Radical-9

Intermission XII:

MARCH 25^Th, 2013

10:10 AM

I see myself. I mean, how else can I describe it? I must be like, five or six, but there I am, right in front of myself. I'm back inside the Republic Plaza, it is another one of these dreams. I'm standing inside the Research and Development Laboratory, where I currently sit back in the real world. I'm wearing a small little dress with sunflowers decorated all across it, my hair is pinned up, but I can just feel it in my gut that it is me, like looking at a picture of yourself when you're younger.

Beside me is a younger Jay. He looks younger than I'd last seen him, his hair is darker, and he's wearing a different suit. On the other side of the room there is a second man, he is a little bit older, he looks a little bit like how Andy described Jack. Blond, short cut hair and rough features.

“Jack, you have to tell me you see at least the smallest thing wrong with this whole thing,” Jay says, walking around in front of him.

Jack shrugs him off, giving a blank stare, “What? Is any of this a problem for you, Jay?” Jack asks. His voice isn't how I pictured it at all, it's almost gentle.

“I have a problem with kids being tested on, yes,” Jay says.

“Does this mean that you are going to back out?”

“I'm still here.”

“That isn't what I asked you, Jay. You need to grow a backbone one of these days, don't end up like the spineless twits that went rogue.”

“Maybe you could think why Mason and Greg left? Did you think of that?” Jay loses his cool for a bit, I can see myself in the back watching it all unfold, but strangely unemotional to the situation.

Jack's blank face fades into a gaunt drill-like stare. He steps up to Jay and I swear if looks could kill I don't believe anyone in the Northern Hemisphere would be living now. “I don't need to think twice about a couple of cowardly bastards. You should take care not to either, because I'm not liking your tone of voice. Do remember I know where your son is and can reach him and break his little neck before you could even blink.” He looks over to me, the five year old me, and gives a nasty grin. “She's lucky I need her or else I'd make an example right now,” he says.

“That is your daughter,” he says, aghast.

“And I need her. Your son, on the other hand was removed from the premises before I gave you permission, but I let it slide. Do you want to know why?”

“Why?”

“Because I am anything if not generous, Jay. I know he's with some foster parents in New York, but I don't need to act on that information now because I don't need your son. Don't make me need your son,” he whispers, his voice turns low. The door behind him slides open and another man walks through. He's got long dark hair that shines in the lights above. He walks past Jay and right to Jack. It scares me how much he looks like Andy, give or take twenty years.

“Sir, the test you requested on Samuel is complete,” he says, his voice the deepest out of the three of them.

“And the Radical-9?”

“It's currently merging with his system, we should have results soon,” he says.

“That's great David. Now, I must make my leave, I've a meeting with Benjamin Gupta about Project Elysium,” Jack says, nodding his head and walking past them both, grabbing a dark coat off of one of the nearby tables and throwing it on. “David, I want you to resume testing on Jennifer. Jay, don't get in the way.”

“Jack, she's already got it in her system, any more and-”

“Don't get in the way,” he repeats, and with a crack he vanishes out of sight, it leaves a trail of light behind him, blinding me momentarily.

My mind flashes back to Radical-9...it sounds so familiar. I remember! It was Jay, he had that vial of green liquid that super-powered The Rabbit! But what does it mean if it is in Sam...and me?

“Sam, are you saying you can see things? Special things?” Klein asks, almost sarcastically.

“I see things, don't you?” He asks, looking directly at me.

“I...I do, but I see things that have already happened. Sam, I think you might be seeing things that have yet to happen,” Andy says.

“Like seeing the future?” I asks.

Is this why I can see these things? This...Radical-9 inside my body? Is that why Sam can see the future? It certainly would explain why he knew where to go in the maze. That must mean that Andy must have this Radical-9 in his body too, his dad is here and all. And does this mean that Jack is my father? It has to, right?

“Dave, you have to know that that girl cannot go through more testing,” Jay says, looking from him to me and then back to him.

“I was told to do a job, Jay. And unlike you I plan on doing that job.”

“Dave-”

“Jay, I had hoped you would have moved passed this nonsense when Greg and Mason foolishly left,” he says.

“Greg and Mason saw reason and logic!” Jay calls.

“You're sounding just like them,” he says, disgust plain on his face.

“You're sounding just like him,” Jay says.

“I'm sorry Jay, but I have to take you off the project. You have too much personal opinion in this. I'm reassigning you to Dreamscape,” David says.

“You don't have the authority to reassign me,” Jay says, standing up full.

“I'm afraid I do. Boss man left me in charge, after all,” David says, shaking his head with the slightest grin.

I don't like that grin.

David nods and grabs me by the arm, dragging my five year old self out of the room. Jay hesitates as he hears the door close behind him, and then the turn of a lock. I can see the door is electronic, there doesn't seem to be a way out from the inside. Jay pulls a phone out of his pocket and powers it on. I walk over behind him and see him send a single text out, “Do it.”

There is a loud explosion as the door opposite of the locked one flies off of its hinge and onto the floor, it is in the same spot as when I'd come to find it years later. The smoke clears and my ears stop ringing, I can see a figure in the doorway, a tall and lanky man with bright blue eyes walks through. He's very skinny and looks very sharp with very short brown hair. I recognize him as the man from my previous vision, the man in the car. He walks in and regards Jay with a curt head nod.

“Quite the entrance, huh Greg?” Jay asks.

“I don't believe this is the time, correct?”

“Right, David's heading to the Experiment Lab.”

“Gotcha.”

The two begin running out of the busted wall, turning the corner and running down the hallway until they find the stairwell. I'm following close behind. I seem to be invisible to this world, of course, how could I expect to be noticed in a memory?

“He didn't want to comply, did he?” Greg asks.

“No, it's like he's a totally different person,” Jay says.

“I'd like to say the Dave we knew is dead.”

They run up the stairs as another explosion rings out, the lights cuts out above them.

“Is that you?” Jay asks.

“Yeah, I brought three packs with me, one to cut the power, one to bust you out, and one for emergencies,” Greg says.

“And where's Mason?”

“Back in New York, he's helping Lorraine prepare a rendezvous. We're getting those kids out pronto,” he says.

They throw open the door to the next floor and begin running through the dark, small fires illuminate their path. A part of the ceiling falls and extinguishes a patch of flames to their right, lessening their light just a little bit. They find a body running just a head of them, and even I can see a smaller one running right next to him. David running alongside my younger self, and in his other arm I can see a small infant cradled, Sam.

This means that the baby I saw in my last vision wasn't actually me, but instead Sam.

I hear a clicking and I see Jay and Greg stop running. David's let go of my hand and has a pistol pointed at them both.

“Now now, you're going to stop chasing me now, unless you want to die of course,” he says, sweat paints his forehead.

“Dave, put the gun away, you don't want to do that,” Jay says.

“And what is he doing here? You're supposed to be running with your tail between your legs,” Dave says, pointing the gun towards Greg.

“Dave, I'm here because we're friends. You, Jay, and Me. All three of us. How can years of friendship dissolve so quickly?”

“You know exactly what dissolved it! Don't even lie!” He shouts, and the nearby fire goes out, leaving us with pitch black. I hear a shout and the gun goes off.

“Greg?! Are you okay? Dave?!” Jay calls out.

“I'm here,” Greg says. “I've got the baby.”

“Sam,” Jay says.

“Right. Jennifer, are you still here?” Greg asks.

“Y-Yes,” I hear myself say and then begin to whimper.

“Greg, what happened?”

“I ran up to him to punch him while his guard was down, but he was already bent over, all I did was sort of smash his nose. He fell, I think he's just unconscious,” Greg says.

“I hit him,” I say.

“What?” Jay asks.

“He was yelling and I didn't like it, so I hit him in the privates,” I say.

“Well, that explains one thing,”

“Come on, we need to get moving,” Greg says.

“You go with them. I'm going to drag his ass out of here. I'm not letting him stay in here, because I'm taking this place down,” Jay says.

“How do you expect to do that?”

“You have one more explosive, do you not? I'm going to set that up where it's weakest here and hightail it out of here with him. You need to get those two out of here, stat.”

“I only brought the one car, how are you going to get out?”

“I'm going to figure it out, but even with him knocked out I don't trust him with the kids, especially being in the same car.”

“Right...”

“Okay? I'll find a way to meet up with you. And who knows, maybe with some distance from Jack maybe he'll come to his senses,” Jay says.

“I think you're putting too much hope into this...”

“Forgive me, but I don't want to lose one of my best friends,” Jay says.

“Okay, okay. I don't either. Just be careful, okay?”

“You too.”

They're getting ready to leave, I'm going to follow Greg. I need to see where this leads. I follow him down the hallway, as we get closer to the stair well we approach some of the pits of fire from before which have grown, the place grows hotter than it had before. I see Greg running with me at his side and Sam in his arm.

We need to escape this building.