Collapse Protocol

9. Secrets

"Have we ever seen anything like it?"
"Yeah. Us."

-

Sen spent the next 48 hours ruminating over Li's words. Every time he convinced himself maybe he was viewing someone else's memories, the golden-eyed being dropped information so outrageous he began to question his own sanity.

When his father arrived, the boy found himself pausing outside the lab. Meeting his dad in the hangar felt wrong, somehow. Too abrupt. He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't know if they would even recognize each other.

Working up the courage to knock, Sen raised his hand to the door just as it hissed open. A tall, gaunt, bearded man he didn't recognize stood in the entry. Wire glasses on their last legs were perched on his crooked nose. "Sen?"

He recognized the voice. "Dad?" he croaked, staring into familiar eyes. They looked tired.

Geni Devartani pulled his son into a bony bear hug. No more words were exchanged; what could possibly be enough? The two sat together on the floor, there in the doorway, weeping.

-

"Can you show me?"

The last time Sen had seen his father, Geni had been an entirely different person. The man in front of him now was fifty pounds lighter and a pile of exhausted scruff. Gone were the days of oversized shirts and clean faces.

The boy shook his head. "I haven't been able to use it since..." He hesitated. "Well, you know."

Geni was silent for a long moment, lost in thought. The poorly lit lab, little more than a tiny office room, cast haggard shadows across his face. A contraption Sen had never seen before laid half-hidden in the darkness behind the stool his father was perched on. A new experiment, perhaps.

"Well," his father muttered, tugging the boy from his thoughts, "Can you tell me how you got them?"

Sen's eyes flicked to his dad. "The Ruby," he said. "They said you used it on me."

"Who's 'they'?"

"Culwell. The UF. Everything about me is just...wrong, they say. Like my body changed."

Geni nodded, solemn. "Yes, you've..." He hesitated. "You've always had a strange biology. You were born with it. It..it never seemed to cause problems."

Sen shook his head, trying to follow along. "So...my body isn't the result of fusion?"

His father nodded again. "Did they try to fuse a core into you on that ship?"

"I don't think so." The boy's chair creaked as pulled his knees up to his chin. "Culwell seemed surprised."

Silence. Geni Devartani pondered this new information for a long moment. Sen's attention didn't wander this time; he felt he needed to pay attention.

"It's...it's impossible for you to have fused with the Ruby." A chill ran down the boy's back as his father's voice shook. He knew what was coming, somehow. "Because I used it on myself."

An awkward silence permeated the room as Sen absorbed this new information. "I thought you were a politician."

Geni could hardly hear his son's voice in the soundless room. "I mistakenly believed Culwell wouldn't attack an established leader." He rubbed his beard, betraying his shame. The bags under his eyes appeared to deepen. "It had the opposite effect."

Another pregnant pause filled the space between them as Sen worked up the courage to ask his next question. "Mom? Zee?" The words choked in his throat like they were made of molasses. "Tonir?"

His father remained silent, staring at the floor. He seemed deflated. Only now did Sen see the patchy streaks of grey within his father's blonde hair. The boy nodded. "I...I see."

They were not permitted time to grieve further. The already-meager lights went dark, plunging the room into blackness. Moments later, red emergency lights blinked to life. A couple spun, casting flickering shadows.

The two jumped as someone banged on the door. "Professor!" A muffled yell came from beyond the door, urgency in his voice. "Are you in there?"

"Cal?" Geni slipped gingerly off his stool, creeping toward the door. Safety protocols dictated he keep it shut. "What's going on?"

"We lost power. Underground reactor went offline. Lock yourselves in here until we're clear. Is Sen with you?"

"Yes."

"Good. Don't move. We'll come get you once we're sure we're not dealing with a threat."

Sen couldn't hear any movement, but his father reacted as if the soldier had left, turning back to his son. "We'll just wait here until-"

An explosion of vicious flame blasted the steel door off its hinges, turning it into a ballistic missile. Sen hit the floor. Geni reacted instantly, whipping around and conjuring a glittering blue shield of rippling energy, deflecting the door into the wall.

"Sen!" His dad screamed, taking his eyes off the flaming entryway for the briefest of moments. A black hole opened above his heart, blood splashing his son. But he held his ground. "Agh!"

"Dad!" The boy scrambled to his father. Geni was struggling to stand, but the shield held true, blocking off half the room. He was trying to speak. "Dad?"

"They followed me," he grunted before  pitching face-first into the concrete.

-

"DO YOU STILL DENY WHAT WE ARE?" Li's voice bellowed from the darkness. "We are the first Lazarus. And we punish the weak."

-

Sen locked eyes with an invisible Nevi Ihara. The Arachnid froze in his tracks, as of yet unsure if he had been detected. His orders were to take the boy alive. It would be easier without his presence being known. Getting through the shield to shoot the professor was simple.

The last thing he saw was Sen's outstretched hand, coated in golden magma.

The boy's eyes burned a similar shade of gold, illuminating the room like headlights as he turned wordlessly toward the entry. Nevi's body smoked behind him, melted halfway into slag. A man he recognized as Corvin Brass stood in the rampaging flames beyond his father's still-present barrier.

Sen knew he was dead. He wasn't giving off the same ripples of energy he could see around Corvin, had seen around Nevi before his unfortunate demise. His father's eyes stared at nothing.

"Kneel," the Lazarus commanded, his head held high. "And I might spare you."

Corvin scoffed. "What?"

Sen's only response was a slight gesture of his head toward Ihara. "Nevi was a cocky idiot," Brass responded. "Come quietly while I'm still asking nicely."

No response. Gold, blue, red, and orange light fought for supremacy in the tiny room. "So be it."