The Primordials: Lustless Prides (Book Three)

Chapter XV: A Pleasant Discovery (Pt.1)

      After taking out all one thousand of the base's Holders and its Sub Deity, Tymon stood silently, surrounded by the carnage he'd just created, as he looked down at his bloodied hands.

      "You okay?" Za'Fia asked, her voice soft with concern as she approached him.

      "Yeah."

      Za'Fia touched his hands lightly.

      "Did it work?" She inquired.

      "Yeah."

      Tymon continued staring at his hands for a moment before dropping them to his sides, ready to continue the plan.

      Za'Fia gave him a smile of acceptance as she perked up a little.

      "Good, well, you go see what you can find while I set things up for some extra damage," she told him. Afterward, she began zipping around, pulling on pipelines to release gas. He hadn't noticed before, but she had already deactivated the suppression lights.

      Tymon explored the base for a while, searching for any intel he could find. Throughout his search, he discovered the base secretly housed illegal technology and materials to contain and experiment on Michael.

      Somewhere deep within one of the warehouses, he and Za'Fia found a massive, 12-foot by 24-foot reinforced door with multiple mechanics built into it that kept it locked. Even with their combined strength, the door didn't budge as they tried to force it open.

      "Fine," Za'Fia said, slightly annoyed, as she placed her hand on the metal door. The door slowly began to glow red as heat from Za'Fia's hand started to melt part of it until a hole large enough for them to pass through had been created.

      Inside was a pitch-black vault with its walls lined with pure rupture prisms. Two suppression cuffs connected to cindium chains hung from the ceiling, and two were connected to chains bolted to the floor.

      "These restraints are meant to keep him immobile," Za'Fia stated, tugging on one of the chains to test their strength.

      "Come on, I saw an office nearby. Maybe we can learn more from there," Tymon said as he turned and exited the vault.

      When they reached the office, Tymon was lucky enough to spot a computer console that was still unlocked. Approaching the computer, he bet there would be all sorts of information they could use in it. Tymon had no idea what he was looking for, and to his disappointment, many of the files he found needed authorization. However, while clicking through the database, he noticed a tab labeled PRP blinking red. In the tab, he found supplies of PRP meant to be stored at multiple locations, but each place was flashing red too.

      Tymon assumed this meant they were running out of the stuff. In the shipment history, he saw the last shipment of PRP had been sent to Avarice's lab months ago, along with a prototype machine with a series of coded letters as its name.

      "I think I saw that stock while I was held captive," Za'Fia stated, looking over his shoulder. "I didn't get to see the machine, but Avarice had Trevor begin building it before you all showed up. What do you think they're planning with it?"

      "I don't know. Whatever it is, I'm guessing it has something to do with Michael," Tymon answered as he continued scrolling. He saw a shipment of JANUS had also been transported to Avarice's lab the same day but nothing else. The computer was useless now, and Tymon had more questions than answers.

      "Hey, check this out," Za'Fia called from behind him. She stood before a large bulletin board with coded messages, dates, and appointments written on it. But none of that was what she was focused on. Za'Fia was looking at a small map with multiple locations marked on it. At a closer look, Tymon saw one of the locations was labeled Base M in Virginia. Then there were Bases N, D, A, and T. He realized those marks were the locations of the other footholds Avarice's army operated in.

      Tymon looked at the base marked "T" in the Mojave Desert.

      "It's a wild guess, but I bet that's where they're producing their JANUS tablets. There must be a factory built there," he said, tapping the location with his thumb.

      "Think we should inform the others?" Za'Fia asked him. "We could spread out and destroy the bases all at once."

      "No," Tymon answered sharply. "We can't risk everyone getting them caught. We'll continue to do this covertly and destroy everything before it can be used against any of us."

      "Okay, I'm ready to torch everything when you are," Za'Fia responded.

      "Wait, not yet. I'll be right back," Tymon stated before disappearing. After a moment or two, he returned.

      "What did you go do?"

      "I was leaving a message," Tymon said.

      "We're good now," he told her.

      Za'Fia conjured flames to her hand and shot them at desks and walls until everything in the room was ignited. Tymon and Za'Fia stood in the inferno, the blood on their clothes and skin singed off in the intense heat as the flames moved from room to room, interacting with the gases released through the base.

      Once Tymon witnessed the vault engulfed in flames, he felt satisfied enough to leave and found a shadow in an area not yet aflame to shadow travel himself and Za'Fia through. While emerging from a shadow a distance away, they both watched as the base's cloaking shield flickered during a small explosion that shot flames and smoke into the night sky.

      "On to the next?" Za'Fia asked, looking at the map Tymon held.

      "Yeah, the closest seems to be Base D," he remarked, looking at the map.

      "Ooo, it must be an island," she said in amusement before they sped east. Since most of the trip required them to fly once they hit the east coast; it took them nearly four hours using their wings to get to the island undetected.

      The base was located on a desolate island in an area the humans referred to as the Bermuda Triangle. It was surrounded by severe thunderstorms and strong winds with lightning that frequently struck the island. Before they'd even arrived at the island, Tymon's nose had picked up the strong smell of ozone that hung around the island, but that was nothing compared to the pungent odor from the base itself.

       Za'Fia covered her nose as they approached the base. They stayed hidden as they accessed their surroundings.

      "It makes no sense," She commented. "Why would they choose this place to lock up Damien? It's in the center of a cluster of thunderstorms."

      As if nature had heard her question, multiple lightning bolts hit several tall poles that were placed around the base's perimeters. Tymon used omni-vision and focused it to the point he only saw electrical energy. He observed as the energy from the lightning bolts traveled down the poles before being led to several expensive-looking generators. The excess energy was then traveled through other poles connected to the ground.