Somewhere in Afghanistan.
In the black of night, a lone military jeep drove along the sand. The underside of the jeep filthy due to the dust, and the colour of the vehicle the same as that of the sand.
People were hard to find out in these parts of Afghanistan, let alone military-grade vehicles. All that was out here was an obscure science building, and even then the only people who knew about it were the ones who worked there.
This jeep just so happened to be driving towards this building. Inside said jeep was a small covert fireteam of special-ops soldiers, and the driver. Their military gear was all black, and their padding and armour were covered in a wide assortment of gadgets and military hardware.
"So, boss!" said a Latino man, who was absent mindedly chewing a piece of gum. "Run through this op for me, one more time!" He sported a shit eating grin as he held up a finger to emphasize 'one.'
"Even though you're making it insultingly obvious that you're trying to put a bug up my ass Menendez, I'll go through it again. Real slow this time." The commanding officer of this fireteam, Sgt. Paul Obtenga, was an African-American man with a muscular physique. "Fireteam Anubis! Listen up! I'm going through the game plan one more time! Menendez!"
"My ears are open."
"Tillman!"
"I hear ya, Sarge!" Alicia Tillman, a girl of German descent responded.
"Boyens!"
There was no response.
"BOYENS!" The Sergeant repeated.
The silence remained.
"DAVID. BOYENS!" The Sergeant bellowed.
David Boyens jumped in his seat, and took off his headphones. "Sorry, Sergeant."
David Marshall Boyens was a white, Canadian man who looked unremarkable in most aspects. His face was plain, with his body having an average build. In brutal honesty, he just looked like a guy someone would find walking down the street. He didn't exactly scream "Covert Mercenary."
The usage of military rankings in a small group of mercenaries would have seemed odd to anyone else. However, the four people in the jeep were all ex-army. Top of their forces from their countries. It seemed more natural for them to give themselves rankings according to what they had in the military.
"What the hell are you doin', Boyens?" The Sergeant asked.
Tillman, who was sitting beside David, gave him a slug on the shoulder. "Probably listening to Phil Collins or something!"
"What's it to you?" David narrowed his eyes at the girl.
"Anyways!" Obtenga stood up, putting his hand on the roof of the jeep for support. "We have been assigned by our higher ups to infiltrate this science facility, and retrieve research and data that may be of value. I haven't been told exactly what this data is from, or for. I just know what to look for."
"Look, Sarge." Menendez put his hand up, imitating an elementary school student. "You still haven't told us what's so important about this place we're going to."
"The briefing I received said that there's reason to suspect that this facility is linked to the Kakuzawa Institute."
Menendez's eyes widened. "You mean that place where those weird horned girls come from."
David glared at Menendez from across the jeep. "They're called Diclonius."
"Whatever they're called."
The Sergeant cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. "Now, I'm not at liberty to discuss who assigned us to this and why they need this data, but I can say that this is black ops. Not a peep of this operation, or anything you see inside the facility to anyone. There's a lot of underground, icky shit that's coming with this. Mum's the word."
"Yes sir." the soldier's replied.
"Now, we should be nearing our stop. When we stop, we exit this jeep and carry out the rest of the way on foot. The cover of night should prevent us from being spotted by the security of the building." As the Sergeant said this, David then draped a balaclava around the lower half of his face. The balaclava was grey, with a large row of sharp teeth printed on the front.
"Aw." Menendez whined. "You know I hate walking, Sarge."
"Keep that bitching in check, Menendez, or you'll be flying to the facility after I boot your ass out of this jeep."
Everyone except Menendez chuckled at the Sergeant's remark.
Their laughter was cut short as the jeep jolted to a sudden stop, causing the Seargent to stumble.
"Hanson! Why have we stopped?"
A. Hanson, the jeep's driver turned to Obtenga. "There's this girl that just ran out in front of the truck!"
"Then go around her." Obtenga rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, no shit." Hanson mumbled to himself.
He turned the wheel as he moved forward, but the jeep stopped suddenly again as if it ran into something.
"Hanson, I swear to CHRIST!" Sergeant Obtenga said in frustration.
"It wasn't my fault! It's like we ran into a wall!" Hanson yelled back, confused and starting to sweat. Obtenga rolled his eyes and looked out the windshield. Sure enough, there was nothing in front of them blocking the way. The little girl, who looked of Japanese descent, no older than six was standing off to the side wearing a tiny green dress. What was most striking about her, however, was her long, curly pink hair and two deep purple ribbons on either side of her head.
Obtenga and Hanson paid no attention to the girl as they looked at each other in confusion.
"Hanson, there's uh. There's nothing there." Obtenga said with sarcasm in his tone.
"I know. I can't explain it, okay? The jeep just stopped like I ran into something, like-like a wall!"
"Alright, calm down. I'm sure something just got in the way."
"There was nothing, I swear! I'm freaking the fuck out right now!"
Obtenga looked back out the windshield to see that the girl had moved back in front of the jeep while they weren't looking.
The Sergeant tilted his head to the side slightly as he regarded her with skepticism. "Brave little gal, isn't she?"
"Y-yeah. I guess." Hanson's eyes never left the girl outside.
"Little bit of an odd hair colour she's got goin' on." Obtenga added. "I'm gonna go have a chat with her, see if I can get her to scooch over." With that, Obtenga left the vehicle.
"Wait!" Hanson started, but it was too late as the door slammed. Hanson's eyes were glued to the situation outside. "I really hope that girl isn't what I think she is."
"What do you think she is?" Hanson almost jumped out of his seat as Menendez leaned over to look out the window.
"Menendez, what the hell are you doing?" Hanson glared at the solider beside him.
"Getting a look at what's holding us up. Duh." Menendez smirked at Hanson before turning his attention back outside.
Sergeant Obtenga walked up to the girl, before leaning down and giving her a smile.
"Hello. What's your name?"
The girl just continued to stare blankly up at Obtenga.
"You couldn't just go around her?" Menendez raised an eyebrow.
"I tried." Hanson said again.
"Well, you didn't try hard enough obviously."
Menendez looked over to see a droplet of cold sweat run down Hanson's face.
"What is with you, man? Chill out."
"You don't have to be shy. I'm really an alright guy."
More silence.
Menendez looked closer at the girl. "Hold up. What's a Japanese kid with pink hair doing all the way out in the middle of Spitfuck Nowhere, Afghanistan?"
"I like your hair. It's pretty." Obtenga reach out and brushed the girl's bangs out of her eyes. As he moved his hand, he saw what appeared to be a metal circle in the middle of her forehead, with a glowing red light in the centre.
"What the hell...?"
With no warning Menendez and Hanson saw their Sergeants head fly off his neck, blood gushing out of the wound as his body slumped to the ground. The head stayed in the air and slowly rotated, Obtenga's expression of confusion still visible on his facial features.
"Holy SHIT! What the FUCK!?" Menendez yelled.
Hanson started to hyperventilate as Menendez ran to the back of the jeep.
"What the hell's going on?" David asked.
"Sarge just got fucking DECAPITATED! That's what's going on!" Menendez yelled.
"He what?" Tillman asked, shocked.
"I saw it, man! I SAW it!" Menendez's pupils grew smaller as he began to panic. "He-he was just standing there and then...his head just-"
Tillman stood up and put her hand on Menendez's shoulder. David stood up behind her, chambering a round in his M4A1 just in case. "Alright, chill out! If Sergeant Obtenga IS dead, then you're the commanding officer here!"
Suddenly, the entire jeep shook. Then, it began to tilt.
"She's lifting the jeep!" Menendez yelled as the soldiers all held on to the sides to brace themselves.
"A child can't lift a jeep, Menendez!" Tillman yelled back, as she tried to gain her footing.
"Everyone, out!" David yelled, pointing to the back door which opened thanks to the force of gravity.
David, Menendez, and Tillman all hopped out of the end and ran forward a few feet. They turned back to see the jeep slowly rising about ten feet of the ground, and Hanson struggling to get his seatbelt off.
"Wait!" Hanson yelled as he finally got his belt unstuck. He stumbled through the opening to the back of the jeep, but the vehicle suddenly rotated so that it was fully vertical. Hanson yelled as he fell out the back of the truck.
"Hanson! Come on!" David yelled as he ran towards the driver to help him.
Right as he got to him, the jeep came crashing down on Hanson's lower half. David stopped dead in his tracks and stumbled backwards in pure surprise. Hanson screamed in agony as he began to cough up blood.
"Jesus Christ!" Menendez yelled.
Then, Hanson felt some kind of force trying to pull him out from under the jeep. His eyes became wide as his mouth started to gape. What came out of his mouth started as a wheeze, but turned into a full blown scream.
"Hanson!" Tillman yelled.
He only screamed for a second before his body tore in half in a burst of gore, his upper torso being flung through the air like a ragdoll. The jeep then fell over, as if something had stopped balancing it. Hanson's entrails hung out of his remains as it flew to somewhere behind the jeep. The group of soldiers ran to the side to get a better look, and they saw the girl with a grin on her face as Hanson's corpse waved like a ragdoll above her. The girl's grin deepened as an arm was torn off of Hanson's body, then the other, and finally the head.
"Oh my god..." Tillman whispered.
David stared at the girl. His attention was drawn to her hair, and then to the ribbons on her head.
Then, it clicked.
"She's a Diclonius!" David yelled.
"Light her up!" Menendez screamed.
The three soldiers all unloaded their clips as the girl tossed the limbless torso away. The bullets did nothing, as the Diclonius girl seemed to block them with her mind.
"It didn't do anything!" Tillman yelled.
"Everyone back up! Get out of the range of her vectors!" Menendez told the team.
The team backed up, firing as they did so. Their weapons still had no effect.
"Two clips and not a scratch! I say we book shit!" David said, looking over to Menendez.
Menendez nodded. "Get moving!" he yelled as they all turned to run.
The three soldiers ran faster than they had their entire lives. David in front, Menendez right behind him, and Tillman taking up the rear. Then, they heard the sound of metal being crushed. David and Menendez didn't dare look back, but Tillman did.
The damaged jeep was sailing through the air, right towards them. Tillman stumbled, screamed, and was instantly silenced as three tonnes of metal crushed her. David and Menendez kept running, closing their eyes and wincing as they heard the jeep crush their friend. There was time to mourn later, right now was the time for survival.
Behind them, the Diclonius began to rise into the air. Then, without warning it shot through the air towards the soldiers as its vectors propelled it forward at an amazing speed.
He wasn't sure where Menendez was going, but David was running towards a group of large boulders. There seemed to be a dip in the sand that he could use as a hiding spot, providing the Diclonius was still where it was and hadn't given chase.
That hope was crushed when he heard Menendez scream from behind him. David kept running until he made it to the boulders, and slid into the dip. Instantly, his back went up against the sand-coloured rocks and he had his weapon at the ready. He tried his best to control his breathing, as it came out in heavy pants. In the distance, he could here Menednez's cries of "No!" before he was silenced with the sound of meat being torn apart.
David closed his eyes and tried to keep himself from hyperventilating, when he heard something land in front of him.
Menendez's severed head was looking him dead in the face, an expression of pure horror on his face. David recoiled, his legs flailing as he pressed himself on the rocks even tighter. He closed his mouth to prevent himself from being heard. but his breathing became more frantic.
He heard soft footsteps from behind the rocks, and then a few small pebbles displaced themselves from their place on the boulders, as if knocked off. They fell on David's head, but he dared not move an inch.
To his side he saw what appeared to be the faintest outline of a hand print in the sand, forming on it's own. David began to weep before steeling his resolve, and readying his weapon. He was going to die, and he might as well die fighting.
Then, he heard a small beep. Three of them in fact. The sound of a vehicle pulling up filled his ears, followed by the sound of tiny footsteps running back toward the vehicle.
The girl said something in what David assumed to be Japanese. She sounded...disappointed?
But the voice that responded wasn't having it, as he sounded stern and serious. With that, he heard a hiss and the sound of metal clicking together. Then the door of the vehicle closed, and they drove off.
David waited at least five minutes before coming back to Earth. He was alive.
There was also Menendez's severed head in front of him. He yelped at the sight of it, and tried to back away even further. Finally, he calmed down, and put the safety back on his M4A1.
He didn't move for hours. He didn't dare to move.
It seemed like forever before he heard the sound of a helicopter from behind his hiding spot. Cursing to himself, he quickly turned the safety off of his weapon. He counted to three, and popped out from behind the rocks with his weapon raised.
A large black helicopter was touching down, with a thirty-something Japanese man in a suit standing by the open door. He had raven black hair, and dark blue eyes covered by thin framed glasses.
The Japanese man pointed to David, and yelled something in Japanese.
David tightened his grip on his weapon, and raised it even more at the people exiting the helicopter. What appeared to be two male Japanese field medics were jogging towards him. Without saying a word, they put their arms on his shoulders and began to usher him to the helicopter.
"What the hell are you doing?" David said, turning towards the medics. He began to raise his weapon again before the man in the suit spoke from behind him.
"I advise you get on this helicopter. You don't want to hang around here for too long." The Japanese man spoke English with only a slight accent.
"Who are you?" David asked, eyeing the man with skepticism.
"I'm the man who employed you to do this operation. Obviously things didn't go as planned, and now you're right in the mess."
"What mess?"
"It will be easier to have this conversation on the helicopter." The man smirked.
Looking around, David realized he didn't have anywhere else to go. He finally lowered his rifle, and got on to the helicopter. He sat across from the Japanese man as the door was closed behind him. The man adjusted his glasses and began to speak as the helicopter began to rise into the air.
"First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Takashi Hiromoto, and I am the head of the Diclonius Protection Agency."
"So, should I introduce myself or...?" David asked, confused.
Takashi gave David a charming smirk. "I already know your name, but you can if you like."
David swallowed and narrowed his eyes.
Takashi sat back and became serious. "I understand that what just happened to you was horrible, and that you're not exactly in the mood for small talk. So I'll just get to my point. I take it you don't know why you were sent out here?"
"Yeah, I'd like to know what exactly my entire squad got mutilated over." David replied with a harsh tone.
Takashi sighed and looked at the floor. for a few seconds before meeting David's glare. "I realize that I am indirectly responsible for the death of your friends, and for that I cannot begin to fathom how to properly apologize to you."
David stared at him for a few seconds before Takashi continued.
"You were sent to a Kakuzawa research facility to extract research and data on their Diclonius research. We figured if we were able to send you in to grab research, it wouldn't have been a long shot for you to find data that's been exchanged from the main facility that we're looking for."
"Experiments..."
"Right. The Diclonius are being experimented on horribly within Kakuzawa facilities, they're victims of the head's desire to make the ultimate weapon."
"But..." David looked disturbed. "I thought the Diclonius were made in the institutes. That's what I was told, anyway..."
Takashi shook his head. "The Diclonius are born just as anyone else is, but the Kakuzawa institutes take them and do horrible things to them. It's our job to help the Diclonius escape."
"You couldn't have told us this, why?"
"Because believe it or not, Kakuzawa gets the government favour. If anyone with any sort of power, or even worse Kakuzawa himself got wind of the operation we would all be imprisoned for a very long time."
David put his head in his hands, trying to process what he was hearing.
"And even then, the specifics on your operation don't end there."
David suddenly looked into Takashi's eyes. "Why are you telling me this?"
There was a pause before he responded. "Because you deserve to know."
Takashi readjusted his glasses again before continuing. "The research we were hoping you'd find might have contained information regarding the whereabouts of something very important to us."
"A Diclonius?" David asked.
"Not so much a Diclonius, as the Diclonius." Takashi reached into his suit pocket and produced a photo. He handed it to David, who inspected it.
The photo was of a pale girl with long pink hair, and piercing red eyes. She had a blank and soulless expression on her face, appearing emotionless. What really sold it were the two horns on either side of her head.
As David studied the girl in the photo, Takashi began to explain. "At the facility, she's earned the moniker of "Lucy." Alternatively. she's called "Nyu" by her adoptive family. Around six months ago she was taken from her home by the Kakuzawa institute and has been kept in an unknown location ever since. She's incredibly important to Kakuzawa, as it appears she's the only Diclonius who is able to properly breed. As for her vector range she's rather average. But there are many attributes that make her incredibly deadly. Her physical strength and the strength of her vectors appear to be above average, and she seems to have no problem with instantly killing anything that so much as looks at her. If Kakuzawa succeeds with what he plans for her, the entire world could be in danger."
David gazed back up at Takashi. "So, what? We make her fight for us or something?"
"No." Takashi said, his eyes narrowing as he leaned forward. "We keep her away from Kakuzawa. We bring her home."
David sighed as he put his hand over his mouth as he leaned his arm on his knee. "Looks like I'm caught in the middle of all this, now."
"Not anywhere close. You just happened to take a wrong step into the crossfire. Unless, of course you choose to officially help with our mission."
David pondered this. Didn't he and his squad just attempt to "help?" They were going to the Kakuzawa facility to get the data they wanted, weren't they?
Then again, they didn't know what they were even getting or why. They were just hired to do it, with the only motivation being a hearty paycheck. Not any of this high stakes, morally correct bullshit.
But after what Takashi told him, with the Diclonius not being Kakuzawa created beings, but people who were forcibly taken. After hearing about Lucy, and what that could mean for the world, what kind of man would he be if he just sat by knowing that this was happening.
And it wasn't like he had anything to go back to now.
"I'm in." David said, handing the picture of Lucy back to Takashi.
"Excellent!" Takashi said, a smile coming across his features. "We need as many people with us as we can get. I thank you."
"No problem."
"Now, how old are you exactly."
David paused. "Twenty."
"Wow. Doing what you were doing at an age that young. I couldn't even imagine that sort of thing."
"Shooting things seems to be the only thing I'm good at."
"Nonsense. Everyone's good at a great many things. It's all a matter of finding those things."
"You gettin' sappy on me, Takashi?"
Takashi chuckled. "I've been known to get a bit melodramatic at times."
"No shit." David said, awkwardly rubbing his hands together. "Where are we even going?"
"Back to our head of operations in Kamakura, Japan. While we're there, I think you should meet Lucy's-or Nyu's family. Knowing where she comes from and what she's like according to them might help you understand a bit more."
"A bit more about what?"
"The entire situation. Another Diclonius lives with them, I forget her name at the moment. I figured you could meet them, talk to them, strike up a friendship."
"But...I have a home in Canada..." David said.
"Trust me, David." Takashi put a hand on David's shoulder. "Now that you're involved with this, you don't want to stay put where you used to live."
David sighed. "I'm not sure how I feel about being made to socialize with strangers."
Takashi gave a soft smile, getting a read on David's core personality just from that sentence. "They're good people, trust me. If it makes you feel any better, I can have someone notify them ahead of time that you will be meeting them."
After all this, David finally smiled. "Thanks. I'd appreciate that."
Takashi grinned. "I'm sure they'll love you, just as long as you don't act like a total jerk!"
David chuckled. "Just one more question."
"Shoot."
"Do they even speak English? Because I don't speak a lick of Japanese."
"They know some." Takashi said. "Think of overcoming the language barrier as a way to bond with them."
They felt a jolt as the helicopter landed.
"Well, David Boyens." Takashi said, standing up. "Welcome to The Mess."
He opened the door and stepped out. David stood up and looked out the door to see the city of Kamakura, Japan.
"And welcome to Japan!"
Alright, so concludes the beginning of this new story! I know that the primary characters of Elfen Lied are only given a mention in this chapter, but they'll start appearing in the next chapter. Though David is developed in this chapter, he is NOT the character at the centre of it all. This chapter was meant to introduce him, and show how he gets caught up in the events of the upcoming story.
Also, keep in mind that this is an ALTERNATE TIMELINE. This takes place roughly six months after the anime's ending, and here Lucy/Nyu is taken away to a Kakuzawa institute again. Also, pretty sure the Diclonius Protection Agency doesn't exist in the anime or manga, either.
I will be attempting to weave in characters and plot elements from the manga, so bear with me if it ends up being shit.
Either way, I hope you enjoy this new story of mine. May it prosper and grow!
Cheers.
~HolyMaryMotherofGawd