CHAPTER 116: INTO THE CORRUPTION

Tom opened the door cautiously, and immediately cloudy, ash filled air poured into their small refuge. The acrid smoke burned their lungs and made their eyes water as they stepped outside.

"What is this?" Tom coughed, covering his mouth with his sleeve.

Marcus squinted through the haze, recognizing the industrial pollution he'd studied in his modern world research. "That's the corruption of the coal power plant. There are probably no filters whatsoever." Why would there be? There was no government or health organization to force Malachar to care about environmental protection. He was the law, he was the only power, and soon he could be a god emperor of the whole world.

The thought sent a chill down Marcus's spine as he snapped out of his momentary despair. One problem at a time, he reminded himself.

"Marcus, where do we go?" Aldric asked, adjusting his pack of explosives while trying to breathe through the toxic air.

Marcus peeked outside their cabin, taking in the full scope of Malachar's operation. Small cabins were arranged in neat rows outside the main facility, all probably housing slave workers, he realized with growing horror. The systematic organization of human misery was almost as disturbing as the conditions themselves.

"There are no walls around the worker quarters," Tom observed, noting the lack of obvious security measures.

"Isn't it odd?" Aldric wondered aloud.

Marcus felt a grim understanding settle over him. "Who would be stupid enough to attack a dark wizard in his most important facility in the middle of his empire? And even if they did, where would the slaves run? He controls their minds."

"True," Tom agreed grimly.

Marcus looked around, trying to survey the facility using his modern world knowledge of power plants. The basic structure was similar to industrial facilities he'd studied, but somethings was much grander and more chaotic. Boilers constantly produced steam that mixed with the coal smoke to create an almost impenetrable haze. Coal furnaces pumped out cloudy smoke and ash that settled on everything like gray snow.

They couldn't keep everything neat and organized, so they just piled up buildings wherever there was space, Marcus thought. The result was a sprawling complex that seemed to have grown organically rather than being planned.

While surveying the maze of buildings, something at the center of four massive boiler furnaces caught Marcus's attention. There was a building that shouldn't be there according to normal power plant design, and he could see giant wires coming together at that location. Electricity jumped between the wires like artificial lightning, creating an effect that looked like something out of a horror movie.

The constant electrical discharge lit up the surrounding area with an eerie blue green glow that cut through the smoke and ash. The building itself seemed to pulse with energy, as if it were alive and breathing.

"Aldric, don't use the bombs unless we're surrounded. Tom and I should take care of individuals." Marcus couldn't believe he was saying that. Yeah, he had worked his ass off to become an adequate shooter, but taking lives was something he'd hoped to avoid. But snap out of it, he thought. This was war.

"Tom, take the lead. Aldric, you stay in the middle. We go to that small building in the center," Marcus directed, pointing toward the structure that drew his attention.

They moved carefully through the maze of worker cabins, staying low and using the thick smoke as cover. The sound of machinery grew louder as they approached the main facility, a constant rumble that seemed to make the ground vibrate beneath their feet.

While hiding behind one of the cabins and ducking to avoid being seen, Tom stepped on an old wooden plank without thinking. It broke with a loud crack that echoed through the immediate area. All three froze, expecting alarms or guards to come running.

But one of the slave workers near them simply turned toward the noise, looked blankly in their direction for a moment, then returned to his job without any sign of concern or curiosity.

"Are they zombies? Like the stories you told when we were small?" Tom whispered, remembering childhood tales Marcus had shared from his modern world knowledge.

Marcus studied the workers more carefully, noting their vacant expressions and mechanical movements. "I don't know, Tom. They seem human and alive, but maybe they just don't care anymore. Or can't care."

The implications were chilling. These people weren't dead, but they might as well be. Their minds, their personalities, everything that made them human had been stripped away, leaving only bodies that followed commands.

Tom left his hiding spot and walked up to one of the workers, waving his hand directly in front of the man's face. The worker glanced at him briefly, showed no reaction, and continued with whatever task he'd been performing.

"What are you doing, Tom? Come back here!" Marcus hissed. What am I doing infiltrating with idiots and amateurs? he thought with growing frustration.

But Tom's experiment had revealed important information. "I think they don't care. Let's just walk there," he suggested with typical Tom logic.

They emerged from hiding and moved more openly through the facility, though they still tried to stay inconspicuous. The enslaved workers paid them no attention whatsoever, too focused on their assigned tasks to register the presence of intruders.

As they walked toward one of the massive boilers, the heat radiating from it hit them like a physical wall. The temperature was almost unbearable, and sweat immediately began pouring down their faces.

"What did you say they make here, Marcus?" Aldric asked, wiping perspiration from his forehead.

"Electricity, and I don't know what they're using it for," Marcus replied, though he was beginning to form some disturbing theories.

"What can they use it for?" Tom wondered.

Marcus felt dread settling in his stomach. "I have a bad feeling we're about to find out."

When they passed the boiler and got a clear view of the central building, Marcus realized his earlier assessment was wrong. The building wasn't small at all, but relative to the massive boilers surrounding it, it had appeared smaller than it actually was.

The entire structure was constructed of white marble that seemed to glow with its own inner light. A giant dome crowned the building, and at its center, all the massive electrical wires converged on a single giant metal rod. The whole thing looked like a Frankenstein version of architecture, combining ancient craftsmanship with modern electrical technology in ways that shouldn't be possible.

The electrical discharges around the metal rod were constant and violent, creating a light show that was both beautiful and terrifying. Each bolt of artificial lightning illuminated the surrounding area for a split second before being replaced by another.

Two freakishly giant guards stood at each side of the main gate, and two more waited at the corners of the building. Even from a distance, Marcus could see that these weren't normal humans. They were enhanced in ways that made Tom's abilities look modest by comparison.

"Okay, Tom, outside to in. You take the north corner guard. Me and Aldric will take the south corner guard, and we meet at the gate," Marcus planned, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

The guards were clearly enhanced beings, probably with strength and speed far beyond normal human capabilities. But they needed to get inside that building, and going through the guards was the only way.

Tom nodded, his own enhancement magic beginning to flow through his muscles in preparation for combat. "I can handle one of them."

"Remember, we need to do this quietly if possible," Marcus reminded them. "If we alert the entire facility, we'll be overwhelmed."

Aldric checked his weapons one more time. "And if we can't do it quietly?"

"Then we improvise," Marcus replied grimly.

They split up, each moving toward their assigned targets. The weight of their mission pressed down on Marcus as he and Aldric approached the south corner guard. Everything they'd worked for, everything they'd risked, came down to the next few minutes.

The infiltration of Malachar's inner sanctum was about to begin, and there was no turning back.