Chapter Seventeen
Patrick buried all the rage he had suddenly felt beneath the few remaining shards of calmness he had left. Walking casually, he approached the cage they held her in. There were three scientists looking at some computer screens that seemed to be linked to Raven's vital signs.
"Is she still alive?" one of them asked. Patrick approached them silently, keeping silent, despite his desire to become Rambo.
"She'll live," another one of them said, pointing to the vitals. There was a heartbeat, something even Patrick could see on the screens as he got close enough to look over their shoulders. He looked into the cage that contained the weakened and beaten Raven. She wasn't moving much at all; spare the heaving of her slow breaths. He doubted she was even conscious.
"She better," the third scientist said, "we still have more tests for her."
"Any more tests today might kill her," the first scientist said, "she needs to rest these last ones off."
Patrick, who had been casing the room the whole time, was now very aware of his surroundings. There were no armed guards; this room was completely one of science. Apparently, this complex boasted high enough security to keep the needs of firearms in Sector 1 to a minimum. This worked into Patrick's favor though as soon as he did something hostile, he would have to escape quickly as armed personnel would be on their way.
"Quite an interesting specimen," the second scientist said.
"And an even better person," Patrick said suddenly, shattering his stealth. The three scientists turned around abruptly and were confronted with his smiling face. He winked at them and punched the first one in the face, sending him back a good three feet before landing hard on his back, sufficiently knocked out. The other two scientists, made confident with their numbers rushed him. Though as men of biology, they were not much for battle, Patrick disposed of them quickly, not using his powers much at all. He went entirely non-lethal, resisting the urge to have a repeat performance of the cave. They dropped quickly and the other scientists around the room all seemed to press an alarm button at the exact same moment. Though it was silent still completely silent in the room, he knew countless guards were being summoned.
He moved swiftly and without hesitation, firing a column of fire at wall of the cell, melting the plastic instantly under the intense heat and flames, sending off huge clouds of toxic chemical smoke. Patrick sprinted in, as fast as his leg could take him and grabbed Raven by the arm, practically wrenching it out of her socket, lifting her up and throwing her over his shoulder and then sprinting back out. By this time, the sprinkler system had been set off and the room was being doused in an artificial monsoon. Made frantic by the falling water and effectively loosing every bit of calmness he had, he began running towards the doorway back to the Technology portion of Sector 1.
He didn't bother for the pressure lock to normalize before blowing the automatic door open. However, on the other side, he found that he had not been fast enough at all. There, standing in front of him, was a small battalion of armed guards, all guns aimed at him poised to fire.
He gulped and quickly ran to one side as shots rang out. Too caught up in the adrenalin of the moment, he did not notice the multiple wounds he had received as he ran. They were minor though, mostly knicks and cuts to the skin as bullets winged him. Crouched behind the massive foot of the mech he had taken shelter behind, he sat down Raven. He looked at her for a moment. She was bleeding, rather badly. It appeared one of the bullets that had missed him; hit her right in the side. Still unconscious, her face was contorted in pain as she bled on the still luminescent white floor.
"No," he whispered as he put his hand on her wound. It was low enough to have missed her heart and lungs, but he feared she might still bleed out if he didn't hurry. He watched her wince as her breath became uneven. She was in pain and could do nothing about it. Thinking about fast as he could, given the situation, he tore off a large piece of the shit beneath the trench coat he was wearing and tied around her waist tightly, almost constricting her.
He peeked his head over the foot of the mech and saw the group of armed guards fast approaching, hesitating only enough to have given him the time to tend to Raven's wounds.
"Forgive me Raven," he said, realizing that he only had one option to save both their lives. With a bright flash, he summoned all his powers to the fullest he could take them, heating the entire room quickly by several degrees. Instantly, he was out from behind the mech, taking full fire from all the guards. He flew straight up, raising the temperature of the air around him beyond that of the melting point of steel. Many of the bullets melted before they hit him, splashing off. It was enough to make him cringe, but he thanked his luck that they did not have the substance to break the skin. He looked down at the men firing at him in vain. The molten metal hitting him did nothing to stop him. With a heavy sigh, he unleashed a wave of fire and heat, almost identical to what he did in the cave. The men below screamed in horror as they died slowly, their body combustion and fading away to ashes. The floor they stood on became molten metal, glowing red hot. All the ammunition the men had carried, when off in a flash, ricocheting off all the mech and finding places to embed themselves.
It was all over so fast. The armada of men, now a mere ghost of what they once were. There was nothing left this time, no skeletons, no bodies, just a molten red circle where they had once stood.
Something beyond this was bothering Patrick as he flew back down to Raven still unconscious and bleeding. He made the effort to shove into the back of his mind as he put her onto his shoulder again, but it remained there, ebbing away at his consciousness. He had actually enjoyed that. He had enjoyed killing all those men. Watching their lives snuffed out in the bright white flames he produced.
A heavy frown plastered on his face, he took up flight and darted towards the elevator, blasting it wide open and tearing through the elevator and shooting up vertically, a firm grip on Raven so he did not drop her as he flew. He stopped in front of the magnetically sealed doors, focusing a massive blast of heat and melting them out, the molten steel, dripping down and disappearing into the darkness of the elevator shaft.
He didn't wait for the metal to cool. He shot through, promptly killing the two guards that stood at the elevator door, weapons drawn. They didn't get a chance to even fire, they were a puff of ash in a flash. Leaving them without a second though towards the lives he had just taken, he bolted through the narrow hallways, hitting the walls on each turn, though shielding Raven from the blunt force. He moved as a flash, pushing those unarmed workers that were in his way aside with the ripple of superheated air that preceded him. It was enough to burn them, but they were not killed at least, Patrick was attempting to be careful, but the thoughts of their deaths didn't faze him as they would have a few minutes earlier. He shuddered as he flew from the thought that he might be getting used to murder.
At last, he was in the lobby, the one he had avoided on his way in through the vents. There was not time to avoid detection. The few armed guards in the room were swiftly dealt with. Few fired in time to beat their deaths. Those bullets that were fired, all hit Patrick. Most were in the shoulder, but two collided with his stomach and shot out the other end, almost making him drop Raven, who had also been wounded by the fresh barrage of bullets, though not as badly as Patrick.
As quick as he had entered the lobby, he was out of the complex, reaching ground level almost instantaneously. Bleeding and carrying extra weight, he felt a cold creep up his spine as he flew, full bore towards the Tower, due south.
The sun slowly was rising over the city as it came into view. Patrick felt his eyelids getting heavy. Thick drops of blood leaked out of his stomach as he flew, raining on the ground beneath him. Raven's clothing too were soaked entirely with both his and her blood. He sighed as he finally saw the familiar T on the horizon. He aimed straight at the living room window. He was too weak to take her up the stairs of the tower, and the security of the tower was not designed to allow him to do that easily. With a hollow gulp, he covered Raven and fired a blast of fire at the window, shattering the glass loudly. The entire tower shook, no doubt waking everyone. The rooms all took the shade of red as the intruder alarm went off. Patrick flew weakly into the tower and set Raven down on the couch, before collapsing onto the bed of broken glass, his now blurred vision catching the friendly silhouettes of his friends and team mates.
"Please…" he muttered as he closed his eyes once more, falling into the deep cold sleep that had been plaguing him so long.