Authors: Scott Kinkade
“Can’t
be helped,” Arcturus said. “And we’ve got to do this while the elevator’s still
further up.”
Ev
looked at Maya. “I know, I know; bad idea. But if we don’t do this, a lot of
people are going to die. We have to do some serious damage to Zero Grade here.”
In truth, he didn’t care at all about the supposedly imminent war. Once they
activated the Ark and created the perfect world, Zero Grade wouldn’t even exist
anymore.
Ev
slung a rifle around his shoulder, and Maya did the same. Arcturus loaded up
with almost twice the weaponry. They then grabbed onto the cable and began
descending. The elevator was still some thirty flights up, but they had no idea
when it would be coming down on them. Arcturus went first, followed by Ev and
Maya.
Their
powers were now gone, and Ev felt crippled. It was a real struggle just to hang
on to the cable while wearing that heavy synthetic fiber armor. His arms
quickly burned with every movement.
“How
are you doing, Maya?” he said.
“Fine,”
she said. “Fortunately, all our training isn’t going to waste in here. Our
muscles are still well-developed.”
She
must have done a lot more training than he had, he thought. His muscles felt
downright nonexistent. Still, he wasn’t about to lose face by admitting that.
“Good, good.”
As
they continued down the shaft, the heard the ever-present groan of the elevator
above. But now it was getting louder. “It’s coming!” Arcturus said.
Ev
looked up. The massive steel box was at the twentieth floor and coming down,
fast.
Figures
. “Move it!”
They
shimmied as fast as they possibly could, but it wasn’t enough. The elevator
would crush them before they reached the bottom.
Fifteenth
floor.
“We’ll
have to drop down!” Arcturus announced.
“Are
you crazy?” Ev said.
Tenth
floor.
“It’s
only about a floor. We can do it.” To demonstrate this, he let go of the cable
and fell to the floor below. He was still standing, so he obviously hadn’t
broken any legs. “Come on!”
With
no other options, Ev did the same. He hit the floor hard, but his legs held up.
Maya followed suit. Ev tried to catch her, but it would be more accurate to say
she awkwardly fell into his shoulder, knocking him against the wall.
Fifth
floor.
“Come
on! We have to hurry!” Arcturus said. He and Ev pried open the doors.
The
elevator was now right on top of them. They frantically dove into the corridor
beyond as it touched down.
Still
trying to catch his breath, Ev found himself looking up at a balding man in a
lab coat. “Who are you people?”
Using
the wall for support, Ev got back to his feet. “I can explain.”
“I’m
calling security,” the man said.
Ev
had to think quickly and come up with a clever explanation for their bizarre
arrival. When none came to mind, he simply punched the guy.
The
man staggered back, but didn’t go down. “Aggh! You pooslicker! You’re in big
trouble now.”
His
hand went towards a red button that was implanted in the wall. But before he
could get to it, Arcturus clocked him with the butt of his rifle. The man went
down properly this time.
“Thanks,”
Ev said.
“Remember,
you don’t have your god-strength here. In order to stop enemies, you’ll have to
use your gun.”
“I’ll
keep that in mind.”
“Can
we get moving already?” Maya said. “The less time we spend down here, the
better.”
Arcturus
led the way. “For once, we agree.”
Ev
was now able to get a good look at the environment they had broken into.
Stainless steel walls and floors; recessed lighting; signs that said things
like “Omega Level” and “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.” Yes, this was a top secret
facility that someone had put a lot of time and money into creating.
The
various labs had large windows built into them. Per Arcturus’ instructions, the
trio ducked under them as they went by. The longer they went without detection,
the better. Still, Ev couldn’t help but sneak a peak into the labs. Scientists
were in there working on things he couldn’t even identify. One room appeared to
be devoted to the study of robotics. Since he couldn’t risk making any noise at
this point, he didn’t bother asking Arcturus what all these things were.
For
a while they managed to avoid detection. Then they came to an intersection
where the hallway split into three directions. Suddenly, a man appeared from
the left, wearing fatigues and carrying a submachine gun. He spotted them and
quickly leveled his weapon at them.
Ev
knew he should fire. He had killed before. And yet he couldn’t bring himself to
shoot this man. Somehow, he developed a distinction between killing gods and
other supernatural beings, and shooting mortals with guns. He didn’t know if
this guard before them was a god or not, but within the God Dampener, he might
as well have been. Shooting people seemed too…
real
.
Fortunately,
Arcturus had no such qualms. He raised his rifle and fired. There was a
deafening explosion as the rounds left the chamber, and the guard’s chest
erupted with blood.
Arcturus
said something then, but Ev’s ears were still ringing. Arcturus waved his arm
forward, indicating they needed to make a run for it. The three of them shot
forward down the corridor.
They
soon arrived at a doorway. The sign above it read “BEYOND HERE – SECTOR B-2.”
Just beyond the doorway lab were alcoves on both sides of the walls, followed
by more labs. About thirty feet away, a squad of guards wearing full body armor
and carrying rifles had gathered.
Ev
and Maya ducked into the left alcove, while Arcturus took the right one. The
hallway erupted in ear-crushing gunfire as security tried mowing them down. Ev
pressed himself against the wall as Maya blindly returned fire. “Ev! You’ve got
to help me fight back!” she yelled.
She
was right, of course. Different or not, this was still a life-or-death
situation, and he would never forgive himself if he got her killed by doing
nothing. So he stuck his rifle out and fired. Their bullets were supposedly
able to hone in on targets, but he didn’t know if they could curve around
walls. If these guards were smart, they’d be hiding behind them while picking
their spots.
After
several minutes, the gunfire intensified. Reinforcements must have arrived. Ev looked
across at Arcturus who seemed to sigh. He jammed something into his rifle and
fired it at the enemy. There was a pop, followed by the biggest explosion yet.
Ev felt the heat as fire filled the hallway. Arcturus fired a grenade at them.
Again Ev’s ears failed. Arcturus mouthed something like,
Sorry about
that, but it was taking too long.
They
proceeded forward, stepping over what remained of the enemy guards. The
corridor was scorched and smoking.
Chapter
IX
They
soon came to a large well-lit room filled with plants. The sign on the wall
read “HYDROPONICS.” It was humid in here.
“What’s
this room for?” Ev yelled to be heard over the klaxon which was now blaring.
Before
Arcturus could answer, more guards entered from the door at the opposite wall.
The trio took cover behind sturdy containers with plants growing out of them.
Once again gunfire erupted on both sides.
The
guards were well-trained, but the superior weaponry wielded by Ev’s team turned
the tide in their favor. Despite the enemy’s body armor, they soon succumbed to
bullets that hit them with almost supernatural accuracy. It wasn’t long before
Ev and company had the room all to themselves.
Afterwards,
Arcturus said, “To answer your question, this room is for growing fruits and
vegetables that enhance god-qualities.”
“So
if I eat one of these, I can become ever stronger?” Ev was intrigued.
“They’re
still working on it. They haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet.”
Perhaps
that was for the best, Ev thought; Zero Grade shouldn’t be allowed to get any
stronger.
* * *
After
leaving Hydroponics, they went through another narrow hallway with forks in it.
Arcturus had them keep going straight until they came to what looked like a small
cargo hold without any cargo. It was just a bare, metallic room with sparse
lighting, though the far wall had a door with a wall panel and what looked like
a computer mainframe encased in glass to the right.
Ev
wanted to walk right through it, but Arcturus put up a hand to stop them.
“Better let me handle this room.”
“Why?
What’s in here?” Maya asked.
He
removed a canister from one of the slots on his armor, set it down, and pushed the
top. White smoke sprayed out of it, bathing the room and revealing a multitude
of
red lines of light coming from the walls. A laser grid.
“How
are we going to get past this?” Ev said.
“Like
I said—leave it to me.”
Arcturus
crawled under the first set of lasers, leap-frogged over the next, and
continued to nimbly navigate through the rest. Ev had no idea he was that
agile, and he couldn’t help but be impressed at all the things Arcturus could
do.
He
soon reached the far wall and removed a screwdriver. After quickly using it to
remove the wall panel, he disconnected the wires, resulting in a fading hum.
“The grid’s off-line now.”
Ev
and Maya exchanged worried glances, wondering if it was indeed off-line; the
smoke had already dissipated, so they couldn’t tell. Ev nervously inched over
to where he thought the first laser had been and—before he changed his
mind—rapidly waved his hand across the empty space.
Nothing
happened. “You look silly, Ev,” Arcturus said. “I told you it’s off-line.”
“You
could have been wrong. We had to be sure,” Maya said. She and Ev proceeded to
move towards him.
Arcturus
ignored her and started rearranging wires on the panel. An earsplitting siren
suddenly shattered the quiet they had been enjoying.
“What’s
going on?” Ev shouted.
He
explained, “I was hot-wiring the door, but I think I put the wrong wire in the
wrong slot!”
“They
already know we’re here!” Maya reminded them. “The guards have already been
alerted! The alarm is meaningless!”
Movement
in the ceiling caught Ev’s attention. “I hate to disagree with you, but...”
A
tripod, easily the size of a full-grown person, but with chain guns for legs,
descended. The barrels began spinning, and Ev had only a split second to push
Maya out of the way as it commenced spraying death with thousands of rounds a
minute.
“Get
under the barrels!” Arcturus said.
They
complied and discovered the deadly tripod’s blind spot. It evidently couldn’t
move its barrels perpendicular to the ceiling.
The
siren and firing ceased, and the room was mostly quiet save for the mechanical
whirring of the tripod which still revolved in a clockwise pattern from its
spot above them. “We’re safe,” Ev said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“For
now, maybe,” Maya replied. “But we can’t stay under here forever. Sooner or
later Zero Grade will send more guards to kill us.”
Ev
replied, “But if we try to leave, that big honking chain gun thing will mow us
down.”
“We
still have our weapons. Maybe we can shoot it.”
But
Arcturus said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. That thing’s only a few feet
above us, and it’s constructed from incredibly durable metals. If you try
shooting it, the bullets will likely bounce off and hit one or more of us.”
“Well
we have to do
something
. What do you suggest?” she said.
He
pointed to the mainframe. “Our only chance is to take that out. It not only
controls the facility’s computer system, but the tripod barrels above us as
well.”
Ev
scrutinized the glass surrounding it which was covered with indentations from
where the tripod’s bullets had just struck. Based on the lack of penetration…
“The glass is obviously bulletproof, and it’s…what? Fifteen feet away? At this
distance we’d probably kill ourselves if we tried using explosives.”
“I’m
not suggesting explosives. Look, no glass is entirely bulletproof. That glass
was designed to withstand a brief barrage from those barrels, just long enough
to take out any intruders. If we can get it to keep firing, eventually it will
punch through the glass.”
“You’re
not seriously suggesting one of us move out from here, are you?” Ev said.
“Not
at all. Watch.” He ejected the magazine from his rifle and emptied it. He then
flicked a bullet towards the mainframe. The tripod came to life and unleashed
another volley of bullets, causing the glass to be further painted with cracks.
He flicked a second bullet, and then a third, a fourth, and finally, the
barrels ran out of ammunition.
Arcturus
was the first to emerge from the shadow of the insane weapon. Ev and Maya
followed, marveling at the large piles of shell casings which littered the
floor. By now the glass was pure white with cracks in a horizontal line running
across its midsection. With a single kick, Arcturus kicked it inward, spraying
the mainframe with countless shards before unloading into it with his rifle
which he had inserted a fresh magazine into. Following a shower of sparks and
flame, it died.
“Now,
then, I just need to get this door open.” He tried another combination of
wires, and this time the door panel turned green.
It
was time to conclude their business here.
* * *
The
threesome stared down at the middle-aged man in a lab coat, cowering on the
ground and currently pissing his pants. They were in an octagonal room with glass
cases along half the walls and large screens along the other half with computer
consoles underneath them: the Control Room.
“W-What
do you want?” the terrified man asked. The stench from his wet crotch was
strong.
“I
want you to deactivate the God Dampener,” Arcturus replied.
“I
can’t! The higher-ups will kill me.”
“What
makes you think we
won’t
?” Maya said.
“Please!
I’m just a mortal. I can’t disobey Zero Grade.”
Arcturus
put the barrel of his rifle in the man’s temple. “We left a trail of bodies
back there. You want to be the next casualty?”
The
man frantically waved his hands. “OK, OK! I’ll do it!” He got up and began
typing at the master terminal. “There! It’s done.”
Arcturus
went over to one of the glass cases and smashed it with his fist. No blood
appeared. “Yes, it’s disabled.” He reached in and pulled out what looked
exactly like a
shepherd’s
cane.
Ev
stared at it. “Is that it?”
“Yes;
the Rod of Aaron. We now have everything we need to activate the Ark.” He then turned to the terrified scientist. “Has the evacuation order been sent?”
“Y-Yes.
Everyone but me should have left by now. Well, everyone still alive down here.”
“Good,”
Arcturus said. “Now activate the self-destruct sequence.”
Ev
suddenly realized something. “Wait. Won’t the destruction of this place bring
down the buildings above? Innocent people will die.”
“Don’t
worry about that. They built this place far enough underground that a few
explosions aren’t enough to endanger anything on the surface. They’ll feel the
reverberations, but it won’t hurt anyone.”
But
the scientist protested, saying, “If this place goes, then
I’ll
die as
well.”
“We
won’t let anything happen to you,” Ev said. “I’ll clear a path to the surface,
and then Maya here will carry you up.”
“You
promise?”
Maya
nodded, apparently not incensed that Ev had just volunteered her for this. “We
promise.”
The
scientist hesitated for a moment. Eventually, though, he typed in some more
commands. A soothing female voice announced, “Protocol Alpha initiated. T-minus
five minutes to full facility purge. Please evacuate immediately.”
Ev
turned to Maya. “Guess that’s my cue. See you on the surface.”
He
knelt for a moment, and then used his powerful leg muscles to hurl himself
upwards. He crashed through ceiling after ceiling on his journey back to the
surface.
Before
long, he broke through the final obstacle and flew up into the sky. He took a
moment to marvel at the beautiful city of Adlo below. While it lacked the glitz
of Seraphim City and the size of Stiftung, its historical pedigree alone more
than made up for it. Ev could have stayed up there for a while marveling the
landscape below.
At
least, until something sharp closed like a vice around his neck. “Remember me,
Bannen? We’ve got business with you traitors,” said a familiar voice behind
him.
* * *
Maya
emerged from the hole Ev had just made. She sat the terrified scientist down,
and he promptly took off running without another word. She didn’t care; she was
just glad to be out of there. Now all that remained was for Arcturus to come
out. She didn’t care about him, either. He was a scumbag, and the sooner they
parted ways, the better.
Something
shiny appeared out of the corner of her eyes, and it only took a split-second
to realize it was headed right for her. She leapt into the air, narrowly
avoiding it as it crashed into the ground where she had stood. It ricocheted,
slicing through a traffic light before coming back to its owner across the
street.
It
was a shield. Circular and silver with a gold crown emblem in the center, it
was lined with razor-sharp blades. The basic shape was vaguely reminiscent of
CiCi’s chakrams, but the similarities ended there. Whereas CiCi’s weapons were
largely meant for self-defense, this thing had obviously been designed to kill
and maim as much as possible. It took a sick mind to wield such a weapon, so
when Maya laid eyes on that wielder, she wasn’t surprised.
“Hello,
Maya. Fancy meeting you here,” Priscilia said.
“Somehow
I doubt it’s coincidence,” she shot back. “Especially seeing as how you just
tried to kill me.”