There's a loud ringing next to me as I shoot up from my bed. Alicia's been trying to call me. "Shoot! Sorry, I was sleeping." I say as I pick up.
"That's fine. Do you want to sleep longer? I can wait." She says.
"Like I'd make you. What's up? Is this about the old place Shocker used to do experiments at?"
"Yeah, let's meet at the MDF." I grab my stuff while holding the phone to my ear, still listening.
"I'll be there in a bit. Is it alright if we check on Sophie while we're there?"
"Of course it is, I'll see you soon." Alicia says before hanging up.
My parents aren't home so I leave without saying bye, getting on the Cyclone and riding off. How do I comfort her if there's nothing about her parents there? I don't know, is being there for her enough? I want her to be happy. Maybe this is something I've got to let her handle, but I'll at least be with her the whole time. That's the best I can do for now.
Alicia's waving to me as I park outside the MDF's building. "Ready?"
The guard lets us in, and I look over to see Alicia fidgeting. "So, do you think we'll actually find anything?" She says.
"Do you want me to be honest?" I ask. She nods. "I'm not sure. I don't think Agent Braid would miss something as important as your parents being alive."
"I know, but this feeling won't go away till I check. Sorry."
"Don't apologize. Who knows, we might find something. And if we don't, I'll be here for you for whatever you need."
Her usual smile returns, albeit weak. "How'd I get so lucky? Couldn't have asked for a better girlfriend."
I knock on the door to the room with Sophie. It opens with Agent Braid on the other side. "Oh, it's you two." She still seems hesitant to talk to me.
"Just here to check on my sister, and ask for where that old place Shocker used to experiment at is." I say.
"So you still plan on looking?" She says, looking at Alicia. "I won't stop you, but I doubt you'll find him there. Give me a moment, I'll get you the location." She steps out from the door to let us in and walks away.
"Damn it, why isn't this working?! It shouldn't be this hard to figure out." I hear a voice yell from the room.
"You need to take a break. This kind of stress isn't good for your health." Another voice says, this one sounds like my sister.
We step in to see Otto pacing around the room; the professor is looking elsewhere, and Sophie is sitting up. Wait, she's sitting?!
"You can move?!" I shout.
The Professor and Otto look at me, only now noticing that Alicia and I got here. "Yes, Otto here got her up and moving again. He's quite impressive." The Professor says.
"It's not like moving does her any good if she can't see. I don't get why nothing's working. This is so pathetic." Otto says.
Sophie stands up. From her posture, I can already tell where this is going. "That's enough. I don't want to hear another word of that out of you, got it?" The sudden change in tone snaps Otto out of his pacing. "You need to stop working and rest, end of discussion."
It feels weird being on the other end of this. That's Sophie alright. I'd never forget that part of her. Oh god, is she going to lecture me about the way I was acting before? She doesn't know about that, and she never needs to find out.
The Professor laughs. "You heard her. I think we've all earned a fair break."
"Fine, I've got other things that need work done as well." Otto says.
"Rest." She says.
"O-Or I could do that." Otto says.
As he walks past us, I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "You're doing a great job. She's moving again. Go get some sleep, or Sophie will make you. It's happened to me before."
He sighs before walking off. "I swear, you all need to take better care of yourselves." Sophie says.
"Sophie!" Alicia runs up to the window. "It's been so long."
"Alicia? I'm so happy to hear you. You're one of the few sensible people here. I assume Chase has been alright." Sophie says.
"You're too hard on her. She's good at what she does." She says.
"See?! I'm doing just fine, but that isn't going to stop you from getting on my case." I say.
"No, I'll trust Alicia's judgment on this." Sophie lays down. "I think it's time for me to rest before Otto loses his patience and tries again."
"Can you vouch for me more often?" I ask Alicia.
"I'll think about it, but it's funny watching Sophie lecture people." She says.
"So, you're really going back there?" The Professor says to Alicia.
"I know. We probably won't find anything. But-" Alicia says before being cut off.
"I had a feeling you would. Be careful." He says before looking at me. "I know I don't have to say this, but stay safe."
"I mean, Alicia's just as strong as me now." I say. The Professor gives me a disappointed stare. "Yeah, yeah. Don't get cocky, I know. I just meant that we can at least hold our own."
Agent Braid comes through the door with a folder. "This has the location of the old lab. I'm not sure you'll find anything, but be careful."
"I need to see this for myself. Even if it's small, anything's enough for me." Alicia asks.
"I'm not stopping you, but please don't get your hopes up. For your own sake." She says.
"We know, but it won't hurt to look." I say, taking the folder.
As we walk away, Agent Braid stops us. "One more thing, I'm sorry. For everything, I should've done something. I could've stopped all this."
"You and the Professor aren't the only people who've made mistakes, but that's not something we can change. Every one of us are victims of Shocker, and all we can do is focus on what can be done right now, not in the past or the future." I say.
"You know, I see why Cole likes heroes so much. He loved the present, by the way." She says before talking to the Professor.
"Where do we need to go?" Alicia asks as we walk outside.
I open out the folder and take out a map. Wait, this isn't far from the town. The map itself is of the town, but it continues going past that into a more secluded area away from the town. There isn't any building though. Agent Braid just marked a spot on the map.
"Somewhere outside of town. But she put an actual building down. She just marked a spot. You got any idea on what that means?" I ask.
"Not really, even with my memory back. I was unconscious when we escaped. I woke back up in town with Alex carrying me. But Ms. Braid and the Professor weren't there." She says.
"Maybe one of them stayed behind and the other didn't want to leave them with Shocker." I say as Alicia and I get on the Cyclone.
I need to keep an eye out for anything weird. If Shocker's there, he'd probably know we're coming. That light before he escaped. What was that? Whatever happens, I'll keep Alicia safe. I won't let him hurt her.
"Can we talk about something?" Alicia asks as we ride out of town.
"What's up?" I ask.
"You said Ms. Braid and the Professor aren't the only people who've made mistakes. Do you need to talk about something? I know you're doing better than before. I'm just making sure."
"I'm just caught up about everything that's happened. Still don't know where I stand with Otto. I know we both seem fine, but I can't get over what I said to him when I was mad. I did a lot of stupid stuff."
"I can't disagree there, but you learned from it. Isn't that what matters? Maybe you should talk to Otto about it. I'm sure he's just as concerned about everything as you are."
"If I even get the chance, he's always working." We both laugh. "I love you."
"I love you too." She says.
It doesn't take long to get to where the spot on the map is. There's a lot of tall grass, trees, leaves, and vines covering the area. But it doesn't take long to find the spot, not because of the map, but because there's a giant patch that's been emptied of any grass or leaves. There's a metal hatch with a ladder leading down.
"He's expecting us, isn't he?" Alicia asks.
"Assuming this whole patch is empty for a reason, yeah. How'd your brother get you up with this thing while you were unconscious?" I ask.
"There are probably multiple ways to get in. I'm sure it'd be annoying to bring people down this ladder while they're unconscious."
"You sure you want to do this? I've got the feeling we'll see him again."
She nods. I go down the hatch first. It leads down to an empty room with a door leading out into a hallway, already opened. In front of the door is a tape recorder labeled January 30th, 2000.
Alicia goes ahead of me and picks it up. "He wants us to find these. What does he want?" She says.
"Who knows? It's not like he wants to get rid of us. He could've done that a long time." I point at the recorder. "Do you want to play that? We can save it for later if you want."
She shakes her head and clicks the play button. "Finally, my first experiment. What are you waiting for?" It sounds like a younger Shocker, talking to someone else. I can hear footsteps as someone exits the room. It takes some time before Shocker speaks again. We can hear quiet mumbling, but it's not clear enough. "You're lucky grunt. You'll be the first to utilize my work. Give him the disc."
I can hear crackling noises as someone screams in agony, the scream distorting into a monster roar before going silent. A group of footsteps run in, picking something up before the young Shocker screams out of frustration.
"Weakling! Don't you want to get stronger, rise about all else?!" whoever he's talking to doesn't respond. "No wonder this organization went under." He whispers to himself before speaking directly into the recorder. "Test one was a complete failure. I'll have to use it again on another one of these grunts. It has to work eventually." The recording stops.
We're both silent. It's hard to recall what we just heard. "I know they're evil, but his own workers…" I say.
"So the reason he calls himself Shocker is that he's the only member left." Alicia says.
Something sounded different about him. The only time I've heard him get mad like that is when Alicia and I beat him. If all he wants is to get stronger, then why didn't he take us out? The only time he actually tried was when he called me a disappointment. Would he actually have killed me then?
"Should we keep going?" Alicia asks, bringing me back to reality.
"If you're up to it, this is probably worse for you than it is for me."
"Even if I have to come back here, I just want to learn something." She says as we both walk into the hallway.
It's like a giant prison. The hallway is lined with barred rooms. Each door swung wide open. Each room has another tape recorder in it, but these labels are more recent, ranging from a few years ago, all the way to 2009. I pick one labeled January 25th, 2009 and play it.
"I think I've figured out the problem. It was never my creation that was the problem. It was these grunts. All they do is follow my orders. They don't feel powerful emotions like normal people do. So I've made a minor change to my method." He says before taking a few steps and speaking to someone else. "Bring in the subject."
It's hard to hear, but we can hear a man pleading to whoever is carrying him into the room. Shocker's watching. The man lets out a scream. It distorts as the sound of his body morphing into a monster plays out. But a few seconds after, we can hear another sound as the man changes back and falls to the ground.
"Yes, finally! It worked. My genius has finally led me to success. Emotion, that's the key I was missing. Only through emotion can we truly become stronger. Take him away. I'll experiment more later." I can hear footsteps as he walks away. "Now that I know how to make them work, I just need to make the perfect disc, one that'll rise above all else." The recording stops.
Again, it's hard to say anything after that. We both stand in silence, letting what we just heard sink in. The silence of the rooms filling our thoughts as the recording plays back in our heads.
I take out Alicia's disc. "Is this what he was talking about?"
"And I was the first person it worked on, after thirty other people." Alicia says.
We both look down the hallway, I think to myself as I stare down the line of rooms, each with a different recording. All this to be stronger? Is that all he wanted? I stare back at the disc. How many people did you hurt to make it happen? Those people, their families, friends, they didn't deserve this. Shocker, whatever it takes, I won't let you hurt anyone else. I'll protect these people with my life, no more death, no more torture. That's what it means to be a hero.
"It took him nine years to make one disc work." Alicia says in awe as we continue walking.
"Do you think it was the Professor who helped him make that discovery? He was probably working for him by then."
We've listened to other recordings, but they're all similar to the first one, Shocker using another disc on another person. Sometimes it's someone he's already used it on, sometimes it's someone new. People lose their minds after too many tests. I'm scared of what we'll hear if we find a recording with Alicia's parents. There are so many hallways in the building, each with rows of cells, each with a recording. The only rooms that are different are ones that look like they were used for developing the discs, or other equipment.
One room is particularly different, though. It watches a large empty space from above, shielded by a glass wall. It's most likely where Shocker stood while watching his experiments. Inside the room are three recordings, each labeled with names instead of dates.
"These are…" It's evening speak while looking at the names laid out.
Lucy Braid, Alicia Cohen. My eyes go wide as I look at the last name, Sophie Rush. I grab the recording with Sophie's name and look at, making sure I'm not seeing things.
Alicia puts a hand on my shoulder. "We don't have to play that one, it's alright."
"No, we need to know what happened. But, can we save it for last? I need some time to prepare." I ask. Alicia nods as she takes the recording with Agent Braid's name.
"I've found myself a promising one. The heroic ones are always the most fun." Shocker's voice says as Alicia plays the tape.
"Why don't you come down here? I'll show you some fun." Agent Braid says, albeit hard to hear.
"Tempting, but it wouldn't change the results. I would use that disc Lockmen made, but he's stubborn about making that belt of his work. Out of respect for his work, I'll let him do what he wants. I've got my own to test, anyway." Shocker says.
"You really think people won't notice that I'm suddenly missing? I've got a lot of friends." She says.
"I'm sure you do, and you'll see them again. But it'll be under my supervision. You've been looking into this little organization. I'm sure you know how long this has been going on." He says..
"I can still tell someone, even if you're watching. Threatening me won't change a thing."
"And who says they'd listen? Science is a valuable thing, especially when it's hidden from the rest of the world. Not to mention there isn't much evidence of our existence. Even if you've figured it out, no one will care to look into us like you have."
The sound of a door opens from the room Agent Braid's in. "I'll find a way. We will catch you. I'm not the type to quit so easily." She says, moments later we can hear her screams as I can only assume her body changes into the snake form she uses.
"Good." The sound of crashing is heard in the room. "These grunts may not be monster material, but they certainly make for excellent fodder." Agent Braid quickly drops out of the monster form. "Someone will bring you back to your cell, but you'll be sent back home soon enough. And just to be safe, if you try anything, that friend of yours has the perfect heroic spirit for an experiment like this."
"Don't touch him. He's got nothing to do with this." She says back before the tape ends.
Don't worry, Agent Braid, I'll make sure he's caught. I won't let your torture be for nothing.
"So in the end, she had to give up to protect the people she cared about. How did all of this stay hidden for so long?" Alicia says.
"It was probably like that for everyone he took. When people have someone they want to protect, it gives them that emotion Shocker was looking for, and a reason to stay quiet." I say.
Alicia puts the recording down and picks up the one with her own name. She plays it, but it's the same recording that he played to us before. Hearing the screams as she transforms, it's hard not to get enveloped in that same rage I felt back then.
Alicia just stares at the recording with a blank expression. "He said they lost their minds. What does that mean?" I have an idea, but it's not something I want to say to her. "I'm serious." She says.
"It probably means they couldn't handle the discs, or he used more on them and they lost their minds because of that. Back when he first played the recording, he said he wondered what would happen if he used a third disc on her to Agent Braid. I'm sorry." I say.
"Do you want to listen to Sophie's?" She asks, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, I can do this." I say as I play the recording.
"It's taken some time, but this project is finally ready for testing. I wonder how she'll react after waking up." He says before pressing some buttons.
"Where am I? Who are you?" A confused, but calm, voice says.
"Not much emotion. Does that have to do with the modifications?" He says to himself. "Stand up."
"Where's my sister? What did you do with her?!" she asks.
"That's better. You have nothing to worry about. We didn't take your sister, but that could change. If you're not willing to comply. Now, stand up."
"Now what?" She says.
"I'm going to run some tests to make sure everything is correct. First, endurance." He says before pressing a button.
I can hear the loud sound of electricity as Sophie screams. My finger instinctively stops the recording before it continues. Alicia puts a hand on my shoulder, but I shrug it off.
"I should've been there. I could've done something. Right? There must've must've been something I could've done."I say.
"Remember what you said. Focus on what you can do now, not the past or the future. Do you want to keep listening?" She asks. I shake my head. "Let's get out of here. I'm sure Sophie will want to hear about what we found."
We make our way back through the building before getting to the ladder we came from. Is Alicia going to be alright? She really thought we'd find something, but we all we got was something we've already heard before.
"Sorry about making you do this." Alicia says as we climb up.
"You didn't make me do anything, and we got these recordings out of it. Sorry, we didn't find about your parents."
"I already knew what happened. I just didn't want to believe it. Ms. Braid tried to tell me, but I didn't listen."
"Sure, you didn't listen to her. But that's why I like you. You won't give up on something until the very end. I mean, who was so stubborn about protecting me?" I say.
"Alright, I get. Thanks for believing me." She says.
"We're partners. I'll believe what you say, no matter what." I say as we finally get outside.
"Next time Sophie tries to lecture you, I'll get you off the hook" Alicia says as we get outside and walk to the Cyclone, but there's a recording on the seat.
I look around us, but Shocker is nowhere to be seen. "He really knew we'd come here. Why wouldn't he just show up himself?"
Alicia takes the recording. There's no label on it. "Guess we might as well listen to this." She says before playing it.
"You two are quite the risk takers, but I'm sure you know by now that I like when you take risks. It's what makes this so fun to watch, doing things that go against any semblance of logic. I apologize for the way I lose my composure during our last fight, seems an old part of me slipped out. But I'll be seeing the two of you again soon, so don't disappoint me. And for you, Alicia, if you want to know what happened to those two. Beat me and I'll tell you." The recording ends.
"He knew we'd come here." I say, getting on the Cyclone.
"Are we really that predictable?" Alicia asks.
"To him, we're an open book. But that just means he'll keep being cocky around us, so we've got the advantage."
"I'll trust you with that." She wraps her arms around me. "Can you stay over at my house tonight? It's been a while."
"Sure, I'd love to." I say before riding away.