Chapter 6 Father

Light.

Darkness.

Jack's eyes opened for a split moment.

All he saw were ceiling lights rushing past him. So many noises overlapped around him…people talking, wheels screeching against the floor…

“Blood pressure’s unstable!”

“He’s crashing! Move faster! We may save him if you hurry up!”

“We need a non-rebreather now!”

Something pressed against his face. Air forced its way into his lungs.

Jack tried to speak, but nothing came out.

He closed his eyes.

Then opened again.

A sharp pain spread through his chest.

…What’s happening?

What is…this…these voices…why can’t I move?

I feel so heavy… yet so light…

“We’re losing him!”

“His vital organs are intact—we can save him!”

Hands. Too many hands.

His vision was foggy. The faces above him blurred into one another.

Then a name cut through the fog.

Linnea.

“…Linnea…” The word barely escaped his dry bloodied lips, but nobody heard him.

His heart pounded faster.

I need to save…save her. He tried to reach out with his index finger and moved it a bit.

A metal tray slid an inch across the table.

One of the nurses glanced towards it.

“…Did you see that? Or was that my imagination?”

“We have a patient dying here—focus on the task!” the doctor shouted at her.

The scalpel in the doctor's hand twitched.

Then stopped.

“Everyone focus! He’s coding.”

Jack's fear grew. His thoughts scattered. He had no idea where he was or who was there with him.

I need to see her.

A faint metallic screech echoed through the room.

Several tools began to shake. The scalpel suddenly ripped free from the doctor's hand and embedded itself in his throat.

Everyone was frozen and confused by what was happening.

“DOCTO—” a nurse screamed before a pair of surgical scissors stabbed her in the back.

Screams filled the room with fear.

Jack tried to stand up from the operation bed, but fell on the ground…unable to move.

I feel…so many things around me, it feels strange…heavy. My head hurts… These screams hurt so much.

“ARGGHH…” he screamed in pain as his body ached.

However, metal answered his pain.

Tables flipped, tools flew through the air. The room descended into chaos as anything made of steel or iron began moving around him, while killing everyone in the room.

Blood splashed across the white tiles, and screams stopped. The things that were flying through the air settled on the ground.

Jack tried to pull himself upright, but fell again. The steel parts which were swirling around the room before crawled towards his body, gathering around his legs, his wounds, and his torso, as if it were alive trying to help him. Bent frames and steel rods twisted together, forming crude supports beneath him. These crutches were jagged, uneven…and wrong.

He then tried to stand up once more. Managing to stay on his feet, he took one step forward. It felt as if he was walking for the first time again. He took another step… and another, until he found a steady rhythm. The only difference was that his mind was moving the crutches without him even realizing it.

When it was finally quiet he sensed one person; it was an injured nurse who was trembling in the corner against the steel locker. Jack didn’t see nor hear a thing but he felt as if something was pushing against him. By this feeling he knew that in one part of the room there was someone sitting unable to move so he started slowly walking towards her and gently reached out his bloodied hand to help her stand up despite his situation.

“GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU MONSTER!” The nurse shook and screamed in terror. Her hand scrambled across the bloody tiles, picking up a pair of long steel artery clamps. She threw them with all her strength. The pointed metal froze an inch from his face.
“W-What...?”

Before the nurse managed to utter another word the clamps turned around against her with a sickening hum, and pierced her head ending her misery instantly. Jack suddenly couldn't sense anyone, and the feeling vanished so he left the room, driven by a single purpose.

Linnea, I will save you, sweetheart.

He then began to walk slowly towards the exit.

The workers of the hospital scattered.

Jack did not look at them, did not hear them.

All he could think about was his daughter.

And as he walked everything was breaking apart around him killing and destroying in his wake.

Cold air hit him as he stepped outside.

Jack staggered out of the hospital ruins. Metal remained wrapped around his body like crude armor. Steel rods bent against his sides, plates covered his back and chest, and scraps of metal supported his weight.

Every step hurt.

Every breath burned.

…Linnea.

The world around him began to move.

Street signs ripped free from their posts. Streetlamps shattered and collapsed. Railings bent toward him, and manhole covers scraped across the asphalt. Even the smallest pieces of metal seemed to respond to his presence.

He did not even know where to go.

His body simply moved.

He wandered through service tunnels and old maintenance routes, following paths that most civilians didn't even know existed. His boots scraped against the concrete, leaving streaks of blood and rust behind him.

Every movement took effort, but he was still moving.

The serum didn’t heal his shattered body. His newly awakened ability was doing the work instead, working like an instinctive immune system.

As Jack dragged himself through the narrow concrete tunnel, jagged rebar slowly curled around his torso. It braced his cracked ribs so his collapsing lungs could actually draw breath. The iron pressed firmly against his scorched skin, holding his torn muscles together.

Bent pipes coiled securely along his thigh and calf, helping his joints. Whenever he willed his leg forward, the metal went along with his subconscious intent.

His body was broken, but the iron was holding him together, piece by piece. His vision blurred and his strength was fading fast, but beneath the pain, he felt safe.

Behind his closed eyes, he saw only Linnea's face.

Just keep moving.

By the time he reached the outer perimeter of their base, he barely looked human. Jagged metal covered much of his body, his head hung low, and every breath sounded like broken machinery.

Two armed guards stepped out from the shadows, weapons raised.

“Intruder! On the ground, DOWN!”

Jack didn't react.

“I said DOWN!”

He took another step forward.

They opened fire.

Their bullets stopped in mid-air.

For a moment, neither guard moved.

Then the rounds dropped harmlessly to the floor.

“W-What the hell…?” one guard muttered, stepping back in disbelief.

Then their guns started to bend. Their weapons ripped free from their hands, twisting into useless shapes.

Jack slammed one guard against the wall with a sweep of his arm. The other one tried to run, but steel pipes coiled around his legs and pinned him to the ground.

Jack pushed past them.

He didn't even look back.

More guards rushed towards him as he entered the base, but none managed to get close. Weapons were ripped from their grips before his power crushed their armor and pinned them to the ground.

Jack stumbled through it all, barely conscious. His body was close to giving out, but one thought kept him moving.

…Just a little more…

I have to see her…

Eventually, he stopped before a reinforced door. With a flick of his hand, he tore it straight from its frame.

The lights inside were soft. The room was quiet and clean.

A single pod rested in the centre of the room.

There was a girl.

Sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of what was happening around her.

As he got inside, Jack's knees gave out.

He collapsed onto the floor right in front of the pod, the metallic armor dropped off him as he fell. For a moment, he just sat there, staring at her. Then he leaned forward, pressing both hands softly against the glass.

“…Sweetheart…” he whispered, with a faint smile.

His voice was barely audible.

“Dad is here.”

Tears ran down his face, cutting clean lines through the soot and blood.

“I messed up again… didn’t I?”

He rested his forehead against the glass.

“But I’ll fix it. I promise. I always do… just give me time… I will find a cure.”

Footsteps echoed behind him.

The man with a mask from before entered the room, his coat brushing against the floor. His eyes moved across the destroyed corridor, the fallen guards, and the blood scattered along the walls.

Then he noticed Jack lying on the ground.

“…Oh, you have finally returned. Did you manage to obtain the— Hm? I see…”

He looked towards the other guards who were still standing and injured ones on the ground...

“Treat them quickly.”

“Yes, Nightscare,” they answered immediately.

There was a short woman standing next to him. Nightscare turned towards her.

“Emi, reposition our base and make sure we cannot be tracked.”

She nodded before leaving the room.

Jack pulled his forehead back from the glass and caught sight of his reflection. He touched his injured, scarred face, not recognizing himself.

“Is…Is this me?” he muttered in disbelief.

“That…healing freak will pay…”

His fingers curled weakly.

Nightscare stepped between Jack and the glass, his shadow casting across Linnea’s pale face.

“Look at her, Jack. The machines are holding her stable, but for how long? A week? A month? You almost died tonight. If you die, who keeps the power running in this room?”

Jack looked up, teeth gritted, helpless.

“I do,” Nightscare whispered, kneeling down to place a comforting hand on Jack's shoulder. “I want to save her, Jack. Truly, I do. But I cannot carry this weight alone. We need each other if she is going to survive.”

“I’ll go back out… I’ll finish it…” Jack exhaled shakily.

He tried to stand, but his legs gave way. Nightscare caught him before he hit the floor and helped him stay upright.

“No.”

“But I want to kill that bastard for what he’s done to me! What will my daughter think when she sees this monster...?” he shouted, filled with anger.

“You think she will call you a monster? No, she will see a father who bled for her. But the man who did this to you? Whoever they are, they won't stop until they take everything from you. They stole your humanity, Jack. Don't let them take her. Besides, you’ve taken the vial, from what I can tell, which is even better than what I had in mind… You’re stronger now. Better… Give it a bit of time and train with your newly found power. You are no longer mortal, Jack. You are so much more now.” He smirked.

“I promise to keep her safe, and your revenge will come. When it does… you won’t need to crawl. Now rest, my dear friend.”

Jack’s eyes finally closed as he lost consciousness.

Chuck slowly enters the room confused by what is happening to the base.

“What the hell was that noise? Are we under attack— Jackie, is that even you, man?!”

Chuck rushed towards him.

“You okay, bud? Obviously you ain’t. What happened to you? Who did this to you?”

Nightscare looked at Chuck.

“Tend to him and patch him up.”

He glanced at Jack one last time before turning away towards two shadowy figures.

“And let us move to the next phase the fall of the AAC… But before that, the man with the healing ability sounds really interesting and quite problematic.”