Twisted Wonderland Book 6: The Watchman of the Underworld

Chapter 60: Control Override

After casting their magic and dodging the other magic, Briar and the boys are able to defeat the Charon Soldiers.

"Hmph. They're easy enough to handle once you know what you're dealing with," Riddle says.

"Quite. These Charons behave much simpler and more systematically than the ones on campus," Vil says.

"Yes, but why were they attacking the staff like that?" Briar wonders.

Just then, the Styx Staff notices the group, "You're... you're those subjects!

"Subjects? I think you mean your saviors. You owe us, so how about taking us to your precious acting director?" Leona responds.

The Styx Staff panics, "Eek! Stay away from me, you monsters!"

"Did you just call us monsters?" Riddle questions.

"And here I just aided you in the spirit of benevolence. What a thing to say!" Azul says.

"I agree, that was very rude. We just saved your life," Briar says.

"No kidding. Look, we're just a group of poor, lost little lambs who can't find our way," Leona says, and approaches the man, "So take us lost kids to the control room already - that's where the adults are, right? Well?" and giving the Staff a glare.

"Uh Leona..." Briar says, worried.

"In what world would a lost child have such a sinister glint in their eye? Or act so high-handed?" Vil questions.

The Styx Staff panics, No! I don't wanna go anywhere near the central block! That's where Tartarus is!"

"Tartarus?" Briar questions.

She then approaches the man and asks, "Excuse me, sir, but can you tell us what's happening? Is there an emergency?"

"The Cerberus System's been hijacked. Once the Phantoms start pouring out, the island's finished!" The Styx Staff panics.

"Wait, what do you mean by hijacked?" Vil asks, stunned.

"I don't have time to stand around explaining things to you!" the Staff says in a panic, "Step aside! I've got to get to the escape terminal!"

Briar turns to the boys, "I think he's too hysterical to tell us anything."

"Good grief..." Jamil replies with a sigh, "Fine, so be it."

Jamil approaches the Styx Staff and says, "Just calm down. We know you want to escape, but it wouldn't be wise to go by yourself. Allow us to escort you."

"Really..." The Styx Staff questions.

"Heh... There's that eye contact," Jamil says with a smirk.

He then says, "The one you behold is your master. When I ask you a question, you will answer. When I give you a command, you will assent... Snake Charmer."

Jamil casts his magic on the Styx Staff and falls into a daze.

Now in a trance, the Staff says in a monotone voice, "Yes..."

"You have an ID card, I presume," Jamil says, "Open the door for us, would you?"

"Yes... Master..." The Styx Staff answers.

I have to hand it to you, Jamil. That was smoothly done," Azul says.

"He said the Cerberus System's been hijacked," Vil says, "Can you get him to tell us what's going on with that?"

But Jamil says, "Snake Charmer simply allows control over a target's will. It's not like Jade's signature spell. It would be difficult to extract very specific information from a target. If done a certain way, I might be able to get a similar result, but that's neither here nor there."

"Oh yeah? The Octavinelle vice housewarden has a signature spell that can do that? Scary stuff," Leona says.

"Oh dear, I said something I shouldn't have," Jamil says in remark, "I'm fairly certain he wouldn't want me sharing that, so please do keep it to yourself."

But Azul says, "Don't worry, Leona. Jade's signature spell would hardly be a threat to a mage as capable as yourself." and mutters in thought, "Tch. I was trying to keep that secret as my ace in the hole.

Then turns to Jamil, "You let it slip on purpose, didn't you, Jamil?"

"Why, I have no idea what you're talking about," Jamil says.

But then Vil says, "This isn't a school bus, boys. Enough with the chit chat. With this staffer's ID and guidance, we'll be able to reach the control room without getting lost."

"Right. And once we're there, we can assess the situation," Riddle says.

"All right, let's move on," Vil says.

The gang then hurries down the hall to get to the control room and figure out what's going on.

Meanwhile, it's total chaos in the control room. The Technicians are trying to get the system back to normal, but nothing seems to be working.

One of the technicians says, "All Charon power armors are active and on autopilot. Ortho's got control of their admin rights! We've received reports of them attacking and capturing our own personnel! Several people have been injured."

"R&D, what's the status of the weapons in the hangars?" The other technician questions.

"All weapons with Styx-made technomantic circuitry remain offline!" One engineer says.

Then one of the technicians says, ""That's all of our weapons! Get them working, even if you have to disassemble them to do it!

Then the female technician says, "We've had no response to the distress signal we sent to the outside! And we've lost communication with the staff who were heading to the power stations and emergency escape terminals.

"An analysis of the River Lethe's configuration data and stored energy has been started!" the first technician says.

Another technician says, "I'm trying to run a brute-force attack program to get Cerberus restarted... But he keeps overriding the activation codes! His processing speed's way beyond ours!"

"Tartarus freezing system disengaged. It'll be fully thawed in 6 hours and 16 minutes!" the female technician says. It's going faster on the upper levels. The thaw should reach sector four in another three hours."

Tower 1 has already started to unfreeze, all the way down to sector 12," The first technician says.

The second technician says in shock, "Sector 12?! That's where the original Phantoms are! So it's only a matter of time before the Titans awaken?!"

Just then, the alarm goes off.

The first technician says, "Blot density is rising throughout HQ! Sounding the contamination alarm!"

Another technician says, "We're simply no match for Ortho's computing power... Is there nothing we can do?"

Just then, the hatch door opens, revealing Briar and the boys.

Soon, Vil says, "Come now. Don't tell me you're giving up that easily."