Freedom.
It felt so good. Though Tomo's confinement lasted little more than a day, the feeling of freedom was a sensation he very much missed. His captivity had certainly not been comfortable by any means. Nana's prosthetic limbs removed, chained, hanging inside the containment field, with the bases vector suppressing his powers had made for a very interesting, yet unsatisfactory experience. One he didn't wish to repeat anytime soon. But it all had been necessary. Now he stood again, pacing up and down the rooms metal floor, savoring the sensation of his moving limbs. Even the fabric of the JERICHO uniform he had changed into felt good against his bare skin.
"We'd better be going," called a voice. Tomo turned toward the room's giant opened blast doors to find RAVEN leaning against the frame, gun cradled in his hands, a large red stain across his shirt. Slowly, Tomo approached, his new boots echoing throughout the hull of the giant room. As he walked, Tomo took a moment to examine the human who had helped him. The bright florescent light emanating from the outside hall outlined his frame; give him an almost angelic look. But as he finally came face to face with him, the look he saw suggested quite the contrary. Although his expression was stoic, Tomo could sense something malevolent just beneath its cold surface, like the stare of death just before it's fatal touch.
Without another word, the two began the long march down the deserted hall and toward the elevators that would take them to the upper levels of the JERICHO base. As they passed countless other empty holding cells in silence, Tomo continued to think about the humans confusing duality. Tomo had known many humans during his time alive, and he believed himself to have a clear grasp of the psyche of these weak creatures. But RAVEN was different. Despite whatever Tomo tried, he could wrap his head around who this human was or what he had to gain from any of this. Normally, this would have concerned Tomo and made him suspicious of betrayal. Yet somehow, Tomo knew he could trust this human.
As they finally reached the elevators, RAVEN gave a swipe of his card key, calling forth an elevator. The lights above the sliding doors illuminated, showcasing the elevators progress. But as they waited, Tomo decided it was time to ask the question he'd been avoiding for too long.
Why? he asked seriously.
"Excuse me?" RAVEN asked, looking genuinely confused. Tomo stepped closer, as if to emphasis his question.
You know what I am, and what I plan to do. Most humans would fine that…objectionable at best. But you? You're not like the other humans. You actually want me to succeed. And no matter how many times I think about, I can't figure out what for. So what I want to know is why are you helping me? What do you stand to gain from all this?
For a brief second, RAVEN looked taken aback by the question. Then, he simply smiled and casually shrugged.
"Not a damn thing," he answered. The answer had not been what Tomo was expecting. As if sensing Tomo's confusing, RAVEN elaborated without any indication from Tomo.
"I've always been bored by this world and its people. Nothing's unique and nothing is worth any of our attention. It's all just the same thing on permanent repeat. But death? Death is the only thing nobody knows anything about? How will we die? When will we die? Where will we go when we die? It's just one unanswered question after another, and despite countless religious claims, nobody REALY knows what happens to us when we die."
RAVEN lifted his head upward, almost as if in prayer to the god of death.
"Death is the only real mystery in this world, and I want to find out what it is. And with you here, I may just get the answer I'm looking for. I guess in other words it just comes down to this…"
RAVEN faced Tomo again, with an expression twisted in grim anticipation.
"…it's the Apocalypse, and I get a front row seat. What could be more fun than that?"
The answer sent a chill down Tomo's spine. He liked that answer. He knew now what he had sensed inside this man that was so different than any other human he'd encountered. This human had the spirit of diclonius in him. He was rank with the stench of death and killing. So much so that it was nearly beautiful. And Tomo, for the first time since he could remember, smiled as well.
Almost on cue, the elevator gave a small ping before the doors swung quietly opening, beckoning them forward. Together, they silently boarded the elevator just as the doors were sliding shut.
So, how are we going to get past all the security that's bound to be up there? Tomo asked, more out of curiosity than worry. RAVEN's answer was calm and confident.
"That's being taken care of as we speak."
Commander Eric Stone typed furiously against the security keyboards, working his way in and out of firewalls and numerous other security measures. JERICHO, despite its public secrecy, had the best technology in the world to date. Everything from their guns to their transportation was ten years ahead of any country. Their computer system was no different. It had numerous security walls, firewalls, fake routes, and other measures that would be difficult for even the world's most elite hacker to bypass. Luckily though, Stone had a much more intimate understanding of the system than any elite hacker might. Even so it was difficult for even him to hack into the system.
Difficult…but not impossible.
Stone gave a quick glance over his shoulders at the two dead security officers as they lay face first and motionless on the floor as their heads oozed fresh blood. He had to hurry. When the two officers didn't call in for their regular status report, they would no doubt send another officer to check on them. Stone quickly bypassed another security to break through what he guessed was the tenth level of security. He wasn't at all surprised. The system he was trying to access would no doubt have the most security, and unfortunately only Commander Bishop had full access to that system. He scowled as he thought of that man and his incompetence.
Soon, JERICHO will be under MY control.
Working for JERICHO under the thumb of Bishop had been a difficult pill for Stone to swallow. He was not only twice the field commander, strategist, and officer that he was, but he also knew how the diclonius problem should truly be dealt with. He had seen the depths of diclonius cruelty and knew enough to understand that they weren't humans. They were monsters. And monsters were best dealt without mercy or consideration. Stone had first come face to face with diclonius when he was a young man.
Even as a child, Eric Stone had always wanted to be a soldier. Coming from a long line of military men, he always dreamed of serving in war, protecting his country, receiving medals for his selfless deeds as others called him a hero. He remembered fondly war stories his father and grandfather would tell him as a child. Stories of epic battles with seemingly impossible odds that, under their swift guidance, could be overcome. They enthralled him in his youth, and they made him want nothing more than to live up to the high standards his lineage had set. So when he was old enough, he joined the services, ready for all the glory he was promised. The reality of it had been much different.
Just a recent recruit for the United States army, he and a small team of soldiers had been sent to a small village in southern Iraq. Apparently there had been reports of terrorist activity and they were sent to investigate. What they had found was certainly no terrorist. Instead, they found a bloodbath. An entire town cut to pieces as blood covered the walls like paint. The sight left them all speechless as they cautiously entered the small village. The more houses they examined, the more they saw of the same. Entirely families cut down, fathers standing in defense of their wives and children. And the more the scouted, the more they were certain that there wasn't a soul left alive. Suddenly, a scream echoed from across the street. The scream sounded fearful and shrill, and without a doubt belonged to one of the soldiers. Everyone quickly gathered at the house entrance with their weapons at the ready. Out crawled a woman who couldn't have been older than 16 with dark skin, pink hair, and horns sticking out of her head. Seeing an Iraqi woman with pink hair was odd enough given their customs, never mind the horns. Before anyone could approach her, another three men nearby were cut cleanly in half at the waist side as blood squirted out like a fountain from their severed half.
Instinctively, Stone and his fellow soldiers opened fired and gunned down the woman. Four of his fellow soldiers, including his commanding officer, had been killed that day. Later, they had been debriefed on what had happened. They were told she was what they called a diclonius and that they possessed invisible hands called vectors that could cut through anything. They were then sworn to secrecy and dismissed. At the time, Stone's mind was a tumble of confusion and questions. He wondered how the government even knew what these creatures were, why they weren't debriefed on this before their mission, as well as other questions. Later, Stone found out he and his surviving team was being transferred to a SAT unit that dealt specifically with diclonius.
As the years passed, Stone was sent on countless other missions, and saw the depths of the diclonius thirst for blood. He had lost many friends during those years, and slowly, he developed a strong hatred for diclonius. Finally, after somehow reaching an early retirement, he moved out of America and went to live in Japan, which had always been a dream of his. It was there that, by some happenstance, he met Director Kakuzawa. The man had somehow learned of his experience with diclonius and offered him a seat as the head of security at Kakuzawa's institute. Wanting the extra money, Stone had accepted, and once again, he had to sit and watch as scientist researched these creatures, searching for God knows what. Even the scientists were not immune from the diclonius. He had suffered many more escape attempts, and each attempt produced more deaths than the last. Then, Stone had seen enough, and resigned. It was then he was approached by JERICHO. He had first intended to reject their offer to join them, but as Stone considered it, the more he thought he might be able to finally purge the world of this diclonius infestation. He later accepted their offer.
But sadly, Stone would find out that JERICHO's intentions were even more asinine than Kakuzawa's. They were trying to protect the diclonius? And to add insult to injury, he was forced to work under Commander Bishop. Diclonius were not worth protecting. They were not worth researching. They were only animals only capable of killing. Yet with thus understanding, Stone had to bite his tongue and work along side these quiet killing machines, waiting for the day when they would all of a sudden snap and kill everyone in sight. So Stone had developed a plan along with the only other soldier he trusted, Ray Henigan. Somehow, they would show the world the danger of diclonius and human interaction. The plan had originally called for, once the Queen had been acquired, to somehow get her to join their side. Then, once she killed all of JERICHO in a fit of fury, they would kill her, using her rampage as an excuse to sanction any and all diclonius.
Unfortunately, the plan hadn't gone as smoothly as hoped. Now however, Stone had been presented another chance to finally do what he knew was his destiny. One in which wouldn't require Lucy's help. And so today he would show the higher ups what diclonius really were. He would show them that diclonius were untrustworthy. Then afterwards, Bishop would be dismissed from his duties, with Stone taking his place. Then JERICHO would go through a deadly transformation. It would then become a global extermination force, dedicated to the eradication of all diclonius and any diclonius sympathizers. And once they were wiped clean from the face of this planet, Stone would finally be the hero he always dreamed he'd be.
Stone finally hacked through the final firewall and found himself staring at a simple black screen that bore a flashing question:
DO YOU WISH TO DISABLE ALL SECURITY PROTOCAL?
Y/N
Stone reached down to pres the "Y" key, but let his finger hover just a second. He considered the magnitude of this moment, and the ironic simplicity of it all. With the stroke of one key, he would usher in the greatest military endeavor ever undertaken by a single entity. And he would lead it's soldiers into glorious battle and victory against an enemy he knew to be evil. And, long after he was dead and his bones were nothing but dust, people would still speak of how he saved mankind from the diclonius.
And all of that would start with the single press of a button. It was all so simple, it nearly brought him to tears.
Then, without pity or regret, Stone pushed the key.
Lucy immediately knew something was off.
She was casually walking down the hall, planning on stopping by Kohta's room when she suddenly could feel the presence of every diclonius in the base. The overwhelming pressure she felt nearly made her knees buckle under her. But she managed to stay on her feet. She looked around, curious to see if anyone else felt that, but she was the only diclonius in sight. She didn't know anything about JERICHO's security system, but she understood enough to know that the base had some kind of vector suppressing system that kept all diclonius powers in check. It felt as if a giant weight had been chained to her powers. Now, she felt the release of that weight, and that couldn't be good.
Without hesitation, Lucy darted off trying to navigate her way toward the command center and Bishop's office. He'd only warned her just recently about his worries that something might happen, and Lucy had a sicken feeling this may be a sign of that. And if that were true, he had to be warned immediately. Lucy turned a sharp corner and ran smack into the frame of someone walking by. The force of the impact was so hard it made Lucy topple backwards and fall butt first to the cold metal floor.
"You ok?" asked a gentle voice. Lucy look up to see the hand of Ray Henigan outstretched, his uncomfortable smile ever present on his face. Lucy hesitated to take the hand as Bishop's warning of him hung in the air like a stench. Finally, she took his hands as he pulled her back up. "Looks like you took a pretty hard fall there."
"Yeah," Lucy said simply, brushing herself off. It was only then that she noticed the other soldier standing next to him. They were wearing a hat pulled low over their face, so she couldn't see who it was, but they looked awfully short to be a soldier. And the more she examined them, the more she felt an unexplainable fear rise to the top of her head.
"Well, we better get going. See ya." And with that, Ray and his companion brushed right past her without another word. Lucy stood in fear, her blood frozen in her veins. She wasn't able to move or even glance at them as they passed. Lucy stood there a long moment till they turned a corner and were gone. She collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily. Why was she suddenly so tired? Why had she felt so afraid? She'd only felt this way a few times before, and that was always in the presence of…
Truth hit her like a tidal wave smashing her against the rocks. She found her energy again, standing up to look behind her only to find an empty hall.
"Oh no!"
With that Lucy sprinted off toward the command center faster than she'd ever ran before. Bishop had to be warned, and Lucy dared not face Tomo, not while he was still holding Nana's body hostage. Her legs screamed out in agony as she pushed her muscles harder and harder against their will. She needed to get to Bishop and warn him now before something happened.
Almost as if on cue, alarms rang out through the halls as red flashing emergency lights flared to life and a voice came over the intercom.
"SECURITY SYSTEM FAILURE! SECURITY SYSTEM FAILURE!"
The ominous voice just repeated that on a loop. Now there was no need for Lucy to get to Bishop. So she turned on her heels and sprinted down the other end of the hall with only one thought in her mind.
Kohta…Mayu…Yuka and Nyu!
She had to get to her family before something happened.
With a single swoop of her vectors, Sakuroka cleanly cut the chains that bound her to the wall. The broken halves fell to the floor, their echoing sound drowning in the pool of the sounding alarm. She stood, her body feeling stiff and rigged. As she adjusted herself, she felt an unspeakable rage fill her heart as her eyes narrowed.
He was here somewhere.
Tomo.
Sakuroka could feel him. Even amidst all the diclonius presence she was feeling, she could clearly make out his own. She had carried him inside her long enough to know his signature as well as her own, only to be thrown out and abandoned. Used like a tool. The memories of his manipulation all came rushing back, turning into a fire hotter than the sun. And it fueled her rage even more.
Sakuroka marched forward as they steel doors magically sprung open at her approach. Without giving this so much as a second thought, she moved forward with conviction toward her destination. She would find him. And when she did… it would be time for some serious payback.
"What the hell is going on!"
The command center had quickly dissolved into total anarchy as Bishop tried to shout above the alarm. Paper documents were scattered all over the floor, JERICHO soldiers ran this way and that way, bumping into one another while others typed furiously at their command posts, trying to shout to others over the howl of the alarm and each other, all trying to gain some measure of control over the increasingly deteriorating situation.
"It's the security system sir," one soldier called out, "It appears to have completely shut down!"
"What?" Bishop shouted back.
"All security measures have been shut off! Suppressors, key code locks, everything is offline, and all of our commands to reestablish a connection are being rejected," another elaborated.
"Who authorized that?" Bishop demanded, knowing full well he was the only person on base with the access to shut off the entire security system. A few soldiers typed away at their keyboards trying to find an answer.
"It appears to have been an outside source," one finally told him.
"That's impossible," Bishop said. But it was possible. It was happening right here before him. And Bishop had a funny feeling he knew who was behind this.
Stone!
"Keep trying to get the security back up," Bishop ordered as he headed toward the intercom in his office. He hit the "CALL" button and spoke loudly into the receiver. "Attention everyone, this is a high level security breach! All soldiers are ordered to arm themselves immediately with whatever you can find! If you see either of the captured diclonius, you have permission to shot on sight! Disregard warning shots! Also, be advised that Second Commander Eric Stone and Ray Henigan are likely responsible for the breach! I want them captured alive if possible! Any civilians report to the command center! Bishop out!"
Bishop hit the "CALL" button again and slammed the intercom on his desk in a fit of fury. Everything was collapsing around them. Two renegade soldiers were destroying all that JERICHO had built and worked for years. At least Bishop didn't plan on letting those two destroy JERICHO without a fight, or at the very least without taking them down as well, not while JERICHO was under his command. He hoped Lucy and her group would understand that the last bit of that message was for them. If Tomo was lose, he'd no doubt go after them eventually, so they needed protection long enough to evacuate them from the base.
Bishop was half ready to run out of the room when a woman on the far side of the command center let out a scream shrill enough to draw everyone's attention. Sitting at their post, headless, with a pillar of blood shooting up from their veins, was a random, dead JERICHO soldier. Everyone turned slightly to the left to see another JERICHO soldier standing nearby with their back hunched and head bowed. As they raised their head, even from this distance, Bishop could see the blankness in those red eyes as pink bangs flowed over their face. Without a word, three different sets of gunfire ripped the air toward the diclonius soldier. They tried to block the bullets, but there were too many, and they were quickly overpowered. They fell to the floor in a tattered mess.
Oh no, Bishop thought grimly. Instantly, he ran back for the intercom and made another announcement.
"This is Commander Bishop, disregard the previous order! All personnel are hereby ordered to evacuate the base immediately! I repeat, evacuate immediately!"
Kosuke could hardly believe what was happening around him. He darted down one of the southern halls, which was currently deserted except for him. This was odd enough in and of itself, since usually you couldn't go anywhere in JERICHO base, with the exception of the lower containment fields, without at least someone being close by. Adding onto that was the apparent security breach, and Commander Bishop's most recent message.
"Everyone is to converge on the docking level and evacuate in one of the airships! Fill them up with as many people as you can! Also, we have reason to believe that our diclonius soldiers might be affected by the outside influence of another diclonius! All diclonius and silpelits are advised to resist this influence at all cost! I repeat –"
Bishop thus proceeded to repeat the message with more urgency, but that didn't make it anymore relatable to Kosuke.
"What the hell is happening?" he asked himself. He wanted to know the answer to that question, but right now he had more important things to worry about. Whatever was going on, it wasn't good, so he had to find Lucy and her family and help them escape. If he knew Lucy, she'd be heading for Kohta's room right now. He'd meet her there and help protect them as they made their escape. They were after all civilians, so their protection should be top priority. After they were safely out of harms way, Kosuke would stay and fight. JERICHO was his home, and he would defend it with his life if necessary. Kosuke turned another corner, but skidded to a stop. Standing motionless in the center of the hall was Ray Henigan.
"Ray, boy am I glad to see you! Do you know what's going on?"
Ray did not answer. He just stood casually there within the hall, hands placed firmly on his hips. He didn't even seem to notice Kosuke even there. He was staring right at him, but he looked as if his gaze went right through Kosuke. The sight made Kosuke feel sick.
"What's wrong?" Kosuke asked apprehensively. Kosuke bent down low, prepared for any kind of trouble. Bishop had warned him about Ray and Stone, but he never took it seriously. He thought it was nothing but Bishop's paranoia. Now, however, he was wishing he'd taken the advice to heart.
"Move aside Ray," Kosuke said forcefully. Ray didn't move. Instead, his smile grew wider. Then, he started to snicker. Kosuke was just about to force himself past when he heard a sound behind him. Without waiting for the sound to register, he spun and shot out one of his vectors, denting a small piece of the hallway floor. Standing mere inches away was a small diclonius girl, clapping her hands menacingly. He had a gut sinking suspicion who this person was.
I've been waiting to meet you for some time now, Tomo said in Nana's sweet, gentle voice, and I'm sorry our first meeting as to be this way. But I'm afraid your body is going to be mine.
A/N: I'm SOOOOOOOO sorry you guys. I know it's been like what, a year, since I last wrote a chapter? Well I've been super busy, but that's still no excuse. For those of you who grew impatient with me and gave up, well I guess apologizing won't do since you won't ever read this anyway. But for those of you who stayed loyal, I humbly thank you. And your loyalty has finally been rewarded! YEAH! I'll try and be better in the future. Some good news is that the year has given me time to think up some new stuff, and that I'm, currently being filmed in a new webseries soon to premier. If you wish to know more, PM me or something. Again, sorry and thanks.
With JERICHO's security system down, the base has dissolved into total chaos. Soldier battles against soldier, and allies now become enemies. Kosuke prepares to face off against Tomo, while Lucy rushes on to save her family. But will she get to them in time? And what does Tomo want with Kosuke's body. Find out in the next exciting chapter of Elfen Lied: The End.