Repression Begins
1270 Words
The darkness was slashed by jagged shards of metal, and the hum of crumbling ventilation grilles still vibrated in the ear canals. Static lint swam through the air like a living thing, wrapping around the twelve recalibrated laser aiming points.
"Biometric lock confirmed." The Commission representative's voice broke with static, the cold light of the tablet pulsing across his expressionless face, "Execute Clearance Protocol 7."
The burning pain in Diana's retinas intensified as the spinning screws left indigo residue in her field of vision. The notebook in her pocket was incredibly hot, the leather cover was carbonizing and crumbs were rustling through her fingers.
"You guys really think..." Her voice was hoarse, each syllable crackling with static, "that these lasers could stop what's happening right now?"
Mark suddenly bent over and coughed, the spittle he spat out glowing eerily fluorescent in the darkness. He wiped his mouth and laughed, "Jesus, Diana, where the hell did you hide the terminal data? This building smells like toasted circuit boards wrapped in ozone!"
Rogers remained in front of the laser rays, the scorch marks on the shoulders of his suit smoldering, "The committee will have to reassess! The energy readings are three times over the threshold - this proves the carrier is absorbing power from the entire building!"
The moment the men in black simultaneously pulled the triggers, all the lighting systems suddenly overloaded and burst. Shards of glass from the emergency light tubes smashed down like hailstones, and there was a metallic twisting shrill in the darkness coming from all directions.
"No..." Diana suddenly fell to her knees, her hands pressed dead center to her temples, "It won't stop..."
All of her hair stood on end, miniature lightning bolts erupting from the tips. The cables in the walls twisted like living snakes, the insulation melting into sticky liquid plastic dripping to the ground. Some man in black suddenly screamed in agony - his weapon was glowing red and deforming, his fingerprints burned into the molten metal casing.
"Suspend protocol immediately!" Rogers lunged for the tablet in the representative's hand, "Look at the energy monitoring charts! She's not even an anomaly source, she's a f*****g buffer!"
On the hologram projected by the tablet, torrents of indigo energy were rushing upward from the third basement level along the load-bearing columns, creating a violent maelstrom around Diana. The representative's mechanized expression cracked for the first time, "This can't be... The main substation was cut off seventy-two hours ago."
Mark suddenly pointed to the ceiling, "And what are these?"
The depths of the ventilation ducts lit up with a pulsating blue light, like a million fireflies crashing wildly through the metal pipes. Ozone levels rose dramatically and someone began to choke and cough. Diana staggered to her feet, her pupils completely engulfed in electricity.
"You guys..." Each word carried a double sound effect, as if another voice was speaking through her, "... It is the virus that needs to be quarantined."
The floor of the entire floor suddenly tilted, the desk sliding against the wall and crashing into sparks. Rogers grabbed the representative's wrist, "Revoke the warrant immediately! She's preventing the entire building from turning into a nuclear meltdown site!"
The black-clad man's weapon overloaded and exploded one after the other, molten metal spattering and sizzling on his body armor. The rep looked down at the tablet - the bio-match rate was jumping wildly, plummeting from 98.7% to 0.03% and spiking to 999.99%.
"Committee..." The representative had just opened his mouth when he was toppled to the ground by a violent jolt. There was a toothsome cracking sound coming from the main load-bearing columns, and concrete powder drifted down like snowflakes. Diana floated half a meter above the ground, the ashes of her laptop forming a swirling halo around her.
Mark suddenly lunged for the nearest fire cabinet, smashing the glass with the melted and deformed door lock, "Everyone stand back! A vacuum ionosphere is forming around her!"
But the warning came too late. The three men in black were simultaneously thrown toward the ceiling by an invisible force, their body armor colliding with the metal ceiling in a blinding arc of electricity. Rogers dragged the rep as he crawled toward the elevator shaft, shattered glass slicing through the trouser leg of his suit.
"Listen!" The Representative suddenly grabbed Rogers by the collar, his mechanized expression utterly crumbling, "There's a loophole in Protocol 7! If the carrier can prove-"
The entire glass wall exploded with a loud bang, and gusts of wind wrapped in torrential rain poured into the room. Diana turned slowly amidst the thunder and lightning, the electricity in her hair forming a continuous chain of arcs with the lightning in the clouds. Sirens blared in the distance on Wall Street, like an elegy for an uncontrolled awakening.
"Proof?" Her voice was now a fully synthesized tone of vibrating energy, "Who do I need to prove it to?"
The tablet in the delegate's hand suddenly melted into silvery-white droplets that dripped from between her fingers and expanded into eerie circuit diagram patterns on the ground. All of the electronics let out one last wail at the same time, and then fell into dead silence. Only the electricity in Diana's eyes grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the last fixed expressions on everyone's faces.
Mark suddenly poked his head out from behind the fire hose, holding a steaming metal can in his hand, "Diana! Catch this!" The object he threw with such force traced a parabola in the air with static trails...
The raindrops evaporated into mist as they approached Diana's perimeter, and more loud clangs of metal snapping came from deep within the ventilation ducts. Some black-clad man struggled to feel for the spare weapon at his waist, only to find that the holster had fused with his uniform into an entire block of polymer.
Rogers suddenly realized that the sound of raindrops hitting the ground wasn't right - instead of splashing away as they touched the ground, the liquid coalesced like mercury into quivering globes that rolled along the cracks in the floor towards Diana's feet. The delegate stared wide-eyed at the tips of his shoes, which were beginning to vaporize, and finally let out a shriek that didn't sound human.
Diana reached out to catch the metal canister Mark had thrown at her, and the moment her fingertips made contact the canister instantly became transparent, revealing the blue crystals swirling inside. She seemed to want to say something, but all that came pouring out of the opening was a dazzling stream of plasma.
The steel bars in the walls were groaning on the verge of breaking, and the entire building looked like an easy-open can clutched by a giant invisible hand. The man in black at the far end of the building suddenly pointed out the window and let out a vague cry of alarm - all the raindrops stopped in mid-air, reflecting the growing blaze in Diana's eyes.
Mark suddenly laughed, blood seeping out of his static-pierced dental pulp, "I knew it... Shouldn't have come to work that day when it was raining..."
Diana finally gripped and shattered the fully crystallized metal canister, the blue light piercing everyone's retinas like a solid object. Moments before losing his vision completely, Rogers saw her lips quirk out the last few words-
"... All... Reassess..."
Then all sound faded away, leaving only the constant hum of the energy field tearing through the air and the crisp chorus of all the glass on Wall Street bursting at once, like a death knell for the old order.
- Writer
