Chapter XXVIII: From Under

Chapter XXVIII: From Under

“My body isn’t responding!” was all Crnobog was thinking as his body lied over the cold ground of the subway tunnel.

Crnobog struggles to free himself from the invisible bind put upon him, but to no success. Then, when hope had vanished, the sound of footsteps echoes through the tunnel.

It was Alphonse, rushing as fast as he could towards Crnobog.

“I can’t move!” yells Crnobog to Alphonse, who is over 150 meters away.

“We only have 30 seconds!” yells back Alphonse. “My nanomachines aren’t working…” says Crnobog. “Hold on!” says the blonde-haired man as he reaches the hero.

“If in fifteen seconds I can’t move then get the hell out of here!” yells Crnobog to him, who was a few meters away. “Just shut up,” says Alphonse grabbing the hero.

“Woah!” says Crnobog. “The only way to get you out of here is to carry you,” says Alphonse. Then, to his surprise, he feels something in his fingers.

“Stay put for a second…” whispers Alphonse as he touches something over Crnobog’s body. “It’s a wire,” he says. “A wire?” questions Crnobog. “Someone put a wire all over your body and held you,” says Alphonse who draws a small knife from a pocket in his pants and begins to cut off the wire.

“But I am not feeling anything, nor I felt anything before when my movements stopped,” says Crnobog. “They are GenoBIO’s, their abilities are far beyond any normal human,” says Alphonse cutting the last of the wires, finally freeing Crnobog, who struggles to stand up.

“They used Pulse Nanos and shut my system off,” says Crnobog. “We have no time!” yells Alphonse. “Let’s go!” yells back Crnobog as he sets of running, followed by Alphonse.

Meanwhile, underwater and above the tunnel a clock was ticking…. 3…. 2…. 1….

A loud boom is then heard inside the tunnel as both Alphonse and Crnobog try to escape from the tunnel.

Above ground, a whirlpool was forming… the concrete of the tunnel had broken to pieces and water was pouring inside it. Subsequently the other bombs exploded, causing a similar effect.

Below, both heroes made haste to try and escape, but a sound was echoing behind them… it was the water.

Crnobog was behind Alphonse, his body struggling to move. “Come, run faster Dwayne!” says Alphonse as behind them a huge amount of water appears, heading towards the duo.

“My body isn’t responding quickly enough!” yells Crnobog as the water closes in to them. “If it doesn’t respond then we will live down here with the fishes!” yells back Alphonse.

The water looked like a huge wall… looming closer and closer, looking bigger every split second.

“RESPOND DAMMIT!”

“GM 00666. Nano: EC11889. BIO 002a: CODENAME CRNOBOG; SYSTEM OVERLOAD”

Crnobog lets out an extremely loud yell and from his back the two dark wings sprout. His body begins to emit lightning and his face shows agony as he forcedly transforms to a higher level.

“Crnobog: 50% MAX OUTPUT, SYSTEM OVERLOAD, NOT ENOUGH FUEL, NANOMACHINE SYSTEM DAMAGED”

With determination he lifts from the ground and sets off flying, grabbing Alphonse on his way with his left hand. The wall of water closes in as the hero flies with Alphonse away. The ceiling ahead of him begins to crack apart and drops of water begin to fall. Finally the ceiling of the tunnel collapses in its entirety. A gigantic waterfall comes pouring down, hitting Crnobog in the back as he flied, and crushing him into the floor.

“SYSTEM OVERLOADED, SHUTTING DOWN IN 10 SECONDS”… “Computer, OVERRIDE THE SHUTDOWN COMMAND IMMEDIATELY!”... “STOPPING THE SHUT DOWN COULD DESTROY THE INTERNAL SYSTEM”… “OVERRIDE IT IMMEDIATELY!”… “SHUTDOWN COMMAND OVERRIDEN”

Underwater Crnobog’s body activates again, while protecting Alphonse with the left wing.

There, in the darkened water nothing could be seen. Alphonse was already running out of breath, and while the impact of the water had been lessened because of Crnobog’s left wing, it had still weakened him. Then, in the muddy and darkened waters he witnesses two red eyes glowing furiously… they were all that could be distinguished in that darkened hell. Quickly afterwards he feels his body moving inside that dark place underwater.

Crnobog was using his wings to rapidly move underwater, but the pressure was growing every second on both heroes.

Outside of the Whitehall Station people were congregating. Already the water could be seen flowing inside the station, yet neither Crnobog nor Alphonse had yet appeared.

“He’s been gone too long!” says the short-sized woman that Crnobog met earlier. “That blonde dude was so stubborn, we could have gone and helped him,” says the tall and bulky man, dressed with military clothes and with a spiked blonde hair style. The very fat man then continues the pessimistic atmosphere: “If we lose that guy then we are going to have a problem…”

“Shana, Guile, Angel… stop already,” says Professor Ulysses as he stares at the flooding station underground, “civilians wouldn’t be too interested in our private matters,”.

“Sorry Prof” replies the short girl, called Shana.

“Excuse me!” was then heard. From the multitude reuniting around a safe perimeter set by the police a female reporter appears with a camera man behind here.

”Turn it on,” says the long haired woman with brown hair and black eyes, with her lips painted in sharp red. She’s wearing a short shirt, though professional looking. She’s also wearing a gray blazer over her black shirt.

The cameraman turns on the camera and she begins to speak.

“Hello, this is Laura Schieffman reporting live from Whitehall Station. We have received reports that the ‘Demon Hero’ went down this station to rescue some stranded people, but the bombs set over the tunnel exploded and he has not appeared since. When we receive further reports we will inform you all, now please continue with us as we follow this special coverage of CNN News where we have ten different reporters situated in ten different stations reporting Live”

Quickly she turns off the microphone and looks towards the station. “You think he’ll get out?” asks the cameraman, an Italian-looking guy.

“I hope he does,” she replies.

Professor Ulysses kept looking, not losing sights for a second.

“Crnobog… Dwayne Erickson, please get out of there. The people of this city need you!” thinks the Professor.

“He’ll get out… he has the look of a true warrior,” says the hair-spiked man, called Guile.

Suddenly….

From within the underground station Crnobog appears flying upwards like a bullet, while holding Alphonse with his left hand.

“I did it…” was all he said as he closed his eyes and began to fall from over one hundred and fifty meters.

“GRAB HIM!” yells Ulysses.

Guile and Shana, in front of the multitude, make a huge jump. Guile proceeds to grab Crnobog, and Shana grabs an also unconscious Alphonse.

Everybody was just frozen… staring at what just had happened. Even the small news crew composed of Laura and her cameraman were doing nothing.

“He got out…” says Maxwell, who had suddenly appeared just then. “Maxwell…” whispers Ulysses, “what about the other guy?”. “He escaped before I could defeat him…” replies Maxwell, staring at the duo of heroes.

“We have called for an ambulance!” yells a Police officer from far away.

“No good… we need to get out of here before this gets more crowded,” says Maxwell, who afterwards stares at Laura Schieffman.

“This is Laura Schieffman again from Whitehall Station. This is just in! The ‘Demon Hero’ has escaped the flooded station along a companion of his, yet he’s unconscious. We are also receiving reports from other stations that most people was evacuated on time and that now government authorities will proceed to tally a body count,” reports the young and beautiful reporter of CNN.

A few seconds fly by, and the first one to open his eyes is Alphonse. His sight changes direction every split second, trying to come back to his senses. Then, from his left, appears Maxwell, who helps the weakened man stand up.

“You are soaked wet,” he says. “Obviously…” were Alphonse’s first words.

A policeman is then seen grabbing a speakerphone and yelling at the air: “This is restricted air zone! Please, withdraw immediately!”. Up there was a CNN chopper that was slowly landing.

“This better get me an exclusive,” says Laura Schieffman to Professor Ulysses, “It will,” the man replies, who quickly walks towards Crnobog’s still unconscious body.

“Are you sure about this Professor?” asks Maxwell. “It’s the only way to get him out of here without compromising his identity,” replies the Professor.

Guile and Alphonse grab Crnobog, one grabbing his legs and the other the head, and walk towards the CNN chopper.

“We repeat, this is restricted air zone!” yells the policeman.

From the chopper a man throws a ledge towards the ground.

“I’ll get him up there,” says Shana who touches Crnobog’s body. Surprisingly she disappears along Crnobog’s body, leaving no trace. Even more surprising was the fact that she appears inside the chopper.

“Spatial teleportation,” says Alphonse.

The crowd was entirely shocked. No one murmured a single word.

“That was a bit show off…” says Maxwell.

“I thank you a lot Ms. Laura, and I assure you I will contact you promptly,” says Ulysses. “Actually, I am going with you guys,” replies the young reporter

“Let’s get out of here immediately,” says Guile. “Agreed,” says Angel. That same word is repeated by Alphonse. The chopper quickly lifts off, with Crnobog, Shana, Ulysses and Laura inside it.

Not far away… over a building’s roof, one man is standing. It was General Mack Mach… from the Iusta Vindicta.

“Nice…” he whispers as he finally turns around and behind him the chopper appears, his clothes swaying with the strong wind.