Chapter 4: Caged Canaries Pt.3

Alice and Asuna ran across the thick pathway of branches laid out around the World Tree. The path between the cage they had been held prisoner in up until now and the actual inside of the tree seemed to be fairly long. The two girls wondered why Sugou made it that way, considering he seemed to make the trip up to see them nearly every day.

The two girls ducked down as they came near the entrance to the trunk of the tree. Asuna peered her head out, not seeing anyone there. She motioned for Alice to follow her and the two girls ran for the opening. As they entered, they saw a door not far away. Alice noticed a touch pad right next to the door and pressed her hand against it. Almost immediately, the door opened, causing the two girls to instinctively run to the sides and hide. A few seconds passed before they peered their heads out, seeing no one there that had spotted them.

"That nearly gave me a heart attack." Alice said with a sigh of relief. "Good thing no one was there."

"We'll need to move carefully." Asuna added. "There's gotta be a console or something in this place that will allow us to log out."

The two girls walked through the door, making sure to tread carefully. The inside of the tree seemed to be made up of simple white hallways for them to walk through. Several minutes passed as Alice and Asuna silently made their way through the hallway. Neither one of them had any idea where they were going, but since the path hadn't branched out yet it gave them reason enough to believe that they were going the right way.

As they walked, Asuna noticed a slight trembling to Alice's hands. It wasn't the nervous kind that she had right now. This was different, as if she was scared. "Are you alright, Alice?"

"Yeah." Alice replied. "It's just seeing those pictures earlier kind of frightened me."

Asuna nodded her head understandingly. Sugou's threat wasn't one to be taken lightly. Considering the experiments he was performing, it wasn't entirely impossible to believe that he could manipulate memories, causing Alice to completely forget everything she held dear. The smirk on his face as he threatened Alice still made Asuna's skin crawl. Alice had nothing to do with this, yet she was suffering all because of her.

"Don't worry Alice. Once we're free, Sugou won't be able to do anything to you. And he'll pay for all the horrible things he's done up till now."

Alice silently nodded her head as she and Asuna continued to make their way through the hallway. Finally the two girls caught sight of something hanging on the side of the wall. As they approached it, their faces lit up. It was a map!

"No way…" Asuna gasped.

"This is perfect." Alice grinned. "Now we just need to find a console."

"Let's see here…" Asuna said as she looked at the map. Finally she pointed to one area. "There. That's where we need to go."

"Hang on." Alice said. She pointed to a room at the west of the map. "Experiment Hanger. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"The three hundred SAO players. They're all in there." Asuna realized. The two girls looked at each other and nodded. They knew what they had to do. "Alice, you head to the console. I'll go to the experiment room and try to free everyone."

"Absolutely not." Alice told her. "I'm not letting you risk your safety while I try to escape. We're both going to the experiment hanger to free everyone."

Asuna could see in Alice's eyes that she was serious. She let out a sigh. "Alright then. Let's hurry and try to free everyone before Sugou and his men notice we're out of the cage."

The two girls quickly made their way through the hallways, making sure not to be seen. Security seemed to be low, which was a good sign for them. Sugou did say his team was small, so maybe that had something to do with it. After quite a bit of sneaking around, the two girls finally came near a door reading Experiment Hanger. They had made it.

"Let's move." Asuna said. She and Alice came up to the doors. If there was anybody on the other side of the door, they'd have some trouble to deal with. But they couldn't risk standing around for long. "You ready Alice?"

"Yeah." Alice nodded. "Now or never."

The door opened and the two girls peered their heads inside. After a few seconds of scanning the room, neither one of them saw anyone else there. Both girls let out a sigh of relief.

As they walked in, both Asuna and Alice could see row after row of small cylindrical objects sticking out from the ground. The room seemed to be filled with them.

"There's so many." Alice said. "And there's a brain image above every one of them." She looked at Asuna. "You don't think…"

"It's them." Asuna realized, covering her gasp with her hand. "It's the three hundred players Sugou has prisoner. This is awful."

"More like disgusting." Alice muttered. "When I get my hands on that bastard, I'm gonna-"

The sound of the doors opening cut Alice off. She and Asuna quickly ducked behind one of the cylinders to hide themselves. Two slimy-looking beings entered the room.

"Time to check up on the lab rats." one of them said.

"This is such a chore." the other one sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

Alice and Asuna cursed their luck as they hid. They had been able to avoid detection up until now, but it looked like that was about to get a lot harder. Alice looked around for a better place to hide. Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of a console in the distance. She tapped Asuna on the shoulder and pointed towards it. Asuna looked at the console and could see what Alice was thinking. If they could just reach that console, they'd be home free. As much as they wanted to free the other player, that would have to wait. If they got caught now, it was all over.

"Look. This one's dreaming about Speeka again." one of the scientists said. "He seems to be getting really excited."

"It's only the third experiment though." the other one pointed out. "Could just be a coincidence."

"No, he's definitely over the threshold now. It's due to the frequency of the images."

"Alright then. I'll put him on the list. Now then, which one's ne-" A sudden noise made him stop talking as he turned and caught sight of Alice. "Hey, who are you?"

"Shit! Run!" Alice exclaimed as she and Asuna took off towards the console at full speed.

Alice ran as fast as he legs could carry her. Looking behind her, she could see the Sugou's men catching up to them. Even if they got to the console, they wouldn't have enough time to access it. And if they got caught now, Alice doubted they'd have another chance to escape. There was only one thing she could do. Alice stopped her running and turned to face Sugou's men.

"Alice, what are you doing?!" Asuna exclaimed.

"Just go!" Alice yelled. "I'll hold them off, you get out of here!"

"What?! Alice I can't just leave you and-"

"Go!"

Asuna stood still, not knowing what to do. Could she really just leave Alice and save herself? But if she stayed, they'd both get caught. Asuna felt her hands shake as she turned and ran. 'I'm sorry Alice.' She ran towards the console with all the strength she could muster. A card was sticking out of the console. Asuna swiped it, bringing up a menu. 'Where is it? Come on, where's the logout button?'

"Asuna! Look out!"

Asuna gasped as she felt a tentacle wrap around her leg. She was quickly lifted into the air, hanging upside down. The other slug-like scientist soon came up to his friend, having a firm hold on Alice as he held her in the air as well.

"Let us go!" Asuna demanded.

"Not so fast. Who are you two?" one of the scientists asked.

"I've seen these two before somewhere." the other one said. "Hang on! You're those girls! The ones Sugou's got locked away in that cage!"

"That's right. You know, I don't think it's fair that the boss gets to keep two pretty girls like these all to himself."

Alice felt the tentacle around her wrap more around her body. "Stop it! Let us go you monsters!"

"Now that's just mean. And after all, you're the ones that interrupted our experiments."

"How can you stand to do this?! Aren't you scientists?!" Asuna questioned. "This kind of stuff is wrong! It's unethical!"

"I think it's more ethical than sticking probes in the brain of some poor animal." the one holding Asuna said. "Besides, we're not doing any real damage. Our experiments are simply dreams."

"Yeah, sometimes we show them the most amazing dreams. I wish I could have them." the other one added.

"You're insane." Alice glared.

"So what do we do now? The boss is doing some stuff back in the real world, right?" one of the scientists asked the other one. "Log out and see what he wants us to do."

"Oh fine, whatever. Just make sure not to do anything stupid while I'm gone." his co-worker said, handing Alice over to him.

"Yeah, yeah. Just hurry and go."

The scientist that had been holding Alice tapped the logout tab and vanished. The one left had both Alice and Asuna glaring at him.

"Put us down right now!" Alice growled.

"Sorry, no can do. The boss would kill me if I did that." he said. "Now then, how shall we kill the time? Oh I know! How about we get to know each other a little more. I have some fun things we can do."

Asuna felt herself shiver in disgust as he felt around her body. "You bastards aren't gonna get away with this."

"I highly doubt that." Not long after he said this, the scientist that had just logged out reappeared. "Great. So much for my fun time."

"What was that?"

"N-Nothing! Nothing. So what did the boss have to say?"

"Ugh, he was so pissed." he said. "Told me we had to put them back, change the passcode, and put a constant watch on them."

"Seriously? Man, that's so much work." the other one said, handing Alice back over to him. "Let's take our time getting back though. I want to enjoy our quality time with these two."

"Well the boss did say something else that I'm sure you'll enjoy."

"Oh? And what's that?" he asked. His friend leaned in a whispered something in his ear. "Oooo, that does sound fun."

Alice and Asuna watched as the console became further and further away from them as they were dragged away. They struggled to break free but to no avail. The entire trip back to the cage, the two of them silently cursed themselves for failing to escape.

'It's all my fault.' Asuna thought to herself. 'If only I hadn't hesitated before and ran when Alice said. Then at least I'd be able to tell everyone where the three hundred players are.'

It seemed like forever before they finally arrived back in the cage. The scientist holding Asuna tossed her in. She curled her hand up into a fist. They had failed. And now with a constant watch, they wouldn't have another shot at escaping.

"Hey! What're you doing?!"

Asuna turned her head back towards the entrance of the cage and gasped as it closed without Sugou's men throwing Alice back into the cage. Alice struggled as they kept their hold on her.

"Let her go!" Asuna yelled.

"We can't do that I'm afraid. The boss gave us special instructions for this one."

Alice's eyes widened in fear. Special instructions? What was that supposed to mean? Whatever it was, it wasn't good, Alice knew that much. She tried to get loose, but couldn't break free of the grip the tentacles had on her.

"Alice!" Asuna exclaimed.

"Asuna!" Alice called back. "Asuna!"

Asuna stood at the door to the cage, her whole body frozen. She trembled as she watched Sugou's men drag Alice away. They disappeared from sight and Asuna fell to her knees, tears falling down from her eyes.

"I'm sorry Alice. I'm so sorry."

Alice didn't know where she was headed. Fear moved throughout her body. What did Sugou tell his men to do to her. She thought back to the threat he had given her and she began to fear if they were going to wipe her memory. No, that shouldn't have been possible. The experiments weren't done yet based on what Sugou had told her and Asuna.

Eventually Alice found herself in a large white room. There didn't seem to be much around them. The slimy scientist holding her dropped her down onto a table, but before Alice could make a move, she found restraints attach to both her wrists.

"Let me go!" Alice yelled. "Let me go or else!"

"You're not in any position to be making threats, little girl."

"Yeah. Now just relax and enjoy yourself."

Alice couldn't tell what they meant by that, but she got a pretty good feeling as she felt one of them wrap a tentacle around her leg. The tentacle slithered further and further up her leg. "What are you doing?! No, stop it!"

"Don't worry. We'll be nice and gentle."

Alice felt the tentacle wrap around her waist. It then began to move further up her body, going towards her chest. She screamed in terror as tears began to form in her eyes.

Asuna sat in the cage completely silent. It felt like it had been days since Sugou's men had dragged Alice away, even though it had only been a little less than twelve hours. She didn't even want to know what was happening to her right now because of their failed escape attempt. One thought kept gnawing at Asuna's mind.

"It's all my fault." Asuna told herself, tears forming in her eyes. "I shouldn't have hesitated then. I should have ran when Alice made an opening for me. And now she's going through who knows what and we haven't gotten any closer to escaping."

Several hours passed by as Asuna sat in her own self pity. Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming her way. Glancing towards the door to the cage, she saw Sugou walking over to her with a smug grin painted on his face. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw his men following him, carrying Alice on their backs.

Sugou opened the door to the cage, enjoying the glare that Asuna was sending his way. She could be as angry as she wanted for all he cared, it still didn't change her situation.

"I heard you were misbehaving earlier, my dear." Sugou said. "And after I went out of my way to provide you with a friend."

"Let her go." Asuna snarled.

Sugou grabbed Alice by the back of her robes and tossed her over to Asuna. Asuna's stared in horror as she looked at Alice. Her clothes were torn in several areas. The expression on her face was one of pure fear and terror. Tears rolled down the black haired girl's eyes as she let out quiet sobs.

Asuna stood up and glared at Sugou with all the rage she could muster. "What did you do?"

"I'd watch your tone if I were you Asuna. After all-"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER YOU BASTARD?!"

Sugou was taken aback slightly, but quickly returned to his cocky smirk. "I just told my men to have some fun with her. After all, real players are so much more fun than NPCs. I also decided to speed up my research slightly by using some... extreme methods on her."

Asuna lunged at Sugou, but he quickly closed the cage door before she could grab his throat. "Such a feisty temper you have."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Asuna screamed. "YOU HEAR ME SUGOU?! THE SECOND I GET OUT OF HERE, I WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL!"

Sugou simply laughed at Asuna's claim as he walked away with his men following close behind. "That's if you can get out of here Asuna. And I wouldn't risk it if I were you. I don't think that girl's mind can survive a second run of what she just went through."

As Sugou left Asuna's field of vision, she turned her attention back to Alice. She ran over and kneeled down beside her friend. "Alice, are you alright. It's me, Asuna."

Alice made no visible response. She seemed too traumatized by what had happened to her. "No... not again..."

"Alice, look at me!" Asuna said, grabbing Alice's head with her hands and forcing her to look her way. "It's me. It's Asuna. You're safe right now."

"A-Asuna...?" Alice muttered, slowly relaxing her breathing. Once she recognized the girl, she threw herself into her arms, crying hysterically. "It... It was so horrible!"

"It's alright Alice. I'm right here." Asuna said in a soothing voice as she tried to comfort her. She silently begged both Alice and Ren to forgive her for failing to protect her. But she swore to herself that it would never happen again. Not as long as she drew breath would she ever let Sugou put Alice through that again.

Several minutes passed as Alice slowly cried herself out. Once Alice had finally managed to calm down, she let go of Asuna. Asuna couldn't even bring herself to look at Alice. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault, isn't it?"

"How can you say that, Asuna?" Alice asked. "You're not the one at fault here. It's Sugou and those… those monsters that are to blame.

Asuna stared down at the ground. "Alice… did they… well…"

Alice shook her head. "No, they didn't go that far." She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. "But they… they felt around my body. They touched me and played around with me like I was some doll." Tears formed in her eyes. "That wasn't the worst part though. They… did something to my mind. They made me watch my friends die. Mai… Dagger… Ren… I watched them die over and over again in my mind." Once again, Alice broke down into tears and cried.

"Shhh, it's alright. Ren and the others are alive. I know it." Asuna told her soothingly. "And that bastard Sugou is never doing that to you again. I swear it."

Asuna continued to hold Alice in a comforting embrace for what seemed like forever. Asuna knew that their escape attempt had failed. And there was no shot at them escaping on their own again now. That meant they only had one hope left.

'Kirito… please… help us…'

Ren sat up on the bed of the inn he had stayed at in Arun and stretched his arms. After a few days of traveling through the world of Alfheim, he and the rest of his guild, along with Kirito, had finally made it to the city near the World Tree.

Looking out the window, Ren could see the massive tree standing in the distance. If that picture really was Asuna, then hopefully they'd find her up at the top of that tree. And if they found Asuna, they could hopefully find Alice.

Soon another player appeared in the room with a flash of light. Mai got up from her bed and flashed a smile at her friend. "Hey Ren. You ready to get going."

"Yeah." Ren nodded. "Once the others arrive, we'll meet up with Kirito and set out."

"Ugh, where are they anyway?" Mai asked. "Don't they know how important this is?"

"They'll be here soon. Don't worry."

True to Ren's word, Riku logged in another minute later, followed by Helios and Dagger a few minutes after that.

"Alright. Let's get going." Helios said as he jumped off the bed. "Time to kick some ass."

"Try to remember the main reason we're here." Ren reminded his friend. "We're here to find Alice and Asuna and bring them back home."

"Doesn't mean we can't rip off a few heads on the way." Helios said with a crack of his knuckles.

Ren and the others sighed, but they all knew that Helios's love for battle would come in handy here. There was little chance that they'd be able to save Alice without a fight at some point. Ren stood up from his bed and gripped the handle of the sword on his back. "Let's do this everyone."

"Right." they all said in unison.

Ren and his guild walked together and made their way to the rendezvous point with Kirito, the base of the World tree. As they walked through the streets, Ren steeled his resolve.

'Wait for me Alice. I'm coming.'