Kai Langford - March 2121
I push myself past the people coming down the stairs, keeping my head lowered as they rush around me in a desperate attempt to escape the building. Even this late at night, there are still plenty of people working inside GeneX, researchers and technicians who probably never expected the place to become a battlefield.
Now they're pushing past one another to reach the exits, their faces filled with confusion and fear as the alarms continue screaming somewhere below us.
A few glance at me as I make my way upwards, their eyes lingering on the blood staining my clothes and the weapon at my side. One man stares for a second too long before his expression suddenly changes.
"Noah?"
The name catches somewhere inside my chest, but I don't stop. I don't have the energy to explain that Noah is dead, that the person he's looking at is his twin brother, or that I'm here because the people in this building took him from me. I simply keep walking, pushing past the people trying to escape until the noise begins to fade behind me.
Eventually, I reach the first door.
My hand hovers over the security card for a moment as an old memory begins pushing their way into my mind. I've walked through this door once before.
I scan the security card against the keypad and a green light flashes before the lock clicks open. I push the door open and step inside, letting it close behind me as the heavy frame cuts out most of the alarms. The noise becomes distant and muffled, leaving me standing in an almost unnatural silence as I lean against the door and close my eyes.
I take a slow breath before opening them again.
I'm standing inside a laboratory.
The room is dark and clean, the equipment covered in a thin layer of dust that tells me no one has worked here for some time. The faint smell of chemicals still clings to the air, familiar enough that my stomach immediately twists. I've spent too many years breathing in chemicals like this, enough that even now my body remembers before my mind does.
I force myself to keep moving.
I make my way through the laboratory, passing empty workstations and equipment that hasn't been touched in months until I reach the office on the other side. My steps slow as I approach the doorway, an uneasy feeling tightening in my stomach before I've even stepped inside.
I know this office.
Noah's office.
I push the door open and stare into the room. Medals and certificates line the walls, each one representing another achievement Noah had collected over the years, but I barely notice them because something else catches my attention almost immediately.
A photograph.
I walk towards it slowly and pick it up from the desk.
It's a picture of Noah and me when we were children. Noah is holding one of his books against his chest, already looking more interested in whatever he's reading than the camera taking the photograph, while I'm standing beside him with my arm wrapped around his shoulders. Owen is behind us with both arms around us, smiling directly at the camera.
For a moment, I forget where I am.
We look happy.
Not subjects, not weapons and not experiments. Just two kids who had no idea what was waiting for us.
My fingers close tighter around the frame as my thumb slowly traces over Noah's face before moving to Owen's. I miss them both so much that it feels like something is physically squeezing my chest, and for a moment I have to remind myself that I came here for a reason.
I swallow hard and force the sadness back down before turning the photograph over. I carefully remove it from the frame and look at it one more time before slipping it into my pocket. Something about carrying it with me feels important, almost like taking one small piece of the people we used to be out of this place.
My stomach twists again, but I ignore it and continue searching the office until I finally find the safe. It takes me a moment to unlock it, but when the door swings open I find several vials carefully arranged inside.
My eyes immediately find the ones I came for.
The Lunex vials.
I reach for them and hold them in my hand, turning them slowly as the orange serum catches what little light remains in the room.
How can something so small cause so much destruction?
How many people have suffered because of these? How many lives have been ruined because someone decided that this tiny amount of liquid was worth the price?
My fingers tighten around the vials as I stare at them, but then I remember what they did to Noah, to me and to so many others.
I throw them onto the floor.
The glass shatters beneath me, the orange serum spreading across the tiles in a bright, ugly stain. I step forward and crush the remaining fragments beneath my boot until there is nothing left intact.
I stare at the mess for another second before turning away.
I leave the office and continue upwards, but the higher I climb, the more security I encounter. Guards appear on the landings and in the corridors, yet they barely slow me down. My shadows strike before they can get close, throwing them against walls or ripping their weapons from their hands before they have the chance to fire.
It's almost too easy, and that is what begins to bother me.
Where are the Guardians?
I stop halfway up the next staircase and listen, but there's nothing except the distant pulse of the alarms. Even the sound of people fleeing has disappeared, leaving the staircase almost completely silent.
Too silent.
I continue upwards with every instinct in my body telling me something is wrong.
Then I see movement.
I barely have time to react before bullets rip through the space where I've been standing. I throw myself sideways and press against the wall as the shots tear into the staircase, sending fragments of concrete across the floor.
I lean around the corner and immediately push my shadows forward to strike, but the moment I see the face standing above me, everything inside me stops.
He looks directly at me for a second before turning and running back up the stairs.
Rage floods through me so quickly that I don't even think about it. I push away from the wall and sprint after him, my boots pounding against the steps as he disappears around the corner and reaches one of the doors leading away from the staircase.
I reach it only seconds later. The door starts to close, but I slam my foot into it and force it back open. 002 is waiting on the other side.
I take one step towards him before something hard crashes against the side of my head. Pain explodes through my skull and I hit the floor, my vision flashing white as blood begins running down the side of my face. I drag my hand across my forehead before the blood can reach my eye, but another attack comes before I have time to recover.
I roll away just as something solid crashes into the tiles where my head had been, shattering them beneath the impact.
I push myself backwards and finally see what I'm dealing with.
A Guardian.
A woman stands between me and 002, her hands already covered in concrete as she forms structures directly from them. The material shifts around her arms as she raises another piece, shaping it with frightening speed before swinging it towards me.
I throw myself to the side as the concrete crashes into the floor, then regain my balance and send my shadows towards her. She raises another structure to block the attack, forcing me to close the distance instead.
I form shadows around my hand and drive my fist towards her stomach. The impact lands, but instead of flesh I hit solid concrete.
The structure cracks beneath my fist and breaks apart, but the force sends a sharp wave of pain through my arm. I stumble backwards, shaking my hand as I try to ignore it, only for something else to slam into me.
I'm thrown sideways and crash into the wall hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. Before I can recover, another invisible force hits me and sends me back to the floor, the attack cutting across my skin and leaving a hot sting behind.
I look up and find another Guardian standing across the laboratory.
He flicks his finger towards me and a wave of pressure tears through the air and slams into my body, sending me skidding across the floor.
I grit my teeth and slam my palm against the ground, forcing a wall of shadows upwards just as another attack strikes. The darkness absorbs most of it, but before I can use the wall to protect myself properly, the female Guardian stomps her foot.
Concrete erupts beneath me and slams into my stomach, launching me backwards. The breath leaves my lungs and my shadows falter with me.
That's all they need.
They move together, the woman forming thick bands of concrete around my wrists and ankles while the other Guardian keeps me pinned with bursts of pressure. I pull against the restraints until every muscle in my body burns, but the concrete refuses to move, and even my shadows struggle to push through it.
Then I hear footsteps.
002 walks towards me and crouches beside me, his face appearing above mine with that same expression I remember from the facility.
"Lad, are you stupid?" he asks. "Did you really think two of you could actually attack GeneX like this?"
"Fuck you."
The words come through clenched teeth.
He scoffs and pats me across the face as though I'm a child he's disciplining. I turn my head away, but his hand immediately grabs my hair and forces my face back towards him.
"Don't blame me for your brother's death," he says quietly. "You're still too weak to protect anyone, 004."
His smile widens and something inside me cracks. My teeth grind together as I stare at him, every part of me screaming to tear him apart, but I can't move.
"Who's weak now?" I force out. "Without your powers, you have to rely on others."
His smile disappears, before his fist connects with my face, snapping my head sideways as pain explodes across my jaw. My lip splits immediately and I taste blood as it fills my mouth.
"Don't worry," he says. "Dr Langford ensured I'll get my powers back once we access Noah's research."
My stomach drops. Of course , even now they're trying to use Noah's work.
002 stands and begins walking away.
"Ensure he can't move. Dr Langford wishes to speak to him before we kill him."
The Guardians tighten their hold and I pull against the concrete until my muscles burn, but it makes no difference. My shadows writhe beneath me, desperate to break free, but the restraints are too strong.
No.
I can't let it end like this.
002 can't walk away after everything he's done, and my father can't continue doing this to people.
I force myself to look around the laboratory. The scientists are still there, just watching, I even spot Dr Sora Williams. Some are even taking notes while others stare at me with the same detached curiosity I've seen countless times before.
For a moment, I'm back in the facility, behind the glass, strapped to a table while strangers studied every reaction my body gave them.
Back to being 004.
A test subject.
A number.
A weapon.
Nothing has changed.
My chest tightens as the thought hits me that maybe I should have stayed in the facility. If I had, Noah might still be alive and Ethan might still be happy. Maybe if GeneX had never existed, I could have lived a normal life with them, sitting at the cabins with Noah while Ethan was beside me instead of chained to a bed because I was so afraid of losing him.
The thought almost breaks me.
I look between the scientists, Dr Williams and finally 002, and something in me hardens again. They need to pay. I can't let them walk away from this, not while Ethan is still in danger and GeneX is still standing.
Then the lights flicker.
Everyone looks up.
The computer screens flash once, then again, filling with error messages before shutting down completely. One after another, they go black until the laboratory is plunged into darkness.
A confused voice comes from somewhere across the room.
"What's going on?"
A small laugh escapes me.
Finn did it... Noah did it.
Finn succeeded in his mission, which means I can't fail here.
002's voice cuts through the darkness. "Keep him pinned down!"
But it's too late.
I reach out towards the shadows in the room, not just one or two but every single one of them. The darkness beneath the tables, the shadows cast by the equipment, the corners of the laboratory and the shapes beneath the bodies of the Guardians all begin responding to me.
I can feel them waiting for me to tell them what to do.
For years, I've treated my shadows like something I need to control, something I have to keep contained because GeneX taught me what happens when I lose control. Right now, I don't want to hold them back.
I pull.
Every shadow in the room surges towards me, rushing through my body until I can barely distinguish where my power ends and I begin. My hands shake as I gather more and more of it, feeling the darkness twisting around my arms while the Guardians move towards me.
The female Guardian reaches for me, but before she can I release everything.
The shadows explode from my body with enough force to tear through the room. Glass shatters, equipment is ripped from the walls and everything standing in their path is caught in the surge of darkness.
The female Guardian is struck first. Her body is thrown violently across the laboratory before she crashes to the ground, and the concrete binding my legs disappears with her death.
I push myself upright, breathing heavily as I take in the destruction around me.
The room is almost unrecognisable. Broken glass covers the floor, equipment hangs from shattered walls and bodies lie scattered across the laboratory while blood spreads between the tiles.
For a moment, I can't move.
I've done this... I've killed them all.
My breathing grows heavier as I force myself to look away.
Then my eyes find 002. He's still standing, barely, clutching his arms as blood runs heavily from the wounds across them.
Our eyes meet and I raise my hand.
Shadows burst from the floor and form sharp spikes around him before driving through his limbs, pinning him in place as his scream tears through the room.
"004!"
I don't let him say anything else.
My fingers close and the shadows surge around him, swallowing his body completely as they crush inwards with overwhelming force. His screams disappear beneath the darkness, and when I finally release him, he collapses to the floor.
I stare at him for a moment. There is no satisfactio or relief. I just feel emptiness.
But I don't care.
I need to destory the vials, I need to get to my father. Nothing else matters.
I take a step forward before a quiet, uneven breath catches my attention. I turn towards the corner and Dr Williams sits there. He somehow survived.
He's pressed against the wall with his knees pulled tightly against his chest, one hand trembling as it twists anxiously around his wedding ring. He watches me approach with wide, terrified eyes as I crouch down in front of him.
"Dr Williams."
"Ye... yes?"
His voice barely exists.
"Do you know why I'm here?"
He shakes his head.
"No..."
I study his face, but something in his expression tells me he's lying, or at least hiding something.
I glance around the laboratory again, taking in the bodies, the broken equipment and the blood spreading across the floor. For the first time since entering the room, I allow myself to really look at what I've done.
I'm standing in a room full of dead people and I'm responsible for all of it... I really am a monster and that thought sits heavily inside my chest.
"I never meant for it to go this far," I whisper.
Williams looks around the room before turning his eyes back towards me.
"Then why?" he asks, his voice shaking. "The blood, the bodies... these people believed in you. GeneX believed in you."
A short, humourless laugh escapes me.
They believed in me? What a load of shit. They never believed in me. They believed in what I could do. They believed in the weapon they'd spent years trying to create.
They never cared about the person underneath it.
I rub a hand across my face, suddenly exhausted beyond anything I've ever felt. I'm tired of fighting, tired of running, tired of losing people and tired of waking up every day knowing someone else might be taken from me. I just want it all to end.
This isn't how I wanted to end GeneX. But they pushed me here... If only Noah was still here. The thought catches in my throat, I can't think about him.
Not now.
If I let myself think about Noah, I'll fall apart, and I don't have time to fall apart.
"I didn't want this," I whisper. "But... you took him from me."
Williams flinches. He knows exactly who I'm talking about.
For a moment, I let myself look at him before forcing the emotion back down.
"No," I say, my voice turning cold again. "That doesn't matter right now."
I step closer and tighten my grip around the knife at my side.
"Where are the Lunex vials?"
Williams swallows.
"I... I don't have access to them anymore."
He's lying. I know he is.
The pain from the blow to my head suddenly pulses through my skull, making my vision blur for a second. I'm too exhausted to keep playing his games, so I reach behind me and pull my knife free.
The movement sends another spike of pain through my head, forcing me to steady myself before looking back at him.
"Enough," I snap. "Don't treat me like a fool, Dr Williams."
I hold the knife at my side and stare directly into his eyes.
"Get me access to the vials, and I'll let you walk away."
For a moment, I think he's going to answer, but instead, he shakes his head.
"I'm afraid I can't help you."
I stare at him for a long moment as something inside me goes completely still.
Fine. If he won't help me, I'll have to find another way.
"Then you no longer serve any purpose."
I move before I can think about what I'm doing, the knife cuts across his neck.
His hands immediately fly to the wound as his eyes widen in shock, but I don't wait to watch him fall. I turn away and walk towards the door, leaving the ruined laboratory behind me as the weight of everything I've done follows me into the corridor.
I've already lost too much time.
My father is somewhere above me.
And I'm coming for him.