Breathe - Part 2

Part 2

(Current Revision: 3.1)

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(Please note that bookmarks are determined where the last paragraph begins befor the next page begins in a standard Microsoft Word Prossesor on the default size and font. Each anchor points to the '+'s you see throughout the document and linked below by number - page numbers that is)

+U.A.A. president? Wasn't that bad of a lifestyle. An entire building full of clean air. No need for one of those sweaty, bulky and chaffing masks. At least, for Daunte, it was the way he viewed it. He picked up a thick cigar and brought it to his mouth, taking a long drag off of it before setting it back down in his glass ash tray. He glanced back up to a large window that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. He wished that the air wasn't so polluted because then he could get a better view of the city right from his blue leather armchair in his office.

He was quite slender. He had a short spiked haircut where each spike seemed to have its own subtle shine to it. He wore a pin-striped suit that made his six foot tall figure look even taller. Just your average higher up at the U.A.A.

Actually, the day was anything but ordinary. Today was the big day. Several major busts. Ringing in more outlaws. Finally, justice served! Don't people learn that theft was wrong? Somehow, the concept was lost on people. In a world where air was no longer plentiful like it use to be, air became much more of a necessary commodity. Prices on air were going up, sure, but given the fact that it kept getting stolen was a major factor in the prices. No one in the U.A.A. was at fault for that. Piracy was what drove up prices for air. Not anyone can make a tank of air these days. It had to be certified and cleared by a qualified safety inspection - which was easy enough. These days, you just pass along a few documents, hand them a chunk of change, and they give you approval pretty much on the spot. Then you negotiate the terms again with the M.A.F.A. If you're into the long winded nature of acronyms, that stood for Mechanics and Air Filtering Associations. They were responsible for producing protected air tanks and filling them full of oxygen for consumers. Of course, they were nothing if it weren't for the U.A.A.. The U.A.A. holds the patent for oxygen and oxygen filtration. Officially, the purpose of the U.A.A. was to research and improve the quality of air - though that has stopped years ago. Lately, it seemed that the U.A.A. got the dirty work of capturing thieves who mercilessly stole oxygen. People breathing air for free, who would have ever thought of such a ridiculous thing? Next thing you know, they'll be expecting to have free information! That’s just begging for trouble right there! It's like expecting people to work for free. Simply unfair.

Daunte got up off his recliner and paced towards the large window that also stretched from wall to wall in his massive penthouse office. The city was just that, the city. Somehow, a nice view overlooking it made it exhilarating. He looked down at all the smaller buildings between the taller ones. Yup, somewhere in that large city before him were the people he dreaded the most. Somewhere, there's always a need for rebellion. Why does it have to be against the one thing keeping people alive? Never made sense at all. Still, no one said the common person had to be smart.

+He glanced at his watch and paced back across the room. The busts were happening right now and he wouldn't know for sure where they were coming from. Only the police knew the specifics for that. Well, OK, maybe Daunte slipped into an office and caught a few plans when no-one was looking. No harm in that, right? Either way, justice was being served. Boy was that exciting! Maybe finally the revenue from air will finally get back up so he could get those share-holders off his back for a change. Just once - once - would he like a whole week where he wasn't hearing a complaint from one.

There was a sudden ring that whispered in the office. Daunte reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny remote control that resembled a garage door opener and pressed one of the buttons, then said in no particular direction, "Yeah?"

A woman answered, "Daunte? They're here." Ahh, yes, the man who made it possible. He was in for a surprise today. Daunte replied, "Send him in."

He walked to an opening in the corner of the office and stopped. A moving walkway carried him out of the room. He waited as he passed out of the office and down a decline where the walkway turned into an escalator. The room he entered opened up in the process into a large white tiled room. The ceiling grew up as Daunte moved downwards. No real hurry, so he just let the system work him over down to the lower level. The decent ended and the escalator folded back into a moving walkway again. He stepped off onto the floor and walked towards a vault-like door in the center of the two story room. A small light on the panel next to it turned from red to green.

The door opened without a sound - but at a snails pace. Security was best reserved for what it can do, whatever left remains is a luxury. Two guards in black uniforms were standing with someone in rags between them. All of them still wore gas masks. He was an air pirate, but an air pirate that was caught. A life changing deal was made between the U.A.A. and him - whether he liked it or not. He got off easy though - he's still alive.

Turns out, Wally, the pirate, couldn't return that warm welcome. Wally said, "Well, there you are. I did as you guys... commanded." The last word trickled out as if he was pulling an arrow out of his body.

"What? Are you tired or something?" Daunte asked, raising an eyebrow at his attitude.

"C'mon man! How would you feel knowing you gave untold numbers of people the death penalty... and these are people I trusted with my life!"

Daunte sighed, trying not to role his eyes at this annoyance he already heard. "It was part of the deal Wally, you knew that."

Wally reacted as if he was prodded from the back. He was not amused, but stepped into the room anyway with the guards close behind him. The door then proceeded to close on its own. Wally stared off past Daunte. Daunte realised that he was watching the door close behind him through a reflection on a wall. Full control over the pirate. He wasn't going anywhere. Good. They probably only understood violence anyway. It was for the best.

+The door completely closed, again without a sound. Daunte watched, trying to read Wally beyond the disgust that was smeared all over his face. Wally finally said, "Alright, you got what you wanted, now where's my end of the deal?"

Daunte raised his eyebrows again, surprised at the blunt move. Daunte replied with a smirk, "Straight to business, I like it."

"Lifetime supply of air for handing my friends over on a silver platter. Or have you already forgotten?"

Wally raised his arms for a second, then asked, "Well, where can I get it so I can get the hell outta here?"

"My friends are dead... Dead! ...and you're worried about language?" His repeated word was said with slow emphasis.

""How many tanks have you helped pirate? You know how many lives are lost because of it?"

Daunte wrapped his arms around his back, started pacing and said, "So you've been at this all your life, costing who knows how many lives-"

"If I told you that giving me a penny would repay all the death you caused, would you think that is acceptable?"

Wally shook his head and murmured, "This is bullshit." He started to turn, but the guard grabbed his arm, stopping him in his action. He turned back to Daunte.

Daunte then turned and continued pacing back and forth in front of him and said, "You know, I'm not sure you really repaid your debt to society."

+The guard let go of his arm. Wally rolled his eyes, aggravated enough over all of this. Daunte didn't care, Wally deserved far worse anyway. Daunte continued, "In fact, I think what you did wasn't enough really."

Wally pulled out his laser pistol and aimed it at him. Daunte raised his hands. Someone was going to pay for not disarming him. Wally spat, "Give me what I want, or I'll shoot your greedy ass - right here, right now!"

The two guards reacted, but Wally said, "You move any more and I'll fire right now!"

The two guards froze with their hands on the butts of their holstered guns. This was getting out of hand. Security back-up should be here any second to rectify the situation. Daunte asked, "You really think you can make it out of this building alive?"

Wally smiled for the first time and said, "No, but I knew a hell of a lot of people that would kill to have a chance at shooting you."

Wally side-stepped out from in front of the guards. Damn guards were useless as they watched him walk. He had a steady hand at least. No split second for the guards to draw and fire. Not as primitive as previously expected, impressive! He was still screwed anyway. Just stay calm and security will take him out. Where the hell WAS security anyway?

Wally stopped right in front of the moving sidewalk and asked, "Any last words Daunte?"

Daunte asked, "What good will it do to kill me? There will be another to replace me anyway?"

"Freedom of people? Isn’t that ironic coming from someone who's killed people?"

"I haven’t killed people by pirating air. I had to protect myself from your cronies!"

"Every time you pirate air, you are depriving someone of their oxygen needed to survive."

Daunte didn't make a reflex when the door behind the escalator opened. Slow and quiet like the vault door. Perfect. He'll never know. Wait, something flashed in his face as if he caught something in the corner of his eye. As soon as this is over, Daunte would have this place redecorated for non-reflective surfaces! Daunte would be sure of that!

+A security officer from behind the hidden door fired, hitting him in the back of the knee. Wally screamed and fired, desperate to hit Daunte, but just missing, hitting one of the guards that brought Wally into the room in the first place. The guard that was hit fell backwards while pulling out his gun, dropping it before he hit the ground. Wally fell onto his knees, firing two more times, but hitting nothing but glass tile on the walls. He dropped his gun afterwards due to blinding pain from the laser wound in his leg.

Daunte remained still the whole time. The bastard could have hurt him! Despicable! The security officers removed Wally's weapon from the floor and pinned him where he was, still screaming in pain. A team of medics swarmed the room, attending to the wounded guard and Wally. The other guard was asking, "Is he going to be OK?"

Another medic was attempting to examine Wally's leg, but he kept wiggling under the large security officers grip and weight. Daunte couldn't stand the screaming anymore, "For fuck sakes, sedate him!"

The medics working on Wally did as instructed and sedated him by attaching a small box to Wally's neck and pressing a button. Wally instantly stopped moving on the floor. The large security officer got off of him a moment later. Daunte had calmed down by then and instructed, "Take him to the lab. Tell the doctor he has his subject."

Daunte turned around and realised it was the other guard. The guard asked, "Is he going to be OK?"

The guard was standing close to his fallen comrade with the medics bringing him a floating stretcher while attending the laser wound on his neck. The medics appeared to be panicked over him. Daunte growled, "If you guys did your damn job, you wouldn't be seeing shit like this happen!"

Daunte turned and saw that they were already carrying Wally off through a door that was right below the top level in the room. Daunte followed them in, but took the opposite direction in the dark blue hall just inside. He stopped at what appeared to be a dead end, but a holographic green square rose from his feet all the way up his body and vanishing into the ceiling.

A pair of doors opened up to reveal the interior of an elevator. Daunte stepped in and pressed a small button just on the inside of the carpeted area bathed in yellow light. It had a circle of white lights on the ceiling. The door closed and the elevator jerked downwards. Daunte turned around, miffed over the sloppy work by security. The door was reflective and faintly revealed a painting of white roses just above his head.

The elevator slowed down. Daunte didn't expect this so soon. Who could it be? The elevator stopped and the doors opened up to reveal Craig, a CEO of the M.A.F.A.

+"Craig?" Daunte asked, surprised to see him. Daunte stepped back, allowing Craig some room to get in. The doors closed and the elevator accelerated downwards. Craig was shorter then Daunte, but he had a beard and glasses coupled with spiked orange hair. Craig replied, "Don't be surprised to see me when there's a huge bust going down."

"Good. In the mean time, I'm concerned with our potential deal with an oxygen release towards the end of the year."

"I told you already that I needed to allocate money for these busts. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"12 well-known piracy rings have been busted. There will be raids conducted on several air manufacturing facilities tonight if things go according to schedule. We're striking at the right time. A lot of people are suppose to be there."

Daunte glared at him and repeated, "A mockery? The members of the U.A.A. built this industry. You are enjoying what we have given the M.A.F.A."

"A patent makes all the difference, doesn't it? The members of the M.A.F.A. innovated and invented the technologies that supports your patent. If we cut you off, you are nothing more then a pack of lawyers!"

The elevator doors opened up. Daunte asked, "Is there anything else you'd like Craig?"

"I know what you told me and you failed your mission. Now we get to clean up the mess you started."

Craig narrowed his eyes, realising that this could be a challenge. "Fine, whoever knocks out this perp gets what they want." Craig proposed.

Daunte walked passed him out of the elevator towards a desk in the room beyond. Craig asked, "So we have a deal then?"

The doors closed. Craig knew he couldn't hear him at this point. He whispered, "Damn fool..."

***

I realised that this was a place I've been to before. This wasn't a place I visited often because it was less secure then other refill stations. By refill stations, I mean unauthorized refill stations where refilling your air tank costs mere pennies. These stations are located anywhere you can imagine. Anywhere from - what you might expect - a bar to places few would have considered, like a library or a veterinarian clinic. It really doesn't take much to set up an air filter. Air filters take the polluted air, run it through a series of electrical filters, then releases the clean air into a device that can recompress it into the air tank. Of course, all you needed was the tanks key which is what people like me provide. Without the key, the tank was locked, not accepting any air regardless if the user was suffocating to death.

The tunnel man patted my shoulder twice and said, "Well, looks like you can find your own way from here."

I nodded and turned around in the entrance to the bar and said, "Thanks for everything."

I found the statement odd to be honest, but I let it go. I wasn't likely going to see him ever again anyway, so there was no difference in the matter.

+He left. I couldn't really blame him for leaving me at the entrance. He was already starting to attract unwanted attention. When you're dressed like a tunnelman, you're bound to attract a gaze or two. Tunnelmen were mysterious and needed to remain mysterious so they wouldn't get shot by an enemy - whether you were on the air scene's side of the U.A.A. side.

I turned to the entrance. A couple people who were already staring at us were now staring at me with mixed expressions. Great, the curiosity and suspicion was contagious.

I looked up at the bouncer who was easily over 7 feet tall and wore an olive green short sleeve shirt. Most likely to make his biceps look bigger in the pink and green lights that darted about at random. I said, "Gonna let an old buddy in?" I knew the bouncer - though not very well. I met him through someone else a long time ago. One of the few trips I went in town to forget who I was so I could be normal for a change.

The bouncer looked down. His mask was fitted with a grey mesh to make him look more intimidating. It was very effective, even I wanted to take a step back so he couldn't pick me up by the throat. The bouncer replied, "When was the last time you showed your face around here?"

He sounded like he was happy to see me - despite the assisted deep voice. I wished I could see the expression on his face so I knew for sure. I replied, "If I did, I wouldn't be as great of a supplier of customers."

He stepped aside, unhooking the red rope in the process. I nodded to him and stepped in to the dissatisfaction of the people still in line. I wasn't surprised. If I was waiting for a good hour to get into a club, I'd be pissed off if I saw someone cutting the line.

I wasn't coming here to party though. I came here for a safe haven. They didn't know about that. It was a good thing they didn't even know who I was. The fewer people that knew who I was, the better. If everyone knew who I was, I'd be gunned down in less then five hours. Sure, you're group name will get very well known in the air piracy circles, but that was the extent the people knew about what you did. People talk.

I walked down a carpeted hallway and into an opened up area. There was a dance floor which was packed with people. A repetitive beat filled the room with the fog and laser lights which were more plentiful inside then outside - both in numbers and in colours. A DJ stood behind equipment in the front of the dance floor bouncing to the beat and making various hand gestures in an effort to make the music that much 'cooler'. The music was actually not bad. Nothing wrong with a little Drum and Bass music. Who cares if music is legally banned in any place a few million dollars short of luxury?

+There were tables filled with people, food and beer on my right and a bar on the other side of the dance floor. I figured that I should just wade through the dancers instead. Less likely to get noticed through the fog and dense people.

Someone bumped into me. I looked over to realise it was one of the people that disliked my cut outside. He kept moving though. As much as I hated that, I thought he had a good idea. I walked up to the dance floor and pushed my way in, trying to remember how to dance to this beat and realising it wasn't that hard - especially when no one's attention was fixed on you specifically.

I made it to the other side. It was less dense at the edges, so I just walked back off the dance floor now partially covered in sweat from the built up body heat of the crowd. The interesting part about a dance floor these days is that you have little lines from the LED lights inside your mask randomly moving around - made visible by the fog of course.

I make my way to the bar and decided to sit towards the end. I figured that there were fewer people that walked by at the end of the bar.

Each stool levitated. In fact, the stools were hardly stools at all. All they were was a floating disk and a floating foot rest ring below. Each disk was clear plastic with a pink light around the outside. The ring was little more then a round reflective metal loop. I sat down on one close to the end and leaned on the clear bar table which also had a pink light around the outside, but also consisted of a clear wall from the table down. An endless supply of bottles lined the wall on the other side. It was coupled with a mirror a large mirror on the back wall and a white light all around the edges to make it pretty and also look like there are twice as many bottles as there really was.

I wiped some of the sweat off my forehead and hair. I looked down the bar and saw the bartender talking to someone else. He glanced at me and I signalled him over. He responded by signalling to me that he needed a minute. Must be important, whatever they were talking about. I couldn't see who he was talking to. I know the bartender as much as I know the bouncer. A person I met through a friend.

Ironically, a location where people refilled on air was a little out of my elements. Us sceners don't normally hang out in grungy places like this. We are normally out of sight and in places where few people like to be. It enables us to do our work in peace and away from the cops. In fact, the goal of a group was to keep the coder away from civilization as much as possible and keep in contact with civilization through other people like the curry and supplier. At least, that was the general rule of thumb.

I wondered what the bar tender was talking about. I didn't want to be here for very long. Just an 'in and out' operation. From what I was told and what I've seen before, it wasn't like him to take this long. I then thought that perhaps he didn't understand the importance of my presence. Though, that doesn't make sense as I'm rarely here.

+I jumped. I didn't expect anyone to talk to me. I looked over to my right and saw a blond girl with two pony tails tied in place with small pink elastics. Judging by the face, I immediately knew I didn't need to deal with her. If anything, she was a risk. I replied, "Yeah, and I won't be here again."

Crap. She also knows what's going on. All I knew was to lay low or blend in in this situation. For all I knew, she worked for feds. I immediately knew, get rid of her - right now. I said, "Really? If I see one, I'll let you know."

She was too young to really be in anything anywhere near what I was involved in. Just a kid in her pink outfit. Why is everything pink here anyway? Hopefully my outfit doesn't give me away, though I might stick out a little. I forgot what I was still wearing.

She appeared to be chewing gum, but there was something about here that made her seem older then she really was. Probably my imagination though. She looked back at the dance floor and said, "Anyway, I, like, got some friends I need to hang out with. So, like, see ya later."

She walked back into the dance floor, vanishing into the crowd. Friends? Where are they then? I shook my head and looked back at the back wall thinking less of it. If the police were coming, I'd know about it early enough to make an escape anyway. Illegal shit was happening here anyway, they'd be after other people as well on top of everything. Despite all this risk, I needed to stay here or else I'd be wandering aimlessly around trying to catch drift of any new groups unaffected by the raids.

The bar tender, finally approached. About fucking time. His name was actually Geoffrey. He was about average height with average build. In public, you would never pass him off as a bar tender. He doesn't look very well built. His frame just wasn't built to show off bulky muscles I guess. Truth was, he might be able to beat the bouncer outside in an arm wrestling match. He leaned in to hear what I had to say and asked, "You rarely come in here Larry."

I replied, leaning in as well, "Yeah, and I'm only here because my ass was saved by a tunnelman."

"Jargon was busted. Dan was the insider. Alex was busted. I took care of Dan. Tunnelman saved my ass."

"Fuck. I knew of a couple of groups I thought would get busted. I never thought it would happen to Jargon!"

+"Police raids everywhere. A lot of places said to be busted, but only a few groups were actually busted so far. A couple others might be compromised, but only those rumours that you know you shouldn't believe surrounded Jargon. Non of the rumours came close to what you told me."

One of the names I hoped I wouldn't hear. That group did shit for the air scene. "Why Junkers?" I asked.

Geoffrey replied, "Hardly known to do anything. They obviously aren’t busted. Besides, I think you could help them out immensely. Someone comes in about twice a month. We'll know by then whether or not they got busted."

I shook my head. I couldn't argue with it. It made perfect sense. I said, "Sound like my fucking mother."

He chuckled, knowing he won that argument hands down. I asked, "Got any secure place for me to hang out in the mean time?"

I reached over my shoulder and grabbed my laptop, pulling it out of my pouch and said, "We can make a trade then."

I almost didn't hear him, but I knew what he said. I opened up my laptop and typed in a long password. He plugged in a small box onto the side of my laptop. I asked while looking for the crack file, "What took you so long?"

He didn't answer. Just waited. Perhaps it was on a need-to-know-basis and I didn't need to know. Fine by me. I wanted out of here anyway. I uploaded the crack file and he pulled the box from my laptop. He said while looking at the box, "Got a place a block away. They're due to be here tomorrow morning. I'll find someone to tell you when they're here."

I noticed some instructions popped up. A simple common swap box. I read the location and closed my laptop. Things are looking up. Get some rest. Forget that two people you knew well died today. I was almost golden.

+***

I looked over at Alex from across the table. The cracking program for this month was almost done cracking this months tank. Alex asked, "Hey Larry, you got that thing cracked yet?"

The screen on my laptop blurred for a moment. I blinked hard, trying to focus again. I looked up to Dan who was just drawing his gun on Alex. I yelled, "Alex!"

Alex turned his head. He saw Dan’s gun. He drew his own, and started for the corner of the table. Dan fired, hitting Alex in the hip as he made a run for it. He fell down, sliding across the concrete floor onto my side of the table. I ducked down, so as to not get shot myself. I crawled towards the corner of the table where Alex fell as fast as I could, but everything swam and made things feel like they were going in slow motion. Alex had dropped his gun as he writhed in pain on the floor. I shouted again, "Alex!"

I was desperate for him to not be as hurt as he was likely to be. I was at his side finally. He looked up at me and said, "I'm not going to make it man..."

I felt a presence hovering over my head. I looked up and Dan aimed his gun at me and fired.

I jolted out of my bed in panic. It was dark in my room. The only light source was the pink neon light that trickled into my room from the nearby window like a nightlight. An environment control had been activated in my mask to keep my sweating to a minimum. How long it was on, I'll never know. It was an automatic process that measured the temperature of the skin on your face and adjusted the temperature in the mask accordingly to the default comfort level. Right now, I may as well have stuck my head into a freezer.

I took a deep breath and relaxed my head, closing my eyes so as to calm myself down. Just a dream. I've heard people undergoing traumatic experiences after a major event like this. I sure as hell hoped it wasn't happening to me. I have better things to do then to replay past experiences in my head - like surviving.

I laid back down on my pillow. Beds have dramatically changed over the years. Since holography advanced so much, you could make light a solid object. It was ideal for bed making because now you could just levitate in the air in an invisible hologram that measured how you would most likely be comfortable. The only thing that stayed the same was the pillow. Nothing beat the feel of a real pillow - at least from what I've known. You could still move about otherwise like you would in a real bed though. That was a must. It looked like a reflection of water wrapped around your body. It too kept its own environmental control, but adjusted to your body movements.

+What if I would have saved Alex? Would things be different then? I shook my head, wanting to banish such thoughts from my mind. Alex is gone, there was nothing I could do about it. Dan was a traitor. Nothing I could do about that either. They are both gone. Ignore the past or let it kill you.

It was dead quiet in the room. The only sounds were coming from my movements. I yawned, not knowing or caring what time it was. I stared up into an ocean of very dark pink, trying to think of something else to think about.

A faint whisper leaked into the room. I listened closely. Another whispering voice leaking into the room. Now the whispers were coupled with some tip-toeing. Something was coming, and I didn't like it. I pressed the only button on the wall. I was then lowered to the ground as the light faded away. I saw a lamp shade and a small coffee table. In this light, it might just look someone.

The whispering grew louder and more numerous. There were definitely at least five people out there. There was also some clicking near the rooms door. They were breaking in. I reactivated the holo-bed.

The door crept open. Not making a sound in the process. Some really tall person made his way into the room with a large laser rifle, making sure to not make a sound and failing marginally. They headed straight for my holo-bed. Whoever it was, the person’s eyes weren't anywhere near as adjusted to the dark as mine. Luckily, the light on the bed didn't go inward or it would be obvious that there was no one in there.

The person started to turn around and I spat, "Turn around and it'll be the last thing you ever do!"

The rifle made a clunking sound against the wood floor. The hands rose up. I said, "Put them behind your head."

The person complied. I wish the person wasn't just a shadow, but it'll have to do for now. I instructed, "Keep facing the bed and make two steps toward my voice."

Compliance. Excellent. I walked towards whoever it was who was now out of the light of the doorway and pressed the gun into the back to tell the person I meant business. "Tell me your name."

He didn't sound nervous. He must have been in the business for a while at least. A brave sort really. Brave doesn't always mean you'll stay alive though.

+I patted him down and found a small laser pistol near his boot. I threw it aside and pulled out my other laser pistol which I had acquired yesterday. I asked him, "How many are out there?"

He didn't answer. I knew I wasn't going to get an answer. I had to find out myself. I pushed the gun harder into his back and said, "Move!"

We turned around and walked into the door entrance. It was a narrow hallway with four other people. I looked at three of them and didn't recognize them. I opened my mouth to say something, but realised the fourth person was Geoffrey. I was shocked. I knew him, why would he do this to me? I went ahead and said, "Everyone, drop your weapons."

Everyone lowered their weapons. An array of weapons. They would have easily outgunned me. The safest place for me at the moment would be the streets at this point. I had to get out of hostile territory... fast. I asked, "What the hell is going on?"

The others complied. We started to move down the hallway. I felt like someone kicked one weapon out of my hand all of a sudden. The weapon dropped onto the floor coupled with a searing new pain in my hand. Someone started to appear beside me as the other gun was kicked out of my hand.

I started to get into hand-to-hand combat mode just as she kicked me in the nuts. My legs buckled and I went down to the floor, pain flooding my body from the point where she kicked me. She then somehow flipped me onto my stomach and pressed her knee into the middle of my back.

There was no way I was getting up. One, I was in too much pain to move and two, it was physically impossible at this point unless she let me go as she secured my hands onto the floor.

Geoffrey said, "He's still a risk. Knock him out until we can figure out how we can deal with him."

+I then felt this cold metal at the back of my neck. After a small humming noise and, what felt like, a tickling feeling, everything went blank. Only thing that crossed my mind before the darkness overtook my consciousness was that she sounded very familiar.