17.
SYSTEM REBOOT. TIME REMAINING: 09:23:23
"Jesus Christ- this place is like a labyrinth," Peter breathed as he looked over his shoulder at the distance they had traveled. His sights were cut short at an abrupt, sharp turn in the winding maze of pipes and conditioning filters, "At least I could make heads and tails of the jumbled crap downstairs, even if I couldn't see…"
Astrid blew a stray curl from her eyes in concentration, and Olivia looked down at the map her companion held, "What is it?"
"Well, we started out here, at the elevator," Astrid said, indicating on the page with her fingertip, "And we're headed here, to the central control. Now, I'm assuming that we're headed in the right direction, and should be somewhere in here…" she drew a small circle with her finger.
"You know what they say about assuming," Olivia said seriously.
"Ass out of you and me, yeah, yeah," Astrid frowned.
"Let me have a look," Peter said, extending a hand for the map.
"No," Olivia said finally.
Peter arched a brow, "Why can't I see the map?"
"Because you're a guy."
Peter gave a snort of laughter, massaging his temples with his fingertips, "You know what? I really don't care if that was a joke or not."
"I wish we had Walter," Astrid said glumly.
"What the hell makes you think that blind old bastard would know anything more about our situation than we do?" Peter pointed out, "Personally, I'm not putting much stalk in him, and you two had better step to the same tune."
"Walter obviously knows more about this place than we do," Olivia said reasonably, "He's been here a lot longer, there's no doubt."
"Yes, and he also said he'd never made it out. And even if he did, he's way too far into left field to remember it. The man's insane-"
"Your confidence in my navigational ability is staggering," Walter frowned from behind him, making Peter jump.
"Jesus Christ!" Peter gasped, as if he had been plunged into ice water, "Don't freaking do that! No human being is that quiet!"
"Walter!" Astrid exclaimed, rushing forward to throw her arms around him, "Are you alright? What happened? Where were you?"
Heat touched his face behind the bandages that covered his eyes, "…You were worried?"
"Of course we were worried! We were just on our way to central control to see if we could gain access to find you," Astrid said, taking his hand to lead him forward a few steps, "We said we were all getting out of here, remember?"
"Central control?"
"Yes. Do you know anything about it?" Olivia questioned keenly.
"Um," Walter said, "…That's where I was going, actually."
"Why?" Peter asked, eyeing the pipe wrench at his father's side, "And what's with the sidearm, soldier? Planning on any bludgeoning, eh?"
"Oh," Walter lifted the tool slightly, as Astrid and Olivia looked at Peter with alarm, "Um, no."
"What's going on, Walter?" Astrid said, her brows furrowing, "What happened, and who was that bald guy?"
"Who, Santos? An old friend. I don't want to talk about it. Central control is up ahead, if you're still interested. Oh, and Peter… don't curse. You're better than that." Walter lead the way cautiously, ignoring any more questions directed toward him.
xXx
"Why is it that the only doors in this place seem to be the ones directly leading to the cells?" Olivia asked. She refrained from referring to them as 'our cells', as the passage of time since they had escaped from the dark made the hellish place seem more like a nightmare than anything else.
Walter muttered something about a peeve and the color white, as much of his response was an inaudible growling, "Well, there you have it," Peter said with bright sarcasm.
They suddenly came upon a fork in the narrow, twisting maze of piping, and Walter stood at the thresholds of each, looking bewildered.
"Walter?" Astrid questioned.
"Shh," He responded, and proceeded to take a deep inhale in each direction, analyzing carefully, "No dice," he said at last, "all I can smell is you lot. And me, I'm still bleeding. That really deters me…"
"Why we're depending on the human bat and not on the damn map is beyond me," Peter scoffed.
"Would you kindly shut your trap?!" Walter snapped, and Peter looked slightly taken aback, "If my nose fails me, I assure you that my ears will not!"
"Of course!" Peter snapped back, "Because you emit a series of clicking noises that allow you to traverse without the use of eye sight!"
"Peter, Shut up!" Olivia and Astrid cried together.
"Fine!" Peter huffed, intent on getting the last word. They were silent for a few moments, hoping in vain to hear something that perhaps Walter did not.
Walter slowly swayed from one foot to the other, his breath still in his lungs, before his attention immediately snapped to the left, "This way," he said, fairly sprinting in the direction, "Quickly!"
Peter and Olivia both looked at each other, seeming impressed, "Isn't he amazing?" Astrid beamed, before the three jumped in alarm as there was a loud crash and a cry.
"There's a door there!" Walter hissed, rolling on his back as he clutched his throbbing skull, "You just had to say something about doors!"
"Central control!" Olivia exclaimed from the label on the door as she helped Walter to his feet. He swayed and looked nauseous as he supported himself against the wall.
"It's got a-" Astrid started, before Peter took the pipe wrench from his father and smashed off the flimsy bolt lock.
"It's got a what, now?" Peter questioned with a grin, resting the tool across his shoulders.
"Vandal," Astrid smirked, pushing past him and into the room. The rest followed suit, but not before Walter had taken back his pipe wrench from Peter.
Computer screens lined the walls, dozens of images and bits of recorded coding flashing from one to the next. A single chair sat in the center of the room, surrounded with a cagework of panels and keyboards, "What the hell is all of this?" Peter whispered.
"What are we looking at?" Walter questioned to Olivia, who shrugged him off.
"There must be dozens of information storing processors running to all of these," Astrid said, awed, "who was running all of this?"
"I don't know," Olivia said, approaching the chair to touch one of the keyboards lightly, "But it doesn't matter. Astrid, you have to do something."
"What's that?" Astrid asked.
Olivia lifted the headset from its draped place on the back of the chair, tossing it to her, "get me a way to send a message out of here."
Astrid smiled, bouncing into the chair and tucking the earpiece against her head, "I'll see what I can do."
"Um," Walter said quietly, beginning to feel his way around the room.
"I don't know what good that's going to do us," Peter said, standing behind Astrid's chair to gaze up at the screens, "even if we do get word out to somebody- which is relatively unlikely, as we're pretty far under ground- how are we going to tell them where we are, when we don't know?"
"The government isn't as stupid as they seem," Olivia answered, "No matter how far down we are, they can get a location, providing we can get a strong enough, long enough signal out."
"Which might prove a problem," Astrid said, "sorry, but I've been trying what I can, and the system just won't let me in…"
"Let me have a go?" Walter questioned.
"What are you doing?" Astrid demanded as he took command of the keyboards, "Walter, how do you know about all of this?!"
"It doesn't matter," he said quickly, "was there a number you needed to connect to, Olivia?"
Bewildered, Olivia recited the number she had memorized, "My partner," she said, "Charlie Francis. He'll know what to do."
"It's transmitting. I'll keep it going for as long as I can," Astrid said as Walter returned control of the keyboard, "good job, Walter…"
"Partner, huh?" Peter said, and Olivia looked up at him.
"He's just my partner," She explained, "But I'd trust Charlie with my life. And, well, I guess I am, now-"
There was a horrible, sharp, shattering noise, drawing further attention as bright sparks spurted from the half-crushed central control console. Walter raised the pipe wrench again, driving it with all of his strength into the system mainframe once more.
"Walter, what the hell are you doing?!" Peter demanded as the hazardous bashing continued, "Stop it!" he rushed forward, grabbing him by the arms to still his destructive motions and begin wrestling the tool from him, "let go!"
"I've got to end it! I've got to destroy it!" Walter cried.
"Stop it!" Peter commanded.
"The system!" Astrid exclaimed, "Oh my god- the system's clearing itself! Walter, what did you do?!"
Peter had at last pried the pipe wrench from his grip and pinned him to the floor, crushing his elbow between his shoulders painfully. Panting softly, he looked up at her with a forlorn smile, his pale irises shimmering with tears, "I've condemned us all to being who we are."
xXx
SYSTEM
UNKNOWN FEED
_-
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***GOODBYE;-)***