3: Shock and Awe

All the pieces are arranged for the end game.

He stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around him.

Nigh to collapse, he braced himself of the sink counter in front of him, Electricity erupted from his body, covered absolutely by either scar, bruise, injury or age line.

The electricity sparked around him, zapping every drop of water on his body.
He looked up to the fogged up mirror, his face completely blurred and hidden by the condensed water vapour residing on the mirror.
He placed his hand on the glass to reveal his own visage, pausing a moment.

*********************************

"... All right, thank you, I'm sending two men now. Good bye." 

CRACK!

"I'm surprised we haven't had to replace that phone yet" One of the men in the cramped room remarked, he was lounging on a cheap chair, the padding of it exposed, running parallel to the metal frame.

"Quiet!" The man commanded, as he lurched over the phone "This is no laughing matter, and requires every ounce of your short attention span, N!" The other man cleared his throat and adjusted himself, as if in silent protest or surprise, they were never sure when it came to this man, "N".

"What's the situation, Commandant?" Another man, leaning against a wall close to the corner of the room, one of the few places that had no furniture or amenity.

This room must have been a secret gambling room in the past, it's size and set up suggested that to be the only option.

"One of the company's public projections just went kaboom, in the worst way possible. In the middle of the day, with every worker present..."

The room went silent, the tension almost murderous
Both men, froze, amazed and horrified by what they just heard, they tried not to show it, but at least, they were able to hide the fear.

"Out of a workforce of 377, only two remain alive, and in critical condition at that." The commandant still lurched over his image akin to an intimidating statue spoke once more "The two alive were working in the same room as a special project, an experimental energy generator."

"So what do they want us to do?" N questioned in a serious tone, opposing perfectly his previous tone.

"We are to control the situation, keep everything as hush hush as possible, eliminate them both if need be" The commandant ordered, finally moving, standing straight to reveal a stature that stood six feet seven tall.

"You two are to go to Stratus City, S, You're in charge of this mission, I need your way of thinking for this one, N defer to him as though he was me" The commandant barked.

"So... in other words don't listen to him at all?!" N poked the bear, and unsurprisingly the bear would bite.

The commandant took a single step forward and swiped an open hand across the back of "N's" head

"Yikes, that hurt"

"Insubordination hurts." The commandant turned to the other man "I'll explain the situation to the client, You're to move immediately"

"S" and "N" stood up, and immediately walked out the door and into full light. S, stood six foot four, and N stood 5 foot eleven, S wore a typical black suit black tie combo, neatly pressed, a tidy appearance. N looked something akin to a mad genius, from the waist down his clothing was the same as S's, He wore a white long dress shirt, with a red tie, lazily tied, but properly placed, his appearance was scruffy, all his clothes were clean, well pressed, sure, that's what you get for having your work supply clothing; supplied clothing though, doesn't stop you from slouching, and creasing the shirt, his hands constantly in his pockets as he walked.

Two polar opposites.

"We've received other orders, so I've delegated my men to deal with it, while I finish off your contract here" The commandant spoke to the bank manager "After tomorrow the package will be moving, and the guard detail, no longer necessary"

The bank manager had a fearful and questioning look, a look the commandant knew as a man who was about to protest

"That'll be all" The commandant cut off the conversation, raising his hand in a stop gesture and calmly retreating to the room they were operating out of.

*********************************

"Don't you think we need to know more about this assignment before they just throw us head long into it" N questioned his partner

"Just keep driving" S demanded in a monotone voice, leaned up against the glass.

The two had seemed have traded personality after the flight, whether this was because of the closing in distance of the target, or the ever increasing distance of he who held their leashes.

"We need to know what's going on so we can make the right choices"

"This is why I'm in charge, you over think things, try to turn every case into a book, when all they are is a chapter."

"Well I'm sorry that I actually care about the results"

N pulled a park in the hospital parking lot and quickly got out of the car.

S slowly followed, pulling out a cigarette and a lighter and going to light up as he approached the back of the rental car. N walked up and slapped the cigarette on the ground

"Did I say you could affect my lungs with that s**t too?" N remarked, walking at a brisk pace

"Like you actually have a choice in the matter, it's none of your business when I light up" S rebuked viciously, lagging behind as he looked longingly at the cigarette at his feet, he reached for it and lit it up and then ran after his partner

"I should do, second hand smoke affects me every damn day thanks to your disgusting habit" N turned around as he smelt the tobacco smoke behind him, he paused and slapped S across the cheek knocking the little stick of death onto the ground and stepping on it and immediately kept walking, as though this scene played out daily.

"I should kick the s**t out of you for that" S snarled, clenching his fist

"Do you really want to try round 4? you haven't won yet!" N paused and turned to his partner, a cocky look on his face.

He was embarrassed to admit, but it was true, he had never beaten his partner before, and so he followed the smaller man into the hospital, where immediately N pulled out a pair of sunglasses and popped them on.

"You know that look only works if you're wearing a full suit" S laughed

"Oh really, please enlighten me about how I'm trying to look like a CIA agent, and NOT trying to hide the obvious genetic anomaly that is my pure red irises?" N snapped back angrily at his partner.

The administrator was shocked by the men's appearances, and raced over to them, apparently with all the strange things this hospital had seen and heard all day, this little event topped it.

"C..can I help you gentlemen?"

"I'm Agent Sully, and this is my partner..." S left it open to his partner, and was surprised to hear the silence of a pause

"Agent Nguyen..." N choked out

S looked over strangely to his partner, disappointed by what he heard.

"We're representatives from Tri-Larian Industries" Sully completed

"Nguyen... but you're as white as snow"

"That's racism ma'am, an issue we take very seriously at Tri-Larian Industries" N rebuked

"Uh.. I... Sorry, I'm so sorry" The administrator feared for what just happened "I didn't mean to offend"

"I'll let it slide, if you can show me to the wards of a Mr. Steven Anderson and Mr. Daniel Campbell... and that cute smile" 'Nguyen' flirted and his partner rolled his eyes.

"Just that first request please" Sully interrupted seriously and then turned angrily to his partner, gritting his teeth "Ignore the latter"

The medical receptionist, confused by what just happened walked away without saying anything, but meaning to lead them.

"What the f**k was that!" Sully grunted, meaning to shout, but wanting to whisper

"I couldn't think of a name... I panicked!" Nguyen protested quietly

"Let's just get moving" Sully spoke at a normal level again, as he walked to follow the hospital's administrator, who had almost disappeared on them.

*****************************

"This is the ward of Patient No. 442a, Steven Anderson" The administrator announced "Patient No. 442b, Danan Campbell is in that room there" she pointed to a room just around the corner.

"Danan? we asked for Daniel, and why are these isolation rooms?" Sully questioned, N slapped his partner on the arm, he had noticed something already.

"Danan has different variations of his name on the database, Danan, Danny and Daniel. His birth name is Danan." The administrator defended.

"Why'd you hit me?" Sully whispered to Nguyen

"if you had bothered to read the clipboard she got before we left the first floor, you wouldn't have asked about the name" Nguyen remarked "try to have some perceptive ability"

"That'll be all, Thank you Miss" Nguyen smiled.

"Can I help you two?" A doctor asked in the quick manner that they always do 

"Tri-Larian, Sully and Nguyen" Nguyen spoke in quick response.

"You stay with the doctor, I'll check out the other patient, we'll combine the information we've both gathered afterwards" N whispered to his partner

"I'll catch up soon, I've needed to use the loo for the last 2 flights of stairs" Nguyen joked aloud

"Downstairs, there's no toilets on this floor" The doctor said turning back inside of the room Mr. Anderson was in.

N quickly walked off to the other room.

"Explain what happened" Sully demanded, shortly.

"The Tri-Larian Power Plant practically melted down, we got called out to the scene, this was the first man that my team pulled from the rubble, as to where we found him, we can't tell you, the other team that I replaced was responsible for pulling this one out, but they did say something about a special looking room. My team was responsible for finding the other man, if you can call it that" one of the fireman said

"What do you mean" Sully questioned

"Well, the other one walked out of the building of his own accord, and no one found him before hand, which means he was either avoiding us purposely, or coincidentally wandered rooms we weren't in. Admittedly, we couldn't make it far into the building, a lot of it was cut off from us. All he said was 'sorry' before collapsing on the steps."

"And you? Doctor? have you got anything to report, I want a general condition report and any anomalies that may have occurred"

"Anomalies? you mean other than the fact that this man is somehow still alive?! and the fact that he's been letting off Bio-electrical based Electro-Magnetic Pulses?! admittedly though, I don't know if I can call it alive, he's practically comatose, but worse, his brain activity is half what it should be, he may not be dead, but he may as well be."

"What'll happen to him next?" Sully asked in an almost sincere tone

"You mean if he doesn't die? then I reckon he'll spend the rest of his life in a permanent comatose state"

"Excuse me, my partner is taking a while, I'm just going to check up on him" as Sully turned to exit, Nguyen ran in

"Yo, I'm back" N announced hurriedly, as though he had just ran back up here
Quality acting 

"Nguyen, you took a while"
"Had to cut one off" N said in an uncreative manner.

"Explain what I missed" Nguyen asked Sully

Sully walked toward Nguyen and led him outside.

He explained what they had just told him, to perfect detail. S was always about getting things right to the detail, he's very by the book.

"...And you?" Sully turned to him "what did you find out"

"His body has under gone a change, his immune system is trying to fight something it can never defeat, only adapt to, but the way the human body works, it'll never happen without outside intervention."

"What is the change exactly?"

"Well, the bio-electricity in his body is acting differently, the best way to sum it up is, a normal human's bio-electric circuit is, pretty limited, has a small battery and is limited to certain areas in the body. His, and most likely Anderson's, now has a large battery, and the circuit isn't limited at all, it's all over his body, almost as though there is no more circuit, just electricity."

"So... he's pure electricity?"

"No! no no no, no not at all." N buried his head in his hands "sorry, I didn't explain it well, but he's human, and he's ordinary, just now he's a bit extra. It'll start off that he'll discharge a lot more static electricity than others probably even stay there, but eventually he'll function like a taser, and if he gets beyond that, well... Lay man's terms, he'd be able to create electricity and control it."

"Well... that makes more sense, The Company could use another..."

"What are you two talking about" One of the firemen interrupted in a polite and friendly tone.

"Just working on our reports, they have to collate to a degree, or we get in trouble" N saved "boring stuff really."

"Hah, this situation is hardly boring, or even ordinary, you know most of the city is without power? every time they start it up again..."

Just as he was about to explain it, it happened, another electro-magnetic pulse erupted from one of the rooms with an unnatural bass sound

"That, happens" The fireman finished

Sully and Nguyen ran back in to see the doctor

"Which one did that?!" S and N asked almost simultaneously.

"Anderson, his are larger and have been taking out the cities power grid, which is why we have him here in isolation, The walls... well lets just say this is the best place to put him so we can keep the hospital alive." The doctor laughed
"And the other?" N asked

"He..." The doctor became serious, almost creepily "his are smaller but more powerful... or concentrated... we can't combat it, but it doesn't go past a 2 block radius around the hospital."

Sully and Nguyen looked at each other, concern on both of their faces. They had no idea what to do.

************************************

"We have to consult the commandant" N stated, between mouthfuls
"Try to eat... tidier... this is a rental after all"

"We don't know what to do, it's night already and we have no decision, no idea what to do."

"You said yourself, we should at least save one, they could become an asset to The Company."

"But that means we condemn the other" N said under his breath.

Sully sneered in disagreement
"You're the only one that cares about that right now, personally I just want to make the choice so we can piss off already"

"Who's a better choice then?"

"This one... Anderson, he's ex-military, married, one offspring, also seems to have the right personality for it"

"I disagree, Anderson doesn't have the right personality, he's the type of person these days that he'll ignore the power and won't do anything with it"

"Exactly, then we offer him a job in the aftermath of this disaster, he accepts, we turn him into a weapon, if he declines, we take his family hostage." Sully stated as though it was so simple a child would think it up, this condescending tone pissed N off, but also what he was suggesting. Sure these guys were used to doing things that would make people describe them as corporate thugs, But this... what he was suggesting, N felt the need to oppose it. But how to convince S of a different solution?

"No. Campbell is the better choice"

"Haha! What?! are you serious?"

"Yes, I am, Campbell is the better choice, he's younger, more agile, if their jobs are to be compared, then I'd say he's just as smart, and surely he still feels something for this exe of his, so we can use her"

"Well, I've been placed in charge, and I say Anderson"

"You won't mind consulting the commandant then will you?"

A tense silence filled the air as another EMP went off from Anderson.

"Fine"

Author's Note

While writing this part... I honestly forgot what I was planning to call the city.
Whoops. (Stratus City also subject to change)

This chapter is used to set up exposition, explain Danan's future powers through some vague pseudo science.

Also to introduce the first proper mention of The Company.