~ Sanctuary ~

Chapter 8

I took the deepest breath I could muster and let one arm let go of Layne's before winding up, holding my arm at a thirty five degree angle, and shooting it back behind and below me. I guess Layne was taking a deep breath right at that exact moment, because the hold he had on me loosened. And thank fucking god he did.
As soon as I felt breath return to my lungs, and the darkness faded away around my vision, I clawed his arms and threw him over my head from behind me, sending him straight into the ground. I looked around briefly to see that the brothers had been apprehended. Still conscious, but apprehended. Fuck yea. Let's finish this.
I looked below me and saw Layne was laying there, breathing heavily and gasping for air. Two hard blows to the top of the spine really do cause rib problems. In humans and in cyborgs. We need some way to breathe, right?
I knelt down to his level as I felt Cass's presence emerge over my shoulder, looking over me and down at them. I look into the mask of Layne who's lying beneath me, and I see their face trying to struggle for air. Their voice sounds similar to the Con Man's, but more electric, like a robot, because that's what was lying beneath me.
Cassidy circles around me and to the other side of Layne, holding their legs firmly, but not harmfully. Then, some proper air seemed to escape from Layne's lungs. And it seemed like he had something to say. This better be good.
"I was always judged for being the way I am. Obsessed with life, obsessed with creation, because I figured I'd be a model of success if I was able to create life more than just once without the use of my own blood or intercourse with another," Layne croaked. This was truly Gordon's soul speaking.
"You see me lying on the floor over there unconscious, and today I wanted to physically execute my final surgery plan and it was to exchange the technology that's within Madelyn, over to Mackenzie. Mackenzie's been due to break down for months, so I knew I needed to secure Madelyn before that happens, and you talking to the Toymakers gave me an opening to sweep Madelyn from right under you all," he continued. I looked upon Madelyn who's still strapped in the chair. And she simply mouthed to me 'It's okay', so with silent reassurance from her, I turned back and continued listening to Gordon speak.
"But because my vision of being successful was so blinding, I just couldn't get enough, wanted and needed to make more. And I looked past the things that make your souls all human, because all of you, in some way, are truly human," he groaned, coughing a slight bit. "And so of course I continued so I could make more successes like you all, and wanted to earlier, but seeing that not only one generation of my creations could have their own consciousness to try and go against their creator, but two did. And one of them, banding with the other one, together, succeeded," he stuttered, breathing heavily and heaving desperately for air.
"Well, I mean we tried to, but it had to end like this either way and I'm sorry," I said quietly. I tried to keep my words low enough for him to feel comfortable about not projecting his voice, but loud enough for him to hear and respond.
"It's okay. I've learned what I've done isn't what should have been, and now you have the freedom to go out into the world and live your own life. Go free the others. And take them with you. They deserve a life too," he stuttered, shakily raising his hand and snapping his fingers, hard and loudly. I looked over to the brothers, Fern and Forrest as he held up his fingers and before he snapped, and all of a sudden, both the brothers lost consciousness. Like Gordon had done when he switched his consciousness to Layne. Souls and spines ripped directly out of their bodies.
Cassidy looked to them both, and let go of Layne's legs, running over and setting them down slowly on the ground with the help from the others. I looked down to Layne again, as I saw a tiny little glimmer of life in Layne's eyes, before they closed, and the final breath of Layne was exerted.
We did it. We actually did it. We're free. And so is he.
"Cassidy, let the others handle the brothers, and you handle Layne if he suddenly, for some miracle, or curse for that matter, comes back alive," I said, before getting up and walking over to Madelyn. Cassidy quickly did as I requested as I neared Madelyn. There was nothing but a scratch on her, thankfully.
"How you holding up," I asked, as quietly as I could, as I messed with the leather straps that were on her forearms, and her shins.
"I'm doing alright, when I got here, he barely laid anything but a finger on me. I didn't know if you all would succeed in saving me, so I went through the scan he put me through," she said. She seemed to have endured a lot by the looks of her, but not a lot physically, but just a lot. There were bits and pieces of her body that were shallow, but she still seemed to be holding it together.
"What scan," I questioned, trying to take my mind off what was bothering me.
"He took me to a room that was a scanner and asked me to step in it, saying it would be painless, and it was. By the attitude he gave me, it didn't seem like he was trying to trick me or anything. It only took about twenty five minutes to complete the scan, I think he was just surveying the locations to make incisions, how my technology ran, what have you, and probably put more information about me on file, which I'm sure someone has access to," she shrugged.
By this time I'd undone all the leather straps, and her ankles and wrists and neck had metal restraints, which I knew I had to tend to.
"Do you know if these unlock with a code or something like that?" I asked. Madelyn nodded her head yes, and extended her finger, and turned her wrist accordingly, pointing toward the nearby computer. I turned to follow her point.
"Look at the blue post-it note he has near his keyboard, it should be right there, he referenced it a lot," she replied. I let my gaze search around, and I walked over to the computer and saw the restraint chart with red dots on the neck, arms and leg restraints. I looked at the post-it note Madelyn mentioned which was attached to the computer screen on the rim around the screen itself, and typed in the codes to a random hack search bar.
The restraints popped open like magic, and Madelyn used her hands to sit up a little. I walked back over to her and put my hands on her hips, lifting her slowly toward the ground gently. I didn't want her to lose her balance after not being used to walking, because I'm not sure how long it's been since she's walked. Before I knew it, she nearly pounced in place into an embrace.
"Thank god you're safe," I whispered. "I'm glad he didn't threaten you in any way," I added gladly. She squeezed me within the hug, and didn't say anything or make any noise. I knew she felt safe again. "Thanks for being brave for me, foxy," I said soothingly, as my hand crept to her back and started rubbing it softly. Her posture melted into me even though I was a bit smaller than her, and I just held her there for a while.
I didn't want to let go because my anxiety was screaming in my ear about not to, but I knew she was safe. At least as long as she was in my presence and I had at least one hand on her, I knew she was safe. I begrudgingly let her go, and looked to the rest of the team. The brothers Fern and Forrest were still slumped over unconscious, and the others were still tending to them.
"Hunters, go ahead and greet your sister, please, I'll help with them, they'll probably regain consciousness in a short bit," I offered. Blake, with the help of Felix, and Flynn stepped forward as Madelyn made her way over to them.
"How you doin' lil one?" Felix asked sweetly. Felix's tone with Madelyn is very father-like, but in a way that she's his niece, kinda way. I could definitely tell a smile had crept onto Madelyn's face, and a wide one at that. She leapt into his arms and he flung his around her, holding her close. He let her down and she went over to hug Blake, who was leaning against the wall for support. She helped him and held him gently as she hugged him.
"What happened to you huh?" she asked, chuckling a slight bit.
"Oh y'know, just the usual, getting myself stuck in hard situations," he chuckled back. "If only I had you there to have my back, I would've been completely fine," he added, grinning. Madelyn smiled, then set Blake back against the wall and made her way over to Flynn, who hugged her gently and widely. They never had the closest of relationship like me and her, he was the only one who didn't connect with Madelyn. But she and him didn't mind, they were family by definition, and that was okay enough for them.
They continued to catch up while I walked over to the brothers. I held each of their heads as Seth and Griffin held them respectively, and the other Scavengers were over helping with Layne's and the Reaper's bodies.
I looked at the masks of the brothers, and still, it was like the paint job was uncanny to something that I had a hard time identifying, and their builds were starkly similar. I looked behind me to the computer I accessed, and it seemed to have shut off. I waved away my thoughts of going through the system myself and letting my curiosity run wild, and instead continued tending to the brothers. I set them up against the wall, and took the leashes off their dogs, which had been rendered lifeless.
"They shouldn't have leashes on them, they're free dogs now, even if they're just spirits," I muttered to myself. Then, all of a sudden, the bodyguards sprung to life. And I'm not gonna lie, it startled me. They seemed to jolt up in shock, and wondering where they were because they looked around them frantically, but as quick time passed, they knew once they'd gained full consciousness.
"Agh, we're free," Forrest breathily said, clutching his chest, his head, and gaining back his bearings, as Fern woke up groaning. Forrest seemed to relax because he knocked his head on the back wall he was resting against, almost as if he was relieved. I don't blame them, I'd be relieved too.
"Welcome back, you two, remember me?" I asked, trying to make my voice as calm and understanding as possible so as to not alarm them. Fern knew instantly, and when I looked over at Forrest, he took a double take. He seemed to understand who I was after he took the double take, which I understood easily. We wiped his memory, as well as Fern's, so I guess in his brain, his monitored and controlled memory we'd wiped perfectly, but not his full memory. So that's probably why it's easy for him and his brother to recognize our faces. Facial recognition is a good thing that Gordon installed, good on him.
"Yeah, you're the one that interrogated us about the Con Man, we tried to tell you to help us escape his control," he continued, breathing heavily and panicking a slight bit, fumbling over his words as he spoke.
"Yep, you did tell us, and it happened," I smiled, looking behind me as Cassidy and Gunner were carrying Layne's body back over to the chamber he emerged from. Layne's body was completely immobile, almost like a corpse. Well, thinking about it, he is a corpse. Just more of a robotic one. As I turned back to the brothers, Forrest's eyes seemed to calm, and he leaned back against the wall, catching his breath. "You still thought he was alive?" I ask, chuckling a bit but trying to stifle my laugh.
"Maybe a little bit," Forrest said, holding his chest and a smile curled as the tone of his voice followed. I knew he was worried about it, and the man's a scary guy. He's been under the Con Man's control for so long, but I'm sure all of us are thankful that we freed him.
"Well, if you all are ready to move, we're thinking of exploring this place before hitting the road to civilization, you coming?" I asked, standing. Forrest and Fern quickly stood, and nodded, clutching anything they had around them to stabilize themselves. I nodded before looking around the room to see everyone facing me. It threw me off for a second, but then I remembered, we still have an exit to execute, and I'm the leader of this whole thing. "Follow me," I said, before stepping out of the door we came through, with everyone following me quickly.
There were a couple more doors in the big hall we were in, and some of them seemed to have popped open. It's like once the heart in the building was killed, it'd spread through the building's system like a wildfire. The huge hall that connected all of these rooms was a work of impressive building and machinery. It baffles me that the Con Man could've been able to build all this first before he worked on his inventions of the cyborgs that live today. And as my eyes trailed across all the open doors within the hall, one door caught my eye, and it was right across from the door I'd emerged from. I wasn't sure why, but I was drawn to this door.
I walked across the hall, taking hesitant steps. I didn't know whether the Con Man had any more cyborgs, protective ones, that still are running. I figured not, but you can never be too careful. I reached for the door and creaked the door open further, to reveal some soft lighting, but electric feeling of the room, the stench of stark chemicals, and the visuals of many colors dancing among the different bottles and vials that littered the shelves of the room. There were also terrariums with different deceased animals in them. It seemed like he was studying animals while he created us, making sure he had some sort of sliver of animal tendencies within each of us. So that explains the animal masks.
Griffin seemed to follow into the room after me, curious about everything that caught my eye as well.
"Well, at least the man did some research," he said, picking up vial after vial, inspecting each for a brief moment before putting it down again.
I looked upon some of the shelves that held the vials and picked one up. I looked at the label and it was labeled 'Deadly Plant Pathogen'. I looked further at the vial and it seemed clogged and clouded by green algae, seemingly, and greenery with gray and black specks in the green here and there. I put it down and picked another one up. It was labeled 'Valley Fever Fungi'. It was an unidentifiable plant, to me, with specks of white littering its veins and greenery, with a bit of dust particles softly clouding the inside of the glass.
I set it down and looked upon the whole room.
"It seems like he was studying diseases, but why would he have specimens of, most likely, each disease that exists, and how did he get it," I asked, confused. By my attitude, I'm sure I seemed frazzled, but I was more curious and fascinated by it all. And Griffin seemed to be on the same wavelength I was.
"He probably had people from the government doing the retrieval of the diseases for him, and had them shipped here along with cyborg parts to use on experiments or us, for that matter," Griffin relayed. "Either that or he invented some sort of all disease blocker and collected them himself, but I highly doubt it," he added. I nodded, before laying my eyes on a closed bunker in the back of the room. I walked over to it, walking between different shelves.
As soon as I reached the bunker, I noticed a label on the bunker itself.
'Vaccines'. Jackpot.
I tried the handle, and heaved and pulled against the handle of the bunker, and with a bit of elbow grease and work, it came off. The shelves, which were white, had syringes and vials filled with colorful chemicals within those vials and syringes, with the syringe needles covered with plastic covers on the syringes so the vaccines don't leak out. Also making it easier to administer them since those plastic covers moved when the syringe entered the body.
"Wow, holy crap," Griffin said from behind me.
"Yeah, holy crap," I agreed, my jaw nearly on the floor.
"Guess there was an escape plan that Gordon had in the back of his brain in case he made it out of this alive," Griffin said, seemingly thoroughly impressed.
"Yeah, for sure," I said breathily. The fact that all the diseases that surrounded our establishment that Gordon had built around us to keep us contained, and had the cures to them, but never actually used the cures for those diseases. I didn't feel mad about it though, oddly enough.
I understood him not wanting to risk getting the disease himself, and created the cures, and only would take them with him if he had to get out in an emergency, and didn't wanna use it on what he understood to be only cyborgs with no true humanness to them.
"It's like he trapped himself here but realized it too late," I muttered to myself silently.I nodded to myself, taking a minute to process what I'd just seen, and closed the door slowly.
"I think it's best if we just leave this here. I know you all experienced a bunch of the diseases, but because there's no living things out on that desert or whatever kind of world was out there, there's no way for the diseases to still stay alive and continue to live, right," I questioned Griffin. He looked up and around him, and sometimes down, pondering on whether that'd be true. I didn't get an answer out of him, because he seemed not to have one. "It's okay, we'll figure it out, besides, I think it isn't there anymore," I shrugged, before walking past him and out the door we came in before.
As soon as we crossed the threshold, we were met with a figure we'd dealt with before, with the rest of the crew standing nearby the door in a stance of preparing to fight this figure. I looked upon it, and there they were, the Puppet.
"Oh, you're awake, how's your liquid doin," I asked, tilting my head and lacing my attitude with a smidge of sarcasm. Because I wasn't sure whether he was still fighting for Gordon or not.
The creature that we attacked earlier was standing normally, as if they weren't in any kind of pain at all, and the fight we'd been through earlier, didn't affect them at all. It tilted its head and I walked closer to it. It slowly bent down as it towered over my whole group.
As soon as I was close enough to reach out and touch them with my hand, they just paused, as if to study me. Their eyes glowed a light yellow, whereas before they were bright red. And their beady eyes looked all around my person.
"You doing okay? I know we kind of knocked you off your feet didn't we?" I said, smirking a little. Their eyes whipped up to mine and nodded a bit. I knew there was a pure heart in there somewhere. I looked back and all of my team seemed thoroughly confused. We just fought this creature, and now it's being nice to us? I turned back to face the Puppet and they had kept their eyes on me. "What's your name? Do you know?" I asked politely.
The Puppet nodded, before looking past me. I followed their gaze, and it laid on Seth and Griffin. And I couldn't help but smile with a subtle realization that I think both Griffin and Seth would have soon.
"You two wanna say hi?" I asked. Griffin and Seth looked to one another hesitantly, before stepping a couple steps forward, closer to the Puppet.
"That thing isn't gonna rip us to shreds is it?" Seth said.
"No, it seems like it's friendly," I chuckled, turning back and facing the Puppet as I said it. The Puppet kept their gaze on Griffin and Seth before landing on me again.
"My name is Max," the creature said peacefully. The voice wasn't robotic like before, where it had sounded menacing. It was like the creature found inner peace and their voice grew softer the minute they awoke. I could've sworn I saw a small smile on their face, but I kept my mouth shut on it. And then I felt my heart skip a beat thinking about the realization I had a bit ago. Max. That's Seth and Griffin's brothers name.
I looked back at Griffin and Seth again and their jaws were dropped while looking at the Puppet before looking at me.
"Hey, are you Max as in, Max, the brother of Seth and Griffin by chance?" Griffin asked. I turned back to see Max's face truly having a smile. An actual smile. I thought I saw something there.
"Yes, I am, hello brothers," Max said happily.
The energy seemed sweet, and I ducked out of the way as Griffin and Seth stepped toward Max, as Max ducked his head down toward the two of them and let them touch their shoulders and face. It's as if a dragon or giant creature got reunited with its' owner, and it was enlightening.
I turned back toward Madelyn, and hugged her. I felt overwhelmed with emotion, simply from seeing Griffin and Seth reunite with their brother, and also finally getting my sister back, even if it wasn't related by blood. I couldn't believe we not only defeated Gordon, the Con Man himself, but in the process, we not only freed Fern and Forrest, the bodyguard brothers, but it seemed that Gordon figured out a way to put Max's soul into another cyborg, and there it was, right in front of us, and thankful of us for freeing them.
"Hey, you're hugging me again, shouldn't we try and head out of here first?" Madelyn said, chuckling. I didn't want to respond, nor could I generate one. I just wanted to remain there for a bit. But I considered what she said, so after about two minutes, knowing the Veterans had their reunion, I let go and turned to them.
"Okay we need to get going guys," I announced to them, and they pulled away from Max as Max adjusted themselves to face and to listen to me as well. "Wanna get out of here?" I said, mustering a smile, and turning to the whole group. They all started nodding, and I nodded to myself, before walking briskly toward the stairways down to the first floor, so we could make our way out.
What a victory. What a fucking victory.
All that ran through my head was what would be on the outside of the wall. Back when I'd scaled it, and the spikes stopped me from seeing over it, there was no choice that I had but to fall back down. But I wanted, so badly, to see the different things that were on the other side of that wall. Even if it was just more desert, I wouldn't be as disappointed, because it's what we saw every single day.
What if it was a forest, or maybe there was a lake or bodies of water nearby, who knows. There's so many possibilities for there to be different things out there. And what if we found civilization?
Right as that thought crossed my mind, I realized. There's not going to be other cyborgs. We may be treated like outcasts in the human world. That thought caused me to stop in my tracks right before we reached the hallway that trailed all the way to the front as everyone stepped off the stairwells. My feet planted and I stood still, and I felt a bit of a sting from my throat.
"Guys, what happens if we can't fit in with the other people of the government that fought against Gordon," I asked, turning back to face them all. They were following me through the building, but stopped when I stopped as well. Panic was setting in to my body, and quick.
"What do you mean, Charlie," Cass asked, tilting her head and stepping closer to me, her arms somewhat outstretched to me.
"Like, what'll happen if the technical humans, because we went against their government in working for Gordon for so long, that they reject us and tell us we can't live among them, even though this is what we spent this whole time trying to do?" I started. All of them kinda looked among one another, and I saw the nervousness and consideration of my words creep onto their faces. And that caused me to panic more. "Like think about it, we tried so hard to try and make a life for ourselves, so we don't have to be in captivity and living pretty much from survival, and I figured that the humans have it easier and they don't have to scrounge for food to feed themselves, or even scrounge and hunt and kill for parts to fix the ones in them that are broken," I shrugged, trying to remain casual but my insides were saying the opposite.
I started running my fingers along my mask, and the back of it, panicking more and more as time went on.
"Honestly, she's not wrong," Cassidy turns to the others and says. I started to feel a beating in my chest, it was my heart again.
"Maybe we shouldn't do this," I mutter, but it was loud enough for others to hear. Their faces shot up and looked at me, wide eyes and pale expressions. And when I met Cassidy's face, it was nothing but shock.
"No fuckin' way are we giving up now, after simply killing the man who kept us trapped here? Are you kidding?!" Cassidy hollered, rolling her eyes, and a small smirk crept onto her face. She stepped closer and more purposefully toward me, as I kept my footing still. "You are crazy. We're going to go and try and make a living in the world of humans, or whatever we'll call them ourselves, and if they don't accept us, fuck it, we'll go to a doctor's office and have us evaluated about our minds and inner organs. I guarantee you we're not all that different from humans in construction of the inside," she admitted. "That way we can convince the humans that we're not a threat if they try to reject us," she finished.
I tilted my head in consideration, but didn't say anything. Griffin stepped up next to Cassidy as I did so.
"Charles, if anything, you inspired us to actually think we could get over the walls we were trapped in together. And here we are, about to walk out these factory doors, to a lighter future. And we couldn't do that before, not without you. So let's attempt it, and look forward to it, and if we get let down in the process, so what? We have each other, I'd figure that's all we need," Griffin assured, resting his hand on my shoulder and looking me in the eyes.
The sincere look in Griffin's eyes sent a chill down my spine. It was a good chill but anxiety still pulsed through my veins. In all honesty, the nervousness of seeing what was gonna change when I stepped out the doors of this factory freaks me out.
"I wanna check on the other ones, see if they're still alive," I stuttered. I needed to take my mind off my anxiety for a while, so maybe by doing this, it'll take my mind off it for a brief bit. Griffin nodded, let his grip on my shoulder go, and held out his arms beside him, gesturing to the nearby hallways that all of us came from after fighting the Failed Experiments.
I walked to the right of the stairways, toward where Felix and Finn came from, and walked down the hallway to see Fred's body keeled over, face down. There was red liquid spewed everywhere, and little tiny bodies of robotic teddy bears up against walls and sitting on the floor, with the said liquid actively dripping out of them.
I felt the heave of my stomach, as the stench of the liquid reached my nostrils, and funnily enough, Felix had appeared behind me to hold me steady.
"I know, I didn't want to experience this either, but I did anyway," he said regretfully. I was, to say the very least, shocked that Felix could've gone through all this. I wouldn't have had the stomach to.
"How were you able to kill the little creatures, why did you need to," I groaned, still keeled over but standing up.
"They were a part of him, remember? There was not much we could do," he repeated. Ah, right, I forgot he told me about it earlier.
"Got it, take me to Floyd, I want to see if there's any sliver of him worth saving," I said, starting to walk out of the hallway. Felix followed me hesitantly, before catching back up to me.
"Charlie, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think anyone besides Max is going to be alive," he admitted sincerely. But I didn't care. I wanted to do what was right. If there was a "recycled soul" in Max, or even just recycled parts that could be used or repurposed, there's no need or worth in not trying to search for any more.
"You may be right, but there's no reason not to try," I stated to him, more definitive about it than ever. Felix remained silent as we rounded the corner and headed down the hallway and stared at Floyd who was laying on the ground, paralyzed.
I took a mental screenshot of the vision, before turning on a heel and walking out. "No saving that one," I said to Felix as I passed him. I could've sworn Felix might've chuckled at me a little, and the way I said it, I'm not surprised that he found it humorous. When we came out of the hallway and we were in the bigger room, I headed across the open room to the opposite side and headed down that hallway. There was Ford, the fox.
His body seemed to be in the process of crawling to the hallway I was emerging from, but seemed to be killed in the meantime. I felt tears prick at the back of my eyes as I saw it, because I just imagined Flynn being in that position. I love Flynn so much, and if I had to see him in that position, my anxiety shot through the roof.
I felt Felix's hand creep and rub against my back, as I felt my legs hold me strong. I swear, Felix has the best but also worst timing. If I still had my old legs, I'd be trembling from nervousness and anxiety, but thankfully, Morgan gave me my new legs before I would have to worry about that problem. Maybe Chloe gave me a blessing in disguise after all.
I started to think that checking on each of them wasn't the smartest idea.
"Let's walk back," I said to Felix, turning and looking behind me and to him. "I don't think it's worth trying any of the others," I explained. Felix nodded and continued to hold my back as I walked around him and next to him, walking back down the hallway to the rest of the group. They came into view and all of them turned to me. It was as if it was some sort of crowning ceremony or a friendly sendoff. But I knew this wasn't. We were all walking out together, and not leaving anyone behind. I shouldn't be nervous to see the world ever since it changed.
I walked up to the rabbits, with Banner loosely turning his head to where he heard the sound, and Blake looking at me sincerely.
"It's going to be okay, Charlie," he said sweetly. I tried to force a smile, but nothing came to light. But I knew Blake understood, and didn't mind. Felix walked past me and joined Finn, and I looked at Flynn. He tapped Fraser's shoulder with his whole hand before walking over to me and enveloping me in a hug.
"We'll be with you the whole time, we're not leaving you," he whispered to me. I nodded and gently hugged him back. We stood there for a couple minutes, although I didn't want to face the outside world just yet, but it was now or never. I finally pulled away from him and faced toward the huge door towering over my crew.
Please let it be possible.