Mask Of Pain
Chapter 29
Thalia's POV
Thalia was looking at the abandoned building from where she was crouched on a branch in a tree. She was about twenty feet off the ground, but it wasn't high enough to make her feel vertigo.
She was several miles away from New York and there was only a small road, if one could call it that, that led deep into the forest to this abandoned, several decades old building.
The sun was quickly rising behind her; its rays illuminated the dark valley. She could feel the air brush her spiky black hair as it did so, she could hear the wind gently rustling the leaves that were all around her.
She was wearing a tight black cat suit with her blue bow and quiver attached on her back, and a silencer strapped around her right thigh. She also wore fingerless gloves, and had two hunting knives hidden in her shin high boots.
She sighed, enjoying the view and feeling one with nature. She closed her eyes breathing in the smell of pinecones.
She snapped her eyes open when she heard what sounded like a vehicle speeding down the small road. What she saw exit from the forest and in the view on the road, was a tank like vehicle.
It had thick wheels the size of tractors and small black windows and Thalia bet they were bulletproof as well. On the roof she sited what looked like a turret or cannon that looked automatic.
The tank drove down the track before stopping in front of the abandoned building. There, she saw, was an industrial garage door that to Thalia's surprise, opened up. When it was high enough, the tank drove in before the garage door came back down.
Not so abandoned after all, Thalia thought. I better tell Artemis what I saw.
She looked down at her wrist; her IPhone strapped around it, and wrote quickly to Artemis that she was going in.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxFLASHBACKxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
An arrow hissed through the air and slammed into the center of a target mounted on a fence, which shook with the force. Thalia, her blue bow still in hand, pulled two arrows from the quiver on her back. She eyed the target fifty meters away. She let out a breath. Then she nocked both arrows, aimed and fired faster than the eye could see.
"Nice shot."
Thalia whirled around surprised by the voice. The girl who stood before her was beefy and had ginger hair. Thalia smiled.
"Phoebe," Thalia said and the other girl smiled back. "What brings you here? I thought you'd be eating with the others."
"Nah, I wasn't hungry," she said. "Artemis sent me. She wants to see you. She has a mission for you."
Thalia nodded, slung her bow on her back and walked to the target to yank the three arrows she fired out. All three arrows had landed in the center ring. They were set so close together that she could yank all of them at once with but one hand. She put the three arrows back in her quiver on her back.
She made her way back to the ring of tents in the clearing. She passed a group of girls who were talking between each other. They smiled at her and she smiled back. Thalia continued on her way until she was in front of Artemis' tent.
She sighed before she pulled open the flaps and entered. She found Artemis sitting cross legged. Thalia joined her on the silk rugs and pillows on the floor.
Artemis still had her eyes closed when she spoke, "Thalia."
"My lady," Thalia greeted as was custom since she was the leader and founder of the group of hunters. "Phoebe told me you wanted to see me? About a mission?"
"Yes." She opened her silver eyes and studied Thalia. She was silent for several minutes before she spoke again, "I want you to infiltrate a building."
"Okay," Thalia said unsure. The idea sounded quite easy, even too easy. Then why would she send me? There must be something more. "What sort of building? Where? Why?"
Artemis smiled. "It's an abandoned building a few clicks East of here, a few miles away from New York. And why? Well, I believe it's only to cover up something. There have been a few sightings of armed vehicles going in. Most likely TITAN agents."
"That's why I want you to infiltrate, discover what you can and come report back to me."
Thalia inclined her head before standing up and walked to the exit. She pulled the straps up to walk out when Artemis spoke. "Oh and Thalia? Please don't sound any alarms, will you? It would be most unfortunate."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxENDofFLASHBACKxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Thalia felt her wrist buzz. She looked down and saw on the screen of her IPhone that Artemis had replied. Thalia read it and smiled that Artemis said she could go in.
Thalia pulled the scarf around her neck over her head until she was wearing a hood. Thalia quickly jumped down the branches on the tree until she landed with a thump!
She made her way down the valley to the abandoned building as swiftly as she could. She climbed another tree close to the building and jumped down on the roof. She found a hole in the flat roof. She quickly jumped down and landed with a roll.
She was crouched in a long and empty corridor. She made her way through the corridor before walking through another. She made her way down the levels to the ground level where she saw the tank from earlier.
She crouched behind the tank when she saw a man dressed in a lab coat with glasses. He stood with two guards on either side of him. They stood in front of a metallic door. The man in the lab coat who Thalia thought would be a scientist, pulled a key card out of his pocket and used it to open the door.
He and the guards entered while the door started to close behind them as if it had a mind of its own. Thalia quickly bounded towards the door but by the time she reached it, the door was already closed. Thalia sighed and she saw something in the corner of her eye. She looked to her right, there six feet in the air, was a metallic grill. Thalia grinned.
She managed to take off the grill and jumped into the vent. She brought the grill back in place before she crawled down the maze. She mostly followed the scientist and could see him thanks to occasional grills in the bottom of the vent.
She followed him down the long corridor, careful not to make any sound as she crawled, until the scientist turned right into a dead end. Thalia stopped and lowered herself as she peered through the grill and watched with a frown. The guards stood at the corridor, their backs to him.
Thalia watched the scientist push a square piece in the wall that wasn't there earlier. The square piece opened down to reveal what looked like a key whole. The scientist pulled out a set of keys and inserted it before turning it clockwise. The sound of mechanics were heard before the wall in front of the scientist pulled itself sideways until it revealed what was behind: an elevator.
It was one of the old elevators with a metallic gate for doors. And a lever that went either down or up. The scientist pulled the gate aside before closing it behind him once inside the elevator. Thalia then couldn't see what he did as his right hand was obscured from her vision, but she heard the lever full into place and the elevator descended before the wall went back into place and the keyhole disappeared behind the small square piece.
Thalia, cautious to make any sound, opened the grill before she dropped to the floor without a sound. She looked back to see the two guards hadn't noticed her. She, crouched, went behind them and with great speed she pulled two arrows from her quiver on her back and plunged them in the men's calf's. They gasped and for several seconds they stood there confused and then, they fell backwards. Thalia stood over them, putting the two sleeping arrows back in her quiver, and she grinned.
She then walked back to the wall the scientist faced and she pressed about where she remembered the keyhole was. A small square piece pushed a few inches in before it came out and revealed the key hole. Thalia pulled two pins from the small bag attached at her waist and inserted first one than the other in the key whole as she set to work.
It took her but a minute to open the lock as she heard mechanical set to work. She watched slightly awed as the wall swiveled to the right and there was the elevator. She pulled the gate aside and entered. She closed it and inspected the lever to her right. She gripped it and with slight effort, she pushed the lever down wards and the elevator descended.
She then jumped up and clung to the ceiling with her hands and feet as she waited for the elevator to reach bottom. The elevator screeched slightly as it came to a stop. She waited patiently before her suspicions were correct and a guard opened the gate to look inside. She hugged the ceiling of the elevator tighter.
The man then shrugged and walked out not bothering to close the gate behind him. She waited till she didn't hear the echoes of his boots down the long hallway. She let go and landed on the floor of the elevator, she waited just to make sure no one was hanging around outside in the corridor, she didn't hear anything so she slowly stepped out of the elevator..
She found herself in deed in a long hallway. The guard was nowhere to be seen. She saw cell doors with small windows to see inside. She stood to her full height as she inspected each cell on either side of her.
The first one was of a beautiful woman who looked dead. She had translucent skin to the point where Thalia could see the woman's blue veins. She was balled and wore nothing but a hospital gown. But the strangest thing about the woman was her legs. One of them was bronze while the other was that of a donkey. She lay in a bed and a screen next to him showed her steady heartbeat.
Thalia frowned at the sight and looked down to see a name written on the door just below the window. It read: Empousai. Thalia looked at the other door and saw they all had codenames. She checked every cell as she read the names; Chimera, Gorgon, Harpie, Kampê…. They were all names from Greek mythology Thalia realized, and they all looked more or less like the original ones in the myths.
The last one on the right was different. She looked at the name: Number 3. Thalia frowned at it. All the other doors had names from Greek myth but this one was a number. She looked inside and saw a man with long black hair. He was bare chested, and his back to her as he looked at the TV in front of him. He was the only one with a TV in his cell and he didn't look weird like the others. He looked normal.
She was shaken out of her thoughts when she heard footsteps from the nearest corridor. Thalia quickly thought of a place to hide and jumped in a dark room that looked abandoned. She crouched behind the big window that looked in the corridor. The footsteps stopped and Thalia heard two people talk.
"Dr. Mckenzie," the scientist greeted. "Has there been any improvement on his conditioning?"
"No, he is still in that induced coma," Dr. Meckenzie said. "Do you really believe that what Neptune has in his vault will get him out of his coma? He was the Crooked One."
"Of course," the scientist said. "What about our two subjects? 68 and 72?"
"They're both successful however…" her voice died away as if she wasn't sure what to say next.
"Yes?"
"… They seem to show different abilities than the original two."
"Oh?" the scientist said interested. "What kind of abilities?"
"Well they both have superhuman strength and high stamina as well as stronger bones, but subject 68 shows to have increased speed and 72's are more complex."
"He seems to be able to swim like a fish, charge with the force of an elephant and his strength seems to be stronger than the original subjects 003 and 011," she explained.
The scientist was silent for several seconds before he said; "Have Mrs. Levesque and Mr. Zhang brought in the test rooms, I'd like to see these abilities for myself."
Thalia heard the sound of shows meaning one of them was walking away when the voice of Dr. Meckenzie call out; "Octavian?"
"Yes?"
"What about subject number 3?" she asked. "Don't you want to see his abilities, to see he has the same abilities as subjects 003 and 011?"
There was a pause before the scientist answered. What he said made Thalia freeze; "Yes Dr. Meckenzie. Bring him in his test room. Time to see if I replicated the same serum that was used on Percy Jackson and Luke Castellan."
