Chapter 1: Reformat
I kept my eyes shut and focused on what was around me trying to get any information I could without letting them know that I was awake. They had tracked me down and kidnapped me in the middle of a street in broad daylight. For all I knew I was in some volcano lair of a Bond villain if they had that much pull. They had drugged me with something though making it difficult to focus.
"We know you're awake." Said a voice and I ignored it trying to continue the ruse.
"Bethany Steinbeck, I know you are awake your brain is already implanted with the basic chip. We have access to your head and you are plainly awake." Said the voice.
Grudgingly I opened my eyes to see an angry looking woman and what could only be described as a classic mad scientist with the lab coat and frazzled hair looking over me. From my vantage point I could see that I was naked and strapped to a metallic table in what looked like a hospital. My head was resting on the cold metal with nothing in between, I was bald and my head was freezing.
"Mrs. Steinbeck, you've been a thorn in our side for some time investigating the disappearance of one Tracy Huffman a woman whom we both know is no longer among the living. We were content to allow your investigation die on your chief's desk but you had to go cowboy didn't you. You contacted one of our competitors and helped them to gain access to the programming of our Dolls in some vain attempt to bring Tracy back."
The woman paused and glanced down at the tablet in her hand.
"I want you to tell me who that competitor was and we'll do this as painlessly as possible. If not I'll allow the good Doctor here to experiment with you." She said pointing at the man in the lab coat. He grinned down at me with what could only be described as something close to childlike glee.
Turning from his disturbing gaze I glared up at the woman.
"Now-"she held up one of the tablets for the dolls and involuntarily I stiffened.
"The techs tell me that the little virus used to intercept our code was something very novel and original. Our firewalls didn't detect it until the reprogramming of the Doll it was attached to complete. It then took the techs hours to figure it out and we have some of the best computer scientists in the world." She said.
The woman put the tablet down and leaned over until her face was directly in front of mine.
"This is not something a police officer would have access too even ignoring the fact that it contains code the United States Military has deemed a threat to national security. Who were you working with?" She asked.
"I was alone." I growled up at her.
"There is no need to remain loyal to whomever you were helping, they only wanted the programming in our Dolls pretty little heads so they could make their own. Tell me who it was and your processing into a doll will be painless." Said the woman.
I laughed at that, I was in a stressful situation and this routine was something I had been trained to do, she didn't even have the good cop with her just the crazy looking cop.
Looking annoyed she pursed her lips and glared down at me.
"What's so funny?" She asked.
"Why the hell am I going to tell you anything? I tell you turn me into a doll anyway, I have no incentives to do anything!" I said.
"The Doctor here will only perform a normal Dollification if you help us. If not then I'll let him experiment." She said.
"Still not much of an incentive I'd rather go down fighting." I said.
She sighed and picked up a second tablet, this one I could feel was attached to my own skull a thin wire running from it. I shivered at the sight, I had seen what that thing could do when Marcus had tried to fix Kate she had gone into a full seizure and he had been trying to help her. Someone who was intentionally trying to do harm could probably do a lot more than make me bite my tongue.
"When the process is complete you'll tell us what we want to know anyway." She said and tapped something on the tablet. My whole world exploded around me. Every nerve ending was set aflame and it felt as if I were being burned alive, my lungs felt as if I were being drowned and everything else in my body pulsed with pain.
The pain stopped as quickly as it had started and the cold metallic table I was on suddenly felt like the most comfortable thing in the world. Breathing hard I opened my eyes and glared up at the woman. She was smiling evilly down at me pleased with herself it seemed.
"Direct access to the brain, we can do a lot with it." She said and hit the button again.
This time I wasn't sure how long I was in the pain my perception of time was skewed but it felt like an eternity. My entire body was crying out in pain, parts I never knew I had crying out in agony as I fell through the pain. It lifted and this time I kept my eyes shut just trying to regain control. The restraints on my arms and legs the only thing I was feeling.
"Who were you working with?" asked the Woman.
I kept my mouth shut.
She zapped me again and I felt myself yelling this time the shouts reverberating in the small medical ward. I screamed and screamed as every part of my body was hit with the pain and like the time before it went on forever and then it was gone.
I collapsed onto the table not realizing that I had been arching up against it trying to get away from the pain.
Panting I opened my eyes to see that the cuffs had cut into my wrists and ankles, blood was slowly flowing from the wounds and was pooling on the ground.
"I'm going to kill you." I hissed up at the woman.
