XXXV

Schmerz

With disgust Saeko watched as this man raised his arms in front of him trying to shield himself from whatever it was that she would be doing next, keeping his eyes closed she could hear him pray. Screaming with rage she kept sending objects flying and crashing into every direction. To think that all this time this man had been allowed to just do as he pleased.

"P-Please don't kill me, I-I can help you." He begged and pleaded to her but it seemed to make her only more furious, something big crashed into the wall nearly taking his head off.

"I AM GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME AND MY SISTERS, YOU WILL SUFFER LIKE WE HAVE!" She shrieked in fury with tears running down her face as she was consumed by all the pain and grief that she and those like her had to endure. Her new found vectors were poised to strike, she would kill him and then present his head a sign that she had conquered a demon of her past; her master would be proud of her.

Something big and strong grabbed her, she couldn't move as somebody's arms wrapped themselves around her. A deep voice shook her to the core as she felt paralyzed, even if she had wanted to carry on with her attack her mind instantly responded to her master's voice.

"Saeko-chan don't do this, this human isn't worth it."

Surprised and confused by the words she withdrew her vectors, feeling that the arms loosened their gripe she turned around. "But you told me back then that if I couldn't defeat my own demons…?" She was feeling both sad and depressed as she saw his face, why wouldn't he just let her do it.

"I did say that but you must not do that at the expense of losing something even more valuable, even with all that you have been through you remain pure and innocent."

Not knowing why but she felt proud at hearing him say that, did she have more to offer than what she had thought. "B-But he caused me so much pain, he tormented my sisters, he made us all suffer. Why should I just let him live, doesn't he deserve to be punished for what he has done?"

He nodded. "He does deserve to be judged for his actions but I will not be at your hand. If you kill him now you will be no better than him. Do not let his death stain your soul." His head rested on her shoulder, she could feel the weight of it pressing her down. "Don't allow a vermin like him to damn you for the rest of your life, don't walk the same path that I do. You are still a child, don't let him take that away from you any further."

"I-I don't know, am I really that?" Seeing him being silent for a moment she stepped forward to hug him herself, she didn't want to let go.

"You are, walk away from this human now and you will always remain a better person than he ever could have hope to be."

All of her anger and hatred started to fade as she kept her embrace, this felt like it was the right thing to do for her. "Is it okay for me to stay like this?" Her heart was starting to pond on her chest, her breathing was becoming heavy. "I don't want this to end. Please let me stay like this master?"

"You must Saeko-chan, right now we need to get you out of here. It is going to get too dangerous for you to remain." His arms finally let go of her and despite her efforts to keep on holding herself she could sense that it was time to let go.

Ichi didn't know what she had just seen never mind heard, with delight she had watched as this new sister of her had stepped forward to kill that man. His screams of fear were like the best sounds she had heard during her time here.

And then this person hard arrived, she had been amazed and awed by his sight, towering over the others he was imposing to look at and yet he felt different than the humans. Yes there was something very different about this one, it had sparked her interest. Her interest had grown even more when he had been able to stop the sister from killing Ritsuko, she didn't fully understand what he had said but it must have meant something as she had stopped.

What had it been that had caused her to stop, what had taken away all of the anger and hatred that Ichi had sensed herself. She desired to experience that for herself as well if she could be a better person than this white coated bug, it was an intriguing thought.

And then she heard him say that were going to leave, was it true that they had a way out of this place? If so then she wanted more than anything to go with them, any place would be better than to be stuck here but she would not leave her newfound twin sister alone. For the first time in her life she was starting to feel complete, she wouldn't give up on this now.

"P-Please take us with you!?" She cried as she looked at them all standing there. "Take my sister away from this place please, we don't want to stay here!?"

The man who had been talking with the woman approached the big one. "She has a point, if we leave them here then they will be killed anyway."

That sister also joined in. "Please master, I want to help them. Can we please take them with us, I promise I will look after them." She pleaded to the big one. "I-I want to save them, if I save them wouldn't that make me an even better person that before."

Finally as the woman also came to join the group. "Is it true?" She asked. "Do you have a place where they can be kept safe and out of harm's way?"

"I can see why you said things got more complicated." The big one addressed the smaller man who nodded, they walked away before they started to discuss something with each other.

"Guess I will then go and see if I can have a look at her leg after all." Mako sighed as she turned around, here was hoping that a second attempt would be met with more luck.

Steadily she approached the diclonius who had taken her place back with her twin sister, for a moment she pondered about asking Ritsuko what he knew about this newly arrived silpelit but then she reminded herself that she had all of his data stored. No for the time being she didn't need his information anyway, for all she knew he could be telling a lie to save his own life.

Right now nr. 31 was in more direct need of her help though with a possible bone fracture there was little she could do about it especially in their current predicament.

Ichi watched with suspense as she saw her coming over, she was really in the mood to talk to her again about her.

"You are putting them in some dilemma here, we do not know if they are either ready or willing to take in more diclonius than they already have." Dreachon remarked as he took a quick glance at the girls, they would be taking three more with them.

"I am fully aware of that and I will take the responsibility of them but you have to agree that we just can't walk away from them anymore. We do so and we will be just as worse as the people who have locked them up here."

"Spare me any speeches about higher cause, I am fully aware of that but even then we are going to impose on them back at the Inn." Pondering he asked how Nana was doing, if she was able to walk on her own strength.

Dai shook his head, after Mako had given her a brief exam she had explained that due to the usage of heavy drugs she would be in no way able to walk for hours.

"So we have to carry her, the others don't look to be in a much better shape either." Looking at them he knew that the one with broken leg and the other confined to the bed were both in need of somebody else to either carry or support them but the one that gave him pause was the third one still cradling herself.

Seeing him look at her for a moment Dai noted. "She can walk but she is in a shock it seems."

"No she is not, she is in something far worse." Dreachon was quick to correct him. "She is a liability at this moment, we take her with us and we risk the safety of the others."

Confused Dai looked at him. "What are you talking about, that kid is just scared."

A low growl already told him otherwise. "Do not question me, I have seen that behavior, I have seen the look in her eyes and I know damn well what it means."

He was then explained in detail what exactly her condition was and the reasons on why she was a liability to their immediate safety.

"Well if you put it like that then I would have to agree but what should we do about her then, leave her or do want to kill her here and now?" He had grown concerned about Dreachon's apparent disregard for a humans life. "But she is still a human being."

"So what!" His head turned back to look at Dai, he did not sound amused.

"This is a person's life we are talking about, if you leave her here you might as well just go ahead and kill her. No wait you are the kind of psycho who actually enjoys that"

"Watch your tongue?" Dreachon snapped as he grabbed Dai by the collar, lifting him of his feet. "Do not presume to talk about matters that you don't have an understanding about, I will not stand by idle and let her become a threat to Saeko-chan when she becomes threatened by somebody else. Is that in any way unclear!?"

Letting go Dai fell to the ground. "We are taking her with us, I will take full responsibility for her actions."

"Do tell me then if you will also take responsibility when it comes to that?" He pointed at the gun Dai was holding. "Can you do that, can you pull the trigger then?"

Dreachon turned his back to him. "I will contact Dogo and inform him that we will leave at once."

Shaking his head Dai just walked away and went over to have a look at how the others were doing, might as well start with the one that was causing this friction. If she was as dangerous as he said then he would find out quickly enough. Placing his hand on her shoulder he addressed her. "Hey, how are you doing there?"

Lifting her head she looked back at him with fear filled eyes.

Moaning and protesting Yamada finally managed to free herself from underneath the rubble, counting herself lucky to have survived she shouted out for any other survivors. Hearing voices answering her call gave her the strength to push on further, cursing like crazy as she pulled her leg from underneath a large piece she was glad to have gotten out of that.

"Are you alright, we have managed to get into contact again with the fourth section but it seems things have gone sour for them as well."

"Just wonderful." She remarked in a snarky tone. "Just how the hell could this get any worse?" Part of her almost wished she hadn't asked that question when the man replied.

"They have a situation with a second rogue diclonius, right now they are able to keep it contained but they are taking heavy casualties."

She gave it some thought. "Tell them we are on our way to provide backup, with this corridor caved in there is no way for us to give chase. Get me also into contact with control, I need to know if there are other possible passages that we can utilize and put all guards on the neighboring areas on high alert in case they might try to sneak out."

Now they would first try to deal with the rogue until word got in from the control room, unless they would find a new route there was no way for them to get any further.

"Alright people let's get moving, fourth section isn't going to save their hides themselves." Taking a rifle from the nearest guard she checked the magazine. "Remember no explosives, this department has already been damaged enough."

They had taking considerable losses and most of their heavier weaponry was lost or destroyed and right now this silpelit was according to the information she was getting stronger than the previous one, fate was really working against her this night.

She was expecting a call from the chief given this situation but so far he was keeping to himself, was he aware of what was going on and if so was this something he had fully anticipated. It figured that he had his own reasons for remaining silent but for some reason she found it unnerving, she was used to him constantly being involved in all matters with regard to the institute and the diclonius.

She would have words with control though after this for an explanation on why two of them could have escaped. Perhaps this was the doing of the terrorists but she would not rule out other more concerning reasons

Ducking to avoid a wall panel from nearly taking her head off she kept her distance knowing well that to get any closer within this confined passage would be certain death.

"Back up, we need more space to maneuver if we want to take her down!" She yelled as more men started to arrive. Gesturing for them to pull back she fired again trying to keep the silpelit suppressed and to delay her advance, right now this one had proven to be more dangerous as her range was vastly higher than the previous one.

She fired a short burst, just enough to keep the attention focused on her. She might as well try and take down a buffalo with a purse as the shots didn't make any impact against this one either, next to greater range her vector also had more strength.

Well at least there was good news, her vector moved rather slowly and these were visible. Provided they could keep their distance they had a chance to survive against this one, sadly it was something they had realized too late and the torn bodies of those not quick enough to avoid her vectors lay scattered across the hallway.

"How are those reinforcements doing?" She yelled towards the people behind her back, extra manpower had been promised but until now she had seen very little of it.

"They are on their way, we can expect them at any moment." The guard replied as he opened fire as well. "But they are requesting that we try and force her into passage 3-D, that way they can outflank and attack from the rear."

"And I presume that we can be the ones to goad her there, that is suicide!" She scoffed at hearing his words. "We can count ourselves lucky to still be alive at just keeping our ground, goading her towards that passage will only get us killed!"

"I told them that but the order still remains." The clipped dropped to the floor as he reloaded, handing her a clip as well he opened fire again. "With your permission I would say they are going to let us hang."

"I know what you mean but there is little we can do about it, besides do you want to go and complain to the chief himself. I am certain he will really listen to what a guard has to say."

The man didn't make any further complains, still she couldn't blame him for it as she was having the same feeling as well. But there was nothing that either she or anybody else could do, right now she needed to proof herself is she wanted any chance of gaining more direct access to what the chief was up to and if that meant taking on a rogue diclonius then so be it.

"Right now let's focus on keeping her pinned, if we can halt her there is a good chance that we can drive her back through weight of fire."

"That won't be easy, her vectors are able to deflect our shots. We need something heavier if we want her to back away from us." The special ammo had already been supplied to the forward elements as they were facing armored opposition. "Unless those reinforcements bring it with them we won't be able to do much, besides that restriction on using explosives is also not going to help us."

Begrudgingly she agreed, it had already been risky using the grenade but it had certainly helped in dealing with the first one, almost a pity that it hadn't taking down this second one as well when it had went off. "Not much we can do and I am not really in the mood for any further complaining, right now I want suggestions on how to block her."

"Get away from me, I don't want any of you bugs near me and my sister." Ichi sneered as she looked at Mako, wrapping her arms around her sister she wasn't going to let anybody touch her. "You bugs have already done enough to her."

"I know that but as I told you before I want to help you." Mako pointed at her injured leg. "That is going to need help otherwise you won't be able to ever use it again, is that what you really want? To have a ruined leg for the rest of your life?"

Mako could see the hesitation that this girl was having, perhaps with showing enough kindness and understanding she would be willing to accept help. "It would be a shame for such a pretty girl like you to have a bad limb, don't you want to able to walk together with your sister?" Hopefully her bond with her twin was already strong enough to overcome her suspicion, was that even possible for such a short time they have met.

"Can you fix it, can you really fix my leg?" Ichi asked, her voice wavering as she was becoming more insecure, the thought of walking with her sister was one she was looking forward to. Without a good leg how could she do that, perhaps this woman had a point. "If we go with you can you fix my leg so I can walk on it again?"

"Yes I can." Mako was surprised by her sudden willingness, still she knew that this wouldn't be an easy fix. "Now may I have a look at your leg, I promise to be gentle with it." A quick glance already told her that the bone was likely broken, if so that would add weeks if not months to her recovery. "Now this might actually hurt a bit but I need to feel if anything is broken on the inside, I know you don't want to get hurt but please don't fight it."

Frightened Ichi pulled back her leg. "N-No I don't want to get hurt, that is not what you promised me. I-I don't want to go through with this." She screamed as the sudden jerk on her leg caused pain to wash over her.

"Please listen to me, your leg was badly wounded, don't be so rash with moving it otherwise you might cause even more harm. I am sorry if I am going to hurt you…" Mako didn't get to finish her sentence as she got up and walked to some of the cabinets as she had an idea that would help them both.

Searching through them she smiled as had found what she was looking for, it would help to some degree, she hurried back over towards Ichi. "Listen I am going to give you a little sting but it will take away the pain in your leg." Seeing the needle Ichi jumped back, screaming she didn't want that anywhere near her.

"I guess you don't have any good memories of needles, can't say I blame you." Dai joked as he joined them, like the girl he wasn't very fond of needles either.

"N-Needles are bad right?" Ichi asked, the tone of her voice full of fear.

"Not always, sometimes they are good but they still hurt. Like you I don't find them all that pleasant." He did his best to lighten the mood, if Mako needed to give her that sedation then the quicker the better. "Tell you what, if you allow her to give you that needle then I will buy you something very tasty like ice-cream. I doubt you girls get that here."

"I-Is it good?" She asked, her curiosity sparked by gaining something in return.

Dai pointed over towards where Nana and Saeko were resting. "You can ask those two, they have gotten to enjoy a life outside of this institute. Would that be something you and your sisters aren't interested in as well, a life away from here?"

Scraping his throat he hoped that it was enough to persuade her. Seeing her stretch her leg again he smiled trying to make her feel a bit more at ease. "Can I ask you, what is your name? I'm willing to bet that a cute girl like you must have a cute name."

"San-juu-ichi, that is what they have called me here." Her reply was short nor did it make either him or Mako smile, poor girl had only been given a number just like the rest of them.

"Tell you what dear." Mako informed her. "When we get you out of here you we will give you a nice name, something better than what they have given you."

Her body eased a little as the effect of the sedation was starting to take effect, still it would now mean that she would be carried as well as there was no way that her vectors could work in her current condition.

"Thank you for your help." Mako blushed as she noticed his smile, quickly averting his gaze she turned her attention back to the leg, so far what she was feeling indicated a fracture.

"I could say the same thing." Dai remarked casually, looking over his shoulder he could see that Dreachon was still in discussion with somebody else. Hopefully that way out of here would arrive soon. "So how is her leg, can she walk on it?"

"No, I can't be precise without an X-ray scan but I would guess that her tibia is broken. I don't think it is severed but like I said I can't be certain." She didn't need to explain any further as Dai knew they were going to have to carry her one way or another.

"Well that makes it three girls that can't walk on their own, I am going to see how our transport out of here is doing."

It was becoming rather annoying that these humans had decided not to run away but they neither dared to come closer to her, already they were using their guns to keep Felicia at a considerable distance. She was becoming more annoyed by it as she wasn't having any fun in this.

"Stop hiding and come face me!" She howled in frustration as they dared to fire at her again. "Are you afraid of fighting a little girl!?"

It felt disappointing to not have them react to her taunts, there was no fun to have had with these people. She wondered if perhaps other people inside would be more fun to play with.

"If you won't come to me I will go and look for somebody else!" Laughing, her vectors slashed open the wall next to her, she was done with them anyway.

"Come and follow me now humans, let's see how good you can play my game!?" Straining her vectors she used them to bring down part of the ceiling here, if these people weren't going to play then she didn't want them after her.

Looking around this place was new to her and something else caught her attention, she could feel several other diclonius close to her. Could they be willing to play with her, I didn't matter to her as she just wanted to have more fun.

Up ahead it was becoming more dark as the lights were broken, glass littered the floor and she had to watch her steps unless she wanted to hurt her feet. Her suit had been torn and damaged but she couldn't care for it, she actually hated it.

Looking down she started to take it off, right now she preferred to wear nothing instead of this human thing they had forced upon her. Struggling to get it off she lost her balance and fell over, she howled with fury as she became fed up with it. In retaliation she trashed the whole room and left even more frustrated than before, humans were too stupid in her mind and she would kill the first she came across for that.

"So that way out here, is it coming?" Dai joked as he noticed Dreachon hadn't said a single word. "I really think it would be in our best interest to get out of here now."

He remained silent for a moment "I am aware of that, unfortunately Dogo is suffering a minor setback. His sensors have been hit by a quantum shockwave from a nearby celestial phenomenon, right now he is unable to calculate our location."

"Wait what?" Dai asked as he had no idea on what was just said. "Explain that to me."

"The technical details are irrelevant, suffice to say we can't stay here to be extracted. Right now we need to move towards the upper levels in order to facilitate Dogo locating us."

"I don't like the sound of that." Dai remarked as he thought about it, go up would be more difficult with the security after them, besides they also had those with them who couldn't possibly walk on their own. "We can't carry them not if we want to defend ourselves."

"We will require a cart or a stretcher to put them on, while they push it we will need to cover them. But we need to move now, the longer we stay the more we are going to lose of our ahead start on security."

Dai nodded and left to find something to transport them, looking over he noticed there were precious few items left. Most of the things they could have used were destroyed during the fighting, this was just great. Coming across a small transport cart used for supplies he cracked a smile, not what he was looking for but it would certainly get the job done.

"Takebe-san, could you give me a hand." He asked as he already lifted Nana to put her in it, she was heavier than he had expected. Satisfied that she was secure he turned around and got ready to lift nr. 32 from the bed. "Do you think you can help with pushing the cart, I will help as well unless we come under attack?"

"You are asking me to pull a cart loaded with three girls on it, talk about being rude to a lady." Nevertheless she helped him as much as she could with an injured arm. "Mind if I ask where you are planning on taking these girls to?"

Dai paused for a moment, he hadn't given thought to what he would say to such a question. "I think it is best if you don't know, it is better that way for your own sake."

"You can't leave me here, when they find Ritsuko they will find out that I have helped you. For that matter I don't really want to be a part of this anymore, not after what I have seen them do."

He had to smile, she was just like him. "If you really feel like that than stay here, tell them a lie and then try to get to Kamakura as fast as you can. I will be there waiting for you."

She agreed to his term, she would try and escape from here after telling a lie on their escape. For some reason she felt better than before having made up her mind, was this because she would be making a difference now. If these girls got off the island she would have helped them getting a better life elsewhere.

"And that is the last one." He groaned as he lifted Ichi off the chair, by now the drugs had taken their full effect and she had gone into a deep sleep. "Well I certainly like you a lot more this way, still you deserve better than after what you have been through here."

Satisfied they were ready to leave he turned his attention over to one remaining obstacle, the good doctor himself. "So what am I going to do with you?"

Koyama had stopped to catch her breath, she had been running ever since she had managed to get away from the terrorists. She had counted herself lucky to have managed to get away from them unharmed, unfortunately by now she was about as lost as she possibly could be.

Never having set foot in this department before she had taken the quickest route that would take her away from them while not bothering to even watch where she was heading.

The explosion she had heard in the distance had worried her but as it had sounded so far off she figured it would pose no immediate threat to her for the moment.

She wasn't feeling that well despite how safe she considered herself, too much had just happened today, too many things that she would rather just forget of ever happening. Exhausted she leaned against the wall sliding down until she was sitting on the floor, it felt so cold to her. She just wanted to go home right now and cry in her bed.

"H-Hello is anybody there?" The place sounded so hollow and the only return she got was the echo, it made her realize she really was alone here. "Hello… Can anybody hear me… I got lost here!?" She shouted louder this time but like before there was just a dim echo. How much she longed for a hot drink in her own room.

"Anybody here… please somebody answer me? Still nothing, it was becoming frightening to her how little sound there was. Here she was all on her own in the middle of a department she had never been before and she had gotten herself lost, what had she done to even remotely deserve this.

All was not lost as she had managed to escape from the terrorists and their diclonius alive, that had to count for something. Right now she needed to find a way out of here and try to warn security or where they already aware of it, that explosion no doubt must have told them there was something going on.

Oh she prayed that she hadn't wandered into the diclonius holding blocks.

That would be the last place she wanted to be at this moment, if any of those girls were to find her they would do the same they had done to Kisaragi. No she didn't wanted to end up like that.

She jumped at hearing a sound coming from what seemed like behind her, not daring to turn around for fear of what she might see she ran further not stopping until she felt she was out of danger. By now she had lost all sense of direction but she couldn't care, she needed to get away from the danger and fast.

Daring to watch over a corner her nerves were getting the better of her, this wasn't normal for her. Her breath caught in her throat as a figure started to appear from the darkness across the other side of the hallway. Watching closer she noticed that this figure was a young girl, immediately her thoughts went to a diclonius that had escaped but then she noticed this one was wearing clothes.

It was tattered and damaged but she recognized it, it belonged to the suits that dr. Nousou had ordered for the clones they were creating. The thought of this being one of his clones brought a sense of feeling secure over her, if this clone was here than the rest would not be far away, she was saved at last.

"Oh my god I am so glad to see you, where is your master?" She cheered as she rounded the corner and approached the clone, she didn't know which one it was but right now that didn't matter to her.

"Oh thank you so much for having come to rescue me." Koyama cried as she hugged the clone giving praises even if she knew that the clone would likely not understand, fully expecting to her their common Myuu she was surprised when this one spoke back to her.

"Rescue you?" She said in a sadistic tone. "What makes you think I am going to save a filthy human like you, I am going to have some fun with you."

Pulling back Koyama noticed the malicious stare in the eyes that looked at her, not knowing what to do she screamed for her life.

Ritsuko laughed at the man's poor attempts to threaten him. "Do you honestly think you can just leave this island, you will be hunted down!" He pointed at the girls with his face. "Those silpelits will be captured again by institute… caught… harshly interrogated… cruelly tortured… cut to pieces… and then killed!" He kept laughing about it.

"You seem to be awfully certain for a man who is tied to the wall, we got in here unnoticed." Dai taunted him knowing full well that the man was right, if they got out of here they would certainly be hunted down. "Besides if they would be so stupid to try and dare to capture those girls it will be people like me who will oppose them."

Ritsuko scoffed at his remark, this foolish man had no idea how much power the chief could wield if he wanted to, his contacts went up high into the Japanese government itself. "Go ahead and run but know that I will take my sweet time dissecting each and every single one of them and I will mostly enjoy finding out how you survived nr. 28!" He addressed her harshly making it clear how much he loathed her. "I will cut you into small pieces and then watch if you can regrow your limbs again, I will cut those vocal again just so I won't have to hear your annoying voice like I did before!"

"You are a sick man, have you done that to her before!?" He could hear the furious voice of Mako. "How can you do such a thing to a child, how could you do that to my cousin!?"

"Shut your mouth whore!" Ritsuko snapped. "When they release me I will be certain to inform the chief of your betrayal and I will have him making you watch as I cut her into little pieces, I will have you hear her scream for mercy!" He grinned. "You hear that worthless nr. 28, I will make you scream for mercy before I cut your vocal cords!"

The wall segment next to him exploded as a bolt of plasma disintegrated it, Ritsuko screamed as hot fragments burned themselves into his face.

Dreachon roared as he took a step closer. "I have heard enough vermin, dare to insult her again and I will be the one doing the dissecting!" He stared at the monstrous barrel still smoking.

Author's note: one nice big update for you people, 3 chapters to read and enjoy. Have fun with with and already a happy holidays to you.