Chapter 25: Bath Time

Seconds before the Rhinos contacted the Yellows, Eyal sent instructions to the runners to head back through the tunnel and execute Operation Waterfall. A blur of color streamed back and the Rhinos ran through thin air. Eventually they stopped and looked around, uncertain what to do next.

I agonized over the situation. We’d pit our top modifications against their top modifications, and we couldn’t keep up. What would happen in a few weeks? In months? I cursed myself for not spending more time building up our strength. Maybe O was right.

Now we executed our escape plan. As part of preparations, our Sandworms had dug tunnels just under the Hudson River and rigged it with explosives. In what should have been the unlikely event of a retreat, we wanted to block the mutants off from chasing us down the corridor back to the Beacon. The plan was for our teams to retreat down the tunnel and then blow the explosives. The water would block the path of anyone attempting to follow us. Only, that isn’t what happened.

The runners arrived at the river and jumped into the Sandworms. They powered up the diggers and waited for the signal. I waited for Eyal to call the retreat. He didn’t.

Chat activated for everyone, message from Eyal. "Everyone, seal up your helmets."

Eyal then detonated explosives that collapsed the tunnel between our troops and the Beacon. I could heard the explosion through the tunnel. Soon dust pushed up and into our area. This was not part of the plan. We were to wait until the troops crossed that point, then close the tunnel off. Now we were trapped between the cave in and the UN building. Eyal just blocked us all in with no retreat. Did he think this would push the teams to fight harder. A burn the ships strategy?

Eyal sent a message to the runners, “Flood the tunnels.”

And then I realized what he planned.

I sealed my own helmet with barely enough time. A wall of water from the river sped towards our position. Most of us were lifted off our feet and slammed into anything else moving. I felt like a pinball. Fortunately, my armor protected me from any real harm. I hope it did for the others too. I pulled up the chat and asked for the teams to check in.

‘Check’

‘Check’

‘Damn, yeah check’

The numbers looked good, but I calculated that at least fifteen percent of our team had not called back in. They might have already been dead, or unable to close their helmets on time. I scanned through the video feeds from their helmets. The experience disoriented me, as a stream of bodies swirled around each other. Soon the motion slowed, the water having filled the tunnels to the top. Our team settled down to the floor and began to walk around, taking stock of the situation.

The Enhanced Regulators did not fair nearly as well. They might have been modified to fight or run or fly, but none of these were capable of breathing under water.

As we settled to the bottom of the tunnels we watched as corpses floated around us. At first, they twitched and attempted to scramble up for air, only to be greeted by solid rock above. Eventually they began convulsing. Then all movement stopped, and the bodies slowly sank towards the bottom. It depressed me to think of all of these people dying so quickly. Yes, they were trying to kill us, but how many of them felt they had no choice? How many had family members held captive?

Perhaps it was for the best through. We didn't have a way to transform these people back. Even if we could make their bodies look the same from before, they wouldn’t be the same. Often, we found mutated humans who’d experimented with this sort of combination had unexpected changes to their brain functions. It was a lot easier to make a knot than it was to untie a knot.

“Eyal, what do we do now?” I asked.

Eyal detonated another set of walls that blocked tunnels leading down below our own tunnels. He must have had this planned all along, and just not told us. At first I was angry, but as I thought about it I knew why. I would have fought him on this strategy.

The water rushed into the makeshift wells leaving us wet but alive.

“All units, head to the UN building entrances,” Eyal sent.

We clamored over hundreds of dead bodies on our way back up into the UN building. Most belonged to mutants, but there were far too many of our own. I noticed that some had suits torn open from the first wave and pictured the water entering through those holes. I only hoped that most had died before the flood. The thought of drowning our own people took too much from me.

We sent our drones ahead to scout out the situation above. Many Enhanced Regulators stood around the breaks in their basement. They hesitated to jump down into the tunnels after they saw some of their own float up, bodies bloated. When our drones burst up and through them, they hesitated. Unsure whether to continue attacking after watching the flood, they seemed to be waiting for direction.

Eyal knew he didn’t have long to take advantage of their disorientation. He directed the Greens to fire an ungodly number of smoke grenades up into every hole leading into the building. And these weren't ordinary grenades. They could be directed to follow heat signatures. Any of the mutants who remained to fight found themselves choking to death on the ground as smoke poured from the grenades. As they tried to move back, the grenades followed them. The mutants in the back who could still breath lost the will to fight and began running back up through the building. Our drones followed and watched them speed out of the doors of the UN, attempting to flee the entire scene. What they hadn't known was the trap that awaited them.

Charlie loved playing with slime. He says he got hooked on the texture when we was a kid. It became a fidget toy for him, keeping his OCD in check. He would roll the stuff around in his hands, letting it coat his fingers until he couldn't move them. It was kinda cute.

His modified slime was not cute. It activated with movement and heat, essentially turning the energy it received against the person who touched it. I played with an early prototype of it and I found my hand completely immobilized the moment I tried to escape from it.

And what color did he make this terrifying substance? Sparkly pink. Like glitter mixed with pink slime mixed with a horror movie. Charlie dubbed it Pink Pitfall.

Prior to the fight, the teams used the Sandworms to remove the ground just below the sidewalks and grass that surrounded the UN building. Not enough to cause a cave in, but if enough weight pressed down, it would all fall down. Underneath lurked a waist high layer of Pink Pitfall.

As the Enhanced Regulators ran from the building in panic, they began falling into the nasty stuff. More than just Regulators ran from the building now. More ordinary folks who looked like they might work in the building pressed into the escaping crowd. They fell into the slime, barely moving before the material froze around them. When they relaxed the material around them relaxed, giving them a sense of possible freedom. Only when they attempted to move the material froze up again. Those not in the pits started to slow down as they saw others fall in. Some of them would have turned back had it not been for the Rhinos charging to get away, knocking them forward.

Even the Rhinos, especially the Rhinos, found themselves totally immobilized. They were designed to build unstoppable momentum. But from a frozen position they could not get enough movement, and their weight only sank them in further.

Those mutants who could fly and noticed the hazard early enough escaped. They could cause a lot of problems later, but there just wasn't enough people or resources to go after them right now.

And like that, it ended. Eyal and I met up at the first floor of the UN building and looked around. I hadn’t been in many battles, so I wondered how we could have gone from almost dead to total victory in minutes. But it was a bittersweet victory. Our original plan had counted on pushing the majority of the mutants out of the building and into the Pink Pitfall. We could only hope that the building contained no more surprises, as our numbers and our spirits were greatly reduced.

Eyal looked around, worry on his face.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I expected a lot more Regulators.”

“More?! We almost didn’t make it. How many more did you think they had?”

Eyal paused and pointed up ahead. "Our team found Charlie, three doors up."

Eyal and twenty others surrounded us as we beelined it for our old friend.

As we jogged towards Charlie I asked, "What about John?” If they didn't stop John, he might just regroup and start again.

Eyal shook his head. "Drones completed their sweep of the building, looks empty."

Not ok. "Can we review the exterior footage of the building, maybe see where he went?"

Eyal nodded and sent the message to the team to begin.

As we hurried through the hallway, Charlie emerged from a doorway. His nose covered in dry blood, he smiled his goofy little smile.

I ran up and hugged him.

Charlie noticed the water dripping from all of us.

"Wet," he said.

I laughed. "Yes Charlie, very wet." My smile melted away when I looked over at Eyal. He frowned. That was never a good sign.

"What is it?" I asked.

Eyal repeated what he had heard, "We found the footage. John left with hundreds of his Enhanced just as we breached the basement."

Hundreds? But where did they go? Are they going to race back in now? Was this entire thing an ambush?

A chat came through from Sara, "James, we are under attack. Get back here."