Nineteen
The professors were pissed when they discovered what happened. I told them the honest truth in most of its entirety. I tried making it seem as though we could all hear outside of the door, but only I paid attention.
Jules refused to listen to anything after hearing we didn’t retrieve the computer he wanted. He stormed out of the room so hot that he nearly steamed his glasses. He mumbled some threat under his breath that even I couldn’t make out. Gardezi apologized for the decision I had to make and promised that he’d get Jules to calm down. Gonzales never said a word. Though I could tell she was upset, she continued reading whatever she could see on my face.
Now, I’m stealing one of Dennis’ cars in order to drive Seth to his facility. It turns out, he had too much alcohol and his brain shrunk to the size of a peanut during his coma. It’s rapidly recovering. Antonio estimated that he should wake up screaming in pain within the next hour.
Great. I survived an entire week without getting my butt kicked by the dork and he’ll be up in no time, angry again.
I hold my fingers on the ignition as Carmen moans, “We should get going.”
“That’s the first time you initiated a conversation with me all week. Still having nightmares about the way I killed Bobby?”
“I’m not having nightmares.” She folds her arms and stares at the military vehicle parked next to our car.
“You wake up screaming every other night and crawl closer to the edge of the bed.”
Carmen opens her mouth, but closes it quickly. “Did you really have to murder him?”
“Yep.”
“Have you killed a lot of people before? Like Bobby and Tony?”
“Way more.”
“In cold blood?”
“Of course.”
Carmen grips the seats tightly and goosebumps possess her arms. “Why?”
“Many reasons, but none that will satisfy you. People don’t always die for a reason and I don’t always kill for one. Death is as natural as life.”
“Would you kill me?”
“You’re too pretty.”
“Was the other Carmen pretty too?”
“Good point.” I recall a similar discussion with Blue-Skin. I’m still listening to Vincent’s phone conversation, so I’m a bit distracted. Even if I weren’t, I doubt I could come up with anything that would make her feel better. “You really don’t want to go down this road.”
“I want to know if the guy protecting me will kill me if I make him angry, or if he’ll listen through a door before strangling me to death.”
“Is that what you think happened?” Carmen still won’t look at me. I guess I can see her face either way so it isn’t too impersonal. “Sure I’d kill you. Death is all I know. I’ve murdered friends and look forward to slaughtering members of my family. And Helios, I’d love to have enough power to finish him.”
“Finish?”
“I’d kill you in a second if I found it necessary. But for your sake, I would talk to you first. Does that make you feel better?”
“No.”
“I warned you.”
Seth’s heavy breathing fills the silence between us. I lean back on the brown leather seats of the all black four-door coupe.
“Why aren’t you starting the car?”
“I’m listening to a really good episode of gladiator plans.”
She leans back in her seat. “Who?”
“Vincent.” That name makes her fall silent. I’m sure she hasn’t forgotten the day with the council.
Vincent and Angie currently live in a high-rise a few blocks away from our building. Though he doesn’t own the entire place, he has enough floors to conduct his work.
At this moment, he’s being visited by Malik. The puppy sits in his office nervously and I don’t blame him. Vincent’s room has the heads of some of the most fearsome liminal beings known. They’re lined across all four walls, and a few are stuffed on the mantles. His entire office is one floor dedicated to him. Strangely, the windows have been covered, blocking out light.
He’s in a studio-style room with leather couches, large televisions, a fully stocked bar, and an open kitchen where he hires chefs to cook for his business partners and late night company. It’s a well hidden secret that he’s somewhat of a whore.
Vincent finally ends his conversation with Perry. After hanging up the phone, he walks over to his bar.
“Where’d you get these animal heads Professor Colt?” Malik asks as Vincent pours two glasses of a seventeen-year-old Bowmore Single Malt Scotch.
Vincent hands Malik a glass before finding his seat. He gently swishes the drink in his glass and inhales the aroma, rolling his eyes to the back of his head. “Various parts of the country. I had to travel to the East Coast to catch a few of these.” Vincent takes a sip of his drink. He smacks his lips a few times and gently nods. Then, he opens his top drawer and removes a bottled water.
Malik chokes off his ignorant gulp, but pretends he’s in shock, “Whoa, Mr. Colt. You collected all of these yourself?”
Vincent adds three drops of water to the whiskey. He breathes it in once more while sliding the bottled water across his large desk. Malik gleefully grabs it and gulps down half.
“Yes. Killing them is easy. Stuffing them and getting the head proportions right is difficult. Anyway, remind me why you’re here?”
“I came to talk to you about the finals celebration. You said you wanted to get the girls there?”
“You and your father invest in this every year?”
“Kind of. I do most of the work,” he utters while taking a very cowardly sip of his drink. Vincent flares his nose and unleashes a disgusted grunt when he notices the action.
“Right. I want you to put the ladies up for display. I can get you the women from Block 22 in Louisiana. You do at least watch the games, right?”
Malik’s eyes light up. “Of course. You’re bringing the trophies to my party?” The puppy nearly spills his drink. “I can’t believe this.”
“Don’t refer to it as a party ever again. That’s low class and beneath you. Consider it a banquet. You can use the second floor of this building. It’s not a studio like this, but there’s a large open space.”
“That’s great Mr. Colt.” Malik rubs his glass nervously. “But what will the girls do there? None of us have won a tournament.”
“Please. Use the sluts as you’d like. I personally want you to stay away from them, but they’re no more than low class prostitutes to me now. I’ve just been given approval to start the games in East LA.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. You can entice your friends to join you by letting them know.”
“Sounds boring for me,” Malik says nervously, hinting his desire to be entertained.
Vincent clears his throat. “With the games underway, I’m happy to know that you’ll be the victor. I’ll have Angie and Carmen there for you as well. I want you to keep your mitts off of Angie for the most part, but use Carmen as you please.”
“But I thought she was your—”
Holding his hand up he enunciates, “The girl is a decoration. Honor. Prestige. You can use her like the other prostitutes. But make sure to hold off from my daughter until you’re married. Next year, she can hopefully make me a boy so my wealth can truly set in. You better be capable of making a boy.”
“Yes sir.”
I observe Carmen from the corner of my eyes while starting the ignition. She has to adjust her cape before sitting up. Then, she leans towards me. “What did you hear?”
“Nothing. It was a waste of time.”
Her eyes show concern. She’s hiding something.
Honor. Prestige. Why?
Slowly, I pull out of the underground garage. I take the second-level freeway towards Los Angeles. We cruise a little over one hundred miles per hour, taking in the scenery. We exit Rosecrans from the I-110 and continue down a two lane road.
This area is active and booming. Unlike Griffith Park whe
re everyone concentrates on business, there are a lot of citizens strolling the streets. It’s very diverse too. I see god-level non-gladiator citizens talking and walking with regular humans without tattoos.
God-level civilians are easy to distinguish because they’re more privileged. You don’t need barcodes to notice them. They’re the clean cut professionals in suits. Many wear rings that cover their entire index finger. It gives them certain perks at businesses. Gladiators generally don’t need those. The armor and barcode scanners determine ranking and status.
At least in this city people aren’t so stuck up that they’d avoid each other like Griffith Park.
Here, things seems slower. The speed limit on the streets are lower, forty-five miles per hour. After drifting at a snail’s pace to Seth’s building, I look over at Carmen and murmur, “I don’t get it.”
I exit the car, throw Seth over my shoulders, and approach a triangular shaped building. It’s made out of pure gold and stands seven feet at its peak. Carmen calls Antonio as I place Seth on the ground.
“Hey Antonio?”
“Yes dear?” I hear on the other line.
“What the hell is going on?” she asks gently.
“Is there a problem?”
“The GPS is pointing to Seth’s pyramid. We can’t get him any help here. The building is smaller than Kay’s kitchen.”
“Oh. That’s just an elevator. Seth has serious security on his place. He makes sure that no more than five people can enter or leave at a time. And he doesn’t allow anyone access into the building without some serious clearance.”
“Throw him on speakerphone,” I demand. The second she hits the button, I scream, “You want to say this now? Not before I bring an unconscious Seth?”
“I knew you wouldn’t do it otherwise.”
“Why can’t you open it?”
“Have you ever noticed that scar on Seth’s back? It’s not huge and probably resembles any other mark a gladiator would receive, but it’s on the lower half, near his kidney.”
“Yeah. I can hear it.”
“I never noticed it until he made the official switch from Leo to Seth, but every time I try asking him about it, he refuses to answer. He gives me some very random explanation about wild monkeys and apes in his building. Listen to this...”
A few clicks sound on the other line and an automated voice denotes, “13 October 3144.”
Sounding completely wasted, Seth sputters, “I was home and the stupid ape knocked on my glass window. I didn’t think he could get through because it’s bulletproof and all, but he tore it down. The glass shards got me.”
“2 December 3144.”
“I was on the surgery table with doctors all around. Next thing I know, they’re gone and I’m face-to-face with human sized monkeys. I was still connected to the machine so I couldn’t defend myself properly. They got me good.”
“14 February 3144.”
“Don’t go there. I’m warning you. If you ever wanted to know how I got this scar on my back. I’ll tell you about these crazy apes that plague my house. They snuck up on me in the dark, but I have something special for them if they ever try to escape.”
I interrupt, “Okay. I get it. How many of those do you have?”
“Twenty, even.”
“He doesn’t give you a straight answer or access to his facility because of the monkey plague?”
“Yes. But I’ve spoken to the doctors that work on his negative forty-seventh floor. They’ve never seen a single monkey or an ape.”
I rub my temple and kick Seth in the butt. “Carmen. Wake him up.”
“How?”
“The syringe that’s attached to your weapon. Give him adrenaline.”
Laughing, Carmen makes a syringe appear from thin air. “How’d you figure it out?” she asks before stabbing him in the thigh. I listen as his heart rate increases.
“You purposely hide it from me, but I kept replaying what I saw in my mind when you put Seth to sleep. When I couldn’t figure out where the syringe came from, I decided to take a guess and you just confirmed it. How’d you get a weapon without entering the dungeon?”
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
Seth wakes up screaming at the top of his lungs. He wipes drool from the corner of his mouth. Calmly and clearly, he articulates, “Good morning.” He doesn’t sound like the drunk we all know and loathe. This tone is more reminiscent of Leonardo.
“Good morning? I can’t believe you fell asleep.” I shout dramatically.
“What? What happened?”
“You put Hayley inside.” I grab him by the collar. “And you let the monkeys get to her!”
Still waking up, Seth turns and looks at his surroundings. “I wouldn’t do that.”
I grab the half-empty bottle of X-Eyes from his pouch and throw it on the street. Passionately, I rave, “You were drunk. You’ve been asleep for a week and I just got your message about Hayley. I swear on your life if you don’t open this building right now, I’ll blow a hole in the ground and find her on my own.”
He jitters nervously, though he’s regaining his drunken demeanor little by little. “You can’t blow through. Nothing can get in or out.”
Falling to my knees I cry, “Why would you do this to me? She’s the only person I care about.” Carmen walks over and rubs my shoulders roughly. She obviously didn’t like the comment too much and shows it by pinching me hard with some needle.
“We’ll have to figure out another way to save her,” Carmen says gently. “He won’t let us in.”
Seth looks around the street and declares, “I’ll rescue her. I promise.”
I excessively stress, “How can I trust you, Leo?”
The sound of his old name nearly brings him to tears. Seth rushes to the front of the building and reads off a series of twenty-five digits. The pyramid spreads open and we all rush inside. Seth presses his finger against a dashboard and keeps it there as the elevator surges down the shaft.
The device is in the center of the elevator and appears to be controlled by his thumb alone. There are no other markings on the black and silver device.
We exit onto the negative fiftieth floor. The dense glass elevator doors open to a control room with a circular screen that covers the walls. There’s a station in the middle of the room and one chair. The control panel only has barcodes spread across it.
“I don’t know where she is, but I can find her from here.” He swipes his hand and the entire panel lights up.
Carmen giggles as I jeer, “No worries. She’s at home, but we need to get you to the surgical room.”
“What? But you said...you tricked me?” Carmen and I nod together. Seth nearly bursts into tears. “Why? I love Hayley. Do you know what you were doing to me?”
“Antonio said you wouldn’t let us in otherwise.”
Seth wipes his face with his entire arm and Carmen walks over to comfort him. She whispers, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t know how much you cared for her.”
“She’s like a mom, okay?”
That’s when it hits me. I’m not the only one that benefits from Hayley’s affection.
“Seth. Seriously,” I mutter while angling my head towards the ceiling, “sorry.”
“Why’d you want to get in here so badly?”
“To check out these dangerous creatures you’re always bragging about!”
Seth’s entire demeanor turns dark as he warns, “You think this is a joke.”
“No. I believe you.”
“Then, you’ll believe me when I say they’re dangerous.” Seth stands up and walks towards the elevator. “You’ll stay away from them at all cost. Though you can’t escape, make sure you don’t try; if anyone leaves this underground facility illegally, the entire thing explodes without warning. That’s how serious they are.” He attempts to make a dramatic exit, by activating the elevator and leaving us on the floor, but it doesn’t move. Laughing, he rubs his head and says, “I forgot, you c
ould reprogram everything from here. We have to leave together.”
Carmen walks onto the elevator as I take a seat at the control panel’s swivel chair. “Did you create them?” I know the answer from Nevaeh, but I need him to open up before digging deeper.
He sighs and sits on the floor. “Yes. They’re a different breed of liminal beings, something my family and I helped revolutionize. Everyone gives credit to the Walker family, but we’re advanced in this area as well. The only problem, our creatures normally turn evil.” Seth adjusts his glasses. “I tried to counter that by experimenting on more advanced DNA.”
“Monkeys. They have a higher intelligence. You wanted to teach them about right and wrong.”
“Exactly! I started seven years ago. But the first few I made seem to have brought the others. I created four or five, max. But in one year, they began flooding my facility on their own. It was like they’d appear from nowhere; not as infants, but fully grown creatures.”
“Could they come from a different dimension?”
“It’s likely, but there’s more to it. They remind me of people I’ve met. They have personalities and gifts. But worst of all, their fighting can put gladiators to shame. If they were to escape, they’d take over the world.”
“I think there’s a really old movie about that.”
Seth laughs. He’s seen it as well. “They’re broken down into four families. Helpers are small and good at using their hands. They’re the first few I created. They can’t use technology for some reason. It’s as though devices don’t acknowledge their existence.” That must be Nevaeh. “The second group to appear were Thinkers. They can use technology and are decent at sparring. They’re like demigods. Then, there’s the Humans. I call them that because, if they take over, they’ll erase us. They’re our size and they fight well.”
“What about the last group?”
“The Two. They’re the grandaddies of all the beasts. The tiger one gave me the scar on my back and the lion helped seal me back up. I have a truce with all the others. I won’t blow the building if they remain below the fiftieth floor. But if anyone ventures to the top, I’ll kill them. I expect everyone to follow those instructions except The Two.”
“Beasts don’t make deals with mice, huh?”
“Something like that.” Seth removes his phone and only looks at the time displayed on the front screen. He shoves it back in his pocket and softly says, “The upper floors are dedicated to researching solutions for my brain. Ten floors up is my surgery room. I need to get there soon.”
Still processing the information, I walk towards the others and load on the elevator. We zip to the top and appear in a narrow hallway with blue tinted glass doors.
Seth leads us through a maze, voice activating each barrier. We make a right after three doors and travel through what feels like a labyrinth of twists and turns of nothing but white walls with abstract art lining them. I notice a familiar cubism design and assume that Seth is the artist of these hallways. Two minutes later, we arrive in front of a counter with a middle aged, incredibly attractive woman with pink hair. She’s wearing an all white uniform and a red plus sign across her chest.
“Doctor Pena! Welcome home.”
“I’m scheduled to have brain surgery,” he glances at the digital calender displayed behind her, “one week ago. Can you please alert the others to join me in the operating room?”
“Yes sir. By the way, whatever you’re doing with your research is working. You sound much more coherent today.”
“You’ll have to excuse me, Maggie. I won’t be returning to normal anytime soon. This is very temporary.”
“Sorry.”
“No. I apologize for my future actions under the influence.”
She winks and giggles. “I don’t.”
“Anyway,” he shifts his weight nervously, “can you please see that my friends are taken care of? Show them to the waiting room.” Seth waves and walks through a wooden door with a small glass window that allows us to see who is passing by.
“Yes sir.”
Once he’s inside I proclaim, “No need to worry about us. He gave us the passwords for a reason. We’ll entertain ourselves in his game room on the seventeenth floor.” I point at Carmen. “I don’t know why she volunteered to wait for him.”
“The surgery only takes a few minutes, but do as you wish.” We turn around and take a few steps but stop when the clerk says, “Wow. Doctor Pena really has changed. He’s never allowed outsiders and I’d imagine he wouldn’t give them codes.”
I slowly continue walking away. Nearly halfway to the elevator, Carmen grabs my hand. “I hope you’re trying to find quality time with me, and not get into trouble.”
“Why would you want time with me?” I open my eyes fast enough to scare her. “I’m sure there are people you’d much rather be with.”
“I’m not sure what that means. You know I love you, though you seem to hate that word.”
“Probably because no one ever means it when they say it to me,” I mumble with such a low tone that she leans forward and tilts her head.
I continue through the hallway. This time, at a faster pace. Carmen follows delicately a few steps behind. “Did I do something wrong?”
Taking out my phone, I pull up an application that allows me to compare the frequency of my voice with others. The phrase I have recorded for Seth is, “You’re Kay? If that was your simple name all along, you could’ve just told me.”
Once the program initiates, I begin repeating the phrase constantly. I start with a baritone sound and allow my voice to increase in octaves until I match his pitch and inflection.
Using that sound, I open all of the doors leading to the elevators.
“Can we talk, papi? I think we’re fighting and I don’t know why?”
“We’re not.”
I scroll through my phone’s settings to access my hacking records. While flipping through various screens, I allow my cell to begin breaking into Seth’s system. I imagine he has precautions set up to defend against such a thing, so I limit my software to focus solely on the elevator.
When I need to practice my skills, I hack into Seth’s equipment around Dennis’ building. The nerd is so paranoid, he has security for his PlayStation XD. Unfortunately for him, no matter how smart someone is, their security will look similar in some way. Once I find records of his other equipment and upload that to my program, accessing the control panel will be a breeze.
“Got it,” I declare while pressing my finger against the panel. I remove my hand and reprogram the elevator to respond to my touch as well. Once everything is set, I press my thumb down again, but the elevator goes up one floor. “How did he get it to go down?”
Carmen sounds as though she’s in tears when answering, “He leans his thumb to the left while dragging it down slightly.”
I didn’t think it was so complex. She actually picked up on something I didn’t. While lowering the elevator, I listen to all the creatures on the floors above and below.
Once we make it an inch below the fiftieth floor, Carmen grabs my arm and removes it from the panel. “No!”
“You’re getting bold.”
“I’m a little stronger around you.”
“I guess you’ll be weak for the rest of your life.”
Three of her tears fall to the ground and she faintly cries, “Whatever I did, I’m sorry. I’ll make it up. I promise. Can we talk about it on this floor? We shouldn’t go messing around when Seth clearly said it’s dangerous below.”
“Stay here then,” I reply dispassionately. The gravity in my voice causes her to whimper.
She takes a step back and glues her hands to her thighs. She cowardly stammers, “I’ll be safest with you.”
I ride the elevator to the bottom floor, negative sixty-five. On my way there, I not only see several monkeys right in front of me, but I can hear them everywhere. I noticed them before I even entered the building. There are thousands on these few floors.
When the elevator finally stops, I convert Shiva into my signature gloves. As she sparks wildly, I know that she senses what I can see in the dark.
The room was probably something special in the past, but the walls have all been torn down and ripped to shreds.
At the end of the floor, nearly one thousand yards in the darkness, I see an ape that shouldn’t be considered an ape at all. He’s the same height I used to be, but much more muscular. His eyes are closed. His face resembles a tiger, and his fur is more like armor. Though it is connected to his flesh, it’s broken into sections for his most vulnerable body parts. Some areas of the gear resemble a tiger’s fur, but others are ape-like.
I’ve drifted towards him unknowingly. He was cleaning his area of the room, but seems to have noticed me.
“Kay,” Carmen yelps fearfully.
That snaps me out of my trance. After shaking off the cobwebs, I pace back towards her. “I need to program your finger to the panel. Put your thumb...”
Her face loses all its color as she backs into a wall.
I can hear it breathing over my head, feel its body heat on my back, and smell the scent of the beast. He actually took a shower and smells like a bar of soap.
My heart beats ferociously against my chest. Clenching my fists, I turn around at a snail’s pace. Seeing him up close seemed like a good idea on the floors above us. I think I’ve changed my mind. I finally understand why Seth was serious when warning me. I’ve never heard muscles this powerful.
The monster’s growl turns into a confused huff. He squats and inches closer until we’re nearly nose-to-nose. As he reveals his own eyes, I see a spectacular view of outer space. There’s no pupil, but one solid iris of stars and galaxies. The universe sparkling in his eyes is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed.
This man-romance doesn’t last too long. I sense his hand moving. I duck swiftly, disappear into the darkness, and run in the opposite direction of Carmen.
My fighting senses are evolved enough to know when I’m about to die. The daggers on his nails shot towards my head so quickly, I could hardly see them.
I continue to the far end of the building to get him away from Carmen, but he wants to stop me from making it to the area he was previously working on. He jumps in front of me and I’m forced to make a sharp left.
The chase continues around the entire room without either of us throwing a punch. We’re both aware of each other’s speed and I can sense his power so there’s no need to strike unless absolutely necessary.
The brute backs me into a wall and smashes his body against mine.
He must weigh a ton, because my shoulder gets lodged into the MMIBS reinforced wall. Unfortunately, there’s no time to guess his diet. Beast-boy yanks me out and slams me into it once more.
Though he’s the size of a human, his hands are humungous. There’s no breaking out of his grip. He throws me around a bit more until he’s prepped to crack his knuckles on my jawbone.
As he continues beating me, the bandages inflict additional pain on my body. He seems disturbed by my laughter.
The ape kicks me in the chest. A heaving sound releases from my lungs but I motion for him to come at me again. “Let’s go buddy. I’m looking to get hurt here.” I spit my blood onto the floor. “You have to provide a better service.”
He lands a jab on my temple and tries to follow through with a cross, but I block it and apply an elbow between two of his ribs. Though my strikes can’t hurt as much as his, he sounds hungry, so I’m going for the weak areas.
The beast plants a superhuman punch on my chin and I’m spun around into the wall. He attacks my spine and I scream with delight, “Much better!” By now, my face and body are swollen and my limbs feel numb.
He backs away and rubs his knuckles. He’s out of breath.
“Now, it’s my turn.”