Radical-9

CHAPTER 31: Slaughter of the Innocent

February 25^th, 2022

5:59 am

We're running through another narrow hallway, doors line the walls, but on a second glance they seem to be just painted on the walls, almost like a mural. There is a single door at the end of the hall, it looks to be a hard metal that has a small circular window at the top. I grab for the handle and the door refuses to budge.

“Klein, can you give me a hand here?” I ask.

“Yeah, sure thing,” he says.

He grabs the handle alongside me and we begin to pull, it moves slightly but still refuses to move.

“Okay, move aside,” Lindsey says, pulling out Hauteclere.

“Listen, I don't think that will be enough...” Klein says.

“Yeah?”

She raises it up and slams it down on the door, it becoming heavier as it drops, the door bends in at the first hit. Another slam and it busts off its hinge. It flies across the room and lands against the wall.

“Hot damn,” I say.

“It seems we just needed some girl power here, right boys?” she laughs.

“It seems so,” I join in.

“Psh, I so could have done that if you gave me another second,” Klein says.

“Right.”

I walk inside of the room, it looks like the inside of a laboratory. The room dips in the middle and rises back up surrounding it, there are tables strewn about the room with all kinds of papers and glass-ware on them. As I get closer to the middle of the room everything drones into sepia and figures fade into existence around me. They're all wearing very expensive looking suits, it seems to be five guys all walking around seemingly on a set path. They walk around, soundless as they pass through us in a hurried fashion.

“Uh, let's get out of here, now. I think this room might be going wonky,” Klein says, walking briskly away. I catch his arm.

“Not yet, these...these are the people that were on the list, right? I...I can see my dad,” I say, pointing him out.

His hair is long, but even in the sepia I can see his hair is the darkest out of the five men.

“That means that these other four...Jack is one of them, right?” I ask.

“I guess so.”

“We should get going, Jen and Sam are waiting for us,” Klein says, pulling free from my grasp. My head begins to pound again and I can feel everything stop. I can see the monitors from before line my vision, everything else around me is stopped, paused. The monitors surround me until all I can see is them. I see Novus Callus, right when Jen entered Elysium.

“Am I the only one who put his actual name as his username? Jeez, people these days,” Klein laughs, smirking and putting his hands to his sides.

“I'm waiting for you to tell me your real name is Eustice or something like that,” I say.

“Or Duncan,” Athena says.

“My name isn't Eustice or Duncan, thank you, it actually is Klein.”

~...~

I’m back in the dungeon when I began my journey in Elysium, staring at Klein locked up in the cell.

“Well, it seems I am sort of trapped in here, huh. Quite the unlucky spawn, am I right?”

“…unlucky spawn…”

“…unlucky spawn…”

“I was a beta tester for the game. I filled out a bunch of surveys and applications online, but I managed to get an early build of the game about a month and a half ago to test things around.”

“That armor was in the beta?”

“It was, I got it from one of the rare enemy drops,”

“I got it from one of the rare enemy drops,”

~...~

I'm looking at Lindsey, Jen and Klein speaking back in Beth's house, this must've been when Ben took over my body.

“Is it possible that Beth is with Jack too?” Jen asks.

“I don't want to think so, I mean, how many people are with him? Is it every single beta tester?” I ask.

“Of course not. I'm not, Oaken's not, but it's looking like a vast majority of beta testers are here because of their alliance to Jack,” he says.

My head keeps pounding and it feels like it is going to explode. Klein keeps showing up and I hear him nonstop inside of my head.

~...~

“Stop!” I scream out.

“Hey, what's up?” Klein asks.

“Are you okay?” Lindsey asks.

No, I am not okay. Klein's been lying, but why? Why did he...

“Jen and Sam are waiting for us...”

“What did you do to my sister?” I call out, pointing Flintlocke up at Klein.

Klein holds up his arms in defense, “Woah there, what's up buddy?”

“Don't buddy me,” I say.

“Andy, what's going on?” Lindsey asks.

“Lindsey, you remember your initial feelings towards Klein? They were right,” I say.

“What?”

“Yo man, what is this all about? We need to get moving,” Klein says.

“I'm going to ask again, what did you do to my sister? Because I know you didn't get separated from them when this ship came around. Just like how you weren't actually a beta tester and how your real name isn't Klein,”

“And what, might I ask, makes you believe that?” Klein asks.

“I've got a feeling and I'm running with it,” I say.

“Oh, is that it? A feeling? A feeling that makes you sound totally insane? It's because you saw the computer, didn't you?”

“I don't remember mentioning a computer to you,” I say.

“What? Of course you did, you told me about the computer with the list of names in that back room,” he says.

“I think he only spoke of the list, actually,” Lindsey says.

“So, how'd you know about the computer Klein? I mean, you could've easily said that you walked by it, seeing as we found you in the room directly above it, but you instead focus in on us telling you about it.”

“Yeah, so?” Klein asks.

“Did something happen in that room?”

“What do you mean did something happen?” he asks back sarcastically.

“All but one of those computers was destroyed, broken by hand it seems. Did the rest of those computers have information on them that might help someone?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Let me pose a theory,” I begin, “You, Sam, and Jen end up on the ship. You find your way to the computer room and realize the highly sensitive information on the computer and decide to break them. But of course, you can't have anybody else who has seen the information, so you decide to take care of the two people that could have seen it,” I say.

“That's insane. You're insane,” Klein says.

“What is so important about those people, Klein?! Just give it up! The fact that Jack had another daughter, this Megan? Is that worth killing anybody over? Or-”

“You do not speak about Megan,” he says, his entire demeanor shifts.

“So, it's true?”

“You don't have any right to utter her name under any circumstances, are we clear?”

“Oh, so why would it matter to lowly beta tester Klein Guile? It should only really matter if you were, say, Jack himself, right?” I ask. “I mean, it is only plausible that those other computers had information revealing your identity, and that is why you had to destroy them. Jay sent in this information from the outside to oust you. Although, you made a mistake,” I say.

“Hm?” he asks, looking up.

“I'm not even going to begin to fathom you killing your own kids, that's all on you. Hell, that's probably how Megan died, right? By your bare hands? At least know that Jen is still alive. Her name is still alive on the computer, Jay must've custom rigged one of your stupid helmets. How does it feel to fail?”

Klein begins to laugh, no, not Klein, Jack. It turns into a sort of cackle and he shakes his head while looking at the floor.

“I've warned you once not to bring up Megan and yet you tempt me, Andrew. Okay, let me play devil's advocate and say I were Jack. What would you do about it? I believe you don’t know all of the consequences behind your actions,” he says.

“I know plenty well I’m going to kick your ass for starters,” I say.

“This isn’t the right...venue for that kind of stuff Andrew. I mean, I can understand you wanting to fight in some groggy ship shoved into my mind by that loathsome Jay, but I myself am up for some scenery,” he says in a somewhat condescending tone.

“You say that with a gun locked right on you,” I say, teeth bared.

“Go ahead, shoot. Shoot until your little trigger happy heart gives out. It isn't going to do anything, lest you forget my armor?” He says, and then reaches in and pulls out a familiar sight, a black keystone. “You see, you were never going to find the last one because I never wanted you to leave this place. The stones themselves are useless, though. Especially when I can just disable their uses at will,” he says, pulling out the keystones that Jen had been holding also. “Now they're just fragile pieces of glass,” he says, throwing them onto the ground and stomping on them. When he does, his form begins changing, he grows a little taller and his features shift fully into Jack Adata, the blonde hair, blue eyes, and the menacing grin. He fills into Klein's armor and nods his head once, “Ah, the Heart of Eris, Goddess of Deceit, how you've helped me out.”

“So, is lying your second favorite thing to do, besides killing your kids, of course?” I ask.

“Samuel was insufficient. I'm certain you know that you and your sister are special. That's what I've been working for in Samuel. It's too fucking bad he was autistic,” he says.

“What? You can't put someone down because of something they cannot control!” Lindsey says.

“Spare me the morality speech, bitch. I needed an heir, and one who isn't fucked up in the head. When he started developing I found out and threw him in here to dispose of him,” he says.

“He's a child!”

“He's a failure, garbage. Now, You, Andy on the other hand...you've come out alright with your developments,” he says.

“What do you mean, developments?”

“You're infected with a chemical compound called Radical-9, and it is what gives you your ability to see the things you see...and I guess hone in on people's habits. That is something I wasn't expecting.”

“What the hell did you need me for? Or Jen? Or any of us? We were just kids! Is that why we're on that computer?”

“That computer logged when you each had the compound injected into your body. All of you were children of us, the people who were developing it. I, of course, kept an eye on all of the male test subjects, looking for a prime host.”

“Host?”

Jack laughs, “I don't want to spoil all of the fun, now do I? You're going to have to find that out for yourself, if you live that long,” he says.

“Andy...” Lindsey asks me, her eyes trained on Jack.

“Yeah?”

“I want to kill him.”

Jack smiles at this, showing his teeth. “Aw, how cute. The bitch wants to protect her man. Pipe down, this isn't a place for you,” Jack says, waving him arm, and Lindsey bends down and screams.

“Lindsey, are you okay?” I ask.

“I...can't move...” she says under her breath. She is forced down to the ground to her knees.

“Just where she should be,” he laughs. “Now, where were we? Oh yes! Andrew, don't you think it is time we had a change of scenery?” Jack snaps his fingers and I feel an incredible weight. It is bogging me down and everything goes dark.