“Rider, what if I can’t teleport far enough?” I asked, worried.
“In that case, and only as a last resort, teleport to the pod at your house. It’s within the blast zone but if you get there with enough time to spare, you should be able to make it out.”
“And what about you, Div and Glinda?”
“We’ll be fine, Sol. This isn’t our first rodeo.” He gave me a half-smile, and then left the room.
I made my way to the cafeteria. Servers brought out menus for us. After we made our selections, they gracefully placed our food on the table. We all dug in and enjoyed the ambiance. My mother, who had joined us to eat, didn’t ask how the meeting went. I assumed Rider already updated her. I explained some of the logistics of the operation while she nodded silently. Ace and Luke decided to lighten the mood by making jokes throughout dinner. They succeeded in making us all laugh and easing the tension. We all went to bed that night feeling slightly better about what lay ahead.
CHAPTER 27
I spent the next two days working on my teleportation with Div and practicing in the CEB simulator within the combat room. The others joined me at various points throughout the simulation. We all worked hard fine-tuning our tasks, individually and as a team. I found the simulator enjoyable to work with. Stella asked that we familiarize ourselves with every inch of Terredome in the event we had to reroute our plan of attack. Since I grew up there, I knew every corner of the city like the back of my hand. At the end of the first day, specialists came in and implanted a hearing device in my ear. It was a quick, painless procedure and Rider oversaw the process. Rider gave me a picture of what the interior of the house in the east looked like. I memorized every detail of it for when I would be teleporting back.
Luke began testing out an early model of the robotic wings. They worked seamlessly in propelling him into the air. Each feather contained microchips and sensors that communicated with a wireless earpiece that he wore. He simply had to think about how or where he wanted to fly, and his wings would follow. Div and Rider took turns fighting him both hand-to-hand and with weapons. The wings were impenetrable. He won each and every fight.
My training continued the following day. I imagined what Alex’s face would look like when I walked into the CEB. The image enhanced my personal training with Div. I was able to teleport to various areas within the LARF. She had me begin practicing outside as well, increasing the mileage I was able to transport to. She also recreated distractions within the simulator so that I could practice focusing; tuning out any ambient or random sounds. By the middle of the day before the attack, I was able to teleport 29.25 miles.
“If you focus really well, you’ll be able to do it tomorrow,” said Div confidently. “Just block out any distractions like we’ve practiced.”
I ran over and gave her a hug. “Thank you for everything, Div.”
Shockingly, she hugged me back. “You’re welcome, Sol. I know you can do this. Let’s go eat.”
We headed to our final dinner in the LARF. Glinda stood at the table.
“I just wanted to say that while not all of us have made it this far, I am happy for everyone sitting here tonight. I have faith that we will be victorious in our journey to remove evil from the world.” She lifted her glass. “To the preservation of this world we call home.” We all raised our glasses and cheered. An unspoken agreement was made to avoid talk about the next day’s quest. Instead, we all joked and laughed, filling the evening with a sense of peace and contentment.
Div and Glinda decided to sleep in my apartment. We stayed up late, chatting about what lay ahead before sleep overpowered our ability to talk.
#
I took extra long in the bath. With an important day ahead, I wanted to soak up every moment I could in the lap of luxury. Everyone seemed to have the same idea in mind at breakfast. No one rushed to finish eating. And everyone took extra orders, shoveling into their bodies as much food as possible. We arose together to make our way to the ATS, where Flash, Stella and Rider awaited us. Fly was operating the system for us, along with two assistants.
“Flash and I will be here monitoring everything,” said Stella reassuringly. “Please. Come back alive.”
“General Matthews’ army already transported there last night,” explained Rider. “They are all in position at the factories. Fly, please activate the launch codes.”
Fly’s fingers flew across the hologram. “Activated.”
“Perfect. Now please activate our earpieces.”
Fly selected a blue button on one of the screens. I heard a click in my right ear. Voice patterns appeared on that screen, indicating our vocal levels. “You’re on.”
“Thank you. Div, Glinda, and Luke. You will transport with me first. Sol, you will travel with Ace, arriving in your old home. Head straight toward the CEB from there. His military demons will likely intercept you on the way. Let them take you straight to him.”
I nodded and took a deep breath. My mother pulled me into a final hug. “I’ll be here waiting for you, sweetie,” she said into my hair. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” She pulled away and took a step back to watch. Rider, Div, and Glinda stepped onto the pad. Luke came over and gave me a quick kiss. He then ran onto the pod, standing beside Rider. He adjusted his robotic wings to lay flush against his body. This launch pad was faster than the one in the ARC. It flashed instantaneously without a countdown. They were all gone. I then stepped onto it with Ace. Stella, Flash and my mother looked on as we flashed and disappeared. I blinked and found myself in my old room.
CHAPTER 28
Ace stepped down. “Cool room,” he commented, looking around.
“Thanks” I replied. “I’ll be back soon.”
“You’ll make it fine.” He said, playfully smacking my arm. “Don’t forget to stall him. Hurry back.”
I gave him a quick pat on the arm, then ran downstairs and out of the house. While running, I noticed that the house smelled stale and dust had settled onto some of the furniture. It was already afternoon there and the sun was high in the sky. Steam poured through the potholes dotting the streets. My old gated community sat quiet. I made my way down the street, taking the extended route toward the CEB like Stella had advised. I passed my school, which too sat dark and quiet. Strange how it was only a few months since I was last there. I turned down the city’s main road. In the distance, I could see the CEB, smoke billowing out of a chimney behind it. I walked down the middle of the street, my footsteps the only sounds in the air. I reached the halfway point after about thirty minutes of walking. The entire way, I felt like a stranger in my own city. All stores and eateries were desolate. While I recognized everything, I also didn’t. The quiet that hung heavily in the air made me uneasy. Terredome no longer felt like my home.
I then heard a whistling above my head. Right as I looked up I saw three robotic demons dive down at me. I crouched low, covering my head with my hands. When they landed, I stood back up and faced them. One of them was Levi Boz.
“Soleil Arch,” he spoke, his voice sounding eerily deep and scratchy. “You must come with us.”
“No.” I said, as I had rehearsed with Rider. “I am terribly afraid.”
“Ha!” he squawked. They then reached forward and grabbed me with their talons. They lifted up and flew with me toward the CEB.
“Good job.” I heard in my ear. It sounded like Rider’s voice. “We are now leaving the factory and heading into the CEB.”
Levi and his two companions flew me to the steps outside of the CEB. They brought me down and escorted me up and through the main entry. While the CEB stood white and majestic on its exterior, the inside was dark and menacing. All of the windows were boarded up with a single chandelier providing light in the grand lobby. Along the floor, snakes hissed and rattled, contained within a barbed wire perimeter outlining the entire room. The entire ground was covered in dark goo, squishing under our feet as I was led up a wide staircase in the center of the room. I reac
hed out to hold the hand rail when Levi turned and clawed at my left hand, leaving a large gash that began bleeding heavily.
“Owww!” I cried, the pain searing up my arm. I leaned forward, clutching my left wrist.
“Keep moving!” hissed one of the demons to my side, pushing me forward.
I continued climbing up the stairs, which led to the third floor. Levi pressed the ‘up’ button alongside an old elevator that stood before us. When it arrived, I was pushed in and Levi turned a knob that read ‘penthouse.’ The elevator shot up rapidly. During the ascent, I could smell the putrid odor of decayed bodies. I looked up at the ceiling to see arms and hands dangling in the seams of the ceiling. I quickly looked away, swallowing back the chunks that rose from my stomach. The pain in my hand was intensifying and I began to feel weak. Blood continued oozing out of the wound. I lifted it steadily to assess it, when one of the demons grabbed my arm, quickly brought it to his mouth and began sucking blood from it.
“Noooooo!!!” I screamed, pain blinding my vision. Its tongue burned against my skin as it tried to steady my arm and continue draining me. It then yanked me down bit into one of my wings. I started seeing spots and everything around me became darker.
“You’ll kill her, and Sato needs her alive!” hissed Levi. He grabbed the demon off of my arm and threw him against the elevator wall. The demon slouched to the floor, laughing and wiping my blood from his face. He then licked the blood off of his claws.
I too slouched down. I had lost too much blood and was feeling faint. We arrived at the penthouse just then, and the doors opened. The demons dragged me out of the elevator and down a hallway. The hall had no lights and reeked of blood and burning bodies. The goo that coated the floor matted my wings as I was dragged down the length of it. The demons paused before two large mahogany doors, ‘Sato’ inscribed in cursive on them. They hissed in unison, causing the doors to open on their own. They pulled me to the center of an office, leaving me on the floor. I was barely able to make out a large black desk at which sat a larger black throne.
“He’ll be here to greet you momentarily,” chuckled Levi. “Enjoy your life while it lasts.” The other demons joined him in a hissing laughter as they exited the room.
“Hang in there, Sol,” came Rider’s voice in my earpiece. “We just breached the basement of the CEB. Give us a few minutes to plant the reactor.”
I gradually brought myself to my feet. Holding my left arm, which was pale and losing sensation, I looked around the room. I needed to heal my wing. “Remedia.” The bite mark in my wing disappeared, as did the blood surrounding it. My arm, however, failed to heal itself. Sato’s office was crimson red and unlike anything I had ever seen. Hundred of glass tubes ran from the ceiling down along the walls, emptying out into large black vases on the floor. Blood flowed freely through these tubes. The stench of the bodies peeked in this office and I realized that Sato was likely draining the bodies of the citizens of Terredome. I looked up at the ceiling to see if I could make out how far the tubes ran up. Unable to see well, I then looked at his desk. On it sat a large wine glass, filled with blood. The ATS room launch papers were neatly stacked in front of the wine glass, with portions of the top sheet highlighted. Two red-bulb lamps lit the room, giving it a frightening feel.
“Welcome home!” said a familiar voice from behind me.
I slowly turned and looked into the eyes of my betrayer.
“You must be so happy to be back, aren’t you?” asked Alex mockingly. “You don’t seem too happy to see me though.”
“You are a disgusting piece of trash.” I said calmly. “You caused irreparable damage to the lives of so many people.” I had rehearsed my stalling remarks with Stella. I needed to give Rider enough time to plant the reactor.
“Oh I thought you were upset because I made you fall for me,” he winked.
I felt my face blush, but I continued. “Why are you and your father doing this?” I asked.
“Well, Sol. My father has had some great aspirations over his lifetime. But truth be told, he’s going to have to pass the torch some day. And since I’m his only heir, he felt that it was time that my training be put to use.”
“Your training? So you planned this all along?” I asked.
“Of course this was planned! I’m not really seventeen, Sol. More like seventy. So we’ve had quite a few decades to get this ball rolling.” He stepped toward me and brushed the back of his hand against my face. “You were the best part, I must admit.”
I smacked his hand away with my right arm.
“What? You didn’t think Sato had suspicions about your father and that whole Oculation story the technicians fabricated? Sato knows everything, Sol. That’s what makes my father the greatest angel of all time. He chose to wait patiently for you to develop. That way, he achieves the greatest pleasure when he gets to murder the only descendant of Solomon Arch.”
“What on earth do I or my ancestors have to do with Sato?”
“My father was supposed to gain fame, not Solomon Arch!” screamed Alex, completely losing his composure. “Sato’s name should be on everyone’s lips, praising him all of the time. Since he can’t have it that way, everyone will pay for Solomon’s notoriety!”
“Why would you punish the world for something they had no control over?” I felt myself sway as I said this, the loss of blood causing flashes of light to appear, my vision clouding.
Alex ignored me and walked over to one of the tubes. “The blood of mankind will flow endlessly, feeding us as we turn dreams and hopes into misery and despair.” I could no longer stand and fell to the floor. Just then Warren Sato entered the room, flanked by Wrath and Fury, who were in their normal, human-like state. Both smiled devilishly at me, making what little blood I had left boil. They stopped at either side of the doorway and stood guard.
“Ah Soleil Arch, granddaughter of the mighty Solomon Arch. Welcome. It will be an honor to take down a second arch in my lifetime.”
“Sol, the reactor was planted. You have three minutes to teleport NOW!” shouted Rider into my earpiece.
“Father, she’s been wounded. Apparently one of your subordinates couldn’t help himself.”
“Well that is why you are in charge of them!” shouted Sato to his son. “To prevent things like this!”
Alex knelt next to me, inspecting my hand. I moaned when he poked his finger into the wound, grinning at me sadistically.
“Bring her to Factory 8. I will be there shortly to dismember her myself.”
“Two minutes, Sol!” shouted Rider.
Alex began dragging me by my right arm into the hallway. I tried conjuring an image of the house at the edge of Terredome. However, each time I tried to picture it, the image slipped away, the pain in my left arm too much to bear. We reached the elevator, and Alex pressed the up button. We rode it one more floor up to the rooftop of the CEB. There resided the entry points to the catwalks that led to the factories.
“Sixty seconds, Sol!”
Alex dragged me to the catwalk marked ‘8’.” Back at the elevator we had just exited, the door opened and Warren stepped out, flying towards us with Wrath and Fury following behind.
“Where are they?!” he yelled out, his voice booming as he flew.
“What?” called out Alex, still holding my right arm.
“Cameras picked up one of Rider’s angels in the tunnels. What did they do?!” He was just about to land, when I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I envisioned my old room, the way my bed looked with its bedspread and pillows. When I opened my eyes, there I was, lying on my old bed. However, Alex was there as well, still holding onto my arm.
“What? Where are we? What did you do?” he asked.
“Ten seconds!” Rider’s voice drilled into my eardrum.
I leaped off of the bed and realized that the pod I had arrived on was gone. I flew down the staircase, Alex right behind me. I made it out the front door and took off flying toward the house in the east.
“Five
seconds!”
Alex took flight after me.
“Three, two, one!” I heard a loud sound and looked back as I flew. The CEB mushroomed into a ball of fire. I stopped flying and hovered mid-air as I could see waves of the explosion making their way towards me. I dropped onto the ground and squeezed my eyes tight. Alex grabbed one of my wings just as I envisioned the house in the east. I opened my eyes to find Ace waiting next to the pod. His eyes widened, but before he could say anything, I grabbed him and pulled him onto the pod. We flashed in an instant and disappeared from Terredome for good.
CHAPTER 29
My eyes opened and I found myself lying on a bed. I immediately felt a dull throbbing in my left arm, so I raised it cautiously. It was wrapped in a white bandage, some blood soaking through. Soft white lights were beaming down on me. I blinked rapidly to focus my eyesight. In a chair at the foot of the bed sat Ace, sound asleep. On a counter next to him rested my gold sais. Someone had bathed me, cleaning my wings thoroughly and dressing me in a green cotton romper. I slowly sat upright, pushing a sheet off to the side. I was feeling slightly dizzy, so I reached for a nearby glass of water when Ace stirred awake.
“Hey there,” he said delicately.
My throat too dry to speak, I nodded in his direction.
“How are you feeling?”
“Ok,” I croaked. “Where are we?”
“Umm…,” Ace looked around uncomfortably. “That’s actually a funny story.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, now panicking. “Where is everyone?”
“Oh no need to worry everyone is fine…back in Los Angeles, that is.”
“What do you mean ‘back in Los Angeles?’”
“Well that’s the funny part. I don’t think the pod in Terredome could handle the weight of us, so we didn’t transport back to L.A.”
“Ok so where are we then?”
“We’re in Dublin.”
“Dublin?!” I yelled, my voice cracking. I remembered reading about Dublin in history class. “As in Dublin, Ireland?!”
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