Episode Twenty-Four: To Burn it Down

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Tonight was the night. Wolfgang's heart jumped when he saw her. Petra was speed walking to the elevator at the top of the grand staircase, under the massive Saint Lucia portrait. When the doors opened she stepped in and repeatedly pressed the F -1 button. Wolfgang slipped in just as the doors were closing, freshly picked flowers in hand. Petra eyed him briefly and continued to press the button. Since she'd first used the elevator, Faust believed you had to keep pressing the button of the floor you wanted in order to get there. For one reason or another, no one had corrected her understanding of this. Wolfgang wanted to offer Petra the flowers he'd taken from the pots around the admin desk but decided it was best to wait until she was finished pressing the button.

When the two reached Security and Operations Command Petra swiftly departed the elevator with Wolfgang hot on her heels. Without facing him she asked, "Vhy are you following me?"

"Well, my name's Wolfgang an-" the boy stumbled as he tried to keep up, "er-I just think yer really pretty an I wanted ta give you these here flowers."

Petra stopped in front of S.O.C. entrance and knocked on the hazy glass door. Then she looked at the flowers, then back at Wolfgang. "Vhy?"

"Uh...cause I think you're uh...pretty," said Wolfgang, his cheeks reddening.

"Vhy do you need to give me flouvers though?"

"It's what you do...I guess." The Boy could think of nothing else to say. And in the very next moment, Dr. Hicks opened the door to the command center.

"Ms. Faust, your not an unwelcome sight. Mr. Miles...you're not supposed to be down here," he said.

"He came to give me flouvers," said Petra matter-of-factly.

***

"We're going to die, we're going to fucking die!" Grahm wailed. Kevin was crouched, peeking out the window from the corner. He calmly and carefully observed the troop. Olivia paced the attic room, deep in thought. Megan had been awkwardly guarding the service stairwell (which led down to administration) since they'd climbed it up.

"We should try to escape," Olivia stated.

"Are you high? How are we going to get past them?" panicked Grahm. Olivia was a little high. Since she'd found Esther's plants, Olivia thought smoking weed would be an interesting activity--and guessed the ill-known attic system would be an ideal place engage in just that. She had smoked a J before her friends showed up, telling herself she did it to ease her nerves in front of Kevin. This wasn't a total fib.

"Do you really think we can stay here? After what we've been through? This might be our only chance to leave," she said.

"I agree," Kevin said, his attention on Megan. "But how do we take it?"

***

When Hicks realized the S.O.C. was locked down, he proposed that Petra go down to the main archive, where the central computer was. He'd told her about how Ridley and Blueskye were programs running off a clone system. Though each "individual" had a multitude of clones in a multitude of locations, only a supreme processor could regulate the system. When Hicks discovered the great vessel buried beneath the Canadian mountains, he knew he'd discovered his processor. It was one of the many reasons he chose to build St. Lucia where he did. But Hicks had been under the command of Nenorluk, who he never totally trusted. For that reason, Petra was tasked with shutting down the clone systems via the emergency override which was made manual.

Petra jumped into the elevator again, but this time she was armed. Hicks had given her a prototype he'd been working on. The saser assisted claymore was a simple but durable blade which was built to vibrate at a supersonic rate. This allowed the sword to cut through most anything as well as resist energetic exposure. Wolfgang marveled at the weapon. He continued to follow Petra for her protection but was coming to know that she was plenty capable by herself. He still didn't understand why Hicks hadn't given her a gun, but he would soon. Like Wolfgang, none had seen the extent of Petra's training. The boy saw her cardio work out, but not the saber reps she performed afterward. Others had remarked on Petra's appetite but didn't know the work she'd done to earn it. Hicks had trained Petra so her melee skill could rival any ranged attack; it was part of his plan for her.

"We ain't expectin trouble are we?" Wolfgang asked.

Petra saw the boy's nervous expression, felt his heartbeat and smelled his sweat. "I do not know. You should not have followed me; the last time a boy followed me he died."

Wolfgang looked at the floor with sadness and fear. "But...we'll be ok right?"

Petra eyed the digital numbers above the elevator door and swallowed as rainy, bloody memories came to her.

***

The first row of Bio-Mechs suddenly collapsed, their knees overextending with a crunch. Dr. Hicks stopped them with his alchemic command over osteomancy and fazed in front of them at the same time. Francis held up his fist to halt the march. "I was wondering if you'd show your face," he said.

"So you've declared war on me then?"

"Yes, as I should have long ago. Ridley told me about what you've been keeping from us."

"Did you ask how long she'd known?" Leelind didn't like that question and he clenched his jaw to show it.

"What's the story Doctor?" a voice called. Jennifer Shore was walking to Hicks from the darkness.

"I didn't think we trained you, people, to hide in bushes," taunted Josephine.

"Don't worry, I'll show you how you trained us."

Hicks and Leelind didn't once avert their eyes from each other. Hicks sneered and passive-aggressively addressed Jennifer, "Do you know why he turned our Bio-Mechs against us, Shore?" Jennifer said nothing as to avoid the childishness. "He did it because he's weak."

Leelind smiled. "Ridley did it because she follows her programming. I could kill you with or without them."

"Then why waste resources?" Hicks asked.

Ridley turned to Leelind, "He's trying to lure you into a one on one engagement."

"Obviously. He's going to find it doesn't matter. Activate Beelzebub, and make these things hold their position."

Josephine's eye twitched, "Men..." Then she telepathically unleashed the being within the complex.

"If you're going to burn it down-" Hicks began but was cut short when Leelind snatched the air from his lungs. Controlling at least one of the base elements was common amongst alchemy practitioners, but Lord Mammon had devised a way to use all four as one mode of practice; stareomancy. Leelind strengthened his ability to repel the oxygen from Hicks with a gesture he held above his head. But Hicks took power over the bones in that hand and made them ache with excruciating pain. As Leelind lost his focus, Hicks paralyzed him by way of hematomancy; control of the blood. Under regular circumstances, the Doctor would have burst his victim into a grisly pulp after the paralysis set in, but not this time. Francis had done the same to Hicks by way of the water and iron in his body. The two had locked themselves in a battle alchemic attrition.

For a few seconds, Jennifer didn't know how to proceed. She was trained in alchemy, but not in the way Hicks or Leelind were. That didn't last long though, because Jennifer noticed Ridley advancing toward her with angry focus. Jennifer was comfortable again; now she had a target.

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