Synthetic Intuition

Chapter 7 2/2 | Trezza

"Are there any alternative routes out of here?" I asked worryingly. Lazlo approached the control panel and pulled up a map of the facility.

"Um. The only way I can guarantee would work would be a utility lift that meets up with the maintenance tunnel we entered from, however, I am betting that there is too much damage to be sure that it is still connected to the emergency power grid. We would have to likely bring some kind of power source with us to start it up..." he hastily thought out loud.

"the suit... It has a battery that just might be enough to power the lift" he said, turning around to look at me.

We ran across the hall to the engineer's lab. Lazlo moved the suit of armor around and tried to remove a panel from the back plating as more unintelligible echoing became more apparent. I began to feel the adrenaline rush through me as the echoes began to sound like broken voices.

"We don't have time, can you take the whole thing!?" I shouted in panic. It seemed like for a moment a lightbulb went off in Lazlo's head as he continued to fiddle with it. I turned around and watched the hallway behind me before getting startled by the clanking noise of the suit being collapsed into a large duffle bag placed next to the stand where the site once sat. He pulled over his shoulder and started to limp towards the room exit.

"This way!" Lazlo yelled as he ran out the door and down a corridor to the left, pulling around the heavy piece of machinery with him.

After running for several minutes as we heard the echoing voices of what I was now sure were cops, getting closer and closer, we came upon a small door similar to the one we entered from. Lazlo let go of the suit and violently pushed open the steel door.

We rushed into the claustrophobic tunnel and before I could close the door behind us I saw the cold glare of a cop rush around the corner and stared out at me, illuminated by the vial red glow given off by the facility backup lights before. He stood for only a moment before ushering something over the radio to likely other civil enforcement.

He started to run towards me, seeming even more menacing now his trench coat was in motion. I slammed the door and reached over to grab a crowbar from a toolbox laying in the tunnel and jammed it into the door lock just as the cop slammed the door knocking me backward a bit.

"That should hold me off for a moment," I said looking back at Lazlo who had a gauntlet wrapped around his left hand with a short blade that shot out from under it. After a second he retracted the blade, realizing it would not be needed, and grasped the handle on the suit before rushing forward. We soon arrived at the rather tiny lift.

"Good. The rails seem to be intact," Lazlo said, opening the door into the small rusty box to let me through first. Lazlo crawled in behind me and connected the suit to a panel inside the elevator by a cable that came out of a panel in the back of the suit.

"C'mon. C'mon. C'mon!" he yelled as the lift began to hum and vibrate before he pressed a button next to the panel and we began to ascend.

I sat curled in the corner of the small box in terror. What I would do next I did not know. If the Overwatch did follow us then they are probably more interested in the interior than us, and there were no strict rules against individuals being around the dome. That doesn't mean that they are suspicious of us though and I know they knew it was me down there. All it took was one unit to have my face in their field of view and the overwatch would tell them who I was and everything about me. I couldn't help but worry about Katie and how they already suspect her too.

I heard a scraping noise come from behind me as we neared the top. The lift came to a stop and Lazlo hastily exited dragging the heavy bag of the mechanical armor behind him. I exited behind him after giving the bag a small push to help Lazlo.

The maintenance tunnel we were in was just as wrecked as the one we entered from. We rushed towards the same cave-like hole we came from trying to make minimal noise, worried that there might be other police units nearby.

To my surprise, there wasn't any guarding the cave entrance. The overwatch must be more interested in what is inside than who it was that was there. Lazlo climbed the first large ledge and placed the bag down before reaching out to give me a hand.

"Isn't that thing heavy?" I asked as I thought about the possible reason there weren't any guards by the mouth of the cave that they were patrolling around the dome, and they could arrive any moment.

"It is heavier than I remember but it was designed to be light so I am gonna take advantage of that" he grunted pulling me up the first step. When we exited there were still no police units in sight.

Lazlo threw the bag over his shoulders and we started to run back to the edge of the city. It was not long until we arrived at my apartment free of any suspicious looks. After getting past security we ran into the elevator and rode it up to the apartment.

The doors to the elevator slowly opened and clumsily rushed past Lazlo, almost stumbling out of the elevator and into the apartment.

"Katie!?..." I yelled her name in a terrified tone. No response. My fear grew as I rushed down the hall and into her room. I burst through the door and adrenalin rushed through my body like it never had before as I realized my fear had become a reality.

There she was standing in the middle of the room. She was in tears but not a sound came out of her. A dark glove-covered hand grasped her mouth as another grasped her shoulder, while the dark figure of a civil enforcement unit loomed behind her. Its white-masked face emotionlessly rested on its pitch-black trench coat, like a pale stone at the top of a waterfall of crude oil. I was stunned and unable to take action as I motionlessly stared back at its cold black eyes, seemingly nothing but empty holes in their mask.

Before I knew what had happened another cop, who was likely hiding in my room, came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my jaw, and forced me into a kneeling position.

"Drop the bag and don't move!" the cop shouted towards the living room, likely at Lazlo who I could not see due to lack of ability to turn my head.

"You weren't joking when you said you needed help" the cop smirked in his dark broken-up voice. I looked to the side to see if he was talking to Lazlo but my head was pulled back to see Katie lurking away from the cop before being pulled back violently. My fear was beginning to turn to rage. I knew if I didn't fight now I would be questioned and then likely sent to a richer city to become a gladiator.

"Well, I am here to help... do not resist. The overwatch has requested that you be kept alive under any circumstances, therefore it is our duty to protect you until further instruction. After we get a response from the overwatch to proceed we will take you to the nearest interrogation center for further questioning" The police unit above me lectured as I slowly moved my hand through his trenchcoat and felt for a gun holster at his hip.

The cop looked down and noticed what I was doing but it was too late. I removed the gun from his hip with a click and pointed the gun upward shooting him through the bottom of his jaw, killing him instantly. I pointed the gun at the second cop, who was now feeling for his gun under his trench coat. I pulled the trigger once, firing a bullet that landed in the wall behind him before pulling the trigger again just as he pulled his gun from his holster. This time the bullet went straight through his collarbone and he released Katie placing both of his hands on his neck. Blood spilled out from in between his fingers as he stumbled to the floor.

I gasped for air, turning the smoking gun in my hand. I sat in terror and disbelief at what just happened. Turning to look at Lazlo who was still standing with his hands in the air, I spoke in a wheezing and panicked voice.

"We need to leave the city"