Coger

Chapter Three

Christian sat on the floor with a scowl on his face and a bucket of locks beside him.

"Just try Christian," David barked through the speaker, "Just pick one up and unlock it."

Christian sniffed as he picked the bucket up and glared at the mirror, knowing that David was watching from the other side. He, then, turned the bucket upside down, dumping out a full pail of unlocked locks.

"Okay. That's interesting."

"That I can unlock multiple locks at once?" Christian stood, "Is it really though?"

"I don't like it either, but you've just got to make it worth it."

"I don't see how," he kicked a lock across the room before walking to the door and exiting, "We know what I can do."

"I get it," David sighed, "But Jonathan has ordered your training."

"Well, my real job is to lead a team. Why can't I train as a leader and not an unlocker?" He took a moment to look over the dashboard that David had pulled up, "What happens if we give me the serum again?"

David looked up at him, puzzled.

"I mean, what if we tried again? Maybe tried giving me anothet power?"

"That would be impossible," David locked up the dashboard before marching back down the hallway.

"Have you tried it?" Christian followed after.

"No I haven't but--"

"Then how do you know it won't work?"

David quickly stopped and turned, causing Christian to bump into him, "Because it's not meant to work that way! So stop asking!"

"I've been unlocking locks for eight hours a day for three weeks!"

"I don't make the rules here, Christian, so just leave me alone."

"Where do you expect me to go? I'm not necessarily welcome in any room but my testing room."

David threw his arms into the air, "I don't know! I'm sure there's a locked maintanence closet here somewhere!"

He stormed off as Christian walked back down the hallway.

He thought for a moment about heading back into his room before he took another couple steps down the hallway where Matt Pickle was using his forcefield to fend off a group of wasps.

After watching every single one fall dead to the ground, Christian opened the door.

Matt was hit with shock as he threw a forcefield up at Christian, knocking him back out the door and into the wall.

As he was lying on the floor, the small child glared at him before closing the door.

He got to his feet and dusted himself off before moving down to Heather's room where she was lying on the floor.

Feeling as though she wasn't busy, he opened her door and walked in, but as he stepped in, she was now missing from the floor.

He heard the door shut behind him.

As he turned back toward it, Heather fell from the ceiling on top of him, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Quickly, she rolled off and sprinted onto the far wall, "Who are you?"

"Christian Coger," he panted as he backed up toward the door.

"I've never seen you before," she hissed.

"I've only been here about a month or so," he stood up, not losing eye contact with her, "I'm in training too."

"Prove it."

He sighed as he walked over to the door and opened it.

"Big deal. You're opening a door."

"Then you try it," he said as he slammed the door closed.

She krept over to the door and pulled the handle. It wouldn't budge, "You locked it."

He reached back for it and opened it with ease.

She squinted and rubbed her head, "So...you unlock doors?"

"Doors. Locks. Yeah," he rolled his eyes, "I unlock things."

"How...um...useful?" She said trying not to sound insulting.

"It's not, I know, but that's not my primary job."

"Then what is?"

"I'm supposed to lead you."

She fell to the ground laughing after a breif pause, "You?"

"I know what I'm doing."

"No, you don't," she snapped, "I'm not going to have a mental locksmith tell me how to use my powers."

"You know what we're up against, right?"

"And how do you plan on defeating The Brain? Unlock the front door to his hideout? We don't even know where it is?" She shook her head at him, "Come back when you have something useful to bring to the table."

Suddenly, she grabbed him, placed his hand on the door, opened it, and threw him out.

He kicked the wall in anger before marching back to his pod. He opened the door but froze before entering. He looked over at the wall where the dashboard had retracted back inside.

He looked around to see if anyone was watching him. He stared at it for just a moment before closing his eyes. When he opened them, the dashboard had made its way back out and exposed.

His heart skipped a beat as he slowly made his way to it. He looked over all of the keys. Most of the symbols didnt make any sense, but one green button titled "Launch" caught his eye.

Looking over his shoulder one more time, he held his finger over the button when a voice came from down the hall.

"Christian! What are you doing??" David had turned the corner and began hurrying his way.

"It's worth a shot!" He hit the button and began to enter back into the room, but David had caught up and grabbed his arm.

"You can't do that to yourself!" David's eyes grew with fear as he stood in the doorway watching the green gas begin seeping from the walls.

"Then do it with me," Christian smiled as he grabbed David by the neck and pulled him into the room and closed the door.

Both immediately blacked out.