“Yvora!” he called out.
His vision was blurred, and he tried squinting keep them focused. He was seeing double even through the menu prompt on his lenses. Once he could stand, he made his way toward Yvora when the floor beneath him began to tremble and loosen. The damage dealt by the fast-paced fight proved too much for the support of the building site. The instability of the floor caused Caiden to tumble. He couldn’t get to Yvora fast enough.
Through his blurred vision Caiden saw Dr. Stein run to where Yvora was. He had his left hand clenched and held it forward while he pointed his gun at Yvora with his other hand. What the hell is he doing? The building began to destabilize even more. Caiden could hear everything; metal twisting and snapping, and concrete crunching and crumbing. It’s getting dangerous here, Caiden thought to himself. Caiden picked himself up.
“You do anything to her, I will shoot you! Move away from her!” Caiden demanded.
“You! Your eyes. They’ve been glowing such a fierce color! I must know! Is it the nanocells?” Dr. Stein asked as the ceiling began to crumble and the flooring beneath them slowly began to crack.
“Caiden! It’s okay. I’m fine!” Yvora yelled. Caiden stepped forward.
“Give me what I want child!” Stein demanded.
“What the fuck? This building is gonna crash! What do you want from me? Let her go!” Caiden replied.
“You! Your body! Your organs, your cells! You offer your life in exchange for hers! Then she will be set free!”
“Let her go first!” Caiden said.
“Wise choice! Very well then!” Stein said.
Debris began raining down in small chunks. Caiden made a dash for Yvora. Stein began to back away and fired a shot at Caiden. The bullet grazed his leg but he stayed on his feet. Caiden shot back, but for some strange reason, none of his shots came close to Stein. He got a quick glimpse of Stein while his NOVO Lenses were activated and he saw a strange reading. He hadn’t any time to analyze it as Stein continued firing shots.
Why do this? After I offered up my life for hers? Caiden thought to himself.
He returned fire but again, much to his surprise, his bullets had no effect on the scientist. The debris and metal were crashing down. Despite all this, Stein remained unfazed and slowly closed distance on Caiden and Yvora, who was now free and standing behind Caiden.
“I realized that as long as I have your blood, it will be all I need for my experiments!” Stein yelled. His eyes were wide open and wild looking.
“Stein, come in! Do you read me? This was not the plan. Bring the boy to us! That was the deal!” someone shouted via a communication device on Stein’s shoulder. He turned it off and aimed his weapon at the couple.
“You will be of great service to me, Fayte boy!” Stein screeched.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the ground beneath Caiden and Yvora completely gave way, leaving them free falling to the floor below. In midair, Caiden reached out to Yvora hoping to grab onto her so he could position himself beneath her to break her fall. He heard a shot ring out. The bullet grazed Caiden’s side and went straight into Yvora’s abdomen.
“No!” Caiden yelled as they plummeted to the first floor. Whatever Stein was clenching in his left fist fell with Caiden and Yvora.
“Stein, you shit-mouthed bastard! Now what are we gonna tell the General?” Leiutenant Daav said via the communication device. Stein ignored him.
“Michael? Do you read me?” Stein asked into the communication device.
“Yes, sir,” he replied.
“Collect the body,” Stein said.
“Yes, sir” Michael replied.
***
“Boss, do you read me? Looks like Dr. Whackjob’s gone rogue. Status of the Fayte kid is unconfirmed. We’re ready to move in at any time,” Daav said, waiting at his post.
“No! Damn Stein! Psi-Corp can’t be seen at this incident. I’m sending in the test group!” Cain said.
“So soon, sir?” Daav asked.
“This works to our advantage. A citizen's arrest. We can spin the story in the media claiming it was a battle between them and the Fayte boy that caused all this,” Cain said.
“Yes, sir. Over and out,” Daav replied.
***
The collapse of the second floor came to a temporary halt. Piles of rubble and debris littered the lower level. Dust and insulation marred power lines and water from the recently installed sewage draining system began to leak. Caiden’s hand shot through the surface of a large pile of crushed rock and dirt. He desperately dug his way out until he reached a large slab obstructing his path. He muscled the slab away, barely able to stand as he swayed off balance, looking around frantically for Yvora.
“Yvora!”
“Over here, Caide,” she responded weakly.
Caiden rushed to her side. She had landed on a small mound of sand that broke her fall. Just above her was a large metal beam that ended up protecting her from the rest of the falling debris. She was badly injured from the bullet wound. Caiden ripped off a piece of his shirt as his NOVO Lenses scanned the extent of the wound. The tears began welling up and he felt a large lump in his throat. He pressed down, to slow the bleeding from Yvora’s wound. Blood from his shoulder leaked down his arm and mixed with hers.
“It’s okay. It’s okay! Everything will be fine. We’re gonna get out of here,” Caiden said with conviction as he held back tears. Yvora was sitting in a semi-upright position. Caiden felt her gentle hand cup his cheek as she made eye contact with him. Her eyes were sad, but she smiled nonetheless while softly nodding no. Caiden cried out in frustration and agony while pounding his
