As he rode his bike, Tom Cassidy couldn't help but laugh. He no longer had a home, barely had any money, and only the clothes on his back to call his own, yet it was after a long time that he had felt this happy.
"I guess in the end all you need to be happy is…" Tom's mind went blank before he could finish the thought, his body felt weightless, and everything seemed to spin around him.
Thomas 'Tom' Cassidy had been hit by a truck while trying to cross an intersection.
"Oh my god" a woman shrieked, another lady covered her kid's eyes, hoping to shield him away from the ugliness of reality for yet another day, a man fainted on the spot, having been terrified from the sight of blood since he was a kid. Yet another man; a doctor rushed to Tom, checking his vitals and injuries. "Someone dial nine-one-one!" he called out to the bystanders while trying to help Tom to the best of his ability.
Tom himself was unaware of any of these developments as he had been knocked unconscious by the blow to his entire body. it was a few minutes later that an ambulance arrived and carried Tom to the nearest hospital.
"How is this guy even alive?" the doctor asked as Tom was wheeled into the hospital, he had multiple broken bones as well as multiple lacerations, his lung had collapsed, and he had lost a lot of blood. Tom was wheeled straight into surgery, stabilising after an eleven-hour surgery.
"no phone, no ID" the orderly in charge checked his clipboard. "we got a John Doe here"
The doctor glanced at Tom inside the room "we've done all that we can" She sighed "now it's all up to fate" unbeknownst to the doctor and the orderly, the janitor who was mopping nearby overheard their conversation.
She immediately walked away from the vicinity of the doctor and orderly, and made a phone call that set off a series of chain reactions.
That night two doctors walked into Tom's room. "time of death, one A.M." the first doctor declared, the two wheeled off Tom's living, breathing body, down to the basement where an ambulance stood by the bay doors.
The woman and man wheeled Tom into the ambulance and hooked his body to the proper equipment before closing the back doors. The man approached the front of the ambulance, where the person sitting in the driver's seat was wearing a balaclava over their heads, but this didn't faze the man in the slightest.
The driver silently handed the man a bulging envelope, he nodded to her and offhandedly slapped the side of the ambulance twice before the ambulance took off.
XXXXXXX (Four Years Ago)
Doctor Anthony Boucher staggered into the office of Judith Reeves, the head of Project X-12785 also known as Project Rogers.
"Hello Doctor Boucher" Reeves greeted the aged doctor in clip tones "What can I do for you today" Doctor Boucher limped over to Reeves' desk, his walking cane tapping sharply on the tiled floor.
"You can explain" Doctor Boucher sat down on one of the chairs in front of the desk "Why you're defunding my work"
"Oh?" Reeves pulled out a file from her desk and glanced through it "There is some confusion doctor, I'm not defunding your work" She explained meeting the doctor's eyes "…I'm ending it"
"How can you…" Doctor Boucher began but paused as he was racked by a series of coughs "… do this to me? I am so close… to completion" even though the aged doctor's body was plagued by diseases and fruits of his vices, his mind was as sharp as ever.
"Look Anthony" Reeves patted the old man's arm "I understand how much this project means to you, but after seven years with no results; … I'm afraid it's just unsustainable"
"No results?" anger flashed in Doctor Boucher's eyes yet he remained calm "We have already determined the right direction to proceed in, we are but a step away from human trials"
"You alone have spent nearly a hundred million dollars on experiments up to this point" Reeves countered "The agency cannot handle such expenditure any longer"
"And you decided to get rid of me instead those other dimwits out there?" Doctor Boucher seem to become even more calm "How did you ever come to this conclusion?"
"Your expenses were the greatest" Reeves explained curtly "Now if there's nothing more, I have a meeting to get to"
"No" Doctor Boucher stood up "There's nothing left to discuss" he limped out of the room, looking not the least bit unruffled.
Reeves immediately pressed a button on his intercom "Keep an eye on Doctor Boucher, and make sure he's out of the facility today."
"Yes ma'am" the voice on the other side replied before terminating the call.
XXXXXXX
"Hello Doctor" Katie Darby greeted Doctor Boucher as he returned to his office; a former soldier, she had been hired by the doctor for odd jobs nearly seven years ago, and had risen to become his closest confidant.
"Hello Katie" Doctor Boucher sighed as he walked to his office door.
"Is everything okay doctor?" Katie questioned out of concern
"We need to clear our desks by the end of the day" was all the doctor said before walking into his office.
Katie sat down and started transferring files from her desktop to a detachable drive. Meanwhile Doctor Boucher too was collecting all his files, physical as well as digital.
The door to the office opened to reveal an old, bald, honey skinned man. "I just heard" he walked into the office "Are you okay?"
"Take a guess Doctor Baksh" Doctor Boucher laughed mirthlessly. "How would you feel if you were in my position"
"It's not right" Doctor Iqbal Baksh removed his spectacles from his face "What they're doing to you"
"I'm sure Alan must be truly enjoying this" Doctor Boucher gazed at Doctor Baksh's face, as if looking for a lie.
"He's all but popped the champagne" Doctor Baksh chose to not be diplomatic for once "That prick"
"He too will be out of here soon enough" Doctor Boucher confided to Doctor Baksh "As will you. I have an inkling that the powers that be are looking to shut down this entire super soldier project"
"I agree" Doctor Baksh concurred "As it should be, this entire super soldier program has been nonsense from the beginning; this country is fighting too many wars as it is"
Doctor Boucher leaned back in his chair "If you think this project is such an absurdity, then why did you sign up for it?"
Doctor Baksh gave his colleague a sly smile "How else was I supposed to secure investment for my projects to cure ASL without someone looking at it as a money machine"
"Doctor Baksh" Doctor Boucher felt he was looking at the man before him for the first time "I am impressed" Doctor Baksh simply laughed. The two men chatted for some more time before the Iranian American took his leave.
As the sun slowly approached the horizon, Doctor Boucher and Katie had compiled all the files they deemed necessary, after one short meeting with a lawyer, Boucher and Katie were able to pack up all their stuff into their car.
Judith Reeves watched from her window as Doctor Boucher collapsed into the shotgun seat while Katie took the driver's seat. She watched on as the two drove off the facility, all the way until the disappeared over the horizon.
"I don't like this" she told herself "I don't like this at all"
XXXXXXX
Doctor Boucher took a gulp of his whiskey, enjoying the taste and burn of it.
"What shall we do now doctor?" Katie questioned the doctor, she was the doctor's aide, and she knew the reason for his personal investment in the research.
"We'll continue our work by ourselves" Boucher put down his glass "We have come far too close to stop at this juncture"
"We'll start looking for new investors from tomorrow" Katie nodded in agreement.
"No" Boucher refuted her "We are done working for lesser men; no more 'yes sir's nor 'please sir's; none of that anymore"
"Doc?" Katie put down her own glass of whiskey.
"I knew deep down, that the government wouldn't support my research all the way to completion" Boucher elaborated "I've been siphoning funds from Project Rogers since the first day itself"
"So now we can work without any policing, or having to answer silly, obvious questions" Katie's smiled widened
"Indeed" Doctor Boucher agreed "And with a little belt tightening we can make these funds last for a very long time indeed"
XXXXXXX (Now)
It took Katie nearly an hour to reach back to the base.
"Welcome back" Doctor Boucher greeted Katie "No problems I hope?"
"None" Katie jumped out of the ambulance; a man and a woman entered the back of the ambulance and rolled out the patient. "He's a John Doe" Katie explained "Got hit by a truck"
Doctor Boucher stepped forward to examine the man in front of him, "Broken bones, ruptured organs, loss of blood, he has no hope of survival" the aged man laughed "He's perfect"
"Paloma" he turned to the woman who had helped in rolling out John Doe "Prep him for surgery"
"Right away doc" Paloma Lorca nodded. As the Hispanic lady wheeled away the patient, she cast a longing glance to the back of Katie, but the only one to notice was the fourth member of their team, Isaiah Langston.
"Prepare the components we need to place in his body" Boucher turned to Isaiah
"Right away" the African American man nodded before rushing off.
"This is the third body this week" Katie reminded Doctor Boucher "We need to slow down or we'll be noticed"
"We don't have much time" the doctor reminded her back "But I see your point; we'll take a pause after this man to consolidate our research."
"Thank you" the two people parted ways
Meanwhile Paloma wheeled John Doe into the lab, placing him in the cryogenic chamber that would slow down his body functions, giving them more time to perform their experiments on him.
"Alright" the doctor entered the lab, donned in green scrubs "Let's get started"