Incarceration Chapter 4

Here it is. Mock exams and D of E practice hikes. Had to walk like a Draugr for a few days. Also, if you like psychic types, you may be less than happy with some of the events in this chapter specifically regarding Reuniclus. M rating is there for a reason. You have been warned.

The two grunts were pushing the trolley with Latias on it through the old Printing Press. They weren't taking the normal route through the dilapidated building. This time they were going to an elevator that they weren't allowed to use. They knew it only went in one direction: down. What was down there, neither of them knew. Only high-ranking individuals were allowed down there, or members of the science team. They were told to place the trolley inside the elevator, but not to get in themselves; otherwise they'd be sanctioned severely.

"Is this the elevator?" One grunt asked.

"I guess so. So what do we do? Just press the button?"

"I guess so."

The grunt that spoke first stepped forward and pressed the button. The button lit up.

"Now what?"

"Wait, I guess."

Unbeknownst to them, Mac was watching them from an air duct. He had decided to enter the vent for stealth reasons. If he couldn't be seen, he would not be found out. Judging by how the truck driver hadn't slowed down and nearly ran him over, he figured that these people were less than friendly. Mac had followed them from when they entered the building from the loading bay. In the time between entering and where he was now, Mac had come to a conclusion; this printing press was doing more than printing newspapers, and he really shouldn't be caught snooping around here.

From his vantage point in the air duct he could see the "Latias" quite well. It looked like some kind of giant bird, although for a bird, that long neck shape wasn't common. Mac deduced that it must be predatory and had that long neck for snatching pray out of the air. He could see that it was primarily red, with a white chest, neck and head. It's eyes were closed, so he couldn't tell what colour they were. It had some form of snout, and its mouth looked like it was underneath the snout. He saw four, wing-like appendages; all of them near the back of its body, two longer ones on top. He assumed that it used them to fly, but they looked too thin to be used for flapping. Nearer to the front of its body, he saw two arms; both had what he presumed to be elbows, but no visible wrists. Each "hand" had three claws on it. On its head, there was a red, pentagonal outline. From his angle, that was all he could see.

"Finally!"

Mac looked towards the lift to see that it had arrived. He could only see the bottom of the doors, but no one inside it. He had to listen.

"Alright grunts. I'll take Latias from here. Push the trolley into the lift, then leave."

The grunts looked at each other. Shrugging, they pushed the trolley into the lift, then walked away. As the doors closed, Mac saw that the vent he was in led into the elevator shaft. He decided to climb on top of it before it pulled away. Crawling through the vent, he lowered himself onto the elevator. Just as he did, it started to descend into the unknown.

Inside the elevator, the scientist was waiting for the elevator to reach its destination. His name was Doctor Lych. He wasn't old as such, just middle age, with short black hair with a beard. He had glasses over his piercing green eyes. He was the head scientist of the project they were running: trying to teach humans to use moves, creating an army fit for taking the over the world. They needed powerful blood samples, more specifically from legendary Pokémon like Latias. The experiments would take place at this lab. He had a team of scientists helping him, but only the most high-ranking ones and most trusted ones. There were only nine of them and him running this project. To keep it even more secret, the project was anonymous. Nobody else other than his scientists and Giovanni knew about the labs' existence. It was here where there were no intruders.

For an added measure of security, everyone involved with the project, excluding the test subjects, had at least been through an advanced course of combat training, negating the need for a security force. They had orders from Giovanni himself to terminate any unauthorised personnel entering the lab. Again, to reduce the risk of contamination, they were armed with ballistic needle guns, each needle covered with a lethal compound of Cyanide and Ricin. The weapons were pneumatic, based on a paintball gun, to reduce the smoke from the standard powder-based mechanisms. Upon being fired, the weapon releases a compression blast, pushing the loaded needle down the barrel at speed. On hit, the needle pierces the skin, leaving the toxins inside the body. The victim would die in seconds; unless they look fit enough to be a test subject. In that case, they would use their second plan of neutralisation; running up close and sedating them manually.

This would be the case for the next unfortunate non- authorised person to come down. They needed another test subject. Their last one died while trying to escape.

They did not make it far.

With a ding, the door opened. The Echelon complex was revealed. To his left, Doctor Winona and Doctor Mundy were working with computers, searching through the DNA sequences of Pokémon to try and unlock the secret to using moves. Beside them, Doctor Blackburn and Doctor Daniels were looking at Human DNA to search for any differences between the DNA sequences. To the right, Doctor Clark and Doctor Kane were waiting for their blood samples from Latias. They were in charge of the heated blood.

After them, Doctor Frederic and Doctor Harrison were waiting for their blood samples. They were in charge of the blood that would be cooled down.

Finally, Doctor Lych's right-hand-man, Doctor Einarth, was waiting for him. Einarth was in charge of the standard blood, whilst Lych was in charge of the special blood which would be ionised.

The ionisation process was by no means safe. It involved bombarding the blood with gamma rays; so many that they expected the chamber to be filled with as much radiation that was emitted after ten minutes in Chernobyl: roughly fifty Sieverts. This amount of radiation was bordering on insane, but wasn't trying to teach a human a move insane, too?

"Good day, Lych."

"Good day, Einarth. I have the samples. Everyone, take the samples that you have been assigned. I want these tests running ASAP. Einarth, start your scan, and then get ready to introduce the isotope in the test chamber."

He was met with a volley of "Yes, sir" before the blood samples were taken to their respective testing areas. The vials were opened and poured into isolation chambers in each of the machines. The heating started up, looping energy through tesla coils to bring the blood to temperature quickly. The cooling machine was simply filled with ice, while the freezing machine was filled with liquid nitrogen for speed. The standard blood had its scan started immediately, while Lych and Einarth took the final sample to an airlock. They could not risk the radiation escaping from the test chamber. All doctors on the project had immediate access to HazMat suits and gas masks, all lead lined to prevent radiation poisoning. Lych and Einarth both got into their hazard suits and donned their masks. The controls were inside the chamber, so nothing short of a HazMat suit wearing scientist could operate the chamber controls without being subjected to almost ten times the lethal dose of radiation.

While their voices were muffled to a point that it was barely recognisable as speech, both Doctors could understand each other.

"Einarth, you prepare the emitters. I'll place the blood."

"Yes, sir."

The airlock opened. Both doctors walked through the decontamination chamber, and through another airlock. They could not risk any chance of the radiation escaping. At last, they reached the test chamber. It was a large, circular room with a podium in the centre and a ladder leading to banks of controls. Lych walked to the podium and placed the vial on it. Einarth climes the ladder and started the starting sequence. As he did, the chambers' lights turned red. Sirens started to wail, heralding the imminent dumping of deadly radiation. The air locks shut down, dead locking themselves, to ensure that none should pass into the chamber.

"Lych, the emitters are ready. Activate them?"

"Go for it."

The lights began to flash, and multiple panels on the walls opened and lit up. They calibrated themselves to be aiming at the blood vial before blasting gamma rays and radiation. Almost immediately, the Geiger counter attached to his suit went crazy, clicking to fast to register individual clicks. Lych watched the vial of blood for any changes. Slowly, the blood seemed to become more vibrant, becoming a brighter red. Lych took this as the signal to stop the emitters.

"Einarth, shut down the emitters."

"Sir."

Slowly, the noise of the emitters faded, and the panels slid back over them. The lights stayed red. They would do until the chamber was completely empty of any radiation. There was only one way to do that, and that was to heat-treat the room until the radioactive particles became too hot to exist. However, that would ruin the basis of the test, so the sample had to be retrieved first.

"Einarth, I'm going to retrieve the sample."

Picking up a wrench, he approached the sample, and picked it up between the two claws of the wrench. He then went to a different panel, and Einarth opened it. He placed the sample inside the system. It would have to be scanned separately as to not contaminate the laboratory. They would be able to see it; it would be observed through special lead-lined glass.

"Einarth, shut down all systems and open the doors. We're done in here."

"Yes sir."

Einarth started to type on the controls, opening the first airlock. He climbed down the ladder, joining Lych as they both headed towards the airlock. The doors closed behind them, sealing the test chamber off to be decontaminated. They headed towards their own decontamination rooms, where the automatic systems drenched the area in water, removing the radiation from their suits. They continued to the final airlock, removing the suits and hanging them up on the specified hooks.

With a hiss, the final set of doors opened, leaving them in the lab. Ignoring the other scientists, Lych walked towards the viewing platform, through which he could see the system placing the vial of blood inside the scanning crucible. Almost immediately, the readings started to appear, and an image of the genes inside the blood. He brought up the database image of the genes inside human blood, and started to compare them. The system scanned both sets of genes; the two images were cross-referenced with each other, and two things stood out.

One: the ionised blood was glowing.

Two: the ionised Pokémon blood had an almost identical makeup to the human blood. Some human genes were changed in Pokémon blood, but the ionised blood kill of the human genes- making space for the new ones. This needed testing.

Mac was still on top of the elevator. It had long since stopped moving, but the descent had struck him as odd. The shaft had no built walls, just the rocks of the vertical cave the elevator had gone down. It seemed to go down further than was permitted for buildings this size. He thought about the large cave-in that the press was built over, and thought that that must be why this building goes down this far. It certainly made sense, as the cave-in was quite deep, and Mac could only just light at the top of the shaft some 200 metres upwards.

Mac thought about his current position. He had to get off the elevator, preferably through another vent, but the only vent had a grate on it, which would be incredibly difficult to remove without causing a huge amount of noise. Mac could hear machinery, and the voices of more people down here. He looked back to the vent. He could see the rusted screws holding the grate in place, but he had no screwdrivers. They weren't the sort of thing you carry around with you.

"If only I had a coin." He thought to himself, before realising; he was carrying a coin. A few of them, considering he was carrying the money for the milk he had been planning on buying before the eighteen- wheeled articulated truck piqued his interest by almost running him over. He removed a coin from his pocket before hearing a rather irate voice bellow:

"Who the HELL left Latias out here?! It's supposed to be contained!"

Mac couldn't see who was shouting, but he could use the ruckus to disguise the sound of his infiltration. Slowly, he began to unscrew the fittings holding the grate in place. One by one, they came loose, and he lifted the grate away. Carefully setting it down as to not make noise, he entered the vent.

In the lab, Lych was fuming. His team had not contained Latias, instead leaving it on the trolley, but unstrapped. If it had awoken, there was nothing to stop it from butchering them all and flying away. He had seen what a displeased dragon could do.

The Garchomp was asleep. Not a natural sleep, but a sedated coma so that it could be experimented upon. Lych was younger then, 10 years younger than his current self. He was with a different group of scientist than his current team. Doctors Caine and Lucas were trying to find the key to teach a human a move. Their latest attempt would be to "file share" memories, through the use of several psychic type Pokémon scanning for move knowledge in the Garchomp's brain and sending it over. The Garchomp, the subject and all of the chosen Reuniclus were in the chamber.

They were ready to begin.

The Reuniclus began to glow blue as they started to use their psychic abilities. They pooled their energy into a stream of light, and then moved the light between the grunt and the Garchomp. The light moved into the grunt's head, the grunt gasping as it did so. The light approached the Garchomp. The energy stream slowed down before entering the Garchomp's head.

The grunt screamed in pain.

The Garchomp's eyes snapped open. A terrible roar of pure fury escaped from its throat. It began straining against its bonds. Launching a Flamethrower attack on the chains, they melted away, allowing to stand.

Lych had paled at the sight of the hulking blue dragon inside the chamber.

"Gas the chamber!"

Inside, the Garchomp turned to the grunt, strapped down, helpless. It leapt forward, and in one smooth motion, brought its arm around and severed the grunt's neck. Blood sprayed from the half of the neck still attached to the body, arching up and splattering down the walls.

Outside the chamber, Lych was still waiting for the gas to vent. It always took a long time to vent, as they gas was VX, and they kept the component chemicals separate for security. They couldn't afford to let the VX escape in its lethal compound, nor could they afford to hire more scientists if they died. Unfortunately for Lych, there were people dying in the chamber, the VX would finish anyone who wasn't wearing their mask in time.

The Garchomp had just killed the final grunt inside the chamber. The blades on its arms were covered in blood. The walls were covered in blood. The bodies were bleeding. It heard a groan from underneath itself. A grunt, his back broken, was pulling himself along using his arms. He was crawling to his mask, feebly groping for it. The Garchomp leaned down, and gripping the grunt's arm, tore the arm from its socket. The grunt screamed, before finally losing too much blood and falling into unconsciousness. The Reuniclus were watching in horror, frozen with fear. They didn't move. Only when the Garchomp turned to them did they realise how much danger they were in. They charged up attack after attack, but the Garchomp didn't falter. Striding up to the first Reuniclus, it slashed at the green slime protecting the arm of the Reuniclus. It cleaved straight through. The severed limb fell to the ground, decaying as it fell. The other Reuniclus were screeching, launching more attacks at the Garchomp, desperately trying to destroy its mind and incapacitate it. The Garchomp approached the second Reuniclus, repeatedly stabbing at it with the spike at the end of its arm. The Reuniclus cried in pain, trying to float out of the way of the relentless attacks, but the Garchomp forced it to the ground. The dragon straddled the helpless Reuniclus, constantly stabbing it until it didn't move any more. The green slime engulfing the Reuniclus dissipated and the skin followed, leaving bleach-white bones behind. The Garchomp turned its attention to the remaining Reuniclus, and with three quick slashes, took the heads of each one. The one with its arm torn out was still alive. It was desperately using recover, and spotting the Garchomp approaching, threw up a Protect. As it did, a hiss finally emanated from the vents as the VX was delivered into the chamber. The Garchomp glared at the gas, eyeing it closely before roaring and charging towards the Reuniclus, trying to break the Protect. It suddenly stopped, rearing back and choking. It began to stumble around uncontrollably, as the VX took effect. It began to spasm wildly, coughing up blood, before a particularly violent spasm caused a crack to reverberate around the chamber.

The Garchomp's back.

It folded back on itself, bring the bloodbath to an end. Outside, Lych was white with shock. In the space of 30 seconds, Lych had lost a grunt, two scientists and four Reuniclus, massacred, all because of poor precautions. Next time, he would not make that mistake.

It was time for a different method.

Lych shuddered at the memory. His current team wasn't there, so they had no first-hand experience of what a furious dragon could do. After that, they had stored the VX in more secure containers, already mixed for rapid deployment. There had been fewer losses thanks to the quick deployment to kill anyone or anything hostile inside the lab. He sighed. He wheeled the trolley into the containment chamber. He wasn't sure how Latias would react, but he had a feeling that it would try to escape by any means necessary. The huge doors of the containment chamber slid shut after he left. She would wake up soon, so he had the rest of the team get ready for testing. They would use the blood after trying to "file share" memories again. It was almost time to test.

Inside the vent, Mac could see the expanse of the lab. He saw 10 scientists, all with strange weapons holstered at their legs. He could see several banks of machinery, and many doors leading to small rooms with a window each. Through one of the windows, he could see the creature from earlier, still sleeping, and still attached to the trolley. Mac wanted to help it, as these people didn't seem to be the type of people who would be pet sitters. Many questions were circling through his head. Who were these people? What was this creature? Why was there so much security? He pressed on, crawling through the vent, when a sound from above him caught his attention. The vent was coming loose! Looking forward, he saw that the vent was made up of sections, all about two meters long. With a sudden jolt, the section he was in descended into the lab below...

Plot twist! What will become of Mac? Or of Latias? Find out next time.

On another note, I did get to shoot a Pneumatic cannon at Bear Grylls' arse. Good times.

Aura, out.