Spoilers: None
Warnings: Mild language; Graphic violence and gore (this chapter is rated borderline Mature for the gore and violence)
Author's Notes: All of the agents, along with Julia and Izzy, belong to MikeyCam33196. A.J. is still mine. xD I sincerely apologize for the formatting of this chapter. It's confusing, but it's not my fault. ffnet, for some reason, won't let me put in any page breaks. xP
Chapter Thirteen
"Attention all agents. Prisoner 17 has escaped. Extreme caution is necessary when dealing with her. All personnel is urged to wait in the respective Safe Areas until further notice. Squad 3 is in pursuit of the creature. This is Agent Ryan. I repeat, Prisoner 17 has escaped. This is not a drill."
"Oh great..." Agent James looked up at the loudspeaker. "I told them to stick her in the Sub-surface Holding Cell..."
"Where is she at?" Julia asked. Izzy was a few feet away, looking at the giant telescope that was almost finished being built.
Agent James took a device out of his coat pocket. "The squad should be split up into pairs, so..." He pointed at the screen of the Life Sign Detector. One red dot blinked on and off on the screen."That has to be her."
Julia looked at the screen. "But... why is she heading towards the lower levels? She's at the surface right now..."
"I don't know... maybe she knows the base is under lock-down and she's trying to find another way out." He shrugged. "But she's heading for us, come on." James grabbed Julia's hand. Julia took Izzy's arm. James led her and Izzy down the corridor.
"Hey! I wasn't done seeing the telescope!" Izzy complained.
"Honey, something's happening, so we need to get into the Safe Rooms, okay?" Julia said. Izzy blinked. As they turned down another hallway, a red light flashed on and off above them.
"What's going on?" Izzy asked.
"This is Agent James," James spoke into the walkie. "My Life Sign Detector reads that the Subject is headed for the stairwell leading to the fourth level."
"Roger that." Another Agent's voice came through the walkie.
"Where's the nearest Safe Room?" Julia asked.
"Actually, there's none on this level. The closest thing would be the Vault." James answered.
"What's going on?" Izzy asked again.
"One of your dad's experiments escaped." Agent James replied. "So we're headed to the Vault."
"Isn't that where Dad keeps all of his weird gadgets and artifacts?" Izzy asked. Julia nodded. "So why are we going there, then?" Izzy scratched her head, confused.
"Because it has steel-reinforced concrete walls." James smiled. "We'll be perfectly safe in there."
"You'll be perfectly safe in there." Julia replied.
James looked over at her but kept running. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you and Izzy get in the Vault. I need to find Jon."
"But... he's six levels above-"
"I know." Julia interrupted. They turned another corner. Agents were running up and down the halls, looking for a safe place to hide. Julia dragged Izzy through the crowds, trying to keep her daughter from getting trampled on.
"Julia, you can talk to Jon afterwards." Agent James argued, watching the Life Sign Detector. "Right now we sort of have a situation on our hands."
"And Jon's going to try to kill her." Julia replied. They stopped in front of a huge, steel door. James walked up to the number pad and punched in the code. The door slowly slid to the side.
"Fine. Then let me come with you." James said.
"No." Julia walked into the Vault. "Izzy, I want you to stay here, okay?" She asked.
"But Mom-"
"Stay here." Julia interrupted her. "I'll be back later." She put her hand on Izzy's cheek. "Just be good and wait for me to come back, okay?" She kissed her on the forehead. "I love you."
Before the girl could argue anymore, Julia walked out of the Vault. She waved good-bye as the door slid shut.
"I'm going with you." James asserted.
"No, you're not." Julia looked pointedly at him. "You need to get after the Subject." She took a gun out of a harness attached to her leg, under her skirt, and cocked it.
James looked at her soft, brown eyes. "Be careful." He murmured quietly.
She smiled. "You be careful too." She stretched up on her toes and brushed her lips against his. James wrapped a hand around the small of her back and another around the back of her head. He brought her closer to him, deepening the kiss.
"Where'd she go?!" They heard the choppy voice through the walkie. "Kyle, you got a visual? Kyle?"
There was no answer. James pulled away from Julia and dug his walkie out of his pocket.
"Smith, what's going on?" He asked.
"James! We lost the Prisoner and Kyle's not answering his radio. There are three agents down already." Smith said through the walkie.
"All right, hang on. I'll be there." He ordered.
"I'll take the elevator." Julia said.
James sighed. "Be careful, Julia."
She took his face in her hands. "Don't worry." She smiled before running off down the hall. James looked back at his Life Sign Detector and picked his walkie back up. "She's on the fifth level now. Headed for Lab One." He said, racing the opposite direction down the hall. "Squads 11 and 13, follow-"
"James." The voice rang through his earpiece. Agent James stopped.
"Ryan?" He asked.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Agent Ryan snapped.
"I'm... calling more Squads to help-"
"You have no authority to do that." Ryan hissed. "I am taking care of the situation."
(pagebreak)
Agent Ryan paced back and forth in the Control Room. Several agents were scurrying about fixing things or watching the cameras or entering codes into the computers.
"But Sir, you only have one Squad after her. She's going to get away!" James said through Ryan's ear piece.
"I said, I have control of the situation." Ryan snapped. He walked over to one of the security cameras that held a still-shot of Julia and James in front of the Vault, kissing. Agent Ryan grit his teeth.
"Jon, at least let me go." James said.
"No." Ryan hissed.
"Julia's out there, damnit!" James shouted.
Ryan narrowed his eyes on the picture. "Is she," He didn't sound surprised.
"Sir, we have a visual on the Subject." Agent Dusek said from his seat in front of a monitor. Ryan deleted the picture off of the screen in front of him and walked over to the agent.
A.J. was seen on-camera, sniffing around the corridor like a dog.
"She's on Level Five, Sir. What do you think she's doing?" Dusek asked.
Ryan put his glasses on to take a closer look. "She appears to be looking for something."
"Ryan!" James shouted in his ear. Agent Ryan cringed.
"No, James! That is final. Stay on your level. Do not let that creature near the other experiments." He ordered.
"But-"
"Argue with me, James, and you will be thrown out of here faster than is humanly possible." Ryan hissed. James was quiet. "Over and out." Ryan spat, shutting off his earpiece.
(pagebreak)
James gritted his teeth. He took out his earpiece and threw it onto the ground, stomping on it with his foot. He took a gun from his coat and cocked it.
"I'm not letting that thing get to Julia." He whispered, running for the stairs.
(pagebreak)
Stupid people. They should've known better than to get in her way. She was indestructible. She wasn't even trying to hurt anyone... at the moment. She knew who Anubis needed dead, and it was none of these people. They just kept getting in her way. She also didn't know how the hell to get out of here, so she thought she'd take a detour.
A.J. was using this opportunity to find that DNA Ryan and his goons had taken from her. Without that, they wouldn't be able to hurt Danny, or anyone like him. A.J. had followed the scent of herself down to the Fifth Level. It was strongest here, though already faint. All she had to do was find the samples and destroy them. And then get out of here...
"Hey, Dog!" Someone shouted behind her.
A.J. stood up and turned around to see the agent. He was trying to act confident, but she could smell his fear... and the fact that his hands were shaking wasn't helping.
"I don't have time for this." A.J. snarled. Her fangs were making it hard for her to speak clearly.
"Stop right now!" The agent shouted. "I'll shoot!"
"Good for you." A.J. sneered and turned back around. She took off down the corridor again just as the agent fired. His shaky hands made him miss.
"Hold it, Mutt!" Two more agents ran into the hall in front of her. A.J. stopped again. "We don't want to kill you!"
"I don't want to kill you either so get out of my way!" She shouted. The agents fired their guns. A.J.'s sensitive hearing caught the sound of the bullets and she located them within a fraction of a second, easily dodging them. She ran at the agents, attempting to knock them out of the way. But the two men retaliated with punches and kicks. A.J. caught their fists and shoved them away. She dropped to the ground and spun her legs around, kicking their legs out from under them. One of the agents stayed down but the other one got back up and threw another punch. A.J. caught his fist again and squeezed it. There was a sickening crackling sound and the agent screamed, falling to the floor with his broken hand.
"Miller!" The shaky agent shouted, running towards the downed men. A.J. ignored him and continued around the corner, trying to keep her scent on her mind rather than the smell of blood from the humans around the base. She had already injured five agents. She wasn't trying to, but they insisted on coming after her.
Finally, she came upon a Laboratory where she smelled her scent the strongest. A.J. opened the door... and gasped.
There were several cages in the room, each occupying their own mutated version of some animal or half-animal creature inside. Each one scrambled around inside their too-small cages and roared or howled in anguish or aggravation.
She stood there, frozen in disgust. "What... kind of..."
You don't have time for this... A familiar voice rang in her head. A.J. flinched.
"No way out..." She growled.
Then kill everyone here. Anubis hissed. And then find a way out.
Her pupils shrunk and her eyes widened. "N-No..." She mumbled. She could feel her mind kick into Instinct Mode. He'd given her the order and now she had to carry it out.
A.J. walked into the room, searching out the sample and found it at the back, inside a glass case. There were several test tubes in the case, so she just picked it up and smashed it on the ground, stomping all of the test tubes and ruining them.
"Hold it right there!"
A.J. turned around. A young man stood in the doorway, pointing a gun at her. She grinned and within seconds, she had disappeared from in front of him. A black blur came up beside him, knocking the gun out of his hand. A.J. grabbed the agent by the collar and threw him out of the room. He hit the opposite wall with a loud smack and slid down the wall, blood smearing all over.
A.J. growled maliciously and leapt out of the room, heading for the stairs.
(pagebreak)
"Dr. Ryan!" An agent came running up to Julia as she exited the elevator. "Dr. Ryan, Carson and Newman are hurt bad, Ma'am. They need medical attention." He said urgently. Julia nodded, breathing deeply and followed the agent down the hall.
A man and a woman were lying on the ground, bloody and bruised. Julia put her gun on the floor and leaned over them.
"I've never seen anything like it! That girl... she was so fast. They didn't even see her coming." The other agent said, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Yes, I can see that." Julia said distantly, taking their pulses. "Still alive. When did she come through here?"
"About fifteen minutes ago. She was heading downstairs to Level Two."
"All right." Julia stood back up. "What's your name?"
"Richard, Ma'am. Agent Richard Carter."
"Okay, Carter. I want you to assemble a team of doctors and nurses from the Infirmary and treat these two and any other fallen agents on this level, all right?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Stay on this level." Julia commanded. Agent Carter nodded and took off down the hall.
Julia shook her head and continued on her way. Jon was only around the corner in the Control Room...
"Wait! Stop!"
Julia turned around. Two agents had pulled guns and were facing off with someone down the hall. Julia looked over their shoulders. The creature stood there. She was tall and muscular, covered in black fur... but stood like a human. Julia's eyes widened as the creature raced up to the agents in a split second, knocking the guns out of their hands without effort. She kicked one of the agents away and pounced on the other, sending him to the floor.
The fallen agent's scream caused Julia to flinch and shut her eyes. When she opened them, the creature was perched on the fallen agent's body, her tail whipping around aggressively in the air. Blood covered her mouth and dripped down her neck. Julia's eyes widened in horror and she started running again, around the corner.
The woman desperately felt around for her gun and panicked when she remembered leaving it by Agent Carson's body.
She tripped on her high heels and stumbled forward, catching herself. When she looked back up, the bloody creature stood, growling, in front of her.
Then kill everyone here. Anubis' order still rang in A.J.'s mind. She looked on helplessly at the woman scared-stiff in front of her. A.J.'s eyes misted over. Don't do it! She told herself, but her body unwillingly took a step forward, towards the frightened woman. Run, Stupid! Run! She begged the woman in front of her, but she didn't run... didn't move. PLEASE!! A.J. screamed in her head, but her lips wouldn't form the words. She couldn't warn anyone, say anything. No... A.J. closed her eyes as her body lurched forward, pouncing on the defenseless doctor.
(pagebreak)
Agent James hurried down the bloody corridor on Level One. Six agents down- two were already dead. He cocked his gun.
"Please Julia..." He whispered to himself. Turning a corner, he stopped, wide-eyed. The creature was standing, holding a limp body in her arms. Blood on her face. "No..." He whispered. His hands started to shake.
A.J. looked up at him and growled. She let go of the body and Julia fell to the ground, lifeless.
"Julia!!" James shouted, running up to the corpse. Anger burned intensely in his green eyes. "You monster! You monster!!" He shouted again and again, firing off shot after shot at A.J. The wolfa simply dodged them expertly.
"Julia!" The gun was out of ammo. Agent James dropped it and fell to his knees next to her body. Tears stung at his eyes.
A.J. backed away from the two for a moment. Her heart raced. What did you do?! She shouted at herself in her head, but her body still wouldn't listen.
...Kill everyone here...
She still had a job to do. That agent was still part of the 'everyone here' grouping. A.J. took an intimidating step forward and howled threateningly.