Chapter 14 – Electric Feel
With Lexi finally in the comfort of sleep, safe from noise and now in some distant dream and more food delivered and consumed, the rest of the team set about figuring out what they need to do. There are several different ideas, which can be classed into two distinct sets. The first being to make what they don't have and the second to go and get what they already have; things from home, from before the meteor. Each person has a varied level of attachment to their normal self, indeed, that was under 24 hours ago but it feels like a week or more. Everyone had some noticeable attachment with their identity, but Ace is not like that. He carried on as if he was born yesterday, with nothing sentimental he wanted to bring to this large open room they now have been told to call home. After an hour or so, it became clear that Ace had no other intentions than to work hard in the simulator and improve his combat skills until he could no longer do so. This is a work ethic and determination that is unmatched by anyone, even when his body could not be at that same level. After 90 minutes, whilst Duck is out collecting his personal belongings, he collapses on the floor; not of his own choosing, but of exhaustion.
"Ace! Come on, drink some water." Rev says whilst panicking, his super speed means he's the first to the scene with a bottle of water in his hand what Ace was using. Ace is breathing in and out too heavily and rapidly for him to take on any fluids or solids. Ace shakes his head in refusal. Tech quickly wants to blame himself for letting Ace push himself too far since the simulator is his invention and since he is meant to be the intelligent one, he should notice such things like this. In truth, this is the first sign of weakness that Ace has shown all morning.
"Ace, you're not using the simulator again today." Tech tries to say, he doesn't want to sound like an angry parent barking instructions to a child, but it's how he phrases it.
"I can't move my legs." Ace weakly exclaims. Both of his legs don't respond in the the normal fashion, they feel heavy, revealing their true weight when they can't carry themselves.
"That's the lactic acid in your muscles," Tech replies. "You need to rest."
Rest sounds like an offensive word to Ace, or like something that isn't in Ace's vocabulary; what is this 'rest' you speak of? However, it's what he needs and what he accepts he needs. Rev initially tries to lift Ace onto his feet by himself, but he is quickly joined by Tech who manages to complete the task. Ace still can't bend his knees, and, therefore, walk. Slam comes and picks him off the ground and quickly places him lying on his back on one of the couches like he was nothing. Slam's strength is underestimated, even though, his upper body strength can be easily seen.
"I need to get fitter Tech; faster, stronger, more agile than anyone." Ace confidently remarks. "I need to master this sword, I need to control my laser vision and make it more powerful."
"Maybe you need to ease off a little, there's no point in hurting yourself over this. This is pushing yourself over the edge." Tech replies concernedly.
"No point in doing anything less than 100%, life and death…" Ace begins to explain just before the power goes out.
"Tech?" Ace asks.
"I don't know if there is a backup generator in the building." Tech says, waiting in silence for a few seconds hoping that it will be restored promptly; darkness remains. "No, there isn't."
Strangely, Lexi also wakes up despite her noise cancelling headphones being powered by a remote power pack. A loud yawn makes everyone aware of her awoken state.
"It's an EMP," Tech notes. "Nothing else could down both the power grid and remote power sources in one go."
"What time is it?" Lexi asks tiredly.
"But an EMP blast that big to reach us up here would cover several blocks, it would have to be extremely powerful." Tech says as he runs over to the window and looks down at the ground for any sign of such a device. The power returns inside the building, reverting to the state it was a few seconds ago. "The epicentre has to be very close."
"I'm on it." Rev says before darting out of the room to search for the epicentre. Tech rushes back to his computers.
"I have to reboot these computers one by one, it's going to take some time." Tech announces.
"Can you replace the batteries in this thing?" Lexi asks from across the room. Instantly Tech stops beginning to reboot the computers and gathers a spare power pack before rushing over to Lexi to swap the damaged one for a working one.
"Get some sleep." Tech advises.
"Thanks." She replies.
Tech runs back to his computers to reboot them all as fast as possible. A minute later he receives a distressing alert, which causes his head to fall briefly into his hands. He stands back up again to tell Ace and Slam the bad news.
"Duck's jetpack malfunctioned while in the air." Tech warns. "It's equipped with an accelerometer that activates the parachutes when it falls to fast without power. I have his location, if only Rev was back. Rev comes flying back in a few seconds after he says this.
"I searched every building within a 5 block radius and I could not find anything that even remotely resembled a large flux compression generator or a supercapacitor bank." Rev explains quickly. "But there's something happening down on the streets which looks like a riot but there's very little police down there I think it's going to turn violent we need to stay in here until it dies down."
Tech looks back down onto the street to see if there are many people on the ground.
"It looks like a gang, a large one." Tech says. he estimates the number to be around 150 people marching down the street in no orderly formation.
"Gangs?" Ace asks. he wants some action but also is secretly curious.
Being more decisive than he's ever been so far. "We have to pick our battles, Duck's out in the city and we have to rescue him; that has to be our priority here." Tech says, being more decisive than he's ever been so far.
"I'll find him and bring him back." Rev says before leaving the building again. Tech runs across to the piles of materials and finds the energy weapons he made earlier. He adds the crucial power devices to each one in order for them to function before offering one to each person.
"Just in case." Tech replies.
"We have to wake up Lexi." Ace realises.
"This is mainly to make me feel a bit safer, the chances of them breaking in and reaching this floor are about 450,000 to 1." Tech calculates. "They won't get inside."
There is an uneasy silence as everyone waits around to see what might happen next. 5 seconds later, the power goes out again.
"This isn't good." Tech says.
Slam makes a surprisingly witty remark about the power going out for a second time.
"I said that for myself rather than as a literal statement that everyone should pay attention to." Tech replies in the darkness. Slam grunts in acknowledgement.
"What are you saying Lexi?" Ace asks from the couch, trying to listen in as hard as he can to her quiet murmurings which are no. Ace tilts his head to the left and can see that she's hearing something, probably from below. Lexi doesn't reply, she's concentrating only on what the others can't hear. She quietly says to herself what they are saying as the power comes back on.
"We run this zone now, we have the power to control your electricity, we are in control. The police have been driven out, they cannot return nor will they want to. Life will be the same, there will be no extortion, racketeering or taxing by us to you, you may live out your lives however you choose. Go into each building and repeat this message to everyone. You 8 stay here…" Lexi says out loud, before stopping when she realises the message is finished. She looks back up at Ace when she realises that he's been listening in on her.
"What should we do?" Lexi asks tiredly.
"Not sure right now." Ace replies as Tech goes back to rebooting the computer system. "But I think we need to get Rev and Duck back as quickly as possible. Since Lexi is too tired and you won't let me, Tech, you're going to have to find them."
"Rev won't be affected by the electromag…" Tech says before realising that he might. "He probably isn't able to locate us using his own powers."
Tech thinks of the communication device he gave to Rev yesterday but assumes that it must be unusable because Rev was in the room when the EMP went off. With an overwhelming sense of responsibility, he knows that he is the only one who can find them; because the jetpacks won't either fit on Slam or even able to lift him off the ground at full throttle. Tech really thinks that his technology preparedness is very far behind what it should. All of his electronics are in disarray, more than half of the team is unable to function or missing; he feels somehow responsible for all of this. That he could not prepare better for such an outcome with the right equipment. All he has are a set of jetpacks, a large computer system, 2 quantum communicators, 4 energy blaster rifles and a drone with no specific purpose. Tech grabs one of the jetpacks and puts it around his back before going back to everyone else.
"Slam, you're in charge." Tech says. Ace is surprised, his mind is still okay, but Slam is the only unaffected person left inside of the room. Tech goes up the stairs to the roof, however, he's not anxious to get away; he's wondering what this is all becoming, what is the world doing? He goes to the edge and looks around him, seeing the city not looking very different from what he remembers from a few days ago. The major difference is above the ground; the sky. Covered in this blackness which almost completely blocks out the sun, more light is coming from down below from artificial sources rather than from above. With an indignant sigh, he grasps the two controls of the jetpacks and takes off to the last known location of where Duck's jetpack failed.
From somewhere on the ground, Rev shoots up to meet Tech and pulls him down from the sky.
"What are you doing?" Tech shouts. Rev does not listen, only pulling him down harder. Tech turns off the jetpack and lets Rev take control. Rev touches down with Tech in hands, where they find Duck slumped against a back wall.
"We have to hide." Rev says.
"Why?" Tech asks.
"Because there's people all around us, with weapons, and marching, and seriousness!" Duck exclaims.
"Okay, how are we going to get out of this?" Tech asks.
"I was hoping that is what you were going to help us with." Rev replies.
"I'll just restart your jetpack and we'll leave." Tech replies, thinking it wouldn't be that easy otherwise Rev would have thought of that earlier.
"But we'll get shot at, we have to stay here. I could fly as fast as I can, but I might be hit." Rev says.
"Why would you even need to be worried?" Tech says. "You're too fast."
A coarse dink sound appears on the ground, something metallic sliding on the ground; a squashed soft drink can that lands at Duck's feet. He picks it up and examines it.
"Hmm, it's a…"
It starts beeping, which makes his hands glow in orange energy, disintegrating the can into molten metal before evaporating in his hands.
"Freaks!"
"Who's there?!" Duck shouts. Smoke begins to fill the backstreet as canisters roll down the road with smoke spewing out of one side.
"What should we do?" Duck says nervously across to the other two.
"Run!" Rev shouts before they all take off down the side of the street, not looking back at the orange smoke cloud that grows behind them.
"That gas is incredibly painful, one breath and it burns your lungs." Tech explains whilst running away with Duck. Rev is waiting on the next corner, trying to find a way out.
"If we can restart your jetpack then we can fly out of here." Tech explains.
"Then do it!" Duck shouts back.
"Rev!" Tech shouts. He runs straight back to the other two in an instant. "Help start Duck's Jetpack!"
"I don't know what I need to do. Does it need to be jump started or have components replaced?" Rev asks nervously whilst running at a few percentage points of his potential speed so he stays with his companions.
"Just fly him out of here!" Tech shouts back, skipping the fixing and going straight to just getting out of here. However, Duck has seemingly tripped over and is not getting up in a hurry. His limbs are all contracted; his hands are balled into fists, his legs are curled up and his arms are stretched out wide. Tech stops briefly to see the orange smoke coming closer and closer.
"Rev! Duck's fallen over!" Tech shouts. Rev turns around and heads back in the other direction towards the burning smoke; he knows that he is fast enough to save Duck. He runs back, grabs his shoulders and gets ready to pull him away at speed but touching Duck's body is like touching a live wire, he succumbs to the same fate as Duck; unable to get up from the ground. The smoke is racing over both of them and tech knows there is no way to enter the smoke without a gas mask or else the pain would immobilise him. He opens up his jetpack and gets ready to fly, he presses the accelerator to fly away but the electronic control unit fails, catches fire and explodes. The fuel tank does not explode, being protected by an exotic hybrid alloy flexible tank that acts like a toughened balloon that holds the pressurised gas. The fuel being released into the combustion area does ignite, blowing the bottom half of the jetpack to pieces, shooting all sorts of shrapnel downwards, lifting Tech slightly off the ground. He touches back down in pain and, therefore, unable to balance himself. He shouts in pain as his right ankle tendon has been severed by a piece of shrapnel. Tech falls to the ground, incapable of balancing on his one good leg from the shaky landing. He holds his ankle in pain, acutely aware of the orange smoke relentlessly rolling along the street. Just before the smoke envelopes him, he sees that his ankle has that green aura around like, like when he was dead. It's healing itself back together, the wound is closing up and gone, right before Tech's eyes. He can't see the full process as his lungs burn and eyes water, like eating a whole ghost chilli pepper, making him experience these burning sensations without actually being on fire. Through the water in his eyes, several gas-mask wearing assailants walk slowly through the smoke as if unperturbed by its presence. Two people come and grab the coyote and stand him up before pulling him along with his feet dragging along the ground.
(A/N 6 Feb 2015): Sorry for these past few chapters taking much longer than usual to upload. Everything is a big effort and I haven't had the motivation to write like I want to. But your support helps immensely in just being able to keep going, every single one of you. The reason why I uploaded this now was directly caused by an anonymous reviewer; so thanks whoever you are, I have updated it very soon, probably sooner than you expected.