Whisper

Chapter 27

Taking a deep breath Clarise ran forward, going straight to Conrad who aimed right at her head. They both knew he wasn't going to shoot her.

The other projects took this as an opportunity to run too, all of them closing in on Conrad and his men from both sides.

Clarise ran to the first soldier she could, dodging his swing as he tried to hit her with his rifle. Her body felt like it was moving on it's own, always one step ahead of the soldier who desperately tried to grab her and subdue her. But to his dismay she got ahold of his handgun that was strapped to his side and evaded him once more, allowing for Frost to deal with him as she shattered his rifle into little bits. Going for his face, Frost forced him into a dodging dance.

She made a beeline for Conrad whose attention was turned to incoming projects. Project Golem was also making a beeline towards him, his heavy 100lb feet leaving indents in the ground.

"Clarise!" Conrad shouted, turning to her just as she pointed at gun right at his head. She was a safe enough distance to be out of his arm-range, but close enough to get a clean headshot. "Clarise I told you to stay put."

Before he could say more Clarise suddenly fired, right past his head. He ducked out of reflex, but he heard a loud cling sound causing him to turn, seeing two bullets on the ground both with dents perfectly at the very tip.

She somehow shot a bullet perfectly in line with another one? It that physically possible? Apparently.

Conrad was frozen in disbelief only momentarily. "How did you do that?"

She seemed just as shocked as he was but quickly collected herself, noticing Golem slow his steps so that his shadow loomed over Conrad. He seemed to be waiting for her signal, and Conrad knew he was in deep shit. Turning back to face her one last time.

"Clarise you don't know what you're doing." Conrad slowly laid his gun onto the ground, putting both his hands up in the air, knowing damn well she knows exactly what she is doing, "You guys are a danger to society."

"Spare me of your preaching Conrad!" Her voice was hoarse, so the message was not as strong as she wanted. She lowered the gun, still holding it with both hands, and walked right up to him like they were earlier. Their faces inches away from one another, this time both their breaths were heavy, heating up their cheeks. "ARC isn't the organization you think it is, be cautious of Director Henderson, he doesn't hold as righteous morals as you do."

She looked right to Golem, nodding at him. He proceeded to scoop Conrad up like he was a doll, tossing him aside so that Conrad slammed into a nearby wall. Letting out a growl of pain Conrad collapsed to the ground, immobile, but alive.

"You are from Facility 0601," Golem's voice was deep and rough, his eyes barely visible from the heavy brow bone that formed from his physical transformation. Previously Peatro Yahontov, Golem had lived at the facility for over a decade like Clarise, but he was twice her age, old enough to be her father.

"That's correct." Clarise looked over to the rest of her new friends, seeing they all subdued the soldiers. Whether or not those soldiers were alive was something she didn't want to think about. "We need to move to the other containment area."

"Where is that?" Another voice popped up from behind Golem, this time it was Weaver, the gun her her hand slowly turning into a mass of strings, the bullets slipping through the threads and onto the ground with light clinging sounds. "Oh, it's you."

"It's over there," Clarise pointed down around another warehouse, "It's labeled as CONT. B."

"Let's go over there now," Weaver walked around Golem, looking around at the others who had gathered around them, "We need to free the others, Raptor and the rest will join us after they clear us an exit near the south entrance."

Golem was quick to notice Clarise's state, her lack of shoes compared to everyone else's nicely protected feet. He scooped her up, this time allowing her to sit on his forearm as he began to run after Weaver who was with the rest just bounding towards one direction.

Clarise wasn't surprised by his actions, and instead chose to look behind her, noticing Ethan now by Conrad's side, helping him up and supporting him by the shoulder, the two huddling off towards the opposite direction. Clarise found a small smile grow on her face. This won't be the last time she runs into Conrad Carson.

"Magma!" Weaver ran to a familiar fiery figure who was currently melting the door that lead into containment area B. "We found her and a few others."

Magma turned slightly, his hands still turning the steel into molten metal. His form was also physically getting bigger, like he was integrating the molten into himself.

Clarise tapped on Golem to let her down, and she walked close enough to Magma to feel the heat rolling off of him. "Hey."

"Hello again," Magma smile, but it was hard to tell as his features were pretty much not there, "We never got properly introduced, but I apologize for scaring you."

Before Clarise could respond Magma opened up a big enough hole for Golem to go through, allowing for the whole group to storm into the facility, breaking open the other 9 Abnormals. Putting their powers together, Clarise didn't even have to input the security override.

But she went to one particular cell, typing in the code as fast as she could, the metal door shoot back up into the wall and revealing the glass and captor inside.

"Clarise!" Mateo was quick to his feet, watching her punch in the code and unlocking his cell door. He swung it open, gripping onto her shoulders gently and examining her closely, "Are you alri-"

Before he could finish his sentence she suddenly grabbed his hair, yanking him downwards as a giant fist nearly decapitated him.

"Wait!" Clarise stood between Mateo and another solid-stone fist to the head. She noticed a few of the others eyeing the man behind her. Mateo just surprised to hear the sound of her voice.

"H-he's with BEYOND!" Frost pointed at his shirt, noticing the all too familiar logo. The same logo on her shirt.

"He helped me escape!" Clarise cut through, getting weird looks from everyone, "He isn't coming with us, but I just needed to help him escape too."

The others muttered to one another but they seemed to respect Clarise's words.

"We need to go soon," Weaver eyed Mateo, not as wearily as the others, "Say your goodbyes and we need to head towards the south exit."

Nodding Clarise turned sharply to Mateo who backed up a bit in surprise. "Mateo, I'm sorry for everything I put you through."

"Nah, don't b-"

"But you need to listen to me one last time," she took a deep breath, coughing slightly as she was not used to talking this much, "There is a van in the 8th warehouse, the keys are resting on the workshop table beside it. It's a bit low on gas but you can take it out of here and go to your uncle's. After that you should go to Genovia City. There do not contact Harrison, contact Mendez instead and report everything that you've been through."

Mateo quickly took in all the information, and gave her a swift nod, trusting her once more.

"I guess this is goodbye," he tapped her shoulder's awkwardly like some sort of sibling-hug, "Stay safe."

"You too."