This is my first PE fic, so bare with me. No, this isn't an Aya
bashing fic, so no flames. I took a few liberties with the back-story, if
you don't like the sound of that, don't read. Further warning, original
characters, these three show up in a lot of my stories, again, if you don't
like, don't read.
P.S.- I don't Own Parasite Eve, don't shoot me.
No.9 picked himself up from the pile of debrites that had fallen on top of him. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he was certain that the 'little girl' was the one responsible for this.
"That bitch!" He screamed, pulling out his sword and lighting it, "When I get my hands on her! You hear me little girl?"
He stopped himself and considered his options. He could kill her, but would that really get him anywhere? She had taken everything that had ever mattered to him away and she needed to suffer. Then it dawned on him, the perfect revenge. He started off toward the place of his creation, he was going to have to prepare for this.
Aya is walking through Neo Ark, checking to make sure that everything is dead. No.9 could smell her, she was so close, he was going to enjoy this.
"'Breaker, breaker, this Coolboy22 calling for Hotasianmankiller, do you read?'" Pierce called over the channel, "What is your current situation?"
"Pierce, you are a nut job, you know that?"
"'Come on Aya, you've gotta talk trucker!'"
"Let's see if this gets through, if you don't stop it, I will take that radio of yours and shove it someplace the sun don't shine and I'm going to shove it so far up there that you'll never find it!"
"'Didn't get much sleep last night, did you?'"
"No," she mumbled, "Also, I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched."
No.9 rushed out then and slammed Aya against the wall.
"That's because you are!" he yelled, ripping the microphone off her and crushing it. "Payback time!"
He hoisted her up onto his shoulder and started walking. Aya tried to channel a blast of inferno but quickly grew dizzy from the effort.
"Go ahead! Kill me!" she yelled, trying to struggle free from his grip. "You won't have the satisfaction of hearing me beg for my life!"
"Oh, but my dear, I have no plans for killing you."
"Then what.?"
"You took my queen from me, now you're going to take her place."
"I'll never.!"
"You don't have a choice in the matter, little girl, I mean, my queen," he mocked.
"No matter what you do to me."
"Once I'm done with you, your so called friends won't want you back."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
No.9 throws her down onto the operating table and straps her in place.
"You just go on thinking that," he said, filling a syringe.
"Fuck you!"
"Is that an offer?"
"You wish!"
He shoved the needle into her thigh. Before she passed out, she hacked one and spit it in his face. Once she was out, he wiped himself off and began his work
"I'm telling you guys, I heard No.9's voice over the channel!" Pierce exclaimed.
"I think you've been drinking to much coffee again," Rupert said, trying to ignore the rowdy information officer.
"I haven't had even touched a drop yet today!"
Jodie noticed how withdrawn Kyle was.
"What's eatin' you?"
"I'm worried about Aya," he said with a sigh, "I don't know what Pierce heard over the radio, but it's not like Aya to go this long without checking in."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were also still feeling guilty about having shot her back there."
"It's that obvious, huh?" he asked, getting up and walking out of the room.
"I think you may have hit a nerve there, Jode," Rupert said, placing a hand on Jodie's shoulder.
Aya woke up, still on the table. She found herself wrapped in a soft, white sheet. She saw that No.9 had left a gun on the counter. She tried to get up and get it, only to fall to the floor. She couldn't feel anything past her mid-back. Sobbing, she dragged herself over and pulled down the gun. She stuck it in her mouth and started to squeeze the trigger. No.9 walked into the room then.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled, ripping the gun from her hands.
"What does it look like?" she asked, wiping her eyes.
"If you think that I'm just going to let you die."
"Why not? With what you've done to me, I'm better off dead!"
"Dear girl," he said, mockingly, "You're only half finished. I can assure you that whatever isn't working will be restored by the time you are completed." He laughed quietly to himself. "However, your body won't be able to take any more tonight."
He picked her up from the floor and carried her into the sleeping quarters, laying her on Yoshida's bunk. He wrapped the sheet more tightly around her shoulders and pulled the blankets up over her. He walked out of the room, turning out the light as he did so.
Aya woke up the next morning. She tried to sit up, but her efforts were reworded only with a splitting headache. She laid back down, lest her head actually split open. She noticed a mirror across the room from her bed. She looked herself over as best she could. Her face had been left untouched and human, though her tone was a bit uneven. She felt around her body. There were a few ridges that shouldn't have been there, but nothing to bad. No.9 walked into the room then.
"How are you this morning?" he asked, just a little to perky.
"Go to hell," she spat out bitterly.
He placed a cup of coffee down on the table next to her.
"What is that, poison?"
"Don't get your hopes up," he watches her glare at him for a moment. "You should get something in your system before you're finished," he said matter- of-factly before looking over at the mirror. "Should have had that removed."
"Not that I'd care," she said, leaning back slightly.
She tried to channel at least a blast of Plasma but the damn headache wouldn't allow her to concentrate. Instead, she threw the cup at No.9's face. She watched him clench his fists and mumble something to himself. He then seemed to regain his composer and lifted her from her place on the bed.
"We need to finish you today," he said in a low voice.
He plopped her down on the table in the operating room.
"What do you mean, finish me?"
She watches him hold up a metallic clamp a few inches from her face.
"Not much more then this," he said with a small laugh.
He sets it down next to her while filling another syringe. She looked down at it with disgust written all over her face.
"And just what is that thing for?" She spat out.
"You want to walk again? That will let you do so. Now hold still," he said, injecting Aya once again.
Kyle is sitting on the couch in his apartment, twisting and turning a small black box in his hand.
'Aya,' he thought to himself, 'What happened to you? You've never run into anything that you couldn't handle, and if you ever were to, you'd never hesitate to ask for help. Sure, we might not be much help, hell, we probably wouldn't be any help, but, you'd still let us try.'
He sighed and slumped back.
Aya stirs slightly from her medicated sleep. She realizes that she is not wearing the same clothes that she was before she blacked out.
"That bastard," she mumbled to herself.
"What was that, my dear?" No.9 asked, startling Aya.
She pushes herself to her feet.
"What's going on?"
"What do you think? You're complete," he said, fastening a gunblade to her belt.
She remained still while he draped a cloak across her shoulders. He then covered her face with a mask nearly identical to his own.
"Come," he said, half dragging her out of the room. "Your kingdom awaits!"
"Hey, Kyle!" Rupert calls after the man that was clearly in a hurry to leave. "Got a minute?"
Kyle turns around to face his friend.
"What?" he asks.
"Let me start by saying that I already know that you're planning on going in there to try and rescue Aya, and I know that you don't stand even the slightest chance if there was something that could have happened to her."
"So what do you want me to do?" Kyle demanded.
"I managed to get through to the White House, they weren't to happy to talk to me but they claim that they're sending in a few specialists for the situation. Though I have my doubts on these so called specialists and what help they could possibly do here."
"They were probably sent just to get us to shut up."
"Wouldn't surprise me a bit. But, please, just wait until these experts get here. At least if something happens to the two of you, we can blame it on whoever they've sent."
Aya is again sitting on the bed that she'd been given, staring at her reflection. The whole thing made her sick, but she really didn't have much choice other then to just ride it out. But the thing that was getting to her in the worst way was the damn mask. Try as she might, she couldn't pull it off.
"Shit!" she yelled, giving up.
She hears the door start to open.
"I hope you're decent!"
She grabs a magazine off the bunks' shelf and throws it at him, nailing the monkey-man in the face.
"Alright, I'll come back later."
"I'll give this new form one thing, he takes all of my abuse without so much as a word!" she announced to herself triumphantly. "But guys, please help," she added, looking at herself again, "Please recognize me!"
Kyle and Rupert looked at the three 'specialists' that the White House had sent them. First there was the woman named Ckat, who had already made it clear that she was the one in charge of the three. She was almost sickeningly pale and never seemed to take off her sunglasses. Then there was the only man among the three. They had heard the woman call him Andy. His behavior was the least threatening of the bunch, though his strange yellow eyes gave everyone the creeps. And then there was Miya; she looked more as if she belonged on the back of a motorcycle rather then with the bunch of them, hunting down creatures who's only purpose is to kill.
"Now, do you understand why we need your help? And more importantly, do you understand why we can't screw up on this?"
"Do chickens run even after you cut their heads off?" Ckat asked with every bit of sarcasm she could muster.
"I'm going to take that as a yes," said, unsure of what to make of the pale woman's remark.
"Take it however you want!" she snapped back.
"What is your problem!?" Kyle demanded.
"She's like this with everyone." Andy piped in.
"I don't need you to talk for me!" Ckat snapped, hitting the blond man square in the jaw.
"Listen, we don't need to have our own people killing each other before we can get the job done. If you must, then wait until after this is over with!"
"Don't tell me what to do, you bastard!"
There was a long silence between the two that was broken by the sound of a gunshot.
"Shit!" Kyle yelled, "What the hell did you do that for?" he demanded, cradling his injured foot.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I must need to get my hearing checked, I could have sworn that you said, 'oh I see that you've got a gun under your coat, I've never seen anything like it, why don't you show me how powerful it is by shooting my foot?'." Ckat spat back.
Kyle was lead off to the infirmary to take care of his foot.
"You're coming with me!" he yelled over his shoulder, "There is no way in hell I'm leaving you alone with anyone else!"
"Whatever floats your boat!" she called back. "Bastard."
Aya has finally come out of the sleeping quarters and has situated herself on the observation deck of Neo Ark. No.9 came up behind her silently.
"Why?" she whispered to herself.
"Something the matter?" he asked, feigning innocence.
"Is something the matter?!" she roared. "I was born a human and now I'm not one! And you want to know if something's the matter?!"
The podium next to her exploded into fire.
'Damn it,' she thought, 'Still can't aim!'
"Were you trying to light me on fire, perhaps?"
"What do you think?"
"It doesn't show a lot of gratitude to try and kill your king."
"Go to hell!" she shouted as a bolt of lightening struck a plant a little ways behind her aggressor.
"I'll be leaving then," he said his voice barely hiding his growing fear. "By the way, if I were you, I'd just give up on ever going back to those so- called friends of yours."
"Why?"
"Because, I know from personal experience that humans have this rather bad habit of only trusting their eyes, and so now that you no longer look like the woman they knew, you no longer are the woman they knew. Where as here," he said, capturing her chin in his hand, "You are beautiful."
"Fuck off!" she said, almost sounding calm.
"Very well," he said, mocking her once more.
He walked off, leaving Aya to herself.
Kyle has had his foot taken care and is know trying to speak with particular member of their team. He found Ckat leaning against her car, cleaning her gun and still wearing those sunglasses.
"Do you ever take those off?"
"Do you want me to shoot you again?" she asked, looking down the barrel of her gun at him.
"No," he said, backing away slightly.
"Well, there's your answer."
"Are you always like this?"
She allowed her sunglasses to slide down her nose just enough for her eyes to peak over. There, staring back at Kyle, were a pair of ruby-red gemstones with black slits rather then circles.
"What do you think?"
"I think that you have very interesting contacts. Where'd you get them?"
"They aren't contacts," she said, pushing her glasses back up her nose, "they're my eyes. They're why I wear these things all the time."
"People say things?"
"I don't wear things to keep people from talking, I wear them so I don't go blind driving at night."
"So, we could send you into an area without any substancle source of light and."
"I'd be in and out before they even figure out that I was in there to begin with."
"Nice!"
"Tell me about it!"
"So, can you go very long without shooting someone, say, in the foot?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
"If that someone can go very long without pissing me off."
"In other words, 'stay out of my way and you'll get to stay healthy,' am I right?"
"Yes you are!"
"Well then I'm going to hate tell you this, but."
"You supervisor has us working together, doesn't he?"
"Yep."
"I'd have thought as much. Looks like your threat went through after all. Well, shouldn't we get going?" she added, holstering her gun and pushing off from her car.
"I guess," Kyle said, wondering for a moment what this woman was on.
"We hauling out now?"
"I suppose so."
"Alright people! Get up off your lazy asses and get a move on!" she yelled at the people sitting, waiting for the go signal.
They watch with a tiny hint of amusement as they scrambled to get themselves ready.
Inside the shelter, Kyle has sent everyone out into their respective sections.
"So, this Aya chick, she's something special to you, isn't she?"
"Yes, very much so."
"Don't worry," she said, smacking Kyle in the back, "We'll get her back."
"I hope that you're right," he said looking away and forlorn.
"Then what's that look for?"
"Tomorrow was supposed to be a sort of an anniversary for us, and, well, I was going to."
"Say no more my friend!"
She stopped suddenly.
"What is it?" Kyle asked, whispering.
"Listen!" Ckat hissed.
"I don't hear anything."
"We're being followed!"
She swung around and drew her gun. A Rook GOLEM stepped around the corner. Ckat fired of three rounds. The first cracked the thing's mask, the second shattered it, and the third splattered its head.
"One down," she mumbled to herself, checking her clip.
"I gotta get me one of those!" Kyle gasped, quite shocked by the whole spectacle.
"Good luck. You'll have to talk to Miya, she's the one with the connections," she huffed, content for the moment with the number of bullets remaining.
Aya perked up. She hadn't realized how much her senses had been heightened. She could hear Rupert, and she could smell him too. She took off running out of the room.
Rupert and Andy are finishing off a Bishop GOLEM in the operating room. They don't see or hear Aya approach.
"That wasn't so bad," Andy said, wiping off the small sword that he carried.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Rupert demanded.
"What?"
"Going after that thing with only a sword! Are you nuts?!"
"Just never got used to holding a gun," Andy said, almost apologetically.
"What the.?!" Rupert spat out, drawing his gun.
"Huh?" Andy asked, turning around with a confused look on his face.
They both stare a moment at the white GOLEM standing before them. It was very different from any of the other ones they had already dealt with. In fact, the only reason they could tell that she was a GOLEM was that she was wearing a gas mask like the rest of them and she had the grey GOLEM insignia on her shoulder.
"Don't come any closer!" Rupert ordered at the white clad creator.
"No, wait!" Aya cried behind the mask.
"Are they suppose to talk?" Andy asked, again confused.
"The only one that has been able to before was No.9. But these things are always coming up with something new!"
"No, please! You have to."
Andy took a swing at her before Rupert emptied his gun into her body. She instinctively fell to the ground and remained perfectly still. Rupert was about to finish her off when they were attacked by a Knight GOLEM. No.9 slipped in then and grabbed Aya before disappearing again.
"Just great!" Rupert yelled.
"So, kiddo, I've got a question for you," Miya called ahead of herself.
"What?" Eve asked, turning around.
"How come they brought you along and not glasses?"
"Because, they think that I may be able to sense her."
"Why would they think that?"
"First off, she was able to sense my presence. And second, I.am her."
"But, if we're here looking for Aya and you're Aya, then why are we here in the first place?"
"Because, she is the original and I'm just, just a copy," Eve said, starting to sniffle.
"A copy? Wait, you mean like a clone?"
Eve nods her head slowly.
"Y-yes, hick. The GOLEMS, sniff, kept me as their queen. If No.9 hurt her, it's my fault because she freed me. So I suppose that I owe it to her to help you find her."
No.9 came into the white GOLEM slung over his shoulder.
"I can walk, you realize," Aya hissed.
"You're certain?"
"Yes, now put me down!"
He sets her down on her feet. She turns approaches the stunned blonde duo.
"What do you want?" Miya demanded, putting herself between Eve and Aya.
"Leave, now!"
"And what if we don't trust you enough not to attack us while our backs are turned to you?"
"A proper queen is always good to her word," Aya said, giving a small bow.
The two girls slowly made their way around the white GOLEM and toward the elevator. Aya stopped Eve on her way past.
"Just remember this, why should they have to settle for a cheap knock off when they can have the original?"
Eve turns tail and runs away.
"You really want to let them go?" No.9 asked, appearing behind Aya again.
"I'm not going to let you hurt them, you bastard."
She leaves and heads for the sleeping quarters.
Aya finds Kyle and Ckat outside of the sleeping quarters. Her hand quickly grabbed hold of the hilt of her gunblade, not wishing to have a repeat of her meeting with Rupert.
"What do you want?" she said, drawing their attention.
"We came here looking for a friend of ours," Kyle said, aiming at the sudden threat.
"Well, like I told your friends, get out of here before I'm no longer in such a good mood.
"Where's Aya?!" Kyle demanded.
"Was she a blonde?"
"She is, though I fail to see what business it is of yours," Ckat piped in, also taking aim.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but your friend is dead."
"What?!" Kyle spat out.
"You're the one who killed her, aren't you?!" Ckat yelled.
"No, I am not. I did, however, stay with her until she was gone."
"You-you're lying!" Kyle stammered, fighting back tears.
He runs at her, trying to shoot. She whipped out her gunblade and smacked him with the flat side of it. He was sent flying backwards into Ckat. The box he had been carrying fell out of his pocket and split open on the floor. Its contents, a small diamond ring, fell out and rolled around until Aya stepped on it.
"I'm not telling you again, get out of here!"
"Come on! While we have the chance!" Ckat yelled, starting to drag Kyle across the floor.
Kyle fought against Ckat to no avail. She managed to drag him past the white GOLEM and halfway to the elevator hall.
"You're lying! I know you are! There is no way that she would let one of you monsters anywhere near her if she were hurt!"
"I never said that she allowed me to, I only said that I stayed with her until death claimed her."
"No!"
"Move it or loose it!"
"I'm sorry to have had to be the one who told you this."
Ckat finally got fed up with Kyle's refusal to move of his own accord and slung him ever her shoulders in a firemen's carry before taking off running as fast as she could. Once they were gone, Aya picked up the ring and looked at it.
"To think," she said, putting it in her pocket, "If I hadn't taken this mission, I could've had a normal, traditional, life. Looks like that's not happening anytime soon."
She walked into the sleeping quarters and found No.9 there waiting for her. She approached him, intent on venting her frustration on its cause.
"Hello, Aya," he said in a soft yet still mocking tone.
The urge to fight him suddenly left her. She sat down on the bunk nearest her and cradled her head in her hands.
"Shut-up! My name is Lillum! Aya seems to be dead right now, doesn't she?"
"So, you've finally accepted your fait," he sneered, sitting down next to her.
"Hardly! I'm just willing to put up with this for now. Just until I am able to have my human form back!"
"You assume that it's even possible."
"You assume that it's not."
"Witty thing you've turned into."
"I've always had wit, you've just always been to busy trying to kill me to notice. Now do me a favor."
"What does my queen wish of me?" he asked with even more sarcasm then before.
"For you to leave me alone."
"Very well," he said, getting back up.
"One last thing."
"Yes?"
"Understand this, once I'm human again, you will find this pretty blade that you've given me pushed through your chest and sticking out the other side. You got it?"
"But of coarse, my queen," he said, mocking her once again.
He walked out of the room then, finally giving Aya a little peace.
"Aya's dead?! You guys have got to be shitting me!" Pierce spat. "You're taking the word of a newly formed GOLEM solder without any visual confirmation of your own?"
"We didn't have time to confirm this fact!" Ckat snapped at the blond man in sunglasses. "She broad-sided Kyle and I had to bring him back here to make sure that he wasn't suffering from internal bleeding! I'm sorry if the health and safety of a team-member that I know to be alive is more important to me then that of one that of one that we aren't sure of!"
"You guys ran into that white GOLEM too?" Rupert asked.
"She's a queen," Miya said suddenly from her corner.
"What?" Pierce asked, completely confused.
"When I asked her how we could be sure that she wouldn't attack us when our backs were turned, she said, 'A queen is always good for her word.' She's a Queen GOLEM."
"Just what we need, the whole, freakin', chess set!" Pierce groaned before looking around in confusion. "Where'd Ms. Enders go?"
"Who?" Kyle asked.
"Ckat, you moron!" Andy snapped. "You worked directly with her and you didn't even get her sir name?! You people are hopeless."
"I was to busy trying to keep from getting killed!"
"Don't worry, she has a habit of disappearing when there's something she needs to do," Miya said.
"What could be more important then this debriefing?!"
"Rank differently with her."
Ckat found who she had been looking for. Eve was curled up on an otherwise empty cot. Ckat shrugged off her coat used it to cover the half-asleep teenager.
"What do you really want here?" Eve asked, propping herself up on an elbow.
"Why do you think I have an ulterior motive?"
"The White House withdrew their forces the moment they thought it was safe to do so. I doubt that they would have sent you unless you were highly expendable."
"Quite the opposite really," Ckat interjected, "We're perhaps their most valuable asset, we just happen to be in the area and volunteered for the job."
"You threatened to spill your guts on the country to the highest foreign bidder, didn't you?" Eve asked cynically.
"You better believe it!" Ckat responded with a smirk.
She sits down next to Eve's legs.
"What do you want?"
Ckat took off her sunglasses for the second time that day. Eve somehow found comfort in those eyes.
"Something's wrong. What is it?"
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Do stars shine at night?"
"When we were being chased off by the white GOLEM, she stopped me for a moment. She asked me why they, Neo Ark, should have settled for a cheap knock off when they could have had the original. I wouldn't call myself a cheap knock off, but I am a copy. I'm a copy of Aya. The only way she would have been able to say something like that is if she was Aya!"
Ckat gets up from her seat.
"I can only imagine what could have happened to her to make her talk like that. Don't worry though, your secret is safe with me. Good night, sweet child. I'll get my coat back tomorrow. Sleep well.
She started to walk out of the room, replacing her sunglasses as she went. Eve settled in.
"Where were you headed, anyway?"
"Where else? Vegas!" Ckat answered with a grin.
Eve falls asleep; praying, unknown to her, with Aya, that this was all a horrible nightmare.
P.S.- I don't Own Parasite Eve, don't shoot me.
No.9 picked himself up from the pile of debrites that had fallen on top of him. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he was certain that the 'little girl' was the one responsible for this.
"That bitch!" He screamed, pulling out his sword and lighting it, "When I get my hands on her! You hear me little girl?"
He stopped himself and considered his options. He could kill her, but would that really get him anywhere? She had taken everything that had ever mattered to him away and she needed to suffer. Then it dawned on him, the perfect revenge. He started off toward the place of his creation, he was going to have to prepare for this.
Aya is walking through Neo Ark, checking to make sure that everything is dead. No.9 could smell her, she was so close, he was going to enjoy this.
"'Breaker, breaker, this Coolboy22 calling for Hotasianmankiller, do you read?'" Pierce called over the channel, "What is your current situation?"
"Pierce, you are a nut job, you know that?"
"'Come on Aya, you've gotta talk trucker!'"
"Let's see if this gets through, if you don't stop it, I will take that radio of yours and shove it someplace the sun don't shine and I'm going to shove it so far up there that you'll never find it!"
"'Didn't get much sleep last night, did you?'"
"No," she mumbled, "Also, I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched."
No.9 rushed out then and slammed Aya against the wall.
"That's because you are!" he yelled, ripping the microphone off her and crushing it. "Payback time!"
He hoisted her up onto his shoulder and started walking. Aya tried to channel a blast of inferno but quickly grew dizzy from the effort.
"Go ahead! Kill me!" she yelled, trying to struggle free from his grip. "You won't have the satisfaction of hearing me beg for my life!"
"Oh, but my dear, I have no plans for killing you."
"Then what.?"
"You took my queen from me, now you're going to take her place."
"I'll never.!"
"You don't have a choice in the matter, little girl, I mean, my queen," he mocked.
"No matter what you do to me."
"Once I'm done with you, your so called friends won't want you back."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
No.9 throws her down onto the operating table and straps her in place.
"You just go on thinking that," he said, filling a syringe.
"Fuck you!"
"Is that an offer?"
"You wish!"
He shoved the needle into her thigh. Before she passed out, she hacked one and spit it in his face. Once she was out, he wiped himself off and began his work
"I'm telling you guys, I heard No.9's voice over the channel!" Pierce exclaimed.
"I think you've been drinking to much coffee again," Rupert said, trying to ignore the rowdy information officer.
"I haven't had even touched a drop yet today!"
Jodie noticed how withdrawn Kyle was.
"What's eatin' you?"
"I'm worried about Aya," he said with a sigh, "I don't know what Pierce heard over the radio, but it's not like Aya to go this long without checking in."
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were also still feeling guilty about having shot her back there."
"It's that obvious, huh?" he asked, getting up and walking out of the room.
"I think you may have hit a nerve there, Jode," Rupert said, placing a hand on Jodie's shoulder.
Aya woke up, still on the table. She found herself wrapped in a soft, white sheet. She saw that No.9 had left a gun on the counter. She tried to get up and get it, only to fall to the floor. She couldn't feel anything past her mid-back. Sobbing, she dragged herself over and pulled down the gun. She stuck it in her mouth and started to squeeze the trigger. No.9 walked into the room then.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled, ripping the gun from her hands.
"What does it look like?" she asked, wiping her eyes.
"If you think that I'm just going to let you die."
"Why not? With what you've done to me, I'm better off dead!"
"Dear girl," he said, mockingly, "You're only half finished. I can assure you that whatever isn't working will be restored by the time you are completed." He laughed quietly to himself. "However, your body won't be able to take any more tonight."
He picked her up from the floor and carried her into the sleeping quarters, laying her on Yoshida's bunk. He wrapped the sheet more tightly around her shoulders and pulled the blankets up over her. He walked out of the room, turning out the light as he did so.
Aya woke up the next morning. She tried to sit up, but her efforts were reworded only with a splitting headache. She laid back down, lest her head actually split open. She noticed a mirror across the room from her bed. She looked herself over as best she could. Her face had been left untouched and human, though her tone was a bit uneven. She felt around her body. There were a few ridges that shouldn't have been there, but nothing to bad. No.9 walked into the room then.
"How are you this morning?" he asked, just a little to perky.
"Go to hell," she spat out bitterly.
He placed a cup of coffee down on the table next to her.
"What is that, poison?"
"Don't get your hopes up," he watches her glare at him for a moment. "You should get something in your system before you're finished," he said matter- of-factly before looking over at the mirror. "Should have had that removed."
"Not that I'd care," she said, leaning back slightly.
She tried to channel at least a blast of Plasma but the damn headache wouldn't allow her to concentrate. Instead, she threw the cup at No.9's face. She watched him clench his fists and mumble something to himself. He then seemed to regain his composer and lifted her from her place on the bed.
"We need to finish you today," he said in a low voice.
He plopped her down on the table in the operating room.
"What do you mean, finish me?"
She watches him hold up a metallic clamp a few inches from her face.
"Not much more then this," he said with a small laugh.
He sets it down next to her while filling another syringe. She looked down at it with disgust written all over her face.
"And just what is that thing for?" She spat out.
"You want to walk again? That will let you do so. Now hold still," he said, injecting Aya once again.
Kyle is sitting on the couch in his apartment, twisting and turning a small black box in his hand.
'Aya,' he thought to himself, 'What happened to you? You've never run into anything that you couldn't handle, and if you ever were to, you'd never hesitate to ask for help. Sure, we might not be much help, hell, we probably wouldn't be any help, but, you'd still let us try.'
He sighed and slumped back.
Aya stirs slightly from her medicated sleep. She realizes that she is not wearing the same clothes that she was before she blacked out.
"That bastard," she mumbled to herself.
"What was that, my dear?" No.9 asked, startling Aya.
She pushes herself to her feet.
"What's going on?"
"What do you think? You're complete," he said, fastening a gunblade to her belt.
She remained still while he draped a cloak across her shoulders. He then covered her face with a mask nearly identical to his own.
"Come," he said, half dragging her out of the room. "Your kingdom awaits!"
"Hey, Kyle!" Rupert calls after the man that was clearly in a hurry to leave. "Got a minute?"
Kyle turns around to face his friend.
"What?" he asks.
"Let me start by saying that I already know that you're planning on going in there to try and rescue Aya, and I know that you don't stand even the slightest chance if there was something that could have happened to her."
"So what do you want me to do?" Kyle demanded.
"I managed to get through to the White House, they weren't to happy to talk to me but they claim that they're sending in a few specialists for the situation. Though I have my doubts on these so called specialists and what help they could possibly do here."
"They were probably sent just to get us to shut up."
"Wouldn't surprise me a bit. But, please, just wait until these experts get here. At least if something happens to the two of you, we can blame it on whoever they've sent."
Aya is again sitting on the bed that she'd been given, staring at her reflection. The whole thing made her sick, but she really didn't have much choice other then to just ride it out. But the thing that was getting to her in the worst way was the damn mask. Try as she might, she couldn't pull it off.
"Shit!" she yelled, giving up.
She hears the door start to open.
"I hope you're decent!"
She grabs a magazine off the bunks' shelf and throws it at him, nailing the monkey-man in the face.
"Alright, I'll come back later."
"I'll give this new form one thing, he takes all of my abuse without so much as a word!" she announced to herself triumphantly. "But guys, please help," she added, looking at herself again, "Please recognize me!"
Kyle and Rupert looked at the three 'specialists' that the White House had sent them. First there was the woman named Ckat, who had already made it clear that she was the one in charge of the three. She was almost sickeningly pale and never seemed to take off her sunglasses. Then there was the only man among the three. They had heard the woman call him Andy. His behavior was the least threatening of the bunch, though his strange yellow eyes gave everyone the creeps. And then there was Miya; she looked more as if she belonged on the back of a motorcycle rather then with the bunch of them, hunting down creatures who's only purpose is to kill.
"Now, do you understand why we need your help? And more importantly, do you understand why we can't screw up on this?"
"Do chickens run even after you cut their heads off?" Ckat asked with every bit of sarcasm she could muster.
"I'm going to take that as a yes," said, unsure of what to make of the pale woman's remark.
"Take it however you want!" she snapped back.
"What is your problem!?" Kyle demanded.
"She's like this with everyone." Andy piped in.
"I don't need you to talk for me!" Ckat snapped, hitting the blond man square in the jaw.
"Listen, we don't need to have our own people killing each other before we can get the job done. If you must, then wait until after this is over with!"
"Don't tell me what to do, you bastard!"
There was a long silence between the two that was broken by the sound of a gunshot.
"Shit!" Kyle yelled, "What the hell did you do that for?" he demanded, cradling his injured foot.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I must need to get my hearing checked, I could have sworn that you said, 'oh I see that you've got a gun under your coat, I've never seen anything like it, why don't you show me how powerful it is by shooting my foot?'." Ckat spat back.
Kyle was lead off to the infirmary to take care of his foot.
"You're coming with me!" he yelled over his shoulder, "There is no way in hell I'm leaving you alone with anyone else!"
"Whatever floats your boat!" she called back. "Bastard."
Aya has finally come out of the sleeping quarters and has situated herself on the observation deck of Neo Ark. No.9 came up behind her silently.
"Why?" she whispered to herself.
"Something the matter?" he asked, feigning innocence.
"Is something the matter?!" she roared. "I was born a human and now I'm not one! And you want to know if something's the matter?!"
The podium next to her exploded into fire.
'Damn it,' she thought, 'Still can't aim!'
"Were you trying to light me on fire, perhaps?"
"What do you think?"
"It doesn't show a lot of gratitude to try and kill your king."
"Go to hell!" she shouted as a bolt of lightening struck a plant a little ways behind her aggressor.
"I'll be leaving then," he said his voice barely hiding his growing fear. "By the way, if I were you, I'd just give up on ever going back to those so- called friends of yours."
"Why?"
"Because, I know from personal experience that humans have this rather bad habit of only trusting their eyes, and so now that you no longer look like the woman they knew, you no longer are the woman they knew. Where as here," he said, capturing her chin in his hand, "You are beautiful."
"Fuck off!" she said, almost sounding calm.
"Very well," he said, mocking her once more.
He walked off, leaving Aya to herself.
Kyle has had his foot taken care and is know trying to speak with particular member of their team. He found Ckat leaning against her car, cleaning her gun and still wearing those sunglasses.
"Do you ever take those off?"
"Do you want me to shoot you again?" she asked, looking down the barrel of her gun at him.
"No," he said, backing away slightly.
"Well, there's your answer."
"Are you always like this?"
She allowed her sunglasses to slide down her nose just enough for her eyes to peak over. There, staring back at Kyle, were a pair of ruby-red gemstones with black slits rather then circles.
"What do you think?"
"I think that you have very interesting contacts. Where'd you get them?"
"They aren't contacts," she said, pushing her glasses back up her nose, "they're my eyes. They're why I wear these things all the time."
"People say things?"
"I don't wear things to keep people from talking, I wear them so I don't go blind driving at night."
"So, we could send you into an area without any substancle source of light and."
"I'd be in and out before they even figure out that I was in there to begin with."
"Nice!"
"Tell me about it!"
"So, can you go very long without shooting someone, say, in the foot?"
"That depends."
"On what?"
"If that someone can go very long without pissing me off."
"In other words, 'stay out of my way and you'll get to stay healthy,' am I right?"
"Yes you are!"
"Well then I'm going to hate tell you this, but."
"You supervisor has us working together, doesn't he?"
"Yep."
"I'd have thought as much. Looks like your threat went through after all. Well, shouldn't we get going?" she added, holstering her gun and pushing off from her car.
"I guess," Kyle said, wondering for a moment what this woman was on.
"We hauling out now?"
"I suppose so."
"Alright people! Get up off your lazy asses and get a move on!" she yelled at the people sitting, waiting for the go signal.
They watch with a tiny hint of amusement as they scrambled to get themselves ready.
Inside the shelter, Kyle has sent everyone out into their respective sections.
"So, this Aya chick, she's something special to you, isn't she?"
"Yes, very much so."
"Don't worry," she said, smacking Kyle in the back, "We'll get her back."
"I hope that you're right," he said looking away and forlorn.
"Then what's that look for?"
"Tomorrow was supposed to be a sort of an anniversary for us, and, well, I was going to."
"Say no more my friend!"
She stopped suddenly.
"What is it?" Kyle asked, whispering.
"Listen!" Ckat hissed.
"I don't hear anything."
"We're being followed!"
She swung around and drew her gun. A Rook GOLEM stepped around the corner. Ckat fired of three rounds. The first cracked the thing's mask, the second shattered it, and the third splattered its head.
"One down," she mumbled to herself, checking her clip.
"I gotta get me one of those!" Kyle gasped, quite shocked by the whole spectacle.
"Good luck. You'll have to talk to Miya, she's the one with the connections," she huffed, content for the moment with the number of bullets remaining.
Aya perked up. She hadn't realized how much her senses had been heightened. She could hear Rupert, and she could smell him too. She took off running out of the room.
Rupert and Andy are finishing off a Bishop GOLEM in the operating room. They don't see or hear Aya approach.
"That wasn't so bad," Andy said, wiping off the small sword that he carried.
"What the hell were you thinking?!" Rupert demanded.
"What?"
"Going after that thing with only a sword! Are you nuts?!"
"Just never got used to holding a gun," Andy said, almost apologetically.
"What the.?!" Rupert spat out, drawing his gun.
"Huh?" Andy asked, turning around with a confused look on his face.
They both stare a moment at the white GOLEM standing before them. It was very different from any of the other ones they had already dealt with. In fact, the only reason they could tell that she was a GOLEM was that she was wearing a gas mask like the rest of them and she had the grey GOLEM insignia on her shoulder.
"Don't come any closer!" Rupert ordered at the white clad creator.
"No, wait!" Aya cried behind the mask.
"Are they suppose to talk?" Andy asked, again confused.
"The only one that has been able to before was No.9. But these things are always coming up with something new!"
"No, please! You have to."
Andy took a swing at her before Rupert emptied his gun into her body. She instinctively fell to the ground and remained perfectly still. Rupert was about to finish her off when they were attacked by a Knight GOLEM. No.9 slipped in then and grabbed Aya before disappearing again.
"Just great!" Rupert yelled.
"So, kiddo, I've got a question for you," Miya called ahead of herself.
"What?" Eve asked, turning around.
"How come they brought you along and not glasses?"
"Because, they think that I may be able to sense her."
"Why would they think that?"
"First off, she was able to sense my presence. And second, I.am her."
"But, if we're here looking for Aya and you're Aya, then why are we here in the first place?"
"Because, she is the original and I'm just, just a copy," Eve said, starting to sniffle.
"A copy? Wait, you mean like a clone?"
Eve nods her head slowly.
"Y-yes, hick. The GOLEMS, sniff, kept me as their queen. If No.9 hurt her, it's my fault because she freed me. So I suppose that I owe it to her to help you find her."
No.9 came into the white GOLEM slung over his shoulder.
"I can walk, you realize," Aya hissed.
"You're certain?"
"Yes, now put me down!"
He sets her down on her feet. She turns approaches the stunned blonde duo.
"What do you want?" Miya demanded, putting herself between Eve and Aya.
"Leave, now!"
"And what if we don't trust you enough not to attack us while our backs are turned to you?"
"A proper queen is always good to her word," Aya said, giving a small bow.
The two girls slowly made their way around the white GOLEM and toward the elevator. Aya stopped Eve on her way past.
"Just remember this, why should they have to settle for a cheap knock off when they can have the original?"
Eve turns tail and runs away.
"You really want to let them go?" No.9 asked, appearing behind Aya again.
"I'm not going to let you hurt them, you bastard."
She leaves and heads for the sleeping quarters.
Aya finds Kyle and Ckat outside of the sleeping quarters. Her hand quickly grabbed hold of the hilt of her gunblade, not wishing to have a repeat of her meeting with Rupert.
"What do you want?" she said, drawing their attention.
"We came here looking for a friend of ours," Kyle said, aiming at the sudden threat.
"Well, like I told your friends, get out of here before I'm no longer in such a good mood.
"Where's Aya?!" Kyle demanded.
"Was she a blonde?"
"She is, though I fail to see what business it is of yours," Ckat piped in, also taking aim.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but your friend is dead."
"What?!" Kyle spat out.
"You're the one who killed her, aren't you?!" Ckat yelled.
"No, I am not. I did, however, stay with her until she was gone."
"You-you're lying!" Kyle stammered, fighting back tears.
He runs at her, trying to shoot. She whipped out her gunblade and smacked him with the flat side of it. He was sent flying backwards into Ckat. The box he had been carrying fell out of his pocket and split open on the floor. Its contents, a small diamond ring, fell out and rolled around until Aya stepped on it.
"I'm not telling you again, get out of here!"
"Come on! While we have the chance!" Ckat yelled, starting to drag Kyle across the floor.
Kyle fought against Ckat to no avail. She managed to drag him past the white GOLEM and halfway to the elevator hall.
"You're lying! I know you are! There is no way that she would let one of you monsters anywhere near her if she were hurt!"
"I never said that she allowed me to, I only said that I stayed with her until death claimed her."
"No!"
"Move it or loose it!"
"I'm sorry to have had to be the one who told you this."
Ckat finally got fed up with Kyle's refusal to move of his own accord and slung him ever her shoulders in a firemen's carry before taking off running as fast as she could. Once they were gone, Aya picked up the ring and looked at it.
"To think," she said, putting it in her pocket, "If I hadn't taken this mission, I could've had a normal, traditional, life. Looks like that's not happening anytime soon."
She walked into the sleeping quarters and found No.9 there waiting for her. She approached him, intent on venting her frustration on its cause.
"Hello, Aya," he said in a soft yet still mocking tone.
The urge to fight him suddenly left her. She sat down on the bunk nearest her and cradled her head in her hands.
"Shut-up! My name is Lillum! Aya seems to be dead right now, doesn't she?"
"So, you've finally accepted your fait," he sneered, sitting down next to her.
"Hardly! I'm just willing to put up with this for now. Just until I am able to have my human form back!"
"You assume that it's even possible."
"You assume that it's not."
"Witty thing you've turned into."
"I've always had wit, you've just always been to busy trying to kill me to notice. Now do me a favor."
"What does my queen wish of me?" he asked with even more sarcasm then before.
"For you to leave me alone."
"Very well," he said, getting back up.
"One last thing."
"Yes?"
"Understand this, once I'm human again, you will find this pretty blade that you've given me pushed through your chest and sticking out the other side. You got it?"
"But of coarse, my queen," he said, mocking her once again.
He walked out of the room then, finally giving Aya a little peace.
"Aya's dead?! You guys have got to be shitting me!" Pierce spat. "You're taking the word of a newly formed GOLEM solder without any visual confirmation of your own?"
"We didn't have time to confirm this fact!" Ckat snapped at the blond man in sunglasses. "She broad-sided Kyle and I had to bring him back here to make sure that he wasn't suffering from internal bleeding! I'm sorry if the health and safety of a team-member that I know to be alive is more important to me then that of one that of one that we aren't sure of!"
"You guys ran into that white GOLEM too?" Rupert asked.
"She's a queen," Miya said suddenly from her corner.
"What?" Pierce asked, completely confused.
"When I asked her how we could be sure that she wouldn't attack us when our backs were turned, she said, 'A queen is always good for her word.' She's a Queen GOLEM."
"Just what we need, the whole, freakin', chess set!" Pierce groaned before looking around in confusion. "Where'd Ms. Enders go?"
"Who?" Kyle asked.
"Ckat, you moron!" Andy snapped. "You worked directly with her and you didn't even get her sir name?! You people are hopeless."
"I was to busy trying to keep from getting killed!"
"Don't worry, she has a habit of disappearing when there's something she needs to do," Miya said.
"What could be more important then this debriefing?!"
"Rank differently with her."
Ckat found who she had been looking for. Eve was curled up on an otherwise empty cot. Ckat shrugged off her coat used it to cover the half-asleep teenager.
"What do you really want here?" Eve asked, propping herself up on an elbow.
"Why do you think I have an ulterior motive?"
"The White House withdrew their forces the moment they thought it was safe to do so. I doubt that they would have sent you unless you were highly expendable."
"Quite the opposite really," Ckat interjected, "We're perhaps their most valuable asset, we just happen to be in the area and volunteered for the job."
"You threatened to spill your guts on the country to the highest foreign bidder, didn't you?" Eve asked cynically.
"You better believe it!" Ckat responded with a smirk.
She sits down next to Eve's legs.
"What do you want?"
Ckat took off her sunglasses for the second time that day. Eve somehow found comfort in those eyes.
"Something's wrong. What is it?"
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Do stars shine at night?"
"When we were being chased off by the white GOLEM, she stopped me for a moment. She asked me why they, Neo Ark, should have settled for a cheap knock off when they could have had the original. I wouldn't call myself a cheap knock off, but I am a copy. I'm a copy of Aya. The only way she would have been able to say something like that is if she was Aya!"
Ckat gets up from her seat.
"I can only imagine what could have happened to her to make her talk like that. Don't worry though, your secret is safe with me. Good night, sweet child. I'll get my coat back tomorrow. Sleep well.
She started to walk out of the room, replacing her sunglasses as she went. Eve settled in.
"Where were you headed, anyway?"
"Where else? Vegas!" Ckat answered with a grin.
Eve falls asleep; praying, unknown to her, with Aya, that this was all a horrible nightmare.