The Whisperer
Disclaimer:"…"
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Chapter 33
"Oh my head." She slowly pulled herself up. Her sapphire hair fell round her as she lifted herself up. She may have been lying on her stomach but her whole body was sore. She removed her bangs from her eyes to look around. The room was not horrible, but it wasn't the lap of luxury. As she took in the room she noticed a door with a bathroom sign, a couple of chairs, a small TV, a small intercom device by another door, and the bed she was lying on. The rest of the room was a steel blue, and small. The room was all metal with no real luxuries just necessaries. Seeing the dresser she wondered if they would allow her to change her clothes. That's if she would even remove her clothes while in here. She had been kept in captivity but only for a few hours excluding Leonard but he gave her luxuries, and the free will to shower without cameras. At least from her search of the place, and her hope that they weren't there. She didn't know how long she had been or would be in this place. She was relieved when she noticed she at least had her clothes on. She felt drowsy, like she had been drugged. She felt movement and heard a moan, snapping herself to complete attention. She looked over and did not like what she saw. The silver haired whispered boy was lying next to her. She watched as he moaned and rolled over. Kaname stepped off the bed and made her way to the restroom. It was a similar blue steel color inside, made of metal and cold as well. She was surprised to find a sink, soap, toilet paper, a towel and shower. Whatever had happened she needed to use the restroom.
Leonard slowly opened his eyes. He was greeted with the blue steel ceiling as well. He checked himself. He didn't seem to have any injuries on him. His head didn't hurt. He felt completely okay. He looked around the room and took in the same features that Kaname had seen. He stepped off the bed. He noticed he still had on all his clothes, and even his shoes. He looked towards the bathroom door when he heard the sound of a flush then water running. After 30 seconds it stopped then the door opened. He smiled when he saw who had come out. "Good morning."
"What do you mean morning?" Kaname said as she walked over to a chair rubbing her head. Her body was still very sore. She found a remote and turned the TV on.
"They left us with everything. I still have my watch."
Kaname pulled her sleeve to check her wrist for hers. It was there. Suddenly she noticed the tear in her sleeve. Her memory of whenever this happened came back to her. She remembered Gauron being in her home. She remembered an incredible pain and something exploding.
'That's right Gauron did something. The bat blew apart in my hand.' Kaname checked herself for any injuries. She didn't even have a scar where she had been grazed by the bullet. In fact it didn't look as if she'd been shot at all. She looked at the TV.
"Wow the TV works."
A news reporter told them it was now two days since that night. She wondered why her body still hurt. She winced when she felt Leonard place his hands on her shoulders.
"Ow!" She made her voice loud so he thought it was really bad. Leonard instantly pulled back apologizing for what he did.
"Any idea why we're here?" Leonard asked as he took the seat next to her.
"I don't know. For all I know I was supposed to be killed. Wonder why I'm not dead." Kaname said as she leaned forward resting her chin on her fist. Leonard looked at her curiously. "Would you prefer to be dead?"
"No way. I have too much to live for."
"Like what?"
"Like… my friends, family, I want to finish school, and get a good job. There are a lot of reasons."
"Really. You are too smart for school, and you could have had much better."
"Nah that wasn't better. He said I should also live for myself. Kind of hypocritical considering he hardly does it himself. I also live for him, and help him live. He's still an otaku though."
Leonard scowled and looked away. He knew precisely who she was talking about. He rose to go to the bathroom when the main door opened. Gauron stood in the door way.
"Hey you two. Glad to see you're awake. How you feeling Kaname-chan?"
"Horrible all thanks to you." She scowled at him.
"…" Leonard said nothing.
"So why are we here?" Kaname said as she turned to stand and look at him.
"Well I was going to kill you. But since Kashim is alive that wouldn't have been a nice thing to do to him. You know it wasn't very nice keeping him to yourself. Why didn't you tell me he was alive sooner?" His grin was sickening.
"Like I'd tell you he was alive." Kaname wanted to spit but did not wish to push her luck.
"That's cold." Gauron looked at Leonard. "The 'man' wants to speak to you. Come on."
Leonard did not protest as he walked towards Gauron. Kaname grew aggravated at how easy he was making it.
"Geez you're really against this."
Leonard stopped and looked at her. "In this situation, resistance really is futile. I might as well go along instead of them bringing a lot of guns near you." He turned away and followed Gauron out the door. Kaname clicked her tongue and returned to watching to TV. She flipped through channels looking for anything interesting to watch. She wondered what Sousuke was doing now. He must have been in a hurry to leave after he left the other night. He would have come running if he was even relatively close by but Sousuke could get really far really fast. She rose to move the TV so she could watch it from the bed. She wondered if they would ask her to come later, and wondered what they would be doing. In fact why did they take Leonard at all? What could he do for them? She assumed she was here because of something with Sousuke.
--
"So since you're first why don't you tell me about Sagara?" Leonard sat in a room. The voice came from a speaker somewhere.
"I cannot tell you much. He is that girl's watchdog. He knows only how to kill, and blow things up. He has poor etiquette and is completely unsocial. He has no idea how to behave or act around people. He is worse than a dog, but she…" Leonard clenched his teeth at the last thought
"I see you do not seem to like him very much."
"I hate him. He is worse than me in every way and yet that girl still desires him."
He heard the ruffling of papers over the speaker. "Chidori Kaname… yes she seems to have a relationship with him but we do not know much about her. We have a few resources who can give information about her but not much. Why don't you tell me about her?"
"She's wonderful. Strong, intelligent, beautiful. He's completely undeserving of her. She can take care of herself but does not realize her potential. She chooses to live amongst those fools. She did not accept my gift of eternal happiness, and luxury. She did not want to be able to live in a paradise. I have trouble understanding her at times."
Leonard looked up as he thought about it.
"I see. Well let's talk about you now."
--
Schneider read the notes with a smile on his face. Not only had they made progress in being able to break the lock on their technology. Sagara was alive. He just needed to reach him somehow. From what he had been told Sagara had a relationship with the girl they now held captive. This gave him an advantage over the young man. He continued going over notes, and files, and messages coming in on the computer. He was fortunate they had her. Gauron was going to kill her. Schneider originally did not care but with the information he was receiving she would be useful alive. They had already run tests on her while she was sleeping. He sighed when he finished going over the notes. He had hurried at the end because he had been at it for a whole hour. The girl reminded him of something from before. He had a vague memory of her when Sousuke was here. He knew everything the second her name, came with a face and he knew exactly who she was. After all they were once a part of Amalgam. She would be very useful to him. He wondered if she knew anything about what happened. Sousuke had not said a word to them and was able to protect himself mostly. They had been able to learn about Gauron which is the reason they genetically rebuilt him but, did not expect him to be so hard to control. He picked up his glass and took a big drink of his coffee. He would need a break. Having to read so much was going to kill him. Of course he could do it at a pace ten times faster than most and still understand it; it still took awhile with all the papers he received.
Just as he stood to refill his coffee Travis walked into the room.
"Did you hear?"
Schneider ignored him and went straight to refilling his glass. He heard the old man walk closer to the desk but he did not sit down. "Of course I heard. I am the boss here."
"Right right, of course then. Well what are you going to do about it?"
"Him being alive is very fortunate for us, as well as disturbing. How he survived is unknown to me but he has a lot of potential. Though as you know the mistake in our process is slowly killing him. We do not know if he will make it here at all. Even then we must continue our work."
"Yeah yeah but he is one of a kind right?"
"Yes, for now. We have not been able to replicate the same experiences to find someone like him. This may not have been created at all. He may have started with this. We will find out soon enough."
"At least his girl is pretty. I remember him talking about her once or twice. He never said much. In fact all I really got was her name, and a few experiences. He didn't tell me or anyone much else."
"Speaking of which is the facility you were using still functional, or did it get destroyed."
"You're the boss you should know."
"Travis!"
"Ok, no it's still up and running. Though it's kind of dangerous considering he knows where it is."
"He does not have his machine or the man power to do anything about it."
"I'm not so sure about that. He's a crazy man. One time he dodged traffic and jumped over a car without looking. Also he did that thing remember."
"Part of the test. It had no consequences to us, and he kills people everyday I'm sure his conscious is alright."
"Right he seemed okay. Listen I gotta go check on the kids. You take care of yourself."
Schneider nodded as Travis exited the room. Just as the door closed it was opened again. Schneider rolled his eyes before he even saw the person.
'So many interruptions.' He thought as he took another drink.
The second the man walked in, he recognized him easily. The sword on his hip also made it obvious. "Col, I thought you were out again training or something, you were in the Appalachian Mountains last I heard."
"I was I came back today."
"You would have had to leave 3 days ago to get here by plane."
"I left this morning. I used the personal transport."
"Ahh I see. How's it working?"
"Perfect."
"I see, so is there a reason you're here to see me?"
"Sagara. He's alive."
"How did you hear?"
"Can't tell you."
"Midori told you didn't she?"
"Can't tell you." Col grinned then turned to the window.
"You seem happy."
"Not really."
"Oh well. We really won't be doing anything different. Let's just continue as we are."
"You know how big this is going to get." Col turned to him now.
"Well yes, but as long as we continue to do this we may reach our goal."
"Is there really anything to find out?"
"Of course. With science, and technology we can…"
"But science and technology is not everything. It can not solve everything."
"Once I did not believe that but you convinced me about it before. Of course this is something that can be solved by science."
"Understood. But how will you proceed?"
"That is my concern… though I will inform you of the bigger plans."
"Whatever." Col turned and left the room. Schneider watched him as he left. He grinned as the young man closed the door behind him. Suddenly it opened again. Schneider groaned as he fell back in his chair slapping his forehead.
--
Kaname had been sitting watching TV for a good two hours now. She turned when the main door opened again. This time someone else was with Leonard. He looked like a regular guard. He gave Leonard a push as he closed the door behind him. He did not look worse for wear. She guessed he was either easy to interrogate or they had no intention of harming them.
"How'd it go?" She asked as he approached.
"Horrible. They offered me a job." Leonard smiled at her. Kaname knew what that must mean. He joined the bad guys so he could regain power again and try to pull what he did at Amalgam.
"So you took it?" She glared at him.
"No, I did not want you to hate me." Leonard's expression softened. Kaname turned around quickly to hide the red in her cheeks. Even with what he'd done in the past that was really sweet.
"Well then what did they do to you?" She asked not looking at him.
"They only asked me a few questions about Sagara, you, and myself. I did not tell them much, just enough to satisfy them, and let me go."
"I see."
"Oh also this was once a facility for staff members to sleep in. It was turned into a prisoner section not long ago. So our cell was once someone's room. There is a small water device in that open-able panel over there."
Leonard pointed towards a panel near the bed that stuck out a bit with a small opening clasp on it.
"It comes with cold, warm, and hot water selection, as well as cups. These were turned into prison quarters for their better guests. They have ones much worse apparently."
"How do you know all this?" Kaname turned to him still remaining on the bed.
"When you cooperate they tell you a few things. Trust me I know how this works."
"Well at least that's working."
Leonard sat on the bed next to her. "What are you watching?"
"Well they get good TV reception so they have a lot of channels. I'm watching Real Bout Highschool." Just as she finished a girl on the TV screen dropped kicked a large man attacking her.
"I see. Well it looks interesting enough." Leonard rose and walked over to the water panel. He opened it grabbed two of the cups, and filled them with cold water. He returned and handed one to Kaname.
"Thank you." She said as she sat up and took a drink. Leonard sat next to her and drank his own glass.
"So how long do you think they'll keep us here?" He asked making sure to look at the screen.
"Probably a while. That's if Sousuke doesn't come kick their butts first."
"How do you know he will come? If he even has the ability to defeat them."
He watched as Kaname's expression softened as she looked into the glass of water.
"Because he'll come. He'll try to save me no matter what. Even if I didn't want him too." Now her face hardened into an expression of sorrow, and anger,
"Also he's been through so much and always makes it. Nothing ever stops him. No matter what, he does what he has too. Even at risk to himself. He'll be able to stop them."
Kaname closed her eyes as she took another drink from the glass.
"Of course that could still take awhile."
Leonard stared at her with his mouth hanging a moment. He pulled himself to reality then drank from his glass. "Is that so? Is he really that amazing?"
"Yep."
"Is he amazing other places?"
"Huh?" Kaname raised her eyebrow at him.
"You know, have you gone to bed with him, and is he any good? He spent a lot of nights at your apartment." Leonard was being really blunt, and really feared one of the answers she would give him. Unfortunately for him she was taking another drink as he asked the question. He ended up with 10 percent of the sudden burst of water on himself.
Kaname took another drink and a deep breath.
"That's none of your business." She eyed him from the side.
"Really. We were once together. You do not want to tell me because it is true and you are ashamed. You simply do not want to tell me. You haven't and do not want to tell me." Leonard looked at her seriously, not with his usual arrogant grin.
"That's none of your business." She hissed through her teeth. Leonard had done this to her before when she was his captive. Giving her excuses or reasons not to tell him things trying to figure out which it was and secretly get an answer if she didn't tell him outright what it was.
"I'm guessing you have and are ashamed or you just haven't and for some reason fear telling me." Leonard returned to watching the TV. He knew any ground he had gained with Kaname moments ago were blown away with this questioning but he had to know.
Kaname ignored him and rose to refill her glass. Leonard took a moment to look at her. The color of her dress with her hair looked nice.
"You look beautiful you know." He said hoping she at least wouldn't ignore him.
"Thank you, but I'm not so sure not having taken a shower in two days, my hair is probably horrible, and I need to wash myself as well as my clothes."
"I do not mean to anger you more but does he ever tell you that you're beautiful."
"Yes, on certain occasions. I can't blame him though because of his life. He's gotten better though. He says and does nice things with out being told. But he's still hopeless with society." Kaname giggled remembering his recent actions at the arcade.
Leonard smiled. Though she just thought about Sousuke, she did not scowl or scold him.
"So what do they expect us to do the whole day? At least with you I was allowed to move freely more or less."
"Yes this certainly is not nearly as well. But here we are prisoners."
"Yeah yeah. I guess I could watch TV for awhile."
"Why don't you shower?"
"I would rather not shower for a week before I go in there not knowing if they have cameras or not."
"They do not. I spoke to them about this earlier."
"You thought of everything didn't you."
"Except how to escape pretty much, yes."
"Wonderful. I'll ask them myself before I shower."
"Fine. Remember this was once personnel quarters, and the leader does not seem like he would be a pervert."
"You met the leader?"
"Not exactly. I knew the leader before. This group once worked for Amalgam but did secret research behind my back. I was not pleased to find out but I was in an interrogation room so there was not much I could do. I knew the leader before Sagara destroyed us giving them there chance to fully separate, and become this."
"You're telling me. They told a prisoner and their former leader this…"
"Yes strange isn't it."
"Duh. Oh well it's not like it can help us now."
Kaname actually remembered Sousuke mentioning something about this to her so it was not a big surprise. She sighed as she lay back on the bed. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind.
"Wait how are we going to sleep?" Kaname shot up.
"We will sleep in the same bed."
"What no way!"
"I will take one side, you can have the other. I do not see a problem."
"I am not sleeping in the same bed as you."
"Why is that such a big deal? I'm sure if I was Sagara you wouldn't mind."
"Yes I would. Either way you're not Sousuke so I'm not sleeping in this bed with you."
"Would you prefer I sleep on the floor?"
"Yes."
"But it is cold and metal. You should at least give me a sheet then."
"Fine."
'Damn. She's smart.' Leonard thought. Really he just wanted to sleep on the bed. With or without her there. He was not used to such low standards.
"Well that's too bad. I am going to sleep on this bed when the time comes."
Kaname glared at him. His expression remained the same unflinching in his right to choose where to sleep.
"I wonder if they can bring in a second bed, or maybe separate us."
Leonard pulled back. "Fine. I would rather sleep on the floor then be separated from you. I'm sorry for the way I acted." Leonard agreed but he would not go any lower.
He walked over to the dresser and pulled a radio out of one of the drawers. He put on some classical music.
Kaname was satisfied with the sleeping arrangements but felt bad about how it had happened. She wanted to scream into a pillow at how he was acting all kind and noble just to be around her. It was true she wouldn't have minded Sousuke, but he also would have just as easily taken the floor.
Suddenly the main door opened again. Leonard recognized Schneider but Kaname did not.
"Hello. May I please speak with you Miss Kaname?" The man smiled a kind smile. He did not seem like a bad person. In fact some people may even trust him at first glance. But Kaname did not.
"Who are you?" She asked rising to her feet.
"I am Schneider. I am the leader of this organization. I would like to speak to you."
Kaname eyed him a few seconds. She remembered Leonard saying resistance is futile and since she did not want to cause problems she decided to go along. She rose and followed the man out the door. She was surprised to see no guards.
"I do not need a guard. I trust you. They are also not necessary to watch over you." He said as if reading her mind. Kaname looked at him but he smiled and continued walking the door to the room closing. Kaname followed him.
"So why am I here exactly?" She asked.
"Because that young boy in there did not want you dead. In fact if it wasn't for him you would be dead. Luckily someone was able to stop Gauron from finishing you off."
"Am I bait?" She said with a bit of anger in her voice.
"No not at all. Just it would be a waste to kill you." Schneider turned the corner Kaname turned after him.
"We here at Origin are after one goal. We wish to learn about the source of the whispered knowledge so that we can explore all of it. Put it all into multiple minds and explore the knowledge. It is a hassle trying to find whispered people with knowledge on certain things. While you know about the lambda driver we already have others with the same knowledge."
"Ok. Anything else."
"Sagara once came here. While trying to destroy Amalgam facilities. He successfully destroyed an older facility but did not escape. From there I used him. Explored him. His physical abilities were amazing. He was so much of nothing but battle, and instincts he was amazing. I'm sure you have had experience with that side of Sagara." Schneider led her into an elevator. He pressed a button to the 9th floor.
"Why are you taking me around so freely? Aren't you worried about me using it against you?"
"Not really. I doubt you will be able to get anywhere without someone knowing. There are cameras everywhere except in the restrooms."
"That's a relief." Kaname said as they rose.
"Is it? Is that the reason you didn't wash when you woke up?"
"Yeah." Kaname had used the toilet but she hadn't exactly been thinking then. Fortunately for her there really aren't any cameras in the restroom.
"Oh and the ventilation in the restroom will not allow you to use it to travel if that is what you are thinking." Schneider grinned as Kaname lowered her shoulders.
The elevator stopped and opened on the 9th floor. Kaname followed him as they walked down more hallways.
"So why don't you tell me what you did to Sousuke?" Kaname hoped to get whatever she could from him. Whatever was happening with him seemed to have something to do with this man.
"That's a funny question actually. Because we have both done something to him. In fact I think you may be special because of your bond with him."
"I haven't done anything to Sousuke." Kaname bit her lip thinking of all the times she hit him or did something or other to him.
"Well it may have been unintentional but you did it." They stopped in front of a door. He placed a keycard in a slot and punched in some numbers. The door slid up revealing the entrance to a well decorated by very business like room. "This is my office."
He placed his hand out presenting her the entrance. Kaname hesitated before walking in.
The room was definitely an office. Schneider walked her over to his desk. He signaled her to a seat in front of his desk while he walked behind it.
"Would you like a drink?"
"As long as it's not drugged, alcoholic and as long as you're not going to hit on or try to seduce me in some way." Kaname crossed her arms completely serious with what she said. Schneider looked at her and threw his head back in laughter.
"No no. You are very attractive but I have someone. Besides you are too young and belong to Sagara."
Kaname did not like the idea of belonging to anybody as though she were an item but would let it go because it was Sousuke and this was not really the time or place to argue about that.
"No you are not an item, I am simply using those words." Schneider said as he began pouring two drinks. His was alcoholic, he gave her something else.
Kaname blinked. Was he reading her mind? "Are you whispered?" She asked already knowing the answer.
"Yes but I am not reading your mind. You are not the first person I have brought here. But you are the only one here under these conditions."
"By that I assume you mean something with Sousuke again."
"Smart-girl." He said as he passed her a glass of soda, and drank from his own glass. Kaname smelled the drink and examined it for any tablets, or signals that would tell her if it was drugged. After making sure it was safe she took a drink. Schneider grinned watching her.
"Ahh." Kaname let out her breath. "So will you explain to me what you mean by what we did to Sousuke?"
"Oh yes sorry. It's simple yet complicated. The action was simple but how it happens is complicated. I nor anyone else could tell you exactly how it works."
"Okay so explain. Like you said I'm a smart-girl." Kaname sipped her drink.
"It goes back to his child hood. This point really is not serious. It only brings in the mind set and physical adaptations. His life's hardships prepared his body, and mind for his condition. Next came his interactions with so many whispered, and using the lambda driver. While this is not serious this has to do with his the connections he makes. The main point the reason something like this was unlocked revealing to us such secrets was his interaction with you. This works both ways making you also somewhat different. On the submarine…oh and this information was given to us separately. We did not spy on you then or anything in fact we really knew little of any of your existence. Well back to the story. On the Tuatha de Danaan when you entered the system you communicated with the computer. From there you also mentally communicated with him. This pushed it part way. When he engaged lambda driver, spoke with Al, you speaking to him a seemingly regular person something happened inside him. Really none of it is important except for you speaking to him mentally, while he engaged the lambda driver. He was a regular person with no such ability, I think. We do not know all the secrets of the human body like how we are whispered. After that well he continued. Then I found him one day while he was trying to destroy us. He was captured after destroying a lot of our facility. I thought he was a regular person just a part of Mithril. It was surprising meeting the legend who caused us so much trouble. From there we examined him, found out he was strange. I explored further learned some things. He gave me the building block for my research. We realized some things. We ran many tests, and initiated many procedures. He is the perfect weapon."
"Hold on!" Kaname stopped him there. "I'm so tired of this. Why does everyone think Sousuke's a weapon? He's more than that. Even captain girl used him as a weapon. You just want to use him as well!" Kaname pointed her finger at him. Schneider looked surprised then smiled.
"He is very lucky. You care for him very much."
Kaname blushed and moved back a bit.
"I cannot agree with you. He is the perfect weapon. His whole life has made him that. Even you have picked up some of his survival habits." Schneider pointed towards her glass.
Kaname blushed again then drank again before setting the glass down.
"So that's really what happened?"
"Yes. You are part of the reason he is the way he is. I already looked at you. You are also a bit different; don't worry not as extreme or dangerous to yourself as he is. I do not know if you two have some kind of connection or not."
"Fine, but why is he dieing?"
Schneider looked at her curiously. "So you know about that. Well while I was examining him and doing things, I would prefer not to mention, I made a mistake and now he to put it simply disagrees with himself and his body is slowly killing itself. He suffers different effects. A shame really."
"You…you… you jerk, can't you fix him."
"He wouldn't let me. He escaped soon after. Travis helped him but he was a spy the whole time. Sousuke was only so helpful but we were able to still gain plenty of information."
"That son of a…" Kaname was halted by the door opening. In came the man with the sword again. Kaname eyed the weapon then looked at the man. He looked at her with a scowl as if she were insignificant then looked at Schneider.
"I'm sorry Miss Kaname but we must end this. I will explain it to you further another time. There is a guard outside waiting to escort you back."
Kaname said nothing as she exited the room. She caught another glance at the swordsman before the door closed.
"Follow me." The guard held his gun as he led her back the way she came. The walk back was silent. Kaname thought a lot about her part in this, and how any of it could make sense.
--