Chapter 6: Rogue
*Present Day, somewhere in Tokyo*
Kanako slowly opened her eyes, seeing that the facility she was in wasn't Hinata Sou. Her vision was still rather blurry; making it difficult to tell who else was there yet somehow, she could tell there were several others there. She was partially sure that she had woken up here before, probably not more than an hour or so ago then, she slipped into unconsciousness again. She strained herself, trying to remember some details and eventually, she did get a few. She heard a female voice, speaking in English with a mild New York accent, saying something about being unable to scan her and she thought she heard someone say something the words 'infamous' and '666' but failed to link them together. Slowly, her vision cleared, allowing her to see the area she was in. She was bound to some sort of metallic table; her surroundings were clearly sterilized and highly technological. Then, the attractive figure that entered her room before was visible.
"I see you're awake." Naomi smiled. "Well, again, anyway."
"Who…" Kanako stopped and remembered what this person was. "Never mind, I suppose you can read my mind already. You know what I'm going to ask you."
"Smart girl, I find that very attractive." Naomi smiled, planting a light kiss on Kanako's cheek. "But then again, I find everything about you attractive."
"Well, answer the ten billion yen question already." Kanako said sarcastically, flashing a false smile in the powerful telepath's face.
"On who, my name is Naomi Winters. I'm a telepath, a marginally powerful one, I might add. I work for a group called Psi-Corp, an organization of telepaths intent on ensuring that we, the next link in human evolution, dominate this planet." She answered. "As for why, well, I confess to not knowing that myself…"
[You are here, Subject# 666, because your powers are extremely potent and those powers should not be allowed into this world.] Ling suddenly levitated herself into the room. [Fortunately, the rudimentary sealing methods we used fifteen years ago are outdated. We now have the technology to block them out using brain wave alteration technology.]
"This…she's that girl from fifteen years ago? I didn't…why didn't…" Naomi looked sick, for some reason. She was clearly shocked by Ling's revelation. "Of all the cruddy things…I nursed her as a baby; I was her surrogate mother while she was in Psi-Corp hands, I treated her like the daughter I could never have…"
"Let her fantasize me about taking me to bed with her…" Kanako squirmed. "You're disgusting…"
"Don't remind me." Naomi leaned on the wall, looking sickly green. "I thought of you as my own daughter, for crying out loud. I may be strange but I'm definitely not into incest."
[Technically, it's not incest, Naomi dear.] Ling smiled as she approached Kanako. [Hello child. I know you don't remember what happened to you in your first five years of life but I can tell you.]
"She's a telepath too, I assume?" Kanako asked Naomi, completely ignoring Ling.
[Don't ignore me, little girl.] Ling said angrily, using her telekinesis to force Kanako to look at her. Even without her powers though, she could tell Kanako didn't exactly take a liking to Ling's presence and wasn't intimidated by her powers. [I can snap your body in two if I wanted to.]
"But you can't, can you?" Kanako smirked. "Otherwise, you already would have."
[You're right. You're a clever girl.] Ling smiled appreciatively as she walked away, moving towards the nearby protective glass. [Proceed with the next infusion.]
Kanako suddenly realized that there were strange syringes piercing the area connecting her head to her neck, probably inserted directly into the spine. Then, still wondering what these things were for, she felt the sharp pain come through her entire body. She screamed, almost to the point of bursting her lungs, the burst was short but the aftershocks of the infusion were potent and long. She couldn't move her body but somehow, she knew that she could move the table if she wanted to, all she needed to do was concentrate on it. It was fortunate now that she didn't pass out from the pain, which ran itself through her entire body again at Ling's signal. She looked and saw Naomi squirm at the experiments, a mild look of defiance and a definite look of disapproval on her face. It was clear that Naomi feared Ling and she also knew that Ling knew of her disapproval of these infusions.
[She's awake. She may be developing a tolerance.] Ling noted. [Double the dosage, administer it after five minutes. Let her have her rest for the time being.]
"Are you alright?" Naomi rushed to Kanako as soon as Ling left the room. She caressed the pale skin on Kanako's face in a motherly fashion as her eyes began to moisten. "My God…what have I done? I've delivered the daughter I always wanted but never had to Satan herself…"
[Can't…talk…]
"What in the world? Was that…"
[I…think…so…]
"Oh my…your powers are starting to manifest…" Naomi stepped back in awe. "That's impossible…"
……….
*Present Day, just outside Todai*
"Ara…"
Mutsumi had just finished crossing the street when it hit her. It was some sort of tranquilizer dart, designed specifically to target telepaths like Mutsumi. She fell into Eric's waiting arms, which proceeded to take great care in bringing her into the car. As he got in, he noticed Gustave's less than pleased expression. It was obvious that he was going to complain about something even though the operation flowed smoothly, that was the way Gustave was. He sat Mutsumi down carefully, making painstaking efforts not to put her in a position that could cause her injury. Satisfied, Eric left the backseat and opened the front door, sitting next to a less than amused Gustave.
"You didn't have to make her so comfortable."
"We're kidnapping her, the least we could do is make it a comfortable kidnapping."
"You're an idiot, Eric." Gustave grunted as he drove. "Damn idiots, driving on the wrong side of the road."
"This is Japan, Gustave, you're the one on the wrong side of the road."
……….
*Present Day, Psi-Corp Tokyo Laboratory*
Kanako lay still, barely able to think straight. The pulsating pain, the infusions were getting worse and worse, with each one more painful that the last but strangely, she felt alright despite that. Naomi was saying something to her but she couldn't understand a word of it. Her vision was starting to blur when she looked at the mirror in front of her. Several of her hairs had developed a bit of white to them, which made little difference to her since she was still trapped. She didn't understand that Naomi understood what was happening. Instead of the desired effect of Kanako's powers being sealed up, it seemed as if her powers were starting to make themselves manifest. Her confused thoughts were already being broadcasted to hundreds, if not thousands of people all over the world, she had no control over them. Then, she picked up the thoughts of a familiar person: Narusegawa.
"I wonder where she is." Kanako managed to pick up and mutter Naru's thoughts. "I'm worried about her. Then again, I probably shouldn't be, she can handle herself but…"
Naomi heard this and immediately went for a scan of Kanako's mind and found nothing but the surface thoughts, things any perceptive mind would be able to see just by looking a person in the eye. She tried to pry deeper but the telepathic firewalls proved too much for her. It was too secure for her powers, too much power placed on the mental barriers. She had seen a few people with telepathic firewalls like that before but something about Kanako's scared her. It was so full of anger, bitterness, angst, hatred. The mind that she saw was so cold, so dreary and so…so…so alien. It didn't feel like a human mind at all, it seemed like it was about to devour her if she stayed any longer.
"The resonance is fading…she's stabilizing." Naomi breathed a sigh of relief. "Her hair is turning back to normal as well…but who was that Narusegawa girl? And why do you seem so confused about her?"
"Narusegawa…I…hate you…" Kanako muttered aimlessly, her mind still wasn't fully in place. "I…want to…ring your neck…hold…you…I…I…"
"Could she possibly have feelings for that girl, whoever she is?" Naomi wondered. There was certainly enough internal, mental doubt to point to that but so much hatred was there as well. "I wonder why that girl's thoughts resonate so much in her, why her mind seems to want to focus on picking up her thoughts unconsciously…"
"Why are you so concerned about me? What do you want from me, cockroach?" Kanako mumbled unconsciously, her currently confused mind turning Kanako's thoughts into words. "Why do you want to hold me…to come close to me…to…to…"
"Interesting…" Naomi thought as she backed away, another dose of those pain inducing chemicals had attacked Kanako. Part of her, the conscience she thought she had thrown away long ago, had begun to bother her gravely. "So much pain…pain on top of pain…this has to stop."
[Don't even think about it, Naomi.] Ling's telepathic voice sounded in Naomi's mind. [The moment you think of disobeying my orders, I'll kill you where you stand.]
[Of…of course, Commander Yin, I understand.] Naomi answered telepathically. [It was just a passing indiscretion, nothing more than that, Commander.]
"Where…where am I?" Kanako asked as she regained full consciousness. "Naomi…thoughts…telepaths..."
"You're awake. You should have stayed asleep." Naomi said, acting cold but inside, she was in pain. "You'll feel less pain that way."
"Let…me…go…"
"I'm afraid I can't allow that." Naomi turned away and closed her eyes. "Even if I want to…"
"If you don't…" Kanako muttered, drowned out by the sound of the locks on her arms and legs starting to unlock themselves. Naomi concentrated hard and closed the locks slowly, resisting the telekinetic force that was undoing them. "I will…"
To Be Continued…
Kanako: Update, write, update, write, read, review. That's my general patterns concerning FF.net anf FP.net of late. Anyway, I'm not review hungry right now, so here's another update.