The alarms blared overhead as Bradley started to evacuate the eggheads to a shelter on the first floor.
Another bloody monster attack was ravaging the city, and while many of the shields in place were functioning as intended, there was no telling if they would collapse after a reactor got hit.
As such, it was protocol to confirm the scientists were safe and that the personnel were secured.
One of his lieutenants rushed up to him as she started to pant.
“Got the… *huff* last of them, sir!”
“Good, I’m going to check out the situation outside. Lieutentant, make sure the rest of the officers barricade themselves with the security staff.”
“Sir, are you sure? We can wait a bit for you to arrive after you check.”
Bradley liked Lieutenant Soma, as she was really the only competent officer he had.
She had a good heart too.
“I’ll be with you guys shortly, I’m going to check and see if we can take a few civilians inside to keep them safe.”
Soma stared back in surprise, “sir, the company won’t take kindly to that.”
Bradley waved his hand in the air, “screw the company. We got enough room for a few hundred civies, with room to spare. Leaving them outside is just cruel.”
Soma gave him a worried look, but underneath her worry Bradely could see a sense of pride radiating off the woman.
“You better come back old man, I am not running this shit after you die, you hear?”
Bradley just smiled, “gonna retire soon. You’re going to be stuck with them soon anyway.”
Soma just laughed back, “nope, the day you retire is the day I quit!”
She turned down the next hallway as Bradley watched her go.
He sighed, “we need more people like her.”
Turning to the outside, Bradley began rounding up as many people as he could, stuffing them in bathrooms and open hallways as fast as possible.
It took him a few hours, but he felt satisfied with the people he saved.
Now it was time to check on the scientists below, and make sure they were safe as well.
Those folks already had a massive shelter below, so they weren’t much of a priorty.
Still, he needed to make srue none of them were dead or at the very least, confirm their deaths.
Using his card, Bradley opened to see many of his men and women staring ahead at something.
“Chief!”
A private rushed up to him as he opened the door and shut it behind him.
“Private Leon, what’s going on?”
The private, one of the newbies he recruited, stared ahead as he motioned the chief to look at what he was seeing.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“It’s some well fit doctor sir, but he doesn’t match any of the records for the personnel.”
“Was it someone we took off the street?”
“No sir, no one recognizes him.”
Bradley pushed ahead of the group that was staring at the doctor, the group of security parting a way for him after a bit.
“I’m Security Chief Mark Bradley, please identify yourself and which department you work for.”
The doctor in question seemed to be looking at a datapad.
“So, this is where she kept them.”
“Sir, I will need to see your identification. This is a restricted area and only certain personnel are allowed here. If you can’t provide it, I will need to escort you out of the building.”
The doctor finally turned to face him, and Bradley felt his heart clench.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Tiberius Poxus.”
Bradley placed a hand on his service pistol, never taking his eyes off of the doctor.
No… the villain.
“I, Chief Bradley of the ChemTech Security Firm, place you under arrest for breaking and entering. Come quietly and there won’t be any harm done to you. Resist, and there will be consequences.”
“I was not under the impression that security could make arrests.”
“Call it a citizen's arrest. Either way, I’m taking you in Pox. Stand down.”
Bradley knew his chances weren’t good, but he couldn’t let a mad man like Dr. Pox run around ChemTech.
There were too many monsters in these walls, and they didn’t need someone like him adding to the pile.
Especially not with the civillains above. I can’t let this crackpot loose.
“Well, if that is the only option available to me, I will simply have to create another one. Monica’s little games aside, I won’t have anyone stop me.”
Bradley felt a shiver up his spine as the doctor placed a hand on the ground.
“A gift from my dead son.”
Bradely felt the ground lurch, and soon the screams overhead blocked his senses as he opened fired on the mad man.
He could see a few of his bullets hit, but soon the world was turned upside down, and Bradely felt his body get sliced and crushed, knocking him out.
…
Bradley looked at the ground as he finished telling them his tale.
“It was all him. Nothing in the reports we got from the League ever mentioned he had powers. It was a slaughter…”
They took a moment to check and see if there was other survivors, but it became clear that Bradley had been the only one to make it.
“Get that bastard… please!”
Bradley, whether from his now healing wounds or exhaustion, passed out after a few struggling minutes to stay awake.
Leaving the rest of them to contemplate what they just heard.
“It was never going to be easy.”
Sarah made sure to lay him down before moving on, Chimera following behind.
Clonemera stood at the next door as she waited for them.
“It seems to me that we have a huge ass problem on our hands.”
“Dr. Pox has powers, so do we.”
“He also has Monica, who might be waiting in the wings to hit us when we least expect it.”
Sarah shook her head, “it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change what we have to do either.”
She put a hand on the door, pushing the handle open.
“He dies tonight.”
Chimera waited as Clonemera and Sarah walked through the door, closing it behind them as they made it into the newest room.
“AHHH!”
Chimera gasped as she saw a massive pool, filled with sharp implements and medical equipment.
And in the center was a familiar face, being stabbed wtih harpoons as needles filled with fluid injected into her spine.
“Aura?!”
The girl in question turned to them, a desperate hope in her black eyes as she tried to swim towards them.
‘Help! Please get me out of this!”
…