The Darkened Sanctum

by Corky Riviera

A world carved into the breast of the earth holds little promise, but a certain glow from a team's spirits may just be enough to illuminate the world. (A Dragon Quarter Fanfiction)

10. Bitter Truth

1The Darkened Sanctum

VIII: "Bitter Truth…"

The storage area shared the same aura as most of the underground: dark, empty, and full of dead silence. The only sounds were the breaths of the traveling party, stepping around boxes and kicking up the dust. Occasional coughs rose from Nina's throat, only momentarily destroying the silence. The silence was unnatural- a heavy, deep paranoia was set in everybody's mind. But nobody dared to kill the lingering silence that sunk its fangs into sanity like a snake.

Opening a door, Lin stumbled back just as a blood-covered dead body slumped into the doorway, eyes gazing lifelessly through the wall. "Well, hello!"

"A ranger…" Ryu looked across the body, keeping the frightened Nina near. He thought it looked like somebody had stabbed him… or rather… "Somebody drove a giant nail through him…"

"Eurrgh… There's more!" Lin stepped into the mid-sized room. Dead bodies were strewn about, blood stained against the walls and floors. Slowly drawing her gun, she could hear faint snickering, "And somebody thinks it's quite a joke…"

Ryu lifted Nina over the body, and then walked with her behind Lin, around more fallen rangers. The room was filled from corner to corner with messily slaughtered people, though it looked like none of them had the chance to struggle. Nina was clinging tightly to Ryu the entire trip, and he really didn't blame her- he was just as glad to have her there as she was glad for him.

"Kekeke…"

Everyone froze, staring across the room at a lanky man. Wearing a government-issued jacket for rangers, in dark and grungy colors, the masked man had two bloody railroad spikes in his hands. His covered face was staring straight at them as he laughed darkly, "There they are… the little actors in this play…"

"Who… are you?" Ryu glared at the man, anger slowly building…

"Tantra, at your service… too long you've hogged the stage… now its my turn for divine intervention! Kekeke, I'll bring the curtain down for all of you…"

"Why does it seem everybody wants me to DIE today?" Lin whipped out her gun and fired, but missed, "The fight is on! Move!"

Ryu barely heard the words when the spike came flying at him- rolling out of the way with Nina in his arms; he barely had time to put the girl in a safe location before Tantra was at him again. Stumbling back, Ryu pulled out the silver blade that once belonged to Zeno and brought the blade down on the man, missing terribly.

"Kekeke, this is so amusing!" Tantra's attention shifted to Lin who had moved behind a crate and was about to take aim- running after her, she couldn't dodge- with one quick move, he drove one of the spikes through her tail and stomped on it, pinning her to the ground, causing her to scream, "Don't move, kitty kitty!"

"BASTARD!" She suddenly fired straight at his head, taking a chunk of his scalp off before he flipped out a new spike and moved to put it through her chest- Ryu swept by and gashed the man's face with his blade, knocking Tantra completely over. Still in pain, Lin managed to squeak out: "T-thanks!"

Nina stepped in and swung her rod about, and brought a bolt of lighting, then another, followed by another upon the man. She continued the onslaught until she was exhausted, admittedly VERY angry that he hurt one of her friends. When she was finished, the smell of burning flesh was filling the room.

"I-is he down?" Lin dropped to her knees and grasped the spike- pulling with a wet yank, she winced as she tossed it aside and stared in disbelief as she could see straight through her tail.

"…" Ryu slowly came over, but didn't let his guard down; looking over the man, he had stopped breathing and looked quite dead, but still wary, he didn't take a pulse. "Who knows? At least he isn't in any condition to follow- are you okay?"

"Yeah…" She pulled out a length of bandage from a pouch and bit the end off with her teeth- wrapping it very tightly around her tail's wound, she tied it into a knot and then got upright. Her tail curled into a sideways 'U', twitching painfully, "You wouldn't BELIEVE how painful that is!"

"I can't imagine… Are you sure you're okay?"

"Oh yeah… I've had worse." She shrugged, "The shock is the worst part, but I'm over it. Nina, you okay?"

She nodded.

"Great job, by the way- you really showed him who's boss!" Lin gave the girl a thumbs-up, and then added, "Let's leave now before he comes back around, whattya say?"

Nina nodded, then took Ryu's arm and started off with him. As they walked to the second door, she couldn't help but stare over her shoulder at the man- she knew he was still alive. She only looked away as they passed through the doorway, which closed behind her…

"Kekeke…" The man twitched, then broke out into demonic laughter, "HAHAHAHA!"

"…" Ryu couldn't help but notice as they walked through the narrow hall that Lin's bandage was slowly turning red. Concerned, he spoke up, "Uh… you sure you're okay?"

"You know… if I say no, then I'll have to stop… but if I keep telling you… and myself 'yes', I'll be able to continue. I'm in a hurry, after all: I'm still on the clock as we speak!"

"…Yeah, I guess…"

Lin pushed the door open with the back of her arm casually, facing the two, "Yeah, you guess, but do you ever know? You'll have to make clear answers eventu- AAAIGH!"

"Lin!" Ryu whipped out his sword, "What is it?"

She spun around and found that SOMETHING had bitten her tail- it was a tall creature, taller than anyone in the party. It was built with bulk; its gray skin was stretched around its body, figure being heavyset. Instead of regular arms, it had black weights running up and down its limbs as a form of weaponry. An iron mask with horns was worn on its round head, but beneath the shadow was a human face. It let out a dark laugh, body shaking.

"Beats the SHIT out of me what it is- hey!" Lin rolled out of the way of a swinging fist, "God damn it, ANOTHER person who wants me dead!"

Actually letting out an annoyed sigh, Ryu leaped forward as the creature had to regain its balance, then drove his sword through a shoulder- leaping back, he narrowly avoided the weights as the arm swung at him. The creature let out a groan when a shot was fired and imbedded in its back, then it seemed to be gathering energy.

"Stay away from it! Keep your distance!" Ryu quickly moved away, pulling Nina with him- as soon as he let her go, he watched as she started to skillfully swing that staff up and down. As the creature was hit with the long-distance lightning, Ryu was worried as there wasn't an effect- "Nina, stop it for a minute!"

"Uhm…" She literally uttered the noise as she brought her staff down, backing up behind Ryu quietly. With a yelp, she brought her staff down in another swing, creating an ice wall before Ryu that took a supercharged punch, shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Woah!" Hopping out of the way of the angry beast, he managed to slice its left arm completely off, which fell to the floor with a loud clang. As it roared in pain, he ran around to the other side and was about to shear it off when the arm came swinging back, connecting with the side of his face. Sent flying, Ryu hit the floor hard a distance away and went still.

"AH!" Nina nearly screamed, then actually ran up to the monster and began beating it so severely it started to scream with her rod, putting several dents in it. The metal object came up and down relentlessly as she beat the thing senseless, weird noises pouring out of her mouth. By the time she was done, the iron mask had caved in around its head. Panting, she met Lin who was kneeling beside Ryu.

"Ryu! Ryu, wake up!" Lin shook him by his shoulders, "Up and at 'em, ranger, time to seize the day!"

Head pounding, he opened his eyes and slowly sat upright. "Holy…"

"I'm surprised you're conscious- that hit could've killed you! Are you alright?"

"I feel a bit dizzy…"

"You need a place to lie down… come on," She pulled him up but forced him to lean on her shoulder, and was slightly amused to find a Nina trying to support Ryu's other side, "We're just a little walk away from the labs… maybe we can call a faerie just outside it. But for now with the luck we've had today the best thing to do is leave, okay?"

"Yeah…" His vision was blurry and trembling, and he slowly shuffled along, as Lin started moving. He did notice Nina was trying to help, who was holding his arm up in an order to keep him upright. Ryu would've smiled if he could; his head hurt so much that blinking was painful.

"Kekeke, hello, kiddies!"

"AIGH!" Lin jumped as she came into the next room, still supporting Ryu, "You FREAK! You should be DEAD!"

"Can't get revenge when I've kicked the bucket… kekeke… besides, it wasn't nice to whack my friend, you know, and not die yourself… kekeke…" Tantra was still wounded, but seemed fine otherwise, "But it DOES help me, actually, so thank you!"

"Why won't you guys leave us the HELL alone? Our record by now should make women FAINT!"

"Because, stupid… this is my job! Kekeke, and now it can be easier! The soul of my fallen comrade… come to me!" Tantra spread his arms out, a huge amount of magical power filling the room- a glowing orb of light came drifting through the wall and connected with the man, causing his wounds to heal over in an instant. Whipping out his railroad spikes, he bellowed, "Come at me, pathetic bugs!"

"Holy shit…" Lin looked around, and quickly stashed Ryu behind a crate- moving away, she stashed the trembling Nina behind another- moving to the middle, she prepared to single-handedly fend off the fiend.

"Leeeetle kitten…" The man started to stagger forward, "I suppose you need more than a tail tug to scare you off, eh? Leeeeeeeetle kitten…!"

"Freak!" Lin fired off a round at the man and reloaded, then fired again- she managed to hit him in the neck, so he was now oozing blood, but he continued to stumble forward. "Die already!"

"I don't take requests! Kekeke!"

"I don't care!" Lin dodged a swing of a spike and elbowed the man in the back of the head with no effect but Lin hurting herself on a pin that stuck out of the man. She barely missed another swing, then shot the man in the leg before moving away. He seemed to ignore the wound and took the opportunity to charge at Nina- she promptly blew him up with a fire spell, and moved away.

"Brats…" He stumbled out of the fire, scorched, but scarily quite alive. He dodged a stray bullet, then focused on Lin who was standing before the resting Ryu. Charging over, the crazed man swept his arm up high and was prepared to bring it down.

Before he could, Lin had managed to force her gun up under his chin and fired- with a spurt of blood, the man limply fell forward, blood streaming from his scalp and chin. Lin shoved him off with a shudder, then promptly shot him through the back of his head twice to make sure he remained dead. Leaning against the wall, she panted, glad the mess was over with.

Nina came tiptoeing around Tantra's body in an order to keep a close eye on Ryu who was still resting, his eyes closed. She even squeezed around Lin in order to sit down beside him, letting out a few worried sighs.

"Alright..." Lin caught her breath, "Everyone all in one piece?"

"Yeah..." Ryu murmured a bit, his head still pounding.

Nina nodded up at Lin.

"Good. Now we've got to find a bed for Ryu and take a break for awhile... Hopefully now we'll get a fuckin' break..." Lin bent down, pulling Ryu's arm around her shoulder, helping him upright while keeping him supported, "Come on, Nina, you'll have to help me take care of him."

She nodded, rising, taking his free arm. The party then went slowly staggering across a raised pathway, to a door with a card-reader. Popping in the card, Lin waited until the door slid open and carefully took the plastic slip back, heading through very slowly with her injured companion.

"There she is!"

"Uhnn..." Cheryl opened her eyes slowly, barely there, vision falling upon that smiling, glasses-wearing face. With a scream, she tried to back away, but wound up falling out of the broken tank and onto the floor with a thud. When she connected with the floor, she spit up a small amount of blood, wincing.

"You'll HAVE to let me finish operating on you, Cheryl! It won't do to have you die, no matter who you are in this conversation." He walked over and picked the limp girl up, heading back through the door and down the hall. Turning into the operating room, he walked through the separated section and placed Cheryl across the bed. "Lucky for you, I found some freshly-cultured filters that work with your bloodtype."

"FREAK!" She screamed, a faint amount of blood rolling from her mouth as she watched him reach for the tennis ball, "BASTARD!"

"Awful big words, eh? I'll fix that after the operation," He shoved the ball in and made sure it would stay in place in her mouth, "There are other ways to communicate besides words..."

Cheryl watched, trembling, as he moved to a recently-brought in cart that had a big metal case on it. The man lifted the lid, revealing that on the inside, it was lined with ice and a plastic sheet, and on top of that were two large, wing-like appendages, clearly freshly severed from whatever host grew it. They were still attached to their original lungs, the extensions a freakishly large mutation that were intended to be threaded out through Cheryl's back. The man, still smiling, picked up a scalpel, then pulled the cart closer, "Let's get rid of that collapsed lung first, shall we?"

"We made it..." Lin continued walking slowly, through the first BioCorp hallway, smiling a bit at Ryu, "Come on, let's take a break here. I should figure out the layout of this place before we continue anyhow."

"Okay..." Ryu let himself be put into a seated position against a wall. He glanced over to see Nina faithfully sitting beside him, staring at him with a look of concern. Glancing back up, he watched Lin take off down the hall, "Be careful..."

"I will..."

Heading through the door, she grew a new demeanor; now with a look of serious intent, she turned into a room full of laboratory equipment. There was a door to the rear labeled 'Storage/Maintenance 3-A', her target. It was locked tight, but she pulled out a small pin from her belt and promptly picked the lock. Pulling out her compact mirror, she stepped in, slowly gazing across the room.

It was lined with tanks, filled with clear liquids, a few of them holding bodies. She ground to a halt when she finally caught glimpse of one of the figures, face slowly turning green. In the tank, floating silently, was the body of a young, female human, with wing-extensions barely poking out of its back. The immature extensions were curled up; the most disturbing was the fact that though the body was of a preteen, the head was still in its fetal stage. Bubbles rose around the lifeless figure, caressing the pale flesh until they reached the top of the fluid. Slowly gazing to the side of the room, she was horrified to see one lying across a metal table, having been torn open and left exposed.

"Lin? Did you dial?"

She slowly pulled the compact up to her face, then murmured, "Yes I did, sir."

"Sorry for making you wait... Lin... are you okay?"

Insides starting to tremble, she looked up and down the room and noticed a trash bin. Swallowing hard, she managed to warble, "Excuse me a minute, sir, my breakfast is coming for a second visit."

Her boss blinked as the sounds of heavy vomiting were clearly heard through the intercom. He waited very patiently until it sounded that she was as done as she could be, then asked once more, "Are you okay?"

"Now I am..." She panted, wiping off her face, "This place is... is..."

"I understand. So they are continuing on the project. Have you gotten the original in your hands?"

"Yes sir, but there is this other guy I can't get rid of. I would just shoot him if he didn't... do what he does. He goes berserk and totally-"

"I know."

"...But it'll take me a little longer to get back, sir, we're being hunted by every single person I've seen in the past three hours. I am dissapointed to report it seems one of the... bodies... has been taken out and torn open-"

"Torn open?" With a sense of urgency, the man suddenly turned to the speaker, "Lin- he's making another one! I order you to instantly disconnect and take your party with you to find out where that man is- we can't have another one in his hands. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!"

"Now go, with all urgency!"

Lin clicked the compact shut as she tore out of the room- pausing, she backed up, then reached around to the doorhandle on the other side and clicked the lock, pulling the door shut. She couldn't imagine how enraged Ryu would've gotten were he to see something that disgusting. Taking off in a dash, she went back down the hall where Ryu and Nina sat.

"Lin, how does it-"

"Listen, we've got a bit of an emergency on our hands," She ran over then pulled him up, keeping him steady- she roughly pulled Nina up with her free hand and started running the two down the hall, "We HAVE to find the local researcher and QUICK!"

"W-woah!" Ryu separated from Lin but managed to keep up, even if his head was sore- he picked up the stumbling Nina and ran with her, just behind Lin. "What is going on?"

Through the door, Lin skid to a halt in the junction- ahead was another door, and to the right was an open one- turning to the right, she ran into the small, dark room, staring through the pane of glass in disgust. Pulling out her gun, she fired at the window, causing it to violently shatter and grab the attention of the labcoat-wearing man.

"What...?" He looked back, adjusting his glasses, "There is a door..."

Ryu came in, setting the slightly shaken Nina down, staring in slight confusion; Nina, as soon as looking up, let out a whimper and started backing away, shaking her head. Noticing this, Ryu slowly started to glare at the man, "..."

"Nina! You FOUND it!" He swiftly left the table, leaving Cheryl lying there, who was still VERY awake, staring at the party and trembling. Lin and Ryu let out gasps; the man simply continued over to the trembling Nina. "Where have you been all this time? Oh!"

He placed a hand on her forehead, causing her to tremble, then looked back at her wings; dragging a hand across them, he found his gloves to be coated in dust. "...What's this...? How did the filters get so filthy?"

Moving his shocked gaze back to the man, Ryu suddenly growled, "What in the HELL are you doing to that girl? What have you done to Nina?"

"Simple. They are air purifiers," He adjusted his glasses a bit, looking at the fuming man, "We bring them to polluted areas and they clean all the impurities out; if we make enough, we could possibly clean the Sky enough to re-inhabit the area. But did you already use this one? There isn't any other way the filters could've gotten so filthy!"

Ryu suddenly pointed to Cheryl and screamed at the man, "WHAT IS THE IDEA IN OPERATING ON AN AWAKE CHILD, YOU SICK BASTARD? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?"

"I told you... they're air purifiers. But I believe I have found a way to make Cheryl's replaceable. You just managed to stumble in at an odd time; she can't FEEL a thing..."

Ryu's fist suddenly came through the air and sharply hit the man, sending him down to the tiled floor, knocking over a cart full of tools. His glasses fell farther away, entirely cracked, "Sick... BASTARD..."

Trembling, the man stared up, "I'm j-just trying to make our world better!"

"We'll take care of that child- Lin, you said you were a nurse, get over there!"

"..." Lin hurried around into the room, then pulled off her gloves- finding a pair of clean, plastic ones, she quickly pulled them on, removing the tennis ball afterwards. "Listen, sweetheart, I'll give you some medicine to go to sleep... I won't let that creep touch you again- just try to relax..."

"Bless..." Cheryl trembled a bit, then let out a sigh, "...You..."

"..." Lin slowly moved to take the girl's pulse and found... nothing. "...Ryu, she's gone."

"..." He glared back down at the man, "How can we... 'clean' Nina?"

"...You can't. I didn't make them replaceable. The genic's condition will deteriorate until it no longer functions." He let out a sigh, "It's no use to anybody anymore."

"You... you people make me sick!" Ryu growled, the fiery rage billowing inside of him. All he wanted to do was to destroy the entire lab, erasing every memory of the program, but then a new idea came to mind. "...What if I take her to where the air is clean?"

"A laughable idea... there isn't an area down here not free of pollution!"

"...Then..." He looked back to the frightened Nina, "...I'll bring her to the Sky."

"Are you mad?" The man laughed, "Haven't you read your-"

"I'm through with you! Shut up!" Ryu suddenly walked across the man to the small room's doorway, "Lin, bring her along- we can't leave her here, even if she is..."

"I know." Lin picked the girl up, with a sigh, staring at her blank features.

"Let's... let's leave before..."

Lin nodded, stepping out, carrying the girl. She left the room, angry, very bitter, and still extremely disgusted at everything in this area. Waiting until Ryu and Nina had stepped out, she looked down at the man...

"...I suppose... this means I'll have to find a new one..."

The click of Lin's gun echoed through the room, as the woman shifted Cheryl's body over a shoulder. Pointing the barrel straight at the smiling doctor, she pulled the trigger, the shot echoing off the walls.