Chapter 24: Dark Secrets
Makoto looked at the man's face before him along with the woman standing next to him and the guards behind them armed and ready. Hatoyama spoke again. "Well, well... I didn't expect to see you here, Makoto."
"I wasn't expecting to see you either Tamotsu. But here you are." Makoto responded in a bored stare. He could feel tightness in his chest at the sight of the man before him. He continued to stare at the man coldly. Just as Hatoyama knew who Makoto was, Makoto also knew who this man was before him. For this mission in saving Yuki, Hatoyama was the president of the Entity and Yuki's boss. For that one mission where Makoto had to collect and destroy information, Hatoyama wasn't the president of the organization that would later claim themselves as the Data Overmind. How did Tamotsu and Makoto know each other? It was something Hatoyama did to Makoto that one time that changed his life when he was younger, and it all started with that same mission where Hatoyama took something away from Makoto.
Before the time Makoto had to penetrate the organization that would later become the Entity, and after he had ditched Asahina's organization to seek out his own opportunities, he became a young mercenary who worked with several associations that made him enter different time periods over time on different missions. During the course of one mission, he ran into a woman who worked for a separate association who shared a compassion for danger and taking big risks. After working together on that one mission, where it was a success, they began to work together on future missions that organizations gave Makoto to do. Because her organization did not want her to work with Makoto—and it wasn't the excuse Asahina's organization gave Asahina for why he was a threat to any association—she eventually left her organization to work with Makoto. It was then that Makoto found a companion, and their working relationship became serious as they fell in love.
However, there was that time when Makoto and his companion had to engage in the mission where they had to penetrate the organization Hatoyama worked for to collect and destroy information regarding the leaders of the planet to make a dominate machine race. What should have been a successful mission at the time was not, as they were unable to collect certain pieces of data necessary to take back to the organization Makoto and his companion worked for, and they were not successful in executing the boss of that association then. As they were fighting their way through security forces in an attempt to kill the boss before they left that dimension, they got separated and Hatoyama—an assistant to the organization's boss—confronted his girlfriend and used her as a shield with a knife against her throat to protect their boss. The boss managed to get away, and as Makoto found her and pleaded with Hatoyama to let her go, he stabbed her in the back through the heart in front of him before escaping. Before she died in Makoto's arms, she told him that if he ever encountered Hatoyama again, he should get his revenge and kill him for what he did to her.
She gave him something more special than love or trust. She gave him the ability to move forward and to honor life. Makoto would never think until this current mission that he would have to confront Hatoyama again, and had thoughts about what would happen if he encountered him again, but now that he was before him, it was time to return the favor for what he did. But with Hatoyama's armed protection and his, Kyon, Haruhi, and Yuki's life on the line, he had to have patience to get revenge on him and make sure that Kyon, Haruhi and Yuki made it safely to their time period.
"What are you doing here Higashiyama?" Hatoyama asked. He waited for Makoto to answer that question but he didn't, as Makoto stared at him hard. "Where are your friends Makoto? We know you're not the only one here." He asked.
Makoto didn't respond to that question either but went straight to the point. "Cut the shit Tamotsu. I came here for Yuki, and I'm not leaving until I have her."
Hatoyama chuckled as Masako stared at Makoto and the guards behind them were standing vertically still with their guns in the same downward position. "You know you and her won't get out of here alive. Neither will your friends, wherever they may be. You should have learned that the first time when you invaded our last organization... Or do you remember?"
Makoto became angry after he said that. He approached Hatoyama close to his face and was a foot away when the guards raised their guns and pointed them towards him. Makoto stopped, only leaving a foot between them. "Don't think I haven't forgotten what you did," he responded in a furious tone, "I will still have my revenge against you for what you did to her. You won't live to see another day Tamotsu."
Hatoyama tilted his head as he backed up to maintain the five foot gap between himself and Makoto while retaining the same snide smirk. "You got lucky the last time. You won't have any luck once I've left this room. Once I leave this room, you and Yuki will be dead. And I will have my revenge shortly once I've found your friends." Hatoyama continued walking backwards until he was next to the leader of the group. "Your friends will suffer the same fate you and Yuki will face, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it."
Hatoyama gave the command to execute Makoto and Yuki once he and Masako left the room. As Hatoyama and Masako left the room and the guard from the outside locked the door, the ten armed men stood there with their guns pointed towards Makoto and Yuki. Makoto didn't know if the EMP gun could take out many of them at a time, and his other gun, which was the laser gun, could take all of them out before he had to reload. Either way, before he could get a shot, they were going to kill him before he drew either weapon. They would kill Yuki, and if they found Kyon and Haruhi, they would be killed too unless Hatoyama had something in mind for them.
As the men took one step forward in an attempt to execute Makoto and Yuki, they stood still for a moment, and began twitching as they were standing still. As Makoto witnessed, they were facing him but their eyes started to look up as they were holding their weapons, which soon began to shake in their hands. For a moment, Makoto thought they were going to fire them when suddenly, the ten men along with their leader all collapsed onto the floor as the guns clanged on the floor. Once they had hit the ground, their eyes slowly closed and their bodies did not move.
For a second, Makoto couldn't understand what caused them to mysteriously collapse, but when he turned to face Yuki, he noticed something strange. Yuki was still in the chair in the same bent forward position, as she extended her right arm forward, and the palm of her hand was facing towards the door. She was looking straight ahead and Makoto got a glimpse of her mouth moving rapidly before it stopped. After looking back at the downed guards at the front then back at Yuki, she lowered her right arm, but because she was not strapped to the chair, she fell out forward, hitting the ground face first. She wasn't moving after she hit the ground.
"Yuki!" Makoto said in shock, running over to her aid. He picked her up and sat her against the chair. He looked at her face and noticed her eyes were fairly open. He ran back to the bag to get the syringe to inject her with what would have reduced her weight if she was too heavy to get out of the chair, but was also a method of restoring her body to function, but took time to work. He didn't know what Hatoyama had at stake for Kyon and Haruhi, and he wanted them out of that shaft right now.
"Kyon! Haruhi! You need to get down here right now! Hurry up!" Makoto yelled as he injected Yuki with the serum. If he had to use the syringe ΛETO supplied him with, they told him to apply the syringe somewhere on her left shoulder. After injecting her with the serum, he threw the syringe to the side and put his hands on her arms to see if she would wake up.
Back at the vent, Kyon and Haruhi had heard Makoto yelling for them to come down. Haruhi told Kyon to go and he got into the open shaft and with the help of Haruhi, he descended into the room. Kyon saw firsthand the interior of the interrogation room, and noticed several men and guns lying on the floor by what appeared to be the exit. Kyon had heard commotion earlier in the room from the vent, but couldn't tell what was going on until he saw Makoto and Nagato on the opposite side of the room. Makoto was on the floor next to Nagato as he was saying something to her, and Nagato was sitting there looking limp. Based on her posture, something was wrong.
"Makoto, what happened?" Kyon yelled, as he was about 12 feet from the ground.
"Hatoyama's guards tried to kill us, but Yuki did something to stop them," Makoto responded, "This machine they had her on took away her strength. I injected her with a serum to restore her energy but it'll take awhile."
Kyon touched the floor seconds later and was scrambling to get out of the harness to see Nagato. He yelled for Haruhi to set the pulleys so she could come down. Hearing Kyon yelling from down below, Haruhi was about to lower the arm on the pulley that was attached to the floor when she thought she heard a clang coming from around the corner behind her along with a light humming noise. She quickly positioned the pulleys in their correct direction to keep the rope taut and grabbed the rope to begin descending when she saw what appeared to be several tiny green beaded lights approaching from the corner. She could tell how each thing had four beaded lights, and there were five sets of these beaded lights coming towards her.
Haruhi quickly descended into the room. Her arms were still hurting from straining the rope but she was able to climb down the rope in an expedient manner. Whatever those things were, she didn't want to wait to see what they looked like. She had to alert Makoto. "Makoto! Kyon! Help me! Something is coming out of the vent!" Haruhi yelled.
Kyon was on the floor next to Nagato and Makoto when they heard Haruhi yelling as she was coming down. Makoto and Kyon quickly jumped up and saw Haruhi descend the rope. Makoto could pick up a humming noise that was coming from the vent, and noticed a large insect-like robot leave the vent. Another one followed it and another, until a total of five—no, seven gadgets flew out of the vent. They had wings, green beaded eyes, and looked like a firefly that was the size of a bird. The humming noise was very loud and resembled a massive swarm of bees. They were beginning to swarm around Haruhi in a counter clockwise rotation as she was on the rope.
"Oh, my god!" Kyon said. He was horrified at what he was witnessing.
"Haruhi! Don't stop, just keep going!" Makoto yelled as he went into his coat and grabbed the laser gun. He didn't know what those things were, but he didn't want them around Haruhi. He aimed the gun carefully and fired one shot towards the insect-like robots. A white laser shot out the gun and made contact with the gadget near Haruhi's foot, decimating the gadget into several pieces.
Haruhi yelped after hearing the gadget explode and continued to go down the rope. One of the gadgets was beginning to cling on her right shoulder and she resorted to swinging in an attempt to keep the gadget away from her. Two more gadgets near Haruhi exploded as Makoto took careful aim, and another gadget near her head exploded, causing her to yelp again as pieces of the gadget rained against her back. Haruhi looked down and noticed she was midway in the room judging by where Makoto and Kyon were standing on the ground. The one insect-like robot that was attempting to cling onto her shoulder finally clung on, as the remaining two clung onto her legs. Through the loud humming noise of the remaining three robots, Haruhi could hear whining from within them and it was starting to grow louder.
"Get off me!" Haruhi screamed, as she swung harder in an attempt to shake off the robots.
Makoto knew Haruhi was in trouble. He could not shoot with the laser gun since they were on her body and immediately switched to his EMP gun. He aimed the gun towards Haruhi, but with Haruhi swinging wildly, it was difficult for Makoto to determine when to shoot so he wouldn't hit her.
Kyon was concerned that the EMP gun would hurt Haruhi if he fired it towards her in an attempt to terminate the remaining insect-like robots. "No! You'll hurt her!" Kyon said as he tried to stop Makoto.
Makoto moved forward when he found a pattern in Haruhi's swinging, and fired the gun. The invisible lasers missed Haruhi, as the energy waves hit the robots, causing them to malfunction and fall to the ground, shattering into big chunks once they struck the floor. The one that malfunctioned on Haruhi's shoulder had managed to prepare a charge in order to taze Haruhi, but when it malfunctioned, it made a loud noise resembling static that scared Haruhi and she almost fell off the rope.
Haruhi continued down until her feet touched the ground. She got off the rope but because she was shaking and panting hard after that ordeal, she sat down and tried to calm herself down. Makoto and Kyon approached her to see if she was all right and she responded by nodding her head frantically.
Allowing her to calm down, Makoto ran over to one of the downed guards and grabbed what looked like a bullpup shotgun and one of the advanced assault rifles. He saw how the weapons used special magazines than modern version guns, and did not hesitate to take all of them from the other guns before running back towards Kyon to take him aside. Before Haruhi's ordeal on the rope, Yuki became aware of her surroundings. She wasn't talking as much but understanding commands, and she even knew the situation of her termination. He wanted to know if she could move about or needed help and she responded with "I'm fine" in her monotone voice. Makoto went straight to the point when talking to Kyon while gathering his laser gun off the floor. "We don't have time to hang around. We gotta go. It looks like Yuki's strength is restored... sort of, but it won't be easy in getting those time warp devices now, and Hatoyama is determined to get his revenge on all of us."
Haruhi had quickly recovered from her ordeal and noticed Yuki sitting against the chair looking the same way she always did. She approached her and checked to see if she was okay, to which Yuki again replied she was fine. Haruhi didn't believe her. She remembered how stubborn Yuki was, especially when she passed out at that mansion and how she said she was fine then when she recovered from that sudden illness.
Haruhi looked at Makoto "How are we going to get out of here?"
Makoto showed her the bullpup shotgun in his hands. "This way," he responded, indicating they would resort to violence, "I told you we would encounter this when getting Yuki. Now it's time to use hostile action." He handed the bullpup shotgun to Kyon and asked him if he could handle using it. Kyon never thought he would have to use a gun. Matter of fact, he didn't even want to touch the gun, rather shoot it for fear of future conflicts in life from shooting the gun at people.
As Kyon refused the weapon, Makoto thought he heard a heavy presence of footsteps coming from the door. At the same time, Yuki's head rose a few centimeters as if she could also tell a presence beyond that door. Kyon and Haruhi noticed something was wrong.
"Makoto?" Kyon asked
"Makoto? What is it?" Haruhi said nervously as she helped Yuki stand up.
On the other side, another set of armed infantry stood by with more guns. Because the guards that collapsed at the door did not leave the room after they were supposed to eliminate Makoto and Yuki, another set was dispatch to handle the situation inside the room. Makoto was going into the bag to collect a flashbomb when Yuki started to speak.
"I detect a heavy presence of infantry attempting to gain access into this room," she said, "I have deactivated the door to prevent them from gaining access inside but they are using methods in an attempt to get inside. They are following the orders given by Tamotsu Hatoyama to eliminate our existence."
Orders by Hatoyama to eliminate our existence, Kyon thought. In other words, that meant Hatoyama's guards were forcing their way in to kill them.
Makoto grabbed the flashbomb and walked over to Yuki. She verified his assumption that something was beyond that door. Shooting their way out was not enough, especially if he was doing the shooting, and their only method of getting out that room and that floor was using the flashbombs, the ones with the blinding light that would incapacitate the enemy as Ethan put it.
"That door is reinforced, yes?" he asked Yuki while pointing at the door.
"It is, but they are working to corrupt the technology of the door in order to gain access."
"Will this help us?" He asked as he showed her the flashbomb, "Will this blow out the door and disable the threat on the other side of that wall?"
Kyon and Haruhi looked at Yuki in astonishment. Kyon knew Yuki was smart in analyzing and modifying data, but Haruhi did not know Yuki's capabilities... yet. Yuki looked at the black soda-can device in Makoto's hands, then picked it up and analyzed it. Ethan assured Makoto the flashbomb would work, and they saw how it performed back at the mansion. Because Yuki was the intelligent one present, he needed an immediate second opinion to ensure it would work.
After looking at the device for five seconds, she put the device back in his hand and gave a response... a shockingly positive response. "Yes." She said.
Makoto looked at the structure that made the large chair. It was eight feet in width and there was a small opening against the back of the chair and the wall, enough for them to fit and shield Yuki in case the light from the flashbomb affected her. Makoto told Kyon, Haruhi and Yuki to sit there and be ready to cover Yuki after he threw the device at the door. They sat with their backs against the rear of the chair as Makoto walked towards the door until there was a gap of 30 feet. He could still hear faint noises coming from behind the door. Not wasting time, he unlatched the flashbomb and threw it towards the door. The bomb landed at the base of the door as Makoto made it back behind the chair where Kyon and Haruhi were waiting to shield Yuki.
"Close your eyes and cover her!" Makoto said as covered Yuki from the front while Kyon and Haruhi covered her from the side.
For a second, they could see black with their eyes closed as they waited for the flashbomb to detonate, and when it did with that horrible loud sound, everything went bright white.