Whisper

Chapter 28

Their escape was made easier as several vehicles had been stolen from this military base. It was helpful that none of them were shot to be killed. Of course that didn't mean that everyone was unharmed. It didn't help their pursuers that one of those stolen vehicles was a half-tread with an anti-aircraft machine gun strapped to the back of it.

Made useful with Clarise's perfect advise and Golem's strength. None of the Projects nor Abnormals were strong enough to swing it around even if its one a pivot. BEYOND never really focused on their physical strengths, just their physical limits.

Conrad banged his fist on the medical bed when he learned of this. His head and torso nicely bandaged up. He knew he should've gotten Clarise to a different cell, but he just had no time. And she was quick to let everyone else out. Who would've thought she would know the passwords to all the safety overrides and even the higher-up's codes.

Conrad knew. He knew that she was more capable than they could've ever guessed. If pulling off the miracle of finding his brother wasn't proof enough, this shit happened.

"Do we have any information on them? There's over 30 of them god damn it!" Ben yelled, looking to Jennifer who shook her head solemnly.

Peter chimed in, groaning a bit but pushing the doctors away from him, "They disabled all tracking devices about an hour after leaving the base, their last known location was somewhere in the outskirts of Felton City."

"Real specific," Ethan spat out, standing up from his position of leaning against a nearby table, "We should've never brought that woman here, from the moment she knew of mine and Ben's injuries to when she was able to locate Reinhart. We should've moved her to the base near Genovia City as soon as we could."

"We would not have prevented this attack," Jennifer spoke monotonously, exhausted by the events that had unfolded hours prior.

"All the other Abnormals would've stayed in their cells!" Ethan shouted, swinging his arm in emphasis only to wince and grip his shoulder, "We even lost that fucking BEYOND merc."

Conrad was silent as his team continued to argue.

He thought about the last things she said to him. He never really thought much of his superiors, just followed orders to keep the public safe of these abnormalities. But what did happen to the abnormals deemed too dangerous? Clarise knew.

Frost was one of these abnormals, about 2 weeks from being transferred to Genovia City. Conrad didn't know much about the base there, other than the abnormals who were uncontrollable were sent there. He never heard of them again, not that he ever questioned it.

But they were still people. Scared people who were capable of rational thought.

A new law had allowed for the lawful capture of anyone who was considered abnormal, but most of the public was not aware of the existence of Abnormals.

And what of Director Henderson?

He became the head of ARC just over 5 years ago, the same year that Conrad had joined the organization as well. And given his speech in the beginning, he seemed to want to restore proper order, saying that Abnormalities were a stain to humanity that needed to be managed.

No red flags there.

Clarise told him to be wary of the man, and despite everything that happened he believed her. Or at least began to. The seed of doubt has been planted and there was no uprooting it.

"What were we going to do with those Abnormals anyways?" Conrad muttered under his breath.

"What?" Evan who sat at his bedside finally looked up from his tablet. Evan was busy writing one of many reports going to HQ, going to Henderson.

"What happens to the Abnormals we arrest?" Conrad spoke up, his team settling down to listen to their captain.

"They are detained and managed," Jennifer gave him the same thing he heard since day one of starting. "Protect the public safety and maintain homeland security."

"But what does that mean?!" Conrad shouted, groaning at his head stung from his own volume, "We've kept some of those people for years here, we are no better than those bastards at BEYOND."

"No," Peter frowned, "We are better than them, we don't put those 'Projects' through torture."

"We strip those 'people' of their freedom, Peter." Conrad rubbed his head sorely, "They are just as confused and scared as we are of their abilities and we imprisoned them."

The team went silent, staring at their captain, considering all the words he said.

"Then what do you want to do?" Ethan finally piped up, "You can't go to HQ and demand all those people to be released from all those bases. They still pose a threat to us, to the ARC, and to the rest of the public."

"I know that!" Conrad groaned in both pain and frustration, the tenderness even reaching his shoulder and chest. Golem really did a number on him. It was like being hit by a truck and slammed into a brick wall. Conrad got real lucky he only got a mild concussion and a few broken ribs, and didn't just die on impact. "W-we should focus on locating those missing Projects."

Clarise would have answers, Conrad knows this.

"And then what?" Ethan was still fuming, ready to get his revenge that that little woman for everything he was put through, "We just interrogate her like we've been doing for the past week?"

Conrad sighed, his mind wavering, his team noticed his swaying and all stood to catch him.

"W-we need to find her."

"Who?"

"Clarise."