Lab Rat: Subject 253

In Which There's A Boom

     The halls quickly turned messy.

     Some subjects rushed to the exit. Others found themselves thirsty for revenge.

     253 ignores the sound of screaming. He wouldn't help the Scientists. It was their own damn fault and they could die a slow, painful death as far as he cared. His only goal right now was to find Ella.

     You better be outside waiting for me, darling, he thinks as he runs with his friends, Otherwise I'm coming straight back for you.

     "This way!" Fairy shouts, guiding them to the right.

     --

     "I knew you'd betray us," Harrington shakes his head, gun firmly pressed against Doctor Edwards head. "Edward Langley's Little Angel...tut tut."

     "Leave him alone," Ella tells him weakly. Edward was like her father. She couldn't let Harrington hurt him. But she had to save 253...She had to save her friends.

     But she was scared. She didn't know what to do. This wasn't supposed to happen.

     She wonders if 253 is out yet. If he was waiting for her. Her insides malfunction...She knew there was little chance of her getting out alive but she hates the thought of him standing there...waiting...hoping...

     "I won't kill him if you stop what you're doing," he growls. "I can't activate their chips. You're blocking it. Stop. Now."

     Her hand remains on the panel. Harrington didn't know what she could do with computers. Heck, Edward didn't know either and he created her! "I'm not even doing anything," she lies, continuing to activate the Self-construct.

     Only two more to go...

     "Lies!" he roars, digging the barrel into Edwards skull. The older Doctor gasps in pain. "I'll kill him, Ella. Stop this! Now!"

    She opens her mouth to respond when a small detail catches her interest. Numbers were embedded into the side of the weapon. She read them - searched her mind...of course! It was a stun gun designed to look like a handgun to scare the Subjects. Harrington wouldn't kill Edward...he'd lose everything...

     She grins. Only one more activation pass to go...

     She can still do this.

     --

    Fairy is the fist one out of the circular vault door which opens up into the ground. 

    They're in the yard and jog straight for the opened gate in the middle of the electrical fences.

    "Subjects! Stop!" A guard calls from the tower by their exit. He's aiming a sniper at them. "Go back inside or I'll shoot!"

     "Let me," 109 smiles holding up her hand and drawing a pattern in the air. 

    The guard shouts in pain, gun dropping as electrical lines circle him, zapping him continuously. He struggles, arms waving, before he falls unconscious. 

    "Nice," Fairy compliments before his feet leave the ground and he flies up to the tower and retrieves the gun. "This'll come in handy," he shouts to his friends before lowering himself to the gate. The others run over to him. "Who'd like to go first?" he gestures to the door which led to their freedom.

    Flytrap nudges Hippy. "Go on. She did it for you, after all."

    Nodding silently, 253 takes the first step outside. Somehow...the air smells so much fresher. 

   --

    "Please, Ella," Edward begs her, before much to her surprise, winking. "You need to stop this, dear."

    Her mouth hangs open. Edward wanted her to do this? The approval only made her feel more confident in her decision. She just hopes that Edward would have enough time to escape... "I'm sorry, Dad..."

     "No!" Harrington grits out, shoving Edward to the floor. He takes a step forward before aiming the gun at Ella and firing...

    Ella gasps, her mind blank. Her body convulses, eyes rolling upwards and hand melting against the panel which remained connected to the computer system. The panels began to spark. Skin bubbling as she over- heats. 

    A fire appears in the corner of the room. Edwards shouts for the young woman he considers his daughter. Smoke rises from the top of her head before her hair sets alight. Sparks fly on the computers before a white noise sounds, ringing in the Doctors ears so loudly they cower.

    Ella screams suddenly, loud and painful, before her body falls to the floor and everything goes silent. 

    "Ella?!" Edward calls from his place on the floor. Fire continues to burn, catching onto the electrical equipment but he doesn't care...

    She was laying there, lifeless. Her artificial skin melting onto the floor, revealing her metal structure. His child; his creation...

    Gone. For nothing.

     "I had to stop her," Harrington tells him. "She was going to kill us all."

    Edward shakes his head, a tear falling down his wrinkled cheek. And then a voice appears overhead...

    "Self-destruct begins in 10."

    "9."

     "No!" Harrington rages, picking up a chair and throwing it against the main computer. "The bitch!"

    "That's my girl," Edward smiles.

     "8."

    "Ahh!" Harrington shouts. "She's destroyed us!"

    "Yeah," The older man agrees proudly. "She certainly did."

    --

    "7," The feminine automated voice echoes outside.

     "But she's not here," 253 panics. "I've got to go back."

    By now, other Subjects had worked out the escape route and began piling outside of the lab. 

    "6." 

     216 grabs him. "Don't, Hippy. There's not enough time to go back!"

     "He's right," Flytraps agrees sadly as the countdown reaches 5. "I'm sorry, Hippy."

     "Nonononono," he chants, shaking his head. His eyes were crazed; watery. "She promised me. She said she wouldn't get hurt."

    "4."

     "We need to go," she tells them, watching other Subjects flee into the surrounding woods, some of them chanting and shouting joyfully. "We don't know how big the blast will be."

    "ELLA!" 253 shouts, trying to get Fairy off him. His knees were weak. Limbs shaky. He felt like there was a hole in his gut. 

     "3."

   "Flytrap," Fairy gives her a pointed look. 

    She nods, steps forward and touches Hippy's shoulder. "I'm sorry." 

    Hippy grits his teeth. "Don't you dare-" before he can finish, she activates her powers and gives a shock; not strong enough to hurt him but enough to put him to sleep. Luckily she had good control and kept the shock pin-pointed on Hippy so it didn't affect Fairy, too. God knows she couldn't carry them both out of there. 

   "2."

     Fairy shifts him until he's holding the other man up by his arm. Flytrap ducks under his other one. "Let's go."

    "1."

    The ground vibrates as an explosion erupts. They keep their backs turned as the ground begins to give way and the underground lab falls in on itself.