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Chapter 11 - ENTERING THE LAB

Before we could get to the door at the lab facility, we had to survey to perimeter for hostiles. I wondered how we were going to do it without any equipment. I looked at my team and thought about the nanite suits they had on, maybe we could make a surveillance tool like maybe a drone or something like that.

"Donny do you think we can make a drone from the suits?"

He looked at me confused, surprised even as if it was some sort of profound idea. Then he took it upon himself to think it through. "I am sure we can," he said and grabbed a piece of his suit from the side of the suit and the nanites starting changing shape from the handful chunk he had in his hand.

It was a small drone but it was enough to get the job. Besides that, we were astonished by the fact that the nanites can be made into more than just guns. What is your game here, Mynde? I thought to myself since he didn't inform me of these capabilities, unless he wanted us to find out.

Ever since I met him, he seemed to act in a peculiar manner than the others. He certainly didn't favour me in anyway but didn't treat me any less than a person either. He wasn't kind and sweet, more like me cold and precise, yet for a human he had shown me that he is more than capable of putting me in a bad place. I didn't care to join him after our meet, I just did it because I didn't want to be constantly pursued and having to meaninglessly harm them.

Donny had taken a few moments to understand how the drone would operate and he sent it off. It was quiet for a drone and necessary for our current situation. After a couple of minutes of reconnaissance he confirmed that there weren't any hostiles nearby or hiding in the other buildings. There were civilians, injured, scared and unarmed so they weren't going to be a problem. We didn't need another firefight.

We got to the lab facility through the shattered glass doors. It was empty, well the lobby was and I didn't sense anything nearby but something was emitting a strange radiation. Their suits warned them of the potential radiation even that piece I had on lit up with a warning light.

"Where do we go from here?" Tarius asked.

"Donny, do you have the schematics for the lab facility that you got from Bradely's laptop?" I asked

"Yeah, I got them. Give me a sec to look at it." Donny answered pulling up a digital display on the suit on his forearm.

The hallways were empty and the layout of bodies was similar to the DCPD precinct. Marie asked what we were to do with the radiation problem and if I was even safe without the suit. I reassured her that I wasn't going to be affected by it however it was beneficial if she and the others kept their suits on. Not that Tarius needed to.

Even so I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable sensation under my skin as if it was slowly being boiled in oil. I went off to check the bodies and I found someone that was still alive. They lost a leg and were still bleeding out, their face slashed with three claw marks and a large stab wound on their chest.

They were still breathing but in agonising pain. They called me for help and I got to their side and called Marie over to assist this person. While Marie took out her medkit and started patching up the individual, they pulled me closer to speak to me.

"Are you Captain?" they asked me in a low tone and wheezing through their breath.

"Yeah, Bradely told us to come here to destroy the dimensional gate,"

"We tried... to destroy it but the monsters... they came and they killed most of us. The gate is deep underground and... you are going to have to go deeper... into the facility to get to it. It's heavily guarded... so I doubt that any of the demons got to it... but they will try to. Ngh... ugh. I don't have much time... I was supposed to take you there to see the research... but you are going to have to go at it alone.

"I am going to assume that Bradely gave you his keycard... good. Down at sub-level three... you are going to have to go through each of the... service areas at the end of each level. The dimensional gate... is down in sub-level ten but you can't use the keycard... there to get to the gate. It is strictly a retinal scan... and General Mynde already prepared it... for you. Captain, you can't use... your powers in there, not even your... guns and your sword. If you do or any... magic is detected the whole place... set to self destruct and lab facility and... all records will be lost. You can't even... brute force your way through the... facility either, the walls and... doors are reinforced with the toughest material in the world.

"We took these... measures in case you went rogue, demons or... other magic beings were to ever infiltrate the... building and making... sure that we had spent years working on... would not fall into the government's hands. General Mynde... gave us that directive."

I knelt there stuck speaking to my mind, "Well, this is a shocking revelation now isn't, body?" my mind asked. My mind and body if you must know are their separate entities, while they both reside in my head. My mind observes all that my body does and at times gives it, me, more power. While my body, me, does all the actions and takes decision in my mind's stead. Pretty confusing but what can I do about it.

"It is indeed,"

"They knew about our ability and never even shed a light on it to us?"

"General Mynde is a mysterious man I have grown fond of, yet his actions still manage to stir a mixture of respect and astonishment,"

"Very true but you know, body, some of this wouldn't have transpired at all if you hadn't accepted his offer."

"We shall not speak of that decision, mind."

Marie had finished patching him up but he died due to blood loss. Donny gave us the signal and we moved on. I lagged a bit behind to close the man's eyes before leaving his corpse. Marie was upset that she couldn't save him but what could we have done about it. These people should not die like this, this must stop.

We took an elevator going down to sub-level three of the facility with the use of Bradely's keycard. It was slow giving us enough time to prepare ourselves. We took out our pulse rifles and held ready to fire. I kept the suit as a backpack, couldn't leave it with the merchant just needed the suit of my person.

We moved out in a single file through the hallways of the lab facility, moving past corners swiftly and carefully. No one was on the level which made it a lot more ominous and uncomfortable. We arrived at one of the service areas the man spoke of and it didn't use a keycard. "Shit!" I exclaimed.

"Donny, we got a security door that doesn't use keycards. Can you override it manually to get through the door?" I said.

"Yeah but it's gonna take me some time to hack it though," he replied

"Do what you can, we'll wait," Marie said.

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