Oh hell yes A new part at last, that's great! Hopefully you've overcome the problems now, I look forward for more frequent updates in the future
Now for the part itself... well, I still hate that fucker Sherwinlock. He's not only a borderline criminal, he's also a massive bag of dicks. I can't wait for that guy to die. Actually, he somehow managed to be even less likable than Jones in this part, and that means quite something. With Jones, I at least love to hate him. With Sherwinlock... well, I'm half surprised he hasn't sedated Valentino as well. Awfully kind of him. That said, I liked Valentino here, shame he didn't manage to achieve anything. At the very least he tried. Bruce is also a pretty interesting guy and well, as deranged as he is, I honestly kinda like Sparker. Don't know what it is about him and I'm sure I will hate him in time, but I kind of enjoy reading about him.
[Hit him with the butt of the tranq gun]
So... I would like to do nothing here, so that Nick won't screw up even further by somehow harming Sparker. And I believe outright shooting him would hold the most potential for fucking things up. What if someone switched Nick's gun with a real one, for example, to screw him over on purpose? I also believe that pushing or shoving him could give him some sort of an opportunity to free himself somehow. So, it's the butt of the tranq gun for me. Not the most extreme option, so it shows that Nick still has some restraint, while also not giving him too much of a chance to somehow twist this situation into his favour.
Valentino Drake
I needed to talk to Casey but it could wait. Right now making sure my friends are okay was more important. I walked towar… moreds the professors who were each kind of doing their own thing. Pierce was looking outside just wishing this trip could finally be over while Sherwinlock was reading some sort of journal he had with him. As I walked up he remained staring at the book like I was not even there.
"Mr. Drake, was is it that concerns you?" he said nonchalantly.
"Well I just came back to Sam and Riley. He's asleep somehow and Riles is....."
"He's asleep because do to his intense pain the boy was suffering. To prevent him for an increase in delirium I had to apply a sedative which do to his stress took over nearly immediately."
"Yeah but Ri-.......Wait you just 'happen' to have a sedative with you?"
The professor rolled his eyes and took a medical kit from his bag. "From this." He said very annoyed.
"But how com… [view original content]
Valentino Drake
I needed to talk to Casey but it could wait. Right now making sure my friends are okay was more important. I walked towar… moreds the professors who were each kind of doing their own thing. Pierce was looking outside just wishing this trip could finally be over while Sherwinlock was reading some sort of journal he had with him. As I walked up he remained staring at the book like I was not even there.
"Mr. Drake, was is it that concerns you?" he said nonchalantly.
"Well I just came back to Sam and Riley. He's asleep somehow and Riles is....."
"He's asleep because do to his intense pain the boy was suffering. To prevent him for an increase in delirium I had to apply a sedative which do to his stress took over nearly immediately."
"Yeah but Ri-.......Wait you just 'happen' to have a sedative with you?"
The professor rolled his eyes and took a medical kit from his bag. "From this." He said very annoyed.
"But how com… [view original content]
Valentino Drake
I needed to talk to Casey but it could wait. Right now making sure my friends are okay was more important. I walked towar… moreds the professors who were each kind of doing their own thing. Pierce was looking outside just wishing this trip could finally be over while Sherwinlock was reading some sort of journal he had with him. As I walked up he remained staring at the book like I was not even there.
"Mr. Drake, was is it that concerns you?" he said nonchalantly.
"Well I just came back to Sam and Riley. He's asleep somehow and Riles is....."
"He's asleep because do to his intense pain the boy was suffering. To prevent him for an increase in delirium I had to apply a sedative which do to his stress took over nearly immediately."
"Yeah but Ri-.......Wait you just 'happen' to have a sedative with you?"
The professor rolled his eyes and took a medical kit from his bag. "From this." He said very annoyed.
"But how com… [view original content]
Sorry about missing this for as long as I did! I read the first POV when it was posted, took a break, somehow closed the tap, and forgot about it for a few days. I'm happy to see this continue, though! I gotta say, Sparker is always a highlight, the manaical nut that he is!
[Shove him into the building] - I agree with Agent and Mathea here. It's probably best not to start something. Though, given Sparker's unpredictability, it's possible he would just laugh it off if we tried to harm him, but I would rather not put the tranq gun within his grasp.
Valentino Drake
I needed to talk to Casey but it could wait. Right now making sure my friends are okay was more important. I walked towar… moreds the professors who were each kind of doing their own thing. Pierce was looking outside just wishing this trip could finally be over while Sherwinlock was reading some sort of journal he had with him. As I walked up he remained staring at the book like I was not even there.
"Mr. Drake, was is it that concerns you?" he said nonchalantly.
"Well I just came back to Sam and Riley. He's asleep somehow and Riles is....."
"He's asleep because do to his intense pain the boy was suffering. To prevent him for an increase in delirium I had to apply a sedative which do to his stress took over nearly immediately."
"Yeah but Ri-.......Wait you just 'happen' to have a sedative with you?"
The professor rolled his eyes and took a medical kit from his bag. "From this." He said very annoyed.
"But how com… [view original content]
Sorry about missing this for as long as I did! I read the first POV when it was posted, took a break, somehow closed the tap, and forgot abo… moreut it for a few days. I'm happy to see this continue, though! I gotta say, Sparker is always a highlight, the manaical nut that he is!
[Shove him into the building] - I agree with Agent and Mathea here. It's probably best not to start something. Though, given Sparker's unpredictability, it's possible he would just laugh it off if we tried to harm him, but I would rather not put the tranq gun within his grasp.
I think that no matter what Nick is going to do, Sparker will get some good out of it. Dont know how he is going to twist this to his favour but he will. But this still sounds like the best option of the ones we have here.
Valentino Drake
I needed to talk to Casey but it could wait. Right now making sure my friends are okay was more important. I walked towar… moreds the professors who were each kind of doing their own thing. Pierce was looking outside just wishing this trip could finally be over while Sherwinlock was reading some sort of journal he had with him. As I walked up he remained staring at the book like I was not even there.
"Mr. Drake, was is it that concerns you?" he said nonchalantly.
"Well I just came back to Sam and Riley. He's asleep somehow and Riles is....."
"He's asleep because do to his intense pain the boy was suffering. To prevent him for an increase in delirium I had to apply a sedative which do to his stress took over nearly immediately."
"Yeah but Ri-.......Wait you just 'happen' to have a sedative with you?"
The professor rolled his eyes and took a medical kit from his bag. "From this." He said very annoyed.
"But how com… [view original content]
[Shove him into the building]
I think that no matter what Nick is going to do, Sparker will get some good out of it. Dont know how he is … moregoing to twist this to his favour but he will. But this still sounds like the best option of the ones we have here.
Yes, yes. It was all set. Soon my master plan would come into fruition. Never before has this manifestation of skill been shown in this craft. Millions would remember this moment. The moment that Kevan Marlone became the greatest tour guide, in the world!!!!!
I could already see it. Many would find it impossible to achieve perfection in two field so distinct. And yes, for a lesser man it would be. But not for one who shall rank equal to DaVinci and Plato. I had in but a few moments devised the perfect strategy to astound these children beyond their possible comprehension. Perhaps some would become geniuses one day and then remember the greatness I implanted in that moment as what lead to all their achievements. And in time they will say how ludicrous ‘Doctor’ Stevens was to even consider the deranged and brainless Emma Archer for the position. If she was even of notable worth. When my movie franchise would designed it was obvious that Welsick would be the true antagonist.
But now it was time for rejoice. I had already finished altering a hat I had to my fresh custom design. It was a cap which I had worn few times, but what mattered were the words I inscribed upon it: ‘Dux optimus pretium’. ‘The BEST tour guide’ in Latin. They would ask and wonder and I would answer all. Soon they shall see the ever lasting river of knowledge I possessed and ask questions. I had already designed a line system for their incessive probing.
I had it all. The schedule. The Hat. The brilliance. I even had a lollipop for my preferred pupil. ‘This will be a breeze’ I thought with a smile.
Emma Archer
I decided to walk back to my room and collapse in my bed. I took up my Raylandsfair book again and started reading. And boy was it depressing. By the time I was done almost every character I loved was either dead or in chains and the bad guys all either escaped or we in a huge power position. It suddenly became apparent that I was nearly done with book. I couldn’t believe it. After so long it was coming to an end and I would soon have to start the sequel. But I was considering taking a break from the franchise. After all, I normally spent several hours enjoying it on a daily basis. Maybe this was a good time to start reading something else for a while. But it instantly became very difficult to replace what in just few weeks had become my favorite book. Then again there was that one fantasy novel about demons invading the real world or I could go for one of those cheesy romance’s I tend to like. Maybe there was even some good Raylandsfair fanfic’s around, though I’m pretty sure they would never be as good as the real thing. Oh, but who was I kidding. Nothing could compete with my love for the saga. And I had been told the sequel was even better, which was hard to believe. Then again the writer just kept getting better and better with each chapter. Or was he always this consistently great, honestly it was hard to tell. Either way every time I picked up the book and started reading I always had a hard time putting it down. In fact I was having a very hard time right now.
Finally, I managed to force myself to stop and got up from bed. This morning had been pretty wild. Between Marlone and Lucios and that weird thing that happened earlier. I could barely remember those thoughts, but I still remember the disgust I felt because of I them. They were so unlike me it almost felt surreal. The stress was getting to me. I was almost completely sure that if Herntz hadn’t given me a pep talk earlier, I would have just given up. C’mon be confident Emma. I just needed to practice, make sure I could do this. Just act it out in front of the mirror. But if I took too long I might miss my chance to get there at all. Matthew didn’t show me the schedule, I could be first. But was it worth even going if I was just going to fluster it. I have always been so stage shy, feeling like I’ll make a fool of myself, like they are all judging me. I just needed to calm down and practice. But that might end up costing me everything. I needed to make a choice. I grabbed my bag. Inside was everything I needed for the presentation. I walked to the center of my room. The door on one side, the mirror to the other. There was no going back, I needed to chose now.
[Practice the Presentation]
[Go to the Auditorium]
Adam Pierce
We were already heading into the woods. Sherwinlock had just finished explaining the Samuel situation to Bruce who seemed really distraught about it. I couldn’t blame him though I felt like the situation was handled poorly. Sherwinlock seemed too calm about it too, which made me feel suspicious about the whole thing.
“So you see the boy was acting erratically.” said Sherwinlock as Bruce listened intently. “I had little choice but to inject him with an anesthetic. Not a large dose, but enough to get him through what should be the worst of the pain.”
“Still” Bruce argued. “Was that truly necessary?”
“You didn’t see the boy. He was visibly trembling and yelling senseless nothings. Trust me my actions have spared him a lot of suffering.” He turned to look at the back seats to where I’m guessing Sam was sleeping unconsciously and then turned back to look at Bruce. “Once he awakens I plan to make sure my treatment took effect.”
“I might join you there.” Bruce replied. “Remember studied medicine too.”
“As you wish.” Sherwinlock answered straightening his ragged coat. Though I could sense some slight worry in his voice. But before I could question him about it, the bus suddenly made an abrupt stop and its door opened. The students suddenly got really confused and started talking loudly with each other.
I turned to Gus. “Why did you stop? We still have a ton of miles to go.”
“I didn’t Ser. The machine just stopped on its own.” He said with fright and confusion on his voice.
Some of the students heard this and a panic started. Eden was one of the loudest asking repeatedly what was going on. Valentino was talking to several groups and Charles was trying to calm things down till Wayne began to arguing something with her. Gina and Kiki were talking to each other though it was obvious that while Gina was somewhat calm and collected, Kiki was ready to get into a fight if she needed to. Max then began shouting some insults to Gus and Zoey went off on him. The college students were keeping out of the situation, Casey in particular seemed to want to remain unseen. Sadie suddenly took her headphones off and looked bewildered at the chaos. It was total pandemonium. Sherwinlock and Bruce were trying to calm things down but it was no use. I didn’t see how we could control this.
Then Valentino shouted at everyone to look outside to the right of the bus. Out of a bush came a man dressed in full uniform. I recognized the similarities to Jones, who had been quietly sitting down during all this and seemed almost seemed invisible in the situation. The man entered the bus and grabbed a small microphone from his pocket. As he spoke into it the bus’s speakers were suddenly filled with his voice.
“Good morning children. My name is Kyle Rays. I am the leader of Beta squad.” He said flashing his badge. “We are one of the two branches of an elite military unit designated to protect the Delta Zone Research Facility. At this very moment, I am in charge of transporting you safely to the facilities location.” He said pressing a button. As he did all the windows, even those in the front of the bus were covered by a thick layer of steel. The he pressed another and the bus door shut and bolted before being covered by the same metal. Finally, he pressed another and the bus sprang to life. We could tell we were moving but the wheel wasn’t turning so we had no idea what direction we were going.
“Sorry for the spook kids. Just a security measure, nothing to worry about. If it helps I can answer any questions, to make you feel more comfortable.”
I immediately stood up. “What the hell are you doing? We were given a map with instructions, we didn’t need any of this!” I yelled trying to stop myself from making my face red.
Despite this he remained happy as he answered. “With all due respect professor…. ‘Pierce” is it? I thought you were more clever than this. Did you really think we would just send about 28 copies of a map leading to a secret research base and just expect it to stay hidden.” He shook his head. “It’s a dud. The map leads to an abandoned parking lot we disguised as a ruse three or four towns from here. We even set up a police patrol in full costume in case anyone bought it. Luckily nobody did, the punishment is very severe.”
“Why weren’t we informed of this?!” I said still with the same tone.
He raised his eyebrow. “I thought you were….”
Bruce suddenly spoke up. “I’m sorry Adam, we felt it would be better to keep you out. I know you and this would set off too many red lights. But taking this opportunity away from the children is a crime I can’t live with.”
“Ditto” said Jones, who I was sure barely listened.
I was livid at this point. “Who else knew about this?!”
“Just me, Jones and Gina.” Bruce responded.
“And I suspected.” Sherwinlock added.
‘Of course you did you idiot’ I thought. I wanted to protest and argue, but I realized there was no use. So I just sat down and tried to finish processing the situation.
Kyle smiled once again. “Good, if there are no more questions I would like you guys to please remain seated and fasten your seat belts because we might face a few bumps and sudden turns. Besides that, you should take the opportunity to use your cellphones while you can. Once were near the facility all normal mobile services will be out of range, aka zero ‘bars’. Also, anyone wanting to talk to their parents should remind them of Section 4 Paragraph 6 of the document they signed. Specifically, the sentence that says ‘I hereby authorize both of the facility’s squads to do everything in their power to provide security to my children(s) while also guaranteeing they remain oblivious to highly guarded and potentially dangerous information.’ e.i ‘This is legal, you can’t sew us’.” He finished with a grin.
“Anyway that’s all.” He said as he sat down and buckled his seat belt. “Enjoy the ride”
Nick Archer
I used all my strength to keep myself from hurting the jackass and just shoved him into the building. Ellie seemed surprised I didn’t go crazy on the guy but to be honest I was surprised too. Guess my sister had a bigger effect on me than I thought. But of course the clown couldn’t shut up.
“Always so serious.” he said as he entered the building with Jason pointing a gun at him from behind.
“Well hold down the fort here.” Jeff told me calmly. “You, Jason and Curtis take him into the cell.”
“Roger that.” Curtis said as he walked inside. I pulled my gun out, nodded to Jeff and followed Curtis. As we entered the building I realized this was the scientist section. I’d never been here before. Emma worked here. For a moment, I wanted her to show up out of a corner, just to say hi. I didn’t even care Curtis was here. But then I remembered there was someone else here who I Emma should avoid at all costs.
“You know, I have a feeling that whoever made this place was very unstable.” Sparker said looking the hallway over. “Or at least he expected someone working here to be. Look at the walls ‘Calming blue’, you know they use those in psyche wards. Take it from a guy who’s been to plenty of those” he added with a smile. “But they use that color only when the patient is ‘recovering’. It’s supposed to project ‘security’, ‘safety’ and ‘stability’ in people when the screws are about to dislodge and start dancing. I mean you guys like to call me crazy but I feel like it’s a ‘special’ kind of person who feels like they can do anything in the world because a color gave them a turn on.” He turned to us again. “Now that is crazy.”
Curtis gave him a curious look. “So by looking at a wall you feel like the people here are nuts?”
“Not nuts per say, they might be allergic.” He said as he laughed and we all rolled our eyes. “But I wouldn’t exactly call them stable. It’s pretty clear however there are one or two people here who might have a breakdown once in a while. Or maybe there is a lot of stress going around. People with worries aren’t good at their jobs. Who knows, maybe you’ve just taken me from one looney bin to another”
“How could you know all this stuff?” Jonas asked.
“I don’t.” He answered. “For all I know they just like the color for the décor and had no idea. But like I told that CEO before I shot her husband: I’m a really good guesser.” He said as he fell in another laughing spit and we the rest of us got furious and regretted we talked to him at all. For a moment Jason was ready to beat the guy but Curtis held him back. It wouldn’t matter anyway. We had just arrived.
As we opened the door the dark room suddenly blasted us with light. It took us a second to recover, but we made it in quickly. The room was filled with light tiles, the celling, the walls, the floor and even the door had some attached to its side. Besides this it was mostly empty, with the exception of a what looked like a glass cube in the center. That was the cell. It was about the size of a small room and it only had three things, a bed, a chair and a toilet. The rest was empty.
“Welcome to your new home” I said leading Sparker in.
“Wow.” he said. “You know I got a little worried back there with all this ‘inescapable prison’ talk. But you guys do realize squares are my second favorite shape right.”
We shoved the master comedian and made him walk towards the cube. As he walked towards it a green laser came out of the wall and scanned him. Then a part of the cube lifted itself and opened an entrance. Took Sparkers cuffs while Jonas and Curtis covered me incase anything happened. Then I put my gun on his back to forced him to start walking inside. Sparker turned and looked at us.
“Just so you know my customer service review has dropped to a 2/5.”
I was tired of this. So, I pushed him inside and the door locked behind him. I turned back and went to the guys. I could hear him getting up and cleaning his outfit with his hands.
“It’s a 1 now!!” he yelled as we started to leave.
I raised my middle finger in response.
“Really? Now that was just uncalled for.” I heard before the door shut behind me. Then it was just the tree of us in the hallway. I was just relived it was over and I could tell I wasn’t the only one. Cutis held on to a nearby wall and took a deep breath. Then he raised his head and looked back to us.
“Ready to get back to it?” he asked. I nodded and Jones did as well.
“Good.” He said as he walked off and Jason followed. I took a deep breath. ‘Back to it’ I thought as went to join them.
Matthew Stevens
I had just gotten done with my meeting with the Commander, still a bit shaken up by it revelations. As I walked down the hallway I heard someone’s footstep approaching me from the other end of the hall. For a moment, I considered the possibility of it being Herntz. Our relationship had undoubtedly soured since our previous encounter do to his actions. He had not even come to discuss what had happened with me at my office. I was unsure of how it would be best to react if he approached me. I felt such anger at the man’s selfish actions that I considered openly insulting his person right then and there. However, I decided that it would be best if I ignored his presence and walked past him. Perhaps then he would then reflect upon the weight of his cruel actions. Regardless, as I prepared myself for the encounter I was surprised to see Dr Norman Laghdon appear instead. He was looking inside of a notepad with his glasses and seemed seriously focused on what he was reading.
“Norman!” I exclaimed with shock as I saw him. It seems that the scenario where it was Herntz had become so vivid in my mind that it was a surprise to see someone else instead. I was also slightly disappointed to find out it wasn’t him. It may have been a childish notion, but had looked forward to standing up to him and showing him the consequences of his actions. In his place the brown haired doctor closed his notepad the instant he heard my voice. Despite this he gave me a warm greeting.
“Doctor Stevens, good to see you.” he said with a smile as he walked over to me. By the way he said it I could tell I wasn’t alone in being surprised by his company “I thought at this time you would be working on preparations.”
“I am heading there now actually. I meeting with a squad member delayed me.” I had omitted the fact that this was the Commander to stop him from asking about it. “Anyway, what are you working on Norman?” As I asked I briefly glanced at his notepad, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“I was working out the final details for my project. Hopefully the judges will appreciate its simplicity.” I could hear a clear confidence in his tone. But something told me that was not what he was doing a moment ago. However, I had more pressing matters at the moment.
“Well it's good to see you, but I really must start preparations. Good luck Norman.” I said as I walked towards the conference room. As I left I could see him opening his notepad again.
“I wish you good luck too, Doctor.” He spoke as he went to a particular page. “Who knows, you might need it more than I do.” And with that he began to walk in the opposite until I could no longer see him.
Logan Miles
I took my opening and bolted into the woods. No way this lunatic was getting me. I ran as fast as my legs could without ripping off. I really shouldn’t have skipped leg day. As I began to tire out another bullet hit the ground in front of me forcing me to instinctively change my direction and go left. I kept running and running and I was so tired. Phil was not the guy I would have taken for a marathoner but he still kept up. Another bullet raised into a tree near me, I think. And then later I heard one or two more. It was becoming difficult to count the shots or even tell how long it had been since one rang out. Honestly my brain was just concentrated on running now. I heard a shot, it didn’t kill me, move on. I was surprised actually, at how bad of a shot Phil actually was. I bet that psycho killer guy could have run right next to him and….
Suddenly a sharp pain hit my left shoulder. Like a giant mosquito bite or a very sharp needle. I fell and yelled like crazy person. I touched my shoulder to feel a small fountain coming out of it. I looked at my hand, it was covered in blood. He was going to kill me. God, he was actually going to kill me. I covered my shoulder and ran, ran faster than I thought was possible. I felt my shoes were on fire or at least burning their bottom parts off. I needed help, a hospital. If I didn’t treat this soon infection would kill me. I could maybe use some leaves as a bandage to slow the process but…
Wait, had the bullet gone through? I didn’t check when I fell. And now I couldn’t. That might give him time to line up a shot. Needed to keep running…Needed to keep…. Then another shot rang out, this one hit me too. Right in my left side. I stumbled briefly but kept running. I just wanted to live. Please, I just wanted to live. It was then that I heard the voice. Not Phil…. a woman. Maybe in her late 20’s.
“Who the hell is out there?!!” I heard her yell.
Hope. I ran towards the noise. I need her to see this. Please. I needed her to save me. Please. Another shot rang out. I couldn’t tell if this one hit me. I didn’t care, I was still conscious. Still….
Time slowed down and images flooded my brain. I could barely form thoughts. A fence.....Climbing....Running.....A building…. Men in uniform….. Guards……..Armed….Trucks…..Shouting……The Woman.
She was beautiful. I thought as I collapsed on the floor and everything fell into darkness.
Phil Degger
Dammit, he ran out just in time. I was just about to hit him right in the temple when he went to the entrance to the building. He fell down bleeding, in front of about 3-4 armed guards. One of the people was a cripple, I guess he was in charge. Moving closer I recognized the transport group. Namely their leader with the pretty little face. Well it seemed a good time to flip the situation to my favor before they assumed something problematically correct. I climbed up the outside fence, ran straight into their view and kicked Logan’s body in the chest. A few of them immediately drew their guns at me. Then suddenly the girl recognized me.
“You’re the guy from the transport….this was one your men. What the hell are you doing?!” She asked clearly irritated.
I brought out a few fake gasps for air and then responded, doing my best to sound tired and angry, though that last one wasn’t hard. “This boy was in league with the captive, I found him with a bomb and a couple of Ak-47’s hidden in the woods. Ran after him. He probably came because he knew the layout and where to hide.”
“Wait” The woman said before anyone else could respond. “You have an unarmed man running and your first instinct is to shoot him?”
“He was dangerous and on the run. And frankly miss I don’t have much sympathy for criminals.” I had learned from life that mixing in a little truth always made lies more believable. It worked like it was made of gold. She was still angry and a never showed hesitation to act, but the suspicion in her eyes was gone.
The older gentleman walked over to Logan’s body with his cane and touched it for pulse. After a moment, he looked up to another guard and spoke. “Howard hurry this one to the infirmary, he’s still alive.”
“I’ll go too” said the woman, finally putting her gun in her holster. “I want to interrogate him once he wakes up”.
The old man gave her a nod and both her and the man carrying Logan ran into the building. I was happy to be rid of her, normally I didn’t receive that many questions. Hopefully Logan stayed in a coma for a good long while. The leader walked up to me again.
“My name is Jeff Sohmer. I am the leader of Alpha Squad an elite military unit guarding this facility. You’ll have to come to my office to discuss a settlement for your agreement to remain silent about what you have seen so far. Especially the location of this facility. Come with me please.” He said as he took me to a door leading to a separate hallway than the entry. We eventually reached a richly decorated office, with what looked to be very expensive paintings.
‘Settlement huh?’ I thought as I looked at a painting of what seemed to be some big European war. ‘Seems like things will work out after all.’
Adam Pierce
I seemed like hours had passed, though my watch kept telling me it had only been a few minutes. The kids were mostly quiet, though a few conversations sprung up here and there. I still hadn’t gotten over the fact no one told me about all of this. Here I was preparing for every kind of scenario and meanwhile this whole blindside was taking place behind my back. How was I help the kids feel safe when I had no clue of what the hell was happening anymore?
I had been counting on Bruce to help me keep things together, especially with Sherwinlock around. But now I felt like I was the one on the outs, hoping that Bruce knew what he was doing and had some control of the situation. At least he seemed to, as he was just having a conversation with Sherwinlock and Kyle about how he got one of his great projects approved. After a while I decided it would be for the best if I at least tried to join the conversation, so started to pay attention.
“So there I was straight out of college, looking for a private investor. My first bet was to go for Carmine Industries, private but simple. Much higher chance than going to Isabel Otranto, she wouldn’t go for anything she found remotely violent. That kind of ultra-pacifist mentality would make any attempt at a self-defense capable AI impossible. What would be the point of making something that anyone can destroy easily. Anyway, so I go to one of Carmine’s top buildings and set up a meeting. Then during my presentation, I accidentally trip and spill my coffee all over the CEO’s white suit and get thrown out on the spot. I decided to stay right outside the building in a bench in case they regretted their choice and came back for me. It’s then that I see this man dressed in a full military outfit holding a briefcase walk right towards me.”
“Was he walking into or out of the building?” Kyle asked.
“Well I don’t remember to be honest. I just noticed him when he came over. Anyway, when he did he just stood there looking at me. Like he was waiting for me to say something. Finally, he just straight up asked me ‘Are you Bruce De Vries?’ and I nodded. Then he sat down and started to whisper ‘I know you want to design AI prototypes with a focus home management systems to sell to the market.’ Then he pulled up a file he had on his brief case looked it over and kept talking. ‘But just looking at your plans I can tell that’s just phase one. You want to create fully automated fast thinking AI’s that can react to thousands of situations based on their pre-programed core coding. I represent a faction of the Us military that is interested in your research and I am going to offer you the chance to skip as many steps as you can. I have many contacts that can privately get you what you need in the minimum amount of time and unlimited funding for you and any individuals of interest provided you hold your end of the bargain.’ I was shocked I couldn’t believe how well this was going, no company would ever offer me a deal like this. I accepted on the spot, didn’t even need to think twice about it. But before I could celebrate he looked at me straight in the eye like a hawk. “I’m sure you’ll sing dozens of legal documents before we get started but I’d prefer to hear the words come out of your mouth. So, let’s make something perfectly clear. The project’s primary focus will be on military applications. Espionage, Combat, targeted assassinations. Hopefully you don’t have a problem with that.’ Then he just looked at me and….”
“I’m guessing you had a problem with that.” I said interrupting.
He was surprised to see me talk, but he regained his composure quickly. “Well yes, I did. That really wasn’t what I was going for at all. But…”
“But you still accepted.” Jones said as he looked him straight in the I eye.
“Yeah.” Bruce answered and then turned to look at the floor. “I…..I figured that this was just how things worked in industry. You make compromises to get what you want in the end. I decided that I would give him his weapons and work on my other projects in my spare time. Eventually we would both get what we wanted.”
“Did you?” Sherwinlock asked curiously.
“Uh…No, I still haven’t perfected the interface. It’s very complicated, I’m actually meeting with Rickwell later to discuss that.”
“Well that’s kind of a relief.” I said laying back on my seat. “I don’t think I’d trust anyone with a weapon that powerful. It sounds very dangerous.”
“Yeah” Bruce responded. “It does.” And with that the conversation was over
Sherwinlock was about to start one of his stories of his time back in England, when the bus halted and then the door opened. The windows also came up and we could see the facility outside. It was a massive beige colored building with large metallic doors covering its entrance. From where we stopped it seemed we had already left the outside block and were inside the main area. There were 2 guards near us already in firing stance in case anything had gone down. Kyle came out of the bus first and gave them the all clear then turned to us.
“There you go boys, enjoy your trip.” And with that the enigmatic leader of Beta squad walked out of the bus and left just as suddenly as he arrived.
Bruce and me started organizing the kids into a single file line and letting them exit one by one, while Sherwinlock started took them to the actual building. After a few minutes, only a few remained and Bruce gave me a signal that he could handle this. So, I decided to use this brief time to take a walk.
The facility’s grounds were very well maintained. All the grass seemed to be perfectly cut and a few small trees surrounded by circles of rock gave the area a sense of beauty and charm one would think that no one working here would concern themselves with. As I was admiring all this I was surprised to see Gus arrive and stand next to me.
“Hello Ser.” He said politely.
“Hello to you too Gus.” I said sarcastically, which made us both go into a small laugh. After he stopped he returned to a somewhat serious tone.
“Listen, I just. I wanted to thank you for giving me this job. Not many people are willing to hire former failed farmhand these days and I was certainly very new at driving anything but a tractor until one or two weeks ago but when I asked the drivers administration and you vouched for me I…..”
“Stop.” I said holding up my hand. “You don’t need to thank me. I trusted you and it was the right thing to do. Nothing to praise me for.”
A smile grew on his face. “Thank you Ser.”
“No problem”
After a few seconds of looking at the view he looked at me again. “Well Ser, seems about time for me to go back.” He said as he turned and started walking.
I quickly turned to him. “To the bus? You’re not going to join us.”
“Someone’s got to keep that bus protected.” He replied. “Just in case someone tries to steal it.”
That seemed ridiculous to me. He should join us and have a unique and well-earned experience in his life instead of worrying about imaginary bus thieves in the middle of a government facility. Then again he’d probably be so worried about it that he wouldn’t let up. If I wanted to keep him I would have to put my foot down as his boss and he probably wouldn’t appreciate that.
[Let Gus guard the Bus]
[Order Gus to come with you]
Riley Peters
It was almost finished. Almost. Almost. Then it was done, my one purpose was fulfilled. Suddenly overwhelming fear, sadness, joy and apathy struck me all at once as I realized that there was nothing more for my being to achieve. I wondered what would become of me now. Was I even conscious or just a manifestation of a multiversal force? I felt myself vanishing into nothingness unsure if it was worth trying to scream.
I opened my eyes and suddenly got the worst headache I had ever gotten in my life. Did someone hit me? I think I remembered something vague about Val shaking me. But then I felt sorry about it? That was weird. Especially since the rest of the day had been so calm, if not slightly boring. But I could work with boring, after all it gave me time to draw. I had apparently been very focused on this drawing and it showed. The details looked almost lifelike. It was incredible that my imagination was so vivid if not a bit morbid, but I guess I can chalk that up to watching scary movies before going to bed. The drawing was of a body of a man in an alleyway whose chest had been ripped open. An officer was standing above the body but beside his blood covered uniform I could only see the smile on his face. It was pretty gruesome if I could be honest, but still it was my best work so far. And after all it wasn’t like it really happened.
But still there was something odd about it. Something Sam had said earlier. Something bad. Oh no, did my drawing freak him out. Maybe he thinks I’m weird now. No, it was something else, he was hurt by something. Gosh it was so hard to remember what, that I could almost bet that I was just imagining something. He got into argument with someone, I think, …..it was all so hazy. Oh well if I couldn’t remember it was probably nothing serious. I looked out the window and saw we had just arrived. Wow, that was fast I must have really been into that drawing. Guess those self-pep talks about focus worked better than I thought. I put the drawing into my backpack, careful not to crumple or damage it, and got up from my seat. Then as I was walking out I saw professor De Vries and decided to say hi.
“Good Morning professor.” I said with a smile.
“Good morning Riley. How’s your day been?” he asked kindly.
“It’s been great, thought it’s been very quiet. Mostly I have just had a lot of time for drawing. Which I like too, but I’m still hoping that something exciting might happen. You know something really shocking and memorable.”
“Well I hope you do enjoy it.”
I was about to get out but then I remembered about that thing that kept nagging me about Sam. It felt really silly to ask especially since I was almost completely sure it was my overactive imagination, but I just wanted to make sure. So I turned back to the professor and asked.
“Hey professor have you seen Sam? I want to ask him about something.”
He turned a saddened look to me. “Sam is still unconscious from Sherwinlock’s injection but he should be fine soon”
I gasped in surprise. How did I just find out about this? “Is he ok?” I asked, worried.
“Yes” he replied. “According to Sherwinlock the boy tripped on some concrete when getting to the street and received some minor injuries. He might be sore for a while but he should be fine.”
I couldn’t believe it. Why wasn’t I there to help the professor heal him. I could have tried to calm him down or make him feel better. Maybe that was the thing that I remember was bad? No, that seemed wrong. I had definitely never heard of this before. Why didn’t he tell me? I mean I’m almost sure we talked today, I think. Yeah I think I showed him the drawing, or maybe it was something else. My head hurting so bad.
“Riley are you ok.” The professor said as he grabbed my shoulder.
“Yes I’m fine professor.” I said smiling back. “Just thinking about something stupid”.
“A bright girl like you getting stupid thoughts? That is very odd.” He said as he smiled. “Have fun, Riley.”
I smiled back and walked out. It really was stupid, I mean I am completely sure that it was just my imagination. It was crazy to try to remember things that didn’t happen. Besides today was such a beautiful, happy day that I couldn’t think anything but enjoying it.
Kyle Rays
Well I woke up at 4 am, ate breakfast, went over the plan, walked to the point of intersection, hid under a bush, waited there for a couple of hours, freaked a bunch of kids out and then I almost got into an argument and had to explain everything to someone who should have been aware of it in the first place. This was my morning ladies and gentleman. As I was getting off the bus I to radio the members of Alpha squad. I picked up my walkie and spoke to no one in particular.
“This is Beta Leader. Guests have arrived. No incidents to report, everything went fine. Over.” I waited for the second and then heard Nicholson’s voice coming from the other side.
“Roger that.” he answered from the other side of the transmission. “I can see a larger group of them arriving at the entrance doors right now.”
“Good. Guard them there until the tour guide arrives then resume your usual patrol.”
“Will do Beta Leader. Kerrick Out.” After this was done I decided to check the perimeter just in case any of the kids had gotten lost and went out to explore the grounds. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary but then I noticed a huge hole in the outer fence. As I got closer and examined it there was no doubt in my mind, it had been cut in. We had intruders on the premises. I pulled out my walkie and radioed in.
“This is Beta Leader. I have just discovered a large hole in the outer fence. Definitely manmade we have one or more intruders on the area.”
Nicholson waited for a second then answered. “That must have been done by the intruders from earlier.”
“In haven’t been informed. Please explain.”
“Two men arrived earlier, one was wounded and fell unconscious. He was apparently trying to free the prisoner and the other guy was chasing him to stop him. The wounded guy was taken to the infirmary and is pending interrogation from Ellie. The other one is currently in a meeting with Jeff. I’m guessing that hole is how they got in.”
“I don’t get it. Aren’t these fences supposed to carry 4,000 voltz?”
“We were ordered to turn them off for today. Jeff was afraid one of the kids would hurt themselves. Anyway, the situation is neutralized”
“Roger that. I’ll patch up the fence till we can bring someone to look at it. Out.” I said turning off the transmission. I stood up and grabbed some fiber wire from my pockets and made knots from it to connect the pieces of fence. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked for now.
Once I was done I walked back to the main buildings. I was getting ready to go on my patrol when a thought struck me. With all that’s been going on the Alpha buildings security was very spread out and less than a handful were focused on protecting the guests. Maybe it would be for the best if I went there instead. Then again I could just be being paranoid. If anything was going to happen it would probably be outside right? But still going to protect the group was worth considering.
[Go to Alpha and join the tour group.]
[ Just continue to guard the perimeter.]
Sparker
Well, I was bored. Whoever said that said that when you’re crazy you never have a dull moment clearly did not predict this situation. I was wondering what to do with my time when my first guest came over. It was exactly who I was expecting.
“Commander, we meet again.” I said to the imposing man as he entered the room. He had changed very little in all this time. He looked older but had kept all his muscles. His face was still had the same piercing brown eyes and domineering stare and his body and pose screamed military procedure. It was like I had never left at all.
“We do indeed. Except this time you get to see the full weight of your choices. I am the man who runs this facility, while you are kept in a cell. It seems that you finally get to see that betraying me and your teammates was the most ignorant mistake you ever made.”
“You know the best part about all of this is that you have to keep me alive. You must feed me and bathe me and clean my toilet if it gets clogged. And I get to enjoy every minute of it.” I laid down comfortably on my bed.
“Code 36/45. Eject the prisoner from his bed.” he said still expressionless.
Then I heard a female robotic voice coming up from the celling but loud enough for it to encompass the entire room. “As you wish Commander” Then suddenly my bed pushed me off and I fell to the floor and had to stand up again.
“Meet 4088.” He began to pace around the room. “The most highly advanced computer AI ever designed. Programed to only take orders by voice recognition and to be your warden for the remainder of your stay. Which if everything goes to plan, will be a permanent one.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” I replied as I imitated his footsteps from my side of the room. “I’ve never been the one to stay in a same place for too long.” With this his eyes shifted into a glare. A fine mixture of anger and disdain.
“You are such a disappointment.” he said with open disgust in his voice. “All that I did for you, all those years of training. I gave you respect, I gave you skill, I gave you a family….”
“YOU MADE ME KILL MY FAMILY!” I grunted in anger, which made his expressionless face flinch for a second. I felt completely enraged, but it was only for a small moment. Soon I returned to my normal demeanor and a smile returned on my face. “Ohhh, how they must have irked you. Just knowing that I could love them more than I did you. Made you blow steam out your ears and I guess you have a problem with......competition.” I answered moving my index finger from left to right.
“What I have problem with is ingratitude. I removed your flaws and weaknesses and made you perfect. A soldier without remorse or second agendas. Someone willing to do anything and with nothing left to lose. A man who would bring stability and order to society. You were going to be the great future of our nation.”
“Well what do you think of your great work, dear father? Because I imagine your face gets as red as a tomato when you read the funny papers and see what new form of hysteria I’ve brought to your beloved ‘social order’.” I continued with glee as my mouth enjoyed its mocking smile. “All those years and this is your great Jackson Pollock. A man who smiles as the world burns. Tell me, my dearest dad, aren’t you proud?”
For a moment we just stared at each other, like we were frozen in the eternal torment of living this single second of eternity. A contest of his glare and my smile destined to last for all time. Then out of his bloodshot expression came a slow, calm voice.
“You know. When I heard the result of your trail, I was angry.” he said as he paced around, his stare unwavering. “I saw it as another example of how weak and ineffective the legal system has become. But looking at you now, I have to admit…” he said as he paused and stopped moving directly in front of my cage. “I am going to enjoy watching you rot.” He said as he looked into my eyes. And with this he turned around and left the room. Leaving me alone in the room again.
Whoa... this was a seriously long part No wonder the wait was so long. Hell, you weren't kidding when you said that this is the longest part you ever wrote. This was awesome! And so much happened, I find it hard to react to everything I loved it. No, seriously, I loved it, this was not only the longest, but also one of the best parts. Well done, Sir! I think my favourite PoV in this part is Sparker, because hell, that guy is always awesome, even when he gets this somewhat deeper PoV here.
[Go to the Auditorium]
I actually think that further practice is going to achieve the opposite of what Emma wants to go for. She has practice. She can do this and she is good. What she cannot afford now is for her nervousness to grow stronger now, by focussing on tiny flaws in her presentation. Last minute practicing almost never helps, especially to those who are already nervous. She should focus on calming down, by slowly going to the auditorium.
[Let Gus guard the Bus]
Hey, you cannot force someone to have a good time. I think Gus is too paranoid, yeah, but I doubt he can enjoy the facility if he has to think about his bus this entire time. And just think of how much trouble he will be in if someone indeed steals the bus. With those terrorists on their way and no one even remotely informed of their incoming arrival (seriously, fuck Sherwinlock), it might be a good idea to have another guy outside, to intervene if possible. I bet they will ignore the bus and might not even see him in it, so he could very well be the first guy to be alerted to their presence.
[ Just continue to guard the perimeter.]
Huh, this is a hard choice and one I might end up changing my mind about if one of the others brings up a good argument for why to join the group. Sure, they could need additional protection, but I doubt one additional guard with them will change all that much. No, he has his orders and they were given to him for a reason. If he leaves the perimeter, this will be an unguarded spot one could use to enter the facility. In fact, I have the bad feeling someone already has entered the facility, but if there is any other problem, he should stay there and make sure that no one gets in.
“Code 36/45. Eject the prisoner from his bed.” he said still expressionless.
Then I heard a female robotic voice coming up from the celli… moreng but loud enough for it to encompass the entire room. “As you wish Commander” Then suddenly my bed pushed me off and I fell to the floor and had to stand up again.
“Meet 4088.” He began to pace around the room. “The most highly advanced computer AI ever designed. Programed to only take orders by voice recognition and to be your warden for the remainder of your stay. Which if everything goes to plan, will be a permanent one.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” I replied as I imitated his footsteps from my side of the room. “I’ve never been the one to stay in a same place for too long.” With this his eyes shifted into a glare. A fine mixture of anger and disdain.
“You are such a disappointment.” he said with open disgust in his voice. “All that I did for you, all those years of training. I gave you respec… [view original content]
“Code 36/45. Eject the prisoner from his bed.” he said still expressionless.
Then I heard a female robotic voice coming up from the celli… moreng but loud enough for it to encompass the entire room. “As you wish Commander” Then suddenly my bed pushed me off and I fell to the floor and had to stand up again.
“Meet 4088.” He began to pace around the room. “The most highly advanced computer AI ever designed. Programed to only take orders by voice recognition and to be your warden for the remainder of your stay. Which if everything goes to plan, will be a permanent one.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” I replied as I imitated his footsteps from my side of the room. “I’ve never been the one to stay in a same place for too long.” With this his eyes shifted into a glare. A fine mixture of anger and disdain.
“You are such a disappointment.” he said with open disgust in his voice. “All that I did for you, all those years of training. I gave you respec… [view original content]
[Whoa... this was a seriously long part No wonder the wait was so long. Hell, you weren't kidding when you said that this is the longest part you ever wrote.]
Yes, yes it was. I kept adding more and more stuff to it because I was getting tired of short parts. This thing is what happens when you force yourself to write a couple of P.O.V's each day. Heck even after all this I was convinced it wouldn't be half a FOT part. So as you can imagine I was very surprised when I found out I needed to split it into another comment, twice. I was even more shocked when I realized this part totaled into 14 pages.
[This was awesome! And so much happened, I find it hard to react to everything I loved it.]
Yeah normally I put one or two 'big moments' in a part but since this was a massive multi-part wrap of everything I wrote in the story its kinda hard to breathe here. First Marlone goes crazy, then Emma talks about her love for a certain book and goes insecure again, then this new guy comes into the students plot and basically highjacks the whole thing, Nick and the others locking up Sparker
, Matthew meeting Norman and having an odd conversation, Logan being wounded and sent to the hospital, Philo lying and getting a reward, Bruce giving parts of his backstory and the students FINALLY arriving (I cannot describe to you how happy I am that has happened after 2 years), Gus and Adam having a bonding moment , Riley finishing her drawing and forgetting everything that happened, Kyle finding a hole in the fence and finally wrapping it all up by having Sparker reveal his backstory while talking to the Commander, A scene I have had in mind since the story began and had SO MUCH trouble writing in a way I liked. So yeah, a lot happened.
[I actually think that further practice is going to achieve the opposite of what Emma wants to go for. She has practice. She can do this and she is good. What she cannot afford now is for her nervousness to grow stronger now, by focussing on tiny flaws in her presentation. Last minute practicing almost never helps, especially to those who are already nervous. She should focus on calming down, by slowly going to the auditorium.]
Maybe, but remember the opposite could also be true. Some kind of practice might geve her the confidence she woun't make a fool of herself.
[Hey, you cannot force someone to have a good time. I think Gus is too paranoid, yeah, but I doubt he can enjoy the facility if he has to think about his bus this entire time. And just think of how much trouble he will be in if someone indeed steals the bus. With those terrorists on their way and no one even remotely informed of their incoming arrival (seriously, fuck Sherwinlock), it might be a good idea to have another guy outside, to intervene if possible. I bet they will ignore the bus and might not even see him in it, so he could very well be the first guy to be alerted to their presence.]
I'm pretty sure Adam would be in more trouble for telling him to leave it. Well they seem to have vanished lately, who knows, maybe they forgot. Still Sherwinlockian logic prevails at the moment!! If they do show up however it would be nice to catch them before they do anything. But then again they could overpower Gus and boy would that not be a good thing.
[Huh, this is a hard choice and one I might end up changing my mind about if one of the others brings up a good argument for why to join the group. Sure, they could need additional protection, but I doubt one additional guard with them will change all that much. No, he has his orders and they were given to him for a reason. If he leaves the perimeter, this will be an unguarded spot one could use to enter the facility. In fact, I have the bad feeling someone already has entered the facility, but if there is any other problem, he should stay there and make sure that no one gets in.]
Really? What gives you that impression? . You are right, if anyone is sneaking around the best bet is to patrol outside and stop them from getting in. However this is at the risk of leaving the students less protected against threats that are already inside.......
Anyway I'm really glad you guys enjoyed it. It feels good when hard effort pays off. I'm already working on the next one but if its as half as this one it might take a few days, bare with me.
Whoa... this was a seriously long part No wonder the wait was so long. Hell, you weren't kidding when you said that this is the longest par… moret you ever wrote. This was awesome! And so much happened, I find it hard to react to everything I loved it. No, seriously, I loved it, this was not only the longest, but also one of the best parts. Well done, Sir! I think my favourite PoV in this part is Sparker, because hell, that guy is always awesome, even when he gets this somewhat deeper PoV here.
[Go to the Auditorium]
I actually think that further practice is going to achieve the opposite of what Emma wants to go for. She has practice. She can do this and she is good. What she cannot afford now is for her nervousness to grow stronger now, by focussing on tiny flaws in her presentation. Last minute practicing almost never helps, especially to those who are already nervous. She should focus on calming down, by slowly going to the auditorium.
… [view original content]
[Well our psycho here is starting to get interesting...]
Yep and this is just a peek at his backstory which hopefully we'll get to explore later.
[UGH! It really pisses me off that Phill got out of that so easily. How they believed him I'll never understand but seriously, fuck that guy.]
Oh cmon all he did was nearly kill an unarmed man because he didn't like him. What's so bad about that? As to why they believe him, well they kinda have zero information about what's going on. He just acted confident enough to seem honest.
Well our psycho here is starting to get interesting...
UGH! It really pisses me off that Phill got out of that so easily. How they believ… moreed him I'll never understand but seriously, fuck that guy.
[Go to the auditorium]
[Order Gus to come with you]
[Go to Alpha and join the tour group]
It's just that his story doesn't work! He finds him with a couple Ak-47s and yet he is unarmed. You'd think that if someone started shooting at you that you'd grab one.
[Well our psycho here is starting to get interesting...]
Yep and this is just a peek at his backstory which hopefully we'll get to explor… moree later.
[UGH! It really pisses me off that Phill got out of that so easily. How they believed him I'll never understand but seriously, fuck that guy.]
Oh cmon all he did was nearly kill an unarmed man because he didn't like him. What's so bad about that? As to why they believe him, well they kinda have zero information about what's going on. He just acted confident enough to seem honest.
Well he never said he had the in hand, he just said the found he had them and also a bomb.......which he forgot to bring. Also its very strange that fake story Logan's plan to get into the facility and free Sparker after he was discovered was to somehow run inside without anyone catching him. Phil's story has some big holes and its just a matter of time before someone notices them.
It's just that his story doesn't work! He finds him with a couple Ak-47s and yet he is unarmed. You'd think that if someone started shooting at you that you'd grab one.
Yes, yes it was. I kept adding more and more stuff to it because I was getting tired of short parts. This thing is what happens when you force yourself to write a couple of P.O.V's each day. Heck even after all this I was convinced it wouldn't be half a FOT part. So as you can imagine I was very surprised when I found out I needed to split it into another comment, twice. I was even more shocked when I realized this part totaled into 14 pages.
This was... two and a half FoT parts? Something like this, I guess. But this is a good thing. I think you did it right, sometimes you have to force yourself to write a couple of things each day, even if it means adding more and more stuff to the part. This was surely the longest Multiverse part and one of the longest parts I have ever seen in the forums. And it worked, this was also one of the best parts of the story, so the work really paid off!
Maybe, but remember the opposite could also be true. Some kind of practice might geve her the confidence she woun't make a fool of herself.
Yeah, but I am sure that Emma did practice, probably more than every other scientist combined. She is very much an over-achiever and way too nervous, so if she hasn't gotten the confidence by now, I doubt she will get it with this final bit of practice. In fact, I am absolutely sure that this is going to end up making her only more nervous.
I'm pretty sure Adam would be in more trouble for telling him to leave it. Well they seem to have vanished lately, who knows, maybe they forgot. Still Sherwinlockian logic prevails at the moment!! If they do show up however it would be nice to catch them before they do anything. But then again they could overpower Gus and boy would that not be a good thing.
It surely would prevail if there would be a thing such as Sherwinlockian logic. However, there is none. That guy makes no sense. He is either malicious or dangerously irresponsible, due to either being allied with these people, or wanting to stop them all by himself, to show what a brilliant little fuckturd he is. And well, given that they are terrorists and react completely unpredictably, it is madness to assume that he can do anything to stop them before they do anything. The ones who could do it, the security forces, are completely unaware of everything. No matter how I try to look at it, there is no way this situation can end that leaves him in any way likable. That guy can go and die, for all I care, but unfortunately, it looks like he is hellbent on taking more people with him.
Really? What gives you that impression? . You are right, if anyone is sneaking around the best bet is to patrol outside and stop them from getting in. However this is at the risk of leaving the students less protected against threats that are already inside.......
Well, I am sure the great, brilliant, utterly moronic Professor Shitwinsuck is going to protect them, eh? Nah, I would like to believe that the security forces are better on the inside and that there is no way for ill-equipped and ill-prepared terrorists to get much further than the outer area of this facility. This is where they have to be stopped. But one additional guy inside, I fail to see how he is going to be much of a help. I think he is more helpful in case something bad is going to happen at his post.
[Whoa... this was a seriously long part No wonder the wait was so long. Hell, you weren't kidding when you said that this is the longest pa… morert you ever wrote.]
Yes, yes it was. I kept adding more and more stuff to it because I was getting tired of short parts. This thing is what happens when you force yourself to write a couple of P.O.V's each day. Heck even after all this I was convinced it wouldn't be half a FOT part. So as you can imagine I was very surprised when I found out I needed to split it into another comment, twice. I was even more shocked when I realized this part totaled into 14 pages.
[This was awesome! And so much happened, I find it hard to react to everything I loved it.]
Yeah normally I put one or two 'big moments' in a part but since this was a massive multi-part wrap of everything I wrote in the story its kinda hard to breathe here. First Marlone goes crazy, then Emma talks about her love for a certain book and … [view original content]
This is the longest part ever! And so great! I kept scrolling down and down and there was only more part and I loved this! Good work you did here.
[Go to the Auditorium]
No arguing here, I agree with the reason Liquid brought up.
[Let Gus guard the Bus]
Part of me thinks forcing him to come with you would be better but I cant see any good reason to do it out of Adam's perspective. This is what Gus wants and I dont want to force him.
[Go to Alpha and join the tour group.]
Bad things will happen. I cant remember Logan or Phil cutting a hole in the fence, so someone already did it before. Someone is on the area and Kyle cant do anything if he stays where he is.
“Code 36/45. Eject the prisoner from his bed.” he said still expressionless.
Then I heard a female robotic voice coming up from the celli… moreng but loud enough for it to encompass the entire room. “As you wish Commander” Then suddenly my bed pushed me off and I fell to the floor and had to stand up again.
“Meet 4088.” He began to pace around the room. “The most highly advanced computer AI ever designed. Programed to only take orders by voice recognition and to be your warden for the remainder of your stay. Which if everything goes to plan, will be a permanent one.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” I replied as I imitated his footsteps from my side of the room. “I’ve never been the one to stay in a same place for too long.” With this his eyes shifted into a glare. A fine mixture of anger and disdain.
“You are such a disappointment.” he said with open disgust in his voice. “All that I did for you, all those years of training. I gave you respec… [view original content]
“Code 36/45. Eject the prisoner from his bed.” he said still expressionless.
Then I heard a female robotic voice coming up from the celli… moreng but loud enough for it to encompass the entire room. “As you wish Commander” Then suddenly my bed pushed me off and I fell to the floor and had to stand up again.
“Meet 4088.” He began to pace around the room. “The most highly advanced computer AI ever designed. Programed to only take orders by voice recognition and to be your warden for the remainder of your stay. Which if everything goes to plan, will be a permanent one.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” I replied as I imitated his footsteps from my side of the room. “I’ve never been the one to stay in a same place for too long.” With this his eyes shifted into a glare. A fine mixture of anger and disdain.
“You are such a disappointment.” he said with open disgust in his voice. “All that I did for you, all those years of training. I gave you respec… [view original content]
Man, it feels good to be caught up
[Go to the Auditorium]
I do think Emma is fine with what she has, and I agree with Liquid's reasoni… moreng. I just think it's better that she ease her anxiety.
[Order Gus to come with you]
Anyone by the name of Gus is a friend of mine and I'll be damned if I let a Gus go.
[Go to Alpha and join the tour group]
This choice I'm just going with my gut feeling, in all honesty. I feel it better that we be with a group in the case anything happens.
And it feels good to have you here.
(I do think Emma is fine with what she has, and agree with Liquid's reasoning. I just think its bette… morer that she ease her anxiety.)
Well lets hope you guys are right.....and don't regret this.
(Anyone by the name of Gus is a friend of mine and I'll be dammed if I let a Gus go.)
Even if they want to? Your love of Gus's is intense.
(This choice I'm just going with my gut feeling, in all honesty. I feel it better that we be with a group in the case anything happens.)
We shall see.........very soon hopefully.
So..........where do I start? I guess I should start by answering the obvious question. Where is the next part? Well................its gone. The entire thing was deleted. Word had a breakdown. Hours of dedicated work...poof. Only one Pov survived. But that's not even the worst part. No, well get to that soon.
So after 5 months in hiatus Prime was going to make its comeback today. And what a comeback it would have been. Not only would I release the new part but also finally publish something that took me days to finish....and was still not done. It was a full correction of Multiverse Primes, many, many grammar mistakes and other fun tidbits like joining of different part Pov's and small rewritten bits. It was going to be my version of FOT's google dox format to collect the Part into one reading. It went well and I ended up working on that several days longer than the part. I also made sure to save it multiple times daily. And it was saved......until word decided it wasn't. Now the file doesn't exist. Its not deleted like the Part which I managed to recover the pov from an old save. Its just never existed at all.
So you might be asking why I made this update if its so depressing. Well to be honest I just wanted you all to know that this isn't over. Prime is still going and hasn't stopped. I refuse to give up on it. I'm sorry that the part isn't here yet, I really am but I can't fix that. The only thing I can do is try again, something ill keep doing anytime we hit an issue. If any of you have any questions or concerns please share them here or if you want or pm me as I really like to do with you guy's.
Thank you all for sticking by me and keeping faith that well return after so long. The Part should arrive sometime this month, but if you wish I could give you guys, the sole POV that survived so you at least have something.
With all that said, Happy October and kind wishes to you all.
Whoa... shit...I don't even know what to say. After knowing how long you struggled with this part, this is really disheartening and I am sorry this happened. But can it truly be deleted? I mean, if you saved it, it has to be somewhere. Like, maybe it somehow just got moved to a different folder and you can't find it anymore? If not, hopefully it really won't take long to rewrite this, even though I myself know, rewrites are terrible. In any way, this is very concerning, because the wait already has been so massive. I say, release the part that is still there, so that there's at least going to be a third part this year.
Hello guys, hope everyone's having a good day.
So..........where do I start? I guess I should start by answering the obvious question. Wh… moreere is the next part? Well................its gone. The entire thing was deleted. Word had a breakdown. Hours of dedicated work...poof. Only one Pov survived. But that's not even the worst part. No, well get to that soon.
So after 5 months in hiatus Prime was going to make its comeback today. And what a comeback it would have been. Not only would I release the new part but also finally publish something that took me days to finish....and was still not done. It was a full correction of Multiverse Primes, many, many grammar mistakes and other fun tidbits like joining of different part Pov's and small rewritten bits. It was going to be my version of FOT's google dox format to collect the Part into one reading. It went well and I ended up working on that several days longer than the part. I also made sure … [view original content]
That's the problem with that.....it wasn't. I was convinced that nothing would go wrong and the suddenly the whole thing crashed. Apparently the last thing it could save was the first draft with the one POV. The 'saved' folder never existed. The big 'I can finally write this' push happened in the last month or so and I was trying to write several parts to make it consecutive. My current hope was to make enough parts consistent to justify the break. Two parts prewritten would give me something to post soon and later and time to work on more for the next week. Now I have one POV.........I feel too ashamed to post that. Its not even 300 words.
Whoa... shit...I don't even know what to say. After knowing how long you struggled with this part, this is really disheartening and I am sor… morery this happened. But can it truly be deleted? I mean, if you saved it, it has to be somewhere. Like, maybe it somehow just got moved to a different folder and you can't find it anymore? If not, hopefully it really won't take long to rewrite this, even though I myself know, rewrites are terrible. In any way, this is very concerning, because the wait already has been so massive. I say, release the part that is still there, so that there's at least going to be a third part this year.
This is troubling news, but I’m certain you’ll find a way through this and we’ll all still be here as you figure a way to fix it and when the part arrives.
Hello guys, hope everyone's having a good day.
So..........where do I start? I guess I should start by answering the obvious question. Wh… moreere is the next part? Well................its gone. The entire thing was deleted. Word had a breakdown. Hours of dedicated work...poof. Only one Pov survived. But that's not even the worst part. No, well get to that soon.
So after 5 months in hiatus Prime was going to make its comeback today. And what a comeback it would have been. Not only would I release the new part but also finally publish something that took me days to finish....and was still not done. It was a full correction of Multiverse Primes, many, many grammar mistakes and other fun tidbits like joining of different part Pov's and small rewritten bits. It was going to be my version of FOT's google dox format to collect the Part into one reading. It went well and I ended up working on that several days longer than the part. I also made sure … [view original content]
This is troubling news, but I’m certain you’ll find a way through this and we’ll all still be here as you figure a way to fix it and when the part arrives.
Ok, broken just agreed with Liquid via pm that I should release what I have. Since neither Agent, Janitor or Zach (Who is still reading according to a PM he sent me a while ago) have commented so ill make the choice to go ahead and post it. I may or may not add another POV with it that ill try to quickly write but if it takes more than 45 minutes, ill post the Part alone.
As to who is this lucky single POV following? Why its non other than................. Emma. To recap last time we joined Emma she was currently dealing with the stress of the presentation. She is convinced everything will go wrong and she will lose her job. In an attempt to calm herself, she thought about practicing the presentation over by her mirror. The Vote however made her decide that it was best to focus and that practicing would make things worse.
I will say that while this pov does not make up for the part, it was one of my favorites to write due to its foreshadowing of future events. The other POV I might show will be a 'flashback' which will return some very malevolent characters and show what they did several hours before this part. I'm not as proud of its placement and infact will probably restructure it later when the Chapter is over and in the rewritten version I will have to remake now. Regardless, this POV brings the end of the hiatus, so at least we can all be grateful for that.
"Dammit!!" Louie yelled as he threw his bat to the floor. "We almost had that punk!"
I breathed in deeply. "Its over. No point worrying about it now." I turned my head back, making sure nobody followed us here.
We had found an alley to hide in while the cops we worried with the kid and tried to sort out what happened. First time we almost got caught. Louie was getting greedy, wasting too much time before the kill. It was going to get us screwed.
"FUCKKKK!" He yelled in anger and frustration.
I grabbed his shoulder. "Keep it down before they find us." Just when it seemed the message got through, he went back to kicking the ground like an idiot.
"That kid is gonna pay with his life, he and all these friends of his." He turned to me. "We get the guns, then we go in there and......"
I stopped him again. "Shut up for a damn second and think this thorough. The kid heard the plan, he heard everything. If they see us go in, its over. We need to think of another strategy."
He threw his hands in the air. "And what the hell do you suggest!"
I stood for a moment in thought. We needed something to let us sneak in unnoticed, just a few moments were we could be in the building without watching our backs every second. Some kind of distraction. Then it hit me. I turned to Louie. "Do you remember that black haired kid with the cheap hair gel?"
FLASHBACK OVER
Emma Archer
I shook my head. I needed to have confidence. If I kept doubting myself I wouldn’t have a chance. I needed to believe in myself and just hope it would all work out. As I walked towards the door, I took a moment to take a deep breath and look at the mirror one last time, taking a brief glance at the redheaded woman in it, and then turned again to the door. Then I froze in shock.
My face became stuck in an expression of pure confusion and disbelief. It had been very, very quick, but I could swear before anyone that I saw another woman in my mirror. A redhead, in a black dress, in my room. I mean it sounded ridiculous, but that’s what I saw. Still I knew it had to be an eye trick, part of the lamps lighting maybe. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t shake the image off. There was only one way to be sure. Slowly, I turned my head to look at the mirror and saw….nothing. The only thing I saw was a blond scientist with a slightly frightened expression on her face. That should have calmed me down, but instead I fell to my knees and began to take heavy breaths in panic.
First that thing in the hallway and now this. The stress, it was killing me. I couldn’t even trust my eyes anymore. I was losing it. How was I supposed to keep it together when I was under so much stress? It was going to kill me. I needed to………..I needed to………… calm down. I needed to calm down. All this stress was getting to me. I couldn't just collapse, I needed to keep fighting. I remembered dad's voice always supporting me, telling me I could do anything, telling me to never give up. That no matter how bad things got, I could always work through it. I needed to believe that, now more than ever.
I took a deep breath, stood up and stared into the hallway. Then I closed my eyes, took another deep breath, opened them and walked out the door, determined to see this through. But before I did, I couldn't help but think that, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. However I pressed on, convinced that it was only my imagination.
I’m a bit worried and regretting that we didn’t have her practice. She seems extremely nervous and I think she might get into trouble if her nerves aren’t settled soon.
THIS IS A FLASHBACK
Morton
"Dammit!!" Louie yelled as he threw his bat to the floor. "We almost had that punk!"
I breathed in deepl… morey. "Its over. No point worrying about it now." I turned my head back, making sure nobody followed us here.
We had found an alley to hide in while the cops we worried with the kid and tried to sort out what happened. First time we almost got caught. Louie was getting greedy, wasting too much time before the kill. It was going to get us screwed.
"FUCKKKK!" He yelled in anger and frustration.
I grabbed his shoulder. "Keep it down before they find us." Just when it seemed the message got through, he went back to kicking the ground like an idiot.
"That kid is gonna pay with his life, he and all these friends of his." He turned to me. "We get the guns, then we go in there and......"
I stopped him again. "Shut up for a damn second and think this thorough. The kid heard the plan, he heard everythin… [view original content]
THIS IS A FLASHBACK
Morton
"Dammit!!" Louie yelled as he threw his bat to the floor. "We almost had that punk!"
I breathed in deepl… morey. "Its over. No point worrying about it now." I turned my head back, making sure nobody followed us here.
We had found an alley to hide in while the cops we worried with the kid and tried to sort out what happened. First time we almost got caught. Louie was getting greedy, wasting too much time before the kill. It was going to get us screwed.
"FUCKKKK!" He yelled in anger and frustration.
I grabbed his shoulder. "Keep it down before they find us." Just when it seemed the message got through, he went back to kicking the ground like an idiot.
"That kid is gonna pay with his life, he and all these friends of his." He turned to me. "We get the guns, then we go in there and......"
I stopped him again. "Shut up for a damn second and think this thorough. The kid heard the plan, he heard everythin… [view original content]
Oh Emma, if only you'd know... This is very concerning, because well, that is an oddly specific hallucination. No doubt she is in a lot of stress, but neither do I doubt that there is something much bigger going on here. That image in the mirror, just to be absolutely sure, that was not her with red hair, right? Because well, I don't think it was, but it's really concerning that she is starting to hallucinate, or at least experiences something that seems like a hallucination. Not that anyone should be upset about hallucinating redheads, really, but the fact that she sees something in the corner of her eyes, ah, I don't like the implications at all, no. I also start to think, hopefully we didn't make a severe mistake by not having her practice, but at the time it felt like a good idea. Now, she is worse off than ever before.
Also, Morton and Louie continue to be perhaps my least favourite characters in the entire story ever. I'd say my least favourite characters in general, but I think we both know there are so many others that are more deserving of that title Those walking wastes of air and space can't sod off soon enough, but I fear there might still be something bad going on with them. I really wonder how this part plays into the storyline, like, when did it take place?
THIS IS A FLASHBACK
Morton
"Dammit!!" Louie yelled as he threw his bat to the floor. "We almost had that punk!"
I breathed in deepl… morey. "Its over. No point worrying about it now." I turned my head back, making sure nobody followed us here.
We had found an alley to hide in while the cops we worried with the kid and tried to sort out what happened. First time we almost got caught. Louie was getting greedy, wasting too much time before the kill. It was going to get us screwed.
"FUCKKKK!" He yelled in anger and frustration.
I grabbed his shoulder. "Keep it down before they find us." Just when it seemed the message got through, he went back to kicking the ground like an idiot.
"That kid is gonna pay with his life, he and all these friends of his." He turned to me. "We get the guns, then we go in there and......"
I stopped him again. "Shut up for a damn second and think this thorough. The kid heard the plan, he heard everythin… [view original content]
Indeed....Emma current situation is concerning and it seems to be getting worse. Hopefully it is just stressful hallucinations....
Even worse than Sherwinlock and Lucios? That part takes place at least two hours before this one. I plan on re-placing it right after the Samuel one when the cop finds him.
Oh Emma, if only you'd know... This is very concerning, because well, that is an oddly specific hallucination. No doubt she is in a lot of s… moretress, but neither do I doubt that there is something much bigger going on here. That image in the mirror, just to be absolutely sure, that was not her with red hair, right? Because well, I don't think it was, but it's really concerning that she is starting to hallucinate, or at least experiences something that seems like a hallucination. Not that anyone should be upset about hallucinating redheads, really, but the fact that she sees something in the corner of her eyes, ah, I don't like the implications at all, no. I also start to think, hopefully we didn't make a severe mistake by not having her practice, but at the time it felt like a good idea. Now, she is worse off than ever before.
Also, Morton and Louie continue to be perhaps my least favourite characters in the entire story ever. I'd say my leas… [view original content]
I'm all for Emma's doppleganger being a babe with red hair.
Jokes aside I think I'm with you on the idea that the woman Emma saw was indeed her and possibly from an alternate reality. No idea why Emma would see her in the mirror though.
Oh Emma, if only you'd know... This is very concerning, because well, that is an oddly specific hallucination. No doubt she is in a lot of s… moretress, but neither do I doubt that there is something much bigger going on here. That image in the mirror, just to be absolutely sure, that was not her with red hair, right? Because well, I don't think it was, but it's really concerning that she is starting to hallucinate, or at least experiences something that seems like a hallucination. Not that anyone should be upset about hallucinating redheads, really, but the fact that she sees something in the corner of her eyes, ah, I don't like the implications at all, no. I also start to think, hopefully we didn't make a severe mistake by not having her practice, but at the time it felt like a good idea. Now, she is worse off than ever before.
Also, Morton and Louie continue to be perhaps my least favourite characters in the entire story ever. I'd say my leas… [view original content]
Yes, yes, actually as things are right now, I hate both more than Sherwinsuck and Lucifer My very personal reasons to dislike the latter and me being super annoyed with the former aside, they haven't actually done anything confirmed to be evil so far, there's just the implication that they are the worst. Those two however, oh, they clearly are the most evil so far, at least in terms of actions and well, I don't think there is anything about them that is not just completely hateable. So yeah, the worst for sure, though maybe there will be some that are worse than the worst.
Indeed....Emma current situation is concerning and it seems to be getting worse. Hopefully it is just stressful hallucinations....
Even w… moreorse than Sherwinlock and Lucios? That part takes place at least two hours before this one. I plan on re-placing it right after the Samuel one when the cop finds him.
Comments
ITS DONE. ITS DONE. FINALLY!!!!!!
Oh hell yes
A new part at last, that's great! Hopefully you've overcome the problems now, I look forward for more frequent updates in the future 
Now for the part itself... well, I still hate that fucker Sherwinlock. He's not only a borderline criminal, he's also a massive bag of dicks. I can't wait for that guy to die. Actually, he somehow managed to be even less likable than Jones in this part, and that means quite something. With Jones, I at least love to hate him. With Sherwinlock... well, I'm half surprised he hasn't sedated Valentino as well. Awfully kind of him. That said, I liked Valentino here, shame he didn't manage to achieve anything. At the very least he tried. Bruce is also a pretty interesting guy and well, as deranged as he is, I honestly kinda like Sparker. Don't know what it is about him and I'm sure I will hate him in time, but I kind of enjoy reading about him.
[Hit him with the butt of the tranq gun]
So... I would like to do nothing here, so that Nick won't screw up even further by somehow harming Sparker. And I believe outright shooting him would hold the most potential for fucking things up. What if someone switched Nick's gun with a real one, for example, to screw him over on purpose? I also believe that pushing or shoving him could give him some sort of an opportunity to free himself somehow. So, it's the butt of the tranq gun for me. Not the most extreme option, so it shows that Nick still has some restraint, while also not giving him too much of a chance to somehow twist this situation into his favour.
A new part? I must be dreaming.
[Shove him into the building] Best to be professional and not cause a scene.
Glad to be back. Hope its the end of delays.
[Shoot him with the tranq gun]
This cannot be. What do I see? Such surprise, much wow.
I'M BACK MATHEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry about missing this for as long as I did! I read the first POV when it was posted, took a break, somehow closed the tap, and forgot about it for a few days. I'm happy to see this continue, though! I gotta say, Sparker is always a highlight, the manaical nut that he is!
[Shove him into the building] - I agree with Agent and Mathea here. It's probably best not to start something. Though, given Sparker's unpredictability, it's possible he would just laugh it off if we tried to harm him, but I would rather not put the tranq gun within his grasp.
Thank you for voting.
. Yeah it is something to consider. Sparker definitely isn't the kind of guy you want to mess with.
[Shove him into the building]
I think that no matter what Nick is going to do, Sparker will get some good out of it. Dont know how he is going to twist this to his favour but he will. But this still sounds like the best option of the ones we have here.
Thank god I couldn't start writing till now. I almost closed the vote on you buddy.
Kevan Marlone
Yes, yes. It was all set. Soon my master plan would come into fruition. Never before has this manifestation of skill been shown in this craft. Millions would remember this moment. The moment that Kevan Marlone became the greatest tour guide, in the world!!!!!
I could already see it. Many would find it impossible to achieve perfection in two field so distinct. And yes, for a lesser man it would be. But not for one who shall rank equal to DaVinci and Plato. I had in but a few moments devised the perfect strategy to astound these children beyond their possible comprehension. Perhaps some would become geniuses one day and then remember the greatness I implanted in that moment as what lead to all their achievements. And in time they will say how ludicrous ‘Doctor’ Stevens was to even consider the deranged and brainless Emma Archer for the position. If she was even of notable worth. When my movie franchise would designed it was obvious that Welsick would be the true antagonist.
But now it was time for rejoice. I had already finished altering a hat I had to my fresh custom design. It was a cap which I had worn few times, but what mattered were the words I inscribed upon it: ‘Dux optimus pretium’. ‘The BEST tour guide’ in Latin. They would ask and wonder and I would answer all. Soon they shall see the ever lasting river of knowledge I possessed and ask questions. I had already designed a line system for their incessive probing.
I had it all. The schedule. The Hat. The brilliance. I even had a lollipop for my preferred pupil. ‘This will be a breeze’ I thought with a smile.
Emma Archer
I decided to walk back to my room and collapse in my bed. I took up my Raylandsfair book again and started reading. And boy was it depressing. By the time I was done almost every character I loved was either dead or in chains and the bad guys all either escaped or we in a huge power position. It suddenly became apparent that I was nearly done with book. I couldn’t believe it. After so long it was coming to an end and I would soon have to start the sequel. But I was considering taking a break from the franchise. After all, I normally spent several hours enjoying it on a daily basis. Maybe this was a good time to start reading something else for a while. But it instantly became very difficult to replace what in just few weeks had become my favorite book. Then again there was that one fantasy novel about demons invading the real world or I could go for one of those cheesy romance’s I tend to like. Maybe there was even some good Raylandsfair fanfic’s around, though I’m pretty sure they would never be as good as the real thing. Oh, but who was I kidding. Nothing could compete with my love for the saga. And I had been told the sequel was even better, which was hard to believe. Then again the writer just kept getting better and better with each chapter. Or was he always this consistently great, honestly it was hard to tell. Either way every time I picked up the book and started reading I always had a hard time putting it down. In fact I was having a very hard time right now.
Finally, I managed to force myself to stop and got up from bed. This morning had been pretty wild. Between Marlone and Lucios and that weird thing that happened earlier. I could barely remember those thoughts, but I still remember the disgust I felt because of I them. They were so unlike me it almost felt surreal. The stress was getting to me. I was almost completely sure that if Herntz hadn’t given me a pep talk earlier, I would have just given up. C’mon be confident Emma. I just needed to practice, make sure I could do this. Just act it out in front of the mirror. But if I took too long I might miss my chance to get there at all. Matthew didn’t show me the schedule, I could be first. But was it worth even going if I was just going to fluster it. I have always been so stage shy, feeling like I’ll make a fool of myself, like they are all judging me. I just needed to calm down and practice. But that might end up costing me everything. I needed to make a choice. I grabbed my bag. Inside was everything I needed for the presentation. I walked to the center of my room. The door on one side, the mirror to the other. There was no going back, I needed to chose now.
[Practice the Presentation]
[Go to the Auditorium]
Adam Pierce
We were already heading into the woods. Sherwinlock had just finished explaining the Samuel situation to Bruce who seemed really distraught about it. I couldn’t blame him though I felt like the situation was handled poorly. Sherwinlock seemed too calm about it too, which made me feel suspicious about the whole thing.
“So you see the boy was acting erratically.” said Sherwinlock as Bruce listened intently. “I had little choice but to inject him with an anesthetic. Not a large dose, but enough to get him through what should be the worst of the pain.”
“Still” Bruce argued. “Was that truly necessary?”
“You didn’t see the boy. He was visibly trembling and yelling senseless nothings. Trust me my actions have spared him a lot of suffering.” He turned to look at the back seats to where I’m guessing Sam was sleeping unconsciously and then turned back to look at Bruce. “Once he awakens I plan to make sure my treatment took effect.”
“I might join you there.” Bruce replied. “Remember studied medicine too.”
“As you wish.” Sherwinlock answered straightening his ragged coat. Though I could sense some slight worry in his voice. But before I could question him about it, the bus suddenly made an abrupt stop and its door opened. The students suddenly got really confused and started talking loudly with each other.
I turned to Gus. “Why did you stop? We still have a ton of miles to go.”
“I didn’t Ser. The machine just stopped on its own.” He said with fright and confusion on his voice.
Some of the students heard this and a panic started. Eden was one of the loudest asking repeatedly what was going on. Valentino was talking to several groups and Charles was trying to calm things down till Wayne began to arguing something with her. Gina and Kiki were talking to each other though it was obvious that while Gina was somewhat calm and collected, Kiki was ready to get into a fight if she needed to. Max then began shouting some insults to Gus and Zoey went off on him. The college students were keeping out of the situation, Casey in particular seemed to want to remain unseen. Sadie suddenly took her headphones off and looked bewildered at the chaos. It was total pandemonium. Sherwinlock and Bruce were trying to calm things down but it was no use. I didn’t see how we could control this.
Then Valentino shouted at everyone to look outside to the right of the bus. Out of a bush came a man dressed in full uniform. I recognized the similarities to Jones, who had been quietly sitting down during all this and seemed almost seemed invisible in the situation. The man entered the bus and grabbed a small microphone from his pocket. As he spoke into it the bus’s speakers were suddenly filled with his voice.
“Good morning children. My name is Kyle Rays. I am the leader of Beta squad.” He said flashing his badge. “We are one of the two branches of an elite military unit designated to protect the Delta Zone Research Facility. At this very moment, I am in charge of transporting you safely to the facilities location.” He said pressing a button. As he did all the windows, even those in the front of the bus were covered by a thick layer of steel. The he pressed another and the bus door shut and bolted before being covered by the same metal. Finally, he pressed another and the bus sprang to life. We could tell we were moving but the wheel wasn’t turning so we had no idea what direction we were going.
“Sorry for the spook kids. Just a security measure, nothing to worry about. If it helps I can answer any questions, to make you feel more comfortable.”
I immediately stood up. “What the hell are you doing? We were given a map with instructions, we didn’t need any of this!” I yelled trying to stop myself from making my face red.
Despite this he remained happy as he answered. “With all due respect professor…. ‘Pierce” is it? I thought you were more clever than this. Did you really think we would just send about 28 copies of a map leading to a secret research base and just expect it to stay hidden.” He shook his head. “It’s a dud. The map leads to an abandoned parking lot we disguised as a ruse three or four towns from here. We even set up a police patrol in full costume in case anyone bought it. Luckily nobody did, the punishment is very severe.”
“Why weren’t we informed of this?!” I said still with the same tone.
He raised his eyebrow. “I thought you were….”
Bruce suddenly spoke up. “I’m sorry Adam, we felt it would be better to keep you out. I know you and this would set off too many red lights. But taking this opportunity away from the children is a crime I can’t live with.”
“Ditto” said Jones, who I was sure barely listened.
I was livid at this point. “Who else knew about this?!”
“Just me, Jones and Gina.” Bruce responded.
“And I suspected.” Sherwinlock added.
‘Of course you did you idiot’ I thought. I wanted to protest and argue, but I realized there was no use. So I just sat down and tried to finish processing the situation.
Kyle smiled once again. “Good, if there are no more questions I would like you guys to please remain seated and fasten your seat belts because we might face a few bumps and sudden turns. Besides that, you should take the opportunity to use your cellphones while you can. Once were near the facility all normal mobile services will be out of range, aka zero ‘bars’. Also, anyone wanting to talk to their parents should remind them of Section 4 Paragraph 6 of the document they signed. Specifically, the sentence that says ‘I hereby authorize both of the facility’s squads to do everything in their power to provide security to my children(s) while also guaranteeing they remain oblivious to highly guarded and potentially dangerous information.’ e.i ‘This is legal, you can’t sew us’.” He finished with a grin.
“Anyway that’s all.” He said as he sat down and buckled his seat belt. “Enjoy the ride”
Nick Archer
I used all my strength to keep myself from hurting the jackass and just shoved him into the building. Ellie seemed surprised I didn’t go crazy on the guy but to be honest I was surprised too. Guess my sister had a bigger effect on me than I thought. But of course the clown couldn’t shut up.
“Always so serious.” he said as he entered the building with Jason pointing a gun at him from behind.
“Well hold down the fort here.” Jeff told me calmly. “You, Jason and Curtis take him into the cell.”
“Roger that.” Curtis said as he walked inside. I pulled my gun out, nodded to Jeff and followed Curtis. As we entered the building I realized this was the scientist section. I’d never been here before. Emma worked here. For a moment, I wanted her to show up out of a corner, just to say hi. I didn’t even care Curtis was here. But then I remembered there was someone else here who I Emma should avoid at all costs.
“You know, I have a feeling that whoever made this place was very unstable.” Sparker said looking the hallway over. “Or at least he expected someone working here to be. Look at the walls ‘Calming blue’, you know they use those in psyche wards. Take it from a guy who’s been to plenty of those” he added with a smile. “But they use that color only when the patient is ‘recovering’. It’s supposed to project ‘security’, ‘safety’ and ‘stability’ in people when the screws are about to dislodge and start dancing. I mean you guys like to call me crazy but I feel like it’s a ‘special’ kind of person who feels like they can do anything in the world because a color gave them a turn on.” He turned to us again. “Now that is crazy.”
Curtis gave him a curious look. “So by looking at a wall you feel like the people here are nuts?”
“Not nuts per say, they might be allergic.” He said as he laughed and we all rolled our eyes. “But I wouldn’t exactly call them stable. It’s pretty clear however there are one or two people here who might have a breakdown once in a while. Or maybe there is a lot of stress going around. People with worries aren’t good at their jobs. Who knows, maybe you’ve just taken me from one looney bin to another”
“How could you know all this stuff?” Jonas asked.
“I don’t.” He answered. “For all I know they just like the color for the décor and had no idea. But like I told that CEO before I shot her husband: I’m a really good guesser.” He said as he fell in another laughing spit and we the rest of us got furious and regretted we talked to him at all. For a moment Jason was ready to beat the guy but Curtis held him back. It wouldn’t matter anyway. We had just arrived.
As we opened the door the dark room suddenly blasted us with light. It took us a second to recover, but we made it in quickly. The room was filled with light tiles, the celling, the walls, the floor and even the door had some attached to its side. Besides this it was mostly empty, with the exception of a what looked like a glass cube in the center. That was the cell. It was about the size of a small room and it only had three things, a bed, a chair and a toilet. The rest was empty.
“Welcome to your new home” I said leading Sparker in.
“Wow.” he said. “You know I got a little worried back there with all this ‘inescapable prison’ talk. But you guys do realize squares are my second favorite shape right.”
We shoved the master comedian and made him walk towards the cube. As he walked towards it a green laser came out of the wall and scanned him. Then a part of the cube lifted itself and opened an entrance. Took Sparkers cuffs while Jonas and Curtis covered me incase anything happened. Then I put my gun on his back to forced him to start walking inside. Sparker turned and looked at us.
“Just so you know my customer service review has dropped to a 2/5.”
I was tired of this. So, I pushed him inside and the door locked behind him. I turned back and went to the guys. I could hear him getting up and cleaning his outfit with his hands.
“It’s a 1 now!!” he yelled as we started to leave.
I raised my middle finger in response.
“Really? Now that was just uncalled for.” I heard before the door shut behind me. Then it was just the tree of us in the hallway. I was just relived it was over and I could tell I wasn’t the only one. Cutis held on to a nearby wall and took a deep breath. Then he raised his head and looked back to us.
“Ready to get back to it?” he asked. I nodded and Jones did as well.
“Good.” He said as he walked off and Jason followed. I took a deep breath. ‘Back to it’ I thought as went to join them.
Matthew Stevens
I had just gotten done with my meeting with the Commander, still a bit shaken up by it revelations. As I walked down the hallway I heard someone’s footstep approaching me from the other end of the hall. For a moment, I considered the possibility of it being Herntz. Our relationship had undoubtedly soured since our previous encounter do to his actions. He had not even come to discuss what had happened with me at my office. I was unsure of how it would be best to react if he approached me. I felt such anger at the man’s selfish actions that I considered openly insulting his person right then and there. However, I decided that it would be best if I ignored his presence and walked past him. Perhaps then he would then reflect upon the weight of his cruel actions. Regardless, as I prepared myself for the encounter I was surprised to see Dr Norman Laghdon appear instead. He was looking inside of a notepad with his glasses and seemed seriously focused on what he was reading.
“Norman!” I exclaimed with shock as I saw him. It seems that the scenario where it was Herntz had become so vivid in my mind that it was a surprise to see someone else instead. I was also slightly disappointed to find out it wasn’t him. It may have been a childish notion, but had looked forward to standing up to him and showing him the consequences of his actions. In his place the brown haired doctor closed his notepad the instant he heard my voice. Despite this he gave me a warm greeting.
“Doctor Stevens, good to see you.” he said with a smile as he walked over to me. By the way he said it I could tell I wasn’t alone in being surprised by his company “I thought at this time you would be working on preparations.”
“I am heading there now actually. I meeting with a squad member delayed me.” I had omitted the fact that this was the Commander to stop him from asking about it. “Anyway, what are you working on Norman?” As I asked I briefly glanced at his notepad, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“I was working out the final details for my project. Hopefully the judges will appreciate its simplicity.” I could hear a clear confidence in his tone. But something told me that was not what he was doing a moment ago. However, I had more pressing matters at the moment.
“Well it's good to see you, but I really must start preparations. Good luck Norman.” I said as I walked towards the conference room. As I left I could see him opening his notepad again.
“I wish you good luck too, Doctor.” He spoke as he went to a particular page. “Who knows, you might need it more than I do.” And with that he began to walk in the opposite until I could no longer see him.
Logan Miles
I took my opening and bolted into the woods. No way this lunatic was getting me. I ran as fast as my legs could without ripping off. I really shouldn’t have skipped leg day. As I began to tire out another bullet hit the ground in front of me forcing me to instinctively change my direction and go left. I kept running and running and I was so tired. Phil was not the guy I would have taken for a marathoner but he still kept up. Another bullet raised into a tree near me, I think. And then later I heard one or two more. It was becoming difficult to count the shots or even tell how long it had been since one rang out. Honestly my brain was just concentrated on running now. I heard a shot, it didn’t kill me, move on. I was surprised actually, at how bad of a shot Phil actually was. I bet that psycho killer guy could have run right next to him and….
Suddenly a sharp pain hit my left shoulder. Like a giant mosquito bite or a very sharp needle. I fell and yelled like crazy person. I touched my shoulder to feel a small fountain coming out of it. I looked at my hand, it was covered in blood. He was going to kill me. God, he was actually going to kill me. I covered my shoulder and ran, ran faster than I thought was possible. I felt my shoes were on fire or at least burning their bottom parts off. I needed help, a hospital. If I didn’t treat this soon infection would kill me. I could maybe use some leaves as a bandage to slow the process but…
Wait, had the bullet gone through? I didn’t check when I fell. And now I couldn’t. That might give him time to line up a shot. Needed to keep running…Needed to keep…. Then another shot rang out, this one hit me too. Right in my left side. I stumbled briefly but kept running. I just wanted to live. Please, I just wanted to live. It was then that I heard the voice. Not Phil…. a woman. Maybe in her late 20’s.
“Who the hell is out there?!!” I heard her yell.
Hope. I ran towards the noise. I need her to see this. Please. I needed her to save me. Please. Another shot rang out. I couldn’t tell if this one hit me. I didn’t care, I was still conscious. Still….
Time slowed down and images flooded my brain. I could barely form thoughts. A fence.....Climbing....Running.....A building…. Men in uniform….. Guards……..Armed….Trucks…..Shouting……The Woman.
She was beautiful. I thought as I collapsed on the floor and everything fell into darkness.
Phil Degger
Dammit, he ran out just in time. I was just about to hit him right in the temple when he went to the entrance to the building. He fell down bleeding, in front of about 3-4 armed guards. One of the people was a cripple, I guess he was in charge. Moving closer I recognized the transport group. Namely their leader with the pretty little face. Well it seemed a good time to flip the situation to my favor before they assumed something problematically correct. I climbed up the outside fence, ran straight into their view and kicked Logan’s body in the chest. A few of them immediately drew their guns at me. Then suddenly the girl recognized me.
“You’re the guy from the transport….this was one your men. What the hell are you doing?!” She asked clearly irritated.
I brought out a few fake gasps for air and then responded, doing my best to sound tired and angry, though that last one wasn’t hard. “This boy was in league with the captive, I found him with a bomb and a couple of Ak-47’s hidden in the woods. Ran after him. He probably came because he knew the layout and where to hide.”
“Wait” The woman said before anyone else could respond. “You have an unarmed man running and your first instinct is to shoot him?”
“He was dangerous and on the run. And frankly miss I don’t have much sympathy for criminals.” I had learned from life that mixing in a little truth always made lies more believable. It worked like it was made of gold. She was still angry and a never showed hesitation to act, but the suspicion in her eyes was gone.
The older gentleman walked over to Logan’s body with his cane and touched it for pulse. After a moment, he looked up to another guard and spoke. “Howard hurry this one to the infirmary, he’s still alive.”
“I’ll go too” said the woman, finally putting her gun in her holster. “I want to interrogate him once he wakes up”.
The old man gave her a nod and both her and the man carrying Logan ran into the building. I was happy to be rid of her, normally I didn’t receive that many questions. Hopefully Logan stayed in a coma for a good long while. The leader walked up to me again.
“My name is Jeff Sohmer. I am the leader of Alpha Squad an elite military unit guarding this facility. You’ll have to come to my office to discuss a settlement for your agreement to remain silent about what you have seen so far. Especially the location of this facility. Come with me please.” He said as he took me to a door leading to a separate hallway than the entry. We eventually reached a richly decorated office, with what looked to be very expensive paintings.
‘Settlement huh?’ I thought as I looked at a painting of what seemed to be some big European war. ‘Seems like things will work out after all.’
Adam Pierce
I seemed like hours had passed, though my watch kept telling me it had only been a few minutes. The kids were mostly quiet, though a few conversations sprung up here and there. I still hadn’t gotten over the fact no one told me about all of this. Here I was preparing for every kind of scenario and meanwhile this whole blindside was taking place behind my back. How was I help the kids feel safe when I had no clue of what the hell was happening anymore?
I had been counting on Bruce to help me keep things together, especially with Sherwinlock around. But now I felt like I was the one on the outs, hoping that Bruce knew what he was doing and had some control of the situation. At least he seemed to, as he was just having a conversation with Sherwinlock and Kyle about how he got one of his great projects approved. After a while I decided it would be for the best if I at least tried to join the conversation, so started to pay attention.
“So there I was straight out of college, looking for a private investor. My first bet was to go for Carmine Industries, private but simple. Much higher chance than going to Isabel Otranto, she wouldn’t go for anything she found remotely violent. That kind of ultra-pacifist mentality would make any attempt at a self-defense capable AI impossible. What would be the point of making something that anyone can destroy easily. Anyway, so I go to one of Carmine’s top buildings and set up a meeting. Then during my presentation, I accidentally trip and spill my coffee all over the CEO’s white suit and get thrown out on the spot. I decided to stay right outside the building in a bench in case they regretted their choice and came back for me. It’s then that I see this man dressed in a full military outfit holding a briefcase walk right towards me.”
“Was he walking into or out of the building?” Kyle asked.
“Well I don’t remember to be honest. I just noticed him when he came over. Anyway, when he did he just stood there looking at me. Like he was waiting for me to say something. Finally, he just straight up asked me ‘Are you Bruce De Vries?’ and I nodded. Then he sat down and started to whisper ‘I know you want to design AI prototypes with a focus home management systems to sell to the market.’ Then he pulled up a file he had on his brief case looked it over and kept talking. ‘But just looking at your plans I can tell that’s just phase one. You want to create fully automated fast thinking AI’s that can react to thousands of situations based on their pre-programed core coding. I represent a faction of the Us military that is interested in your research and I am going to offer you the chance to skip as many steps as you can. I have many contacts that can privately get you what you need in the minimum amount of time and unlimited funding for you and any individuals of interest provided you hold your end of the bargain.’ I was shocked I couldn’t believe how well this was going, no company would ever offer me a deal like this. I accepted on the spot, didn’t even need to think twice about it. But before I could celebrate he looked at me straight in the eye like a hawk. “I’m sure you’ll sing dozens of legal documents before we get started but I’d prefer to hear the words come out of your mouth. So, let’s make something perfectly clear. The project’s primary focus will be on military applications. Espionage, Combat, targeted assassinations. Hopefully you don’t have a problem with that.’ Then he just looked at me and….”
“I’m guessing you had a problem with that.” I said interrupting.
He was surprised to see me talk, but he regained his composure quickly. “Well yes, I did. That really wasn’t what I was going for at all. But…”
“But you still accepted.” Jones said as he looked him straight in the I eye.
“Yeah.” Bruce answered and then turned to look at the floor. “I…..I figured that this was just how things worked in industry. You make compromises to get what you want in the end. I decided that I would give him his weapons and work on my other projects in my spare time. Eventually we would both get what we wanted.”
“Did you?” Sherwinlock asked curiously.
“Uh…No, I still haven’t perfected the interface. It’s very complicated, I’m actually meeting with Rickwell later to discuss that.”
“Well that’s kind of a relief.” I said laying back on my seat. “I don’t think I’d trust anyone with a weapon that powerful. It sounds very dangerous.”
“Yeah” Bruce responded. “It does.” And with that the conversation was over
Sherwinlock was about to start one of his stories of his time back in England, when the bus halted and then the door opened. The windows also came up and we could see the facility outside. It was a massive beige colored building with large metallic doors covering its entrance. From where we stopped it seemed we had already left the outside block and were inside the main area. There were 2 guards near us already in firing stance in case anything had gone down. Kyle came out of the bus first and gave them the all clear then turned to us.
“There you go boys, enjoy your trip.” And with that the enigmatic leader of Beta squad walked out of the bus and left just as suddenly as he arrived.
Bruce and me started organizing the kids into a single file line and letting them exit one by one, while Sherwinlock started took them to the actual building. After a few minutes, only a few remained and Bruce gave me a signal that he could handle this. So, I decided to use this brief time to take a walk.
The facility’s grounds were very well maintained. All the grass seemed to be perfectly cut and a few small trees surrounded by circles of rock gave the area a sense of beauty and charm one would think that no one working here would concern themselves with. As I was admiring all this I was surprised to see Gus arrive and stand next to me.
“Hello Ser.” He said politely.
“Hello to you too Gus.” I said sarcastically, which made us both go into a small laugh. After he stopped he returned to a somewhat serious tone.
“Listen, I just. I wanted to thank you for giving me this job. Not many people are willing to hire former failed farmhand these days and I was certainly very new at driving anything but a tractor until one or two weeks ago but when I asked the drivers administration and you vouched for me I…..”
“Stop.” I said holding up my hand. “You don’t need to thank me. I trusted you and it was the right thing to do. Nothing to praise me for.”
A smile grew on his face. “Thank you Ser.”
“No problem”
After a few seconds of looking at the view he looked at me again. “Well Ser, seems about time for me to go back.” He said as he turned and started walking.
I quickly turned to him. “To the bus? You’re not going to join us.”
“Someone’s got to keep that bus protected.” He replied. “Just in case someone tries to steal it.”
That seemed ridiculous to me. He should join us and have a unique and well-earned experience in his life instead of worrying about imaginary bus thieves in the middle of a government facility. Then again he’d probably be so worried about it that he wouldn’t let up. If I wanted to keep him I would have to put my foot down as his boss and he probably wouldn’t appreciate that.
[Let Gus guard the Bus]
[Order Gus to come with you]
Riley Peters
It was almost finished. Almost. Almost. Then it was done, my one purpose was fulfilled. Suddenly overwhelming fear, sadness, joy and apathy struck me all at once as I realized that there was nothing more for my being to achieve. I wondered what would become of me now. Was I even conscious or just a manifestation of a multiversal force? I felt myself vanishing into nothingness unsure if it was worth trying to scream.
I opened my eyes and suddenly got the worst headache I had ever gotten in my life. Did someone hit me? I think I remembered something vague about Val shaking me. But then I felt sorry about it? That was weird. Especially since the rest of the day had been so calm, if not slightly boring. But I could work with boring, after all it gave me time to draw. I had apparently been very focused on this drawing and it showed. The details looked almost lifelike. It was incredible that my imagination was so vivid if not a bit morbid, but I guess I can chalk that up to watching scary movies before going to bed. The drawing was of a body of a man in an alleyway whose chest had been ripped open. An officer was standing above the body but beside his blood covered uniform I could only see the smile on his face. It was pretty gruesome if I could be honest, but still it was my best work so far. And after all it wasn’t like it really happened.
But still there was something odd about it. Something Sam had said earlier. Something bad. Oh no, did my drawing freak him out. Maybe he thinks I’m weird now. No, it was something else, he was hurt by something. Gosh it was so hard to remember what, that I could almost bet that I was just imagining something. He got into argument with someone, I think, …..it was all so hazy. Oh well if I couldn’t remember it was probably nothing serious. I looked out the window and saw we had just arrived. Wow, that was fast I must have really been into that drawing. Guess those self-pep talks about focus worked better than I thought. I put the drawing into my backpack, careful not to crumple or damage it, and got up from my seat. Then as I was walking out I saw professor De Vries and decided to say hi.
“Good Morning professor.” I said with a smile.
“Good morning Riley. How’s your day been?” he asked kindly.
“It’s been great, thought it’s been very quiet. Mostly I have just had a lot of time for drawing. Which I like too, but I’m still hoping that something exciting might happen. You know something really shocking and memorable.”
“Well I hope you do enjoy it.”
I was about to get out but then I remembered about that thing that kept nagging me about Sam. It felt really silly to ask especially since I was almost completely sure it was my overactive imagination, but I just wanted to make sure. So I turned back to the professor and asked.
“Hey professor have you seen Sam? I want to ask him about something.”
He turned a saddened look to me. “Sam is still unconscious from Sherwinlock’s injection but he should be fine soon”
I gasped in surprise. How did I just find out about this? “Is he ok?” I asked, worried.
“Yes” he replied. “According to Sherwinlock the boy tripped on some concrete when getting to the street and received some minor injuries. He might be sore for a while but he should be fine.”
I couldn’t believe it. Why wasn’t I there to help the professor heal him. I could have tried to calm him down or make him feel better. Maybe that was the thing that I remember was bad? No, that seemed wrong. I had definitely never heard of this before. Why didn’t he tell me? I mean I’m almost sure we talked today, I think. Yeah I think I showed him the drawing, or maybe it was something else. My head hurting so bad.
“Riley are you ok.” The professor said as he grabbed my shoulder.
“Yes I’m fine professor.” I said smiling back. “Just thinking about something stupid”.
“A bright girl like you getting stupid thoughts? That is very odd.” He said as he smiled. “Have fun, Riley.”
I smiled back and walked out. It really was stupid, I mean I am completely sure that it was just my imagination. It was crazy to try to remember things that didn’t happen. Besides today was such a beautiful, happy day that I couldn’t think anything but enjoying it.
Kyle Rays
Well I woke up at 4 am, ate breakfast, went over the plan, walked to the point of intersection, hid under a bush, waited there for a couple of hours, freaked a bunch of kids out and then I almost got into an argument and had to explain everything to someone who should have been aware of it in the first place. This was my morning ladies and gentleman. As I was getting off the bus I to radio the members of Alpha squad. I picked up my walkie and spoke to no one in particular.
“This is Beta Leader. Guests have arrived. No incidents to report, everything went fine. Over.” I waited for the second and then heard Nicholson’s voice coming from the other side.
“Roger that.” he answered from the other side of the transmission. “I can see a larger group of them arriving at the entrance doors right now.”
“Good. Guard them there until the tour guide arrives then resume your usual patrol.”
“Will do Beta Leader. Kerrick Out.” After this was done I decided to check the perimeter just in case any of the kids had gotten lost and went out to explore the grounds. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary but then I noticed a huge hole in the outer fence. As I got closer and examined it there was no doubt in my mind, it had been cut in. We had intruders on the premises. I pulled out my walkie and radioed in.
“This is Beta Leader. I have just discovered a large hole in the outer fence. Definitely manmade we have one or more intruders on the area.”
Nicholson waited for a second then answered. “That must have been done by the intruders from earlier.”
“In haven’t been informed. Please explain.”
“Two men arrived earlier, one was wounded and fell unconscious. He was apparently trying to free the prisoner and the other guy was chasing him to stop him. The wounded guy was taken to the infirmary and is pending interrogation from Ellie. The other one is currently in a meeting with Jeff. I’m guessing that hole is how they got in.”
“I don’t get it. Aren’t these fences supposed to carry 4,000 voltz?”
“We were ordered to turn them off for today. Jeff was afraid one of the kids would hurt themselves. Anyway, the situation is neutralized”
“Roger that. I’ll patch up the fence till we can bring someone to look at it. Out.” I said turning off the transmission. I stood up and grabbed some fiber wire from my pockets and made knots from it to connect the pieces of fence. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked for now.
Once I was done I walked back to the main buildings. I was getting ready to go on my patrol when a thought struck me. With all that’s been going on the Alpha buildings security was very spread out and less than a handful were focused on protecting the guests. Maybe it would be for the best if I went there instead. Then again I could just be being paranoid. If anything was going to happen it would probably be outside right? But still going to protect the group was worth considering.
[Go to Alpha and join the tour group.]
[ Just continue to guard the perimeter.]
Sparker
Well, I was bored. Whoever said that said that when you’re crazy you never have a dull moment clearly did not predict this situation. I was wondering what to do with my time when my first guest came over. It was exactly who I was expecting.
“Commander, we meet again.” I said to the imposing man as he entered the room. He had changed very little in all this time. He looked older but had kept all his muscles. His face was still had the same piercing brown eyes and domineering stare and his body and pose screamed military procedure. It was like I had never left at all.
“We do indeed. Except this time you get to see the full weight of your choices. I am the man who runs this facility, while you are kept in a cell. It seems that you finally get to see that betraying me and your teammates was the most ignorant mistake you ever made.”
“You know the best part about all of this is that you have to keep me alive. You must feed me and bathe me and clean my toilet if it gets clogged. And I get to enjoy every minute of it.” I laid down comfortably on my bed.
“Code 36/45. Eject the prisoner from his bed.” he said still expressionless.
Then I heard a female robotic voice coming up from the celling but loud enough for it to encompass the entire room. “As you wish Commander” Then suddenly my bed pushed me off and I fell to the floor and had to stand up again.
“Meet 4088.” He began to pace around the room. “The most highly advanced computer AI ever designed. Programed to only take orders by voice recognition and to be your warden for the remainder of your stay. Which if everything goes to plan, will be a permanent one.”
“I wouldn’t count on it.” I replied as I imitated his footsteps from my side of the room. “I’ve never been the one to stay in a same place for too long.” With this his eyes shifted into a glare. A fine mixture of anger and disdain.
“You are such a disappointment.” he said with open disgust in his voice. “All that I did for you, all those years of training. I gave you respect, I gave you skill, I gave you a family….”
“YOU MADE ME KILL MY FAMILY!” I grunted in anger, which made his expressionless face flinch for a second. I felt completely enraged, but it was only for a small moment. Soon I returned to my normal demeanor and a smile returned on my face. “Ohhh, how they must have irked you. Just knowing that I could love them more than I did you. Made you blow steam out your ears and I guess you have a problem with......competition.” I answered moving my index finger from left to right.
“What I have problem with is ingratitude. I removed your flaws and weaknesses and made you perfect. A soldier without remorse or second agendas. Someone willing to do anything and with nothing left to lose. A man who would bring stability and order to society. You were going to be the great future of our nation.”
“Well what do you think of your great work, dear father? Because I imagine your face gets as red as a tomato when you read the funny papers and see what new form of hysteria I’ve brought to your beloved ‘social order’.” I continued with glee as my mouth enjoyed its mocking smile. “All those years and this is your great Jackson Pollock. A man who smiles as the world burns. Tell me, my dearest dad, aren’t you proud?”
For a moment we just stared at each other, like we were frozen in the eternal torment of living this single second of eternity. A contest of his glare and my smile destined to last for all time. Then out of his bloodshot expression came a slow, calm voice.
“You know. When I heard the result of your trail, I was angry.” he said as he paced around, his stare unwavering. “I saw it as another example of how weak and ineffective the legal system has become. But looking at you now, I have to admit…” he said as he paused and stopped moving directly in front of my cage. “I am going to enjoy watching you rot.” He said as he looked into my eyes. And with this he turned around and left the room. Leaving me alone in the room again.
He would regret that soon.
Whoa... this was a seriously long part
No wonder the wait was so long. Hell, you weren't kidding when you said that this is the longest part you ever wrote. This was awesome! And so much happened, I find it hard to react to everything 
I loved it. No, seriously, I loved it, this was not only the longest, but also one of the best parts. Well done, Sir! I think my favourite PoV in this part is Sparker, because hell, that guy is always awesome, even when he gets this somewhat deeper PoV here.
[Go to the Auditorium]
I actually think that further practice is going to achieve the opposite of what Emma wants to go for. She has practice. She can do this and she is good. What she cannot afford now is for her nervousness to grow stronger now, by focussing on tiny flaws in her presentation. Last minute practicing almost never helps, especially to those who are already nervous. She should focus on calming down, by slowly going to the auditorium.
[Let Gus guard the Bus]
Hey, you cannot force someone to have a good time. I think Gus is too paranoid, yeah, but I doubt he can enjoy the facility if he has to think about his bus this entire time. And just think of how much trouble he will be in if someone indeed steals the bus. With those terrorists on their way and no one even remotely informed of their incoming arrival (seriously, fuck Sherwinlock), it might be a good idea to have another guy outside, to intervene if possible. I bet they will ignore the bus and might not even see him in it, so he could very well be the first guy to be alerted to their presence.
[ Just continue to guard the perimeter.]
Huh, this is a hard choice and one I might end up changing my mind about if one of the others brings up a good argument for why to join the group. Sure, they could need additional protection, but I doubt one additional guard with them will change all that much. No, he has his orders and they were given to him for a reason. If he leaves the perimeter, this will be an unguarded spot one could use to enter the facility. In fact, I have the bad feeling someone already has entered the facility, but if there is any other problem, he should stay there and make sure that no one gets in.
Well our psycho here is starting to get interesting...
UGH! It really pisses me off that Phill got out of that so easily. How they believed him I'll never understand but seriously, fuck that guy.
[Go to the auditorium]
[Order Gus to come with you]
[Go to Alpha and join the tour group]
[Whoa... this was a seriously long part
No wonder the wait was so long. Hell, you weren't kidding when you said that this is the longest part you ever wrote.]
Yes, yes it was. I kept adding more and more stuff to it because I was getting tired of short parts. This thing is what happens when you force yourself to write a couple of P.O.V's each day. Heck even after all this I was convinced it wouldn't be half a FOT part. So as you can imagine I was very surprised when I found out I needed to split it into another comment, twice. I was even more shocked when I realized this part totaled into 14 pages.
[This was awesome! And so much happened, I find it hard to react to everything I loved it.]
Yeah normally I put one or two 'big moments' in a part but since this was a massive multi-part wrap of everything I wrote in the story its kinda hard to breathe here. First Marlone goes crazy, then Emma talks about her love for a certain book and goes insecure again, then this new guy comes into the students plot and basically highjacks the whole thing, Nick and the others locking up Sparker
, Matthew meeting Norman and having an odd conversation, Logan being wounded and sent to the hospital, Philo lying and getting a reward, Bruce giving parts of his backstory and the students FINALLY arriving (I cannot describe to you how happy I am that has happened after 2 years), Gus and Adam having a bonding moment , Riley finishing her drawing and forgetting everything that happened, Kyle finding a hole in the fence and finally wrapping it all up by having Sparker reveal his backstory while talking to the Commander, A scene I have had in mind since the story began and had SO MUCH trouble writing in a way I liked. So yeah, a lot happened.
[I actually think that further practice is going to achieve the opposite of what Emma wants to go for. She has practice. She can do this and she is good. What she cannot afford now is for her nervousness to grow stronger now, by focussing on tiny flaws in her presentation. Last minute practicing almost never helps, especially to those who are already nervous. She should focus on calming down, by slowly going to the auditorium.]
Maybe, but remember the opposite could also be true. Some kind of practice might geve her the confidence she woun't make a fool of herself.
[Hey, you cannot force someone to have a good time. I think Gus is too paranoid, yeah, but I doubt he can enjoy the facility if he has to think about his bus this entire time. And just think of how much trouble he will be in if someone indeed steals the bus. With those terrorists on their way and no one even remotely informed of their incoming arrival (seriously, fuck Sherwinlock), it might be a good idea to have another guy outside, to intervene if possible. I bet they will ignore the bus and might not even see him in it, so he could very well be the first guy to be alerted to their presence.]
I'm pretty sure Adam would be in more trouble for telling him to leave it. Well they seem to have vanished lately, who knows, maybe they forgot. Still Sherwinlockian logic prevails at the moment!! If they do show up however it would be nice to catch them before they do anything. But then again they could overpower Gus and boy would that not be a good thing.
[Huh, this is a hard choice and one I might end up changing my mind about if one of the others brings up a good argument for why to join the group. Sure, they could need additional protection, but I doubt one additional guard with them will change all that much. No, he has his orders and they were given to him for a reason. If he leaves the perimeter, this will be an unguarded spot one could use to enter the facility. In fact, I have the bad feeling someone already has entered the facility, but if there is any other problem, he should stay there and make sure that no one gets in.]
Really? What gives you that impression?
. You are right, if anyone is sneaking around the best bet is to patrol outside and stop them from getting in. However this is at the risk of leaving the students less protected against threats that are already inside.......
Anyway I'm really glad you guys enjoyed it. It feels good when hard effort pays off. I'm already working on the next one but if its as half as this one it might take a few days, bare with me.
[Well our psycho here is starting to get interesting...]
Yep and this is just a peek at his backstory which hopefully we'll get to explore later.
[UGH! It really pisses me off that Phill got out of that so easily. How they believed him I'll never understand but seriously, fuck that guy.]
Oh cmon all he did was nearly kill an unarmed man because he didn't like him. What's so bad about that?
As to why they believe him, well they kinda have zero information about what's going on. He just acted confident enough to seem honest.
It's just that his story doesn't work! He finds him with a couple Ak-47s and yet he is unarmed. You'd think that if someone started shooting at you that you'd grab one.
Well he never said he had the in hand, he just said the found he had them and also a bomb.......which he forgot to bring. Also its very strange that fake story Logan's plan to get into the facility and free Sparker after he was discovered was to somehow run inside without anyone catching him. Phil's story has some big holes and its just a matter of time before someone notices them.
This was... two and a half FoT parts? Something like this, I guess. But this is a good thing. I think you did it right, sometimes you have to force yourself to write a couple of things each day, even if it means adding more and more stuff to the part. This was surely the longest Multiverse part and one of the longest parts I have ever seen in the forums. And it worked, this was also one of the best parts of the story, so the work really paid off!
Yeah, but I am sure that Emma did practice, probably more than every other scientist combined. She is very much an over-achiever and way too nervous, so if she hasn't gotten the confidence by now, I doubt she will get it with this final bit of practice. In fact, I am absolutely sure that this is going to end up making her only more nervous.
It surely would prevail if there would be a thing such as Sherwinlockian logic. However, there is none. That guy makes no sense. He is either malicious or dangerously irresponsible, due to either being allied with these people, or wanting to stop them all by himself, to show what a brilliant little fuckturd he is. And well, given that they are terrorists and react completely unpredictably, it is madness to assume that he can do anything to stop them before they do anything. The ones who could do it, the security forces, are completely unaware of everything. No matter how I try to look at it, there is no way this situation can end that leaves him in any way likable. That guy can go and die, for all I care, but unfortunately, it looks like he is hellbent on taking more people with him.
Well, I am sure the great, brilliant, utterly moronic Professor Shitwinsuck is going to protect them, eh? Nah, I would like to believe that the security forces are better on the inside and that there is no way for ill-equipped and ill-prepared terrorists to get much further than the outer area of this facility. This is where they have to be stopped. But one additional guy inside, I fail to see how he is going to be much of a help. I think he is more helpful in case something bad is going to happen at his post.
This is the longest part ever! And so great! I kept scrolling down and down and there was only more part and I loved this! Good work you did here.
[Go to the Auditorium]
No arguing here, I agree with the reason Liquid brought up.
[Let Gus guard the Bus]
Part of me thinks forcing him to come with you would be better but I cant see any good reason to do it out of Adam's perspective. This is what Gus wants and I dont want to force him.
[Go to Alpha and join the tour group.]
Bad things will happen. I cant remember Logan or Phil cutting a hole in the fence, so someone already did it before. Someone is on the area and Kyle cant do anything if he stays where he is.
Man, it feels good to be caught up
[Go to the Auditorium]
I do think Emma is fine with what she has, and I agree with Liquid's reasoning. I just think it's better that she ease her anxiety.
[Order Gus to come with you]
Anyone by the name of Gus is a friend of mine and I'll be damned if I let a Gus go.
[Go to Alpha and join the tour group]
This choice I'm just going with my gut feeling, in all honesty. I feel it better that we be with a group in the case anything happens.
And it feels good to have you here.
(I do think Emma is fine with what she has, and agree with Liquid's reasoning. I just think its better that she ease her anxiety.)
Well lets hope you guys are right.....and don't regret this.
(Anyone by the name of Gus is a friend of mine and I'll be dammed if I let a Gus go.)
Even if they want to? Your love of Gus's is intense.
(This choice I'm just going with my gut feeling, in all honesty. I feel it better that we be with a group in the case anything happens.)
We shall see.........very soon hopefully.
No Gus left behind, vive le Gus!!!!!!
Hello guys, hope everyone's having a good day.
So..........where do I start? I guess I should start by answering the obvious question. Where is the next part? Well................its gone. The entire thing was deleted. Word had a breakdown. Hours of dedicated work...poof. Only one Pov survived. But that's not even the worst part. No, well get to that soon.
So after 5 months in hiatus Prime was going to make its comeback today. And what a comeback it would have been. Not only would I release the new part but also finally publish something that took me days to finish....and was still not done. It was a full correction of Multiverse Primes, many, many grammar mistakes and other fun tidbits like joining of different part Pov's and small rewritten bits. It was going to be my version of FOT's google dox format to collect the Part into one reading. It went well and I ended up working on that several days longer than the part. I also made sure to save it multiple times daily. And it was saved......until word decided it wasn't. Now the file doesn't exist. Its not deleted like the Part which I managed to recover the pov from an old save. Its just never existed at all.
So you might be asking why I made this update if its so depressing. Well to be honest I just wanted you all to know that this isn't over. Prime is still going and hasn't stopped. I refuse to give up on it. I'm sorry that the part isn't here yet, I really am but I can't fix that. The only thing I can do is try again, something ill keep doing anytime we hit an issue. If any of you have any questions or concerns please share them here or if you want or pm me as I really like to do with you guy's.
Thank you all for sticking by me and keeping faith that well return after so long. The Part should arrive sometime this month, but if you wish I could give you guys, the sole POV that survived so you at least have something.
With all that said, Happy October and kind wishes to you all.
Whoa... shit...I don't even know what to say. After knowing how long you struggled with this part, this is really disheartening and I am sorry this happened. But can it truly be deleted? I mean, if you saved it, it has to be somewhere. Like, maybe it somehow just got moved to a different folder and you can't find it anymore? If not, hopefully it really won't take long to rewrite this, even though I myself know, rewrites are terrible. In any way, this is very concerning, because the wait already has been so massive. I say, release the part that is still there, so that there's at least going to be a third part this year.
That's the problem with that.....it wasn't. I was convinced that nothing would go wrong and the suddenly the whole thing crashed. Apparently the last thing it could save was the first draft with the one POV. The 'saved' folder never existed. The big 'I can finally write this' push happened in the last month or so and I was trying to write several parts to make it consecutive. My current hope was to make enough parts consistent to justify the break. Two parts prewritten would give me something to post soon and later and time to work on more for the next week. Now I have one POV.........I feel too ashamed to post that. Its not even 300 words.
This is troubling news, but I’m certain you’ll find a way through this and we’ll all still be here as you figure a way to fix it and when the part arrives.
Always so hopeful. Thank you for your support. Its the most invaluable thing I've gotten out of here
.
Ok, broken just agreed with Liquid via pm that I should release what I have. Since neither Agent, Janitor or Zach (Who is still reading according to a PM he sent me a while ago) have commented so ill make the choice to go ahead and post it. I may or may not add another POV with it that ill try to quickly write but if it takes more than 45 minutes, ill post the Part alone.
As to who is this lucky single POV following? Why its non other than................. Emma. To recap last time we joined Emma she was currently dealing with the stress of the presentation. She is convinced everything will go wrong and she will lose her job. In an attempt to calm herself, she thought about practicing the presentation over by her mirror. The Vote however made her decide that it was best to focus and that practicing would make things worse.
I will say that while this pov does not make up for the part, it was one of my favorites to write due to its foreshadowing of future events. The other POV I might show will be a 'flashback' which will return some very malevolent characters and show what they did several hours before this part. I'm not as proud of its placement and infact will probably restructure it later when the Chapter is over and in the rewritten version I will have to remake now. Regardless, this POV brings the end of the hiatus, so at least we can all be grateful for that.
THIS IS A FLASHBACK
Morton
"Dammit!!" Louie yelled as he threw his bat to the floor. "We almost had that punk!"
I breathed in deeply. "Its over. No point worrying about it now." I turned my head back, making sure nobody followed us here.
We had found an alley to hide in while the cops we worried with the kid and tried to sort out what happened. First time we almost got caught. Louie was getting greedy, wasting too much time before the kill. It was going to get us screwed.
"FUCKKKK!" He yelled in anger and frustration.
I grabbed his shoulder. "Keep it down before they find us." Just when it seemed the message got through, he went back to kicking the ground like an idiot.
"That kid is gonna pay with his life, he and all these friends of his." He turned to me. "We get the guns, then we go in there and......"
I stopped him again. "Shut up for a damn second and think this thorough. The kid heard the plan, he heard everything. If they see us go in, its over. We need to think of another strategy."
He threw his hands in the air. "And what the hell do you suggest!"
I stood for a moment in thought. We needed something to let us sneak in unnoticed, just a few moments were we could be in the building without watching our backs every second. Some kind of distraction. Then it hit me. I turned to Louie. "Do you remember that black haired kid with the cheap hair gel?"
FLASHBACK OVER
Emma Archer
I shook my head. I needed to have confidence. If I kept doubting myself I wouldn’t have a chance. I needed to believe in myself and just hope it would all work out. As I walked towards the door, I took a moment to take a deep breath and look at the mirror one last time, taking a brief glance at the redheaded woman in it, and then turned again to the door. Then I froze in shock.
My face became stuck in an expression of pure confusion and disbelief. It had been very, very quick, but I could swear before anyone that I saw another woman in my mirror. A redhead, in a black dress, in my room. I mean it sounded ridiculous, but that’s what I saw. Still I knew it had to be an eye trick, part of the lamps lighting maybe. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t shake the image off. There was only one way to be sure. Slowly, I turned my head to look at the mirror and saw….nothing. The only thing I saw was a blond scientist with a slightly frightened expression on her face. That should have calmed me down, but instead I fell to my knees and began to take heavy breaths in panic.
First that thing in the hallway and now this. The stress, it was killing me. I couldn’t even trust my eyes anymore. I was losing it. How was I supposed to keep it together when I was under so much stress? It was going to kill me. I needed to………..I needed to………… calm down. I needed to calm down. All this stress was getting to me. I couldn't just collapse, I needed to keep fighting. I remembered dad's voice always supporting me, telling me I could do anything, telling me to never give up. That no matter how bad things got, I could always work through it. I needed to believe that, now more than ever.
I took a deep breath, stood up and stared into the hallway. Then I closed my eyes, took another deep breath, opened them and walked out the door, determined to see this through. But before I did, I couldn't help but think that, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. However I pressed on, convinced that it was only my imagination.
I’m a bit worried and regretting that we didn’t have her practice. She seems extremely nervous and I think she might get into trouble if her nerves aren’t settled soon.
Well Emma's going crazy!
Glad to see at least something in this thread. I really like this story!
Is she though or is the world going crazy?
Glad to see you too man. Sorry for not posting for so long. Hopefully that changes now
>
Oh Emma, if only you'd know... This is very concerning, because well, that is an oddly specific hallucination. No doubt she is in a lot of stress, but neither do I doubt that there is something much bigger going on here. That image in the mirror, just to be absolutely sure, that was not her with red hair, right? Because well, I don't think it was, but it's really concerning that she is starting to hallucinate, or at least experiences something that seems like a hallucination. Not that anyone should be upset about hallucinating redheads, really, but the fact that she sees something in the corner of her eyes, ah, I don't like the implications at all, no. I also start to think, hopefully we didn't make a severe mistake by not having her practice, but at the time it felt like a good idea. Now, she is worse off than ever before.
Also, Morton and Louie continue to be perhaps my least favourite characters in the entire story ever. I'd say my least favourite characters in general, but I think we both know there are so many others that are more deserving of that title
Those walking wastes of air and space can't sod off soon enough, but I fear there might still be something bad going on with them. I really wonder how this part plays into the storyline, like, when did it take place?
Indeed....Emma current situation is concerning and it seems to be getting worse. Hopefully it is just stressful hallucinations....
Even worse than Sherwinlock and Lucios? That part takes place at least two hours before this one. I plan on re-placing it right after the Samuel one when the cop finds him.
I'm all for Emma's doppleganger being a babe with red hair.
Jokes aside I think I'm with you on the idea that the woman Emma saw was indeed her and possibly from an alternate reality. No idea why Emma would see her in the mirror though.
Yes, yes, actually as things are right now, I hate both more than Sherwinsuck and Lucifer
My very personal reasons to dislike the latter and me being super annoyed with the former aside, they haven't actually done anything confirmed to be evil so far, there's just the implication that they are the worst. Those two however, oh, they clearly are the most evil so far, at least in terms of actions and well, I don't think there is anything about them that is not just completely hateable. So yeah, the worst for sure, though maybe there will be some that are worse than the worst.