He started moving faster, hoping to avoid the fear of being discovered. He ran to the end of the hallway, where he encountered a set of glass doors. They opened when he approached them, and he walked through into a courtyard filled with plants and trees. It caught him off-guard. He’d never seen a tree or plant in Dirge. Not even the cabbages grown in the fields for food and fibers could really be counted as plants, and they sure weren’t green. He stopped at one of the bushes, gently grasping one of the leaves in his hand. It was soft and smooth. The bright green contrasted with everything else he’d seen in the city. He bent down slightly, smelling it. It was a fragrance he’d never experienced before. It was a fragrance of life. He was paused only for a moment, not wanting to get distracted. He turned and followed a covered path to the inner building which towered over him; the giant black monolith.
This courtyard was so much cleaner than the rest of the city; somehow it was maintained to a degree that anyone on the outside would envy. The smooth black surface of the inner building was just as flawless as it seemed further away. He couldn’t make out whether it was stone or steel. The structure blocked off his mind’s eye almost completely from what dwelt inside. He walked over to one of the walls, and put his hand on the surface.
It seemed warm to the touch. Also, familiar. He felt the xeno on his body react as he touched the wall; it pulsed with energy. It covered his hand, turning it a metallic black color. In fact, it started to match the wall in color and texture. He realized he wasn’t willing it to do this, and he forced it back with his mind. It was definitely the same unique metal he’d discovered in the city underneath Dirge. He forced himself to draw his hand back from the wall, noticing it was somewhat difficult to do so.
There were no guards ahead of him, no one standing at the doors to the imposing black building. There was no card scanning panel, only a data screen on the wall next to the door. One similar to those found in the underground facility. It was blank, but James knew it would activate if he touched it. He did, and text started appearing on the screen. Text in a language unknown to anyone in Dirge. Anyone but him. He grinned as he read the text.
Memories that weren’t his own, but he still had them in his head. Knowledge and skills he’d never actually learned, yet he knew. The language was just one of many he could recall.
He began tapping the screen quickly, activating the characters. The same language had been embedded into the security system in the facility, only he knew that place was meant for him. He was sure Dante and the others knew this language too. Unfortunately, they didn’t feel the need to put extra codes beyond a series of questions that signified that the person understood the language. In a short amount of time the door opened. He shook his head as he stared at the panel for a moment more. They hadn’t even considered that someone else might know that language, and would use it to get through their security.
He walked through the doors into a short hallway. The walls were a flat metallic silver, with matching floors. He had to rely on all his external senses, still unable to use his mind’s eye in the building. It was quiet, although he could hear an electrical hum through the walls. At the end of the hallway was an elevator. He walked quickly to it, activating it and stepping inside. The inside of the elevator was the same silver color that was present on the walls everywhere else.
The doors closed silently, and the elevator began moving up without him even activating anything. The ride wasn’t long, less than ten seconds in fact, before the elevator stopped. It settled into place in a height he couldn’t determine, and the doors slid open silently.
As he stepped out of the doorway, he heard a voice on the radio, and he realized he was still in his Civic Protection disguise. Yeah, a lot of good this’ll do me now, he thought. At first there was just a crackle of static, and then he heard Dante’s voice.
“This is a code red alert,” Dante said. "Civic Protection has been infiltrated and possibly compromised. The suspect may be going by a low ranking soldier with the name Stephens. Consider him armed and dangerous.” James smiled for a moment, and then pulled the radio from his vest. He held the radio in his hand as he willed the xeno, and his uniform shifted into that of the Hunter. He made sure his face was covered beneath his eyes. He then put the radio on his waist, a few metal tendrils extending and wrapping around the radio, holding onto him.
His eyes were the last part of him to change, and he stepped forward again into the hallway from the elevator entrance. His silver eyes were unblinking, taking in everything around him.
The hallways of the structure weren’t very brightly lit, but his eyes could see just fine. There were a few twists and turns, but no doorways. When he finally reached the end, he knew there was something beyond the door that was worth all this, although he wasn’t sure what it was. When he approached the metal door, he could see it wasn’t automatic, instead opening with a doorknob. He gripped the knob, turning it slowly. The door creaked as he pushed it all the way open. He walked into a room filled with a green tinted light.
The room was large, like a cathedral in depth and dimension. The ceiling was at least five stories above the floor. The green glow was coming from a dozen round tanks on one side of the room that stood close to six feet high. The tanks were upright, filled with a clear liquid. They look like they’re designed to hold...people, he thought as he stared at them. He felt a shudder as observed them and the equipment surrounding them all.
All of the tanks were empty and looked like they hadn’t been used in years. He glanced at the rest of the room, trying to figure out what this place was. There were several data screens on the floor, built around large servers. He’d never seen data screens so powerful that they required the extra hardware outside of what was built into the screen. All of the large mainframes made loud humming noises, either electrical or from cooling systems in them. In another corner of the floor there was what looked like a small operating room, with a table that also looked like it had been unused in years. He turned to try to see the rest of the floor, the large open room that apparently served many functions.
He couldn’t see the walls. There were layers upon layers of pipes and cables covering every inch of them, all darkly colored. Near the wall, on the opposite end of the room from the green tanks, were another set of tanks that were just as tall, but more narrow. He approached them, trying to see inside. The tanks suddenly lit up in a blue hue as he touched one, and he saw a xeno inside suspended in a liquid. It looked dead. Glancing at the others, he could see that there was a dead xeno in every tank, a dozen xenos for the dozen tanks. The creature looked almost like a metal alien fetus in the liquid. Through the tanks he could see another shape, a person staring right back at him. It was Lucien, standing behind the tanks watching him.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he said as he walked slowly around the blue tank. He looked at James inquisitively, as opposed to the anger James had seen in the young man in their previous encounter.
“What is this place?” James said.
“This,” Lucien said, “is where I came from.” He pointed to the green tanks that were now empty, “That's where I was born. Created, I suppose.”
“You mean,” James asked, “from a tank?”
“Oh, it’s more than that," Lucien said, “we were created by Father, in his own image. He actually took a piece of himself, and created us from him.”
“So,” James said, “you’re clones.” Lucien shook his head at him.
“That’s not a nice way to put it. There’s a lot more to it than that.”
“Yeah,” James said, “I’m not sure if there’s a nice way to put it. There isn’t a nice way to describe a lot of things in this city.”
“Rules of right and wrong don’t apply here,” Lucien said, “and you don’t understand the universe we live in. The universe that Father’s creating.”
“Father?” James said, "you mean Michael, don’t you?�
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“Human names don’t apply to those who aren’t human,” Lucien said. "We call him Father because we don’t have a better word for him in your language. Besides, that’s really what he is to us. Michael was the name humanity gave him, and he rejected it; just like he rejected all of you.” James shook his head at the young man.
“Do you seriously believe this?”
“If you’ve seen what I’ve seen, if you knew Father’s plan, you would feel differently.” He stared at James for a moment, sensing the tension. Lucien held out his hands towards him. “I can’t fight you here. I won’t. I know I’m outmatched, and I’ve no communication with the outside." He paused. "I also know that you’re not a killer. Not really. You see this city, this universe, and hate it as much as I do.” James knew Lucien spoke the truth. He did not know what to think, except to focus on why he came. James sighed and shook his head.
“Maybe I haven’t seen what you have, but there’s a lot wrong in what I’ve witnessed in Dirge.” James circled around Lucien slightly. “I’ve seen innocent children turned into soldiers. Those soldiers’ minds warped to the point that they don’t know what to do without a command or an order. I’ve seen soldiers kill innocent people. I’m not talking about just anyone. I’m talking about children and the defenseless. You can talk about right and wrong not mattering all you want. Look at those soldiers in your city. Look at your own family. Look at that,” James said as he pointed to the tanks, “and tell me that there isn’t anything wrong here.”
“It’s all I’ve ever known,” Lucien said with defensiveness in his tone. James shook his head.
“Everyone has a choice,” James said, “and it’s never too late to make the right one.” He began following all the pipes and cables around them on the walls. He looked upwards.
A terminal hung in the center of the ceiling, with all the connections attached to it. There was a large fusion cell at its base. This is the source of energy, James thought. Fusion cells were like power cells, only instead of storing power like a battery, they generated power. It was much more powerful than a normal cell. There was an enormous amount of energy exiting this cell, and James knew there was something else. He was staring up at the terminal, hanging nearly twenty meters from the floor. A small green glow emanated from it.
“Where does all the power go?” James said, stepping towards Lucien.
“A lot of places,” Lucien said. "Part of it connects to Father.”
“To Father?”
“His life support,” Lucien said, “that’s why you haven’t been fighting him. Callista didn’t go down without a fight. He won’t need it much longer, though.” James froze when he heard this. He approached Lucien again, stepping closer to him.
“What else?”
“The rest,” Lucien said, “you’re not supposed to know. No one is.” James’ frustration grew to a silent rage, and he felt the creature push against him in his mind. He pushed it back, but took another step towards Lucien.
"There's more, though.” There was fear in Lucien's voice. "Most of the power goes to the installations outside of Dirge. Into our operations outside the city.” James stepped back from Lucien. He was about to say something else when he felt a familiar presence with his mind’s eye. Somehow through the fog, the wall of this place that blocked his vision, he saw Dante. The man was nearby. He realized he didn’t have much time.
James backed away from Lucien, slowly at first. He moved to the nearest wall, and started climbing. The thick cables and piping made it an easy climb to the ceiling. He then proceeded to climb across the ceiling to the terminal housing the large power cell.
“Stop, you don’t know what you’re doing,” Lucien said.
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” James yelled back to him, “I’m pulling the plug.” In a few short moments he’d reached the terminal. He looked down at Lucien, and could see the young man had pulled a pistol from somewhere, and was aiming it at James.
“The rounds inside this pistol are high velocity,” Lucien said, “I designed them. They can level a tank. If I shoot you in the back, the impact alone would tear you in half. Even if I miss, you’d lose an arm or leg.” James now hung in front of the terminal upside down, gripping the wires and piping with his arms. He stared down at Lucien with his silver eyes.
“Do what you think is right,” he said to Lucien telepathically. Lucien stared back at him with confusion. As James watched him, he suddenly made the connection. He’s like me, James thought. Lucien had grown up in the city of Dirge, without any real attachment. His only real family was those of the fallen. James understood what Lucien’s motivation was: to belong to a family.
“Lucien,” James said calmly, “you don’t want to do this. I understand what’s at stake, and so do you.” He stared at Lucien intently. The teen hesitated for a moment, and then lowered the weapon. The boy’s face had a look of resignation on it.
James closed his eyes for a moment, and then turned to the terminal. He shifted himself right-side up, hanging with one arm. His other arm reached for the green cylindrical cell that was about a foot long, with a diameter of approximately four inches. It’s hard to believe this small object supplies so much power, he thought as he gripped the cell. He twisted and pulled, and the cylinder came out of the terminal with little effort. The slow electrical hum that had filled the room shut off immediately, as well as most of the ambient light in the room. The green tanks started to flicker on and off again.
Lucien still held the gun, but held it pointed downward to the floor. He was looking passively down at the floor. Suddenly, the door that led to the elevator opened. Dante and Medea moved quickly into the large room, followed by Wolfgang and Damaine. Dante’s pistol was immediately firing at James, who was holding the glowing power cell under his arm. James had already begun anticipating the shots, leaping across the ceiling and walls as the high velocity rounds tore through the room and walls.
Sparks flew, and the rounds fired were even louder than normal rounds. Several shots the Hunter barely dodged. He could feel the rounds tear through the air, ripping through atmosphere near him. Soon there was just a clicking sound that signaled that Dante’s clip was out. He quickly loaded another clip into the weapon, looking up in time to see James roll two Civic Protection grade fragmentation grenades at a nearby wall. Dante pushed Medea back, and Lucien stepped back with them as the grenades went off. The concussion from the grenades pushed them back, but didn’t knock any of them down.
Dante was stunned for only a moment, lowering his arm from where he held it up to shield his face. Lucien was limited in his telekinetic ability, but he had enough to protect them from the slight bit of shrapnel from the blast. The boy stood in front of them, still holding his hands up as he excerpted his small amount of power.
James was gone, and in his wake was a small hole in the wall. There were sparks everywhere, and cables and pieces of pipe strewn everywhere. The metal from the outside of the building creaked and groaned as it began to knit itself back together on the outside. Dante shook his head as he checked his pistol, holstering it after a quick look over. He then turned back to the others.
“Come on,” Dante said, “we have to go after him.” Wolfgang stood behind him, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s up to Civic Protection now,” Wolfgang said, “if they can do their part, then he’ll be overrun.” Dante placed his hand on his now holstered pistol. He walked quickly to the hallway, heading for the doorway.
“I’m not questioning Civic Protection’s ability to get the job done, but he has a fusion cell. We need to get that back.” The others followed closely behind him.
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As he had leapt out of the hole he’d made with the grenades, James hadn’t checked to see how high off the ground he was. He was more than half way up the large monolithic building, and he used his wings to glide to one of the many cables that stretc
hed from that one to the building that surrounded it like a wall. He climbed up the cable to the top of the monolithic structure. Where he stood he could see the capital, as well as several other prominent landmarks of Dirge. The top of the building was completely flat with the same non-reflective black color as the rest of the structure. It felt warm even through his feet, which were layered with xeno, boots, and more xeno scales.
He could feel his mind’s eye covering all his other senses, making them complete once again. He was relieved to have his mind’s eye vision back as he looked all around himself. His relief was short-lived as he saw two gunships coming in behind him.
He turned around and watched them as they reached the rooftop he stood on, the pilots inside the vehicles’ pods hovering eye level with James. The twin blades that sat side by side above the pods were level with the skyline, with wavy air currents blurring the air around them. There were two pilots in each pod. He could see each of them; their souls, their heartbeats, the different auras of their emotions.
A voice from a speaker called out from one of them, commanding him to surrender. I had them distracted, James thought, but now all of the Civic Protection force is going to bear down on me. He knew he had to get away; he had to keep the fusion cell from them. He gripped it under one arm. The cell was heavy, but he was strong.
Both gunships were on the north side of the building, which helped him since he wanted to move closer to Old District to evade them. He ran to the south end of the building, stopping at the edge. The gunships hadn’t fired at him, and he knew why. If they hit the fusion cell, the entire building would be leveled. He looked over the edge for a moment, gauging his distance from the ground. He realized that although he’d flown many times, he was pretty sure he’d never jumped from a distance this high off the ground. He wasn’t sure he could fly fast enough to outrun the gunships, but his goal would be to get to the ground. He saw the bundles of cable attached to the sides of the buildings and had an idea. I just need to escape them, he thought. He hunched himself a little, spreading out his arms as he prepared to jump. I’m crazy, he thought.
City of Twilight Part II: The Fallen (The Vanguard Chronicles Book 2) Page 13
