Chapter 3: Grand Escape
After successfully fulfilling his demands, Dante’s progress was more or less ideal. His reports were actually the most detailed papers he had ever given anyone at the facility. Things seemed too good to be true, but nobody was going to really question Dante’s compliance—especially not when he was doing so well. No, it was best to just leave everything as it was and try not to rock the boat too much. They were willing to do almost anything he said as the portal neared completion. He was well aware of this fact, and always kept it in the back of his mind as he continued working—always plotting and making sure things would go his way. He wasn’t going to let his grand masterpiece debut without a bang, after all.
In fact, he had done much more than repair on the portal. He had used his high-security clearance to work his way into different government networks and began an information-gathering system. He quickly obtained personal information on many of the country’s high-ranking officials and politicians and found that there was more information than he could handle. However, nobody said he had to handle it all on his own.
On top of that, he had built some sort of supplementary power generator which he claimed would help maintain the portal and keep from shorting out the city’s power plant once it was activated. When asked for the schematics though, he refused to give them up. It was suspicious at first, but a quick check of his math and notes proved that it was an invaluable precaution, and the investigation into the generator was dropped. He could continue as planned, exactly as he wanted.
As the project neared completion, Dante sent out an invitation around the globe to many of the research heads and political figures he had the most damning dirt on and set up cameras so that his other colleagues could watch via a live internet feed. He also had arranged for multiple news stations around the country to stream the feed as well when he activated the portal. Even then, he planned on making the feed public so that anyone could catch it as they pleased. There was no way anyone could miss it.
Finally, just three months away from the two-year anniversary of Dante’s takeover, they suddenly received a message: The portal was complete. Everyone almost started cheering when they heard the news. They had the most important discovery in all of scientific history completed and it was at their disposal! They could only imagine what they would do with such a device. Where would they go? What would they see? Who would they meet? What would they learn? The questions just kept coming and coming.
Then Dante sent out a message across the international network, saying that he would be officially activating the portal. Everyone found it curious at first because he only seemed to invite people whom he’d had conflict with in the past. Maybe he just wanted to brag about his accomplishment. Perhaps he just wanted to rub it in their faces that they couldn’t do this without him. They were all well-aware of how much Dante enjoyed gloating about his accomplishments, especially to people he really didn’t enjoy. They all came anyway, much to his delight, to watch the grand reveal.
“It’s good to see you again, Dante.” One of the head researchers from his time at Facility 202 came up and shook his hand, feigning politeness. “I heard you made quite the uproar at Facility 99 when you staged your own death. Honestly, I thought it was quite brilliant. How did you manage it?”
“Well,” Dante started straightening his jacket. “It was easy. First I had to play with people’s schedules a bit to make sure everyone was where I wanted them to be. Nobody was hurt in the actual destruction of the wing, but there was a bit of collateral damage that I had no control over—although I don’t think anyone was severely hurt.
“After I had schedules in place, I managed to work my way into the main control unit and set the pressure valves to test at dangerously high levels at dangerously long periods of time. This would also activate the emergency quarantine locks because the system would recognize a problem in the wing and would lock it off completely if it weren’t fixed in a set amount of time. To make sure nobody could stop the testing, I made sure to lock the station to prevent any kind of manual override.
“Once it was all said and done,” Dante concluded, “I hid away for a few days to let the media buzz around the whole situation die down, shot a message to my babysitters telling them where I was at and how the whole thing went down. Pretty sure I gave the President a heart attack because of it. Had I not been stateside, I would have caused an international incident. However, because of this, I’m not allowed to leave the country. That doesn’t bother me too much though.”
“It doesn’t? I thought you’d want to head back out to Eastern Europe. I hear you made some pretty good friends out there.”
Dante shook his head, “They don’t need me out there. They’ve been the pioneers in biomedical research for over fifty years now—only six of which can be attributed to me—and they have plenty of bright minds working for them. Frankly, I’m only surprised nobody else saw the potential there before I got to them.”
“Yes, well you have a knack for that sort of thing, I guess. Hopefully, you can show even more potential tonight.”
“Oh, I will,” Dante said with a disconcerting smile. “Believe me: you won’t believe what I’ll do.” He continued making mindless small talk with other researchers before he finally made his way to the stand to make his announcement.
“Esteemed guests,” he started, “Enlightened masses, brilliant fellows, I welcome you. In the long months leading up to this moment, I have single-handedly been repairing this archaic device in the hopes that it may lead our nation—nay, our species—into a new world where we may expand our influence and share our knowledge with the inhabitants of the other side! In a few moments, I will be activating the machine, which will tear a hole in space-time and create a portal to this new world!” He began typing on a nearby computer.
Outside, the girls were planting small explosives on the vehicles.
“Before I input the final commands, let us take a moment to appreciate those who have been so gracious as to give us this grand moment for mankind!”
The final explosive was placed and one of the girls pushed a button activating the timers simultaneously.
“Those who were first celebrated were the men who sailed around the globe and discovered its mysterious lands and peoples!”
The girls quickly hugged and said their goodbyes and ran off quickly, scattering in case any one of them was caught.
“The next were those who devised a means of traversing this same globe in record times!”
The timers continually counted down number by number, second by second.
“Last there were those who allowed us to touch the heavens above and begin exploring the deepest regions of space!”
One minute left before the explosives detonated.
“Today we will celebrate those who gave us the chance to explore a new dimension entirely! Today,” he hit the final key and the portal opened, “We become the greatest generation to ever live!” The portal cracked with arcane energy unfamiliar to his world. He hadn’t felt it in a long time, and every moment he spent waiting to go back through to the other side only wasted his time. He approached the portal carrying his briefcase, surrounded by a team of five armed bodyguards. “I will be the first to travel to the new world. I will return if, and only if, it is safe for us to continue our trek to this other world.” In the blink of an eye, he and his team were gone as they stepped through the glowing vortex.
And the portal closed. Voices began to fill the room, some confused, others outraged. It wasn’t long before someone with Dante’s notes stepped up and claimed they could reactivate it. Keys were rapidly and frantically pressed as many researchers went to work on trying to reactivate the portal, and as the final keys were pushed, Dante’s image came on every screen.
Oh good. Dante’s voice came on over the speakers. Since you’re listening to this, that means everything has gone according to my plan. Hushed whispers quickly spread across the room, everyone wondering if they’d done something wrong. No, you have not done anything incorrectly. If you’re watching this, you followed my notes perfectly. Without someone else to appropriately check them, I didn’t actually have to give you my real notes on the portal. Frantic typing and clicking were heard next. Don’t bother. The only hard copy that exists—or existed rather—was handwritten and kept in my personal belongings.
Now then, let’s get down to business. His image came up on every screen in the room. By now you’ve probably found out that every door leading out of this facility is locked. If you haven’t, well now you know. Now you’re probably wondering what I’m trying to get from you here. Surely there’s some kind of way to bargain your ways out of this, right?
I hate to break it to you, but it’s too late for bargaining now. You should have thought about that before, and maybe you wouldn’t have wound up here. I digress though. The plan is far too simple for me to go on any sort of villainous monologue, so I’ll just say this plainly: I’m going to kill all of you. Not you at home, of course, but everyone at this facility. Why? Well, they’re all corrupt old men and women who have decided to take advantage of people like me and interfere with the course of progress. It is quite a shame. Here we are on the brink of a fuel crisis, and I’ve already seen three decent solutions that nobody who can do anything has even looked at. There are still a number of active terrorist groups in the world and I’ve seen four possible solutions to prevent them from causing any harm. How many of these solutions are being tested right now? Zero.
Now the researchers were all crying foul and were shouting at the recording.
Don’t bother. You’re all locked in here with nowhere to go. Besides, even if you do manage to escape—A series of loud booms shook the building, knocking some people over—there’s no way you could get away from what happens next fast enough.
All of you will remember this event and will most likely call me a terrorist. I can see it being written in your history books now. Unfortunately, I’m already in your history books and many of them already list me as a terrorist. “Dr. Amynta” is only an alias given to me by the government. My real name is Dante Derogioz, also known as the Dealer. My name and deeds are the stuff of legend, from toppling over the megacorporation run by the Fivveus family and its associates, to being an integral member of the team who disbanded the Fifth Order among many others. You can find a whole list of my accomplishments, along with potential research projects which could help save your people here. A short URL came onto the screen which froze.
As for the rest of you, I’ve had enough. This is the end of the line for all of you. Goodbye.
A high pitched whistling could be heard in the room. Everyone began to panic and tried clawing their way out of the facility, but their efforts were in vain. Anyone near the generator noticed it was building up an inordinate amount of heat and tried getting away, realizing what would happen next. Computer screens began to crack and burst out, cutting those foolish enough to stay near them. Fights started breaking out, blame was thrown around from one person to the next, some started praying to whatever god would listen, but they were all painfully aware of what was about to happen.
In a bright flash, everyone within the room was killed instantly—those close enough to the generator were atomized. What wasn’t destroyed within the room was melted and the blast was strong enough to cause the building to collapse in on itself. Within moments emergency teams arrived on the scene. Firefighters quickly attended to the flames, keeping them from spreading out into the rest of the city. Paramedics quickly rushed to anyone who may have been hurt in the collateral damage, which would have fortunately been very few. A warrant was put out for Dante’s immediate arrest, and armies around the world rallied to prevent another attack. That last bit was a fruitless endeavor, however; anything that tied Dante to this world had been destroyed in that blast.