The audible beeps chirped away in rapid succession. A light blinded my eyes and didn`t allow me to clearly see what was happening. I felt the pulling sensation within my soul, something was deep inside me and tried to take me into the black. Yet, there was another part of me that continued to shove me& force me back into reality.

　　The pain was agonizing. I could feel the dry and raw burning sensation within my throat. The sting within it as I cried out in agony. I knew I had pleaded to the heavens for it all to be over, but my cries went unanswered. I heard another voice near me, but I didn`t pay any attention to it. The voice did its` best to cry out over my screams. But every time the voice tried to speak; my ears muffled them out which only disoriented me more.

　　I wanted to move about but the more I tried to move my left side, the more I was in sheer, agonizing pain. My right arm tried to reach across, and grab hold of my left side, but I could feel it was being held down by something. Though my body had a burning pain and intensity which raged internally within me. My skin sensed the splashing of water amidst the chaos and torment. A stream of chilled air was blown across my body and covered over me. The pressured air noise hissing in the background only added to the madness. My brain continued to spin in circles as it tried to decipher what I was going through.

　　I came to and practically launched myself upwards. The motion had forced an intense stabbing pain inside my brain. It initially felt like I had a bowie knife rammed inside it. My eyes slammed shut and my hands rushed upwards to grab onto my head. Fuck! Not again!

　　But as my hands latched onto my head and the thought flashed across my mind, I realized. The pain was now gone. The agony I had experienced was over, as if it had been turned on then off, like a light switch. Water splashed all around, my movement sent a surge throughout the tub structure I found myself within. The bright LED lights made me feel like I was in some kind of space capsule. Perhaps even a mini version of the medical room I had awakened within at Scalpel when I came out of my coma.

　　My heart pounded away in my chest. It had awoken ready to fight and defend myself from a threat. There was nothing around me though. I was within a small, confined space. I breathed heavily and started to compose myself and tried to further assess where exactly I was.

　　I looked down and noticed I was in my compression shorts, my dragonskin armor had been removed and I had large metallic devices clamped around my left leg, left shoulder, and left arm. My fingers ran over the metal collar, it was of a solid C configuration. The top and bottom portion connected on one side in a solid frame. The other side of the device seemed to have an expandable cap. It looked to have been added after the main body of the device had been clamped around my limb. An aperture compressed collapsed around my limb from the device to shut off the concealed area from view or other outside elements.

　　I assumed it was also enclosed on the bottom end to which I could not see. The devices themselves seemed to be light, but were just bulky and odd in appearance, something I would easily see in a science fiction movie and not really on my body. Then again, I did have a fucking computer chip in my brain that enhanced practically everything.

　　My hand reached up and touched the ceiling. It was close enough that I could sit up in the tub but didn`t have much spare room besides that. How the fuck do I get out of this thing? I asked myself as I continued to reach around and look for a control panel or something that could help me get out of the damn thing. The room was small to the point where a person of my height would have to be kneeling over or sitting down to fit comfortably inside the space. My tub was placed directly against the wall to my left side. There was a small gap between my tub and the wall on the right.

　　There were cutouts within the wall space adjacent to me. They looked to be seat pull outs, the same way the computer station in the MOV had concealed seats that went underneath the desks, well, these seats retracted within this wall compartment area it seemed. There were other inlayed cuts that left me thinking there were multiple compartments stored within the wall. I looked back to the left and at the wall my tub was connected to. I had to tilt my head slightly but noticed a few of the inlays further down towards my feet.

　　I rubbed my face with my hand to help revitalize me and took a deep breath. I was about to start working my way out of the tub when I heard the hissing sound of decompression begin. I twisted my head around as I was able to narrow in on the noise coming from behind me. My eyes focused and watched as daylight peered inside the capsule area. The wall behind me opened up and a bald head and round face poked into the capsule.

　　"Good, you`re awake. How are you feeling mate?" His voice was a slightly rough British accent. A well trimmed brown beard on his face complimented his facial features. I could just see a few spots of healed scars scattered along his neck and face.

　　He began to climb into the capsule area and pressed a practically transparent touch button on the ceiling closer to the door he had entered through. The compression sound activated once again and the door which also served as the back wall was now closing behind him. He leaned over and made his way to one of the small inlays and pulled the customized chair out and sat down.

　　His brown eyes were a rich coloration that sat below his dark brown eyebrows. His gaze was slightly lower but then lifted up and locked onto mine for a brief moment. I thought it was unique how he had small streaks of white starting to appear in his beard and had a few hairs in his left eyebrow that were grey. He lifted his combat boots up and propped them against the edge of the tub I sat in.

　　"You didn`t answer, how you feeling? All the screws a little loose up top?" He pointed to his head and lifted his eyebrows slightly.

　　"You need screws first in order for them to be loose, pretty sure I am being held together by super glue and duct tape." I replied.

　　"Ain`t that the fucking truth right there." He said.

　　He had now said enough that I was fairly certain I had identified his voice. "LDS right?" I asked.

　　"Fuck`n right mate. Shit, now that I think about it, it really has been a long time since we were slinging lead together. The last operation we were on together was just after you got your callsign of Bloodbath." He reached down and dug his hand into the side cargo pocket of his black tactical pants. He pulled out a polished flask, quickly unscrewed the cap and indulged himself with a drink of its` contents. He finished taking a sip and then tilted the flask towards me, "Wanna sip?"

　　I shook my head, "Nahh, thanks though."

　　"Are you sure? I mean& I would certainly want one if I took the beating you did." He arched an eyebrow and had a smirk on his face which left me believing we were both in a judgement free zone.

　　"I`m good, seriously& This time around, or& what, seventh, eighth, ninth time around. I want to try to do things different." I said as I brought both hands up to my face and gave it another rub. I felt the large metallic C clamped devices still on my arm and looked down at them with a slight frustrated look on my face.

　　"We should be able to take those off soon. What is the color of the LED light on top there?" LDS pointed with the flask towards the top surface area of the contraption. I looked and saw a lime green color which I passed along to him. "Nice& should be a few more minutes."

　　"What the hell are these things?" I asked as I wiggled my left arm up and felt like I was an mutant science experiment gone wrong.

　　"Those little shits` are a medical contraption Brian came up with back at Scalpel. Fucking bad ass device really, saved a lot of our asses out in the field."

　　"Our?" I asked curiously.

　　"Us field agents. I have had to use them, and I know a few others have as well. Granted& you`re the first person I know of who has had to have multiple placed on them. I think I was up to 8 total at one point."

　　"No shit?"

　　LDS took another sip from his flask before he continued, "Yeah mate, you were really fucking fighting it. You must have woke up four or five times." He paused and took another drink. "What was the agent attribute you chose? Lone survivor, wasn`t it?"

　　"Yeah& how did you know?"

　　"I assessed that it was probably your lone survivor attribute that was trying to bring you back up and fight the anesthesia. The chip doing what it could to keep you engaged and fight, so to speak." A slight chirp came from the C clamp and the light was now a bright solid green. I turned my head back to LDS who continued, "Right, take your finger and depress the square button at the bottom of the clamp."

　　I slid my index finger around the edge of the clamp until I felt the slight indent that LDS had mentioned. My arm felt the tension give way as soon as my finger pushed inward on it. The aperture, which was enclosed around my arm rotated back, retracting itself into the device. I grabbed hold of it as it now freely gave way. As I looked over it though I still couldn`t figure out how it all worked.

　　LDS then began to share what he knew of them. "There are powerful magnets on both the mouth portion in your hand and the C-Clamp itself. You adjust the C-clamp first, and get it around the wounded area, then you adjust the cap and affix it to the mouth end of the C portion. Once you have it stable on the area you need to repair, you slide your finger down and activate the device. The aperture will rotate down and collapse around the area to help prevent any seepage during the repair process."

　　"Repair?"

　　"Well& somewhat, the machine will repair you as best as it can. If it can extract the item which is causing the damage it will. If it is best to contain the injury, it will. It is an Artificial Intelligence Doctor in a cube, it can cauterize wounds, remove fragments and shrapnel embedded, or do some slight reconstruction."

　　"So& can I get out of this thing?"

　　"I`m not your bloody parent, do whatever the fuck you want mate." LDS`s brow furled as if the answer was obvious.

　　I started to undo the rest of the clamps as LDS opened one of the compartments next to him and handed me some slip on rubber shoes and a bathrobe. I slid the shoes on and wrapped the bathrobe around me as best as I could within the confined space. LDS reached up and activated the door which began to swing itself open at an angle. I squinted as I exited the compartment and stood erect as soon as I could. My body stretching up and towards the heavens as my robe draped off of me as if I was Julius Fucking Caesar. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

　　A slight chill was in the air, just enough to let you know it was early in the morning. I could see the glow of the sunrise start from behind the rocky desert cliffs we faced. I twisted my neck and felt the pops occur on both sides, a slight twist at my waste and that was when I could feel the soreness and light burning sensation slowly appear and then fade away soon after. I brought my hand up and grabbed hold of my left shoulder. A slow rotation in a circular motion as I warmed it up. Tiny sharp pains pricked inside it as if there were sharp needles still stuck within my muscles.

　　My face winced at the pain and LDS took notice, "You took a lot of shrapnel on your entire left side mate& It will probably take a while for your body to recover to the point that you won`t notice it."

　　I looked past LDS and saw the desert landscape all around us. My head turned all around I noticed some scattered tents and other RV campers strewn throughout the area. I turned and looked behind me to see the MOV. The capsule I had crawled out of was the bottom rear compartment to the rig. The area was directly below the bunk beds and medical area.

　　LDS started to proceed to the MOV and opened another under storage compartment. I smiled as I saw him retrieve camping chairs and began to expand them out and place them next to the vehicle. "Where are we exactly?" I asked.

　　He glanced over at me with a squint. The sun`s rays streaked over the mountain ridgeline and peered down into the valley we were in. "Vegas& Red Rock Campground to be more precise. Just on the Western edge of the city."

　　"Well, that was quiet the drive for us then, wasn`t it?"

　　LDS closed the compartment and we both took a seat in the chairs, "Fuck& I wasn`t driving, that was all the computer brain bullshit up front. Hell, I enjoyed a nice bottle of scotch to help drown out all your screaming."

　　"So why did you bring us to Vegas?"

　　"Well& one, I wanted to get far away from the border, given the new red river we created. Two, I like Vegas. Been here a few times on operations and loved the city. I found this nice little hiding spot and convinced scalpel to& hold onto a few camp sites. We can now always pull in and out whenever we need to. Three& hearing all the B2 stories through HR briefings, I figured you`d want to immerse yourself in sin city to decompress."

　　I waved my hand up in protest, "Nahh& that is the old B2& I aint doing that shit no more."

　　"Are you sure? Could find us a bit of fun." A large smile appeared on his face as his eye brows danced.

　　"Yeah, I`m sure. Thanks LDS."

　　He slowly nodded, "You know& you don`t always have to call me by my call sign. Seeing how you don`t remember and all, the name is Jez, Jez Cajiao."

　　"Nice to meet you, again, Jez."

　　"So& Sasha chopped your balls off already? No more fun loving B2 to enjoy life with, that`s what you`re telling me?"

　　My head snapped towards him. I felt the adrenaline start to trickle back.

　　A tiny devil whispered in my ear, " He not only insulted your girl, but call you a little bitch as well."

　　I gritted my teeth, my eyes glared intently at my fellow field agent and I was ready to see how far he was ready to go. "What the fuck did you say?"

　　"B2 chill out mate! It is not that serious; I was merely joking& you know& pulling your chain? I just talked to Sasha two nights ago, and she made it sound like you two were back together& again I might emphasize. So, I was just busting your balls about that. Nothing to get all worked up about. Fuck!" Jez appeared cool as a cucumber, and by his demeanor, I realized that his comment didn`t appear to be a personal jab.

　　I took a few deep breaths and had to work to suppress the whisper and thirst for action deep down within me.

　　"Are you sure you don`t want that drink?" Jez asked me as I glanced back over to him and saw he was extending the flask out once again. I nodded in return and merely looked at the rough dirt floor of the desert. There was a brief pause and I heard him clear his throat, "You uhh& you hearing the whisper?" He asked.

　　I turned my head back around and with an arched eyebrow of curiosity, "What exactly do you mean?"

　　He took another drink from his flask before he continued. He seemed nervous, broaching a subject that would make him vulnerable in multiple ways. "I call them& or it& the whisper." He took another second to pause as he looked around and up towards the mountains but then quickly glanced at me, "You probably think I`m crazy, but& I swear& I feel like I hear this whisper inside my head sometimes, like its` encouraging me to do more& be more, aggressive so to speak. I was known to have a short fuse before, but now I feel there are times, moments, when I am just a blasting cap shoved inside a pallet of C4. In an instant I could just explode."

　　"Why you sharing this with me Jez?" I asked.

　　He looked back at me, "Because you and I have had this conversation before& I don`t think we spoke about it with anyone else, not even Brian."

　　I could feel the pondered look on my face as I asked. "We have?"

　　"Yeah mate. I guess, I am curious now with you having& blanked out there for the year or so& you, you have that whisper again?"

　　I had started to nod my head as he shared, "You ain`t crazy& I`ve& heard that whisper& as well. It`s been, practically identical to what you just described. There are just random times when it appears out of nowhere."

　　I was slightly nervous to share such an intimate piece of information. Jez had the courage to open the door and shared his vulnerability with me. Therefore, I figured I should trust him with my side as well. Especially sense he said old B2 and he had discussed this all before. I did find it interesting that he was also experiencing this whisper. It wasn`t just me. The primal urges for danger, violence, sex& all of it.

　　Jez followed up, "I never had these thoughts before& I mean, sure I had other temptations and such& you know general guy shit& but& nothing& nothing like this." He said as he took another drink. He quickly changed the subject, "So& looks like you got to pop your cherry all over again. Got yourself into a real mess, I`m sure it will all come back to you soon and you won`t be so green in no time."

　　"Green? Why the fuck would you say that? I didn`t do too bad&" I didn`t even take time to think about the mission, my approach, or how it all went down. I merely responded defensively to his analysis.

　　"Are you fucking serious? Trevor, have you forgotten already that I am the one that literally dragged your ass out of there. I got you fixed up under there?" He pointed with his thumb towards the medical compartment I had been stored in. "Mate, you had like, four frag grenades, two stunners, and whatever else on you that you didn`t even utilize. You could have done some serious damage without having to get so bloody messed up! You sure did live up to your callsign though& But you could have done so without being a bloodbath yourself."

　　As he countered and brought up the simple facts, I couldn`t help but slouch back in my chair. The realization that my first big engagement back had turned into major cluster fuck. I tilted my head with a slight shrug, "Well& fuck it! Can`t go back and change it now. Guess I`ll just have to get better on the next one."

　　"I won`t lie though; I was a little fucking worried when you got knocked out by that RPG round." He said.

　　I raised my eyebrows and pointed at him, "10 out of 10, would not recommend you try it out." I smirked as I squinted over towards him as a ray of sunlight blinded me as the morning sun rose higher in the sky. I hadn`t forgotten, his comment he had slid in there before my aggression practically derailed our conversation. "So, you uhh& talked to Sasha huh?"

　　Jez was now the one to raise his hands in defense, "I promise Trevor& it aint like that, I fucking swear it on my great grandma`s grave and all that is holy in the good Lord`s church, baby puppies, and soft voluptuous tits& It aint like that at all mate. I actually met Sasha before you did. I assisted her on an op and we met at the bar after it was all said and done and shot the breeze." Jez must have read my body language and facial expression because he started to heavily emphasize and enforce his tone. "I didn`t touch her Trevor, only a hug here and there as our paths have crossed since."

　　"I`m listening&" I said to reassure him that I was remaining calm regarding the information he was sharing.

　　He continued, "Well& you and I did an operation together. We were balls deep in a snake`s den practically, but we made it out without a big fuss. Well& it was a short time later when Sasha reached out to me and asked about you. She said she met you on mission and that you two hit it off. Fuck, it was a month or two later that we all ran into each other. I found out you two were official and all. I mean, jesus Trevor, I was getting updates from Sasha in regards to your coma more than Brian or anyone else at Scalpel."

　　I was a little taken back with what he was telling me now. "Really?"

　　"Mate, though I didn`t really know Sasha long before you showed up& I certainly saw her after you showed up. Now granted& I know all the fucking shit you did to her, and&" He paused briefly. "We`ll save that conversation for another day. The point is& I`ve never seen that woman so happy than when she was with you. When she and I talked the other day, I could hear the hope in her voice once again, a spark of joy and positive outlook towards the future."

　　"I appreciate you telling me that& I& I am doing my best to be a new man for her. I have a& a lot of catching up to do and a lot of trust to earn back." I said.

　　"You could say that again." Jez said with a concerned look on his face. "I mean, seriously? Mate& you tried to kill a family`s dog for fuck sake!"

　　I shook my head, "Does it make it any better that I don`t remember any of that?"

　　"Uhh& no& no it doesn`t make it any better, if anything it makes it worse because you don`t have any fucking guilt towards it." He added.

　　I leaned my head back and closed my eyes as the morning sun started to warm the area. It felt good to have fresh air and daylight caress my skin. "It`s a new day, and a new opportunity, no point to let the past ruin the day." I said as I opened my left eye and glanced over at him. "So, sense I don`t remember. What does LDS stand for again? Last Dying Saint?" I asked.

　　His face contorted as if my poor guess was causing him physical, mental, emotional and fucking psychological damage all at the same time. "Fuck no! It stands for Long Dong Silver!" He said as he jutted his jaw out just slightly and puffed out his chest just a little more.

　　I couldn`t help but laugh but could easily see how the old B2 would have taken a liking to LDS. It was then though that I did stop and pause. "Wait a minute&"

　　"What is it?"

　　"You said you talked to Sasha just the other day."

　　"I did."

　　"And when I asked you why you chose Vegas, you said it was to let me& decompress the way old B2 would have liked to."Jez`s face changed to a slight smug expression as I could guess he didn`t like being called to the carpet. "So, if you knew Sasha and I had saw each other again, and that she wanted me to not be the old B2 that I use to be& then why the fuck would you bring me here? Why the fuck did you try to convince me to go do that all over again?" The sharpness in my voice started to return quickly.

　　Jez looked straight at me. "Alright& if we`re being honest. I told Sasha I would give you a little test. See if you`d take a bite of the steak placed before you. You turned it down, and I commend you for it." He leaned over then pointed a stiff finger directly towards me, "But I fucking swear Trevor& if you shatter that girls heart one more time& I will fucking put you in the grave and not even think twice about it. I`ll do it just to make sure that girl still has a slight piece of her heart left. She`ll live out the rest of her life without being poisoned by you ever again."