Calling Cardinal

Test Drive

"I had the strangest dream last night."

When he does something you don't like, you just close your eyes to it?

The reply comes from the cell directly across the hall. "You always have weird dreams. What's new?"

"This one was different," I say while dressing in the attire laid out for me. "I was an alternate version of myself. I was someone else."

My neighbor rustles with his own things. "Everyone had a life before this place. You're the only experiment who's come close to remembering yours."

"You remember your past."

"I'm not like you. I'm not like anyone."

Right. I died. He didn't. Such an event should be hard to forget.

The ice man and I meet up from our respective windows.

"Did you at least get anything useful? Maybe a name?"

I will find the truth one way or another. I'm your brother. I'll help you in any way I can.

"I'm pretty sure I have a brother." I ease my fingers into black leather gloves. "I wonder if he misses me."

"Probably so, kid. What are you dressed up for?"

"Strange is sending me on my first mission today."

"Good luck." He leans against the frozen glass. "Maybe you'll see your family out there."

"I don't even remember who they are."

We're right here.

"You will. The heart knows that kind of thing."

He told me you were a cynical asshole.

"I never took you for an optimist."

Victor pulls away from my gaze. "I'm not. I had a family once. She was taken from me. You were taken from yours. You have a chance to get it back."

I've heard this story a thousand times before.

"I think I might've had some kind of significant other, too. I—" Every time I see his face, my chest hurts. There's a deep ache in my soul where he belongs.

"If he's anything like me, he's still mourning you. Play your cards right, today. Every mission you get sent out on is a chance to find your people."

Fries silences the conversation after that. He trudges back over to his frozen work station as Doctor Strange approaches. My breath hitches in my throat. What will today bring me? Torture and experiments, or does he feel generous?

How's your first night going, doc?

"Ah, my pretty songbird." The madman wears a bright grin upon laying eyes on me. Strange enters along with two guards. He begins the procedure of logging my vitals. "How are the vocal cords feeling today?"

"I believe my larynx is still inflamed from our last round of tests."

"Your larynx, hm?" He massages my throat in search of swelling. "Tell me, what is this bone?" Strange points to my lower jaw.

"Mandible."

"And here?" He motions to my outer arm.

"Ulna."

The doctor sighs, resting back in his chair. "And you still have no recollection of your previous stage?"

"No," I say. "I'm still having dreams. Nothing concrete. No names. No faces."