"How many times has her heart rate gone up?"
"Twice sine the actual start. The rate went up during the separation."
"How long did they last?"
"About three seconds."
"Don't estimate, Laurence."
"...Two point thirty seven seconds, sir. This one started returning to normal just after a second."
"Very good." Marvin sighed, a hiss of air seeping between his clenched teeth, matching the tension he squeezed out into his fist. Shaking his head, he raised his eyes to look out the mirrored window from the dark of the small control room. His eyes scanned over the sleeping form of Miyako, who appeared to be dozing peacefully, though he knew it wasn't true. Sliding his grey orbs to focus on the man opposite of her, he narrowed them while a threat was whispered beneath his breath. "You harm her and I'll be glad to send you onto Death Row, sick bastard."
"So, how's our little star doing?" A voice questioned over the noise of the doors opening. A tall man with bluish hair, and wire-framed glasses smiled to Marvin while he held a clipboard in his hand. Tapping his fingers against the board, he stepped inside the small room and allowed the door to close behind him. Casually looking around with a slight raise of the eyebrow, he hummed to himself before pausing to look at Marvin, expecting an answer.
"Ah, Dr.Kido. Rs.Inoue is doing just fine." Marvin countered, still facing the mirror with his head turned towads the man who just walked in. Scanning him with his eyes, he wondered why this man decided to suddenly volunteer for the well being of Miyako as son as he heard her name. Shrugging off the thought, he looked back through the glass distantly. "May I ask why the intrusion?"
"Intrusion? I'm just doing my job, really. The main office sent me down from Physics and told me to keep an eye on our little researcher there. You never know what sort of dangers she could be exposed to at the moment, not to mention the psychological damage this might cause." He explained, leaning back on his heels while he was speaking. Glancing through the window which Marvin was looking through, he eyed Miyako for a few seconds before looking to the other occupant of the chamber-and stopped in surprise. The strapped down criminal looked strangely familiar to that of the young genius he remembered meeting when he was twelve or so. Blinking a few times, he regained his composure and looked at Marvin. "May I ask what the other's name is?"
"With a look like that, I'd say you have a guess already, Kido. That's Ken Ichijouji, charged for Sexual Assault, First Degree Murder, and I could go on but it's not pretty. This is a maniac we're dealing with here...Rs.Inoue, Miyako, took the task against my will. She did it freely and therefore it should not be our responsibility if something happens to her-though I'll feel guilty as hell." Slamming himself into a defensive tone, Marvin looked directly into Dr.Kido's eyes defiantly, as if he knew the Doc would pounce on their experiment for endangering an employee.
"Rs.Inoue may have taken this up on her own free will, but it is you who will be responsible for her safe return to the real world, Rs.Lych." Dr.Kido retorted, his voice calm as a breeze, the same emotion displayed on his face. Reclaiming his soft smile, he stood up straight and walked to the other side of Marvin, snatching a nearby chair and sitting down smoothly. Looking up at the second head Rs.Lynch, Marvin as he preferred, he shrugged off the man's scowl. "I'm just here to watch, not to point fingers and bark about responsibilities." Returning to his meek self, Joe sat back in his chair and focused in on the computer screens.
She was standing in the center of an alley. Everything surrounding her was in the shades of grey, appearing as grainy as an old movie. Feeling the world tilt for a millisecond, Miyako blinked a few times and shook her head. "I'll find you, Ken." She whispered beneath her breath, clinging to as much strength and power she could find. Gathering in her surroundings, she wondered which way to go, since she was thrust into a new layer of his mind.
Everything is black and white.
Four garbage cans stood around her against the walls of the alley like pillars, seeming to grow larger inconspicuously. The alley began to close in on her as a thick glob of liquid began to bubble from beneath the lids. The liquid was dark grey and dripped from the garbage cans like water, littledroplets making their way down the metallic sides, leaving trails that thickened and ran together.
Miyako furrowed her eyebrows as she watched, walking towards one of the cans uncontrollably, as if she were separated from her actions, a puppet controlled by strings. She watched as her hand went towards the handle on top of the lid, fingers curled around the smooth metal, once again amazing her at how real it all felt. She hand wrenched the lid off the can and left the contents exposed.
Her first reaction brought a lurching shudder from her gut, tingling over her body and freezing her with momentary shock. Within the bowels of the can lay a gory buffet of stripped flesh and squirming white maggots. The entire soup of entrails seemed to pulse with the larva, stirring the pot as it bubbled and dribbled over the sides like colorless lasagne. The warmth of bile gurgled from the depths of her stomach, and she cupped a hand over her mouth as the lid from the can clattered to the pavement soundlessly.
Her heart slammed against her rib cage in attempts to rip from her chest and she could feel her stomach pitch though nothing spilled from her mouth. Closing her eyes, Miyako moaned and shook her head as she could still see the image of the human stew. Throbbing began in her temples; pressure building while the world was still shut out, whirling endlessly. She had to get out; she couldn't go any further, if this wasn't the worst, who knew what else the Kaiser had in store for her.
..Soon, everything cleared. The horror ceased for the moment and she could feel calmness returning to the environment surrounding her. Slowly daring to open her eyes, Miyako peeped between her eyelashes at an open street, littered with trees along the edges of the road and houses beyond those colourful trees. The neighbourhood looked peaceful, no car was parked along the street, and it was abandoned. Wondering what happened to the colorless alley, a movement in the corner of her eye snagged her attention and she looked towards it. Footsteps could be heard running away quickly, echoing against the sidewalk.
"Ken..?" Silence.
"Ken! Wait..!" The footsteps stopped abruptly-as if they vanished.
"Twice sine the actual start. The rate went up during the separation."
"How long did they last?"
"About three seconds."
"Don't estimate, Laurence."
"...Two point thirty seven seconds, sir. This one started returning to normal just after a second."
"Very good." Marvin sighed, a hiss of air seeping between his clenched teeth, matching the tension he squeezed out into his fist. Shaking his head, he raised his eyes to look out the mirrored window from the dark of the small control room. His eyes scanned over the sleeping form of Miyako, who appeared to be dozing peacefully, though he knew it wasn't true. Sliding his grey orbs to focus on the man opposite of her, he narrowed them while a threat was whispered beneath his breath. "You harm her and I'll be glad to send you onto Death Row, sick bastard."
"So, how's our little star doing?" A voice questioned over the noise of the doors opening. A tall man with bluish hair, and wire-framed glasses smiled to Marvin while he held a clipboard in his hand. Tapping his fingers against the board, he stepped inside the small room and allowed the door to close behind him. Casually looking around with a slight raise of the eyebrow, he hummed to himself before pausing to look at Marvin, expecting an answer.
"Ah, Dr.Kido. Rs.Inoue is doing just fine." Marvin countered, still facing the mirror with his head turned towads the man who just walked in. Scanning him with his eyes, he wondered why this man decided to suddenly volunteer for the well being of Miyako as son as he heard her name. Shrugging off the thought, he looked back through the glass distantly. "May I ask why the intrusion?"
"Intrusion? I'm just doing my job, really. The main office sent me down from Physics and told me to keep an eye on our little researcher there. You never know what sort of dangers she could be exposed to at the moment, not to mention the psychological damage this might cause." He explained, leaning back on his heels while he was speaking. Glancing through the window which Marvin was looking through, he eyed Miyako for a few seconds before looking to the other occupant of the chamber-and stopped in surprise. The strapped down criminal looked strangely familiar to that of the young genius he remembered meeting when he was twelve or so. Blinking a few times, he regained his composure and looked at Marvin. "May I ask what the other's name is?"
"With a look like that, I'd say you have a guess already, Kido. That's Ken Ichijouji, charged for Sexual Assault, First Degree Murder, and I could go on but it's not pretty. This is a maniac we're dealing with here...Rs.Inoue, Miyako, took the task against my will. She did it freely and therefore it should not be our responsibility if something happens to her-though I'll feel guilty as hell." Slamming himself into a defensive tone, Marvin looked directly into Dr.Kido's eyes defiantly, as if he knew the Doc would pounce on their experiment for endangering an employee.
"Rs.Inoue may have taken this up on her own free will, but it is you who will be responsible for her safe return to the real world, Rs.Lych." Dr.Kido retorted, his voice calm as a breeze, the same emotion displayed on his face. Reclaiming his soft smile, he stood up straight and walked to the other side of Marvin, snatching a nearby chair and sitting down smoothly. Looking up at the second head Rs.Lynch, Marvin as he preferred, he shrugged off the man's scowl. "I'm just here to watch, not to point fingers and bark about responsibilities." Returning to his meek self, Joe sat back in his chair and focused in on the computer screens.
She was standing in the center of an alley. Everything surrounding her was in the shades of grey, appearing as grainy as an old movie. Feeling the world tilt for a millisecond, Miyako blinked a few times and shook her head. "I'll find you, Ken." She whispered beneath her breath, clinging to as much strength and power she could find. Gathering in her surroundings, she wondered which way to go, since she was thrust into a new layer of his mind.
Everything is black and white.
Four garbage cans stood around her against the walls of the alley like pillars, seeming to grow larger inconspicuously. The alley began to close in on her as a thick glob of liquid began to bubble from beneath the lids. The liquid was dark grey and dripped from the garbage cans like water, littledroplets making their way down the metallic sides, leaving trails that thickened and ran together.
Miyako furrowed her eyebrows as she watched, walking towards one of the cans uncontrollably, as if she were separated from her actions, a puppet controlled by strings. She watched as her hand went towards the handle on top of the lid, fingers curled around the smooth metal, once again amazing her at how real it all felt. She hand wrenched the lid off the can and left the contents exposed.
Her first reaction brought a lurching shudder from her gut, tingling over her body and freezing her with momentary shock. Within the bowels of the can lay a gory buffet of stripped flesh and squirming white maggots. The entire soup of entrails seemed to pulse with the larva, stirring the pot as it bubbled and dribbled over the sides like colorless lasagne. The warmth of bile gurgled from the depths of her stomach, and she cupped a hand over her mouth as the lid from the can clattered to the pavement soundlessly.
Her heart slammed against her rib cage in attempts to rip from her chest and she could feel her stomach pitch though nothing spilled from her mouth. Closing her eyes, Miyako moaned and shook her head as she could still see the image of the human stew. Throbbing began in her temples; pressure building while the world was still shut out, whirling endlessly. She had to get out; she couldn't go any further, if this wasn't the worst, who knew what else the Kaiser had in store for her.
..Soon, everything cleared. The horror ceased for the moment and she could feel calmness returning to the environment surrounding her. Slowly daring to open her eyes, Miyako peeped between her eyelashes at an open street, littered with trees along the edges of the road and houses beyond those colourful trees. The neighbourhood looked peaceful, no car was parked along the street, and it was abandoned. Wondering what happened to the colorless alley, a movement in the corner of her eye snagged her attention and she looked towards it. Footsteps could be heard running away quickly, echoing against the sidewalk.
"Ken..?" Silence.
"Ken! Wait..!" The footsteps stopped abruptly-as if they vanished.