The Symbiote Ch. 03

Charlie "Li" Rochester led Nathan Cryogen deep underground. The route to get there involved climbing onto the metro train tracks and opening a hatch that blended in with the tracks. It was a harrowing experience and Li seemed to get a quiet thrill from the danger of it. She had assured Nathan that as long as they timed it properly, there'd be no chance of a train coming through while they were on the tracks. It hadn't helped much with easing his fears. They also had to get on the tracks in such a way that no one would notice, which meant posing as metro workers, walking to the dark, booth-like end of the boarding area, and sneaking onto the dark tracks from there.

It helped that they were out in the early morning hours, before the trains were even scheduled to run, so there weren't any people around to give them weird looks or snap a picture of them with their phone.

The hatch led down a gritty, dark ladder into the humming, musty gloom of what looked and felt like a warehouse. The light glowed with a sinister dark green hue and Nathan shivered, grateful for the real cold weather gear that Allie had given him.

Li looked around and shrugged, "Welp, this is it. Quaint, isn't it?"

From the cold cement ground, to the still air and wide, abandoned feeling of the place, quaint wasn't exactly the first word Nathan would have chosen for it.

"Don't worry," said Li, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "It gets better. Come on, I'll show you."

Nathan followed wordlessly, his eyes alighting on her hair. The bright red hue of it stood out like a diamond amidst the dim gloom. Instinctively, he reached out toward her mind, but once more felt nothing. If his only sense had been reaching into peoples' minds, he would have thought he was following a ghost.

Li led them to a creaky iron door, which she swung open with gusto and waved him on through into what could only be described as a science lab. It didn't have beakers, test tubes, or lab coats, but Nathan recognized the haphazard style immediately and for a moment, he felt at home. The room was filled with tables and beds, and copious amounts of notes strewn about. Numerous men and women flitted about or scratched notes, with an air of practiced detachment, and fluorescent lights beamed down from the ceiling.

"This is where we conduct most of our experiments," said Li.

Acutely, he was aware of her trying to catch his eye, but his attention had fallen on something else. A familiar shape on one of the beds. He strode toward it as a dull pounding began to thump in his ears and Li muttered anxious words at him that he didn't have the wherewithal to register.

He stopped abruptly, half a step from the bed, and stared down, trying to stop the range of emotions that were threatening to overcome his composure.

"Is she...?" he said.

Li laid on a hand on his shoulder, "She'll be alright. I can explain what we think happened and why she's here, but I need you to be away from her right now. We don't know what might happen if you reconnect."

Nathan stared down at Carla Davis's prone figure on the bed. The sheets were pulled up to her chin and she looked still as death.

"It's my fault," said Nathan. He wasn't sure who he was trying to explain himself to. I should have been a banker, he thought.

"She's going to be ok," insisted Li, "but if you stay here, that may not be the case for long. Got it?"

Nathan wrenched his gaze away and looked at Li. Concern was etched on her face.

"I want to know everything," said Nathan.

"Then come with me," said Li. She offered her hand.

Nathan gazed at it for a moment and then took it, surprised at how warm and reassuring it felt. He allowed her to lead him away, past the bustle, and into a small, quiet room with a bed, a table, and a dim yellow fluorescent light on the ceiling.

He sat down heavily next to her, on the bed.

"Where do you want me to begin?" asked Li. "There's a lot."

Nathan was suddenly aware of how close she was to him. How grounded she made him feel, just being there. Though he was still worried about Carla, there was a part of him that wanted very much to run away with her and leave it all behind. A horrifying thought occurred to him.

"You aren't controlling my mind, are you?" he said. "Influencing me?"

Li looked aghast, "God no. We don't do that to our own. Not unless it's consensual or it's to try to reel in someone who is causing problems."

Nathan nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving her face. "Begin with the beginning, I suppose."

She chuckled, "There's a lot to it. How about I give you the abridged version." She edged closer and Nathan felt a thrill of warmth and safety.

"I think I'd like that," said Nathan. "So we still have time for other things, you know."

"Of course," she said, her eyes flicking to his lips. "Other things." She cleared her throat loudly. "It begins with an ambitious group of scientists in the 90s. They wanted to put technological synapses in the brains of babies. How, I don't know, but that was their plan. They didn't get far, but they did get a look at some baby brains and what they found surprised them: There were already microchips inside their brains. So subtle you'd never find them, unless you were already looking to put microchips inside somebody. Unfortunately, bureaucracy stepped in, funding got cut, and the project was trashed. That's where we come in. Twenty years later, through an ironically bureaucratic system error, some college scientist and his buddy got a look at the old project files. The technology had caught up and they were able to consider the real possibility of putting in microchips of their own. Only they realized from the files that people already had microchips in their brains, it was just a question of activating them."

"I know," said Nathan.

She looked at him like he was crazy.

"I mean, I don't know," he corrected himself. "I don't know that story. But I do remember my experiments. The ones I got kicked out for by my boss. I had found something synthetic myself. The SIM card was a last, desperate resort. I had no idea it was a microchip, or that other people have them too."

"Do you understand the implications though?" She laid a hand on his and he felt a jolt of something unrelated to the subject.

"No," said Nathan, trying to maintain his concentration, "you..." he thought of Carla lying on the bed. "I think you know the kind of grasp I have on the situation."

Li blushed. "To a point. When you connected with Carla, it was like you were blasting a signal. Some of us have microchips that can reach out to other minds when activated. Others are only receivers: No matter what they do, they can only take input from someone else and otherwise act like any average person. From what we've been able to tell so far, Carla is a receiver. That means the two of you connected in a big way, right from the beginning, when you had no idea what you were doing. That level of connection is dangerous. It can create a merging effect."

"That's why I stopped being able to tell who was who," said Nathan.

"Yes," said Li.

"You knew about that too, already, didn't you?"

"Like I said," said Li, with a tiny shrug, "you were blasting out a signal. Anyone with the right training could have tuned in and seen what was happening for miles. There are ways I can teach you to control your signal though. I can teach you how to master it and do..." she leaned in, half an inch closer, her mouth a breath away, her eyes full of desire. "Great things," she said breathlessly.

Nathan felt his breathing quicken and instinctively reached out with his mind. It connected with something delicate and beautiful, like a rose. With a jerking sensation, he felt himself pushed away and Li was sitting there with wide eyes and heavy breaths.

"I told you," she said, through breaths, "we don't control our own without consent."

"I'm sorry," said Nathan, feeling ashamed. "I did it without thinking."

"It's ok," she said, her hand reaching up to cup his chin. "I'll teach you. I'll...teach...you." She planted his lips on his and he felt a stab of deep arousal run through his body. His mind slipped away and reached out again, prodding at the delicate flower that was her mind.

She pulled her lips away and frowned, "Stop."

"Maybe we shouldn't do this now," said Nathan, "I don't think I can... you know. I need the training, like you said."

There was a reluctant battle behind those deep eyes. Her gaze wavered and then fell. "It's foolish of me to do this to you without training."

"Wait, what do you mean do this to me?"

"I always do this," said Li, looking downcast, "I always come on too fast. It's stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Hey," said Nathan, patting her leg. "It's not too fast. I..." he tried to find words that could properly say: I fantasized about running away with you. But they wouldn't quite come out. Instead, he said, "Just give me enough training to control this thing. I'm not feeling patient right now."

She laughed, "Ok, think of it this way: It's like a muscle. The muscles in your arm," she squeezed his arm and he almost lost his concentration. "Sorry," she added quickly, pulling her hand away, but smiling nonetheless. "You have to focus right now. Right. The muscles will contract with exertion, but you can control what you do with your arm, right?"

He nodded.

"So, your mind is the same. It'll try to do its own thing. Might even reach out to my mind or others of its own accord. But you can control whether it pokes or prods at things. Whether it actually does anything when it's there. Try right now." She pulled her legs up and curled them up under her on the bed, facing him.

He reached out, slowly at first, and felt the familiar flowery delicacy of Li's mind. It pulsed and twisted with a rhythm like a heartbeat. Suddenly he was touching it, prodding at it. She pushed him away and he pushed back, but only enough to go back inside.

"Steady now," she said. "Observe, but don't touch."

Nathan concentrated hard on only observing, but his mind seemed to be doing its own thing. She pushed him out again.

"You have to watch your mind as if it's someone else's," said Li. "Turn your eyes on it and then you'll be able to control it better."

"Ok," said Nathan, not convinced that it was as easy as she was making it sound. He closed his eyes this time and reached inside his own mind. It had an earthy, firm feel to it, like packed dirt, and it was shuddering with unspent energy.

"Once you can see yourself," said Li, "come inside my mind, but keep watching your own too. Observe it as it enters my own."

Nathan saw the delicate flowery mind, but this time it was like he was watching someone else look at it. The packed dirt texture of his own mind hovered around the delicate flower, circling it, shuddering with a deep urge to press into it. It hovered for a moment later and then charged. Nathan let out a sharp gasp and pulled at it.

He opened his eyes and realized he was looking at Li for real, but he also had a sense of where his mind was. It was being held in place, just on the edge, inside Li's mind, but not touching.

"I think," said Li in a sharp whisper, "that's training enough." She pulled him into a warm embrace, her hands trailing up and down his back, her mouth nipping at the exposed part of his neck. "We need to get out of these clothes," she said breathlessly.

Nathan only nodded, feeling himself sink into her, his instinct taking over, as the packed dirt of his mind hovered. As their clothes came off and she pulled him on top of her, he could see the flower that was her mind blooming and sprouting out of the ground in sequence and it made every sensation more intense. He kissed her neck slowly, then down her chest, trailing his tongue around her nipples. She arched her back and gripped him tightly, pressing into him with her hips and grunting, as her mind shuddered and gyrated.

"Jesus, Nathan," she breathed, letting out a guttural laugh. "Fuck."

But he didn't relent. He licked and sucked at her nipples, pulling at her skin and pulling her closer to the edge. He could see the wave of her arousal in his mind's eye and see his own arousal climbing up and down, as they came closer and closer to going over the edge. He stopped momentarily, trying to catch his breath, letting their arousal go down a bit.

"Don't stop," she said, smiling. Her face was flushed red and her hair was fast becoming a tangled mess.

Nathan wanted to explain that he was watching their arousal through his mind and trying not to go over the edge too fast, but he had a feeling she wouldn't care. He resumed with his mouth, trailing it down her belly and then back up to her nipples, as she worked her hips on him without remorse.

He clenched hard and almost lost it right there, but he managed to hold on barely by pinning his own mind in place just before crossing the edge. It was a strange, frustrating sensation, but it wasn't her mind he was messing with, so he felt ok about it. He gave a disappointed grunt nonetheless, as if he had just pulled out, and she laughed.

"The perks of knowing your own mind," she said and then worked her hips harder. He grunted and pulled away from her nipples, feeling himself hit the edge hard over and over again.

"Li," he said between breaths. "Li. Fuck. Li. Would you..."

But she only smiled in a mischievous way and pulled him into a kiss, wrapping her thighs tightly around him.

He strained against his own binding and hit the wall over and over, the grip of her warm body and mouth crashing into him. With a desperate gasping breath, he unpinned himself and went over the edge, his body going wild, his back arching in desperate ecstasy. She slowed the gyration of her hips, but didn't stop, pulling him as close to her as possible and whispering in his ear.

"I hope you're enjoying yourself," she giggled.

"Yes..." he managed to say. "Yes." But his grasp on his own mind and hers was weakening. He felt himself losing control, slipping away from observation into a dreamy bliss. His mind reached at hers and prodded hard. She gave a sharp gasp and gripped him even harder, squeezing him and sending him over the edge again with the pressure.

She moaned loudly and her eyes rolled as her climaxing continued, riding up and down her body. He corrected his mistake and pulled out of her mind completely, seeing her sweaty red hair and soaked body with full attention.

"I'm sorry," he managed to say, though his heart was pounding and he didn't really feel sorry with their combined pleasure coursing through his body and mind. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry."

"It's ok," she moaned, slowly coming down from the high and pushing him off of her body. She rolled onto her side, facing him, and put a hand on his cheek. "God, that was intense."

"I broke the rules though," Nathan insisted, still unsure why it felt so important to him.

A giddy smile broke across her face and she giggled, "I just have this thing about trust. We all do. But I think," she put a hand behind his neck and wriggled closer. "That counts as consensual. Just try not to do it too often. I'm not a superhero."

Nathan smiled back and snuggled into her. A curious thought struck him. He tried to push it away, but then thought better of it. He couldn't remember ever feeling more safe, snuggled up next to this girl. "You said before that we're not angels."

"Yeah," said Li in a soft voice, "what about it?"

"Not all of us do nice things, do we?"

She frowned. "It's hard not to be a little full of yourself when you can tap into other minds at will. Nathan, I tracked you down and brought you here because of what you did for Allie. Not everyone is so helpful when they get their powers. What you did for her was something most of us can do, but you did it on pure instinct. You reset her emotional needs."

Nathan frowned back at her. He couldn't understand how having sex with Allie as he did had anything to do with resetting emotional needs. He voiced this to Li.

"It's one of the things we've been able to figure out from our experiments," said Li. "Many people have emotional needs that get built up and broken, like some kind of twisted damn. For reasons we don't understand, they're intricately tied to sexual needs. But anyone off the street could have fulfilled Allie's sexual needs. It was the precise way you did it that fulfilled both. Not so easy to do step by step. You made it look like the easiest thing in the world."

"What if someone has bad intentions?" asked Nathan, his mind churning with the possibilities.

Li shuddered. "Nathan, let me put it this way. I think if we were angels sent down from heaven, we'd at least have wings." She smiled grimly and he saw the pain in her eyes. "The rise of technology made it possible for us to activate these chips. To what end, we can only guess. All we can do is try to help those we can."

"And fight those who would harm others," said Nathan softly.

"No," said Li, "we ourselves are our greatest enemies. The greed of power. Yes, we can fight those who we believe are abusing their power, but at what cost? To stop them we have to control them and dominate them. Then we are no different."

"I think this is just the beginning," said Nathan. He wasn't sure why he was saying something like that. Even to him it sounded ominous and silly. But deep in his mind, there was an image pushing at him. An image of a girl, living out in the country, with dark hair and a pale body. A girl who missed the country. He closed his eyes and felt his mind go outward, listening to every person around for miles. The dull cacophony pulled at him and amidst them, he could have sworn there was a voice with a rasping robotic quality to it and it sounded excited.

"The connection has been made," the voice was saying, "It's time for synthetic integration."