After Darkness II

by J. F. Johns

  Terra willed the darkness to take over, forcing her body to disappear. Viktor couldn't control the darkness, or at least that was Terra's theory. She'd soon find out.

  The sound of a gunshot froze Terra to the spot. The whiteness of Viktor's eyes vanished. He stood unmoving for a few seconds until falling face forward. Plates and glasses crashed and burst across the table.

  Terra stared at the Prototype lying mere feet away from her, close enough to kick him in the head if she wanted to. Glancing up, Terra smiled at the yellow eyed devil on the table, inches away from where Viktor had been standing.

  Eric stood with his arm raised, a gun in his hand, smoke trailing upwards and shielding his face from view. But it was easy to tell he was grinning maliciously. 'Forgot to mention,' he said in a teasing tone, 'that we brought the taser gun with us.'

  'I thought you'd left,' Camille said, making her way towards them and then halting, almost afraid to be too near to Viktor's body.

  'I did. Curtis went to make sure Charlotte was okay. I knew he had the gun on him, so when I noticed he'd left, I went after him. He knew he couldn't pull the weapon out with both of them here, he wouldn't have the chance of using it before Viktor took over his mind and forced him to use it against Scarlet or the others.' He shrugged. 'When I came back, I noticed that Petra had gone and Viktor was alone...' He puffed out his chest, clearly proud of himself.

  'Okay, what do we do with him now?' Camille pointed at Viktor.

  'We need to get him back home,' Eric explained, jumping off the table and securing the gun to his belt. 'Curtis said the effect should last a few hours, but let's not risk it.'

  'And then what?' Terra asked. 'When he wakes up in the house and has free domain over all of us, what do we do?'

  Eric gestured at Malcolm to help him grab Viktor and lift him up. 'Oh, this bad boy won't be waking up.' The smile plastered across the blonde devil made Terra freeze. She wanted to ask more questions, but realised they didn't have much time. They needed to get back as soon as possible.

  'Okay, okay.' She reached towards them. 'Everyone, hold on. We're taking the fast route.'

  'I don't like this,' Camille said.

  'It'll be okay.' Terra wasn't really sure if it would, she'd never taken so many people at once, but decided not to say that aloud. Her eyes met Kalem's and the warmth she found in them was enough to convince her that she was capable of doing it. Of doing anything.

  'Ready?' she asked, more to herself than them.

  'No,' Camille muttered.

  'Hurry, this guy weighs,' Malcolm complained.

  'Wait, if you need to pee does this affect air travel through monster powers at all?' Eric asked, frowning.

  Someone went to tell him to shut up, but by then they were vanishing into the darkness and their words were lost along the way.

  ...

  Scarlet morphed back into her human form across a rooftop, Petra landing harshly by her side. It was the very first time she had managed to transport something so large in her non-human form. It had felt empowering and frightening! It clearly hadn't hurt Petra; she seemed completely intact. For the very first time it was Scarlet controlling the Destroyer and not the other way around.

  'How did you do that?' Petra asked, rattled.

  'I don't know.' There was no point in lying. 'But it doesn't really matter. I won. You will back off.'

  Petra laughed, her head dropping forward as she sat on the ground. 'Oh, you're so naive, Scarlet. You really believed that? You seriously thought I'd follow through on that bet? Please.' Petra's mouth curled up to one side. 'Though my original offer still stands. If you come and become my personal pet, I will drop everything.'

  Scarlet trembled at the thought. She'd do it if it meant keeping everyone safe, even though the idea of spending the rest of eternity as Petra's personal torture slave made her feel physically sick. The truth was, she wasn't sure whether she was selfless enough to do it.

  'Why don't you just tell me why you hate me so damn much and we can get this over with?' she said. The sun was beginning to set and the sky became a beautiful orange pink, its colour reflecting off the skyscrapers, beaming across the city. The sounds of life down below calmed her nerves; the traffic with its horns and insults, the dozens upon dozens of holographic ads displayed upon buildings each one selling something better than the last, drones whizzing past with their robotic voices telling citizens to abide the laws or else.

  'When we were first created and lived in that facility all together, you became friends with a girl called Erin. During our last trials, when we were asked to pair up and then ordered to murder our partner, you chose Erin. And you slaughtered her.'

  'I don't remember any of that,' Scarlet said. 'The government took my memories away years ago. You took my memories away. I don't remember my time at the facility or my friendship with Erin.'

  'I know.' Petra clenched her jaw. 'But you still slaughtered her.'

  'I'm sorry!' Scarlet really meant it. She didn't remember killing a girl called Erin, but surely if Petra felt such hatred towards her it had to have been real; she must've hurt this girl. Petra was delusional and crazy, but what would be the point of her lying over something like that?

  'Apologising won't bring her back.' Petra stood up, stretching her limbs out to make herself seem taller than she actually was. 'You murdered her and she was innocent. She didn't deserve it. You could've backed up or done something.'

  Scarlet tried remembering the moment Petra was talking about, but a brick wall appeared in her mind, cutting her off. Years ago the government had captured her and erased twenty years of memories from her mind. After some time, it had lost its importance, but now she wished more than anything to remember what Petra was talking about.

  'Why do you care so much about this?' Scarlet asked. 'You've killed hundreds. Why would this one girl be so important?'

  Petra laughed, but it was a sad laugh, almost as if she were trying to hide the tremble in her voice. It was the first time ever that Scarlet witnessed tears cross Petra's features, and it was a bizarre image. On any other person, it would've made Scarlet want to reach out, feeling upset herself. On Petra, however, the tears twisted her face, a smile appearing, curling and growing, stretching her face into a mask of pure hatred and evil.

  'Erin was my younger sister.'

  Before Scarlet could even properly process the information, Petra lunged forward, grabbing Scarlet by the waist. Both girls fell backwards. All the air was knocked out of Scarlet's chest as she landed against the cemented roof of the building. They rolled together and fell over the edge, landing on another roof, their arms wrapped around each other.

  Petra managed to get up first, snatching a water pipe she tore off from a side wall. She slammed it into Scarlet's chest. The pain erupted through Scarlet's entire body as she glanced down at the pipe embedded into her body. No blood appeared. It wouldn't. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

  Petra yanked the metal out and tossed it aside, clearly bored with it by then. 'There are consequences to our actions. You killed Erin and I created all of this to make your life a living hell. You decided to reject the offer I made you and now...' Petra's smile intensified as Scarlet lay on the ground, gasping for air. The pipe had punctured one of her lungs. 'And now you're going to know what suffering really means.'

  Scarlet wanted to reply, but she was too busy trying to breathe. Petra seemed to realise, laughing louder and louder. This was amusing to her. She rushed to grab the pipe she had discarded, lifting it above her head. It sunk back into Scarlet's chest, puncturing the other lung.

  Scarlet's hands gripped the metal, fighting with Petra over the object. Lifting her leg up, she kicked the Prototype far away, pulled the pipe out and tossed it over the roof, making sure it was far away. Rolling over, she coughed, searching for air as she crawled away from the Prototype who was making her way towards her.

  Petra grabbed her blonde hair and pulled, her scalp burning a
s the strands began to slowly tear. Petra's lips were only inches away from Scarlet's ear. 'You're going to wish you were mortal, just so you could kill yourself.'

  The pressure on her head vanished and Scarlet heard Petra's retreating steps. She glanced over her shoulder and relaxed at the sight of the empty rooftop. She needed to get out of there as soon as possible. She wouldn't die from punctured lungs, nothing could kill her. But it hurt, and she didn't want to risk having Petra return and unleash her wrath.

  Scarlet felt her black veined hand tingle as the skin disintegrated into the air, everything slowly vanishing and becoming darkness. It wasn't long before the entirety of her body disappeared into nothing but shadows.

  Chapter thirty-two

  Terra's energy had been completely drained by transporting everyone back to safety. She almost collapsed when her feet touched the landing in the attic of their old battered home.

  'Fuck sake, now we gotta go down three flights of stairs,' Malcolm muttered, pulling Viktor further up his back. Eric grabbed the Prototype's legs and they began making their way downstairs.

  Terra held on to the wall trying to force her trembling legs to walk. She needed to follow them to see what they were going to do with Viktor because having him inside the home didn't bring her any sense of security whatsoever.

  Kalem managed to grab her before she stumbled forward. 'You need to rest,' he said. He must've seen something in her mismatched eyes because he quickly added, 'You can see what they do with Viktor later.'

  'But-'

  'Kalem's right,' said Camille, rubbing her tired eyes, smudging the make-up. 'We need to rest. Petra's going to figure out we've done something to her brother and we need to be ready for when she comes looking.'

  Terra gasped at the thought. That hadn't crossed her mind at all. She'd been worried of what Viktor might do as soon as he woke up, but she hadn't given it much thought as to what Petra would do to them when her precious brother went missing.

  Camille waved them away, bringing the conversation to an end. 'Sleep. We'll figure it out later. I'll go make sure everyone made it home safely. You guys rest. This isn't a suggestion, Terra. It's a damn order.'

  Terra wasn't ready to back down. She didn't care what they said, she wasn't going to get into bed when they had a crazy lunatic Prototype ready to kill them all a few floors beneath them. But as soon as she tried chasing after Camille, her body gave way and she almost knocked her teeth out against the banister.

  Clearly she wouldn't be fighting anyone except the sheets of the bed.

  Kalem helped her climb down the stairs, march down the narrow hallways by placing his robotic hands on her waist, and directed her towards his bedroom. Under normal circumstances, she would've arched an eyebrow at him and probably spat a few things at him, but she was too tired to care. The comfort that small room brought her was enough to keep her mouth tightly shut.

  The little energy she still clung to began to drain away faster and faster by the second and Terra didn't even wait for him to turn away or leave the room before she pulled the dress off and dropped on the bed. She knew those silver eyes were trailing her body because it burned wherever he looked.

  A cover appeared over her and she twisted around in time to find Kalem pulling it over her. She wanted to say thanks and to ask him whether he wanted to slide in beneath the covers too. She didn't mind making room for him, he looked as exhausted as her.

  Terra didn't say any of this because she fell asleep as soon as her body was warmly covered by the sheets.

  ...

  Eric and Malcolm managed to get Viktor all the way downstairs and into the kitchen. Few cyborgs knew there was a trapdoor in the room, hidden from view behind a set of cupboards.

  Dropping the body with little care, Eric opened the last set of cupboards, threw out all the cans of food stored inside and found the little handle at the back. After twisting and turning it a few times, it creaked open. The cupboard wasn't very wide, but it was big enough for someone to squeeze through.

  'Curtis, you down there?' Eric asked. The silence that followed made him look over at Malcolm questioningly. They waited for a while until a grunt sounded from beneath them, through the floorboards. 'Okay, we're just chucking the damn guy through, got it?' Eric didn't wait for Curtis's response and gestured at Malcolm to help squeeze Viktor through the cupboard space.

  It looked easier than it was and it took them three tries to manage to fit the Prototype through. 'Maybe we should just cut him up into pieces?' Malcolm suggested. 'He can't die anyway.'

  Eric considered it for a moment until their last push got Viktor falling through.

  'Okay, our turn.' Malcolm lay on his stomach and slid forward.

  'I think I'll just wait here until-'

  'You're coming with me!'

  With a grunt, Eric pushed Malcolm forward until his friend cried out and fell. Eric rolled his eyes at the enthusiasm in Malcolm's cries; he clearly was having fun.

  Eric glanced down at his now destroyed suit and got on his hands and knees. It was impossible to wear nice things around these idiots. Getting onto his stomach, he grabbed the edges of the cupboards to slide himself forward. The trapdoor led to a fall, which wasn't very high at all. The house came with a real basement -not the one where the kitchen was located- which many years ago had had a staircase leading up into what they now considered to be the basement. The old proprietors had demolished the staircase and sealed the basement. For some reason, either they'd forgotten to close up the little gap where the trapdoor was or it had been done on purpose. The cabinet had been put there with a little secret door. They'd discovered the basement not long after moving in. Now Curtis used it for his... experiments.

  Eric landed gracefully like a cat on all fours and glanced up at the sight in front of him.

  The basement wasn't a large space but the walls were soundproof and thick. Nothing would be breaking through them any time soon. Tables had been placed against the walls where Curtis had all kinds of weapons and secret things he'd been working on. He enjoyed doing a lot of the work in his bedroom, but there were some things it was best most people didn't see.

  The walls were covered in more weapons, some older than Eric himself. There were a few Watcher helmets, mostly destroyed and dented. Cyborg parts also occupied parts of the walls and Eric couldn't help but grimace at the sight of them. He wondered if those parts belonged to someone who was now dead.

  If they were hanging on Curtis's wall it probably meant that yes, indeed they were.

  Eric's attention landed on the capsule in the middle of the room. Curtis had constructed it. Eric called it a capsule because that's what it was technically meant to be, but then again, it was way more sloppy.

  They'd managed to get a casket from their neighbour Miss Wang -apparently she had a few stored in her own basement- and Curtis had made a few adjustments. The lid had been replaced by glass and the sides had holes where tubes filtered through which allowed the special chemicals Curtis had created to basically keep Viktor asleep.

  Malcolm and Curtis had clearly already done the vital part of putting Viktor within the casket and now Malcolm was sitting on one of the many tables, his arms crossed against his chest as Curtis played around with monitors. White smoke began to appear inside the casket, coming from the tubes that were connected to a giant machine against a wall.

  'So this will be enough?' Eric asked.

  Curtis shook his head. 'No. The smoke is basically like the taser gun I constructed. It'll keep him asleep for longer, but I need to open his brain up and snatch the microchip. His body will shut down.' Curtis talked as he drummed his fingers against one of the many keyboards. 'Each and every X-Prototype has a chip installed in their brain. It was something their creators installed to make sure they could put them into a 'deep sleep' when they didn't require their services. If I take that out of Viktor, he'll fall into a sort of comatose state from which he'll never be able to awaken unless someone puts
the microchip back in.'

  'So we'll just put him back into the casket when you're finished?' Malcolm asked. A lollipop appeared from within his pocket and he unwrapped the crinkly paper around it and shoved it inside his mouth.

  Curtis nodded. 'We won't need that, though.' He gestured towards the big machine that was filtering the smoke through the tubes to keep Viktor 'asleep.'

  'So what are we waiting for?' Eric asked. 'Let's get this over with.'

  'Not yet. As soon as Charlotte has rested and ready to begin procedures, we shall start.'

  'We can't wait for that!' Eric complained. 'Malcolm and I can help you. It can't be that difficult.' Malcolm nodded, clearly on board with the task.

  Curtis shook his head, turning towards them. 'No. I work only with Charlotte.'

  'But we don't have time to wait-'

  'If you want this done properly, you will wait. If not, I suggest you start learning how to extract a microchip from an X-Prototype's brain and do it yourself.'

  Eric huffed. He knew Curtis was the only person who could do it, but having to wait for Charlotte... It was beyond ridiculous. He understood that Curtis and Charlotte had created a bond throughout the years working together stitching and repairing everyone up, leading them to not wanting to work without the other. But this was a critical situation.

  'It's okay, Eric,' Malcolm said, jumping off the table, the lollipop still in his mouth. 'Let's go and check on Charlotte. I'm sure she'll be up and ready in no time.' Malcolm grabbed the ladder left to one side and placed it just beneath the trapdoor.

  Eric nodded and followed Malcolm back upstairs into the kitchen. More sounds took over the house as they left the kitchen behind. Clearly by then everyone was back home.

  Someone yelled his name and it took Eric a few seconds to realise it was Morgana. He rushed upstairs to the attic, hurrying into his bedroom where he found a few people crowded around someone on the floor. He shoved his way through and found Scarlet coughing and wheezing.