Flashback: Operation White Wolf

My eyes open slowly, looking around the dark room. I wince when the bright light comes on, my eyes peering through my eyelashes, trying to let my eyes adjust to the bright light as it points right at me. My body is covered in my fatigue pants, combat boots, and a brown under shirt. I fight back the urge to scream as someone from behind the light throws ice cold water on me. My body is shaking but I really don't care. I was trained for this, and more. But since my meeting with the doctors about my cyber brain I was fully aware that I could do more. I closed my eyes, letting my body fade away.

"What are you doing here?"

The voice had an almost German accent. Maybe Russian, or even Polish. I was never very good with accents. They all sounded the same to me. I frown as I open my eyes, my mind already reeling through countless other things. I didn't know if this was real or if it was part of my training. But it didn't matter it was all the same.

"Answer the question or there will be pain." came the voice from behind the light.

I laugh and shake my head. Pain was something that they always dealt out. It wasn't something people could normally deal with. But with my Cyber Brain I could be anywhere at any time. I didn't say anything as I saw the images flash before my eyes. I was on a beach, tanning. I felt a smile come to my face, and didn't notice when they grabbed my arm and drive a knife into my shoulder.

For most people pain was a big deal. It was something they tried to fight but when you wanted to resist torture you couldn't deny the pain they gave you. Instead you had to embrace it. Accept it as truth and let it pass right through you like lightning. To resist it made it linger. Made it worse than it really was. But most people believe that by resisting you fight it off faster. Maybe, I'm not sure. But it never worked for me. I glanced down as he tore the knife from my shoulder and didn't seem to care.

My mind was still on the beach, sipping at a martini. I know I love my drinks, and this is the best I have ever tasted. I just smile almost stupidly as I look at the light, almost as if I'm high or maybe drunk. I raise my eyebrows as if I were asking silently for him to repeat himself.

"I will ask again... What are you doing here?" he asks again.

"A beautiful place like this? I'm vacationing, what else?" I ask in response.

The way to beat torture and lie detectors was to believe you were telling the truth. What better way than that to role play. Pretend you're someone else and answer as if you were them. But I didn't have to do that. My cyber brain allowed me to be anywhere any time. And with anyone I wanted. I could be with Angelina Jolie on a deserted island just the two of us if I wanted! I didn't have to worry about giving away any information now.

(550/500)

"What is your name?" the voice asked.

I just smiled as I once more surfed through the internet, pulling up someone's MySpace page. I scan the information quickly as I sit there, breathing slowly, despite the very cold water on my skin. As long as I believed I was warm my body wouldn't hurt me. And my body could heat itself. It wasn't like I was sitting in a tank of water.

"My name is Mary Anne Tennimbaum." I respond, smiling at them still.

"Well then Miss Tennimbaum-"

"Excuse me! I'm married!" I say, cutting him off.

I don't even blink when a bullet tears into my leg. I'm cognicent of it, but I'm still very much away from it all. I look down and would have poked it if my arms weren't bound to the chair I was in. I don't bother and shrug, looking at them, smiling dumbly as they watch me. But that's when I remember what I'd been told. My brain works with computer lines, and phones. Even in the middle of nowhere I could get a satelite uplink. I mentally begin triangulating my own position, and grin shaking my head as they ask another question. I ignore it before I begin sending this information to my superiors. I wasn't on base but I wasn't far away. One man's cell phone goes off with a text message.

'You're all going to pay when I get out. And I will get out of this chair.'

"The fuck.. How did.. It's not possible!" came one voice as they began calmmoring.

'You're all going to die. I know who each of you are. I WILL kill you for this. Untie me now and let me go and the snipers wont open fire.'

"How the hell...? Snipers? What..?"

I remember the war games and the work I'd done on my laptop. The map is the same and I can feel they have a computer there. I mentally probe it, connecting to it, and slowly uploading the program in the background. As it begins their map display begins showing units moving in.

"They're coming! They found us! RUN!" one shouts.

They rush out, scrambling to avoid being 'caught by the imaginary units moving in. My breathing is slow as I come back to reality, my leg surging with pain. But instead of screaming I just breathe out, swimming in it for a moment. I grit my teeth, tearing my arms free of my restraints. I pant lightly as I pull away from my chair, screaming as I hit the ground. Crawling forward I move toward the table where the lamp had been. I grab the leg of the table and break it off. Several things fall off as the table falls slightly. Breaking off the other one I grin as my fatigue jacket falls to the ground. I tear the sleeves off, and open before tying them around the wounded leg. I hated pain but I could swim in it when I needed to. And now, thanks to my cyber brain I could even block it all off.

(517/500)

As I sit there, I breathe slowly shifting around. Folding my top I put it down on top of the fallen table. I shift to lift my wounded leg, my eyes closing as I wait for help to actually show up. I breathe slowly as I wait, my eyes closing as I lay there, scanning through medical dictionaries, trying to figure out what else I could do. I grab the fallen lamp and lay there, waiting for it to heat up. Removing my belt I tie it tightly around the cloth covering my wound, and pull tight, so it wont bleed out. I breathe slowly as I sit there, my body shaking. I'd already lost a lot of blood, and I could feel myself getting weaker. But with the blood flow slowed it wouldn't hurt. I'm not keeping the pressure high with the tourniquet, just enough to keep the bleeding slow.

I breathe slowly as I text my friends at the dorms, smiling when I get a response. They're actually on the way! It's amazing that I was able to get it through. Most pros use scramblers to insure things like this can't happen. Then again it wasn't like they knew I had a cyber brain. There can't be many people out there, government or not, with this.

My breathing is quick as I dive deeper into my cyber brain, venturing into the realm of virtual reality. I swear if this ever gets out to the world, it'll completely revive the video game industry. If you could fully emerge yourself in the false realities of the video game world. My god that would be amazing. Graphics were already astounding but if they could make it as real as it was for me, then we might never have people getting off their asses to work. But it would really be amazing. Oh well. A realm of perfect safety would never hurt. Maybe I'll do that when I finish my tour.

I smile as I hear people coming but most of my mind is lost in my own world. As I feel someone lifting my shoulders slowly I let my senses return to the real world. Ramirez is standing over me, smiling down.

"You're gonna be fine. You're lucky someone told us where you were! We might never have rescued you. Jackasses.. They know life fire isn't allowed durring the war games." he said, as I nod.

"I owe you another beer." I say as the medics carry me away.

I see him laughing as he picks my torn up jacket and follows us out. As I'm carried out I can see the doctor from before standing by a jeep talking to some colonel. But that's the last thing I see as everything slowly goes black.

Again I'm on the beach, smiling as I'm served a drink in a Buddah statue. I tip my sunglasses down over my eyes as I relax, enjoying the warmth of the sun. As I sip at it I spit up sand and come out of the internet. My eyes opened as I looked around the white room of the hospital. But this time my arms aren't bound and the doctor is waiting for me.

"Ah good you're up. We have a few things to discuss today."

(550/500)