Paradox: The Last Day - Seymour's Story

by Rachel Charman

  “O-oh.. Right… Of course.”

  Elena grimaces in a noncommittal sort of way, then looks back out the window, and asks somewhat distantly –

  “.. So.. Judging by the way we’re running from the PRIME, and trying to find Sakura, that must mean that we failed with the diffusion, doesn’t it?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “… Does that mean you’re going to try it again?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.”

  Elena sighs deeply again, and rests her head in her hand, her eyes closed in thought. After a moment of silence, with nothing but the sound of wind rushing through the bulletholes in the van’s metal frame breaking it, Elena says quietly –

  “… Alright then.”

  “Really? You’re okay with that?”

  “I suppose so. Not like I have a life to go back to anyway. It’s a little sad to admit it, but I don’t really have a life without you, Seymour.”

  Seymour stares at Elena, taken aback by her rather candid remark, and choosing not to shame her for her pitiable proclamation, he says prosaically –

  “… Fair enough.”

  A few minutes pass without either one of them saying a word, each just mired in their own silent musings, but Seymour breaks the silence with a sudden interjection.

  “… So, anyway, can I ask you something?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well, first off: What is your brother’s name?”

  “.. Gordon... Why?”

  “I just ran into him a little while ago. He seems to be quite close to my brother Adrian.”

  “… Adrian.. Yeah, he is... The two of them are best friends.”

  “Really? Seems strange for Adrian to have friends.. Hm.. Well, what do you remember about them?”

  “… The last thing I remember about the two of them is seeing Gordon wrist-deep in Adrian’s chest.”

  Seymour glances over at Elena skeptically, but her face shows no signs of joking.

  “Uh.. That seems awfully.. strange…”

  “I think he was installing some kind of generator. Gordon told me to protect the shelter where they were hiding from the PRIME, but I don’t remember anything after that.”

  Seymour suddenly slams on the brakes, screeching to a halt, and stares at Elena seriously, his eyes wide with shock.

  “What?!”

  “Did you say generator?! As in, THAT generator?!”

  “Er.. I suppose…”

  His fingers tingling from shock, Seymour leans forward, resting his arms on the steering wheel, and utters pensively to himself –

  “Hm… So.. It was stolen… Who knew it would’ve been those two.. Well, that certainly explains a lot.”

  “You realize I have no idea what you’re talking about, right?”

  “What? Oh, right, sorry, I guess I should explain.”

  Seymour presses down on the accelerator, and continues down the shadowy tunnel, his mind reeling while he ardently explains to Elena.

  “Well, a while back, I’d designed an electrical generator that can sustain the life of a subject by maintaining the heart’s pulse despite any kind of trauma the body undergoes.”

  “Hm..”

  “Not only does it keep the subject alive, but I also installed a variable somatic cell-based cellular renewal system which reconstitutes any damaged muscle tissue and flesh by utilizing and augmenting the body’s natural somatic cell production. Basically, it makes the subject’s body virtually infallible unless the apparatus undergoes total failure.”

  “Sounds complicated.”

  “Yes, well, it is. It took me years to design it, and it went missing from my lab at DIV. 1 during the Christmas Raids, along with the schematics sheets... I’d intended to install it into myself earlier, but I couldn’t fix its flaws until just before I left, and then it was gone. I’d assumed someone had stolen it, but I hadn’t even considered the idea that Adrian and Gordon were the ones who took it… But…”

  “But what?”

  “From what I’ve seen, it wasn’t completely free of flaws.. It seems to be malfunctioning; creating a surplus in outputting electrical energy.

  But how…?”

  “You got me. I’m only just barely grasping what you’re saying.”

  Falling silent, Seymour unseeingly trains his eyes on the dark tunnel lying just outside the bright headlights of the van, his mind racing from the sudden revelation.

  |Hmm… Well.. Adrian used VENOM to produce internal energy which he was able to channel externally through his hands and arms.. Large doses of the VENOM adrenal-steroid serum cause lethal heart attacks in most regular people, and the generator is designed to maintain a regular, life-sustaining pulse. … Maybe the generator produces an excess in energy when the pulse becomes irregular, or quickens… Makes sense.. After all, without any installed energy output parameters, the generator could… in theory… produce energy so powerful it could outstrip even the power of the earth’s magnetic field… So, that means-|

  “Seymour?”

  Seymour shakes his head to clear his mind, and only then becomes aware that Elena is watching him curiously. He smiles slightly at his revelation, and says fervently to himself more than Elena –

  “I think I may have found a use for Adrian after all.”

  “Use him for what?”

  “Use him as the source of electrical energy for the diffusion process…”

  “Wait, you mean use a person for it?! That’s crazy!”

  “No, it’s perfect! .. In theory, though. Well, I mean, at least he’s portable.

  But he’s also really stubborn. He’d never do it, on account of the fact that he hates me.”

  Elena stares worriedly at Seymour for a time while his vitreous eyes seem to become unfocused, as he sinks deep into avid contemplation. Letting him cogitate in silence for a moment, Elena breaks the heavy silence when she asks anxiously –

  “Well then, what’s your plan, Seymour?”

  Seymour looks over at Elena in surprise, having completely forgotten her presence in his musings, and suddenly remembers, slightly embarrassed, that he is the one steering the van as well.

  “… Huh? Oh, right.. Hmm… Well, right now, Adrian is travelling with Sam and your brother, Elena. If we can catch up to them, I think we can use all three of them.”

  “… What would you use Gordon for?”

  “I’ll find a use for him, I’m sure...”

  “I see…”

  “But first things first. We’ll get Sakura, then go get the others, got it?”

  “… Yeah, okay.”

  The two drive through the shadows of the Tramline tunnel in silence for what seems like an eternity, speaking little beyond the upcoming plan to free Sakura, while Elena rubs her head angrily, the pain of the shock still lingering in her body, when Seymour suddenly slams on the brakes again, jolting the pair out of their brief repose. The entire tunnel beyond them is obstructed by a massive blockade of eXo PRIME soldiers and vehicles, and bathed in a blinding florescent light emanating from huge floodlights atop the vehicles.

  “Whoa, what’s going on?”

  “Shh..”

  A PRIME Angel operative cautiously steps up to the van, his shotgun drawn daringly, and motions to Seymour and Elena to step out of the van.

  Elena makes to grab a gun from the rear of the van, but Seymour worriedly holds her back, and emerges slowly from the van, his hands held high. General Solari jumps out of the front of an APC near the front of the procession, and approaches Seymour swiftly, a pistol pointed straight at his head. Elena steps in front of Seymour, her arms spread wide, shielding him from any potential gunfire. Solari smiles at Elena in a somewhat bored way, and strikes her in her head with his pistol; the force of the blow throws her aside, and away from Seymour. Two PRIME Angels quickly approach Elena as she unsteadily tries to get back to her feet, her left temple slowly bruising up, force her to her knees, and roughly shove her wrists into a pair of handcuffs. Seymour tries to reach out
for Elena, but Solari merely seizes Seymour’s shoulder, shoves his pistol into his stomach, and pulls the trigger. Seymour gasps in pain as the bullet lodges itself in his stomach. Breathing deep in shock, as warm blood seeps out of the wound, he staggers away from Solari, shakily pulls out his revolver and tries to shoot Solari in retaliation, but his focus slips and his vision quickly begins to blur. Solari kicks the revolver out of Seymour’s hand, and with a sadistically gleeful smile, motions to his Angels, who fiercely grab Seymour by the shoulders, and drag him, unresisting, to a separate APC under the blaring white lights. The last thing Seymour sees before he slips painfully into unconsciousness is General Solari’s smug, smiling face as he tightly grabs the hair upon Seymour’s scalp, and wrenches his head up to look into his pitiless auburn eyes.

  “Heheh.. Go on, close your eyes, Moreau. Don’t worry. It’ll all be over soon.”

  ~Santuc TerraDome: Municipal Police Station (Serengeti)~

  Elena slowly opens her burning eyes, and finds herself sitting against the cold concrete wall, in the dark, windowless interior of a barred cell. Her head pounding from a concussion, she sways dangerously as she tries to get to her feet, and tries to focus her vision, though everything seems to beget a strange, ethereal glow. She takes a few unsteady steps forward, towards the thick bars of the cell, but suddenly stumbles over a mass lying on the floor. Rubbing her head, she turns her blurred gaze to the entity on the ground, and feels her heart constrict in fear as she glimpses Seymour’s pale body lying face-down and motionless on the dirty concrete. She kneels down to his level, gingerly rolls him onto his back with trembling arms, and shakes him gently, trying desperately to rouse him, but he remains immobile. Noticing the fresh-looking bloodstain on the floor, Elena finds its origins to be coming from Seymour’s stomach. She tenderly rolls up his stained shirt to find that a single bullet is embedded deep within the profound bloody wound. Breaking out in a cold sweat, her head still swimming from the blow, she tries to pulls the bullet out with her fingers, but it is far too slippery from all the blood. Hastily checking to make sure that no one is approaching the cell, Elena frantically activates her MFIs, holds it over his stomach, and once again tries magnetically to siphon the bullet from out of his lesion. However, as soon as the bullet moves, the wound begins to bleed afresh; copious amounts of his crimson blood spill out onto the cold concrete cell floor. Panicking, and unable to remove the bullet, she tears a sleeve off of her dark blue jacket, and hastily stuffs it into the lesion, slowing the flow of blood. With a harried sigh, she cautiously sits Seymour up against the wall, places two of her fingers on his throat, and nervously checks for a pulse. He has a pulse, but a very faint one. Feeling completely helpless, trapped with her cataleptic companion, Elena hurries to the bars, and frantically calls out for help, though her voice merely echoes away along the empty concrete corridor. Collapsing against the back wall beside Seymour, Elena wraps her arms around her knees, trying to think of a way to escape and find help, when the sound of stiff footsteps suddenly invades the quiet hallway as General Solari enters the cell block, and approaches their cell calmly, with a derisive smile on his smug face. Elena stands up to meet him, her shoulders squared, and spits venomously –

  “What do you want, Solari?”

  “Hello, ah.. Elena, was it?”

  “… Yeah, you should know. You’re the one who hunted me like a dog.”

  “Only because dogs like you need to be put down.”

  Elena suddenly forces her arm through the bars and seizes the front of Solari’s immaculate suit, her eyes burning with hatred. Solari smiles sardonically at her furious visage, grabs her fingers, and grips them ferociously tight.

  “Would you like me to break them? Because I will if you don’t get your filthy fingers off of me.”

  Trying to decide if broken fingers are worth whatever pain she would inflict upon Solari’s smug façade, Elena figures it isn’t worth it, and reluctantly lets her grip go slack. She retreats to the back of the cell, wiping the sweat from her forehead, and kneels down next to Seymour while Solari looks on in sick amusement.

  “I wouldn’t bother with him. I daresay your precious protector will be dead quite soon.”

  “Shut up, Solari. He won’t die. He’s not like other people..”

  Solari casually leans against the thick bars, chuckling slightly at Elena’s remark, and declares offhandedly –

  “While I admit that he certainly is a master of worming his way out of danger, he’s no less human than anyone else in this station.”

  Elena grits her teeth in rage, and breathes determinedly without looking at Solari –

  “I’m not going to let him die.”

  Suspecting Elena is formulating a plan, Solari quickly unlocks the cell door, forcibly grabs her by the arm before she can retaliate, pulls her from the cell, and tosses her into the adjacent cell and locks her in.

  “Just a precaution.”

  As Solari strides away from the cell, and out of sight, Seymour opens his eyes slightly, to find himself lying against a cold concrete wall facing a set of thick iron bars. His breath is short and ragged, and his vision is dark and blurry. He tries to move, but is unable, too weak due to massive blood loss. He blinks repeatedly, trying to bring his shadowy surroundings into focus, and finds himself alone in the darkened cell.

  “… Elena?”

  Hearing Seymour’s weak voice, Elena hurries to the bars, and tries to see him in the cell beside hers, but he is lying just beyond her sight.

  “Seymour?”

  “… You’re there.. Good..

  “How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

  “C-calm down.. I’m just a little-“

  Seymour grips his stomach tightly, feeling blood seeping through his shaking fingers, and says quietly –

  “N-nevermind. You aren’t hurt, are you?”

  “No, I’m fine, but you were shot by Solari. I tried to remove the bullet like before, but it’s lodged too deep in your body. Removing it would risk further and probably fatal blood loss. But if it doesn’t come out soon, you’ll die anyway..”

  “Die..?”

  Pulling up his stained shirt with trembling, blood-soaked fingers, Seymour takes one look at his wounded stomach, and feels what remains of the blood in his face drain away from shock. Choking back the wave of nausea that crashes over him, he tries to drag himself with one arm towards the bars of his cell, and asks Elena weakly –

  “So.. do you know where we are?”

  “Yeah.. Solari said that we’re inside some kind of station.”

  “A station..? Why would he.. bring us here?”

  “Judging from the fact that there’s nobody else here.. This is probably where they transfer people on death row.”

  Elena rests her head against the bars of her cell, trying to peer into Seymour’s cell, but he is just out of sight. However, she can hear his quiet little noises of pain, and she asks anxiously –

  “.. Can I ask you something?”

  “What..?”

  “Why did you tell me not to fight back? We were in a car full of weapons, and I could’ve taken the soldiers, no problem..”

  Finally managing to drag himself up to the bars, Seymour catches a glimpse of Elena’s bright blonde hair, and struggles to respond as the world swims before his vision.

  “… I didn’t want you to fight… Because I was worried that they’d hurt you.. which they would’ve if you’d shown any kind of resistance.. You always.. have been too headstrong for your own good.”

  “… I see.”

  Gripping his wound, in almost overwhelming pain, Seymour tries to stand, but is too weak to move any further. He slides back down the wall, and trying not to pass out, he says to Elena shakily –

  “H-Hey, can you do something for me?”

  “Yeah, what is it?”

  “Can you grab my tracer?”

  “Your what?”

  “My tracer… The circular thing.. hanging from my belt loop..”
r />   “Oh, sure…”

  Elena squeezes herself as far through the bars as she can, reaches over into the cell on her left, and just manages to grab the tracer and detach it gently from Seymour’s belt loop. Bringing it back into her cell, she flips the cover over, and stares at the screen, whose bright red light illuminates the shadowy cell.

  “So… What do you see?”

  “I see five orange dots.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Three are travelling together through the network of alleyways right here in.. Oh, I think we’re in Serengeti District!”

  “Serengeti… Okay, and the others..?”

  “Right. Two are here in this building.”

  “Wait… Does that mean… Sakura is here?”

  “Looks that way.”

  “That’s.. good news.. Why though- Uh, n-nevermind.. Elena.. I need you to break out of this cell. Take my tracer with you, go find Sakura and bring her back here.”

  “Er, yeah, sure.. But, will you be alright on your own?”

  “I-I’ll be okay..”

  “Alright..”

  Elena approaches the thick metal bars of her jail cell, checks the hallway to make sure no guards are nearby, and then magnetically separates them, allowing her to walk through the newly-formed gap. She straightens the bars back into place as best as she can, erasing the evidence of her escape, and, passing by Seymour’s cell, looks at him apprehensively through the bars. His eyes are shut in pain, he grips his bleeding wound laboriously, sitting immersed in his blood, his skin white as chalk. Had his chest not been moving ever so slightly, she’d believe he was dead. Without moving, but with a slight smile, he says quietly –

  “Don’t worry about me. Just hurry.”