This Is Not the End

         I was outside. I had wanted to be. It was quiet, and peaceful, walking along the streets I knew so well. The sun was going down, painting the sky pink and gold.

I had told my friends I wanted to be alone for a while. I heard them following me, trying to be discreet, but I didn't mind. It was nice knowing that they cared.

The fresh air was easier to breathe and the slight chill soothed my aching lungs.

I turned off the road, heading for Pan's laboratory. I wanted to tell him. We were friends too; he deserved to know. Turning around, I tried to catch Zoltan and Xyli on the road behind me. The corner of my eye caught them duck out of view, and I smiled as I walked through Pan's decoy wall into his laboratory.

The blinking lights and humming sound of machines were welcome distractions, but Pan was nowhere to be found.

"Pan?" I called out.

"Out back!" Came the faint and muffled reply.

I picked my way through the labyrinth of spare parts to the back door, then out of it to Pan's landing pad. He was there, underneath the Ostrich, tinkering furiously.

"Hold on," He said, his face hidden beneath the helicopter.

I sat down on a bench standing by the Ostrich, brushing some tools to one side to make room. A loud clanking noise was heard from underneath the Ostrich, along with the occasional grunt from Pan, before he crawled out and slapped the copter's side lovingly.

"There! All the modifications are done."

He strode over to me, wrench over one shoulder, covered with grease, with a proud smirk on his face.

"What all did you do?" I asked, handing him a towel that was on the bench.

He wiped his face and hands before sitting down.

"I found a whole bunch of stuff on the hard drive you sent me. Advanced weapons, communications, you name it. Total super-spy gadgets."

"And you installed all that in the Ostrich?"

Pan shrugged. "You never know when it might come in handy."

We sat for a moment, watching the sun go down slowly, changing colors of the sky faster than we could blink.

"Pan I wanted to talk to you..." I started, but he interrupted me.

"I know."

"You know?" I questioned, confused.

"You wanted to talk to me about the experiments on the hard drive, right?"

"What experiments?"

Now it was Pan's turn to be confused, exclaiming, "The experiments! That's what the majority of the schematics were about. Whoever worked at the Plant was trying to modify humans to make them immune to phosgene, mustard gas... all of it. Isn't that what you came to ask me? If I could do it?"

I looked at him in shock, "Can you do it? Can you make people... immune?"

Pan shrugged and turned back to the sunset.

"Dunno. I'd have to try... they were doing human experimentation. That's really the only way to test these things. Most of the equipment they were using I have or can make fairly quickly. To be honest, I'm using a lot of it to power the Ostrich."

"Really?" I asked, breathlessly, "The Ostrich cane make people immune?"

"Maybe. Like I said, I'd have to test humans. It'd take a lot of work..."