Chapter 14 – Pain & Gain

June 28th, 2013, Brasilia, Brazil…

It was a hazy, yet hot morning at the capital of Brazil. Eddy's group just left the airport in an armored van called up by a close friend to Mr. Barros who used to work with him as police officer. He was now a city council member in Brasilia. They were heading to the villa to save Roana's mother Martina from being executed. The group remained quiet throughout much of the trip. Miguel in particular kept glancing Roana, wondering if she would be focused. Roana was indeed focused, but she wanted to remain silent until they arrive at the villa. Christie was probably the only one who seemed nervous and restless. She would ask Eddy about how he would handle it if they defeated Soo Min. Not even he knew the answer. He comforted her, telling that everything would be fine. Miguel ignored their cuddling, thinking it was a nuisance. Finally the car eased off into the countryside roads as the trees and vegetation grew thicker. Soon the car stops just 200 yards shy of the front entrance. Everyone got out of the car to see the villa just above the hillside. The driver spoke to the group, insisting that they call for backup if something went wrong. Eddy nodded his head in agreement. Soon the driver turns around to pull out of sight. Roana took the time to speak about her plan once more.

Roana: "Listen up, all of you!"

Miguel: "Roana don't…." (She closes his mouth.)

Roana: "Remember what I told you back in Rio. You all need to enter the basement level of the villa, as quickly as you can. I'm going to Manuelo's bedroom to open up the vault and steal the remote to control Soo Min. I don't know if she will come for me or you guys. But the plan stays the same. Got it?"

Christie: "We understand."

Eddy: "How do we get inside the basement level?"

Roana: "Right through the garage doors. Once inside there should be some stairs heading down the basement level. Take this Eddy. It's a small grenade, but it should be more than enough to make a hole through the doors. I will be off now to go around the front entrance. I'm counting on you all to get mother out!"

Miguel: "Wait! I'm coming too!"

Roana (still running): "Don't follow me!"

Miguel (punches the ground, cracking it.): "Estupida noia!"

Chrisite: "She will be fine Miguel, but we have to save her mother. So please calm down?"

Miguel (looks at Christie): "Alright alright! If she dies, I won't shed a tear! Let's go!"

The plan goes into motion. Christie, Miguel, and Eddy cautiously crossed the woods without being detected by the cameras. It did not take Roana long to been running alone the front entrance. The guards who were on duty noticed Roana's haste into the front door. They tried to use their guns to shoot at her, but Roana throws a smoke bomb at them. With this she quickly knocks them all out once they started to choke on the gas. Next, Roana approaches the alarm panel in order to enter the door. Soo Min patiently watched Roana make her valiant attempt to try and stop her from her own quarters. She was amused by this display. Based on her patterns, Roana was attempting to enter Manuelo's private quarters. This stirred her curiosity because Roana's mother was slowly being poisoned with nitrogen cyanide. Why is she moving there first? Soo Min decided to face Roana.

Once the garage door was within close proximity of attack, Eddy wisely threw the small grenade right at the newly repaired garage doors. Within 3 seconds the grenade explodes, which caused many of the scientists inside to panic under the basement. One of them called for the cyber combots to make their way inside the garage for defense. Once the opening was clear, the threesome hurried inside the villa. It didn't take long for the combots to make their way up the staircase. Miguel noticed their approach and rushed to tackle them with just his shoulder. This made it easier for Eddy and Christie to descend down the basement. By the time they got there, they were twice the amount of combots surrounding them.

Eddy: "Just great. Reinforcements!"

Christie: "Well! What are we waiting for?"

Miguel: "Let's get em!"

Meanwhile…

Roana cleared out the last remaining guards blocking her from the access of the second floor into Manuelo's private quarters. Upstairs to the left hand corner was his master bedroom. Roana uses her dash kick to tear open the door which was locked. The vault, if she remembered, was covered by a painting facing the opposite end of the terrace. After removing the painting off the wall, sure enough, her guess was correct. The vault used a 3 way combination. Once it was solved, the lever to the left must be pushed down in order to open the vault seal. Roana quickly solves the puzzle and pulls the lever down to get the vault open. In the middle of all of the trinkets Manuelo collected over the years lay the remote Roana was searching for, sitting on the table.

Soo Min: "Oh no you don't!"

A telekinetic force stops Roana on her tracks and she is pulled out of the vault. The force send her body flying into Manuelo's own bed. Soo Min laughs quietly seeing her former partner struggle to stand up.

Soo Min: "Were you trying to look for this?" (Summons the remote control to her left hand.) "Roana it's a shame that your life will end here today. Had you just been a good girl and sided with me instead of that loser Manuelo, then I would have shown you mercy and let go of your mother too. But here you are trying to steal this remote which can controls my augmentations. Your efforts are useless!"

Roana (finally up.): "No! You have to be stopped! For your own good!"

Soo Min: "Why should I?" (Attempts to punch the remote to break it.)

Roana uses a pistol she hid behind her back, and it hits Soo Min's arm, deflecting it from hitting the remote on her hand. Then Roana pounces on Soo Min in an attempt to wrestle for the control. Their bodies rolled out into the hallway once more. Roana was able to make Soo Min let go, but the remote falls into the first floor. Roana tries to go after it, but Soo Min catches her jump in mid air using her telekinetic power. Roana once again was thrown into some furniture, breaking her fall.

Soo Min: "Bringing a gun to a fistfight isn't something I like very much Roana." (Walks downstairs, summoning Roana's pistol. She takes out all of the bullets inside it.) "I commend you for surprising me though. What other tricks do have up your sleeve? Huh?"

Roana (Is lucky to see the remote just under the dresser about 5 feet away from her.) "Soo Min, we don't have to do this. Just let my mother and I go in peace!"

Soo Min: "Not a…"

Roana quickly threw a knife from the side of her right thigh at Soo Min, which she easily dodges. However, soon as Soo Min begins to channel her ki, she noticed Roana picking up the remote. Roana pushed the button to freeze Soo Min's body, but something was wrong. The buttons were not functioning. Soo Min blasts a light ki from her palm and it connects Roana on her face. Roana flew backwards onto the floor.

Soo Min: "I was lucky. That remote must have been a dud, or it broke from the fall just now. Either way like I said, it's useless."

Back at the basement labs…

The trio managed to destroy all of the combots at the basement level. Miguel busted up some doors which led into the cryogenics labs in which Roana mentioned. A few scientists stayed behind simply out of obedience to Soo Min. Only one scientist was willing to help the trio locate Roana's mother, Martina Crespi.

Eddy: "Which one of you knows where Martina Crespi is?"

Dr. Tresvant: "She's in Capsule 10? What's going on?"

Miguel: "If you wanna get out of here, you all better come with us? Or do you want that crazy girl to kill us all!"

Eddy: "Christie! Find the capsule and put in the code!" (Gives the paper code to Christie.)

Christie: "Got it."

Dr. Tresvant: "Wait don't do it yet!"

Eddy: "Why not?"

Dr. Tresvant: "Soo Min ordered us to place nitrogen cyanide inside her capsule, poisoning her. We need to pump in the antidote for at least 10 minutes, before her body can be heated up to take out."

Christie: "Guys I have a bad feeling Roana could be in trouble. Soo Min did not come to us yet."

Eddy: "You are right. But we have to trust in her."

Miguel: "No! I agree with Christie, I'm going back up to help her!" (Runs off)

Eddy (shaking his head.): "He's so full of shit!"

Christie: "Eddy, don't be like that! You know by now, Miguel is stubborn and wants to do things his way. Oh yea, doctor, are there any more people inside the capsules?"

Dr. Tresvant: "Not at the moment, but there are some animals we keep in our capsules for future experiments and such."

Christie: "Eddy we should free all of them too right?"

Eddy: "Yeah, that way no life will be left behind. You heard the lady! Do what you have to in order to escape this place!"

The scientists were suddenly at ease to finally see some people take action in their unfortunate predicament. Eddy and Christie would need to be a little more patience in saving Martina, for her body needed to reheal from the cyanide poison.

Back in Manuelo's private quarter's living room…

Soo Min continued to toy with Roana, hitting her with punches and kicks all around the body. The plan was backfiring for Roana, but there was one more trump card Roana could pull. Back in England, Roana managed to steal a video documenting Soo Min's augmentation project. If she could get a hold of her camera located in her utility belt, then maybe Soo Min can be apprehended. However, Roana remained weak from being abused so badly. She did couldn't regain her strength to take out the hologram device. Soo Min grew bored and decided to power up her ki and kill Roana through electrocution.

Miguel: "Die!"

Miguel took a machete out of the kitchen area he found on the way to the private quarters. He noticed Soo Min's attempting to kill Roana and now used this time to intervene. However, thanks to the Lion's Eye, Soo Min's ki could also act as a force field. Miguel tried to stab the back of Soo Min's neck. But her ki ends up shattering the machete.

Miguel: "What!"

Soo Min: "Nice try!"

Soo Min hits Miguel with an electric ki blast that sends him flying through a wall breaking it. The girl laughs at his misfortune. However, that little distraction gave Roana just enough time to take out her hologram device.

Roana: "You left me no choice but to show you this!"

Roana slides the hologram device into the middle of the floor. The device begins to glow and shoots a picture right in front of Soo Min to see. It begins showing a video of a younger Soo Min being frightened of the scientists that surrounded her. They were beginning to operate of Soo Min while she was conscious. The present Soo Min stopped in her tracks and dropped to her knees.

Soo Min: "What is this? Is that me? Nooooo!"

Notes: Eddy and Christie will free Martina from her cyrogenic sleep. How will Soo Min react seeing herself being tortured by Dr. Abel and the engineers who experimented on her body? What goes on from here once this is all over? Stay tuned.