Origins- Protectors

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Jailbreak

The Protectors ran the very moment that Zavant became trapped in the cell. Noctum had figured out that he was Zavant, and had managed to fool even a smarter version of himself,

"That's not going to hold him forever," Lilith Zachary said, smashing through some thick iron doors using his massive size, "we need to leave ASAP,"

"How are we supposed to know where the exit is?" Draedon asked, "or have we not figured that out yet?"

"We've just got to get lucky this time," Noctum replied, helping Zachary push through a heavier metal door,

The five crashed into a glass window, falling into the room that the one way glass protected. They bounced on the padded floor, the terrible stench of rotting bodies and shit stifling their nostrils. Insomniac slumped in the corner of the room, sobbing as he lay among the filth,

"Are you okay?" Shaine asked, walking over to the crying man,

"Don't!" Zachary yelled, "he may be smaller, but that's definitely Insomniac!"

Simon looked up at the Protectors,

"I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not tired enough yet," He said, such horrible agony in his voice that even Noctum was sympathetic,

"Who are you?" Adam asked slowly,

"Look, Zavant," Simon said, "I don't know what the deal with this new costume is, but please leave me alone, I didn't mean to kill all those people,"

"Who?" Niamh asked,

"When I was on Rottnest, Insomniac took over," Simon said, "he slaughtered a lot of people before he attacked you,"

"Why do you let him take over then?" Draedon asked, "surely you just fight him,"

"I haven't slept properly in my life. When I got hit by the radiation at Chernobyl, it instilled a second personality in me, one that only awakens when I go to sleep," Simon replied, "sometimes not even my insomnia can keep me awake, and he comes out to kill everyone I care about,"

Simon started crying again, and it became obvious that something red was leaking from his stomach area,

"Hold still," Niamh said, and purple light washed over Simon's abdomen, repairing the bloodied mass, "how did you manage that?"

The relief on Simon's face was telling of how he felt about the pain,

"When he takes over, all he wants to do is terrify and hurt. Sometimes he scoops our guts out with his bare hands, just to torment me,"

"Why would he want to do that?" Adam asked,

"If I die, he takes over permanently, but his curse is that when I get close enough to dying, he takes over, and he can't feel pain, so he does that to torture me so I'll die," Simon said, "that's my last stand against him, to keep on living to piss him off,"

"We've lingered too long," Zachary said, "we've gotta go!"

"Leave me," Simon said, lying on the padded floor, "maybe he can buy you some time,"

The five continued to run through the facility until Zachary had an idea,

"Why can't we just punch through the roof?" He asked, "surely we can get out like that,"

"We talked about it before you showed up," Adam said, "this facility is far underground, just to protect its location from prying eyes,"

Even as they rounded the next corner, Noctum heard the heavy breathing of someone. He flew around the corner and punched the agent in the nose, concussing him and breaking it. The other five that accompanied him fired tasers, but Zachary stepped forward, taking the attack. Shaine expertly threw kunai at the agents, drawing blood with every weapon that landed. The Protectors cleaned up the five agents, just to see around fifty more appear, guns in hand,