16 | Panic in the Streets

Chaos exploded faster than LUCAS could realize. It was like a bubble had burst and consciousness returned to the masses. Screaming flooded the room as workers dropped anything that they'd been holding. The rampaging bodies nearly flung themselves from their positions all aimed toward the officers.

Shit.

LUCAS had to act fast. He slammed into the officer nearest to him. He saw more flooding in from the other end of the hall. The response must have come from nearby. LUCAS slammed into the officer and tumbled into a roll over his body. He let loose the shield and ripped the electrified baton out of the officer's hands. He retracted it and felt bodies all over him.

The crowd had consumed the space they were in. He felt someone trip over him and another kicked him in the side—thinking he was the officer. LUCAS reached out and grappled onto the leg of an older man to pull himself toward the edge of the crowd.

He looked to his right and saw bodies start to fall from the rear, some of the approaching officers were able to pick off some of the rampaging workers and subdue them with their batons. A shot fired from the other end of the room and a few more bodies fell.

Anger gave way to fear as they realized that officers with more heavy resistance were coming, and suddenly the confidence in the crowded riot dissipated. LUCAS took advantage of the moment to finally pull himself free of the group. He rolled over onto his back and worked his way to his feet. One of the officers on the rear swung his arm up and was going to bring it down hard.

LUCAS swung his legs in an arc and caught the officer's own legs up. The man let out a short yelp and with the momentum LUCAS swung out his own baton and extended it out. It reached its full length and charged bright blue and he saw as the officer's body convulsed as the tip reached his side.

He hopped up to his feet quick and saw the officer with the gun at the far end of the room with it pointed at the crowd again. Zooming he saw the officer's finger yank on the trigger. He leaped forward and held his hands together. The shield erupted out and just in time too—the bullets ricocheted off and rhythmically sounded.

"Stay behind me!" LUCAS roared behind him.

Suddenly he felt a strong feeling bursting from his center. Behind the shield he saw the color dim from the baton and he knew what that now meant. He waited for the clip to empty and dropped the shield. For a fraction of a second he looked down to his hand and saw a similar blue glow.

He shot out his hand and lightning pierced the air in a wicked arc. The bolt connected with the end of the gun and immediately the officer shot up in pain and fell back against the wall.

All around him the energy in the air shifted. He could tell the eyes were on him, but only for a second. He was worried that he would be flooded with questions. Instead, the vigor that had filled the room not five minutes previous refueled the crowd back into an energetic frenzy. LUCAS felt that the energy from the electricity had left his body—and the baton in his hands was fully depleted. He chucked it toward one of the officers that began running toward him. The baton slammed against the officer's helmet. He was then tackled to the ground.

LUCAS had to break from the crowd now. He thinks the crowd were properly energized they could run the rest of the escape themselves. At least until he could get what he needed up top. He broke of from the group and dashed across the space, aiming toward the rear of the room where the officers had pooled off. Luckily, only the singular gun had been brought out.

He guessed the officers really did underestimate the situation they had set up here. He was unsure if any of the other officers had been able to communicate their need of help. He doubted the officers would underestimate the force from this point onward. That made LUCAS uneasy on how future altercations would pan out. He looked at the map in his mind and saw that the elevator was just outside this room—after he used it to head up they would be able to go in the opposite direction.

"Blaise, got a revolution up here. Pinging you my coordinates now. Stay with Laven, they'll be funneling their way down eventually."

"Got it."

Short and sweet, just how LUCAS liked it. He was thankful for his lack of lungs, he slowed his pace as he approached the concrete stairway. He reached down and grabbed for the gun. He thought for a moment on throwing it off to the crowd, but he then became unsure of giving a weapon of such caliber to an angry crowd. He knew they would eventually get their hands on one, and more power to them then, but something inside him rang that this specific instance should be different.

He held the gun tight in his hand and started bending the barrel down. It took a bit of force, but when it wouldn't fire properly he tossed it to the side. He then reached down and grabbed the officer's baton from his tool belt. LUCAS retracted it and held it tight. He offered a look back and saw the crowd had engulfed the last conscious officer.

In a few moments they would begin to head his way, so he hopped up the stairs and found a metal door at the end of a small walkway. He pushed it open and found another one of the gates stationed just after the door. This brought him a little bit of a relief—this would inevitably slow the crowd down so he could get some distance and not lure the crowd along with him.

That was another concern—if they had trusted him to be leading them out—if they had realized that he wasn't heading toward the exit they could very well turn on him. He wasn't sure if he could defend himself then—and that would lead to further issues with the guild if he was able to.

He crossed the gate quickly and rushed toward the end of the hallway. There was an echoing sound coming from somewhere he couldn't see. He made it to the bend and slowed to a stop, peeking around the corner. He saw what looked to be five officers—two of them held leashes which connected to large warthog-like beasts. The tusks grew wildly out of their mouths and large clawed paws bounced off as they led the officers forward.

LUCAS took in a deep breath and hoped this would work as well as he thought it might. He drained the baton in his hand and felt the electricity dancing on his fingertips. He focused the majority of the energy into three points that danced like small bubbles of concentrated energy—compiling a majority into one of the three points. He kicked off the ground and the officers and beasts came into full view. He reached back and launched the baton out toward the officer running in front of the rest.

The two weaker bolts reached out and connected to the spinning baton. the bolt wrapped and coiled around the shaft. The final, stronger bolt I let loose. It shot faster than the previous and crossed the distance in a fraction of a second. The stronger bolt met the charged baton and the baton lit aflame and the pocket of energy exploded.

LUCAS held up the shields in front of him and knelt behind it until the smoke cleared. He waited a few seconds longer before peeking over the top. What he saw unnerved him. The bodies that were just seconds ago running toward him were razed and burnt. Even the beasts lie lifeless in the hall. LUCAS swallowed his feelings and ran over toward some of the budding embers. He bent down and felt the heat enter his system.

He wasn't exactly sure how this all worked, but the running theory that so far hasn't failed him was he was able to absorb energy and redirect it. The embers were not powerful enough to use in any meaningful way yet—but he'd keep it in mind.

He stepped over the bodies and continued up through the hallway. He was coming up to the elevator and he looked in to the map to see where Laven was now. She was a few floors up—and he was more than convinced now that she had put her part of the plan into motion. He then thought what she would think if she had seen what he had done to those officers. He then wondered if she had left similar scenes where she was.

He knew her fighting ability wasn't anything to scoff at, and he knew she could handle herself in a fight if need be. But was she willing to go to that length? That he was unsure of, and that formed a feeling of guilt inside.

He approached the elevator and held off to the side waiting for the door. The doors opened and he was relieved to know that it was empty inside. He saw that he was on the eighth floor currently. He checked the map again and felt the energy pulsing from the 51st floor. He clicked the button and waited as the elevator started rising. He splayed his hands out against the railing against the back wall as it rose.

He looked up and saw the light above him. Fearing the worst he climbed up on the railing—it had jutted out from the wall far enough for him to balance on the edge of it—he reached up toward the ceiling. He reached and grabbed the pane that covered the light, he wasn't able to pry it off with just his hands. He saw the number on the top of the door shift to nineteen. The elevator was crawling to a slow stop.

More officers were coming, shit.

Quick, he held himself up against the ceiling with one hand and brought his other slowly as the shield jutted out, slicing off the panel as it formed, popping half of it out as it swung on its remaining hinges.

LUCAS grabbed the bulbs and instantly the elevator grew dark as the doors opened—spilling in light from the outside. The two officers that were standing in the door stood back and began reaching for their weapons.

LUCAS threw his hand out and the bolt coursed through the officer on the left. He stood back and jolted, falling over his feet. The other officer turned around to try and catch the other, but he was too slow. The doors began to slow and LUCAS was breathing heavily as he got down from the railing.

Suddenly on his map a whole bunch of red dots appeared all over the map. Before he could ask the question he heard the squirrely voice of Bambo.

"We managed to trace their internal trace system using the tech in their uniforms. You should be able to see where the threats are now."

"Thanks Bambo," LUCAS said. "Will definitely come in handy."

Looking at the large scale of things he thought it was impossible to discern from the total number of officers they had available in the building, but around him it looked like there was close to two hundred in the vicinity. That definitely wasn't good.

He knew he had to look over toward Laven. His breath caught as he saw fifty officers surrounding her. He saw the number above the elevator ring up 24 as it slowed again and instantly he had a plan in motion. Without questioning it he erected his shield. The door opened and instantly the bullets flew in. He gave it two seconds and dashed out.

Pushing the offensive forward he felt the force of the bullets against the shield increase as he got closer. A sharp pain stuck in his side and he knew one of the ricochets landed its mark. He separated his hands and slammed both of the officers with the retreating shield. It pushed them back, it even managed to knock off one of their helmets.

Gunfire continued from the other officer, the first bullet caught in LUCAS's leg and he screamed out. The gun refused to fire anymore as the catalyst was sucked into his arm. LUCAS's body was shaking now, threatening to give way as pain shot up from his leg—connecting with the pain in his side. He reached out and placed his hands on both of the officer's shoulders, lighting the uniforms ablaze and burning through to the skin. They crumbled and were no longer a problem for him.

LUCAS shoved them into the elevator and stood against the wall, taking in deep breaths. He looked down through his suit and saw the purple liquid spilling out of him. He bit his lips as a thought entered his mind. He knew it was going to hurt like crazy, but he needed to seal off these wounds.

He brought his hand over his side and his hand grew hot. He pressed it tight to the side of his body and winced as he worked to cauterize the wound. The pain grew immensely and it darkened his vision. He bit his lip and fell to a sitting position against the corner next to the elevator. He removed his hand and saw that his side had stopped bleeding.

Next was his leg. He took in a sharp breath and brought his left hand over his thigh. He brought his right hand over his mouth to muffle the screams that came from him. The bullets were still inside him—that was a problem he would have to worry about later. He needed to move, and now. He was shaking as he finished up, he had to stabilize himself against the wall before he started to get control. He had started to lower his internals and his breathing steadied.

Straight ahead of him he saw a lobby, and thankfully it was clear. There were bodies moving above him, but they were still a ways away from the elevator. He had a few minutes before they made it here. He saw an increasing presence headed toward the eastern end of the building where Laven was.

LUCAS ran into the center of the lobby and sucked the energy from each of the lamps near the desk. He wasn't sure what kind of work was being done on this floor specifically, but they would be doing it in the dark from this time forward. He locked eyes with his reflection in the glass of the large window that stretched from floor to ceiling.

Suddenly he felt another deep understanding about himself unlock, and in the deep recesses of his back mind he knew these new abilities were only coming to him as his processors seemed fit after the removal of his inhibitor. He felt confident in the things he knew he could do now, but it seemed to compound the doubt he felt about why he was inhibited in the first place.

He suddenly looked past his reflection and knew what he had to do. He took a running start and barreled through the glass and soared into the open air and began to fall.