by Tom Cain
"Hey Val go and get your things ready, we will be heading out in a few hours".
Just as they turn to leave John grabs Valeria's arm.
"Hey listen, I ain't going to lie to you, what we are going to do is going to get messy, and I can't promise that you are going to make it back, are you sure you wanna come?" John said staring into her eyes.
A grimace came over her face; she raised her foot slowly maintaining her stare into his eyes, close to John’s crotch. John does not move. She slams her foot down onto the head of her victim, blood sprays up onto John’s face.
"I will take that as a yes then". John lets go of her arm and they both leave Valeria staring at her fallen foe lying stiff on the ground covered in blood.
CHAPTER SIX
SEVEN
The F.A.D.E research lab interior is a mix of grey and white, the walls feel rough to the tough, huge electronic cables are spewn across the walls, scales, computers, microscopes for blood testing and various other biological examinations are sitting on various desks dotted around. Inside the birthing room stood several large metal and glass cylinders, attached to each cylinder are again several tubes and cables, supplying air, food, water and power to the creatures growing inside. Ten machines in total each two and a half meters tall and roughly a meter wide lay opposite each other, five each side. The fourth machine on the left was broken and had smashed glass. The others looked in perfect order. The room was lit with a vibrant blue light, and in the middle of the room stood Doctor Katsu Ahiro. Ahiro was tapping away on a terminal located next to one of the birthing machines.
"Ok, only one more to work through, can't be the only problem can it?" talking to himself.
The terminal beeps several times.
"Oh, just start it. It wasn't like this before, it won't be like this after, keep the bio-lock on, safety off, fourteen green and seven red, ok" Ahiro taps a few more entries into the computer, satisfied with the input he leaves the room, sealing the metal door behind him with vacuum locks.
Ahiro now behind a large shatterproof viewing screen, begins tapping away on another terminal.
"Ok, air pressure ok, bio-locks still stable, subject stable, decontamination and nano release, starting…" he presses another button this time with a smile.
A loud beep is heard and a few short sharp buzzes from inside the birthing room. Through the viewing screen the birthing room fills up with cleansing steam and mist. Ahiro checks the monitors and sees that life signs are all still normal; one of the subjects is waking up. Excited, the doctor sits down to await the arrival; he adjusts the hood of his cloak and pulls it down and off his head. One of the machines releases a loud hiss as the air pressure breaks into the main room. Mist pours out of the cylinder and onto the floor. Ahiro stares on in anticipation;
“Sir, the subject is re-animating and regaining consciousness" the terminal speaks.
"Yes, yes I know, I was the one… never mind" Ahiro replies sternly.
Just then a foot appears out of the machine, Ahiro raises his head, a restless green glowing power sits behind his eyes, he smiles.
"Sir, re-animation is complete". The terminal states, emotionless.
A man steps out of the machine wearing nothing but his skin, an athletic body, strong, stern, shoulder length blonde hair and stubble.
"Seven" Ahiro says slowly greeting the tall creation.
Ahiro raises his hand as Seven moves out of the smoke and towards the viewing screen, and with the doctors gesture the door of the birthing chamber slams shut as if by mental force. With the doctor’s hand still raised, he slowly closes it into a clenched fist and with these motion the screen in front of him begins to crack at each of the four corners, the glass breaks but does not fall on the floor it continues to break and tear away from the metal surround and ball up in the middle like an implosion. The ball of glass curls up and hovers in the middle of the now empty screen, the Doctor all the while staring at Seven, drops his hand and the now solid ball of glass falls to the floor and rolls to Sevens foot. Seven then picks up the ball and with one hand crushes the ball which shatters into pieces. The glass cuts Sevens hands, but he never breaks eye contact with Dr Ahiro. The cuts seem to miraculously heal in seconds.
"What needs to be done?" Seven asks in a calm and gentle voice.
"Test is planning something, he has met with Ron Shaw in Little London and I fear he is heading this way, instead of the way I wanted him to go, to Zone Five. To kill the deserters" Ahiro replied.
"You need to fear nothing father, If he comes I will stop him, my brothers and sister will do their job and if he gets this far I will personally take care of it." Seven replies with solid certainty.
"Do not underestimate him Seven, he could cause us serious setbacks. Given the opportunity do not hesitate to immobilise him" Ahiro asserts.
"Of course, then I will leave to find him. He will be here soon." Seven responds.
"His companions. kill them all, and let Test see you do it, he must see that we can break him, and we need him broken when he gets here, I don't want any fight left in him, we need that part." Ahiro demands from his chair.
"Without question" Seven says and turns around to leave walking barefoot over shattered glass.
"Seven, there is a few other matters I need you to take care of" the doctor says sternly.
Seven turns back around attentively.
"What shall we do with Three I wonder, he still has the magnetic field coils, it would take a decade to rebuild it" Dr Ahiro says.
"Would you like me to destroy him and return the part to you doctor?" Seven says maintaining eye contact through his overshadowed eye sockets.
"Yes actually I would, as mentioned I would think that Test will be going to find Three himself, and probably then onto Swiss Tower for the next part. I need to speak to Swiss myself about that" Dr Ahiro added.
"Then it shall be done. Where is Three right now?" Seven asked.
"Three is in Zone five, apparently he has hostages. I think you know what to do. But, be wary my son. I have heard Four is also there and together they could be an issue. I’m sure not for you" Ahiro replied.
"Of course" Said Seven.
“Oh and Seven” Doctor Ahiro asserts. “Put some clothes on”.
Seven looks down at his bare legs.
“Of course”.
With that Seven turns around and disappears off into the smoke and mist and through a metal door at the rear of the birthing room. The doctor darkly laughs at the thought of Test being brought to justice.
The doctor’s expression changes to that of concern as he marches off into another room. This room has several green lights on each of the walls, like an old darkroom. Inside the room is a few metal doctor’s carts scattered along one of the walls. On these carts were various tools, instruments and components. there were two doors which spurred off from two of the four walls. The doctor stared at each for an equally awkward amount of time before choosing to enter the door on the right, a flick of his fingers which were clasped behind his back made the door slide open with a clunk.
Inside the room was a table and on that table was an unconscious man in his underwear. The doctor approached the table hands still clasped behind his back. An intravenous drip had been feeding him sedatives through a cannula in his left arm.
“Time for you to wake up and talk”. The doctor said flicking his fingers again, removing the IV from the man’s arm and flinging it to the ground.
“Now wake” the doctor repeated his sentiment staring deeply at the man’s head.
The man woke up suddenly screaming.
“Argh God, what?, what the hell was that? why do I?” the man said after swallowing hard.
The doctor removed his hand from behind his back and closed his fist which immediately stopped the man talking by closing his lips.
“That’s enough from you. I’m not a cruel man, I don’t think. I wouldn’t have taken you and your friends if it weren’t for the greater good of Lochwood. You u
nderstand?” Ahiro said staring into the man’s soul.
The mans mouth still sealed shut, he could only nod in terrified compliance.
“Good, because what I am about to do is going to hurt unless you tell me the best way into Little London. Walking through the front door is easy enough, but I want access to the lab, to the supply vault and to the routing room” Ahiro finished then release the man's mouth from his power.
The frightened prisoner gasped.
“You, want to get into Little London? but you have been there”.
“My child, the problem is not with us getting in, it’s with everybody else getting out when we get in. Now, please don’t digress again else your mouth will be permanently shut but this time I will make your nostrils close to” the Doctor replied, eyebrows frowning.
“Alright, alright, no wait. I think you can use the sixteen exits, or eighteen, I can’t remember exactly. Each of them have a safety lockdown procedure. Each door is different though. I used to live near fourteen and they just had a straightforward steel lock door. They had double bolts and a concrete slab that would fall in front of it if there was an attack. I can’t tell you about every door cas I just don’t know” the man panicked through his ramble of information.
“What about the lab and supply vault? How much do you know about them?” Ahiro asked.
“The supply vault and lab have staff of their own, special key cards and codes associated with them. The vault has a shaft going up for supply drops.” The man asserted.
“Where does this supply shaft go to?” Ahiro asked staring intently.
“I think it goes up somewhere on Hamilton, but i will say its very well hidden. You would have to ask a trader, but taking one of those will not make Swiss happy, he controls the routes.” the man said nervously.
“I don't care if Swiss is happy or not!” the doctor snarled “The information on the safety doors is very interesting now shall we find out what your wife knows?” the doctor said looking over at another locked metal door.
“You have my wife?” the man whimpered looking over at the same door.
“Yes I do, and I assume she knows a little more about the operations of Little London? as she worked in one of the supply depots correct?” the doctor smirked, the man starts to shout and his mouth is sealed shut again.
“But first, I need to search that mind of your for any secrets, you will have to bear with me, I’m not very good at this I can be a little clumsy”.
The man screams inside his mouth as the doctor stares deeply into his fear filled eyes. His eyes turn turn red as the doctor turns his brain to mush inside his own head, like a microwave cooking from the inside out. The doctor was seemingly trying to infiltrate his mind to find any further information he may be hiding. In fact his motivations weren't any longer for the secrets but to practise this mind manipulation technique. The doctor had tried on several occasions to hone his mutation given to him by the green flash disaster but up until now only able to use telekinesis efficiently. The mans rhything froze as his body started to lift from the table hands and arms still strapped down. The man stopped breathing whilst in a pyramid position.
“I don’t have long until the brain is complete dead” the doctor murmured, sweating.
After a few minutes of intense staring the doctor looked away and the man’s body dropped back to the table with a thud.
“Argh” the doctor shook his head and reached for a dictaphone from his pocket and started recording. “I just couldn’t get it to stick, I always tend to tear, there no precision, I’m not surgical.I must try and ease into it instead of ripping at the cortex, the memories won’t flow”. He put the recording device back into the inside pocket of his white lab coat and turned to the cold chrome door.
“Now, another one. Let’s try and get this one right” he muttered to himself, turning the twist lock holding the door closed.
Ahiro entered the room to see an unconscious brunette women restraint on a chrome table. the doctor approached the table slowly and tapped his finger on her forehead.
“What do you have in there then?”
Ahiro slowly squinted his eyes concentrating in between her eyebrows. She jolted awake and screamed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
DEATH TO THE EIGHT
Little London is full of fighters, men and women of all ages, sizes and shapes, normal and mutated, ex-greeners, gang landers, good, bad, desperate and ugly.
Ron standing on a high rise metal balcony in the underground city is speaking to a room full of them.
"You all know that we cannot go on living like this. You also know that we cannot allow these monsters to carry on doing what they are doing. Slowly sapping our freedom. Like the green flash didn't take enough from us already. I, like you, have lost so, so much. We won't ever get what we have lost back. But we can stop ourselves from losing more! This man that stands before us, John Test, tells me that he has a plan to do this. We will tear the heart out of the Eight and the doctor. And whilst it is still pumping we shall crush all life from it. DEATH TO THE EIGHT!".
With that the people in the room stood and cheered. Weapons pumping in the air.
"They all seem ready to fight John" Marko said.
"Yeah they do, looks like we could kick some ass here" John said impressed by the re-action.
The noise died down while everyone talked about what was going to happen and who they wanted to find and kill first.
"Hey boys" said Ron addressing Marko and John. "why don't you guys go down to the quarters in section three, I got a nice room for you and a couple of bottles. Have a rest, It's going to take me a little while to get these rag tags up, equipped and ready to move out onto the tower and to Three and his hostages".
John and Marko move onto section three of Little London after taking a few wrong turns to find their quarters. John lays down after taking his jacket off, he jumps up onto the top bunk of the small metal walled room. The room has metal grated shelving with old found items from the waste lining the walls.
Marko is resting on an old cushion arm chair rescued from the surface years ago.
"Ah I found the extra stash" Marko said with excitement in his voice as he spots the two whisky bottles hidden behind a mostly closed steel half cupboard.
John looks down to where Marko has spotted the goods.
"Yes please, a bottle of the good stuff please barkeep" John says from his top bunk.
Marko gets up from his chair with one quick jerking motion and grabs the two bottles, throwing one up to John before sitting back down again. John catches the bottle and bites the top off with his teeth.
"Here's to the Eight and the destruction of the good doctor" John says somewhat sarcastically.
"Here's to that brother" Marko replies while holding his bottle up and taking a hearty swig.
"Hey John?" Marko said about to ask a question.
"Yeah?" John turns his head while still clutching his whisky bottle.
"You ever met the Eight?" Markos asks.
"Well I killed one of em, he’s outside in the hallway" John Sniggers.
"No I mean, have you ever talked to any of them? Like, who are they?, why are they doing all this?" Marko asks more inquisitive and reflective than normal.
"Well, I don't have any memory of the Eight before the flash, I never met any of them, I only know what that green scribe guy told us. I know they are clones or grown, like me. I know they are bad, like me. Maybe they are just trying to survive, but that wouldn't explain the evil dark shit that they have been doing to people, I mean you don't cut up people, burn them and take hostages to survive" John explains. "But hey you start questioning why these guys are doing what you doing and you might second guess yourself up on the surface" John continued.
"Ah you know me John, I'm all about taking these guys out. Just feel there must be something deeper to it you know? A mastermind behind them" Marko exclaimed taking another sip of his now half empty bottle.
"Well that's a question we
should be asking this Doctor Ahiro about, and believe me he's next. Or maybe he's first, it depends on who we get to tomorrow" John tips his hat down over his face.
“How do you feel about all this clone stuff? must be a bit of a shock to the system, you don’t seem too fussed” Marko asked taking another swig.
Johns tips his hat back up with one finger.
“Ah I don’t know. Look, I’m more happy that I got to have my family, and that was real, anything before that feels kind of empty you know? I miss my little girl more than anything but I did my mourning a long time ago. Who cares how I was born, in a tank, in a tube, in a womb, whatever. I was born. I’m here.” John picks the bottle up from between his arms and takes a contemplative drink.
“I always suspected something, having the arm and all. Always thought I lost it in a car crash or in training. Saw a quack before the green to try and make sense out of the blank space before. about fifteen or sixteen years ago. I remember my grandfather and some odds and sods but mainly, just nothing. dead air. zip.” John stares through Marko trying to recall.
“That would fuck me up knowing that dog. I remember you saying something about your grandad and fishing. So you know more about your past, that’s good. At least you got some sense outta that green guy. What about tomorrow?” Marko asked trying to snap John back into reality.
“Argh, well we need to head over to Three and sort that mess out, I don’t think they will be taking a town a day. It’s too far to travel. But they can do some serious shit to somewhere. Also what about the Swiss Tower thing? How the hell is that gonna happen?” asked John staring at the ceiling.
“Yeah, the tower is a toughy. But that’s where the piece is, so we gotta go. after that announcement most of the places in K will be able to shift people outta there. well, I hope at least” Marko replied.
“Hmm, I hope so to. Let's not count Swiss out though. He’s a tricky bastard, can’t underestimate the slippery types nowadays. Always got a plan that one.” John tipped his hat back down over his eyes.
Marko stares at John in contemplation and then grabs a knife sharpening belt from the side and starts to grind his knife up and down muttering to himself.