The Iris Conspiracy - Chapter 12 - Geekwithapencil (2024)

Two Weeks. It had been two weeks since the accident at the former Minos Quarry, not that he could remember what day of the week it actually was-and Desmond Wales wasn't doing so hot. Desmond's office had become a mess of tangled string, corkboards-notes everywhere but no idea where everything fit together, and he almost felt like he was starting to lose his ever-loving mind. That was three patients now-Virginia, Allen, and Max-all either dead or Hospitalized with not much hope for recovery under his care, and he was starting to wonder...was he the problem?

He should have known his damn curse would catch up to him, now taking patients instead of partners.

"My dear friend-" Wilford had tried to get his attention, holding onto Liz as both man and cat watched on with concern, as Desmond paced anxiously across the room trying to figure out where this next piece of evidence was supposed to go. "Perhaps-..you should try and relax a bit for the night? You're getting...caught up in the minutia of it all again, and ol' Lizzie and I do hate to see you like this-"
"My patients are dropping like FLIES, Wilford-!" The therapist snapped-his tone of voice changing drastically from the one he'd been using during his sessions. "EXCUSE ME IF I DON'T HAVE TIME TO GO GALLAVANTING AROUND LIKE YOU HAVE THE LUXURY OF DOING!"

Wilford sighed, shaking his head. "Now, now detective-harsh words will get you nowhere! We could go on and on all day about who killed what or who's fault it is who did what-but at the end of the day...it is NOT your fault."
"Yeah? Well tell that to Virginia." Desmond had growled-before turning back to his work, seemingly to occupied for any further conversation.

Wilford and the cat both looked to each other-knowing damn well that this wasn't good for him.

For whatever it was worth-...Max's sacrifice would not be in vain. Lucas Cole promised himself that-as he'd once again clambered over the fence and into the old railyard. He probably shouldn't have come back here but-during his first 'raid' of the place, he'd managed to find out something that could blow this case wide open. Apparently-a scientist on whatever project they were working on was looking for allies, herself having doubts about this entire thing-and he'd gotten into contact with her as soon as he'd gotten home. Still-...the feeling ate at him that more and more people were being lead to their deaths by whatever this was-...but he was bound and determined to put a stop to it one way or another, whatever it took.
Either he'd survive this-or he would make DAMN sure he was the last.

Ducking between abandoned freight cars, Lucas couldn't help but have a thought creep in through the back of his mind-he felt a bit guilty, having not come into the diner today-Olive and the kids were likely worried sick, though he'd left a hastily written note on his door that morning as he'd rushed to make his appointment. Soon enough he'd spotted the warehouse-the flash of someone's labcoat slipping through the door enticing him to go and investigate. He'd managed to make his way over-thankfully the place was almost completely empty since the accident-so he didn't have much trouble figuring out exactly who it had been.

"Hello..?" his voice echoed through the warehouse-speaking softly as not to startle the woman who was currently standing in the middle-fidgeting with her glasses. "You the scientist lady who said she could help me crack this thing wide open?"
"Oh-!" The woman jolted a bit, startled-before she'd realized he meant no harm and awkwardly waved to him. "Y-yes-Yes that would be me. You must be Lucas Cole, the-former radio man? Military?"
"That'd be me, m'am." The old soldier gave a warm smile, eventually making his way over to her so they could talk properly. "And you must be...?"
"Oh-Sorry-..Rosemary." The woman offered her hand-Lucas taking it, shaking it politely. "Rosemary James. Thank you for coming on such short notice-when I'd realized you were digging into this whole thing-...I finally found an opportunity myself, I guess."
"Hey, Tell me about it-" The man joked-clearly being able to sense her unease about the whole thing and-trying to lighten the mood, he supposed. "Glad I could be here, Miss James. So-...what exactly is goin' on out here?"

"..You're going to want to sit down for this." The scientist gave a nod, managing to pull up a metal chair that someone had left lying around from before the accident. "This might be hard to believe."
"Considerin' most folks I told about my operation thought I should be in the looney bin?" Lucas chuckled a bit-eyebrows raising in curiosity. "I don't got any reason to doubt ya, miss."
"...Thank you." Rosemary seemed quite taken aback-but glad someone, ANYONE would finally be willing to listen to her. "Alright-so from what I know-Project Iris seems to involve a chemical agent-one that, historically speaking-I know you're familiar with. ...Agent Rainbow."

The words almost chilled him to the bone. Finally-he could get the vindication he so desperately needed-he wasn't crazy! At least-he hoped so. He had been about to tell her to go on...when a gunshot rang out through the building. On instict, Lucas had shoved Rosemary down-the bullet just barely grazing the two of them. "WHAT THE HELL!?"
"Ah, Good." A smooth, sickening British accent spoke, revealing a man in combat gear, holding a rifle-surrounded by some sort of creatures-dripping a sickly purple fluid-like attack dogs. "I was wondering where our little mouse was hiding at! And I see she's got herself a friend!"

"...Oh god..." Rosemary's eyes went wide behind her now cracked lenses- "It's McKinley-RUN!"Her pleas went unanswered-desperately tugging at Lucas' sleeve as the man was stuck-frozen to the spot, staring at those horrible creatures with spotlights for heads, it seemed.
"MR. COLE-MR. COLE WE NEED TO GO!" The scientist frantically grabbed his arm-trying to drag him away until he'd finally come to his senses, more shots ringing out-just barely missing the struggling woman.
"Wh-...sh*t-" Lucas, now realizing the gravity of the situation-grabbed onto her arm and booked it as fast as he could go, dodging bullets-flashes of memories he would much rather not think about right now pulsing through his brain as the adrenaline came in.

"OH COME ON LITTLE MOUSE! WHY DO YOU RUN!?" Ross McKinley's face contorted into a wicked grin-watching with a sad*stic cackle as the creatures began to hound after the two escapees. "THE PARTY'S JUST ABOUT TO BEGIN, LUV-AND YOU'RE JUST IN TIME FOR THE FIREWORKS!"

"Can you f*ckin' believe it?" Justice Myth joked wryly-as she and Sadie Palmer seemed to be enjoying a lovely walk in Elysium Park. She had to admit-it was nice, getting out like this with one of her closest friends. She hadn't done this in-what-..five years? It felt like it. "My damn fridge still isn't working. f*ckers've been so busy after the blackout and now THIS nobody's been around to fix it-and let me tell you, I do NOT wish drinkin' outta the tap on anyone right about now." The Ex-avenger shuddered, jokingly gagging.
"I know, is disgusting!" Sadie couldn't help but snicker- "Whatever they putting in that sh*t-is not worth it! Tastes like-feet! ..Mr. Wales' kitty doesn't seem to like it either-" She couldn't help a slight pang of worry-poor dear, she didn't want her to get dehydrated! "Wonder why. Has never been this bad?"

"No, just since that damn ship crashed." Justice sighed-it almost felt like months ago, and yet-well-...it was weird, how many things were suddenly happening around here. To be honest, it almost felt like her SHEILD days all over again-a part of her almost ached for a mission again, somewhere deep down-but preferably not this close to her home life. NOT this close to her own kids...

It was-weird. Justice had been getting a strange sensation in her, ever since they'd come into these woods-not like usual, no-something was off. And yet she just...couldn't put her finger on it. ..That was-until she'd sworn...she'd heard something. Someone's voice in the back of her mind-someone that clearly wasn't her.
"Juliett…Mike….thi-...Alpha Whi-...do you r-..."
"...Wha...?" The woman groaned-holding her head. That's-..weird. She hadn't been drinking too much last night, had she? She knew she'd had a bad habit of going blackout drunk nowadays-but usually the hangover wasn't this delayed. "sh*t..."
"Justy?" Sadie's head tilted, like a curious puppy-her eyes softening with concerned as she slowly began to approach her friend. "Is Okay..?"

"I'm f-f*ck-fine-I'm fine-" Justice lied-the panic beginning to set in. She could feel her skull pounding-her heart rate quickening. What was HAPPENING? Soon enough, more voices had begun to come through-some she recognized, some she had no f*cking clue who they were.

"‘..And we’ll lose together too."
"Stop it-....Stop it-shut up...!"

"Life is ours to choose, as I always say..!"
"Who the f*ck ARE YOU PEOPLE!?"

"MADNESS!? YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT MADNESS!?"
"What-what is-HAPPENING-...?" Justice, her head splitting-had fallen to her knees, gripping onto the sides tightly-almost pulling at her hair, trying something, ANYTHING to make it stop.
"JUSTICE!" Sadie's worried cries had been drowned out-the voices, the voices were getting louder-why wouldn't they just shut up!? No, no-no this-couldn't be happening..! "JUSTICE-ARE YOU OK!?"

"You....Will NEVER...be a god..."
"SHUT. UP!"The widow let out a pained, roaring scream-as suddenly her entire body seemed to be enveloped by a violet, pulsing glow-beams of energy lashing out-leaving burn marks against trees and grass in their wake."JUST SHUT UP!"
"Justice-Justice what is going on!?" Sadie's eyes went wide with terror-stepping back slightly as the energy began to consume the entire area-a small, yellow aura beginning to spark around her fingertips as she screamed, feeling the ground begin to crack and shake, giving way beneath her feet-thrusting her hand out instinctively as she felt herself beginning to fall.
"JUSTICE-!"

"Can you PLEASE try not to kill us before we even get into this godforsaken town!?" Groaned Oswald, hanging on for dear life in one of the backseats of Ashely Anderson's van-letting out another startled squawk as the 'crazy woman' in the driver's seat ran over another pothole with very little regard.
"Oh I'm sorry, I can't hear you over how awesome I am-" joked Ashley-seemingly only setting her foot down on the pedal harder just to prove a point, causing everyone in the car-comprised of Evelyn and Edward, Kristen, Kate, Adri, and Paige, and a few more-to come flying backwards, pressing into their seats.
"WHEEEEE!" Cheered Kate-clearly having much more fun than anyone else in the car was having right about now. "f*ck YEAH, I LOVE THIS LADY!"
"Oh Goddddd, I'm gonna be sick-" Edward was-not as enthusiastic, gripping onto his wife's hand-who herself was about ready to commit a homicide if this continued. "Miss Anderson, if you would PLEASE slow down before you KILL US ALL-"

"Is she Always like this?" Kristen deadpanned to one of the newcomers-Ashley's friend Lawrence Winters, who himself nodded-gripping white-knuckled onto the arms of his own seat. "Yeah-But you get used to it. ...Eventually. I don't know when myself but-AAAAAAAAAa-" He screamed, as the driver took another curve a bit too fast. "YOU KNOW SPEED LIMITS ARE A THING FOR A R E A S O N-"
"...I'm gonna die in a car surrounded by the biggest f*cking idiots in Gotham." And then there was the resident Huntress-Lacie Morgan, who had gotten herself dragged into this trip despite claiming to have an investigation of her own going on. It was clear, with her somewhat ragged appearance-she hadn't exactly been in the best shape right now, having just recently lost someone-...Kristen assuming it had been whoever her jacket had once belonged to, noting that-first of all, it had originally been a Hawaiian shirt-and second, it seemed just a bit too big for her. ...Though she had to admit, the machete the woman had brought with her was pretty damn cool.

Paige, meanwhile-was just praying for dear life in the very back, hanging on tightly. Of all the things Ashley had done that had given her a strange case of deja vu-this had to be by far the worst.. "Y-You know, Lawrence might-Have a bit of a-EEP!-Point-" she let out her signature squeak, wincing as the entire van jostled-and slowly came to a stop. "....What was that?"
"...Oh great." Deadpanned Lawrence-quickly undoing his seat buckle. "Ash, PLEASE tell me you didn't hit somebody-we do NOT need an 'I know what you did last summer' situation-"
"Does it LOOK Like anyone was on the road!?" Ashley snarked right back-quickly unbuckling her seatbelt as well. "Alright everybody, hang on tight-guess we gotta check and see what the f*ck happened. I swear, Roger's gonna kill us if we killed somebody..." as the two left-Adri herself couldn't help some strange kind of feeling awaken in her-a sudden headache, ringing in her ears.
"Ugh..." she groaned-holding her head slightly and trying to ignore it-until she realized all eyes in the van were suddenly turned on her. "...What-I got a lobster on my head or something?"

"...Adri-..." Paige's eyes had gone wide-watching as a soft, electric blue glow had begun to spark around the girl's hands. "...What's going on with your hands...?"
Adri herself-was confused as f*ck, and the situation had only gotten worse when Lawrence came rushing back into the van. "HOLY MOTHER OF SWEATY SOCKS, YOU GUYS HAVE GOTTA SEE THIS-ITS BAD!"
"Yes, and things are getting very interesting in here too." Deadpanned Oswald- "What-did she hit a deer or something?"

"OR SOMETHING!"
And outside-Ashley Anderson watched in horror as the entire town of sparrow cove had begun to rip itself apart-cracks in the ground growing and shrinking, the streets suddenly overwhelmed with rushes of oily, sheened and foul smelling water.

"GO-GO!" Ordered Poison-wincing as a bookshelf nearly fell on top of him, barely managing to dive out of the way in time. This-...this was bad. Not only had ONE crack begun to open up in the walls of reality itself-but multiple, and they were currently threatening to swallow the entire library. "THIS WAY-I THINK I SEE THE ONE WE SENT BILLY THROUGH! WE CAN GET THE f*ck OUTTA HERE-!"
"Holllly f*ck-" Nicholas 'Nicky' Bones yelped-shoving a couple of his cohorts ahead of himself. "What coulda caused this!?"

"I SWEAR IT WASN'T ME-" Loki groaned-managing to summon a dagger into his hand, just in case. "I don't know WHAT The Hel this is, and frankly I don't care for it-WINTERS WATCH OUT!" Emily, who had been frozen in shock-barely had time to register as the god of mischief yanked her away from a falling light-the bulb crashing into sharp fragments of electrified wires and glass. "What is going ON!?"
"I don't know-but whatever this is, I can-...I can feel it-it's happening out there too-" Emily's eyes had gone wide with horror-watching as the cracks expanded and contracted, like-living, breathing maws threatening to swallow them all hole. "...She's done it-...whatever Hatcher set out to do, she-...oh god..." Something ached in her chest-her head was pounding, and the fear in her eyes only grew worse as she looked down-realizing that her own hands were seeping out some sort of golden light. "...What the hell...?" Her brown eyes had suddenly begun to flash between their normal color and a fiery orange-whatever this was-whatever power she possessed inside of her, it was spiraling out of control-and fast.

"EMILY!" Poison shouted back for her-realizing as the others scrambled for the exit, diving into the crack themselves-their ticket out of here, to possibly stop all of this madness and see their families again-that she'd been stuck still, staring at her hands. Well glowing hands or not-he couldn't just leave her there-! He was a Killjoy after all-...and Killjoys never left each other to die, if they were worth any salt. "EMILY, C'MON-!" He'd made a frantic dash for her-trying to grab her hand and drag her with him. The panic had only gotten worse, realizing the crack was beginning to close. "WINTERS C'MON-WE'RE GONNA BE STUCK HERE IF WE DON'T GO NOW!"

She couldn't let this happen-she couldn't let her powers go unchecked on the other side-whatever was happening, it seemed-it was counting on that fact...but she couldn't just leave them without guidance either. Turning towards the fiery red haired male-she put a hand on his shoulder. "...Party? Whatever happens over there-promise me you'll protect them...ALL of them."
"Wh-Emily-Emily no, I know that look-" of course he did. It was the same look he'd gotten all those years ago-when they'd charged into the city to their doom. When he'd slammed the door to her mechanic shop-and said goodbye to the girl he'd left so many things unspoken to. "Don't you f*cking DARE-"
"..Keep Running." She gave a weak smile-...and shoved him through the crack, watching as it closed behind them all-Party Poison's eyes flashing the same color orange, she could have sworn-for the briefest of moments as he'd screamed for her-..but it was too late.

"Godspeed, guys. No bullsh*t, no hype-" She gave a small salute-as she felt one of the cracks begin to form underneath her feet, leaning backwards-towards whatever new adventure this roller coaster ride had in store for her. "...Just the Truth."
And with that-for the second time in her life-..Emily Winters took the plunge into the great unknown.

"HOLY f*ckING sh*t-" Cried Logan Finch-just barely managing to dodge a collapsing tree as the Orcas gang frantically began to scramble out of Eliza Krolik's house. It felt like the entire world was shaking apart around them-and if it was this bad out here, they feared-how bad was it in town!?
"GO--JUST GO, DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE HOUSE!" Orville barked orders-hoping to lead them, as he'd always done-to some semblance of safety. "You got uncle nasty, big man?" He glanced towards Logan-who weakly nodded-both flinching as Natalie Reynolds let out a scream, a power line nearly collapsing right onto her if it hadn't been for Jake and Toby yanking her back. "...It is-VERY NOT SAFE HERE!" Jake's grip on her tightened almost protectively.
"GEE," Deadpanned Toby-his violet eyes darting around the area to make sure nothing ELSE was of any danger of squashing them all like pancakes. "YOU DON'T SAY!"
"Eliza-Sissy-!" Scarlett panicked-trying to grab her older sister's arm as she seemed stuck-staring at the old finch house. It-...almost seemed as if a sort of combination of green and red sparks were coming from the old, white tower-but-she couldn't stand still for long to find out. "SIS, WE GOTTA f*ckING MOVE-!"
"R-Right-...Sorry-" Eliza shook it off-she could dive into her own feelings about this later, as soon as they were all to safety. "Ok-Someone PLEASE tell me they have a plan right now...!?"

"Well-I dunno if Town's in any better shape-...but we might be able to get help?" Suggested Beckett-staying close by. "...Oh I hope everyone's ok..."
"..Gran..." Jake's eyes went wide-oh god, his grandmother-her shop was in the middle of town..! "She's-she's a tough old broad, I'm sure she'll be ok." Somehow he just-couldn't convince himself that. "And if anythin', she's-she's got rocky to help her out..! Rocky's a good ol' pup, he'll know what to do."
"I hope skeet's alright back at the station.." Charlie sighed- "What the f*ck is going on-it's like-the entire WORLD is falling apart!"

"I don't know-" Orville sounded-utterly haunted at this point. He was supposed to be the leader dammit! He had to have some control, some-solution, a genius plan, ANYTHING. He sighed-flinching slightly as Sav tried to put her hand on his shoulder.
"..Orville-...we're going to figure this out." She nodded-though in the back of her mind, she already knew why this was happening. Rosa Hatcher-her own damned mother-whatever she'd been planning, whatever she had out for them all...it had finally come to fruition.

And she didn't know if they were going to be able to stop her this time.

And somewhere in the abandoned Homa Mart-David Stone had taken shelter from the madness outside. He didn't know what the f*ck was going on-but whatever it was, the entire town had been torn apart at the seams. "Holy sh*t-...holy sh*t what the HELL?!" He'd been out at Ms. Burnham's flower shop when it happened-buying more roses for Virginia. As the earth had begun to quake, cracks threatening to swallow them all whole-he'd at least managed to help Ms. Burnham and her dog to safety before rushing out to see what was going on-and nearly getting caught up in the floods himself. Whatever that was, making the water look so-oily, black-almost like tar-..it smelled horrible. Still-at least he'd managed to duck into Homa Mart relatively unscathed. ...It wasn't until he'd heard her voice that he'd begun to feel a pit of fear building in his stomach. ...He knew that hypnotic singing-he'd know it anywhere, as ghostly as it sounded.

Meanwhile at Patmos Bay-Dawn Lucien, Trey Callahan and Liam Murphy were all running for their lives-watching in horror as suddenly trees and sign posts had begun to get swallowed into the ground, accompanied by a sickening gurgling sound. "WHAT THE SAM f*ck!?" Liam growled-trying to look for a way out. Not only had the entire town begun to flood-but in contrast, it seemed as if all of Patmos bay had suddenly just...vanished-leaving them high and dry miles above the ground at Icarus point..
"Dawn-Dawn, Listen to me-" Trey grabbed the woman's shoulders gently. "RUN. RUN, GET HELP! GET INTO TOWN AND TRY AND FIND HELP-"
"Wait-what about you two?!" Her eyes went wide with worry-shuddering as she heard the sounds of crashing trees get closer.
"WE'LL TRY AND HOLD IT OFF-JUST GO!"
Without another word-despite her mental protests-Dawn had raced off down the road into town, leaving Trey and Liam to fend for themselves-quickly clambering on top of an abandoned car as what almost appeared to be a living pit nearly swallowed them both whole.
"COME HERE..! I'VE GOTTA SHOW YOU SOMETHING...!"

Deep inside the old quarry-something had awakened. There was an old tunnel-just past the end of the tracks. The train hadn't been working in years-not since it had accidentally struck some poor guy who had apparently dug himself through the tunnel and had been walking on the tracks-...but as a low, pained and rage filled groan filled the air, sending the crows flying in a frenzied panic to get away-...it was clear that didn't matter. Something had claimed the quarry as its own, and it had refused to let go anytime soon.

Finally-inside the diner at Elysium park-..Olive Mason was currently in the middle of the shift from hell. It felt as if the entire diner was threatening to shake apart-something MASSIVE was outside, lumbering about-and she was almost afraid a single squeak would alert whatever the towering threat was outside to where she was. And as she hunkered behind the counter-curling up into a ball-she couldn't help but fear for those she held dearest to her. She figured Charlie would at least be with her friends-she wasn't alone. ...But Lucas-...oh god, Lucas....
"...Where are you, Soldier Boy....?"

"WOOOOOOHAH!" A man with messy, wild brown hair cheered-stumbling out from one of the shadows that had begun to plague the entire town. He-seemingly had fallen flat on his ass, cackling like a hyena. "Now THAT Is some fun sh*t!"
"Easy for you to say-" groaned Branwen Walker-who himself felt slightly nauseous. Shadow travel had-never really been his thing, and it was easy to tell as he stumbled out-followed by the much more graceful entrance of Rose Aguillard. "...Oh god...what HAPPENED here!?"
The three's eyes seemed to widen in pure horror at the state of Sparrow cove-especially the implications it presented.
"..We're too late..." Rose shuddered-before the sickening snap of a power line grabbed all of their attention-and before any of them knew it, jet black, crow-like wings had emerged from Branwen's back-grabbing the two others by the backs of their clothing and managing to hoist them into the air, desperately looking for a safe place to land. "What did she DO to this place!?" The winged man huffed-eventually managing to set his two companions down-wincing as electricity from the power line sparked and crackled through the waters below.

"...She's won-" Rose muttered somberly-had everything they'd been working towards been for nothing? ...Not if the growling of their third companion had anything to say about it, angrily adjusting the messy baseball cap he'd been wearing-the words 'DEATH PROOF' plastered across the front.
"Like HELL she has-! I am NOT letting my damn kits die here-!" Before either of them could stop him-Nikolai Krolik, mankind's worst habit-had stormed off into the fray.
Branwen and Rose shot each other a look that screamed 'he's going to do something monumentally stupid, isn't he?' before rushing after him.

"You two STAY HERE-" Ordered Desmond-quick to steady himself despite what felt like the entire building shaking apart around them. "If anything happens, get to the roof-do NOT come back for me, just GO!"
"Detective, I really must insist-" Wilford hadn't gotten much of a word out, before Desmond left the office-presumably to go and check on whatever the hell was happening.

Not trusting the elevator in the slightest right now-Desmond had managed to scramble down the stairs to the first floor, and was greeted by an absolutely horrifying sight. The ENTIRE Lobby had been flooded-cardboard boxes, packages, mail left unsent and chairs left empty-all floating in a murky, toxic looking abyss. What HAPPENED here!?
"..What the sh*t...-" this-this had to be some sort of nightmare-he had to be dreaming, there was no way this was possible-and yet the closer he got to the balcony's railing-the more and more his stomach had begun to churn.

"A wonderful sight, isn't it?"
Desmond's eyes went wide-reaching to his hip instinctively for something that hadn't been there since before he'd become a therapist. Whoever was talking-..he didn't see anyone else there-it-almost sounded like it was coming from inside his head, the deep, guttural voice with an edge of toxic malice to it.
"Who-Who's there-!?" He'd begun to back up towards the railing-glancing around frantically-his hand pressing hard against it, not noticing how it creaked and groaned underneath his weight.
The voice seemed to ignore him-continuing with its own monologuing."You know what I think, 'Doctor Wales'? Something IS in fact, wrong with you. ... Call it-a Lethal case of Deja vu."

And with a sickening snap-..the railing had given way underneath him-sending Desmond Wales careening into the murky, cold waters of the flooded lobby below, the last thing he'd heard before blacking out being that horrible, horrible voice-almost sounding as if they were choking on their own laughter.
"ALL EYES ON ME, NOW OPEN WIDE!"