Chapter 3: Caged Canaries Pt.2

Alice had heard from Asuna's stories exactly what a dispicable human being Sugou Noboyuki was. Someone who treated other people like dolls for their amusement didn't deserve a person like Asuna. What they deserved in Alice's opinion was a swift punch to the face. But she knew that she didn't have the power to do anything to him. He was a GM, while she wasn't even at the level of player. In a sense, she and Asuna really were nothing but dolls at this point.

But the part that infuriated Alice the most was whenever that ugly bastard showed his face. Like right now for instance.

"Hello there, Titania." Sugou smirked. "Are you and your friend getting along?

Asuna didn't even bother to look at Sugou as he stood outside of the cage. Alice however shot a fierce glare at the one keeping both of them prisoner in this cage. "What do you want you snake, as if I even have to ask."

"You have quite the resentful tone for someone I'm doing a favor to." Sugou said. "Would you rather be with the rest of the lab rats? Being experimented on day after day?"

"Just who the hell do you think you are?!" Alice yelled. "Who gave you the right to treat people like dirt?! Especially people that have already gone through enough hell for the past two years!" She could already see it in Sugou's eyes what was coming.

With a snap of Sugou's fingers, Alice was suddenly forced back and slammed against the bars of the cage. The bracelets on her wrists. Alice didn't know how, but they were like a magnet Sugou could turn on and off. The bracelets stayed stuck to the metal bars of the cage. Everytime he showed up it was like this. She be stuck to the bars and forced to watch as Sugou toyed with Asuna like his personal pet.

"That friend of yours really needs to learn to keep her mouth shut. She's like a dog barking in defiance to its master." Sugou said as he walked up next to Asuna. "She's nothing more than a servant to my lovely queen. A servant should know their place." He reached out his hand and felt Asuna's hair with it. "Now then, are you in a giving mood today my dear?"

"Like I have any say in it anyway." Asuna muttered. "You're the GM. You can do whatever you want."

"You make me sound like a villain when you say it like that." Sugou chuckled. He began to hug his arm around her, his hand moving closer to her chest. "Why can't you just give in and have a little fun?"

"Stop it!" Alice shouted. "Leave Asuna alone!"

Sugou rolled his eyes as he moved his hand away from Asuna and looked at Alice. "If you're going to make me listen to you while I'm busy with my queen, at least make it be your screams." He swiped his hand and a window appeared in front of him with a bar. He moved his hand across the bar and suddenly Alice felt pain surging through her body.

"Alice!" Asuna exclaimed.

Sugou slowly walked towards Alice, enjoying the screams of agony from the pain she was in. He held her face and forced her to look at him. "I don't know why you decide to keep annoying me. I'm giving you special treatment after all. But just because I'm leaving you out of my experiments as a gift to my Titania over there, don't think I'll let you get away with whatever you want. My generosity has its limits slave, be sure to remember that."

Alice managed to endure the pain long enough to choke out something to Sugou. "Go to hell."

Sugou reeled his fist back. Before he could swing it forward however, Asuna grabbed his arm.

"Stop… please…" Asuna begged as tears flowed down her eyes.

Sugou turned his head back to Asuna. He revelled in the helpless look in her eyes. "Are you finally willing to be more obedient?"

"Yes." Asuna muttered. "You can do whatever you want… just leave Alice alone."

A grin became stretched across Sugou's face. He grabbed Asuna's face with his hand and pulled it in close, licking her lips. His hand caressed her body, enjoying every touch.

"Asuna… don't…" Alice muttered as she hung against the bars of the cage weakly. She couldn't even bare to look as Asuna just stood there, letting Sugou feel around her body as he pleased. It went on for what felt like forever before Sugou was finally finished.

Asuna kneeled on the floor with her head held low, looking away as Sugou walked out of the doors to the cage. He snapped his fingers as he left and Alice felt the force restraining her disappear all at once. She collapsed onto the floor, finally free of the pain that had been moving throughout her body. Alice could barely look at Asuna.

"I'm sorry." Alice said in a barely audible tone. "This was my fault, wasn't it? Because of me… you…"

"Eight, one, one, three, two, three, two, nine."

Alice stared curiously at her friend, wondering what she was mumbling to herself. "Asuna…?"

Asuna smirked as she looked towards Alice. "I've almost got it. Our way out of this cage."

"What do you mean?"

Asuna went on to explain to her friend. Sugou had set it so the keypad appeared blurry in her vision. Alice understood that because the same thing was true for her. However, Asuna had managed to find a way around that obstacle. She wasn't able to look at it directly, but if it was through a mirror, that changed. All Asuna had to do was look at the mirror whenever Sugou typed in the code for the cage doors.

"Asuna, you are a genius!" Alice exclaimed as she hugged her. "We can finally get out of here now!"

"Not yet." Asuna said. "I haven't gotten the full code yet, just a part of it. I'm almost there though."

"Well you've got my support. If there's anything I can do to help, just ask."

Asuna smiled and hugged her. "Thanks Alice. Just having a friend like you here is more than enough."

"Some friend I was just now. Because of me you had to go through that."

"That wasn't your fault and you know it." Asuna told her. "When we get out of here and back to the real world, Sugou will get what's coming to him."

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah. And we'll be able to see Ren and Kirito again."

A small smile came to Asuna's face at the thought of Kirito. She looked outside the cage and out towards the vast sky. "I don't know how, but I have this weird feeling. That even if we can't get out of here, those two will find a way to save us."

"Not before getting themselves into trouble ten times over I bet." Alice giggled.

Asuna laughed along with her friend. "Knowing those two, it's a good possibility."

Alice smiled to herself. "I can't wait to see Ren again. To see the rest of the guild. And also to see my family."

"What's your family like anyway?" Asuna asked.

"Nothing special." Alice said. "My mother and father both work regular jobs and Mai and I act like any normal sisters would to each other."

"You two seem pretty close if you ask me."

Alice nodded her head. "Yeah. I guess the two of us leaned on each other a lot more during SAO. We only had each other so we ended up being a lot closer." She turned her head towards Asuna. "Speaking of which, what's your family like Asuna?"

Almost instantly, Alice could tell that asking that question was a mistake as she saw a sad smile come to Asuna's face.

"I've never really gotten along with my family." Asuna explained. "My brother's kind and we get along, but he's not around too often since he goes on business trips. My father's the CEO of a company called RECT Progress. Ironically, it's also the company that developed Alfheim Online. And then there's my mother." Asuna seemed to tense up on the subject of her mother. "She's only really cared about me being successful. She's the type that prioritizes money and social status above things like love and happiness."

"I see…"

Asuna shook the thoughts out of her head. "That's not important right now. What we need to focus on is getting out of here. And to do that, we need to make sure we get the rest of that code the next time Sugou shows up."

Alice nodded her head. "Right."

Ren walked into the hospital room. At this point, he didn't even have the strength to smile anymore when he came here. Seeing Alice like this was almost too much to bear. But he wanted to remind himself of just how important his mission in Alfheim was.

After nearly a day playing ALO, Ren had found out some surprising facts. For one thing, his stats from SAO had been carried over, and it seemed the same was true for everyone else. The downside was that all of his items were corrupted. Kirito's advice had been to delete them all before an error detection had them all found out. They couldn't afford to draw any attention to themselves from the admins and GMs. Sadly, that meant getting rid of all of his equipment, including his prized sword, Inferno Blazer. He went through the Imp capital of Komori and picked out some of the best equipment he could find. Luckily, his money had also transferred over so he had plenty to spend.

Now he was working his way to the World Tree. That was the place they were supposed to meet up at. The rate things were going, it would take him a couple of days. But with some free time on his hands, Ren had decided to visit Alice briefly. His resolve strengthened as he looked at her with the Nerve Gear attached to her head.

'I'm going to save you Alice. I swear it.'

Ren stayed in the room for several more minutes. Looking at Alice was all he could do right now. But he was going to make sure he'd see her again. He touched her hand gently and vowed to bring her back before walking out of the room.

Unbeknownst to Ren, someone was watching him as he left. Sugou showed a grin as he saw Ren turn the corner and out of sight. He walked into Alice's room and grinned as she laid helplessly on the bed.

"Maybe I should show that girl just how easily it would be for me to affect her life on the outside." Sugou said to himself with a malicious grin.

Living in a giant birdcage was frankly dull and boring. The view outside of the vast sky got old very quickly. The only thing Asuna and Alice could do was talk with each other. That and wait for the monster keeping them prisoner to arrive each day. And for the first time, they actually wanted him to come.

"Okay, just remember the plan. We let him do what he wants, he leaves, and we get the rest of that code." Asuna said.

"Got it." Alice nodded.

"That also means no talking back to him Alice, no matter what he does to me."

Alice clenched her fists, but gave a reluctant nod. She hated having to do nothing while Sugou treated Asuna like his personal plaything. But she knew that they needed to make it look like they had given up. "I'll try."

Asuna put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'll be fine, I promise." In the distance, she could see a figure coming towards them. "Someone's coming."

Asuna and Alice quickly separated before Sugou could see them. When he finally made it to the entrance to the cage, he showed his usual disgusting smirk. "Hello ladies. Are you feeling well?"

The two girls made no response to Sugou, not even bothering to look at him. He walked into the cage and made his way towards Asuna. As he did, he glanced towards Alice. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to yap away like usual? No comments? No snarky remarks?"

"What's the point?" Alice said, just barely loud enough for Sugou to hear her. "It's not like we can do anything to get out of here."

A grin became stretched across Sugou's face. "Well, well, look who finally smartened up." He began to walk over towards her. He put a hand on her shoulder and leaned forward so Alice could see his head. "It's actually a bit disappointing. I already had all this stuff planned to force you to become obedient, but looks like you've done it yourself. Tell you what. How about I show it to you anyway?"

Alice managed to keep herself from saying anything, though her body was shaking with rage. Sugou sat down next to her and put his arm around her, an act that made her want to vomit. Sugou swiped open his menu and tapped a few tabs, making several windows pop up. Alice gasped in horror at what was on those windows.

Pictures. Pictures of her lying in a hospital bed. Pictures of her completely helpless and vulnerable. But the ones that scared her the most weren't the ones of her. They were the ones showing her sister. Her mom and dad. There were even a few of Ren.

"So sad, isn't it?" Sugou asked with a grin. "You've got so many people worried about you. And yet they have no idea where your mind really is." He focussed his attention on the pictures of Ren. "I saw that boyfriend of yours earlier today. The look on his face as he was walking out of your hospital room. It gave me goosebumps."

"Ren…" Alice muttered.

"What a weakling." Sugou chuckled. "That's the look of a person with no hope whatsoever. And even if he did know where you were, I doubt he'd even have the courage to enter the virtual world ever again. He's just like that other boy Kirigaya. They may have been warriors in SAO, but in the real world they're nothing."

Alice could feel her hands shaking with rage. As badly as she wanted to take a swing at Sugou right there and then, she couldn't risk it. She needed to keep her cool. So instead she cracked a small grin on her face. "You don't know Ren. You don't know Kirito or any of our friends. Once they find out we're here, they'll come save us." She turned her head towards Sugou. "They're strong. Stronger than you could ever know."

For a few seconds, Sugou was silent. Then he slowly began to chuckle, soon breaking out into laughter. "They'll come save you, you say? By the time I'm through with my experiments, they still won't have a clue that you were here."

"And what do you expect to do? Keep us here forever?" Alice asked.

"Of course not." Sugou said. "But once my experiments are done, I'll have free control of the human mind. Perhaps I'll do a little tinkering with your memories while I'm at it." Sugou revelled in the look of fear that came to Alice's face. "Of course, I'll make it so you forget ever being here, or the fact that I was the one behind the three hundred player staying comatose. But I can do other things too. I can make you forget everything. Even that boy you love so much."

Alice felt her blood run cold. Forget Ren? Forget all the time she had spent with him? Forget ever falling in love with him? The very thought horrified her.

"Stop it Sugou!" Asuna said from her sitting position. "Leave Alice alone. She has nothing to do with this."

"I'm simply making sure she knows not to misbehave." Sugou said, getting up from his seat. He gave one last mocking pat to Alice's shoulder. "And now she knows what'll happen should she mouth off again."

As Sugou spent his time over by Asuna, toying with her like usual, Alice stayed seated. She had thought that it would take all of her self control to not attack Sugou while he treated Asuna the way he did, but this time her mind was too focussed on the things he had shown her. Ren, Mai, her parents, her friends. They all looked so depressed. She wanted to tell them she was alright, or at least somewhat alright, but that was impossible as long as she was trapped here. And then there was Sugou's threat of wiping all traces of Ren from her memory. She couldn't bear the thought.

Time passed by before Sugou was finally done with his visit. Even though they weren't looking at him, they could tell he was feeling cockier than ever after this visit. "I love that look on your faces, girls. It looks like you're both about to break down into tears. Maybe I should hang a picture of it. Toodeloo."

Alice and Asuna stayed silent as Sugou walked away. After a minute or two after Sugou was out of earshot, Alice looked over to Asuna. "Did you get it?"

Asuna turned towards Alice and showed her a grin. "You bet I did. Now we just need to wait for the right moment to escape."

Alice nodded her head in agreement. Finally. They finally had a shot at getting out of this prison. They could go home. Back to their friends and family. They waited for nearly a full hour before they finally put their plan into motion. Sugou would most likely be offline by now, which gave them a much better chance at not being detected.

The two girls walked up to the cage and Asuna typed in the code she had slowly managed to get over time from watching Sugou. Both of their faces brightened when the code worked and the door opened.

"Let's go, Alice." Asuna said. "We're breaking out of this hellhole."

"Yeah." Alice nodded. "We're almost home free."

Alice and Asuna jumped out of the cage and ran along the branches of the World Tree. They had spent so long being trapped here. Now it was their time to show Sugou they weren't as helpless as he thought. And when they got back, they would make him pay for everything he had done up till now.

'Wait for me Ren. I'll be home soon.'