Alchemist: Chapter 3

Bright, blue tentacles.

That’s all Arjun saw as their body seized up, their teeth locking into the thick leather gag in their mouth as electric currents travelled through their body. Bright, blue tentacles…

Arjun came to, their vision blurry. They could make out the white walls of the room and the pale, yellow clad agents surrounding them. They were numb at first, then the first sensation – tingling in their hands. They glanced down. Still blurry, their fingers rippled like barbequed sausages behind a haze of heat.

They heard steps approaching from far away. At least, they sounded far away. They couldn’t have been, because the next moment, the steps were close, right under Arjun’s nose. Hands reached out from somewhere and unbuckled the gag. Arjun’s jaw made popping sounds as the leather slithered loose and dropped limply from the white-gloved hand of the mostly yellow figure.

“Arjun,” a soft voice hummed from the distance.

Arjun’s ear canals throbbed.

“Arjun,” the voice repeated, or was it an echo?

Arjun let out a pitiful grunt.

“Good, you’re awake,” the voice seemed satisfied, “Can you tell me where you are, Arjun?”

Arjun thought for a moment, letting their eyelids fall shut. They had just been with Hasp, breaking out of the city limits, when… they had been caught by agents. Arjun realized where they were, and what was happening to them.

“Where is Hasp?”

The voice clicked their tongue, “Hasp is being taken care of, just like you. Can you tell me where you are, Arjun?”

The room became clearer. Three bodies in yellow, hazmat suits stood before them. Arjun tried to get up, but realized that they were tightly secured to a chair.

“‘Taken care of’?” Arjun sneered, “Are you electrocuting them too?”

There was a short pause of silence, then the person in the middle said,

“Not ‘electrocuting’ – resetting… Hasp is nearby – they’re doing quite well actually. Now that I’ve shared something with you, can you answer me: where are you, Arjun?”

Arjun took a deep, shuddering breath, then spoke slowly, “I’m in The System.”

Where is Hasp?

Arjun’s mind is back in Club Muse with the drug dealers. They are tied to a chair – again. The dealer with the gold eyes swings his fist and hits Arjun’s face hard. They’ve been going at this for what seems like an eternity. Arjun is numb at this point.

The dealer with fluorescent tattoos growls, “For the last time, where is Hasp?!”

Arjun coughs and spits blood out on the floor to one side, and another fist hurls from the air and nearly knocks the chair over.

“I told you,” Arjun hisses through gritted teeth, “I have no clue. That’s why I’m here looking for them.”

The dealers look at each other. Maybe these goons are starting to believe them, but it’s doubtful by the look on their faces. They walk away, and Arjun’s eyes follow them to the dark side of the room, where they disappear. Their mind flashes back to the electroshock room with the calm, yellow-suited Resetters. They almost prefer that experience to this current situation – almost.

Back then, the thought of escape didn’t cross Arjun’s mind. They had been a part of The System their entire life. They had no reason to mistrust them. It was their own fault for the reset, having tried to leave the city with Hasp. The System was protecting them from their own, self-destructive desires. There was nothing outside The System except wilds, toxic waste left from The War, and violent dissidents who want nothing but to kill hive members – rebels like these drug dealers.

Arjun has to escape.

They can hear the dealers talking in hushed tones, out of view. Arjun doubts they have any plans to release them. They twist their body around, struggling against the straps securing them to the chair. Their hands are zip-tied behind them, their watch glinting under the bright lamp light.

They bend their elbows to raise their wrist, contorting their neck to speak into it, “Activate gliders.”

The gliders, still on Arjun’s feet, ignite. The dealers don’t notice. They are still huddled somewhere in the room, probably deciding how to dispose of Arjun.

They stretch their feet to reach the back of the chair and arch their back, reaching their wrists as close to the heat of their gliders as possible. Arjun winces, fighting the urge to scream in pain as the heat hits their skin.

They use all their strength to pull their wrists apart, and the zip ties, melted and weakened by the heat, snap. It’s dead quiet. Then, they hear footsteps.

Arjun reaches a free hand into their pocket and pulls out the Power Up pills they stole earlier. They pop the lid open, revealing large, orange capsules. How much is a serving? One pill? Will that make Arjun strong enough to get out of here? There’s only one way to find out.

The two dealers step into the light, fists raised. Quickly, Arjun dumps the bottle contents into their mouth, chewing furiously and gulping the nasty mess down. They’ll have to worry about dangerous side effects later.

The dealers lunge at Arjun, but Arjun is already gliding out of the room. Arjun’s stomach rumbles and they already feel their senses heightening. They hear running footsteps behind them, but they don’t look back. They zoom through the drug manufacturing room, past the chemists’ surprised faces, and make it to the basement steps. They stop abruptly.

Security guards are descending the steps – on gliders.

Arjun makes a sharp 180 degree turn, and flies back into the manufacturing room. The two dealers jump at them, arms outstretched. Without thinking, Arjun welcomes their embrace, and hurls them through a table and crashing against the wall. All the workers in the room scream and scurry out the exit, blocking the guards from getting through.

Arjun feels their gliders losing power.

“Activate! Activate!’

Arjun yells into their watch before noticing it’s melted and cracked from the glider heat.

Arjun loses height and the guards gain on them. Unfortunately for the guards, Arjun’s bloodstream is only just starting to absorb the Power Up.

Arjun spins to face them, and they pull out their electric clubs. There are five of them. Arjun lifts a table, sending capsules and colorful powder flying everywhere, and swings, knocking two guards onto their butts. They swing again, and two others are knocked down. Arjun charges and bulldozes the fifth guard right through the drywall. Arjun stumbles back a bit, and a guard grabs their arms from behind. Arjun throws their head back in defense, their skull colliding with the guard’s. The guard slinks to the floor unconscious.

The last guard and two dealers come at Arjun, this time with tasers.

The guards shoot, the wires make contact, and Arjun sees the current shooting through the wire into their body.

Blue tentacles…

The voltage feels like bee stings compared to being reset. Arjun runs around the shooters, the Power Up pulsing through their veins, and wraps all three of the guards in the taser wires. The guards convulse. Arjun yanks the wires from their own skin, feeling their muscles loosen as the electric current stops. Arjun’s head is throbbing. There’s not much time.

Everyone is unconscious except the dealer with fluorescent tattoos, wriggling in the taser wires. Arjun grabs them by the collar,

“Where’s Hasp?”

The dealer moans in pain and their head rolls to one side.

“Tell me!” Arjun yells, shaking them.

“Hasp…” they manage between gasps, “Cleaned us out… a couple days ago… and skipped town.”

“Skipped town?!” Arjun shouts, exasperated.

The dealer laughs, “Yeah… to the great beyond.”

Before they can say anymore, there’s a beeping sound, then silence. The dealer’s eyes suddenly turn bloodshot red, and they go completely limp – dead. They’ve been silenced by remote control.

Arjun’s heart races. They run for the exit, up the basement stairs and into the club. They walk briskly as is possible without drawing attention to themselves. Still, a few clubbers catch eyes with them and look either extremely worried, or disgusted. Arjun must look awful. Finally, they make it through the crowd and out the front door.

The rain has stopped, but it’s still cloudy and dark. The city looks different from before – pixelated.

Arjun walks down the street, the buildings seemingly closing in on them. Their breaths are shallow and labored. Their surroundings start to spin. The Power Up is at a dangerous level.

Arjun stumbles down an alleyway and drops to their knees. Between gusts of cold wind, waves of nausea overtake them. They retch violently and vomit until their stomach’s empty. The world around is still spinning, but at least they’re still alive.

They stare into the bubbly, orange barf goo for a moment, then spot their reflection in a rain puddle. Their face is splotchy and bruised, blood streaming from cuts on their lips. They stand up slowly and look around. They are right behind the diner they and Hasp usually go to. Maybe some pancakes will help them feel better.

Arjun walks to the front of the diner. The neon sign is so blurry, they can’t decipher the letters, but Arjun knows what it says: Half Moon.

They walk in and take a seat at a booth by the door, just in case they have to make a quick exit. Holograms of old celebrities trapse up and down the black and white checkered, vinyl floor like ghosts. LED half-moons light every table with a soft, amber glow. The bot server behind the counter comes over, menu outstretched for Arjun to grab. Arjun puts their hand up.

“Pancakes,” they whisper hoarsely.

The server snorts, and walks off. Arjun barely notices. The thing is on autopilot, but it is strange someone programmed it with insubordination. The room is still spinning. When they close their eyes, they only feel worse.

Arjun sits for what seems like a lifetime, and then glances at their watch. It’s totaled. They carefully unfasten it from their badly burnt wrist, the pain in their body getting stronger now, and lift it up to examine the shattered glass. They turn it around in their hand and tap the glass with their finger, hoping to wake it up. Their gliders won’t work without it.

In the watch’s reflection, they see the diner door open and someone walks in. Arjun gasps, letting their watch fall into their lap. It’s the stranger with the green hair from earlier, still wearing their face mask.

Arjun eyes them as they walk in, shaking the rain off of their coat. They sit at the counter and lower their mask to order, revealing a feminine face and their neck, covered in tattoos. Arjun fights the urge to tackle them and force them to share Hasp’s whereabouts. If they weren’t crashing from the Power Up so hard, it might be a different story. The server pours the stranger a cup of coffee and scans their watch.

Arjun watches the stranger sip their coffee. She’s wearing a yellow suit now, one like the Resetters, and a long yellow raincoat. Arjun is puzzled. Is she a part of The System, or a rebel, like her tattoos suggest?

The rusty bot server appears in front of Arjun and sets a giant stack of pancakes on the table. The pancakes smell like heaven.

“You’d better pay for these,” the server mumbles in a mock suspicious, robot voice before creaking away.

Arjun realizes they can’t pay. Their watch is broken. No matter – they’ll put it on Hasp’s tab. They’ll be stalking the green-haired girl out of here soon enough. First, pancakes.

Oly is a writer, gamer, and musician exploring the Somnium Space metaverse.

See what she’s working on here.