by Riley Tune
“Had your report been different, I would have taken away your ascension from all of you. It can be rather messy and,” Omega paused to look at the Warden beside her who, while not having a face, seemed to become a little stiffer from her mention of taking away their ascension. “You know how I like to keep things clean.”
“One of the guards out here has a minor spell that allows them a brief burst of speed and endurance. Makes him an efficient guard, and an even better person to clean up the mess,” Maridian said with a smile from the thought of disposing of this Warden Circle filling him with joy.
“You’re free to go,” Omega said as she flicked her hand away without even looking at the Warden’s Circle. As a unit, with footsteps in almost perfect timing with each other, the Warden’s Circle did as they were told. Only their leader, The Warden himself didn’t move. As the members of his unit put more and more distance between them, Omega spoke softly.
Hunter looked at Empress Queen Omega as she leaned in and spoke to her Warden. “Return whatever we have left of the new serum to the lab. Check on our guest, and then return to the rest of your team. Do you understand?” Empress Queen Omega asked as she stepped away and returned to stand near Maridian. There was a slow nod from the Warden, and then the creature turned to walk towards the palace.
“Would you really destroy them my Empress?” Maridian asked. “Children must be loved as much as they must be disciplined,” Empress Queen Omega said as she turned away. Maridian, however, did not move. “Come Maridian, we have much to do tonight, but first I have something I want to show you.”
Maridian bowed and did what he was told as he fell into step behind Omega leaving only the entrance guards. All of whom looked considerably more at ease now that Omega and her creations were gone.
“You guys are getting all of this right?” Cayden asked through his com. “Every word,” Flex replied. “I think our best bet is to follow the Warden,” Hunter said. “Agreed,” Danielle said at the same time that Cayden said, “as do I.”
“Follow him for what?” Cord finally asked. “He is going to their lab, but then is checking on their guest,” Hunter answered. “That must be Impervious.” “We hope it’s Impervious,” Flex responded. “We have no proof that it is him. What we do know for sure is that they have a supply of a treatment serum for the Curse of Varo. Follow the Warden to the lab.”
Hunter looked at the Warden walking off in the distance. From inside the safety of Cayden’s field. He hadn’t gone so far that he couldn’t still be followed. Hunter wanted to protest that Impervious needed them. That they could free him, and then find out about this serum. He knew that wasn’t the right frame of mind to be in, though.
There was no way to be sure that this guest was truly Impervious. He had just wanted to free his uncle so badly that it seemed logical, even while it wasn’t. “Okay,” Hunter finally said. “We’ll follow the Warden to the lab.” Cayden nodded and then began to move in the direction of the Warden, as Hunter and Danielle kept in step with him.
“Retrieve as much information as you can once inside,” the voice of Perkins said to them. She sounded, different to Hunter but he didn’t know why. She wasn’t her normal calm self. Perhaps being on a mission that involved following one of the most feared creatures in her world didn’t leave room for a person to be calm.
“These Wardens don’t really do much, do they?” Danielle said from inside the stealth field as they walked behind the Warden. “What do you mean?” Cayden replied. “It’s just that they seem to be so feared around here, and I’m not sure why.” Hunter had noticed it too. As the metallic creature roamed around the grounds and halls of the palace, people stayed away. In some instances, people would even turn around and almost run away to avoid being alone with the creature close by.
“We fought a Warden’s Circle when we arrived, and the Warden himself did the least amount of fighting. It just makes me wonder if people fought back how they would -” “We have been fighting back.” the cold voice of Cord came through the coms.
“Many of us have lost family and loved ones to stand up to Omega. Some eventually giving up, and even joining her. We may not have much, but don’t you dare assume we haven’t been giving it our all.” “Sorry,” Danielle said after a few seconds of silence. “Lastly, pray that you never see a Warden display the power for what he is feared. My entire team is mostly gone because of it.” Cord said, but this time in a voice that was softer than any of them had heard him speak since their arrival.
“He seems to be slowing down,” Hunter said as he raised a hand. They all stopped moving and watched as the Warden removed a slender tube from inside his jacket and stood as a light appeared and covered its faceless head. A light above the door turned from red to green. The Warden performed several more feats and with each, a single red light turned until all four of the lights were green.
With a slight hiss, the door opened and the Warden stepped into a room that apparently had smoke inside of it because some seeped into the hallway as the door was open. “Wait for him to leave and then find a way inside that lab,” Flex said over the coms. “Quietly,” Perkins added in. “I have an idea,” Hunter said as he glanced over to Cayden. The boy was standing tall, but had a visible sheen of sweat on his forehead.
“Perhaps I couldn’t keep this up as long as I thought,” Cayden said as he wiped his sweat away. Just at those same moments, the door to the believed lab opened and the Warden emerged from within its darkness. As the doors shut, the Warden smoothly continued down the hall and out of sight. “Okay, we should be good,” Hunter said as the Warden left their view. “Danielle head inside and see if you can find a way to let us in.”
“On it,” Danielle said quickly as she shifted into her shadow form and sprang from the safety of the stealth field. If there had been another person near them, they would have seen a ghostly dark figure appear out of the nothingness, and then run through the door of a lab.
“Whoa,” Danielle said as she shifted back to her normal form. “There should be a lever just beside the door to open it from the inside,” Cord said. Danielle looked at the horror around her in the lab, and fought the urge to not scream or throw up.” Danielle,” Hunter said as he spoke into his coms.
“Are you there? Do you see the lever?” Hunter was beginning to worry. On their map, he could see the dot that was Danielle. It was still very close to their location, but the dot hadn’t moved at all. He could feel himself beginning to panic, and had to fight the urge to not blast through the door to make sure she was okay.
Then the door to the lab opened with Danielle silently, and frantically, motioning for them to head inside. “We just hit the creepy scientist jackpot,” Danielle said as she released the lever and locked them inside the lab.
Hunter took several steps inside the lab and looked around as what appeared to be cool air filled his lungs. It wasn’t smoke as he originally thought, and the lab was virtually freezing. None of them were dressed to be in such an environment and Cayden was literally shivering. This realization made Hunter wonder were Wardens immune to things like cold and heat, but the thought faded away as he looked around the large lab.
It was dim inside, and from what Hunter could see, the lab was more so a very large, two-level, square room. “Thank Atlas,” he said to himself. The last thing he wanted was to be in some tiny lab and have his phobia set in.
Each step Hunter took sounded like he was walking on steel and echoed around the room. To his surprise, when he looked down to the floor, he could see his reflection looking back up at him.
One side of the lab had several monitors, all flashing things that he couldn’t understand. One monitor had a DNA chain revolving on it. He had seen enough science fiction films to be able to point that out. Near these monitors were several small tables with beakers, tubes, and syringes.
Many of which had what appeared to be blood inside them. To the other side of the room, where most of the cool fog was originating, were five human size
tubes. Even though there were five tubes, only one had an actual body in it. For a second, Hunter was afraid that the body belonged to Impervious but quickly realized that it was too small a frame.
As he turned around, he glanced up to the second level of the room. It was a small area that had a single set of stairs leading up to it. Danielle was already up there and looking over the shelves of books. She grabbed one and then quietly placed it back on the shelf. “I think I found it,” Cayden’s voice came from across the room as Hunter could hear a click and then lights came to life inside the lab. “Sweet mama,” Danielle said as she stood near the railing on the second level and looked around with eyes wide. “What in Atlas are they doing in here?”
“Really wish these coms came with cameras,” Hunter said as he looked around and took a step to the center of the lab. No reply came back from the base. “Flex,” Hunter said again as he looked to the others. “Cord. Perkins.” Danielle touched her com a few times in her ear. “I can’t hear them either.” “I’m guessing it’s the lab,” Cayden said.
He wasn’t as surprised that their signal was blocked from in here as Hunter and Danielle were. “We should do what we need to do and hurry out. If I know Cord and Perkins, they are already planning a rescue attempt.”
“This is where they are trying to figure out the curse’s cure,” Danielle said from upstairs. “How do you know,” Cayden called from beside one of the human-sized tubes. Her feet clicked as she trotted down the steps. “They have it written up there on a glass board. There are a few more monitors up there too. All with monitoring videos of people that look like they are already infected. Each with a number on the screen. I’m willing to bet boobs and biscuits that those are some of the subjects our Warden friend had to visit.”
Hunter was walking towards the middle tube now to look at the man inside. “This should be enough to make more people join our cause. Now we have proof that they at least have a treatment that they aren’t sharing with us.” Cayden said. “It’s not a cure but,” his words faded away as he fought back images of cleaning up the mess that had become Becca. All that time he stood by her, watching her insides bleed out and the madness consume her. There was a way he could have helped her. Could have made her last moments peaceful, but Omega kept it for herself.
Hunter leaned into the tube and squinted his eyes, and then they popped open. “Atlas no,” he said as he stepped back some and then looked at the tube. “You okay. boo?” Danielle said as she walked over to the tube. Cayden now pulled from his inner thoughts of how much the treatment could change things, turned and looked at the tube also.
Hunter had expected a lot of things, but this wasn’t one of them. He hadn’t seen much of the man in the tube, but he knew him. Now that he was close, he could see that he recognized the man’s face. Not all of it though. Just the bottom half, but it was enough. He had dealt with dreams for months about that face.
The face of a man with power that couldn’t be matched. The face of a man that wanted to see their world come crashing down. The face of a man that was partially covered by a white mask as they fought a year ago. The face of his cousin, and Impervious’ true son.
“It’s Infinity?” Hunter said slowly. Danielle gasp as she took a step back and flickers of black tendrils danced up her arms in reaction to the moment of fear. “Are you sure? How? Why?” she fired off her questions too fast for Hunter to answer.
All he could do was shake his head for a moment. “I don’t know.” “Infinity,” Cayden repeated. “Wasn’t that the name Impervious’ son used? He told us that part of the story shortly after he arrived. He offered to show us the body, but most of us refused. All but Perkins.”
Cayden stood closer to Hunter and looked inside the tube. Hunter walked around the tube and could see various cuts and holes on the back of the floating body. In the center of the back was one single slender tube that was red and leading out of the chamber he was held in.
“I think they are doing something with his blood. Testing it maybe?” Neither Danielle or Cayden replied. Instead, Hunter heard two loud thuds hit the ground. “Guys?” Hunter said out loud as he walked slowly from behind the tube. Hunter was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. He may have still been on his internship, but he had extensive tv and cinema knowledge. A knowledge that while not on the level of Power Prince, it was still vast enough that he knew things were about to enter cluster fuck mode.
Anytime a person heard a loud thud, and then calls for their friends, only to hear nothing in reply, that person should prepare for a fight. As he stepped from behind the tube, his force field came to his call. Sure enough, Cayden and Danielle were both on the ground unconscious. Well, they were safe for now at least. As Hunter was stepping out, two Wardens were picking them up off the ground and tossing them over their shoulders.
“I promise you, your friends will be delivered off-world to a safe location close to their base.” Hunter’s throat suddenly became dry. “Yes, I know the general location of the base. They will be safe, only if you stay behind so we can have a chat.” Hunter swallowed and felt the sound was amplified by the lab itself. He glanced from side to side at the metallic henchmen. There was no chance he could take them both, but still, it took a lot to fight the urge away from trying.
Doing so would just get his team killed. He nodded to the person talking. She smiled at him and turned to walk away as she motioned her index finger for him to follow. Hunter took in a deep breath and followed Empress Queen Omega out of the lab.
CHAPTER 26:
FOREVER IN HER SHADOW
H unter looked over his shoulder as he followed her through the palace. There was a single Pain Conduit with them. She looked exactly like every other Pain Conduit he had seen in this world. Shorter than the rest of the Warden’s Circle, solid, covered in some sort of body armor and moved with a determined grace. Not just her, but the entire Warden’s Circle, in general, all seemed to move with focus and grace. It was almost cat-like.
As Empress Queen Omega began to hum as she walked down the hall, Hunter realized he had bigger issues to worry about. At first, he thought that if done right, he could end this all right here in the hall. He could quickly handle the Pain Conduit and then confront Omega. His plan was flawed, though.
For one he still needed answers. Answer to where Impervious was. To what they were doing with the body of Infinity, and those were just the first two questions that came to mind out of about ten. “So, uh what now?” Hunter finally asked. Omega placed her hands in her jacket and continued to walk. “You keep following me,” she said with a slight pep in her voice.
Hunter took in the woman in front of him. He was upset and disgusted with himself for finding her attractive. He had even glanced down at her butt in front of him at least twice since they had been walking. He loved Danielle. He really did, but to believe the body bouncing around in front of him belonged to a woman in her eighties was both impressive, and slightly off-putting to him.
As they approached a door with two men dressed in the same outfit that Hunter had on, Empress Queen Omega gave a slight nod, and the men opened the door. Inside the room was a large table with a lavish assortment of food spread out. Soft music played, and a man and woman walked around the room to pour drinks to those at the table when needed.
Sitting around the table were no less than ten men and women, all barely dressed in nothing more than undergarments. In the corner of the room, sitting down and reading a book while sipping on a glass filled with blue liquid, was the man Cayden called Maridian earlier. He looked to Empress Queen Omega and raised his glass slightly, tilted his head and then returned to his book.
As she moved closer to the table, the men and women motioned to stand up but she raised a hand and stopped them. “No. Eat. You’ve all earned this.” she said as her finger danced on the table as she walked by and picked up a grape to pop in her mouth.
The Pain Conduit moved to the opposite side of the room and stood with a Warden that
Hunter hadn’t noticed when they first entered. “You having an orgy or something?” Hunter asked slowly as he watched the men and women at the table laugh and talk to one another. Empress Queen Omega, looked at him with a smirk. “No. Something much more sacred and fun,” she said as she placed her hands on twin knobs that opened a door to a balcony.
“I’m glad we got this chance to talk,” she said as she looked out onto the city. Hunter could still hear the music lofting in the air, but it seemed fainter than when they first arrived. “Why did you come here tonight?” She asked as she gently took her jacket off and placed it on a nearby table.
She applied extra effort to make sure the jacket wasn’t ruffled. The extra attention she paid to the garment made Hunter frown slightly. That combined with her blunt question caught him off guard. “I’m here for Impervious,” Hunter said finally. He knew she knew of Bravado, but he wasn’t sure yet of how much she knew.
He would rather seem like the three of them mounted a failed rescue mission than to let her know they were equally interested in a cure. Or did she know that too? If she knew enough to know the general area of the base, then she likely knew more. “For Atlas’ sake, that man is a thorn in my side,” Omega said slowly as she pulled her pink hair back. The words made Hunter’s eyes widen as he slowly looked at her in a new light. No. It couldn’t be what he was thinking. Could it?
“I assure you. Impervious is fine. He, like us all, plays a part in my plan. Once they are fulfilled, he will be released.” “Interesting choice of words,” Hunter said as he felt his body was stiff for the first time. He didn’t even realize his jaw was clenched until he felt the soreness when he went to speak. “Caught that did you?” Omega said as she lifted a hand towards the man walking close by. The man walked over so quickly that his silky white clothing flapped.