"I do believe we've seen this corner before."
Not for the first time, Jeremie looked sidelong over at Aelita with a mix of frustration, admiration and disbelief. The pink haired girl next to him continued to mutter softly, and either to him or her own self, he couldn't tell.
"Now, if the automatons all came from this direction, that means we're getting close. In theory."
"We're going towards the ones sending those at us?" Jeremie tried not to gulp. "Are you sure that's-"
Aelita held a finger to her lips, and Jeremie shushed.
"It would make sense," she whispered, after a moment. It was like she had never even heard what he had said. "They obviously know someone's escaped." She bit her lip thoughtfully. "Unless they just let those things wander about the building."
"But-"
Finally Aelita paused, glancing around a corner. "We need to be careful now. The paths are all sloping downward." She frowned. "A strange factory indeed, without stairways."
"Perhaps we're descending into hell itself," Jeremie muttered darkly, then winced, hoping Aelita hadn't heard him.
In fact, she barely reacted, tiptoeing forward. "Where did you say the others were?"
Jeremie blinked. So she hadn't forget he was there, he thought wryly. "Where ever they are, the floor was far above this one. We were above the main floor of the factory, at least four or five stories up." Remembering the noise and chaos that production floor, he winced. "If we were near there, you'd hear- what's wrong?" Aelita had frozen, her eyes narrowed in concentration. Slowly, she turned, looking back the way they came.
"Footsteps?" Suddenly, she grabbed Jeremie's hand and pulled him further down the pathway. "Someone is coming!"
Panicked and confused, Jeremie followed her, trying to hear what ever she was hearing. "What is it?"
"Shhh!" Her eyes were focused on the hall way where they had just turned out of.
After a moment, Jeremie too could hear something, a solid thudding sound that was steady getting louder. "It sounds like soldiers," he realized, forgetting he wasn't supposed to talk. Aelita shushed him and clapped a hand over his mouth.
Tall man-shaped shadows began to dance along the walls and suddenly both of them could clearly see what had been making the sound. Were they soldiers? Jeremie squinted, trying not to focus on the warm hand still over his mouth. What ever the group of marchers was, they seemed unusual. A soft whispering emitted from them, but no other sound came, other than their steady footsteps. After a few minutes, the last figure faded from view, and Aelita slowly took her hand from his mouth.
"What...what was that?"
Aelita simply shook her head and stood straight again.
"Aelita?"
Jeremie caught up with her and looked into her face. She seemed calm as she had earlier, only now she was frowning. "What ever they were, there was something off about it," she murmured after a minute. Relief and nervous rose in unison in Jeremie and he nodded.
"I felt the same. They're too quiet...or something."
"Like an army from a nightmare." Aelita bit her lip, then shook her head. "Although that makes little sense. Although we should watch out for them in any case." Jeremie nodded.
"Hopefully the others don't run into them," he admitted. "They shouldn't, yet, since they were so far above this way."
For now, muttered a nasty voice in the back of Jeremie's head. For now.
Aelita nodded, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Good. Hopefully they got out safely. You'll need to do the same, Jeremie, so-"
"No."
Aelita paused, frowning. "What?" Jeremie had stopped dead, and was looking intensely at her.
"I'm not leaving you, Aelita." He shook his head, and steamrollered on when Aelita raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to argue. "We did that before, Aelita. You tried to keep your friends away, remember?" When she winced slightly, Jeremie kicked himself mentally for hurting her, but it had to be said. "We promised you yesterday, when you first told us to run." He hesitated, then took her hand. "I'm not running away now, either. Not for the monsters, not from anything else."
Aelita's hand stayed in his, and for a moment Jeremie felt a faint thrill that had nothing to do with running from monsters. The quick kiss she had given him before...perhaps he hadn't imagined it. But...No. It was impossible. Her voice flooded into his thoughts, and he struggled to bring his mind back to the present.
"Jeremie, this is too dangerous now." Aelita looked down. "We don't have time to argue about this. I need to stop them!"
"Who?" When Aelita's green eyes flashed in anger, Jeremie took a step closer. "The C...Carthage Project? Isn't that what you said it was? Who's making this so dangerous?"
Aelita gapped at him. "It isn't obvious to you?! Jeremie, you're being chased by monstrous automations, captured by mysterious thugs, getting lost in a massive factory where there's...there's..." piles of corpses just stacked up rooms, Aelita thought, shuddering, but pushed that out of her mind. "This is even worse than before...my father was right. It is the Carthage Brotherhood, and that..." her voice trailed off, the anger in her face fading. Instead, there was a sad, terrified expression, vulnerable and lonely. This was calmness that she had shown before, Jeremie realized suddenly. She had been calm, been almost cheerful, even after the sighting of those eerie solders'.
To hide her fear.
"Aelita, what is the Carthage Project...or Brotherhood or...what ever you said it was?"
Aelita looked away, and for a moment, Jeremie thought she might not answer. "What do you know if it? You said your professor told you about at university."
Jeremie let out a humorless chuckle. "The man who told me about it appears to far less trustworthy than I thought.. But all I know is that they were a group of scientists trying to create or find the Virtual Timepiece."
Aelita's lip curled slightly. "They left science behind centuries ago." Her eyes were sad again. "And a few decades ago, my father was one of them."
Jeremie stared at her.
"The theory of the Virtual Timepiece, according to their Brotherhood," she spat the word like it was poison. "The device is delicate, a piece of clockworkery to be a door, a key, a portal to...to a paradise. A heaven." Her eyes were cold. "They fancied themselves as Gods. Their theory claimed that a human's energy is strongest right after a powerful death. They would use specific people, specific forms of energy, trying to come up with the perfect balance that would react with the Timepiece, and open the door."
The horror of what she was describing slowly was creeping in his brain. "They...they used the dead souls of people?!"
"From the little my father told me of it, they started off trying to justify it. They'd sacrifice the sick, the wounded, the war heros. They were promised salvation despite all they may have done in their life. None of these worked, however, and the Carthage Brotherhood expanded their search for the right energy."
Feeling sick and sad, Jeremie gasped suddenly. "The disappearances. Odd mentioned something about factory workers slowly vanishing, going missing."
Aelita nodded. "It's happening again, here in London. When my...my father joined them as a young man, they were stationed in France, where he was going abroad to university. He called wolves, my father did. They sniff out the young minds, the brilliant ones, the arrogant ones." A sad half smile twisted her lips. "My father was all of those, as...as was my mother. She was French, they met there. I don't know... if she was part of it. Father said women usually were not allowed in, so..." She shook her head. "Then my father was informed who would be the next h-honored sacrifice." She was shaking now, leaning against the wall as if unable to stand up without support. Jeremie reached out to her, but she didn't seem to notice. "My mother had been chosen as a sacrifice by my Father's own partner. Zana something, I think. My father refused to aid them anymore if they didn't chose someone else. And then he fled with my mother to England, taking the plans he had been working on with him, along with his own half-finished attempted at a Timepiece." Aelita put a hand to her chest, and Jeremie thought he saw pink light shimmer for a moment.
"You've kept that same one safe this whole time?!"
Aelita nodded slowly. "If it falls into their hands..." Her voice caught in fear, and she shook her head. "That's why you and others need to leave. You could all be used, be killed by the wolves of the Brotherhood. And that...that can't happen."
"Aelita."
It took a moment, but Aelita slowly looked up at him. To her surprise, there were tears glinting in the blue eyes staring down at her. Was he crying for her? Why? What on earth...Perplexed, she reached up whipped one from under his glasses. He caught her hand and held it in his own.
"What would be worse, Aelita," he said softly, his voice soft and gentle despite the intensity in his gaze. "Far worse, is if they caught you, and used you. And that cannot happen. Let me help you, Aelita. I'll follow you even if you say no," he added after a moment, and a small smile flashed on her lips for a moment.
"I don't even know how to stop them, Jeremie," she admitted after a moment, shaking her head. The fear was surging again, and she struggled to get it under control. "They know I'm here, I'm already set to be the sacrifice."
His hand around hers got tighter. "Then they'll have two."
"No!" Aelita shook her head sharply. "I can't lose you, Jeremie! Why can't you see?! You're too important to me!" When Jeremie's eyes widened slightly, Aelita realized what she had said and felt her face grow warm."...I mean...you are, to me, to the others, to everyone! No, this can't happen."
"Try and stop me," Jeremie replied after a moment, shifting his weight so he was leaning against the wall with her, blocking her off. "You know how stubborn I am, Miss Stones," he murmured, raising his eyebrows at her like she was a bad student. "I believe that we should work together, and then perhaps we shall both survive. In theory."
Despite everything, Aelita's lips quirked, and some of the anger left her face. "In theory. Our lives, our hearts, this city. All in theory." She hesitated, then took a step back, away from the wall. Jeremie watched as some of the strength, the calm, flickered back into her.
"I will take you up on on your survival theory Mr Belpois," she said after a moment. "We've wasted enough time as it is." Her eyes narrowed. "Now, to find the wolf den."
None of it made sense.
Three pairs of eyes stared, almost unseeing, as a tall madman in gray regaled them with his plans.
Keep him talking. Find a way out.
Catching their breath, the three of them refused to look at each other, dimly wondering what the other was thinking.
None of it made sense.
"You're the one who put up the wolf in Aelita's office before!" Yumi accused, her voice threatening to crack. How long had it been since they had come into that room? Now they stood, gathered in the middle, surrounded by metallic monsters.
"And the one in that room that belonged to her father..." Ulrich added.
"Where is my cousin?!" Unlike the other two, Odd barely cared about understanding what was going on. "What the bloody hell have you done with her?!"
Xander Hannibal nodded slowly, leaning heavily forward on his cane like a grandfather. "She will, despite her lies and her father's sins, be given the greatest honor." He guestered randomly. "Despite your skills, you don't seem to have a will to comprehend, do you? A pity. I've already told you what will happen to her. Never you mind, you'll see her. You all will be saved, by the noble mercy of my Carthage Brothers!"
"We don't need your mercy," Ulrich spat, starting forward. One of the monsters shifted in his direction, and Yumi grabbed his arm to hold him still.
"It is madness and murder," she continued for him, glaring at Hannibal. "Not mercy. You are creating a hell for yourself!"
"As if a foreigner such as yourself would understand. A female at that."
"Shut your mouth," Ulrich growled through gritted teeth. "Yumi is-"
A high, shrill scream pierced the air, and all three of them jumped. Hannibal let out a soft exclamation and turned.
"Ah, yes! I almost had forgot. The next sacrifice is coming now." He looked over at them and smiled, as if he was their grandfather about to spoil them. "You are in for an honor. Especially you, solider. I've been told some of your old...brothers in arms... would have enjoyed this."
Ulrich, confused, narrowed his good eye. "What are you talking about?"
"What are you doing?!" Yumi's eyes went wide. "What was that...oh...no..."Her gaze fell to something behind Hannibal and the two boys looked too. One of the lines from the symbol etched into the floor led to a tiny hole in the bottom of the wall. But that wasn't what caused the horror to well up in their throats.
A single stream of red liquid slithered from the hole, then another, flowing into the rest of the strangely shaped canals. For a moment, the whole area, the spirals and lines, filled with blood, shimmering slightly in the candle light. Then, slowly, it vanished, as if sucked into the stone of the floor itself.
Odd made a retching sound, his eyes bloodshot. Yumi's eyes were still trained on the opening, only she was now shaking from head to toe. Ulrich just watched, his good eye almost closed, as the last drops of blood faded.
"The sacrifice takes place each day," Hannibal said after a moment. "My system is brilliant, no? The blood, and the energy with it, goes down to the cell of this building where we will step into paradise." He smiled slowly. "The Timepiece will be finished and opened, and Gods we will become, on this path of bloodshed."
"You are a monstrous, self serving demon who deserves to choke on the blood you've spilt." Yumi took a step towards Hannibal, being careful not to tread inside the lines of the blood cannel on the floor. "And when you go into this paradise of hell that you have created, it's own demons shall destroy you, until there is nothing left but a empty wicked ghost." Her hands twitched, and a glint of metal was seen in her hand. Her knife slipped into her gasp.
"Yumi?!" Ulrich hissed, trying to pul her back. The utter horror that had settled over them didn't wear off and he felt like he was moving through syrup to get to her. "Don't! Stop, you-"
Hannibal raised a hand towards her, almost as if to offer to shake hands. "Foolish girl," he said gently, shaking his head. "You simply do not understand."
"Yumi!" Suddenly, Odd's eyes flashed in fear, and he also moved towards her. "Stop, he'll kill you without even touching you! He's-"
A loud blast echoed suddenly in the room, and Yumi fell backwards with a cry. Ulrich and Odd dodged forward, trying to catch her and watch for enemy fire at the same time.
"Fools!" Hannibal was shouting now. "Your orders were not to fire unless ordered too!" With a snapping sound, smoke filled the room, and Hannibal vanished.
Ulrich tried to raise Yumi's head into his lap. "Yumi, wake up!" Odd was glancing over his shoulder, trying to see through the mist that now half blinded them. "Damnit, Yumi, you didn't have to do that, please wake up!"
"She's still alive, mate," Odd said, watching as Yumi's eyes moved slightly underneath the lids. "Maybe she fainted?"
Panicked, Ulrich shook his head. "That's mental. She wouldn't faint, just like that. She's too strong, too br...I mean, she's not some blasted lady in waiting with fits of vapors or what have you." Odd snorted, but his heart wasn't in it.
"She's alive," he repeated after a second. "So are you." He clapped Ulrich on the shoulder. "We're damn stuck somewhere else now." He shook his head.
"How do you know the door's locked, if-" Ulrich watched Odd look back at the door again, then stopped asking questions. None of it made sense anyhow. "Help me move her away from the middle," he said after a moment, glancing back towards the tiny hole in the wall. "We don't need any more blood on us as it is."
Odd's eyes were sharp as he nodded. "Unless it's Xander Hannibal's."