Afterschoolers: Destiny

Chapter 5: Remember Me

Ten years ago...

Obsidian felt a chill roll down his spine. The darkness and cold of the lab was nothing he couldn't handle, but it was the discovery that had him shivering. A young girl floating about in a massive glass tube of chemicals. Everything he read on the computer made him sick to his stomach.

To free the child in the glass, would mean to set off an alarm. Obsidian knew he couldn't stand by and let the child stay an experiment.

When Alana spilled out and landed in his arms, the sirens went off. Obsidian was relieved in knowing that the small child was still alive. Before he could carry her away, he looked up to see another tube sitting in the corner. Another child was looking at him, banging on the glass and begging for freedom.

Obsidian shook his head in shame and looked away. The boy behind the glass watched as the thief escaped with the young girl. Armed guards came as soon as they could, accompanied by the head scientist.

"It's okay," Adam said. "You're safer here than with him."

Years later...

The sirens of the lab were going off, the staff were in a state of panic. Zander was running as fast as he could, helping the innocent to the emergency exits.

"Do we know what's going on?!" He asked a passerby.

"The children from the school, they're destroying the base! Get out while you can!"

"Not without Adam." Zander raced in the opposite direction of the scientists, running past sparking lights and enduring tremors. At the end of a long corridor, Zander could hear a familiar voice screaming out of both anger and fear.

"Die! Die!" Adam's voice was overshadowed by the gunshots that followed.

"Checkmate," said Obsidian.

"What are you going to do to me? As an educator, you won't take my life. How would the students see you, knowing that you are a stone cold killer?!"

"You're absolutely right. As a teacher, I have a reputation to uphold. Which means I can not take a life."

"Ha! I knew it!"

"But that doesn't mean I'll let you continue to enslave others."

What followed was a crunch that led to Adam's agonizing scream. Zander's body clenched up at the sound.

"You're a monster! You dare to stand against creation and human evolution!"

"You might want to get out of here. This whole facility is about to come crumbling down." Obsidian left the defeated Adam to wallow in pain. Zander hid behind the doorway, just barely avoiding the monster's line of sight.

"Adam!" Zander cried out, rushing to his mentor's aid.

"Zander! You have to get out of here! It's not safe!"

"I won't leave you! Come on, get up!" Adam was too weak to lift himself up off the floor, even with Zander's assistance.

"We can rebuild. I won't let all our research go to waste."

"We can worry about that later! We have to get out of here!" Zander pleaded. As the adrenaline rushed through his body, the crystal he housed in his pocket began to glow.

"Z-Zander! It's finally happening! Your Aura Crystal!" Adam pointed out. "You might just be able to get us out of here!"

When the glow subsided, a large part of the ventilation system dropped from the ceiling and fell onto Adam. Zander backed away, speechless by what had just happened.