(A/N) So before working on this one, I removed the safety filter, so there's profanity in this chapter.
Disclaimer - This story was written with AI Dungeon just for fun, meaning that some stuff was written by me and others were written by the AI. This results in OOC moments, especially in James' case, and chaotic energy in general. It's also why my writing style is different since this is mostly AI generated.
I also do not own these franchises or their characters. Silent Hill belongs to KONAMI, Resident Evil belongs to CAPCOM, Final Fantasy IX and NieR:Automata belong to SQUARE ENIX, and Shrek belongs to DREAMWORKS.
Chapter 17: The Trial: Helplessness and Failure
James woke up to see the familiar face of Shrek looking down at him.
"Hello, James," he purred. "Glad to see you're awake. Your head aches, no?"
James, through his grogginess, was able to muster enough strength to spit in his face.
"Fuck. You."
"Indeed," Shrek smiled, before nodding towards the wall.
The area was suddenly engulfed in light, revealing a peculiar room.
It was wide with a table in the centre that had a panicked Heather chained to it. It was then he realised where he was, the trial. He looked around some more and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw 9S chained up in the far corner. He was still unconscious, but at least he looked unharmed.
He turned to his left to see Simmons addressing an audience. He flashed James a sadistic smirk as he continued to talk to the audience.
James tried to move, but realised that he was also chained up.
"My friends," Simmons addressed the audience. "As you may be aware, we are gathered here today to test a new virus that has been in development for some time. We are so very close to success, and this trial is to make sure that the new v-"
"You sick bastard, I'll kill you myself," James hissed.
Simmons ignored James and continued with his speech.
"As I was saying, we are gathered here today to test a new virus. The effects of said virus turns it's host into a vampire, making it ideal for creating super-soldiers. We have dubbed it the V-Virus."
"Fuck you," James growled, spitting at Simmons.
Simmons held back his disgust and continued.
"The V-Virus is injected into the subject, causing massive cell mutation and replication. The immune system is bypassed due to the cells replicating at such a rapid rate. The subject then becomes immune to conventional weaponry, but is capable of hand to hand combat. We have developed special rifles and melee weapons for the super-soldiers, but the rifle will do the trick for most of them, as they'll be able to simply fight their way out of a conventional gunfight. The new super-soldier will be able to kill hundreds of men with a single punch, and survive their own death. We're sure that it will just be perfect."
"Bullshit, you sick fuck," James spat.
Simmons turned to James with a roll of his eyes.
"Would you please lay off the profanities, James. It doesn't make you sound smart or threatening."
"Fuck you," James snarled.
Simmons smirked, before looking back at the audience.
"Explanations out of the way, let's get to the real meat of this trial," he said, stepping aside and gesturing to Heather, who was struggling in her restraints. "We're going to test the virus on this girl and observe the effects."
"What?! You fucking bastard!" James roared, struggling against his restraints.
"Behave yourself," Simmons said, raising his hand to clap it on James' mouth. "I'd hate to have to hurt you."
Slowly, James stopped struggling. He glared at Simmons, who continued smiling at the audience.
"Alright," Simmons said. "Let's get started."
Heather screamed for help as the audience began to laugh wildly.
Filled with desperation, James turned to look at 9S who was still unresponsive.
"If only you were awake to stop this," he thought. "If only you were awake..."
After a few minutes, a doctor entered the room, carrying a tray of syringes.
"Hello, Heather," he said. "I'm Dr. Vincent Smith. I'm here to administer your first dose of the V-Virus."
Heather let out a pitiful noise.
"Enough of the pleasantries, let's get this show on the road," Simmons said enthusiastically, taking his seat beside the audience.
"Don't you dare touch her!" James yelled.
The audience laughed, and even Simmons was smiling again.
"Calm down, James."
Heather screamed again as the doctor took out the first syringe and injected her.
It was around this time that 9S woke up.
James noticed him slowly opening his eyes and groggily looking around the room. He didn't seem all there.
James wanted to excitedly say his name and get his attention, but he knew that would only draw unwanted attention. Who knew what Simmons wanted to do with him once he woke up.
"James... don't worry... hang in there... okay..." 9S reassured weakly, before his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.
"Nines..." James croaked, worry building in his stomach.
He stared at 9S, feeling hopeless. He had no idea what to do.
"You're wasting your time with that boy," Simmons said. "He'll never wake up, at least not until I've tampered with him."
James didn't say anything. He just kept looking at 9S.
"What are you looking at?" Simmons asked.
James kept his eyes on 9S.
"I said what are you-"
"Stop."
Simmons stopped talking. "What?"
"Stop," James repeated. "Just... stop."
Simmons paused, before looking at James.
"I'm curious, what is it you want me to stop?"
James took a breath, before speaking.
"Stop... this."
Simmons chuckled.
"I suppose you want me to stop the virus too?" he asked.
James glared at Simmons, and the audience laughed in response.
"I'm not afraid of you," James said.
"Well, you should be, because I -"
Simmons was cut off by the audience screaming.
"What's going on?!" he yelled, his eyes widening as a woman who had half of her body mutated erupted from the fleeing crowd.
She ran up to 9S and slashed his chains, breaking them, before leaping to James and doing the same thing.
"Toma la chico de pelo blanca y vete," she said sternly.
James furrowed his brows and shook his head.
"I don't -"
She quickly cut him off. She pointed at him, then pointed at the unconscious 9S, and then the doors leading out of the room.
It was then he gathered that she wanted him to leave with 9S.
"But what about -"
When he looked back at Heather, he saw her unconscious form bring picked up by a grinning Zidane.
"I got her covered," he said. "You get Nines."
James nodded as he bolted towards 9S and picked him up. Looking behind him, he saw Piers holding off Shrek.
So Zidane did find him...
The Spanish woman was trying to attack Simmons, who had noticed him.
"Come on, James!" Zidane called. "Piers will be right behind us!"
With that, James lead the way out of the room carrying 9S while Zidane followed with Heather in his arms. He ran out the doors and down the hallways.
He didn't stop running until they were out of the catacombs, and he was back in the streets of the city.
"Thank you," he said to Zidane, who was running alongside him, "For getting us out of there."
"Hey, no problem."
Zidane paused, then looked at him.
"What are you going to do with him?"
James wasn't quite sure what he meant.
"You heard me," Zidane said. "What are you going to do with Nines?"
James thought about it. He didn't have a clue.
He looked down at the boy sleeping peacefully in his arms and smiled.
"I'll see if he wakes up," he answered.
Zidane smiled.
"Good answer," he said. "You're learning."
James realized he still had a lot to learn.
Months of his life were gone, and he still didn't know who he was, or what he was doing.
At the same time, he didn't regret any of it. If he was destined to be here, then he was here for a reason.
Perhaps he wasn't meant to save the world, but he was going to save 9S. He was going to protect his team.
And he had a feeling that it was far more important than anything else.
Whatever happened in the future, he was ready.
His future was now.
I actually thought that the last line was a good end to the story... then I realised there was loose ends... so we press onward. I think you see where I said it would get angsty.
Google Translate again for one sentence:
Toma la chico de pelo blanca y vete. = Take the white haired boy and go.
Right... I think that's it for now.
Improvements are appreciated, please tell me what I did right, wrong and how I can improve. If you would like, you could also favourite and follow this fic, as well as suggest areas of improvement, which I guess is the same as the first sentence. R&R and thanks for reading!
