Ronnie Cage's Story

Dr.Jamieson pulled Ronnie into the lab and barricaded the door behind them.

"We'll be safe in here for now, long enough to figure out a plan to get out of here anyway" he said as he walked through his lab, running his hand through his white hair. He was dressed in a dark blue suit, white dress shirt and tie, which was his customary attire to school.

Ronnie paced around the lab, hearing gunshots and smaller explosions, small arms ordinance, most likely grenades Ronnie figured. He wanted to get out there and help the students and other civillians who were scrambling for their lives. He knew his powers would come to good use some time...those thermal bursts that melted the concrete fence in his backyard would definitely give these guys something to think about. "Listen, I gotta get out there, I can help those people!" Ronnie blurted out.

"Mr.Cage, I'm well aware of your abilities, but it's in everyone's best interest that those men out there not know who you are" Dr.Jamieson said sitting down at his computer, pulling up a layout of the school's floor plan.

"Wait...what...how the hell do you know about my abilities? Nobody does" Ronnie said, for a few moments almost completely forgetting what was going on outside the doors.

"Dr.Kolzig, the surgeon who performed your operations in Germany is a good friend of mine. When they took samples of your blood he found something....something he couldn't quite explain. Not knowing whether he could trust the Americans, he sent it to me secretly to see if I could discover what it was..." Jamieson paused.

"And what you found was that it was nuclear radiation...everyone knew it was a nuke that went off" Ronnie replied.

"That explosion was 8 to 10 times bigger than Chernobyl Mr.Cage...if it was a nuclear blast at least a quarter of Pakistan would be un-inhabitable right now" he said as he continued working on his computer. "No, it was a much different weapon...a bomb yes...but the payload wasn't nuclear...it was a material known in the scientific community as XN-7109...or it's more common name, Xynex"

"Xynex...what the hell is that?" Cage said, intrigued now. He had wondered why, if it was a nuke, more Pakistani nationals weren't feeling radiation. He himself also didn't have any radiation either, granted the Army's scientist came up with a back story using words so long Ronnie could never hope to spell them, and eventually he, just like everyone, took the Army's story. Besides he was too busy doing talk shows and interviews to really think about it much.

"It was developed in a laboroatory in Europe. Scientists were looking to discover a new form of constant energy to solve Europe's slowly growing energy crisis. For many reasons that I won't bore you with now, it was never able to be utilized as a reliable energy source. Then a group of scientists commissioned by a group of countries known as the Coalition, which included the United States, Britain and China, went to work to see if it could be weaponized, not only in payload form...as you discovered in Pakistan, but also by injecting it into humans to create a so called Super Soldier. What they found was that, for some reason, certain people with the AB blood type were able to somehow assimilate the Xynex into their bloodstream. They found that some of the people carried a rare cytoplasm that somehow allowed the Xynex to be accepted by the body, and in turn the Xynex would power the body with these abilities. Which abilities people developed so far has been believed to be completely random" Jamieson said, still busy at his computer.

"That's a hell of a lot of information Doctor, seems to me you're not the only person interested in this Xynex stuff" Cage said, his head trying to take in all this new information, the gunshots and explosions outside a mere after-thought right now.

"You're right...since Xynex was known to have the ability to be weaponized, the United Nations has been very intent and putting in rules and regulations on the use of Xynex and trying to limit who has access to it. However about two years ago there was a batch of Xynex that was stolen from a safe storage house in Switzerland, the Coalition countries soon traced it to a terrorist group..."

"Al Quaeda has this shit???" Cage cut off the Doctor, himself making the connection to the event in Pakistan.

"It wasn't them that you were after Mr.Cage, it was a group known as the New Evoloution Project. You didn't need to know WHO you were after, just where they were and how many you needed to kill. Information on the NEP was rather guarded" Jamieson said continuing his story.

"But you've never done any Military consulting, you don't have Security clearance of any kind, so how the hell did you get all this information if it was so damn well guarded?" Ronnie asked

"Dr.Kolzig was one of the doctors the Coalition asked to work as a consultant and advisor on the project. The scientists that were hired grew suspicious of the governments and feared that with everyone being so secret, that they would have no accountability, nobody to pull them back if they went overboard. So each scientist chose one trusted confidant to relay the information to, as they were afraid the governments may just have them disappear after they were done their work. I was Dr.Kolzig's confidant" Jamieson said, laying out the rest of the story.

"So somebody's trusted confidant....wasn't so trustworthy huh?" Cage said as he started putting two and two together. "I mean if that group and their confidants were the only ones who knew about this stuff...then the list of people who'd know when and where to steal it from has to be pretty small"

"Precisely Mr.Cage, which is why all those scientists are probably still alive. The governments involved didn't know where the leak was and if they just got rid of everyone the fear was that all the information would get released and it'd destroy those administrations, testing weapons of mass destruction, testing on human beings...the entire project had Humans Rights' violations all over it, the Human Right's Commission would have had a hay day with them, and the United Nations" Jamieson said.

"Okay...so history lesson aside...what the hell are we going to do about the guys with guns shooting up the school" Cage said, turning his attention back to the subject at hand.

Jamieson turned the computer around. "Behind that far wall is a tunnel that leads out somewhere past the Lacrosse field. It was built during World War 2, now it had no use so they walled it off with a concrete wall....I'm thinking you might have a way to get through that wall" Jamieson said with a slight smirk.

Ronnie grinned, "yeah I think I just might know one or two ways through it" he said.

He walked to the wall, put his hands against it and focused his energy into the wall. His hands began to glow and soon the concrete wall broke apart and fell through, giving access to the abandoned tunnel, "not afraid to get that suit dirty are ya Doc?" he said as he led the way into the tunnel.

Ronnie and the Doctor began making their way through the tunnel, they were almost at the exit when they heard a loud bang come from down the tunnel, from the laboratory behind them.

"Guess we got company after all" Ronnie said, "Get to the field, I'll hang around to find out who it is, then I'll meet you there".

"There may be more than one" the Dr.Jamieson replied.

Ronnie looked down at his hands that were glowing again "Doc...it better damn well be more than one" he said with a slight grin. Dr.Jamieson smirked himself then made his way back down to the end of the tunnel and out into the field that lay behind the lacross field. Ronnie waited in the tunnel, he heard a young woman's voice calling out "Hello", then again "Somebody...". Ronnie remained quiet, this wouldn't be the first time some sick bastard tried using a woman to lure somebody into an ambush. He saw the young woman get closer, and then she dropped to the ground, there were no signs of anyone else in the tunnel so he figured she must be alone. Ronnie picked her up and carried her out of the tunnel and into the field where he met up with Dr.Jamieson.

"You know who this is?" Ronnie asked as he lay the young woman down on the ground.

"Yes, she's from the Biology lab if I'm not mistaken, she's been doing some interesting work, which is impressive considering...." Dr. Jamieson was cut off.

"Yes or no Doc, don't really got time for her life story here" Ronnie said as he was checking her vital signs, he noticed a gash on her arm.

"Well...yes...Dr.Robinson I believe is her name, Nina Robinson" Dr.Jamieson said, keeping his answer a bit shorter than before. "I'm afraid I'm no medical doctor, not sure if there's anything I can do about that cut she has" Jamieson offered.

"Don't worry Doc...got ya covered there" Ronnie said. He placed his hand over the woman's arm where the cut was, he focused on the cut as his hand began glowing, when he pulled his hand away the cut was completely gone. He looked over at Dr.Jamieson who looked intrigued and shocked. "I've been doing a bit of field research of my own Doc" Ronnie said with a grin.

Ronnie was knelt beside the woman holding her hand as he noticed her slowly begin to come to her senses. "Don't worry, you're safe" he said as she began waking up. As he was holding her hand he felt something, like a surge or energy of some sorth shoot through his arm, the words "who are you" hit his brain, he knew they came from the woman but she didn't speak a word yet. Ronnie immediately ripped his arm away jumping to his feet.

"You said she was a doctor!" he snapped at Jamieson, suddenly much more cautious of the woman. As far as he ever had known, he was the only one with abilities or powers...but what he just felt defintiely wasn't normal.

"She is...Mr.Cage, what happened?" a slightly confused Jamieson asked as he saw Ronnie's demeanour change rather quickly.

"I felt...something....hell I don't know what it was, but it sure as hell wasn't normal" Ronnie said, still wary of the woman "it was like she was trying to talk to me through my mind or something".

"Mr.Cage do you think it's entirely outside of reason to think that somebody else may have powers as well?" Jamieson asked.

"Here...in Chicago? Hell I got mine getting blown up on a mountain in the middle of fucking nowhere in Pakistan...where would some doctor from Carl University have ever gotten those type of abilities?" Ronnie asked, still unsure of what was going on.

"Well Xynex is the only element known to have such a result, so she must have come into contact with it somewhere along the way" Jamieson reasoned.

"No shit...I got that much. What if she's one of them, working with them, maybe the New Evoloution Project got it right...and have their own Super Soldiers" Ronnie countered, still unsure of the situation.

"The Coalition countries all conducted experiments regarding Xynex, and some of them were used on human test subjects. You don't have to be exposed to it through an explosion, the governments were experimenting with controlled injections. It doesn't mean she's working along side the terrorists" Jamieson said.

As Jamieson was talking the young woman sat up. "Who are you and what the hell were you trying to do to me?" Ronnie asked her, keeping his distance till he was sure she was safe.

Nina's eyes opened slowly. She felt a hand in hers. Her vision cleared and she was looking at a man. She had no idea who he was. She felt a pulse. She could feel something. It was him.
She felt him. Her consciousness returned to her fully then. She knew skin to skin contact that she would be able to feel the thoughts and feelings of another person through touch. He must have felt it too as he pulled away from her and was instantly on guard. She blinked as his and another other man's voice bounced around her head. She covered her ears with her hands as her head throbbed. They spoke to each other but she could only hear a few words.
Xynex. New Evolution. Terrorist.

Nina sat up slowly as she looked to the men. The younger one looked at her and she dropped her hands slowly though her head hurt so bad. "N-Nina. Nina Robinson. Biochemical Research and -Ah, Development." She said, wincing. "I wasn't trying anything. I swear." She said softly and she looked at her arm. She blinked. She saw that her arm was completely healed. Her eyes were wide and she looked at the man again. "You...You're...The solider from the explosion in Pakistan, aren't you?" She'd heard about him. Everyone did. She looked down at the ground. Her hands gripped the grass. He'd gotten press from surviving the blast. All she got was burns and PTSD. She looked up at them. "I was on a research expedition in Pakistan. My team and I were attacked." She didn't know why she was saying all this but her instincts were telling her that she could trust him. "We were taken by Terrorist. There was an explosion. They....were..." She stopped sobbing some. "I got away but they did something...I was different. I can feel things. Emotions. It's stronger through touch." She explained, wiping her tears, smearing soot and dirt on her face. "I'm sorry." she said, her voice a mere whisper.

Ronnie listened to the young woman tell her story, they never did have solid intel on what was inside the cave hideout, and given the magnitude of the blast, Ronnie never thought to bother to examine further...not that there was much left to look through. "You were there? How'd you get out...the cave completely collapsed" he said, still in shock that there was another survivor from the mountain. He then shook his head "you know what...never mind....we'll talk about that when there aren't crazed lunatics with guns running around. That bang we heard, that was the lab door getting busted through...did you do that?" he asked, listening to her story of what happened in the hallway, and how her body was reacting.

Ronnie grinned, "yeah...I know how that feels" he said, thinking back to when he first discovered his abilities. "Listen, it's like walking or riding a bike. Start out small ya know...like....I dunno, whatever that is for you. For me it just meant stopping my hands from setting things on fire. Once you learn to control it...that's when the fun stuff begins" he said with a smirk. "I dunno know if this will work...but for me I kinda focused on a start and stop switch...picturing the switch turning off when I didn't want things...ya know....heating up and melting....and picturing it turning on when I wanted to use it. I dunno, kinda worked for me" Ronnie said.

"It's like a muscle...it needs to be exercised and developed. Take babies for instance, when they are newborns they have very weak neck muscles...so their heads tend to flop to whichever side the weight shifts to. But, as they get older, the muscles strengthen and so on." Dr.Jamieson added.

"Hey this is all great, but there's a bunch of guys with guns rampaging through the city...and right now it looks like I'm the only one who's able to stop them" Ronnie said, the soudns of gunfire echoing through the sky.

"No Mr.Cage, now is not the time, they don't know about you yet...if we can keep you a secret a bit longer it may be to everyone's advantage. We have no idea how many there are, what their goal is...." Jamieson said trying to reason with Ronnie but he was cut off.

"Right now it looks like their goal is to kill people. Besides Doc...a blast that nearly levelled a mountain didn't kill me, by comparison these guys guns ain't going to do nothing to me" Ronnie countered back.

"We need to get somewhere safe...and right now Dr.Robinson is in no condition to help as she barely has any control over her abilities yet. If we're attacked...who's going to stop them from killing me, and taking Dr.Robinson" Jamieson begged some more.

Ronnie thought about it. Before he was some genetics freak he was a Ranger, and that part of him was still intact, it's what made him want to take off towards the nearest gunfire, knowing innocent civillians, Americans, were being ruthlessly gunned down....he had to do something. But Jamieson had a point, between the three of them he was the best suited to fend off any attack. He had to make his decision and he had to make it pretty quick. "Listen...find something to hide under....if her body on auto-pilot threw one of those bastards through a barricaded door...I'm pretty sure you'll be just fine beside her....besides, I shouldn't be too long...the way these idiots are running around, all grouped together...they won't have a clue what hit em".

And with that Ronnie was gone, rushing back towards the campus.

"Come Dr.Robinson, we should try to find somewhere a bit safer to hide out, they may not be bright but I'm sure these men will be able to spot two civillians standing out in the open" Dr. Jamieson said as he walked with Dr.Robinson, be careful not to touch her. "You know Dr. Robinson, I have a bit of information myself on...well...your condition shall we say. With your area of expertise in Biochemical Research, and my background in Genetics...I'm sure we could come up with a structure of how this ability works within the body...it's characteristics and rules...it could help us better understand how to control and master these abilities, perhaps even enchance them" he said as the two of them walked, he listened silently, walking along as she replied.

Ronnie ran towards the courtyard where he heard a large amount of gunfire coming from. There were students and civilians trying to scramble for shelter as the gunmen were opening fire, some others already had captives and were apparently taking some sort of reading from them. It seemed if they got a reading they didn't like they would just execute the captive on the spot, otherwise people were getting dragged away somewhere. "I need to get these assholes focused on me instead of civilians" Ronnie said to himself. "This is probably a bad idea" he thought to himself as he ran to the middle of the courtyard.

Ronnie grabbed the first gunman he found and took him down quickly, using his military hand-to-hand combat training first...wanting to lure as many as possible to him before he pulled out the "big guns". Soon several other terrorists converged on him, these guys must be simple thugs Ronnie thought to himself as these guys were pretty quick to take down. However, his plan was working as more of the gunmen began converging as they saw their guys dropping to the ground left and right.

Ronnie felt a few bullets hit him in the chest and back, his body naturally regenerating. These guys were used to picking on people who had no clue they had powers or could have powers....now they were dealing with somebody who knew very well how to use his powers. Ronnie started clenching his fists and his muscles, his fists, his arms, all began to glow red...at this point the gunmen knew something was wrong but it was too late for them. Ronnie let out a scream as the energy flashed off, unleashing the energy from his body, the energy ripping through the air in a miniature explosion...the entire group of gunmen around him within 100 yards all flew backwards, the guys closest to him bouncing off the walls of the school building, being launched so far. Immediately following the explosion there was silence....any gunmen who were around no longer felt as strong and confident as they had moments earlier.

---------

Dr. Jamieson sat with Dr.Robinson, somewhat hidden in the field they were sitting in when they heard a large boom echoing off the surrounding buildings. Dr. Jamieson shook his head a little "I suppose there is no hiding it now" he said as following the blast there was silence.

Nina jumped at the sound of the explosion. "God, not again." She whimpered, clapping her hands over her ears. She wished all this would go away. She wanted it all to stop but it wouldn't.
There was so much fear. So much pain. She wasn't even sure which were hers.

There was irony in that. She'd gone from a person who'd shut herself off from the world to someone who was so in touch that she could feel the emotions of others. It was almost funny.

Yep, Hilarious... Her own voice chimed from her mind.

Nina wasn't one for sarcasm so this was new. She didn't have time to think on it as Ronnie appeared. She took a breath that she didn't know she was holding. She looked him over. There was blood on him. She knew -somehow- it was his yet he seemed perfectly fine. "Mr. Cage?" She breathed but her body stiffened. Her senses on high alert. "Stop." She said, her body not really her own again. "To you're left. A man with a knife." She said and sure enough. A man with a knife came lunging at him. Ronnie made short work of him and Nina clutched her head. Dr. Jamison pointed out that her nose was bleeding. Nina touched two fingers to her nose and saw blood on her hands. Her head spun.

You used too much, Moron...Her voice huffed.

"Too...Much...?"

"Did I stutter? Too Much. By the way. You're going down again."
With that Nina's went limp again.

"God, It seriously sucks to be you..." Was thing she heard.

Dr.Jamieson and Ronnie knew they had to get out of the area, even though the gunfire had seemingly started dying down around the city, they knew it was un-safe. Ronnie picked up Dr.Robinson and carried her a short distance to Dr.Jamieson's condo, they put her in the guest bedroom. Ronnie walked back into the living room where Dr.Jamieson was sitting on a recliner, watching the TV as it was depicting the news from the day. Footage of civilians being rounded up, and either taken captive or out-right executed in the streets. Chicago Police had fought back with everything they had, but the element of surprise had hurt their ability to respond, and the terrorists had shocking numbers on their side as well. As Ronnie watched the footage, it looked more like a planned invasion then some singular act of terrorism, they way they were acting, the way they were arranging vehicles etc. on the outskirts of the city to block off any exit or entrance to or from Chicago...they wanted to control the city.

"This makes no sense at all, how the hell does a group of terrorists just walk into a major American city and take it over like it's nothing...why the hell hasn't the military taken action, hell even National Guard could have given these guys a fight" Ronnie said, watching in frustration.

"Perhaps there is more to the story than we know Mr.Cage?" Dr.Jamieson said, seeming a bit more calm than Ronnie was at the moment.

"What's there to know? An American city is being attacked, that's enough for me. Hell...drop three or four Airbourne Ranger platoons into the city...these assholes wouldn't know what the hell hit em" Ronnie said, the anger rising up inside of him.

"Mr.Cage, perhaps you need to relax...take a shower and rest. There's no use in trying to start a fight if you don't know who you're fighting or what it is that they want. I'll do some checking and see if I can't find something" Dr.Jamieson said.

"Yeah....maybe you're right....thanks Doc" Ronnie said. Dr.Jamieson instructed him to where the guest bathroom was, he got some spare towels and shortly after stepped into the shower. The water did calm him a bit, but there was still the anger that was burning inside of him....whoever these guys were, they were going to pay....he was going to make sure he killed as many as possible.

Nina sat up slowly. She looked around to find she was in a nice looking bedroom. She didn't know how she got here but something told her she was safe. She noticed the pain her head had subsided as she searched for her glasses. She looked around and found them on a nightstand beside her bed. She stood up and sighed. It was so hot, she needed to get some water on her face. She found a door that looked like a bathroom and reached for handle.

"Ah ah. GI Joe's in there.

Her voice called to her and sure enough the door opened and her eyes widened as Mr. Cage looked her dead in the face. Nina's face turned bright red and she spun on a heel. Whether he was fully dressed or not, she didn't know but she didn't look long.

"I-I'm so sorry... I...Um." She stammered.

"Would you stop babbling like an idiot and move out of the way. Her voice snapped. Nina moved out of the way.
"S-sorry." She said.
"He knows that..." Her voice said dryly. Nina didn't know what to do then but scurry off into the hallway.
"Other way..."
Nina turned quickly and made her way down the hall the other way.

Ronnie had been getting out of the shower when Nina walked into the bathroom, he saw the woman's face turn red as she spun around, stammering that she was sorry then heading out the door quickly. Ronnie could tell it seemed like something else was going on with the doctor as well, as if she seemed distracted or something.

Ronnie got changed and walked back into the living room where Dr. Jamieson was sitting, still watching the various news stories about the happenings in Chicago. Due to the fact that the terrorists had pretty much seemingly sealed off Chicago, there seemed to be sparse reports, and the reports that did filter through didn't seem to have a lot of information."I still don't get why the army hasn't stepped in yet, they have protocol in place, Spec Ops has been training a response team for a crisis like this for years, I don't get what the issue is" Ronnie said, obviously frustrated. "Maybe they just need somebody to get the ball rolling" Ronnie said, already thinking of the different ways he could try and begin to help out. "They seem to be split up between these three locations, the Sears Tower, Solider Field and the United Center. My guess is Sears Tower is what they're using as their command center, with all those trucks right there I'm guessing United Center is where all the prisoners are being held...and then see...there's a whole bunch at the stadium there as well, maybe acting as some sort of temporary barracks or something" Ronnie said watching the different clips of video footage taken from passing planes and helicopters.

"Mr.Cage, it would seem to me that right now, engaging in any altercation with these men would be ill-advised. I mean you are a very incredible man....but you're still only one man....numbers would eventually catch up to you. Yes you can re-generate yourself, but even at the rapid rate your body regenerates it doesn't mean you're invinceable...if you sustained enough continual damage your body eventually would not be able to keep up, and eventually it would become fatal" Dr. Jamieson stated in a calm manner.

"Doc, when I joined the army I volunteered to give my life for my country and for the people of this country, if it came to that and it's a vow I still hold. If it's going to take me making that sacrifice to stop these guys, then so be it. Better one less freak in the world then losing hundreds or even thousands of innocent people" Ronnie said, still seeing red.

"But you aren't...a freak...as you put it. You are an incredible specimen, you could hold the key to untold advances in human technology, you have the ability to re-generate. Imagine if scientists could determine why and how your body is able to do that, we could apply that new found information to soldiers, police officers, cancer patients, what scientists could learn from your DNA could save millions. Imagine never losing another soldier in combat? Imagine what that would do globally, if no army could lose soldiers, it could lead to the end of wars as we know them...what would be the point if it would just result in a stalemate?" Dr. Jamieson's voice elevated as he seemed to be getting excited at the possibilities he mentioned.

"So you want me to become some sort of lab rat? Getting poked and prodded, kept in a cage with some spinning wheel? Putting me under a microscope to see if I choose the cheese or the electric shock? No fucking way!" Ronnie snapped.

"Not at all Mr. Cage, simply a handful of blood samples could tell us an untold amount more about the human body and it's ability to evolve. You wouldn't be some lab rat...one time giving blood samples and that'd be all we need, perhaps somewhere down the road do a skin swab for skin cells, but that would be it, no tests needed, no poking or prodding...it could change the world as we know it Mr.Cage" Jamieson implored.

Ronnie looked at Jamieson, "Did you say 'we'?" he said, turning towards the doctor. "Is this why you saved me...so you could preserve me as your little experiment, maybe I'm your key to some fucking Nobel Prize or something is that it?" Ronnie asked angrily. He then looked outside, seeing the carnage left behind by the terrorists on the streets outside, then looked back at Jamieson. "This has to be the only building in the entire block that terrorists never entered...you keep saying 'We', and talking me out of going out to fight these guys...what the fuck is the deal Jamieson?" Ronnie asked.

Jamieson looked away for a moment, clearly uncomfortable, shifting in his chair for a moment before looking back at Ronnie with an annoyed look on his face, as if somebody had just discovered some secret he had been hiding. "It's not what it seems Mr.Cage." Jamieson said plainly. "This isn't mass murder or some act of terrorism...it's the beginning of the next evoloution. I may have not told you the entire truth, you see Dr. Kolzig wasn't a friend of mine, in fact Dr. Kolzig never existed....I was one of the scientits. I saw how the governments were planning to use Xynex, and it was horrible. So myself and my colleague, Dr. Thaddeus Auclair, decided we would take action, secure a batch of Xynex for ourselves and be ready when the time came. Thaddeus is the one leading these men, and trust me Mr.Cage, it's not what it seems" Jamieson said.

"You're PART OF THIS?" Ronnie said, his hands starting to glow as he realized Jamieson had been a part of this mess all along. "Give me one good reason why I don't just fry you right here and now" Ronnie said glaring at Jamieson.

"Mr.Cage listen to me, eventually the time will come where human beings as we know them today will cease to exist, things like SARS, and H1N1, there are more and more lethal viruses being formed out there, some of them entirely by nature it's self, in the inner circles of science, researchers have speculated for years that the human race will begin to decline to do the increase in these lethal viruses, the Doom's Day Meteor astronomers talk about is nothing, there is a Doom's Day Pandemic on it's way much sooner that will do far more damage to the Global population, only those with these abilities, your abilities, people treated and successfully carrying Xynex will be able to survive, it could lead to a new age of humanity. You're the first one we know of who has these abilities...people trust you, you're a hero...if you stand together with the NEP we won't need to keep on with the violence. The government will listen to us...to you, people need a leader, and when people start forming their new abilities they will need a leader, somebody to follow, somebody they can trust....somebody like you. Help us save those we can, help us preserve the human race...join us Mr. Cage" Jamieson said, laying out his sell job in front of Ronnie. Despite his anger, if what Jamieson said was true...it was a convincing sales pitch.

"I....I....I dunno what to think right now" Ronnie said, debating the decision sitting right in front of him. That's when he noticed Nina standing in the entrance to the hallway.

Ronnie looked at Nina, she seemed different somehow but he couldn't put his finger on it. She gave him her opinions on Jamieson, it all sounded right, it WAS the right thing to do, turn in Jamieson, or at least leave him. But what if he was right, if this Doom's Day plague was inevitable, everyone would die including the ones who could carry Xynex. It was then that he first truly noticed Nina, she was probably the most attractive scientist or doctor he'd ever met, his gaze scanned over her once or twice before snapping back to reality.

"Listen, I've worked for our government....let me tell you there's probably not a whole hell of a difference between the guys who run our country and the guy calling the shots out there! Only difference is now it's happening here, on our soil, to our citizens not overseas somewhere, where the media can twist all the stories before they reach home. I've seen the highest levels of command call in air strikes to take out one fucking AA gun, and wipe out an entire town in the provess. I've seen Predator drones blow away 'terrorist' compounds only to find out it was a fucking hospital. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for defending my country...you say you don't trust Jamieson...I fucking sure as hell don't trust any politician in a suit and tie. The only reason we call those guys terrorists is cause they're doing it to us and they're not wearing our flag"

Jason paced around as Nina stumbled to form a response to what he had just said. Jamieson stood, grinning, seeing Ronnie's thinking slowly start to turn in his favour.

"You're entirely right Ronald. You've seen what they've done with their drones, with their un-manned vehicles, when there's no risk of seeing soldiers coming home in a coffin the government will do whatever they want, cause in the end this soceity doesn't care...nobody cares about what goes on over there, about who is getting hurt and killed....cause it's not them and it's not happening here. We can change that, we can change the soceity not just here but world wide. Whatever devine power you believe in...has seen fit to not only make a material like Xynex able to exist, but to give you the opprotunity, the privelige of owning these abilities, these powers....I don't neccessarily agree with Thaddeus's methods either, but what choice did he have, without a show of force nobody would take notice cause that's all this government understands is force....negotiation, logic, reason, debate...those are lost concepts to them. You've seen the elections, the so called Presidential debates...they're borderline elementary school yard taunting. Thaddeus had only one way to get their attention, unfortunately it was like this....but with you, that can change. Show them your abilities, show them what you're capable of, and with Thaddeus's forces behind you, there won't need to be violence, they'll listen, to the hero, to the man who they realize they can't control....you want to save civillians from Thaddeus? You're the soloution Ronald" Jamieson said, pressing harder with the sales pitch.

Ronnie paced for a moment, this was uncharted waters, there was no protocol, no guideline, given all the new information, what was moral and right. Protecting a government that was just as corrupt as the group attacking it? Sitting by and doing nothing? Maybe Jamieson was right, maybe the NEP was the soloution, and maybe Ronnie was the one who could end the violence. Jamieson's logic, as 'out there' as it seemed, did make some sense. Then something...or someone...interrupted his thoughts.

"Listen GI Joe, fuck the old guy...you know he's bad news. We can figure this out without him, besides I'm a lot more fun to be with"

"What the fuck who...or what...was that?" Ronnie thought to himself looking confused, until he caught Nina's gaze, looking at him like she'd just been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

Lots of weird things had happened to Ronnie since waking up in a crater the size of a city block, unscathed. But now, having somebody...evidently Nina...talking to him inside his head...that was starting to push the envelope. He grabbed Nina by the neck and pushed her up against the wall.

"What kind of fucking game do you think you're playing here Doctor" he said angrily, "how the fuck are you inside my head", his hand started glowing as he held Nina against the wall.

"It's the government Ronald...see...they already know the secret is out. This is their plan, find anyone who is a threat and target them, she's probably from one of the experiment projects...is this the kind of government you swore to work for Ronald?" Dr.Jamieson said, not entirely sure what was happening with Nina but jumped on the opprotunity to try and sway Ronnie to his side of thinking.

"Shutup!" Ronnie snapped at Jamieson, he wasn't sure exactly who he was supposed to believe, the doctor that was talking to him inside his head, or the doctor that seemingly arranged for this whole situation to occur in the first place.

Nina connected Jamieson with Ronnie, and just like before, soon Ronnie was seeing the thoughts and ideas Jamieson had. Nina was getting overwhelmed by the images, but they didn't phase Ronnie, after all what was lying in his memory banks would have made some of Jamieson's ideas look like a PG movie because of course...Jamieson's ideas were all conceptual while Ronnies memories were based from front row seating and first hand experience.

When Nina was done, Jamieson looked stunned. He knew there was nothing else to say, there was no luring Ronnie now, he saw the whole plan, all Jamieson's ideas laid out.

"Well....I guess we all know where we stand" Jamieson said with as much dignity as he could muster, realizing that things had just turned incredibly worse for him, and that perhaps leaving instead of wasting time trying to lure Ronnie may have been a better use of his time.

"Yup...guess so" Ronnie said. He stood between the two doctors, Jamieson on one side, and Nina on the other. He now knew Jamieson's plan, to work alongside Thaddeus, injecting however many suitable people they could find with Xynex, and eventually finally realize the once perceived unattainable goal of world domination. Then there was Nina, she seemed legit, and the memories he had from her showed that she was as much a victim as he was...but the other one was the wild card, and if Ronnie was about to get into a fight with some crazed scientist who may or may not have a small army of mutants behind him....wild cards weren't going to work that well.

But, as Ronnie's dad once told him....solve one problem at a time. He pulled out a hand gun he'd retrieved from one of the terrorists earlier, obviously he didn't NEED a gun anymore, but he still liked having them around. He looked at Jamieson, and the doctor looked as if he was about to say something in protest...until Ronnie fired off 4 rapid fire shots into the doctor's chest, his white dress shirt turning red as he dropped to the floor. Ronnie walked over to Jamieson and, as his training taught him, fired one more round to the head.

He then turned and looked at Nina who seemed somewhat stunned at to seemingly sudden violent turn things took, that along with the images from Jamieson were clearly a lot for her to take in. "If you can't handle those images...and this....next time you jump inside my head, make sure not to look into the past" he said. He put the gun away then turned to Nina. "He had to be shot...because me and you are joining Thaddeus" Ronnie said, and saw Nina's eyes widen in shock and disgust. "Before you get carried away...or turn your eyes green, or whatever just listen" Ronnie said as he sat down. "There's two ways to fight Thaddeus...make him think we're joining him, or kill his terrorist army and any super-people he may or may not have created, personally, the first one sounds a lot less painful. We tell Thaddeus Jamieson convinced us to join along side him...but unfortunately, we clashed with some of his thugs and one of them ended up capping Jamieson. See if he was burnt to a crisp it'd be hard to sell that story...also...if Jamieson was alive, well, he'd probably get around to telling Thaddeus that we weren't legit...so...I had to shoot him" Ronnie said as he saw his plan idea slowly sink into Nina's head.

He looked at her again, "I know I can trust you...but I need to talk to the other one...and preferably not through my head this time" Ronnie said as he looked at Nina.

"Symone huh....why not" Ronnie shrugged as he paced around the room looking at her. The body was the same, but the posture, tone of voice and attitude were different. "Just because we're going to pretend to be on Thaddeus' side doesn't mean these goons out there know that...or are going to care. We're going to have to fight our way to Thaddeus, it's basic combat strategy, but for it to work, I gotta know what all my offensive options are....so....what can you all do...and uh, TELL me rather than showing me huh?" Ronnie said.

Symone went into detail of her abilities, what they were, how she could use them and so on.

"You work like a computer right....connect to you to another person and you can download whatever you need from them?" Ronnie asked, Symone responded that was sorta how it worked.

"Think you can download 2 years of special ops combat training into that pretty little head of yours?" Ronnie asked as he saw Symone smirk, he knew the answer, he smirked himself "just that...don't be jumping around anywhere else...you may not like what you find" Ronnie said with a slight smirk as Symone gave him a smart ass response.

He moved over to Symone as she touched his face like before, looking into his eyes for a few moments longer than necessary "are you working or trying to make out with me" Ronnie joked, to which Symone had an equally sharp response. "Whatever doll, business before pleasure" he said with a laugh as she got ready.

Ronnie ran his hand down Nina's arm with the burns. "Ya know, in my unit we had a saying...'Never trust somebody without scars" he said with a grin. He looked back at her, "see...scars mean you're a survivor, you've had the shit hit the fan, had everything go to hell and still came out on the other side. You got a guy beside you without any...no way of knowing what he'll do when the shit gets real...guys who were marked up...you knew they'd be able to handle themselves. Guess for us the saying really is true...what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" he said with another grin.

He then replied to Symone's other question, "and as for how you look...well...what was I saying came after business?" Ronnie said with a smirk looking into Symone's green eyes.