The Darkened Sanctum
IV: "Falling Into Darkness…"
"Ready to get moving again?"
"I guess…" Ryu stood up, stretching out a bit. As soon as he extended his hand, though, there was another attached to it. Glancing over, he found it was Nina, who looked content to stand there just as long as she had contact with him. "You too, huh?"
She nodded.
"Righty then." Lin moved from the wall, her back now slightly dusty, sashaying across the room to the door. Her tail swished about along with her graceful walking, making it look as if she were simply flowing across the grungy floors. Stopping at the doorway, she spoke, "We're actually a door away from the EndSector's living… area. From there we can get to the Lowsector via the railway, IF I'm thinking correctly. I only blew up the tracks to the higher levels. Hehe."
"…I don't see how you can find that amusing." Ryu started off, Nina right beside him, "You nearly killed me and my partner- at least, I believe he's still alive- and disrupted all the routes heading that way… and you laugh about it."
"Different strokes for different folks, buddy."
"I told you NOT to call me that!"
"Alright, alright." Wading through a narrow hall packed with trash, Lin grasped the barely-still-there handle on the door and pushed it open. They would up walking a small flight of stairs up into an open, dark cavern, lit by one or two lights and a campfire placed in the middle of the open area, on the exposed rock. The people here were wearing tattered rags; everyone was extremely thin and they were covered in dust, something they really couldn't avoid. There were no houses- people slept under the raised metal pathways that allowed access to a railway that ran through a tunnel. "Welcome to the Endsector, the most wonderful vacation spot."
"…" Ryu stepped out, gazing around. He'd only been here once or twice, but never for long, and never thought much of the place. But now that he got a good look at it… he felt sorry.
Nina, gazing around as well, slowly recognized the area. Slightly upset at the thoughts that came to mind, she closed her eyes and leaned against Ryu, trying to hide her face against his sleeve.
"…What's the matter?" He looked down, and then bent down so he was at her level. Patting her head gently, he looked concerned: "Are you okay?"
"Ryu," Lin stretched out casually, standing off to the side, "I think she's been here before. I don't blame her for being upset: I'd hate to live here."
"Did… did you live here?"
Nina did not nod, nor shook her head. She just kept her eyes closed and let out a heavy sigh.
"…" Ryu patted her head again, and then stood back up, taking her hand. "You don't have to stay here. I'll bring you wherever you want to go. If I have to… I suppose I could find room in the apartment… I've slept under a bed before…"
"What a heroic deed, indeed. Come on, I'm in the middle of working and we can't waste time here. I have a delivery to make!" Lin started up a metal set of stairs, around a few staring people, "The faster we go, the less you have to see me…!"
"…Come on, Nina."
They walked up the metal stairs and catwalks, getting odd stares from the locals. The stares given to Ryu were different than the ones given to Lin and Nina; they looked more angry, a strange fire in their eyes. They must have known he was a Ranger, and probably despised him for being able to live in a better setting. It made him uneasy, but he noticed many smiled when Lin walked past, a few waving as if they knew her. On the third highest catwalk, he moved closer to Lin and whispered, "Did you live here or something?"
"No," She spoke aloud, "I didn't ever live here."
"Then why…?"
"Wouldn't YOU like to know?" Lin smirked, a bit of a chuckle in her voice. She waved a hand in the air as they entered a tunnel, "Bye, everyone."
"Bye, Lin!" All the little kids that had followed up until this point waved.
"…Uh… bye?" Ryu waved back, somewhat signaling Nina to do the same.
"…" The kids turned and ran off, instantly back to playing.
"Come ON, are you always this slow?"
"You know, my partner tells me those things all the time…" Ryu caught up, but not too fast, mostly for Nina's sake, "I'm really that slow?"
"Actually, I was being sarcastic." She put her arms behind her head, in a relaxed pose, tail curving into a sideways 'U' behind her, "Can't you tell when someone is being blatantly mean?"
"…Blatantly mean?"
"I've been purposely annoying you, you twit," Lin suddenly tugged on his hair, fishing an 'Ow!' out of him, "I like you about as much as you like me, and frankly, you're only a technicality of my retrieval mission! I could care less that you're there, buddy, but it ain't worth the effort."
"I knew that…" Ryu grumbled. Though he thought about it for a moment: Maybe he was just a little too nice. A little too trusting. That's right, he thought, why is he trying to be nice to a criminal? Changing gears, he frowned a bit, then snapped back, "Besides, your wants are miniscule to what me and Nina need."
"What DO you need?"
"Somewhere safe."
"Ah, yes. The heroic bit."
Nina let out a faint sigh, carefully stepping up off the tracks onto the main platform of the station. If only she could tell them to just be quiet and get along- her attention was called when she heard footprints. She came to a halt, staring at the stairs leading up, Ryu coming to a halt. Though he asked what was wrong, she didn't hear him, and as soon as she saw the shoes coming down the stairs, she ran around behind him in an effort to hide.
"?" Ryu straightened up, staring at the stairs as two regular Rangers came, but the last pair of feet caught his attention. He knew those orange shoes- with a burst of relief, he was able to identify the last person as Bosch.
"Howdy, partner!" Bosch stepped down from the stairs, in between the other rangers, "So you did survive! Heh! You're a little bit tougher than I give you credit for."
"Bosch! I was wonder-"
"I see you brought the shipment with you! This makes my job a lot easier." Bosch smirked that usual snotty smirk, resting his blade across his shoulder, "Well, let's go find Zeno and get it reshipped!"
Nina yelped, and Ryu stared back, confused. He thought Lin would be gone by now, but she was standing beside him, slowly drawing her weapon. "What… no, Nina? She's not…"
"Hmm." Bosch walked forward, stopping before Ryu, staring at Nina. She yelped again and moved so her face wasn't visible. "It's gotten very attached to you, eh? Don't let yourself get attached to IT- we have to send it back!"
"Nina is not an IT. She isn't being shipped ANYWHERE."
"This is the part I wish we could avoid. Let me tell you my direct orders are to get the cargo and forget anyone else in front of it. Do you know what that means, partner?"
"We're going to my apartment," Ryu stared Bosch straight in the eyes, with a serious expression, "And that's all that's going to happen."
Bosch sighed, and then waved his hands, making the two regents walk forward. Nina separated from Ryu, backing away, trembling. Ryu tried to reach back but found her missing, and started to move backwards. But before he could finish his step, he suddenly let out a sharp yelp.
Blood dripped from his knee, Bosch's thin blade sticking halfway through it. Watching him collapse onto his other knee, Bosch kept the blade steady, "Listen, Ryu, there's no argument here…"
Lin now had her gun raised, slowly backing away, but keeping near Nina. The rangers continued to approach the two, Nina starting to whimper.
"It's COMING," He shoved the blade the rest of the way through, with a sickening 'spurt' and a bit of a pop noise. Ryu winced terribly, as he continued, "With US. Understand…?"
"She's… not…" Ryu trembled in pain, gritting his teeth, "…an it."
The blade was suddenly whipped out of his knee, a few drops of blood being swung back, then with a sharp squeak, the blade was thrust back at the young man. Eyes glazing over, Ryu gazed numbly up at Bosch, gurgling as blood filled his throat; the weapon stuck out the back of his neck.
"Just following orders…" Bosch tried to keep his cool, but his expression was shifting a bit, clearly in some amount of horror that he just did what he did. The others in the room had come to a complete halt; Lin stared with a shocked expression. Hiding behind Lin, Nina's eyes were huge, tears now rolling down her face. "…P…partner…"
Ryu made a few odd noises, blood running from the wound.
"Am I… am I going to die?"
The question rang through his mind.
You shall rise!
"I'm… d…dying…"
You shall rise and strike!
"Why…?"
Rise and destroy them all!
Bosch was jerked in a sudden movement- Ryu's gloved hand curled tightly around the blade. Slowly rising, eyes filling with a blood-red anger, the man stared straight at his horrified partner.
"Y…You should be dead!" Bosch trembled a bit, but tried to keep the sword steady.
Pulling it out with a loud 'spurt', Ryu effortlessly pushed Bosch out of the way, a fiery aura rippling around him. His entire figure was engulfed in black, red, glowing lines, like magma in cracked earth, spread all across his body, fusing the wound shut. With a pained stumble forward, the demonic-looking figure collapsed onto its wounded knee, which also healed rapidly; then in a burst of fire, the figure was rebuilt.
Now standing before the trembling Bosch was a demonic looking figure; Ryu's body had been completely transformed, his hands now huge claws, his arms mostly clad in red scales that ended near his shoulders. His feet were now like talons, dressed in red scales, ending with black claws… Scales ran around his neck and down his back, where two raised openings were allowing flames to billow out like vents. His hair had become pure white, red horns wrapping around from behind his now-pointed ears. His eyes were blood red, staring with nothing but hate and rage. Inside, Ryu was lost, the heart of the dead dragon beating faster and faster as the temperature in his body increased.
"TAKE THEM DOWN!" Bosch backed away, readying his blade for combat, "LEAVE THE LITTLE ONE!"
"Nina, stay close!" Lin suddenly aimed at one of the rangers, who came running, blade extended, and fired- the bullet ricocheted off armor under his vest, making a loud 'ping' noise. The man yelled, bringing the sword down- rolling away, Lin had Nina under one arm and was quickly getting out of the way.
At the same time, Bosch and the other ranger tried to attack the dragonized figure; they had terrible luck, as he was dodging so fast he was hard to see. All the more that they did this, the angrier he grew; when the lower class man stumbled back, the enraged being caught him around the neck.
The man gasped his last breath of air when, effortlessly, Ryu's claws clenched shut, the ranger's neck instantly snapping. Tossing the body away, he glided backwards for the second ranger at an alarming speed, and elbowed the man so hard his spine broke in half in the single blow. Leaving the man to fall, Ryu shot off after the extremely scared Bosch, slowly raising his claws up as he approached.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Bosch abruptly ran off screaming, up the stairs, almost fast enough to leave his shadow behind. He even tripped on the stairs, but scrambled upright and left, going as fast as his scrawny legs would take him.
"…" Lin stared as Ryu then turned, facing her and Nina. Slowly stepping back, scared out of her wits, she raised her gun and began trembling a bit. As he came closer (though much slower) she threatened, "S-stay away f-from me, y-y-you freak!"
He ignored her entirely and came to halt before Nina, then let out a yelp of pain as he collapsed onto his hands and knees. The young girl stepped back as Ryu burst into flame, returning to his normal form.
Panting, Ryu felt his skin was on fire, cold sweat running down every inch of his skin. Swallowing hard, it felt like somebody had dropped a lit match down his throat. The two fallen fighters lay scattered around him- looking up, he caught glimpse of the crying Nina. Wincing, he sat up on his knees and held his arms open to her, silent.
Lin watched, still pointing the gun straight at Ryu, as Nina moved forward and took him into a hug. She let her arms fall slowly- he seemed to HUG her like a normal person, and was now ACTING like a normal person. "W…What ARE you?"
"I…" He drew Nina a little closer, hugging her firmly. He could feel her wet face against his, and her frame shaking with tears within his arms. Letting out a sigh, and closing his eyes, he slowly let the words ooze from his mouth.
"I… I don't know."
Digging carefully through a drawer, Cheryl was looking for one thing: a scalpel. Until she could find better defense, that would be the only way she could make it out. Pricking her finger, she winced, and then carefully pulled out the tiny, gleaming knife. Pushing the drawer closed, she walked to a desk and began collecting any keys she could find and paperclips. She put a few rubber bands around her arms like bracelets and also pocketed a ball of twine.
"There's the sweetheart!"
She gasped, turning around- the two men who had put her crate into storage were in the doorway. Remaining still, she stared in fright at the two, starting to tremble. Was everything going down the drain again?
"Lids don't fall off by themselves, do they? Though it is surprising someone so little could roll that crate…" The bigger man started stepping closer, moving slowly, figuring that if he was calm, she'd stay calm. "But it's time for you to go back until you're needed!"
Shrinking back as he came closer, her finger touched the end of the scalpel again, and started bleeding further. A frown slowly grew on her face as she kept her eyes fixed on the man- she secretly moved the blade into a usable position in her hand. The man cooed to her, asking her to come back willingly.
"…It would make our lives- all of ours, including yours- much easier!"
Cheryl grew an insane glint in her eye. "I don't fucking care about your life!"
With a yell, she leapt upon the man, who was taken by surprise. He stumbled back, moving to grab her, but let out a gargling yell as he collapsed. She jumped away from him, having slit his throat, blood spattered on her plastic overcoat.
"HOLY SHIT!" The second one pulled out a gun and quickly loaded it- aiming it, he found the girl to be gone. "…Where are you… sweetheart?"
No noise came from any corner of the room.
"Sweetheart…?"
He ducked at the paper-puncher came flying from behind the desk. "HEY, YOU LITTLE BRAT!"
The dictionary came next, followed by the tape dispenser. He hurried around behind the desk and found the girl cowering, hands over the back of her head, trembling. "You… you… alright, come on, let's get you back to containment and we'll forget your little accident!"
She let out a whimpering, pained noise.
"…You okay? You didn't fall on your knife, did you?" The man slowly reached out for the girl, his kind heart finally kicking in- he stumbled backward, screaming, with his eyelid stapled closed. "AAAAIGH!"
Cheryl then made use of the tool and promptly beat him about the head with the stapler several times until he had an open gash- he whipped up his gun and fired when he had the opening. The girl dropped the stapler, an open wound through her chest, slowly dropping to her knees. Collapsing onto her face, blood began to spread around her small figure.
Panting, the man set down the gun and reached to take her pulse. It was faint- very faint- but then it jumped. Moving his hand away, he found the barrel of the gun pointed straight at his stomach.
"I… I s…" The girl trembled, "Said I d…don't care… about… about your… life…!"