The Unknown Heroes(Manuscript)

Chapter 21

"What do you mean we need to go?" Colin asked, annoyed.
"Look. I went out to try and get Taylor on my own. Long story short I ran into trouble and it turns out Darkmatter is unleashing his 'attack' or whatever in a couple of hours. If we can stop him before he does whatever he's doing we can probably save countless lives. You've seen the tornado. I bet you that's barely the beginning."
"Slow down. What is going on? Explain."
"Like I said, Darkmatter is ready. I don't know what he's doing, but he's doing something. He's attacking the city in some way or another" I took a breath. "If we go now, we'll catch him before he's ready, and we'll also have a better chance to save lives."
"You're serious?"
"Yes, I'm not going to fuck about something like this"
He looked back at Nathaniel and Jacob. "You guys said you'd help right?"
They both nodded.
"Then grab anything you might need and follow me."
He started out the door, and grabbed the matter-machine on the way out.
He actually believed me. He didn't believe me when I told him about Shade. But he did with Darkmatter. It was like Darkmatter took over his life. Well, he kind of did. He kidnapped him and forced him into the position he's in now. Maybe that was why he didn't believe me about Shade. Shade never harmed him. Darkmatter did. And the issue with Taylor was just him trying to do what he thought was smart. It never meant he didn't care. He probably cared more than I did, and yet all I did was argue with him.
I pushed the thought out of my head and followed out the door. He had already finished using the machine and another Jeep was sitting on the ground. He either really liked Jeeps, or thought it would be a good idea to be able to jump out in a moment's notice. It also meant he somehow learned how to drive a stick-shift.
I hopped in the back next to Jacob right as Colin started the engine. He tossed the Matter-machine in the back with us and started driving. I caught it and acknowledged again how light it was. The only thing that wasn't crazy about it was that it didn't create things out of nothing. It took matter, deconstructed it, and let you reconstruct it into something else. At least it had some sort of limitation.
I turned the machine on and looked through the different things I could make out of boredom. Weapons. Armor. Fabrics. A bandana. I had a bandana as part of my 'style' once. I wore it around my neck. I didn't really have a reason. I just bought a few bandanas one day because me and my friends were planning to go urban exploring and didn't want to breath in to much dust from the old building. I ended up just starting to wear them around my neck one day. Everyone seemed to like it. It was the first thing that earned me compliments from others in my life, so I kept it. Then, going into highschool, bandanas were banned.
I smirked a bit and pushed the joystick down. Right before my eyes a bandana formed from the nozzle of the device. For some reason, that was just normal now.
Seeing something just materialize itself. Something that should not be humanly possible, just becoming the norm. Why was that? I found it funny how easily you can just get used to something.
I grabbed the bandana and tied it around my neck. It was blue too, matching the fade in my hair. I wasn't even trying for that to happen, it just did.

"So how do we get in?" Jacob asked, getting out of the Jeep.
I looked up the gigantic clump of earth in front of me. Somewhere inside Darkmatter had carved out a base of operations for himself and Dr.Da.
Nathaniel walked up to the cliff's wall and put his hand on it for a few seconds before taking it off.
"Already took my handprint off. Even if I did manage to kill one of you guys earlier it wouldn't matter. I can't get in."
"Fine" Colin said as he grabbed the Matter-machine from the Jeep. "Guess we're getting in this way"
He fired up the machine, navigated through the controls a bit, and in only a few seconds the rock from the cliff-side was getting taken apart and sucked into the machine. Just bits and pieces of rock, and then a bit of metal, and then a hole appeared. It was small at first, but quickly grew in size until it was big enough for someone to walk through. Colin did a bit more with the Matter-machine before seemingly getting angry and tossing it back into the Jeep. "We can't make a flashlight, we're going in blind"
"Why not? That thing isn't empty, you should be able to make one just fine!" Jacob retorted.
"Because this isn't magic. Think of it like alchemy. It may not be empty, but unless I have the necessary elements for each part of what I'm making, it won't come out right. We would end up with half a flashlight. You get it?"
Jacob nodded.
"You aren't afraid of the dark are you?" Colin asked, sounding more serious then as if he was teasing.
"No?" Jacob replied, sounding as if he didn't understand the question, but also annoyed.
"Good. There's something else for you to be afraid of" He said, stepping through the hole.
I followed suit and I was suddenly I was back where everything began. Same place. Same dark hallways. Same blindness. I stuck to the wall, expecting to have to walk like that again, but a sudden light appeared, making it possible to see.
"Okay great, it wasn't that hard to find without a flashlight"
I looked ahead and saw Colin with his hand on a control panel. He seemed to be standing on some futuristic looking elevator platform with blue lights coming from the edges.
I had totally forgotten that he probably knew his way around.
"So the whole thing with the flashlight was unnecessary?" Jacob asked, coming from behind.
"Why do you think I wasn't so worried?"
I stepped onto the elevator with Colin assuming that that was what he was waiting for. I seemed to be right.
Once Jacob and Nathaniel made their way onto the platform, Colin pushed a button and it began to rise.
It wasn't like a normal elevator. Instead of being a box moving up and down in a shaft, it was just a rising platform. There were no walls to come with the platform, meaning you could watch the exterior walls move as the platform rose. Whoever built it didn't care at all about safety.
The platform stopped at an exit and Colin stepped out. I followed after him along with everyone else.
"Search around for Darkmatter and be careful not to get caught. If you find him" He paused. "Nevermind. We don't have a good form of communication"
"Meaning?" I asked.
"Meaning we shouldn't risk splitting up"
He began walking ahead and flicked a light switch. The room illuminated revealing a few test tubes looking constructs. Just like the ones I had seen on my first time here. Metal tables with computer monitors and stacks of papers on them.
"Well, hi there!" A voice spoke.
Everyone turned their heads to look at who it was. It was a girl. She just stood there, looking back at us. Staring back at us.
"Okay then, well I see I'm not getting a greeting. Let me try again" She held out her hand for a handshake. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Rose"
No one went for the handshake. Something about the feeling of the room seemed to throw everyone off. It was like seeing a dancing clown in the middle a half-destroyed city during a zombie apocalypse. No one was going to trust the clown. It just didn't seem right. Or maybe that was just my excuse. Even so, no one took the offer.
"Were you just waiting here in the dark?" Jacob asked.
"It's not like I have anything better to do" She took her hand back. "Darkmatter wanted me for mind control since everyone kept escaping, but that lasted for about an hour before Dr.Da just created a device to do my job, and so now I'm useless to them. Got nothing to do, so I just sat down in silence"
"Why not help us?" Colin asked.
"Really? What are you, a recruitment team? I see you've already got him with you" She said, gesturing towards Nathaniel. "You're either naive or optimistic. You think cause I'm now useless, I'm just going to start fighting for you? That's a real stupid assumption"
"You've been brai-"
"No, I haven't. Like I was saying, I was their brainwasher. And I honestly prefer myself here. I had terrible foster parents and was a runaway. At least with Darkmatter I have food and am not abused. I don't know what the hell Darkmatter wants, but I would rather stick with him"
A few footsteps sounded through the hallway behind her. It was a small group of four people, all looking quite similar. Short, grey-ish hair, and a plain look on their faces. Like robots, unable to purvey emotion, a stick out from each other in differences.
"Perfect, now it won't be four against 1" She said before lunging at Colin.
Colin jumped back, avoiding her hand like it was death. That's what she was trying to do earlier. Her touch could brainwash someone.
"Avoid skin contact!" He shouted towards the group.
The four people from the hallway stepped into the room and realized what was happening. Immediately one of them attacked, throwing flames at me. I dodged to the side, but only barely. The room was small, too small for a fight. Chaos was going to go down, and it was going to go down quickly.
Rose was to me right, who tried hitting me with a backhand, but I ducked down, barely avoiding it. But now I was stuck. A wall to my back, and a stream of fire in front of me. I couldn't see what was going on with everyone else. It was already into much to take into thought. We needed more room immediately.
Almost as if on cue, the ground opened up from the center of the room and a boulder flew through the ceiling until daylight was able to shine through. I took this as my chance and dove towards the hole in the ground, trying to put distance between Rose and myself.
I turned myself over just in time to brace myself before falling on top of someone. I rolled over them, landing hard on my back. I could feel my breath get knocked out of my lungs.
I tried sucking in air, but of course, it was no use. My lungs were still stuck. Finally, I got a breath of air and was able to regain myself. I got up and tried my best to analyze. There was someone fighting someone else behind me. Flames were flying through the air. In front of me, the girl who I had fallen on started getting up. Out of nowhere, a decent sized wave of water rushed at me, almost knocking me over before vanishing. I almost lost my balance, but I was able to regain control. Water and Fire. What were these? Elements?
The girl finished getting up, and stuck her hand out at me. A few drops of water suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They looked like bullets. I spun around and let myself tumble down the small pile of rubble I was on.
It was a stupid idea. I could've gotten way more injured then what the 'water bullets' would've done. But I reacted out of instinct and had gotten lucky.
I rolled onto the flat ground and ran towards the hallway, just trying to get out of range. I didn't have a plan. I just ran.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my left thigh. I fell down face first. Quickly, I scrambled around the corner for cover, before holding my leg to my chest in pain.
I couldn't continue holding it. The girl obviously had a target on me. I couldn't just cower around a corner. I formed a dagger in my hand. One that was light weight and had a seven-inch blade.
I waited for her footsteps.
I hadn't really fought at all the whole time since that series of events started. At least not solo anyway. Fighting Nathaniel alone almost got me killed. The second time Jacob pretty much abandoned me and I ran for my life. All I wanted was to be a hero, but all I did was run. Being alone scared me. I couldn't take care of myself. I couldn't fail again. I couldn't just let myself get killed.
There it was. A footstep. Then another one. I waited until it sounded right around the corner before I struck. I took a quick look up, making sure I didn't stab any of my friends, and thrusted my arms forward.
I could feel my blade stab through her skin. I felt as it punctured one of her organs. I felt the searing pain as drops of water flew through my skin. I could feel the blood begin to stream onto my hands as I drew the knife deeper into her flesh. And I could feel as the bullets of water suddenly stopped.