Okay, so I think I said earlier that I wanted this to just go until Fourteen chapters, but with the main conflict of the story not even acknowledged yet and we're already at chapter ten, I'm starting to think fourteen is not a realistic number. I think I'll just keep writing and see where it takes me. I can't give away too much at this point. What I can tell you is that three major things have to happen and two big mysteries need to be revealed. I think you've already kinda figured out one of the secrets, if you've played the game then you've known from the beginning. So, here's Ten for yah, in all its glory!
Beauty and the Beast.
Chapter Ten
There were two humans shooting at her. She was able to run and dodge fast enough to avoid the bullets that exploded as if they were grenades. Nagi reached the first gunner, grabbed his weapon with one hand, and grabbed the other gunner's neck with her other hand. She looked behind her and turned the weapon on the gunner, shooting him down. As she did this, she twisted the other gunner's neck till it snapped, killing him instantly. Nagi threw the limp body down and examined the bloody corpse on her other side. She cracked her knuckles on both hands quickly before advancing to the next set of gunners.
Uriko, in her beast form had very little control over her abilities, but she was excellent at slaughtering several enemies at once. Her great speed and powered allowed her attacks to tear through the humans easily. She had one human's head crushed between her jaws and at the same time was ripping another person apart, lib from lib. It was gruesome to watch. Nagi started at the Chimera and just couldn't understand how such a sweet, cute and upbeat girl can turn so vicious and deadly in a blink of an eye. She looked at the blood on her hands and quickly dismissed the thought. She of all people should know the answer to that question.
"We've got to send for back up!" Bakuryu yelled. As Uriko was making a mess, he was leaping over the rivers of blood, punching the lights out of all the humans she missed. One human was shooting non-stop at him. Bakuryu ducted down and rolled towards him so he landed underneath the gun. He lifted one leg up, kicking the gun out of the human's hands and then moved to kicking them off their feet. Three strong punches to the head and he was out.
"They should be sending someone." Nagi called as she straggled another human. "With the alarm going off, somebody is going to respond." "Unless the whole Head quarters is under attack." Fox pointed out, punching a human across the face with his gun. "The whole building?" Bakuryu called. "That's impossible." "Yeah well, it was supposed to be impossible for them to get inside too and look how that turned out." Bakuryu gave a sigh as he jabbed his fingers into a human's eyes. "Still, we can't hold out too much longer?" Bakuryu pointed put as Nagi was shot in the arm. "Fuckin' bastard!" she yelled grabbing the weapon from the human. She then turned the weapon on the human and shot him three times in the head, blowing it right off the neck. "Pay back for my arm!" Nagi spat before throwing the weapon away and ripping a piece of her jacket.
"We need to get to where the other Zoanthropes are!" Fox said as he broke the jaw of one gunner, taking his weapon. Three humans were running at him with their weapons ready. Nagi held her breath as she watched Fox for the next three minutes. Fox first threw his smaller gun up in the air and held the Bazooka over his shoulder. When the humans were only a few feet away, Fox used one hand, flipped the Bazooka in front of him and pulled the trigger, spinning it around and shooting all three men. As they fell to their knees, he put down the bazooka and raised one hand. At the same time another human ran at him. The human was almost nose to nose with Fox when he caught his gun, lower it to the human's face and pulled the trigger.
"We've got to start getting out of here." he said as the human fell. "Sounds good to me!" Nagi said, punching the last human in the face. "Seems like we've run out them." "Aww! And just when I was having so much fun!" Nagi wiped around quickly and saw Uriko back to her old self, but only in ripped clothing and covered in ton of blood. She was licking her hands a little as she walked forward. "Uriko, please don't do that." Bakuryu said calmly even though he was grossed out. "Come on," Fox said, as he dropped an empty cartridge from his gun and loaded another one. "Is there a way to get to the conference room, without walking through the halls?" Fox asked. "You're being cautious?" Nagi asked him. "We need to get there quickly." Fox said. "If we try and fight our way through, it will only delay us even more." "Unless they used the hidden passages in get in in the first place." Bakuryu pointed out. "Then the only other way besides going outside." "How good are our chances in the passages?" Fox asked him. "The passages are very narrow spaces; we are in more danger in there than we are inside. Outside holds a risk that we can be hit by snipers." Bakuryu answered. "Damn it!" Fox hissed. He rested his gun on his hip as he tried to think of what to do. "Let's try outside." Uriko suggested. "We can use the cars and even the buildings themselves to block us. Yeah, it's risky but if it's like, only two snipers, it's better than ten more goons inside right?" Nagi stared at Uriko and gave a grin. "It sounds great on paper, I'm not sure about the execution but I don't see any better ideas so, let's try it." "Okay then." Fox twirled his gun. "Youngsters in front of us big people behind you. We move quickly and as small as possible, understand?" Everyone nodded and then Uriko and Bakuryu led the way down the hall to a door leading to the outside. The two teens walked, crouching close to the ground in front of Fox and Nagi. Nagi let Fox go ahead of her and she brought in the rear. "Move closer." he whispered. "You could get shot!" "How much closer do you want me to get?" Nagi snapped annoyed. Fox turned around and flashed a flirty smile. Nagi groaned glaring back at him. "Don't even think about answering that!" she warned. The group slinked behind cars, sticking close to the walls as they headed for the main offices in the Head quarters. "We're close to the door." Bakuryu whispered, waving at everyone to continue following him. Nagi sighed, thinking they were almost home free. That thought shatter the second Uriko felt something hit her arm and gave a loud scream. "She's been shot!" Barkuryu yelled. Fox pulled his gun out and ran in front of Bakuryu and Uriko. He looked in the direction the bullet came from and saw another bullet head his way. It swiped at the side of Fox's face, giving him a small cut on the cheek but nothing more. He gave a hissed and shot three bullets with his gun. Nagi looked at a dark figure sitting on one of the communication towers near the gates and fences surrounding Zoanthrope. The second bullet hit the figure and they immediately dropped their sniper gun and fell from the tower. "Go! Go!" Fox yelled, pushing Bakuryu. Bakuryu lifted Uriko's body and started t jog and carrying her protectively in his arms. Fox turned and grabbed Nagi's hand, pulling her behind him as he followed Bakuryu. "Are you alright?" Nagi asked him as they ran. "It's just a scratch, I'll be fine." Fox insisted. "Let's just worry about getting inside before another one of these bastards attacks."
Nagi wasn't surprised to see the halls were a bloody mess, just like the ones they left. The foursome rushed down the hall quickly. Fox raised his gun high and was pulling out another cartridge to re-load it. Nagi however decided to take charge this time. She broke free of Fox's hand and rushed ahead. "Nagi!" Fox called to her. "I'm the only one not badly injured or busy with something." she said. "Let me stay ahead. I'll be able to defend better." she told him. Fox gave a small grin and nodded, letting her walk ahead. The small group sped through the hall, they were trying to get to the stair case at the very end. Nagi moved quickly but kept her hand in tight fist close to her upper body, in case she had to protect herself suddenly. Bakuryu continued to move with Uriko in his arms. Uriko wasn't bleeding too badly from the bullet in her arm but she was crying from the sharp pains. "Shh! It's okay Uriko." he whispered to her softly. "We'll get you to Alice soon." Nagi check her own wound a saw her whole arm was covered in blood. She was starting to realize how numb her arm was. They had to hurry.
They were just a few feet away from the stair well. Nagi looked around carefully before leading everyone to the glass doors. She gave a sigh as her hand reach for the knob and someone jumped from one of the closed and supposedly empty rooms. "Freeze!" the voice yelled. Fox rushed in front of Nagi and pointed his gun at the person. Nagi immediately grabbed his arm, and pulled it down. "Stop!" she yelled. "It's okay. It's just Jeanne." Fox lowered his gun and let out a long breath. "Jesus child! Don't run around in the middle of a crisis." "Who are you calling child?' Jeanne said looking directly at him as she spoke. "Are you all alright?" she asked the group as she walked up to Nagi. "We're okay." Nagi said. "But Uriko needs to see Alice right away!" "You all need to pay her a visit." Jeanne said, looking over everyone quickly. "We've been trying to communicate with you for the last thirty minutes but we couldn't reach any of you. I was sent along with some other scouts to find you." "Where's everyone else?" Nagi asked her. "In the Conference and Negotiation rooms. Most of the scientist and mechanics have taken shelter in the basement." Jeanne said. "But, we'll talk about this later. Come on. We need to get you fixed up."
"You should have let Alice see you first." Fox said as he examined Nagi's rags that were soaking in red blood. "Uriko can't even move right without feeling pain. Besides, she's Alice's little sister. It's only right she sees Alice first." Nagi explained, hugging her arm and rocking back and front. "You're losing tons of blood, and you're gonna get all pale, darling." he said, touching her lower arm. "Hands off!" Nagi snapped, moving further from him. "I'm fine alright? So lay off and worry about your self." "What for? I'm fine." Fox said. "No, you've got that huge cut on your cheek." Nagi reminded him. "Yes," Fox sighed. "Thinking about it makes me depressed so I'm pretending it's not there." Nagi looked at the cut. It didn't look very deep, but it curved around his face in a way that it could get bigger and even rip a section of his cheek. Nagi gave a sigh and stood up. She walked over to a table. She took a bag of cotton with disinfectant and some alcohol and sat in front of Fox. He stared at her as she ripped the packet and soaked a cotton ball with the alcohol. "Whoa, hang on a -" "Hold still!" Nagi snapped moving his arm away as she placed the cotton ball on his cheek. "Jesus!" Fox hissed as he felt the strong sting of the alcohol. "Hey, how come you're helping me with little cut and I can't touch you're arm that's swimming in blood." "Because I said so." Nagi snapped back. She kept an angry face as she wiped the blood gently. She held his face with her other hand as she brushed back and forth with the cotton. Fox calmed down little, gave a few hisses here and there, but let her nurse him. "Alice doesn't need to waste her time on something so simple." Nagi said, trying to justify her action. "Uh huh." Fox raised an eye brow. He didn't believe her, not one bit. Nagi looked down for a minute and took a deep breath, before throwing the pink cotton ball and getting another and started to wipe his face again. The blood was now gone and she could see the cut was a few millimetres wide. "Does it hurt?" she asked him. "Naw! I've felt a hell of a lot worse." Fox told her. "Just hope it doesn't leave a mark." "You'll find a way to make sure it doesn't." Nagi mumbled, finishing and throwing the cotton away. Fox took out his compact mirror and stared at the cut. It was noticeable, but it wasn't swelling or bleeding anymore. "Thank you." he said to her after clicking his mirror shut. Nagi just glanced at him and nodded.
At that moment, Alice's office door opened and she stepped out. "How's Uriko?" Nagi asked her, standing up. "She's exhausted mostly," Alice told her. "I was able to get the bullet out, she'll be just fine." "Great." Nagi sighed. "Yeah, she's just resting at the moment." Alice informed. "Come on, I'll fix your arm." she said, ushering Nagi into the office.
"Umm, Alice!" Fox stood up as Nagi began to leave the waiting room. "Do you know what's going on or anything?" "The human some how broke into the kingdom." Alice told him. "Apparently, three of them got control of two of the security towers outside. Gado and everyone else are still investigating and trying to track down any more humans still in the building." "Do they need help?" Fox asked. "Gado told me that anyone who came here should just stay put." Alice told him. "You can leave if you want though, you're not hurt badly." Nagi walked in and Alice followed after her, closing the door behind them. Fox stared at the door and sat back down. He decided right then and there he was going to wait for Nagi to come out.
Alice took almost no time to fix Nagi's arm. Inside the office however, Nagi could see that Alice was just putting on a tough face in front of Fox, when in reality she was trebling with worry. "I don't understand what's happening, Nagi." she said, as she wrapped Nagi's shoulder. "I've been here since the beginning and nothing like this has ever happen. Humans have never been able to break in any Headquarters and this one is suppose to be the most advanced and protective of them all!" Nagi looked at Nagi, and touched her hand as she tried to confront her. "Is Yugo with Gado?" she asked. "Yeah," Alice nodded. "But, I'm not too worried about him but I can't help but feel a little scared." she gulped as she finished securing the bandages. "Have there been any causalities?" Nagi asked. "Some workers and the security guards from the towers taken over." Alice answered. "All the Zoanthropes are okay." "We've got to stop them." Nagi said. "At this rate, we all could be slaughtered in one go. If you saw the attack we had in the other building-" "Say no more," Alice cut her off. "I got a glimpse of the attack here and that was enough for me." Alice put the excess rolls of bandage and scissors away. Nagi sat up and checked her arm. "It looks good." she said. "I'll give you an aid kit just in case it starts to bleed." Alice told her. "It's not gonna hold because of the cartilage you've developed on that arm." she explained, walking towards her desk. "Yeah," Nagi looked down, touching the wound once. "Umm, don't worry about the kit. I still have plenty of stuff in my old one. I'll just come to you when I've run out completely." "Alright," Alice nodded and took a set in the chair.
"I'm so worried, Nagi." she said softly, looking in the other room where Uriko and Bakuryu were. She lowered her voice so they wouldn't hear. "Uriko's not too bad but, if the bullet hit her chest, she'd be…" Alice covered her mouth so not to continue her sentence. She then sighed and wiped her eyes.
"You know, when I first changed I thought I was invincible! I thought that I was a goddess, that I had all this power and that I was stronger than ever before." Nagi sat down on Alice's desk, listening to every word with great interest. Nagi knew Alice the most out of the Zoanthropes, but Alice never talked to her about how she really felt about being a Zoanthrope, until now.
"I don't know if you felt it, or if you feel it now but I did. I felt like I was so strong and that nothing could hurt me anymore. But, that wasn't the case at all, and why I couldn't stop becoming a nurse." Alice leaned back in her chair as bitter tears started to fall. Nagi leaped off her seat and wrapped her arms around Alice as she cried. "See? That's what the humans don't get! We're not that much different from them!" she cried as she squeezed back. "We can still die from a stabbing, or a gun shot. We're still nothing but blood, skin and bones. But no, they can only see what we've become, not what we still are. " Nagi rubbed Alice's head, understanding completely how she felt. "Sometimes, we Zoanthrope can forget our humanity too." she said. "Or forget the strength we still have as humans." Alice moved from Nagi and looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant.
Both women slammed into each other as a blaring noise sounded though the whole build. "Shit!" Nagi screamed, covering her ears. "What the frickin' hell is that?" "It's an alarm!" Alice cried. "Something's wrong!" "Something else?" Nagi asked following Alice as she headed out the door.
"Fox! What's happened?" Alice asked, as she walked into the hall. "Gado sent someone to pull the alarm. We've got to evacuate the main building in ten minutes." "Why?" Nagi asked. "We've got the last of the intruders are still in the building. They've been locked up in one of the offices. Cronos has ordered them to be gassed to death." "Cronos ordered that?" Alice said. "They've killed tons of people! Mr. Highness sees no other choice." "Must have been a hard decision." Alice sighed. "Oh please!" Fox rolled his eyes. "Just cause he's gonna be king doesn't mean he has to be noble or gracious or kind to his enemies." "Which is so unlike you, right?" Alice smirked. "Umm, yeah. We'll discuss this after we get the hell out of here!" Fox shouted, getting impatient. "Bakuryu! Get Uriko and get out of here!" Alice yelled, running back into the office.
Nagi turned around as Fox grabbed her hand and started to pull her. "What are you doing?" she asked, pulling her hand back. "We've got to go! What part of that do you and Alice not seem to understand?" "Can we at least wait for her and the kids?" Nagi said. "Geez are you heartless!" "That's funny," Fox cracked. "Cause if I was, why I was I trying to get you outside where it's safe?" Nagi tried to ignore Fox and just waited for Alice to come out. In two seconds Alice came out with Bakuryu carrying Uriko. "Okay, the elevators must be out so the stairs it is!" Alice said, walking in the direction of the stair case.
Because they could, instead of jogging down the stair, Alice and Fox jumped down the stair cases, while Bakuryu slid down the banisters and Nagi slid and jumped from one banister to a another, doing small flips once in a while to get to the next bar more quickly. Fox carried Uriko as Bakuryu slid.
When the group reached the bottom, they caught up to several employees of Zoanthrope who were evacuating the building. Everyone rushed for the nearest exit. Some decided to run to the second nearest doors just a few feet away. Nagi and her group decided it would be safer to just go to the nearest exit as well. They were just a few feet away when Alice screamed as the doors suddenly collapsed on themselves. Nagi cried as Fox grabbed her and held her tightly. She couldn't see a thing as her head was press tightly against Fox's body but she felt the pick of several hard objects hitting her hands that rested on his back . She also heard the cries of the other people around her. When Fox let Nagi go, she still couldn't see anything, just the clouds of dust everywhere.
"What… happened!?" Nagi coughed and choked on the musty air. "Door way's been bombed." Fox explained, covering his face with his arm. Nagi tried to make out what was happening around her. She saw that Alice was near by, crouching low to the ground and covers her face with her hands. Bakuryu and Uriko were beside her but Nagi couldn't see how they were. Everyone else were either covering them selves and others or had small injuries. The people closer to the explosion had more serious injuries and by the sounds of the cries and shouting, Nagi knew some people were now buried and crushed underneath the debris of the doors.
"Let's check it out." Fox said. "Everyone stay close and follow me." Nagi took Alice's hand and Alice grabbed onto Bakuryu as they followed Fox as he walked over people and passed people to the door way. He stopped just a few feet away and Nagi heard a growl escape his lips. She stood beside him and saw a human dressed similar o the rest of the terrorizing humans and had in his hand what appeared to be some high explosives. "Come to join that rest of your friends?" he asked, looking down at the dead people under the rubble. He then reach in a bag and pulled out another set of explosives. In one swift motion, Fox jumped into the air. He first kicked the explosives out of the man's hands, then he pulled out his gun and shot the man several times in the face. Both Fox and the man landed on the ground at the same time, except the man was very dead.
"We have to find another way out!" Fox yelled, looking over the damage quickly. "Everyone, get as many of the wounded out of here as possible,. Look for another exit." Those still able to walk helped those who couldn't as they rushed to the other door. Alice and Bakuryu carrying Uriko led the crowd to the exit following some metal stairs. It led to the outside and that was enough.
Fox and Nagi stayed behind to help dig some of the people who were still alive out of the rubble and get them to the exit. When they were on the last person, two scientists took the person on their shoulders and ran for the exit. "Let's go." Nagi said to Fox.
They had just reached the exit when Nagi jumped away from two bullets that hit just centimetres away from her arm. "Snipers!" Fox yelled, grabbing onto her shoulders and looking behind her where two humans, still alive, were shooting at them. "Move!" Fox screamed as he pushed her forward. They started running down the hall, moving in zigzags so the gunners would have a harder time aiming. "We gotta get rid of them!" Fox said, staying behind Nagi. "We can't risk getting close to them." Nagi told him. "We can't get to those guns fast enough either!" Fox pointed out. "So, we just have to get away from them then?" Nagi said, starting to get tired. "Yes." Fox said. With out warning, he grabbed Nagi, and kicked the nearest window. He pushed her out and then jumped after.
Nagi gave scream as she fell. Lucky for her, her instincts kicked again, like when she was jumping over the buildings. She started to lean forward, gaining control over her fall and stretched her legs out so they would hit the ground first. Soon, she reached the ground and landed on both feet and her hand and jumped back up, unhurt. Shortly after, she heard a thump and saw Fox standing right beside her. "Come, let's go to my car." he said, walking away from her. "What about the others?" Nagi asked him. Fox turned to give an answer when the ground between them cracked as three bullets were shot. Nagi and Fox both started running as three more snipers came after them.
"Now what?" Nagi asked, running beside. "Reach the car, and lead them away from here." Fox told her. "Most of them are dead and it's obvious they don't want our technology or they wouldn't have made such a huge and obvious attack on everybody. They want to destroy Zoanthrope's people not Zoanthrope." "So, you think they're going to follow us?" Nagi asked him. "You mean follow me." Fox corrected her. "I'll drive off and get them away from here. You go find Alice and everyone else." "What? You think I can't handle this or something?" Nagi glared at him, getting mad. "I don't think that at all." he assured her. "I just don't want to risk you getting hurt. You've been taking a bit of a pounding in the last month or so." "I'm always beaten up." Nagi told him. "It's what I do. So… I'm sticking with you." Fox just glanced at her and briefly smiled.
They reached the open parking lot and Fox told Nagi to crouch down. Fox stayed behind and let Nagi run ahead of him. He hid behind a car and took out his gun. He shot his last three bullets at the first sniper, getting him in the leg. He then started to reload his gun and shot at the other two. Nagi looked back and scream as a bullet went through the car and hit Fox in the chest. Fox dropped his gun and swore as he put a hand over the right part of his chest. "Fox!" Nagi ran back to him and caught him as he started to fall back. "Get out, they could get you too!" Fox yelled at her, gasping a little. "I can't leave you like this!" she cried back. She grabbed his hand and took a look at the wound. Because the bullet went through the whole car, it couldn't go very deep into his chest. She could see the bullet sticking out. Nagi screamed and used her body to protect Fox as more bullets hit the car. "Can you walk?" Nagi asked him. "Yeah." He answered. They stood up together and broke into a sprint towards Fox's car. Fox started to run to the driver's seat when Nagi grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Go to the other side. I'll drive."
Nagi turned the key in the ignition and turned the wheel sharply. Even as they started to drive away the snipers were still shooting. The bullets were going through the windows. Nagi and Fox crouched low in their seats as she drove out of the parking lot and broke through the security bars. "You're good." Fox commented watching a piece of the black and yellow bar fall away from the car. "I learned from the best." Nagi said, referring to Gado. She turned the wheel again, turning the car 180 degrees and faced the entrance to Zoanthrope. She saw that the snipers were still running towards them and shooting. "What are you doing?" Fox asked her. "I was just thinking. If we get away, they'll go back and kill everyone else." Nagi said. Fox looked at her and then back at them. "Well, what do you say we stop them right here and now?" he snickered. Nagi smiled at him and put the car into first gear. The snipers continued to run towards them. It wasn't until they saw the car racing toward them that they stopped. They immediately started to turn around and run the opposite direction, but it was already too late. Nagi pushed the accelerator and didn't even stop when she had knocked them down and drove over the bodies. "Bastards." she said in triumph. She then looked at Fox and was shocked to see his dress shirt was starting to get soaked with his blood. "We need to get you to Alice!" Nagi exclaimed and start to turn the car. Fox and threw his arm over the steering wheel and gasped. "No. Please don't!" he said. "Take me to my place instead. I'll handle it from there."
And that's all for now. So, that was a bit of a long battle right? Well I made it long because there won't be a huge battle for a while. I think it's time for my characters to go through a major change. Hmm? Can you guess? Well, if you can't you'll just have to come back next week and read the next chapter. Sorry for making you wait! R&R please and thanks for reading!