by Andrew Peed
The door at the top opened and the soldiers began filing in following the others down the stairs. Blackout had to drop her shield. Arch and Chrono were fighting the other soldiers. Arch was blasting them with bolts of energy and Chrono was slowing the bullet down with time, knocking them out of the air.
I walked out into the hallway below, a familiar man stood at the end of the hall.
"Jolt is down here!" I yelled back through the door.
He stood with his back to a door and his arms crossed. He knew what we had come for and he was here to stop us.
"Well, well if it isn't the misfits. Coming for the computer core? Your little telepath should mind her thoughts." He had a mad grin plastered on his face. He stood alone at his end of the hallway.
"Just get out of the way." I yelled.
Blackout joined us in the hallway, walking slowly, holding her head.
“Well if it isn’t our little information portal.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Oh don’t worry. You had no idea the link went both ways when the other person was aware of what you are doing.” Jolt cackled.
"You know what, this guy is mine." Arch took a step forward in front of the group. He took off running down the hallway towards Jolt as fast as he could. He held out both of his arms and created two balls of energy.
He threw them at Jolt.
Jolt caught the energy and combined them into a single charge of energy and threw it back at Arch. He was able to side step the attack. The energy crashed into the floor and blew a large whole into the rooms below.
Jolt threw another ball of electricity at Arch who was able to grab it while he jumped through the air landing on Jolt's face. Jolt screamed as the bolts of energy licked his face, burning deep grooves into his flesh.
Arch jumped up and took a few steps back as Jolt yelled in pain. He pushed himself up into a standing position using bolts of electricity for more leverage. Arch balled his fists waiting for the second round.
"I have to say. Your power has grown exponentially since last time." Jolt spat blood onto the floor.
"Stop talking and fight." Arch yelled.
They ran at each other. Bolts of energy carved scorched lines in the walls as they smashed into each other... Every punch, every kick, blasted with pure white bursts of electricity.
Arch pinned Jolt onto his stomach and held his arm behind his back, "Silence, Sear, go. I will keep him busy as long as I can!"
We ran past them, ducking the bolts of energy that were destroying the walls around us. When we got to the door, I melted it without thinking twice and pushed the door open.
Inside of the room was a round hatch. I tried to open it but it was locked, I didn’t want to damage anything below. There was a small panel on the wall beside us. Silence went to work on the lock.
Jolt and Arch were standing again, both breathing heavily. Arch attacked but Jolt was waiting for it. He placed his palm on Arch's chest; he gathered all of his remaining energy and blasted Arch with all of it.
Arch flew across the room and smashed into the wall behind the others. A crater spread out behind him and he fell to the floor. He rolled onto his stomach and coughed.
"You are still not strong enough to beat me." Jolt said standing over Arch's limp body.
He held his arms up over his head, charging for one last attack. He gathered up every last bit of energy and brought it down. Blackout came between the blast and Arch with a shield. She absorbed the energy, and then funneled it into Arch.
"No! No! What are you doing?" Jolt said backing away.
Arch pushed himself up off the floor. He charged a blast and then added the power that Blackout had given him. He slammed it into Jolt's chest.
Jolt stood frozen to the spot. His bones were glowing through his skin. He fell to the ground and smoke billowed from his body.
"I'm alright." Arch said noticing me looking at him, "Go complete the mission." he finished falling onto Blackout for support.
Chapter 23: The Question
"We are about to get some company!" Blackout yelled. She was helping Arch walk back to the door. He was in rough shape.
Silence grabbed my arm and turned me towards him. "The hatch is open, take the case, and get the job done."
I turned and started to climb down the ladder into the room below. Just before I was out of view, I could see Silence kneel down and pick up three rifles from the fallen soldiers.
The climb took a good ten minutes before I found the floor below. The room inside was tiny; there was only enough room for two people max. I sat down in the single chair and set the case down on the floor beside me.
There was no keyboard or mouse, only a single screen, microphone, and camera.
"Please present for Facial Recognition Authorization.” a pleasant man's voice said.
I thought for a moment and wasn't sure about what to do, but it hit me. I tapped on my head set and said, "Shift."
"Yeah." she said after a short pause. Her voice was distorted, from the many layers of concrete the signal had to pass through.
"Could you come down here? I need your help."
"One second." she said. I didn’t hear any gunfire.
She slid down the ladder and landed on the floor with a soft thud. She took a breath and turned to look at me.
"Do you remember what James Scott looked like?"
"That holographic guy that was at the orphanage?" she asked her eyes closed trying to remember.
"Yeah, do you think that you can change into him?"
“Isn’t that like screaming, ‘hey we’re hacking in!’ or something?” she asked.
“They know we’re here, who cares.”
She concentrated. Her face began to ripple and wave, her skin moving around. Her bones popped and crunched as they reshaped. Her face was identical as far as I could remember.
"What about the voice?" I added.
"What do you think?" she asked in a perfect imitation of his voice.
She lowered her face to the camera and held it there. Green lasers began scanning over every inch of her face. Up and down, then left and right. Photos of people that I had never seen before began to flash across the screen, rapid fire.
"Welcome back Mr. Scott. As per your personal policy, you are granted full unmonitored access to the entire system." the computer said.
"Please grant Jane Doe the same access." Shift said in James's voice.
"Yes sir. That's done." The computer's voice was so friendly it almost made me sick.
I opened the case and pulled out the cable. I plugged it into one of the free ports of the front of the wall of a computer.
"Back up database on the external drive." I said.
"Thank you for the command. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but going to need four keys ma’am, but of course you know that already. If you could insert those now, we can proceed." The computer said.
I tapped my earpiece twice and said, "Acumen. I have access to the computer, and I am about to insert the keys."
“Ready when you are.” He said.
I inserted all of the keys into the side of the computer.
"Give me a few minutes." Acumen said.
"Ah, thank you sir. The first key has been accepted. If you would please insert the other three?" the computer said as the light on the first key turned from red to green.
I waited as the lights turned green one at a time. When the last one changed I heard a blast of gunfire from above me. The noise poured down the hatch and echoed in the small room.
"I have wonderful news. The keys have been accepted and your download has begun. It is going to take approximately ten minutes. Is there anything else that I may help you with while you wait?" The computer asked.
"Display the surveillance from one floor above." I became desperate to know what was going on above.
The screen flashed to a view that was set behind where the others were standing. Arch, Blackout, and Silence were all knelt wit
h rifles firing at the soldiers as they filed into the room. Chrono was standing behind them. He had his arms outstretched slowing the time in the doorway so that each enemy that tried to come into the room was moving in slow motion.
The four of them ripped through the soldiers like they were the dummies on the practice field. They did not waste a single bullet, each one made contact with an enemy soldier.
I breathed a sigh of relief as an idea hit me.
"Could you display any information on AdvaGen Technologies and Joseph Madison?" I asked the computer.
"Certainly just one moment while I return the requested information." I watched as the others continued to crush the soldiers above. I was damn proud to watch them protect themselves flawlessly.
"Joseph Madison is in stasis where his brain has been tethered to a computer by his own design. AdvaGen Technologies has been completely shut down and all remaining projects have been transferred to the Aurora Corporation Research and Development Technology department." the computer explained.
"Joseph Madison, the founder of AdvaGen Technologies is alive?" I asked.
"Yes. James Scott ordered their deaths to be faked with clones and then the real ones put into the Morpheus Project." the computer said.
"Who else?" I asked.
"Joseph's wife Abbitha."
"What is the Morpheus Project?" I asked desperate for answers. I had more question then ever.
"Unable to comply." the screen went blank.
"Crap!" I yelled.
"Did we lose that data?" Shift asked.
The screen flickered back on and the progress bar reappeared. The transfer hadn't stopped and we were sitting at ninety-nine percent.
"We're still good. Almost done." I said pulling my hair and sighing.
When the transfer had completed, I packed everything back into the case. I put the strap over my shoulder and made sure that we had all of the keys.
"Let's get the hell out of here." Shift said.
We started to climb the ladder her right in front of me. When we got back up onto the upper floor, we could see the true scale of the carnage of what had occurred above.
Silence and Arch were leaning on the walls and breathing heavily. Blackout was sitting on the ground back against the wall. Chrono was rubbing his head hardly able to remain standing.
Silence smiled and walked towards me, "It's about tim..." before he could finish he stopped. He fell to his knees clutching his stomach. He pulled his hand away from his body and blood spilled to the floor. He fell the rest of the way to the ground.
Behind him a wounded guard was barely holding up a rifle. Blood ran down his face where he had been injured in his head. His sights were lined up on the spot where Silence had been standing.
I dropped the case as my entire body burst into flame and I shot across the room. I landed on the guard, grabbed him by the neck, and held him up into the air. His body disintegrated in my hand from the massive flames that were flowing from my arm.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled. My voice sounded like there were several voices on top of mine.
Shift picked up the case while Chrono and Arch picked up Silence to carry him out of the building.
Once everyone had left the room I filled it with flames. I burned everything around me so hot that the concrete crumbled under the weight of the building above. The ceiling above me burst into dust as I rose. I gave the others time to get out of the building.
When I was outside I hung in the sky above the facility. I fed flames into the building below creating more and more heat. I watched as everything crumbled into ash. I wanted to make this spot impossible to ever rebuild on in the future. I poured on every single ounce of power that I could find.
When there was nothing left but a single solid piece of smoking concrete and steel, I lowered myself to where the others were hunched around Silence.
Shift met me behind one of the trucks that were parked. She morphed back into herself, clothes and all. She opened the trucks door and politely asked for any clothes that he had in his truck. The driver gave her a shirt and some shorts. Again I was forced to dress in men’s clothes.
Ronnie coughed loudly holding the wound while blood poured out.
"Ryder, Ryder, can you hear me?" My voice shook with fear as I scooped him into my arms. His body was limp and heavy.
"Loud and clear..." he coughed.
I tapped my head set, "Sam... I mean Acumen."
"Go ahead." he said.
"Ryder has been badly injured. I know that Vanish is still recovering, but we need her to come and get Ryder. I don't think that he is going to make it otherwise." I said hysterically.
"Hold on." he said, the line going dead.
The air around us was quiet. I could hear Shift sobbing into Chrono's shoulder, and I dare not look at any of them. Silence coughed loudly as I rocked back and forth waiting for something to happen.
Vanish appeared and put her hand on Silence. She waited for me to let go. I kissed him and backed away. The two of them blinked away in the bright blue light. Knowing that she had come did help, but not as much as I had hoped. She'd already had blood seeping from her eyes before they had left.
Chapter 24: Opaque
I took a second to clear my head. I had to assume that Silence was safe, but we still had to get to the helicopter that was our way home. We were all tired and Arch could not walk on his own and was leaning on Chrono
"Nobody gets left behind. Period. If you need help you speak up." I brought up the map of the area on my watch. I took a good look at our surroundings, but it was difficult at night to determine where to go. Sharp pains in the back of my head weren’t helping anything.
"Where do we go?" Shift asked looking over my shoulder at the map.
I tapped my headset twice, "Acumen."
"Go ahead." he said.
"Is there any way we can make figuring out where to go easier?" I asked.
"Turn the dial on the watch to the C. It will point you in the direction of your ultimate destination using a GPS connection. You will have to find your way around any obstacles." Acumen said.
I did as he said. The map vanished and a small arrow appeared on the screen of the watch.
I took a deep breath, "Are we ready?"
Everyone gave their nod in ready. Chrono got a good grip on Arch and we followed the arrow into the trees.
"I don't think it'll be long before we have company." Blackout said.
"We keep moving and maybe we can avoid them altogether." We maneuvered slowly through the trees. I looked down at my watch, under the arrow it read .98M which I assumed M was for miles, "I think we have about a mile."
We exited the woods and waited at the edge of a four lane highway. We waited for a good enough break in the cars and in pairs we bolted across the road. When we got to the other side, we slid down into the ditch and took a breather.
"How do you feel?" I asked Arch who was sitting at the bottom of the ditch.
"Like I was hit by a bus." he said. Blood was smeared across his face from him trying to wipe it off. "I think that I can walk now."
I watched the clock closely and when five minutes was up, I got everyone up. "Let's get back." I said. I felt personally responsible for the whole group and I was desperate for any information telling me that Ryder was going to be alright.
We crossed a small field and cut a gap in a chain link fence that led into a small subdivision. The houses were all dark and there were hardly any cars in the driveways.
"There it is." I said as we hit the top of a hill. I could see the helicopter sitting on the pad waiting for us. The pilot was walking around the front, checking the craft over.
"Let's go home." Arch said, trying to keep his balance.
I heard a loud pitch whistle coming from behind where we stood. I turned around to see a black streak tear across the sky. It smashed into the helicopter and exploded, sending us all flying from the shockwave.
I forced myself to my feet, but the he
licopter, the pad, and the building had all been destroyed. I searched the sky behind us for any kind of aircraft, but I couldn't see anything.
"Acumen. The helicopter is gone." I said into my headset.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Gone, exploded, big freaking boom." I yelled. My brain was going a hundred miles a minute.
"Calm down."
"Calm down? The pilot is dead!" I yelled.
"I'm sorry. Bertha is ten miles north of you. They are refueling. I am updating your system now." he said his voice panicked.
"Ten miles?" Arch said. The whole group, including myself, was exhausted. Walking that kind of distance was simply not an option.
"Stay here, Shift you come with me. We are going to get a truck." I said.
We went back out to the road.
"What are you going to do?" Shift asked as we both knelt down by the road.
"Something crazy." I said.
I walked out into the middle of the road as an SUV came barreling towards me at seventy plus miles per hour. I held out my hand. The truck came to a screeching stop inches from where I stood.
I walked over to the driver's door.
"Are you out of your mind? I could have killed you!" the man in the driver’s seat said through an open window.
"I need your car." I said lighting my eyes on fire.
The driver jumped out of the car and took off running down the street. I could make out him screaming something about a demon.
I stopped the truck next to where the others had gathered. They all climbed up the ditch and into the truck. I took my cell phone out of my pocket and opened a GPS app. I checked the map for the coordinates to where Bertha was located and entered it the truck’s GPS.
”Make a u-turn whenever possible." the GPS said.
I put the truck into drive and smashed on the gas. I cut through the median and followed the directions given by the GPS. I swerved in and out of traffic, greatly exceeding the speed limit. Every time the traffic would build up I would go off the road around the cars.
We came to a small airstrip as the familiar plane was taxing to the end of the runway. The side door was open. I drove the truck right up to where the plane was sitting and parked next to the opened door.