The power lock behind the door clicked and the massive, well polished steel frame slid back, and in the doorway of the darkened room stood a near invisible figure who peered into the silence tentatively, before turning on a tiny flashlight he held in his hand. Lying in the center of the symmetrical room which held a very unpleasant cool temperature and obscurity which would make anyone doubt their sanity, was a girl flat on her stomach, with her shirt pulled up halfway across her shoulders, and a severe looking burn etched into her torso. The figure whistled, as he was amazed by the scene, and then he came up to the girl and placed a hand on her back, slowly bringing her shirt down over her wound, careful not to disturb it. Then placing his hand on her shoulder firmly he bent down and whispered into her ear.
"Naida! Are you alright?" He asked, and she slowly opened her tear stained eyes, and blinked for a moment, unable to see the person who was leaning down next to her. They were kind words being spoken to her, and it was strange, did she know who this was? "Hiro...?" She mumbled, trying to discern the identity of the man. "You don't remember me, do you Nadia? We spoke just a few months ago, remember?" He asked, slowly standing her up, and she winced as the skin of her burn mark stretched, and yet she leaned on the man as he held her upright. She strained her tormented mind, trying to remember who this stranger was. A few names came to mind, as they made their way to the exit. "Troy?" She asked quietly, as he helped her to the threshold of the doorway. "Yes, that's right." He continued to soothe her, looking over her once more the man grimaced. "Jesus Christ, who did this to you?" He asked looking over her stressed face, and withering features and she shook her head. "I...I don't know, I can't think, my head..." She closed her eyes letting out a low sigh, feeling a fresh tear come to her eyes. The man, who called himself Troy wiped her tear away and brushed back her hair. Oh how I wish I could have gotten my hands on your well protected secrets, but there is still time for that. He thought looking sympathetically at her before standing up. "You need to get out of here..." He said quietly looking around to see if anyone was around. "The higher ups, my superiors, betrayed everyone. They are planning on destroying the domes." He knelt down next to her again. She tried hard to keep her eyes open, trying to listen to his words. "You need to get out of here Nadia..." He was saying, and she let out a gasp of pain and he looked around. "Do you hear that soft hissing sound? That's the warning..." He paused for a moment again, as if to check if anyone was coming before turning back to her. "There is a way to stop it Nadia." He was saying and she shook her head. "Troy, I...I can't move..." She spoke faintly, and he placed a shoulder on her arm. "You've got to try, I can't carry you out of here..." He said, looking fairly somber, and she had little idea as to why. A vague memory of a person, a man she only met a few times. "Hiro...get Hiro..." She said pointing behind her. "Please...Troy...he can save me...he must." She insisted, and the man nodded firmly grasping her shoulder. "It's getting worse Nadia, I need to finish up elsewhere." He said looking at the walls, as if expecting them to explode right then and there. "You have to tell him. There's a generator down the hall. I can open the door, but I have no time to explain it to him. Do you understand?" He asked. "Generator...down the hall..." She nodded. "Good luck Nadia..." he left her there, and walked away to the other door, and typed in a password on the keypad. He was surprised how little guards there were considering the intensity of the security. Most of them were connected to the Hive Net, and were probably unconscious, or being rehabilitated. No wonder the higher ups decided to trash the place. Everything had fallen to pieces, and even from his point of view, not all had gone as he would have liked. After the large steel door hissed, and began to swing outward, the man began to run away from the scene. Now I've got to grab Meredith, and get the hell out of here before anything unexpected happens. Wouldn't want the Big K. breathing down my neck...
The numbness that had claimed the dreamy seventeen year old was started to fade, as he had slipped off into a strange subconscious state. There were images of his mother and father smiling and waving to him, there were his own visualizations of Nadia being stretched out, tortured and beaten, and it had caused him to awake with a start as his eyes opened slowly to the sound of a large door opening. There was light filtering into his room, and quickly blinked off and on. He didn't want to think of who it was. His insides felt completely full of trash. Every single bad emotion had been drained into that overwhelming pit, which was expanding it felt like, and he wanted to explode. There were footsteps retreating off into the distance, quickly fading away, as if the person who had opened his door didn't want to be there when he woke up, or perhaps they were in a hurry. A revolution? It's not the police... His mind was torn to shreds, but somehow because of that he was able to think clearly for a change. Nadia...Nadia's door must be open too! But...what will I find? What is beyond that mysterious wall ? He was afraid of her. He was afraid that she'd be scarred beyond repair. He was afraid that she was not who he thought, maybe she was an actor, a spy? He felt so much for her, all of his guilt, and rage, he was beating himself up more and more. I can't..face her now can I? We're strangers...that only makes it worse...I have no chance at forgiveness.
Her back against the wall, the girl could feel the stinging pain of the many burn marks etched across her body. They stung like a hornet's nest was glued to her body. Yet it was that very same pain which kept her away. She drew in breath, thinking of when she was first taken in. What was her purpose here? She used to know so much of this place, the people, their faces blended together, as if she was trying to look at them while riding on a carousel. Yet there was a name she knew, and she had to be strong. The hissing sound that Troy spoke of was growing increasingly urgent. Clenching her fist she mustered all of her strength bringing it to a peak, and releasing it out with as much vigor as she could bring forth. "Hiro!" She called out his name loudly. "Hiro!" She called again, wincing, keeping her fists clenched, and ignoring the tears rolling down her cheeks. "Hiro...come...save...us!" She cried out again.
"Hiro!" He could hear her voice, it jolted him, as at first it sounded like an accusation, but then it came again, and it shocked him to his feet. It was a plea, a sound, a plea, was he hearing things? He crept to the entrance of his room, shaking the numbness from his body, he moved forward into the hallway, where he saw her arm, and foot, she was against her own doorway. He pressed forward, pausing momentarily. Nadia! He couldn't speak the words just yet, as he inched closer. "Hiro...come...save...us!" She breathed out, and he closed his eyes, and stepped beyond in front of her, leaning down next to her, opening his eyes, and seeing her now in front of him, looking at him with a smile on her face. That smile melted away his guilt and fear, he felt the overwhelming pit dissolve, as she took his hand into her own, and nodded. "I can see...it, in your eyes...what you wish to say..." She said quietly shaking her head. "It's not your fault Hiro..." She struck the final note, and he couldn't help but tear up a bit himself. It was odd to him, to him, he would have never thought to have actually been here, standing in front of the girl, the girl who had kept him company for so long. She looked okay, she would be okay, she would not die here, or at least he hoped not, if Nadia died, it would...it would bring the guilt back to him all over again. "I...I don't know what to say..." he admitted, feeling suddenly awkward, holding onto her arm, being her strength, being her crutch. She was in a lot of pain, he needed to get her out of here. "I need to get you out of here..." He echoed his mind, turning towards the spiraling hallway. It certainly wasn't the way he had come in, he looked back the other way, vaguely remembering the garage they had come in, and noticing that the door wasn't there anymore. "No...time...you must...stop the generator...down the hall..." she closed her eyes and slowly tipped her head back. "I...rest, okay?" She smiled slightly, and her hand slipped from his own, and he looked at her scared for a moment that she had actually died. But her soft breathing reassured him that it wasn't the case, and with some relief, he stood up. "Why do I have to stop the generator?" He asked out loud to nobody in particular, but he couldn't deny that what she told him was important. He would do anything for her. He knew it, that somewhere inside of him, that guilt persisted. It wasn't over in till it was over.
Now, it's the Hero's turn to shine!
He came to the end of the hallway, which had been spiraling down the entire way, and he noticed a large door with a caution sign on it: "High voltage" it read, and he felt worried. He was no technician. He pressed his hand against the door as if it were a rabid beast, and with utmost care he pushed it open and found himself in a rather large room where a massive generator hummed violently. There was a large fence between him and the physical generator, and there were signs indicating that it wasn't safe to approach them with anything metallic. He inched forward, checking his pockets, to make sure there was nothing as such, even though he still felt a jolt of anxiety. He knew full well that this high powered generator was capable of zapping the very life out of him. It seemed to be under a lot of duress, as it was working extremely hard to keep the domes running. Sticking the back wall, he examined the room to see if there was any indication of a button he should press, if such a machine could be turned off that easily.
It was here that Hiro came across a dilemma. There were two glass boxes, which sat on the far ends of the room. As he examined them closely, he noticed that these were in fact, the off/on switches for the generator. If one were to pull them down simultaneously, it would cause the machine to power down in about a half-hour's time. Judging by the immense stress the generators appeared to be under, it was probably certain that even though it would take a half hour to cool down, the most laborious task would cease immediately. Meaning that by turning off the generator, the most important function the domes structure was caring out would be nullified. Yet how do I manage to pull down both levers at the same time?
The entire dome structure was starting to ring out a horrible sound, the high pitched hissing was replaced with a blaring siren, that echoed throughout the entire building, many of which were full of motionless corpses. As Toru was venturing from the computer room, he had become reunited with his gas mask in the strange 'memory' laboratory. Knowing that gas could easily be employed through the walls, and also knowing that the entire building was going berserk, it was probably a good idea to pick up his gear, and head towards the coordinates Amy gave him. Once more he assumed that the woman would not harm the civilian he had liberated. Miss Gladrin seemed like a sweet girl after all. She supposedly had come all this way for her sister, who was supposedly, to be somewhere in this place. He had a feeling that whoever this Senba impostors were, they certainly wouldn't settle for just one test subject. There had to be more, and this 'prison' that assumed existed, was at the very bottom of the structure. His head was still a bit fuzzy from his knock out that he had recovered from minutes previously, however ff everything worked according to his sloppy, quickly thrown together plan, then he would be able to come out on top of all this. Though he had no idea what the blaring, obnoxious siren meant, he had a pretty bad feeling about what it was about. The entire building must be malfunctioning in a very drastic fashion. As he worked his way through the doors, and back into the spiraling hallway that he had first broken into, he came across someone who was running towards him in a frenzied sort of panic. Instinctively he raised his gun to challenge the runner, who stopped in his tracks as he realized he was being held up. It was a young man, clothed in street clothes, and he looked genuinely worried, and slightly familar, as Toru thought he had seen such a man right after he had been gassed. "It's you!" Toru exclaimed through the gas mask, and the young man shrugged. "What kind of greeting is that? Hey, I could've turned you in, you owe me one Senba kid." He said with a smile. "You do have a point, but I'd like to know what's going on first, before I go and make some more 'noise'" The young man smiled darkly. "The louder the noise gets, the closer this place gets to turning to ash, along with everyone who is unfortunate enough to be stuck inside." He scratched his head slightly. Damn it! I was right! They are trying to cover up the evidence by exploding the entire building! There are causalities in here, but it's not like I really care, but all of my hard earned evidence will be washed down the drain! I can't let that happen! "Is there a way to stop it?" He asked and the man shrugged. "Rumor has it that there is a generator running the electricity now that the direct power line was cut off...if two people were to trigger the switch, then it would power down, ultimately preventing it from self destruction..." What kind of rumor is that? Who does this punk think he is? "So what the hell are we waiting for? Let's go turn the damn think off!" Toru yelled, keeping his gun out on the man who shook his head. "Yeah right! It's all the way down on the bottom floor! It's too risky to make it there in time!" Toru paused. "You forget, there might be some kind of dirt on me here, I'd rather escape now, and let the damn thing blow up." He said side-stepping Toru expertly, and darting off into one of the other rooms. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" Toru put away his gun, not even bothering to go after the strange man, and he began to sprint down the spiraling hallway in hopes of reaching the generator in time, as well as a partner to help him. Double checking his phone, he knew that the prisons were in the same vacinity. If he was lucky, he could liberate a well minded civilian to help him. I wonder if it's because I'm acting like a commando, that I keep thinking of them as 'civilians?'
The man stalled for a moment behind the door he darted into, peering back as he watched Toru disappeared out of sight. "Well, well...unless my eyes are lying to me, that must have been the Senba executive's heir..." He said with a slight smile. "He may actually buy me some more time..." He then continued his quick pace up the dome, and in finding a room near the top, he entered a key-code and pressed into a room and he quickly closed the door. There were at least ten giant TV monitors, all hooked up large control panels. They were all showing different areas of the dome structure, and inside of the room there stood an irritated blonde woman, and a silent man who had been in command of the armed troops. "Trey! What the hell is going on?! Who tripped the self-destruct mechanism?" The blonde woman asked and Trey shook his head, pulling out his own gun and pointing at the superior. "Get out of here." He spoke to the man who looked surprised for a moment, but then reluctantly glancing at the woman he smiled slightly before walking out of the door. The woman looked even more irritated at the new development but Trey put the gun away and quickly shut off the monitoring system one by one. "Just what are you planning on doing?" She asked skeptically. "Listen Meredith, we don't have any time left. We have to get out of here." He was talking fast as he continued to shut down the monitors. "What do you mean?" She asked standing up, feeling a bit nervous now that Trey actually sounded worried. "It's the Big K's orders. They had their guy trip the self destruct. They're flushing us down the toilet." He finished up with the monitors, and he quickly opened the door, flashing out his gun to make sure that militant bastard wasn't still hanging around. "The Big K? You mean she...she cut us off?" Meredith sounded pissed off and frightened at the same time. "Yes. Stadweld is a failure." He commented leading them down the hallway. "And who's fault is that?" She asked, and Trey stopped and sighed. "If you really must point fingers, it was Cylinder." He said quietly. "Cylinder? No way. They were here? How did they know?" She asked and they continued to move. "I don't know, it was Sen's job to make sure that they didn't..." He said passing up one of the exits. "Where exactly are we going?" She asked looking around. "The maintenance tunnel. Luckily for us, everyone who knows about it is in the other dome." He smiled kicking down a door, revealing a long staircase leading down to a tunnel. "It takes us out of the city, there will be car there for us." He said and Meredith stopped suddenly. "We can't leave without Amy." She said firmly. "Amy is the only programmer we have left." She turned to Trey who looked a bit annoyed. "Do you really think they'll let us back in?" He asked, and she smirked. "If it really is Sen's fault, then of course. We know too much as it is." Thinking that stealing Amy away would definitely play a major role in crippling Hive, Trey nodded. "Alright, you get going, I'll go grab Amy and follow behind you." He said closing the door, and looking around before continuing off again.
The young girl awoke to the sound of rushing water, and she thought for a moment that she was back home, and her brother was taking his morning shower, and that when he was done, he would come in and shake her awake so she could get ready for school. Even as she looked up at the dark ceiling, she knew that that wasn't the case. Despite the fogginess of her mind, she could feel the pit of despair rising in her stomach. The events which had unfolded the past week had frightened more so than any other in her short life. Carefully, she removed the covers of her bed, and timidly walked onto the carpet. Her door was slightly ajar, just how it was left when she was first put to rest there. Usually, her brother Jack would be waiting for her as she awoke. She knew that he would smile, and act nice, and give her breakfast, she knew that he would ask her to consider joining him, yet for some reason it frightened her. When they had taken him, he went with them, and when he came back he was not the same. He was a different person all together, and it frightened her so much, she wanted to cry, she wanted to scream...yet he was not here no, with that thinly veiled smile, masking his deceit and betrayal. There was only the sound of water, and feeling a bit dizzy, she pushed her way past the door and into the living room. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she soon grew terrified of something else. The table was broken, the chairs were flung about the room, it looked as if a tornado had ripped through their fake home. Her eyes trailed through the room in till they settled on a body, lying limp on the kitchen floor, and she quietly stepped forward, holding on her white night gown with trembling hands, as she turned around the corner of the counter, she saw her brother's empty stare look up at the ceiling, and she screamed from the top of her lungs. Beside his bleeding head, there was a large bowl, which was also cracked it seemed that someone had attacked her brother. Not far from his hand was a syringe, which was probably full of some kind of sedative. He must have gone after someone, someone...She turned around swiftly, looking at the open bathroom door, listening to the water run, and then she went back to her brother. Bending down slowly, she tapped his shoulder. "Jack." She called to him in her quiet voice. She shook him rigorously. "Jack. Jack. Jack." She said his name over and over again. She wondered if she could cry. She didn't feel the tears come to her eyes. There was a tinge of sorrow edging ever closer, in till finally it overcame her. She rubbed her eyes with her sweating palm, shaking his body again. "Jack!" She cried out. The attack was probably in the bathroom, she reached out for the syringe. She wasn't sure what she was thinking. She was angry. She was angry that her brother was dead, when he wasn't even himself. She at least wanted to see him against as he was. She wanted the normal Jack. The boy who had protected her for her entire life. He was dead, he was gone, there was no bringing Jack back to her now.
She tip-toed quickly over the broken shards of glass, and slowly pressed back the door to the bathroom, and stepped onto the tile. Upon entering the bathroom, her rage turned to shock as she saw the sunken Kaz in the shower, his eyes could hardly look up at her, but he was entirely conscious. The syringe in her hand dropped to the floor. "...Kaz?" She asked quietly, and the boy didn't respond for a while, letting the cold water run over his head, he slowly looked up, a tired look in his eyes. "Kylie..." He replied, looking back down. "What the hell was I thinking..." He said closing his eyes, and shaking his head. A wave of emotion was pulsing through the girl. She wanted revenge for her brother, she wanted to kill the one who had brought a tragic end to the only one who stood up for her, but there was another, another who stood up for her. The balance between her, Jack, and Kaz, was unique. But now it was no more. She stood there shaking, shaking dropping to her knees. Her life, it seemed over. The water turned off, and she watched as Kaz dragged his soaking wet, battered body from the shower and he came over to her, wrapping his cold arms around her and whispered into her ear. "I...killed him. I had to. You...you have the right to hate me, Kylie...I wish...I wish I could have brought him back to you...what kind of friend am I?" He asked and she accepted his embrace, feeling the gravity of his own sorrow. "No Kaz...even though...it was you who killed my brother..." she sniffed, feeling the tears resurface again. "I can never hate you..." Those words may have brought them both to a resounding new light. But the scars of the incident would remain a burden in their minds for time to come.
Then the door to the small living quarters burst open. "Kaz? Kaz are you in here?" A familiar voice called out, and the young man staggered to his feet. "Michi? Are you alright? What happened to you?" He asked, stumbling through the door, and a tear soaked Kylie followed. Michi had stopped dead in the room, looking at the boy lying dead near the kitchen cupboard, and then back at the weary Kaz, and the young girl, and all kinds of conclusions and thoughts passed through her already invigorated mind. There will be time for this later. "We need to go." She said urgently, coming up to him, offering him her support. She turned to the little girl who looked at her mysteriously almost. "You...must be Kylie." She said quietly, reaching out her hand. "Come on, we should leave." She tried to smile, and the girl timidly took it.
The main event, is quickly approaching.
How do I trigger these simultaneously? "Hey! Is anyone here? Huh, who is this girl?" Someone was saying, and Hiro, looked out of the generator door, and looking up from the spiraling hallway, yelled out. "Hey! Down here, quick!" He was saying, and there were footsteps, quickly following down the hallway, and the two came face to face. "God damn that buzzing is annoying the fucking shit out of me!" The boy exclaimed, ripping off his gas mask, seeing that there was in fact a conscious person present down here. "Come on, we don't have much time!" Hiro was saying, leading the man into the generator room. "You see that glass box? Hold onto the switch, on the count of three, we just pull down." He said. "Got it. Alright, let's do this!"
One
Two
Three!
/end
Sadly, the author of the series was running out of thought. There were probably some scenes which were rushed. The chapter is probably not as long as the standard chapter, [ever notice that for Hiro chapters?]. And seeing how the last chapter was 12 pages long, easily becoming the longest chapter written for the Scratch Series thus far.
The next chapter is in fact the final chapter of the Dome Arc. [Remember the first ten chapters acted as a set-up for these chapters?]. To get you all on the same page...here is a little insight as to what's going on, especially since TIME is a big issue here. When did Kaz and Michi arrive, how long were they unconscious for? When did the buses arrive? When did Toru actually begin his infiltration? It can all get jumbled up as to where people are, and where people are going. Right now, Hiro and Toru are in the bottom most level of Dome B, where they are going to trigger the turning off of the generator. Trey, who used his alias Troy when speaking to Nadia, is proceeding to retrieve Meredith [the sadistic blonde woman] and Amy [the girl who is currently looking after Norie]. Meanwhile, Michi [who was literally given the opportunity to do whatever she wanted because Trey really enjoys the chaos of things don't you think?], somehow finds Kaz and Kylie [and the sadly deceased Jack]. She says they need to hurry. Because the place is going to explode. But who do you think Michi is?
For the next chapter we have two very interesting parts: We have the events which take place in Dome B, [Toru, Hiro, Michi, Kaz, Kylie, Norie, Amy, Meredith, Trey, Nadia, and probably some other people I am totally forgetting about...>.<] and the events which take place in Dome A, [Dare, Lei, Rey, Sen and the lovable Maki!]. Sen mentioned in the previous chapter that the self destruct system had been tripped. Now remember, Dome A is underground, making escape not as easy as running out of the exit. There are also some other things to consider as well. Such as things like "Cylinder" and "Big K" these are set ups for the next arc, which will come after some afterward time, and hopefully everything will clear up...I don't know if this story makes very much sense. My bad habit of having characters appear is very strange. [Why was Trey in that security room before Toru arrived? Did that really happen? [reference: Secrets in Sedation]. So just understand that Trey likes Chaos. Is he really a dead boy? Well we all know he is a good actor...right? What am I even going on about? You know this is just the author trying to justify his own story. Were you surprised by Maki? Oh, oh! I'll give you a little hint about the next arc! Remember that chapter when Maki was in the school bathroom, and someone slipped her a note? [I believe it was in one of the connecting the dots chapters]. It said something like C#1. That is very crucial. :)
Signing off, this is Dark Ryan Smiling smiles smile... something...Keep reading. It's coming to the climax, though I must say this chapter wasn't as well written I didn't think, or it was rushed towards the end. Sorry that's late. From my point of view, I missed Saturday by two hours. :(
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