Arc 2 chapter 9: Destiny's run

-(Destiny)-

Project  Xavier, undisclosed location Year 457 of the Alliance Calendar, Friday  the 6th January 3141 of the Human Federation Calendar 

“Destiny wake up.” A familiar hushed voice murmured in my ear.

I  woke up drowsily and suddenly with a start opening my eyes wide and sat  in my bed. The synthetic linen of the sheets covering my body irritated  my skin. I turned my head to look around my room, four white walls, a  nightstand, and a closet were all my possessions in this world. It was  dark, and I could barely see in the dim lights. My bedroom’s lighting  was never off.

“Unca’ is that ye?” I said still fighting sleep.

“It’s me, sweetheart.” Uncle Magnus appeared from the shadows as if he was a ghost.

Surprised,  I jumped up a bit. Embarrassed, I then glared at him; I didn’t feel him  being amused as is normal for him. I did feel that he was really  serious right now.

<Don’t be afraid, we need to get out of here.> Uncle Magnus projected his thought at me.

<Where are we going?> I looked askance at his wizened face.

Uncle  Magnus was an attractive man, he was tall of about 180 cm and fit, he  has blue eyes and blond hair and a face showing is Scottish flair that  reflected how someone shouldn’t anger him. He was a charismatic and  passionate man, his predominant characteristic was his charm that I have  been able to see work on the older females personnel. 

<We don’t have the time to discuss, put on some shoes, I want to escape this damned place.> He ordered me.

I  didn’t move, it wasn’t like uncle Magnus to be like this; he must have  felt my apprehension because he approached me and put his hands on my  shoulders and looked at me with worry.

“They  want to turn you into something that doesn’t sit well with me, Destiny.  I won’t let it happen, quick let’s go!” He finally spoke.

Taking  advantage of him touching me, I focused my mind into circumventing his  mental shield. Urgency and the desperation bled from him, but two brands  of thought of swayed my decision of following him; “I want to protect  her”, “We must leave that damned place.”

“Ok, I trust ye unca’ ye never steered me wrong.” 

Hurrying,  I got up from the bed and went to my closet and put on my boots. I was  wearing an issued white pajama from this research facility, it is a  naturally woven one that was kind of too tight on me. Not one of those  fancily made by a fabricator. It’s like the people handling the money  here were penny pinchers, it didn’t matter anymore. When I was done  uncle Magnus caught me by the left arm and put some sort of wristwatch  on it. 

“Take  this and put it on your wrist. It’s a computer and a communicator, I  stole it. Don’t lose it, everything of note about project Xavier is on  this.”

The  watch straps were smooth and white, the screen of the watch was  rectangular and projected a blue hologram showing the time and date of  the day, the battery level. 

“What do ye mean, unca’ what is inside?” I asked him.

Normally  I was refused even the most basic information and was restricted from  accessing any computer terminal or machine. Him giving me this was  weird, but I didn’t worry about it because this is something that he  gave me. Uncle Magnus is the scientist charged to keep me healthy and  cooperative. He is a father to me and a friend. 

The only friend I have.

“Everything about you and this place, now come on sweetheart we must go.” He took my hand and dragged me toward the door.

The  ‘swoosh’ of the automatic door made me look around for signs of people  looking for us, because yeah we are escaping. Isn’t that what prey does  when they want to escape a predator or jailer? The curfew was enforced,  but as I was with one of the scientists the alert didn’t sound. We ended  up in the corridor leading to the housing unit for the subjects of the  Xavier project; besides me, there were two other subjects that the  project take care of, a Pyrokinetic and a Teleporter. Both guys and we  were encouraged into not being friendly with each other. We passed by  the doors of their bedrooms, I hoped the Director wouldn’t punish them  because of my escape. 

There  were three levels to the underground facility; The housing floor that  is the last floor where the test subjects were, the labs and test rooms  were on the second floor, and finally to go above ground the general  floor where security and other personnel are living and work. I never  went beyond the laboratory and the test rooms. We didn’t run but walked  slowly and stealthily out of the main corridor to take the main  turbo-elevator that we entered promptly. I was worried, uncle Magnus  looked like a cool cookie exteriorly but inside he was wracked by  anguish and fear. Not for himself but for me. 

<Let’s  be prudent on the lab floor, keep silent and don’t speak. I can’t pull  the same things I did on the third floor, we have to be  inconspicuous.>

The elevator signaled us that we arrived at  the second floor and the door opened. There was an unfolded wheelchair  waiting before us near one of the potted plants against the wall facing  the elevator.

<Sit, we need to put on a charade.> Uncle Magnus informed me.

I  obeyed, went to the chair and sat in it in a hurry. My uncle went  behind me and began to wheel the chair slowly. The entire process of  being wheeled and looking sedated was nerve-wracking, uncle Magnus kept  updating me on the place we passed; the laboratory where they often  stuck us into health tank, the fire and kinetic room and my special hell  on earth the interrogation room. There were psychic dampeners in either  of them if we tried to take advantage of our powers to try to escape or  to put us into our ‘place’ as the director like to call it.

<We are going to go into that Janitor closet behind the toilet facilities.> Uncle Magnus projected with his mind.

Uncle  Magnus fiddled with the keypad of the door, with ‘ding’ of  acknowledgment the door swooshed open; the light inside lit on and my  uncle ushered us into the closet. I say Closet but it was a big room  with industrial floor scrubbers installed on their recharging pedestals  and gun grey lockers on the walls. 

<Can I speak now?> I whined, staying silent isn’t my strongest suit.

“Huh?  Ah, yes yes, sweetheart. Sorry, I was really focused on getting us out  of the cells.” He bends down to hug me on the chair and kissed my  forehead. 

The cells, that what he called the test subjects housing units. I blushed a bit and reciprocated the hug; I like hugs.

“So what are we going ta’ do unca’? We got so far already.”

“That,  my sweet is the easiest part!” Uncle went in one of the lockers, opened  it and took out some clothes and gear in a box made of transparent grey  plastic.

He  gave me the box and opened it while it was in my arms. There was a  pistol in a holster belt, a belt with an ‘x’ belt buckle, boots and a  helmet and a black security uniform that those despicable super soldiers  wore. I sneered while looking at the outfit. Those barbarous swines had  always persecuted me and my fellow test subjects, there was nothing  ‘super’ about them unless you took into account their evil antics.

“I know you don’t like them, sweetie; but we need them to get you out of there,” Uncle said.

He  was trying to reassure me, I wasn’t about to jeopardize his kindness  and his life because of my hatred. I wanted to go out, to see the world!  But now, I realized that you should be able to make some sacrifices to  get what you want. My shoulders sagged, I looked back at uncle Magnus  and nodded to him.

“Good girl.” He said while patting my head.

I  relished in the physical contact by closing my eyes and relaxing my  body. Uncle is doing his best to get us out of this heinous place. It's  too bad that we cannot take the other two with us, but sometimes you  must think of yourself before having a savior complex. Saviors end up  dead because their actions change things; something I have learned in my  short life is that human abhors changes. But changes are inevitable.

Uncle  Magnus turned himself away in another direction while I was putting on  the security uniform. A really tight black combat jumpsuit with an  inbuilt bra for support.

*Ah, that’s unca’ Magnus for ye, he always pay attention ta’ details like that.”

After  five minutes, I was done. The boots where comfy, but the belt was kind  of constricting. My heavy boobs were at ease in that outfit, no wonder  those fiends at security think they are better than us; they live in  luxury compared to our subjects. I sneered at the thought, one day I  will get back at those people who took us from our families and treated  us like animals. Looking at the weapon on my belt, I remembered one of  the instances I used my telepathy for harm. The bright fiery and lithe  form of a young redheaded girl came into my mind. The scene of when that  super soldier stopped me to stop them from beating to death my friend  Isabelle assailed me. It almost made me cry again.

*Iza, Ô Iza why did ye leave me in this place? Why didn’t ye take me with ye?*

She  was gone now when her pyrokinetic powers consumed her; I took the  knowledge of how to use a gun or how to fight at close quarters from the  super soldier that restrained me then killed him with his own weapon.  It had been a harrowing experience; seeing my best friend die without me  being able to do anything and then I remember doing something to that  super soldier with my arm, take his pistol from his belt and pulled the  trigger. The sound of the weapon sounded in my mind just like it did  that day and the gurgles of the man whose heart I pierced with a bullet.  I remember feeling happy about it and trying to go save Iza but was  stopped when the psionic inhibitor in the test room was triggered and  all those super soldiers entered the room and caught me and  systematically began to beat me up. 

My  hand clenched on the pistol grip. I felt a hand on my right shoulder; I  then looked at uncle Magnus who had a benevolent expression on his  face.

“Destiny,  don’t worry what you have on the wristwatch will give you peace of  mind, and revenge.” The sweet voice of uncle Magnus kicked me out of my  stormy thoughts.

He  has always known me better than myself and helped me to sort out my  feelings. Yes, uncle Magnus is a psychologist with a bit of psionics  specialty toward telepathy. That’s why he was assigned to me. Just by  looking at my expressions or body language he is able to guess what’s  happening in my head. At first, I suspected that he was a telepath  himself, but he isn’t.

“Are you ready?” He asked me with his serious tone that means ‘we are going to do dangerous things.’

“Lock and loaded, Unca’!” I said enthusiastically.

I  put on the black security helmet that hid my identity. Pawing at my  weapon and deploying my telepathic sense; I only felt uncle with me in  that part of the floor. I had a two hundred meters range for my  telepathy, it helped detect minds efficiently; Unless they got psionic  inhibitors though...

“Let’s roll out.” Uncle Magnus smiled and turned toward the exit.

<Aye, sir.> I said in his mind.

We  went out of the janitor closet and closed the door, I focused on  scouting with my mind. There were some scientists in the lab room number  one and one security super soldier, it was a relaxed night today.  Great. I walked at the side of uncle Magnus looking as if I belonged, I  tried to emulate how those super soldier people moved; with purpose and  ready for a fight at any time. We arrived at the next bank of turbo  elevators and entered one and uncle Magnus put his hands on the scanner  on the keypad on the wall. The doors of the cage closed.

“Surface of the compound please.”

Yes, Doctor Buchanan.

The  AI of the elevator leading to the surface was more sophisticated, and  the security measures were more stringent it seems. I stuck close to my  uncle and he did the same.

<Destiny, whatever happen I want to tell you that I love you and I consider you my daughter.>

Looking  at him, I saw that uncle Magnus who has always been my rock was scared.  I was scared too, but I didn’t want us to die there. I shall protect  him with all my might; yes I intended to kill again, it’s inevitable.

<Unca’ I am scared, I love you too.> I sent lovingly in his mind.

He looked at me fondly, then resolve steeled his gaze.

<There  is a ship that will attack the complex,> Uncle Magnus looked at his  wristwatch and pushed a button.<right about now.>

I  heard a loud boom and felt tremors even in the cage of the turbo  elevator; a loud alarm screamed shrilly, it made me jump. Uncle Magnus  made a dashing smile and took a pistol out of his lab coat and unlocked  the safety. I choose to do the same and took my pistol and took off the  safety, checked if there was a preloaded bullet in the firing chamber.  The stolen skills of that super soldier were nifty, but I still need  training in it to develop muscle memory and to develop proficiency in  targeting. Explosion wracked the complex and made it tremble, our  elevator stopped and when the door of the cage opened we were faced with  a hellish rain of beam lasers. Lasers that hit the buildings and  turning them into cheese riddled with holes. The light was striking  those super soldiers that tried to shoot at the craft which fired at  them and their body simply disappeared, turned into dust. Disintegrated.

“Unca’ won’t those kill us if they hit us?!” I shouted in worry.

“They won’t, sweetie! Let’s Go!” Uncle said with certainty.

Uncle  Magnus caught my arm and dragged me from the frying pan into the fire,  we ran, avoiding the craters and debris left by the destroyed landscape.  I felt people watching us with my telepathic sense, super soldiers  noticed us. It made me fire at them with my pistol, they took cover but I  killed one with a lucky shot. Uncle got another while we ran toward the  portal of the complex. Super soldiers tried to stop us but either got  disintegrated by the laser rain or got shot by us and the more fortunate  one took hid in the building and used the furniture and decor has a  cover.

*Die, die you apes!* I killed two more of them.

“We are almost there!” Uncle shouted happily.

We  could smell a whiff of freedom, it scented of ionized air and burning  wood. A humongous ship came into view a ramp at the tail of it opened.  Someone was there and signaling us to move faster toward them! We  sprinted, I was lighter and faster than uncle Magnus and I went past him  and arrived at the mouth of the ramp and turned toward uncle to make  him know I arrived at the goal. But what I saw horrified me. He clutched  at his chest, red blood bloomed on his jumpsuit and white lab coat.

“UNCA’!!!” I ran toward him desperately and caught him when he was about to fall. 

I  felt super soldiers run toward us and I shot at them with my pistol  when they were about to appear. They fell one by one until my weapon  went empty.

“Run…”  I heard uncle Magnus say. He coughed blood and could barely breathe.  Tears fell from my eyes, I couldn’t lose him too! Never!

Someone  from the ship came toward us and took uncle in his arm and went toward  the ramp of the ship. I felt more super soldier coming, I threw the  useless gun and fired psionics bolt with all the rage and wrath I could  muster and hearing them scream or fall like a sack of potatoes felt  euphoric and sad.

“Die, die!!” I screamed while sobbing.

I  felt the same person from the ship to get me and I followed him while  firing force bolts at those villains. I couldn’t see if that person was a  male or female but they were strong as they took me in a fireman carry  pose. Not resisting I let this person save me, I didn’t want to die but I  also wanted to avenge uncle Magnus. Scratch that, he would have wanted  me to flee. I threw more psionic force bolts at the onrushing super  soldiers but we entered the ship and the ramp closed. The person who  saved me put me on the ground.

“Please save Unca’ Magnus!” I pleaded.

The  person wore a dark green spacesuit with a helmet that hid his or her  face. Then something that shocked me to my core and broke my heart at  the same time happened. I felt Unca’s mind fading. I saw him on the  ground with a pack and some gelatinous substance on his naked torso. I  went to him and kneeled on his prom form.

<Unca’ don’t leave me please, don’t!> I begged him.

<I  am sorry, can’t.> I felt his misery and self-loathing permeate his  mind. He was chastising himself for disappointing me and leaving me  alone.

<Ye cannot do this! Don’t leave me alone, please…> 

<It’s  my time, Destiny. Promise me that you will be a good girl and survive  out there? Become strong, train your telepathy and your body, don’t let  the Xavier Project take you back.”

I  looked at him and felt peace emanate from him, but there was  restlessness behind it. Even in this state, he was still worried about  me.

<Okay, I promise.> Snot ran from the nose and my tears fell on uncle Magnus face.

As  soon as I conveyed this thought to him, his spirit faded completely. I  lost my sense of time when it happened, I cried for so long when he died  that I didn’t register when the ship left the planet and wasn’t lucid  enough when the person piloting the ship went to show me that the  complex turned to slag when the fusion core powering the outpost where I  lived most of my life.