Naoto exhaled, struggling to keep her eyes open.
It was late at night, roughly one in the morning, and Naoto was sitting in her office at the Inaba police station dealing with a mountain of paperwork. She had been for hours. However, this was not her first time slaving away so late to file away all the excessive and gruesome details of some heinous crime. Initially, Dojima, not being used to her complacency with the horrors, had done his best to shield the teen from almost every angle of the crimes they dealt with. Once Naoto got her hands on them though, and threw a concise list of suspects on his desk, he'd been more cooperative.
She couldn't be too hard on the man though. If she were to be honest, he was far more tolerable than many of the other police officials who hated having her on their team. She really wished her admittedly massive reputation as the prodigious Detective Prince had proceeded her a bit more, but most only saw her as someone who didn't, and never would, belong. Many have kept her away from evidence because of the damage their pride took after a child was assigned to work with them, the fear of having her mess something up, or even just plain spite. She knew Dojima's heart, however, was in the right place. He did it out of care, being wary of so willingly throwing a her into the brutality of crime and murder. It made it no less annoying though, so she'd been incredibly grateful once he finally loosened his grip, and finally started treating her as an equal. In fact, her newfound autonomy led her and the team to finding the killer much faster than anticipated.
The case itself was quite intriguing, even if it seemed just as stale as others at first. It started as a standalone homicide, probably due to a mugging gone wrong. Assuming that was the first mistake though. The police force had been surveying the few low income houses that Inaba held, but in doing so, they so easily glossed over where the true culprit was hiding. Naoto, once she could, found the connection between an unrelated killing spree a couple of hours away. So, instead of combing Inaba for a jumpy mugger, she started reviewing that other case and its details to finger a suspect. Just like she hypothesized, the man had fled to the small, rural town in an effort to avoid the authorities, and was lying low at the local hotel. He covered it up as a summer retreat to the country, but the murder weapon that was found during the raid of the room proved otherwise. The newer victim was killed for silence, apparently having heard something he shouldn't have.
And thus, here Naoto sat, doing her best to stop herself from falling asleep on the spot. The pile of excessive paperwork was due to the man needing to be transported back to the original city for trial. It had more resources, and the people there were more hungry for justice than the occupants of the smaller Inaba - likely due to the greater press presence in such an urban area.
The only sound in the office - a temporary one courtesy of Dojima - was the scraping of the pen on the paper. The cool night air of the summer made the room freeze like an icebox. She would've loved for the work to be meditative, but really, it felt like banging her head against a brick wall.
She was about to let out a very satisfying yawn, but stifled it back with a cough when she heard a knock. Dojima poked his head through the door. "Hey Shirogane," he greeted with a small nod, but then sighed disappointedly. "Look, I really appreciate you staying back to fill all this stuff out, but really, I can take care of it from here."
"Nonsense," she replied back, returning back to her paper prison. "I offered to finish it up for you, and I will. I'm almost done anyway." As much as she would've loved to just go back to her grandfather's house and sleep, staying behind took precedent. Dojima knew she would be waking up earlier tomorrow to go visit the beach with her friends, it being the primary reason she opted to come back to Inaba for a summer tenure. Her friends, including Dojima's own nephew, had been planning this occasion for ages, as it would be the only time the close knit group would be able to see each other again in months. The reason he was so willing to finish the work so late at night was so that she would be able to enjoy herself tomorrow, but she didn't need her boss to concede to her childish schedule.
He leaned against the doorframe. "Come on kid, you don't need to prove yourself to me anymore." He knew that she knew, it seemed. "Look, just take the offer, as a coworker. You don't need to kill yourself just for the sake of it."
"Really sir, I am fine. There's no need to worry. I'm not even tired in the slightest." She hoped he didn't notice the heavy bags under her eyes. "Why don't you go home early tonight, and spend some time with Nanako in the morning. I can handle it… for a coworker, of course." She couldn't help but add the last part with a smile.
"Alright, alright, I don't need my words thrown back at me." He stood back up, and pulled something out from his pocket. "Suit yourself. Just lock up once your done." He tossed her the keys he fished out, and watched with amusement as they she scrambled to try and grab them, totally missing the catch. "Just call a cab to get home, please. We don't need anyone else going missing," he added as he walked out. "Night."
Once the door closed, Naoto didn't even hesitate to let her head slam onto the table with a groan and a hysterical chuckle. With groggy eyes she looked her phone. It was approaching one thirty. She set an alarm for three. Just an hour and a half. She could wake up, finish, and then head home. She just couldn't concentrate. Even just an hour and a half of sleep would would be better than this.
Her phone dropped back onto the table as she finally let her eyes close. The simple act itself was as indulgent as falling into a bed of pillows. Within moments she drifted off into unconsciousness, the last thing she felt was the cool touch of the plastic table on her cheek.
The first thing she felt upon waking up was cold metal. She felt it pressed against her face, and stinging her wrists. Her instincts kicking in, she jumped, but only ended up scratching herself on the handcuffs that kept her shackled to the table. The simplistic chair she sat in screeched along the floor as it jerked. Her senses went in to overdrive as her breath quickened into panicked and shallow pants.
Her clothes and belongings were as she had left them as far as she could tell, with only a few notable exceptions. Her cherished watch thankfully still sat on her wrist, but her phone and the gun holstered at her hip disappeared. It was something she should have expected, really. Someone allowing their captive weaponry and communicative devices would be idiotic for any kidnapper. It was no less unsettling, however, although seeing the sentimental watch clasped around her wrist offered a minor burst of comfort.
What was most disturbing however, was the man who stood before her. He stood at the other side of the table, just out of range of what would have been comfortable at any evening dinner. Despite the relatively simply clothes he wore, those being jeans and a messy and lazily buttoned shirt, he still carved an intimidating silhouette against the stark gray walls of the room. If anything, his nonchalant attire made him look even more unnatural. The door, her primary means of escape at the moment, sat tauntingly behind him.
Instead of quivering under his gaze, Naoto met it head on. She focused on his eyes, zeroing in on them as she calmed herself down into a fierce glare. Her jagged breaths died down into a more even, but still heavy, rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. Before long, it faded back to normalcy, leaving a still silence in its place.
Although dozens of questions cluttered her mind, Naoto's mouth remained steadfastly closed. There simply were too many unknowns about her situation. The features on the man were distinctly not of Japanese origin, so she couldn't even assume that her relative notoriety as the Detective Prince would proceed her.
If the one-way glass that sat to her left was any indication, this was an interrogation room. If this person wanted any information, they would have to ask for it. She wasn't about to let anything slip, even if it was through something as noncommittal as her first words.
The two simply sat there, exacerbating Naoto's worries for what seemed to be a few minutes, before the man finally decided to broach through the silence. He sat down on the edge of the table, not once taking his eyes off her. "I'm sure you must be wondering where you are," he stated in English. Naoto's expression was still unchanged. Once he realized she would not answer, he continued. "You must have several questions. 'Where am I?', 'How did I get here?' Well, whatever you might be thinking I want to make sure you know that we mean you no harm." Naoto nearly snorted at that remark. She would be the one to decide if 'they' meant any harm toward her. "We just need to ask a few questions to make sure both you and I are safe here, ok?"
Finally, Naoto took the opportunity to speak. "The best way you can assure me of my safety would be to remove these handcuffs. The only thing they are doing at the moment is making me even more uneasy," she reasoned to him. She still didn't know how hostile he could be. It would be best to test the waters with - if not a reasonable request - an understandable sentiment.
Surprisingly, the man looked almost amused. "We cant exactly do that just yet. It's merely a safety precaution, I assure you."
A safety precaution? Naoto cut the man off before he could continue. "A precaution? Why would you need such strict precautions for an unarmed teenaged girl?" She spoke somewhat quickly, making sure she spat it out before he derailed her train of thought. "You apparently have several others associated with you. There is no threat that a young girl such as myself could possibly possess." At least, there shouldn't be. Had the circumstances and location been different she could likely defeat any number of men within minutes, but this man shouldn't know that. It concerned her that he acted like she posed a threat. Unless he knew something he shouldn't, it didn't make any sense, even if, at the moment, she was relatively defenseless. It concerned her.
"Like I said, it is merely a precaution. If all goes well we can forget this and chalk it up to paranoia." He was merely restating what he already established. "Let's start out with your name, shall we? It'll make asking questions a bit easier."
It sickened her, but she would have to play along. Her identification would likely have been read several times over, so lying would likely only serve to complicate matters. "Naoto Shirogane," she replied bluntly, leaving no room for emotion.
"Naoto Shirogane…" The man nodded to himself, as if he was hearing it for the first time. . "Very well, thank you for being cooperative Miss Shirogane. Now, where are you from?"
"A small town in Japan by the name of Inaba." That was the furthest the information from her wallet hopefully went, so she would stick to it. If not, and they had managed to discern her fame, then she could hopefully fall back on the idea of her fear prompting her to lie.
The man nodded, and gestured for her to continue. "And what do you do in this small town?" This question, being far more open ended required a bit more mental strain. Not only had it revealed very little of what cards her captors had, but was it also difficult remembering exactly what Naoto had on her person at the time of her kidnapping. Even the smallest of stray pieces of information could turn a totally safe lie into a dangerous gamble.
Naoto, who had taken as many spare seconds as she could to organize her next words, was about to answer. Her breath caught itself in her throat as the door slammed open, and a humanoid blur of blue charged in.
The man interrogating her was stunned, and his hesitation cost him. In an instant the intruder threw a savage punch at the man's face. "Gah!" He shouted in pain as a splash of blood spurted from his nose. Even more splattered against the otherwise bleak floor as he was decked with an onslaught of brutal attacks.
Naoto was stunned, just waking up and already being startled by a violent attack. She desperately tried to struggle against her bindings. She even managed to cut her own wrists against the cuffs in her futile attempt to escape. The rattling of chains went silent as the face of the attacker locked onto hers, him kneeling on the ground over the unconscious body of her captor. Surprisingly, he quickly stole first place as the greatest threat in the room.
His black hair was shaved into a sleek buzzcut, and most of his jaw was covered by a faint peppering of facial hair. His blue suit, aside from the smattering of blood on the lower part of its sleeves, seemed immaculately maintained. He noticed Naoto with aged blue eyes, and slowly stood. "S-Stay away from me." Naoto stammered out between rushed pants. Instead of speaking he inspected her for a moment. His attention was stolen back to the door he just barged in from once he heard muffled shouts from outside.
"He went in interrogation room 2!"
"Get him!"
He bolted to the door and slammed it shut before frantically looking about the room. Again, his eyes locked onto Naoto's. "Stand up!" he ordered with a thick and thoroughly nervous French accent.
Confused and not thinking clearly, Naoto quickly obeyed and leapt up and out of her chair. He rushed over and stole the chair away from her before stuffing in beneath the door's handle. And, it was not a moment too soon, as immediately after, slams against the door loudly banged in accompaniment with more shouting. He stared at it as several people were doing their best to force their way in.
"It's stuck shut sir! He must have jammed it!"
"Well get that damn door open!"
"Damn it…" The French man cursed as he swiveled back to look at the body he just dispatched of. Naoto watched was he combed it over. He desperately sorted through the man's clothes and pockets. As the shouts and slams grew in intensity he quickened. Eventually he found a card of some kind, but still looked thoroughly frustrated by his findings. He shook his head, looking around wildly for something to do. Panicked as he found nothing else, punching the wall violently with another curse, gritting his teeth. "Damn it!" He once again looked at the entrance, and his face seemed to be struck with a realization.
He shuffled back beside the door, standing straight next to it, and began to undo the tie that sat around his neck. He loosely tied it about his hand, grasping the other end with an intense grip. He took a deep breath, calming and focusing himself. A moment, later, his entire demeanor shifted. With a smirk, he rose his pointed finger to his lips. "Shh…" A moment later he fiddled with his wrist, or more specifically, a watch that was clasped around it. To Naoto's astonishment, he disappeared before her eyes.
The next thing she knew the chair fell, and the door burst open. A heavily armed team of what appeared to be four soldiers poured into the room, training their rifles on Naoto and her surroundings. "Where is he?" one asked, thrusting his gun towards the girl before him. She simply looked back, mouth agape and breaths running rampant. "Where is he!?" he asked again, nearly hitting Naoto with the tip of the gun.
Behind him, one of his fellow soldiers began to cough and sputter. He dropped his gun, throwing both of his hands up to his neck. The rest of the team whipped around to face him, startled. The soldier closest to the door, before he could even get both feet back on the ground, was sent staggering backward. His gun was thrust astray by some invisible force, and his head was sent recoiling into the wall with a small splash of blood.
The man by Naoto gasped. 'W-What?" The gun of the man by the door seemed to fly through the air, colliding with the suffocating man with a crack. It hit him in the head, and his unconscious body crumpled atop that of the interrogator. His rifle was quickly swept up, and the butt of the gun was thrust into the cheek of the fourth man with another sickening crunch of bone. He fell to the ground as well, and was knocked out as his head kicked to one side.
The rifle, still hovering in mid-air, sent a short spray of bullets into the knee of the man by the door. He dropped, barely managing to support himself before the gun came down atop him as well, knocking him out in a pool of his own blood. Finally, the gun spun around to face the man by Naoto. Two quick shots sped by his head.
"I suggest you remain perfectly still," the voice of the suited French man advised, the menacing venom in his voice sending a chill up the spine of the now quaking soldier. As if by magic, the invisible man materialized around the rifle, his hands gripping it tightly. His mouth was twisted into a cruel smile. "Drop that gun you have there," he instructed as he gestured towards it with his own. "It would be a shame if things had to get truly bloody. I spared the lives of your friends here out of professional courtesy, but I won't hesitate to end your life or the life of your little captive here if you still think it is a wise move to threaten me."
The lone soldier sanding obeyed, and sent his own gun clattering to the floor as he threw his hands up. "What do you want you bastard?"
Never once leaving eye contact, the suited man stepped backwards to create distance and slam the door shut. "Where are my tools being kept?"
The soldier hesitated. "They're being kept in our vault. Two floors up." He was inspected curiously.
A bullet tore through his shoulder, spraying blood all over the wall behind him. Its target let out antagonized screech as he fell down to the table, clutching his arm. "Try again. Be honest this time," the French man demanded.
"Fine…" The soldier looked at his hand, coated crimson, before grunting in pain. "They're in our research labs…"
"Where is it?" The soldier hesitated, merely wincing at his own pain. Another shot went through he shoulder. "Where are they!? Stop wasting my time!"
"Gah!" The wall was splattered with even more blood, some of it even spraying Naoto's sleeve. "It's… It's one floor up… to the…"
"Remember honesty, my friend." Naoto could practically see the poison dripping from his mouth.
He grimaced. "To the right. You'll see it when you get there." He couldn't get another word out before the French man brutally knocked him out with the butt of the gun.
"Thank you, my friend," he mockingly added as a bit of lightness graced his disposition. He burst into action once again. He stuffed the chair back at the door, and fired several shots into the camera in the corner of the room. He fired even more into the one way glass before slamming into it with the gun. It shattered, and he leapt over the few fragments of glass that remained standing. His head swiveled back and forth as he cleared the dark room. He disappeared from Naoto's sight behind the wall before he reappeared, visibly much calmer than earlier. Swinging one leg over the remaining wall he stepped back in, and began walking back towards Naoto. It felt like her pulse doubled with every step he took towards her. He was slow and methodical, but incredibly menacing.
He eyed her once again, studying her. After a moment of contemplation he, much to Naoto's relief and surprise, carefully placed the gun down on the table. "So, I see you're stuck there."
Words escaped her as she stood there bent over the handcuffs awkwardly. Her head was awash by a mix of fear and confusion, all of it being punctuated by the man now smirking down at her. She desperately tried to shape her mouth to form words, but nothing other than a strained croak or two managed to make it out.
Then, the man laughed. He peeled a bloodied glove off, and rubbed his forehead as he chuckled at the stuttering mess chained to the table. "Oh please, I'm not going to hurt you." He looked at her with an amused grin. "I just woke up in a situation similar to yours if that eases you at all. Confused, frightened… I'm sure there are several things you must be feeling right now, no?" Naoto nodded, barely even able to the muscles in her neck to do that.
He hummed in acknowledgment, turning back. He began pacing across the now crowded room, stepping over bodies with his hands resting behind his back. "I have a proposal for you that I believe will be beneficial to both parties. I'm sure you would like to escape this…" He gestured around the room, as if he were regarding a heap of trash. "…prison, no?"
"Y-Yes," Naoto managed to get out, being somewhat calmed.
The man stopped an nodded. "Excellent." He turned back towards her. "Now, I'm almost certainly being regarded as a hostile now running loose here, likely to have be shot on sight if they get the chance." He smiled again, with a glint of eagerness in his eye. "You, however, should still be regarded as an innocent and frightened child in their eyes. Do you agree?"
The realization clicked within her. "You want to take me as a hostage."
"A willing one, if I can manage. In addition to giving me a useful bubble of safety, an extra hand would be helpful." He studied her again. "So, do you agree?"
It would certainly be a risk, on several levels. Being portrayed as an unwilling hostage would give her plausible deniability if this man were to crash and burn, but that was assuming he didn't already have a bullet in her by the time that happened. Aside from his word, there was nothing to guarantee that he wouldn't just discard her whenever it was convenient, and either kill her or send her back to the wolves of this place. He certainly didn't have any qualms about threatening her life earlier, and nothing would stop him from following through.
All that being said, following this wild card that happened to fall upon her seemed more appealing than just remaining imprisoned by these kidnappers. Personal gain was always a great motivator, so, as long as she would remain useful, she should be guaranteed protection, safety, and a way out.
"Yes, I agree."
He chuckled. "I'm glad you an I are on the same page." He walked over to Naoto, and she almost flinched when he brought the rifle up once again. "Just hold your hands out and stay still." He fired two precise shots through the chains, finally liberating Naoto. The cuffs themselves were still attached. They were incredibly annoying, abrasive, painful, and even bloody, but it was better than nothing.
"Thank you," Naoto let out. She stretched and twisted her back, unable to resist the urge even in the precarious situation she found herself in.
The man contently waited as she pulled on several muscles along her body. "So, I assume sure you're fine with accompanying me to this laboratory?" he asked as he checked and reloaded the gun with some magazines he pulled from a fallen body.
Naoto looked at him quizzically as she popped her shoulder. "Are you sure that would be wise? He mentioned it before you took out the camera, so they would likely have fortified it. Wouldn't it be better to just make our way out?"
"Very astute, aren't we?" The man shot her a wry grin, to which Naoto did her best to not react to. "But yes, that is where we should go first." He pumped the gun. "They likely have covered the exits as much as they have the laboratory. It might be a challenge procuring my tools, but I'd rather take the challenge there than attempting to escape unprepared."
"Of course, that is assuming they still have your 'tools' there. They might have moved them, after all."
"I assure you, that is worth the risk. If I get my hands on them, leaving this place will become trivial." It was dubious, but Naoto couldn't exactly argue.
"Ok, I'll follow." It would be dangerous, but, as the man said, they were likely have containment as a high priority. Just trying to walk out at the moment could very well be no better than suicide.
The man walked behind her, raising the gun. "So, shall we begin our little performance?" He gestured towards the dark observation room to the side, and the window in to it. "There are still cameras through there."
She exasperatedly sighed. "Yes, I suppose we should." It would be an annoying and cumbersome arrangement, but a necessary one. Naoto turned her back to him, raising her hands as if she were surrendering. She took a cautious step towards the window, but froze, and half turned her head back to him. "Before we go, what should we call each other?"
"I hope you're not reaching for a name." He laughed. "I assumed we would skip that for the sake of anonymity once this is all done."
"Of course. I wouldn't even want to be threatened by even the slightest inclination towards what you do," she agreed with a small, meager smile. "We will still need to have some way to communicate."
"Haha, very well. Call me Spy, if you would please."
Naoto raised an eyebrow. "'Spy'? Not even an alias of some sort?"
"I'm used to the moniker." He nodded his head towards her. "And yourself?" He paused. "A professional courtesy as well: avoid telling me your actual name," he added jokingly. Naoto wouldn't even dream of telling the man anything.
"Just call me… Sukuna." It took a moment to think of, but there would be no harm in using the name as an alias for the time being.
"Of course… Sukuna. Very well. Shall we get moving then? I'm sure allowing them to build of their forces while we wait idly will not make our escape any easier."
"Yes, let's be off. The research laboratory it is, then?"
He gave her a playful, but no less painful, shove with the back of the gun. "Let's."
By the time the duo made their way to the elevator, Naoto was sure several bruises had erupted along her back. She fully understood how important was to actually make it look like she was going along with Spy's plot unwillingly, but the aggression he was putting into poking her with the barrel was something she was genuinely getting irritated about.
His determination to poke a hole in her spine was in no way alleviated by how ridiculously long it took for them to actually find the elevator. Had the situation not have been so dire, the absurd amount of time it took them to find it within the baffling maze of corridors and rooms of the floor would have been comical. The place was absolutely labyrinthian.
They probably would have spent double the time it took had some poor technician not had decided to play hero and ambush them. He was the only individual they saw during their entire trek of the otherwise evacuated halls, apparently having been stuck in the bathroom when whatever announcement or alarm went off. The man leapt out of the doorway flailing and screaming wildly. Naoto was somewhat pleased when Spy managed to incapacitate him mere moments after he flew into the hallway after them. She wouldn't put it passed the man to have bit her in his blind rage.
After being slammed against the wall, however, any traces of that bestial anger quickly deflated into a stuttering mess of words and pleas. Spy barely even had to look at him before he started spilling information, and was much more accommodating than the trained and disciplined soldier they met earlier. Naoto did her best to look horrified and shocked for the cameras, but most of her attention circled back around on the baffling information Spy managed to extract.
In addition to thankfully finding some more detailed directions to the research laboratory and the hangar, the nearest exit, the petrified - and thoroughly soiled - technician they found illuminated some rather shocking aspects of what exactly was going on. Apparently, the two - or at least the two of them, as Spy had suggested - were imprisoned in some sort of massive facility that was totally unknown to the rest of mankind. XCOM, he had called it, or the 'extraterrestrial combat unit.'
The suggestion that such a thing even existed was absurd to Naoto, but, trapped as she was, there was very little she could do to refute a word the man said. Her first instinct was to assume she was somehow thrust back into the TV world and its assortment of otherworldly cognitions. The only damper on that idea was that, although she could still certainly feel Sukuna Hikona buzzing around inside her head, she didn't feel a close enough connection to call upon him. So, she had no other option but to wrap her head around her being abducted by some otherwise unbelievable anti-alien organization.
If anything, that idea sat with her even worse. She would be powerless to defend herself from whatever this organization would want to do to her. And, that brought up the question of exactly what they wanted to do to her and what they kidnapped and held her captive for. Had they somehow found out that she had unique supernatural abilities? Was Spy here for that same potential reason? Was he also a persona user? Were they here for containment? Protection? Experimentation?
The questions clouded her mind. It was times like these where she wished that she had a more direct emotional connection to the little deity flying around her head. She could feel his presence, and the occasional burst of vague emotion, but nothing more than that. She could desperately use someone private to confide her thoughts with, especially with how dubious her current partner's intentions really were.
All that aside, Naoto felt her senses lock back in on reality once she and Spy found their way to the elevator. Turning the corner and finally seeing it poured a wave of ease over both of them. The annoyance and arduousness of the whole thing severely trumped any unease they felt earlier.
Spy let out a released sigh. "Finally," he muttered tiredly. "It's about time we've found the damn thing."
Naoto scoffed from in front of him, patiently waiting for him to figure out how to still look intimidating while fiddling with the keycard they needed. "I'm not sure what you're complaining about. You're not the one who's been getting stabbed with that gun the whole walk here."
Spy simply grumbled. "I won't shove you as hard if you're going to be such a crybaby about it."
"I'm not being a crybaby. I'm being conscious about avoiding you tearing my back open." She glared at him from over her shoulder. "Just get the keycard and open this door." She winced at the card flew passed by her face, clattering against the large elevator door and hitting the ground.
"If you're so eager to keep moving then you do it." Apparently he gave up trying to awkwardly handle the rifle in one hand and hold the card in the other. Spy opted to just keep pointing the gun and watch. Naoto sent him another fierce glare before bending down to pick it up. Once in hand, it slid through the reader, and, with a groan, the maw of the doors opened up.
Spy was alert, as if there was anything that would jump out at him at any moment. From behind the sights of the gun, his head slowly angled itself up and down, left and right, and surveyed every inch of the elevator's cabin. Naoto, waiting for him to resume their little skit for the camera that surely sat within, was about to say something to get Spy moving; his hesitation was going on for a bit longer than she thought would be necessary, even with the level of paranoia they shared. That is, she would have said something, but Spy bolted into action.
She shrieked when he blasted the camera inside, and sprayed a hail of bullets into the cabin. She screamed again when she heard a wail from inside, and actually flailed backwards when a vague form of grey and red shot out. Spy jumped and rolled backwards before the figure could manage to grab him and pivoting back to hit it with the butt of the gun. It recoiled to the side, and sent another shout echoing throughout the halls.
Before Naoto's own eyes, she saw color slowly began to flood back into the bleeding, vaguely humanoid shape, and, after a few seconds, saw it to be another soldier. The man wore surprisingly little armor, and had some devices of some sort attached to his arms. But, before the flushness of the man's skin fully reinvigorated, Spy spun and took out the rest of the cameras behind him. The soldier rose his own gun, staggering as he did his best to stay standing. Blood oozed from several wounds across his abdomen, and his face was twisted into a grimace.
Naoto, left unsupervised, jumped at the bleeding man from behind and slammed her hands into his temples with as much force as she could muster. She, desperately wanting to keep her cover, dug her hands into his ears and pulled out whatever communications device he had. She pulled it out just before he, with a surprising amount of strength for a wounded man, literally picked her up from behind him and tossed her at Spy.
The Frenchman ducked underneath the flying girl, bringing the butt of the gun up once again to slam their assailant in the nose. He dug into the soldier's face with another savage blow, and finished him off with one to the side of the head to finally knock him unconscious.
Breathing deeply, Spy stood up. "Sukuna, are you ok?" he nonchalantly asked from over the shoulder as he adjusted his gloves.
With a groan, Naoto pushed herself off the ground and trudged back over. "Just… fine…"
"Good." He walked over to the elevator with the gun, and carefully inspected it. Unconcerned, Naoto hobbled in, and Spy slid through the closing doors behind her. "I knew something was off when it opened immediately. The elevator should have been on a different floor if everyone on the floor was evacuated." He laughed. "An amateur mistake."
Naoto, nursing her side, practically fell into the wall as she nursed her side. That tumble across the room hurt. "H-How did you know he was there though?" She saw that there was clearly no sign of anyone, but somehow, Spy was able to discern the danger immediately.
He smirked, entering the next floor up on the keypad after spotting the one they were on. "I know the signs." The doors slid shut, leaving the unlikely pair standing next to each other. "I would tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," he added as the elevator ascended. Naoto rolled her eyes.
The door opened, and Spy once again brought the rifle up. He managed it right on time, as, the second the two got a glimpse of the outside world, two soldiers, guarding a door barely twenty feet away, immediately leapt into action. Naoto could see the features on their faces quickly shift from disinterest, to curiosity, to realization, and, finally, to anger and fierceness. However, even if they rose their guns long before Spy was ready, they were unable to do anything with Naoto herself in the way. From behind her, Spy shouted out. "Nobody move! Both of you, drop your guns, now!" They simply stared at him, unfazed. If anything, their aim only seemed to intensify.
In response, Spy took the butt of the gun and slammed it right between Naoto's shoulder blades. The attack was sudden, caught her off guard, and hurt like hell. She gasped as she fell forward to her knees. As she fell, she felt the barrel of the gun shove her neck even further into the ground. "Put your weapons on the ground, now!"
This time, they flinched. They exchanged nervous looks between each other, unsure of how to manage the situation. Naoto was likely just as nervous. She actually wasn't sure she was totally safe being pressed against the barrel of the gun with Spy holding the trigger. He shattered several soldier's bones and joints with the gun to get what he wanted before, and the thought that he might consider her limbs just as expendable horrified her.
Thankfully, she heard the guard's guns clatter to the ground. She would have sighed with relief had she not been painfully jerked back up by the back of her coat's collar. She felt the barrel of the gun dig back into its spot on her back as Spy began to shove her along. "Now, both of you. Get into that elevator and ride it to the bottom floor." Naoto jerked as he let loose a warning shot right beside her. "Now!" Slowly and obediently, they circled Spy and Naoto as the two pairs made their way towards their destinations. Spy had his eyes locked onto the soldiers the whole time, and didn't even waver until he heard and felt the telltale rumble of the elevator descending. Even if they didn't actually go to the bottommost floor, at least they were of the floor now, and were no longer a current threat.
The second Naoto felt Spy's grip on her loosen, she let out a grumble. "I really wish you would have given me some warning before beating me to the ground."
"They were right there, I had to make it believable," he retorted. "If we make it out of here, a little bruise will be the last thing on your mind."
Naoto sighed, conceding. "Very well. At least you didn't actually shoot me."
"It was hard resisting the temptation to."
She was not amused in the slightest. He was beginning to get quite irritating. Eager to move on, she looked onward towards the door, now absent of any guards. "So, we have arrived."
"That we have. Very observant of you to point out."
Again, getting very irritating. "Do you have a plan?"
"Aside from shoving you in there and telling everyone to put their weapons down? No, I do not."
"I suppose that is not very different from how we have been operating so far."
"Yes, very true, mon cheri."
The two stood before the door, neither one looking forward to seeing exactly what challenge sat for them on the other side. Assuming they both got out of this successfully, this would be the biggest hurdle they reached thus far. Both of their fates sat behind that door.
Spy's face grew solemn as he eyed the automatic door. "On three, we go in. Stay quiet and keep your head down."
Naoto nodded, taking her position in between the man and the door. She took a deep breath.
"One," Spy sounded off behind her.
"Two." She steeled herself.
"Three!" he yelled shoving the girl in from of him forward with the side of the rifle, plunging the two of them into the unknown. "Nobody move! Nobody move!" He was shouting the second the door slid open, before either of them could even grasp their surroundings.
It was dark, more so than the sterile white Naoto was expecting. Mostly everything around them - the walls, the floor, even most of the varied apparatuses and computers that filled the room, were the same drab shade of grey that comprised most of the other halls. It was certainly a large space, being larger than several classrooms put together, but not much taller than one.
What was one of the most concerning things about the room were the pods in the back of the room, for the lack of a better word. Five of them lined the wall, seemingly made of some kind of orange tinted glass. What gave Naoto pause, however, was the eerie sight of unconscious bodies being awkwardly and unnaturally held inside of them. Each pod had a body, strung up by some clasps along the back of the pods. Seeing them lifeless, held up like marionettes with their heads and bodies limp, caught a breath in Naoto's throat.
Things moved quickly once the duo breached inside. All around her, Naoto saw and felt the eyes and guns of several people around her. In addition to the small squad of soldiers, four more in here, was an assortment of scientists in white lab coats, a few people donned in sweaters, and one exceptionally angry and scared young man in a blue jacket screaming on the other side of the room while trying to free himself of the handcuffs that kept him locked in place. "H-Hey!" After Spy's outburst, he was the only one yelling in the otherwise silent room. "Help me! Get me outta here!"
Spy ignored his pleas, only focusing on the several guns pointed at him. Four more soldiers had their guns trained on him, and two men in sweaters - dark green and black - held pistols outstretched. "Everyone, drop your weapons," Spy commanded, his thick accent cutting through the silence.
None of the others in the room flinched. In fact, the man in the black sweater, with glasses and a black tuft of thick hair, spoke. "Colonel Zhang, send out a Mindfray," he directed, not a trace of panic in his calm and even tone. A man, sharply dressed with a face marred by scars, stepped out from behind one of the apparatuses.
Spy's gun snapped to him. "Don't move! Freeze!" He urged the gun forwards. The man, apparently Colonel Zhang, tentatively froze. However, a confident smile spread across his face nonetheless. Spy wavered. He bounced the aim if the gun back and forth, shifting between Zhang, the man in black, and the soldiers, who surprisingly now seemed like much less of a threat. "I said don't move!" He took a few steps back as Zhang raised his hand.
Then, in the blink of an eye, a bright purple wave of energy pulsated out from the colonel's palm. It distorted the air, cleaving a seemingly mystical image through the room as it barreled towards Spy. As soon as the wave crashed over him, he shouted, dropping the gun. "Gah!" He grimaced violently and clutched his head, staggering back.
Zhang's eyes were glowing brilliantly. They flared, and another wave of purple crashed into Spy. He shouted again, tightly gripping his skull with both hands. "G-Gah! G-Get out of m-my head!" Naoto watched in horror as Spy sank to his knees, writhing and shaking his head in pain. She looked at Zhang in equal parts awe and terror, mystified by how easily and nonchalantly he completely incapacitated one of the most capable men she had ever seen.
"Good job, Zhang," the man in black commented, finally lowering his gun. "Why don't you put them back to sleep. We'll sort this whole thing out later."
Zhang nodded. "Of course, Commander." Naoto's eyes widened as she saw him raise his other arm. More wisps of purple energy flew out, racing towards them. Some of it clumped together around Spy, and, even though just moments before he was screaming, he started drifting off into unconsciousness. She watched as his shakes grew weaker, and his cries grew softer.
She felt a similar wave his her, attacking all of her senses with a numbing wash. Like her companion, all of her senses began to dull. Despite not feeling the slightest bit tired, she felt her mind begin to be clouded, like her brain was being filled with fog. A distinct feeling of dread hit her as she fell to her knees. She had gotten so far, yet now, barely seconds after she entered the room, she was about to have the veil pulled back over her, and become trapped once again. It was a sickening, hopeless felling that began to envelop her, like she failed. It worsened the fogginess in her head, making the lure of unconsciousness all the easier to succumb to.
Moments after the wave of energy hit her, she felt all the stimuli of her body begin to fail. Sight. Sound. Touch. She even began to cease to think. All of the feelings that governed her conscious mind deflated, falling into a murky, intangible haze.
All except one.
Buzzing. Her entire mind was filled by buzzing. That buzzing was an anchor, a lone spotlight piercing through the fog. Even if everything else became muddied, the buzzing remained, vibrating throughout Naoto's mind.
It was louder than ever before, more than she ever had experienced. Frantic, even. It always sat there in the back of her mind, but now, it was bouncing to and from even the deepest corners of her mind. It kept her awake. Gave her something to lock on to - to grip tightly. As the fog grew thicker and thicker, the buzzing grew stronger and stronger. It was pulling at the buzzing, trying to envelop it, but the clouds around it simply wouldn't hold. They kept pulling, pulling, pulling, but they only pulled the buzzing up, bringing it even closer to the top.
A more violent force entered, like a lightning bolt. It was as if the fog grew into a furious tempest, and began to attack instead of simply trying to bury. The sparks coated the buzzing, their sharp crackling bouncing across it. It was painful, very painful. A booming thunder slammed the world, trying its damnedest to shake and rattle as much as possible. It swirled and shook like the snow of a television - a sharp and painful hail.
Yet, even as it attacked, it kept pulling, pulling, pulling. It pulled the buzzing up, wrapping around it, trying to envelop it, and trying to expose it. So it pulled, trying to tame the frantic buzzing that kept the fog at bay. And so, the buzzing raced it. Stayed one step ahead of it. Using the tumultuous booms and explosions to propel itself forward, launching itself forward with the ferocity of a tornado behind it. Its speed grew, growing faster and faster as the intensity of the hurricane behind it grew. It chased the buzzing, but, despite its power, could not overwhelm its target. It couldn't envelop it, couldn't pull it down - only push it forward as it tried to work its way ahead. It kept pushing. Pushing as it tried to race ahead.
Both the storm and the buzzing rocketed forward. Their speed fed on itself. As the storm pushed and tried to pull, the buzzing rode it, and flew even further out of reach. Yet, the storm kept chasing, racing, pushing. The speed grew. The buzzing was a blur. With one final burst of speed, the buzzing surged forward with a bright and brilliant flash, completely abandoning the storm, and charging forward at the speed of light.
Sukuna Hikona could be registered as little more than a stream of light as it shot forward, clearing the distance between Naoto and Zhang in less than an instant. It slashed at the Colonel, sending him flying across the room and crashing into the wall.
Naoto's eyes snapped open. The fog was lifted. She bolted upright, desperate to maintain her hold on reality. The she saw it. The stark white and deep cobalt of his wings. The azure glow of his sword. The small, yet imposing figure of Sukuna Hikuna hovering before her. It hit her, filling her with a confidence and power like no other.
She had her Persona.
She was powerful.
She could take out everybody in this room in an instant.
She won.
The man in black, the Commander, staggered back, practically leaping out of the way as his colonel was sent crashing through thousands of dollars of machinery. He whipped out his pistol, firing several shots at the being before him. However, it merely zipped out of the way, dodging each bullet the moment it was fired before piercing through the gun itself with its beam sword.
The being's eyes centered on the Commander's, meeting his, barely a few inches away. It then zipped away, shooting between the rest of the soldiers like a lightning bolt. It was shooting from one end of the room to the other, dodging any bullets they sent before they ever had a chance to hit their mark. Innumerable gunshots sounded and shouts and orders echoed.
Guarded by the clamor, Naoto moved back over to Spy. He was groaning, and shaking his head from the attack on his mind. "What happened?" He pushed himself on the floor before promptly falling back down once he noticed the chaos that was unfolding before him, particularly the flying blue fairy, sharply dressed in his own blue suit and tie, that was weaving between hails of gunfire. He scurried backward, totally panicked by what he saw. "W-What is that? What's going on?" He was totally startled and confused, looking to Naoto for some justification for the insanity that was occurring.
Naoto simply helped him back up onto his feet. "I'll explain later. Just get whatever you need so we can get out of here." He looked at her blankly for a moment.
He stared at her blankly for a moment, confused and afraid, before looking back to the havoc being sewed throughout the room. With a determined nod, he raced off to survey the complex assortment of items and machinery that was meticulously organized in the corner of the room, next to the containment pods that held the other supposed prisoners.
Naoto, shying away into the background to keep a low profile, refocused her consciousness onto Sukuna Hikuna. He was still zipping across and in between the soldiers like a flee, but she decided he should go on the offensive a bit more. With nothing more than a communicative thought, the construct of her mind zigzagged back and forth, cleanly halving the rifles firing upon it as it flew passed.
Spy was desperately sifting his way through the pile of foreign and confusing items in the search for something he was familiar with. He was passing swords of all kinds, other strange guns, some strange three pronged spinning device that looked to be attached to a gauntlet of sorts - it was a heterogeneous mess of things he knew nothing about. Finally, he found his. He smiled the second he came upon all his tools, and the familiar sight of his most important piece of apparel. He was doing to best to stash them all - several knives, watches, and a few boxy devices - within his suit when he heard a groan from behind him. Zhang, as he was apparently named, was stalking over to him with a severe limp to his step.
There would not be a repeat of whatever madness happened before. Spy gripped his watch, disappearing from sight with a smirk and a wave. Zhang's obvious fury was absolutely beautiful. Like a ghost, he assaulted the poor man, swinging punches at his face and gut until his target was gasping for air on the floor. Spy kneeled down, becoming visible just in time for Zhang to see the smug grin on his features. "Haha, goodnight." Spy stood up and sent a boot right towards his face.
Something else, caught his attention though. It looked to be a computer of sorts, but what was so notable was the apparatus it was hooked up to. It was the pods. He slipped on his mask, obscuring his face with the familiar blue cloth. "Time to sew a little more chaos…" He pulled out one of the boxy devices he stashed away, and went to work.
Naoto watched her Persona make quick work of the room. She noticed some movement beside her - the man in the black sweater Zhang called "Commander." It stood to reason that he was the one in charge then. She brought Sukuna Hikuna over between them. He brought his beam sword up, blocking the supposed commander from getting anywhere near Naoto. She stared him down, inspecting each movement and fidget he made. He acted similarly, as if he was sizing her up, or judging her. She was the first one to break the intense glares they shared between each other. "Why?" she vaguely asked, practically begging him for an answer. "Why did you kidnap us?"
"I didn't." He sighed dejectedly, but lost none of his intensity. "Just cut this insanity out so we can explain ourselves," he pleaded, seemingly genuinely concerned.
"And why should I do that?" Sukuna Hikuna flourished his blade. "You've done nothing but contain and imprison us, gave us no reason to trust you, and lead us to the logical conclusion that you kidnapped us all against our will," she accused. "Regardless of your intentions, however twisted they may be, we will be leaving this place now. She was tired of kidnappers believing what they were doing was justified.
"I'm sorry, but you can't."
"You can't stop me. Leaving this facility will no longer be difficult."
The Commander let out a sad laugh. "I'm not saying that it would be. I doubt we'd be able to stop you even if we threw everything we had at you." His face grew solemn. "I'm saying that you're trapped here, in this dimension. The distance away from your home isn't a matter of miles, but of the laws of reality we couldn't even begin to comprehend."
Naoto wasn't amused. "Why should I believe anything you're saying?"
The man scratched his head, worry spreading across his face. "I mean… Just look at the others behind me. There's no way they're from your world." He turned around to look at them. "They're insanely different. There's no way-" His words were cut off, dying in his throat as he saw a masked Spy, flexing his hand above several groaning and sputtering bodies.
"I believe you might need to offer an explanation to us all, my friend." Spy gestured to those around him, all five - six, if the now freed young man standing beside him was included - all regaining their senses. "Better make it convincing," he added, pulling out a cigarette. "We wouldn't want any… unfortunate, misunderstandings about your intentions, now would we?"
The Commander, wide eyed, look back to Naoto, and then back to the scene before him in disbelief. Both his hands ran up to his head, and ran through his hair as he cringed. "Shit… I guess I should've expected something would go wrong…" He groaned, trying to find someway to salvage the situation. "Well, alright," he began, glancing at both Spy and Naoto. "If it's an explanation you want its an explanation you'll get." He looked around, before settling on the man in the green sweater who was taking cover behind an overturned desk. "Bradford, grab some chairs," he asked warily, sweating slightly.
The man, Bradford, slowly stood, eyeing the Commander with a mix of nervousness and desperation. "I hope you know what you're doing Commander."
His superior sighed, muttering to himself. "When do I ever…" He looked back up to Spy, pointing at him angrily. "Well, if we all end up blown up by one of these people its all your fault.
Spy winked. "Of course. I'll be sure to hang it on my conscience as I escape this place."
"Alrighty then…" He walked over to the group, embracing the doom that had just befallen him.
AN: Alright, here's chapter two! For any of those who read the original version of this story, you'll notice that this is an insane diversion from what I had originally. Thinking back on it, I feel like that original explanation of events was a little too… fanfictiony, in what I want to become a pretty serious story. There were a lot of logical leaps it utterly skipped over, so I think this turn of events is a lot more realistic, and doesn't require as much suspension of disbelief.
Aside from all that though, I'm pretty pleased with it! It took me a while to figure out exactly how I wanted this to go, and a few parts of this went over some pretty serious revisions themselves before I found a progression I was satisfied with. Regardless of how I feel, I really do want to hear all of your thoughts! Reviews would be incredibly appreciated, especially those of critical variety. My self esteem is certainly helped by praise, but a good scathing criticism of everything I've done wrong would really help me improve, and deliver the best story I possibly can.
So, I hope that you've all enjoyed this next chapter! I'll start working on the next immediately, and I definitely hope I can get it out sooner rather than later. Either way, I hope you all have a great day, and good luck in school for any who are starting it!