Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK
Midnight White
38: Shatter
"Creepy does not even begin to cover this," Hattori said flatly. The others could only agree.
Before them stretched what had once been the basement level. It had been cleared of whatever walls and other partitions it might once have had so that they could see clear from one end of the floor to the other. And there, arrayed in rows that stretched across that distance, were what looked like metal coffins with glass lids. Each coffin contained a person. They looked like they were sleeping.
Or dead.
But none of them were ready to think about them as being dead.
Each coffin also had a pipe connecting it to a network of other pipes that stretched across the ceiling like some sort of spiderweb. The pipes themselves formed a forest of hollow, metal pillars. The eerie atmosphere was completed by the dim miasma of light cast by the series of lamps that had been spaced throughout the chamber.
"I believe these are the next test subjects," Hakuba said grimly.
"Next?" Kazuha repeated, casting him a confused look.
"I am fairly certain that it would not be too farfetched to assume that we were the first."
"Oh." She hadn't thought about it like that before, but now that he'd mentioned it she could believe it. It wasn't a particularly pleasant thought though.
"Kudo was right, this Imazaki guy's a total nutcase."
Hakuba shrugged. "I am sure that goes without saying."
Stopping beside one of the glass and metal coffins, Kazuha looked down into the face of a girl who had to be about her own age. A shiver raced down her spine. The sleeping girl's face was pale and still but if she looked really closely she could see that her chest was rising and falling with the slow, even breaths of deep slumber. At least she was sure now that these people were alive. Still… The whole thing gave her Goosebumps.
"I think we should try waking them up," she said, bending over to run her hands along the metal rims of the coffin's lid. "We can't leave them like this."
Digging her fingers into the groove around the edges of the lid, she lifted it. A few moments later the lid slid to the floor with a clang and she leaned over the side of the coffin, reaching to shake the sleeper's shoulders. Or she tried to. Something cold had wrapped around the wrists of her hands. Startled, she looked down to see that the metal frame her hands had been resting on had formed into what looked roughly like handcuffs, trapping her.
"What in the world," Hattori started only to be cut off as the metal rim of the glass lid lying on the floor peeled itself away from said glass and rose into the air, twisting and writhing like a flying, headless serpent. Then it snapped in the middle and each half straightened itself out until they resembled javelins, each pointed at a teen detective.
X
So this was the woman Kaito had told him about. There was no mistaking those peculiar eyes with their slightly creepy glow (their paleness made the dark circles under them that much darker). Nor was there any mistaking the air of sadness that lingered around her. It was in the tired lines of her face and the way she carried herself like someone walking under a great burden. It made her look much older than the twenty some years her features suggested.
Kaito gestured for the woman to come inside, his trademark Poker Face firmly in place. "To what do we owe this pleasure, Ojou-san?"
"I came to give you something," she replied, stepping carefully across the threshold.
The thief tilted his head to one side, an eyebrow rising in the shadow of his hat brim. "And that something would be?"
She hesitated a moment, then reached inside her coat. Both thief and detective watched the hand intently, wary of any possible tricks. When the hand reemerged however it was closed into a fist, hiding its contents entirely from sight. So whatever she wanted to give them, it was small. When she unfurled her fingers and presented them with her palm they found themselves looking down at an unusually small hypodermic syringe. The liquid inside it shimmered a milky purple vaguely reminiscent of the color of a taro cake (or maybe he was just getting hungry. Nothing in a syringe should remind a person of food).
"This is the cure," she said quietly, the hesitance fading from her voice as her entire posture straightened. "I have already administered it to the subjects Hiko tested his new batch on and I am sure that it works. It's the only thing that will stop him now. However, this is all I have left, and I cannot say yet how permanent it is so caution would be advisable."
Shinichi traded startled looks with the magician. "You…found a cure?"
Sukino nodded slowly. "I…have been working on it for some time. Since—since I heard about the ones who…were having trouble." She looked away then, murmuring so quietly that she seemed to be talking to herself. "The professor would have wanted it. She never intended…" Her already quiet words faded into silence and she gave herself a visible shake as she pulled her thoughts back to the present.
It was Kaito who eventually picked up the syringe, gloved fingers lightly sliding across its surface as he examined it. "So you mean Imazaki really has recreated the original gas?"
Sukino nodded.
Shinichi traded glances with the magician before clearing his throat. "Sukino-san, I was told that Professor Hakuren had two assistants. We know Imazaki was one of them. Would I be correct in assuming that you were the other?"
The woman's gaze faltered a moment at the question. "I… Yes." A soft, almost inaudible sigh slipped into the air as she turned away from them. She stepped back out into the hall for a moment, glancing left and right to as though checking for eavesdroppers—although with the surveillance monitors right behind them it was a rather pointless endeavor. A sign of nerves perhaps? "Is it wrong," she continued so quietly she seemed to be speaking to herself, the question sounding almost wistful, "to want to be important? To want to be remembered?"
Shinichi watched the back of the woman's head, wondering what her expression would be if he could see it. The sorrow that had been in her voice from the beginning was still there, but there was also a hint of something fiercer—something that burned like longing or despair. "Not in itself, no, but when you start hurting others to get there then you've gone too far."
There was a moment of silence as the woman gathered herself before she moved back into the surveillance room. "I didn't know this was how it was all going to turn out. It was supposed to be something amazing—an evolution and a great scientific discovery."
"Which you unleashed on my audience without their permission," KID commented dryly.
"I did not realize at the time to full extent of the repercussions our experiment could cause," the woman said again. The words sounded worn as though they had been used too many times already. "When I did, I began my own research into a countermeasure, but… I had to stay close to Hiko—to our research and the equipment. And with him bringing people in I was better able to study the exact effects of the original chemicals. Of course I have not been able to reverse it for any but the most recent subjects yet, as they are mostly elsewhere, but with your and the city's help I am sure that eventually everyone who needs it can be cured."
"Wait," Shinichi started, shoulders tensing abruptly. "Are you saying there are a lot more people here?"
The woman nodded again, her gaze flickering to the wall of monitors behind them. The two teens followed the look. Satou and Takagi were still out cold in their corridor. As far as they could see most of the building was empty. The only other signs of life were in a set of monitors showing what appeared to be some kind of basement. Shinichi zeroed in immediately on the forms of their three companions and what appeared to be almost two dozen people lying in strange, metal and glass containers. The three teenagers seemed to be discussing what to do next. Well, it didn't look like they were in any trouble. The coffins were…disturbing, but the people inside them didn't appear to be in any immediate danger, and since they had already been found by the others there shouldn't be anything to worry about. He was confident that their friends could handle themselves and figure out what they could do.
He was a great deal more concerned about the fact that he couldn't see Imazaki Hiko on any of the many screens. He looked them over three times each to be sure but every search came up with the same result. The man wasn't there.
"Is there anywhere in this building that can't be seen by any of these cameras?" he asked, turning back to the clairvoyant.
The woman smiled faintly, although there was no humor in the expression. "You don't have to worry about that. He's here. There is a room at the building's heart from which all the equipment can be controlled. He and I are the only ones who know the way. I can guide you."
The detective's eyes narrowed slightly as his frown deepened. "Why are you going to all this trouble? If you want to stop him, why are you giving us this 'cure'? Why didn't you give it to him yourself? With your abilities, it can't have been too hard for you to slip it to him."
She looked away, the corners of her mouth pinching tighter as she shifted her weight to her other foot. "I…did not wish to make a mistake," she said vaguely. "We should go," she continued, voice growing stronger. Turning, she started out into the hall, pausing only to check that they were indeed following her. "He will check in on his subjects when he finishes with the new final batch before he sends it to the holding areas. Finding that their conditions have reverted will raise his suspicions."
X
The levitating metal javelins smashed against the floor hard enough to embed themselves halfway into the ground. Rolling to his feet, Hattori glanced around wildly, his heart pounding with an abrupt rush of adrenaline. A metallic scraping sound however announced tat the javelins were pulling themselves back out of the floor.
"You are not allowed to be here" a hollow voice intoned from the direction of the stairs. "No one is allowed to be here without the Master's permission."
All three teens turned to search the shadows by the stairs. It took a moment to locate the source of the voice, but it wasn't only because of the poor lighting. No, what really made it difficult was that the source turned out to be a person whose entire body—hair, skin, eyes, and even clothes—was a dark, grayish color that blended into the eerie gloom of the hall in the perfect camouflage. If it wasn't for the fact that the woman—or at least it looked like a woman, it was difficult to be sure when they could barely make anything out that there was even someone there—hadn't moved, stepping forward and closer to the miasmic glow of the lamps. The faint light added a gray sheen to her skin that made it look like lead—or metal.
"Leave or face the consequences," the metal woman declared as the javelins began to circle them like sharks.
Hattori couldn't help bu wonder if she realized she was standing between them and the exit. That was the problem with these entranced people. They could follow orders, but they lacked real judgment. The problem was that that didn't help at all when the person in question was offering you a choice between getting out and getting skewered while blocking off the exit.
"Watch out!" Hakuba twisted to avoid one javelin's second launch but this time he was prepared and he grabbed its other end. Bracing his feet, he swung it at the other javelin, knocking it out of the air. But before any of them could celebrate the metal in his hands jerked and twisted. When the blonde didn't let go, it began to rise. Brown eyes widened as his feet actually left the ground. Hattori made a grab for him but was knocked off his feet as the javelin on the ground suddenly spun itself into the back of his knees. He let out a yell that was half surprised and half pained as he fell and flames leapt to life around him, clawing at his metallic assailant.
Overhead the other javelin was nearing the ceiling. It had risen too high too fast for its unwitting passenger to jump ship. But if he hung on much longer he was going to break fingers when the thing hit the ceiling. His other option, however, was a fifteen foot drop. And even if he did manage to continue hanging onto his precarious ride, he had the niggling suspicion that the thing's next move would likely be to go into a nose dive.
"Hakuba-san! Just let go!"
Even without the encouragement, the blonde thought, he would probably have chosen the same. He'd rather take his chances with the drop than risk getting dashed into either the ceiling or the floor. He just hoped that if he broke something on the way down it wouldn't be something too important. Instead of gaining speed as he plummeted back to earth, however, he could feel his secent slowing. It was almost as though he was sinking into an almost insubstantial cushion. But no, it was moving—rushing fast, smooth, and flat like a disc in a CD player, spinning and spinning below and around him, buoying him up. While it couldn't seem to actually lift him higher, it went a long way in slowing his fall. Opening his eyes, he looked down.
Kazuha was still trapped kneeling beside the open coffin. The girl had her eyes closed as her brows furrowed tight with concentration. However the fingers of her trapped hands were tracing circles in the air.
He would have to thank her later, but for now he turned his attention back to where the odd, metal lady seemed to have decided to focus on Hattori.
The first metal javelin had drawn back from the flames around the Osakan detective like a wary animal. The second javelin had joined it now that it had shaken off its hanger on. What worried the blonde however was that the flickering firelight was casting flecks of gold dancing through the gloom of the chamber. Of course, flames being what they were, it was only natural that the lights would dance. But the movement he was seeing wasn't entirely due to the natural flicker of firelight. It almost seemed as though the forest of metal pipes were moving too. Alarmed, he focused on the pipe nearest him. It was like watching a videa of a melting candle in fast forward. The sides of the pipe were sloughing down, forming into beads that pulled away from the now visibly thinner pipe to hover like a flock of shiny, spherical hummingbirds. They were drawing closer, beginning to circle like the javelins. Like vultures, the blonde thought.
Hakuba's feet touched the ground.
It was like he'd stepped on a landmine.
Everything exploded into motion.
The spheres elongated and sharpened into spearheads as they hurled themselves forward, cutting crisscrossing patterns through the air, led by the javelins. Hakuba flattened himself against the ground then had to roll hurriedly behind a coffin chased by a series of loud clangs as five spearheads collided with the floor where he had been. Kazuha screamed as another projectile cut a crimson streak across the skin of her forearms. She had thrown herself as close to the ground as she could but with her hands still trapped there was only so far she could get. Blood trickled down the sides of her arms in thin, dark threads.
"Kazuha! Hakuba!"
Fire roared, snatching at the flying debris in an angry, desperate attempt to drag them down and devour them. Sparks splashed across the floor and over glass lids as the once cool air in the chamber warmed rapidly. The metal spearheads and javelins, however, had tested the flames and deemed them harmless. They flew right into the dancing yellow tongues and out again as they hunted for their prey.
Only now the metal shards were glowing orange with heat. Some of them even trailed long tails of flame as they flew.
"Heiji, stop!" Kazuha cried out. "You're making it worse!"
Not, the Osakan detective thought with chagrin, that he couldn't see that for himself. However, he could also see that the projectiles were moving slower now and growing less accurate.
The woman had to be able to see them, he thought, mind racing. The flames weren't solid but their constant movement and brightness was making it harder for her to see both them and her weapons.
Concentrating as hard as he could, he called up a wall of flames around the woman. It leapt to life much more vigorously than he had intended and began to lick across the wall by the stairs and lap at the floors, but while a little voice in the back of his mind cringed at that he shoved it to the back of his mind for later.
A burning javelin lanced through the air at his chest and he dove behind the coffin Kazuha still knelt beside. Instead the javelin shattered one of the lamps which began to spew sparks wildly in every direction.
"Are you all right?" Kazuha asked anxiously, scanning him with her eyes.
He nodded a little jerkily. "You're the one who's hurt…"
"It's just a scratch," she assured him, drawing a slightly strained smile onto her face. "I'm just wish I could get my hands out of her. Then I might be able to do more."
"You saved me from some very painful broken bones," Hakuba's voice commented and they both glanced around to see that he had joined them in their hiding place. "Possibly worse. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"The question now is what we are going to do next. It may not be long before she decides to come search for us. Or gets a lucky shot."
They all fell silent, thoughts racing. Shifting his weight in an attempt to alleviate the strain on legs that were beginning to cramp, Hattori's shoe bumped into something and he glanced down to see what was left of the coffin lid they had set on the ground earlier lying right beside them. Reaching down and gripping the edges of the glass slab, he tested its weight. It wasn't what you would call light, but it should be manageable.
"I've got an idea but I'll need your help," he said, glancing at Hakuba. To his surprise the blonde only nodded.
"What do you need?"
"I'm gonna try to knock her out with this." The Osakan gestured at the glass. "But I need to get close to do that."
"You need a distraction," the blonde surmised.
Heiji nodded. "Yeah. Think you can help?"
"I'll try." Hakuba glanced up at the projectiles still whirling over their heads then shifted and began to crawl towards the other side of the room, using the coffin containers for cover. The other two waited in tense silence as he disappeared from view. Hattori closed his fingers over the smooth edges of the glass, searching for a better grip.
"Hey! You!" a shout rang out through the chamber as a head of blond hair appeared near the far wall. "If you want us to leave, you should put down your weapons! How can you expect us to do as you ask when you don't give us the time to act?"
"You are trespassing," the woman replied, tone robotically detached. "You were never supposed to be here. You must be removed."
Hattori stopped listening as soon as he saw the woman's head turn. Standing, he heaved the glass slab up over his head and bolted. He ran forward, not so much carrying the glass as being towed ahead by its shifting weight as it tried to fall forward. Heat splashed over him, clawing at his skin where it wasn't covered by cloth and he gritted his teeth. No time to think about that. Besides, he'd already lost control of his makeshift weapon. Now he was really only along for the ride.
He was only two steps away from the woman when she must have sensed his presence or heard his footsteps for she turned, gray eyes meeting his. But it was already too late for her to run.
The glass connected with the woman's head with a resounding clang that proved the metallic sheen of her body was more than just a change of color and shattered. Shards fell in glittering pieces as the woman herself crumpled to the floor.
In the same moment all the floating projectiles she had been controlling began falling in a deadly rain of heated metal. Smoke and flames rose from the places they touched and began to spread. The area around the stairs was already ablaze and smoke was thickening the gloom.
Cursing, Heiji swept the sweat gathering on his forehead off with the back of his hand and turned to his companions. "We have to wake everyone up and get them out of here!"
X
Sukino came to a stop before a rather shoddily made plywood door. It was fairly obviously a new addition to the building. She hesitated a moment, her gaze taking on a strangely glazed quality before she tensed.
"I…think he may suspect we are coming."
"No point giving him more time to prepare then," Kaito replied. He did a quick review of his inventory as Shinichi double checked that his watch was loaded. They shared a look, nodded, and moved forward.
They burst into a room entirely obscured by white and blue smoke. Shinichi held his breath instinctively, taking a quick step to the side as a loud crack broke the air into pieces. He stiffened, every nerve on high alert. Gunfire? Sukino let out a cry of pain. Somewhere, glass shattered. Something in the swirling blankness was hissing loudly. Was that the sound of footsteps?
He listened hard, squinting through the thinning smoke.
"Sukino-san!" he called urgently when the smoke dissipated enough for him to deem it safe. "Are you all right?"
"It—it's just my leg," her voice responded and he found her shadow on the floor in the doorway.
"He's gone," Kaito interjected, scanning the bizarre shapes of lab equipment emerging from behind their screen of smoke.
"There is another door over there." The clairvoyant pointed, then winced.
"Stay here," Shinichi told her before he and Kaito headed for said door. They found themselves standing in a narrow stairwell. The echo of running steps was bouncing down from above.
Shinichi frowned even as he started after the sound. "Why would he go up? Where could he go?"
"The outermost edge of the stained glass dome over the museum's central courtyard is actually a set of walkways," the thief explained. "The original designers had plans for rooftop greenhouses but they suspended the project because the construction of the rest of the museum took longer than planned and they wanted to open on schedule."
"So he's trying to get to another building," Shinichi concluded, pushing himself to run faster.
They reached the top floor landing just in time to see the door banging shut. Shinichi lunged for it and pulled it open. Beyond lay what had probably once been some kind of amphitheater. Long rows of seats spanned the width of the floor—or would have if it didn't look as though all the metal in those seats had been removed, leaving them mostly a mess of cushions falling this way and that in listless heaps. An enormous screen occupied the entirety of the front wall. The rear wall sported a row of large windows. A single figure was making its way quickly towards the last wall and the single door that decorated its otherwise plain face. The sign beside the door depicted the zigzag of a staircase and an upward arrow.
Shinichi slapped a hand to his belt rather than attempt to run across the room. An instant later a soccer ball smashed into the door, jerking the handle out of the hypnotist's hand and slamming it shut. The man let out an involuntary curse and made another grab for it only to find that he couldn't. His hand crashed painfully into an invisible barrier before it could reach the handle. He froze for a moment before letting his hand fall to his side, no longer making any attempt to escape.
With no more need to run, the detective and the thief walked to stand in front of Kaito's force field.
"You've lost your game, Hypnotist-san," Shinichi stated, eyes fixed on the man's chin (he had to remind himself not to look the man in the eyes).
There was a long moment of tense silence. Then the man's posture relaxed.
"Indeed," he agreed, tone surprisingly amiable. "But I wouldn't call it a complete loss."
Shinichi couldn't help but stare at the man. Somehow, he'd expected…well, something more. Anger? Regret? Resignation? "Aren't you…disappointed?"
"Why should I be disappointed? Now I know this is how far it could go. It was a gamble from the very beginning. What could I become? What would the rest of you become? Who would play my game and who would not? Truth be told, I never thought I would get this far. But you see, in the end, no matter the outcome, this—these times and this game—will be remembered for ages to come."
The magician gave Imazaki a deceptively friendly smile from under the brim of his hat. "You know, I don't generally approve of violence, but I think for you I'll make an exception."
And, Shinichi reflected, it was probably no real surprise that someone who could walk around on his hands all day had a mean right hook.
"You, Sir, really need to get a life," Kaito concluded, dusting imaginary dirt off of his gloved hands. Snapping his fingers, he produced the hypodermic syringe full of its milky purple liquid and tossed it to Shinichi. "I assume you know where best to stick this?"
The magician crouched down and picked up one of the now unconscious man's hands. Pushing the sleeve up as far as it would go, he held the limb still as Shinichi searched for a suitable vein.
"We're going to have to carry him all the way back downstairs," Shinichi sighed, looking down at the man as he handed the now empty hypodermic back to Kaito who promptly made it disappear. The guy was thin but not short. And they were on the sixth floor.
"We can always shove him out the window," the thief said.
Shinichi stared at him blankly. Had he heard what he thought he'd heard? "We're on the sixth floor."
"I'll make a slide," the magician elaborated, lips quirking in amusement. "Much as I dislike the man, I think smashing his head into the concrete from six floors up would be a little extreme."
"Glad to hear it."
A sound by the door made them both tense as they turned in unison towards it. They relaxed however when they recognized Sukino. She had apparently managed to treat her leg injury at least well enough for the time being to have followed them up the stairs but her face was unhealthily pale and her breaths short and strained.
"The—there is a fire," the woman gasped, pausing at the threshold and clutching at the amphitheater's doorframe to keep herself on her feet. "The building is burning. We all have to leave."
"Takagi-keiji and Satou-keiji!" Shinichi exclaimed, grabbing the magician's sleeve. "They're still unconscious! So is the tree manipulator. They won't be able to get out without help!"
Kaito nodded. Grabbing the back of Imazaki's collar, he dragged the unconscious man to one of the windows at the back of the room, opened it, and casually tossed the limp and unresisting figure out like he was disposing of a bag of garbage. Then he turned to Sukino and waved her towards the window.
"You may wish to follow him, Ojou-san. We can't help the others if we have to worry about you too. Just think about it like going down a really long playground slide."
TBC
A.N: That didn't turn out quite the way I expected but I guess things rarely do. Anyhow, an early happy Thanksgiving to everyone. ^_^