AN: Here's a new chapter, hot off the press. Please enjoy (and maybe leave a review if you're feeling generous).
***10***
This time my walk to the office wasn't interrupted. The sun peaked lazily through the clouds, given that my day had ended pretty late yesterday I figured that I'd been passed out through the night and that this was the morning. The lobby was still deserted, I took the elevator to the correct floor, this time I had to press the button myself, apparently the Walrider wasn't feeling as generous as it had the other day.
When the elevator doors drifted apart the editing room was still a swarming mess of people. I waded my way through it, eventually arriving at Trisha's office. Without knocking I let myself in.
Trisha sat behind her desk, she barely registered my presence. Fine then, looks like I'll just be starting the conversation myself.
"Well, good morning too you too."
"What the hell happened out there?" I was stopped before I could think of what I was going to say next.
"long story-"
"good, I'd love to hear it" something about her voice told me that she would not love to hear it.
"... well, as you know there was some kind of attack and the CEO was mauled, and did you hear they weren't going to prosecute? Thats crazy" I had to find a way to make this conversation about the documents, fast. I didn't want to waste time here while there were mind controlling killers running around town.
"Cut the bull shit, you know what happened there" at this point she had stood up from the other side of the desk and looked like she was half ready to fly across the table to strangle me.
Something wasn't right, Trisha was obviously more calm and collected than this. "what makes you think-"
"don't put the conversation back on me. Franks in the goddamn hospital, the courthouse is in ruins, and you're standing here- a day later- without a scratch or an explanation."
I'd forgotten about Frank. At least he was still ali-
Wait, what?
"He's in the hospital?"
"Am I speaking english?" every word that came out of her mouth had more and more acid behind it.
"hold on, which one?" it'd be more then likely that everyone from the courthouse, including the CEO, would be at the same hospital.
"RushU Medical, not that it matters. I just came back from there, he's not even conscious yet"
Bingo. I searched through my pockets for the role of film that had the pictures of the documents on them. Without ceremony I tossed it onto her desk. "Ok great, the pictures on that are extremely important. Don't lose them. See you later." I turned to leave the room.
Trisha ran between me and the door. "Stop. You're not leaving until I know exactly what happened."
Fine, I wasn't wasting my time here when I knew where to find my guy. "the whole thing was my fault"
"What?"
Sometimes the truth is too crazy to be believed. "yep. I accidently released an insane black smoke monster into the building. Frank was an accident, I swear. And the CEO? I did that. Also, I didn't mean to blow the power out to the city block but sometimes things just get away from me."
Trisha looked me in the eye for too long for me to be comfortable.
"you're not lying."
I huffed in surprise. She was either a living lie detector, or absolutely insane.
"If you were, you'd come up with something more believable." she said, half to herself.
"Fair enough" I made a move to go past her and to the door.
She blocked me, "you're not going anywhere until I know exactly what happened"
"Trisha, I just leveled the county court house, you aren't about to be able to stop me."
She scowled and changed the subject "what's on the film Miles?"
Looks like I wasn't getting out of here that easily "documents about more of Murkoffs monsters."
"more of…?"
"The car crash at the courthouse? A lady had blood dripping from the eyes. Lets just say that that wasn't just a case of some bad break lines."
"Wait, where does Murkoff come in?"
"Don't tell me you forgot about Mount Massive."
I could see wheels turning "Ms. Ryan said it was personal. You were a patient."
"Close but no cigar."
She glared at me again.
"Remember the second set of footage?"
The reaction was instant "that was you?"
"Yep" I walked to the door, unimpeded this time.
I stepped out in the editing room before Trisha had the sense to move.
"Wait, I'm not about to let you walk out my front door after dropping that on me."
"Jeez, one second you're telling me to get out, then I'm not allowed to leave. You'll make a man confused if you keep that up" I quickened my pace.
"I'm not letting a lead like you vanish" she hurried to keep up.
"I've never felt so loved"
I neared the elevator. This time it slid open for me.
I kept talking as I stepped in "besides, if you want a juicy, one of a kind tip, I'd look at what's on that film."
The doors slid shut before Trisha spoke back.
If I knew anything about her she was probably smashing the button on the elevator trying to get it to return, or racing down the stairs. Either way I wasn't going to spend more time talking. The doors slid open, I slipped into the lobby and then onto the street. If I remembered correctly the hospital Trisha mentioned was a few blocks east of the courthouse, an easy walking distance from here. I burrowed into my jacket against the cold. I'd have to be more careful with this one, it was the last I had.
Yes, be careful. You should listen to your own advice.
The street was deserted and I didn't care if I looked a little crazy right now, "you know you're not about to talk me out of going after the dreamers."
I have to. Neither of us would survive.
That was new. "awww, is the Walrider scared of the big bad boogeyman"
Don't pretend you're not scared by hiding behind bad jokes. We will die if you do this.
"I nearly died at Mount massive, I don't see much of a difference."
There's no reason for you to be doing this anyway. We can go after the Murkoff workers, that will stop them, that's all you really want to do
"You really don't understand, do you?"
You want Murkoff to go out of buisness, I want to watch their organs seep from their pores. We can do both of those things together.
We were getting closer to a more busy part of town No, I went to mount massive to reveal all the horrible shit that was going on. Maybe I got caught up in wanting to watch Murkoff burn, maybe I went off the deep end a bit.
No, I'd say the revenge is very justified.
Not about that, I forgot that I wanted to stop a company from hurting people. Apparently I forgot that I wanted to the world to know what was going on so that innocent people wouldn't get hurt. I was starting to kick the mental crap out of myself.
There you are with your hollow morals again.
The Walrider wasn't helping. Fine I'll cut to the chase. We're here to make Murkoff- and anything else we get our hands on- stop hurting people. That includes crazy, blind, half psychic monstrosities. Got it?
You know I hate it when you delude yourself into thinking you're a good person.
I jostled my way through a crowd Well fucking deal with it, because that's where we're at now.
Somehow that didn't earn an acidic response, instead I found myself in silence as I walked the rest of the way to the hospital. My walk gained half an hour from me having to give the courthouse a wide berth. It was the next day and the place was still swarming with cops. As I neared a more busy part of town the snow on the ground went from a relatively pristine white to a gray slurry of oil and road salt. I'm sure my boots will thank me later
Eventually I came to Rush Universities Medical center, this was where they had taken Frank, with any luck the CEO would have went to the same place.
Well, here goes nothing.
I walked straight through the front doors and into the lobby.
Do me a favor and figure out which floor I need to get to.
There was no reply in words, the Walrider must of either been so done with me that I didn't get the pleasure of a response or so eager to kill the CEO that it didn't care.
At any rate I made my way to the elevator. It was packed full, I found myself crushed into a corner. For a few floors people shuffled on and off, then:
It's this one
When the doors drifted open I stepped out into the white hall. A few nurses and orderlies moved up and down the halls, every once and awhile a doctor in a too-big white coat could be seen. Between the nurses station, the little break area, and the lack of visiting families, I couldn't have missed how many cops there were. Just in my field of view there had to be at least half a dozen.
Keeping my head down I consulted the Walrider on where to go next.
Follow the lights.
At the very end of the far left hall I saw one of the ceiling lights flicker. A couple of twists and turns later I came across a room with a couple of cops idly standing in front of it. Damn it, there had to be a way around them.
Killing them is the obvious answer
Not now.
I took a look back at the hall, the light above the guarded door still flickered slightly as it recovered from the Walriders tampering.
Hey, kill the lights.
I had an idea.
The fluorescent bulbs flickered, then went out completely. There was only a dim glow from connecting halls to see by.
"Damn it." one of the cops muttered before reaching for the flash lights on his belt.
Get that too.
The flashlight turned on, only to have the weak stream of light flicker off as well.
Now I need you to make an appearance.
You have to be delusional if you think I'm helping you with these pranks.
I thought back to that little hospital in Colorado where Dr. Fin worked.
It worked before. Now I need you to make a appearance and get their attention. Draw them away, I don't care how. Just don't kill anything.
It would be faster to just kill them and be done with it.
I already said no. They're just earning a paycheck. The real targets behind the door.
I won't entertain your moral crusade forever.
But you will right now. Off you go.
Much to my surprise, there was no angry grumble as the swarm seeped from under my skin. In the dim side hall I could just make out the shape of a man that the swarm formed. Like a ghost it glided into the main hall and brushed passed the officers.
"You're not supposed to be down here."
The figure hesitated then drifted further from view.
"Hey mister, come back. You can't go that way!" the second cop started trotting off after the man he thought he saw.
"McGraw, get back here. We're not supposed to leave" Despite what he was saying the first cop took a step or two after his lost companion.
As soon as there was enough room for me to get the door open and slip in I took my chance. With light footsteps and practiced silence I snuck me way behind the man and through the closed door.
Walking into the room I shut the door behind me with a soft click. Behind the closed door I felt the lights turn back on in the hall. For housing one of the most high profile men in the country the room was surprisingly plain, the windows sat covered by verticle blinds, conveniently blocking any view there might have been from the street, probably to stop the prying eyes of the media. The few pieces of furniture in the room seemed unassuming enough, all being made of a light colored fake wood and being accented in baby blue. The only thing that didn't look like it was trying to fool you into thinking you were just visiting grandma's house was the bed. It sat against the rightmost wall, the gray plastic and steel that made up its frame stood in stark contrast to the attempt at friendliness the rest of the room had made. On the bed itself lay the CEO, a white sheet covered him up to the torso, telling by the lack of reaction from my entering he must have been asleep. Somewhere in the background a heart monitor beeped.
This is too easy. Let's give him a few nightmares, that would at least be somewhat fun.
I ignored the Walrider's return completely.
Walking over to the sleeping man I shook him by a bruised shoulder. He came awake with a start and a confused noise that fell somewhere between a grumble and a yelp.
Rise and shine you miserable fuck.
For as pissed as I was at this man, I couldn't think of a single thing to say while he sputtered out slurred and garbled words.
"Wha- who! You! No, nonononono. I- it. guards…!"
I didn't make a move to quite him down. I must have busted his jaw or something, because even for all his straining nothing came out above a tried whisper. As much as I enjoyed watching him panic, I had real questions.
"What is the Blind Dreamer project" I surprised myself with the question, I'd been expecting more threats and swears.
He seemed just as confused as I was "wha- Blind… Who are you?"
There's no reason to waste time with these questions, just kill him and be done with it.
Some of the swarm slid out from under my skin but made no move towards the CEO.
It was obvious that the haze unnerved him, I saw what few functioning muscles that were left tense, I could nearly feel him fighting down the panic. I only wished that I could keep him like that for as long as I had been. He had to know what the swarm was, or he at least recognized it from the beating I gave him. Did he even take the time to learn about all of the terrible things that were putting the zeros on his bank account?
"That's not important. The blind dreamers, what are they?"
Just drop it. Take your revenge and leave.
No.
"Blind… that piece of shit nightmare? I don't… I didn't. It's not my fault." Even now he was trying to push the blame somewhere else.
"It's your company, you gave it the green light." the swarm reached forward, I pulled it back, the CEO flinched "Tell me about it."
"...you're… No."
Faster than I expected, I found myself gripping the man's throat, behind me the swarm rolled and raged. I could have squeezed just a little bit and ended him right there
Do it.
I didn't.
"Tell me why the fuck you thought it was a good idea to go around making these monsters" with each word I had to pull back little bits of the swarm, it took all that I had not to tighten my grip.
The man was wheezing, I just barely made out the words "Can't… breathe…"
I let him go but didn't bother reigning in the swarm.
For a moment the man fought to catch his breath, when he started to speak his eyes still bulged from their sockets and the words were uneven "It was- just… business. That… the blind dreamers, the walrider. It wasn't personal."
So he did recognize the Walrider
Obviously. Now: End. Him.
The swarm whipped forward and back, I wasn't letting the Walrider win that easily.
"Torturing people was just business." scenes of Mount Massive burst through my mind "killing to keep your secrets," the memory of Waylon laying in a pool of his own blood filled my head "kidnapping goddamn children" the ride back with Connor and Garrett hit me like a freight train, "was all in the name of profit. How the hell were you going to make a dime off of any of that!" I might have been yelling at that point. I'm not really sure.
There was a panicked gurgle before any actual words came from the CEO's mouth "just… Murkoff makes- We were trying to expand the biosecurity branch of the business."
"By making monsters?"
"By making weapons"
You could see that the strain of speaking was wearing on the man. There was pounding on the door, apparently between my yelling and the swarm we'de attracted some attention. It made sense, in a twisted sort of way, using people to cultivate a thinking biological weapon. Or at least it did with the Walrider, I still had no idea how the blind dreamer project fit into that. Unfortunately, I was a bit too upset to ask. Instead I went back down on the man.
"All of that shit just to make a fancy new weapon! Innocent people died! I nearly died! Some random lady on the street minding her own damn buisness in her own damn car got killed!"
The words came through in choked breaths that escaped through my hands "only… Walrider… blind dreamers… just. psychological."
"Just psychological warfare my ass! Those things are out for blood and that's on you" I was standing back up at that point. Somewhere in the background I thought I heard the door being breached.
Are you happy now? That's all you wanted to know.
I still had more I wanted to ask.
Unfortunately panicked yells and barked orders were filling the hall outside of the room, it was time to get out before escape became a non option. The room was painted black by clouds of nanobots, if I hadn't been making an effort to do it there was no way I'd be able to see the CEO laying in is bed. Taking one last glance at the son of a bitch I let the swarm close in on him before leaving the room.
The screaming stopped almost as soon as it began. There would be a puddle of liquid flesh soaking the mattress before the last echo died out.
There, was that so hard?
…
I burst the through the door, the swarm ragged past me and all hell broke loose. Fluorescent lights popped and rained sparks, a few shots rang out, some the bullets ripped into me. The hall went black and I disappeared through the inky darkness.