Return to the Divergence

Rushing subjects, stomping feet; the image was interrupted by an unusual alarm that began blaring further away. Unlike the main alarm that roared the entire facility, was an undergoing sound that came from one sole location—somewhere echoes away on the facility's opposing side.

"You hear that?" Gian-Luca called out. "What is that?"

"Another alarm?" Midas thought to himself. "That's weird. It sounds different too."

The group continued running. They were countless corners and corridors away from communications which they'd just raided.

"You know where we're going right?" Venus asked.

"Yeah. We're heading towards the only way out—the tunnels." Midas tuned into the unusual alarm. He realized it was in the direction they were heading. Suddenly, out flew a group of Angels from around the corner.

"Shit—!" Midas was stopped in his tracks. He noticed an odd breeze begin to pick up from behind him. "Huh?"

A violent gust abruptly flew past. Following the wind, Midas turned to see the Angels being sent flying backwards into the wall.

"Panicking with me by your side? How offensive," Venus scoffed. He had blown the entire unit of Angels into an accumulation of bloody white suits.

"Jesus" Ian laughed. "That packs one hell of a punch."

The group ran past the dead bodies and kept running, seemingly towards the origin of this unusual alarm. Coming to, they were met with a latch-like door that seemed sealed from the outside. Venus aimed his palm, and blew the door open. The group then walked through.

Inside, the abnormal alarm could be heard blaring as loud as ever from uplifted speakers in the corners of the room.

"Woah…" Veronica was astonished. To call what they'd entered a room was an understatement. The ceilings were tall, and the space was as wide as an open field. "What is this place?" Veronica asked.

"This is the entrance and exit bay to this facility." They looked around. The first and most immediate thing that drew their attention was a large, dark, hole found on the far left side of the place. The view was eerie, as only darkness could be seen past its opening.

"What is that?..." Veronica furrowed her eyebrows.

"That… I don't know," Midas was unsure.

Walking down a set of stairs to the main ground, the group found white van-looking vehicles to be scattered everywhere. The group walked around, observing the unusual looking vehicles that were lined in hundreds of rows.

Veronica noticed the familiar window pattern found on each side of each van. "This is what I remember being transported in…" She recalled the memory; from inside, the windows were near the vehicle's ceiling, preventing any outsider from looking in.

"Gian-Luca!" She called out. He rushed over.

"What?"

"You're tall, like what… six-foot? Can you look through the windows of these vans?" She pointed to the glass too high for her.

"Oh, sure." Gian-Luca walked past and peeked in.

"What do you see?" Veronica was curious.

"It's like a mini white room, and in the middle is a long steel plate. It sort of looks like a bed."

"I knew it!" Veronica confirmed her thoughts. The vans that flooded this expanse, and that surrounded the subjects, were none other than the vehicles used to transport each subject to the facility.

"These are the vehicles that they used to take us here!" Veronica called out. Her voice echoed across the area.

"I recall no such memory," Ian planted his palm on a van.

"Well then it's good we've got Veronica with us." Midas looked forward. Ahead, he re-engaged contact with the mysterious void found beyond the opened circular gate.

"Is that a portal?" Ian asked.

"It really looks like one, but it isn't," Midas scratched his head. "If what Abel told me was true, that should be the tunnel leading back to the surface—our escape."

"That's the tunnel?" Vidia barked in. "It looks pitch black. How the hell are we supposed to find our way back to the surface in complete darkness?"

Midas pondered. "Maybe we can switch on a light somehow…" But Midas recalled something Abel said; "It was nearly pitch black when I was being transported through there, so I'd assume the security in that area is scarce."

He thought about it; "Even when transporting subjects here, they drove through the tunnels in darkness? Odd…" He looked at his surroundings.

"Wait…" He suddenly came to awareness of the opportunity before them. "Guys, let's use these vans to drive back to the surface. Maybe there's light on these things, and it'll light up the way." He began walking to the front row of vans, closest to the large and dark tunnel entry.

"Pair up. We'll drive these things in a convoy to the surface and escape this place."

Everyone nodded, and began choosing their vehicles. Vidia strung Gian-Luca along, leaving Veronica with Ian. Venus walked towards a van, and so Midas followed.

Impatiently, Venus tugged at one of the door handles. The door didn't open.

Venus gritted his teeth. "These things are fucking LOCKED!" He screamed at Midas.

"Shit…" He looked over to the others. They too were pulling on doors that wouldn't budge.

"The door handles have keyholes," Ian said. "We need keys."

Midas came over to observe the door handle. He looked at its keyhole, and everyone else's.

"They're all the same keyhole. There must be one general type of key used to open and start all these things."

"But where?" Venus was annoyed.

"Probably somewhere back in the facility…" Midas sighed.

"Maybe one of the Overseers have it?" Gian-Luca suggested. The thought worried Midas, but he was quickly calmed by a fact he remembered being mentioned.

"Veronica, from what you remember while being transported, you said you saw Overseer Ariel, right?"

"Yeah," she replied to Midas.

"Then that means she wasn't in the driver's seat. And for any of our retrievals, the Overseers that led them were probably all in the back with our unconscious bodies too. That means the Overseers don't drive these things, so they shouldn't have the keys. Instead, it's likely the Angels drive these things."

Midas thought up a crucial idea; he realized they had a perfect opportunity to retrieve keys for the vehicles.

"Wait, we could probably find keys to these things off the dead Angels that Venus killed in the other hallway!" Everyone was stupefied hearing this. "Ok here's what's gonna happen. Me and Venus are gonna go back to the dead Angels in that hallway to hopefully find some keys, and you four, stay here to keep on the lookout. If you guys encounter any Angels that come here, wipe them out. Though none should be coming, as they should all be attacking Reed in the Garden right now."

"Alright," everyone agreed.

Midas turned around, and Venus followed from behind. The two then walked back up the stairs and through the blown-open door, as various alarms continued to blare about.