A/N:
I know it's a day early, but it just so happens that I am going to Stockholm tomorrow to audition for Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, so I won't be here to update, so I had the brilliant idea to update today instead!
Now, this chapter hasn't been beta'd because I forgot to tell my beta about tomorrow, and I didn't want to spring it on her today, but I'm pretty sure the chapter is readable as it is anyway xD
I also have to give sensitive people a TISSUE WARNING! Another idol will be found in this chapter, and therefore another death will be shown, and just … yeah. It's not fun.
I'm gonna continue putting the disclaimer here just be sure that everyone is aware of where this story originated.
This story isn't 100 % mine. I have transformed it into a story from an interactive story app called Choices (an app I am completely obsessed with atm) and the creators are Pixelberry Studios.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
{Chapter 13}
Concealed in an Arachnid suit, I escorted the others through Cullen's MASADA facility.
A dozen heavily-armed operatives stood at attention inside the lab I'd been instructed to enter. They parted and revealed Cullen himself approaching.
"Welcome, my honored guests. The moment of truth is finally at hand," he said with a wide smile.
Alistair scoffed. "That's rich. As if you could refrain from lying for a single breath."
"He won't have a breath to draw after I get near him," Leah said threateningly.
A person in a yellow shirt in the back of the group of operatives caught my eye.
Alice.
I was amazed that she went straight back to Cullen's side after everything she'd seen while being with us.
At the sight of Alice, Leah got ready to lunge forward, but Garrett and Peter held her back.
"You're not going anywhere, little girl," Garrett told her coldly in character.
"Neither is she," Leah replied angrily.
Cullen suddenly walked toward me, his smile still in place. "But I'd be remiss if I didn't thank the hero of the hour … What's your callsign, private?" He reached out to shake my hand.
"3-1-7-2, sir," I replied robotically.
"A serial number?" he questioned.
"We identify ourselves by number only. Our mission is more important than personal glory, sir," I continued.
Cullen grinned, pleased. "Ah, of course. Excellent work, 3-1-7-2. I'll make sure your superior officer is notified."
"That won't be necessary, sir. It's enough that the client is pleased," I told him, still in my robotic voice.
"What's good for the client is good for us," Garrett finished for me.
"Yes. Glad to be of service, sir," Peter said, and I was grateful that he really tried to remain formal, but I also hoped he could refrain from speaking as much as possible. If there was anything that could destroy our cover, it would be his slip of the tongue.
Cullen nodded thoughtfully and shook my gloved hand. He then turned to my captured friends.
"Can we get the hell on with this?" Edward spat out through clenched teeth.
"W-what are you planning to do with us?" Tanya stuttered out.
Cullen straightened out his tie and fixed Tanya with his blue eyes. "Firstly, there's the matter of why you've come this far north."
"You know why I'm here, you bastard," Leah replied, and she was practically shaking with anger at this point.
Cullen nodded. "That I do, indeed." His eerie calm visibly unsettled those pretending to be prisoners, especially so when his gaze passed from one face to the next with laser-like precision. "Alice told me of your aim. The Lernaean Gate. Very resourceful of you to discover its existence." He shrugged. "However, I'm afraid I have unfortunate news. It never worked. A failed, discarded prototype. It would have required an impossible amount of energy to function properly."
Anxiety gave way to furtive, concerned glances among the group.
I remained frozen in my soldier pose, but my mind was working on overdrive. I sure hoped the Island's Heart was strong enough to power the Gate.
"So, lamentably, you came for nothing," Cullen continued.
"You and your pet will die here. You can be certain of that," Leah vowed, pretty much lost in her fury.
"One way or another we'll put a stop to you, Father," Alistair said, glaring with hatred at his father.
Cullen sighed sadly. "Ah, Alistair … I regret that circumstances haven't allowed me to be more straightforward with you. But the curtain, as it were, is finally going up. All of El Jardín's mysteries will soon surrender themselves to us. Armed with what we've discovered at MASADA, humanity will be able to bravely march forward—"
"Humanity? Bravery? What could you possibly know about such things?" Alistair interrupted. "You turned your wife—my mother—into a glorified slave!"
"And ordered your little snake to stab my mom in the back!" Leah continued.
"Please, just let him explain—" Alice tried, but it only caused everyone to start shouting at once and hurling accusations at both her and Cullen.
"Murderers!"
"You're both awful, and you should feel awful!"
"Where's McKenzie? My fist has another appointment with his face!"
Cullen whirled toward me and the other Arachnid troops. "What am I paying you for? Get them in line."
When the real soldiers stepped closer, I turned toward the others and leveled my rifle at them menacingly. "You lot would be better off to shut up," I said, but despite the fact that I did it in character, it caused Kate to frown angrily.
"Whoa! That's uncalled for," she accused, but I ignored her.
What made me want to facepalm myself were Emmett's next words. "Yeah, whose side are you … uh, never mind."
I attempted to drown out his faux pas by shouting over the words. "Shut up before my friends here beat you senseless for disrespecting Mr. Cullen!" I gestured toward the real soldiers who were clearly awaiting an excuse to attack.
"Okay, okay, good point!" Benjamin said and held up his hands in surrender.
Cullen sauntered over to Leah and Alistair. "Leah … I regret that Susan forced my hand, but she of all people would understand that sacrifices must be made for the greater good." He shifted his eyes toward Alistair. "As for Esme, you're right, Alistair. I gave her back existence, nothing more, but now that you're here, I may finally be able to give her life."
Alistair startled. "Wha … What are you talking about?!"
"If words can't convince you of my desire to better this world, perhaps a demonstration will." Cullen grinned. "We've made promising advancements with a particular extraterrestrial mineral." He produced a small shard from his pocket similar to the strange crystals I'd found all across the island. He placed it in front of a robotic arm, tapped a display, and a laser fired at the crystal fragment, causing it to glow brightly.
Cullen then took a beaker full of fluid from a nearby counter and let it fall next to the shard, spilling its contents.
Before my eyes, the beaker split into an array of future and past versions of itself, some with the fluid still contained and others streaming out in different directions.
Cullen remained focused on the glowing shard. He reached down and carefully plucked a full, intact beaker out of mid-air. "We're so close to being able to replicate this on a larger scale," he said. "Once we've harnessed the power of the Endless, all of time will be ours to command!"
"You can't just change what you don't like about things that have already happened!" Tanya exclaimed. "There'll be a butterfly effect!"
Alistair swallowed. "But perhaps … if used in an isolated manner…" he said carefully.
"If you're looking for our help with that, Daddy Weirdbucks, you've got another thing coming," Edward sneered at Cullen.
"No way," Victoria echoed him.
Cullen smirked. "I presumed there'd be resistance to the idea. Very well. Take them to the containment units."
"Containment … units?" Benjamin asked. "Like where the Ghostbusters put Slimer?"
"I'm sure you'll come around … in time," Cullen said confidently.
Arachnid operatives surrounded the group, shoving and dragging them toward an elevator.
"Hey!" Kate protested.
"Easy! We're going, we're going," Emmett said when one soldier shoved him particularly hard.
The doors closed, and the group disappeared, leaving me, Garrett, Peter, and Rosalie alone with Cullen.
"We're still missing a few of the guests, aren't we? The big one, the brave one, the hacker, and … the mystery," Cullen pointed out. "I'll need you four to fetch their corpses from Lake Tethys. We require all twelve bodies for the procedure. Especially Bella."
I refrained from swallowing nervously. "Understood, sir," I said instead, but my head was screaming, wondering what the hell he meant. Why was I so important?
Cullen pocketed the shard and left through a separate elevator.
"Finally! I can barely breathe in this stupid mask—" Peter said and was about to remove his helmet, but Rosalie elbowed him.
"Wait," she said lowly before moving to a nearby control panel and executed several commands.
After a moment, the security cameras deactivated, and she took off her helmet. The rest of us followed suit.
"Okay, nobody's watching. We're clear," she said.
"Alright, guys. Now what?" Peter asked the rest of us.
"Phase two," Garrett said. "We save the others before they are put in whatever 'containment' Cullen has in mind."
"Then we make a run for the Gate."
"Shut up!" Rosalie suddenly cried out in a whisper.
"Damn, Rose. Rude," Peter said in response.
"No, it's … Do you hear that?" she asked us.
Suddenly, a soft tone came from the security panel, where a blue light pulsed slowly.
"That's the same thing we heard—"
"When Iris showed up," Rosalie interrupted me and finished. "She must be trying to tell us something." She touched the panel, and its display suddenly changed to a blueprint of MASADA.
A flashing line appeared, leading from our current location to an area marked Private Office: S. Montoya.
"S. Montoya'? That's Leah's mom. Iris wants us to go to her office?" I frowned in confusion.
"Maybe there is something in there she wants us to see," Garrett said. "Let's check it out."
We followed the directions to the office, taking special care to move through the facility as inconspicuously as possible.
Inside, dusty lab equipment was spread across counters and desks. A series of sketches depicting robotic constructs were attached to a bulletin board.
"Looks abandoned," Garrett commented.
"Or forgotten," I said. "If this is what Leah's mom was working on before she was murdered, it's strange that Cullen didn't have her things removed."
A blue spotlight emanated from a computer terminal. Iris's hologram gradually materialized.
"We can speak safely here," she said. "This room is no longer monitored, having been unused for several years."
"So this is … where Leah's mom worked?" I asked.
"This is Susan's old office, yes," Iris confirmed.
"What was she working on?" I asked and gazed around the room at all of her research.
"Actually, that's a highly relevant question. She was one of the first scientists to extrapolate the extent of the Endless's abilities."
"The Kaarii told us the Endless could 'move freely' between different points in time."
Iris nodded, her hologram flickering. "MASADA's scientists have proven that the same holds true for spatial distances. In fact, the Lernaean Gate was designed to mimic this method of teleportation."
"So how do we find the others and get them to the Gate?" Garrett asked, shifting Iris's attention to him.
"The prisoners have been taken to Hydrodynamic Stasis for processing. That laboratory is just a few floors beneath us, but it's constantly under heavy surveillance. There's an experimental weapon in this office that should be able to neutralize any Arachnid soldiers found there."
Rosalie grinned. "I'm down for anything that involves 'experimental' and 'weapon.'"
Peter nodded along. "Hell yeah!"
Iris continued. "Once you've freed everyone, you'll need to proceed to Theoretical Prismatics in Sub-Level Nine, deep in the underlying pillar of rock."
"And that's where the Lernaean Gate is?" I asked.
"Correct. It's among a number of devices developed at MASADA before the limitations of standard prisms were fully understood. The Island's Heart will be more than sufficient to finally activate it."
"Sweet! So where's this weapon you're talking about?" Peter walked around the room and looked into cupboards and drawers.
"There's a cabinet to your left marked with a hazard symbol—" Iris flickered erratically.
"Iris? Something wrong?"
"I'm … being reconfigured!" she exclaimed in shock. "Bella, please promise you'll get Alistair and Jacorel to safety."
"Wait, Jacorel?" Garrett frowned. "What about him in particular?"
"Carlisle wants to prepare a new host. Directive 1908 will force me to—"
Iris vanished mid-sentence.
"That ain't good."
Peter walked over to the cabinet Iris indicated. "Huh. There's a diagram on the door," he said. He knelt down to take a look. "Holy…" His eyes widened. "It's a shoulder-mounted laser cannon!"
Garrett, Rosalie, and I headed over to him.
"Guys, we gotta get this open! It's about to get all Gundam up in here!" he said excitedly.
"Gangnam?" Garrett asked confused.
Rosalie shook her head. "Gundam. Peter, hold up for a sec. Lemme look at the secur—"
"Yo, I need this in my life!" Peter giddily tapped a bunch of panels on a nearby display.
I heard a clunking sound, and then the sound of machinery springing into motion.
Suddenly, something wrapped around my head and blocked my vision. I gasped in shock and tried to get it off. "What the—"
"You okay, Bella?" I heard Garrett ask me, but I still couldn't see anything.
"Looks like a VR headset," Rosalie said next. "It's freaking latched on to Bella's head!"
Then, a bright blue 'room' appeared around me.
"Bella, can you hear me? I'm tryna turn it off!"
A woman in a lab coat entered and turned toward me. There was a deep sense of urgency in her eyes.
"Hello. I'm Susan Montoya. For several years, I've been assigned to Cullen International's Omega Specimen Project. This simulation was created in order to illustrate how hugely destructive Omega could be if allowed to be seen to completion. Everything you're about to experience directly represents what the machine will do to the specimen, and thereby what the specimen could do to our world."
The room and the woman faded from view, and I found myself on a busy city street.
I looked around and saw a high tower with a huge clock. "Big Ben? I … I think I'm in London!" I exclaimed, and the other three stopped whatever they were doing to turn the VR off.
I looked down and saw robotic limbs where my arms should have been.
"Try to keep your cool, Bella. I think the simulation is responsive to biofeedback," Rosalie told me from somewhere to my right.
I suddenly felt a compulsion to interact with the city around me. A pulse of blue light flared from me, its eerie glow reflected on the face of a mother pushing a baby in a stroller.
In the blink of an eye, the baby grew to adolescence. The mother looked down at the young woman, still wrapped in a baby blanket, and screamed.
"Oh no!" I exclaimed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"
"Yo, Bella, you gotta simmer down. Your levels are goin' crazy!" Peter told me.
The scenario abruptly changed. I was on another bustling street lined with modern high-rises. Again, something forced me to affect my surroundings.
I didn't know what was happening, or even what I was supposed to be.
I focused my attention on the people passing by. Several of them stopped to gape at me. Streams of blue light erupted from my body, swirling among the surrounding onlookers.
Before my eyes, each individual touched by the light vanished and was replaced with a shrieking Neanderthal.
The cavemen flew into a rage and attacked nearby citygoers.
"What in the world? I didn't expect that."
The scene dissolved and returned me to the blue room.
"You've just experienced firsthand the disastrous effects of the Omega Specimen. If you were shocked by what you saw, I urge you to contact your government officials and warn them to take action. Cullen International must be stopped before this project becomes a terrible reality. Thank you."
"Guys, I think it's shutting down," I told the others.
"Hold on, Bella! I'll save you," Peter said.
"Peter, wait—" Rosalie said, and then I heard something shatter. The headset's lock immediately detached.
The visor fell away, and nearby, smoke was rising from a smashed computer terminal.
"Are you alright?" Garrett asked, immediately looking all over my face for injuries.
I glanced at the device in my hands. "That … was interesting, to say the least," I said, still in awe.
"What'd you do that for, you big idiot?" Rosalie yelled at Peter. "I told you it was about to let Bella go!"
Peter shrugged, unaffected. "Whatever. You're welcome for saving your life, bro," he told me.
I smiled at him. "Sure. Thanks, Peter." I looked back down at the cabinet. "Should we see if we can get that laser cannon out?"
"Yeah! You know it!"
Rosalie hit him hard on the arm. "Peter. Do. Not. Touch. Anything!"
Peter held up his hands in the air. "Okay, okay. I get it." However, as soon as he said this, he absently reached toward a screen and prepared to swipe the surface.
"Dude, seriously!" Garrett told him harshly.
Peter sighed disappointedly. "Fine."
Rosalie squinted at a terminal next to the cabinet. "Yep. I should be able to get this bad boy out. It'll just take a little time."
"Based on what we've seen so far, I'm thinking we're gonna need that," I agreed.
"You don't say," Rosalie said and started to tap away at the display screen, quickly disabling the lock. She popped open the door, and a white, octagonal cylinder was revealed inside, connected to a shoulder harness and peripheral devices. "Okay, Peter," Rosalie said turning to him. "Remember, stealth first."
Peter rushed to grab the cannon, balancing it on his arm while he attached the straps. "Stealth first … and pew pew boom second!" He repeated with childishly excited expression. He strutted around the room with the sleek cylinder jutting from his shoulder.
"You know how to use that thing, Chen?" Garrett asked him, chuckling at his ridiculous strut.
"Let's find out," Peter replied. He aimed the weapon at a cleaned-out desk in the corner. A column of blazing red appeared in the cannon's path, instantly reducing the desk to white-hot ash. Peter gaped in shock and fright at the pile, but then his gaping mouth became an awed grin. "Oh whaaaat? That's what I'm talkin' about!"
Rosalie nodded. "Okay, I gotta admit. That was awesome."
"Nice shot," I approved. "We'd better get moving, though."
"Just try to keep that pointed away from us, okay, Sixty-Eight?" Garrett said a slight tremble in his voice.
"You got it, bro!"
As we filed out of the office, I couldn't help but notice Peter's gleefully bouncy steps.
We returned to the main entrance, and to the elevators. The doors slid open and the four of us entered.
Garrett leaned down to look at the list of floors on a display panel. "Where did Iris say we needed to go?"
"Hydrodynamic Stasis," I said, impressed with myself that I remembered the name.
"Right," Garrett nodded. "Good memory." He tapped the screen and the doors slid closed.
"Helmets on," Rosalie instructed. "We're gonna have company."
The elevator began to descend, and then the doors opened at a corridor lit by stark fluorescents.
I could hear a familiar voice coming from somewhere ahead.
"Such a shame … You coulda been a hero, Masen," McKenzie's unmistakable bass said, and my heart skipped a beat. What would we do if they had separated Edward from the rest of the group? There was no way I would leave him behind.
Still, I waved the others forward. "Let's get closer, but keep a low profile."
"Copy that," Garrett replied.
The corridor took a sharp turn then opened into a large room, and I peeked around the corner and felt conflicting feelings inside me.
All of the others were lined up along the wall of a laboratory, but a row of Arachnid soldiers were also holding rifles at their backs.
And then I had to hold in a gasp.
McKenzie had his hand clamped around Edward's neck, his powered exosuit helped to lift him into the air.
"Should've left it alone, son. Would've turned out better for everyone," McKenzie continued.
Edward was struggling to breathe and his feet dangled in the air, fruitlessly attempting to find footing, but he still managed to get a few words out. "McKenzie … you delusional son of a…"
"That day ain't today, Masen."
"Today's your day," Fiddler said joyously and sidled up to McKenzie and borrowed his cigar. She took a puff and blew the smoke into Edward's face.
Edward coughed slightly, but he could still breathe somewhat, despite being in McKenzie's steel grip. He glared at Fiddler. "My only mistake was trusting someone like you, Fiddler."
Fiddler looked mockingly hurt by his words. "Awww, that hurts. Really does. Fortunately, you'll have plenty of time to reconsider your harsh words while you're in your pickle jar." She gestured through an open observation window.
Endless rows of stasis tubes stood in the adjoining room each contained a pale, contorted figure kept on the edge of life by support systems.
I turned off my suit's voice amplification and leaned over to whisper to the others. "Those tubes; they're just like the one we found Cullen in back at The Ethereal."
"Holy crap," Peter whispered back. "Who are all those people?"
"My guess is the missing guests," Rosalie said.
"Looks like they're in suspended animations," Garrett observed. "We've gotta rescue our friends before they join 'em."
"Let's put him in now, McKenzie," Fiddler said excitedly, bringing our attention back to her.
The servos on McKenzie's armor grinded as he tossed Edward against the wall. "Go ahead," he told Fiddler. "I'm sick of looking at that bastard. Stick 'em all in. You and Mouse, come see me when you're done."
"Yes, sir," Mouse replied.
McKenzie headed toward the door and emerged into the corridor where we were standing. I jumped to attention and angled my hand across my forehead.
"Sir!" I said respectfully.
McKenzie barely gave us a glance as he passed by. He entered the elevator, and the doors briskly slid shut.
"What a jerk," Peter said.
I could practically hear Rosalie roll her eyes under her helmet. "He ignored us, ya dummy. That's a good thing. Come on, we've gotta figure out how to save the others."
The four of us marched into the stasis lab.
Fiddler was smugly watching Edward as he was forcibly dragged by two Arachnid operatives toward a circular device.
"Get … offa me!" he gritted out, clearly pissed off.
Fiddler smiled. "You're cute when you're angry and helpless."
The others heard the struggle and began to protest.
"Stop it! Let him go!" Benjamin cried out.
Jacorel growled under his breath. "This is a coward's solution. We should fight to settle the matter!"
"They're going to put all of us in those tanks?" Tanya questioned fearfully.
Fiddler grabbed Edward by his jacket and sent him sprawling atop the disc in the middle of the room. "Turn it on," she ordered.
"Initiating discharge," Mouse said and reached toward a terminal. A surveillance camera scanned the area from the ceiling.
"We've gotta do something," Peter whispered.
Garrett raised his rifle. "I've got a clear shot! Who should I aim for?"
"Shoot Mouse!" I told him. "Quick! Before he turns it on!"
Garrett took aim and fired his rifle at the red-armored soldier, who went down, wounded.
"Mutiny? Are you freaking kidding me?" Fiddler exclaimed.
Edward grinned. "Guess ol' McKenzie ain't inspiring much respect these days."
We all removed our Arachnid helmets, and Mouse grunted out. "The missing four … they're attacking!"
Fiddler reached toward an activation panel on her suit. "We'll just see about that," she said as she vanished and became invisible. "Let's play hide-and-seek!"
I heard her maniacal laughter and the sound of blades being drawn.
"I really don't like her," Rosalie said with a frown.
We all scanned the area for Fiddler.
A thin layer of fog clung to the floor, and Peter cranked a dial on the laser cannon.
"Alright … I'm chargin' up!" he warned us.
That was when Fiddler reappeared in front of him, her katanas raised to strike. "There's so much of you to slice … Where should I begin? How about right here…" She brought a blade to his neck.
"How about you eat laser instead?!" Peter yelled and red light flared in the barrel of his cannon.
Fiddler's eyes widened in shock. She barely had a moment to cross her blades defensively, before a massive streak of red sent her flying across the lab.
With a crunch, she hit the opposite wall and slid to the ground. Her twisted, half-disintegrated katanas tumbled to the floor at her sides as she collapsed, unconscious.
"Hello, Peter's 'little friend,'" Benjamin breathed out.
Cracks appeared in a few stasis tubes near the wall Fiddler collided with, and over the sounds of struggle, I made out a computerized voice.
"Warning. Units three, seven, and sixteen compromised. Health of hotel guests remains stable."
"Guests?" Kate exclaimed. "These are The Ethereal's guests?!"
"But why are they here? What could Cullen want with them?" Tanya asked.
The other three Arachnid soldiers in the room turned toward me, their guns raised.
Benjamin noticed and he got the entire group to descend on the soldiers at once, tackling and punching where they could reach.
"You just messed with the wrong pre-med!"
"I've been saving up my rage for a moment like this … Have at you!"
"Fall, men of the Hydra!"
I looked back to the others to find Garrett and Leah pinning down a subdued Mouse. The other Arachnid soldiers were backing away from Kate and Alistair, who'd taken their rifles.
"Bring 'em to that disc over there. I got an idea," Rosalie said.
"You heard her, creeps! Move!" Kate ordered sternly, and I was impressed that she managed to sound so authoritative. She and Emmett prodded the soldiers over to the central platform, while Garrett dragged Mouse's body.
"Please, no! We're nobodies! Our salary's less than 40K!" one of them pleaded.
Rosalie typed something into a touch panel. "You're overpaid. Have a nice bath."
Circular hatches opened beneath the soldier's feet. They fell, splashing into a vat of green fluid before the hatches snapped shut once more.
"Man … I'm ready for a vacation from this vacation," Emmett groaned and wiped a few drops of sweat from his forehead.
I felt like I finally could check on Edward, who was sitting against a wall, massaging his battered neck. "Are you okay?" I asked him worriedly. I could already see bruises forming where McKenzie's hand had squeezed painfully around his throat.
Edward smiled reassuringly. "I'll survive. That was damned close, though, Princess. Your timing's somethin' else."
I leaned forward and captured his mouth with mine, and he willingly reciprocated. "You can repay me later," I said with a wink.
"You know I will," he replied and leaned forward for another kiss.
"We gotta move, people. Next stop is the Gate," Garrett said.
I helped Edward up and then we all followed Garrett toward the elevator.
A few minutes later, we arrived at Sub-Level Nine, just as Iris had instructed.
"What is that?" Jacorel asked. "Do you see that up ahead?"
"Looks like a security scanner," Garrett said with his lip curled in disgust. "Get your helmets back on."
A high-pitched electronic noise sounded through the corridor.
"All personnel please stand by for security screening."
"And we're screwed," Rosalie groaned.
"That's not what you're supposed to say!" Emmett exclaimed.
"Yeah. Usually, you're all 'I got this. Can't no security system hold me down' and stuff," Peter agreed.
"Sorry. I don't have this one, guys," she confessed dejectedly.
"Everybody, get behind me. We're too close to mess this up now," I said determinedly.
Several cameras swiveled toward us. A dot projector scanned each of us. A seeming eternity passed in silence, everyone holding their breath.
"No intruders detected. Access granted."
I breathed a sigh of relief, releasing my anxiety with the others. "We made it! Come on!"
We continued to our destination, faster than we had before because we could all feel how close we were. The corridor led to a massive chamber, overgrown with vines and moss.
Benjamin looked disappointed. "Uh-oh … I dunno if anything down here is still going to work."
We walked through the lab and passed by derelict devices and failed prototypes.
"Hey, Princess! Check this out," Edward called out, and I joined him by a small window. He wiped away dust and revealed a chamber contained inside the wall. I peered in and could just about make out the outline of the amber idol.
I gasped. "Another one!"
"It's in the middle of a laser grid. I reckon they were scanning it for something," Edward said.
As I looked closer at the idol, I could see that it looked kind of like a werewolf, and I instantly knew that it was Edward's idol and the reason to why he was the one who found it.
"Can we get it out?" I asked, more curious about seeing Edward's past than anyone else's, although I dreaded to see how the idol thought he would die.
"There's a chance an alarm will sound if the beams are disrupted. But … there might be a way."
"We might need it," I said. "What's your idea?"
He winked at me. "Watch and learn." He shattered a nearby pane of mirrored glass. Then he carefully opened the scanner compartment and used the mirror shards to reflect the laser beams. He grinned victoriously when he pulled out the idol. "Piece of cake. You want it in your bag?"
"Sure." I reached out and waited with bated breath for when the idol would touch my fingers as Edward gave it to me.
The facility washed away. I was wrenched through time and landed in the cockpit of a military plane.
Edward sat in the pilot's seat, casually manning the throttle.
"Arachnid flight deck, this is Wolf, reporting clear skies over Kharzistan," he said into his radio, and I instantly knew in what moment of his past I'd landed in.
The radio crackled with a response. "Roger that, Wolf. Any sign of rebel activity?"
Next to Edward, the co-pilot, a dark-haired man with piercing blue eyes and angular features, leaned forward, squinting at a radar console. My guess was that the man was the famous Jazz. "Nada. Looks like a straight shot to mother base, just like we planned."
"Copy. Safe flying."
Jazz shut off the radio and leaned back in his seat. "So here we are. The two best pilots in the entire Navy. Stuck on recon duty."
Edward grinned at his friend. "Hey, I don't mind. I'll take a smooth boring recon run over a dogfight any day."
Jazz chuckled. "Whatever you say, Grandpa."
Edward leaned over and gave Jazz a playful punch on the arm. "Word of advice, Jazz? Drop the whole 'nicknames' shtick. It's seriously lame."
Jazz scoffed. "Says you. Ladies love it."
"Says the guy who struck out with every girl in the port when we were on shore leave," Edward fired back and winked.
Jazz shrugged. "What can I say? I'm an acquired taste."
Edward grinned and leaned back in his seat, just like Jazz, who watched him for a minute and then leaned forward.
"Hey," he said with a serious expression.
"What's up?"
"I'm scared, man," he confessed and Edward's easy expression fell as he looked over at his friend.
"Jazz…"
"I know we gotta do this. I know it's the right thing. I know McKenzie's gotta be stopped. But the minute we land this plane and walk into that General's office, our lives change forever." He sighed. "McKenzie's powerful and ruthless. He's gonna send people after us … after our families."
Edward looked away. "Look. I'm scared too. But I trust in the system. I believe in justice." He frowned angrily. "McKenzie's been selling U.S. weapons to our own enemies. He's turned us all into mercenaries, working for the highest bidder." He took a deep breath to calm down and turned back to Jazz. "When we tell everyone what he's done, they'll listen. They'll protect us. And he'll pay."
"I wish I had your certainty."
"We already made our choice, kid. All we have is now," Edward replied with ease.
Jazz arched an eyebrow. "Was that a nickname?"
Edward rolled his eyes. "Not on your le—" He was cut off by the blare of an alarm. "What the hell?"
Jazz slid over and looked at the panels. "Damn. We've got a row of surface-to-air missile launchers on the ridge!"
"What?" Edward exclaimed. "That's impossible! They're all supposed to be on the other side of the mountains!"
"Well, they're here! And they're locking onto us fast!"
Edward looked deep in thought, and then his features smoothed out as a realization came to him. "McKenzie … he freakin' found out!"
Jazz met his eyes. "Oh god. This whole mission was just a—"
Down below, the ground shuddered as several missiles were launched into the sky.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Edward cried out.
"Oh god … oh no…"
"Hang on, Jazz! Just … hang … on…"
The alarm bleated in terror. Edward pushed down on the yoke, ducking below one missile, but three more were visible through the windshield.
"I can't dodge 'em all! We've gotta eject!" Edward shouted over the alarm and flipped switches and punched buttons. A light turned green and he grabbed his eject lever. "Ready?"
He looked over to Jazz and saw the fear on his face. The light on his console was red.
"Mine's jammed!" Jazz said, panic beginning to creep into his voice.
"You've gotta be kidding!"
My breathing increased as I watched the missile rocket drawing closer toward us.
"Rip open that panel. It's the wiring—" Edward said through clenched teeth.
Jazz shook his head. "There's no time, Ed. You gotta go."
"Like hell! You're one dumb son of a bitch if you think I'm leaving you here!"
Jazz looked at him sadly. "We already made our choice, kid." He reached over and yanked Edward's eject lever.
"Jazz, no!"
"All we have is—"
The blasting pins fired and tore off the cockpit ceiling. Edward's seat launched out of the plan, and since I was connected to him in this memory, I followed along, flying next to him like a ghost.
Just then, two missiles impacted the hull with a huge explosion.
"JAAAAZZ!" Edward cried out in pure despair.
The plane was ripped apart and showered the sky with debris, and at the same time, I was shot forward through time, into Edward's future.
Into a jail cell.
Edward angrily paced around, his hands held together by thick metal shackles. He spun toward a camera, mounted in the corner of the room.
"Hey! Phony Stark! You watching? You tuned in to the Edward Channel? Ain't anything better on?" He glared right at the camera flipping the bird. "I ain't gonna dance for you. I ain't gonna be one of your lackeys. Never. But if you're looking for some entertainment, how about you and me, outside, no guns? I'll give you a show, you piece of—"
An angry fist pounded on the cell door, and a soldier on the other side leaned in through the grate.
"Keep your mouth shut in there, prisoner!"
"Why don't you come in here and make me, Peter Parker? Or you too scared?" Edward taunted angrily.
"Why would I bother ... when I can do this?" The guard slammed his fist down on a button near the wall. A current surged through the metallic floor and electrocuted Edward.
I watched in horror as his body convulsed and slumped to the floor, panting, as the guard laughed.
"Five years, man. Five years I've been doing that. Never gets old. Now then … you ready to play nice? Or am I gonna have to g—"
Suddenly, an alarm blared out overhead. Red lights flashed, and klaxons bellow.
"What the hell?"
With a crackle, a voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Attention, all Cullen goons. This is a pre-recorded announcement from Security Chief Hale. If you're hearing this, it means I've activated the Killswitch Protocol. Which means you're pretty much screwed. I've set all the reactors to overload, so in about twenty minutes, nothing'll be left of this compound but a smoldering crater. Have a nice day, and burn in hell."
The voice cut off. The guard stared at the speaker, stunned, just as the cell door slid open.
"Well, well, well," Edward said as he stepped out.
"Crap!" the guard cursed and dove for the button, but Edward was faster. He leaped, rolled, and lunged forward, tackling the guard around the waist.
Wrists still shackled, Edward yanked out the guard's sidearm and shot him twice in the head.
"Payback's a bitch," he huffed and threw the guard's body aside and rushed forward.
The inside of the MASADA compound was a total chaos. Guards ran around frantically, shouting, scrambling.
Other prisoners rushed out of their cells, fighting them in a wild melee.
Edward looked around and spotted an open doorway leading out to the hangar. "There it is," he said to himself and started in that direction.
A fueled-up cargo helicopter sat on the helipad, and Edward stared at it longingly, but then he turned and ran the other way, deeper into the compound.
The scene changed before me, and I watched as Edward staggered through the doors of the stasis lab. He was holding a rifle, and he had been roughed up badly and was bleeding from a bullet hole in his thigh. Behind him lay a trail of dead Arachnid soldiers.
He was breathing heavily and held his bleeding thigh painfully. Then he limped forward, one hand on his wound and pushed through the room until he found the pod he was looking for.
With a trembling hand, he used the console on the side of it. The pod slid open, and I gasped when I saw my own body, slick with slime, naked and limp, falling out of the pod into Edward's arms. In an instant, I was pulled into it, aware of everything like a spectator, but just as much a part of the vision.
"Come on, come on … wake up!" I heard his voice clearly, but I had to wait for my body to wake up before I could see anything again.
He shook me repeatedly, and then my eyes finally opened with a blink as they adjusted to the light.
"Edward? What—"
Edward looked incredibly relieved as he wiped some slime away from my face. "There's my Sleeping Beauty."
"Where … how…" I tried to get out.
"You've been frozen for a long time," Edward replied with a troubled expression. "But you're here now, baby. I got you."
"How … how long…"
"Five years almost. I'll explain it all later. Right now, the two of us got a plane to catch." He slid his arms under my shoulder and helped me to my feet.
It was so strange to be in my own body and not being able to control it. The weakness was unsettling, and I couldn't really use my feet. Edward pretty much carried me.
"Now, come on. It's just this way."
A gunshot rang out, and I screamed out in shock as Edward stiffened, stunned, then he looked down to see the front of his shirt darken with blood.
"Not … now," he groaned out and fell to the floor, my weak body followed him down into a heap on the floor.
I lifted my head weakly and saw a familiar figure looming in the shadows, a pistol in his hands.
"Don't move," Mouse said.
I suddenly got some strength and sat up, glaring at Mouse in fury, an enraged cry coming out of my mouth.
Mouse stepped closer, pistol still raised.
I scrambled back, weak from atrophy. I couldn't escape.
Just as Mouse pulled the trigger, Edward threw himself at him, taking out his legs. They wrestled on the floor until Edward slipped the chain of his wrist shackles around Mouse's neck.
On his back, with Mouse pinned on top of him, Edward pulled back as hard as he could. Finally, the soldier's neck snapped with a brittle crack, and he went limp.
"Edward … Edward!" I scrambled forward until I was next to Edward and pushed the dead soldier off him. I could see the blood spreading on his chest, and he was already looking pale and weak, the life fading from him.
It reminded me all too much of that night when Jacorel had accidentally killed Edward in my suite at The Ethereal but was also so very different this time.
The pain was greater because Edward meant so much more to me now. He wasn't just a hookup anymore. I loved him, and it broke my heart into a million little pieces to see him die in my arms once again.
"No … no no no … stay with me, Edward!"
"Run … get outta here … the place is … gonna blow…" he got out with some effort.
"I can't just leave you!"
A single tear escaped from the corner of Edward's eyes, and he reached up and cupped my cheek. "At least I got to see you … one last time."
His mouth was still curled in a soft smile, his hand fell away from my face, and he closed his eyes as he faded away.
Suddenly, I was back in Theoretical Prismatics. I blinked and realized I was crying.
Edward noticed, too, and he cupped my face, much like he had in his last moments in the vision. "What's the matter?"
"I…" I tried to get anything out, but it was difficult.
Edward pulled me into a gentle hug and stroke my hair. "Hey. It's alright."
I leaned away, but only enough so that I could pull him in for a searing kiss. "Thank you," I whispered against his lips when we parted.
"For what?" he asked, most likely confused by my behavior.
"For something you'll never have to do. Not after today," I said cryptically, and he frowned.
He shook his head. "Sometimes I can't keep up with your riddles. Come on. Let's find this Gate and get ourselves home."
As Edward led me forward by my hand, I looked down at the gleaming idol in my white-knuckled grip.
"Oh wow … Guys, come look at this!" Tanya exclaimed and Edward pulled me over to her.
She was standing before a yawning cylindrical chamber; a narrow catwalk threading the middle, ending in a colossal, paneled sphere.
"Whoa … is this is?" Peter asked.
"The Lernaean Gate," Alistair said in confirmation.
"We actually made it," Kate said disbelievingly.
I discarded my Arachnid disguise and joined Rosalie at the computer terminal. "Any idea how to turn it on?"
"Looks like the power coupling leads here." She pointed to a steel plate between two large electrodes. A pile of fine dust was in the center of the plate. "Whatever they tried to power this with last time got burnt out fast."
I pulled the Island's Heart from my bag and looked at Jacorel. "Are you sure, Jacorel? If the Heart isn't powerful enough, it could be destroyed."
"You have risked greatly for my people, Bella. Now we will risk this for you."
I nodded and placed the Heart between the electrodes. Suddenly, the console hummed to life.
"That's a good sound, right? I think it's a good sound," Emmett said hopefully.
"The sphere!" Victoria exclaimed.
I looked over and saw the giant mechanism starting to rotate, picking up speed. Soon, its panels broke off, somehow orbiting the center and revealing within a pulsating ball of energy.
"It … it works," Alistair said in awe.
"The targeting is live! I'll put in Hartfeld's coordinates," Rosalie said and tapped away on the computer.
"We should hurry. We managed to sneak all the way down here, but they're definitely gonna notice this big of an energy spike," Kate urged.
"Uh. Are we sure it's safe?" Benjamin asked with care.
"Only one way to find out," Garrett said.
Everyone anxiously watched the swirling portal, crackling with electricity.
I turned back toward my friends. "This is it. Together, we've faced dangers none of us could even dream of. If you guys are by my side, there's nothing we can't overcome."
Peter nodded. "Compared to some of the things we've seen, a purple death vortex is basically a cakewalk!"
"I'm with you, Bella! All the way," Tanya said and smiled.
One by one, my friends joined me on the catwalk.
Benjamin lingered. "So, Jacorel, after we're through, take the Heart and get outta here. Don't get caught, okay? I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."
"You would not be able to know, either way, Benji, but I promise," Jacorel said and took a step back and nodded for Benjamin to join the rest of us.
"I'd know. Somehow, I'd know," Benjamin insisted.
Jacorel's lips trembled as he held back his tears. He embraced Benjamin and kissed him one last time. "I will wait for you, Benjamin," he said.
"For a million years?"
"For eternity."
I noticed Edward was hanging back with a torn expression on his face. "Edward?"
He sighed. "I've been running for so long, I feel like it's all I know. From McKenzie. From the law. From Jazz's parents. Right now, all my body wants to do is keep running." He turned to me and smiled gently. "But I can't run forever." He stepped up beside me.
"Goodbye, my friends. It was the greatest honor of my life to know you," Jacorel said solemnly.
"Can we please move this along?" Alistair ushered. "The radiation cannot be good for our health."
"You ready, Princess?" Edward asked me, and I turned my head toward him and slipped my hand into his. "Oh good. I thought for a second I was gonna have to hold Malfoy's hand instead."
"Why? You nervous?"
He squeezed my hand. "Not anymore."
The twelve of us encircled the portal sphere.
"Everybody, together. One … Two … Three!"
All of us took one step forward into the light.
I felt myself stretch and shrink, dissolve and reconstitute, transmitted across dimensions, falling through the quantum foam.
And through it all, we all held each other's hands.
Finally, I felt something solid underfoot. "Do you feel that?" I asked the others.
"I think we landed somewhere," Rosalie agreed.
"I still can't see," Benjamin cried out.
I winced against the blinding light.
"We made it! We finally made it!" Tanya cheered.
Gradually, the haze faded, and the first thing I felt was heat.
"What? What happened?" Victoria asked as she looked at our surroundings.
I was just as shocked at what I saw as she was, but I had been rendered a mute, and couldn't get a single word out.
A colossal volcano disgorged fire and smoke into the sky. An ocean of smoldering lava flowed to the horizon.
"Dammit, Rose! You got the coordinates wrong!" Peter cursed.
"I did not! I wouldn't make that dumb a mistake," Rosalie defended herself.
"Then where the hell are we?" Kate asked, frightened by the sight before us.
I shielded my eyes and gazed out at the fire, and that was when I saw everything. The clock tower … the stadium … the library.
I found my voice again, but I almost wished I didn't. "The gate worked … we're home."
A/N:
Okay, so we now know that Carlisle is certifiable. Power-greedy bastard with no care of the consequences of his actions. Alice believes he's doing it for the world to become a better place. That Omega Specimen seems creepy AF.
We know where the hotel guests have been this entire time, and why Edward uses nicknames so much. It's his way to honor his best friend who did it before him.
They're home … but it doesn't look like home.
What do you think is going on?
Tell me your thoughts and I will have awesome things to read on my journey tomorrow!
Until next time,
Stay Awesome!