EVOLVE

Oh and we are watching all this from a pair of binoculars each quite a distance away.

"It could be a front. Like cheese to a rat." Says Marc

In other words a trap, which may or may not be right. But we gotta believe either that he"s in there somewhere or at least there"s a computer or something.

In my pocket is a small USB with something Janice explains as a backdoor for her to get in we find a server room or some such thing.

The only problem is where to look, we were only limited to our rooms, the simulator arena, the canteen, doctor"s rooms and the Rec rooms. I can"t honestly say how deep it runs underground or what was behind that vending machine Euroc Carmichael first appeared behind on my first day back then.

"What are you thinking about?" Says Nicole, she"s looking at me with the intensity of a person trying to figure out what I"m thinking.

"The first time we were in there the walls moved around creating limited pathways for us to about five rooms and I"m just wondering how much of that place those rooms actually represented, could be most of it, could be a small piece of it. We might get lost." I reply looking over at Marc as I finish speaking.

She"s the only one of the five who wasn"t experimented or monitored, I just realised that. I also just realised we don"t really have much data on what they were looking for inside of us other than this nameless immunity gene, there must be a reason why we were in the regime we always were in that includes those onesy super suits.

"He might not be in there, could be a front maybe we get inside and find a snare trap waiting inside we can"t get out of." Says Marc echoing a thought I"m trying to bury

"Maybe but we"ll never know for sure until we get in there." I say.

"I have an idea." Says Nicole.

To my surprise and apparently Marc"s because he looks at her with the same curious look that"s on my face. She starts speaking using the looks on our face as confirmation to go on.

"We"re obviously gonna start by beating up the guys on the outside, why not take one of them inside as a guide, I mean between us three we could probably get creative with inflicting pain if we needed to." She says with that childlike innocence of hers.

Marc and I exchange a look. It isn"t actually a bad idea.

"It"d make navigation easier."

"And they might actually know where exactly to find Carmichael."

"What if they refuse to speak?"

"Like Nicky said we get creative with pain."

Marc and I say this back and forth discussing the idea amongst ourselves.

"I"m still here you know." Nicole pipes up.

"Let"s do it." I say to Marc ignoring what Nicole just said.

"Well alright then then that"s one part of the plan. Whats the other?" He asks

I bring those binoculars to my eyes again.

"We need to bring down that drone first, it"s maybe armed. Nicole that"s you in dragon mode, however you can." I say then switch my gaze to the ground forces.

Two of the five walk along the west wing and the other two along the east wing. The fifth man stands at the front by the entrance, one man from the west and east wing patrol pop up at the front and look about for that 30seconds to a minute depending on if they choose to talk or not. At the front it"s three people to deal with. The other two, one from the west and one from the east meet around the back and wait the same amount of time, which is two people to deal with.

The drone above is left isolated and out of earshot when the patrol is on the move toward the front or so it seems. Nicole would need to grab it and take it away, destroy it somewhere where it"s destruction won"t be too loud. Marc and I would need to be quick, guys out back first, then their patrol partners, we"ll take the dude at the front as our guide.

______________________________________

I fly low in the dark, so low I can smell the ground, Marc stands on my back using his enhanced agility to stay on like my back like I"m a skateboard, he"s slightly crouched, of course I have strength on to support his weight but it still feels uncomfortable. I come to a stop and he jumps off landing light, I straighten up and crouch next to him. We wait but not for long. Nicole is a flash of darkness through the night sky, in the quick she flys toward the drone taking it with her as she flys past over our heads. The beating of her wings a whisper.

Marc and I wait for the loud boom of fire and sound of an explosion, it comes but thankfully it"s not loud. Right on time the two from the east and west pop around the corner and nod at each other just as I nod to Marc to start our a.s.sault.

He fires a quick blast of electricity into east"s chest as me melts out of the dark, he"s out in an instant west looks over puzzled, enough time for me to rush him, I connect flush with a hard right across the jaw and he"s down.

We move for the ones at the front on opposite sides, I lose sight of Marc courtesy of the walls between us. The second west guy is looking right at me, he smiles and touches his neck activating a helmet moulds around his head from the neck of his suit like Iron Man"s bleeding edge armour it forms a sleek black visor in front of his face.

I gotta say all in all this dude looks really cool standing there in mystic.

He moves fast, faster than a normal person should but no super speed Carla fast more Usain Bolt he"s on me in the quick so I put up my strength just in time to absorb the hit which feels like one of my energy bursts eminate from his knuckles, it sends me backward and on my back I roll quickly to a knee ignoring the pain.

His suit is now glistening a little bit like the night sky peppered with glitter, he charges again and in reaction to at least try and slow him I pound the ground letting a shockwave of energy pulsate in his direction like a heartbeat. The ground cracks and earth explodes through concrete, he"s slowed slightly but dexterous like Marc in a way. He jumps high maybe five meters into the air side arm in hand he fires just as I throw up my palms to fire some energy upwards to deflect the bullets.

Not fast enough fortunately , two hit the ground, and unfortunately one goes straight through my hand first then into the ground.

He lands superhero style right next to me our eyes lock, well more like I"m looking at my own reflection off his visor.

I stand quickly ignoring the pain in my hand to throw a punch that"s parried I extend my other hand to shoot a stream of energy but this time as he"s about to block I let a pulse out through entire body.

This catches him off guard and puts him off balance, that"s all I need. I pounce grabbing him then shoot straight up into the air and release him, he hurls toward the ground flailing about in as though there"s something to grab onto but air before hitting the ground with a sick thud...

I land next to him and hes barely moving,.

I mount him, pinning his arms under feet and go to town on his face with a barrage of fists that break apart the visor and I stop until he"s motionless but no dead and my hands are a mix of his blood and mine from my hand wound.

I stand and walk around to the other side where Marc had gone and he"s not there but his guys are laid out.

A yell sounds right at the front where the first guy would be.

I kick off the ground and push forward swiftly toward, I turn the corner to found Nicole and Marc standing over the tied up and squirming fifth man, our guide.

"Who was yelling?" I ask

"He still had a trick up his sleeve says Marc brandishing a small knife covered in fresh blood.

I look at it then back at him, and only now do I notice him clutching at his side.

"I"m fine." He says just as I"m opening my mouth to speak.

"Let"s just get this done, T can patch me up when we meet up with the others." He says again.

To which I simply nod. Just as long as he doesn"t die on me.

I stoop down and look at the tied up fifth man.

"Euroc Carmichael, is he in there?" I ask him

To which he answers by just staring at me. He doesn"t answer, so I smack him and I smack him hard, he spits out blood and looks dazed so I smack him again across the other cheek.

"The way I see it we can be out here breaking stuff and burning bits and maybe electrocuting innards until you tell us if Carmichael is in there or not or you could just spill now." I say

He looks at me shaking himself out of the daze, no fear in his eyes rather it"s a more calculating the situation kind of look like a part of him is aiming to know if I"m serious about doing the things I just vaguely promised and I"m hoping I"m as deathly serious looking as I just sounded.

"He"s inside." Says the dude.

"Great. Lead the way." I say, Marc"s starts crackling with electricity a way to motivate our unwilling guide.

Marc leads the way inside after tagging our unwilling guide"s key card to let us in.

As we walk down the hallway toward the elevator Nicole pulls me back.

I look at her confused, "what"s up?"

"We weren"t really gonna do the stuff you said we would right? I mean I know insinuated it too but you were a little more serious." She asks in a whisper.

"Uhh I don"t know, maybe, yea, no. Maybe." I whisper back. To which she raises an eyebrow and shrugs.

With that bit sort of ironed out we go into the elevator which seems different from the last time we were here, the day we broke out. To be fair when we got out back then we caused a lot of chaos and stuff none of us were noticing too many details on surroundings.

Our unwilling guide presses for the fifth and lowest level, the elevator descends quickly, and of course there"s that awkward elevator silence that always seems to happen somehow heck there isn"t even any elevator music to normalise this somehow.

I gotta say something right?

"Get ready, might be a fight when the doors open." I say clearing my throat.

Right on cue the elevator slows and comes to a halt before opening up.

My body is tensed up and I"m ready to go as the doors slide open with a low hiss.

The doors open to reveal a wide brightly lit curving empty hallway, a few doors line it, it"s like the areas we were herded in but with more doors.

Hallway may be empty but I don"t let my body relax though.

"Which door?" Marc asks our unwilling guide

"Right at end of the hall, you can"t miss it." He says

"And where were we held?" I ask a.s.suming he knows we were here.

"A few levels up."

"And the reality creating arena?" Asks Marc

"It"s on this level."

Marc and I change a look of confusion.

"What about the ever changing Rec room? And the doctor rooms? And the cafeteria?" I ask

"First level and third level and fifth levels respectively."

Again Marc and I look confused.

"That"s impossible, we never went into any elevator to get to the arena or the Rec room, the doc"s offices sure but the others you"re lying about." Says Marc with a look like he wants to electrocute the dude.

"I"m not lying. And who says just because you felt like you were in the same place that you weren"t movin"." He says with a rye smile.

"That would mean an entire floor or room would have been in constant movement to keep the illusion going, we"re underground that"s impossible." Says Marc

To which our unwilling guide begins to laugh at hysterically.

"Underground?! You kids honestly believe you"re underground!? Man they said you really had no clue but I didn"t think it was this bad." He says.

"What are you talking about?" Asks Nicole

"No one knows what the h.e.l.l this place is, yeah maybe Euroc Carmichael could tell you if you asked him but it sure as h.e.l.l ain"t underground. Whatever their bases are they defy the laws of everything, walls move, rooms move from one corner to the other at their discretion. I only know where his office is today because he wants you in there," he says nodding down the hall, "most days its hidden, he comes out of the walls scaring everyone that works here from us the guards to the scientists."

Now it explains how he came out from behind the vending machine on that first day, but how would he be able to move places around like that and if we aren"t underground where are we? For some reason I think of Marlea because this sounds like some alien technology of sorts unless once again WECA wants to prove we"re out of our depth.

"The way you"re speaking you make it sound like only he can move the pieces of this place around." Says Nicole

"Him and the other big shots, not that we ever met the others but they been here." Says the unwilling guide.

Marc looks at me and I put a hand up before he can speak, and ball up the other into a first then punch the unwilling guide between the eyes and nose so hard I feel bone crunch, he crumples to the floor in a heep blood pouring out of his nose.

"He"s expecting us, you sure this is still a good idea?" Asks Marc

"Not like we can turn back now." I say gesturing behind Nicole.

The elevator is gone, where it stood is now a wall.

"s.h.i.t." Says Marc as Nicole feels the wall.

"It feels pretty real to me," she says trying hard but failing to hide the awe in her voice.

"Well since we can"t turn down the invite." I say as I"m now walking down the hall.

The unwilling guide was right we really couldn"t miss the door at the end of the hall. Firstly because it was a big door, stretching from ceiling to floor and one end of the wall to the other, made of some sort of black crystal looking metal. Secondly because as we approach it, it begins to peel away like hundreds of small insects scurrying from a flame emitting a skt.i.ttering sound like someone who dropped m&ms. The inside is revealed quickly.

Artificial sunlight shines through from the far end of the room we now enter illuminating an almost dome like oval shaped office.

A desk sits dead center with an empty chair and a computer on the table.

The area around the desk and chair is surrounded by gra.s.s patches arranged into intricate symbols and shapes.

All around and on other ends of the room are chairs and couches of different types, makes and shapes.

And right by the window is a piano and by it his silhouette outlined by the artificial sun is Euroc Carmichael and I must admit he"s playing a really nice melody.

The skittery sound comes again as the door seals us inside.

We approach slowly and cautiously and I"m half expecting black shadows to pop out of the ground and tie us up like I had been tied up. But something tells me Euroc Carmichael really is alone.

He turns to acknowledge us with a smile and despite not lookinng at his fingers he keeps finishes off his melody perfectly then slamming the keys shut and turning.

He regards us for a moment then snaps his fingers, blinds begin falling down covering the window and at the same time the ceiling lights begin coming on getting brighter as the blinds close, finally reaching full brightness when the blinds block out the sun completely.

He"s dressed as usual in an emaculate white suit with the addition of white gloves.

"Would you like anything to drink?" He asks us like we"re guests who arrived right on time which technically we are.

Marc moves quickly catching me off guard, his enchanced agility on he vaults over the desk and throws a bolt of electricity which Euroc calmly blocks absorbs with one hand and releases the same bolt with the other, it hits Marc square in the chest sending him flying into one of Euroc"s many chairs.

Marc kipups then throws two bolts, I don"t stop him because I"m curious to see Euroc"s catch and release trick again.

And he doesn"t disappoint, he dodges one which singes one of the gra.s.s patches but he catches the other. Rather he absorbs it through the glove he wears, his suit flashes ever so slightly and the bolt exits out his other hand this time Marc vaults over the shot and the bolt goes through a chair.

"Ohhh I liked that chair." Says Euroc.

"MARC." I say before he can move again which catches his attention, "Wait."

"Why?" He asks angrily, "It"s what we came for isn"t it to kill him!"

"Oh I know why you came. Question is can you?" Says Euroc which provokes Marc.

I lift off the ground and land in front of Marc before he can do anything.

"I can still go through you with my third ability." He says.

"Yea I know you could literally walk through me, but wait. We still do what we came here to do but you know we need answers, even to questions we haven"t thought of asking yet." I say

He"s still angry but he knows I"m right. And how the h.e.l.l am I the calm one right now?

Euroc Carmichael slow claps which makes me turn to face him, he takes a seat at his desk.

"Now there, right there you"re thinking like a leader." He says with a point.

"Why let us find you? We hear you could have made sure we didn"t." I say.

"True. In fact I could have made you wander these walls lost for a very very long time if I wanted to." He says

"And the day we got out?" I ask

This draws a dark look from him, "A lapse in judgment, call it a lowered guard, a mistake that"s all."

"Right... But you still haven"t answered my question." I say

"Yes, yes the why." He looks thought or at least pretending to be thoughtful

"Honestly I feel you"re so ill prepared and malnourished when it comes to knowledge. I simply thought I"d feed you some knowledge then afterwards see if you can deliver on the promise you made the world an hour ago." Says Euroc

This draws a low grow from both Marc and Nicole and honestly it irks me too.

"Like what exactly?" I ask

"Like do you really think WECA is some privately funded organisation that just appeared, saved everyone by bringing order, catalogue and identifying and controlling abilities, now by the way seeking control? Who would have the money to fund an organisation this big, I mean look at the technology!" He says

"You"re speaking in riddles." Says Nicole

"No child, you"re not listening. WECA was always there, in the shadows but it was never from here not earthly but always there feeding technological leaps and advancements through out time. You spoke of evolution in your little video but they have been defining the very word for decades.... That is until they got tired of waiting for us to find our way and use their snuck in gifts to do something spectacular. So what do you do if you"re a secret alien organisation looking to come out of the closet and have it seem normal?" He says baiting us in as if we know the answer.

"You create a spectacular event." Says Euroc with a quarter disappointed expression and mostly excitement.

He waits for what he said to process in our collective heads. Marc, Nicole and I exchange light bulb moment expressions.

WECA were behind the event. Wait but would that mean Marlea is a WECA alien?

"There it is, that mind explosion when it hits you." He says with yet another smile.

"The event...." I begin

"Was WECA"s doing," he says finishing off, "or at least they had a hand in it and of course a stake in it as well but they were never masterful at genetic manipulation. Take the B2T3s for example, yes they adapt in battle and are incredibly vicious and heed instruction but that"s not even close to what they were going for when they made those, but admittedly they"re great foot soldiers."

It takes a second to figure out that the B2T3s are actually the black forms.

"Then why didn"t it all go wrong with us?" Asks Marc

"As I said they sought help, admittedly I don"t know from whom. Well no one human in WECA knows, the rumor is not even our alien founders know for sure who they dealt with or what lies at the end of whatever bargain they made." Says Euroc.

Could these mystery genetic masters be Marlea"s people? I"m gonna go with yes and from what she"s said to me thus far there is certainly something big coming from them soon that is if indeed Marlea is whatever the WECA aliens partnered with.

"Why tell us all this?" I ask

"Kid, you gotta start somewhere with knowing something." He replies

"Riddles again." Says Nicole

"This time around, yeah."

"This place what is it?" Asks Marc.

"This is a place out of s.p.a.ce and time and somehow still a part of it, technological and yet metaphysical and somehow universal. Pretty much all WECA bases are designed like this." He says as he stands.

"And who controls them?" I ask

"Executives like myself and the founders if they ever come." He says. "Now I"d say I"ve fed you some knowledge and i a.s.sume you have something to retrieve more from my computer there, however I did promise to see if you could deliver on your death threat and I"ve been itching for a proper fight for many years now."

He swishes his hand and the table sinks into the ground and the hole it opened up from closes. That skittery sound comes again this time from all around the walls themselves peeling apart and moving back making the room bigger until it"s the size of a small arena.

"Now then come and take your first head. If you can." He says suddenly gettting deathly serious.

Nicole changes into her dragon form, and Marc takes a stance other than that none of us move. Euroc Carmichael"s eyes dart from one to the other to me.

He purses his lips as if to say alright then.

He then dashes forward in a flurry of white then he leaps into the air into a spinning heel kick that I can"t dodge and barely block, it lands with such a force my bones ache even as I push myself backward gliding away from him.

Marc and Nicole go for him in tandem, Nicole swipes a claw then her tail and spits a small fireball. All of which are dodged with ease, save for the fireball which he catches and absorbs but does release.

He moves like a skilled martial artist master.

He blasts Nicole with a quick fire sonic scream sending her screetching backward leaving a long skidmark on the floor.

Marc goes in while he has his back turned, his body is practically glowing with the electricity crackling off him.

He fires off electric streams in kick form. Again Euroc dodges both and fires a quick fire sonic blast, Marc back flipping over and over and lands in a low crouch he too dodges Euroc"s attack.

I sometimes how good a fighter that dude is.

My ears have started ringing at this point. And it only gets worse with that sonic blast.

Euroc"s suit glows with a bright red tint, he points his palm at me and an absolute explosion of fire shots out headed straight my way moving too fast for me to dodge.

Either I do something or burn

.

So I clap my hands together clearing a path down the middle of the flames using my energy projection but the fire"s still so hot I feel it singe the fine hairs from my skin and a some of hair and heat up my clothes.

The fire dissipates, the ground and I both have a bit of smoke and skin coming off us.

"Decent, and mister leader good counter just now." He says with a wink. "Now let"s go again, my move let"s crank it up a bit shall we."

He flexes his shoulders, cracks his neck and his suit glows so much it might as well be sparkling then it goes back to normal fabric white, then he moves pushing off with so much ferocity the air explodes in a small boom. He"s on me before I can even process the blur of white. I"m up in the air with a hand around my throat legs flailing then right back into the floor hard, the wind gets yanked clean out of me so much so I can"t gasp from the pain shooting up and down my back.

Marc jumps over me throwing an electrified swipe kick that Euroc dodges Matrix style, Marc yanks on Euroc"s jacket to change direction mid air twisting, he comes down with an axe kick aimed at Euroc"s chest his foot with an electric concentration so intense I feel the air buzz.

But instead of it crashing down on Euroc, in the blink of an eye it"s Nicole that the electric axe kick somehow Carmichael switched places with Nicole, she roars in pain.

I look over to see Euroc standing calmly where Nicole stood just a second ago.

He didn"t just pull a subst.i.tution jutsu Naruto style did he? That"s crazy right? Is it crazier that I think that"s cool.

I"m on both knees and forcing myself to my feet just as Nicole hits the floor pa.s.sed out and back in human form, the clothing around the center of her chest burned on in a crater like shape and the visible skin black.

I scramble over to her and thankfully she"s still breathing, I wipe off the black on her chest and it comes off like soot.

Marc also kneels across from me afraid to touch her, his eyes asking the question but his mouth too afraid to form the words. I simply nod in rea.s.surance to which makes relief flood his face.

"One down, what will the other two do." He says fully aware of just how in control he is of the current situation.

"We need to figure him out somehow." I say to Marc in a whisper as he stand together

.

"We need to buy time and maybe we"ll get an answer." He replies

"Hey I thought you only had one ability." Says Marc turning to face Euroc. He smiles

"I do but this is a special, special suit. It"s a concentration of different abilities, don"t ask about the science to be honest that"s more complicated than even for me to understand. Although I designed it"s look I never felt the need for it, I am quite capable in many forms of combat plus I have been said to have a powerful set of lungs, that is to say I never felt the need for it until today." He says moving slow, stalking us.

"How many? Abilities." I ask.

He smiles again, that rye sly smile of his.

"Now where would the fun in that be?" He replies.

It was worth a try. But if I can count what we"ve seen so far. Speed, whatever that absorption and release of an attack is (full counter sounds like a good name, stolen from Nanatsu no Taizai of course), strength, subst.i.tution jutsu and his sonic scream. So far that"s four, he might telling to truth or he might be lying and there"s only one way to find out but it will hurt but we also don"t have much choice.

"Remember, teamwork." I say to Marc, he nods.

We"re both aware that we also need to keep Nicole from getting hurt, well more than she already is.

I augment my body to conjure as much strength as I possibly can not that I feel a limit of sorts. .h.i.tting me or anything but I feel stronger than I"ve ever felt, every muscle I have tense like a squashed spring waiting to be released.

I move, exploding forward in semi flight then throw a punch, Carmichael blocks but before he can counter I"ve pushed off him and I"m flying backwards. Almost reading my mind Marc runs right through me using his intangibility, I arc upward toward the ceiling.

He makes himself solid and conjures a barrage of electric attacks some caught some dodged but a couple hit their mark drawing pained grunts from Carmichael but he more or less stays up right, the suit must also double as armour, noted.

Again before Carmichael can answer, Marc makes himself intangiable again.

To keep Carmichael off balance I fire off an energy blast that he moves out of last second but honestly it wasmeant for the ground and not him. It"s a powerful blast shaking the ground and walls getting Carmichael off balance as he lands on the dodge.

Marc"s turn, he moves with the dexterity of his enchanced agility that I was relying on so he doesn"t lose his balance and he"s on Carmichael in a flash, he throws a powerful electric punch that Euroc doesn"t necessarily have enough time to block or counter but his suit glows white in the last second.

Electricity explodes like fireworks as Marc connects sending both he and Carmichael hurling in opposite directions.

I"d like to check on Marc but I need to stay on Carmichael.

I push off the air careening toward Carmichael at pace, he"s groggy and getting up slowly. Just as I"m about to reach him he look up sharply, mouth wide open a sonic scream escapes him hitting like a Mack truck it sends me in a daze through the air, I catch sight of him moving toward me in a speedy stagger and feel an electric charged shot to the gut then hit the ground and groan.

I feel a hand on me helping me up, it"s Marc. A cut above his eye is streaming blood down his face.

Before we can steady ourselves another scream smashes into us separating us, at this point I can"t hear, except for the ringing and my body is racked with a vibrating stabbing kind of pain and I"m disoriented. I force myself to a vertical base with flight but turn right a hard kick to face, once again I"m the floor.

An electric current runs through my body making me convulse involuntary. Something wet is pouring down my nose, must be a broken nose maybe worse.

I can barely move and don"t even know if Marc is up fighting or not, he probably is though and I"m here taking a nap.

I push to a vertical base again this time out of anger and turn just to see Euroc who has Marc"s arm in hand and is twisting it in a way an arm should never bend, I can"t necessarily hear him but can see Marc"s gapping open mouth and feel his scream and that p.i.s.ses me off.

I fire two quick fire energy blasts which are caught in the quick by his full counter. He fires one back as he approaches which I counter by releasing another blast from my hand.

Euroc extends the other hand to hit me with my own attack again to fire and I push forward as fast as I can closing the distance and forcing him to hand to hand combat.

I throw a powerful punch which he blocks but winces from the pain of impact, I follow this up with a kick making sure to up the power, he blocks and winces again. Some of my power"s getting past the shielding of his suit.

I may not be the smoothest when it comes to fighting but I can sure as h.e.l.l out power artificially manufactured strenth his suit has to have a limit.

I throw shot after shot of punches and kicks each stronger than the last each blocked but each having an effect, his defence getting less effective. Some shots grazing him.

Deciding he"s had enough hops backward in a slight blur of white and positions for a scream I close the distance faster than he expects and throw a punch. Which is half blocked by a palm but still mostly connects

Too late to stop the scream but it misses it mark, screeching past my head before crashing into the wall. He lands a mid backflip thurst kick forcing me back and putting a bit of distance between he and I.

His suit glows red, he"s about to hit me with fire. I thought he didn"t have that left.

I move to close the distance but a flame is already building in the palm of his hand, I might get burned now.

A roar tears through the and Nicole who apparently got up and went dragon just in time she comes out of nowhere and clamps her jaws around the arm of an equally surprised Euroc Carmichael. She bites down and yanks tearing it off and spraying blood.

Wide eyed Euroc stares down at where his arm was.

Nicole spits out the arm and smashes Euroc with a tail attack sending him flying into the wall across the room. He falls flat face and doesn"t move.

I look at Nicole who looks even more menacing with blood trickling down her mouth and on her clothing and all that.

She has changed back into her human form just as I get to her knelt next to Marc who"s cradling his arm tentatively, the skin of his around is arm is turning a light purple and bone peaks under the skin threatening to break through.

I don"t know anything about broken arms because I"ve never broken anything so I just take off my jacket rip it and with a pained nod Marc lets me make him a makeshift sling.

After this Nicole and I help him to his feet. I turn half expecting Carmichael to have disappeared in that cla.s.sic way a bad guy who"s hurt does.

My adrenaline is now off and I can feel every pain on my body including and air going through another hole in my hand, Tony might have a lot of work to do tonight.

He"s still there, he"s pulled himself to his feet and is leaning against the wall for balance using the one arm he has left to clutch at his ribs they"re maybe broken if not worse, the wound of the other has turned his white suit into a b.l.o.o.d.y crimson murder scene.

He spits blood as we approach. "A fair effort." He says

"The way I see it it cost both sides an arm to decide the victor eh." He says nodding at Marc.

"Where are the others?" I ask

.

He lets himself slip down the wall and sits with a sigh.

"Hope you don"t mind," He says then he looks me dead in the eyes.

"There"s no fun in revealing it to you here, it"s just a pity I won"t get to see your faces when you find out." He creases his eyebrows in confusion then relaxes them in the next instant as he waves the hand he has left.

I"m guessing he usually uses the other one, the gone one hence the second of confusion.

Regardless the table with the computer comes out through the ground with a groan as it"s forced up through the wreckage.

He then removes something from his wrist with his mouth, it looks like a watch but not a watch and the colour of his skin. It changes back to a neutral black after he"s shaken it off his hand and picks it up, he looks at it for moment then offers it to me.

"It"s called a Dial, it"s what I use to move arouns this ..... s.p.a.ce. It"ll teach you how to use it. Carmichael says

I tentatively reach for it and take it out of his hand.

"Now with that out of the way I"m sure you have a vested interest in the contents of that computer. But before that, do you have it in you to claim your first head?" He asks.

Something in eyes tells me he"s been aching for a release from WECA, the question that pops into my head is how long has he worked for them.

Marc steps forward but I stop him with a light hand to the chest. Instead I stoop down to Euroc"s level then place a hand on his chest and release a charged pocket of energy into his body, sending it right into his heart, I know he can feel it because of the look of curiosity on his face.

"For Winter." I whisper

"Thank you." He whispers back, sincerely.

I let the energy explode his heart causing Euroc"s chest to heave upward violently once then he slumps, eyes lifelesss and yet somehow a hint of that smile of his remains.

"Finally." Says Marc.

His eyes roll to the back of the head, he collapses.

I skid over to him. He"s alive but his skin is too cold and his heartbeat slow.