September 21, 2017
2:34 am
The street lamp offered little to no light in the dimly lit apartment. Chris tossed and turned, as if the blankets themselves had come to life and were trying to strangle the life out of him. Sweat soaked the dark sheets, as he desperately tried to reach for something that was not real.
Jill flashed inside his head, his dreams like parallel dimensions wherein everyone he cared for come flashing like memories being burned and turning into ashes right before him. He tries to scream, his hands barely grasping hers before she plummets into a void so dark – black was not enough to describe it. He breathes before he plummets into cold water. He wasn't alone.
There in the deep his guilt resurfaced, the pain doubling with each memory. He pushes towards the white capsule like sub, turning it in his hands to see inside.
Inside, he found his would have been successor. The only man who Chris ever believed to keep the BSAA focused on its goal. He breathes, filling his lungs with water as the capsule grows heavier as if it was trying to drown him with it.
Piers.
Chris jolts awake, his phone ringing beside his table. For a moment, the world is silent and all he could hear was his heart beating and the distant sound of an ambulance not far from where he lived. The phone continues to ring. He answered it on the eight, feeling the unease wear off when Jill's voice comes into the line. It wraps around him, the kind of comfort he always seemed to need these days just to keep him from going insane.
"Chris?" Her voice sounded worried, as always but there was something else. The kind of hesitance that her voice only had when she was about to tell him something she wasn't sure he would like to hear. Chris braced himself, swinging his feet to the side of the bed. His feet touched the cold floor as Jill waited for him to respond. Anything would have been fine. He glanced at the clock beside him. It was definitely an odd time for her to be calling him.
"Jill?" He says, finally finding his voice. He hears her release a sigh of relief.
"Are you alright?" She asks before saying, "Sorry for calling you so early in the morning."
"It was part of the job requirements, right?" His attempt at easing the tension falls flat. He knew in his gut something was wrong, he just wasn't sure he could take it. Jill felt the same.
"There is something you need to see," she continues carefully. "They found something 4 years ago- they kept it secret for the safety of the world but now… I don't think they'll be able to keep it a secret anymore."
"What do you mean? Who found what?"
"Just… come to HQ. You'll see when you get here," she says quietly. "And… Chris?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm here."
He runs a hand through his face as Jill hangs up. He wanted her to keep talking, but now was not the right time to have one of his episodes. He didn't want her to worry more than she already was. He breathes out, turning to his closet, before he changes and heads towards HQ.
July 2013
Destroyed Underwater Research Complex
"Clean everything up. If you find anything worth examining attach it on the line so our subs can pull it up."
The team in Sector S gives a nod, before their suits wrap around them and they jump into the water.
"Natasha," the supervisor calls making one of the team members turns to him. "You have a special objective. Try to look for any sign of life form."
"Life form?" She repeats in confusion. "The whole complex blew up. I hardly doubt there are survivors. Besides, if there are they would have drowned-"
"Just look for one."
She clamps her mouth shut, giving a brief nod before jumping in after the others.
The complex was in ruins. She shook her head at the destruction and how it had definitely affected the marine life around it. She scanned the area, attaching harnesses on the debris that could be moved away. Perhaps they should clean it up and remove everything.
She turns around a pillar before it creaks under the ocean and falls over. The whole thing was still collapsing, seeing as how unstable it was. She spots a narrow passage and swims towards it before the pillar closes the entrance. The pressure pushes her further into the small passage. She finds bodies floating, each missing a body part or two. A mutated hand floats in front of her. She grimaces before taking a makeshift container and placing all the small parts inside before attaching it to one of the cables attached to her.
"Natasha?" a voice comes from her com.
"Yes?"
"Chrissakes Natasha! What the hell where you thinking swimming inside like that?"
"I'm fine," she assures him. He didn't seem to need that.
"If the whole thing collapses you could be-"
"We both know it would take more than a building collapsing over me to kill me, father."
The man sighs and she could imagine him shaking his head at her. She continues to swim through the shaft, collecting rubble and body parts.
"Mr. Wilkins asked me to look for life forms. The possibility of it is higher inside the complex. Perhaps someone is hauled up in here somewhere."
"That Mr. Wilkins is always putting your life in danger."
"Better me than anyone else," she says, ending their conversation as the signal grew worse the deeper she went it.
"Please…careful….don't….lose you…."
She sighs, turning it off before leaving the full box beside a closed door. She pries it open, making sure not to create a strong enough movement to make the whole thing collapse. When the door was open big enough she squeezes through and smiles to herself. Finally her small frame was of use. She pushes on, pushing more debris out of her way before her eye caught something she never expected to find. She paused, mid swim and turned her com on.
"Dad…"
"Nat? Where are you? They can't find you on the radar-"
"What is the probability of someone surviving inside this thing?"
"I'd say as possible as you actually listening to me," he says. Natasha rolls her eyes, for a brilliant scientist, he was more concerned about her than anything close to a miracle. Like what she was seeing right now. She swam towards it, the red light blinking inside her suit. Warning her she was already reaching the limit of how deep she could go without her suit breaking apart. She touched the outer shell of the cage like structure. She could make out a person inside, and that person was no doubt alive. The shell cracked under her touch and she lets out a gasp watching the crack travel around. The cage like structure seemed to be the thing that was keeping the complex standing. She held her breath as the sound of the structure groaning filled her ears.
"Natasha? What is going on?" Her father calls in panic. "Everyone is swimming away, saying the structure is collapsing again. Get out of there! Now!"
She ignores him, fascinated by the person underneath the shell. She breaks it, earning her another round of groaning from the structure around her. Inside it was a man. Wrapped in what seemed to be a white clear substance.
And he was breathing.
She gasped before quickly pulling out the emergency oxygen line that was attached to her suit. She cuts through the white like wrapper before attaching the oxygen mask around the man. He breathed normally. Her excitement threatened to swallow her whole as she started cutting through the shell attached to him. The whole thing seemed to have started from his right arm. She managed to free him without destroying the whole structure.
There was something wrong with his arm that was for sure. She could worry about it later, right now. She needed to get out before she gets buried in here. She attaches three cables on the man and wrapped an arm around his waist. He was big, but her determination to get herself and him out of here was bigger. She swam back the way she came, momentarily letting him go so that she could open the door a little bigger for him.
"Natasha!"
"I'm on my way out, dad. See? I'm listening to you." She pulls the man with her, carrying his weight and hers and fighting against the pressure that dragged her down. Before she could swim through an exit the structure groaned again before she is hit with something behind, knocking the air out of her lungs. Pain vibrated through her whole body, her hold on the man tightened.
"Don't worry, buddy. I am getting you out of here no matter what."
She attaches another wire before swimming in another direction, dragging the man with her. She imagined how hard it would be if the water was not helping her carry him.
"Natasha, where are you? The whole building is collapsing! Everyone is already up here! I swear… you…up…now!..."
She presses on to her com when something sharp slices through the side of her waist. She sucks in a breath as her suit warns her that it had been damaged.
"Well, this is what I get for listening…" she grumbles, pulling out the debris that had sliced through her. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying.
"You better be worth it," she says to the unconscious man. "Well, of you probably are. Let's get you out."
She swims towards another opening, hoping it won't close up like the rest. But of course, she is not so lucky. As she was pushing the man into the opening, the structure above them gave out almost falling on her as it closed the entranced. She braced herself for the pain that did not come. She glanced and found the man's mutated arm beside her, stopping the bar from crushing her. She looked up just in time to see him close his eyes back.
She pushed herself out with wide eyes before cutting the wire that was attached to the box of debris. She touched the man's face, willing him to open his eyes again. His eyes remained close.
She swims towards the subs nearest harness before she tugs on it. She wraps her hand around the man as the sub whisks them both up, her eyes never leaving his face. He was alive…but why won't he stay awake?
They surfaced and Natasha gasped for air as people crowded around her and the man.
"Natasha!" Her father, in his required uniform comes rushing in, catching him before she falls, and the blood from her wound drenching her suit.
"What happened?" He placed her on the deck as Mr. Wilkins approaches and finds the man lying beside her.
"I listened to you," she smiles before passing out, her hands reaching out towards the man beside them.