Overcast skies threatened rain at any moment, and the thunder and forking lightning wasn't helping matters. The wind was coming in from the west, so it was warm, but heavy and humid. Ace Black's gait was lopsided as his uninjured arm carried a makeshift crutch to take the bulk of his weight rather than dragging his broken limb behind him in a much more difficult show of escape. He was bleeding freely from a new, open wound on his left arm, but was thanking whatever entity existed that he had managed to get out of the city before his entire arm had been ripped off. The sentries had caught wind of the radio signals he had given off when he had attempted to listen in on what his former colleagues had been speaking to one another about, hoping somehow to understand their current position and understand just how many small metal search dogs had been dispatched to search this particular area. He had discarded the betraying radio down an open sewer system that he heard had water rushing, and since it was still on it would distract them as long as it didn't catch on anything.

A low building had caught his attention soon after leaving the main highway, and he had hobbled that way, finding himself outside what appeared to be a very large, sprawling science facility that looked a bit like the one he had worked in and eventually escaped. He took shelter behind what looked to be a small greenhouse that no longer held any plants, and leaned against one of the steel supports, shrugging out of his heavy bag and discarding the makeshift crutch as he sat and silently groaned. If his throat would simply work, maybe he could speak his discomfort, but he'd been mute since he was ten years old. The scars on his neck were a constant reminder of just how he had come to be silent. He pulled his bag forward and unzipped it, removing a black box and flipping it open. A syringe was the first thing he brought out, followed by a small bottle of dark gray liquid. He half filled the syringe and removed the boot on his right foot, then the sock, and set the box down to retrieve a small pack, rip it open, and breathe in the smell of alcohol as he disinfected the skin and bit his tongue through the pain. It was just a fracture, but it would become worse if he didn't do something about it now. When the area was cleaned, Ace slid the needle into his ankle and winced as the cool, then immediately hot sensation as the bone began mending.

He didn't let it move as he pulled a small white bag out of his larger one, bringing out a wand-like soldering iron and shifted his injured arm, bringing it out of his shirt and pressing the end of the wand to the bottom of the injury in a test. It hissed, and Ace grimaced, setting it aside and pulling a small bottle of alcohol out of his pack, pouring a bit over his wound and digging his toes into the dirt as the sting burned through his arm. Then he stitched the skin together and breathed out as the pain lessened and he wrapped the injury, slid his sock and boot back on his foot, and stood on his previously uninjured leg, testing the repairs to his fractured bone. It was a bit stiff, but repaired, and he packed his bag, taking a drink from his bottle of water before stuffing it back into the pack, tossing it over his shoulder and threading his shirt back over his arm. Then he went to the front doors of the apparently abandoned science facility. It didn't look to have been abandoned long, however. When he worked the front doors open, they slid seamlessly into the walls, and a gust of cool air met him.

Brushing back his pale hair, Ace stepped inside and looked around. There was a map to the right, so he went to it and studied the floors.

A group of three soldiers sat in their Rover, waiting, watching. They had been staking out a facility for the last 8 hours and still no sign of life that they could detect. Obviously, they weren't at the front doors. It was one of the back entrances they were interested in. The Rover was comfortable and they knew that they were safe from land attacks while inside it. An airship or fighter drone would be a problem though. That was for another time and place. Sitting there in the dark, the figures checked their watches and looked at each other. A silent nod had the doors opening quietly.

They ran through the dark evening air, their white body suits not really meant for blending in so much as agility and flexibility. Black thigh boots and full length gloves were their only true armor. Everything was easily classified as light armor. Again, it was all they needed. Each had an omni device on their arms that allowed them certain abilities as was their skills. Right now that was definitely speed. An object inside was desperately needed.

Reaching the back door, they unlocked it and slipped inside. Stealthy, they moved through the familiar old hallways. Had it only been a month or two since they had last been here? It surely had been. Yet it seemed like yesterday. The familiar scents and sights brought back almost a longing. Almost. All three had worked here. Had defended the place from rogue nomadic raiders and competing companies. The civil war that tore the solar system apart reached down even at the city-state level.

Now they returned. To the one place they swore they wouldn't. One of the three paused. The other two turned to look at her in concern. She simply shook her head and motioned them on. She was the reason they were here. Their beloved employers had been secretly running tests on their security forces. Originally there had been five of them. The missing two had been particularly good fighters the longer they stayed at the facility. They had reached amazing standards. Then it was discovered that if they fought to a point that was well beyond most limits, something in them snapped. They would faint. Fall asleep. Slowly degenerate until their bodies ceased to work. It had happened so fast. Within a week, they had been dead.

That had happened a month or two ago. The facility had gone into chaos when the truth came out. That certain members had been infected. Not by nanobots, nanobytes, or even android technology. It was a true biological creation that they simply called The Virus. Now she had it. Had had it awhile but had not been in combat so there had been no way to observe changes. Fearing conflict and keeping her living a quiet life, her two comrades finally decided to return. There was a way, that should she reach that breaking point, to keep her alive. A special chamber rumor said would keep her body and mind alive, even if she should never wake up again.

Someday, if she should need it, they would be able to buy her time until they were able to cure her. For right now, simply getting the chamber was a must. They had an abandoned basement facility they used as a base of sorts. It was rigged with good security. They wanted to set it up there if at all possible. Reaching an intersection, they paused to listen. Beyond was the commons and cafeteria. Wide open spaces with little cover.

He memorized each floor with just a few glances over every nook and cranny, every little custodial room and every bathroom. Of course he had to go behind the abandoned front desk to retrieve a map of the basement areas, which were large and sprawling. Apparently they had guard drones that woke when someone got too near without proper clearance. Ugly little things that used laser grids to sweep the area in front of them and attack if they sensed something that wasn't supposed to be there. Ace paused, crouching and unclipping his gun from the side of his bag, slipping a belt out of the main compartment and threading it onto his waist. Then he untied a long hunting knife from the outside and threaded it on, followed by a holster for the gun, and brought out a small clip. It extended a small pane of glass which went over his right eye and gave the darkness a nice, visible glow so he didn't have to alert anyone---or anything---to his presence before he was ready. Besides, he was already overly cautious. He'd been on the run for a month now, and in that month had more or less mastered his weapons and body.

Passing a wall of glass, Ace paused and looked at himself. He looked... dirty. Covered in a small layer of dust. The left sleeve of his shirt was bloody and ripped. His hair was long on the right side but just barely half an inch on nearly half of his left. That was where they had shaved his head to do their own experiments. After he had refused to use a young woman that was apparently in a coma. It was odd how one small defiance had shown him the bad side of who he had been working for. They had him to develop the virus that was now inside him, a biological weapon, tested on various animals and when he had been told to use a young, comatose woman, Ace had refused. Odd to have morals when it came to humans but not animals. He gritted his teeth, punching a hold through the glass and moving on with deliberate, hard steps. He hated the organization, but more than that, he hated himself for giving them just what they'd wanted. And then letting himself be used as a test subject.

Coming to a new hallway, Ace froze and put a hand to his chest, pulling an agonized face and collapsing to his knees, working his other hand into his bag and pulling a filled syringe out of the outer pack and uncapping it, stabbing the needle into his chest and gasping as the sensation of constriction eased. Panting, he tossed the syringe into a corner and stood, shaking off the weakness and throwing the bag over his shoulder to continue on. He passed a plaque in front of a door that led to a narrow stairwell that had a series of numbers engraved on it.

153:74:06:21:883

Was that the only thing the stairwell led to? Perhaps it was an experiment in botany. He could use some kind of greenery after leaving that dying world.

Being in the system was always a plus. Their bio scans were recognized quickly and efficiently. Now that all stood in the old room, staring at the device. Brent suggested, "Let's use the medical bay drones. They can move this easily enough. Also, they wouldn't have the power to last the night. Not being charged for a month plus the heavy work they will be doing hauling this... once we get it to the Rover, it's a done deal."

Looking a bit concerned, Mel shook her head. "I don't think that is a good idea. We don't know what side programs or background software any of the drones might be running."

"That is why I suggested the medical drones."

Mel insisted, "Except it was the medical drones who infected Snow. Because of them, she is some sort of super soldier who could burn out and die."

"Hello," commented Snow drily, "I'm right here."

Brent turned to her, "What do you think Snow? How do we get this chamber out of here?"

With a sigh, Snow walked around it, running a hand over it. "Who says we have to leave? No one else is here. Brent is good at cracking security so he can always get through any doors or consoles that are locked. Mel is good at codes and programs so she can totally bypass what she needs to or even rewrite stuff. I say we are set."

They looked at her like she lost her mind. "What? At least consider it."

Brent turned to leave, "I'll go hide the Rover."

Mel followed him, "I'll break into security and see if there are any surprises that were left behind. Don't turn on any drones, not in the medical bay or in the garage or elsewhere until I have a chance to look them over."

Snow watched them leave. As soon as they were out of sight, she sighed and eased to the ground mentally willing her heart to slow. The adrenaline kicked in much too easy. Her body was wired for action even when there was no conflict to fight. She had to stay calm.

Why wasn’t he dying yet? Ace stared at himself in the black screen of a monitor he was gutting. He looked drawn, weaker than he actually was, thin. He wasn’t dying like they thought he would. The test animals had begun coughing up blood, sleeping excessively, self-harming, eventually refusing to sleep due to vivid nightmares. After a time they would begin growing feeble and weak, extreme vertigo keeping them on their stomachs or sides and refusing to move for food or water. Any attempts to force-feed them had resulted in them expelling the items. Ace hadn’t experienced any of the early signs of infection except the pale, grayish spiderweb-like pattern that was reaching down onto his forehead and the side of his face. That had been worrisome at first, especially as it began to spread, but now it seemed to be slowing down. Something was different---a wrong kind of different he hadn’t anticipated before---but there was no way he’d be able to get back to the facility. And this one looked... broken.

He’d found the monitors in a corner of the room he had entered, after disabling several small robotic scanners that resembled rosebuds on spider legs wandering about. He had done so quickly and efficiently but their parts weren’t compatible with his. He tore his eyes away from his reflection again and brushed his longer hair out of the way, going back to work on the control panel. Finally he found a red wire that looked to be about the same size as the frayed one in his communication tablet, obviously copper, and a fuse he needed for the fizzling one in his eyepiece.

Sitting beside what appeared to be a stasis console, but without anyone inside and asleep, Ace unlatched the back of his tablet and started rewiring it. He was shocked by one of the dual motherboards twice, and his silent curses went unheeded as he twisted the final ends and started replacing it. Slipping it into his bag, he took off the eyepiece and unscrewed the main earpiece, carefully removing the fragile, nearly burned-out fuse and tossing it to the dirty floor. As he screwed the new one in, he paused and listened as something shifted somewhere nearby. A noise... Possibly one of the scanner drones. Those little buggers were everywhere, it seemed, and while there was no one around to answer their call, they could swarm and become a real problem. Replacing the eyepiece and smiling at the way it illuminated everything so much better now, Ace stood and stretched, slipping his bag back onto his back and checking to make sure his gun was at his hip. Then he stepped out of the room, disappointed that he hadn’t found any botany experiments to take along with him. If he recalled correctly, there was a door with a number pad nearby, most likely locked. He liked challenges like that, hacking and picking his way through the inner workings of mechanical items, and had never failed one yet. Perhaps that was where the noise had come from.

Snow stood and began to pace the room. It was a good place to be in. Lots of experiments had at one time been prosperous down here. And some were still very much alive. She could see there were all kinds of things down here. No doubt in competition against the other companies. Or the raiders. Or most likely both. It was a very Darwinism world where everyone strived to be on top no matter the cost. Sadly, the cost had been very high for a good number of people.

Leaning over the surviving flowers, she inhaled the scent. It was an experiment she recognized. She had been friends with the researcher. The flower had calming effects. Feeling the adrenaline subside, she smiled and relaxed. Snow was going to have to learn how not to be a soldier. She couldn't afford this experiment on her to send her into a coma. At least she had a chance if she controlled her lifestyle and environment. Many others did not.

Suddenly feeling dizzy, she looked suspiciously at that flower. She had had whiffs of it in the past, but never directly inhaled it. Stumbling, she tried to walk away and ended up staggering against another counter. Darn it, she needed to be more careful. Her muscles were relaxing too much. At this rate, she was going to end up on the floor. Weakened arms struggled to help support her weight that her legs seemed suddenly unable to handle. How long were these effects going to last? Surely not more than a few minutes. Nothing could be worse than her two friends finding her like this after telling her to be careful.

He picked his way along the hall, peering into the doorways he passed and finding nothing of interest. Old computers covered in dust that normally wouldn't be allowed to settle when people were still working here. Pressing his hand against the sliding door that was closed tightly, he studied the number pad beside it. Using the multi-tool he had in his other hand, Ace unscrewed the panel and pulled it off, revealing the bare wires and a flat screen that was lying against the top of the wire nest. Pulling it forward he revealed it to be a thin computer with the number pad's data. Pulling a small pack out of his bag, Ace pulled the cord and inserted it into the side of the screen. It flickered and buzzed, and illuminated, making Ace blink and pull the eyepiece off, pocketing it and cycling through the codes. They changed every week, it seemed. Before the facility shut down the five-digit code was 22563. No doubt it would still be the same since there was no one around to change it. He pressed the code in and the door hesitated, shifting open a fraction of an inch and freezing. Ace wriggled his fingers into the space and pulled hard to the side, wedging it open and removing the cord from the data tablet. He pushed everything back into the bag and replaced his eyepiece, buckling the bag onto himself and keeping a hand near the gun at his belt.

Nothing jumped him immediately, but he could smell something different here. It was slightly fresher, and didn't have that oppressive, stuffy atmosphere. It wasn't like the dry desert-like world he and so many others lived in now, where only the privileged knew the beauty of plantlife and living nature. But that was here too. Botany. Experiments that somehow existed still, even in the dark, in the abandoned rooms that were so dark he had to use a lens to see via infrared reading. If only he could speak. He could communicate with anyone that might somehow still be here. But for the time he studied the surroundings. Flowers. He liked the smell, they let his mind stop buzzing uncomfortably.

What was that? He narrowed his eyes. Someone was indeed nearby. A reading of external disturbances gave him a heartbeat, but it was curiously slow, like someone that was asleep, or in a coma. But they were moving, somehow. He cursed his lack of voice, his inability to speak out his intentions---not to harm, but help if he could, or at least move by without a fight.

Hearing a door open, Snow could have groaned. One of her friends must be back already. This was embarrassing to say the least. She struggled to keep her eyes open as even her face started to relax. Darn plant. Working to explain what had happened, she managed to get out, "That plant... pink flowers... has... relax... effect..." It was all she could say. It took too much energy to say more. Then her eyes focused on the person by the door. It wasn't either of her friends. Shock filled her system and her eyes widened.

The adrenaline kicked in immediately, despite the plant. Now the virus in her body combated with the pollen of the plant. Her mind alert, she could monitor her body as it reacted to the perceived threat. Her hands gripped the chair that was by the desk she was leaning against. Her legs did the opposite, going out beneath her. Hand muscles still working, she pulled the chair down with her as her leg muscles completely slacked beneath her. It wasn't a comfortable landing.

"Uh!" Right, this wasn't good. Parts of her were ready to fight and parts of her were ready to sleep. How was this going to work. "Okay... what do you want?" Deep breathes. Maybe she could buy time until either she cleared the pollen from her system or until her friends arrived. She would go with either at this point. Looking closer at the stranger, Snow tried to analyze the strange man. Was he even a man? There was a lot of gadget looking stuff on him.

Ace froze and raised his hands, empty, when he heard a voice. Of course there was someone here, of course. Of course they were as paranoid as he was, of course. But she seemed... hurt? Was she hurt? No, she mentioned the pink flowers whose scents were calming the buzzing in Ace's brain. Perhaps they affected her at a greater manner? He shook his head, side-stepping, pulling his watch off his left wrist and typing a message into it: 'I want nothing from you. I only need to find something to help myself, then get out." He knelt, sliding the watch across the floor to the girl and backing away. This room was a control room. It would be able to return power to certain rooms of the facility. He found a chair and sat, moving to one of the larger monitors and its dusty keyboard and peering underneath the control panel. He kicked it and the loose front pane shuddered to the floor, and he slid underneath with a flashlight.

There were frayed wires, but they only needed to be reattached to where they were before, twisted into the right sockets. He needed to get some kind of power back to the facility. If nothing else, he could get some power to this room and only this room.

Reaching gingerly out, trying to direct the adrenaline to allow her fingers to work, Snow carefully picked up the device. It was a watch? Looking at it, she saw the message. "You can't talk huh." So he was in trouble of some sort as well. She didn't recognize him so he most likely hadn't been at this facility when it was in operation. A good thing. "What help are you looking for?" She struggled to get her feet under her and stood. Seeing what he was doing, she quickly added, "Hey careful, there might be hidden trojans in some of the programs. Got to make sure nothing is started up that shouldn't be."

Hands supporting her as she worked her way along counters and tables, Snow was extra careful to make sure she didn't touch anymore of the plants or other devices. This wasn't the way to start things. Reaching his side, she slid his watch carefully on the desktop towards him. Keeping her balance was rather hard, and getting harder now that the adrenaline was subsiding. Still, she kept alert. He was a stranger and an unknown factor. Nothing she wanted to tango with too closely.

"I have two other friends here. They are pretty talented in their own areas. They could probably give you a ... hand." Was he an android? Or perhaps he was never human and therefore an AI or something? The thought made her hesitant. Unknown factors weren't usually good. "What... happened to you?"

Ace backed away from the panel and shook his head. He took the watch back from her and erased the first message in lieu of another. "My name is Ace Black, I was once a scientist until my superiors turned on me. For the past month I have come to call the wastes home. Forgive my armed appearance but I have drones and blacklisters on my heels." He returned to the panel and undid a smaller one, flicking a switch. Something snapped, and motors began to hum. Ace smiled to himself. No trojans so far. The base program wouldn't want to release any data-corrupting viruses before it was up and running.

He sat up and returned to the chair, pressing the power button down for three seconds and releasing it. The monitor flickered on and Ace grinned at the strides he was taking, only then realizing that the girl had mentioned friends. Why hadn't he seen them...? That was a curious problem. Had they come in through the back entrance? He'd thought about doing so, but thought it might be too conspicuous. Shaking his head, he typed in the code necessary to reboot the mainframe. A jolt of power shot from the tower he'd rewired and something buzzed. Smiling lightly, he blinked as the lights began flickering on with simple typed commands. There seemed to be a huge amount of backup power and he could control what to revive directly from the panel. Turning in his chair, Ace removed the eyepiece from his eye and blinked at the young woman, offering a smile that he hoped was friendly.

She looked at the message, a sense of deja vu flashing through her. Letting out a small laugh, she turned away and looked for a chair. Finding one, she staggered towards it and grabbed onto it for balance. Pulling it with her, she carefully worked her way back towards Ace. Stumbling, she did a sort of controlled tumble into the chair. Sitting next to Ace, she watched as he worked. "My name is Snow. A nickname I earned a few winters ago."

Seeing the console come alive, she grinned. He was really good at this kind of stuff. She was more of a fighter, and clueless to all this stuff. "You are really good," she commented. They were similar, both had superiors turn on them. "I'm in a similar boat. I used to work here, me and my friends. We were on security. Something was tested on a few of us. I'm the last one remaining alive out of that." She gave him a long look. "Maybe we can both find answers here?"

*****

Brent had just got the Rover hidden. Slowly, he worked his way back towards the facility. Slipping quietly from shadow to shadow, he soon reached the wall. He was inching along towards the door when a whirl sound and a click came from behind. In horror, he realized he had tripped a trap. He didn't need to turn around to see the small tube that had risen from the ground or the small cylinder that had trained it's barrel on him. There wasn't time to react. In seconds he was dropping to the ground, a burned hole through his head.

*****

Mel walked down the halls quietly. He had found security and managed to get the doors unlocked so that none of them would trip automated defenses. He had also hacked through into the medical bay and disabled or deleted the trojan programs that had been hidden in the softwear. What he hadn't counted on was the room's own security. He had failed to notice that a countdown had begun. Not realizing until too late that he was supposed to enter yet another code, the room had let out a gaseous mixture.

Now he headed back towards Snow, knowing he was a dead man. Already his vision was blacking out and breathing becoming more and more difficult. Why so much secrecy? Reaching the door, he didn't notice the bypassed panel. He simply had one goal in mind and like an animal fought for that goal. Getting through the door, he staggered in. "Snow," he whispered, falling to his knees and then falling the rest of the way to the ground. Laying there, he breathed his last.

Ace shrugged off the idea that he'd find answers here. He doubted that was possible for him. For Snow, however, she might. He studied the monitors and gasped when a red warning began flashing on one. First, a trigger on the outside of the building near the back wall, then quickly after, another trigger somewhere down a nearby hallway. He jumped to his feet and pressed in the reset button, shaking his head as someone entered and spoke Snow's name amidst a death rattle. "No..." Ace signed to Snow, hoping she could somehow understand him---people didn't often take the time to learn sign language. "These traps must have had an automatic trigger, I only supplied power to the lights!" There were no viruses in the board, nothing that could have accidentally triggered any failsafe traps.

He stepped away from the computer and rolled the still man onto his back, checking for a pulse and bringing a blood reader out of his bag as he set it on the floor. He punctured the man's arm and withdrew several drops, shaking the scanner and standing, squinting at the read, then setting it on the table near him to look at Snow. He took the watch from her and typed in a more coherent message: "The scan reads a high level of teraforma gas, military grade. Do you know what they've done here...? I'm sorry.. for your friends..." Maybe he could find answers here. More weapons to help fight off the drones and blacklisters.

Trinity stared at the message in surprise, then looked back down at Mel. How could he be dead? And Ace said friends... did that mean that both of them were gone? But, that was impossible. They were so smart. Smarter than her. How did this happen? Turning a shocked face over at Ace, she tried to form the question resting in the fore front of her mind. "What happens to me now?" If she went into a coma, who could get her into the chamber until a solution was found? Who was left to make sure that she would be okay?

Looking back down at the watch, she read and reread what it said over and over. He had asked questions. He wanted answers. She could try to answer them. Gulping, she focused on just that. It was the easiest thing to do. "This company built this compound over a resource mine that is highly valuable and sought after. That way it couldn't be taken so easily from them. They were able to see it at high profit. They also used to to better arm themselves. A lot of the droids, defense systems, and weapons are made with the material. Even the solid form bullet casings. Some of the best armor is woven with finely crafted threads giving pretty awesome protection. My skin suit is made of it..." She paused and looked down.

Her outfit was nicely crafted, made for a super soldier. "Evidently that wasn't enough. They started messing with biological warfare techniques. I'm the outcome of a failed serum." Unable to even protect those who needed her all because she needed to keep her heart rate down. It sucked but no one said life wasn't fair. Handing him back the watch, she asked, "Is there some way I can be of service to you?" At least one person had compassion still in this upside down world. She would gladly give him her allegiance. Such people with character like that, willing to not be selfish all the time, was worth keeping around.

Ace didn't move or respond for a few minutes. If they were built over a mine, that meant they had plenty of crafted clothing and weapons, bullets as well, and canisters of the gas that had killed this friend of Snow's. But they wouldn't have much of anything to help Ace's predicament, the virus in his blood, working to turn him into... what? He wasn't sure what the virus did when it reached its final stage, he had had to run before he'd been able to see the final product's effects. And if he were reacting differently, that meant the product was either defective or worked differently in humans, and he was nothing more than a ticking time bomb, ready at any time for the virus inside him to click into place and start forcing him into unpredictable acts. He stood, dusted himself, and went to one of the monitors to bring up a blank word document.

"If you are with me, you are in danger. I'm sorry to tell you this but it's the truth and I'd rather you understand what you're getting into. They're after me as though I have the one and only secret to eternal youth and they're not stopping. But if you're willing to help me, I do need protection. I need to know if there is any way whoever worked here developed clothing out of this material they guarded, and whether there are any weapons I might be able to find for both of us if necessary."

He paused and looked back at Snow, blowing back his hair when it got into his eye. Then he turned back to the monitor. "I must add, however: The virus in my bloodstream is unpredictable at this point. If I begin to go... insane... I would want you to kill me. I developed it to strengthen the normal human body and mind, but if it causes mental strain or disability, I may inadvertently attack you without being able to put at stop to it. And I wouldn't want to harm you." He turned back to Snow with a grim expression. If he were to go insane, he didn't want to harm anyone. Especially not Snow, who had agreed to help him in any way.

She quietly read what he had typed. It was much easier to read on the monitor than the smaller watch. The picture he painted was bleak and lonely. Snow knew she had been incredibly lucky to have friends around her, sheltering her through a lot of what had come. Ace had not. He had to handle so much by himself. Now she would too in many ways. It was a grimace of a smile that she gave as she finished reading the rest of his note. Then she leaned on her more steady arms, hands planted on the edge of the counter, and looked down at the floor in quiet contemplation.

"I'm already in danger. Danger of a coma and possibly death. My life already is short because of that threat. So for myself, I have no concerns. That leaves the decision, ultimately, in your hands. My offer still stands and unless you tell me otherwise, I'll stick by you." Standing back up, she glanced at the plant that had sent her into almost a state of a doll. Maybe she could make a powder or serum to sniff or inject when her heart rate was too high. It was a thought she would consider.

Glancing at Ace, Snow gave him her friendliest grin, "Well, comrade, will you have me? This place does have about whatever you could want in the clothing and weapon department. Not sure about actual substance to digest though." She purposefully didn't answer him about killing him. That was something she would have to react to in the moment. Not something she could plan to do ahead of time. Snow wasn't sure she could explain that to him. Heck, if she managed to make something for the sleeping plant, she could just inject that into him too. They both might end up relying on it.

Ace stared at Snow for a while, then back at the monitors in his vision, and rested his head in his hands. She did have a point. And if the area was still stocked with the necessary weaponry and clothing, he would be able to make his run so much easier. He doubted, as well, that his own company would even know that the weapons and clothing still existed. He sighed silently, then started typing his reply quickly, mindful of spelling errors:

"I agree. I will accompany you. What I need to understand, however, is how to help you avoid a coma, or keep your heart under a normal rate so there is no risk of harm to you or to me. If I know the circumstances I will be able to create a serum that will be injected regularly to keep your body from deteriorating or falling into a coma. And considering you are a super soldier, it should handle your excessive levels of adrenaline." He paused and glanced backward. "I will be able to unlock all the doors from this main panel, do you know if there are any other dangers here in case of power outages or breaches?"

He didn't have to hack into the system to unlock the doors---they were manually handled from this control panel, which seemed to be under high security watch, so they didn't need codes. If he unlocked any code-locked doors, there could be a possible threat behind any one of those doors. He didn't want a fight on his hands so soon, and nothing that would waste his energy or ammunition.

Reading his reply was a relief to her. Snow had hoped he wouldn't push her away. Not when there was just no one else for her to turn to. His mindfulness of her own short-comings when he himself was very much in need of help also was noted and told her more about him than Ace could know. She would need to plan this out carefully to make sure they were both successful in the life outside these walls. For surely this place couldn't exist much longer. It doesn't take competing companies long to learn when a place is shut down and unmanned.

"Well, my condition is hard to understand. We were never able to figure it out. Basically whatever happened to me has positive and negative effects. On the positive side, I'm more alert and fast. I can shoot very accurately and sprint quickly. My hand-eye coordination is good and I don't tire fast. I don't need as much sleep and can get along with low rations and water. On the negative side, the more active I am with my body and mind, the more likely something is to trigger inside me. The previous ones who had what I have died. They first suddenly had delta brain waves instead of beta brain waves. Then their blood sugar levels dropped and they slipped into a coma. Once in a coma, even after their blood sugar levels returned to normal, they didn't wake up. After that, we aren't sure what happened. But their bodies seem to just shut down until even the brain didn't work. So for all the good being a super soldier does me, using those abilities will someday trigger a kill switch of sorts."

Rereading his message, she paused before continuing, "There are plenty of dangers. Lots of automatic shields and lasers on the outsides of the building. Some laser turrets inside, but most those are droids. And whatever you do, don't hook up to any equipment. Not even the medical. Seems that was how I was infected, and on purpose too. Everything you need personally, do it by hand."