“There’s nothing here,” the operative said, spinning around to show us.
“There has to be something else,” Max mumbled to himself, staring intently into the screen. I agreed, but I couldn’t see anything. No other doors or windows, nothing.
“Where is the power coming from? There is only one port here, but the power surge is off the charts.” Max squinted and leaned closer to the screen.
“Uh, guys, we may have a problem,” Kenzie stated, pointing to the main surveillance screen at the front of the room. Over a dozen Carbons raced toward the small tech building, along with even more Carbons headed toward the hospital. “We’ve got maybe two minutes tops.”
“Operative group one, we need you to run recon for group two in the hospital. They still haven’t searched the whole location, and the bank is clear,” Murray said.
Kyle’s group found nothing at the bank tower.
The two operatives linked themselves to the hospital and ran into the building as soon as they appeared.
“Okay, we’ve got this.” Sam rubbed his hands together, leaning in between the two groups. Murray sighed and stepped back, letting Sam do his thing. “Scout one, you will head to the right, try to draw a few of those Carbons away from scout two. Lead one, you’re in an elevator. Why are you in an elevator?” The operative shrugged. He took the wrong door and was lost. Sam shook his head. “Okay, get yourself out of there and follow scout one. You two will head to the stairs on the right and check out the west wing of the hospital.”
The operatives took off, making as much noise as they could by tossing things over and throwing around whatever came to hand. It worked, and the Carbons split up to start following them. Lead one took the stairs and began to search.
“Those Carbons are getting close, scout two. Run a bit faster. You have to outpace them.” There was a bead of sweat dripping off of scout two’s forehead as he attempted to outrun the Carbons, but it was no use. He rounded the corner only to come face-to-face with another set of Carbons, and he was forced to abort.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“No worries, all good.” Sam clapped his back and focused on the last three guys.
Max meanwhile was still searching the small tech shop. They hadn’t found anything, but luckily a few of the Carbons had changed course and were headed to the hospital instead. They still only had a few minutes at best.
“Sir, I don’t think we see anything here at the hospital,” Sam reported to Murray. “Permission to pull my men back?”
Murray gave him a funny look, wondering why Sam was taking this so seriously, but he indulged him anyway.
“Permission granted,” he said.
Sam did a funny sort of salute before telling his men to abort.
“We don’t see anything either—” Max said.
“There!” I cut him off, pointing at the screen.
Just under the smashed computer was a small imperfection at the corner of one of the tiles; it didn’t look like the rest. An operative threw off the computer and pressed the corner of the tile, causing it to pop up. It gave him enough leverage to lift it out of the way. There was a hidden door below that led to a ladder.
“Well spotted, Sawyer.” Kyle patted my back. I felt the glare from Max directed at me, but I ignored it and watched the screen.
The operative took the ladder down, leading to another small room about the same size as the one above, but this one had a locked hatch in the floor with a small pedestal and a pin pad beside it. The operative went to reach for the door when Adam jumped up.
“Stop!” he screamed.
“What is it?” Max asked.
“That hatch has a sensor pad, see there?” He pointed at the screen where a small thin string attached the hatch to the floor. “If that is detached, then there is likely some sort of explosive or lockdown system that’ll be activated. Then we’ll never get back in.”
“Carbons closing in fast!” the second operative still in the room above reminded us. They were outside the door.
“Best to just abort and come back another time,” Max said.
“Wait!” Adam stopped him again. “Can we see what is on the back of the pedestal? Can we hold off the Carbons for just another minute?”
“I’ll try.” The second operative moved the counter in front of the door, hoping to keep the Carbons out long enough.
Downstairs, the first operative was taking virtual pictures of the pedestal. This only took about thirty seconds, but we didn’t have that much time.
The Carbons were at the door, and the second operative was doing his best to keep them outside. Shots rang out as the Carbons tried to blast through the wall. The operative ducked for cover, but it was too late. We heard a scream ring out in the control room. The operative grabbed at his leg. He felt every bit of pain as his projection did. He was in too much pain and hit the abort button. It’d take him a few minutes to collect himself once the pain had dissipated.
“Get out of there!” Max yelled at the other operative, still scanning the pedestal.
“One second.” He almost had it all.
The Carbons had broken through the door, and one of them was reaching into the downstairs room, his gun aimed at the operative.
“Almost—” He grimaced.
Too late.
The shot sounded loudly through the control room and the operative clutched his chest, letting out a deafening scream as he crumbled into his desk.
“Abort him!” somebody yelled, and Sam dove across the desk to hit the abort button. The operative dropped to his knees and knocked over a chair. I pushed my way through to help him. Doc rushed past me and grabbed the operative, easing him onto his back.
“He’s going into cardiac arrest!” he yelled.
I didn’t know what to do, so I cradled the man’s head in my hands.
“We need something to shock his heart.” I looked around. I had no ideas.
Kenzie was at my side. He looked me in the eyes, and I knew what he was about to do. “Hands clear,” he ordered. Doc was confused, but he complied.
Kenzie placed his left hand over the man’s chest, and the man convulsed and tensed before his body relaxed. Kenzie removed his hand, and Doc checked for a pulse.
“It worked. His heart rate is going back to normal.” Doc couldn’t take his eyes off Kenzie. In fact, nobody could. “Can someone help me get him to my office?”
A few guys snapped out of their shock and helped Doc.
“Everyone who is not needed in here, clear out,” Murray ordered. “Can you get those images to Adam?” he asked Sam.
“Yes, of course, sir.” Sam jumped into action and ran to his computer. “It’ll be there in a jiffy!”
Everyone turned back to Kenzie, who was sitting in the back of the room, trying to avoid eye contact.
“We should talk,” Murray suggested.
Chapter 42
Once everyone had left except Kyle, Murray, Kenzie, Max, and me, all hell broke loose.
“What the hell happened there?” Kyle jumped up, standing inches away from Kenzie, who kept his gaze down, but didn’t back away.
“Are you one of them? Are you a freaking Carbon?” Max demanded, standing behind Kyle.
“I’m not a Carbon.” Kenzie rolled his eyes.
“What was that, liar?” Max demanded, trying to get around Kyle.
“I’m not a Carbon!” Kenzie pushed forward while Kyle was trapped between the two men.
“Back off, Max.” I tried to pull him back, but he shrugged off my hand. I reached for my gun and trained it at his head. “I said, back off.”
Max raised his hands in defeat and stepped back with a scowl.
“That’s enough!” Murray shouted. “Everyone sit down, now.”
I lowered my weapon but kept my glare trained on Max.
“He’s not a Carbon,” Murray said. “I’ve been aware of his abilities since he arrived although I haven’t seen them in action. Kenzie was used by Coleman as a weap
on. He is 90% human and 10% robot. His arm was rebuilt with a few modifications that allow him to transfer his energy.” They all stared at Kenzie, who was looking Murray sternly in the eye.
“He saved that man. If he wasn’t on our side, do you think he would’ve done that?” I argued.
“What else can it do?” Kyle asked.
“I’m not sure,” Kenzie said. “I was taught how to use it for torture mainly.” He looked up at me. “I know there is more there; I’m just not sure what.”
“We may have someone who can help you with that,” Murray said.
“What? We’re going to keep him here and teach him how to use his freaky power? Do you really think that is smart, sir?” Max questioned.
“He will stay, and you will not question me!” Murray shouted. He turned his back on his son and walked to Kenzie. “Come with me. Adam should have a little more insight.”
Max’s glare didn’t leave their backs as Murray led Kenzie out of the room.
~
Adam looked up from his computer screen as we walked in. His hair was looking whiter than usual; he’d aged so much in the last few months.
“I think I’ve figured out what we’re up against,” he stated, pointing to his computer screen showing the 3D images the operative obtained. “It’s a stage one Electroscope Module, which is basically a high-end security system. These were used in Bots a long time ago before we realized how easily they could be overridden. But that was on a much smaller scale than this one.” He swiped at the screen and brought the view in closer. There was a pin pad at the top of the pedestal and small, etched-in wording: ESM1.
“Basically if the system is tampered with, it will lock itself down. Try to explode it, it will lock down. It makes the hatch entrance useless unless we know the passcode which is changed and scrambled every minute. It would take weeks, even months to decipher the code.”
“So then we’re pretty certain the mainframe is down there, but we have no way in?” Kyle asked.
“You said we used to use this system on Bots until someone figured out how to override it? How did they do that?” I asked.
“The system was temporarily shut down after an electric shock,” Adam said. “I know what you’re thinking, but we’d never have enough power to even put a dent into this system. All the electricity in the city wouldn’t even be enough!”
He shook his head, but we were all looking at Kenzie. It took Adam a few minutes to catch on.
“I may have a way,” Kenzie said.
~
After Adam was brought up to speed on Kenzie’s abilities, he turned his attention to figuring out how to gage how much power he had.
“I can control the intensity. We wouldn’t need any actual electricity to shock the system. We just have to make it think it’s happened, right?” Kenzie asked.
“Yes, in theory, that is what would happen. In reality though, I’m unsure if you can supply that much power. I will have to run some tests.” Adam rushed back and forth from his computer to his charts.
Adam pulled out a mobile scanner and ran it over the length of Kenzie’s left arm. He did this multiple times at all different angles until he was satisfied he’d received enough data and pressed a button on the computer. A 3D rendering of Kenzie’s arm appeared before us.
“This is quite incredible.” Adam marveled at the 3D replica. “The mechanics are all hardwired into your central nervous system so your brain can control it just like any other part of your body. But this part—” he pointed to the palm of his hand, “—has nerve endings going outward, so you can transfer the feelings you’d normally get on a nerve ending internally, to an object externally. Clearly at a higher velocity though.”
Adam reached tentatively for Kenzie’s real arm. “May I?” he asked. Kenzie raised his eyebrows, but he indulged.
Adam took a sharp breath in as he pulled his hand away. “Fascinating!” he said, shaking his wrist. “And not a bit of lingering pain.” He whistled.
“We’re going to need to test the projected voltage at your top capacity. As well as the body’s reaction to your max level. I’m sure it can’t sustain that energy output for too long.” Adam paced. “But first, Sawyer, will you ask Theresa for one of her amazing potato sandwiches?”
I scrunched up my nose, disgusted. “Sure,” I said, giving Kenzie a silent goodbye. I left them to their work.
Chapter 43
Kenzie
Once Sawyer was gone, Kenzie took a seat in the chair next to Adam’s desk. The room was bright despite having no windows and being carved into the side of a rock wall. Lights filled the room as the buzzing of computers and electricity sounded.
Adam went to work on Kenzie’s arm, hooking up a bunch of cables to his palm, forearm, chest, and back. He connected those cables to his computer.
“Okay, start off slow. Nice and easy,” Adam instructed.
Kenzie harnessed the power inside of him and felt it build. It was barely bubbling inside of him when there was a loud gasp from Adam. Kenzie stopped.
“Um, was that nice and easy?” he asked.
“I didn’t even think I had really begun.”
“I see. Well, you were already at thirty-five thousand volts,” Adams explained, letting out a low whistle. “Okay, we’ll try again, little bit more this time.”
He focused again, this time letting the power bubble over and reach the surface. The lights dimmed and flickered off, and they then blasted back on brighter than before. He stopped quickly once more.
Adam’s hair was standing on end, and his eyes were wide with shock. “Again, that was just a touch more than before?” he asked tentatively.
“Yeah, not much more,” Kenzie told him.
Adam whistled and shook his head. “Okay, well, no time like the present. Let’s take it to full power!”
Kenzie took a deep breath and closed his eyes, readying himself. He’d only once before brought himself even close to full power, and that was a night he didn’t want to relive. He was fourteen and had just learned about his powers. He tried to take them as far as he could and ended up frying the two nurses helping him. The power blew out the window to his quarter, plunging Sub 9 into a temporary blackout. He’d since learned so much more about his powers, but he still hoped that didn’t happen this time.
He’d come a long way in learning how to focus his energy. He could feel it roaring inside of him, but he was in control of it the whole time. His heart was racing, and beads of sweat rolled down his back. Just a little bit more.
The lights flickered again, and then, all hell broke loose. The bulbs popped with a sharp crack, and the computer sizzled as the mainframe was fried. Adam reached for the plug in the wall, and Kenzie stopped in time before he was blown to a million pieces.
They both stood there in the dark, panting as they caught their breath.
“Sorry,” Kenzie mumbled.
“That, my dear boy, was extraordinary,” Adam said excitedly, finding a flashlight and assessing the damage.
There were shards of glass everywhere. A desk was toppled over when Adam reached to pull the plug. The computer had smoke coming out of it, and the wires attached to Kenzie’s hand were melted. He pulled them off and helped Adam clean up.
“Don’t worry about it, my boy. I’ve seen worse.” Adam smiled. “Pass me that tablet, please.” Kenzie passed him a small black tablet that was tossed to the ground when the desk flipped. Luckily, it wasn’t plugged in or it would’ve been fried too.
“I can recover all the data on here, nothing is lost. Let’s have a look,” Adam said as he tapped the screen, bringing up charts and graphs. “Ah, I see,” he mumbled to himself.
Kenzie looked around him to the screen, but it was all foreign to him.
“Will it work?” Kenzie asked.
“Well, yes, it should. But, Kenzie, your body may not be able to sustain this amount of power for longer than thirty seconds. Anything more than that and, well, I’m not sure, but you may die,” he cautio
ned.
Kenzie wasn’t afraid of death. It was a life alone he feared. To die for someone he loved or to even have a chance to save them, he’d choose her life over his own in a heartbeat.
He didn’t let Adam know what he might be willing to do. “I understand,” Kenzie said.
Adam seemed satisfied with that answer and nodded his head absently. He looked back at his charts.
Kenzie reached for a broom to start cleaning up the glass when his head suddenly pounded. Searing pain shot through his skull as he grabbed on to the side of his head, willing the pain to go away. He was on the verge of passing out when it cleared, and he saw a huge warehouse with little pods laid out everywhere. He could tell this wasn’t real. This was a vision, but of what? Kenzie stepped over to a pod and peered inside. There was a human inside, connected by wires to the pod. They almost looked like they were sleeping, but he knew better.
He walked over to the next pod, another human. Every single pod was occupied by a human, and there had to be thousands in this warehouse.
Something caught his eye; one of the humans in the pod moved. He ran over to it, and he saw—her. Dark hair cut in a straight line at her shoulder. Her face looked pale and thinner than he last remembered, but he did remember her. It was Sawyer’s mom. She was awake and trying to talk to him, but he couldn’t hear her. He tried to open the lid, but it wouldn’t budge. It was sealed tight.
She brought her mouth closer to the glass and breathed on it. In the lingering fog on the glass, she wrote, “She can save me.”
Kenzie asked, “How?”
She wrote, “By letting me go.”
Kenzie felt the room drifting back to the present reality, but he wasn’t ready yet. He didn’t fully understand. He tried to hold on, but soon he was back in Adam’s room, kneeling on the floor in the corner, trying to figure out what just happened.
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