Bring The Heat

60. Midnight's Stalemate Pt 1 (CB ARC 9)

-(JANUARY 27TH, 13 HOURS AFTER COMPOUND BREACH)-

Wren sat curled up in the corner of the medbay, fists clenched to her head. Her eyes ached from crying, and her throat was dry and scratchy.

She had locked herself away in her mind, trying to escape the reality of the situation she was in. She was dreaming of being anywhere else right now; watching movies with Tenson, training with Rebound, chilling with Cece... being looked after by Robin.

That last thought stung the most in her mind. If she were here right now... "Get up, Wrennie. We're gonna get out of here." she'd say, and then explain a couple of things Wren didn't understand, but would pretend to so she looked smart.

But Robin wasn't here right now. She'd left, left Wren all alone, and now look at how things had turned out. Wren found the air around her was feeling a little colder.

There was a tap on her shoulder.

"You should drink. Small sips, take it slow." BM said, handing her the water Rebound had brought her earlier. He shuffled to the wall, and sat down next to her cautiously, sucking his teeth and clutching at his side as he did.

Wren took a swig moodily, but it didn't seem to help her throat at all. Gulping it down actually made it hurt worse.

"Small sips, Wren. I need you to try and calm down, ok?" BM reiterated.

"How am I meant to be calm right now? I don't have Bring The Heat, I feel so... naked, there's a killer fucking robot outside, and you're gonna die! And then I'm gonna die! I've been alive for, like, a month! That's so unfair..."

"We're not gonna die, Wren," BM tutted, "and someone's gonna come and help soon. I promise you."

Wren sighed deeply, not believing him at all.

"And I wouldn't worry about not having your ability." BM continued, "I mean, in your case you don't remember it, but we've all lived a decent while without our powers. I only got mine when I was 22. Even if you don't remember it, you probably lived for quite a while without your power, and you're one of the strongest people I know."

Wren snorted sarcastically. "Of course I'm the strongest. I do push-ups."

BM laughed, and put an arm around her.

"It's late. Try and get some sleep, ok? I'll do the same, but don't worry, I'm a light sleeper. If anything happens, I'll be up to protect you!"

Even though he was pretty badly injured, Wren found a sense of safety and security in the idea of BM looking after her. And so, she rested her head on his shoulder, and began to doze off, dreaming of her friends...

-(X9)-

X9 listened to every word the two exchanged from outside the medbay, and if he had a cohesive face, would've grinned evilly. Ingrid had really drilled all that mental torture stuff into him - the best time to pull out the rug from under someone is the moment they begin to feel comfortable laying on it. So he waited, and waited, and waited for the two to fall asleep... and eventually, he heard nothing but silence and light breathing, and pressed his hand to the wall. Even though the targets were sitting against the far left wall, his sensors were impeccable, and he could feel both of their heartbeats slowing as they drifted off.

If he were capable of thought outside of his programming, X9 would've wondered why Corey didn't just make a living with his mastery of robotics instead of being the advisor for some random woman, but he wasn't, so he didn't.

But now was the moment to strike! X9 approached the door, ready to really shake his targets up, terrify them, make it so that their final moments were drawn out and full of broken mental horror and-

He ran out of power. His last thoughts before he shut down were about how Vertigo would surely be back soon to charge him soon, and that would be the end of the targets! But for now, he could only wait, resting dormant in the doorway to the medbay.

-(VERTIGO AND COREY)-

Vertigo zoomed down the hallway. Running in his wind tunnels was easier than normal, as he became a lot lighter when he did, but still it had been hours, and his feet were starting to ache.

Just down the hall from him, Corey emerged from a wall, and began to cross over through another before Vertigo stopped him.

"Corey! Jackass, I've been looking for you for almost an hour now... god, this place is a maze."

Covering his still hurt ego with a mask of confidence, Corey turned slowly and carelessly to Vertigo.

"Well? What is it?"

"I just think we need to consider that maybe the targets snuck out the hatch at some point. I can't find 'em anywhere!"

Corey shook his head.

"Well, surely if they were trying to leave, you would've caught them in the halls by now, hmm? Or are you not doing your job properly? Look, they're probably holed up somewhere waiting for someone to come and save them. The blueprints showed no other way out of here than the hatch, so if you're feeling lazy, go doze off by the ladder."

Vertigo frowned angrily. Unsurprisingly, Corey still wasn't taking this seriously. No wonder that little girl had got the better of him...

-(CECE AND MARIAH)-

Both Cece and Mariah were waiting in hiding, under a desk and in a cramped little cabinet respectively. They both thought about their objectives; Mariah thought about how she could make her way back to the hatch, even if she couldn't remember the way she came, and Cece tried to mentally map out her path to the old security room. But each time either of them felt ready to make a move, they'd hear the whistling of Vertigo's wind tunnels or the clacking of Corey's heels pass by, and would recede into hiding again.

Cece grew more anxious with each second that passed. There were more attackers, and they could be killing everyone else right now. She had to protect Rebound, Wren, and everyone! It was her duty to reach the security room to activate the second layer protocol, and to do so as soon as possible!

Mariah looked down at her hand mystically. Her wonder poked through her fear repeatedly when she thought about what she had done a couple of hours ago... did she have a power? She seemed to have completely stunned that guy in the blink of an eye, with just the palm of her hand... and looking at it now, etched into her palm was a strange black symbol; whilst she was a little rusty, it seemed to be the Korean character for 'light'. Whatever it meant, it was a pretty cool tattoo, she thought.