Chapter 3
"Think you can speed it up?" Nox said in a low, yet hurried tone. She turned to face the form of Etrius, leaning over a large computer and typing away at the keyboard.
"Hacking security takes time," Etrius said, but he didn't remove his eyes from the screen. "One wrong move, and it's over."
With Boomer and Beecher downstairs, priming explosives in the basement, and Etrius with Nox in the control room, they were making themselves vulnerable. It was their first live mission against The General, and they could've chosen a better approach than walking into enemy lines… But they needed better weapons, and that meant moving into the base.
The objective was to take as many weapons as they could, find The General's journal, and hopefully the cure. If they couldn't get the cure, they could still blow the base along with any weapons or experiments The General could be hiding. If The General was having a hard time trying to destroy the cure, then surely it could survive one explosion.
"Alright. Just to remind you that we're in the middle of an enemy base and seconds away from being discovered by a guard."
"The doors are locked."
"That's what can set them off. Don't you think they'll find it strange when they realize the doors to the security center are locked, and the security cameras are down?"
"Which is why we need to make this quick," As he said it, the computer's screen that was spammed with error windows suddenly vanished, and a confirmation box appeared. "Good. They don't know we're here." He set his gaze on Nox. "Radio Boomer and Beecher. Tell them to move in."
Nox gave a heavy nod and turned away, pressing the contact button on her headset. "Alpha to Delta. Do you copy?"
There was a moment of static, and then Beecher's voice came through. "I copy, Nox. The explosives are being primed, and we'll be on stand-by for orders."
"Meet us in the center of the facility when you're done. If you see anything weird, retreat. We can't afford to get caught at a time like this."
"Affirmative." And they made their way up the staircase.
On a crouch, Etrius and Nox emerged from the control room and silently snuck past the hallways, keeping a careful eye out for guards.
~X~
"I need your opinion, Beecher," Boomer kept his eyes on the explosives he was readying. "Which is better: More force to blow the place into shards, or set it to moderate and watch boulders fly?"
Lloyd's eyes narrowed.
"This isn't a time to get creative, Boomer," Beecher primed the explosives before he could protest. "We want to make sure this place gets taken down after we find the cure and the notebook. If The General has just as many powerful weapons like Nox said, then we can't afford to have anything survive."
Boomer grimaced, but didn't argue. He knew that if they messed this up, there was no going back; they were on a limited supply of weapons.
Beecher stood to his feet, keeping his sniper close and putting a cigarette in his mouth. "Let's move, before someone finds out we're down here."
The three made their way up the staircase, but stopped short and hid behind a corner at the sight of a security camera. Beecher's eyes narrowed. "Think Etrius succeeded in taking down surveillance?"
"Only one way to find out." Boomer marched out into the open and gave the camera a stiff middle-finger. When it didn't blink a light or turn to face him, a smirk crossed his face.
Beecher dragged a hand down his face.
He followed Boomer through the dark corridors, surprised to find it void of guards. "For a base that holds a cure for Mankind, you'd think they would heighten their security."
Boomer stopped short and set his gaze to the right. Beecher bumped into him, and then followed his gaze.
Their eyes widened at the sight of the armory that lay beyond the open door. Futuristic weapons lined the walls by magnets, seemingly untouched. Any security cameras were taken down.
Boomer scanned every corner of the room to make sure it wasn't a trap before he made his way inside. He nearly dropped his shotgun at the sight of advanced explosives that were stacked one on top of the other.
Beecher scanned the walls until his eyes rested on modifiers for his sniper. He took down the ones that looked the most useful and expensive. He then searched for weapons that Etrius and Nox could use.
Lloyd's attention was seized at the sight of futuristic armor that stood forgotten in a glass chamber. He opened the lid and pried the armor off the pole it stood on. He scanned the black fabric made up of countless hexagon patterns, and the silver geometric armor plating layered on top of it. A matrix of glowing blue wires ran the length of the suit.
On the wall overhead, multiple swords lined the walls. He grabbed the nearest one by the handle and plucked it off. The silver metallic hilt shone against the bright florescent lights, and blue glowing wires were seen running beneath it. The blade itself was obsidian, with a thin line of silver along the edge.
He sheathed the sword across his back, next to the old one, forming an X.
"Lloyd," Beecher's voice said from the doorway. He was fully equipped with weapon, and daggers were sheathed in straps along his armor. "Let's move."
~X~
Shadows hung in the air in this part of the facility. Surprisingly, the hallways were still devoid of security guards. Nox mentally reached out into the hallways around them, but her mindspeak didn't pick up any murmuring thoughts. She frowned. "Something's wrong here," She said to Etrius. "Do you think it's a trap?"
"I always think everything is a trap," He said, still looking ahead. "That's why I'm still alive."
Nox bit her bottom lip. Despite the fact that she wanted that bastard to pay for what he had done, she knew the odds. The General was more powerful. He had an entire army behind him, while the Elite Team only had a base, limited weapons, and a psychic girl awoken from cryo-sleep.
She shook her head. They still had explosives primed in the basement. If The General wasn't feeling very generous, they could threaten the base. But the enemy base seemed almost devoid of life. This was clearly a trap, but they had no other alternative—
Etrius froze.
His ears picked up the faintest sound of feet shuffling. He glanced at the shadows around them with his teeth ground together, and they rested on the sight of a red light from the upper walkway.
Etrius reacted on instinct, grabbing Nox roughly by the shoulder and brought them to the floor. Nox glared up at the shooter. She extended a hand, undoing the chains that held the catwalks up.
The platform slammed against the wall, and the shooter collapsed to the floor before them.
Nox held him in place with her psychic power.
But on a closer look, she noticed the familiar red eyes and close-cropped black hair.
Beecher groaned and pressed a hand to his head. "What the fuck was that?"
"Beecher?" Nox gave Etrius a sideways glance.
Lloyd and Boomer rushed in from the opposite corridor.
"Why were you aiming at us?" Etrius demanded, and Beecher gave him a frown.
"Aiming? The safety on my sniper is on."
"What happened?" Boomer hurried over.
"You're going to attract attention to us," Lloyd snarled, adjusting his black gloves with silver plating.
"I knew it," Beecher climbed to his feet and fixed Etrius with a dark look. "You're hallucinating. Something is wrong with you!"
"Shut up," Lloyd hissed. "The last thing we want is to get caught by your arguing. This isn't the time to—"
"Ever since we ran away, you've been acting strange," Beecher's voice darkened a notch, and a dreary black cloud loomed over them. "What are you hiding?"
"There is nothing wrong with me," Etrius fired back, the force of his words making Beecher flinch. "Now come on. Let's move and find that fucking antidote already." He turned around and resumed walking before Beecher could grab the chance to protest. His ears picked up Lloyd's voice. "Let it go," He gestured to Etrius' retreating back. "He'll come to his senses eventually. He always does."
After a moment of silence, the team resumed walking, the tension still lingering in the air like a string ready to snap. Lloyd kept watch over Beecher and Etrius, making sure they didn't immerse into another argument. If they were going to be a threat to the mission, Lloyd figured that it was best one stayed at the base and the other completed the objective.
Nox stood between Etrius and Beecher, creating a divide between them, so every time Etrius looked back, Nox hid Beecher from sight. Despite herself, she couldn't help but question what was wrong with Etrius. Ever since training at the base, he'd seemed distracted, and even sick sometimes. She knew that it wasn't the pressure of the mission that was making him hallucinate.
Digging through the pages of her memory, she recalled the moment when he charged into the gas of Element Evil and brought her back out. They figured out that Nox's powers became tied to her sword, so she wasn't affected by it. Etrius, on the other hand…
I just hope we find this cure before it gets out of hand.
The team hid behind a corner, leading to another hallways. Etrius gestured the team to stay back while he went ahead and made sure the path was clear. Once he did, he led the team into an isolated room labeled "Element Evil 115". Nox's eyes crystallized to an icy blue, as a shimmer of familiarity travelled through her.
Etrius checked the knob. Finding it locked, he produced a paperclip he always kept in his back pocket and began picking through the lock. He had it open in a matter of second, and the team moved in.
There. At the far corner of the room. A glowing blue light the size of Nox's fist hovered above a glass plate, surrounded by lab equipment. A faint blue halo surrounded the source of light.
The team slowly approached the Cure, their eyes catching the light as it glazed over their faces. It was like watching a phenomenon from outer space.
Something vibrated within Nox's sword, and the sapphire seemed to glow from within, but when she focused on it, it vanished. Deciding it was just a trick of the light, she closed the distance between herself and the cure.
"Not so fast," A familiar rough voice drifted from the shadows. "I knew I would find you here."
Someone emerged from the darkness of a corner, aiming a magnum caliber at the team. He had a gaunt face, cobalt blue eyes and a black beret that signified his rank. The General glared at the team with expectation, and Nox in particular. "Experiement X," He acknowledged.
Nox backed away and extended an arm, keeping a translucent shield around the team. The General's aim never wavered. "Don't bother. Anti-sound-wave bullets," He gestured with a flick of his weapon. "I knew you'd be coming."
Nox gave him the blackest look she could summon.
The General marched towards the cure and produced a black vial from his uniform pocket. He uncorked it with one hand and trapped the cure within, never releasing his aim.
"You fucking bastard," Etrius growled, anger trembling beneath his skin. "You'd sell us all out? You'd let Earth fall? And for what? A worthless paycheck?"
"I don't expect you to understand, Etrius," The General said as something dark and sinister stirred in his eyes. "But you're too late. My job here is done."
As if on cue, the brilliant cyan light that radiated from the cure died down. It shriveled until it was nothing but a burn ash. The General curled his fingers around the bottle, causing it to shatter.
Etrius' blood turned to ice, his mind cast into an endless sea of frost. Nox's powers actually flickered in her shock, a thousand words burning from her soul, but her mind couldn't process them.
What looked like a smirk tugged at his face. The General locked his glare with Nox's. "You should've known better than to join these people, Nox," The way he spoke sounded as if he were judging her between right and wrong. "We could've trained you, harnessed your powers for you to be the best of the best elite—"
"Do you take me as a fool?" She spat at him. "I know you're intentions. And soon, so will the entire world."
"That's where you're mistaken," As if on cue, heavily equipped guards clad in armor burst through each doorway in the room. They had scarlet visors that covered their eyes and matching red-colored rifles trained on the team. "Secure the culprits," The General ordered before turning and shuffling away, keeping his hands behind his back. "Have them prepped for execution."
"You bastard, get back here and face me!" Etrius shook himself from his stupor as the anger began to settle in. "I'm not done with you!"
"On the floor!" The guards ordered, keeping their rifles trained on them. "Do it now! I won't warn you again!"
Etrius was about to advance forward, but Lloyd stopped him by grabbing him roughly by the shoulder.
"You," One of the men snarled at Nox. "Get that shit out of the way." It took her a moment to realize he meant the shield.
Slowly complying, Nox let it drape to the floor, and the team put their hands over their head. Slowly, they got to their knees, and then lay on their stomach. The men surrounding them didn't let their guards down.
"Secure the female first. Don't know what she could do." Nox found something strange about these men. Not the fact that they were working for The General, but she couldn't hear their thoughts. Her eyes widened. Of course—the helmets and visors they wore were packed with technology. If she learned one thing, it was that her powers were natural. She couldn't work well around so many wires. The General must've figured out her weakness.
"You got a plan?" Nox asked Etrius.
"Make that bastard pay."
"I meant a plan that won't get us killed."
"You two, stop talking." The same troop who was giving orders barked at them.
Nox kept her mouth shut, and when the guard turned away, she eyed Lloyd. "I have one. On my signal, you four run out and start the countdown. I'll follow—"
"I said to shut up!" The guard pressed. He leaned over and secured Nox's wrists into handcuffs, throwing her to her feet. The other troops closed in around her, keeping their weapons raised. "Now don't try anything."
Nox's eyes lit up like an ember. As a result, the guards were knocked off their feet by an invisible force, thrown into the opposite walls.
Nox easily broke out of the chains. "Go!" She ordered to the team, but Etrius was the most hesitant to leave. Nox threw him a fiery glare. "Get out! I'll catch up in a minute."
I still need that bastard to pay for what he's done. But she didn't mention it aloud. Without another word, she charged out of the room to where she last saw The General vanish. "Get back here and face me, coward!"
She heard The General's thoughts murmuring overhead.
~X~
Fifty feet below the base, the elevator door slid open. The General marched out, carrying the orb with the cure inside. He made his way around crates and large boxes until he came to a stop by a team of men, surrounding something.
"Sir," One of them announced, "We found this hidden in our storage area and disabled it ASAP." He gestured to Boomer's stack of explosives he planted earlier.
"Keep it armed," The General said, waving them away. "We can't afford to have this base standing anymore, not with the rebels inside."
The man blinked. "Sir?"
"Follow my orders," He said, and that was final. "Set it to detonate in five minutes to give us enough time to leave."
The man hesitated before turning to his comrades and giving the order. Something tugged at the corner of The General's mouth as they turned and left.
The man kept his finger pressed to his earpiece, speaking with someone on the other line. After a while, he turned to The General. "There'll be a chopper waiting for you on the roof in five minutes."
"Excellent."
~X~
Nox charged through the hallways, following the trail of The General's thoughts. They lingered in the air like fog, wafting through the hallways like a path.
She growled as she came up at a locked door, and she threw it off it's hinges with a surge of energy. Tables lines with scientific lab equipment were situated along the walls, and tanks with wires connecting to the walls touched the ceiling.
A familiar silhouette ran across the hallway opening.
Nox sprung power into her legs and charged at The General, knocking him off his feet. Too late; he was surrounded by five guards clad in black armor. They trained their rifles on her, but Nox severed the string of consciousness in their minds, and they collapsed to the floor, dead.
She pinned The General to the floor by his shoulders and attempted to do the same, but something was stopping her. Like a mental block that would never budge, it shoved her consciousness back whenever she tried to invade his mind.
Angered, she unsheathed her sapphire sword and held it to his throat.
"Doesn't matter anymore," The General declared. "In five minutes, those explosives you planted are going to blow this place sky-high, and you with it."
Footsteps resounded from the opposite end of the hallway. Nox whirled around to see a man with green eyes slide to a stop and take in the scene. Nox's eyes narrowed. "I told you to leave! What are you—?"
Without warning, The General reached into his jacket uniform and produced his magnum caliber. He aimed while he was down, and fired at a white metal tank on the opposite end of the room. White gas seeped out, lingering above the floor like fog.
The General used the distraction to fire a round into Nox's shoulder. She opened her mouth, but no sounds came out as she collapsed to her side, and The General scrambled away.
Etrius darted into the room, aiming his handgun and firing round after round at The General, but he leaped behind a stack of crates before they hit him, reloading himself. Etrius' handgun clicked—out of ammo.
Nox ignored the stinging in her arm and extended a hand. A sapphire light burned in a matrix of patterns on her arm, and fired itself at the crates, shattering them. The fog of Element Evil began filling the room.
Nox took the few precious moments of distraction to heal herself. She counted the ticking seconds of Boomer's explosives in her head. Four minutes.
She simultaneously summoned a shield that could protect the both of them against the firing bullets. They hit the shield, shattering it on impact. Anti-Sound waves bullets. The General was so much more powerful than them—he knew all their weaknesses.
Nox brought herself to her knees, her vision doubled. She fired another round of sapphire energy, only to hit the tanks of Element Evil behind The General. They exploded into shards of metal and shrapnel, spraying the room with Element Evil that infected the air. Nox was thrown back by the force.
The General took the advantage and fled the room.
Prior to Nox's powers, she was immune to Element Evil. Etrius, on the other hand…
She forced herself to her feet and stumbled to the other end of the room, struggling to see through the thick fog. Etrius had already been exposed to the Element once – having to breathe it in a second time could be fatal… or worse.
She ground her teeth together, asking herself why he followed her. She gave him specific directions to leave, that she could take The General on her own. Looks like his narrow-mindedness got the best of him.
Her feet nudged against something on the floor, and she nearly tripped. She brought herself to her knees and grabbed Etrius by the shoulder, prying him onto his back. "Etrius!"
He didn't respond.
Growling, she grabbed his arm and slung it across her shoulders, hauling him to his feet. She dragged him to the exit.
Three minutes.
She reached out with her mindspeak, contacting the rest of the Elite Rebels, who were waiting outside for them.
Guys! Change of plans. The General set the countdorwn to Boomer's explosives, and he's going to blow this place with us in it.
…Nox?
Yeah.
Are you inside my head? She recognized the voice as Beecher's.
No time to explain! Tell Boomer to get back in the basement and disable the explosives.
Alright. You and Etrius get out of there.
Can't. He's injured. Bastard nearly got himself killed.
Boomer's on his way. I'm going in.
What? No! But the connection was severed before she could make another protest. Her eyes darkened to a blood-red. The last thing she needed was a dead team-member.
Element Evil began seeping through the open door, and Nox kicked it shut with the sole of her foot. She set her attention back to Etrius, and saw black veins crawling beneath his skin.
Two minutes. Hope Boomer disables those explosives in time.
And if Beecher didn't get here soon, no one was getting out alive.