Enhance: Chapter 32

The King was walking toward the helicopter, stationed on the ground level outside of the facility. The blades had yet to start their spinning but it was ready for take-off. He was halfway there, the snow covered ground slowing him down.

Suddenly he was dragged backwards and then thrown across the ground. The man shouted at the sudden exertion and once on the ground turned to glare at his attacker.

“Hey there old man. Remember me?”

The King grunted as he got to his feet turning an amused gaze onto him. “Ah Tracey. It has been some time since we’ve been around one another.”

“No thanks to you.” Ace walked forward and the snow parted around him as he glared. “In fact I think we’re overdue for a nice hug huh?!”

Jerking his hand upward the King was lifted, restrained by an invisible claw. He grunted as it squeezed him even tighter. “You did it didn’t you. You’re the reason my mother was killed! You ordered it!”

He grunted again and then laughed again. “What makes you think th-!” His words shifted into a grunt of pain.

“Don’t fuck with me!”

He looked up at him, chuckling again but that stopped as the King dropped. Landing on his feet, he was a little unsteady but in one piece. Ace stared at his hand, shocked and then back at the man. He thrust his hand forward again but he merely continued to stand, dusting the snow off himself.

“What the fuck did you do?”

“You’ve got quite the mouth on you. I thought that Lilith had taught you better.”

“Don’t you mention my mother!”

“Now now, you calm down and we can talk like adults.”

He glared at him and started running forward. He’d taken only a few steps when he was suddenly on the ground, dazed. He felt pressure on his back and glanced over his shoulder.

Luce shook his head. “I’m sorry I was delayed sir.”

“It’s quite alright. I hope you’ve adjusted to the field.”

“I have. Though the Queen’s abilities are strange to experience firsthand.” He looked at his hand and frowned.

“Yes well, my Queen is indeed powerful in her own right. Please come out of the helicopter Eve. I’m sure Ace would love to have some words for you too.”

The door to the helicopter slid open slowly and a woman stepped out. She was wearing a white dress and black jacket on top of that. She had on boots that seemed to go at least to her thigh. Her skin was as pale as the snow around them and her face blank. “Ace, Lilith’s son.”

“Oh great. She’s here too. Didn’t think you’d ever be caught dead outside of the tower.”

“If you mean our office building then you will be surprised to know that I leave it often. I run our business alongside my King.”

“Holy shit that was sarcasm. Don’t you teach her anything?”

The King sighed softly. “Ace is that really something you need to worry about? Honestly what did you think you were going to accomplish here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe killing you and then pretty boy over here.” Luce seemed to be apprehensive of this but the King was calm.

“And tell me, do you still think you have a chance at doing any of those things?”

He looked between the three people around him and then focused on the King. “I don’t know. I think I could maybe kill you before pretty boy can make me join my mom.”

The King looked at him and then chuckled. “You would be a very dangerous enemy Tracey.”

“What makes you think I’m not already?”

“Because if you truly were an enemy you wouldn’t be this foolish. As things stand you are simply an annoyance.”

He glared at him, his fist clenching and Luce moved jerking his arm behind his back. Their eyes locked and no powers aside there was tension on the air. “Thank you Luce, but you can stand down.”

Luce didn’t back down or take his eyes off him. “With all do respect sir I can’t obey that.”

“Loyalty that cannot be bought. Hard to earned. Better to be created.” He put a hand on Luce’s shoulder. “But we are fine. Aren’t we Tracey?”

Ace looked at him and then looked past him. He caught the flash of movement. Narrowing his eyes he saw the outline in the darkness. He shook his head then and then looked at the King. “You could have had so much Tracey. So much potential being wasted. You could have remained the Queen. Could have become the next King.”

“Well that’d be weird for me to be your Queen and all.” Ace shrugged and jerking his chin up at him. “Queen Ace. Doesn’t roll off the tongue like it should eh?”

He scowled at this shaking his head. “Sometimes I wonder why I bother with you. I keep hoping that one day you’ll come back without all of this wasted potential. Ready to make something of yourself.”

“Well King. There are some things, perks, that you don’t ever get working for the Royals. Like this.” He reached into his back pocket and crushed it in his palm. Smoke exploded, enveloping the area almost instantly. Jerking Luce off he got to his feet and ran.

He could tell that the rest of them were scrambling, Luce to protect the King and Queen. He banked on that so that he could make an escape. He got to the edge of the smoke before he felt it come back. Jumping and turning he swung his arm out. The snow whipped off the ground and into the smoke.

With that he leaped, pushing himself forward and onto a house. He didn’t slow down and kept running. As he did his third leap and pushed himself further off he landed roughly. “Please tell me you at least got your guy.”

Yumi looked at him and then nodded. “He’s on his way home.”

“Good.” He said and groaned cracking his back and turned around. He shook his hand out, the palm burned from the bom. “I’m going to have to try this again. Later though.”

“What happened back there? It looked like you wussed out.”

Looking at her for a moment he shook his head then stood up. His face looked pale, almost worn out. “The Queen, at least the current Queen, has a special power. When she uses hers, she negates everything having to do with Enhance. Everything.”

“What the fuck. You’re serious?”

“Deadly. Keeps the experiments in line.”

He got to his feet and then cracked his neck in the process. He looked toward the sky and watched the helicopter take off into the night. He clucked his tongue watching it go and reached into his pocket for a cigarette.

Darren’s voice broke their silence. “Heads up guys. We’re not done yet. Echo, Feint and Shade are still in there. I think they’re going to need some help getting out.”

 “What the fuck happened to the plan?”

“I’m alright for the most part.” Echo said as she made her way through the facility trying to get to their friends. “But the other two are still dealing with Luce.”

“Dammit Shadeow. Said you were going to take care of it. Show me where you are Echo. I’ll try and meet you.” Yumi started forward then jumped landing in the snow. Turning around she glanced back at Ace. “You coming?”

He looked at her, back at the facility then into the distance where the helicopter had gone and sighed. “I’m going to need you guys again aren’t I?”

“Considering we only succeeded in getting our leader back, probably.” Darren told him. “So get in our good graces and we can let you tag along the next time we go after them?”

He smirked and looked back, staring at the sky. “I remember why I stopped worked with you now.”

“Instead of taking the door there’s another entrance. A kind of chimney that Yumi used to get out. You take that one in and head of Shade and Feint.”

“She pulled a reverse Santa Claus?”

“Something like that.”

Instead of going to the door that was just asking to be used they went a few yards out. The snow was getting thicker as they moved until Ace almost stumbled over the hole. Looking down he leaned back. “This safe?”

“I made it.” Yumi was near her own way in. Echo had directed her toward a wall that seemed solid. “Echo is this the place?”

“Yeah. I can see you. Uhh, take about two steps back.”

Yumi did as she was told, waiting when there was a bang followed by shattering rocks. The snow collapsed inward and she watched it from a distance. Walking back to it she jumped in and saw Echo waving as from down the hall.

“You alright. You don’t look so good.” Yumi said as Echo took a steadying breath.

“I’ve been better. So we’re on the first floor now. There’s three floors total. All of them down. Shade and Feint are on the second. Since we’re no longer on the surprise part of things we’ll have to act like thieves again.”

“Where are they now?”

“Hiding.”

“Alright, let’s go find them.”

The short pinging of their mask was their focus. Echo took the lead casting her thoughts ahead to find any guards before they got to them.  They stuck to walls, dark back and forth against them and peaking around corners. The few times that they had to run into a guard they took them out.

On the second floor things got trickier. “More guards on this floor Yumi.”

“Their signals aren’t too far away though right?”

“Yeah.” She frowned then. “Why haven’t they reached us yet?”

“Something wrong with the mask. I’ve been trying to reach them for the longest.” Darren told her. “Though the trackers are working which means I’m sure they have them.”

“I found them.” Ace’s voice suddenly rang between the channel. “They’re standing. Though I don’t think they can fight.”

“What do they look like?”

“They look like shit. The girl’s keeping the guy standing. If we do this we need to get out soon.”

“Echo can you see him?”

“Yes. There’s a bit of distance between him and us. If we hurry we can make it over there.”

“Then let’s hurry.”

The pair of them ducked forward as they went into the hallway. Stealth and sneakiness be damned, they wanted to be fast. Yumi glanced at her mask seeing a group of four guards coming down their hallway. She was too far out in the open so she got ready to fight.

Before Yumi attacked Echo slowed her down. She pressed a hand to her own forehead and then watched them turn the corner. She stared right at the guards as they ran past, continuing their conversation. The hair on the back of Yumi’s neck went up as she watched. They were halfway down the hallway when Echo stopped and groaned.

After a few more seconds they started running down the hall again. Yumi shivered as she looked toward her.

“That’s spooky.”

She laughed. “Feint said the same thing.”

“Sure did. Though I think I said really.”

“Feint! Shade!” Yumi ran forward, pressing her hand against Shade’s chest and then staring down at him.  He smiled and looked up at her.

“Nice to see you too Yu.” Both of them had bruises but something about how they were walking and moving around showed they were hurt in ways that couldn’t be seen obviously. Their masks they were chipped and in some places just completely broken.

Taking Shade from Fein,t Yumi wrapped her arm around his waist and his around her shoulders. “What happened to you guys?”

Shade groaned as he glanced at her. “We’ll tell you back home. Right now, let’s get out of here.”

Ace agreed and glanced around. “We got an exit strategy or what?”

“Not sure if the way we got in is going to be as good.” Echo looked around and then nodded. “Ace, where’s the chimney that Yumi used?”

“Back that way.”

Yumi glanced at Shade and then nodded toward him. “Lead the way.”

Ace laced his fingers together, “Keep up.”

With Ace leading the way it wasn’t a stealth mission anymore. The first guard they saw he threw them into a wall with a flick of his wrist. The guard did manage to get off a shout before he was knocked out and Echo groaned. “More coming this way.”

“Good. I like a little bit of a work out.”

They rounded two more corners only to be stopped. A row of six guards, three standing and three crouching all with guns steadied on them. Several safeties went off before the call for “Open fire!” was shouted.

Ace raised his hands and watched as every bullet halted before his eyes. As he looked at them he smirked and waited as they each emptied a clip. Then with a push against the air he sent the bullets flying back, watching as they each slammed into their shooters. Four dropped dead, one wounded and the other just terrified.

They moved past them and didn’t encounter much resistance after that. They found the room that Yumi talked about quickly. A small storage room with a few boxes on shelves. One of them was knocked over the contents, spilled across the floor.

Nudging a bottle of pills away Yumi looked up. She could see the ladder rungs coming from it before glancing down at Shade. “Can you climb?”

He looked at it and then shrugged. “I can try. Help me up.”

He got his bearings slowly but managed to climb, taking it one rung at a time. Feint was next, followed by Echo and then Yumi. Before Ace got in he heard someone down the hall. He turned around quickly.

He saw the barest hint of a suit and thrust his hand forward. A field pushed out the doorway and then he jumped into the hole and grabbed onto the ladder rung. Right behind them he started to climb. Before he got too far he grabbed a box and with his telekinesis dragged it up to clog up the hole. Once he came out of the hole they disappeared.

“So let’s take stock shall we?” Darren said as they walked around the living room with everyone sitting. Shade was in the armchair and Yumi was on his leg making sure he was he in one piece still. At this point he wasn’t well enough to bullshit that he was fine.

Phase and Feint were on the couch, Phase laying down his head in Feint’s lap. His eyes were open and he was making noises but he hadn’t spoken much since they’d rescued him. Ace had made sure they’d made it back before parting ways with them. Though he did say he’d keep in touch.

Rogue was standing as he always did. Echo was pacing between the couch and armchair with a bowl of bottle water and fruit. She kept insisting that it was good for them. Only Yumi was really eating anything, though Phase had a water bottle on the floor within arm’s reach. Roxie was lying on the ground by him, her body resting against his hand.

“We know where their R&D department is. At least one of them.” Echo started with.

“Yeah but I doubt returning there will be easy.” Feint said with a frown. “Though I doubt they’ll get up and move somewhere else either. They’ll probably just beef up security.”

There was a collective grunt and nod from everyone.

“We have a decent idea of what the Queen can do.” Yumi said. “At least what Ace said she can do.”

“Shutting down powers.” Shade shook his head. “I want to see that happen.”

“I don’t know. Ace seemed rattled by it.” Yumi frowned as she thought back to his face. “We don’t want to run blind into that.”

“That all we got?” Rogue asked.

Feint glanced down. “Well Phase hasn’t been talking too much so we don’t know what happened to him while he was gone.”

“I can talk.” Phase said and grunted, sitting up straight. He held onto the back of the couch and then swung his legs around slowly. Just that made him a little dizzy. As he stared ahead he saw the white locks of hair and frowned. There were more than he remembered.

Leaning his head forward and resting his elbows on his knees he looked up and then forced a smile at them. Feint never took her eyes off him, “You sure you’re okay?”

He shrugged. “I want to believe so. Though,” he stared at his hand and then closed it. “I know that’s not the case.” He looked around before glancing at Echo. “Can you get me a knife?”

“A knife? What for?” She frowned and he stared at her. She stared back for a long moment then gasped, almost dropping the bowl. “No! You’re not going to do that in front of everyone.”

Everyone was startled by this outburst but Phase just stared. Echo was stubbornly glaring back at him and he didn’t budge. She frowned, her glare fading before turning away from him. “Fine. You better clean up. And for the record I hate this.”

She disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a knife. One of the steak knives, which surprised everyone. Phase took it from her and then held out his free hand. Looking at everyone he then placed his hand on the table. “Watch closely.”

Quicker than they could catch thrust the knife down and his middle finger was now separated from the hand it belonged to. Blood followed it and he kept his hand over it to try and keep the mess to a minimum grimacing.

“Holy shit!”

“Phase!”

“What the fuck?!”

Everyone jumped to action to try and help him but he held up his hand to keep them back. Even Roxie barked in a panic as she paced near him. Feint was right next to him and she stared into his eyes. Whatever she saw made her stop though she wasn’t happy about it. Holding up his bleeding hand he shut his eyes and grunted.

At first there was nothing but a bloody gap. And then there was a nub. A stump. It was like watching grass grow but in less than a minute he had a new finger. The only way to know that previously it hadn’t been there was that ring of blood near the base and his now red hand.

“Holy fuck.”

“How?”

“That shouldn’t be possible.”

Roxie was still barking.

Phase ran his fingers through his hair and twisted a pale strand around his finger. Seeing it he frowned again before shaking his head. Lowering his hand he stroked Roxie’s head making her calm down. “They did this to me while I was there. Experimented with me again. Gave me the ability to heal from anything. Almost. I think a bullet to the head would kill me. And a serious heart injury could do it too.

“I don’t remember when they experimented on me. I just remember fighting against Luce. A lot. I remember when he first hit me hard enough to break my shoulder. He won that fight.

“But then almost instantly, like in the moment, my shoulder healed. I think I blacked out after it though. I woke up back in my old cell my arm working like nothing had happened. Broken bones, bruises, cuts. All healed. But they learned that it wasn’t for free. At least they figured that out recently.”

He pulled on his now white hairs and smiled at them. “By healing I make it so that I’ll die naturally sooner. Just fall over and be kaput. The way to tell is my hair. At least that’s the only obvious way to tell. The whiter it gets the closer I am to the big dirt nap. Enhance can only do so much and it seems like it’s what kick starts the healing. So rather than die I repair myself which also kills me at the same time.” He shrugged. “I wasn’t perfect.”

Feint reached out and touched his white hair and frowned. “It feels dry. Brittle.”

“How did they do this?” Darren asked looking at the blood that was pooling on the table. “I mean this is above and beyond what they were doing before.”

“I don’t know.” Reaching out Phase took a towel that Echo was holding and began to clean up after his demonstration. “You’ll have to ask them.”

“Oh yeah. I’ll ask them. With my fist in their mouths.” Shade put a hand on Yumi’s shoulders and she leaned back but there was a very faint glow emanating from her hands.

“Cool it Yu.” He whispered into her ear.

“So what now?” Rogue asked who was walking around the couch to stand near Shade and Yumi. “We have our leader back. And he’s been through a special kind of change. I doubt that we want to just pretend everything’s normal again.”

Phase nodded. “I wouldn’t want you guys too. I want back in that facility. And talk to the head honcho. The scientist who made us. I met him. And not just the lab coats but the main man himself. Funny thing, he and the King look really alike.”

“What like twins?” Darren asked.

“You don’t know?” Yumi asked.

They shook their head, “No. I’ve never even met him or the head scientist. Getting information on the King was always difficult and the head scientist was never important.”

“You guys all call him the King. Doesn’t he have a name?” Feint asked.

“If he does no one knows it. Probably one of his most well guarded secret..”

Shade shook his head. “Someone has to know who he is.”

“Ace?” Yumi asked.

“Ace knows but that’s his vendetta. He doesn’t want anyone doing it before him,” Darren sighed. “It’s annoying.”

“What about the Queen?” Echo suggested.

“Maybe. I don’t know how close they are.” Daren shrugged.

Feint looked at them. “If you made a perfect doll wouldn’t you divulge your secrets to them?”

“God that sounds lonely. Like sad lonely.” Yumi shook her head. “But how would we get the info. It’s not like we can just walk up to her and ask ‘Hey, what’s your King’s real name. If you know it that is.’”

Echo frowned. “And if she can really shut off powers, I wouldn’t be able to read her. At least not close.”

“So, we’re stuck at an impasse with that option.” Rogue said. “Let’s go back to the guy who made you. The Scientist. Who’s he?”

“Dunno.” Phase shrugged. “The other guys always seemed too scared to call him anything but Sir.”

“Great.” Rogue threw up his hands. “Then I guess we go back to square one. What’s our next plan of action?”

Feint held up two fingers. “We got two big ones. We either go after the King, find out what he knows. Or go after the Scientist and see what he knows. Either way we’re going do both of them eventually.”

“Do we have to decide now?” Echo asked glancing at everyone.

“No. Not yet at least. We just got him back after all.” Feint sighed heavily rubbing his shoulder. “Let’s think about it. We need to. We need to at least take a breath and get ourselves together.” A collective mumble of agreement arose. “Then let’s break for the night.”

They all moved slowly, Yumi and Shade up first. Feint and Phase joined them as Darren went off to their work area. Echo waved goodnight as she and Rogue went to the other half of the house toward their own respective rooms. The remaining four walked down the hall and slowed as they stopped at their doors. Shade walked into his room going to the dresser to change.

“I guess night guys.” Yumi said blushing lightly. She was standing in front of Shade’s room.

Phase and Feint exchanged a glance but didn’t say anything about it. Phase just smiled at Yumi who returned it and then ducked her head and walked into the room. Phase and Feint walked further down the hall and Phase entered his room. Roxie had long since made her way to her bed at the foot of his.

Feint followed him and was watching him as he changed to clothes meant for sleeping. Once he was changed he looked at her and then smiled lightly. “Gonna sleep in that?”

“No. Just making sure you’re okay before heading off.”

Phase motioned to his bed. “Plenty of room here.”

She looked at him, words ceasing to form in her head for a moment. “Are you sure?”

He nodded and she bit her lip for a moment. “I’ll be back then.” She returned in shorts and a t-shirt much the same as him. He was already in the bed his back turned to the door. Sliding down beside him, she wrapped her arm around his waist and pressed her face against his back. He groaned and then brought the blanket up around the two of them.

“Thanks Fei”