As much as I wished it to be, this wasn’t a horror movie.
The figures trapped inside the vats of orange liquid were real people and this was a very real laboratory. In hindsight it was obvious, why else would there be a giant metal door that looked like it could withstand a nuclear blast?
The room was enormous and I couldn’t see anything that indicated there was more to it. It was all just one giant, sterile, white room, filled to the brim with blinking machines.
“Did you imagine we’d find something like this?” I asked, turning to Alice. She was clearly just as shocked as I was.
“I thought it could be a lot of things and I’d be lying if this wasn’t one of the possibilities,” Alice replied. She took a few tentative steps forward, her eyes locked firmly on the people in the tanks. “Now, we just have to figure out why our hostages are being kept like this and where our mad doctor is hiding.”
A violent churning came from behind me as Anomaly’s body contorted inhumanly. His gelatinous skin shuddered as an otherworldly sound rang from his head. Before I could say anything, his giant form surged forward, passing Alice with big lanky strides. He inspected each vat as he moved down the room, desperate to find his friend.
“How are we supposed to get them out? Break the glass?” I approached one of the vats and placed a hand against the smooth surface. It was tempered glass, hot to the touch. I pulled my hand away and rubbed my fingers together. “The glass nearly burnt me. How are they not being roasted alive?”
Each vat was connected to some kind of Mechatech medical equipment that kept track of the occupant’s vital signs. I could understand that much. From what I could see, all the hostages around us were still breathing at the very least.
“It’s… some kind of biokinetic bacteria,” Alice had switched to Gold. She was studying one of the computers near a vat. I strolled over to her to get a better look at what she was reading but it was all gibberish to me. “It’s monitoring every aspect of the body. Their nerves, brain activity, organ functionality, tissue density… even the amount of hair follicles.”
“But why?”
“Still piecing that together,” she reached out and grabbed the monitor, pulling it closer. Gold began tapping away on the touch screen, flipping through various windows until she got to something that gave her an answer. “Trauma exposure records; Electroshock, duration four minutes and five seconds:, results inconclusive. Extreme Pressure, duration two minutes and forty-five seconds, results inconclusive. Hallucinogenic, duration fourteen minutes and twenty seconds, results… pending.”
“What?”
“They’re being tortured.”
Gold’s matter-of-fact delivery sent a shiver up my spine. I looked up at the naked guy floating inside the tank next to me, his mouth connected to a device that allowed him to breathe.
“You can’t be serious. All of them?” I walked over to another vat and looked at their vital signs. This one belonged to a girl who looked older than me, maybe early twenties? “Why? What for?”
“Artificial Awakenings,” Gold said. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s tried. People have been trying to crack the secrets of powers for decades. Despite all the possibilities proposed over the years, no one’s been able to find out anything conclusive. Biokinetics have tried their hands at it, published papers on it, only to have someone else come out and conclusively debunk their findings.”
I crossed my arms and stared at the readings on the computer, forcing myself to take in the information even if I didn’t understand it. Maybe if I stared at it long enough, it would eventually start to make sense.
“Maybe it’s magic,” I scowled. Gold just snorted in amusement. I struggled to find the humor in this situation. “If this is what finding the answer entails, then maybe we don’t deserve to know.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re just angry,” Gold dismissed my statement without even batting an eye. “There are plenty more humane ways to go about it. We’ve just stumbled upon the efforts of someone deranged. He’s not the first and he certainly won’t be the last.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Ever heard of Project Darkarrow?”
A bitter smile crossed my lips.
“Something about the Soviet Union, China and a eugenics program involving children. Cyberspace blew the whistle on it.”
Gold looked taken aback. “Wow, you actually do know some history. Color me impressed.”
I shook my head and scoffed.
“That’s beside the point, how are we going to get all these people out?” I turned toward the far end of the laboratory. There had to be at least a hundred vats. “I could maybe use my power on the tanks to drain them, but that wouldn’t get them all.”
“There’s the biokinetic bacteria to consider. I don’t want to risk exposing it to the air,” Gold replied. “We stick to the plan. Ionizer and the Rookies are outside and your encounter should have made them call for backup. We don’t have much time to waste. We also have to be wary of Grim. Springsong hasn’t called yet, so I can only assume he’s still occupied but that won’t last forever. Or she’s dead, one of the two.”
I narrowed my eyes at her insinuation. “We can’t just leave all these people here.”
“Sure we can. The reason we’re here is to rescue Anomaly’s friend. No one else,” Gold’s tone lacked empathy. “Think for a second before you start throwing accusations. The ECU will find this place and they will free everyone. Saving these people isn’t our job. If we stick around and try, we’re only going to get caught.”
I was about to reply when a voice interrupted me.
“Guys, down here!” Anomaly called out. “I found her!”
Gold brushed past me, leaving me to stew in my own frustration. I was quick to turn and follow, but my eye caught one of the occupied vats as I tried to catch up with Alice. I slowed to a stop as I stared at the occupant inside.
Pete?
Sure enough, my local high school sporting superstar was suspended in the orange liquid. One of his arms was missing and he looked much thinner than I remembered. ‘Conflicted’ was a good way to describe how I felt. On one hand, there was a vengeful part of me that was delighted in the fact that he was here; comeuppance for all the shit he had pulled.
On the other hand, pity. No one deserved this, to be experimented on.
I ripped my gaze away and caught up with Alice. Just like Gold said, he’d be saved by the ECU once we were out of here.
I was surprised to find Mia looked nothing like what I expected. I had imagined her with straighter hair and a runner's physique. I couldn’t explain why, Anomaly said she was thin but she definitely wasn’t. In fact, I’d say she was a bit more on the thicker side of the spectrum.
“You said she was thin,” Alice said, parroting my thoughts with uncomfortable accuracy. “Look at her, that’s not thin. I’m thin.”
Anomaly shook his head. “She didn’t used to look like this, I swear. She was skinnier at the party. They must’ve done something to her.”
“They’ve done something to everyone,” I said, gesturing to the tanks. “Look around. Some people are missing limbs. Alice said they’re being tortured.”
“What!?” His panic spiked and he looked ready to transform and break the glass to rescue her. “Why? What the fuck for?”
“Artificial Awakening,” Alice said again. “And then some experimentation has been thrown in for some spice. To what end, I’m unsure. Gold’s still figuring it out but she’s going to need more time. If we can find any clues, that’ll help things along.”
“Fuck the clues, I’m busting her out of there.”
“Wait!” Alice caused Anomaly to stop midway through his transformation. “We don’t know what kind of damage we’ll cause if we just break in to get her. Look at all the equipment that’s attached to her. You think that’s going to be easy to remove? If you want her in one piece, we have to drain the tank and disconnect the equipment properly.”
“This entire place is filled with Mechatech as well,” I chimed in, double-checking the security on the vats. Even this stuff was impossible for me to hack. Maybe… maybe I could invest a few charges to see if it made any difference. “I can tell you now if you start breaking things, bad shit will happen.”
“Bad shit? What the hell does that mean?”
“He means that this whole bunker has counter measures and the moment a system reports a critical failure, the whole place is going to go on high alert.”
Anomaly scoffed. “Who cares? I checked and there’s no one here, we dealt with them all. Who’s this place going to alert?”
“Grim,” I muttered under my breath. He turned to me with an incredulous look. “What? You don’t think Grim has a way to alert him if his super secret laboratory was broken into? Chances are, he’ll be back here in a heartbeat. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to take that risk.”
Alice nodded in agreement. “And, I’m not entirely sure we are alone. This is a laboratory filled with all kinds of Mechatech. I’m almost certain that whoever has been working here is watching us. They wouldn’t abandon this place just because they heard the commotion upstairs.”
Anomaly started to calm down a bit. “You’re serious?”
“Dead serious,” Alice replied, “someone’s here.”
Anomaly transformed again and looked around, his smooth head carefully scanning the area. He stretched, looking through every nook and cranny of the laboratory before returning to us and reverting.
“I didn’t see anyone. Can’t see any pulses either.”
“Sonar,” Alice breathed like she had just realized something. “It was on the tip of my tongue before. That’s what it is.”
I ignored her realization. “Maybe you missed something. Can you see people through walls?”
Anomaly shook his head. “If I could, my life would be a whole lot easier.”
I turned to Alice. “Maybe there’s a panic room. All this Mechatech and no escape plan? Seems like bad design to me.”
“You’re right, which means we’re missing something,” Alice’s gaze started to roam and it took me a moment to figure out what she was looking for. Cameras, anything that could be giving our enemy intel on us. Finally, she shook her head and sighed. “We’re wasting time. We need to get her and get out. I don’t like being here any longer than I need to.”
Anomaly gestured to the tank. “Let’s stop fucking around then.”
Alice stepped pulled the display monitoring Mia closer. Her fingers flew across the touch screen as Gold took the reins. Anomaly started to pace as she worked, his anxiousness getting the better of him. I couldn’t blame him. I was on edge now as well, the knowledge that we were being watched weighed on my mind.
That settles it.
[Charges: 24/25]
[Software]
* Electrical System Detection MK II
* E.S.D MK III (Cost: 3)
* E.S.D MK IV (Cost: 4) (Requires: Processor Component MK II)
* Network Breaching MK II
* N.B MK III (Cost: 3)
* N.B MK IV (Cost: 4) (Requires: Processor Component MK II)
Shit.
I had forgotten I had integrated my old phone into my helmet instead of my new one. The old version still had better than the latest public hardware but I hadn’t gone any further than a MK I upgrade.
[Charges: 24/25]
[Processor]
* Gen-Core
* Gen-Core MK II (Cost: 1)
* Gen-Core MK III (Cost: 3)
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
I had already upgraded to a MK II on my replacement phone so I got a nice little discount here. I needed to see if this would make a difference, so I burned the first charge to upgrade to a MK II Processor and then invested seven charges into Network Breaching.
In the blink of an eye, the upgrade was done and I scanned the networks again. Unsurprisingly, I was met with the same sea of red dots. Even with a MK IV Network Breaching program, Fireiron Industries tech was still holding strong.
Damn, once more maybe?
[Charges: 16/25]
[Software]
* Network Breaching MK IV
* N.B MK V (Cost: 5)
* N.B MK VI (Cost: 6) (Requires: Processor Component MK III)
I found myself tentatively biting my lip as I weighed the pros and cons of the cost. Fourteen charges based purely on hope was egregious enough to snap me out of it. I had already recognized that the machinery all around me was the most sophisticated I had ever seen, so trying to brute force the issue wasn’t going to help – at least – not in a reasonable timeframe.
I hesitated and ultimately decided against it.
I wanted to keep a decent chunk of charges in reserve for an emergency so I didn’t end up in another situation like my first fight with Nemesis. Although… maybe I could spare a few charges on my detection software? It was fairly cheap and it could give us a lead.
I dropped seven charges to upgrade to Electrical System Detection MK IV.
“Upgrade, quit spacing out and get over here,” Alice said. I minimized the upgraded program and headed back to my two partners in crime. “I managed to drain the fluid. I’m just working on opening the vat. Once we get her, we’re leaving.”
“So soon?”
“Springsong messaged me. Grim’s stopped following her.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
“How long do you think we have?”
“Five minutes if he’s trying to get back here,” Gold said. “I’m not taking any chances. Not with him. We grab Mia and get out.”
Anomaly rolled his shoulders. “Sounds good to me.”
I looked over my shoulder to scan the bunker one more time. It annoyed me that I couldn’t do anything to help these people, but faced with the possibility of Grim returning and flooding this place? There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t prioritize my life over theirs. It was selfish, and for once, I didn’t feel bad about it.
“Feels weird that we haven’t been attacked yet. You’d think whoever was working down here would have put up a fight,” I murmured. “Or at least stop us from trying to steal one of their hostages.”
“Don’t fuckin’ jinx it man,” Anomaly hissed.
“No, Upgrade’s right. Keep an eye out. Both of you,” Gold interjected. “They're going to try something. Just be prepared.”
At this point, anything really could be anything. I brought up my newly updated security breaching program and was stunned by the sheer increase in red dots. They were practically everywhere, so much so that it made it nearly impossible to see out of my visor, so I quickly increased the transparency on my HUD.
I froze.
Before, the red dots had been static, unmoving. Mostly surgery equipment and the like. Now, my software was picking up on signals that were moving.
Red dots skittered across the walls, hundreds of them, all congregating around us but not getting too close. These networks were aware of us, enough to give us sufficient room to move. The only problem was I couldn’t identify what or where they were. Were they in the walls or on the surface?
“Alice—”
“Got it!” There was a humming of machinery and a whirling before the glass doors of the vat slid to the side. Anomaly was quick to move, contorting limbs and reaching for Mia. “Careful! If you start pulling that stuff out, you’re going to cause damage.”
Anomaly’s movements slowed and became meticulous as he gently pulled at the apparatus connected to Mia.
“Start with the left shoulder, move to the right, then disconnect the clamp around her waist. The oxygen equipment is the last to go,” Alice instructed. “Upgrade, find something to cover her up— the towels over there,” she pointed to a surgical table that had an abundance of sheets and towels stacked next to it. “Grab those.”
“Alice—” I tried again, but the urgency in my voice was ignored.
“Just get the towels!”
“Listen to me for a second!” I snapped, finally getting through to her. Her head tilted. I lowered my voice to hopefully avoid alerting whoever was watching us. “We’re surrounded by something. I improved my detection and now there’s encrypted connections my software can’t breach. There’s heaps of them, hundreds. They’re everywhere and I can’t see them.”
Alice moved like she was in slow motion. Discreetly, she peered over her shoulder before looking all around us.
“I… don’t sense anything.”
“They’re in a circular perimeter around… wait, what?” I rewound what she just said in my head. “What do you mean, sense? You don’t have any sensing powers.”
Alice gave me a weird look. “I’m an Aspect, remember?”
“Yeah, but you never mentioned anything about sensing things.”
“But that’s what Blue is, me. I have a danger sense, a sort of minor precognition,” Alice frowned. “Did I never…? Oh, whoops. I guess I never mentioned it, huh. I’m so used to this being my default that my power just sort of— ugh, never mind this! It isn’t important. I knew we were being watched! Gold’s saying they’re camouflaged drones. Tiny things. Smaller frequency, that’s why your tech wasn’t picking it up before.”
“Hostile?”
Alice swallowed. “If ordered to, yeah.”
My hands started to sweat. “So… why haven’t they been ordered to attack?”
Alice became a shade paler. “You know… that’s a really good question.”
We stared at each other like two mice who had realized they had been caught in a mouse trap. But the trap hadn’t been sprung yet and we weren’t sure why.
For the first time, I saw genuine fear flash across Alice’s features.
“How many?” She asked.
“Too many,” I replied, glancing at the sea of red that surrounded us. They kept a wide berth, about ten meters to be exact, but they all stood so close together that from my perspective, they looked like gleaming red eyes. “Hundreds, maybe thousands, all around us.”
“Watching, listening,” Gold was here and gone the next. “They're waiting for something. For us to rescue Mia? Why give us so much leeway? To learn? To study? Observe?”
“Maybe they're waiting for an opening?” I wagered.
Alice quickly shook her head. “They had an opportunity and deliberately chose to not take it.”
Something clattered to the floor a couple of feet from where Alice and I were standing and the sudden noise startled us. We looked over to see Anomaly on the floor next to his friend. He had pulled her from the vat and removed all the crap connected to her. She was lying naked, wet, and cold, cradled in his arms.
“She’s okay… I think? She’s breathing, at least.”
His words kicked us into gear.
Alice gave me a nod and I turned and fetched the towels while she moved back over to examine Mia. We’d deal with our little spy problem momentarily when we had secured who we came for. They were content to sit and watch for the moment, so for now, we’d have to let them.
As I grabbed the towels and sheets from the table, I noted how the invisible drones moved away with each step I took. They had been ordered to maintain a certain distance from us, it seemed. Was whoever controlling them content to just watch us walk in and take one of their experiments?
Maybe… they aren’t attacking because they don’t want to risk damaging the place? Everything down here is nearly priceless.
That thought somewhat put me at ease. They had probably been monitoring Alice and Anomaly’s fight upstairs when they took out Gold Rush and Nemesis. From that, there was a possibility that the person in control of this place didn’t want to attack and was simply content to allow us to take Mia, so long as we left everyone else.
That was one possibility that came to mind. The other ones I didn’t want to entertain.
“How’s she doing?” I arrived with the towels and we all worked to wrap her up. “I don’t think we’d get away with taking her to the hospital.”
“She just needs to rest,” Alice said. “Some uninterrupted sleep, food, and a hot drink and she’ll be fine – well, physically at least. I can’t even begin to imagine the mental trauma she’s endured. We just need to get her back to my place, she can use my couch.”
“Woah, woah. We’re taking her to your place?” Anomaly looked like he wanted to protest. “I don’t—”
“Where exactly are you planning on taking her?” Alice cut him off. “If you take her home, her parents are going to have questions and she’ll end up in the ECU’s care. I don’t even need to ask if you’re okay with that and you better believe I’m not letting you take her to your place.”
Anomaly looked outraged. “What? Why?”
“Are you telling me that you can keep an unconscious girl hidden from your guardian?” Alice questioned.
Anomaly looked uncomfortable and struggled to answer.
“Look,” I said. “We’ve stuck our necks out to help you this much. Give us the benefit of the doubt here. We’re not about to run off with her.”
“Fine. We can go to your place.”
Alice gave him a thankful smile. “Good, now let’s get out while we still can.”
Anomaly transformed and picked Mia up with one of his long, spindly arms. It coiled around her until it formed a safe cocoon while still leaving enough room for her to breathe. Hopefully, he wouldn’t crush her but I had faith that he could control his own power.
I led the way back toward the exit and Alice was quick to join me up front while Anomaly trailed behind us.
“What are the drones doing now?”
“Moving out of our way. They’re keeping their distance.”
“They’re just letting us go?” Alice scowled, looking tentatively from side to side. “I guess they don’t want to start a fight. A bunker like this is no small investment, even for a company as big as Fireiron. The stuff in here is probably worth millions. Too bad looting is too big of a risk.”
There were a number of things here that inspired me. If we weren’t on such a short schedule, I wouldn’t have minded staying some more to see if I could salvage something, or at the very least take some small pieces of tech. Who knows, maybe I could come back later and loot the place when Grim was dealt with.
Doubtful. The ECU will have gutted everything by the time that happens.
“I’m sure there’ll be other opportunities,” I said as we came up to the main door. Its liquid-like form was still exactly as we had left it but I noticed a glaring red dot descend the stairs on the other side. I stopped dead in my tracks. “Shit.”
“What?” Alice asked. “Tell me it’s not Grim.”
The red dot on the other side of the door hesitated for a moment before passing through.
Emerging from the intangible door, Ionizer stepped through, blocking our exit. He took one look at us and activated his power, electricity surging around him.
Now he shows himself? Where the hell was he before?
Alice’s jaw tightened. “Crap.”
“Freeze,” the ECU Captain’s words came out as a firm command. “I’m obligated to give you one chance. Place the girl on the floor and step back. Surrender peacefully and this doesn’t have to get ugly.”
Anomaly bristled and made a noise akin to the screams of the damned. The arm carrying Mia curled a little bit tighter and he drew it closer to the center of his body.
“How often has that worked out for you?” Alice asked, amusement lacing her tone.
Ionizer kept his guard up but I saw the corner of his mouth curl slightly. “Not as much as I’d like. Most prefer to fight.”
“Well, we’re not looking for one. We’re just here for our friend,” Alice gestured to Mia. “She was taken by The Cains. I assume you’ve already seen the presents we left for you upstairs?”
“That was your doing then,” Ionizer nodded, his gaze slowly drifting to me. “And your claim to be a distraction appears to be legitimate.”
I recalled the words I had blurted out to Prosperity in a gambit to get her off me. It seemed she had reported exactly what I had said to her superior. Unsurprising.
“I hope she’s not too upset that I shot her,” I said. “She wouldn’t get off me, and I did try asking nicely.”
“Prosperity was more concerned about the fire you apparently started.”
“What?” I felt indignation surge within me. “She started it!”
“I know,” Ionizer said without missing a beat. “She isn’t the best liar.”
“Okay, while we’d love to stay and chit chat, we’ve really gotta be going,” Alice said. “Besides, you’ve got bigger things to worry about than us. So step aside and let us through. We can call it a gesture of good will since we basically did your job for you.”
Ionizer didn’t react to her words. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
“Ugh,” Alice grumbled. “Heroes are the worst to negotiate with. Do you seriously want to throw down here? There’s a bunch of innocent people that will be caught in the crossfire and I have it on good account that Grim will be back here any moment.”
Again, her words didn’t phase him.
“I never said I was going to fight you.”
Comet flew through the door and ensnared all of us in her telekinetic aura before we could react. We were lifted off the ground and suspended in the air as Bayside’s poster-child hovered next to her captain. I hadn’t even seen her coming, even with my detection software active. She was too fast, and I hadn’t been looking up toward the stairs.
Her gaze fixated on me and she sneered. “Got you.”
Fuck.
I tried to look at Alice but I couldn’t even move my neck. It was like being caught in Springsong’s silent song, except I could feel a pressure squeezing me.
“Not so slick now, are you?” Comet hovered closer to me. “You think that’s funny, messing with me like that?”
“Comet, that’s enough,” Ionizer ordered.
“But he—”
“I said enough.”
“Fine,” Comet snarked back. “But don’t bother asking me to patrol on a Friday again. You could’ve gotten Copycat, or Seraphim.”
“You’re the most experienced Rookie on the team. It’s your job to act as a role model for Prosperity,” Ionizer said like he was repeating it for the millionth time. “We will talk about your attitude later back at base. Now is not the time for this.”
“Aw… domestic troubles?” Alice chuckled, sounding remarkably confident given our situation. “Been there, done that. I could write a whole series on it.”
“What would you know?” Comet snarled.
Alice snorted. “More than you.”
Someone else stumbled through the door, almost landing flat on their face. Prosperity rose to her feet and dusted herself off, grumbling all the while. It was at this moment that I noticed movement on my visor.
The swarm of invisible drones began moving.
“What are you doing here?” Ionizer asked, his tone rough. “I told you to watch the captives.”
“I did! But then our uh… guys arrived and said they’d handle things,” Prosperity explained in a hurry. “So I thought I’d come and find you.”
A sea of red dots surrounded us, a good chunk moving toward Prosperity.
“You need to listen to my instructions. I never cleared you to follow us,” Ionizer said.
It suddenly hit me why the drones hadn’t attacked us before.
They were waiting for all of us.
Comet groaned. “Oh lay off her, she’s fine. We’ve got it under control.”
The drones blared, the sea of red dots coming alive before my very eyes.
There was no time to shout a warning before the chaos erupted.