Charlie woke up and blinked the sleep from his eyes. John’s face stared down at him.

"Wake-y wake-y eggs and bake-y." John said with a smile.

Charlie sat up in the cot a little too fast and put his hands to his head to steady himself. John towered over him. His head cleared a bit more and he attempted to stand up, wobbling a bit at first. He looked up to see that John still towered over him.

Charlie glanced around. Crumbling limestone walls surrounded them. Light illuminated from the cracks between the stones.

Charlie smiled and pointed at the wall, "Hey, that lighting is one of our inventions."

John ignored the comment. "Charlie, I'm so glad to finally meet you. I'm a big fan." John continued to smile, standing awkwardly close to Charlie.

Charlie stared up at him, "Who are you?"

That upset John. Did they think so little of him at the Beacon that they never talked about him?

John caught himself snarling. He reset his demeanor and smiled again. "Charlie, I'm John Farber. I run New York."

Charlie's face grew puzzled. "Do you work for Ruby?"

John almost lost it again. "No Charlie. Ruby works for me."

Charlie shrugged his shoulders, "OK."

John opened the door and gestured for Charlie to walk with him.

The limestone walls continued throughout the halls, only these rose much higher, perhaps two stories tall. The place resembled an Egyptian tomb.

"Do you have some sort of thing for Pyramids?" Charlie asked innocently.

John ignored him. "There are big changes coming Charlie. I'm going to lead us into the next stage of our evolution. You can be a part of that."

Charlie continued to look up and down as they walked, "Oh that's ok, I'm all good."

John smiled, "The Beacon won't be around much longer Charlie. There is no future for you back there. I'm giving you an incredible opportunity to come in as management here." John paused at a door, opened it and entered. Charlie followed.

O sat at a desk, hunched over a stack of papers. When they entered he looked up and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Charlie?" O asked.

"Hi O!" Charlie hurried over to him and clasped him on the shoulder. “We’ve missed you!”

John continued, "Ever since O joined us he's been able to see his vision through in a way that he never could over at the Beacon."

Charlie ignored John, "Hey O, we still have your room at the Beacon, when are you coming back?"

John smashed his fist down on the desk. Both of them looked over at John, startled. "Charlie, O isn't coming back. He's happy here, aren't you O?"

O looked cautiously at John and replied, "Yeah, yeah I'm all good here."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

John smiled, "Come on Charlie, I want to show you something."

Charlie hesitated and looked back over at O. O nodded, “Go on Charlie, we can talk later.”

They walked out of O's office and down the corridor to a huge open room filled with people. Only, they weren't exactly… people.

Each had something changed. Plastic tubes ran in and out of one person's chest. Another had microscope lenses protruding from their eye sockets. Charlie's gaze caught a new wonder before he’d had time to digest the last one.

John smiled, "All of these people have been engineered to serve you. They have merged with scientific instruments, tools and computers. In addition, we have hundreds of volunteers ready to try your latest inventions. Only now you won't be limited by physical items. Now you will be able to bring your creations to life. Mixing people with machines, materials and power.”

Charlie frowned, "I saw what it looked like when these experiments didn't work. I don't like it."

The smile vanished from John's face. " This is what we were meant to do Charlie. Your attempts at this were child's play. We did in weeks what it too you a year to accomplish." John noticed Charlie's expression still hadn't changed. "You just need a little perspective. Please, accept this gift from me."

John sent a request to connect with Charlie. Charlie accepted and immediately saw:

‘John has offered you Tunnelling Optics’

John explained, “It is perfectly safe, I have one, as do all of our team in here. It will enable you to see materials down to the atomic level. It provides insights into which of your designs worked best, without having to run so many tests.”

“That would be incredibly useful.”

John smiled, "Great, so will you join us?"

Charlie snapped out of his glaze and looked around, "No, I don't think so."

John received a reply to his request:

‘Charlie has declined your offer of Tunnelling Optics’

John's eyebrows creased, "I don't understand, wouldn’t you love to have that?"

Charlie smiled, "Oh yes, it would be incredible."

John continued with his frown, "Then why not accept? Why not join us?"

Charlie continued, “You hurt a lot of people to make these ideas work. I don’t believe in experimenting on people, especially people you took against their will. Anything you’ve made from that, I’m not interested in.”

John tried one more idea, “Charlie, I can assure you that this sensor was created in total collaboration with creator. I can even take you to them to see.”

Charlie shook his head, “No thank you.”

Confusion crossed John’s face, “I don’t understand, why?”

Charlie dropped his smile now too and looked John straight in the eyes, "Because you are an asshole."

John lost it. He punched Charlie in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him out. A moment later two of his enhanced regulators approached and lifted Charlie up off the ground.

John looked at Charlie with distaste. "Take him back to his room."

Then he switched to chat, “O, meet me at the conversion center.”

Ten minutes later he met O at the tower.

“We are moving up the timeline,” John said. “I want us to pull in every Regulator. They need to be upgraded to enhanced versions now. Do we haven everything ready?”

O blinked, “Yes, but not all of the enhancements have been tested.”

John waved his hand, “That’s fine, we have plenty to spare.” John sent out a signal for all the Regulators to meet at the tower.

O asked nervously, “Will we be protected?”

John realized that O was right. No one would be defending the building or watching the streets. He didn’t want to tip his hand, but he couldn’t leave them so exposed. John sent a signal out to the Enhanced to take up positions around the building and at the most important posts across New York.

No going back now, they would run into others on the street. And when they did, the Beacon would know.

If they hurried, it wouldn’t matter.

As regulators streamed into the building, John had another idea.

‘Hello James,’ John messaged via the chat interface.

Pause.

‘John.’

‘I’m guessing you are not happy with me right now.’

‘You’d be right.’

‘Things got a little out of control earlier. I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t do anything rash.’

‘You mean like coming over there and stomping you into the ground?’

‘Yeah, like that. Fights can get crazy. Charlie could get hurt if he found himself in the middle of all of that.’

‘Charlie can take care of himself.’

‘Oh I agree, he’s great. I set him up with all sorts of enhancements and he is as happy as a kid in a candy store.’

‘Really? Would love to chat with him to hear all about it.’

‘Maybe later. Tell you what, I’ll come by at the end of the week with him. We can talk then. In the meantime, remember what I said. Let’s keep everyone safe.’

John disconnected from the chat. He knew that James didn’t believe him. It didn’t matter, he would be ready to take the Beacon out by tomorrow.