2nd of July 2022
Objective: no current objective
Agent Aurora location: WSC HQ, Appalachian region, USA
“It’s your fault.”
“It’s your fault.”
“Dawn, it’s your fault!”
“It’s your fault! It’s your fault, do you hear me!”
Dawn abruptly opened her eyes, drenched in cold-sweat. She heard a quick repetition of beeps and looked on her side. She slammed her fist in the heart rate monitor, then sighed.
Dawn tried to sit in the bed and looked around. The, the infirmary… What happened…
“Ah, Dawn! You’re awake, finally!” A familiar voice said. Dawn turned her head and saw the nurse approach her.
“We thought you all died. Abby lost communication with you a week ago and—”
“A week? Has it been so long?” Dawn asked being perplexed. The nurse nodded.
“But luckily Arnaud could send an emergency signal via radio. You were locked up in a medieval ruin, in Eastern Switzerland, apparently a NWO base too…”
Dawn processed the information she received. One week? Switzerland? She looked at her arm and saw an IV drip attached to it.
“We brought you back here and eh…” The nurse looked down. “Your friend told us, you got injected… with 12B.”
“We did a full bio-scan of you and found unknown particles in your brain, caused by the injection, as described in the documents Arnaud could bring back with him…” The nurse looked on her notepad. “We also saw the reports of the, the countless ‘suicides’ it caused. But you, you seem, to, resist?”
The nurse walked to the other side of the bed and looked away. “Your friend also told us, you had some, unusual behaviours. You talked about voices? And got a random panic attack? Do you remember?”
Dawn stayed silent. The images flashed back through her head.
“The documents said, the side effects the NWO scientists confirmed, were panic attacks, hallucinations, anxiety… You did, experience them, right?”
Dawn looked a bit unsure. She looked at her hands and sighed. “I did… Guess I’ll have to live with it…”
“We already planned a session with a psychologist, miss Po, she’s a nice person. It will help, trust me… And our scientists are already working on finding a cure, or to at least stop the side effects.”
Dawn slowly looked up. “I’m not good, with, confessing stuff to unknown people… Last time I tried, and I did, it ended, horribly…”
The nurse gulped and looked around a bit. She sighed a bit and sat on the bed. “Well I, wanted to become a psychologist… I did two years of it, but got expelled, for distributing quoting, ‘anti-Chinese propaganda’. I fled to the US after…”
Dawn was surprised to hear the nurse’s story. She tilted her head a bit. “And eh, how did you join, the WSC?”
The nurse glared at Dawn and smiled. “Let’s just say, I was there at the right moment… I had helped an operator with his wounds. His superiors contacted me, and you know the rest…”
Dawn nodded, silently looking away, then back at the nurse with wider eyes. Like she realised something.
“How is Arnaud’s hand?”
The nurse now looked to Dawn’s side. “His finger bone got hurt badly, and the area around. We had to install a prosthetic thumb…”
“This is your fault!”
“What?” Dawn reacted, disproportionally. The nurse frowned.
“Are you alright, Dawn?”
“Y-yeah… Gotta check on him now!” Dawn wanted to leave the bed, but the nurse stopped her.
“Dawn! You still need rest! Please stay until I allow you to leave, okay? I’ll be in the other room if you need me,” the nurse stood up and left.
Dawn looked at the exit door and waited for some moments. She then ripped out the drip of her arm, making it stitch, and sneaked out into main hall.
Everyone’s looking bizarrely at me today… Not used to people coming back from the death? Buhh…
Dawn continued to walk in the direction of the quarters.
Wonder if Lea and Joe are back already, and how Abby is d—
“Dawn!” A voice said. The girl turned around and saw the nurse again.
“Ugh, should’ve known I can’t force you to stay… I brought you some pills against the hallucinations and panic attacks. Three per day before the meals,” the nurse explained.
“Too bad my breakfast is just coffee…” Dawn mumbled ironically. The nurse grinned and placed her hand on Dawn’s shoulder.
“You are free to go, but promise me to seek help if you don’t feel okay.”
Dawn nodded and wanted to turn around.
“And perhaps you’d want to put on some clothes. Your back is… Let’s say your patient gown isn’t, closed…”
Dawn gulped and placed her hands behind her. The nurse smiled.
After going back to the infirmary to put on her WSC fatigues, Dawn was back on her way to the quarters, simply walking.
“You think you defeated me? I will haunt you for the rest of your life!” A voice, similar to Isermann’s said to Dawn.
“Where?” Dawn looked in all directions, spinning around, until she accidentally bumped into somebody.
“God dang! Just back from the dead and already seeking risks!” Sergeant Flynn mumbled. Dawn grinned and greeted him, quickly forgetting of her other hallucination.
“Welcome back Aurora, I heard your mission ended well, one week too late…”
“We had some, unannounced problems… How did the mission in Aceh go?”
Flynn looked to his side. “Could evacuate parts of our personnel, but not everyone was lucky… Region is now under NWO control, bastards! Became kinda an international scandal!”
“How are, Lenora and Josef?”
“Don’t worry, they are fine, haha! Under my command, what did you think? They did a good job, and probably saved a lot of lifes!”
Dawn had a little smile from hearing that.
“Now, gotta go assist to another boring meeting. To the next time, Aurora…” And Flynn walked away. Dawn resumed her walk.
She finally arrived at the quarters. Dawn took a deep breath and entered it. As she appeared, her friends looked.
“Dawn!” Abby, Lenora and Josef said in unison. Lenora ran for a hug immediately. This time, Dawn let go as her two other friends joined in.
After some moments they released the grip. “I’m so happy to see you’re alive!” Lenora added.
“We really thought you, ugh! One week. One week, Dawn!” Abby complained comically.
Dawn looked with a modest, but sincere smile. She scratched her neck.
“I’m, glad you guys made it too… Is Arnaud here? I gotta speak to him.”
“It’s terrible! His t—”
“I know for his thumb… That’s, why I must see him…”
Abby looked down, but smiled after. “He’s in the training room. He wanted some alone time he said.”
Never thought I’d hear that about him… Dawn thought.
Dawn looked at her watch. “See you back at supper. Still have some, stuff to announce…”
And she left, leaving her friends and their growing curiosity behind.
Dawn ran quickly to the training room. She stood in the opening and saw Arnaud punching a box sack. She slowly approached him, but Arnaud noticed her in his eye-corner, and turned around. He smiled.
“Hey ehm…” Dawn looked to her feet. Ahh, not now, be better! And she looked back up.
“I, caused the mission to fail. We could’ve killed them immediately, but no, I was being myself… Complete trash… It’s my fault you got captured, it’s my fault for almost killing you… It’s my fault for your…” Dawn vaguely pointed at Arnaud’s hand. She sighed. Arnaud was still listening.
“But you saved my life… Twice! After I treated you, dreadfully…” Dawn sighed again, “I’m over it now. I, apologise… for everything… I owe you one.”
Arnaud smiled gladly. “Well, no problem… It’s part of my job, to help each other… Your sincerity touches me, really.”
Dawn showed a quick grin. She looked back at his prosthetic thumb. “What will be your excuse?”
“Stuck between a door,” Arnaud said while moving it up and down. Dawn frowned. “Hey, you should see the doors in Paris. They are quite heavy and can easily cut your finger of!”
Dawn grinned a bit. Arnaud too. She looked back up.
“No, but, again… I owe you one. Quid pro quo. Ask me, anything, in exchange…”
Arnaud tilted his head and started thinking. Dawn stood there awkwardly.
“Perhaps… Punishment for all the suffering you caused!!”
“What?” Dawn looked around, then realised. One of the voices again… Stay cool now… Just breath…
“Is asking to be friends too much?” Arnaud repeated himself. Dawn’s attention was still elsewhere.
Arnaud’s face turned in a worried one. He approached his colleague.
“Dawn…” Arnaud grabbed her hands. Dawn snapped out of her trance and looked at them, then at Arnaud.
“Eh, no. No, it’s alright… Thought you’d never— I mean, after how I was and— Ugh, nothing…” Dawn looked away and let her hands slide away.
“I’m still worried for you… Your hallucinations, are real.”
“It’s worried about, in English… You’re translating it literally…”
“So, you do know some French?”
“Had it back in school. Grandpa teaches me about it, from time to time…” Arnaud looked happily surprised, but then shook his head and his face went back to worried. Dawn noticed.
“Gr-great to hear, that you, after I— You’re trying to switch subjects! Dawn, you need psychological help for 12B! Who knows what will, arrive soon!”
“I’m armed with strong will.”
“Please no jokes now! Dawn, I don’t want you to, to, suicide yourself!”
Dawn was silent for a moment. Arnaud covered his mouth and looked away.
“Got pills from the nurse, a rendezvous with miss Po, the psychologist, and I heard they were working on finding a cure…” Dawn explained. Arnaud still didn’t look her in the face. His eyes became wet.
“A-are you crying?” Arnaud didn’t respond. Dawn scratched the back of her head. “B-but you didn’t get injected with it! You don’t have to cry.”
“D-Dawn, I cry, because… because of you! In a, good way! You’re being so much kinder, that it’s impacting hard! And, I just don’t want you to die!”
Dawn felt a bit uncomfortable. She didn’t expect any of this. Her hand moved up to Arnaud’s shoulder.
“I’m not gonna die without giving myself permission to! And I want to live!” Arnaud wiped a tear.
“You don’t want to die?” Dawn gulped and took a step back. Arnaud looked confused.
Wait, what did he just say? No, impossible! No! Dawn, that was a hallucination again! Now you kinda fucked up the situation! Ahh…
“You promise it?” Arnaud repeated. Dawn felt relief and even grinned.
“Of course I do,” Dawn replied, looking on her watch. Arnaud approached and gave Dawn a hug.
“Eh, you should wipe your tears… Almost supper time, with the rest…” Dawn mumbled, stiffening slightly, but not as much as before. Guess I’m getting used to involuntary hugs, or all hugs…
Arnaud broke the grip. “We are here too if you want to talk. The rest and I…”
Dawn slowly nodded. She stretched her arm towards the exit, and the two colleagues now friends walked out.
The whole younger generation sat at a table in the cafeteria after getting their meals. Dawn had also taken a pill the nurse gave her. Worth testing if it helps… She took a seat too and everyone started talking. Abby sat to her right in her wheelchair, Arnaud in front of her and Lenora to her left.
“Wow, this is difficult to eat with!” Arnaud commented about his thumb. He was struggling to hold his fork. The rest laughed, except for Dawn.
“It’s all your fault!” She heard, but shook her head.
“So tell us, Dawn. How do you feel, with that 12B stuff in you?” Abby asked. Everyone looked at the moody girl.
“Oh. Well, they say it’s used for ‘increased cognition’…”
“That sounds really cool actually!” Josef commented.
“Yeah, like seeing things normal humans can’t!” Lenora added.
“Oh, but Dawn’s already that haha!” Abby continued.
Dawn was turning her mashed potatoes upside down. Abb, Lea and Joe don’t really realise the gravity of my problem. Only, Monsieur Arnaud is aware of the severity… Gonna minimise it for the rest… Ain’t happening I’ll talk about it with them…
“But like, what did you see, or feel? Dawn?” Abby asked. Dawn snapped out of her trance.
“I, I had it twice that… When in danger, there’s a loud beep in my ears. Then, my vision turns colourless, but some things glow white… No, not only when in danger! The door! The door opening was white too!” Dawn mumbled, mostly to herself. Only half of what she understood translated to words. Everyone looked a bit confused.
“Agent Aurora?” A voice said behind the group. Dawn turned around and saw Samur standing there. He smiled when the eye-contact hit.
“Mister Samur…” Dawn replied, standing up to greet him.
“Could we, talk for a moment?” Samur turned around and Dawn followed him. The went to the hall.
“I felicitate you for completing the mission, and coming back to life. We thought you had died…”
“I finish the things I started…” Samur grinned. They continued walking across the halls.
“But it came at a cost… 12B roams in your body, and we have still a severe lack of knowledge about it.”
“Besides me, you won’t need knowledge for it… Isermann told me his project was gonna lose financial support, after all the failed tests. His project died with him…”
“But lives on in you… We have already established a list of side effects you probably already know and, experienced…” Dawn nodded. “We do still need to discover why you have, much, much milder symptoms. You don’t have, suicidal urges?”
“Never had. Now isn’t different…” Samur grinned.
“Good. Ehem, the documents your colleague brought also explained the desirable effects 12B must produce. ‘Increased cognition’. It’s quite, vague… Could you tell me more about it, out of curiosity?”
“Well, I had it twice already. It starts with a loud beep in my ears, then my vision turns black and white. Everything is dark-coloured, except, some objects that turn bright white. One was a bucket, the other a door… I, think it is caused when I’m, in danger. But the second one I wasn’t really, thinking about it…”
“Hmm, unfortunately, their experiments didn’t conclude in anything similar to what you described. Our scientists are fully working on it now, to find a, durable way to stop the side effects, as this ability could be useful, if we understand it better… That’s also, something our scientists will work on.
“Perhaps it occurs at a random given time. Or maybe it is controllable, that you can activate it when you want…” Dawn shrugged.
“For the research I will be at full availability.”
“It’s good to hear, but for now, a blood sample with 12B particles will be enough to understand it better. One was already brought back with the evac team… At later stages, we will require brain scans…”
“Anything for science…”
“Good to hear! I will end with some good news now, you have deserved some rest. A heli will bring you home tonight where you can stay until we find more information about our next target, Yua Saitoro.”
“Thank you, mister…”
“We will send the psychologist, miss Po to your home. You have no, visit, coming tomorrow?”
“No planned ones. Spontaneous ones are always possible. But I’ll talk my way out of it…”
“I never doubted it!” Samur concluded. Dawn was silent too for a moment. She then lifted her finger, catching Samur’s attention again.
“Is eh Ar—, agent Eiffel, also going home?”
Samur raised an eyebrow. “All operators will get their rest. He deserves it too. He will go back to France, and we’ll call him back when needed. Why?”
“N-nothing, just asking…”
Samur left Dawn. She stood back in front of the cafeteria and saw her colleagues at her table. All happy, after they all went through some shit… But they were, happy, joyful, before… They didn’t change. I didn’t change either. I stayed, myself. I stayed, moody…
But I do believe, they changed, but don’t show it. That’s what I do… Dawn walked back towards them.
After the supper, all packed their bags in the quarters.
“We should do something for the 4th of July together!” Abby proposed.
“Yeah! Why not?” Josef added.
“Well, I’m not really American…” Lea mumbled kindly.
“Your father did come from Texas?” Josef asked.
“Yes, but he too, wasn’t quite, the typical Americano… He got the nationality back then, in the sixties…”
“And I’m not really related to anything Américain!” Arnaud added. The rest laughed.
“Woah, boooring! Hey, we’re all just humans. Just pretend it’s a normal ‘doing-something-together-thing’! See it as an ordinary friends reunion!” Abby explained.
Arnaud scratched the back of his head. “Well, I doubt the WSC is willing to fly me back over the Atlantic, just for a holiday…”
Abby was thinking and turned to Dawn with a mischievous smile. Dawn saw what was coming.
Abby, you swallow back what’s on the tip of your tongue!
Dawn, you know well enough I will say what I want to say right now.
You are going to embarrass us all, especially me!
I thought you were tough-skinned? And like, I’m giving you a little push in the back.
I don’t need any help! I don’t even know what you’re thinking about!
You know well enough what I’m talking, thinking about! Now face it!
Abby, no!
You’ll thank me later for it…
“Maybe if you just stay in the US, with someone else, we can get that celebration done.”
“Oh great idea! You can come with me if you want!” Josef proposed. Abby turned around and looked mad at him. Josef gulped.
“Ah eh, now that I think about it… A friend is eh, coming over then. No space…”
“Oh don’t worry,” Arnaud answered. Abby was relieved. “We just have to tighten up a little!”
Abby looked back and Josef with a ‘save-this-or-face-consequences’ face.
“Eh well, it’s, my girlfriend so…” Josef mumbled looking down. Dawn saw Lenora’s face change too. Knew it…
“Ahh, that’s no problem hehe, you can bring her over to that 4th of July party!” Arnaud replied positively. Josef didn’t reply.
Abby took back the attention. “Who I thought about was, Dawn. He can stay at your house, he already knows it after all!”
Dawn imagined herself ripping Abby apart, but just inhaled… and nodded. You little bastard, annoying that you are, but smart at playing your games… Can’t refuse him anything right now, after I impulsively, eh…
Arnaud smiled in surprise, even his mouth opened up a bit. “Y-you are serious? Not for, training? I-I-I’m not bothering or anything?”
Dawn death-stared Abby, who gave her a ‘no-need-to-thank-me’ smile. She turned to Arnaud and nodded again.
Dawn then turned back to Abby with a Machiavellian smile. Abby raised an eyebrow. “You know what, we can do this, party, at my place. There are trains to DC and buses. My home is easy to find!”
“Oh perfect, and we will do some preparations first, and you guys can bring stuff too! Amazing!” Arnaud exclaimed. Dawn looked at Abby victoriously. She sighed.
“Sounds great! I’ll certainly bring my part!” Josef exclaimed. He looked at Lenora. “Will you bring us a Mexican speciality?”
“Sure…” She modestly replied.
“You can come with me to Philadelphia, Lea. It will be less long for you, and we shouldn’t overcrowd Dawn’s house,” Abby proposed. Dawn rolled her eyes.
“That’s okay, thanks…” Lenora replied softly.
“Ah, now I will have a real taste of the American way of life!” Arnaud said, filling the silence.
Gotta secure the sector before it starts… Alex always comes without announcing… Ugh, hopefully he doesn’t want to celebrate the 4th with the group. That’s something to do with your family… Dawn thought. She felt a vibration in her pocket and took her phone.
“Hey everyone! My parents are out of town and left me behind. Wanna celebrate Independence Day together?” Alex texted.
Oh, the probabilities…
“Sure, mine wanted to go to the opera that day. I’ll be present!” Jane replied.
“Sounds good for me too!” Cole added. Dawn sighed and accidentally read the messages. Alex was typing.
“Hey Dawn! You want to join us too? It’s been a long time! Where have you been? You didn’t return this weekend?” Alex typed. Dawn gulped louder. Arnaud next to her noticed and looked on her phone.
“Ohh, you’re chatting with that Alex guy!”
“Who’s that Alex guy?!” Abby replied firmly, approaching Dawn in her wheelchair.
“Relax! It’s just a high-school friend and my neighbour…” Everyone stared at Dawn. She sighed. “Alex is getting suspicious. He asked me where I was all this time…”
“Well, just say you had to stay with your grandparents in Canada, and you forgot your phone at home…” Arnaud proposed. Dawn looked at him. Quite a decent excuse… Why does he remember my— never mind…
“He also asked me if I wanna join them for the 4th. They haven’t seen me since before the accident…”
Everyone was silent and clueless. Dawn subtly wrote Arnaud’s excuse, and her friends fell for it.
Arnaud was thinking. He suddenly snapped his fingers. Everyone looked up at him.
“I know the solution! You just invite them over!”
“Eh, with us present too?” Josef asked.
“Yeah! That Alex already saw me and thinks I’m Dawn’s cousin from Louisiana! You three must invent a persona too! That’s part of our job, right?”
Everyone started thinking about Arnaud’s idea.
There’s something with him today, not sure what… He acts more, intelligent…
“What role should we create then?” Abby asked.
“You are also students I met when I was in Paris.”
“Wait! You’ve been to Paris!?” Arnaud said out of astonishment.
“Doing an Erasmus there, and also a certain Operation Dis… Undercover…” Arnaud covered his mouth out of amazement. Dawn felt it was exaggerating.
“Like, all three of us? No offence, but they probably know your social skills, and then three Americans that you befriended so much they are willing to travel hundreds of miles to your home? A bit hard to believe…” Abby said. Dawn grinned.
“One of you can have that role and it’ll stay credible. The others will have to invent something else,” Dawn explained.
“She was in Paris! We might have crossed each other,” Arnaud said to himself, still astonished by the news. Dawn rolled her eyes and ignored him.
“Okay, we’ll think about other roles. Tell your friends it’s okay to come, but that you, ‘invited some other individuals’ over,” Abby ordered.
“Good, the mission is simple. Create a new personality, in depth, bring some food, and make it to my house. I’ll send the coordinates…”Dawn explained.
“Or just the address…” Abby replied. Dawn grinned.
For once, I’m being the social one…
ns 15.158.61.20da2
