Rebellion (Zero Series) (15 page)

“We
need a plan!” I yelled, “This won’t hold him off for long!”

Vine
knelt down and began to dig through his seed pouch. He pulled out a handful of
seeds and hurled them towards Melt. They made contact with the ground and Vine
tensed up. He threw his hands up and began to manipulate the seeds. Large green
bulblike plants emerged. They were covered in prickly spines and the skin had a
waxy hue. They started to absorb the water and continued to grow. Melt was
still striking ferociously as I blasted him back repeatedly. Vine continued to
throw seeds and make the large spiky plants grow. Melt dodged one of my blasts
and knocked my legs out from under me. I fell and my back crashed into the
water. Melt transformed again and took the form of a man but his arm was in the
shape of an axe. He raised it over his head, readying it to strike me. He swung
his arm downward but his hand disappeared halfway down. He looked quickly
towards it and his body began to disappear as well. All of the water on the
ground was being sucked towards Vine’s strange plants. He began to claw at the
ground as he was being sucked into their bases. In a matter of seconds, he was
completely gone. I lay bewildered on the ground.

“What
was that?” I asked.

“They
are a variation on a cactus,” Vine said.

“What
is a cactus?” I asked.

“That’s
right, you’ve never been out of the area of the city. It is a plant that grows
in deserts. It is designed to suck up water and store it inside since there is
little rainfall in that climate. I have researched many different plants and
made adjustments to their makeup. Specifically, I sped up the absorption
process for the cactus,” he replied. He walked over to the cacti and forced
them back into the seeds. Once they were returned to their seed form, he
scooped them into a pile. “I need you to use your power and crush these seeds
under intense pressure. If we don’t destroy them, Melt will eventually make his
way back out of them.”

“Yeah
I’ll take care of it,” I said. I stood over the seed pile and held my hands
over them. I focused as hard as I could and closed my hands into fists. The
seeds were pressed down and ground into dust.

“Nice.
That should be enough to destroy him. We need to keep moving. We are way behind
schedule,” he said.

“I
hope Synapse didn’t run into any problems,” I said.

“I’m
sure she is fine,” he said. We continued on through the tunnel at a quicker
pace. We passed by spillway after spillway until we finally came to a ladder
that came out of a shaft on the ceiling.

“I
think this is it,” I said.

“Let’s
get up there. She could be waiting for us,” said Vine. We climbed up the ladder
and reached the grate that lead into the barracks. I lifted the grate up
slightly and peeked through the crack to see if the coast was clear. I scanned
around the room and saw familiar boots. I pushed the grate open and found
Synapse standing near the hole.

“What
took you? I have been trying to keep people out for a good long while,” she
said.

“We
ran into a little security measure that Kraken implemented. A man made of water
named Melt. Zero was also knocked unconscious and sustained some small
fractures,” Vine said emerging from the shaft behind me.

“Are
you alright?” she asked in a concerned tone.

“Yeah
I have that accelerated healing from the Pit. It’s all healed up now,” I said.

“I’m
glad. We need to move now. You both need to switch on your camouflage features.
I will walk you two through the halls until we can find a secure computer
terminal,” she said.

“Alright,”
I said turning my buckle to become invisible, “Did you run into any trouble
getting in?”

“No.
They fell for my roughed up appearance. They were glad that I was back and
didn’t suspect anything,” she replied.

“That’s
good. We were worried that being late would mess with the plan,” Vine said
switching his invisibility on.

“It
didn’t but we need to make this quick. I think I know of an isolated room that
we can enter and I can access a computer terminal. Silence will be the key here
though,” she said. She moved to the door and opened it revealing one of the
most shocking things I had ever seen. Tartarus was magnificent. The ceilings
were a few hundred feet high. The inside was adorned with some of the most
advanced technology that was left on Earth. Synapse strolled through the
facility with a swagger that I can only imagine she had worked to establish
over the years. We passed by some employees who averted their gazes in fear
when they saw her coming.

We
stopped at a door marked, “lab”. Synapse pushed open the door and a laboratory
that resembled the one that I was kept in at the Pit was revealed. There was no
one inside. It was probably because it was the middle of the night. “I’m going
to lock the door and disable the security cameras. You two can disable your
camouflage,” she said.

Vine
and I clicked off our devices and became visible. Synapse quickly locked the
doors and set a secret pass code that only she knew so no one could enter. She
then moved to disable the cameras. After typing on the keyboard, she pressed a
button and looked up to the camera.

“There.
I set it to run on a loop of footage from when the room was empty. It will have
a running timestamp so it doesn’t appear suspicious. I’m going to locate the
spikers in the terminal database. You two have a look around for that healing
serum for Frost and Flare,” she said.

Vine
and I split up and started examining the room. I opened every cabinet, trunk
and lab station I could find. I opened a small black case that was sitting on
someone’s desk that was labeled “serum case”. I looked upon four small vials of
different liquids. One was labeled “Disintegrator”. I carefully avoided
touching that one. The one to the right of it was labeled “Cold Fusion”. I
didn’t even want to know what they were planning to do with that or what it
did. The third vial was labeled “Regenerator”. I had found it. I found the
answer to my friends’ problem. “I found it,” I called out.

“I
found something too. You guys should see this,” Vine called back.

I
picked up the vials and stashed it in a pocket on my leg. I made my way through
the bookcases and stations until I reached Vine who was standing in front of a
rack. On the rack was what seemed to be a robot. It was colored silver with
black and red accents along the body. The head had two small metal wing like
antennas on either side. The eyes were a shiny blue color. “What is this?” I
asked.

“I
have no clue,” Vine said. Just as he finished, I heard a gasp from behind us. I
turned and saw Synapse standing with her mouth hanging open.

“What’s
wrong?” I asked.

“That’s
him,” she said.

“Him
who?” Vine asked.

“The
man who destroyed my home and killed Sky,” she said.

“This
isn’t a man it’s a remotely controlled robot,” Vine said.

“This
whole time I have been looking for a man when I should’ve been looking for this
piece of trash,” she said angrily.

“I
wonder why it’s here,” I said examining it.

I was
looking around for a release button to the rack when I noticed a red switch
next to it. I flipped the switch and a strange whirring came from the wall.
Steam hissed from behind the panel that the rack seemed to be hiding. I jumped
out of the way as it moved outward revealing a long mechanical line of cryo
tubes. I looked at each of them as they passed by and couldn’t help but wonder
who they were. The line finally came to a halt and there were twenty cryo tubes
hanging from the line. I touched one of them and felt the icy chill of the
metal. Who were these people? Why were they locked in this compartment?

“Oh
no,” Synapse gasped. I walked down the line to tube number nine. Synapse was
staring into the small window. There was a blonde woman resting inside.

“Who
is it?” I asked.

“It’s
Sky,” she replied quietly.

Synapse
stood speechless staring at Sky’s face through the window. “Synapse, are you
okay?” I asked placing my hand on her shoulder. She didn’t respond and
continued to remain silent.

“Zero,”
Vine whispered, “Who is that?”

I
pulled him aside and said quietly, “Her name is Sky. She and Synapse were going
together until that robot destroyed their home and killed Sky. Well, I guess he
didn’t kill her. I wonder why he brought her here.”

“If
she is frozen and the robot is here, what if Kraken knew Synapse would come
here?” he pondered.

“You
think they found out about her power and staged Sky’s death to recruit her?” I
asked.

“It’s
possible isn’t it? Kraken has done far worse things in the past,” he said.

“That’s
true. We need to get Synapse back on the same page as us. We can’t let her lose
focus now. We are so close to finding the spikers,” I said. I walked back over
to Synapse. “Are you with us?”

She
nodded. “I located the spiker in the terminal database. We can get there in
only a few minutes,” she said.

“Good.
We can come back for Sky once we free the spikers,” Vine said.

“Come
back?” she asked, “No, no, no. I am not leaving her here. Once we free the
spikers it is going to be complete chaos. We won’t have time to come back. I am
freeing her and she is coming with us.”

Vine
and I looked at each other. “It does make sense. This could be our only chance
to get her out of here,” I said. Vine shrugged in agreement. Synapse opened a
small hatch on Sky’s cryo tube and examined the wires.

“Vine,
come here for a second,” she said.

Vine
walked over to the tube and leaned over the hatch. “What do you need?” he
asked.

“This
is a special kind of system that Kraken developed for their cryo tubes. If you
cut the wires out of sequence, the tube will decontaminate,” she said.

“What
does that mean?” I asked.

“It
means that it will destroy all organic life inside the capsule,” she replied.

“What
do you need from me?” Vine asked.

“If
you plant a seed inside the wires and force the roots to sever all the wires at
the same time, it will shut down the system without harming Sky,” she said.

“Are
you sure? I don’t want to mess this up,” he said.

“Trust
me. I traveled around a lot for Kraken and I read through nearly all of their
tech manuals in their database. I know the ins and outs of most of their common
tech,” she said.

“Okay.
If you say it will work, then I’ll do it,” he said. He pulled out a seed and
carefully stuffed it into the back of the hatch. He removed his hand carefully
so he didn’t disturb the wiring. He was beginning to sweat profusely. He took a
deep breath and closed his eyes. In a split second, a mass of thorns emerged
from the hatch. The severed wires sparked and began to smoke. The electronic
status panel on the face of the tube went dark and the tube hissed open.
Synapse pulled the door open with her power and pulled Sky out with her bare
hands. She knelt down and was cradling Sky to support her head.

“Sky,”
she whispered, “Please wake up.”

Vine
pulled another seed out of his pouch and put it in his mouth. He chewed on it
for a moment before spitting it back into his hand. A flower emerged from the
seed and began to grow rapidly. It finished expanding and the root wrapped
around his arm. It was magnificent looking. There was a large oval shaped
growth in the middle with one large petal wrapped around it. “What is that?” I
asked.

“Titan
arum. It’s also called the corpse flower. This is one of the most pungent
plants I have ever researched. It smells like a rotting body. Lean her head up
near the flower,” he said. Synapse moved her head toward the plant and after a
minute of the smell wafting into her nose, Sky jolted awake. She coughed and
sputtered for air. Synapse helped her sit up and began to sob. Sky caught her
breath and realized that it was Synapse holding her. She began to weep as well
and embrace Synapse.

“You
have to get rid of that plant,” I whispered to Vine, “It reeks.”

“Yeah
I’ll go leave it on the other side of the room. It’ll be a nice little surprise
for whoever comes in here next,” he said chuckling to himself.

I was
coming to learn that Vine wasn’t as serious as he had first seemed. As I grew
more friendly with him, his hard exterior shell was beginning to crack and show
his true self. He returned a few minutes later still chuckling and mumbling
something about hiding the corpse flower in someone’s work station.

“Synapse,”
I said approaching the pair, “We need to move.”

Synapse
wiped her tears and stood up. “Sky, what happened on the day you were taken?”
Synapse asked.

“I
remember an explosion knocking the door out and then I was unconscious. I woke
up here and they told me I was going to be held for a few weeks…” she paused,
“How long was I in that tube? You look so different.”

“You
don’t know? It’s been ten years since they took you,” Synapse said.

“Ten
years? Shit,” said Sky.

“I
know. I thought you were dead,” Synapse said.

“Did
you… move on?” asked Sky.

“No I
could never. I looked for the man in the metal suit ever since that day hoping
to get justice. Turns out he was a robot that was stored here. I thought I
would never be whole again,” Synapse replied.

“Synapse,
we really need to go! We have to find the spikers,” Vine said.

“Who
are you guys?” Sky asked.

“These
are my friends Vine and Zero. I can explain everything once we get out of
here,” Synapse answered. We all started to move toward the door and as we were
passing a bundle of cables, Sky tripped over a large bunch. She fell but before
she hit the ground, she put her hands out to break her fall. We were all
surprised to see two wind torrents emerge from her palms. Sky was hovering
facing the ground with a shocked look on her face.

“I
didn’t know you had a spike,” I said,

“I…
uh…” she stammered.

“She
didn’t before she was taken,” Synapse said.

“I
remember that they injected me with something right before they put me in the
tube. I wonder if it caused this,” Sky said.

“We
can have Jet run some tests when we get back to the hideout. We could even take
her to Sanctum. We have a lot of the rebellion’s technology there,” I said.

“I
can live with that. Let’s move,” said Synapse. She disabled the special lock
she had placed on the door and stuck her head out into the hallway. She receded
back into the room and said, “Okay the coast is clear. Click on your
camouflage.”

Vine
and I both turned on our camo systems and became invisible to the naked eye.
Synapse opened the door and led Sky out. Vine and I followed silently behind
them as we navigated the large industrial hallways of Tartarus’ lower level.
The air was becoming thicker and thicker as we descended farther into the facility.
A smell of some sort of fuel hit me like a wall. It gave an indication of large
machinery nearby. I wondered what horrors lurked inside this labyrinth. We came
upon a service elevator that sat back at the end of the hallway. Synapse
pressed the button to call the elevator. The mechanism whirred to life and
began to pull the elevator to our floor. It was easy to forget that I was
invisible. I found myself still trying to stay near the wall and avoid sight.
The elevator moved slowly.

“Synapse.
I didn’t think you’d be back after the siege at the Pit,” said a voice from
behind us. We all spun around and saw a tall man standing behind us. He was
very intimidating and had a presence about him. He had dark skin and piercing
eyes. His hair was tight against his head and cleanly cut. He was built like a
tank and wore a military type suit.

“I
hoped I wouldn’t so I wouldn’t have to hear your horrible voice Tremor,”
Synapse replied.

“Still
cold as ice. Who is this?” he asked looking to Sky,

“None
of your business. I have my orders and I am sure you have yours, now piss off,”
Synapse replied.

“Touchy,
touchy. You better watch yourself. You may think that you’re untouchable but
when you least expect it, you may just find yourself in need of my help,” he
said smugly.

“I
seriously doubt it. If I ever need help overinflating my ego, I know who to
find,” she said. Tremor sneered and walked away cursing under his breath. The
elevator finally reached our floor and the door opened with a ding. We entered
swiftly and Synapse pressed the button marked F5. The doors hissed shut and we
started to descend.

“Who
was that guy?” Vine asked deactivating his camouflage.

“Tremor.
He is a lieutenant who thinks he should be a colonel. He has a gene spike that
lets him create earthquakes. They only use him in tactical situations which
makes him think he is special,” she said.

“Has
this guy been giving you issues the whole time you’ve been here?” Sky asked.

“No.
He is full of hot air,” Synapse replied.

“What
did you do for them this whole time?” Sky asked.

“I
worked in a special unit that carried out direct orders for Hades,” she
replied.

“Who
is Hades?” Sky asked.

“You
don’t know who Hades is?” Vine asked.

“Before
Sky was taken, we lived hundreds of miles north. We were out of Kraken’s jurisdiction.
Hades is the head of Kraken,” Synapse said.

“How
could you work for them?” Sky asked.

“I
had no choice. I heard about them and joined so I could use their resources to
find the man who I thought killed you,” Synapse said.

“You’re
completely done with them now right?” Sky asked.

“Yes
and after we finish Kraken off, we can settle down and rebuild,” Synapse said.

“I
would love nothing more. What exactly are we looking for down here?” Sky asked.

“We
are looking for spikers that were taken hostage by Kraken,” I said turning my
own camo off, “We are going to free some of them and get them to help us bring
Kraken and Armageddon down.”

“Why
only some of them and who is Armageddon?” Sky asked.

“We
wet through the list of spikers and conferred. Some are too dangerous and are
unknown variables we don’t want to take a chance on. Armageddon is a man that
Kraken is pumping gene spikes from all of the captured spikers into to make him
the4 ultimate weapon. They are going to use him to completely control the city.
If he is completed, then our rebellion is finished.”

“Where
is he?” Sky asked.

“We
don’t know,” Synapse asked, “We are working on freeing the spikers.”

“We
also have a little plan to bring down the facility after we’re done,” Vine
said. The elevator came to a halt and we switched our camo back on. The door
opened and revealed a large room about one hundred and fifty feet long with
cryo tubes lining the side walls. At the end of the room was a large metal box
with tubes running from the top of it. Seeing that there were no Kraken agents
in the room, I switched my invisibility off. Vine followed suit and we exited
the elevator. We passed by tube after tube and looked upon the faces of the
spikers who were forced into cryo sleep. I noticed a computer terminal in the
middle of the room and I approached it tentatively. The monitor had data
scrolling across it which was coded in some pattern or language which was
completely foreign to me.

“I
can access this,” Synapse said coming up beside me. She started typing away on
the touch screen keyboard bypassing security firewalls and deactivating the
defense protocols. She pulled up a manifest that contained information on the
spikers and the tube they had each been placed. “I can tell you which tubes
they are in and you guys can go release them.”

“Let’s
make this quick. We don’t need any unexpected trouble,” I said. She began
reading off names and numbers while Vine, Sky and I began opening the cryo
tubes she called out. Tube after tube was opened and we quickly had a group of
disoriented spikers gathering in the middle of the room. One of the more
noticeable spikers was Nova, a tall, muscular, white haired man about twenty
four years old who could harness, store and project nuclear energy. Next to him
was Quartz, a dark skinned woman with curly hair and an athletic build who
could control and manipulate earthy elements such as rock, mineral and mud.
Every other spiker we freed was released for a reason, but Quartz and Nova were
the two main spikers we had agreed to free. They both had combat experience and
considerable strength.

I
stood up in front of the spikers and said, “Everybody please listen. We came
here to free you so you could help us take our city back. We are the
Insurgency. Join us and help stop the tyranny.”

“We
are all with you,” Nova said. There were sounds of agreement from the other
spikers.

“We
need to get out of here. Everyone follow me. I know a way out,” Synapse said.