(a/n): Sorry, so so so so sorry for such a long delay. This is becoming a daily procedure… My days are busy and I can't find any spare moments. I took much time typing up this chapter, trying to put in some interesting scenes and some surprises along the way. This chapter will have a couple of short scenes, basically introducing Trish to some evil characters and more dreams of her very ugly past. Here are some replies.
Slash, The Ironman: Well, what can I tell you. I'm still apologizing and somehow feeling stupid. I am really sorry for reviewing your story so late and not even knowing you've updated. This will never happen again, trust me.
Well as for my story, I hope you'll like this chapter.
Fun: Hehehe. Yeah, imagine how I felt when writing a beautiful scenery that takes place in the summer when I was turned into an ice cube with my chattering teeth. Hm. That brings a warm feeling doesn't it?
So, you think Lostis is already cruel? Oh ho ho. Well I'll guess you'll see what other things he'll do in the next chapters. But, yeah, you are right; even Lostis has a temper and his fuse has just burned out. You'll be able to enjoy Tanichka's lovely reaction in this chapter. ^_^
Alex: Hello!!!! I'm glad you liked the last chapter. You are right; Tanya is rough on Lostis, but I'm not too worried about him. I think he'll handle her pretty well. Tanya and Lostis don't have the same personality but they do have same beliefs. You'll see later in the story how Lostis really is.
Oh and one question. About Tanya and Lostis fan club, right? Even though they don't exist, I'm just wondering, which side will you choose, the all-mean-surprisingly-nice Lostis club or the-no-hope-dark-side Tanya club? Once again, just wondering…
Flitch: You make it sound like I purposely do the worst job I could. But…okay. No one is forcing you to be interested in anything. People are unique in many ways, having different skills, perfection, and interests.
Majestic 12: Welcome back. I'm glad you like my story so far, I am trying hard. Zack and Tanya do have funny conversations, but when it's between Tanya and Lostis the conversations can only be deadly. But then again, I still find humor in how Tanya tries so hard to hurt Lostis and his reactions are just blank. Well, I hope you'll continue reading.
Miranon: Thank you for such an encouraging review. I try the best I could and I'm happy that you are enjoying this story. Well thank you again, and I hope you will continue reading this story.
Oh and this story does take place during UT2003.
P.S. Thanks for the backup.
Enjoy.
Chapter 6 -A Dead Man-"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself…" – Hermann Hesse (1877-1962)
I awoke in a quite, dark room with a headache and pain in both of my wrists. My right hand quickly went up to my head, rubbing the side of it, as I squint my eyes and let out a groan. What happened, I thought, trying to remember the last of my memories. I was in a shuttle with Lostis and we landed on top of a building in the middle of a city. I asked Lostis what's going on and he—and he shot me.
Anger made me forget the pain I was experiencing, as I felt pathetic. How could I have trusted that Necris? I sensed that something about him wasn't right, why didn't I listen to that little voice inside of me? I couldn't answer my questions, but just thinking of Lostis made me want to scream. Did Zack know this was going to happen? Had he any clue?
Bright lights were turned on in the small round room I was in, making me cover my eyes. I heard a door slid open as voices spoke.
"That's her."
"I can't believe she really made it this far."
"Come on, give me a hand."
Cold hands grasped my forearm and I snapped from the grasp and delivered a hard blow against a man's jaw with my metallic boot. I heard him grunt as he tumbled to the floor. My eyes finally focused on the second man, standing in the Liandri uniform, and my elbow found his abdomen, making him bend over. I punched him in the jaw with my fist and ran out of the small room. My body collapsed against another troop in the dim hallway outside of where the two men have fallen.
My eyes found the man's and I froze in place. I was right on top of Lostis who had a serious expression. I quickly stood up and ran towards my left. A hand grasped mine and spun me in place and into a wall. "Calm down." He said in his cold voice, making me shriek. I hit him in the knee, making him trip and lose his grip. I ran straight out of the hallway, running as fast as my feet could take me, seeing an open door in front of me.
I sprinted, pumping up for speed with my arms, and almost made it out as a figure blocked my escape and caught my running body. The two of us fell towards the floor and rolled a few feet away as I was positioned on the floor. I looked at the man's face and it was Lostis once again.
"Let go of me!" I shrieked as I tried to retaliate but Lostis pinned me down with his own weight. "Calm down, Tanya. It will make matters worse." His voice spoke again with that same dark tone, showing no signs of stress. "You're a dead man, Lostis. You hear me, I'll kill you." I breathed the words out, as I didn't give up. He was too strong, my mind told me, but I didn't care. This is not happening to me, not again, not ever again. "Tanya." He said my name again, making me more angry.
The two guards caught up to us and pointed weapons at me, stopping me in my tracks. "I told you." Lostis quietly said and carefully got off of me. He picked me up and cuffed me, staring into my eyes as though he meant business. "I'll take it from here." Lostis said as he pushed me down the corridor. "Are you sure?" One of the bastards asked Lostis, as he didn't answer them.
He dragged me through hallways of what seemed like jail, people screaming and cursing, but they didn't dare touch the laser bars that prevented them from escaping. Lostis was walking fast; avoiding questions from the guards and making me trip up the stairs. "Slow down, will you?" I grunted as I was thinking of how to kill this man. He quickly came up to a cell and it's laser bars diminished and I was thrown in like a bag.
I grunted from anger and turned around to see the Necris' face. "Why?" I asked him, feeling despair along with hate. "Why do this? Aren't you Zack's friend?" My gaze never left his as he looked serious, deadly serious. He activated the energy bars and said, "I will speak with you later." His tone was dark and smooth, as usual, making me boil inside. "I will get you for this Zacron." I told him as he walked away and out of view.
I screamed as my fists found the wall to the left of the bars. Anger steamed right out of me as I spun and hit the same wall with my foot, releasing my hatred. But it wasn't enough, I didn't want my victim to be this gray wall, I wanted my fists meet with the jaw of Lostis. I want him to feel my pain.
"Careful, you don't want to break down that wall." A soft, clear voice made me spin in surprise. A man was lying on the top bed, staring at me with his cruel eyes. One of them was a blind, black, coal-like stare, as the other eye was chestnut brown. "There's a creepy guy behind that wall, and you don't want to be sharing anything with him." He finished his sentence as he smiled.
"Who are you?" I asked, not bothering with sounding polite. "That is the question now isn't?" He asked as he jumped off the bed. "You're Trinity aren't you? The formal champion of the Unreal Tournament?" He asked a question that stunned me. Trinity was my formal codename when I was in the tournament.
I folded my hands and leaned against the wall. "What do you want?" I kept my tone low and serious, feeling like not talking at all. "Just want to chat." He said as he sat on the lower bed. "Yeah, well no thanks." I said and looked away, asking myself why am I in a cell with some guy? Isn't it supposed to be man with man and woman with woman? I don't know but this Alien Government sure knows shit.
"Alright? If you don't want to talk, that's fine with me." He lay back in and closed his eyes in silence. I breathed a long breath out, thinking of what kind of mess I'm in.
I had to get out of here. There is no way I'm going to be stuck in here for the rest of my life, if only I had a tool of some sort. My hands quickly went up to my right glove and I opened up the holographic menu. My eyes quickly searched the labels and something caught my eye, quickly. I pressed MAP and the screen switched to a 3-D map of this place. "How's that possible?" I quietly asked myself as I examined it. I quickly found the exit of this place and I knew that I could make it, given the correct scene…
"So, do you participate in the tournament?" I asked him as I fiddled with the menu, quickly getting to the ability list. "I thought you didn't want to talk." He said each word carefully, sounding amused. "Fine." I snapped at him and smiled at the control panel.
"You know, they said this would happen." He said as he sat up and looked at me again. I looked up from the menu into his eyes. "What?" I asked as I sounded confused. "This." He answered and smiled at my frowning face. "What is 'this'?" I shut of the holographic menu and folded my hands. "That you will all get captured eventually. Liandri wants your friend, as well. I think he's name is Vicklair?" He seemed to think.
"What do you know?" I quickly said and looked away when suddenly something rushed to mind. Perhaps it was a slightest bit of hope. "Was Dessloch brought here, too?" I asked him. He didn't show any emotion as he said, "Dessloch?"
"Yeah, you know. Luther Loner." I said feeling the anxiety within me. He probably have noticed my nervousness as he looked down before saying, "Sorry, I didn't hear his name before." And that slightest bit of hope was crushed once more.
I blew a deep breath out as I slid to the floor. And there I was, plotting of how to get out of here. I shouldn't be thinking about that yet. I should find Dessloch first, my mind told me. I was in the Unreal Tournament, for crying out loud. Why leave if this is the place I've been waiting to get in? I closed my eyes as I felt pressure from all sides of my head as dread came over me.
"You, alright?" I heard him ask me. I just waved him off as I felt that finding Dessloch would be harder than I thought it would be.
"We'll need to make the best out of it." Dessloch looked around the mess that was in the room. "It wasn't like this when I left, but that was a long time ago." His voice was dry, as he didn't dare to look into my eyes. "It's perfect, Dess." I said as I put a hand on his shoulder.
"The human race is dieing. Is there nothing that you want to do to help?" The council asked with a pleading tone. "It is your battle, not ours." Zack simply said as he stood from his chair. "Even if you are human beings, you dare not help Earth?" One member asked.
"Earth has nothing to do with this." Dessloch's cold voice rang through the round room, carefully enveloping his words with perfect pronunciation. "It is the people that live there. They have left us, defied us, lied to us, and worse of all went against us." Dessloch stared into the members' eyes carefully. "Each and everyone one of us fought on your side." He had a cold stare, I remember, as he didn't leave his gaze off the council's stare.
"You imprisoned us, enslaved us. Now you are asking our help, when we were forced to fight your war on our own? A little late for that." His cold eyes shifted towards me. "We were forced through so much and we survived. Now that you realize you can't go on without us, you ask for help once again? What makes you think we will want to?"
The council was at silence as Dessloch looked into each of their eyes. "Hope." A woman said as she folded her hands. "We are all humans, and we hoped that we humans would put aside our differences for once. Our home is dieing, your home is dieing. As soon as Earthen Resistance will be crushed, the Moon will be next. They will study us alive, dissecting us like we are frogs, learning our capabilities and weaknesses. Is that what you want of the human race to become?"
Nobody answered them, not even I had to say something against it. She had a point, but we are not the people she has to be telling this.
"You are right, council." Zack said as he looked at the floor. "But we are no longer part of your system." He quickly looked up at the council. "As soon as this war would end, human will start wars among each others once again. It's part of human nature." He walked around the table we were sitting behind and looked up at the whole council. "It is a lesson." He simply put.
"From God?" A man asked, looking curious. "No. From us." Zack stated. "All things must come to an end, someday." Zack turned to look at Dessloch and me. "In the end we will end up fighting on your side." He looked back at the members. "We just will be working outside of your force. If you believe it's crime to set our own path, like you have done the same when becoming a resistance group, then I guess we must be executed, but not alone, we must be executed along with you."
Murmurs went around the round room. No one could have said anything against what Zack have pointed out. And I was glad that we were finally off the hook.
"Tanya?" A clear voice woke me up from my dreams. I slowly started to open my eyes as visions faded away from my past. I looked at the blurry face in front of me. "Tanya, wake up." The smooth voice said as the image started to become clear and I saw the face of Lostis.
"Hey." He said and smiled which made me frown. I pushed him away when I realized I was sitting in a comfortable chair. "Where am I, Lostis? What's going on?" I stood up and walked around the rectangular room, noting the camera in the northwest corner turned off and the door closed.
"You're in the Unreal Tournament and nothing is going on." Lostis clearly stated, as he remained sitting behind the long table. "Can you be a little more specific?" I asked, folding my arms, thinking, should I go with the 'shoot first ask questions later' policy? "I needed to talk to you in private. This room is sound proof and is used for interrogations." Lostis knotted his hands and his expression was as calm as ever.
"I can't believe you!" I screamed at him as I dropped my hands to my side and looked into his direction. "First you put me to sleep, then you imprisoned me, I tried to escape and you stopped me, and last but certainly not the least, you put me in jail with a guy who thinks he knows everything." I looked serious, my tone backing me up. "Did I leave anything out?" I asked with definite annoyance in my tone, examining his face, which showed nothing.
"I did what I was told." He simply said. "You wanted to go to Earth, you were standing on its ground a while back. You wanted to enter the tournament; you are acting berserk here right now. You wanted Zack to stay out of trouble, he's safely traveling to an underground base."
I snapped, getting angry, as I couldn't control it. "But why put me to sleep and treat me like an animal!" I screamed at him as I planted my fists on the table with force. "For your safety and because I must not give away my identity. I am a Liandri soldier so don't expect a warm welcome while we're here." There was a hint of alarm in his voice but nonetheless his tone was kept dark and serious like his gaze.
"Why didn't you tell me this would happen? What? Afraid I'll screw it all up!?" I was barely holding myself back as my hands were itching for his throat. "You never asked." He stated clearly with absolutely no expression.
Blood boiled inside of me as my temper just snapped. I felt my buttons were all pressed and my strings cut. Anger enveloped me and I was about to lunge at him when suddenly a knock on the door was reinforced, making my head turn.
"You better learn how to control your temper, Menace." Lostis stood up from the chair as his wording made me look at his 6 feet frame that towered over me. "I don't mind if you don't like me, or act all the time like you're going to kill me. But other soldiers won't hesitate to put a bullet through your head and respawn you with the new alien technology that makes humans go insane." His tone was serious as he walked up to the door and opened it.
Someone in a hood whispered to Lostis as I couldn't make out the words. Lostis seemed to nod towards the individual and quickly looked at me. "It's time." Lostis said and I wondered, time for what?
When I was forced to walk inside a round, dark chamber with brown walls and berths with chains, I didn't want to know what the time was for. Lostis un-cuffed me easily and placed a hand on my shoulder. I felt him squeeze it, making me look up into his eyes.
His eyes were cold with no expression. Slowly leaning down to a whisper, his voice quietly, yet clearly, formed the words, "What ever happens. Don't fight it. You will make it worse. Try to relax even though it seems that's the last thing you want to do." When he finished he patted me on my shoulder and lead me towards the middle of the room.
"That will be all, Zacron. You can leave now." The man in the hood said in a very rasp voice. Even aliens were hooked on cigarettes, unbelievable. Lostis nodded and turned to walk away slowly. I watched the man just stand there as Lostis was out of this room. Once the door slid closed and the locks locked the man turned to look at me.
"There are two ways we could do this." The man said, taking off his hood and revealing a pale white face with gray eyes. He looked much like a Necris but he wasn't as tall as any of them nor his eyes matched with theirs. "The easy way or the hard way." The man slowly made his way towards me. "Believe me, either way for me makes no difference."
I just stood there; ready to make my move. I wouldn't go easily. I refuse to be ordered around like this; I am much too proud to just give up without a fight. My eyes were narrowed at him, my hands clutched into knuckles, and my mouth a thin, firm line; ready to make a stand.
The man smiled as he shook his head. "You humans are all stubborn. All of you used to such wider limits of what you believed were once freedom." The man walked over a berth with chains clasped to it. "And you still fight with the little amount of men you have left in which you call a Resistance Group. The brain of Homo Sapiens is remarkable; the power of their thoughts blind reality, giving a great opportunity for shadow governments and conspiracies to form." He patted the hard table and looked at me. "Hopefully, your brain will provide me such research. I heard much of you, Trinity."
My heart skipped a beat but my deadly look stayed on my face. I started to understand that many people know about my success in the tournament. This is bad news, some of the contestants would love to go head to head with me to see if they are any better.
"There is no hope." I said to him. "So don't think I will provide you with anything other than your death." My voice boomed in this coldness. "My dear, your mind is clouded right this moment. You cannot kill me, nor hurt me. But please, I'm not stopping you from trying. With such misbehaving, I will be seeing you more often." He looked back at the table and picked up a syringe. "And it will pleasurable to spent my time with you."
I froze when thoughts quickly traveled to by my brain like electrical charges. This man was a torturer, I figured. It would explain all the chains and needles that are planted in this place. But why am I here? I haven't done anything—yet. Lostis will be a dead man, and I promise myself that I won't let him live any longer than I will if something happens to me.
The alien slowly started to come up to me with the syringe in his hand. On instinct, I backed away with my eyes posed on the needle. "It won't hurt, my dear." He tried to reassure me. "At least not much." At that remark he smiled which made my teeth grit.
My back met with the cold wall behind me. I slowly folded my fingers into knuckles, watching his every step and getting ready to lunge at him. The alien got closer and closer, and when he was nearly five feet away I acted.
I spun in place and delivered a high spinning kick towards his hand, knocking out the needle and breaking its capsule. I followed up with another hard blow with my other foot into his ribs. He fell forwards with hands wrapped around his abdomen as his face met with the floor, hard. Satisfied, I held my place a while longer, looking down at the figure below me. He didn't move as he stayed on the ground.
Sighing, I slowly came up to him and raised his head by his hood to look into his eyes. His hand quickly grabbed my throat as another forced a needle into the side of my neck. I gasped as I felt something sharp in my throat, something painful, and the alien forced it out and pushed me against the wall.
He laughed as he played around with the syringe. "I always keep extras, my dear." He said as I slid down the wall. He sat right next to me and pulled at my hair. I tried to push his hands away from me but my hands didn't respond. "Falkemy is a very powerful drug." His fingers curled around my chin and he forced me to look at him. His face was becoming blurry and it doubled, as I felt light headed. "Soon nothing will matter to you." Darkness enveloped me as the laughter of his voice echoed in my ears.
(a/n): Well this is it. The next chapter should be posted sometime soon. After all I have the ideas in my head. I hope this was enough to satisfy for such a long waiting, but I doubt it. Well I guess 'till next time. Thanks for reading.