The Synchronizer

by Francis Tint

  As soon as the door lost shape, she stepped out and was welcomed by the warm current hugging her ice-cold skin.

  She was immediately reenergized as soon as she escaped the super-freezer. “I’m back,” she announced through the earpiece. “Have you got a hold of Kaitlin?”

  “Nothing yet.”

  She retraced her steps back to where they first parted ways, and went down the path Kaitlin would have taken. A few hallways down, she heard a crack where her foot landed. She displaced her foot and saw an abandoned earpiece.

  The earpiece was discarded by a door. She gingerly opened the door with a radioactive hazard sign painted on, and saw rows of drums lined by the side of the room. As she swung the door wide open, she saw her partner held captive with a knife by her neck. Behind Kaitlin stood the teleporter Dylan.

  “The heroine finally shows up,” Dylan announced. “But just one step too late. Kaitlin has the last bit of plutonium from this place, but she won’t be leaving the place alive with it. Not on my watch.” He let out a sinister laugh. “And now, for my closing act.” He shut his eyes and attempted to blip out of the area.

  He failed. He remained in place. “What happened to my power?”

  Blake took out Zach’s superpower-dampening device and said, “The heroine comes prepared,” referring to herself in the third person. Promptly, she lifted her hand in preparation to wield her supernatural power.

  In response, Dylan pressed harder on Kaitlin’s neck. Blood started to seep out from the wound. “Are you heartless enough to sacrifice her?”

  “Stop,” Blake said abruptly and stood down. Her eyes returned to a soft shade of hazel. “Why are you doing this?

  “I know what you guys are building, and I will not allow it. No one will mess with the natural order. Not on my watch.”

  “You’re one to talk,” Kaitlin said. “You’re a freak yourself.”

  Dylan pressed even harder. “Shut up. I never wanted this. I never wanted to become a monster.” His words were mixed with sorrow and anger. “And they will pay for their sins. You all will pay!”

  “Dylan, I understand your pain. We’re on the same side,” she pleaded. “I want to stop them too. Join us!”

  “I will never trust a single word coming from your mouth. You're nature's abomination!”

  “There’s no point negotiating with a monster, Blake,” Kaitlin proclaimed. Dylan shoved the knife deeper, restricting her ability to talk normally. She grunted, struggling to breathe. She opened her mouth wide, “C… Catch!”

  With that, she tossed the canister holding the last bit of plutonium at Blake. Instinctively, she caught it with her hands. Dylan reflexively crammed the knife deeper in Kaitlin’s neck, slicing through her throat and letting out a stream of blood. In a moment of panic, Dylan dropped both the knife and the victim on the floor. He dashed toward the door and fled.

  Still struggling to process what had just happened, Blake ran and sat down beside Kaitlin, supporting her head on her lap. She applied pressure at the wound and held Kaitlin’s hand tightly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry about all this. I’m sorry we dragged you in,” she muttered apologetically.

  “Don’t,” Kaitlin responded sluggishly. “Don’t feel sorry. I should… really thank you instead.” Her speech was articulated with labored breathing. “For all my life, I’ve been running. Running away for myself. Thinking only for myself.

  “But you guys gave me a purpose. You guys inspired me,” she smiled faintly. “My life finally has some meaning.” Tears were running down Blake’s cheeks, as she was struck speechless. “It’s ok, Blake,” Kaitlin continued. “Take it, and stop them.”

  Her eyes shut gently and her hands dropped weightlessly beside her body, as her lifeforce escaped Blake’s lap.

  The room was enveloped with a somber aura, but there was no time to waste. Zach gathered the ingredients required to fill each of the three canisters of the Synchronizer. He injected deionized water in one, placed a piece of pure copper submerged in a conductor solution in the other, and infused a liquid hydrocarbon fuel in the third. The three elements were ready to be harvested in their purest forms.

  “With the plutonium added into the core,” Zach narrated, “the device is now complete. All that’s left is to activate the core and start the reaction.”

  “Got it,” Corey pulled his hair back and placed his hand gently above the center of the device. All the efforts and sacrifices had amounted to this momentous instant. With great concentration, he fired his voltaic energy at the Synchronizer. A large jolt of electric pulse was transmitted visibly through his fingertip to the device, causing it to oscillate.

  He took his hand off the device and asked, “Hey. Does this look right?”

  “How would I know?” Zach shrugged, “May I remind you that I didn’t actually design this doomsday machine?”

  The four of them stepped back and watched the device react increasingly violently to Corey’s activation. The device started spinning awkwardly, constantly banging at the table surface arrhythmically.

  Without warning, the three-pronged vessel started to levitate, spinning with greater velocity. Then all of a sudden, like a car out of fuel, it dropped sharply back on the table, completely inert.

  “Well,” Zach commented, “that’s anticlimactic.”

  “Um…” Tylor added, “I think you might’ve spoken too soon.”

  The core of the device started to glow bright red, with smoke emerging from the center like a burned thanksgiving dinner. Failing to properly absorb the heat, the table was caught on fire, with flame spreading quickly across the room.

  Instinctively, Blake summoned water in an attempt to contain the blaze, but only managed to further irritate the unstable device. Holding an extinguisher in hand, Zach sprayed foam directly on the homegrown inferno, slowly but surely containing the spread.

  At last, the flame was quenched. “You guys will help me clean this mess up,” Zach ordered.

  “I thought you built the device exactly as drawn,” Tylor whined. “Did you miss something?”

  “I never miss nothing,” Zach defended himself. “Are you sure you got the right nanostructure?”

  “I’m the king of the lab. Don’t doubt my ability to procure one simple item.”

  “Guys,” Blake interrupted. “It’s not the time to start fighting. Maybe we missed something from my dad’s notes. Zach, would you please pull up the encrypted file again?”

  The group hovered over Zach’s computer as he pulled up the file. “Rach and I have gone through this already. They documented mostly the scientific theories behind the device and the trials they conducted.”

  “Would you scroll down a little more?” Blake asked. “That’s a lot of content under the P.S. section.”

  “I know, right?” Zach said. “A postscript should just be a short afterthought, or something passive aggressive, but not an entire essay. They just seem to go on and on about the limbic system.”

  “I don’t think it’s a postscript note,” Blake examined the text further. “I think they’re referring to the power source of the device.”

  With the comment, Zach displayed a phenomenally epiphanous expression. “Oh, so that means the power source is activated through the limbic system, which is the area of the brain that controls desires and memories. Does it explain more on what the power source actually is?”

  Blake shook her head. She saw a very simple schematic in the section. Instantly, she recognized it. She had seen that before. Yes, it was the same gadget her dad had showed her, in one of the memories the Typhon had triggered in her. “I think I might know where we can find the power source.”

  They arrived at the demolished site of Beryl University. “Oh, looks like the ice-cream shop closed down,” Tylor noted with a hint of disappointment. “I was hoping for a treat before we get to some trespassing.”

  “This is very suspicious,” Zach said over the communication device. “It looks like the ice-cream shop was already closed dow
n shortly after the demolition according to the internet. Who did we actually talk to that day?”

  “C’mon, bud,” Corey signaled to Tylor, “we are at the right place. Let’s get going.”

  With that comment, they took out some shovels and started to dig near the entrance. After the pathway was cleared, Blake took a chain cutter to release the locked door. They stepped into the building, and were welcomed with rubble and cobwebs.

  “Hopefully the directory would tell us where the lab is,” Blake said.

  They followed a series of dark, dilapidated hallways, and reached the bottom of the building through a narrow, decrepit stairway. They arrived at a sterile lab painted in white. There was a small table and two chairs. Flashes of memories appeared in Blake’s mind. “I remember this place. This is where our parents brought us to study our abilities.” Corey nodded in agreement.

  She looked around the lab. Although the lab appeared cold and industrial, Blake felt a sense of warmth from her memories with Corey and their parents. She saw Corey inspecting some handwritten notes on the desk. They appeared to be from his mother. He maintained a stoic expression to conceal his emotions, but Blake saw through it. Among all the conversations they’d had about her past and her father, they’d never had a dialogue about Corey’s mother. Blake felt an immense guilt, realizing that Corey had also shared an orphaned childhood.

  She stepped beside him, and confessed, “I’m sorry we didn’t talk more about you and your mom.”

  “It’s nothing,” he said, displaying a hint of toxic masculinity. “We have more important stuff to deal with right now. You said your dad showed you the power source. Where did he put it?”

  Blake thought back to her memories. She was playing hide-and-seek with her dad. “It’s not in this room.” She instinctively left the lab and found her way to another hidden hallway. Corey and Tylor followed her.

  She stood before a door. There was a sensor above the handle. She automatically put her palm on the sensor. They entered another lab, one that’s less equipped.

  “Where did Dr. Po hide the thing?” Tylor asked.

  “According to your dad’s notes,” Zach said on their earpieces, “the power source should attract anomalous isotopic energies. Do you see anything?”

  Everything looked ordinary. Blake did not see any tremor.

  “Here,” Corey stood beside a trap door. “Let’s go through.”

  They stepped through the trap door. “Zach?” Corey spoke over the communication device. “Are you still with us?” His question was met with no response. “It looks like it’s just us now,” he informed the others.

  On the other side of the door was an eerie underground space. The air was still and cold. Their breath was fogging up before them. Tylor turned on the flashlight from his phone to illuminate their path. They followed the unpaved walkway into a large grotto. Their gentle steps reverberated through the area.

  The dim light Tylor provided was no longer sufficient to irradiate the entire cave. Corey effortlessly flicked his finger and scattered electric discharges throughout the area. The group gasped at the intricate features of the space over a vast icy lake. But Blake saw more than just the details of the rock patterns. She also saw the space outlined in a gentle shimmering tremor. “I think we are close.”

  A quick rush of wind blasted from behind Tylor, crushing him to the floor. He hit his knee hard, reducing his mobility. “What was that?” A humanoid spirit materialized before them. The group was immediately put on high alert.

  “Are you with the Typhon?” Blake demanded.

  Before the spirit was offered a chance to respond, Corey fired an electric jolt at it. It passed freely through the spirit’s body, disappearing on the other side. “What are you?” he muttered, and felt a strong bolt of energy from his right, sending him to his knees. He quickly checked his right but saw nothing.

  With a piercing shriek, the spirit charged at the trio. Blake and Corey dodged to their sides. Still on the floor, Tylor whipped out Julia’s fire gun and launched the hottest flame at the assailant. Futilely, the blaze went right through the spirit, dissipating before his eyes. Shocked with what he had just seen, he elbowed a few steps backward on the cold rocky ground. He felt immense heat emerging from above him, and quickly rolled to the side before turning to toast.

  “This is definitely not one of Dylan’s henchmen,” Blake said. “It’s way more powerful than anything we’ve ever encountered.”

  “And nothing has any effect on it,” Corey added.

  “It’s like it can manipulate the fabric of space,” Tylor commented. Blake and Corey exchanged a glance with each other. It must have started. Her vision was becoming true.

  Bang! A large force was thrusted against the roof of the cave, sending huge rocks down to the defenseless party. Corey quickly helped Tylor up as the group dashed across the icy lake. They took great strides across the icy surface while Tylor tried to keep up on his injured knee.

  “C’mon bro,” Corey said encouragingly. “Keep going.”

  A break in the ice appeared right under Tylor’s step, causing him to trip over. He landed on his left, smashing the watch Zach gave him to moderate his sensory inputs. Corey turned around, hoping to help Tylor up. But he was too late. The gap in the ice continued to widen, adding distance between them.

  Hugging the fire gun tightly, Tylor was visibly shaking, stranded alone on a floating piece of ice. His senses were overwhelmed by the falling rocks and the screeching spirit. Every thump was a direct blow in his head. Every shriek was piercing through his eardrums. Alarmed and confused, he stood up and started shooting his fire gun aimlessly around him.

  “Stop, Tylor,” Blake warned. “You can’t hurt it. You’ll only hurt yourself.”

  Oblivious to the warning, he continued his erratic discharges. The spirit stormed right at him. He fired directly at the malicious being, who quickly deflected and rematerialized behind him. He turned around, only to discover the spirit had teleported to his right. It was toying him like an evil master mischievously torturing the captives.

  He made another sharp turn, only to twist his ankle, sending him hopelessly on the icy surface. He lifted his head and saw the spirit charging at him head-on at full speed. He vainly fired his gun at the target who persisted on its trajectory. “Go away!” he protested.

  As the spirit closed the distance between them, he was immediately immersed in an aura of despair. For a brief second, he could no longer hear or feel anything. But he didn’t feel peace. All he felt was desolate emptiness. He stared into the soullessness of the spirit’s eyes. The surrounding slowly shattered around him as the spirit permeated his corporeal form.

  “Tylor!” Blake yelled as he vanished before their eyes. “No, no, no…”

  “We have to keep going!” Corey urged. The icy lake continued to collapse. “To the center of the lake. There’s an island there.”

  The duo made a beeline for the terraneous destination. Blake made it to safety while Corey hopped across the scattered glacial chunks. On his last jump before reaching land, his foot stepped on a cracked piece of ice, which shattered on contact. He plummeted sharply into the lake. Instinctively, he grabbed on the side of the island, desperately hoping to pull himself back out of the water.

  Blake quickly grabbed onto his hand, in hopes of pulling him out of peril. She slowly inched backward as a strong drag emerged against her effort. A whirlpool materialized in the middle of the lake drawing everything to the vortex. The waves were splashing violently against the island, soaking both of them in icy cold water. Blake held firmly onto Corey while trying to ground herself securely on the wet island.

  “Can you do something to counteract it?” Blake asked.

  Corey lifted his other hand to summon a whirlwind rotating in a different direction, in hopes of slowing down the current. For a brief second, the lake came to a halt and remained motionless. Corey quickly tried to get on the island, but the slippery surface made it hard for him to grip
on. Before he escaped the water, the strong drag reappeared.

  The force was twice as strong. Despite Blake’s herculean effort to hold onto him, Corey slipped out of her grasp and was yanked defenselessly to the center of the merciless current. She locked eyes with Corey. Was her vision becoming true? Was there nothing more she could do? Had they lost?

  The malevolent spirit was hovering right above the center of the whirlpool. Abruptly, it dived straight down to Corey. Blake watched helplessly. A large wave of energy spread across the cave. Electric sparks were dispersed from the center of the vortex.

  The sparks slowly faded away. Blake was searching for Corey. Did he beat it?

  All the remaining sparkles slowly disappeared in the cave. There was no sign of him. Corey had completely vanished.

  In the pitch dark and soundless space, all Blake could hear was the sound of her breathing. Two of her closest friends had just disappeared before her eyes. But she couldn’t afford to grieve. Nor could she afford to be scared. She must stay alert and defeat it.

  She heard a whoosh, and dodged to her left. The ghastly presence lightly brushed her side. It didn’t only feel cold. It also felt bare and hollow. She took a few steps back in response. Swoosh! She felt a strong thrust of force heading directly toward her. She raised her arm and summoned an ice shield blocking the attack. She felt a sharp resistance, then the evil energy precipitously dissipated before her. She hid behind her shield, which was glowing beautifully, illuminating the darkness like a lone star in a moonless night.

  Playing defense might be her only hope. With her guard up, she gingerly took a few steps forward, paying close attention to any foreign movements around her. The spirit charged at her right. She reflexively defended the attack. In the close contact, she was finally able to make out the facial features of the spirit.

  It was the first victim. The young mother she saw in her ominous dream. Ellen.

  “Stop, Ellen,” Blake pleaded. “Whatever happened to you, we can help!” How had Ellen become a vengeful spirit? What had Ashlea’s toxic concoction done to her?