Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Eight
...
"Molten? What's wrong?" Layla asked.
He opened and closed his mouth, then shook his head. "You need to see this for yourself," Ethan said, stepping back.
A sense of curiosity and dread filled her; if Ethan couldn't articulate something, then it was definitely a cause for concern. Layla steeled herself for something horrible - the people they'd come to rescue lined up in cages, experiments being run on them without mercy or pause, something worse but she didn't know what else - and stepped through the doorway.
Layla's mind took a moment to process the sight before her. It was a row of babies, each one hooked up to a monitor and swaddled into a white blanket, the nursery cots holding each newborn infant labelled with nothing more than a number.
Some part of Layla's mind simply thought, 'oh, babies, how cute' and it took nearly a full minute for her brain to process the scene and the fact that they were in a building owned by the Super Bureau, not to mention that none of these babies had likely been born by human or humane means.
"Molten?"
"Yes, Poison?"
"Where did they get these babies from?"
Ethan had read the documents on a nearby computer screen, and scrolled through them again now to read and answer her properly. "Sperm was extracted from a subject and artificially inseminated into... uh, there isn't an actual name for it other than 'the machine' and I don't know enough medical terminology for an accurate response as to what they do. However, the machine combines DNA and, uh, produces a baby. It takes about twelve weeks from start to finish, thanks to a time-stop ability - I think, at least - and it looks like they've already started testing for powers," he added, frowning at the screen and trying to parse the information to something he understood. "It probably needs to be verified and read in greater detail than this, but I believe that is the overall sum of it."
"They're experimenting on them already?"
"It seems so. There were fifteen babies when this started and the remaining babies have genetic markers identifying them as supers. Apparently it's a new experiment; a test subject was no longer considered useful in scientists' experiments so he was forced to donate the sperm instead."
"There's only five babies here; what happened to the rest? Did they take them to an orphanage?" Layla asked, almost desperate for Ethan to say yes, as the alternative was too awful to consider.
Ethan scrolled further down the document, skimming pages as he read as fast as possible, then caught a word, stopped and read it more carefully. "Do you want the truth?" he asked, something in his own voice that not even he recognised.
At the question and odd sound of his voice, Layla glanced from the babies that remained and saw Ethan's expression. "Get Merge to bleach you later; I don't want you to have nightmares over this." When he nodded in response, she considered his question and shook her head. "No, don't tell me the truth."
"In that case, they were taken to orphanages."
Layla felt like her heart stopped in one beat, and then in the next, pure anger filled her with rage until she was blossoming with it, her heart slamming in her chest.
"Let me melt them down and then you can destroy it all, okay?" Ethan said, hurrying to carefully melt the five babies into a jar and added it to his arm.
Layla barely waited for him to step out into the hallway, vine upon vine dropping from her and sloughing off her body like she didn't exist in the first place. Within a matter of seconds, Layla no longer existed, and vines were all that remained. The vines were thick, each thorn the size of a fist, and they destroyed the room in a minute.
Ethan stared as his friend, his Villain, his leader turned into a pile of vines with no semblance of a human body remaining. He had no other response and for several minutes, all Ethan could do was stare with his jaw hanging open. Layla's vines pushed through every door, window, and destroyed the corridor until even the Rubik's cube itself could no longer work with the seams ripped apart. It took him a moment to register the sound coming from the walkie talkie on his hip was Milo reporting that Blaze had been stabbed. Swallowing down his concern for Layla's unexpected transformation, Ethan grabbed his walkie talkie. "Globe, repeat that?"
"Blaze was stabbed - "
"I'll be right there," Ethan said, then before he melted, he added, "Where are you?"
Milo sounded amused as he gave directions to where they were located. Ethan ignored everyone and everything else as he melted down and moved as fast as he possibly could to where his boyfriend had been stabbed, Layla's vines wreaking havoc behind him.
Realising that Zach was all right didn't dissolve the anger and concern that Ethan felt, and it didn't take much on Milo's part to convince Ethan to be turned into bubbles. Milo was able to direct him for a few corridors, but then the distance combined with Grant's negation wave made it too difficult, and Ethan was instead directed by the air conditioning.
It was either an act of Super Jesus or maybe Heidi was helping him by opening and closing vents, but Ethan soon found himself in the corridor where all of the fighting was happening. The rage that he had felt earlier had only increased now - Layla finding room after room of experiments, of rooms stained with blood, of rooms echoing with screams, of rooms filled with arcs and bolts of electricity, her anger increasing with every new door she tore through and interior window she broke open - and Ethan tried his hardest to land on people. His friends knew to dodge, and if they didn't then the brands would help, but everyone else would be drained of water. His watery form drained every drop of moisture in their bodies as his bubbles touched them and destroyed them from the inside out.
Ethan didn't hold back; he had no mercy for these people even before he discovered they experimented on newborn babies.
...
The fight was over as soon as Earthstone freed himself from the power-repressing net, and both he and the villains knew that. Earthstone was going to go down in history as the greatest hero Westville had ever seen.
He ripped a postal box out of the sidewalk and threw it down at the jewellery store the villains were looting. The large metal box made a crater on the path, the noise drawing out villains. With their distraction and fear, as well as their pockets stuffed with jewels and jewellery, another four villains fell into the pit with screams of surprise, jewels flying out in a spray of colour.
Earthstone jumped up and reached for the line of lightbulbs that were strung between poles on either side of the street. Westville was known for the pretty patterns and various colours the lights displayed during the holiday seasons, but he figured the Westvilleans would forgive him for the loan, especially if he captured all of the villains and saved the day. Lassoing a few more villains that saw him and tried to run, Earthstone tossed all of the newly-caught villains into the same dumpster the first group had been thrown into. Oddly, some of the villains put their hands up to surrender, and Earthstone hesitated as he tried to work out what to do with them. Knocking them out so they couldn't escape, Earthstone added them to the dumpster as well. When everyone had been captured, he used the lightbulb rope to tie up the dumpster and keep the lid firmly in place.
He would probably get a medal for this, Earthstone mused. He'd have to start writing his acceptance speech.
Airborne was going to go down in history as the greatest hero Westville had ever seen when this fight was over. More villains had joined the ten villains he and Shifter had started off against. He'd fought twelve villains single-handedly and, more importantly, had won against them all. It didn't even matter that they were citizens, nor that his sidekick had technically knocked out two of the villains that he'd been against, nor that three of the villains had surrendered without a fight; all that mattered was he had won. Even his father hadn't won against the Ninety Ninjas without Jetstream - another Hero - helping him, and that totally meant that Airborne was doing this single-handedly and was even better than his parents.
Standing over the villains with his hands on his hips, Airborne frowned when he didn't hear the usual flare of sirens and noise of police officers arriving. Remembering that the cameras on the street also meant some sort of distance requirement for citizens, Airborne figured that they were delayed. He looked over at the smoke rising from Maxville, and wondered if his parents had won or if he'd find them in Maxville's Super Memorial Hospital again. He swallowed down the thought, and was distracted by Shifter returning from where she'd finished tying all of the villains together.
"Call the police for their assistance, Shifter; these villains are going to prison!" Airborne announced, his hands still on his hips but in a totally different pose.
"I already called; they're assisting Maxville and won't be here for a while. We've been instructed to keep watch on the villains and ensure there's no looting of the street," Shifter said with a firm nod.
"Then we will do exactly that; I'll keep watch from the air, you watch over the villains," Airborne said, flying up into the air with a heroic whoosh of air.
He needed to start thinking of his acceptance speech for this glorious victory over villains.
Shifter had fought fifteen villains and even saved her Hero from villains he'd been fighting. She had now been given the extremely important task of watching over the villains and making sure they didn't escape. Several of them were starting to bruise, the purple and black bruises weirdly complimentary to their blue outfits. The cute Blue Heart with large feet was unconscious, so she couldn't make conversation with him, which was a shame.
Instead, Shifter thought about the fifteen villains, the extra two she'd knocked out, and then worked out the amount of money she should be getting as a result. (Curiously, she did the same for Airborne, who had only defeated ten villains, and tried not to feel too annoyed that he'd be paid more than her despite doing less.)
"We'll be fine, Eddie. Just breathe," one villain murmured, their whisper loud in the quiet street.
"Broke a rib, Liv. Can't breathe much," the villain replied, a pained gasping sound in his voice.
"Quiet, villains!" Shifter demanded.
They fell quiet, though there were still some pained noises from the villain with a broken rib. Feeling powerful at being listened to and towering over the crouched and tied villains, Shifter smiled. She was totally going to get an award for this, and maybe even a float in the Hero Support Parade. She'd have to think of her speech for Hero Support's Day.
...
Corvin flapped harder than he'd ever done before in his life. He felt Craig 2.0 moving in his talons but didn't spare the breath or energy to tell him to stay still. He flew straight up the side of the building, the tips of his feathers brushing against Layla's vines and Jewel's jutting pieces of gems. His heart slammed against his ribs, close to pounding right out of his tiny bird chest itself. Corvin ignored it all and focused on the open window right up ahead. It was the tallest open window in the building, whether by the window itself being open or by vines penetrating the glass, and he hoped like absolute hell that it would be close to someone who could help.
Flying into the window, he let out a brief squawk of surprise when a thorn clipped the edge of his wing, but pushed forward through the thankfully open door, and into the building's corridor. Hearing the sounds of fighting and seeing a flare of fire, Corvin realised he'd found Warren at the very least, and put on a burst of speed and energy. Craig 2.0 continued to slip in his talons, and right as Corvin flew around the corner, smashing into the wall itself, Craig slipped out of his hold completely.
"Poe! Stay down! Globe's let Molten loose," Baby called from across the corridor.
Corvin forced himself to shift through the pain and through Grant's negation wave, his arm broken and throbbing throughout it all. "Cee-two's got Michelangelo. She's hurt and gotten worse. Cee-two can't hold her for much longer; Grant's wave is fading him."
Craig's poison dart frog form gave a pitiful jump forward, trying to reach Ethan's bubble form as it attacked everyone in the hallway. Baby glanced out to the corridor where Ethan was utterly decimating the guards, remaining Wardens, and anyone else he brushed up against. When Ethan had first arrived in the corridor, Baby and the others had dodged bubbles, much to the amusement of their opponents. It was only when the bubbles started to overwhelm and people started to drop dead, completely devoid of any water or moisture in their bodies, that they realised the threat the bubbles poised. Even Warren wasn't immune to Ethan's power, and since Ethan couldn't distinguish friend or foe in his bubble form, several bubbles had settled on Warren until his temperature popped them with a bright pop and a drop of water. The water droplets had formed into a puddle, and as Craig's frog jumped forward, the puddle reformed into Ethan.
"Is he shorter than normal? Is that safe?" Corvin hissed, Baby shrugging in response.
"Carbon Copy, reform, you're safe," Ethan said, ignoring the scream of another water-devoid person as they fell to the ground, water droplets moving over to him and his height growing a tiny increment.
Craig 2.0 shifted, or perhaps lost his shift, because in the next moment, Maleah was on the ground and Craig's copy was gone.
Ethan knelt beside Maleah, his eyes wide behind his glasses, and reached for her. "You'll be okay, Michelangelo; I'll get you home safe."
"Promise?" Mal asked with a weak and wet smile.
"Promise," he said, even as he melted her down and into his arm carefully. Swallowing hard, and knowing that he might have lied, Ethan stood and looked at the corridor of dead enemies and injured friends. "We need to leave as soon as possible."
A familiar sound started to get louder in the distance, and they all stood to face it. Around the corner of the hallway, vines poured forth like a tsunami. They were large enough that two vines were at waist height for Sport, and almost dwarfed the others. There were screams in the distance like people were being strangled or choked to death.
Warren stepped forward, his breath starting to slow in his chest from Layla's rage. She still felt that same rage, but had taken enough revenge that he could get past the feeling himself. As he moved closer to the vines moving towards them, Warren reached for a vine as it curved up against his skin like it was a cat. In that exact moment, Warren realised that the vines hadn't come from Layla, but they were her.
"You missed the fight, Poison," he said with a brief smile.
Layla built herself back up, vines in a human form, then hair and skin and she smiled at him as she tucked a lock of her vine-turning-hair behind her ear. "Did you leave anyone for me?"
Her question was echoed by the crashing of glass, screams, and the solid and final thud of bodies hitting the ground outside. Hurrying to the windows, Layla and Warren looked out to see Beau standing in front of the building, looking utterly pissed off and powered up so that everyone was attracted to him, even if it meant their deaths.
Brands burning and painful on their shoulders, their friends stayed where they were and watched as scientists, guards, and office workers threw themselves out of the building.
"Super fucking Jesus, I am glad he's on our side," Ex said.
"I don't see any of the test subjects, do you think they're all right?" Ethan asked.
"Electro and Globe have them under control; a vine is keeping them safe and stopping them responding to Mesmerise's power."
"How many did we rescue?" Warren asked.
"So far, twenty-five."
"So far? Where are the others?" Sport asked, frowning in confusion.
They all ignored yet another body flying out of the building and down towards the ground.
"Diamond is in the basement. I don't know how many are still alive."
Sport, Baby, Ex, and Buddy all glanced between each other before heading for the closest elevator.
Connor looked at Ry. "You good?"
"I'm good; go, and I'll be up here making sure no one's resisting Mesmerise's power," Ryuu said with a nod when the rest of his friends agreed with the idea and plan.
Connor squeezed Ry's shoulder firmly then ran after his friends.
...
An explosion and 503's startled scream distracted Enzo from his hand, and he glanced over to the window briefly, then did a double-take as he saw the column of smoke rising. "Should we be evacuating? That's closer than I'd like," he admitted, setting his cards down and moving to the window to take a closer look.
Angelina went to calm 503, while Frank joined Enzo, shaking his head over the mess and destruction they could see below.
"It's the American Bank of America on First Street. Baron Battle got lucky, and they're all squished. He might be dead, I'm still a little fuzzy on that," Zero admitted.
Gemma raised an eyebrow at the young seer. "You're fuzzy?"
Zero grinned and shrugged. "Several factors impact his ability to survive, which results in tens of threads that I don't care enough about to look at closely. I've got more important things to worry about."
"Stop eating your gummy bears, you're meant to be betting with them," a girl said, nudging the boy beside her.
He shrugged and ate another one. "Zero's gonna win, just like always."
The girl considered his point, conceded with a nod, and ate some of her own gummy bears.
"The bank exploding doesn't have anything to do with us, does it?" Gemma asked, hoping to ask about Baby and Ex without really asking about them.
Zero frowned, set a card down on the table with a decisive hand, then grinned. "I win!"
503 pouted, glared, and kicked her feet. "You always win! You're supposed to let us win!"
Phineas snorted from where he was curled up on a large chair with Finnley. "You're not supposed to drink raspberry crush, and yet here we are."
"Oh, no," a boy murmured, nudging the girl as he saw that Phineas was right: 503 had been drinking raspberry crush rather than grape crush this whole time.
The girl sighed, scooped up the last of her gummy bears to eat, and then moved around the table to gather 503 in her arms. "C'mon, let's go work it off in the playground. We can go there today since everything's closed off, okay?"
503 let out an ear-piercing scream and kicked her legs. "No, no, no! I want to play cards!"
Lupo tutted as he looked at 503's discarded cards. "You only had two pairs, 503. I beat you with a flush, see? So that means I get to choose the next game."
503 continued to kick at the girl, but stopped screaming and protesting. "What game?"
Lupo grinned wolfishly. "Big bad wolf, of course." He shifted to his wolf form immediately and pounced, leaving enough space for the girl and 503 to run.
The girl set 503 on the ground carefully, grabbed her sticky hand, and ran. It wasn't the playground but it would work off 503's excess energy and stop her from leeching the whole building's colour when she couldn't control her power and had a tantrum as a result.
Behind them, Chayton looked at the boy, and they both grinned before racing out of the room after the others.
"C'mon, let's go wait for Core in his room," Phineas suggested, tapping Finnley's thigh to prompt her to move.
"Oh, do you need the access card? I've got it," Ammie offered, patting her clothes to find it.
"We'll go in through the emergency hatch, but thank you," Finnley replied, leaving with Phineas before Ammie could respond.
Ammie looked after them for a long moment, then frowned and looked over to Zero. "They're being safe, aren't they? I'm too young to be a grandmother."
Zero snickered as someone spluttered on a drink, and shook his head. "You'll have to ask them; I refuse to look at that."
"Ah, Lottie? Can I talk to you for a minute?" Alice asked, clutching the hem of her shirt and hoping she didn't sound as nervous as she felt.
"'Course, darlin', what's on your mind?" Lottie asked, folding and putting her cards down. She was certain that the kids already knew how to play considering their aptitude, but had to admit the game had been distracting up until the explosion.
"Uh... well... if you have the time... I mean, if you don't mind... I'd like another dress. Please. Uh, I can pay you. I think we can transfer money on these things," Alice added, glancing at her access card with a frown.
Lottie grinned, broad and red-lipped. "You want another ass-kicker? Oh, it must've been good to you; it's always good, though, ain't it?" she said with a wink when Alice blushed. "We can go look at fabrics and colours right now. It'll get my mind off all this," she said with a glance outside to where the horizon looked clearer now that Zephyr had blown several buildings over.
Gemma decided a distraction was an excellent idea. "What's an ass-kicker? I thought it was a shot, but then you threw me with fabrics," she said, smiling briefly.
"It's a dress. Lottie makes them and they're gorgeous and knock people to their ass," Alice gushed, still blushing over her memory of her date with Kid and Buddy.
"Lie. Argh, sorry! It's so stupid and literal, and I hate it. Lie," 205 said, groaning and covering her face.
"Just because you can't play poker, it doesn't mean it's a stupid power, dear," Carlotta said, patting her back gently.
"It made it easy for me, though," Frank said with a chortle and grin.
Carlotta's face turned stormy and she glared at her husband. "I will gut you like a fish, Frank. Shut up."
205 had started hiccuping but managed to say 'lie' through the noise.
"I love you, too, dear," Frank called, waving at his wife with his cards.
"You're playing against a seer, Frank. I honestly question your intelligence some days," Carlotta said with a sigh, shaking her head.
"He can't see the threads with this many possibilities."
205 shook her head. "No, but Zero can count cards."
Frank's eyes widened almost comically as he looked at Zero.
Zero grinned and set his hand down. "I win!" he said triumphantly with a grin, then his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed off the chair.
Several people ran to catch him before he fell, but none made it in time and Zero hit the carpet tiles with a solid thud. By the time anyone reached him, Zero was groaning and sitting up on the floor, rubbing his sore shoulder.
"Nigel is arriving downstairs with the Spinner Sisters and... the infants. They're early, and the parents are going to be delayed because of Zephyr. He shouldn't have knocked down that last building, but Peggy was kind during the time stop and... well, being kind has unfortunate consequences for us this time," Zero said, his words as fast as his feet as he hurried to stand and leave the room, everyone hurrying to follow after him.
"Wait, Zero! What time stop?"
"We can't - goddamn it, Zero!
"Zero, come back here!"
Zero ignored them and continued talking as he ran through the corridor, dodging the wolf and a laughing 503, tapping the elevator button for each elevator on the level. "It won't cause many issues, but two of the infants are going to be very upset until their new parents arrive. We have to get ready. There's blankets since we don't actually have anything for infants. Is anyone able to swaddle and cuddle babies for a while? Oh, and Lottie, you need to measure Gemma for an ass-kicker dress. Don't forget to say hi to Lex on your way up," Zero added, ushering Lottie and Gemma into the open elevator doors. He paused, considering Alice, then shook his head. "You need to see the babies, Alice. That elevator," Zero said, nodding to the elevator opening across the corridor.
"We'll go with you, Alice. Parking level one or two?" Carlotta asked Zero, holding Frank's hand.
"One; don't go down to two, the boiler will scare them," Zero called, waiting for the doors to close on Lottie and Gemma before pressing the button again. "Enzo, Angelina, we're going to need food. Soups, broths, and bread. Don't go overboard, Enzo. Keep it simple, people need to recover."
"Recover? What's happening with them?" Ammie asked, her hands gripping her elbows tight around her torso.
"I can't tell you. There's still threads, but I swear they're coming to an end. Uh, I mean, they're closing, not ending and uh... please, don't ask," Zero pleaded.
"Come on, dear, let's go cuddle babies until yours are back, okay?" Carlotta suggested, letting go of her husband to curl an arm around Ammie's shoulders.
"503, help Enzo and Angelina. You can be a taste-tester," Zero said, grinning.
503's eyes widened with delight and she hurried to catch up with Enzo and Angelina, grabbing each of one of their hands and smiling up at them.
"Glad you're no longer red, 503. I think we've got some Super Goddess Soup left, if you want to turn green," Enzo said with a grin.
"Nothing red or black!" a girl called after them.
"Where are we going, Zero?" a boy asked.
"Help with the babies. There's seven of them; one has multiple fingers and toes and he's a wriggler, so be careful."
The boy and girl both nodded, and hurried to join Carlotta, Frank, and Ammie in the elevator.
Left alone on the landing as the elevator doors all closed, Zero sighed and held onto the railing as he worked out where to go next.
...
"Super Jesus!" Jewel hissed at the sight of a face in the hole in the wall.
"He's not here, it's just me," came a hysterical giggle from the other side.
Jewel tried to calm her racing heart and looked between Lorcan's unconscious form and the nondescript face. "Who are you?"
There was a beat of silence, the face screwed up in an unfamiliar expression. "I don't know anymore. I lost that... uh, 527 days ago, I think. Maybe it's less or more. I didn't mark the time correctly, and sometimes I faint from hunger if they don't feed us on time, but it's been about that long since I remembered my name. I think."
"Oh. Uh... why are you down here?"
The gaunt face smiled with yellowed teeth. "They couldn't control me. Never have been able to, and so many scientists tried and tried and tried, then they got new scientists and tried some more. I always resisted and they couldn't make me do what they wanted, so they said I was dangerous. Then the floor broke open and I was thrown down here. Just like everyone else. I think the others are alive. I can hear their voices. I've been talking to them for days, months, maybe even years!"
Jewel paused and heard only silence. "Where are they?"
"That way, in the corridor. There's lots of these cells, but we have smaller food holes than you do. Did they increase the food hole because there's two of you?" the face asked, looking up at the hole Jewel had created on her entry down into the concrete cell.
"No. I did that. The hallway is out there?" Jewel asked, indicating the wall across from her.
"Yes! There are some cells that have doors. The others told me."
Jewel shouldered her sledgehammer and walked over to the wall, pressing a hand against it before digging her fingers in. The wall was thicker here, but it wouldn't take long with her strength, power, and sledgehammer.
Minutes later, another hole was in another wall, and this one led out to a hallway with lights. It also didn't have a face peering back at her.
"Can you do that for mine? I haven't seen sunlight in... a thousand days? No, two thousand... hmm, maybe longer... there's still a sun, isn't there? Stare Flair didn't block it out, did she?"
"The sun's still out there. Stare Flair has been in prison all this time; we released her this morning," Jewel admitted, absent-minded as she tore chunks of concrete out of the wall to create a better door to carry Lorcan through.
"Oh. Then I can wait here; she said she would come for me."
Jewel paused, and looked over at the face. "Stare Flair is, like, 60 years old and this place is hidden by a forcefield. She isn't coming anytime soon. We're breaking you out, whether you want it or not."
"But... she promised."
There was an obvious lip tremble that Jewel could see even from over here, and she sighed. She really needed to work on her heroic bedside manner. "I'm sure Stare Flair would be here if she could. We're taking you to her."
The eyes widened. "Oh! Really? I will... I need to tidy up and get presentable. Can you break concrete blocks?"
Jewel glanced at the concrete wall she had just demolished with both hands and hammer, then back to the face. "Yes. Yes, I can."
"Lovely! You'll have to take these off me. I can't reach my food some days. Sometimes the guards purposely throw it away from me so I can't reach it."
Deciding that the hole she'd already made was better than making another door in the face's cell, Jewel moved over to widen the hole into a full door. It revealed a gaunt frame, the prison white outfit all but hanging off bony shoulders, and right at the bottom were a pair of literal concrete blocks. "What the fuck?"
"They didn't like that I kept trying to run away. So they stopped me from running."
Shuffling forward inch by excruciating inch on her concrete shoes, she turned her face up to the light streaming through the broken hole in the roof, and let out a content sigh.
Jewel didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't actual sunlight, just artificial lights and unnatural glows. "Let's get these off you and get you outside, okay?" Jewel suggested, careful as she knelt beside the woman and started to break the concrete from around her feet.
Bones were broken, her skin was several colours it shouldn't be, and everything below her calves looked wrong on so many levels. Jewel knew in an instant she would be carrying the woman out of the cell and she certainly wouldn't be walking anytime soon.
The woman set a freed foot on the ground, let out a blood curdling scream of pain, and fainted.
"Ah, fuck." Jewel carefully broke the second concrete block while she could, then stepped out into the hallway and unclipped her walkie talkie. "Hello? Anyone there?"
"There you are! Carbon has Grant, he's safe. Where did you go? Where are you?" Champ asked immediately.
"I'm in the basement. They put people down here and fed them through holes in the ceiling and this woman has concrete blocks on her feet and doesn't remember her name, and - "
"Hey, breathe. Focus on your breathing, Diamond. We can't rearrange the basement but Bolt and I can come down to you."
It took a few tries to breathe and then Jewel struggled to find her voice. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, we're here to save people, right? We'll get down there soon, just gotta get the right code for the elevator... oh, we got it. Breathe and check in with Carbon, okay?"
Jewel took a moment to breathe, then talked into her walkie talkie again. "Carbon? Babe, you okay?"
There was an agonising moment of silence. "Here, babe. Diamond, I found him, and we're both okay. Mostly. Hey, it's our girl, say hi."
"Uh, Diamond, that's it, yeah?" Grant asked, getting confirmation from Craig beside him. "Hey, Diamond. Heard you followed a rabbit into Wonderland. What's it like down there?"
Jewel looked at the two unconscious people in the room behind her, and then looked at the corridor that stretched both ways into the distance. She tried not to sob as she felt a mix of emotions on hearing Grant's voice and as she realised that there weren't just a few rooms down here, but possibly hundreds. "We're all mad down here, babe. Are you all right?"
"We'll talk about that once I'm actually out of here, how about that?"
"Okay. I've gotta go. There's so many people down here we have to rescue. I'm so glad you're safe now, babe. Carbon, you look after him, okay?"
"On my life, Diamond."
Sniffling, Jewel clipped her walkie talkie on her hip once more and then moved to the next section of wall to start digging.
...
Ida parked beneath the hospital, taking a moment to double-check Honey's text message. She'd been very clear about her instructions, which Ida definitely appreciated, but there wasn't a lot of time to spare between each directive, and she knew how distracting patients and other hospital employees could be.
Adjusting her hat briefly, she stepped out of her car, locked it, and followed Honey's instructions to the letter. Elevator to the green floor, watch the waiting room TV for two minutes (an ad for dandruff shampoo, advertised as tested on supers, which Ida didn't believe for a second), then head through the hallways towards the orange section of the hospital. Take the second elevator up to the yellow floor, make sure not to hold the door for the person who calls out for the elevator to wait (Ida held her breath and pressed the close button frantically), but once you've arrived at the yellow floor, send the elevator back down to the orange floor for them. Go through the employees' hallway, knock on the on-call's door, and ask for Simon.
"There's no Simon here," a familiar voice replied.
Ida squared her shoulders, ready to ram the door down if need be. "Sandy, you open this door this second - "
The door opened and Sandsapien looked out, obviously surprised to see her. "Ida? What are you doing here? You've got the week off."
"Where's Simon?" she asked.
Sandsapien shrugged. "No idea who you're talking about."
Ida levelled him with a glare. "Don't you bullshit me, Sandy."
He withered under her glare far too easily for a well renowned villain. "How'd you know he was here?"
"I've got clear instructions from Hourglass and I refuse to go back empty handed. Show me to Simon or I'll have you emptying bedpans for the next month."
Sandsapien gave an unpleasant grimace. "Okay, okay. Geez, you coulda just said it was Hourglass that sent you. C'mon, this way. He should be waking up now, actually," he added, looking at the time.
Ida bit off her questions and followed after him quickly, checking Honey's text to ensure they didn't need to stop or go anywhere in particular to retrieve Simon. She didn't have any further directional instructions, just one additional text message that stated 'Tell him it's nearly sunset and DO NOT LEAVE SIMON BEHIND' in all caps and with Honey's own infliction on the words, Ida swore she could hear it.
"Hey, good timing. How're you feeling?" Sandsapien asked, opening a curtain and stepping into the sectioned off area.
"Like shit; your sand always makes me fuzzy, Sandy," Simon replied with a wide yawn.
"It'll wear off. Your ride's here, time to go," he said as Ida slipped through the curtains.
"My ride? Did Lash escape? How'd he find me?" Simon asked.
"I'm your ride, Simon. My name's Ida; Hourglass sent me."
He frowned in response, like he couldn't quite place who Hourglass was based on her name alone, and Ida worried that maybe she'd found the wrong person. "Why would she care about me? I'm barely a henchman."
"Hourglass always has her reasons. Get your shoes on; we've got to go before the police come," Ida prompted. She wasn't entirely sure if the police were coming, but it seemed like a useful way to get Simon moving considering he was wearing prison whites.
Simon flinched and Ida felt bad in an instant. "All right. Where are we going?" he asked, getting up far faster than Ida expected, slipping his prison slippers on his feet. The soles were nearly worn through, and Ida hoped no one would notice when they were leaving.
"To a safe place. Oh, and I'm meant to tell you: it's nearly sunset."
Ida and Sandsapien both winced as Simon's neck cracked as he quickly turned to look out the window. It wasn't a great view, more parking lot than garden, but it also kept the room mostly hidden. Simon saw the fiery orange of the sun as it was starting to set, and wondered what to do. Had Lash pledged allegiance? Would he see his friend again? Was his friend even thinking about him? Had he survived his trip to the police station? Lash had always said that he'd never let himself be captured again, but he'd never meant it, always posturing over lunch when the bigger villains were listening or paying him a scrap of attention. Maybe he did mean it; Simon hardly felt like he even knew his friend anymore.
"Simon? Are you all right?" Ida prompted when he paled drastically in a matter of seconds.
He swallowed hard and nodded. "I pledge allegiance to Chaos. Let's get out of here."
Ida offered her arm to him, keeping him steady and at her human pace rather than his superhuman one, and led him back through the hospital and to her car. A few people recognised her but as she was seemingly with a patient, Ida wasn't disturbed. They walked through the waiting room that little bit faster as the police really did arrive, but considering one officer had an arm covered in octopus sucker marks and swelling with the tell-tale signs of an allergic reaction, Ida figured they had more important things to worry about.
"Seatbelt on, young man. You don't want to know what happens to people when they're forcefully ejected out of a moving vehicle. I will tell you in great and graphic detail, and it will be bloody," Ida warned.
Simon hurried to put his seatbelt on. "So, where's this supposed safe place? Is it one of their safe houses? Do you know how they're planning on getting the captured villains out of the police station? Will they really only get people who pledged allegiance?" he asked as Ida started driving out of the parking lot.
Ida blinked at the rapid-fire questions, then concentrated on the road for a few moments, merging into traffic and heading back towards the Sanctuary. "The safe place is a building in Maxville; you'll find out soon enough. I do know the current plans for getting villains out, but it all depends on what happens after they come back. As to allegiance, I don't know anything 'bout that, so you'll have to ask them yourself."
Simon was surprised that she actually answered, but slipped into silence as he thought about her responses, thought about his own experience, and thought about Lash yet again. Then as he thought about her responses, Simon realised something important that not even Ivan had thought to ask earlier, "Why were we causing a distraction for them? What were they doing that they didn't want Jetstream and the Commander finding out about?"
Ida glanced at him, then back to the road. "You know about the Super Bureau, right?"
"Yeah, of course. What about it?"
"There's a building out in Montana where they're experimenting on supers. Chaos and... their friends," Ida added, hoping that her son was all right and Adam would survive this nightmare without gaining any additional nightmares, though she doubted it, "are rescuing them."
Simon frowned. "They're heroes?"
Ida's snort of disbelief belied that, but he still didn't look convinced, so she added, "They're villains to the heroes; the heroes are the ones endorsing the Super Bureau and nominating people to be experimented on. The rescuing upsets the Super Bureau, which upsets Jetstream and the Commander, and there was some mention of life debts, though if that whole allegiance to Chaos thing is any indication, they're gonna have an influx of those today alone," Ida said, glancing at him again briefly before weaving her way through a mix of traffic and office furniture.
Simon rubbed his right shoulder absent-mindedly. "Yeah, I suppose you're right about that. Can you... are you allowed to tell me anything about them? If I've just pledged my life to them, shouldn't I get to know about them?"
"They're complex people and I probably don't know them as well as I'd like, but what do you want to know?"
Simon didn't really know what to ask or even what he actually wanted to know. "What are their personalities like?"
Ida grinned. "As their doctor, I can tell you that they're both stubborn as mules about bed rest unless they're together. They can fight and bicker like teenagers one moment, and in the next breath decide a man's fate. They're good, bad, and they make mistakes, just like all people do, but they'll work like hell to fix them. And they don't keep it all to themselves, either. You know those villains you see on TV, refusing to fight with anyone or ask for help? Hell, even the heroes refuse to ask their Hero Support for help at times," she scoffed, shaking her head. "Chaos know their limits and will work with others that complement those limits. What have you got to offer them?" Ida asked curiously.
The question stunned Simon and he couldn't respond for a full minute as he sat there and tried to think of an answer. "I... I don't know."
Ida gave a small shrug. "Don't worry; either you'll find something of use, or they will."
It sounded like both a promise and a threat, and Simon fell silent as Ida continued through Maxville carefully.
Eventually, they turned into a parking lot of an apartment building. It looked like most of the other skyscrapers dotted around Maxville, and he didn't know what made it so special to be considered a safe house by Chaos, but he didn't dare ask. Simon followed Ida across the parking garage to the elevators, and as they headed up and up and up, he couldn't stop thinking about what he could offer Chaos.
The elevator came to a stop, the doors opening to reveal a young bald boy.
"Zero, what are you doing up here? I thought you were learning to play poker with the others?" Ida queried.
Zero grinned. "I'm not allowed to play anymore; Gemma lost all of her gummy bears 'cause of me. Also, we had to stop playing 'cause the explosion scared 503. She's all right; Enzo and Angelina are looking after her. They might adopt her," he added, bouncing on his toes. "C'mon, Speed, I'll show you to your room. You've gotta go, Ida. They'll be here soon and it's not good."
Ida's eyes widened. "Not good? Is... Is he okay?" she asked, her voice trembling in a way that she recognised far too well, usually from patients and their families, not from herself.
Zero's grin and energy seemed to fade, and that was worse than any response he could have given aloud. "You need to get ready, Dr. Spattle."
Ida was a doctor and she had spent a good chunk of her life learning how to and dedicating herself to being a damn good doctor, in fact; she refused to let her nerves get the better of her now. Not when she needed to help. "Thanks, Zero. Look after Simon, please?"
Zero nodded, grabbed Simon's hand to tug him out of the elevator, and they both stood in silence as the doors closed and the elevator descended once more. "C'mon, I'll show your room."
"Who's coming here? And how is Ida going to treat them here? This is an apartment building, not a hospital. We just left a hospital," Simon pointed out.
"Three floors are decked out with all the hospital gadgets and beds you can fit in that sort of space. It's all sterilised and cleaned with antibacterial acid, and we'll have soon-to-be doctors working with Ida if the nurses can't come. Actually, that reminds me," Zero said, darting further down the corridor to knock on a door. His knocks were rapid but oddly quiet, and the door opened to reveal a kid with a mohawk.
"Shh, Gran just got to sleep. Did you see where Lex went? He was meant to get ibuprofen from Frank's, like ten minutes ago."
Zero grinned. "He's distracted, and flirting with the Spinner Sisters. Lexie will sleep well and be fine delaying the pain relief until after dinner."
"Oh. Okay. So, what's up, Zero?" Alex asked, looking between Zero and Simon curiously.
"You get to play doctor. For real, scrubs and gloves and blood and all that jazz. Ryuu's... mostly fine," he responded with a shrug.
Alex frowned and stepped outside of the apartment, closing the door behind him. "What the hell are you talking about? Why's Ryuu mostly fine?"
Simon wanted to ask who the hell Ryuu was or how a teenager with a pastel mohawk could help, but there was a sound similar to an explosion, purple teleportation light flashing brightly from the lobby. All three of them hurried to look over the landing, Zero leaning out so far that both Simon and Alex reached to tug him back to safety.
"Chaos is here."
...
End of the hundred and ninety-eighth chapter. (Almost at two hundred!)
Thanks for reading!