Wendy Emily Lucker & Rowan Campbell.
Written in collaboration with @Mr Allen J
Hailey Boulevard, Silver Hills.It was a long trip from Roseview, to Silver Hills. It took at least an hour in the RV because of the distance... and how the city's state is constantly degrading, it made it extra challenging.
However, they arrived in the Hailey Boulevard... a part of Baybridge that Wendy knew belonged to the science-y types. Most Metahumans stayed away from Hailey Boulevard because of the heavy Savior presence.
At this point, those close-minded racists can kiss her ass.
Though, Wendy briefly wondered how much the Family have a hand in the Savior Foundation. It might be a longshot, but Wendy was the type to think this kind of stuff out. But, her train of thought was ended when the RV parked in a Walmart's parking lot. She was staring out the window wordlessly the whole time. It reminded her of a road trip of sorts, except shorter... and with more at stake.
"Right," Jessica said, as she turned the keys in the ignition. "'Cordin' to the GPS, we're only a walks away from that pizza place."
Wendy nodded her head as she hopped up to her feet with a determined look in her eyes. She stretched her arms as she scrolled over to the exit. Wendy glanced at Rowan for a moment, and pondered if she should say something, but silence was easy at this point.
The group stepped off from the RV, and they slowly made their way through the alleyways of Baybridge in the off chance that the Family has goons wandering around... Wendy didn't put it past the Family to put them on some sort of hitlist.
It wasn't long before they caught sight of the Touchstone Pizzeria.
The trio had peaked behind cover, looking at the pizza place. It was a building on the corner of several other stores, and it was pretty big. It had to be because it's a major restaurant in Baybridge. It was made out of a nice, firm, wood, and had large windows. It was a good view of the intersection. If the Family owns this place, it would explain why it looks so nice (Why the Founding Family owns a pizzeria is beyond even Wendy). But, Wendy's sharp eyes had caught eye of a camera in clear view of the entrance.
Well, going through the front door would be stupid to begin with... but, having one camera over
one entrance would be stupid.
"Alright, follow me," Wendy said as she gestured for the rest of them to follow. The streets were pretty clear at this hour - everyone was home ready to defend themselves from the inevitable riot. They walked across the street towards the alleyway behind the pizzeria, very low, before they reached the alley.
Wendy put her hand up in gesture for them to stop. She peaked across the alleyway, and saw
three cameras. One pointing straight down at the door, and two other aiming down the opposite ends of the alleyway. Yeah, they really want their pizzeria to be secure.
Fortunately, Wendy had something of her own to bring to the table.
"Rowan, can you mess up those cameras?" Wendy asked as she reached into her satchel as she grabbed a battery.
Disrupting the cameras for a moment would be the best course of action. Since, Wendy could cover up the camera lenses... but, they would still record the audio and still hear them fully.She sapped some electrical charge out of the battery to activate her electrokinesis. She was going to take it from here.
"Gladly..." Rowan said, pushing up a field in order to scramble the feed, then reaching into his backpack to withdraw a can of paint. "I've got an idea."
"What kind of idea?" Wendy asked.
"Watch and learn, paper girl." He said, with a wry grin on his face. Light on his feet, the scrawny teen quickly snuck under one of the cameras he'd scrambled, then gave the can of paint a rattle and coated the lens with a layer of black paint. If his magnetic field hadn't done the job of obscuring the feed, this would have.
Once he was done with the other two cameras, Rowan shot a nod her way and gestured for them to close in.
Personally, Wendy would have gone without spraying the cameras - because now they know something's up here - but, it is what it is. It just means they have to be quick, and stealthy. For now, Wendy quickly moved in, her hands just had electricity
dancing across them.
"What?" Rowan asked as he got a dirty look from one of the others. "You wanted to send them a message. C'mon, they'll think it's just some crackheads."
"... Nevermind." Wendy said, as she moved over to the door. She had to be quick, she had to be quiet. She put a finger up against the lock, and channeled her electricity ability into it. Wendy sent electrical signals up into it, and manipulated the lock. A small click echoed from the lock as Wendy turned the door handle. She pulled open the door, and looked inside.
The second she opened the door, she heard a loud beep, and then she realized how stupid she was being. While she was so focused on the cameras... she forgot about the possibility of an alarm.
She took one look around, and realized that this door leads into the kitchen behind the restaurant... she saw the alarm control panel glowing in the darkness. Her eyes widened as she quickly dove towards it and put her hand on it. She sapped all the power out of it, and turned the machine off. The electricity that went into her hand only fueled her.
Wendy let out a sigh of relief as she looked back at her group. Now that security measures are out of the way, they have to find this secret entrance. The main tables are out of the question because of the off chance of someone finding it.
"Alright, everyone start looking around," Wendy said as she used her electrokinesis to close the door. "We need to find their secret tunnel."
"Imma give the kitchen a look with Kiri here," Jessica said as she slapped Kai on the back. Nearly making the tall girl stumble over. "Oh, sorry." Jessica said.
"Maybe me and Rowan will look at the office... or maybe the janitor's closet," Wendy shifted her feet awkwardly, earning a confused look from Rowan, who reached into his bag and withdrew a flashlight after he realized just how dark it was. "You think these guys would really hide in a
closet?"
"Well, yeah," Wendy shrugged. "They might try to throw off people like us."
"Alright, fine - we'll check the closet." Rowan said, entertained by the notion.
"Alrighty then," Jessica put her hands on her hips triumphantly. "Let's get to work."
Jessica began to thoroughly scan through the kitchen searching for a secret entrance while Wendy and Rowan left the kitchen to search for the janitor's closet - which is what Wendy wanted to get out of the way first just to see who's right here. Though, Wendy had zero clue where was what. It could've been anywhere.
They walked through the main room of the pizza place. A fancy looking wooden frame, and many, many, tables... and things that Wendy couldn't care about to gloss over. If there
was an entrance to their base in here, it would have to be so hidden that nobody would stumble across it by accident.
Wendy caught sight of a closet that looked suspiciously like the janitor's closet they were looking for and Rowan cracked it open after unlocking it from outside. Stepping inside, the two of them found what one might've normally found in such a place, shelves stacked with cleaning materials and equipment, yet at the far back was a space where the floor seemed to slope, with a metal hatch in the center, sealed in place by a locking mechanism.
After taking a closer look, Rowan decided to tear it up and see just what the hell this thing was hiding. With a little bit of concentration, the scrawny teen's magnetic field was able to twist this lock open, allowing him to lift it without he or Wendy actually needing to touch it. That made him smile just a little, knowing how far he'd come with his training that he had such a grasp over his abilities... he'd come a long way.
But that smile was wiped off his face when he saw what lay beneath the hatch. A ladder which led down a few meters below ground, before touching down at what looked to be a hard stony floor. From here, the odour beneath was musty and stale, almost enough it made Rowan's stomach turn.
"You think this is it?" He asked, looking towards Wendy with a look of uncertainty.
Wendy covered her mouth... but, had to suck it up. "Yeah, this looks like the place." Wendy agreed, nodding her head as she looked at Rowan. "Jess, Kai, we found it!" Wendy called.
Meanwhile, the scrawny kid had reluctantly decided to take the lead, shining his torch down as he made his descent. Once his feet touched the ground, it confirmed that, yes, it was hard stone, albeit damp. Very damp. The air was thick down here and the musty odor even worse. Whilst it wasn't
exactly as bad as a sewer could've been, Rowan couldn't tell the difference at this point and had to stifle a gag.
"This way..." He croaked, then shined his torch ahead, revealing that they were in a tunnel which seemed to stretch out for some distance. There
were lights down here, but they were so dim that one might as well have brought a torch just to be able to see where they were stepping.
Wendy, Jessica, and Kai slowly followed behind Rowan as they stepped into the tunnel. It was dark, and it smelled like a hospital... that really painted a bad picture of what's to come.
Their steps quietly echoed in resonance along the passageway, to the point it almost felt as though there more groups of people in the tunnel with them, behind and ahead. It was unsettling, to say the least. The tunnel seemed to stretch on, the walls lined with bricks and mortar, the occasional ventilation grid showing up every few meters along the way. Strangely enough, some of the bricks seemed out of pattern and newer than others, as though they'd been used to cover up previous openings in the tunnel. It raised certain questions, but nobody would've had the answer at this point.
When Rowan suddenly stopped in his tracks, it was almost jarring to the others, Wendy groaned, but didn't say a word, Jess almost let out a yell because she bumped into Kai, but they soon realised
why. At the end of his flashlight's beam revealed a riveted metal door, thick and heavy, with what looked to be a bolting mechanism fitted to the top and bottom corners. When Rowan pointed the beam upwards, it also showed a faded sign which read "MAINTENANCE ACCESS ONLY" and cited some obscure Federal law in even more faded, smaller font beneath the former.
"Think this is it, guys..." Rowan remarked, taking a couple of steps up to the door. He felt himself hesitating as the others followed up behind him. It was at that point that he noticed the access mechanism; a keypad with what looked to be a card-based swiping system.
Wendy gulped as she looked at the door. It was intimidating... she wondered what horrors would be beyond this metal door, but she had to remain strong. If her contact was correct, she would find Diana here. She put her hand on the door, and channeled her electricity into the the door. Wendy used her electrical abilities to interface with the door... before she realized she would need help.
"Rowan, Jess," Wendy said. "I could use a hand here...."
That brought a little confidence back in the scrawny teen, who was glad to be of some use. Planting both palms against the door, Rowan concentrated on the actual locking mechanism, exerting his own influence upon it in an effort to slowly open the way to them. Wendy did the same, but to a lesser extent because her magnetism powers weren't as strong as Rowan's.
Slowly, but surely, the old, heavy bolts gave way under pressure, a faint mechanical groan signalling that their efforts were getting them somewhere. Jessica jumped in, and grabbed onto the side of the door, and was the final push that helped them force the door open.
There stood the entrance, dark and ominous. Beyond the door was a t-shaped intersection of hallways, each barely illuminated by the dim lights overhead. The entire place was made out of concrete, and metal doors. It was... unsettling to say the least. Wendy sighed, as she looked around.
"Right, this place looks safe," Jessica joked... but Wendy could see the look on her face, she was terrified as the rest of them and was trying to break the tension. "So, where do we even start?"
"... I don't know," Wendy said, distraught, as she looked around.
"Hows about this?" Jessica said as she put her hand on Wendy's shoulder, flashing her a confident smile. "Me and Kiri go down one door, and you and Rowan go down the other? We meet back here in saaaaay.... twenty minutes? Regardless of if we find Diana or not.." Jessica said.
Nodding her head, Wendy agreed with a simple, "Okay."
She gazed into the darkness... Before she slowly stepped into the hallway as Jessica closed the door behind herself with her brute strength. Rowan pointed his torch down one of the hallways and set off, with Wendy in tow, the two of them cautiously venturing inside.
"Remember," Jessica said. "If anything goes wrong, make sure to give us a call and we'll be right there."
"Yeah, sure." Rowan said, "Uh... you guys do the same, yeah?" He added, surprisingly enough. He hadn't known Wendy's friends for long, but they'd grown on him. He wanted all of them to get out of here tonight, in one piece, with Diana in tow.
Nodding her head, Jessica flashed Rowan the peace sign, before disappearing into the darkness. Wendy and Rowan did the same.
Continuing on down the corridor, the two found themselves passing more doors, uncertain of what lay beyond them. It was quiet, however, save for the low echoes of their footsteps and the faint electrical buzz of the lights. Discarded cargo trolleys could occasionally be seen pressed against the walls, along with the odd power cable which ran from one side to the other. The floor beneath their feet was a metallic grating, which let off a low clink with each step upon it and through which one could see even more power lines running beneath them. Whoever had set this place up, they'd gone to great extents to prepare and conceal its infrastructure.
Eventually, the two hit what seemed to be a dead-end, with other doors which seemed to branch out elsewhere remaining a mystery. Neither of the two wanted to get lost in this place or, worse still, run into something that
didn't want them around. There was, however, what looked to be a door at this dead end and so Rowan passed his torch beam from one direction to another, trying to determine whether it actually led anywhere, finding that it was marked by a sign and a dull, glowing keypad next to it.
"RESEARCH B"It read, in bold lettering that a great deal more recent than the first sign they'd encountered. "Are we doing this?" Rowan asked Wendy, ready to pry the door open for her.
"We have no choice," Wendy said, nodding her head.
Approaching the door, Rowan paused as he searched for the locking mechanism, then repeated his earlier process of unbolting the door via the subtle influence of magnetic fields, then pushing the door open. He was slow and deliberate, so as to avoid alerting anything else that could've been around to their presence.
Instead, they were met with a strange odor.
As the door opened up to reveal the room within, both teens easily caught the faint scent of what could've only been disinfectant. The space here was clinical in appearance, clearly some kind of laboratory with a wide array of cabinets, tables, petri-dishes and desks scattered all over, along with various different pieces of what looked to be rather expensive medical equipment set up across the room, but the one thing that caught their eye was a large surgical table and opened curtain in a closet-sized room at the far side, with some kind of life support machine and IV system stood next to it.
As they closed in, Rowan's torch beam revealed that there were
marks on the table. Whoever... or whatever had used it, they hadn't gone to the effort of sterilizing it yet. Which meant it hadn't been too long since it had seen use.
Wendy loudly gulped as she stepped in the room. Okay, it didn't take a genius to piece together that this was some hell lab. She had an idea... due to the extreme eugenics the group has displayed, but now that she sees it in person, she couldn't help but feel concerned. What were they doing here? Crimes against humanity, yeah, but what kind? Well, Wendy's hands were shaking as she gazed inside.
"Um..." Wendy trailed off. "I hope we don't find Diana down here...." She said as she continued through the room, the only option they had at this point.
At one corner of the space was a computer with a printed notice taped down next to it. It read:
"These machines are to be used for RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. If I continue to find staff abusing equipment to watch porn or participate in online gambling they can personally explain themselves to the Director." Next to it was a plastic game case for a copy of Resident Evil 2, which showed just how much people gave a damn about the notice and made Rowan snort half-heartedly at the thought that the people here were in any sense "normal" and had "normal" habits.
"Find anything?" He asked, glancing back to Wendy as she investigated the other side of the room.
"I'm still looking around," Wendy said as she looked around. "This place is creepy... we should get out of here fast as possible."
"Yeah, you're-" Rowan stopped mod-way through his sentence as he heard a metallic clank coming from behind them.
The door! Like a rabbit smoked out of a hole, the scrawny teen bolted across the room, grabbed Wendy by the arm and yanked her into the surgical space, behind the confines of the curtain, then tugged it halfway shut.
They were just in time before the door jerked fully open, voices that were previously muffled now becoming coherent.
"... doors haven't been working properly for days. I'm telling you, this power outage is a fucking joke. All this does is tighten our deadlines and draw in unnecessary attention. Not to mention it's a god-damned
nightmare keeping our equipment operational on reserve power." Through a slim gap in the curtains, they could make out a stocky man wearing a lab coat.
"Whatever it is, they have their reasons for giving the order. If it gets results then it'll be worth whatever trouble it makes, even if we
are operating with a skeleton crew." The other voice belonged to a thinner man, of slightly greater height and who also wore a lab coat.
"We'll see. But I'd rather not compromise our work for the sake of assets that we may not even need in the long run." The first man continued, approaching one of the desks in the room. He seemed to be looking for something. "If that wasn't bad enough, security mentioned something about the exterior cameras being vandalized."
"Vandalized?" The thin man said, with what was probably a raised eyebrow."
"Yes, that's what I said. Something about them behaving strangely, then getting covered up."
That aroused an amused grunt from the thin man.
"Probably the work of kids. There's been a lot of vandalism complaints since the city went dark. Police have been stretched too thin to deal with any of it."
"Bah, just another reason why this outage was a mistake. Little shits'll be long gone by now... found it." The stocky man could be seen lifting a folder from the desk.
"Good, let's go. "
Within moments they were gone, the door shut behind them.
Wendy was holding her breath the entire time. Practicing holding her breath was easy because of her Mimicry ability. She sighed, and looked around. "... Looks like you were right, Rowan." Wendy agreed. "Thank God we closed the doors behind ourselves, or we'd be.. out of luck."
"Yeah..." Rowan said, with equal relief, though his optimism soon soured. "Shit, I screwed up. They know about the cameras."
"At least they don't think it's intruders," Wendy shrugged, looking at the bright side here.
He slapped himself across the face, before finally reaching into his bag and withdrawing one of the paint cans he'd brought along.
"Let's do what we came here to do, yeah?"
Nodding her head, Wendy wondered what they could mess up in here. Personally, she didn't see anything that couldn't be cleaned or replaceable. She leaned over and put a hand on Rowan's, pushing the spray paint back into his bag. As a gesture of having a better idea,
"Let's see if we can find a statue somewhere... and they have a statue of their leaders, believe me," It was Egotist 101, after all. Leaning back, Wendy continued, "That'll send a better message than messing up something in here... and we'll probably give ourselves away too early."
Wendy spotted the door on the other side of the room, and nodded her head as she walked over towards it. She was glad to get out of this room... it's creepy. Really creepy in here. They were soon back into the hallways of the lab - the other side. That eerie stench was following them all around, and Wendy was hoping that it wasn't a dead body.
Or, more importantly, it wasn't Diana in there.
The two slowly moved down the eerie hallways, which were, oddly enough, entirely silent save for a few sounds. Wendy was keeping her head up, and hoping that she could get through this without getting seen.
Heh... It'd be the ultimate insult to the Founding Family. Sneaking in and out, destroying a statue, while recovering her sister.
Wendy reached an ominous door... a metal door. She looked at the door, and could feel a chill coming from it. There was a sign above it, again labelled in bold.
"STORAGE A1. CONTROLLED CLIMATE"Wendy loudly gulped. This looked like a morgue... she didn't know if she could go in there. "I..." Wendy looked around. "... Think we go in there."
"You think?" Rowan said, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, masking how equally nervous he felt about the idea. But knowing they weren't alone in this place, he wanted to get them on the move again, and so he pried open the door.
As the door slipped open, both of the teens felt a chill upon them as cold air seeped out, steaming in contact with their hot breath. Rowan was glad he'd brought his hoodie along as he stepped inside, feeling a shiver down his spine as the freezing temperatures left him with goosebumps running down his skin.
Whilst the room itself felt and resembled the interior of a walk-in freezer, this was far more unsettling. There were several rows of shelves which stretched backwards with various assorted containers set on them. Each container was labelled, one of which Rowan went over to read.
Donor: [REDACTED]
MH: Y
Sex: Male
Age: 25
Blood type: O-Curious, though also somewhat unnerved, Rowan popped open the lid of the container and found what could've only been described as a dark red, fleshy chunk of tissue... a
heart."Oh..."
Wendy winced. Okay, this is fucked up. They have a heart... maybe it's from a man that recently died? Yeah, that's what Wendy told herself to make this any less disturbing. But, what Wendy was hoping was that she wouldn't find Diana here. She started scanning the room, every jar, hoping that she wouldn't find Diana's name.
"C'mon, Rowan," Wendy urged. "I'm looking for Diana's name, help me."
"Alright, but..." Rowan started, off as he joined her in her search of the containers. "Are you sure her name' could be in here?"
"No..." Wendy trailed off as she stopped for a moment. "... But, she could be."
"Even if we find something that says 'Diana', how do we know it's her?" He asked, still looking. "Just... don't give up, y'know?"
"I mean..." Wendy realized that Rowan had a point. "... Yeah, you're right. We should look elsewhere for something more... concrete, you know?"
"What about here?" He suggested, wandering over towards the other side of the room where a series of lockers set against the wall, all lined up in rows stacked on top of each other. They were labelled in the same manner as the containers.
Wendy raised her fingers across these doors... there were bodies in here. This would be more concrete than a heart. She started scanning each of the tags... and didn't see anything for Diana. No matter how hard she looked.
"Diana Lucker... I don't see her name here," Wendy said, honestly more relieved than anything her sister's corpse isn't here. "We should get a move on... this room gives me the creeps."
It was an odd room indeed, Wendy could sort through it, but the faster they get Diana and leave, the better. Leading Rowan out the other door, the two stepped into the hallways yet again. They were just wandering aimlessly, having zero idea where the prisoners were being kept. That was Wendy's best bet.
They were slowly moving through the oddly eerie hallways of this basement. She swore that she sees a fog. She took her mind off things for a brief moment, by trying to imagine what Jessica and Kai were up to-
There was a distinct shouting coming down the hallway behind them. Wendy's heart started racing as she desperately looked for a place to hide in this damn lab. She looked to the side, and saw a janitor's closet of sorts, and opened it up, and dipped inside. Rowan following behind her. She kept the door slightly ajar, peaking out of it. This place was so dark that it didn't matter unless they take a closer look.
"... I'm tellin' you I ain't no Metahuman!" A woman shouted, as she was being carted down the hall by two men wearing the same gear as the last two scientists the pair narrowly avoided. The woman appeared to have been wearing the armor of the Intimidation Unit.
"Doesn't matter," One of the scientists said, "The Blessed Three have said to put you into the Surger, and that's what we do."
"Is this supposed to be some cruel an' unusual punishment or something!?" The woman shouted.
"It's punishment for conspiring against the Family," The other scientist said. "You should know what happens by now."
The woman thrashed as she was carried off into the distance. Eventually, their chatter became indistinct. She wondered for a moment what they were talking about. This "Surger"... It was another question for Wendy, but she wasn't in any rush to solve this mystery.
Leaving the closet, Wendy gestured for Rowan to follow. They slowly went the same way that the scientists had, but kept their distance.
Slowly, but surely, the trail led them down the halls to another door, then the two came to a pause as more voices and other noises sound be heard beyond. Rowan glanced back at Wendy, then whispered. "Are you ready to go? Diana could be behind here..."
Nodding her head, "Yes..."
Affirmed, Rowan cautiously opened the door and took the first few steps in, ready for what lay beyond.
A great network of piping and power cables ran through here, a labyrinthine mass of circuit breakers and other electrical equipment marking the center, but at the other end of the room they caught sight of another door, where other noises could be heard.
They had to be close, right?
Wendy nodded her head. There was something beyond this area... something big. The Family most definitely was storing something here. If it wasn't Diana, what could it be? Possibly where they were storing the prisoners. Letting out a sigh, Wendy slowly proceeded on, with Rowan in tow.
After the scrawny teen had managed to pry the next door apart, Wendy soon got her answer as they stepped inside the next room. This room wasn't so much a room as it was a warehouse in size, coffin-sized storage containers placed in neat rows along the walls. Rowan wondered just how the sick assholes who had set this place up had managed to get all that equipment down here... at least, until he saw Wendy staring towards one particular corner of the room.
This elevator shaft that she was observing carefully was probably a quick way up to the building above this lab. It probably had a secret code to even go down this far! This underground laboratory couldn't have
too many levels to it - but, the Family had definitely surprised her before. The doors were also surprisingly wide... this elevator might have been for cargo. However, they should
prooobably steer clear of it in case someone comes by at a very
inconvenient time.
Rowan thought the same, or at least that was the impression he gave as he moved on, weary of who or whatever else was waiting up there for them. Instead, he seemed more intrigued by the storage containers, most of which were seated on trolleys as if awaiting use, whilst others were plugged into sockets at the base of the storage area, near yet another door which led even further into the maze-like complex.
Most of them seemed empty, however, judging by the lack of lighting on each... save for one, which had been clearly marked to indicate its importance.
FRAGILE CARGO - HIGH PRIORITY
Interaction is allowed under the Director's supervision only"... We should give it a look." Wendy said, praying it wasn't her sister.
Curious, Rowan tried to pry it open, but he felt the storage unit's heavy bolts resisting his efforts. Whatever was inside, they'd got it locked up tight.
Wendy briefly pondered what could be so valuable inside of this case. It could be something that the Family holds dear... maybe they'll smash it just to piss them off.
Undeterred, Rowan tried again, this applying a little more force and doing away with the delicate side of the procedure. There was a low, metallic groan as the container buckled against the magnetic force exherted against it and then...
"Holy shit!" Wendy shouted as something came flying out of the container - followed by a gust of freezing air. She caught what had come out of the container, and it definitely wasn't good. It was a fucking head. A head. Wendy winced backwards with her hand up as the head flew across the room, and came to a rolling stop. "... Okay, the fuck was that?"
Wendy couldn't bare to look at a severed head, but she had to confirm because it looked vaguely feminine.... It was a head, a woman's judging by the features, but warped by mutation. Her skin had dark grey patches across the right side of her face, with a single purple eye remaining whilst a mass of deformed flesh covered where her other socket should've been... there was no jaw.
The mere sight made Wendy sick to her stomach, and she just
had to look away.
Rowan shone his torch across her face and almost felt his own insides twisting up, yet... there was something familiar about it, in a vile, disconcerting way. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he'd seen whatever "thing" this head had belonged to before...
A chill ran down his spine as he saw not the woman's face, but the old man's... and at that moment, he lost his stomach and found himself retching in a corner beside the container. "Urgh... "
"Rowan, are you... okay?" Wendy asked, trying to get the face of... whoever the hell that was, out of her head. Because that severed head was truly disgusting.
It took another moment for him to regain his composure, wiping his mouth with a sleeve. "Yeah... I'm fine." His tone came across as a little dismissive, though when it looked as though Wendy was ready to push the matter he raised his other hand and pointed.
There were a few other articles resting in the container; vials of fluid, petri dishes with cell samples, clearly taken from the head or whatever else it had belonged to.
Her own curiousity beating Rowan's, Wendy walked over to the container, and looked inside. Wendy had carefully examined these samples... what could make this Metahuman so special that-
Her eyes landed on a name written on one of the vials.
Sarah Marino. The Devil of Verthaven."Oh shit..." Wendy looked at the head, then back to Rowan. "Rowan... all this... that is the Devil's head! You know, that crazy bitch that destroyed Verthaven?" And how couldn't anyone know of Verthaven? It was a massacre, almost a million people died - only around three hundred people walked away. After it happened, everything changed.
Now it had started coming back to him. ".... I know about Verthaven." He said, with a sullen tone.
"... My sister was in the middle of it, y'know?" Wendy solemnly said, recalling the great news that Wendy received when her sister was one of the few survivors of that disaster. "I'm... glad that she made it out alive."
"My... dad never stopped talking about it, either." Rowan said, with a little hesitation - he'd never brought up the old man around Wendy before. He'd heard the anti-metahuman rhetoric inspired by the disaster enough when the old man had dragged him along to one of those rallies, or brought it back home with him. "He wasn't there, though."
At that moment, there was a certain sense of bitter disgust that took a hold of Rowan and he found himself lashing out at the Devil's head, kicking it aside with enough force that it made an awkward, fleshy noise. "Let's just go, yeah?
"Agreed." Wendy said as she proceeded right out the door with Rowan behind her...
Right as they left, someone else came in. The elevator doors that they had previously passed had opened up as a group of scientists came in.
"Heh, we finally got the head." One of the scientists with a deep voice said as they slowly walked into the room. "About time. Why did it take us ages just to get a head?"
"Eh, who knows," A female scientist piped up. "Let's just get it into the cooler before Julia or Blake flips their sh-" She was cut off when they finally entered the room.
Seeing the spectacle of the Devil's container being split open by force, and her head on the ground, half caved-in from a boot. Everyone looked at the scene, slack-jawed because the sample they have is
ruined.
"... Sound the alarms." The woman said.
The two continued forward through the base. Moving from one lab to another. Unfortunately, they found no leads in this base until they arrived in the prison sector. Wendy knew that, without a doubt, Diana would be here. Even if she wasn't, Wendy was at
least going to release everyone here. The Founding Family did some fucked up stuff that
nobody should be subjected to.
It was a long, narrow corridor, lined with heavy doors at either side, each one bolted in place with a hatch in the middle. Coming from within a few of them were voices, pleading or murmuring - it was hard to tell out there.
Without a doubt, they were
cells."Alright," Wendy said, looking around. "Get these doors open, Rowan. We gotta get-"
That's when Wendy was greeted to the cacophony of footsteps coming towards them from one door, and she heard, "They're in here!" All of her thoughts were wondering
how. "S-shit!" Wendy shouted as she quickly looked around. There was no
way they could get everyone free with the Intimidation Unit on them. They needed to get the hell out of here because the plan has fallen through. She dropped on the ground, and her hand slapped the concrete with such force that it was turned red. Wendy's hand transformed into concrete for a few moments as the Intimidation Unit burst through the door.
They came in with their guns primed, and Wendy threw both of her hands in the air and flipped a giant chunk of concrete out of the ground and made it shield them as a barrage of bullets hit it.
"Run!" Wendy shouted as she quickly turned around and ran down the other hallway, Rowan following suit behind her.
From the other side of the wall, one of the heavily armored Intimidation Unit members ran up to the stone, and punched it hard as he could. Sending concrete in all directions as he pressed his earpiece.
"It's those brats again!"
It wasn't long before the two came out of the prisoner cells, and Wendy quickly looked left and right... to see the Intimidation Unit closing in from both sides. They would be cornered in a mere moment, unless Wendy acted fast. She tightly grabbed onto Rowan's wrist, and reached into her satchel, touching a piece of paper.
"Hold your breath!" Wendy shouted as she did the same trick with Rowan that she did weeks ago... a demonstration before all of this insanity began. The two of them turned into a cloud of paper slips that shreded itself into pieces, and the Intimidation looked on confused.
The cloud of paper appeared behind the Intimidation Unit, and quickly reformed into Wendy and Rowan. The two started hauling ass in that direction.
The problem with running around aimlessly was that Wendy had no idea about the layout of this base. The only idea she had was lose sight of them, before trying to find an exit... but, if they had two braincells to rub together, they'd have had the exit locked down. Wendy smacked herself in the head. They would need a miracle to get out of here alive.
Without thinking on it, Rowan turned his focus towards one of the bolted doors and clenched his fingers, then pulled, tearing it from its hinges. It brought them back onto the same kind of hallways they'd seen earlier, only this time the element of surprise was long gone - they rushed through, passing through more doors as they rampaged through the facility.
It took all of Rowan's might to punch through the thick frames, but in his desperation he pulled it off, until the two eventually ended up in an interesting part of this lab, even though they were running about aimlessly. A large foyer of sorts... which confirms there
is multiple floors to this base. Except it was dark, made out of cold concrete. The railings were oddly enough made out of wood. This foyer lead into many different hallways....
Once they made it to the middle of the room... that's when they sprung their trap.
The IU soldiers appeared from out of the dark hallways, and primed their weapons on Wendy and Rowan. And they were
everywhere. They had absolutely every angle covered, so it was difficult for Wendy to come up with an exit... that didn't already involve getting shot.
Wendy had no choice but to throw her hands up, and pray they wouldn't shoot. Rowan was reluctant at first, still on the defensive, but at seeing Wendy relent he finally did the same.
A few tense moments passed before loud clapping broke the tense silence. There was a group of footsteps coming from the second floor of the foyer.
Stepping out of the shadows was a tall man with black hair, and green eyes, wearing a fancy suit. Wendy thought that he was Ezekiel's brother was something until he saw his face. He was the one clapping, as his team of Secretaries followed behind him from the shadows.
"... Good show!" Blake shouted. "I came here to personally see the two troublemakers that liberated our... candidates, and made Ezekiel very angry."
Wendy was staring down the man, but kept her mouth shut as she tried to think of a way out of this. But, her eyes landed on a woman by Blake's side, and her eyes went wide, letting out a gasp.
"... D-Diana!?" Wendy loudly shouted, recognizing the woman.
Diana, dressed up in a fancy suit-dress combination, having her rather wild pixie-cut tamed, took Blake's side. She had an odd smile that was uncharacteristic of her.
"Holy shit, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Wendy shouted. "What are you doing up there!?"
"What am I doing up here?" Diana asked in a weird monotone. "I am doing my duty and serving Blake, I am his eternal servant, after all." She smiled widely, closing both eyes as Wendy could only look on in abstract horror.
Wendy's jaw dropped.
"...
What did they do to you?"
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