“OK, it stings a little now…”
“Let us know when you want to stop.”
I flex my fingers, trying to will away the pain. Each movement of muscle affects the flames, making them smaller, larger, brighter. Only I can’t quite figure out which does which.
The flames leap to my elbow. My shirt catches fire.
“Ah, ah, OK, stop!”
I pat the flames furiously with my free hand, only somehow I seem to draw the fire from my clothes into my palm, and now both hands are alight and my clothes are smoking and—
The sprinklers go off. Nick storms into the room with a bucket, which I plunge both hands into gratefully. We stand there in the shower, me steaming slightly, giggling with nervous energy.
“You all right?” he asks.
“I did it. I turned it on. By myself. Without freaking out.”
“Bravo, Ashe,” Harris sounds. “Shall we go again? I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m more keen on finding your off button…”
Chapter 62
I spend the better part of three days in the basement of Phoenix HQ, learning how to control my powers at a very basic level. I burn through a lot of clothes. I get doused in a lot of water. I use up half of Julia's supply of burn cream, on her insistence.
I only go home twice, mostly for Ben's sake. I spend two nights in Nick's arms, where we conclude that I will not burst into flames in the heat of passion. We keep a bucket by his bedside just in case.
Our beside.
I eventually master turning it on and off. I gain a little headway in learning to control the intensity. Turning it off is the challenge, and I usually find myself making it worse, flapping about like a headless chicken. The training is gruelling, and although there are some moments where I just want to persevere, Harris always forces me to take a break when my heart rate spikes too much.
On the afternoon of the third day, I get so frustrated with my inability to turn it off that I start lashing out. Nick vanishes, presumably finally having found my temper too much for him. This, of course, only makes me angrier. My fists start to burn so wildly that I set off the sprinklers, but I still don't stop. I fill the room with steam, hissing and cussing and sending out sparks, the closest I have been able to come to some kind of fireball.
Nick storms into the chamber, swinging a sword at my head. Without thinking, my hands catch the blade. I hold it fast between my flat palms, which begin to grow hotter and redder. The heat spreads up towards the hilt, until Nick drops it with a clatter. He grins at me.
“You just threw a sword at me!” I seethe.
Nick doesn't stop smiling. “Look at your hands.”
I look down. They are completely normal.
“I... I turned it off.”
“You did.”
“How... how did you know that would work?”
“It's instinctual. You turned it off before, in the building, and when you were fighting that other chimera. When the threat was neutralised, you stopped. You're using the wrong muscles. You have to think it away, not feel it.”
I pull a face. “Ugh, thinking? Must I?”
Nick picks up the sword. “Admit it, you're slightly impressed.”
“Congratulations, Nicholas, you attacked your girlfriend with a sword.”
“I helped my super-powered girlfriend unlock her potential. It's OK. You can thank me later.”
“I think I preferred you when you were less confident.”
“Really?”
“No.”
Harris coughs uncomfortably in the corner. “I think that's enough for today,” he declares. “Would you mind cleaning up the mess? I'm going to analyse this data upstairs...”
◆◆◆
We do as instructed and head up ourselves shortly after. I go to change my clothes, which are less singed than usual, and head to Julia's where I left my jacket. Mi is there, roped in conversation about the lone chimera. Physically, she's showing signs of improvement, but she's barely uttered a word since she was brought in.
“Knock-knock,” I say, announcing my presence. “Guess what? I can now turn my flame off! Well, sort of. I'll refrain from giving any demonstrations just yet–”
“Smart,” says Mi tartly.
“But it's coming along.” I swallow, my mood dropping as it fixes on their faces. “What are we going to do with her?”
Julia shrugs. “Rudy's in talks with the government about returning the guards, but no one's even acknowledging she exists.”
I think about her attempts to swallow that pill. “She's supposed to be dead.”
“Julia wants to see if... deprogramming is possible.”
“It's a lengthy process.”
I sigh. I can't get a handle on that girl. There was a nothingness to her eyes, an unfathomable emptiness. She might as well have been a robot. A robot would be easier to crack. What did they do to her in that place, to carve out her soul? Would they have done the same to us?
I hoped, once she got better, once she was treated to a bit of human kindness, she might start to... see things differently. Understand the monsters who made her.
Give us their location.
I don't know where they are. I have a rough idea, a direction, an estimate... but it was five years ago and we were trying to evade. We zigzagged all over the wilderness before making it to Luca.
But now, with my fire powers improving day by day... I want to start formulating a plan for taking it down. I want to stop them before they hollow out any more children and turn them into weapons.
“I want to speak to her,” I decide. “As soon as possible.”
Chapter 63
The hostages are being held in a refurbished building on the edge of the slums. I don’t know what it used to be, but it’s a blockish, square building, with very few exits and several internal rooms. There’s a lot of glass and steel and concrete. Nowhere to hide. Even I would have difficulty escaping some of these rooms. The glass is about eight layers thick, the doors are incredibly solid, and the walls look made of sheer stone. The ceilings look flimsy though; little more than cardboard in places. An old ventilation system? A possible route out.
The chimera girl isn’t going anywhere, though. She’s strapped to a gurney in re-purposed medical suite, hooked up to a machine. An armed guard is stationed outside the room at all times, just in case she makes a miraculous recovery. She does not look at me when I enter.
I sit down beside her, playing the part of a concerned friend. Would she even know what that looked like, I wonder? If the rest of her unit are like her...
“I’m Ashe,” I tell her. “You... you might remember me as Eve, though. You look a little familiar.”
“I know who you are,” she says, still facing away from me.
“What’s your unit?”
“My designation is Foxtrot-5.”
“Do you have a name?”
She says nothing.
“I’m going to call you Vixen. If you want to change it at any time, let me know.”
I don’t expect a response to this, and I don’t get one.
“Mi says you’re healing nicely. We don’t know how long you’ll be out of operation, but it looks like you’ll recover. I’m glad. I... I didn’t want to hurt you.”
I wait for her to ask why I did then, or why I didn’t want to.
“You’re a great fighter. I’m glad I didn’t have to face your leader. I’m not sure I would have won against them.”
I don’t remember Foxtrot-1. It could be someone else by now anyway.
“Your unit must be much tougher than I remember.”
I’m not sure how much longer I can do on like this. Why am I even here? Mi’s been treating her for days. He’s not got anything from her, and he has the patience of a saint.
“You talked before, about a glorious dream. What dream is that?”
The flicker of a smile rises in the corner of her mouth. “He never told you, did he?” The smile widens. “Great, wonderful sp
ecial Eve. The best of the best. But he never trusted you with the dream.”
“Maybe I wasn’t that special.”
She sneers. “Clearly.”
"Must be some dream.”
“You wouldn’t have left if you’d known.”
I don’t care what the Director’s vision is. Whatever his end goal is, I want no part in it. I never did. I want to throttle his girl for even suggesting such a thing. “You’ve met Mi, right? The guy who’s been tirelessly looking after you? Your great Director wanted him killed. I would have torn the world down to make sure that didn’t happen. You wouldn’t do the same for one of your unit? Mi wouldn’t have been the first we lost. They killed our sister because she couldn’t control her powers. They let others die because they didn’t fit under their stupid made-up rules of strength. I don’t care what your dream is. Nothing glorious can come out of such aberration. Nothing.”
Vixen fixes me with a look of pure satisfaction. I think I preferred the emptiness. I want to calm down, I want to tell her to spend some more time with Mi, to teach her that there’s good here, but I can’t. I have to leave the room.
Nick is waiting on the other side of the door.
“How did it–”
“It sucked.”
“I just got a message from Harris. There’s someone there to see you.”
“To see me?” I frown.
“But... I don't know people.”
“Trust me. You’ll want to see this one.”
Chapter 64
We speed back to base and straight to Rudy's study. Harris and Rudy are there, as well as Julia. She’s conversing in a low voice with a young girl by the desk. She's about my age, blonde, straight and supple as a willow. She has an unearthly look to her eyes, the look of someone older than her years. I know the look. I know her.
“I know you,” I say dumbly. “Delta... Delta-1?”
She nods solemnly. “Eve.”
“I go by Ashe now.”
“So I hear. I go by Sia.”
“What... what are you doing here?”
“I want your help.”
“Sia's been living in the North for... for some time,” Julia explains. “In the woods not far from Auros.”
“Not far from the Institute,” Sia adds.
“But... but you escaped,” I say. “Why... why would you stay anywhere near that place?”
“I escaped. My sisters did not.”
I remember the Delta team. Three girls, three boys. “Your brothers–”
“Char died trying to get out. Tiny and Dor are back at the woods still.”
I don't remember their faces. I couldn't tell you what Tiny or Char's numbers were. But to her, they are Mi, Abi, Ben. Maybe Char was her Gabe. I try to imagine, just for one moment, the awful reality of leaving them behind, and know in that instant what she has spent the last five years doing.
“You've been trying to get them out? All this time?”
She shakes her head sadly. “We gave up, for a while, thinking it hopeless. We tried to move on. We made a good go of it, but we couldn't. About a year ago, we went back, looking for ways to break in. It's a fortress, more so than before. I thought about coming back here and asking for help, but it seemed a big ask. Then I went into Auros' terminal city on a supply run. I saw your video. I hoped... I hoped you could help me.”
I don't think of the risks. I don't worry about the odds. All I can think of is Ben, growing up in that dreadful place, all alone. One of the Delta girls was barely older than him. That much I remember.
This is my chance. To rescue the rest of them, and burn the place to the ground.
“I will help you,” I tell her.
“We all will,” adds Nick, not even looking at Rudy.
Harris and Julia both look to their leader. “Captain?”
He nods. “It's a big operation. There's a lot to consider. I may have some requests, ways you can pay us back–”
“Anything,” says Sia, “anything at all.”
“Go with Harris,” he instructs, “tell him everything you know. Get some figures together.”
I want to go with her, this girl I barely know. I never knew quite how our groups were assigned. Most of them had an Abi, some a member much younger than the first. Some groups were just hodgepodges, made up of other groups that had lost too many members. In another life, in another snap decision made by some faceless white coat, she could have been my sister.
She files out of the room after Harris, giving me a curt nod as she goes. Julia and Mi go too, leaving only Rudy, Nick and myself.
“Are you all right?” Nick asks.
“I'm... I'm not sure how to feel.”
He touches my arm gently.
Rudy speaks up from behind his map table. “Anything you need, let us know.”
“Why... why are you doing this? Why are you trusting us? You've never–”
“One of you has clearly won me over,” he says shortly, “I'm not sure which. My money's on Mi. He is very useful and by far the best looking of all of you.”
“Um...”
“He is way too young for you, dude,” says Nick. “Also straight. Also way into Scarlet.”
“Hmm. Pity.”
Rudy sweeps off without another word, leaving Nick and I alone.
“That was... bizarre.” I say, staring after him.
“That's Rudy. I told you he would grow on you.”
“I am not sure that you did,” I reply, “and I am not sure that he has.”
Nick smiles. “He likes you. He likes you all, now, but he definitely likes you.”
“Really? You're sure?”
“You're like him.”
“Six foot six of pure black muscle?”
“A leader. Someone who looks out for others. Someone who cares.”
I would maybe admit to being one of those things, but I'm not exactly sure which one. I'm not sure I like the idea of being a leader. I remember learning about the great ones back at the Institute. At the end of one lesson, our instructor asked us to define what one was.
Gabe wrote, a leader is someone who gets other people killed.
He wasn't wrong.
“Ashe? Where'd you go there?”
“I... I don't think I want to go back there,” I whisper. “I know that's stupid. I know I have to. I always said I'd burn it to the ground, and now I get the chance. But... I still don't want to go. I never, ever wanted to go back to that prison, and I don't want to lead others there.”
Nick swallows.
“What? What is it?”
“It's... it's nothing.” His gaze drops away, and he turns to Rudy's desk, desperately reshuffling the papers there. “You should go and... prepare. See what the others are doing. I'll come and find you if there are any updates.”
“All... all right.”
Chapter 65
It takes days to formulate any kind of plan. Sia works with Abi and Harris to recreate blue prints from memory and shares what she knows about the current guard rota. Due to several of them still being in our captivity, the number is as low as it has ever been, another reason she wants to strike now.
Despite this, it at first seems to be impenetrable without an actual army, despite Sia's steadfast belief that as soon as we free some of the other chimeras, that's exactly what we'll have. Then I tell her about Adam and Vixen, and their steadfast belief in whatever the Director’s vision is. She is as shocked as I was.
“My sisters will fight,” she says resolutely. “And... and there must be others. You've only seen the ones they trusted to let out, after all. If they were all like that, they'd all be government soldiers by now, right?”
I want to agree with her, but we can't leave anything to chance.
“Be that as it may,” says Rudy, “we cannot rely on them as an option. Our main goal is to shut down the facility irreparably, and get as many people out as possible. We cannot trust that they will be our allies during an invasion.”
Nonetheless, a
plan begins to take place. We need to wait until the morning shift changes. That much is always a given. When the guards at the main entrance changeover, myself, Sia, Abi, Dor and Tiny will invade the compound. No one else is fast enough or familiar enough with the location to go with us, but they'll have reinforcements on the outside ready to knock down the fences as soon as there are people to let loose.
Once past the fence, we proceed towards the side entrance of the main building. It is built like a castle, thick, sheer stone walls, virtually impossible to climb and heavily patrolled. Hence the shift change. If we time it right, the doors will open for us. We'll take out the guards as silently as we can and enter the courtyard.
Abi predicts we have less than five minutes before someone notices the guards aren't at their posts, and the alarm is sounded. I groan.
“Why is it always five minutes?”
This receives a few much needed chuckles from the team, although Rudy seems unamused. I guess I haven’t won him over as much as I hoped.
At this point, we split. There are two dormitory wings, all of which should be full if we strike when we do. Dor and Abi will go one way, Sia and Tiny the other. They will open the dormitories, take out anyone that tries to stop them, and try to convince as many as possible to come with us. If they go back out into the courtyard at this point, they're probably walking into a death trap. The guards will have undoubtedly been alerted to our presence and will all be up on the battlements, ready to open fire.
This is where I come in.
I will be making my way to the main server room, where all of their data is kept, and blowing it to kingdom come. This mission serves a dual purpose. I will be able to wipe out everything they've ever worked on, hopefully stopping them from ever recreating their hideous experiments ever again. It is also handily located beneath one of the walls of the compound. Blowing it up should bring it crumbling down, allowing everyone to escape to the vans Rudy has positioned at every corner, and cause enough of a disturbance that the guards are more likely to flee for their lives rather than try to attack.
The Phoenix Project: Book I: Flight Page 27