The sound of the detonation rang out through the air, echoing everywhere. Sounds of debris flying and buildings crumbling filled the air. I throw my hands up to cover my face and curl up into a ball, breaths shuddering erratically, eyes tightly shut. Somebody beside me— was it Calvin?— puts a hand on my arm, squeezing tightly. My shaky hands found his, and I held on to him. The feeling of the gloved hand was foreign but reassuring, because I knew someone was there. Somebody I could trust.
As the sound of collapsing buildings and the ruckus faded, I tentatively opened my eyes. I then realized that my eyes were fine because of the helmet. I feel a tug on my hand still holding Calvin’s, and I look up to see Calvin blinking in front of me. Dust trembled and floated around us, settling on the floor.
“I think it’s over.” Jacqueline says quietly. Liam stands up first, slowly unfurling his hands and straightening his knees. He peeks out from behind the boulder, looking towards the base. I feel his mute shock from where I crouch. Jacqueline stands up too, staying silent. I loosen my grip on Calvin’s hand, standing up and pulling him along. He stands up, still standing over me but not as much as before. We look towards where the base once stood.
“Woah.” Calvin breathes out slowly. Never have any of us seen an explosion on this scale. We didn’t realize exactly how big base 121 was, but now that it had collapsed, it left a giant crater where it once was. It stretched well over a mile into the distance, with no traces of the base ever being there except for stray pieces of smoking debris. The sides of the mountains on either side of the base had crumbled, with trees tilting dangerously sideways, making the crater quite literally, an impromptu valley. I bring my hands up to my mouth, and start at the feeling of unfamiliar features. Jacqueline turns to me, eyebrows furrowed.
“You… You’re still Hailey right? Hailey Anderson?” She asks unsurely. I nod slowly. Calvin pats my hair, now blonde. I feel the pats on my hair… or my helmet? I wasn’t really sure at this point. Liam peeks from behind Jacqueline.
“We saw you kind of just… melt? Into her? I don’t know the right way to put it.” He explains. Calvin nods.
“I—“ I clasp a hand over my mouth at the sound of my voice. Calvin starts. Liam stares.
“Even the voice? That is some impressive technology.” Liam mutters.
“Can you change back?” Calvin asks, concerned. His brows furrowed. I unsurely look at my hands, thinking back to what I did.
‘Do I just… visualize? Who… I want to turn into?” I close my eyes at this thought, and think of myself. My plain, old ordinary self, with straight, jet black hair and small stature. Once again, my skin crawls and I shuddered, feeling phantom insects and hands skimming over my body.
When I open my eyes, the world was blurry again inside my helmet. Taking the helmet off, I feel familiar black locks fall down my shoulders as I settle my round black-rimmed glasses on my nose. I blink, the world crystal clear again. Jacqueline looks slightly horrified, while Liam had his eyes tightly shut. Calvin, silent, comes up to hug me.
“Please don’t do that in front of us again.” He mumbles.
“Eh? What? Why?” I splutter. Jacqueline shows us a holograph of me from her glove. The mini me looks up and labels fluttered around my suit.
“Metamorphosis. The ability to transform into any person… Physically. Fingerprints and voice are duplicated as well. And, well… when you do transform… It’s kind of a grotesque thing to watch…” She explains. Calvin tightens his grip around me.
“Does it hurt when you transform?” He asks, concerned. I shake my head.
“Apart from feeling a thousand spiders crawling across my body, I’m fine.” I reassure him. He shudders, his arachnophobia not getting better even after all these years. I sigh, gently patting his shoulder. I back out of his embrace.
“We should probably get something for your wound.” I mumble, feeling a scarlet blush on my face. Jacqueline looks hopelessly towards the base, and Liam voices what she’s thinking.
“The base just blew up and we have no idea where we are. How are we supposed to get anywhere?” He waves his hand around, gesturing to the trees.
“Seeing as there is such a big base here there should’ve been some kind of road leading to here, at least for food and supplies…” Jacqueline mutters.
“But it could’ve been brought in by helicopter if they wanted to keep this place a secret!” Liam argues as he yanks his helmet off.
Blocking out their noise, I look around, seeing nothing but taller mountains and hills. I look towards the crater again, baffled as to where we are. I see Calvin wandering around the area, while Liam and Jacqueline were still talking. I walk towards the crater, helmet by my side, and looked downwards. Pieces of concrete and iron lay where the building once was, some still burning and spouting ugly black smoke.
I look back, to where Liam and Jacqueline were, and behind them, see a cliff obscured by trees, with something glittering in the distance. I walk over, brushing stray branches out of my way, aware that Calvin was following me. I step over a fallen tree, and finally emerged out onto the cliff, squinting slightly at the sudden light. My eyes widen at the sight before me. Calvin’s footsteps behind me slows as he takes off his helmet, silent as well.
“Hey! Where did you guys—“ Liam jogs up behind him, cut off as he sees what we were seeing. Jacqueline follows up too, and joins us in our awed silence.
In the distance, a river snaked through a giant city, sparkling in the mid afternoon sun. Skyscrapers curved against each other, with roads wrapping around them. Tiny moving dots trailed along the roads, not quite touching them. Massive electrical billboards flashed and shimmered, showing advertisements in… was that Chinese? Along the river, boats skimmed back and forth, foam frothing against the sides, weaving around a spiderweb of docks. In the sky, giant, floating ships were anchored to concrete docks, with small, sleek planes speeding around them. The whole city was laid out in a circular pattern, with rings within rings of buildings, gently sloping upwards as they moved closer towards the center.
“Where… are we?” Calvin mutters, incredulous. His suit beeps, and he stays silent for a while. He turns to face us and mutters something. Jacqueline leans forward.
“What?” She asks. He looks at us, clearly in shock.
“Shenzhen. We’re in Shenzhen, China.”
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