"Unggh!" Tom groaned as he slowly came back to consciousness, Tom tried to rub his eyes only to realize that he couldn't. it took tom another few minutes to shake away his disorientation and realize that his hands and legs were bound by thick metal cuffs to a chair.
"what the fuck?" tom looked around, realizing that he didn't know where he was. "have I been captured by enemy spies?"
"oh? You're awake?" Tom twisted his head to see Doc from the corner of his eye. "I was hoping you could stay asleep for the procedure, save yourself the pain"
"what is this? What's going on?" Tom asked, he had always had an inkling that things weren't right with this project, but he still didn't know what the endgame was.
"well, you already know that I have an ulterior motive in this project" Doc explained shamelessly, "the time has now come for me to fulfill that motive" it was an unspoken point that Tom now knew that they weren't affiliated with the government.
"and what exactly is that motive?" Tom was genuinely curious, all these weeks he had been plotting to escape, he hadn't even once stopped to consider what Doc and Katie's plans for him had been.
"well... in layman terms... I want to take over your body" Doc casually replied.
"wait; what?" Tom squinted, unsure if he heard correctly "you want to take over my body? what the fuck does that mean?"
"memories make a man" Doc elaborated "it is our experience as each individual that shapes who we are as a person"
"I'll take you word for it" Tom interjected, balling up his fists and trying to break the restraints, but to no avail.
"I've given you a small dampener, to keep your strength under control" Doc explained nonchalantly "now, as I was saying, our memories make who we are, and it is those memories that shall allow me to take over your body"
"but why make me in the first place?" Tom questioned Doc "why not take over anyone else?"
"that was my backup plan" Doc admitted "but... the truth is I didn't want to try and shift from one body to the next every time a body got old; I needed a body that would last for the ages"
"but won't your memories just merge with my memories?"
"not if I use electric signals to seal your memories" Doc countered. "electric signals derived from trauma"
Tom let out a low whistle. "that's... that's some really heavy stuff"
"indeed" doc agreed, humming along happily "and you can now rest in peace, having all your questions answered"
"yeah..." Tom sighed deeply ".... Or, y'know, not" Tom's hand and legs were freed as the cuffs opened with a pop.
"what?" Doc turned to stare at the control console on his desk, the penny dropping as the icons disappeared from Tom's vision as he shut down the NCI.
"No!" Doc pulled out a gun but Tom was already upon him, slamming down Doc and knocking him out with a punch.
"sorry Doc" Tom sighed "hope you find somebody else to move your mind into" Tom genuinely felt remorseful, despite his ulterior motives, the truth of the matter was that Doc had snatched Tom away from death's jaws, and Tom had seen his share of scumbags over the years, thus he couldn't truly bring himself to hate or even dislike Doc.
Not wasting anymore time, Tom immediately took Doc's gun into his own possession. "rubber bullets" Tom groaned mentally "guess he didn't want to damage his precious new body" Tom patted Doc's head once again before running out of the lab.
Luck seemed to be favouring Tom as he didn't bump into anyone as he made way to his room. Tom pulled the two bullets out from under his mattress and set them into the clip.
"this should do" Tom decided, exiting his room, Tom swiftly made his way to the garage, deciding that he needed to get a vehicle and escape the facility.
Making his way to the garage, Tom kept looking over his shoulder, and yet still caught a kick to the face, courtesy of Katie.
"How the fuck did you escape?" Katie questioned Tom, pointing a gun at him.
"it was a cakewalk" Tom pointed his own gun at Katie, steadying himself.
"did you kill Doc?" Katie's hand and voice were steady but Tom could see the tremor in her eyes.
"he's alive" Tom admitted, much to Katie relief.
VOOOOOMMM!
A sudden deafening klaxon slammed into Katie's ears, catching her off guard. The momentary distraction was enough for Tom to smack the gun out of Katie's hand, hit her temple with the butt of his own gun and drive a knee into her abdomen.
Tom had timed his attack perfectly, using his NCI to set off the klaxon and then attacking Katie in the exact moment her guard was down.
"hand's up" Tom pointed his gun at Katie head who complied, glowering at Tom, "hands against the wall" Tom told Katie as he bent down to retrieve her gun. "now walk with me" Tom instructed, making the woman walk ahead of him with a gun pointed to her back.
"what the hell?" Paloma's voice rang out as Tom and Katie exited the hallway into the main hall, Paloma and Isaiah were having a pleasant chat about the weather until they saw one of their friends pointing a gun at another friend.
Tom turned to Paloma, startled, in his bout to escape and caution against Katie making any sudden moves, he had momentarily forgotten about Paloma and Isaiah, and it was this moment that Katie chose to strike Tom.
Twisting around in a pirouette, she kicked the gun out of Tom's hand and in Paloma and Isaiah's direction, Tom raised the other gun, only for it too to be kicked the same way.
"it was a good try Tom" Katie complemented him, "but unfortunately you're at the end of the road" Katie launched a shoot kick right at Tom's jaw; but out of the blue, Tom was able to block Katie's kick.
Tom pushed his hand out, sending Katie falling on her back, but she was able to use the momentum and roll further and right onto her feet. "I guess the dampener starting to wear off" Katie theorized.
"what the fuck is going on?" Isaiah demanded
"she and Doc are trying to kill me" Tom explained
"Tom is trying to escape and divulge information about this project to the public" Katie lied with a straight face.
"scheming, manipulative, bitch!" Tom thought to himself. On the other side Paloma and Isaiah each grabbed a gun off the ground.
"Don't move" Isaiah and Paloma demanded simultaneously as they pointed their guns at Katie and Tom respectively.
"what the hell are you doing?" Paloma stared at Isaiah "Katie is the good guy here"
"there's always been something off about this project" Isaiah's voice was shaky "you and I both know it"
"you're being crazy" Paloma refuted his words
"think carefully Paloma" Isaiah pleaded "don't let infatuation blind you" Paloma responded by turning the gun onto Isaiah.
"drop it" she told him, only for Isaiah to point his gun at her as well.
Like a tiger, Katie immediately pounced at Tom, but the other man was ready, blocking off her attacks, the dampener's effect had weakened but not truly gone, every third strike from Katie was landing on Tom, sending him reeling.
"Paloma, please!" Isaiah pleaded, "don't do this" Paloma didn't reply, glancing at Tom and Katie where the tide of the battle was shifting, Tom was getting faster and faster, and now instead of blocking Katie's attacks, he was letting them hit him to no effect.
Instead, Katie was the one on the defense now as she barely held off Tom's attacks, each strike that she blocked sent jolts through her entire body. "fuck I'm not gonna last" Katie realized and decided to launch a hail mary.
Spinning on her heel, Katie launched a mule kick, following up with a knee to the abdomen she then went in for a right cross; unfortunately, Tom was prepared. Tom blocked Katie's knee with an open palm, he then grabbed Katie's arm as she punched, pivoting Katie over his shoulder, Tom threw her onto the ground.
Katie rolled with the throw, spinning to get up, but Tom was already over her, grabbing her in a choke hold.
"it's over!" Tom told Both Katie and Paloma as he stared at the latter, hoping that they could all still walk away alive.
"yes, it is" Paloma and Isaiah were still aiming at one another, and seeing Tom hold down Katie, Isaiah relaxed, giving Paloma a moment to turn and fire at Tom.
The gun Paloma had been holding was Tom's gun which had been fed with two tampered bullets, unfortunately neither Tom nor Paloma had known this. The moment Paloma pulled the trigger, the gun let out a muffled explosion as it shattered; with the hammer breaking off and flying backwards, directly into Paloma's skull.
The entire world seemed to slow down as Paloma swayed before she fell backwards, each moment feeling like an eternity, when she landed on the ground, everyone felt the thump resonate within their hearts.
"what happened?" Isaiah demanded as Katie broke free of Tom's grasp and rushed to Paloma "it must've been Tom's gun" Katie spoke to herself but Tom and Isaiah heard her. "loaded with the tampered bullets"
"they tampered my bullets" a white-hot rage filled Tom when he saw Paloma's body, sprawled on the ground, along with a stark realization that that could've been him.
Tom turned to Isaiah who was still staring at paloma's body, "c'mon man we're getting out of here" he grabbed Isaiah's hands and pulled Isaiah with him.
"NO!" not thinking straight, Katie rushed straight towards Tom, only to be greeted with a kick to the face, sending her reeling
"Stand down!" Tom told Katie, but the woman defiantly stood rushed at Isaiah again, throwing strikes to kill Tom, "don't make me do this Katie" Tom pleaded but Katie didn't relent. Katie threw a kick, only for Tom to block it and strike her knee cap, shattering it.
"it's over Katie" Tom reiterated.
"I will never stop hunting you" Katie declared, her eyes displaying her contempt for anyone to see.
"I'm sorry" Tom apologized "if circumstances had been different, we would've been friends" Tom grabbed Katie's head and twisted it, killing her instantly.
"you killed her" Isaiah fell to his knees "killed her"
"Isaiah, we need to leave" Tom pleaded "now"
"dead" Isaiah stared off into the distance "they're all dead"
"Isa...AGGH!" Tom fell down to the ground as a familiar pressure pressed down on his back; the concussive pads had been activated.
"you... are far more resourceful and cleverer than I ever gave you credit for" Doc's voice echoed through the hallway as he walked towards Tom.
"it's over Doc" Tom gritted his teeth.
"I've lost Katie" Doc sighed; his voice full of mourning "I cannot lose you too" it was at this moment that Tom realized that he had been naive; even if doc transferred his mind to another body, he would still hunt down Tom.
Tom was Doc's magnum opus; he could never be free as long as Doc lived.
"Isaiah, help me" Tom pleaded, but the African American man stared off into the distance, still overcome with shock.
"I'm sorry Tom" Doc sighed "that it had to be this way"
'The pads are like a muscle' Isaiah's words echoed in Tom's head 'you can use it and control it at will' bit by bit, the pressure subsided allowing Tom to slowly push his body upwards.
Noticing Tom's movement Doc pulled out his remote and pressed the button to activate the concussive pads over and over again.
'when it comes to the human body, the will to fight is an unknown quantity of utmost importance'
With a roar, Tom stopped the concussive energy pushing him down and redirected it towards Doc.
The world seemed to slow down, the air rippled with energy, the look of Horror on Doc's face was etched into Tom's brain as doc was sent flying.
WHAM!
Doc crashed against the wall and slumped down; dead. Tom fell to his knees, numb to his core
"dead" Isaiah muttered, staring at Doc "everyone's dead"
"Isaiah" Tom approached his only friend "we have to get out of here"
"everybody's dead Tom" Isaiah's voice rose with every word "everybody's dead"
"we have to leave" Tom pleaded
"you go your way Tom" Isaiah seemed to regain some semblance of clarity "I gotta do my own thing"
"what thing?"
"innovation" Isaiah laughed bitterly "creation, I gotta do what I gotta do"
"Isaiah..."
"Go!" Isaiah pushed Tom away "I'll be fine on my own, I always have been"
Having no energy to argue Tom shuffled into the garage, laughing bitterly to himself when he saw Katie's Camaro SS, Tom exited the compound and began driving down the road, no destination in mind; just him and the open road.
Safe and free.