Chapter 34

                                    

                                          
In no time the elevator reached the next floor. With me swiftly entering onto the floor's white marble with my gun raised, and Olivia and Cam following close on my heels. 
                          
Yet, the only person that we saw was bent-over in a rolled-up, sleeved dress shirt. Typing away at a rounded machine that held an inverted, metallic pyramid object that glowed out its corners. And this man must have been prepping it for an electromagnetic pulse.
                          
"Hands up, now! We've got you surrounded!" I yelled, with my thumb steady on the trigger of my revolver.
                          
And with a slow movement of his body, he started to raise his head, revealing his slick red hair. Then with the same slowness, he placed his hands on the back of his head and turned around to face us. And sure enough, it was Peyton.
                          
After looking us over, he looked at me with a strange expression, like he didn't know what to say until a shocked expression came over his face.
                          
"Dak? Is that you?" He questioned.
                          
"Yeah, it's me, Peyton. Long time no see, L1. Now, what are you doing here?" I said as I held firm on the trigger.
                          
He brought down his hands and let his arms relax on his sides. Then, with a surprised yet happy tone, answered.
                          
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? And how are you standing in front of me right now?"
                          
"It's a long story, but a quick summary is I was recruited by the GAU after you blew up their office in LA, and then was given some B7 equipment to help me fight. Now, tell me, what are you doing?
                          
 Because, from my position, it looks like you stole that source from the facility. And now you're trying to use it to help a terrorist organization take over the world."
                          
He leaned his head to the side with a confused look. 
                          
"What are you talking about, bro? I stole this from the facility in LA because I found out that they were part of a defecting division within the GAU, that was trying to destabilize the source and cause a large-scale EMP. 
                          
My superiors in the real GAU told me to steal it. Then gave me a B7 bomb to destroy all the lab's research. So that way they couldn't build another device to harness its power. And for months, we've been building a machine that was capable of fixing and containing its power. To make it stable enough to be operational again."
                          
"What do you mean by operational again? I interrupted.
                          
"Operational, as in being able to produce Blue 7 technology like prosthetics or gear to help the people of the world, instead of just weapons for war. But a rogue GAU founder didn't agree with this direction. And, instead, wanted to weaponize it so that his group could take over the world. 
                          
So while we've been building a machine to store the source here, I've been searching for the defecting division's leader and trying to track its members all over the world. Because after the explosion in LA, they scattered and I couldn't find them."
                          
Before he could say anything more, I interrupted him again with another question. The one question that I would come to dread to hear the answer to.
                          
"Who was the rogue GAU founder that you were looking for?"
                          
"His codename is The Gentleman. But you might know him, as Dr. Jeremiah Hyde."
                          
This time, it was me that was confused. Because if he was working for the real GAU and looking for Dr. Hyde, then it must have meant that we were recruited by the wrong agency. And that we've actually been working for the bad guys this entire time.
                          
"Wait. So you mean to tell me that Dr. Hyde is the rogue? And you're trying to stop us from taking over the world?" I said with a guilty conscience as I began to loosen my finger on the trigger because I was starting to believe him.