Eric and the Quantum Dragon

Archimedes Tower, Pan City

Saturday December 22nd, V26 (2046)

The balcony collapsed beneath them and Sofia had a momentary glimpse of one of the attackers faces showing sudden terror as they fell out of sight. Instinctively she lifted herself into the air, watching in disbelief as the balcony and a whole section of walkway separated from the surrounding supports and collapsed.

It was seeing Eric fall that galvanised her into action. She dived into the maelstrom of falling chunks of flooring, stray chairs and pieces of railing, dodging them all like she was racing in the Maze! Eric was right in front of her and she snared his flailing hand, arresting his sudden fall.

“Gotcha!” she shouted as she folded him into her arms, then surged back into the clear air above. She saw the inner section of walkway was still intact so she flew rapidly there and dropped him onto his feet. “Stay here!” she commanded in her best Teacher’s voice and flew off to see who else needed assistance.

Her keen eyes spotted Fiona dangling over a hundred meter drop, her metal arm locked around a piece of girder that jutted from the broken flooring. Like an arrow she raced to her friend and put her arms around the woman’s muscular waist.

“I’ve got you Fi-Fi!” she declared and her friend nodded thanks as she released her grip on the damaged floor support. “I’ll take you to Eric!” she shouted over the noise still filling the atrium and levitated to where he was waiting.

Re-united, the three of them looked around for the rest of their friends. The smoke and dust made it hard to see any distance and there were still screams and shouts of anger in the distance. Of the rest of their group there was no sign.

“I’m going to scout around, see who needs help” Sofia announced. “Don’t got too far”

“Copy that” Fiona confirmed and her and Eric stood with their backs to a wall, weapons ready and alert.

=====

Achmed had a memory of falling when he came too, his eyes blurry as he thought he saw the balcony they had been fighting on about ten meters above him. What was more important was that his right arm was in agony, like a gorilla had tried to rip it out of the socket.

“Please tell me you are awake at last!” gasped Lilly from above him. He looked over his head and saw she was hanging from a cable, her left arm looped over it and her right arm locked into his own.

“What happened?” he slurred as he swung at the end of their linked arms. “Did we fall?”

“You could say that” she muttered, her voice filled with pain. “Is there any chance you could climb up here too? My arm is about to get torn off!”

“I’ll try” he answered uncertainly then tried to lift his left arm up to link with his right. He almost made it when another wave of blackness engulfed him.

“Achmed!” screamed a girl’s voice and his eyes popped open.

“What?” he mumbled in confusion. “Where are we?”

Lilly gritted her teeth and spoke in slow, pain filled words.

“We fell off the balcony when it collapsed” she gasped. “I managed to grab one of the support cables for the Maze below us and hooked you as well. But I am not strong enough to climb up to the other balcony”

“Oh, I see” Achmed answered her and looked down below his feet. “That is a long way to the floor, Lilly. I don’t think we can jump it”

“I know that, dearest Achmed” she grimaced. “That is why I need you to climb up here and stop tearing my arm out of my body!”

Achmed felt his head clearing a little, assisted by the surge of terror driven adrenalin that coursed through his body.

“I can’t climb up to the cable, Lilly” he told her. “I’m just not strong enough. Too many days net diving and not enough gym class”

“So what do we do?” she asked. Achmed could see the terrible pain she was in and knew he could offer only one solution.

“You let me go” he said gently. Lilly’s eyes bugged wide and she shook her head furiously.

“That is not going to happen, you stupid boy” she replied in no uncertain terms.

“It will be Okay” he lied to her. “See, if I can avoid the Maze below us, I can land in the big lake”

“No way, Achmed” she said and gasped again as the cable shifted and dropped a few meters, sending jarring pain through her body. “Anyway, this cable looks like it is about to give way. We are both going down unless we can climb out of here!”

“Huh!” Achmed answered. “If I have to die, I’m glad it was after I got to show you how I felt about you”

Lilly gazed down into his eyes and she felt a surge of raw emotion fill her.

“Do you trust me, Achmed?” she asked. He looked at her quizzically and regarded their locked arms.

“My life has always been in your hands” he said with a pained smile. “Of course I trust you!”

There was another shift in the cable and it dropped another meter, sounds of straining metal twanging and pinging around them.

“Do you think number Thirteen is lucky?” she asked and drew power into her Ability. She did not need to scan or assess the subject as she knew him better than anything else in the world.

“What?” Achmed asked then disappeared from her hand.

The world he knew was replaced with something vast and full of light. He had a brief moment to wonder if he had died when he reappeared in the atrium, about a meter over the artificial lake at its centre. Gravity took notice of him once more and dropped him with a splash into the cool water.

He barely had time to rise back up spluttering to the surface before a small, dark shape appeared overhead and slammed into him. They both splashed down into the water and then he felt familiar arms grab him and lift him once more towards the air.

“Achmed, are you Okay!” Lilly shouted to him and he spat out some water and nodded agreement.

“What did you mean about Thirteen being lucky?” he demanded as they treaded water together.

“That was my thirteenth attempt to Teleport a living creature!” she said with a laugh. “I am so glad it worked!”

“Oh, right” Achmed answered in some confusion. “How many successful Teleports have you done before mine?”

“Just the one” she admitted. “It was Mr Snuffles the Twelfth”

“Ah, I see” Achmed replied. He started swimming slowly to the closest shore edge, Lilly following him with her best dog paddle. When they reached the shallow edges, they both clambered tiredly to sit on the tiled banks, looking around them at the smoke and confusion.

“What happened to the other Mr Snuffles?” he pondered aloud and looked at Lilly. She dropped her gaze and would not meet his eyes.

“They went somewhere nice I am sure” she responded.

=====

If it had not been for Hammerton, Carmody realised she and Angelina would have been on the balcony when it collapsed. She feared what had come over the butler and wondered if he was affected by the HEx gas that made everyone else so crazy!

Carmody had lifted Angelina into her arms, trying to avoid hurting the girls’ hands any more than was possible. In the swirling smoke she had lost sight of their companions so she decided to head towards their last location, skirting around the edge of the fallen walkway. They had gone only a dozen meters when Hammers stalked into view.

“Give her to me, Miss Brentwood” the butler demanded. His face was flat and emotionless, the suit dirty and torn, but what caught her attention was his eyes. Like something out of her awful dreams the eyes were solid black!

“Back off, Hammers!” Carmody shouted. “You aren’t yourself today! Look, you’ve hurt Angelina already and you are meant to protect her!”

“She is promised to me” he said firmly. “I will take her to safety, away from this tainted air!”

He stepped forward, arms raised as if to carry Angelina.

“You owe me, Hammers!” Carmody shouted to his face. “You promised me your help if ever I needed it!”

The butler paused and regarded her.

“That is true, Miss Brentwood” he agreed. “I am in your debt and I always keep my agreements. That is the very essence of my being”

“So grant me one wish, here and now!” Carmody replied. Angelina was stirring, the taller girl’s feet dragging on the floor as Carmody tried to hold her up.

Carmody looked into Hammerton’s pitch black eyes without wavering.

“Go away!” she yelled. “Leave Angelina with me and just go away!”

For a moment, Carmody thought he was going to charge at her. Then he lowered his head and when he looked up his eyes were their usual grey colour.

“Very well, Miss Brentwood” he agreed. “I shall not break the Covenant in this place. I gift you until dusk tomorrow then I shall come to claim my Angelina”

He stepped backwards into the smoke and it was like he just vanished. Carmody took a few tentative steps forward, her eyes straining to see where he had gone to. A tall shape loomed out of the dimness and she held Angelina tight with her left arm, clenching her right hand into a fist. Power surged into her Kinetic Enhancer and she nearly lashed out when the gleam of a cybernetic eye stopped her.

“Miss Carmody?” called out Fiona. “Is that you?”

“Yes, Fiona” she sobbed in relief. “I have Angelina with me”

The ex-Guard strode up and supported them both as Carmody sagged, all strength gone from her. She took Angelina from Carmody and helped them walk to where Eric awaited.

“Where is Mr Hammerton?” Fiona asked the girls.

“I sent him home” Carmody answered with finality.

=====

Sofia was floating slowly downwards, trying to peer through the choking smoke and dust clouds to see if any of her students needed help. She wished her had her flight suit and Smart Goggles on as it would have made this a lot easier.

She had descended three levels when a male voice called out to her.

“Miss, please, can you help us?”

Sofia drifted closer and could see one of the glass elevators had broken free of its carriage and was dangling over a long drop to the atrium floor below. Inside were two men and between them a young boy. One of the men was bleeding from cuts, probably caused by the elevator sides when they broke.

The elevator creaked and shifted and Sofia realised it would not be long before it fell completely free to the ground. She flew into the carriage, moving carefully to avoid the jagged edges of the shattered sides. It was obvious the wounded man needed immediate medical aid as he was losing a lot of blood. His partner had done his best to staunch the wounds but time was critical.

“Wait here while I take him to the First Aid Station” she declared and knelt to scoop up the man.

“No, please take Jackie first” the bleeding man insisted. He pointed feebly at the crying child held in his father’s arms.

“It’s Okay, I’ll come back for him” Sofia assured the man and lifted him into her arms. She looked to the young boy and his parent and smiled confidently. “Just hold tight, I’ll be right back!”

With that she rose out of the carriage and accelerated away, heading to where she knew a medical post was located in the lobby of the vast atrium. As she wove through the smoke and swirling clouds of dust she spotted a few other Levitators doing rescue work as well.

The First Aid Station was swamped yet when she landed a number of people stopped and pointed to her.

“Look, it’s the Angel!” she heard a few call out. It embarrassed her to the very core and she flushed crimson, yet it meant a Paramedic rushed to her as touched down.

“Please help him!” she shouted, laying the wounded man onto a bench. “I need to go back for the others!” Then she rose into the air, hearing at least one more call of “The Angel!” before she rocketed away.

Overhead she heard a deep groaning noise, overlaid with the sound of straining cables under incredible tension. She saw the giant Maze structure shift and tilt alarmingly and knew with certainty it was going to collapse. Below it was the big artificial lake at the base of the atrium, so it should not be in danger of crushing any of the people at the floor level.

She spiralled past some of the highly tensioned cables that still supported the Maze and landed in the broken elevator carriage. The father and his son were huddled at one end, the child wearing a look of sheer terror and the parent trying to comfort him as best he could.

“I got your daddy to the aid station” she assured the boy. “Come on, it’s time to go!” She held out her hands to the child but he shrank back against his father. The elevator tilted alarmingly as they heard metal snapping somewhere outside.

“How about I take you and your daddy together?” Sofia said, trying to hide the urgency in her voice. The father met her eyes and she knew what he was about to say.

“It’s Okay, I can carry you both” she said firmly. “I’m the Angel after all!”

She grabbed the man and braced him over her right shoulder, his arms gripping her tightly around her waist. Young Jackie was hoisted onto her left shoulder, his small arms looped about her neck.

“All set?” she asked the boy, as if they were going on a fair ground ride.

“Uh-huh” he answered, his pale green eyes flicking between her and his father. The carriage gave another lurch and Sofia pushed power into her Ability, feeling the combined weight of her passengers drag for a moment against her.

Even a day ago, she knew she could have never carried this weight and still be able to fly. Today it was different. The energy flowed into her without hesitation and she flew them out of the broken carriage with ease, twisting to avoid the jagged edges as they soared clear.

With a final grinding squeal the elevator carriage fell away and tumbled to the atrium floor below. The space was already a mound of wreckage and the falling carriage hit the ground far from any people.

“We made it!” Sofia breathed in relief, a moment before the Maze above them shifted one last time and collapsed into the lake, sending showers of water in all directions. Cables snapped and lashed through the air, arcing around like deadly whips of steel.

Sofia flipped and dived past one then another, her passengers screaming in fright as the cables sliced the air close to their saviour. She almost got clear when last one cable parted from its mounting and flicked the razor sharp end through the open space.

She felt a sharp blow on her leg and cried out in surprise, managing to keep hold of her charges and descend the last dozen meters to the aid station. People were scrambling clear as she placed one foot on the ground, then as she tried to place her left foot down she stumbled and collapsed, sending her passengers tumbling across the floor.

Sofia lay on the hard floor and stared with numb horror at the stump of her left leg, missing below the knee. Blood was welling from the wound and she felt herself fading out of consciousness.

“Did I get them down safely?” she asked the Paramedic who rushed to her side. She gripped his yellow coveralls with surprising strength and he paused to grin at her.

“You brought them in safely” he assured her. “You just lie back and let us take care of you now”

“Okay” she mumbled and finally let the darkness claim her.