Reborn Heart of Steel

Darkness. Silence. Then, a whisper.

“Brianne. . . ”

The voice was hardly audible sometimes, to the point that one would barely be in a position to hear it. But, it was there and a lifeline at that, after what felt like being consumed and devoured by emptiness.

“Brianne, fight it!”

Chase. It was Chase’s voice indeed, but tense, dull and barely audible as if from afar. Despite my efforts, I was unable to concentrate, against the veil of fog that had quickly descended upon me. Recollections came as short rapid vision The Raven, City Hall, and that terrible sensation of spinning. . .

After much struggle, I finally opened my eyes wide. The world came into focus, hazy shades of gray and shades of brown. I was still in the command center but everything appeared. . . Off. The boundary of the field of peripheral vision became alive and wavered, presenting the absence of solidity in the world.

Standing in front of us, The Raven slowly closed his masked face with slight interest. “Interesting,” he murmured, or at least, that was what I heard my head reply in a distorted manner. “Your resistance is… surprising. ”Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

I attempted to open my mouth and say something, but my tongue was tied like lead. Apparently, in front of me, Chase and Zoe were unconscious on the floor, their eyes open and cloudy but almost aware of their surroundings. They were fighting too.

“You know,” The Raven started pacing again, “the compound I’ve grown doesn’t only rule your mind, it alters your world, or your opinion of it. ” His hand swept across the apparent space, and it distorted. “At this very moment, your brains are struggling to make sense of what they are perceiving compared to what they can logically comprehend,” Most people… well, they just surrender And embrace the new reality that I present to them.

He reached out, grabbing my shoulders, his eyes staring into my eyes. “But you three. . If only you three still remember, you are special. Your minds are stronger. More. .. Adaptable. ”

There was rebellion in me suddenly; power was in my mind; it was possible if only…

I concentrated on my thinking and all my strength, I imagined, my right hand with fingers trying to move. For horrible seconds on end, there was no movement. Then, slowly, painfully, the fingers of my right hand began to move: I could move only my index finger.

The Raven observed and he sneered behind the mask. ‘Pretty amazing,’ he concluded, there was a tone of actual respect in his voice. “But to no avail,” I regretfully shook my head, “You see, with all your energy directed on resisting my control, I don’t need much to alter your city your world. ”

He raised his hand and clicked his fingers and one of the big screens deemed active turned on. This one was a map of Brighten City, but it wasn’t the Brighten City I knew or the Brighten City I had gone to lengths to draw on paper or the Brighten City that was depicted on a postcard.

Cobweb-like construction, sharp corners, or rather protuberances emerged from the debris of recognizable architecture. The sky was green as if the entire city had the flu and in the streets I saw that people were as mechanical as the mayor.

“It is splendid, isn’t it?” The Raven muttered softly. It is called a society or a civilization with a proper and fixed order, where there is no place for anarchy, for the unpredictable.

“He’s… not… alive,” I somehow asked, coughing at the same time with an effort.

The Raven chuckled. “Oh no, my dear, it is, or will be very soon, as the compound is already seeping into the water system of the city. In a few hours, everyone will be like me. Like you, now. ”

Fear took over all the haze that was in my brain. This was totally out of this world, and it was so shocking that I could not grasp the extent of the irrationality. But that horror was accompanied by clarity. I seemed to be getting my mental processes back in order, the uncanniness of my surroundings becoming all too real.

I was not alone in my thoughts, which I acknowledged through the following statement. In my peripheral vision, I observed that Chase’s hand turned into a fist. Zoe’s eyes, which were earlier a blank, seemed to have caught fire as she looked determined.

Possibly, the Raven may have triggered the change of the Wicked Witch of the West’s greed. He stepped back and for the first time something in his expression suggested defeat. “Impossible,” he muttered. “The dosage should have been more than adequate to either decrease tightness, produce an interaction with other medications or at least not increase my heart rate or blood pressure. ”

That was the moment Zoe chose to get up and do something else other than watch what was happening. She grimaced and hurried towards The Raven, grabbing him and pushing him on the floor. They collapsed on to the floor, entwined in one another for a moment, then he rolled off from her, and his mask which flew across the room and landed near the door.

The shock of Zoe’s action seemed to shatter whatever hold the compound had on us. Suddenly, I could move again. The strange, shifting quality of the world snapped back into focus, leaving me dizzy but clear-headed.

Chase was already in motion, racing to help Zoe. I scanned the room, looking for anything we could use as a weapon. My eyes fell on a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall. I grabbed it, the weight reassuring in my hands.

The Raven had managed to throw Zoe off, rising to his feet with a snarl. His assistant had just walked in and, For the first time, we saw his face and I felt a jolt of recognition. The angular features, the cold eyes… I knew this man.

“Professor Blackwood?” Chase gasped, momentarily frozen in shock.

Our former criminology professor’s lips curled into a sneer. “Very good, Chase. I always said you were one of my brightest students.”

The revelation sent my mind reeling. Blackwood had been right under our noses the entire time, guiding our investigation, manipulating us at every turn.

He lunged for a panel on the wall, but I was faster. I swung the fire extinguisher, connecting solidly with his outstretched arm. Blackwood howled in pain, stumbling back.

“It’s over,” Zoe said, her voice raw but steady. “Whatever you’ve done, we’ll undo it.”

Blackwood laughed, a harsh, broken sound. “You fools. You have no idea what you’re up against. This? This is just the beginning.”

Before we could react, he slammed his hand down on a hidden button in his chair. Alarms blared, and the surrounding screens flashed red.

“Fail safe protocol initiated,” an automated voice announced. “Total system purged in three minutes.”

“What have you done?” I demanded, advancing on Blackwood with the fire extinguisher raised.

His eyes gleamed with a fanatic light. “If I can’t have my perfect world, then no one will. In three minutes, every server, every piece of data connected to this network will be wiped. And with it, any hope of stopping what I’ve set in motion.”

Chase was already on the main console, typing on the keyboard with great speed. “It’s locked down tight,” he pointed out, anger could be heard in the tone of his voice. “I can’t override it!”

My mind raced. This can’t go on like this. There must be some way of making something of this horror.