Evo

Chapter Twelve: Below

Mika fell.

He expected to hit the ground.

He didn't.

Something caught him.

A strange pressure wrapped around his body and slowed his fall.

He landed on a metal platform far below the facility.

For a few seconds, he couldn't move.

Dust drifted around him.

Above him, the hole looked small.

He could hear Mara shouting his name.

"Mika!"

"I'm here!"

His voice echoed.

"Mika!" Adrian shouted.

"I'm okay!"

He looked around.

There was a tunnel ahead.

Old lights flickered along the ceiling.

The walls were covered with strange markings.

Not words.

Not numbers.

They looked almost like veins.

Mika touched one.

It moved.

He pulled his hand away.

"What the hell?"

A voice answered from the darkness.

"Don't touch them."

Mika turned.

A woman stood at the end of the tunnel.

She was wearing a white coat.

Her hair was messy.

Her face was covered with dirt.

Mika raised his hand.

"Who are you?"

She slowly stepped into the light.

"You really don't remember me."

Mika stared at her.

"No."

The woman smiled sadly.

"I was there when you were born."

Mika's heart tightened.

"Another scientist."

"Something like that."

She walked closer.

"My name is Dr. Sarah Vale."

Mika froze.

"Vale?"

She nodded.

"Your father's sister."

Mika lowered his hand slightly.

"I didn't know my father had a sister."

"Adrian wanted it that way."

"Why?"

"Because I knew too much."

Mika looked toward the tunnel.

"What is this place?"

Sarah looked around.

"The original Helix laboratory."

"I thought Helix was built thirty years ago."

"It was."

She touched the wall.

"But this place was here before that."

Mika frowned.

"Who built it?"

"We don't know."

"Then how did scientists find it?"

"Your father found it by accident."

Sarah looked at Mika.

"That was the beginning of everything."

Mika heard footsteps above.

Adrian was climbing down.

Mara followed him.

Daniel came after them.

His face was covered in dust.

Adrian saw Sarah.

His expression changed.

"You."

Sarah looked at him.

"Hello, brother."

Adrian raised his weapon.

Mika stepped between them.

"Don't."

Adrian lowered it.

"You shouldn't be here."

Sarah laughed.

"Neither should your son."

Mika looked at his father.

"You knew she was alive?"

"No."

Sarah shook her head.

"He thought I died."

"Did you?"

"No."

"Why didn't you tell him?"

Sarah looked at Adrian.

"Ask him."

Mika's patience was running out.

"Stop doing that."

Sarah looked at him.

"You want answers."

"Yes."

"Then listen."

She walked toward a large metal door.

"This place was discovered under a mountain in 1994."

Mara frowned.

"That's impossible."

Sarah looked at her.

"Why?"

"Because there was no record of it."

"Exactly."

Sarah placed her hand against the door.

It opened.

Beyond it was a huge chamber.

Mika stepped inside.

His mouth fell open.

The room was enormous.

There were machines everywhere.

Most were dead.

Some were still working.

At the center stood a giant glass cylinder.

Inside it was a dark liquid.

Something moved beneath the surface.

Mika felt his chest tighten.

The core inside him pulsed.

Sarah watched him.

"That's where it started."

Mika stared at the cylinder.

"What is it?"

Sarah's voice became quiet.

"We called it the Source."

"Is that what created the Evos?"

"Not exactly."

"What did it do?"

"It changed us."

Mika stepped closer.

"How?"

Sarah looked at Adrian.

"He'll tell you."

Mika turned.

Adrian walked toward the cylinder.

"When we found this place, the machine was already running."

"What machine?"

"That."

He pointed to the cylinder.

"We didn't know what it was doing."

"Then why did you touch it?"

"Because we were scientists."

Mika sighed.

"Of course."

Adrian almost smiled.

"We studied the liquid."

"And?"

"We discovered it could alter living cells."

Sarah continued.

"At first, we tested it on animals."

"What happened?"

"They changed."

"How?"

"Some became stronger."

"Some?"

Sarah looked away.

"Some died."

Mika stared at the cylinder.

"And humans?"

Adrian answered.

"We eventually tested it on humans."

Mika's stomach turned.

"How many?"

Sarah looked at him.

"Too many."

Mara stepped forward.

"Who approved this?"

Sarah laughed bitterly.

"Governments."

Mara said nothing.

"They wanted soldiers," Sarah continued.

"People who could survive things normal humans couldn't."

Mika looked at the machines.

"And Evos were born."

"Yes."

"Then why were they hunted?"

Adrian answered.

"Because the experiments didn't stop."

Mika looked at him.

"They kept making more."

"Yes."

"And some became dangerous."

"Very."

"Then Project Zero?"

Adrian took a breath.

"Project Zero was our attempt to create an Evo that could adapt to any ability."

Mika stared at him.

"Me."

"Yes."

Sarah stepped closer.

"But we made a mistake."

"What mistake?"

"We thought your body was adapting to the Source."

Mika frowned.

"What was it really doing?"

Sarah looked at him.

"The Source was adapting to you."

The room went quiet.

Mika's chest became cold.

"What does that mean?"

Sarah pointed toward the cylinder.

"Your core is connected to it."

Mika looked down.

"How?"

"We don't know."

Adrian shook his head.

"We thought the connection was genetic."

Sarah looked at him.

"It isn't."

Mika looked between them.

"Then what is it?"

Sarah took a breath.

"Your core isn't a piece of the Source."

She looked toward the cylinder.

"The Source is a piece of you."

Mika stopped breathing.

"What?"

Sarah nodded.

"When you were born, the Source reacted."

Mika remembered the vision.

The machines exploding.

The scientists dying.

His father holding him.

"Why?"

"We don't know."

Mika looked at Adrian.

"You said you knew."

"I thought I did."

"You're my father."

Adrian's voice cracked.

"I know."

"Then stop lying."

Adrian looked at him.

"I don't know what you are."

Mika stared at him.

The honesty hurt more than another lie.

Suddenly the chamber shook.

The liquid inside the cylinder began moving.

Sarah stepped back.

"No."

Mara raised her gun.

"What?"

Sarah stared at the cylinder.

"It's waking."

The dark liquid began rising.

A shape formed inside it.

A hand pressed against the glass.

Mika's chest burned.

He dropped to his knees.

The voice returned.

Come home.

Mika screamed.

The glass cracked.

Adrian shouted,

"Get him out!"

Mara grabbed Mika.

He couldn't move.

The pain was too strong.

The cylinder cracked again.

A second hand appeared.

Sarah backed away.

"We have to leave."

Adrian looked at her.

"How long?"

"Minutes."

"Before what?"

Sarah looked at Mika.

"Before it comes out."

The glass shattered.

Dark liquid exploded across the chamber.

Something fell onto the floor.

Mika looked up.

A man was lying there.

Naked.

Pale.

His body was covered in black veins.

He slowly lifted his head.

His eyes opened.

White.

Mika stared.

The man looked at him.

Then smiled.

"You."

Mika couldn't breathe.

The man stood.

Sarah whispered,

"That's impossible."

Adrian raised his gun.

"Who are you?"

The man looked at him.

"You should know."

He walked toward Mika.

Mara fired.

The bullets stopped.

The man didn't even look at her.

Mika stood.

His whole body was shaking.

"Who are you?"

The man smiled.

"You really don't remember."

Mika stared at his face.

Something about him felt familiar.

Not like his father.

Not like Cain.

Something deeper.

The man touched Mika's forehead.

Mika saw another vision.

A world covered in fire.

People running.

Evos fighting.

Cities burning.

Then he saw himself.

Older.

Standing above everything.

His eyes were white.

Millions of people were kneeling.

Mika pulled away.

"What was that?"

The man smiled.

"Your future."

"No."

"You will remember."

Mika shook his head.

"I don't want it."

The man's smile disappeared.

"You don't get to choose."

The chamber shook violently.

The man looked toward the ceiling.

"They're coming."

Adrian looked at Sarah.

"Who?"

Sarah's face went pale.

"The original team."

Mika frowned.

"What team?"

Sarah looked at him.

"The scientists who started Project Zero."

"But you said most of them were dead."

"They were."

She stared toward the tunnel.

"That was before tonight."

Footsteps echoed from the darkness.

Many footsteps.

Slow.

Heavy.

Then a voice spoke.

"Subject Zero."

Mika turned.

A group of people entered the chamber.

Scientists.

Men.

Women.

Some old.

Some young.

All wearing white coats.

At the front stood Elena Voss.

She was holding a gun.

Behind her stood Lyra.

And beside Lyra was Cain.

Mika stared at them.

"You all came for me."

Elena smiled.

"No."

She looked toward the pale man.

"We came for him."

The man smiled.

Mika looked at him.

"Who is he?"

Elena answered.

"The first human who ever touched the Source."

She raised her gun.

"And the man who created your father."

The pale man looked at Mika.

Then whispered,

"Son."

Mika's world stopped.