Hi everyone, I'm finally back! I'm not too happy with this chapter but it's been so long I thought I had better upload it straight away and not keep you waiting any longer. Hope you think its ok. Please review and leave your opinion!
I have the plot for the rest of this story planned out so hopefully it wont take too long between updates... but then i guess it depends how much time you define long as! I'll be updating as fast as I possibly can anyway!
Chapter 25: Discoveries
The smell of burning and the unnatural quietness were the first things one noticed about the city of San Francisco. Many months had now passed since Wyatt's takeover and the city was barely recognisable. The skyline had changed dramatically; many buildings had been reduced to piles of rubble and ugly high rise flats, accommodation for the humans, rose out of the destruction. Large areas had been cleared to build army camps, filled with Wyatt's demonic troops, and nearby, heavily guarded by marching columns of demons, stood neat rows of factories. The squat buildings belched smoke and debris into the air and their perimeters were marked by concentric rings of electric fencing.
For Chris and the resistance, endless reconnaissance trips and information gathering had led them to pinpoint a specific factory as the one which they needed to destroy. Subtle yet heavy recruiting had persuaded many human residents of San Francisco into joining the resistance. Few actually moved into Sanctuary, unless their lived were threatened, but instead they lived as spies, watching and waiting. One of these, a man named Barry Newell, had provided the information that had led to a small group of resistance fighters being crouched in a small copse of trees on a hillside overlooking the factories. It was the middle of the night.
"Where is he?" Darryl hissed, meaning their informant.
Chris pointed silently at a figure scurrying across to the copse by means of running from shadow to shadow.
The group waited patiently for the man to arrive. "Newell?" asked Chris, noticing how Darryl and two others were cautiously covering the man with their guns.
The man, tall and burly, nodded, "Yeah, 'The Power of Three will set us free'" he replied giving the passphrase, "You Chris Halliwell then?"
Chris smiled then held out a hand and the two shook. "This is Darryl, Jake, Helen, Dom, Yelena, Susan, Mark, Louis and Mandy." he introduced the rest of the group, pointing at each as they were named.
Newell raised a hand in greeting, "Shall we get this over with then?" he proposed, "I've got two little ones at home and the longer we're out here the more likely I am to get caught."
"Let's go." Chris agreed, and the group carefully made their way down the hill, stopping in an alley not far from the first fence.
"The next patrol should be here in just under five minutes" Darryl whispered, "Then we'll have fifteen minutes to get through the fences before they'll be back again."
The group settled down to wait and the patrolling demons passed without incidence. "Right," Chris hissed, "Dom, you know what to do."
Dom crept out from their hiding place and placed both hands mere centimetres from the fence. He concentrated and soon the electricity was being pulled out of the fence and into his hands in a bright, crackling stream. Dom was a witch with the power to manipulate electricity.
The others hurried over to the fence and Darryl pulled out a pair of wire cutters. The area of fence between Dom's hands was now free from electricity so this was where the ex-cop quickly cut a hole large enough for someone to climb through. This they all did.
On the other side Chris turned to look back at the fence. The hole was glaringly obvious. "Mandy?" he attracted the witch's attention, "Can you cover that up?"
The blonde witch nodded and focused on the damaged fence for a moment. Mandy had the power to create small but long-lasting illusions and, sure enough, after a few seconds the fence shimmered then appeared whole again. The hole was still there, but it should escape the notice of the patrolling demons.
The same process was repeated on all of the fences until at last the group were inside the factory compound,
"It's this way." hissed Chris, pointing to the right.
The team ran as stealthily as they could towards the indicated building, ducking into shadows whenever the inside guards passed. Newell led the group past the main entrance to the factory and stopped at a half-hidden door, located around the back of the building.
"This is it." he whispered, "There's only one guard for this entrance,"
Chris nodded. "Can you get us in?"
In reply Newell reached into his pocket and produced a swipe card. "I nicked it off one of the guys who works in there." he told them, "He's an informer for Wyatt so it's no loss to any of us if they think he let us in."
The group were tense with anticipation as Darryl took the proffered card and slotted it into the reader. For a moment nothing happened but then a green light flashed and the door opened with a quiet click.
"Quickly, let's get inside." Darryl hissed, gesturing for the other to precede him in,
Chris entered first, eyes darting about him and an athame ready in his hand for the demonic guard they expected to encounter.
"Hmmm...Huh...?"
The sleepy grunt startled the young witch and Chris spun round quickly searching for the source of the noise. The guard, a brute demon, was sitting slumped against the wall, clearly having just woken up. However the demon wasn't confused for long. Even as Chris was throwing the athame the demon was conjuring a fireball ready to kill the intruders. The teen was quicker though, and the demon disintegrated into a pile of dust, the fireball flickering and dying.
Darryl, who had been checking for the presence of another guard, announced 'All clear!"
"Good." muttered Chris, "Lead the way," this directed at Newell.
Their informant lead the group through a maze like series of corridors until they reached a vast room filled from floor to ceiling with machinery. The production lines were silent but huge towers of crates were stacked up at the end of each conveyer belt.
"Right." Chris instructed, "You all know what to do. Destroy as much of the machinery as you can. Completely disable it. Darryl come with me and let us investigate what exactly it is that Wyatt is producing that's so important."
Nods were seen all around and the group separated and filtered through the room, Chris and Darryl heading towards the crates.
Using his telekinesis, Chris wrenched the lid off one of the crates and the two stared in confusion at the machinery they saw. "What on earth is it?" Chris questioned.
Darryl shook his head in bafflement. "I've never seen anything like it before. I think it might fly though. Look at the structure, And this part looks like a scanner of sorts."
"Hey, look, there's something that looks like an office of sorts over there. Maybe they have some info on it." Chris pointed out.
The two traipsed over to the office and noticed with glee the many papers strewn across the desk. Their elation turned to dread, however, when they started to read the papers.
"Oh my god." groaned Chris, "This is awful. These things could stop everything we do for the resistance."
"How is it even possible?" returned Darryl, "I never knew that magic and technology could be mixed."
"Well Wyatt's managed it." Chris replied glumly.
Darryl glanced out the door, where the sounds of machinery being enthusiastically destroyed filtered through, "What do we tell the others? What if Wyatt has got these floating around out there already?"
Chris paused, thinking hard. "Wait until we get back to Sanctuary. We can't have anyone panicking out here, if they discover what these things can do."
"Okay. We need to get back as quickly as possible."
----
Deep underground, in the dungeons below the Town Hall, a pitiful figure writhed on the ground, strange mewling sounds coming from its mouth. The once golden robes were grey with dust and streaked with a mixture of dried, rust coloured and bright, fresh blood.
In the time that had passed since the Elder had been captured, defiance had been turned to fear; any thought of resistance gradually being eroded away. He could feel nothing but pain and his mind was slowly, tortuously breaking under the strain.
Standing tall, a devilish smirk twisting his face, Wyatt almost crowed in jubilation. The Elder was so close to telling them what he needed to know. He was mere heartbeats away from finding out the coveted location of Sanctuary.
Wyatt nudged one of the crystal's forming the crystal cage, sending a shock through the Elder. There was not even a cry of pain anymore, just a garbled moaning and a slight tremor in one arm.
Wyatt crouched down and pushed one of the crystals away, breaking the circle. The Elder barely fluttered an eyelid.
"This could all stop, you know." the twice-blessed informed the Elder, pulling out an athame and placing the cold steel along his prisoner's cheek. "You know what I want from you, just a simple location, and then all this will be over."
"No more pain," with this Wyatt pressed the side of the blade into the Elder's face, gouging a deep line, "No more suffering." Wyatt dragged the blade lower, until the bloody line extended across the neck.
The Elder let out a keening cry of pain as Wyatt viciously dug the blade in, coming perilously close to the windpipe.
"Tell me." he whispered.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the Elder opened his pain filled eyes. Wyatt positioned the athame directly above the Elder's heart, point hovering above the skin. Defeat and self-loathing settled on the Elder's face but the pain was too much for him, the long days of slow torture had completely broken him, he would do anything for the pain to stop and so he would tell Wyatt what he needed to know.
"In the Overworld," the Elder croaked, "There...there is a seeing pool. It's hidden, hidden in the clouds. Ask and it will show you Sanctuary. Seeing it, you will be able to orb there."
Wyatt hid his gleeful grin and kept the smirk plastered on, "Hidden in the clouds? What does that mean?" he murmured silkily, pressing down on the athame until it just broke the skin.
"Just...look up." the Elder gasped, "Move the clouds."
"Tell me exactly how to find this seeing pool." Wyatt demanded, "What clouds? How do I move them?"
But the Elder shook his head frantically, finally convulsing in tears. "No, no, no." he muttered over and over again. "What have I done? I shouldn't have..."
"Tell me!" shouted Wyatt, "Tell me or you'll know so much pain it'll be worse than everything you've ever experienced all rolled into one."
The Elder stilled for a moment and suddenly a look of clarity appeared in his eyes. In one swift movement the Elder jerked his body up, the athame sliding through unyielding flesh until it penetrated his heart.
It was over in a moment. The Elder laying dead, glassy eyes open and staring. Wyatt leaning over the body, his eyes furious.
"Never mind." Wyatt spoke evenly to his lieutenant, Kezlar, who had been watching the whole proceedings, "I will examine every inch of the Overworld until I find this seeing pool. And then, then I will finally be able to penetrate Sanctuary and dispose of the infuriating resistance."
'And,' Wyatt added silently, 'I'll be able to bring Chris back to me. I'll force him to join me yet.'