"What the hell is wrong with these doors?" Toru shouted through his mask as the large sliding doors kept opening and closing as to lead him through the segmented dome structure. Seriously! If they want to lead me somewhere, why don't they just get on with it and unlock all of the doors?! Who do they think I am, some kind of foolish coward?! He thought as he continued to navigate the hallway holding his gun at the ready in case there was a trap waiting around the corner. It didn't help that his vision wasn't perfect while wearing the mask, as it cut into her peripherals. Either way, I am going to get somewhere...and I will destroy anyone who is responsible for ruining -my- future... There was a slyness to his thoughts as he ventured through yet another door, which like all the others began to close and lock just as he passed through. He wasn't sure if he actually was doing this for his own sake. It was true that he had a slight resentment towards his controlling authoritative father, but somewhere in his mind, he thought that disliking his old man was probably about of executive's plan to toughen up his son for the big seat one day. If there was anyone he was doing this for, it would be his mother, who was currently living the life he had always wanted. A nice, quiet, normal existence in his own country of Japan. That was were the roots of Senba were. Not in some backwater town that his father turned around into a gang infested-mafia controlled semi-suburbia. Who on earth would plan such a thing? The city was nowhere near any major town or establishment, and if it hadn't been for the discovery of a key element in their new line of chemical products, they wouldn't have ever bothered with such a place. Yet it made him wonder from time to time, why there were gangs in a town like this. Many believed it was the appearance of cooperate wealth, who oftentimes enjoyed the finer things in life that their clean money, wouldn't be willing to buy. Drugs were of course the biggest thing for any kind of Mafia. It was true that this state was a border to Canada, but, Canada is no Mexico. Damn it, I need to stop thinking about stupid things like that...
He brought his mind to the here and now. "They must be watching me from somewhere right? Every single room and hallway I go into must have some kind of camera, how else would they be able to track my progress?" He was regretting not knocking out the power, but he wasn't sure what kind of equipment they would have. Suppose he needed the power to get to his enemies? He didn't think making overly rash decisions was a good idea at this point. Aside from the fact that he was making rather rash decisions already. He stopped in his tracks and took a quick glance around the room. If they did have cameras, there were too many for him to shoot, or they were too small so he wouldn't be able to find them. He had been keeping track of his general direction; When he had entered in and was starting to move towards the top, he was suddenly directed into a more interior room, and from there on, he had moved in all kinds of directions, most likely in an attempt to confuse him or lead him into a trap.
Each room was approximately the same size, and he began to wonder if this little maze was a test of his patience. He could always continue on through the door to the next room, but that was quickly starting to bother him. He stopped here and rested his back against corner so he could get a better good look at the other doors. Naturally, one of them was open. It had to be manually operated. He guessed that this was so because the pace in which he moved was not consistent enough for the doors to be automatic. Unless of course the doors had some kind of sensor, where, if you passed through it would automatically lock after a certain amount time. Deciding to test that theory, he took his backpack and swung it through the opening and then quickly pulled it back. There was no response. He went to sit back down and he shrugged. He was growing tired, but at least he wasn't hungry or thirsty. He could sit here for quite a long time if he wanted to. It would give him a chance to cool his head a bit, and think over what he should actually do, as opposed to what he wanted to do.
"Ah damn...this is becoming a bit complicated isn't it? Why don't you just give up? Playing games like this doesn't work on me you know?" He said looking around at the ceiling. It was here that the open door suddenly closed and at first he thought it was because of what he had said. "What? What the hell?!" He asked turning around when suddenly the door that he had just come through opened up again. "You...want me to go back now is that it?" He questioned, stepping through into the room he had come from, and then the door closed and locked as usual. Here was was stuck. Usually another door opened, but this time, nothing happened. "Okay...so now you've decided to trap me. Either way it wont matter right?" He asked, but shortly after he could hear another door opening, something further away. "Ah shit! It was some kind of reverse thinking? Like...oh well, game over?" He chuckled in till the lights suddenly went out. "Shit!" He looked around in the dark for a while, but then the lights came on again. He wanted to keep jeering at whoever was taunting him, but then another door opened, a different door. Now he had an opportunity to move on again. It might be a trap, but something tells me that they are having problems of their own right now. Maybe some kind of internal strife? Well what it is, I'm going to figure out what these guys are up to. I do have a link to Keiko...though it may be possible that she has been compromised by this time...there is also that deal I made with the government...corporate scandals are reason enough to cause the military to get involved, it is as wide scale as I believe it to be.
Carefully, he waked through the doorway and into a fairly large room. There were people inside of this room, and they were running around frantically calling out to one another. It reminded him of an operation in the ER. He slipped in and found a dark corner to sit and wait. What is this place? A bunch of scientists, or doctors or something... He noticed a bunch of chairs all lined up next to each other. They reminded him of those reclining dentist chairs. All of them were empty except for one chair where a single girl was hooked up to some kind of machine. He needed to get closer to understand it's purpose or reason, but seemed like there was an IV hooked up to her arm. Don't tell me this is some kind of, underground dentistry? After a while the majority of the workers scurried off through a door that was positioned across the room, leaving only two people left who hovered over the girl in the chair and their voices echoed throughout the large room.
"Is she stable?" One of the men asked, dressed in a black overcoat, and was a balding man. Toru listened intently as he reached into his bag and held out his phone, which doubled as a high spec camera and recording device. "Yes, at least for now. That sudden power outage however... what could have caused it?" The other asked, who was also bald, and was wearing a white overcoat, similar to that of a lab scientist or doctor. "We're still investigating it. I was under the impression that all of our operators were drugged. It would be impossible for them to break the machine unless of course," The man paused for a moment. "The tester? I thought Merideth drugged him?" The doctor interjected. "No, apparently not. But that doesn't matter Doctor. Tell me the current status of Miss Galdrin." The supposed, 'superior officer' brushed the doctor's inquiry aside and walked over to some kind of monitor.
"Well, we gleaned over most of her memories from any point of relevance...most of it is just boring teen drama, you know the usual kind of stuff. There is one scene...which does pertain to Maki..." The doctor was now interacting with some kind of terminal, while his superior watched. "She repressed a lot of it, so the feed isn't exactly clear I don't think..."
"Why was it repressed, that shouldn't happen right?" The black coated man asked leaning forward.
"Most of our subjects don't have any heavy trauma...however...similar to that of a nightmare, some people are able to wake themselves before anything bad really happens. So in the instance which the subject doesn't want to relive a particular scene, it could be possible to repress it from a simple glance alone..." Hardly anything the two men were saying made any sense to Toru who was waiting to see if they would leave so he could get a chance to examine the equipment more closely. It sounded like some bogus science fiction to him, but just the same, he had most of their conversation recorded onto his phone. The superior then began to watch something on the screen. "Oh I see, this is odd...did the sedation get affected by the power-outage?" He asked and the doctor shrugged. "Her vitals are normal, but if anything it would only hamper her awakening...which is due in about ten to fifteen minutes." He said checking his watch. "Very well, we'll scan her again if we have the time. I heard some subjects got into our base, high command hasn't given any direct orders concerning them, but I think if we run into them we should try to capture them." He looked around slowly, as if suspected that someone was in the room watching them, which of course was true as Toru sulked back as far as he could go. "Intruders? Really?" The doctor sounded surprised. "Just some high school students or something. Chances are they were brought here for specific reasons, after all I heard that everyone here is somehow connected to the Mafia or to Senba, and it's just tying up loose ends, the project has really reached it's final moments." He seemed to sound proud of the achievement, and then he began to walk away. "I'll be back for her awakening, Doctor." He said with a wave, exiting through the same doors as the others.
Toru silently crept along, removing his gas mask, as he assumed that they wouldn't gas a room that they had employees in. It seemed like there was only the one doctor in the room, and so he crept up slowly, in till he was close enough to get a clean shot. Holding the gun squarely at the man's back, he continued to step forward. Inch, by inch... Suddenly the man turned around, and Toru, out of impulse lifted the gun and smashed it into the man forcefully knocking him to the ground. Not even bothering to see if the man was alive or dead he walked over to the machine that the girl was hook up to. It was connected to her arm, like an IV, as he had seen before. There was a piece of equipment just above her forehead that had some kind of scanner attached to it. Looking at the wires he could tell that they were somehow getting information from her mind, judging from their conversation, it was likely that they were using some kind of technical hypnosis on her, to get information from her past.
Her heartbeat was being monitored, and for now it seemed stable. The girl was resting peacefully in the chair, her chest slowly rose and fell as she was in a very deep sleep. The doctor said her awakening would commence soon, but he wasn't sure what that meant exactly. Having never been to school or anything like that, he had no idea who she was, aside from her given name of Miss Gladrin. This is definitely illegeal. He thought darkly. Unless of course she gave them permission to be admitted to this facility, it can't be positive. I'll interrogate her later. He thought, holding out his phone, and began to take pictures of the equipment, wondering if it was purchased using the Senba funds his father had worked so hard to acquire. He even took a picture of the unconscious doctor, who, after briefly checking his body, didn't have any form of ID. That's odd, if he doesn't have any identification, how do they know he is one of their personnel? It seemed highly unprofessional to him, and it certainly wasn't something that Senba would allow for any branch of their company.
It was after he was finished with his investigation of the room that the doors quickly opened and a billowing white smoke came hissing into the room. "Damn it!" he threw on the gas mask and sunk low next to the machine. If anything, they wouldn't risk destroying their equipment. At least ten armed guards with gas masks and gear similar to that of Toru's appeared into the room with automatic assault rifles. Damn so fast? They must be monitoring this room as well.
Someone, who was out of his sight began to clap. "Very well done, Mr. Toru Senba." It was an unfamiliar voice, and he had no time to check to see what it was. "You got much further than what I would have expected. After all that evidence you collected, it's a shame it wont be going anywhere outside of this dome." There was something crude in the words being spoken to him, a sly, overconfidence resided in that voice. "Actually, whoever the hell you are, you're wrong about that." He replied through his mask. "What?"
"I sent all of the information I gathered via text message to a member of the company who is unaffiliated with this...disgusting rabble." Stupid bastard, you should have come here directly, instead of waiting to sound cool. Even if I die, it wont matter, as long as I take you down...right, boss man? He smiled under his mask, and yet he knew that the guards could see him, and he could see them. "What good will that do?" The man suddenly replied. "There isn't enough time to save you!" Then the order came and the guards came rushing towards him.
"Hold your fire damn it!" Someone called out, and it was the same man who had been speaking with the doctor previously. "Seriously, are you an idiot?" The man came up, trying to part away the fog, and he knelt beside the bleeding doctor. "Damn you!" He shouted, "What is this?!"
"Arrest the boy!" The other commander yelled out.
There was no longer any time to hesitate. Toru had made his move, killing one of the guards from a quick shot of his gun, and then grabbing the automatic that once was firmly held in his arms. "Fire! damn it fire!" The other man was screaming, and an array of bullets came cascading out, and a few more guards fell, all the while, Toru circled around, and found the one in charge, who was standing at the back of the line. At least five of the guards were on the ground wounded. "Don't shoot near the machines you fools! We have a valuable test subject in here!"
"Stop overriding my order!"
"You scum!" Toru exclaimed slamming the butt of the automatic into the commander's gut, and the unsheathing the combat knife the guard had, he twirled it around and brought it swiftly to the edge of the man's throat. "Call it." He whispered. "C-cease fire...open the vents damn it! Get the smoke out of here!" The vents opened, and the remaining guards stood there, as well as the superior who was tending to the doctor. "You could have killed our best physician!" He snapped at the commander whom he had just noticed was under duress. "When...when did he?"
"What did I tell you...we needed to arrest the rat..." He struggled to talk while the blade was held against his jugular. This all seems so...easy? He thought for a moment, but then he continued on his his plan.
"Do you have a line to your superior?" Toru asked holding the man expertly, as it seemed as if it wasn't the first time he had held someone hostage, and the man who finished checking the doctor raised a gun and pointed it at the girl. "Don't make threats. Everyone on our staff is fully prepared to sacrifice their life. If he was truly worthy of our corporation, he wouldn't be in that position." The other man stated callously. "K-Kennen...w-what are you d-oing?" The other man asked as Toru continued to maintain his grip on the large man. Quietly he began to whisper into the man's ear. "Fully prepared? Are you? You aren't the first man I've killed. But you know how much power I hold, even outside of this pathetic town, my mother still lives in Japan. There is no shame in living you know." The large man tried to turn to catch a glimpse of Toru. "What will it be boy? Are you willing to sacrifice this girl's life for your own pathetic gain?"
Toru scoffed. "So much for precious test subject right? You're bluffing." He called. "So do we have a deal? I wont miss..." He whispered, and the large man nodded. "Y-yeah...I...don't want to die..." and Toru then took his gun, a slight smile appearing on his face. "You think I'm bluffing?! Ha! You imbicle!" A shot rang out, as Toru had the gun positioned behind the baggy coat sleeve of his former captor and with his skills, he managed to hit his target square in the shoulder causing him to fall down. Not wanting to take any risks, he tucked his foot inside of the larger man's leg, and tripped him onto his stomach, and fire a few rounds at the remaining guards who stood still like bowling pins, unable to react on their own, they fell to the ground one by one. There was a long silence with groaning, and Toru keeping an eye on everyone who had fallen, slowly made his way over to the girl in the chair. The time had passed, she was about to awaken.
"D-da, damn you kid..." The man gurgled as Toru removed the IV from her arm as her eyes slowly opened and looked up at the dark room. "...." It seemed as if she couldn't speak, her head slowly turned towards a boy who was hovering over her. She felt herself being elevated. "Come on move!" She heard his words, but she couldn't get her body to move. She felt her arm wrap around his neck as he began to pull her away from the room and into another door.
Just who is this girl? Well whatever, she is a key witness for later. She must have been apprehended by these people... He thought as the commander who once tried to take his life followed him. "W-wait Toru!" He called after him. "What do you want? I spared your life. Be thankful for that." The boy snapped, and the man fell onto his hands and knees breathing heavily. "What? What is wrong with you?" He asked, and he reached into his suit pocket and removed a flash drive and began to cough up blood. "We...swore an oath to...remain loyal...I'm sorry...forgive me...that's...all you need...to know..." He then fell down in a heap and was still. "Damn it." He bent down and scooped up the flash drive and pocketed it before moving on. Why do I feel like everything happened so fast? He stopped in his tracks.
"What do I do now?" He asked out loud. The girl was growing heavy in his arms. He slowly let her down on the floor, and there was a trail of drool coming from her mouth. They were in some kind of strange white room, that had all kinds of glowing panels on the wall, and he wasn't sure what to do. There was the way he had come from, which would take him back to that wounded man and his army of guards. There was only one other door. He scooped up the girl, who was half conscious, and he managed to carry her to the next door, which slid open as he approached.
The girl grabbed onto his shirt. "Where...?" she asked quietly and he looked through the empty room and shrugged. "I wish I knew!" He replied walking through and noticing that this room was some kind of computer maintenance room. He stopped short just inside as there was someone inside of the room, looking directly at him. "Oh...are you the one causing all of this ruckus?" the person asked, who was probably just a few years older than Toru. "Not like I care though." He said walking past Toru, and then he placed a hand on his back. "Why don't you keep making some noise, and see where it gets you." He stated quietly, and then he out the door before Toru could even think of what to do. He then decided it was best to ignore the person, and set the girl down in one of the swivel chairs. He looked around, but didn't find any kind of first aid kit to try and help her. She was definitely phasing in and out of consciousness as drool continued to flow from her mouth.
"Hey...just hang in there, okay? Can you even hear me?" He asked looking at her. Somehow, the girl stroke a somber note for him. He couldn't help but joke around when such a deluded girl was right in front of him. He wondered if she could even think straight. Yet before he could even plan his next move the door opened again and there was the superior from before, followed by a set of two guards. "You've gone on far enough!" He demanded, holding the gun directly at Toru, and the boy slowly stood up. 'Shit, I let my guard down...when that one guy just left without doing anything...something strange is happening...I can feel it...
"But it is strange how you were able to even get into that room, the computer systems here would have automatically directed you to the head of security of this structure." He frowned. "So? What do you want me to explain to you?" He asked smiling slightly. "More or less I'm curious about who you are...and what you think you are doing inside of this dome." He entered the room completely, and sat down in a chair a fair distance away from Toru. The boy smiled for a moment, looking at the guards who were holding the automatics with a bit of uncertainty. "I want to know why my father has suddenly started acting strange. It's your own damn fault for leading me here, but I would have expected better security."
"Our security is flawless. The moment you entered the main hallway, we had our cameras on you. We were tracing your every move, in till of course one of our programmers malfunctioned. But even so, the system shouldn't have let you go any further."
"Then it's obvious." Toru started. "Internal strife." The man's eyes narrowed. "Indeed, but everyone is controlled. Internal strife is impossible." He added, "You even saw it yourself when Vanon died in the hallway."
"Oh, that huh?" Toru knew that it was strange how they could have such a system rigged, and why that man would betray his company if it meant his death. In fact, that didn't make any sense at all. "Hold on a second...That man..." he couldn't figure through it, then he caught a glimpse of the bald man's shoulder. "You're...shoulder!" He exclaimed. The superior he thought he saw in the room that he had shot was not the same man who was sitting here before him, unless of course...'Impossible...but...how? Also that commander, he was...willing to do anything for his life so...what the hell is going on?'
"I see you've come to a conclusion, would you mind enlightening me?" The superior asked with a sly smile. 'Am I dreaming? No, that can't be, is this the work of some kind of illusion or something that triggered inside of my brain, in that case, I...I can't do anything? No, it can't be a toxin, because the doctor, was it prior? No, not even that much...it would have to have been sometime before entering this room...No wait, it's not that...'
"That's it...that's when you got me..." He closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head. "You gassed the room just after you left. It makes sense...some kind of...neurological...affecting chemical or something. I let my guard down when I assumed you wouldn't gas your own subordinate." The man stood up and re-pointed the gun. "You did good. For a kid. But I told you, our security is flawless. Well, good bye--"
"Wait. There is still one inconsistency." The man paused. "What? An inconsistency?"
"Illusions of the mind lack the vividness of the situation. It's impossible for a mutation to be this strong." He closed his eyes. "More likely, you didn't use gas. That level of control can't exist, even in the most effective of air systems." He added. I jumped to conclusions, the gas was just a precursor.If they had gassed the same room that the doctor was in, it would have to have taken affect immedately, and then only in a few minutes it would have to have dissipated..
"Then how do you explain this?" The man asked with a smile.
"Who do you think I am?! Some kind of philosopher?" He asked suddenly, feeling the rush once more. The blood was boiling underneath his skin, and he quickly reached for the knife he had used against the commander. "I don't need answers to such stupid questions!" He threw the knife just as the man fired the gun, and a sudden sharp pain filled his arm as he fell down with a scream. "Damn..you ass hole!" He used his legs to surge forward as the man worked to remove the knife that was lodged into his shoulder. Toru was already there, using his own shoulder to smash into the man's gut and into the back wall. Then with his left hand he held his opponents mouth shut. "Isn't it true, that those guards wont do anything, unless you tell them?" He asked recalling back to the time when he shot down about four of them without any reaction whatsoever. The man was growling through his clenched teeth, and then Toru wrapped his left hand around the man's throat. 'The only way I can win, is if I kill him...'
"If this is some kind of illusion, then we'll just wake up from this and everything will be fine right?"
Then the door to the room opened, he could hardly turn around to see who it was, when the man he was trying to choke suddenly surged forward and knocked him down. "Insolent...whelp!" He coughed, holding on his neck. "Oh...I didn't know there was some kind of fight going on in here..." A girl spoke, looking over at the boy and the girl looked severly worried. "Is he alright?" Her voiced sounded distorted as if she was speaking through a thick glass panel, and the man who Toru was trying to choke began to hold him down. There was the sound of gunfire in the distance as everything began to grow blurry and distorted, and then power flashed off again.
The guards suddenly fell to the ground, whether they were unconscious or dead, Toru didn't know. The room was dark, and he could hear the man rummaging throughout the room, searching for something. What the hell is going on? The door opened, and the girl who was inside the room already, reentered with some kind of medical kit. "You idiots! What have you done with my system!" She screamed stepping over the fallen guards, and the power returned on, and the girl's face was full of rage. "The system! You idiots broke the mainframe!" She screamed, her dyed pink hair caught Toru's eye as it jingled above her shoulders.
"Do you know how long me and Micheal worked on this system?!" She exclaimed stomping on the ground, kicking the fallen guards out of the way, as a dim light began to flash on. The man in the black overcoat looked bewildered around for a moment, and then slowly he got his feet, while Toru remained on the floor. "It...it turned off?" He asked suddenly. "What is wrong with you people today? All of the staff members here are complete idiots! All they do is flash their weapons and don't even think of the magnificence of this place! Let alone drugging people you don't even have background checks on!" She gave the man a dirty look. "Stupid Meri had her little lab rat go crazy on us, and we've been trying to reestablish the connection! Ever since, the power has been flashing off and on. I wonder who ordered the second dome to submerge?! Don't they know that it temporarily cuts off all of the power? Not only that but the signal is nullified. It's not like they need to go down in order to gas those stupid little kids."
While the fairly young woman continued to rant on and on about her system, Toru began to get to his feet, and walk over to the girl whom he had rescued from whatever machine it was. "Hey, what do you think you're doing anyway? You are responsible! I demand that you remedy this situation!" The girl shouted turning to Toru who smirked.
"Like hell!" He shot back, noticing how the girl seemed to stare off into an empty kind of space. "I can't even think straight, thanks to you bastards..." he sputtered for a moment sitting down again, finding that his strength had finally waned, and he was no longer able to stand on his own. "Huh? What happened to her?" The girl asked stepping over to examine her. "Amy, now isn't the--"
"Shut up! Get out of here! Take these...dead weights with you." She shooed him away with her hand, and the commander reluctantly began to drag away the guards into the hallway before finally disappearing. "Oh my, she's definitely not looking too well..."
"Is she going to be alright?" He asked, and Amy turned around suddenly looking irritated. "Hey! We've been watching you cause all of this havoc! I know we tried to paralyze you before you got anywhere, but someone just happened to mess with our code...and now we're having power issues..." She snapped. "Ehe...sorry, but you should of seen it comin', seriously this is all illegal as far as I can tell."
The girl smiled brightly. "That's why I'm a free-agent of course! There's nothing criminal about my job." She then turned back to the girl, and held her head to her chest. "Oh my, too bad you pretty much knocked out our only doctor..." She said with a bit of sarcasm. "Honestly, medical science isn't my strong suit, but she'll recover if she gets taken to a hospital I guess..." It wasn't a very convincing statement. "I...think I'll just...rest for now..." he wasn't sure what was going through his head. "No, don't go to sleep just yet." Amy said opening the medical kit and taking out a small flashlight and shining it in his eye. "Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?!" He asked and she slapped him across the face. "Don't you know? You were gassed as some point, but for some reason, you were only partically affected. A lot of stuff you've seen or witnessed wasn't exactly there...I need to make sure your sober so when you wake up, you wont be stuck in some kind of perpetual dream state." She stated informatively and he nodded slightly. "Yeah...so do you really have pink hair?" He asked with a smile, and she frowned. "What's with that tone? What's wrong with a little expressionism? But yeah, okay you're good, whatever. I'll see what I can do for sleeping beauty over here. Take it easy." She said and Toru slouched over in his chair and fell into an empty sleep, with no thought or consciousness.
/end
What will happen next time on Scratch? This chapter certainly has a confusing element to it don't you think? Still, all things will come together. Stick around, and catch chapter fifteen, when Kaz and Michi make their grand appearance in their own infiltration of the dome structures!
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