Creation of Francesca.
Part 16: Lessons of Conditioning
"Just look at the shiny tip of this pen, and count slowly backwards from 25 to 1, feeling sleepy as your eyelids get heavier with every number you past. Stop when you can no longer keep your eyes open.", a familiar voice says.
"25..., 24..., 23..., 22..., 21..., 20..., 19..., 18..., 17... ... ...", a young female voice started counting.
"Francesca?" the familiar voice asks.
"Yes, Dr. Bianchi?" she asks.
"Are you asleep?" Dr. Bianchi asks.
"I am..." she answers.
"Good," Dr. Bianchi says. "Now listen carefully. You can only listen to me, and no one or nothing else. Do you understand?"
"Yes..." Francesca answers.
"This is the final installment of your programming, but first a few questions," Dr. Bianchi says.
"I understand; sir," Francesca answers.
"Though things seem to be functioning well, we cannot know what is going on without you tell us. So tell us, how are your cybernetics working, any glitches, input errors, motor malfunctions?" Dr. Bianchi states and asks.
"Everything is operating within normal parameters," she states.
"Normal?" Dr. Bianchi asks. "Any pain?"
"Pain?" Francesca asks. "No, not with my implants."
"Then, pain where?" Dr. Bianchi asks.
"In my heart," Francesca states.
"...I see," Dr. Bianchi started to say. "Let's go to the last level of programming.
"Right," she responds.
"Open programming sequence 1A1A100-Omega-Delta, Sequence of Rules," Dr. Bianchi states.
"Sequence open, ready for input," Francesca answers.
"Rule input: Without your handler, you are nothing. You are to protect him at all costs, even with your life. This goes above all rules, and conditioning statements, and above what you feel for him. Accept this rule and close file. Do you understand?" Dr. Bianchi states
"Rule accepted... and accepted," Francesca stated.
"One more thing, Francesca," Dr. Bianchi says.
"What would it be?" Francesca asks.
"Give Felix time to return what you want to give him. We men are... dense and slow on these matter. Understand..." Dr. Bianchi stated.
"I will..." Francesca answered.
"Alright; now... you are to count backwards from 100 to 1. When you reach 1, you are going to slowly wake up, and not remember what was done here, but you will remember what was said and you will not speak about it with anyone else other than me. By the time you reach counting to 1, the room will be empty, you will think nothing of it and you will go back to your room to continue on with your normal day. Is that clear?" Dr. Bianchi says and then asks.
"Yes..." she answers.
"Start counting..." Dr. Bianchi commanded.
"100..., 99..., 98..., 97..." Francesca started to count.
Dr. Bianchi leaves the room as she counts. The door to the outside of Dr. Bianchi's office was locked as to not allow anyone to walk in unannounced and disturb what was going on with Francesca. When she finishes counting, she wakes up, and walks to her room.
Creation of Francesca.
Part 17: Mission 5: All Targets Are One.
Two separate missions run simultaneously with a single objective: Termination of Targets. While Jean and Alpha deals with the remnants of the Omega/Alpha case, Felix and Francesca are to find and capture Salvatore Castrogiovanni, a Padania Bail Jumper. Several attempts to capture him with warrant officers have failed with dead warrant officers as a result. With added several murder charges added to Salvatore Castrogiovanni's list of crimes, his capture has been placed as a priority, though whether he is captured dead or alive is another matter. Though the courts want to make a living example of him, law enforcement agencies would not care if his rotting corpse was dragged onto a pathologist's slab.
Sitting in the newly furnished and stocked Armory, Alpha sat on a stool preparing magazines for a brand new H&K G36C after he had stripped and cleaned it.
"So here is the layout of the building," Jean says unfolding a blueprint of their target. "The rear fire escape seems to be the best point of entry."
"Mm-hmm," Alpha mumbled in response.
"Everyone in the building is to be eliminated, except for one.", Jean continues.
"Mm-hmm.", Alpha mumbled in response.
"He is the son of Enrico Natta; suspected leader of the reformed and reunified Red Brigade. With him we hope to lure out his father.", Jean explains further.
"Mm-hmm," Alpha answered once more after Jean pulled out the small photograph.
"Also, we have seen a target of opportunity frequent the building." Pulling out another photo to show to Alpha, "Here is Gregori Pivovaro; former field commander for the old Five Republics, now head facilitator for the Red Brigade."
"Mm-hmm," Alpha said yet again.
"Are you even listening to me," Jean asked as his face slowly became a shade of crimson.
"...Mm-hmm," Alpha answered as he continued to fill magazines.
In anger, Jean lifted his stool with the intent of hitting the young boy with it. Within that time; Alpha had loaded a magazine into the G36C and pointed it at Jean. Breathing heavy for a minute, Jean finally dropped the stool to the floor. Putting down the G36C, Alpha then pulled out a box of .45 rounds and began filling magazines for his Obregon pistol.
Felix takes 2 days to learn of the details of Salvatore Castrogiovanni, his demeanor and his activities. With each bit of information, he sits down with Francesca and teaches her what he knows and expects. The mission has been slated as a termination mission, with possible heavy resistance. Thus they practiced room clearing exercises with their handguns and a couple of flash-bang grenades. In practice runs, Francesca required 6 magazines of ammunition, with multiple shots to possible assailants. It has been reduced to 4 magazines with a single headshot. A live practice was conducted with paint ball guns, furthering the exercise was Giorgio and Nihal for hand to hand combat. With resistance to be heavy, Felix pushed Francesca as hard as he could. He would reward her with a trip outside the compound and some alone time with her to discuss how she feels about what is happening and what is expected of her.
Arriving at the safehouse in the dead of night, Jean and Mauricio confirm that it is indeed the two-story home before them. Turning around to give the boy a few final instructions, Jean saw that he had already left catching a glimpse of Alpha as he disappeared beside the house.
Climbing up the fire escape, Alpha easily gained silent entrance into the house. Taking out his knife, Alpha quietly killed all who stood between him and his objective. Originally; Alpha planned on finding Natta's son, incapacitating him, and dragging him down the fire escape; but killing one guard when it was a pair quickly spoiled that plan. In a matter of minutes the house erupted in a hail of bullets as the guards fired frantically. Watching their comrade's fall one by one increased that fear dramatically.
Finally, after the shooting had stopped; Alpha surveyed his handiwork. Looking closely at all the bodies he left the dead ones be and finished off the near-dying. Approaching an uninvestigated bedroom, Alpha found his target of opportunity. Gregori was breathing hard as he fumbled with arming an AK-47 with a new magazine. Placing, his foot on his shoulder, Gregory looked up at Alpha with solemn eyes as the boy fired off the remainder of his current magazine into Gregory's face.
Stepping into the room, Alpha dropped the spent magazine and moved to load a new one into the G36C. Before Alpha could pull back the slide, the closet to his side burst open. A young man armed with a magnum revolver fired at Alpha frantically yelling as he did so. Alpha swiftly pulled his Obregon and fired a single shot into the young man's upper groin. Almost immediately the young man dropped the revolver lying next to it within seconds. Leaving the young man to scream in agony, Alpha stepped out of the room and turned on his com'.
"Target of opportunity," Alpha began, "identified and eliminated. Primary target acquired and awaiting transport."
Making his way to the front entrance, Alpha pulls out a package of chewing gum from a front pocket and pulls out a piece.
In the ghettos of Rome, Salvatore Castrogiovanni hideout was found. Felix worried about the large number of magazines they had to carry each, 10 for the both of them, weighing them down. Their silenced guns were also an added benefit, as they caught unknowing guards as they entered the premise as market flyer distributors. There were only 2 occupied apartments in the building, Salvatore Castrogiovanni's apartment was easy to find- it was the loudest one of men gambling inside with Salvatore being the loudest.
Felix and Francesca stand by the door, listening to the activity inside. After a moment- Felix knocks on the door. All activities stop in dead silence. The peephole of the door can be seen opening.
"Who is it?" a voice behind the door says.
"Would you want a flyer for the Caesar Green Market?" Felix asks, holding up a flyer to the peep hole.
"No. Go away," the voice behind the door says.
"Are you sure, 15 to 25 percent off on specials and deals!" Felix says.
"I said- go away!" the voice behind the door says.
The peephole closes, and footsteps can be heard walking away.
"I'll knock again, and as soon as this idiot comes back, you kick in the door, throw in a flash bang and take out the trash. I'll be right behind you," Felix whispers to Francesca. She nods with a smile.
Felix knocks on the door, and the peephole slowly opens again.
"I told you to..." the voice started to say. But with Francesca kicking in the door, the male guard did not finish his sentence. A couple of flash bang grenades immediately followed as Felix and Francesca stood to either end of the doorway before charging in. Most of the targets had their eyes and mouths covers as they coughed and waved guns around, but not being to see or breathe hindered them from returning a shot as Francesca picked them off one at a time with shots to the head.
Salvatore Castrogiovanni was found in the bedroom taking on the services of a teenaged prostitute. For his troubles, he was shot twice to the head and once more to the other head. The girl was taken alive, made to put some clothing on and escorted by Ferro and the Support and Logistics teams to SWA HQ for questioning. Her name was Marcie, aged 13 years old, and has been doing sex for drugs and alcohol since age 10. Though no older than Francesca herself, Marcie was deemed as damaged goods to be put through the cyborg process. Too much in brain eating drugs and disease had set her on her way to a downward spiral which she would not recover despite giving her needed medical attention and having put her into a home for wayward girls which she quickly ran away from to rejoin her former profession. She would be found dead less than a year later.
For the time being, Felix wrote up his mission debriefing report, and was given time off with Francesca for a job well done. For his troubles, the Prime Minister himself met up with Felix and Francesca, honoring them with praises and the Medal of The Grand Official of the Order of the Republic of Italy. The news media was there to record this event bestowed to a non-Italian citizen who have come to serve on behalf of Italy's aid, by volunteering their service, time and skills. Felix and Francesca had no choice but to accept the medal, as per the Chief's orders. "Anything to make the SWA- and most importantly Section II- look good- take it!"
Similar medals were given out to the SWA staff who were in coordination with Felix and Francesca in getting their missions done. For obvious reasons, Jean did not receive such an award. In fact he barely received his paycheck that week. Thus within him, a festering pustule of evil and revenge begins to form in his mind against Felix. "How can he- a God Damned Newcomer- advance so quickly! He has been in the way of my hard work ever since the day he came here! I BET HE DOES NOT HAVE PAPERS TO EVEN BE HERE!!!"
Felix takes the next few days off with Francesca, in a little town of Nemi. Just less than 35 miles away from Rome, Nemi is a small quiet little town by the lake that bares its name. Surrounded by national park lands that protects the lake, Nemi is one of those little tourist secrets that no one knows about.
Felix spends much of the day with Francesca, going out to the park and overlooking the grand view of the lake. Other times they are in the town's few restaurants, enjoying homemade meals that are far superior that what some can get at the most fanciest of eateries in Rome or in any other Italian big city. What little time they have left in the day, they spend lying in bed together and talking about what they have. They share a double bed hotel room, complete with modern facilities of a private bathroom and shower. The hotel has a tiny restaurant with for room service. The radio and TV only offered what cable reception had pumped in. Being of different cultures from where they originated, radio and TV had very little to offer them. Thus they remained alone in their room, holding each other and saying what was on their mind.
"Francesca, I need you, for the long term, to get an education like any other girl. I want you to graduate high school and if possible, go to college," Felix tells her.
"I'll do anything for you, but can I ask why?" Francesca asks.
"Simple- one day soon, we will not be doing what we do now. This is only a job, not a career. In order to have a career, you need an education," Felix explains, and then he sighs. "Don't know how we are going to get you in school, but I will see to it that you will."
"Anything for you, Felix. Anything..." Francesca says.
"All I want is your best. Good grades and hard work in doing what you can to get them. Just like when you do when we set up for a mission," Felix says almost to himself.
Francesca only nods for the moment.
"Just need to talk to the chief and Ferro about this," Felix says to himself.
"How about you tutor me?" Francesca asks.
"I don't have enough time to do that," Felix answers.
"I... see..." Francesca says to herself.
Felix turns Francesca to face her face to face.
"I'm not putting you off, Francesca. I do have a lot of work. The chief wants to give me another promotion, which means more responsibility and more work. The same with you, as you are going to help me in some of those tasks. But at the same time, we have missions to do and reports to write up. We cannot mess up and let things we are responsible for slide by," Felix says.
"Aren't you responsible for me?" Francesca asks.
"Yes, I am," Felix answers.
"And aren't you to give me what I need?" Francesca asks.
"I'm supposed too," Felix answers.
"Then... how about giving me what I want?" Francesca asks.
"You know that we can't. And you know that I made certain promises to you that I will not break. You need to wait a couple of years, and be happy with what you are getting now. Understand that I do love you, because you have grown on me and made my life that much more richer. But this is a relationship that we share and we cannot rush into things or else one of us is going to get hurt in that relationship. I do not want to hurt you," Felix says.
"You won't," Francesca says.
"You just don't understand," Felix says.
"Then explain it," Francesca replies.
"Look... if we were to, uhm..." Felix started.
"Have sex," Francesca fills in the words for him.
"Uhm... yeah," Felix continues, "If we were to have sex in this relationship as where it stands now, it will not be so emotionally fulfilling as you may think it would be. To be honest, Francesca, it would not be done out of Love, and you are making the mistake of making Sex to be Love," Felix explains. "Sex is not Love, just one of many ways of expressing it, and one can have sex without love. So if we were to have sex now..."
"Are you saying that you don't love me?" Francesca said with a tear forming in her eye.
"I don't love you in that way," Felix tells her as the tear rolls down her face. "Look girl. Fathers don't love their daughters in that way. Brothers don't love their sisters in that way. That is where we stand in this relationship, and that is how I love you."
Felix sighs. Francesca wipes the tear as it rolls down her cheek.
"Look, it would be so easy for me to take you right now on this bed, and have sex with you. In that alone, because it is so easy, make it not Love. Love is something we share in our hearts, not our bodies," Felix continues.
"Then why do people have sex all the time?" Francesca asks.
"That depends on the person and who they are with. Some people just like sex only. Others use it as a thing of power over others," Felix starts to explain. "It's a long and complicated thing to explain and it in that complication that I do not want you in. You are not ready for that. Not until at least a couple of more years. That is where Maturity comes in."
"But I already am a woman..." Francesca started to explain.
"In body you are a woman, and a lovely one at that. But you still have a lot to learn and a lot to mature up here," Felix says as he lightly taps the side of her temple. "This is part of the reason why I want you to go to school. Only when you can show me that, can we go to the next step of where we are now."
"And where are we now?" Francesca asks.
"You tell me. You share in this relationship too." Felix says.
"Uhm..." Francesca starts, unsure where to begin.
Felix leans over to her and kisses her on the forehead. "If it's confusing to you now, imagine how it would be with sex involved?"
"But..." Francesca starts again, but still lost for words.
"Look. Wash up, and get dressed so we can go out. Dinner in that place we passed by- the Coppola I think it is called, and a movie in that little theater down block," Felix tells her. "We are here to relax, not add to the stress of our lives."
He leans over to her and gives her another kiss to the forehead, and a light swat to her rear end. "Go..." he tells her. With a smile, she hops off the bed and disrobes in front of him, throwing her clothes onto the other bed. She then grabs a towel and trots into the bathroom to do as she was told.
The day finishes off with a movie and dinner. A bit of more small talk between the two of them, a kiss good night and then a long night's rest of sleep.
Creation of Francesca.
Part 18: Returning Home To The Crush.
In the middle of the following day, Felix returns with Francesca to the SWA Headquarters. The amount of paper work was stacked high on his desk from those who had access to his room to put them there, namely Ferro and the chief. Strangely though, there was an envelope on the desk that was from the chief, asking for an immediate meeting with him at his most opportune moment. Felix sits at his desk as he reads the letter. Francesca steps over to his bed and sits on it.
"Hmm..." Felix says as he stuffs the letter back in the envelope. "Francesca. Go unpack and clean up your room. I have a meeting with the chief and will get back to you as soon as I am done."
"Huh?" Francesca started to say, "OK!"
Francesca hops off the bed and takes her bag with her back to her room, to do as she was told. Felix puts the letter back on the desk after a few seconds, and then leaves to meet with the chief. Along the way, he stops by Ferro's cubical, finding it empty. He looks around the cubical complex, and does not find her. Amadeo passes by, and Felix tries to get his attention.
"Amadeo!" Felix calls to him.
Amadeo stops and slowly turns to face him.
"What's up?" Amadeo asks.
"What happened to Ferro? Why is her cubical empty? Did she leave or something?" Felix asks.
"Oh... You were not here... There has been some changes around here. Big changes. Ferro was given a private office," Amadeo explains as ha points down the end of the cubical complex to a wall with a couple of doors on it. "But I would not disturb her though. I hear they have been stacking the work high and deep on her desk ever since she got the place."
"Oh... I see. That would explain... Never mind," Felix started to say. "Never mind."
"You OK?" Amadeo asks.
"Its something I must have ate on the way back. I'll be fine," Felix says.
"You sure? I got a bottle of the pink stuff if you need it," Amadeo replies.
"Yeah I'll be fine," Felix answers.
After a nod of acknowledgement, Amadeo leaves. Felix soon goes to the private offices, finding Ferro's office immediately. Though he knocks on the door, he receives a yell of, "I SAID I DID NOT WANT TO BE DISTURBED!" he slowly opens the door and sticks his head into the office.
"Uhm.. Hello?" Felix says
Ferro can only look back at him in silence for a moment. Then she drops her pen on the desk and signals to him, "Come in, come in!"
Felix enters the room quietly, closing the door behind him. He takes the seat in front of her desk. "Ooo... A private office and a desk of your own!"
"And a shit load of paper work," Ferro adds.
"Yeah, about that..." Felix started to say.
"Yeah. Sorry about that. It's a new case the Chief wants us to look into. Something about the Billionaire Industrialist Polanco and his boys," Ferro explains.
"Polanco?" Felix asks. "Why him?"
"All the rich bastards of the north are aiding Padania with money and resources. We just need to verify the intell, and this is where you and Francesca comes in," Ferro explains.
"I see..." Felix replies. "So, when do you want this done?"
"Done? Those are intell reports. All you have to do is read it and make up a mission for it," Ferro answers. "There is very little writing involved, just a lot of planning and preparations."
"Alright then. I'll see about reading the stuff tonight over some Chinese food," Felix says.
"Oh no. You don't skip town on me and come back without taking me out on a date first..." Ferro quips at him. "You can read the material all you want tomorrow!"
"But, what about Francesca?" Felix started to say.
"What about her?" Ferro gives him a stern look.
"Alright... Tonight... I'll pick you up at your place. Dinner, entertainment... whatever you want," Felix says.
"Make that 5pm. I'll be at your door," Ferro says. "Now, go see the Chief. He told me that he wanted to see you about the case."
Felix sighs. "Alright. 5 o'clock it is."
"Until then, Bye, love..." Ferro says with a smile. Then it changes to a scowl, "Now hurry up! I got a lot of work to do!"
Felix gets up and leaves, to meet with the Chief.
In the almost near hour of meeting with the chief, it is explained to him of what had happened and how Felix and Francesca is going to approach the Polanco clan on a terrorist operation in a joint venture with Spanish Basque Separatists.