Sapphire Angel - Superheroine

Chapter 9 - Into the Lion's Den

Stanley's lock pick device worked as planned at the rear door of the Fizzure building. Seconds after holding the device to the pad at the door, Beth heard a click. She pulled the door open and slipped inside.

As the door closed behind her and darkness surrounded her, the reality of the situation hit home. Beth was here, on her own, facing unknown danger. She was equipped with amazing powers and clad in a costume straight out of a comic book. Two days earlier this would have seemed like a dream. Or a nightmare.

With a resigned shake of the head, she pressed the button on Stanley's device, shooting a beam of light down the stairs. The place was silent and still. She crept down the steps, unsure if someone lurked in the basement. Every footfall sounded like a deafening boom to her.

Beth continued to the bottom of the steps and pointed the flashlight down the hall. She remembered shivering in the cold basement air during her last visit. Now she felt as comfortable as if she were outside on a warm spring day, even in her skimpy outfit.

Three doors lined one side of the hall and two doors lined the other. She had ignored the side doors on her visit with John, but not now. Beth moved to the first one, pulling her blond hair over her ear and listening for any sounds inside, before testing the handle. It was unlocked. She pushed the door open and peered into a small room with concrete walls. The room was empty except for a computer on a metal desk along the left wall.

This seemed as good a place as any for Stanley's USB drive. Beth entered the room, closed the door behind her, and hurried to the machine. It only took a moment for her to find the USB ports behind the machine. She inserted the USB drive and waited. Nothing happened. Perhaps nothing was supposed to happen.

With a shrug, she left the USB drive in the computer and slinked to the room across the hall. There she found a group of computer towers on the floor, with display monitors on the tables above them. The sterile room was otherwise empty and uncluttered, with no papers or cabinets. Upon testing the monitors, she found that the computers were powered down. Dare she turn one on?

Beth shook her head. It certainly would require a password of some sort. Stanley had given her a device to unlock doors, but not computers. She also wanted to leave as small a trace of her intrusion as possible. She had already planted Stanley's USB device on the computer in the other room, anyway. If it worked, he would be on the network soon.

Beth stepped back into the hall, crossing to the middle door on the opposite side. Yet again the door was unlocked. She opened it and shined her light in. Three clothing racks sat in the middle of the room, extending to the rear wall. White jumpsuits hung from the racks, and eye goggles sat on top.

Intrigued, Beth stepped forward for a closer look. Her jaw dropped. The white garments weren't jumpsuits at all. They were hazmat suits. And what she had thought to be goggles were actually respirators and full face masks.

Beth reached up a gloved handed and played with a strand of her smooth hair and bit her lip. Was the air here safe? She and John hadn't seen any dangerous chemicals, but she still had two more rooms to examine. John had certainly felt the effects of something.

Was it possible his illness and her strength were a reaction to something in the air? John's comic books, and her disdain for their clichés, seemed to be taunting her. The possibility her life was mirroring those books was too ironic to contemplate. No, not ironic. Tragic.

The slender woman eyed the hazmat suits and considered wearing one, but decided it would take too long to suit up. The greater risk would be if she encountered anyone. She needed to keep moving, and hope that either the air was clean, or her necklace would protect her from any contaminants. Or that the air in this place had already done to her what it was going to do.