“That’s probably for the best. Everyone link elbows and face outwards. Yep, like that. Everyone ready?” Before anyone could respond, Darik opened a portal underneath them, which they fell into. They shot out of another portal vertically aligned, but in midair. “Hold tight!” he warned as they raced toward the ground and another portal opened.
Once again, the ring of supers was jolted in a different direction as the portal spilled them out. There was a loud *horrrk* and elbows tightened as another portal appeared. This one lobbed them slightly into the air before disappearing. The maneuver was calculated to bleed off their momentum and they were able to catch themselves as they lightly fell back to the ground, the mutual support keeping anyone from falling flat.
Artificial lights buzzed noisily in the large room. Elbows relaxed and there were assorted grunts and moans as everyone tried to stabilize themselves.
“Now I know why Grimdark hates those…” Yuki wailed as she wiped the corner of her mouth. Anastasia was whiter than her normal pale complexion.
“Thank you, I think you meant to say,” Darik griped. “It’s not like I can control how your stomachs respond to spatial translocation.” He scowled at the others as they tried to settle their stomachs, some spitting a lot, others coughing exaggeratedly, while the rest tried deep breathing.
“You did it, Darik, we’re underground. Thanks. Next time give us a little warning though, yeah?” Yuki asked, fishing a piece of gum out of her pocket. She waved the pack in offering, which most gladly accepted.
“It doesn’t help. It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid, lass, you just have to do it. The less time your brain has to process everything, the easier it is, trust me.”
The Crew followed the blue chevrons, climbing down two ladders until they reached a rusted door. Yuki pulled on it but could not budge it.
Rory tapped her gently on the shoulder and she stepped aside. A large pull and the knob crumbled in his hands. He then dug his fingertips into the metal by the frame and they sunk in as if it were soft clay. After a little digging, he reached in and pulled the door free from its corroded door frame. He did a courtly bow. “Ladies first…”
As they entered the room, the bite of ozone and the smell of hot electronics hit them like a wave. Despite the worn outer surface, the inside of the room must have been under negative pressure. There was no dust or cobwebs, but it was apparent this area was dated.
“Just what I need! This place will allow me to access the network, but it’s so flipping old no one will be monitoring this workstation. Look—half of these are analog! Can you believe it?” At getting no response from the others, she hurried on, trying out various adapters she had in a small case. Finding a blocky one that resembled a foreign outlet current converter, she slid it into a wide slit. Other contraptions, gizmos, and a laptop materialized from her zippered roll and she deftly connected them in a complicated series and began typing away.
“Just a minute, this will take a bit to connect… aaaand done. That’s going to take a bit to compile so let’s talk.
“I need to fill you in on what I’ve found. There are a lot of things, so it’s hard to know where to begin.” She puffed out a huge sigh. “Okay, first things first. Aurora, we’re going to need you to craft us some kind of jammers so that they can’t track us up on the surface. At first, I was surprised that they even could keep tabs on us. Then I worried we all were chipped without our knowledge. It’s nothing like that. The system uses certain biometric scans, like the way we walk, recognizing voice pitch and it gets collated in a computer processor in HQ somewhere. Is that too complicated a system to fool?”
Aurora thought for a bit, then replied, “I should be able to come up with something.”
“Good. I’ve checked records for the other members of the Crew. Prime and BoJack aren’t here with us on Faction property. I imagine BoJack is at the hospital with Gwen and Tempest, and I haven’t heard anything from Prime after Seneschal dropped her off. I imagine she’s going to go visit her daughter, and we do have a single address for an emergency contact.”
“Now that you mention it, where is Seneschal?” Darik asked.
“Get this—she’s been sacked! No more augments are allowed in the Faction anymore. They have already turned her out with an unimpressive severance package. Thanks, but no thanks. I tried to contact her but all messages are being rerouted through HQ as well. So don’t send anything through your comms! Everything is probably being read, and I doubt it’s making it to where you want it to go. Not to mention possible messages that haven’t reached us.”
“Any other good news?” Aurora asked, folding her arms.
“What else? Oh yeah, the orderlies. There are new enforcers now within the Faction. They look like simple strength-based supers, but they are armed with gloves that contain some kind of power-negating technology. I didn’t get the gist of how they work, but for those who resisted orientation, they can force you into it. They refer to them as compliance officers in the memos and—”
“That’s what they did to Rory! It does something so you can’t speak against the Faction. I’m not sure what else it does, but Rory freaked out trying to let me know what was up,” Aurora piped in.
Everyone looked to Rory, who had become stiff again, his mouth pursed like he had been sucking on a lemon.
“Relax, Rory, don’t try to speak.” She patted his back and turned back to the others. “See? We might even have to carry him out of here when we’re ready to leave. If he reacts that strongly to merely speaking against the Faction, he might totally lock up if we try to move him out of the Faction.”
“He’s big as a barn, Aurora! How do you suggest we do tha—”
“We’ll add it to the list, Darik,” Yuki broke in. “They are processing Grimdark and Harmony, right now, so we have to come up with a plan to save them, get the hell out of here, and hopefully find the others when we get out.”
“Do we even know where they are?” Anastasia asked.
“The coliseum…”
“They’re goners for sure, then. I’m sorry, Yuki,” Darik said grimly.
“I don’t accept that.”
“That has to be the most secure part of the facility. And if everyone is there, willing to fight against us, those aren’t odds I want to take, lass. It might be wise to make a tactical retreat.”
“No way. It may come to that, but we should at least try. We would do it for you, Darik. We’ll need all the help we can get on the outside.”
“Aye.”
“If we could get enough outside, I could distract them for a bit while we get the others,” Aurora offered.
“I could try setting off some perimeter alarms to pull some away…”
The lights dimmed and clicked off for a second before returning to normal.
“What was that?” Anastasia asked.
“Let me check.” Yuki extended some filaments from her right hand and her eyes rolled back in her head. She blinked back to normal after a brief pause. “Fire detector went off in the coliseum,” she reported.
“Isn’t that where Grimdark and Harmony are?” Anastasia perked up.
“Let’s use the distraction to pull them out.”
“Are we ready?” Darik sighed.
“Are we ever?” Yuki shot back.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Closing Time
“This had better work,” Harmony said as she flicked the powder off the makeup brush and fanned it up to the alarm. She cringed a bit at wasting the high-end makeup, already having emptied half the tray. She tried fanning it upward but was not having much success. She remembered that just last month they had to reinstall a lot of detectors because they were getting set off by fawns vaping in the bathrooms. An angry memo went out that any particulate was not recommended in the restrooms until they replaced the dated detectors with new ones.
The problem was that the ceiling was just too damn far away. She threw the compact at the alarm and finally got a satisfying poof of dust,
but it didn’t seem to activate the sensor. She had to duck as it fell and shattered on the ground.
“We’re coming in, decent or not,” one of the men yelled through the door.
Harmony opened her mouth and screamed, but she couldn’t hear her own voice. At that moment, a piercing wail echoed against the tile, making her ears ring.
The frame near the door bucked and then the door exploded into splinters. One of the orderlies stuck his head in the doorway, his bald pate bright red and the veins prominent and throbbing. He was shouting, but Harmony couldn’t make out anything over the din. He stomped over toward her and she stepped backward and slipped on one of the chunks of broken door, falling unceremoniously on her butt. She crab-walked backward, retreating from his approach.
He balled his fists and an eldritch green energy arced between the metal disks on the knuckles of his black gloves. She tried to retreat more but felt the cold tile press against her back. There was mayhem outside as people rushed to get out but this man was not to be deterred. Spittle flew from his mouth as he continued to yell, but it was caught up in the piercing alarm. She tried to flinch inward, scrunching up like a turtle and closed her eyes tight. After five seconds of nothing, she cracked an eye open. Eyes growing wide at what she saw.
The janitor dragged the mop across the already spotless floor. As he had done for years now. He looked into the display case of the trophy section of the coliseum and saw it lying there. The fools didn’t even know what they had taken so long ago. They had no idea of the potential of the item, it was merely a memento of a victory that most had never taken part in.
Once it had belonged to him. In a past life, where he actually had been on a trajectory for greatness. It was only one of the three, but it had called to him. He somehow knew that if he could regain possession of it, that it would lead him to the others. But attempting to steal it would no doubt set off some alarms and then he would lose his only chance.
He tried to convince himself that merely being near the object was enough. It wasn’t. But he had no plan for how he could possibly get it out of the heart of Purple Faction. Even worse, he feared that if he failed, it would bring attention to the object and they would learn of its true power, and guard it much more securely.
He got close, looking at the thin glass pane. A small wire connected to the frame that he assumed went to the alarm. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if it was merely a false wire, leading nowhere? Keeping him at bay for over a decade while he pined and cleaned. Waiting for something to change.
Who am I kidding? I don’t have the balls. I’m nothing without them. I never was—
A deafening screech filled the air. His heart froze for a moment, worried he had tripped some alarm by breathing on the glass, or setting off some sensor. A flashing light made him twist, drawing his eye to the fire alarm. As he turned back, he saw that he had let go of the mop, and the handle was resting against the thin glass, leaving a large crack.
Was fate smiling upon him or giving him an ultimatum? Firming his resolve, he jabbed the mop handle into the glass and scraped it along the frame to clear the shards away. If any alarm was sounding, it was caught up in the existing wail. He reached in and touched it, feeling a pop like static electricity as he did.
Gently removing it from the small display stand, he unzipped the front of his coveralls and slid it inside his shirt, letting it press against his bare chest before zipping his overalls back over it.
Could it be that easy? All these years of waiting and that was all it took? A long-forgotten feeling began to swell within him, like a cherished childhood memory returning. Buried by the responsibilities and disappointments of adulthood, to the point one had forgotten that there had once been hope and dreams.
He stood for a moment, holding his hands over his chest, holding the item close, taking in the feeling. It had missed him too. That was clear. He didn’t feel any need to stay here any longer. This job was only a means to an end. A chance to be close to it. In fact, he looked forward to the unfulfilling job of cleaning just because it offered him a chance. A glimpse. A breath. But now, it was his again. He did not need to be here. He dropped the mop where he stood and made his way to leave. He could see supers crowded like cattle trying to press their way out.
No need to go that way. The good thing about being a janitor was that you needed to be out of sight. Working when people were gone. Now that he thought about it, it was the weekend. That was odd that so many supers had assembled in the coliseum. Probably some succession battle, or those new ceremonies they were on about all the time. He could care less. He pushed open the door and walked outside.
Turning, he felt the pull to where he needed to go next. He reoriented and began walking.
Harmony blinked with recognition. It was Prime! She was flipping around this large man, hitting him with wooden rods, one in each hand. Despite the siren, she could hear the *thock* as one of her weapons connected with the man’s hard head. They appeared to leave no lasting damage, as the gorilla of a man blinked away each concussive blow and tried to grab onto her. She bent backward, out of his reach, seamlessly flexing like a gymnast and flipping over.
With a roundoff, she skirted around his side. Prime swung one rod and hit him hard in a knee. Harmony winced as she saw it hyperextend backward just a bit like a Barbie leg. The man stumbled and knelt, but quickly stood again and shook his leg. He had a slight limp now, but it was almost imperceptible. Something that resembled a tiny rock in his shoe more than a wrecked joint.
He had become more reckless in his lunges, trying to swipe with his long arms and gather Prime into his bear-like grip. She slammed down on his outstretched hands with the staves like she was playing red hands. Her blows were lightning fast. Harmony was amazed that the man’s hand bones weren’t pulverized as she repeatedly knocked them down and away. A metal disk was torn away from the onslaught, causing green energy to leak out, forming a longer arc, crackling and spitting energy like a Tesla coil.
He briefly looked at the gloves to assess the damage. She managed another crack across his forehead before she retreated with a series of backflips. One of his beefy veins split right at his brow line, allowing purplish blood to dribble into his eye. He swiped at his eye reflexively and there was a flare of green energy. The wound appeared to bleed even more and he quickly retracted his hands. Head-Wound Harry looked gruesome as he tried to shake his head to clear his vision. Prime circled him in a crouched stance, ready to pounce on any weakness.
A flash of movement in the doorway divided his attention just enough that she made her move. The man looked like one of those wooden kung fu dummies her brothers would practice on. What were they called? Wang Chung? Something like that… Elbows, head, and torso took a repeated beating, as every attempt to shield himself led to another attack at a newly exposed area.
Harmony was so entranced she jumped as her arm was grabbed. She started in terror until she saw Grimdark’s haunted face. His pallid complexion was even more pale than usual, his eyes dark and brooding. He motioned his head toward the door. That damn siren continued to scream full blast, and probably would result in some kind of hearing damage.
Sure, ice-cold hands pulled her to her feet, but she still almost slipped on some of the debris on the polished floor. How did Prime move so elegantly on this? She felt like she was on an ice-skating rink. Hanging onto Grimdark’s arm, they skirted around the dueling pair. As Prime saw the two, she nodded and somehow managed to attack with even more fury, arms and legs blurring as she pummeled the orderly from all angles.
As they made their way out of the room, there was a crowd and they were caught in it as it pushed for the exits. Harmony was perplexed to smell actual smoke as those from behind surged forward, pressing her into Grimdark and those around her.
She felt claustrophobic and struggled to maintain her feet as her arms were pressed to her sides. Supers jostled from all sides and the acrid smell of sweat and adrenaline filled her nostrils. The mass staggered drunken
ly as it pushed. Those from behind cramming the others into each other. Sometimes those in front didn’t or couldn’t move, and it felt difficult to breathe as she was squeezed in a vice of human bodies. A super nearby activated some kind of electrical attack and those around him crumpled.
This relieved some of the pressure and the crowd rushed to fill the void, uncaring that people were being trampled in the process. Harmony hoped that they were resilient enough not to be hurt, but knew that some would be like her, talented in some ways, but not that much stronger than a reg physically.
Once powers had been used, it was like a spark in a powder keg. Different abilities triggered back and forth, creating pockets around those supers and Harmony felt herself carried along. Her feet tripped as she was dragged over someone lying prone, and it was only the tightness of the bodies around her that kept her aloft. That and Grimdark’s vice-like grip on her upper arm.
He was focused and determined as he tried to gauge where the group was going to move in order to best follow and avoid fighting the flow. Harmony definitely could smell smoke now, and an orange glow was reflected along one of the walls. With a tug, he pulled her toward one of the exits. She was pushed uncomfortably into the metal door frame but then they rolled out through the doorway.
Grimdark continued to guide her towards the side, getting out of the path of the stampede. Harmony drew in gasps of blessedly fresh air. Grimdark didn’t let her stop though, dragging her further and further away from the building. Looking over her shoulder, she could see black smoke curling into the air. The realization that her makeup ploy had done nothing dawned upon her, and she got a chill thinking about what would have happened to her.
She could only sense urgency and determination from Grimdark, no fear. Did the alarm disturb the process? She could feel him again, so she assumed it must have. But who had set the fire?
Unity Page 40