This art will probably take another 4 hours to get done....
-Ida
Chapter 28- Faking death is in nowadays
"It won't work, my fair lady." I told Audrey Hepburn as I observed a glowing blue vial placed upon the white table surface.
"Let me out of this thing!" Isaac transformed into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and yanked at the handcuffs which, conveniently, enlarged to be able to restrain him no matter which form he took. Aunt Casey said she made the handcuffs by using the material similar to that of his dark green super suit which wouldn't leave him in only his boxer like Hulk every time he transformed.
But that didn't stop that idiot from transforming non-stoppingly and banging his head on the ceiling of what seemed to be a lab thrice. A few flasks were knocked from their shelves and shattered on the squeaky clean floor, spilling the chemical inside.
"Ouch!" There came the forth strike and that shall be the last one unless we had death wish. The villains were above our heads, guarding the facility.
"Stop it! They will hear us!" I hissed at him, orange flame dancing in my palm threateningly.
"Exactly." The 9th Doctor uttered. "They will rescue me." Leonardo DiCaprio continued on. "And kill you." Isaac grumbled, panting with exhaustion.
"All you had to do was shout for help." I noted. "But you didn't. According to what you said earlier, your boss doesn't seem to fancy insubordinate. Go ahead, scream. I won't stop you."
He cursed something unintelligible but slouched down and continued walking without causing any more noises. He probably knew full well he was done for, being the one still cuffed and helpless.
"That's what I thought." I murmured and kept on walking past several aluminum shelves. I felt a need to conduct a thorough search at this base after the threat we were facing had been stopped. "You shouldn't have decided to join them in the first place."
Isaac's crooked smile reappeared as he touched the large glass tank that seemed to be empty with his fingertips. "Who said it was my decision, huh?"
It was not the best time for a villain's tragic back story so I just cut him off cruelly. "Kat would be disappointed."
He clenched his fists and pushed past me without saying another word. That last sentence had hit the nerve. Since I had been so occupied with this superhero issues and my own personal problems about Les and Cryonics, Isaac had been keeping Kat company for weeks. The girl couldn't stop smiling and seemed to drop everything she was doing at the moment every time his name was mentioned.
Poor Kat. I thought sadly. I would figure out a way to inform her about Isaac's disappearance later.
"PB is out of his game. Its not looking good. They got us surrounded." Tornado suddenly spoke up, startling me a little. I had to get used to that random voice booming in my ear.
"Tell me about it." Cryonics said into the line, his voice sounded utterly exhausted. "All the bases were destroyed but the citizens are trying to kill us! Please tell me the wave's still there and this is notI just from their personal hatred!"
"I'm trying to locate the new origin. Give me a second..." My aunt said, tapping furiously on the keyboard.
"I'm currently inside a villain resident." I said, observing 4 scratch marks left on the inside surface of the glass tank. I could see trace of illuminating greenish blue liquid dripping from the lid of the tank, indicating it had just been drained recently. "I think there's more than just the artificial brain wave project here. That's just a part of the whole picture. Just a first stage."
"Flare, I got a ping right at the location you are standing on at the moment." My aunt said. "Look around. See what you could find."
"Please hurry up and destroy it." Cloudburst said, panting heavily. As far as I knew, the were besieged and couldn't hurt the citizens. The very hostages they were supposed to keep safe were turning on them. Soon, they would have no choice but to surrender.
- - - -
What would you expect to see after following a cunning villains into a secret passage inside deserted facility?
A large underground facility with round ceramic fountain located in the middle, gushing out clear water reflecting bright light emitted from glass chandelier hung above? Oversized spiral staircase with golden bars and intricate design carved on the surface?
And maybe something super common to complete the picture of the secret lair of super villains.
The very hostage you went to rescue beaming in a Minnie Mouse pajamas and pink slippers with a colorful bedtime stories collection book tucked neatly under her arms.
You noticed the hostage was also looking generally happier than you.
"Harmonia?" I gasped, completely overlooked the fact that the door we entered was actually part of the while wall trimmed with golden pattern of grapevines, making the secret passage almost undetectable. This was too easy. It had to be a trap.
"Isaac, who's this?" Harmonia dashed over to the villain, hiding behind him as if she was afraid of me. "Why is she wearing a mask?"
"She's here to rescue you." Isaac said casually, smiling. "Like in the stories I told you last night, remember, princess? A white knight always rescues the princess from bad guys."
"Well, I thought you were the knight. Why was she shouting at you? I heard that." The girl murmured, looking up at the shape shifter with her large green eyes. "Is she one of the baddies?"
That was unexpected. (Which means that was quite the norm for those leading superheroes lifestyle.)
"No, Monie. She is one of the good guys." Isaac sighed, his eyes showed unreadable expression. I noticed his tone had completely changed to the softer tone whenever he spoke to the kid. It was as if he was her friend. "Come on, you have to go with her. You have been away from home for a week. Your dad misses you."
"But mom said dad is busy." The girl frowned up at him. "And that we'll be going home today. She's in the living room."
"Your mom...is here?" Isaac croaked out, his hand that was holding the Harmonia's Bedtime Stories Collection book suddenly fell to his side. Even an unobservant person could tell how he stiffened and pallid at the mention of Lady Rocestor.
The late Lady Veronica Rocestor. The mayor's wife who supposedly passed away 2 weeks ago in a car accident. It was a murder but at last, the police department and forensics failed to identify the villains who murdered her. I cleared my throat, interrupting the eerie silent that fell in the room. Shivers ran around my neck as if Plastic Bender's rope was still wrapping around it. My hand automatically shot up to feel my neck. "Let's just get out of here, alright?"
I was the kid who had a love-hate relationship with scary movies and tales by the campfire. I would sacrifice my 8 hours of peaceful sleep just to get the thrill of a 3 minutes long fascinating scary story told around the bonfire.
That was how I had learned it wasn't funny anymore when a little girl whose mother passed away suddenly stood up and claimed to have been talking to her mother.
Of course, I knew I should pull the blanket over my eyes when her mother answers back.
Clear voice I recognized from television and radio called out. "Harmonia, sweetie. We'll be leaving in a minute. Is there someone with you?"
"Say no!" Isaac mouthed, shaking his head. "It's a secret, princess. We are playing a game!"
"No." Harmonia hesitated for a second but obliged in the end, a smile gracing her pink lips. Oh, how I wished this could all be a part of a big game where you could just press a restart button.
I knew Veronica wasn't stupid when she replied with the sentence I dreaded; "Well, then, I have chocolate chip cookies here. I'm bringing them down for you."
It would be okay if mommy was coming down by herself. But the sound of footsteps I heard from upstairs wasn't just created by a pair of high heels. More like a high heels and about hundreds other pairs of boots. Metal clapped boots. From the reflection on golden staircase, I could place a familiar face I saw on television. Honey colored hair and bright green eyes (slightly yellowish because of the golden surface.)
Veronica Rocestor. Looking very alive (probably more alive than me who's sleep-deprived and exhausted after all the first round of the fight this morning). I guessed faking death is what's in nowadays.
I didn't know if I should feel relieved since I was not encountering a ghost. However, something told me that this woman was more scary that every ghosts from every ancient castles combined.
I scooped Harmonia up and dashed for the door, dragging Chameleon who suddenly decided to stay still as a statue. "Run away and then what? We are outnumbered. They will be after us as soon as they noticed Harmonia missing. Their soldiers are hapless drones. They aren't afraid to die. They are not even alive in the first place. Just walking chunk of mean and bones straight from test tubes." He said. "I'd rather have you tell your aunt to detonate the bomb right now so I could die instead of living the rest of my life as a lab rat."
I decided that the word we he used signified an improvement of our partnership/mutual hostage-ship here.
"Detonate the bomb." I quickly said causing Isaac to give me a weird look. I fetched out a key snatched his cuffed hands, unlocking the handcuff and stuffed it into his hands. He was too surprised to even make a move. "If you want to make out of here alive. Maybe meet Kat. You have to trick them you are Harmonia."
"Hey, Flare here, you have to detonate the bomb on the cuff when Chameleon signals you to do so, alright?" I touched my earpiece and informed my teammates.
"What? Is Chameleon threatening you?" My aunt asked immediately.
"If that's a yes, don't answer. I'll be over in a second. Give me the location, Casey." Cryonics said.
"Stay where you are, Frosty! Just do it or I'll actually be threatened by Veronica Rocestor!" I hissed through gritted teeth. With that, I proceeded to take off my earpiece and gave it to Isaac. I would be explaining later. "Transform into Harmonia. Buy me 10 minutes to get away from here. When you have a chance, use this to escape and stop them from leaving the facility."
Dark brown color poured into his cool green irises as a sly smile formed on his face. "You really shouldn't have done that, Jamie."
"Or choice B. I'm telling them to detonate it right now. I die. You die. They die too." I glared at him daringly.
"I'm the closest thing to immortal being." He retorted.
"Harmonia isn't. The purpose of our mission here is solely to save her." I whispered coldly despite the fact that I was forming a fireball in my left hand I hid behind my back, readied to be used in case my only defense mechanism failed. I was fireproof but I sure wasn't pressure-proof. Right on cue, a soft sob was emitted from the girl's throat as she stared at the scene in front of her in shock. When Chameleon didn't try to strangle me to death right on the spot, I knew I had won the bet.
At least this time.
"You think your little plan's perfect, huh? In the end, you won't be able save Logan." He muttered as he dashed over to the pipelines on the wall, cracking the surface with sharp claw now in place of his hand. "At least not without me."
The last sentence uttered in Harmonia's voice caused me to stop abruptly midair, almost dropping Harmonia. My breathings quickened. I battled the urge to turn back and get the sly villain to tell me everything he knew. However, my better judgment won me over and I went against my desire. I wouldn't let him get to me like Cicatrix almost did.
Bottom line; You don't make a deal with villain even though it was the smallest matter like candies trading. They are unreliable and are likely to lace your candies with some arsenic.
I headed toward the back exit of the facility for the place was going to blow up.
The 10 minutes countdown had started.
As soon as the bright red light of setting sun bathed upon me outside the facility, high pressure air collided to my back as if is was a fist. I couldn't control my flying that well because of the force but I managed to land us a good distant away from the scene. I made sure Harmonia was cradled safely in my arms and that when gravity pulled me to the rattling ground again, I was the only one absorbing all the impact. The ear splitting sound from the explosion made me wonder if I had gone deaf as I lied on the ground, feeling disorientated. High pitched noise I usually hear after having been exposed to sound over 120 decibel rang in my ear.
It wasn't supposed to be a big explosion. I though dizzily, lifting my head up from the Tarmac paved parking lot.
Smoking debris rained down upon us. "Mommy and Isaac!" Harmonia's cry yanked me out of the stupor. Tears streaked her dirt smudged cheeks and whimpers left her mouth as she shook from crying. I bit my lips. Guilt weighed down upon my shoulders as I flew up into the air and tried to contain the flame like when I did with the flame tornado last time.
Observing the explosion from the top view, my throat went dry when I realized what Chameleon had done. If I wasn't mistaken, the pipeline he cracked must contained gas and gas leakage plus minimal explosion equals an even faster escalating blast.
Soon, a huge ball of fire was placed upon the land. Swirling fire decorated the surface of the ball, expanding to consume the oxygen supply that are abundant in the air. I forced them back down with difficulty, my head started throbbing and my breathing became ragged.
Fire was the nature's powerful destruction tool. If I could harness it, there'd be nothing to be afraid of.
I hoped that explosion would be enough to destroy the source of the wave. Heck. The fire consumed the whole facility. After all, the cost was high.
Closing my eyes, I could still sense phosphene of the raging flame bursting out of the roof of the facility behind my eyelids. Harsh wind whipped into my face and my hand automatically shot up to my mask just to make sure it didn't fly away with the wind. My fingers was met with warm liquid that couldn't be anything else but blood.
Even though those soldiers weren't sentient and Chameleon operated without my consent, my heart and chest constricted from guilt of being the one coming up with the idea. l even made Isaac a stay behind as a decoy. A disposable decoy, that is.
I could get the vague idea of how the villains had artificially recreated Hypno's telepathic ability. That sounded very far fetched but if the head of the research was someone who had the highest security clearance level, it became more possible. And for a figure of power to be able to work with criminals without having to mine the nosy reporters stumbling upon the truth, they just need to stay off the grid by staying dead for a few days.
Veronica was the puppeteer, not her husband. What was her motives? According from all her speeches, she was very supportive when it came to superheroes.
Maybe it was obsession. Judging by the look of the laboratory and the way Chameleon used the word lab rat to describe himself, I suspected Veronica may be trying to create an army of artificial supers.
Just when I was dive down to the ground and search for Isaac, dark shadow cast upon me and rushed upward.
A shiny, white aircraft painted red by the sunlight appeared out of the thick curtain of smoke, parting the blooming white mist as it went on with high speed. It was as large as the City Hall when counted the wingspan.
It was heading toward the less populated side of the city across the widest part of River Selm. That was were the Brackenbridge's power plant was located.
And the worst thing? The tail of the plane was giving out thick black smoke, indicating how little time I had to stop it before it would crash right in the middle of the power plant and create a massive mess across this region.
- - - -
A/N I know there's alot new info to take in. That' becauseeeee--- Dun-dun-dunnn-- let's just say it won't all end in 1 book :)
If High school-University transition won't drain my time, that's it.