I sat down on an old steel chair from the counter next to me. “I came here to rescue the other me,” I began to explain. “Thomas located me from my future time and sent me a X-Agency watch, saying that he’s been protecting me from Elites.”
“You and I created those watches,” Jeffrey said.
“One of them came to my school. One who calls himself Shelby.”
“Yeah, Mark Shelby … I had to replace his eyes with bionic ones. Just because the former head scientist of this dump, injected him with dangerous drugs by mistake.” He sighed. “Unimaginable bastards! They captured old Derek and now they want you!”
“Why would they want me? Did the other Derek die?”
Jeffrey shook his head. “No, he’s still very much alive. I even managed to locate him from withing the building. The problem is that I can’t get to him.”
“Any ideas?” I asked him.
“A few ideas, along with a few tricks up my sleeves.” He grinned.
CHAPTER 47
Jeffrey accessed Shelby’s watch through his computer, typing various sets of command lines.
“I’m reprogramming this watch. It’s the only way you could transmit yourself from one room to another, to any floor. I’m removing Shelby’s profile and inserting a patch I’ve been secretly working on, so you’ll appear as invisible within the whole building. You’ll be undetectable.”
“That’s cool!” I said.
He continued typing several more command lines, then hitting Enter, letting the program configure itself.
“But it doesn’t mean you don’t have to be extremely careful,” he warmed.
“I know,” I said.
He pointed his screen. “Come see this.”
From his screen, he flipped into another window, displaying many tiny images – actually the entire building’s surveillance system. He then directed his search at View-84 in sector B-15 from his screen. “There you are,” he said.
The obscure image revealed a man sleeping into an institutional bed, under a thin bed sheet. He had many needles stabbed in both arms, all connected to several machines around him.
I suddenly felt my body quiver with fear, feeling upset. It was, indeed, quite disturbing to watch.
“It breaks my heart, seeing my best friend like this. This is torture,” Jeffrey said.
“But I still don’t understand, exactly, what they want?” I demanded.
“Your genetics, Derek,” he sighed exhaustively. “To have the most absolute power to conquer the world. To make the Elites as the only existing race of this planet, naming themselves the pure race. And eliminate the rest of us. To eliminate the X-Agency team, because we have superior abilities and technologies that they crave.” He paused. “Elites transmit themselves not only with their watches, but with modified genetics, receiving various drug treatments. I tried getting my hands on those substances in attempt of rescuing Derek and get the hell out of here. But they’ve locked me in this part of the building. Just a few floors of dampened concrete hallways, having no access to any other floor, stairs, or even Derek.”
I took a glance at Jeffrey then back at the screen.
“I even have to grow my own food since they leave you to die around here,” he said, pointing a wooden table next to his desk, displaying different sorts of plants. Some of them had strange-looking purple fruits, others appeared to be growing some sort of pale-yellowish fungus from green branches. “I’ve created these plants. Some of them may look disgusting, but they provide everything the body needs. You know, Derek, I could have simply let myself to die. But I chose to stay alive for the bit of hope I have left in me.”
I stood up from the chair, clenching my fists tightly with great anger. “When you’re done with the watch, I’m going to rescue Derek, and get us out of here. I’m not going to let the Elites win.”
CHAPTER 48
The watch was finally ready as I immediately strapped it onto my wrist. I carefully reviewed the buildings map from Jeffrey’s computer. Then I was ready to move. By activating the watch, I transmitted myself to another part of the building – into another dampened concrete hallway. I had appeared precisely in the middle of a cross path of hallways.
I didn’t want to take the risk of transmitting myself directly into Derek’s room. Even though, I was running undetected within the building, they obviously knew of my presence as, perhaps, some of them were already waiting for me in that room.
I moved into the hallway that indicated sector B-15. Walking the long path, I held myself close to a wall, glancing behind me, at times. Then reaching the end of it, I cautiously peaked into the last room to my left. The only room with the door left wide open.
And there I was!
Lying in bed, unconscious and hooked on several machines.
What are they doing?
I drew a cautious foot into the room, reaching closer to the bed, seeing myself compelled into a forced slumber. I recognized myself from my older features. He suddenly blew out a cough, turning his head to the side.
“Hey! You awake?” I asked, keeping my voice low. “You awake?” I spoke louder.
No response.
I felt like removing all the needles from his arms, but I was unsure of what would happen if I did. Maybe those machines were trapped against intruders like myself.
The place looked like an old and unmaintained hospital room. I drew away from the bed, moving closer to the doorway, taking a peak into the hallway. I looked both ways to the silent emptiness and obscurity.
No one … at least not yet.
Then I gently closed the door, unable to lock it – a door knob without a lock. Then I heard a loud sigh, behind me.
“Who are you?” a voice whispered as I turned away from the door.
There he was staring at me through his weak eyes. His face very pale.
I drew closer to the bed as he suddenly widened his eyes. “Derek?” he asked. “Oh my God! Tell me I’m dreaming.” He slowly sat up on the bed, taking tremendous effort. He didn’t seem to have his glasses close by. Then he looked at his arms, filled with needles connected to the machines. “Damn bastards!” he croaked. He brought his gaze back at me. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to get you out,” I said, showing him the watch from my wrist.
He stared at me disapprovingly, shaking his head. “You should not be here, Derek!” he almost snapped. “I don’t get it. How the heck did you end up here?”
I was about to answer, but he kept cutting me off, actually understanding his aggravation.
“I can’t believe my brother, Thomas, let you come here.”
“Actually I came here on my own,” I justified.
“So, there’s no one else from the X-Agency team but yourself?” he snarled. “Oh boy! This is more disastrous than I thought.”
I shrugged.
“What the hell were you thinking coming here alone?”
“I couldn’t stand the thought of knowing that I’d be captured by Elites.”
“That’s the whole point, Derek,” he said calmly. “You and I are the same person. You have to save yourself first, since you are the younger me. If anything happens to you before me, I’ll be erased from time.” He paused, showing a faint grin. “You may be my past, but I’m your future. And the future can always be changed as it is up to you to make the right decisions for your future to be changed and hopefully make a brighter one. Now, don’t worry about me. I’m old enough to take care of myself. Most likely they’ll end up killing me, since they’re unable implant the gene into another person.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Up to now, there isn’t any person able to take the gene implant without their bodies constantly rejecting it,” he explained.
“How do you this?”
“Because, I was fully awake, strapped against a steel table, when they proceeded with their first tests. It was torturing hell.”
I winced in disgust.
“Now, they
want to experiment on creating clones, formed and born already carrying the gene in them,” he added. “I don’t know if the process has already begun.”
“You’re aware that Jeffrey Molder’s here?” I asked him.
“Yes, I do. They told me that they had managed to capture him. They also tortured him to make him talk, get information about the genetics. I haven’t seen him.”
“And Jeffrey told them everything?”
He nodded. “He must have. Eventually, Derek, everybody talks. It’s only a matter of time before the human mind could take so much.”
He saw me glancing at the door, keeping myself alert in case if anyone would walk in, or suddenly appear right before me.
“Enough!” he spat. “Get the hell out of here and save yourself.”
But, there came a red flash within the room, with someone already shooting at me.
I managed to vanish, barely dodging the tranquilizer bullets fired at me, passing through the remaining red sparks.
CHAPTER 49
Once again, I was on the run, appearing into another part of the building. I was running in a long walkway – inside a large glass cylinder with a steel grill floor, within a huge garage, from an underground level.
But I abruptly halted, seeing an Elite appearing at a short segment ahead. The man fired at me, missing me.
I transmitted into another conference room, this one bigger than the one I first appeared into. There was a large glass that stretched the length of the room, giving a wide view of the nighttime city. I ran next to the long table, planing my next transmitting spot.
But a red flash blew right next to me, a tight grip from a hand, swinging me off the floor and onto the glass. The glass had cracked heavily as I crumbled to the floor. Then I saw a female Elite draw close – a blue-eyed blonde girl. She immediately ripped the watch off my wrist, then lifted me up with one hand, a tight grip on my collar, holding me up against the cracked glass.
The young woman, having a model-like figure, persisted with her unnatural strength, still pushing me against the glass, cracking even more.
She dimmed her eyes, forcing her menacing gaze on me. “You’re not going anywhere, this time,” she said, showing a tiny victorious grin.
Soon after, I heard the room’s massive wooden doors open, with a few people slowly walking toward the woman and me.
There was a man dressed in a classy black suit, drawing nearby followed by five more Elite personnel. The man appeared to be the oldest from the flock: black hair with a few gray streaks. A face aged to, perhaps, close to his fifties if not more.
That must be the so-called Master …
“Rita!” he called the blonde woman. “Put down the young man, I don’t think he’ll be going too far this time.”
The blonde woman proceeded as told, my body aching all over. In fact I was surrounded with Elite scum, pointing their guns at me.
“Time to go to bed now, Derek,” The Master added. “Sweet dreams.”
An Elite man next to the Master, shot a white-lit ball to my chest. I crumbled to the floor, my entire body suddenly paralyzed. Then my vision became blurry, slowly dimming to darkness.
The Master kept talking to me, his echoing voice becoming nothing more than a distant vibration of sounds. My body had fallen incredibly weak. In spite of my bit of strength left, my eyes suddenly closed down on me. Leaving me into infinite darkness … leaving me into a compelled slumber.
CHAPTER 50
My eyes opened to a weak light, from the ceiling – as of no surprise to have awoken into an obscure room. Feeling incredibly dizzy, I immediately tried to move. I had been placed into an institutional bed and slipped into a blue medical uniform.
There weren’t any needles or machines connected to me. It took much of my strength to rise myself up.
As I finally managed to sit up, I felt my dizziness go away, but I suddenly started to sweat intensively.
What have they done to me?
How long have I been unconscious?
Then within a few seconds, my body cooled, feeling the cold sweat against my face and body.
I suddenly felt better.
That was weird!
There was a bright glow, streaming in from underneath the closed door. I turned myself to the side, heaving my legs out of bed. Then I took my glasses from a table next to me. But I was just about to regain the floor as the door suddenly blew itself open. The lights switched on, painfully blinding me for two long minutes.
With a hand covering my eyes, I heard footsteps and a voice drifting closer.
“Already awake, young man?” a man spoke.
I rubbed my eyes, barely getting used to the light.
A white-coated scientist stood in front of me, wearing round, black frame glasses with fuzzy curly hair. He was accompanied with two men dressed in white medical-uniforms.
“I’m Doctor Mallickan, the Elite head scientist,” he said. “You took quite a fall. How are we feeling, right now?” He had one of those sarcastic smiles.
“Go to hell … What have you done to me?”
“Oh! I’ve only injected you with a basic chemical of preparation. Just like we did with … the other you.”
“You damn lowlife scum,” I said.
Mallickan leaned closer. “Don’t be a bad boy … or you’ll suffer the consequences. Do we make each other clear?”
“Clear this out you scumbag.” I cleared my throat and spat a mix of saliva and secretion to his face.
I immediately blocked his arm from slapping me across my face with the back of his hand.
“Don’t even bother you weirdo,” I added.
“Fasten him up,” he ordered his men, wiping his face with his sleeve.
They both got hold of me. I tried to wiggle myself out from their tight and solid grips, but they seemed to have managed to keep me still with very little effort. I was placed into a wheelchair and fastened with metal clamps from my chest down to my ankles.
“Where are you taking me?” I yelled.
“You’re just going for a little ride,” Mallickan laughed. “The Master demands to speak with you.”
“Tell him to go to hell,” I shouted.
“Actually my friend, you’ll be the one telling that to his face,” he replied.
CHAPTER 51
I was rolled out of the room and taken to the Master’s office, up to the last floor.
The massive wooden doors opened as I was already greeted with the big boss’s inviting voice.
“Welcome, Derek! I’m glad you could make it,” he said.
One of the white-uniformed men rolled me toward the Master’s immensely large desk.
“You’ve come to know me as the Master, but my name is Alexander Holmes. You may call me Alex,” he justified, surveying me from head to toe. Then he tried on his friendliest smile. “I can see anger in you, Derek. And I don’t blame you. After all you’ve been through. In fact, what your brother Thomas has made you go through.”
“You’ve all tortured me enough, already,” I hissed.
“Hey!” Alex said calmly. “Take a minute and think about it, Derek. We haven’t done anything to you. You practically delivered yourself to us,” he almost laughed. “What you must know about us, is that we are the good guys.” He then glanced at the other men, including Mallickan. “I’ll take it from here, gentlemen.”
The men exited the office as I remained fixed to the wheelchair, facing Alex’s desk.
“You’re the good guys … There goes the mind job,” I said.
“I’m with you one hundred percent that all of this is hard to swallow,” he went on. “But as I mentioned, just think about it.”
I shook my head.
“Thomas Trevor, wants nothing but power, while we are working hard to make the world a better place for everyone to live in harmony.”
“You lying snake!”
Alex came around and sat on the front edge of his desk. “Thomas is at the head of the X-Agency team. He mana
ged to get rid of his older brother, Derek, so he can take the lead. Then he goes to the past to get you. He trains you. Makes you believe that you’re one of them. And how does it all end? With you and your older self here with us. His brother has been here since the past six months. And he didn’t even bother once of attempting to come rescue his own brother. Both of you abandoned. But you, Derek, are the brave one. You’re the one with a true heart. You came to us with nothing, still risking yourself, your life to save others.” He sighed, smiling. “I truly admire you, Derek,” Alex continued. “Believe me when I say so. And a brave young man such as yourself, deserves so much more. You deserve the greatest respect. With your courage and determination, you should be joining our organization. You hold a great capacity to achieve success anywhere, anytime and anyhow. With our help you will be the very best. I guaranty it. What do you say?” he intoned enthusiastically.
Time Leap: A Teen Superheroes Saga Page 11
