[REND] B2. 6.2 - Monster in the Labyrinth

The fuck? The PCM wanted to cure Adumbrae? This actually aligned with being ‘Protectors of the City’ and all that. But was it really possible? And it was surprising that they had the capabilities to even attempt this in the first place. Maybe they did make the Adumbrae-shoo-away machine, which was bad news for me.

“Two people inside,” Myra whispered. “At least.” She cocked her head, opening her stone helmet over her ears to listen better. “Several more? Hear that groaning?”

Deen and I nodded. Not really sure if they were people, but they were probably not animals. Could be mutants from the 2Ms, given that some experimentation shit was going on. They moaned and groaned, sounding like they were in deep pain. Were those mumbled words?

Someone weakly called for help. Another was begging to be let go. Yep, definitely people.

Deen gripped my arm. Using our best-friend telepathic link, I could tell that she wanted to save them. Deen wouldn’t morally agonize about killing in this scenario.   

The mysterious man’s hollow laughter echoed in the vault, covering the groans of pain. “Be that as it may, my dear Cecilia, we can’t afford to continuously fail. It costs both resources and time. Ah, well… time is also a resource, and we don’t have much of it.”

“Are you talking about the BID?” asked the woman named Cecilia. “Don’t fret. They won’t find us. They’re too busy following the slime trailed by Big Marcy. The situation favors us, and we must take advantage of it.”

“Nonetheless, we have to succeed at some point,” replied the man. “Even succeed… just a little. A smidgen of proof that we’re on the right path. Alas, I can’t spot any changes on the test subject.”

There’s an Adumbrae in there? It sounded like an experiment was ongoing. The people in pain must be part of it. I wondered if Overdrive knew who could be supplying the PCM with warm bodies. Between whatever this was and the 2Ms’ thing, the homeless people really had it tough in La Esperanza. This was why the mayor could boast a low rate of unsheltered homelessness.

Deen and Myra were completely silent, listening to each word coming out of the vault. Myra would definitely attack the scientists inside at some point; she had to check if the Adumbrae was Kelsey. I think Deen would back up Myra. Innocent people needed to be saved, and Deen wouldn’t miss this chance to be on the morally right side of things.

“Let’s listen for a bit,” I whispered, before Myra could impulsively charge in. She might accidentally kill the scientists. I wanted to learn more about the experiment. Good thing these two scientists, if they could be called that, talked loudly. The concrete cavern amplified their voices.

Sounds of someone pacing. It was the familiar click of high heels on the ground. “Patience, Conrad. Visible results will manifest soon. We have already succeeded in repairing the test subject’s link to the Eloyce Field.”

“Partially,” said Conrad. “Very partially. Very, very—”

“But we did succeed where others haven’t. I daresay even the BID hasn’t achieved anywhere near what we’ve accomplished. Our path shows the most promise, I tell you. We’ll continue to repair the link. Patience is much needed.”

So, that’s what they’re doing here. A person’s crumbling link to the Eloyce Field, the combined consciousness of humanity projected to a higher dimension, would lead to an Adumbrae seeding. That was what the scientists have discovered. Dad had told me to think of it like a wound, a break in the skin. It was an opening for germs to get into the body and make us sick. That was an odd way to teach little kid me about hygiene.

“I can’t help but repeat my concerns,” Conrad said. “Yes, the link is being repaired—I can see that, and I congratulate you on this feat. But what would it accomplish, given that the Adumbrae had already taken root? Could it reverse the transformation? I highly doubt it. Look at this specimen. She has horns, spikes, and spindly appendages growing out of her back! How could this return to a human body?”

Myra stirred beside me. She must be reacting to Conrad referring to the Adumbrae as a ‘she’.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I hissed, feeling for Myra’s arm in the near darkness of the vault door’s shadow. I held her back with my superstrength. It must’ve surprised Myra because she stopped. “Don’t rush in. Listen.” The female scientist’s reply should be important.

“Conrad, dear, we’ve talked about this before,” said Cecilia. “An Adumbrae’s… regeneration… isn’t a physical reconstruction of cells. It does not require metabolizing calories to—”

“Yes, yes, I know. Your pulling-the-plug theory. If the link is repaired and the Adumbrae booted out, if that’s even possible, everything paranormal would cease and the body’s transformation undone.”

“Voila! Pulling the plug returns the human.”

“I still don’t believe it,” said Conrad.

“You will, if I succeed.”

A cure? I didn’t need to be a scientist to understand the gist of what they were saying. My regeneration wasn’t actually that—not superfast healing. It affected hair and nails, which were dead cells, but also didn’t let them grow past their original length before they were damaged. It was more like the computer's undo function.

On that note, my nails were getting long, and I didn’t know how to cut them. Would an angle grinder work? Garden shears?

“We’ll need several more sessions to completely repair our subject’s Eloyce link,” continued Cecilia. “For now, I’ll crank it up to max and call it a day. Our test subject friend here needs to rest.”

“You’re going to completely drain this batch in just one session?” Conrad asked. “Aurum isn’t going to be happy with how fast you’re burning through our stocks. We can’t keep using our undesirable members in these numbers. It’s unsustainable.”

“Then pray that we succeed soon.”

Vibrating hums and whirring from machines reverberated through the tunnels. The anguished groans grew louder. There was rattling and thrashing. I pictured several bound people convulsing and trying to escape.

Deen sharply breathed. “They’re killing people.”

“Do we go in?” I had heard enough. Now was the time for interrogation and torture. Oh, and maybe save some people, too, if that was what Deen wanted. “What’s the word from your Guardian Angel?” I asked while tearing off a strip of cloth from the bottom of my shirt.

“Gabe wants me to… leave. He’d been yelling in my ear for a while now.”

“I’m not going to—” Myra began to say as she stood up.

“We’re not leaving,” Deen said. “Just be aware that Gabe isn’t necessarily out to protect all of us. Erind, stay here because your face is—”

“I literally got it covered.” I secured the cloth strip across my nose and mouth. Stupid me, forgetting my mask in the car since I didn’t wear it at Enrico’s place. A bare midriff look wasn’t my style, but whatever.

I thought Deen would insist I stay, but she instead barked orders for the attack. “Myra, go in first. Take care of the leftmost man. He might be the guard. Erind, you and I secure the other people before they can raise the alarm. Possible nonhumans inside, given Gabe’s reaction.”

Before Deen could finish her instructions, Myra had already charged inside the vault. Deen pulled me along as she followed Myra.

The room was around the size of a tennis court. In the middle of it was a large green vat surrounded by various machines and cables. Half a dozen seats lined up in front of the machines; twitching naked people hooked up with wires sat on them. Two people in white robes fiddled with the machines—they must be Cecilia and Conrad.

Myra veered left, shielding us from gunshots coming that way. The guard lurking in the shadows immediately attacked upon seeing intruders. He’d end up dead even if he had augments.

Deen and I run toward the machines. The woman scientist hugged the vat, as if to protect it. The man stumbled while running to the right. Deen headed to the woman. Guess I should get the man.

I glanced up at the eight-foot-tall creature floating inside the towering container of green liquid before turning right. Why was it always green? The Adumbrae’s body was slender and vaguely humanoid, with too-long arms and legs, and a tail. Spikes randomly poked out of its body as if a drunk porcupine threw quills at it.

“Who are you?” Cecilia demanded. “Are you with—? Let go of me!” Deen grabbed the woman around the waist and pulled her away from the vat.

I had my own quarry to catch. Or maybe kill.

Wouldn’t it be fun if I ‘accidentally’ killed this guy scientist? I could agonize over my first kill and be annoying like Deen. I’d act super traumatized and all. Let’s see if Deen would like a taste of her own medicine. And I would be actually killing a bad guy.  

Conrad picked himself up and clambered over a boxy machine with moving pistons lining its side. His dumb plan was to circle me to reach the only exit. Human Erind might not be a fast runner—my athletic days were years past—but Adumbrae Erind could catch even a professional sprinter.

But just as I was about to grab this Conrad guy, he flung back his arm at me. His long sleeve tore open as his arm ballooned into a club that was definitely much harder than a balloon. He sent me tumbling into one of the tied-up people.

He’s not human? I grimaced, slightly shaky from the blow.

I looked down. Eww, the convulsing person below me was naked. The wires attached to his body had come loose, showering us with sparks. I rolled away before I’d get electrocuted. Finding a piece of the chair that had come loose, I hurled it at Conrad.

It shattered upon hitting his head. He immediately fell.

“I knew that I had better aim than Deen,” I mumbled, running to Conrad before he could get up. That hit shouldn’t keep an Adumbrae down for long. Why wasn’t I surprised that he wasn’t human, too?

Was he an artificial Adumbrae made by the 2Ms? Or was this the result of the PCM’s experiments? Too bad that I couldn’t ask this scientist guy about it.

“He’s… dead?” I knelt to examine his cracked-open skull. What remained of his brain was spilling out.

Wasn’t he too squishy for an Adumbrae? Then again, Adumbrae had varying durability. I might’ve thrown too hard.

There was something weird with his club arm. An odd band wrapped around his elbow, right above his transformed forearm. It wasn’t a simple metal strip; it had tiny parts, wires, and lights. Everything past the metal band had turned into a rocky bludgeon. Ripping off the band because I found it interesting, I realized that it had spikes lining its inner side that had embedded into the man’s flesh.

After I removed the band, the large stone club deflated and turned into a human hand. Then it withered into a mummified husk. All that in the span of a few seconds.

“What… the… fuck?” I stared at the metal band. This was something new. Why can’t everyone just stop it with the experiments? I couldn’t keep track of all these new trends. I felt so uncool and out of the loop.

I hurried back to Deen. The lady scientist could answer our questions if Deen didn’t kill her.

“Stop the machine! Stop killing these people!” Deen shook Cecilia by her collar.

“I will! I will!” Cecilia raised her hands. “Bring me to the control panel over there. There’s a button that—”

“Liar!” Deen slapped the scientist.

The satisfying sound of the smack cracked like a gunshot. Deen majorly held back, of course, or the scientist’s head would’ve rolled off her shoulders. Unless she wasn’t a normal human like her coworker.

“Hey, I had to try,” Cecilia said. With a purplish welt on her cheek and blood dribbling down the left side of her lips, she still managed to cackle like an evil witch. A true mad scientist. I appreciated the diverse villains showing up in my movie.

“I-I found this...” I held up the bloody metal band. Remember that I had just killed someone for the first time. Add some trembling and stuttering.

Unfortunately, Deen wasn’t interested in my world-class performance. “Erind, pull out the wires!” she ordered me.

“Wha-what?” I pointed at a woman who was foaming at the mouth. She was smoking, along with the other captives. “Pull the wires connected to the—?”

“Yes! Do it quickly!” Deen yanked the wires near her while holding the scientist with her other hand.

Oh well, I thought with a mental shrug. My theatrics could wait for later. I also wanted Myra to watch me. Right now, Myra stood in front of the vat. She was probably trying to figure out if the Adumbrae was her sister. Some of the Adumbrae’s facial features remained human and didn’t look like Kelsey or Myra.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Cecilia asked. “I would’ve guessed that Big Marcy sent you, but that doesn’t coincide with your useless efforts in saving these people. You’re wasting your time, honey. Their brains are fried beyond well done. They would wish themselves dead if they were still capable of thinking.”

“Shut up!” This was the angriest I had ever seen Deen. The people we had ‘saved’ filled the room with the scent of burning flesh. They weren’t moving. Deen grabbed the scientist by her shoulder and squeezed. “What were you doing here? Explain!”

Cecilia hissed from the pain but didn’t cry out. “Are… Are you the BID? Unlikely. The BID would’ve blown up this place at the slightest hint of linking brains. And they won’t have someone with powers like your stone friend over there.”

“Answer me!” Deen tightened her grip, her fingers stabbing into the scientist’s shoulders. Red blossomed on the white lab coat.

Wow, Deen’s really scary. I’d tease here about this later.

But Cecilia wasn’t fazed by the pain. Chuckling, she said, “I know. You’re Adumbrae as well. Red Hood sent you!”

(Author's Notes: Quite an escalation from the (relatively) stealthy mission of the Three Bs. It would appear that the PCM is making its moves with the 2Ms gone. Unfortunately for the PCM, Erind, the Queen of Coincidences, has stumbled upon their operations. In the Prior Cycle, Erind hadn't encountered any serious possible cure for being an Adumbrae. But in the rewrite, we now have the artificial Core + pills and whatever the PCM is doing. Next chapter, we’ll learn more about what the PCM is up to. This will be the first act of Book 2. We’ll focus more on the Three Bs instead of the hero wannabes as a whole. I think these three will have interesting dynamics, especially when we find Kelsey.)