by Aline Riva
“Tell me how you got wounded, tell me about your conversion, tell me you want me to run my hands over your flesh and steel.”
He paused, trying his best to get into character as he hoped he could make a good job of it – he had never tried to do an impression of the General before..
“My name is General Felix Lynch,” he said, putting on a Scottish accent that to his relief almost matched the General's, “I was blown apart in the battle for Freedom City...I went through months of pain having wiring forced into my flesh and my lower body rebuilt with android technology -”
“And you need me to give you comfort,” she said, shifting closer to the camera.
As he saw her face, Kade slipped right out of character and the Lynch accent was gone as he moved closer too, turning up the light so she could see him.
“Steph?” he exclaimed.
She stared back at him in alarm.
“Kade?” she said in horror, “Since when did you work in the sex industry?”
And Kade looked into the camera in panic as he desperately searched for an explanation to calm his angry lover as he wondered how long she had been enjoying a secret thing for the General...
Chapter 3 : The Hardest Step
The twenty four hours that followed had seen Jekel back on stage and rehearsing, as he felt no side effects from the small dose of medication Riley had given the day before. Kade Silk had watched from back stage, planning to ask him about the possibility of an actual role in the festival this year, in the public eye, but Jekel seemed too preoccupied and didn't seem to want to talk much to anyone as he ran through his lines then swiftly departed.
Riley was down in the med centre for most of the day, checking on his mutant patient then spending the rest of the day formulating his best friend's medication – a task he found difficult, because as much as he knew it could help him, he also knew of the suffering Ash would go through during the process. And all the while at the back of his mind, his thoughts were with Lynch as he wondered on the outcome of the General's decision...
Felix had taken the motor home around to the Bay near Sanctuary and spent the day over there with Fi and Elise, and had tried to make it a happy family day as he promised his daughter more than once that he would go to Freedom to sort out a problem, and would be back before she knew it... Elise said nothing to dampen the mood, but as the sea breeze blew back her hair and she caught his gaze, he saw the look in her eyes and knew what she was thinking. He didn't voice it aloud, but he was worried too – they both knew this was a dangerous political powder keg that could easily blow up in his face if one wrong move was made...
And that day shifted into evening then night fall, as for the last time before everything changed, Jekel said good night to his son, turned out his light and went back to the palace bedroom he shared with Joy, where he held her tightly in his arms and slept little because his worries kept him awake as he wondered exactly how hard it would be to carry on with life while going through the tough treatment he was facing.
Over at the Wired Circuit, Fi was fast asleep as soon as she got into bed, worn out from a happy day at the bay – possibly the last family day they would ever spend together – Elise and Lynch both knew that as they watched her sleeping, then Lynch took Elise by the hand and led her back to their own room, where he locked the door firmly behind them, took Elise in his arms and made love to her with deepest passion, knowing this could be a brief parting or a goodbye that would last forever come morning...
As the morning sun rose on another day, the towns people of Bullet and Sanctuary came out of their houses, watching in silence as the City Guard in their white leathers began to head off towards the open gates, where border control was being handed over to members of King Steel's guard, and as a lone figure walked down the empty roads and the crowd lined the way, he held his head high as he strolled towards the gates dressed in black, his long leather coat open and wearing heavy boots and studded fingerless gloves. The people applauded him, some threw him flowers. But as he reached the border, Felix Lynch looked back, caught the eye of Elise and Fi, gave them a look of deepest love as Elise held back on weeping for his sake, then he stepped over the border, taking that final step to carry this through as he held out his hands and allowed the City Guard to snap on heavy cuffs. Then he was led away to a waiting vehicle, and General Felix Lynch, hero of Cyborg Valley and wanted man in Freedom, was driven away as the military convoy pulled out on to the open road, driving off at speed away from the place known as Cyborg Valley.
While Lynch was being driven away to Freedom to fight a death sentence, Ashley Jekel ready to start a very different kind of fight. He was in bed in the palatial room he shared with Joy, but Joy was up and dressed and anxiously hovering at his bedside as Riley set up the IV.
“This is a lot stronger than what I gave you before,” Riley warned him, “And Joy will stay with you throughout. Any problems, just press the call button on the wall and I'll be here. In time - if you need assistance if problems arise - I'll have the necessary equipment moved in here too. Joy can do the rest.”
Jekel looked up at Joy apprehensively.
“This is the hardest part...the first time...”
“And I'm right here,” Joy reminded him.
Jekel was sitting up in bed, leaning against pillows embroidered with gold that matched the luxury surroundings, but at that moment as Riley slid in the needle and he felt its sting, Jekel wished he could be anywhere else but here – even back in the days when he was in that ruined town, with Howlers piling on top of him...but he had won that fight, and he would win this one too, he was determined...
“Is it starting yet?” he said nervously as he watched a clear liquid run through the tube and his arm mildly stung.
“Not yet, Riley said as he adjusted the IV, “I'll tell you when.”
Jekel was breaking out into a light sweat even though he was nude beneath the silken sheets that came up to his waist. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he fought a surge of panic.
“It's okay,” Joy said as she sat beside him and took hold of his hand, “Stay calm, Ash.”
“I was thinking...If this does make me ill maybe I should have a word with Kade Silk. Just to have him standing by in case he needs to take over for a few minutes if I need to sit down during the festival.”
“Good idea,” Joy replied, staying silent about the fact that he would need a lot of help from Kade, who had begged him for a role on stage for a long time. This time, he really would be needing him, and much more than he realised...
“Okay, I'm starting it now, just try not to fight it,” Riley told him.
Jekel leant back against the pillows, listening to Joy and following her advice to take a slow, deep breath. She stroked the back of his hand as she watched the dark blue fluid running through the saline and into his arm.
“It's okay...” she said again.
Then terrible burning pain slid into his blood stream, spreading quickly around his body and Jekel held Joy's hand tightly as he drew in a sharp breath and gave a low moan of pain and then began to breathe in short, sharp bursts as he tried to fight against the urge to scream because his son was down in the gardens with Melissa and the window was open and he didn't want him to know just how much this hurt...
By the time the sun was past its highest point in the sky and starting to dip in a sky partly clouded by lingering pollution, the convoy had passed through the gates of Freedom City. The vehicle that carried Lynch was flanked by several others, all filled with heavily armed guards. And it passed through the heart of the city and went on its way, around a wide, empty road then through a check point just before the industrial area, where gates opened up to a barred facility, then the door was opened and Lynch was roughly dragged out.
He half stumbled, then looked around the bleak compound: Clearly, this was a brand new prison facility. The yard was concrete and the fences were high and topped with heavy rolls of razor wire. The guard jabbed him in the back with h
is gun, pushing him forward as more gates opened up, and Lynch was led down a long pathway with fencing either side and more razor wire.
At the end of the pathway stood a tall woman whose white leather uniform of the City Guard clung to her curves. Her dark hair was tied back and there was a chilling look in her dark eyes as she smiled and her lipstick shone crimson.
“General Felix Lynch,” she said, “I am Governor Nina Black. Welcome to the new Freedom City Correctional facility... Although you won't be here for much correction, you're going straight to death row.”
“I was expecting that,” he muttered, looking about the place seeing no means of escape as he wondered about all the warnings he had been given about trusting the people who came up with this deal...Could he trust the Premier? From where he stood, things looked decidedly bleak indeed...
“This way,” said Governor Black, and she walked on ahead as the guards escorting him followed closely, through a second door that locked behind him, leading him down a stark corridor, then finally opened up a door at the end of it.
“Process him and lock him up,” she said, and then she walked away.
Lynch stood in the middle of the room, holding out his hands as a guard unlocked his cuffs and two others stood over him, their weapons raised.
“There's no need for guns,” he said quietly, “I came here of my own free will.”
Then he sucked in a sharp breath as a guard reached for his coat and tugged it from his shoulders. Lynch held his hands up and turned to the men who had weapons trained on him.
“You want my clothes off? Fine. I'll take them off, ” he said, and began to unbutton his shirt.
As the sun sank lower over the calm seas on the coast of Cyborg Valley, the waves rolled to shore in a soothing rhythm and that sound carried on the breeze through the open window of the bedroom where Jekel lay recovering from the first of what would be many painful ordeals - and far more painful than he had first imagined.
Joy stood over his bed as his breathing started to slow and he opened his eyes and looked up at her. His hair was damp and his skin shone with sweat as he lay on his back, thankful for the pillows that cushioned his back as every joint in his body ached deeply and pain throbbed with every movement.
“Why does it hurt so much?” he said weakly.
“It's designed to cushion cyborg connections within tissue,” Riley replied, “And you have to expect it to hurt – it was first intended to be used to help machine parts work in harmony with the human body, so was administered via machine access points. It's very rough on the human body when given intravenously... expect pain and aches in joints because your bones are fortified with living metal. Expect headaches, blurred vision and dizziness. And you'll run a fever on and off because it messes with the thermal regulator that controls body temperature.”
“I never expected it to be this bad,” Jekel replied, and the pain that lingered on was so great he didn't even feel Riley take out the needle from his arm to dress the wound.
“You rest now, Ash,” he said, “You might find tomorrow's session is a bit easier.”
The thought of facing more pain filled him with dread.
“Maybe we should leave it for a couple of days?” he suggested nervously.
“You need the dose split over three six hour sessions,” he reminded him, “Three days, Ash. It has to be that way or it won't work properly.”
“Oh...I see,” he said quietly, then he gave a weary sigh and closed his eyes.
“My back hurts, my head hurts, I feel like I've been slammed against a wall.”
“And that's mostly the effects of the drugs but partly the first signs of wiring failure too. I can give you something to stop the pain but I don't think you'll want to take it,” Riley warned him.
Jekel opened his eyes and looked up at him, his head throbbing as the light hit his aching vision.
“Why not?”
“The only drug that blocks the pain of this combination of drugs and counteracts the pain as the wire burns out also causes side effects - terrible stomach problems – the weight will fall off you, and you're not exactly fat, are you?”
“Maybe I could use it occasionally?”
“It can also cause hair loss,” Riley said.
There was a flicker of alarm in Jekel's eyes on hearing that.
“Forget it...I'll just have to find another way to deal with the pain,” he said, and he shivered as more sweat shone on his upper body as Joy looked at him sadly, knowing she ought to have guessed that Ash, who cared so much about his appearance, would have taken pain over anything to stop it that would have affected his looks...
“Maybe you can take it occasionally,” Riley added, “I mean, if you needed to use it to get through the festival those few days wouldn't be enough to cause side effects – apart from possible stomach cramps, that shouldn't be too bad. But once you've had respite from the pain I think you'll want that all the time.”
“No,” Jekel replied sounding very sure, “I wouldn't rely on it. I just want to be at the festival no matter what it takes....just in case its my last one.”
Those words sent a pain through Joy's heart as she placed a sponge in a bowl of cold water, preparing to bathe the sweat from his body.
“You get lots of rest, Ash,” Riley reminded him again, then he left the room.
Joy folded the covers back, taking them right off his body as the breeze shifted into the room and Jekel breathed a sigh as the coolness on his skin came as a great relief as she gently bathed him and eased his pain.
“Thanks, Joy,” he murmured as he slipped into a deep sleep, exhausted from his ordeal.
Far off in the city of Freedom, the only prisoner on Death Row in the newly opened prison was in his cell, a small tiled room with a hard bed in one corner and a partly shielded bathroom area on the other side of the room that contained a camera just like the main part of the cell did. The walls were sold and windowless, the door was heavy steel and through a small round window of toughened glass set into that door he saw nothing but the blank wall of the corridor outside.
There was a table and chair on the other side of the room and on that table was a monitor which for now, was switched off. Lynch had already guessed what that was there for – perhaps to speak with the Premier, or certainly, to force him to admit his guilt on a live broadcast...
After being strip searched and then showered Lynch had been given his clothing back before being taken to the cell. But now his coat was off and his shirt was also off, and they were draped over the back of the chair as he sat on the bed, pressing his back against the cold wall as he drew in a sharp breath, fighting the pain from the substance the bastards had painted on to his chest as it slowly burned out his UNA tattoo.
Then the cell door opened and the Governor walked in.
As the door closed behind her she cast her gaze over Felix, noticing he was in good shape for an older man, and it certainly showed now he was stripped to the waist. The greying hair on his chest had been partly shaved to allow for the application of the chemical that burned through the tattoo as he sat there, fighting the pain with defiance in his gaze as he looked at her, refusing to break.
“I must apologise for your discomfort, General,” she said, “But after the deeds committed by the UNA, the murdering androids who were under the command of the alien being known as Astral – your allegiance to them and the attempts at the genocide of the human race can't be tolerated, even if it only exists now in the form of your chest tattoo.”
Clear fluid tricked down his chest as Lynch felt his skin bubble and smelled of old ink as it leaked out and he stared in disbelief at Governor Black.
“Sorry sweetheart but you're fucking insane if you think it's for sentimental reasons! Joining the UNA was my mistake – me and thousands of others too! You know I'm half machine...I lost everything from the waist down fighting against the UNA for the liberty of humanity. You fucked up bitch on a power trip - I kept it as a reminder of my mistake!”
Her gaze hardened as she looked back at Lynch, who glared at her fiercely as more fluid ran from the skin that was starting to peel from the chemical burn as he refused to give into the pain, focussing instead on his anger.
“I want to speak to the Premier,” he demanded, “NOW!”
She stepped closer to him, placing her hand on his cheek as the scent of her perfume reached his nostrils.
“What is that fragrance?” he asked as his gaze burned into hers, “It smells like someone sprayed a combination of fresh cut roses and lavender with just a dash of violets on to a steaming turd.”
The hand on his cheek moved in a blur, away from his face then back, turning from a touch to a brutal blow with the back of her hand that sent blood tricking from his nose. Lynch wiped it away as she stepped back, remembering his conduct could influence a very delicate situation for the people of the Valley – and that was the only reason his captor was not out cold on the floor right now...
“I will not retaliate,” he said as his jaw tightened and he forced his anger back down, “I'm here for the good of my people and I won't lose sight of that. Their future is too important.” And the flicker of disappointment he saw in her eyes felt like a huge victory.
“You will speak to the Premier when the time is right,” she replied, “It will take many days, possibly weeks to debate your sentence. And that chemical agent on your chest should be taken off around now – but I don't think that's necessary. I'll leave you to deal with it. I don't think it needs a dressing.”
“Bitch!” he hissed though clenched teeth as she left the cell and the door locked behind her.
Lynch got up and went through to the tiny bathroom area, turned on a tap and splashed cold water on the substance that burned the centre of his chest. As he cried out and sank to his knees and the skin bubbled and pain ripped through his body, he swore under his breath, grabbed a towel and pressed it to the wound, not daring to slide it to remove the substance, knowing he would take off more than one sheet of skin with it. He got up unsteadily and carefully removed the towel, looking into the small mirror on the wall to see a red raw patch of weeping skin where the UNA tattoo used to be, and as the pain began to fade to a level he could bear he looked back at his own reflection with defiance blazing in his eyes: