The Plan

It had been a year of memories that Neku held onto for dear life. He was tired of having no roots- nothing to cling to but the oddly pushy-as-of-late Voice in his head. Thanks to the boy who was project Joshua, the Voice had a name: Sanae.

That was a bit of a twist in and of itself, and as Neku lay awake in his bed after lights out, he was wondering about many things rather than sleeping. The primary thing being questions about how the three of them: Neku, Joshua, and Sanae were connected. But whenever he tried to think too hard: Especially about Sanae himself, the red-head felt like his skull was going to shatter.

Late at night, nearly a week after his first encounter with the beautiful captive, the Voice came through after being quiet for too long for comfort.

"We have a plan."

And this was why Neku was out of his room at some ungodly hour, sneaking through the kitchen and stealing utensils. A fork and several butter-knives that would soon be much more dangerous than their names implied. The thing that pissed him off the most was that he didn't want to do this, and yet here he was. It was hard to fight Sanae's pushes sometimes, and Neku often fell prey to being but a puppet to his will.

"Why are you having me do this? I already told you that I won't hurt him." Neku wouldn't have killed anybody in here: They were stupid, but they were human.

"It's not for him. It's for the Staff. Time for you to make your presence known."

"WHAT? They're going to kick my ASS. Or crank my collar to max, and then I'll probably get static shocked just for thinking at you."

"Trust me. And trust Josh."

"Screw you! What can Josh do for me?"

"Go. Towards the restricted area. The place where they keep the dangerous ones. Stop them."

And Neku was walking, his freshly sharpened blades tucked away in sleeves as he trotted. The sickest thing was that he knew no matter how dark it was in these nighttime hallways, there was somebody watching with nightvision, somebody who saw that he was on the move.

When Sanae's nudges suggested that he stop, Neku found himself by a door where light filtered out from under it. There were distant voices on the other side of it, at least two. He almost cursed out loud, wondering what he was doing here and why.

It was times like this that almost made Joshua glad for the collar that blocked his powers so completely. It wasn't a normal consultation; it was a small procedure that was awaiting him. He was sure of it now. He recognized the monitors, the needles, the innocent looking metal plates, small and circular, that would tap into his mind and cause so much pain.

But there was no holding chair this time, and Joshua was smug about it. He'd destroyed it last time. Still, though he was silent, his eyes were wild and fierce as he backed away from the two men that approached him. They were to hold him down while his mind was probed. It was more than just a test of power, for now; they wanted his thoughts and memories and emotions, where Neku was concerned.

They wouldn't get it.

Joshua cringed, but, with difficulty, refrained from struggling against the impossibly strong staff members pinning his small body to the wall. He could feel the bite to his essence, even now; the lead and iron that insulated the walls kept his powers from breaking from the room, and kept him from escaping. Desperate, his eyes darted to the door, his only escape.

He clamped his eyes shut and flinched vainly against the third of the four staff members in the room. She was a middle-aged and slender woman, who pressed the cool metal to his forehead with one hand and pulled his collar free with the other. He couldn't repress his whimper. The pain that would come would be something past endurance, simply because he'd be focusing on something else entirely.

Keeping his memories his and his alone.

The thoughts going through Neku's own mind were simple enough: I am SO SCREWED. Neku had never gone out of his way for anybody in his life, that much he was sure of. If he had, he wouldn't be feeling this reluctance now. Sure, Josh seemed like a nice enough kid, but was he worth what would probably be horrible punishment and more research dumped onto his head? The red-head wasn't sure anymore, but it looked like he wasn't going to be given a choice, either. He was certain that whatever was on the other side of this door would have something to do with Joshua.

Sanae pushed him again, and suddenly, Neku was tapping into a part of himself that he didn't know existed. His consciousness pushed out like the day that he had served as the conduit for Sanae and Joshua, but this time, he caught a glimpse of electronic bits- wires, a circuit board, the locking mechanism- and suddenly the metal key-card reader in front of him sparked and shorted out. Without thinking, he knew what that meant.

And with a sharp shout that was more fear and uncertainty than a battle cry, Neku kicked the door open, a knife in his hand as he threw himself blindly at the closest person to him. It was an unfortunate older man whose duty was probably simply to 'watch the door' or something of that sort. The knife came down on the shocked guard's throat, and as Neku pulled back to make another strike, blood splattered across his face and clothes, he was afraid. The red-head hadn't known that he could- would kill someone for anything. And suddenly it was coming to his body as though it were second nature. As though it were in his very programming. The other knife and the fork slipped from his sleeves and darted through the air like bullets aimed for the other two.

Pain was starting to blossom in his head, the collar was burning him horribly, but Sanae's strong grip on his mind kept him moving.

Joshua. Stop them. Save Joshua.

Instinct reared up at precisely the wrong time. The moment the door burst open, the older woman who seemed so innocent activated the machine that caused the agony that was so unbearable to Joshua...but there was no avoiding the fact that he saw Neku, and his instincts screamed too many things at once. He wanted to protect Neku, wanted to get out. The door was open. He wanted to struggle free from the guards who were so well trained that they held him down even as Neku killed the man whose job it had been to make sure the power levels didn't get too high.

With no one tending to that small task, the discomfort in Joshua's mind and body grew to a measure he'd never known for this particular machine, and he screamed in pain at the same moment his powers launched out. The silverware stopped in mid-air before clattering to the ground, and Neku was thrown against the back wall. Instinct.

And now they knew his first priority was his new friend's safety. He'd have to remedy that, and even through the blinding pain, he did. His scream of agony cut short, and he twisted in the arms of the men holding him, fought...

And then the pressure was gone, the men gone, and only Neku and the woman remaining. The pain stopped, and the woman replaced the collar around his neck with inhuman speed. His hold on Neku stopped after the collar delivered a painful shock, and the staff member pressed the button on her tag that signaled a silent alarm.

Helplessly, Joshua glanced to where the men had been, and then met Neku's eyes. They had moments.

"Go. Now."

The breath was stolen from Neku's lungs as a flash of blue light all but blinded him. When his senses came to him again, the two men that were holding Joshua were gone and- he was sure he'd heard him scream- sure that those men had been there and hurting him. Something was hurting him.

And Joshua stared at him, spoke words that would do nothing for him. He fought the grip on his mind, Sanae urging him, pushing him, telling him that he had to do this. And in that moment, Neku hated these people and wanted them all to meet the same end. That was enough. He hoped that Joshua could see that he wasn't doing this entirely of his own will.

The red-head's body lurched and then moved towards the woman, hand outstretched. There was a spark, and fire, and then suddenly everything was screaming. Neku was screaming, the pain of his collar more than he could bear, the woman was screaming before the heat of his flames would scorch her lungs, and the echoes of Joshua's scream rang in his ears before everything was too much. Neku collapsed to his knees. It wasn't like he could get away anyway. They'd know who he was, and he'd suffer either way.

At least three different classes of power were shown. If there was somebody watching on the other side of the metallic walls, they'd know. Nobody could do things like that. You were born with one Psych class or none at all, and suddenly Neku was reminded of just how little he knew about himself.

Voices. Joshua could hear them, the panicked shouts and heavy footfalls of the night guard coming to check on them. He crossed the room hurriedly to take a careful hold of Neku's arm.

All four of them, dead, two by erasure, and two by Neku's hand. Neku would be punished horribly for this, but the likelihood that they'd erase him in their own way was too great for Joshua. He forced Neku to his feet and slammed him against the wall. It wasn't intentionally violent. He was weak and weary and his mind and body alike were still echoing with terrible pain.

"They broke the rules," Joshua said quietly, and behind him, the corpses vanished in a flash of blue light that was accompanied by a sharp wince and a cry of pain. Joshua's eyes were alert as he stared at Neku. "They wanted my powers. They wanted to use you to get to me and rise in their internal rankings. I lost control. Me. Just me."

His body spasmed, his free hand groping vainly for his collar as he erased the blood, the silverware. His grip on Neku grew tighter, more desperate, and then he let go.

"Run. I'll be okay, and I won't let them hurt you." Joshua pulled back, a weak and terrified look in his eyes, but an honest smile on his lips. Honest and sad. "Trust me."

It wasn't hard to imagine now, why Joshua was the one that they tortured the most, why he was the one that they valued the most. Neku had never seen anything like what had just happened; corpses and evidence gone as though it had never existed. His eyes darted, terrifed as Joshua stared him down. The fear wasn't directed at the boy in front of him, but at the sound of approaching voices.

His mind worked quickly. This was why people were afraid of him. It'd just be another incident for him, wouldn't it? Would he be punished too? And Neku saw that he was giving him a chance. He couldn't waste it.

"Damn it... Joshua, I'm sorry." And he pushed past his ally, his hand lingering on his shoulder as he ran.

What the hell had Sanae been thinking? This was horrifying. He had just murdered two people, and there was no way that he could come back from that. After dodging the night watch several times in the hallway, Neku collapsed into his bed. He didn't sleep that night.