Kyuuzou was sitting in a tree, looking around. It was his turn to scout, even though he felt no need to be doing so. Kanbei and he, not to mention Gorobei and Shichijirou and Heihachi, would notice the presence of Nobuseri long before they would be able to confirm them with sight. He tensed and threw himself out of the way of a few darts and fell onto two footsoldiers, alarmed. How could he not have sensed them? He began fighting, enjoying the sensation of losing himself in the battle.

There seemed to be no end to them,and they were too far from the village for any help to arrive. as the onslaught continued, Kyuuzou found himself tiring, drenched in sweat, his movements a little slower than he would have liked. Inwardly he snarled curses as a bunch of the footsoldiers ran at him from all sides, simply jumping over their dead comrade's bodies. He found himself falling back under the pressure from all sides and winced as a large number of bodies fell on him from above, blocking out his vision, even as he swung his swords up to create a bloody rain. He only felt the needle prick for a moment before his body started to disobey him, his limbs growing heavy and tired. His vision blurred and his lips curled back in a snarl even as he fell to his knees,continuing to swing his swords out of desperation to kill a few more before he lost consciousness. His vision darkened and he felt his swords fall out of his hands, landing on the ground at the same time he did. He struggled for a few more seconds to retain lucidity, but eventually submitted to the potent drug that had been in the needle. The footsoldiers picked up the limp body, leaving as fast as they could before the farmers or samurai noticed. One stopped and looked at Kyuuzou's swords, and then took them with him. It would make them think he left on his own, rather than having been taken. He, unlike most of his comrades, did have a shred of common sense. He followed behind the rest, disappearing into the ever-present fog created by the nearby waterfall,swords shining within his metallic arms.

Kyuuzou awoke slowly at first, before returning to consciousness painfully quickly, taking a first cursory glance at his surroundings. He tried to move and found that his hands were bound behind him with cuffs and attached by a chain to the wall. He was disarmed. There was an overwhelming smell of oil, grease, metal, and exhaust; all things which he associated with the Nobuseri. What in the world would the Nobuseri want with him though? As he thought on this for a little, the door to his cell opened and he closed his eyes quickly so as to not be blinded. He opened them again and stood, trying to discern the person responsible for the silhouette.

"Bring him."

The two guards came in and unchained him from the wall. In that brief moment of slack, Kyuuzou ripped the chain out of the guard's hands and snapped the neck of one of the guards with the chain before whipping the other guard on the head hard enough to smash his skull in. He turned towards the door, having seen no other way out, and charged. He was brought up short by a sword pointed at his throat. Chain still in hand he wrapped it around the sword and yanked it out of the owner's hands, giving it to himself.

'Why am I here?' his eyes asked bluntly, the position of the sword now reversed, pointed at the heart of whomever stood in the doorway. When he was given no answer, Kyuuzou simply killed the person and brought him inside, closing the door partway, not enough so that he was locked in, but far enough that he would be able to escape easily. He searched the dead man for any clues of where he might be, but found nothing of use. He slipped out of the cell, unhappy to see that he no longer had his coat, but accepting the fact that black was easier to hide in than red. He slipped in and out of the shadows, getting a feel for where he was. Everywhere there was the clang of machinery, making his head hurt from the constant noise. He looked at the naked sword in his hand and wondered how he could hide its sheen from searching eyes, but was interrupted by footsteps. He quickly fled into a place where he would not be found by any normal person and listened.

"...he will make a fine specimen."

"I do not know...he was not easy to catch, and he will not be easy to convert. I believe you are risking too much."

"But imagine! We will have the perfect soldier."

"At what cost?"

"Who cares about the cost when the benefit is so much greater?"

Kyuuzou's nerves buzzed and he diverted most of his attention to the conversation, getting a bad feeling. The voices continued with idle talk about specifics that he was unable to understand when an underling came running up to the pair of men.

"He's escaped!"

"What!"

"The two guards that were outside his door are dead and the chain that had bound him was lying on the floor next to the footsolider that was to bring him to you."

"He's already recovered from the drug..." the more cautious man murmured.

"Find him! Find him at once!"

"Yes, m'Lord."

The underling ran off, and the one he had addressed in an honorific became nervous. "You said that the drug would keep a normal human passive for two days!"

"Apparently he is not a normal human."

Kyuuzou could have told them that.

"He must be found. I will not have wasted all that I have gone through to capture him!"

The two left,the one of higher station in a hurry,the other at a more leisurely pace. Kyuuzou stayed where he was for a while, watching the frantic activity beneath him. How would he get out of here when it seemed as if the entire factory was after him? He swung down into another group of shadows and slinked along the walls, his fleeing form being ignored as a simple moving shadow of the soldiers as they scoured the area.

'Amateurs' he thought in disgust. He reached an open space and balked, hiding deeper into the shadows.

He was in a plant where they made Nobuseri.

Kyuuzou looked around for an escape route. The only one was entirely across the room, without any places to hide. He would have to make a mad dash.

Then again, what would he meet once he escaped? He had no idea where he was geographically, either. he could escape into a sandstorm, a blizzard, find himself floating on an island in the middle of an expanse of water that he could not see the end of.

But what was the other option? Become a Nobuseri? Never.

He would only have once chance. It was a chance he was willing to take, though. He took a deep breathe, trusted in his training, and lunged out from the shadows, sprinting across the room, sword in hand. His unidentified form raced across, catching the attention of the soldiers who were looking for him. He heard their shouts, but kept on sprinting. almost there!

The exhaustion then hit him like a hammer, and he stumbled along the way. No! So close! He kept on pushing himself, but found that he had lost too much speed. The soldiers were gaining, and he had a feeling that once close enough all would be for naught. Sweat poured down him and his hand reached out for the latch that would open the door when his legs gave out from under him, his fingers lightly brushing the latch.

'NO!' his mind screamed even as the soldiers arrived to stand over him, his form prostrate beneath them. His body gave a convulsive shudder, and he remembered what the one of them men had said about a drug. Perhaps it was time-released...

His last conscious thought was one of anger as he fell into a dark well of drugged sleep again.

He was woken by a jolt of energy that raced throughout his body, tugging on the most inner part of him, trying to draw it out.

His mind screamed and he held onto his spirit, digging in against the current that was trying ceaselessly to deprive him forcefully of anything. He distantly heard himself snarl in rage, but what his physical body was doing was of no consequence. If he lost this inner battle, he would never forgive himself. A thought of Kanbei flashed in his mind and strengthened his resolve. They had two duels to settle. he would never back out on a promise he had made. He felt the tide of energy grow weaker around him, yet he did not allow himself to relax. He would hold onto everything that was his until his death. He would never give up anything by force.

Take Kawamoto was impressed in spite of himself. Before him was truly a worthy warrior! No matter how much energy he poured into the process of creating a new Nobuseri from him, Kyuuzou resisted. Eventually Take stopped, not wanting to waste the precious power that the batteries provided. The man before him slumped in exhaustion, his eyes tired, yet full of a determination that Take envied. Slowly, slowly, Kyuuzou's eyes closed, his body and mind pushed beyond their tolerance. A new idea came to him, and he nodded. That would do. That would do quite nicely.

Kyuuzou once again found himself in new surroundings and cursed whatever drug they had put into his system. He moved his arm to wipe away the sweat on his forehead...and felt something other than his arm move. He looked over, concerned, and found that there was a myriad of wires slinking out of his arm, connecting him to something. He turned,and felt the same wires in his neck, and found them on his other arm as well. He could not see his legs, for they were wrapped in a fabric of a skin-tight weave, but he could feel the same pulsation of the energy that was transferred through the wires down where he assumed his legs were. He was still clothed in black, but more form fitting than anything he would ever consider wearing. He looked around and saw nothing but darkness. suddenly, a voice filled his consciousness, echoing somewhere between his ears.

'You're awake, I see.'

'Who are you?' he asked, his voice frigid. A jolt of electricity ran through him, making him glare at the emptiness.

'Now, now. It's not nice to speak that way to your master.'

'I have no master.'

'You do now.'

'I will not serve you!'

'Then i will make you.'

Within a heartbeat, Kyuuzou's mind was flooded with endless possibilities, evil begetting evil, and he was powerless to do anything to stop the slow downward spiral of seeing his comrades picked off, one by one. But the thing that made him want to scream, want to tear himself from whatever prison he was in, were the images of Kanbei being disgraced, then killed.

Take noted this fact with amusement, and slowly began to tailor the mental torture meant to break Kyuuzou to provoke him to despair, to surrender, by feeding him a never ending stream of endless disgrace.