Ch2 "The board? The board wants to see me? That's a surprise….what could have prompted that?" Percy inquired. "I think it would be better to hear it from them" he said smoothly. "There's a limousine waiting outside already."
Of course there is, Percy thought.
He sighed,Whatever this was, it wouldn't improve by pretending he still had the luxury of choice.
"Well, lead the way" Percy said at last.
"How's the missus and the kids, Prof?" "Don't bother with small talk…." Percy spat back. "Very well then." The man said ending the convo.
Outside, The limousine waited at the curb, engine idling, windows tinted enough to discourage peering or public curiosity. The driver stepped out the moment they approached, opening the rear door without a word.
They drove for nearly forty minutes. Long enough for the city to thin, for streetlights to give way to utility corridors and anonymous stretches of concrete that never appeared on public maps. Percy watched landmarks disappear, replaced by access tunnels and reinforced overpasses he remembered a bit too well. "So," Percy said eventually, breaking the silence. "You're not taking me to the chamber."
"No," the man replied. "Not today."
The limousine slowed as it entered a tunnel disguised as flood control infrastructure. The lights inside dimmed, then shifted to a sterile white as the car descended deeper.
They were Underground Now.
They emerged into a cavernous bay carved directly into bedrock. Armed personnel waited along the perimeter, not overly hostile but more like prepared. The limo rolled to a stop. when the door opened, Percy smelled metal, coolant, and something faintly electrical. "I didn't realize They'd reopened this site," Percy said quietly as he stepped out. The man hesitated before replying "They never closed it." That was enough to confirm his fear.
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Percy's footsteps echoed in a way that suggested immense space hidden behind narrow corridors. As they moved deeper, he began to recognize the layout. "This was the research annex," Percy said. "Pre-RARS."
"Yes."
"I was always against it to begin with, I even argued against it's continuation."
"And lost," the man said, "that's not the only reason I left" Percy replied. They stopped before a Reinforced observation wall. Beyond it, a laboratory floor stretched far and wide. They were Pods, and what looked to be humans in them. "What are those pods?, more importantly what's in th- are those humans??". Percy said as he moved In closer to inspect, the pods each had a tab screen next to them:
D-TIER GENETIC SOURCE — STABLE
C-TIER GENETIC SOURCE - UNSTABLE
"You're experimenting on Awakeners? Not completely experimenting is it, you're dissecting them?"
"Reducing it to transferable components if you will. To help us understand 'it' better" a familiar voice corrected.
The lights dimmed behind the glass. Glass Reflections changed transparent showing off seven figures standing on the opposite side. "Hope you don't mind this"
"The board prefers distance, no?" Percy said "interesting that you abandoned it for this"
"This is not exactly a discussion we could have remotely," the center member said. "You have history here, Professor….or rather doctor hale?"
"I don't go by doctor anymore, just professor."
"Call yourself whatever you want, it doesn't change the past. Moving on…." With A gesture, a huge screen lowered down.
"You see the Awakeners, they're more of tolerating this whole system we have for them…" "they're complying" another member continued, "so you're scared, you're scared of when they finally decide to enforce their power without your control" Percy said.
A murmur of acknowledgment passed through the seven.
"That," another voice said, "is precisely the concern."
The image on the screen shifted again.
This time it showed something different. Purposeful. "What if we had our own army of Awakeners, one WE could control, an ar-" "an army that can rival the actual Awakeners incase they rebel" Percy interrupted, "how exactly are you going to do that, it's not like you can replicate the meteor shower, you don't even know how or what gives- n-no you've figured it out, haven't you?"
The center member stood up and walked toward the glass. Up close, He raised one hand to the observation wall.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then thin lines of pale light bloomed beneath the bottom half of the glass wall, spiraling outward like veins. The entire wall began to recede into the ground allowing an opening for The Board to go walk into the lab from the other side.
"We wouldn't really say we 'figured' it out but when the meteor shower burned up in the atmosphere it released a particular microscopic matter, we call it the baryonic residue. It still exists in the atmosphere and everyone inhales it, through skin, through hydration. when it enters the human system, it bonds with it." The center member continued as he walked up to Percy. "But if that's true why hasn't everyone awakened then? Unless…" "yes doctor, quite the intuition. The residue stays dormant even after bonding, that is until a condition is met, we don't know what that condition is specifically but our guess would be the residue gets supercharged with adrenaline, that's when it actually alters the DNA, allowing people to awaken." Percy glanced at the pods, then the screen before looking back at the center member with a look of confusion. "If it's adrenaline, why are you dissecting Awakeners then? Why not just pump them with adrenaline and try to force one to awaken? Wait….your guess? My guess is you already tried pumping with adrenaline and that obviously didn't work which is what led you to dissecting so why not just lead with that instead of the guessing game?" Percy added as he was starting to sound annoyed. "Seems like you're in the loop now doctor, we'd rather not dabble with the likes of rogue doctors, black market scientists so this is where you come in" Another board member said. "(Even if I don't agree they'll go ahead with it anyways. if I don't oversee it they'll either do it themselves or get some shit scientist to half ass it creating even more problems, rush results, ignore whatever consequences and whatever they create might be unstable, if they don't have restraints they might just go rogue, I wish this wasn't sprung up on me like this….)" while deep in thought Percy heard something that snapped him back to reality. "Think of kids doctor, don't you want the world to be a safer place for them?a place where there's no worry about when or if all the Awakeners turn against us." The center member said with almost a grin on his face. "The k-kids?….(no, my family is no where near Rainstrum so I see no way they could have gotten to them but the board has 'ways'. I haven't heard from them in 2 days, I really need to check-in to put my worries at ease and if I do agree to this, I might be able to keep an eye and even get some inside info.)" Percy thought to himself "(and who knows maybe I can even find a way to awaken myself. with powers then I can protect myself and my family.)" Percy finally emerged from his thoughts before answering "I'll work on this project but it'll be on my terms."