ASBO-Boy: A Vue to kill: Part 6

“So.” Elixir began, hovering next to Squeeze, “How do you know Siren then?”

Squeeze watched Beacon moving steadily through the narrow space up ahead. Elixir was uncomfortably close and seemed to be looking at him with bug-eyed curiosity.

“I knew her in school.” He replied, wondering exactly where this line of enquiry was going. “Really?” She asked, her voice rising. Her cool demeanour was doing nothing to hide her chattering teeth. “Yes.” He continued, trying to concentrate on watching Beacon in case he tried something.

“You seem quite keen on each other, if you don’t mind me saying.” Elixir said. He did mind – but that didn’t stop her. “Very keen. She seems to have that effect on people. I wonder if it has anything to do with her power.”

“I knew her before that.” Damn! He cursed himself – Keep your mouth shut!

“Really? She’s very pretty, isn’t she? She’s managed to snare up Beacon and Swelter quite quickly. Maybe she’s a hormonal catalyst.” It was clear that this little barbed jibe wasn’t aimed at him. Beacon’s step faltered a little and Elixir’s small victory was assured. “Well, they’ll have to keep their hands off her if she’s involved with you. Even if you are a criminal.”

“We aren’t involved,” Squeeze retorted, glad that the darkness was hiding his red neck and cheeks. It would have been perfect had his voice not chosen that exact moment to squeak. He could hear her smirk.

“Excellent. Not a problem then.” Elixir replied cheerily as she overtook him to walk next to Beacon. They were saved from any more indignity as the cavern opened up. A soft breeze lapped their cheeks from somewhere. They emerged in a low room, partially collapsed at one end. Elixir kneeled down in the gloom and drew her hand across the floor. “The water is stronger here. We’re close to the source.”

Beacon nodded. Squeeze looked around, beaming - they were saved! Now was the time to keep his eyes open though, if Beacon thought they were safe he might decide to make a move. Flag-boy seemed to be pre-occupied though.

Elixir coughed. “I think the radiation is starting to kick in.”

“The further we get away from Siren and the little girl, the more we’ll be affected.” Beacon agreed.

“Where are we, exactly? This doesn’t really look like the basement of a block of flats.” Elixir muttered.

“That’s because it isn’t.” Beacon replied, examining the wall. They were in some kind of store room. There were towers of rusting containers piled around haphazardly. Running along the floor, disappearing into the rubble was a trough and in the distance running water could be heard.

“SA3?” Elixir read the bold white letters on the wall which seemed to jump out at them from the darkness. “Does it mean the postcode?” Beacon shrugged and walked up some steps to a reinforced steel door, it didn’t take long for steroid-boy to rip it off its hinges. Squeeze looked up at the containers and ran his fingers against the rust. These weren’t just barrels, they were reinforced too.

Beacon led them out of the room and into a long corridor. Old fashioned strip lights that were popular in schools flcikered above them. A network of pipes and metalwork was exposed on the walls and on the ceiling. “This is a bunker.” Beacon muttered, pondering aloud, “For what though?” An answer wasn’t forthcoming as they advanced through the tunnels. They passed other ominous doors with SA2, SA6, and nearly all the other post-codes in South Wales. Ultimately the tunnels led them to a large central hall where there were banks of dusty old computers and a set of double doors that led out into the light. Elixir moved briskly towards the doors and ignored everything else, but Beacon hung back and examined the desks and the piles of dusty paper. There seemed to be endless reams of charts and progress reports. On the wall behind them was an enormous picture of Swansea broken down by grid into different sections.

“Come on,” Elixir’s voice echoed from the door, but Squeeze and Beacon seemed unwilling to move. Squeeze had a bad feeling about the whole building and wanted nothing more than to leave. That and he was beginning to feel very sick from the radiation.

“I don’t think we’re in Dyfatty any more,” Beacon muttered. Squeeze thought about the spider’s web of tunnels. They’d probably walked about half a mile from where they’d left the girls. Squeeze wanted to go and get them but he knew the other two would do whatever they could to stop him.

There was a fizz of activity, then a gradual hum – slowly a crescendo of sound began to swell around them. In a flash of light all the computers flickered to life. “What did you do?” Beacon demanded. “Nothing!” Squeeze replied helplessly, wondering whether he had done anything. Behind them the enormous screen burst to life and above it a clock began to tick feverishly again. It read 2:04 – Friday the fourth of July 2014, the date of the Battle of Dyfatty. “Let’s get out.” Beacon turned to Elixir, but she was gone. Squeeze frowned – where could sh-

Vue appeared in front of Beacon. “Lost something?” He stammered before punching him. Beacon reeled back onto a desk of computers. Arc-Light appeared at the other end of the room and burst into light as she covered the space between them in a single bound. Beacon sat up – Vue was shaking his wrist in pain – there was another flash and Beacon was thrown backwards in a cloud of smoke. Arc-Light clapped her hands with a flourish of victory. “You’re alive!” She laughed brightly, awkwardly resisting the temptation to hug him,“Where are the others?”

Vue stood over one of the computers and began to type. “Ignore him – he’s got his own plans,” she continued, “Lead me to the others. Quickly – we haven’t got long until the whole place comes down.”