A Hero's Song (Darkest Secrets Volume 1)

Chapter 3 - Tinkering Before the Storm

The next morning Gabriel woke early. He jumped out of bed and set to work on his suit. First, he would get the hardest task out of the way. Designing a new coolant system for his AntiGrav generator turned out more tedious than he assumed.

After some time spent sketching out ideas, he decided to create a secondary coolant system on top of his original - instead of starting from scratch.

The upper system would be more efficient than the other, and he would fill in the gaps with heat absorbent gel to optimize cooling. When it was done he would be able to fly while firing his Cannon. He'd have 5 or 6 consecutive constructs in his repertoire rather than a measly 3.

It took him a few hours to do this, so he missed having breakfast. Luckily the genetic mutations didn't need as many calories as he had the day before, but he still got hungry. He decided to take a break and head for the cafeteria.

He grabbed lunch from the mess hall near the training room and head back to his lab. Gabe was surprised to find Jimmy sitting at one of his tables when he entered.

He wasn't typing on anything, odd.

Jimmy was always working on something. Especially when he was alone and waiting, that was when he did his best work - or so he said.

Gabe himself preferred to meditate when there was nothing else to do.

Nearing him, Gabriel noted that he sat hunched over, his head looking down, a distraught look on his face. Closing the gap between them Gabriel spoke up, "Hey Jimmy, is everything alright?" The scientist spooked upright.

After regaining his composure Jimmy glanced at Gabe with glistening eyes, looking like he was about to burst into tears. "The scientists from lab 132 are all dead... Professor Holmes... he killed them an hour ago."

Gabe's jaw dropped as Jimmy kept going. "He said they died for suggesting a course of action that put you in danger of unnecessary death." A tear fell from his left eye. "I don't think they knew what they were being accused of. The looks on their faces when he told them were too genuine. I'm almost sure Harold made up a lab number when he gave Holmes his excuse. He framed them, Gabe, and they all died for it..."

Hearing this rocked the Super, he had never seen or heard of anyone getting executed for a mistake in Iodine. Then again, no one had ever placed him into a situation where death was as certain as he had been during that final test. Had Iodine always been such a ruthless place?

It had. Of course, it had. They designed weaponry and advanced combat software. They sold it on the black market to the highest bidders, many Villains among that list. All while pretending to be a pharmaceutical firm. There was nothing cuddly or fluffy about the inner workings of Iodine Incorporated.

Holmes had made an empire. When someone threatened to make a mess of things, he would rather kill them with his bare hands than risk a problem. It worried Gabe to see how callous the man was with human life.

All the people around Gabriel had been expendable tools to the man in charge all along. He wasn't all too thrilled to know that he was a possession either, even if Holmes implied he was irreplaceable.

Did Harold actually set up a random lab team to take his fall, though? Gabriel wouldn't put it past him to take credit for someone else's work. Dumping his mistakes on someone else might be right up his alley - but would he do that knowing he was handing out a death sentence?

Gabriel needed to get away from Iodine. His suit was finished, for the most part. He could fight his way out of the building and into the outside world. The Houston Sentinels or the Police could help.