Ren: Testing

Collection: Ren//Alternative Reality
Chronicled by Ren

​“Has anyone seen Ren?” Petra asked a group of passing soldiers“No, Ma’am” they said, shaking their heads
“Great, he’s missing again” She said to herself
“Petra!” Marius yelled
Petra turned to see Marius running down the hallway after her. He was sweating and his hair was messed up, he rested his hands on his knees and huffed as he tried to catch his breath.
“Have you seen Ren?” She asked

“No, but I walked by his lab and there was music and voices coming from inside.” Marius replied
“Music?” asked Petra quizzically
“Yeah, some really old stuff, nothing that I recognized”
“Interesting” Petra said thoughtfully
Petra turned on her heel and walked towards the lab quickly. Something in her tone and demeanor made Marius think she was mad at Ren for some reason. But then again Marius thought She’s always mad at him for some reason or another. He allowed himself a brief smile as he watched Petra’s retreating form and thought about how much more interesting Ren’s presence had made The Haven Fighters.
Petra walked quickly and deliberately down the halls and turned sharply around the corner. She heard the music from twenty feet away. She frowned as she tried the door and found it locked, as usual. She pulled her Master Key out of her pocket and inserted it into the lock. Nothing. He changed the lock Petrathought that’s new. She knocked loudly and the music stopped. Someone turned the light off inside, there was a grating noise followed by a flash of light and all noise from the inside ceased.
“Petra” Ren said, sounding surprised
Turning her head, Petra saw Ren coming down the hall, quickly stowing something beneath his cloak.
“Where have you been?” Petra asked angrily
“I had to run a small errand, why?” Ren said evasively
“I was intending to check your progress on finding our spy”
“The spy will be found by the end of the week, I can personally guarantee it. I have a plan and judging from the progress I’ve made already, it’s most likely going to work. I have also developed a plan to defeat the Authority.” Ren said
“Really?” Petra actually looked hopeful
“Yeah, step inside” Ren unlocked the door
Petra noticed the changes in the room immediately. A large something sat in the back of the room beneath a cloth. A metal and glass canister full of a white liquid stood on a work bench. In the corner a huge glass capsule stood with the light inside off and the door shut. Ren lifted the canister and handed it to Petra.
“What you are holding is my plan to crush the Authority. I call it The Vision. It’s a chemical that causes hallucinations and essentially shuts down the part of the brain that controls rational thinking, making its victims especially vulnerable to the power of suggestion.” Ren explained
“You do realize that a gas mask is part of the standard equipment given to all soldiers of the Authority, right?” she asked
“Ah, and therein lies the beauty of this plan, the compound is also acidic so if the particles manifest in large numbers they form an acid that would eat through things like, I don’t know, gas mask filters, containers, lungs.” Ren continued
“Did you say lungs?” Petra looked horrified
“Well, if you get a soldier who is exposed to the gas for an extended amount of time without any form of break so his lungs can filter out the particles, then yes.”
“Michael Ren, the only man who can talk about things like genocide and mass murder with such a rational and logical tone, you almost believe it’s okay.” Petra said
“What’s wrong with my plan? I make a few more canisters of this, we take them outside and set them up to pressure plates, then when they step on them, the canisters go off, scare them so bad they won’t want to fight, then I go out there and clean up the mess that’s left over.”
“That’s wrong. That’s genocide. That’s...actually pretty smart.” Petra ranted
“So I can do it?” Ren asked
“No, but the idea is certainly intriguing”
“Are you sure? They'd do it to us if they had the chance.” Ren said
“But if we sink to their level, are we really any better than they are?”
“Ugh, you pick now to get all philosophical on me” Ren grimaced
Ren walked to a cabinet and pulled out a glass bottle and drank deeply. He returned the bottle to the cupboard before turning his attention back to Petra.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” He asked
“Not particularly, however you might want to be careful of whoyou give keys to your lab to.”
“What do you mean?” Ren looked confused
“When I first knocked at your door there was some loud music playing and the lights were on like someone was in here.”
“Oh, I probably left them on, and the timer they’re connected to shut them off.” Ren replied quickly
“I see” Petra didn’t look convinced “Well, if that’s all, then I’ll leave you to your work, after all, you are a busy man.”
“Quite so” came Ren’s reply
Petra left and Ren remained in place long enough to make sure she was gone before sliding the workbench he had been leaning against aside and opening the passage where Logan sat in one of the alcoves.
“About time, I thought she’d never leave.” Logan spoke quietly
“Neither did I” Ren replied
“Did it work?” Logan inquired
“Yes, I was able to use it for a small jump to an adjoining hallway. Worked like a dream.” Ren said happily.
He pulled the cloth off of the thing that stood beneath it. It was revealed to be a small platform with seven Tesla coils attached. On the center of the platform was a pyramid, but where the tip would have been was an indentation. From beneath his cloak Ren drew a metal orb. He placed the orb upon the platform and turned the machine on. The Tesla coils powered up and arcs of electricity connected with the orb, showering the room in a ghostly blue light.
“How long do you anticipate it will take to power it up enough for a two-way jump?” Ren asked the robot
“Time or space?”
“Time, with a fair amount of time between jumps.” Ren elaborated
“Considering the improvements you’ve made to the original design, it should be charged by the end of the day with the machine you’ve made for it.” Logan explained
“Excellent. Now about the weapon…” Ren began
Ren walked to the other side of the room and pressed a button on a panel. The top of a workbench flipped over revealing five orbs, similar to the one on the machine but smaller. Each was about the size of a walnut.
“All they are is a concentrated wave of accelerated time, correct?” Logan asked
“Correct.” Ren affirmed
“So then they shouldn’t need much of a charge at all, they should require so little energy that you might be able to use a portable system to power them instead of a stationary system, much like that one there” Logan indicated the machine that the large orb currently rested on.
“Excellent, in that case, do you think that we could run a test now?”
“It is” Logan paused “possible”
They heard footsteps approaching the room.
“Someone's coming” Ren whispered, shutting down the machine.
“Shall we vacate the premises momentarily?” Logan spoke in equal volume
“Indeed” Together they slid down into the passage.
Ren heard someone knock at the door. He paused briefly, hardly daring to breath, and listened as they walked away.
“I need to make a quick run to my quarters, I’ll be right back, stay here.” He instructed the robot.
“Got it”
Ren ran down the passage to the hole labeled “room”. He crawled through and down the staircase, popping up under the bed as usual, but something was off. As he climbed under the bed he saw that the room had been ransacked by someone looking for something. Drawers had been pulled out and tossed, the closet had been emptied completely, and someone was still in the kitchen. Ren slid open a panel on his dresser and pulled out a handgun. He loaded it with Aeon Darts from a box that sat atop the desk. Flipping open a knife with his free hand he held it under the gun, and slowly he began to move towards the kitchen. He fired off three rounds without looking and the wereanswered by a scream. Dropping the gun he moved the knife to his dominant hand and ran into the kitchen. He tackled the person, placing his knee in their chest and holding the knife against their throat.
“Ren, what the-” Petra gasped, moving her head to avoid the knife’s blade
Ren realized his mistake and removed his knee from Petra’s chest.
“Sorry, I saw someone had been in my room and I heard you in here, so I assumed that you were the person who broke in. I didn’t know it was you, I thought it was the spy.” Ren said
“I was walking by and saw the door had been left open, when I went to shut it it became quite apparent someone had been in here searching for something. I was checking to see if they were still here.” Petra explained “is anything missing?”
“I don’t know yet, let me conduct a proper search and I’ll let you know. I don’t know what they could have been looking for, anyone who knows me knows I keep-” Ren stopped
“What?” Petra looked concerned
“I keep all of the seriously dangerous things locked up in my lab. The only thing that would have any sort of value to anyone is my laptop. It has blueprints and plans for execution of the Vision. We’re talking mines, missiles, grenades, bombs, and the chemical formula to make it. Oh no” Ren looked worried “It also had the chemical diagrams to convert The Vision into The Viper, an extremely potent nerve gas that shuts down the entire nervous system along with many other horrible things. “
Ren walked over to the bed and reached into a slot carved in the side.
“It’s gone. They got the laptop, but it should be fine. The Vision is only found in one location, my lab, and no one has access to my lab except for me and two other people: Logan and Mech. It couldn’t have been Logan because he was with me when this happened. Mech wouldn’t break into my room because he already had the plans.”
“So it must have been someone without access to your lab, but who has been inside it previously. Who do you know that would be interested in betraying Haven?” Petra asked
“ The other five of The Six hate the Authority almost as badly as I do. Daphne I don’t know much about, but I’m pretty sure she has a past that makes her an unlikely candidate, Marius doesn’t seem like spy material, and Logan and I have an agreement that he is unlikely to breach considering it would cost him his life. That concludes the list of people that have been in my lab in the last week.” Ren listed
“Well, I’ll notify ValJean about the break in, you just keep working on trying to find that spy.” Petra said
Ren sighed and walked out of the room. He walked back down to his lab and opened the door. Logan sat on a table waiting for him.
“Ready to get back to work?” the robot inquired
“I think we might have to call it a day, something came up” Ren answered darkly
“I see, no problem. I’m just going to hang around here for a bit and do some more research on the weapon. Call me over the comm if you need me.” Logan pulled a tablet from on of the drawers and turned it on.
“The test went well though?” Logan asked
“The test went perfectly” Ren answered
Ren lifted the large orb from the machine and slid his thumb across a small depression in the side. The orb began to glow, the light slowly beginning to envelope Ren. Suddenly there was a flash of light and Ren was gone. An hour later there was a second flash and Ren appeared gasping, his hands on his knees. There was a plunk as the orb hit the ground.
“I found the spy” Ren didn’t look happy