last two words.

Titan continued forcing his smile as he reached up and patted Daniel on the back.

“I
will
take the top assignments from you, however,” Daniel added in a light-hearted manner.

This got a genuine laugh out of Titan. “I bet you will.”

In a symbolic pause of their conversation, Daniel, Charlie and Shifty took swigs of their drinks while Titan continued to stare down at the table and ponder.

“You’re looking pretty good there Tee,” Charlie said, breaking the silence.

The bruises on Titan’s face which were a result of his fight with Daniel had indeed cleared up quite nicely, with only small indications of any damage still visible.

“Me? Look at this guy!” Titan countered, pointing at Daniel.

During the fight Titan had landed a number of good blows on Daniel, and the product of those blows were quite visible up and down Daniel’s body. Titan’s strength had delivered a great deal of punishment.

Horchoff had ordered Daniel to take things easy for the remainder of the evening and meet with him on Sunday morning.

“Time for a bit of Sunday school,” he had said.

Daniel did as he was told, spending only an hour in the lounge celebrating before going down to his bunk and spending the rest of the night in bed recovering. When he woke up Sunday morning, he went to the medical level to meet with Horchoff in one of the exam rooms.

“Today I am going to teach you about healing,” he told Daniel. “At first I wasn’t sure of the possibility of self-healing, but with the progress you’ve made I am confident in your ability to take control of your immune system.”

Daniel tilted his head slightly as he took a seat on the padded exam table, his interest clearly piqued.

“I want you to lie down as I explain the process to you, and I want you to search your mind and find the signals as I explain them,” Horchoff instructed.

Daniel did as he was told and laid down on the table, closing his eyes and opening his neural pathways.

“Now as we covered in class during your first few weeks of training, neuropeptides are hormones released by the nervous system to communicate with other cells and organs in the nervous system. I’m sure you have commanded many of these to be released when using your abilities,” Horchoff explained.

Daniel had sent many signals through neuropeptides but only vaguely remembered the term. Scientific terms were irrelevant when using his abilities, he needed only to know the process.

“It is believed that these hormones can also be used by the nervous system to communicate to the immune system,” the doctor continued.

Daniel opened his right eye and focused it on Horchoff. “Believed?”

Horchoff took a breath and responded, “Little is known as far as exactly how these two very different systems interact in the body, as they serve two very different purposes. One controls bodily functions while the other fights off bacteria and infection. But if you ask me, the nervous system must play a part in the function of the immune system. The way this would happen is by the nervous system communicating to the immune system using neuropeptides, while the immune system delivers messages to the nervous system using interleukins.”

Daniel again gazed at Horchoff with his right eye, communicating that he had no interest in the confusing terminology.

“Right,” Horchoff responded to the silent criticism. “I want you to first open your neural pathways and search for any signals being sent in the direction of the injured areas of your body.”

Daniel sent his conscious mind back through his neural pathways and searched for any unidentified signals being sent to the area of his face that had been welted by Titan’s fist. Finding a signal for the first time always required extra time to explore.

Eventually Daniel did find a signal being sent from his nervous system to the bruised areas of his face, only they felt different than the commands his brain normally sent to the rest of his body. These signals felt less like commands, and more like
requests.

“I think I found something,” he told Horchoff.

“Good,” Horchoff replied. “What’s it like?”

“These are different,” Daniel replied, attempting to sync his conscious mind to the area of his brain sending the signal. “It’s like my brain is telling the immune system that its assistance is required in that area, but it the immune system seems to be working on its own.”

Horchoff pondered a moment.

“Interesting,” he finally spoke. “Many doctors would say that stands to reason, I suppose.”

Daniel opened his eyes and turned his head toward Horchoff, ready for the doctor to admit for the first time ever that he was wrong.

“I think,” Horchoff started his thought, staring off into the distance as he did so, “that you still may be able to take command however.”

“How?” Daniel asked skeptically.

Horchoff turned his hand over and stretched out the lower region of his face as if the answer were quite obvious. “You know how to send commands. Just tell your immune system to do it.”

“Do what, exactly?” Daniel asked, realizing that the Doctor hadn’t yet explained how his immune system worked.

“Right,” Horchoff corrected himself. “First though, find any signals being sent back to the nervous system from the immune system.”

Daniel again closed his eyes and searched around the same area of his nervous center. He soon found signals being sent back to his brain, much like those sent from his nerve endings when he experienced pain. These ones seemed to be giving reports of the immune system’s activity. Again, he tried to sync his conscious mind in order to interpret them, but without having any understanding of what was going on, it was impossible.

“I think I’ve found them, but none of it makes any sense.”

“Alright then let me explain what’s happening,” Horchoff suggested. “Your damaged cells are currently building up oxidants, which are warning other cells around them that they are damaged. This has activated your immune system which is now dissolving the damaged cells. As this happens, antioxidants will neutralize the stray oxidants to maintain a chemical balance and prevent further damage. Once the damage is cleaned up, your healthy cells will split and replace the damaged ones.”

“So what do you want me to do?” Daniel asked.

“I want you to command your cells to start regenerating as the damaged ones are being destroyed,” Horchoff answered.

“But I have nothing to base that command on,” Daniel explained. With every other command he had sent, he had first felt his nervous system send it naturally so that he knew how to identify it.

“Point,” Horchoff conceited.

That was when the doctor got an awful idea. He pulled a small pin out of his pocket and pricked Daniel on the arm.

“Ow!” Daniel shouted.

“Sorry,” Horchoff lied. “It shouldn’t take very long to heal. Lay down and follow along as the immune system sends signals to your nervous system. Remember the process I just explained to you. Cellular regeneration will be the last step.”

“Seriously?!” Daniel protested.

“Homework,” Horchoff countered. “You’ll thank me when it’s over.”

It took the entire day, but Daniel stayed on the table with his conscious mind synced to his nervous system, following along as his immune system worked to heal the pin prick on his arm. Remembering the process Horchoff had explained to him, he believed he knew how to interpret each signal and in-turn send the coinciding command.

Monday morning he found Horchoff in his cluttered office on the medical level. They went back into the exam room and Daniel laid down on the table and closed his eyes.

“Okay, now listen closely, this is important,” Horchoff told him.

Daniel rolled his eyes underneath his eyelids. Nothing good ever followed Horchoff saying, “This is important.”

“I want you to tell your cells to start regenerating, but this may confuse your immune system. You need to also make sure it keeps dissolving the damaged ones as you regenerate the new ones.”

“Got it,” Daniel said, taking a deep breath. This was going to take a great deal of focus, but he felt up to the task.

“Also be sure that you aren’t letting oxidants run rampant. That would be a bad thing.”

Daniel again eyed the doctor. “Got it,” he said, closing his eye and focusing on his nervous center.

“You ate breakfast, right?”

“Indeed,” Daniel replied a bit snidely.

“Good. Have your digestive system absorb as many antioxidants as possible and direct them toward your injured area to keep the oxidants in check. I’m not really sure how this is going to go.”

Daniel picked up his head and looked at Horchoff. “Is that all?” he asked.

“Yes,” Horchoff answered definitively.

“What if this all goes horribly wrong? This is unnatural!” Daniel protested.

“Daniel my boy,” Horchoff said as he placed his hands on Daniel’s shoulders and pushed him back down onto the table, “everything about you is unnatural.”