in. He remained in position, his gun aimed at the male as the male gradually regained more and more of his faculties.
“You alive?” Feral yelled to the male he was attempting to rouse.
There was no answer.
“Is he alive?” Nina asked, coming to a standstill beside Feral.
“Yeah. He’s alive,” Feral answered.
“Hey!” Nina said, kneeling beside the second male and tapping his face lightly. “Wake up. We’re here to free you,” she shouted.
There was no snarl like with the first male. There was no attempt to lift his head or to move his limbs at all. Instead, his eyes popped open. They were focused, clear, looking right at her.
“Hi, there,” Nina said. “I’m Nina. This is Feral. They,” she said, thumbing over her shoulder, “are the rest of our team. They’re like you, Variant. We’re here to free you.”
The male’s eyes watched her suspiciously for several seconds longer before allowing his eyes to travel to Feral, then to the other males standing behind her. He said nothing, just returned a cold, unfeeling stare to Nina.
“Take off your helmets, guys. Let him see you’re like him,” Nina said.
Feral unstrapped his helmet and took it off, as did Steel and Valor.
The male watched them, almost seemingly studied them, before looking back at her. “Waller,” he rasped.
Nina shook her head. “We’re here to kill him. But he slipped away before we arrived. All we found is a deserted hospital, and you.”
The male watched Nina, for a moment longer, then struggled to sit up.
“You want help?” Nina asked.
The male didn’t answer her, but he still struggled to sit upright. After a few moments longer, he managed to prop himself up against the hospital bed beside him.
“Who are you?” Nina asked… “One, Two, Three?”
“One,” he rasped out.
“One, I’m Nina. I came from a place like this. So did all these males. Now we work for an organization focused on finding and freeing others like us. Welcome to freedom, my friend,” Nina said.
“This one’s getting up, too,” Lethal said.
The male Nina was talking to swung his eyes over to Lethal. Lethal turned around to glance in that direction, not liking the fact that Nina was so close to the male, and his eyes met One’s. One seemed to register recognition and canted his head to the side in an animalistic fashion as he considered what he was seeing.
“Nina,” Lethal said.
“I’m coming,” Nina answered. She spoke to One again. “These males are here to help you. Don’t fight them, you’ll find yourself outnumbered and pissed off because we’ll tranquilize your ass.”
The male watched her as she left his cage and approached Lethal.
“I’ll go back in and ask if he’s okay,” Nina said.
“You’ll stand out here and ask if he’s okay,” Lethal snapped.
“Really?” Nina asked.
“They’re volatile, Nina. Don’t make me shoot them,” Lethal said.
Nina didn’t reply but she stepped forward and wrapped her hands around the bars of the cage the first male was in. “Hey! You alright in there?” she shouted.
The male, his eyes still looking a little cockeyed, grinned again. “Alive,” he croaked out in a barely used voice.
“Good. Alive is a good thing. In case you weren’t listening before, we’re here to free you. We all came from a place like this. We work for an agency that is dedicated to finding and freeing other Variant males and females like yourself. Your nightmare is over,” Nina said.
Rolling over on his side, the male looked at her, then at Lethal. “One,” he said with hint of sarcasm and amusement behind his voice.
“Lethal,” Lethal said, staring the male in the eye.
The male shook his head. “One,” he insisted. “First… One,” he said, pausing between the words as he struggled to regain his faculties.
Lethal didn’t speak again. He simply regarded the male for a moment before giving him a single, firm nod of affirmation.
“They know you,” Nina said.
“Training tapes,” Lethal answered.
“Since everybody’s waking up, let’s have a quick little question and answer session. Do you know if there are any rewards housed here, and if so, where?” Lethal asked, speaking to both males.
Nina looked from one male to the other, but neither answered. “Are you given females as rewards? Are there any here?”
“No,” the second male said.
“No you’re not given them, or no you don’t know if there are any here?” Nina asked.
“Not given them,” the second male answered. “Do your job or die,” he said.
“I get females,” the first one said, with a snarky tone.
“Where are they housed?” Nina asked. “We checked the entire facility, you’re the only two