[centre][b][h3]chapter 3: to hope is to believe[/h3][/b][/centre]

[right]'you are dimmer then anyone I have ever seen...'[/right]

That was the last clear sentence Cody spoke, indeed even the last coherent thought. But somehow, that thought gave Cody hope. [i]the light is the soul...[/i] Cody wasn't sure as the blackness covered him completely, as his mind seemed to float, if that was his thought, or a voice he barely remembered. [i]mother...[/i].

The complete darkness, something he hadn't experienced since he was very young, overwhelmed him. To be truly sightless was his greatest fear, and if even his dreams were darkness, what point was it? Or was he...floating? Had his body just given up?

No. He could feel the healing ability moving through, cleansing his body but it was a losing battle so long as he was being plagued by the gas. If he was moved, taken away from the gas, he could heal. It would happen in minutes. But the longer he was kept in the room, the harder it would be. 

A light suddenly appeared in front of his vision, whatever vision you had when unconscious, brighter then anything he had ever seen, hurting his eyes. A calmness spread overwhelm, and his body seemed to relax: all of a sudden he was aware of sounds around him. Was he awake? Or was it...something of being both awake and asleep? Was this what it was like for comatose people? 

He was aware of himself being moved, and the moment he was away from the sleep gas, his body began to cleanse itself, and his skin began to glow, it's defense mechanisms coming into place, the light that was so much like a second skin covering him, burning any who touched him bare handed. 

The smell of blood still lingered in his senses, and his mind began to process what he had heard when he was unconscious. He didn't need to see The lightless body of Agent Dioxide to know he was dead. Something seemed to come over Cody, and he screamed, probably shocking those carrying him, as he flung himself up, light, blinding and painful, almost as if a bomb had been dropped right where Cody was standing. It seared everything around him, killing those sent to take him to his new cell, and it stretched out through the building, less potent, it was still enough to blind most people in the building temporarily. 

His scream would seem to echo, growing louder rather then dying off in an impossible way, bouncing off the walls, of anything solid, and when it finally died off, Cody swayed and crumpled to the floor, the slight rise and fall of his chest the only indicator that he was alive, despite the deathly palor  to his skin. 

[hr]

One thing could be said about agent Caits. She was meticulous in her planning. Several times she had planned a route out of the complex and several times she had sought the best way. And the last few days she had been carrying around a USB device, filled with as much information as she could fit on it. There were, after all, many ways to fight against such an organisation. 

Another thing that could be said about her was that she was fast. She sped down the halls, hating herself for leaving Agent Dioxide, but run she did. Still she was a far way from an exit, and had nearly been caught a few times. 

What saved her, in his own way, was Cody. The light flashed through the building brightly, but Agent Caits seemed immune to its effects, and she ran, her feet pounding heavily on the ground yet that seemed nothing compared to the echoing around every inch of the complex. 

[i]I'm Sorry, Dioxide. You were a good friend. I'm getting out, and I will put a stop to this...[/i]

Her exit was just in sight.