~~~~~Chapter 11~~~~~
The Russians took great care at reviewing the information on the computers screens. Multiple images faded in and out from frames on the monitors. All guards had their backs turned away from the Sanctuary team. Henry eyed the armed guards, focusing on the ones whose peripheral vision will be most impaired at the moment he would accelerate his inner wolf and attack. Heads shifted from screen to screen and down to the keyboard and back to the touchscreens. Twenty men, he thought. If I hurl into them I can knock them down in groups.
Alessandros and the Mermaid continued to communicate. The Sanctuary team stood unflinching, quiet and still as their mind's words connected as one.
Alessandros to the Merpeople: What happens to all of you when he turns on the computers?
Merman: When he turns on the machines it is hard to fight. Our minds are forced to invade those of powerful beings.
Magnus: Henry, you will have to take on the guards. Will, you stay with Henry. Alessandros keep a constant connection with the Merfolk. Try your best to keep their focus and weaken their connections to the Abnormals. I will go after NevKov.
Magnus to Merpeople: We will free you.
Will to The Morrigan: Do your best to keep the magma from rising out. We will not leave without you.
The Morrigan: Will, we are so weak. We cannot keep this place protected from the lava much longer.
Henry: I will try and disarm the guards. I will then get to the Shield Generator that is down inside the back cave entrance.
Magnus to all: When he commands the start of the computers. Let's move…
NevKov waved his arms over the chasm feeling the intense heat form the magma below. He could feel the air around the entrance vibrating from the EM Shield. He turned around and faced the Sanctuary team, arms open reaching up towards the dome's ceiling. Eyes void of any humanity. "After this I will watch you die. Men it is time…"
Henry took in a deep breath and tensed his whole body. He accelerated his HAP side with a violent roar, echoing wildly against the walls of the chamber. Every inch of his body stretched and tore through his shirt and pants, eyes to full lichen yellow. Fur sprouted in a thick blanket over his body.
He howled a most terrifying call of anger as he leaned forward his tall frame, lashing out as he ran into the men gathered around the desks. He crashed into chairs and desks, picked up one man and threw him across the chamber slamming him into the side face of the volcanic wall.
The quick attack caught the guards unaware as Will ran in right behind Henry. Will came in swinging a punch and popped a guard in the jaw tossing him back to the floor. He jumped down next his side and grabbed at his weapon.
The guard yanked it back as another guard came down hard with a two fisted slam to Will's back. "Ahhh.." yelled Will. Henry swung around hearing Will's cry. He sprung up from across the broken pile of desks and metal and landed right on top of the guards. He picked one up and threw him in the air over into the iron staircase. Henry came down with a heavy paw and cracked the guard in the chest, releasing his weapon. Will picked up the weapon and fired off rounds at the men in front of him. Arms and legs took the brunt as he tried to concentrate every shot on mark.
Henry thrashed his claws at every inch of flesh in his field of vision—a world wind of holy terror. He could hear a flood of heart beats rapidly beating around him, metal clanking, metal breaking, bones breaking. Screams. He jumped forward, backwards, up and across the distances between the desks, growling and reaching out towards every limb and body in his path.
"WILL!" Will heard Henry's lichen voice tear through room. "Fire at my bag, fire at my bag!" Henry was pointing at a far table.
There was a black pack placed on the desktop along with the rest of their belongings. As quickly as he could, Will took his focus off the men around him and lifted his aim at Henry's pack. He fired. The explosion shook the ground causing him and a few other men to fall down. Black volcanic rock blasted in a rain storm of shards from the wall behind and from the floor of the detonation. The ground surface, arching walls, and dome above of the chamber, began to rumble.
Magnus could feel her body ignite. For too many years she's been the morality of justice, not wanting to take the path of justice to the extreme. She had lost so many friends to this man. Her emotions ran so heavy she almost started to cry. Ashley. She would never have wanted her uncontrolled actions to become this domino effect for ending the lives of the most powerful of Abnormals. The mere thought of the Cabal and their abusive control over innocent beings had come to a head. It is time to end this.
Magnus burst into a dead run with every ounce of her strength, eyes only on NevKov. The warm black volcanic rock crushed into flakes and smaller rocks beneath her feet like egg shells as she ran.
NevKov's focus was lost in the torrent of Henry. His eyes watched as this beast jumped and pummeled his men in all directions. He didn't have the slightest awareness Magnus was about to hurtle into him. Her anticipation for the contact was overwhelming, suffocating in a way. Magnus launched herself forward, her feet pushing her up into an airborne tackle, colliding right into NevKov's side.
NevKov garbled something in Russian upon contact. The impact sent NevKov twisting into the air and down a few feet from his standing position. He body touched down on the black ground. On his back, with Magnus coming down on him, he lifted his left foot up and flipped her over him into the air. As Magnus felt his boot being lifted into her stomach, she thought one step ahead. She landed on her side and rolled over quickly, rebounding to her feet, arms in the air ready to defend.
NevKov wailed wildly as he turned over to stand up on his feet. He screamed at her in a fit of rage, "you want a fight little lady?" His mouth spit as he glared at her, eyes and head tilting down. Magnus stalked around him in a circle. He mocked her every move. "This is over Alexander, this ends now."
NevKov started to runs towards her, his face red and flushed. Magnus took a step back then swung a right hook; he ducked and grabbed her by her shoulders—swinging her around as if they were in some dance of death.
Her hands reached forward, grabbing him firmly around the neck. Her fingers dug into his skin, pulling him closer to her. NevKov reacted with a flinch and tried to pull her down. Magnus leaned back then shot forward, head butting his face, breaking his nose.
He let go of her shoulders with a shriek. Dark blood began pouring from his nose, down and into his mouth. She could see that he was physically stunned but came at her again swinging furiously. She side stepped him and gave a swift kick to his right knee, taking him down to the jagged ground, landing on his back.
"A Cabal spy within the Russian Environmental Agency. I should have known." Magnus kept her fists high, as she anticipated his next attack.
"The Cabal is a brotherhood Helen," he hissed the words, diluted in his wake, "and I am there master!" He swung back his left leg out connecting to the back of Magnus' right heel, taking her out by her feet. NevKov came down and rained blows left and right. On her back she raised her arms to block the pounding blows NevKov was giving. One made it through and clocked her above her right eye driving her head back into the black rocky surface.
Henry turned around to pick up another man attempting to aim his gun at Will, heaving him straight into the air 15 feet away and over one of The Morrigan's chambers. The throw even impressed Henry. A guard had switched on the computer, initiating the program.
Alessandros fell to his knees. Painful throbs invaded his head driving him hard to the ground. The Mermaid and Merman began thrashing about in their tanks. Each whipping up water and waves inside the glass enclosure. The Mermaid was making all attempts to break the glass. She just wanted out from the pain. She swished her tail back and forth against the glass to no avail. The Merman sent an array of punches to the glass, his dark blue hands fisted and desperate, but they were trapped behind the heavy glass.
Alessandros could hear the Mermaid's screams inside his head – pleading for freedom, open space, peace. The emotions were deafening. He had never had another's thoughts in his head before, other than Sally's. The screams bounced all around his head and all he could do was hold his breath, curling up his knees to his chest as he lay down on the hot ground. The pain was so intense he couldn't even hear what was going on around him, only that his comrades had taken off to run, to fight.
Magnus kept her hands over her face as NevKov attacked. She could feel the blood streaming down into her right eye and down the side of her face.
Suddenly a concussive explosion sprayed black rock and shrapnel into the air, flying across the room and towards Magnus and NevKov. She could feel the impact of the shards hitting her side and along her legs and on her hands. She had covered her face well to stop NevKov's punching down on her. His face caught the brunt of its force. Peeling his skin away as the tiny fragments of Henry's bag, explosives, dirt, metal, and volcanic rock was injected into air, into his face. Magnus felt the earth underneath her begin to tremor, then rumble. She knew the Merpeople had connected unwillingly to the Abnormals.
She remembered her old partner Nikos, his face, their memories in her mind. She remembered his big brown eyes that were so kind and full of life – the laughter from missions the laughter from life and the smiles over wine. For too long she had lost the one's she loved, ripped from her life without a say-so and rarely if ever had the chance for getting justice on her terms. Egypt— the burning trucks in the distance.
She can still see the trail of dust as it disappeared down the road and then lost for over 50 years. The rage she felt could not be tamed.
She yelled as she beat back his punches getting him to sit up over her. She came down with an elbow to the dead center of his chest, knocking the wind from his lungs. As he gasped she leaned forward rocking him off her. On his side he wheezed, rolled over and tried to steady himself to his feet. He reached to his side and unlatched a knife from his belt. He swung it through the air into Magnus' path as she pounced out a round house kick to his face.
The knife grazed her ankle as her kick landed on his jaw, sending him back a step. NevKov balanced his body and shifted his weight so he could spring up on his left foot. Launching himself back towards her. His right hand rose with his knife again, she caught his wrist with her left, and forcefully twisted it back. The knife fell. He started running forward catching her off balance, pushing her farther back, step by step until he slammed her against the back of the jagged wall. Blood spat from his mouth as he shouted in madness. "Do you know why, why I look so young?"
Magnus could feel and see the blood spraying down on her face from out of his mouth. "Why I haven't changed?"
Magnus screamed as she fought to gain control to push him back. He was strong, and kept her restrained to the wall. His face leaning back to avert another head butt.
"The Merpeople," he sighed heavily, straining for his next breath, "they hold the power, of longevity!" He roars into a rage of uncontrolled laughter.
Magnus had never been so close to one so insane. She had met others in her lifetime, but none had this kind of mental wrath.
"After years, of experiments," he spits, "I found, a way."
Magnus leaned forward, trying to pry herself away from the wall, and struggled to bring her sprawled arms down in front of her.
"You're MAD!" Her blue eyes turned fierce and NevKov sensed her repulsive tone to his words. It only excited him further.
NevKov's face was a bloody mess, only his blue eyes were free from the color of his blood soaked face. His voice raspy and loud. "I spun down the blood of the blue beasts, and took the antibodies. The genetic material inside converts other cells to perform the same functions as they do. Functions that include, programing a cell to age more slowly."
It sounded oddly familiar. It was how she believed the source blood worked. But it was something she hadn't yet proved or disproved.
His voice became deeper, like an asthmatic growl. "And now you see," he leaned his face inches from hers and ended in a wicked whisper, "I, will never die."
Henry howled as some of the airborne volcanic rock came in contact with his body from the explosion from his pack. He had no armor on and everything had ricocheted off and into his bare skin. His fur hide was thick but not as thick as Biggie's. Will continued a sweep of machine gun fire taking down more of the men that hadn't been blown off their feet from the blast. A couple men had fired off rounds but were unlucky to hit skin. Will and Henry had secured the left side of the room.
The Morrigan had collapsed in their prisons, their hands cradling their heads in the corners of their glass chambers. Will had a plan. He took off running to them—fighting to keep balance against the quaking ground underneath his feet.
The molten magma was spitting up near the surface of the chasm—orange and red blobs popping and erupting along its edge. The searing heat was quickly increasing the temperature inside the room. The Morrigan were losing control.