34 Chapter 34

° Upstate Campus Grounds

"I'll say it again, Mark" Matthew said as he flew alongside his brother across the campus grounds and in the cover of night "I do not like this"

"Look, I get it. I do" Mark replied in frustration "You don't think I want to stay? I have to deal with some stuff with Amber and I wanna be with her right now, but I can't just ignore William when he needs my help"

Matthew grunted "Right. Just going to ask, are you sure this isn't just some roleplay kink thing between William and Rick?"

Mark looked like he wanted to vomit "Jesus, It's not! Why would you even think that!?"

"Don't know" Matthew shrugged "Maybe my head is still in the 'I can't believe I left my sexy and drunk girlfriend in frat party' kind of mindset"

"Im sure he's in trouble, I just saw him screaming in terror while some...thing got to him" Mark explained.

"Okay. Good to know" Matthew said.

"And as for the time thing, don't worry about it" Mark shook his head "With the two of us here and searching, we should be able to handle anything quickly with enough time to spare"

Matthew grumbled "Whatever. You are gonna owe me for this. Big time"

Mark nodded begrudgingly and they both flew towards the open air where the cyborg had emerged, quickly finding themselves looking at an enlarged sewer entrance in the middle of the grounds.

"Fuck" Matthew groaned "We aren't gonna make it out of this without smelling like rotten cheese and spoiled eggs, aren't we?"

Mark shook whatever horrible imagination that invaded his thoughts and let out a breath "Come on"

They both flew through the hole and almost immediately crashed into the murky and pungent liquid stream flowing by. Both of them crashed 2 feet deep into it despite their quick flight maneuvering.

"Well shit" was all Matthew managed to say as he shut his mouth to hold in a gag, quickly rising out of the waters and floating a good distance above.

Mark pinched his own nose and spat a few times then rose up, shaking off whatever bits of sewer water still clung to his already half-soaked costume.

They began looking around once they settled, seeing two paths on either side that could lead to wherever the cyborg had come from with no clear indication in sight.

"Spilt up?" Mark suggested.

"Split up. Just let out a girly shriek if you find it" Matthew nodded, already preparing an easy path to searching for William.

They both flew to different paths and began the search, flying across the steep sewer systems comfortably.

Matthew immediately employed his mental powers, extending his perceptions wider and wider after not finding anything with his scanning. He did pick up some stray thoughts around, but they were either put out by the countless small rats that seemed to run around the place or the bits of thoughts from his brother a good distance away.

None made him aware of the cyborg or William, which annoyed Matthew somewhat.

He took a sharp turn towards the next tunnel path and proceeded to search when something moved on the corner of his eye, making him stop in place and turn back.

The sewer tunnel path was wider than the previous ones,  with a wider base that served as a main artery for other smaller disposal tubes met to gather.

Matthew briefly wondered if there were cyborgs just hiding inside the murky waters but dismissed it. Just as soon as the thought passed through his mind, the murky waters burst open as two sets of thick mechanical arms reached up and clamped unto Matthew's limbs.

Matthew sucked in a short breath just as the arms pulled him down and fully into the water, soaking whatever was left of his costume in the mixture of shit, piss, and whatever else drained down the sewers.

Matthew struggled free even as he felt a pair of metal feet mount on his chest and began pummeling his face, making him loose hold over his breath and take in a good chunk of the water. He lurched in anger, rising up from the water and flinging a cyborg away while another 2 clung to his chest and legs.

He coughed violently, but the horrid taste remained.

He forced an arm free and clamped a hand onto the cyborg clinging to his legs, pulling the head and body away with a strong tug and sending a knee to its face once his legs were loosened enough. The cyborg was flung away and crashed into the wall.

The cyborg clinging to his shoulder began grasping at his head and neck, biting everything in between in a bestial show of aggression.

Matthew grabbed the head and grunted fiercely as he threw the cyborg heavily into the water, splashing more of the messy waters all over. Its metal components let out a loud clang from the impact.

Matthew attempted to retaliate but he was pushed out of flight when the third cyborg jumped and tackled him back into the water, head butting his face repeatedly until Matthew managed to stop the metallic forehead with a hand. He pushed the cyborg off, tearing its mechanical arms off the socket as it held him tightly and used it like a club as he batted furiously at the other attacking cyborgs. The metallic forehead piece tore off a few swings later, revealing the crazed and snarling college guy underneath.

Matthew had to pause when he recognized one of the faces given its nearly undamaged state. It--He was one of those guys from the missing posters posted all over campus.

"Jesus, what the hell happened to you guys?" Matthew said, putting some distance between them.

The cyborgs all snarled and positioned themselves for another round of attack, which decided Matthew's next course of actions quickly.

He gritted his teeth and rushed forward, slicing through the legs of the closest cyborg with a swift hand chop and buried its body into the wall with a solid shove. Ripping out the mechanics arm while leaving the flesh one for good measure. The cyborg snarled as it went through the concrete and struggled fruitlessly as it tried to pry itself off with only one arm functioning.

A mechanical hand suddenly clamped onto Matthew's shoulder and he spun, ripping the appendage off its socket and delivering a solid kick to its midsection. Flinging it deep into the opposite wall and destroying the rest of its mechanical appendages. Matthew cringed as he was the organic arm burst like a pressed pimple and quietly sent an apology to whoever the cyborg was.

The last remaining cyborg managed to catch Matthew off guard and pushed him upwards, crashing through the concrete and up into an empty open grass field near the paved campus grounds. Matthew grabbed its arms as it tried to pounce on his face and flexed outward, ripping both mechanical limbs and throwing its body to the floor to writhe in vain.

Matthew floated up and let out a short breath, "Crap, this is taking too long"

He rushed forward and pinned the cyborg to the ground with his foot on its neck before he ripped both mechanical legs off and left it screeching all by itself.

With the enemies neutralized, Matthew stretched his neck and arms while scanning the minds of the cyborgs.

After a minute of sifting through the mental haze filled with pain and darkness, he found what he was looking for. The ones he had just fought were indeed the missing college students around campus, their minds scrambled and filled with nothing but primal aggression and pain. From the memories he could piece together from their fragmented minds, he only managed to unveil two things.

The cyborgs were apparently called Reanimen, and their creator had a voice and speech pattern that Matthew could easily distinguish.

He floated back down into the hole leading to the sewers and backtraced his flight path while extending his mental perception, latching onto the familiar mental feel of his brother and making a beeline for it when he felt Mark's frustrated anger go through his mind.

He honed in on his brother's thoughts and arrived through a hole blasted through the concrete wall that led to a dark room that smelled like a few things had died there and didn't see the light of day. And the situation inside seemingly more than halfway resolved.

Mark stood over a pair of downed Reanimen while another seemed to just be standing behind him with a far away look on it--his face.

"Holy--Is that Rick?" Matthew asked, eyeing the wide-eyed confused looking Reanimen.

"Yeah" Mark said weakly, spitting out a bit of blood "We were too late, apparently"

Matthew looked and saw William angrily stepping closer to a bleeding figure in a familiar suit and slicked back hair of D.A Sinclair, his back turned towards him. Matthew did a quick mental scan of his memories and he nearly vomited at the sheer amount of crystal clear and highly detailed memories of the man cutting up the students as they begged, replacing flesh and bone with metal and installing heavily coded command modules into a slot he specifically carved into their brainstem.

Matthew angrily grabbed the back of the man's neck and held him towards William, letting him vent out his anger to the demented man's face.

Mark watched in grim silence as his best friend cried and pummeled Sinclair bloody then walked away, hurrying to check on Rick. He looked to Matthew next, who was still holding onto Sinclair with a death grip.

"Hey, let him go. Don't kill him" Mark said.

"Yeah. I won't" Matthew coldly replied and let Sinclair go.

Matthew looked at his brother and saw the bloody face "You okay?"

"Yeah. I didn't expect them to be that strong, so I paid for it" Mark said, wiping away the blood from his nose "Think anyone will notice?"

"Probably not" Matthew said, looking over Mark's face closely "And besides, we heal fast. It'll probably be gone by tomorrow"

Mark nodded gratefully "Thanks. And also, you got a little blood on your neck there"

Matthew wiped his neck and flung the blood that was leaking from the corner of his ear away "Shit. Didn't even notice that"

"Anyway. We have to call this in" Matthew said, finding an open laptop and immediately went to contact Cecil for cleanup.

A few minutes later the GDA arrived with a full clean up crew and medical personnel for the rescued Reanimen. Matthew had to retrieve the other Reanimen he fought before they were all taken away to be cared for and rehabilitated.

Cecil gave the small room and the state of the boys with calm assessment.

As for D.A Sinclair, he was unceremoniously put on a stretcher and was prepared for extraction. With a jaw hanging loose.

"What are you gonna do with him?" Mark asked, eyeing Sinclair.

"I figure the classic 'lock em up and throw away the key' deal" Cecil said as he turned, his eyes landing on the metal components and other Reanimen bodies hanging on the ceiling for some reason.

"Impressive technology, though" Cecil admitted "Especially for something built in a sewer"

"Sick, you mean" Mark argued.

"Hard to believe they gave you a run for your money like that" Cecil said, eyeing the rescued college students.

Matthew looked suspiciously at Cecil and scanned his thoughts, not entirely liking the thoughts running around there at the moment given it all centered around bringing them down as a contingency.

An idea formed in his mind and he decided on it immediately. He turned and floated closer to the stretcher,  grabbing both of Sinclair's hands and giving it a tight squeeze. Sinclair's scream was muffled by the broken jaw and he glared at Matthew hatefully.

"This is payback, bitch" Matthew whispered and then parted from the man, flicking away the blood from his hands.

Mark and Cecil stared at him.

"Sorry, but the asshole deserved it after those things dragged me across the sewers" Matthew shrugged.

Cecil sighed heavily "Whatever, just don't do that again or my guys will shoot you on sight"

Matthew nodded, not really listening.

"Both of you go home then. We'll take it from here" Cecil said as he went to his people.

Matthew was already flying out there and rushing through the campus.

***

° Upstate University - Female Dormitory

Matthew flew to Alicia's dorm window and entered through, floating towards the bathroom for a thorough wash after all the literal and mental shit he went through earlier.

He felt a little guilty for not asking first, but he at least got Clarissa's permission and her promise to tell Alicia for him before he rushed off.

He felt even more guilty when he entered and saw the pristine state of the bathroom as well as the colorful toiletries, realizing that he hadn't actually gotten in this bathroom before.

He took a deep breath and began to search for some soap and shampoo before he realized he made one massive mistake.

"Oh boy, which one of these is the soap?" he asked loudly to himself.

Several minutes, and a dozen trial and errors later, Matthew finally felt clean and smelling strongly of lavender and mint as he stepped out of the bathroom with only a towel on. He was already thinking of ways to refill the toiletries he just used when he noticed the girls standing still ahead of him.

Clarissa was raising an eyebrow while holding her smile and biting her lip, Madison was shaking her head in clear amusement while Alicia was looking at him while deep in thought.

Matthew raised his both hands "I can explain"

Nice bulge there, stud

Thank you but please be quiet

Alica nodded her head slowly "Really? Explain what? Why you're soaking wet in the middle of the room or why you're using my face towel to cover your crotch"

Madison and Clarissa both gasped in realization, both sharing horrified expressions as the facts settled in.

Matthew groaned and closed his eyes "Shit"

"Girls" Alicia said, walking towards Matthew and dragging him away "I hope you don't mind if I speak with my rude boyfriend, alone?"

Both girls shook their heads and gave each other a knowing smile before turning to head towards Clarissa's room.

Alicia guided Matthew inside and shut the door closed, her expression turning from calm to playful in a second.

"So, what am I going to do with your naked ass now?" she said, swaying sensually as she walked towards him "Should I punish you for using my things without asking first? Or scold you for nearly flashing other women?"

Matthew instantly got the hint and smiled back "I don't know. I'm completely defenseless and at your mercy right now"

She stopped right in front of him and began tracing her fingers down his shoulder to his arms, maintaining a tiny arc of electricity that sparked every time it made contact with a water droplet. Sending shocks that tickled Matthew's skin.

"But lucky for you, I'm horny when I get tipsy" Alicia whispered, tugging off her clothes.

"And you definitely turn on" Matthew replied.

"Good" Alicia smiled as her skin lit up, burning the rest of her clothes and underwear off and leaving only her naked glowing form behind "Cause I have enough energy to last us the entire night"

Matthew smiled wickedly as the towel fell off his crotch and he took her in his arms, floating the both of them in the middle of the room as the sound of their moans permeated the night.