Chapter 4

Night slowly began to turn into dawn as the recovery efforts on the victims of the ICE #493 derailment continued. The paramedics, police, and fire department were stupefied wondering how all persons pulled from wreckage thus far were alive. Wave after wave of ambulances came and took passengers to nearby hospitals. Towards the center of the train wreckage Morien was lying in the bar. The jolt from the crash threw his body over the counter and down into the floor. When he was found he was covered in various bottles of alcohol. The paramedics placed him on a stretcher and he was carried to an ambulance that was parked further away from where most of the other emergency vehicles were.

Within an hour of being placed in the ambulance Morien slowly started to regain conciseness. The ambulance took a curve and the sun was now shining into the back placing its light on Morien's face. He lifted his hand and tried to block the sunlight. When he figured out where he was, he remained still. Oddly there were no paramedics in the back with him. "Is anyone there?" he called out. No voices had responded. The ambulance started to slow down. Then a complete stop for a brief moment. As the vehicle proceeded Morien looked out the window and noticed they had passed a gate almost completely covered in razor wire. He began to grow apprehensive. "Hey where are we?" he asked as he sat up. Again no answer. The ambulance pulled into what seemed to be a parking garage. The light from the sun was gone and only the lights from inside the garage could be seen. Again it came to a complete stop and turned off. The back doors opened. He was greeted by the German military. "Sir please don't be alarmed. The attack on your train concerns us a great deal and we need to ask you a few questions." Morien reluctantly left the ambulance and walked with them into the compound.

Inside the compound Morien and his escorts walked down a seemingly endless hallway. The walls were a dark grey with red hazard stripes running down the center. It was poorly lit making words written on the doors hard to read. Finally after pacing for almost an eternity one of the personnel placed his card on an electronic pad opening a door to a spacious room. It resembled the dinning room of a multi-million dollar home. The walls were a beige color with paintings from world renowned artists hanging from them. A large window had revealed a view to the outside. A few miles out a castle could be seen surrounded by thick forest in a valley which the base stood above. The room was also complete with a kitchen, sauna, and several sleeping quarters. Morien calmed down a small bit not expecting to be led into this luxurious section of the base. In his accent one of the officers said: "Have a seat anywhere you like sir. Would you like anything to drink?" Morien paused for a moment still wondering what was going on. "I'll have green tea if you have it" "Right away sir" the officer said with a bow. As he left the other personnel sat around Morien and the conversations began. "Please forgive us. You were probably expecting to be taken to a hospital. We arbitrarily chose you to be brought here." "How convenient" Morien thought to himself. "I guess I'll start with the first question: why am I here?" "Because of what you were attacked with. How do you feel right now? Physically?" Morien looked at himself. Not a single cut or bruise he could see. No pain anywhere. It was as if nothing happened. "I feel…quite energized now that you ask. Like I just drank an energy drink that was created from a nuclear power plant." "Sir does it not strike you as odd that you were involved in a major accident and you as well as a lot of other passengers emerged scratch-free?" An expression of surprise grew on Morien's face. "I wasn't aware that many of the other passengers survived. How many perished?" he asked. The military personnel looked at each other then one of them looked back at Morien and replied with: "None. The worse injuries discovered were that of the engineer and conductor but they recovered rapidly. They were 100 percent healed by the time they reached the hospital. If you don't mind sir we would like to run a couple of tests to see how your body reacted with this blue gas." "Wait a minute", Morien interrupted. "How do you know about how we were attacked?" Before he could get a response a needle was placed in his jugular. Once again Morien was out cold.

When Morien woke up again he found himself bound to a device similar to the ones used for inmates condemned to lethal injections. The room he was in was circular and all white. The only other object in the room was a hollow tube about 4 feet in diameter placed directly in front of him. 5 feet inside the tube was a hatch that led to somewhere unknown. "Dammit!" he yelled and shook at the same time. The device he was strapped into suddenly collapsed to the right and turned upside down landing flat on the floor with Morien now on the other side of the stretcher like device. "Ow…" Morien said with a muffled voice. He moved his face from the floor and looked forward. His nose began to itch slightly. "Crap. If only I wasn't bound." As he finished that statement his right arm became unbound. The surprised Morien look at his hand and thought: "They sure need a lesson in binding people to objects. Maybe my other binds can come off easy too." One by one he freed his limbs leaving only his abdomen strap still tightly wrapped around him. He took one step forward and the leather strap suddenly snapped. "This is too weird" Morien said to himself.

Looking around the room he couldn't find a way out. Then he focused on the hollow tube in the room. With ease he opened up the hatch and crawled inside. It was a pretty tight squeeze for his built stature. He could not see in the darkness but he knew it was his only shot at getting out. After crawling for several minutes he came across a section where he could no longer feel the ceiling of the tube. He felt around a bit and found a ladder. Climbing up he became nervous again not knowing where his current path was leading him. He reached the top and saw it was unlocked. He carefully lifted it and looked out. All he could see were purple and red lights flashing on the floor and loud electronic sounds could be heard. He lifted the top a bit further and saw that it was an arcade. After seeing no one else was present he climbed all the way out. Hundreds of arcade games lined the walls. "Am I still in the base?" he wondered to himself with a puzzled look on his face. He saw the entrance to the arcade and was about to walk towards it when he saw armed guards run by. One of them yelled "They say he may have escaped to Section H!" Morien froze until they ran by. Now knowing that they knew he had escaped he quickly tried to figure out a way to escape. His thoughts were halted as he heard a voice yell "Sir stop!" He turned around with his hands in the air to see it was the officer who asked him if he wanted anything to drink. With a gun drawn the officer slowly walked closer to him. "Sir I'm sorry but these experiments must take place. We need to know the effects of gas used that night. Please walk towards me slowly and keep your hands up." Rather than listen Morien jumped behind one of the arcade games. The officer opened fire. Morien's mind raced like a supersonic jet. "Why me!? All I wanted was to go enjoy a show in Munich and then get back to Hamburg but instead I'm trapped in this base with people resembling Nazis! Why do I have to leave this Earth now!?" he angrily said as he bashed his fists against the arcade game he was hiding behind. The game tilted forward almost 45 degrees detaching itself from the wires that plugged it into the wall then came back onto its foundation. At that moment it had become clear to him what the gas on the train had done. "Give yourself up sir and I promise you we won't kill you in the experimentation process." Morien, with a determined look on his face, grabbed the arcade game he used as a bullet shield and lifted it above his head. To him it was as light as a unit of toilet paper. The officer saw this and froze. "Is this enough proof to show you what that damn gas did to me?" The officer could not get himself to say anything but it didn't matter as he was crushed by the arcade game Morien just threw at him.

Unaware of the situation unfolding the military continued their frantic search for Morien. Back in the arcade Morien took the officer's Desert Eagle and continued to find a way out. He soon came to the hallway that brought him far into the base. Quietly he walked down listening for any footsteps or voices. About 50 feet behind him multiple doors opened up as waves of guards passed through with guns drawn. Rather than using his gun Morien ran. As he ran he realized that he was blasting through the hallway at an astonishing speed. This gave him the courage to keep going and find his way out. Soon he was in the parking garage and followed where the light of day met the interior. The entrance was heavily guard with men anticipating his arrival. Morien saw this and ran right past their bullets and barricades and out into the German countryside. He stopped for a second catch his breath. He could not believe the abilities he now possessed.

On the highway he made contact with a passing vehicle. The driver made visual with him and slowed down. "Are you lost?" the driver asked. "Yes, I was on a camping trip and became separated from my team. Is there anyway you can take me to the nearest bus station? I would appreciate it." Morien fabricated. "Sure hop in." said the driver with a smile on his face. Morien thought it was best if he kept his abilities in the shadows for the time being. As they drove he leaned back and closed his eyes. Then in a shock he opened them up as a provoking thought entered his mind "If I was able to gain this superhuman strength from that gas then what about the other passengers? They all survived virtually without injury. I wonder how it affected them!" Soon they arrived in a small village. Morien thanked the driver and got a bus ticket to Hamburg. The bus pulled into the station. It was a light load as only 14 passengers boarded the bus. 2 hours later Morien finally arrived back in Hamburg. Because he intended to go to Munich only for a day he didn't pack anything. He was happy to find that the German military did not take his wallet, keys, or phone. He walked several blocks towards his apartment which was next to the harbor. When he turned the corner to walk towards where he lived another surprise had appeared. A long white fishing boat with a green stripe named "Romano" was right in the street in front of his apartment complex.