Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (52 page)

Bruce
hardly broke a sweat while Nick struggled to keep himself from passing out or
having a heart attack. All Bruce did was give Nick a bottle of water and the
usual protein shake he’d mixed up earlier while he drank his own bottle of the
two beverages. Mizuno said Nick was far too scrawny and needed to bulk up. He
mentioned something about steroids, but Mizuno also listed off everything that
was detrimental about them, and even though he was the one who brought up
steroids Mizuno was also the one to immediately disregard them.

“You
okay?” Bruce asked him.

Nick
failed to respond. He tried to catch his breath or even to shake his head but
couldn’t.

Bruce
only cracked a smile, chuckled, and told Nick he’d live.

Mizuno
usually had Nick fight in the dark, (as Mizuno told him he wouldn’t always be
able to rely on his sight in a fight), but Bruce usually always kept some light
on when they trained. He understood what Mizuno wanted out of Nick, but Bruce
also understood that Nick would be able to see in most of his fights, which
meant he needed to know what an attack looked like to be able to efficiently
counter or evade.

“You’re
getting better you know.”

“It
doesn’t feel like it,” Nick muttered.

“Of
course not, you’re still out of breath and you’re fighting someone with
heightened senses, so it’s no wonder you feel like you’re not getting better.”
Bruce took a swig of his water and told Nick that he was getting better.
“You’re evading more, taking less hits, and you’re able to brush off a majority
of the punches or kicks that do hit you, so it’s progress.”

“But
I can’t beat you if I can’t land a single punch,” Nick reminded him.

Bruce
agreed. “Though, you and I were only sparring, meaning there wasn’t a winner or
loser. In a real fight you need to assess the situation and question whether
it’s possible for you to come out on top using the skills and knowledge you
possess. Plus, in a real fight you would need to put everything you can into
surviving. In those situations instinct can take over, or, better yet, you open
up more and come to terms with doing anything necessary to survive.”

“Do
you mean like fighting dirty?”

Bruce
laughed and nodded. “You can call it that if you want to kid. But let me ask
you something, before you joined this team, had you ever been in a fight?”

Nick
said he had on a few occasions, “They were stupid though and they didn’t last
long.”

“And
they were between you and someone at your school, or with one of your friends,
right?”

“Yeah.”

“The
kind of fighting I’m talking about is different. You’ve been in fights where
you and the kid you’re wildly throwing fists at have the fight broken up after
a minute or two. I’m talking about life and death, where the fight is
instigated because of irreconcilable differences, because of war, or pure,
seething hatred. When you’re in that kind of fight, there isn’t any ‘dirty
fighting’ kid. You have to do anything to keep yourself alive, even if it might
seem underhanded.”

Nick
thought about what Bruce said for a moment and asked him how he knew so much
about fighting.

Bruce
cleared his throat and said it was partly because of Mizuno. “I’ve known how to
fight for most of my life. I mean, you have to once you’re in the military, but
what Mizuno taught me was so in depth and detailed that it was almost as if I
never knew anything before we met.”

Nick
nodded and asked how long he’d been a part of Mizuno’s group for.

“I
met him in twenty-twenty, but he hadn’t begun his project at that point. I
would end up being one of the first people in his group four years later though.”

“What
made you want to join him?”

Bruce
looked down at the water bottle he held in his right hand. He swirled the water
a few times before he admitted that the life Mizuno offered sounded better than
his old life was. “How about you? Why’d you join him and his crazy crusade?”

Nick
told him about his brother, his life with his stepfather, and admitted that the
idea of a new life appealed to him as well. “I didn’t really know it then, but
Mizuno really did offer me a new life.”

“That’s
one of the benefits to those of us who have rather poor existences,” Bruce said
with a grin. “He takes these husks of people and makes something new,
formidable, and worthwhile, if you understand what I’m saying.”

Nick
nodded and said he did.

Bruce
reminded him to drink the protein shake and his water before he asked Nick, “I
take it you and your girlfriend aren’t doing too well?”

Nick
wiped his mouth off and asked how he could tell.

“I
saw the way you left when you were talking to her,” Bruce told him. “You’d
either broken up with her or disappointed her, right?”

Nick
slowly nodded and said he had. “She doesn’t like how much I work, er–”

“I
know what you mean.”

“We
hardly ever have time to be together because so much of this…” he searched for
the appropriate word and finally settled on one, “World of Mizuno’s dominates
all of my time.”

Bruce
told him that it wouldn’t get any better. “In fact, that’s probably going to be
the reason you and this girl are going to break up.”

“I
don’t want to though.”

“Well
it isn’t exactly fair to be with her and not be there for her,” Bruce reminded
him. “You’ve got to remember that your happiness and her happiness won’t
coincide if you keep at this lifestyle. She’ll always assume you’re cheating on
her, unless of course you tell her about all of this, then she’ll worry herself
to death about you and your wellbeing.”

Nick
looked down at the floor in front of them and said, “Mizuno mentioned something
about being alone for the sake of someone else’s happiness, and that you knew
what that meant.” He asked what happened to Bruce.

Bruce
let out a breath and said it all happened before he met Mizuno. “I married this
girl out of high school and we had a little girl named Sadie in twenty-twelve,”
he paused for a moment and realized that his daughter was only a year younger
than Nick. “Anyway, I was in the military over in Iraq when Sadie was born,
which wasn’t even the beginning of our marital troubles. Because I spent so
much time overseas my wife Sarah and I became distant and over time she became
depressed and couldn’t stand being alone six to nine months out of the year. I
realized she wasn’t happy, even when I was home with her, and that hurt me
too.”

“What
did you do?”

Bruce
shrugged and said it was something he probably shouldn’t have done. “I left
her.”

“What?
Why?”

“I
knew she wouldn’t have been happy being with me and I knew she’d have a better
life with some other guy rather than worrying about me for her whole life.”

“Did
she ever find someone else?”

Bruce
nodded. “A year later she met a guy named Cameron Weston and a year later they
were married.” Bruce set his water down and admitted that he wasn’t happy about
it for a long time. “I left her alone once I knew she was happy and haven’t
seen her or Sadie since.”

“Don’t
you miss them though?”

“Of
course,” Bruce said. “What father wouldn’t miss his daughter?”

“Then
why don’t you ever call her? Or write to her?”

Bruce
said that things weren’t that simple. “There’s a lot more involved in the story
Nick, you don’t really understand how complicated things are for me. Your
situation isn’t like mine at all.”

“What
situation?”

“With
your girlfriend,” he told him. “It isn’t that complicated; you think it is, but
it isn’t.” Nick asked him what he meant and Bruce told him it wasn’t serious.
“I don’t want to insult you or her, but your relationship is still young, too
young even. That’s why it’ll break off and you’ll both go your separate ways
and find new people.”

“But
I don’t want that.”

Bruce
said he did. “If you didn’t you wouldn’t spend all of your time here, training
for Mizuno’s missions.”

Nick
rubbed his eyes and muttered, “It isn’t that simple.”

“Nothing
is.”

“I
can’t just leave this behind.”

“And
why is that?”

“It’s
because of my brother.”

Bruce
shook his head and said Nick still didn’t understand why he accepted Mizuno’s
offer. “You said yes initially because you wanted to avenge your brother’s
death, yet you haven’t done anything to find him since you joined, have you?”

Nick
said he hadn’t.

“You
said your life with your stepdad wasn’t that great to begin with, and now that
you’re the only one left you’re being backed into a corner in your own life.
Mizuno offered you a way out, as well as a way to find the guy who killed your
brother and you accepted it without a word of opposition because the two things
Mizuno offered you were what you wanted. He will help you find the man who
killed your brother, Nick, but I doubt that’ll be the reason you stay.”

“I’m
not going to stay,” Nick told him. “I really am going to leave once I find the
guy who killed my brother.”

“Then
you’re going to wait a very long time kid.”

Bruce
told Nick to finish his drinks as he got to his feet. “I’m sure you’ll figure
it all out in the end, but you do need to think about what you want in your
life Nick.” He pulled him to his feet as well and started off toward the door.
Nick asked what he meant but Bruce only said he needed to realize it on his
own.

---*---

Chapter
19

September
16
^th
, 2029

1:15
PM

London,
England

Jason
sat in Doctor Reynolds’ office while she finished some other work elsewhere in
the hospital.
I’m just glad this isn’t going to cost us anything. It is good
though, considering she might suspect the same thing Audrey and I do. The
resurrection must be a part of these powers, not that I want to test that
portion of my abilities. What if it was little more than a coincidence? Or what
if Joshua Todd only wounded me and I never died in the first place? Maybe I
nearly died but somehow regenerated from the brink of death, just like Doctor
Reynolds suspects?

Doctor
Jamie Reynolds walked in and apologized for the delay. “I am quite grateful
that you would sacrifice your time to be here, even if my tardiness makes it
seem otherwise.”

Jason
frankly forgave her while the doctor took her seat. She flipped through a few
papers from what he assumed kept her from their meeting.
I’m not even sure
why she wanted to make this appointment. She seems incredibly busy and I can’t
imagine she has much spare time during the day for non-work related tasks. But
then again, she might have some sort of fascination or interest in this
phenomenon for purely medical reasons. In any case, I’m just surprised she has
the time or will to speak with me, considering this is all fueled by her.

“Well
before we begin I want to ask if you’ve heard about the recent news about super
powered heroes across the world,” Doctor Reynolds began.

“Of
course,” Jason replied, “It’s been in all the papers and on the lips of
everyone for days.”
And between Audrey and her mother I haven’t stopped
hearing about it, though Audrey and I have every reason to fixate on the news
around these so-called heroes.

“Good.”
Doctor Reynolds left her work and turned her attention to Jason. “I only
mentioned it because I feel your recovery is an ability akin to these heroes.
It would explain the event entirely as well as confirm my own suspicions.”

Jason
let out a breath and told her he agreed with her theory. “While my wife and I
were on holiday I discovered a few other powers.” Jason displayed his ability
to create fire as well as control it and followed that by a brief demonstration
of his flight capabilities (though he was quite unbalanced even while
hovering). “I’m also invulnerable,” Jason added. “When I first discovered I could
fly, I actually fell off my company’s roof, down over two dozen floors and hit
the ground without a scratch.”

Doctor
Reynolds eyes widened. “That’s quite impressive. How did you even realize you
could do all of that?” She saw the time and apologized, “Maybe another time.
Anyway, all of this confirms my thoughts from earlier. I guess it’s safe to say
you are a super hero Jason. I do apologize that I asked you to come down to
confirm a phenomenon rather than an isolated case.”

That’s
it? You couldn’t have confirmed all of this over the phone?
Jason cautiously asked
whether there was anything else she wanted to talk to him about. “I’m not
entirely sure why I’m here Doctor.”
Do you even know? Or is all of this
something you’re piecing together as it comes to you?

Doctor
Reynolds frowned and failed to answer him for a moment. She let out a breath
before she continued, “I know this is extremely invasive and highly irregular,
but would you allow me to extract a vial of your blood?” She quickly added that
her request was for scientific progress. “I would like to examine your blood to
see how it compares now to how it did when you were admitted, along with cross
examining it with my own blood as a base.”

“Can
I ask why you would want to do this?”

“Basically,
I would like to analyze the differences between our blood as well as the
progression from your blood samples from a few weeks ago and now.” Doctor
Reynolds added that she did not want to make him feel like a test subject. “I
have nothing but sincere intentions, Jason, let me assure you. All I want are
answers.”

It
sounds like you want a test subject.
Jason told her he wasn’t sure. “Do you think
you could even extract my blood as things stand now?”

Reynolds
admitted she wasn’t sure. “Your invulnerability might prevent that altogether,
but assuming we could find some way to remove and collect it, would you allow
me that much?”

It’s
just blood. It should be fine. I’ll probably regenerate it all moments later
anyway. And if she tried to force me onto an examination table to cut me open I
could just fly away. That’s it Jason, embrace the madness. Take in all of the
wonder of the rabbit hole as you descend into lunacy.

Jason
rubbed his eyes briefly and agreed. “But just the blood,” he told her. “I won’t
let it go any further than that.”

--          --          --

After
a few failed attempts at drawing Jason’s blood, the two discovered they could
cut Jason and gather his blood with the use of an industrial grade diamond
bladed scalpel. The incision only remained open for three seconds before
Jason’s regenerative power closed the wound. As such Doctor Reynolds had to cut
him repeatedly to get the amount of blood she desired; Jason hardly felt
anything when she cut him.

Good
to know I’m not entirely impervious, though I doubt I’ll ever fight a diamond
blade wielding villain any time soon. But in any case, at least I know I’m not
invincible.

“Is
that everything?” Jason asked her while he wiped the excess blood off his arm.

“It
is, sorry again for all of the trouble,” she said while she marked the glass
container filled with his blood. “I’ll be sure to let you know what I find.”

Do
I thank her or just leave?
Jason started for the door but stopped and asked, “Have
you found anything about Joshua Todd?”

Doctor
Reynolds looked up from the container of blood and admitted there was nothing.
“Your claim intrigued me and while you were away I looked into every possible
place for any sign of a Doctor Joshua Todd. I asked patients and my colleagues
as well as looking through security feeds and personal charts for patients
throughout the hospital and I didn’t find any mention of Doctor Joshua Todd. In
other words, Jason, from what I can tell there wasn’t any Joshua Todd to begin
with.”

Still
nothing then.

“Now
Jason,” Doctor Reynolds continued, “You didn’t notice anything out of the
ordinary while you were out of the country, did you? I mean, outside of this
business with super heroes.”

“What
do you mean?”

“I
mean have you seen anyone following you?” The doctor concentrated her gaze on
him and scrutinized his response. “Have you felt that anyone has been watching
you Jason?”

What
are you talking about?
Jason frowned and said he hadn’t felt anything out of the
ordinary.
Should I? Is someone, is Joshua Todd following me?
“I’m not
sure I understand Doctor, what are you getting at?”

Doctor
Reynolds glanced away from him and returned her attention to the vial of blood
for a moment.
What are you hiding from me? Just come out and say it. Don’t
dance around the matter just tell me.
“Jason,” she began, “How sure are you
that you spoke to Joshua Todd?”

“What
do you mean? Of course. The damn lunatic injected–”

“Mister
Templar,” she interrupted, “I do not doubt that someone tried to kill you. I
saw the toxins in your blood myself and I do believe you were attacked, however
I do not believe it was at the hands of Joshua Todd.”

“And
why is that?”

Doctor
Jamie Reynolds opened one of her desk drawers and retrieved a plain folder. She
motioned for Jason to take a look within at the articles and a photograph she’d
collected, which were few altogether. She pointed to the date of one of the
articles and it proved to be nearly a century old. “There was one man in London
who was a Doctor named Joshua Todd who matched your description. That’s a
picture of him in eighteen-eighty-three when he was in his late fifties. I
couldn’t locate any death certificate or mention in any newspaper, but it’s
safe to assume he’s been dead for nearly a century and a half. Now, again, I do
not doubt that you were attacked, but I’m only concerned that it wasn’t Joshua
Todd, but someone else who attacked you.”

“Then
who would claim to be a doctor who’s been dead for one-hundred and fifty
years?”

Doctor
Reynolds told him it wasn’t her only hypothesis. “How certain are you that you
spoke with your assailant? How certain could you have been given the
circumstances? You were under a very large amount to sedatives and honestly you
shouldn’t have been conscious at all.”

“I
swear he said he was Todd though,” Jason said.
It was Todd, right? It, it
had to be. But, she is right. There’s no way for me to be sure. I never saw his
face or any part of him for that matter. I don’t know if it was him. But if it
wasn’t, who the hell tried to kill me? Who would even think to use that alias?
He isn’t a well-known doctor so why would someone say they’re him? Could it be
coincidental? Two men named Joshua Todd? That’s not an uncommon name. He might
have lied and said he was a doctor and not realized the existence of another
Doctor Todd. Yet why would he target me? And my guess is there haven’t been any
other deaths in this hospital or any others at his hands or else he may have
been noticed or caught. But then who tried to kill me and why did I pull that
name out of nowhere? None of this makes any sense. This doesn’t feel right. I
feel like I’m lost and I know I’m headed down the wrong road. There aren’t
answers here, are there Jason?

“So,
basically we have nothing but a surety that I was poisoned,” Jason summarized.
“Have there been any other anomalies in the hospital in the past few weeks?”

She
shrugged and told him nothing unusual had crossed her radar. “We heightened
security after your incident and there hasn’t been anything remotely akin to
your attack.”

“Have
you heard of any attacks at other hospitals in London?”

Doctor
Reynolds gathered her thoughts for a moment and said she hadn’t. “If there were
any I believe the authorities would have made a connection and there would be a
manhunt by now.”

This
doesn’t make sense. This can’t be random. And where would he vanish to? None of
this adds up.

The
doctor paused for a moment before she admitted there was one oddity at the same
time of his attack. “We discovered a few…supplies were missing. Someone stole a
liver and heart which were designated for two separate transplants, as well as
six liters of blood. We never recovered the specimens or uncovered who was
responsible for the theft.”

“Why
would someone want any of that?”

Jamie
Reynolds sighed and told him about some illicit dealings in the world. “People
will pay a fortune for human organs Jason. I’m unsure about the blood, but if
someone’s dying and either doesn’t qualify for a transplant, often times
they’ll look for other means to survive, assuming they can afford the
incredibly steep prices and often times the incredibly dangerous work
conditions.”

“Is
this common?”

“No,
but it does happen.” The doctor checked the time and apologized to Jason. “I
really must get this to the lab before my next appointment. Again, I will call
you and update you as soon as I can. But in the meantime, please put all of
this business about your assailant out of your mind. You are alive and whoever
tried to kill you wouldn’t stand a chance against you now.”

She’s
right Jason. You’re more than capable of protecting yourself. But all of this,
what does it add up to? If the attacker also stole those organs, does that mean
he was after mine too? Did he harvest anything I’m not aware of or did it
already regenerate whatever he might have stolen? Could it regenerate if
removed altogether? I don’t know. Jason what the hell is going on? This isn’t
adding up. What would someone want all of this for? What are they after?

---*---

11:20
AM

Bothell,
Washington

Rachel
sat in her room with her landscape art project in front of her on her bed. She
decided to draw a view of Lake Washington she managed to get a picture of when
she and Vladimir bused their way to Seattle. Reflecting on the event still
troubled her, as Vladimir hadn’t been to class once in the past week. The only
thing she could think of was that he was ill. In fact, she hoped it was the
case over her unnerving thoughts of him returning to Romania.

She
checked the time on her alarm clock briefly before she returned to her work.
Rachel planned on attending church with her aunt as she usually did on Sundays.
Rachel wasn’t a very religious person, but knew that it made her aunt happy to
have her there. And it wasn’t too much of a sacrifice for her to go, as her
aunt let her wear a shirt, flats, and a clean hoodie.