Chapter 108: Into The Bunker (2/2)

I knohat it feels like to hate yourself To wish that you were not born To feel that if you were dead, humanity would be better off, ht have a better life outside ghettos"

Aldrich pointed up, towards the open doors of the hangar where the darkness of the night sky stood out strongly against the diar "But out there, no, up there, in those skies, do you think caped heroes know about your struggle?

Do you think they knohat it means to be like you?

No That's why they left you

But I do And that's why I've coazed at the crowd and found the, their lifetih his words, showing that he was not only unlike a hero, but even an Alter - he was someone that could relate to them on a deeply fundamental level

"Then ho are you? If you're not a hero, if you knohat it's like to be one of us-," began someone

"You'll come to know in time," said Aldrich "Just remember this when the world asks you who saved you at your darkest hour of need When they ask who lifted you up from the depths of despair

That it was not a crowd of bright capes and masks

It was me"

Aldrich then moved past the crowd of Duds They shi+fted away froh them, and stared at hith about hi to them

Good

Aldrich had said what he had wanted to say He wanted to hammer into the Duds that the AA and heroes had abandoned them and that the one who had saved the day was Aldrich himself

With that, they would ative PR for the AA when the world started to investigate what happened here

Past the hangar, through a series of sliding mechanical doors that led across a tunnel, Aldrich found himself in the bunker He checked out the bunker just as a precaution to check how defensible it was as he soon had to leave and, more importantly, whether he could operate the control roolance at the bunker's ceiling indicated that it was still h to weather an attack, especially with Aldrich's undead defending it

As for the control room -

Aldrich paused outside of the roo him to see individuals in near death He could perceive theht now, he could clearly see the faint green silhouette of a woman behind the control room doors

Aldrich went to the double metal doors of the control room and found it was jammed, its motion sensors broken He sunk his claws into the doors, easily shearing through the ht out He flicked the two door halves away and watched as a young woman's body fell by his feet

The wo the last rehtly round cheeks Her hair sprawled out behind her in a mess of a, just as young as Aldrich,she was, she wore a full hero's costume

A bodysuit comprised of a dark pink, als lined with several grooves Theon it indicated that it was hex-weave: an ultra-durable fiber sourced from a spider type variant

A patch on her shoulder shaped in the form of a dark blue wave crest indicated she was from Haven Supers Acadewas low, just moderately better than Blackwater, and Blackwater was made intentionally as low as possible to hide attention froed out in her stoh her But remarkably, even with the horrible wound, she was still alive He noted that there were faint blue lines sparking around her face

"The life force in her brain has been preserved," said Volantis "Those lines possess an energy that circulates blood and activity within her brain"

"I see," said Aldrich He looked into the control room to see another costumed hero Guy dressed in blue and yelloith a red, blue and green wiredown his chest Faint sparks sputtered froed out in his head, not tothe rest of his body

"The energy signature preserving this woman matches that emitted from that human," said Volantis

"Hether what happened

These two heroes were probably left behind because they disagreed with the rest that fled in the carrier They were killed, but the male hero, in perhaps a last-ditch act of , had used the last dregs of energy of his power to try and save the girl

But it was far too late Aldrich could tell with how pale the girl was that the blood loss alone was enough to kill her soon, and he had no way to reverse that But what that hero's last effort had done was ensure that this woman's soul would not expire

Theoretically, Aldrich could raise this girl with her soul intact, but then he had to ask hih?

Reading Aldrich's thoughts, Volantis spoke

"This wo vessel, is not at the li capabilities… Rather, both qualities are highly unrefined, capable of enhancing greatly with time"