Root Of Awe

The next morning dawned clear and sunny. Not a single moment of breeze. Everything was peacefully quiet, without any violence, noise, or pollution. But it was just the beginning. The beginning of the long, cold, harsh winter that was stirring up ahead.

Similarly, the Brave 3 (Harry, Luther, and Amy) had no idea what lies ahead. They might either find great fortune to favor the Brave, or a total catastrophe of disasters that might bring an end to their lives.

The trio arrived in front of Symbiocyte Pharmaceuticals by the morning. They had crammed themselves inside the Aston Martin of Luther's. The skyscraper in front of them was nothing compared to the NY Hotel.

The 95-storeyed giant had an inclined top that slanted sideways by 450s. The building was compact with chemical vessels, scientists, chemists, and other scientific stuff. In fact, the entire building's walls were made of glass, making it highly transparent. Only the ground floor was made of concrete walls, with two iron-bound glass doors. Inside, a guard sat on a stool between the two elevator doors.

"So here we are at last, gentlemen," Luther got a cold stare from Amy. "...and women. Today is a very important day for an important mission. As we all know, this here is the Symbiocyte Pharmaceuticals.

"Harrison, you go break into lab no. 32, extract the formula, infiltrate the office, collect some evidence, go to Mord Dickens's room and stop him at gunpoint.

"I'll go and put an end to the proximity systems, bypass the main security communication lines, and delete the log of all the supplies that arrived this month. This shall buy you plenty of time to escape unnoticed by the guards.

"As for you, Amy Catt, you have the honor of keeping a watch on my car."

"No... oh c'mon !" she groaned. "Please let me kill some bad guys with you."

"Sure, you will... but after this mission, okay?"

"Whatever; I don't care! Give me a mission that no one else can complete, and I assure you, you shall have your mind blown!"

"Alright, everybody, into your positions!"

***

Harrison went in first, as his usual job as team-leader. The guard was dozing sleepily, with half his eyelids closed. Harrison could sneak past him with ease, since his actions and movements produce little, or no sound at all.

He gently pressed a button on the elevator's control panel, but to his astonishment, the buttons produce a soft tone when touched, which is loud enough to wake the guard. This mission had to be planned critically, for this time, they can't use guns, as loud noises attract more attention. In short, 'Mission #3 : Symbiocyte' was in Stealth Mode.

The elevator arrived and as the doors opened, Harrison smashed the guard's skull with his bare knuckles. He stepped inside one elevator, and gestured Luther to the other, just before the doors closed.

The 88th floor of Symbiocyte Pharmaceuticals was a long corridor with labs on either side. The place was teeming with scientists, guards, and chemists alike. Harrison searched around for lab no. 32 for about fifteen minutes before he found its entrance, a massive heavily-guarded door with US marines flanking the doors, standing bristly upright, ready for action, with SP3k shotguns in their gorilla arms. The sight of them made Harrison gulp.

Carefully, making sure nobody is following him, he walked over to the washrooms and hid inside one of the cubicles. He took out his phone and called John Luther. After three rings, the call was placed, and Luther received.

"Yeah, what is it?" Luther had some busy tone in his voice. "Hang on a minute, I'm not done yet! I need to get to the... [gun sounds] um... can't talk right now, hurry... [more gun sounds] wait! I need help! I'm here in the security control room, at the 52nd floor, with two guards trying to stalk me with bullets... [gun sounds violently] Aaargh! One of them bullets caught in my arm... ooh, my arm! [guard shouts] Heh, heh, I threw my left shoe at one of their nasty heads. Hurry up Garison!"

"Okay, I'm on my way."

***

The 52nd floor was similar to the 88th, but there were no doors, or rooms, just a long corridor full of computers, control panels, screens, wires, and other sorts of data cabling equipment. According to Luther's instructions, his body should've been lying on the floor, where a few blood stains were visible. No sign of any guards, either. Just their guns. There was a trail of blood leading to a window. He gazed outside, and the eerie scene made his blood curdle. Luther's body lay spread outwards, his body had burst the moment it hit the ground, his face was a ruin. Such a ruin, that he hardly recognized him.

Tears welled in Harrison's eyes, as he marched back to the elevator, back to the 88th floor, back to the heavily guarded entrance to lab no. 32...

...with a SP3k shotgun in his hands.

The guards' entrails fell to the floor as he laid siege to Symbiocyte's security system.

All the rest of the scientists and guards scrambled for elevators, as Harrison Garison entered the so-called lab no. 32.

The room was more like a storage cellar than a laboratory. There were bags of a white, powdery substance, namely drugs. A treasure of drugs. He collected some samples of the stuff into a small Ziploc bag as he heard a familiar voice, coming from the depths, "HUMAN DETECTED, KILL CODE ENGAGED," the voice declared. "GET THE HUMAN QUICKLY!"

"Ho great!" Harrison swore under his breath. "Here we go again! This GSFER had to come now?"

The floor split apart and crackled, as the giant snake robot burst into the lab. Its lasers were aimed at Harrison.

The GSFER threw him out through the glass walls, with one little swipe of its tail. Before he knew it, Harrison was hurtling to the ground, at speeds of 200kmph, without a parachute!

The air was stinging his skin, as he lay falling to his death, to join Luther, to leave behind Amy, grieving for them. Just then, along came Amy Catt to the rescue!

She swung from ledge to ledge as she slung the whip at Harrison, bringing him safely to her.

"Well that's the second time I saved you," she sighed. "Just when are you going to learn to be wise, and not brave, Harry?"

Harrison dared not to tell her about Luther... yet. They climbed down the ledges, onto the ground, and that's when Amy caught the sight of the body lying in a pool of blood.

"Is-is that? –"

"I'm afraid it is."

They said or heard no more, as they returned to Harrison's lodgings at Lucky Charms. The couple walked in silence, for they had suffered a giant loss. A loss of a friend is more painful than a loss of everything you own. You might learn that lesson fast enough, and then, you won't have to suffer like they were right now.