SIGN 1

Jericho and Lilith find themselves walking in silence down one of the many dilapidated hallways of the Helix Towers. Having recovered from the ordeal of finding out the final fate of his mother and what Seon had ultimately been subjecting him to during their endless experiments, he now felt drained emotionally and physically. 

Jericho wasn't up for much talking at all, he just wanted to keep heading towards their goal the sooner they got it the sooner they could leave.

The thought struck him; how would they leave? Jericho has since lost his armour that offered some protection and what Lilith was dressed in wouldn't offer any safety from the cold of the Antarctic wasteland. Now that he looked at her, he couldn't quite figure out what she was even dressed in. It seemed to be some kind of skin-tight diving suit but with metal plating on her arms and legs with ports for cables dotted about. She covered her top half with a large makeshift scarf yes, but nothing that you would consider warm. Maybe they were well and truly screwed.

Lilith felt as though Jericho had somehow gotten even quieter and looked back at him. She noticed he was staring at her the two locked eyes and she broke the silence "What"?

Jericho snapping out of his doubt-filled trance, realised he has just been staring at her quickly moved to say "Thanks again for... Before... You're good at Umm" Jericho couldn't find the words for what he wanted to say. After all, what did she do? It didn't seem like anything, he cried and she was just, 'just their letting me, but kindly?' he thought to himself.

"It's ok I have excellent bedside manner; I know how to take care of my patients," Lilith said with a warm smile. 

"Right, that's it thanks," Jericho smiled.

"So where are we going now?" Lilith asked to keep Jericho's mind active and away from what had happened earlier.   

"We are looking for a store room, it should be full of medical supplies, different kinds of experimental medicines, one of them is very important to my mission, it's something called All Cure". Jericho answered Lilith, he didn't see much need to keep lying to her or hiding anything from her, she knew more about him than most at this point. He just needed to make sure the truth fit into her view of the world.

"All Cure, I guess the name is self-explanatory for what this thing does."  Lilith remarked with a hint of sarcasm. Jericho smiled "yes if I had of named it, I would have been a bit more cryptic, but lucky for us they weren't". Replied Jericho.

"Who is they? Anyway? You keep talking about them but you never actually say their name?" Lilith suddenly asked.

Without thinking Jericho started to answer "Seo..." But caught himself, thoughts started racing through his head "Lilith is still an experiment of Seon, what would she do if I told her that Seon is the enemy?'" "Section 13" he quickly corrected himself, "they are a small research group that works for the highest bidder. The things they work on here are of great interest to high command."

Maybe he didn't trust Lilith as much as he thought he could after all.

"I see, never heard of that before, although I'm just a grunt compared to you, so there are probably a lot of things about the enemy that I don't know," said Lilith.

"How much do you know about the enemy?" Asked Jericho.

Lilith stopped and thought for a second "I don't know", she said puzzled. "What do you mean? Like you know who we are fighting right?" Pressed Jericho. 

"I don't know" strained Lilith, her eyes began to dart around like she was looking for an answer. Soon tears began to leak out, and her hands started to tremble.

Jericho grabbed her hands and spoke softly "hey, hey it's ok like you said there is plenty you don't know about the enemy and it's ok, you don't need to know it all". Lilith looked at Jericho, but she wasn't looking at him but rather through him just staring at nothing he just happened to be in the way.

"Right" she finally responded after a short pause. She whipped away the tears, looking slightly embarrassed, Jericho changed the subject to get away from whatever that was. "So, the village, seemed like a nice place, do you have any interesting stories from your time there?"

"Huh, oh yeah, heaps I have plenty, especially the kids, they can be a real hand full." Lilith cheerfully responded. "Oh, really I have my own stories about looking after kids, what are yours like?" Ask Jericho.

They both began swapping stories some funny some sad, mostly nowhere nothing stories things that felt nostalgic to hear. A good distraction, but maybe too good as they both were ignoring the little alarm bells alerting them to the other presents around them.

Although not that it was entirely their fault Marcus' body seemed to be created for this sort of thing. Using the memories given to him by Olsen it wasn't too hard to track down Lilith and Jericho. He knew their last position, where they would be heading and what they smelled like so tracking them was a breeze. It also helped they kept talking, most of the followers don't talk anymore so human voices stuck out like a sore thumb.

As far as staying hidden that was the simple part, thanks to the shape of his hands he could cling to the plumbing and light fixtures tracing the ceilings with ease. Coupled with his jet-black appearance you couldn't pick him out from the dark corners he hid in. Jericho had even glanced at him when he thought he heard a noise only to see nothing but the darkness. 

The real genius came from the way his body was built, the sea of waves and mounds of flesh that covered him trapped his scent making it only a slight hint of salt in the air. Being surrounded by rusted metal and dripping sea water the smell was unnoticeable even to the most sensitive of noses. His skull, which was larger than any humans by leaps and bounds, give his brain waves plenty of dampening that mask his beta waves. Maybe a trained Psychic could pick up on it if they were looking for it, but Lilith? No way it would barely be a twitch on her scalp.

All he needed to do was stay out of sight for a couple more minutes and Olsen would contact him for an update then his job would be done.

The thought crossed his mind that maybe he could ask Olsen for a favour, like having Jericho's body so that he could have a more normal appearance again. The thought of a normal body, made his heart thump harder in his chest.

Bang, bang.

"This God damn tail!" He said to himself as it flung around bouncing off the pipes.

Hearing the loud clattering and shrill voice Lilith and Jericho spun around looking for the source of the noise. Marcus knowing his cover was blown, decided it was time to show himself. He needed to buy time until Olsen would contact him, what better way to do so than with diplomacy.  

"Wait, I'm coming down, don't shoot," he said eyeing the gun in Jericho's hand. He had never been shot before and didn't know how well his body could handle that kind of damage, but today wasn't the day to find out.

"Who are you?" Shouted Jericho, his eyes darting around looking for the source of the sound. He couldn't see anything in the darkness, the sound was coming from the ceiling, but there was nothing there. Tempted he thought about using his Release, but before he could give it much thought, he noticed a mass of darkness expanding from a pipe and falling to the ground like a massive drop of liquid.

"What is that?" Lilith asked Jericho, her eyes transfixed on the thing before them. 

"I'm not sure, but stay behind me and be ready to run just in case" answered Jericho. Lilith nodded in approval.

Jericho clicked off the safety and aimed squarely at what he thought might be the creature's chest. "Last chance who is there?" He demanded.

"Wait, wait, I'm coming closer just don't shoot me when you see me" Marcus pleaded.

As Marcus stepped into the little light of the hallway, his massive rat-like shape was revealed to the two figures standing before him.

Jericho unaffected by the reveal stood his ground unshaken, this was something he was prepared for, his mind racing with thoughts on what to do next, what could this Gen X's powers be?

"Is that a man in a rat costume?" Lilith's question cut through the tension like a hot knife through butter.

Jericho's thoughts completely derailed by the ludicrous question, he snapped "What? No are you blind..." Catching himself "It's clearly a mouse," he said through gritted teeth. 

"What no how could it be a mouse? The tail is too thick" argued back Lilith.

Stuck in it now Jericho had to keep up this stupid conflict he had unwittingly started. "No but look at his cute, vest and pants, you don't dress up the rat to look cute".

"Umm you are right they are cute; wait do you think it's meant to be a Possum?" Relented Lilith.

"Actually, yes I think you're right it might be a Possum" agreed Jericho.

In silence all three stared at each other. Marcus wildly confused as to what was happening began to speak "what..."

"Why is there a man dressed as a Possum hanging out in a cave?" Lilith interrupted.

"Good question? Maybe he will answer?" responded Jericho.

"What is her problem?" Ask Marcus.

Not getting an answer just Jericho staring at him with dead eyes his head shifting back and forth ever so slightly telling him not to ask any more about it.

"What do we do now?" asked Marcus to Jericho, this was a little odd, why would this Gen X want to talk? So far, all the others had attacked on-site, why was this one sneaking around and hiding from them? Looking at its clothes Jericho guessed this one was as intelligent as the last one maybe more so, it seemed to be more well-spoken.

"How about we talk for a little bit, you can put the gun down I won't attack you or do anything, I'm just not looking to get shot" Marcus continued in a calm tone.

"If it's all the same to you I don't plan on letting my guard down around a stranger." Jericho spat back.

"Very well, could you at least take your finger off the trigger?" Marcus asked.

Jericho nodded and moved his finger from the trigger and rested it on the guard, keeping his eyes and the barrel of the gun pointed at Marcus.

A whisper from behind him "Jericho?"

"It's ok for now, I want to at least hear what he wants" he reassured Lilith. 

"I appreciate it, now I was wondering what business two outsiders have in my home?" Marcus asked coldly.

"It's none of yours," Jericho responded.

"No, I think it is very much my business, after all, what did you say you were after? The 'All Cure' was it?" Marcus teased.

Jericho didn't respond outside of a slight frown; Lilith however broke the silence. "You heard that? We talked about that hours ago how long have you been following us?"

"Well, my odd friend, these ears aren't just for show..." Lilith's obvious confusion by his sentence was distracting, did this woman think he was wearing a costume? Even sheltered nobles deep in Seon territory knew a Gen X when they saw one. Had she been born in a cave?  

"Do you know anything about it?" Jericho asked, drawing Marcus's attention.

"I should say so, I worked on it... Well, it's storage protocols more accurately". Marcus replied in a slight condescending tone.

"So, you know where it is stored then?" Lilith questioned.

"I do" replied Marcus.

"Good, then you will take us there" Jericho demanded, emphasising his sentence by clicking the hammer of the gun back and shifting his finger so it hovered over the trigger.

"I will" quickly answered Marcus in a way that almost interrupted Jericho's threat.

"Wait you will?" Stuttered Jericho.

"That simple?" Lilith followed up.

"Well, of course, I said I don't want to get shot, didn't I?" Marcus stated as a matter of fact.

"But, you're Seon? Don't you... well, you know hate people like us?" Jericho snapped back.

"I'm hardly Seon anymore, I'm more like you am I not? Also, I might have been Seon, but I'm not stupid, paying for your morals with my life is a fool's game". Said Marcus.

"Now with that out of the way why don't we head out? Lots of nasties around here, best to not let them find us" he continued.

"What about Olsen?" Jericho asked, as Marcus moved closer.

"Olsen? Well, what she doesn't know, won't hurt her, she only comes to us when she wants something and she hasn't wanted anything for a long time." Marcus responded in a calm manner.  

"Not Mother Tree then?" Jericho pressed.

"No, not Mother Tree" Marcus responded in what seemed like a smile or what his misshapen face could pull off as one. 

"Ok, go ahead" Jericho gestured.

"Wait you're just going to trust him now?" Lilith whispered to Jericho.

"Not at all, but we don't have much of a choice, unfortunately. Besides I don't believe he is a fanatic; he's more so just looking out for himself. I don't trust him, just trust his selfishness."

"Oh, I see... Jericho what's Seon?"

Jericho felt his breath catch in his throat. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you asked this guy if he was with Seon, and I swear you said something like that to Doctor Sam, I was wondering what it was."

Realising Lilith had no conception of Seon, it meant that they must not have programmed her to be loyal to them. Jericho breathed a sigh of relief. "Seon is the real 'Them', Section 13 is a part of it but Seon is the real deal, they are the ones making our lives hell."

"Even the enemy forces that we are fighting?" She asked grabbing Jericho's shoulder for a subconscious sense of support.

"Yes, in a way they are directly responsible for what is happening here." Jericho turned to look her in the eye to reassure her.

"Does this change much? Knowing the name of the people responsible for your suffering?" He continued.

Lilith paused for a moment, "Not really I guess, but it does help to put a name on the thing we are fighting, at least I know who I should be cursing when I can’t sleep at night’.

Jericho smiled, he couldn't tell if she was joking or not, but the smile that punctuated her sentence was enough reassurance he needed to trust her.

"Ok well, let's not keep our friend waiting any longer" Jericho motioned his head towards Marcus who was stand a couple of feet away, no doubt listening in on their conversation.

"Oh, don't mind me, I have all the time in the world after all there isn't anywhere else for me to go." Marcus gesturing to the empty hallway around them.

"Of course, mate, thanks for the courtesy, I'm sure the threat of being shot had nothing to do with it. Now if you could show us to our room." Jericho waved his gun in the direction of the hallway in front of him.

Marcus smiled and rolled his eyes as he turned to lead the pair further down the hall. 

After a short time of walking in silence and getting closer to their destination Marcus was getting a little nervous. He was doing as Jericho asked and was taking the pair to the location of an All Cure supply, after all really, he didn't want to get shot. But what happens if they get there before Olsen contacts him? Is he meant to make up some excuse as to why he should continue to hang around these two mutants? Will they try and kill him when he is no longer useful?

His heart rate was beginning to race, the panic was setting in, and he was never one for improvisation. Then the hairs on his neck began to perk up and the pressure in his skull increased.

"Finally," he thought "Mother, I have them, tell Golem to meet me at medical Storage Unit 16".

As the pressure released from his skull, he swore he could hear giddy laughter echoing in his mind.

Sign 2

As they trudged down further into the dark damp cave, Lilith couldn't believe the strangeness of the situation she found herself in. She never went on field missions, now here she was with a stranger, who is telling her the secrets of the war she has been fighting for years. How many years was it again? Too many, she told herself not wanting to think about it.

The incident with the bear was also unnerving, and now that they have met this Marcus fellow, dressed as a rat in a secret cave it all felt like a dream. "Yes, this is like a dream, this isn't making sense". As she thought this, she noticed that the naturally formed cave walls began to look a little too straight, like hallways and Jericho’s clothes a bit too casual to be a commander's uniform, was Marcus looking a little bigger? All these thoughts swirled in her head.

"You ok back there?" Jericho sang out noticing Lilith had fallen behind.

"Yeah... I thought I might just make sure we don't have anyone else following us" she responded.

"So, what is her problem?" Marcus softly asked Jericho.

"It's a long story and one you are not a part of" he responded in kind.

Marcus looked back over his shoulder eying up Jericho. "Fair enough, why don't you tell me more about yourself? Your abilities mustn't be that powerful if a Brute is carrying around a gun".

With a slight twitch of his face Jericho shot an angry glance at Marcus as his hand tightened his grip on the gun, he was keeping it at the ready just encase. "How do you know I'm not using it as a handicap, so you have a chance" he spoke mockingly.

Marcus raised his hands in a form of surrender "That would be interesting... Sorry, I used to be a researcher you know, I have a curious mind, and I am afraid that my years of isolation have eroded my people skills".

Jericho laughed "Either way I'm not into playing my hand so easily".

Marcus laughed "No, and smart of you not to, although judging by your hair colour I say you can manipulate your body in some fashion, after all, blue is not natural for a human. You only see that occurring in those who can change their bodies make-up." The shock of how accurately Marcus could guess Jericho's abilities was betrayed on his face. "As I said, I used to be a researcher, I studied mutants in quite some detail." Marcus flashed a look of a mischievous smile at Jericho, one that aimed to try and get a rise out of him.

Not that Jericho would give such satisfaction, simply stating coldly "Well if you know some much about me you know the danger, you're in, after all, we are wild beasts that could rip you to shreds right?"

"Right.... although Jericho, you don't seem like the type to act on your emotions like that" Marcus turned his head back disappointed in the reaction.

"It is odd though, why does your name sound familiar to me? Not a normal name?" Marcus muttered trying to change the subject.

"I don't know maybe one of your test subjects had that name as well". Jericho remarked.

"No, I didn't have personal subjects I usually relied on other people's work... Wait you're from the Australian mainland, yes? Judging by your accent you would have to be?". Marcus turned around with the look of someone on the cusp of a great realisation.

"Yeah, not many other places for me to be from". Jericho joked

Thinking for a moment, "No impossible, he was locked up tight, last I read, have there been updates since then? It's been so long; I haven't seen a point in checking... You couldn't be..."

"Subject 24?" Jericho interrupted "Nope never heard of him." Jericho flashed a mischievous smile.

Turning white, well not so much white as slightly grey, Marcus swallowed his fear and began to shake.

"What's up, big guy? Do you understand your situation now? Guess I can put the gun away?" Jericho slipped his gun back into his bag.

"So how much further do we have to go?" Asked Jericho.

"Nnn not far now" Marcus stuttered, turning his head around and looking back the way they had just come.

He turned and slipped back passed Jericho taking care to not accidentally touch him "Actually, I just remembered this way is a little quicker." Marcus said as he passed Jericho.

"Sorry excuse me" Marcus murmured to Lilith as he pushed past her. "What's going on?" She looked back to Jericho. "He just remembered a short cut".  Jericho shrugged.

"I see... Wait where did your gun go?" Lilith looked at Jericho confused. "Oh... We had a little talk; I don't think he'll make any trouble for now" smirked Jericho.

A head Marcus' head was exploding with stress and fear. "Why is Subject 24 here? Why did I have to run into him? Oh shit, what if he can overpower Golem what do I do? What will Olsen do if she finds out that I let them get away? Oh, fuck I'm so fucked".

"Why? What have you done now?" A voice rang out in his head. Marcus had been so occupied with his thoughts that he hadn't noticed the familiar pressure in his head.

"Marcus, what have you done?" Olsen's voice boomed in his mind and the pressure intensified.

"Mother, please listen, Jericho... the Brute... he is Subject 24 the shifter from the Broken Hill labs." He pleaded in his mind hoping she would listen. The pressure in his skull lessened which was a good sign... hopefully.

After a short pause "No, that's not possible, there were safeguards in place, to incapacitate him if he ever left the facility". 

"It is him, Mother, please, believe me, I talked to him myself look into my mind and you will see", Marcus prepared himself for the pain that was soon to come. But nothing, the pressure was almost gone and a less invasive pulsing in his head could be felt. The memories of his recent conversations with Jericho rose to the top of his mind.

Was this Olsen reading his memories? Usually, it hurt immensely, like someone was crushing your brain to make the memories pour out, like juice from an orange. But this was so calm and serene, could she always do it this way? Why did she make it so painful normally?

"You forget yourself Marcus" realising these thoughts could also be heard by Olsen he stopped and apologised. "Sorry Mother, but do you see?"

"I do, this does complicate things, how should I proceed I wonder?"

"If I may Mother, I could keep them distracted, you could send more fighters to help pacify Subject 24, so we can separate him from the woman. Something is up with him I haven't seen him use his abilities, nor has he been using his Release while walking around in the dark. He is also using a gun as protection. I believe he is in a weakened state and if we use enough force, we can overpower him. He is also protective of the woman, taking her as a hostage could also cause him to hesitate”.

There was another pause, "Excellent observations Marcus, I'll find the closest followers and have them to you, I will be piloting them myself. I will not accept failure in this Marcus, an opportunity like this will not come around again do you understand?" 

"Yes Mother, of course," Marcus paused for a second and hesitantly asked. "Mother do you think it would be possible that I could have Subject 24's body?".

"What? Why would you ask that of me? Don't you like the body I gifted you with?" The pressure in Marcus' head greatly increased double what he understood to be normal.

"No, No Mother I didn't mean to sound ungrateful, it's just his body is so much more powerful, I thought I could better serve you in a body like that".

After a few seconds Olsen replied, "I will consider it, however, it is not a priority, do you understand?"

Overjoyed Marcus had to contain his excitement, no more of this horridly misshapen body, finally something that resembles normality was within his grasp. "Yes, Mother thank you." 

"Good, now how far away are you from the medical storage unit?" releasing her grip on Marcus's mind so he could speak more clearly.

"We are almost there, maybe 20 minutes or so."

"Very good, Golem is already there and I will find any subjects nearby and have them head towards you, be ready." The pressure receded as Marcus noticed Jericho and Lilith were trying to talk to him.

"Are you ok?" Lilith's voice rang out.

Noticing he would have just been walking ahead absent-minded, Marcus was struggling to think of a decent excuse "I... I..." Jericho cut in before he could form a sentence.

"I know what's happening." With a serious look on his face.

Marcus's heart now pounding in his chest he didn't know what to do next. Had he been found out, after all his behaviour had been odd and if Jericho knows about Olsen, then he knows she can communicate telepathically.

"Your mind is fading, right? I've seen it in... " Jericho glanced at Lilith and corrected himself "others, you feel like your mind isn't suited for your body, you're having these dark spots where you just go blank right?"

"What no I..." What was he talking about Marcus hadn't experienced anything like that, had he? Not that it mattered in any case this was a way out.

"Yes, it only happens rarely, I'm fine don't worry about me," Marcus said regaining his composure.

"What? What are you talking about?" Lilith cut in.

"Oh, it's a side effect I've seen in people that have been... Experimented on" Jericho looked at Marcus trying to find the words.

"You don't think I wear this costume for fun, do you?" Marcus gestured to himself.

Wide-eyed like she was finally seeing things clearly "that's not a costume, is it?" 

Jericho quickly snapped his head to look at Marcus trying to will him to lie, "No it's not" Marcus muttered weakly.

This was it; Jericho didn't know what would happen next, how Lilith would handle this? Shockingly she simply said, "I see, I'm so sorry this was done to you".

A little shocked Marcus seemed to blush maybe? At least he acted embarrassed he wasn't expecting pity from someone he was about to throw to the wolves.

"Right, yes... Thank you. We should keep moving". Marcus turned and walked away from the two.

"You aren't a commander are you Jericho?" Lilith said softly not looking at Jericho just staring at Marcus as he walked away.

"I'm not sorry" there was no point lying it was plain to see something had changed.

"I thought you were too casual to be in the army. What do we do from here? Can I even trust you?"

"I'm not going anywhere; I promise you that." Mustering as much confidence as he could in his voice. "For now, there's nothing we can do but follow him".

"Right, but once we are out of here, promise me you will tell me everything" tears started to well up although Lilith didn't know why.

"Of course, although I hope you have time, it's a long story" placing his hand on her shoulder and squeezing softly.

Finally looking him in the eye Lilith summoned a small smile "I think I have all the time in the world for it."

The two then hurried off chasing the giant rat further down the decrepit rabbit hole that was the halls of the Helix Towers.

Sign 3

"It's just down here" Marcus' mouth was dry, his hands shaking hoping his backup wasn't going to leave him high and dry. Luckily it didn't seem like either Jericho or Lilith paid him much attention, they rightfully assumed at this point Marcus wasn't any threat, he had never been someone you would call brave. Even with this new stronger body, he knew he didn't have the instinct to fight. No, his way was to grovel and scheme looking for the little cracks he could squeeze through to live another day.

"So, it's in here, finally" Jericho said under his breath. The thing that had brought him all this way, was now within his reach. Soon he could be free from the last chain Seon had bound him with.

"This better not have been a trick" Jericho shot an intimidating glance at Marcus who recoiled instantly.

"No never, I'm your prisoner, after all, I wouldn't dare throw my life away on something small like this" Marcus quickly reasoned subconsciously looking down the hallways. 

Jericho caught this but didn't draw attention to it, sniffing the air he couldn't pick up any new smells as far as he could tell, nothing else was around them.

"Lilith, how do you feel?" Jericho asked out of the blue.

"Huh... I'm fine, just a little cold. Why are you asking?" Lilith snapped out of some deep thought as to why a natural stone cave could have square tunnels, now confused by Jericho's out-of-nowhere question.

Jericho paused for a second "No reason, just getting a sense for things. Here's how we are going to play this I'm going to head inside the store room, you and our friend here are going to wait outside".

"What? Why?" They both said in unison.

"Because I don't trust you Marcus, but I trust Lilith to keep you in line" Jericho reached into his bag and pulling out the small pistol and handed it to Lilith.

"Ok Lilith while I'm in there you make sure he doesn't move from this spot. If he does, you shoot him, if you see anything suspicious you also fire the gun. I don't care if it's at the thing or if it's at Marcus or the wall just make sure to pull the trigger, ok?"

"Wait why me?" Marcus shook his head in confusion.

Glaring at Marcus "Shooting Marcus is the best option, you good with that?"

"Yes" without hesitation Lilith took the gun, checking it to make sure it was good to fire and readied herself. "Promise you won't take too long".

"I'll be back in 2 seconds" he smiled at her as he turned to open the door.

"If anything goes wrong here, I'll have your head Marcus" Jericho muttered as he grabbed the door handle.

"Of course not, I would never" a huge gulp rang out from Marcus in the hallway.

Jericho slowly opened the door to the store room, the tension between the three was so thick it was making it hard to breathe.

As the door slowly creaked open it revealed, nothing. No traps, no Gen Xs, no Golam, no nothing. Jericho sighed with relief, while Marcus trembled in fear. Looking back at Lilith, Jericho nodded with a smile then glanced a suspicious eye at Marcus.

Marcus tried to summon a reassuring smile "See, I told you, no traps." 

"Right" Jericho turned away and headed into the room. The inside was similar to the other rooms he had seen in the Helix Towers, walls stained with mould, ceiling beginning to collapse, light fixtures barely functioning while at the same time buzzing with that annoying fluorescent light scream. 

What made this room different were the rows of these identical wooden shelves of small draws filling it. Some had fallen over, collapsing under years of rot. All this decay didn't help the smell, there was a variety of sticky multi-coloured spots on the ground which filled the room with a horrific staleness that mixed with the over baring smell of mildew.

Was the thing that was meant to save his life really in a toxic waste dump like this? Having no better option Jericho began to search the draws. They only stood about shoulder height but the draws were small and narrow and could hold a surprising number of things.

One draw he opened contained a collection of bizarre metal instruments Jericho had never seen before. Another, rows upon rows of small test tubes. With another labelled Narcotics, which was empty.

Luckily the front of the draws had labels that read out odd words he had never read before, but they all seemed to be in alphabetical order so with any luck he would only need to search the A's and C's. As luck would continue to occur that was in the section that was not falling apart.

After a few minutes of digging through the draws and ploughing through all the ones in the A section. He had rushed on to the C section, finding one simply labelled 'Cures'. Ripping it open his heart skipped a beat as the draw was mostly empty excluding a single metal box in the first partition labelled 'All'.

Pulling it out, hands shaking he opened the box, inside was a fat circular jar with a rather large and thick needle sticking out of the bottom. The liquid in the jar was bright red and rather thick, it moved around slowly in the jar as he picked it up.

The instructions on the inside of the lid of the box read:

Step One, remove the protective cap from the needle.

Step Two, insert the needle into the patient's abdomen until the guard on the syringe makes contact with the skin.

(If the release button goes inside the patient, you have gone too far remove it and try again)

Step Three, press the release button, this will activate a pressure valve to force the liquid into the patient at a rather high speed. This will cause some discomfort so it is recommended that you anaesthetise before the injection.

Warning if the liquid has turned black do not use it.

Side effects after the injection the patient may experience are; extreme bouts of rage, hallucinations and a short coma that could last up to 3 days. It is recommended that the patient is isolated until they have recovered from the All Cure.

"So probably shouldn't take it right this second" smiling he put the box in his bag and turned to head back to the door. 

As Jericho did, shots outside the room rang out and Marcus stumbled through the door grasping his left arm as blood poured out of it.

For a second their eyes met, the look of fear on Marcus' face was clear, as was the rage on Jericho's. But before he could act, Jericho felt this overwhelming intensity creep up from behind him.

Suddenly the wall next to him blew apart as a large meaty, 3 thumb hand ripped it open. The smell hit him like a ton of bricks, not only was that hulking healer brute back and with Marcus standing in the only exit to the room. There was another stench on the air Jericho could pick up on just outside the door meaning there were at least 3 brutes he and Lilith had to deal with.

Wasting no time as Golam reached for him, Jericho quickly pulled the knife from his bag and slashed Golam across his open palm. Recoiling from the intense pain he opened a clear path for Jericho.

"Lilith!" He yelled as he jumped on the top of the shelves and ran across the tops of decaying fixtures. They snapped, bent and came crashing down under his feet, but it didn't affect Jericho, he was moving too fast for it to matter. 

As he reached the door and Marcus, who looked away and covered his face with his arms. Instead of attacking, Jericho opted to instead use Marcus to change direction. Planting his foot on the thing’s long forearms, Jericho pushed off and dived through the open door.

"Lilli..." Jericho's words caught in his throat, "...th" with the rest forced out along with his breath, as a large black tail hit his chest knocking the wind out of him. 

It seemed Marcus had grown a spine in the last few seconds, or rather he was more afraid of Olsen, than Jericho. Whichever it was all Jericho could think, as the tail wrapped around him pulling him back into the room was "Should have stabbed him... I still could".

Jericho plunged the knife into Marcus's tail and ripped it sideways cutting him so deep that it almost cut it in two. 

With a yell Marcus spun on his feet building up momentum and tossed Jericho across the room slamming him into a heap of destroyed shelves. Before Jericho could regain his composure a large hand from above came down to pulled him up by the neck. 

Golem had recovered from the pain of the last attack and was upon Jericho. Jericho quickly slammed the knife again into Golem's hand, but the handle bounced harmlessly off his skin. "Damn it," Jericho thought as he looked at the broken knife in his hand, the blade had snapped off in Marcus's tail when he was thrown across the room.

"You put up a good fight for a heathen", grumbled Golem, as he pulled Jericho into an embrace so tight it was pushing the air out of his lungs. Because of Golem's immense size Jericho's feet were dangling off the ground not giving him anyway to struggle out of the suffocating embrace. At this point knowing there was no other choice Jericho prepared himself to use his abilities but stopped when an odd voice began to call out.

"Golem don't kill the poor boy, let me get a look at the one who came so far to see me." As the voice spoke Jericho could feel Golem's grip on him weaken somewhat, allowing him to get some breath back.

"Who's out there, what did you do to Lilith?" Question Jericho as he tried vainly to squeeze out of the monster's grip.

"Your friend is safe don't worry" the voice was strange like two people trying to speak at once, one monstrous grumble the other a more calm, cold female voice. "As for me, why I'm the Mother Tree you came to worship, or so you say?"

Through the doorway stepped a bloated creature whose body bulged with random large, semi-transparent half-spheres filled with a pus-like liquid. They seemed to expand and contract randomly and moved around the creature's bloated body, gliding along the flesh. Its head, thumb-shaped, rose from its neckless torso, with sunken blue eyes and a wide grin that spread from earless hole to earless hole.

Struggling in Golem’s tight grip, Jericho shouted "Where is Lilith! If you did anything to her..."

Cutting him off the creature reassured Jericho "Oh? The treasure you had with you? Not to worry I'm taking very good care of her. In fact, she is just taking a short nap at the moment so keep it down if you could."

As the creature spoke, a large bloated sphere glided from around its back to settle in the middle of its chest. Peeking out of the mass was the top of Lilith's head, exposing her from just above her mouth, she had her eyes closed and was not moving.

"What did you do to her!?" Jericho barked disturbed by the sight.

"No need to yell, she is quite safe, after all, I want her in one-piece. But while I have you, I want to find out a little more about you, I mean you're someone brave enough to come all the way here". The creature drawled condescendingly.

"I'm not here for your amusement, Olsen, isn't it? I knew you could worm your way into people's minds but I didn't think you could puppet them. Guess you've become quite the talented mutant now?" Jericho laughed at the hypocrisy of a Seon member becoming so well adept as a Psychic.

The creature's eye twitched slightly, but then its grin widened disturbingly. "Golem! Hold him a little tighter could you" the grip around his stomach tightened pushing the air out of him once again.

"Fuck you" Jericho wheezed.

"Who have you been speaking to? To know that name, it must have been that wretch Sam that escaped from me." Olsen waddled her puppet body closer.

"Never heard of a Sam, sorry, it's just been me and her" Jericho's eyes focused on Lilith's unconscious head.

"Not that it matters, I'll be leaving this place soon anyway. Sam can have this horrid hole for all I care. But what to do with you I wonder? You came here for that All Cure, what will you do now that you have it? It's yours now, so I guess you'll want to leave, yes?" Olsen was now, disturbingly close to Jericho's face the rancid smell of this thing's breath was bombarding his nose.

Snapping back quickly Jericho roared "I'm not leaving without her, so you better..."

"Or you'll do what? You are hardly in a place to make threats, I'm not even really here, cut any of these pawns down and I'll just summon more. Besides I know you can't use your abilities otherwise you would have done so already." Jericho, destroyed by Olsen's words looked down in defeat.

"I was going to let you leave as a little thank you. Having Subject 24 running around free would have been a pain for the rest of Seon to deal with, making a nice little distraction for me to move around unnoticed. But I can get the same effect by setting my Gen X army on them. So, I think for your little outburst I'll have Golem kill you instead." Olsen paused waiting to hear Jericho beg for his life, it would be so satisfying to hear Subject 24 grovel to her, oh it would be a testament to her ego to have such a reformation of her power.

"I won't beg, you can kill me if you think you're strong enough" Jericho spat back in defiance.

Disappointed Olsen mumbled, "Very well, Golem if you would." Nodding to the hulking mass that began to tighten its grip.

As his vision began to darken Jericho struggled to fight back. He tried to create spikes to shoot from his back and impale his captor. He Tried to create sharp edges that ran down the length of his arms to cut free of the fleshy tree trunks crushing him. He even struggled to activate his Release, all in vain, he didn't have the strength to summon any of them and his body hadn't the will to act.

"Golam Stop! Wait, Mother!" Marcus yelled before throwing himself to the ground clutching his head in pain.

"You dare give Golam orders without my say-so!" Olsen bellowed out at Marcus turning on him, grabbing him around the neck and hoisting him off the ground.

"Mother wait, let me explain, I only wish to help you" he begged and grasp desperately at the hand around his throat.

Dropping him to the ground but not releasing her hold on his mind Olsen threatened "If this is one of your little scams, I will not hesitate to have you torn to shreds".

"No, no never, but you said it yourself you were hoping to use Jer... I mean Subject 24 as a distraction to escape Seon's notice as you left the Helix Towers. Well, I just wanted to suggest that we can still use him". Marcus begged, holding his breath waiting for Olsen's response. He breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure in his skull disappeared.

"How do you recommend we go about that, Marcus?" Olsen prodded.

"Well simply, since he has proven to be uncooperative, why don't you replace him with someone who is? That way you don't have to waste anymore of your followers to escape into the outside world". He elaborated as he scrambling to his feet.

Marcus slapped his hand on his chest and spouted "put me in his body and I will act as the decoy for you".

Olsen laughed "Oh Marcus, this is why I left you with far more of yourself than I did with the others. Your drive to grab for power always amused me in the lab, especially at the detriment to your dignity".

Looking a little dejected Marcus was confused by the statement "what do you mean?"

"Marcus, I'm always in your mind, I hear everything you think, every time you bitched and complained, thought of killing me, thought of escape, every little cruel and vindictive thought". She mocked.

"Mother, no I..." Marcus stumbled backwards stuttering as his heart pounded in his chest.

"Oh, don't worry Marcus, you do make a fair point and I agree you would be a better decoy as Subject 24. I will give you what you desire." Olsen reassured Marcus with a mischievous smile that unsettled Marcus, what had he just signed up for?

"You truly are a rat, aren't you?" came a small struggling voice behind Marcus. Jericho was now glaring at Marcus, "Don't think it will be so simple, I'm not just going to hand myself over so easily". 

"Oh, you won't have much of a say I'm afraid" Olsen nodded to Golam as he began to crush the air from Jericho once again.

It was now or never summoning all his strength forcing his body to spit out as much adrenalin as he could Jericho finally got his Release to activate. But as soon as his vision sharpened it went dark. His body became heavy and he could feel himself slipping away.

"Marcus... I will stab you next time..." Jericho whispered as he finally passed out.

Marcus's voice shook, afraid of that last remark from Jericho. "He will be restrained right?". 

"It won't matter he won't be in any position to fight when he wakes next" Olsen turned to leave the room, "Come with me Marcus, we have some preparation to make, I also have some questions to ask this one about her body." Olsen looked down at Lilith's sleeping face with a greedy grin. "Golam take 24 to a holding cell. I'll ask for him shortly".

Golam stood silently looking at Jericho, not acknowledging Olsen's demands. "Golam! Are you listening!?" the voice now booming both inside and outside his head. 

"Yes, Mother..." Turning and leaving through the hole in the wall he created without a sound.

"Perhaps I made that one too dumb." Olsen said as she and Marcus watched Golam leave.

"What is he thinking about?" Marcus asked.

"Just nonsense about, how this is a holy place and how we shouldn't leave, I overdid it with the religious devotion early on. No matter he can be made to follow orders". 

Marcus laughed nervously "Right, but you wouldn't do that to me, would you, Mother?"

Olsen didn't acknowledge the question as she turned to leave; Marcus's heart began to race again.

Sign 4

Lilith couldn't hear or see anything when she woke up, but she could tell her legs and arms were bound and she was suspended in the air.

Casting her mind back to the last thing she remembered she was standing in the cave passage with Marcus. Jericho had entered the room a little while ago. As time went on Marcus was becoming more and more agitated. She went to ask if he was ok, but she suddenly heard a splashing noise from behind her. 

Turning around and pulling up the gun to aim at whatever was advancing on her she saw... nothing. Suddenly feeling the hairs on her neck rise she looked back at Marcus to see him suddenly moving towards her. She pulled the gun back around, first firing at nothing as her finger began to twitch nervously. Then firing a second time when she brought the gun to bear on Marcus hitting him in the arm. As he stumbled away and she prepared to fire again, she now understood why Jericho had told her to make sure to shoot Marcus.

She felt a coldness form around her body, looking around she saw a massive bubble consuming her. She tried to push her way out but the bubble but it was thick like swimming in soup, it quickly engulfed her. Unable to breathe she could feel herself slowly losing her strength and the sensation of drowning came over her. In her fear, she wanted to call out but simply couldn't as she was completely submerged. 

Then she was here, where was here? No time to think about it now, she just needed to focus on getting out as quickly as she could. She began to pull at whatever was restraining her. It didn't feel like a chain or binding, it was warm like a massive hand. As she moved around, she suddenly heard a voice.

"So, you're finally awake, I thought it would be best to let you have one last peaceful moment to yourself".

"Who's there?" Lilith yelled out.

"Oh, of course, my apologies I like the dark, it hides the glumness of my world. Marcus the lights if you would."

Suddenly the world around her lit up in a blinding light, she closed her eyes as it stung them. Slowly Lilith opened her eyes to see, that she wasn't in a dark cave as she had thought. She was outside, in a beautiful garden filled with many different kinds of plants and trees, with wildflowers growing from every surface. The sky was clear and a beautiful blue.

Before her sat a woman, unmistakably beautiful, with long brown hair, amazing blue eyes and an elegantly green dress that seemed to fade into the thrown she sat on. The throne, looked like a massive chair interwind with an equally massive oak tree almost like it had grown into the shape of a chair.

Looking at her restraints, Lilith was confused by the site. It was like the roots of the tree the woman was sitting on had come out from the ground and wrapped around her arms and legs. But something was off, they didn't feel like hard wood but rather soft and warm like they were made of flesh.

Lilith's attention fell back to the woman below as she began to speak "So sorry about the sudden abduction, but I simply needed to have you here. Do forgive my appearance, although I am hoping you can help me with it". 

Confused Lilith couldn't help but reply "You look fine to me; I don't see how I could help with that unless you want to borrow some make-up or something? Unfortunately, I don't have any. Also, where..."

Cutting her off sharply Olsen barked "I see you are as mouthy as your friend. No matter you can't escape me now, I have a few questions to ask you before we begin."

"Where is Jericho, what did you do with him?" Lilith struggled, pulling at her restraints.

"Forget about him for now, he's in no better situation than you. So, you should keep quiet and... "

"And you Marcus, I see you there how is that bullet wound doing, Jericho was right about shooting you" Lilith interrupted again spitting at Marcus below her with his head bowed towards the woman. 

His arm had been hastily covered in a crude bandage that blood was already seeping through. Lilith also noticed that blood also seemed to be pooling around the tail on his costume, which also had a bandage tightly wrapped around it.

Lilith laughed "Looks like Jericho got you as well, serves you right you filthy rat".

At this Marcus snapped and turned to yell at her. "Listen here you little..." suddenly he dropped to the ground and began screaming in pain. Confused Lilith stared for a second until suddenly a great pressure in her skull thundered to life, causing immense pain. She tried not to scream but it was unbearable.

Slowly the pain receded and Olsen began to speak slowly "Now you two, you are here for me, I will not have you speak without my say so do you understand?"

Marcus grovelled for forgiveness while Lilith refused to answer.

"Good, now my lovely, why don't you tell me your name? Seem only fitting we introduce ourselves". Olsen spoke softly and sweetly.

At first, Lilith refused to answer or even look at the woman. But as she did this the pressure returned, the ringing in her ears began to scream again and pain washed over her. She yelled out "Lilith... my name is Lilith". Just like that, the pain went away.

Olsen laughed at the irony, she had been playing God, and now she was about to take the body of someone with such a biblical name "Very good Lilith, such a splendid name. I am known as Mother Tree, but I'll drop the façade for you. My real name is Kelly Olsen." 

Still holding her tongue Lilith refused to acknowledge Olsen. "I guess I should let you ask some questions about your new home and me, as I am the guide to your new life, so go ahead and ask away." Olsen insisted.

Confused by the statement Lilith look at Olsen then at Marcus and then at the garden around her. Out of instinct, she asked "What is this place?" 

Olsen laughed, "oh yes I assume this place would be a bit of a shock to you after all you wouldn't expect a garden to exist in the Antarctic let alone in the bowels of a place as clinical as the Helix Towers. Granted it has seen better days, I would take better care of it but as you can see it's a little hard for someone in my situation."

Lilith was now even more confused, what was this woman talking about, the Antarctic? Helix Towers? She was in a cave system outside the small village she was stationed. "What do you mean? What are the Helix Towers? And this can't be the Antarctic we are in Russia."

Olsen's massive eye looked down at Marcus with what seemed to be a frown. "I don't know Mother, she has been like this since I found her, Subject 24 knew more about it, he would insist I not acknowledge it. I think she might have suffered some great trauma perhaps, something that would cause severe dissociation perhaps?" Marcus explained.

"Curious, I wonder how far this extends? Lilith tell me what do I look like to you? You seem not to be very put off by my appearance". Olsen said now leaning her massive misshapen body towards Lilith like a doctor would when listening to a patient.

Lilith paused for a second in confusion, but not wanting that horrible pain to grip her again "You... you have long brown hair, blue eyes, you appear to have a rather slim build, a beautiful green dress and you are sitting on a tree that looks like a throne... or a throne that looks like a tree not sure which it is meant to be."

"Fascinating to think a delusion could differ so far from reality," Marcus said blankly, not before his head began to pulsate in pain.

"You don't need to give your opinion Marcus" yelled Olsen.

"Lilith, let's get off this topic, it's not important for what I want from you. Tell me what are your powers? How far have you developed your Release? Oh, and what is your Affinity? Olsen's tone shifted to be more clinical like a coroner taking notes during an autopsy. 

"What are you talking about? What's a Release? and what do you mean by powers? Do you think if I had anything like that, I wouldn't have used them by now? As for an Affinity, I'm not sure what you mean, I'm a good field medic and I’m pretty good at mending clothes if I do say so myself.

"What? You are a Psychic are you not? I can feel it, Marcus she is isn't she, you can smell it on her right?" Olsen spat at the ludicrousness of Lilith's answer.

"Yes, Mother, she is, it is clear as day she is." He replied in a panic.

"What do you mean Psychic? Like can I read minds or something? You are joking right?". Lilith said almost laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

"Enough, I didn't want to break your mind open out of fear of damaging your brain but you leave me no choice". barked Olsen.

Suddenly that pain was back but a hundred times greater, and now Lilith could feel something or someone moving behind her eyes.

"What is this? Is this how you see the world? So fascinating. Let's dig a little deeper, see the memories you are trying to hide from me." Olsen's voice bounced around in Lilith's mind she tried to resist it, tried to contain her thoughts but, thanks to the pain radiating through her head, she couldn't concentrate for more than a few seconds.

"What is all of this? These memories make no sense, they are too simple and some a stacked-on top of each other like a computer has been trying to rewrite data, wait, it couldn't be?" Olsen, to Lilith's relief, released her grip on her mind ever so slightly. 

"Marcus, what do you know of project Wildfire? Was it ever actually put into production?" Olsen turned her massive hulking body towards Marcus.

"Wildfire? Now that is an old project. I recall a lot of work went into its production there were plenty of moving parts to it, creating offspring from Gen X's, studying a Psychic's development, testing the effectiveness of the old mind chips on psychics, and the list goes on. As for what happened to it, I believe the project was "put on ice" something about it being blasphemy. Marcus rattled off lost in his memory of simpler days.

"How far did they get into the project?" Olsen asked.

"Hard to say, the researchers knew the higher-ups would come down on them for it so they kept most of it under wraps until they need to publish their findings, but I believe they had a viable subject at one point," Marcus replied.

Marcus thought for a second "Do you think this woman is the result of that project?"

Olsen turned back to Lilith "I do, something in her mind is constantly writing over her thoughts changing her perception of reality. Until we remove that chip, I cannot proceed with my plan." Olsen turned back to Marcus "Marcus, I need you to go and find as many recourses on Wildfire as you can."

"Right... but umm Mother, about Subject 24, could..." Marcus fell to the ground once again in pain.

"Marcus, I am not in the mood for your little games right now, I gave you an order, you will do it, if you do it well enough, I will have Subject 24 waiting here for you when you get back." Olsen roared.

"Yes of course Mother, forgive me" grovelled Marcus as he slumped away into the darkness.

Now turning her attention back to Lilith, who until now has been trying to gather herself from the last mental onslaught before Olsen began once again. 

"I'm sorry, my lovely this will only take a bit longer, I need to see if there is anything else hidden in your memories the mind chip might have missed. But as a little prize why don't I give you a taste of what the real world looks like."

As the pain gripped her head once again Lilith noticed her vision was changing, like someone was ripping a hole in the world. Through the whole she could see a dark damp version of the garden around her. Instead of beautiful wildflowers, there was dead and dying weeds, horrible gnarled trees and instead of a blue sky. There was a massive glass dome sectioned with rusted metal framing.

She tried to look away but where ever she looked the hole in the world followed her, growing larger and larger until it took over all her vision.

Then she could feel it, the slimy wetness of the thing that was holding her in place, the overpowering smell of decay and rout and the coldness, had it always been this cold? 

As the last of the whole took over the entirety of her vision, she could only see the world for what it was. It was like she had been pushed through a portal into a nightmare version of the world.

In front of her, instead of the beautiful woman sitting on a throne made out of a tree was a horrible creature that looked like a tree made of flesh. With what appeared to be fungal growths making up the foliage. A giant bulbous red eye at the centre of the mass. Embedded in the trunk of the tree was the misshapen torso of a woman. Twisting and folding roots that sprouted from the base looked like tentacles of a nightmarish octopus. Two of which were coiled around her arms and legs holding her in the air.

Lilith had never seen something so horrible, so nightmarish, so otherworldly. All she could do is scream, while Olsen laughed. Lilith's vision collapsed back into what she would consider normal. But she did not stop screaming and sobbing, not for the pain in her head but rather for the truth she had been shown.

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