Once the final Evo exited the lab, Tessa double checked to make sure they were clear. Sam still had a few guards below in the hangar to contend with, but Tessa was confident he could handle the situation. He had enough help if he needed it.
Finn cued up some music for Tessa and played it through her comms, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird. The perfect blend of slow, smooth start into a frenzied racing finish. Tessa figured the last part of this escape would echo the same sentiment in the end. Finn wished her luck and promised to stand by in case she needed any help.
Tessa noticed through her peripheral vision that she wasn’t alone in her stand. A hulking muscular young man nodded to her, and his skin turned to solid blue ice. To her other side was a tall lanky boy with an intense stare in his eyes. He focused on the H.I.V.E. menace, and his body turned to smoldering blue flames. She had fire and ice on her side. At least Tessa wasn’t alone. She was grateful that some of the Evo prisoners stood with her. Tessa gave them a quick mission statement and objective, and then the fighting began.
Tessa pushed her shield forward, which knocked the agents off balance. She dropped the shield and blinked into combat range. Tessa seized the barrel of a rifle in her hands and twisted the firearm from the agent’s hands. She used her strength to bend the gun in half, rendering it useless. Tessa was grabbed from behind and used directional leverage to flip her assailant up and over her shoulder slamming him down to the ground in front of her. She used her extraordinary strength to slam his body extra hard into the ground creating a small crater on impact.
Tessa rolled over her shoulder in a quick, smooth motion maneuvering between hostiles pulling her sidearm as she pulled herself upright. She buried a bullet between the eyes of an assailant who threatened her new flaming friend. She blinked toward another H.I.V.E. operative, shoving her shoulder into his riot shield, causing it to slam back into his face. He fell to the ground, dropping the shield. A double-tap of the trigger and two bullets in the chest ended his life.
Tessa’s icy friend seemed to plow through H.I.V.E. agents with an ice shield making short work of the security officers, but H.I.V.E had plenty of firepower, and they would send more. He froze some of the agents solid eliminating them from combat, which helped improve their odds.
With their enemies’ numbers dwindling, Tessa heard reinforcements in the tunnel on their way. It was time to move onto phase two. She instructed her two recruits to fall back into the cell block hallway. On their way out of the lab, Tessa scooped up one of the black duffle backs, and the iceman grabbed the other. They retreated through the cell block to the door at the opposite end of the hall. Finn had already started the opening mechanism, and the door at the end of the hallway began to open. This door was a metal slab that rose from the floor, retracting into the ceiling.
A spray of gunfire struck Tessa from behind. The armor blocked the bullets, but the force of the impact still knocked her forward. She cried for the other two to continue forward, and she returned to her feet. The others made it through the door, and Finn began the closing process. As the door was descending, Tessa ran hard. Bullets were still hurling her direction, but she blinked and reappeared just in front of the narrowly gaping door. She dropped to the floor, sliding under the narrowing gap diving feet first. Tessa turned onto her stomach and fired her sidearm back at her pursuers. She squeezed out as many rounds as she could manage before the door closed.
With Tessa on the opposite side of the door accompanied by her new friends, she jumped back on her feet. They positioned on a metal balcony above a secured hangar with Project Genesis laid out below them. Massive engines and turbines sat suspended on lifts. Mechanical components were staged all around the spacecraft as it was under development. There was the shell of an enormous hull under construction.
Three guards from below fired up toward them. Tessa returned fire and dropped each with ease. Her two companions stood in awe of the massive feat of engineering before them. The iceman looked to his leader, “What’s next?”
Tessa put the duffle on the ground and unzipped it to reveal lots of C4 and charges with timers. “Destroy as much as we can manage. Five minutes and meet at the gate doors.” Based on the location of the doors, the gate opened to the main hangar and marked their path to freedom. By that time, Sam would need help. H.I.V.E would try everything they could to prevent an aircraft from taking off and stealing their Evo experiments.
Both her new friends grinned ear to ear at the opportunity to blow up part of H.I.V.E. They both had scores to settle, and there was a cure for what ailed them. It was called C4.
More security headed in their direction, so Tessa was ready to get this show on the road. Her friends took their duffle and used the stairs, but Tessa blinked to the bottom and hit the ground running. She headed for the inside of the hull, wanting to destroy their energy reactor. They killed Evie to kidnap her because they wanted to use her energy to kick-start their silly toy. She planned on breaking all their toys. Tessa had her own score to settle, and it was personal.
Tessa worked to plant her charges. She blinked around the interior hull targeting key areas to inflict maximum damage. With her knowledge of engineering, she pinpointed critical structures that would
