Regret

“Human experimentation...” Richard muttered under his breath as shivers ran down his spine. His fear had been confirmed.

“Huh? Why are you so shocked? This is how the CIA has always done its job. You should know that pretty well by now.” the Director shouted.

“But...”

“Keep quiet! A cold-hearted murderer like you wants to talk about morality now? These are sacrifices made to help humanity progress. It is your job to make sure that these sacrifices don’t go in vain. That’s all.”

“Yea that’s right. We have already chosen the path to hell. There is no turning back now.” John said.

Richard still wasn’t convinced. His face continued to display the internal confusion in his head.

“I’ve always wondered. Why do you go to the graves of the people that you’ve killed and offer those yellow flowers whenever you pass by the cemetery?” John asked.

“That’s cuz...”

“Do you regret your actions? Do you think that this job is immoral? You don’t want to commit these atrocities? Tell me, RICHARD!” John shouted as he stood up and grabbed Richard’s collar, pushing him against the wall. “Don’t mess around with me. You, me, everyone, we are all devils in some form or the other. We commit atrocities, we hurt people, and we have our reasons for doing so! There is no point trying to think about it all now. The past is already set in stone. We chose this path with our own free will. We commit these crimes with our own two hands. We are not allowed to regret, the only choice left is to move forward.”

The room fell silent. Richard stared into John’s eyes. He could see that beneath the sudden outbreak of John’s anger, laid only regret.

No one said a word. They were all just shocked. It was not very often that John snapped like this. Probably, he had also gone through the same train of thoughts. After all, John had been working with the CIA for many years now. He must have seen worse things than Richard could have ever imagined and might have committed horrific atrocities in the past too.

But John was right. These agents aren’t just robots, they do feel emotions. They do regret, they do sympathise, they do cry, they do laugh as well. They weren’t robots.

“John! Stop it! You are in front of the Director.” Mr Kawasaki shouted.

John was still holding onto Richard’s collar.

“Tsk, take responsibility for your actions, Richard. You must complete your duty until the bitter end,” he said as he let go of Richard’s collar and walked back to his seat.

“Ahem...Richard, get back to your seat.” the Director said.

“Ah...yes” Richard walked back to his seat and sat down.

John supported his head with his hand. He seemed to be tired of this repetitive cycle. He looked at the director with uninterested eyes and asked, “Director, why are you giving us all this information?”

“John! Is that how you talk to the Director?” Mr Kawasaki shouted.

“It’s ok. It’s better this way.” The Director said as he grinned. “I shall get straight to the point. We are going to implant these devices into the five of you and see how effective it is.”

“So we are the subjects for the final stage of these experiments, huh?” John asked.

“No, you five will be the first products of these experiments. The research is already complete and you five will be the first ones to have these implants in you.”

“Why us five first?” Jason asked.

“Because we want to see how well you’d progress in your operations after having these implants.”

“In the end, we are test dummies again, huh...”, John muttered. “We don’t have a choice right?”

“You know the CIA very well, John.” the director smirked. “The CIA isn’t very forgiving.”

“Fine then.” John looked at his fellow teammates. “We don’t have a choice, so let’s just get this over with.”

“Yea...” Jason replied. The rest nodded in agreement.

“Haha, choosing the five of you was the right decision. You all are indeed very smart.” the Director said. “Follow Mr Kawasaki, he shall perform the surgery in a few hours.”

Mr Kawasaki nodded and walked out of the room, as the five agents followed.

John tapped Richard’s shoulder from behind and whispered, “We are going to regret this too.”

----

The surgery was a success.

The five agents laid on the white beds in the room. Brian and Viktor slowly moved their body and eventually were able to sit up.

“Agh, Why does my body feel so numb.” Brian asked.

“Stop asking questions. Mr Kawasaki will come in some time and tell us.” Viktor scolded.

Jason, John and Richard were able to sit up too.

“Haha, we now have literally no choice other than to move forward.” John laughed as he placed his palm on his face, covering one of his eyes.

No one commented. They knew how he felt deep down.

-Sync Connected-

Everyone heard a sound play inside their heads.

John’s grip on his face weakened. His eyes displayed fear as well as shock. “What was that?”

Richard looked around. Everyone seemed to be confused.

Suddenly the door opened and Mr Kawasaki walked in. “Oh, you all are awake?”

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO WITH US!” John shouted. He stood up but since his legs were still numb, he stumbled and fell back onto the bed.

“Whoa whoa, calm down. Your body needs to get adjusted to the implants and the higher oxygen levels in your blood. You all will feel better in a few days.” Mr Kawasaki said.

“What was that sound that just played in our heads?” John asked. “Why were we not informed about it?”

“Oh that...well in simple words, they are mini CPUs that sync with each other and the main server. Using that we can track how much adrenaline is being produced.” Mr Kawasaki explained.

“Test subjects after all, huh...” John muttered.

“Well, also whenever your brain determines that you require higher adrenaline levels, the CPU instructs the other implants to stimulate adrenaline and pump faster. It controls and coordinates the actions of all the implants after all. Lastly, there’s one more use for it.”

“What is it?” Jason asked

“You have heard the sound in your head, right? When you all are in close proximity to each other, it will connect. It can also connect to the main system etc. We can use this to track your location.”
“Hoho, looks like the CIA is scared that their test subjects will run away.” John muttered.

---

A month had passed by. The agents had finally gotten used to the implants in their body, the naturally higher oxygen supply in their blood, higher efficient body parts, and being able to produce enormous amounts of adrenaline at will.

Every day, the 5 agents were put in various kinds of situations to observe the spike in adrenaline. They had to work out too, but with their naturally more efficient body parts, they could lift four times what they used to lift before.

At the end of the day, they were ordered to check in with the ‘System’, a device that connected with the CPU in their heads and displayed details like their adrenaline levels, oxygen saturation in the blood, etc.

Mr Kawasaki noted these results from this device and continued his research.

“These results are much higher than what I had expected. I think it’s because you five already maintain your body’s physique very well. But still...these results are indeed very impressive. Looks like we don’t know anything about the human body at this point.” Mr Kawasaki said.

“Mr. Kawasaki, we don’t care about all that. That sound in our head is very annoying and I’m asking you to get rid of it! Every single time in the morning, when we all meet, it plays in our heads. Every night when we connect to the ‘System’, it plays. It’s so annoying.” John snapped.

“Ahahaha” Mr Kawasaki laughed awkwardly.

“Don’t just laugh, shut up and fix it!” John snapped.

John normally never behaved like this. He had always been cool, calm and composed at all times. But ever since the surgery had taken place, John had been doing whatever he felt like.

The future of these agents was unknown. Test subjects usually didn’t end up in a good condition after the experiments were all over. John knew that by experience. Being a CIA agent for many years, he had seen what had happened to those who agreed to be test subjects for the CIA. After all, human life was considered replaceable by the CIA.

“John, I understand you are frustrated but to change or remove the sound, we would have to do the surgery again and I can’t risk it for such a small reason.” Mr Kawasaki explained.

“Tsk,” John muttered as he walked away with his hands in his pockets. “Yea I know...”

----

A few hours later, everyone had assembled in the glass walled room. The door of the meeting room in which the five agents and Mr Kawasaki remained seated, suddenly opened as the Director walked in.

“All of you have been assigned your final mission. Within five days, you will leave to aid the US Air Force in stopping terrorism in Afghanistan. We shall observe how well your ‘efficient’ bodies perform in battle. Hopefully, the situation enables at least one of you agents to reach ‘Stage V’ adrenaline level.” the Director said.

John looked at Richard and put his hand on his shoulder, “Looks like the end is near.”