Thrive in Catastrophe Chapter 72

"I never knew you were capable of such blind optimism." Gordon pressed at the corner of his eye.

"Because Jane Wallace won't let that happen. Where is the witch Claire?"

"Haaa." Gordon sighed and lowered his head. "Don't tell me you want to torture her brain. That woman is beyond powerful. She has already taken down several elite torture specialists. They all returned with severe neuronal damage after invading her. Do you understand the meaning of that?"

"Claire killed them all in her mind." Heine's response was direct and undeterred.

"and so......"

"So I need to enter her subconscious. Arrange it now, please."

The thick tone of command in Heine's voice made Gordon glance sharply up.

"This is the Witch, her subconscious is not as unguarded as Xiao Yan's. Need I remind you what happened to you and Shen Bing? What you faced in Renault's subconscious? Shen Bing still hasn't recovered from the neuronal damage from that incident."

"Please make the perpetrations, Major General." Heine's hair catches the rays of sun entering the office window. Each strand reflects the gold and diffuses it outward, resulting in a luminous haloed outline. His eyes gleam with a brilliant strength, compounding the power of his presence. The subsequent majestic scene challenges the limits of human perfection.

"You are crazy. Think about the price Xiao Yan paid to save you!"

"Sir." Heine shifted to the side, his fingers sank into his own flesh and he dug out the micro disk Xiao Yan had given to him. His movements were neat and nonplussed, his face was not lined with one ounce of pain. "This is Xiao Yan's research. No matter what happens to me, it will not prevent the Shire from continuing the research on x-2. More special forces may be separated from the x-virus."

Major Gordon clenched the micro-disc in his hand and looked at Heine with a severe expression.

"Who should I give it to?"

"Someone you trust."

"Like who? I trusted Jane Wallace. Turns out he is a higher up in the Surge. The president already knows this, I am just waiting here until they get around to demoting me."

"But right now you are still the commander of the Special Forces."

"For now, in the end I will be replaced."

An hour later, in the dark isolation cell of the torture unit, the glamorous and haughty woman slowly opened her eyes.

When Heine Burton entered the cell, Claire's pupils unconsciously constricted at the impossible sight. She couldn't believe the reality that stood in front of her.

Her hands were shackled in high density t.i.tanium and fused t.i.tanium wrapped her legs. The only way she could possibly get free would be to abandon her limbs. Even then, she has a device on her neck that will break her cervical vertebrae under a single command. A metal mask covers the lower part of her face. These restraints leave her unable to attack anyone. The Shire is well aware that she is the Surge's most elite a.s.sa.s.sin. She may have pegged Mark as large and incompetent, but she underestimated Liv's involvement. Not only is Liv exceptionally agile, her fighting abilities are perfectly compatible with Mark's. This is why Heine had not been concerned at the time.

"I don't need you to tell me anything, because I will find it myself." Heine's low voice pierces the air like a gunshot.

Claire, who had been unruffled by everything to this point, is terrorized by a growing anxiety.

Heine grabbed the terminal connecter like a death lord wielding his weapon. He seated the unit upon his head and invaded her mind. Like a silent sickle, he sliced into the outer edge of her thoughts and hacked through with a violent momentum, relentlessly and ruthlessly tearing through her neurons.

This is not an invasion at all.

It is a ma.s.sacre.

Claire began to tremble. Before Heine had even reached her subconscious she hit her limit, unable to endure his savage siege.

"I have a million ways to make each of your neurons suffer unimaginable anguish. I am capable of far worse that those torture experts. So know this... I haven't the patience or the time."

The frigid temperature of Heine's voice laced through her, wrapping and warping a cruel path in her mind. His tone vibrated lowly, as though it erupted from the depths of h.e.l.l. Still, she stubbornly refused to give up anything. Eventually, the strain cracked her mental barrier and Heine brutally ripped through. In the dark endless abyss of the subconscious, this mental merge is an invisible murder. There is no doubt that Heine is capable and powerful enough to shatter her entire being.

He moves like a phantom, burrowing deep and impossible to extract. No matter how dangerous Claire's subconscious is, she can't even touch this man.

He slammed into the core of her mind and ripped it to shreds.

He mercilessly tore out the information he needed, leaving her brain to completely collapse.

"Alarm! Alert! Subject- pulse too high!"

"Alarm! Alert! Subject- neuronal damage detected!"

"Alarm! Alert! Subject in severe distress!"

The researchers were at a loss of what to do. They were tasked with ensuring Colonel Burton's safety. The instant his readings became abnormal, they were ordered to immediately disconnect him from Claire....

....But he is not the one in danger.

What should they do?

G.o.d!

Heine opened his eyes and the connection terminated.

Opposite him, Claire sat with her head lowered. She looked broken, mangled and weak, unable to even open her eyes.

Heine asked the observer for a few codes. Claire was given oxygen until her vitals recovered. Still her brain activity was greatly affected.

Her heart rate began to stabilize, but her subjective consciousness was still operating at an alarmingly low level.

The entire torture force looked at Heine in awe.

"He...he succeeded in extracting information from the Witch?"

"More accurately it was closer to murder...I think he destroyed her in her own brain."

"Will she wake up? Should we report to a superior?"
_______________________________________

Xiao laid on the white sandy beach, the palms cast a deep shadow over head. He had on a floppy beach heat and countless paper books were strewn around him.

Jane walked over to his side and sat down.

Seagulls sounded overhead, their cries mingling with the crashing waves. The sky and the earth seemed to vie for infinity. It all felt so boundless.

Jane chuckled and playfully knocked off his hat, then he lowered his head to lightly brush Xiao's lips with his own. Xiao finally opened his eyes.

"If you dare continue do this..."

"What can you do?"

"..."

The kiss eventually fell.

Xiao firmly tightened his lips, but Jane's tongue pushes past. There is no further meaning, he simply teases and then then pulls back.

"I shouldn't have to apologize for last night. I could enter you easily. Even if you are injured, so long as I inject the x-virus, you will heal. As for the pain...that... you will always remember."

Jane's fingers gently stroke Xiao' s black hair. Pure bred Asians are rare and he revels in the distinctive softness of the strands sliding through his fingers.

"If you do that I will jump head first into the ocean."

"Don't say that. This reef holds a special meaning to me." Jane continued to play with Xiao's hair.

Xiao closed his eyes and turned away from Jane who pressed his hand against his forehead, forcing him to look at him.

"When I was a child I never knew of any fairy tales. The first time I read a fairy tale was when my troops were resting in an abandoned library during a mission. I picked up one of the books and it was a story about a mermaid."

The smooth flow of his voice held a unique cadence and the nostalgic tone merged with the breeze, the tempo ebbing and flowing with the distant waves.

"The mermaid used her voice to beguile and confuse the fisherman pa.s.sing through. She would then drag them deep into the sea. One day, after feeling sympathetic to his plight, the little mermaid impulsively saved a teenage boy. The boy returned to the area day after day, trying to find the little mermaid but she staunchly avoided him. Finally one day the mermaid told him, I will grant you any wish but you must quit following me afterward."

Jane abruptly stopped speaking.

"What did the boy wish for?"

"I thought you were not listening."

"Weren't you telling a story?"

"The boy wished to become a reef in the sea. He said that since there were no islands or reefs, the mermaid had no home. He hoped to be her refuge."

"So the little mermaid turned the boy into a reef?" Xiao Yan asked.

"I do not know."

"So you were just messing with me." Xiao sighed.

"The ending of the story was missing."

"You didn't look for it?"

"No. Fairy tales cannot have an ideal ending for everyone. Since then, I have been searching for my own reef."

Xiao Yan arched a brow. He couldn't help but think about Jane's words. What was the meaning of the fairy tale? Perhaps it was just a simple story, but he felt that it meant something different to Jane. What did he mean by finding his own reef?

"I see that you don't like my story, but do you like the books I gave you?" Jane's words interrupted Xiao Yan's thoughts.

"How did you find them? Paper is so fragile. They have to be more than two hundred years old."

"There were a lot of books still left in an old library, they were vacuum packed so none of them were damaged."

"So you grabbed them? Now they will quickly degrade!"

Xiao Yan's eyes gleam with a pa.s.sionate violence. No wonder the pages were rapidly yellowing.

Especially so close to the beach, the humidity was rapidly the corroding the paper.

"Nothing lasts forever. At least you have them now."

Jane's laugh collides and merges with the salty wind.

He slowly stood and walked up to a nearby palm tree, that was inserted in the gravel.

"You still haven't given up trying to escape from here?"

Xiao Yan's fingers tightened and trembled. What had he noticed?

"Using tree shadows to estimate lat.i.tude and longitude is a very old technique. Quite clever, I must say. The shortest direction of the shadow is the meridian. When the sun is at high noon, the length of the shadow will be higher than the tree. You don't need to know exacts coordinates, you just want to know the direction of the nearest Shire base."

Xiao Yan's back broke into a cold sweat, he was seen through with such ease!

"You really think I don't know these little tricks?" Jane's fingers stroke the branches as the sea breeze lifted and swept through the strands of his hair. "I also like to read old books. Don't worry. I won't do anything to you."

Suddenly Jane's contact activates and Jerry's face appears on the display.

"Hey, boss. Heine Burton is alive."

At the news Xiao Yan couldn't help the muscles in his back from trembling.

He is still alive! He is still alive!

His heart jumps and every cell energizes.

Outwardly he tried his best to keep calm, he closed his eyes, but the edges of his lips tilted triumphantly upward.

The x-2 cannot be immediately administered for wide usage. It must be adjusted according to the viral load of each individual. The solution Xiao Yan gave to Heine had been formulated specifically for him, using the data from the blood samples he had collected.

Jane turned to look at Xiao Yan. The straw hat on his head drew a deep shadow, obscuring his expression.

"He has destroyed three of our bases."

"Hm." Jane nodded. "He must have gotten this information from Claire's brain."

"Our decision to land was hasty so Claire doesn't know where we are, but sooner or later he will find us."

"Yes, he is coming here. The three bases are all surrounded by water, he knows that Xiao Yan likes the sea. We need to change locations."

Jerry's brows arched in bewilderment, he didn't understand why the researcher's preferences would have any bearing on their decision.

After Jane finished speaking, he returned to Xiao's side and his fingers tenderly stroked his ears.

"Do you like it here?"

"If I say I want to die here, can I stay forever?"

"Request denied."

Xiao Yan used his hat to brush the sand from his body and lazily stood up.

Jane pulled the leaves off of the palm tree. "You can keep this as a memento."

As the aircraft rushed into the sky, the disrupted sand scattered and reflected the sunlight in piercing gleams. The glittering particles whirled around the craft like a dizzying storm of diamonds.

Xiao reached his hand above his brow to see amid the sharp sun. Suddenly, his wrist was gripped and he was pulled further into the cabin.

They gradually pulled away, until the island became a small dot in a vast blue sea.

Xiao leaned his forehead on the gla.s.s. They continued to gain alt.i.tude until Xiao's sight was saturated with nothing but blue; the island was no longer visible.

There are four people in the cabin. Xiao Yan, Jane, Jerry and the special forces soldier that had infiltrated the Shire during their a.s.sault on the city.

Casey and another piloted the craft.

"Where are we going?"

"Someplace special."

Casey left the c.o.c.kpit and sat across from Xiao Yan with a strangely cautious look in his eyes.

"There you will meet an important person, who will decide if your brain remains in your skull or not. So don't do anything rash Xiao Yan."

Xiao was intrigued by this special person that Casey mentioned. As for the latter part of his statement, Xiao Yan did not pay any attention to it.

He has mentally prepared himself. If his brain is removed that means he will have access to their main terminal, he will use the very last vestiges of power he has to invade their master system and take them down from within.

Casey carefully observed Xiao's calm and meditative stance. He couldn't put everything into words, all he could do was hopelessly exhale.

Jane's finger poked Xiao's cheek.

"Don't listen to this guy's nonsense. I will take you to see father."

"Your father?"

Jane's expression was a bit complicated, the lines of his mouth tightened with warning.

"You and he have much to discuss."

__________________

An hour later, the special missions arrived at the island.

Winn's team searched the underground lab. When they found the room full of brains, they weren't even surprised.

Ten minutes later, Winn walked along the beach, toward Heine. Heine stood in the white sand, then he bent to pick up some of the books scattered about.

"Colonel, the Surge has already evacuated the base. We did find numerous brains in the underground lab. Should we determine if Xiao Yan's is among them?"

"No, Jane Wallace took him away."

Heine's fingers moved over the book, faintly tracing the yellowed edges of the paper.

"This is the 'Biological Life'. The average person wouldn't read such a book, only Xiao Yan."

"Ha?" Winn had a baffled look on his face.

"If I were Jane Wallace, I would please him in this way."

"What?" Winn's expression was still confused. "Who are you going to please?"

Heine said nothing, he simply stared at the books and walked toward the aircraft. The sea breeze swept sharply and Heine closed his eyes, bringing the pages to his mouth. He pictured Xiao's hand moving across the paper; he imagined kissing each of his fingertips.

When he moved the book from his face, his eyes were cold and focused.

"Have the all the craft spread in different directions. Widen the search perimeter!"

Mark and Liv are sitting in the cabin, and Mark's expression is distorted and strained.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Liv lifted her leg and nudged the big guy.

"I heard that they are certain that Xiao Yan was here. He kept him in that gla.s.s house, but we were just one step too late. Ugh! I can still see the Boss's face." Mark groaned.

"How do you know that Xiao Yan was locked in the gla.s.s room by Jane Wallace?"

"...the boss said he knew when he walked into the room."

Mark thinks of when he followed Heine into the room, they walked directly toward the large white bed. It was bold, dramatic and pointedly the only furniture to be found. Mark couldn't help but blush at the implication.

Ahh...all this to imprison one small researcher...isn't it just a bit too much?

Heine's gaze instantly slammed down with enough weight to shatter the earth. The air in the room drew in dangerously. Heine looked up and the angle of his chin caught the sunlight beaming through the gla.s.s. One knee settled onto the bed and he moved his hands over the bedding, as though he were confirming something. Heine only felt around the area where the quilt was disturbed. He looked down at the rumpled covers and a strange energy gathered and crackled around him.

Mark shifted his eyes to look at Heine's expression. By the time he glanced over at the Colonel, his face was already a mask of indifference. He stood up and issued orders to Mark.

"Well if that is the case, I think the Boss would be quite relieved."

"Why?"

"At least Xiao Yan is still alive, this is more important than anything, isn't it?"

_________________
Xiao Yan's flight is long. With scenery of nothing but water, it wasn't long before the glittering seas became hypnotic and his lids drooped heavily.

He struggled to stay awake to observe and record anything that could be used to determine their direction or destination.

But in the end, he still fell asleep.

Jane reached over and pulled him into his arms.

Casey exhaled deeply. "This guy has so diligently tried to fight off sleep. The aircraft has already lapped around three times. I am so bored and about to vomit."

Suddenly the craft gained speed and headed toward the sea.

Jane grabbed Xiao Yan as a submarine surfaced.

They entered the vessel and descended deep into the ocean. Countless marine life swam around them. Their peculiar attributes were eye catching.

Casey casually poured himself a cup of black tea and grabbed some baked snacks. The delicacies, surrounding him, gave him an aristocratic appearance.

"Hey Jane, if father wants to take out Xiao Yan's brain....What are you going to do?"

Jerry glanced over toward Jane at Casey's question.

Jane touched the chin, "then... let Xiao Yan become his child."

"Oh." Casey sneered at him. "That is more difficult than immortality."'

Xiao Yan's body continued to float in darkness, a strong embrace wrapped warmly around him. The hold on him was gaining force, threatening to crush him... Such a distinctive and soothing strength...

His neck was kissed gently and a whisper landed in his ear.

No matter what happens, be patient and stay alive.

Xiao Yan knows that deep in his subconscious mind, Heine will always exist.

His eyes snapped open and he saw a muted light dance along the wall in strange undulations. Xiao Yan lay still for a long while, unable to motivate himself to move.

Sit up! Get up! Xiao Yan chastised himself. How did you let yourself fall asleep again?!

He pulled the quilt down and got out of the bed. Suddenly he felt the faint glow was interrupted by a shadow that swept through and chilled the air.

Xiao instantly turned around and saw that the room contained a window that ran from the floor to the ceiling. On the other side, he saw the depth of the sea surrounding him. Marine life, that he had only seen in old books, moved past his astonished vision. Dumbfounded, Xiao stumbled up to the window and watched as the faint traces of the sun penetrated and refracted amid the water.

It was daytime!

Where is he?

"Child, do you like your room?"

A low voice broke through the moment, slipping into the gap in time. Xiao Yan turned around and drew in a sharp breath.

In front of him, standing by the bed, was a man in an oversized sweater. His stance was relaxed and casual.

His appeared to be of a similar age as that of Ervel and he exuded the same air of intellectuality and scholarly temperament. His skin was unusually pale and his nose was strongly aristocratic. His features reminded Xiao of a perfectly carved sculpture. His eyes had a gentle slope to them and at their corner was a mole. Xiao Yan trembled in shock, rattled to his core.

"Easy......" Jane's favorite exclamation slipped from his lips and fell into a strangled whisper at the last syllable.

But this could not be Jane, he was only in his twenties!

"In another couple decades, Jane will look exactly as I do now. Are you hungry child?"

The man was elegantly polite and refined, his slow voice was soothing.

Xiao Yan shook his head as he had absolutely no appet.i.te.

"I have told Casey countless times to not use sedatives so casually. No matter how harmless they may seem, there are always side effects."

No wonder he couldn't stay awake! Casey had dosed him!

"So we are...at the bottom of the ocean?"

"That is not the question you should be asking. What you really want to ask is, 'who is this man in front of me?'" The man's smile was wide and inviting, running in complete opposition to Jane's arrogant charm. Behind his wide grin lay something darkly unsettling.

"Well who are you?"

*********Jane's Little Mermaid...Not quite the way I remember the story.... Ah. I loved Heine tearing into Clair!!!

Btw---

Here is the go fund me site: gf.me/u/kavdtc

I read the go fund me page that my rm set up for me....It was very sweet, aaaand a bit embarra.s.sing...I see myself as a rather useless person (let's not forget how the computer met its demise in the first place) and I definitely would not call myself or actions selfless-- It is family after all. Not to mention, it was my grandma that started me reading from a very early age. She even reads this story. She loves it! She is pretty much the most awesome grandma one can have and I enjoy spending time with her.

I also noticed that someone had already donated. I can't even begin to describe how touched I am. Thank you so much! If you are able to donate (whatever the amount) I appreciate it. Either way, I will do my best to get this finished as timely as possible. I know that the delays are getting longer, and I am just as frustrated as you.

Regardless as to whether you are able to donate, support comes in many forms and it has been a pure pleasure to experience this story with all of you. I haven't been able to respond to the comments lately, but know that I go through them when I can and I love sharing the excitement with you. I have only ever known reading to be a lone pastime, I never expected a site like this, where so many people gather that love to read as much as I do....Especially this book. It is such a lovely story. I can't wait for everyone's reaction as the plot plays out, and the reaction when...well...you know.

--- Dea