Chapter 134: The Underground Prison
Chapter 134
The car continued to roll forward before finally coming to a stop. Before Alex could even reach for his door handle, the front doors of the mansion opened, and Jade stepped out onto the beautiful porch.
Her stunning, ethereal features were perfectly framed by the soft golden rays of the fading evening sunlight, and her demeanor was as calm and collected as ever.
She walked down the steps with an unhurried pace, quietly approaching Nyx the moment she had stepped out of the passenger seat.
Without anything as much as a single word, Jade leaned forward and calmly wrapped her arms around Nyx, pulling her into a brief yet deep hug.
Alex, who had already gotten out of the car and was standing not too far away, watched the heartwarming reunion between two of the coldest people he knew.
As he stared at them closely, his suspicions began deepening once more as he observed the close connection between the two; there was definitely a long past between these two.
Could they have known each other from childhood? Or could they be blood related? Honestly he didn’t know for now but sooner or later the truth was bound to come out. So he chose not to press the matter for now.
"Let’s move inside," Nyx said, breaking the silence as she gestured toward Doris to retrieve the unconscious woman from the trunk. "We need to secure our guest over here before the tranquilizer effect begins to fade."
Following Nyx’s lead, the entire group together with the unconscious Annie on Doris’s shoulder, moved deeper into the grand mansion, bypassing the luxurious living rooms and opulent hallways.
Instead, they navigated down a hidden heavily reinforced staircase located behind a state of the art biometric security door in the lower levels that needed a secret four digit code, and Nyx’s thumbprint.
As they descended further underground, the classic luxurious aesthetic of the upper mansion completely vanished, replaced instead by an environment that looked like it was literally straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Alex couldn’t resist the urge to look around with fascination written all over his face.
The walls were constructed from some kind of thick, brushed titanium-alloy plating, and the corridor was illuminated by recessed, cool blue LED lights that throbbed with a kind of rhythmic but fairly steady pulse.
Despite this year being just 2009 for Christ sake, the sheer technological advancement of this hidden underground bunker looked like something meant for the future. Let’s say 2050 if we’re even being generous here, proving just how sophisticated this place really was.
At the very end of the corridors lay four distinct, massive holding cells. Each room was sealed off by a heavy, transparent pane of multi-layered, reinforced polycarbonate glass that shimmered with faint, active electromagnetic currents running through the material.
The interior of the cells featured an automated biometric sensors, with a bed, a toilet, a sink, and a specialized dampening vents built into the ceilings.
Alex walked up to one of the glass barriers, and traced his fingers lightly along the cold surface as he realized exactly what he was looking at. The hyper futuristic design looked like some kind of prison cell designed to hold Awakeneds.
Doris, who was still carrying the limp form of Annie over her shoulder, noticed his intense, wandering gaze and stopped right beside him, with her baby face returning to its indifferent mask as she confirmed his unspoken thoughts.
"Yes this is indeed a state of the art holding facility," Doris stated calmly, with her voice echoing slightly against the titanium reinforced walls. "It is a highly specialized maximum security prison designed to hold Awakeneds below the Ascendant Realm. Miss Nyx had the one of the best engineering teams in the country, with formal knowledge about Awakeneds, construct this entire subterranean wing over a period of fourteen months,
Which utilizes some sort of advanced vibrational dampening alloys which ensures that no amount of physical force or kinetic energy manipulation from any Awakened below Ascendant Realm, can shatter the cells from the inside."
After saying all that, she stepped forward, and entered a high level authorization code into the glowing digital terminal beside the first cell door. Immediately after, the heavy glass partition hissed open slowly with a pressurized sigh.
"In case if you’re probably wondering how much it all cost I would say constructing the entire thing cost about two hundred million dollars," Doris continued in her flat, unbothered tone, proving just how expensive the futuristic underground bunker really was.
"It is currently the absolute peak of modern technology for now, since technology is always evolving. Though, sadly, the only real downside to this cell is that it cannot hold Vanguard Realm Awakened indefinitely. If the prisoners possess a highly destructive, continuous energy output like this woman does, the core dampeners will eventually oversaturate. So I’d say it can probably hold her safely for about two months top, but that’s good since we aren’t planning to hold her forever."
Doris walked into the center of the high tech cell, and casually dropped the heavily bound Annie roughly onto the small bed with no hint of remorse in her large expressive anime like eyes that looked particularly expressionless right now, before stepping back out.
With the correct sequence of code inputted, the heavily secured glass barrier snapped shut, and a brighter spark of electricity moved across its surface. Daring any one who was brave enough to touch it and risk being taken for free, into the edge of the pearly white gates.
Alex continued to stare at the reinforced glass for several more seconds as faint currents of electricity danced across its surface.
Even after everything Doris had just explained, he still wasn’t entirely convinced.
Call him cautious, but the image of Annie’s final attack that backfired against her due to his quick thinking, remained fresh in his mind. He had personally witnessed the terrifying amount of destructive power she could unleash when pushed to her limits.
An attack easily capable of devastating an area dozens of meters wide, with intense heat reaching absurdly high temperatures wasn’t something he could just casually dismiss.
He folded his arms and glanced toward the sealed cell.
"Are you really sure that this thing can hold someone like her? I mean Annie is not exactly your everyday vanguard Realm Awakened, her level of destruction with just a single attack is really destructive."
Doris opened her mouth to answer, but Nyx beat her to it, and spoke first.
"Yes." Her voice sounded calm and carried absolute certainty.
Alex turned toward her. Nyx was calmly stepping closer to the transparent barrier and looked at the unconscious woman lying on the bed inside.
"I wouldn’t have spent two hundred million dollars constructing this facility if I wasn’t confident in it."
"The dampening systems were specifically designed for anything below the Ascendant Realm in mind. Annie might be dangerous, but she is still within the parameters this facility was built to contain."
"Even after what she did at the airport?"
Nyx nodded.
"Even after that. The moment she even begins exerting abnormal amounts of energy, the monitoring systems will detect it almost immediately. Every cell has multiple redundant safeguards. If necessary, we can sedate her again long before she becomes a serious threat."
Doris also nodded.
"Miss Nyx is correct. Statistically speaking, her chances of even escaping are extremely low."
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Statistically?"
"Well, nothing is ever one hundred percent."
"That doesn’t exactly make me feel better."
"It wasn’t meant to."
Alex sighed. Somehow that response sounded exactly like something the old Doris would say. Still, if both Nyx and her were this confident, then there wasn’t much point arguing further.
He took one final look at the mixed blood woman. At least, for now, she wasn’t going anywhere, right?
"Alright."
Nyx’s gaze shifted toward him.
"You should go get some rest."
Alex couldn’t really disagree. After all, the last twenty four hours had been crazy. An insane battle at the airport. To an emergency flight, to literally escaping Lee Joon woo convoy. And now a secret underground prison hidden beneath a crazy expensive mansion.
Honestly, his life had become ridiculous at this point. What he would give to have a day without him worrying about strong enemies trying to kill him. Sigh.
The group eventually left the detention wing and returned back to the upper levels of the mansion. After a brief but sumptuous meal and a quick discussion regarding Annie’s matter, everyone gradually went their separate ways.
Eventually, Alex found himself alone inside the familiar room Nyx had prepared for him. But yet, despite the comfort surrounding him, Alex couldn’t immediately fall asleep.
Instead he just sat on the edge of the bed while repaying recent events inside his head. His thoughts first of all drifted toward Annie before settling on the underground prison currently holding her.
It was a good thing that he had paid attention while Doris was opening the cell. He had successfully memorized the codes for Annie’s room and the underground room’s entrance.
But of course, there was still the matter of Nyx’s thumbprint authorization. Just how was he supposed to get it?
