Hi,
Time for the explanation of Superman's abduction.
I hope you don't get bored.
Chapter Two
Sentence of Death
Strangely, the long corridor seemed so much shorter this morning, thought the woman as she obeyed the summons from her superior. She'd been expecting the call to this meeting for some time, had, in fact been dreading it. The General was not pleased by events and life tended to get very unpleasant when he believed he'd been let down by his subordinates.
She'd dressed in a dark gray pant-suit and her auburn hair was pulled back severely into a knot at the nape of her neck. Her thick, silky hair was her best feature, but neither she nor any of her colleagues cared much for appearances. In this facility most workers tended to choose to blend into the background.
Being the chief scientist for the project, however, meant that anonymity wasn't an option for her, but she did try to hide her femininity. Normally the loose white lab-coat helped with her cover, but there was no point in wearing it now -- General Hyesan had ordered a halt to the clinical tests some days ago.
She slowed her march along the passageway, not exactly dragging her heels, but not striding in her habitual fashion. How in the world had she ended up in this underground bunker working on this godforsaken experiment? Damaging a man, for he was a man, despite his alien origins. And a good man who hadn't deserved what had been done to him.
If she'd known what coming here would lead to, she would have run as fast as she could in the opposite direction. But that was easy to say with hindsight. At the time, she'd believed she had no other option. There certainly hadn't been any other job offers on her table. Besides, back then, she still believed that her work would be for the good of mankind.
Now she'd learned that good intentions were not enough. Certainly she'd had enough faith when she'd graduated from the Sorbonne at the top of her class. Adrienne Ducos had been one of the brightest stars the medical faculty had mentored for quite sometime... almost as bright as her famous mother. Yet Adrienne hadn't wanted to be like her mother. After all, she had killed her mother! No, not exactly, but she had been instrumental in her death.
Both her mother and father had been leading lights in 'Doctors Without Borders' where they had been fearless campaigners, going to all the main trouble spots in the world and trying to bring order into chaos. They'd been so busy with their humanitarian work that neither had minded the fact that they were childless - - not until her mother had found herself pregnant at the age of thirty-nine.
At first, the couple hadn't believed they were to have a baby. In her mother's line of work the hardships a woman experienced often led to certain monthly occurrences disappearing for months at a time, but finally her mother had to face the fact that she was to bear a child. Unfortunately, the timing of the pregnancy wasn't very convenient, as the would-be-parents were stranded in the middle of a death struggle between warlords in an African country where famine was also rife.
Michelle Ducos had felt she couldn't abandon the people who relied on her for medical help and she stayed much longer than she ought to. There had been a terrifying gun-battle between the factions in which Michelle was caught, causing her to go into premature labor. The mother had died, but the baby had been saved and taken back to Paris, where she'd been raised by her grandmother. Sadly, soon after Adrienne's eleventh birthday, the old lady too had passed away, leaving the child to be shuttled between various aunts and uncles. Phillipe Ducos had visited his daughter rarely and young Adrienne had always thought that he held her responsible for his wife's death.
Adrienne couldn't blame her present predicament on her childhood, though. She hadn't been mistreated, nor had she been extremely unhappy, but she had been a very lonely child. Even today, she preferred solitude, and it was probably that particular trait that had helped lead her to this place.
It was definitely her shyness which had prompted her to go into medical research rather than medical practice. She had done the usual training in hospitals and her father had hoped that she might take over his role in the organization he'd supported all his life, but Adrienne had always been fascinated by illnesses of the mind and how they could be cured. Especially since her greatest talent lay in the field of chemistry.
She'd been thrilled when she'd been approached to join one of the research teams of a large pharmaceutical company, who were working on producing drugs to control obsessive-compulsive disorders. At that time, little did she know that accepting this seemingly brilliant opportunity would lead to her downfall.
How could she have guessed that this seemingly reputable company was not above cutting corners in procedures to increase profits, and that the subjects on whom they were doing their clinical tests were not always volunteers. Many of the patients were orphaned children smuggled into the country from war torn Eastern European countries. Children who were traumatized or suffering mental illnesses from diseases transferred to them by their parents.
Just like her mother, she'd become so tied up in her work that she hadn't stopped to think of the risks she was taking. All her attention was wrapped up in the fact that progress was very good and a range of medication could soon be available to alleviate people's suffering.
When the scandal of improper procedures had been uncovered, Adrienne had not been completely shocked by the discovery. Somewhere in her subconscious she'd suspected the wrong doing, yet she'd had neither the will nor the courage to confront her employers. In fact, her overwhelming emotion had been one of annoyance that her research had been halted, and it had taken some time for the fact to sink into her brain that she'd been tainted by the criminal charges against her bosses. Truth was, she was lucky not to have been in the dock alongside them.
Only she hadn't understood that back then. All she knew was that she'd been very close to a breakthrough in her research and now she had no way of continuing her work. For months she'd sought other similar employment, but the moment it became known who she'd worked for the doors were closed in her face. The situation had been so frustrating! Which is probably why she'd been so easily seduced into working for a government that was regarded as evil by the Western world.
She had been so blind. Yet, it had taken her quite a while to realize that. Though she couldn't hold herself completely at fault for that predicament, as in the beginning the tasks her employers had assigned to her were completely in keeping with the work she'd wanted to do. It was only later that she'd come to suspect that the range of drugs she was trying to perfect was being used not to help cure people... but to control them.
Then just over a year ago she'd been recruited to oversee a particular, highly-classified project. Even her arrival at the remote secret laboratory had set her senses on edge, and as she'd stepped into the lift that had carried her to the bowels of the Earth, she'd finally been forced to face up to the possibility that she'd climbed into bed with the devil.
But it was much too late to pull out. They would have killed her... or perhaps worse. Under this regime she'd come to see that there were situations worse than death. Besides, perhaps she could in someway help this poor 'specimen' as they were instructed to call him.
Her steps had slowed to allow her time to think and compose herself for the coming ordeal, yet she'd arrived at her destination. Swallowing her fear, she knocked on the conference room door and without waiting for an answer, walked inside.
The man who'd engineered this whole diabolical plan, General Hyesan, was seated at the head of the table, his bodyguards standing a step or two behind him. “Good morning, Dr Ducos, so good of you to join us - - you are late!” the man growled, though Adrienne had become accustomed to his harsh speech and refused to be intimidated.
“I'm sorry, sir, but I was informed that our patient's temperature had risen during the night and I felt he should be checked over to see if he had acquired an infection.”
“Patient, which patient?”
Hyesan's lips set in a thin line of disapproval and his steely glare almost made her cringe, but Adrienne swallowed down her rising fear. “Sorry - - our one surviving specimen.”
She let her glance stray to the back wall of the room where a number of monitors displayed most of the complex. Hyesan had known exactly where she was and what she'd been doing. The whole area was covered by security cameras, from the fence with its guard posts and the one singular building above ground to the bottom level where the test subjects were housed, alongside the operating rooms and treatment laboratories. The only rooms not under surveillance were the General's own quarters, though there were fewer cameras on the second level where the staff lived.
Until a very short time ago the monitors had displayed an industrious work place, but now the complex was like a ghost-town. Over the past few days, Adrienne's own research assistants had been assigned elsewhere and the soldiers had driven away in their trucks and armored cars, leaving only a skeleton crew behind. Why did you need lots of guards when there was only one prisoner left to watch over and that man was in no condition to escape? Besides, in the unlikely event that he did make a break for it, they had kryptonite -- Adrienne hated the green glowing type with a passion.
There was only a handful of personnel left in the whole bunker and most of them were in this room, including the terrible twins, seated side-by-side at the other side of the table. Well, they weren't really twins, but they were terrible and Adrienne had dubbed them that very early on in her acquaintance with them.
“You shouldn't fuss over him so much. It's probably just a reaction to the extra exposure to kryptonite.” One of the duo spoke up, the little one who reminded Adrienne of a weasel.
“Kryptonite! Why would you do that now?” she demanded, her worry for her patient lending her strength.
“Because I ordered it done, Dr Ducos.” Once more the man at the head of the table addressed her, scorn sharpening his voice. “In preparation for termination.”
“Excuse me?” Adrienne was stunned by those words, even though she was half-expecting to hear them. She allowed herself to sink into the nearest chair. “But why?”
“Don't be so obtuse, Doctor. Even you are not so stupid to believe that this experiment is anything other than a failure.”
“General Hyesan, I still believe we have options.” She leaned across the table in supplication. “Please you have to let me continue with my work....”
“No, I do not!” The answer was barked at her as Hyesan pushed back his chair to stand. “We have tried every option, from surgical to medication and nothing works.”
Something snapped inside Adrienne and she heard herself answering back. “I was against surgery right from the start. I have never advocated the use of surgery to control brain dysfunction.”
“But why? We were successful,” the weaselly looking Abelev piped up again, ready to defend his work. “I am a brilliant neurological surgeon and I had more success than you.” His whiney voice sounded like a petulant child. “I totally blocked his memory of his past life. He has no idea of who he is or where he came from.”
“That might be! But your efforts to control his reasoning and emotions failed miserably. The cortex is still much too complex to go digging around in with a scalpel ... and those kryptonite-coated chips you placed in his brain almost killed him,” Adrienne reminded the man.
“You are wrong, Adrienne,” the other of the 'twins' replied consolingly. Adrienne considered him the lesser of the two evils. “Immunology has been my field of expertise for many years and I have made a study also of Su... this alien specimen. I calculated exactly how much kryptonite we could safely employ to render our subject malleable until such time as we completed our conditioning. He might have reacted badly to the toxic-inserts initially, but we did manage to stabilize him.”
“Yet, Dr Janik, your conclusion that the specimen's body would eventually become immune to those small doses of kryptonite within his brain was incorrect,” General Hyesan interrupted, his forehead creasing in a caustic frown. “Even if we had managed to condition him, as you say, Korea would not have acquired a superpowered weapon, which was the reason for this whole operation in the first place.”
Janik, unlike his female colleague, was not in awe of Hyesan. “We don't yet know that. Given time, I still believe in my theory.”
“Time is something you no longer have! And, don't forget, your assumption that red kryptonite would change his character and make him more aggressive was complete nonsense.” Hyesan leaned threateningly toward Janik. “Perhaps he was rendered useless by the infusion of red and green kryptonite you injected him with. You are incompetent, Janik, so take my advice, do what you're told and shut up!”
With hindsight, the immunologist had reached a similar conclusion about his mixture of the two types of kryptonite, yet he wasn't about to make such an admission to this madman of a General. Janik fell silent, once more, hunching his shoulders and shrinking, if possible, further into his chair.
Adrienne, however, found a sliver of courage and pleaded one last time, though she already knew her request would fall on deaf ears. “Please, General, please reconsider. Have the chips removed. There are other combinations of drugs I can try.”
Hyesan, gave a cursory study to the file lying open on the table in front of him. “Dr Ducos, you've been testing your drugs for fourteen months without success. It's my opinion that you ran out of ideas sometime ago.” At the General's words Abelev snickered and Hyesan's angry glare turned on the still seated surgeon. “You have no cause to be smug either, Abelev. You also failed in your attempts to control the specimen.”
The Korean General widened his stare to include all of his specialists, and his voice was full of freezing contempt when he spoke. “No matter what the three of you have come up with the subject is incapable of obeying an order to either hurt or kill even a fly. You may have reduced him to a nobody, but even without his memories and identity he refuses to be anything but a chronic do-gooder. When we try to manipulate him to destroy he almost has a brain-seizure. He is utterly useless to me and my plans for the future....”
Now, it was not only Ducos and Janik who were feeling uncomfortable. Out of the corner of her eye Adrienne saw Abelev blanch - - it gave her a tiny glimmer of satisfaction - - but the General hadn't finished with them.
“Each of you have let me down and I have no more time to waste on you or on this experiment.” Hyesan flipped the file shut. “I have been recalled to headquarters for a meeting with my superiors. I will be gone for five days and when I return I don't want to find any trace of this failed project within this facility. Let's hope that my three geniuses in their fields have more success as cleaners than they did as doctors. Get rid of your files, your equipment, your drugs and your test subject.”
Adrienne was so shocked by the implications that she blurted out a question. “And Sup... I mean the specimen, what are we to do with him?”
“Again you are being incredibly dense, Dr Ducos. He is the only test subject left in the whole complex. I want him exterminated and his body destroyed. It shouldn't be an insurmountable problem since he is no longer invulnerable and there is always kryptonite if the task proves difficult.” Hyesan marched to the door, his bodyguards shadowing him, but before he left he turned and directed a final menacing glare at Adrienne. “And since you are Chief Scientific Officer on this operation, Dr Ducos, I leave the responsibility of dealing with Superman, as I believe you like to call him in the western world, to you. Do not fail me on this or you will incur my wrath, and I can assure you that by the time I finish with you, death will be a welcome state. And that goes for all of you!”
He turned and was gone, leaving the three in the room silent and quaking.
*****
It was late at night, but Adrienne couldn't sleep. She paced back and forward in her room, her thoughts in turmoil. What was she to do?
Following the discussion in the conference room, Abelev and Janik had made it very clear to her that she was on her own in the elimination of Superman. After all, they concluded, Hyesan had made her personally responsible for that part of the clean up. They agreed to destroy all their case-notes and dismantle their respective operating theatres and laboratories. Then they were off, before Hyesan returned, leaving the really dirty work to her.
Not that she had expected any help from them, and she would be glad to see them go, only this one time she could have used some backup. She didn't believe she could kill anyone.... She didn't want to kill anyone!
Adrienne might not be a clinical doctor, but she had chosen the medical profession because she wanted to save lives, not take them. And this man was the victim. He wasn't evil, or seeking to hurt others. He didn't deserve to die.
Throwing herself down on her bed, Adrienne indulged in a fit of self-pitying tears. Why had this happened to her? She didn't consider that she'd done anything so terrible that she should end up in such a dreadful dilemma. Only, honesty compelled her to admit that she had been very naive.
No, it was much more than gullibility. She'd stuck her head in the sand and totally ignored the warning voices in her head telling her to stay well away from this country. Not to mention the fact that she'd carried out some very illegal medical research while here. She only had herself to blame for her predicament.
A gulping sob tore through her throat, but she fished a handkerchief from her pocket and blew her nose. Tears wouldn't help, nor recriminations. If she was to survive this situation, she had to pull herself together.
And maybe she didn't need to dirty her hands. General Hyesan might have left with most of his entourage, but there were a few guards left behind. Surely they would obey her order to kill the specimen.
Adrienne bit at her lip for a second, seeing a ray of light appear in her troubled world. She could order the soldiers to kill Superman and get rid of the body; that was what soldiers did for a living... kill people, wasn't it?
Yet the light faded quickly, as she realized that she didn't believe there was much difference in killing someone in person and instructing it done. The result was the same, and Adrienne didn't want Superman dead by anyone's hand.
But what could she, a shy, introverted research doctor do to change the outcome of Superman's future? She pushed herself off the bed and was back to pacing again, various escape scenarios running through her brain. Yet Adrienne wasn't confident in her bravery or her ability to carry out such a plan, and the possibility of failure brought on visions of torture and death for both the superhero and herself.
“Stop! Stop thinking of failure,” Adrienne whispered into the quiet of her room, attempting to chase her fear away.
If she were going to do this... and she had to concede that she was seriously thinking of getting Superman out of here alive... she had to start thinking positively.
A furtive knock fell on the door to her room, causing her to jump in shock.
Who was calling on her at this late hour? No one had ever visited her in her quarters before. Oh, my god, did they know what she was plotting? Thankfully, her scientific, analytical mind rescued her from a downward spiral of terror. How could they know her intentions, when she hardly understood them herself?
Smoothing down her clothes, and tucking her hair behind her ears, Adrienne crossed to open the door a tiny crack.
“Adrienne, let me in, please... quickly.” The hushed voice of Janik came from the darkened corridor.
Adrienne eyes opened wide, but she stayed silent, too stunned to speak. She had no idea what the immunologist would want with her now? Although he'd never treated her with the same contempt as his compatriot, Abelev, he'd never been exactly friendly with her either. Apart from conversations when their respective experiments crossed, he'd mostly ignored her. And, though she'd conceded that Superman's exposure to the concoction of red and green kryptonite was necessary for her medication to have any success, she'd hated witnessing the superhero's agony at this man's hands.
Now that she was being honest with herself, she admitted that she'd hated everything that had been done here in the name of science. It had never been about science. Hyesan wanted to use Superman's powers to shape the world into his vision. He had simply viewed Superman as a means to an end; a weapon system that had been a total failure.
“Adrienne!” Janik's voice sounded strained. “You have no reason to trust me, but we have to talk... inside. The corridors are still monitored.”
She knew that to be true and without further thought she opened the door to let him slip by her, praying she was doing the right thing. Perhaps he had come to seduce her... though he had never given any sign that he fancied her in that way. But soon they would be parting company. Had he come here for a little sexual dalliance to alleviate his boredom? He was certainly mistaken if he believed she would allow him to....
“I'm sorry to intrude like this, but I'm not sure that I can allow this... thing to happen.”
Janik's words cut through Adrienne's thoughts of seduction and rape.
“What thing?” she asked in confusion.
“Murder!”
So, not rape then. For the first time, Adrienne allowed herself to study her colleague more closely. His face was pale and his brow furrowed. Though she'd never considered him a tidily dressed man, he certainly looked more haggard than ever before... but she probably appeared very similar.
“I know I've never given you any cause to believe what I'm about to tell you, but I need you to trust me, if we're to succeed in our plan.” The man was almost wringing his hands together as he spoke.
“What plan?” Adrienne forced her voice to remain neutral, still unsure what Janik was meaning and afraid to incriminate herself too soon.
“The plan to save Su... our specimen's life.”
“You want to save him?”
“Adrienne, could you stop asking inane questions. I'm fairly sure you're as distressed as I am by Hyesan's orders and we really don't have time to tiptoe around each other. We only have a few days to carry out this escape.”
“I'm sorry! It's just this is so sudden, and I had no idea that you felt this way.” Adrienne had closed the door and was now standing with her back to it. “Before, when Abelev was there, it appeared you were all for it, though you weren't about to soil your hands with murder.”
“That was for appearances sake. The room was under surveillance and I wouldn't trust that weasel, even if you paid me a fortune.”
At last, Adrienne allowed a small smile to turn up the corners of her mouth as she heard Janik describe the surgeon the same way she always did in her mind. Perhaps she'd misjudged this man....
“Dr Ducos - - if you'd prefer I called you that - - like you, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I agreed to work with Hyesan, and believe me, I'm not proud of my involvement in this whole affair. I would have gotten out, if I could, but we both know what would have happened to any of us had we tried to leave. But I can't stand by any longer and do nothing. I took an oath when I became a doctor to uphold life, not to take it, and so far I've managed to do that. At least, I've never meant to kill anyone, but that's another story and one I'm sure you don't want to be bored with.”
Adrienne stared at her colleague, trying to calculate his trustworthiness. A few seconds passed in silence until she decided that it didn't matter much whether he was playing some kind of twisted game; she'd made her decision and she couldn't help Superman alone. “I'm sure we all have skeletons in our pasts, or we wouldn't be here. You're right, though, the reasons why we are here are immaterial now.” She moved forward into the room and pulled out the chair in front of her desk, inviting him to sit. “So what have you got planned? Because I've been wracking my brain and, so far, I've come up empty.”
*****
tbc
