The Blazing Rebellion

Chapter 37

Sera POV

The week passed by quicker than Sera would've thought. Every day after school, she headed straight for NXGen where she was met by Spectre's spy and given a few assignments. After completing them, she would have a short amount of time to look through the work Spectre wanted her to do before she left for the day.

Unfortunately, the original simpleness of this mission didn't last long. To start, John had began asking her to meet again. She'd come out of her second day of work at NXGen with a text from him. Although earlier that day he'd told her they could hang out later in the week, his text had said otherwise. Sera, we need to talk... can we meet up tomorrow after school?

When she'd tried to tell him they could discuss it during their breaks at school, John had brushed her off and told her it was too important for that. The urgency of his texts suggested two things: either something else had happened to John that caused him to need her support, or he knew. He can't know, though. I haven't told him anything. She couldn't think of how John would've gotten information on Spectre, but she knew he could be very persistent when he wanted something. She sighed. There were bigger issues on her mind currently than John.

Spectre would be wanting their information very soon. The week was coming to a close now. It was time for Sera to find what they needed, which meant digging deeper. Spectre's spy had already helped her out by giving her a bit more information about the employee whose badge she was supposed to steal, and Spectre had brought Sera an outfit which would better hide her, but the rest was up to her.

She would have to steal the badge, get into the higher-protected rooms, and download the information for Spectre... and her abilities would have to be working nearly the entire time. That was the part she was most worried about.

"Meryl?" A voice asked from behind her. Sera instinctively looked up. Over the past week, she'd become more and more used to being referred to as Meryl. It would be nice to go back to Spectre, however, where she could be called her actual name.

Spectre's spy stood behind her, holding in her arms the outfit Sera would be wearing to break into NXGen's records. Taking a deep breath, Sera stood up. She knew why Spectre's spy was here now. It was time.

Sera got changed quickly into the new outfit and took one last glance at her notes on where she would have to go until Spectre's spy entered the room once again. "Ready to go?"

"Yes," Sera told her, taking a deep breath. This would be the last time she'd see Spectre's spy at NXGen. As soon as she was done with the mission, she would be meeting a small team Spectre had sent outside for a quick getaway. One of Spectre's other members would be dealing with the security cameras; that was one thing Sera didn't have to worry about, even if she still had to be fast. This whole last bit of her mission would be over relatively quickly in the end, even if it had taken so much work and planning.

She couldn't think about that now, though. It was time to begin.

With a last nod at Spectre's spy, Sera activated her ability and ran through the doors of the meeting room. She made her way quickly down the now familiar hallways. As she turned the corner, Sera held her breath; this was one of the most important parts. Her timing had to line up perfectly. 3, 2, 1... there! As she finished the silent countdown, the member of NXGen whose badge she needed turned the corner.

Running just a little faster, Sera squinted at his lab coat. She could see the badge hanging there. Reaching out slowly, she grabbed it from where it was clipped to the inside of his coat and pulled back. The man hesitated for a second as she continued to move past him, but after a small 'huh,' he'd continued to move again. Sera let out a small breath of relief. Step one is complete.

She turned down another hallway, approaching the door at the end. Here she would have to stop just for a second to unlock the room. Now was when Spectre's outside workers would have to turn off the cameras. She glanced over at them and saw the flash of light that was the signal the camera's view had been changed to one of an empty hallway; Sera now deactivated her ability and slowed down to swipe the badge across the door's sensor.

To her relief, it opened. Sera slipped inside just as the cameras blinked again, signaling that the cameras had returned to normal.

The room she was in now was around the same size as the other rooms in NXGen, though it felt smaller due to the multiple large screens popping out from the wall. Stepping forward, Sera pulled out the USB she would be using to collect NXGen's information and sat down on the chair that stood in front of the large screens. There was a computer here too, on a desk under the screens. She plugged the USB into this and waited for a minute as it turned on.

Now she had access to NXGen's files. Clicking around, Sera found the one labled 'Conversion technology' and selected it to be downloaded for Spectre. Before she sat back and waited for it to begin, however, Sera noticed something. There was another tab titled 'patients' here. She frowned. What kind of patients? This isn't a hospital. Could it mean test subjects? Glancing around, Sera clicked on it. She had a few minutes to spare.

Almost instantly, her eyes widened. There was only one person here, but it was clear why she was being used by NXGen. Her ability, Channel Master, was at 9.1. It was the highest Sera had ever seen. That's a whole level above mine, and I've met few people stronger than I am! She let out a breath, shaking her head in disbelief.

The patient was a women with long white hair and amber eyes. Sera saw that her name was labeled as 'Jane.' Sera frowned. She'd never heard of this women before. A part of her felt like she should've if this 'Jane' was really so strong, but maybe NXGen was really good at covering things up. After all, they did have the authorities to support them. Spectre seemed capable of a lot of things but even they didn't have that kind of power.

Sera clicked another button under the woman's basic information, seeing if she could find anything else. She was immediately shown a 'restricted' screen. Sera sighed. So I guess that NXGen wants this to be secret. There was one new bit of information, though; the last name, although mostly covered by a restricted bar, had the first letter showing. It was a D.

The computer gave a small beep as the USB finished downloading the file she'd selected. Turning it off, Sera removed the USB and stood up. It was time to go.

There was one room left to get through before she could leave, however. Sera activated her ability once more and opened the door, sprinting to this new location. Everything was going as planned until she touched one of the test tubes she was supposed to steal.

A wave of dizzyness crashed over her as her fingers brushed the side, and all at once her ability had turned off and a loud alarm began to start blaring. Wincing, Sera managed to put the test tube in a small case and activate her ability once more.

It took everything she had left to sprint out of the room and out of NXGen, alarms blaring at her back.