There are two ways to stop a determined woman on the march – do everything she says as she says it or take the next planetary exit and hope she doesn't hitch a ride to follow. Psychologists have been debating it for years and had found no concrete solutions. That said, reinforced walls and doors that could stop a speeding tank (as testified to by Building Seven), withstand a rocket attack (Building Three) or survive ten hours of attacking mobs (Building Two) was enough to put a dint in Akiza's stride. Until that morning, her medical credentials had granted access to every nook and cranny of the SRC. It would be the one door she wanted to tear from the hinges that she wasn't allowed to open. Few members of staff were walking around the grounds so early in the morning but one trained psychologist spread the word until the pathways were clear of bodies and forced Akiza to take more unorthodox measures.
"Abi." Tapping the earpiece screwed into her skull, she bounced on her heels in the second it took her phone to connect to the computer.
"Hello, Dr Izinski. How can I help you today?" Akiza cracked a grim smile.
"Something appears to be wrong with the doors into Building Eight. My credentials aren't working." Lights flickered across the panel as the computer ran a diagnostic.
"There is a fault in the circuitry. External doors can only open from inside Building Eight." Switching to the balls of her feet, Akiza glared at the top of the building above her.
"Is there any way I can get in?" If Yusei wanted a building closed up, it was unlikely he would leave the proverbial window open. That said, if anybody knew the building better than Yusei, it was the computer that ran that building.
"Yes." Waiting patiently, Akiza was barely surprised when more information failed to come.
"Stupid computer." Denizens of the past had envisaged artificial intelligence dripping from every tree. With more restrictions than even cloning, the resulting half-hearted 'virtual intelligence' still left much to be desired. "Abi, what is the quickest way I can access Building Eight?"
"Utility tunnels run beneath the SRC facilities and have internal access to all buildings. Warning: access is restricted. Warning: communication is restricted. Warning: illumination is res"
"Just tell me how to get there." Even though the computer technically lacked tones, there was an unmistakable hint the list was going to continue on for a long time.
"Optimal access is located within the main SRC. Please return to the main complex for further directions." Pausing only long enough to glower at the windows high above, Akiza considered the wisdom of making a crude gesture as she stalked across the pathways to the main buildings. It was a goodly distance between the outer ring of buildings but Akiza's angered pace ate up the journey with gusto. Word of her temper had already spread to the main building and the heavy outer doors opened up into a deathly quiet hallway. Dr Din had a reputation for having a 'short temper'. Hearing he was wary of the enraged Akiza was like hearing stories about the one that got away – nobody quite believed it but they didn't poke around just in case.
"Where now?" On cue, a previously hidden door just to her left clicked open. As a perfectly flat panel just beside a supply close, it was inevitable that the scientists simply overlooked the hidden door in favour of the more obvious one. Sliding her fingers into the tiny gap, Akiza pulled the door fully open and looked through it. Flights of dull concrete steps lay before her as rarely used strip lights flickered into life overhead. A slight odour of damp air wafted past her in a chill breeze. Glancing back through the doors at Building Eight, Akiza fixed the direction firmly in her mind. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she only had to turn left and walk back towards it. From this distance, Yusei couldn't see her going underground and wouldn't be able to see her coming.
Carefully walking down the stairs, she heard the door click itself closed behind her. Keeping one hand on the blank wall beside her, she jogged down the four flights of cramped stairs at a fair pace, only stopping at the bottom when another door presented itself. Holding her identity card to the scanner, she pushed forth into the tunnels beneath. Without thinking anything of it, she immediately turned left and set off on her journey as the door closed behind her. Had she taken more time to consider it, Akiza would have noticed the mistake.
Back above ground, she had located Building Eight over to her left. As she had come down the stairs, that direction had inverted with every additional flight. Odd flights kept it to her left, even flights moved it to her right. With four flights, the direction had changed three times. In other words, she was heading in completely the wrong direction.
Four minutes later, Akiza had finally recognised three minutes earlier but chosen to ignore. She was hopelessly lost in this underground labyrinth and all of the corridors looked exactly the same. There hadn't been sign of another door since she had entered and she was starting to feel shame through the intense flames of her anger. Stopping at a crossroads, she tried to shake the feeling of being followed by unseen spirits and gathered her thoughts.
What little advice had she listened to from Abi? 'Access is restricted'. As a medic, the only rooms off limits were classified projects with select access. 'Communication is restricted'. From the lack of signal she was getting on either her phone or earpiece, that much was obvious. What had been the third entry on the list? Fate – never one to avoid the dramatic entry – chose that exact moment to begin turning off the lights. They started at one end of a corridor and began sweeping towards her at a ferocious pace. Sprinting to try and keep up with the lit corridors only sent her hurtling into a sharp corner with the shadows racing at her from both directions.
"Illumination is restricted." At the time, she had attributed the warning to mean that there were few opportunities for sunlight to reach the underground. It actually meant the lights were on a timer. Five minutes after somebody came down, they turned themselves off. "Great." Fumbling her hands against the pitted wall, Akiza took faltering steps as she vainly tried to continue her attempt to find any form of escape. After what felt like miles but was probably only feet, she stumbled sideways onto the floor as the wall fell away. Stumbling to her feet, she reached out in every direction. Fingers brushing sharp corners, she was able to make out several openings. It was impossible to tell but a pessimistic part of her mind asked if it was the same junction as before. Panic began rising inside her and Akiza forced herself not to lost composure.
Between her pounding heart and heavy breath, she tried to make out any sound to indicate a way out. Maybe somebody else was going to use the utility tunnels which were protected with enough security to run a prison system any minute now. Or maybe she would simply go mad, live in these tunnels without light for years and start hearing voices. Then a whisper crossed her shoulder in a sinister fashion. Quiet, deadly, intense.
"Don't scream." Taking this information into account, Akiza swung around and landed a solid punch right where the voice had come from, screaming all the while for good measure.
"Stay down if you know what's good for you." Controlling her breath as best she could, both ears strained to hear any change in the darkness.
"Okay." For maybe the first time in a stand-off, one party was actually following the direction.
"Who are you?" There was a sound of spitting in the darkness but nothing else. "What are you doing here?"
"I work here. Tunnel maintenance, mostly." A moment passed between the sentences. Tingly instincts rose in the dark. "Dr Izinski?" Fabric rustled in the darkness as she reached for the pens in her pocket. They wouldn't do much good as a weapon but it was better than nothing. "Can I get up?" It was a man's voice and he didn't sound alarmed to be locked in the dark tunnels with her. Looking about herself – more from habit than any actual use – she considered her options.
"You might as well." Nothing sounded in the hallway. "I said, you can get up now."
"I heard you." Jumping slightly as the words sounded at head-height, she tried to make sense of her surroundings again.
"Do you have a torch?" Slight rustling sounded this time but no light came.
"Do you want me to go and get one for you?" Lunging desperately in the dark, she clutched awkwardly for something to hold onto.
"Don't leave." After a few seconds endless groping, she felt a gentle grip fasten to her own hand. Relief burst through her at the simple human contact and she held on as tightly as she could.
"Okay." There was something about the voice she couldn't quite place. It was soft, calm and sounded familiar for some reason. Like she had heard it somewhere recently. If panic hadn't been flooding her brain, she would have paid more attention. "Would you like me to walk you back to the SRC? You've gone quite a distance." In her haste to try and reach Yusei, Akiza had actually ended up almost half a mile in the wrong direction. The owner of the whispering voice would have been impressed if he hadn't been so dismayed.
"Can you get me to Building Eight? I need to talk with Yusei." Gears locked and turned inside the head of her acquaintance as routes mapped themselves out.
"Of course." Stepping closer to one side of her, the invisible figure placed his arm underneath her own. "Follow me carefully." Tugging her off down one side, she felt more than saw the corner of a wall passing before her eyes. "And you can put the pen away." Flushing guiltily, she stowed the makeshift weapon back in her pocket.
"Can I borrow your goggles? It's unpleasant being down here." A grim chuckle came from beside her.
"I'm not wearing goggles." A gentle left turn took them down a slightly warmer passage than the one they had just left. Heat was radiating from somewhere to her right and she wondered if it was from gas or water pipes.
"Right, next you'll be telling me you can see in the dark." Empty silence greeted her words. "Tell that to your grandmother." It was an old saying she had picked up from a patient at Dian Keto but worked best in the original translation. Luckily, the language barrier wasn't much of a barrier.
"I thought a heard traces of an accent. You speak Deutsch, ja?" Between words, her companion slipped into rough German that garbled slightly in his hushed tones. "I spent some time in Düsseldorf. German is one of my favourite languages."
"You speak it well." She was bending the truth a lot. German was regarded as the hardest European language to learn and the pronunciation alone was terrible. "Did you spend much time there, Mr?" It dawned on her mid-way through the question that she hadn't asked for his name. Between the panic of being lost in the dark and being greeted by name, Akiza hadn't realised she didn't actually know this mysterious man's identity.
"A few months. Long enough to learn a bit of the language. Most people called me," She couldn't help but laugh at the word that followed. It was mispronounced horribly but there was no mistaking the intended target. "Yes, it is a mouthful. Backpfeifengesicht." It was one of the numerous so-called 'bastard words' of German that didn't really have an exact translation. A close approximation would be 'a face that needs to be punched'. "I assumed it was the German form of my name for a few weeks. A shame to be proven wrong." He switched back to Japanese again and Akiza concentrated on not laughing. "I am Obake. A pleasure to finally be introduced." Something about the way he said it inferred they had already crossed paths before.
"I'm sorry, but have we met? I feel like I know you from somewhere." In the calming regular tones of his voice, she realised the darkness had stopped being so utterly terrifying. It still scared her no end but being able to focus on the conversation had definitely taken an edge from the fear.
"We met once already." Passing another tunnel – she could feel the pressure of an opening close by – a slight hiss of steam or escaping gas reached her ears and she suddenly remembered where she knew the voice from. "You patched my leg up after an accident."
"Pipe man!" A bitter sigh came from her side at the title.
"Not the worst I've been called. I was glad you secured the job." Turning another corner, the sound of scraping stone came from his far side. It echoed dimly in the small tunnel. "Professor Ogino still has a few contacts and was particularly thrilled to hear you were available. Considering how effective you were at diagnosing my leg, it would appear she made the right choice." Scraping gave way to calm silence as he steered them down another dark alley. "Try and stay out of the tunnels in future. Professor Fudo generally doesn't like people coming down here." A slight tug indicated they had arrived at the destination as a tapping sound came from by her feet. "Take it slowly when you get upstairs. Air doesn't flow well down here, you may need a moment to adjust." Fabric whispered from beneath her grip and Akiza was suddenly very aware of all the ghost stories she had heard in Germany. Spirits said to guide lost travellers to their destinations or lure them into hidden graves.
"Obake?" Turning she hissed into the darkness, half-sure that he was already gone.
"Yes?" Resisting the urge to scream, she turned to face the blank sight beside her with a brittle little smile.
"Thank you for showing me the way out." A quiet cough indicated she was still several inches off her intended target. Feeling the deep bow more than seeing it, she carefully climbed up the stairs her latest colleague had shown her to. Light spread itself from a glowing keypad at the top of the flight. After so long in complete darkness, it was enough for her to see the outline of a thick metal door. Because the utility tunnels were doubtless a security weakness, she knew the door was strong enough to keep out most anyone who wasn't allowed in already. After two near misses to swipe her card, she watched the red light blink several times as the computer processed her credentials. An eternity of waiting later, the green light flickered begrudgingly into life. Heaving on the door with what strength she had, Akiza managed to open a gap big enough to wriggle through before the heavy weight could swing shut on her again.
Inside was barely better than the tunnels. Thick stacks of covered equipment cluttered the underground room with a heavy painted line protecting the area near the door. Though the details were hard to make out, she could see enough of the room to navigate thanks to a thin sliver of light coming from under the door across the room. Wading through the piles of clutter, she clambered the maze of objects until reaching the debatable safety of the stairs. Numerous folders of paperwork had been stacked against the wall and carved out a tiny path for her to hobble up. Another keypad at the door responded marginally faster than the last and Akiza was able to collapse into an empty foyer on the other side of the conveniently malfunctioning doors. Unlike the main buildings of the SRC, it appeared the outlying buildings had only two elevators instead of the usual banks available.
"Abi." Tapping the earpiece still tightly screwed into her right ear, luck spun Akiza's way when the computer assistant responded instantly. "Is there anything wrong with the lifts in Building Eight?"
"Please stand by." Lights flickered on the elevator panels and whirring gears could be heard from inside. "No faults detected." Straightening her scrubs, Akiza stalked into the lifts just a little over forty minutes later than she planned.
"What floor is Yusei's office again? I'd hate to be late." With layers of sarcasm, irritation and outright rage compressing her voice into a thin stream of danger, the computer spat out the answer without any pleasantries.
"Twenty-third." Taking the initiative, she set the lift whirring up the chute before Akiza even moved towards the button. "Shall I tell him you're coming?" Joyful bouncing – the sort that made the smart people jump for the windows and the dumb ones hurt – cleared up the answer. When the doors opened, Akiza was looking out at a labyrinth of corridors crossing one another before her. Electronic locks hummed at every door and deathly quiet sounded (or rather didn't) from all directions. "End of the hall." Maybe acting on some deep-coded empathic sub-routine, the computer was talking as little as possible. Walking as quickly as possible without running, she made good time across the floor and threw the door open in a dramatic fashion. (A small part of her was silently thrilled at perfect balance of force that let the door bang off the wall slightly without ricocheting back in her face.)
"I know you're probably angry at me right now." Staring at his computer, Yusei's oddly satisfied face was so disconcerting that she actually stopped in the doorway. "Feeling like I've cornered you into taking up a job you weren't really ready for. A lot of people are going to tell you a lot of things about me. More will try to lever you into agreeing with their own agendas. You'll make mistakes, feel out of your depth. I give it a week for you to adjust." That smile grew slightly and a twinkle appeared in his eye. "You'll figure out who is best at what, know who to trust and who to avoid. People say there's nowhere else in the world like the SRC. Just about everybody here will be ready to help as soon as you ask. It will take some getting used to but I know you're the best candidate for the job." Reaching out, he tapped the spacebar on his computer. After a moment, he pressed it again and resumed his previous stance. "Oh, and don't let my brothers in any labs. There's a reason they need an escort around the site." Clicking a program closed, he finally looked her square in the eye.
"Any questions?" Slamming the door shut, Akiza fumed in the hallway.
"Was it" Slam. Pause. Open door.
"Who" Slam. Pause. Open door.
"Sorry." Pause. Bigger pause. "It probably looks like I was a total jerk about this." Slam. This time, Akiza stayed inside the office. "Ogino arranged so many meetings for me that I couldn't get loose when she was showing you around. Nobody even told me you were here until the third meeting." A stern glare to keep the apology going. "Once you signed up, it looked like I had handed a disgraced doctor one of the most powerful postings in the city just because she happened to be my friend." Fire was liable to burst from her eyes and sear his skull if the apology didn't make a good point any second now. "It's my fault." One raised eyebrow gave enough slack in his noose to avoid hanging in that moment. "Ogino set everything up to distance your hiring from my involvement. If I hadn't screwed it all up, we'd be laughing with coffee and bagels." In their shared imagination, they tried to picture the squat, curt form of the former Minister for Health laughing at brunch. "Afterwards, the only way to keep your job safe was to throw up all sorts of objections against your posting. Nothing will keep you from carrying out your duties but everything that could cloud the waters against suspicion. Don't worry, Ogino promised to tidy up my mess."
With her anger slowly coming back under tight control, Akiza started to notice the little details. Plants in the far corners of the officer hadn't been watered, one of the blinds had been lowered in a hurry and left askew on one side. Numerous coffee stains overlapped on his desk and behind the carefully maintained facade, she could feel his exhaustion coming in waves. Although his eyes were bright and he must have slept recently, it was the sort of mental exhaustion she had found common among students pushing for a deadline. It also smelled like he hadn't left the office in days. Observations complete, she tuned back into what he was trying to say.
"It's going to take a few days for Ogino to get through all the complaints and paperwork. Once she's done, your job will be secure and even I wouldn't be able to take it away if I wanted." Dragging both palms down a weary face, Yusei's hands met with not a trace of stubble. Being the genius that he was, Yusei had managed to squeeze a quick shave in before Akiza could arrive that morning. "I wish I had trusted you both a bit sooner. Ogino stole my idea before I could even think it and I reacted badly." Pulling open his top drawer, he reached inside for a cold cup of coffee.
"So." Walking closer, she gently slid into the padded chair across from his.
"Yeah." Catching his gag reflex, Yusei forced the disgusting concoction down his throat. "Shame isn't as nice as all the books make it out to be." Staring at the congealing liquid, he couldn't bring himself to look at his friend just then. "I am, you know. Sorry." It took that word for her to realise just how much and how little his world had really changed. This was the Yusei Fudo, founder and leader of the New Domino City Scientific Research Centre, Duel Monsters World Champion and with one of the highest I.Q.'s ever tested. At the same time, he was the young man who would work hours into the night to shave a few grams from an engine design with his brothers and get up before them just to make coffee. Who would metaphorically fall on his sword sooner than let his friends come to harm. "About everything."
"Okay then." She let them both take stock of the situation for a moment. "Well, I'd better get back to Dr Din before he blows up his lab again." Chuckles burst into laughter as Yusei spilt his drink across his lap. "Something funny?" Remembering how much trouble he was still in, Yusei made an effort to staunch his giggles.
"Dr Din's an irritable little man with a unique perspective on life." As he continued to snigger behind his mug, Akiza continued to glare him into submission.
"He calls me a dumpy cow. And that's the most polite I've heard him." Some of the more archaic words had needed a search on the internet. Their modern translations had left her ears burning.
"He called you a dumpy cow?" Most of the laughter contained, there was a gentle tilt to his smile. "That's what he used to call his daughter. Took me five years to learn that." A tear equal parts wistful and laughter eked from the corner of his eye. "Give him the worst insults you can think of and never try and correct his work. You'll do okay." Despite herself, Akiza started to smile. She was still furious deep down but couldn't help feeling like her charge was a lighter burden than he had let on.
"No problem. I'll tell him he's as smart as his boss is dumb." Catching his eye, she felt the first tenuous connections of a proper reconciliation being made. It would take a lot more than an explicit apology and some pointers to her job before all was forgiven but it was a start.
"There's something I want to give you. A puzzle for my favourite neurologist." Moving just enough to break the moment, he reached into his bottom drawer and pulled out a thick tablet. In an age of projected screens and datapads, there was one reason to still use such heavy equipment – hardcoded encryption. Whatever was on the tablet was the sort of information that needed to be kept safe from prying eyes.
"What's this?" Taking the tablet, she admired the polished screen as he held the top half.
"Something new. An old friend of mine fell ill some years back. A few people have tried searching for a cure but we've found nothing permanent." That plural perked up her ears. Many lauded Yusei as the smartest man alive. A puzzle even he couldn't solve? That was definitely worth a look. "It appears neurological in nature and manifests during stage three and REM sleep." Brushing his fingers past the power button, he let her take full possession of the tablet. "And as of right now, you know about as much as anybody else."
"Any attempted treatments?" Flicking through files, she glanced at an interactive brain scan with her peripheral vision.
"A few dozen. No positive results." Staring into the brown eyes, Yusei felt intellectual sparks start to fly.
"Prognosis?" And those sparks started to die off right then.
"People have been working on this for six years without results. You have four months." A slight flicker of doubt squashed her excitement. "After that, the patient plans to... take steps." It was not often that doctors heard the term and there was little they could do even though they realised the meaning behind it.
"Great. Any other handicaps I should know about?" A tentative smile lurked just under the face across from hers.
"No consultations with anybody besides myself, Ogino or Dr Din (mainly because he wont stop nagging until he knows what you're working on). No use of non-SRC facilities. No direct meetings unless you have a viable treatment." It was an uneasy word to stress but Akiza swallowed it quickly. "And there are confidentiality reasons why some data is restricted but I'll get you everything you need." Sliding into another document, Akiza was unsurprised to see certain terms had been blacked out. "One more thing." She felt that flicker behind his eyes again. Like he was keeping something from her that he actually wanted to share. "I don't want to hear this has any impact on your regular duties. One late arrival or official complaint and your access will be revoked." Between beats, he shifted into 'Dr Fudo' mode. "Do I make myself clear?" Smiling that empty smile she reserved for driving people mad, Akiza matched his professionalism with tweaking his nose.
"Perfectly." She eventually broke their gaze to look at the tablet again. There was a lengthy directory pinned to one side of the screen with a total number of files in the mid thousands. It would take hours to get through it all. Exactly the sort of problem she loved to sink her teeth into.
"One more thing." Forcing herself not to descend into the pleasure of dissecting the problem, Akiza lowered the tablet into her pocket. "How did you get up here? Abi wouldn't tell me for some reason." Smiling that 'silly me' smile of hers, Akiza put on her best off-hand voice.
"I just came through the utility tunnels. There was a problem with all the doors into Building Eight that I decided to use one for getting out instead." She saw the tiny changes at the corners of his eyes and mouth almost as well as his brothers could. That tightening of his game face.
"Not many people use them these days. Keep saying they hear voices and see people that aren't really there." Without changing, they had somehow slipped into a complex game of cat and mouse.
"You mean Obake? Mmm, he is a bit odd." Upon hearing the name, she saw a tiny flicker in his eyes. It wasn't really fear but not quite shame. Something of the two. "Nice enough. We actually met a few days ago." Pieces of the puzzle assembled themselves inside Yusei's head. Little went on in the SRC (when Ogino didn't bombard him with meetings) that got past his attention.
"Ah. That explains it." Flipping over the playing board, he dropped the tense stance. "Obake isn't much of a people person. He does keep all the pipes and cables in good condition so I can't really complain when people go down there without authorisation and get spooked." Leaning back in his chair, Yusei scratched the right corner of his jaw. "He probably just wanted to pay you back." That wasn't the whole truth. Something else about her quiet guide he was worried she might find out. "You should probably go and meet Dr Din. Breakfast usually gives him enough energy to get really cranky for no reason." Glancing at her watch, she decided to accept the polite dismissal before somebody spoilt the mood.
Despite their tenuous progress, Akiza still bore enough anger to keep her warm on the walk back to the lift. Even with the shiny new toy and heartfelt apology, Yusei still had plenty to make up for. And there was something about Obake he was keeping secret. As the head of the SRC, there would always be confidential information he couldn't share but this was different. There was something else going on and she was going to find out what it was.