Bring The Heat

73. Recovery Period 3

-(THE PREVIOUS DAY)-

'Second Layer Protocol... Second Layer Protocol... Second Layer Protocol...'

The words danced around Cece's mind as she tried to focus. Just behind her, the repeating scream of the air being torn as Vertigo threw himself over and over at Mariah, before being stopped at the last moment by a loud crack and flash.

The old security interface was slow and mostly unresponsive, and Cece's frustration with only grew and grew by the second. But there it was - the command!

With no hesitation, Cece inputted it, and breathed a sigh of relief as she heard generators in adjacent rooms start to run.

There was a sharp pain in her gut.

Looking down, she saw a hand seemingly protruding straight through the control panel - holding a large knife, planted deep into her stomach.

Cece just stared down in confusion. Her stomach screamed, but it felt somewhat faint. Almost instinctively, her body began to fold, and she slowly put her hands around the handle of the knife, only for it to be torn from her grasped as it was ripped from her body.

Splotches of blood smacked into the floor as Cece fell forward, catching herself on the desk and clutching her wound. Still, nothing had really registered yet, and her brain was working overtime to catch up.

Suddenly, the knife shot out again from the wall in front of her! Snapping back to her senses, Cece caught the hand holding it only inches from the blade splitting straight through her face, and staggered back feebly as she held it away.

The disembodied hand just kept on pushing - until abruptly, it stopped. The pain was just now setting in, and it distracted Cece to the point where she didn't notice a second hand materializing down below.

Corey dropped the knife, catching it in his other hand, and plunged it once more into Cece's gut.

From this strike, Cece tumbled backwards, slamming to the ground as she groaned weakly in pain.

Hearing this, with Vertigo gone, Mariah turned and screamed at the sight, before raising her hand to blast the attacker with light, only to watch as the hands headed back to the wall and dematerialized to follow Vertigo.

"Shit! Cece! Cece?"

Her concerned exclamations were met only with more pained groans as more and more blood kept pouring out of Cece. Freaking out, Mariah grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to get her lucid.

"What do I do? Cece!? What do I do!?"

"F... flash me..." Cece gurgled, in a strained voice.

"Uh... I'm not gay, but... if it's your dying wish-"

"Your power..."

"Oh! Yeah! Of course..."

Mariah let off a flash at Cece, and just as predicted, the blood froze in her wounds temporarily. Grabbing the statue-like Cece, Mariah started to drag her out of the basement, paranoid that Corey could've stayed back and attacked from any direction, but those attacks never came.

After about 10 minutes, when they finally reached the hatch, Mariah let Cece unfreeze momentarily.

"Do your gravity thing! I'm gonna get you to BM!"

With a weak moan, Cece activated her field, and Mariah floated up the ladder to swing open the hatch. But Cece was weak - and her field reflected this, as the hatch was still heavy. Mariah pushed and pushed until it felt like every muscle in her body would snap. Unable to lift the hatch, she let out a desperate sob.