Day 71 of 100
Volume 1, Chapter 36
BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER
(ARGUS designation)
They had looked to Project Titan as the great tipping of the scales in this never ending war of theirs. Soldiers made near indestructible, with the strength of many… How could it go wrong? As it turned out, many ways. They had lost a lot of good men and women in the initial trials, enough that they had come within a hair's breadth of being shut down. But then they had succeeded, with him. The very first of their successes, and for that he wasn't just a Titan, he was the Titan.
They had turned the tide with him, or they thought they had. Even with him as a template it was soon made clear that it wasn't simply a matter of cutting and pasting. There were more deaths, and the ones who survived hardly measured up to him. Some would suspect he had something to do with it, because he wouldn't stand having anyone become better than him. Whether or not that was true, they had at present time five more like him, back in War.
But he had been the one selected, not only to undertake this mission but to lead his fellow soldiers, and he saw this as his right finally given him. Back in War, as impressive as his and his brothers and sisters of the special projects could be, the resistance army, the General, would never use them as anything more than weapons, pawns. They would never rise among the ranks. All that was about to change.
Looking out over the city, in the overwhelming lack of sound, the Titan felt at last as though he had come to be exactly where he was meant to be, exactly who he was meant to be. Waiting to see how they would attempt to stop him was possibly the most thrilling time in his life to this point.
X
BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER
STEIN LABS
There were very few places within Stein Labs where one could stand and look to the city beyond. Actually, there was only the one, and this only because the design of the building shielded it from view. You had to know it was there to look for it. Doctor Stein never went there because of his chair, but he had shared its location with some of the others there that day. It was where Detective Raatko had ended up, and before long she had been joined by Mike 'The Atom' Matthews, and then the two agents out of ARGUS, Patty and Rene.
It was hardly a sight anyone would want to take in, the scope of the city in War, and one would really need to see the world beyond the labs' walls to make the trek up here. For a while it seemed like all of them would spend their ten minutes of 'head clearing' in silence, looking down to the city. But then after three of those minutes had been spent in silence, listening to the muffled sounds from outside, they all looked like they couldn't carry on this way… Someone had to say something.
"I don't know if it's because we're on our way to Silent Quarter but I really feel like yelling right now," Mike declared, and the others looked ready to take him up on it, breathing out the anxiety boiling inside them.
None of them had set foot on Breach Earth until a few days ago. They'd all had some exposure to it, either as agents of ARGUS, or as police and hero to the city so often visited by these breachers. Each of them could say they stood among those who didn't just see a breacher and see an invader. They interacted with some of them, knew they might only have crossed to escape a bad situation… Who could say they would never have to make that choice?
And now Silent Quarter was thrown in the crosshairs… What would happen if they failed them?
X
BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER
It wasn't that they could not exist outside of water anymore, but the changes to their bodies after going through Project Neptune had been such that they just could not be entirely at ease on dry land. Sometimes it got to be so bad that they could no longer breathe. It was all in their heads, and they could actually breathe just fine, but they would not believe it. Some of the past soldiers from the project had deserted, the better to find some body of water to live out the rest of their changed lives.
Since then, the soldiers had been well guarded, tracked even, making many of their two dozen soldiers feel more like animals than humans anymore. When the two of them had been recruited to this mission, there had been little in the way of hesitation. Why wouldn't they want to go off and do something more?
They had been labelled Triton and Nymph, back in Project Neptune. Whatever had brought them to the resistance army in the beginning, once they had been taken through the doors of the special projects' wing, it felt less and less like they were soldiers and more like they were creatures, so maybe for that these code names had gotten to feel like they were who they had become.
Between the two of them, they did not require the SQSL. They had their own signs when underwater. Still, they wouldn't have thought the silence would press on them here, too. When they had done what they'd been set to do, they swam back to the surface and found one another, confirming they had achieved their tasks, and then they swam off in opposite directions, to signal back to the Titan that they were ready. Since then, they'd been waiting, feeling the water retreat from them even as they dried off. They closed their eyes. It was all in their heads… they could breathe just fine.
X
MAIN EARTH, THE CITY BENEATH THE BREACH
It was a little known fact, easily guarded due to the fact that he did not interact with that many people, that Martin Stein could cross breaches, in a manner not unlike the one Seeker used. There was one notable difference, as confusing as it might have been to some. Something changed in him, when he travelled across the quarters, or to the other Earth. He changed. His personality would shift just a bit, almost acclimating itself to the other cities. The biggest change, always, was that he could walk again.
Maybe for this reason, to expel that sort of excess of nerves, he had chosen to use his ten minutes by finding his way across to Main. Laura had accompanied him, as had Harrison Wells and Catherine Grant, his colleagues of these past days. The two of them did not know about this ability of his, and when he showed them, rising from his chair, they stared at him in surprise.
They would get over it, taking in their surroundings. They were on Main. After the last few days, most of them spent either in War or Mist, being here… it was a relief, even for just a few minutes. They'd been caught up, almost the entire time, having to work constantly, trying to keep up with the developments, the Mist water, the weapon, the masks, the neutralizer… Now here they stood, with grass beneath their feet, breathing clean air… They could hear birds chirping…
By design or by accident, they spent so much time working to help the world but generally staying out of it… They could almost forget.
"Is this the place? Where Kara is from?" Laura looked around, her eyes watering. She had never left War before.
"Not exactly, although it is very similar," Harrison Wells explained.
Laura smiled to herself, but also felt just a bit of sadness. It was hard not to feel this hope that her daughter's return would signify a more permanent reunion, but now that she saw this place, she couldn't imagine ever keeping her in a place like War when she could have this…
X
BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER
Recruit soldiers did not go into Project Mercury knowing what became of every last one of them. Not since the incident which granted Slade Wilson his abilities and brought about the creation of Mercury had there been a fully successful subject. Only after being put through the process, when they would move into testing and training, would they start to become mildly aware. It would come in the way they would be watched, the uncertainty, the mad drive, the cautious hope… And then they would start to feel it in their bodies: something wasn't right.
The three of them were the last ones left, bearing the Mercury markings on their uniforms. The one they called Terminal, he had been the first of them to join, and it showed in how much his speed and his body were getting to fail. Then there was Rapid. He was getting to feel those effects bringing down more and more every day. The 'youngest' of them was Constant. She had been the very last recruit to the project until then, maybe of all time… Hopefully of all time…
Using their speed, what remained to some of them, had needed to be done with caution. They could not be seen, had to act and get into position, and wait. They could just barely see one another in the distance, like a triangle. If not for their own version of the Silent Quarter's color-coded alerts, they would be unable to communicate.
The three of them could only really sympathize with one another. They each of them had a death sentence over their heads for having gone through Mercury, and no one could know the feeling it fed in their hearts. But they had been promised… When this was over, they would be looked after. There might be a way to stabilize them again, to prevent them wasting away. It could all turn out to be pointless, they knew, but at this point what did they have to lose?
X
BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER
STEIN LABS
A part of them had considered following their Captain back to Main Earth, to help her after she'd come to Haven and helped them, but now more than ever Roy and Rory knew they were needed right here. So they stepped away for their ten minutes, finding a spot to sit and find some way to stop and regroup as had been recommended. It was difficult, when everything in them said to get up and go and do… something, anything, to ensure that what had happened in War and in Haven wouldn't happen to the whole of Silent.
They were not alone in this sentiment. Before long, they had crossed paths with Seeker and Jax, who'd started off together, deciding to spend their time swapping stories of their pack deliveries across the quarters. The four of them ended up sitting together. Looking from one to the other, they knew they all felt it… they needed to move. What Superman and Valor wouldn't have given to go off and fly…
When they'd actually vocalized it, there had been a moment where the other two, the breach hopper and the breach maker, had looked to one another, wondering… why not?
The next thing they knew, they were in Underground… above ground, and the two aliens were flying, Superman carrying Seeker along with him, while Valor had Jax. Overall, Seeker seemed to enjoy the experience much more than Jax did, though it couldn't be said that he disliked it either. It was a very brief moment's relief, but after everything they'd been through recently, it was exactly what they needed. No one would be there to see them, or wonder what they were doing.
And when it was over, they would cross back to War, to the labs, ready to face whatever came next, as they looked for a way to save the people of Silent.
X
BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER
They would be called the fire wielders, but they more proudly responded to the appellation of Project Svarog. Theirs was the project most successful, like an elite unit… for the enemy.
They had started out aligned to the resistance army, they had. But following the initial tests, the creation of their first Svarog soldiers, it had quickly been decided that they might be too volatile, that they would give the wrong impression. The project and all its subjects were to be terminated. One had escaped, taking herself and her modifications to the other side, to the enemy. Maybe for that, they had called her Phoenix.
She was in Silent now, with two of her kind. They were called Hearth and Sun. Hearth was still little more than a girl herself, and Sun tended to think himself in charge, but there was never any doubt who was highest ranked of their three.
Being the only ones in this mission who had not come from the resistance army's projects, they could have been treated as enemies, separate from the rest of them, but that was in no way the case. All of them had taken on this mission together because they shared certain beliefs. They knew how this would all end, and they were ready for it.
Phoenix knew her fellow Svarog would have done what was required of them. They would be in position now, waiting. She looked upon the city now. It felt to her as though, if she were given the chance to stop, and lie down, and try to sleep… she couldn't do it. Growing up in War, all of them had needed to learn to deal with the constant sound. By the time they were grown, they could have found sleep in the noisiest of situations. This? It was too quiet…
They might never get to enjoy a loud night's sleep again, depending on how it all ended here.
X
BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER
STEIN LABS
The Danvers sisters had taken it upon themselves to help Evelyn bounce back, to the best of their abilities. They found themselves joined in this endeavor by the two halves of Firestorm. Their destination was the galley, and an improvised sort of feast, before they launched themselves into whatever Silent Quarter would take them through.
It became something of a challenge, to treat themselves but not so much that they'd make themselves sick, heading into a fight. Each of them had their idea of comfort food though, and they would share those with Evelyn, arguing in turn why theirs was The Best comfort food. It quickly grew into silliness, but then they would see the smile creeping up Evelyn's face and it would tell them they were headed down the right track. Besides, their choice was definitely the best one and they knew it.
"If we stop them," Evelyn had spoken up after a while, "It could lead us to whoever's got Carter and the others, right?" The others looked to her.
"Maybe…" Alexandra told her. She would have said 'yes, absolutely,' but did they really know that?
"Good enough for me then," Evelyn nodded, digging into more of the food gathered up before her.
"Mistral's return?" Kara gave her a smile.
"Let them try and stop me," the girl confirmed before turning to Barry and Eobard. "Does your head have to be on fire when you two do that… thing?" she mimed merging. The two men looked to each other before Barry replied that no, it didn't. "Good… it'll be hard to sneak around otherwise." The sisters chuckled.
X
BREACH EARTH, SILENT QUARTER
It was no longer the case that subjects within Project Horus suffered the overpowering connection to one another that they had seen in their initial winged soldiers. That had been weeded out of the process after they'd seen how it presented in their initial run. Despite this, there was a bond between the two Horus soldiers along for the ride in this mission, one that preceded their entry in special projects or the resistance army itself. They were sisters, twins. They were not identical, but near enough to it that there'd be no mistaking their relation.
For that reason alone, the one they had called Raven stood alone and displayed evident signs of concern as she waited for her sister to return from the side task she'd been handed, back in Haven. Raven had done her part here, but it would not matter so much until Owl was back at her side.
She knew the moment her sister had crossed into Silent, and she smiled to herself. When finally she came sneaking up to join her, the two of them joined hands, shaking to one another. Good? Good. Soon their hands moved in the language they had learned together for this moment.
"How did it go?" Raven asked.
"I saw them," Owl replied. There was no need to specify who she was referring to.
For all the awe she had portrayed herself to feel upon meeting Gideon, one of the original Horus soldiers, the feeling between the sisters was about as far on the opposite of what she'd presented. Hunter and Gideon were deserters, and their flight – metaphorical and literal – had put their project to shame as much as it had subjected its soldiers to that much more scrutiny. They bore the scars to prove it… in every sense of the word.
"They'll know where I came from now," Owl told her sister, and she and Raven shared a grin.
X
BREACH EARTH, WAR QUARTER
STEIN LABS
The majority of the Waverider team presently in War found itself staying in the main hub, in essence spending their ten minutes with their teammate back on the ship, by way of the screen. Ralph, Slade, M'gann, and the Hawks sat or stood near where they could see Winn. Nearby, there was J'onn, walking quietly but staying nearby all the same. There was some feeling like maybe he wanted to stay near M'gann but knew she needed to be with her team.
Now that it was just them, it seemed Gideon and Rip and Slade and – to some extent – Ralph could finally let the revelation brought by the Horus girl really sink in. The projects. Of course it was them… When the four of them had been taken in there, they had been so preoccupied by what might happen to them, but if they stopped to think about it all again, they should have sensed something was off.
They had been part of the resistance, they knew what it was supposed to be like. And even if they had felt enough reason to leave them behind, to strike out on their own even if it meant deserting, it really hadn't been this bad, not back then. If they hadn't known the two versions of it, they might have had less doubt one way or the other whether the General was aware, but now they genuinely had no clue. On the one hand, it seemed like she would have to know, but on the other… They felt they knew her well enough to say that she would never do this.
"The look in her eyes…" Gideon would speak quietly, looking up to Rip. He could only nod, he knew. As much as they could get lost into their 'hawk' state, feel an animalistic pull, it wasn't all the time. But this other girl… it felt as though she had lost so much more of her human side. What had they been creating inside that base?
TO BE CONTINUED (tomorrow, in volume 2)