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DATE:7th of June, the 70th year after the Coronation
LOCATION: Concord Metropolis
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I was surprised to hear that someone like the Changeling wished for my help. Generally speaking, besides the UltraMan job she was was in a higher paying tier than me. How could the ability to shape in different bodies be compared to the Bullet Time I barely used in these past years?
I suppose that this caffeine ability is stronger than hers, but that is another matter. "The nameless", I didn't hear that in a while. It was my old codename, self explainatory as it would be guessed. Unlike mine, the changeling's identity didn't seem to be as private.
I don't know her real name and frankly I don't care that he lost his family. A ally against the Donn wouldn't be bad, but at the same time it is one more person who knows I am not dead. That isn't good. I thought about just killing her, but there would be no point. If she lied, she would have told the Donn already. I am not sure since when she knows I am alive, but with how sloppily I got faded these days I wouldn't be surprised if she was tailing me for a while.
Either case, that is a worry for another day.
What I need to do tonight is to get to that laboratory. I discussed with Alice that we would enter the underground facility at 10pm after we made sure the Dean left.
The hardest choice I needed to make was to choose wether to have the cocaine or caffeine. The cocaine was safer, would let me focus perfectly and could help me get out of trouble if I found myself in any. The caffeine could let me overpower the dean in strength, but I am not sure how else it will affect me.
Still, it seems much stronger and I need everything that I can get so the choice was obvious.
I was careful to not activate it by mistake and got dressed in the combat suit. It was reinforced with some auxiliary mesh to keep my pistols and boomgun, together with some magazines for them. The rest were in a small bag, together with the mines.
Alice also dressed in her superhero outfit. And I felt very dumb when I saw her. How could I forget that her eyes are the same as Liliam's!
Her costume glowed faintly in the darkness, a sleek suit of shimmering silver that hugged her form like liquid moonlight. Lunar patterns, subtle yet intricate, traced across her chest and down her arms, shifting with each movement as if alive with the phases of the moon. The material was light and airy, designed for speed and agility, allowing her to soar effortlessly when she lowered her own gravity to fly.
Threads of glowing light crisscrossed the fabric, mimicking moonbeams, and seemed to pulse with her power. A crescent moon-shaped visor rested over her eyes, its soft glow brightening as she called upon her abilities, enhancing the gravity of those around her with a mere gesture.
Her gloves and boots, adorned with celestial motifs, glinted in the light, each one crafted for precision as she manipulated the forces of gravity at will. Her costume was an elegant blend of mysticism and advanced technology, reflecting both the cosmic mystery of her powers and the futuristic world she protected.
She was surprised to see me in military tech, even to the point she wanted to scream. I suppose the skull shaped mask the Hao soldiers use didn't help this misunderstanding.
"I didn't see this costume in a while.."
She beamed with energy, as if I had just reminded her of something that she long had forgotten.
"Ahh! There was a heist some time ago, a certain man was bold enough to go to the teller and ask for money just as we finished tieing the robbers. I realized that it was you since we were at the hospital, but I never got to say it...
I was so shy back then, but I thought you were so cool! It really inspired me." To do what exactly? This is why I don't get her type. They see someone putting themselves in danger and they take that as courage. If she knew I did that just to get in time to buy a suit she wouldn't be so impressed.
"...But where did you get all this military equipment?" I didn't think about this question when I bought all that stuff... I had to improvise and quick.
" You would be surprised how much you can find on forums online." Such a weak response. As if this trained hero would believe that highly illegal and confidential equipment was just on and about for any civilian to get...
" Oh, yeah... You are right!" I almost had to slap myself at the side of this stupidity. How exactly did she rationalize this in her head? That I looked cool so it didn't matter? Is this how the so-called follower of the greatest hero acts? I was baffled, more so than at any of her past idiocy. Whatever. I had a lot to do tonight.
We waited until the time was right before going to the Warehouse. We couldn't actually confirm whether the Dean left, but that was by choice.
I thought about using a drone to spy on her, but I feared she would notice. If she did find out, our chances of her actually leaving were about zero so we chose to roll the dice.
We called John to get every hero he can to the Zenik Academy. After we saw what was inside we would arrest the Dean.
Before we started anything, I had to deactivate the cameras. I used my ability and I was hit again by that familiar pain. My heart was pulsating out of my chest and the sensation of drowning, my body being to fast to absorb the oxygen left me cradling in pain. I don't know how Blazer does this. Does his ability have some kind of catch that makes him immune to these repercussions?
Whatever the case was, I went inside and picked up all of the cameras. I wondered how to disable them before remember my interaction with friction.
If I were to time it right, I could snap the cameras by turning them just as my heart ticked. These objects weren't designed to resist such friction.
In the time I waited for the oxygen to be absorbed, I looked around the warehouse for The entrance to the laboratory. My intuition pointed to a suspicious lever that was connected to a suspicious slab of stone. No wonder the teachers husband found the lab. I thought about raising it with my ability but I didn't want to risk breaking the lever.
So when the time came back, I invited Alice to use her own power on it. I'm not sure why she hesitated to explain her ability yesterday, but now that I know her hero identity, it was clear. Her superpower was pretty famous, because it was very strong. She was capable of manipulating gravity either lowering it for herself or others to fly or increasing it for others. Did she really just want me to sleep earlier than normal? Why would she bother concerning herself with my schedule?
" You know I didn't think you were the one who made that earthquake." Oups, guess she knows.
" This is a stronger form of my ability. I don't have that much control over it."
" I can see that. But it is so cool! You are like.... Captain Time freeze!" Wait a second. How does she know how my power works? Up until now she was under the impression I had a form of super speed? She is quite smart for a moron. Almost scarinily so.
When we got inside,
Alice made the lever much easier to raise with her ability(this is also exploding her super strength). With my heightened senses I heard a mechanism activating under us and a trapdoor unveiled itself from the stone and cement. It was an underground tunnel.
I gave Alice one of the powerful flashlights and we followed the tunnel ruinous in nature and unkept, with stone tablets correct and full on from each ones decorated walls and ceiling. I could see on them figures of humans but with how much time took it toll on them, the figures were unrecognizable.
I took one of the mines from my backpack and put it in the tunnel. Unless you had a Hao ID 5 meters from it it would detonate. It wasn't an explosive device, but more so an electrocution one. It would passively fill the room with an electrically conductive gas, mostly composed of water vapor. When someone enters it's proximity it is zapped with the power of those electric execution chairs.
At its end was a giant wall of stone. Also decorated but now with marble plates. It was the portrait of a man, possibly the original Zilliam Crimson, But the paint was gone so I could tell only from the vague sketch that remained. For it being the legacy of their founder, his descendants didn't seem to care much for this "very important legacy". Although I suspect it would also be that wasn't worth the trouble to take care of this small tunnel. Food the secretive Zilliam family let repair workers know of the existence of this place?
Hopefully it won't cave in.
The key hole was his hand from what I could see. Well, an exhageration to call it that. The... "Hole" was a mold in the shape of the key that the figure was holding in his hand. I understand it would have been an extremely hard mechanism to implement, but at that point why even bother? The hand was on a plate that when connected with the key could be rotated.
I did so 180 degrees until it was in it's natural place. Then the plate locked.
The wall split in two, it's parts going into either the ceeling or the floor, revealing.... Even more tunnel.
I put another mine there before continuing.
We walked so much I think we left the school grounds.
I put the last one somewhere along the path.
At the end of it all, we entered a large hall, the dim lighting casting long, eerie shadows on the walls. A single containment chamber dominates the room, illuminated by flickering, sickly green light. Inside, a monstrous figure floats, its grotesque form barely discernible through the cloudy liquid. Its flesh is a patchwork of raw muscle, twisted and swollen, with too many limbs writhing beneath its surface. It doesn't seem.... Active.
We should keep it that way.
Along the walls, smaller test tubes are arranged meticulously, each containing tiny, unfamiliar forms suspended in murky fluid. They're not human, but not quite monstrous either-small, delicate things that twitch faintly, as though aware but helpless. I can't tell if they are failed creations or experiments in progress, their strange, distorted features barely visible through the glass.
The air is thick with the scent of formaldehyde and metal, tinged with something organic and rotting. Machinery hums quietly in the background, punctuated by the occasional hiss of steam. The monstrous figure in the tank shifts slightly, and the unsettling sound of wet flesh against glass sends a chill down our spines. At least for Alice, she was visibility disturbed.
"What? No.... No way...." She approaches the vat, but doesn't reach it before her legs give it. She was horrified.
"H-how could they have done this?" Were these clones in the making? Was that central... Thing human? Or was it created by Zilliam? Did he have more people on this experiment?
Seeing her lost in thought, I looked around the many desks littered with paperwork. I couldn't decifer them as they were also written in that Cordian Ancient. But the sketches? Them I could understand.
Zilliam Crimson was trying to evolve the human race, be it for his personal gain or for others. In his letter it let to be known that he did this to rule over the Academy as he "didn't trust" others with the fate of the world.
This must mean the current Dean is either his reincarnation or perhaps a descendant that had his memories implanted in them.
By the state of this facility, it really was closed off to the world. So what did the teacher's husband discover? Was it really this place?
Or....
"I am sorry it has come to this." I shot my head back and Zilliam was standing at the entrance of the Hall. She had her hand raised and a strange kind of light was emanating out of it.
I raised my pistol, but before I could shoot, the room was flooded in her light and I lost my conscience. When I woke up I was still in the lab, but it was much larger. Tubes upon tubes of those smaller of those smaller experiments surrounded us, and that central one, it was gigantic.
The place I found myself in had no roof. Above us was only a mixture of white and clouds.
Where the hell am I?
I saw Alice still on the ground near the central tube, but now much farther away. So I ran.
I screamed in her direction, but she didn't hear me. She was talking with... Zilliam?
As I got closer, I finally heard what the Dean was saying:
"This is for the Good of the world Alice. You have to believe me!"
"No! H-how? How could I ever forgive you for this!" Alice got on her feet and prepared to strike back.
In turn, I pulled my pistol and shot Zilliam, but she looked in the direction of my fiery metal and they were disintegrated.
"I won't have you cause harm in my domain William." Damn. Her domain? No. I lost consciousness, I was sure of it. We were inside a dream, and her? She was more than likely still conscious outside this realm. I have to stop Zilliam.
Alice tried to use her powers to glue the Dean to the floor, but nothing came out of it.
"And that goes the same for you Alice! I am sorry, but if you go against the peace he fought so much for...
No, he was right. I'll have to eliminate you too."
She gripped her hand and we were both pulled towards her in the air. Then she started choking us with this power.
I was losing air and fast.
Wait.... Air?
And... This is a dream?
Hahaahhahahahahahahahah! Why didn't I think of this earlier! I gave away all of the air in my lungs and I woke up.
I was tied on the ground, together with Alice. Zilliam was preparing some kind of device, possibly the weapon with which she killed Pamela.
I was locked with Zip-ties. Not very secure now Ms. Dean. I suppose she didn't expect me to wake up. My heart was pounding harder than last time. Was it stress? Or perhaps the fact it was the second time I activated it. Either way it was harder to time my movements with the beats.
I first started by turning my hands inwards and the plastic snapped with a few tries.I did the same for my legs. I really hoped this place wouldn't cave in as it was visibly shaking under my feet. The walls themselves pulsated with me.
Should I kill Zilliam? She did try to kill us. But I was also wrong. She isn't the founder, so this means his immortality failed. It could also be that I was lied to, but I shouldn't act on that presumption.
I raised my hand and gave her a slap.
Her skin got burned where I hit her.
I then gave her a punch to the stomach.
She didn't move much, but I assume the effect would be greater after I return time to normal. I got away and did just that.
Her cheek sparked in flame, but subsided after some time and her body was sent into the wall. The whole room shaked horribly and I was having a hard time staying on my feet. I went prone and cut Alice's restraints while the lair sounded like breaking. She still wasn't awake so I slapped her into sense.
Then we stayed like that a little more. When the movement subsided I saw Zilliam trying to raise on her feet. Her face was half burned and she was puking blood heavily. I didn't expect to hurt her so much.
She wanted to raise her hand, but Alice was faster.
"Stay Down!" This made the injured woman fall to the ground. The stone was shaking, but in a different way from my unnatural movements. It was being pressured by an outside force. Her force.
"It's over Zilliam. This monstrosity.... It has to be destroyed! Was she talking about the larger tube? Perhaps Crimson explained whatever it was.
" I won't let you take him away. No! If it comes to that, I'll..." I could hear something breaking from Zilliam. Was it her jaw? No, she activated something.
I could hear growling behind me. She activated the monster? Was she insane.
" Alice, let's get some distance. Quick!"
The tube was giving out just as the flesh's intensity heightened. It was going out of the tube's cracks.
" What the hell is that thing!?"
She looked at me disappointed, then at the woman bleeding on the ground.
" It is... The founder..." So his immortality did fail. What the hell was she thinking to let him out? Or perhaps.... It is my fault? I did break this room somewhat so the restraints may have been affected. And still, I was almost out of action.
I drank a shot of the professor's substance to alleviate my pain. They wouldn't be a good combination together, but it also wouldn't be good for me to go unconscious here. Not a second later and the glass exploded in all directions.
The monster was out and trying to kill us.Alice tried to restrain it, but his form was beyond the logic of our world and barely affected by the gravity that was pressing his general direction into the earth below.
I activated the original bullet time I took my shotgun pistol to empty it in the general direction of the monster.
Then I opened my backpack and took out all the grenades I bought. I took their pins and threw them in the general direction of the former Dean.
In a situation like this, the difference between my two forms was clear. On caffeine my body, although outside the rules of motion regarded by the universe, acted with the set rules of interaction like momentum, friction or resistance. This is why it should be more correct to call it the "Perfect time". It is clear that I am in fact faster than everything and henceforth affect it as of I had that speed. The beat of my heart is just my mortal body's way of trying to adapt to that speed. The original Bullet Time works with the same restrictions as Blazer's speed. I am not faster than my environment, just that everything else is slower. The grenades lose their momentum when I let go of them.
This is interesting. Yes, no wonder, for I never hurt people when touching them with Bullet Time. On the other hand the Dean is almost dieing.
Still, this wasn't the time for introspection. I let time resumed and was greeted by the many explosions set in motion.
The creature cried in pain while the ceeling was caving in. But Alice didn't let it.
She used her power to have it remain still. She was smart as we had to let the heroes take these things as evidence.
But the monster was still alive and recovering from the pain I inflicted. So I decided to help her out.
I took out what remained of my suit's spare liquid and pressed it with some flint before throwing the thing in the direction of the ceeling.
"Will!?"
It exploded and sent us flying in the tunnel, but we quickly returned to the lab while I heard a big "Zbang" .
There, we saw the moonlight. It lit what remained of the room in an uncanny serenity. Was the deed done? Could I finally rest?
My improvised explosive had sent away both the stone, the ten meters of dirt above it and the asphalt above that, but it wasn't enough to push everything from what it seemed.
The monster had been hit from falling asphalt and now resembled more a puddle of blood and flesh. Surprisingly the lab itself wasn't destroyed and the explosion reacted in the direction of the sky. I heard from the chef that the Hao substance was liquid thunder. Could that have been the cause?
Searching for Zilliam, she was covered by a pile of debris. I had to help Alice uncover her, but I wasn't sure if the body that remained was dead or unconscious. She was quite disfigured, her hands and feet having been broken either from the shock of the explosion or the asphalt that fell.
Above us we could hear many sirens, from the police firemen, ambulances, they had a really good response time if they came by themselves. I don't think John called all of them.
Relieved, I fell on my knees hit with severe exhaustion. I had used my abilities too much this night. I could feel my muscles exploding with every move. Alice hugged me saying that that "It's alright", that "we succeded" and that "I can rest" but her insistence only made me keep my conscience. Two heroes jumped into the hotel I formed to observe the situation while policemen illuminated us with flashlights from above. It was.... John I think, in his hero suit and another one I couldn't recognize.
They called out to us, but I heard their words blurred. My eyes were tired. I was tired. Letting go of any strength into the lap of this small girl, I closed my eyes.
It was done.