Title: In Thade We Trust 14/?

Author: veiledndarkness

Warning: The usual disclaimer, not my property, just playing with the characters. Takes place shortly after the end of Planet of the Apes (2001).

Summary: In the darkest parts of the human mind lies the ability to be needlessly cruel and inhuman, a baser nature that separates us from the animals.

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The alarms blared in the distance, shrill and sharp, cutting through the late afternoon air. Behind them, a series of bangs went off, each one louder than the last.

Leo ducked into an alcove, his eyes wide. "The hell is goin' on? It sounds like doomsday back there."

"The alarms, Riva triggered them," Naira tugged his glasses off and pocketed them in one of his many lab coat pockets. "The building is going into lockdown now, which means..."

"Which means I need to get out now," Leo finished, nodding. "Jesus...I hope you got a plan, cause honestly, Doc, I'm runnin' on instinct and not much else."

Naira peered around the corner, waving to him. "Hurry," he whispered, the two of them darting down the hallway. "Ari's waiting for us in the underground."

Leo frowned. "But...the building's going into lockdown, so how are we gonna slip out?"

"Do you trust me, Leo?" Naira grabbed his arm as they stopped in front of a steel gray door, his wiry fingers almost too strong on Leo's forearm.

He winced and nodded, "Yeah, as much as I can, yeah."

Naira dug in his inner pocket with his other hand and pulled out a small key. He unlocked the door, revealing a darkened staircase. "Then follow me and keep that mouth of yours shut. This building has escape routes. Not all were transferred onto the current maps. Stay with me, the stairs are fairly narrow."

Leo let out a small breath as he was dragged into the stairway, the door closing behind them. The blare of alarms rang around them, somewhat muted then. "So, humans built these then?" He trailed his hand along the wall, following Naira closely.

"What makes you say that?"

"The stairs are too narrow for you and your...uh, kind, it's kinda obvious that these weren't made by you guys." Leo squinted in the complete darkness, his heart pounding a nervous beat against his ribs, "Can't see shit."

"Right, one moment," Naira muttered. "I should have brought my illumination lights. Damn. I didn't think of that. Stay close, we'll be down soon enough."

Leo moved with Naira, blinded by the lack of light. He stumbled a few times, the sound of their footsteps echoing around them. Naira tugged him closer. "I have something that I need you to look over."

"Now's not the best time, with me bein' led through pitch black staircases."

Naira huffed out an irritated breath. "Obviously," he said. "Once we're out of the building, I'll show you them. I found these...symbols, patterns; I suppose you would call them, carved into the Thade Memorial."

"And?"

"And I believe, as Ari does, that you might be able to understand them. Our history is rich with legends and this...well it could be connected."

Leo groaned. "Spare me that whole 'Thade is the best thing since sliced bread' story, would you? That's all Riva was ramblin' about before you got there. He called me an angel, a human angel from the legends."

"Dear Thade...that's it!" Naira gasped and spun around, gripping Leo's arms tightly. "That could be how the patterns match!"

"Look, I know you wanna prove all this shit, but you're gonna have to accept that I'm not some angel or...or savior or whatever. I was just trying to find Pericles, that's all. I never wanted any of this!" Leo snapped and yanked his arms back. "Now all I want is to get the fuck outta here and preferably live without being someone's slave or experiment!"

Naira shook his head. "Calm yourself, Leo. Now let's go, I'll explain everything soon."

"Bullshit..." Leo muttered under his breath as he led down the stairs.

Naira wove them through the staircase, the ringing alarms growing more distant and quiet as they went. Leo shivered when the temperature abruptly plunged down, his breath puffing out in front of him, his bare feet numb from the cold.

"Shouldn't be much further," Naira felt along the wall, a thin beam of light appearing beneath them. "Ah, there we are..."

Leo crossed his arms over his chest, shivering harder. "How far down are we?"

"Several stories underground."

He made a face and nodded. Naira tapped his knuckles on the door before them, the thin strip of light widening as the door opened. Ari's face appeared in the doorway, her gaze darting about. "Naira?" she whispered, eyes wide.

"I've got him, are you ready to leave?" Naira grasped Leo's arm and pushed him closer to the door. "We must leave now before they set up the guards around the city."

Ari pulled the door back, ushering them along. "Yes, everything's ready. I packed as quickly as I could, and the files..."

"Tell me you have the files!" Naira hissed.

She bit her lip and nodded. "Some," she murmured. "I could only retrieve a few before the alarms sounded."

"For the love of..." Naira groaned and crossed the length of the room.

"I'm sorry, Calder's had me under guard since the day he..."

Leo grimaced. "That bastard, he had this planned from the get-go. If he's not related to Thade, I'll be damned surprised."

Ari rubbed her elbows, her worried glances growing more fretful. "We need to leave, Leo, hurry now, come with," she reached for him.

He tried not to flinch at the feel of her fingers, a flicker of banked fear in his eyes. "Go where? You guys got some place to stick me?"

She nodded. "I'll explain after," she lifted up a battered cloth sling and slipped it over her chest. "Come."

Leo hurried alongside them as they left the room and went through the next door. He stared up at the dirt tunnel. "Shit..." he whispered.

Naira looked back at him over his shoulder. "The tunnel leads beyond the gates of the facility, Leo."

He sighed and knelt down a bit, creeping into the earthen tunnel, vague thoughts of being buried alive seeping into his mind. "This is beyond weird...Tunnels under the city. Like an underground railroad for the slaves..." Leo shuddered at the thought that he was in no different state.

"All the major cities have tunnels," Naira said. "Ari, do you have any illumination light sticks with you?"

There was a whoosh of air and sound before a blue-white light flooded the tunnel. "Yes, I brought a few," she passed the lit one to Naira and took another from her bag, triggering the light switch on it. "There, much better."

Leo shielded his eyes from the lights. "What do you mean, under each city? Why would Thade even need them?"

"They were built long ago," Ari gestured to the walls as they crept through the tunnel. "We have no information on them, they pre-date our records. The legends say that the humans built them, but there's little proof of that."

"Kinda like Easter Island and Stonehenge," Leo's lips twitched with the hint of a smile.

Naira tripped in his steps and wheeled around to stare at Leo. "You know of Stonehenge?"

"Mhm," Leo nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, shivering in the cool air. "No one knows for sure how or why or anythin', but there they are. We had plenty of carvings, statues and shit like that, little proof but lots of theories and stories on them."

"Thade..." Ari whispered, fascinated. "It's all the same, it's all the same."

"Guess Thade couldn't change everything," Leo muttered. "So what's this pattern stuff you were on about?"

Ari rifled through her shoulder bag and pulled some of the sketches out. "Here, look these over please. Dr. Naira believes that they are connected to Thade, and to you."

"Really, Ari, they were on the Thade Memorial. The odds of it not having something to do with all of this would be rather low, now wouldn't they?"

"Oh stuff yourself," she snapped. "Go on, Leo, do your best."

Leo held up the papers to the blue-white light. "These…these are those lines, the Nazca lines," he said absently, tracing his finger over the sketch. "The lines in Peru, they looked like these."

Ari let out a soft gasp. "You know them then? You can read the lines?"

"Yeah, yeah, these were dated sometime between 200 and 600 BC," Leo hunched his shoulders and bit his lip, scanning the markings with greater detail. "They never said exactly what the markings were for, but everyone's got an opinion. Stuff like astronomical calendars, space travelers, and y' know?"

'That's fascinating," Naira nodded. "But why would those lines be etched onto the Thade Memorial?"

Leo shrugged. "Beats me," he said. He held up the papers. "I take it you guys don't know anythin' but Nazca lines?"

"I have," Naira held his light stick over Leo, peering at the designs. "It's terribly odd though. When I saw the patterns, I thought merely that they looked strange, but I didn't connect them to the designs in Peru until you mentioned it."

"What if….what if this is no coincidence?" Ari whispered. "What if this was deliberate?"

Leo looked to Naira, his chest hitching. "Then that means there's a reason for the markings. He had to have landed here, Naira, he had to have. I told you he changed my Earth, made it his Earth."

Naira took the papers from Leo's fingers and rolled them up with care. "I'm starting to believe that I've greatly mistaken your words, Leo."

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