James descended the stairs, stepping lightly on the thin metal. The staircase was longer than he expected, bringing them down into the poorly lit gloom. All he heard was their breathing. The walls seemed heavy around them, and for the first time since they got to the base, James really felt like they were under a mountain. The weight of the rock and dirt seemed to bear down on him.
They reached the bottom and stepped into a small, square room lit by a single bare bulb. Tables and shelves covered in tools and wires lined both sides. It looked like an odd mix between a garage and a science lab.
“So... it’s a closet,” Rocky whispered.
“No.” James nodded forward. On the far end of the right-hand wall was another door, this one made of simple wood. A strange green light filtered through the bottom. It flickered and moved like firelight. James shivered again. Whatever the Supers were hiding, it lay behind that door.
They approached it slowly. James strained his ears, trying to hear what was on the other side. He heard nothing but a low, deep, humming noise, like a loud air-conditioner. No voices. James put his hand on the door, feeling the uneven wood beneath his fingers. He looked back at Rocky and Katie. Their eyes were wide, faces pale. But they nodded.
James pushed open the door with a loud creak.
They were bathed in green light. Used to the darkness, James squinted, his vision blurring. The light seemed to come from one long, massive spot along the wall, but as his eyes adjusted, it split into five. He blinked and he saw that they weren’t lights but large cylinders, five of them spaced evenly, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. It took his mind a moment to register what they were.
“Holy shit,” he said. Katie gasped behind him and Rocky cursed.
The five cylinders were made of glass and filled with water like a fish tank. But they weren’t filled with fish.
Each one held a Super.
James walked down the line of tanks, speechless. First was Avus, then Ros, then Leo and Lychnus. Their eyes were closed, their limbs bobbing limply up and down in the water. They all wore the same tight shirts and shorts. Masks covered their mouths, and tubes and wires swirled around them.
He stopped before the last tank, afraid of what he would do when he saw what was inside. He swallowed down his hammering heart and stepped forward.
Derek floated inside the last tank, his eyes shut, a mask over his mouth. His skin was pale, sickly, and his hair floated in slow motion around his head. James put his hand on the glass, staring at his brother.
He’d imagined their reunion a thousand times—the joy he’d feel, the jokes he’d make. It’d be like no time had passed at all. Derek would congratulate him, say he was proud that his little brother had figured it all out. James would regale him with the stories he normally had to listen to Derek tell: the near misses, the moments of action and ingenuity. They’d both be better for it.
But this... This was sickening. He stared through the glass at his brother, who floated lifelessly. What had they done to him?
“Are they... alive?” Katie asked quietly. She stood in front of Lychnus, staring at him with wide eyes.
“They have to be,” Rocky said. “They wouldn’t just keep dead bodies like this.” Even as he said it, he sounded unsure.
“We have to get them out,” James said. A panel full of buttons was built into the bottom of the tank, but he feared what pressing the wrong one might do. The top of the tank was open to the air. There was just enough space up there for someone to reach an arm inside.
“Hoist me up,” he said to Rocky. Rocky nodded and got on one knee, holding his hands together for James to step on.
“Wait!” Katie said. James paused, his foot up. “We don’t know what this is. What if they’re on some sort of life support? Or what if that water is dangerous?”
The water was strange. The green light wasn’t coming from bulbs inside the tanks; it was coming from the water itself. It glowed like green lava.
“He’s my brother,” James said stubbornly. “I’m not just leaving him here.”
“I know, James, but we should plan this out and come back. We’ve been here too long already.” Katie glanced back toward the door.
“He’s my brother,” James said again, angry. He wouldn’t leave Derek in there, helpless. He would save him.
“We’ll get him, bro,” Rocky said. “But Katie’s right. We—”
“Well now,” a voice interrupted, making them all jump. It was deep and smooth, dangerously quiet but somehow as loud as a gunshot. “It seems the game is up.”
They turned to face Calico.
He leaned casually against the doorway, half of his face illuminated by the green light. He smiled, but it wasn’t the friendly, warm smile he normally wore. This smile was wolfish, and the one eye James could see was hard and cold.
James stepped forward, putting himself in front of Rocky and Katie, his fists clenched. He wished he had a weapon.
“What did you do to them?” He tried to sound menacing, but his voice just came out small, childlike compared to the deep vibrato of Calico’s.
Calico laughed, and the sound made the hair on James’s neck stand on end. He stepped forward, his face fully bathed in green light. His steely eyes glinted. “They’re merely in a deep sleep. For their own good.”
“How could you do this?” James said, the anger making him feel braver than he was. He pointed at the tank with Lychnus inside. “To your own brother!”
“Sacrifice is necessary for progress. Some would stand in the way, and they must be... removed.” Calico looked at his brother floating
