The Second

Chapter 17: Destruction

The encroaching shadows slowly descended upon the bustling city like a band of mist stretching over the northern moors. Cars barreled down the crowded streets with blinding headlights. As the sun sank below the horizon, the light ebbed away to shroud the small, cramped apartment in darkness.

The kitchen light buzzed to life as Shadow flicked it on and took his seat beside Mitch at the end of the thin table opposite Astrid and Clara, who were busy greedily slurping down noodles. Mitch snuck side-long looks at Clara when she dipped her head to shovel food into her gullet, hoping that she was thinking about forgiving him. He would have given anything to see her smile at him again the way she used to. Her eyes darted upwards when she felt his stare and scowled.

"Stop," Clara growled like a dog after she caught his glances for the third time in as many minutes.

"Mitch, help me clear the table and do the dishes for our guests," Shadow instructed as he stood and took Astrid and Clara's licked clean bowls. Mitch obliged reluctantly as he pulled himself out of his shame and followed Shadow to the kitchen nook. Astrid waited until water began gushing from the sink before she lowered her voice.

"Don't you think you're being a bit hard on him?" Astrid whispered. "Everything he did was to help you."

"You don't understand, Astrid," Clara defied. "You don't know him like I do. I trusted him... with my life, and he turned around and betrayed me without a second thought."

"He didn't betray you. He was keeping you safe."

"The simulation, Astrid! The whole time the Professor was controlling us and holding us captive and we didn't even know. But Mitch knew, and Mitch was relaying information back to him.

"He needed to keep the Professor in the dark about his true allegiances," Astrid defended Mitch. The conversation continued back and forth like a tennis match as Astrid tried to convince Clara of Mitch's innocence while she stubbornly refused to believe it. Finally, Clara was fed up with debating.

"Mitch, Shadow, get over here. Let's make a plan so we can finish this once and for all." 

Twilight barked eagerly as Mitch quickly scraped the leftovers into a bowl and placed it on the floor beside some water before he returned to the table. Twilight licked her lips and ravenously stuffed her happy muzzle into the food. 

"So, what can you tell us about Narcladea?" Shadow asked. Mitch began recounting all he'd learnt about the facility and what the Professor's end game was.

"After he studied your strange powers to be able to displace yourself a second out of time into that white dimension, everything changed. He'd only devised theories, but eventually he discovered Clara had these inherent abilities and theory became reality. He'd figured out he could harness it to travel through time and transverse through dimensions, but he needed trace elements. Trace elements your blood gave him – your DNA," Mitch said.

"By using your blood he finally perfected this, which took the form of a blue serum. He thought drinking it could give the consumer your same abilities, and also the ability to manipulate time itself. The initial sample, however, was still volatile and unstable. That's the one Shadow consumed. But now, after honing your abilities in his simulation, I think he can perfect the formula."

Astrid and Clara listened intently as Shadow leant back in the wooden chair, his black hat tipped down over his eyes to shield his disfigured, burnt face from the light.

"If he managed to get your blood, he could already have produced more serum," Shadow said. "If this is true, we need to act diligently. I propose we wait until the dead of night, after they've all gone home, and steal the serum."