Elemorts

Chapter XXVI - Shifting Tides

"Psychedelics?" Rik exclaimed as they went over the list of supplies they needed. "Isn't that counter-intuitive?"

"Not once the erratic electrical activity has been controlled," Doxonica replied.

"That's right," Arna added. "We are already administering sedatives and anticonvulsants. In addition, the electric currents applied by the augmenter will serve as makeshift electroconvulsive therapy that will further dampen the high-frequency neuronal firing and limit excitotoxic damage. We will eventually need psychedelics to stimulate neuronal receptors, which will improve the behavioral disturbances, and to kick-start the regenerative process of their brains."

"And we need them in significant amounts," Doxonica replied.

"That can be tricky," Rik said, scratching his head. "They are drugs with addictive potential, of course, and will draw unnecessary attention if procured in bulk."

To hear Grandma, that coward could have helped with something like this, Doxonica thought bitterly.

"If you really want something, there is always a way, Rik," Jayrock chimed in. "I might know of some places — and some ways — to arrange that."

"But where?" Rik asked curiously.

"I have a few things I need to ascertain with my contacts," Jayrock said. And by contacts, I mean Gylith, he thought. "Then I'll let you—"

An ear-splitting explosion somewhere cut him off. Before they had time to react, the windows shattered. A shock wave knocked them off their feet while the table toppled over and skidded along the floor. Immediately, an alarm resounded throughout the facility.

"What's going on?" Pinz asked, clutching her head. Puff! she suddenly remembered, to her horror, and stood upright, her heart racing. She had left Puff with an animal care specialist in the vast animal enclosure situated near the entrance. "I need to get to Puff!"

She raced through the shards scattered on the floor toward the now destroyed windows.

Heraclark dashed toward the table and nabbed the blueprints lying on the floor. No one will ever take them away from me, again, he resolved. He proceeded to join Pinz at the window threshold.

Pinz gasped at the sight. It was a war zone in the courtyard below. Several red, armored vehicles had rammed through the entrance gates, most of them equipped with heavy artillery. They fired indiscriminately and blew gaping holes into the buildings. Flanking them were troopers in black-and-red crystalline armor that glinted in the moonlight, firing neon-red crystals at headquarters security. The guards desperately returned fire, aided by the automated turrets at the perimeter which spewed volleys of amaranth energy bolts through the night.

"Are these Wystals? What are Wystals doing here?" Jayrock asked in shock.

"Don't have the faintest idea," Rik replied, pale-faced.

"How did they manage to bypass the outer gates?" Arna asked no one in particular.

Pinz glanced at the enclosure that sat mere yards away from the entrance. "I have to get to Puff!" she yelled and somersaulted into the air.

"Pinz, wait!" Jayrock cried, but it was too late.

As she plummeted, Pinz formed dark-orange feline energy on her soles. She let herself fall a few feet before she bounded off a ledge. As she accelerated downward once again, she sprouted claws from her hands and feet. When the ground drew close, she dug into the curtain wall of the tower, slowing her descent just as the claws tore gashes into it. She leaped off the wall one final time and landed on the ground on her feet.