A pier in Yakushima
Too useful a unit to destroy.
Amid Labrys's toughts, the memory of this remark kept pounding at her, even as she stared at the ocean. The island wasn't uninhabited, but it didn't mean she could make it out.
Her life as a free-willed being had lasted all of a half-hour, most of it screaming, fighting and running.
She knew the soldiers of the corporation couldn't be far behind. Snowy looked at her as she talked to him. Then he turned around.
Labrys turned around as well. The soldiers were there, all right. With some other units and enough weaponry to stage a coup in a small country. Things were deathly quiet.
"I surrender." - Said Labrys, smiling sadly. She had lived and it was over.
"Yeah, no you don't." - Said a voice.
Both Labrys and the soldiers looked to Labrys's left.
It was a short, black-haired, bespectacled young man, about twenty years old, wearing swimming shorts and with a smile that was equal parts cheer, sarcasm and teeth. And holding a camera, which he proceeded to turn to himself.
"And you said an RF transmitter would be a waste of money! It just saved my life and that of the android girl there! Ain't that something? Anyways, this is Kazuki Shimada, reporting... LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!" - he said, making it clear to anyone around that killing him wouldn't help - "...from a beach in Yakushima Island, with the footage being transmitted to THE GODS KNOW WHERE!" - He proceeded to turn the camera on Labrys and on the military-grade forces somehow secretly owned by a corporation in Japan, of all places - "...on what looks like a shaaaaaady corporation pursuing an ANDROID GIRL. One they're about to free, or else this nice little bit of footage will be sold not to the highest, but to the FIRST bidder!"
Labrys just stared, dumbfounded. She hadn't really scanned around the beach.
The apparent leader of those forces paused for a moment before pulling out his walkie-talkie.
"We have a situation." - He said, simply.
"You talking to the top brass? You know, it's rather interesting to see what you guys are doing at a national park. Free the girl. Or the world will know." - Said Kazuki.
"That's not my decision. If the world knows, though, you will be killed. And so will your loved ones." - Said the guard.
"Maybe, but the world will still know. I have more cards than you right now. Who the hell is in charge, anyways?" - Asked Kazuki - "At this point, I think we'd have to discuss it with the head honcho, no?"
The soldier wasn't exactly trained at hostage situations, but he knew a hard demand when he heard one.
"I'll see what I can do. Meanwhile, we won't harm her or force her to surrender. And you won't have them turn this footage in." - He said.
"I'll give you ten minutes to give me an answer. Because I sure don't want you tracing the signal." - Said the man.
"I wasn't planning to." - Said the soldier as he relayed Kazuki's demand.
Eight minutes later, a man in a gray three-piece suit and with an eyepatch walked through the beach towards Kazuki. His appearance would be imposing to most people, but Kazuki was on a power high. Neither Labrys nor the soldiers had moved.
"Wow. Way to mix Godfather and Hook there, my friend. Also, you may be just a bit underdressed for this occasion... I'm Kazuki Shimada. And who do I have the pleasure of talking to?" - Asked Kazuki, grinning.
"I am Takeharu Kirijo." - Said the man, tersely. He proceeded to look at Labrys and at the soldiers - "And you are a civilian that happened upon this situation."
"Yeah. Give the order for them to release the girl or I'm letting the world know. Those are my terms." - Said Kazuki.
"Shimada-san. While I do understand you are likely livid at what you are seeing, rest assured I do not know of everything my company does." - Said Takeharu, evenly, as he turned to the chief of the soldiers - "Lower your weapons. And see that whomever is in charge of this particular laboratory comes here. Now."
The soldiers obeyed.
"Livid? What, just because these nice folks pursued a girl all the way here? Nah, you must be imagining things." - Said Kazuki.
Takeharu ignored Kazuki and turned to Labrys.
"What is your name and what else did they do?" - He asked.
Takeharu got calmer and calmer as Labrys informed him, with Kazuki still holding the camera. As he pried into what Labrys went through, his tone became more and more composed, his voice softer and softer.
He was, in short, enraged.
"You are free, Labrys. To do what you see fit. I will see that your needs are tended to." - He said, finally, turning to Kazuki - "As for you, what you do going forward is your decision. However, if you wish to remain close to Labrys, you will have the burden of knowing the reason why she was created."
Kazuki nodded.
"I'm in." - He said.
"I'm free...?" - Asked Labrys, uncertain, the shock having passed. The whole idea of freedom felt impossible to her. Even alien. And now there it was.
"Yes." - Said Takeharu - "For now, Labrys, I ask that you go with Shimada-san towards where I came from. You will meet one of my maids there. I will give her the order through my cell phone. She will take you to my nearest residence, a beach house I own here, where the two of you will be treated as guests. Is that agreeable?"
Shortly after filming this request, Kazuki turned off the camera and went with Labrys.
The two moved away from the pier, just in time to miss the seaside meeting between the scientists and Takeharu Kirijo, the former surrounded by soldiers that would obey every order of the latter...