Jax rubbed his arm where the doctor had drawn blood hours ago. The adhesive bandage clung uselessly to his already healed skin. He pulled at the edges of the bandage, his hair offering resistance as it had fused with the adhesive substance. He grimaced as he bit his lip and pulled it loose in one final go. The sound of laughter startled Jax, he had become so fixated on the bandaid he had forgotten the rest of the world around him. 

His eyes rose nervously and found Dr. Nemeroff staring at him. The older man was leaning back in his chair, legs crossed, and his head leaning on his hand. His glasses were hanging from his other hand as it rested on his knee. Jax was silent but his face bore a look of irritation having been laughed at.

Dr. Nemeroff couldn’t help but laugh again before saying, “Jax, you looked like a little kid fighting with that bandaid.” 

Jax turned his back to Dr. Nemeroff. “Pfft! It’s not that funny!”

A ding resonated from the computer in front of Dr. Nemeroff signaling him of the completed upload. He slowly sat back up in his seat and replaced his glasses on his face. The information from the recent blood analyses, microscopic images and recordings loaded onto the screen. He split the screen so he could see it all.  He leaned forward as he tried to make sense of the microscopic images. For the most part the images didn’t show any anomalies and his CBC was mostly normal, except for his leukocytes were significantly higher than normal and his red blood cells were much lower than normal. The high levels of stress and trauma that Jax was experiencing could definitely correlate with the abnormalities in his blood. 

Jax stood up and walked over towards the doctor. He stood silently behind him as he scrolled through different information on the computer. Jax sighed and said, “I don’t understand any of what you are looking at.”

The doctor chuckled and said, “you were never interested in science when you were a child. You spent a lot of hours at the lab. When you were there you were either reading or playing video games. You often distracted Fuchsia from her work. In fact there were many times you two would sneak off to one of the storage rooms to hide and game. Your father would get frustrated, but never punish you. Now that I think back on it, I think it was good for both of you.”

There was a long silence before anyone spoke again. 

Jax pulled up a chair beside Dr. Nemeroff, and said, “could you explain some of what you are looking at to me?”    

Dr. Nemeroff took a pen and pointed at the screen. This is an image of your blood under a scanning electron microscope. I expected to find evidence of the small nanostructures responsible for your regeneration, but there are none. I can only speculate that your body quickly eliminates them after they have done their job. In order for me to see them I would have to obtain a sample from you when you are badly injured. The number of nanostructures in the sample would be the highest at this point.

The doctor slid his pen over to a different screen. “These are the results from the CBC, you have elevated levels of Leukocytes and low levels of red blood cells. There were a couple of other slightly abnormal results, but nothing of any concern considering what you have been through.”

Jax pointed to the two results on the screen that Dr. Nemeroff had circled and said, “what does it mean that these are abnormal?” 

Dr. Nemeroff pointed again at the Leukocytes and said, “your number is significantly higher than what is considered to be a normal range. Normally we would be concerned that the patient is suffering from a serious infection, cancer or autoimmune disorders.” He then pointed at the red blood cell count and said, “your red blood cells are dangerously low which would normally be indicative of anemia caused by cancer, excessive bleeding, or other factors. Considering your unusual circumstance and what you have experienced, we are unsure what is considered normal for you. It is really quite fascinating to imagine what your father and Fuchsia were able to create. Without your implant and nanotech, you would not be alive.”

Jax gripped the arms of the chair with his hands, “maybe it would have been better if I had died in the streets the day Creso and his men attacked me. If I had you and the others would be safe.”

Dr. Nemeroff turned in his chair and placed a hand on Jax’s right arm and said, “your friends and I would still have been in danger regardless of your presence. Creso would have eventually tracked Fuchsia down and anyone connected to her. If anything, your presence has helped me to see I was wrong and given me reason to do what is right now.”

Jax looked down at the floor, feeling a mix of emotions. He wanted to believe Dr. Nemeroff was right! He wanted to get out of here and return to his friends. 

The doctor flipped his lab coat sleeve back and looked at his watch. It was after lunch and Creso had not arrived at the lab, no one had. It was not like Creso to be late. Should he be worried? He looked at the door to see if he could see movement from the guard, but there was no one. He patted Jax’s arm and stood up. “I’m going to step outside the door for a minute.” Just as he started to walk to the door Creso opened the door and walked in. He had two of his men with him and he was followed by another man in a lab coat that he didn’t recognize. 

Creso stopped in front of Dr. Nemeroff and asked, “where are you headed, doctor?”

Dr. Nemeroff took two steps back. He didn’t like the situation, what was going on? He quickly spoke, “I was going to ask the guard if he had heard from you. You are late.”

Creso adjusted the cuffs on his sleeve as he said, “yes, I apologize to keep you waiting. I had an important phone call to make. I’m sure you can understand.”

Dr. Nemeroff turned around and headed back towards Jax.  He was within a couple of steps from Jax when he heard his voice and then Fuchsia’s. The recording echoed in the laboratory. He could see the look of horror on Jax’s face, any color he had in it now gone.  He spun around quickly and yelled. “that was not me! What are you doing Creso?” He spun back around towards Jax and said, “I promise I didn’t tell Creso. That wasn’t me on the phone with Fuchsia.” 

With a heavy thud Dr. Nemeroff hit the floor. One of the guards stood over him. He tried to reach his glasses that lay a short distance away, but Creso walked around in front of him and crushed them underneath his feet. Jax tried to run to Dr. Nemeroff but was caught and slammed on to his knees. He yelled, “what are you doing? Let me go!” 

Creso spoke to one of the guards at the door, “take Dr. Nemeroff to the basement. He will be of some use to us later, I am sure.”

As the guard drug Dr. Nemeroff  away he said, ”I'm so sorry Jax. I wanted to save you.”

Creso walked over to Jax. He motioned the person behind him to step forward. A bald man in a lab coat appeared beside Creso. “Let me introduce you to Dr. Wilhelm, he will be in charge of you now. I am excited for you two to get to know each other, Jax.”

Jax managed to pull away from the guard and tried to swing at Creso. He was grabbed again and this time forced to the ground on his back. Creso leaned down close to Jax and said, “Dr. Wilhelm is eager to meet you and share some of his research with you.”

Jax thrashed on the floor. “I don’t care about his research! Let me go!” 

Dr. Wilhelm knelt down beside Jax, smiled, and said, “it is wonderful to finally meet the son of the late, ‘Dr. Collins.’ I never had the opportunity to meet your father, mostly because our research differed so much. He had the reputation of being a virtuous person and frankly it made me sick.” The doctor looked down at Jax silently like he was studying him. 

Jax stopped thrashing, he felt a chill fall across his body, and he was filled with a paralyzing fear.

Dr. Wilhelm reached down and patted Jax on the shoulder and said, “I have a gift for you.” He pulled a syringe out of his lab coat. “I created this while working in Argos. Unfortunately, my research is frowned upon. They deem it unethical and won’t allow me to test it. Creso has shown an interest in my work and shares the same ideals.”

The doctor held the syringe up and popped the cap off the end. Jax pulled against the guard that was holding him but he couldn’t get away. The doctor said, “roll him onto his stomach and hold him still.” 

Jax lay motionless on the cold floor, paralyzed by fear. The doctor pulled his shirt up and he felt a sting at the middle of his spine and then a burning sensation. The doctor said, “he will need to be restrained so he doesn’t hurt himself or anyone else. 

The two guards moved Jax to his bed where they placed him back in restraints. He cried out, “what did you do to me?”

Creso and the doctor walked over to Jax. Dr. Wilhelm said, “you will find out soon enough.” 

Jax lay on the bed motionless and silent. What else could he do but wait? 

Creso and Dr. Wilhelm had walked over to Dr. Nemeroff’s computer and were talking about the data that was displayed. 

Jax began to feel a strange warmth, almost like warm fluid was running through his veins. Then it began to feel hot and unbearable. He started to twist in his restraints. The guard that was standing beside him called out to Creso, “sir, something is happening to the patient.”

Both Creso and Dr. Wilhelm looked at Jax. Dr. Wilhelm said, “it looks like it has begun.”