Alya dug into her father's suit pocket. She had to find the key card or tag or whatever necessary to get out of this room and get to Parker. Her's were taken along with her weapons when the soldiers shoved her into the room.
Her fingers fumbled the card as she dashed for the door. Turning her back away from where Parker was getting beaten. She swiped her father's card and the panels slid open. Alya made for the elevator and pressed the button with her trembling, bloodied hand.
Hurry, hurry, hurry
Each second ticked away like a year. "Damnit!" Alya punched the elevator button when the display showed the elevator had yet to come up. She almost flew head first down the stairs in her haste, taking two or three together at a time. She made it down the hall, on the other side of the glass where Parker was fighting for life. One look over her shoulder, and she turned away from the door. Away from parker.
It killed her not to be able to go to him any sooner, but there was no way she could fight those inhumanly strong soldiers inside the ring. She needed a weapon. She needed a communicator to contact Jorrit. With Rowan gone, she needed back up to save all those trapped lives. To save Parker. To save everyone.
The corridor was empty, eerily quiet and unnerving. No soldiers in sight. Maybe her father was still unconscious so he couldn't alert security. Or maybe...she slid around a corner and almost collided with a solid something.
"Rowan!" She gasped.
Alya was stunned.. How...? The comprehension dawned suddenly. The reason why the corridor was barren of soldier. The next thing she knew, she had her arms around her friend, her comrade, clutching him against her tight enough to make sure his presence was real. Please be real.
Rowan grunted and pushed her away. "Jeez, I was shot you know." He winced, his hand moving to cover his abdomen where he was shot.
She looked at his stomach; blood splattered on his uniform. "How did you... you were dead."
Rowen's lips twitched, a weak self-satisfying smirk. "It takes more than one bullet to kill a Summers."
"But how?" Alya couldn't help the suspicion in her gut. They were in a scientific lab full of created soldiers. Could Rowen be...?
"Shh." Rowen looked around fugitively before continuing in a whisper, "The bullet missed any vital organs. I knew if I stood up and fought back against all those soldier, I would be dead for real. So I faked. I laid still and waited for the soldiers to go. Then I snuck way to this lab to get a med kit and patch myself up."
Alya lifted his shirt, and inspected the red blotch blooming on the white bandage to the side of his stomach. "Okay, that looks ...bad." Rowen had lost a lot of blood, but he patched himself up pretty well. There was also no sign of any mind controlling metal attached to him that she could see.
He tapped his earpiece. "I contacted Jorrit. He's trying to get into the system to shut it down along with the soldier's chips. I got him a link straight into the mainframe, but it's taking him forever." Rowen pulled his shirt back down with a huff.
Alya knew that 'forever' to Rowan meant about ten minutes in reality. But that ten minutes were enough for Parker to get killed by his brother.
"Parker. He's stuck in the training room with his brother. They locked him in a glass cube. He's..." She shook her head. "I don't know how much longer he can hold out."
"Fucking Rebel." Rowen handed her a laser gun and pulled out the one strapped to his leg. "Let's go save the prick."
"Can I borrow your communicator?" Alya asked as they headed back to the training corridor. "They took mine."
"Sure thing."
As soon as Rowen gave her his earpiece, she contacted to Jorrit. "Jorrit. It's Alya."
A short beep, and Jorrit's panicked voice floated to her ears. "Oh gods! Al! Rowen said you were taken. Are you..."
"I'm fine Jor, but you know Rowen got shot, and Parker's trapped. We need back up."
"Zion and Nyx are on their way."
"Good. How can we disable these super soldier?" She needed something that would work immediately.
"They have these computer-controlled chips on the back of their neck. I...I am working on that, if...if I could fry the chips." Jorrit sounded frayed more than ever. "It'll be hard to fry them from within, and even harder to fry them without scrambling their brains."
"Parker doesn't have time." Alya snapped as they rounded a corner. The simulation room, the door between her and Parker's life were a gap of ten meters. "He's in a cage with one of them. He won't survive, Jor." Alya couldn't bring herself to utter the words 'his brother'. She needed to do something quick, to save both of them. If something happened to Jayden, Parker would never forgive himself. And if something happens to Parker...Alya dismissed the thought.
"Uh...uh...try short circuiting the chip. Electroshock might work Might work."
Short circuit. Electroshock. How the hell could she—Alya disconnected the call. She knew what she had to do.
Alya tossed the earpiece back to Rowen and darted towards the guards at the entrance to the simulation room. She let Rowen's warning fade as she lashed out at one of the guards, snatching his electrorod before he could make sense of the situation.
Rowen dashed in after her, grabbed the other guard and delivered repetitive punches.
Alya dodged another oncoming punch, swiped her father's master keycard to the door before plunging the electrorod at him, knocking out the guard with an electric shock.
Before more guards could come in, she rolled into the room, Rowan followed suit. As she stood up, heaving, her eyes surveyed the room. A glass-walled cage in the center, and several vicious soldiers circling it, watching the fight between Parker and Jayden without any iota of emotion. She felt like a sheep in a lion's den, only the lion would be much nicer than these cybernetically enhanced soldiers.
Her eyes landed on the control panel, too close to where the soldiers stood. Without wasting another second, she lunged for it and swiped the keycard again. Despite how quick she had been, it hadn't been enough not to catch the eyes of the soldiers. Alya looked at the glass wall that was now coming down, then back to the soldiers barreling towards her, her heart screaming, knowing she probably won't make it to Parker. Only if she could buy some time...
She took her stance, one fist curled around the electro button and another drawn back to deliver a blow.
"Al..." Rowen's voice boomed near—too near. A flick of a movement, and Rowan dashed in, knocking the soldier out of her way. "Go, get that rebel."
She didn't know when Zion and Nyx would arrive—or how long Jorrit would take to disable the chips. Alya doubted Paker would be able to hold on that long.
Alya jumped into the arena. Parker was on his knees as Jayden delivered one blow after another. Rowen was losing the fight against the swarm of soldiers. Alya's heart lurched at the thought of all of them dying. They had come so far, to have it end in such a way.
The door opened, and Alya thought it was the end. That more soldiers would pour in and overwhelm them. But Zion and Nyx burst in instead. She saw their expression of horror and heard Zion's voice calling out at her—screaming at her to get down, that Zorrit would soon terminate the simulation controlling entire facility as well as the minds of these soldiers. But 'soon' wouldn't be soon enough for Parker.
She lunged at Jayden, pushing him off Parker with all her might. Jayden lost his balance, but regained it quickly, twisting around to whip Alya across the head with his fist. She stumbled back, dropping her electrorod. The world tipped and tilted, blurring on one side. As she crawled to retrieve it, Jayden kicked her away from it. His boot hid hard and Alya gasped for air as shooting pain lanced through her core. One of her ribs was definitely cracked—or worse. Jayden grabbed her by the back of her shirt collar, and flipped her over. The impact of it was so hard that it sent reverberations through her entire body.
As Jayden loomed over her, Alya could only think that she had one chance and she messed it up. I am so sorry Parker
Jayden pulled back his fist, and Alya locked her eyes into his—not afraid. There was a pause of a breath, and in that split second between Jayden's oncoming blow and Alya, Parker leapt at Jayden's legs and pulled him down.
Alya crawled up on her fours, and leapt for the electrorod. All she needed was an opening, and Parker had given her a perfect one. Just as she grabbed the electrorod, Parker kicked Jayden off him, right at her. She didn't think twice—despite knowing the consequences— she held out the electorod and got Jayden right in the back of the neck—right into the chip.