Salem blinked, taking a moment to process the information, trying to ignore the receptionist's upbeat tone, which confirmed to him that she was a synth.
“Salem?” Ally said, placing a hand on his arm.
The touch snapped him out of the thought. Without saying anything, he leapt over the barrier beside the receptionist. Landing on the other side, he broke into a run across the hard tiled flooring, the sounds of protest from the receptionist echoing behind him. He knew he wouldn’t have long before the on-site security was activated, most likely more synths. He needed to get to the twenty-fourth floor as fast as possible.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Mollie
Mollie was sat by herself in the corner of Julian’s apartment. Xander and Ava were discussing if there was a way to get Prime out of the prison. She remembered hearing stories about Blackwater even when she was living in the Underpass. No one ever came back from the prison. If anyone got sent there, their family treated them as though they had died, no contact in or out. Mollie glanced down at her recently regenerated foot, rotating it clockwise, then anticlockwise to check it’s movement. It was the first time she’d used the powers to create such a large body part. It still felt unnatural to her. She never really understood how the powers worked, the bloodlust or the regeneration. She had only used the regeneration in the past to repair small cuts once to regrow the top of her index finger which she had lost in a street fight back when she, and JJ, had been part of the Krovoz, Vladamir’s gang.
“Mollie!” Xander was staring at her, waving a hand, clearly having shouted her name a couple of times.
“Yeah?” she asked, slowly coming out of her thoughts.
“You okay?” he asked, pausing for a moment as he looked at her.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. So, what’s the plan?”
Xander waited a moment longer, scanning over her face, before giving her a hesitant nod. “We’ve got an idea, but it’s not the safest.”
“Is it ever?”
“Fair point,” Xander agreed. “I’m going to visit some of my old friends at the MPD, see if I can get a pass to head to Blackwater. If I can get there, I can see what’s going on, and I’ll try and get Prime released.”
Mollie looked at Xander, her face a mixture of shock and disgust.
“Seriously? You know that no-one had ever come back from Blackwater, right? It’s a death sentence.”
“True, but if we can get access and pull some strings, I’m hoping we might be able to work something out. We can’t leave Prime there, not if he’s innocent of the murders,” Xander looked away, fighting an emotion. He feels responsible, Mollie realised.
“It’s not your fault,” Ava said, putting a hand on his arm.
“I doubted Prime when we first met him, thinking he was Peter. He proved himself back then, and now, instead of helping him and giving him the benefit of the doubt, I just let him get sent to Blackwater to rot.”
“So, what are you thinking? How can we get him out?” Mollie asked softly.
“I’ll get access, talk to Prime and see if there’s any way we can prove his innocence. The AI judges have to listen to facts. That’s the best-case scenario.”
“And worst case?” Mollie asked.
“I’ll cross that bridge if we come to it…” Mollie watched Xander’s face closely. She could see the sorrow behind it.
“Okay,” she replied, “and what do we do while you’re inside?”
“I need you to keep track of what’s going on here. The Sliders have something planned. We need to figure out what it is and be prepared. Stay in touch with the others, this Salem guy might have some answers, and Bella might have information to help get Prime out of Blackwater if she was with him.”
“I’ve got an idea where to start, for preparing against the Sliders, some contacts in the Underpass,” Mollie’s mind flashed back the Vladamir and the Krovoz, she didn’t like it, but they were an option that could stand a chance in a gang war with the Sliders.
“Alright then,” Xander said, “let’s get this ball rolling.”
“Where to first?” Ava asked, pulling her jacket on.
“I need to make some calls, see if I can get in touch with Mike at the MPD,” Xander said, raising his PAD.
Mollie walked away whilst Xander made the calls. She needed to concentrate, prepare herself for meeting Vladamir again. The last time they’d spoken was when she and Prime had needed safe passage to the Boulevard. He’d warned her then that she’d be in his debt and returned her Bloodlust. Now she was going to be asking them for help once again. Her memories of the man flooded back to her. The Krovoz clan had been around for as long as Mollie could remember. They had taken her and JJ in when they were on the brink of death. During the cold winters of the Underpass, trying to scrape food while living on the streets, had almost caused them to starve and freeze to death. Vladamir had offered them a chance for warmth and food. The only condition was to be indoctrinated into the clan, which meant giving you the bloodlust that made you dependant on blood for survival. It was a strange affliction that Mollie had never completely understood, but Vladamir was able to control the feelings of bloodlust in those infected.
“Ready?” Xander called out, finishing up the call.
“Where to first?” Mollie sang back.
“I need to head to the MPD station. I’ve got a meeting with Mike to see if I can request a visitation to Blackwater.”
“Shall we come with you?” Ava asked.
“No, it’s fine,” he replied.
“We’ll head down to see my contacts in the Underpass,” Mollie said.
“Excellent,” Xander nodded, “good luck, and I’ll see you soon.”
“Stay in touch,” Ava smiled at Xander.
Xander nodded again before leaving the apartment. Mollie looked around the room. Something inside her told her it could be the last time they’d see it.
“C’mon then, Ava, time for me to go back home.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Prime
Prime blinked, trying to clear his head from the effect of the gas, and tried to remember what had happend before he blacked out.
Looking around, he saw he was in a small square room lined with metal panels.
Oh yay, another cell
“Yep, from one cell to another…” Prime felt strangely comforted that Peter was still in his mind.
He stood to test his balance, his mind clearing. The room was larger than the holding cell the MPD had put him in, containing a small toilet-sink combination unit and a single bed which lay across the opposite side. Everything was a gunmetal grey, no variation other than the mattress sheets, which were a faded white colour.
Cosy.
Prime walked towards the front of the cell. At first glance, there was nothing to stop him from just walking out of the cube and into the space beyond. However, a couple of steps closer revealed a shimmer in the air in front of him.
Some kind of force field?
“Probably,” Prime agreed, extending his hand out slowly. The tips of his fingers began to get hot as they approached the shimmer. The heat was intensifying as he got closer.
A heat field, interesting. Peter sounded genuinely curious as Prime walked over to the sink and ran some cool water over his hand.
“Certainly effective,” he agreed, the stinging sensation only slightly subsiding.
The sound of footsteps echoed outside the cell. Returning to the front, he peered out, searching for the source. Directly opposite his cell was another identical room, separated by a metre-wide walkway. Prime could only see a few feet into the cell. If anyone was inside, they were hidden in the shadow. Leaning to see further along, he could see that the whole corridor was lined with similar cells.
In the distance, two figures were walking toward him. Once closer, Prime noticed the metal joints and limbs of the two figures.
Robotic guards?
“Looks like,” Prime whispered.
The figur
es arrived at the cell. Each was seven feet tall and made of a dark metal exoskeleton that gave no attempt to hide the mechanisms that made up their bodies. The guard’s metallic skulls were, however, humanoid, and the dark metal gave the impression of charred bone. The camera lenses that were secured in their eye sockets whirred and clicked as they adjusted to look at Prime.
“Prisoner 235711,” one of the guards barked out, it’s jaw moving but the digital sound echoing out from inside its skull. “Welcome to the Blackwater. You will receive nutrition tablets once per day. Exercise is mandatory once per day. All other activities are bound to the cell.”
Charming.
The guards looked Prime up and down, then turned back to the corridor and continued their journey past the cells.
“Hey,” a voice shouted from the opposite side of the corridor. A man stepped into view, long tangled hair covered most of his face and a scruffy beard adorned his chin.
“Hi,” Prime nodded at the man.
“What you in for?”
“Something I didn’t do,” Prime replied, not wanting to go into details.
“Ahaha, not heard that one before. What’s your name?”
Careful.
“Reilly, and you?” Prime answered.
“Reilly? Fair enough,” the man eyed him up, pausing before he continued, “Name’s Keller, Thomas Keller. Pleased to make your acquaintance Mr Reilly,” he smiled like he was in on a secret.
“Keller?” Prime thought the name sounded familiar.
“That’s me, honest truth. But while you might be calling yourself Reilly, we all know who you really are, don’t we,” Keller smiled again.
Keller, that was a name Persephone had mentioned.
“You’re working with Persephone?”
“Ah, I see you’re starting to understand,” Keller raised his hand, pointing to a metal disc attached to the side of his neck. “But you’re still a little behind.” Keller smiled again, cocking his head sideways and pressed the disc, instantly his eyes rolled back in his head, which dropped forward. His shoulders sagged, but his body remained standing like it was hanging from a thread.
The sound of footsteps returned along the corridor in the direction the guards had left. A moment later, they were stood in front of the cell again. The one closest to Prime raised its arm, its hand a skeleton of metal bones clenched into a fist. The arm thrust out, driving the fist into the side of the second robot’s skull. A fizz of sparking electricity erupted from the broken skull.
“What the hell?”
“You see Prisoner 235711,” the robot yanked its hand free from the twisted metal of the skull, the body of the broken guard collapsing to the ground. “This prison isn’t quite what you may have imagined.” The robot turned, looking directly at Prime. It cocked its head sideways.
Is that…
Prime glanced up at the unconscious body of Keller, then back at the robot.
“Keller? How?”
“We have taken over this prison,” the robotic voice rang out. “Appearances are everything, so we remain in the cells so that the monitoring stations on the mainland see what we want them to see. We have, however, re-purposed the guard drones for our own use. Sometimes there are technical glitches, such as attacking one another. They’ve been in service a while now, and they do act up at times, but no one on the mainland cares as long we’re all locked away nice and snug right?”
“What about the human guards?”
“There are no human guards here, “ the robot laughed, the sound more like an alarm. “The whole prison was automated using drones to prevent any chance of human influence.”
“So what, you’re my welcoming committee?”
“Oh no, much more than that. You see, your being here is all part of the plan. Persephone needed you out of the way before moving onto the next stage, you being the only person who could stop her and all.”
“Next stage? Of what?”
The robot laughed again, then shut down. Keller's human body in the cell animated again, his eyes returning to stare at Prime.
“You’ll see, she wants to finish what Peter started. Complete his plans for the Boulevard.”
I have to say. It’s almost admirable that at least someone is trying to keep the family business going.
“Persephone says ‘hi’ by the way. She wanted to make sure you can watch as the city falls,” Keller nodded at the wall behind Prime.
A screen flickered into view, an image of the Metro appeared on it. It changed to an image of inside a medical facility and a woman moving through smoke and fire. Prime recognised it as Bella.
“And your friends will be the first to go.”
Chapter Thirty
Bella
Fifty-three seconds.
Bella quickly used her PDA to set a timer to match the countdown, then moved around the desk.
She had located the stairwell but it was on the opposite side of the building, and she didn’t have time to get there, and it would most likely be locked down by now. Thinking fast, she knew that the only other access route that might not be locked down yet were the waste chutes. A long pipeline ran along the side of the building like this one, allowing for waste to be disposed of quickly rather than have to be transported down manually. In a medical facility, the chute would have a fire-resistant coating heat pads lining them to burn up waste as it travelled down, instant removal and reduction. As such, chances are they wouldn’t lock down immediately in a fire situation, being protected from fire anyway, but they would close at the last stage when the floor was starved of oxygen to put the fire out.
Thirty seconds.
Smoke was beginning to fill Bella’s lungs, causing her to cough as she squinted to look around the room. She could see the disposal hatch along the wall that ran beside the elevator, a square of metal with a looped handle at the top. Estimating, she thought it looked about a metre square which, she hoped, was large enough for her to fit through. Stumbling up against the wall, she wrapped her fingers around the handle of the hatch.
Twenty seconds.
She could hear a whirring echoing from deep within the walls. The vacuum system was powering up, ready to seal the floor and begin to suck the air out. If she didn’t get the hatch open now, it would be sealed.
Ten Seconds.
She pulled down using her body weight. The hatch resisted just long enough for Bella to think it was already sealed before it slid downward. A rush of air from the room behind her was sucked into the narrow space that extended almost vertically downward, blowing Bella’s hair in front of her eyes.
Three Seconds.
Putting her hands on the edge of the hatch, Bella pulled her entire body through in one smooth motion, flipping headfirst into the dark space below. Behind her, a loud clang indicated the hatch had closed and sealed. The sound of industrial fans powering up echoed in the chute as oxygen started to be pulled from the floor above her.
The tunnel was pitch black, but Bella reached forwards and felt the other side of the chute. It was just wide enough that she could rotate herself by pulling her knees to her chest and twisting so that her feet were below her, as a slight curve in the metal chute brushed against her back. The gradually increasing incline was designed to slow the fall of whatever waste was thrown down, but it was still steep enough that if she didn’t slow her fall, her landing wouldn’t be ideal. She pushed down hard against the chute with her hands, trying to slow the speed of her decent. Before the landing was a problem, she also knew that she would be passing the heat pads that would be waiting to incinerate anything passing by.
The smooth metal refused to allow her to stop completely, but she had managed to slow her fall enough to give her some time to think.
Pulling up her PDA, she activated her lighting augmentation, a small luminescent modification. A beam of light shone from a point at the side of her temple, illuminating wherever she looked. As she expected, the chute was narrow, and she could place a hand on the opposite side without
stretching too much. Raising her legs, she planted her bare feet on the opposite side of the chute, with her back against the opposite side, and pushed. The smooth metal prevented her from stopping completely, but she could slow her fall to short shuffles. Looking down, she could see several metres before the incline took it out of view. There were no heating pads in the space she could see and eased her grip, speeding up her fall in short, sharp drops.
A beeping sound rang out from her PDA. The signal blocker must have opened up. She thought as she answered the call.
“Bella!” Salem’s voice shouted out.
“Oh, hey Salem. How's things?” she sang back, keeping her eye on the space below.
“Where the fuck are you? We’re locked out of the floor you were on!” Bella could hear the sound of metal being punched and could visualise Salem smashing the locked-down doors with his fists, forcing a smile to creep onto her lips.
“I’m taking the scenic route out of the building. Waste chutes are lovely this time of year.”
“The what? Jesus-”
“Wait,” Bella cut him off. A feeling of warmth was causing her skin to sweat, and the moisture forming on her hands, feet, and back made her grip on the chute start to slip. “Listen, Salem. I need you to stop the heat panels on the waste chutes. It’s starting to warm up, and I don’t think I can stand going from one fire to another!”
“Shit! Okay, okay, we’ll sort it. Just hold on!” The line cut off as Salem must have accessed something on his PDA.
“Did he say we?” She thought as a glowing redness below her reflected off the metal chute.
She unwilling slid down further, feeling the heat increasing more as the panels inched into view. Forming a complete ring around the chute, the panels were, as far as she could tell, two metres long, and the glow of red that emanated from them caused her vision to shimmer, giving everything a haze. She pushed harder against the side of the chute.
“…c’mon Salem…”
The panels below came closer, and she forced herself to push harder against the chute. Her right foot slipped down, the back of her unprotected heel glanced the heat panel below. Pain shot through her skin, a cold burning that seemed to swell into agony. It took every ounce of her focus to resist the urge to pull both her feet away from the heat, knowing that would be the last thing she’d do.
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