Chapter two, for your enjoyment. I hope you are ready. OC number one appears! Note: For the computer, try to picture the narrator's voice. That is kind of how I picture it.

Chapter 2 – The Darkness Within

Two years passed with no word from Yong.

In a room glowing with green light, Horace lay on a table; his growling cries having no affect whatsoever on the two men standing next to him. A huge machine, attached to the ceiling, sent a purple ray of electrified dark eco at Horace, zapping him and causing him extreme amounts of pain. The purple light traveled all along his body as he struggled to get out of the restraints, his body arching, then falling back onto the table, only to be repeated again and again. A female voice came from the computer then, and the zapping stopped, allowing Horace to collapse.

"Dark Eco injection cycle complete. Bio readings nominal and unchanged."

These words were how every one of these interactions had gone. His body was as stubborn as he was, and this was the very reason he had been undergoing this very thing every day for the past two years. The larger man – both in height and girth – standing beside Horace growled softly in annoyance.

"Hmph. Nothing! I was informed that this one might be different!"

His voice was deep and angry, fitting for one of his size and malignance. The smaller man, the very same man who had captured Horace two years prior, spoke up in reply.

"He is surprisingly resistant to your 'experiments', Baron Tannous. I fear the Dark Warrior program has failed."

The baron snarled angrily, grabbing the nearly-unconscious Horace's hair and pulling his head up, roaring in his face.

"You should at least be dead with all the dark eco I've pumped into you!"

The baron released his hair, allowing his head to drop back onto the table. His half-closed eyes absently slid back and forth between the baron and the other man, his vision going in and out of focus as the two men conversed. The guard spoke heatedly, his voice sounding somewhat concerned with this situation.

"What now? Metal Head armies are pressing their attacks. Without a new weapon, my men cannot hold them off forever!"

The baron turned to him, his only visible eye burning with hate, and his voice growing louder.

"I will not be remembered as the man who lost this city to those vile creatures!"

He walked toward the guard, his voice turning commanding.

"Move forward with the final plan! And finish off this… 'thing' tonight!"

The baron marched away. The guard gave a quick salute.

"As you wish."

He went over to Horace, grabbing the young man's collar and pulling him up slightly.

"I'll be back later."

He released Horace's collar, allowing him to flop back down on the table, and walked after the baron. Horace breathed heavily as he watched the two men walk away, his vision getting more and more blurry. He was going to die, though whether from all the experimenting that had been done on him or from the guard killing him later, he did not know. He slipped into unconsciousness just as a small thump sounded next to him. This thump was followed closely by a floating platform, holding none other than Yong Soo.

"Ding, ding, third floor, da ze… Body chains, roach food, torture devices, da ze."

The platform floated up and over Horace, carrying Yong with it. When it was just above Horace, Yong jumped off and onto Horace's chest, causing Horace's upper half to bounce slightly on the table. He did not wake up, though. Yong did not seem to notice this, however, and kept going with his obnoxious little game.

"Hey buddy, you seen any heroes around here, da ze?"

Then he looked down. His eyes widened at how beat up Horace was, and he looked the young man up and down in shock.

"Whoa, da ze! What'd they do to you, da ze?!"

He looked back at Horace's face to see that he still had not opened his eyes. He was breathing very hard still, and Yong was becoming increasingly worried about his friend. Yong crouched down on Horace's chest.

"Horace, it's me, Yong, da ze!"

Horace lifted his head off the table briefly, looking at Yong, then collapsed back down again, too exhausted to keep his head up. Yong stood back up, putting his hands on his hips.

"That's a fine hello, da ze! I've been crawling around in this place risking my tail, literally, to save you, da ze!"

He stepped down slightly, onto Horace's stomach, causing Horace to try to curl up in pain, only to have his restraints stop him, and he fell painfully back down. Yong's voice was steadily growing higher in pitch as he continued in his worried little rant.

"I've been looking for you for two years, da ze! Say something, da ze! Just this once, da ze!"

Yong crouched down again, gently taking hold of Horace's collar and shaking him slightly. Horace, who seemed to have been fighting something back inside of him since he had tried to sit up, made a strange face, and, suddenly, his brown eyes shot open, burning with rage. He growled out in a deep voice that sounded like, if it were not for the pure rage that it currently contained, it would normally be rather emotionless, four words that echoed in the room and made Yong jump in fright.

"I'm gonna kill Tannous!"

Yong quickly covered Horace's mouth with a hand, putting a finger to his lips.

"Shhhhhh! Right now, we gotta get you outta here, da ze."

Horace went quiet, but his breathing picked up speed and became even more labored than before, turning into more growling than just breathing. Yong scampered over to the left wrist restraint, continuing talking mostly to himself as he tried to figure out how the manacles worked.

"Just let me figure out how to open the security locks for your chair so I…"

Horace, still breathing heavily, balled his fists and tensed all his muscles. Finally, the growling gave way to a single, somewhat loud roar as he tore the shackles off of the table, his whole body changing. Yong leaped off of the table in surprise, looking at Horace in shock. Horace's skin and hair had become ghostly white, his nails growing into dangerous, black claws, and his once brown, emotionless eyes had gone completely black, containing only the purest of rage. He sat up and looked down at his hand and its claws, taking them in. Yong was a bit freaked out by this, but he took it in stride, trying to brush it off with a joke.

"Or… aaahh… you could do it, da ze."

Horace's eyes flicked from his hand to his friend, not even a glimmer of recognition in his murderous black eyes. Yong became even more nervous as the beast leaped off the table, stumbling slightly as he hit the ground. He quickly righted himself and glared once more at the weasel boy. Yong stepped, very slightly and very cautiously, toward Horace, holding out a hand to attempt to calm the enraged man.

"Horace, da ze…?"

Horace stood up straight, starting towards Yong with determined steps. Yong stood his ground, if a bit shakily.

"Easy now, da ze. Easy buddy, da ze."

Yong glanced behind him, trying to find a route of escape, in case things got uglier and he had to flee, as Horace continued forward, still showing no recognition. Yong saw no escape, so he continued trying to talk Horace out of his berserk state.

"It's… it's your old pal, Yong, da ze… Remember, da ze?"

Horace did not seem to remember. Yong began backing away then, seeing this. When he had reached the end of the platform they were on, he cringed; putting up his small arms in what he knew would be a futile attempt to protect himself. Horace raised his clawed hand, preparing to tear the poor weasel apart. He gave a terrifying growl and went to thrust his claws through Yong's arms and into his chest and stomach. He stopped suddenly, though, and his body returned to normal, his skin going back to its olive coloration, and his hair, now down to his back, re-became the shining dark brown it usually was.

"Y-Yong?"

Horace stumbled back dizzily, his head spinning, and he put a hand to his head as a nasty headache came upon him. Somehow, he managed to shake it off enough to stand up and force a deadpan onto his face. Yong, almost immediately, shook off his near death experience, looking up at Horace with an absolute 'WTF' face.

"What the heck was that, da ze?! Sheesh, remind me not to piss you off, da ze!"

He circled around to Horace's other side, still talking as he did so, Horace turning to follow his movement.

"Come on tall, dark, and gruesome, da ze. We're outta here, da ze!"

Horace nodded and began walking in the direction the baron and his guard had gone, Yong leaping up onto Horace's shoulder.

"I, uh, brought you some new threads, da ze. Put 'em on, da ze."

Horace nodded quietly; slipping off the tattered rags he had been wearing and putting on the clothes Yong had brought for him. The clothes consisted of a blue duangua, lined with brown, white pants with white gauze leg wraps going up to about his knees, shoes the same color as his duangua, a pair of brown sashes strapped across his chest, meeting in the middle of his chest in an 'X', brown wristbands, brown, fingerless gloves, a brown belt with a pouch on his left hip, and goggles similar to Yong's sitting on his head. He glanced at Yong and nodded slightly, silently thanking him for the new outfit. Yong grinned, giving Horace a thumbs up, then pointed to the door.

"Alright, big guy, let's get out of here, da ze!"

Horace nodded and approached the door, then, thinking a bit more logically, turned away from it, scanning the room quietly for a moment. His eyes passed over a large air duct and he smirked a bit. It was a bit too high to jump to, but there were some boxes nearby, which were conveniently light enough to push to just under the air duct. He leaped up onto the boxes, removing the grate, and entered the duct, traveling through, until he found another grate, which he kicked out without caring about the consequences. Almost immediately, the computer voice spoke up.

"Alert. Prison escape in progress."

A quiet alarm started, hardly seeming much of an alarm at all. Horace walked unconcernedly through the room, which seemed to be some sort of a storage room, walking all the way to the end and not finding an exit. He looked around again until he saw an exit, way up high. He ran over and took a flying leap at the ledge, managing to grab on and pull himself up. He went through the doorway, finding a series of steps with no floor beneath them. Yong glanced down at the ground far below, making a face.

"Yeesh… Don't wanna fall down there, da ze… Careful when you jump, da ze…"

Horace looked at him with a face that read 'no shit' and he carefully took in the distance from the ground he was standing on to the step. It was an easy jump. He backed up a bit and sprinted towards the edge, easily clearing the gap and landing gracefully on the step. He continued up the other couple of steps, and was about to hop up onto an elevator platform when the computer's voice sounded again.

"You are in a restricted sector. This sector is on high alert."

Horace jumped up onto the elevator platform anyway, not too concerned. Yong, on the other hand, made a face.

"Do you suppose we'll run into any of those red goons, da ze?"

Horace shrugged his shoulders and leaped into the next door from the elevator platform. This room had a line of what seemed to be control panels, all of which had flashing lights on them. The duo ignored these and kept going. Just a short distance from them, standing next to one of the control panels, was, in fact, one of the red-armored guards. He scanned the room until his eyes fell on Horace and Yong, and he lifted his gun, preparing to fire. Horace saw this and, before the guard could shoot, Horace had closed the distance between them and, rather powerfully, connected his hand with the guard's neck in a chop, knocking the man out cold. Horace, hardly breaking stride, continued on, stepping over the guard's still form and running along the stretch of ground. From somewhere not far off, another guard's voice could be heard speaking, likely into some sort of communicator.

"We're beginning our sweep."

This urged Horace to move faster. He took a running leap at an unattached platform that moved back and forth, and, effortlessly landing on it, he charged at another guard, who was lining up a shot at him on the next piece of sturdy, solid floor. He dove at this guard, knocking him out with a solid punch to the face, then continued his charge for freedom. No expense, it seemed, had been spared in keeping the baron's prisoners in, and those wishing to free them out. Some of the floor had been removed along this stretch, again, leaving a sheer drop. The only thing available was a single bar, about halfway across the gap, which, it seemed, would be the reference point for a moving piece of floor. The floor did not seem to be coming, however. Yong sighed.

"What are we gonna do now, da ze?"

Horace had already made up his mind, though. He ran all the way to the edge of the floor and jumped, grabbing the bar. Yong yelped in alarm, clinging tightly to Horace's shirt, as Horace began swinging himself around the bar, like a gymnast. When he had gained enough speed, he waited for just a moment before releasing the bar, allowing himself to fly across the remaining gap, and land perfectly on the floor on the other side. Yong scowled darkly at him.

"That has got to be one of the most terrifying things you have ever put me through, da ze… And I get the feeling that it won't be the last time, either, da ze."

Horace shrugged slightly. He did not want to put his friend in danger… but they had to get out of there, and they had to find the others. Another guard's voice came, then.

"We're moving in."

Horace ignored the guards he could hear approaching, jumping onto another moving platform.

"Surrender yourself. You are under arrest."

The computer voice spoke again, causing Yong to glare up at the ceiling.

"Shut up, da ze!"

Horace looked around for the next exit, but did not see one. The platform kept moving back and forth, as though keeping them occupied until the guards found them. Horace turned around on the platform and sighed. The exit had been behind the wall on the stretch of ground he had just been running on. He jumped behind the wall, knocking out two more guards back there, and managed to, with a bit of effort, clear an exceptionally large hole in the ground.

"We have movement on level one."

A guard behind the wall was reporting to someone. Horace leaped another large gap, just in time to hear several guns being aimed.

"Move in!"

The light around him turned red, the alarm grew louder, and the guards who had been following him finally caught up.

"There he is! Open fire!"

A series of shots were fired at him, the red trail of the bullets showing most of them to just barely miss him. Yong even had to duck down a few times to avoid being hit, Horace ran faster then, realizing that he was running on a grate, and some guards below him were shooting at him as well. Eventually, he managed to make it across the grate, losing the guards behind him as well.

"Prisoner on level two!"

Horace then found himself in a dead end. He looked around and, eventually, his eyes strayed to the ground, where there was a crate. He looked at Yong, who nodded, then jumped onto the box with enough force to break it. He crashed down into the floor below, and immediately got back up, running along in the area he knew to be where the guards from under the grate would be. When he made it to where the grate was, he, luckily, saw only two guards, who he quickly knocked out. Another box stood in his way, so down he leaped onto that, smashing it. He found himself, then, in some sort of slick, lit chute, which he slid down and into another room. The computer, again, assured him that he would be found.

"There is no escape."

When he hit the floor, he hit it with a splash, having fallen into a small pool of, like as not, collected rain water. Horace waded through the decently deep pool, and onto dry land. He scanned the area again and saw, to his delight, that the door out of this dungeon was right there. He jumped up a few stacked boxes, then to the door, which opened automatically for him. He took a deep breath and stepped down into the street, happy to, at last, be out of there. Yong grinned at him.

"We're free, Horace, thanks to me, da ze."

He smirked and chuckled jokingly.

"Nice to breathe some fresh air, huh, da ze? Let's find some place to rest you up before we go and try to find the others, da ze. I've been looking for you all this time, so I don't have a clue where Lili or Roddy might be, da ze. We'll find 'em, though, da ze. I'm sure of it, da ze."

Horace gave a small nod. He was concerned about the other two… but, right now, he was too thrilled to finally be free to worry too much. Finally, after two years of those torturous experiments, he was free.

Characters this chapter:

Horace Wang, Yong Soo

Baron Faraj Tannous: Palestine(OC)/Baron Praxis

A note from the author: Whew! That was a long chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. It took a lot of time to write, and the descriptions were difficult to come up with. I had fun writing it, though, so I hope you had fun reading! After this, the chapters should be a bit shorter... I hope. Until next time, remember that reviews make me happy, and have a wonderful day~!