The Salvation

Chapter 40

|Malcolm|

Malcolm stood behind Callus as he took his seat on the board table. Deborah sat at the head of the table in her grey dress and grey overcoat. Katrina was seated opposite Callus (to his obvious annoyance). The other members of her board had been dismissed early so Deborah could hear more of Callus' classified information.

"Currently we are on the third day of activity. It would seem the fusion reactor hasn't attracted The Apex as I'd originally predicted... But it's not all bad news." Callus informed, skimming through his papers impatiently.

"What's the good news?" Deborah asked with a frown.

Callus shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Malcolm had the arguable pleasure of being around for everything Callus had to say, even his complaints about Katrina Lloyd. He hated her. But it was all for good reason, she had unrightfully been put in a position of power above Callus' own position, despite Callus working with Deborah for more than ten years and Katrina barely one year as Deborah's little spy. But Katrina still mocked Callus and patronised him any chance she got and was often a nuisance to his plans. Malcolm didn't know her, nor did he have any opinion of her, but Callus' certain alterations to Malcolm helped him see Callus' point of view more often than not. Katrina didn't have any place knowing about Callus' doings, yet she still insisted on being present. Deborah was to blame for that.

"There's been a sighting, the first confirmed video sighting of The Apex since its escape." Callus confirmed, reaching for his smartphone. "A military installation two hundred strong were relocating one of my weather machines to Boston, but they were caught between what appeared to be a mountain. Some of my equipment have cameras hidden on them, so it was all filmed. The mountain woke up, they attacked, all that was left was a crater..."

"Impossible... Were there any survivors?!" Deborah asked, shocked.

Callus shook his head. "No. All of the men were killed, and most of the equipment destroyed. I have footage, but the video cuts out at an unfortunate time." Callus played the video on a wall mounted television. It was eerie at first as the soldiers approached a mound of earth that looked like a mountain, then the mountain opened its red eyes and rose from the ground with an ear-piercing growl. It was enormous, and in one effortless swing of its arm it wiped out most of the soldiers. The camera faced the sky, turned over in all the commotion. At first all you could hear were The Apex's growls summoned from hell itself and the pained screams of surviving soldiers, but they were soon silenced. Then The Apex was above the camera, looking down info it... Look down into us... And it roared, almost taunting the camera. Then it's mighty foot was raised and the camera cut out. "As you can see, it's become hostile to humans..." Callus concluded.

"We need to act on that now! Get the warships, the army, anything!" Katrina began, throwing her hands in the air. "Did you purposely leave a weakness in it? A contingency plan?!"

Callus nodded. "There is a weakness that I'm pretty sure I stated earlier, thank you for listening Katrina, we can exploit it if we wish to delay Overlord." Callus informed. "The fusion reactor I activated in Colorado City will inevitably attract the attention of The Apex and if we can somehow overload it, it will collapse in on itself and implode."

"I'm pretty sure I can gather what you're saying Callus, if we- no you, implode this reactor, it will kill The Apex." An unsettled Deborah summarised. Callus nodded in agreement. "Then you will have every force you need, you will destroy The Apex if it can't be controlled. Then you will have my leave to find the other fusion reactor for Overlord." Deborah stood up. "Katrina, prepare my personal motorcade. We're going to be there when you kill The Apex Callus, pray you don't fail." Without another word, Deborah departed with all of her Onyx guards stalking after her.

"How many men will you need Callus? You shouldn't have abandoned Colorado City so early!" Katrina asked before scolding.

Callus rolled his eyes, ignoring the second half of her statement. "I'll be taking Malcolm and SP-16C into the reactor with me, I'll need twenty to guard the hospital whilst I'm in the basement and I need fifty on building tops scoping out all of the city."

"Done. If I can't talk Deborah out of being there, I'll position her across the bay with all her guards." Katrina informed.

Callus nodded. "Once I overload the reactor, it's less than twenty minutes before it detonates..." Callus closed his eyes and sighed. "If The Apex arrives in the city whilst I'm in the reactor, I won't be able to overload it..."

"Don't worry, if you're given word of its arrival evacuate immediately." Katrina ordered with a stern, yet obviously worried face. "We'll need you to come up with another plan... How long do you reckon this will delay Overlord?"

"That's for President Fisher to know, not her glorified page girl!" Callus snapped back. Katrina's unyielding face stated she wasn't giving up the question. Callus concede. "Now I believe we have fifteen to twenty years until completion if I can't find the other reactor anytime soon, but if we detonate this one it would definitely set us back twenty years, at the absolute least."

"Than we'll take the delay, we need Apex stopped before it's too late to do anything." Katrina stood up and straightened her pencil skirt. "How long before you believe The Apex will return to Colorado City now?"

"I predicted three days, but that's today. It's obviously taken its first action against our race however, so if the sun keeps up its current pattern despite all of rain going nonstop for a few days now, The Apex should follow and come out from the north of the city in a few more days, but I'll be in that reactor two days from now after I retrieve SP-16C."

"I've read the file on her track record Callus, are you sure you can trust SP-16C not to betray you?"

Callus swallowed hard. "No. But I can trust her to do what's right for the human race, she has a weak spot for them..."