Cause & Effect
Young scientist falls prey to unfortunate circumstances and finds herself almost a millenium later Trapped in a new word of Vampires, the Vatican and covert technological cold war Struggle between good and evil? Or the struggle to make her well rounded?
Author's notes- Yes, someone finds themselves in the Trinity Blood universe, kind of good explanation though, no random sucked in or magical elf. Time frame: during the business in Istavan, so Able won't be there, or many other people which explain why it's the two characters in this chapter. After the first couple of chapters it goes back into cannon events, I won't really change too much on that front. Anyway, on with the show!
"Gives you the creeps huh?"
Leon's voice echoes against the damp walls as he and the Professor trudged along the corridor, sidestepping holes in the floor and desperately trying to avoid whatever liquid was dripping from the ceiling.
"Oh nothing to be worried about, I'm sure we'll be fine." The Professor replied lightly, though he himself was rather concerned, this place was ancient, he quite sure it pre-dated Armageddon.
He wasn't usually the paranoid type but the inevitable creaks after every footfall, dank interior and questionable green substance dripping from ceilings and leaking out pipes were unnerving enough to make him think the walls were leaning closer towards him the further they went. Or that he'd get radiation poisoning should he spend another minute here.
This was interesting of course, but this really wasn't his kind of thing. Really now, even the rats glowed green.
He wouldn't normally go on a mission like this, he spent the majority of his time back at AX headquarters contently conceiving some invention or another in his lab, or occasionally investigating the odd strange occurrence within the city. But they were seriously short handed at the moment, Father Able was probing into the rumors of unrest in Istavan, Father Tres occupied with another task, Vaclav guarded her Eminence while Sword dancer was… well God knows where.
So after a quick briefing Father Wordsworth picked up Leon from the Vatican prison and they were both on a plane to good old Albion, first time in years, but not quite the way he had hoped.
Vampires on the continent had been stirring up trouble; they were only small factions, barely even noticed most of the time. Yet they suddenly began pulling off the most extraordinary assaults in the towns they were believed to be based in, large scale attacks previously though impossible due to their size. How was that possible?
The answer to that is the reason Leon and the professor found themselves here, this dilapidated, unstable old science facility in Albion. It turned out that these unsuccessful terrorist organisations, mainly based in the far northern regions of the Franc Kingdom, were crossing the channel at night, all to get to this former laboratory, which as it appeared was rich in lost technology.
With their newfound power they proceeded to outlandishly cause havoc back in the rest of Europe, so much so that they began to plan an offensive against Rome, spurred on by their recent triumphs. But inexperienced as they were they soon got caught, by a combination of local forces and a few squadrons of the Inquisition army that were sent to ease the situation. Or in other words, eliminate all vampires within the area and any civilians that got in their way.
The Department of Inquisition wasn't at all concerned with the source of the terrorist's uprising, just burn whatever town they were in to the ground and march out again. That was just the Inquisition all over.
So it was left to Cardinal Caterina and her AX agents to sort that aspect of the incident out. The two Fathers were ordered to go to the source of the lost technology, investigate and make sure no one else could possibly recover anything from here again, should this situation rise again.
And of course if they were to stumble across any intriguing pieces of lost technology themselves, well they couldn't possibly let it fall into the wrong hands again. Or let it waste away here, that would be a shame, wouldn't it? Sister Kate, acting on the Cardinal's orders, had told Leon aside before he had set off.
What had she said now? Ah, that was it, to salvage anything he found and bring it back to Rome for inspection. Leon was really the expert when it came to these kinds of things; it would be foolish not to make full use of his 'talents'.
So he gave Sister Kate a wink and told her, "No problem, I'll steal as much as I can sneak out. Just for you."
Her holographic features glared at him, but she refrained from exploding at him, no that was reserved for the Professor.
She settled for calling him "crude" and disappeared off, muttering darkly as she faded out.
Although really, it was quite serious what he was asked to do, take things that are official property of Albion and their technological recovery societies. Normally the
Cardinal did not indulge in orders to 'steal' as Leon had bluntly put it, but tensions between humans and Methuselah were running higher than ever, the more technological advantages they could get their hands on, the better.
Albion was swimming in the stuff anyway; their impressive arsenal of lost technology was the reason for their independence and prosperity. Taking something they didn't know existed couldn't harm them, the Milanese Duchess had silently reasoned.
After some time Leon and the Professor got past all the greater part of the debris and time induced damage and made to the less affected, but still horrendously wrecked parts of the facility.
This was closer to the heart of the laboratories, even deeper underground, for that was where the entire place was located. That was how it had avoided detection and therefore demolition throughout the long years, despite having been vacated so very long ago.
It didn't mean however that it had also avoided damage and decay. It really was on its last legs, anything of worth here had better be taken out now, before it was too late.
In these parts evidence of the former scientific and technological glory it once held appeared prominently. Blank screens limned the walls of some rooms, others rows of worktops, immense machines, the purposes of which evaded them both.
"So, do you reckon there's anything to take back?" Leon said as he peered around the room, looking at the large devices skeptically.
"Perhaps, we should probably go on further in, that's usually where the most important things would be kept." The Professor answered, he would like something to take back and study, though nothing of interest had come up yet.
"What in the hell…"
They had made it to what they guessed to be the centre; they had a hard time getting in. Climbing down elevator shafts, discovering a secret passage; although that only came about while Father Leon quickly backed into the wall concealing it when trying to avoid the frankly neon sludge that covered a great deal of the floor.
But inside the room…well that was something.
Great glass tubes lined the walls and stood in rows in the centre of the large room. Most hade their glass broken, shards scattered on the ground. The sheer number of them, let alone their very nature was astounding.
"So Professor, what an Earth are these things?" Leon had started staring into some of them, as though he expected something to pop out and attack.
He didn't know and shook his head. They were rather…enthralling. The light from their torches and the still only just functional emergency lights enhanced their slightly blue hue. A light humming sound could still be heard.
They walked further into the room, in silence, weaving between the maze-like arrangements of tubes. They were set in a way so you couldn't see very far into the distance without peering straight through the gaps separating them.
There didn't appear to be anything inside them, they inspected each one briefly. Nothing they saw gave any clue to their use. Finally they came to a row which they could see the metallic walls behind them.
"End of the line, I suppose" Leon stated, looking a little bored by now. Turing to leave, they both spotted it simultaneously.
A faint glow from the far end of this row, a greater source of light than anything they had seen here. The humming sound only got louder as they approached. Leon walked towards it and signaled to the Professor to follow.
It was one of the tubes; it was emitting light from within, unlike the others. Its glass was unscratched and the miniature control panel at the front still appeared fully operational.
However, interesting as this was, it was not this that made both men to stop in their tracks, stare in utter astonishment and nearly drop their torches.
There was a person inside.
"Oh my…wow" The Professor whispered, they were both still too shocked for articulate speech; not surprising really.
A moment later the Professor moved for a closer inspection, the young woman inside had her eyes open, though they knew she wasn't looking at them. They were pointed towards the control panel, her hands against the glass as though trying to escape.
But she was completely still. It looked like a photograph of a moment, as though the image ought to resume action again but couldn't. Stuck in the same pose, same instance in time.
"Who is that? What does that say?" Leon asked, also moving closer as the Professor studied the screen.
"Hmm, give me a moment while I access the main control panel, at the moment its showing stats, all fine, can you believe it?"
"So who do you reckon it is? Someone trying to score some lost tech got trapped in there?" Leon wondered aloud.
"Most probably, I expect the young lady was with that Franc organisation, I imagine she went in to inspect inside the tube and accidentally got locked in, no one else has been here since it wa- Ah, here we are."
The Professor motioned for Leon to come closer. "I've accessed the main page, haven't found anything about opening the tube yet, but in time." He began reading various screens that appeared as he typed into the keypad.
"Here's some useful information, it appears to be some sort of cryotronics device, well now this is interesting, never came across anything like this before." Leon looked at him blankly, but the Professor carried on regardless.
"Yes, some standard information, the Professor in charge of this project, which laboratories they worked for, date of cryopreserving…….." He stopped abruptly.
"Hey, Professor? What's up?"
"Oh dear God….. this woman defiantly wasn't part of those groups, in fact she came from before vampires even existed."
Author's notes- I'll make this clear now, in no way is she Crusnik or Crusnik related in any way. You'll have to wait for the next chapter for details. Please review, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this very much.