Chronicles of the Supers (Book 1): Born From Darkness (The Story of Max) (13 page)

"First let's sit down. You've had a rough time lately. Take some
time to let our physical body sleep." Milia said.

"But if I'm not dreaming then how can I rest?"

"Our powers help in that regard. This is what normal humans
would call 'lucid dreaming'. It means you can rest and stay in here
without worrying about negative side affects."

"Okay?" Max asked, completely unsure of how much of that
was the truth. She sat down at the table and a drink appeared in
front of her. She grabbed the glass and sipped a bit of it, but it
was as tasteless as it had been the last time she was there.

"So what's going on Milia?" Max asked as the other girl sat
down.

"Are you sure you want to know?" Milia asked, eyeing her
counterpart sadly.

"Yes."

"I believe you're depressed."

Max just sat there contemplating the words for a moment. She thought
about it but couldn't place why it seemed right. She'd rarely ever
heard of depression so she didn't really know too much about what it
was.

"What makes you say that?" Max asked after many minutes of
contemplation.

"I remember everything you've ever read. It's part of our shared
powers."

"Are you sure?" Max asked. She wanted to believe Milia, but
she couldn't recall ever reading anything about depression. Or any
other mental illness for that matter.

"Yes. You were curious about it just before he killed our
mother. You had checked out a book from the library."

Max thought for a moment but she couldn't remember that. Then again,
the trauma of losing her mother had been the tipping point in her
life. After that she had begun planning on running away, and spent a
year preparing what she needed to get away.

"Okay then. So why do you think I have depression?" Max
asked.

"Because you exhibit some of the symptoms. Even ones you're not
yet aware of."

"Such as?"

"You're feeling the crushing weight of your past on yourself,
wishing for something to happen to kill you. You feel like there's no
other escape. Most of all, you feel guilty for what you've done
because of that man."

Both girls sat in silence for a long time after, each one
contemplating their next words.

"So why don't I feel like that in here?" Max finally asked.

"Because, in here, we share emotions. It's easier for 2 people
to deal with the same emotion than for you to do it alone."

"What do you mean we share emotions?"

"Since we're two people created from the same person, when both
of us are in this place we automatically share emotions. It's 2
people feeling the pain, and joy, of one."

"So when I'm in here, all of my feelings imact me less?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. How do I deal with depression."

Milia sat for a long time thinking before finally answering.

"I don't know."

Both girls sat in silence again before Max spoke.

"So, if you took control, would you experience the same emotions
at full force?"

"Yes, I would. After all, we share a past. My reasons would be
different, but I would feel the same emotions."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'll be depressed, but not because of the same reasons
you are. And that's all I'm going to say on that matter."

Max eyed Milia suspiciously, but decided to let the matter drop. The
girl was just as entitled to secrets as Max was after all. And Max
hadn't learned how to read Milia's mind the way Milia could read
Max's anyway, so there was currently no way for her to pry the
information out.

##########

"So how much longer we got genius?" Frank asked.

"Well we have all the faces and the program is already
calculating the count. But it doesn't have enough data yet. So far
it's estimating between 35 and 45 people." James said.

"I didn't ask that. I asked how much longer this is going to
fucking take." Frank said. The now 2.5 month operation was
wearing thin on his patience. He hadn't been able to leave the truck
except when the cameras needed maintenance. And that had only been
once since they'd been installed.

"I'd say another week and we'll have the info we need. Barring a
special inspection of course. If that happens then the computer will
tag the data and we'll be back at square one."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning we'd have to start re-collecting data from the
beginning."

"And why the hell would we have to do that?"

"I didn't have time to make the program that robust. Because of
that, if an error pops up, such as a person who only visits once
every few years, we'd have to start over again."

They both fell silent as a car pulled up to the gates. This late at
night they weren't expecting anyone. They listened carefully to the
audio from the custom camera they'd installed in place of the old
one.

"This is Technical Seargent Harris, here under orders from Major
General Lousko."

"And what are your orders Seargent?"

"I'm here for a surprise inspection of the facility, to be
completed with all due haste by the time the sun rises."

Frank and James just stared at each other, both of them looking both
horrified and angry. This one surprise inspection had cost them
nearly 3 months of work, and they were going to have to spend another
3 months starting over from the beginning.

"We have no orders for an inspection at this time."

"What part of 'surprise' do you not understand? I have the
official orders with me."

There was a long moment of silence as the people inside the base
considered the situation. They finally responded after an
uncomfortably long silence.

"We'll have someone come out to the vehicle to inspect the
orders. Until then you are to exit the vehicle and keep your hands in
full view of the base cameras. Any moves and we will shoot your ass
dead before you can wonder how many bullets you'll be filled with."

Clearly the communications officer on the other side had been ticked
about the earlier comment by the surprise inspection officer, based
on how he chose to word his response. After a moment a man exited the
compound and searched the vehicle, all while eyeing the inspector
suspiciously. 2 more stood by the gate with their weapons drawn and
aimed at the inspector.

As Frank and James watched from the truck, a call came over James'
cell phone. The cell phone was one of their burner phones, and only
one person had the number.

"Hello?" James asked as soon as he answered. After a moment
he hung up.

"What was it?" Frank asked.

"We've been recalled by the boss."

"Why?"

"That surprise inspector over there is in his pocket. I guess we
lucked out this time."

"Yeah, lucked out of 2.5 months of our lives."

"Hey I'm not happy either. But I am glad we don't have to
continue for another 2.5 months at least."

"Yeah I guess."

"Right, well, we have to go get the camera out and replace it
with the old one."

"Fine, let's just get going."

"We'll have to wait until the surprise inspector is inside and
their attention is focused on him."

"Well let's get nearby so we can finish as fast as possible."

With that they both left the truck to stretch their legs
for a bit while they waited on the inspector to enter the compound
and collect the information they'd basically failed to.

Chapter 17:

Takeover Plans

"So how are we gonna do this then?" James asked. He was
sitting at a round wooden table with a grand golden inlay depicting
the solar system. To his right was Frank, sitting in another of the
grandiose wooden chairs that were plated with inlayed golden designs.
No 2 chairs were of the same design, and yet the theme fit the same
as the table. Clearly, someone had spent a lot of money on the set.

To
James' left was a girl with pasty white skin and short blonde hair.
She had strikingly bright and deep blue eyes. Her frame was very
small, measuring in at a height of only 5 feet 2 inches tall. Next to
her was another girl who could almost pass as her twin if it weren't
for her shining green eyes.

Next
to that girl were 2 asian men. The first had short dirty brown hair
and a small frame similar to the girls. The other was a hulking
monster of a man like Frank. But whereas Frank appeared to be made of
solid muscle with nothing else under his skin, this man appeared to
be a normal human just enlarged to impossible sizes.

The
final member of the table was the only one who actually appeared to
be normal in every way. He had sandy blonde hair cut so it hung
loosely around his head. He had a pair of generic half-rimmed glasses
covering his muddy brown, seemingly dead eyes. He wore a white tshirt
with a light blue collar and a simple pair of sweatpants. But perhaps
the most shocking feature was the wheelchair he was confined to.

"We'll
leave that to our military expert, Captain Dawn." The man in the
wheelchair said, pointing to the girl with the shining blue eyes.
"What are your thoughts on how to take this place?"

"It's
former Captain. I haven't thought of myself by my military title
since I was discharged." Dawn said.

"Very
well, Ms. Dawn. How do we proceed?" Said the smaller Chinese man
as he glared at Dawn. She glared back and he had to avert his eyes
from her gaze.

"Well,
Mr. Shi, I suggest that we need some more equipment first. Mr. Frank
here is-"

"I
told you to drop the 'mister', so do it." Frank said without
hesitation.

"Frank
here is one of our biggest guys, right along side your brother there.
If we get them a full set of body armor, we can storm the base with
them leading us. And by full set I mean full protection, including
the arms and legs and head.

Then
we have my sister at the back. She's got training with the Seals, so
she'll be the best suited to watch our back and prevent stealth
assaults on our team from the rear. I'll be in the middle directing
everything and James will guide us through the facility and provide
technical support. Now since we all have combat training of some form
or other we should be able to clear the base effectively in around 15
minutes, based on the size from the plans you've given us.

After
that we'll have to lock the base down. That will be the hardest part.
The technology there is old and many of the systems don't work
anymore. As James noted from their surveillance, the 5 foot thick
solid steel door no longer closes. While that gives us an easy in, it
makes our job of locking ourselves in even tougher.

Beyond
that we'll need radiation suits to protect us on our exit after we
finish the plan. The two front men will be the hardest to equip
because of their massive size."

"Alright.
How many will be between us and the control room?" the man in
the wheelchair asked.

"39
people if we go in at noon. Unfortunately as soon as we breach the
front gate the whole base will be on us in under a minute. They'll be
fully equipped to gear up and get out in under 30 seconds and then
the small size makes travel time almost non-existent."

"So
what path will we be taking?" James asked.

"Well,
that's up to you. Base protocol is to lock down the elevators and,
once the primary defense squad makes first contact, to lock down the
stair well entrances to any access not approved by the commander.
They'll be using video cameras to verify the identities of everyone
attempting to access the doors.

If you
are up to it, we can get the elevators back online through some
clever hacking of the console. They have a direct hardline to their
control computer. If not, we'll have to take along explosives to blow
the doors open. The doors electronics have a mechanism to sever the
connection at a command from the control room. And the doors locking
mechanisms are mechanically based, so when severed they'll stay
locked until the electricity is restored to the operating motors."

"Well,
I've never hacked a system that old before. I should be able to do
it, but the old technology is lost on the modern world so it'll be
tougher than normal. If I knew the elevator specs I could pull off a
hardware hack, giving me control of the systems that way. But that
method might fry the elevator systems completely. I say we go through
the doors." James said.

"Well,
that will take more time, but if we fry the elevator we'll end up
going that route anyway. So in that case we'll need a full pound of
C4 for each door. There are 4 doors between us and the control room
outer door. It uses a much more solid construction and we'll need to
blow through the concrete and rebar wall to its side to get in. But
if we do that we have to make sure there's no living person left on
base to play hero and stop us."

"Meaning
we'll be killing them all." The man in the wheelchair said. "I
hate it has to come to that, but whatever is necessary we'll do it."

"So
if we're caught we'll add mass killing to our rap sheet when we're
thrown in hell? That's great." said Dawn's sister. "Y'all
had better be glad I'm coming along to save your asses from the
fire."

"Yes,
we're glad to have your experience along." the man in the
wheelchair said. "Anything else you need to pull this off Dawn?"

"We'll
need to get some old school computer equipment to hack the systems
with. The operation computers still run on those old 8 inch floppy
disks, so we need a way to get into that in order to complete the
operation. James can tell you what you'll need."

"I'll
get a list together by this weekend. That tech is so old that it's
impossible to find on the internet so I'll have to go scrounging
through some old contact lists to find what I need." James said
after a moments thought. All eyes were on him as he began.