OK Ori Island in New World…
He ran. The boots of his pursuers echoed up from down the hall behind him, but they were distant. If not for the single path of the hallway allowing for no potential detours to confuse his pursuit, he would have lost them by now. Timothy clutched his report to his chest, he couldn't afford to lose a single sheet of paper. What the World Government was attempting was madness and, if successful, would be the doom of the Revolutionary Army. He had to get his report to Dragon no matter the cost.
It was unfortunate that he had been discovered. He had worked for over a year, ignoring the plight of slaves and prisoners, for the sake of the mission. Hearing just enough to know he needed to remain longer, but never enough to know what was going on. A few days ago, he had learned that Amerdan Mary, the infamous "Typhoid Mary", had been summoned to the island.
He knew it meant something. Something big. Something dangerous.
Mary was a devil fruit user and its ability was a particularly nasty one, the Plague Plague Fruit. She could create any disease known, even unheard of ones and, unlike regular diseases, they could not be cured as long as she was conscious unless she released her control over the disease vectors. The only upside was that the diseases she created could not be passed from person to person. Only someone touched by her could be infected.
He needed to know what Doc Holiday, the lead scientist on OK Ori Island, was planning that required Typhoid Mary. So he had gambled. He had snuck into the filing room where peons, such as he, were not allowed, only scientists and their assistants. He had opened the filing cabinets and began searching among the labels trying to find anything that might hint at what Doc Holiday was trying to develop.
The file "Dragonkin" had stood out to him. The World Government had tried in the past to recreate the race of dragons and giants in a manner that they could control but it had always ended in failure. If the file was indicating another attempt on the dragon race that might be something. The first attempts had been disasters. The scientists had gotten a living product twice but could not control the creatures they created, making them useless for the World Government's purposes. So they had been abandoned. He couldn't see how Holiday would succeed when control was the most important thing and the one thing they weren't able to get. He almost dismissed it for this very reason, but heeded the small voice within that told him to take a look anyway and pulled it out to read.
The word "Dragonkin" was different from "Dragon". A dragonkin would be a thing that was related to dragons but not a dragon itself. This was a new approach that might have more success depending on how they intended to accomplish that. He opened the "Dragonkin" file, skimmed its contents then gagged.
Timothy needed to report to Dragon immediately. Doc Holiday was as mad as mad could be, but that didn't stop him from being the best in the study and application of genetic manipulation. If what had been said in the file was even remotely possible…
However, in his haste to copy the relevant information, he had failed to pay attention to the time. An assistant had arrived and caught him in the filing cabinet. After a brief attempt to catch and silence the assistant failed, the alarm was raised. Now he was fleeing for his life, desperate to get to a communication station to send out the report before he was captured. He knew he could not escape the island. There was only one port due to the high cliffs that acted as a natural defense and prison for the island. The alert was out and he would not be able to get to a ship without being spotted.
He had discovered a second opening in the cliff wall, but it was tiny and perilous. He would have needed to anchor his escape craft by it for it to be any use to him now and, to keep from giving it away, he had not. It was just sea beyond that point. Useless to him, but it would be enough for an infiltration should someone arrive.
He entered the room where the den den mushi were located, tackling the man on duty there. With one swift motion he broke the man's neck with a strike to the back of it then turned to shut the door. He barricaded the entrance as best he could, then rushed to the transponder snails and began dialing, frantic.
Timothy should have had his own transponder snail but the head of OK Ori was the paranoid type. He had every person that came to work on the island searched for just such devises. Timothy had remained on the island knowing that one he reported to Dragon he would have to leave. Now he was paying for not finding some way to smuggle a den den mushi in. Not having one of his own meant that he could not report from just any hiding place. He could only report from this one communication's room. He knew they would realize where he was going. He knew he wasn't safe here. He knew this would be where he would die. He accepted this as the natural consequence of his carelessness and for the sake of the greater cause.
The snail came to life as the call was picked up. The person on the other demanding the pass code before he could do anything else. A precaution to make certain that the speaker really was a member of the Revolutionary Army but, at this moment, it was eating up what little time he had remaining. The door thumped then banged as guards tried to force it open.
Finally confirmed, he spoke into the receiver, "I have no time left! Take this report and give it to Dragon. It is a matter of the utmost importance!"
"Timothy?" came the confused response from the other end, the voice having lost its gruff, authoritative tone now that the speaker was off script. It sounded like Ramon. Why did it have to be Ramon of all people on duty that day?
The door jolted open a few inches.
Timothy didn't say another word, he just began to feed the papers one at a time into the device. He prayed Ramon would do his job and not let what was about to happen interfere.
The door exploded open and Timothy was thrown by the blast, his report papers scattering all over the room. He sat up, blood dripping from his forehead. He glanced at the scattered papers that were now burning as they floated back to the ground, wondering how much had made it through. The report had been something he had written and revised as he worked, detailing the goings on in the facility should the Revolutionary Army need to invade. The critical information of his discovery was on the last two pages. He knew he hadn't finished scanning but had the fourth page, the second-to-last page, been one of the ones that made it? If Dragon could at least get that first part he would know what he was dealing with. The details of the experiment were on the last page.
He looked toward the door. Standing in the smoking frame was a woman in a long dust colored trench coat and broad brimmed hat. Long blonde hair billowed around her head and a mad grin split her face. He gritted his teeth at the sight of her half crazed smile.
"Calamity Jane," he hissed.
"Now what could you be doing, Timothy?" she said. Her blues shifted when she noticed one of the burning pages and snatched it out of the air. She beat the fire out then glanced at the sheet. There wasn't much left and her face screwed up in annoyance and confusion. "What's this, Timothy?"
"Allow me," said a soft tenor from behind her.
She glanced over her shoulder and snorted. "Why should I, Bunnykins?"
"Because I'm asking nicely," said the man, if his voice was any indication of gender, behind her.
Jane sneered and held the piece of paper higher. "No."
"Give it to him, Jane," said another man, his rich baritone causing Timothy to gasp in recognition. Holiday.
Jane sniffed then stepped into the room and handed the burnt page over to the newcomer.
Timothy stared, he had never seen this person before. He looked like a zone type devil fruit user caught in the in-between state that all zoan types had as one of their phases. His head was that of a jack rabbit complete with long ears, the hands that peaked out of his long white laboratory coat were more similar to paws than human hands but he wore boots like a regular man. However, Timothy had never seen a rabbit that looked as evil as this one did. He didn't think it was possible for rabbits to look evil. The man's long ears twitched as he looked the page over.
"You were careless, Jane," he chided her in his soft tenor. She opened her mouth to say something, but he continued before she could speak, "However..." He glanced at the den den mushi, the receiver off the cradle and at Timothy. "It seems you were appropriately careless." Jane closed her mouth and smirked It seemed she thought she had scored a victory and was now gloating, though Timothy couldn't think of what she was victorious of. The rabbit walked over to Timothy and held up the page to him.
Timothy froze, his breath catching in his throat. There was only one word readable on the damaged page, "Dragonkin". Of all the words on that page that could have survived the scorching it had to be the one that identified what he had been sending out. He met the green eyes of the rabbit.
"You seem to have found something interesting," said the rabbit. "The assistant found you going through the files but had no idea what it was you were searching for. And now it seems I found what it was." He let the page float down to the floor. The rabbit then gripped Timothy in his left paw and held out his right before the man's face. "Now, just who were you speaking with?"
Electricity danced between the nails of the rabbit's right paw and Timothy gasped. What was this man? He had never heard of a rabbit that could produce electricity among the myth types. He had never heard of a rabbit myth zoan for that matter either. However, here was the unbelievable reality before him.
Timothy closed his mouth and stared defiantly at the rabbit. The rabbit said nothing as he jabbed Timothy's side with the electrified claws. Timothy screamed then gasped when the shocks ended. He glared at the rabbit in defiant silence. He would not yield. If Dragon was to have any hope of thwarting Doc Holiday, they couldn't know who would be coming.
Twice more he was shocked, but Timothy just endured it. He could feel his heart racing and knew the shocks would end with his death soon. The rabbit knew it too and he sighed in frustration. He wasn't the careless type it seemed. Timothy regretted that. If the rabbit had killed him now there would no longer be any need to worry about giving away secret information to the enemy. He didn't know what they planned for him next, but he feared what they would do to get him to talk. They had a lot of drugs on site after all and no one would complain about the torture of a prisoner. Timothy wondered if an opportunity to kill himself would present itself before he broke.
"I salute your resolve, you and your contact," said the rabbit.
Timothy stared, not comprehending.
"The line is still connected," the rabbit said, answering his unspoken question.
Timothy hissed. Why hadn't the fool hung up the moment it was revealed he had been caught?! Dammit Ramon!
"I'll do it for you." The rabbit reached behind him and put the receiver back in its cradle. Once the line was closed, the rabbit said, "I can hazard a guess as to who you work for actually. Mere industrial espionage does not require this level of resolve and the government is fully aware of my activities and projects. So there is no need for them to send one of their own to spy." He let that hang in the air for a moment then finished, "You are a revolutionary."
Timothy kept his face neutral as his mind panicked. His projects?! What does he mean his projects? Aren't these Holiday's projects? Who is this man?! This was not good. If they targeted the wrong man it would be a disaster for the Revolutionary Army. Taking down the wrong scientists would allow the World Government to continue without missing a beat and worse the Revolutionary Army wouldn't even realize they had missed until it was too late.
"I don't think you were able to send all of your report to Dragon," the rabbit continued. "But I wonder at your urgency and how well it was conveyed. With what I permitted them to overhear I doubt they will ignore this place. I wonder whom they will send to rescue you, to learn what it is you know and how it affects them?"
Timothy choked as he realized how much worse things were. This man had just laid a trap to lure in his comrades. Forget targeting the wrong scientists, if they came now they would be captured and added to his experiments. Possibly even used to gather more intel about the Revolutionary Army and sabotage Dragon's mission. Timothy couldn't believe how easily it had been done as well. The rabbit had made sure the revolutionaries would come with just a few well chosen phrases. Why couldn't Ramon have hung up when the door blew? Why did he listen in for so long?
As Timothy's mind reeled with the gravity of the situation, the rabbit spoke again but to someone behind him. "Will you be able to make use of this, Holiday?"
Timothy looked past him, saw the shadow of a man and paled, Holiday. Cold brown eyes glittered with anticipation even as his voice remained casual. "I can make use of any materials you provide me. Which project do you wish me to prioritize?"
"The revival project," said the rabbit as he casually drove a dagger into Timothy's side.
Timothy gasped as the blade slid between his ribs and through his heart. He realized then the depths of the mistake the the revolutionaries had made. They believed Doc Holiday was the mad scientist in charge of the inhuman experiments going on here, but it was really this man. Doc Holiday was just one of his underlings. This rabbit man was in charge of it all. These were his projects. His ideas. And he had just invited the revolutionaries to come so that he could get more subjects to test on while simultaneously robbing the Revolutionary Army of some of its top fighters.
"He will be test subject 2871, let's see if he lasts longer than his predecessors," said the rabbit.
As the cold of death filled his being, Timothy regretted his many errors that had led to this and his inability to warn his comrades of the danger.
Briar stared down at the corpse of the revolutionary. Jane snickered and Holiday stepped to the side, motioning for two of the guards to take the body away.
"Crockett, see that security is increased. I imagine we are going to have visitors here shortly and I want them captured with minimum disruption to our work," said Briar in his soft tenor. The dark haired man standing in the hall, who sported a raccoon fur hat, nodded then left.
Holiday watched as the guards left with the body then turned to regard Briar. "Not that I don't mind being given the chance to acquire more specimens, but do you think this is really a good idea?" he asked. "One of those revolutionaries is a troublesome sort, a protégé of Dragon's."
"You mean the one called Sabo? Wouldn't he be a fine catch to try out are latest version of the transmutation serum on. Once Mary provides us with the virus we need to begin formulating it," said Briar.
"Well I just hope she doesn't bring us her own trouble," said Doc Holiday. "You know how she's prone to that. She is a rather impulsive creature."
"She does love to make new diseases doesn't she?" Briar's long ears twitched and he smirked.
"And she loves to try them out. It is a long way from South Blue. She may be itching to try out a few new strands she developed to pass the time."
"Let's hope the Tirus steers clear of troublesome things until she arrives, then."
Baltigo…
Ramon stared at the silent den den mushi, tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Timothy, you idiot, why did you have to get caught?" he hissed. He held the three pages that had made it across the line before Timothy's communication had been interrupted. The last sentence of the report was incomplete. Timothy purposely wrote his reports with the sentences continuing onto the next page as an indicator that there was more to come. The last sentence had alluded to him finding something important, but it ended without revealing what.
An incomplete report that signaled something terrible and a compromised agent. Ramon wiped his eyes and turned to head to Dragon's office. He needed to tell their leader the news and let him decide what to do about it.
