Pinpoint Conviction

Chapter 21: Rebirth Of The Incorrigible

"Hm…" It felt like he had been asleep for a long time and was now just waking up, his mind fuzzy and unable to decipher his surroundings. His body was naked, submerged in a liquid with a breather over his mouth, his body strangely weak, or rather it felt normal. People were talking in a langue he knew but had not heard in such a long time, his mind couldn't process what they were saying at the moment. Actually, he hardly care what was going outside of the tank, he became more concerned with what had happened in the past. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of pain in his head and then all went black, something had happened then. He had been somewhere, doing something, the very end of something.

"…Elrya…Alya…" That's right; there had been a girl, a girl with horns who he had fought to the brutal end. He could almost see it, the vast citadel, its spires of darkness crumbling down from the effects of their battle. He could see the black army being torn to pieces by the girl's strange hands and his laughter of chaotic disposition echoing loudly. He had killed the person she loved, forced her into a torrent of fury that had wrecked his body again and again without restraint. Yet still he didn't give up, his own endurance brought on by his serums and sheer determination forced him to continue on, to get the very best out of her.

But she had refused to kill him. He laid there, his body broken beyond every conceivable limit, and yet she had refused to kill him. With his spine snapped, he could not move but a single arm and she had refused to kill him. Firstly, he discovered that he could feel his legs, that was confusing but his thoughts soon ventured back to where it was before. Her refusal to kill him, to grant him that want of his was infuriating. He hated her for it, hated her weakness, and hated her stupidity in letting him live. Even though he killed that man right in front of her, even though she slaughtered his army, she had refused to kill him. She wouldn't give him that satisfaction? What kind of stupid excuse was that?

That girl was just like him, that man he had fought many years ago. The man he had once seen as the greatest rival, who he wanted to meet his end against. He no longer cared about his very own desires at that point, he only wanted to make the girl suffer in the worst way possible and what way then to make her kill the closest person to her. He wanted to feel that everlasting sensation of horror inside of her, for committing the crimes she did. So as he forced her into the final edge of turmoil, she ripped out his brains in a violent act of suffering. When he finished this thought, he understood that he should by all means be dead, which mean that the voices he was hearing may be those of the demons from Hell. His eyes opened up slightly, only to squint from the effects of the liquid.

What he had first thought as water was instead a thick frothy silver liquid that blocked out what was happening behind the glass cylinder.

"He's awake, release the liquid."

They were speaking about him and the liquid around him began to drain, lowering him until he was on his knees, slumped forward and being held up by wires wrapped around his arms and waist which he originally not felt until just now. No longer surrounded by the thick green water, he could finally glimpse through clouded eyes the room he was in. If he was in Hell, it wasn't anything like he'd thought it would be. There were three people, regular humans from what he could tell, the room was a semi-large area of metal walls, test tubes and other assortment of items, some of which looked very similar to stuff he owned.

One of them took him by the arm, slowly lifting him up and setting him down on something hard, cold and metallic. It may very well have been just another machine that easier for him to sit on, but in his groggy state, he felt as if it was just another seat. They began to dress him, putting on a pair of large black jeans and black coat with fur lining around it, it gave him an imposing look, that that had never been their objective.

"Can you hear me?"

He didn't look directly up but the movement of his head at least told them he could hear them.

"…What…what is going on?" He asked softly.

"You have been given new life thanks to the holy power of our messiah, Aurelius Denotos."

This name did not register to him, in fact, there was little registering in his mind at this point, too much was happening for his pitiful mind to take in so soon. "What…what is the day?" When he got the answer, he was startle to realize that many months had passed since that fateful battle. Slowly but surely, his mind was coming together, the room which had been so blurry began to take a more appropriate appearance as he finally got to look around. It was most definitely not hell, it was just a room filled gadgets and…he stopped, noticing a few things.

The men held with them long cylindrical rods, serrated at the edge and holding immense power. That would explain the lack of feeling in his neck and shoulder, he missed that feeling but why did they have his rods? He could also see bottles of his specialized serums around, these people had been going around in his stuff.

"You have been given a new life, to serve and follow our great messiah. Please, bow your head and give thanks to your new lord."

"…Aurelius huh? What are his desires?"

"Desires? He has no such need for desires; he has all that he needs. Only we must follow him to the right path."

The reborn man finally got up, trying to get the feelings back into his leg. Obviously having not moved around in so long would cause problems but in no time, he found himself inching forward to one of the people, a black haired spectacle man who had been doing the talking. "You are still getting use to your legs, that is understandable. You just need to…" He stopped, the rod in his hand being grasped gently by the person who let it go.

"Keh! Keh! Heh! Heh! Heh! How quaint…" Vladimir muttered, grinning wickedly at them. "How very quaint…this is so quaint! How quaint this is, born again from the depths of hell itself, to see life once more, to continue my desires. How often does man get a chance like this? This is quaint…you people are quaint, but I'm afraid I can't allow this to go any further. Do you know how those rods work?"

"…"

"They're based upon a touch and voice activation. In short, the rod I touch with my hands, are now given a specific wired structure to my voice."

"…I don't understand?"

"You don't understand?" Cents asked mockingly. "Well then allow me to show you." He backed away, and snapped his fingers once. "Detonate."

In an instant the rod exploded, blowing apart the man's arm as well as a good portion of his side, splattering the floor with blood and visceral, his screams suddenly cut short when the pain hit such an all-time high octave. Cents glancing at the bloody floor bent down, traced his fingers along the red pool and put to his mouth, licking it obscenely before turning to the others. The fools who thought that they could control the single most dangerous man in the world, who had unleashed this monster had no chance. Maybe, maybe if they had a weapon beyond the rods that they knew little of, maybe a gun, just a bullet could end the madness.

Instead, the only thing that was gathered was the pool red on the floor and pieces of flesh that sprawled out everywhere, the guts splattered on the walls from the explosion of the rods. Of course though, what chance did mere dreamers who had no clue of the weapons they possessed, have against Vladimir Cents. His power, incredibly dangerous to the point of being an enigma. How could they possibly even think of having a chance?

Cents rubbed at his face, his broad grin widening as he rubbed his fingers through his hair. He was alive, certainly, beyond a doubt alive! "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! You bastards…you foolish little bastards! Kyahahaha! Haha! Ha! Hahahahaha!" Every feeling his body, every nerve, every bone, everything that had been destroyed was now flowing freely through his newborn body. He was intoxicated with his new found resurrection, not of rebirth but of re-possibilities.

Noticing in the corner something large laying on a padded bed, Cents went to investigate, eyeing his own corpse fervently. "You've been through a lot…haven't you?" Cents said, smiling down upon his own dead body. "I see now, biological cloning, those clever, foolish little bastards! I'm just like those little clones of Number 35, but…my memory, my thoughts, I can sense it all." Giggling manically, he grabbed his sides, keeling over at the pure psychotic enjoyment he was undergoing.

"My world fallen so low, judging from the serums I see, only the endurance ones are there. I have none of my weapons, my spear is gone, my army has been utterly eradicated. I have nothing but myself, just a simple man with a little power, but it's more than enough. It's all I need, just my mind to keep going and fulfill my greatest desire.

Hahahaha! Hahahaha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Laughing almost to tears, Vladimir had to move away, hitting the back of the wall, he covered his hand over his face, chuckling manically all the while.

"I wonder…" He spoke aloud. "…What is my Old Man Garder is up to these days?

And also…I wonder what she's up to?"

The girl, the horned girl who had destroyed his army, who had wrecked his body, who had ultimately in the end, killed her.

Elrya Alya.

"What are you doing now, dreaming girl? Alone without your precious little voice inside of you? Maybe you've lost it, gone completely insane and even killed yourself, but I doubt that. It's so intriguing, wondering, just purely wondering what is going on with you. The desires I have are going to have to wait right now, I'd be stupid to try anything, what I want most of all now, is to find her again. That quaint, pitiful, great, foolish little girl, I want to meet her again, and finish this fight. Ho! Ho! I wonder how the angel is doing, adorable little Miriana, I can't wait for her to see me again."

Vladimir Cents was lost in the ecstasy of his new rebirth. He was profoundly amazed at the new possibilities he now had, this was a once in a life time opportunity. He finally got himself under control, wiping away the tears of dark gladness away he looked around. He might as well take what he could and grabbed the phial containing his serum, gulping the concoction down steadily. The effect were almost instantaneous, his body tightened, his veins and organs tightened, his muscles all tightened as the blow flow increased through every part of his figure.

Biological Endurance Serum, B.E.S as his men ha called it. Created from the research done on Mellissa, it allowed his body to surpass any human known endurance. Without it, he would not be able to take vectors like he had been doing before. Diclonius weren't people to be trifled with, much less those of such powerful capabilities like Elrya and Lucy. Really, he had been thrown back to the very beginning of his journey, the starting point of the entire ordeal to make the whole world suffer. He felt a sense of pain yet great satisfaction in this, it was like he was suffering the hellish nature of continuation, so close to the end and then to be swung back at the beginning.

There was nothing else inside the room for him to use, just random metallic equipment and a few bottles of natural chemicals. He ran through his corpse, understandably finding nothing and strolled through the area, mostly looking for weapons. If they were using his rods then they might have more lying around. Unfortunately for him, the only thing he could get in the end was the B.E.S. No point in staying around, he went for the exit and ran into one more person.

"Hm?" He calmly mumbled, looking over at the person with dissonant look in his eyes. He looked different, stronger, a man of power and strength. His face was also different, he could see the Japanese ancestry in this one. He wore a long green coat and tan jeans, his black hair cut short and slicked back coolly. Although he couldn't see his eyes directly behind the thin sunglasses, around the edges were marks that he recognized as prosthetics and even the one of his hands gleamed with a metallic sheen. In one hand, a large desert eagle holding in place the ever so dangerous .50 caliber tungsten bullets.

And that gun was now aimed directly at him. Cents neither backed away, shivered or expressed a single ounce of fear in the movement though it had nothing to do with the thought that he could do anything. He just lacked the fear of dying, especially when it had already happened once.

"Ah ha! Now I know who you are, you're the soldier! Bando!" Vladimir yelled.

"Yeah, how the hell do you know that?" Bando demanded.

"I know things." Cents response made the soldier want to punch him.

"Well you know me, why don't you tell me who you are?"

Cents obliged, bowing before him. "Vladimir Cents."

Bando too had seen the resemblance too, although the change of clothes, different hair style and lack of rods sticking out of him threw him off. No, that wasn't it, it was the fact that Vladimir Cents was supposed to be dead. What stood before him could not have been him, but it was true, the looks, the body structure, the voice with its slight Romanian accent. He had only seen Cents once in his life, during the time when they stopped Kakuzawa's missile and he could never forget the devilish look in the man's eyes.

"You're supposed to be dead." He growled angrily.

"Yes I am…" Cents said without denial. "My own body is still in that building. Technology is such an amazing thing isn't it?

"Stupid people messing with things they have no need to be messing with! I guess we all know who's behind the mess here."

Vladimir curiously tilted his head to the side. "Really? What's going on? I just came back from the brink and the first thing I find out is people are using my stuff. Are you telling me that there are more people using my stuff?" He looked away, putting his finger up to his chin in thought. "Then again, some dreamer named Aurelius appears to be at work here."

"You know that name too?" Bando asked gruffly.

"Aye, I heard the blood soaked victims in their talking about it."

Bando chided himself for not pulling the trigger, he knew the person before him was dangerous but still, apparently Cents did not have a clue of what was happening. He himself had come to Europe in secret in order to find out the problems that were going on in it. Having done his own research, he too knew that Aurelius possessed a great amount of wealth and with the Diclonius now living out in the open; he had the feeling deep inside of him that trouble would brew if the problems continued.

Maybe it was Cents uncanny ability to have fate go his way, even if unintentionally but Bando after much through moved the gun down, though he still kept his hand firmly placed on it, ready to move at the moment's notice. Right now the man before had the best knowledge of the items being used, hard as it was to admit, Bando realized that right now, he needed this man alive.

Vladimir shrugged his shoulders indifferently, about to turn around before the burly soldier told him to stop in his tracks.

"What now?"

"Who told you I was letting you go dumbass! You're coming with me, get over here now." Bando ordered strongly.

"Hm?" Cents mused with a sly smile.

Bando pulled up his gun and then took something out of the pocket of his jacket, a long syringe with some clear liquid in it. "I told you, you're coming with me, get your ass over here." Bando again ordered. Vladimir Cents starred coolly back then again shrugged his shoulders and walked over, stepping up to Bando who flexed his muscles on instinct. Although Cents had not done anything to provoke him, Cents, being nearly a head taller and nearly twice as wide gave an imposing feature. "I guess I don't have much say then, without any of my other weapons, I wouldn't think of fighting you. You've put me into a quite a predicament soldier, how quaint. So tell me, what's in that little pointer there?"

"Put out your arm and you might find out."

"And what if I don't want to?" Cents asked.

"Then I'll put a fucking bullet in your brain."

Cents sighed loudly. "Oh my, oh my, how quaint, you give me no choice then…" He muttered nonchalantly, sticking out his left arm as Bando inserted the needle into it.

"…And…?" Cents questioned when nothing happened.

Bando said as he pulled up a small electronic from his pocket, "In that liquid were nanobot tracking devices. This way I can actually keep track of your ass. Really, stupid bastards bringing you back to life, the entire world's gone to shit I swear!"

Vladimir Cents looked at his arm and smirked broadly, flexing his fingers in the process. "Interesting, you think well ahead. Now I have a question for you."

"…Yeah…?" Bando stated carefully.

"…Where is Elrya Alya?"

Bando glared back at him, trying to see if he could pinpoint the man's true agenda. "What does it matter to you?"

Cents shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "No reason, I thought I would just like to meet…the girl who killed me after all."

"Well get over it, you're coming with me, let's get going and don't try anything funny. I have you tracked now." Bando said gruffly.

"Aye! Aye! You have me on the leash, I might be able to take damage thinks to my serum, but without my weapons I wouldn't dare think of fighting someone of your caliber. Go on and lead the way…Bando-san." Vladimir stated, bowing before him before putting his hands in pockets, following the ex-SAT soldier. Life had given him a new chance, how many people could honestly say they had this same opportunity? Why do things recklessly, if it meant following this man for a little bit to attain his desires, then it was a very small price to pay. "Well can you answer me this, what's going on in the world? The last time I heard, Kakuzawa had been planning some stuff."

Bando thought for a moment then decided there was no harm in telling him.

"The old bastard was beaten and imprisoned, they've created some special horned girl school to educate them."

"You don't say eh? How quaint, I'll have to visit it sometime."

"Don't get a head of yourself, dumbass, once we fixed this problem, then we'll be dealing with you. Now I just…damn!" Bando's words were cut short as and Cents were nearly blown off their feet by shockwave that rushed through the area. What caused it was easy enough to pinpoint what had caused it, it wasn't exactly hard to miss the mushroom cloud that hung over the skies in the far horizon. "Was that a…nuclear explosion?" Bando questioned to himself. Cents also looked over at it, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"…That location, soldier, where are we…?"

"Hungary." Bando answered back.

"I see, I thought that looked familiar, what's happening at my place?"

Bando quickly yelled, "You can find out soon enough, we need to get properly equipped and check it out."

"It has been 2 hours since the explosion in Hungary, reports are still coming in. There is currently no death toll though all locations near it are being ascertained for the possibility of radiation poisoning…"

Garder stared coldly at the screen, listening intently with his ears. There had been an explosion, a very bad one in Hungary, the kind only acknowledged in war time. Yet it was different, because this so called nuclear blast had not been aimed at a large group of people. What he did know that the location of the blast was Vladimir's Citadel, the same place where he had sent Julius and Victoria. For the third time he dialed the number, and like the other two times neither Julius nor Victoria answered them, the only thing he got was a sheer sign of static from his own end. Had their phone been destroyed in the blast itself? Was it possible that they had somehow died in it?

Without that phone, he had no other way to contact them from his end. There was only one thing he could do, hope that Julius had found a way out of this mess and would contact him as soon as he could. Still, the more important question now, was just what had happened over there? If that explosion had not been on a general location, like a city then had to have been used directly in that place for a reason. He chided himself firstly for not making sure to check Cents' place more carefully nearly fifteen years ago, really, if he had a nuclear bomb on his hands during their battle long ago, things would have turned out much differently. For one, he certainly wouldn't be standing here right now.

Then again…maybe he was frustrated at that point. If he had died long ago, then his brother would still be alive. Maybe if he was still alive, Jessica too would also be there. Maybe things would be a bit different, if things had been different from back then. He once again dialed the phone and then, at long last, it connected.

"H-Hello?"

"Victoria, is that you?"

"G-Garder? That's right, it's me."

"Are you and Julius alright? The news is on, what happened over there?" Garder asked, Victoria had to admit to herself that she was surprised to hear the tone of urgency in his voice. Did Garder really care that much about them?

Victoria replied, "Julius is hurt, he used his powers to keep us save from the after effects but…we're heading to a hospital right now. Bando and some buy guy came up and managed to save us before Julius' powers gave out."

"Bando? So he was there also. Who is this other guy?"

"I don't know…oh, why don't you talk to him yourself."

…

…

"…Long time no see…" Garder's eyes widened urgently as he hear the voice that he knew all too well. "…Perfect Soldier."

"...Vladimir Cents…" Garder uttered with disdain.

"Aye, we haven't spoken in a while, what's up?"

"Why are you alive? You were pronounced dead, we saw the body itself."

"Hahahaha! Strange how that works though, but I am alive. Apparently some fools got it in their heads that they should clone me, that sure didn't work." Whoever these fools were, if they weren't dead already, he'd probably kill them himself.

Somebody else spoke over the line. "Hey, this is that Morotisan man right?"

"Aye, you must be Bando."

"That's right, listen up I've got the freak nut job here on a leash. He isn't going anywhere and if he could, there's not much he could do right now. I'm guess you've also heard of Aurelius and this so called organization he's leading right? Well if they're using this nut job's weapons then right now he's the only one here with knowledge on them."

He had a point, even if he didn't like it. Damn Cents, of all the times that had to come, it had to be one where he actually was needed. It also meant that an extra problem had emerged. Not only was he dealing with Aurelius' madness, but he was also dealing with the Cents that resided in Elrya's mind and now he was dealing with the original Cents. Thank goodness Vladimir didn't have his usual powers on him, otherwise he would probably have to go to Hungary himself. It was annoying, but he had no choice, his job was here, otherwise there was nobody else to keep an eye on the Diclonius Educational Institution or of the general location of Japan. Right now, as long as Vladimir Cents remained in custody of Bando, a man he had enough respect for to get things done on his own, he would have to let the others deal with him on their own.

"…I'll put my trust in you. Contact me again when you get the chance. Let me speak to Victoria again."

"Yes?" Victoria answered.

"There was an explosion there, I know that obviously, what happened exactly? I mean what caused it?"

As she explained their short little fight with the man, Morotisan's slowly pushed his glasses up his nose and then he removed them, laying them on his desk. "I understand, I will contact you later." Hanging up, Garder leaned back into his seat, his head facing the ceiling at first and then turning his chair around so that he now faced the large window overlooking Tokyo. It had long since stopped snowing but the effect was still there on the winter ground, white snow settled upon the streets and buildings, though not nearly as thick as it had once been and in about a week would probably be mostly gone. Come to think of it, the yearly winter this time had been quite hectic and now as if it was even possible, it got even crazier.

So he was alive, the man he seemed destined to face again and again. The stupid bastards had reawaken a true monster and it was only a matter of time before Cents made his move. Worst yet, how would this effect the outcome with Elrya Alya? There were of course technically two Vladimir Cents running around now, the real physical one with Julius, Victoria and Bando and the one being currently suppressed in the secondary Diclonius Queen. How would it affect the outcome of this fight with Aurelius?

There was one thing that was very clear on his mind though. He would use Cents as far as he could in this battle and once it was over, he would end him for good. There was just no way he could let him live past his usefulness. He just had to make sure that Cents remained in the hands of the others and didn't get any more powerful than he already was.

"Kuh…" A groan escaped his lips. "…I am beginning to feel, that age is getting to me. I'm putting my trust in you people and I truly hope, you've got that monster on a tight leash."

Author's Notes: Chapter finally finished and I hope it was enjoyable. Been very busy with the University among other things and honestly I'll get the next chapter done eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later but can't say when it will be.

Please R&R

Happy Holidays!