I flooded the chamber with liquid nitrogen—I'd been working hard to top up supplies after how useful it had proved in the past. Billowing droplets sprayed from the ceiling, freezing all flesh it encountered.
The bomb fell from useless fingers to the floor and was frozen with the rest.
It was agony. I hurt as the outside of the core froze. Still, with the Fire Matrix an internalized level of heat could be maintained. The same was not true for Sylph. For a moment, she became a blur within the room, her form flickering everywhere in an effort to get safe, but the falling mist froze her solid.
Even while I was busy making a Sylphcicle I was having Anna dragged to the Infirmary and getting diagnostics back on her. Twenty-eight broken bones, massive internal bleeding, several toes were missing. Sylph hadn't been kind. It would take a solid month to restore her to health.
With Sylph, I had to be a lot more cautious. I was certain I could kill her in this state and steal her crystal. Killing her, though, had only been the plan because capture hadn't seemed an option. Now perhaps containing her was possible, but I wanted to make sure.
It was with considerable caution I had her transported down to the testing facility. With Thomas no longer taking up his own labyrinth I had one free. Then it was just a matter of upgrading Sylph with the temperature-resistant virus.
I wasn't big on upgrading one of my enemies, but I didn't see a choice if I wanted her alive. Any attempt to defrost her normally would kill her.
After the application of the upgrade Sylph shimmered, frost fading from her skin. Her eyes looked around in panic. Again, the woman blurred as she attempted in vain to get outside the facility. Her powers worked only within the confines I had set.
Sometimes plans go better than you could have hoped. Anna being out of commission for a month was a small price to pay for the taking of Sylph alive.
29
With Sylph trapped in a testing labyrinth I began her testing routine.
Research Menu
"Sylph"
Sylph is bonded to a dimensional Power core and can teleport long distances as well as possesses an innate danger sense that teleports her short distances to avoid harm. It will take one month to unlock the abilities of her core. Further testing will accumulate core points at the rate of 0.1 per week.
That was a long research time compared to some of the others, I couldn't tell if the time was going up based on the uniqueness of the ability or how much total research I had done to date.
Anna had regained consciousness in the Infirmary, although the system there had her restrained so she wouldn't do further injury to herself while being put back together.
"You leaked all over my floor, again," I said.
"Did you get her?" Anna asked.
"I got her, although she tried to set off a detonation charge inside my reactor core."
"Good. I don't know what happened with the plan. I'd heard they were in the area so had my pistol loaded with the anti-power rounds. The explosion didn't kill her and she came at me," Anna said.
That fit what I guessed happened.
"How did someone who is as lousy a shot as you are manage to hit her? Especially with her abilities?" I asked.
"She came in close. The rounds slowed her down because of her proximity and I put one in her thigh."
That was useful knowledge. The Righteous did have some effect on her. A shame I only had the one left.
"Then they tortured you," I said.
Anna grimaced. "Yeah, they did that. Bitch. I hope you made her suffer."
"I took her alive and she is in testing," I said.
Anna looked hopeful. "Is vivisection testing?"
It wasn't part of the routine I had planned, but I could see some utility out of it, and morale was important.
"I'll add it to the schedule for when you get out."
"You need to be careful. Sylph isn't alone, she has her gang. Four of them," Anna said.
No surprise, everyone else we'd met had a gang.
"Why weren't they with her? Unlike you, she seems capable of inspiring some personal loyalty," I said.
"Sylph moves faster than them and gets impatient. They can only move so far in a day."
So four more attackers with teleportation would be arriving soon. I'd exhausted my liquid nitrogen supply, but that was a limited trick anyways. If they had anything like Sylph's danger sense they'd be a problem.
"We'll be ready for them. Get rest. I'm sorry, I am still not going to waste resources and upgrade your face," I said.
I shifted my focus off Anna. I had work to do.
I did have options. Even if they shared the ability to instinctively teleport, it just meant that I had to focus on those traps that could affect a wide area.
Concussive force should do it. While a careful use of their abilities might get them out of the path of an explosion, an instinctual use might unintentionally shift them into the shock wave.
Beyond that, although I'd exhausted my supplies to freeze them anyway, I didn't need these subjects alive. I could spray flaming liquid just as well as freezing. I had my warrior mole's fiery aura.
Sensory overload could work. I could flood a hall with light and high intensity sounds enough to render a subject completely incoherent.
I had a day to prepare. I began updating my traps at once.
That underway, I went to visit my newest guest just in case a way could be found to avoid fighting at all.
I had Sylph teleporting from one collapsing floor tile to another. If she stayed still too long the floor would fall out from beneath her feet.
"You don't seem to be falling for me," I said.
"Do you think this is some kind of game? Keeping me prisoner like this? This is sick. How many people do you have locked up here?" Sylph asked.
Not nearly enough. Not nearly as many as I wanted.
It was growing all the time though as I kept absorbing new powers into my core.
"You're going to lecture me on cruelty? I assure you, when Anna is feeling better you'll come to appreciate my kindness."
Sylph paled at that, as well she might.
"Your girl isn't going to live," Sylph said.
"Oh, but she is. I'm a good friend to have and a worse enemy. Your people are coming here, I thought I'd offer you the chance to save their lives," I said.
Sylph looked torn for a moment then shook her head. "Screw you. You're afraid. Of course you're afraid. One of me, you got lucky, but when it's five people that can be anywhere you least expect them... They're going to find me and then I'm going to find you, and I'm going to take you apart piece by piece."
Well, if that was how she wanted. I moved vivisection up on the timetable. I know Anna would want to be a part of things, but nothing said we couldn't run those experiments again. Sometimes you had to run a trial several dozen times to get a real balance of results.
I distributed arms to the Mechanites and put them all on alert. In addition, I moved the warrior mole to my Core Room.
If I could have, I'd simply irradiate my enemies again, but unfortunately the bioreactor functioned differently than my old fusion system. Instead, I sprinkled the floor of the reactor room with pressure sensitive mines.
My traps were set. Let them come. I only wished I could make them suffer half as much as Sylph.
30
The attackers arrived the next day. They didn't so much make an appearance outside as one appeared inside and quickly flickered from place to place faster than I could detonate any traps.
It was a scouting expedition. Room after room, with the young woman appearing only for an instant. By the time she'd traversed the Security level I had a plan in place to handle her.