2634: Dalmore

Chapter 17

The jet ride is long and quiet, the only difference outside is that it has begun to rain heavily. Fog covers the windows until we can barely see anything outside, the sounds of the jet engine is overrun by the rain. Now, as we hover near the Safe Cities I ponder whether it is a good idea to come here. Some parts are blinded with what looks like gas, and for the rest visible, the buildings are toppling down. What if New Orleans was abandoned like this? Alec lands the jet on the ground and I reach for the guns in the boot. The boys clamber to the back to retrieve their weapons as I load mine with ammo and place a knife in my utility belt along with extra ammunition. Ares swings the door open and if the rain couldn't get any louder, it did. I clamber out and race to the blown up entry wall. The rain pours out on me, like one long chilling shower. My footsteps splash with mud spraying everywhere, three splashing footsteps tells me the boys are right behind me. I pull out my mask upon entering, to pass through the gaseous areas. Instantly as I step into the city, shots are being fired at me. I sprint away from them, occasionally shooting back at them. More shots are fired behind me, I know that they are not directed to me but to the three people behind me.
“Over there!” Soren yells, pointing to an apartment building. We follow him inside, but unlike last time when we entered an apartment, people are frantically running around looking for help or moving towards the doors. Pushing past them, I look for a high vantage point and as I ascend the stairs, the gun shots are mixed with the ruckus of disturbed residents.
Some of them eye our guns and widen them before backing away slowly. This continues until enough people see that we’re armed. Most people, when they see guns, they run away, well at least from what I’ve been told. These people decided to form a circle around us, shouting insults and slurs at us, what happened to running to safety? Out of anger, Alec holds a gun up and waves it around. The room falls silent, “Look here, you all need to get to safety. You're going to follow us out in an orderly fashion to safety. Anyone who has a problem with that, you can stay here!” He fires the gun at the ceiling, piercing a hole in it. The silence breaks and the furore continues, clearly they aren’t threatened, and if by chance they are more violent than before. I look around frantically, thinking of something to do without hurting them but the circle draws closer in on us. As there is nothing else left to do, I barge out, pushing anyone in my path to the ground.
“There are people with guns out there, who aren't afraid to shoot you. Do you really want to die now or get to safety?” I ask the crowd.
“I don't give a damn. I'd rather die by the hands of our own government than you wretched downtown folk!” Someone yells out.
“C’mon, let's go. We aren't here to save people,” Alec says, pushing past the crowd, the other two doing so in the lead of Soren. “Anyone else who wants to go to safety, you can come,” There is a shift in the crowd but no one steps forward. Ares opens the door, looking for danger, when none come, I pick up my gun. We wander around the streets, Alec in front, Soren at the back and Ares and I next to the four civilians. Despite our alertness, the roads are silent and empty. Most of the war looks to be further back anyways. The war area was smothered in ash, the rest is too far to see but no one could mistake the distinctive destruction. Though buildings surround the place, protecting us from the remnants of war, still makes me feel alienated from the rest of the world.
We move forward and I look at Alec who was next to me. He mouths something but I can't hear. My nose feels raw and I can smell something dripping down it. I lift my mask and move the tip of my fingers and brush my nostrils. I see sparkles of red blood. Soren peers over to look at my fingers but I hide it behind me. He shoots me a suspicious look, eyeing me.
I hear movement, I turn around carefully and swiftly. Something flies past my ear, I look for the source behind me. An arrow lands on the window of a shop before exploding the building. We are pushed forwards with immense force.
“Who’s there?” Alec asks, raising the gun in the shadows of a nearby alley. More arrows come flying at us, “Here” Alec whispers, motioning to the corner of two ice-cream shops. Thankfully none of the arrows blow anything else up but they still come at us. We fire blindly towards the arrow source to no avail. The archer has the upper hand. An arrow hits the Ares’ mask, without that, the arrow would have taken his eye out. He pulls off his mask and continues firing.
“Bimbo?” A voice calls from the dark alley.
“Badge Lady?” Ares calls back. Ophelia’s platinum blonde hair shines in the dim moonlight as she steps out of the alley. The rain drenching her hair so it clings onto her face.
“What are you doing here, armed like you're fighting?” She hisses, looking around for any eavesdroppers and makes her way over to us.
“Actually, that's a funny story. We were on our way to rescue people but then people somehow started a hate cult on us and then we ran away and then-”
“On second thoughts, I don't want to know,” She says, looking around with a disgusted expression plastered on. “We might just be in need of assistance because as much as mummy is denying it, we are dying out there,”
“Mummy? Who’s mummy?” I ask, I thought Ophelia’s mother died.
“Angrove, do you know her?” She asks as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.
“You-, She- came out of her?” Ares splutters, just as shocked as I am.
“Yeah we get it, OK,” Alec says, trying to mask his shock terribly. If anyone wanted to find us, our commotion just gave it away.
“So are you going to get caught up in the Angrove family drama or are we going to save my mummy’s backside?” But if Ophelia is telling the truth, we have already lost to The AIC if we do nothing. “Come On, the wars East,” She says as we follow her out of the corner, our positions in place. We follow her out.
She looks determined to get to the frontline so I don't think it’s a good time to speak. Ares on the other hand decides to ramble on and on, “You know when I get there, I’m going to kick their butts, they’ll regret ever facing the incredible macho man Ares!”
After what feels like forever of Ares’ hero ramble, I hear a rumble coming from behind us, we all turn our guns towards the noise. A food truck moves up the road at full speed, we jump to the side of the pavement. I try to get a glimpse of the driver but the windows are tainted.
When the truck passes us by, the door of the truck is packed with AIC soldiers. Half of them jump down from the truck and make their way over to us, even half of them could easily overpower us. The truck parkes up ahead, not too far from us. I pull the safety trigger on my shotgun and shoot at the soldiers with the rest of the guys. Two and a half rounds of ammunition later, we ditch the guns and try wrestling the soldiers. I throw punches at three of them. Kicking one of them in the face and trying to choke one. Eventually five of them wrestle me to the ground. I reach for a ditched dagger on the ground and stab the nearest one on the shoulder.
Throwing a grenade at the street and throwing the driver out of the truck could be a viable option but the plan could easily backfire and there were residents of the street to think about. A soldier presses my face onto the ground. That’s going to leave a bruise. He pins my hands behind my back but I kick him in the face. Gaining my stance, I step on his face and continue to wrestle the next one. One thrusts me against the wall when someone swipes the soldier’s arm with a knife and the soldier falls unconscious. Alec nods at me and leaves to go punch another soldier next to him. Someone gets a grip on my hair and pulls me back and I hit her head with a handgun left on the ground. As my eyes search the terrain for any incoming soldiers, I cascade into darkness. The last thing I remember seeing is a handgun hitting my face.
When I gain my consciousness back, I find myself in the presence of an interrogation room. A wide one-way mirror is in front of us, but there is no table. Ophelia, Alec, Ares and Soren are tied up in chairs like myself, there are shackles pressed down around my hands to prevent me from escaping. A board above the mirror in front of us reads: ‘Government City Institute’. This is what Kyle was talking about. The door creaks open and Jaxon is trudged forwards, tied just the same way as us. The AIC soldiers position Jaxon next to Alec before leaving us locked in the interrogation room.
“Damn it,” Jaxon hisses.
“Hello to you too,” I respond.
“Oh, right. Hey,” He says, shifting uncomfortably.
“What’s got your knickers in a twist?” Soren asks.
“I dunno, just got kidnapped by evil NAZI dudes,” He says back. Although he says it in a sarcastic humorous way, there is something anomalous about him. It isn't something bad, he looks...happy about everything, whatever the reason is I should shrug it off. “So what’s going on with you lot?”
“This isn't a reunion party,” Alec says, he notices it too.
“Really? I think otherwise. It’d be really nice to know what you guys have been doing because usually I find myself talking about myself to everyone all the time,” An all too familiar voice rings over the sound system. The sound of his voice brings pure shivers down my spine. I thought he had died.
“You're not real, I killed you,” I state in the strongest voice I can muster. I stare dead into the mirror, knowing fully well he is looking at me.
His laughter rings the room, “Oh my dear, you are hilarious. You think you can just shoot my head and I’d just die like that?” The door swings open, and Feyrer sweeps into the room. A big grin displays as I grit my teeth at him. “No, your gun was filled with fake bullets. Hm, I wonder who could have done that? Must have been one of your friends. The funny thing is that none of you checked if I had actually died. Anyhoo, the important thing is that I survived, and you're going to die. And before you go on with your heroic main character speech, no I’m not going to kill you on the spot. Unlike you, I think the person held responsible for this shouldn't die in a closed room because that isn't satisfying. No, I’m going to hold a public execution after we kill your little friends,”
“I got 6 words for you. You’re a thieving son of a-”
“Woah, woah. Children could be listening,” Jaxon buts in.
“Shut up,” I hiss at him. I turn back at Feyrer, “You can rot in hell,”
“Nicely put,” Feyrer smirks, “Jaxon I believe you have some words of your own?” He nods towards him before exiting the room.
Jaxon doesn't speak, he looks at Feyrer with a death glare. The corners of his mouth lift, Jaxon lets a giggle escape, the giggle continues for half a minute until it eventually turns into a full belly laugh. He doesn't stop, he is now sunk into the chair, looking like a madman. “You guys are too funny. You didn't think I came here to help?” We stare at Jaxon for a further explanation, “Oh, you did. Well this makes it awkward… How do I put it in simple words without making myself look bad? Well lets start from the beginning, I was once like you, powerless and stupid. That was until my buddy over here, Feyrer offered me a chance. In all honesty, it was a really good one, I could work and live in the Safe Cities. As a small price to pay, I was supposed to buddy up with you and report back to Feyrer, a spy would be a good word I suppose. Well now you know that, you would have figured that it was I who replaced your bullets for fakes. But before you all get mad, I need to confess, it was the right thing what The AIC is doing. What else could we do? We were already dying away,”
“You betrayed us!” Ares growls.
“Way to go genius. You know I’ve always thought you were the dumb one of the group, and you still are,” Jaxon chuckles, Ares turns red in rage, “Don't waste your energy trying to escape, besides, you don't have the brains to. You can go now!” The door swings open once again and about ten guards waltz in. They walk behind our chairs and drag us out of the room. I didn't know we were that high maintenance. The hallways are lit with unseen lights, it looks almost identical to Veritas or that of a hospital. Two rights, one left and another right, down 4 flights of stairs and another left later (how big is this place?). We arrive at a hallway, there is nothing particularly remarkable about it. Even though it looks just like the rest of the building, my gut is telling me it isn't. “Here we go,” Jaxon says in a sing-song voice, opening a door on the other side of us. The room is pitch black from what I can see but as the guards push us inside the room I can see a bright blue glow formed into a cube. Like neon glow sticks but I know very well these aren't glowsticks. “Enjoy the lightshow!” He calls behind us. The cube beeps and we are thrown inside, the cube makes another beep, signaling that it locked. With that, the guards leave.
“Hello?” I hear Angrove’s voice say.
“Mummy?” Ophelia asks.
“What are you doing here? I told you to keep low,”
“I know mummy, but I had to get these losers to safety,”
“Hey!” Ares protests.
“No, I told you lot to take people to safety. Ophelia was the only one allowed to fight. Who else is here?” Angrove says. I don't want to say anything because I know she’ll get angry that I came out to fight.
“Me, Alec, Badge Lady, Soren and Adria,” Ares ratts us out.
“Adria? I told you to steer clear of fighting! You are the only reason why most people still support our cause, without you people will give up on the rebellion. You were supposed to-”
“If you're not tied up, could you  please untie me?” I ask.
I hear Angrove sigh, “Very well,”
After Angrove unites us with immense struggle, I sit down on the ground far too close to the lasers. The cell is far too crowded for anyone to have any personal space, so now I can feel someone’s breath on my face. Alternatively, the only positive thing I can think of is that we are close enough to whisper our plan so any mics in the room wouldn't pick it up. “How are we going to escape?” Soren asks the question we are all thinking about.
“You can't just escape this place. I once worked here as a spy, of course, there is no way in or out without permission in the GCI, here,”
“Then we ambush our way out,” Ophelia says.
“How are we supposed to do that? The whole place is patrolled by guards,” Alec says.
After much thought, and plenty of silence, I speak up, “We distract them. If we had a distraction somewhere in the Safe Cities, the guards would rush to help their soldiers. The guard over here would be lowered and we could plan an ambush,”
“Anyone got any special abilities or cool tricks they’d like to use?” Ares asks.
There is a rustle of someone going through their pocket, “Here,” I hear Angrove say, “You can’t see it but it’s a flare signal for a Bulk in case we get into some trouble. The AIC probably left it in my pocket because it wouldn't do anything but I have a plan. This Bulk it controls, if I wire this right, I could turn it into a communicator,”
“I have something better. A Lock Coin. I pickpocketed it from one of the guards on the way here,” Alec says with a little hint of pride in his voice. We decide to surround the two so any cameras won’t pick up on our plan.
“Angrove can wire the remote and Alec can unlock the door when Angrove finishes,” Soren whispers the plan. Angrove tinkers through the faint glow of the bars, which is not much to work with but an hour later she finishes up.
“Radio Check? Over” I hear Angrove whisper into the remote.
“Read you 5-by-5, over,” A voice crackles back at us.
“Held prisoners at the GCI. Need distraction, ASAP. Over,”
“Wilco, cue phoney bombings in five, at lat, 30.09 and long, -90.456. Over,” The voice replies back. It goes quiet.
“What do we do now?” Ares asks, almost too loudly. I look around nervously, it’s a miracle that The AIC haven't barged in here to separate us. The rebellion must be taking up a lot of space.
“We wait for the receiver to give us a signal and to hear the thuds of the guards footsteps,” Twenty minutes later, I begin to think that when the lady said five, I think she meant five hours. If that was so, I don't know how long I can stand the smell of Ares’ farts, they are starting to take up the whole room. I wonder if this is a death sentence planned by Feyrer where we slowly die of fart inhalation. Whatever the reason for putting us in a dark suffocating room, I know it is nothing but bad. 
The receiver crackles, “We had to evacuate the area for citizens. Phoney bombs are starting. Over,” Part one of the waiting is done. Another twenty minutes later, I hear thumps racing past the door. Angrove wipers a cue to Alec. I hear Alec place the Lock Coin on one of the steel projection bars, which are used to turn on the lasers and project them. I hear an explosion go off too close to me. Everything goes dark. The lasers are off.
“When I said turn off the lasers I didn't mean explode everything,” I hear Angrove grumble. To my surprise, Alec replies not with a witty remark but a growl. We set off on our great escapade journey by groping the walls for support over to the door. I hear someone rattle the door knob “They’ve locked it. Alec, still got that Lock Coin?”
“No, it blew up,”
“I’ve got it,” I hear Ophelia say. Someone kicks the door down, “Your welcome,” Light floods into my eyes. Two guards make a move for us, Ares tackles one to the ground and Soren goes for the other and by the time my eyes adjust the guards are knocked unconscious. I take one of the guard’s guns and Alec takes the other, “Where to now?”
“The Military Weapon Management Facility, there's an emergency exit over there. No one goes over there. It’s not what people would call pleasant,”
As we reach the Military Weapon Management Facility door, we knock out three other guards guarding the facility. I turn the doorknob, the first thing I notice when the door opens are rows of red tubes and in each is a Mutant, “Stage nines and tens,” I hear Ophelia whisper. I thought this room was supposed to be full of guns and stuff, not Mutants. “What are these doing here? I thought we had to keep them out of here,”
“It’s not important,” Angrove rushes for an explanation.
“It is. Are they breeding them?” Ophelia demands. Angrove looks hesitant and guilty. “They are,” She answers her own question.
“They want to control the Mutants, this room is dedicated to it. That’s why I left,” Angrove explains. I don't react, it’s already been a bad morning. Jaxon is a traitor, Angrove knew about The AIC’s plans and didn't tell anyone.
“We can't control Mutants,” Soren says.
“No kidding, Sherlock,” I say.
“What The AIC is up to is not our problem. We’ve got to go,” Angrove says, a little too hurriedly.
“What else are you hiding?” I ask. She is hiding something and I’m going to find out what it is.
“Nothing. Let's get out of here, now!”
“We can't, not yet. I’m onto something,” Alec yells across the room. He is in a corner or what looks like a control panel, head buried deep in research and blueprints. “Give me a couple of hours,”
“No, we have to get out here. They’ll be here any minute when they realise the bombs were a distraction,” Angrove yells back. Whilst the two engage in arguing, I walk down the rows. I can see the similarity of the Mutants that I’ve killed to the ones up here, the difference is that these Mutants look way more lethal than the ones I’ve killed. They’re planning something sinister because what we did at Veritas was to keep the very things in this room out. My mind befuddles at the thought of how this all started. Yelling and commotion emit from outside the door, they've found us. “Get down!” Angrove yells. I duck just in time, between two of the red tubes. The door is barged open with brute force and The AIC patrol the pathways. From where I am, I cannot see the rest of the guys but I know they too have hid. I move a bit in my place to see where everyone is. This will turn out to be the biggest blunder.
“Over there!” One of the guards yells. Shots are fired just above me, I crouch as low as I can go. The guards don't look like they're going to stop firing anytime soon, I sigh. I might get killed, I cautiously scuffle backwards and take a deep breath. I push myself up and run, I run around stupidly, looking for a place to hide, the bullets are too close. Something tugs on my leg, causing me to fall flat on my face, it's a damn wire. Just as I fall down, the room flashes red lights. Did I do something? Whatever the reason, I get up and find a new place to hide whilst the guards are distracted. I hop between a different set of tubes. When the guards get back on their senses, another thing catches mine. A pungent smell wafts through the room, my blood runs cold, I freeze on the spot. This smell is too familiar but just like I had suspected, the lids of the red tubes squeak open. Low growls continue to fill the room, the guards have stopped completely in their tracks. Slimy arms, tentacles, shells and all sorts of grime start to crawl out. A tentacle slithers close to me, only millimeters from my arm, I hold my breath and shut my eyes. I hear the screams of one guard, I open one of my eyes. The tentacle Mutant has slithered away. No way this is happening. This place is crazy, this rebellion is crazy, everything is so crazy right now.
“Let’s go! Now!'' I hear Angrove shout. She is meters away from me, I race towards her, doging out of the way of incoming Mutants. Ares, Soren and Ophelia have already reached her. Where did Alec go? A Mutant roars above us, it is perched on the edge of the tube. I hop out of it’s way, hiding behind a tube.
“Woah, this is a cool way to die!” Ares exclaims on the other side of my tube.
“Could you not?” Soren says, hiding behind a different tube.
“Where did Alec go?” Angrove yells the same question I thought earlier.
“Saw him at the control panel,” I hear Ophelia’s monotonous voice reply.
“Damn it,” Angrove whispers, “Follow my lead,” She creeps along the tubes, often criss-crossing through the tubes. Even with all the chaos around us, the Mutants focus their attention on the guards.
“Get down,” Someone yells from the control panel. Alec? Angrove roughly pushes me to the ground, just in time. Shots are desperately fired by an angered guard, but a Mutant rids him off us. I army crawl over to the control panel to avoid any predicament. When I reach Alec he looks just as busy as ever, hiding under the dashboard and looking over blueprints and formulas.
“Hi, I think there are Mutants trying to kill us,” I tell him in a sarcastic tone. He doesn't respond, nor acknowledge me of any kind. The rest of the guys crawl in behind me.
“Who let them out?” Ares says. I look down and don't respond because I know I was the one that did it. I am prepared for the scolding. 
“I did,” I look up, what did Alec say?
“Why the hell did you do that?” Ophelia growls.
“You said there was no time, I gave me time,” He puts simply, his eyes never leaving the papers.
“What are you trying to do with their research?” I ask.
“They're onto something, I think I can use that against them,”
“How much time do you need?” Soren asks. “10 minutes? An hour?”
“Five to seven hours,”
“We don't have that much time! The Mutants will eat us alive by then,”
“I’m not asking you to stay. Go, I have control over here. I can’t get hurt,” This time he looks at us. I hand him my revolver, just in case. I know we can’t argue with him, we’re taking up too much time. “I’ll be fine. Go,” He says.
“Science isn't magic, you know,” I tell him.
“It is to me,”
One last look at him, I turn my attention to Angrove. She is using a pen to unscrew the bolts on the ventilation shaft, “Follow me. No talking. No noise,” I nod to her agreements. Once she rips off the ventilation, she climbs down. I lose sight of her almost immediately, all I see is a dark hole, not an escape route. Hesitantly, I follow in lead and when I climb down all I see is nothing. Pitch blackness, and then thud, I’ve reached the end. I walk around blindly, looking for something to hold. Wait, I can feel something, it's smooshy and warm.“You're touching my face, stop it,” Angrove says. I hear three more thuds, “I think this is everyone, follow me, hold hands, do whatever and don't get lost. Otherwise...inevitable doom,” Like mother, like daughter I see. The tunnel we are walking in feels like forever, I’d do anything for a bit of air and light. I start to hear things more closely, the sounds of water dripping, metal tubes clanking, distinct chatter from above us, only I can’t hear what they are talking about. “Here,” Angrove murmurs. I hear a yank and twist on a metal door. I feel someone dragging me by the arm inside. The lights turn on, we are in some sort of bunker, it looks like an emergency hatch for Mutant breeches.
“Hello,” Feyrer says, sitting on a table. I reach for my gun, remembering I had left it with Alec, I just hope he needs it more. Everyone shoots at him, but the bullets stop halfway between him and us. This goes on for minutes, Feyrer only looks up in amusement.
“Damn it I’m out of ammo,” Soren huffs. A round of ‘Me too’s’ goes around.
“There’s a force field,” He explains. “But I guess I could take it off,” He raises his gun at us, a button in his other hand. As soon as he presses it, Ares jumps on top of him, beating the hell out of him. Feyrer tries to push him off, trying to hit harder than Ares, which of course is impossible. We surround Ares, in case something happens. Boy did something happen, Feyrer pulls out another gun and fires it at Angrove’s heart. Angrove winces at the pain but sinks to the ground. Her eyes are wide, I crouch next to her, feeling numbness. Across me, Ophelia lays down beside her, a tear falling from her face. Even Ares has stopped fighting Feyrer, who runs off with a smirk. I sure bet he’s happy.
“Go. Open the door,” Angrove rasps, “I’ll be, OK,” She weakly passes me her handgun. Trembling, I take it. That is the last thing she does. I don't react, I stand still and let everyone push me outside with my eyes glued to Angroves face.
I couldn't feel the relief when Alec tells us over the radio that he is OK. Nor the relief of seeing sunlight again when we escape. What I do feel is remorse as I look up at the sky tainted with a little sunlight peeking out from the horizon. The rain has stopped. It is morning and we have lost Angrove.