SIGN 1

Jericho found himself floating in darkness, all around him was an endless sea of black. He didn't feel panicked like he thought he would, rather a feeling of anger, concern and annoyance flowed over him. Strange he thought for a moment when his vision began to clear "where am I". The world was beginning to fade in around him twisting and turning into a clear vision of an outstretched arm.

The arm was big and muscular and covered in patches of cloth, slowly sucking up blood from the wounds they were covering. Jericho also noticed his own arms were stretched out wrapping gauze around them to hold them in place. His arms were moving as if they had a mind of their own unwilling to listen to his commands.

"What am I doing" he tried to say but he found he could not get the words out. The arm floated before him in a room of swirling colours but as the space around him began to take soiled shape, he noticed he had seen this arm before. "This is Dad's arm."

Suddenly the world snapped into focus he was sitting in his old home, the one he grew up in, one he hadn't seen in decades. Before him sat a man large and stocky, shaved head and covered in bandages and... was he pouting?

Suddenly his arm reached out again to grab his father's other arm while he spoke in a voice he hadn't heard in so long.

"Come on now let me finish the other one.”

His father turned his head towards him "Only if you stop lecturing me.”

"Absolutely not. Now give me your arm" he barked back in that same soothing voice, well soothing but wildly irritated in this case. He almost tried to laugh. His parents had such a funny way of talking to each other.

Jericho gathered this must be another one of his mother's memories, one where his father must have stepped into some kind of danger yet again and now, he was relying on his mother to patch him up. He decided instead of fighting the pull of the memory and waking up he might as well rest for a second and let this one play out.

"I don't know why you thought you needed to step in. You always do this and for what? You are all battered and bruised, even bleeding this time" his mother snapped at his father.

"I had to this time, those three were going to be eaten by a Vile, was I meant to let it happen?"

"No, I... I don't know... why did it need to be you? and for them? They aren't even from our village, not only that but they have been kicking up a stink since they have been here. When they finally leave you go and bring them back". She punctuated her sentence by tying off the last of the bandages a bit too tight causing his father to wince.

He reached out to grab his mother's hand but she pulled away "Jean, honey, I know I stress you out when I do this but please understand, I couldn't let them just die. When I saw them leave the bar last night, I overheard them saying they are leaving tonight, I just wanted to make sure that they got somewhere safe, you know what the roads are like at night, not everyone can handle them". 

His mother reached for his father's hand, which he gladly took "Rob, I know you, I wouldn't be with you if you weren't the man you are, but could you limit yourself to just the people we know? You don't have to throw yourself in front of every random stranger".

His father squeezed her hand, "Sorry I can't, I just..." he sighed trying to find the right words to describe his feelings to his wife, finally landing on. "We live in such a harsh world, we all have to lie, cheat and do things we thought we could never do the day before just to survive. But for me, it's not just about surviving it's also about being able to live with myself."

His mother giggled a little, but Jericho could feel she wasn't making fun of his father, rather the feeling of pride washed over him. "You are still that naïve boy I knew growing up aren't you."

His father looked annoyed for a second but, eventually smiled warmly at his mother. But something felt odd to Jericho suddenly a feeling of deja vu washed over him. That's when a flash of blue caught his eye in the corner of his mother's sight.

As he noticed so did his mother, her eyes darted over to a doorway, he could see a small boy with blue hair running out of the room, "I don't remember being that small" he thought to himself.

His mother sighed as she stood up "Jericho's awake, I'll go put him back to bed, you lay down."

"Thanks, Jean, tell him I said goodnight" his dad responded as he dragged himself to the musty lounge chair in the other room.

"Blue Jay, come on you should be asleep." was the last thing he heard from his mother as the scene began to fade away. Jericho was once again in the black void. His heart was burning in his chest, he felt again the pain of losing his parents, and the isolation now of the void was crushing him, who did he even have left?

Suddenly the same sing-song voice called out to him waking him up from his sleep.

"Blue Jay, it’s time to wake up."

Jericho's eyes shot open as the memory of what happened before he lost consciousness flowed back into his mind. He jumped to his feet and took in the world around him, scanning the room for those that attacked him.

But there was nothing, he was in a small semi-spherical room, with large pod-shaped chairs built into the walls surrounding him. The room was lit by a large round window with a control panel sitting underneath it as he approached the controls, the door behind him slammed open. The sound startled Jericho causing him to spin around to confront his captor. At the sight of the bulging wall of Flesh that was Golem Jericho's hopes of escape faded away. His body was heavy, he could barely stand against the exhaustion the parasite in his blood were sapping his strength, He could barely fight a normal human in this state let alone a Gen X.

"This is yours, take it and leave" Golem moaned as he tossed Jericho's bag to the floor.

"What? You? Why?" Jericho confused scrambled for his bag trying to make sense of what was going on.

"This is an escape pod, set to take you back to the mainland of Australia, you are not welcome in this holy land anymore, as you bring us destruction". Golem barked at Jericho.

"I don't understand, why are you just letting me go? Won't Olsen... Mother Tree punish you?"

In what seemed like exhaustion the hulking creature addressed Jericho "Need I explain everything to you? Can't you just be thankful and leave?"

Jericho didn't answer he only stared at Golem, waiting to see what it would do.

"Very well if I must, you, your body will, if I allow you to stay here, be used in a campaign to leave this promised land. Mother will place follower Marcus’ mind into your body and send him to attack the heavens opening a way to the mainland with the other followers. By sending you away I prevent that plan."

"Why not kill me..." Jericho stopped himself, maybe this flesh monster hadn't considered that plan.

"Killing you would not have, worked for my plan. For one, followers here are capable of mending your body, making your death only a small speed bump. For another mother would be able to tell that I was the one that tried to stop her plan and would kill me before I could complete my own." The creature continued. "Now you should leave"

"Not without Lilith, once she is here, I will go, ok?" Jericho breathed a sigh of relief maybe things are going to work out.

"No, the girl cannot go with you, she is with Mother now I could not retrieve her without Mother killing me. Besides, having Mother take her body is what I want." As quick as Jericho's hopes had come to be Golem had dashed them.

This had to be some kind of trick from Olsen this didn't make sense "How... How can you even make plans against Mother? Isn't she always in your mind?"

"My body runs rampant with any small amount of damage healing itself with miss matching parts, some of those parts are brain cells that Olsen can't account for. They aren’t complex but they allow me to hide small memories and thoughts inside. Is that all you wanted to know? Is your curiosity satiated? Can you leave now?" Golem answered to Jericho's surprise, was it that easy to get information from this thing? Did it not know how to lie?

He needed more time to think, and energy Jericho began to dig around in his bag to see what he had to work with "What is your plan by the way? Tell me that and I will leave."

The face on Golem’s chest scrunched up with a frown, but relaxed "Very well, I plan to let Mother take the body of the girl, once that is done, I will destroy Mother's old body and kill Marcus, Mother will have the new body she desires but will be unable to leave this place. We can stay here forever in this paradise."

Jericho’s eyes widened as he realised what Golem's plan meant for Lilith "Wait, if you do that... then Lilith will die in the Tree's body."

Golem spoke coldly and directly "That is irrelevant, she will give her life for the betterment of us all. Now leave."

Jericho's head dropped to the floor, under his breath he muttered "It's not just about surviving..."

Sign 2

The pain rushing through Lilith's head was like someone had taken a white-hot iron rod and pushed it through her skull. Her vision, what little she had when her eyes weren't sealed tightly, only consisted of the nightmarish view of the "real world" the edges of her vision were lightly dusted with digital haze as the chip in her brain struggled to right her perception of reality.

Suddenly she heard a load pop and sparks vibrate across her mind, and the digital snow that ringed her vision disappeared.

"Oh, now I've done it, looks like that chip couldn't handle so much stimulation. I still haven't found what I was looking for, I guess you don't know what your psychic abilities are." Finally, the pain stopped and Olsen released her hold on Lilith. She slumped in her restraints, Lilith didn't realise how much of her strength she had been using as she ripped, tore and strained against Olsen's tentacles to pull away. While the pain in her head was receding her arms and legs felt like they were on fire.

"I guess it doesn't matter all that much, but with that chip gone I can comfortably take your body and find out for myself. Out of scientific curiosity, what do you think of your new world? You will be its new keeper from now on." Olsen mocked.

Lilith looked around the decaying gardens, barely lit save for the light filtering through the ice and water above them. Twisted dead plants and trees snaking through mounds of rusted metal smelling of stagnant water. The chill gripped her so she found herself thinking "If hell is a warm place, it must be considered heaven compared to this."

Olsen erupted into laughter at Lilith’s statement this tree of folded flesh was still crawling through her mind. "You are right, hell would be a nicer place." She bellowed, so hard that she used her actual mouth to laugh, a grotesque moaning noise that rattled the spider’s nest of glass and metal that encapsulated the garden.

Lilith wanted to say something but found herself too exhausted to break through her laboured breathing. The best she could do was whisper bitch over and over again in her mind. "Charming" Olsen mocked, "Shall we begin now that you're exhausted? You can take a long nap after we are finished, you've earned it after all" Olsen continued to cackle in Lilith's mind.

"Mother... What about..." a voice came from a distant dark spot in the garden. It was Marcus, shaking in a corner curled in on himself to make his presence appear as small as possible. He expected Olsen to lash out at him in fury, but for once she seemed almost joyous. "Oh Marcus, I nearly forgot about you. Did you find anything else about our friend here? On second thought it doesn't matter, she is ready for me now as she is. Why don't you get yourself ready for your transfer."

Marcus didn't know what had brought on this sudden change, maybe it was having her prize so close at hand, whatever it was he didn't want to rock the boat. "Yes Mother" he said rising with a little confidence and moving towards the two. "Shall I go and summon Golem to bring Subject 24 here?" Marcus asked meekly and desperately. "Oh, no need Marcus I can handle this myself".

Olsen reached out her mind for Golem, taking pleasure this time knowing this will be the last time she will need to send her mind so far away from her body, the whole event was leaving her with waves of nostalgia. But soon it would be over, she would be back in a normal body, where her thoughts would be her own and she could be free of this nightmarish existence. Finding Golem was an easy task, maybe she would be kind to the man this time and gently touch his mind, and not her usual mind-ripping approach. After all, she was in a good mood... wait, why was he in the escape pod area? Shouldn't he be in the subject cells with Subject 24? Wait no they both were there. What is happening?

Olsen pushed her mind further and faster than normal, with no time to take the care to lightly touch his mind Olsen would crash through Golem's thoughts like a bull into an inexperienced matador. Partly to find out what was happening as soon as possible. The pain would simply be Golem's punishment for disobeying orders. 

As she breached his mind she instead was slammed with an overwhelming pain and the noise of Golem screaming in her head as his vision went black. The only thing she was able to make out was the face of Subject 24 hardened with rage. She tried to find Subject 24's mind but it wasn't there, where was he? How was he hiding?

She snapped back to her body like her mind and body were a rubber band. She turned her great eye on Marcus and screamed with both her mind and misshapen mouth hidden within the depths of her flesh folds "Marcus! Go to the escape pods right now! Capture or kill Subject 24!" The noise was an explosion of high-pitched screaming and deep muffled yelling at the weak man. "Kill I... what?" He stammered.

A rush of pain like no other fell upon him, his nose began to bleed and the veins in his eyes exploded. He had thought in the past when Olsen had punished him, he likened the pain to his head exploding. But compared to this those times seemed like mere headaches. "I will not ask again, you useless rat, go this instant to find Subject 24, or I will kill you here!" Olsen bellowed again. At once Marcus jumped to his feet and ran from the gardens.

"I will need to protect myself, while I'm doing the transfer, no I can't transfer now otherwise I won't be able to directly control the followers. I'll call them all here. They can protect me until Subject 24 is dealt with then I can start the transfer." Olsen's mind was racing she sent out the call to summon all the followers to the Garden, hopefully, they will arrive before Subject 24 did. Subconsciously, she tightened her grip on Lilith's arms and legs, and she let out a scream of pain. "Sorry dear, it looks like I have something else I need to attend to first, so you just sit tight."

Lilith didn't know what was going on, "Subject 24 what is that? I think they are referring to Jericho. Was he even real? Or was he just a part of my imagination? What is even real in this place? I'm just so scared." She thought to herself. If Olsen was paying attention, she might have taken pleasure in Lilith's fear, but as it stood her mind was rushing with stress, fear and dread. 

A few seconds before this began.

Golem had demanded yet again that Jericho leave, but he seemed to only be occupied with his bag. "What are you doing?' Golem yelled. "I'm getting ready, just wait a sec" Jericho responded. He pulled out the rust-pitted metal box of the All Cure and using a finger he morphed into a sharp point, began to scratch delicately on the inside of the lid. He then put the box back in the bag and pulled out the four remaining cans of Heart Cutter.

Jericho placed the bag in one of the pod chairs and opened a can, and began to hungrily gulp down the liquid. When he finished the first can he threw it aside and open another "So, I'm just meant to leave? Let Lilith die so you can live here in peace?" Jericho asked Golem. "Why does it matter? You didn't come here with her, she is for this place, what does she mean to you?" Golem indulged Jericho's question.

The second can hit the floor, and the third was cracked open "Nothing I guess, I did make a promise to a stranger I'd take her, but I gain nothing from it" Jericho begin again on the sickly-sweet liquid of the can.

"So, what does it matter then? There is no shame in just leaving now. Just leave and you can survive without a care." The third can clanged to the ground and the final was opened.

"Maybe it's more than just that" Jericho muttered to himself, as he hesitantly put the can to his mouth. The sickly-sweet liquid was horrid, usually, he would sip at a can for an hour when he needed one. Now having to down so much of the swill was hard. He was also increasing the speed at which his body could take in the sugars and caffeine in the drink. He was more awake and bursting with energy than he had been in months. But all his senses were also sharpening which made the taste of the drink even more foul. At this point, it didn't even taste sweet more like a bath of chemicals that was more sour than anything.

"More than surviving?" Golem asked, but Jericho was busy drinking, the liquid must have been horrible, judging by how he was squishing up his face. A memory passed in Golem’s mind of a time long forgotten as soon as it came into his head it was gone but it left a distinct message "You know those are bad for you, right?". Jericho slammed the can to the ground coughing and breathing heavily.  "I know" he yelled. "Now take me to Lilith!" Jericho demanded.

Golem sighed heavily "Why don't you understand? I am offering you survival, why would you throw it away for a stranger?" Echoing his father, in a memory that wasn't his Jericho, screamed "It's not just about survival! It's about being able to live with myself." In a smooth action that played out faster than Golem could react Jericho activated his Release. He then launched at Golem while transforming his arm into a long curved black blade at least two-thirds his height in length, made of sharpened bone. In a fluid motion and reinforced strength, Jericho carved Golem into two equal vertical pieces. The mouth on Golem’s chest and arm screamed in pain as the body desperately tried to relink the two severed parts but the two halves fell away too quickly.

As the masses of flesh fell to the ground Jericho noticed the cancerous growths were still trying to grow towards each other, meaning Golem was still alive and his body would reconnect itself eventually. But the way it healed meant it would add new biological material to connect the two halves not bring them together. He did not want to hang around to see what monstrosity that would create. The goal now was to find and save Lilith. Luckily with his powers fully released he just needed to follow the strong scent that Golem had left behind.

His arm slid back into its normal shape as he began to double the muscle mass of his legs and shrink his digestive organs to make room to expand his lungs and heart. He took in a deep breath smelling all the foul scents of the Helix Towers until he found the one, he was after. Breathing out he kicked off the ground and darted down the halls racing back down Golem’s path to find Lilith. 

Sign 3

Through the dark, cold decaying halls banging and slamming rang out as Jericho raced through the cavernous building that was the Helix Towers. He wasn't so much running as he was leaping off the walls and floor. The walkways were littered with debris so running was more difficult, coupled with the sharp corners of the halls meant he couldn't maintain a constant speed. With his enhanced leg muscles, it was quicker to jump from wall to wall, bouncing off the floors and ceiling it was almost like he was drunkenly flying through the facility.

Each time he made contact with any surface it would crack from the force of him hitting it, then explode apart from the transfer of energy as he pushed off again. In the past when trying something like this Jericho would have taken more care not to cause such damage while moving around. But now he had a single focus, find Lilith and get her out of there. He also knew he only had limited time to do this before the effects of the heart cutter would wear off and he would become useless. Every second that passed by meant he was a second closer to failure, so collateral damage be dammed, while the place wasn't exactly worth protecting, he probably shouldn't cause the hallways back to the exit to collapse.

At this thought he slowed himself and stopped to take a deep breath, the Heart Cutter was making his heart race in his chest which was also causing his emotions to run wild. The smell of Golem's scent also filled his nose "Good I'm still going in the right direction" jumping back into the chase this time reducing the impact he had on the hallways by absorbing the momentum in his legs and not pushing off as hard.

In the distance a faint slap of someone's feet sang out in the dim tunnels of the Helix Towers, coupled with heavy breathing and softly whispered curses. Marcus was running towards the escape pod area, either he was running to confront Jericho or he was running from Olsen he hadn't made up his mind yet "Maybe I can just take one of the Pods, take my chances outside?" He thought to himself as a sharp pain flashed behind his eyes like a nail had been fired through his skull. The plan to escape wasn't viable it seemed Olsen was watching him even now.

Breathing heavily Marcus pushed on, he hadn't run like this in years, coupled with the cold air made it feel like a fire had come to life in his chest. He wanted to stop, let the inferno in his chest calm down but he was afraid if he did Olsen would kill him by burning out his mind.

Quickly the two approached each other the soft steps of the scared rat and the loud bangs of the raging bull coalesced. Each became aware of the other at the same time, first, it was the distant sounds heard faintly followed by the familiar smells in the air. While one began to slow their approach the other sped up in response, and soon through their enhanced sight the two glimpsed each other.

Marcus suddenly froze in place, numb to the pain in his head, deaf to the screams of Olsen ordering him to move. But his eyes were wide, mouth a gape as he locked on to Jericho. The man was moving unlike he had been before, When Marcus had first met Jericho, his movement was deliberate, and measured, like a man rationing his energy. But now Jericho was a beast flying around like a demon gone mad. Ahead of him, Jericho came down in the centre of the hall ahead of Marcus and crouched down low to the ground and held position for a few seconds.

For a second Marcus, thought "Maybe he is being cautious of me, He could be afraid of me? I might have a way out of this..." The thought was destroyed as Jericho launched forward, the power from his jump blowing the floor beneath him away and a thunderous crack of Jericho's leg muscles snapping back into shape shocked the air.

In less than a second Jericho went from being a small figure at the end of a dark corridor to being all of Marcus' world. The bright blue eyes standing behind a curtain of dancing blue black hair framed with a scowl filled Marcus with fear, he was expecting this but what truly terrified him was Jericho's mouth. Marcus thought he would see teeth bared like fangs like a snarling dog, instead he was face to face with a broad unsettling grin.

"Marcus!" Jericho sang out in a joyous tone like someone would use when greeting a friend they haven't seen in years. Jericho then gripped that large rat man around the throat, pushing him back and slamming the creature to the ground.

"Marcus, I don't have time for your talk, I just need you to tell me where Lilith is, tell me and I won't deliver on the promise I made you" as Jericho spoke his right arm transformed into a large spike, the tip of which he placed in the middle of Marcus' chest.

At this Marcus' mind flashed back to when he last saw Jericho and the meagre threat he had gasped as he fell unconscious. At the time Marcus thought it was unsettling but didn't put much stock into the threat, but now, he could see that Jericho very much meant what he said.

Marcus looked around trying to figure out how he could escape but the hand Jericho had pushing down on his throat tightened, there was no escaping this one. "Ok I.." he gasped out before a banshee’s wail echoed inside his head setting his neurons a blaze with pain "Don't you dare, Marcus, either fight or die for me, but don't you try and weasel your way out of this one " Olsen's voice thundered in his mind.

Breathing heavily and struggling against Jericho's grip, Marcus thrashed around underneath his attacker. He tried to wrap his tail around Jericho but the man noticed the movement and slammed the spiked arm into Marcus' tail, expanded the tip of the point into a flat blade and wrenched it sideways, cutting the appendage in two.

Marcus screamed out in pain as Jericho turned back, grabbing Marcus around his pointed mouth and slamming his head back to the ground. "Nice try Marcus, but I'll pretend that didn't happen, just tell me where she is" Jericho yelled.

Still breathing heavily now with tears falling down his face, partly from the blazing pain where his tail used to be and partly from fear. He tried to determine what to do next his mind was torn between Olsen screaming to say nothing and Jericho demanding him to talk. Without thinking Marcus looked back down the hall he had come; he eyed a door he had just passed through. His eyes lingered for a little too long for when he looked back, he felt his heart sink through his body. Jericho was staring in the direction he was just looking with a triumphant grin.

As Marcus realized what he had done, Olsen also became aware of the same. His mind was set ablaze like it had never been before, he screamed out in pain as blood began to drip from his nose, eyes and ears. Suddenly amongst all the pain in his world, he felt a sudden pinch in his chest and the feeling of coldness began to pour into him.

As the feeling of cold washed over him the pain in his head faded, Olsen had let go of his mind. Not only let go but left entirely, he suddenly felt alone, free from the stranger in the room that he had never noticed. Opening his eyes, he saw Jericho looking over him. His face no longer held the rage it did before, nor the horrid grin, rather he had the look of sorrow and pity, his bright blue eyes downcast and distant like he was looking into a void.

Marcus looked at his chest to see what was causing the cold sensation that had freed him. He saw the spike that was Jericho's arm coming from his chest. He looked back at Jericho one more time, he noticed his vision was fading and getting darker as his eyes began to close, he was feeling tired, more tired than he had ever felt in his life. "Sorry, I wasn't going to, but it looked like... like Olsen wasn't going to let you go peacefully". As the soft voice hit his ears the last of the light from the world blinked out.

Jericho raised to his feet, his arm collapsing back into its original shape, taking in a deep breath he turned and raced off again. He was so close now and he had a new strong scent on the air to follow.

Elsewhere in the rotting grounds of the Gardens, Olsen screeched in pain. Using her ability to crush someone’s mind meant her mind was sensitive to the stimulation of her victim’s body, to a degree that made it feel like it was her own. When Jericho took pity on Marcus and stabbed him, Olsen felt the same sensation causing her to flee.

Regaining her composure, she, instinctively reached out for Marcus' mind to find out where Jericho was but remembering he was now dead sent her into a tailspin of fear. Her freedom was slipping through her fingers, two of her most useful followers were now disposed and one of Seon's top experiments was racing towards her.

The creature before Lilith had its massive bulbous eye wide and shaking. She could tell it was suddenly afraid but of what? Was that a good thing? Or is whatever could scare this nightmare a worse fate for her? Lilith thought maybe now with the flesh tree distracted, she might be able to sneak away, slowly she tried to pull away from the tentacles holding her in place.

But as she did their grip tightened and a voice thundered in her head. "Don't even try it, just because you are not the centre of my attention at this moment doesn't mean I haven't forgotten about you!" Lilith tried to pull away from the screeching but failing that, she could only struggle weakly in place.

"Why is he coming for you? Subject 24 has no reason to be so driven to come for you, why isn't he simply leaving" the voice continued to slam around in Lilith's skull.

"Who?" She finally responded for the first time in a while.

"That man you were wandering around the Towers with, now I have to deal with him before I can take my prize" the voice softened somewhat as Olsen turned her attention to the remaining followers now heading towards the Garden.

To herself, Olsen began to devise a plan. "If I move a small guard into the garden and then seal the bulk doors and have the others stand in the halls... I might have enough time to begin the transfer. No wait I have to test the followers to make sure they will still follow me once I leave this body. But I don't have enough time, maybe I should simply seal myself in the gardens and begin the transfer and after I recover if the followers don't listen to me then I could escape in one of the pods..."

Olsen's thoughts ran off the rails when one of her followers she was connected to went dark. It was like the follower vanished which could only mean that it was dead, even unconscious followers could still be connected which means Subject 24 must be getting closer. Judging from the fallen Follower's last location Jericho must be getting close to the Gardens.

Knowing the route Marcus took when he encountered Subject 24 Olsen now knew for certain that Subject 24 was following the scent Marcus left behind. She reaches out again for Subject 24's mind but again he was nowhere to be found. Panicking Olsen orders all the followers close to the Gardens to converge on Subject 24's last position.

Suddenly hulking masses of flesh and muscles began emerging from doors and hatches Lilith didn't notice surrounded her. The grotesque monsters that look like misshapen humans then left the room as quickly as they had entered all funnelling into the one hall, she saw Marcus’ head down before.

"So, he was real?" Lilith whispered to herself.

"Yes... but not for much longer" Olsen replied turning back to the matter at hand.

She now needed to wait for the Followers to be far enough out of the gardens before she could have the bulkhead doors closed for some extra security.

Jericho now closing in on his prize was traveling faster and faster. He had managed to catch the last Gen X by surprise, he came flying around a corner, a meter above the creature’s head. Before it could even look up Jericho had already sliced its head from its body in a reflexive motion.

But now the smell of Iron was permeating the hall in front of him. There was a massive number of Brutes ahead of him and this could only be a welcome party Olsen was throwing at him. But this hall was too narrow and with no obvious side door to rooms ahead, there was no were to fight or hide. Although the number coming at him wouldn't allow any of these options to be sustainable.

As he quickly approached the massive fleshy battalion, he noticed the space in the narrow hall was too small for them. They were pushing on each other trying to get past one another, to be the first to make it to him like they were driven by one desire. A plan hatched in his mind but he knew Olsen was behind the eyes of the creatures before him, so once he played his hand Olsen would know and she might retaliate before he could get to her. He would need to be quick.

Jericho came to a stop and began to take in large deep breaths waiting for the Gen Xs to come closer. They had all come to be aware of him now and they were fighting and pushing on each other, trying to get to the front, so much so they began to fall over one another.

Once this infighting began Jericho readied his attack, he crouched down into a position that mimicked a cat ready to pounce on its prey. Holding his breath watching closely waiting for his opening. Just as the creatures came within a meter of him, he saw it.

A gap above the mess of mutant arms reaching for him appeared with time seeming to move slowly as mass amounts of adrenaline pumped through his body Jericho pushed off from the ground. In a flash, the ground he stood on was shattered and Jericho was up and passing through the forest of arms, they seemed to stand still as he moved through them, it was even doubtful that any of the Gen Xs even tried to stop him as they more than likely didn't even perceive his movements, to them he had simply disappeared.

As he hit the ground on the other side of the demonic group Jericho kept the same momentum and flew down the hall like he had been fired out of a cannon. There was no time to waste, Olsen would know he had passed her minions and was now coming for her, he couldn't give her a second to regroup her thoughts.

Olsen back in the gardens was now shaking with panic, her massive form vibrated uncontrollably. To Lilith it was like looking at a tree being roughed up by a violent wind. Olsen needed to do something, soon Subject 24 will be here in a matter of seconds. Quickly with a thought she took control of one of the Followers she had left in a control room.

In the dimly lit room only illuminated by walls of small blinking switches Olsen frantically searched one of the boards. Quickly finding her prize she flipped a series of switches to active. All were labelled as "Garden Bulkhead doors".

As she returned to her body and surveyed the room she breathed a heavy sigh, had she been holding her breath this whole time? The massive metal doors that lead into the Garden were slowly closing, "I'll be safe now" she thought to herself. But before she could settle in, a small blue dot appeared in one of the dark halls.

"No..." she roared with her real mouth a thunderstorm of wet slaps and muffled wailing rang out.

Lilith turned to look at what Olsen had seen. In the dim light of the distant hallway, she could just make out a man sprinting towards them. "He is really coming," she said to herself.

Olsen paid no mind to Lilith this time, her focus was locked onto Subject 24, "Would he make it before the door closed? What would she do if he did make it in... I don't have any followers here!" Fear gripped her with all the what-ifs as she held her breath waiting to see what would happen.

Jericho was racing towards the light, the scent of Marcus had left the air, but the strong smell of salt lay before him, the kind of smell that only a massive psychic could let off. He pushed himself harder, willing himself to move faster than he had ever moved before.

But the closer he got to the light the dimmer it became. "A door, it has to be" he screamed in his mind. He had to get through it fast. His already-strained enhanced leg muscles felt like they were a blaze but he needed them to work harder.

Diving forward he lengthened his arms and distributed his muscle mass evenly between his limbs while also increasing the flexibility of his spine. He was now flying like a cheater down the hallway.

But it would all be for nothing, as the heavy door came closer and closer to shutting the speed at which it closed also increased. He wasn't going to make it but maybe he could force the door open. He prepared to slam into the door by hardening the right side of his body.

The door came to a close as it slid down into place, not a second too soon Subject 24 was only meters away desperately running like an animal. Olsen went to finally release her breath. Lilith felt her hope drain away when suddenly there was a massive boom that came from the door. The massive block of metal had bent in on itself.

Olsen practically screamed and Lilith lit up for a moment. The door didn't open but it was warped now with a small gap at the bottom. Then slamming could be heard as Jericho beat and bashed on the door. It sounded like massive fists were hammering at it.

The slamming eventually stopped, but they were followed by black as night claws coming through the gap at the bottom of the door. As they closed on the base of the door they cut into the metal and the sounds of someone grunting rang through the air. Jericho was trying to wrench the door open by force.

"He’s a monster," Olsen said in despair.

"He is" Lilith replied with a smile.

Gathering herself Olsen reached out to the Followers that were in that hall. They were closing in on Jericho soon they will be on him.

Letting out a triumphant laugh Olsen proclaimed "Not that his efforts matter, my followers are coming for him, soon they will tear him to shreds."

The banging suddenly stopped and there was silence for a moment, the noise of the gruesome gang began to emanate from behind the door. But instead of Jericho's screams, there was a sound of a single crack and a roar of a thunderstorm. Water began to flow out of the small gap.

Olsen surprised, but still laughed "Oh the walkway must have ruptured. That's amusing turns out the man will drown instead. No point in waiting any longer my dear why don't we start?"

Sign 4

In one motion Lilith felt herself drop and suddenly clapped in a vice-like grip, Olsen had released her arms and legs only to constrict her with the tentacle that was holding her legs. While the tip of the other split open and expanded like a gaping more.

Lilith let out an audible scream as she tried to wiggle out of Olsen's grasp, but the more she moved the tighter the grip became until she was gasping for air. "Now my dear, don’t thrash around so much, I wouldn't want to crush my new body" Olsen mused as she lowered the open tentacle on Lilith's head.

As Lilith wiggled and moved around in a vain attempt to avoid the monstrous orifice that was descending onto her, she felt something open in her mind. It was a strange feeling like something that had always been there but just out of reach. Something she had always known to be there but never needed it. The feeling of desperation and fear was bringing it closer, making it stronger, so in her haste, she reached for it.

Her body was becoming hotter, but she couldn't feel it, electricity was firing off of her zapping at Olsen.

"What... What are you doing?" Olsen yelled in a panic.

Bang, Bang, Bang.

Seconds earlier Jericho was straining to open the heavy metal door, he had bent it on impact but beyond that, he couldn't build up enough momentum to do the same damage to the door. He tried lifting the door, but it wouldn't budge it was either too heavy or the warping of the door had jammed it closed. His mind was racing with thoughts of what to do next, nothing that came to him seemed like a good idea and with the sounds of those bloated mountains of flesh now turned around and coming back down on him, time was running out.

He began to pace around in the front of the door trying to keep calm, for some reason, he felt as long as he kept moving, he could think of something, that and his chest felt like it would explode if he didn't use up the energy from the Heart Cutters.  

Then he noticed a small puddle of water was forming at his feet "That wasn't here before" Jericho thought to himself. "When did it start? Where is it coming from?" He looked around for the source of the leak but couldn't see anything in the dim hallway and the domed light above him wasn't letting out nearly enough light. 

He sighed "Why would Seon put such dim lights into..." he stopped as he looked closely at the light. It wasn't a light at all it was a domed window that protruded out of the underwater structure, with bright red lettering around the rim "Manual leak detection dome 53".

He jumped up grabbing a set of hand holds on either side of the dome and looked out. The entire hallway he was in was a long tube that went from one building to the garden. There were several of these around the facility they must have acted as shortcuts between the different sections of the Helix Towers.

Looking around Jericho noticed a small line of bubbles rising from above the door he just smashed. "I guess that explains the water" he said out loud to himself. The noise of the Gen X's was getting closer they would be on him any minute now.

Taking a deep breath Jericho thought to himself for a moment and then said out loud "This is the worst idea I have ever come up with". He formed his arm into a massive lance which he used to slam into the glass dome.

At first, all he did was make a small crack, but thanks to the pressure of the water outside that's all he needed. Before he could wind up for another attempt the small crack split the entire dome in half.

"Oh shit" Jericho spoke softly as he took in a deep breath. He didn't have time to make gills for himself this time, he needed to move as fast as possible so everything he was doing now needed to be completed on a breath hold.

Just as he took his breath the glass gave way to the ocean and water flooded into the space. Jericho gripped onto the hand holds with all he had. The unrelenting force of the rushing water felt like he was fighting against a tornado, but he couldn't wait for the hallway to fill with water so he could swim out, there was no telling how long it would take. The water was also ice cold and was freezing him to the bone sucking all the warmth from his body. If he didn't get out of the water soon, he could forget about saving Lilith as he would simply be a frozen block of ice that resembled a man.

With all the strength he could force his muscles to put out he pulled himself against the unrelenting current and made his way through the hole. Now in the open abyss of the ocean, he took in his surroundings, before him was a massive glass dome and inside was... a garden?

"I guess that's a better place than any for Olsen to call home," he thought to himself as he morphed his arms into massive wings and kicked off his shoes so he could transform his feet into flipper shapes. He was now flying through the water at a speed that outpaced that of any sea-born creature. As he swam by the glass trying to get as high up on the garden's sphere as he could he caught sight of a bright red dot that was Lilith's hair.

"Good there she is, and I guess that horrid-looking weed is Olsen's real... Oh no" Jericho's thoughts derailed as the grotesque tree began throwing Lilith around and catching her with what appeared to be a tentacle ready to consume her. If he was going to do something it had to be now.

With all the strength he could muster he pushed himself through the water and came crashing down on the Garden's glass dome. The glass here felt a lot thicker than the small dome he had smashed earlier but it didn't matter he would break through this one as well.  

 Bang, bang, bang.

His arms came smashing down, with the ends of which morphed into sharpened points he only needed to make one crack. But this was harder than before, in the water his movements were slow and because he had nothing to brace himself with each hit pushed him away from the dome.

Olsen and Lilith stared at the figure above for a moment, at first Lilith was filled with hope then a thought occurred and without thinking she said allowed. "Wait we are underwater if he breaks the glass this place will flood."

Olsen interjected still transfixed on the struggling man "No, he won't break the glass it's too...." Olsen trailed off, she too was thinking "What if the glass did break" it was thick and was designed to stand up to the pressure of the ocean. But the engineers didn't build it thinking someone would be outside trying to crack it.

Jericho shot out an array of small grasping vines from his waste, bright red and looking like veins they searched around for something to grab onto. Finding the metal frame holding the glass panels in place, they pulled tight forcing him down to the glass. Not a moment too soon his lungs felt like they were on fire he needed to take a breath soon, so this last swing would be now or never.

He let one arm snap back into its natural state while transferring new muscle mass to the other that swelled in size. With all his might he brought it down on the glass. At first, it seemed like he had failed, nothing happened, but a small stream of bubbles began to dance up from the place he had impacted the glass.

Below a small dripping of water began to ring out, causing the two women to hold their breaths. Did he just punch a hole in the membrane keeping them alive?

Suddenly a small crack appeared which in a fraction of a second doubled in size, then split the entire pane of glass in two. Jericho was grinning to himself before the sensation of falling engulfed him.

Below it looked like a waterfall had just opened in the roof, as alarms screamed out, the sound and the sight were too much for Olsen or Lilith to handle, Olson released Lilith letting her fall to the ground. For an instant, Lilith didn't notice she too was transfixed on the waterfall that Jericho had created.

Amongst the screams of the alarms came the grinding of metal on metal it was almost deafening. The noise snapped Lilith back to herself jumping to her feet she turned and ran from Olsen; she didn't have a destination in mind only that she must get away from the monstrous tree thing and the flood of water coming into the gardens.

"Maybe I'm still hallucinating, there isn't any way this is real" Lilith blurted out in between deep rapid breaths.

The grinding metal noise by some miracle was an old fail-safe built to protect the garden in case of an event of the glass dome breaking. They descended from the top of the dome like thick droplets of oil encasing the entire environment in a dark shell. 

The sky was now a blinking sea of yellow lights dimly lighting the garden, bathing it in a sickly gold. While an automated notification repeated intermittently "Dome failure detected, all personnel please leave the arboretum as soon as possible."   

The scene was then punctuated by a grotesque monster's roar and the noise of something massive moving through the trees. That tree thing was on the move and by the sounds of it very angry, "She's probably upset I got away" Lilith sighed, "I can't believe Jericho did that... how did he do that?"

"I'll tell you later if you like."

Lilith yelped as she spun around to see Jericho standing behind her soaked to the bone and shivering.

"How did you... what are you?"

"I'm a Brute, specifically a Shapeshifter, no I can't turn into other people I can just change the shape of my body, it's pretty obvious when I do it the shifted parts always turn jet black."

"I... what?"

"Sorry, that's just the short of it and the most important parts, plus the obvious questions. Unfortunately, we don't have time for your welcome to the world moment, we need to go, like now." Jericho seemed to be very agitated and fidgetive, in fact, it didn't seem like he was shivering because he was cold, more like he couldn't stand still without moving something.

"Are you ok? You seem, off."

"No, I'm not actually but the longer we stay here the worse I'll get, plus Olsen is still here so we need to move!"

"Olsen... the tree thing? What is that and what is this place, my head hurts and I think I..."

"Lilith, the world isn't what you think it is, I'm not going to lie, you have been living in a fantasy, I think all your life. But I'm here, right now and we are going to leave, ok?"

"... Ok" Lilith was apprehensive about trusting Jericho, but he was offering her a way out of this place filled with monsters and he did seem capable if not wildly reckless.

"Good now let's find a way out" Jericho said as he turned to look around for another doorway.

"Oh, I don't think you'll be going anywhere" Olsen's Voice thundered in their minds. 

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