Fire I: Scorching memories

Cassius entered Liam's office and get to talk with him, a box in his arms. Liam turned off his screens and raised an eyebrow.

Liam: "what's that?"

Cassius: "The records from Day 0 to the last day before Project W escape"

Liam: "well what for?"

Cassius: "I need to show you something"

Cassius dropped the box on the table nearby and opened it. There was a whole pile of files well ordered by date on the right side and a smaller black box on the left. Cassius looked at Liam.

Cassius: "When you asked me to look for anything suspicious about all the people that might have come in contact with your server, I figured a lot of the company services do access your server for various data they require. Aside from the project W and the P.A.L.A.D.I.N. , all other files on your server are public. So I had to review the records from Project W, to see all the people that at some point went to get in contact whether closely or from afar."

Liam smiled in realization and patted Cassius shoulder.

Liam: "Because if one got in once, they have the biometrical access to it which means they can still access the chamber without my authorization or that of Dr. Seraphim"

Cassius: "Exactly"

Liam: "clever"

Cassius: "Thanks sir. But that's not the only thing I have discovered. Since I wanted the records to see if one of them reports about someone else being in the chamber whether it was for a test or assistance especially in the early days and back in the Crisis 0 , I was looking for this files in particular and guess what...both file from day 24 and files 567, 575 and 602 are missing. "

Liam: "what?"

Cassius: "Those were the first test day, the first day of Crisis 0, the day project W was sedated and the day before it escaped. And here (*opening the small black box*) empty, there was supposed to be a USB stick from the Crisis 0 incident"

Liam: "This is so frustrating, who have access to this box?! Is everyone here really able to play with me like that?!" (*growling slightly*)

Cassius: "No sir, those files...they were never in the box in the first place. Whoever took them, was planning on releasing Project W in town. I was also confused at first but look"

Cassius took out some files, those were referred as 24, 567, 575 and 602. Liam took them and opened them, reading carefully what was inside of them. He frowned and lifted his head to Cassius in confusion.

Liam: "Those are files from another project, project B-54 . They were destroyed in the fire of the Brazilian lab a bit more than 10 years ago...this, what the hell is this? This is clearly a hint intended. The person responsible from all this, is clearly playing us, they fucking want us to chase them, playing some kind of mind game?! (*closing his eyes and pinching them with his fingers in annoyance and fatigue*)

Cassius: "The fire?"

Liam looked at him confused for a moment and then remembered.

Liam: "oh it's true we started working together the following year. Years ago, I was still one tech engineer assistant. I was assigned on a project in Brazil, in a secluded base in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. Back then, I was with a tiny group of 10 other young tech assistant, we were under late Dr. Orion. We were working on a thing that was supposed to be a new source of energy, Alcestium.

A mineral that was found by locals on stormy night. They said there was a really violent one that was raging for hours while they were in the forest. They said they saw the sky burning with purple flames before something landed nearby.

The next day, they went on site and discovered a huge crater, the size of a basket ball field. What was crazier it was the fact that there were no traces of flames or even damage dealt to trees. They wanted to get a closer look but the closer they got the more heat they felt. It didn't seem to affect the flora though. They got back to the town and called for authority. The government took the case and exploration were done to that crater.

They found a giant rock with a metallic look. It seemed to have gone deep underground as only a 20 feet tall part was out. One of the explorer on site was an employee of C-Tech lab from Brazil. They got curious about some strange object that was said to have come from the sky and since C-Tech has a lot of influence, they had ways to send on of their minions there.

Anyway, the latter reported everything and in a matter of a week. The whole cas was taken by C-Tech in exchange of a consequent amount of money to the Brazilian government. (*sickened*) still despising but anyway. The base was then built around the crater and a special equipment was used to deal with the heat of the object. Since nothing could get closer than a 20 meters radius without feeling severe burns, a whole suit was designed for the explorer team.

After months of studies and analysis of different samples extracted from the object, it was clear that it was clearly from out of space and classified as an unknown material on the periodic table.

The material had some weird properties, it was very light, probably as light as Aluminum. It was emitting some kind of radiation that caused heat but didn't destroy or affect particles. It had no burning effect on flora and seemed quite the opposite for flesh when in contact the guinea pig was incinerated almost immediately. Because of its very uncanny properties, it had to be tested and experimented on with max level of precautions. (*looking up trying to remember events*) I was affected 6 months later. I invented a converter for that material, turning its deadly radiation into energy through a process of bombarding it with protons.

After months of experiment it seemed to be successful and i was praised for my invention. I got promoted and during my last day on the base...it happened, someone had discovered that the mineral didn't actually burn ...it was actually charging muscle fiber cells with energy until they explode...that lab assistant, thought that if my invention could actually stabilize the Alcestium and make it neutral by transforming it to energy it was probably also now safe to touch it...that was dumb, no that was actually quite a good thought but it was reckless.

He grabbed the Alcestium sample that went through the converter and nothing happened. He laughed around as we all watched in shock. (Did it actually work?)I thought...the heat captors started beeping as a peak of temperature had been detected in the room. We all felt it...he was starting to yell and scream and let go of the rock but it didn't stop, according to the captor, his body heat was rising rapidly. His body started to glimmer, actually it was his muscles fibers that were glowing underneath his skin and fur. We felt the heat and started to use fire extinguishers on him but to no avail, he was getting too hot. His fur burned entirely and his skin followed, his eyes...popped off and..God he was still alive and yelling until...he stopped...his temperature stopped rising and the floor around him was melting. He faced us...this pile of vibrant orange glowing muscle fibers and bones was looking at us and pleaded before starting to get brighter.

No need to tell you what happened, he exploded in a huge blast of fire that almost wiped out everyone in the room. I was too far but got knocked away by the explosion on the wall. I hit my head and lost consciousness for a minute. When i woke up, everything was on fire...melting even...deads...burned dead corpses around the place...it was really shocking, the guy that exploded left no traces, his entire being was gone.

The smoke was getting worse and I was running out of oxygen. My legs were broken and I was partially burnt second degree. I couldn't walk and i felt blood on my neck. I got dizzy and blacked out. I woke up in a hospital 2 weeks later here in the US to be informed that we were only two to have been found alive there...but the other one, another lab assistant...a friend Dr. Marco Araujo...died of blood loss...he was impaled by the metal object and died when it was removed. That project...that was Project B-54... the number got added in memory of the 54 people that died that day...I was lucky...very lucky..." (*looking away and rubbing his eyes a bit*)

Cassius was speechless, he could barely imagine any of it and noticed that Liam was sometimes shivering in recall while counting the story. He gulped and said still confused.

Cassius: "But if... if the file were destroyed in the fire, how did those get there?"

Liam regained his composure and adjusted his tie.

Liam: "I have some ideas, the person that got us out of there, could have been able to get the records as well. They could also have been compiled elsewhere. They're plenty of possibilities. But whoever took that, knows me and have some issues with me...this (*lifting the files*) is clearly an ultimatum. We need to solve this...or people might be in serious danger"

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