Chaos: Thunder on High

Chapter Nine

The sky above had been overcast all morning, and the slightest hint of thunder could be heard every so often. It was the perfect weather to fit this fight.

Jessica was sitting on top of the building that was Isaac's house. Below, the people of London carried on with their daily lives. They were completely oblivious to the fact that their city was about to become a warzone. A central battlefield in the struggle for control that would soon envelop all of Europe.

Her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Jessica, it's me," said Isaac's voice.

"Yeah, I figured it was you when I saw your name on my phone before I answered it," she replied smugly.

There was a sigh from the other end, and then Isaac said, "We're clear at the Parliament building…have you heard from Lucy?"

"No," said Jessica. "Last I heard from her she was checking around Buckingham Palace."

"What are you doing?" Isaac asked.

"Sitting on your roof."

"What? Lucy and I can't do this alone," Isaac argued. "Get your ass out here."

"My ass is tired," Jessica countered. "Especially after that ruckus you put it through."

"We need help, Jess," he sighed. "This is not the time for jokes."

Jessica shook her head. "Alright…fine." She hung up.

Seen as how she'd already scoured Brent, she decided to go to Whitechapel, which she wasn't far from.

In the midday sun, the sun gave the city a slight gleam from above as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

What are we looking for above ground anyway? She asked herself. This was Lucy's suggestion, but she never gave us any real details. The main threat is in the London Underground.

It wouldn't do any good complaining. She would just head underground as soon as she could.

# # #

There was an explosion somewhere in the subway system at around 12:02. From the sound of the blast relative to Lucy's position, it was somewhere down the Victoria Line. Another two blasts followed, one in the Central Line and one down the Piccadilly Line.

People aboveground moved as fast as they could to get off of the street, but Lucy wasn't paying attention. She was moving for the nearest subway station. She fought her way through the crowd that was pushing its way out of the Underground, which was relatively easy given her newfound strength.

Down in the tunnels, Lucy found no sign of any Whitelight gas but that didn't mean that it wasn't on its way from further down the line.

She dashed further down the tunnel, in pursuit of a couple of shadows she'd seen.

# # #

Jessica received a nasty surprise as soon as she was below ground. Two evolved were rigging another bomb, apparently a little behind schedule from the rest.

As Jessica stepped into the tunnel, she heard a loud roar as a train came flying by. The bomb exploded as the train rolled by, immediately covering the surrounding area in dense reddish fog that was reminiscent of Whitelight.

From the sign near her, Jessica could tell that this was the District Line. There had already been three bombs that had gone off at different points around the Underground.

She jumped at the two evolved with her blade. Neither one of them had a chance as she sliced into them and absorbed them.

Her mind flashed again.

"At approximately 12:00 there will be a train passing along the District Line westbound to Wimbledon…I want you there with that bomb at the ready for when it passes by."

"Understood."

Jessica dashed backwards at the sound of scraping metal and narrowly dodged a blade as it swiped in the exact same place she'd been standing.

# # #

There was a nasty surprise waiting for Isaac when he got to Soho. Four evolved stood above him on the rooftops and all of them were ready for a fight. One of them had his claws out, two had blades, and the other had hammerfists.

"Surprised?" One of them asked, a young brunette woman. She was the one with the claws.

Isaac scoffed. "Yeah, you're late."

Instead of responding, they all jumped at him at once. Isaac readied his whipfist on his left arm and his blade on the right.

The four evolved hit him at the same time. Isaac knocked one of the enemies with a blade off his feet with his whipfist while his blade sliced into the gut of the brunette woman. He then whirled around and used it to block a blow from the other evolved with a blade. A shower of sparks hit the ground as the blades connected with the clang of steel on steel.

Isaac was knocked backward by a sudden blow from the evolved with the blade as the one he'd knocked away jumped at him. He landed directly on Isaac's blade.

Isaac then formed his claw on his left hand and sliced the man's head off. The rest of his body melted into Isaac's skin, which brought new memories in.

"Keep an eye on Isaac," said Bulldog. "I expect he's working with Chaos ever since he turned down our offer."

"Any leads on his location?"

"Try Brent. If he isn't there, look in Soho."

"Are you just guessing?"

Bulldog strikes him across the face. "Get moving, you lazy dog."

# # #

A horde of zombie-like infected people with strange looking mutated growths met Lucy at the station in Knightsbridge. They lumbered toward her, flailing their arms at the same time.

Lucy formed her claws and started carving and eating her way through them, absorbing every last one that she could get her claws on. It was easier than leaving them for someone else to clean up later.

A sudden strike from a whipfist knocked Lucy off of her feet. She was slammed against a wall and saw stars for a few seconds.

"What the hell?" said a deep voice. "You're not her, you're that other bitch."

Lucy stood and formed her blade. "Surprised, are you?"

"No," said the man, "but I am disappointed." He jumped at her with claws this time. Lucy dodged and slashed at him with her blade, but he jumped over her swipe. His claw came down on top of her head and sent her onto the tracks.

She jumped away just as a train came thundering by.

"You're too slow," said the evolved. He attacked her again, but this time Lucy caught him in the crotch with her foot right before he hit her. Her strike interrupted his jump and they both crashed into the moving train.

Lucy was dazed again, and she was taking a beating. If she hadn't been infected with Blacklight, she would already have been dead.

The evolved came at Lucy again, but Lucy was able to surprise him with a strike from her own whipfist that shot clean through the man's body. He melted into Lucy within seconds.

"Give me the vial!"

"No! I need it to complete my own work!"

"Your work means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Give me the vial, or you won't see the sun again."

Bulldog obviously kept his soldiers under a tight watch.

The memory hadn't contained any useful data, but it had been Lucy's first real look at Bulldog.

She jumped down the tunnel, only to run right into a group of Brawlers coming right for her.

(Note: The fight's not over yet. Chapter Ten is going to be the conclusion to Part Two of the Chaos story. Part Three will follow soon.)