He had already started running, in a matter of seconds the rest of us joined him. My body was in pain but I was forcing myself to keep moving forward no matter what. Craning my head back allowed me to see that the bomb was about to hit the ground. Once it did a digging sound erupted into the air, at first I thought that was it, when a rumbling sound followed and then the ground began to shake. Starting from where the bomb landed the ground started to crack and tear apart, the cracks spread furiously as the shaking grew worse and worse. Parts of the ground were starting to raise up and others were sinking down, the cracks were spreading, moving like hungry serpents catching up to us and soon moving passed us as we ran. My head was faced forward but I could hear the ground breaking apart from behind me speeee…speeee….speeeee…booooom a building collapsed in on itself releasing a cloud of dust which was seemingly chasing after us. Booooom speeeee, speeee buildings started falling left and right. We had to move quickly to outrun them and avoid getting trapped in this collapsing madness.
It was already hard to run not just because of the pain but because of the parts of the ground in front of you raising up while the ground you’re standing on sank. I jumped forward but that didn’t do much good as the ground sank further, I continued moving forward booooom speeee sppeeeee. The longer this was going on the more dust filled the air it was like a storm, it made it harder and harder for me to maneuver around as my line of sight continued to decrease. I looked around for a moment making sure I could see the others, everyone was fine for now but how long could we keep running, could we even escape in time. Since we had started running just before the bomb hit we had manage to keep ahead of the worst of it but I could feel and hear it creeping up on us getting closer and closer. It was a loud rumbling sound along with what sounded like small solid objects like stones or something raining down on the ground. I turned my head back for just a second and I saw a dust cloud moving toward us, below it I could just barely make out the collapsing ground which was gaining on.
“We need to move faster.” I yelled every word hoping they could hear me.
“Not as easy as it sounds not all of us….”
William stopped speaking mid-sentence while the rumbling sound grew louder and louder. Dammit…William you better be ok. I needed to focus on running, focus on the swing of my arms as they moved back and forth, the raising of my legs as I took in deep breaths mixed with dust and painfully exhaled them out. Taking a quick glance to my right, then to my left I noticed AJ and Mathew were missing as well when I returned my attention in front of me I saw a large building break through the cloud of dust and heading straight for Alastor. I raised my hand in front of me shouting but nothing came out. The building hit the ground with a loud booooom, glass flew pass me as well as large amounts of other flying debris. It felt like I was in the desert during a sandstorm, everything around me was dust clouds and terribly uneven terrain. It was madding.
“Alex look out.” Tessa yelled.
I looked up for a moment and saw two buildings falling toward one another. They hit each other long before hitting the ground causing large chucks of building debris to fall in my direction. I zigzagged around the debris as best as I could getting hit in the shoulder and side by at least two pieces of debris. I nearly stumbled but kept striding on, hopeful the others were doing the same…
“Where are the others?”
“I don’t. Alex…”
Tessa curved toward me keeping pace so she wouldn’t get swept up in all the chaos. She reached for my hand, I knew what she was doing so I reached for her hand when the ground split between us. The resulting quake from the bomb was finally catching up with us. In a matter of seconds the rumbling became even louder as if someone was yelling as loud as they could right in my ear. It wasn’t just the rumbling that grew louder it had become much harder to run. It seemed like every time I moved from a piece of the ground that was sinking I would move to another that was already sinking, if this kept up I would be pulled in lost in this sea of destruction. Tessa continued trying to get to me and it was costing her.
“Don’t worry about me. Just run Tessa. Run.”
Tessa stared at me with a concerned look on her face them marched forward. She was moving fast making her way out of the city. I could still see her though she wasn’t that far ahead of me which wasn’t good. Things collapsing around me was becoming a habit the last time this happened I remembered having to move faster than I normally do. Thinking, I didn’t want Conner Creed to hurt Tessa. That same feeling was inside me right now and it filled my chest with a strange burning which extended to my eyes in the form of that ever familiar warmth. I couldn’t see it but my eyes were glowing green for a few second before returning to normal once they did I rushed forward toward Tessa. She glanced back at me while a relived look went across her face, unfortunately it was too soon to be relived way too soon.
There was a number of collapsing buildings in our way making it feel as if we were trying to escape from a maze of deathtrap. Tessa and I ran toward the first building then made a hard left as soon as it was available. We ran along a narrow pathway, Tessa had to be in front while I was behind her, there was eventually enough space for us to run side by side. I took my eyes off the road for just a second to look at Tessa thinking this was an amazing feeling. Aside from all the destruction and panic, running like this was…
That’s when I realize that there was a roadblock of buildings and cars ahead of us. It would take us too long to maneuver around it. We couldn’t stay still either so I focused on the buildings in front of us each laying in a neat little row which was surprising considering how they got like that in the first place. I imagined a giant fist barreling its way through the buildings which knocked a large hole right through them. We had our way through, it didn’t matter for me though because I had slowed down when I used my telekinesis. Tessa was about to go through the hole when she noticed I was lagging behind so she went after me.
“Nooooo. Don’t.” I shouted but the rumbling behind me stopped my words cold.
Tessa was running toward me which was an incredibly terrible idea since the ground was collapsing and she was moving onto parts of the ground that were sinking further down. My footing felt weird, so I looked down for just a second to confirm what I already knew. I was at the cusp of the collapsing ground. It wouldn’t be long now until….Tessa ran to my rescue.
“Didn’t I tell you not to die?” Tessa commented while reaching a hand toward me.
I smirked for a moment while reaching toward her. Beeershoooo booooom. My hand never reached Tessa’s instead I was steadily sinking. Tessa reacted fast but it was too late, the ground she was standing on collapsed from under her, we were both falling. I felt like I was going down a waterfall except it was rocks and gravel not water and I was face to face with it. Platforms of ground fell before me and I desperately tried clawing my way up them only to be pulled further and further down. The cloud of dust consumed the entirety of my vision while the rumble from the quake blocked out my hearing. Not too long after though I could only see blackness and there was no sound at all.
Chapter 23
Inside a secure facility within an unknown location a number of workers tapped away at their stations. Aside from the monitors from their computer screens there was little to no light in the oval room they receded in. Watching from a level above was Mr. Burke a man in his mid -sixties who had been placed in charge of this facility for his ability to remain unchanged by the things that happened around him be it corruption or pull from a higher government power.
“Status Report?” Mr. Burke asked.
After a quick few taps on the keyboard in front of him one of the workers replied. “Everything appears to be fine at the….wait a second there seems to be a huge spike in seismic activity.”
“Give me satellite imaging.” Mr. Burke demanded.
“Yes Mr. Burke sir.”
In a matter of seconds the large T.V monitors that were laid out in front of them flashed
onto the scene of Re gahn’s final moments. The live feed showed the ground crumbling and shaking as buildings fell and collapsed in on themselves. Mr. Burke watched silently with his jaw locked tight giving him a perpetual scowl. After a few minutes of watching the destruction of Re gahn, Mr. Burke decided on a course of action.
“Do you know what the cause of this earthquake is, Kenneth?”
Before Kenneth could respond the screen flashed an image of a large demonic looking airship flying away. Kenneth glanced back at Mr. Burke for a moment before awkwardly turning back to the live feed.
“From the information I am getting some sort of bomb caused this.”
“I need the room.” Mr. Burke said the words in a calm and quick matter.
After he spoke, everyone left the room except Kenneth and Mr. Burke of course. Once the room was cleared out Mr. Burke scanned the area to make sure there were no stragglers.
“Kenneth you and I both know whose ship that is.”
“It’s a Prometheus ship sir.”
Mr. Burke rubbed the bridge of his nose after Kenneth responded, he had sort of hoped for a different response but it was very clear who that ship belong to. Mr. Burke grabbed the railing in front of him and squeezed it hard for a moment before releasing his grip. Mr. Burke had always hated the governments’ dealings with Prometheus and how they let them slid on account of the benefits to having them around. He was well aware that the Bureaucrats wanted to keep Prometheus around as long as possible before finally getting rid of them. Except…no an act of terrorism had been committed on U.S soil, some sort of action had to be taken in response.
“Call the other U.F Senators.”
Kenneth nodded without turning around typing in a combination of keys into his computer which quickly changed the screen from the live feed of Re gahn’s destruction to a video chat with at least 150 different people. Burke not being one for niceties felt he would dive right on into the problem at hand.
“As you all well know, amongst us there has always been a debate as to how to handle the Prometheus problem. I am not here today to reiterate any of my previous statements on the matter but to inform you that a ship belonging to the Prometheus organization has destroy the city of Re gahn at the moment we don’t know why just that this act constitutes an act of terrorism.”
Mr. Burke cleared his throat just before he was about to continue speaking but was interruptted by one of the other senators.
“I understand your concern but we cannot be too hasty in our actions. Prometheus has provided us with a number of benefits and has never had reason to destroy a city. Why would they seek to damage the balance we have achieved? Plus according to the feed I am looking at, there was another vessel which deployed a bomb on the city.”
Mr. Burke smiled to himself once he heard Senator Varrik speak, the man was either blinded to what was really going on, or simply didn’t care but he wouldn’t be able to ignore the truth for much longer. Kenneth was busy typing away at his screen gathering all the Intel Mr. Burke would need to sway the senators on his side.
“First and foremost that bomb was dropped by Marc Edge’s private forces, the bomb itself was stopped by persons unknown. The ship which dropped the bomb left soon after with the city still intact while the Prometheus vessel arrived…and dropped their bomb. Twenty percent of the population survived the bombing by Prometheus which amounts to 929,153 survivors meaning there was an eighty percent causality rate. Which amount to 3,716,612 deaths that’s not a number that we can ignore. I am asking you to grant me access to the UF forces to finally rid ourselves of the nuisance that is Prometheus.”
Mr. Burke felt confident that they would agree in a matter of hours. The combined forces of the United Federation would destroy each and every….
“We can’t afford to utilize the UF force at this time there are too many risks involved. But we also can’t ignore what you have told us so we will vote whether or not to deploy the Unit.”
Burke’s eyes shot up upon hearing their decision, using the UF forces was one thing but the Unit was something else entirely every time they used them they risked a large number of lives. Whatever his personal feelings against Prometheus he knew that it couldn’t warrant using them.
“I vote no.” Mr. Burke stated firmly.
While several other Nos and Yeses rang out, the result became clear it was almost a fifty/fifty spilt coming out to fifty two percent against and forty eighty percent for, so the decision was made to hold off sending the Unit at the moment but to place them on standby just in case. Once they all agreed each of the screens began turning off as each of the senators logged off the chat. All of them turned off except the UK’s which caught Burke off guard, not too much but just a little.
“What do you want Jane Katherine?”
Jane Katherine was a woman who was around the same age as Mr. Burke, her hair was a silverish gray and she had wrinkles all over her face. Her eyes were blue and filled with the same fire she had in her younger years. That fire had never died out only getting stronger as she grew.
“I should have shared this information sooner but a bounty was placed on Carter and Alexander Noble and their friends.”
Mr. Burke knew the names he didn’t know too much about them though just that they happened to be thorns in Prometheus side. If he ever had a chance to meet them he would probably buy them a drink. The fact Prometheus put a bounty on them meant that they were afraid of them, which meant it was entirely possible for them to actually bring Prometheus down.
“The reason I mention this is because a number of mercenaries have attempted to kill them. These attacks calumniated in the Re gahn bombing…”
“Wait, you’re not going to say what I think. Are you going to tell me to pin the blame on Carter, Alexander and their friends, because I won’t do it.”
“No..no…no that’s not what I am saying even though we have considered that option for the sake of keeping Prometheus around this attack shows that they truly cannot be trusted. What I wanted to inform you of has to deal with the ship used in the bombing. A ship of that caliber cannot be housed in one of Prometheus’ smaller facility it can only be kept in a larger more secure site my guess is the ship itself came from their main HQ. If my team on the ground can track it we can finally locate their base.”
Mr. Burke was surprised by everything Jane Katherine was saying if this was true then if she was standing in front of him right now he could kiss her. Of course something like that would be completely out of character for him, but that was how much he despised Prometheus.
“Once your team has the location contact me.”
“Will do, oh and remember Burke the United Federation is here to fight against global issue when it comes to issues that are purely internal in your own country you’re on your own.”
Jane Katherine finished her sentence with a slight smirk before sighing off. Burke knew that it was obvious she wanted him to read between the lines. The UF might not have allowed him the use of its forces but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use his own to deal with the problem. After all with internal issue he was on his own.
Chapter 24
It was a small room with nothing special about it in particular. There were little to no actual decorations. Just a lamp in the corner next to a long grey counter with a mirror on top of it. Across from the counter was a bed which Adam was currently laying on, he had one leg crossed over the other and one hand under his head. The other hand was playing with his silver pocket watch. It was one of the few things that Adam put a particular amount of effort to keep clean.
He opened and closed it repeatedly while staring inside, Adam was thinking at the moment more anxious than anything. It was nearly time for the plan. Adam was excited just thinking about, but it all added to the problem in a way. Currently Adam was restless he couldn’t bear too much more of this, being kept locked up here. If he didn’t believe that it would be worth the wait he would have stormed his way out of the base crushing anyone who tried
to stop him plus a half a dozen or so more just for the fun of it. But the plan, what was about to come had Adam’s attention. That didn’t changed the fact that the most fun he had recently was sending out that combat airship to pay Re gahn a little visit. The thought put a smile on his face, it didn’t stay there long as someone uninvited entered his room.
“Um, Adam there seems to be some sort of irregularity.”
Adam barely glanced away from his pocket watch while the man who had entered his room continued to talk.
“Anyway there is an irregularity with the airship logs. It says that sometime yesterday you gave an airship loaded with a Q-bomb permission to head out and go to Re gahn.”
Adam blinked for a moment as if he had actually paused to listen to the man then sighed loudly to show his irritation while swinging his legs off the bed. In one quick motion Adam jumped off the bed and headed toward the man in his doorway. It had just occurred to him that most people typically knocked when entering someone else’s room. Most people, meaning Adam excluded himself from that list of course but he was curious if only for a moment why this man decided to do something as rude as not knocking. Personally, Adam could careless but he knew that if he mentioned it the man who already seemed to be uneasy would be put on edge. The thought brought a small smile to his face.
“Well if there’s an irregularity in the logs there could be other problems in the system itself. Let’s go check shall we.”
The man in front of him blinked a few times before nodding then exiting the room, Adam followed right behind him as they headed to the airship bay. The hall was empty as the two of them walked, the only sound in the air was their footsteps. Every now and again Adam would glance at the walls as if it was out of sheer boredom and he was searching for anything interesting in sight. That wasn’t the real reason he kept glancing at the walls though, it wasn’t until he had spotted what he was looking for that he stopped.
“This is far enough.” Adam stated in a casual tone.
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