Chapter 23. Reconstitution

  Feeling determined and motivated by the Commander's words, I stood up from the meeting table within the Control Room. The rest of the team was collecting their things and talking amongst themselves. I stretched and looked over to Emily and Jordan, both talking to each other. I walked over, and their hushed conversation ended as they both greeted me.

  "Got some grand secret you're trying to hide?" I mused, mirth in my tone.

  "We were just talking about Brian and everything else the Commander had said."

  "So, who was this Brian guy anyway? From what I gathered, he was some sort of important individual from The Bureau. And that he had been manipulated by them and was accidentally the cause of this Crimson Haze business."

  Jordan looked conflicted when I used the past tense for the man, but quickly suppressed the expression. Turning to face me fully, Jordan went on to explain their relationship and the night everything had changed, from his perspective. He then explained up until the point at which he could remember. A man known as Rubeus snapped his neck, and he went unconscious. This was right before I had hitched a ride with Special Agent Henderson.

  At this point, it was pretty clear The Bureau weren't the good guys, so to speak. But I wasn't certain the Anti-Bureau were the good guys. On the surface, it seemed so, but that could have been said for The Bureau as well. It was yet another thing to add to the list of things that gave me a weird gut feeling.

  "Alright, what now then?" I asked Emily

  "Well, the team and I will probably go train, but if Jordan here isn't too busy, he could accompany you with the Commander to the next step of your super special initiation," Emily responded in a teasing tone, giving me a noogie.

  "Right, let's see if we can't make this day even more eventful," I said, motioning to Jordan to go see Commander Caeruleus.

  "So, what did this Rubeus guy look like? He seems like an important member of The Bureau." I asked Jordan as he followed behind me, seeming nervous.

  "W-well...he um, he was wearing a red and black suit and always has a smile on his face. Other than that, he was very intimidating, tall and broad. Oh, and his appearance is of a very strong East Asian descent. The predominant physical characteristic of most in Reunity." Jordan explained as we had made our way over to the Commander.

  Commander Caeruleus turned, his blue and black suit fitting well to his tall and broad figure. He wore a wide smile on his face and had the striking appearance of East-Asian descent.

  I squinted my eyes at him and then looked back at Jordan. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you were speaking of the Commander when describing this Rubeus guy."

  "Huh, now that you mention it, Rubeus does look strikingly familiar to the Commander..." Jordan responded, scratching the stubble on his chin thoughtfully before looking back up to Commander Caeruleus.

  The Commander simply stared at Jordan before squinting his eyes to mere slits. "Hmmm...Rubeus was the name of my twin brother, small world I suppose." Rubeus said before erupting into a fit of laughter.

  Jordan's face paled, and I simply looked confused. "Was?"

  "It's a sensitive topic, but I suppose I'll open up. My brother died 15 years ago, bled out from a neck injury during a conflict. He had always been the more serious between us, at least back in those days. It's not a very common name, so I'm surprised to hear it."

  Jordan and I just glanced at each other before Jordan whispered to me. "I'll talk to him about it later, let's just move on from this."

  "Anyways, are we on to the next part of my initiation, or...? I asked

  "Ah, yes, after a quick break to the bathroom and some other things I need to attend to real quick, I shall quickly be back."

  "I just hope you are quick." I joked.

  The Commander started laughing, and then coughing, before excusing himself, seeming to be on the edge of an accident. The others left after him until it was just the two of us. I turned to Jordan and opened my mouth to speak, but no words came to me.

  "It's nothing if not interesting around here, that's for sure."

  "I second that opinion, interesting and concerning. I have so many questions, but I fear asking them will only lead to more confusion. Understanding and knowledge seem to be my mortal enemy at the moment."

  "Eh, you'll be fine, just stick to what you're good at and passionate about and stick to that."

  "I feel as if I don't have much of a choice, Jordan, but thanks for the wise and inspiring words."

  The casual small talk between the two of us continued for a bit, Jordan eventually going over some data with me that flew over my head. I was unsure how much more I could endure when the Commander finally returned.

  "Alright, let's head off to see Ash, see what he thinks about all this Amnesia business I've been told so much about."

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  And with that, we made our way to Ash. I focused on my breathing, taming down the anxiety that filled me. My mind told me to run, fight, or flight triggering, making my heartrate increase. But I kept up on accepting those thoughts and letting them go, and focusing on the world around me and the current moment.

  We arrived at the scientist's lab, the room not one Jordan had showed me. The technology and tools spread throughout the space were beyond my understanding. The shorter man that I had run into before was deeply engrossed in building some contraption, seemingly not hearing us enter. Even after the Commander had cleared his throat multiple times to try and gain the attention of the man, he was oblivious to our presence.

  Commander Caeruleus had to resort to yelling the man's name, in which he barely looked up, an annoyed expression plastered on his face.

  "Yes?" Ash asked, clear evidence of annoyance in his voice.

  "Sorry for disturbing you, we just need your help with an urgent matter."

  "More urgent than what the Captain has assigned me?" He replied, going back to his work without even having glanced at Jordan or me.

  "The matter pertains to Xavier, who is here with us along with Jordan."

  As soon as the Commander had said my name, Ash's face lit up, and he appeared by my side in the blink of an eye. He slid some lenses in front of his face, seeming to scan me or something. After a thorough visual examination, the man stood back and took me in as a whole.

  "Huh...why do you look so familiar?" He pondered aloud, his thumb under his chin with his pointer finger over his mouth and tapping his nose. "Oh! Gregath...are you related to anyone by the name of Gregath?"

  "I have no clue what you are talking about, I just woke up today."

  "It must be worse than we thought. You don't even remember Gregath. I mean, he's the spitting image of you, must be your twin, or brother at the very least." He concluded matter-of-factly.

  "Okay, well, you have some way of helping me with my memory issues?"

  "Ah, yes, right this way." Ash guided, taking the group of us to a windowed room. Inside was dark until Ash flipped a switch, and a device came into view inside the sterile room.

  "Here we have it, this machine is used by The Bureau to remove unwanted memories or to implant fabricated memories. A real beauty of a device, I mean, I took days taking it apart and putting it back together dozens of times!"

  "So...you're going to use that to, what? Remove my memories? Implant me with fake ones?" I said, already backing off from the horrid contraption.

  "What? Of course not, I wouldn't do something as barbarack as that. I have repourposed this machine, and in quite short order, may I add, to faciltate Reconstitution." Ash said, deep self respect etched in his body laungauge as he looked at the Commander when noting his expediant work ethic.

  "And this is safe and tested?"

  After making various noises that didn't ensue confidence "Ehh, mhhh, ughhhh, uhhhhh...tsktsktsktsk, pffffff-ahhhhh, mh, eh." He then gave me a so-so motion with his hand as he sucked in air through his teeth for a final noise. Hearing a snicker from the Commander, I looked over to him, barely covering up a laugh. I stared at him for a moment before giving Ash an accusatory glare. "That...really didn't instill confidence in me, I have to be so completely honest with you right now."

  "Ah, no worries, it is 78% safe, guaranteed!"

  "THAT DOES NOT, I REPEAT, NOT, INSTILL CONFIDENCE!"

  "You'll be fine, how's your soul?" Ash asked before dismissing me with his hand and rolling out a scanner. "Never mind, I'll just check it real quick," he finished, turning dials and messing with a screen that seemed like the controls. The Commander and Jordan were asked to leave the room, and before I could attest properly, it started.

  "Wha-huh-wha..." I sputtered as the scanner whirred to life and a red glow emanated from it. A slight glow was cast over me as I was told to stand completely still and keep my mind calm. I did as instructed, and just as it had started, it was over.

  Ash's jaw dropped and his eyes opened wide for a second before he steeled his expresion and looked at me slowly. He motioned with his hand furvently in the universal sign for "Come here quickly." I sauntered over and looked at the screen as he pointed at it. All I saw were various error messages reading.

  Error: Insufficient power to adequately and accurately assess data.

  "Normally, I would assume this was some sort of bug or glitch, but I watched as the numbers topped off..."

  "Oh, so is that bad?"

  "I...I'm not sure, my best thoery is that your soul was too powerful for this machine to test. So I beleive you'll be fine with the Reconstitution to say the least."

  "Alright, if you say so... what is this Reconstitution anyway?"

  "In essence, it recalibrates your body with your soul, which can include memories, so that will help you with your amnesia. We have tested this device with Crimson Ragers..." Ash paused, emphasis on Crimson Ragers, as if the term left a bad taste in his mouth.

  "...and the results were less than desired. They were simply too broken, and this device isn't a miracle worker. However, for Crimson Defenders, the process is a boon. Although there can be unforeseen effects, but for most these effects are desired. The machine will align your physical body with your soul once more, as right now they are in disarray. After any traumatic incident, the id, ego, and superego will be out of sync with the soul. The Crimson Haze, for most, superseded even ordinary trauma. It altered your very souls, and such a shift is extremely unprecedented. Maybe in a more controlled and surgical procedure, such an issue could be moot, but that is neither here nor there." The scientist said, getting off track before continuing his basic explanation.

  "So, at the moment, your brain has undergone psychological damage that is unprecedented. Along with a shift in your soul that is sending ripples of change through your physical body that you are unable to control. This is all very theoretical of course, purely based on extensive research and empirical review. Essentially, your soul has been heavily altered, and in such a manner that leaves most a broken mess. This device will attempt to more align your body and soul while giving you a boost in momentum. At the end of the day, it is up to you to control the outcome, but the device and I will be here as support to undergo this treatment." He finished, letting Commander Caeruleus and Jordan in.

  "Alright, I think I feel a bit more confident about this."

  "Good, the team also went through this, and they ended up fine, for the most part. And from what I've heard, it even made them more powerful, mainly because they were more synced with their innate abilities, but still."

  "Yeah, everything will be fine, Xavier, we believe in you," Jordan assured and comforted.

  Ash guided me into the very white and sterile room and gave me one final warning.

  "Your amnesia and memory issues are most likely a case of repressed memories from a traumatic event. So the memories you will experience may be overwhelming. However, it should feel like you are an outside observer viewing a movie to more smoothly integrate your memories back into your conscious awareness. If it ever feels like too much, tap into your ideal sense of self and innate will. It should be easier to access while you are unconscious and directly connected to your soul. Other than that, good luck, kid."

  As he spoke this final message to me, he helped me into the machine and lowered various devices and scanners over my body. The last thing I saw was the scientist placing a small red orb into a tube and insert it into the machine. With that, the thing whirred to life and with a press of a button, I felt unconciousness grip me.