෴Raz෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Escape

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Raz thrashed awake in a cold sweat. His heart pounded in his chest as though trying to escape his ribcage. He leaped to his feet and looked for the source of danger.

The clang sounded again. Raz looked to the door. Carl and Moustache were outside the cell peeking in.

“Hey!” Carl called out. “You awake? You were freaking out there for a minute.”

Raz tried to calm himself and looked at the guard and nodded his understanding. He looked down in relief at his sweaty but intact body.

“You’re going to miss your chance to get dinner,” Carl said to Raz.

He glanced at Mustache and whispered, “We can put him down for the later slot, he just got worked over by you know who.”

Despite the low murmured whisper, in his agitated state Raz could hear every word loud and clear.

Mustache shrugged and whispered back. “That's fine with me. I’m not going in there when he looks all crazy eyes like this, anyway. I can’t believe you went in there and tried to wake him up.”

Carl nodded at Mustache and turned to Raz. “So hey dude, here’s the deal. We’re going to mark you down for the later meal slot, so you won't miss out on your chance to eat. You need to get your shit together between now and when they come by. You keep acting crazy like you were and I don’t know what’ll happen,” he tried to make eye contact with Raz, who was still looking around the room with hunted eyes and a haunted gaze.

Mustache gently elbowed Carl and held up his watch. Carl looked at the watch and nodded. They walked off together.

“That was pretty fucked up. I wonder if he’s going to turn into a melter after all. He jumped and screamed like you cut his feet off when you gave him a nudge to wake up.” Moustache said to Carl in a low tone.

“Yeah, I don’t know what to think about that guy. I don’t think he’s going to make it.“

“Well, that's a safe bet. Pretty much none of them do.”

After the guards were gone Raz deliberately flexed his hands and feet. They were sore but otherwise unharmed. He sat on the bed and drew in deep ragged breaths for several minutes before calming down enough to stop shaking.

Ok, that was so fucked up. I can’t believe I’m asking this and serious about it, but is there any chance I was dreaming the future?

The low buzz of Bee’s processing pulsed several times in rapid succession.

[The closest thing to an ability that deals with seeing the future I am able to find a reference to is a combat related action prediction ability.]

The buzzing sound throbbed again.

[This ability tops out in its prediction capability at around thirty seconds.]

Ok, so that sounds like a no. I guess that was just a really fucked up dream.

[Given your experiences here, it seems clear that your dream was merely a representation of all your fears about this place.]

Hey, I’m not doing so bad. I think I’m holding it together pretty well for someone in my position.

[You are. You’re in a stressful situation and handling it as well as could be expected.]

On one level I feel like you’re full of shit and being condescending to me, but on another level, it kind of feels good to hear anyway.

He sat back down on the bed.

One things for sure. Not going back to sleep any time soon. So where were you during all that shit?

[I am not fully active while you sleep. Upgrades may—]

Yeah yeah. I get it HUD salesman.

Just when he felt his boredom would force him to pick up the western novel, he heard approaching footsteps.

He slumped against the wall on the bed and made sure keep a bored expression on his face. He couldn't quite manage calm, but bored wasn't much of an act.

The guards stopped outside his room and one peeked in.

“Well, he’s not dead or going chimera.” a male voice Raz couldn’t quite place said.

“Get him the fuck out here then,” Rich growled.

The door opened, and a guard Raz had seen but not talked to waved him out. “Dinner time,” he said.

Raz took in the two guards and noticed Rich still had the cast on.

Guess that's a big no on him having advanced healing abilities. So glad to see that cast. That reminds me. How long would it take me to recover from a broken arm now?

[Somewhat less than half as long as it would have before.]

[Recommendation: Do not test this aspect of recovery here.]

Yeah, no shit.

[This was an attempt at humor.]

In that case, it could be worse. Humor isn’t easy, and jokes are tricky in print.

Raz turned the corner into the cafeteria. No one else was there.

I guess the late dinner slot isn’t popular.

Raz grabbed a tray and filled it with food. He sat down in a corner of the room he hadn’t sat in before. He had eaten several bites before he spotted it.

Does that look like a building map to you? Back there in the kitchen area?

Raz ate without thinking about it, staring at the distant black and white map.

Can you zoom my vision or anything?

[Not with your current perception abilities.]

Raz cursed and looked around the room for more options.

Wait, I could make a mirror on that stainless steel fridge right next to it, correct?

[Correct.]

And we could make a mirror on that stainless counter between here and there, right?

[Also correct.]

So if I understood even a tiny bit of your explanation about how those mirrors work, why can't that drawing have a similar process applied and sharpen up and magnify it?

Bee didn’t answer.

Raz kept chewing his food, barely tasting the bland mix of dry greens.

[Stare at it.]

Raz fixed his gaze on the poster. After a few seconds, he felt his eyes twitch, and then almost vibrate. It went on longer than he expected. He started to feel a bit motion sick before the odd eye movement stopped.

[Within acceptable tolerances, we have captured the image.]

A clear image appeared in a partially transparent overlay box in his view.

That’s much clearer than I would have expected.

Raz studied it, trying to determine where his room was, and where they were now. Unfortunately, the map did not include a convenient ‘You are here’ tag.

Rich shoved his shoulder hard. “You done yet?”

Raz looked at his nearly full plate. “Not yet,” he muttered and resumed eating.

How good is the map? Can I rely on it?

[It is generated using the same underlying techniques of the virtual mirror.]

[I used a larger area of your retina to capture more light with greater precision.]

[Would you like to learn more about this process?]

Hell no. It was boring the first time. That it worked is all I need to know right now.

Raz shoved another handful of dry salad mix into his mouth and chewed.

Also, I’m glad it worked, but don't do it while I’m walking or I’ll probably fall.

[This process should not impact your balance.]

I’m not sure about balance by itself, but I couldn't see when you were doing that, everything went blurry for me.

[Only the needed retinal cells were receiving input.]

Raz put another bite in his mouth.

So anyway, don’t do that if I’m walking around.

The dry lettuce, spinach leaves and slices of bell pepper on his plate were very interesting. He stared at the intricate vein patterns present in each leaf. I never noticed how interesting plants are. I could study this leaf all day.

Raz toyed with and studied the spinach leaf for several minutes, enrapt in its every detail. Across the room, the two guards found themselves similarly occupied with minor details in the room.

A low boom filled the air and shook the ground.

Raz blinked. Whoa, kinda spaced off there.

He noticed the HUD clock showed he’d been staring at his food for over five minutes.

Rich and the other guard looked at each other with guilty expressions. Each had an expression and posture that suggested they’d been caught doing something they shouldn’t.

“Do you know what that was?” Rich asked the other guard, his tone accusatory.

“No idea man. Let’s get him back to his cell and go find out.” The other guard replied.

Just then a low pulsing siren filled the air.

“Oh shit. That's the attack alarm.” Rich pointed at Raz with his good hand. “You, leave the plate, get back to your cell. Move it!”

Raz left the plate and jogged for the door.

That guy is such an asshole. I bet if I actually did run, he’d use that as an excuse to shoot me.

[Accuracy of assessment unknown.]

Raz kept jogging until he got to his room. The door to the empty cell was hanging open. He stepped inside and shut the door with a loud clang. He immediately pushed it back open a fraction of an inch—just enough to prevent the lock from engaging.

The blond guard started heading over to the door when Rich called out. “He’s in, let’s go!. We gotta get to stations!” He flinched and turned to follow Rich.

Raz reached out and pulled the door further open before the guard got too far away.

All that effort and preparation to take advantage of the door timing and now they didn’t even make sure to close the door? It cannot be this easy to get out.

[Something unusual is happening.]

Raz held the door carefully to keep it from having a chance to latch shut, sure that any second one of the guards would be back to slam the door shut on him.

Or it’s a trap, and they want an excuse to take my legs for real.

The images from the dream still lay heavy in his mind. He shoved the door open before he could think about it. It hit the wall with a dull clank and slowly began returning to shut.

[Vocal stress markers and body language from both guards were extremely congruent. This indicates a low probability of a ruse.]

Or they just don’t know about it. That's how single and double blind activities works. That's how I would set up a trick like this.

He tried to make himself walk through the open door. For what felt like minutes, he stood there frozen. His pulse pounded in his ears, creating a sound like a distant roaring waterfall. The strength in his legs began draining away. The heavy steel door continued to slowly return to its closed position.

Why can’t I move? What's happening to me?

Bee didn’t reply.

Am I too scared to move? Or is this something else?

He panted helplessly, watching the gap between the door and frame narrow.

He pushed his hand forward. It moved as though against a strong current. He tried harder, but the force seemed to double with every bit of progress he made. The gap between door and frame was now less than a hands width.

Why can’t I do this?!

Suddenly a conversation he had with his father long ago flashed through his mind. Raz stood on deck, waiting for his turn at-bat. “I can’t hit his pitch! It's way too fast! He’s striking everyone out!” His father crouched down and put his hand on Raz’s shoulder. “Son, here’s a simple truth about life. When you’re scared to act, or facing a task that seems impossible, the first step is to know you can do it. Don’t think it, know it. You can hit that ball. You’re letting your head get in the way. Don’t think about hitting, hit it.”

The opening shrank to a sliver of light when Raz triggered a leap forward with a punch. The door flew open and clanked against the wall again. Raz stood in the hallway and looked both ways. Whatever force had been preventing him from leaving the room was gone.

Well, like another one of dad’s favorite things to say. Fortune Favors the Bold. Something is happening, and we’re out of the cage. Its time to take advantage of that.

He pushed it back open and quickly looked down each direction of the hall. No one was there, but the muted thumps of gunfire echoed in the hall and seemed to be coming from all directions.

This is it. Whatever is happening is my chance to get out of here.

෴Doktor Midnight෴

෴Braithwaite෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Call in a Heavy

෴෴෴෴෴෴

“Norns for Midnight Actual. Priority message for you.”

Midnight finished the ability repair he’d been performing on the soldier’s younger brother. “That should do it Lucas, your brother will be ok. This was a major ability repair. He’ll wake up feeling better in the morning, but it could be a few days before he’s fully recovered. It could be a week or two before that ability manifests again, but it should be the general durability he was hoping for.”

“Norns for Midnight Actual. Priority message for you.” the voice chirped in Midnight’s ear.

“I have a call to take, thanks for your service, and good luck. Keep that card in case you need to contact my organization.”

The young soldier nodded, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Midnight cloaked himself in the familiar full armored suit and stepped outside. “This is Midnight, go.”

“We just got a time-sensitive request for heavy support to deal with a high power enhanced combatant. The coordinates have been sent to you.”

Midnight was already in the air. “Thank you, I’m on my way.” He cut the mic. “I do not have the energy for this,” he muttered to himself.

A few seconds later his mottled black armored form came down next to the facility like a hammer blow of the gods. The concrete beneath his feet was instantly returned to its original sand and rock, spraying outward and upward in a cloud of grey dust. The concrete a few feet out shattered and sprayed like shrapnel. The pavement around his impact point cracked and buckled in waves for fifty feet out into the parking lot.

Midnight didn’t wait for the dust to clear. He walked past the guards and into the building. One of the guards there shot a rifle burst at him. Midnight caught the bullets in a field around him without even looking. He turned toward the group behind the barricade. The four of them that were left ceased firing and looked at him with fear in their eyes.

Midnight scanned them. The blue-haired woman had an ability, but nothing threatening to him. The others didn’t have abilities beyond the equipment they had access to. A pile of weapons and ammo buckets surrounded the guards. They each had combat armor and a battle rifle on a single point sling. He realized this site had been well prepared to actively repel attackers.

Midnight looked at the guards and the pile of hardware. “I don’t have time to deal with you properly, but I’ll be back this way soon. The people out there, they will allow you to surrender. If you haven’t surrendered by the time I get back, or if you attack me again, I’ll have no choice but to kill you.” He didn't wait for a reaction, just continued down the corridor deeper into the facility.

The guard that had shot him before took the opportunity to pick up a grenade launcher stowed behind the barricade and fire it at Doktor Midnight’s back. The blast staggered but didn't injure the black armored figure. He didn’t stop or turn around. A careful observer might have noticed the slightest flicker of movement on the part of the figure in black. The weapon in the man’s hand and the rifle slung at his side flew straight up faster than the eye could see. Both weapons blasted holes in the ceiling without slowing down. Unfortunately for the man, the strap of the sling was far tougher than his body, which fell to the ground in pieces after smashing against the ceiling around the hole where the weapons had punched through it.

The other guards looked at each other. The blue-haired woman went over to try and help her colleague but stopped when she realized a severed head was one of the pieces.

The remaining three took another look at the hallway Midnight had walked down, and surrendered.

Walking deeper into the smoky interior, several points on his armor began to emit a brilliant white light, those spots leaving thin trails of smoke behind him.

He’d just reached the center of a large open room when a powerful blast struck him in the back. This blast threw him across the room into the wall. Only the heavy reinforcements to the internal building structure kept him from punching through the wall into the next room. He wheeled on his attacker. Before he managed to spot an enemy, several more powerful kinetic blasts struck him. The blasts themselves were invisible, only manifesting in the way Midnight was alternately tossed into the air, back against the wall, and then against the floor several times.

Midnight struggled to his feet. Even in the armor that still appeared so impervious, his movements looked slow, tired.

A man that looked more like a high school science teacher than a super powered criminal strode toward him confidently. Midnight raised a hand. A fire extinguisher tore free from the wall and flew at the man in the lab coat.

The red canister touched the man and instantly lost all its speed and inertia. It fell harmlessly at his feet.

Midnight shook his head. “Oh great. Kinetic absorption and projection. Leon Braithwaite, I presume?”

The other man gave him a broad smile and blasted Midnight against the wall again. “Yes, In the flesh. Speaking of flesh, I wonder how much metal I’ll have to dig through to get to your flesh?”

He struck again with an oblique kinetic blast that knocked the armored figure back to the floor. “I suppose I get to find out.”

Midnight shot a fan of brilliant beams at Braithwaite and around him. The scientist absorbed the emitted energy but was still blinded for an instant. The beams that passed by him struck the remaining few working lights in the room, filling the room with shadows.

Braithwaite threw himself to the side, blinking furiously.

Midnight hid in a shadow, his matte black armor simply a deeper black in the darkness. “It doesn’t have to go this way, Braithwaite. You’ve obviously made yourself sick from more abilities than you were properly ready for. If you surrender, I can fix you and help you get back to normal. I don’t want to fight you.”

Braithwaite threw his head back and laughed. “You’re seriously going to try to get me to join your side when I’m sitting here kicking your ass?” He sent a kinetic pulse at one of the unlit corners. The impact fractured the wall and raised a cloud of dust but nothing else was hit.

Midnight silently repositioned himself out of Braithwaite’s line of sight. “I want to give you a chance. I know how easy it is to go bad when you’ve got ability sickness. Your eyes have been bright red for at least half a dozen treatments at this point, haven’t they? The effect continues to build. By now I can guarantee that even if you were a pretty bad guy before all this, by now you’ve probably done things that would make the old you sic-”

Braithwaite cut him off with a downward kinetic burst that caught him by surprise and slammed him back into the concrete floor. “Are you monologuing at me? Just who are you trying to be right now?” He rounded the tables and fired again, but Midnight wasn’t there.

A stream of metal taken from equipment around the room formed into a sinuous floating shape before it snaked around Braithwaite. The metal moved like a constrictor, wrapping him tightly around the chest with thin bands of metal.

Midnight dropped from the ceiling in front of Braithwaite. “I want to give you one more chance. I’m not here to fight you. You have a good ability set. The world needs people like you more than you could possibly kno-”

Braithwaite slammed him to the ground with a barrage of heavy kinetic blasts. As soon as Midnight was on the ground, Leon burst free from the metal restraint.

Leon kept slamming the kinetic pulses down on Midnight, not letting him rise. “Pathetic. Look at you. You don’t want to fight me? Why? Not interested in losing?”

Braithwaite gestured and a kinetic burst threw Midnight into the air and then another burst swatted him at a wall the way a baseball player might hit a lobbed pitch. The armored figure left a star-shaped lattice of cracked concrete around the point of impact.

“You’re this legendary figure! The word was that no one could even calculate how many treatments you’ve had.” Braithwaite slammed him against the wall again. “You’ve faced down nation-state military forces in the field and took them out like it was nothing. I thought you would be tough.”

Braithwaite slammed him to the ground again, resuming the barrage of impacts slowly hammering the armored form into the ground. Midnight struggled to regain his feet before being driven to the ground again. The rapid-fire impacts shattered the glass doors leading out of the room. Braithwaite wiped at a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead.

“Ok, granted, you are tough. I don’t know how you’re not a mess of blood jelly inside that suit by now, but honestly, I’m not impressed that you’re just sitting there taking it as I grind you to dust. I thought you were so powerful. Were you all for show? I expected to have to knock you down and run for my life. I can’t believe I actually thought I would be the lucky one to get away from you!”

Braithwaite took a step back and leaned against a table that had survived the destruction. “Killing you of all people today wasn’t even something I imagined I could achieve. Honestly, some people seem to think you can’t be killed.” Braithwaite slowed down the rapid-fire kinetic hits. His face was sweaty and he was breathing heavily.

The figure halfway into the ground spoke. “I guess it’s ok to tell you that I am somewhat just for show. I have to project the image that I’m unstoppable, with all the abilities anyone could want. But that's not the same as all for show. In any case. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Fight. You.” Midnight rose from the hole in the ground and floated toward Braithwaite.

Leon activated another barrage of kinetic bursts at Midnight. Nothing happened. He backed away from the suddenly menacing black figure and tried again. He tried to use his ability and felt no response. He felt inside for his kinetic force ability and found it missing. His expression turned fearful.

“What have you done?!” He shouted.

“You were given a gift. A gift meant to help humanity survive the coming invasion. You’ve wasted those gifts, and I simply cannot afford the resources to fight you. So I won't. Instead, I’ve taken that gift away. You’re unworthy of it.”

Braithwaite’s face betrayed his panic. His eyes wide and mouth slack. He turned and ran for the door. A few steps later his body became intolerably heavy, and he fell to the ground.

Midnight stalked toward him with murderous intent in his every move.