Boundless Ch. 04-05

He got up from the bed and began examining the room. Just like he thought no visible entrance or exit. But he remembered where the door had been when the principal had walked in. So he felt around that area and yes, he believed he felt the seam. He thought that the thing he and Anthony had been working on could work for this situation. They had theorized that he could vibrate his body causing structural deficiencies to appear in surfaces he was in contact with. He grabbed the seam with his fingertips and began vibrating his body. Faster and faster he vibrated until little cracks started appearing where his fingers were and then the cracks started spreading further and further. Finally the door, obviously made of something other than wood, shattered and he was free.

He felt a slight breeze and he looked down and realized that he was wearing a hospital gown and nothing else. He didn't really care but he made a side note to get some clothes. He noticed he was in a hallway, the lights were dim, and so he walked down it. He saw light coming from the end of it and he walked toward it cautiously.

When he got to the end of the hallway there was another door there. As he neared the door it opened automatically so Raz went through, carefully checking to see that no one was there waiting for him. There wasn't. He was at a junction. He could go left, right or straight. He decided to go straight and continued down the lit hallway.

The walls were a plain white and there were no other doors as he walked down the hallway. It turned to the left and there was a door 20 feet in. He tested the doorknob and it was open. He walked through.

-

Tessa walked from the Tier 1 dorms to an awaiting black SUV. She didn't notice the stares, the gawking or the whispers that were happening around her. The other students had heard what happened and this had been the reactions she had been receiving for the past week. She hadn't noticed much of life lately since she hadn't felt the pull from Raz. All she felt was alone.

After she had thrown him across the field and into the fence she had heard nothing about him. She hadn't seen Anthony since that day and Trinity didn't know anything about what was going on. The two of them had been left in the dark. She had tried going to the infirmary, she tried talking to the principal but nobody would tell her anything. Then two days ago she was told that she was being transferred to complex 252. She'd never heard of complex 252 but at the time she didn't really think to ask any questions.

She had seen Moriah around the campus but every time she tried to approach her she received dirty looks and she would avoid her. Other students begin talking about what had happened. About how strong she was but also how scared they were of her. But the rumors and talks didn't bother her. She didn't care what other people thought about her, she didn't care that they were slightly afraid of her. All she cared about was the one that she "loved", she wasn't sure that was the right word, but he was gone.

Not feeling the pull from him was anguish, it was like seeing heaven and then being ripped back down to the sulfuric pit where the Devil had dominion. Trinity tried to comfort her and let her know it wasn't her fault. That it was an explosion of power and that's why they were there, to learn how to control their powers. That she was sure that Raz was okay. That he had survived somehow. But Trinity's empty words did little to help Tessa's state of mind.

Now she was leaving the complex and even if he was okay, even if he was alive and waiting for her she wouldn't be there and she would never know. She would from this day forward be truly alone.

Then she felt it. At first, it felt like a touch of a memory. Something that she wanted to be there but really wasn't. Like when amputees swear they can still feel the limb even though it's gone. Then the pull was stronger and definitely not her imagination. She stopped moving so suddenly that the security officer behind her almost ran into her.

"Keep moving," the officer said and slightly nudged Tessa forward with the baton she carried. Tessa refused to move. She could feel Raz but she wasn't sure where it was coming from.

"I said keep moving," the security officer said and attempted to push Tessa harder, she never got the chance. Suddenly the guard was airborne as a localized gust of wind scooped her up and deposited her on the 2nd story roof of the Tier 1 dorm. Tessa still stood at the door to the SUV trying to find Raz.

-

The door that Raz had walked through led to stairs that only went up. He ran in place for a moment and saw that his speed was there so he looked up to see what he could see, just more stairs. He ran up the stairs.

As he ran he saw numbers flash by 40, 39, 38... He guessed they were floor numbers. 40 stories down, what kind of facility was he in. But that might also explain why even though he could feel the pull he couldn't communicate with Tessa. But as he ran, it was getting stronger. Whatever awaited him at the top of the stairs, he knew she was at least there. When the floors got to 2 the stairs ended and there was a door. Raz tested the metal handle and it opened.

He had the door open a crack and he could hear people walking around, not good. He shut the door and thought about what he could do. He didn't know the layout of the place so running blindly was out of the question. He could attempt to kidnap someone but that could easily backfire for a number of reasons. He sat there and reviewed his limited options and suddenly a voice started talking to him in his head.

'Hello, Rashad.' The voice said. It was a female voice but it wasn't Tessa.

"Um, hello" Raz responded, not sure who he was talking to.

'Rashad, there is no reason to speak aloud, I can hear what you're thinking. Plus it would probably be better in your head so somebody doesn't accidently find you, right?' The voice continued with a slightly amused tone.

'Fair enough, who are you?' Raz said in his head. He still wasn't used to talking to people telepathically.

'For now, you can call me Mikon (me con) and I am what is known as a technopath. Like you I am an Evolution and my ability lets me access any electrical device and then speak to whomever I wish to near those devices. There's more to my ability than just that, but we don't have the time or luxury of going into it right now. What we need to do is get you, Anthony and Tessa, out of the complex and then to somewhere safe.' Mikon explained.

'Ok, how do we do that?' Raz asked.

'First I need you to retrieve something...for yourself.' Mikon said still with the amused tone.

'What?' Raz asked.

'You'll see when you get there. When I tell you, you will open the door, go down the hall to your left and stop at the 3rd door on the left. The code to the door is 13215. Inside you will find the object I need you to retrieve.' Mikon instructed. 'Go.'

Raz opened the door and before it was fully open he was at the 3rd door, entered the code and inside before it started to close. Inside the room, there was a computer sitting in the middle. Around the edges of the room, there were metal pods stacked 3 high. A metal arm sat above the computer and Raz could see there were tracks in the ceiling for it to get to any pod in the room.

'You will go to the computer and access the inventory menu. Once there type in command Volo Daemon and the password is Vita est pulchra inter seconds.' Raz did as he was told and as he pressed the enter button the arm started to move. It moved to a stack of pods in the rear of the room, went to the top and grabbed the pod. It brought it to a stand sitting in front of the computer. As it placed it down there was a hissing sound as the pod opened. Inside, neatly folded was a black and red full body suit.

'Put on the suit.' Mikon instructed. Raz followed her instructions. He finished putting on the suit and as he was about to reach back for a zipper to seal himself inside and then realized there was no zipper. The suit suddenly sealed around him and he felt like the suit was trying to enter his body through every pore on his body. To say the pain was excruciating was an understatement. He almost blacked out. In fact, right before he was going to black out, the pain suddenly stopped and he felt, normal.

He looked down at the suit and noticed that it had changed. Before it seemed to be made from neoprene or a similar material, but now it felt like he was wearing almost nothing. He also noticed that in critical areas of his body there seemed to be armor protecting it.

'What you are wearing is a nanite exoskeleton. It was designed for you specifically. The nanites are not self-aware. Their sole purpose is to keep you alive and make sure you are always running at optimal performance. There's more to it but what I have told you is all you need right now. We still have more to do and not a lot of time to do it in.' Mikon said.

'Ok, then what next?' Raz said as he looked at his new uniform. It had changed to solid black and was now covering the lower part of his face. He didn't feel uncomfortable, though. Once again it felt like he was wearing nothing and when he thought about the half mask and wanting to take it off he noticed in the reflection of one of the pods that it receded away from his face.

'I'm pulling up a heads up display so you can see what I see.' Mikon said. Suddenly there was a holographic map in front of Raz's eyes. He could see the movement of white circles in what he assumed was the layout for this floor. He reached his hands out and it went right through the map. Then he figured it must be the nanites allowing his eyes to see this. It wasn't there, he was just seeing it. He waited for his instructions.

'When I say, you are to run to this point' a marker appeared on the map. It was on the opposite end of the hall from where the room he was in was located. 'Once there enter code 54287, enter the stairwell and wait for the next part of the escape.' Raz didn't say anything as he waited for his instructions. 'Go' Mikon said and Raz took off.

Even though it took him less that a second to reach his destination he felt faster. Something about this suit was making him feel, great. He couldn't wait for the opportunity to really test it out. For now, he had to get out of here and save his friends. Once in the stairwell, he could tell that there was only 1 set of stairs. 'The password for the door at the top is 953157. Once through the door' the HUD popped up again with a different map, 'you are going to be here and this is where you need to go. Once past that door, you will be at the Administration Building.'

'I'm going to give you step by step instruction on your HUD once you're out. I won't be able to talk to you because the next steps require you to move fast. Are you ready?' She asked.

'Yes,' Raz responded.

'Good. Here is the list, good luck.' She said and then disconnected. On the HUD a list appeared:

1. Once in the Administration Building head to the 5th floor where the Principal is holding his afternoon class. In his back pocket is an ID card, swipe it.

2. Once you have the card go to the 4th floor to the door marked in the HUD, it's the Principal's office. Inside the office on the right side wall is a blueprint of the complex hanging there. Take the ID card and place it on top of where the Admin Building is the blueprint. A safe will appear.

3. Once the safe is open take out the cash cards that are there. They are untraceable. Put them into your suit, don't worry, the suit will make pockets.

4. Once you have the cards head to the Tier 1 dorms and grab Anthony from your room and take him to the Black SUV that is sitting in front of the dorms.

5. Once he is in the SUV go to Tessa's room and grab Trinity and repeat step 4 with her and the SUV.

6. Tessa is already at the SUV, put her inside and I will take care of the SUV and your friends. Your final destination will appear once steps 1 - 5 are complete. Good Luck.

Raz took a deep breath, bounced in place and loosened himself up and then took off. He followed the instructions to the letter. He swiped the ID, got the cards, got Anthony, got Trinity and Tessa all in less than 30 seconds. As he was shutting the door to the SUV another map popped up and it showed the complex, then it zoomed out and showed the map of the surrounding 100 miles with a red flag near the border.

The SUV began moving and heading to the gate and Raz followed. They were out of the gate and heading toward the marker before the Security officers had time to react, 'or had something or someone caused that?' Raz thought as they hit the openness beyond the gate.

As he ran beside the SUV he saw that it was driving at a speed of 95 M.P.H. (152.8 km) and he knew that meant he could race to the marker and back to them in no time. 'Perfect time to test out this suit' Raz thought as he turned, he saw Tessa's face though the glass of the rear window, smiled and took off.

-

Tessa had felt the pull getting stronger and stronger and when she finally could really feel him she was in the back of the SUV the Security Officers had been pushing her to. It had happened so fast, one minute she was looking at the SUV the next she was in it with Anthony and Trinity and the SUV was heading toward the gate with Raz running behind them, wearing a black suit.

Through there bond she could feel his exhilaration at being able to run, his urgency to be free and the anticipation of being in her arms again. As they broke free of the gate she rolled the window down and watched him run. He was in his element. He was free to move at the speed he wanted with nothing holding him back and then she felt a rush of excitement, he turned to her and smiled and then he was gone. She could have reached out and talked to him, but she knew he just needed a moment of true freedom and that he would be back.