Crimson Rain (53 page)

She sucked in the electricity then dispersed it around herself and held it there. She now had a forcefield of one hundred thousand volts. Water hissed and crackled as the rain drops evaporated around her. It was a very powerful barrier encompassing her in what looked like an eight foot in diameter globe of electricity.

With her defense established, she proceeded toward the safe house. She knew she would be meeting many obstacles along the way.

*
*
*
*

“
It appears that there has been a mighty blow struck to the military only moments ago, Mr. Cudrow,
”
stated Reginald.

“
Oh? And what would that be?
”

“
It seems as if Kris Asimov has met his demise. This is an unsettling blow to the military. The interface is offline… This will have great consequences. Well, all this means now is that you shall only be reporting to one master from here on out
.
”

“
Isn
’
t Asimov the one who created the interface? What did he have to do with the military and the Alexarien government?
”

“
Oh poor Thomas, nothing is quite as it seems. Synaptix was no mere corporation. It was a branch serving our purposes. Kris was always such a bear to work with. He felt like he had brought a lot more to the table than he really did. What an ego. Nonetheless, he is dead now and this makes your matter of employment much easier. You will only have one superior to report to. This will all be explained at debriefing back at base.
”

“
So Synaptix was part of the government?
”

“
So to speak.
”

“
Who
’
s this boss you speak of?
”

“
In due time, but let
’
s just say your recruitment couldn
’
t have come at a better time… Perhaps you can take Asimov
’
s place?
”

“
I really wish you didn
’
t speak in riddles.
”

“
And I really wish you were a tad bit more intelligent, then I wouldn
’
t have to spoon feed you information,
”
Reginald said with a sigh as he laid back and rested his head.

The hover tank they were in swayed back and forth as it jetted down the streets of Alexarien. Thomas couldn
’
t be more confused by Reginald and the events that had happened.
If Synaptix worked for the government, then why would it offer an alliance with Polyhelix to fight the government?
He kept asking this question over and over in his head.

The rain clattered hard against the metallic frame of the tank and it echoed through the body like a tin can. His mind wandered as lightning and thunder bounded through the city.

“
Why the uncanny weather, Reginald? You
’
re top secret military whatever. I am sure you have an answer.
”

“
Our little rebel friend Crimson, well she seems to have taken control of the Pilvikones. No need to worry, we are dealing with it as we speak.
”

*
*
*
*

Three tanks fired at Crimson. The shells were stopped mid-flight right in front of her. The electricity doing as she willed stopped the projectiles headed straight forward. Tendrils of electricity melted them away and she retaliated, striking the tanks with enough volt
age
to fry anyone inside.

Bullets from a
lone, daring,
helicopter rained down upon her; all of them were useless.
Another
gust of wind blew, knocking it into a building and bits of shrapnel came raining down into the alley as it exploded.
As she used electricity from her barrier, she continued to recharge and keep herself prepared for the onslaught of attacks. She made her way down a roadway where she was met with a line of military.

“
Crimson
Felicia
Rose!
”
she heard from a bullhorn.
“
We know that is you. Surrender immediately and you will be taken into custody to face trial!
”

She had no intentions of doing any such thing as she stepped toward the brigade. They opened fire; it was useless. She shot a bolt of electricity into the center of them. It arched around and killed everyone, burning them to a crisp.

She proceeded down the roadway for a bit where she came to a crowd of those bearing her mark. They had overheard that the military was looking for her and recognized who she was upon seeing the giant glowing orb of electricity. They fell to their knees and began praising her, shouting,
“
All hail Crimson, our savior!
”

She was touched, but disturbed by what she had seen from the high-rise. Those representing her were not doing as she had hoped. They were not seeking out Polyhelix and Synaptix. They were just blindly
rampaging at
all in their wake, leaving a trail of senseless destruction.

She felt the urge to eradicate them as she passed by, but decided against it. It was she, after all,
who
had given them the idea to rebel in the first place. They couldn
’
t be to blame for the fact that she didn
’
t provide them with more guidance.
She had been a bad parent and her legacy would be these unruly children.

She passed by them as they continued to chant and shout praises at her. There was more commotion ahead as she continued to run into military and police. Occasionally, she would pass a conflict between her followers and another side. She even passed a few conflicts between her own followers who apparently saw things differently.

She felt pain in her heart. The pain of seeing those whom she had given an idea
to birth
it and then raise it up to be a mutated mess that not even the mother would recognize.
The pain of feeling alone; she had no idea where Max was. The pain of seeing utter chaos, not the revolution she had hoped for.

She was getting close to the safe house when she began to feel her barrier wane. She looked down at her data
-
pad. Two Pilvikones had stopped responding. A stealth jet zoomed
overhead
. It was traveling fast enough that the sonic boom nearly knocked her over.

They
’
ve figured it out. They
’
re bombing the Pilvikone machines.
She felt her stomach sink as she realized what this meant. Once her powers dropped, she would be defenseless. She quickly ran into a building and took shelter.

Once inside, she dropped her barrier. It was proving problematic in a confined space, burning the walls, melting glass, and destroying anything close to her. She entered some new commands into her data
-
pad and hid inside an apartment on the first floor of the building she had run into.

Soon, hailstones fell upon the city with tremendous fervor and lightning struck randomly and ferociously all over. Wind blew through the skies hard and fas
t channeling down corridors of high rise buildings, powerful enough to even knock people down
. She hoped that the weather would take down the bombers as well and prevent them from destroying the Pilvikones.

People were being struck with foot long hailstones and being killed. Others were being burned up by the electricity and soon, everyone that was outside sought shelter indoors. Even buildings were feeling the effects of the intense weather.

Buildings were cracking as the repeated blows of ice struck them. Glass shattered as the windows were destroyed completely. Crimson locked the door of the apartment behind her. She wasn
’
t sure if it would work, but she knew she couldn
’
t let this storm pelt the city forever or else everyone and everything would be destroyed.

She looked to her data
-
pad and saw one more Pilvikone had gone offline. She was creating quite the diversion and destroying quite a bit, but they were still knocking down her wall. As each Pilvikone was whittled away, the storm got weaker and weaker. Eventually, the sun shone bright in the sky and the storm had passed.

Crimson, still determined to make it to the safe house, ran back out in to the street. She ran down an alleyway. She was close, only two miles before she made it to the safe house. She rounded a corner only to meet with a squad of military personnel coming out of the building that they had sought refuge in.

“
It
’
s her,
”
she
heard yelled
.

In an instant she summoned most of the electricity that she had stored and formed it into a ball. She hurled it down the alleyway toward the soldiers, it exploded too soon and only managed to burn many of them but not cause any fatalities.
A shot sounded out, singular, resolute.

She
reached to draw her pistols but was unable to draw it as
the shot struck her left bicep. The combat suit kept the bullet from penetrating, but the shockwave of the projectile fired from a high
-
powered military rifle shattered her humerus. She fell to t
he ground gasping in pain as two of the
men surrounded her.

“
Careful, boys, she is only wounded, not dead!
”
the apparent squad leader yelled
, his face was burned badly from her attack
.

Crimson jumped to her feet and with her one good arm, opened fire. She managed to gun down
the
two of them before they
could retaliate
. There were six left in the squad and they all began firing at her.

There was still some ambient electricity around her and she could feel it. She absorbed it into herself and began charging her body. She concentrated it into a small aura around herself
. I
t was faint but still visible.

The squad fired at her and she lifted her hand. Lightning arched forth
,
striking the projectiles and melting them before they could strike her. The bolt continued toward the military squad. They all dodged as quickly as they could, but the bolt swallowed the life of one who hadn
’
t managed to move quick
ly
enough. With her last desperate blow
,
she could feel that she was depleted and it would take
a while
for her to charge again.

She managed to avoid several shots
,
when finally, a bullet struck her right calf. It knocked her to her knee and another round hit her in the right forearm, disarming her. She knelt on the ground, both of her arms limp by her side. She was helpless, but she refused to cry for any reason.

“
Looks like we got ourselves a live one here, boys,
”
the leader said as he approached her.

He stood in front of her, her on knees
,
and placed his hands upon her helmet. He lifted it off and tossed it aside.

“
Such a pretty face to match that body of yours,
”
he said, running a hand through her long, still wet hair.
“
And this hair of yours, darling.
”
He entered a number into his communicator and began speaking.
“
We have her, alive as ordered. Yes, she
’
s damaged; she put up quite a resistance with me and my boys,
”
he said to a superior no doubt.

They went back and forth for a little bit as Crimson stayed on her knees trying to figure out what she could possibly do to find a way out. She felt helpless; she felt nothing. She wanted to scream and fight, but she couldn
’
t. It was the scariest thing she could imagine.

“
Okay, will do,
”
said the man as he ended the communication.
“
Looks like you
’
re coming with us,
”
he said with a smile. He gave a signal to one of his soldiers and the man stepped next to her. The last thing she remembered was the sting of a needle going into her neck, then, blackness.

*
*
*
*

“
So it would seem that they caught the little rebel rioter herself,
”
Reginald said out of the blue.