Twisted Wonderland Book 6: The Watchman of the Underworld

Chapter 53: Loss of Power

Back at the Styx Institute's Private Room, Idia hears a beeping sound, meaning he's getting a call.

Idia answers, "Idia Shroud speaking."

then , one of the Technicians says, "Acting Director, I have a status report on the River Lethe for Case LOD-627. I'm sorry, Idia. It is now 100% charged. The info-scrubbing team is all set, and the Charon Hexa Team has arrived over Sage Island waters.

"2200 hours on the dot. Gotta hand it to you guys," Idia says. "Run the flood as scheduled at 0000 -"

Suddenly, the power goes out in his room.

"What?! The power went out?!" Idia questions, dumbfounded.

He brings out his pad and tries to communicate, "Control room, come in! Hello?" however, it's not coming through, "Nope, I'm not getting through. How about the wired network... No luck there either."

Idia then rushes to the door, but it's not opening either, "The door's not opening. Shouldn't the emergency power have kicked in by now?"

"Whatever. I gotta get out there and see what's happening," Idia says, and begins to search around the room, "Where's the emergency release?" and soon finds it, "...Ah, here we go.""

He then tries to pull the doors apart to get it open, "HRRRNGH!" but it's not working, "Geez.. Why's this thing so hard to move?! Isn't it supposed to be for emergencies? Requesting QOL update! Hnnngh!"

Finally, Idia is able to get the door open, and hurries down the halls.

He takes deep breaths and says, "Finally out."

He then tries to contact Ortho, "Ortho! Check the Styx HQ emergency power!"

But Ortho is not answering, making Idia concerned, "Ortho? He's not answering. Have all the microphones in here gone offline? What in the world..?

Suddenly, the sirens go off, and let out loud beeping sounds.

Then the intercom announces, "Blot alert. Blot alert. Elevated levels of blot density detected within the facility. All personnel, report to your stations immediately.

Hearing the alarm, Idia says, "If an alert's going off, the emergency power must be back online. But elevated blot density? Does that mean something's up with Tartarus or the Underworld?"

He then presses the pad and tries to inform, "Cerberus! Turn on maximum security for the whole island. Deploy the Charon power armors on autopilot. And transfer all Chariots from the hangars to the port."

However, nothing seems to be responding.

Idia tries again, "...Cerberus? Cerberus, respond!"

"The power should be back, but the Cerberus System isn't responding to me," Idia says, and starts to panic.

He tries to contact Ortho again, "Ortho! Come in, Ortho!"

But again, Ortho doesn't answer.

Idia soon becomes frustrated, "...ARGH! Just what is going on here?!"

Idia then runs down the halls.

In the control room, there's an uproar with the system, anf the technician can't seem to figure out the problem.

One Technician says, "The Cerberus System's completely down. It's not accepting any commands from the outside!"

"Tartarus cryopreservation levels dropping," the second Technician says, and types on the computer, "Cages are thawing in the first sector of Towers 1, 2, and 3. All subjects are regaining consciousness!"

A female technician says, "No response to our emergency signals! We can't get through to the director either! And we've lost contact with the Charon team near Sage's Island! We're completely cut off from the outside!"

Another male technician says, "I can't get the invisible shield's emergency release code to work!"

Just then, Idia rushes into the room to see the disaster happening.

Idia asks, "What... What's happening?"

The first technician rushes to Idia, "Acting Director! The Cerberus System has shut down!"

Idia is shocked to hear it, "That's impossible! Any changes to Cerberus require biometric authentication from a member of the Shroud family. I'm the only one on the island with that level of authority... How did this happen?"

He then says, "The how and why can wait. I gotta smack Cerberus awake!"

Idia rushes to one of the computers and begins typing to fix the system, "If it won't boot via bio-authentication, l'll have to punch in the code by hand..."

But just then, Ortho's hologram appears in the room, "Idia."

Idia turns to see his brother, and is very relieved, "Ortho! Boy am I glad to hear your voice." He then explains the situation, "The Cerberus System's down. Help me get it back up and running!"

However, Ortho says, "I'm sorry, idia: I'm afraid I can't do that."