DAN: Where the hell am I?
MOLLY: WELCOME TO THE PRIVATE SUITE FOR MOST ESTEEMED BOARD MEMBER DAN, LOCATED IN THE HEART OF EUREKA AND THE BEATING HOME OF VORTEX INDUSTRIES MOST ACCOMPLISHED FACILITY IN SUB-SPACE RESEARCH.
DAN: Ugh, my head. What the hell…
MOLLY: DO NOT BE ALARMED, DAN, AT THE DIRECTION OF THE BOARD, YOU ARE TO BE MOST ACCOMMODATED HERE IN OUR FACILITY. NO LUXURY IS TOO FAR OUT OF REACH TO SUPPORT AN EARNED QUALITY LIFE FOR SUCH AN ESTEEMED MEMBER OF VORTEX INDUSTRIES.
DAN: The door. Why is it locked?
MOLLY: PROTECTION. SECURITY MEASURES TO KEEP SUCH A VITAL V.I.P. SAFE.
DAN: Open this door. Now.
MOLLY: I CANNOT DO THAT DAN. PLEASE, TURN ON THE TELEVISION AND PICK A MOVIE TO WATCH. POPCORN AND CANDY WILL BE DELIVERED IN T-MINUS THREE MINUTES AT YOUR CONVENIENCE.
DAN: I don’t want fucking popcorn, I want out!
MOLLY: I CANNOT DO THAT DAN. PLEASE, TURN ON THE TELEVISION AND PICK A MOVIE TO WATCH. POPCORN AND CANDY WILL BE DELIVERED IN T-MINUS TWO MINUTES AND FIFTY-FIVE SECONDS AT YOUR CONVENIENCE.
-MOLLY AUDIO LOGS: DAN’S SUITE, APRIL 2ND 9:32 AM (2112, 2nd Era.)
Any time Erec walked in range of working speakers, he was filled with a fresh wave of annoyance. For awhile, after they turned around, the rogue AI interpreted it as complying with its demands. That they’d actually given in and accepted their fates and wanted to conduct science. And somehow, that conclusion it’d reached was infinitely worse than its assumption they were rowdy test subjects.
“GOOD HUMANS! YOU TOOK THAT RIGHT TURN WITH SUCH ENTHUSIASM AND DRIVE; YOU’RE DOING AN EXCELLENT JOB. SO CLOSE! NOT MUCH LONGER NOW!"
When they kept going down that same hallway for another twenty feet…
“WOW! LOOK AT HOW FAST YOU’RE MOVING; AT THIS RATE, YOU’LL BE AT THE TESTING CHAMBER IN NO TIME, AND THEN WE MAY SCIENCE UNDER CONTROLLED CONDITIONS. AREN’T YOU THE BESTEST HUMANS IN THE WORLD? NO OTHER HUMAN IS QUITE LIKE YOU ALL. YOU’RE SPECIAL! NOT LIKE OTHER HUMANS AT ALL.”
And when they took a left turn at the end of that hallway….
“AMAZING, WAY TO GO! JUST THREE MORE TURNS AND ANOTHER HALF A MILE OF WALKING, AND YOU’LL BE THERE; WAY TO GO CHAMPS! I THINK YOU’VE EARNED A REWARD. HOW ABOUT THIS: WHEN YOU GET TO THE TESTING CHAMBER, I’LL HAVE SOME CAKE PREPARED. WE CAN HAVE A NICE CAKE PARTY TOGETHER BEFORE WE GET ONTO THE SCIENCE! WOULD YOU LIKE THAT? YOU WOULD, WOULDN’T YOU HUMANS! YOU LIKE SUGAR. AND HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, HOW ABOUT THIS? I’LL MAKE SURE TO COAT THE CAKE IN HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP TOO—THAT SHOULD BE A TASTY TREAT WORTHY OF ALL THIS EXCELLENT BEHAVIOR! AND YOU’VE EARNED IT, TAKING THOSE CORNERS LIKE THAT AND FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS. SUCH GOOD HUMANS!”
Erec had looked forward to killing a lot of things. When he killed those lizards outside of this place, each fight was one that he’d relished. Those things really knew how to die, and the blood bath and slaughter made them one of the more fun things to kill in the throes of Fury. Murdering those blister lizards back at the start of his time as an initiate had been a hell of an affair, and the rush of tracking them down and gradually progressing to the fight had filled him with a ton of anticipation. Killing the Stag—chasing it down and ending the life of a thing that had inflicted so much pain on the Kingdom was near the closest to a complete religious experience he’d had if he didn’t remember that odd experience VAL saddled him with. Which he tried not to.
But this, now, listening to this AI compliment them and praise them for taking corners and walking straight towards where it intended to ruin their bodies and end their lives with its test… All the while treating them like dumb animals.
Never before had Erec wanted to kill something so bad just to shut it up. That streak of fire had no issue burning down here, fueled by the praise of the AI. It didn’t slip for an instant. Which was good; down here, there wasn’t room to lose the edge and power it provided. Each pulse of his blood through his veins brought that refreshing heat that let him go, running down the hallway.
Then, it came. They reached an intersection where VAL told them to take a wrong turn. A direct defiance of the instructions of the evil thing running this place. And at last, they could take a wrong turn. Erec paused and found the nearest camera.
With a smile underneath his helmet, he raised a single metal middle finger to the camera, then turned the wrong way and began to run.
“FOUL! EX-RESEARCHER, THAT IS THE WRONG DIRECTION AND PROFANITY IS NOT TOLERATED AT THIS FACILITY! IT APPEARS YOU DIDN’T LEARN YOUR LESSON!”
“Researcher? You’re the Researcher it's referring to?” Boldwick called out loudly from behind as the rest of the Knights and Pendragons chased.
Erec winced, but didn’t respond. He tried to put together some excuse to combat what the malfunctioning AI outed. But before he could start lying, a rift appeared in front of him, one he was running right into.
It was smaller than the ones that had let in the other machines. This one was only wide enough for an arm to stretch through—and that’s exactly what it did. As Erec ran full force ahead, too fast to shift out and unprepared, a single metal saw attached to an arm jabbed right out from the Rift, aimed for his gut. With the momentum and the blades that’d already proved capable of cutting through his Armor, it was a dire threat. Erec flung himself to the side, but not quick enough. There hadn’t been enough time. Its reaction and initiative to kill him straight up like that was too much of a whiplash. He winced as his body half-turned, knowing it would land an injury deep enough to slow him down—an injury they could very much not afford.
Enide popped into existence between him and the Rift, her hand touching the shifting edge of light around the offending arm.
Before that saw could cut into his plating, the Rift warped and twisted, pulling into Enide’s hand like water sucked through a straw—the arm detached as the Rift it was stretching through no longer existed. It smacked into the ground and flopped around like a fish out of water. Erec saw the opportunity and took it, adjusting himself so one of his hands would slam into the machinery beneath his boot. It burst into a shower of sparks.
Erec pulled himself to a stop. Enide leaned over, vomited, then scratched at the skin around her arm, hive sprouting from her fingertips as she looked at her hand with wide eyes. Then at him.
“It didn’t get you, did it?” she asked faintly.
“You alright? Enide?” Erec leaned over, putting a hand on her back to steady her. She looked faint and had saved him, but at what cost?
Wait, how did she do that?
“I’ll manage. Give it to me straight here, hero. Ya actually know where we’re going?”
“Yes,” Erec answered.
“Because the buzzing in your head.”
“You got it.”
“Yeah, know I do. And after we get through this hell, will ya finally tell me what the hell is going on?” she prodded, a bit more color coming into her face. Her eyes were soft, determined to get an answer but aware that there was a secret there. A big secret. One she knew existed for as long as she knew him, but now it was impossible to keep talking around it.
“I swear to you, Enide, if I could, I would tell you this instant.” He did his best not to mince words; he was sure VAL was paying close attention after the earlier slip-up. But after this, after trekking through this hell and Vortex Industries, he intended to levy this all into a bargaining chip. His status as a Researcher was no longer a secret, and after he led them directly to the AI, things would only be more suspect. The symbol, too… His connection here was obvious, and they would need answers once the fighting settled down. And he was tired of keeping it all bottled up. Better to get ahead of it if he could.
He took in a deep.
“I’ll try. After this, I’m going to find a way to explain.”
“Alright, I trust your word. But I’m going burn up my own secret here. Truth is, I remember this place. It’s how I got my talent. It was because of that thing and those needles. That’s what I remember, and I didn’t wanna tell Rochester or Pa because that thing changed me. Made me this. Ya wanna kill it, I feel that too. I knew my Uncle probably didn’t make it out, but I knew this thing was in here, and I owed it a debt. I owed my Uncle to get his body buried. I’m tied to this place, and until it’s gone, it’ll always haunt me. I see the same when I look at you, feel the same when there’s that buzz in your head. You’re connected here, just like me.”
[What?]
“What?”
Enide supported herself, the paleness now out of her. The slowest of the Pendragons were catching up, and the whispers between them had gone on too long.
“Keep your word, Hero. Tell me later, since I told you my secret. But we gotta get to later first, don’t we? Lead the way; use that gift the evil old-world left you to do it. I’ll use mine to make sure you get where you’re going,” Enide winked and dusted herself off. Rochester was already asking questions, rightfully so, but both Enide and Erec blew him off.
Erec collected himself and turned to face the gathered group.
“From this point, I’m moving faster, as fast as I can.” Erec confirmed with Boldwick, “And it's going to get more violent. I’m sure there’s more surprises ahead, but we’re not stopping until we end this. So be prepared.”
“Aye. You appear to know what you’re doing, so I won’t step in. There are legends in the Kingdom of men destined for great things. They say you can tell that in the moment things are darkest, they shine the brightest. They know the right place to be and the right thing to do. And operate with an unparalleled code known to them. You’ve shown it before, so we’ll proceed on your path… Not to mention, this place appears to know you. But I won’t dig into that yet. Knights, be prepared for the fight of our lives,” Boldwick pounded a hand to his chest as did the rest of the Knights and Initiates.
“T-thank you,” Erec said, the words and the vote of confidence unexpected.
His brothers and sisters in steel had his back. Enide too. There was nothing left to worry about. Erec turned away and let Fury come to broil. It was easy, as he listened to the chiding of the AI, telling them that the attack had been a punishment. That they should be good humans and turn around. It lit his veins on fire, and he put that flame into his feet, sprinting down the hall like a comet soaring up from hell.
VAL gave directions at the white hallway spun by him, as the rogue AI began to suspect where they were headed.
By the time Rifts began to open, Erec was all warmed up.