Director Shaw's office felt like the inside of a mausoleum. There wasn't a speck of dust inside the spacious room. Spotless white sofas and chairs were placed about meticulously. Black cherry wood furniture populated the polished floor. Monochrome paintings hung on the walls. No other color existed within his office. There was only black and white.
Chase found himself sitting the closest to Director Shaw, who sat behind his desk. The others were spread out throughout the room, trying their best to ignore the planet-sized elephant in the room.
But it was getting pretty difficult to do so with each passing second.
Across the room, Oscar held up a black pillow with Atlas' logo stitched into the fabric. "Jeez, these guys sure do like to brand everything…"
Soon, all eyes settled on the man at the front of the room. His wiry hands were clasped together tightly. His lips formed a tight line as he stared at his fingernails. Chase studied him. There were many secrets beyond his eyes. One of them had been revealed minutes ago. How many more would rise to light?
"So…" Theo paced near the door. "That was, like, totally weird back there, right? With Apex, I mean. How'd he even find this place? And why'd call you 'Dad'?"
That was the question everyone wanted an answer to.
Chase faced the man who had yet to speak. "We need answers, sir." His blue eyes crackled conviction.
Emily—who was leaning against the farthest wall in the room—nodded. "What Blondie said."
Finally, Director Shaw sighed. He dragged a hand over his face. He suddenly looked much older than usual. "I suppose you all deserve an explanation."
"You think?" she laughed dryly.
"Is Apex really your son?" Theo stopped pacing. He never stopped pacing.
"If so, you've got one messed-up kid. And that means something coming from me," Emily added.
"Emily," Stella warned.
"What? Am I wrong?"
Director Shaw hung his head. An almost-visible aura of shame formed a cage around him. Rubbing the creases in his forehead, he let out another dejected sigh.
"For years, I didn't want to believe it was him," he began, his voice quivering. "A couple of years ago, when NEMESIS made their first appearance, we received reports about a Prime with activated abilities working for them. At the time, there were only two known Primes in the entire world. Klaus and my son, Victor Shaw. I…I thought it might've been some other poor soul who happened to have the Prime gene." He went quiet for a few moments. "But that wasn't the case."
Victor… Victoria…
Chase almost rolled his eyes at the man's terrible children-naming skills.
"How old is he, anyways?" Emily asked. "Apex, I mean. How old is he?"
"He should be twenty-six this year."
Oscar tilted his head. "Wait, then how old are you? Like, sixty? Seventy?" The group stifled their laughs.
"I don't look that old, do I?"
While the others enjoyed the brief moment of levity, Chase found himself trying to glean whatever information he could from Director Shaw. He hung onto every word, examining every facial expression he made. He eventually noticed the gold wedding band coiled around his left ring finger.
"You're married?" he blurted out.
"Yes." The man's brow furrowed. "At least, I was."
"What…" Stella pulled her knees up to her chest as she sat on one of the sofas. "What happened?"
Everyone went silent again.
Director Shaw glanced at the window to his left. Sunlight poured through the grey clouds. A tiny smile took his lips for a split second. The sunlight vanished. Shadows passed over the man's face. "She was killed trying to save our son years ago."
Chase was on the edge of his seat now. He gripped the armrest of his seat so hard it shuddered in his grip. He wanted—no, needed—to know more. But the look in the man's eyes urged him to keep his questions at bay.
"I thought I lost both of them that day," Director Shaw continued. Tears welled behind his glasses. He removed them, setting them on his desk.
"But he didn't die…" Chase surmised. "What…what happened that day, sir?"
The man wiped his eyes. "He was taken. By Klaus." Clearing his throat, he averted his eyes from the group. "Klaus…he's not just the leader of NEMESIS. He's not just a Prime obsessed with power. He used to be my friend. My best friend. We…we started Atlas together."
Chase flinched.
Theo's eyes widened. "The Klaus? The one who tried to capture and experiment on us? That Klaus?"
Director Shaw nodded. The entire room was left bewildered. Even Andre looked on with surprise on his usually stoic face.
So many secrets. Chase wondered how many were left for them to uncover.
"We founded Atlas together—at least the first iteration of it. We weren't always military," Shaw explained.
Chase shook his head. The thought of Director Shaw willingly going into business with a man like Klaus sent shivers down his entire body. Men like him deserved to live the rest of their days in a supermax facility. That's what his father would've said. And he agreed.
"Klaus was the brain behind the operation. I was the businessman. He led our research and technological divisions while I made us billions by taking different military contracts. Our work led to the discovery of Primonium and the Prime gene. We studied it for years. Eventually, Klaus realized the element could speed up the evolutionary process within certain individuals with a mutated genetic sequence. We…we didn't know what to do with it first. Such a discovery could be dangerous in the hands of the wrong people."
"Klaus was definitely the 'wrong people'," Oscar quipped.
"He wasn't always like this," Director Shaw argued. His voice was strained. "He used to be pure and full of ideas on how to help people."
"What happened?" Stella asked.
He didn't answer. Perhaps he didn't know.
"You still haven't told us what happened to your son and how he ended up with Klaus," Chase reminded. He needed to know how it happened. He needed the truth. Something told him it could've been used to beat Klaus, Apex, and NEMESIS down the line.
Director Shaw nodded. "Klaus became enamored with Primonium and Primes. He wanted to run more extensive tests to learn its true nature. We…we began with animals, but progress wasn't going fast enough. But Atlas Corp. had grown in stature. Our board would never allow human trials. And, even if they did, finding enough people with the Prime genotype to willingly test on would've taken decades."
Chase thought back to the night they all got their powers. If their mutation was as rare as everyone said it was, then what were the odds of the six of them being in the same town, at the same party, at the same time? He'd never been any good at math, but he knew that the number was extremely low. His father taught him coincidences weren't real.
What happened to them was destiny, fate, the will of God, or all three combined.
"Klaus grew frustrated with the lack of development on his discovery. He claimed certain breakthroughs could've changed everything. Atlas Corp could've developed new medicines, new ways of healing, and more," Director Shaw said. "Then, one day, Victor got blood work done at our lab."
Chase's eyes widened as he pieced together the truth.
"And Klaus got hold of it?" he guessed.
"Victor had the highest percentage of the Prime gene code we'd ever seen." A solemn look clouded the man's eyes. "Klaus…he was desperate to see how the Primonium would react to someone like him. Hell, we both were. But I refused to test on my son. I resisted the urge for months. But Klaus…he seduced me with dreams of a better world for everyone. He even got in Victor's ear… He told my boy he'd be a hero. Eventually, I couldn't say no anymore. I…I figured it wouldn't hurt to run one test. Just to see. So, I agreed to expose Victor to a small amount of the Primonium."
"Then what?" Andre asked.
"My wouldn't let us go through with it. She said it would change things…forever." Director Shaw stared off into the distance. "She was right. She was always right. I should've listened to her. I should've never given in to Klaus—or my son."
"But you did," Emily said, her voice sharp.
"Emily!" Stella snapped.
"She's right, Stella. What happened to my son… It's my fault." He hung his head. "This should explain the rest." His fingers danced across the touchscreen panel on his desk. A file containing multiple video thumbnails opened on a screen at the other end of the room. The man selected one of the black rectangles labeled: December 18th, 2003.
The video quality reminded Chase of the VCR tapes he watched old hockey games on while his parents worked at whatever military base they were living on that year. The grainy video footage revealed two men wearing lab coats standing in front of a large, glass cylinder. It looked like a prototype of the testing tubes the Atlas scientists used in the Forge.
Chase immediately recognized the two men in the video.
The one on the left had pale, messy hair tied in a ponytail. The other was taller with raven hair cut neatly. He wore a pressed suit under his lab coat, while the other man wore clothes that had never seen an iron. They were much younger then, but their faces were unmistakable.
Klaus and Pearce Shaw.
And inside the testing apparatus was a scrawny kid with shaggy strands of black hair falling into his face. He wore a baggy bio-suit with crimson lines spanning down the arms, torso, and legs.
Victor Shaw.
Chase sucked in a breath. He couldn't have been any older than ten.
As the video went on, a pale, red gas entered the cylinder. It expanded until it enveloped the boy. Through the haze, Chase could see he was panicking. Director Shaw and Klaus urged him to calm down, that everything was alright. But it wasn't. The moment Victor inhaled the Primonium, he dropped to his knees. He clutched at his throat, at his eyes. He fell to his side and writhed in pain. Director Shaw bellowed at Klaus, demanding he stop the test and turn off the machine. Klaus simply stood there, crestfallen with horror and a hint of disappointment. Shaw took matters into his own hands and rushed over to the control deck.
The video ended there.
Chase blinked at the black screen in horror.
As the image of Victor rolling around in the blood-red gas suffocating him, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He could feel the agony in his cries as the Primonium would go on to change his life forever.
But the video still didn't explain how he ended up working for Klaus and NEMESIS.
"The Primonium didn't react in the way Klaus thought it would. Victor…he went into a coma, much like you six did when you were exposed. We thought…I thought he was going to die. My wife wouldn't speak to me for days after it happened. Our board of directors found out what happened, and Klaus was removed from Atlas Corp in every capacity."
Chase started to put the dots together.
"Klaus stole Victor, didn't he?" His eyes widened. "That's why you thought he died."
Director Shaw's hands clenched into fists atop his desk. "I…I wasn't there when it happened. I was coming back from a business trip. I should've never left them. I should've been there for my wife. For my son." He wiped the lone tear sliding down his face. "I lost them both that night. Klaus…he snuck into the Acropolis with the intentions of kidnapping my boy. My wife…she was there in his room that night. She tried to stop him. She tried but…" He twisted his wedding band as the muscles in his jaw flexed. "He killed her. Then he disappeared, taking my son with him."
Chase sneered. He was fully aware of NEMESIS's nature ever since they crossed paths. But this? Things were a lot more personal than he thought.
The other young Primes in the room looked distraught. Stella's bottom lip trembled. Theo had taken a seat beside her with his head in his hands. Even Emily and Oscar couldn't bring themselves to say anything. Andre stared ahead with a pensive look carved into his blockish features.
"I know what you all must be thinking. About how it's my fault what happened to Victor…about what happened to Klaus. If I'd just said no, perhaps they'd both still be with me today. Perhaps my wife would still be alive. There's not a moment that goes by that I don't think about that." He lifted his chin slightly. "But I loved my son." He cleared his throat. "I still love him."
Chase wasn't angry anymore. Not at Director Shaw or the secrets he'd been keeping. The amount of shame and guilt that came from a past like that… He would've kept it to himself as well. He rose from his seat and journeyed over to the man. Then he silently placed a hand on his shoulder before giving him a curt nod.
"It's alright, sir," he said. "We understand."
Theo zipped over to him in the blink of an eye. "Klaus is a bad guy. Like a really bad guy. You…you couldn't have known what was going to happen."
Chase nodded. His friend was right. Klaus—and NEMESIS—were the epitome of evil. And they needed to be stopped.
"So…what happens now?" Stella asked. She joined Chase and Theo at Director Shaw's desk. "Victor surely didn't come back just to be arrested."
"He's planning something," Chase added.
"That's obvious." Emily rolled her eyes.
Director Shaw put his glasses back on and stood up. "We'll keep him here the basement. We have a few holding cells down there for…temporary prisoners. Rarely do we have to use them, but I've been having my scientists work on equipment that'll help us fight back against Primes like Klaus and Victor."
"Like us, too?" Chase wanted to ask. But he didn't. They were on the same side.
"Nullifying tech, right?" he asked instead.
The man nodded. "I probably should've discussed this with you all first, but I thought it best to keep it under wraps until we had foolproof models. The technology we've developed so far… We're not sure how well it'll work at holding someone as strong as Victor."
He'd refused to use his son's NEMESIS codename this entire time. Chase took note.
"What else is hiding in this place?" Emily questioned.
She seemed to be asking all the questions swirling around inside Chase's head. At least one of them was bold enough to ask—even if it made her come off as insensitive.
The director offered her a small smile. "From here on out, myself—and Atlas Corp—are an open book. Whatever you want to know, all you have to do is ask. You're all a big part of things here now. Hell, you're a big part of the future of the entire world. It'll be best to keep you all clued in."
Chase felt a layer of anxiety lift off his shoulders. It'd been squeezing him like a straitjacket from the moment Apex cut their training session short. There were certainly many secrets hidden within the Acropolis, but he was confident the bulk of them had been revealed in this meeting. And if Director Shaw was telling the truth, the rest would be uncovered in due time.
They were on the same side.
NEMESIS was the true enemy.
"What do you think Apex's plan is?" Theo asked while bouncing on his heels. "I mean, he's gotta have a plan. Right? He's gotta have a plan."
Director Shaw rubbed his chin. "We're aware that this is likely a part of some larger ploy. Fortunately, it seems as if NEMESIS doesn't know our exact location. We're upping security in and around the facility. We'll be prepared for an attack should one happen." He pulled on his suit jacket and smoothed out the wrinkles. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to issue a statement to my board to keep my company from imploding. I'm sure you all understand."
The six of them nodded and watched as he exited the office.
After a while, Chase crossed his arms. While he felt better about things where Director Shaw was involved, he couldn't shake the unease this situation had spawned. "I don't like this."
"I don't think any of us do," Stella said with a laugh.
"We need to keep an eye on Apex. He obviously came here for a reason. We need to figure out why."
"Do you really think that's our responsibility, though? I mean, I'm sure the Atlas agents can find that out better than we can. Remember the last time we got involved with something we had no business being a part of?"
Chase frowned. She had a point. But this was different.
Emily rolled her eyes at Stella.
"Look, I'm not trying to be annoying. We just need to be smart about this."
Chase found himself agreeing with them both. The last time they acted without authorization, they ruined Atlas's mission to thwart NEMESIS's mission. Now wasn't the time to screw things up even more. But at the same time, NEMESIS was planning something by having Apex get himself captured. If they waited around for something bad to happen, it'd be on them whenever it happened.
And it would happen. He knew it would.
"Whoever's up for it," Chase began, piecing together a plan as he spoke, "we can take turns checking up on Apex. Just every now and then. Sound good?"
Emily scoffed. "I'm not going anywhere near that psycho."
"I thought you were a badass?" Oscar laughed at her. "Look who's scared now."
"Watch it, Scorcho."
"Scorcho? C'mon, I know you can do better than that—"
While the two of them erupted into an argument over terrible nicknames, Chase retreated into his own head. This entire thing was a puzzle waiting to be solved. But he didn't have all the pieces, nor the bigger picture.
Stella placed her hand on his arm, gently pulling him out of his thoughts. "I'll help you check in on Apex. Maybe we can get through to him together. He was Director Shaw's son, after all."
"You think you can erase whatever brainwashing Klaus has done on him?" Emily snorted. "Good luck with that."
"I don't know, but we can try."
Chase gave her an appreciative smile. The pair locked eyes. For a moment, everyone else in the room disappeared. But then reality snapped back like a rubber band. His cheeks burned as she looked away from him; a blush could be seen beneath her bronze skin as well. The others around them exchanged amused glances.
He cleared his throat and ignored the stares.
"Let's get some rest. It's been a long day." Without waiting for the others, he left the room and marched towards the elevator.