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CHAPTER 12
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𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝟔𝐓𝐇 𝟐𝟎𝐗𝐗:
Gemini and I push the heavy doors open, relishing in the smell of chemicals and burning wood. I touch the charcoal-like wood on the lab table, smoothing it out. It's cold. They must have realised we were coming here and made a run for it. Or they had no use for this base anymore.
Gemini moves forward, observing the flasks carefully, flicking one of them to see if it would break, "They didn't even bother cleaning up. Look how messy it is. If they were going to abandon this place, might as well fix the mess,"
"I don't think you're one to talk, Gemini. You have the messiest room out of all of us," I remind, earning an overly-dramatic scoff coming from her direction.
"Well, at least I didn't abandon this place! Who do you think I am?"
I don't bother answering, wiping the black powder on pieces of plain paper scattered around the place. They might as well have some use. Dusting my hands, I notice an unopened door. I head over to the side, turning the handle, but it seems to be locked. I kick it down, shoving the hinge-less door away carelessly.
Oh, Gods...
Gemini walks up from behind me, wondering what I'm looking at. In one glance, she steps back, her mouth covering her face in horror. She quickly takes out her new phone, clicks a picture and sends it to the group chat. A notification is heard on my phone, but there is no need to open it when I can see this horror with my own eyes.
"...who are they...?" She finally speaks.
"...they're prisoners in Hell, well, used to be," I answer. "They must have gotten out with the help of Zadicus and the Pillars, and they were used as experiments,"
"...this is wrong. They were serving their time in Hell. That's just wrong," She repeats.
"I really don't think they were sent there to serve their time. Maybe they were just gullible and naive to follow Zadicus," I assume.
A call erupts in the solemn atmosphere, and Gemini is quick to pick it up, "Yeah?"
"...what b-e are you guys at?" Mars questions through the phone.
"Five," She answers.
"Sa-rn and I are at two. There's nothing here, it's just an aban-ned warehouse fac-ry. I'll ask Father for the loc-ion and we'll head up t-re with you," He informs.
"So all the bases are different places? Warehouses, labs, what else?" I ask.
"Base Four is a ca-e under a mountain. Base Six is a factory th-t used to sell clo-ing, but it went out of business a few hundred years a-o. Base One is a small island off the co-t of the 6th R-alm. Seven and three are not speci-ed, Mercury and S- have not sent in their reports to me yet... they sh-ld be coming soon," He informs, the signal breaking up slightly.
"Island... warehouse... cave... lab... factory. What's the link?" Gemini asks.
"No clue. It could be nothing at all or completely intentional. Who knows," I say.
"We'll be there in a -ew. Make s-re there aren't any b-by traps or any-ing," He warns, slapping his phone against his hand to get more signal.
"We've checked. There's nothing," I say.
"Good," He ends the call, leaving us dead silent.
Gemini closes the door, trying hard not to look at the disembowelled, cut, melted bodies laying on the floor. She turns away, going to the opposite side of the room as a way of forgetting what she saw.
I head off in another direction, noticing past the dimly-lit lights, there lies another door, but this time, it isn't locked. Quietly, I open it, the creaking sound making me cringe. This door wasn't open in a long time, then.
What I expected was another room stuffed with dead bodies but to my surprise, it was a security room. I found it weird, why would they lock a door which you need easy access to? By the looks of it, the people here killed sinners quite often, so what was the need for a lock? And this room... why not lock this? Are they being stupid, or intentional?
"What is it?" Gemini asks, her voice echoing through the walls. "Are there any disembowelled bodies?"
"No, it's a security room," She sighs with relief, before heading up to me, and stepping into the room.
I step in after her, leaving the door wide open for when Mars and Saturn come. All screens are off, so I look for the 'on' switch. Luckily, my partner was thinking the same thing, and she clicked a button, but the screens are all static.
"Nothing... the signal's jammed," I stare, punching the keyboard.
"Do you think when we were on call, we were also breaking up with them? I mean, the signal in here is pretty bad," Gemini wonders, clicking the 'off' and 'on' buttons multiple times at a fast pace.
"I guess so, it makes sense, but the main messages were pretty clear," I reply.
"We're here!" Saturn calls out, behind us.
We turn around, a smile plastered on our faces when we see the Guardians here, "You sure took your time," I say in a sarcastic comment, making Saturn chuckle.
"We took a portal,"
Mars walks up to us, standing by Gemini as he observes the static screens. He goes to the side, ripping the metal barrier which surrounds the control panel as Saturn closes the door. He rips random wires out, somehow hoping it would solve everything.
Suddenly, the screens come on, showing us the security camera right this second. I notice the door I opened recently, with the decapitated bodies, and the entrance to the laboratory on a screen not far away.
Saturn sits down on a neglected chair in the corner of the room, watching us as Gemini hacks into the mainframe. She slots in her drive at the bottom of the screens, next to the end of the keyboard. Her drive has a small transparent bar, and all the data she transfers from the cameras to the drive slowly fills up, a small light pink line increases by the second.
Once the pink bar was full of data, a small box appears on the screen, saying all data is transferred. She clicks on the 'x' button and takes out the drive, placing her drive in her pocket.
"Uuuh, guys?" Saturn calls out, raising her feet so it sits on the edge of her chair, as she hugs her knees.
We look down, noticing a smoke rise up by the second. All cameras switch off, and on again, but this time, it wasn't the security.
"And so we meet again!" I recognise that voice any day. Zadicus. "We have two bases infiltrated by the God Committee which are riddled with cameras, so might as well make my appearance here!"
"There's another one?"
"Probably either the factory or the warehouse," Mars replies back.
"Weren't you guys at the warehouse?" Gemini asks.
"Yes, Gemini, they were. Base Seven is actually an old theatre. It's called 'Days of Our Lives', sound familiar, no?"
"From F.R.I.E.N.D.S or the theatre that was shut down since it was a base for money laundering and fraud?" Saturn asks.
"Yes, because you can definitely see Joey Tribbiani falling down an elevator shaft here," Mars rolls his eyes.
"That's not the point!" Mars yells at the screen. "What is this gas!?"
"Oh that... wait, let me inform our other guests about this. You see, Saturn and Mars came back from Base Two to Base Five, with Scorpio and Gemini, and they found a security room... wait no, they found the room of failed experiments! Haha! Yes, and after someone stupidly closed the door, that triggered the alarm and gas is currently being released!"
Zadicus types a few things on the keyboard. The screen next to him changes, and Sagittarius and Sun are shown, who can probably see us as well.
"Guys!" Sagittarius yells, "Can you hear me?!"
"Yep," Mars replies. "Zadicus, tell me. What do you plan on achieving this? Global domination? Do you want to see our world die, and take over Earth? Your intentions are not clear,"
"What I want... what do I want...? Well, you are certainly right about global domination, I'll tell you that. But I'm not a bad guy!"
"You killed thousands of people!"
"A small sacrifice for a greater reward. By losing thousands, I can save millions! You see, the Gods' way of ruling the universe is simply unacceptable. People die on Earth, and if they do good, they relish in the immaculate sensation in Heaven. And if they don't... they come here, to Hell. There is no Purgatory!"
"If you do good, you will be rewarded. If not, you go to Hell. It's simple. And you are quite wrong on the fact that there isn't a Purgatory," Mars informs.
"The gas is rising up!" Gemini squeals, coughing slightly as if passes her chest.
"If you do one bad deed more than good deeds, you are sent to Hell... yes, you are in a state of Purgatory, but for how long? A day... a month... a year?"
"No, when you're sent to Purgatory, one bad deed is equal to..." Mars pauses, covering his mouth in his face, almost gasping, "Five thousand years,"
"Yes, five thousand years... these 'sins' only account for the bad deed, not the context, nor the situation. You know, a few hundred years ago, I met a boy, who was sent to Purgatory, which is the first level of Hell, and I asked him what he did that got him sent to Hell. And he said that he stole bread from the bakers to help his poor family, and he got stoned to death. Is that fair?"
"If he didn't steal that bread..."
"Then if he were to die, of natural causes, then he would have escaped the five thousand year Purgatory,"
"You're no better! You killed thousands of people for what? What did you hope to achieve by the end of- Gemini!" Sun yells, and a thud on the floor causes up to snap our heads at Gemini, whose fallen unconscious.
"Let us go, now!" I threaten the screen.
Zadicus laughs, tapping his screen with his finger, "And what if I don't? What are you going to do, jump through the screen and kill me?"
"Maybe,"
Saturn falls, and Mars holds her back up, covering his nose with his clothes. His eyes become droopy, and I slap him in the face, hard. "Don't fall asleep now, Mars!" But it was too late, he fell unconscious, holding Saturn in his arms.
It's only a matter of time before it gets to me.
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𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝟖𝐓𝐇 𝟐𝟎𝐗𝐗:
I wake up slowly, my eyes adjusting to the room. I try to raise my arm to cover my eyes, but shackles bound me to the floor. I squint a bit, noticing a figure on the wall perpendicular to mine on the right, and someone opposite me.
I open my eyes a bit more to see properly in the dimly lit room, and I find Saturn, still unconscious. Mars is opposite me, awake, thankfully. I was about to speak, but I failed to notice the gag on my mouth, so only mumbled sounds came out.
I look over to my left, noticing Gemini, but not awake. Mars and I make eye contact, I flick my head up a bit as a way of asking him what the fuck is going on, but he shrugs, squirming in his place trying to somehow get the shackles off.
The door opens, another thing I failed to see, and someone walks in, his heels stomping on the floor loud enough to stir Saturn awake. He unveils his hood, revealing a tanned body, with white hair and long, pointy horns. He casually swings his sword in his hands, a stupid grin resting on his face. I recognise that man... Juno.
He makes his way towards me, kneeling down to my level and holding my chin roughly with his hands, "Look who we have here. The 'son' of Hades, hmmm? It's a shame we got someone like you and not Pluto. He would be more valuable to us than you, but oh well..."
He pulls down my gag forcefully, my jaw clenching slightly due to the suddenness, "What could you possibly gain from kidnapping us?"
He pauses, tilting his head as if he's in thought, "Well, no purpose, actually. You guys are just extra baggage... we got what we wanted. We weren't even planning on kidnapping you but since you guys fell unconscious, well why not?"
"And what did you get?"
"Hmm... should I say? Should I not say? Wow, this is tough," He says in a sarcastic tone. "Well, why not? And your buddy Mars and Saturn can also hear of this as well! You remember the gas used in the Gala to bomb everything, right?"
I nod slowly, "Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, we actually used it on one of the bases. Two immortals went into a base and got themselves blown up into bits! And they're fairly useful. Well, to you guys, not to us. We simply eliminated them,"
"...which base?"
Pluto went to Base One, and since he said that he was far more valuable than me, that means they didn't get to him.
"As you probably know, it's not Bases Two, Five or Seven. If Base Two went kaboom, that wouldn't be useful, since no one was there! I kidnapped you in Base Five, so not that... and not Seven either. The bomb went off before you even went into the security room!"
"...how do you know it went off before we went into the security room?" I ask.
"Did you really think we were dumb enough to put all hidden cameras on display for you to see in the room? Of course not! We hid some in every base," He says, full of pride.
A muffled sound came from Mars, in pure anger. He twists and turns, but to no avail. Juno stands up, heading up to Mars. He crouches in front of him, stroking his hair softly. Well, I think. His body is covering my view, so I can't see what he's doing.
A scream came out of Mars's mouth, whining in pain as Juno laughs, holding his detached arm in his hands, high in the air in triumph, "That will probably get you to shut up," His tone of voice was nothing similar to the laugh he made a few seconds ago, but I try to remain unfazed.
He stands up once more, not heading for me like I thought he would. He went for Saturn and sits crossed-legged in front of her. She tries to remain still and quiet, eyes wide awake for anything Juno might do.
"Such a pretty girl you have here, Mars. How long have you been dating, a few thousand years? Gods, that's an awfully long time, don't you think you should get married?" He asks, head tilted to the side as if Mars was capable of answering the question.
The door swings open before Juno could do anything, thankfully, and someone enters... Chiron. An unusually large snake wraps around his left arm and torso, and it hisses once it makes eye contact with me.
Chiron steps forward, every single step makes me more and more fearful of what's about to come. He bends down and shoves the gag back into my mouth again. "Master told you not to ungag any of the toys," He says in a cold, quiet tone.
Toys? Is that what we are to them?
"Sorry, but I had to have my fun," Juno says, in a cheery tone.
He pauses for a moment, before saying, "...Pallas had an encounter with three of the Zodiacs when they went to check up on Base Four after the explosion. He had a very... spectacular fight, as he liked to call it, and seemed to enjoy bringing her pain,"
There are only three Zodiacs who didn't go to a Base. Virgo, Taurus and Libra. He said he liked to see her in pain, so it was either Taurus or Virgo, and I don't see Virgo with that type of fighting spirit... what did he say? Base Four? Who went to Base Four... think, Scorpio, think!
"Really! Well, who won?" Juno asks, in a gossiping manner.
"Who else? Did you really think Pallas would lose to a woman with vines shooting out of her fingernails?" That confirms my suspicions that it was Taurus. Chiron stands up, walks away from me, passing Juno and before he opens the door, he pauses, his hand in contact with the handle, "Ophiuchus wants to speak with you about your mind walking. He claims that you said one of them was really tough to handle. What was his name?"
"Aries,"
"Yes, Aries. The female, Aquarius is also putting up a fight, but she seems to be getting weaker and weaker by the second. Don't cause too much of a ruckus inside their brains. They still need to be conscious when you take over their bodies,"
Aqua...
"Why do you always have to take the fun away, Chi Chi?" Juno whines.
"Don't call me that," He looks at him with disgust, before opening the door and storming out, letting the door hit the hinges itself.
Juno sighs dramatically, slumping his shoulders as he turns to walk to me. He crouches down and pulls my gag off once more, a sinister look on his face, "Now then, let's have some fun,"
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[WRITTEN | 19-20/11/2022]
[EDITED | 22/11/2022]
[PUBLISHED | 22/11/2022]