Kinetics (19 page)

Arch pushed himself up off the floor. 
He charged a blast and then added the power that Blackout had given him.  He
slammed it into Jolt's chest. 

Jolt stood frozen to the spot.  His
bones were glowing through his skin.  He fell to the ground and smoke billowed
from his body.

"I'm alright." Arch said
noticing me looking at him, "Go complete the mission." he finished
falling onto Blackout for support.

"We are about to get some
company!" Blackout yelled.  She was helping Arch walk back to the door. 
He was in rough shape.

Silence grabbed my arm and turned me
towards him.  "The hatch is open, take the case, and get the job
done."

I turned and started to climb down the
ladder into the room below.  Just before I was out of view, I could see Silence
kneel down and pick up three rifles from the fallen soldiers.

The climb took a good ten minutes before
I found the floor below.  The room inside was tiny; there was only enough room
for two people max.  I sat down in the single chair and set the case down on
the floor beside me.

There was no keyboard or mouse, only a
single screen, microphone, and camera. 

"
Please present for Facial
Recognition Authorization.
” a pleasant man's voice said.

 I thought for a moment and wasn't sure
about what to do, but it hit me.  I tapped on my head set and said,
"Shift."

"Yeah." she said after a short
pause.  Her voice was distorted, from the many layers of concrete the signal
had to pass through.

"Could you come down here?  I need
your help."

"One second." she said.  I didn’t
hear any gunfire. 

She slid down the ladder and landed on
the floor with a soft thud.  She took a breath and turned to look at me.

"Do you remember what James Scott
looked like?"

"That holographic guy that was at
the orphanage?" she asked her eyes closed trying to remember.

"Yeah, do you think that you can
change into him?"

“Isn’t that like screaming, ‘hey we’re
hacking in!’ or something?” she asked.

“They know we’re here, who cares.”

She concentrated.  Her face began to
ripple and wave, her skin moving around.  Her bones popped and crunched as they
reshaped.  Her face was identical as far as I could remember.

"What about the voice?" I
added.

"What do you think?" she asked
in a perfect imitation of his voice.

She lowered her face to the camera and
held it there.  Green lasers began scanning over every inch of her face.  Up
and down, then left and right.  Photos of people that I had never seen before
began to flash across the screen, rapid fire.

"
Welcome back Mr. Scott.  As per
your personal policy, you are granted full unmonitored access to the entire
system.
" the computer said. 

"Please grant Jane Doe the same
access." Shift said in James's voice.

"
Yes sir.  That's done.
"
The computer's voice was so friendly it almost made me sick.

I opened the case and pulled out the
cable.  I plugged it into one of the free ports of the front of the wall of a
computer.

"Back up database on the external
drive." I said.

"
Thank you for the command.  I'm
sorry for the inconvenience, but going to need four keys ma’am, but of course
you know that already.  If you could insert those now, we can proceed.
" 
The computer said.

I tapped my earpiece twice and said,
"Acumen.  I have access to the computer, and I am about to insert the
keys."

“Ready when you are.” He said.

I inserted all of the keys into the side
of the computer.

"Give me a few minutes."
Acumen said.

"
Ah, thank you sir.  The first
key has been accepted.  If you would please insert the other three?
"
the computer said as the light on the first key turned from red to green.

I waited as the lights turned green one
at a time.  When the last one changed I heard a blast of gunfire from above
me.  The noise poured down the hatch and echoed in the small room.

"
I have wonderful news.  The
keys have been accepted and your download has begun.  It is going to take
approximately ten minutes.  Is there anything else that I may help you with
while you wait?
" The computer asked.

"Display the surveillance from one
floor above." I became desperate to know what was going on above.

The screen flashed to a view that was
set behind where the others were standing.  Arch, Blackout, and Silence were
all knelt with rifles firing at the soldiers as they filed into the room. 
Chrono was standing behind them.  He had his arms outstretched slowing the time
in the doorway so that each enemy that tried to come into the room was moving
in slow motion.

The four of them ripped through the
soldiers like they were the dummies on the practice field.  They did not waste
a single bullet, each one made contact with an enemy soldier.

I breathed a sigh of relief as an idea
hit me. 

"Could you display any information
on AdvaGen Technologies and Joseph Madison?" I asked the computer.

"
Certainly just one moment while
I return the requested information.
" I watched as the others continued
to crush the soldiers above.  I was damn proud to watch them protect themselves
flawlessly.

"
Joseph Madison is in stasis where
his brain has been tethered to a computer by his own design.  AdvaGen
Technologies has been completely shut down and all remaining projects have been
transferred to the Aurora Corporation Research and Development Technology
department.
" the computer explained.

"Joseph Madison, the founder of
AdvaGen Technologies is alive?" I asked.

"
Yes.  James Scott ordered their
deaths to be faked with clones and then the real ones put into the Morpheus
Project.
" the computer said. 

"Who else?" I asked.

"
Joseph's wife Abbitha.
"

"What is the Morpheus
Project?" I asked desperate for answers.  I had more question then ever.

"
Unable to comply.
" the
screen went blank.

"Crap!" I yelled.

"Did we lose that data?" Shift
asked.

The screen flickered back on and the
progress bar reappeared.  The transfer hadn't stopped and we were sitting at
ninety-nine percent.

"We're still good.  Almost
done."  I said pulling my hair and sighing.

When the transfer had completed, I packed
everything back into the case.  I put the strap over my shoulder and made sure
that we had all of the keys.

"Let's get the hell out of
here." Shift said.

We started to climb the ladder her right
in front of me.  When we got back up onto the upper floor, we could see the
true scale of the carnage of what had occurred above. 

Silence and Arch were leaning on the
walls and breathing heavily.  Blackout was sitting on the ground back against
the wall.  Chrono was rubbing his head hardly able to remain standing.

Silence smiled and walked towards me,
"It's about tim..." before he could finish he stopped.  He fell to
his knees clutching his stomach.  He pulled his hand away from his body and
blood spilled to the floor.  He fell the rest of the way to the ground.

Behind him a wounded guard was barely
holding up a rifle.  Blood ran down his face where he had been injured in his
head.  His sights were lined up on the spot where Silence had been standing.

I dropped the case as my entire body
burst into flame and I shot across the room.  I landed on the guard, grabbed
him by the neck, and held him up into the air.  His body disintegrated in my
hand from the massive flames that were flowing from my arm.

"GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled. 
My voice sounded like there were several voices on top of mine. 

Shift picked up the case while Chrono
and Arch picked up Silence to carry him out of the building.

Once everyone had left the room I filled
it with flames.  I burned everything around me so hot that the concrete crumbled
under the weight of the building above.  The ceiling above me burst into dust
as I rose.  I gave the others time to get out of the building. 

When I was outside I hung in the sky
above the facility.  I fed flames into the building below creating more and
more heat.  I watched as everything crumbled into ash.  I wanted to make this
spot impossible to ever rebuild on in the future.  I poured on every single
ounce of power that I could find.

When there was nothing left but a single
solid piece of smoking concrete and steel, I lowered myself to where the others
were hunched around Silence. 

Shift met me behind one of the trucks
that were parked.  She morphed back into herself, clothes and all.  She opened
the trucks door and politely asked for any clothes that he had in his truck. 
The driver gave her a shirt and some shorts.  Again I was forced to dress in
men’s clothes.

Ronnie coughed loudly holding the wound
while blood poured out. 

"Ryder, Ryder, can you hear
me?" My voice shook with fear as I scooped him into my arms.  His body was
limp and heavy. 

"Loud and clear..." he
coughed.

I tapped my head set, "Sam...  I
mean Acumen."

"Go ahead." he said.

"Ryder has been badly injured.  I
know that Vanish is still recovering, but we need her to come and get Ryder.  I
don't think that he is going to make it otherwise." I said hysterically.

"Hold on." he said, the line
going dead.

The air around us was quiet.  I could
hear Shift sobbing into Chrono's shoulder, and I dare not look at any of them. 
Silence coughed loudly as I rocked back and forth waiting for something to
happen.

Vanish appeared and put her hand on
Silence.  She waited for me to let go.  I kissed him and backed away.  The two
of them blinked away in the bright blue light.  Knowing that she had come did
help, but not as much as I had hoped.  She'd already had blood seeping from her
eyes before they had left.

I took a second to clear my head.  I had
to assume that Silence was safe, but we still had to get to the helicopter that
was our way home.  We were all tired and Arch could not walk on his own and was
leaning on Chrono 

"Nobody gets left behind.  Period. 
If you need help you speak up." I brought up the map of the area on my
watch.  I took a good look at our surroundings, but it was difficult at night
to determine where to go.  Sharp pains in the back of my head weren’t helping
anything.

"Where do we go?" Shift asked
looking over my shoulder at the map.

I tapped my headset twice,
"Acumen."

"Go ahead." he said.

"Is there any way we can make
figuring out where to go easier?" I asked.

"Turn the dial on the watch to the
C.  It will point you in the direction of your ultimate destination using a GPS
connection.  You will have to find your way around any obstacles." Acumen
said. 

I did as he said.  The map vanished and
a small arrow appeared on the screen of the watch. 

I took a deep breath, "Are we
ready?"

Everyone gave their nod in ready.  Chrono
got a good grip on Arch and we followed the arrow into the trees. 

"I don't think it'll be long before
we have company." Blackout said.

"We keep moving and maybe we can
avoid them altogether."  We maneuvered slowly through the trees.  I looked
down at my watch, under the arrow it read
.98M
 which I assumed M was
for miles, "I think we have about a mile."

We exited the woods and waited at the
edge of a four lane highway.  We waited for a good enough break in the cars and
in pairs we bolted across the road.  When we got to the other side, we slid
down into the ditch and took a breather.

"How do you feel?" I asked
Arch who was sitting at the bottom of the ditch.

"Like I was hit by a bus." he
said.  Blood was smeared across his face from him trying to wipe it off.  "I
think that I can walk now."

I watched the clock closely and when
five minutes was up, I got everyone up.  "Let's get back." I said.  I
felt personally responsible for the whole group and I was desperate for any
information telling me that Ryder was going to be alright.

We crossed a small field and cut a gap
in a chain link fence that led into a small subdivision.  The houses were all
dark and there were hardly any cars in the driveways.

"There it is." I said as we
hit the top of a hill.  I could see the helicopter sitting on the pad waiting
for us.  The pilot was walking around the front, checking the craft over.