Chapter 20 THE SILENT POOL

Chapter 20 THE SILENT POOL
CHAPTER 20: THE SILENT POOL
Water always tell lies.
It lays still, strangely peaceful, but deep beneath are swirling currents, ready to swallow everything.

It reflects our image perfectly, then lets everything vanish without a trace. Severance has choose water as the grave for memories... because they believe no one can burn what never catches fire.
Raven stands silently before the city's underground map, old pipes tangled like blood vessels beneath the urban skin. The marker for THE SILENT POOL lays deep beneath the city center a water plant abandoned on paper, but in reality, still "breathing" through the underground system, whispering deadly secrets.
“Red-level lockdown,” Niko says, his fingers darting across the keyboard, his voice tense.

“Civilian cameras are all cut. Their drones are casting nets high in the sky.”
“So they’re truly afraid now,” Raven replies, a cold smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“Good. Let’s see how afraid they is.”
Lucas intently studies the diagram, his gaze stopping at a tiny side branch, his heart pounding.
“THE SILENT POOL isn't just one room,” he whispers, his voice hoarse as if he swallowed dust.

“It’s a whole monstrous process. They pump memory data records, sounds, evidence into a water processing loop. Stirring, fragmenting everything…”
“Where does it dump?” Kade asks, sweat dotting his forehead.
“Into the old water supply system,” Lucas replies, his eyes darkening.

“Where no one bothers to check anymore. Memories dissolve like sea salt, blending into the eternal flow.”
Raven slams her hand on the table, burning resolve in her eyes.
“Then we do the opposite,” she says, her voice sharp as a blade. “We pull them all out before it’s too late.”
The entrance is behind an old pumping station, a heavy steel door reeking of foul machine oil. Only a very faint hum echoeslike the heartbeat of a sleeping monster, waiting to awaken.
Raven whispers a warning, her breath heavy: “Water amplifies all sound. Don’t let it betray us.”
Niko nods repeatedly, his hands trembling as he switches to silenced ammunition. Kade grits his teeth and unlocks the door with an archaic code sequence things Severance thought they had buried forever.
Inside, pale green fluorescent lights reflect on the black, cold water. Round tanks follow one another, their surfaces eerily flat, as if lurking.
Lucas whispers, his voice lost to fear: “Don’t look at them too long. They… looks back.”
Raven doesn't ask any questions. She walks along the edge of the tanks, a feeling of being watched welling up not by people, but by fragments of souls that once were, lurking beneath the water. The hair on the back of her neck stands up.
The control panel appears in the center. Kade bends down, his eyes glued to the flickering indicators.
“They are running a wipe cycle,” he says, his voice frantic. “In ten more minutes, everything in the queue will be gone forever.”
“How long we got?” Niko asks, his heart thumping.
“Seven minutes,” Kade replies curtly, sweat pouring.
Raven whirls to Lucas, her eyes urging him on.
“You lead.”
Lucas swallows, nods shakily, and steps forward to place his hand on the old, cold lever.
“Pull layer by layer,” he instructs, his voice trembling. “Don’t pull hard. The water will return the fragments of memory it holds… but not in order. They will be chaotic.”
“Just do it,” Raven says, her voice calm but powerful. “I’m right here with you.”
Lucas pulls the first lever.
The surface of the tank ripples gently. The screen lights up streams of data surge, then sounds burst forth like poisonous steam, tearing through the air:
“I won’t sign!”
“They said it was for safety…”
“Don’t let my child drink the water here, please don’t!”
Raven clenches her jaw, pain and anger swelling in her chest, as if cut by a knife.
Niko turns his face away for a second, his eyes red, then bites his lip and turns back.
“Continue,” Raven orders, her voice choked but resolute.
Lucas pulls the second lever.
Images flood in short, static, fractured video clips: a stark white room, a man bowing his head helplessly; a pregnant woman holding her belly, tears dripping onto a sink where a signature is smudged then rewritten in desperation.
“Record everything!” Kade shouts softly, his hands flying on the keyboard. “Record everything!”
A red warning flashes brightly:
ILLEGAL ACCESS - RESPONSE TEAM APPROACHING.
“Only three more minutes!” Niko whispers, his heart racing.
Lucas pulls the last time – water surges, overflowing the tank, cold as death.
Raven lunges, placing her hand on his shoulder, feeling the trembling spread.
“That’s enough,” she says gently but firmly. “Keep only the most important things.”
Lucas trembles violently, then nods, his voice completely lost: “There’s one thing… a CORE. If we get it, THE SILENT POOL will never run again.”
“Where?” Raven asks, her heart tightening.
Lucas points, trembling, to the bottom of the black tank.
“Under the water.”
Kade shakes his head frantically, terrified: “No time!”
Raven tears off her jacket, without a second of hesitation, her resolve burning.
“Hold the door for me,” she says. “Thirty seconds only.”
Niko clutches her arm, his eyes frantic: “Raven, no!”
“Thirty seconds,” she repeats, her voice steel.
She jumps into the water.
The cold water cuts at her skin like a thousand blades. Light extinguishes. At the bottom, a blurry metal mass appears THE SILENT CORE, cables wrapped tightly like monstrous roots.
Raven dives deeper, her lungs burning, pulling hard. The metal mass shakes violently… then detaches!
The water swirls in a whirlwind, the pressure pulling her into the abyss.
Calm. Must be calm.
She kicks furiously, swimming against the current. Her hand touches the edge of the tank Niko and Lucas grab her, pulling her up just as gunshots echo outside the door, deafening.
“RETREAT!” Kade roars.
They rush through the corridor, water splashing, hearts pounding like war drums. Behind them, THE SILENT POOL shakes violently the wipe cycle shattered.
Outside, the dark night greets them with a biting cold wind.
The car speeds off like an arrow. Behind them, the pumping station sinks into deadly darkness.
Raven gasps, her hand clutching the heavy metal mass. On its surface, a fading symbol appears:
E.V SAFE.
Lucas sees it, his red eyes glistening: “She… she prepared for this.”
Raven nods, her voice hoarse but fiery: “And now… it’s our turn to fight back.”
The car merges into traffic, city screens flickering wildly tap water stops flowing, urgent announcements echoing:
“WATER SYSTEM INCIDENT INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY.”
Raven stares at THE SILENT CORE in her hand, her heart throbbing with hope mixed with revenge.
Memories have been pulled from the deep water. And Severance… has just lost its most precious, irreplaceable thing.