Chapter 108 - The Price of the Bloodline
The tactical display on the wall of Containment Cell 0-4 blinked from dull red to a violent, strobing amber. A digital timer appeared: *03:00... 02:59... 02:58...*
Eleanor began to scream. It was a high, thin wail of pure animal terror, her heels drumming against the steel floor as she thrashed against the zip-ties.
"David! David, please! Don't let him do it! Don't let him blow the seal! I gave you life! I am your mother!"
David didn't look at her. He turned his eyes toward the two titanium-armored guards flanking the hatch.
They had their carbines at low ready, their mirrored faceplates reflecting the flashing amber numbers of the countdown timer. They were professionals, trained to Arthur's exacting standards, but they were still human. They were expecting a broken major—a disarmed, cuffed son who would either break down in front of his mother or march meekly to the bridge to preserve her worthless life.
They did not expect David Vance to move toward the wall.
With a sudden, explosive pivot of his hips, David slammed his back against the bulkhead, positioning the magnetic cuffs connecting his wrists directly over the exposed, high-voltage conduit running to the door's hydraulic lock.
*Crack.*
David drove his bound wrists backward into the junction box with the full, terrifying kinetic force of his two-hundred-pound frame.
The hardened composite casing of the junction shattered. Two thousand volts of direct current surged through the magnetic lock mechanism. The blue electric arc lit the cell like a lightning strike, burning through David's uniform sleeves, searing the skin of his forearms with third-degree burns that smelled instantly of roasted meat.
David did not scream. He locked his jaw, his eyes rolling back in his head as the electrical current violently spasmed every muscle in his torso.
The intense magnetic feedback caused the electronic clamps on the cuffs to overload. With a loud *pop* and a shower of white sparks, the magnetic locks melted and sheared apart.
His hands were free.
The guard on the right reacted first, raising his kinetic carbine to fire. But David was already inside his guard.
Ignoring the agonizing pain in his charred forearms, David stepped inside the rifle's barrel, hooked his left arm over the guard’s weapon, and drove his right palm upward beneath the rim of the titanium helmet.
The force of the strike shattered the guard's chin and drove the back of his skull into the steel bulkhead behind him. The man crumpled instantly.
The second guard lunged, raising his weapon to fire point-blank into David's chest.
David didn't try to dodge. He grabbed the barrel of the first guard’s carbine, spun the unconscious soldier's body into the line of fire, and let the high-velocity kinetic rounds chew into the fallen man’s ceramic chest plate.
Before the second guard could adjust his aim, David drew the combat knife sheathed horizontally at the back of the first guard's tactical belt—an eight-inch serrated blade of blackened carbon steel—and drove it upward through the soft seal at the second guard's throat.
The guard made a wet, bubbling gasp, dropped his weapon, and fell to his knees, his hands clawing at the steel protruding from his neck.
The cell went dead silent, save for the rhythmic, pulsing amber strobe of the countdown timer: *01:45... 01:44...*
Eleanor had stopped screaming. She was staring at her son, her face white with a horror far deeper than what Arthur had inflicted upon her.
David stood over the two dead guards, his forearms smoking, blood dripping from his fingertips. He looked at the timer, then bent down, picked up one of the kinetic carbines, and racked the charging handle with a sharp, heavy *clack*.
"David..." Eleanor whispered, trembling so violently her teeth clicked. "You're... you're going to kill him..."
David walked over to the door's manual emergency override panel. He didn't look at her.
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"Arthur gave me an order," David said, his voice flat, icy, and terrifyingly calm. "He told me to report to the launch tube. It would be rude to keep the general waiting."
He stepped out into the corridor and sealed the heavy hatch behind him, leaving Eleanor Vance in the dark.
