Code 16: QUARRENTINE
Aelita barred herself up in one of the empty rooms when she was told that Zaber had left. Hopper and Jeremy stood on the other side of the door, trying to reason with her.
"Aelita, dear... listen... I..." Hopper began.
"You're supposed to be our father! You should have stopped him, not helped him!" Aelita yelled through the door.
"Look..." Jeremy started. "I'm sure he'll be back once he's blown off some steam... just give him some time..." Aelita was silent. Hopper and Jeremy glanced at each other, and then walked away. The others came occasionally to try and talk to her, but she always blocked them out.
Xana sat at his desk, typing on his laptop keyboard. He had heard everything that had transpired by tapping into Zaber's phone. But now that it was destroyed, he had lost his method of carrying out surveillance of them. He pushed the computer aside for a moment, and reached for his chessboard.
"Stage 3 did not go quite as planned..." He said as he reached for the white king, but then reached next to it and removed the white knight he had moved before from the game board. "But I've slain an equally important piece. Dead or alive... without his powers, Zaber is no longer a factor in this game." He dropped the white knight on it's side next to the black knight. He then stared at the board quizzically. "I must change my plan... but now I only need three more moves instead of four." Xana reached not for the king, but for the bishop.
Aelita lay in the bed of the room in which she had still locked herself, her wings spread-eagle beneath her. She held out her scanner in front of her, mindlessly fidgeting with it as she was deep in thought. She still couldn't grasp why Zaber had left. She knew that she shouldn't be angry with her father, but she still was. She had only known about her brother's existence for a few months. Zaber had known about her for a decade... but couldn't see her right in front of him. All thanks to the convincing illusion that their father had created. While trying to think from Zaber's perspective, she suddenly realized a great deal of parallels. They had both been living lies. During her period of amnesia, she had believed she was a non-living AI. Zaber had lived most of his life devoted to avenging someone who wasn't actually dead. She remembered how she had felt when the lie finally fell apart... and she had wanted to just run away too. The difference was... Zaber had actually done it.
Xana flipped on the television feed through his laptop. He needed one last push. One last event to push the world into a tailspin of a panic. Something huge. Something theatrical. He flipped through the news channels, most of which were covering the third devil blast. Only one station happened to be in the middle of a different story. A shuttle from Cape Canaveral was in flight to the international space station, for a change of shift. They would arrive in roughly five hours, at which point the shuttle crew and the station crew would change places. "Perfect..." Xana grinned. He keyed a short sequence on the keyboard, and a tower activated. He closed his eyes, holding his fingers to his temples, concentrating.
Several dozen NASA engineers sat with their feet propped up in mission control. They had nothing to do until it was time for the shuttle to dock with the station. Via the constant feed, they conversed with each other and those currently on the station. Everything was, for the most part, routine. It was then, that a scream erupted from the space station end of the feed. All the scientists startled, and a few of them fell over in their chairs.
"Station 1, what's going on?!?!" One of the scientists shouted into the microphone.
"What the hell is that!?!?" One of the crew members aboard the station shouted to another, too panicked to respond to the feed.
"Station 1, say something!?!?" The scientist shouted into the microphone and three more voices screamed from the station line.
"Control! There's something here! It's a... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The crew man cut off with a scream of anguish.
"Station 1, come in! Come in!" The scientists all began to futilely shout into the microphone and a dozen more voices began to scream in pain. After about a minute, everything was silent. The scientists glanced at each other in shock. "Notify the president. We have a problem." One of them said, as the other nodded grimly and dashed from the room. The scientist turned back to the microphone as he flipped a switch. "Shuttle... this is Houston. We have a problem."
A civilian illegally observing and recording the uplink immediately called the media. All the stations were covering the story non-stop as government officials futilely denied that anything had happened. Xana's face untensed, and the tower deactivated. He opened his eyes, and saw the news coverage. He grinned, and prepared to admire his handiwork.
Hopper sat in the den of Amalia's house, working on a program on Jeremy's laptop. He had not spoken a word since Aelita had locked herself up. Jeremy paced nervously, occasionally sneaking a glance over Hopper's shoulder to see what he was working on. But the program was too complicated for him to interpret without an extended amount of time. Every time he asked Hopper a question he got the same response. Silence. Jeremy finally sat down and tried futilely to get some sleep. He finally drifted off... only to be smacked in the face with yet another vision.
Zaber continued to ride through the city on his motorcycle after emptying the last bit of cash in his wallet on gas. He muttered to himself within his helmet. "I need some time to think... and I know exactly where to do it." He weaved through the city streets for several more minutes before parking and locked the wheels of the cycle in front of a large, boarded up building. He carried the helmet under his arm. He walked up, and then kicked down the front door with ease. It fells off it's hinges with a loud, echoing thud. He walked through the dusty rooms. Most of the furniture was broken, and dust blanketed everything. "The orphanage... never thought I'd come back here..." He muttered as he headed for one of the back rooms. He reached a back room, and ripped the top layer of sheets off of one of the few intact beds, in the corner. With the dust removed, he plopped heavily onto the bed and closed his eyes, and began to reminisce.
Zaber's inner monologue began to narrate. "After Mom died... this is where they sent me. This place was almost new then... and it was crowded." In his flashback, the young Zaber lay in the same bed he was in now, still sobbing gently as he tried to sleep. Every other bed in the room was occupied. "The lifestyle was still substandard, but it was tolerable. The adults met all our physical needs, but no attempt was made to help us cope emotionally. It took me almost a week to finally get a hold of myself... and after that I tried to help others do the same. Of course... at the time, there was still some shred of good in me." In the flashback, a little girl was brought into the room, and tucked in by one of the caregivers in the bed next to Zaber. She was still sobbing a great deal, but the adult just walked away. As soon as he was gone, Zaber pulled off his sheets and walked over and sat down next to the girl, trying to calm her. The girl was the same age as him, and had hair that was some shade between pink and red. She was wearing a red outfit, and her eyes were practically bloodshot from all the tears. "I remember... that one cried for almost three days." In the flashback, Zaber reached behind his neck and undid the clasp of one of two chains around his neck. He pressed it into the girls palm and whispered something to her. She stopped crying, as she reached for the chain. Zaber nodded to her, and she put the chain around her neck. It was gold chain, with a pendant of a silver bird. Zaber opened his eyes and the flashback ended. "I never should have just given that away." Zaber said aloud to himself. "That was mom's." He gritted his teeth. He had changed so much since then... but with everything that had happened, he knew there was no way for him to go back. He picked himself up off the bed and made his way back out the front of the building. He closed his eyes as he walked over to his bike, humming a familiar tune in his mind. He reached to put his helmet on.
"I SAID BACK OFF!" Zaber heard a female voice yell. He turned around and saw a girl of his own age clutching a shopping bag being pursued by an older teenager.
"Come on baby..." The older boy called out to her.
"Leave me along you creep!" The girl said as she hustled past Zaber. The boy was continuing to pursue her threateningly. Zaber sighed, set his helmet down on the seat, and stepped between them. The girl stopped and whipped around when she realized her pursuer had been blocked. The boy stopped in front of Zaber and looked at him menacingly.
"What the hell do you want, flame head?" He said.
"She told you to leave her alone." Zaber said quietly.
"This don't concern you, goodie-goodie." The boy said as he pushed past Zaber. Zaber whipped around quickly and grabbed him by the back of the shirt.
"Wanna bet?" Zaber said threateningly. A brief scuffle in sued, and Zaber ultimately pushed him back, away from the girl.
"Alright freak, get out of the way!" The boy said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Zaber from roughly four feet away. Zaber glanced at the gun for a few seconds, then confidently stepped forward and placed his hand over the barrel.
"What the @#$% are you doing?!?!" The boy said with surprise. Zaber closed his eyes and placed his other hand on his forehead as he chuckled.
"Look..." Zaber started. "I know a thing or two about guns." Zaber wrapped his hand around the barrel. "And I could tell from a hundred feet away... this thing..." Zaber tightened his grip on the barrel and jerked his arm right and down. The barrel snapped off, the surface where it had been attached to the gun cracked. "Is plastic." Zaber landed a swift kick into his chest. "Now shove off." The boy recoiled off the ground in shock. He turned and ran.
"You're going to regret this!!!" He shouted as he ran.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure." Zaber said cockily as he turned around. The girl was still there. Zaber sighed, and then began to walk back to his bike. He reached for his helmet.
"Wait!" The girl said, and Zaber froze for a moment, his hand on the top of his helmet. "Why? Why'd you help me?" She asked him as she stepped towards him. She had reddish hair, and was wearing a formal school uniform.
"Well... you looked like you needed help." Zaber said as he shrugged. "Who was that guy anyway?"
"I don't know." She said as she set the bag down at her feet and looked down, as if depressed. "I was just running an errand and he started hitting on me. He was being really aggressive... and he started following me... I was really afraid. Thank you." She looked up. "My name is Taelia." Zaber stood with hand on the bike anxiously. He was eager to leave, but he knew it would be exceedingly rude.
"I'm Zaber." He said as he shook her hand. "Well... I'd better get going." He said as he tried to climb onto his bike.
"Wait a second." Taelia said as he grabbed his hand. "Do I know you from somewhere?" She said. A realization suddenly struck Zaber. He recognized her from some of his classes, but only towards the beginning of the year. She had transferred to another school after the first semester. Zaber sighed in relief when he remembered this fact, she would not know who the students that disappeared after the first Devil Blast were.
"Uh... you were a student at Catic Academy during the first semester, right?" Zaber said, trying to sound awkward.
"Yes. I remember now! You were in the same math class as me!" Taelia exclaimed as she clapped her hands. "But... what are you doing here? Isn't it right in the middle of the second semester now?"
"Uh... my parents... uh... pulled me out. They got freaked out by the blasts that have been going off." Zaber tried to sound convincing.
"I can definitely understand that." Taelia said as she leaned up against Zaber's bike. "Are you doing anything else tonight?"
"Uh... not really..." Zaber said as he scratched his head and tried to invent an excuse.
"Do you think... you could just hang out with me for a little while? You know... just in case that thug comes back?" She gawked at him slightly. Zaber sighed in his mind, but tried to keep his facial expression neutral. She had a good point... the thug would probably come after her again as soon as he left. She could be in danger. And, he didn't really have any other pressing business to attend to...
"I suppose..." Zaber said as he relocked the wheels and strapped the helmet back to the seat. The two walked off towards a better part of town, carrying out a strained, awkward conversation.
Jeremy's vision was straight-forward once again. Much like the vision of the plane, Jeremy was like a ghost, viewing the events through his own eyes while unable to interact with the dream. He sat in an empty seat. Lit up panels covered in unmarked buttons and switches covered every square-inch of space. He looked ahead and saw a starry sky. He realized he was in space. He turned to his right and saw a very grim pilot steering the ship. The space station came into view to their right.
"Target acquired." The pilot said through a relay. Jeremy felt a strange force as the space around him warped. Some time must have passed, as he was in the airlock area of the shuttle, with a dozen other astronauts who were equipped in full space gear. But there was one fairly non-standard thing... they were all carrying what seemed to be clearly top-secret weaponry. They all looked forward grimly. A voice came through a speaker.
"Be careful everyone... it could be anything in there. Godspeed." Rang the pilots voice. The door in front of them opened and they all rushed forward, brandishing their guns. Jeremy felt unaffected by the physics of space, as he stepped forward normally, breathed normally, and felt no difference from Earth, clearly an effect of the vision. One final door separated them from the interior of the station. Jeremy walked forwards and stood behind them, as the leader entered a code onto a keypad, and then mouthed, "3... 2... 1..." to his crew. On 1, the door opened and all of them rushed forward, drawing laser beads across the room. Jeremy and all of the astronauts gasped in shock at what they say. Blood floated around the room in droplets in the zero gravity. Bloody, mangled corpses too graphic to describe were littered about the room. Jeremy felt very, very sick. He looked ahead and saw at the same time as the others, the most horrifying part of the scene. Written in blood on the wall.
"The Xenocide is coming. Tremble, humans." It was signed with a Xana mark. Jeremy felt himself scream.
And thus Jeremy awoke, with a scream in the real world. He looked outside, and it was almost pitch dark. He checked the clock and saw it displayed 10:00 PM. Hopper stopped typing and twisted in his chair towards him.
"Was it... another vision?" He asked quickly and quietly.
"Yes..." Jeremy said as he clutched his throbbing forehead, but didn't elaborate. "Xana's struck again." He left it at that. Rather than try to question him further, Hopper simply turned on the television. Every channel had been pre-empted by emergency news coverage. The headline at the bottom of the screen read "Astronauts Found Killed Aboard Space Station". The video feed displayed a US government official standing at a podium, fending off frantic questions and accusations by the press. No one... no thing... had entered or left the station. And yet somehow they were killed... and a message was written in blood on the wall.
The xenocide is coming. Tremble, humans.
Hopper made no seeming reaction. He leaned back in his chair and adjusted his glasses.
"Oh dear...now it's getting serious." He muttered. Jeremy stared at him awkwardly.
"You thought it wasn't serious before?" Jeremy asked quickly.
"Compared to now... it wasn't." Hopper said grimly. "Do you know what Xenocide means?"
"Well... no... I know it's what the X in Xana stands for." Jeremy responded.
"Genocide is when one race tries to wipe another out. Xenocide is the obliteration of an entire species by another. Xana interprets itself as a species... and he intends to carry out Xenocide against humans." Hopper completed a last few keystrokes. "My program is done. With it, we may be able to isolate Xana... it won't destroy him, but... we may slow him down."
"That's great!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Let's use it now."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. I will need both yours and Aelita's help."
Ten minutes later, Jeremy had coaxed Aelita out and the three of them sat in a circle. Hopper was using the PC of the house, Jeremy his own laptop, and Aelita using Hopper's laptop.
"Once I get a lock on Xana's current location, we need to calculate quickly where to drop the barrier. Xana is always of the move though, so we need to try and predict where he'll move to. Speed is also of the utmost importance. Once the first firewall is dropped, Xana will bolt, but we need to drop the other two walls almost simultaneously." Hopper explained his plan. "Do you both understand what to do?" Jeremy and Aelita both nodded. "Activating trace program..." Hopper said as he pressed a key. A black "map" appeared, in it's center was a white Xana mark. Three red cursors were also scattered about the map. Also, after an instant, the Xana mark began to move. The three of them used the arrow keys to try to move their cursors, trying to corner the mark, but had a difficult time keeping up with much faster icon. A bead of sweat ran down Hopper's head as he concentrated, his was the only cursor ahead of the mark, Jeremy's and Aelita's were behind him. "Now!" He ordered as he pressed his button. Aelita pressed a button on her keyboard, and a red line appeared instantaneously between the two cursors, which the Xana mark collided with and halted. Jeremy pressed his own key, and his cursor interlinked with Aelita's and Hoppers by two more red lines, drawing a triangle around the mark. Hopper took a deep breath. "We've achieved a temporary quarantine. It won't last long... maybe a day... but Xana won't be able to pull anything else for now."
Zaber groaned in his mind. How had he gotten into this? Somehow or another, protecting Taelia had turned into a date. It was almost 10:30, but the better part of town they had reached was still bustling with nightlife. The two sat at a small street cafe, making light conversation. Zaber was constantly side-stepping questions, trying not to get her implicated with his situation.
"So... what were you doing around here anyways?" She asked him. "Do your parents live around here?"
"They're my adoptive parents... and... uh..." Zaber tried to answer as he struggled to invent a convincing lie.
"Did you run away or something?" She asked, half-joking.
"Yeah." Zaber jumped on the idea. "Don't tell anyone, OK?"
"Don't worry... you helped me, I'll help you." She said as he took a sip from her cup. Zaber sighed in relief. He had almost been found out. "But... why'd you run away?"
"Well... I have some issues with my father..." Zaber said, which was true. He failed to specify that he was referring to his biological father.
"I can understand that... I'm adopted too... my "parents" don't really care about me. Every two or three years they send me to a different boarding school. And on the rare occasion I'm home, they're always fighting." Taelia said with a sigh. The two were silent for short time. "It just still blows my mind..." She said, changing the subject, "...that I was going to the school that was just ten blocks away from the first blast. You were there when the blast went off right? Was it scary?" Zaber hesitated to answer, not sure he liked where this conversation was heading. He had caused that blast.
"Well... I was in my room studying when it went off. I whipped around just in time to see the pillar disappear." He lied.
"I thought I remembered hearing on the news that some students disappeared afterwards..." She said as she cupped her chin with her hand. This was too close to comfort for Zaber.
"Look... I kinda do need to go somewhere, so if I can just take you safely home now..." He said awkwardly.
"Oh...OK." Taelia said somewhat disappointedly. They headed back in the direction of the orphanage where Zaber grabbed his bike, which he wheeled alongside them. At nearly 11:15, they approached a small house. "So... if you've run away... where do you stay at night?"
"Well... this is my first night... so I'm still working that out." Zaber said truthfully.
"My parents are out of town this week... you can stay in one of our spare rooms."
"I appreciate the offer, but I really have to go."
"Where?"
"I... I don't know! Just lay off it!" Zaber said in frustration. Taelia sighed and looked down. Zaber saw he had upset her, but couldn't decide what to do next.
"Well Well... trouble in paradise?" A voice said. Zaber turned around, trying to find the sounds source. It was the boy who had been after Taelia before. Taelia snapped out of it and backed behind Zaber when she saw this.
"I thought I told you to shove off."
"You did." He said smugly. "But you never said I couldn't come back." He snapped his fingers. "With friends." Four more individuals stepped out of nearby alleyways and spaces between houses. Zaber quickly drew into a defensive stance. None of them were carrying firearms, but they had an array of physical weapons distributed amongst them. Brass knuckles, a baseball bat, a golf club, and a lead pipe. Taelia cowered behind him as Zaber stood next to his motorcycle.
"Look... we don't want any trouble..." Zaber said, trying to talk their way out of it, but he'd seen this type before at his old schools, and talking never did work.
"You shoulda stayed outta it, goodie-goodie. Now you're gonna pay." He said as the five of them encircled them. Zaber shot a quick glance to Taelia over his shoulder.
"Just stay down... I think I can take them. Run when you get the chance." Zaber said quickly. Taelia did as he said and crouched down, hands over her head. One of them charged Zaber, swinging a golf club wildly. Zaber ducked the horizontal swipe, and reached back, grabbing the helmet from the seat of his bike. He swung his arm forward in a wide arc, the helmet smashing into his head like any other large bludgeoning weapon. He collapsed to the ground, but before Zaber could even finish his swing and get his footing again, he struck from behind with a baseball bat and knocked to the ground. Before he could get up he was pounded on the back by another one with a lead pipe. The four still standing began to strike him repeatedly, while he was unable to get up. Taelia stood behind them all, forgotten for a moment. She grabbed towards the unconscious one, and wrenched the golf club out of his hand. She stood up, wound up, and swung hard at head height. She knocked out the lead pipe and brass knuckle wielding thugs, their skulls likely cracked. The two that were left whipped back in surprise before she could swing again and advanced on her, convinced Zaber was out of the way by now. Zaber managed to adjust his leg and trip the one with the baseball bat. Zaber managed to get up first, and swung his helmet down on his head, knocking him out cold. The final one, her original attacker, grabbed Taelia by the wrist and wrenched the golf club out of her hand.
"You damn little..." He started as he lifter Taelia up off the ground by her wrist. But he was decked by a solid punch to the side of his head by Zaber. He released his grip and Taelia dropped a few inches onto the ground. He had been knocked flat onto the ground. Zaber drew back his arm. He coughed up a bit of blood, then wiped it on his wrist.
"You... just had to push your luck..." Zaber said as he gasped, out of breath.
"Just what the hell are you..." The thug said as he got to his feet and backed away.
"I'm an avenger... no... I am a protector...of all this is precious to me." Zaber said cryptically.
"What's that supposed to mean?!?!" He said. "You just met her a few hours ago! Why are you even helping her!?!?"
"You just don't get it... after all I've been through... I finally understand... everything is precious to me." Zaber lunged forward and landed a final, powerful punch in his face, and he hit the ground, unconscious and bleeding. Zaber fell to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. He had been injured substantially. The world began to blur, swim, and shake before his eyes. He closed his eyes, and finally collapsed in the street.
It was dawn, and Zaber awakened, unsure of where he saw. All he knew was that he was very sore. He remembered the brawl the night before. He was in a white room, but he could not make out any details. Was he in the hospital? As the rooms details became gradually more clear, he realized that was not the case. He was in a comfortable bed, covered with several blankets. There was no technology to speak of in the room. The bed frame was ornate, and a few prints of paintings decorated the walls. Light poured in through a large window, onto the bed stand next to him. He saw Taelia sitting in a chair in the corner, fast asleep. He realized she must have brought him in after he had collapsed. He groaned as he sat up, struggling with his restricted muscle use and the weight of the numerous blankets. He rubbed his eyes, trying to wake himself up. He checked himself. It seemed his injuries had caused a small amount of internal bleeding, but it had healed already. Miraculously, none of his bones had been broken. His back was completely covered in bruises, but that was the worst of it. He got out of the bed, and left the room. He had no clue as to the layout of the house, but ultimately managed to find the front door. His motorcycle was leaned up against the front porch. The thugs were gone outside, and some police stood in the center of where the fight had occurred. Taelia's torn bag of groceries lay in the street still, it contents scattered. He heard a sound behind him and whipped around. Taelia had woken up and stood behind him.
"After I dragged you in... I called the police and told them everything. Because you were just protecting me, they're preventing the thugs from pressing charges for now." She explained. "Thank you... for everything. If you hadn't helped me twice last night... I'd probably be dead or worse." She said with a shudder.
"I'd be dead if you hadn't come in with that golf swing..." Zaber muttered. "Look... about what I said last night..." Zaber said, intending to explain what he had said so it wasn't misconstrued.
"It's OK... I can't explain it... but I understand. Trying to defend everyone... even strangers like me... it's very noble."
"Not really..." Zaber muttered as he looked down.
"Listen... I didn't tell the police about you being a run away. If you leave soon, they probably won't be able to find you again." Taelia said.
"I should probably be going then..." Zaber said quietly, as he picked up his helmet, which was sitting in a nearby chair.
"Hold on a second..." Taelia said. She reached behind her head with both arms, and seemed to be trying to undo something. "Close you eyes." Zaber did. He felt Taelia's arms wrap around his head, and he heard a small snap behind his head. "OK." She said. She had taken off her necklace and put it around his neck. "Someone gave me that a long time ago... right after my real parents died. They said it would protect me... and it's always helped me feel safe..." She explained. "I... I just have the strange feeling... you're going to need it a lot more than I do."
"Tha...Thank you." Zaber said, somewhat startled. Taelia leaned up close to him and kissed him on the cheek.
"Come back here and see me someday... OK?" She asked him.
"I will." Zaber said, as he slipped the helmet on his head. "Stay safe... Taelia." He walked out the door, climbed onto his cycle, and tore off down the road.
About ten minutes down the road, Zaber sat on a park bench, the cycle parked behind it. He dangled the chain Taelia had given him in front of him. It was gold chain. The pendant was a silver bird. His eyes watered, and he shut them and clutched the necklace in his hand, putting his hand onto his heart.
"Everything... is precious to me."
Code 16: QUARRENTINE... END
