by KG Stutts
"What are you doing?" Liam watched as she pulled out her blaster.
"What do you think? I'm going to blow it up."
"Do you think that's a good idea? We're not sure what this thing is!"
"Relax. It'll be fine."
She fired several shots and it sparked before the lights went off. As soon as it did, the temperature in the water seemed to change from cold to lukewarm. A loud groan echoed around them but they couldn't tell where it came from.
"Uh, oh."
"Ember, what did you do?"
The machine shook and creaked before breaking apart. Hundreds of mechanical piranha came out.
“Oh, shit!” Ember exclaimed.
"Crap, crap, crap!" Liam kicked hard away from the machine.
"I think you mean trap!"
Ember fired her weapon but only destroyed a few of them. Liam grabbed her wrist and kicked for the surface. They kept firing their blasters but were becoming overwhelmed. Several of the robotic fish ate through her flippers before they were destroyed by Liam. Metal teeth snagged their suits, causing minor rips. Still, they swam as fast as they could.
Halfway to the surface, a piranha ate the connector to her air tank. Ember gasped and began to choke as air left her.
"Ember!"
The robotic fish started hitting her helmet, causing it to crack. Liam managed to stop the remaining piranha, but the damage had been done. Water quickly filled in, making breathing impossible. By the time he reached the sandy beach, Ember was unconscious. He couldn't get his helmet off fast enough.
"Don't die on me, Ember."
Water splattered as he removed what was left of her helmet but she remained motionless. He tilted her chin and pinched her nose, ignoring the insistent voice of Michael Lewis over the comm. He blew air into her mouth several times before giving her chest compressions.
"Come on!" He yelled before blowing into her mouth again.
Water rushed from her mouth as she began to cough.
"Ember."
She sat up, gasping for air. He pressed his forehead into hers as she started to breathe normally.
"Wilson, status." Lewis's voice crackled.
"We ... are on the beach."
"Roger."
She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. She momentarily allowed herself to lean into Liam
"Are you okay?" he asked, kissing her temple.
"Thanks to you."
"Figured I owed you."
She chuckled. "That's right. I guess we're even."
"Don't make it a habit of scaring me."
"No promises."
They got out of their scuba gear and discarded it.
"Should we wait on the others?"
"No." Ember shook her head. "They will catch up. Let’s scout ahead."
Duncan's earlier warning was still fresh in her mind. It might look like an ordinary island, but Rudo was skillful at deception. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and her sense of awareness heightened. The birds in the trees seemed to be hopping on different branches, keeping up with their speed. Even the smell was different from the mainland. The salt from the ocean was in the air but the scent from the trees was missing. Nothing felt natural.
"Be on guard."
"You realize how silly you sound saying that. Of course I'm on guard."
She cut her eye toward him but didn't comment. The duo moved swiftly but cautiously, blasters already in hand. In the distance, she could hear Lewis and Lassiter talking.
"One boat is here."
"How do you know? I can't hear anything but us and the birds."
"Sonic hearing."
"Of course. What was I thinking?"
They climbed up a steep hill and got the first visual of Rudo's cabin. No lights shined through the dirty windows. Shutters were broken and falling off the structure. Ember could make out cracks in the chimney.
"Sure doesn't look impressive," Liam commented.
"Looks can be deceiving."
Lassiter and Lewis flanked their right. Morris and Nova were several yards behind them on the left. As Ember and Liam started their approach, the woods fell silent.
"Stop." She held her arm out and Liam's chest bumped into it.
"Ember, what the-"
"Shh!"
She leaned her head to the side and closed her eyes. After a moment, Liam sighed.
"I still don't hear-"
"Look out!" Ember yelled, shoving Liam aside.
She barely rolled to the right before a tree branch landed between where the couple once stood. The tree seemed to groan as the branch moved, attempting to crush her again. Yells off to the right let her know Lassiter and Lewis were in a similar predicament. She rolled out of the way and fired her blaster at the tree. The laser should've burned a hole through the middle but instead, the tree seemed to digitize and the shots went through without damage.
For a moment, she relaxed. "It's a hologram."
She bent down to help Liam up and a branch landed hard across her shoulder blades. She collapsed on the ground, groaning in pain.
"Wilson!" Morris yelled as he ran up to them.
She rolled onto her back just as a tree smacked Liam unconscious. Morris picked up the Air Force Major, draping him across his shoulders. Ember pulled herself up to her feet and they broke out into a run.
"What are these things?"
"No idea." Ember looked over her shoulder to see several trees chasing them.
Something struck the back of her head. The greenery had started throwing apples. Another tree jumped out at them, causing them to turn right. More foliage chased them as apples, pine cones, and rocks whizzed by their heads.
"Turn around!" Ember yelled.
"What? Why?"
"These things are trying to steer us in this direction. Change course."
Ember turned quickly and rushed at their pursuers, catching them off-guard. Morris followed behind and they turned to the right. They dodged projectiles and branches as the cabin once again came into view. She increased her speed as the attackers multiplied. Ember jumped through a side window to the cabin with Morris behind her.
At least, she thought he was. Neither Morris nor Liam was in the room when she stood up and shook the glass out of her black hair.
"Where am I?"
She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't this. The walls were made of marble, not wood. The floors were also in the same cold gray marbled stone. The broken glass littered the ground but the walls were smooth. There wasn't any evidence of a window ever existing. Wooden crates lined the far wall and a dim light bulb hung low from the ceiling.
"This is really strange."
She tried to call to her team but no one answered the comm. Ember grabbed the brass door knob and paused, trying to listen for any noise. Nothing could've prepared her for what was on the other side of the door.
#
"Whoa!"
She was standing on a platform next to a staircase. Several other doors were along the pathway. Past an iron railing was a massive collection of moving parts. Gears slowly turned on the huge machine. Huge long and thick cable wires hung from various surfaces of gray metal. It almost looked like the inside of an engine. She looked down from the railing and the machine kept going, seemingly with no end. Looking up, she could see more floors identical to the one she was on.
"Anyone read?" She asked into the comm.
"Ember?"
"Liam! Where are you? Where's Morris?"
"No clue. I woke up to see us crash through a window after you but when I stood up, I was alone."
"Curious. What do you see?"
"I'm in a room with lime green walls and yellow spotted carpet. Did you see the large machine?"
"Looking right at it."
"I must be on the forty-third floor."
"What makes you say that?"
"Number on the door says forty-three."
Ember looked behind her and the door showed the number fifty-seven on it.
"Wilson, come in."
"I read you, Lewis. What's your status?"
"Look up."
Lewis waved down at her from two floors above.
"Stay right there," she ordered.
Ember ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. They bumped fists at the top of the landing. "Where's Lassiter?"
"We were chased by trees in the forest. He couldn't keep up with me. I heard him yell and when I looked behind me, all I saw was a pile of leaves."
The crackle on their comm made them both relax as another of their team members checked in.
"Lewis or Wilson, come on."
"I read you, Nova. Where are you?" Ember asked.
"Morris and I are looking at a large glowing ball."
Ember and Lewis looked at each other dumbfounded.
"Yeah, I know. We don't get it either," Morris said. "One minute I was running with Wilson through a window. Next thing I knew I was alone in a strange room. I fell through a door in the floor and Nova cushioned my fall."
"Are you looking at a machine?" Ember asked.
"No," Nova answered. "We're in what looks like a storage locker. The lock on the door is unlike any security pad Morris has ever seen." There were sounds of something sparking followed by a groan. "I told you not to mess with the scanner."
"Is he all right?"
"Is he ever all right?" Nova joked. "Just got shocked is all. Yeah, he's fine. His hair is standing up though. Looks like he's seen a ghost and his hair is the color of one now."
"Ross, are you hearing this?" Lewis asked.
"Big glowing ball and Morris' hair turned white. I'm almost to your location."
"Do you think it's weird we haven't run into anyone else yet?" Ember asked.
Lewis nodded. "I was just thinking the same thing."
Once Liam met up with them, they began to investigate the other rooms on the floor. Each of them seemed to be created from different materials. Some were empty. A few had crates similar to the ones in the room she came in.
"How are we going to get out? Our ship is gone and we can't signal to General Blanchard," Liam stated.
"We need to find the weather machine first," Lewis pointed out.
"This place has got to have some sort of communications array. We just need to find it." Ember opened up a crate as she spoke.
Inside was filled with topography and weather charts. She flipped through one as realization hit her.
"Michael, come take a look at this."
His bottom lip twitched when she called him by his first name but he shrugged it off. He flipped through several of the pages she handed him.
"Charts of the United Kingdom. So?"
"I think these are reports generated from this place."
He looked at her blankly for a moment before his purple eyes lit up.
"We're standing inside the weather system."
Ember nodded. "I think so."
“Great! Now we can destroy it and …"
"Not so fast. The West Coast is still frozen, remember? We need to figure out how to use this thing and reverse it."
Liam sighed and rubbed his temples. The trio walked out onto the platform outside the room, discussing their next course of action when a menacing voice rang out, echoing throughout the walkway.
"Welcome, Amethyst team. So glad you could join me."
"Rudo." Ember hissed.
"Glad to see being in stasis hasn't changed you, Ember Wilson."
"He can hear us?" Liam questioned.
"Of course, Major Ross. Yes, I know who you are. Congratulations on being the last surviving member of the Air Force team. General Blanchard must be so proud."
"Quit playing games and show yourself!" Lewis yelled.
"Ah, Michael Lewis. You're just as brilliant as ever. Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Cut it out."
Laughter echoed around them. "You must know you have no hopes of leaving here alive. The least you can do is entertain me before I end you."
"Rudo, just wait until I get my hands on you." Ember paced on the platform, seething in rage.
"Looking forward to it, Ember. I have something special just for you."
"Are we going to fight, or do you plan to talk me to death?"
"All in due time. But first, let's change the playing field."
The ground beneath them began to rumble. The air turned cold and icicles began to form on the walls.
"Move!" Ember yelled as chunks of the ceiling began to fall.
She ran and jumped off the railing, grabbing onto a pair of thick wires and began climbing. She looked down to see the platform they were on was gone. Lewis followed Ember's lead and had jumped on a gear. As it rotated, he pulled himself up and jumped to the next level above them.
Liam wasn't as lucky. He landed hard on the walkway underneath the level, barely avoiding getting crushed by debris. "Ember!"
"Liam! Are you okay?"
“I think so.”
“Stay there, I’m coming to you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Go find Rudo.”
Rudo’s laughter rang in her ears as the wires she was on vibrated.
“So touching. Well, if you’re offering me your life, least I can do is accept.”
Ember gripped the wires as the whole area began to shake violently. She pushed away from the cables and let go, free falling several yards and landing gracefully on the platform next to Liam. His face was caked in blood and dirt. His uniform was badly ripped and he looked out on his feet. The floor shook as two robots rolled toward them, stopping several feet from the couple, pulling out weapons, and opened fire. Liam groaned as he was hit in the shoulder. The shots didn’t faze her as she rushed at them, destroying one with a swift kick and picking the other up, tossing it over the railing.
“The ability to withstand blaster fire comes in handy,” Liam muttered.
“I have thick skin. Your shoulder looks bad.” She frowned.
“I may not have super-freaky healing powers, but I’ll be all right.”
“You’re coming with me.”
“No, I’ll only slow you down.” Liam shook his head emphatically. “I’m going to be fine. Go, Ember. Finish this.”
He grimaced briefly as he reached up and stroked her cheek, looking into her eyes.
“You’re going to get yourself killed.” Her voice shook as she swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
“Better me than you. Get out of here.”
When she didn’t move, he attempted to shove her.
“You silly ass, go!”
“Wilson, I got him.” Nova’s voice stated over the comm.
“Don’t die on me.” She pressed her forehead to his. “We’re not finished yet.”
“I love you, too.” Liam grinned.
#
Ember scaled up the cables after Nova pulled Liam out of danger. She called out to Rudo but this time received no response. Lewis reported that he found a room filled with monitors and a hot coffee at a desk.
“He was here. Must’ve seen me coming and ran off.”
“Use the monitors to locate him.”
“I tried but haven’t seen him. He must be someplace without a camera.”
Ember growled. “Any insight?”
“This place is phenomenal.” He paused. “Keep climbing.”
“Do you have something?”
“There’s a door with green light emitting underneath it. No camera is in the room. It’s three levels above you.”
She quickly scaled the wires, jumping to the railing and pulled herself up. The door Lewis was referring to was basking in a bright green light.
“Ember … be careful.”
“Aren’t I always?”
“I’m being serious.”
“All right … thanks, Michael.”
It didn’t surprise her when she found the door unlocked. She knew Rudo would be expecting her. She felt almost giddy to finally be having a showdown with the rogue scientis
t.
The door swung open with ease. Her hand flew over her eyes as the green light blinded her. When she was able to focus, she saw the light was coming from a console which took up the entire back wall. Rudo stared at the monitor, not turning around as she crept in the room.
“Did you really think you would defeat me so easily?”
“Yeah, I kinda did.”
Her blaster was trained on the back of Rudo’s head as he held up his hands.
“This is not very sporting of you, is it?”
“You want to talk sporting?” She snarled. “I’m giving you the same chance you gave the residents of D.C.”
“Ah, I see. In your mind, this is proper. Justice will be served.”
As Ember’s finger moved to pull the trigger, Rudo’s arm flew back, connecting with a back hand. He spun around, bringing his elbow to her wrist. The blaster went off, bouncing against the walls before breaking the door. He grabbed her arm, forcing her to drop her gun. She punched him twice, blood spewing from the corner of his mouth. A swift kick to his ribs gave them some much needed distance. She charged at him, ramming her shoulder into his stomach, running him into the computer desk. Rudo groaned and coughed, clubbing her in the back and across the shoulders. Ember took a slight step back before jamming her shoulder into him again. He punched her into her throat which made her back off of him, coughing hard.
Rudo kicked Ember in the stomach before pulling out a knife dripping with a yellow substance, aiming for her chest. She grabbed his wrists, twisting them to the side. Another punch connected with his jaw and she lunged for her weapon. She twirled around quickly and fired.
Shock filled Rudo’s eyes and he looked down to the perfect little hole she left on him. He stumbled back, color draining from his face as the light left his eyes.
“Ow.” She pulled out the knife he managed to plunge into her side and tossed it down. The yellow substance tingled her skin for a moment before disappearing. Purple blood washed over her hand as she applied pressure to the wound, knowing it would close up within a matter of moments.