The week that had followed the mysterious black out could only be described as hell. When Eko wasn't completely lost in her own mind and its swirling vortex of thoughts, memories, and what little of the outside world her senses managed to register, she was in total agony. It made it difficult to concentrate, let alone sort out what had happened to her.
[Are you ok Eko?] Phobos questioned. He'd been asking that a lot, and she honestly didn't know how to answer. Sure, she was in an odd existence of senselessness and/or pain, but she was also still alive, so it was hard to say.
[I think so?] she thought back weakly. [It's hard to think... they're so noisy today.]
[What do you mean by noisy?] Phobos questioned. Before she could respond, the two scientists who regularly performed tests on them and an armed escort of six additional men arrived. Eko was relieved to discover Dr. Morton wasn't among them.
"I still can't believe we're doing this..." Alphonse, the senior assistant, grumbled.
"Well, isn't it about time we conducted a field test?" The junior assistant, whose name still eluded her, shrugged. "I mean, most of bio-units have been trained and tested well over two decades, from birth to maturation in any case. If they aren't useable now, its not likely they'll ever be."
"I get that," Alphonse snapped impatiently, "Trust me I get it... but I just get this feeling something is going to go horribly wrong!"
[What kind of 'field test' are they planning?] Phobos questioned. He did his best to act naturally, but it was apparent her partner was highly anticipating some sort of opportunity. Swept up in his excitement, Eko did her best to focus enough to root out the details.
It hurt to concentrate, but with a clear goal in mind it was easier to let the pain wash past her. The normally simple act of reaching into their minds and sorting through their thoughts now felt like scaling a high cliff without any gear as she clawed her way past frivolous side thoughts and mental images to reach the core of what they were discussing. The persistent fog in her mind made it difficult, each slip threatening to throw her from the steep slope of the observers' thoughts back into the black sea of pain and disorientation that was her own mind. What took less than a minute felt like hours as she labored onward and upward until she finally reached the information she wanted.
[They are preparing the units for an excursion above ground,] Eko explained, relaying as much information as she could to Phobos from their thoughts and memories. [Something called a 'blood moon' is occuring, and they believe it will enhance your natural strength? They want to test it on 'live' subjects from what I gather...]
[They are taking us out of the lab...] Phobos concluded thoughtfully. Eko could tell he was scheming.
[Don't do anything reckless,] she begged meekly. [They're quadrupling the guard, and there's talk of bringing out Ares as added precautions!]
She felt an ominous pit in her stomach when he didn't respond. Eko attempted to plead with him a few more times to no avail. In fact, he had gone so far as to block her from his mind, which meant not only was he not listening, he was scheming up something he knew she wouldn't like.
She could only wait in silence as they moved, using the thoughts and images flashing through the minds of those around her to determine what was going on outside of her little pack. From this, she learned that they had, indeed, mobilized all of the units, even Ares.
Most of them were a sorry lot. Though powerful beyond measure, the bionic orcs were the epitome of loneliness and despair. Broken husks, mere shadows of who they could and should have been, they trudged along without a thought or care of what was going on. They were dimly aware of their surroundings, but held no interest in them. There wasn't even a worry of potential danger ahead of them. She sensed death would likely be seen as a relief for the poor creatures.
Ares, on the other hand, was a completely different ball of wax. One of the first successful subjects to survive intense biological, mechanical and magical enhancements, and the only bionic orc capable of fully functioning with a goblin catalyst, Ares stood apart from the rest. He was superior to the other units in almost every way. It was often said he was bigger, stronger, faster, and more intelligent than the rest.
Unfortunately, however, the orc had a few severe personality flaws. The brute was violently volatile, cunningly cruel, and to top it all off Ares was a narcissist among narcissists. In simpler terms, he was dangerous and nearly impossible to control. Thankfully, though he seemed to harbor an underlying resentment towards Phobos, they weren't typically in his cross hairs.
Eventually, she grew bored of skimming people's minds. The orcs had no real thoughts of their own, the soldiers thoughts were unbearably crude and often perverted, and the scientists thoughts were so heavily laced with confusing technical jargon she couldn't understand most of what went through their heads.
Eko had nearly dozed off, bored from what felt like an hour or more of travel, when an abrupt halt jarred her back awake. It was quiet. Too quiet. Out of habit, she reached out to Phobos for comfort and information.
[What's going on?] she questioned.
He didn't respond, and to make matters worse, his mental walls were up. When she pushed against it, hoping to get his attention, she was met with the most intense rage and hatred she had ever experienced.
[Phobos?] she called again with uncertainty. Once again, he didn't respond. Worried, she pushed harder, desperate to know what was happening. To her horror, all of his senses were veiled in red. Phobos had fallen into a blood rage.
"Attack!" and with that order from one of the scientists, the situation quickly evolved from bad to worse.