The Nemesis Syndrome

30. Leo

Leo slowed as he approached the corner, nodding briefly to the guard who passed him. The control room was not guarded. Of course, it wouldn't be. They probably hadn't even thought someone would break in. Not when people wanted to break out.

Leo waved his pass in front of the screen beside the handle. It beeped and then, the green light flashed.

"Showtime," Leo muttered to himself.

He opened the door and stepped in.

"Hello, Mr Jenson."

Leo froze in the doorway, glanced up.

Several guns were pointed at him, a row of computers silhouetting the guards in front of them. The female doctor stood in the middle, hands on her hips, wearing the lab jacket she always wore.

Leo raised a hand at her in greeting, relishing in the look of surprise before slamming the door closed and darting down the corridor. Gun shots echoed, bullets slamming into the wall where his head had been before he heard her voice echo, "Get him, you idiots!"

Leo ducked, slamming through a door into another corridor as he pulled out the screen, wiping his card down it and pulling up the map. Okay, so time for another plan: he needed to get another card, one that allowed him access to sector B.

A siren blared and Leo was thrown into a world of darkness.

No.

This wasn't happening.

The lights suddenly turned on red, the thundering feet suddenly throwing Leo into action. He passed the workers who started at him in shock, darting to the wall to get out of his way.

Leo skidded to a stop as a man blocked the corridor, before starting towards him. Leo backed up, turning the corner into another corridor.

No, he hadn't planned this. Well, he hadn't planned most of it, actually. That was probably going to get him killed.

Leo glanced at the map in his hand briefly, skirting past a man in a lab coat. He took the next right, then the left. He needed to lose them. Then he saw a small, blinking red dot on the corner of the screen. They were tracking him.

"Always watching," Leo muttered.

He quickly took note of the directions to get to Sector B, and then threw the device at the wall harshly, where upon impact it shattered. Leo glanced forward and suddenly hit something hard, sending him crashing to the floor. Leo groaned as he immediately jumped back to his feet in a defensive crouch. Just a man. Not a guard. Leo adjusted the weapon on his knuckles before he went running again, not taking a second glance at the man sprawled on the floor.

Right turn. Then second left. A dead end.

No. No no no no no.

Leo turned back, it was the third left... right? Leo racked his brains as he kept running. Suddenly a door to his right, and Leo stopped before it hit him in the face. A hand shot out and grabbed his arm. On instinct, Leo jabbed his fist out, aiming for the stomach rather than the throat. These men were doing their jobs, they weren't an enemy to him.

"Stop," he croaked pit, grabbing Leo's hands.

Leo hesitated. Something about him, it just... made him want to stop.

"I'm not here to hurt you."

Leo back away, pulling his hands from the man's grasp. He was old, Leo noted, around his father's age. But he couldn't stop and talk to this man, not now.

"Don't -" the man put out his hand, as if sensing Leo was about to dart away, "I'm here to help you, Leo Jenson."

"That's what they want you to think." Leo shook his head. He couldn't hurt this man.

"No, I mean I'm here to get you out. You and your soulmate."

"My - I don't believe you." Leo stepped back. The yelling and thunderous footsteps had began to slowly get louder.

"We don't have time -" The man glanced to the side, face contorted in frustration, "Look, take this," he thrust a pass into Leo's hand, "Your soulmate isn't in Sector B anymore, she's in what these people call the Graveyard. She'll be in the back."

He gave Leo the directions to the Graveyard hurriedly, and then to an exit.

"I'll be waiting there, trust me, or don't, but that's where Eliza is. There isn't much time. She's forgetting and you need to get her out, before it's too late."

Leo opened his mouth to argue, to ask what he meant, but the running footsteps made him glance at the man, before taking off down the corridor. He slowed as he approached the third left. He swore silently before picking up his speed, following the directions he was given.

____________

Leo's breath caught in his throat as he stepped into the room.

The room was doused in blue light, sending the hairs on the back of Leo's neck standing up. Rows upon rows of glass coffins, filled with humans floating in an odd blue liquid. How many of them - of Soulmate Nemesis - had been caught? How many had faced this fate?

He needed to get them all out.

He needed to help them all.

He slowed as he walked, the back - the man had said she was at the back. He scanned the foot of each tube, each coffin tagged with a name engraved in metal, resting by the foot of each victim. That what they were after all, victims. Victims of this place. Of the government. Of the genetic mutation that gave them their names.

"Mr Jenson."

Leo jumped slightly, glancing around for the voice. Then, a light flickered on the wall, "Stop."

The man who let Leo go looked tired. His face was as perfect as it had ever been, but Leo knew that look in his eyes. It was one he fought to keep out of his.

Leo scowled as he continued searching. Come on, Eliza.

"Our guards are coming down, surrender whilst you still have to choice."

"You never gave us a choice. Not really." Leo replied as he found Eliza.

"Eliza," He splayed his hands on the glass. She looked peaceful, her brown hair floating around her in a halo. She had never looked more beautiful.

Leo glanced around hurriedly, finding something, anything that would get her out. He found this small button, just beneath her where her elbow floated.

"Surrender, boy. You won't survive us. We will kill you. Since you're rather valuable to us, we would rather not."

"I'd rather you didn't either," Leo said before slamming his finger on the button.