CyberSins, Chapter 4
"That certainly is an interesting...er...outfit you've got on." Zelgadis glanced back at the hacker at work, clad in the skintight, ridged bodysuit he'd only managed to get a glance at before Xellass had infected him with that virus. He thought it looked mighty good on the hacker. In fact, he could barely take his eyes off the amethyst-haired man as he worked.
Xelloss never looked up from the translucent panel in front of him, but a smirk crossed the fair face. "You think so?"
"Most definitely."
"Hm," was the hacker's only reply as he continued to work, fingers racing across the keyboard so fast they were almost invisible. "Say, is this really your job? I mean, you do this all the time, all day long?"
Shrugging, Zelgadis looked back down at his own panel. "Pretty much, yeah. Occasionally I'm assigned to arrest hackers, but they're getting few and far between. Most of the really pitiful ones are assigned to lower-ranking hunters."
"Sounds terribly boring."
"It is."
"Horribly so."
"You have no idea."
There was a moment of silence, then they both burst out laughing.
"We must be two of the stupidest creatures in the circumference."
"Must be," Zelgadis nodded, pushing his terminal interface aside. Drifting over to where the grinning hacker was still working, he pressed into the cold frame from behind, arms curling around the faintly squirming waist.
"I thought...we were supposed to be working..." Xelloss muttered distractedly as he tried to remain focused on his task even with the hunter's warm hands rubbing across his stomach and inevitably downwards.
"I *am* working, in case you haven't noticed," came the sinful reply, whispered into the shell of Xelloss's ear.
Xelloss sputtered, "I didn't...mean...this kind of work, you perv! You know what I mea...n...t..." His words cut off into a little gurgled whimper as the hacker's hands delved between his thighs and he wriggled uselessly, halfheartedly as surprisingly light fingers grazed across the tightened bulge in the bodysuit.
"No, I don't know what you mean. But I definitely know what I -" he gave the pulsing bulge a squeeze, grinning in satisfaction as the hacker gasped and shuddered in his arms, hips bucking involuntarily against his hand, "mean. Do *you* know what I mean?"
Xelloss, his brain and vocal chords not on speaking terms at the moment, could only mumble and purr unintelligibly through the delicious torture, his own hands dropping from the forgotten terminal in front of him. Jaw slack and eyes closed, his hands grasped the hunter's wrists tightly between trembling fingers as he bucked against the next squeeze helplessly. "This...i-isn't real...you kn-know...."
Still stroking idly, he moved forward to grind his hips against Xelloss's, the obvious erection pressing firmly into the hacker's back eliciting a whimper of desire. "Can you feel this, beautiful?" He smiled as Xelloss nodded shakily. "Does it feel real enough to you?" Another shaky nod. "Thought so."
Turning the shivering hybrid around, Zelgadis pressed in for a light nuzzle. Xelloss's lips were always so cold, but they were still the most luscious thing he'd ever tasted. Icy flesh trembled at first before suddenly delving into a startlingly insistent kiss accompanied by a mewl of restrained desire. Nothing in this world could be so perfect, so cherished, as the bond the two shared in this moment. Trembling arms tangled around each other and wound the toned bodies together in a desperate embrace, pressing chest to pounding chest, stomach to fluttering stomach, sex to aching sex.
Zelgadis's hips pushed in a steady grind against his lover eliciting a delicious moan, the sound so intensely erotic coming from the hacker's synthesized voice that the hunter had to pull from the kiss and nuzzle into the sweep of the cold throat with a frantic bite to keep from climaxing right then. He'd dreamed of holding the nymph-like creature in his arms for weeks now; this moment was like an eternity of delusions coming together all at once. Searing hands roamed the smooth planes of Xelloss's back and sides and the hybrid's body arched in reaction, eyes closed in delicious torment as his teeth clenched together, his own frosty touch gliding across the hunter's face and throat to leave chillbumps in its wake.
"Technically," Xelloss smiled with a breathy whisper, "this isn't a regulation use for circumference access, you know."
Pressing in with a painfully hungry kiss, the hunter growled against cool lips, "Technically, I don't give a flying shit."
*********************
"Yes, sir? How may I help you?" Sitting neatly behind her desk, the receptionist regarded the suited man in front of her as politely as possible while trying to ignore the suspicious-looking individuals accompanying him.
He was tall, unusually so, and while red spikes fell jaggedly around his face the rest of the fiery mane was tied back in a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck, flowing in time with each step he took. The suit was tailored, black and gray, and obviously very expensive. His 'associates' were equally strange, one of which had sea-foam green hair that bobbed off at shoulder length. His eyes were a strangely yellowish color and had a strange shape, much like those of his red-headed superior. The other was a boy no more than eight, with plum-purple hair and a cruel grin that simply didn't fit onto the innocent face. He reminded her of an altered photograph - it looked real enough, but there just seemed to be something that stood out as eerily wrong. Both of them wore long coats, but when they moved the same uniform (if it could be called that) - black PVC pants with a matching cropped shirt beneath which a layer of fishnet covered any exposed skin - could be seen beneath the cloak-like external wear.
"I'm looking for a Mister..." he paused in thought as he removed his black leather wallet, "Ah, yes, a Mister Zelgadis. I am Regulator Gaav, from Promenade Enterprises, here on official business." Opening the wallet, he flashed a badge to her before tucking it away once more.
"I see, sir. One moment, please." The receptionist tapped away at the keyboard, occasionally glancing up at the other two. She noticed how often they looked at her and the glare in their eyes wasn't comforting - it was something between disgust and hunger, like some kind of starving animal that couldn't decide between eating or tormenting its prey. "Uhm... Mister Zelgadis is currently working in the circumference. I'm afraid it is strictly against regulations to allow anyone except Guardians and Hunters into the connection rooms while anyone is in the circumference, but I would be happy to have someone direct you to a waiting area until he logs off."
Two pairs of eyes settled on her and narrowed, and the green-haired one spoke up before the boy could. "Who do you think you are, bitch? 'Wait in a lobby, please.' Do we fuckin' look like 'wait in the lobby' types? I'll have your fuckin' fleshie guts-"
"Valgarv, let us not be impolite to the lady," Gaav spared the irate man a glance. "She is only doing her job." His gaze returned to the shocked receptionist with a courteous - and entirely fake - smile. "And a very good job you are doing, as well. Regulations are regulations, are they not? We cannot have people breaking them on whim, indeed. Please, a waiting area would be good enough."
Nodding shakily, she typed in a message and sent it away. Muttering timidly that a representative was on her way, she sighed with relief as the new girl came. Thank god it was off her hands now.
Camille, as the badge read, couldn't help but pause as she caught sight of the three she was to escort. Nevertheless, duty and training won over curiosity and she approached them with a polite curtsey. "This way if you please, sirs."
***********************
Camille, as it turned out, wasn't very much fun. In the appointed waiting room, Valgarv sat cross-legged on the floor next to the young Phibrizzio, both of them staring disappointedly at the broken remains.
"She didn't last very long, did she?" the young one yawned, poking at the glassy eye that stared into space, lost in death.
Shrugging, Valgarv ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't think she would. How many times have I told you, Phi-Phi; 'they need those things.' If you take it out, of course they'll die quick." He waved the messily-extracted left lung in the boy's face.
"Well I didn't mean to! It just got in the way!" Phibrizzio pouted sullenly, then glared at the green-haired man. "And don't call me 'Phi- Phi.' Do I look like some retarded poodle to you?"
"Of course not," Valgarv shook his head. "You just act like one occasionally."
Phibrizzio stood, throwing down the severed arm he'd been playing with, and opened his mouth to release a long, volatile string of curses - but was stopped by returned Gaav who patted him on the head as he closed the door behind him once more. "Now now, you two. No fighting. You've had your fun and it's time to get to work. Valgarv, use the terminal to find out what room our 'comrades' are in and seal them off. Phibrizzio, I need you to get prepped for a connection to secure them in the circumference until the rip is complete."
The two nodded and separated, but not before childishly sticking their tongues out and making faces at each other. Sitting in front of the terminal, Valgarv extracted a set of plugs from his pocket and shrugged off the coat, exposing the sockets in his back. Hooking himself up, he ripped the keyboard from the wall and instead plugged the specially-designed plug into the port, inputting himself into the computer's interface.
His eyes glazed over for a moment, and his brow furrowed as his hands moved across invisible controls, then he sat up and nodded to Gaav, vision returning to normal. "Got 'em. One's on sub-level four, old medilab closed for storage, number three-eight-nine. Other's in your standard connection room in sub-level two. Room one-oh-three."
"Very good. Let's go, then." Looking thoughtfully at the bloody mess on the floor, he sighed. "I swear, I can't leave you two alone for five minutes."
Still frowning, Phibrizzio fiddled with the adjustments to the plug in his right wrist. "Screw that. She didn't even last for three minutes."
***********************
"Aren't they done yet?!" Lina whined as she glared at the textbook in front of her as though it had personally offended her. She really needed Xelloss's help with this stupid concept of integral factual amalgamation programming, and he'd been off in his little hidey-hole with the door locked, apparently connected and goofing off. Worthless!
Shrugging, Amelia looked up from her pile of books. "Well, he said he was going to help Zel with his work, so it shouldn't be too much longer. Wanna go and see if they're done yet?"
"Yeah, c'mon. I'm not waiting here for him forever." Standing and stretching, she grabbed the dozing Gourry by a fistful of blonde hair and jerked him awake, all but dragging him out the door.
The trio proceeded down the hall and to the lift, getting off at Zelgadis's current floor. After heading down the hall a bit, Lina motioned for them to stop - someone was ahead of them. They exchanged glances, then listened carefully.
"Valgarv, the doors please."
"Gotcha." The sounds of ripping metal were heard, then the unmistakable *ka-click* of equipment being hooked up. A few seconds later, the door was heard to slide open.
"Very good. Phibrizzio, get connected and locate them. Valgarv will seal the doors behind you. Whatever happens, do not let them return until the appointed time. I'm going down to Xelloss's medilab, Valgarv, you head to Zelgadis's room. Disconnect in two minutes."
Two voices, "Right."
Footsteps receding.
Lina looked at Amelia. Amelia looked at Gourry. Gourry looked confused.
"Holy Christ!" Amelia exclaimed, her voice a terrified, whispered shriek. "They're going to kill them! Oh god...oh god, this is all my fault..."
"Yeah, it is, but that's not the problem right now. Gourry, head down to Xelloss's room and head that guy off. Amelia, come with me and let's see if we can stop the other guy from getting to Zelgadis. Amelia?" Lina blinked and looked around, just in time to see the dark-haired girl disappear around the corner. "Dammit! Ah, hell, go Gourry!"
The security guard nodded, face set in the grim lines of determination, and the two set off in different directions.
************************
Amelia skidded around the doorframe and stumbled into the room only seconds after the doors closed, locking with a sharp *clink* of finality. She looked around in the darkness and saw a small figure climbing up into the chair. He was no more than a boy!
Rushing over, she grabbed onto his wrist and tugged him back sharply. "This is a restricted area. I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me."
The boy looked back at her, tousled plum hair covering most of his features. Eyes wide with shock, he tried to pull his hand free. "Please, let go! I have to do this!"
"You're trying to hurt my friends and I won't let you!" Another sharp jerk, and the two of them fell off the chair, tumbling into a tangle of limbs on the floor.
"L-Let go of me!" Struggling to pull free with all his meager strength, Phibrizzio looked to be on the verge of terrified hysterics. "They'll disassemble me if I don't do this right! I don't want to die!"
"Disassemble?" Amelia looked at him, her expression changing from anger to shock, then to the sudden realization as she noticed how cold his skin was. "You're...you're a hacker! A hybrid!" She noticed the fear in the boy's eyes as she recognized him for what he was and she smiled comfortingly. "Hey, it's okay, okay? Don't worry. You're safe here, and no one's going to hurt you, but you can't hurt my friends, okay? You don't have to...to...don't have..."
Her words trailed off into a traumatized whimper as her next breath caught with a painful hitch that caused her to double over in pain. She looked down at her torso, at the slender hand that was imbedded into her stomach, and followed the arm up to the shoulder and finally the face of the boy. There was no trace of the former fear; the only thing shining in his eyes now was the sadistic glee reflected in that cruel grin curling his lips.
"Of course I don't have to, silly fleshie. I *want* to." His hand twisted, drying an agonized cry from the girl and she tried in vain to wrench free but found herself unable to do so as a hand closed around her throat. "Now what was it that Val said I shouldn't take out? Oh...yeah...now where is it...?"
Amelia tried to scream again, she truly did. The hand constricting her throat was unimaginably strong, and the pain radiating through her body was unbearable, but she tried so valiantly to free herself of his grip as the deceptively-small hand pushed roughly through her stomach, moving up and snapping ribs as it went.
"Ah yes...here it is!"
This time a scream finally found its way from her lips. It was, however, extremely short.
*************************
Lina froze. It was distant, muffled, but it was very obviously a scream and very obviously Amelia. Looking back over her shoulder, she scanned the numerous doors that lined the hall - there was no telling which one she was behind, and finding it would take forever. A tremble shivered through her, but she swallowed it and forced herself to face front once more, resuming her flight through the corridors towards Zelgadis's connecting room.
**************************
It was so quiet, the flapping of a butterfly's wings would have deafened. So silent, so peaceful. Zelgadis looked down at the hacker cradled in his arms and pushed back a lock of the purple silken hair lightly, so as not to awaken his sleeping lover. Truly, he hadn't known it was possible to sleep in the circumference, but it was obvious that Xelloss's projection was far more tuned to his corporeal body than that of an ordinary human. Smiling to himself, he leaned down to kiss the smooth forehead softly and sighed. Nothing bothered them here; nothing went wrong. The circumference was their kingdom in the sky.
Gently disentangling from the hybrid, Zelgadis drifted away and over towards the edge of the blackness surrounding them. Leaning over the edge, he looked down into the abyss of hazel light beneath them, head tilted contemplatively. A loud slam presently drew his attention back to Xelloss.
The hacker was wide awake, and surrounded by a glass pyramid. Above him hovered a child-like apparition with matching pale skin. This apparition did not appear to be very happy, and his attention was focused on the hunter.
"Oh, hell! You weren't supposed to move!" He glared at Zelgadis, then to the now awake and irate Xelloss who was slamming against the barrier surrounding him. "Oh, knock it off, you moron! Christ...this sucks. Now what? I can't make two cages..."
"What the hell are you doing?! Let go of him!" Zelgadis lunged for the child, but missed by far as Phibrizzio swept aside impossibly fast.
"Not a chance, pal." The hunter was seething, but the boy-hybrid was impassively calm. Internally, he was counting, and the disconnect should happen in five...four...three... A grin slipped across his lips. "Say, didn't you have friend? A little girl with black hair?"
Zelgadis stopped, shocked. "Yeah, I do." The next words didn't come out as planned - his mouth worked in silence as the monster's words seeped through. "'Did'...?"
"Yeaaahhh...did. As in, 'past tense,'" he snickered, shrugging. "She screamed quite delightfully. It's too bad I didn't get to play with her longer...would've been fun, huh?"
"You fucker! I'll kill you!" Seething with rage, he lunged at the boy once more, with the same effect. Overcome with fear and fury, he didn't even feel the tingle at the base of his spine as Valgarv unplugged his body. As the last plug slid out, though, he felt it. His mouth opened in a silent scream as his projection shuddered and convulsed, much to Phibrizzio's amusement.
"Oh, this is the best part! Isn't that so, dear brother?" He smiled to the still-trapped Xelloss who didn't hear him. Indeed, the amethyst-haired hacker felt nothing but pain as he was unplugged as well. Chuckling, Phibrizzio snapped his fingers and the glass pyramid disintegrated to dust, leaving Xelloss to collapse to the ground with pained yelp. "Well...I see my work here is done." Kneeling next to the seizing hybrid, Phibrizzio patted his head. You have another..." He paused in thought, then grinned, "...another 15 minutes until it's over. I'd like to stay and play, but I was promised that I could dissect your hunter friend, and it's no fun once the rip's over and the heart isn't beating. Nothing twitches! Bye-bye!" He gave Xelloss a farewell kick, then vanished and reconnected with his body.
The initial pain of the unplugging had passed, and the two finally sat up, breathing heavily. Looking up at each other, they swallowed hard in unison and both spoke at the same time.
"I can't-"
"We're not-"
Silence.
Both of them trembled, then rushed together, clinging to each other in sheer desperation. This was it.
************************
"Hm. Not that bad looking. Tough shit, really." Valgarv idly traced the lines of the metal in Zelgadis's face, sitting comfortably astride the unconscious hunter's lap. "Don't usually see fleshies this nice. I think maybe, just maybe, I-" Cut off, he found himself suddenly on the floor as the broom handle connected squarely with the side of his head. Groaning, he sat up and looked around, a dazed expression on his face. "The fuck...?"
Lina swung again, and again, managing three heavy blows to the hybrid's skull before he finally wised up and grabbed the broom from her. She held on stubbornly, trying to pull free, and only succeeded in helping Valgarv stand. Panting for breath, she screamed and drove forward, connecting the broom handle with his stomach and stealing his breath away. As he sunk to the floor, gasping for air, she swung the handle around one more time, this time breaking it against the back of the creature's skull and sending him off to dreamland.
Throwing the shattered weapon aside, she scrambled up the chair and started reconnect Zelgadis to the circumference, plugging in the sensors and hooking up the monitors.
**********************
Zelgadis looked up, meeting Xelloss's purple spheres. "I'm being hooked back up."
Xelloss blinked, then sighed with relief. The hunter looked at him expectedly, and finally the hacker shrugged. "I...I'm not. Maybe the others found you?"
"Then they'll find you, too. You still have six minutes, don't worry. I'm going back, and I'll make sure it's alright, okay?"
Xelloss nodded.
"It's going to be okay, alright?"
Nod.
"You don't believe me?"
Xelloss pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "Of course I do."
"Liar."
"Let's not start that again, okay? Just get out of here."
"I'm coming back, love. I swear. Hang on."
Another kiss was shared, then Zelgadis logged off, leaving Xelloss alone. The hacker sat still, dejectedly, then summoned up a control panel and started tapping.
"That certainly is an interesting...er...outfit you've got on." Zelgadis glanced back at the hacker at work, clad in the skintight, ridged bodysuit he'd only managed to get a glance at before Xellass had infected him with that virus. He thought it looked mighty good on the hacker. In fact, he could barely take his eyes off the amethyst-haired man as he worked.
Xelloss never looked up from the translucent panel in front of him, but a smirk crossed the fair face. "You think so?"
"Most definitely."
"Hm," was the hacker's only reply as he continued to work, fingers racing across the keyboard so fast they were almost invisible. "Say, is this really your job? I mean, you do this all the time, all day long?"
Shrugging, Zelgadis looked back down at his own panel. "Pretty much, yeah. Occasionally I'm assigned to arrest hackers, but they're getting few and far between. Most of the really pitiful ones are assigned to lower-ranking hunters."
"Sounds terribly boring."
"It is."
"Horribly so."
"You have no idea."
There was a moment of silence, then they both burst out laughing.
"We must be two of the stupidest creatures in the circumference."
"Must be," Zelgadis nodded, pushing his terminal interface aside. Drifting over to where the grinning hacker was still working, he pressed into the cold frame from behind, arms curling around the faintly squirming waist.
"I thought...we were supposed to be working..." Xelloss muttered distractedly as he tried to remain focused on his task even with the hunter's warm hands rubbing across his stomach and inevitably downwards.
"I *am* working, in case you haven't noticed," came the sinful reply, whispered into the shell of Xelloss's ear.
Xelloss sputtered, "I didn't...mean...this kind of work, you perv! You know what I mea...n...t..." His words cut off into a little gurgled whimper as the hacker's hands delved between his thighs and he wriggled uselessly, halfheartedly as surprisingly light fingers grazed across the tightened bulge in the bodysuit.
"No, I don't know what you mean. But I definitely know what I -" he gave the pulsing bulge a squeeze, grinning in satisfaction as the hacker gasped and shuddered in his arms, hips bucking involuntarily against his hand, "mean. Do *you* know what I mean?"
Xelloss, his brain and vocal chords not on speaking terms at the moment, could only mumble and purr unintelligibly through the delicious torture, his own hands dropping from the forgotten terminal in front of him. Jaw slack and eyes closed, his hands grasped the hunter's wrists tightly between trembling fingers as he bucked against the next squeeze helplessly. "This...i-isn't real...you kn-know...."
Still stroking idly, he moved forward to grind his hips against Xelloss's, the obvious erection pressing firmly into the hacker's back eliciting a whimper of desire. "Can you feel this, beautiful?" He smiled as Xelloss nodded shakily. "Does it feel real enough to you?" Another shaky nod. "Thought so."
Turning the shivering hybrid around, Zelgadis pressed in for a light nuzzle. Xelloss's lips were always so cold, but they were still the most luscious thing he'd ever tasted. Icy flesh trembled at first before suddenly delving into a startlingly insistent kiss accompanied by a mewl of restrained desire. Nothing in this world could be so perfect, so cherished, as the bond the two shared in this moment. Trembling arms tangled around each other and wound the toned bodies together in a desperate embrace, pressing chest to pounding chest, stomach to fluttering stomach, sex to aching sex.
Zelgadis's hips pushed in a steady grind against his lover eliciting a delicious moan, the sound so intensely erotic coming from the hacker's synthesized voice that the hunter had to pull from the kiss and nuzzle into the sweep of the cold throat with a frantic bite to keep from climaxing right then. He'd dreamed of holding the nymph-like creature in his arms for weeks now; this moment was like an eternity of delusions coming together all at once. Searing hands roamed the smooth planes of Xelloss's back and sides and the hybrid's body arched in reaction, eyes closed in delicious torment as his teeth clenched together, his own frosty touch gliding across the hunter's face and throat to leave chillbumps in its wake.
"Technically," Xelloss smiled with a breathy whisper, "this isn't a regulation use for circumference access, you know."
Pressing in with a painfully hungry kiss, the hunter growled against cool lips, "Technically, I don't give a flying shit."
*********************
"Yes, sir? How may I help you?" Sitting neatly behind her desk, the receptionist regarded the suited man in front of her as politely as possible while trying to ignore the suspicious-looking individuals accompanying him.
He was tall, unusually so, and while red spikes fell jaggedly around his face the rest of the fiery mane was tied back in a tight ponytail at the nape of his neck, flowing in time with each step he took. The suit was tailored, black and gray, and obviously very expensive. His 'associates' were equally strange, one of which had sea-foam green hair that bobbed off at shoulder length. His eyes were a strangely yellowish color and had a strange shape, much like those of his red-headed superior. The other was a boy no more than eight, with plum-purple hair and a cruel grin that simply didn't fit onto the innocent face. He reminded her of an altered photograph - it looked real enough, but there just seemed to be something that stood out as eerily wrong. Both of them wore long coats, but when they moved the same uniform (if it could be called that) - black PVC pants with a matching cropped shirt beneath which a layer of fishnet covered any exposed skin - could be seen beneath the cloak-like external wear.
"I'm looking for a Mister..." he paused in thought as he removed his black leather wallet, "Ah, yes, a Mister Zelgadis. I am Regulator Gaav, from Promenade Enterprises, here on official business." Opening the wallet, he flashed a badge to her before tucking it away once more.
"I see, sir. One moment, please." The receptionist tapped away at the keyboard, occasionally glancing up at the other two. She noticed how often they looked at her and the glare in their eyes wasn't comforting - it was something between disgust and hunger, like some kind of starving animal that couldn't decide between eating or tormenting its prey. "Uhm... Mister Zelgadis is currently working in the circumference. I'm afraid it is strictly against regulations to allow anyone except Guardians and Hunters into the connection rooms while anyone is in the circumference, but I would be happy to have someone direct you to a waiting area until he logs off."
Two pairs of eyes settled on her and narrowed, and the green-haired one spoke up before the boy could. "Who do you think you are, bitch? 'Wait in a lobby, please.' Do we fuckin' look like 'wait in the lobby' types? I'll have your fuckin' fleshie guts-"
"Valgarv, let us not be impolite to the lady," Gaav spared the irate man a glance. "She is only doing her job." His gaze returned to the shocked receptionist with a courteous - and entirely fake - smile. "And a very good job you are doing, as well. Regulations are regulations, are they not? We cannot have people breaking them on whim, indeed. Please, a waiting area would be good enough."
Nodding shakily, she typed in a message and sent it away. Muttering timidly that a representative was on her way, she sighed with relief as the new girl came. Thank god it was off her hands now.
Camille, as the badge read, couldn't help but pause as she caught sight of the three she was to escort. Nevertheless, duty and training won over curiosity and she approached them with a polite curtsey. "This way if you please, sirs."
***********************
Camille, as it turned out, wasn't very much fun. In the appointed waiting room, Valgarv sat cross-legged on the floor next to the young Phibrizzio, both of them staring disappointedly at the broken remains.
"She didn't last very long, did she?" the young one yawned, poking at the glassy eye that stared into space, lost in death.
Shrugging, Valgarv ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't think she would. How many times have I told you, Phi-Phi; 'they need those things.' If you take it out, of course they'll die quick." He waved the messily-extracted left lung in the boy's face.
"Well I didn't mean to! It just got in the way!" Phibrizzio pouted sullenly, then glared at the green-haired man. "And don't call me 'Phi- Phi.' Do I look like some retarded poodle to you?"
"Of course not," Valgarv shook his head. "You just act like one occasionally."
Phibrizzio stood, throwing down the severed arm he'd been playing with, and opened his mouth to release a long, volatile string of curses - but was stopped by returned Gaav who patted him on the head as he closed the door behind him once more. "Now now, you two. No fighting. You've had your fun and it's time to get to work. Valgarv, use the terminal to find out what room our 'comrades' are in and seal them off. Phibrizzio, I need you to get prepped for a connection to secure them in the circumference until the rip is complete."
The two nodded and separated, but not before childishly sticking their tongues out and making faces at each other. Sitting in front of the terminal, Valgarv extracted a set of plugs from his pocket and shrugged off the coat, exposing the sockets in his back. Hooking himself up, he ripped the keyboard from the wall and instead plugged the specially-designed plug into the port, inputting himself into the computer's interface.
His eyes glazed over for a moment, and his brow furrowed as his hands moved across invisible controls, then he sat up and nodded to Gaav, vision returning to normal. "Got 'em. One's on sub-level four, old medilab closed for storage, number three-eight-nine. Other's in your standard connection room in sub-level two. Room one-oh-three."
"Very good. Let's go, then." Looking thoughtfully at the bloody mess on the floor, he sighed. "I swear, I can't leave you two alone for five minutes."
Still frowning, Phibrizzio fiddled with the adjustments to the plug in his right wrist. "Screw that. She didn't even last for three minutes."
***********************
"Aren't they done yet?!" Lina whined as she glared at the textbook in front of her as though it had personally offended her. She really needed Xelloss's help with this stupid concept of integral factual amalgamation programming, and he'd been off in his little hidey-hole with the door locked, apparently connected and goofing off. Worthless!
Shrugging, Amelia looked up from her pile of books. "Well, he said he was going to help Zel with his work, so it shouldn't be too much longer. Wanna go and see if they're done yet?"
"Yeah, c'mon. I'm not waiting here for him forever." Standing and stretching, she grabbed the dozing Gourry by a fistful of blonde hair and jerked him awake, all but dragging him out the door.
The trio proceeded down the hall and to the lift, getting off at Zelgadis's current floor. After heading down the hall a bit, Lina motioned for them to stop - someone was ahead of them. They exchanged glances, then listened carefully.
"Valgarv, the doors please."
"Gotcha." The sounds of ripping metal were heard, then the unmistakable *ka-click* of equipment being hooked up. A few seconds later, the door was heard to slide open.
"Very good. Phibrizzio, get connected and locate them. Valgarv will seal the doors behind you. Whatever happens, do not let them return until the appointed time. I'm going down to Xelloss's medilab, Valgarv, you head to Zelgadis's room. Disconnect in two minutes."
Two voices, "Right."
Footsteps receding.
Lina looked at Amelia. Amelia looked at Gourry. Gourry looked confused.
"Holy Christ!" Amelia exclaimed, her voice a terrified, whispered shriek. "They're going to kill them! Oh god...oh god, this is all my fault..."
"Yeah, it is, but that's not the problem right now. Gourry, head down to Xelloss's room and head that guy off. Amelia, come with me and let's see if we can stop the other guy from getting to Zelgadis. Amelia?" Lina blinked and looked around, just in time to see the dark-haired girl disappear around the corner. "Dammit! Ah, hell, go Gourry!"
The security guard nodded, face set in the grim lines of determination, and the two set off in different directions.
************************
Amelia skidded around the doorframe and stumbled into the room only seconds after the doors closed, locking with a sharp *clink* of finality. She looked around in the darkness and saw a small figure climbing up into the chair. He was no more than a boy!
Rushing over, she grabbed onto his wrist and tugged him back sharply. "This is a restricted area. I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me."
The boy looked back at her, tousled plum hair covering most of his features. Eyes wide with shock, he tried to pull his hand free. "Please, let go! I have to do this!"
"You're trying to hurt my friends and I won't let you!" Another sharp jerk, and the two of them fell off the chair, tumbling into a tangle of limbs on the floor.
"L-Let go of me!" Struggling to pull free with all his meager strength, Phibrizzio looked to be on the verge of terrified hysterics. "They'll disassemble me if I don't do this right! I don't want to die!"
"Disassemble?" Amelia looked at him, her expression changing from anger to shock, then to the sudden realization as she noticed how cold his skin was. "You're...you're a hacker! A hybrid!" She noticed the fear in the boy's eyes as she recognized him for what he was and she smiled comfortingly. "Hey, it's okay, okay? Don't worry. You're safe here, and no one's going to hurt you, but you can't hurt my friends, okay? You don't have to...to...don't have..."
Her words trailed off into a traumatized whimper as her next breath caught with a painful hitch that caused her to double over in pain. She looked down at her torso, at the slender hand that was imbedded into her stomach, and followed the arm up to the shoulder and finally the face of the boy. There was no trace of the former fear; the only thing shining in his eyes now was the sadistic glee reflected in that cruel grin curling his lips.
"Of course I don't have to, silly fleshie. I *want* to." His hand twisted, drying an agonized cry from the girl and she tried in vain to wrench free but found herself unable to do so as a hand closed around her throat. "Now what was it that Val said I shouldn't take out? Oh...yeah...now where is it...?"
Amelia tried to scream again, she truly did. The hand constricting her throat was unimaginably strong, and the pain radiating through her body was unbearable, but she tried so valiantly to free herself of his grip as the deceptively-small hand pushed roughly through her stomach, moving up and snapping ribs as it went.
"Ah yes...here it is!"
This time a scream finally found its way from her lips. It was, however, extremely short.
*************************
Lina froze. It was distant, muffled, but it was very obviously a scream and very obviously Amelia. Looking back over her shoulder, she scanned the numerous doors that lined the hall - there was no telling which one she was behind, and finding it would take forever. A tremble shivered through her, but she swallowed it and forced herself to face front once more, resuming her flight through the corridors towards Zelgadis's connecting room.
**************************
It was so quiet, the flapping of a butterfly's wings would have deafened. So silent, so peaceful. Zelgadis looked down at the hacker cradled in his arms and pushed back a lock of the purple silken hair lightly, so as not to awaken his sleeping lover. Truly, he hadn't known it was possible to sleep in the circumference, but it was obvious that Xelloss's projection was far more tuned to his corporeal body than that of an ordinary human. Smiling to himself, he leaned down to kiss the smooth forehead softly and sighed. Nothing bothered them here; nothing went wrong. The circumference was their kingdom in the sky.
Gently disentangling from the hybrid, Zelgadis drifted away and over towards the edge of the blackness surrounding them. Leaning over the edge, he looked down into the abyss of hazel light beneath them, head tilted contemplatively. A loud slam presently drew his attention back to Xelloss.
The hacker was wide awake, and surrounded by a glass pyramid. Above him hovered a child-like apparition with matching pale skin. This apparition did not appear to be very happy, and his attention was focused on the hunter.
"Oh, hell! You weren't supposed to move!" He glared at Zelgadis, then to the now awake and irate Xelloss who was slamming against the barrier surrounding him. "Oh, knock it off, you moron! Christ...this sucks. Now what? I can't make two cages..."
"What the hell are you doing?! Let go of him!" Zelgadis lunged for the child, but missed by far as Phibrizzio swept aside impossibly fast.
"Not a chance, pal." The hunter was seething, but the boy-hybrid was impassively calm. Internally, he was counting, and the disconnect should happen in five...four...three... A grin slipped across his lips. "Say, didn't you have friend? A little girl with black hair?"
Zelgadis stopped, shocked. "Yeah, I do." The next words didn't come out as planned - his mouth worked in silence as the monster's words seeped through. "'Did'...?"
"Yeaaahhh...did. As in, 'past tense,'" he snickered, shrugging. "She screamed quite delightfully. It's too bad I didn't get to play with her longer...would've been fun, huh?"
"You fucker! I'll kill you!" Seething with rage, he lunged at the boy once more, with the same effect. Overcome with fear and fury, he didn't even feel the tingle at the base of his spine as Valgarv unplugged his body. As the last plug slid out, though, he felt it. His mouth opened in a silent scream as his projection shuddered and convulsed, much to Phibrizzio's amusement.
"Oh, this is the best part! Isn't that so, dear brother?" He smiled to the still-trapped Xelloss who didn't hear him. Indeed, the amethyst-haired hacker felt nothing but pain as he was unplugged as well. Chuckling, Phibrizzio snapped his fingers and the glass pyramid disintegrated to dust, leaving Xelloss to collapse to the ground with pained yelp. "Well...I see my work here is done." Kneeling next to the seizing hybrid, Phibrizzio patted his head. You have another..." He paused in thought, then grinned, "...another 15 minutes until it's over. I'd like to stay and play, but I was promised that I could dissect your hunter friend, and it's no fun once the rip's over and the heart isn't beating. Nothing twitches! Bye-bye!" He gave Xelloss a farewell kick, then vanished and reconnected with his body.
The initial pain of the unplugging had passed, and the two finally sat up, breathing heavily. Looking up at each other, they swallowed hard in unison and both spoke at the same time.
"I can't-"
"We're not-"
Silence.
Both of them trembled, then rushed together, clinging to each other in sheer desperation. This was it.
************************
"Hm. Not that bad looking. Tough shit, really." Valgarv idly traced the lines of the metal in Zelgadis's face, sitting comfortably astride the unconscious hunter's lap. "Don't usually see fleshies this nice. I think maybe, just maybe, I-" Cut off, he found himself suddenly on the floor as the broom handle connected squarely with the side of his head. Groaning, he sat up and looked around, a dazed expression on his face. "The fuck...?"
Lina swung again, and again, managing three heavy blows to the hybrid's skull before he finally wised up and grabbed the broom from her. She held on stubbornly, trying to pull free, and only succeeded in helping Valgarv stand. Panting for breath, she screamed and drove forward, connecting the broom handle with his stomach and stealing his breath away. As he sunk to the floor, gasping for air, she swung the handle around one more time, this time breaking it against the back of the creature's skull and sending him off to dreamland.
Throwing the shattered weapon aside, she scrambled up the chair and started reconnect Zelgadis to the circumference, plugging in the sensors and hooking up the monitors.
**********************
Zelgadis looked up, meeting Xelloss's purple spheres. "I'm being hooked back up."
Xelloss blinked, then sighed with relief. The hunter looked at him expectedly, and finally the hacker shrugged. "I...I'm not. Maybe the others found you?"
"Then they'll find you, too. You still have six minutes, don't worry. I'm going back, and I'll make sure it's alright, okay?"
Xelloss nodded.
"It's going to be okay, alright?"
Nod.
"You don't believe me?"
Xelloss pressed a soft kiss to his lips. "Of course I do."
"Liar."
"Let's not start that again, okay? Just get out of here."
"I'm coming back, love. I swear. Hang on."
Another kiss was shared, then Zelgadis logged off, leaving Xelloss alone. The hacker sat still, dejectedly, then summoned up a control panel and started tapping.