The Alchemist's Children: Panacea
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Déjà vu washed over Callen as they made the final turns towards his father's office. He pushed open the rotting door, and it fell from it's hinges. But, the room wasn't the homey place he remembered, the office was in shambles. Time and goblins had turned the place into a pile of junk. However, the desk still stood, though most of the wood had been torn away. Luckily, the metal beneath it was strong enough to withstand the gremlin's best attacks. Thus, it's advanced skeleton still remained.
Callen didn't waste time on the scattered things; he went directly to the desk. He hoped it still worked. Nervously, he looked for the on switch and felt the cross move in his pocket. A hidden drawer slid open and inside rested the control gloves for the motion interface. He pulled on the gloves and the monitors flashed with light. He felt his memories guide him, reminding him exactly where to go. He opened the program that controlled the stasis chamber that he had seen his father place the canister in during his dream. His heart pounded with excitement and the chamber hissed open, while Niknak stirred on the floor.
"Goblins!" Sarge roared from the hall.
"Buy us time!" Kusari yelled. She eyed the canister and drew her swords.
"That has to be what we are looking for," Ania said. "It's panacea. It's colors..."
Callen nodded and knelt next to the drawer. Inside, he saw the stasis chamber had a separate power source from the facility, and somehow it had kept it safe for ten years. "So, how do I administer it?"
"I don't know, grab it and let's go. I'm sure you, Felix, and Dr. Brewer can figure it out." Ania climbed on to one of the bookshelves and began using her knife to open the panel covering one of the air ducts. "I think we can crawl through here, Callen, when you're done. Hurry."
"Come get some!" Sarge taunted at the goblins. His guns begin spitting a wall of bullets.
Callen picked up the canister, and a voice came from the computer. "Hello, son." Something said as a light came on from inside the rubble. Without hesitation, Ania pulled back some debris, and a damaged computer screen flickered with their father's image. "Things didn't go as I had planned and I didn't get home on Christmas morning. For that, I am truly sorry. If you are watching this, then you have made it here as I hoped you would. I hope your mother is with you, and I love her and your sister dearly. Now, I don't have much time, so I'll get to the point. You now have a cure for your cancer, however because of what happened here, I was unable to check its integrity. It may not be entirely stable."
"Dad." Callen sighed. He glanced at the canister. Inside was a dark steel colored viscous fluid that moved as if it was alive.
"Master?" Niknak muttered. "No fail master." He muttered, but none noticed.
The recording continued. "Things got bad here very quickly. Biocore's cybernetics research facility, I'm sure you know by now, was subject to a cyber-attack which sent it into a critical state and wreaked havoc on the facility's systems. After the cyber-attack had taken over the system, the facility was infiltrated by nalkori. I activated thousands of research subjects that were being kept in stasis to help defend the compound, but I was too late. The virus had also corrupted a large number of the test subjects, whom I had not anticipated, but upon this realization I managed to get an anti-virus program in some of them. As I worked, I noticed that the corruption took place because of similarities between them and the nalkori. To my surprise, they were along the same iterative engineered evolution, with the test subjects of this facility being the lab rats for the more far more advanced nalkori combat units. Unfortunately, I was unable to determine more. There were too many questions." The image flickered as it revealed Alex glance out the door into the hallway for attackers. The sounds of battle could be heard.
"What's a nalkori?" Ania asked.
"I'm not sure," Callen said. "I guess there whatever physically attacked this facility in conjunction with a virus."
Alex's image returned to the screen, and he began loading rounds into a pistol. "Callen, I did what I could in what time I had to react, and the virus was my focus. I had to try to regain control of the facility. I slowed it down by trapping it in my homunculus and programed an amulet to remove it from him. It seemed it was some sort of entity that was the summation of many individual viruses resulting in a singular dominant consciousness, but I would need more time to confirm that. Regardless, I didn't need to do anything but provide it an opportunity to infest a body in order to trap it as if it wanted to be there. I, unfortunately, didn't have time to figure out what the virus' purpose was, but I have my theories and I know that this thing is not something that should ever be free. By now, the virus should be removed and he has guided you here, as I asked him too and you must..."
"No!" Niknak roared. The ropes snapped like they were nothing and leaped through the computer projector screen with a knife in his hand sending shards of glowing glass everywhere. His shoulder crashed into Callen as his fist with his drawn knife missed and almost cut into Kusari. They fell backward into the bookshelf causing Callen to drop the canister. "No, bad, bad!" He jumped to his feet.
He knocked Callen back to the ground as he tried to stand up. He blocked a low strike from Kusari with his arm. Blood flowed, but it didn't phase him. He jammed a dagger into Kusari's flesh. "No! Bad, bad, bitch!" “ He drew another knife.
Callen reached for the canister as he was distracted, but Kusari stepped in the way to counter another strike from Niknak.
Niknak used his pair of knives to pushed Kusari’s blade into the air and slashed his second knife across her stomach. She tried to evade, but Niknak was much faster. She counter attacked, but Niknak jumped backward. Her strike went wild cutting deep into Callen's left arm as he grabbed the canister. Niknak stepped in and head-butted Kusari breaking her nose and dropping her to her knee. Callen backed up cradling his bloody arm.
"Bad, bad!" He screamed. He tightened his hand on his knife and stepped in between Callen and Kusari. "No...master no want." He tightened his grips on his knives and looked between the two of them, paying careful attention to Kusari as she got back to her feet. She readied herself for another attack with one blade over her head and the other poised to tear open someone's abdomen with a single strike.
Niknak bent down and picked up the canister. As he stood, Kusari took the opportunity to strike.
As Niknak dodged Kusari's strike, a chair, pushed by Ania, slid in behind him and he fell. His knife hit the wall next to Callen as he fell to the ground letting go of the canister.
Callen grabbed it with his left hand and pulled his gun, leveling it at Niknak. "My dad doesn't want me dead!" He yelled. "You must still be infected with that Virus!" His blood dripped on the canister. The fluid became excited as it stretched for his blood. "Huh?" He looked at the canister and in that moment Niknak tackled him again as both of Kusari's blades whistled over them.
They fell to the ground. Callen's pistol slid across the floor. He managed to keep control of the canister as they fell. He had it between the floor and his left hand. In the fall, he smashed his forehead on the floor. The world started spinning.
The weight of Niknak on top of him was suddenly removed. There was a loud smash into the wall. As Callen's vision refocused, he saw Kusari standing over him holding her bleeding wound.
"Stop!" Ania yelled, but neither Kusari nor Niknak listened. "I got it open!" The panel fell to the ground. "Let's go! Callen, get Sarge out of that mech so he can fit!" She swore when she noticed no one was listening.
Niknak roared and pulled another knife. Kusari made three quick slices followed by a downward thrust as he closed. The blood sprayed against the wall. The blade of one blade pierced through Niknak dropping him to his knees. He grunted and twisted bending Kusari's sword making it impossible for her to remove quickly. He screamed and fell to the ground. His electronic eye went dark.
She watched Niknak for a
second to make sure he didn't get up before falling to her knee. Then she looked towards Callen. She took a breath but fell to her knee before she said a word.
"It's bad." Ania as she hopped down from the shelf. "Her colors are fading. I got an exit, let's go!"
"This time it isn't electronic." Kusari gasped. "I don't think I can make it."
"Ah..." Ania stuttered. "Umm...we...ah...look." She pointed at Niknak.
Kusari's blade began to disintegrate as it sat bent inside of Niknak's body. The slices on his body then began to fill with a copper metallic fluid. The copper came from inside Niknak's body and moved with purpose. The copper pulled his wounds together, as if it were healing him. His eye began blinking. His hands tightened on his knife and he sprang up towards Kusari and Callen with his two knives poised for the kill.
Kusari still had some spring in her step. She tried to block but wasn't quick enough. She blocked one knife, but not the other. The knife cut into her arm severing her bicep. She staggered and the two of them fell on Callen.
He pushed the two them off with his feet, pinning Niknak under her body.
She slumped on Niknak and reached for Callen's gun.
Niknak kicked Kusari off him and jumped to his feet. Callen stood, but Niknak grabbed his arm as he stood up. He pulled hard causing Callen to smash his head into the desk, and the two of them evaded a wave of throwing stars. A single shot echoed through the room. Callen landed hard on the floor and the broken container. The bullet had shattered the container. Niknak grabbed another knife, and turned towards Kusari, but his attention was pulled towards Callen.
From the shattered container, the living fluid moved like a swarm of serpents into towards Callen's bloody arm. His flesh rippled as the tentacles of metal fluid tunneled through into his skin. He screamed, but no sound crossed his lips. Instead, he watched the liquid tendrils weave through his arm with their frozen touch. His world went dark to the chatter of Sarge's machine guns barely holding goblin onslaught at bay.