Legends: Chapter 10

Shock notwithstanding Link was impressed. Though he could have passed up on all the death thus far, Mio had managed to stun him, even if he would never admit it aloud. Her stealth was impeccable and every swift, silent step appeared planned. He had struggled this whole time only to barely keep up with her. She knew what was going on, what needed to be done. This was her field, what she was trained for, and it showed. Nearly flawless.

In a harsh, almost jerky movement, Mio hauled back and gave the metal door before them a rough kick. The force of the kick resonated through the door with a booming roll. It gave way with a screeching of metal on metal as one of the hinges buckled. The chunk of metal swung into the wall beside, banging into it. Link felt himself corrected about her methods in that one moment. His ears throbbed and he cringed visibly, even as Mio charged in to check the room, pistol and knife drawn. She disappeared around the corner.

A silent moment later a hand poked out to signal him in. There wasn't much to be seen in the white room. Only a bed, a desk and another door that must be a closet. No pictures lined the walls, and nothing seemed out of place.

"This floor must be the living quarters." Mio holstered her weapons. "You search the desk, I'll take the closet." As if she owned the place Mio sauntered to the closet and swung the door open. Link stared at the desk in confusion.

"What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Don't know. Hiver said I'd know it when I seen it. He's always vague like that." Hiver... The man who employed Mio. He must have had a lot of confidence in Mio to send her out here with the two Hylians in tow. That, or he really didn't care. Link frowned at the desk. Was this theft? Probably. Did he care at this point? He stopped to think about that one.

So far he had been thrown into a frozen wasteland, slipped in a puddle of blood, and been given a gigantic headache. No. He most definitely did not care at this current point in time, and he had a feeling he'd never regret taking anything from this desk.

There was nothing on the desk or under it. Only three drawers to the right of the desk were the only places for storage. The top one contained only a journal and pens, and he did not care to read it. The second held some white bottles, make-up cases and a novel with a half-naked man on the cover. He slammed the drawer shut. The third drawer was locked. He was having a terrible day and it was barely noon. Maybe he was a little frustrated. That most certainly explained how he retched the drawer open as if it was nothing. The small lock was flung somewhere behind him.

His heart dropped as his eyes fell upon the single, blue object in the drawer. His fear drained from is being only to be replaced with an odd sensation. He had seen this before, but he hadn't. It was almost like déja vu, but this was too vivid. In all seventeen years of his life he'd never seen it, or thought about anything of it's like, yet here it was, so clear in his memories. That didn't explain how it got here. How in the name of the goddesses did the ocarina even get here?

"I found it. Mio this is it." He snatched the small instrument and turned to face the closet. The door was wide open to reveal a bundle of clothing. Mio was missing. "Mio?" The pile shifted revealing half of Mio's face.

"You sure?" She didn't seem bothered at all.

"What are you doing?" He felt slightly exasperated by her actions. Wasn't she supposed to be a professional?

"A basket of clothes fell when I pulled out some documents. I was too busy reading. Didn't bother to move it. Now, are you sure?" She clearly didn't believe him, as if he was incapable of doing anything. She was sure she was looking for medical records or plans. He probably wouldn't be able to read anything in the room. Though, the documents she discovered were written in English.

"More than anything." He crouched to her level on the ground and held out the simple instrument. It glistened as if no damage had been done to it. As if it wasn't one of Hyrule's oldest artefacts. When she made to protest Link jumped to explain. "You don't understand. This is from Hyrule. It's called the Ocarina of Time, an instrument of old. Legend says that it posses magical abilities. I know, that sounds insane, don't look at me like that. Just think about it this way: Why would Hiver want you to bring me along? There's no way you could have known this is it on your own." She stood silently, neutral. She was evaluating his argument, her eyes darting from him to the blue ocarina. A light sigh washed over the room.

"Are you completely sure?" Link nodded without missing a beat. A horrified glint flashed through Mio's eyes. She looked pass him to the door behind him, her mouth a thin line.

"Damn, you beat me to it. I'll just have to pry it from your dead fingers." His body went rigid. The familiar voice sent a bout of panic through his veins. He kept his eyes on Mio, who had gone from scared to a mixture of anger and disgust in a matter of seconds. "Hello Fireball." She sneered at the pet name. The tone of silver-haired Link, or Shade as he recalled, sounded like a low purr. This day simply couldn't get worse, could it?

"How did you..." Mio's sentence trailed off. Shade remained leaned in the doorway, even as his counterpart turned to face him.

"Find you? Dear, I regret to inform you that I can't tell you that. I'd have to kill you if I did, and neither of us would want that." He stood straight, a smirk plastered to his pale face. His gaze shifted to the blond before him. "I see you've recovered. I'll have to fix that." Shade lunged forward, sword drawn. Link stumbled backward, narrowly dodging the offending blade. He ducked as another attack was made. A scuffle later he was beside Mio, ocarina clutched in his hands. He felt if he let it go there'd be dire consequences.

Shade stopped at the sight of the two. The Hero held the Ocarina of Time to his chest. Like a cornered rat he appeared ready to sneer and snap. His attention did not linger long as it was curiously attracted by the odd metal object his fireball held aimed at him. "Now what, may I ask, do you plan on-"

An indescribable boom deafened Shade and for a moment his sight went black. A pain, sharp and persistent, burrowed through his skull. The suffering quickly faded and when his vision returned the pair had vanished. Intriguing.

Link didn't fall behind this time. In fact, he had no problem keeping up with the little assassin. He was but inches from her heels as they bolted for an exit. Though, she was moving slower than before. Her eyes were more focused on her gun than their path, much to his dislike.

"What's wrong?"

"It's jammed. I went for the double-tap but the second bullet got lodged. Dammit!" Without warning Link yanked Mio into a nearby room, earning a shocked squeak and a flail. "What are you doing?" He closed the door gently behind them and signalled for quietness.

"Can you fix it? It seemed to stun him. That's better than nothing, right?" Mio fidgeted than sat on the bedroom floor, legs crossed. "Right?"

"Of course I can. I've been working with firearms for years. It'll just take time, time we probably don't have." She pulled a small tool kit from her Kokiri pouch and set to work on taking the mini death machine apart. She hunched herself over the pistol, straining her eyes to work in the little light a bedside lamp provided. Lithe hands moved diligently to carefully remove small parts, and Link could not help but find himself all too curious. The situation at hand kept him from asking questions. Finally she plucked a round, bent metal chunk from the pistol. She dropped it carelessly and went straight to reassembling the mechanisms.

"That's what it shoots?" It seemed almost harmless. No bigger than his thumb, the tiny chunk of metal was able to kill a person in under a second. It was truly a monstrous invention. Link left her to work and checked the hall. It lay bare and white as it had been before.

"He's teasing us." Mio stood, pistol readied. "I'm sure he knows where we are."

"Doesn't matter. Does it work?" Mio shrugged and joined him by the door. She didn't seem overly concerned.

"It should. There was a loose bit. Might have happened when I dropped it earlier. I'm not going to risk testing it though. Ready?" A nod from the blond was all she needed. "Keep up." She was gone, slinking through the door with ease, but not without him close behind. Again, they turned down several hallways that made no sense to him, but he wasn't going to question her, not today. Quicker than the trip to their destination, the elevator was in sight sooner than he expected. Its doors were open in a welcoming manner. They were but moments away Shade walked from behind a corner of the metal box, grinning like a mad man.

"I figured you'd return to your only exit. Was I incorrect?" His lips set into a mischievous smirk. "If you hand it over I'll give you a head start."

"Like hell." Mio aimed and prayed that the gun wouldn't misfire. She had rushed through the process of fixing it, there was no telling if she made a mistake. The pistol felt odd in her hand, but that could be a psychological side effect of worry. "Obviously, if you want it I was sent to retrieve it. Therefore its mine."

Shade chuckled, the low baritone echoed in the small hall. "Well, well, well. Aren't you precious? Although, I'll admit, I don't like that little device of yours. I'm unsure as to its capabilities, but I'm not waiting to find out what they are." His cockiness was vanquished as she loaded two rounds into his chest. He stumbled backwards but wasn't moved otherwise. A hoarse laugh filled their ears as the doppelganger recovered. "As I said, precious."

"Goddammit! Do you even know how to die?!"

"Mio." She eyed Link behind her. His hand rested on her shoulder, shaking. Or was that her? "Someone is coming. I can hear them talking around the corner." The short one muttered something about radio-waves that made little sense to him. "What are we supposed to do?"

"Give me the ocarina. That's what he wants, right? You go to Zelda. Get out of here. Take my pouch, it has a map of this place in it." Without his consent she pushed the small, hand-sized pouch into his coat pocket. He tried to refuse. It would leave her with only her pistol.

"Are you two whispering your farewells?" Shade's taunt went ignored. He did not make a move to attack the two. He was interested in seeing where this was going.

"Are you crazy?"

"No. I know what I'm doing. Now give me the ocarina and go." She held her hand out expectantly. He didn't want to. There was an unexplainable pull about the little instrument. This instrument was his, he felt it so. But... Damn, he had to. He had to trust it with her. He thrust the ocarina into her palm. Link let her have it. He needed to protect the princess, to be sure she was still safe.

His cobalt eyes flew to Shade. The enemies eyes remained glued to Mio as she pocketed the ocarina.

"Oh, so this is how we're going to play, hm? You think you can outsmart me. Kill the Hero or pursue the Ocarina of Time." He flicked his attention to the two Organization scientists that jumped out from behind the corner that lead to the halls. Their shaky arms wielded standard black pistols. As they scanned the three intruders a terrified gasp escaped one of them as their eyes fell upon Mio's mask.

"N-no Name!"

"Link! Go!" Mio pushed the blond harshly into the elevator, just missing Shade, who stood curiously to the side. "Hit the button to go up moron!"

She couldn't give him any more instructions. She tucked and rolled behind Shade as the scientists open fired on her. Turns out he made a great shield.

"Looks like you are good for something after all." Shade grimaced , even as the final bullet lodged into his chest. He could have easily let her die there, but he wanted her alive. Needed her alive. The scientists shouted in a foreign language, eyes wide and faces pale. Shade's lack of death was a reason to be scared. "Excuse me, gotta go."

Mio leaped onto a nearby filing cabinet, pistol in mouth and ocarina in her holster, hopes set on reaching the air vent she had spotted while rolling. Her fingers had just grasped the grate when Shade griped her leg and hauled her down, bringing the grate with her in a loud clatter. Only a small gasp signalled her surprise,

"Oh no you don't. Hand me the ocarina before I'm forced to hurt you." She clutched it to her chest when he pulled on her belt holster. She had just barely caught it when it flew from her belt. Her other hand still grasped her pistol, which had been quickly grabbed from the floor where it had clattered. Her confidence returned in her pistol, the cool metal felt familiar. In a second it was pressed against Shade's face. Mio spared the scientists a minor glare. They'd gone into a silent shock, eyes glued to the anomaly in the room. Shade glowered at her.

She had lied to Link. Mio wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. She had hoped to make into the vent system, but even then, there was no telling where she was going. Shade had easily anticipated her moves, and by now the facility knew she was here. It'd be full out war if she got discovered again, given if she could make it out of this situation. What was she to do?

She fired two more rounds into Shade. She had only one choice. Get into the vent. As soon as the second bullet left the chamber she was off. Onto the filling cabinet and into the vent. Mio made her escape within seconds.

Shade recovered quickly only to be dismayed. His little fireball had wriggled free from his presence. The ocarina would be out of his reach for some time before she reached the upper levels of the facility. That could take some time, hours most likely.

He could always go torture the Hero, but that'd be akin to fighting a puppy. The boy could barely put up a fight. His eyes shifted to the petrified scientists.

He could feel the fear rolling off of them; taste it even. Sour, bitter, familiar. He could feed off of such fear. They stood, side by side, dressed in white with weapons reloaded and drawn. The same little weapons as Mio had used. They weren't the only people down here. Twenty, fifty, nearly a hundred hearts were beating down here, all waiting to be silenced. Killing a few hours wouldn't be so hard.