Electric Sheep
Summary: AU-ish This was really ruining her vacation. Akane Tsunemori assumed that a week away from the MWPSB would entail sleeping in, walks on the beach, and shopping, not being handcuffed to Kagari in an abandoned warehouse while some maniac attempts to set them on fire. "I knew I should have brought my Dominator…"
A/N: Hello again my friends! Thanks for taking the time to check out this story. If you get a chance, please drop a review and tell me what you think! Also, this idea was somewhat inspired by the movie The Collector and the episode with Kougami and Yuki.
This was not turning out to be a very good day for Akane Tsunemori.
Some person (who she presumes is a complete idiot—I mean, kidnapping an Inspector?) clearly drugged her in her sleep, whisked her away to some god-forsaken factory, and then handcuffed her to none other than Shusei Kagari. Akane was still in her pajamas, freezing, in what she could only assume was a cold storage container—the girl could see her breath for God's sake! Large hooks that (she hoped) used to hold meat dangled threateningly, chains clanking noisily. 'God, if we get out of here, I promise to never lie about being sick again…'
"Kagari, you didn't happen to catch say the name of the guy who put us here… or what he looked like?"
"No, he caught me when I was out on a case with Gino. I turned a corner into a back alley and bam; he hit me with something… it felt like a shovel. Anyway, before I lost consciousness I saw his mask. All I could tell was that he had gold eyes." Akane sighed. In this day and age, anyone could modify their eye color to anything they wanted. Unfortunately, gold eyes were relatively common.
A loud buzz that sounded like an intercom interrupted their conversation. An obviously computer-generated voice spoke, "Welcome, my sheep, to your destiny. Will you escape and become more than fodder for Sibyl, or will you die, stuck in roles you never chose? Akane Tsunemori, newly made Inspector, age 20, with seven A rankings, will you die, or become more fully what you are? And Shusei Kagari, Enforcer, age 21, holder of a borderline psycho-pass since the age of five, will you finally free yourself from Sibyl's judgment?"
The orange-haired man smirks, "Listen, I'll do whatever I want; I have no master. I don't need anyone telling me what's already so obvious."
The brunette speaks up, livid, "M-me too! I chose my own path! We are more than sheep, we are human!"
The man on the intercom chuckles. "I see, then please, step into the next room and show me the determination of humans."
…
Kagari nearly faints. He falls to the floor, pulling the smaller Inspector with him. "What's wrong?" She hissed, pulling at the pale man.
"H-how did he know that I couldn't swim?" Topaz eyes widen in shock, staring at the large underground pool filled with (hungry) sharks.
"Shit, you can't swim either?"
"No, remember, I was flagged at age five for my psycho-pass. They don't exactly have pools in therapy."
A voice rang out, "Welcome to stage 1 of your tests. There are three in total. If you manage to survive all three I promise to let you go free, no strings attached. However, if one of you dies, you both die. For the first test, you must cross the pool of sharks and make it to the flag, which will have medical supplies and food. Good luck."
Great. Just great. Neither could swim, they were handcuffed, and the man looked as if he was going to be sick. The girl was tempted to throw herself in the pool. Sighing, she toyed with her hair tie, 'what can I do, there must be something…'
"Ok, I have an idea. Take everything out of your pockets."
…
They managed to find five dust bunnies, a hair tie, four hairclips (courteous Kagari), a stick of bubblegum, a watch (which didn't help since they were out of range of Sibyl), and the jaw string of Akane's yoga pants.
The man eyed the pile of junk warily. "How is this going to help us, again?"
The girl studied the pile, picking out a single hairclip. "Hey, Kagari, did you ever escape from the facility, when you were in therapy?"
The man snorts. "Plenty of times. They had really shitty security. I used to—"
"The hairclips! Akane-chan, you're a genius! Just give me a second, I'll get us out of these things!" He fiddled with the handcuffs, pressing a hairclip into the lock. Eventually, a click went off, allowing the pair to remove the handcuffs. The brunette rubbed her sore wrist, smiling. Who knew a (what she assumed) fashion statement would get them out of such a dire situation.
"Kagari, remind me to keep a few hairclips, just in case."
He gave a goofy grin, "No problem!"
He paused, eyeing the sharks with worry. "So we're unhandcuffed, great! But, we still need to somehow get around these sharks without being killed."
The pair sat near the pool, throwing a hairclip into the water. The sharks went berserk, head-butting each other for a chance to swallow what they assumed was a meal.
"Well, there goes my hope of the sharks being holograms…"
"Wait, that's perfect! Kagari, hand me your watch." He deposited the metal object into her hands.
"Just because we can't access Sibyl doesn't mean we can't access the history. Let's see…" She flicked through the options, picking the profile of Ginoza Nobuchika.
"Sorry, Ginoza-san." She chucked the watch into the water, watching as the sharks swarmed the hologram of the man's face. They rammed each other, biting fins and tails, one even jumped out of the water, biting into the holographic image. "Quickly, they'll eventually realize it isn't a meal and come to us! Hold the edge of the pool and swim to the end."
They do their best to move against the side of the pool quietly, holding their breath. Somehow, they manage the impossible, shakily pulling themselves out of the water and towards the flag. "Heh, that wasn't too difficult—" suddenly, an alarm went off, red lights flashing haphazardly. "Shusei Kagari, Akane Tsunemori, you've broken a rule of the game. You can't remove the handcuffs. Please, put the handcuffs back on to continue the game… or," the sound of dogs howling filtered through the intercom.
"Fine…" Luckily, Kagari had left the handcuffs in his back pocket, begrudgingly putting one link over his left hand and the other on Akane.
"You may now continue on to the next round. Please, proceed into the next room and continue to show me the determination of humans."
"I'll show you my gun down your throat, monster…" The Enforcer mutters, skulking towards the next open door. Akane picks up the knapsack, following the man.
…
"Welcome to stage 2. There are trip wires all over the room. Make your way through the swinging axes, lasers, and pitfalls, and make it to the flag. This time you'll receive a cellphone with the capacity for a single phone call."
The pair stares shell-shocked at the death traps the man had prepared for them. Large axes, bear traps, pits filled with metal stakes, and hooks litter the room. On the opposite side there was a white and black lever, neither labeled.
"I'll go through the maze first, follow my lead." Shusei gingerly steps towards the first set of traps, crossing over the trip wire and away from the pit of stakes. He does not notice the red dot on his forehead until Akane pushes him down, a flurry of arrows flying millimeters above his head. However, this sets off a trip wire, causing the Enforcer to plummet into the pit of stakes.
…
"Ah, Kagari! Hold on, I'll pull you up." The girl strains against the handcuffs, a single chain keeping the orange-haired man from falling into the stakes. She manages to pull him up, breathing in a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Akane-chan! I was sure I'd be speared for sure!"
"No problem, Kagari. I know you'd do the same for me."
"Come on, let's keep going." The man nods, this time following Akane. The walk through the maze is long and cumbersome, many a misstep leading to arrows flying and spears falling from the ceiling. Eventually, they make it to the end of the traps, Kagari limping with a cut down the left side of his leg and Akane brandishing a few scratches on her face.
"So, which lever do we push?" The girl stares hard at the two levers, each looking exactly the same, just a different color.
"Kagari, on the count of three you pull the black one and I'll pull the white one."
"A-are you crazy, one of the levers will probably kill us!"
"Listen, there's a reason we are in a group and not each doing this test separately. Just trust me for once and pull the lever!"
"Alright…"
Akane shuts her eyes.
"One." Her grip on the lever tightens.
"Two." Kagari grips the black lever, locking eyes with Akane.
"Three!" They both pull on their respective lever, waiting with baited breath.
Nothing happens.
"Are you sure this was what we were supposed to—"
A screeching sound interrupts the two, the metal door sliding open to reveal the flag.
"Congratulations for passing the second test. If you hadn't pulled the levers at the exact same time the walls would have pressed in, crushing you. Please proceed to the next room."
They walk through the metal doorway. Akane picks up the (what she assumes to be) disposable cellphone, dialing in one of the only numbers she knows by heart.
…
The phone rings three times before the raven-haired Enforcer picks up.
"H-hello?"
"Kougami, it's me, Akane! Listen, Kagari and I were kidnapped and we're in some sort of cold storage facility. Please tell Ginoza to—"
The phone promptly bleeps out.
"Tsunemori, Tsunemori! Akane!"
He receives no answer.
…
"Welcome to the final stage. This is arguably the hardest challenge yet. You must answer three questions. If you get any of the three questions wrong, those holes in the floor will release fire. Also, you must both agree on the answer."
"Hah, that doesn't seem too tough. Throw us your worst, weirdo!"
The man on the intercom sighs. "I actually regret picking you up, Shusei Kagari. You're brash, headstrong, and unintelligent, three of my least favorite traits."
"Why don't you say that to my face you—"
"Kagari, stop! Let's just answer these questions and go home, alright?" The girl holds onto his arm, a pleading look on her face. The man blushes. "Fine, but we'll definitely find you, you arrogant piece of shit!"
The voice laughs. "I look forward to it. Now here's your first question. It is greater than God and more evil than the devil. The poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you'll die. What is it?"
The pair sit on the floor, racking their brains for answers. "Let's see… greater than God? That doesn't make sense… in many Judeo-Christian religions God is the centerpiece, there is nothing higher or greater than him."
"Honestly, Akane-chan, I think you're overthinking it. Riddles like this usually have an obvious answer. Think of the digging half a hole riddle. You can't dig half a hole."
"That's right… since there's nothing greater than God, more evil than the devil, the answer could be nothing."
"I think so too. The poor have nothing. The rich need nothing. If you eat nothing you'll die."
"Ok. Mr. Kidnapper, we have our answer."
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
The room becomes silent as the two brace themselves for the answer.
"You are… correct. Here's the next question. I am always hungry. I must always be fed. The finger I touch will soon turn red. What am I? I'll give you an additional hint for this one. The answer is in this room. Good luck, oh, and did I mention there's a time limit? For this question you have two minutes."
"W-what, you can't just keep making up rules!"
"There was a time limit for the last question, five minutes. You answered it in two so I didn't have to warn you. Now, I think it would be wise to start thinking, you've wasted thirty seconds…"
"Come on, Kagari! Look around the room, something that could eat us!"
The pair look around the barren room. It is a small room covered in metal, stone floors, and, of course, the holes that promised flames for any incorrect answer.
"There's literally nothing in here! If we get this answer wrong then… wait, I got it, Akane!"
"What?"
"The fire. It's always hungry. Wood is needed to feed it. And if you touch it you're finger will turn red."
"Wow, you're a lot smarter than I thought Kagari!"
"Heh, thanks wait—"
"We have our answer, Mr. Kidnapper!"
"What is it?"
"Fire."
"Unfortunately… you are correct. Here's the final question. If you answer this one right you'll prove that you are more than sheep. This question was posed by the Sphinx. It walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening. What is it? You have thirty seconds."
"This is easy! In Greek mythology, Oedipus was asked this question. The answer is man!" Kagari said, looking at Akane expectantly.
"H-how did you know that?"
"Heh, the facility was really boring. All I ever did was read. Back when I was sixteen I was obsessed with Greek and Egyptian mythology. Never thought it would come in handy." He grinned, standing proudly.
"Ok, our answer is man."
They receive no answer. Instead, the doors slide open, revealing a large field. The sun is setting and the two rush out of the warehouse, turning back when they hear the explosion. The warehouse is burning, bits of rock and metal ripping away. Kagari shield the brunette from the debris, running away from the collapsing building. Somewhere, a group of people wait with baited breath.
"Look, they're finally in range. I see where they are now." Shion lights a cigarette, smiling.
"I'll go pick them up." The raven-haired Enforcer runs out of the building.
"That idiot… he can't leave anywhere without an Inspector. W-wait a second Kougami!"
Ginoza runs after the man, tempted to shoot him with his Dominator.
…
"Was that really ok, letting them go after all that work?"
The man smirks, taking another sip of his tea. "I do not go back on my word, Choe. They proved to be more than sheep. I wonder how this experience will affect them in the future…"
"Do you want me to follow them?"
"No. I'll watch over the girl. I have another test for her. She might turn away from Sibyl, given the right push. You can watch over that fool, Shusei Kagari. He may eventually come to our side too. He is a latent criminal, after all. He's a prime example of how corrupt the Sibyl system is."
"Alright, Makishima."