Enigma Source: Grey Area

Chapter 8: Armed Conciliation

November 21, 2531
Grey Morrison
Corpus Industries' Lower Levels

What the heck just happened? Sinclair, a very fast and powerful person I had just met, was instantly stopped. His body was stabbed by the metal floor itself that suddenly came to life and morphed into a makeshift stalagmite. It all happened in rapid succession too. Here I thought that I was gonna have a heartwarming reunion with my dad, but it turns out that there's more to the story.

Dr. Corpus himself was here, spouting all types of exposition. The latest Corpus in a long line of geniuses, Frederick Corpus was currently the richest and smartest guy on Earth. Not to mention one of the most powerful men as well There were only a select few individuals who were on his "status level". He accompanied my dad here as well as a mysterious cloaked individual. The cloak itself was double layered. It was a dark blue blue robe thing, with a black trim. The hood on it was baggy a very cultish too, so it made it hard to tell who or what was under it. Whoever it was, they were interested in Sinclair (Well, from what I can tell anyways). Dr. Corpus had just confirmed what I had previously thought about Sin; That he played a bigger part in that incident. By the looks of it, he played a big part in a lot of things. But nonetheless, here we were in a standstill. My only protection was now a Shish kebab.

I stood there in fear, not knowing what to do. Even my father looked terrified. What was going to happen next?

Dr. Corpus began to cackle. "Easy there boy. It's not your turn to move yet. Besides, the adult is taking". He approached Sin's suspended body. He, now realizing the predicament he was in, grabbed a hold of the metal stalagmite and tried to pull himself out. He let out a grueling cry, one that made me feel the excruciating amount of pain he was in. And the sounds, oh goodness. It sounded like someone playing with the inside of a watermelon. I shuttered in disgust. I was not expecting for the tables to turn against us this badly.

"Dr. Corpus! What are you doing!?". My dad yelled at his boss. "You never said you'd hurt them!". He rushed over to Sin, but the Copyoids that were protecting my dad stepped in front of him, stopping his progress. "Settle down Dr. Morrison. He might be injured, but I assure you this one is capable of taking substantial damage. Whatever is in him will be quite beneficial for our research and future projects. Just think of the possibilities". Dr. Corpus got in Sin's face, and examined his face uncomfortably close. He grabbed him by his chin and forcibly turned his head in different directions. "My, they really nailed the design didn't they? Even though you're probably centuries old you're still in prime physical condition. Those scientists from Magnolia really were something else".

Both Lux and Echo, the PetPods, were going crazy behind me. Like honeybees swarming to save their hive, they hovered to protect their owner. "No wait!", I shouted. I held my free hand out and tired to at least grab one of them, but they were already too far ahead. They shot ahead, aiming straight for the Corpus himself. Suddenly, the cloaked figure raised their gloved left hand forward. Almost instantly, the drones were encased in a strange blue aura. They stopped mid flight. The cloaked person then quickly lowered the hand down, and the drones subsequently slammed down to the ground. They let out  panicked beeps and Sinclair, even though in deep pain, tried to call out to them. "Echo! Lux! Let them go!". He sounded way more human in this state. Then again, he was in agony. I wanted to help him, but there wasn't much I could do. All I had was this shield, and I'm sure that I would get stomped by anybody in this room.

But what did he just say? That he was probably "centuries old"? What kind of nonsense was he spouting? And Magnolia? That city was destroyed a long time ago. Is that what Sin meant when we wouldn't believe him about his hometown? He never told us where it was, but Corpus did just say something about scientists from Magnolia, so that could be the answer we wanted. But Sinclair being centuries old? That was impossible. He said it himself: He was sixteen.