“I…don’t know…it’s just…flowing to me. It’s so…intoxicating.”
Blake looked at Quinn with curiosity and surprise. Quinn burst out laughing and said, “I’m just teasing. But it feels great, though.”
A moment later, Blake felt tingling in his hands and arms as the orgone traveled into his body. “Oh wow, it’s just…happening. I don’t even have to do anything!”
“I know, right? It’s like we can absorb orgone right out of the batteries.”
“I wonder if this is a recharge or a top-off?”
“Or, are our powers getting stronger or are we getting new powers?” Quinn asked.
“Or something else completely?” Blake asked.
“I guess we’ll find out, buddy.”
Blake smiled. Quinn seemed to forget about their squabbles for the moment and it felt good to have his friend back. Several moments later, an alarm sounded somewhere in the control room next to the reactor core, startling the boys.
“It’s about time they put an energy drain alarm down here, assuming that’s what it is,” Quinn said. “Quick, you need to rearrange and randomize the panels as fast as you can.”
“Okay, but stay down. Things are gonna get crazy in here.”
Blake stood and looked around the chamber. Some of the energy he sensed coursed through his body while the rest, he assumed, energized Quinn. He extended his hands out to his sides and focused, hoping the panels would detach and reattach easily.
Quinn squatted, ready to pounce on the control room door if anyone came through it.
Click.
The first panel unlocked and pulled away from the wall and flew across the chamber, spun around, and hovered, ready to lock into a new location vacated by a second panel that pulled away from the wall.
Click.
Click.
Click.
One after another, random panels unlocked and pulled away from their mounted locations and flew across the chamber, reattaching and locking onto different locations.
“I think I’ve got the hang of this,” Blake said, laughing as more and more panels locked and unlocked in a cacophony of clicking sounds.
Fifteen seconds later, the last of the panels locked into position, leaving only a noticeable haze of dust floating in the chamber.
“Well, that was neat,” Quinn said, standing. “I’m impressed.” They stood silently for a few moments, staring at Blake’s handiwork and waiting for something to happen.
“Uh, okay, I guess we need to power it on now. Let’s go upstairs and find that big red switch.” Quinn said.
“Sure.” Blake led the way to the antiquated control room, pausing momentarily to listen at the door and make sure no one was on the other side. Though an alarm sounded at one of the old computer terminals, no one cared to find out what was wrong. He pushed the door open and they slipped into the room and looked around.
“Hopefully there’s no one on duty this weekend,” Quinn said, checking out the ancient computers.
Blake studied the room. No one had disturbed anything since their last visit—at least that he could see. He walked through the control room and the narrow corridor that led to the antiquated elevator that would bring them up to the modern facility. He pressed the call button and the machinery whirred to life, making the frame and the suspended chains shudder and clink as the elevator car jolted and began its descent.
“I’m really surprised they didn’t replace that, especially if the facility is as modern and advanced as you say it is.” Quinn said.
Blake shrugged. “Maybe someone has a thing for keeping historical structures intact, even if they’re part of a creepy underground reactor.”
“Meh, let’s be honest, it’s more an energy accumulator than a reactor core. That’s what it would be in the comic books.”
“A what?”
“They call it a reactor core, but does this really seem like a reactor core? It’s not powering anything…it’s just accumulating energy they can disperse whenever they want. It’s not a power source…”
Blake shrugged. “I guess.” A moment later, the elevator car stopped, and the machinery powered down. Blake slid the antiquated gates aside and followed Quinn into the car.
“Going up!” Quinn quipped, pressing the up button. Blake slid the gate shut behind him. The elevator machinery groaned back to life and the car jolted as it ascended.
“There will probably be guards up there, and I’m sure they know we’re coming.” Blake said. He turned to face the door that would open toward the hallway above. “The control room is to the left and the door is electronically secured, but obviously that won’t stop us. I’ll just force the door open with my mind.”
“Great. Anything else?”
Blake shrugged. “I assume there are no special projects this weekend and staffing is light. Hopefully, Victor isn’t here either.”
The elevator car abruptly stopped when it leveled with the upper floor. “Okay then, here goes nothing,” Quinn answered.
Blake slid the gate aside and stepped forward.
24 | Plots Within Plots
Quinn
THE EXTERIOR, MODERN LOOKING ELEVATOR doors on the other side of the antiquated gate slid open and Blake stepped through the doorway, leading the way to the control room.
“It’s down here on the left, but I don’t think there’s one big red button to push.”
“Well, duh, but we’ll figure something out.”
When they reached the control room door, other doors along the hallway slid open and armed guards burst out of those doorways and assumed offensive positions, their weapons aimed at Quinn and Blake. Behind him, he heard several guards pop out of a doorway they had just passed.
“What the hell?” Blake exclaimed, startled.
Quinn gasped. “It’s a trap. Get down!”
Blake turned and looked at Quinn, a shocked expression on his face. “I didn’t know, I swear.”
“I believe you,” Quinn lied, noting his best friend’s shifting eyes. The boys crouched, back to back, ready to fight their way out. What have you gotten me into, Blake? I need to know what’s going on around here and why they’ve convinced Blake to work with them, especially since they've double-crossed him…or did he double-cross me?
Then, the sound of high heels on the metal laminate floor click-clacked in the hallway. “Hold your fire,” a woman’s voice said.
Blake frowned and whispered, “It’s Mother Superior.”
She stopped and clapped her hands in mock applause as she stepped into view from behind the forward guards. She stopped and shifted her weight to her left leg. An evil smirk crossed her face as Victor appeared behind her.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Oh Blake, you’re so predictable. I always knew that when push came to shove, you would crawl back to Quinn, so I used you as bait to bring him to us. The Order thanks you for playing your part in his capture.”
“My part?” Blake shouted incredulously.
“Take them down.”
Taser fire erupted around them.
“No!” Blake shouted, twisting out of the way and deflecting a set of electrified prods away from his body, but another set caught his arm and sent him crashing to the floor.
Quinn reacted a split second too late, his defensive shield forming as a set of taser prods made contact with his back. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt, but his body failed him, and he collapsed on top of Blake, his head landing on his buddy’s stomach. For a moment, everything around him went blurry. Then, everything went dark.
❖
Blake
Blake awoke with a shout, his body tensing and his hands forming fists. The guards standing around him adjusted their stance, startled by his outcry. They aimed their tasers at him.
“It’s okay, Blake, you’re safe,” Dr. Madison’s soothing voice said. “You boys can back off, guys. He’s on our side.”
He sat up, becoming keenly aware of his shirtless and pantless state. Someone a
llowed him the dignity of keeping his blue boxer briefs on. A number of electrodes had been attached to his chest, arms, legs, and head.
“What the…what’s going on?”
“Sorry, I needed to take some tests to see why your body reacted differently to the taser voltage. It looks like only one taser connected with you; it might explain why you’re awake so fast.”
“How long have I been out? Apparently, long enough for someone to strip me?”
Dr. Madison chucked. “About half-an-hour. Sorry about that, the leads need to be attached directly to your skin.”
“I’m even sorrier,” Arik said, waving. He and Miguel sat at other workstations nearby.
“You boys can stand down,” Dr. Madison said to the guards. They backed away and took up positions near the door. Two of them kept their tasers in-hand while the other two holstered the nasty stun guns.
“You said I reacted differently, what do you mean?” Blake asked, scratching his head. He noticed his clothes were folded on a side table nearby.
“The last time Mother Superior’s guards tased you, you exploded with energy—just like when we resuscitated you. That did not happen this time.
“Huh.” Blake rolled his head to the left and tilted his head to the sides, cracking and stretching his neck. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a nearly nude man suspended from floor to ceiling.
No, that can’t be.
Blake turned to the left and his mouth fell agape.
Oh my gosh, Quinn!
“What the hell are you doing to him?” Blake asked, frustrated. You never told me about this part!
A horizontal steel bar he hadn’t seen before extended downward from the ceiling. Two short lengths of steel chain hung from the bar, locking into wrist cuffs that suspended an unconscious Quinn in the middle of the work room. Like Blake, someone had stripped his clothes but left his red trunks on. A number of leads and electrodes were stuck to his skin. His ankles were also shackled to the floor with more chain while an electrical wire—the kind Blake had seen in the walls of his house—had been stripped and split so the white wire went to the shackle on Quinn’s left ankle, and the black wire to the right one. The other end of the wire went to a make-shift dial switch that plugged into the wall.
“Now, now, Blake,” Mother Superior said, stepping into the light. “You can’t blame us for taking precautions with the Prime, can you? The last thing I need is your friend waking up and destroying my facility. I hear he’s very difficult to stop.”
“Are you hurting him?” Blake asked, his voice softened.
“Of course not. We’re only running a low voltage current through his body. It’s just enough to keep his powers at bay so he can’t do anything we don’t want.”
Shit, did I inadvertently help them find our weakness? Wait, what did she call him?
“Why did you call him the Prime?”
She walked toward him, her voice arrogant and light. “Isn’t it obvious, Blake? The Prime is the first of a new thing. Although you were created together, you seemingly have not been created equally, but in two parts. The Prime, or Quinn, even though only by a nanosecond, was created first. We cannot fully understand what happened to you until we study you together, as a whole. So, unless you always want to be the second, I suggest you trust our efforts and allow us to study what we need to study.
The door slid open and Victor stepped into the room.
“You lied to me!” Blake said, playing his part in Victor’s grand plan. He tried to jump off the table, but some of the leads tightened against him and held him fast. When he tried to pull them off, Mother Superior tapped a control on the desk in front of her. A pulse of electricity stunned him and knocked him backward.
“Really?” Victor said, vexed with his boss. “Turn that thing off.”
“Absolutely not. We’ve all seen what happens when this young man becomes angry. He’s a wild beast that needs to be tamed, and I will be the one to do so.”
Victor walked over to Blake and offered to help him stand, but Blake dismissed him. “Fuck off.”
“I’m sorry, Blake. I had to follow orders. I wouldn’t have done this on my own. Things have…changed within The Order. You have to understand; the organization’s priorities have shifted quite a bit.”
“All thanks to you and the Prime,” Mother Superior added, a smug tone in her voice. “And now we have you both.”
“Am I your prisoner?” Blake asked.
“Of course not, Blake,” Mother Superior said with a sickeningly sweet tone.
“If I’m not your prisoner, then why do you keep trying to control me like this?”
“We can’t have our creations turning against us, can we? You simply need to be…trained…to respect authority. You signed up for this when you joined The Order. Unless you’re changing your mind…in that case, there’s always more chain. I’ll gladly have the guards string you up next to your friend. There’s room for two on that bar.” She pointed to the steel rod Quinn’s wrist restraints were attached to. “Which will it be?” She reached her hand out to the electrical control box on the desk in front of her.
“We’re good,” Blake said quickly, relaxing. All I have to do is wait for the right moment. Shit, Quinn is gonna be so pissed off at me.
“Very good. Do you have a damage report for me, Abbot?” Mother Superior said, turning her attention to Victor. “Yes. We assessed the damage the boys did in the reactor core. Other than drain it again, they managed to rearrange most of the focusing tiles. No damage to report.”
Mother Superior laughed. “What did you think that would do, Blake?”
Blake shrugged. “Blow it up the next time you tried to use it. You can’t be allowed to make more of us because you, most of all, don’t need an army of super-powered people under your control. You'll completely change the planet as we know it.”
“Aww, isn’t he adorable, Victor?” Mother Superior commented, lightly clapping her hands. Victor looked at the floor, avoiding eye contact with Blake. Not yet…he doesn’t want me to do anything yet.
Mother Superior chortled and her eyes opened wide as a thought formed in her mind. “Did you think the tiles in the reactor core were special or placed with exacting precision? I admire your creative approach, but please, they all do the same thing no matter where they are.”
Blake frowned.
“You did, didn’t you?” Mother Superior sneered at him, then smiled with devious satisfaction. “It was I who engineered and orchestrated this elaborate ruse—a design with a singular goal in mind; to bring Quinn to us willingly. Victor played his part, and now you have played yours. Don’t think you can ever outsmart us Blake, you’re just the dumb kid who fell for the well written lies, like you always will. Now, we have you both.”
“You freaking…” Blake grimaced and collapsed onto the table as Mother Superior zapped him again, a wicked smile spread across her face.
25 | Collusion
Quinn
QUINN HEARD THE ENTIRE CONVERSATION, observing the room with his super hearing and catching brief glimpses when he cracked his eyes open. He figured out that Mother Superior believed electricity subdued both of them, but that wasn’t the case for Quinn because he could manipulate and harness electricity except when surprised. Now that he was in direct contact with the facility’s power grid, he could bring the whole place down in seconds if he wanted to.
Where the hell did we go wrong? From the minute Blake told me he was secretly meeting with Victor, I should have been more vigilant about asking what they were talking about. It should have been obvious that Blake would fall prey to Victor’s big brother attitude and fall in line with the promises of a better life and a chance to get away from his parents. How did I not see this coming? Even now, if Victor apologizes and plays dumb, Blake will still feel indebted to him for paying off his hospital bills. Something tells me there’s a much deeper set of plans in motion when it comes to The Order and our abilities. How do I get Blake to question Victor, o
r are we destined to lose our friendship?
Quinn sensed the electrical current shift in the room when Mother Superior zapped Blake. At the moment, she kept an incapacitating charge running through his friend. It had to hurt, but Quinn needed to learn more about why they had gone through such great lengths to capture him. I can use that to my advantage when the time is right. Sorry, buddy, but you’re going to have to take a little more of that for a bit. Might as well let you get the full experience of The Order, right?
“How soon until their implants are ready?” Mother Superior asked.
“We’re almost finished,” Dr. Madison announced, “They should be ready within the hour.”
“Excellent. Have you accounted for their impenetrable skin?”
Quinn cracked open his eyes and watched as Dr. Madison picked up a small object from her workstation. His super vision revealed it wasn’t much bigger than an Aspirin tablet.
“Yes, I developed a micro-delivery system via the ear canal. This is the second prototype.” She held the gray metal device in the palm of her hand for Mother Superior to inspect.
“Does it work like the first?”
She nodded. “There was too much variability in the first model since it was rushed, so I’m still not sure if it anchored or not. However, this one will be much more efficient. I got the idea from watching Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the scene with the Ceti eels.”
“I’m not familiar with it,” Mother Superior responded flatly.
“Ah, well, to make a long story short, these fictitious eels crawl into a human being via the ear canal and attach themselves to the cerebral cortex, making the subject highly susceptible to suggestion.”
“That's both disgusting and brilliant.”
“Indeed. Although we’re still improving the suggestive or mind control functionality, I can deliver the implant via this micro bug device. It has tiny legs similar to an insect that will allow it to burrow through the tympanic membrane and follow the otic nerve to the subject’s brain stem, where it will attach itself via a small anchor. Once it’s in place, there’s no getting it out—especially since these two can’t be operated on by conventional means.”
Unidentified Phenomenon Page 21
