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Ah, shit…”
Vi and Jayce both looked at the rapidly growing light and then each other.
“Viktor’s gonna kill us…”
It all started with a blue orb. The military found it… somewhere. Vi was not clear on details and to be honest, neither Viktor nor Jayce cared. Not when they were given free run to do whatever they wanted to. Professor Heimerdinger, the oldest professor at the university and the person responsible for the research on The Orb, was going away for a week-long conference and leaving the mysterious object in their hands.
Technically he only left it in the capable hands of Ekko and Viktor, as The Orb was their PhD research topic. But Jayce was on temporary leave while the dean was considering his funding proposal and subsequently getting very bored. That meant he could try to bother his girlfriend, but she was currently occupied with some assignment for a shitload of credits and thus threatened him with castration if you interrupt me one more goddamn time Jayce. Therefore, he didn’t have a choice but to go and see what his boyfriend was doing. After all, Viktor might actually welcome his presence and maybe even allow him to help with the research. Professor Heimerdinger was really disappointed when Jayce went into applied mechanical engineering rather than the theoretical materials science they were all initially studying, and as such often welcomed him in his labs, trying to sway him to his side again.
He approached the laboratory with a smile, expecting to find Viktor and Ekko bend over The Orb, or maybe conducting some new tests. When he arrived in the room, he was surprised to find it empty, with The Orb laying in its case on the central table.
“What are you doing here?”
Jayce was very proud to say that he did not jump at the voice.
“Vi! I could ask you the same question! At least I work here.”
Vi leaned on the door frame and smirked.
“I have leave for Pow’s birthday this week, but Vander has Silco and Benzo over, so I got the boot. And you? I know that you don’t actually work in this part of the building. Looking for Viktor, were you?”
“I wanted to see if the guys made some progress on The Orb.” Jayce plopped on the well-used couch standing the corner. They all quickly discovered that it’s easier to just crash at the uni some days after long nights of research, instead of trying to find their way to the dorms.
“I’m actually surprised they’re not here, did you bully them into eating lunch?”
“Nah, Powder got some new idea for a test or some shit, so she kidnapped them to set it up.” Vi joined him on the couch.
“And you didn’t follow them?” Jayce was a little surprised. Usually, Vi would take all the time with her sister she could.
“They kicked me out when I moved some ‘particularly important cable’.” She rolled her eyes. “I take my very limited time off to see my sister and she’s too busy to spend it with me.”
If Jayce didn’t know any better, he would say that Vi was pouting.
“Well, since they didn’t take The Orb with them, they will have to eventually come back.” He mused. “I’d say we can go to them, but I wouldn’t dream of interrupting any experiment your sister cooked up this time.” Jayce shuddered at the very thought. His hair took a long time to recover from the surprise change in color it got the last time he messed with Jinx’s stuff.
“Yeah, that’s fair.” Vi chuckled. “I’m actually surprised it’s taking you lot that long to figure this thing out though. I mean, it’s just an orb, isn’t it?”
“If it was easy, the military wouldn't have given it to us, would they? Anyways, we tried basically everything we could think of, but this thing is untouchable. We tried drilling into it, poking it, running electrical currents or different frequencies through it and nothing! It's indestructible. Nothing gets a reaction.”
The longer Jayce was talking, the more frustrated he got. Viktor and Ekko and all of them spent so much time poking and prodding The Orb and didn't even get so much as a scratch on it.
“I am no scientist, but did you try just… smashing it? Since you said nothing you tried worked yet.”
Jayce looked at Vi with a blank expression.
“Just a suggestion.” She shrugged.
“No no no, that is actually brilliant!” Jayce got up from the couch and started pacing around the room. “Maybe you're right! We haven't actually tried to damage The Orb. We were afraid since there's only the one… but maybe it's time for some drastic measures.”
His eyes caught on The Orb, still glittering faintly under the harsh artificial light of the room.
“You said they're setting up an experiment? They won't notice if we borrow it for a few minutes.” Jayce said confidently, picking up The Orb and putting it safely into his pocket.
“Now?”
“No time like the present! And the press should be free since the classes start in the afternoon. Come on, we have to try it.
With those words, Jayce quickly exited the room, not even waiting for Vi to catch up. This could be their big breakthrough!
The testing room was empty as predicted and Jayce wasted no time in setting the parameters of their biggest press.
“Alright, so the sample goes here, the parameters all set up… done.”
He pressed the final command and the machine started to slowly lower its upper arm. After a while of big nothing, Jayce was starting to lose hope.
“I guess that was a bust too…”
“Shut up, I think I hear something.” Vi shushed him and placed her hand on his mouth.
Jayce removed her hand irritated, but also started to listen and sure enough, there was a faint buzzing he didn't recognise. Slowly, with the machine’s arm still lowering and applying more and more pressure to The Orb, the buzzing was getting louder and louder.
“Look! It's starting to glow!”
The Orb indeed started to emit some kind of faint blue light. There was a crackle of electricity coming from the machine, and the light grew brighter.
“Turn it off!!!” Vi shouted, not looking away from The Orb, which was was shining with a force of a proper flashlight.
“I'm trying!!!”
Jayce was hitting the emergency stop button repeatedly, but nothing was working. The crackle of electricity grew louder, and sparks started to fly over the metal surfaces in the room.
The button cracked splitting in half, and the machine was still going.
“Ah, shit…”
Vi and Jayce both looked at the rapidly growing light and then each other.
“Viktor’s gonna kill us…”
And then the light engulfed them both.
A series of scattered images flew through Jayce’s mind, while his gut was wrenched with a feeling of anxiety and fear. He saw himself, working in a weird looking lab with Viktor. He saw himself making a big hammer (hey, isn’t that a nice thought?) with Vi and then, to his greatest horror, killing people with it. He saw Jinx with eerie pink eyes and a manic grin as she pointed a rocket launcher at a city. He saw Viktor as a weird amalgamation of human and machine, he saw Mel glowing with fancy golden tattoos (damn, that looked hot as hell) and most of all, he saw death. In every image, at every corner, the foreboding feeling of dread and death was the most prominent thing. And at the center of it all –blue orbs, like their one, and a… thing that was obviously the source of the orbs. He had a fleeting thought, that maybe it was for the better that they destroyed the sample, even if he would get en earful about it from everyone, especially Viktor.
Jayce woke up with a splitting headache, but fortunately with all of his limbs still intact. He groaned when he felt something poking is side.
“So you are alive after all. Shame.”
Jayce opened his eyes to the image of Jinx staring at him from an unnerving distance of less than twenty centimeters.
“What happened?” He slurred slightly, still not feeling entirely like himself. Then remembering the horrifying images from his… dream? vision? (He wasn’t sure) he shot up and promptly crashed into Jinx.
“Ouch, what was that for, you weirdo?!” Jinx stood up from where she was crouched and rubbed her forehead.
“I… I saw you.” Jayce sat up properly on what he now realized was the couch back in Viktor and Ekko’s lab. “But you were… not you. You had this crazed look about you and you… blew up some city.”
“Huh, there’s an idea.”
“No. Just… no.” Jayce shuddered, suddenly overwhelmed with worry for Viktor and Mel. “Where are Viktor and Mel? How long was I out?”
“Don’t worry lover boy, we already called Mel and she’s on her way, and Viktor’s trying to do some damage control with the dean. Dunno what you did, but your brilliant idea blew up half of the testing room. As for how long you were out, I’d say about fifteen minutes? You’re the first one up, so congratulations I guess.”
Jayce immediately felt guilty, he completely forgot that Vi would also be caught up in the explosion. The images flashed through his mind again.
“Shit, I’m…” he wanted to apologize but then the doors burst open, and Jinx got tackled into a hug by her sister.
“Sorry, she woke up and immediately left to search for you.” Ekko entered the room in a hurried but much more composed manner. “She was saying something about loosing you and a battle and dying. I couldn’t make head or tails from it.”
Jinx embraced her sister and awkwardly patted her on the head.
“I’m safe sis, whatever you saw, it didn’t happen. We’re all safe.”
“I though I lost you…I thought I lost all of you, I saw you fall, I couldn’t save you.”
Vi looked up over Jinx’s shoulder and locked eyes with Jayce in mutual understanding.
“I’m hope the orb is gone. Nothing good would come of it.” She said harshly, still not having let go of her sister.
“Well, about that…” Jinx extracted herself out of the embrace and reached for her pocket. “The lab may be blown up, but the little thing is remarkably resilient. Not even a scratch.” She showed them all The Orb, undamaged and sparkling, as if in defiance, before pocketing it again.
“We have to destroy it.” As he was saying the words, Jayce felt a sense of déjà vu.
Ekko groaned.
“And there goes a year of our work. And my PhD thesis. Assuming they won’t just dismiss us altogether for the damages to university properties.”
“They won’t. The military agreed to cover all expensed incurred by this… accident.” A new voice said.
In all the chaos, the arrival of Caitlyn, Viktor and Mel went unnoticed.
“Of course, provided we will return the orb and join their research team.” Viktor continued where Caitlyn left off. “Considering the alternative, I thought it prudent to accept their offer, at least for the time being.”
After seeing Mel and Viktor, the anxious feeling that never really left since Jayce woke up finally settled. The images still flashed unbidden in his mind, even when he embraced his partners and assured them that he’s fine, but there was less urgency to them now. Sure, convincing the military to destroy The Orb, especially with its newfound exploding abilities may be hard, but with all his friends united, the perspective of it was not as daunting as it seemed just a few minutes earlier.
“Safe to say, I’m not getting my funding approved now.” Jayce joked and just for a moment, when he saw all his friends carefree and unburdened, everything was right with his world.
Somewhere in a military camp, a blue orb appeared.