Subject Seventeen: Wraith Among Shadows
Chapter 20

I jump up from my bed and I’m out of the door before Seventeen can react. Nine is going to die. I need to save him. I don’t know much but I know Nine plays an essential role in Thirteen’s plans. I know that Nine is a crucial member of this team. And I know that Nine is an important person to me. He can’t die no matter what.

Seventeen’s eyes went the same colour as Thirteen’s does whenever he has a vision. He must have seen the future. Nine can’t die. We need him to break out of this place. No matter what happens he is the last person I can let die.

I breeze down the corridor and past the common room. They may still be in the training room. I head there. I don’t know how long it takes me to get there. I don’t know if Seventeen is behind me or not. The only thing running through my mind is that I need to save Nine.

I pass a few soldiers on my way, all of who give me strange looks. ‘Piss off,’ I think. None of them are my concern right now. It should only take me about five minutes to get to the training room but it feels as if I’ve already been running for an hour.

I think I still haven’t fully recovered from Seventeen’s attack. Damn it. No thanks to Thirteen for teaching him that trick. I will myself forward and push my limbs on. I need to replace Nine and warn him.

It’s only now that I realise I haven’t gotten the details of Nine’s death from Seventeen. How does he die? It could be at any moment. If I know where he dies I might be able to head there and stop it. I don’t even know when he dies.

I finally reach the training room and rush in as the door slides open. Looking around I see that the only ones her are One and Ten who jump apart when they see me. What are they up to?

I ignore them and run back out again. I need to replace Nine and warn him now. Crap, he might be in the common room. I spin around and head back down the direction I came from, however I can already feel the fatigue from all the laps I did earlier wearing me down. I’m in the worst possible condition I can be in for running right now. This isn’t good.

As I run back down the corridor I see Seventeen walking in my direction. This only irritates me more. He replaces out that Nine is going to die and he’s walking? He’s walking?! Really?!

I have the right mind to send a few thousand volts through his head. He draws nearer as I run to the common room, frantically trying to increase my already declining pace. Just as I draw close to Seventeen he grabs my arm and forces me to stop.

“What are you doing?!” I yell at him. “I have to go now!”

“Calm down,” he says. “What you’re doing isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Oh, and how would you know? Not exactly as if you’re doing anything to help!”

“No. I’m not. But he is,” Seventeen says, pointing behind him. I look in the direction he’s referring to and see Thirteen walking towards us, eating an apple.

I’m inclined to hit them both. Thirteen watches me carefully as he takes another bite out from the apple in his hand. Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. This is how they act when a teammate’s life is in danger?

“Come with me,” Thirteen says.

I take a deep breath in an attempt to try and quell my anger. Nodding, I follow him and Seventeen as they head back to Block B. Seventeen turns his head back to look at me every once in a while. This only manages to annoy me even more.

We enter the common room. No-one is inside. Where has everyone gone? I look up at the wall and notice the beacon is flashing red. A mission. Great. Just what we need now. The rest have probably reported to the control room to be briefed.

“We need to go get briefed,” I say.

“Wait, I need to get something,” Thirteen replies. I look at him warily as he walks over to the table. He looks at me for a little while before turning to reach for another apple from the fruit bowl.

“You’re kidding me right?” I say.

I can feel the lightning building up in my fingertips. Is he even taking this seriously? Does he not care if Nine dies?

“Alright let’s go get briefed,” Thirteen says while biting into the apple. I wish I could kill him right here.

I follow him and Seventeen as we head to the control room. Thirteen takes another bite into his apple and I get even more furious. He really isn’t taking this seriously.

“I’m guessing you saw Nine die?” Thirteen says.

“Yes,” Seventeen says. “He was shot.”

“By a bald dark skinned man in a suit I assume?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

This flares me up even more. In what world is it good that Nine dies?

“What the hell do you mean ‘good’?” I say, struggling to keep my anger at bay.

“It means that the future has changed,” Thirteen says. This catches my attention. “Before our little talk yesterday, Nine was supposed to die this morning. We would have been told a few minutes ago that he suddenly went on a mission when the truth would have been that Three’s sword went right through his heart.”

“So how does that make a difference if he’s still going to die?”

“Because now it’s going to take place in a few days. But first, we’ve got to start the next world war.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re about to blow up the Great Wall of China. This is our last mission before we launch our escape plan.”

“Wait, what?!”

For the first time in my life as I know it, I replace myself speechless. We’re going to bring down the Great Wall? Is Sanders crazy? Are the Youdu crazy? They would go this far just to start a war to get their hands on Baltec? How the hell are we even supposed to do that? Sure the jet has a stealth mode, so we can get in and out of their airspace without suspicion, but it doesn’t have enough firepower to take it down.

“But One, Ten and this guy over here do,” Thirteen says, pointing at Seventeen. The way he answers questions before people say them creep me out. Just how much can he see into the future? Is it something he is always tuned into, like a T.V that he can't turn off?

We walk in silence as I consider everything Thirteen just told me. So there’s still a chance to save Nine. What about Fourteen and Twelve? Of course I don't even have to say the question out loud.

“We’ll deal with them later,” Thirteen says. “Me and Nine are still working on a way to replace that failsafe to get Fourteen on our side. And everyone knows that Twelve will kill the Doctor and Sanders the moment he’s released. So that fits perfectly. Just need to keep him away from Sanders when he's out so he doesn't mess up my plans.”

I nod. I know he’s right. There’s no point worrying about Nine now when we have work to do. He would want us to deal with the bigger problems rather than worry about him right now. Also, why will letting Twelve get near Sanders mess up his plans?

“Thirteen,” I say. He turns around to look at me. I’m surprised at how he doesn’t answer my question before I ask him this time. In fact, it even feels as if he wants me to ask.

“Yeah?”

“Does there have to be a war? Isn’t there any way to prevent it from happening?”

“Nope. I’ve seen the future and I’ve tried to direct it down the safest course as much as I can, but even I'm not all-powerful. Our history’s pretty much just been filled with war and bloodshed. Sad as it sounds, this is just human nature. Wherever there’s power, there’ll be a struggle. Wherever there’s a reason, there’ll be a battle. No matter how we try to prevent it, this war has always been approaching. We can try to stop it, but it’ll happen sooner or later.”

“Not everyone is like that!”

“No. But as long as the few men that are like that are in power, there’s nothing we can do. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying China is the bad guy here. The U.S is mainly to blame this time. Keeping Baltec for themselves is what anyone would naturally do but this is bigger than them. None of them even understand the true purpose of what it means for Temere to rise up in this day and age. Moving on, the fact is that the best thing we can do is end the war when it starts. There’s no point trying to stop it when the gears have already been put in motion.”

What he says makes sense. If he’s seen the future and this is the best way to help, then I just have to sit tight and listen to him. How sad is it that humans do nothing but fight? Isn’t there a way for everyone to just live a normal and peaceful life?

As for Temere, what does Thirteen mean about the true purpose of its presence in this day and age? I feel like this mystery is just a bottomless pit that keeps on getting bigger and bigger but Thirteen is the only one who understands it. He's the only one who can see the bigger picture.

“So what exactly is the plan?” I ask.

“Firstly, start the war. If we want to survive the best thing we can do is follow instructions. If we don’t then we’ll just be killed and Sanders and the rest will start it with or without us. We can at least control the amount of damage caused.”

“I know that. I mean for breaking out of this place.”

“That comes after we return to headquarters. First, me, you and Seventeen will release Twelve. There’s no need to worry about his mental state for now. He’ll help us as long as he gets to take revenge. Nine and Five are going to take out Sanders and the Doctor. Nine already has Fifteen and the other two waiting to break in. Their job is to occupy Eight and Three’s time.”

“What about the transmitters? If we act out they’ll blow us to bits.”

“Fifteen, Four and Six are still alive, aren’t they?”

“Yes. But how?”

“Five was able to interrupt the electrical signal they give off temporarily so Nine could remove them. He’ll do the same for the rest of us later.”

“I see. So who has the pleasure of rescuing Fourteen?”

“Ten can do that. He’s capable of bringing this entire facility to its knees by himself. All we need to do is disable his transmitter and he’ll show his true self. Of course saving Fourteen is completely reliant on the belief that we replace a failsafe when Five interrogates the Doctor.”

“I’m still surprised we managed to get Ten on our side.”

“Remember the mission you had to take down the research center which was supposedly in Kursk?”

“Yes.”

“Ten questioned a woman there didn’t he? That was a mistake on Three’s part; she let him question a hostile on a mission. He found out exactly where that place was and exactly what it was.”

“So that made him come over to our side?”

Thirteen nods as he finishes eating his apple.

“It was in Russia, just not in Kursk. It was a European Union Allied medical research center in Namtsy in the Sakha Republic. That black stuff you saw in the center was in fact biologically engineered in an attempt to isolate and destroy specially targeted radiation in any given area. They were still in the process of trying to change it into a gas or something stupid like that.”

“Shit. So that means we screwed up, didn’t we?”

Thirteen stifles a yawn as he nods. He scratches his head before tucking his hands into his pockets.

We’ve finally arrived at the control room. Everyone else is already in line and is waiting for us.

“You’re late,” Sanders says.

“I was eating an apple,” Thirteen replies.

I can’t help but chuckle inside. Sometimes I hate Thirteen and other times I love his carefree attitude.

“Then I assume you already know your mission then, Thirteen?”

“As a matter of fact I do. Also, if you’re done briefing the rest then can I go get another apple? I really have a craving for them lately.”

Sanders’ nostrils flare and I can see his face turning red. This is classic Thirteen.

“Just fall in!” Sanders screams at Thirteen. Thirteen complies. Seventeen and I quickly fall in as well. I look at the Doctor as he appears from behind Sanders. He seems to be nervous about something as his hands are shaking. He slips Sanders several small vials and then rushes off.

What was that all about?

Sanders directs our attention to the monitor as it comes to life. This time we see an entire map of China. Sanders highlights Beijing.

“We’re taking down the Great Wall. We’re going to hit them where it hurts. Fast and hard. Strategically speaking, this has no effect on the outcome of the war, but the cultural value it has to them is immense. That’s why we’re going to use this attack to break their morale.

“We’ll begin our attack at Beijing. It’s the place which will have the biggest effect. Take it down in front of as many people as we can. The plan is simple. Destroy.”

Sanders holds up two of the vials the Doctor just slipped him. It contains a transparent liquid inside.

“This is VERTIGO SIX. You’ve all seen Three and One use this serum before to boost their abilities on your last mission. We’ll be giving these to a select group of you. These people will be: One, Two, Three, Ten and Seventeen. They will temporarily increase your abilities to an entirely new level. Use it wisely.

“Here’s how the mission will go. The Great Wall stretches across North China from east to west for over six-thousand kilometres. Three is only there to help with evac. She will use the serum to get you guys out of there. We will conduct a systematic breakdown. One. You will break down the wall starting from Beijing. Make sure not a trace is left.

“Two. You’re going to call down the biggest storm in all of history. Of course there's going to be an emergency response team from the police and their self-defence force. Anyone who tries to get in the way you send flying. Got that?”

I nod even though I'm not sure if I can call up as big a storm as he wants.

“Good. As for you, Ten,” Sanders says while staring at him. “I guarantee you that you’ll have fun. For the first time we’ll let you be completely unhindered. We’re even giving you the VERTIGO SIX in case you want to have more fun. You’ll be at Hushan, Liaoning in the east. This is where the wall begins. I want you to literally turn the area into a volcano. Burn it to the ground. Make the biggest explosion you’ve ever created.”

I look over at Ten. Usually he would be literally be bursting into flames at the opportunity to go all out. But now he just looks as if he doesn’t care. His blood-red eyes are looking right back at Sanders, as if Ares, the god of war was staring into the eyes of Satan. I wonder if he’s thinking about killing him.

“As for Seventeen, he can just do whatever suits him. He’ll be at the Jiayuguan Pass in the west where the wall ends. The rest of you will be fully briefed tomorrow morning. You will have an entire squadron of my men to accompany you. Do not forget this is a war. Do not fail. This is the most important mission of your lives. Don’t make me regret sending you. Dismissed.”

Sanders turns his back to us and leaves. I let myself relax and all the tension in the air fades away. I still can’t believe that we’re about to start the biggest war in over a century.

We all leave the control room and trek back to Block B. Three and Nine ghost back to their rooms ahead of the rest of us like usual. So much for team spirit. I know Nine still hangs around with her to keep up appearances, but how is he not bothered by being anywhere near her? Eight walks at such a fast pace that she leaves the rest of us behind. The rest of us walk in silence. Even One isn’t talking; which is a first. This is it. Where everything will truly begin. No more training. No more covert operations. Now begins a full scale war. I wonder what will become of us once the war begins.

Sanders thinks he has us fooled that the war had started a long time ago. What a fool. I want to personally see to it that he’s taken down a notch or two. Everything is moving so fast. I’m not even sure that I can handle it right now.

I slow my pace to lag behind the rest. Thirteen glances at me and smirks and he walks past. What’s so funny to him? Someone bumps into me from behind, causing me to nearly fall down. I regain my balance at the last second. I turn around to see who it is.

Seventeen stares straight back at me. Great. Not him again. I make an effort to continue walking but he holds on to my arm. Sighing, I turn to face him. He tucks a few strands of his dark hair behind his left ear.

“Can I help you?” I ask.

Seventeen continues to simply stares at me. This time I don’t blush. I don’t react at all. I’m too tired for any of that. The footsteps of the rest of the team fade away and we’re left alone together. The silence is all too noticeable. You can practically slice the atmosphere in half with a knife. I replace myself looking at his chest. He’s wearing just a tight black t-shirt and black jeans. So simple. Why is it always black with him? Can’t he ever wear anything else?

I raise my head to study his face. His eyebrows aren’t too thick and curve smoothly, perfectly symmetrical on his face. Is everything about him perfect? His eyes seem to have a lot more life in them now. Again I get the feeling that I know him from somewhere. What is it that keeps swirling around the back of my mind? We really need Fourteen as soon as possible. As soon as he unlocks my real memories I can be done with this crap.

But do I really want my memories back? I’ve been confused about what choice I should make. I don’t know whether I should get them back from Fourteen or whether I should wait until Seventeen has his memories back and let him explain who I am to me. I feel as if the latter is better; there’s no use in having my memories back now is there? Better to just see what type of person I used to be and be done with it. But what’s continuously bugging me is the fact that the odds of Seventeen knowing who I am should be next to none. Impossible. Why am I even bothering my mind with this? There’s just simply no way he could have known me before all of this. I might hold on to a small chance of it being true, but in my heart I know that it must all be a mistake. Until he gets his memories back he’s better off acting as if he never knew me. That way my mind can be at peace. If he does get his memories back then maybe I can ask him, but I highly doubt he knows who I was. I open my mouth in an effort to say something but shut it again. I can’t think of what to say.

Seventeen doesn’t say anything either. Instead he stares into my eyes as if he’s searching for something. He’s like a lost puppy waiting to be thrown a bone. I let him look at me for a bit longer. I can’t bring myself to turn away and leave him. Maybe I should be helping him unlock his memories. We can try and ask Five again but I doubt he will be willing to listen. The last time he did it he was just working off Nine’s theory and we got lucky. This time Five might fry Seventeen’s brain. Add that to all the other risks Nine talked about if Seventeen got his memories back all at once.

“I know you,” Seventeen says.

He finally talks. What does he mean he knows me? Please don’t tell me he’s about to turn back into that soppy form of his when he was ranting on about how we used to watch stars again. Who does that? It was a nice story but the fact is that even if I don’t have my real memories, I can’t possibly be someone he knows from his life. The odds of that are next to none. Nada. Can’t happen. Impossible. Do I have to continuously emphasise this for him to understand? Or maybe I’m just emphasising it to reassure myself? Either way, it should be impossible. As much as I want it to be true and hear about who I used to be, it just feels to convenient to be true.

“Please don’t start this nonsense again.”

“I do. I know I do. I’ve had this strange feeling ever since we talked earlier today.”

“Then you’re high. Or maybe you hit your head. Go get checked out by the Doctor.”

With that I begin to turn and walk away. This time he doesn’t stop me. Instead he catches up to me and walks beside me. Can’t he take a hint? Maybe the Doctor gave him too much a dosage of the borrachero. He’s probably having delusions.

“Then help me,” he says.

“With what?”

“I’ve had this feeling inside of me since forever. Every time I try to remember something my head bursts into pain. Thirteen told me it is something to do with borrachero being in my bloodstream. Right now all I know is that I don’t have all my memories. Whatever I’ve been told or made to think is a lie.”

“And how would you know all that if you truly have been drugged? They could be fake memories too.”

“Don’t play games with me, Sky.”

This makes me pause. He called me Sky just now. I turn around to face him.

“So what exactly is your problem, Seventeen? One moment you’re calling me Two and the next it’s Sky? Sort yourself out.”

“You told me earlier that borrachero messes with my mind and makes me susceptible to suggestion. If that’s true and I really have been drugged with it, then that means everything I know is fake. Now I don’t know why; maybe it doesn’t work as well on me, but I’m seeing things.

“Of course you are. You’re crazy. You’re entire personality is fake. You don’t know your left from your right!”

“I know that! I know that this feeling I have of knowing the Doctor my entire life isn’t real. I know that this isn’t me. Maybe the drug doesn’t work as well on me as it should. I don’t know why, but I feel as if something is off and I need you to help me.”

I look at him dumbfounded. I haven’t actually thought about Seventeen’s persona properly until now. He doesn’t exactly seem like a mind-controlled puppet like he did when I first saw him. Thirteen wouldn’t be anywhere near him if he posed a risk. And he hasn’t exactly told the Doctor about anything we’re up to. I’m too stupid to notice these little things. So this is why Thirteen has taken him under his wing? Because he’s resistant to some of the effects of the borrachero? It makes sense. Otherwise Thirteen never would have risked letting him in on our plans. Have I simply ignored all these hints just because I can’t bring myself to trust him?

“Alright,” I say. “Why don’t you tell me what you know then?”

“I thought about what you asked me earlier. No, I can’t remember what I was doing last week. It feels as if this place is where I belong and I haven’t questioned it. But I sometimes get this feeling in the back of my mind. It’s as if something is trying to break free. Thirteen tells me that you and him are the only ones I should trust and for some reason I’ve listened to him.

“I know about his power. It’s natural I’d listen to him. But I can’t help but sometimes feel as if I’m doing wrong by listening to Thirteen. I sometimes have this urge to go to Sanders or the Doctor and tell them what’s going on, but I also feel as if that’s wrong also.”

I consider everything Seventeen says. How stupid can I be? Of course he’s trustworthy if Thirteen trusts him. I was always on guard, prepared for the worst in case he turned on us but that has never been the case. Maybe it’s because he’s unique that he can fight the effects of the borrachero.

“Fine,” I say. “I get it. You’re not some brainwashed puppet. At least you know that something is wrong with your head. So what do you want me to do?”

“Thirteen said I should talk to you. Apparently we knew each other before all of this. I don’t even know what before all of this means.”

Now I’m getting the full picture. The Doctor and Sanders had said something along the lines of Seventeen being special when he first joined our team. For the first time I think they’ve truly made a monster. Not that the rest of us aren’t, but he truly is one. The borrachero is supposed to completely supress free will and emotions, and with the correct application – which the Doctor understands – it can be used to alter memories. I don’t know how the Doctor does it, but he can use it to give a person a fake personality as well fake memories.

He did it to all of us. He gave us all fake memories. Hell, this might not even be my real personality. And he did it to Seventeen. Or at least he tried. But it’s not working on him like it did the rest of us. Nine says that the Doctor needs to keep using it on him to suppress his emotions, but I think it is more than that. The Doctor knows that he doesn’t have complete control over him. I wonder if this is why the Doctor was shaking so much earlier on. Was he nervous? That’s a new one. This makes me smile.

Now I understand Thirteen’s play. He’s going to use their own weapon against them. We may not need Fourteen to unlock Seventeen’s memories. No. Give it enough time or a big enough reminder and it’ll unlock itself. Or maybe we can still force it out of him. With any luck, we’re already winning this fight and the Doctor doesn’t even know it. This must be why Thirteen only wanted me and Nine to be the only ones who interact with him. Nine is a genius, so maybe he can figure out a way. But as for me, if Seventeen really does know me from somewhere, then I am the best bet he has to unlocking his memories.

“Well then,” I say. I can feel the grin on my face growing bigger as I prepare myself for what I'm about to do. “What are you waiting for?”

And with that I pull him in closer and kiss him.