The Hub Ch. 09

Scraps woke to a dull throb pulsing through his body. It was similar to muscle strain but without the usual sharp ache. As his mind drew closer to full consciousness he realised that he was on his back, completely naked and covered in a sheet from neck to toe. Shadow had told them that while a vast majority of their cosmetic work would revolve around their faces, any distinguishing features, or in his case perfections on the rest of their body would also need to be reworked or removed. The strong sedative was still having a noticeable effect on his body and he could barely muster the strength to turn his head. When he finally managed to rotate his neck his eyes fell on the prone form of Flit. Not Flit, Ava, his wife.

The dark tan of her skin was no longer present and her hair was also a much deeper shade of brown. The undulated rise and fall of her chest confirmed that she was okay but he wouldn't truly know until he spoke to her.

It wasn't long before she began to stir, and he watched as she struggled to open her eyes. A wave of relief washed over him as he saw her new chocolate brown eyes watching him. He would miss her hazel eyes, he knew that for sure. It was going to be difficult to get used to seeing her like that.

"Scraps!" Her voice was soft and croaky. It was clearly an effort for her to talk, and Scraps knew how she felt. his own throat was uncomfortably dry and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to talk if he tried.

"Brian," The next name that left her mouth was the one that she was supposed to use. Somehow, hearing her voice from a different looking body made the new name feel more natural. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Av,." He replied huskily, it seemed to be easier to call her by the new name with her looking so different. Scraps tried to sit up but a sharp pain cut through his whole body and he had to lie back down.

"Argh, a little sore. But fine," He added as an afterthought.

At that moment Doctor Yarin entered the room. He was carrying a datapad in his hand and wasn't even looking at them as he approached.

"Good to see you're both up. Vitals look normal and both procedures were a complete success. You will need to rest for the next couple of days at least, no extraneous activities and refrain from using you're abilities. The DNA restructuring and tagging takes quite a toll on the body and it will need time to adjust. Now I suppose you'll both be quite hungry, I'll go get Jack to fetch us some breakfast," He explained without emotion, all promptness and purpose as though this operation was a standard occurrence.

At the mention of food Scraps suddenly felt the twist of emptiness in his gut. They were told to fast before the procedure, but it felt like he hadn't eaten in days. He turned back to Flit.

"I don't know about you sweetie, but I could eat a large domesticated animal," he jested.

~*~

Flit couldn't help but laugh. Instead of being greeted by his deep crimson eyes and dark brown hair that barely covered a tattoo of The Government's logo she was faced with crystal blue eyes, brown (almost blonde) hair, and a forehead that was as fresh and clear as a white linen napkin. Flit was speechless for a moment, her mouth falling open at the way that the stranger before her looked at her so intensely. 

It was Scraps beneath that face. That was what she had to remind herself. Even though he might look like Brian Parkes, he would always be Scraps underneath. She could see him in there, behind those foreign blue eyes. His stare still held the same amount of intensity and love that she was familiar with, but it was just masked differently. When he tried, but failed, to sit up the sheet fell back to show that he had nothing beneath it, his wonderfully familiar chest exposed for her to see. That was when Flit realised that she too was naked beneath her sheet. She held the top of it against her breasts.

"Breakfast?" She asked the doctor, raising an eyebrow. Her own stomach felt uncomfortably empty, but she assumed it would be closer to lunch time.

"Yes," Yarin replied with a slight nod and a smile. "You were unconscious for all of yesterday and last night. It's breakfast time now," he gave her a few moments to think about this. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes!" Flit replied eagerly, part of her unable to believe that they had slept for so long. Doctor Yarin exited the room and Flit looked over at Scraps again.

"Your face is so different," she said, finding her voice easier now. She wanted to reach out, to stroke his skin and see if it at least felt the same, but the distance was too great. Instead she decided to attempt to sit up, very slowly.

By the time Flit was seated with her back resting against the headboard of the bed, Doctor Yarin arrived with two trays of food. He put one down on the end of Flit's bed, then pressed a button on the side, and a table slid out and up from somewhere beneath the mattress. He put her food on it for her and did the same for Scraps.

"I'll let you two eat your breakfast, if there is anything you need or want just call out for me and I'll come back. Sean will be in some time soon, he wants to talk to you both about something. Oh, and there is a mirror in the top draw of the cabinet between you both, feel free to have a look at the alterations," Doctor Yarin said before taking his leave of them again.

Flit's limbs felt heavy and tired, but she was so hungry that she was able to push past the lingering effects of the sedation. It was strange to see her own hand as she ate, the colour markedly different from her normal olive tan. She stole a look out of the corner of her eye at Scraps, and couldn't help but marvel at the changes. She knew that she needed to check out her own new appearance, but the smells of the food were wafting over to her and she decided that eating was her top priority.

~*~

Scraps dove into his breakfast with no amount of propriety, Flit seemed quite amused by his enthusiastic eating technique and threw him playful smiles as he shovelled food into his mouth. When he was done, Scraps reached over to the top draw to retrieve a mirror.

As expected, he felt like he was looking at an entirely different person. His eyes no longer held the intense bright crimson stare and The Government tattoo no longer branded his forehead. Even though he technically spent the last few months of his life free of oppression this single physical change seemed to bring that notion closer to reality.

He looked over at Flit to see that she had finished her breakfast and was also conducting a self inspection. Before he could open a line of conversation Shadow stepped into the room with Jack in tow. Shadow was carrying two data pads under his arm and after a brief look at their new appearance he nodded with approval, Jack quickly scooped up their finished trays and briskly left the room.

"Doctor Yarin has informed me that your operations were successful. I understand that you will both need a few days recovery time which has been factored into your training schedule," Shadow informed them. He split the two pads apart and handed one to each of them.

"For the next few days. I want you to study these operation notes on computer system use and management. In some cases, the sensitive information you will become privy to may be in industry jargon you are not familiar with, especially the back end science of the weapon they are constructing. This information will need to be sent to us and deciphered if we are to extrapolate any kind of useable data," He explained.

Scraps looked down at the notepad briefly, he saw the familiar format of a step by step instruction manual on computer usage. As a registered Derivate Scraps had been given formal training on the use of basic systems but even the first topic 'File encryption algorithms' seemed well beyond his already limited understanding.

"Will we be transferring this data directly to the underground?" Scraps asked.

"No. We cannot risk any transfer of information to be traced directly to the underground, nor can any unauthorised activity be directly linked to you. Your job will be to understand the file structure of their data system, it is mostly encoded and you will need to get a specific location of the information in the vast database of The Government. You will give this location to me which I will then give to our experienced covert microkinetics, it will be their task to retrieve the data," Shadow explained.

"I understand."

"Good, if there are no other questions I will let you get to work. As always the information on these datapads cannot be taken with you. Everything you learn must be memorised. Good Luck."The moment that Shadow stopped speaking he shimmered out of place before them and they were left alone.

~*~

Flit waited for Shadow to leave the room before she put her mirror down with a sigh and looked over at Brian-Scraps.

"File encryption algorithms?" Flit's despair was clear in her voice. "Of all of the things we have to memorise..." She shook her head as she swiped through page after page of extremely complicated looking material. Computers had never been her strong suit. She knew how to use them, and how to fix little problems that arose, but this was something else entirely. "I'm gonna need some help learning this crap," Flit moaned, looking over at Scraps seriously.

Despite the fact that what she was reading made her tired (even though she'd just awoken from twenty-four hours of sleep), she was thankful for the distraction. Her eyes kept drifting over to the other bed where Scraps sat reading his own material and she tried to drink in every detail of his new appearance. She thought that he was fine the way he was before, even with that blasted tattoo, because it was him. Now he looked different she had to concentrate on remembering that it was still her Scraps that sat on the other side of the room. The algorithms also provided her with something to distract her from the constant urge to look at herself in the mirror again. It had been a thoroughly disconcerting experience to look in a mirror and see someone else peering back at her.

~*~

Using the time on the data pads as a guide, it was nearly mid day when Flit finished reading the first document. She put her data pad down on the table and looked around before she slid out of the bed carefully. Aware that she was still completely naked, she looked through the set of draws where the mirror had been and was pleased to see a plain white medical robe in one of them. She slipped it on before making her way over to Scraps. Her arms and legs still felt weak, but she was stable enough to be able to shuffle her way over.

"Mind if I hop in?" She asked, placing a hand on his shoulder and letting out a breath of relief at the familiar feeling. If she closed her eyes she could pretend that this was still her Scraps.

"The bed isn't that big, I think you'll have to sit in front of me," He suggested. Scrap spread his legs and pulled the sheet off to give her room to sit.

"Scra- BRIAN!" Flit gasped. There he was, exposed in all his wonderful naked glory. If she didn't look at his face she could almost think that nothing had changed about him.

Flit's mind flew back to the times where the two of them had been studying in his room and they'd sat in this position. The thought brought a flush to her cheeks and warmed her groin. Flit bent over and rifled through the draw for another robe, then threw it at him.

"No strenuous activity, remember?" She said. "Plus, the last thing we need is for Shadow or Yarin to come in and find you naked with me between your legs!" Her scolding was only half serious.

Scraps caught the robe deftly. And shrugged it around his body after tying up the waistband he looked back at Flit.

"I never implied that we 'do the dirty' but now that you mention it..... Yeah you're right we should focus on studying," he replied. He shifted over in the bed and patted the space next to him.

~*~

Flit laughed at Scraps's attempt to use colloquial language.

"Whatever you say big boy," Flit said as she slid into the bed beside him and looked at what he was reading on his data pad. "Database analysis, huh? Let's hope this document is more exciting than the last one!"

It turned out that none of the documents on the data pad held Flit's interest for too long. Even though she knew she had to learn the material she found it terribly boring. The next two days passed in a flurry of study and check ups. Their procedures had gone as well as anyone dared hope, and they only required minor adjustments before Doctor Yarin was happy to release them to Shadow for their reassignment.

When Shadow had arrived to show them to their new apartment Flit's stomach began to swirl with nervous anticipation. Instead of teleporting them out as he had done when they arrived, he led them through a maze of sterile looking corridors and out onto a very busy Hub street. Flit looked up and around her in awe, she had known that they were above ground, but she had no idea that they were right in the middle of the city. The skyscrapers around them soared high into the sky, as only those in the middle of the pyramid shaped city could. At first she thought it was risky, to have operations like Doctor Yarin's based in such ordinary locations, but then she realised that hiding in plain sight might not be such a bad idea.

Shadow led Flit and Scraps into a hovercraft that was waiting in front of the building and he piloted it as he told them about their new jobs tomorrow. As they approached Flit watched Scrap's face and was pleased that seeing him in a different skin was becoming more familiar. They had discovered that, in the dark, they were still much the same as they were before. Even though they had decided not to do anything too intimate in the clinic (in case there was surveillance there), their time alone in the room had gone far to familiarise themselves with their new appearances. The time had also shown Flit that their true selves had more to do with what was inside of them than their changeable exteriors.

Their new apartment was midway up one of the inner city buildings, right near Centre One, which was the main building of The Government. The apartment itself was a decent size, two bedrooms with all of the modern conveniences that the Citizens enjoyed. It was nothing spectacular, in fact it was quite ordinary, but that was exactly what suited their aliases. 

"Tomorrow morning you are to report to floor thirty four in Centre One at oh-nine-hundred for your first work assignments," Shadow said after showing them around their apartment. "Keep to your cover, remember your objectives, but most of all stay safe."

Flit was about to thank Shadow for his help, but he phased out of the apartment without another word. Instead she turned and gave Scraps a grin before making the way to the room that had been set up as their bedroom. One entire wall was made of glass, on which was the image of a plain painted wall to match the others in the room. Flit walked over to a panel above a bedside table and pressed a few buttons. The image on the window changed from a plain wall, to a forest, to a beach, to a stormy evening sky before the window finally cleared and gave an uninterrupted view of the glittering glass buildings beyond.

"Looks like we're higher up in the world now Brain!" Flit called out as she kicked off her shoes, she ran over and jumped on the ridiculously comfortable bed and let out a loud sigh. There was a part of her that refused to believe that this was real, but all it took was one look at the lightened skin of her hand to remind her that it most certainly was.

~*~

Scraps wasn't entirely sure what he would feel returning to the surface again. The sights and sounds of the high rises and constant buzz of hover traffic moving about on the busy streets drew all the buried memories from his past. He now truly understood why former Registered Derivates loathed to return. He reminded himself that this was different, he wasn't a slave to The Government anymore; he was a free man, with friends who cared for and loved him.

The apartment building was equipped with all the usual amenities that one would expect living on the surface. Scraps took began to explore all the draws and cupboards to get a feel for their new environment. As expected all the domestic equipment and supplies including food and clothing had all been provided to them. Flit jumped on the bed and began to relax, with much less enthusiasm Scraps pulled of his own shoes and laid down next to her.

"So Ava, which side of the bed did you want again?" He asked cheekily.

"Sides? Why must it always be about sides?" Flit asked, "I am happy right here. I think diagonal is the new vertical."

Flit reached out and tugged at the fabric of Scraps's shirt so that he fell onto the bed beside her, and then she rested her head on his chest.

"You don't seem terribly happy," Flit begun her hand tracing circles on his stomach "what's wrong?"

"It's not that I'm unhappy. It's just that the last time I was up here, my position in society was very different. I was lower than the vagrants and miscreants of society. Underground it was different, everyone there treated each other with respect because we were all on equal ground, but up here, it's not quite the same," He explained. It was difficult for him to express these feelings in such a typical Hub apartment. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"On the surface I was expected to treat every citizen with the highest respect, even if they were spitting on me. They all knew it too and treated us worse than animals. They knew what we could do with our abilities but at the same time with the restrictions on our usage we had no more authority than a vending machine. Tools to be used by society."

"I just hope that I can step up and pretend to be on equal footing with these people again. I'm worried that if they see any weakness I will be stepped on like a piece of meat," Scraps sighed heavily, despite how difficult it was to talk about such things he was relieved that he had a chance to talk to Flit about it.

~*~

Flit listened carefully as Scraps talked openly about his feelings. It was one of the things that she loved the most about him; his willingness to talk about what he was thinking without holding back.

He was right of course, Flit was no stranger to how most Citizens treated Derivates. Even though she had never been on the receiving end of their maltreatment it disgusted her nonetheless. It was the hardest part of growing up and having to hide who she was; she was forced to stand by and watch as a fellow Derivate suffered the humiliation and degradation at the hands of a Citizen. The worst part for Flit was the emotional confusion she felt when the Citizen was a friend or colleague of her, someone who was normally thoughtful or kind.

Flit scooted up higher on the bed and pressed her lips against Scraps's cheek.

"I can't even begin to imagine how difficult this is for you," She whispered, her hot breath caressing his skin. "Now that we will have to pretend to be Citizens, try and think of the others like you thought of the people in the Underground. Think of them as your equals and nothing more; people will treat you the way you let them treat you. You are intelligent, strong and you are worth just as much as anyone else in this world. More, in my biased opinion."

Flit propped herself up onto her elbows and looked at Scraps's new face, taking in his strange blue eyes and changed hair colour.

"I think it will be hard for other reasons as well. I have no doubt that the time will come where we see a Derivate treated the way that you were. When that time comes we will need to remember our mission. Finding out about the weapon and trying to halt its production will save Derivates everywhere," Flit's voice was filled with determination and her eyes swam with ethical passion. "I always imagine that, one day, we won't need to hide any more. I know that it will be difficult if it ever happens but I am sure the time will come where Derivates are truly on equal footing with the Citizens. That is what we are working towards in the Underground, what all the operatives are gathering intelligence for on the surface. That is what we need to keep in mind."