Chapter 43: Cleanup Protocol

The artificial voice repeated itself as the red emergency lights spread across the laboratory.

UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED. CLEANUP PROTOCOL INITIATED.

Steel locks sealed every door around Neiry, Mia, and Kaleb. The seven empty containment platforms lowered into the floor while metal panels moved across the central terminal, slowly covering the files Kaleb had been attempting to recover. Above them, Neiry felt several groups of artificial energy signatures enter the warehouse and separated with military precision. Some remained near the loading bays. The rest moved toward the hidden elevator and western maintenance entrance.

Neiry barely paid attention to any of them. His focus remained on the two signatures moving through the lower level. Marjory's dormant mana was faint, but now that he knew what he was looking for, he could feel it beneath the interference surrounding the facility. Carol moved beside her.

Kaleb disconnected his gauntlet from the terminal before the closing panel could cut through the cable. "How did they even find this place?"

"“Probably the same way we did,” Mia said as she faced the sealed laboratory doors. "Marjory followed the energy from Subject 07. Carol must've followed Marjory."

"That is the most Carol explanation possible. She's heroic enough to want to help."

Neiry placed his palm against the wall. The darkness inside it refused to open completely. Every two seconds, a pulse passed through the underground facility and flattened the surrounding shadows against their surfaces. He could still move through them if he timed it correctly, but he couldn't reach the girls directly without knowing the layout between them.

The terminal displayed a new message beneath the corrupted Prospect records.

DATA PURGE: 02:59

Kaleb returned to the computer. "I can keep copying until that reaches zero, but somebody has to prevent that cleanup crew from entering."

Mia perked up. Steadying golden light appeared around her wrist, flickered twice, and vanished beneath a burst of pink magic. She glanced toward Neiry before forcing herself to look back at the door. "And you said how many are coming?"

"Twelve from above. Four are moving toward this level. The others are separating throughout the facility."

"And Marjory and Carol?"

Neiry could sense them going further passing through another sealed doorway. The artificial energy behind the far laboratory doors reacted immediately, sending a vibration through the floor. Whatever the company had left inside the deeper level had noticed the scanner in Marjory's backpack.

"They're walking toward the strongest energy source in the building," he said.

Kaleb looked away from the terminal. "Of course they are."

Neiry moved toward the far doors. "I'm going after them."

"Woah wait hold on." Kaleb caught his arm before he reached the wall. "You said possibly twelve people are coming down here, and now you're leaving us with the evidence they came to destroy?"

"Well I'm sorry. If I stay, Marjory and Carol die."

"I know that. I'm just saying we need a better plan than you disappearing while we hope they only brought twelve."

The first heavy impact struck the main laboratory entrance. The steel door bent inward around its center, then returned to position. Whoever stood outside was using enough force to damage an reinforced security barrier.

Mia removed the spellbook from the reinforced pouch across her back. Her hands were shaking, although she kept them close enough to the book that neither boy could easily see. "It’s okay Neiry go get them."

Neiry looked at her. "Your light is unstable."

"That's why you gave me something else."

Another impact struck the door. This time, the locking mechanism cracked.

Kaleb released Neiry's arm and drew water from the containers along his belt. "We'll keep the terminal running and find another way out. Just don't take forever to find us."

Neiry paused.

Mia opened the spellbook to the Arcane Ward. black writing appeared across the page before changing to pink. "Neiry, go. People are already coming through that door, and those two don't even know they're in danger yet."

He wanted to give them more instructions, but the facility pulse passed through the walls again. Marjory's mana faded beneath the interference for half a second.

"The cleanup weapons disrupt powered energy," Neiry said. "Don't try to overpower them. Mia, redirect the attacks. Kaleb, watch the armor instead of the people wearing it. Copied equipment always has a weakness."

Kaleb formed two water whips around his arms. "We heard you the first six hundred times you trained us."

Neiry waited for the next pulse to fade, opened a narrow passage through the shadow beneath the far door, and forced himself through before the darkness collapsed behind him.

The main entrance broke open three seconds later.

Four people entered the laboratory in dark armor shaped to resemble Iron Veil combat gear. The helmets were smooth except for narrow blue visors, and the chest plates carried no hero insignias or registration numbers. Each operative held a short rifle surrounded by metal rings that rotated around the barrel.

Mia recognized the armor immediately. From a distance, it could have belonged to Iron Veil. Up close, the shoulders were narrower, the joints were reinforced differently, and the metal possessed the dull surface of something manufactured quickly instead of fitted to a specific hero.

One operative aimed at Kaleb. "Step away from the terminal."

Kaleb continued typing with one hand. "You broke into your own secret kidnapping basement and still opened with a warning? How polite you are."

The operative fired.

Mia raised both hands. Her mana reacted before she could stop it, producing half of a golden shield between Kaleb and the weapon. The suppression round struck the incomplete construct and erased it instantly. Pain traveled through Mia's arms as the light broke apart.

She opened the spellbook wider.

Pink mana flowed across the Arcane Ward symbol. A curved barrier appeared in front of Kaleb a moment before the second shot arrived. The round struck its surface, bent sharply to the right, and buried itself inside one of the empty containment platforms. The machine collapsed as the energy inside the projectile expanded.

"That worked," Kaleb said.

"You could sound more surprised."

"I'm saving it for later."

Two operatives moved in opposite directions, forcing Mia to stretch the ward across a wider area. The barrier trembled as another suppression round slid along its surface. Instead of redirecting toward the wall, it traveled across the curve and struck the floor near Mia's foot. The impact threw her backward and nearly knocked the book from her hand.

Kaleb sent one water whip across the room; it changed direction before the water scattered and wrapped it around the operative's ankle. He pulled hard enough to break their stance, then slammed them into the side of the terminal.

The second operative fired at the water itself. Blue energy passed through Kaleb's control and turned half the whip into steam. The sudden disruption struck his mind like a burst of static, forcing him to release the remaining water.

"What they’re shooting can turn my water into steam," he said.

Mia pushed herself upright. "Can you work around it?"

"Well I don’t know what you want me to do here."

"I’m sorry it’s the pressure."

"I have an idea. Give me ten seconds and lower your expectations."

Kaleb spread the remaining water into a thin layer across the laboratory floor. The operatives fired again, but he didn't attempt to attack them. He felt each step through the water, along with the heat escaping from the power units beneath their armor. The copied suits protected their chests and limbs well, but all four released excess energy through narrow vents positioned along their lower backs.

Neiry had told him to watch the armor.

Kaleb pulled water from a broken medical line inside the wall and sent it beneath the operatives' boots. The layer rose behind them in four narrow streams and entered the exposed vents at the same time.

Every suit released a shower of sparks.

"Found it," Kaleb said.

Mia angled the Arcane Ward as the operatives' rifles discharged unintentionally. Three rounds curved away from the terminal. The fourth struck the barrier too close to its weakened edge and broke through. Kaleb turned toward it, but not quickly enough.

The round hit his left side and threw him across the central station.

"Kaleb!"

He struck the floor beside the terminal. His suit had absorbed enough of the blast to prevent it from entering his body, but blue electricity continued moving across his ribs and left arm. The water surrounding the operatives fell at once.

Mia's concentration broke with it. The Arcane Ward shattered into pink sparks.

One of the operatives recovered first and moved toward Kaleb. "Secure the viable assets. Purge everything else."

Mia looked down at the open spellbook. Neiry's old instructions remained beneath the ward symbol, along with a smaller note she hadn't noticed during training.

Do not hold the force. Decide where it should go.

The operative fired.

Mia stopped trying to rebuild her shield. She formed a much smaller ward at an angle in front of the weapon. The suppression round touched the pink surface and turned completely around, striking the operative's chest before they could move. Their copied armor shut down and dropped them heavily against the floor.

The remaining three raised their weapons together.

Mia bent the ward until it surrounded her and Kaleb in an uneven curve. Each impact traveled across its surface instead of pressing directly against her. Pink energy filled the room as the shots changed direction, hitting walls, containment platforms, and the steel door the operatives had entered through. The barrier shook hard enough to blur Mia's vision, but she kept it moving instead of forcing it to remain solid.

Kaleb pushed himself onto one knee. His left arm refused to respond properly, so he controlled the water with his right. A puddle moved beneath the disabled operative and entered the fallen rifle. When the next pulse passed through the weapon, Kaleb redirected the water into the other three suits.

Blue electricity connected all of them.

Mia released the ward and sent a wave of raw pink force through the damaged floor. The operatives lost their footing at the exact moment Kaleb pulled the water in the opposite direction. All three hit the ground before their armor failed.

For several seconds, neither Mia nor Kaleb moved.

Kaleb looked at the unconscious operatives and then at the water dripping from the ceiling. "That counted as teamwork, right?"

Mia closed the spellbook and rushed toward him. "Can you stand?"

"That sounded like a no."

"Kaleb."

"I can stand. I just won't enjoy it."

She helped him upright. The side of his Tempest suit had darkened where the suppression round struck, but the armor hadn't broken. Kaleb leaned against the terminal and checked the recovery progress.

Nineteen percent.

The timer continued beneath it.

DATA PURGE: 01:11

"We need to leave," Mia said.

"Not yet."

"You can barely move your arm."

"And I can still move the other one. Plus, I'm injured, not dead. This isn’t my dramatic moment."

Kaleb searched through the copied files while the purge erased them behind him. Most were incomplete medical reports and transfer numbers without destinations. He found the word ORCHARD again, followed by a list of fourteen subject codes. Before he could open the attached directory, another file flashed across the screen.

IRON VEIL EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT - AUTHORIZATION REDACTED

Kaleb transferred the three fragments into his gauntlet. The timer reached forty seconds.

A fifth figure appeared in the broken laboratory entrance.

This operative wore heavier armor than the others and carried a long suppression weapon across one shoulder. Their visor moved over the disabled cleanup team before settling on Mia and Kaleb.

"Recovery failed," the operative said. "Destroy the server."

The weapon began charging.

Mia opened the spellbook again, but the letters across the Arcane Ward page swam out of focus. She had released too much mana too quickly. Pink light escaped from her gloves without forming anything.

Kaleb disconnected his gauntlet and pushed her toward the far hallway. "Move."

"What about the rest of the files?"

"We have what we have."

The operative fired before Mia could argue. Kaleb pulled every drop of water in the laboratory into a wall behind them. The suppression blast passed through it, turning the center into steam, but the resistance slowed it enough for Mia to form one final spell. She angled the barrier downward.

The blast struck the floor beneath the terminal.

The entire central station lifted from its foundation before crashing onto its side. Flames spread through the computer housing, destroying the server and everything Kaleb had been unable to copy.

Mia and Kaleb escaped through the far hallway as the laboratory filled with smoke. The operative followed, forcing them deeper into the facility and away from the elevator.

For the first time since Neiry left, Kaleb looked toward the dark corridor ahead and wondered whether the choice to separate had already trapped all of them.

Marjory's scanner stopped working halfway down the western corridor.

The screen filled with three vertical lines, matching the symbol on Subject 07's medical band. Every button became unresponsive as the device connected to something deeper inside the facility.

Carol stayed close behind her. Red light had replaced the dim white strips along the ceiling, and steel doors were closing one by one through the route they had used to enter. "Tell me your machine isn't making that face because we are about to explode."

"Machines don't have faces."

"Yours does now. It looks worried."

Marjory pulled at the wires beneath the scanner's display. "Something else is controlling it."

"Can you stop it?"

"I would already be doing that if I could."

The scanner released a sharp pulse. A door at the end of the corridor unlocked with a heavy metallic sound.

Carol looked behind them. The last open exit began closing. "We can still go back."

Marjory moved toward the newly opened doorway.

Carol caught the back of her hoodie. "That was not permission to continue."

"The signal is coming from inside."

"So is every reason we should leave."

The exit behind them sealed completely. A second later, air began moving through vents along the floor, carrying a faint chemical smell into the corridor.

Marjory covered her mouth with her sleeve. "The ventilation system activated. We can't stay here."

"I hate it when your bad decisions become the only decisions."

They entered the open doorway before the gas could reach them. The door closed behind Carol and locked, trapping them inside a circular chamber that descended through several underground levels. Thick glass surrounded a machine suspended in the center. Metal rings rotated around a sphere of artificial blue energy, drawing power through hundreds of cables buried inside the walls. The three-line symbol appeared on every ring.

Marjory's scanner lifted out of her hands.

It floated toward the glass and attached itself to a control panel. Streams of information spread across the chamber screens, moving too quickly for Marjory to read completely.

RESIDUAL PROSPECT SIGNATURE DETECTED.

UNAUTHORIZED REMOVAL CONFIRMED.

RECOVERY PROCEDURE ACTIVE.

Carol read the message over her shoulder. "It thinks you're the kid."

"The scanner absorbed part of his energy during the explosion."

"And what will that do for us?"

"I'm sure the kidnapping machine will appreciate the correction."

Metal shutters began lowering over the chamber exits. Carol grabbed the scanner and pulled, but the magnetic lock kept it attached to the panel. Marjory opened the side casing and reached toward its power supply.

The artificial sphere reacted to her movement.

A narrow blue line traveled from the scanner, across the control panel, and onto Marjory's hand. Her body locked before she could pull away. Energy climbed her arm and formed three glowing lines beneath her skin.

Carol wrapped both arms around Marjory and tried to drag her backward. "Let go of it!"

"I can't move my hand."

"Then I'm pulling on your hand. You can complain afterward."

Carol braced one foot against the wall and pulled harder. The connection stretched but refused to break. Inside the glass chamber, the rotating rings accelerated until the separate symbols became a continuous circle.

SYSTEM CONTAMINATION DETECTED.

STERILIZATION REQUIRED.

The glass wall separated down its center.

Artificial energy filled the room with enough pressure to force Carol to the floor. Marjory remained upright only because the scanner held her against the panel. Cracks moved across the device as it absorbed more energy than it had been designed to contain.

Carol crawled toward a fire extinguisher mounted beside the door. She tore it free and struck the scanner's control panel. The casing dented, but the energy connection remained intact.

"Keep doing that," Marjory said through clenched teeth.

"I was planning to."

Carol raised the extinguisher again.

The wall behind her exploded inward.

Darkness crossed the chamber before the pieces of metal reached the floor. A shadow wrapped around Carol's waist and pulled her away from the open glass as Neiry stepped through the damaged wall. His Dark suit had been cut along one shoulder, and blue interference moved across the shadows surrounding his arms.

Carol stared at him. “Dark? Thank God you’re here!"

"Get behind me."

"She's stuck."

Neiry moved toward the open chamber. "Marjory, let go of the scanner."

"I can't."

Carol's expression changed when she heard him use Marjory's name, but the resonance chamber discharged before she could question him. Neiry pushed her behind a curved shadow barrier. The wave struck the darkness and stripped most of it away, throwing him against the control panel.

Marjory turned her head as far as the energy restraint allowed. "It is going to release everything stored inside that sphere."

"How long?"

"The rings complete one rotation every three seconds. The speed is increasing by approximately twelve percent each time, so maybe twenty seconds."

Carol remained behind the damaged barrier. "How did you calculate that right now?"

"This is how I avoid panicking."

Neiry attempted to open a shadow beneath Marjory, but the artificial energy flattened it against the floor. The facility's dampening pulse struck again, erasing the opening completely. He could destroy the machine, but doing so while Marjory remained connected would send the entire stored charge through her body.

The scanner cracked further. Blue energy spread from Marjory's hand to her shoulder.

Neiry crossed the room physically.

Two mechanical arms unfolded from the ceiling and fired suppression bolts at him. He avoided the first, caught the second against his forearm, and continued moving while the energy tore through the outer layer of his suit. Carol threw the fire extinguisher across the room. It struck one of the arms, changing its aim enough for the next shot to miss Neiry's head.

He reached Marjory as the final symbols aligned around the sphere.

"This is going to hurt," he said.

Marjory forced herself to look at him. "That isn't useful information."

Neiry wrapped one arm around her and closed his other hand over the wrist connected to the scanner. The resonance chamber released its stored energy.

His darkness failed immediately.

The Infinity inside him responded before the artificial power could reach Marjory's heart. Energy passed directly from Neiry's hand into hers and traveled through the three glowing lines beneath her skin. He tightened his arm around her and took the first wave of the blast across his back, refusing to let the machine pull her away.

The world changed around Marjory.

The resonance chamber disappeared beneath thousands of overlapping patterns. Every wire became a line of moving energy. Symbols floated inside the walls, connected through structures that felt almost like language. She could see where the artificial mana entered the sphere, where it became unstable, and where the cleanup system was forcing it back through the same circuit.

Neiry felt dormant mana awaken inside her.

Violet symbols circled Marjory's irises.

"The third conduit," she gasped.

"What?"

"Behind the lower ring. It is feeding the energy back into itself. Break it before the next rotation."

Neiry couldn't see what she was describing, but he trusted the certainty in her voice. He tore the scanner away from the panel, freeing Marjory's hand, then turned and sent a narrow blade of darkness through the lower section of the machine.

The attack struck metal.

"Two inches left," Marjory said.

He adjusted and struck again.

The hidden conduit split.

Energy escaped through the opening instead of returning to the central sphere. Carol ran from behind the failing barrier, grabbed Marjory beneath one arm, and pulled her away from the control panel. Neiry surrounded all three of them with what remained of his shadows as the chamber released a final blue flash.

The rotating rings stopped.

Half the lights inside the room went dark. Marjory's scanner fell from the control panel in two smoking pieces.

Carol lowered Marjory carefully against the wall. Violet symbols continued moving across Marjory's eyes and hands even though she was no longer connected to the machine.

"What did that thing do to her?" Carol asked.

Neiry knelt beside Marjory and felt the new mana forming around her heartbeat. The artificial energy had disappeared when he broke the connection. What remained belonged completely to her.

"The machine didn't do this," he said.

Marjory looked at the shadows moving around his damaged glove. Her eyes followed patterns that neither he nor Carol could see. "Your power has writing inside it."

Neiry's expression tightened. "Can you stand?"

"Probably."

Carol moved to her other side. "She means no."

"I mean probably."

"You are glowing. That’s definitely new and weird."

Together, Neiry and Carol helped Marjory upright. The resonance chamber released another warning tone as the damaged system attempted to continue its cleanup process.

Neiry looked toward the broken corridor. He could no longer sense Mia or Kaleb in the central laboratory.

"We need to move."

Mia held the Arcane Ward above herself and Kaleb as part of the ceiling collapsed into the corridor.

The spellbook remained open in one hand, but the black writing faded every time her concentration slipped. Kaleb leaned against her shoulder, using his working arm to pull water from the emergency pipes and clear debris from their path. The cleanup operative had stopped following them after the first structural collapse, which meant the company was no longer attempting to capture anyone.

It was bringing the entire facility down.

"The next hallway should connect to the western level," Kaleb said. His visor had lost most of its map, leaving only the portion recorded during their descent. "If Dark found them, he'll bring them this way."

Mia redirected a falling support beam into the wall. The ward broke immediately afterward, showering them in pink sparks. "And if he doesn't?"

"Then we’ll find them."

Kaleb tried to take another step without help. Pain crossed his face before he covered it with an annoyed breath.

Mia tightened his arm around her shoulders. "You don't have to pretend that it doesn't hurt."

"I'm not pretending. I'm choosing not to discuss it until we aren't underneath several thousand tons of illegal laboratory."

They reached the hallway as darkness moved through the opposite corridor. Neiry appeared first, supporting Marjory beneath one arm. Carol held her other side and carried the broken remains of the scanner against her chest.

Relief crossed Mia's face before she noticed the violet symbols moving beneath Marjory's skin. "What happened?"

"Not now," Neiry said. His attention moved immediately to Kaleb's damaged suit. "You were hit. How bad?"

Kaleb straightened slightly. "Don’t freak out, we handled it."

"That wasn't my question."

"Then ask again after the building stops falling."

Carol looked between Dark, Beacon, and Tempest. Even exhausted and covered in dust, she appeared more offended than frightened. "Why does it feel like you guys already know who we are? "

Mia glanced at Neiry before answering. "It’s complicated. We’ll explain outside."

Carol looked confused. "People keep saying that, and we keep getting farther from outside."

Marjory's attention shifted toward the reinforced pouch across Mia's back. The spellbook shifted inside it. A faint glow escaped through the edges before changing to the same violet color surrounding Marjory's hands.

Mia felt the book become warm against her suit. "Uh Dark."

"I noticed and it’s definitely weird but focus."

Carol looked at him. "You know her name, your friend's haunted book keeps glowing, and even she started glowing after you touched her. I would like an explanation before the next disaster."

Kaleb raised his working hand. "I vote after."

The facility interrupted them.

CLEANUP STAGE TWO INITIATED.

Neiry felt the first explosive charge activate inside the support columns. "Run."

The western corridor collapsed behind them.

Mia closed the spellbook and returned it to the pouch before helping Kaleb forward. Neiry lifted Marjory when her legs failed, while Carol stayed close enough to catch the broken scanner after it slipped from her hands. They moved toward the emergency stairwell marked on their damaged map.

The first explosion destroyed the corridor they had just left. The second traveled beneath the floor ahead of them, tearing open a line through the white panels. Water rushed upward from broken pipes and spread around their feet.

Kaleb reached toward it instinctively. The water responded more slowly with his injured arm, but he pulled it away from the collapsing section and formed a moving path beneath the group.

"Stairwell is about thirty feet ahead," he said.

Marjory opened her glowing eyes. The surrounding facility became patterns again. Most of the symbols were meaningless, but she could see energy collecting beneath the doorway ahead.

"Stop," she said.

Neiry stopped immediately. Mia and Kaleb nearly collided with him.

The stairwell exploded.

Fire and metal crossed the corridor where they would have been standing. Mia pulled the spellbook open and formed an Arcane Ward across the group. The blast moved along its curved surface and struck the ceiling instead, breaking the supports above them.

"That was the exit," Carol said.

"It was also trapped," Marjory answered weakly.

The floor shifted beneath their feet.

Neiry searched for another route through the hallways, but the dampening system released one final pulse. Each of their powers were disrupted.

The floor disappeared.

All five of them fell into the underground level below.

Kaleb released the water surrounding their feet and wrapped it around Mia, Carol, and himself. Neiry kept one arm around Marjory while throwing his free hand toward the falling debris. Launching darkness to lighten the blow, it returned between the dampening pulses and spread beneath the group in a thin, unstable layer.

Mia held the spellbook against her chest and formed the Arcane Ward below them. The barrier combined with Neiry’s darkness caught their combined weight, bent sharply, and redirected the fall toward the side of the shaft instead of stopping it. Pink energy cracked across its surface.

Carol lost her hold on Kaleb's water and began falling past Mia. She caught the edge of Mia's suit with one hand. The sudden weight pulled Mia's arm downward and nearly closed the spellbook.

"Don't let go!" Mia shouted.

"Wasn't planning on it!"

Marjory looked through the dust filling the shaft. Lines of energy surrounded every support, but only one section of the wall remained connected to an intact foundation. "Left side. There is a maintenance platform behind the wall."

Neiry followed her direction and drove his shadows into the marked section. The wall broke open, revealing a narrow metal platform inside an older level of the facility.

Kaleb forced his remaining water beneath the group. Mia curved the Arcane Ward one final time, sending all five of them through the opening instead of farther down the shaft.

They struck the platform together.

The ward shattered. Kaleb's water splashed across the walls, and Neiry's shadows disappeared as the broken section collapsed behind them. Mia landed on one shoulder but kept the spellbook protected against her chest. Carol rolled across the metal floor and stopped near the opposite wall. Neiry absorbed most of Marjory's impact before setting her down beside him.

For several seconds, the only sound came from pieces of the facility falling through the shaft outside.

Then a final explosion sealed the opening they had entered through.

Kaleb attempted to contact Iron Veil. His gauntlet produced only static. Mia's communicator did the same. The older underground level didn't appear on any of their maps, and the thick walls contained no visible doors leading upward.

Water began entering beneath a sealed panel at the far end of the room.

"The good news is I saved part of the database," Kaleb said as he leaned against the wall. "The bad news is.. Well, look around."

Mia sat beside him and checked the damaged section of his suit. "Nobody asked for the good news yet."

"I thought we needed it."

Marjory remained near Neiry. The violet symbols surrounding her hands faded slowly, but they didn't disappear. She looked at the sealed walls, the rising water, and Dark, who had known her name before she introduced herself.

“I don’t feel good.”

Carol pushed herself upright and walked directly toward Neiry.

She pointed at Marjory's glowing hands. "What did you do to her?"