I had no time for this, fighting off her attempt to cut me with a scalpel I opened the briefcase she was holding and quickly pulled out a syringe. She lunged forward desperately clawing at my chest but with a swift movement, I plunged the needle viciously into her neck allowing the drug to seep in. She too would soon experience the maze, her body now violently twitching on the floor. I kicked her aside before examining the case's contents.
I pocketed the second vial and a needle, wedging them in a protected vest pocket.
The scientists in the viewing room had seen these actions and were frantically trying to close the blast doors yet it was too late, by the time the door sprung shut I had passed through with the scientist's gun clutched in my hand. Several guards were on the floor, each one bottlenecked my position as I clung myself in the doorway desperate for cover, if I didn’t act fast I would soon find myself permanently pinned down and killed.
The lounge and viewing room were connected and as the viewing room had a door next to mine I only needed to travel a few steps. Bullets whizzed down the hall as an alarm blared through the commotion, I knew I had to act fast but how. My memories and experience would help me, but most importantly reflexes. Desperately trying to clear my mind I sprinted out of my position guns blazing, projectiles flinging out of my barrel faster than I could pull the trigger. I had downed seven troopers before the first had hit the ground, each shot with the stun gun impeccable. I was a god, an unstoppable monolithic beast of human and metal, every shot, hit, ever dodge perfectly times and every reloads fantastically.
My enemies soon recognized the danger. After I had shot the first thirteen the remaining five fled with a burning fear for their lives, picking up two of their heavy black assault rifles from the ground I dual-wielded the weaponry, using brute strength to spray an endless stream of bullets down the vast hallway.
Backing into the visitors center doorway I smashed one of the assault rifles on the ground and removed its battery pack, there was no thought only action, my brain springing to quick action. A bullet whizzed by my ear as my hands worked singing my hair slightly. Bending the wire and the putty from a nearby hand grenade together with the battery I cranked the modified weapon up to maximum power, left it on the floor, and dashed into the second doorway plugging my ears.
The explosion which coincided was massive, its shockwave shattering the glass of the security camera panels and sending the small army of advancing troops to run for re-enforcements as they thought I had created some form of RPG.
Once the smoke had half-cleared I used the haze to my advantage picking up two assault rifles once more and walking into the room. The steel had been blown to smithereens, a cratering shard of metal and glass standing in its path, the scientists hesitated before scurrying past me, I let them live, cowards who would soon fall behind the safe ranks of the advancing guards. The command center had been heavily damaged by the explosion with most of the consoles flashing red, and a pile of glass shards littered the floor along with broken test tubes and needles. Once the smoke had completely cleared I could see the chair and immobilized guards through the plexiglass window.
The lounge door was just ahead but Zin would be expecting me, one way in, one way out, but what he wouldn’t expect was to be surprised. I cast my eye upon the chemicals that lay before me, and grabbed a hold of a partly cracked glass test tube, throwing in a recipe of compounds I can hardly recall. I topped it off with a seal of cloth and poured in a piece of putty. Cocking the homemade flashbang created in an appalling twelve seconds I blasted a hole in the lounge door and tossed it in. Shielding my eyes I waited for a small pop before sprinting inside.
The seven guards and Zin himself were completely blinded, all in defensive positions around the room. I saw Ellis in cuffs seated on a chair with a screen viewing the chamber. Blasting the two soldiers who attempted to blind fire, and evading one who attempted to maniacally stab the air around him I grabbed ahold of Ellis’s orange jumpsuit and dragged him out of the room, filling the couches and consoles with bullets as I fled. I did not hit Zin himself, somehow he had flipped a table over a millisecond before I fired, taking cover from my stun shots and returning hostile fire.
Realizing a battle would be futile I fried the door command with a wack from my rifle butt sealing their leader inside. Back pressed against the steel I breathed in for a moment, sweat trickling down my brow before shuffling Ellis to the exit. We had little time, and much to do, it was only luck that would save us now.
Once we had reached the outside tunnels Ellis had recovered, his face flooded with emotion.
"How?" he stopped in his tracks.
"What do you mean?" I turned confused.
"I saw you die, John" he whispered, fear plastered in his eyes
"But I didn't"
"It got you, in the maze it got you"
"No" I responded coolly
"Your eyes, what is with your eyes,” he asked.
I stared at him slightly confused before looking into a cracked screen on the wall, my eyes once blue had become purely a shining gold, the same color as the chemical.
“You never left the maze did you?” he asked
“No, I don’t think I did” I replied, shoving a rifle into his awaiting hands.
The two of us then walked into the pummeling ashes of hell, braving the inferno to stalk along the bloodied marble floor. Those who crossed our path cowered in fear at our combined might, even with Ellis’s permanent limp we braved the unknown cutting through entire legions of Zin’s men, utilizing the stun feature to immobilize hundreds of his loyal followers.
We fired faster than the speed of sound itself, every shot hit, every target neutralized within a millisecond. We were unstoppable, a combination of skills that merited a full-scale retaliation, and eventually, the compound fell back, cutting off the entire section of the base with impenetrable blast doors and amassing an army at the gates whose sheer number and experience would bring us death, we only had to do three things, find sparky, find Shaw and get a ship. I knew of both.
Shooting our way through halls fourteen through twenty-two I liberated the hall of any hostiles who dared to stand in our way. Seeing a tunnel car ahead we pounced on its riders finishing them off quickly with our pistols.
Commandeering the vessel we zoomed through the halls, Ellis barking orders and directions with a map of the prison taken from a guard in hand. We sped through the windy network of tunnels, and once we had reached the entrance of the prison block we found Shaw’s enforced cell, the guards situated there had either fallen back or fled, the red light of an alarm whirling throughout the chamber. Wiping the foggy glass with my sleeve I peered through to see her robotic face stare back, a fiery light in her eyes.
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“Great, I see her, let's try to force this open,” I said hastily.
"Can you open it?" Ellis asked.
"It's a regular door right?" I replied.
"I don't think so" he motioned.
He tapped it with the butt of his rifle causing a sharp sound to echo through the halls.
"What was that?" I questioned.
“This metal, this isn’t the weak steel and titanium we’ve been cutting through, it’s something else, I suggest we find some form of explosive, and blast the door, or hack it,” Ellis replied.
I stepped back to stare at the ash-colored gate, it had three components, a steel door, a titanium door, and one final door, most likely made of reinforced space metal.
The console on the door’s hinge was operating properly but I had to act fast. A projectile flew past my head planting itself into the wall behind. I returned fire, blasting the guard in front.
“We need more time, listen, about thirty to forty guards are already marching down the south corridor, by the looks of it at least ten are taking cover in the hallway right next to us,” I whispered.
“I have a plan,” Ellis shouted.
Dashing forward to the prison control booth he blasted the door panel and snuck inside. On top of the desk was an array of buttons levers and switches each executing a variety of tasks, searching for the jail release hatch he found the series of levers one which governed the cell doors. Working as fast as a madman he threw up the switches all at the same time.
"What have you done?" I roared
"We need more help" he replied.
"They're not like us, you know that right?" I shouted.
“We have to move fast!” he shrieked from the booth window.
Inside the prison sprung to life, and the remaining guards that had been hiding from us screamed in horror as over a hundred convicts had were released from their cells, now in a mass prison riot, they toppled their captors, seizing weapons and providing ample distraction. The hoard of criminals raced down the hallway and clumped at the prison entrance picking up the weapons of the fallen wardens and eventually forming a small army at the mouth of the control booth.
“Quick, before anyone sees us, we don’t want to get mixed up in this crowd," he said.
"I agree, run down this corridor" I cried.
Without any further adieu I sprung at the locking mechanism at the door, using my rifle I whacked the case open and proceeded to rewire it to my own desires, however, it was more complex and my memory of escaping cells was obsolete, an insurance factor for my own former masters.
"The collective, they removed all information at cracking locks" I backed up horrified.
"What?" he whispered..
"It's an insurance program remember? So we don't escape" I explained.
"You still have the base knowledge in there somewhere, just use it" he said.
"What do you mean?" I mumbled
"Search John, search!" he cried.
“I don’t know if I can crack it,” I yelled at Ellis, he was in a cover position at the edge of the hallway gun raised and eyes peeled for any attack.
“How about explosives?” he replied.
“I'm not sure, the first two doors yes, but the final one, I'm not sure at all, it looks like a shipbuilding material, possibly a starbonded-metal,” I barked.
“Shaw knows more about hacking than you, can you make contact?” he howled.
“I stared back into the glass to see Shaw’s face stare back into mine, she was empty of emotion and confused, possibly unaware of why it was taking us so long to free her.
“Hello! Can you hear Me? How do I work with this panel?” I asked.
She continued to portray a vacant face not being able to hear my screams.
“I think if I blast this first door she may be able to hear me.” I hollered at the general.
“Great, blast it!” he replied.
I quickly raised my rifle and shot the scanner three more times eventually raising the first steel door, the second one with a far more complex lock was still behind it, its pure power casting a dominant aurora.
“Shaw! Can you hear me?” I cried.
“Yes!, yes! What’s happening?” she replied in a quiet murmur behind the metal.
“Were busting you out of here, however, the lock is too complex for my knowledge can you talk be how to crack it?”
There was a small moment of hesitation before a faint response echoed across the marble floors.
“What kind?”
“Combination, twelve digits, Phalanx Securities, Model 42198.”
“Alright, this should be fairly simple, how many screws?”
“Four”
“Is the dial pad light green or red? She questioned.
“Quick we don't have time, from the sound over there Zin’s forces will soon be through the prisoners,” Ellis shrieked.
“It's green! it's green” I whispered.
After a seldom moment of silence, a series of instructions was hastily uttered from behind the prison door.
“Alright, see the screws on the right and left, unscrew them both halfway,”
I squinted my eyes in determination and cast my eye upon the unconscious body of a nearby guard, using my hands I felt around his pockets until I came across a standard-issue red military pocket knife, unleashing its screwdriver with a satisfying click I raised the metal piece to the first star-screw and twisted following her instructions with precision, sweat dripped down my face as I fumbled with the hilt, the cries of the prisoner's riot startling my work.
“Alright now pull out a pistol, set it to the lowest setting, and blast the pad for 0.764 seconds,” she said calmly.
“0.764 How am I supposed to know that? I'm, not a robot?”
“No, you're not, but you are technologically enhanced, my god just do it, trust your gut.”
I whipped out a green pistol, the one I had taken from the scientist earlier, cranking the settings bar to 0.12 I pulled down the trigger for what I thought was seven milliseconds.”
“Alright, now this should have disabled the backup meaning the panel can be opened.” she hinted
“Sounds good” I replied
“Now open the metal and tell me about the number of wires”
“Okay,” I muttered.
I unscrewed the rest and let the panel drop to the floor with a loud crash, glass splintering outwards and across the floor.
“Five wires,”
“Five? Alright, what colors?”
A large explosion resounded in the hall beside me.
"John, Zin is regaining control here, hurry" he screamed.
"I'm trying my best!" I cried back.
Turning to the panel I traced the wires with my hand.
“First one is green, second yellow, third orange, fourth black, fifth gray.”
“Cut the second and fifth at the same time”
I was at the moment of anticipation, interim flowing through my veins. I picked up a knife in both hands, one a combat knife from the same fallen guard, and got ready on the count of three.
Once the three seconds had passed I lacerated both of the wires, the copper splitting directly in half. With a loud hiss the prison door ground open and we were re-united. Shaw dressed in the same jumpsuit and quickly grabbed a pistol from Ellis, surveying the surroundings, calculations flying through her watchful eyes.
“What next?” I asked.
“We need to escape somehow, get to the base's ships, I have an idea" Ellis motioned.
"Sounds good" I replied.
, "It's a little risky but we need to get our belongings back from the prison storage ” Ellis roared.
"Why does it always have to be risky" I muttered.