Hope of Escape

Colonel Connolly felt as though ice water had been poured over him from head to toe. His hysterical frenzy vanished, replaced by a bone-deep chill. Only fear remained in his eyes, too profound to hide.

"Quick, damn it! Cut the power! Destroy the elevator cables! Whatever it takes, stop that elevator from coming up!" He nearly leaped to his feet, roaring at the trembling technician by the control console, spittle flying.

"We cannot let that monster reach this floor, or we're all dead! Do you understand? All of us!"

The Agrawal Underground Base was like an inverted tower buried beneath the desert. It extended roughly two hundred meters down and was divided into more than a dozen levels.

The command center where Colonel Connolly stood occupied the very top of the structure, directly beneath the surface buildings. Several heavily reinforced elevators connected it to the floors below.

Destroy the elevator shafts, and travel between the upper and lower levels would be cut off completely.

Colonel Connolly did not believe—or rather, he forced himself not to believe—that the Mutant named Russell could fly up more than two hundred meters through empty air.

No matter how powerful he was, he was still flesh and blood. Without wings, how could he defy gravity? It was the last straw Connolly could cling to in his despair.

But he had gravely underestimated what Psychic Telekinesis could do, especially when its wielder turned it on himself. Then anything was possible.

Inside the elevator car.

Metal scraped as the car rose, bringing a faint sensation of weightlessness. Russell stood among the twelve powerful Mutants who remained.

Every one of them was injured and breathing hard. Exhaustion and worry showed on their faces, but hope burned in their eyes.

The numbers on the elevator's floor indicator ticked upward with agonizing slowness. The top floor drew closer.

Freedom seemed close enough to touch.

Just then—

Clack! Screech!

The elevator jolted violently with a teeth-grinding shriek of twisting metal, then stopped dead.

The overhead lights flickered wildly before going out. Only the emergency lights remained, casting a dim red glow.

Then the car began to sway alarmingly, accompanied by the piercing sound of cables scraping against the guide rails.

The car had lost power. It was about to drop into free fall!

"No, no! God, please, not this."

"Fuck! The elevator—it's going to fall!"

"We were so... so close! Why? Why now?"

Hope burst before their eyes like a fragile soap bubble.

The Mutants who had just been imagining sunlight and fresh air were swallowed by despair. Some collapsed to the floor. Others pounded frantically on the cold walls of the car, while still others let out furious, animal-like howls.

From despair to hope, only to plunge into an even deeper despair—the blow was enough to break the strongest will.

Just as panic threatened to consume them all, a calm voice rang out, remarkably clear amid the chaos and noise.

"Stay calm. We're getting out."

It was Russell.

He leaned against the wall, his posture almost relaxed. There was no fear on his face, only absolute focus.

Miraculously, his calm words seemed to carry a kind of magic, soothing them just as they were about to break.

The remaining Mutants turned toward him. The despair in their eyes quickly gave way to something far more intense.

It was trust bordering on blind devotion. Throughout their escape, Russell had used his incredible power to pull them back from the brink again and again. He had fought the guards, killed the Hounds, and turned the tide.

To them, the blond, blue-eyed young man had long since surpassed even the strongest companions they had ever known. He had become something close to a symbol of salvation.

If he said they would get out, then they would.

At the very instant the elevator car began to drop in earnest, before the acceleration could seize everyone inside, Russell closed his eyes and focused his mind.

In his perception, everything around him slowed and became exceptionally clear.

The falling elevator car, the panicked people inside, the movement of the air, even the immense, constant "force" gravity exerted on the car...

Through his Psychic Telekinesis, he could perceive it all with perfect clarity. If he wanted, he could even exert an upward force on the elevator.

Then I'll reverse it.

An immense, invisible field of Telekinesis surged outward from Russell. Rather than crudely lifting the car, it acted with precision against the combined force pulling it down.

Screeech!

The teeth-grinding scrape of metal grew even louder, and sparks flew.

But the elevator's fall came to a forced halt. More than that, as the thunderous sound of snapping cables or a wrecked motor echoed from far below, the heavy steel car defied all reason and began rising steadily back up the vertical shaft.

The Mutants inside felt the sensation of falling vanish, replaced by a smooth ascent. Their eyes widened and their mouths fell open, but not one of them could make a sound.

They could only gaze in awe at the young man standing with his eyes closed, as though he were communing with some invisible, overwhelming power.

The two-hundred-meter distance to the surface slowly diminished under the reverse force of his Psychic Telekinesis. Every second felt endless, but every meter brought them closer to survival.

Finally—

Thud!

With a dull impact, the car came to a steady stop. The floor indicator had long since gone dark, but judging by how long they had ascended and what they could feel, this was the top floor.

Silence. Deathly silence.

Then came choked breaths, trembling on the edge of tears.

Freedom lay just beyond those doors.

Even Russell felt his heart pounding hard in his chest. Excitement rose in him, mingled with a wariness he had not felt in a long time.

The closer they came to the end, the easier it would be to fail at the final step.

He did not act rashly.

His gaze fell on an especially burly Mutant beside him, his muscles bulging and his skin faintly metallic. The man's ability enhanced his body, giving him astonishing strength. Earlier, he had torn through an alloy door with his bare hands.

"You." Russell pointed at the closed elevator doors. "Open them."

"Leave it to me." The big man had long been itching to act. He gave an eager growl and strode forward.

He took a deep breath. His muscles swelled in hard knots, and his clenched fist cracked like a string of firecrackers.

BOOM!

The entire car shuddered from the impact.

His fist, as big as a cooking pot, slammed into the heavy alloy elevator doors.

The solid steel buckled inward around his fist, leaving a deep, startling crater.