A/N: Hello there and welcome readers. Fair warning, this is gonna be quite lengthy but if you wish to skip this and jump right into the story it's totally understandable, it's not like I'm gonna get mad or something like that lol, I just wanna talk about some things before we start.
Okay, so as you guys might already know this story of mine is a fanfic of Rooster Teeth's animated series entitled RWBY created by the legendary legend Monty Oum, may his epic soul forever rest in peace. I have been watching this show since it first came out on YouTube and I have been a fan ever since. The animation, the plot, and the fight scenes, my God almighty the fight scenes, I was hooked by it all. Sure all those three have somewhat been altered since the passing of Oum but the show is still going strong and it still has not failed to entertain me and the legions of other RWBY fans out there.
Now, what is the purpose of this story's creation you may ask? Well I've got a number of reasons, four actually, but the foremost is that Volume 6 is now finished, and if my sources are right then it's going to take at least a year before volume 7. And so, to help entertain the fandom until the next volume comes rolling around the corner I've opted to write this story, which brings us to my second reason.
For years I've been a member of F. and for years I've been reading a variety of stories written here. I've read simple stories, epic stories, audacious stories, and even half-arsed stories. After spending all that time reading other people's stories I've recently come to develop an urge to make a story of my own.
And if your wondering, yes I have absolutely no experience in writing, only the occasional essays and reports here and there, which now brings us to my third reason.
I want to improve my writing, to hone it, to master it and expand my horizon in the art of writing, the whole shebang. I don't wanna sound brazen but I aim to be able to write the same way as the other big-shot authors out there, namely Coeur Al'Aran, Dravyn LeCrux, PaulXion, College Fool, Zelkova 48, Jiu-Jitsu dude, KytyouVsWriting and THE LONE WANDERER. And these are the just the ones I am aware of, I'm certain there are a ton of other famous authors out there but I digress, my point is that I'm also doing this to better my writing prowess.
And my last but definitely not the least reason, is my little sister. She use to love this series, but after volume 3 she just sort of lost her passion for it. I'll write about what exactly she said and give this reason more detail on another chapter because if I write it here it'll only increase the number count dramatically and I don't really want that happening if I can help it.
So yeah, that's pretty much all there is to it. Anyways, now that we've gotten that out of the way go on ahead and have your first look at this story of mine. I pray that you guys will come to enjoy and appreciate this.
Oh and feel free to comment and review, all forms of criticism are duly noted and highly appreciated. More notes at the bottom.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY and honestly I never will lol, also all other references that you'll see belong to their rightful owners. I am by no means a plagiarist, I am merely getting inspiration from them.
The events, characters and firms depicted in this story are ficticious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual firms, is purely coincidental.
Moffet Federal Airfeld
1/24/2047
8:35 AM
(Main POV)
As I stand in front of the aircraft's slowly descending ramp, the hum of the C-17 globemaster's engines shutting down fill my ears as the sun's rays gradually shine through the growing gap, engulfing me in its warm glow. I stand there steadfast for a few more seconds until finally, with a soft thump of metal hitting asphalt, the ramp fully opens. And not a moment later I immediately spot a black cadillac escalade limo, flanked on both sides by a fleet of armored S.U.V's of the same color, 10 on the left flank and another 10 on the right, hastily making their way towards my location.
"Hmph. Leave it to America to make one hell of a conspicuous entrance." I thought jokingly as I walked down the ramp while the convoy of cars stopped and killed their engines but not before forming a Vee formation a good few feet away from me with the limo being front and center.
A few seconds passed before the limo's chauffeur stepped out and briskly moved towards the passenger seat where he gently opened the door and stepped aside with a light nod. And not a moment later a figure came out, or to be precise, a curvaceous woman with bright and bouncy shoulder length auburn hair with clear streaks of white, gun metal gray eyes, olive skin, a beautifuly aged oval shaped face, sporting an onyx colored single button pant suite with matching heels.
"Martha Alluwicious Walker..."
Aside from the scant information that we could dig up, not a lot is known about her, only certain essential details. Graduated summa cum laude from Harvard at the age of 24 in the year 2025, has more than exceptional IQ, garnered the respect and praise of those with high authority and was immediately nominated and served as the secretary of defense twice before being appointed as the director of the CIA in the year 2039.
"...I guess her being here means she found out about me coming along. Well I did expect as much. Nothing can really stay hidden from the CIA afterall." I thought bregrudgingly as Martha made her way towards me.
After a few seconds passed she stopped short a good distance from me. And like a well timed mechanism, all the doors of the S.U.V's opened simultaneously and I could see approximately 120 agents, presumebly CIA's, all wearing their standard suits and armed with their pistols strapped to their holsters by their hips, getting out of their vehicles and quickly formed an echelon formation behind Martha. I am not a man that can easily be intimidated but the mere sight of a dozen agents synchronously forming a defensive wall in such quick succession was enough to make me flinch a tad bit.
"Grabe naman. I know all about safety first and the like but bringing along an entire fucking brigade of agents is just overkill." I look towards Martha and find her glaring at me with an intensity so profound that I found myself tensing my muscles out of instinct. She herself can't really do anything against me alone but that fact doesn't really matter when there's the fact that she has more than 100 armed and ready to shoot personnel at her beck and call.
"If this goes any further I think I'm going to find myself dodging through a hailstorm of bullets soon. But if I go first though..."
Martha, quickly recognizing my animosity, raised her right hand and spoke in a calm but authoritative voice.
"That would be unwise agent Bonifacio. Even with your prowess and inhuman capabilities you will find your choice of initiating violence in this situation to be a severely poor one. While I am certain you can subdue more than half of our numbers with me included, you will have your hands full with the ones left. And furthermore the consequences you will face later on, considering if you are still alive by then, will surely be more than you will be able to chew. So please, why don't you save us all the hassle and just don't."
For a solid minute I say nothing as I regard her questioningly. Her critical glare did not diminish in the slightest but she did lower her raised hand and linked it together with her other one behind her back. And apparently, after realizing a moment later, was waiting patiently for my response.
I briefly entertained the thought of calling out her hypocrisy before quickly throwing it aside. I've already got this much heat on me and I haven't even left the runway yet.
"No need to add fuel to a growing fire after all."
"You are right. I am sorry if I seem hostile Miss but your not really making it any better by bringing that bunch you have with you. I mean come now, an entire brigade? That is a bit much don't you think?" I said as proffesional as I could with the americanized filipino accent clear in my gruff voice whilst gesturing towards the wave of agents behind her.
"No, as a matter of fact I do not think so. I would have preferred to bring the National Guard and then some but that wouldn't have reflected well with the general public. It would have been ludicrous yes, but very warranted. And you of all people should know exactly why that is." She intently rebuked with a seriousness that gave the notion that she wasn't at all exaggerating.
While her words rang true, it wasn't enough to stop the frown from forming on my face and the irritated sigh that came quickly afterwards. I've been through this kind of treatment more than once in the past, and when you see or hear the same thing multiple times over and over again you eventually get sick of it. And after spending years with this, I've grown very sick of it.
"I'm already 53 years old damn it and I still get treated like I'm some kind of bullly. If only they knew.."
Throughout the years of my service in the NBI I have earned a somewhat infamous reputation amongst my peers and my betters. A reputation that I had absolutely no intention or interest in making. Everything that I did, all the good and the evil that I committed, I didn't do it for the money, or the fame, or the duty that was expected from me by my countrymen. No, I did it for one thing and one thing only.
"..I'm doing this, all of this, for the promise I swore to uphold until the end of my days."
But of course, she doesn't know that. No one else knows that since no one is willing to believe in something so simple. They believe that a man like me would never base his life off of something as petty as a promise. They believe that I have some hidden motive behind my actions. A secret goal so to speak. I'm still bothered by it but by now I've learned to just phase it out of my mind. Bullshit is bullshit anyway so there's no need to get worked up about something that I know isn't the truth.
"But I am curious though.." I mentally mused to myself as I returned Marthas serious and calculating gaze. "..Just what exactly is going through your head right now director?"
(Martha's POV)
"So this is the legendary Tobias Ispolinskiy Bonficaio. I must say I'm quite surprised. They said that he's more than seven feet tall but looking at him now he's got to be atleast 8 feet tall, maybe more even. And just look at the size of him.." I momentarily sized him up, and though I hid it well enough I couldn't help but gawk at his inhuman physique. "..How can somone so huge look so lean? How is that even humanly possible?"
When I caught word that the NBI would be sending him to escort the target I made sure to have the intelligence team dig up all his files and reports. You'd need to know the person your meeting afterall. At that time I already knew of him and his infamy but I had yet to acquire the exact details of his reputation. But when I did, I immidiately took action in preparing the agency's best agents to work as my security detail. Under normal circumstances I would never even consider that idea. But from what I've learned, any circumstance with this man involved is anything but normal.
Bzzt..Bzzt..Bzzt..Bzzt..
A constant buzzing interrupts my train of thoughts. I momentarily break eye contact with Bonifacio as I reach into my right pocket and take out my phone. One glance at the caller ID and I instantly knew who it was.
"But why would you be calling me thoughI mentally mused as I moved back a bit so that he couldn't hear me, and with a click of a button I answered the call.
"Martha here." I said with a low but clear tone to avoid unwanted eaves droppers.
"Hey Martha. It's me Chrisy."
"Oh, now how did I not know that. I guess you being my sister and is the only one capable of calling this number had absolutely nothing to do with it." I airily cut in with sarcasm thick in my voice as I rolled my eyes.
"Oh put a cork in it Martha. Your supposed to be a proffesional so why don't you act like it." Chrisy answered back making a ghost of a smile form on my face.
"Forgive me. It's just that thing's on my end are so...tense. I just needed a bit of a respite as all." I said as I took a sidwards glance at Bonifacio's imposing form.
For a few scant seconds I could only hear silence. Worried, I opened my mouth to inquire if she was okay. But before I could use my voice she answered back. "I've known you since forever Martha and you don't take the word 'tense' lightly. You told me you were meeting up with somone. Let me guess, he's seven feet tall and looks like he's over two hundred pounds."
I scoffed playfuly at her less than accurate assessment before replying. "Eight feet tall actually. And he looks to be over 300 pounds."
"Jesus Christ.."
"I know. I had the same reaction. Though I did well to keep my mouth shut."
"Damn. What is he even wearing though? And I swear Martha, if you say he's wearing giant armor then I'm grabbing my camera."
My small smile grew considerably at this. "First of all, he's wearing a white long sleeved collar shirt under a yellowish brown bullet proof vest, brown cargo trousers, black utility gloves and military boots of the same color, all of it fit for his size of course. And second, you really need to stop playing dark souls Chrisy."
"Hey! Your one to talk. You use to love that game." She defiantly hollered back.
"Key word 'use to'. It was fun...until it wasn't."
"Oh whatever."
I chuckled lightly before I quickly realized my agents were starting to stare at me. I shot them a warning glare and they immediately looked anywhere but my general direction.
"Hey Martha, is he good looking?"
"Chrisy!" I chastised her, though I kept my voice as low as I could. "Why in the world would you be asking that?"
"I'm just curious! No need to get all sisterly defensive on me. I just want to know if the rumors are true." She defended.
"Oh? And what do the rumors say exactly?" I asked as I intently studied Bonifacio's facial features.
"Well I heard he's got a rough looking square face, a well chiseled jaw line, a pointy chin, gunmetal gray eyes, messy bronze colored hair, and oh..does he actually a thick chin strap beard and a chevron?"
"That is a strangely well detailed description.." I concluded as I further study Bonifacio's face "..and strangely accurate too, just with streaks of white in his hair."
I hear a gasp on the other end of the phone before Chrisy's cheery voice boomed back "Oh my God! So it's true! So he is like a hulking old man Logan but with a mustache. And it's chevron no less!"
I couldn't help but let out a sigh as I rolled my eyes before answering back. "Your love for pop culture references and fascination of facial hair aside, why did you call me in the first place Chrisy? I Iove you sister and you know that but I thought we decided that you should only call this number in times of emergency."
"Oh shit! I totally forgot. The Prime Ministers arrived early and are now waiting for you before we start the test."
"What!?" I shouted into the phone so loud that all of my agents, even Bonifacio, jumped in surprise. "And you couldn't have told me that sooner!?" I continued to cry out, not caring in the slightest of the stares that are now focused solely on me.
"I'm so sorry! It's just that...I don't get to talk to you more often and we had a really interesting topic going on." She replied in a clearly faux regretful tone.
"Oh dont you worry my little sister. You and I are going to have a very, very, very long talk after this."
"Aww poo. Well it was worth a shot. Anyways, I better go see if everything is up and ready for the test. Good luck sis, I'll see you there. Bye, love you lots!" She ended the call before I could reply.
"Gah. I love you too." I said as I put my phone back inside my right pocket.
"Agent Bonifacio" I called for his attention which he was quick to give. "I have received word that I am needed elsewhere. I will debrief you on your mission when I return. So for now, feel free to wander the base as you wait. My agents will take care of the target from here on out."
After I said that I made my way towards the research and development area of the base along side with 10 of my hand picked agents accompanying me.
"I just hope the remaining 110 don't soil themselves around him."
(Main POV)
I watch intently the retreating form of Martha slowly disappear into the distance along with the 10 agents that accompanied her.
"I wonder what is so important that she is willing to leave me alone after having prepared all this muscle just for my arrival."
"Excuse us sir." A voice called out. Looking up, I saw a handful of agents stand in attention behind the one that just spoke. And to both my surprise and utter horror, the agent that had spoken was a woman. A young woman no less.
"God damned cowards. Hiding behind a woman of all things."
"Yes? How may I help you miss?" I gently questioned her while burying my discontent towards the 'men' behind her.
The young woman seemed to have been surprised by my gentle tone, evident by her raised eye brows. No doubt she, like everyone else, didn't expect I would be capable of doing anything remotely gentle. Yet another thing I have my damned reputation to thank for.
"Miss?" I said, trying to get her out of her stupor.
Moments after I said that she gently shook her head and looked back up to me before replying. "The director's orders were to secure the target until her business is finished here."
"Ah right. Well he's up there." I say as I point back inside the ship with my thumb and moved aside to let the agents through.
The young woman attentively nodded and turned back to the agents filed up behind her. "All right move in. Take the target to the temporary safe house. Bring more agents with you on the way in the likely case his goons will try to bust him free."
"Yes ma'am." They replied as they filed their way up the ramp. Though not without taking a few wary glances as they passed by me.
"Forgive them. They mean nothing by it, trust me. It's just that, your reputation is pretty well known here too. And more than once they've lost their stomachs hearing about some of the things you did on your missions." She said with a light cheering tone. No doubt she noticed my slight discomfort of such treatment from the agents.
"Hmm, I see. Well they are not wrong to do so. I just wish they would not look at me like I'm some kind monster that enjoys all this." I grumpily replied while crossing my arms over my chest.
"Do you?" I heard her meekly ask in a voice so low that it made the think she really didn't want to actually ask that question as she looked downwards, avoiding my questioning stare.
I sighed. It was like a second nature to me now. I've been doing it for so long that most of the times I'm not even aware I'm actually doing it.
"Well here we go again." I thought as I readied once again the passage that I've practically burned into my memory word for word by now.
"Pulling the trigger and doing the deed is as easy as blinking for me. But only, when the barrel is pointed at the right people."
That immidiately got her attention.Visibly interested, she opened her mouth to question me more but never got the chance when the agents returned, surrounding a perimeter around a large man with a bulky figure. Said man was also in a wheel chair, strapped in a straight jacket, and had his whole entire faced bandaged up.
"Wait a moment now." She said as she questiongly studied the man. "What in the world happened to him?" She continued as she gestured at the mans sorry state.
"Crap. So much for trying to convince people I am not some kind of sadistic maniac. Well, at least I can safely say this bastard deserved what I did to him."
"That would be because of me." I said as I uncrossed my arms and pointed at myself with my thumb.
The man, recognizing my voice, started to squirm and whimper through the bandages making muffled cries as he forcefully and futily tried to back away from me.
"This man is the infamous John Dwayne. Leading douche bag of the largest sex trafficking organization in the world and also just loves to be known as 'The big daddy'. But I am pretty sure you already know that by now." I addressed the agents as I made my way towards Dwayne's still struggling form and placed a hand on top of his head which instantly made him freeze.
"And you might also know that this scum had set his eyes on the Philippines. Probably thought he could add another piece to his growing empire." I added as I squeezed Dwyane's head making him whimper and shake in his seat. "You sorely thought wrong brat." I continued as I added pressure to my grip, briefly thinking about crushing his head and ending him right there and then, but ultimately I went against it and just settled in making him squirm.
"Do not worry you scumbag. Your going to spend the rest of your worthless life in the deepest and darkest abyss there is, alongside with your fellow shit fucks."
"What-" The young woman started hesitantly. Taking a large adubile gulp she continued. "What exactly did you do to him?" She gestured towards Dwayne's now openly crying form.
Against my better judgement a cruel smile formed on my face as I let go of Dwayne's head and turned my attention to the young woman that asked. "Now how exactly do you want me to tell you that story young Miss? Do you want the censored version or the non-censored version?"
She took a few seconds to ponder her choices. And with another gulp she answered. "Uncensored."
"As you wish." I placed my hands into my pockets before continuing. "As I said before, this fuckster came to my country seeking out 'fresh meat' for his business. Our missing persons cases went through the roof because of him. And so, no longer able to tolerate the bullshit that was happening, our government took action and contacted the NBI. I was deployed to track him down and radio in his coordinates to HQ. It took me a while but I finally found his base of operations which turned out to be a refurbished building in Makati. It should have been just that too, I'd find him, call in for back up, breach the place and save the victims. But what I saw there..." I sneered at Dwaynee before carrying on. "Children, no more than the ages of thirteen and fourteen, were being subjected to acts that no normal human being should ever go through."
A handful of hateful glares and snarls from the surrounding agents were aimed directly towards Dwayne.
"And then? What happened next?" The young woman urged but kept her hateful glare on Dwayne.
I darkly chuckled as I softly shook my head. "Looking back, I realize that it was pretty damn stupid and straight up suicidal. But meh, I am still alive and it worked so it's not so bad." I flicked Dwayne's forehead with my finger in a not so gentle manner before continuing. "Since I was only in a reconaissance mission I did not bring any weapons with me so technically I was not armed but I was not weaponless either." I raised both my fists to prove my point.
"You raided the place with nothing more than your fists?" The young woman asked bewildered.
"Well that, and the ton of weapons that they had stock piled." I look towards Dwayne who's still shaking and now had his bandages wet with his tears. "And this asshole surprisingly had the balls to fight me. I'll admit, I was pretty impressed. I thought he would be like the rest of his kind, all bark and no bite you know. But he wasn not half bad, little slow yeah but pretty good." I once again grab Dwyane's head reared it upwards as I sneered down at his bandaged face.
"You want me to tell them what I did to you Dwayne?" I mockingly asked. And the only answer I got was a muffled plea and more tears. Taking this as my cue, I continued.
"First I went in for you legs. Do you remember that Dwayne? Because I definitely do. It's not hard to remember when you were screeching like a little girl."
A mixture of asstonished and horrified looks graced the faces of the agents as I carried on.
"Then I went for your spine. I thought it would take me more effort to break it considering your size, but turns out it was as easy as breaking a tooth pick." I chuckled darkly once more as I hammered down the final nail on the coffin. "And last but definitely not the least, your face. I heard that you loved to make women look at that damned face that you love so much as you brutally raped them over and over and over again."
I looked towards the young woman before asking. "What do you think I did to his face, young miss?"
Hesitant to answer the young woman worriedly inspected Dwayne's bandaged face as she swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. After spending a moment to strengthen her resolve, she looked at me dead in the eye as she replied in a clear and serious voice. "You ripped it off. You ripped his whole entire face off."
"Yes. Yes I did." I replied as I let go of Dwayne's head. An action he greatly appreciated seeing as he made a pleased sigh as I retracted my hand. "And trust me. I wanted to do more but command had ordered me to take him alive so I had to tone down the damage a bit."
"Tone down the damage? You've permanently crippled him." One of the other agents called out.
"And I've scarred him for life." I stared hard back at the agent that called out. "A fate he and the rest of his filth rightfully deserve." I said as I shot Dwayne one last hateful glare.
"Go now agents. Take this shit to your safe house and make sure to lock up the place tight just in case. With me here, the chances of his goons coming to try and break him free is slim. But a chance is still a chance, so make sure to be on your toes. Better to be safe than sorry as the saying goes." I said as I once again inserted my hands into my pockets.
A chorus of nods was my only answer. They formed a perimeter once more around Dwayne as they made their way towards their safe house, wherever that may be. But before they could get too far I called out, or more specially, I called out to the young woman leading the horde of agents.
"Young Miss!"
Being the only woman amongst the other 109 agents, she quickly deduced that she was the one I was calling for and turned her attention to me. "Yes sir?"
I stare at her with my eyes hard and face etched in a frown. For a few seconds I contemplated wether or not I should say it. But in the end, I knew that in this line of work you rarely see the same person twice, so now would be my only chance to tell her. "I hope she won't take it the wrong way." I thought as I opened my mouth to say the words.
"You should not be out here, young Miss."
"Sir?" She asked baffled. No doubt she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. No one ever does. At least, not really.
"I mean you should not be out here. In the field." I said as I gestured to the surrounding area. "You should not be in the front lines. You should be back at your headquarters, where life is easier and safer than this."
"Why are you telling me this Sir? And why are you only telling 'me' out of all of us here?" She paused, and with a deep intake and long exhale of breath, she said next the words that always rub me the wrong way. "Is it because I'm a woman?"
I sigh through my nose as I return the hard stare that she was giving me. "No. It is becuase you do not need to, young Miss." I answered.
"And why is that?" She challenged. Irritation and indignation clear in her voice.
"I am still here. And I am still alive."
The young woman was left even more confused and baffled because of my cryptic answer and could only stare back at me questioningly, curiosity etched in her look.
"It is up to you to decide how you choose to interpret my meaning young Miss. Wether it is good or bad, it is entirely up to you. Now then.." I say as I turn around and start walking away from them "..I am going to do a perimeter check around the entire base to see if there are any unwanted visitors. Keep your eyes peeled and wits about you." I call back to them as the distance between me and the group of agents started getting bigger and bigger.
Over the distance I heard the voice of the young woman call out to me but I ultimately decided to ignore it. Because honesty, I wouldn't know what to say or do if I didn't.
"I can dodge and tank bullets at point blank range but I cannot afford to open up about my feelings. Oh the irony." I grumbled as I made my way towards the north side of the base.
Research and Development Building
A few floors beneath surface level
9:02 AM
(Martha's POV)
It took me no more than 10 minutes to finally arrive at the testing area along with my entourage of agents. I take a deep breath to steady myself as I enter the blast room. And instantly all the occupants within, scientists, engineers, other body guards, and most importantly the Prime Ministers, looked towards me.
"Calm yourself Martha. You've been doing this your whole life so this is of no consequence."
I opened my mouth to formally adresss everyone present when a familiar jovial and loud voice broke through the silence like a sledgehammer flying straight through a window.
"Martha!" My younger sister, Chrisy Alluwicious Walker, unabashedly hollered as she quickly brisked towards me. If it wasn't for our age gap and opposite personalities she could have easily been my exact replica. And when said replica was in range she gave me her signature bear hug. A show of affection I appreciated but ultimately thought unneeded.
"Your late dumb-dumb. What took you?"
Slightly annoyed by her behavior I flicked her on the forehead, though I made sure not to add too much force to it.
"One. Never call me a dumb-dumb again. Ever. And two, weren't you the one who told me to act like the proffesional I'm supposed to be. Seems quite hypocritical that you don't live up to your own words." I said in a semi serous and playful tone.
"Oh hardy har har Martha." She replied with the same tone as mine as she childishly pouted and rubbed her forehead.
She seemed to have opted to retort with a comeback of some kind but was abrupted by a faux cough from one of the Prime Ministers. A lanky looking man, somewhere around his mid forties or so spoke up in an aged voice.
"Forgive me if I'm interrupting but we don't have all day. So if you could get on with the test we would highly appreciate it."
Switching back to my serious demeanour I nudged Chrisy on the shoulders, mentally telling her to go. A resolute nod was my only answer as she, with an air of seriousness now around her as well, made her way to the front and center of the blast room. All the other occupants took this as their oportunity to seat themselves in their respective places.
Chrisy scanned the entirety of the blast room. Once she was satisfied with what she saw she cleared her throat and addressed us all.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all. Today you are all going to bear witness to one of humanities greatest innovation as of yet. But first, allow me to tell you a short story." She coughed into her hand once again before continuing. "Ever since the idea of quantum teleportation first came to be, physicist all over the world have tried to invent ways to further help humanity prosper through the means of quantum physics. The very prospect of instant teleportation from one place to another was far too intriguing to just scrap under the rug, regardless of the potential dangers. So, humanity carried onward. We kept on going through experiment after experiment and failure after failure with each one better than the last.."
She paused for dramatic effect and smiled. She practically beamed with pride and joy.
"..Until now. We finally made a break through. Everyone, I would like to introduce to you, our lives greatest work.." She said while bowing like a showman whilst the metal shields covering the blast room's front windows retracted themselves. And there, for all of us to witness, two large circular machines. Each one had a number of wires and pipe lines connected to the foundations keeping them upright and erected. And upon closer inspection, these machines also seemed to have fairly advanced technology etched into their frame. It all looked like something straight out from a sci-fi movie.
"..The very first teleportation device in all of human history. We wanted to give it an awesome name but in the end we just decided to call it project "Chip and Dale". Pretty cool eh?" She said as she hopped back from her bowing posture.
"Wait. Chip and Dale? As in 'the' Chip and Dale from looney tunes?" One of the Prime Ministers asked, quite perplexed by the fact that the very first machine capable of actual teleportation is named after cartoon characters. I can't blame him, even I wasn't spared from that feeling.
"Really Chrisy? Your 'greatest breakthrough' and you give it a name like that?" I mentally grumbled as I face palmed lightly.
"Excuse me Miss? May I ask you something?" Another one of the Prime Ministers asked. "Is it one hundred safe for human trials?"
At this Chrisy's upbeat attitude deflated a bit but not enough to remove the bright smile on her face.
"Well it's not completely one hundred percent safe. There are still a lot of unknown variables that we have to contemplate in order to make at least safe enough to use."
"What kind of Variables?" Another Prime Minister asked.
"Well for one we're still tuning out the coordinate settings. That's why as you can see there are two of those big boys and have wires and pipes connected to one another. That way when one thing goes through portal "Chip", it'll go through portal "Dale" and of course, vice versa.
Nods and murmurs of understanding were passed around the occupants of the blast room. I opted to ask a question of my own but the lanky Prime Minister from before spoke up before I could.
"Can we get on with the demonstration already? I'd like to see if this project was worth all the money we put into it." While I didn't like the way that he worded his intent, I couldn't help but agree with him. No matter how good I'm masking it I can't help but be excited to finally see a project like this beare fruit. And of course, Chrisy was more than willing to oblige.
"Why certainly Prime Minister." Chrisy said as she nodded towards the awaiting group of engineers. Said engineers quickly moved out of the blast room and started to tighten and secure more pipes and wires into both 'Chip' and 'Dale'. Chrisy nodded with satisfaction before turning towards the other group of awaiting scientists and addressing them.
"Ready yourselves and innitiate beggining sequence. Once the engineering team is done lining up the cables I want the system ready."
"Yes ma'am." Replied the scientists as they briskly made their way towards the controls panel.
For a few solid minutes the only sounds that could be heard were the grating noises of metal and the clicking and flips of numerous buttons and switches as both the scientists and engineers silently and diligently continued to work on their respective jobs.
"Not long now." I thought as I glanced towards Chrisy. And just in time to see one of the engineers approach Chrisy and whisper something in her ear. After spending a second to contcontemplate her response she whispered back to the engineer and said engineer quickly bowed his head and made his way back to rejoin with his group. Whatever it is that the engineer said I knew it wasn't good considering Chrisy cussed "Crapers" under her breath. A cuss that she liked to use whenever thing's don't go according to her plan.
"Hm. I wonder what's wrong." I mused as I made my towards Chrisy, who at the moment was gnawing at her pinky finger. Another indication that she was worried. About what however, I'd need to find out.
"Chrisy." I whispered when I stood side by side with her. "What's the matter? Did something happen?"
She warily glanced back towards the awaiting Prime Ministers before facing forward again and replied. "Nothing major. It's just that some of the cables have slight fractures. I've already told the engineers to apply a strong filler to seal them up."
"Why not replace the damaged cables with new ones? I think that would be far safer than depending on some filler." I replied as I warily gazed at the engineers applying a grayish substance to some of the cables, presumably the ones with the fractures.
"It'll take too long Martha. And besides, mister old and lanky over there has his undys in twist already. And I don't think having a Prime Minister's ire will do any of us favors." Chrisy replied as she did a sidewards nod to the back.
"Hm. But is it really safe Chrisy?"
She merely chuckled at that and lightly nudged me with her elbow before replying.
"Don't worry too much Martha. We've prepared fail safes just in case things get hairy. And besides, the chances of something going wrong in this situation is pretty.." She trailed off as she opted a thinking pose. Which led me to continue her thoughts for her.
"Small?" I asked. Hoping against hope that the odds would actually be that amount.
"..Considerable." She finished with a meek laugh and apologetic smile.
"Well, that's very reassuring." I said as I shot her a look that went completely contrast with my words.
Far from being phased by the look I was giving her she merely crossed her arms together beneath her bosom and replied."Psh. I said it before and I'll say it again, there is absolutely no need for you to worry sis. We've got this in the bag~."
"I still think it's dangerous." I begrudgingly resignated. "But if you say it's safe then I guess it is. You know more about your machine than anyone here. Afterall, it is yours in the first place."
Chrisy beamed at the reminder. No doubt she's feeling high and mighty at the moment. And who wouldn't be really. If you had your life long project finally come to fruition then you'd smile like a maniac too.
A minute or two passed before the engineers signaled that they had finished their preparations and quickly exited the testing area. Seeing this, Chrisy made her way towards the center of the control panel where she stood as she gave out commands.
"All right everyone. Chip and Dale have been fine tuned and the system is up and running. We'll now be beggining the startup."
Seeing this as my cue, I made my way back towards my seat and made myself comfortable as Chrisy continued to give out orders to the scientists in charge of the control panel.
"Convert power from the cores to Chip and Dale." A loud humming noise started to resonate through out the blast room before one of the scientist replied.
"Ma'am. Energy transfer successful. Chip and Dale are now powered up and primed for activation."
"Excellent. Now, begin tethering sequence."
"Yes ma'am." Another scientist answered back as the cables connecting Chip and Dale started to shimmer. It started faint but the light gradually got brighter and brighter until it practically glowed with great intensity.
"Ma'am. Tethering sequence is a success. Both portals are now linked to eachother."
"Very good." Chrisy commented before turning around to face us.
"All right everybody. Hold on to your seats. Cuz this is gonna blow your minds.." She paused a bit before continuing. "..well not literally of course. Or I at least I hope not."
Worried glances and murmurs were passed around the audience as I once again lightly faced palmed and let out a tired sigh.
"Smooth Chrisy. Real smooth."Chrisy, completely oblivious to the growing tension in the room, turned back towards the control panel and faced the machines before saying the magic word that we've been anxiously waiting for.
"Activate."
"Activating project Chip and Dale." Two scientists at the center of the control panel called out as they simultaneously pressed two red buttons.
Immidiately both the portals started to emanate a strong glow of light as sounds akin to that of a jet planes engines started to surround the entirety of the blast room. At the same time the whole area started to shake in a not so violent manner but still strong enough to nauseate me slightly.
"I really hope you were joking about the whole 'blow your mind' bit Chrisy, because I swear to God if we die here I'll give you one hell of a scolding in the afterlife." I morbidly thought as I gripped my chair hard. The action bringing me a tiny bit of closure.
An entire minute of waiting anxious and mental praying passed by before the shaking and the intense light coming from the machines started to decrease in intensity. For a while everyone said nothing. All eyes were focused on the sight before them.
Before their activation, Chip and Dale had a large circular gap in their mid section. Now however, these gaps were covered up by a light hue, rippling like in a manner similar to that of water within a bucket when it's tapped by a finger. And as we all gazed at the site, with stunned expressions and sheer amazement etched on our faces, a lone voice called out through the sound of gentle humming from the machines.
"Huh. Well how about that. It worked! We didn't die, and it didn't blow up. Yeah!" Chrisy exclaimed as she made a victory pose.
And just like that everyone present, aside from Chrisy of course, let out the breath that they had been holding. Once that was done, everyone had reacted to the success of the machines activation differently. The Prime Ministers shared nods and started the discuss with another, though it was probably with good intentions considering the pleased smile on their faces. The scientists and engineers passed around celebratory high fives, shoulder pats and even the occasional hug. The body guards and my agents just kept to themselves. And while everyone was busy with each others company I noticed Chrisy staring intently at the Machines with a look on her face. A look I know all too well.
"Oh dear. Time for big sis to step up." I mentally mused as I made my way towards Chrisy.
Once I was within range from her I called out. "If your going to cry then cry. No one will blame you for doing so you know."
Hearing this, Chrisy quickly wiped the tears that had started to form in her eyes with the sleeves of her lab coat before replying. "I'm not crying Martha. It's just...I got something in my as all."
I rolled my eyes at that, not at all believing her. And judging by the amused smiles of the other scientists neither did they.
"Come here you." I said as I enveloped Chrisy in an uncharistic hug, an action that no doubt surprised my agents and even Chrisy herself.
"Martha. Come on, I'm not a some little kid anymore. I'm a grown adult now." She grumpily drawled as I continued to hug her tightly. While she was right, she was still entitled to a celebratory hug, and as her sister I am more than willing to oblige.
"I know. But I'm going to hug you anyway." I said with a light laugh. And though she was reluctant to reciprocate the action, she wrapped her arms around me and hugged back.
"Excuse us." A voice called out from behind us, causing me and Chrisy to let go of each other and turn around to see that it was another one of the Prime Ministers.
"While the activation of the machine is a feat worth celebrating, me and my colleges would like to see it work first hand." The Prime Minister finished with a light nod.
"Ah of course, of course. Forgive me Prime Minister, I got emotional there for a second." Chrisy replied with a light laugh as she turned around to address the scientists in charge of the control panel. "All right people give me an update. How are Chip and Dale holding up?"
"Chip and Dale are still in optimal condition ma'am." A scientist on the far right called out.
"Energy signatures are stable ma'am." another scientist said.
"Teleportation transmitters are ready for usage. Everything's steady ma'am." another scientist, this one closer to Chrisy, declared.
"All right!" Chrisy exclaimed cheerily before continuing. "Initiate testing sequecnce."
"Initiating testing sequence.." A scientist called out as they flipped a number of switches. "..now."
Immidiately a small rover that had spider like limbs for legs activated on the other side of blast room and quickly made it's way towards portal Chip. It momentarily scanned the machine before it started to scale it's way towards the machines glowing mid section.
"Please don't evaporate. Please don't evaporate. Please oh please don't evaporate." I heard Chrisy chant as she crossed her fingers together and squinted her eyes.
We all watch intently as the rover disappeared into the void which made a droplet noise. Expectantly we look towards portal Dale to see if the rover would come crawling out of it. Seconds turned into minutes as disappointment started to settle in our minds. Worriedly I glance towards Chrisy to see her face etched in a crest fallen look.
"Chrisy-" I opened my mouth to console her but I was abrupted when a shimmering emanated from portal Dale. And not a moment later the very same rover from before crawled out and made it's way back to where it first activated.
"YES!!!" Chrisy very loudly exclamied as she raised both fists in the air. "It works! It really works!"
Soon enough the other scientists and engineers joined in Chrisy's celebration as the Prime Ministers at the back clapped softly with smiles on their faces.
I opted to say something when Chrisy enveloped me with the tightest hug I have ever received. "Sis we did it! It works! Our machine works!" She said as she hopped up and down with me still in tow.
I couldn't help but let out a small laugh at Chrisy's antics. It was quite impossible to retain a serious demeanour when your sister was being so happy.
"Yes, yes I know Chrisy. You did well. Very well." I said as I patted her head lightly.
Chrisy quickly let me go and turned to face the scientist and engineers that also had their fair share of congratulations for her. I look back to the Prime Ministers to once again see that they had engaged in a conversation amongst themselves.
"Think of the possibilities humanity could achieve with this. This would definitely be a good thing for the CIA. We would no longer need to-" A bright spark from one of cables connecting Chip and Dale cut me of from my thoughts. An judging by the lack of reaction from everyone else, no one seems to have noticed it as of yet.
"What the hell was that? Was it just my imagination?" But soon enough my own question was answered for me when another spark appeared. Followed by another and another.
"All right. I'm no scientist but I'm pretty sure that's not normal." I thought as an alarm sounded off from the control panel.
At this everyone in the room turned their attention back to the front just in time to see another series of sparks shoot off from one the machines cables. At the same time, the scientist closest to the alarm quickly pressed a number of buttons as more sparks kept on appearing with each one longer and brighter than the last.
"What's going on? What happened?" Chrisy urgently inquired when the scientist let out an adubible gasp.
"One of the cables is fractured ma'am. It's making everything go haywire." The scientist frantically replied as the latest spark kept on getting brighter and brighter with no apparent sign that it'd be dimming anytime soon.
"Chrisy..is that suppose to happ-" An explosion so bright that it nearly blinded us accompanied by a shockwave so strong that it shook the entire blast room.
Stunned and dazed I take in my surroundings as I shakily stand up. The first thing I see is Chrisy helping the others get to their feet. The Prime Ministers were fairing no better, some were sitting on the ground holding their heads while some were lying on the floor, though it was pretty obvious that they were still alive.
"Oh my God..." I heard Chrisy call out. I looked the same direction she was looking, and there I saw it. A sight so stupefying that it made me freeze for a split second. Portal Dale was destroyed, it's insides and outsides were scorched, dark smoke coming out of it. But what really made me freeze, was it's brother portal, Chip. Said portal was still active but the light that covered it's mid section was now glowing violently and is currently swirling in the same manner of a whirlpool.
Quickly breaking out of my stupor I reached out to Chrisy and shook her shoulders. "Chrisy focus. What happened?"
Chrisy looked back at me, fear, worry, and disappointment clear on her face. "The cables. The Fractures must have weaken them. I should've taken better precautions, I should've-"
"That doesn't matter right now Chrisy." I quickly cut her off with another shake of her shoulders. "What matters is that we shut the machine down. You can take down notes later."
She nodded, although weakly, before breaking free from my hold and addressed one of the scientist. "Iniate such down sequence."
"Ma'am, I've been trying multiple times but it won't work. I've already cut off power from the cores but portal Chip is self sustaining itself." The scientist replied as he kept on furiously tappping numerous buttons on the console.
"What!? How is that possible!?" Chrisy frantically replied as she as well looked at the schematics displayed on the panels screen.
"I don't know ma'am. But at this rate, if my calculations are correct, portal Chip will hit critical mass in a matter of minutes."
"No..." Chrisy said, eyes widening as she looked at the now raging portal.
"Chrisy? What's going on? What did he mean by that?" I asked, as a horrible feeling in my stomach started to take form.
"Portal Chip.." Chrisy started, as cracks visibly and audibly started to form on the glass separating us from the machine. "..is going to blow."
"Well.." I said as I took a step back to gaze at the slowly cracking glass. "..shit."
Research and Development Building
Surface floor
A few minutes before the explosion of portal Dale.
(Main POV)
I had originally planned to wander off to anywhere in the base but my curiosity got the better of me. I instead decided to redirect my course to the same direction that Miss Martha had gone. And after a few questionings here and incoherent stuttering there, I finally arrived to the same place that they said Martha went.
"Research and Development." I read out loud the building's sign as I slowly made my way inside, though I had to crouch down low upon my entry, much to my irritation.
Once I was inside I stood back up to my full hight as I scanned my surroundings. There were numerous people moving from one place to another. Some were wearing lab coats giving me the idea that they might be scientists and there were those dressed in green engineering jump suits. But what really caught my attention were the people wearing US military uniforms, and unlike the others who were headed to random sections of the building, these people were clearly headed straight towards me. And judging by their tense shoulders and stiff walking, it seemed as if every step they made required maximum will power just to do so.
"Tang ina naman, really? You lot are supposed to be the the pride of this country and yet you all look like your ready to piss your pants. Come on, man up for Christ's sake." I thought vexed as the soldiers stopped short at least three meters from where I stood.
"Sir you are not authorized to go any further within this sector. Only those with the the proper clearance can." The soldier in the middle of the group said as he dutifully stood in attention. I would have commended the man for his action if it weren't for the fact said man was sweating up a storm and was visibly shaking in his boots.
"Susmaryosep." I thought exasperated as I let out a sigh. And to add insult to injury, the soldiers mistook my sigh as an act of agression and quickly took a few steps backwards.
"Listen. I am not here looking for trouble.." Because honesty, I think they'd have an episode of syncope if I was. "..I am just here for Director Walker. She and I have some matters to discuss." Though not the absolute truth, it was close enough. Anything to give this lot peace of mind.
"I-I see.." The middle man from before spoke again, though he quickly coughed into his fist when he realized his stuttering. "..Director Walker is currently in a private meeting alongside other dignitaries, so you will have to wait until they finish sir."
"Hmm." I answered back gruffly with a nod as I once again scanned the area. "Is it all right if I wait here?"
The group of soldiers looked to each other with contemplating looks. Not long after the soldier in the middle spoke up.
"It's allowed sir. But anywhere aside from this area is prohibited." I moved to say I understood but the soldier seemed to have misinterpreted my action and frantically blurted out with arms raised in a defensive form. "Please understand sir, we're just doing our jobs. If it were up to us we'd let you go no problem. But since your not authorized to enter further then you will have to stay here." He paused a bit before continuing "Please."
"All right, all right. I understand." I quickly said before they could jump to any more ludcrious conclusions. "I'll just wait over there. If that's allowed of course." I said as I pointed towards a row of consoles that had stroked my interest when I entered.
The soldiers looked to where I was pointing and visibly sagged with relief. No doubt it's becuase I complied to their request of staying here and going no further.
"Well it's not like I was planning on forcing my way in. I already have a long list of wild monikers under my belt, I have no intention of adding more."
The middle soldier nodded his head before addressing me. "Yes sir, you are allowed to wait there. And conveniently enough that there is our customary information booth, it's open to everyone and you can use it to keep yourself busy while waiting."
Instead of answering with words that'll probably end up ruining this state of calm that the soldiers are now experiencing I merely nodded as I made my way towards the rows of consoles, or as the soldier put it, the information booth. Although, when I was still an earshot from them I heard the the lead soldier order his men to call in reinforcements in case 'something' happened.
"Hay naku, I don't need to be genius to know what that 'something' is." I begrudgingly thought as I sat down on one of the chairs set for the booth. Though I also noticed I looked quite awkward sitting on a chair that barely accommodates my size. Nevertheless I bore the awkwardness with a poker face as I further adjusted my body to make myself comfortable and looked down on the blank screen.
"All right then. How exactly should I-" The console's dark screen suddenly lighting up made me flinch. But the real kicker came when a cheery and digitized voice sounded off from the speakers.
"Hello there! I am the research and developments Virtual Interactive Artificial Intelligence or the V.I.A.I for short. How may I be of service to you?"
Momentarily I hesitated. But soon enough I quickly recovered and replied "Hello to you as well. I was wondering if I could get a few answers."
"Why of course. What is it that you need to know?" The A.I. replied.
"Let's see now, what should I ask it first?" I mentally contemplated "Ah, let's start off with this.."
"What is the research and development sector all about?" I asked while simultaneously thinking up numerous answers of my own.
"Ah! An excellent question. The research and development sector focuses on the advancement of projects and inventions made by our esteemed scientists and engineers."
"I see." I replied with an understanding nod before continuing "You said projects and inventions. What might those be exactly?"
"I'm glad you asked. We have numerous creations fit for different purposes. Most of our creations are meant for the general public. Namely, medical advancements, rural and urban aid, military preferences.And, though it is not open for disclosure, we also have special projects."
The last one sparked my curiosity quite quickly. "Special projects?"
The A.I's voice did not respond right away. Instead, a circular loading icon appeared in the middle of the screen. For a few seconds the loading icon kept on spinning until an error sign written in red bold letters took it's place.
"I am sorry. But you are not authorized to access such information."
"Of course I am not." I thought as I rolled my eyes at the constant use of the word authorized. "Well at least I now know what Miss Martha is here for. If all the secrecy and local is any indication then this 'meeting' she is having must involve these special projects. Otherwise I fail to see the point in conducting a meeting in a place like this."
"Is there anything else you would like to know?" The A.I. asked.
"Well, how about-" A sudden quake cut me off. It's intensity was so strong it caused all the other occupants of the building to stumble and fall. Thankfully, I was spared from such a fate all due to my instincts kicking at maximum acceleration the second the quake started.
"What the hell was that?" I said out loud as I maintained my defensive crouch.
The answer to my question quickly came in the form of another digitized voice blaring out from the building's PA system.
"Warning, explosion detected on sub level alpha. Evacuation is advised. I repeat, this is not a drill, an explosion has been set off, all tenants within sub level alpha are to be evacuated immidiately."
"Sub level alpha? Isn't that where the special projects testing area is located?" One of the soldiers groggily said as he shakily stood up.
"Special projects?" I gasp, now realizing the severity of the situation "Miss Martha! She could be in danger!"
Without wasting any more time I quickly take off in a sprint further into the building. Though the soldiers from before called out for me to halt I dutifully ignored it as I continued to speed though the building's hallways.
"Sub level. That means it is somewhere underground. I have to find an elevator." I thought as I continued my sprint.
Soon enough I found an elevator when I made a right turn down the hall. I moved to make a dead sprint towards the elevator but stopped when a bunch of soldiers appeared and blocked me from my path.
"You there, halt! You are not allowed to be here! Come with us quietly and we won't have to resort with force." The lead soldier barked as he readied his stun baton.
This in turn caused the soldiers behind him to ready their stun batons as well. And to make matters worse, they formed a defensive wall, now completely taking up the entire hallway.
"I'm only gonna say this one last time. Put your hands behind your back and come with us quietly." The lead soldier warned as he and the group begind him inched closer and closer to me.
"For fucks sake. I do not have time to deal with this shit." I mentally cursed as the P.A. system kept on repeating the same warning from before "Miss Martha could in danger right now."
"All right. Take it is easy big fella, we're just gonna-"
Quickly taking action I tensed my leg muscles and bent my knees in quick succession and leaped off the ground, using the burst of momentum I shot towards the left wall.The moment my left boot made contact with the wall, I mightily pushed off of it towards the right wall, and I repeated this parkour like display, though I had to duck my head low to make sure I don't hit the ceiling, even as I overpassed the stunned soldiers. Soon enough, when I was close to the elevator I kicked off from the wall and did an aerial cartwheel to break my momentum and land directly in front of the elevator's doors.
Cautiously I looked back towards the direction of the soldiers as I pressed the elevator's open button. I expected them to charge at me with their stun batons but all I'm greeted with were shocked looks, widened eyes, and slacked jaws.
"What-" The lead soldier from before spoke up breathlessly "-what the fuck are you?"
Far from being offended by the question I merely scoffed before replying "I am the man that is going to break all your fingers eight different ways if you keep on bothering me."
The soldiers, sensing my animosity, quickly took a step back. One step became two, and two became three, until eventually they decided it'd be better to take flight than fight.
After they disappeared from my line of sight I let out a long drawn out sigh.
"You know, I was just joking." I said to no one in particular. "Bl'ayd', I'm going to get a mouthful from the Chief for this."
While I grumbled to myself I noticed that the elevator had yet to open dispite a whole minute had already passed since I pressed the open button. Starting to feel ticked off, I press the button again, though this time I now noticed the lack of reaction from the elevator. I pressed it again for good measure and when it didn't react like I thought it would I concluded that it was broken.
"Just my luck." I grumbled "Now how am I supposed to get down there?"
I look around the hallway for anything that could help me from my predicament. And there, I saw it. In the distance, a metal gray door with a bright neon green sign that had the word stairwell.
"Well, there's that." I said as I quickly made my way towards the door. Upon arrival I noticed that it was locked seeing as it did not budge when I moved to open it.
"Hay naku. I'm sorry in advance for this" I said as I clenched my fist and reared it back. Then with quick precision I threw a straight punch square in the middle of the door. And just like I planned it would, the metal door crumpled under the force of my punch and flew off from it's hinges.
"Your always finding ways to add more damage to your tab aren't you Tobias?" I begrudgingly said to myself as I picked up the metal door and gently placed it beside the entrance "I just hope that I am not in a hurry all for nothing."
I look down the circular stairwell and as far as I can see I estimate that there is atleast 20 flights worth of stairs before the bottom.
"With a name like sub level alpha it must be the final floor down." I thought as I prepared my leg muscles for what I'm about to do.
"Well, only one way to find out I guess." I said out loud as I moved into a squatting posture and tensed my legs. Then, with well timed simultaneous contract of my leg muscles I leaped several feet into the air. And immediately gravity did it's work and I quickly plummeted downwards.
I believe that most people, and by that I mean everyone in the world, would have their lives flash before their very eyes if they were plummeting down to their impending doom. But for me on the other hand, plummeting down towards certain doom is essentially what I do everyday. So as I'm quickly passing by flight after flight of stairs I merely have a bored expression etched on my face.
Soon enough I see the gray floor fast approaching. I spread my arms wide and straighten my legs for impact. And just as soon as I did that my boots impacted the ground, causing cracks to appear on where I stood.
"Hah. Never gets old." I said as I look around for the exit. And immediately I spot another metal door. I quickly made my way towards it and thanked sweet Mary when I saw it wasn't locked or jammed in anyway.
Promptly I opened the door and stepped through. And instantly I was greeted by the sight of figures wearing the same engineering jumpsuits from before quickly making their way towards another metal door in the distance. Though, unlike the one I one punched, this one was significantly bigger and thicker. And there seemed to be a number of people gathered infront of it.
"Is that it?" I thought as I jogged towards it.And as I got closer I noticed that the door seemed to be vibrating for some reason.
"What is going on?" I ask out loud my gruff voice calling in the attention of everyone present in the area.
The one closest to me, a young man, probably somewhere around his early twenties jumped in surprise, they all did actually, before calming down enough to regard me questioningly.
"W-Who are you?" The young spoke up in a quivering voice.
"Someone who is here to help. Now tell me, what happened." I answered back in the most authoritive voice I could muster.
And it seemed to have been enough. The young man attentively nodded before answering "An explosion was detected from within. Me and my team came as soon as the alarm went off. We've been trying to get the door open but whatever caused the explosion must have short cuircited the doors software and now it's sealed tight."
I analyze the door with a critical gaze as the vibrating keeps on gradually increasing. Through my analyzation I figured out that the door is similar to that of a blastdoor, with two separate metal ends converging in the middle. Not long after I nod my head in resolution before turning back to the engineering team.
"All right everyone make way. I do not know what is making this vibration but be vigilant in any case." I ordered as I grabbed the two ends of the blastdoor that met in the middle and gripped them as hard as I could.
"What do you think your doing?" Another one of the engineers asked.
"What does it look like?" I replied as my fingers dug deep into the doors metal frame "I am going to open this damned door."
What followed soon after was a chorus of stunned gasps from the engineers, the groaning sound of metal being forcefully pushed apart, sparks flying in every direction from the door's mechanised frame, and the sudden vacume like pull from within the room.
"What in the world?" I said out loud as the strong pull continued to try and suck me inside. If it weren't for the fact I was gripping the now opened door I would have been taken in by the strong pull.
"Agent Bonifacio!" I hear a familiar female voice call out to me.
Huriedly I look around the room for the owner of the voice. And soon enough I make eye contact with Miss Walker, who at the moment, was holding on for dear life alongside another person who looked kind of like her.
"Agent Bonifacio!" She called out to me again, her voice muted a bit becuase of the strong current of wind being sucked in "Thank goodness your here! Hurry and evacuate everyone and get them as far away from here as possible! You see that!?" She nodded her head towards the huge swirling light at the far back of the room "That thing is gonna explode soon! You have to hurry!"
"Right." Without wasting anymore time I turn my head back towards the awaiting engineers before barking out my orders "All of you! Form a chain by linking your hands together sidewards! You will act as a human chain for all the occupants in the room to grab on! I will be your anchor! Now hurry! There is not much time!"
The engineers dutifully nodded as they quickly followed my commands to the letter. One by one they raised their arms sidewards and linked their hands together. With each new person added to the link the human chain got longer and longer until the last person linked their hands with the second to the last and gripped my vest.
"All right! Everyone listen up! Make your way towards the human chain! Grab on to the closest link you can reach, hold on tight and make your way out!" I ordered as I continued to hold on to the blast doors as much as I could.
"You heard the man! Everyone move!" Miss Walker barked out as she and her look alike slowly but surely made their way towards the human chain. The other occupants of the room quickly followed their lead and they too made their way towards the chain.
It was a slow process but it was working. Though I surmise it was because of the bright swirling vortex trying to suck everyone and everything in. Nonetheless one by one the men wearing fancy suits, which I realized were the dignitaries, scientists, engineers and other security agents clambered their way towards me. And when the first person arrived I angled my body to let them pass all the while making sure not to let go of the person holding on to me as an anchor. This process continued for a good minute or two until finally the last ones were making their way towards me, and it just so happens to be Miss Martha and her doppelganger.
"Are you unhurt Miss Martha!?" I shouted ooverthe loud noise coming from the vortex.
"We're fine! I'll give you a further update once we're out of here!" She hollered back.
"Did anyone get sucked in by that thing!?" I nod towards the vortex for further emphasis.
"No! We were all able to hold on tight when the portal started to destabilise and tried to suck everything in!" She answered back as she got closer and closer to me.
"And thank God for that! Who knows where you'll end up if you get sucked in!" The doppelganger hollered back her own response as she followed closely behind Martha.
"What do you of mean by that exactly!?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me "What happens if you get sucked in!?"
"Well..." she drawled out "Best case scenario is that you end up getting teleported to God knows where! Worst case would be you ending up getting evaporated!"
"Yikes." I mentally remarked as Miss Martha and her somewhat clone finally reached me and exited the room. When the two of them joined up with the rest of the group I looked back towards the engineers that formed the human chain.
"All right! Everyone has been taken care of! Time to move out!" I barked out as I effortlessly pulled back the man holding on to me with my hand while my other one still held on tightly to the metal door.
And just like how I hoped it would, the force of my pull, though not strong enough to dislocate the arm of the man I just pulled, was enough to retract the whole entire human chain outwards. And it would have succeeded without a hitch, if it weren't for the the last link breaking off from the chain at the last second.
"AHHHH!" The woman screamed as she flew towards the vortex. I would have let out a shrill cry of my own if weren't for the fact that the woman had luckily managed to latch on a control panel of sorts. But that didn't really mean she was all right "HELP ME!"
"Hang on Miss! I will-" Suddenly the vortex started to increase in size and it's suction intensified so much that the control panel the woman was holding on to started to come off it's hinges.
Immidiately a horrible realization struck me a like bolt of lightning. This woman, was going to die, there's just no doubt about it. With how far she is from me, coupled by the fact that the vortex is getting stronger and her only purchase slowly getting ripped off, the odds are just not in her favor.
"She is doomed, there is no doubt about it." I thought dejectedly as I moved to look away "I am so sorry, I-"
But before I could tear my gaze from her doomed form she looked up and I instantly froze. Time seemed to have slowed down though I surmise it was probably due to my mind going through hyper drive. Through flashing bright lights and strong howling winds I was able to get a good look on her face. A face that was now drenched with tears. And with eyes filled with so much fear, despair and sorrow, she shakily mouthed a singe word.
"Please..."
I was off the ground instantly. Using my leg strength to maximum capacity coupled with the help of the pull from the vortex I propelled towards the woman, just in time to catch the control panel as it finally gave way.
"I have you!" I exclaimed as I firmly gripped the control panel and strongly planted my feet on the metal floor making it buckle and bend becuase of the amount of pressure I applied. "Do not worry young Miss! You will get out of this alive! I promise you this!"
And God be damned I will make sure of that. And she seemed to have believed it as well seeing as she shot me a grateful look and nod.
"Forgive me Miss. For almost deciding to do something horrible." I mentally reprimanded myself as I continue to formulate a plan on how to get the woman out of here "It was a momentary lapse of judgment. A mistake I will never make again."
All the while the vortex kept on getting bigger and sucked even harder making my feet inch deeper into the metal floor and fingers grip the panel tighter.
"Bonifacio! That portal is going to blow! You have to hurry!" Miss Martha hollered from the entrance.
"I know that damn it! I do not need to be genius to know this vortex is going to explode." I thought as I measured the distance between my position and the entrance. "Crap. I could just crawl my way there but with her extra weight and the vortex pulling us it is going to take time. Time that we unfortunately don not have." I swallowed the fear that threatened to rise upThen there is no other choice."
"Miss! Grab on to my hand!" I yelled as I held out my left hand forwards.
She attentively followed suit and gripped my hand with both of hers. And with a quick warning I let go of the the control panel, which flew harmlessly under her as it soared all the way to the vortex and disappeared into it soon after. Quickly I held my right hand over hers and gripped, though not too hard to avoid breaking her hands.
"This is it. Once I do this..I will most likely not survive." I glance back at Martha alongside a few other people waiting expectantly at the entrance before turning back to the woman "At least I will act one last good before I bow out."
I am not a man that can easily sell a handsome smile considering my looks. But I did my best to show the woman a confident grin to ease her worries before addressing her.
"Live a good life Miss! That is all I ask in return!" I yelled out to the woman.
"What do you-" She never finished her sentenced. With great impeccable timing and flexibility I pushed off the ground and flung the woman backwards with enough measured force for her to reach the awaiting group of people, who safely caught her.
But for me on the other hand. Being suspended in mid air with nothing to hold on to I ended up going the only way I knew I would. And that was towards the bright swirling vortex. And soon enough I was engulfed in bright light though surprisingly I felt no pain. But before everything went numb and blank I heard the voice of Miss Martha cry out to me. And a second later, I was gone.
CHAPTER END...
A/N: Yo! So how was it? Was it pretty good? Was it okay good? Was it just good? Or was it pretty bad? Don't be shy to tell me guys, I'm all ears!
Ahem...so yeah. This is the first chapter of the story and apparently it's prologue as well. Now don't get confused or upset if you were able to spot some stuff that doesn't make sense because as the story progresses you'll come to see why it's laid out like that.
Now, when will chapter two come out, you may ask? Well honestly I have no idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm dedicated to this and I will continue it's creation, it's just that my life here in reality is quite...complicated I guess. So updates will be sporadic, some will take weeks or maybe even a month or so.
Just for your information guys. I started writing this in January, so yeah, I'm pretty sure that's enough to give you guys a guess on how long it'll be till the next chapter. Haha sorry in advance for the long wait.
Welp, that's all I had to say for now. Thank you for taking the time to read my work and I hope that you will continue to read the next one.
Until next time.