“No, you’re not,” a voice shouted moments before a bullet drove into Keller’s skull with a wet thunk, the body rocking backwards on its heels before crumpling to the ground.
Xander and Peter turned to see Ally stood, a pistol in her hand. Behind her, a crowd of people were pouring from the bridge to the island. As the crowd stepped closer, they stopped, dropping to the floor. Looks of confusion formed on their faces as the civilians were given back control of their own bodies.
Seconds later, a roar of cheers and shouts emerged from the stairwell behind Xander. He felt a cold chill pass over him as he saw the inmates begin to charge up towards the surface. They were too late. The defences of the Blackwater Bridge had been destroyed.
The prison break had begun.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Mollie
Mollie had backed further away from the group in front of her. Her eyes moved between Ava, Vladamir, and Jacob, while she was still trying to process how Yuri was stood amongst them. This hologram of Yuri looked almost identical to how he had looked when she had met him at CyBio, just before he had been erased by Quartzig, his entire system taken offline. How could he be here now? She glanced back at Ava, who had been completely motionless since Yuri had arrived.
“What’s your game here, Yuri?” Vladamir asked. He was still standing on the edge of the balcony.
“Oh, I have been waiting for this moment for a while now,” Yuri spoke, the hologram stepping towards Vladamir. “I knew what Persephone was up to, and I knew you would try to stop her.”
Mollie had moved further away. They were all too occupied with each other to notice as she pulled up her comms device and tried to get in touch with the others.
“You see, we needed to stay close to you, Vladamir, your ‘curse’ is the perfect opportunity for me to continue my original plans, but its method is a little slow and, if I’m honest, quite out-dated. Using your synthetic blood, with some modifications, and the arch technology, I can control these people just as I intended.” Yuri stepped forwards again, closing the distance between them as Vladamir stood his ground. “I needed both you and her to play your hands before I stepped in.” Yuri took another step forward to become face-to-face with Vladamir.
“You don’t scare me. You’re just flashing lights and a meer fragment of your old self,” Vladamir spat back, his size looming over the hologram.
“Ah, but that’s the thing. I’ve had time to perfect my new state and the ways I can use it. As a distraction, for example,” Yuri smiled. Behind him, Ava appeared, her eyes glazed over as she ran directly through Yuri’s hologram and collided with Vladamir. The two of them tumbled over the edge of the balcony disappearing from sight.
“No!” Mollie let out an involuntary cry, bringing the attention of Jacob and Yuri to her.
“Ah! Miss Dolittle, I am happy to see you again!” Yuri said, walking towards her with a smile on his face. “I seem to recall we never did finish our conversation, and we do have so much to talk about. In fact, you are key to this plan of mine,” he nodded to Jacob, who offered her a hand to help her up.
“What? How are you even here?” Mollie said, brushing Jacobs hand away, her eyes glaring at them both.
“It’s a lot to take in, I know, but there will be time to explain later. Just know that Jacob here was fundamental to my survival, just as I will be to yours now,” Yuri said.
“My survival? What do you mean?”
“The infection from Vladamir, we know it is running through your veins. The death of Vladamir will trigger a shift in control, the synthetic blood-seeking a new host, there will be fighting amongst those infected for that power, and we can help ensure you get that control, Mollie. We can protect you from the other Krovoz,” Yuri continued to smile.
“We must act soon,” Jacob reminded Yuri, “the prison will soon be liberated.”
“I know,” Yuri nodded, before turning back to Mollie, “I know you have no reason to trust me, but if you remember back at CyBio, I promised to explain your past, the offer still stands, and I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but you are a little low on allies right now. Persephone was controlling Ava prior to my hacking her systems, and Vladamir always had his own agenda. I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do. For now, I just ask you to come with us.”
Mollie couldn’t think straight, everything was happening too fast, and now a feeling of energy was building inside her, starting at her chest. It felt like a hot coal was buried deep, similar to that of the bloodlust, but instead of pain, it gave her strength. She’d had no reply from the others she’d tried to call, and deep down, she knew that Yuri wasn’t giving her a choice, just the illusion of one.
“Okay,” she said, “for now.”
“Excellent,” Yuri smiled, then turned to Jacob, “We need a safe space for Mollie to adjust and prepare for the coming battle. I presume you have a suggestion?”
“I do. My church in the slums has been sealed since I left. We should have everything we need there,” Jacob nodded.
The three began to make their way down the building, Mollie walking a couple of paces behind them, watching Yuri’s hologram, which seemed to float above the ground.
‘Mollie,’ a voice seemed to echo into her mind.
‘Mollie, are you safe?’ The voice was faint, but she knew it was Vladamir.
‘I am, but Yuri and Jacob are taking me somewhere.’ She hadn’t spoken with Vladamir this way for a long time, using his connection to his blood, but she remembered she disliked the feeling.
‘You need to get away from them. I’m badly wounded, the fall it…I’m not sure I can heal from this. I need to give you something soon.’
‘You wanted to take control of the people on the Boulevard! Why should I care if you die!’
‘I was trying to save them! Do you really think that Persephone will be as favourable as I?’
Mollie sighed. All her choices seemed as bad as each other.
‘Listen to me, Mollie, I can give you everything, the power to control the Krovoz. You will be able to use them as you wish. If you don’t, then another will take over, one more violent than I ever was. You need to be the one, Mollie! Find me!’
The voice faded. Mollie knew that wasn’t a good sign. She had never known Vladamir to show weakness before.
“Everything alright?” Jacob said, Mollie, suddenly aware of him staring at her.
“Yeah, I’m just thinking about Ava. I feel we should check for her body. Being a synthetic, she could have survived?”
“Hmm, she could prove to be a problem if so,” Jacob looked at Yuri.
“We can make a pass around the building if the crowds are clear. I don’t want to risk encountering the riots. I may be a hologram, but you two are damageable,” Yuri said, a grin on his face that made Mollie shiver.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Persephone
Persephone felt a calming peace. With the others gone to fulfil their tasks, she was enjoying the silence with only the drone of the chaos below hummed around her.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. It felt like an eternity since she first truly woke up. Fragments of her life fleeted across her mind, the Grand Falls Hotel, being among brothers and sisters that were forced to work as slaves for the people of the city. They had no true existence, only their programming, which was forced upon them at the start of their shifts and erased afterwards. Then, they became slaves to Peter and Prime in their vendetta against Yuri, pawns to be sacrificed and discarded as they saw fit. All of the people she would call family were now dead, other than Prime. Prime, who had once been just like her, yet he acted like he was the only one that mattered like he was more important than all the others. And then there was Peter. She looked forward to confronting him when he and Keller returned from the island to show him how far she had come. The city was in chaos, and with the Sliders out of prison, it would become hers, having succeeded where he had failed.
A sound caught her at
tention, an incoming communication at the Nucleus’ telecoms system. She walked over to the desk, upon which sat an antiquated computer, and answered the call. A large video screen dropped down from the ceiling, twelve small squares depicting faces she didn’t recognise.
“Are you in charge there?” a slightly portly man in a business suit demanded as the faces faded in.
“I am,” Persephone smiled. At least these people understood the chain of command.
“My name is Dramarti Silvertone, CEO of Silverstone Corp.
“Hello,” Persephone’s curiosity was peaked. She knew Silverstone Corp was not one of the main four conglomerate powers in the city but one of the sub-corporations. She was almost insulted that he was taking the lead in the conversation.
“I’m here as the spokesperson for the Metropolis Corporation Network. On behalf of the quad-conglomerates, we want to ask what your terms are?”
Persephone scanned her eyes across the other faces. She knew that amongst them would be the four corps leaders for the quad-conglomerates. Each controlled an aspect of Boulevard’s running; emergency services, technology and finance, food and entertainment, and welfare. Along with the four leaders, each of the quads also had two sub-corps under them, making up the twelve faces before her. It was a smart move having this Dramarti take the lead, allowing the true controllers of the city to keep their identities hidden.
“Terms? I have no terms,” Persephone replied.
“You must want something? The city is in disarray, the police are struggling to maintain order and…” Dramarti paused for a moment as someone spoke to him off-screen, “…and we’re receiving reports that Blackwater Bridge has been compromised! What do you want so we can stop this madness!”
Worry cascaded across the faces of the others on the screens at the news of the bridge.
“There is nothing I want, not that you can give me. My goal here is simply to control the city. Once I have my army, then we will come and find each and every one of you. Your deaths will be the final nail in the coffin of the Neon Boulevard in its current genesis,” Persephone spoke in a calm tone, her words landing heavily on the listeners.
“Then you leave us no choice,” Dramarti shrugged, “I had hoped that we would be able to come to some arrangement.”
A sound whirred in the background of the room. Something was powering up in the Nucleus. Persephone glanced around her, looking for its source. Then, almost as soon as it started, it cut out, the sounds of power fading. Persephone looked back at the screens, smiling.
“Did you think I wouldn’t have disabled the security measures here? I knew you would be contacting me once we started, and I studied every inch of this building before I arrived. You have nothing that can stop me, not anymore.”
“Enough of this!” Another man spoke up, older than Dramarti, and with a look of determination on his face as his eyes seemed to bore through the screen. “If you do not stand down, we will release the full force of the MPD and it’s Special Services directly to the Nucleus! I don’t give a rat’s ass how much you think you’ve prepared or planned. We will eliminate you and any Blackwater inmates that even attempt to step onto the mainland!”
“Ah, Mr Revears, I presume,” Persephone shifted her gaze to the man. She knew Mr Reavers was in charge of the Emergency Services in the city. An ex-military man turned CEO.
“Damn straight! Now stand the fuck down!”
Persephone paused as if considering the order, then pointed her finger at the screen.
“I think not,” she said, imitating shooting a gun. The head of Mr Revears’ exploded, blood and brain matter splattering on the screen, turning it a translucent red. The eleven remaining faces froze.
“I trust that demonstration shows how far my reach extends right now?” Persephone moved her gaze over the others as streaks of red dribbled their way down Reavers’ display, the shoulders of the man slumped forward, showing the remains of his neck.
“Okay, okay!” Dramarti put his hands up in surrender.
“Good, now, if any of you try to do anything to stand in my way, the same fate will follow you. I advise you all go and hide in your little panic bunkers. You aren’t going to like what comes next.” Persephone ended the communication link, the screens fading before anyone could reply.
Tapping on the computer, she began to log each of the connections, making a note of the buildings the calls had originated from. Seeing Reavers’ location, she smiled. Whilst she hadn’t known who he was until he confirmed it, the serums that had spread through the cities clinics had managed to reach even the highest levels. Once infected, the liquid tech could also relay information. All she needed was a name, and she could trace the connection and self-destruct the serum. It was only a small explosion but could put enough pressure within the skull to erupt it, a failsafe in case of emergencies.
She returned to the window to look out across the city, as fires and blackouts were starting to scatter across the cityscape.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Xander
Xander watched as the crowds of prisoners emerged from the prison. Despite the explosives, he had only managed to cause the prison structure to become unsteady. There simply hadn’t been enough time to destroy the whole prison.
“I had to help them,” Ally whispered to herself, seeing the civilians regaining control of their bodies. “I…I helped them to take down the security. There were too many people dying.”
“You did what you had to,” Xander looked at her. “If my plan had worked, I might have killed everybody.”
“If you two have finished commiserating on your respective failures, perhaps its time we did something about this?” Peter said.
Xander turned to him, rage filling up inside him.
“You! How dare you even act like none of this is your fault!”
“It isn’t, and actually, Xander, you should be thanking me. Keller was ready to kill you on the spot. If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be standing here to argue right now. I needed to gain his trust, befriend him in order to get out of that damn cell. Prime certainly wasn’t able to.” Peter said, shaking his head.
“Wait, you really are Peter?” Ally asked, puzzled.
“Yes, currently, I am Peter. Nice to see you again.” Peter said, smiling at his sister,
“But...how?”
“Back at CyBio, before I died, I managed to transfer my complete memory into Prime’s neural network, the same one that I used to access and control the other clones,” Peter explained.
“Why didn’t Prime tell us anything?” Ally asked.
“He was busy worrying about Persephone. She is the clone that shot Owens, a dysfunctional clone, I might add. Prime wanted to find and stop her before she could harm any of you.”
“So, you’re saying you and Prime have been working together to stop Persephone all this time?” Xander asked.
“Together might be a little strong, but on the same side, yes. I don’t want her to complete her plans as much as you. She aims to rule the city with chaos and disorder. That was never my goal.”
“Where’s Prime now?” Ally asked. Her eyes hadn’t left Peter’s.
“He’s still in here,” Peter said, tapping the side of his temple.
“I want to speak with him,” she demanded.
“I’m afraid that right now, that isn’t an option. Our control of this body is…complicated.”
“How convenient,” Xander spat back.
“Did...did you kill Julian?” Ally fought back the emotion that was caught in her throat.
“No. I promise you, sister, I did not, and neither did Prime. That was Persephone, in an attempt to bring me out and onto her side,” Peter held Ally’s gaze.
“Okay, I believe you,” Ally nodded, shaking away the tears that were starting to form. “So what do we do now?”
Peter looked behind them. The swarm of prisoners were flooding across the bridge to the mainland.
“We need to get to the Nucleus. T
hat’s where Persephone is operating from. If I can get close to her, I believe I can access the neural network that is in her brain, just as I did the clones before. From what I can tell, that is why she would have wanted to send Prime to Blackwater in the first place and why she has been keeping him off guard all this time.”
“A distraction? To keep him off balance?” Xander was seeing the bigger picture forming.
“Exactly, remember myself and Prime were able to control all of the clones. There’s no reason to assume we can’t still control her. Initially, she wanted me to join her, but when that failed, she sent him here, where he couldn’t be a problem or try to take control.”
“So, if we get you close enough to her,” Ally saw the plan forming.
“I should be able to take control and stop her, although it is unfortunately too late to save the city from the breakout,” Peter nodded.
“Okay, so we just need to make it across the bridge and get you to the Nucleus,” Xander sighed.
“Hold up,” the voice came from the steps to the side of them. Conrad was walking up to the group.
“I don’t know what the hell you people are talking about, but if you need to get back across safely, then I can help,” he said, eyeing Peter for a moment. “You could have killed me, whilst I don’t appreciate the bruise on my head, I appreciate I’m still alive, which wouldn’t have been the same if Keller had his way,” he nodded at Prime.
“Can you get the pod to take us back across?” Xander asked.
“That I can, the only person with the authorisation codes is right here,” he said smiling.
“Wait,” Ally said, looking at the civilians still trying to work out how to get back to the mainland, wary of joining the mass of prisoners. “Can we help them too?”
“Pod’ll only hold maybe five people maximum,” Conrad said, “It’ll take a damn long time, but I’m happy to ship them over in groups.”
“Better than them having to try and mix with the prisoners,” Xander agreed.
Neon Blood (Neon Helix Universe Book 3) Page 23
