The Whisperer

Disclaimer:"…"

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-Chapter 37-

-Prisoner Rooms-

"Yawn." Kaname rested on the bed as she watched TV. The Bonta-kun was rested under her chin as a type of pillow. She was dieing to get back home. She was wasting a summer in here. She felt that this was of course Sousuke's fault. He left so quickly and then she got in trouble. Wasn't he supposed to make sure she got home safe? She decided she would give him a good scolding when she saw him, if she saw him. The thought of what would they do to her if Sousuke did get killed bothered her in many ways. Not only did she worry for herself but she absolutely dreaded the thought of Sousuke dieing. She remembered the strange promises from before and wondered if he was being weird or if they held any ground. Maybe he had some message in there she could figure out. She sighed she didn't dwell on what the people here had been telling her anymore. Now she just waited till this was over. Like a long boring nightmare. Of course it could go from boring to dangerous as Gauron showed her. She was entertaining herself somewhat. Leonard had been curious as to why she had left the room, and why she had the doll. She giggled inside every time she caught him take a glance at it. She enjoyed having a little power over him. They were watching random shows of whatever came on. Leonard of course was as courteous as usual when it came to what she preferred. It reminded her of when she was his prisoner. His advances had angered her to no end but at least he would kindly stop when asked, mostly told. He was aggressive but kind. If he hadn't done so many things she hated she might have been able to see him as a friend, or maybe more. Sometimes she would wonder what if she had met him first. Then she would wonder what if that happened and then she met Sousuke. Or if she never met any of them and stayed with Fuwa-sempai. She would only ponder these thoughts momentarily not wanting to stress herself out, or cause any unnecessary regrets. She would usually go back to how her erstwhile ex-sergeant always proved to be interesting…among other things. While Leonard and Fuwa were not one of a kind.

Her stay here was even more annoying in these loose fitting clothes. Leonard who wore a similar pair could fit into it better then she could. She stared at him sitting there watching television and taking his occasional glances. He turned to her when he caught her staring.

"Is something wrong?" He asked tilting his head a bit.

"No not really…" Kaname flapped one hand. "…It's been bothering me though why do they take you out of the room so much." Kaname had asked him before but he would never give her a straight answer. Leonard sighed and looked up.

"They know of my past exploits and want to convince me to work for them. Heh, the irony of the thought, working for my once subordinates. I've given them no reason to think of using you as a hostage so they are trying other means. While some are tempting nothing has gotten me to change my mind. I would be worried anyway leaving you in here by yourself all the time. I feel bad leaving as many times as I do."

"Oh well, they obviously think they can convince you somehow if they keep trying."

Leonard smirked.

"I'm doing what I can to get as much off them as possible. Then I can say I will work for them then end this and get us out of here in the end."

Kaname felt a new shine of hope for a moment. "Cool, but how long would that take."

"A month or two, maybe longer."

Kaname sighed and buried her face in the Bonta-kun. Leonard decided to take advantage.

"I've been meaning to ask. Why do you have a Bonta-kun here, and why does it look different from his normal image."

Kaname made a cat like smile. "No reason. This one is just special."

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Aside from the appearance how is it special?"

Her face resembled a cat that ate the canary. "It's a secret."

"Oh come on!" Leonard moved so that he faced her. She loved getting him riled up breaking his usually calm composure; it was a game she was getting used to in here. "Tell me how you got the doll, and why it is so special."

Kaname rolled on the bed doll in arms teasing the ivory haired boy. She stopped upside down staring at him.

"Se-cret." She emphasized on each part of the word.

Leonard clenched his teeth and held a fist before taking a deep breath and returning his composure. "Please tell me." He tried asking kindly.

"Nope!" She said grinning, showing her teeth.

They continued this for awhile.

-Underground Tunnel-

Two sets of glowing eyes stared right back at him. He knew what was about to happen. He could accept. He would do it without hesitation. But he did not want to have to kill the two in front of him. He would have to though. He could see the whole body of the AS in front of him down to the last detail, despite the pitch darkness of the room. He could tell where the lambda drivers were focused. They weren't up yet. He let his eyes adjust as the whole room slowly lit up. He looked around the two AS in front of him not moving. He noted how one was pink and the other blue. What he thought was a room turned out to be a large tunnel. There were even vehicles around. This must have been a transport or escape tunnel, there were even tracks running through here. But why would they send him down here to fight.

"Hey Sousuke if you come back and stop fighting us we don't have to do this." The girl-like AS waved her finger at him as she spoke. "If you help us we can go faster. Besides we don't want to have to kill you but if necessary Uncle Travis, and Schneider-dono said we had to."

"Yeah so come back with us. We really want to see you use that thing anyway. We can't get it to start or even open up. Schneider-dono is mad about that as well as other things. If you come with us we can all play everyday. What do you say?" The boy AS attempted to convince him this time.

He stared back at the machines. Using children was a plan used by many terrorist. This though in a different way was really no different.

"Chris…Erika."

"Hai!" The children shouted together tossing one arm up. He was now sure of who was in those AS.

"You don't really have to do this. You are being manipulated by-"

"No. Schneider-dono told us about everything, and what may happen. We agree with what he's doing. I want the voices in my head to stop already!" Erika's machine clearly showed her anger. So they are whispered.

"You're not going to come back are you Sousuke?" Sousuke's look softened towards the children.

"Negative."

"All right. Then we fight! Let's make this fun though, with no hard feelings." The two AS took up different stances. "Wai!" (A cry of delight used by a young child or baby in Japan.) Erika's AS moved first. She flipped in the air doing a summersault. Sousuke ran forward as she came down avoiding her foot easily. He jumped to the side as bullets came at him.

"Hey! Watch out!" Erika shouted as Chris's bullets slammed into the heel of her AS.

"Sorry."

Sousuke took advantage of the situation. He pulled out one of his Tryant-M29's which Nicholas had given him. He prayed he was not wrong. A pull on the trigger released the powerful bullet. He dropped a flash grenade immediately after. The blue AS flinched when the bullet entered its shoulder leaving a large hole.

"Hey! How'd he do that?" Before they could say anymore the flash grenade went off blinding their screens. They fired rapidly at where they last saw the young mercenary. When they could finally see again he was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Erika looked around, as Chris listened to the damage done to his AS right shoulder.

"Be careful sis he has a really powerful weapon. Use the lambda driver when needed."

They continued to search around. "Check behind the cars and stuff." Chris pointed towards the vehicles. As the pink AS took a step towards the vehicles a loud explosion erupted behind her.

The pink AS fell forward destroying a tank she landed on.

"What happened now?" Chris shouted but the very same thing happened on his front knocking him onto is back.

"Explosive was placed on the left knee. Left leg has taken seventy percent damage. Right leg has taken twenty percent. Abdomen are has taken little damage nothing to speak of." The AI spoke in its own child like form for the blue AS.

Erika stood, the other bomb having been placed on the rear of the skirt like part of her AS.

"That jerk he's playing rough."

Sousuke laid inside a vehicle attempting to hotwire the car. He was definitely getting soft. He had an open chance to take them out. He let his feelings get in the way. Being around Chidori was making him soft. He would die if he tried something stupid again. He noticed that as children they had a lack of skill, and teamwork ability. He as a child lived horribly constantly so he learned well but the spoiled nature of these two would cause them problems in battle. He felt a tingling on the back of his neck and a ringing in his ear. Without waiting the second the car turned on from the floor he switched it to drive and with his head stepped on the gas pedal.

He made the right choice as a small explosion erupted where he had been. Holding the pedal with his hand he maneuvered into a sitting position. He didn't get very far before easily being flanked by the two AS. He kept driving turning into a corridor.

"You know that wasn't very nice what you did. Planting bombs on us!" He heard the voice echo through the tunnel. Luckily they couldn't follow him. Sousuke pulled up the small screen showing the layout of the facility preferably this tunnel. He heard a loud thunderous noise behind him. When he turned a missile had entered the tunnel and was heading for him. One last look at the map confirmed his target.

The two AS stood patiently as the explosion erupted from and the tunnel smoke and some of the shock wave exiting through the passage Sousuke had taken.

"Think he's dead?" Chris asked his sister.

"Hold on." Erika replied while typing into her console. Soon after the wall of the tunnel he used shifted giving space for the AS to travel through. "Let's go find out."

Sousuke sat crouched against the wall. He had escaped the car by jumping into this man only tunnel and sealed it with the metal door that had been left open. He wondered what was going on when everything started shaking but soon figured it out. This tunnel was interchangeable.

He could barely hear the sound of the engine from the two AS. Most people probably wouldn't hear it at all.

"The map shows a small man tunnel right here. We should check it." Chris spoke privately to Erika through the radio sets of the AS. The AS bent down and easily removed the door. The pink AS bent down to look in. Erika quickly spotted him.

She had no time for greetings as he fired two shots one for each eye.

Erika's AS quickly rolled out of the way after.

"He shot my eyes. I'm switching my visual." After clicking a button Erika's AS could see again but the view was slightly different.

"That things good if it can pierce an arm-slaves armor." Erika said as she prepared a new method of attack. The pig-tails on the AS began to glow.

"Take this!"

Sousuke was already half way down the tunnel when the wave of light headed towards him. It took the shape of a fist as it crashed through the tunnel. He turned around and held his arm up to block it as best he could. He went flying out the other end of the tunnel the fist smashing him into the wall before disappearing.

He coughed up some blood as he tried to stand up. Letting them live earlier was not a good idea. Perhaps being around Kaname was not the best choice. As he saw it, he was destined to be fighting his whole life and being soft was not useful to a specialist. Of course he didn't believe in predetermined fate. After gathering himself he looked around the tunnel. He must have been in the middle of the passage because there were no doors or vehicles anywhere. Sousuke pulled out some special made mines. He wondered with all the tools he was using if these things would ever become standard weaponry in the world. He started tossing or placing mines and bombs in strategic places. He could hear a strange humming noise approaching. He couldn't go back in the tunnel because the fist had caused it to collapse on itself. He started running opposite of where he heard the sound coming from. As he ran he saw most of what he expected. The AS were coming but they were hovering. He was only shocked a moment as he pressed a button setting off all the charges. He watched to see if he caused any damage. When the smoke cleared up both AS were standing a temporary lambda shield protecting them before disappearing.

Sousuke noted this and continued his escape.

"Come on Sousuke you can do better then that!" The young boy's voice sounded as they continued pursuit.

"You hurt my AS, you have to pay!" Erika called after him. Sousuke realized how weak his ties must have been for these children to easily come after him. He must have been a fool. Having found him after he escaped being in horrible condition. It must have all been set up, but why did they not send him back then. Sousuke dropped a flash-bang as he ran. Two seconds later it went off once again blinding his pursuers.

"Quick protect yourself!" Chris called out. Just in time the lambda drivers came up blocking Sousuke bullets. He opened the gun and loaded one of quick change clips.

After the light dimmed the children looked around for their target.

"Hurry he must have run off!" Chris called but when he took a step he fell. Hiding under him Sousuke put a bullet in the rear of the knee joint disabling it.

When the pink As turned to attack he shot one of her head guns causing more serious damage to the head of the already injured pink AS.

"What's going on? Why are we losing! He doesn't have an AS!" The blue AS slammed the floor with the side of it's fist.

"Because you are children with no serious combat experience you lack a lot of skill. You're teamwork is deplorable, and you can hardly concentrate without having fun limiting your use of the lambda driver leaving you very open."

Sousuke aimed his gun at the back of the blue AS hoping to hit something serious and cause an explosion. He let go of everything he had learned from society. He was now ready to end the life of two small children without regard. His expression was that of when he worked for Mithril. Before going to Japan. He bore the eyes of a hitokiri, a killer for a living. He pulled the trigger releasing what would be the last of a child.

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!"

Sousuke grunted as light burst from the blue AS sending him and even the pink AS back.

Sousuke caught the floor with his hand maneuvering himself so he landed on his feet. The pink AS had to step back placing its hand in front of it to block the glare from the releasing light.

He took advantage again and fired at the pink AS placing two bullets in the back. He saw fluid leak but no explosion meaning he didn't hit anything properly.

He aimed at the pigtails and fired again. They lit up and light engulfed the pink AS similar to how the blue AS was responding,

"Jerk can't you see something is wrong. Still attacking us even like this!"

He took a deep breath. The blue AS was standing up. He aimed at the body of the pink one.

BAM! The bullet released an aura of light surrounding it.

"What the!" Erika was surprised. She fought with the bullet but the shock had weakened her control of the lambda driver.

"How did he?"

She felt the weight of the force lift. Next to her stood the blue AS helping to hold the bullet at bay. Moments later it was easily removed. The bullet blowing to pieces.

The AS turned to Sousuke.

"We are not weak because we're kids. You're so low trying to kill chil-"

They forced up the lambda driver again as Sousuke emptied out the gun firing every bullet in an instant.

"JERK!" Once again the bullets were destroyed. "RAHHH!"

The blue AS punched at him sending a dragon flying towards Sousuke. He jumped back blocking the attack as best he could but still being sent back. After recovering he bent forward. He covered his mouth only to have it covered in blood and drip off. He vomited up a large amount of blood which now decorated his glove, boots and the floor. He was not going to survive this fight. He regretted not killing them earlier.

"DIE SOUSUKE!" Both machines lit up and a large wave tore through the tunnel heading right for him.

He cursed himself waiting for the end.

"Yahoo!" A familiar voice made a joyful squeal as two ARX-9 burst through the ceiling and landed in the path of the blast.

"Shut up and concentrate!" The two ARX stood ready as the lambda driver based attack crashed against theirs. They were forced back a few feet but mostly held up. The were getting worried when the attack didn't stop.

"Hey sis aren't these supposed to be one-shot things." Kurz asked over the link.

"Yeah but I guess it can be held up. They do use shields so maybe the attack can be continuous too. Just hold on. They want to play tough let's pay them back!"

A wave tore from the two AS while not hitting the enemy they spent them enough to cause them to end the attack. They watched the debris fall from the damage caused by the over-sized wave.

Sousuke opened his eyes slowly. He barely realized he had been saved. The lambda drivers were not meant to hit humans and getting hit by it twice along with over working his own abilities was causing his body to react improperly. He barely pulled his head up to watch as blood dripped from his mouth.

"Hey Sousuke what's up?" Kurz AS turned toward him. It took him a second to realize Sousuke's condition. "Whoa bud what happened to you? We leave you alone and this is what happens. Don't worry we'll take care of this then get you to a hospital with a nice nurse."

"KURZ!" Mao called hearing his offer.

"Yeah sis we can do that later but right now we have to take care of these guys." Kurz pulled the rifle off his back and aimed it at the child-like AS.

"Hey sis is it me or do those look kinda funny."

Mao took a second to get a better look. "Yeah they do. Kind of like kids."

"Who are you?" Chris called confirming he was indeed a child to the Mithril soldiers.

"Whoa they are kids!" Kurz moved back in his chair from the surprise.

"Leave us alone all we have to do is get rid of Sousuke."

Mao turned towards the injured young man. "Sousuke. What do you want with him?"

"Schneider-dono told us to get rid of him if he didn't help us."

She looked at them again. "Why are they sending kids to kill…?" She stopped when a bang erupted. The pink AS stopped moving. The bullet ripped right into the chest of her AS.

The Mithril AS turned towards Sousuke. He was barely standing the gun pointed forward. He fired off another shot it pierced into the blue AS this time.

"Sousuke their kids what are you…" Melissa stopped and zoomed in on his face. It was void of emotion or thought. His eyes empty.

"Erika are you okay?" Chris called to his sister. He grew worried when he didn't receive a response. "Erika, Erika, answer me!" Everyone stopped as the blue AS shook the pink lightly hoping to get a response. Another bang went off. This time it didn't make it past the ARX arm-slaves. An invisible force stopped the bullet. Melissa's ARX turned towards Sousuke.

"Cut it out Sousuke! Get a hold of yourself!" Mao's machine walked over and picked Sousuke up in her hand.

"Urzu 2 what's going on?" Tessa's voice came over the link.

"Nothing we found Sousuke. He's gone a bit crazy though. The battle seems to be over. The enemies are kids though."

"Kids!" Tessa's surprise was evident as would the rest of the crews surprise from the background.

"Yeah but it should be over. We're coming back but we're going to try to bring the kids."

"Erika! Are you ok!" The blue AS spoke again. Erika's moans and groans could be heard over his radio connection to her. "Thank god!" The boy's relief could be heard.

Melissa looked at her arm-slaves hand. Sousuke was no longer on her hand. "Where the…?"

She turned and spotted Sousuke on his way to the opposing AS. He walked gun still in hand.

"What the hell has come over him?" Kurz said.

Chris opened the cockpit exiting out the back of his AS. He maneuvered his way over his AS arms onto his sister's AS. He popped open the cock-pit from the outside lever. He pulled his sister out and laid her on the floor, all the while Sousuke slowly approached them.

"Should we stop him?" Kurz AS turned towards Mao's.

"Yeah I'll get out you move towards them in the AS." As she said this she moved her AS closer so she wouldn't have to walk across the debris herself. Kurz followed after her.

"Erika…it's all right sis you'll be okay." Chris held her tightly against his chest. Her breathing was rapid and she was bleeding badly. Chris turned quickly when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He was shocked when he saw Sousuke covered in blood and gun in hand approaching. The image wrapped fear around the boy's heart and circulated it through his body. He lost the will to move as if a snake coiled itself around his body. The thing in front of him was not a human. He had never heard of a human being so scary.

"An Oni?" The boy questioned the thought.

"I'll end her pain…" Sousuke said pointing his gun at her. Chris immediately covered her with his own body.

"You did this to her. You expect me to let you touch her!" He stared angrily at the supposed demon. His anger almost matched his fear.

"It is unfortunate. You are children but you have been manipulated and brought into battle unprepared. I shared a somewhat similar fate but I was prepared and alone. I did not have the distractions and weaknesses you had. This was inevitable. You will live and die with this."

Chris rage built to an even higher level.

"You bastard! How could you be so cold?"

"In the time of samurai, one of the factions for the Shogunate known as the Shinsengumi had one purpose. You had to become strong enough. You must not fear demons and therefore become one yourself. Do you believe you can do that?" Sousuke moved closer his eyes still cold, and void of emotion.

"I…I…what…?" Chris still held his sister a blanket of blood starting to cover his lower half.

"She will die soon and we do not have the time or equipment to save her."

Chris held onto his sister.

"You shouldn't have shot her…sob…we weren't fighting at that momentsob what's wrong with you?" Chris cried as he held his dieing sister.

"Chris…tell Uncle Travis…I'm sorry…" Erika brought one hand up which Chris gripped firmly.

"Erika."

"I love you big brother." Her hand lost all its force as he let it slip from his hand. Chris lowered his head and began crying and shouting obnoxiously.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small remote.

"Sousuke…"

"Yes." He still held the gun pointed forward.

"Die!" He pressed the switch and threw it rushing at Sousuke and pulling a knife from his pocket. A loud bang rang out. The bullet tore off the boy's left arm and destroyed his heart instantly killing him. Sousuke watched as the boy's body flew back into the AS and slumped against the floor.

"Self-destruct sequence activated. 2 minutes remaining before island destruction."

A recorded female voice gave the warning.

Sousuke instantly acknowledged it. He turned his face only for it to be sent back around a sharp warm stinging sensation left on his cheek. He turned again to meet Mao's angry face.

"Why did you do that? They were eight or nine years old." Her enraged gaze did nothing to his empty look.

"We have to get out of here before this place blows up. The children were enemies they accepted this life. You know dieing is part of battle. They should not have accepted it if they were not prepared to die."

SLAP! Another slap echoed throughout the large empty tunnel. Mao turned back to her AS. "Kurz will carry you out of here. We have to hurry. We'll talk later."

Kurz AS stared at him hesitating before picking up the young man covered in blood.

"One minute and thirty seconds remaining."

Sousuke thought about the people he was leaving here. He was sure most of the actual staff had evacuated. The rest he would have to ignore. He had no time to save them. Innocent bystanders. He stared into the endless blue sky as the AS leapt from the tunnel; and carried him to safety. After escaping an immense explosion tore the island apart. Sousuke had no doubt everyone there was dead. He stared at his blood stained hand. "How unfortunate."

The AS swam over to the large submarine that was waiting about one mile from the island. The anger boiling inside the two AS would be over-whelming.

--

The old man entered the room. Schneider stood sitting behind his desk.

"The decoy base island has been destroyed. Self-destructed. Only two AS escaped. I'm sorry."

Schneider turned his chair to face the man. He was surprised to see tears sliding down his face. Travis was a strong man but knew when you needed to cry. So he cried.

"Chris, Erika…I'm sorry."

--

For anyone who read this previously and somehow ends up back here and for anyone who is just reading it now, when the children shouted Kanpai(now saying Wai!). Kanpai means to empty your glass or to say cheers when celebrating with drinks. It was changed because it was not exactly appropriate for the situation where Wai is a little better.